The Road Less Travelled

The sad fact of life is that when you want to trudge into a road less travelled, people don't show faith in you. Rather than appreciating you for going into something out-of-the-league, they try to bring you back to the traditional path. It irritates you.

They can't see what you are seeing. You just have to silently work and nod against all their advices and suggestions, letting them know that they're so right and you've been foolish in your ambitions. The moment of joy comes when someone unexpected comes to you and says your decision is right.

Well, very few people understand passion. Don't expect them to understand. Don't try to make them understand. Just say yes to all their advices and follow what you want. Ultimately, when you will emerge out successful, they would have known that it's not too bad doing something out of the league.

@My friends at IIT: I prepared for consulting just because I dreamt of being in McKinsey. Now that I didn't make it, I've no interest in going into any other consulting firm as a compromise. I've other options available. Hope you understand.

Thanks for reading. Wish me luck in the comments if you appreciate my choice to become a full-time entrepreneur rather than taking up a job.

On Failure

Ha! I experienced failure. It's hard, you know. The effort it takes to overcome the urge to break down, to cry out loud, to droop down and to surrender to the circumstances is immeasurable. The day for which you'd been preparing for months comes and passes by, slapping hard on your cheek saying that you didn't deserve it. Who likes it? You? Me? None of us. I know it's hard. It's harder to be hard in this situation. You can't let your loose side be visible to someone else. Ha! Nobody likes to be seen in tears.

The sun has set, it's pretty dark outside. It's cold. And it's biting. Biting hard. Life is so unfair. You never know when it can turn its back at your face. And trust me, its back looks yuck! It's smelly, dirty and detestable. At the bottom of your heart, you feel like slamming it really hard. Hard - I mean real hard. Things aren't easy, you know. Especially when you've thought so much about it and even thought so much after it ... it seems like a blank wall. They tell you the game isn't over. There are plenty of other opportunities in the coming days. They are silly. They don't know the game that you were preparing for is over. Over. And it's never gonna come back. Sad, isn't it?

I don't know why but I'm feeling a bit like a rider. The destination where I was planning to stop wasn't right, I think. Thankfully, my horse knows where it has to go. And, it's on the right track just because there is someone more intelligent than me who's directing it(read God). It's time to get to know my horse well. Synergy, as it's called, lies here.

Love

Every journey begins and ends at you. Why shouldn't it? It's for you and with you.

On Passion

Passion. The only word that can differentiate you from yourself. Because when it overpowers you, you're not you. You're the passion. Think about it.

Confusion

Do you know what's the meaning of confusion? Here it is - my career options. What to choose, if you can suggest a clear answer to my perplexity, I would bow down to you.

1. Full time entrepreneurship - Do I really want to go full time? Entrepreneurship can be started at any age, but taking up a desired job from the campus won't be possible later on.
2. Job - Taking up a job - seems like a smart choice. It's always better to gain some experience of working in a big firm. But would I be doing justice to my venture? Would I be able to take out time for it? Now that I've started up, I can't take a step back. Confused!
3. Full time writing - It's a secure job and one of the most enthralling one too. With already over 25,000 readers, I can pen down three novels every year and sustain myself financially quite comfortably. But again, I hate to be residing in my comfort zone. I want challenges! And what about the venture? It won't give me time to write. OMG!
4. Full time photography - This is stepping out of my comfort zone. I know I've the knack and I've the passion to pursue it. And this is one of the most exciting things. But am I really ready to take it up as a career? Again, my venture!
5. Studying further: I can study further. I can go pursue Physics in Glasgow University, I already have an offer for the same. I can apply for Creative Writing course in Cambridge. Or I can wait for my CAT score. But dude, am I ready to study further? Absolutely NO!
6. Learn Music: I want to learn composition. I want to learn music. Can I quit everything and pursue it? No, I don't think that I would. Come on, I can do it at any point of my life.
7. Or anything else - such as paragliding or bungee jumping? Hell no!

So the only option left is - doing everything at the same time and cracking my brains completely.

P.S. God help me, otherwise I'll come and kill you.

Story

Life's pretty much monotonous. Thanks to being an entrepreneur, every day there's something new and exciting, so much so that now these new exciting things don't excite me as much as they used to do before. That gives a reason for monotony. The one thing that entrepreneurship has taught me quite well is how to take success and failures in a spirited mood, because for an entrepreneur, every second moment is a challenge and the entrepreneurial life is full of failures with few successes. But at the same time, it brings an insuppressible urge for quality - you can't tolerate anything that's below average - you want everything to be perfect.

Since you're reading this, I've a good news to announce. I've been shortlisted amongst 21 finalists in an international story competition organized by Scinti. The voting phase is on and my story 'Short of Change' is competing for the top 3 spots. Help me win the contest by liking - Scinti page and then liking this link - Short of Change.

Your like will help me win. Please do. Thanks. :)

P.S. Love yourself. It makes you feel wanted even if you're not.

Introspection

It's not about success anymore. It's about happiness. That's what makes you successful.

Wait

Another lonely night

Ghastly!

Thunderous clouds just cried

Stars have gone to sleep

Exhausted

Shining besides mountain - so steep

I'm all alone

Waiting

For someone, my own

Memories come flooding

Trapped

Between the wrinkles - budding

The first time we ever met

Serendipity!

It was. It wasn't love, yet

Those serene eyes rested on mine

Enraptured,

I stood, as though I saw Divine

I began to say when you

Stopped.

Your finger on my lips - and dew

'Wait till midnight,' A whisper said

Anticipative,

I smiled while you left

I waited. Days. Months. Years.

Forty-five

The wait doesn't get over, here

The whisper haunts my life

Love

Betrays me every midnight

Old, withered and desolate

Hopeful

Of seeing those eyes again, I wait

The Fighter

Things are wrong, things are right

I speak truth, I don't fight

People defy, revolt and ignite

I speak truth, I don't fight

Ruthless, inhuman, were those Whites

I spoke truth, I didn't fight

Violence, famines, I saw all the plight

I spoke truth, I didn't fight

I am not weak, nor am I bright

I speak truth, I don't fight

When faith wavered, none held me tight

I spoke truth, I didn't fight

I didn't fight. I didn't need to fight.

With truth as my weapon, I already won the fight.

P.S. Check the date today.

An Entrepreneurial Lesson

Avoid involving any relative or a good friend in your entrepreneurial venture, because there will be a boundary of the bond that you've with that person that will always be an obstruction between free flow of ideas, directions and responsibilities.

Consider this case: If he doesn't work, you won't be able to scold him to work just because he's your very good friend or relative. And neither would you be able to fire him, because he's again your kin. Now, if he works too much, he would not be comfortable being under your supervision and this would create problem. He would want to be at your level, which is outrightly impossible owing to professional hierarchies. It is really difficult to make them understand this fact. You would never want to share the equity with a person just because he's enthusiastic and also, your relative. Many a times, if there are any personal unresolved issues, you would find yourself bringing in those personal duels in professional situations.

I've often found rifts occurring in the team just because the other person doesn't like to be assigned tasks by a friend or a kin, because he doesn't want to be bossed around by a person with whom he shares a very intimate personal bond. And otherwise, if he's really interested in your work he starts encroaching too much in the administration of the entire venture, just because he thinks that the professional hierarchy doesn't hold for him and personal proximity that one has with that person holds at the professional level too. And this is when situations crumble up and things complicate. Friendship goes. Professional peace goes. And you end up irritated, a bit hopeless and sometimes even depressed, if you're too much attached to the person.

Your start-up emerges out of your desire and determination to render your idea plausible in the real world and you've thought very clearly about how you're going to do it. So, your good friends, working under your supervision, might not apprehend it and could create trouble very often.

Whatever I wrote is just out of experience. So, if you're the director of your venture, involve trustworthy but a little bit distant people, pay them and get the work done. Don't involve people who join you because of you. Involve people who join you because they have faith in your idea and they are capable as well as willing to make it happen.

I've tried my best to keep out all my close friends from my venture. Just to treasure our friendships. The only friend with whom you could be compatible in your venture will be your business partner, because he is your equal and you both will share the longer vision with unconditional faith in each other.

P.S. Starting up is not a picnic. Involving too many close friends and relatives might make it one.

IIT Life

Ten Best things that I've done in my IIT life:

1. Tasted all the grades - 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10; except the E and F grade, which touch-wood, I don't want to taste.
   
   
2. Climbed the insti-top and got caught. The security officers were really tough-asses. Glad mine was tougher.
   
   
3. Did a mini-project under the worst professor of the Physics Department, Tarey, name unchanged to make sure intentional libel. After surviving three failed nervous breakdowns, two unsuccessful murder attempts and one almost successful suicide attempt in the process, he gave me an A grade. Sweet guy. Glad, I survived.
   
   
4. Fell in love. Fell out of it. Fell in love. Fell out of it. And the process continues ... unfortunately, with the same girl.
   
   
5. Wrote a book. Yes, being in IIT without even a book written by you - seems too sad and boring. That little fame, jealous peers and big money - who doesn't want that?
   
   
6. Made some real good friends. Fought with them. Befriended them. Kicked their asses. Let them kick mine, making sure I hit them twice as hard as possible.
   
   
7. Blogged. Yes, that's the best hobby ever. You would never ever get bored. Even if no-one reads your blog, you can always find that irritating little sucker called YOU who goes and reads some of your juvenile crappy bullshit, smiling in self-admiration.
   
   
8. Explored hostel LAN - completely. Yes, I've watched all the good movies, fast-forwarded; all the bad movies - at the normal pace. Yes, I'm a bad guy.
   
   
9. VIDESH YATRA. IIT-life without a hefty dose of firangs during summer looks quite incomplete. I went to Glasgow, UK, lived in a royal suite, traveled whole UK and earned my first money 1000 pounds, and invested them all in fun and more fun.
   
   
10. Cracked PJs. Not the poor ones, but the pathetic ones. Some of them being so bad that the persons hearing it felt a sudden shock wave up through their bodies until their head sprang up like the-center-shock guy and their legs shot in revenge at my cute little chubby ass. If you stood there in that serious condescending face of yours just because you didn't crack PJs, don't feel proud. You missed a HELL lot of fun.

Ten things that I'm yet to do in my IIT Life:

1. Get drunk.
2. Get drunk.
3. Get drunk.
4. Get drunk.
5. Get drunk. Now that I'm done, I think I'm done. Good night.

P.S. If the numbers seem wrong, don't mind. You're probably drunk too.

The Purpose of Life

Our life has a purpose. Everyone has his own. The good thing is I know my purpose. And it's called entertainment.

My life statement is - to keep myself entertained through each of the passing moments and to live in the glory of the fun of sheer entertainment that I get.

What's yours? Rather where's yours?

P.S. Search your purpose. It is a good pastime.

Dreamer

When night sky is dark,

Lull prevails, stark.

Dreamers see the light,

Invigorating. Ah, what a sight!

Inspired, he saw that sight.

Determined, to give a tough fight.

Lonely but not alone,

His ultimate fate lay unknown.

He was ready to fight the odds

Smash the hurdles and win the Gods.

The place was far, where he urged to go.

A stormy sea, awaiting conquer, he knew

Fully prepared, he began

A tireless journey, thus spanned

The waves lashed against his chest

He rowed and rowed, without rest

The sea seemed dark and endless

His spirit, however, soared amidst distress

Sea showed no mercy, ghastly waves rose up

He kept trying until the sea gave up

The sea lost

The dreamer won.

For he ran for his dreams, when

Others didn’t know for what to run.

Change is good

With time, there have been some changes in me. Hope these changes are good.

1. I've stopped reading novels based on 'love' by very young Indian authors. Being one amongst them, I know that the writings about love at my age are shallow and insipid.
2. I've developed a good reading habit. I finish two books in one week's time.
3. I've stopped reading new blogs. Just because most of the posts of unknown blogs are too verbose and irritating. I like short posts more, or else, it should be a rivetting story or an overwhelmingly brilliant satire.
4. I write in classes. Thanks to the back-benches for that.
5. I have developed an aversion to idle people.
6. I am clear about what I want. But the execution seems slow.
7. I have become more patient, at the same time, indifferent and detached to most of the things around me.
8. I have developed an inherent hatred to those who can't express themselves in writing or speaking, since I believe nothing conveys ideas and thoughts better than good communication. Hatred is wrong, but I can't help but hate.

Well, that's all. I tried to be honest, but as a human, I might have sub-consciously tried to hide my flaws. To be frank, they aren't many that you'll find. ;)

Change is good, after all.

P.S. I am feverish. And I want to get drunk.

Two Sides of Feminism

India has been a witness to the grand scale women-empowerment drive that has been going on in the last few decades. Indeed, it's a great thing. This empowerment drive has given rise to many feminists, who champion the causes related to the women, be it openly defying gender-biased discrimination, to standing against the biases of the patriarchal society by questioning their validity and rationality. I respect them for that, not only for their firm stand, but also because even I can't tolerate anything that's derogatory to any gender.

But when it comes to benefit of their gender, I can often see a dual value associated in many so-called feminists, which is my primary concern, since I am having difficulty in understanding what's right and what's more right.

I would highlight this issue based on the attitude of two of my female friends, let us call them - A and B, in this article. Both of them are self-proclaimed hard-core feminists; they can't stand anything that's demeaning or disgracing to women, in any way whatsoever. Neither would I.

Friend A

She boards the Delhi Metro, where the seats are just full, with only about a dozen people standing hither and thither. To those of you, who have never been to Delhi Metro, let me tell you that there are specific seats reserved for ladies only, senior citizens and 'specially-abled' people.

Now, my friend A goes near the ladies seat and finds out that it is occupied by an unconcerned man-with-earphones. Without being vexed, she goes to the person and reminds him that he is sitting on a ladies seat(which he perhaps already knew, but didn't bother himself to rise until asked. Yes, men are shrewd!). He acts like he didn't even know and straightaway jumps up on his toes, finds a place to stand and offers my pretty friend 'A' his place courteously, flashing a prideful smile on his face on his random act of kindness(a perfect loser!); which nobody notices except me(writer instinct, you know). A tells me, 'See. Such rights of women, if not asked for, would most of the time be exploited by men. They hardly bother to give up any comfort ever until you ask them, even if their conscience is screaming out aloud that they're sitting on ladies seat while a lady is standing front of them.'

I see her argument. She's right. The sad part is many a times I'd been that man-with-earphones sitting on a ladies seat, until being kicked off by the fairer sex.

Friend B

She boards the Delhi Metro. The situation is same as before, where the seats are just full, with only about a dozen people standing hither and thither along the coaches.

We move around in search of seats. No vacant seats. We go to a corner, from where I take a peek at the whole situation. I see a cheesy lad wearing a yellow-embroidered shirt with earphones tucked in his ears sitting quite comfortably on a seat designated for only ladies. He gives B a top-to-down stare, seeing which I feel a bit nettled. I point out to B, 'See that ladies seat, that lousy fellow is sitting there. Come on, kick him off the place. He would hardly bother to offer you his seat, even if he already knows that it's a ladies only seat.'

B remains unconcerned, and explains with force in her voice, 'Well, I find these "seats reserved for ladies" the most heinous form of gender-discrimination I could ever encounter. I mean you could reserve seats for senior citizens, specially-abled or kids. But why on Earth do women need reserved seats? Aren't we strong enough to stand through the jerks and swings that the metro-ride offers? Well, this is highly condescending of women, but this is India. No matter how much you talk about gender inequality, you'll find that women, even some of the self-proclaimed feminists, encouraging these gender-disparaging symbols present in the society by either accepting it or in many dire cases, even fighting for these. How will you answer these issues when the patient is herself a catalyst for the disease? Women don't need support, because support never comes without pity in this society.'

I remain stunned. B is too different from A. But she's absolutely right.

Wait a minute. Even A was right. Who amongst them is more right? Can there be an absolute take on this issue of feminism? Your insightful opinions needed.

P.S. All those who read this, take a pledge with me to always mention the physically-challenged people as 'specially-abled'. Let us create a culture.

P.S. Women. Enigmatic, aren't they? ;)

My experiments with writing

My belief, right from the very beginning has been that being versatile is one of the key ingredients in the making of a good writer. I treat a writer as a musician, who dares to explore different styles, trying to fuse the good things he has learnt with his own innovations.

A person can be versatile only if s/he is willing to let the mind pervade the areas where they haven't been before. Though with time, one may discover that his/her real forte is in a particular genre, but surely, trying different things groom the narrative capabilities of a story-teller.

I started writing as a blogger, with diary-like entries that mostly concerned with already known philosophies, which obviously found no readers, so I moved to describing events - in which I found myself quite naturally gifted, since I could make them interesting, owing to my tendency to magnanimously exaggerate the story. Once started into events, I started penning down almost all the small incidents with a good amount of exaggerated spice in each of those episodes, which turned to incite my blog-pals, since they happened to like it.

This was the time of my peak confidence as a writer, though my experience lacked more experimentation. With ample confidence in my abilities, I decided that it's time to take the big step. It was the time I started writing my novel, with no intention to publish it at all, since I intended to have a short-novel, with oddly 12-13 chapters of 2 pages each. I intertwined all the funny incidents that I had ever heard/seen with an extraordinary contribution from my imagination to make the novel complete, but alas, the novel was no-more short, but rather a voluminous one with 33 complete chapters in it. Miraculously, it had its own destiny, because thereafter, one by one, many things happened, like my chance meeting with the publisher, the agreement and expansion of my work. I was more than happy.

I made sure that in my novel, which could actually be categorized as just-another-IITian novel, I would not exploit IIT's name on the cover. So I chose an IIT-free title and subtitle, despite all the previous IITians books by my publisher(that were just 2 at that time, compared to over a dozen currently) had those. I even didn't publicise my novel by putting up posters or something in the campus. I made a promotional video, but it didn't spread a lot, owing to my laziness at its promotion. But it found its own readers with time and sold more than 10,000 copies in just 6 months, becoming a national bestseller; 10000 copies being the current Indian standard to classify a 'bestseller'.

Once published, there came a time when I thought I needed to move on. I started noticing plots of stories in everyday life. Everywhere I could observe situations in which twists were possible. I started writing stories. On various themes like humour, sarcasm, emotions, love, twists, human nature, thriller, horror etc. If I now say that I consider myself as a writer, then it's not due to the fact that I am a published author, but because I have seen, breathed and breathed life into stories from in and around my life.

To all the aspiring authors and creative writers, the best suggestion I could give as a fellow writer is that write stories - you could see them almost floating all around you, and you can breathe life into them. You would learn so many intricacies of writing, once you start, such as - How you should start a story? How should you engross the reader to read the next line without getting bored? How should you end with a perfect punch? How you should unravel the mysteries? How to deliver the twist in the tale, with subtlety?

As time passed by, I started writing another book, so that brought me away from story-writing, but that could not stop me from seeing the plots of stories floating around. I've around 35 plots of short-stories in my head currently. The best thing that my life with stories has given me is that now I can see plots for novel, with as many as 7 of them being in my head currently. There is a subtle difference between the plots of stories and plots of novels i.e. the novels have a very long middle, where as it's quite short in the case of stories. So, it gets a little more difficult to enrapture the reader, keeping his/her interest alive throughout the middle in case of a novel.

Half-way down with my second novel, which was not the sequel, but it was with a really unique theme with a novel within a novel; I felt a little bit uneasy. Because my big-ambitious novel was set in a city in which I had never been, with the protagonist as an entrepreneur, that I had not been that time; and being married, that I would definitely not be in the recent time. So I decided to stop. I had written around 31,000 words, but I decided for good, that I needed to stop, since I was not doing any good in pursuing something that requires a broader panorama.

In the meanwhile, I got into poetry. The best thing about poetry was it didn't hinder my story-telling spirit, since all of my poems had either a story to tell or an emotional recount. Somewhere around this time, I got interested into limericks(which are five-line funny poems) and crafted many of those in my notebook, while idling in the lecture theatres.

Facebook gave a strange gift to me. It polished my skill in word-play. I started writing one-liners, which sometimes were profound or witty, or sometimes just mere play of words. This gave me a strange familiarity, since I now knew writing from a completely different perspective. A story can be told in even one-line. How's that for a story? It gave birth to my business idea and made me realize that all the ideas - be it design, literary, artistic or business lie on the same plane of existence, one just needs to change the perspective to catch it.

I started up and am enjoying a lot as a content writer for my website. Meanwhile, urged by my readers, with more than 1000 mails in my inbox asking me to write the sequel to my incomplete first book, I decided to give it a go. In a day, I got the plot. For your information, the word 'got the plot' means knowing how you're going to end the story, since once you know how you're going to end, everything falls into place. So, I started writing the sequel around 1.5 months ago, which clashed with my venture, and I had been fighting really hard to get a state of being with completely uncluttered mind and no tasks on head, so that I continue with the mammoth task with passion. It's currently at 8,000 words and would require almost a month of dedicated efforts to give it the shape of a book.

That's all from my 3 years writing journey. A journey that'll never end. Since a writer never quits writing, he keeps writing - sometimes his destiny and sometimes, history.

Just for interest:

Graffiti - My Stories Blog

Witty Shit - My One-liner Blog

Quantum Leap - My Old Travelogue

Oops! 'I' fell in love! - The Story of Making of my Novel

P.S. To write is to live - with all the characters of all the worlds.

On Ideas

Earlier I was really insecure about sharing my ideas. I felt that someone will steal it and start working on it.

However with time, I got matured and things have become clear to me. Two of the important things are listed below:

Association: The best thing about your idea is the association that you build with it. A new person, can copy your idea but would never be able to put the passion that you'll be having for it. The idea gestates in your mind and when it's your child you know it better than anyone else on this world. This ensures that no-one, other than you, can really pursue your idea to the fullest. Innovations can be brought by others on your idea, but the sacred bond one should have to the idea remains with the person in whose mind it occurred at the very first place.

Sharing: With time, another thing that has happened to me is that I've become more keen on sharing. Now instead of holding all the ideas that I get to myself, I like to find an interested person and ask him/her to pursue it. Because every idea has a time, and since currently I am working on one idea, I would not be able to pursue many. So, it's always good to find interested persons who are capable enough to rear my child - brainchild, to be precise. And I love to guide them.

I feel blessed to have experienced four different kind of ideas in a really grand way viz. business ideas, story ideas, photography ideas and design ideas. And with time, I hope to experience thousand more kinds.

P.S. Ideas are intoxicating and non-toxic. It's the best addiction one can have. And certainly, they can change your life.

P.S. After reading this, I feel that I am going towards writing non-fiction. A welcome change.

On Movies

Though am not a movie buff, but some movies have made an impact in my life.

I want to enlist some of my favorites. I ain't too critical about movies, I treat movies just like I treat books. Either it establishes a connection or it does not. The breathtaking ones are those which go beyond establishing connection, and they touch your life, your thinking and in rare cases, your heart. Here is the list of the movies of the latter kind:

• Shawshank Redemption - The story of hope
• October Sky - The story of passion
• The Man from Earth - The story of history
• Cindrella Man, Into the Wild - The story of life
• Stranger than Fiction - The story of writing
• Goodwill Hunting - The story of gift
• Veer Zaara, The Notebook, Titanic, An Indecent Proposal - The stories of love
• 3 idiots - The story of students
• Baghban - The story of parents
• Little Manhattan - The story of kids, 'in love'
• Few Good Men - The story of judgment
• Speed I, Rambo - Action
• Arranged - The story of marriage
• Rang De Basanti - The story of justice

P.S. The list will be updated with time.

The Little Bird

Piercing the snowy clouds,

Fluttering with scintillating passion

They travelled.

My feet, fixed on the ground, envied.

I wanted to be with them,

Flying, with my wings wide open.

Touching the sky, kissing the mountains

Breathing the earth, bathing in the rains

Carefree, as they were

They vanished in no time.

Dejected and lonely, I strolled ahead.

Wishing to be a bird, all the while

I wanted to ask God

Why had he been so unfair?

Endowing us, humans, with all the things

How could he forget to give us wings?

Absorbed, I went away

Carefree, you might say

For, I hit a rock - pretty hard

I toppled and fell on the way

While head banged on the road,

My mind swung amongst the stars

I couldn't care anymore.

With God, I was at war.

"God - the unfair, uncaring being

You're so mean", I thought.

I opened my bleary-eyes, distraught.

My eyes saw a poor sight.

There lay a little bird -

Mute, weak and hapless

As if waiting, for an eternal flight

She stared at me, blinking

Blank, as if life had reached its end

Taking her in my palms, I soared

I looked at her and in a go,

I threw her towards the sky

To see her wings, flap with joy.

But, the flight didn't occur

Her wings didn't flutter

Fearful, she came back into my hands

Frightened, she stared once again

I asked her, "What's wrong?"

She said, "Come with me. I'm scared."

I laughed and said, "I've got no wings."

"Wings aren't necessary." She replied.

I didn't want to argue,

So I laughed at her ignorance.

She turned morose,

Jumped on the ground,

Walked towards a cage

And locked herself inside.

Astonished, I questioned,

"Why? Why don't you fly?"

She echoed my words.

"Why don't you break the cage?" I asked.

The echoes follow.

Puzzled, I mumbled.

"I've no wings."

She said, "Wings aren't needed."

"Then what is needed?" I wondered.

"The will to break free." She said.

Stunned, I said nothing.

A surge of gratitude for the Almighty,

Came in a fling.

The little bird broke her cage

And carried me towards the sky

"Sky is where I belong,"

She said in my voice and vanished.

Mystified, I kept flying with no wings.

A little flutter inside my heart

Kept me alive and gave my first flight.

"Sky is where I belong" I screamed with joy.

The echoes follow, this time from inside my heart.

I open my eyes and sway my vision.

An isolated road is beheld.

I turn and look into the vast sky.

Piercing the snowy clouds,

Fluttering with scintillating passion

They travelled. But this time,

My feet, fixed on the ground, reveled.

P.S. There is a little bird inside each of us. Never ever dare to cage it. Because sky is where we belong.

A hell of an update

Well well well. Here's my blog that had been untouched since almost a month. I had been missing it.

The sheer joy of blogging is that you write not because you've to write, but because you want to write. You've nothing special to write about and still when you sit in front of 'create post' on blogger.com, you've your heart and mind in synergy letting you speak in a language that's fluent and coherent. Suddenly, you realize you've so much to relate and so much to share. I am home since the last weekend. To enumerate the development:

• I visited Bodh Gaya, the place where Buddha got enlightened, on car with my family as I was so desperate to travel. It was a serene place, though there were not many things to see, but still, it was a good time to spend away from work and other real-life pressures, and with my parents, sister and my dear camera. Thankfully, I got some real nice clicks there.
• On way, I finished a book called 'Go Kiss the World' by Subroto Bagchi. It's a marvelous book by an entrepreneur turned author and it emphasized on his life journey and how his life conspired to let him reach his ambitions, with values and integrity intact. I've ordered another book by Bagchi titled 'The High Performance Entrepreneur'. I would read it on my way back to Delhi.
• As I reached home, internet dwindled. Without internet for four days, I had to skip my work, but it gave me time to read and write a lot. Day before yesterday, I wrote 3000 words in a day and felt really accomplished.
• Yesterday, I got my old guitar fixed and its sounding really sweet after all that renovation. I want to jam so badly, but hardly anyone seems to give me company here. Let us see.
• On Tuesday, I started ace cyclist Lance Armstrong autobiography - It's not about the bike - and it's a riveting read. It's not about the bike, it's about life. And death.
• I went on a photographic expedition with my friend Debanjan. We carried our SLRs across the residential colonies and everyone seemed to give us a what-the-hell-are-they-doing kind of stare.
• Today I had a day out with my school friends. It was fun. Watched the movie Udaan, which was nothing but a slow-and-tiresome piece, however Ronit Roy was really impressive in his role; after which we had wholesome lunch and some doses of air hockey.
• What more? Two days left, internet fixed up - I think work would take my days. In between I'll write my sequel.
• I'm done for the time being, I wanna lie down and finish Armstrong's book; as of now, only two chapters are left and I left it at the critical stage where he was to go for the Tour de France.

Well, that more or less counts as a blog update. I love to see me back.

P.S. Try this thing out - listen to the song - 'Hey there, Delilah' by Plain White T's with your eyes closed. You'll realize that every word in that song carries emotion that's unconditional.