A Clean Sheet of Paper

Few days back someone asked me a question "What would you draw if you have a clean sheet of paper?" This was like a shot to my brain and felt as if I was placed in some unknown planet with no boundaries. It felt like zero gravity! Felt like freedom granted before I was well prepared for it. I wondered how much the mind gets wired and life gets single tracked with daily chores and a "well-planned" life . I suddenly felt the excitement of re-writing my story with just this simple question.

Well the answer to above is still being processed but it made me think what exactly drifted me away from this freedom? If I was a kid and was given a clean sheet what would I draw? What comes first in my mind, directly pumped from heart?

Looking back, I realized that there were very few instances in life when a clean sheet was ever provided. It has been mostly about connecting the dots.

To begin with, a prescribed education system and learning within boundary, learning to just be a shining star in school rather than truly enriching knowledge. Then get into best college that can give the best job, maybe from top 10 colleges of the country, a prescribed professional turn. When in job, comes time of prescribed task, prescribed priority and prescribed red carpet carrier path.Whoa! I never realized my life was so prescribed!

Well,I agree it's just easy to build this blame list and there have been examples where there have been outstanding individuals from the same system. So, I do diligently take part of blame to me. What I am trying to get at is, it's very important to ask such questions to oneself. These open ended questions can at times blow up mind and open up new channels.

It's wonderful to be in zero gravity so grab this opportunity and color your "clean sheet".

Back to school days ..

"We gossiped all day long and still had so much to talk on phone.We shared laughter, we shared tears and we shared our greatest fears. We laughed till our cheeks and stomach cried of stretch and yet we went on and on and on ... Those friendship bands we weaved for this special day, still binds us till this date!"
Am nostalic of my school days where I met some of the most special people in my life. We spent ten glorious years with each other which had all colors of fun and all shades of happiness.Ah! And one day the roads diverged and we all moved on our destined way. Yet, the memories are still green with me and I often see you all in my dreams.
Those noisy corridors, those lunch boxes which got over seconds after they opened, those color dresses on teachers day and those fun filled sports day! Those happy hours when we got a free period and we tried hard to stay calm.Those excitement of Children's Day when our teachers bestowed so much fun with their plays. Those fear of the results day when all we could do is just pray :).Those musical evening in our school bus and those jokes we reserved for our way back.
I wish we had an option to re-live those days and have so much fun again. Life just keeps moving in a fast forward mode and we get farther away from each other. I wish all our roads meet some day and we relive all our magical moments. Miss you all a lot!
Wish you all a very Happy Friendship Day!

Some childhood poetic outburst

These are two of my very old poetries which I wrote while I was in school. It was when I was preparing for my boards and was isolated at home to study for the D-Day. The silence outside churned a new conversation within me and below are some instance of those:

Keep Smiling

" A crooked line on your face;
Enclosed sweetly in a brace
Lits the face as bright;
As moon shines in a star lit night.

Transmits warmth in others heart;
And sweetens all corners turned sour,
Melts the roughness between foes;
As the warm sun melts the toughest snow.

When all round trapped in stress;
All say it works the best,
Unties every knots of thoughts;
As rain releives the earth blown hot.

When seen on a child's face;
It looks like God's grace,
Take my advice and tie a knot;
"Keep Smiling,it helps a lot"."

In arms of past.......

When eyes go drowsy;and nights go calm,
When stars go twinkling;midst the cloud,
My thoughts travel down the path....
And I; drift away in my past.
With twinkling eyes and sizzling dreams;
I used to think;"I am a born queen",
Mother's love and father's care;
Made my little world glare,
Dolls were my little friends;
In whose hairs; my hours would blend,
Wondered why the rain should fly;
When the colorful rainbow did arrive,
Tried hard;to hear the Moon say "Hello!";
Wanted to make the clouds my pillow.
Then gently I feel the patting of wind.....
Which takes me to the world of dreams,
I wish I could stay there.....
Like a little doll;with careless hours.

An ordinary day with an extraordinary evening

It was a weary day. My work was still haunting me at all places. Everywhere I went I could find trace of my incomplete TODO's.Kitchen was shouting to be cleaned, clothes howling for laundry, carpet could not breathe in dust and every other thing was complaining.Phew! No peace for my little soul.
I just wanted to break out of all this and breathe back life to get things better. I thought gym should be a good resort to press the pause button of my mind and just stop thinking for some time. As I always say, mind is a chatter box and always finds a reason to constantly churn so many unwanted thoughts.
Leaving everything in same state I just dressed up and headed towards my gym. It was 7 pm by the time I could get myself in shoes. With my IPod plugged in I steadily moved to my gym which is hardly 5 minutes walking from my home and still I make it just once in 5 days!Well, music made it a bit better but strangely I noticed my mind was getting immune to music. It was still singing in between and reminded me of my laundry list.Finally I made it to treadmill and got myself moving.
"Aditi, you are too tired to run for more than 5 mins", exclaimed my inner voice. "You have so much to do, how can you spend 15 mins on this!" and it continued.... Oh my! I feel there is a small devil building resistance system in me.
Ignoring all this I could manage to persist for 20 minutes. Could not go further with my legs ringing it's alarm as I had troubled them after weeks or the same resistance system.
I just moved out of gym and found it to be bright and sunny outside even at 7:30 pm. God had started his windmill and there was a wave of cool wind easing me off my sweat.I moved ahead with legs heavy but it felt better with my blood running faster in me trying to pump in some fresh supply to my wearied mind. It was certainly better now but the best was still to come.
While I was heading home, a certain feeling stuck me and I wanted to visit the park behind my home. I had no clue what motivated me to walk the extra miles but I just moved on till I reached there.
It was refreshing and a pleasant scene to view. With sky changing its color to scarlet red, the grass so perfect green and trees dancing as intoxicated with the winds. There were kids playing with their dad's and some teenagers giggling and having fun with the carelessness of youth. I eventually got infected with the fun and peace there and found myself smiling, my mind fresh and my heart happy! I started strolling round and could finally feel my thoughts entangling. It was a moment worth the time I gave it. I suddenly felt the urge of jogging and my legs happily co-operated. As I jogged, it got even better as the wind was making rooms in my hair and washed away all sweat from my face.It was euphoria, feel of mirage or even better, with no better words I can find in my limited vocabulary.
I guess it was one of the best thirty minutes of my life and nature helped me renew back life. I was back home with a quite brain and peace all around. Carefully I lifted my pending TODO's and also managed to wite this blog :).
Now, I know where to go when I start getting out of touch of myself.

An Evening With Moorie

This is an excerpt from my diary which I wrote after watching the movie "Tuesdays with Moorie".

"I just can't sleep. The mind is numb and the heart aches.All small and big events of life seem to be dancing on way.In the rush of life, I can suddenly feel a sudden silence .There are so many questions queued up. All this after an evening with Moorie.
It started off in February'2004 when we were sent to MRA(Moral Re-armament) camp. One of the most cherished gift SCIT gave me. It was a three day camp where we learnt the subtle things in life on how to gel love, generosity and humanity with carrier.One evening they showed us a movie "Tuesday's with Moorie".The movie started, and it had just started getting into me when my phone rang. I just moved out and by the time I was back, the movie was at its last stage. I could just catch on few captivating lines and assured myself that I shall watch this some day.
It's 2009, and today finally I made it! After five years .. it took me that long to fulfill a promise I made to myself.
Moorie is a professor who is on his death bed. But he is a professor and he fulfills his duty till his last breath. He gives some of the toughest lesson to his student, which takes a life to learn. It's a lesson on how to live by keeping an eye on death. All of us one day or other would be extinct, we shall leave everything except the love that we plant in each others heart. When we dance to our heart and celebrate the gift called life, we rejuvenate a new life within us.
Moorie is dying, he can't stand on his legs, his body is melting but his eyes is bright with the love he has gathered all through his life. With all his friends and loved ones on his side, he is happier than most of us are in perfect health.Moorie teaches the sermon of life in simple words, love each other or die!
Its a captivating story and addresses challenges each one of us face in our life. Its just the choice which makes all the difference!
Play your flute and sing you song and the world shall adore you!"

Its a must watch and must read for everyone!!!

Encounter with heaven

Floating clouds, green mountains, waterfalls, rain drops and cold wind in my hair, what else could i ask to make my Sunday perfect.I had a blissful encounter with heaven where nature was all set to sweep us off our feet.
It was me, junu, neishaa, bhabhi and bhaiya and we were out on road for a weekend escape. Tired of the pollution in the city and kitchen at home, we just decided for a runaway.The rains had already boycotted but it could not deter our enthusiasm.
We just moved on the very favorite monsoon picnic place for Mumbai, "Lonavala and Khandala".
We were actually disappointed when we reached there as we saw the whooping crowd and the disappearing rains."God please send the rains!" exclaimed my little sis and we all said "Amen!" but God did not open his shower to wet our thirsty eyes.
We still managed with the cold breeze and tried to get us happy by titillating our taste buds with hot tea and bhajia.It was good but still did not have the power to rekindle our enthusiasm.
We then rushed back to our car in search of greener pasture till we reached resort named "Velvet Country". We were still full so we decided to go on for a walk.
We just moved a few steps and God sent our smiles back by sending a mild shower.Too little to wet the ground but good enough to wet our drying enthusiasm.
The liveliness was back and singing, laughing and teasing each other , we walked and walked and the ... we stepped into paradise.The scene was breathtaking.Clouds were sweeping across the mountains as if nature was slowly wrapping the earth with a white chiffon cloth. It was awesome and amazingly refreshing.
"Yeh dil mange more"! So we just moved on and on to reach as far as we could.I just closed my eyes and spread my arm to capture the freshness.
We all were totally entrapped in the serenity of the site. My eyes have captured all the beautiful moments and stored them in my quick links.
Whenever i feel the heat of life/work getting on me, i just close my eyes, it gets the moments back in front of me and the freshness takes over.
Well, all the credit to click such beautiful snaps goes to my sweet sister Neishaa.We were just too lazy to carry our camera's.
Also, credit to my dear husband who has the instant formula to get the smile on my face.It just added on to the magic.
Also, bhaiya and bhabhi without whom this trip would have been incomplete :) :)
This day has already been saved in my "Sweet Memories" album ...

Take a Break: Be An Angel

Its so difficult to stay in touch with life in such a grilling professional life.We get so engrossed with daily chores that we start loosing the basic fun of life.As we run hungrily to shape our financial life, we start loosing the beautiful shape of life.And when the run is over and we look behind; we see what we have missed in the long run.Its like building a mansion with none to stay in.. or .. landing in heaven with no peace of mind.
Go slow in life, take time to understand your loved ones. Its rightly said that life happens when we are busy planning for it. Even a friendly call, or a surprise creates happiness to relish throughout the life.Smile and happiness is contagious, if we can make one person smile, imagine the number of faces that will be lit with it.
Be an angel spreading happiness in everyone's life and the euphoria will be unimaginable.

Two minutes recipe to an instant smile
- Give an unexpected call to just say that you care
- Silently cook the favorite dish and give a spurring surprize (esp. for guys)
- Take break from office, get late sometime to enjoy the good weather
- Forget everything and just relish the present
- Go for a long walk and get lost in woods .. away from all problems.