Creating Memories

I have often marvelled at how one's most wonderful memories are the ones that get created impulsively and on the spur of the moment.

the hastily arranged picnic...like the one we had in college, where instead of appearig for the corporate strategy exam, we all pooled money, hired sumos and went off to kasauli..just to have pakoras and chai, shivered delicately at the cool air, and then hurried back to eat tubfuls of fresh warm jalebis at baithak..

Or the lazy evening spent over rich conversation and rich red wine with no agenda, the skyline spreading above you, the siver and golden lights twinkling..and you engrossed in discussing the mysteries of life in the warm glow of a cane lamp...

Or the drive at 40 kmph on a 120 kmph highway, watching the mountains leisurely unfolding .....the car undulating with the softly curving tunnels..... the leisurely savouring of good company, oftentimes just that of your solitude, and in special times, that of resonant others, and feeling the cool soft breeze ruffle your hair.

Heated conversations over a midnight cup of coffee, on life, love, colleagues, politics, or even the state of the economy, knowing full well that the next day is a working day, yet savourimg the passion in the exchange of views....

the spur of the moment "yes" to going out dancing at the end of a hard and long work day when friends suddenly call. Dancing till the wee hours, drunk on life and full to the brim of music, the adrenaline coursing through your body that makes you feel truly ALIVE , crashing to sleep with each muscle in your body aching...and dreaming of nothingness...

the impulsive get together dinners at friends' houses where you eat so much dal makhani that your tummy aches and laugh so much that your jaw aches..

rolling on the floor laughing at a ridiculously funny movie, knowing the movie is stupid and its you that are hysterical with general well bieng and happiness...

or just lounging, plain and simple, with a blank mind...not even white noise, just basking in being alive, secure, safe, healthy and loved. And suddenly understanding what the word Languid means!!!

Yes, its been a wonderful weekend! How was yours?

The Mountains, The grass and The sea

The other day, a friend remarked how much he enjoyed watching mountains on the horizon. And I was set thinking.... I have grown up watching mountains on the horizons as far as i can remember and never once thought about it!! can see the Vaishno devi mountains out of my bedroom window in our jammu house...have driven through winding roads lined with cheer trees umpteen times, without even giving them a second thought or look...and just always always thought that the run rises behind the mountains and sets behind them...Come to think of it, I actually find the sea intriguing...the clear line of the horizon, with the sea and the sky merging. it just makes me feel overwelmed and awed to see the nothingness beyond. Makes you feel part of an open universe.

How paradigms change...Here we were, spending each day taking the trees and the grass and the flowers and the fresh air for granted, as our own...and then life brings you to mumbai :-)
I am lucky to live in a very green area in Andheri, and can safely say that am woken up with the suns rays on my face and birdsong in my ears and have my morning cuppa by the large baywindow watching parrots. (and i give a million thanks each day to the lord for these pleasures...)But Alas, there is no grass. No grass to set your bare feet on and make squelching sounds in the dew. No grass to sit on, and smell... No heavenly fragrance of fresh cut grass to come back from college and breathe in......its just indescribably fresh.
The closest i have come to smelling fresh cut grass apart from the original is the fragrance of the BIOTIQUE Biovera aloevera sunscreen lotion. Closest to the real thing. Beautifully summery and light. Try it :-)

इमरोज़ और अमृता प्रीतम...

इश्क के कुछ किस्से शानदार होते हैं....हैरातान्गेज़ भी. शायद ऐसे लोगों में एक अलग ही तासीर की इंसानियत होती है। एक अलग ही इल्म, एक अलग ही अहसास। उमा शर्मा की लिखी किताब अमृता इमरोज़ पढी तोह ताज्जुब हुआ। यह देख कर की उस ज़माने में भी जाती और शक्सियती इमान को जताने के लिए इस जोड़े ने एक ऐसी ज़िंदगी इन्तेखाब की जो सारे मसाहरे को खासी नागवार गुज़री ...फिर भी यह रिश्ता, यह अहद दिनों हफ्तों या महीनों नही, त उम्र रहा....

इमरोज़ ने अपनी पूरी शक्सियत, अपना पूरा ज़हनी वजूद अमृता की परछाई कर लिया...और मख्सूस बात यह है की इस मुआहिदे की मजबूती जहानी बंदिश से परे थी..यह रिश्ता, यह ta'luq किसी की मंजूरी का मोहताज नही रहा....

कैसी रही होगी वह अमृता जिस ने १९ साल की उम्र में यह लिख डाला..और कैसा रहा होगा वह इमरोज़ जिस ने अपनी हस्ती अमृता में मिला दी....

ऐसा इश्क करने के लिए जुर्रत चाहिए। एक सुलगती सी जुर्रत। ऐसा इश्क जंगजू नही होता, ठंडा भी नही होता, बस सुलगता रहता है पसेमंज़र में...

उम्र गुज़रती है और रिश्ते बनते बढ़ते रहते हैं, बस ज़हानी और मशरावी बंदिशों से निकलने की देर है

अज आखां वारिस शाह नूं किद्रे कबरां विचों बोल
ते उठ किताब-ए-इश्क दा कोई अगला वर्का fओल

इक रोई सी धी पँजाब दी तूं लिख लिख मारे वेन
अज लखाँ धीयाँ रोंदीयाँ तैनूं वारिस शाह नूं कहन
उठ दरदमंदान दिया दर्दीया अज तक आपना पँजाब
अज बेले लाशां विछियाँ ते लहू दी भरी चनाब
अज धरती ते लहू वस्सेया ते कबरां पैय्याँ चोण
ते प्रीत दीयां शाह्ज़ादीयाँ अज विच मजारे रोण
अज सभे कैदों बन गए हुसन इश्क दे चोर
ते अज किथों ल्यावाँ लब्ब के में वारिस शाह इक होर

अज आखां वारिस शाह नूं किद्रे कबरां विचों बोल
ते उठ किताब-ए-इश्क दा कोई अगला वर्का फोल

mumbai winter!!

God granted my wish!!

Didnt realise i sounded so wistful when I wished for winter...and god gave it to me! It was as low as 10 degrees in mumbai some nights. The jodhpuri razais multitasked as wraps, rugs and eiderdowns! And the chai consumption increased manifold...helped of course by the fact that the bakery downstairs serves up some delicious brownies.

Loved the nippy air !!

Dilli ki sardi...

A very “sidey” song kept doing the rounds in my head today…
“…something something….pyar tera aur dilli ki sardi….”

Dilli ki sardi. Am sure there are delhiites that are freezing this season, but one thing I miss most in the otherwise pleasant climes of Mumbai is the famed dilli ki sardi. The feeling of the soft chill enveloping you, when you are wrapped up comfortably all round and your nose braves the cold all alone…the feeling of breathing in chilled air and talking in warm clouds…the languor of early mornings when you are stuck to the soft hollow your curled body has created on the mattress…knowing full well that a one inch deviation in your toe position will bring you back in contact with the icy fingers of the snow queen…

It has to be winter outside if you really and truly want to experience how alu paranthas and butter taste…It may be my imagination, but I have always wondered why gulab jamuns taste sweeter and samosas crisper in the late winter sun..(this particular mystery of the universe was researched well and often in the college canteen, and pored over over endless cups of chai..)

And winter weddings….oh! the sensation of trying to cleverly disguise shivers as exuberance in talking and dancing, as you become more animated in your effort to ward off the cold in the open spaces where weddings mostly happen…because, of course, as a cousin of mine, a style diva in her own right once put it, “honey, you can either be warm and comfortable, or fashionable!! Which will it be,,” A sitter, eh! Ha Ha!

And lohri…Oh beautiful, wonderful, warm-with-the glow-of–the –firelight lohri….
How I have missed the lohri of my backyard these past some years…the biting cold, and the run up to the bonfire, the whole family doing parikrama of the fire, rewaris, moongphalis and yes, even popcorns galore…the inevitable menu of tadoori rotis and mah ki daal that my dadi made…and chacha regaling us with sundry stories late in the night till the embers glowed. Nothing, but nothing can beat the sensation of warming yourself against a fire…all the heaters, blowers and electric blankets of the world can go take a walk. Give me my kangadi any day!!

Bangalore mein ek baar ek lonely soi lohri manayee thi…just to keep the tradition alive, had collected some twigs and lit them up and offered popcorns..and thought of my daadi. I never miss her more than on lohri. And the Bangalore lohri was even more miserable as no one there knew what lohri meant…

Mumbai mein to aisa bravado kiya hi nahi. Collecting twigs has to be a joke in this concrete city..

Sundar mundriye ho,
Tera kaun vichara
Dulla bhati wala..
And so on will the urchins sing, asking for blessings (read money!) from every household…

Family bonfires are rare, so community bonfires will burn. Dhols will sound in all directions in Chandigarh..and delhi..and jammu..
And a tiny little bonfire will glow in a compound in Mumbai !!!

Lohri is on 13th Jan every year.

Romancing The Ordinary...

Many many years back, I was filled with a sense of wonder at how a girl I knew would always have fresh flowers in her room, how she would drink water from a lone crystal glass she had and how she would even eat the humble maggi or chips meal of our PG days in beautiful bright plastic bowls. How she would always perfume herself after she bathed, even if it was a just-before-bed shower and how beautiful she would look in her soft deep red satin nighty with delicate bows at the shoulders...
I would step out in the terrace with her to watch the stars in the dusk, and we would sit out in the balcony of our PG abode to watch the fireworks atop the ISCKON temple on janamashtmi day...
We woke up to the sounds of celine dion singing " I am alive", chatted about our lives and loves with Kishori Amonkar in the background, mused on life to the strains of "athanni si zindagi.."

And then she introduced me to a way of life called "Romancing the Ordinary"..a book by sarah ban breathnach...and said that the book reminded her of me..while all the time the book spoke of people like her, who find joy and serenity in everyday existence and fill people's lives with peace and joy and beauty..as she has done mine.

And then I realised that perhaps our dearest friends are really the mirrors of our soul and we appreciate the qualities in them that we hold dearest to our own hearts...

I passed on the book to some of my closest friends and know that I managed to impact the life of atleast one of them in the same way...because she SMSd me to tell me so :-)Right Em?

And yes, this fond remembrance goes out to En as she has just been blessed by a princess...who I am sure will grow up into a life of wonder and beauty and joy. God bless!