Yeh hain America mere jaan!

Staying in a foreign country has its effects on the thoughts of an average Indian mind. Unknowingly they compare things in the US (Still a Foreign country for me) to things back home (Bombay). It starts with prices… and all of a sudden your mental mathematics expertise shoots up as you keep converting every dollar to rupee, regardless of the the buying power of a dollar. Economics governs everybody’s world unless ofcourse…u were born with a bunch of platinum spoons in your mouth! Hence money comparisons cross every NRI’s mind!

The next BIG comparison is ‘lifestyle’! Life in India is full and practically overflowing with people. The huge population kinda takes the personal space concept out of one’s life…and after living like that for 23 years….having a little too much of space….scares me! At first it’s great….you have the supreme authority and are answerable to no one…but as the initial novelty wears off… one (specifically me) craves for the familiar intrusions and unsolicited advices forced upon you by “well-wishers”. Honestly…lack of these so called well wishers has taken the element of gossip out of my life!

Another thing I compare with the American way is potential vacuum in place of rituals and prayers! Total lack of festivals…except for Christmas which too is a “holiday”! Festivals were a time when all family members and friends came together and gossiped and yelled and cheered together. The excitement is missing and I really, truly miss that!

I miss the seasonal monsoons….. don’t get me wrong. I love the fact that it can rain any part of the year here in the US…however there is no gurantee….atleast this way in Bombay you know if its June-Sept. it will rain! Miss the trips to Khandala to watch the fountains, the fog almost among us! The garam batata wadas…the hot cappa chais! Miss the local trains (thought have a sneaking suspicion that the only reason I miss them is..that I never travelled in rush hours!!) Miss my school days…where there wasn’t a worry in the world…miss the college days full of outings with J! Miss late night movies and visit to aunts place with mum n dad! Miss being ** kgs!! :D

All in all Bombay is where my heart is…and sincerely hope that I return someday to stay there….forever!

Fairy Tales and Magic!

I am a firm believer in fairy tales….Atleast I like to think that I am!

I strongly believe in Cinderella and her prince [guess thats y I love shoes!!! ;) ] I believe in magic and the flying broomstick… n then when I do see a reflection of that reality somewhere in real life….in some tiny part … my heart soars….high above and I suddenly I am flying among the stars!

This illogical belief is what keeps me going….what keeps me strong…may b its faith..may be its hope! I will truly never know…but one thing that i know is….when something happens to prove my belief….my faith…my unrealistic fairy tales….I am filled with pure unadulterated joy ! n….if it means feeling like the world is going to end the rest of the times when the fairy tales do not happen….I am willing to struggle through tough times, just to wait for the ‘happily ever after’ part to come and carry me half the way across the galaxy!

The World of Writing

I love reading….absolutely adore books and the world they transport me to when I read! Being the intense person I am…my mind drifts and I suddenly find myself right in the centre of the story I am reading…Be it the 17^th century China where “lily feet” were considered a sign of beauty (you can only imagine what must have happened next…I am a f00t size 9)… and all of a sudden I start finding my feet abnormally long & close to ugly! I also remember reading master of the game….and believe it or not…since then I have mastered the art of manipulating people , earlier I was this straight forward person who gave people exactly what they deserved ( when I disapproved of them ofcourse) without bothering that I lost some things in that bargain..but when I was reading master of the game…boy did I learn to get my way!!

This is why I believe that writers have some kind of magical…power over me and their other readers…I admired their ability to express themselves. And so it was no surprise that I started attempting amateur writing! That is how I first started. Years ago I had written this piece on the ocean…for people who do not know me…I LOVE the ocean…I can sit and stare at it for hours…seriously…my biggest dream is to have a house on the ocean edge…when I say this…a picture comes to my mind…the house in the movie Sleeping with the enemy….do not get me wrong…I empathized with that woman but hey..I was downright jealous of her…she owned a gorgeous house on the ocean front…and lived with someone who valued neatness…purrrfect!! I think with a little help from our master of the game main lead she could have transformed her husband to a timid docile being too!! Coming back to my topic…as a sixteen year old I wrote this piece on ocean…I had recently read this poem in which the poet had used archaic English…so as you can imagine that write up was full of archaic words…a little too pretentious...but if you chose to ignore that you could have seen thoughts of a teenager who was trying and just learning to express herself with text (without using her cell phone msging)!!

I have yet to attain a particular style of writing…I am experimenting with different styles…and in time will come up with my own unique style..What will be unique about it I do not know…but it sure will have humor…and honesty!! It will always come from my heart which I believe is definitely in the right place!

फैथ फैथ Faith

These days I work from home…which translates to a flexible work day that swivels as per my whims & fancies. My whims include reading books & cooking while my latest fancy is writing! The main reason for this… was that my work had come to a standstill. Initially, in a vain attempt to subdue boredom I did what came naturally to me….watch as many hindi movies as possible. Very soon movie viewing got old and I started losing interest..yet again! That’s when I went I started jotting down some of my random thoughts!

Recently I have got addicted to this soap ELI STONE…its about this guy who is detected with aneurism….he starts seeing things…that are actually not happening… somethings close to hallucinations though not quite….

Apparently he is being shown “the path”…sometimes the future by someone “worldly”! He believes that God is staging these things in his mind so that he can follow the path to help people. It starts with appearance of George Michael on his coffee table singing …”You gotta have FAITH FAITH FAITH”! I think the reason I loved this series…was I always thought God was helping me in his way…for eg. Many times when I am sad and if I happen to turn on the radio…my fav song is playing which makes me feel much better! Another eg. Me calling a friend on a whim and her telling me that she was thinking of me and needed to talk to me…! However tiny these things seem…I truly believed that a larger power was at work to help me through the day…

I had forgotten all about this greater power at work stuff for sometime…untill I watched the first episode of Eli Stone! Now I have again started believing in it….! I think this is true for everyone…some larger power is undoubtedly trying to make this world a better place for us…we just need to slow down and let them help us!