Who could fathom what goes on in another person’s mind?
Who would say that a person who is all chirpy and bubbly one day would not be amidst us the next?
Who could tell that a person who seems happy from outside would just be the opposite on the inside?
Who would think that for a person life could become so miserable that it has to be ended?
This blog is dedicated to the memory of one such person…
Monday 28 May 2007
Tuesday 22 May 2007
Crossroads
I was recently in the US of A…
It was a weekend. A couple of friends of mine & I were hitting the downtown with menavigating and a friend driving. This road to the downtown goes up and down as the terrain is not flat. We were approaching a crossroad and as we were on the higher level, we could see a great stretch of road ahead of us. There was some traffic ahead of us, which was quite rare in that part of the town. We took solace in the fact that though there were a lot of cars ahead of us, the traffic was moving!
The sight that hit us when we actually approached the junction was astonishing (esp for Indians and if I may say so - Puneites). The traffic lights were out. But that did not disrupt the system. What we saw was the disciplined way in which people were taking turns one by one to move ahead. All the cars would halt at the stop lines, then in an orderly fashion (I think it was clockwise), the cars would take their respective route and the next set of cars would follow suite.
I’ve seen many a situation like this back home and the only outcome is deadlocks! Everybody wants to go ahead at the same time and the situation turns sour at times.
I wish I can someday proudly say positive stuff about the traffic sense in my home town!
It was a weekend. A couple of friends of mine & I were hitting the downtown with menavigating and a friend driving. This road to the downtown goes up and down as the terrain is not flat. We were approaching a crossroad and as we were on the higher level, we could see a great stretch of road ahead of us. There was some traffic ahead of us, which was quite rare in that part of the town. We took solace in the fact that though there were a lot of cars ahead of us, the traffic was moving!
The sight that hit us when we actually approached the junction was astonishing (esp for Indians and if I may say so - Puneites). The traffic lights were out. But that did not disrupt the system. What we saw was the disciplined way in which people were taking turns one by one to move ahead. All the cars would halt at the stop lines, then in an orderly fashion (I think it was clockwise), the cars would take their respective route and the next set of cars would follow suite.
I’ve seen many a situation like this back home and the only outcome is deadlocks! Everybody wants to go ahead at the same time and the situation turns sour at times.
I wish I can someday proudly say positive stuff about the traffic sense in my home town!
Monday 21 May 2007
Oh the postbox…
Is letter writing an art of a bygone era? Does the advent of new forms of communication necessarily mean death to the old forms?
Letter writing was so important then, it used to be a part of our school curriculum in the language sessions! I wonder if it still is!
I used to love writing letters, especially long ones (sometimes at the risk of boring the receiver to death!!). And I used to love (still do) getting long letters addressed to me…
I sometimes feel they used to hold the kind of belongingness that these emails / sms can’t match! Besides the wait for the letters used to be worth it! You write a letter, post it, wait for it to reach the receiver, wait for reply and so on…
That reminds me of an old lady who used to stay in the apartment complex facing ours. She used to stay with her son and would wait for letters from her daughter staying in another town. 1.30 was the time when the postman used to arrive and that also happened to be the time we returned from school. She used to stand out at her door and check if she could spot any of us in our balcony. She would then ask hopefully using gestures (we were quite far for her to yell out) if the postman arrived. There used to be despair when she expected letters and they would not arrive. The day she used to get her daughter’s letter, she used to gesticulate to tell us that her letter has come and there used to be a kind of joy on her face.
Then were the times we along with our mom used to visit our grand parents in another town. We used to send letters to dad back home and would wait for his replies. And also the letters to our friends when we were on school vacation…
I have still cherished some of the letters from friends 10 years on and do re-read them time and again.
These days the only things we receive in post are bills / bank statements and solicitations!
Letter writing was so important then, it used to be a part of our school curriculum in the language sessions! I wonder if it still is!
I used to love writing letters, especially long ones (sometimes at the risk of boring the receiver to death!!). And I used to love (still do) getting long letters addressed to me…
I sometimes feel they used to hold the kind of belongingness that these emails / sms can’t match! Besides the wait for the letters used to be worth it! You write a letter, post it, wait for it to reach the receiver, wait for reply and so on…
That reminds me of an old lady who used to stay in the apartment complex facing ours. She used to stay with her son and would wait for letters from her daughter staying in another town. 1.30 was the time when the postman used to arrive and that also happened to be the time we returned from school. She used to stand out at her door and check if she could spot any of us in our balcony. She would then ask hopefully using gestures (we were quite far for her to yell out) if the postman arrived. There used to be despair when she expected letters and they would not arrive. The day she used to get her daughter’s letter, she used to gesticulate to tell us that her letter has come and there used to be a kind of joy on her face.
Then were the times we along with our mom used to visit our grand parents in another town. We used to send letters to dad back home and would wait for his replies. And also the letters to our friends when we were on school vacation…
I have still cherished some of the letters from friends 10 years on and do re-read them time and again.
These days the only things we receive in post are bills / bank statements and solicitations!
Friday 18 May 2007
My First Words…
My First Words…
No… Its not that I’ve just learnt to talk… or read or write for that matter.
Its just that this is the first time for me to be writing a blog!
As with everybody there are plenty of things I wonder about and still could write pages and pages on. But then all the inhibitions surface and kill the creativity within me.
And what inhibitions? Would it be boring? Why would or should anybody read what “I” write? Do I write personal stuff? Why?
And then you might think I’m a pessimist. I’m not – not all the time… I vary between the two extremes of hopefulness and hopelessness.
But I recently read some blogs on this site and thought why not give it a shot! At least I’d know what’s it like to publish my thoughts…
And well this is not the first time I’m putting my thoughts to words. I’ve written a few poems in the past which I’ve shared with some of closest friends and they have been appreciated. Mind you my friends did not necessary agree with my views but appreciated what I wrote…
And now without again running into the risk of getting into the mundane stuff I’m gonna be closing this one and think of what next I would be writing about…
No… Its not that I’ve just learnt to talk… or read or write for that matter.
Its just that this is the first time for me to be writing a blog!
As with everybody there are plenty of things I wonder about and still could write pages and pages on. But then all the inhibitions surface and kill the creativity within me.
And what inhibitions? Would it be boring? Why would or should anybody read what “I” write? Do I write personal stuff? Why?
And then you might think I’m a pessimist. I’m not – not all the time… I vary between the two extremes of hopefulness and hopelessness.
But I recently read some blogs on this site and thought why not give it a shot! At least I’d know what’s it like to publish my thoughts…
And well this is not the first time I’m putting my thoughts to words. I’ve written a few poems in the past which I’ve shared with some of closest friends and they have been appreciated. Mind you my friends did not necessary agree with my views but appreciated what I wrote…
And now without again running into the risk of getting into the mundane stuff I’m gonna be closing this one and think of what next I would be writing about…
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