Of Love

I wrote this quiet a while back, but never really got around to posting it. I was going through my drafts and couldn't remember any more, what it was that kept me from posting it. So here it is.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my friends today.

Him : About how far should one go in the name of love.
Me : I'd say its a personal choice ... but why do you ask ...

Him : Just want to know if someone in this world has any definite answer to this
Me : Maybe just keep going on ... till you are sane
Him : Hahaha then your love would go far away from you
Me : If it still goes far away .. then maybe it was never really worth it

Later I wondered if one really had a choice in how far one wanted to go or can go. You see, love is not a bed of roses as it appears to a lot of us. The rose is just a camouflage to what actually lies under. When in love, one just keeps going on. The intent is to only keep going on till one is sane, but when in love, one never knows when that boundary of insanity is crossed. One never knows when to stop, or even if he knows, he can't. Even if he wants to he can't. Its a kind of a quagmire, from which, maybe, only time can rescue you.
I wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth. And then I ask myself the same question. I wonder what it is that has the power or will to pull one out of that quagmire. What it is that can make birds to never stop at the same place twice.

Love ...

No it's not mine. And I dunno who wrote it either but I like it a lot ...

A kIsS iS jUsT a KiSs,
TiLl, YoU fInD tHe OnE yOu lOvE.
a HuG iS jUsT a HuG,
tIlL, iTs ThE oNe YoU aRe ThInKiNg oF.
a DrEaM iS jUsT a DrEaM,
tIlL, yOu MaKe iT cOmE tRuE.
LOVE iS jUsT a WoRd,
tIlL, iTs PrOvEn To YoU.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A Wrong Man In The Worker's Paradise ...

The man had never believed in mere utility. Having had no useful work, he indulged in mad whims. He made little pieces of sculptures, men, women and castles and he painted. Thus he wasted his time on all that was useless and needless. People laughed at him. He spent his earthlife in useless work and yet after death, the gates of heaven opened wide for him and he was sent to the Workers Paradise.
But this newcomer did not fit well with the scheme of things in Workers Paradise. He lounged in the streets absently and jostled the hurrying men. He lay in the green meadows or close to the fast flowing stream. A girl went hustling-bustling everyday to a silent torrent (silent since in the Workers Paradise even a torrent wouldn't waste its energy singing), to fill her pitchers.
"A - Ha" she cried with concern. "You have no work in hand, Have you?"
The man sighed "Work! I've not a moment to spare for work."
The girl did not understand his words and said "I shall spare some work for you to do, if you like." She further said "What kind of work would you like?"
"Would you give me one of your pitchers, one that you can spare?"
"A pitcher? You want to draw water from the torrent?"
"No. I shall draw pictures on your pitcher."
The girl was annoyed. "A picture indeed! I have no time to waste on such as you. I'm going." And she walked away.
But everyday they met and everyday he said the same thing to her. She yielded at last. She gave him one of her pitchers. The man started painting. When he had completed his work, the girl held up the pitcher and stared at its sides, her eyes puzzled.
Brows drawn, she asked "What do they mean, all those lines and colors?"
The man laughed "Nothing. A picture may have no meaning and serve no purpose."
At home, away from prying eyes, she held it in the light, turned it round and round and scanned the painting from all angles. At night she lighted a candle and scanned it again in silence. For the first time in her life she had seen something that had no meaning and no purpose at all. She saw the painter standing by the torrent and asked him in confusion,
"What do you want of me?"
"Only some more work from your hands."
"What kind of work would you like?"
"Let me make a colored ribbon for your hair."
"And what for?"
"Nothing."
Ribbons were made, bright with colors. The busy girl of Workers Paradise had now to spend a lot of time everyday tying the colored ribbon around her hair. Much work was left unfinished. In Workers Paradise, work of late had began to suffer. Many people who had been active earlier were idle now, wasting their precious time on useless things like paintings and sculptures. The elders became anxious. A meeting was called. The aerial messenger also hurried in, bowed before the elders and made a confession.
"I brought a wrong man in this paradise. It is all due to him."
The man was summoned. Stifled the president said
"This is no place for the kind of you. You must leave."
The man sighed in relief and gathered up his brush and paints. But as he was about to go, the girl of the silent torrent came up tripping and cried
"Wait a moment! I shall come with you."

For a Reason...!

Everything you do in life, you do it for a reason, for a goal that you have set for yourself. it's not been any different for me either. I went to school when I was a kid for a reason, to be aware of the society and life around me. I went to college after that for the same reason. I worked hard in college for another reason, to get the best job possible. I tried hard for a job for another reason, I wanted to be independent. But there was another reason, why I didn't take up the first job that came my way but instead chose the dependent life for a couple of more years and came to this so called land of opportunities.
But what happens to life if that reason dies? What if there is nothing to live upto for? There are a few reasons that I can give, like to support my parents in future, to be successful blah blah blah which are always there. But these are not reasons good enough to lead an exciting life. These are not the reasons, that would force you to accelerate through life or to live on the edge or to take risks. These are reasons that are good only if you want to cruise through life. And I believe that life without risks is no life worth living. I want to get back on to the fast lane again, but a good reason is the ticket that would get me there. And thats what I'm living for now, to find a good reason to get back the life as it was.

People and Places...!

Sorry for the long silence guys but have been a little busy lately with work and yeah, what I've been fearing for a long time happened a few days ago, my faithful old laptop died. I hope I'll be able to revive it back. Anyways, enough of my disquiets. What I wanted to write today is about "People and Places". How certain People and certain Places can change your life, change the way you think, the way you look at others, the way you live, the way you talk and hear things and the way you feel. Yeah, how they can change your life altogether.
I've been fortunate enough to have traveled a lot (well atleast more than an average person in India), and live in almost drastically different social and economic environments so far in my life. I am happy for how my life has molded me so far regarding most aspects of my character, but the others, I don't know if I'll ever be able to change them. I was born and bought up in a small village in India, but not long after I moved out of it an landed in a small township, and then later in one of the largest cities in India followed by a small city later, where I spent the last year of my life before flying away from my beloved home country.
It was in that small city, that I learnt life's most important lessons and met some of the most beautiful people in my life so far. When I say beautiful, I don't (only) mean physical beauty, which is but skin deep. It was in that city that I lived away from my family, alone, for the first time ever. I used to look forward for a call from mom/dad and also to meet my sweet and beautiful sis on weekends who was staying in a hostel then (I stayed as a paying guest for a year). I made some good and ever lasting friends during those last 3 years of schooling (high school). I never had developed close friendship with people before, 'coz by the time I was close to them and was at the point of trusting them, we used to move to a different place. But this place was different, it didn't take long for me to trust people here. My best year in the place was the academic year of 98-99 when I was in hostel.
I learned and experienced the term sacrifice and felt the joy that comes from helping your friends. The loyalty and trust we had developed was absolute. That was the year when I had some crushes for the first time and realised it. Had some daring adventures, challenging some unlikely people (our warden :-)) and taking care of friends when they were low. That place taught me what it was to love and be loved. It showed me the pain of loss.
When I moved out of the city to go to the neighboring place for the next two years, I saw how difficult it was to find faithful friends like I had back at school. I had not been so close to my parents, as I've been with my friends during those years. Those were the years when I developed an "Independent Lifestyle" kind of attitude. I no longer depended on other people to make my decisions, in some cases not even my parents. That has taken me a long way in my mostly successful life so far. I've never forgotten those friends and never will.
Fast-forward 4 years down my memory lane and I was in the land of opportunities. My independent lifestyle helped me a lot to get settled into the new place and make some nice new friends here too. Los Angeles was kind of a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to be able to go to the beach often. The university and the social life were so different here yet so much more fun. The competition here was fierce, yet I fared well and was happy for it until I lost something which I had been yearning for years. It was then that I saw how much of an introvert and reserved person I am, and how much I hesitate when it comes to some decisions, and how less about my life, I discuss with my faithful friends. But what is lost is lost forever and I cannot get it back, and I think since then I've been living life the way I should have been for a long time.

Thanks a lot friends for being there for me and giving me hope whenever I was in need of it. Thank you all very much for all your support and encouragements. And thanks a lot for for being my friend...