The winds of South:)

Considering that my winter break is on and for the first time in some five years I’m actually enjoying them to the core, it feels just so blissful. And with my earphones plugged in as I listen to the song “Hold my hand” Akon and Mj feat for the third time in a row, I feel truly out of the world.

Songs have the power to sway you,

To love you or to make you cry,

The tunes, the lyrics, the melodies,

Work like a magic wand,

They’ll raise you to the seventh heaven,

They’ll make you fall so hard too,

And the beauty of it, hard to explain,

Hear it and you’ll know it too!!

As soon as I finished for my exams of my first semester, I was ready to pack my bags for a lovely trip to south of India, and well after having clicked some 480 pictures and some more in my dad’s and my cell, along with the coolness of the coconuts and the white fresh malai, some dosas, idlis, nice hot rasam, along with Ooty’s homemade dark chocolate and some rum balls, the shiny bright skies of Doda Beta ( South’s highest peak, where western and eastern ghats converge), the greenery of the tall trees, the hardness of the rocks and the freshness of the tea gardens, not to forget the joy ride on the toy train with a dash of meeting friends and cousins and playing like a kid, I sure had good amount of FUNN!!:D

The best thing about the south which I discovered was its lush greenery everywhere. No matter if it is a garden in the metropolitan city of Bangalore or a forest reserve in Tamil Nadu, the people of that place have let the trees ‘be’. The trees open their arms wide enjoying the freedom that has been offered to them to grow, to nurture and to offer coolness and happiness not only to the trees that surround them but also to the people who love them. There was this one such tree I totally fell in love with. I’m clueless about its name, all I know is that I saw it in the Mysore palace with its charm and strength, and was in love with it, after spending few moments looking at it ( lol..It looks as if I was checking out a tall good looking guy..haha;p) The tree was huge, with its branches covered with creepers with leaves simply beautiful and in different shapes. Just looking at it made me go run towards it and hug it with my small arms. I looked at it with awe, the way I had perhaps never ever looked at a ‘tree’. here's the pic:

And on my way I saw many such trees, and some in the Botanical garden of Ooty which took my breath away. (haha. I’m getting a funny smile on my face as I write this, it feels as if I’m telling you to go to the south to check out cute boys, well yeah you do get to see them too;)!!

Their leaves so beautiful, their mammoth like growth, the way the branches would either spread vertically or horizontally, and their trunks oh! so huge. If only I had time I would have spent my entire day just sitting on the nicely trimmed grass admiring and gazing them for their stillness, serenity and green beauty.

(Doda Beta Mountain Peak)

( a plant which I found very cute, like a cabbage)
It was not just the trees, but also the endless clear sky, the calm lake, the wet roads after the rain and the chilly, damp breeze which would try and touch me every time I would step outside as if urging me to play along, but I would simply put a warm shawl over me and then go along with it, as if flowing with the gushing stream of the River Kaveri. With the kind of weather there I craved to eat hot steamed momos like the ones you get in Delhi, but all I could bite my teeth into were nice hot boiled corn, which were fairly good. South needs to add some nice pit- stops on the way to its nearby hill stations with yummylicious cuisines to choose from, this is all that is lacking, the rest work is done by the nature itself, all you got to do is simply get lost in its world and find your true connection, the way I did.

I do wish at times if my life could be as simple as that of the people who are disconnected from the mad world out here, but I do not know if that would be possible, not so now, if I take into account the 21 years of my life ( the way I have spent them). Yet all I can think of is being grateful to my parents who have made their kids travel to places where the connections are made (either with God or with the nature).

( sky at the time of dusk in Ooty)

It is nice to explore,

To know, there is so much more,

To feel the cool air on your face,

As warmth of the sun takes its place,

In your heart and in your mind,

A picture so pure and divine,

Dear God, my thanks to thee,

For the natural wonders I got to see!!

:):) Adios until my next trip:):)

Aakriti

PS: the above pictures are all taken by me, and yeah!! I'm not going anywhere:)

Sun-Rise

The trouble with sunrise is that it comes and it goes and then my dear friend you forget that the sun ever rose because from then on, it’s all about the time it went!
As she flowed by many a twists and taverns, struggling to keep up with the pace of the times, she broke into numerous tributaries, splitting herself into a myriad pieces, like a loaf being dissected by a knife, unable to identify the other piece as its own after a while!

She flew and rustled noisily, with the dry leaves of autumn, waiting to be crushed by the weight of the indecisive time. Don’t say that nature simply lives, for if that was the case, then there wouldn’t be any seasons, or tides or full moons. And Oh! What about the dull white snowy days bringing its own seasonal affective disorder? Ha! And you said “The tree stands still, the leaves grow and die and the flowers blossom and dry”. I turned to you and said:
“When the trees stand still, they talketh of their perseverance
When the leaves grow, they speaketh of their liveliness in their greenness
When they die, they whisper of a silent death, that they always knew of
When the flowers blossom, they celebrate and rejoice, for they burst into mature adults after being buds
And yes, they too dry and fall……
Only to unite with the earth to be born anew!”

Your eyes wide open, couldn’t fathom the lines spoken by me. I smiled a silent smile, for there were a million pieces that couldn’t be brought together to brave a big smile.
She continued to flow, with partial awareness of the world around her and complete insight of her state! The trouble with being conscious of your quandary like existence is that even as you are aware, the answers in no way can be sought to your own whims and fancies. You got to weigh the wait. If only she could take a pause and not flow. But how could she, for flow was her second name. The villagers spoke to the other “ Look at her, so pure and beautiful, as she flows by!” “ Appearances are often deceptive My Lord, she softly replied and flowed by.

On her way she met a thousand thorns, branches which tried choking her, the dust of the lands entered her system, worn out, she tried to cleanse! Just when those moments struck by, the skies hugged her tight and they both shed a million drops, some leading to floods, and some harvesting far off lands. The nights were weary and heavy, the stars silent and bereft of the moon’s warmth, even as it stood by like a rock. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. The Moon, in its absent presence whispered to her“So I wait for you like a lonely  house till you will see me again and live in me. Till then my windows ache.” If only, she could fled far away on hearing him these words say. She flowed and flowed, unoblivious of the questions that broke two hearts and thoughts that ravaged and plundered the beatitude of the night.

Tired and exhausted she found herself near a shore, where the soft sands absorbed her weight. The waves, her blanket, helped her sleep by. Her eyelids, still heavy, woke to answers that she always knew. She reached for a shell, opened, saw a shiny stone which read “I’m still here” and she smiled a teary smile.
The eyes lifted to the horizon far beyond, one that had melted away the anguish and inspired her to meet the sea. Neither a loser nor a winner, for the love that had ignited was to be believed!

The sun that rose , went and didn’t feel like that ‘One’
But, the blessing with sunrise is that it goes and it comes!


P.S: The lines in Red are by Pablo Neruda

Gift-ed

And I asked Santa for

A gift that would delight me

He blessed you to me

P.S: I just love the pictures:) Pls don't think otherwise:) Merry Xmas and  A Great New Year 2014 dear Vanilla People

Love Aakriti

And Letters has it always been..not the one's from A-Z

Dear Love,

How time flies, right? It’s funny how some people view the intensity of a relationship with the number of years you have spent with your beloved. I ask, what has number of days or months to do with it? Perhaps, they don’t know, and rightly so, of every single hour we would take out from our schedules to simply see each other, talk or share that happiness that enwrapped us when we were together; of the longing of meeting after one month or two weeks even as we stayed in the same city; of the despair that left the heart morose for it could not reach out to the other, when they  needed us the most; of the drive that smothered us alive and burnt us into ashes, even as we breathed our empty breaths, to meet, not to talk, but simply be, in space, in love and in that moment. Perhaps, they also don’t know of the weight of the wait, a phrase which became a usual rhyme, only to fill the heart till the brim, till it rained at the other shore. And what of the words that were exchanged and the letters that were written, they know not how preciously we have edged them like jewels found in this lifetime, till death do us apart. And they know not that no matter how many times the same words are spoken and said to the beloved, every single time, they bring a smile, and soothe this heart, which yearns for more and more and more……….

Words, at times, forget how precious they can be, how truly greatful can someone be as s/he reads them at the other end. I still find myself wondering upon the definition of love or the fact if it’s an emotion at all for it is felt like lungs breathing air, it’s just there!

Today, as this another wonderful year comes to a close, I shall not thank you, knowing that you don’t particularly like it, yet I shall repeat myself, for I know how blessed am I to have befriended you, known you every single day and fallen more in love with, even as we had our share of disagreements. Isn’t it enchanting, how love can teach us to continue to love each other even as the other acts in ways which we would completely detest? Most importantly, I’m blessed to have you for all the optimism you have always showered at this shore, on days, when arid winter winds would break the bones; for being a believer of discussions and talks, and for you simply being that super awesome ‘you’….

For all that and more

Yours Forever

Sometimes....

Sometimes you want to be called by someone else. That someone who has been an acquaintance, whom you met as an acquaintance, but they looked out for you, at you, perhaps upto you for something you were totally unaware of.

Sometimes you having written as many words filled with emotions and thoughts want that someone else to let you know whether you have grown with age or withered with time.

Sometimes you want the whistling of leaves to go a little further ahead and form a swirl only to enwrap you into a warm hug so as to evade the winter breeze that burns till your bones.

Sometimes you yearn to go back home, that home where you have always lived, not because you only miss your room and that room misses your presence but because there are your loved ones whom you miss seeing every single day of your life away from them.

Sometimes you let the tears flow even as they,in their watery texture,speak a million stories of the pain that lies deep inside your heart, that which makes you human, at the same time a sensitive being.

Sometimes you wish an angel to appear from nowhere and save you from all that you are going through only to make life simpler and better.

Sometimes you want a dear friend to hear your sorrow with not a spoken word exchanged and call you just because she was missing you.

Sometimes you wish to scream out loud into the valley and tell Mother Nature how hard life is, even as you cry silent tears in your bed.

Sometimes you wish you are punished for the wrong you did for your conscience has got tired of looking after your ‘rights’ and ‘wrongs’.

Sometimes, more than often, all you want is to be wrapped into a hug where everything is taken care of itself.period.