Dream On

Dream

I have one to fly

My wings open, reach the sky

Where I touch sun rays

PS: I know a Haiku doesn't rhyme, but once in a while, it's good to twist the rules according to our ways;)!

Happy Weekend!

To Woo or not to Woo?;)

"You don't really need to woo a man of ur dreams.. For if at all he is 'the' man of your dreams, he has already been wooed" she penned down in her journal.

A younger friend of hers who was going through a desperation syndrome wanted to be in a relationship with a guy. When asked what actually did she wanted, she would reply " I just want a guy to hug, to hold onto when  I' m sad but not any  jhanjhat or jhamela of the usual relationships, I want an open relationship" .

Her friend’s words seemed unusual to her, for she found it completely absurd as she had been dreaming of that one guy since the age DDLJ released and told her what a guy of values was and is!

Saria never understood what Verandah wanted, and one day after V told her that she was heartbroken, she in her angry tone told her and rather shared her thoughts as well.

" I don’t understand, you hardly get to know a guy, spend some time and then you call yourself heartbroken? You are such a despo V!! There is no use of me telling you things. My idea of being in a relationship is very different from yours."

V replied "Nahi re, some day your words will impact and may bring a change". At this Saria sighed in hope.

In one of the conversations they had, V had excitedly told her that there was this senior of hers she liked in the college and she really  'wanted' him, so she was leaving no stone unturned to woo him. Oh! Dear V, her voice all bubbling with chirpiness and singing a music of its own. Saria smiled as V went on phone.

"V, I really don't have an idea about such things, so..."

And then one day, yes one fine day Saria happened to meet a guy. Ever since she met him, her thoughts inevitably every 'single' day would drift towards him. That day she heard herself speaking "I really want this guy, I feel as if he is the one".

A sweet excitement bubbled up inside her heart as she played and re- played her meeting with that guy. But she didn't really know what to do next. Yes she would text him, and talk to him too. They had fun talks as she called them, and she felt she had a lot of scope to talk about a lot of things to him. She called V up after long.

" Saria yaar where have you been, you don't look good when you are all sad, you are not much on FB these days, and then you just disappear from FB?"

"Oh! So I see people do notice? Another friend of mine told me too. I've been doing fine".

" Of course!! One like gets reduced if you are not there" said V in her musical chuckle.

“Acha V, I wanted to tell you something".

" Bolna, such things should be said at first go, why take so long?" said V excitingly.

" You remember the guy I met, right, ever since that day I’ve been thinking about him. We've had nice talks as well, and he, thankfully, isn’t one if the weirdos I've befriended before".

Saria wanted to talk, but as usual V couldn't hear her properly. And whenever Saria would say "You idiot, do I look like a fool to you calling you on STD only to hear you say you cannot hear me!" then V would cutely reply " I can hear you, but not so clearly, but when you say Oh! God or Uff, then I can clearly hear you!"

Well, they couldn't complete their after- long convo that day, but Saria thought about ‘wanting’ this guy, about having patience, about the do's and don'ts her bestie had told her, she also thought about wooing, but that day with the words in her journal she told herself, if he had to be, he would know it too and this time she would let time and hope both do their work too.

Wedding Photography

Wedding Photography

Capturing the Chooda chadana ceremony in Punjabi girl wedding
Credits: The Wedding Travellers

Hola Vanilla People!! Hope you all are doing well? There are always some reasons to find out that hidden smiles: in the shine of the rays, in the glitter of a dew, in the chirp of a bird, or in the sky’s hueJ

Today’s Brunch  Magazine had a beautiful surprise for me, for one of its articles by Veenu Singh talked about wedding photographyJ

Yes, there is a wedding in my family this week and as much as it is exciting, I think about the pictures which cameramen take. Just yesterday, when I was merrily eating the pasta at the Sagan Ceremony, this photographer right there clicked me biting into my pasta!! Uggh!! And so I got up only to move over to a place next to my bro, away from the photographer’s camera.

Ever since I started my blog, I fell upon one of the most gorgeous blogs ever, and though Aria no more posts any wedding pictures, it’s a treat for me to go back to her blog, every now and then, just to feel the emotions she has captured either of the couple or of the wedding ceremony.

Honestly, as much as I like posing for pictures, I feel there is no natural beauty in them. They are fake! Poor bride, gets tired of looking happy or smiling her teeth wide to constant comments “Madam! Thoda bright smile, nahi nahi, maza nahi aya!! Acha sa ek smile?!” And there she goes with her hand in her fiancé’s hand and nothing but a fake smile.  Look at these, what do they say?:)

Credits: Sandeep

Credits: Natalie Norton

Pardeh mein rehne do!;)

My favorite:
Credits: Nikhil Joseph, chkout this album of his

I love candid moments. One which have their own story to tell. You know those are the real pictures, one which contain a myriad of mixed emotions, happy-sad, sweet-sad, sweet- salty, and wedding I feel is a perfect occasion to capture them all.

I found my cousin bro’s eyes red yesterday. I knew he would have shed a few tears, for his sister was getting married. I also know, had I asked him why his eyes were red, he would have told me “Perhaps coz of my lenses, Aadat nahi haina pehnne ki!” .

And if only a good photographer ( not from the studio who clicks pictures of people eating, sitting, standing, of the menu and all the vella stuff) would have been there, perhaps s/he would have done justice to the felt feelings, teary laughters and gleaming smiles!

I sure am gonna have a wedding capturer at my wedding!:)

That’s a different thing if my mum dad wants one who goes around capturing vella moments…Whatever!!:)


PS: I learnt from a blogger long time back, that it's important to give credits, and to pictures clicked, more so:) AnD sO I DiD

Greatful for: A Platter Full of Music

I’m glad today for having watched the most musically touching movie ever….presenting August Rush.

Ah! It’s more than a rush. It’s not an adrenalin rush. It’s a rush of the soul, for the soul.

It’s not love, it’s passion for the notes of the music. For as the kid who plays August Rush in the movie says to the question “Do you like music?”  And he replays politely “More than food”.

Café’ Coffee Day tells us “A lot can happen over a cup of Coffee” and well, this movie tells us “Music alone has the power to bring people together”.

For a person who loves instrumental, the charms of an acoustic guitar, the beat of a violin, the accent of Irish men, the beauty of a fast symphony, and yeah served to you with dollops of the subtle romance too, not clichéd , but musically sound~ this is the movie for youJ

It makes you fall in love~ again, with one thing in this world, and thank great musicians for that….Yes it’s MUSICJ

Want a piece of it….here you go…..listen to it and temme how you find?:)

Want some more….well for that….Just watch the movie my Vanilla People…

And I bet you’ll live again to love……MUSIC!

Have a violony day!

Aakriti

PS: Thank you Mudasir for recommending this one;)


PPS: Thank you Maxabella for forever making the world an easier place to live in:) Hop over t her place to feel not grateful..but greatful:)

EXPRESSION?

EXPRESSION?

                                         -Not as easy as you think!

For those of us who write may be, by now, expression and the art of expressing is not something we very closely reflect on. ( or some of you, like me have thought about it?)

This time via me and myself I stepped onto something, which I’m glad, I did.

You know as much as this life of ours is intriguing and mysterious, so are the people whom we come across in our lives. Lets leave aside those whom we just know on a single basis (like through mails/ chats/ as bloggers) for in reality a lot gets revealed! People are very mysterious beings, and this for me is as inviting as it is repulsive.

And here I come upon people, mostly who don’t talk much in their life! Reserved people are very intelligent! Yes, that’s what I feel. You may think that they don’t express much and don’t even talk, but they have ideas bursting in their minds!

NO, I’m not trying to picture them darkly, but I feel that’s true. Gibran’s words as always speak beautifully:

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts”.

I just feel, at the same time, and think, if people who express and express decently well, whether in spoken or in written words, ever feel lack of expression coming at their end?

In simpler words, do they miss people around them not expressing? Not sharing with them what they think about them or even feel?

As much as this world is filled with writers, it is also filled with readers. So in a way we can perhaps talk about a balance. Yes writers also read. And those who read if they write? Not true always.

But where do the expressions go when they are not shared? When they are not told?

Yes, there are art forms other than writing like singing, painting, dancing. But it only takes a true appreciator of that art form to acknowledge that, so to understand that language one needs to know that language too!

How does silence works in their life?

Sure, love can understand through silence as well, but you don’t actually love everyone that way, that they can interpret your silence?

I’ll end with these words…….

Now that I know you won’t say,

Now that I know you’ll keep it,

In your keepsake,

I’ll create a cocoon of my own,

Where all my thoughts shall reside…….

Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha

 This is for the first time ever I’m writing a book review, not out of force, but out of sheer pleasure. In fact pleasure seems an incapacitated a word at this moment for it possibly cannot contain the plenitude of emotions I went through in the process of reading this extra and poignantly so more than any writing piece!

To share with you, I have often had great difficulty naming emotions I would be undergoing in difficult situations, but Arthur Golden, the author of this fantastic book ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ not only writes a book in the form of a diary entry by a beautiful Geisha named Sayuri, but he literally and literarily, intricately so, like a silver thread woven into the silk fabric of a kimono, artistically weaves out a spectacular scenic view on this kimono of his named ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’.

The visual imagery, so strong; the tears, crystal clear in your mind; the angst, the frustration, as it heats you up; the beauty of the bright coloured kimonos, the Japanese by lanes of Gion as a complete image of a small working town full of gorgeous Geishas comes alive in your mind. The seductiveness of a Geisha, her rolling of eyes, the way she can lure men towards her; at the same time, just like any other young girl she falters on the steps of life succumbing to deep puddles of life, very well, created by no one but herself.

The many emotions a girl can feel towards men of different ages, what in our lay language we term as ‘infatuations, crushes, or small time romance’ Golden in this book, like a real artist rises above these words and makes them alive, he makes them live in a passionate sense of the word –‘emo-tion’.

As I listen to this song called broken strings by James Morisson, the lyrics go like:

“You can’t play on broken strings,

You can’t feel anything,

That your heart don’t want to feel,

I can’t tell you something that ain’t real”.

The same holds true for this book as well, but just that the writer fills you with all the unnamed emotions, that which you felt, but never had words for in perhaps the lifetime you have lived so far!

Chiyo, a girl who is sold by Mr. Tanaka, when she is merely 9 years old, thinking that he would be adopting her and her elder sister after her mother would die, rather enters a whole new world. As she figures out that she has been sold to become a Geisha, and when she grows up she would be expected to pay even her selling price back to the okiya where she would be living in from that day on. In her okiya, she encounters Hatsumomo a pretty Geisha, just pretty looking, with a heart more evil than a devil, who at every point menaces with Chiyo.

The story beautifully and gradually proceeds to how Chiyo, a girl with watery blue eyes, who once had dreamt of becoming a Geisha soon sees a bleak future, rather no future at all, as in her act of running away from the Okiya she renders herself as untrustworthy for her life ahead, for no Okiya owner would invest in a girl to become a Geisha, once who has already attempted to run.

However one day this young girl is seen crying near the Shirokawa stream by middle aged gentleman who is known as the Chairman. There the story takes a beautiful turn; it unfolds itself like the drapes of a theatre showcasing an Opera. From that day on, Chiyo clings onto his handkerchief for her dear life, often fantasizing about him. Events change and so does her destiny, as you find yourself gripped by the story. She ends up becoming a successful Geisha who is named Sayuri. Just as beautifully she has been described, so stands her name, musical like a stream of water gushing beneath the bridge.

Unlike the clichéd love stories, this book brings a reader close to the moment of what possibly a divine love  could be and how in the gaps the love for the other is filled in instances of peering at the other and gazing into his beauty, enwrapping oneself into the solace and kindness that he carries. And his love for her, almost unspoken, never spoken, yet so profound that kindness, forgiveness, and tranquility all combine into one, making it a divine part of Sayuri’s life.

Punjabiyaan Di Shaan Vakhri……???!!

PUNJABIYAAN DI SHAAN VAKHRI……???!!

Sasrikaal ji….Ki haal chaal??

Oh! Before you guys think this post is gonna publicise how greeeeeat are Punjabis a.k.a Punjus, this is quite the contrary one.

Now I don’t care I’m a Punjabi and writing this post. But somehow I feel deeply that I OUGHT and SHOULD be writing this one.

Having lived in Delhi all this while, I’m accustomed to seeing the Show-shah- giri which people wear here. L Sigh…….too much too infinity much!

I remember visiting my mum’s distant cousin, a Punjabi who got married to a Marathi. She told us how simple their weddings were. One kilogram sweet on marriage, a few dishes and you’re done! Now that’s what we call simplicity. I think the same goes for the South as well, EXCEPT for Kerala:p where you have GOLD dropping from heavens like snowflakes. In short you have GOLDY weddings there. Thank goodness it’s not up here. But here the aunties/ mother-in- laws/ all the females of the world see aankhein faad faad ke what diamond set are the girl’s side gifting, what they are giving to this, to him, to her and blah blah….NO END to the story…

I recently attended my first cousin’s marriage in November, and sadly….yes you heard me right, sadly I have one more to attend in Jan:/ Shopping is good, it’s fun too only when you DON’T have to shop for a wedding that too from the ‘same side’( I mean paternal side, coz I CAN’T  repeat the clothes I wore recently( Ha! I WILL repeat! As if I care).

Everywhere I see blingy clothes. Jatack Patack. That sales man tells me “Madam isse simple lehenga nahi milega. Yeh sabse light work hai shop mein” And the cost…Bloody 10 grands!

Sigh….Finally I managed to find a sophisticated suit. Now I tell you, I can’t wear a sari, as much as I find it graceful and lovely…Wanna hear a Punjabi reason?? My parents tell me that I’ll start looking too lady- like if I wear one and then people will start eying me for marriage! Now this is the least on my mind when I wish to wear a sari, but hey! How more years to go before I actually start looking like a lady?:P I thought I already was a young one??

People here don’t buy stuff for themselves; they buy stuff to show others, their neighbours, their relatives. Ugggh! It’s sickening. Simplicity is a word that they perhaps DON’T have in their dictionary. Thankfully, my mum isn’t too finicky about jatack patack clothing coz we eventually settle for elegant attires. But in my extended family! Hai Rabba!....Main ki dasaanI ? No, no I don’t mean all of them wear flashy clothes! Phew…

All the jhamelas and jhanjhats I tell you! When one of my cousin was getting married my Bhua ( dad’s sister) actually showed her huge suitcase to us and the suits and sarees she was taking to her new home! This came as a shock to me as I thought “Isn’t this supposed to be a private affair?” Apparently “NO”. Why if you ask? Coz my mom told me it’s done to take everyone’s approval at the same time tells them “this is what we are giving to our daughter”! Uff!!....Ok now tell me, logically please? By rules of society  NO ONE, I repeat NO ONE will tell her this is not good and that is good? Kyun bhai, rishte thodi na bigaadne hain! Secondly, we don’t want to see what you are giving your daughter! ( Ok! May be the other aunties want to see, but why am I being dragged to this?)

We Punjabis are FOOOOODIES, fun loving, cheerful, bubbly, outspoken, show- offs, and what not? Please enlighten me on the stereotype?? Some one?

But as much as I love being a Punjabi, I hate how relatives speak up things as if they had the RIGHT to, it’s hard to keep things personal! Why?

:/ Dowry! I hate. Show-shah- giri. I bIIIg time hate.

Anyway….

Whatever…

Have A Tandoori Chicken and Paneer Tikka and Butter Chicken wala SUN- DAY!;)

Aakriti

PS: It’s hard to convince your parents to stop thinking of a GRAND wedding plan for you, more so when you are a daughter and that too a Punjabi one!

PPS: I ‘m door door tak not getting married.

PPPS: I curse society for making all the vella norms!!

PPPPS: I have got a permission to marry a non- punju guy…so wohoo for that!;)* conditions apply!

NOTE: I hope you know we punjabis like exaggerating things too...but I'm not doing much of that here. And yeah. NO generalizations to the above matter pahleez! Shukriya!

Plain talk

I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of writing. I won’t say ‘God Forbid not’ coz well God has nothing to do with it, it’s ME right? My mind that ways always has something or the other to think or to ponder upon.

So like the other day I was talking to my friend and sharing with him, that I wonder if guys who are photographers ever attend to their wives or girlfriends when they are on a trip, coz according to my imagination, they’ll be busy capturing this moment….and oh! how can I miss that!!??:D:P…

And then he tells me “ Tu kitna sochti hai!” :D…Yes, I do!

Today I’ll just share and in fact ask, doesn’t it feels great when people whom you were mere strangers with become nice friends and then they are all whom you begin to think about in a course of little time?

I have often found myself smiling at maids ( a gesture of greeting)  who work at any of my relative’s home. And when I do that I wonder how often do they get warm smiles that which says nothing but simply greets them?

Then there are those little gestures which friends do for you. For me, even remembering about me or thinking about me makes me feel gratuitous towards that person. It shows that you were not merely on a person’s mind, but there was something sweet happening in between in the form of memories or a smile, that made the person think about youJ

So when my friend of all the people around her calls ME and tells me “ Akhi, tujhse toh aaj baat karni hi thi” it feels goodJ

And then the most subtle, yet evident thing which makes me smile are the beauties and the gifts of nature. The sun rays peeking through the clouds or leaves, a cute squirrel hopping around here and there, an ant walking its own way, suddenly getting obstructed by my finger as I play with him/ her, only to be freed soon, a huge peepal tree and its massive presence enough to give me shelter and just sit under it with a fab book in my hands and my sun making me feel warm.

Yes ! I’M A SUN LOVER! But more so, a WINTER SUN lover! I stop caring and acting like girls who says “ Oh! dhoop, I’ll get tanned and blah blah”. Winter Sun exudes warmth, love, in its shining tingling magical rays:D

So tell me what you think or do my words set you thinking something??

Stay Blessed

May the Sun shine on your dreams!

And may the night’s romantic moon soothe your sleepJ

Aakriti

PS: I made Chinese style vegetables with chicken nuggets today. Experimented something after looooong! And of course it was yum!;) For those of you who are vegetarians I think this recipe can work well with potato wedges too;) Will share it soon.

Like the Calm of an Ocean

LIKE THE CALM OF AN OCEAN

As my winter break comes to an end, I remember these days spent lazing around, out in the sun on a charpoy basking in the winter sun and soaking myself in the sun light until I slept in the warm sun. Then there were days, when I would AS USUAL without taking bath, prepare a nice breakfast for myself, with the whole house to myself again, I would eat every bite in the company of my sun!

Today, perhaps being the last day of my vacation I sit in a warm blanket sipping my mug of Green tea.

And I feel the bitter pills are swallowed by us only to make the days of future taste more sweeter than usual!  

I did panic in these hols for a while as I was SUPPOSED to do my literature review of my dissertation in this vacation. But what is SUPPOSED, remains supposed!!;)

I met a wonderful young lady at one of the International Conferences I attended during my hols. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford. It was so inspiring to meet her! The best thing was seeing her appreciate my university system, I realized it actually emulated the University of Oxford.

I felt great! It’s inspiring to meet people who are into research and doing well. It’s even more inspiring coz they help me realise that my DREAMS CAN BE FULFILLED!

And then this Bangalore trip happened out of the blue. Have to say, these days felt sweeter, sweeter than honey. They were not tasted, they were FELT!

The dosas, the thick coconut chutney, the sweet sambhar, the fresh pulpy orange juice, the colourful flowers, the cool breeze- all made me fall in love with the city. The daily route to go to a part of Bangalore to attend a course made me feel as if I was there to stay!  I JUST DIDN’T feel like coming back.

But yes I’m back. Back to my city to enjoy the chilly winters, where every season gets its share and time to hang around and show its magic!

Starting tomorrow begins my last semester for my Masters! Four rigorous months and then I’ll be a Post Graduate:P

Wishing you lovely 11 months ahead!:)

Aakriti

PS: For those of you who are working, you may be thinking how lucky I’m to have winter break, that which is longer than what school kids get here in Delhi:P

PPS: I truly deserved this break, and trust me you yourself can create your lovely breaks when the situation reaches a BURN OUT phase!

Songs on my playlist since last night:

·        Hai apna dil toh aawara na jane kis pe ayega

·        Abhi na jao chod kar ki dil abhi bhara nahi

·        Jeewan ke safar mein rahi milte hain bichar jane ko

Fantasy

              ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Fantasy

If dreaming about your sweet face,

If knowing that you are there ‘some’ where,

If sweet lyrics make me reach you,

 If your thought gives me hope,

If your eyes create a shelter of warmth,

If your touch is about a relation,

If your voice drizzles on my face,

If your sight sparkles my days,

Then yes…….you are there……..

You ……Exist ……..for Me!!

               ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

© Aakriti

Darmiyaan

Darmiyaan

Saat samudra paar

Ek Khushi ke pahaar par,

Bhaithi ek Muskaan,

Gehri soch mein……….

"Woh kya Khushi,

Jo dil se na aye?

Woh kya chehak,

Jo chahekne mein hichkichaye?

Woh kya baatein,

Jo boli na jayein?

Woh kya pal,

Jab hum mein aur tum mein,

Yeh darmiyaan……..

Tham sa jayein?"

©©Aakriti

Sweet Something

She had come to this city where for every puff of pollution that the vehicles churned out there were trees to take in that dirt and purify it into fresh air. It was her second visit in this city, not to explore around, but more to find her self, in the process called growth.

From her busy schedule she took out some time to meet him. Neither of them had ever met before, sure they had an insight into the poet the other person carried within, and a bit of person as well, a glimpse they would get in feeble moments of ‘on-line-ity’  but beyond that existed this unknown space waiting to be known.

As she fixed her meeting with him, she told him if he could take her to some quiet place, a little away from the hullabaloo of the city.

And he took her there, a place where a million lights lit not only the outdoors making them serene and bright, but one where the liveliness of the other could shine in bright light!

                                    

As they walked in, she marvelled at the lights and the simplicity and extravagance which they displayed at the same moment. She was speechless, for no words in her poetic heart could express what she felt at that moment. She looked at him and smiled her glittery smile, and with no words exchanged or spoken, he smiled back at her feeling the warmth and gratitude in her smile.

                                     

At the corner of this outdoor lay two nice black leather couches. She reached for one and made herself comfy just like a cat would jump onto one and snuggle herself in her soft fur. Her slippers lying on the rust coloured rug made her kolahpuris look like Cinderella’s glass sandals rested on a silk cushion.

In fact this sheer openness on her part made his usually ‘normal’ sitting posture look out of place. As they both sat on the couch facing each other, she with her legs folded sideways in a sitting position looked at him and said

“I cannot stop marvelling at this place you brought me to! I can stay here all night not knowing and not wanting to know when the night would end as another day would begin.”

Travel: A Haiku

So here am I again with a Haiku:) Joining at Haiku Heights where Leo gives the prompt as "Travel"

Travel

I flow like the breeze

Once here then there; places like

Magnet attract me

Halong Bay, Veitnam

The Lush Greens

The Lush Greens

As I sit here in the balcony of tenth floor, with the birds finding their way back home, the sky little peach-pink in colour with the strokes of blue enmeshed in like a painter just wanted to feel how the colors would blend together, and I have to say, that he has crafted South of India with the greens, the colour which is about harmony, earthiness as much as it is about calmness.

The cold breeze, ever flowing like a stream here, in Bangalore makes me feel loved. It is so welcoming; clueless about why my legs are shivering I still sit here enjoying the moment that the greens and the canopied trees here have to offer.

The more away we are from nature, the civilized we become, but what use does that civilization have for us, if our very roots are forgotten?

Glad that my very first post of 2012 begins on a ‘naturally’ green and breezy noteJ

Wishing for a ‘natural’ smiley and earthly content year for all of us

Love

Aakriti

PS: To have ur lappy with u makes you feel at home no matter where on the earth you are. It’s like taking your world along with youJ


PPS: Have read ur comments on my previous post. Thank u for the lovely wishes. Will be busy, pls spare me some time if I'm unable to rply, but yes every word of yours is graciously accepted and read:)