My land..

My agony and ecstasy..the beautiful and ugly.....the greenery and the dirt....the passionate believer and the eternal despondent....my country, my land, my world, my home...

Ouch! the utmost difficult first time away from home in a different country...can be quite a trying time..Without even realizing it I've enjoyed such little things that come as a part of being in India.....The early morning bustle in the streets which meant that milk trucks were on their way while milkmen knocked doors and rang bells...lots of mothers and wives set about cleaning their front porch to decorate it with lovely rangoli....the newspaper delivery guy was hard at work and auto wallahs came to pick up little ones trudging their way with heavy bags...mm...do we ever realize when its happening..what will really make us nostalgic some years hence...I guess thats why the wise ones tell us to live every minute to the fullest...But I am never going to stop missing those unexpected sweets that were sent our way on every engagement, festival, party, wedding, function...I am so grateful for being a part of such a vibrant community and ever so glad about all the yummy food that is its legacy....
And now that I am away from home...I don't love my country inspite of its weaknesses..but love it for all that it is.....

My love my loyalty my passion will remain in my country..

and I will remain proud of it inspite of its weaknesses
but never become defensive when I see its shortcomings
and never fail to appreciate the marvelous accomplishments of its people
but never stop recognizing the scope for improvement
and do everything in my might to create awareness, respect and peace
but never condemn those who create and support bloodshed..cos they're victims as well..
and most of all never stop believing in its strength, beauty and potential..
......and there remains nothing to slight that faith..it will remain...undyingly so...for as long as eternity....

Writer....me?

Life has changed a lot since I last posted in here...though I can be sure of one thing...Atleast 2-3 dozen times I thought about how I could write a post about this passing thought...or that nagging question...one or the other subjects came to my head and of course nothing really came out of it...All of those beautiful thoughts that run through my head, sometimes I wonder how much they're worth..how important is it to capture those in words..put it down on paper..let others read and see where you're coming from...

I guess I'd like to believe that the first reason I need to capture them is for myself...to help me structure those thoughts, to find meaning out of the ramblings, to help me see the progress and maturity I am gaining through the years and give myself that pat on the back :D and then there are other reasons...sharing whats in your head..the pleasure of coming across someone who relates with it in some way..the satisfaction of being recognized and appreciated (c'mon everyone needs that...inspite of that stuff about how you don't need approval if you know for yourself how good you are..I am probably not completely there yet)

Anyway, my return to blogging yet again at this time is to measure my mettle as a writer...I have thought about it a few times of late..thats a little more than the frequency with which the question came to my head a couple of years ago..I just sit back and think of those days when I was in India in my room at the computer table whose chair was kinda uncomfortable...and how I used to think hard and do my best to make the blog post profound, the article meaningful and the movie review witty...and some of those things came naturally to me while others I worked on improving...but the one common thing was the the way my heart swelled when I looked at the finished piece..(oops that's called MTI, literal translation from one's mother tongue - the 'heart swelled' part)...

Back to my question, I still can't seem to get over that eternal question about what I am meant to do, or what it is that I feel so passionately about that I'd probably do for years even without getting paid for it..and one of the only few things that come really close is writing....which is why I am back here on MY space on the net...it feels good :)