Category: English

  • Gift for my princess

    Here I am, standing on the shore, holding my world by the hand. Shreya, my li’l princess. Waves are washing away the sand beneath our feet. Shreya’s smile widens with every wave bursting under her feet. She must have picked this fascination about waves from me. It’s been 4 years, she is the nucleus of our lives. Riya’s feelings must be in sync with mine. Riya and I met on this very shore for the first time. I was leading the group of students of the school where I taught, and she was there with her family. It was love at first sight. Sadly, we couldn’t even exchange pleasantries. Therefore knowing names, where we lived, what we did was out of question.

    It seems that destiny had it stored in our future. I returned from our trip and got busy, preparing for an exhibition of photographs the students had clicked during the trip. It was a grand one, as it was the 10th year of our school and our first batch of students were graduating.  I had also put some of my clicks in the exhibition. It was a busy evening at the hall. The hall was buzzing with students, parents and patrons of our school. I was busy listening to the praises about the skills that my students had shown. Suddenly in the crowd, my eyes froze on her face. Yes, she was there and this time, alone. She was eagerly waiting for the crowd to disperse. My heart was skipping beats. Our eyes met and I sensed the flair of excitement in her eyes. I excused myself from the group. Our eyes signaled each other and both of us moved to the corner. Only our eyes did the talking.

    A year flew by after we met in that corner of the exhibition hall. We got engaged with blessings of her family and cheers of from pals. Within the next 6 months, Miss Riya came in my home as Mrs. Riya Shreyas. I now had a family of my own. Being a lonely soul since birth, having my own family was a very satisfying thing. The bond between us grew like aged wine. Shreya entered our life, and our world started revolving around her.

    It’s Shreya’s 4th birthday. Sun has almost set. It’s a starry night and I am sure that the campfire will take it the next level with the background score of bursting waves. I should now get back to setting the campfire. Shreya is going to get her own story of “How I met your mother” by that campfire as her birthday gift.

  • Muse

    It was a pleasant morning. I was snuggled under the blanket on my bed. Though it was around 9 in the morning, my eyes refused to open. I heard the curtains open. I knew that she will wake me up soon. My senses were tingled by a fresh smell. She must have finished her bath. Slowly I felt the warmth on my neck. Sunrays kissed me through the open window and I opened my eyes. I stretched myself under the blanket. She sensed my movements and turned around to greet me good morning.

    As seconds passed, her blurry image became clearer to me and everything paused. My darling. She was right there, just at my arm’s reach. The first thing in the morning is that I see her. The chill in the air, the warmth of sun rays on my neck had created a special atmosphere. Straps of her sheer dress slid down on her arms, allowing her milky smooth back to get soaked in the warmth of the sun. Her hair tied in a bun. Light coming from the window behind her was casting a heavenly glow her face. Wide smile spread on her face as she saw me awake, “Good morning honey” brought me back from my early morning musing.

    Model: Snehal Deshmukh

    Photographer: Sandeep Khade

  • Something about hate…

    Something about hate…

    Actually, I was reluctant to talk about all these hate crimes, riots, murders and other violent events in recent past. But today I just couldn’t stop myself from penning my thoughts. There had been series of events like murders of ‘The Voice’ singers, the massacre at Orlando, USA in past month. Even in India, we every now and then read and see about such incidents. Let it be Dadri lynching case or Kairana exodus. I don’t get why there is hatred of this magnitude just because of the difference of opinions.

    Every morning, if I open the newspaper, I feel it’s all painted in red. Every page of a newspaper is covered with hate stories, thefts, murders, blasts, rapes and what not. As if its mandate for them to print such negativity otherwise their print license will be revoked. Hardly one or two good news about some good deeds of people, or some updates about art and culture happening around the city pops up in some corner of the paper. These pieces of good news are shown in such a neglected way that most of the time they get passed un-noticed.

    On the other hand, digital media is busy managing their TRPs by conducting controversial debates for hours shouting and pointing fingers at each other. Social media is flooded with newly appointed judges of “social media justice system” proving the accused guilty without even thinking twice. Everywhere is the battle of opinions, views, beliefs, and faiths.

    Hate is one of the basic human feelings, no one can deny that. But nowadays it has grown exponentially. Sometimes I feel that it is actually a plot of some sci-fi movie where some supervillain is controlling human minds and provoking all this hatred. How can someone hate to this degree that killings and massacres can be thought as a way to deal with a situation. Just because I don’t like your way of thinking or the way you feel about something has become the cause of murder. I am clueless about from where this extreme hatred comes. It appears that violence has taken the official way of expressing one’s hatred about something. Some lunatics will keep brainwashing young minds to use them as their ladder for power.

    Some years before this hatred was almost limited to vandalization of property or occasional scuffles between groups of different opinions. But nowadays’ no one talks anything other than taking the life out of human body. It is really disturbing. Most of the time its provoked by some controversial statements by influential people. Social media and digital media blows it out of proportion and it spreads like wildfire.

    We all are part of this vicious circle, either a victim of hatred or haters. We just need to take a deep breath and introspect about this. Let’s just be calm and think again.

    Image Courtesy: – Very Smart Brothas

  • Reborn

    Reborn

    It was an easy day for me, set routine continued till that moment. Exactly at the time of my daily evening coffee, it happened. It made me break my routine and go out of the way. It was a day of awakening. I was following this routine ever since I joined ‘Globalcorpo’ ten years before. I dedicated most of my time to my work and it paid off. In last ten years, I rose in rank and was sitting in General Manager’s cabin, refurbished as per my taste.

    When I look back, I found those days very robotic. Even though responsibilities changed, it was same programmed routine for years. I got absorbed in ‘Globalcorpo’ through campus selection in last year of my graduation. I had a job in hand even before my degree. That day I was so happy but so lonely. There was not a soul around me to share my joy. I was introvert since I can remember. I never knew my parents, was not able to make any friends. I got bullied in school. I was getting high on anger and I diverted that to my studies and worked hard. That hardship got paid off that day.

    On the joining day of this new job, one routine got replaced by other and I kept myself busy in work. I was famous as a workaholic in the office. On that day, I was busy in various routine meetings about managing my unit of the highly reputed multinational company. But every day I made sure that I will have my coffee break by the large window exactly at the same time. This coffee break used to be my stress-buster. My secretary brought my coffee in my cabin and returned to her desk. I was sitting in my window, looking down on the road. I was about to take the first sip, and Bang!!!!! Followed by the ear-tearing scratching sound of breaks. It was so sudden and swift many of them could not even react to what was happening. I froze. I froze in a shock.

    In a flash, it was over for them. All I can feel was the numb silence, that eternal vacuum. All the red gore on the road, increasing the circle of the crowd, restless honking of ruthless commuters on the road was getting blur. My brain was not ready to process anything.

    Right in front of my eyes, the young jovial couple lost their lives in a fraction of a second. And I was sitting in my air conditioned office, 40-50 feet above all. That evening changed my perception of this height. Earlier when I used to look down on the road, I used feel supremacy. But that day, I was just stunned. Even for realising my meagreness in front of the harsh reality of death I needed some time. It took me a couple of days to digest happenings of that evening.

    That day, I experienced the uncertainty which changed my entire view towards the life. For the first time in my life, I was breaking the walls I built around me. First time I felt the urge to let someone in, I desired to share my joy with someone. I wanted to make others happy. After years, I strongly felt the need of a friend. One fine day, I took the decision. I packed my bags and left everything behind and set out for finding my soul. I went on the journey of finding my joy. I worked with many organizations one after another. I joined my hands with people who was working to make this earth greener, I tried my skills of bamboo artwork with tribes of North Eastern Indians. And finally, I am settled with these bunch of kids in a remote area in southern Maharashtra.

    I joined the NGO working for educating the kids in the rural area. And finally, here I found my passion. Today you see me so lively, enthusiastic and happy to help in this remote village. It’s all because of that one helpless moment when I was looking down at his ruthless and cruel deed. I live in this remote village in Maharashtra, trying to teach these kids. But many times these tribal people amaze me in their unique perspective about some particular event. We have so much fun in our teaching and learning activities. Our roles get exchanged many times. We roam around the jungles learning nature’s ways. We observe wildlife. Enjoy fresh produce we grow in our small school backyard. Today I enjoy my new life, taught by this loving nature. For us, every day is a celebration. A celebration of life, a celebration of joy…

    Image credit : Tattoo Tribes

  • Beauty in the wind

    Beauty in the wind

    It was a picture perfect scene. I was totally mesmerized by her beauty. She was standing on the beautiful quiet beach, listening to the music created by waves when they hit the drums of the shore. Waves were taking some sand away with them when they went back after washing her beautiful feet. The breeze coming from the sea was making her hair wave. The sky was lit by the pinkish-orange shade of the setting sun. She was engrossed in the bottomless vast sea, (more…)

  • While penning the thoughts

    While reading blogs written by different people across the world, I found many people talking about how they loved writing the letters to their loved-ones on paper and wait for the answers eagerly. Many of them show great affection to those days of penning their thoughts on paper.
    But days are changed, (more…)