Friends are people ...

People who need people are the luckiest people in the world sang Barbara Streisand in the movie Funny girl

Man, as we all learn as kids, is a social animal. Thus, it is not unusual for one to be anxious when you join a new school, a new college, a new office or move into a new neighborhood as to now who your new and additional set of friends are going to be… will it be easy for me to find likeminded company? … Will I be able to gel easily? … the questions in the mind seem to play on …

While I’ve always been an extrovert and enjoy meeting new people, making new friends and sharing viewpoints … as a child and a student, I now realize, this was way easier to achieve… but the experience and the silent challenge that come along with it this time has been more than I’ve experienced before … perhaps it’s the totally new environment and finally being enforced to move out of the comfort zone of not only my home city but home country … where every person encountered here is a total stranger … and it’ll take a while to find one of my own kin … the comfort and the ease of falling back to my regular pillars of strength – friends and family back home – though not impossible, yet is not so easily available at the drop of a hat now … And hence to fulfill my basic human need I had to look out for people …

The whole process, if I may so refer it, has been quiet an eye opener … and yeah a lesson or two learnt as well … As done for every other aspect by normal people, whenever one is in a new situation and needs to find something we first tend to go to our primary sources – references by family, friends and colleagues … and I did the very same … however, I’m glad that I didn’t stop there … met different people along the way – by chance of course … each having different outlooks … having varying mind frames … something that I realized during all this and what amuses me as well as astounds me the most is – how different we people all are … sometimes two people click easily and sometimes its after long hours spent together one finally succumbs to the incompatibility issue which had been glaring into the face all along… What might be interpreted as mindless cacophony to some people might be an agreeable indulgence of conversation to some others… weird, but true! … Nothing good or bad I guess … only different people …

Going back to the main point of this blog … As always in the world – some people you meet due to lack of choice and some you meet by chance … I’ve been lucky however to find some few but nice new friends … the process did take a while and lots of luck … as I met them in situation which were quiet “by chance meeting” and would have been a opportunity to meet someone new lost had I not got out of my comfort zone of not knowing them and opened my mouth (remember the same which quality which appeared disdainful to some others) to make a conversation and discover for myself … and I’m glad that things finally did turn out right … for … People who need people are the luckiest people in the world…!

A morning at the bus stop

Off late I have been pretty much enthused about observing people moving around while standing at the bus stop in the morning while waiting for my office drop ... Until two months back I would board from the stop closer to the railway station .. and what would usually astound me was that people in the morning, the young college goer to the smart business professional to the plain looking workmen .. everybody young and old would nearly be sprinting across the roads and had their eyes just fixed out in the distance at the transit destination - The Railway Station! .. To many in Mumbai - The Lifeline of the city ...

While it would be amusing to watch a one off incident of young lovers meeting at the (my) bus stop in the early hours of the morning .. or the rush of people trying to board a bus to catch on the few remaining seats ... everyday was filled with different kinds of incidents ... each a different story ...

A few weeks back the office bus route had changed ... and now rather interestingly so was my whole environment of observation ... I would now be standing in front of a Boy's school .. and would be there at about the same time as the students kept coming in ... Wow! all of a sudden I wished that I was in school again .. the happy go lucky faces .. no worries .. having fun .. in this whole new scenario (now that I was becoming more of an adult) one of the things that caught my attention was the different ways in which the boys commuted to school - walking, vans, elders / parents / grandparents dropping their little ones off in a car, the young mother on the Scooter, the boys coming in cycling ... but amongst this all there was one set of father-son that really caught my fantasy and I would just wait every morning to see them come ... because looking at them would give me such a warm fuzzy feeling inside ... They both would come to school on cycles -> the father on his (all dressed for his morning exercise.. and yes not to miss the school bag on his back) and the son (maybe 11-12 years old) riding by his side ... I would see the joy on their face every morning ... it is really astounding that in an age where working parents usually complain of not having much time to spend with their kids here was a pair that did beat the odds and made best of an opportunity available .. what a lovely way to bond with your child .. to share in similar activities .. to get talking .. and I can just imagine how nice the son would be feeling to be able to gel with his dad at such a level... I'm sure, the now little boy, when he grows up will look back with an even warmer fondness in his heart for those happy moments spent cycling with his dad ...

Cheers to them!!

yaaaaaaawwnnnn...i wanna sleep...!

Wake up dear ... wake up .... you'll get late to go to school else ...
- ah! those were those lovely school days where mum would sweetly tug at my leg every morning to ensure that I get up on time and not miss the school bus every morning ... I really miss those days... all of us were like free birds ... the only next worry being - hope the teacher doesn't give too much HW .. or ooooppss my note book is incomplete!!!!

And then after the much hyped-up SSC board exams got done and a new academic year began there also came in additional responsibility when ma mum very nicely said - dear its time for you to grow up ... hence forth no tugging at your leg ... here is the alarm-clock... set it and wake ... aaaah! those care free sleep days were over .... most of the days i managed to get up on time ... and the days when my sweetdreams went way into the morning I didn't mind the extra sleep in much ... after all just a lecture or two was at stake (boy-o-boy things were very different on the days when practical sessions were in the morning) ...and then on for a year or two post the traditional alarm clock came in the snazzy mobile phone and along with it the snooze mode and along with it the oh so lovely snppze sleep ...(especially on those cozy rainy daysi think the best sleep one can gets from amongst the whole night is the snooze sleep) :-)and along with it more hurried mornings lest I don't miss that one train ... 7:32 fast on most mornings ... n later 6:27 was traditional ....

Trrrrrrrrringggggg..... OMG..!!! Late to go to IGTC !!!!!!.... I don't wanna be late and travel in that horribly crowded train with this biiiiigggg heavvvvyyy bag .... .. run run run run jump! ahaaa into the train ... and once perched on a comfy seat its time to sleeeeeeep :-) .... but then again there were days where i could take the liberty to zzz in a little late and miss class ... after all my student days were not over yet :-)

and now ..... trrrrrrrrinnnnnngggggggg.... rise and shine ...!!! (no matter how much I snooze) there is just no chance of giving into those sleep pangs on a weekday morning ... have to be on ma toes lest I miss reaching office on time ...!

how i miss those carefree school days ... or even the mad-rush to college .... atleast somewhere deep within i knew I had a choice ...

but yeah .. i comfort myself now say ..."don't worry girl saturdays are sleep-in morns .." and more often than not i ensure that I rise up in time for Brunch :-)


P.S. This is a fictional piece .... whether reality is better or worse... you can just anticipate and not really know :-)

I'll do it later ...

"I'll do it later" .... "Tomorrow I will get this work done" ... "This goes back into the to-do pile, I'll have a look at it when I get the time" ... Do these statements sound familiar? ...

Ah! There is this assignment / task / project that needs to be done ... but hey the deadline is far far away ... don't worry it'll happen ... I'll do it one bit at a time ....

There is loads of work remaining to be done ... and the pile looks so huge it'll never get over ...

Then down one gets to burning the mid-night oil ... those sleepless nights ... those umpteen coffee-cups a day ... and there finally the work is done !

At times we even wonder that had I done all of this before hand would the outcome been any different? or better? or worse? ... or naaah ...??? That is a question one can only assume and fantasize ... It'll only remain a hypothesis ....

Its such a human tendency.... and then its put as "I work best under pressure!" ... Ultimately, the final point of contention - a plus point or a negative - PROCRASTINATION...!

Invisible Bondages

The scent of uncertainty in the air

Clouds of fear and doubt sweep in

Trust n brotherhood- betrayed, dead

Insecurity lies deep within

Out of resentment and remorse

We’ve sown seeds of discord

Man has become his own enemy

Onto destruction we trod

Free we came into the world

Free we were meant to be

But it is our pride and greed

That has us chained, bound, clasped

No one is a real friend

We all have a selfish plan

Personal gain! We want to reign!

Price of the deal – man

Yet hope still lingers on

That our hardened hearts will change

Shadows of sorrow will be gone

Tomorrow will be a new born dawn

Free we came into the world

Free we were meant to be

But it is our pride and greed

That has us chained, bound, clasped