Life ?

When we set out to on a task, we always work with an objective in mind. An goal we reach for. In life the objective is death and the goal a smooth exit of this world to the next.

Despite knowing that this is the one ultimate life experience that will effect all of us, we all choose to live our lives like we will always have tomorrow. We work our asses off trying to earn a decent wage. Spend all our time around people we don’t like and spend the rest of the time pissing off the people we do.

Time is the enemy here. We never know when the sands of time will run out for each of us yet we continue to defy its ultimatum. Promising ourselves to change and not. Daring life to come and take us unprepared, unfulfilled.

Then what do we do… We regret. We look back at our lives and all those moments that seemed so important seem trivial. All that money earned doesn’t really seem enough for the happiness it cost.

Yet even with this information, we continue on our journey of self destruction. Rarely pondering on our actual worth in this world. Never stoping to ask the question … why? Is this really worth it?

The Palmist

If you look at my hand
What do you see
A palm with a few lines
Uncomplicated, simple and clean
A palm that tells of a long life with a few breaks in between

But what the lines don’t show the heart feels
And what the palmist cant read is real
It goes beyond the realms of life - to the life I lead underneath
The doubts, the fears, the insecurities
They govern each breath I take
My head feels like a labyrinth,
A maze of no escape

So don’t simplify my life with predictions of hope
Of love and joy without strife
Don’t mock my being with promises of peace
Or tales of a happier life

The sweat on my palms tells a truer tale
One of the strife and the pain
It tells of the loves that I have lost
Of the dreams that shattered and fade

So look up from my hands to the souls of my eyes
And it here that you will see
The truth as it is
Uncomplicated simple and clean
The truth that really is me.

Existence

I love reading murder mysteries. My favorite is Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercules Poirot. What I love about the books is the revelation of the kill. The author sets up a stage where all characters are together and through a method of assumption and elimination Poirot arrives at the method, the motive and the killer.

In life we all wish that we had a similar round up that would simply just explain why it is that we are here? If only life was as simple as an Agatha Christie’s novel. How utterly non complex life would be if we could just answer all our questions through a method of assumption and elimination.

People in quest for the answer take 2 paths. One is they spend their life questioning everything. They live in constant quest for solutions. Schools inbreed in us a sense that there always has to be a right and wrong answer. As a result we often spend countless hours debating in our minds about what is black or white.

Others go to the other extreme and live life to the fullest, excepting it with all its intricacies. They are happy with the fact that they don’t know what the future holds and are not really sure what their past means because they spend their lifetime only living in the present.

But there is another path… One where you simply accept life as a mystery you will never solve. When the greatest scientists are unable to solve the mystery of cancer or the universe you simply just accept it for what is while you learn and experience everything you can about it. As a person you accept your past though painful for what is was. You accept the decisions you make and though some may not be the best. You accept relationships, failed and successful because each gave you a gift.

By accepting you choose the middle road between both paths. You live your life in constant wonder of the beauty that surrounds you and at the same time you spend time pondering over the mysteries of the world…without too much expectation of an answer. Perhaps children have it right. Wonder is the most beautiful answer to the mystery of life.

Pangea

Pangea refers to the super continent from where all continents eventually borke away. Since the division the world has never since been considered one. Instead we prefer to concentrate on the imaginary lines that we create, the colour of our skin and not the blood that runs in our veins. Instead we concentrate on what divides us as against what unites us.

Pangea Day was celebrated on 10th May. Its a day where those in the film world come together to celebrate one world. Its an effort to make the world look at the world from the eyes of fellow human beings around the world. A wonderful initiative started by Jehane Noujaim. It showcased 24 short films by directors from across the world. In 2006 she won the TED prize and was awarded 1,00,000$ for a wish to change the world. Pangea Day was born out of this wish.

In India Pangea Day was organised at the NCPA. I had to satisfy myself with the live telecast on Star World. Some of the most touching films was Dancing Queen by India's very own Sumit Roy and I remember Lebanon by Zeina Aboul Hosn. Elevator Music by Serday Fertit and the ball by Orlando Mesquita( Making a ball out of a condom) had you in fits of laughter.

One wonders why no one ever thought about setting aside one day to celebrate the uniqueness of being human. Anyway better late than never.

Check out the website on http://www.pangeaday.org/

Goodbye

When is the right time to say goodbye?
Is it ever the right time to cut off all ties from someone?
What if you paths cross again in this journey called life?
How much do you give without ever receving any thing?
Did you really really give anything at all?
How honest can you be with someone when you know that no one cares for an eternity?
Why is it that the ones you dont like fall head over heals for you?
Why is it that you always want someone who never wants you back?
When is the right time to say goodbye?

Trees

Its amazing how much happier trees look in the forest. During a recent holiday to the forests around Karnataka, I got the opportunity to live in an environment with a thriving tree cover. It was one of the most wonderful experiences. There is a certain energy in forests. Its as if the place just pulsates a positive life force.

That's something you miss in the city. The trees in cities are covered in dust and soot and very often looked half dead. A far cry from the evergreens in the country side.

On our drive back I was extremely disappointed to see the trees that had been felled to widen the road.It was such a disappointing end to a wonderful trip because I felt like I was leaving heaven and entering purgatory.

Road Rage

When a family friend came down to Mumbai from Netherlands she was amazed at the way we drive...Lol. Frankly to me it seems completely normal but that’s probably because I learnt to drive here and any other way would be quite boring. Just because I find it normal that doesn’t mean I am willing to accept a rickshaw cutting me and getting away with it. Such a move is always followed by a flow of "galis". (Very often while the windows are up so the perpetrator never really gets to hear any of my curses).

Road rage is a given in Mumbai and its well accepted by companions and drivers too except when they actually hear you abusing them. In such cases there is a duet of galis that flow from one vehicle to the other. This sometimes leads to drivers abandoning their cars (especially male drivers)in a lil battle of one-upmanship. This is also extremely hilarious because no one ever touches the other but they will halt all traffic in the supposed effort to do so.

My rage has built up to such an extent that now even when I travel by rick, I find myself fighting to control myself from screaming at the driver when he isn’t driving fast enough or in the right lane. Don’t worry I do actually control myself but that’s also because my hindi is soooooo awful and I know that if I did scream at him , all he would do is chuckle.