The little inspirations.

Sigh! Unfortunately almost all my recent posts start with me cribbing about not writing regularly enough. And here I am doing the same yet again! Well, I miss that about myself, whatever be the reason! Busy lives, blocked mind or just sheer laziness! I have been slagging a lot, and it must stop! Better sooner than later!

Just the other day had got me thinking! Had a deja-vu kind of situation. Got off from an auto just outside my gate, when some didi of my society boarded the same auto! The only difference here, the didi who I had come across a few years back, had said a few words to me before she got in. Well, what she said had made my day, and remembering it still does! She had said, 'Read your blog, you write beautifully!'.

Well, don't wish to brag here, but used to get complimented back then, when people didn't have as easy an access as is today. Still, I had a few dedicated readers, and a tiny number of fans maybe! And maybe not even for the fans, maybe I should write again, for myself! I'm not poetic, but maybe writing as me, would bring me back the me who gets lost in this fast life of ours!

And after thinking all about it, just when I was sharpening my head to come up with something, I got a second dose of inspiration, one of my students told me after a conversation, that she has read my blog! Well, it was a good feeling! To be such an irregular blogger, yet being read. And again that little conversation kicked in me a little bit of inspiration!

It's just wonderful how people can rekindle something, which was kind of losing it's light! Lucky to have such people and readers in my life! I know I've said this a million times, but I'm going to write regularly. This is indeed what I wish to resolve right now! Well who wants to wait till the new year's eve!?, Right!

Let's just hope that I'm always reminded of these little inspirations.... 

Monsoon trek to Sarasgarh!!!

As the monsoon sets in all I can think about is wandering the Sahyadris, meeting new people and having fulfilling weekends. In order to have one such fruitful weekend I attended a monsoon trek to Sarasgarh organized by YHAI Kandivali on the 28th and 29th of June 2014. Sarasgarh is one of the twin fort located in Raigarh district of Maharashtra, Pali being its base village. It is identified by its four pinnacles and hence was mainly a watch tower to keep an eye on the area around.

At 10.30pm on 28th the group departed from Borivali, picking up members along the way. As the bus left Mumbai and Navi-Mumbai and zoomed towards Pali, thereby reaching the destination at around 2am. We were supposed to rest and catch up on whatever sleep we can for an energetic morning! But, anticipation and excitement caught the better of me and I could hardly catch upon 40 winks. Nevertheless I was energetic and enthusiastic the following morning.

After a wakeup call at 5am, we freshened up and few visited the Pali Ganpati Temple in the village itself, which is a very well known pilgrimage. After a sumptuous breakfast of ‘pohe’ and tea at a local vendor, we huddled up and formed a circle, where we were given instructions and every member gave their own brief introduction which acted as an ice-breaker for all the people gathered.

Once the introductions were done and a small talk was initiated, we started to move towards the hill. Initially covering up a long road, we walked and then slipped into an almost negligible path which led into the woods, accompanied by three village dogs. We started moving upwards, climbing, walking in the morning sunlight with talks and laugh along the way. We were consumed by greenery by our sides and beautiful flowers too.

We kept on moving simultaneously consuming a lot of water, as the humidity caught the better of us and we had to make up for the water lost due to perspiration. Nevertheless, we continued to walk, eventually taking a break on a small plateau like flat along the way. Where we rested, took a few selfies and groupies and after feeling refreshed moved on towards the top smiling and patiently waiting for us!

With another stop along the flat patches which became a great avenue for photographers again feeling newly energized we started moving, that is when we saw a cloud of fog moving fast and covering the mountain, the whole view somehow was so tempting that the gang wasn’t just walking but sprinting in the upward direction.

Once most of the hill was climbed, suddenly the smiling uphill changed to a steeper smirk. But that smirk didn’t dampen the spirit of YHAI-ites, instead we moved ahead feeling even more determined to reach the top. After one such rocky patch, we reached the ledge of the mountain where along the corner there were long steep never-ending steps. There was also a cave and a water tank at the base of the steps.

After a few more photo-sessions, we set off along the steps marveling the workers who carved them out of stone and also people who used the steps daily. As the steps ended, we reached the entrance doorway of the fort! Feeling at peace we moved further and further climbed a set of few more steps, covering even more difficult steep patches of rocky terrain. We reached the highest point! \

The humidity might have drained away water from our bodies as well as from our sources. But, it felt amazing to have finally reached the top.

We gathered near the temple and sat for having our much-awaited packed lunch. After a lot of food and fun sharing, when finally our stomachs and our hearts were full, we relaxed simply cradelled up in nature and conversations which gave us back all the energy that was spent in the climb up!

We were then given up a lot of information of the fort history, along with a view to the other of the twin forts, Sudhagarh as well as a view of the ‘Tail- Baila’ which was used as an office in those days. Finally full of food, energy, conversations and information, we started our walk downward. But, not before we patted our own backs for reaching the top a little before the stipulated time! Well done gang!

We finally started moving back towards gravity. That is when the difficulty arose, because the steep difficult patches seemed to mock even more, especially to those who were afraid of heights. But the troop leaders, just warded off the demons and made the whole journey downwards seem like a cakewalk. The water resources had dried up till then, and so the walk downward was rushed as the sun was up and high and was sponging away whatever water our body tried holding back.

With dry throats, but with a determined heart we moved further and further till we reached the base village, where the locals supplied us with a lot of drinking water without hesitation, even if they have to undergo a lot of efforts obtaining it!

We also had lemon juice from the local vendors once we were on the streets again, which brought a smile sprinkled with refreshment along with every sip. I enjoyed every sip looking at the mountain, which seemed to wink at me, appreciating the efforts and conveying his regards for a lovely company!

The happily ever afters!

Just a month back came to know about the 'conscious uncoupling' of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow! I had not just received a shock but a feeling of doom had filled my heart! 

Am I over exaggerating! No, being a die hard Coldplay and a Chris Martin fan, I always believed that what they both share in that decade long companionship is what I would want in life! 'The happily ever after'.

And the news made me think..do they actually exist!? Fairy tales have them right! But isn't 'fairy tale' just two fictional words put together! How can they be or mean anything real! 

Then why do we listen to all these? Why are we made to read them! Don't you think we would be better off without them? 

All these questions made me think that is when i settled on the answer. No! We need them, to learn early in life with good there is also a bit of bad in the world. How we should make the right choices in life! But in all this we misinterpret the end... 'The happily ever after'. It doesn't mean that now after a certain event life is only going to be happy and all sorrows have ended. But it means, that life is a journey and even if the story ends it would go on. And as it goes on, we should always be optimistic that whatever the turn of events that occur in the process, we are going to be happy! 

So happily every afters are not just a happy ending! They mean a happy and a hopeful journey! That journey we call LIFE! :)

Of TV Shows and Me!

Let me first confess that I'm a Television-holic. I can't be termed as a couch potato. As consistency bores me very easily. So I can't just sit there lazy and still like a potato for long. But, nonetheless I love watching television. I love to watch sitcoms, television series, cartoons, travel and food shows, knowledge and science shows, music shows. It's great to catch some classic movies, and at times if you tread lightly along the 'soap' channels, you might come across something interesting on those when soaps are on a break :D :P
Among the list, movies are top fav, but they are enjoyed better at different platforms. So the next in line are sitcoms and tv-series. I can watch them once, I can watch the reruns! Never getting tired of them. Of course I've a long list of my favs, fav charfacters, fav quotes, fav soundtracks, etc!

But, when i say, 'tv shows n me' I mean to talk about the effect they have on me. Effect, as in I know they are just meant for entertainment, Blah Blah! But yeah, in my case what I watch has some kind of effect on me. And I guess many would agree to that! And that effect differs from person to person!
I'm a hopeless romantic and have always been, so for me, it's the relationships, the hook-ups, the break ups the simplicity and the complications that make me want to watch them, especially the re-runs.
While I watch there are always characters I relate to, may or may not be the protagonist! Out of the options I make my choices, and hope that the character would go for that too (don't forget I believe we think d same)! But, a show being a show keeps the whole chemistry hanging seasons over seasons! Never really settling into a happily ever after, keeping always the door open for a world of dreams and hopes to be built by the audience, namely someone like me :P

If you really think of it, the situations are not even remotely similar to what you experience and still.....! At times, you love whatever is going on, at times it sucks how conveniently a certain potential candidate is given a gray shade so that we instantly hate that character! And the protagonists gets the happily ever afters!
In all this turmoil, we become engrossed and the end is what affects us at an even more different level. Of course after all these years of hanging emotions, you want the character to do what you would've! But when that doesn't happen! It disappoints you to the very core! Making you Blog and talk about it excessively how it could've ended done better! But in the end, we are reminded that it was just a story and was going to end the way it was written all along! Well that's what reality is all about right?

Your request timed out!

Well.... to begin with! I'm kind of ashamed with myself. Of course for the only reason that I did not stick to whatever I said in my earlier post!
Just before I signed in to put down my thoughts. I thought I should not completely overlook that my blog had a dry spell when I'd promised heavy rainfall!

Anyways, many thoughts for a new post popping up! Don't know if I would blog excessively this night, like I used to as a teenager! (Not that it was excessive enough :/ ) But surely, planning to increase my posts in the long run not just by the number, but also the frequency!
Wish me luck :)

......Downloading.......

            Finally after ages I open up my blog! What for?....to post of course!! To post wha??....well I'm not sure.
My fingers linger over the keyboard.....thinking, rather processing....thoughts to words...thoughts to words.... I glance at the time displayed in the corner of the screen....hmm.... not enough to put down all these thoughts!
            I move my hand over the mouse, see what my last post was, a poem talking about how uninspired I felt! But today, it's not the case, rather I feel totally inspired, ready to put down my thoughts in more than a million words. Might be because of the changes in life, positive, negative, all kind!
                  But as I said, not enough time! Will come back with nice interesting posts, Hopefully! Till then, wait till it's downloading.... ;)

Where can I find my ......Inspiration!!!

Inspiration,

Here, there, everywhere...

I've looked,

But it's nowhere!!

I'm looking within,

staring at the mirror...

But,

The spark has lost somewhere!!

I wish,

I could get it back...

Feel the rush,

When I'm on track!!

That,

Stupendous flow of words...

Emptying,

My heart in one go!!!

I wish,

I could write a cute prose...

Or,

A long poetry expressing my woes!! ;)

But,

All of this has lost somewhere..

Not really knowing,

If I got anything to share!!