Swachhta!

She sighs, tired from a long day, and sits down to scribble a few lines in to her journal.
She rarely does that. Something really profound must have happened.

May 2nd 2012,

My cousin and his kids came home from the U.S. of A last week. I ve been spending a lot of time with them.

Cute kids, they have a lot of energy,so many stories to share, it is so much fun being around them.. Well the younger one is a peach, the kid is in that place where they learn to talk, precious right?! 
Had a really long day. But one incident just baffled me.

My nephew was filling his 'Ben 10' fanny pack with wrappers from all the chocolates and ice creams he had. It was so full he started holding them in his tiny fists and  washaving difficulty holding the other things. 

So my cousin says 'Why aren't you throwing all the trash away?? Why are you collecting everything?' 

The kid complained, 'I couldn't find a trash can dad!'

For which he got a reply, 'No no, you need not search for a trash can , you can throw the wrappers here or for that matter anywhere!'

The kid obliged. What else would he do? He is four!!

Well thank god there was someone who cleaned up right behind him.

I grew up with 2 siblings who did not give any thought before throwing juice boxes, wrappers or cartons right in the middle of the road for 22 years. I even got into a huge fight with my brother over a Frooti bottle and didn't talk to him for hours and got into trouble with my parents for being arrogant, obnoxious and some other things I shouldn't even reveal here <Well, sounds stupid now I guess>. And today, this happens!!

Well I guess you tell and tell, but you only end up being such a bore to your own cousins and nothing ever changes!!


August 16th 2012,

It is one month since Tinku returned to India after her long trip from the U.S. of A, and I couldn't help but notice that she is being really clean about everything around her, conspicuously putting every juice box every small wrapper nowhere but in the nearest trash can.

I was very intrigued and grilled her for the reason [well my wicked plan was to work it on Pinku so he could change too.. ;) ] when she said that she was shamed by our nephew (the four year old with the fanny pack) in-front of his foreign friends. He said, and she quoted 'Se,e don't litter this place with all this plastic,if it is India, you can.. But you are not in India anymore,so here you ll have to put it in the trash can.'

Though I can't play this card on Pinku, it got me thinking. It took a long expensive trip and shaming by a four year old for Tinku to realize.. And the worst part is, she is educated and all!

I wish I could smack on Pinku's head and the keys fall in the right place, that would be so much easier!!

October 2nd 2014,

My cousin and his kids are visiting again. The kid threw some trash on the road.
I asked him to pick it all up and hold it till he finds a trash can when Pinku said, 'Well I don't know which India your father grew up in little fellow, but here, we don't do that anymore!'
He happily obliged!!  Well, he is just six, but he ll never do that again. Not here!

<This is not fiction. It is very much veridical!>

Might not be as moving, but we are literate and sensible right? 

So the next time you mindlessly stop to pee on the roads, realize that you are making approximately 60% of India's population vulnerable to cholera, diarrhea, typhoid etc..

The next time you drop a juice box on the roads, realize

that there thousands tourists who dread coming to India,well you are just slackening up the chance for a low paid employee to construct his own toilet.

The next time you spit on the road, the next time you throw a still- on-fire cigarette butt on the road, realize that there are many girls dropping out of the school because they don't have good sanitation facilities, you are robbing them of their future and dreams.

'Nirmal' or 'Swachh', good intentions can never let us down. 

Every effort to fulfill our duties is also patriotism.

I am that change. I hope you are too.. 

So we can meet on the other side where the grass is greener and India is cleaner!

My new Monalisa

It is so unnatural that 2 years passed on blogger without me mentioning about 'My Precious!' I am a proud owner of a one Mister Canon PowerShot S5 IS. I go on occassional detours to pacify my enthusiasm in photography,how it developed is a whole other story involving a late night work for an SHG. May be I ll write another post for that sometime later. For now, this is dedicated to my camera! Hopefully, I ll be an owner of a DSLR soon enough. Fingers Crossed as there are miles to go...

I owe a post to my camera, which has been with me through all climates and all my moods,it has been my eyes, it has made my mental images come true,it gave me stories to write. It gave me people to speak to(Something really weird about me, I like it a lot when I speak to person who is a complete stranger and has nothing in common with me, when I try to 'speak' to people without making a snap judgement on seeing them or on knowing from where they are, and it is weird but I do speak to strangers a lot when I am with my camera).It introduced to me, a new me. It regulates my thought. It makes me paint with light. It makes me see things differently. It makes my surroundings so much more beautiful.. Ya! I guess I can do this for days. I know,I am not a professional, but,just get this 'My camera makes me complete!'


Haah! That is enough introduction about my post's protagonist. There is one incident I wanted to share.. The other day.. I went clicking to the park in the vicinity here, for my love for candid shots and what better than playful kids? A group of kids were playing and having fun, and I went to click, as it is, they were making fun of one of the girls in their gang, she had bugs bunny teeth, and whenever she was aware that the camera was on her, she stopped smiling, that made me sad. However, I came out of the park, and there was a kid selling balloons, and I wanted to have an icecream and also click balloons, so I started a conversation with him asking about his hometown(a village in U.P, he came to Delhi to earn for himself and his family), his aspirations and his income(mind me! :P he did not feel bad). He said that he wanted to be Shahrukh Khan,he had Bugsy teeth too,like the girl from the park, but when he started posing for the camera, he never clinched.. "Mast photo kheechna didi.. Mein Shahrukh jaisa dikhunga!!" He had a great , bright smile. I can't believe I am saying this, but it was brighter than sunshine, sweeter than honey. I hope he makes it to Bollywood someday. That day,  my camera made me re-learn something I had long forgotten, which my dad told me when I was teasing my cousin, for her rabbit teeth,yeah.. I know, as a kid, I was a pompous fool.. Well.. on a different note, here is what my dad taught me::


"There is no such thing like an ugly smile. Because, people don't smile with their teeth or lips, they smile with their eyes." That day, when I met the future Shahrukh(ya, I have decided), he made it a point, he proved it to me that life is bumping into you, new every moment, and we are to embrace the beauty of life with a smile.. It is not some 'Bugsy' name people give you or comment about your smile.. And my camera proved it! Every smile had life in it! Every picture had life in it. Now, I know why I click nature more often, nature is all smiles, be it summer, winter or monsoons. Now, I know why I click architecture more often,it smiles through the elbow grease of great artisans,and now, I know why I click more often, because there is no such thing like an 'Ugly smile'. That was the day when my dad told is when I decided, I will return a smile, whenever I see a glowing one,whether it is for me or not, I ll return it. I'd love to be the best smile merchant there ever was..

On an ending note, I would love to quote Phoebe Buffay::

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things "

#F.R.I.E.N.D.S


I don't know why, but this particular song always makes me smile. That day, I found my new Monalisa in that kid,I hope you find yours soon too..


PS:: This post is in love for my camera,one year of having it and loving it. Also,to the awesome smile the hero (Jai) carries in the movie 'Engeyum Eppothum'(I did not like the movie so much,one half of it was lame enough to ruin the other awesome half! :D ), I am recently in love with a song from that movie. And to all the other Monalisas(no gender barriers by the way)  out there.. Smile away to glory! When you find a glowing smile, just return one! Please! :)


PPS:: Smellyy cat.. smelly cat.. What are they feeding you!! :D (And that is just some Phoebe-craziness!)

The delicate rhythm of a boatman’s song

His eyes had a glitter of glee and celebration, the bicycle sped past the village temple, the aarthi was going on and devotees were singing the bhajans, usually he would have stopped to have put the tilak on his forehead before he went home, but today all that was echoing in his ears was the rhythm of the boatman’s song. Screeching halt infront of a magnificent household, the 6 year old carefully placed the cycle in the shed,he ran towards the house. He was excited as this was his first time alone in the village on the cycle. He rushed inside, saw his aunt sitting in the verandah, panting and all puffed up started singing the song he heard by the river, it was about the river itself and how it flows, like life.. 


“I went to the river all by myself aunty! All by myself! I am all grown up! I was playing near the mango tree, by the school, the fisherman was singing this song while getting his net ready.”

“Oh, so it is a boatman’s song huh?”


“Yes aunty, he told me all about fishing, casting the net and the baits. Then his children came from the school. We played hide and seek, they bought me an ice-gola. I promised that I ll come to play with them every day.”


“So you played with those kids? Go take bath before you enter the house. They are not good kids. You are never going to play with them again.”


“But aunty! They were very nice to me. We had a lot of fun. I promised them. Why shouldn’t I play with them?”


“They are bad kids. They go to a bad school where they teach everything wrong. You should not touch them and you are not going to play with them. Now stop asking me more questions, go take bath now!”


His eyes fell, excitement drained, he left to take bath, that night when his mom asked him to come to dinner, there was one question gnawing his nous.


“Mummy! Aunty said the boatman’s kids went to a bad school and that everything they say is wrong! But I saw mummy, their teacher, like ours, also told them that 2 plus 5 is 7. Why is it that I should not play with them?”


The only answer he got was a pat on the head and a sigh.. He did not get the answer for years, and after he knew the answer, he never felt a rush of excitement seeing the river. It saddens him that he could never play with those kids again.


But he could never stop admiring the delicate rhythm of the boatman’s song.