Fear and Future

Often we are attracted towards some people.
We hesitate to approach them, our mind is unclear.
‘Initiating a talk’, can’t this process be a little more simple?
Of course it can! All you’ve got to do is overcome this fear.

There will be hard times, life can’t always be merry.
At times there’ll be hugs like in ‘Winnie the pooh’
At times there will be fights as in ‘Tom and Jerry’
You can’t enjoy a cake, if you constantly think of that stolen cherry.
When you overthink about the future, you’ll surely find it blurry.

Be frank, be confident and express what you feel.
Be in the now, be true, I ensure that you’ll enjoy every meal.

You smile I smile

A farmer is not known for how fertile or big his land is.
He is known for the quality of his crops.
A tailor is not known for what type of cloth he has to work with.
He is known for the beautiful dress that he makes out of it.
A carpenter is not known for the type of wood which he uses.
He is known for his comfortable furniture and fittings.
A musician is not known for the instruments which he plays.
He is known for the music that he creates out of it.
A painter is not known for the types of colors which he uses.
He is known for the serene picture that he paints on his canvas.

So my friends, what do you want yourself to be known for?
You may enter into someone’s life at different phases.
It doesn’t matter if it was formal or informal.
It doesn’t matter if it was day or night.
It doesn’t matter if it was in person or in a group.
It doesn’t matter if it was planned or accidental.
It doesn’t matter whether you were happy or sad.
It doesn’t matter whether they were happy or sad.
But one thing which matters is…
No matter how much we want them or like them.
We can’t keep everyone in our life forever.

There’ll be times when some of them may leave us,
If they’ve decided to leave, they’ll leave.
you may hard to keep them in your life,
you may accept all their conditions,
you may give them excuses when there are none,
But one day, you’ll be exhausted,
you won’t be able to take it anymore.
So why to take all these efforts?
Whenever someone wants to leave,
Do as they say, let them go,
Say good bye with a hug and a smile.
As they may forget everything that you did,
every word that you said or every gift that you gave,
But they’ll never forget how good
and how comfortable you made them feel.

Thepla

Samosa is incomplete without chatni(sauce).
Pizza is incomplete without cheese.
Pav Bhaji is incomplete without butter.
Jeera-rice is incomplete without dal fry.
Manchow soup is incomplete without fried noodles.
Dabeli is incomplete without masala peanuts.
Fafda is incomplete without Jalebi.
Idli is incomplete without sambhar.
Medu vada is incomplete without rassam.
Vada pav is incomplete without sukha(dry) chatni.
French fries are incomplete without ketchup.
Khichdi is incomplete without chaas(butter-milk).
Gulab jamun is incomplete without chasni.
A Cup of tea is incomplete without sugar.
Summers are incomplete without nimbu pani(lemonade).
Winters are incomplete without hot chocolate.

No there won’t be anything romantic here now.
I won’t write,”I am incomplete without you“.
All these food are so yummy and tasty
But if even one thing is missing you’ll not get that feel.
So be aatmanirbhar (self dependent) just like a Thepla
This dish is not dependent on anything
You can have it with multiple things,
Chatni
Sauce(ketchup)
Chai(tea)
athana(pickle)
dahi(curd)
chundo
salad
sabji(curry)
even if there’s nothing among these available,
you can always eat it as it is,
still it tastes delicious.
So be like a Thepla,
Do not depend upon anyone for anything,
Earn yourself, take care of your own health, cook yourself
Learn through your own experiences
and never ever forget to love yourself.

A Comb

From the time of your first breath, outside your mother’s womb.
Till the time you take your last one and your body’s buried in a tomb.
You’ll always need to set your hair, with the help of a comb.

Base of this comb is a shaft
made up of two thick ends,
which holds rows of teeth having different sizes,
some of them are sturdy while some may just bend.

Combs come in different sizes, some are small while some are big
They consist of rows of teeth, some are so thin while some a bit thick.
The thick ones are to untangle and to take proper care,
While the thin ones are to clean up and to style your hair.

The comb’s structure represents the journey of our life,
Birth and Death being the two ends of this shaft.
The teeth being your friends, foes, family and wife
Thick and thin rows, just like two sided paddles, used to run a raft.

Whenever it feels like things aren’t working out,
Your heart emits just judgments and doubts
Be like those rows whose teeth are thick,
Do it in time before the problem gets big,
Stay away from people, give yourself some space,
Or you may feel low and that reflects on your face.

Whenever things are OK, but you want to improve,
Feel the Euphoria, you want to dance, you want to groove.
Remember those rows whose teeth are so thin,
Come close to your friends, it’s always a win-win
Be kind, be generous and initiate the talk,
Not just trips and brunches, but even those small walks.
Stay close to good people, as they design your lifestyle.
They expect nothing from you, always greet them with a smile.

Each and every one that you meet is like a teeth of this comb,
Using those thick rows,
untangle those hypocrites who create burden,
And by using those thin rows,
style and mold your life by coming close to Influencers.

When to be silent and When to speak!

Today, I chose to remain silent.
Today, I feel so happy to lose.
Today, I just want to adore your smile.
Trusting and accepting everything that you say,
after-all…. there’s no reason to doubt or refuse.

I prefer to be silent as I don’t like fights.
Tears rolling down the cheeks and those sleepless nights.
You turned out a demon pushing me deep into darkness,
All I tried was to be your savior, helping you shine like that loyal light.
Damn, I can’t be silent anymore, I need to break my silence
And speak up as I know what’s happening is not right.

Maybe our friendship may never take this flight.
Maybe I’ll never be able to hug you so tight.
Maybe it’s the last time we meet tonight.
Maybe we’ll never be in the center of spotlight.
Maybe no more pictures in your IG highlights.
But the truth shall remain, no matter how hard you try to gaslight.
And my love, I’ll always try to speak up in time,
as I pray for you and your future to be bright.

LUDO

In this quarantine, it’s difficult to meet people interact with them and to have fun together. But who are we? Human beings. We are renowned to find a solution for every problem. This being just the half truth, we are also renowned to create a problem out of nothing too.

So how do most of the people overcome this problem, mostly by playing an online game Ludo. A few months back who would have thought that this game will be the main source of having fun together. The last generation of kids who would have played real Ludo board game must have been from the 90s, I was one of them too.

So how exactly do we play Ludo, it’s a game where 4 people come together to see who is first to reach the destination i.e. our home. The four common colors being Red, Green, Yellow, Blue. Each of these belong to individual players, apart from which everyone has 4 tokens at their base. These tokens have to complete an entire round across the board and finally reach home. How do we proceed then, how do the tokens move? They move with the help of a dice roll. If we get a 6, we can remove 1 token out of our base and further we can move it further based on the numbers we get on our dice roll. Finally the one who is first to take all his tokens to their destination wins the game. But wait, we are humans, we don’t play such simple games.

Apart from this there is a rule which states that you can kill the token of other players, how do we kill, by getting the exact no. so that our token lands at a place where our opponents token already exists. There are some places too on the board where tokens can not be killed. So that’s it about the game Ludo but don’t you think we’ve made out lives like a game of Ludo as well?

Everyone in their life has 4 tokens named, Career, Family, Friends and Self. Everyone is on a journey with these four tokens and trying hard to reach their perceived destinations. This Ludo of life is not just restricted to 4 color/people, all of us play it together as in life we meet people who show us colors we’ve never even imagined before. Just like Ludo at some point our tokens are killed and at some other point we kill someone’s tokens to move further towards our destination. But this destination that we are trying so hard to reach, does it even exist? All of us can lead simple lives by having no expectations, no demands, no jealousy, no hatred but we bring all these things in and make our simple lives so complex.

Play Ludo, have fun with friends but remember don’t make your life a game of Ludo, try to keep it as simple as you can because in life you’ve to reach no destination, you just have to enjoy the serenity and simplicity of this beautiful journey.

Every Red Watermelon ain’t that sweet

At our homes, mostly it’s our moms who go to the market to buy all our daily necessities and groceries. Even in this lock-down period, groceries are still a necessity. We at-least need food to survive, it is the most basic need. All other luxury cravings like fast-foods, clubbing, travelling, partying, get-together, brunches, theater, etc. can be kept aside for a while.

The most difficult task is often assigned to the strongest person in the group. The same is the case at our home. The toughest person in our family (group) is none other than my Mom. In this lock-down, the most difficult task if any is to keep a foot out of our doors. This task is assigned to my Mom. Although we do not allow her to go out everyday, she steps out of the house once in a week but with full precaution and keeping in mind all the safety measures to stay away from this virus.

Yesterday, her eyes fell on a watermelon seller, in summers, what else is more satisfying and relaxing than a fresh plate of watermelon dices. She approached the seller, they bargained a little but there was no other option available and considering the other careless customers who seem to have forgotten each and every guideline of social distancing, my mom agreed to pay a bit extra and quickly came out of that place.

It was 10 p.m., the time when my mom gets a little breather after completing all her household chores. She just sat down on the sofa and I pleaded, “Mumma, Karingo Mor ne ” (which means, ‘Mom, please serve me dices of watermelon). We children are so lucky to have such a beautiful person in our life, our Mom. She instantly went to the kitchen and gave me plate full of watermelon dices. The look of that plate, cherished me up, my entire body was fully energized and my hands were tempting to grab dices of that juicy watermelon and chug them all at once with my bare hands. I quickly took a dice and I put it in my mouth, just to feel a real shock.

That Bright Red Velvety textured juicy watermelon literally had zero taste, saying, “it’s a little less sweet” would be a crime. It missed it’s entire essence i.e. taste and sweetness. So I had a thought, same thing applies to our friends, family and all other people that we meet. Just like we judge a watermelon by its color, we judge them by what they wear, how to look, their body-shape, their hair-style, etc. Trust me in this, I am no different in this, I do the same mistake a lot. We are often attracted towards people who look good, who wear good clothes and who speak in a sweet way. In the end we find out that this guy or this girl is not what she looks like, you fight a lot after some time and in the end you realize there was nothing much that you liked about him/her other than their physical appearance.

So is there a way to get out of this loop? Yes. In case of a watermelon, what we can do is before buying one, we can always ask the vendor to cut a piece out of it and try it, so that we are satisfied with the taste. In the same way, we should not just get attracted by people’s physical appearances, to know who they truly are, we must try to give them time, to know them, to know about their qualities, to know about their behavior, to know about their priorities. Giving them time is just like tasting a watermelon, we’ll get to know about their real sweetness.

Opinions

Often times in life, we come across situations
where we have to make a choice, a difficult one.
Our mind gets confused, it’s this state of dilemma
where picking one from many is so cumbersome.

We try our best, we give it all that we can
we do analysis and comparison,
we see every aspect, we do a detailed scan
Ugh! It’s better to be in a prison.

If we’re unsure, we ask for opinions,
from experienced and beloved ones,
some of them help us take correct actions,
While others just give even more options..

But these are not the only sources of opinions,
we get them every day, everywhere and for everything,
Relatives who don’t know our likes and dislikes,
will suggest us what careers we need to pursue..
Those so called friends, we just met a while ago,
will judge us on our looks, ”you should try something new.”
People who don’t know a thing about our relationships,
say, “you’re almost 30, marry soon”, like who are you?

No matter how difficult are the conditions
No matter how bad you need to get out of this trouble,
Opinions are just guidelines, not the base for your decisions,
Even if you go wrong, to yourself you must always stay humble..
For people to have and give opinions has become a tradition,
They think they are being smart, but in fact they are being horrible.
Don’t ask for much opinions, or it’ll become your addiction,
Trust your instinct and everything will be clear and visible.

It’s okay to make mistakes

It’s okay to make mistakes
After-all we are just normal human beings
Some things go right, some things go wrong
Sometimes we care less, sometimes we are a bit mean.

It’s okay to make mistakes
By doing so, we learn a lot
No one does it knowingly, they’re often unintentional
We may not identify it on the spot.

It’s okay to make mistakes
But its consequences you can not neglect
Health, Wealth and a whole lot’s at stake
But do not worry as no one is perfect.

It’s okay to make mistakes
But once made, the right thing is to accept
The more you delay, the worse it’ll get
Ensure you’re not too late, or you’ll lose someone’s respect

It’s okay to make mistakes
Accept it within time and problems will minimize
To look in their eyes won’t be easy,
Take a few deep breaths.. and Apologize.

It’s okay to make mistakes
But hiding them is a big crime
You’ll hurt others, you’ll lose their trust
Your relations may get sour like a lime
Be strong, face the truth and accept your mistakes
Doing so will lead you towards better times.

We’ll see better days

This one is specially for my family members, for people from my society and community

To face this difficult and burdensome situation, let’s move towards unity.
After all, togetherness has always been the strength of our Kutchi Bramhakshatriya community.

Some of our families are in Kutch, while others here in Mumbai City.
Major earning source being furniture work, for all those I feel pity.

Some do jobs, some have their businesses,
But in this pandemic, everyone’s in a mess.
Everyone is worried, mind is full of stress,
Overthinking When will this end? leading to sickness,
When will I buy my daughter a new dress,
My son’s not feeling good, he’s jobless,
Gyms are shut down, I’ve lost my fitness,
When will a stranger stop his car, and ask me for someone’s address,
When would our teachers again call us shameless,
Those cheesy acts in front of our crush, just to impress,
The feel of catching that running train, words just can’t express…
And the commentary,”Rohit’s pulled that for a 6 here at wankhede, it’s MI’s fortress.”
Keep you spirits high and trust the process.
Don’t lose faith, there will be progess.
We are kutchi after all, invincible and fearless,
Every male is a hero, every female is a princess,
We’ll stay in touch and eliminate each others weakness,
We’ll again arrange picnics where fun will be limitless,
We’ll have that cricket tournament, where our attitude is merciless,
We’ll again arrange for community meetings and complain,”food is tasteless“
We’ll have garba and dandiya again and take blessings from our goddess,
Our good deeds never go fruitless,
Be calm till then, practice kindness,
Our life will soon be smooth and flawless.
Coronavirus will end soon, we will see better days..