The Little Important facts

Take a moment off your usual routine life today, and think over - Which have been the most endearing and magical moments of your life?

With this statement, I'm sure there are plenty of thoughts swirling inside your head,so just select any one at random...not unlike selecting one photo from a row of negatives. All different people, at different phases of life. 

Now that the virtual memory is in your hand, think over the moment deeply. What does it hold within its own simple existence, that forces your brain to keep holding on to it, to keep it safely stashed in some corner, and bring it promptly to your notice at the first request? Who are the people who are present in this particular fraction of your life? Mathematically, those moments may form a very small part of your very long existence.. but something happened, and it gained precedence over many other moments. 

Once you start relieving that moment, you will find yourself being transported.. to a totally new place, and yet once upon a time you lived there. Its hard to believe that just some thousand heartbeats ago, you were having this part of life in the present, and not as a part of your past. You were somewhat a different person then, you feel. Is there a connect you see, in the continuous evolution of yourself? The people in that memory - how do you relate to them in the ongoing craziness of every busy day today? Your priorities were different - did you achieve them all? What is it, that tickled you most? Does it still bring a smile? What was the most important activity for the day? Which person(s) did you look forward to seeing and talking to, the most? If these people are still gracing your present, are you grateful for their continuing existence in your life? Do you feel, that somehow in the  bygone days, you were more flexible to opinions and less judgmental? Do you want to get to that carefree mode again? Do you think you've grown up, and yet not achieved in every department of life that there is, the perfect life, that was once envisioned through the long night chats with friends?

Lets shift to the people in the snapshot closely.. but this time, not to the ones that are in focus, but to the ones in the hazy background. How would you react to them, if you were to again live that part of life? Would you be more/less receptive towards them? Or would things remain the same as have been? Probably you were content enough with what you have around you, and hence want the image to remain untarnished. In this case, you can happily look forward to the future. You have no regrets!

But just in case, you feel things should have/could have been a little different, then bingo! You have just realized that things have not gone as expected. And herein lies the wonderful opportunity to reconstruct, and bring a newness to everyday. A reflection from the past will help you build a new you, and bring in changes which you've always wanted. So that, 5 years from now, when you look back, the memory image would be a perfect snap, with just the right amount of tones (read human emotions) -  just like the way you wanted it to be. 

For me, life is a continuous reflection on some of the most treasured memories, which I would never change. And yet, it becomes imperative to change today, and all the coming days, so that I can value my future, just like the cherished, carefully preserved past.

Devils

Black and yellow

corpulent in sight

oh how they swagger around!

filled with might

You wish you could

just swat their pride

reject them on sight,

like they do everyday,and yet,

life doesn't go on without them, so

you carry around a daily hope,

that tomorrow would be "the end"

of this perennial fight!

If only you could throw them some light

that they're not always right

You have nothing in common

yet you still go on

Hoping somehow,

tomorrow will be fine

Maybe one day, 

they'll understand your plight

offer you a ride

without a fight

oh these

yellow and black

Mumbai AUTOS

The First

A journey need not always have a destination.. or have a profound meaning attached to it. A simple outing can turn into an experience of sorts..or as in my case, give material to kickstart a blog.

Before starting on anything, a simple introduction is in demand- the simple ASL - age/sex/location - filling in those blanks would describe me as a 24 yr old girl, living and enjoying her life in India's maximum city Mumbai. High ambitions, high attachment to friends and family, high desire to eat good food ALL the time- high is a word which defines me often- and why should it not, when i'm standing high at 5 feet 7 inches.

Which brings to fore a 4th dimension which I identify with myself - good humour. But if going by how most people react, this was another of my many "poor jokes".

So this was a brief interlude and now the story starts.

I was out celebrating, for no reason, on 15th august. Simple plans, nothing too grand. Land at a mall, a little window shopping, some lightening of pockets at the essential things pending, which i shall strike off my list, and back.

The little trip wasn't bereft of its own woes or jubilations. Rain made its appearance after many days, and for a while I was transported back to the fond days of cruising around in my special vehicle Maruti 800, on the chandigarh roads. Wide roads, green lanes. Chandigarh was truly heaven. In the rains, it looked especially beautiful..

I was jolted back, literally, when the auto ran over a pothole. Suspension isn't very big on Indian autos. Just for the record, the above-mentioned beloved car was sold off for scrap the very same day, having faithfully, loyally and lovingly served its time for over 15 years.

Inorbit, being Inorbit, was full. Specially being India's 64th Independence day, people were out declaring how much financial independence they have in the post Lehman world- and along with that everyone sported miniature indian flags, probably to remind themselves what day is actually today.

The usual scene was on. My first stop is always the bookstore. The demographic distribution is always the same. Post 40 were in majority. In the fiction/non fiction, more so. The relatively younger generation is spread near the magazine section, or the cookbooks, or books more inclined towards self motivation, instant success and so on. The only kids spotted are always near the DVD section... if only everyone could instill in their kids, the joy of reading and getting amazed by your imagination, like my mom did.

Moving on, it was a riot at the food court. A young couple tried hard to placate their bawling 2 yr old with donuts (mad over donuts, yum! I went for one myself) The kid dodged her head left and right to avoid the offering, finally deigned to take a bite. Chubby cheeks, even more stuffed with the donut, the child looked a treat! The donut must've appealed the taste buds of the toddler, because a minute later, she reached out with a pudgy hand for another bite. the couple's smile hid their sigh of relief. Crisis solved!!

Seating spaces overflowing, serpentine lines at food stalls, big garish posters screaming SALE!! or HALF OFF!!, people rushing around with harried looks trying to locate missing shopping bags, or missing leftover change from the previous extravagance, or at the bottom of their worries, a missing family member.

I watched all this from my own cozy space at Ruby Tuesday, (where i'm very much tempted to take an annual membership), a book in one hand and a forkful of tangy pasta in the other.How I wished I had brought my camera along, and this blog could have been punctuated with real people,and their real emotions. 

Malls are a frenzy of activity, a celebration of varied human emotions, their needs and enjoyment. The flavor of this instant, efficient and fast world. I personally love malls - EVERY off day my destination is a mall.

My personal salary drainer? The Mall. The origin of the first blog? The Mall. And the one stop for all cuisines possible? Malls.

Readers shouldn't be stupefied if my next blog might just turn out about food- at the mall. 

This one for those, who always believed my written word is okay enough for everyone to read about.A product of the "Arpita Mishra Left Brain creative division" dishing out the musings and experiences of an uneventful trip. Hope everyone appreciates a first attempt. Special thanks to mom, who pushed in her own style, to take a "next step" in writing; to Chinu, who criticized and edited many of my writings impartially; pop, who always thinks I'm the best; mama and mami, who on FB, as well as recently, encouraged me to write more, Bhola - who's always amazed at how much I can write!, and Shelza who once said to me and Vriti- you girls write so well, you should start a blog or something - and that's when the idea sunk in.

Lots of love