On Independence Day

We had a "Value Education" class during our school days up to the Eighth grade. We had to maintain a 100 pages notebook, all decorated and filled with preachy text. Come August, and "Independence Day" for a synecdoche on Patriotism, would be a usual topic to fill in with more preachy text and a couple of tricolour stamp-size flags and pictures showing a fluttering piece of cloth attached to a long wooden cane clutched in the hands of a Too-Cute-To-Be-True kid. And I wondered why they never thought that making cartoon characters like Mickey mouse clutch the tricolour in their hands, instead of pink-cheeked, frock or half-pant clad kiddos might actually help rise the sales of such stickers.

Independence Day, thus, for me, meant a combination of the above, a national holiday, singing and hearing loudspeakers and TV programmes playing patriotic songs throughout the day and watching the common tricolour pinned on most chests.

It was a day when everyone seemed to have oiled their patriotic lamps and fought the War of Independence along with Lal Bahadur Shastri and Lokmanya Tilak. It was a day when you could finally use that full-white ensemble and a saffron duppata and be appreciated for it. It was also a day I could show off my marching skills. And lastly, a day that reminded me of the current presence of the month of August, and the upcoming Raksha Bandhan.

Although I loved patriotic songs, especially the "Ae mere pyaare watan" single by Mannade, the National Anthem tune and the white ensembles; the parades and the march-pasts, the lamp burning below the India Gate, the national holiday and the chocolates distributed on account of it, I could hardly be considered "Patriotic".

For me, Indians usually got "Patriotism" confused with "Religious Fanaticism" and "Race". I preferred tagging myself as a "World Citizen".

But hey! Independence Day also meant something deeper to my Artistic, Philosophical and Poetic side. Though not patriotism, I considered Independence Day to be a celebration of one's own Independence. Independence on an individual scale. Independence, as what it actually meant to ME, and to YOU.

Independence, for me, meant Breaking free of all bonds, leaving one phase and entering the other phase of life; Being self-sufficient, content and the Master of your own decisions and dreams.

And I'm quite sure, India as a whole would also have thought of Independence as more or less, the same, on the eve of the midnight of 1947.

You see, I can also read History textbooks and remember important dates.

So here's wishing you, one and all, a Happy Independence Day. Just remember, If you were moved enough by this article, Independence on an individual basis is what actually the Independence of the entire nation thrives on.

An Ode to the Endless Wetness

The splashing of mighty waves on the rocks, the salty fragrance and dampness sprayed out in the air. The roaring winds, the howling waters, the transferred epithets.

The sight of the mighty and gigantic sea is in itself highly liberating. Though it leaves one's hair and face all sticky and salty, having a little chat with a close friend and enjoying a generously spiced up corn has its own definition of fun and rejuvenation.

An ode to the lovely and soapy waters that actually clear off huge amounts of foam from our minds. It's as if the sea collects the foam from hundreds and thousands of worried and tired minds in itself.

An ode to the refreshing and highly palpable power of the gigantic stretch of wavy pleasure which in fury, might change into wavy "terror".

An ode to the similarity the sea holds with me, and quite many other lonely and subdued beings forced into living, forced into mortality.

Three cheers for the non-living and yet life-providing endless stretch of serenity in which even the sun revels drowning!!

To "Someone"

It's a tendency of mine to put up people who matter to me on high pedestals. I expect too much from them. And I want them to fulfill those expectations. Though, I always take care of preserving these highly positioned beings on the pedestals I created.

This post is actually directed towards a particular "someone" whom I consider a very important part of my life.

Trivial things matter to you, they matter to me, too. Like, there wasn't a "goodnight :)" text in the message you sent recently. Like, you called up "just like that" that day. Like, you asked "but the point is, did it bother YOU?".

May be, as of lately, I've been depending a lot on you. Sharing a lot with you. Talking a lot to you. Am I pressurizing a lot on you?

Am I expecting a trifle too much? If so, I blame it on myself, I had been impulsive. And, I am sorry for that.

Sometimes in life, there comes a strange instance when the person you had been so close to, with whom you shared each and every thing, whom you trusted, seems to become distant. And no, it's not the "People change with time" phrase that applies here, it's a realization that dawns, "You've been taking things for granted", words spoken right from within us, but yet, that seem to be a stranger's words.


I want to thank you for always being there for me, and hope that the same would be in the future too. And I want to promise you, that no matter how inconsiderate, how selfish I may become at times, there's still a person whom you can fall on when you need support, whom you can dance with when you feel happy.

Will be there with you, no matter what the circumstances, always and forever.



-- 'A friend who wishes for your happiness on every falling star.'

Life Stands On Two Hills

Life stands on two hills
Two hills not very far apart
With a deep narrow ravine in between
And no bridge, no rope to cross.

Life stands on the seashore
Staring at the water swallowing the sun
Aware of how the sand below it slips
Pondering over personifications having fun.

Life sleeps on the arch of the moon
On the edge of the highlands
And with every change in position
Is at a risk of breaking apart strands.

Life has its own mystery
Its unpredictability is the only thing predictable
Life seems to have no destiny
Love and luck all depend on the mind's cables.

Love and Hate get interwined
Fate crosses the streets not all the while
What is reality,
Even the virtual cries.

Life stands on two hills
And peaks never sit on hills
They sit ashore, enjoying
scorning over life balancing on thin lines.