Just thoughts...

          It was the interschool debate in Delhi - the Year 2010. A team of 4-5 members per school was handpicked to represent their individual schools. Kshitij, got down amidst the chaos of Karol Bagh as he looked up starry-eyed at the 'Royal Reganza' hotel which was to house all the students. It was the first time he was out on a trip away from home. All the students, around that jumpy, confused age of fourteen to sixteen, escorted by a teacher were accommodated in this three-star. Kshitij and his senior Rahul were the last ones left now in the lobby, yet to be allocated rooms. Kshitij could see his teacher arguing with the hotel manager quite animatedly. She walked over to them frustrated and handed them the room keys. "Sorry boys, the hotel manager has messed up the allocation. You'll be sharing with Anu miss and another girl from St. Augustine's Ludhiana."          Kshitij and Rahul, his senior who was the conference veteran ma...

"Happy is the man who can make a living by his hobby." - George Bernard Shaw How often have we wondered about what could we be doing with our time while being half-engrossed in a Netflix flick or a series? That sense of something being incomplete even after a binge-worthy series has always been our nemesis. Here are a few ways to try and relive the good old hobbies and rediscover some more while at it.      1.Reading: The Good old way. The vintage ways of picking up a good book and sitting down for a journey through the author's lens. For many, it is a welcome break from the often monotonous days and for some, it is the only solace after a tiring day. One of the best ways you could spend your time is in the company of a book. For beginners, it is tough to imagine flicking pages and sitting for hours engrossed. In ways, more than one reading will always give you company in times of need. Some good places to begin are    Good Reads -  https://www.goodreads.co...

   It is a day before the mini-vacations for the christmas season set in, a Friday... Excited to travel, into the heartland of amazing coastlines and serenity... A trip to Dapoli.    The 'ShivShahi' buses which take you there have a notorious reputation that precedes them. I take the plunge and navigate the Pune office hours to reach the bus depot. It is just the beginning of a long wait that lies ahead. As I sit by a column there are hints of a drama cooking up around. Drama - Would never have guessed that would define my onward journey to Dapoli.  The only picture I managed in the pitch black darkness

About time for the things we never had time for... For the ones we thought we had a plan, Only to find it was leisure now that mocked from afar... Or was is the simplicity we missed now... From the high ship of adulthood we saw, The oceans that once were teeming with excitement Waves we longed to surf upon now really did wave...  At us from the shores we now have anchored the ship by, Waiting for the tide and time to be right

And you thought of it to be a mirage.. As always hung upon the image of the lonely barge... Out into the seas so fair, sighing at the sky so blue... Wishing upon a star, for the horizons to come meet you... But haven't you always been here beside me... Pining along for the dream, the visions I too seek... All over a breeze that sets us free now... To say it out loud, to finally stop wondering how...

And a song heard over and over long ago... In the quaint shadow of a silver sprightly doe... Of the notes strung together in a cord... Sliced and shaped over a quiet sword... Trickling through, onto the sands of time... Swaying you along sans a reason or a rhyme... Eyes closed in a memory deep into the past... Of scars etched on a canvas yearning to last... Every word knowing its way within... Numbing, calming the ever-raging din.. To a world now strange and truly far... But only a song to chase the fading star...

How often have we heard the virtues of Simplicity sung? The way it eases out your life. Despite all of this, it is rarely that we ever reach the hallowed halls of simplification... Here are five ways how we could at least try... 1. Quit time travelling: Ever paid attention to what exactly is running through that ever functioning mind of yours? It is forever on the high horse of travelling through our timeline. Sometimes lingering on the happenings of the past and the rest is when we keep jumping way ahead into the future. Simplicity stems from the ability of merely being in this very moment. When you know that this moment is the only moment which really matters, your turbulent mind settles down. A calm that precedes the first step on your journey towards simplicity. 2. Accept your state: Reality is the ever neglected nemesis of our mind. We add our own filters of prejudice, conceptions and  inhibitions over the real hard truth. We choose to ignore the hard facts and th...

    It had been quite some time now... A summer's day was about to fade its time out... The evening had always held an incredible pull for Reeve. He lived by the cabin on the extreme end of the beach. The cabin stood aloof from the nearby coastal village.. It was a good life, with its share of toil.. Each day was the same, in sync with the sun and the moon... He rose with the sun to get his boat polished an ready to ferry the odd bunch of tourists to the sea-fort which lay some distance into the sea. No other boatman agreed to ferry people to the fort.. For a reason spun by the village rumour mills... It was said to be haunted...

     This began as a random article on one of the 'feeds' and a plan to see Mandav in person. This was around the time when the story of queen Padmavati was doing the rounds for all kinds of reasons, with questions about her existence being asked... Miles away we had our own real life love-struck story of Rani Roopmati and Baz Bahadur (more on it later).. It was after an amazing day spent food-surfing in Indore the early morning bus-ride to Mandu (Mandav, Mandavgarh, Mandap Durga and many more names...) took off. The Jami Masjid         The quaint town of Mandu now a tourist attraction speaks up from the very moment you enter the perimeter via any of the darwajas. The structures speak up of a time when the town was more than a tourist attraction. The twin capital of the Malwa Sultanate has much to offer. The first major monument that greets you is the Jami Masjid. This Masjid is unique in its existence because of the influence of Hin...

When the silence stood staring far and wide, In the shadow of a thought held tight by my side... A quiet melody weaving its lonely way, Knowing the meanders in the path that lay... As the sun slid slowly down the sky, Splashing colours past the canvas mighty high... The birds added to the lilting notes, While the shores beckoned arriving boats... Eventide checking in its darker shrouds, Silver moon peeping from beyond the clouds... Shores on their forever game of seek, With the waves 'times brave, in others meek... Often a million eyes gazing past, Reflecting myriad dreams, that they cast... Echoes adding to the building harmony, Of memories left by the beach on days sunny... The swoosh of sands neath the bare feet, A place of love for the sky and the earth to meet... And this song sung over and over again, In days of sun, wind and the sloshing rain... Only for ears that bothered, pay heed, For every soul that stoo...

     It began with a suggestion from a different continent.. Finally bucking up for another solo day of exploring... Playing it safe with a uber pool and roommate's Rubik cube for company... Out of practice meant, it took almost the entire of 30 mins to finally solve the cube.. The driver was unusually quiet given my previous uber rides, where a life lesson was a sure takeaway.  Pataleshwar Cave Getting off exactly outside the Pataleshwar caves, the first thought you have is..'Is this the place for a cave?' Right amidst the bustling area of Shivajinagar lie these 8th century caves and the temple therein... Car horns abound and people bustling on their way. A mini version perhaps of our very times, with the latest of inventions of the 21st century coupled with a mindset that dates way back to the stone age ( do not want to sound morose at the beginning. But wait, for there's a change ). You shrug of this thought and step in first through the wrong gate.. to b...

           Growing up, each one of us always have had a character to adore. To simple look up to. Some from the real world, but some having a far greater space in our lives. The super heroes. The days when we actually believed

Forever in the pursuit of perfection, A blind eye to the present tense State of frustration when things go haywire Control lost and visions blurred... Energy coiled, compressed and ready to spring Ideas vivid and plans aplenty  Waiting in store for a scary monotony Towards the end of days of being carefree... Podium finishes mar the competition A race to win for everyone Routine of earning a wage awaits Approaching it with being tensely aware... Dreams no longer of knights and dragons Adulthood no longer just a number crossed Seriousness seeping through the crags Nooks dusty and farewells rehearsed... To a life of abandon reaching its end Done with thoughts of morose mockery Why do we mould ourselves to fit in Being just another brick in the wall... Growing up with a shoulder readied To carry a responsibility we never asked for Fitting into a construct defined by invisible hands Approvals and denials stacked in abundance... Individuals with flaws...

        " I think I like flaws.. I think they make things interesting..." -Sarah Dessen              7.1 billion of us and yet all made uniquely apart. With our own life to lead and of course with our own set of flaws. The beauty that resides in imperfection is what perhaps makes us flawed. For there is none who can be the ultimate body of creation. Some deem their flaws to be lesser than those of other. Some wallow in the fear of exposing their flaws to the big wide world out there. The most confident of us all, yet deep within knows that he or she is not without a blemish. At times we love to come up with excuses to justify our shortcomings. To the extent of ignoring the drawbacks which we have. To not acknowledge them is perhaps where we fall behind. It is liberating to know the things which make you dissimilar from the crowd. Anger, fear, anxiety, and a string of other such emotions up our sleeves to hiss at the sli...

  The need to be away from the constant onslaught of media in a wide variety of forms sometimes makes you ponder. To think about the depth to which we all have been taken over by technology. 1. Pause the yearning for acceptance...  Many a social networking sites have created an entirely different world aloof from the real world. The one where all of us have a presence and a virtual persona. The earlier you are hooked on to a social media platform the more you feel the need to be accepted. The reactions, likes, +1s all of them adding to our own little box of happiness. To feel acknowledged. The solution lies in realising that our real personalities matter much more than our online presence and the fame we gather there. 2. Choose your feed wisely.. It is all but inevitable to have a presence online on some form of media in the least. To choose who you follow and the pages you like goes a long way in harming or helping you. The feed which we scroll through leaves...

Rules and expectations of the world, Press hard pushing on the soul dreary curled.. Perform or perish in this race with time, Running in the pursuit of earning a silly dime... Success in reach yet failures abound, Advisors dishing their wares, absurd yet sound... Judgements pronounced at mere a whim, The gradual rise threatening to spill the brim... Not a moment to smile at the image fair, Simplest of tasks, familiar leisure getting rare... Millions of lives breathe and take a leave, Through the maze your own path best to weave... Love plucks a chord on the strings, Never a word about the ache it brings... And yet in all the chaos calling, Lies the silence of the gliding wing... Finding the quiet shout lying in wait, Raise your head, buck up and stride in gait...

  It really seems to be a post pondering over the strenuous school and junior college days. The laws newton set out in stone, to be used to solve problems from physics have haunted many at some point. As a simple reminder here's what wikipedia has to say   " When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body."   And as blindly as we applied this law in our tests and exams, we overlook its larger scope. Even before I try to align my thoughts, just a word on the term 'opposite'. Here it means a reaction reaching out to you as a result of your outgoing action. If we for a moment pause we realise that it is just this law that is enough to solve all your problems in life. To many a skeptic it would seem a path down a mystical road but the thought remains.    How easily could we lead our lives if we paid attention to this third law. Every single action ...

      The title could surely be misleading. It is not specifically on a particular topic. Even as I answer to the often incessantly tempting blink of the LED of a notification. It is a thought in progress. It is a thought on the remarkable pace at which we are moving ahead in life. Connected by this inseparable vestige called the Internet. At the risk of sounding an hypocrite, I wonder at how much has is penetrated our lives. The instagrams, the facebooks and whatsapps becoming so much of an integral part.It is marvelous if one ever wondered how lost we might feel without the WiFi and the data packs.     Subtly yet slowly we are now used to getting instant results. The speed at which we have our wishes, even needs fulfilled is mind boggling. This eventually has reduced the feeling of acknowledging the process. It seems a distant past well childish wonder dominated every event around us. When the smallest of things were a view to behold. Do we ev...

       In the small town of Velpan, there wasn't much to boast about. A small town on the outskirts of a busy city, the only mode of contact with the nearby city was the train. A single train made its trip throughout the day. Sam was one of the few regulars on its trip up to the town in the morning and back down at night from work. He wondered why did he even bother to go to his wretched workplace every single day. The train just added to the monotony in his life. He wiped his brow by the cuff of his sleeve. Even this act seemed a monotony in this humid place. It had just one intermediate stop, very busy unlike Velpan where dozens of trains from all around made their way as a changing stop for the various cities around. Life was a routine for Sam, even this five minute halt, where he would run towards a secluded tea-vendor. Not because he made amazing tea, but for the one thing he always had waited for. The watered-tea was pathetic as always but it was for her he...

Different things work for different people. To help you through your day.. Here are a few ones that one could try.. 1.Plan to read and execute it: Make it a daily chore to read at least a bare minimum of two pages, may it be an article in the newspaper, or a post on the Internet. Just make sure that it is something worthwhile your time and not just a gossip column. Something which teaches you a concept unknown to you before. Even a google search on something you stumbled upon. Reading expands your knowledge base and helps you grow. 2.Set aside time to retrospect: The fine boundary that lies between over thinking and self inspection. In a world where there's hardly a moment to spare for a mundane activity, some important bonds get forgotten. One such bond is the bond you have with your own self. Set aside some time to glance over your own activities for the day. It helps in bringing the right things into focus.  3.Learn a skill: There are many websites freely available t...