Bloom ANew!!

Its the 31st of December, a clear but cold morning winding up it's chores and getting ready to make its way towards a new year.
Some people say that a new year is just another year in their life, a new morning, a new sunrise and like always the beginning of a new day. Perhaps partially they're right, coz sometimes life seems as if nothing has changed, but at times the changes are so drastic, that we can't help but not only notice them but can feel their glare that goes right through us.
Change does take place, a change that brings along a year that hopes for the better.Change is inevitable and I guess essential, coz it preserves us from stagnation. Change changes the way we think, the way we perceive reality and yes with loads of happiness it does bring along the pain of separation, separation from the yesterday that we loved coz a new today is quite unfamiliar, alien to our nature, our likes and dislikes...but I guess thats how life keeps us on our toes, tossing us from the old to a new and giving us a chance to move on.
This new year too will make flowers blossom and trees sway to it's tune...a new tune that would give way to a row of happy days and months in our life..till another new year opens it's eyes :)

Days have passed and months on end,
flowers had bloomed and seasons did blend..
love,loss,blessings and perhaps fear,
rose in the cradle of the passing year...
Now it's time to bloom a new,
A crisp new year is waiting for you :)

A Very Happy New Year to all my fellow bloggers, may the new year bring loads of happiness in your life. Amen :))

A sleepless night!

Its 2:59 at night, well yes precisely 2:59 lolz! Cant sleep but can think.....guess all of us can do that easily :)
Can see the night sky from my window, beautiful spread of black velvet , with a bit of sparkle spread here and there ...yes, you've guessed it right, its the stars!
Tress are swaying with the wind, birds have closed their nests, no popping heads , no chirping, no nothing.....complete silence.
Its Diwali tomorrow, by the way, happy Diwali everyone :)) The night is just waiting for a day of celebration, may be that's why it sees so still....
Today is the 5th of Nov, Friday, year 2010, a few more weeks to go , then a night would come in my life too, that would wait for a festival that would follow the next day....the festival that would celebrate a new beginning.....
I really don't know when months became weeks and now I see weeks changing into days ...strange....is time running or am I trying to catch hold of the few moments left on my mothers side....I would keep meeting her for sure...but is it gonna be the same?????????
Dear Sleepless Night,
Let sleep descend on my minds eye, so that I can wake up to welcome a beautiful tomorrow fast proceeding towards me .....
Good bye Sleepless night coz I feel sleep descending on me ..................................................................

Love thy name is mystery

I really don't understand how one falls in love with a stranger, who till sometime was not only out of our mind, but out of sight as well...it's strange, mysterious, but true...love does strike out of nowhere and leaves us zapped...since for those who believe that they can't fall in love...it's a serious set back... coz they find themselves completely floored, once they slip into the quick sand called love, and then they realise that it wasn't such a bad idea after all... :)
Infatuation comes with many faces, trying hard to convince us that it's love indeed, but fortunately it doesn't hold true to its words for long, since we do get to know the truth behind it as time slips through our hands.
Sympathy too guises itself as love in many relationships, but it loosens it's hold as time passes and we realise that its a feeling that doesn't figure in the real emotion called love and moves away with the harsh tides of life, making us understand that we can't hold on to things that have been jittery since the very beginning.
Then comes face value, that makes us value a certain being and loses it's value when we understand that love isn't about the outer covering...it's a feeling that resides deep within and it's difficult to dig it out until we have the right spade in our hand .... a spade of genuine emotion.
What is it that indicates that we are actually in love??!!!!???
Well.....bells don't ring...stars don't shine brighter.....world doesn't turn upside down.......
But something deep inside us binds itself to that one special person who knocks at our heart and takes it away ..that's when two lives start thriving as one ...
Love is mysterious, no one can ever explain it in words..it something that sinks in with time...that's why, they say, it's very difficult to find true love....and when you find it....you get everything in life...everything that gives one the feeling of being complete :)

Love thy name is mystery,
as mysterious as can be...
we try to solve the puzzle,
and get puzzled with thee...
you give light to those in dark...
and show the way towards eternity,
Love thy name is mystery, as mysterious as can be...

Once fallen in your pit,
one likes to be there forever...
Is it some kind of a prank you play,
with those who're scared of your terror??
Sweeping like waves on the sea shore,
Sitting like a branch on a tree..
You grow within us everyday, and spread on us with blissful glee,
Love, thy name is mystery, as mysterious as can be...

You knock many hearts, you rule many minds,
It's in your clutches one breathes the scent of relief...
It took time to realise the fact...
that you are indeed a pleasant breeze :)
Love, thy name is mystery, as mysterious as can be...

Mystery that leads to the best

Life is not always what you think it is, it leaves you quite puzzled at times. Sometimes it seems as if everything has fallen into place and sometimes all you've thought, seems to be a castle of cards, ready to break away with the slightest gush of wind.
Why is it that what we perceive is not what things are all about. There are so many layers to reality that sometimes reality itself seems unreal.
We turn the pages of life and all of a sudden we come across a page that we had long forgotten, and then the present seems so unlike what our past was all about.
We are born free only to grow up and find innumerable boundaries all around us, and we realise that what we called freedom was but a part within the boundaries drawn around us by the world.
Certain realisations catch us by surprise, certain people we know are not the same, friends remain but in name, pangs of survival keeps us tide to the bonds we would otherwise like to break.
Life is a surprise, a surprise that catches us unawares every now and then, and then makes us think..."oh, but this is not what I had in mind!"
But something that I've realised through the course of my life is that whatever happens has something good behind it. That good may not reveal itself at that very instance, but we do figure it out as we sail in the waters of the passing times.

A bird sat on a flower, caught by its beauty,
It got lost in its colour and the amazing serenity.
All of a sudden a gush of wind made her realise,
that the flower was but very fragile,
It blew with the wind and the hasty gush,
The bird felt sad and left in a huff,
why is it that God didn't feel mercy, on such a beautiful creation of his own artistry.
As the bird flew it looked down upon the fields, a little girl held the same flower feebly...
She was thanking God for the beautiful flower she now had , "I'll give it to my mother coz she's very sad,
she toils from the crack of the day to the late eve ,
I'll make her happy with the little flower that has nice red petals and beautiful green leaves,
it would lessen my mothers sadness for sure, and would bring a smile on the face, that smiles no more."
The bird who was a witness to the whole journey, said that indeed life is God's mystery,
he does things that we can never understand,
but when we finally do,
we fall short of words of thanks...
Thank God for giving me all I didn't pray for,
Coz these are the things that I needed indeed.

Life

I feel that life is a big question mark, at times things get really tough and sometimes the road ahead looks quite clear, sometimes seasons leave a happy flavour on our mind and sometimes a day looks as if it'll take forever to complete....Innumerable question marks and our search for their answers ...its a never ending process.
At times the sun feels a little too bright and sometimes the rays just seep in and make you feel happy and full of joy.... the rain drops almost everytime manage to capture that trapped smile of ours and make it spread gleefully all over us and at time our mud soaked clothes get the devil out of us :)
The moon has a tranqulizing effect, but when it reflects someone far away, it brings tears to our eyes...
Flowers bloom for a reason, to bring joy to this world...they perish when we even after looking at them, see through their beauty... when we stop and cherish the wonders of the world, that includes a little flower growing in our garden...the world adorns a different colour and looks surprisingly beautiful.....
Sometimes I feel it's a fact for sure , that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder...otherwise why would a poet find a barren desert beautiful and would end up writng a poem on it ...
Life sure is beautiful , even if at times we feel it lets us down...coz when we set the horizons of our mind free to capture its beauty, life sure turns to the brighter side...it's what we call the brighter side of life :)

Drench My Soul

I thought for a moment but my thoughts left me,
How do I describe you, dear rain and your beautiful mysteries,
You drench my soul and still I’m dry,
May be the thirst would never die,
You pour in your blessing and still we seek,
a little more of your beautiful bounties..
You drop in a river and make it shine,
The sun takes a break and gets a bit mild,
The flowers fill their cups of morning tea, sipping each drop so delightfully,
A bird sings on my window sill,
The trees dance by joining in ,
and what do I say about the little leaves, They gather your drops and play with glee,
and I seeking company join the gang, and sing to the lovely nature’s song.
Oh rain do visit us every year,
we wait for you in an anticipated fear,
and when you drop by generously.......My heart tunes in to your mysteries! :)

Independence is a huge responisibility:Respect it!

Independence means a lot, it's something that we as a nation achieved after innumerable sacrifices, the number can not even be recalled. It makes our independence extremely precious.
On this Independence day, a thought is knocking at my door...does independence mean that we get a licence to do anything we want??Does it give us a license to say anything we want to? Does it give us a right to present ourselves in anyway..even if it might or might not be a very comfortable thought for others!What does freedom to express ourselves actually mean?What does freedom actually mean?
I came across an act of self expression that did hurt a lot. I can't really describe it but this act is a representation of the behaviour that most people become a part of, without realising how it may affect another person.
We are free to live, free to be happy and free to spread happiness, freedom comes to those who care for it...we got independence because our leaders cared for our well being, they knew how important it is for our country, to free itself from the clutches of an alien rule!
Respect your freedom and that of others, don't waste it by indulging in acts that are a disgrace to our society...if you hurt someone, it doesn't mean that you expressed your free will by doing so..in fact you've strangled yourself in the clutches of darkness. Do not act in an irresponsible way .
Honour your independence and that of others..
A Very Happy Independence Day to all!

Thankfully Blessed!

When a new phase starts in ones life, everything seems a little different, or maybe its just the heart that observes and enjoys the positive change.
I got engaged yesterday. It was amazing, surrounded by the whole family,immediate,extended, friends and no foes :)It was just out of the world, everyone seemed to be in a chirpy mood!It felt as if my family was waiting for me to grow up and give them a chance to enjoy themselves...and yes they did enjoy!
A day before the occasion, my aunt came to me with a beautiful present, a lovely Saree made with the most beautiful colours....she had tears in her eyes...she hugged me as if I was about to leave at that very moment...I too was in tears. There are so many things that give us a reason to thank God, the people who love and care for us top the list!
It's good to know that there are people who love us so much that they try to do everything under their control to make us happy. As I received my present, I thought about the maid who works in our house and her daughters impending marriage...she has no one to make even the simplest arrangements for her, she requests the people she works for to help her during the occasion...Her daughter has no one who can gift her a beautiful saree..no one who can make lavish arrangements for her marriage..yet she's happy...happy about the fact that she'd start a new phase in her life and looks forward to it...God has given each one us a portion of his choicest wealth..he has bestowed the poor with the gift of contentment..they live happily with whatever they have and try to adjust in every situation...I won't say they are really happy with the fact...but you wont see them cribbing 24/7 , unlike us who even crib about the colour of our dress, the fact that we are fat or too thin, the fact that there's a bit of a problem here and there....In all this cribbing and crying we fail to notice that God has bestowed us with the things that other people crave for..while we crib about the colour of our walls, a person somewhere prays for a little shelter that would just save him from the harsh showers of nature!
Sharing what we have and thanking God for all that he's given us would definitely make us a better human being...that's precisely why God didn't make everyone equal....he wanted us to level the world with love so that each individual enjoys the gift of love and affection .
So share the love that's bestowed on you and make it a chain reaction!

Setting the Right Example!

Yesterday while stuck in traffic, I wondered why all of us are in such a hurry that we literally just want to fly over everyone else, irrespective of the problems that our irresponsible behaviour might cause.
I was really angry at the man who went on honking, without realizing that there were thirty other cars ahead of me who were stuck in the same traffic jam!!
All of a sudden a big car stopped in front and a well dressed man came out and started lifting up an iron board that had fallen in the middle of the road.
As the board was really heavy he asked one of the other car drivers to help him, the reluctant car driver started unlocking his seat belt, when a man on a motor bike quickly got down and the willingly gave a hand!

Both the gentlemen lifted the board and secured it in such a way, so that it doesn't fall again....
Everyone around stopped honking.....a precious example was set for everyone else to follow.
Both men drove away after clearing the hurdle that was causing the jam!

It was a great deed indeed, for those who understand its importance, it was an example set for everyone else to follow.....instead of just honking, a little patience and good deed just made everyones day!

Wherever the two gentlemen are....I salute them for the great endeavour!!!

The Darkness that never ends!

Human beings have been blessed with the most beautiful emotions, the best that God could shower upon a living being....God made us human and we learnt to be humane. We learnt to love while in our mothers womb, a stage when no one knows who we are or would turn out to be. We learn to cry when we see someone in pain, because it reminds us of the fact that it hurts when tears roll out.....then one fine day we mould into an independent individual....one who has learnt everything and has witnessed the most amazing emotions in life....it's a stage where we make a choice ...and some of us choose....choose what we think is right, forgetting about every tear that might roll out....every face that would cry out in pain....every sight that would be severely gruesome.....but we choose and declare that what we do in life, would be the best....At this stage we just keep ourselves in mind and turn inhuman......Though we started our journey as a human being, our choices place an extra i,n, and make us what God never wanted us to be!
Burning people alive, placing bombs in a kids playground, dowry deaths, concentration camps, a poisonous gas leak....are just a few examples planted by "things"that cease to be human..I'll call them things coz they lose their ability to think and feel....they are as stony as rocks...sans everything that one can ever imagine to be human.
Do people really get what they want by being brutal....or is it the ashes of their own burnt psyche that they keep on preserving till the very end.
We write our own destiny and it's we who destroy it....
God sent us as a part of humanity..it's our fault if we choose to be someone totally different...a self made disaster.
All those who think that by giving pain they can get what they want....I just have one thing to say...ashes can never build homes, they can just darken the horizon with an ugly tomorrow!

Did your heart go "twing!!"

Twing!!!! Have you heard this sound before???? Don't tell me you haven't!!Everyone does...see it goes like twing!!! and you see stars and planets and ...well loads of other utter nonsensical stuff....but you do!! "Twing" is the sound of your heart that has approved of something :)
It reminds me of the people that we come across in life..some end up ringing a twing, others well fuse it for good! Hence it's important to listen to ones heart coz it might drive you in every direction possible, but does take you to your desired destination!
Every "twing"in life has a memory intact in it's rhythm....Do you remember when you heared it really loud!!I'm sure you do!If you still haven't....someday you surely would...
Sometimes when everything is so indecisive, you just pray that things settle down and your heart shows a green signal and goes..tw...well you know what!
So the next time your heart goes twing...remember you've reached your destination!

I heared a loud twing,
and guess what, it was my heart..
maybe it was mounted on a spring I thought or just dancing to the glory of God,
and then I realised this sound was for things,
That happen to us on earth...
the things that make us happy, the things that build heavenly abodes,
and yes I guessed it right...it was indeed the case,
life stores a twing for every heart..
Every heart has its day ;)

A Cure for Almost Everything!!

Many days had passed but S was nowhere to be seen, I enquired about here but no one knew where she had gone. I was worried coz a few days back she was anxious about her son, and how he refused to eat anything and was underweight.
Today when she entered office, she was full of life, freshness and all the adjectives that would make a person look well...blooming :)
"You know what!we visited our village, it's just beautiful!,"exclaimed S with a big smile on her face. So the secret behind the whole ordeal of thoughts was that she had taken leave to go to her village, where her inlaws used to live a long time back and which now is left with their mango farms, ancestral home and a few of her relatives. The way she described her village was just amazing.....lush green trees, narrow streams flowing near the houses, hills with step farms of varied colours and trees laden with fruits! The freshness of her village had, it seemed swept all her worries away :)
It's amazing how nature has an effect on us, both internally and externally. Internally we feel happy, non-crappy, full of life and the happiness within makes us glow twice as much!
Remember the time when you were in a bad mood and then the weather changes, it begins to rain and how your mood swung to the positive side of things...it's called the natural effect!
Have you ever witnessed the time when a gentle breeze tends to bring down all the mangoes on the trees, or the time when in order to have green chile or a vegetable you just had to go to your garden and pick one up and the time when paper boats could be placed in the stream that ran next to your house, the time when everyone sat to cut the home grown vegetables and cooked them together, having a hot meal with a cold shower of rain beautifully dancing with the winds outside your window......
I know most of us didn't witness all this, coz we live in a concrete jungle that runs on a machinic life.
But nothings impossible, though we can't make a stream run next to our house, we can plant saplings to keep our surroundings lush green...and our trees would then invite the rains to dance along with them and trust me, we would be a party to it :)
When I asked her how her son was doing, she said he eats while we narrate stories of lakes, trees, jungles and the happy animals....I know it for a fact, nature has a cure for almost everything!

The Wonders of Nature!

Yesterday in the middle of the night, the electricity went off, to add to the amazingly unbearable heat, the inverter gave up aswell, sleeping inside seemed like a crude punishment ...so in order to save our life, we came out in the courtyard and choose a chair, a sofa, each to lay down and kill the heat.... As I was laying down under the open sky, I could see the big round moon, shining brightly and watching over us, it too had a blanket, a blanket of clouds that covered it for short intervals....it looked as if the moon was playing hide and seek.
It's good to be close to nature, it helps us unburden and makes us feel that all the problems in the world are temporary, like the clouds in the sky that cover the moon or the sun, and then slip away in no time.
The moon, the sun, the sky, winds, rain..... perform miracles for us every now and then, its for us to understand and cherish and to realise the fact that the petty things that we crib about are nothing.... absolutely nothing as compared to the blessings that the Almighty bestows upon us..the very fact that we feel alive when a cold shower of rain conquers the unbearable heat is just a small example.

As I looked into the sky,
deep inside the sea of clouds,
my eyes seeped into the royal blue cover,
and there I found, what imagination could never make me wonder,
a universe full of miracles,
of planets , of stars,
of moons and a thousand suns,
and a trait that led afar,
it was a miracle indeed, as miraculous as it could be,
divinity was at its best and enveloped a million galaxies.
I rode on the bubbles of twilight and slipped through the milky way,
and knocked on the doors of heaven, and played at its beautiful gates!
And then it was time, as the sun was ready to spread its rays,
as I couldn't stand it's light, my eyes closed and then opened on a bright new day.

Keep the doors wide open :)

Happiness is something that comes into our lives through doors we don't even remember leaving open-Rose Wilder Lane.
When we are sad or 'don't feel at it' as explained in the popular lingo, we tend to close all the doors around us...the doors that keep our mind and our existence open to the good things in the world. A streak of happiness creeps in and bang we close our mind on it.
Sadness makes us miserable, but only when we want it to, otherwise sadness can also be turned into a struggle towards happiness, and believe me that's a much better option.
I think happiness is the best medicine one can ever have, every positive thought that goes into our mind, spreads on our heart and in turn heals our senses,its like the philosopher's stone that turns base metal into gold...it truly makes our thoughts shine with positivity!
Today I want to share a story with all of you that I discovered while surfing the net, it's a great example for all of us:
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with cancer and had been given 3 months to live. Her Dr. told her to start making preparations to die. So she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what she wanted to be wearing.
The woman also told her pastor that she wanted to be buried with her favorite bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.
"There's one more thing" she said excitedly. "What's that?" came the pastor's reply. "This is very important." The woman continued. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand." The pastor stood looking at the woman not knowing quite what to say. "That shocks you doesn't it?" the woman asked. "Well to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request" said the pastor.
The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and functions where food was involved (and let's be honest, food is an important part of any church event; spiritual or otherwise); my favorite was when whoever was clearing away the dishes of the main course would lean over and say "you can keep your fork."
It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming. When they told me to keep my fork I knew that something great was about to be given to me. It wasn't Jell-O or pudding. It was cake or pie. Something with substance.
So I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?" Then I want you to tell them, "Something better is coming so keep your fork too."
The pastor's eyes were welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman goodbye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She KNEW that something better was coming.
At the funeral people were walking by the woman's casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing and her favorite bible and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over the pastor heard the question "What's with the fork?" And over and over he smiled.
During his message the pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. The pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.
He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you that there is something better coming.
--- Author Unknown
All of us have to keep our forks ready, it's only then would we be able to wait for good things to happen. On the other hand if we give in to a situation and drown our lives into sadness, it's then that we close all the doors where happiness might knock at any moment in our lives.
I know that sadness is all consuming coz when it settles on us , it becomes difficult to brush it away, but we have to understand that this is the real war that needs to be won...we have to conquer our state of mind and lead it towards a positive direction....after all each one of us deserves to be happy coz we're a precious creation of God...very precious indeed :)

Planting seeds of love

Yesterday we went for a walk, me and my dad. As we got busy with each step getting faster than the last one, my dad's eye fell on a boy who was pulling out leaves from a baby tree...before I could react I saw him fasten up his pace and in a few minutes he was standing next to the child, telling him how hurt the plants feel if you pull their leaves....the scene ended there and we continued our walk..after a minute to our horror the child started uprooting the branch...as it was a young tree, and a small one, it was easy for a child to pull it out....dad ran across the field with me shouting behind him to calm down, but to no avail...the child of course got a good shouting and was taken away by his elder brother, who made no attempts at stopping him.
Though I was a little upset with dad, as he shouted at the 8 year old, but then I realised that if we don't educate kids at a young age about the importance of nature, how would they ever get to know, how would they ever stop our earth from becoming barren, how else would they learn to plant trees.
It's very important to spread awareness, especially among young kids so that they learn to become responsible towards the environment and should save nature from being destroyed at the hands of those for whom material wealth is all important. Such people do not realise how important it is to save the environment from being damaged!
Education begins at home and has the greatest influence on an innocent mind.....spread awareness and help make those little hands plant trees today, so that tomorrow they become responsible towards their environment.

It won't take long :)

Desires, dreams and reality....each of them try to play hide and seek with the other..sometimes dreams try to catch up with the reality and sometimes desires just turn into a mere dream, reality stays aloof, keeping dreams and desires at bay...but it also happens that when our dreams and desires take a few determined steps towards reality...the end result is what we always longed for.
At times it seems that it's just impossible to merge our dreams with the reality of our life, but what we fail to realise here is that sometimes reality itself becomes better than what we had dreamt of....it's an open ended puzzle with both the ends chasing one another..sometimes dreams turn into reality and sometimes the reality is better than what our dream could ever be....
Whatever said or done, time decides what's best for us and in order to receive the best..all we need is a little patience...giving up isn't a solution for anything in life, it just takes life on a downward track...
So wait and let the best happen to you....meanwhile just walk hand in hand with a little hard work...it makes our wait shorter for sure.

They ran for their life!

Ruins tell us a sad tale, a tale that has several lives at stake, a tale that saw innocence breathe its last, a tale that ended in an empty city, a tale that still carries on....
What happens when calamity strikes, we humans run to save the remains of our life, run without looking at who is who , we run leaving behind our shelter, our home , our family...running non- stop in the dark cold night...yes, this is exactly what happens when calamity strikes.

Millions of thoughts go flashing around our mind...
Is it the judgement day?Is it the last day of our life??Would I live to see the sun, or would the darkness of the night close my eyes....
Oh where is my son , my daughter , my wife...why did I leave them behind..they too must be running for their lives...May God help us unite!!Oh this congestion, why is my chest heavy with pain..what is it that's taking my life...why do I see death spread all around ...oh look there lies a little child..but why is he so still...God, why didn't you help save his life....who left the crying baby, the home looks deserted..oh what plight!!!!; the animals have given up already....is it a signal for me to cease and say good bye...why do I hear innumerable tears resounding....why do I see a flood of tears and horror...it was a normal night for sure ...How did it generate such fear.....it is but true that any day can be the last day of our lives..the last one for sure.....ahhh I'm tired can't run any longer, the screams have stopped, theres darkness ......complete darkness......my end is close...very close...
(The Industrial Catastrophe at Bhopal 1984)

Around midnight on December 2–3, 1984, there was a leak of methyl isocynate(MIC) gas and other toxins from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, India. The gas released 390 tons of toxic chemicals, taking a toll on innumerable lives. People ran at the middle of the cold december night, leaving their homes behind....

The Factors leading to the gas leak include:
The use of hazardous chemicals (MIC) instead of less dangerous ones
Storing these chemicals in large tanks instead of over 200 steel drums.
Possible corroding material in pipelines
Poor maintenance after the plant ceased production in the early 1980s
Failure of several safety systems (due to poor maintenance and regulations).
Safety systems being switched off to save money—including the MIC tank refrigeration system which alone would have prevented the disaster.

The plant was closed immediately but innumerable teary eyes are still waiting for justice!!!
The new generation still suffers from the after effects...many are born handicapped....

Life poses a whole lot of questions which we are never able to answer...sometimes justice takes a little too long...sometimes tears just sit unmoving on the pale eyes of the one who witnesses the loss.....there are many questions that need to be answered but the answer remains out of reach....faults happen and calamity strikes on those who have nothing to do with it....
Sometimes life asks tough questions...very tough indeed.

Determined to march forth??

Every decision needs determination. Yes, one can take this for a fact! If we decide to do something, we have to be determined to do it...one can't just decide and forget about it the next moment, this just shows a weak decision and nothing else.
Every decision isn't easy, once you decide to do something you have to keep at it.
When the great leaders decided that they would spend their life in the service of their motherland and would work towards an independent tomorrow, their decisions never lagged behind, their must be moments of questioning within them , but I'm sure there was never a moment to alter their decision coz the result can be seen today...we hold our head high and walk on the streets once tied to the clutches of an alien Raaj.
Our leaders were indeed strong decision makers, who have left a great example for us, i.e. to decide and march forth...though the journey might be tough but as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!!
Take responsible decisions in your life, decide to make each new day a pleasant one ...march forth and remember the world has changed for the better due to strong decision makers!!

Let's do something NEW!!!

Life and its continuous journey makes me realise, that monotony emerges if we do not try discovering new avenues and exploring new things in life. We live life and each day has something different in it, though it seems to be the same if we do not take an initiative to bring out the newness in it.
Don't tie yourself to a rope of self restrain, specially if it's about something that makes you happy...yes some invisible strength should be available at all times, to pull you back from the things that lead you astray...but not when good things pull you towards them.
Do you like dancing ....however aged you may feel, however much your mature senses might pull you back, just break free and enjoy yourself.
Do you like jumping into a puddle ...do that!!You won't believe how happy you'd feel!
Do you cry while watching a movie...don't be scared that people would comment..just let the tears flow..it'll make you feel lighter!
My mother loves looking at the moon, it makes her happy..something that I've inherited from her..... I never knew this about her, she never told anyone, In order to present herself as a mature person she never expressed her excitement..but one day when I shouted out.."mom look that's such a beautiful moon!..her eyes twinkled with the glow in the sky, she got to know that she wasn't the only one who loved to stare at the night sky and now every time she spots the moon in the sky..she shouts out...."Sana look, isn't that moon just amazing!"(dad and my bros have got used to our exclamations ;))
It's good to be a mature human being, our responsible behaviour should never take leave of us, we can be a responsible mother, a great daughter, a good father, an amazing worker, a serious boss...but when it comes to making our day special by presenting it with something new, we should let our hair loose once in a while...or as many times as it makes us happy.... dancing to the rhythm of life, indulging in things that make us happy... There's no harm in being happy and doing things we love the most!!
Don't just lead a monotonous life and keep complaining about it...God has blessed us with the power to choose...make a choice...be happy...spread happiness!
If God's willing, I would love to turn into a great grandmom, watching cartoons with all the kids around me and dancing to the tune of things that make me happy...I'll teach them to be happy souls and to learn the trick of giving a new zest to life by doing what they love the most!!

In todays world where stress has grown roots into our life..let's hold a spade each and let's throw out the weed called depression that is happily sinking into our present, inturn affecting our future....
Let's grow seeds of happiness for ourselves and for those around us!! :)

Friends,
I wont be able to post anything new for sometime...But I'd be back soon with more posts and loads of things to share!!:)
Till then take care all of you!
Be Happy and Keep that smile on !! :)

Let's join hands to plant a Beautiful Tomorrow!!!
Starting Today and Continuing Forever!!
:)

Do we need a Paint Brush.......

Beautiful paintings attract our eyes and draw our attention towards them....the colours, the lines , the meaning behind each stroke, everything leaves you zapped.....we all have a misconception that only great artists have the ability to create such terrific, breathtaking works...but how many of us know that God has hidden an artist in each one of us...someone who doesn't need a paint brush, or a canvas to create beautiful landscapes...our mind can do the needful!!Surprised!!

God is the greatest artist and what's great about his work is that he colours our imagination and leaves an enchanting effect on our senses, making each one of us, an artist of a different kind....
What happens when we see a beautiful landscape...our mind captures the image and hangs it on the walls of our minds eye, and when we recline on our chair...long after we believe that the memory must have faded away, our mind starts painting a beautiful picture of the very sight that left us speechless....it's then that we become an artist, painting inwards and creating pictures that smear our senses with delight.
That's why it is said that it's important to observe.

Observe what goes around you...observe the little baby of a construction worker, you'd be taken aback by the innocent, moist eyes.
Observe the route that you take to your office everyday...did you ever notice that the trees on the side paths struggle to freshen up the air around you?
Observe the light rays of the early morning sun and the dew that settles on the leaves...how is it that everything turns greener than ever.
Observe the faces of people stuck in a traffic jam...don't they seem similar....all of them running a race without knowing what life is all about!
Observe the silent corner of the joggers park, the squirrel that runs around, the birds that keep chirping ... you'll notice that each one of them is working hard to make your day better!

Observe and paint a picture in your mind...a picture that represents your life, the way you want it to be.....Believe me no other piece of art would seem better.
Fill colours of happiness and peace in your life... coz each one of us can work on a beautiful masterpiece, that would be a blueprint of our aspirations towards a beautiful tomorrow!

The Stomach that moulds life!

Rajan was getting ready for school, he was looking forward to it. The day before it had been a hard day for him, masterji had not been very kind....not kind enough to let go of his incorrect sums...maths was always a mystery to him, but he took it up as a challenge, a challenge to do his best to stay in school as long as possible, since his stomach fought a tough battle of patience and longing for the sumptuous mid day meal that was distributed in school everyday.
All his friends, kalu, meera, kabir, junaid, suresh, all of them had joined school for the same reason.
The lessons on the history of the nation did interest them, the various stories of the great warriers came as a boost for their not so easy life...Like brave warriers they too fought with their hunger and celebrated their victory when the mid day meal was served.
The dinners and breakfast at home were a rare sight, their mothers got their meals in the houses they worked for and sometimes saved a little for their kids and spouse and their fathers were labourers working day and night with a cloth tied to their stomach to stop the hunger pangs...they too were lucky to be given something to eat when the owner felt generous enough....life was not a bed of roses for Rajan and his friends, coming from poor families, their happiness rested in the school corridors.
It was late in the afternoon, Rajan had not had anything to eat since day before, he was extremely hungry and was waiting for the midday meals to be served...the wait got longer but there was no sign of the food lorry.
Time passed......The break got over..... masterji came in the class and started a new lesson.....weakened by his hunger, Rajan, with innocent drooping eyes asked his teacher...masterji aren't we getting food today?"
Masterji looked at him, and a shadow of sadness covered his face...no my boy didn't you hear the news.....the cooked meal program has been disrupted due to shortage of food grains, there are some problems going on. Rajan cried out, " what problems masterji!"...his teacher had a worried look , "you won't understand kid, the HRD ministry and the Department of Food and Public Distribution are locked in a payment spat...."
Rajan," no masterji, I understand it well..." those people are unable to understand my hunger!!!!"
With tears in his eyes Rajan started flipping the pages of his notebook....food was the reason why his father had allowed him to study and food would be the reason for him to drop out of school to earn his bread....
After all what would alphabets do if one doesn't have the strength to understand them????????

It's not just one life

It was twelve in the afternoon, her son had come back from school, Zeba was completing the daily chores...She could feel it coming, the pain was knocking her senses but she was determined to make arrangements before leaving...She ironed the clothes of her little one and packed them in a bag...the books for the next day had to be sorted out...there were medical papers that had to be taken out and placed in her handbag..
There was a knock at the door, the maid had come to take her son to the neighbours house, an old couple who were happy to help...."take good care of him Kamla, and get him ready for school tomorrow on time...I'll be back soon."
The maid looked a bit puzzled but nodded in agreement.
Everything was in order , she kissed the little one and sent him on his way, locked the house and holding on to all the strength and patience that was left in her she reached the hospital on time.
The hospital was just a few blocks away and she had got conveyance arranged beforehand.
As soon as she got down from the vehicle the last string of her courage just broke and she was instantly taken to the ward...... a new leaf of life was turned over....she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl...
A smile of satisfaction smeared her face as she saw the little one as a sign of her victory....while her husband fought on the front, she braved her life daringly...fighting and winning over another battle...the battle posed by life. She knew that he would be proud of his fellow soldier...

It's not just one life that sacrifices itself for us, but there are numerous chords that work as pillars of strength...while one ensures that we sleep in peace, the other takes care that her brave companion has a happy home to come back to...

The Good and the Bad of it.....

A friend once told me that she likes being alone, so much so that she is possessive about her solitude.
Solitude often refers to loneliness, but in this day and age it has split into varied meanings, it can act as a break in which we can recollect our selves and recall the days happenings.
When we meditate in solitude , the mind settles down and stops running the daily marathon that it has got used to. It helps a person to stay focused.
Solitude can act as a balm but can also serve as an enemy...since when we try to cut ourselves from others for longer periods, we fail to realise that relationships too are vital for a happy life.
Striking a balance is a must. It's good to spend time with oneself, all alone, just we and our thoughts, but it's also important to open up and breathe in the freshness of the blessings showered on us ..our loved ones, our happy moments, our sadness...yes sadness as well, since it helps us grow, making us appreciate the good things in life.
Solitude is a bliss, till it doesn't turn into a well in which we decide to stagnate forever...it should act as a short sojourn, getting that refreshed effect that helps us understand and appreciate life.

Tame Your Fears!

Yesterday I saw a painting of a lion sitting comfortably in a living room, with a little girl resting against it and reading a book. I've seen this painting many times before, on my visits to my cousins' place and it has always given me a lot of peace. I could never explain why it had such a soothing effect on me! Yesterday, when I saw it again, a big fact of life knocked at my mind....don't we all have fears? In the painting like the little girl rests against a lion, we too rest against our fears but don't ever let them take over , because life has to be lived with courage.
Our shortcomings, our fears, our failure, all this is a part of the game called life , we just have to be good jugglers, juggling with the good and the bad and striking a balance in our life. Sometimes the negative becomes heavier and tumbles down but that doesn't stop life from going on, it does come to a standstill for sometime, or it seems to be the case but time flows away and heals every thing.
Our courage to take life as it comes should never fade away. We are never too far from the positive, neither are we too close to the negative, the courage to conquer our fears, sets things right!

Looking at the painting, I realised that our fear walks with us, where ever we may be, but we should never let it overtake our path...when we overcome the negativity in our life, we can always be at peace with ourselves and our life would be touched with a serene smile in turn giving us the courage to walk with our fears.
You must be thinking as to why I've chosen a lion to be a symbol of our fears, well that's what they seem to be when they scare us, but when we turn them into a tamed pet that's when our courage to brave life comes in the forefront!
Tame your fears........ they'll never be able to take over!

Complex beyond imagination!

Do we really know the people with whom we have spent a significant part of our lives ?Is it possible to understand a human being....however close we may be? Why is there something that always comes as a surprise? Why are so many questions left with no answer at all? Is this complex phenomenon called humanity, a tale with innumerable plots, one unfolding after another.....Confused??So am I!
It's difficult to understand people, even those whom we claim to know well. Our mind works in different ways and we never get to know which new turn it decides to take at any point of time in life...things happen and we are left zapped, struggling to find a reason that triggered them off....A person we've known for long becomes a stranger in a jiffy...someone whose thought process is alien to us! It happens with everyone, even if we claim to be simple....the very simplicity shows so many colours that we surprise our selves and are taken aback!
Yes, we humans consist of a complex mechanism....more complex than we can can ever imagine it to be....
The simplest of all can turn into rocket science and the complex ones can be as simple as ABC.
Be Prepared to be surprised where fellow humans are concerned, even if its our own self.....you never know when life takes, hopefully,a pleasant turn ;)













You are a mystery to me ....
you and the self within.
Days passed and life kept surprising...
Until I realised one day, that it's all in the mind...
It's a complex machinery we fail to understand!

Even if it's just once everyday!

I remember a school assembly that was conducted by our principal. She started it with a question.."how many of you have made someone smile in the whole week that has passed...does anyone remember??There was complete silence in the assembly hall, since all of us were busy remembering when we actually made someone smile but the mind went blank...totally...completely.
How important is it to do something good for someone even if it's a small little deed like making someone smile...very important..in fact if all of us strive to make someone smile everyday the world would be a better place since there would be someone or the other to spread the cheer and lift our spirits!
A smile is contagious, most of us must have observed that when someone smiles at us..even if it's a stranger, it brings a smile on our face..it sure does.
I still remember that the question wasn't left confined to the school assembly, it was brought to the class. We were asked to list a number of incidents when we made someone smile, then on the next page we were asked to list a number of things that can be done to make someone smile..when the list was ready our class teacher asked us to reflect on the first list and if we feel that it isn't sufficient we should paste the second list on the first one..i.e. we had to paste the list of things that can be done to make someone smile on the one that had the list of the number of times we made someone smile....the first list was highly insufficient and hence was taken over by the second one...Thus our teacher announced, now you have an important list in your hand...the ways to make someone smile ....."Make a fresh Beginning!"...from now on it's your duty to follow it everyday "religiously"...the word religious emphasized the fact as to how important it was to at least attempt to do a good deed everyday...
That day I went home, hugged by mom and promised to be an obedient kid...it did bring a smile on her face..even though being a mother, she knew that time keeps changing ;)
There were many things that were taught to us when we were kids...That day, in the school assembly those lines got registered somewhere deep within.. and still reside in my mind's eye, so much that today I do make a conscious attempt to bring a smile on someones face...if nothing else the thought makes my day :)

I read the following poem while surfing the net and thought should share...it's very meaningful!

SMILE FOR YOU
Smiling is infectious; you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner and someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized I'd passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile then I realized its worth,
A single smile, just like mine could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected.
Let's start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected!
Anonymous

"Let's saddle up and ride"

"No matter how bad things are, you can always make them worse. At the same time it is often within your limits to make things better."Through the whole ordeal I don't think we ever said to each other, "this isn't fair. We kept going . We recognised that there were things we could do that might outcome in positive ways...and we did them. Without saying in words, our attitude was, Let's saddle up and ride."The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

What would we do if we are told that we don't have enough time to live, would we prefer going into self dejection, mourning about the calamity that has struck, or would it be right to make use of the time that we have and enjoy it to the best of our abilities!
The last lecture is a novel based on a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a computer science professor and a highly experienced person who was diagnosed with terminal
cancer . Pausch decided to give a lecture that would be his last and a way to be remembered by the people he cared for...the lecture is not about his terminal illness but about "Achieving ones childhood dreams!"
Some people have this great positive energy about them, it's not that they don't feel unhappy, but they know how to make themselves happy with whatever limited reasons that they may have.
How easy or difficult is it, to generate positivity within oneself?....it sure can be difficult in situations like the one Randy was facing, but is it good to let go of the "now" and crib about something that might happen tomorrow...
As Robert Frost said, "life goes on", and therefore it's in our hands to make our journey as happy as possible. All of us go through our share of pain, all of us go through our share of discomfort and all of us are blessed with happiness as well, it's our decision as to what we concentrate on, the most.
In one part of the lecture, Randy describes " a way to understand optimism", he says that "my personal take on optimism is that as a mental state , it can enable you to do tangible things to improve your physical state. If you're optimistic you're better able to endure brutal chemo, or keep searching for late-breaking medical treatments."
Optimism is a key to a healthy life...life that smiles at you while you stand with open arms to embrace it, as and when it comes with different hues, that oft change our perspective and show us a new opening every time.
He sums up the lecture with the greatest truth behind a good life;
"It's not about how to achieve your dreams.It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself.The dreams will come to you."

Stepping Ahead!!

Wrapped in a soft cloth with eyes open wide , when God had just whispered life into me and I was an epitome of innocence as much as can be, when the soft sound of Azan entered my ears, I knew for sure that I had arrived where I was meant to be .
The world, a place that would witness my deeds for life and God would keep an eye on me for sure....
"I'll be watching over you!" were the last words I heard on my way to the world of mortals.
As I was pushed down from the heavens, I let out a cry and on opening my eyes found myself upside down, hanging from the hands of the woman whom I'm sure had something to do with my tears. She handed me over to my mother, who I had been told was a door to heaven, and yes she was, coz it was for the first time, in her hands, that I was introduced to the feeling of love, in its purest form...Life seemed beautiful and the road ahead a little bleak but steady, coz I was sure that she would help me learn to walk on the right path.
Today I am at a point of time in my life when I can see the road ahead quite clearly ...Hopefully I would start a new phase in my life and a new life would toddle ahead, when my journey would seize....
Life cannot be measured with the number of days you've lived but by the number of moments that have painted it better and have made it look nice!
Today as I step into another year of my life, my treasure chest full of memories looks happy and bright :)

Wish to be a Wild Flower

I saw a wild flower and felt it belonged to me,
or was it me dancing in the soliatay breeze,
trying to touch the endless sky,
kissing the sun that nurtures my life.

I wish I were a wild flower...wild and pure with untouched serenity,
away from the bustling city life,
thriving in a beautiful countryside.
The winds would have blown through me,
lifting me away from all boundaries.

Oh! How I wish, I could talk to the sun....
to the sky..to the river...to the motherly earth,
Oh how I wish I could just be me!!

As it is true that in this day and age,
you find yourself lost in the societal haze,
But one fine day your dreams come alive,
and turn you into a wild flower under a new sky :)

We Need to Move on....

"No one can go back and change a bad beginning, but anyone can start anything anytime and create a successful ending."
After reading this quote today I thought, how exciting it would have been if we had come to this world with a pencil and an eraser...a special eraser that would have given us the power to erase, a day or a moment in life that we would never like to think about ever again, certain misunderstandings that we would like to erase and set them right with the special pencil....everything would have been so easy...but then as every discovery has a demerit, this too would have had one.." no lessons for the future"..."no regrets what so ever"....leading to ultimate self destruction, because sometimes it's very important to recall, all that went wrong and to promise oneself that it would never be repeated, so that by the end of our life, peace, happiness and contentment become our constant companions.
We want things the way we want them to be, but least do we realise that it's very important to let life flow the way God had willed it to...we humans can work hard and do our best, our mistakes make us learn the difference between right and wrong, each day in our life becomes an important lesson for us, our endeavours make our destiny unfold like a soft flower that wants to capture the maximum amount of happy rays of the sun.
Life and everything that happens during its course is important...we need to move on....learn from the past mistakes and hope while working hard to carve out a great future ahead...what would happen or has happened ..."had to happen"....we need to move on.
Life is like a perennial river, it cannot afford to stand still and stagnate...the moment it does..it's the end of it.

The Carved Imprints

What happens when all of a sudden while walking on the set path of life, you feel as if there should have been another set of footprints right next to you, then one fine day you meet someone who might give you company , but then the problem arises that this someone doesn't completely fit into the frame you had carved out in your mind, right from the day you just started walking on the path..........
How different is reality from the world that thrives in our heart and flashes on our minds eye..
One fine day there would be someone who would just click and woof there would be stars, clouds, and the universe would start dancing around trees........lol!
We and our dreams and the way life moulds them into reality. Maybe we don't get the exact copy of what we want in life.
Maybe life just changes its mind and blesses us with something even better :)
You never know!!! ;)

While walking through my dreams,
I saw a flash of light...
Someone peeped in and settled in my mind.
Someone I knew I had been waiting for long..
then why is it that it still looks, like a shadow unknown?
As dreams got dipped, in the morning of my thoughts,
a faint smile appeared and gladly took me along,
and then I saw what I had overlooked it seemed...
A fresh ray had set in.....it was a new dream.

Winds of Change !

The winds of change are blowing,
I can feel the change.
The sun is out for a reason,
I can feel the change.
A knock can be heard, at the door of my life,
something has changed or something just might!
As I looked out eagerly, I got a big surprise,
Life was walking my way, with its arms open wide :)

Behind a tough exterior..

As I drove through the fog, objects became visible on coming closer, it was like walking through a row of white curtains, after passing every curtain something new is revealed. Life is just like a drive through thick fog, very dense indeed, it brings you face to face with facts that you were never familiar with. Though we are human beings it becomes very difficult for us to understand another human, but as time passes we get to know people well.
We meet many people in our day to day life, of which some are friendly and some seem really rude, but one thing that's common between every human being, is that somewhere everyone has a soft corner, but since we function on the logic of face value , we are never able to explore the softness behind certain tough exteriors..is it that they look tough or is it we who are blinded by wrong perception. I remember watching ", home alone"in which the protagonist was scared of a man who looked like a wicked fellow, his cousins used to narrate all sorts of stories about the man, but by the end of the movie we get to know that the man was a very kind soul, someone whom the boy instantly took a liking to, after he got to know how kind the old man was.
Whatever the reason may be , but the best part is not to pass judgement , you never know when life proves you wrong .
All of us are puppets in the hands of situations that make us react the way we do. Humanity is a beautiful puzzle and we never know when a part gets connected and clicks the right chord inturn simplifying the puzzle of our life :)