snapshots.

there are two occasions in life where i do not mind skin show.

1.monsoon:i prefer minimal clothes,i find washing dirt off myself easier than washing them off my clothes. :P

2.Goa:well,lets show the Sun God some respect man!!!.who doesn't want a tan?!?!and no one bothers to ogle at you cause every second person there is clad in the same manner.

well,talking of which i got to indulge in the second type of skin show.yay!!!! i just got back from Goa!!!

well,this was one of the good things that came out of the "indefinite" teacher's strike fighting for their sixth pay commission.

bored of sitting at home,(i have forgotten how to exist like a sloth..sob..sigh..booohoooo),my brother dearest(who is happily sitting at home coz he is the victimized student who has no teacher to rag,err.i mean teach) and myself,we decided to hit the sun and sand land....

though,Goa is like second home to me,as we always take an annual trip there,it still doesn't fail to get me excited.

just some memories of an amazing trip:

1."dad....achcha(mallu for dad),can i..err i mean..can we go to Goa?"

(strategic timing and planning.father busy with some complicated looking work)

"ummm.,hhmmm...what..eh?if you get tickets then go."

whoooooopieeeeeeeeeeee.............

what-the-hell-i-get-a-feeling-i-have-been-setup look on Dad's face.

2.beautiful,achingly romantic and picture perfect twisting lanes of Old Goa on a rainy evening.

3.the bullying but lovable waves at Baga and the beautiful stones washed ashore.

4.the haggling and bargaining for trinkets.

5.the salt water sprayed hair-sexy!!!when wet.

run for the hills,monster!!!when dry.

6.leaving a trail of sand everywhere.

7.awesome lunch at Souzo Lobo's with the rains lashing away at the windows and watching the waves rise scarily but still managing to invoke something so primitive and some long forgotten feelings in you.

by the way,i also celebrated my first birthday away from mumbai last Sunday...watching those waves.

8.the wind and rain lashed Fort Aguada. the top view from where you can see both the Mandovi and the Zuari rivers and the Arabian Sea,grey and mist hidden.

the grey of the mist contrasting vividly with the green sheen of the rain dripping foliage.

9.watching the city lights from atop our hilltop residence and the sea lights farther away and feeling peace descend over your being,coz that sight induces you to believe that everything is still peaceful in this world.

10.the churches of Old Goa which invoke clashing feeling of peace and also an eeriness coz as you walk towards the altar you actually walk on many burial chambers.

11.Mangueshi temple with its beautiful pond and a rugged incarnation of Lord Shiva.

the chandeliers twinkling in the sunlight.

12.Shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and perpetually walking around in Shorts.

13.last but not the least,the awesomely mysterious seashore at night.

if ever,we feel ourselves to be the most important being in the whole wide world,or

antithesis of it...

if ever,we feel lost and insignificant.

just,let your body relax itself to the rhythms and sounds of the wind and waves on the shore at night.

utter peace.

nothing moves me more than the eternal dance of the wind and sea....watching the waves lash and the surf break..against the dark,velveteen sky.

the utter,elemental force of nature makes me feel insignificant,slashes down my ego and the beautiful dance and song of the waves and breeze which relaxes my tense muscles without my knowledge makes me feel like a part of something in nature,not insignificant anymore.

makes me believe in something bigger than us.

gives me a glimpse of God.(higher energy,whatever,you want to call it.)

digging for shells in those sands,marvelling at their perfect symmetry,is like digging and struggling through the tangles of life so that we find the symmetry we crave for in our lives.

well,i guess,enough of philosophy.

i also need to mention this..the Goa State jail is just begging people to become criminals..its amazing location atop a hill overlooking the sea is enough for sea lovers to spend a lifetime term there....

and yea..the booze.....well...........:P

the impromptu vacation ended as soon as it began,and am back in mumbai,waiting for the strike to end.

but,the amazing beauty of the Konkan strip and the beaches of Goa will remain in the annals of my mind,and slowly trickle down into my heart,as it always has and always will.

:)

should i sign off as,

ice-Goamad-ness??

bits and pieces.

two people.a mildly sunny day.out to collect memories.

"bhaisaab,Colaba chalenge?"
"ji,taxi mein bhaitiye"
"Cafe Leopold,pata hain kahaan hain?"
a sad smile.
"kaun bhool sakta hain,madamji?"
two heads turned and stared out of the window on their sides and were lost in morbid thoughts.

"where are the bullet marks?"
two pairs of eyes scanned the Cafe from the table they were sitting on.
"i think you should look behind you."
cracked glass,extinguished lives,cracked lives associated with the extinguished ones.
"and the ceiling and pillars."
neat holes,ugly marks.

"lets do it.i don't want to reach the limit of it.lets do it responsibly."
"yea."
happy grins.
"do you think i have reached that state?"
"no,i don't think so.do you feel a buzz?"
"naaa..eerrr..yeaaa..."
vapours,volatile,swimming in system.

"i don't think you will do it.we only have ugly thoughts,making us feel guilty.but,when we come to the point where we can act on it,we wont,trust me."
"nowadays,am sure i will do it.just to hurt,immensely."
"then i pray to God,you get the chance to do something ugly,so that you realise the standards that you are made of.so that you realise that i am true,and see what i can so clearly see in you. the beauty and perfection that exist so harmoniously in you."

"shopping is sooooo cool!"
"yea..i feel as if i am healing."
giggles,addition to Indian Economy.

"i think i will buy this,what say?"
"that's retirement stuff,no...noo..thats after your first kid goes off to school....noooooo..maternity clothes!!!!"
"aaahhhh..what about this?"
frugal design,minimal fabric.
"how do i put it nicely?...hmmmmm S_E_X_Y?"
"i was thinking more on the lines of.....SL*T*Y"
unladylike laughter.grunts and snorts.

lovely day,amazing shopping,good food and.......
beautiful memories.
homeward bound.
"hey..."giggles...."this day will go down memory lane and top it someday..."
more giggles....
"agreed."

"i think,you should fight for something so true."
"i so wish,i could.somewhere i know,i will."

station.alight.bye.one pair of eyes.
the remaining pair of eyes,looks out through the train window and drowns in past memories.

in this world,populated by a zillion souls,people name each other parents,friends,spouse,siblings,etc.
but there are moments in your life,when you look at the other person and realise that naming that relationship is like trivialising it,it means much more to you than what mere words can capture.
two such souls went about amassing memories that lazy afternoon,two people who still have a bit of idealism left in them,two hearts scared to face what adult life may offer but still excited about a lot of things,two beings who search for passion in everything they do,who are utterly comfortable in each other's presence..can spew even their ugliest thoughts without doubts.
if nothing else in life,i am thankful for experiencing this.
thank you.

(author's note:this may not make too much sense.but it is close to my heart.)

train chronicles-where have all our Olympic stars gone?

a few days back the electric wires between two stations snapped.one of the station was mine.trains were being diverted from one track to another,trains were running two hours late,the platforms and foot over bridges were looking like my wardrobe,albeit,instead of clothes being strewn around,in this case,it was my favourite species-human beings strewn around.

it was as if,people were waiting either for someone to guide them or for some inner voice to tell them what to do.they all looked so lost.
after being hustled around on a platform which would crumble any moment due to the excess weight of people on it,people on the railings on it,people on the benches on it and people on the people on it,i decided i have had enough and made my way back home,feeling really bad for myself that i had to wake up so early for no good reason.a dull drizzle just dampened my senses and spirits even more.
just as i was exiting the platform,i slowed down,like a heroine in a Bollywood flick,i turned around in slow motion and took in the view. i sucked in my breath,the massive amount of heads i could see left me staggered.
if someone terminated our species then and there,it is kind of staggering to think that annihilation of those many number of people will not cause any major difference.

my thought process started from there.
with a resource of population that should actually be other's source of envy and our source of productivity,where did we go wrong?
my mind just took up the case of Olympics.why don't we have the medals we deserve?
i shall enlighten thee,my fellow blog mates and readers.

when i run the marathon to catch my train,manage to hold on to it and get in,there are rare times when i look around and see a few fellow travellers running my race.
there,there go our best runners.running behind trains all their lives!

when i jostle and cram myself into crowded trains and get jabbed in the pit of my stomach with elbows,or clawed by nails or get black eyes(OK..exaggeration ),in between trying to save myself i rue the fact that there go our best candidates for martial arts and wrestling.

when i see fisher women and hawkers balancing their wares over their heads and still managing to hold their own so gracefully in jam packed trains,when i am always falling and tripping clumsily,i feel bad that most of them could have made us proud in balancing events,but are here selling stuff in trains were people cannot even appreciate their art,forget people,they themselves are not aware of it.

well,there you have it,these are my thoughts when i see people jumping over gutters,travelling on top of trains or squeezing their way in and out of compartments.

yes,my friends,all our Olympic stars are chasing trains,in the bid of living mundane lives and making ends meet.
with that melodramatic flourish,i sign out.....as
ice-profound-ness
( because my thoughts are so profound :P)