Happy Mothers' Day!

Her hands held me gently from the day I took my first breath.
Her hands helped to guide me as I took my first step.
Her hands held me close when the tears would start to fall.
Her hands were quick to show me that she would take care of it all.

Her hands were there to brush my hair, or straighten a wayward bow.
Her hands were often there to comfort the hurts that didn't always show.
Her hands helped hold the stars in place, and encouraged me to reach.
Her hands would clap and cheer and praise when I captured them at length.

Her hands would also push me, though not down or in harms way.
Her hands would punctuate the words, just do what I say.
Her hands sometimes had to discipline, to help bend this young tree.
Her hands would shape and mold me into all she knew I could be.
Her hands are now twisting with age and years of work,
Her hand now needs my gentle touch to rub away the hurt.
Her hands are more beautiful than anything can be.
Her hands are the reason I am me!

Oh Ma, this world is a beautiful place because you are in it ....

Yeh Hai Meri Kahani....

यह है मेरी कहानी
खामोश ज़िन्दगानी
सन्नाटा कह रह है
क्यों ज़ुल्म सह रह है
एक दास्तां पुरानी
तनहाई कि ज़ुबानी
हर ज़ख़्म खिल रहे है
कुछ मुझ से कह रह है

चुभते कांटे यादों के
दामन से चुनता हूँ
गिरती दीवारों के आँचल मे जिंदा हूँ

बस यह मेरी कहानी
बेनिशान निशानी
एक ड़र बह रह है
कुछ मुझ से कह रह है

चुभते कांटे यादों के
दामन से चुनता हूँ
गिरती दीवारों के आँचल मे जिंदा हूँ

Lyrics : Anwar Maqsood.
Movie : Zinda - 2006

The lyrics above unfurls emotions thats transcedental.
One of the best songs of 2006, good lyrics moulded with good music by Strings. There have been quite a few movies in 2006 with some fantastic music like Bas Ek Pal, Woh Lamhe, Salaam-e-Ishq.
But this song from Zinda makes you close your eyes and whimper...
Listen to this song with medium volume either in your car on a long drive or when you are all alone at home.

If

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;


If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

-Rudyard Kipling

First time I read this peom, I felt like reading it again and then again and again...

I feel that I am antithetical to the theme of the poem above. My dreams (or can say ambitions) master me, I can never treat triumph and disaster the same, I am not intrepid enough to hold my head high when everyone is blaming on me...
May be one day I will!

Where The Mind is Without Fear!!

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow
domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought
and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
- Rabindranath Tagore

If you have had your education in India, you possibly could not have not read this in some English textbook. This is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore from his award winning book 'Gitangili'. Though this is was written when India was fighting for its political independence, it is relevant even today as it was then. Today we seek freedom from corruption, bribery, poverty, unhappiness, fear, greed, restlessness, hatred and freedom from parochialness and dogma.

I want India and its people to be FREE..

Globalism..

Recently, I was reading the Time magazine (May 14, 2007 edition) which published 'The Most Influential People in The World - The Time 100". I immediately started searching for some Indian names and was indeed happy to find three!

Sonia Gandhi - Under Leaders and Revolutionaries.
Indra Nooyi - Under Builders and Titans.
Lakshmi Mittal - Again under Builders and Titans.

But then I started thinking and could not find an answer to my question that crossed my mind. But why did the question even cross my mind? Here's the reason why..

Sonia Gandhi :" The Italian who became India's kingmaker. India is run in all but name by an Italian Catholic widow with a high school education. ThoughSingh is the Prime Minister, it is Sonia, 60, who is the Kingmaker"

Point to be noted : Italian catholic.

Indra Nooyi - CEO PepsiCo: " Nooyi helped position PepsiCo for growth in China, the middle East and her native India. (She is now a US citizen)".

Point to be noted: US citizen.

Lakshmi Mittal - The world's Fifth richest man and CEO of Arcelor Mittal:"Lakshmi Nivas Mittal (born June 15, 1950) is a London-based Indian billionaire industrialist. He is the 5th richest person in the world".

Point to be noted: London-based Indian

Is this globalism....Indians holding higher positions abroad and 'Videshi bahu' as India's kingmaker ??

So said Baba - Prashanthi Nilayam

"Man is going all over the world in search of peace as he is not aware that it is present within himself. He is like a foolish person who searches for his spectacles, while wearing them all the time right over his nose. What is the reason for all the troubles, anxieties and unrest that man is facing today? The reason is that he has forgotten his true Self and is identifying himself with something that he is not. Every man aspires for peace. Is it not a sign of one’s ignorance to look for peace elsewhere when one is himself the embodiment of peace? You are yourself the embodiment of peace. Sarva Rupa Dharam Shantham (Every human form is the very personification of peace). Sarva Nama Dharam Shivam (All names are equally auspicious)."

A new beginning!

I have been thinking of putting my thoughts to pen for quite sometime, rather for more than a year now!! Finally 'The day' has arrived and I am all started now..
I used to maintain a diary and write all my experiences during the day. But somehow after marriage lost that habit. Now through this blogger I hope I can revive my habit of writing a diary and share with you all My Experiences, My Thoughts!