Thunder and Lightning

The lockdown phase in India has been going on for a while and these days it seems small things can trigger real nostalgia. I have always enjoyed rains in India because I stayed in places where we would need them pretty badly. The hot days of central India or the hot-and-humid days of east India, all make you yearn for some rain and cool breeze.

Today they came, after day-long foreplay of humidity and stillness. Eventually, I could hear the music of distant rumbling thunder, and just like that, I drifted back to Texas. Nostalgia wove herself around me and now I just have to ramble about it.

I remembered... 2019 (somewhere in April I think), the famous Texas heat was making herself cozy. I was holed up inside my apartment. That heat is not my fascination. At some point though, I realized the community pool was rather quiet for a weekend. And the sun was not glaring in through the shutters. It was instead a cool light. Curious, I looked outside. Sure enough- I saw the tree leaves rustling in a good breeze. Very far away the sky was not a summer blue. With every passing minute, the horizon started getting covered with this ghoulish grey blanket. Soon a heavy layer of cloud canopied the entire community. Everything went still. Even the community mocking bird, who sang incessantly through the day and even throughout the night, shut up when the stillness drew. 

This sudden hope-of-rain drew me out on the patio. I checked my patio-plants and it looked like they were anticipating some relief from the scorching heat too. 

You probably know that light travels faster than sound. And there it was, in the horizon... a crisp sharp thick bolt of lightning. Then the sound followed. Not a gentle distant rumbling. A loud laughing-crackling thunder. Old Indian horror movies would kill for that sound. One two three four five... they went on and on and on. 

And finally, after many minutes of arguing, the clouds won and had their way. They burst open and rain came pouring in. They rushed from the clouds as kids rush out when they hear the lunch bell. An Earthy smell wafted when they hit the road. I closed my eyes to soak it in. To me, it's an emotion. The smell of first rain reminds me of the much-waited Monsoons in India.... how our lives revolve around that one season. A loopy-loop of nostalgia. 

Not surprisingly, I later learnt that many areas of Texas saw tornadoes and flash flood warnings that day. These majestic thunderbolts also caused an apartment to burn down in a neighbouring community another time. If you have the opportunity to stay in Texas you will know, the weather there changes more frequently that the weeks themselves. You might be sun-bathing today and tomorrow you might be grabbing you winter jacket. It might be followed by a Tornado-watch and flash flood and boom- a very sudden-spring-like-day after that. 

And with every change, a small new story is spun. Some funny, some frustrating, but each one someday sums up as nostalgia.

Begin Again

I  loved the movie. Simple, sweet, positive, awesome songs. I like Keira Knightley now. On a rainy day and rainier night, where the dry breaks were broken by the sound of crickets, in such a nostalgic setup I thankfully sat down to watch this movie. Am glad I did. The movie starts strange. A song that I did not pay much attention except that she looks sad and lost. Mark Ruffalo, plays a 'pathetic loser' role, except that he manages to get out of it. Well I would highly recommend it as a good Light-mood movie. :).. Enjoy...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1980929/

Sulky or Wise?

If life starts feeling like a muddy undefined blob of liquid, directionless, blind and stupid, stop sulking immediately. I don’t know how but just stop. Turn off the sulk switch. Sulky brooding, more often than not, takes you nowhere near a good solution. It will instead pull you away from a solution. So STOP!!! We have only one life we are living at a time, there are physi-logically no two parallel worlds. So let’s be real. You are where you are. And I have come to believe it is more so at a mental level.

So whenever shit happens, remember that you have just this one life only to accommodate that. There is little option otherwise. Not all of us can remember our past lives. I do not even know if it is a good thing. So here we are, exactly where we are. Close your eyes. Take a deep breathe. You and your life is only about as useless as you make it. So should you choose to make it purposeful, so it will be. And this choice and action begins at this instant.

I have been sulking about the type of men I get attracted to and who never get attracted back to me in a way that works well with me. Result : 28 and single. I have been confused about what goes inside men’s head. Are men scums or just biologically insanely sex driven? But while it makes a perfect topic for endless stories and gossip, fact is that I started feeling low once I started thinking about it. And with that, I pushed away an entire hour if not more, that I could have otherwise used to give my butts their much needed exercise. So who exactly is screwing up my life for me? Men or myself? You take your pick. You can sulk over either of the options. But it’s ultimately the fact that most of the time we do not get over our sulking (irrespective of source) that we end up messing our lives both in our head and physically.

So to conclude, while shit might/might not be getting cleaned up as I write this or as I brood over sad things, I might just do myself a favour while I am still alive and CHOOSE the more productive deal for myself. Tonight I will do that. Its 9 pm, but I am so hitting my booty with some exercise. CHEERS girls. Let’s try reducing our tendency to worry and care so much. May be it is time girls became boys in their heads, what say?

Raining in Fort Worth

Rain in Fort Worth (Texas), feels the same as rain in Kolkata. And unless rain sogs up my shoes and makes clothes smell with dampness or floods road, I like rain. Its like something is happening around you, keeping things active in general. 

USA does not specifically talk about a 'Monsoon' season. Monsoons however are ridiculously important in India. When you start taking account of your life and how everything seems to fit in your lifestyle and personality, you would realize eventually how weather impacts us common men/ women/ children. I grew up waiting impatiently for the dreamy Winter season back home. But the intoxicating smell of wet earth after the first sprays of rain is often a tough match. 

Rains make you feel so alive sometimes. Its a comforter to the lonely, a solace to the needy. Associated endlessly with both heated and subtle romance, it has long made its way to stories, poems, lyrics, songs, music, dance, literature. It has infused our lives in more ways than we have probably ever cared to notice or admit. 

The graying of the sky is not taken very happily by everyone. Unlike me there are millions who dislike rain too. People have a preference for bright-&-sunny over Dark/Gray-and-cloudy. Well like it is said, 'Nothing-in-extremes-is-good'.

There is however another difference between rains in Fort Worth Vs rain in Kolkata, the roads. While large parts of India will almost surely will develop gigantic puddles ad potholes and develop sewage problems, Fort Worth, seems to be holding up the fort much better. I am an Indian at heart, and the sweet smell of rain in India will usually trigger sweet memories and sweet feelings, but a better drainage system would be such a relief.

Its not been very long since I came to Fort Worth, barely couple of weeks. I am still just getting a hang of things. Orienting my sense of direction that has seemingly gone haywire. Amongst this confusion and moments of blankness, watching the rain just do its thing, felt familiar and that somehow felt good. There is probably no better way I can put it. :).

Watching butterflies return

Simplicity is intoxicating. It is so simple that its being becomes difficult to comprehend. Simplicity is so complicated.

Today I felt the power of simplicity watching butterflies flutter around the garden. It came as a gush of relief. Relief because I did not see so many butterflies for such a long time. I remember, as kids me and my sister would jump around the garden trying to catch butterflies. We would temporarily put them in a jar and then let them go. I still remember how I EEWED when I found that the butterfly I caught had a powdery thing on its wings and that was on my finger after I held it. We would get a feeling of such victory! And when we discussed these accomplishments with our parents, my dad told us how he used to go around catching squirrels and dyeing them. It seems they used to have a competition with the neighbourhood kids, over their skill of trapping squirrels.

Why did the simplicity of all these happenings and memories hit me today? May be because, indeed some of the most cherished things in life, come for free. A stolen moment of glee, of purposeless victory, of listening to your parents' childhood, of watching a delicate thing of beauty, of being able to feel the bliss of all these moments. Where would we be if we don't have these stories to recollect, to share, to cherish? It felt so great to see these pretty little butterflies visit our garden once again given that of late, they weren't around so much. Although one of the most common greenish butterfly was not visible, I saw a lot of other varieties. A particular beauty in black with dazzling fluorescent green stripes. Then there was an orange one and another which seemed a faint blue from a distance. It made me think, may be we have done something right after all, something right enough to coax these light beauties to come to us, to let us watch them, to marvel and feel so pretty and serene inside. For such stolen moments of bliss, simplicity- you are just so intoxicating.

So what if I have a broken wing

Yes I have a broken wing
Yes, my heart finds it painful to sing
Yes, I could not let go
Yes, I could not hold on
Yes, my heart is shattered and broken
Yes, I have felt the trauma of these feelings
Yes, I feel I have crossed my lines
Yes, I feel I could have done better
Yes, my soul feels shrunk and stolen

But lament as I may it will not change what others think
But hasten as I may, everything will not happen my way

But I will trip, especially where I don't expect at all
But I will slip, hurt myself , yet have to trudge along

But how can it be different, we have only this life we know of
The same life to fall, the same life to stand up,
The same life to make mistakes
The same life to learn from them
The same life to feel hurt, the same life to forgive
The same life to love, the same life to get our heart broken
The same life to hold on, the same life to let go
The same life to unlearn the wrong, the same life to learn something new
The same life to let something shatter us, the same life to pick up the pieces

So against what i might wish let me repeat what I said:
So what if I have a broken wing
So what if my heart finds it painful to sing
So what if it was too painful to let go
So what if it was so difficult to hold on
So what if my heart is shattered and broken
So what if I have a memory of the trauma of these feelings
So what if I might have crossed my lines
So what if I did not know then that I could have done better
So what if my soul felt shrunk and stolen

I will let my wings grow again
Sing my songs despite my pain
Look at hurt in the eye
And then tell it GOODBYE
My broken trust, my broken faith,
My broken heart and this seemingly endless pain
You can come and laugh at me, tell me how stupid I have been
But I will accept the facts for a fact
And thank you and tell you to go back
You should find your way to someone else
Go ahead and teach your lessons
And find another victim again

But I will now stick to my broken faith,
Fix it up, mend it, bring it back to shape
Make some room for my spirit to re-enter and stay
And I will not ask anyone else's help
For its after-all my heart and soul
And simple as it may be, I would not be able to give the control to anyone else again

Good Morning!!!

The Procastinator....

Browsing my FB page pointlessly
I found myself wondering, what Am I looking for?
Why is it that I am scrolling up and down this page,
when I can get up and do something better?
May be I could brush my teeth or decide to finish cleaning my table
May be I could read a book or plan for tomorrow's meeting?

In fact I could just fix my dress, the one I've stashed away so far behind
Or may be I could just grab the newspaper and see whats going on around?
What about that letter that I was writing to my friend
Or the scrapbook that I have planned to have for almost an eternity now?

What about the cozy doze of sleep, the one my eyes are craving for?
What about that Vitamin pill, the one my body is yearning for?
But I don't hear these voices,
Where did I lose them?
Was it my broken heart or was it my unfulfilled dream?
Was it watching others get what I wanted
Or was it simply because I could not love myself?

Deeper and deeper into this debris I went
Until I could not find my way back
I waited for the next day to make itself better
And swore I would take it up from there

But unfortunately for so many of us
Good things we can do to ourselves, lie completely in our hands
No prince in a shining armour would come and save our day
We would have to be our own Knight

I have procrastinated for too long
I have waited too long for my mind to clear
This wait is getting boring now
This wait is getting hopeless now

So its time to get up and work off that extra fat
Its time to sleep tight and sleep like a log
Its time to eat food that touches your soul
Its time to take up that hobby that keeps you engrossed
Its time to write a letter to your friend
Its time to call your loved ones and say you love them

When else would we do these if we procrastinate till the end
'Kaal karae so aaj kar, Aaj kare so ab,
Pal me parlay hoegi, bahuri karaega kb?'

Why should we not give up

It is unfortunate, how the good is difficult and bad easy. It is unfortunate how, good seems to take too long, while bad is almost always happening. Its unfortunate how troubles leak in when all you want to do, is be responsible, help others, help yourself to be a better person. And above all, it's unfortunate, how we give up even before we start or otherwise before we reach our goal. We start off with good intentions, hopes, wishes, aims. But out of the blue, some or the other resistance turns up. It may be miscommunication, it may be overdoing some emotion, it may be ignorance , it may be opposition from other people, it may be fear/disappointment/health , it may be just plain bad luck, it may be the thought 'what would people say' or whatever.   In my case, I realized, it is almost always me. I wonder about all the resistances and let them affect me- so completely- 90% of the time.

But once in a while, we probably grow tired of giving up itself. 

When we let all the hopelessness creep in for quite some time, we probably cannot remember what we were like when we were happy, what we wanted, how did we tackle with problems, what did we dream of. Somehow our existence itself seems blank, purposeless. Question is, is it really like that? If you are in a depressed or given-up state, you would probably say 'Yes, it is'. Some might even go ahead and justify it. Well at least I did. There was a point in my life when all I could see around me was office politics, relationship politics, unhealthy fitness levels, corrupt people flying high, miscommunications, helplessness, hopelessness. In fact, it still scares me to remember those days. It brings back ugly memories and bad emotions along with it. When I let my emotions consume me, I become someone I can no longer recognize. It is hard to justify yourself to the entire world, but sometimes we fail to justify to our own selves. If you have reached this state, believe me, you are not alone.

But people have reached these states and worse ones and come back from them. The amount of effort it takes to do that properly, is enormous. But once done, it transforms lives. It develops a personality that we were probably seeking for so long, in others. You can be proud of yourself and rightfully so. So if you have reached that bottom, allow yourself your emotions for some time, but get up and work yourself out of it. As and when you try, so will you get your solutions.

So don't give up, because may be getting up and fighting back for your purpose, will feel better than getting what you want and deserve, easily.

Nice thought..

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” — Haruki Murakami

Gyan of the day..1dec13

Losing teaches a person to fight.

Keep Losing, Keep Winning... :).

When its raining...

What happens when it rains
that I want to just stare at it
that I want to hear the tipper tapper
that I want to see the drops fall and splash
Is it the running kid who shouts with glee
Whose brother follows him mimicking the same?
Is it the dog who suddenly realizes it is wet
and comes home to shrug itself dry?
Is it the tree that seems to dance
swaying its leaves as they wash themselves clean?
Is it the smell of the wet earth
so intoxicating that I crave to eat it. :P..
Is it the cool breeze that reminds me
to let myself release a strangled moment
and let it go away with the wind?
Is it the nostalgic memory of
running in the lawn with my dog after the rains
trying to see if it brought out a frog
or may be dropped a fruit off some tree?
Or is it just the faces around me
suddenly serene and thinking
probably the same things as me?

Click goes the shutter...

I bought myself a Canon 550D somewhere around the mid of 2011. Actually it was a little before the mid I guess. Either ways, never mind. Here's the thing, I think this is the best way I utilize my free time.

I developed a fancy for Canon stuffs from my Dad. He had a Pentax SLR and when he used to use it, well he did a great job. I however did not come to appreciate the details until much later.

It is true that with the sudden spurge of wide range of cheap DSLRs, the number of people carrying a 'BIGGISH' camera has increased a lot. I once read someone complaining everybody seems to be buying DSLRs these days and thinking themselves to be big-shot photographers. Well, I would not like to comment on that, although yes, I would like to mention that the power of these cameras does make you feel good. ;).

I started off with the standard kit lens- 18-55mm. About an year and few months later, I bought myself a 50mm f1.8 lens. This is when I fell in love with sharp images. Although I was worried about the pentagonal bokehs and noisy machinery of this lens, it just did not matter after the first few click.

However my endeavors to take better and more memorable pictures is highly motivated, scrutinized, criticized and improved by one person to whom I owe all my basic camera knowledge and the technical info behind some simple rules to ensure a nice picture. This guy is my friend and pretty much camera-mentor- Prateek. Needless to mention he has had an unfaltering and self motivated dedication take better pictures everyday. If you would like to check out his work you can visit his facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/prateeksengarphotogprahy?fref=ts

As for me, well I'm still a novice. Some unexpected appreciations feel cool.:). And it really motivates me too. But most of all, as I said, this hobby is the best way I utilize my free time. Constructive and learning, it allows me to widen my imagination and since there are no deadlines to meet here, I can pick whatever pace I wish to proceed in. :). I do love photography. :).

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Moumitas-Photography/331558076962825

That's my page. I will feel very happy if you like it enough to hit 'Like' . You know that would post my latest uploads in my page to your wall and may be make you feel better??? I don't know. But no harm in me trying.. right.. ;)..

My Jabberings...Part-I

I don't remember the last time I blogged. I often thought though, that I should write more often. Well i did, but mostly in my personal Diary, so that was definitely not public blogging. But I don't know why, today I found myself driven to blog. May be because ever since college + 1 year after that, my life has nowhere followed my general plan and today I feel the weight of all that pouring over me and overwhelming me in a (mildly putting) strange manner. Now I had the option of talking about all the stuffs that went out-of-plan OR I could just totally treat them as a 'bygone' and instead reflect on the 'Gyan' that I have been mulling over lately. In all honesty, both are difficult topics and an elaboration in its true sense, would probably make me so bored, that I would drop blogging for another couple of years may be. That's one of the things that has become of me lately. Investing time in a hobby sounds great under two situations:
1. When my soul feels a sudden stir and I realize I should not waste so much time of life by being unproductive.
2. When I feel completely frustated by the fact that I am definitely overworked in the weekdays and that a break is essential for me.

This blog, after sooo many ages, is thankfully not related to either. It is sort of spontaneous and Thank you God for that.

Anyone reading this post up until now, will probably guess that all I'm doing is jabbering. This blog is completely pointless and since I write what comes to my mind 'spontaneously' it is more than clear how unkempt my mind is right now. Well, still I'm posting this because you know when you don't initiate things on your own , but rather wait for things to come to you, you often waste more time than you care, so why not at least TRY to start ourselves.

So that's it... this is me... struggling with myself to just maintain my sanity sometimes. Trying to find the right ways to stand up for what I think is right. Trying to learn something that makes me feel good about me. Trying to keep those people happy who make me happy. Trying to be someone with some decent civic sense. Trying to do too many things at a time sometimes... I don't know if their are more like me, but I am trying to separate the thought and needs of my brain and body. Well, actually I had this plan for a few years now. It feels awful to put it up that way but hey, if this it it, then this it is. Besides I have no idea if anybody cares to read this blog anyway... :P....

The power of Love

To feel loved and important is so important to live. We can stay alive even without that, but life seems to be worthless without someone to share it with.


Love is probably the most misused word of its times. Since a very long time now love has been physically equalled with sex, so much so that, it seems one is the other sometimes. There are too many heart breaks, too many misunderstandings. When things don't work out, the first tendency is to declare that love sucks.

I personally believe that whatever this emotion called love is, it has as much power to both hurt and heal a person to any extremes. A mother's hug and downpour of Love heals and protects us beyond our acknowledgement. A father's friendly pat and his bear hug can dissolve all problems in the world no matter how big and bring back our faith on ourselves. A spouse's love can make you feel great and enthusiastic and beautiful from within. A sibling's love allows you to stand tall and acts as beacon of guidance and strength.

Love allows us to cope up and fight and survive and struggle. Love is true. Love when seen positively is beautiful. Love nurtures Life. It cannot be forced. It comes naturally. To all those people I love... "I LOVE YOU and THANK YOU!!!!!"...:)....

Killed enough... STOP at least NOW!!!

‘My girlfriend is unhappy with me’, ’My boyfriend doesn’t pay me enough attention’, ‘My children don’t listen to me’, ‘my boss is a monster’, ‘I’m my husband’s second wife, his first is the newspaper’, ‘My wife’s best friend is the TV’, ‘My job sucks’, ‘My enemy is unfairly lucky’, ‘You have nothing in ur lifr if you don’t hv a boyfriend/girlfriend or you don’t drink or you don’t smoke’, ‘ICC would be better if it listened to my analysis of cricket’, ‘I cannot seem to reduce my waist to 26 (from 28)’, ‘Oh hell! I have a pimple on my face’, ’Damned! Today is a dry day again??’, ‘!@#$%, he scratched my car!!!’……….. on and on the list goes… Too many personal grievances, too much pressure to overcome, too much of bad enough stuffs going on with me myself …..Why should I care about the person next door, let alone an animal about to go extinct.

Lately an ad has showed up on the TV. It depicts a cub, scared to move out of its shelter, Curious and unsure of what to do next, where to go. And suddenly there’s a deafening bang. And then there’s a count… 1411 … I hope that by now you know which ad I am referring to.It’s the ‘Save the Tiger’ ad promoted by aircell.

Sandwiched between an advertisement promising girls to be successful by turning fair complexioned and another describing some eternal bliss of some now-latest-tomorrow-obsolete technology, there’s this small plea to save the tigers. The most common reaction to this is ‘Yeah right! As if we don’t know that even the promoters don’t care’. I’ll be honest, I do care but even then I reacted the same way, more out of disgust and disappointment than anything else.

However my mother surprised me by calling up sometime after 10 in the night and requesting me to blog about the topic. My parents were touched, so was I.

Tiger is the national animal of India. Well shouldn’t we be proud of them? They are big, beautiful, agile, symbols of strength, intelligence and power. But wait a minute! Did HUMANS say tigers are intelligent? Ha Ha… Right! That’s so very humble of them. Even God knows that by gifting them with BRAINS, now humans are capable of outsmarting even Martians (it is a general assumption in movies that the latter are far more intelligent and sophisticated and technically sound than Earthlings). So most definitely humans are far more intelligent and powerful than tigers. So much more, that, the purpose of their existence is solely to serve the needs of the homo sapien species. So we just play upon our lives and braving and daring the odds and difficulties, take an aim and shoot them. We just so desperately need their nails, teeth, skin. After all God unfairly gifted us just some complex limbs and human body and brain but not their fur. So now it’s a burning desire amongst us to earn enough to comfortably purchase a tiger skin, real tiger skin, to make up for the loss. So now we are beautiful, agile, symbols of strength, intelligent, powerful and the supreme of all species even within the human beings themselves simply by wearing their skin or adoring them on the wall or carpet. We are healthier because we can eat medicines made out of their nails and teeth. Probably it makes us feel like we are tigers from outside and within. The buyer is a happier man, the seller is richer. And just because the tiger won’t lend us its skin on its own to adorn our bodies, let’s just prove we are more powerful. Shoot them dead. Tell the other tigers we can and will kill them if they do not offer us their physical possessions. And thereafter, lets place our Goddess of power, Maa Sherawali on a tiger and pray them both showing off our gratefulness an respect to their supreme power and possessioins. How much more ridiculous can WE get?

Why save the tiger? Here’s a scientific cause:

Tigers occupy the pinnacle of the food chain and a healthy tiger population is an indicator of the well-being of the whole forest. Throughout evolution predators have had a regulatory influence on the population sizes of other species; it is thanks to carnivores such as tigers that the number of herbivores is kept in check. In turn the number of predators is constrained by the quantity of prey. The populations can therefore only fluctuate between certain limits because of this feedback mechanism.

With the number of herbivores under control but not depleted the forest vegetation is likely to thrive-provided humans do not over -exploit it. Seeds will be dispersed but new growth will not be prevented by excessive grazing pressure. Healthy vegetation protects and nourishes the soil, preventing erosion. The soil filters and purifies the rainwater and safe-guards the water table. Many forests are important catchments areas for rivers, upon which many species including human beings depend.

Species at the top of the food chain are generally larger and require more space than other animals particularly if they are territorial. Conserving such species in the wild protects the habitat of many other animals as well as safeguarding the essential ecological processes such as water and nutrient cycling. Thus the tiger acts as the guardian of many other creatures.

Courtesy: http://www.tigersofindia.com/why-save-the-tiger.php

Boring? Doesn’t ring any bell in you? Too much science? Not romantic enough? Not your type of topic? Not a spicy piece of news? Or is it that you are too illiterate or too educated to care?

Humans in their pride of their superiority of some sort tend to treat others as inferior. Why save a tiger? Well may be because the way we treat them now is the way British treated us Indians in the pre-independence period? May be because we never signed any treaty saying we are authorized to kill at our will? May be because the humans have been offered plenty of alternate and better medicinal herbs in nature rather than animal extracts? May be because walls can be adorned with many other pieces of art rather than a processed animal skin? May be because there exist plenty of clothes on this planet not made from animal skin and yet they are beautiful, expensive and solve the purpose of clothes themselves? May be because we are the supreme species and therefore we can Also make a POSITIVE difference?

It’s high time we realized that courage and strength and bravery are not shown by displaying a shot lifeless skin of a dead animal. A person struggling to survive against a killing disease, a person fighting against all odds to support the truth, a person daring his/her fears, a person recovering from a drug addiction exhibits an example of true courage. A person hunting unarmed animals for pleasure exhibits an example of vanity and illiteracy. A person hunting a tiger to earn and feed his family represents a nation with desperately hungry and poor and uneducated people.

Can you imagine daytime without the sun? Can you imagine the ocean without its water? Can you imagine a world without cars? Can you imagine a life without music? Can you imagine flowers without any colour in reality, can you imagine a world without computers or newspapers? I believe you can’t.

Now tell me can you imagine a river choked with sewage? Can you imagine a human inhabited colony without any trees? Can you imagine a sky without birds? Can you imagine going to a tiger reserve and spotting no tiger? Can you imagine a world where there are no forests or tigers or any wild animal? Unfortunately this is not an imagination at all. This is a reality. But it does not bother us or spoil our sleep because at the moment we have other and apparently more important vices to deal with first.

It’s not fair on our end to let go off the topic of preserving tigers. They have as much right and need to exist as we do. They are far too innocent to ask us to stop. If the poaching continues at this alarming rate we’d be definitely finding ourselves talking of tigers as an extinct species in another couple of years. Would it sound good to say that India is a country who slept while its national animal ceased to exist in its forests? PLEASE PLEASE, let’s not overlook the situation any more. Please join hands to stop tiger poaching. If the buyers stop, the sellers stop. DO NOT buy products made by brutally killing innocent animals, both adult and children. DO NOT let those with you, buy these products either. Educate people in any way possible to help them realize the value and beauty of tigers and to realize the mistake of killing tigers to earna living. Teach them instead to learn other skills for existence. If you believe in God, then why displease her by wiping off her vahan??

We need tigers. The tigers need us. Disturbing the ecology to this extent would primarily make it impossible for us humans to survive in the coming decades. Let’s not wait for a disastrous famine or flood to come and convince us to wake up and work to prevent this planet,this country from collapsing.

Check out Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar

Title: Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=221226830505719913411

A dog like no other

Here is a fact, "I LOVE DOGS". am in fact, crazy about dogs. What makes me like them so much??? I can't explain. It's not even like I've had and successfully trained too many dogs. But if youn place Brad Pitt and a puppy before, and ask me to choose one, I'll blindly pick the puppy.

Anyway, what i want to talk about here is about a particular breed of dogs- Labradors. Having a labrador in house is altogether a new life.

A labrador puppy is pretty much like a real human baby himself. The singular difference is in their appearance and origins. A cuddly ball of fur and energy. That is what they are. With a size no more than your palm, these pups can shoot away from your sight in a matter of seconds.

Ever a package of delight, these pups have but four activities (probably like any other puppy but in there extreme forms)- eating, playing, pooping/peeing and sleeping- an ideal childhood.

We were told, there are two places a pup learns to recognize first and foremost when you are housebreaking them- the place where they eat and the place where they sleep.

These puppies crave for their family's FULL-time attention. And trust me, if they are not asleep and not seeking your attention, they are definitely up to something messy. The result could strapless slippers, chewed off furniture legs, empty lotion bottles, dug up flower beds, muddy paw-prints, food missing from the table and if your case is like mine, eaten of mobiles. They have an amazing teething capacity. Almost endless. And while they grow up they know exactly what they should do to be the centre of attraction in the family. They can show immense affection- So lovely- your knees feel weak before it.

It takes tremendous patience, cleverness, plan and love to train a lab pup to perfection. Love is something they'll automatically draw out of you. Th e rest is something you have to vigorously prepare yourself for.

I'm not in the least claiming that other puppies couldn't be this cute! But then these love-balls are empowered with a special sense of getting super pampered . However there's always enough place on this planet for a little more love.

So sit back and relax while stroking your llabrador who is sur to be by your side as and when you want it. :) .

AN HONOUR TO BE A CHILD..

To wake up with the hope of setting everything right

To look all around with curious eyes 

To hop jump and skip at the idea of going out

Ever and always eager to help people about

With so much time in their hands to mould a beautiful future

With so much zeal and energy to prove their worth to everybody near

To see the biggest gesture in the smallest deed

To get excited even at finding the smallest seed 

The world where mothers hug is the sign of the entire earth's love

Where 'getting high' means 'riding high on a swing'

Where 'drinking' means 'sipping apple juice'

Where 'dad' is the only 'hero of all times'

Where the only thing that can hurt is 'skinned knees'

Where the only things that can break are 'toys and window panes'

Where 'Goodbyes' mean 'only till tomorrow'

Where 'qualification' means 'scoring highest at school'

Where friend means anybody u can talk to

Where school means the second home you get to go to

To have unadulterated innocence at heart

To sleep cuddled tight, every night

To smile at your dreams while you sleep

Oh my God! Childhood is such a bliss to keep.

Indeed childhood is a bliss. I remember wondering as a child, how good it would be to be an adult and do things the way you like. Now i feel so amused at my innocence! I look at the children around me and i find myself thinking, "if only they learn to differentiate the right and wrong well their lives could be all so worth while and what a beautiful time of their life they have now." Be SIMPLE Be HAPPY, goes the slogan. the very thought is so relaxing. And as piercing is the thought of seeing children not as children but as adults in the form of labourers or in terms of manipulated up bringing. Childhood once gone cannot be regained or accepted in the same terms as actual childhood is, at some later age of responsibility. It stands much as a moral duty to see to it that childhood of every child is left as sheer childhood and nothing else, although usually situations do not stay that compatible for everyone, never the less we could try. And coming to think of it, its a fact that little bit of child stays in every adult. sometimes peeking into it, is actually a pleasant retreat.... 

A spoonful of sugar...

It is a pretty dull time of our life for myself and my batchmates. It's almost been an year since we passed out from our engineering colleges and since then we have been waiting for our DOJ or making futile attempts to do something about our immediate future. This long a time is practically enough to make you highly dull and remorseful and skeptical about your life, achievements, dreams, etc. But the idea is to stay strong now so that this period just passes off as a part of life.

It is unbelievably easy to give up. to curse every one around you and go about blaming the rain. and it is easiest to sit back and think of as many nonsense stuffs that could exist while desperately waiting for our company to call us soon and give up with any excuse as-soon-as we are urged to think about the next step we should take in our life. But then some people have lived who did not give up just when everything went wrong. they persisted against all odds. They made their life big and their problems oblivious. Lets go through some of them and decide how horrible a state we are in right now to feel hopeless and useless like we have been feeling lately.

THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
 

"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in hishospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence. 

BUTTERFLY

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.

We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!

I asked for Strength.........
And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom.........
And God gave me Problems to solve.

I asked for Prosperity.........
And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.

I asked for Courage.........
And God gave me Danger to overcome.

I asked for Love.........
And God gave me Troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors.........
And God gave me Opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted ........
I received everything I needed!

Just to conclude... watch this video. I have no idea of the story behind but I don't need to know that either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnLVRQCjh8c&eurl=http://www.inspirationpeak.com/forum/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D905%26sid%3D8fa000578d0e58b46c4d09ac1ef42717&feature=player_embedded