Happy Tears .. :) :,,)

Why does it bring tears to your eyes when someone says something nice to your child?
Why does your heart swell with pride and brim with joy when you see your little angel succeed?
Why are you overwhelmed with emotion at the very mention of his name?


I have experienced all of that and these...
Happy tears ..
Proud tears...
Joyous tears ...
Passionate tears !!!





Unconditional love was a word I learnt back in school in my English class. I tried to write poems about it back then, but I now know why those poems were not deep enough ... I simply did not understand what it meant. At different phases and stages of my life I have tried to feel it and classify the feeling as unconditional love ... But now it's for real, I don't have to try to experience it.... it's just there. It's taken me over... It's even better than falling in love for the first time... The love you feel for your child is different... it's true love ...it's wonderful love... it's heartwarming love... it's cozy love ... and it most certainly is UNconditional Love!!!

Being a Mommy

Before I became a mommy, I thought I would record every single milestone about my baby and blog everyday and keep an upto date journal. But then I became a mommy and then I found out that even keeping up with my emails became a huge task. Everyday I promised myself with accumulating guilt that I would do it tomorrow ... but then as someone said "Tomorrow never Comes" ... so here I am today one month away from my little darling's first birthday... reopening my blog.

I am going to restart this with something a good friend sent to me and which i identify with so much:

Before I was a Mom
I made and ate hot meals.
I had unstained clothing.
I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a Mom,
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late I got into bed.
I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was Mom
I cleaned my house each day.
I never tripped over toys or forgot words of lullabies.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom
I had never been puked on
Pooped on
Spit on
Chewed on
Peed on
Or pinched by tiny fingers

Before I was a Mom
I had complete control of:
My thoughts
My body
And my mind.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child
So that doctors could do tests
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
When I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
Could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
Could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Mom
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay
I had never known the warmth
The joy
The love
The heartache
The wonder
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom.

That's my baby Ishaan Taj ... This picture was taken 5 months for my brother's wedding. I added a twist to this picture by digitally adding the cowboy hat to it.

I write this post as a dedication to my mother to endured patiently all of my tantrums when I was growing up and yet stood by my side with the same warm smile everytime I needed her.
I just hope and pray to the Lord that I will be atleast half as wonderful to Ishaan as SHE was to me.

Fast n Furious

Have you ever street raced? I normally don’t approve of any kind of street racing and more importantly I am not the racing types at all. Especially if you take a peek into my history, I have never been the sporty kind nor have I ever participated in my races back in school. Well, I take that back … I have actually won a lemon and spoon race during my eight grade annual sports day Jee!!! I am actually proud of myself *patting myself on the back* and when I go down my memory lane further, I have a vague recollection of participating in a 100 meters dash too. Of course it must have been because my P.E. teacher must have mandated us not_so_athletic types to join in and I can almost picture “li’l moi” grudgingly acceding but of course no points for guessing what spot I must have finished at *sigh*

Well coming back to how we got into this whole turning the pages of my memory lane. Street racing … aahaa!!! How did an athletically impaired person like me get into it? It all started this morning (Allow me to digress here once again and tell you that it was indeed one fine morning and I treated myself to a café latte on the way just to perk up my mood further, and to add to it the FM station was playing my favorite song, I’ll talk about songs on the radio and my superstitions some other time). So I was in high spirits and in my own sweet n smug world so I really didn’t notice much of what was going on. I have a long drive to work (a long journey would be a more apt term) and I have several stop lights to pass.

On one such painful red, I happened to glance around and whaddya see … a buddhhe miya(i.e. an old guy, hmmm… truthfully he was not that “pre-historic” either ;)) staring back at me. Well, I’ll tell you some other time about my trysts with these old n frustrated guys(actually I do have an earlier post that describes one such encounter). Anyways I gave him a “de rigueur” smile and looked away. I could hear the noise of his Porsche accelerating on top of the loud music I was already playing. I just let it be and looked fixedly at the light hoping that the power of my mind would change it to green. And it indeed did (psychokinesis indeed!!J), I told you I was having a good day so a lot of things were working in my favor.

As I drove forward, I noticed Mr. Porsche Boxster kinda trying to keep up with me, racing ahead and then falling back. I was thinking to myself, “Hello will you stop doing that or should I just ding your expensive car” and on the other hand I was thinking “thank god its broad daylight or else this 'jawani zindabad' would have scared the living daylights out of me” and just as I was thinking that we had to stop at a light again. And Mr. Toothless glory again grinned at me with his perfect set of dentures(well I don’t think they were, I am just saying that to make my story interesting). There was a queer sort of challenging look on his face (aahaaaaa uuhhuuhhh!!! .......toothless getting ruthless!!). After a couple of lights I figured what he wanted and very strangely indeed I decided to oblige. He was throwing this mocking challenge at me and THAT I could not ignore. He was trying to race with me all along and those winning smiles on his face at every stop light were just meant to tell me he won again. I developed a weird sort of empathy for this adventurous heart of a 20 year old housed in a “roaring twenties” envelope.

I decided to give him a fight (– after all hell hath no fury like a woman scorned – what say!!) And from then on I zip zap zoomed around in my “phat phati” Nissan Altima (Chal Chal ri Chal meri Ram Pyari J) and he in his shining black Porsche Boxster. We did this for almost 20 minutes and finally parted ways, waving a big “tat ta” to each other. And guess what I won the race, in spite of having “the lesser of the two vehicles” (tried hard to come up with something that would rhyme with the original phrase). But I guess Mr. Ol’ McDonald (that’s what I named him) just let me win this race J. Aaaaahhhh!!!! The things I do to make my morning drive to work interesting!!!

When I finally got to work I pondered back and wondered, “What on earth prompted me to play along with this old gentleman??” – (notice the condescending attitude metamorphosing into respect and regard – well he was not all that bad a buddhe miya I told myself, put him in the Big ‘B’ category ;) ). Why is it that some days you just let yourself go and throw all caution to the wind? I think sometimes you should do that. Just let your wild side out and let your prudence take a hike without really worrying about the consequences. Well today was one such day I guess, but am I not like that most of the time ..? Hmmm!!! Maybe!!!. What to do? I am like that only!!! … Impulsive, Impetuous and Reckless!!!

My Very Own Miss India

She was a tiny bundle of joy when I first saw her. She was so totally immersed in her brand new world and from time to time she would give me a tiny little glance. One such time she looked at me with her twinkling eyes and smiled. I think that is when we made our connection (like Shahrukh and Madhuri in Dil to Pagal Hai, even though not quite in the same way!!!).

She came into my life like a fresh wave of magic. I was a mere 10 year old schoolgirl and she was a cute little doll that changed my world, a new form of amusement that I had just discovered. My imaginary world of dolls and gudda-guddis had a new gudiya. They lived right across the street from us, so I’d find every pretext under the world to go over to their place to play with my new found treasure.

As she started growing up, I had this surreal experience of motherhood. She was my little baby and she loved me like no one else in the world and I loved her back equally if not more. She loved me with such childlike enthusiasm, so unconditionally that I would be ready to give up anything for her. I would proudly show her off to all my friends, she would sing songs and nursery rhymes, dance and prance like a beauty queen, singing an Indian pop song “Banoongi mai Miss India” which was her favorite at that time. I would teach her songs and carols and she would watch me over awed when I stand in front of the mirror and dance. Her incessant banter was the major source of entertainment for me and my friends. She would come up to me everyday with one new question or one new request and flurry of “things to do”. The list was endless but easy to fulfill. They were simple things like, “I want to look like a princess today”, “I want to go out for a walk with you and your friends today”, “Can we please go and buy that orange candy?” She did not care about rich chocolates or creamy ice cream shakes – she always wanted to eat that inexpensive piece of junk sold on the street, or her favorite was my mom’s fish curry rice and if she didn’t find that she would just eat rice with paprika powder and yogurt. She didn’t care about playing with the innumerable toys that she had at home, all she cared about was to come and play with me and my little sister and the kids of all the construction workers. All these were the fancies of the only daughter of one of the premier industrialists from my hometown.

Such was the love and magic that she brought to my life. She had such absolute faith in me that she would never believe anyone if they told her that I said something about her or that I made fun of her. There was this time, all my cousins and me were staying together during one summer break. We were a pack of naughty brats and we could go to any lengths to get a laugh out of something. As we were all taking our afternoon naps, a few of us woke up and decided to paint the faces of the rest of them who were asleep. And She was one of them. I painted whiskers on her cheeks and waited for her to wake up and discover. I didn’t mean for it to be such a nasty thing, it was just done in a flow. She woke up and all my bratty cousins bawled away to glory making her feel miserable. She didn’t have a clue about what was going on. She went to the mirror and saw whiskers painted on her face. She asked to know who the culprit was, and everyone pointed out to me. And She vehemently shook her head and said my chechi will never do this to me. (Chechi is a respectful way of addressing an elder sister). And I told her that I did, she refused to believe me, I then convinced her it was me, you should have seen the look on her face. I have never felt like a traitor like this before, I had betrayed her trust and she was so crestfallen. Ofcourse I made it up to her later, but her unflinching trust in me suffered such a big blow that day and I guess I learnt my lesson then.

Today she is all of sixteen, and has blossomed into a beautiful young lady with her own charming personality and a string of suitors lining up behind her. Tears well up in my eyes, when I realize that her incoherent banter has now changed to meaningful conversations that are sometimes indeed so profound. I swell up with pride when I listen to her beautiful voice singing “Come Away With Me” which could give Norah Jones a run for her money. And when I saw her dancing this time to “Babuji zara dheere chalo” I was dumbstruck. She has surpassed herself in everything I knew she did. And today it has come to a full circle and it’s my turn to sit and watch her do all the things she watched me do with such innocent curiosity.

I bet everyone has experiences similar to this, maybe not the exact same way but close. We all have juniors, little sisters, nieces, nephews who idolize us at some point of time. And truly, what joy it brings!!! Sometimes that belief in you is enough to make you go on during the toughest of the times, Sometimes it’s the only thread you hold on to, Sometimes it’s the only thing that you are left with. My relationship with my niece has been a source of great inspiration and motivation for me oft a time. I was chatting with her today and it reminded me of all those beautiful times when we both drew our strength from each other in our own quaint way. I would give anything to go back to those days and relive the whole thing over and yeah this time I won’t paint her face while she is sleeping.

Wild Thing, You make my heart sing!!!

We have been living in Dallas for five years now and almost all through the year the landscape around is so dull and drab. Friends and family that visit us always make it a point that they comment about this plain look that Dallas wears almost perennially.

But come spring, and there is almost an overnight transformation in the way Dallas looks. The endless boring expanse of dry and dull grass starts showing signs of lushness. And as it starts registering in your mind that, greener days are finally here, out springs a wild flower or two and suddenly all your eye can see is a never ending stretch of beautiful colors. Enter wildflower season!!! The only time in the year that Dallas wears such a gorgeous look (Of-course in my opinion).

To tell you honestly, I have never given it so much thought as much as I did today while driving to work. We have recently moved to a new home and now the journey to work is almost close to an hour. So while sitting in the car all alone waiting for the traffic jams to clear, I can’t help but glance around and find something interesting to perk up my mood. Sometimes it is fellow travelers in cars around me that intrigue me and amuse me. But today was different!!! Today I was gazing out of the window and behold !!! All at once I saw this wonderful spectacle and I was overwhelmed with rapture. You would probably never commiserate with this unexpected thrill I felt and I would not blame you. ‘Cos if you are living in Seattle or Virginia or München, you almost take the lush beauty of nature for granted. But here I was looking out of my window with such delight at the host, of beautiful wildflowers standing proudly, basking in the morning sun :)

Words fail me when I try to describe this panorama, so I quote William Wordsworth, even though he wrote these words in the honor of daffodils.

“Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.“
- William Wordsworth


I have been meaning to take a picture and post it here. But unfortunately those "kodak moments" only happen when I am travelling on the highway. But a friend of mine Gvenum recently stopped to capture this beautiful picture and as they say "A picture is worth a thousand words" :). So Kudos to Gvenum !!!






Well, if anyone wants to visit Dallas or Texas, now is the time. Enjoy the beautiful weather and perhaps if you get here in time you could join the merry making of the wildflower festival, which usually takes place sometime in mid-April.

"Be the Change you wish to see"

Mahatma Gandhi said this a long time ago.

I woke up this morning with this motto in my mind and decided that today I would do more and gripe less.

How many times do we find ourselves raising a hue and cry about little or big things happening around us? Do we ever stop and ponder that perhaps if we begin with ourselves probably we could set an example for others to follow? That if we just did what we wanted to see around us, the root of our frustration would just vanish!!!
I know this is not something profound that blossomed in my mind while sitting in my tub, so I’m not even pretending to say Eureka!!


The point I am trying to bring out is that before we start our ranting, if we all just paused and decided to practice whatever we preach, wouldn’t this world be just the rosy image we paint in our own minds? I have decided to start with small things at home and work, like taking the onus of cleaning up the house to taking on the Herculean task of documenting our undocumented system at work. After all “bund bund se paani banta hai ek mahasagar” (the literal translation of which is – it is small drops that make up the ocean). I then hope to graduate to larger things soon J

What will you start with?

Time for some soft romantic melodies from the 70's

In mood for some nice melodious numbers by Lata and Asha (and others) from the 70's ?
Here are some that I found on Raaga.
http://www.raaga.com/channels/hindi/movie/H000671.html

I guess today is just the day to sit back, relax and listen to some soft music and not to forget the ocassional sips of coffee ( from the smooth cup of capuccino that a colleague brought on his way back from Starbucks - Long Live!!!)

Musings of my mind after an old friend returned home

There is proverb that says that

"The road to a friend's house is never long."
And indeed, no matter where you are, how far away you are or how hurt you are or how upset you are with a friend, the way to his heart is never really too long. It’s true that the first step to take towards his house when you are angry or upset with the person is the hardest but if you can overcome that major hurdle then it all seems so easy.

I had a similar experience this week. A long lost friendship was revived and it was amazing how we took off just where we left off. Not a word of was spoken and yet we knew just what the other had to say. It’s truly marvelous this whole essence of friendship. A true friend really does not need any explanations and that is just what I felt and established once again.

There are several friends that come into your life, some that stay for just a brief time, some that come into your lives fill it with magic and then just disappear, some that come and go intermittently and some that stay forever. In my humble opinion (or perhaps a philosophy I have borrowed over time) each of these friendships have a meaning and purpose in your life however brief or long they may last.

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." - Anais Nin

I have truly come to value every such moment in my life when a friend has touched my heart and sometimes walked into my life just that once when everyone else deserted me. These are the ones who fill your life with a dreamlike charm and just vanish. But yet even in that fleeting moment leave an indelible mark of gratitude in your heart. And then the spirit of that friendship lingers on for eons.

Having good friends is a blessing that you don’t really acknowledge till you sometimes lose them. Sometimes there are friends who prod you when you are upset about something and you wish they would leave you alone. You don’t appreciate that love and concern they feel for you. And when they stop interfering, then you realize the pain you have caused them by your behavior. There are other times when there are friends who long to get your attention, try everything in their capacity to be there for you, but you just ignore them because they are so easy to come by. The true appreciation of whom we feel only when we are lonely with nobody to pay any special attention to us. We appreciate these gestures only when have sometimes lost them irrevocably. And when you find them once again, whenever that happens, it’s really magical, that victory you feel in your heart, that joy that overwhelms you, the tears that well up in your eyes, the distances that just disappeared.

Well, I thought I’d write this as a tribute to all those friends in my life who have touched my life in ways that I possibly can never repay. To all those people in my life who have loved me in spite of being ME, Thank you for accepting me just the way I am. To all those friends who have sought my attention but I heartlessly overlooked, Sorry, I really never meant it to come out that way. To all those people who have filled even a single moment of my life with meaning and purpose, joy and ecstasy, encouragement and confidence, pride and respect, love and affection and just unconditional friendship – A big salute from the bottom of my heart, ‘Coz I cherish every such moment.

"No love, no friendship, can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever."

http://peoplelikeme.blig.ig.com.br/imagens/friendship.gif
( A cute picture I found on the web)

In his time!!! :

Today is a very morose day somehow. Even though I thought today would be the day I would write about one of the best things that happened in my life, and share with you how I felt when this dream of mine that I had since I was little girl, came true. I decided to defer it. I'll write about it tomorrow when I am in a happier, perkier and better mood. Well, if Tomorrow comes!!!

After all..Tomorrow is Another Day ....
Well, you know that was my favorite line from one of my all time favorite movies "Gone with the wind". I feel it somehow reflects a lot about the way many of us think, including me. And i must admit this is something I borrowed from one of my friends back in India who explained to me the meaning of this line only after which it made a lot of sense to me.

How many times have things not worked out for you and you have more than your share of worries, that you just decided to postpone worrying about it or fretting about it or just indulging in that self pity for a later time? I don't know how many of you would identify with something like that. But for me, when such a time comes in my life then I think of this line and move on "After all, Tomorrow is another day".

Well today is such a day. And coincidentally so, a similar set of problems have just appeared out of nowhere. When such a time comes, I can't help thinking in my mind "Upparwala deta hai tho chappar phadke deta hai" a hindi phrase which could best translate to "When it rains, it pours!!!". And the solution, I have found over the times for such days is to just postpone indulging in the pain. Perhaps I seek refuge in god's "broad scheme of things" and there is this one hymn I learnt as a little girl which helps me go on and I would like to share it with you. Hope you can find the same courage and strength I find in this little hymn which is actually based on Ecclesiastes 3:11

In His time, in His time
He makes all things beautiful in His time
Lord please show me every day
As You're teaching me Your way
That You do just what You say in Your time

There are times and there are days
Weeks and months we cannot understand gods ways
Time for joy and Time for Pain
Time for reaping and for gain
Every purpose under heaven has a time!!!

In Your time, in Your time
You make all things beautiful in Your time
Lord, my life to You I bring
May each song I have to sing
Be to You a lovely thing, in Your time

No Sunshine Only Rain ( But Paris is Calling!!!)

I woke up this morning and something just didn't feel right. I had a premonition that this is not going to be a great day!!!!!! Talk about ESP.... My perception was 100% right ... :( This was definitely not one of those feelings that I wanted to come true. After all today was going to be a big day in my life.... I was gonna be travelling to the City of my dreams!!! The City of Lights - PARIS!!!. And I had every intention to come today and blog about how ecstatic I am feeling today about realising my one constant dream for times immemorial. But my gut feeling did come true... Call it Bad Luck or Murphy's Law....

You might wonder what it is that I am cribbing about...?? It's only my third blog and I didn't want to start this trend of cribbing, but who else can I talk to right now ... in a strange land and noone to say to "Honey, I screwed up big time!!!" or more relevant in my case today "Honey I broke the release management branch!!!!!!!!!!".

Well, for those not so software management savvy people, I am talking about the most important resource at work.... The release management branch, is THE most protected and holy commodity here... so you can imagine, that I did spell CALAMITY!!!

Anyways, here Iam trying calm this storm down and get over with it... cos Paris is calling!!! C'est mon rêve et Mr. Murphy Je veux aller à Paris, s'il vous plaît !!! So guys and girls pray that this dream of mine does come true!!!

Bavarian Rhapsody

Guten Tag!!

Just wanted to share some of my insights about Bavaria (and Munich) with all my audience. After all I have been staying here away from family and friends for the last 4 weeks and I am still cheerful (sometimes forlorn!!! ;) this statement is just so that “some people” don’t think I had too much fun here and didn’t miss them!!!!!!! :) ) but most of the time in good spirits….!!!!!! Tra la la la la!!!!!!

Now the word spirit is a significant word here in Bavaria…. Whether you use it in the context of just their attitude and outlook to life OR whether you use it in the context of Beer!! Well, what I have discovered is that they know how to live and live it in the right spirit… which they refer to as Gemuetlichkeit. Someone who has been to Goa, India could probably approximate this to the word “Sussegad”, a term often used to describe the relaxed Goan lifestyle :).

For someone who is a teetotaler like me, it’s almost a pity that you cannot partake of this important aspect of their culture. Beer is so central to their culture here that it is infact taxed as basic food … and it’s a spectacle to watch the Bavarians drinking Beer. Beer is served here in a gigantic 1 liter stein … and I wonder sometimes whether the expression “drink like a fish” would be an understatement really to describe this indulgence of theirs. But whatever the case, I am totally amazed at the way people drink Beer here, old or young… guy or girl… no exceptions to the rule at all!!!

I had an experience with a 70 year old man who was still “young” at heart. After SEVEN liters of beer and a few schnapps he was literally in a state of euphoria…. And “_I_ ”had the good fortune of sitting right next to him. At one point of his elevated state, he put his arm around me and said … “Well girl, I am a 70 year old man … but I still young enough for you “, Me mouth wide open, struck with disbelief – told him “I am sorry sir but my dad is not even close to 70” and fled for my life!!!!!!!! :O


The beer bars (not like the ones we have back home in India, if you know what I am talking about !!!!!???!!!) here are called Bier Gartens (beer gardens) and the reason for that I presume is that these places are really huge gardens. Seating like hundreds and thousands of people. That itself might render a picture of the importance of Beer in the Bavarian culture… !!!


Legend holds that the concept of these beer gardens started somewhere in the 16th century when a law was passed that there would be no beer brewed in the summer time between April to September, since there was no system in place to preserve the beer during that season. So to circumvent this problem (well you can imagine that the beer thirsty Germans would have found a way out of this – “there is nothing that will come in the way of me and muh beer!!”), they started brewing something called “March Beer”, a less perishable version. To be able to store this in a cool place they planted huge chestnut trees and stored beer barrels underground in these chestnut gardens. So that was how and where these Beer gardens originated. To appreciate the significance of these gardens you have to come and visit one of them. For people who stay away from alcohol they have what is called Apfel Schorle, which almost looks like beer, but is just sparkling apple juice.

Well a word of advice to people who look for water in the restaurants here … If you ask for water you will only get, what they call, “Bubbling water” aka soda aka sparkling water. So if you really really mean plain water …. You better tell them in advance that you want water with no bubbles!!! I had to learn this the hard way round :)

Anyways back to beer… if you do want to be a part of the true Bavarian culture then you must visit Munich around the end of September during the famous Oktoberfest. This is the culmination of the beer drinking season and here they say you will really experience a true Bavarian Rhapsody!!!!!!! :)

An Attempt To Get Over My Mental "Blog" :)

Its been ages since I have wanted to blog .. but you know I have been suffering from the worst “writers block” (if there is something like that) for eons now…!! Well I know someone who’d say "that means I haven’t lived long enough!! ":) But for now just think of it as a hyperbole and go on!!

Well I wanted to start off on a good note writing something meaningful rather than something contorted (there are very little chances that I’ll succeed)!! But well I won’t restrain myself too much so if it’s gonna be meaningful it will be, else what the heck there’ll be many more to come :) (Scope for improvement hona chahiye yaar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

In school I liked poetry a lot. I even tried to be a poetess – someday when I have nothing else to do I’ll put up one of my “oh so wonderful” poems up on this page if you promise not to laugh. Anyways my dad used to be a teacher of English literature. So our house was almost like a library with tons of books right from Homer to Shakespeare, Shelley to Keats. You name it we had it. I swore to read them all someday. But well that one day is not here yet.

Of all the many poems that I studied, the one that stayed on fresh in my heart till today is “The Marriage of True Minds” by William Shakespeare. I love Shakespeare and I think it’s more because Shakespeare is my dad’s favorite. To the extent that our bedtime stories were usually Hamlet, King Lear and the like.

Anyways before I ramble on too far, coming back to where I started, “The marriage of true minds”. To me this was a poem that was best explained to me by my dad so most of my understanding about this poem is mostly his perspective, which I think I have borrowed for life or rather forcibly taken as an inheritance. This poem in my mind is one of the best love poems ever written. What a wonderful way to describe love – the marriage of true minds. It reiterates what we learn in our epics about Lord Krishna and Radha … though they were never married, their love has become immortal and THAT was a marriage of true minds since it did not become a victim of time’s sickle!!

There are countless times that friends have come to me and told me “Iam in love I am in love I am in love”( meant to sound like that hindi movie song, if you know what I am talking about). Well it has happened to me a number of times too (I know someone will not like to hear this and no points for guessing who that is??!!! :) ). A feeling of finding the real thing(Goldspot the zing thing!! Sorry just had to say that!!!!!!). After a while they come back to me and tell me well, I don’t think this is the one (well not everyone’s name is NEO .. duhhh ..abse naam Neo hai tho hi aage baddh – sorry could’nt resist a PJ, its in my blood!!!!). This is when the line “Love is not love which alters when alteration finds” starts playing in my mind like a background score (or more like how Shahrukh’s mind plays music when he sees the ‘Sen’sational Sush in the masaledar Mai hoo na).

Well Shakespeare definitely defined what true love is, but for me I do want to know whether time is the only way you can find out if its true love. I mean, I keep telling people give it time, you will find out. But when they ask me how long? I have nothing to say. So I think, there should be a better way to determine (atleast so that my counseling sessions are more effective :)). Kiske paas time hai aaj kal to wait for “ages” to find out.

I just wanted to know your thoughts. Read this poem if you can, this indeed according to me is the definition of true love. But it does not tell us how to find out whether this love will not alter nor be shaken by tempests. Is time the only one that has the answer? Or is there a litmus test for true love. If you know of any please contribute!! :)