Songs Aaj Kal

Life is a medley of different phases. And these days I am enjoying being a student again. Gone are the days, when I was privileged enough to travel by company shuttles. Now days, traveling to college require me to travel by public transport. Everyday, I travel with so many people, and don’t know a single one of them. Reminds me of the gazal by Jagjit Singh, “Har taraf Adami, beshumar adami…”. So, I generally take radio’s refuge to make the travel interesting. And the wonderful part of it is, every now and then, some song comes up which have some memories woven to it or some song which I simply like. When a song like “ Yeh dooriyan..” starts playing, I somehow feel the pain of being away from people you love so much. One song that simply amazes me is “Tune jo naa kaha…Khamakha…”. It is supposedly a sad song, but then why most of the people I know, like it. Is it like deep down, we can relate to it, for some reasons, we do not even want to explain ourselves.

The other day, a gazal from Umrao Jaan, “Zindagi jab bhi teri” came up. And I got reminded of college days. A dear friend of mine, liked this song for some special reason and could not get it. And one day, it started playing on Vivid Bharti and I recorded it for her. Then there is one song “Mora Saayian mose bole naa” about which me and a friend had long discussion over lunch. So, when this song came up, the first thing that came to my mind, was the urge to call my friend. They always say, you should move ahead in life. But what about all the good things you had to leave behind in this so-called process of moving ahead.

Life!

For past seven years, most of the times, I have been traveling alone. Whenever I travel, I feel, life is stagnant and all I can do is enjoy it for a while. These times are more like some moments stolen from so-called busy life. Travelling provides an opportunity to think, without any interruption. As if I have got an opportunity to assess my life.
And once, during these “thinking-Spree”, I was debating on an idea. How should one lead His/Her life? What is the best out of two- To live it according to your loved ones or to lead your life like a vagabound cloud according to your own whims and fancies?
Most of the people, I met support the first option. And arguments in favour of are like, If you live life according to your loved ones’ wishes, you will not be alone. But then, what do we mean by “being lonely”. And here I am not asking for the literal meaning. Well, there have been times, when I was physically alone, but I was happy. I was not feeling lonely. But then there have been times, when I was surrounded by people, but there was not a single a person, with whom I can share what I am feeling. I believe at that time I was lonely, even in the crowd. So, what one gets, by living life for his/her loved ones happiness and giving up one’s own wishes in process. Don’t we live in illusion of SACRFISING our lives for people we love. I believe it is better to live our live according to our wishes and being happy. Because, I learnt one important lesson from life, if you do hundred favours for anyone but refuse for one task, then all those hundred deeds will be washed away by that one denial. Here, when I say, that one should live life according to one’s wishes, it doesn’t means, I am preaching to shy away from our responsibilities. Anyways, All your views are welcomed :)

Customs, wastoms...Hai Rabba!

[Disclaimer: This post is not meant to hurt anybody’s religious beliefs or practices. I am just echoing out my personal belief on various religious practices and customs.]

For past few months, I have been observing that people follow so many customs. And they will also tell you that there is a reason behind following them. The reason can be as simple as “If you don’t follow this, all your good deeds will be in vain (You will loose all the “punya” you have gathered)”, “If you don’t follow this, you will go to hell after death (As if I care!), “If you don’t follow this, you will reborn as cat/dog”.
Now all the while I have been thinking, that here I am not certain what next moment has for me, so how can I plan about my so-called-life-after-death or so-called-rebirth. All I learnt through 25 years of my life is that one should pray with a pure heart. So, I have never been a follower of customs and all. I believe God is there everywhere and I don’t think that will not accept flowers or sweets, if I offer them with left hand. If God is Almighty and knows everything, then, why will he listen my prayers only in form of Sanskrit slokahs and why will he not pay heeds to them, if I feel like praying in my mother tongue.
Now, some of you may feel of which era she is talking about. But believe me; this happens in today’s world and that too in the upper-middle-class or middle-class families.
There might be others who might brand me as maverick, go ahead. But, I will always be, what I am. I may listen to people out of respect, but my basic beliefs will always remain intact.

I Am Back!!

So, before everyone thought that silence acted as a phoenix and is born again, I am here , to kill silence.
Yes, I have been silent for quite long and observing so many things, just dying to blog about them. But I must tell you the process of changing surname require lots of time and energy. Yes, I was away from blogsphere as I was busy preparing for my marriage, then getting married and after that, post-marriage socializing. But during all this time, I realized that getting marriage is really a hectic task. I guess, I will take up the details in another post.(Hope, some of u will be interested in reading it ;)) But we can broadly divide the whole preparation in four broad categories(Ya, I always believe in documentation and bulleting, now, I can be a manager...). So here are they:

1. Shopping and shopping and lots and lots of shopping
2. Packing and packing and lots of packing
3. Two days of all the ceremonies and lots of fashions show
4. Post-Marriage socializing (Implies lots of lunches, teas and dinners)

All this time, I see myself transforming from a vagabond independent I-Know-What-To-Do kind of female to a docile I-Don't-Know-What-To-Do Daughter-in-law.
Anyways, enjoy life, however different it is from mine.... And yes, Happy Valentine's Day to all :)

Me, simply Me...

I am comfortable with you, if I am comfortable in your silence as well.
I am friends with you, if I don’t have to think before talking to you.
I like you, if I respect your opinion even though they are different from mine.
I care for you, if I am concerned when you are feeling Oh-not-so-Good or Oh-how-Good.
I love you, if I can tell what exactly I hate about you.

Interesting Tag!

Soorya tagged me! But before going ahead, I must say, in fact type, that this was such an interesting tag. It was actually fun :) So, here goes another tag...

Rules:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?

Sheetal

2. What is your favorite food? Right now?

Chilly Paneer

3. What high school did you go to?

Holy Cross Higher Secondary School

4. What is your favorite color?

Lavender

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

John Abraham(So Cute!)

6. Favorite drink?

Cafe Mocha(I love the bitter-sweet taste of it)

7. Dream vacation?

Dharamshala

8. Favorite dessert?

Pastry with Ice-cream

9. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Myself!

10. What do you love most in life?

My family

11. One Word to describe you.

Smiling (people say that!)

12. Your flickr name.

I don't have any!

If you like it, take up the tag...It will be fun...

My first Tag!

So, as the title says, this is my first tag.Thanks to Supernove :) And here I go…..

8 Things I’m passionate about:
My Family (I love them and take all important decsions in life, thinking about them. Not that, I am Oh-So-Good-Girl, but because they love me so much :))
Friends ( I am simply blessed to have wonderful friends.)
Love
Reading
Cooking (It is a real stress buster for me)
Talking (I can talk endlessly, one of my cousin says, if I call her then, for a 15 mins call, I talk for 13 mins and the poor girl, just says yes or no for the rest two mins ;))
Sleeping
Movies (I love watching movies, discussing movies, reading novels and then watching movies based on them…)

8 Things I want to do before I die:
Spend a night at a beach and stay till sunrise.
Visit Uttarkhand, Dharamshala and Back waters in Kerala
Enjoy few days in a wooden house in Darjeeling and stay there not like a tourist, but as a resident.
Be able to dance gracefully.(I am a pathetic dancer and friends are sweet enough to put it in a better way, "U dance like a 4 yr old kid, who doesn’t know, where her next step will land”.)
Do a post graduation in something related to art and fashion and take up a profession that allows me to do something creative.
Just stay at my home, doing nothing at all, enjoying every meal, talking as much as possible, and no routine, no responsibilities.
To write and get a book published.( God knows, if anyone will read them, but I seriously want to write one. In fact, I even tried writing one, when I was 13 yr old and instead of novel, it just turned out to be a mediocre short story.)
Learn weaving and pottery making. (Oh, these are two things, I want to learn...really!)

8 Things I say often:
Hey Baghwan!
Nahi.
Sahi hain.
Actually.( My younger cousin made me realize this, when she was copying me and said actually. She was just 3 yrs old that time and coming from her, “Actually” sounded so sweet)
Aisa kya.
Aacha.
Kuch bhi, haan.
Aapna dhyaan rakhana.

8 Books I last read:
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Wonderful!)
Bomaby Rains, Bomaby Girls by Anirban Bose
Chip of the old blockhead by Rupa Gulab (Another Chick lit ;))
Gently fall, Bakula by Sudha Murthy (Simple, yet lovely narration)
Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger (I didn’t like it)
Three Mistakes of my Life by Chetan Bhagat
Joker in the pack by Neeraj Pahlajani and Ritesh Sharma
Ancient Promises by Jayasree Mishra(I liked this one a lot, in fact I re-read it.)

8 songs I could listen to over and over again:
Mere pyaar ki umar ho…(Waaris)
Raat ka shauk hain…(Guru)
Aaoge jab tum Saajan…(Jab we met)
Pyaar ke liye chaar pal…(Dil Kya kare)
Bade acche lagte hain…(Balika Vadhu)
Pal pal dil ke paas…(Blackmail)
Humne dekhi hain un aankhon ki mehatkti…(Anand)
Hoothon se choo lo tum…(Prem geet)

8 bloggers who should do this tag:
Nikesh
Soorya
Ratheesh
If you are reading my blog for first time.
If you are reading my blog for second time.
If you are reading my blog for third time.
If you are reading my blog for fourth time.
If you are reading my blog for fifth time.
(Couldn’t help it!)