How often do you find people like these….

How often do you find people who just are there for you, even if you don’t ask anything of them? Whether you call it passion, empathy or just care, they come forward to support, guide and hold your hand to reach - a goal you are just striving to live.

I have recently been through a bad phase of my life, when I met some one. I was all depressed, lost and frustrated of the situation, and there was a support. An unconditional support, which brought me out of those 5 days, through just laughter and care. Only few chats, santa banta jokes and some inspirational quotes was the remedy, which helped me stand back and fight the world.

I was left with an Inspiration to improve my looks, an inspiration to improve my soul and look towards the world in a different light. It moved my focus away from appraisals, 5% salary hike differences, performance improvements, competition, frustrations, selfishness & revenge.

I forgot the problems, I forgave the people who did wrong to me and moved on to improve a person I was negating all along – MYSELF.

Since then my life’s path has been filled with positive experiences and positive people. People, who didn’t look at what I am, but what I am trying to be. My struggle became their struggle, my passion was added on with theirs.

Without demanding anything in return, they came forward to help, check on me when I faulted, challenged me, shared their experiences and were always there with me to keep me motivated.

We have not been friends for long, we don’t even know anything about each other’s lives & struggles and we might soon be on different paths of life. But their suggestions, their care and their support is what I would be indebted to forever.

I often wonder, who brings them to our lives when we need them the most. How can they easily relate to our passions or struggles & what encourages them to help us, without expecting anything in return.

Stay connected to your Creative Self!!

Microphone(nick named “Mike”) is a dumb technical device having its roots in 1665 after which it was finally transformed to its fashion state with time invested at Bell Labs by Thomas Edison. He and many such researches spend their lives providing us things which later become our necessities.

Necessity to make our voice reach beyond ourselves and help us stay connected to our creative self. One such effective use of Mike, is what I witnessed at Caferati this Friday (an event which happens every last Friday of the month somewhere in IHC).

A mike, standing tall on podium waiting to be put to use to showcase the emotions, views, laughter to the people, who have come to appreciate creativity. Among them were – college students, youngsters (in their mid 70’s with radiant white hair), Insurance agents, business men, housewives and audience like us. People, who would have winded up their day’s hectic schedule, to be there to share what we call “freedom of expression”.

In open mike, you can never anticipate what people may say - current situation of the country, home abuses, wife problems, boss problems, cheap jokes – as you could speak anything there.

But it was not exactly, what I was expecting.

There were “Mango people”(aam aadmi), with a flame of creativity still burning in them along with what they are programmed to do. Yes, I often feel, we are programmed.

As we grow, each one of us is queued up to develop ourselves to professionals who earn well and have a set living pattern. A youngster hanging a guitar around his shoulder is seen with a raised eye brow by many parents who just want their children to score 90% & above. Extra-curricular activities are often termed as a simulation for brain, but then get back to studies. Am sure most of the people, who take up arts, literature, theatre as their profession, would have definitely faced this question “Kam kya karte ho”. In this race, we often under-nourish a section of the heart (& brain am sure) which craves for doing something different, something creative.

So here I was today, among people who nurture with care that section of their heart (& brain) and were there to express themselves.

Event started with moderator’s witty comments, politely threatening all to be sure of what we were there to attend. The evening had a mix of expressions through - Songs, Hindi/English/Urdu/Punjabi poetry, comedy and a rope magic by a brilliant magician. Some mind blowing 2 minutes I would never forget –

• Hindi ghazal/poetry by a girl which explained the pain of finding the right man for marriage - How she tries to explain the Basic features/Specifications (pun intended!!) required in the man for life. How she is often mis-understood, ridiculed and gives up explaining any further.

• First timer showcase of how boys face parent’s strictness on not having girl friends. What exactly happens when his friend (but a girl) calls on the landline? How he fumbles to respond while his mother picks up the intercom from the other room and the girl says the killer statement “Teri mummy aa gayi kya”.

• Hindi song by a young guy to understand & quest with god on, why his one sided love was not reciprocated.

• And a hilarious act by a Surd, who wishes to be a girl and he feels they get all the privileges and trainings. Trainings on how to look at people, talk to people and they are corrected where they wrong, but boys are just told to go and play. How he felt all fashion designers just focus on women clothing and how much men clothing has been primitive in its designs.

• Last but not the least - one common topic was - love for our mothers (including our bharat ma) – Mere pass bhi ma hai, hayen!!. One person extended this thought to Dadi ma and said a few verses on how meager she was to spare money.

Others 20 performances - included Songs/Ghazals to explain the meaning of life, the impact of corruption, encouraging youth to change, Punjabi songs on romance and many such brilliant performances.

With the last performance, as the clock struck Nine – I felt as if I just came out from an AURA – back to my programmed life. But the evening re-energized me to get re-connected to my creative self.

And the outcome is “A blog"

Dedication :- Through this blog, I would like to encourage my friends, family, readers who have engrossed themselves and their cute children to life’s cruel pattern, to PLEASE STOP & just see if they need creative stimulation as well!!

Yeh daftar, yeh makan, yaheen reh jayega,
Teri zarurat ka har samaan, yaheen reh jayega,
Teri mehnat ka paseen, chand ansoon mein beh jayega
Jeeley yeh zindagi, aye janibey khuda
Bus yeh dil ka sukun hi hai, jo tere saath jayega!!