Of life and love

I have always wanted to post a post with that title. So, as you might have guessed from the subtle nomenclature, I'm going to talk about life and...more particularly, of love. Not that I want this to turn into a mush-fest, but wherever appropriate I shall be alluding to sugar sweet, corny, cheesy, mushy incidents that have led up to me fighting my inherent laziness and typing this out(Oh, and the fact that i got utterly bored of studying after 1.5 hrs of operations management helped too!).. don't tell me I didn't warn you.

When I was a little girl I once found a scrapbook made by my aunt in which she had pasted newspaper cut outs of "Love is.." by Kim Grove. The small notes left in and around the house by a loving wife for her husband, which had turned into an international comic strip in the 60's. Even at the age of 10, I fell in love with the tattered heart shaped book fashioned out of old cardboard and pages which had turned yellow with age....all because they contained vestiges of everyday declarations of the elusive thing called love.

But now I can't help but wonder...is love a magnificient feeling designed to overwhelm every fibre of your being or is it the small things that make each day just a little more special...?? Is it to be found in the tales of knights and princesses and phenomenal declarations in movie climaxes or is it to be be discovered in our daily lives.. on the way to work...while sitting in the classroom or at the dinner table at night ....??

The world has shifted from the romance of the medieval ages to an age where people measure love with soft toys and diamond jewellery.. but does that stop a hopeless romantic like me from discovering it in the most innoccous places..?? The answer lies in certain observations I made about my friends, family and above all, myself.

So, what according to me, is love ??

Love is....

Waiting breathlessly to see that special someone you haven't seen for days, with a stupid smile on your face that makes you look like an utter imbecile.....

Trying to look good for his sake and making a mess out of your wardrobe because there's nothing good enough to wear...

Walking aimlessly, hand in hand on busy streets on a weekday just to discover a park with a bench under a shady tree made just for the both of you...

Playing rock paper scissors and gloating when you win...

Praying that people hitherto unknown, like you, just because they're part of the "family"...

Being exposed to extreme levels of shoe-shopping and clothes shopping and still tolerating it because of her...

Eating chinese when you really want to have sizzlers because thats her favourite kind of food...

Finishing each other's sentences and smiling smugly at each other- so much so that people around might want to strangle you....

Getting mad over small things and acting up, because the making up is where all the fun is....

Wanting to get the criss-cross book shelf you saw in a movie together....

Making your close friends want to throw up by acting all lovey-dovey....

Pigging out at KFC together & fighting over who gets to eat what...

Laughing out together at the most outrageous of Russell Peter's jokes....

Listening to him go on and on about football and his favourite tennis player even though you'd rather colour your hair blue instead....

Wanting to burn his black t-shirts :P

Sitting in a bookshop side by side..you reading "Life of Audrey Hepburn" and him reading "Soldier", not saying a word to each other but loving the fact that you are there together...

Giving him the last bite of your sandwich/burger/pizza/any other form of food because you are just too full....

Loving the way your hands fit together...

Hating the thought of his going away again....

And my favourite one...from the pages of the original Love is...

"Sunshine after rain..."

Just felt like dropping a line !

Am writing again ! Feels good. Had become kinda rusty. Anyway, as I’m trying to fathom what in Lord’s name is going to be the theme of this post that I’m going to, well, post, I can’t help but think what made me want to write again. I think I’ve always wanted to write. Back when I was all of 10 years old a classmate of mine had told me that she just knew I was going to grow up to be a writer. I believed her. I mean, why wouldn’t I ? She seemed to be very sure about it and I’m sure she had put a lot of thought into it. After all, we shared food every lunch break. That had to stand for something. Anyway, I haven’t been in touch with her for a long time now. And I’m sure she doesn’t even remember about this little incident that has stuck with me over the years. So that brings me back to the original thread of thought, what made put down my thoughts so.
I guess I always wanted to be thought of as a person who manufactures beautiful pieces of prose. But, I’m rambling now. All I want to say is that people ought to keep doing what they love. I'm sure it will give them a safe haven where they can take refuge from life's vagaries. Atleast, that's what it does for me !
Well, enough of thinking of a theme. I'll wait till an epiphany comes. Till then, keep doing what you love to (but, don't wake me up, I'm really sleepy :-) ).And,don't listen to my preaching.

Fare ye well.

Words Of The Bard

Poetry is something inexpicably beautiful. It may be seen in an exchange between two people. In a blossoming flower. In a sunset. Or in some rhyming words written by us human beings. Some might say that poetry is not for everyone. That it is something that one must have prior inclination towards. But, for each one of us, there must be some poem in some language that will touch our hearts and speak to our souls. It is a pity,then, that most of us learn some poetry in school beacuse we have to only to leave those words in some far corner of our memory, remembering them rarely.
Come to think of it, some of the most touching poems are those written by men for the ones they love. I came across such a creation by Robert Burns, named (quite aptly) A Red Rose.

O, my love is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my love is like the melodie,
That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonny lass,
So deep in love am I,
And I will love thee still, my dear,
Till all the seas gang dry.

Till all the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will love the still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run:

And fare thee well, my only love!
And fare thee well, a while!
And I will come again, my love,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

A beautiful poem full of passion where the poet speaks of his love for his lady. I'm sure even today women will appreciate poetry such as this :-)
Or maybe not. I always thought our very own Shakespeare was much ahead of his time. In an era where men were busy comparing their ladies' eyes to the sun and her lips to the red of the rose, he broke the monotony with a sonnet that gladdens my heart. In this sonnet he does away with false comparisons and speaks his mind.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

Not very flattering, is it ? I'm sure the any girl would be furious before she reached the end. But if she were patient enough to reach the last two lines, my bet is that she'll be floored :-)
There are so many other poems that have stayed with me through the years. One of my favourite of course, is Daffodils by William Wordsworth (http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/WordsworthDaffodils.htm). A simple poem about nature, it has always acted as a pick-me-up when I was sad. Or the very energetic, The Charge of the Light Brigade by Lord Tennyson (http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html) . Coming back to romance, we have Lochinvar (http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/Scott.Lochinvar.html) and The Highwayman (http://www.potw.org/archive/potw85.html) . There are so many more that need honourable mention, like The Solitary Reaper by Wordsworth again or the mysterious The Listeners by Walter de la Mare.The famous Stopping by Woods by Frost and Tiger by Blake. Or even the funny Macavity : The Mystery Cat. :-)

So many beautiful pieces of poetry. And so much more to read. What better way to end this post than with the words of Frost

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

In Office

I started this blog when I was at home waiting for my work-life to begin. Now, nearly 2 years later, I return to add something more to it. As it was then, I have nothing else to do right now but wait till I join the B-school which has agreed to let me in much at their own risk. I sit here, in my cubicle, listening to the busy sounds of people working around me, and it makes me feel better that I have decided to put fingers to keyboard again. I plan not to abandon my blog from now on. I plan to write something every couple of days. But, above all I plan not to flake on my own plans :-)

Anyway, I read something interesting today. It's called "The Law Of Two Feet" . It goes something like this


"If at any time you find yourself in any situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet. Go to some other place where you may learn and contribute."

It sounds pretty simple to do but I asked myself, how often do I do it ? It also occurred to me that if I followed this little piece of wisdom I might actually accomplish something. I might go to bed at night feeling good about things I did that day. Its not like i don't know what I would like to do. There are plenty of things that I keep putting off. Like learning to drive (Properly. Without putting the fear of God Almighty in my fellow drivers), or finally reading the books I borrowed from the Library, or contributing my share in the housework which my mum (in dulcet tones, of course) keeps asking me to do.

I know I can't pull off being holier-than-thou. But I can try to be a little more productive. Like posting to this blog more regularly. Like using the time I have to do something I like. So, now that I have broken my cyberspace silence after so long, expect me not to shut up !

I'm keeping my fingers crossed : -)