The One

It took me a long time to believe in "The One". Always thought it was a by product of American consumerism. I mean a culture which believes in 1 god instead of 33 million has a lot to imagine, right?

But then obviously there is something in a theory which has the entire world eating into it, despite the loopholes. The face, the body and sometimes the entity of one changes completely depending on the level of Old Monk in your blood stream. The One has as many manifestations as there are Hindu Gods. 

So, how could poor hapless me not succumb to the rigmarole of being on the hunt for "The One". Trust me, it wasn't easy. There were a lot of contenders. From the absolute greek god winner of gladrags, to the bohemian long haired advertising one, to the lean mean fighting machine of the forces. 

But with age comes wisdom and it took me all of my priorities to realise that I am as shallow as the girl next door and my "The One" will not have some revolutionary ideals. 

My ‘The One’ will follow the standard movie criteria. He will be the one who completes my sentences. The one who understands what is going on inside my head. The one who knows what I like & dislike. The one who will always make time for me. The one who is happy with my satisfaction. The one who forgave me and took me back even after I cheated on him. The one who is so secure of his craft that he knows that I will always come back. And I did. And I am happier because of it.

The ultimate relationship of a girl is with her hair stylist and yes Shahbaz you are the one.

Trust me ladeez and lads, this is one prize catch and one shouldn't let him go for absolutely anything. I am more than happy to share him with the whole world. You can find him here Hairplay with Shahbaaz

Jumping on the little yellow cloud

Every time the cloud touches me and melts against my skin, it leaves a tiny glittering film. And it feels so cool. Each drop of water is absorbed and thousand small glittering droplets rush in to fill the chasm.

And what is that loud thumping noise? And that whooshing sound? Where is that coming from? Need to investigate. But first, let me feel this cloud against my skin a bit longer. It’s not exactly like a snowflake, but so much lighter.  

I turn to look at you, see the joy in your eyes and nod. And I grip your hands a little harder. I can feel the blood rushing through your veins. It’s hot. And fast. The thumping noise is louder now.

The clouds below our feet have now completely melted away. We are dangling our feet over …nothing. Then the lumps of clouds on our sides also give away and we fall. Fly. Into nothingness.

I turn to look at you, into your eyes and see joy. Perhaps it mirrors mine. We land onto something soft. And immediately I feel the cool melting cloud on my skin. I look up and see a doughnut shaped cloud above us. The hole through which we fell so tiny, that I wonder how insignificant we are. I want to reach up and touch the tuft of cloud, feel it against my fingers. But I don’t want to let go of your hand. I don’t want you to fall away from me. I want us to fall together. I want to see the joy in your eyes as we fall. Fly. Into nothingness.

And that’s when you pull me towards you. So that we are facing each other. Looking at each other. Holding hands. The whooshing sound is now less but the thumping has settled into a steady pattern. I realize that it’s our heartbeats, complimenting one thump after the other. For some reason, it feels reassuring and I close my eyes. And instantly, I feel a myriad of sensations that is so powerful that I open my eyes as soon as I close them. The cool melting of clouds, the hot rush of the blood on your hands, the slow thump of our hearts all combine to give a heady rush no chemical can ever produce. Each cell of my body is tuned into yours. The mitochondria, nucleus and Golgi apparatus trying to spill out of the cell membrane and merge with yours. Never has biology been so sexed up.

I muster up the courage to close my eyes again. To feel the sensations that so overwhelm me. And they rush in as expected and I feel my hands losing their grip over yours. And I feel you slipping away. I don’t want to let you go. We were supposed to fall through the clouds together. But I can’t do anything. I can’t open my eyes. I am overpowered by these sensations. I want to open my eyes. I want to be overpowered by these sensations. I want to hold your hand. I want to feel the cloud melt against my bare hands. I want to feel the rush of your hot blood against my skin.

I want to fall through the clouds. That little yellow cloud. With you. 

What is Love?

Poets, Writers, filmmakers, the good for nothing guy next door to the hot co-worker in the shortest skirts have been asking this question to themselves, to God and to anybody who gives a damn.
During vella days I have also done my share of pondering over it and spent endless productive hours debating about it with various friends, colleagues, drinking buddies, bosses, family members, strangers, cute guys at random places, irritating people at even random places to no logical conclusion.
Yes it is a controversial topic and it changes from person to person, region to region, culture to culture, situation to situation, young to old, drunk to sober, you get the drift? And I’m sure that what we thought as love when we were toddlers and what we know now, transitioning through phases of kids, teenage, youth, etc the meaning as also evolved and transitioned from a mothers soothing look, to a fathers pat on the shoulder, to teachers smile, to a friends high five, to bosses handshake, etc.
Many a times, in-between these various gestures we somehow end up all confused and lost and forget the basic thing of love, of sharing of affection till suddenly somebody somehow sneaks in that gesture which leaves you wondering if you really know anything about it or if you are still fumbling your way through.
You can’t describe it your friends, you can’t explain it … it’s not creepy, not shy, not confused, not sexual, not un-sexual, not hurried....but very comforting, very friendly, very soothing, very reciprocative… something which gets a smile to your face even when you think about it.
And on World Aid’s Day I guess I have to thank Vaspy for adding that smile. No co-relation though.

The number 9

Ever realized that we are in Kalyug which is the 9th era of civilization, or that there are 9 celestial bodies in Indian Astrology or that Navratri is festival which lasts for 9 days, or that there are 36 chromosomes in an individual which when divided by 9 yields 4 which in turn is the different stages of one’s life as defined by the Manu Smriti.

Apparently the number 9 is quite the mystery number in Indian mythology but not only so… it has equal claim to fame in Chinese (The Chinese Netherworld supposedly has nine rivers in a nine-headed dragon. Also, ancient Chinese believed that the sky consisted of nine parts, the earth had nine separate countries, and each of those countries had nine mountain ranges), Greek (there were 9 muses, responsible for creation of the arts by way of inspiration. They were the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods), Egyptian (the Ennead was a group of nine gods and goddesses. Before passing onto the afterlife, a person had to be judged as worthy by the Ennead) mythology to name a few.

This mystery number plays an equal amount of significance in mathematics as well… it is the last digit before the start of double-digit numbers. This feature is the reason the number nine has certain unique mathematical properties, such as the digits of every multiple of 9 adding up to 9 or another multiple thereof. For e.g – 2x9 = 18…1+8=9; 3x9=27…2+7=9.

In the Natyashastra, there are 9 bhavas or emotions Love, Mirth, Pity, Anger or Wrath, Heroism, Terror or Fear, Astonishment or Surprise, Tranquility or Peace and Disgust collectively called as the Navras.

Seeing the importance of this heavenly number, I tried my best to fit it into my life….so here goes some possible (read lame) connections
1. When I was 9 years old, something important happened that changed my entire life….maybe …just couldn’t think of any dramatic event…it was too long ago…

2. When I turned 18 (1+8=9), I got my driver’s license and voters ID…as did other 18 year olds…hmmm

3. I have 9 close friends (if I don’t count the rest 11)

4. I worked for an organization called tv 9!!

5. I can prepare chicken in 9 different ways (really I can…lemon chicken, pepper chicken, chicken pot roast with red wine, chicken chilly, garlic chicken, ginger chicken, goan chicken curry, chicken do pyaza and chicken butter masala)

6. I stand tall at 5 feet 9 inches (if my heels are 5 inches)

7. It’s been 9 years since I have stayed on my own.

8. My first big purchase out of my own hard earned money was a watch for dad which cost me Rs. 3,600…the numbers adds up to 9!

9. Ok last try….A chance remark by a friend who was just explaining how I have managed to build walls around me and that it becomes extremely difficult for anyone interested in me to get to know me. He further elucidated that one has to unlock 8 doors to get to the 9th and last door and only then would I really be relaxed and comfortable. Please note, not 5 not 15 not 10 but 9 doors!

Even though I probably need regular psychiatric treatment or possibly the Chinese torture for subjecting a fellow human being to such rambling of the mind….but I think the last or the 9th point does make some sense.

Can I expect 9 comments???

Ape No More

Darwin has cracked his brains to answer questions about evolution....many have believed in it and equal number of people have rubbished this theory. Many theories, books and movies later, it is still a viable topic of discussion... we all want to know where we come from and where we will go.

But why?? Why is it so important to know about our origins...so that we can right the wrongs or is it just plain curiosity... or is it to live in a delusion of immortality?

According to some civilizations, all matter is made up of energy which vibrates at a certain frequency. Now there is a universal being (I refrain from using the word GOD here) which vibrates at a certain frequency also. This universal being (found across all microspheres and ecosystems) attracts similar frequencies towards itself to gobble it up (some call the process Nirvana). Now it is destiny (fact of life) that each and every matter will wind up being gobbled by this universal being (it’s kind of a food chain in the cosmospiritual sense) and will be reformed as some other matter with some other frequency, since matter can neither be created nor destroyed but changes its form from one to the other.

Our wise old men, didn't want to change...even if they knew that it was the ultimate truth....so they devised all kinds of schemes to keep the human mind occupied...these schemes were mainly the emotions of love, hate, jealousy, pride, etc and their subsequent actions of war, poetry, economics, entertainment. This prevented humans to focus on their vibrations and indeed our vibrations have been so muddled that we ourselves do not know about it.

We have started aping each other in terms of attitude, behavior and style and refuse that there is a certain job that we have to do.

It’s like the story of a toothbrush...with modern technologies, the toothbrush can flip back, come in attractive colours, have a part for cleaning the tongue and even is battery operated...but does it do what its empirical nature tells it to do...albeit brush the teeth? Until and unless a toothbrush doesn't do that, then it is not one.

In our rush to theorize evolution, have we forgotten that the current Darwinian theory of natural selection is keeping us from the bigger picture...maybe evolution means being gobbled into this universal being and reforming into a different matter, not re-engineering our DNA's to keep us immortal.

The Mayas and Incas understood this...and so the whole civilization vanished leaving behind the wonders that is Macchu Picchu...maybe someday I will. But what will I leave behind.....my blog??? ahem....

(Dedicated to Sumit Vaswani for starting this topic)