Confessions of a Writing Freak

"जीवन में एक सितारा था माना वह बेहद प्यारा था वह डूब गया तो डूब गया अम्बर के आनन को देखो कितने इसके तारे टूटे कितने इसके प्यारे छूटे जो छूट गए फिर कहाँ मिले पर बोलो टूटे तारों पर कब अम्बर शोक मनाता है जो बीत गई सो बात गई" On completion of three months of my existence without you ,I am reminded of this inspirational poem by Harivansh Rai Bachchan. I must have recited it umpteen times in my school days and till date memorize it by heart ,it fetched me awards too.Let Bygones be bygones,is what the poet wants to convey: whatever has happened has happened,pull yourself together, gather yourself ,tame your emotions and maintain your composure ,don't fall apart,get a hold on life and move on without feeling  doleful or remorseful  of the loss and let go............    But I am not yet ready to buy this,I can not come to terms with your absence from my life ,the loss is astronomical. The lonliness and nostalgic memories are gnawing at me like a rodent. I may move on,but alon...

As I scrolled through the opd register,your last day at work was 18th march 20 and the last patient you attended was " Sher Singh". The name is symbolic of the intrepid and bold warrior that you were,and the courage and grit with which you battled the emperor of maladies. What an uncanny observation. We lost the battle but I shall never lose the cherishing memories,infact find comfort in reminiscing our past days, as the future looks dismal without you.    I may sound a bit self-centred and selfish, as I recollect  and savour your memories because I am reminded of all your attributes which made life easy and comfortable for me. Infact I understand now, how much habituated I was to your presence, how much I counted on you. I am really abysmal at any subject involving calculations and numericals . Bank matters,income tax, loans, insurance etc are triggers enough to get my goat and get me into frenzy. How sloppy I am at maintaining official documents, in contrary you were so...

In twinkling of an eye, the world turned upside down in the last few months, an invisible, minute enemy left us watching streams of coffins and stopping the flow of life ,leaving us helplessly  groping for a solution. Wearing our fear on sleeves, masks on the face, alcohol on hands, and a facade of courage, hope, and faith within we have embarked on new norms in the journey of life with a somewhat eerie premonition. No, we have not stopped adorning and preening ourselves, but we are accustoming to new beauty goals. Though masks have made it easy to cloak our inner turmoil but it is possible to remain immaculately charming behind the masks. with more than half of our face covered by it, the onus lies on the eyes. Eyes have to be eloquent and articulate enough to express our multitude of emotions and sentiments like joy, sorrow, shock, and suffering. With brows on fleek, kohl enhanced eyes and raven curled lashes eyes can speak volumes and leave a memorable impression of ...

Being an avid reader of Khaled Hosseini, I am always looking for his new books, as I get immersed in his panache of storytelling.when  I came across"Sea-Prayer", I placed an instant order without getting into any nitty-gritty. My first reaction on receiving this slender book was that of regret, thinking it a photo book meant for kids with beautiful watercolor illustrations by Dan William. But my unflinching belief in the writing skills of the author forced me to go through the slim poem book. Believe me, any prodigious volume of this book would not have left the impact so strong as these few lines could. It left an indelible impression on my heart and mind. It is a deeply moving, heart- wrenching letter from a father to his little son, while they are fleeing from war-torn country to seek a refuge elsewhere. It is a pithy, meaningful Odyssey of refugees which ravages the mind and torments the heart.it leaves you rigid and choked. The poem is inspired by the story o...

In these days of corona pandemic, everyone is experiencing enforced solitude, looking for ways to do away with idleness and impatiently waiting to resume their routine activities, which we all have been deprived of. One of the activities  I scrupulously follow these days is parenting my plants, and today as a weekly Sunday ritual, I was changing the water of my devil's ivy or the money plant, I was awestruck by the beauty and minimalist trait of this fuss-free, maintainable, nondemanding plant. Almost thriving on neglect, it is happy with just a streak of splendid sun rays seeking entry through the window. It keeps on adding glossy leaves non chalantly, growing relentlessly outwards as well deep inside with its glistening entwined roots. I wish we humans too possessed this trait of growth in all dimensions with equally captivating beauty hidden deep as shining outwards with minimal needs and desires. This observation was an instant inspiration for believing " Less ...

While the world is grappling with the corona outbreak ,everyone locked down and confined within the four walls of their rooms,I take a sneak peek through the window of my room and  Lo! I find a group of mynah,crow,parakeet, a pigeon with sporadic  appearance of a squirrel on my window sill.A melodious chirping it was and I couldn't restrain myself from eavesdropping them. From their monotonous trilling,I could conjure their flow of thoughts. They seemed to be plagued by the deserted look all around,the roads once teeming with unending pedestrian traffic ,high octave hawkers and honking vehicles looking abandoned and desolate. They scornfully seem to be intrigued by the sudden disappearance of humans  who once strutted vainly and proudly  in the markets. In fact all the animals must be wondering about the unprecedented shunning of festivities,playfulness celebrations and merrymaking by us. Even Gods kept in seclusion,no wails of muezzins,no tin...

The Corona Carnage continues,gaining foothold and creating panic and fear globally. The scare strikes you as soon as you try calling your dear ones,the throaty coughing caller tune gives you shudders.  The pandemonium at sensex and nifty ,world economy going bonkers in addition to the the mortality n morbidity is beyond imagination   But the virus  has some positive effects as well,has'nt this novel Covid19 taught  the world a novel way of greeting each other.Though Trump had already made Namoste popular across the world,but the virus has really made Namaste viral. This public display of affection in greeting people was getting on nerves,people throwing kisses in air, spluttering the people around and hard hand shakes were sometimes too painful. Corona really helped few Indians make a fast buck by ridiculously overpricing the masks and sanitizer s,though at cost of fleecing the innocent masses. Hoarder,thy name is Indian,we have really piled up the sanit...

Early morning,this woman s day I felt gorgeous,as I was served my favorite green tea as well Sunday edition of "Times of India" on bed,nor had I to get up to open the main door for maid.This holy Trinity was carried out by the man of the house. Really felt pampered,cared and respected. This was followed by countless exchange of women's day messages,glorifying the fairer sex as bieng responsible for every man s success, embodiment of courage,grit, fortitude,strength, beauty,elegance and so on.Few of the messages doling advise of never cowering attitude and perseverance of the prowess of pride,ambition and emancipation. I feel ,women by genetic programming and innate instincts do need caring,sharing, pampering and chivalry,but these should not be stereotyped and imposed upon. Not always,does a woman like to project  the aura of grandeur , strength and power.She need not act fierce and intrepid all the time. She doesn't have to stand bold,if crumbling within,rather be fr...

This winter overstayed it's welcome,fed up of dreary ,gloomy overcast days with sun hardly showing  ,the spring was gladly recieved.With the vibrance of spring in air,I too press a pause button on my humdrum days and squeeze out some 'me' time to wake up andsmell the roses. In a jiffy,I am on the swanky,elite roads of Lutyens amidst the honking and hollering of zooming cars and screeching brakes  ,I enter the nearby sprawling lush urban jungle,the iconic Lodhi garden. The cacophony I experienced outside comes to a grinding halt  just at the entrance.The tranquility is bewitching.There is a comfortable silence interrupted only by monotonous chirping of birds and a clattering hiss of winds through leaves of the tall  lofty trees. The tall,shady blooming trees of Arjun,Neem, silver oak,Kusum and the spiritual Ashoka seem to greet you  with veneration.  As I step on the walkway,the edging and bordering by bloom of vibrant orange nustarti...

All of us at one point in life,must have missed out some opportunity , which we had not been looking for or which could be a game changing one,but yet it would have made a life time memorable event. It was October 2015 ,me and my family  were heading to Jammu,our native place. Being vacation time,heavy foot fall was seen in the Airport and amidst pushing and jostling my hubby and son managed to board the shuttle bus. My daughter and myself were still at the terminal gate ,so we waited for the next shuttle bus to drop us at the runway.As soon as we embarked ,my heart pounded as I spotted a handsome, familiar face standing against the vertical pole of the bus ,right hand grabbing the strap and a swanky De milano hand bag held in left hand,dressed in a blue yellow striped tee and blue jeans,wearing spiffy brown loafers. With an excitement and delight not less than that of a school going girl,I  whisper in my daughter's ears,"Is he the super star Vinod Khanna"? She knew,I was...

As the new year rings in,most of us vouch for the new resolutions .These aim chiefly at physical fitness, giving up addictions,charity,or aspiring for spiritual bliss. Mind makes these resolutions but we know in our hearts that these will fail to sustain and we shall wallow in  defeat and retreat to embrace our good old self. So I have not waded into any such resolutions this year. This year brings eclectic new year memories of my early childhood which was spent in Kashmir. New year Eve meant bieng glued up to television waiting impatiently for the programme to start. It was the era of mid seventies,doordarshan reserved it's best shows and telecasters for this day owing to the maximum  viewership. (We were the proud owners of a black and white televista t.v ,standing majestically on its four slender , tapering legs in an alcove in our guest room).DD was the sole entertaining channel unlike the myriad array of channels and wide genre of entertainers these days. The show compris...