Liebster made my day

When I logged in to my email, I thought it would be just another ordinary day, but no, a surprise awaited me in the form of the Liebster award. Now, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah , in a lot of places that I can’t mention one. ;)

It’s thanks to Aadi who thought I would appreciate the award. Thanks, a lot buddy. You thought right!

If I have to start thanking people who have encouraged me, I will have to create a long list. To make it short I’ll thank each and everyone reading this now, because they are the folks who read my posts every time I publish one. Just knowing that they spent their minutes on my writing is the biggest encouragement I could get. Also my brother, who really believed that I am a decent blogger. Thanks bro!

For those who look to know what Liebster is, here’s how it works.

Thank the Liebster Award presenter who nominated you and link back to his or her blog.
Post 11 facts about yourself, answering the 11 questions you were asked and create 11 questions for your nominees.
Nominate small (no more than 200 followers) blogs who you feel deserved to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog letting them know that they have been chosen.
Display the Liebster Award logo.
No tag-backs, meaning you can’t just re-nominate the person who nominated you.

Those are the rules, now for the factual part. Here are eleven random facts (?) about myself.

I hate the colour pink.
I like the salty spray of the sea waves on my face.
I like travelling adventures.
I love my mother’s way of cooking mutton.
I can spend a lot of time doing absolutely nothing.
I’m addicted to freshly brewed coffee.
I dream of being a novelist.
I’ve tried hard, and failed many times, to write poetry.
I don’t like romantic movies or novels. I avoid them if I can.
I find it really difficult to orally express my feelings.
I fancy photography.

My answers for Aadi’s questions.

1. What do your friends and family think about your blog?

My mother and brother give me objective criticism that has helped me loads. My father reads my blog whenever he gets time and is the first person to rate my post with five stars. They’re encouraging and supportive.

As for my friends, there are only few who click on links and they mostly are the ones who come back for every post, encouraging me.

2. If you must tell someone your secret – a scary embarrassing secret – who would that someone be?

My brother.

3. What makes you laugh your head out?

My friends and certain books. Of late, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (I haven’t finished it, yet it’s funny (particularly to Harry Potter fans))

4. If you could change three things about yourself – be it physically or mentally or anything – what would it be?

Nothing; if I change anything, I wouldn’t be me.

5. What are your “philosophies” that you strictly adhere (or at least try) to? (Eg. I must not tell a lie, I must not cheat etc)

I never cheat in any examination. ( I never thought it worth the trouble (but, it can also be said that I never had the guts))
I never have SMS conversations; I prefer voice.
I try not to make judgments based on first impression. I believe they can change.

6. Name three films or three books (or both) that changed your life.

Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’
Mitch Albom’s ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul – Letters

7. Name three films (or books) that you despise.

This is really tough. I choose books and movies selectively, but I do hate exaggerated love stories.

8. What Myer-Brigg type are you? Take the test here.

ISFP – Stands for Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving.

9. Do you think that the type that you got above actually describes you?

Yes. It does describe me quite well. Thanks for that!

10. Name three of your favorite authors and three favorite directors.

Authors – J. K. Rowling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christy. I don’t have favourite film directors.

11. Inevitable question : Why do you blog? What got you into it? And how’s the experience?

I blog because there are certain things that I cannot say effectively. Instead, I write them, to make a lasting impact. I write things I can’t keep in my head. I write because I like experimenting on the power of words. I blog because I have to.
Experience? I love it. Makes me feel important, like I am giving something to myself and others.

Now, my turn. Here are the questions for my nominees.

How would you describe yourself?
Who introduced you to the blogosphere?
If you have one, what is your publishing pattern? (e.g. a post a day or a post a week)
In which part of the day are you comfortable writing? (e.g. afternoon, mid-morning)
Name three of your favourite books.
What are your hobbies?
From where do you draw your inspirations?
What kind of music do you often listen to?
What is the main purpose of your blog?
What’s your favourite cuisine?
What were your last year’s resolutions? Did you adhere to them?

Here are the bloggers whose blogs I enjoy, and nominate.

Gitanjali – Poetry Espresso
Nithya Grace – Well! It’s all Mine…
Ana Jain – Pretty Pink Pebbles
Pamela Satpathy – Resonner
Haiku For You

P.S: I was nominated a long time back. But I am accepting it only now. I don’t know if I can do that, please let me know if I can’t.

A Lingering Stress Buster

There are some days, some times, that you just feel like leaning back on your chair, wishing that the song playing inside your head would never end.

Happens.

A lot.

To me.

Music.

music washes away...

It keeps playing, preventing you from doing anything other than listening. The words, the tune, the sound of the strings of the guitar that seems to quietly tease you to sing along. To forget the world, to ignore everybody.

On a dull day, it’s bliss.

On a great day, it’s bliss.

You’re sad, and some good music is all that you might need to heal. It’s what seals the heart that’s torn at the seams.

The notes striding smartly on the staves, pausing at the right time, pausing just long enough, to create an impact that lasts, probably forever.

Simple, but it has such power. I’m happy and it’s the music that shares my joy. I’m sad and it’s the music again that seems to hold my hand, whispering in my ear that everything would be alright. It’s what makes me believe, even if I know it would and could never be alright.

I don’t know if the magical world of Narnia exists, but I do know that there is one magic that makes its existence well known by persistently ringing in my ears.

Music is Might.

Music is Magic.

You probably already guessed it right.

This whole post is just a result of an overdose of subtle music that’s been playing in my ears all day.

Another year has come, and here I am… musing

It’s that time of the year again. The time to slowly and desperately count down to the end of the year, hoping only for what could be a better year.

A lot of people now are either talking of, or writing about how great, or in some odd cases, how plain and dull the past year was.

I’m going to do nothing new. It’s the same, old story; from rants and happiness; of work and fun to missed reunions.

2013, a year which I honestly didn’t expect to face. I did believe in the “Big Bang” that the Mayans deprived us of, sadly. But 2013 did come, and is now past.

It was a very confusing year for me as an individual. Facing exam pressure, coming out bruised but nonetheless glad, making big decisions, struggling to find my voice amidst my family’s inconveniently many loud ones, oh yes. Yes, what a scarily amazing year!

I won’t go into details of how the year unraveled before my sometimes-protesting eyes. That’s a boring story. But what really interests me is how much I’ve grown (figuratively, if course) over the year.

At the beginning of the year, I was one who people would call “living under a rock.” I was so far behind on current events, both good and bad, both economical and technological, both political and environmental.

Now, I am quite the same when it comes to being the all-informed person, but I have explicitly accepted that curiosity isn’t worthy of me keeping it. It isn’t just revelation, but realization.

I always had problems with being around people. I don’t mention it to anyone of course, but the thing is, I make it obvious when I am in the company of new people. I simply don’t get along. At the beginning of the year, I was a student and I thankfully didn’t have to face too many new eyes.

But as the year wore off, I moved off to another city and another society all together. The transition left me nothing short of a stunned. I was lost, despite having my brother, who was always around.

Scarily, I felt alone. It was all new. Being alone had never before bothered me, I was, in fact, a loner. I preferred being with myself most of the time.

But that’s not what the corporate world is looking for. They want people who would and could easily open up and socialize with people they’ve met a couple of seconds ago. I was a bit terrified. I like to take my time around people, I don’t rush into acquaintances or friendships.

My biggest habit was in question, and I suddenly was hunting for people who would listen without judging.

I ain’t good at finding people.

After witnessing a lot of people and their attitudes, I had learnt it the hard way — to save myself from a lot of pain, I should speak up, unless I’m alright with being crushed under others’ feet.

The world isn’t happy with you being quiet and personal. Introverts are expected to adopt extroversion, or the consequences would be hard.

If you’re someone like myself, you would know that embracing something that you are not is no easy thing to do. It’s like becoming someone else, while retaining the original you.

I am not going to join ranks with the ones in power, those who expect everyone to behave just like the way they wish them to be, but I’m not going to be quiet either. There are a lot of people who’d think silence is a mark of the weak. I am not of Gandhi’s level to smile serenely at their foolishness and wait for time to show them.

I will have to give people a taste of my mind, if that’s the only thing that would keep them from making a bad judgement.

That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned last year. A lesson that took some of my naïvety, but it’s alright. If that’s what it takes to understand the harsh realities of life, then so be it. I have no use with being naïve.

So, that brings me to my resolution. I have decided that speaking up isn’t such a bad idea after all. Particularly, if it can get you a voice of your own.

Happy new year folks.

The Road Not Taken

For a long time, I’ve been wanting to write about this poem. I’ve felt a certain closeness to this particular poem, ever since my teacher introduced me to it. It was love at sight, and though I wasn’t new to the experience, it kept haunting me. It seemed to probe me to do what I felt was right. (but it is tougher than I expected it to be)

What, in the world, is so special about this poem? I can hear you wondering.

Well, it has beautiful words.

No, really. Apart from conveying the greatest piece of advice, the words were beautiful; the wording was artistic and the story it portrayed was an absolute classic.

Go ahead and read it, if you haven’t already.

The Road Not Taken.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-Robert Frost

I told you so!

The Curiosity Factor; what’s wrong with not knowing?

I am not curious.

Yeah, I don’t care who killed that random person walking on the street. By the way, which person are we talking about anyway? Random street killings happen everyday. Try keeping a track of those for about 15 years, after which they convict the wrong person.

Isn’t it better to not be bothered about the how the once-great society turned to the sewers? Just forget about people killing each other. Don’t worry about it until you get killed, but then again, you would be killed, so why worry?

We’re all going to die. We would either die early or late. So what matters if one person drowned and another was shot? They just died, that’s it. It’s a perfectly natural thing to do. (even if the cause maybe quite otherwise) Why bother when you can’t do anything about it?

The next thing is the news. People ask me, “Have you heard the news? It’s all over the papers.” Hey! If it’s all over the papers, then why ask me? Go read the paper. I am just not interested in the unlimited things that happen everyday. They are going to happen regardless of the number of people who know about it.

Give me proof that rapes and murder cases have declined, just because a few thousand people are discussing it, then I’ll consider knowing, or even talking about it.

Until then, I’m better off without knowing current events. In fact, knowing the news of how many people actually die falling into open sewer passages isn’t going to make me cautious. Instead, it will only arouse fear. It’s going to make me this fearful person, who couldn’t dare to step out of the front porch because she was afraid that she would fall into a ditch.

Trust me, fear is worse, far worse than an ugly death. Death is heavenly. It’s this amazing thing that happens where you are, all of a sudden, freed from all of those factors binding you to earth . But people fear Death. As if you could evade Him (or Her, (I never thought of it that way!)) forever. It’s quite amusing to see the uncanny ability of us humans to gravitate towards the things that make us miserable.

Being “aware” of all the pathos is only going to hamper our ability to appreciate our lives, and by the time we do, it would be too late. We’ll never be younger folks — as far as I know!

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