Just Imagine....

A pleasant summer morning. You are out in the sea in a small,little boat. The current is gentle, but quite enough to push the boat at just the right pace. The boat drifts on its own without any assistance from you. With clear blues skies above you, and the shimmering waters beneath you and all around you, life takes on a new meaning. The sea themes with a variety of living creatures which just seem like a parody of colours to the beholder. There is a gentle breeze that rustles your hair and young waves lap against the boat making a soothing sound. In the midst of all this, one is sure to feel the very presence of the Almighty- the Creator,the Saviour!!

A few leagues away from you lies an island, which at the very first glance, looks like a paradise on earth. As the boat is pulled by the currents, all you need to do is to prevent it from knocking itself on rocks and to direct it to the relatively still waters which could only be a creek that leads you to a bay on the island. A natural harbour provides the perfect place for the boat to be moored. The island looks very inviting up close.

Guarded by the oceans and uninhabited by men, the island is a picture of 'Land Before Man'!! On three sides, the shores slope to the sea; where as the fourth side of the island is a steep,bare-faced cliff. The sandy beaches are strewn with rocks. A variety of fowls sing their daily songs to their own tunes. A little ahead is a sparsely vegetated grassland of sorts with gentle slopes, which gives way to rolling meadows that are lush green. Up ahead loom dense woods. The woods are made up of strange trees that have tall canopies and are laden with fruits of all kinds. The flowers are fragrant and in colours yet unknown to man. The undergrowth is sparse and mostly of the creeper type. The ground is covered by a natural carpet of dry, yellow leaves. Hares and rabbits leap around all over the place, and an extremely curious squirrel runs right upto your feet. A lonely bird pipes up a lovely tune - a perfect welcome to a beautiful place, which is immediately followed by other winged inhabitants of the woods showcasing their compositions.

The sweet-smelling fruit trees cover quite some ground, before they suddenly come to a end and open up into another expanse of grass, where wild deer graze in herds. The tinkling sound of water provide music to the, otherwise silent, grassland. This is the very inland river which flows into the sea and forms a natural harbour towards the front of the island. The water is crystal clear and silky soft to touch. A few scattered trees near the river provide the shade and comfort needed to rest tired feet. Gazing ahead,one can spot high,densely-wooded mountains across the river. It is very likely that one of these mountains must have a very steep face which forms the fourth side of the island. This, and much more is left to you to explore and savour. Happy exploring...Let your imagination fly !!!

Lord of the Rings Vs Harry Potter - The Similarities!!!

Writing best sellers isn't an easy task. At the same time, writing good books without being influenced by the ideas of excellents authors, whose works we have relished since childhood must be really difficult. Well, I've no experience ! But I, being an ardent fan of the LOTR triology and the HP series, felt it was really easy to spot plenty of similarities between the two near-epic books.

Harry Potter, who is the hero of the HP series is thrown into limelight at an early age through no great achievement of his, except of course the fact that he survived the Death Curse spoken by Voldemort himself. This is not unlike Frodo Baggins, the main character of the LOTR triology, who finds himself the unwilling opponent of the Dark Lord, Sauron, just because he happened to inherit Sauron's powerful Ring from Bilbo Baggins. Also notable is the fact that both Sauron and Voldemort were referred to as the Dark Lord and not by their names. And ofcourse, both Harry and Frodo had strong non-parental connections in Sirius Black and Bilbo Baggins respectively. None can leave out the powerful wizened old wizard Dumbledore of HP, who could be counted as a clone of LOTR's Gandalf the Grey!

The heros of both the books have annoying relatives, presented to us as the Dursleys in HP and the Sackville-Bagginses in LOTR. The house-elf Dobby of HP plays a more likeable creature who speaks in the third person in comparison to the sly but pitiable creature, Gollum of LOTR. A bit of youth and mischief is added to both the stories by the playful pairs Fred & George Weasley and Merry & Pippin in HP and LOTR respectively. The dog named 'Fang' makes an appearance in both the books; so do giant spiders- Aragog in HP and Shelob in LOTR. Wormtongue plays the traitor in LOTR while Wormtail takes over the baton in HP. Infact, the dementors of HP could easily be mistaken as a more modern version of the Ring Wraiths of LOTR !!

What with Sauron placing a part of his soul in the ring and Voldemort chosing a horcrux for the same, the Mirror of Galadriel and Dumbledore's Pensieve, winged steeds, and many more, it wasn't surprising to note that both the Dark Lords' downfall was because they failed to understand natural human sentiments like 'love'!! The list of similarities would seem a bit too long. Well, its quite understandable. May be its just the same as us resembling our ancestors in many ways. But both the books were just simply smashing! As we can expect no further releases from Tolkien, there is only one thing left to do and that is to wait for the next Rowling book !!!

The Residential Placement Training ...

Staying with friends is always fun. I'm perfectly sure that there would be none who would make a fuss about having to stay with friends for a fortnight. But how is one to react when the college organises a Residential Placement Training Programme ?? Towards the close of my third year in college I was expected to attend the very same. Mind you, when i say expected then I mean expected, because the training was compulsary. Not surprisingly, our reaction was "Oh hell !! Why should we ?? ". And of course, our hatred for the strict disciplinarians increased manifold and we were at our rebellious best during that one fortnight !

Inspite of all this and more, I carry fond memories of the training as I got even closer to my friends during that period. The 8 a.m to 5 p.m schedule was definitely tiring, but we still had the night for ourselves. I shall never forget those study hours in the hostel when we did nothing but yap, those fabulous anthakshari sessions where everyone sang out of tune, the days when we had plenty to eat because somebody's parents just paid them a visit and also those days when we had only one option open - wait for dinner time, the lovely surprise party on my birthday ( lucky me !!), the late-night washing sessions, the missing-the-alarm routine which we religiously followed every morning, and so much more!

Though many of us did enjoy the training programme, none of us ever confessed it to our teachers. I, personally, was never keen on hearing the age-old dialogue " I told you that it was for your own good. See, you liked it after all ! ". Somehow that dialogue drives me to be more obstinate and rebellious than ever !

Younger Sisters

Seven years of being an only child never made me feel lonely. Atleast, I've no such recollections. Even today I wonder how things would have been if I had remained the sole child of my loving parents. Oh! I'm sure life would have been just as colourful as it always is. Colourful yes, but lost to me would be life's radiance, vibrance and a delectable freshness that is endowed on one who has a younger sibling. I shall always relish the memories of my sister as a baby ( a very heavy one at that !!). But the best fun was when she learned to walk and talk, and more importantly slap, kick and scream. Who says daughters are quiet little dolls ??!!

My sister's bold, naughty and laid back nature keeps my parents busy with her. And I'm grateful to her for that because that makes it easier for me to get away with many of my so-called silent mischiefs!! If it hadn't been for my sister I wouldn't probably have known what it is like to be pushed off my bed, shut inside a cupboard or for that matter to have my white shoes polished with black shoe polish on Sports' Day. For the record, these are just normal, day-to-day occurences.

I can't think of any other soul who would so willingly accept me as a tutor for all subjects! Perhaps, God sent her to me to enable me to sharpen my tongue as well as hone my skills, be it studies or games !! But the best part is yet to be mentioned. My sister is my most loyal admirer and friend, and I hers. There isn't a single sorrow or happiness that I haven't shared with her. Being sisters means that we not only share our room, wardrobe and books, but also our fears, tears and laughs. We have been together through the ups and downs of life. It just makes me swell with pride when she claims that I'm more approachable than my parents. The love, the affection, the fights, the games we play, the extra-chocolate-hidden-and-eaten-at-midnight, the 'I'm the elder one, so U obey ME' tantrums, and a long list of many other things spice up life, making it so fun-filled and pleasurable!! Who would have guessed that a tightly-wrapped little bundle (as I saw her first) would one day grow up to be what she is to me today ??!!!

Random Thoughts on Life ....

Its a busy world today. Its a very busy world today. Infact, its a very very busy world today !! People are busy studying, people are busy earning, people are busy improving themselves professionally, and people are busy earning more. Ever wondered what they do with the money they earn? Well, they buy houses that are just the right size to show their status, they send their children to better schools so that they in turn can earn better, they buy all kinds of electronic gadgets whether they do need them or not and the list goes on....And of course, everybody is happy!!!

But then don't ever assume that this rat race has resulted in people forgetting their culture,religion or values. Everything is still in existence and meticulously followed. Its just that our culture is slightly westernized, but all the same its still there. You don't suppose we can work through out the year do you???!! A Holi celebration is always welcome to provide one with the much required holiday. Religion is larger than life now. I'm not kidding!! How else do you think politicians would amass votes?!! And of course, family values and moral values are at their best now. Just see the amount of respect children have for their parents. Most of them would never ever hurt their parents by disobeying them. Well, at least they don't let their parents know that they have been disobeyed. Come on!! Thats so thoughtful of them !! And of course we love everybody!! Pssstttt...Hope you don't know anything about the bomb blasts or the Kashmir issue. That's just media hype you know!! Media always pokes its nose everywhere...

Gosh!! God must be really happy to see mankind thriving !! People are becoming more intelligent and better informed. Now you wouldn't expect all the parliamentarians to understand stuff like the nuclear deal, would you ??!! Their job is just to vote for or against the govt!! Are you thinking about the remainder of the actual deal that came to light a couple of days back??!! The whole thing was supposed to leak out before the vote of confidence, but I guess the people concerned din't know its importance!! And then of course,how can I leave out our very own Mamta. I'm pretty sure Mamta knows what is best for the people of Singur !! She is the only person who cares for farmers. Who wants the Tatas or the Infosys people??? Isn't farming supposed to be one of the main occupations of ancient India??? See here, we don't let go of our traditions !! Well, no one can blame Mamta for being reluctant to sit for a talk with the Tatas, she just forgot her dialogues !!! It does happen in dramas, doesn' it ??!!! That is Indian politics for you!! I wonder how terrorists managed to beat our netas at the learning game!! But here is the consolation, the police aren't far behind. Ahh!! Things do get interesting in life....

Life is not just that, there is much more entertainment available. Its just that most people don't have the time to sit back and enjoy life. They are too busy earning !! If just politicians can provide so much entertainment, then imagine the amount bloopers that would be committed by the so-called-so-and-so people of the world !! I sincerely wish people would stop working 24x7, stop worrying and start living. And I suppose it wouldn't do much harm to set right certain things that have gone terribly, awfully wrong either !! After all, wouldn't it be better to lead a life of happiness than one filled with wealth and loads of miseries and crimes !!

The Cute Little Kid!!

It was a pleasant train journey from Bangalore to Chennai, or was it from Chennai to Bangalore?! I remember nothing of the journey, but then, I have vivid recollections of the cute little kid down the compartment. He was with his parents and his elder sister. He would have been just another kid to me, if it hadn't been for the fact that he took a sudden fascination for my mobile phone!!

It so happened that I was busy reading my novel, and I was so absorbed in it that I failed to register a tiny little creature looking at me with great interest. Suddenly I realized that my mobile was being whisked away from the safety of my lap by a pair of small chubby hands! This, and my co-passengers' sudden laugh of appreciation, brought me back from the world of fiction to the world of reality. When I looked up from my book, I was half blinded by something that was flashy yellow!! And there was this little kid clad in this yellow dress gleefully holding my mobile. My heart sank. I was not going to run up and down the coach, after a cheeky little kid who had the nerve to nick a stranger's mobile. To prevent that kind of disaster I immediately caught hold of the kid and yanked my cell phone out of his hands. Then to my enormous surprise, the kid started laughing merrily!!

Accustomed as I was to the antics that kids adopt in order to get what they want, I expected the child to cry and make itself an absolute nuisance. And so, I was taken aback by the kid's response. This made me take a second look at him. Only then did I notice things that were far more appealing than his flashy yellow dress. A pair of deep black almond-shaped eyes were twinkling at me through soft pretty curls of black hair that fell all over his face. His smiling pink lips revealed at set of pearly milk teeth. The look of innocence on the kid's face is still etched in my memory. Oh how proud God must be of this creation of His !!

I couldn't resist taking the kid in my arms and playing with him. He most readily allowed me to cuddle and pet him. This was an unexpected experience in an otherwise eventless train journey. My novel lay forgotten as I happily watched the kid run up and down the aisle. He was a source of entertainment in its purest form. After two hours of endless jumping around, finally his little legs demanded rest. His mother took him onto her lap and the kid slowly fell asleep. I spent the remainder of my journey staring at my novel and thinking about the kid. Days, months and weeks have passed since then, but the time that I spent playing with that kid is still fresh in my memory. I now think of him as 'the cute little kid in a pretty yellow dress' !!!

The Beginning !!

Here goes my first blog (accompanied by the beat of drums..lol) !! Though I'm a late starter, my idea is to take full advantage of this space to unleash my views,opinions and what not!! Its good to finally enter the world of blogging !! Yippeee!!