The Tiny Flower

Bloom! Oh tiny flower. Bloom with all your might.
You were meant to be that beautiful flower; let them not make you think otherwise.
Don't give up the fight;
Be open; Be light.

There will be times when the wind will be too strong;
and you might think you won't make it!
Believe that you can and that you will.
You have color to spread, fragrance to share.

And as you continue to be that beautiful flower you were destined to become,
other tiny flowers will be inspired by you.
They will grow up to be colorful;
They will cheer sad hearts up.

And through your life's journey, you might come across a butterfly,
who will become your friend;
who will share with you his story of flying;
of going to distant lands;
and you will narrate to him your story of blooming through days dark and bright.

And thus shall start the story of the Tiny Flower and Butterfly..

The Dog Speaks

Hi Human Beings. I’m Spark. A German shepherd. I’m black, gray and brown in color. And I have white paws. I know..that is a little uncommon. But yes, that’s me. Spark. Hi again!

I stay at Bow Bow Colony, along with my master Joe.

My life is nice and quite peaceful. Actually these days its great! A new family has shifted to the house opposite to mine. ‘Sunshine’ is a part of this family.  She is a white Pomeranian, with silky fur. She would be apt for the ‘Ruf Ruf Bow Wow’ Shampoo ad. She moved in to the opposite apartment last month.  A musical bark, a graceful tail wag.  Everything about her is beautiful! She isn’t like the others.  There is something different and unique about her.  Ok…I admit it. I’m in love.  I love Sunshine.  I wish to start a family with her some day.  She is tiny compared to me. Yes I know that.  But how does that matter when it comes to matters of the heart. 

Oh so now you are laughing.?! You find my recent confession very amusing I guess.  You must be thinking..a dog is speaking about love! Like.. Seriously?! But you know what? Never mind! Why try to explain something that doesn't have any explanation according to you.

So how does a typical day in my life start? Well, the birds on the tree outside my house chirp, sing, shout; whatever it is you human beings say they do to communicate with the world. This does get quite loud and it does the job of my alarm clock.   I then shout out a 'Good morning' to let the world (and especially Joe) know that I am awake.  The 'Good Morning' is conveyed in my language; not in yours. OK so now you must be thinking what does 'Good Morning' sound in my language.  Well.. It's not that complicated. It's just 'Bow Bow' (repeat as many times as you can, and your message shall be conveyed successfully.)  If you want to add a musical touch, then add 'Oooooooo', and the 'Good Morning' becomes musical! After hearing a lot of my 'Good Morning' wishes, Joe takes me out for my morning walk.  This walk is especially important for me. I don't need to go into detail. Am sure you can understand. 

Once  I'm home after the walk,  it's time for breakfast.  Pedigree. Ya lots of it; and milk.  If I had an option,  I would have preferred the good old home made food.  Rice, chicken, soup. But Joe, like most of the other members of your species, is busy. So may be I’ll just have to adjust with Pedigree for the time being.

Its usually during my breakfast time that my sweetheart wakes up and greets the world. My Sunshine. I can then consider that my day has started.  Sunshine likes to wake up late.  You ask me how I know? Oh.. I know a lot about her. She hasn't told me. But I've observed. Ya that’s what happens when you are in love. I am not sure if she has ever noticed me.  I guess she has.  I atleast hope she has. 

Sunshine doesn’t bark much. She is the dreamy kind.  She looks out of her balcony, staring at the milk shop on the road near by.  I don’t know what is so amusing about the shop.  If we ever bark (speak), I will surely ask her this.

Most of my day goes off with me dozing off.  I take a lot of small naps.  Well, what other option do I have?  I do get up to have my mid day snacks.  And oh yes! the annoying loud neighbour below my house wakes me up many times.  The TV is always kept switched on in that house.  It’s like free entertainment for me. But I wish I had less entertainment. I wonder what human beings find so interesting about sitting in front of a box for such a long time, when there is such a beautiful world around for them to see.  May be my dogy brain won’t understand the underlying theory. Let me not attempt to also. 

Ok.  So a little about my dreams.  Hey! There you go...you are laughing again! So you think I don’t have dreams? Well, we all do. Dreams are what keep life going.  Now, you must be thinking about what my dreams are. Some of them..well...I won’t tell you. But yes, there are a few I don’t mind sharing. So here is the list. The Bhow Dream Dairy:

1)    To get a job in the Dog Squad of the Army or the Police. Wow! Now that would be so cool! I wouldn't have a boring life then.  Sunshine would be impressed :)

2)    To visit the best doggy spa in the city.  Don’t think Joe would agree to this one.

3)    To buy the latest branded doggy tee shirt.  The black one looks awesome!

4)    To tell Sunshine how I feel; and hopefully be able to spend the rest of my life with her!  To watch 101 Dalmatians with her; to travel the world with her! to try out new varieties of doggy food with her; to bark with her; to hear her bark; to watch her fall asleep.

So now that i’ve told you about my dreams, I do hope you have stopped laughing at me! 

Oh its evening now. And I hear Joe’s voice! It’s time for my evening walk. So I think that’s it for now.  I hope we continue to have more conversations in future, that would help your species understand me better! And ya.. please tell your people to stop bursting crackers! Its a humble request from the 'Dogy Federation'. I know it’s a little off topic here, but seriously! Our ears are really sensitive.  We hear sounds at twenty times the intensity that you do! So you can imagine what we go through.

Ok people! It was nice talking to you! Time for the 'Bow Bow Walk'. And please pray that I do see Sunshine during my evening walk! :)

[Photo Courtesy: Google as always :-) ]

A Drop in the Ocean…

Its 9 AM;  time to leave for office.  On my way to office I notice the traffic jam on the road. An endlessly long line of cars and buses, with bikes trying to take up whatever little space remains on the road.  The road is filled with people who are in a hurry to reach their offices, attend client calls, start their daily tasks and meet the deadlines. I too am one of them.

I’m rushing towards the goals set for me, just like everyone else.

I’m running along the road to success as defined by society, just like everyone else.

The run seems never ending, day after day, month after month and year after year.  Everyone is running.  Most of them are unaware of the fact that they are running.  Some are running because everyone around them is.  They are scared that they will be left behind if they stop.  Some don’t know where they are going but since they have been told to follow the crowd so they keep moving.  I am not sure under which category I belong.  Does it really matter? After all I am just a drop in the vast and gigantic ocean of people in the world.  But what if this drop wanted to stop and think about which part of the ocean it belonged to.  What was its purpose here on earth? What if there was a bigger plan for its life? What if the Divine was carefully orchestrating the events in this drop’s life?  Well, that is something too deep.  A drop is not supposed to think so much. Most of the other drops would say…”You are insignificant; you are tiny; what purpose can you have? Just be a drop and move on..Follow the other drops”

But I choose to think differently.  May be each one of us has a purpose on this planet.  Some of us are aware of it, some of us are not.  And most of us are somewhere in the middle.  We know we are put here for a reason, but we are not quite sure why.  Our life is like a puzzle.  We have to get it all together and try to solve it based on the clues given to us.

All of us are busy with the duties we have– at work; at home; in life.  But if we take some time daily to just try and solve the bigger puzzle of our life, then eventually we might get to know the meaning of our life.  We might discover our passion and true dreams and the direction in which we should actually be running.  That tiny voice within us, also known as the voice of our heart or soul can also give us important information about our life.  This voice never lies.  It’s subtle, yet powerful.  If we are not able to hear it, it’s probably because we are too busy trying to achieve goals the society set for us.  Sooner or later the guilt of not following our heart will catch up, and drown us. 

Our true purpose might be to be a counsellor and help those in need, or to be a lawyer and fight for the rights of others.  It could be to make a difference in a child’s life, or to inspire the world through music, drama, art and other things.  The list is endless and varied. May be we should all take some time to reflect and get to know what really makes us feel alive.  It might not be possible for us to leave what we are currently doing, but spending some time doing what we feel is our true calling would greatly benefit us and the world we live in. 

What is that one dream because of which you are here? What is your passion?

The answer might be a scary one but at the same time a beautiful one. ‘Scary’ since it might make you realize that everything you had thought was right for you might not make sense anymore; and 'beautiful' because this answer alone will set you free………….

60 Days more………

A few days back as I was traveling home from office, a random thought came to my mind.  What if we all had 60 days left to do all that we wanted to do…how would we spend this time? How would our perception of life change?  What would matter and what would not?  How would we make a difference to the world?

It’s at times like this, when encountered with such thoughts that we should reflect on what we really want to do.

So I decided to create a 60-day-wish-list, and this is it:

1)      To spend more time with my family, and tell them how much I love them.

2)      To travel as much as I can, and see as many places as I can.  To learn the culture of the place I’m visiting, try out the local cuisine and click lot of photographs.

3)      To realize that it’s ok to not be perfect.  No one is good at everything.  Those who appear to be are just faking it.  None of us were created to be perfect, because being perfect is unreal and boring.  It is our imperfection and being able to accept the fact that we are imperfect that makes us truly unique.

4)      To write about what I feel and touch people’s lives with my words.

5)      To visit Singapore and get lost with my friend Rukmani.

6)      To visit a wine-yard, try out the various kinds of wines and see if I can find any difference among them

7)      To sleep at the beach, watch the stars and the moon. To feel the wind through my hair; and to wake up at sun rise; see the first rays of sunlight and hear the sound of the sea gulls in the morning.

8)      To walk along some colorful unknown street aimlessly.

9)      To take a break from work

10)   To listen to someone who wants to talk, without judging them.

11)   To free a bird from a cage and share its joy of being free.

12)   To get angry without feeling guilty about it.

13)   To learn a new language

14)   To fall in love

May be there are many more things that would be added to my list.  All of us have lists….so if I had to ask you to make a list for yourself, what would be included in it?

Piku - The story of Piku-Land :-)

This is the first movie review I am writing.  I am not sure how well it would turn out but then why not give it a try. . I won’t be making this review a spoiler, since there still might be people who haven’t watched the movie. 
So, this weekend I watched Piku, a movie directed by Shoojit Sircar. On watching the trailer, my heart had told me that this would be a nice flick.  My heart wasn’t wrong....

The movie is based on the day to day life of a Bengali family, comprising of the father Bhashkor Banerjee played by Amitabh Bachan and his daughter Piku played by Dipika Padukone. 

The most beautiful thing about this movie is its simplicity, and the way it manages to touch our hearts without any Bollywood Masala, item numbers, etc;  There is no big plot or story as such, but we don't get bored. That is what is refreshing about it.  It’s as real as life!  Juhi Chaturvedi deserves an applause for creating such awesome characters who make us laugh, cry and think, all in the same movie.

The movie has a great sense of humour, but at the same time it isn’t the rude and loud kind.  There are no explicit jokes as such, but laugher comes without much effort.  Every actor in the movie has contributed to making it a success.  The lead characters, the servant, the relatives, the drivers, the doctor, and all the others are just perfect.

The movie depicts the fact that we love our family unconditionally, even though it’s not always perfect.  We can see anger and irritation and love and affection all at the same time in the story.

Apart from the funny side of the movie, the way Shoojit Sircar has brought out the emotion of romance is remarkable.  In real life, you sometimes feel a connection with another person, and you don’t need to verbalize it. It just happens. He has focused on this ‘connection’ between the characters.  Neither of them try hide anything about themselves.  They are both open about how screwed up certain parts of their lives are.  Again, there is no drama, or fancy dialogues in the movie about love. Not once do we hear anything like ‘I love you’, or ‘I miss you’. No sad and over-dramatic background music.  Yet, the love story between the characters of Dipika and Irrfan is cute, innocent and natural. There is a level of understanding that is beautifully portrayed between them. On a personal note, this pair is nice together!

Juhi Chaturvedi and Shoojit Sircar also bring certain deep messages to the audiences.  For example, the fact that it’s important for a girl to not lose her sense of independence and individuality even after her marriage.  Or that love can happen anytime and anywhere with someone totally unexpected. The importance of the parent-child relationship is also depicted well.

For those of us who wouldn’t mind a movie that doesn’t come as a complete Bollywood package, Piku would be a nice watch.  But for those who expect a movie to have dances, villains, loud jokes, over-dramatic emotions, action, and intense dialogues, Piku might not be your kind of thing.  My personal opinion is that it’s worth a watch anyways.

Piku is added to my list of personal favorites after Queen, which tops the list.   These are movies that came, made a tiny difference to my life, touched my heart and left me with a smile!!

New Year Resolutions!!

It’s that time of the year when everybody has made their list of resolutions for the New Year.  I have always loved the concept of making resolutions.  They make me feel motivated and enthusiastic about the New Year.  Every year, I write down my resolutions for the year. Following or not following them is another story which I don’t want to get into in this post.  This year too I have a few points in my mind, but I have not written them down anywhere. 

As I mentally go through the list of resolutions I’ve made (Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with them), a random thought comes to my mind.  What if I had to make a list of resolutions for the advertising companies? Which companies would be included in the list?  What would be the resolutions?  This thought is a new one, and needs some serious reflection.
I realize that deciding whom to add to my list is not as difficult as I had imagined. Most of them are pioneers of ridiculous advertisements.  So here are some of the advertisers I’d wish to consider:

 The Golden Tales - Jewelry Companies
'A Diamond is a girl’s best friend.’ Well, I wonder who created this saying, because I personally find it hilarious! I mean, I agree diamonds are beautiful, and I don’t have any personal grudge against them.  Neither do I have a problem with Gold or any other metal, for that matter.  But calling metals and stones as friends and equating them with relationships seems to be a little ‘over-the-top’.  If I had a problem, could a diamond sit down, listen to me, and offer me a solution?  Certainly not!  We get to see ads which tell us that the number of gold chains a girl owns decides how happy she is, or if you want to find the way to a girl’s heart, gift her a ridiculously huge bracelet or necklace (which she probably would never wear).
These advertisers should make the resolution to not weigh emotions with jewelry.  Jewelry is awesome, and it’s also essential, but at the end of the day, this is what it is – “a Non-living Metallic and Stony Object”! 

The Whitewashers – Fairness Cream Companies
Without much effort, the range of products that comes to my mind now is that of fairness creams.  The advertisers of these products should resolve to make more sane ads. They tell us to buy the product and use it daily, or may be twice or thrice a day.  Application of the cream would make us fair and beautiful/ handsome and land us an awesome job offer, a super cute, loving and caring guy/ girl, a huge fan following, confidence, success and everything we can ever dream of. According to them everything in life is related to our ‘external beauty’. 
Let me mention an example of the insanity. A girl who is rejected by an interview panel, goes to the shop, buys a tube of the fairness cream, uses it and then? Well, weird stuff happens! As she walks down the road, it gets real windy, papers fly off from onlookers’ hands, tunes are in the air (Bollywood movie style), some people fly away due to the beauty wave, and others are just left in a state of shock, with their mouths wide open! “Drama, drama! Lots of it!” On the second visit to the interviewer’ office, she gets her job back. How? Well, I don’t know! May be it’s too windy, and the interviewers don’t realize that her interview was already over.  So making a resolution of creating ‘More Sane Ads’ definitely makes sense, right?

 The Fresh Times - Deodorant Companies
A person is sad and lonely.  He is spotted by a famous celebrity who stops by to ask him what the matter is.  The sad person narrates the story of his life, and the celebrity flashes an ‘all-knowing’ smile, places a deodorant bottle in his hands, and next we see that the person is happy, famous and surrounded by many good looking people who are mesmerized by him. ‘Logic’ would have felt so ignored by all this, that It would have probably gone on a solo trip to the Himalayas! If I had to write a letter to the deodorant ad makers, it would be a tiny one.  “Please resolve to spare us the lameness.”

Tooth Fairies – The Toothpaste makers
Since the time I was a kid, all the doctors who appear in toothpaste ads have looked alike.  A white coat, a serious look on their face (which is sometimes visited by a wide and wise smile), a tube of their favorite tooth paste in one hand and a pen or a stethoscope in the other hand!  May be its time for a resolution to change the look of these doctors, and make the ads a little less boring. Apart from boring ads, we also have hilarious ads where they say that if we use a certain toothpaste, we can bite through sugar cane stems as if we are having Maggi or Top Ramen(for those of us who don’t like Maggi), break walnut shells with our teeth, like eating an Éclair! Well, I would like to tell them, “Please don’t give people such ideas!”, or else there would be such a long queue at the dentist’s clinic that he would be forced to quit his profession!

Corn flakes and Oats Makers
This is the 21^st century and we are all busy running the race, trying to meet our goals, achieve targets, etc.; In the midst of all this, cornflake and oats manufactures try to make us feel that it is cool to be in a hurry all the time, it is awesome to be so busy that we don’t have time to eat a proper meal.  So what is the solution they provide? Corn flakes with zero fat or some such similar product! This is the one power food that will make us look like models and all keep us fit and healthy.  A resolution they should make – Please don’t encourage people to skip their meals.

There are many more companies which might need to make some resolutions to improve their ads.  The  Paan Masala company which portrays a rich businessman who eats some Paan Masala and impresses the clients during a presentation, or the bike company which mistakes a bike to be a stage to perform Indian Classical dance and promotes the idea that buying a bike could help one find girls who don’t have anything better to do in life than dancing on bikes. 

Let’s hope 2015 brings some change to the kind of ads we get to see, and we get to see more meaningful ads ! :-)

Make A Difference

It’s 6 am in the morning.  My alarm starts ringing.  After a brief struggle, I finally wake up at 6:15.  It’s cold. Very cold.  I open my window to get a glimpse of the outside world.  It’s still dark.  The birds are awake though.  They have started chirping to celebrate the arrival of yet another new day.  I hear the voice of a man coming from the streets. He is singing loudly, enjoying the song as he sings.  There is a depth in his voice.  It has the power to touch the heart and soul.  Who is this person? Why is he singing so early in the morning?  Why is he on the streets?  Many questions flood my mind, the answers to which I don’t have.  I know I never will.  But there is one thing I seem to know about him just by hearing his song.  His song is his contribution to the big, dark world.  It is his attempt to make it better, to set a tune free in a place which could swing from extreme noise to deafening silence. 

It’s around 8 am now.  I’m walking towards my bus stop.  It’s quite sunny now and I’m enjoying walking in the sun.  As I walk, I notice that a little away from the place I stay, there are two people planting saplings along the side of the road.  Dressed casually in tracks and tees, they have a few saplings placed near them, and some water.  Instead of complaining about the pollution, global warming, traffic and fumes, they seem content in doing their little part to make the world better and greener.  This is how they contribute to the world.

I’m waiting for my bus now, when I notice an elderly lady across the street.  She is surrounded by many stray dogs, who are looking at her with the anticipation of getting some food.  The lady has a bag in her hand, and I believe it’s filled with food for the animals. As the dogs eat, they also look at her and wag their tail as a token of gratitude to her.  This lady doesn’t make any profit by feeding strays.  No recognition. No monetary benefit.  But that is not everything. Just a small act of kindness for someone who needs it brings joy to the heart, and she appears very joyful.  This is her contribution to the world.

What appeared to be just another morning brought me to witness three small incidents.  It brought with it a message that each of us can make a small change to the world in our own way.  We never know whose life we might change until we give it a try.  A smile.  A hello. A cup of tea.  A listening ear.  A word of advice.  The list is endless.  There are so many things we can do to make the world a little better.

The world is an ocean and we are all drops of the ocean….