The Silver Lining...

Seldom do you come across a movie that portrays the nuances of life in a perfect way, brings a smile on your face and makes you feel that yes we are humans in being. You are touched, happy and gripped by a feeling of having seen something “real”.  For yours truly all such movies fall under the “Feel-Good” genre and it was yesterday that I happened to catch up one such lovely movie. “Silver Linings Playbook”, a movie that was simple yet intelligent, depicting the subtle realities of life through a magnificent portrayal of its larger-than-life characters and a story capturing life the way it is.

As the protagonist Bradley Cooper leaves you mesmerized with his superlative performance as a character leading a Bipolar Life, who firmly believes that he would find his “Silver Lining” one day and constantly thrives towards improving himself after having spent eight months in a mental institution, so as to be accepted by his estranged wife.   Jennifer Lawrence is a treat to watch, hysterical at times, funny at others and with a tinge of quirkiness her character just leaves you with a feeling of WOW at times. For me what really made the movie likeable was the balance that it struck between the myriad emotional upheavals that each of its characters were faced with and the control that each one of them displayed in dealing with their problems. The movie was hilarious at times nevertheless one could feel that everything was genuine.

As I left the theater after the movie, I felt positive, at ease and with a thought of my own “Silver Linings”. Indeed each one of us does have a silver lining of our own. It may be success at work for few, harmony in their personal relationships for some, an improvement in their daily lives for others, or a combination of all three for most of us. At the heart of it we all try to improve ourselves each and everyday in some way or the other.

As I delved deeper I realized even a simple act of making a meal for myself or cleaning up my house every weekend does bring a lot of joy to me and acts as a “Silver Lining” giving me a sense of satisfaction. Even at work a feeling of having learned something new makes up for an otherwise meaningless day. To put it more mildly watching Tendulkar score a century gives me more hope than anything else can, or when Roger Federer wins a part of me also wins. Indeed all these seemingly inconsequential events make me believe that all is not lost, there is every reason to be hopeful and strive towards the ultimate goal with a positive energy. Perhaps, the quest for that “Silver Lining” is never ending, what ultimately matters are the efforts that we put in our everyday lives, for our efforts define us and take us to the vantage point from where the only thing visible are the "Silver Linings" and no dark clouds.

Excerpts From the Diary of a Demented Soul

April 18th, 2012..150kms off the coast of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea

Today, I found what I have been searching for the past few months. Standing on top of the main deck in the middle of a mighty ocean, observing those wavy wavelets rise and fall in quick successions, eyes awestruck at the sight of those massive seahorses making the ocean glitter like white snow, a cool breeze caressing my face giving that silken touch of rose petals, I found what our very own Kung Fu Panda Po described as "Inner Peace". I was in dire need of it. It is relaxing and I wish the moment could last forever. It is a special moment, special for the fact that my mind is free, free of everything, devoid of thoughts, my eyes just observing things and savouring the moment. 

People say offshore can be a very painful experience with multitude of problems like sea-sickness, insomnia etc. affecting both body and mind and I agree with it too. But on this particular occasion I am finding it different. Perhaps, deep down inside I wanted to isolate myself, cutoff myself from the humdrum of daily life. I felt tired, tired of travelling the same route everyday, tired of taking the same bus everyday, tired of eating the same food everyday, tired of overthinking about things over which I don't have any control, tired of answering people about my MBA plans, tired of those daily dose of official jibber-jabbers and friendly banters. This particular offshore sojourn is much more than just bringing about some routine change. It is about having some quality time with myself. It bestows me with an opportunity to think about nothing, savour the moments of nothingness and enjoy that peace of mind. I just wish I have few more of these moments in the times to come.

Amen !

With LOVE...

“....And that’s why birds do it, bees do it

Even educated fleas do it,

Let’s do it, let’s fall in love.”

The other day I found myself surrounded by a bunch of lovers. There was so much of love around me that I felt as if I was sitting next to the pool of love, watching those wonderful lovers taking a dive into the depths of the pool. It may sound a bit voyeuristic but the sight was enchanting nevertheless.

Well, the occasion I am referring to was a visit paid by the girlfriends of two of my close friends to their respective boyfriends. Many of you might be wondering what was I doing amidst all this. The answer to this question befuddles me till date. After constant deliberation what I have figured out is, there can be two possible reasons for this. The first one, my friends feel sad for me (my singleton status maybe) and out of pity they always take me out with them, with a glimmer of hope that I might find someone of my taste in one of these outings. Perhaps, all six of us can then together take a dive into that pool of love. The second one, I am witty enough to keep them entertained but not charming enough to woo their girlfriends. But that, of course, is my side of the story. 

Lately, what I have observed on each of these occasions are the different forms of love. From those mushy-gushy sugar coated banters to those occasional tantrums, from that I-would-die-for-you attitude to that I-don’t-care attitude, from those occasional concealed angry-looks to those often so difficult quests to get to the reason of that anger, I have seen it all. But what really amazes me is the fact that in spite of all these 180 degree mood swings they still reconcile with each other. Perhaps, the only reason that makes me believe them when they say, “We love each other”.

Now, during the last meeting that I had with the aforementioned lovers, I entered into a rather interesting conversation with my friend’s girlfriend, when she suggested me to better stay single. When asked about the reason, she said that my happy-go-lucky countenance made her feel that way. Also she suggested that in case my friends ever tend to lose control over their senses or are ever shadowed by the clouds of grief (I wonder what clouds of grief was she referring to!!), I should be there to take care of them. On what grounds did she conjecture such a fatherly figure for me is still a mystery to me. I just kept nodding my head suggesting that I was listening to her with rapt attention. At the end though, I don’t know why, but she concluded with an offer that if I am interested she is ready to talk to a friend of her about me, perhaps, the lure of that one opportunity to explore that elusive pool of love. I retorted with nothing but a smile.

        

As I think of all these occasions now, there is a sense of amazement over the range of emotions that these lovers’ exhibit; there is a sense of amusement over the kind of cheesy conversations that these lovers’ indulge in; there is a sense of disbelief over the kind of trivial issues that they fight over; there is a sense of importance that I as an odd one enjoyed in a company of evens.

In the end a piece of advice to all, the next time your friend asks you to come for a lunch or a dinner with him and his girlfriend, just go for it. You might not know but the occasion, if not entertaining, is certainly worth capturing !     

Redemption

It was last week when I happened to catch up “The Shawshank Redemption” on Movies Now. It was the third time that I watched this movie (my personal highest is Gladiator-5 times and The Bourne Ultimatum-5 times). Every time I watch this movie there is an upsurge of innumerable thoughts inside my head, thoughts which rise and burst like the tiny bubbles of water after a torrential downpour. Perhaps, the past few weeks have been pretty hard for me and “The Shawshank Redemption” was the perfect thing that indeed brought some semblance to my otherwise chaotic inner-self.

Lately, I have this feeling that everyone reaches a point in his life when he/she tends to lose control over his/her thoughts. There is a crisis of faith in what one has believed in for so long. These are the times when one really needs some words of comfort, words of encouragement, or a simple but comforting pat on the back, just telling you that you are fine, helping you to reinstate that lost faith. For me “The Shawshank Redemption” did just that.  Those platinum words of Red are still fresh in my head. “I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged; their feathers are just too bright to be caged. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more grey”.  Every time I reflect upon these words I feel liberated, a feeling which is much more profound than just being happy. A realization dawns upon me that how much important it is to respect others freedom, how much important it is to just rejoice in the glories and happiness of our near and dear ones, setting every other thing aside. Perhaps, that’s the best that we could do from our side.

Another lasting effect that the movie had on me was helping me to reinforce my belief in the concept of hope, for Andy Dufresne so rightly puts it “Hope is a good thing; perhaps the best of the things and no good thing ever dies”. Giving up on something that’s close to you, or a dream that you have been chasing for so long is perhaps the toughest thing in the world. It’s the hope that keeps you going, that keeps you thinking, that acts as a stimulus to catalyze your actions, that shows you the way out of that proverbial dark tunnel. I once again “Hope” now, hope that sooner or later I will have things the way that I have always wanted them to be, hope that I will make it to the end of the tunnel and witness the resplendent colours of success, hope that I will never give up “Hope” for it is certainly the bestest of things ! 

A-Z

Think of the places that you have been till date, or the people whom you have met till date, or the things that you enjoy doing or even the things that you hate doing, recall the instances that filled you with joy or even the instances that turned out to be heartbreaking, recall the song that is always in your cell phone’s playlist or a movie that you can watch for n^th number of time. This blog is nothing but a collection of all such wonderful places, people, things and incidents in an A-Z form. The list is certainly not an exhaustive one, for the reason that I realized only while writing that had I put a hundred more things I still would have missed out on many. I just hope that if in future I venture into such an act again my list just continues to be a never-ending one. So here goes the list:-

Andres Iniesta.......for the most tragic as well as the most joyous moment of my “football viewing” career (the former refers to his goal against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals and the latter refers to his goal against the Dutch in the World Cup finals).

Balrampur.......for the countless memories associated with it.

City Montessori School.......for making me the nerd that I am today.

Delhi.......for the recurring feeling that I don’t belong to this place.

Engineers India Ltd.......for helping me to restore some faith in myself when everything seemed to be going a wrong way.

FIFA.......for being the awesome-est-est game in the world.

Gmail.......for reasons already stated in the previous blog.

HIMYM.......for the legen.....wait for it.....dary Barney Stinson.

IIT Roorkee.......for bestowing me with, undoubtedly, the four best years of my life.

June.......for the celebrations that it brings with it every time.

Kota.......for showcasing before me, for the first time in my life, a life-size     3-D picture of the world around.

My Dying Laptop.......for staying alive.

Music.......for always being there when no one else is.

Nothing Else Matters.......for those divine lyrics and music.

OED (Offshore Engineering).......for being the sole reason of my continued interest in the field of engineering.

Punjabi By Nature.......for the lunch that wasn’t just a lunch but an experience.

Q......Perhaps, for the reason that I coudn’t  think of anything with Q !!

Rohtang Pass.......for snow-snow-snow and some more snow and only white snow.

Shaktiman......for those awesome days when I planned to bunk the school to witness the heroics of Pandit Gangadhar Vidyadhar Mayadhar Omkarnath Shastri.

Tendulkar.......for everything that he has done for the game of Cricket.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.......for an opportunity missed.

Video Games.......for my favourite characters Mario and Lugi.

World Cup’2011.......for We became the “World Champions”.

X–Men First Class.......for being the best X-Men movie till date.

Youtube.......for being the best thing ever after TV.

Zee Horror Show.......for being the only Horror Show to scare the hell out of me.

A Phenomenon Called Gmail

So how do I put it? What was it that struck me? Was I surprised? Or Was there a sense of disbelief when I received that phone call. It was a bright sunny morning and I was just getting ready for a day’s hard work in my cosy cubicle, browsing some customary “Good Morning” and “Have a Nice Day” e-mails, doing the needful by forwarding few to the hallowed spammers expecting to get some meaningful mails in return and sipping what I often regard as the most talked about and discussed beverage of all time, Coffee, when my cell phone rang. It was a landline number, certainly not in my phonebook. As a general protocol for these situations I tend to ignore such calls, thereby depriving myself of an opportunity to make new-friends-for-latest-gossips, or even an opportunity to unfold my future, or even buy a fancy property in some far far away land, and more recently an opportunity to do my MBA from some Top Management Institute of North India. Instead of following the aforementioned protocol I decided to attend the call this time.

It was the naughtiest of voice exuding energy. “Hello Sunny Dadda” were the first few words and were just enough to recognize who it was; Monu, my eight years old cousin was on the other side of the line. Now, I have always found it easier to strike a conversation with kids than I do it with adults and with Monu it just gets a bit more easier.

“Hello Sunny Dadda”, that’s how he started and without even waiting for me to respond he continued and said  “I have created a Gmail account and from now on I expect you to mail me daily”. Finally getting an opportunity to speak I assured him that I would be doing the same (which unfortunately I haven’t been doing) and then asked him how he is, how is everyone else, studies, cricket, Chikki and Shivansh (my other two cousins) and other umpteen things. He told me about everything and then said that he would talk to me later as he had to finish his homework.

As I hung up my mind raced back to the start of the conversation “A Gmail Account”. There was a feeling of amazement over the fact of an eight year old kid having a Gmail account, although the very fact made me happy. If I remember correctly it was only in the first year of my college that I started using computers on a regular basis. Late Mr. Orkut was a new buzzword at that time and Gmail had an aura of exclusivity attached to its name. The reason being it wasn’t open to all. Anyone who wanted to be a part of this esoteric community required an invitation from another person, and there was also a limitation on the number of invitations that a person could send. I somehow managed to receive an invitation from a friend of mine and finally created a Gmail Account. Although I had a Yahoo as well as a Rediff account earlier, but being a part of an exclusive Gmail community filled me with a sense of pride. It was indeed the start of a journey. One thing that separated Gmail from Yahoo, Rediff or any other webmail was the feature of a chat enabled mail box, wherein one can check his/her e-mail as well as chat at the same time without requiring an additional messenger for the same. Apart from that, Gmail has always been commercial free giving it a much refined look. With the addition of more user friendly features, today Gmail has become almost everyone’s favourite.

For yours truly Gmail has always been a trusted companion acting as a bridge connecting him to all his near and dear ones. Wherever I went, in whichever part of the country I had Gmail. Perhaps, there have been an umpteen number of indelible memories associated with Gmail, some good, some bad but all worth remembering.

As I see it today, the exclusivity is no more intact, there is no sense of achievement or pride in having a Gmail account, but the Google Mail has indeed taken over the masses with the tag of being the most user friendly web based email service.

As far as I am concerned my enchanting journey of Gmail continues and now I have two more people, Monu and Chikki, to accompany me in this journey. May they have their best of the times using this superior e-mail service!

Rio & Jewel !

The inspiration that I had for this poem came from two lovely birds, Rio and Jewel, from the recent movie Rio. The movie was infact my first 3-D experience and it turned out to be a great one. The beginning was so colorful, the vibrancy, the charm, breathtaking sights of picturesque Rio de Janeiro, the lively Brazilian samba, everything was just mesmerizing and captivating and kept me glued to my seat from the beginning till the end. The only thought that came to my mind when I left the theater was "If I were your Rio and you were my Jewel..." and what followed next goes like this :

If I were your Rio and you were my Jewel,

We could fly high, up above the sky,

Witness the clouds swell, and the nature just revel,

Feel the soothing breeze, putting everything at ease,

Watch the giant sun, spreading colours of fun,

Feel the lovely moon, wishing night to not end so soon,

Dive into the seas, feel the waters that freeze,

Listen the trees rustle, forgetting times we had a tussle,

Climb the lofty mountains, and capture the loveliest of fountains,

Fly into an alien land, as wonderful and mystique as Peter Pan’s Neverland,

Lovely, indeed, it would be, with you by my side,

Happy, indeed, I would be, when together we take a stride,

Bright, cheerful, happy and everything would seem so well,

Only If I were your Rio and you indeed my Jewel.