Resonance

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

In love with..

..Boston

The commons, European architecture, North end, Com Ave. Copley, Prudential and Newbury.. and Babson

That city comes alive for me every time I go back.. and depresses me every time I leave it.. Memories in every direction I look in.. I see myself roaming around Newbury with my friends, walking up and down Com Ave. with cousins, going in and out of movie theatres and clubs, getting lost time and again in friends’ cars.. I guess spending three and a half years in a city makes it all seem very familiar and weirdly comforting..

My cousin after living there for four years and returning to it.. took a deep breadth in and said.. “Aah Boston.. I’ve come home” I was a homesick freshman that time and looked at him as if he had gone mad.. But today I know what he meant..

Boston ~ a second home.. my comfort zone..

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Bubble Wrap..

I work in a jewelry company.. and everyday I see multiple packages coming in carrying jewelry or stones.. some not very expensive and just thrown together in a bag.. and some which are very valuable.. wrapped in layers and layers of bubble wrap..

When we open the boxes to take out the stones.. the package is generally tiny.. maybe as small as my palm.. but its packed so thoroughly so as not to damage the stone that the box is generally 10 times the size of the actual package..

Yes.. inside the box.. is a package.. and between the package and the box.. yards of bubble wrap..

Today.. randomly at work.. I sort of drew a parallel in my head.. we’re all born with a certain destiny right.. some to very loving parents who can support us emotionally, spiritually and financially.. some to parents who have only love to give.. some that have only money.. some of us have the misfortune to be born in dysfunctional families that leave us emotionally scarred.. or then sometimes we’re born handicapped physically or worse.. mentally..

I guess we’re all sent on this planet with varying amounts of bubble wrap around us.. some of the well packaged ones, who don’t have to face any hardships and always have people to take care of them, protecting them from all struggles.. and some who are left out on the streets.. fighting against dirt, grime and crime.. million of stones put together in a bag… struggling so that their surface doesn’t get scratched by other stones..

I know this may not be a common school of thought.. but in my head I think.. maybe its our Karma that decides the initial number of layers that will be protecting us.. where we land up.. in what circumstances.. in what situations.. and then its we ourselves who decide.. based on our experiences and fear.. If we’ve been hurt once before.. we’ll put one more layer around us to make us less vulnerable against chipping or breaking.. If we’ve led very happy lives.. I guess we’ll be less guarded.. less protective of our feelings..


Do these layers however.. make our vision a little hazy sometimes.. clouding our judgements..

I guess at this point of time I’m just wondering.. how it would feel to live without that protective covering.. without that bubble wrap all around us.. to let the oxygen soak into every pour.. and to expose ourselves to every element..

Monday, December 04, 2006

Kisi ke aansuon mein muskuraenge..

Was randomly singing this old hindi song.. and I realized while humming it how poignant and giving the lyrics were..

Kisiki muskuraahaton pe ho nisaar
Kisika dard mil sake to le udhaar
Kisike waaste ho tere dil mein pyaar
Jeena issi ka naam hai

Maana apni jeb se fakeer hain
Phir bhi yaaron dil ke ham ameer hain
Mitte jo pyaar ke liye woh zindagi
Jale bahaar ke liye woh zindagi
Kisi ko ho na ho hamein to aitbaar
Jeena issi kaa naam hai

Rishta dil se dil ke aitbaar ka
Zinda hai hameen se naam pyaar ka
Ke mar ke bhi kisi ko yaad aayenge
Kisi ke aansuon mein muskuraayenge
Kahega phool har kali se baar baar
Jeena issi kaa naam hai

Kisiki muskuraahaton pe ho nisaar..


It just made me think of how simple things used to be back then.. and then I remembered something else that I heard.. an english proverb in an old hindi movie.. “It is so simple to be happy.. yet so difficult to be simple..”

I wonder now.. maybe that era was different.. where the values were selfless and simple.. not clogged by completely individual ambitions.. where words of such songs wouldn’t make people think.. “aajkal aisa nahi chalta hai yaar” .. a country that came together after a long freedom struggle.. where people realized that we could only survive if we.. together.. pulled the country ravaged by four hundred years of rule.. where people were ready to sacrifice their lives so that their fellow country men and future generations could survive..

A land where Gandhi, Bose, Vivekanand and Bhagat Singh breathed.. a land that after being parched for centuries was opening its arms to the first monsoon showers.. where its people were not trying to divide that water into their territories.. but held hands and soaked in the showers together..