Musings

August 20, 2012

Decisions

Sometimes, it’s just so hard to have conviction about a decision when an alternative comes up, and more importantly when trusted people who truly love you, begin to wonder whether the alternative might just be a tad better.

So what do you do?

I believe you stand by your decision, but not just with stubbornness as your weapon. Have some solid reasons and beliefs about why you’re standing by the decision you’ve taken. Just being stubborn about something does not make it right; rather, believe in it and be content in your knowledge that what you decided is good and right in most aspects, if not all. In such a situation, you won’t need to fight it out to prove the correctness of your decision.

“Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge”
                                                                 – Leonardo Da Vinci

I seem to be thinking about decisions and doubt a lot, even writing poetry about it.

But I believe in my decision, and I am ready to stand by it. And that should, I hope, make the difference.

Do you have any ways of knowing whether the decision you’re taking, is going to be correct?

August 5, 2012

We All BeLOnG

This beautiful sketch was made by Penny, over at TheWhyAboutThis. And it’s not just an empty set of lines filled in with colours. We are all troubadours according to Penny, and I agree –

He is a Troubadour. In the middle ages the troubadour was a traveler. A talented and clever person who wrote and sang songs and shared stories with those he met in his travels, A little bit like bloggers today. Our travel method is a bit different is all. The words at the bottom say I BELONG with the word I BLOG superimposed over it. I hope you’ll share the story of the Troubador when you pass this award on to other bloggers who belong. It does seem to be the one thing we bloggers do well – Share!

With heart felt thanks, Penny

I think it’s a wonderful interpretation of us bloggers. And not to mention I love the illustration :D

And so, we all BeLOnG.

 

August 5, 2012

It’s That Day of The Year…

…when we all (momentarily) leave our mushiness-related inhibitions, and say just how much our friends are important to us.

For me, I’m just going to take this chance to say a big thank you to all those people who have read (and are still reading) my ramblings. I am so grateful to have you guys around! I don’t know most of you any further than your names and the little tid-bits about your life that you’ve blogged about. But were I to ever bump into you at some place, I’d like to hug you and express the wish to chat over a cuppa.

Because though I hardly ‘know’ you in the conventional sense, you’re still my friends.

So, Happy Friendship’s Day! I hope I do bump into you somewhere, someday :)

 

July 29, 2012

To err is human. But not on WP.

It’s not like I’m proud of it, but I never proof read a post I’m about to publish; I’m quite hyper that way. If it looks fine after a cursory glance, consider the ‘Publish’ button pressed. And I recently realised, whenever the case arises that I make an error and update my post to correct it, I am sending a second copy of the same post (with the minor change) to my email followers.

So, I get very embarrassed whenever I spot a mistake or typo error later, because it means I will have to correct it (I’m a bit of a Grammar Nazi and cannot live with errors in my posts ) and that means that my followers will receive a second copy of the (almost) same post in their already cramped-up mail boxes.

So before I ramble on again, I’m sorry to have had sent that second copy which seemed like bloody well the same thing you’d already read through. I hope you didn’t grumble much.

While we grow up, we have to to forgive certain people for doing something irritating and pathetic, just because we are reminded, “To err is human”.

But WordPress doesn’t give you any second chances.

Seriously.

Proof read your posts, ‘coz once you press that ‘Publish’ button, WP will race off copies of it to your doting followers. And then when you cringe on finding something wrong, you can’t do anything other than press that ‘Update’ button, which will again race off another copy of the post to people who have loved and trusted you enough to submit their E-mail IDs to you.

Sigh. I wish WP understood the pain of being human.

July 17, 2012

Confusing, Life Is.

While growing up, I was always one of those kids who’s ready with a smile on her face if you were to approach her in a friendly manner.
However, I was never the one who would take the initiative to approach someone myself  and basically take the first step. So, you could say I’m an introvert but only till you get to know me.

Now, what with having to grow up (which really sucks right now, y’know?) and all, I’m expected to talk a lot; far more than I am used to. It’s true that college helped me open up and made me more confident, but I still can’t be the one who can talk endlessly about herself. But during interviews or in conversations with strangers  who know nothing about me, I have to express exactly what I am within a small period of time.

Now, this is really tough. It usually takes me quite some time to open up and actually talk about myself, but now I’m faced with the situation that if I do not open up real quick and tell a complete stranger all about how much I’m suitable for a certain thing, I’m out of the running.

I’ve always been fortunate to get a lot of love and affection from family and friends for being one who could listen. And that could happen only because I could also keep shut and listen for a change. But now I see that it is those who were the talkers who can present themselves better in front of strangers in a short span of time. And I’m still stuck, thinking whether I should just say what’s on my mind without thinking so bloody much.

So, people found me to be a serious student and a dependable friend because I could listen attentively. But now I must prove myself to the world by changing this habit of talking less.

Confusing, life is.

July 16, 2012

Doing Something Creative : Congratulations Card

Had I just forgotten how much fun it is to design simple cards? I guess I had, coz I haven’t made too many simple cards in a long time (I’m not counting the big b’day cards I made for friend’s birthdays). Basically, I bloody well love making cards. Epiphanies and all, y’know?

I made this ‘Congratulations’ card for a family friend’s daughter who got married recently! Had to send it early so that it could reach them in Coimbatore (in Tamil Nadu). I’m sorta in love with the red and gold combo. And I at last made good use of my metallic colour pens!

I know, it looks totally amateurish, but I’m so proud of myself. Hee.

 

(I now blog about my crafty and creative pursuits at http://www.theartfulbutterfly.wordpress.com ! Do visit!)

June 21, 2012

Working towards a SAFE Delhi

I’ve lived in Delhi all my life, and I call myself a Delhiite without a second thought. But the sad situation of security of women here, breaks my heart every time another gruesome incident happens. So, when I was approached by the Admin of a new Facebook group which deals with this issue, to spread its message, I was more than happy. Do read what the group has to say, and join the initiative.

Everyone is aware of the bad condition of the city of Delhi in terms of safety and security of women. You know it must be bad when it earns the title of ‘rape capital of the country’. If anyone seems unaware or indifferent, it is the administration and police.

I owe it to her
Responsibility. Long word, burdensome duties.
But I owe it to my little girl. See that she is well educated,instructed and brought up. It is also my duty to protect her from all harm by ensuring an environment where she feels safe
I owe it to all little girls and boys out there. I owe it to all the mothers. I also owe it to my city.

SAFE Delhi, a new initiative aims to do exactly what many haven’t/couldn’t – build awareness. Build a united front of citizens who not only demand answers but also seek to get concrete measures taken in the direction of women’s safety. This initiative was launched on Facebook with the primary thought behind it being that in today’s day, there can be no better way of reaching out to the youth than social networking sites. The philosophy behind such an initiative, made up and run mostly by college students, is that the power of the youth is untapped in our country. Once a formidable front is formed, it would be impractical for anyone to ignore our voice, and unintelligent of them to deny us our rights.

In All You Worship
Mother Nature. Dharti Maata. Bharat Maata and yes, the exalted Female Deity.
I am in all you worship.
Yet,as a wife,I am beaten, as a girl child, I am killed and as a stranger on the road, I am raped.
I’ve closed my eyes to your hypocrisy for long enough. Its time for the awakening..of my soul and your conscience.

Crossing Over
We are trapped in a time and age where self respect, dignity and free will are threatened. The moment has come where we need to question ourselves:
Do we stand on this side and suffer in silence, should we let others decide on what should be done for us, or should we cross over to the other side and bring about the changes that we hoped for?

The proposed course of action is to launch a mega program to draw in the youth to our initiative. Apart from online work, this will include sessions with N.S.S. and W.S.D.C. units of various D.U. colleges and getting support from local Resident Welfare Associations. The demands range from seeking functional police help lines to asking for increased police patrolling, mandatory presence of female constable in all P.C.R. setups etc.

This is a student/youth initiative which needs popular backing to be able to demand any action or question the authorities. Have a look at SAFE Delhi on Facebook and decide if you want to be a part of this initiative which seeks to make Delhi a better place to live in.

A Difficult Path
-“I tread a difficult path,a path laden with obstacles. But, I know it’s the right one.
The path I choose is one which will lead me to a city, which doesn’t differentiate,doesn’t discriminate..it is a safe and happy place for everyone. But, I know getting there will be difficult. Yet, I walk on.”

April 30, 2012

True Love

‘Dida’ in the Bengali language is used to address your maternal grandmother. So did I ever tell you about my Dida? I don’t think so. I’ve thought about writing about her, but somehow, I’ve never actually been able to do it.

You know how there are times you miss someone and it just hurts to know you can’t see them again, but you just can’t say it out loud. I just couldn’t seem to go through writing it out when just thinking about her makes me cry…the tears come because I can’t believe I can’t hug her or talk to her or hear her or even see her anymore.

My Dida left this world on 11th April 2004. I was 13 years old and still a child. Her love was unconditional, pure, true.

I still remember her smiling at me,

brushing my hair away from my face,

clasping me gently to herself,

answering my childish questions lovingly and adoringly,

crying proud, happy tears on seeing me achieve some milestone,

sharing a joke with me,

smiling at me gently and so very lovingly when I help her walk,

being with me.

She is so many memories. She taught me so much – tangible and intangible. And she gave so much love. So so much love that I can never even hope to measure it. So much love that just having to write this makes me miss her so much that it hurts…a hurt that doesn’t leave even with a good cry.

She suffered from a cruel and unyielding disease for many years. She had renal failure and her life became so very difficult and painful. And so I do not ask God why she was taken away. I am happy she could leave this painful world and enter the gates of heaven. She was my angel and I know she still is. Her sufferings ended and I am truly relieved for that. But I miss her. Always have, always will.

For all these years, along with the fact that I just couldn’t face having to write about all this, there was also the fact that I had a question in my mind – was I trivializing her memory by writing about her in a place where the whole world could read it? The memories that I have of her, are sacred to me…so wasn’t I sullying them in some way?

The answer is still not clear. But I write all this today because I want everyone to know that I knew of a true love. And I realised it all the more because I lost the person who gave it to me. And I want to let everybody know that. I want the world to know about his lady whose endless love, beautiful personality, remarkable talents and goodwill for all  has always been such an inspiration  to me.   Though I am happy Dida was freed of her pain, I keep thinking how much love I would have given back to her if she was still here. But I can’t.

But I can treasure her memory, and hope that she knew exactly how much I loved her.

I think she did know. And her memories will always be in my heart.

I will always love you Dida.

April 19, 2012

That moment…

…when something just doesn’t seem right.

WHY does my brain refuse to accept the fact that some people just don’t matter?

The people who matter will always be around, no matter what. And the ones who are not around, are not worth spending thought on. I don’t mean I’m going to go and ignore them if I meet them. But neither will I act like I’m honoured and blessed to have met them. They don’t care and neither should I.

Stoopid brain! >_<