finding a foothold in life

finding a foothold in life

Rishikesh Memoirs

With the number of times that I have been to Rishikesh, it is only logical that I write about them. To help you acquaint with what the number has been I just want to tell you that last year I had gone there for 2-3 days, came back to Delhi for 1 day and left again for 4 days in Rishikesh. Each trip has its own fond memories and if I put them down in print it will take too much space and you might not have the patience to read through it completely so I'll just be putting in jist.

I really do not know what I actually like about the place, I mean it is one of those small Indian religious towns with even smaller bylanes spattered with garbage from the houses. It hurts to see it like this but I'll come back to it later.

I have almost always gone with my cousins who are just the most amazing people in this world and we all gel like clockwork, so that helps as well. We miss breakfast not because we want to sleep till late but because we want to eat buns and drink coffee that the nearby Uncle in a shop makes. The Ganga is not too far from where we stay so walks to the river and the frequent swim keeps on happening. Those night strolls on the terrace oblivious of the time, those constellation spotting walks,those chocolates shared among almost everybody you meet, three dinners followed by kada milk and jalebi (I do not know what it is called in English), followed by late night dinners of maggi, the bon fire on the new years eve are just heavenly.

In summers the weather is pleasant but in winters it is spine chilling but then who cares.

Now coming to the part I skipped, Rishikesh is a sleepy town but not so sleepy I think that it is unable to protect its natural heritage, the very reason why it has been named Rishikesh -- THE GANGA. With constructions happening on the bank of the river I do not know how long the river will survive. Now only one can see the vast difference between the river during monsoons and during summers. But it is not just the river there is general apathy everywhere,it seems no one really cares about their home, garbage is just thrown on the roads, taps are left open, trees are cut without any rhyme or reason. Every time I go a new patch of the forests have been deforested.

Come to think of it I do not know how long the river will live but if the inevitable all I can say now is IT WONT BE GOOD.

Really Early Morning Nonsense

My day began really really early today and my body is still recovering from the past few days aches and sluggishness and my skull from 24 hours pounding given by my brain, so this is nonsense in the real sense. Please read ahead at your risk.

Protagonist: Sukanya Iyer

Amrita Ramanathan

Shivani Wadehra

Guest Appearance: V. Aishwarya

Let me give the background first: Its my uncle's birthday today. Something completely unrelated to the previous sentence but still relevant to the topic. The protagonist talk about the stuff that people do not want to and are shy about- The most common four letter word that begins with a 'S'.(I already warned you)

Really sleepy sukanya and Shivani are trying to sleep over each other but in vain. They are woken up by V.Aishwarya who is cribbing about how uncle did not reply to her text.

Sukanya offers some sane explanatons but to no avail.

Sukanya: He would not received

Aishwarya: He did.

Sukanya: Maybe he was busy.

Aishwarya: At 1200 hours

Sukanya: He was sleeping

Aishwarya: He replied to everyone but not me...

At this exasperated, Shivani(me) chimed in on the conversation

Shivani: Aishwarya he does not love you.

Aishwarya: Yes .(followed by a very loooooong NO)

Shivani: Well, Isnt that what you wanted to hear.

The protagonists burst into laughter for no apparent reason other than the fact that they were woken up real early.

And now since the stimulus had been provided, they start talking about their favourite topic much to the indignation of others around. The discussions ensued on the impact of Obstructive Jaundice on the S word while people around were so willing to kill them but hey no one had the strength to do anything but listen in and get disgusted.

Well now that you have read it thoroughly and have been disgusted I will now take your leave.

Goodbye and thankyou for reading this shit(pun intended)

Diwali

Well this is how I see Diwali. Call me whatever you want.

We give gifts to each other on Diwali and in turn expect gifts from them. Look at it this way now -- when someone gives you a gift the equation on one side is heavier than the other so in order to equalize you also give them a gift which once again leads to a equilibrium state. My question here being --Why in the first place destroy the equilibrium?

Secondly, Diwali heralds coming back of Lord Ram to Ayodhya and that is the reasson why we burst crackers in order to show our happiness on His return. But the level of pollution that we generate because of this(happiness) , Lord Ram would prefer to stay back in the jungle than inhale all those pollutants.

Well so I think that Diwali is nothing but a capitalist conspiracy.

Purple Sun Bird- First one is female, the other two are male (decided on their plumage). The male is very intriguing as it has two plumages the black one which is shown is the mating plumage , has another one similar to that of the female which is the non mating plumage(yet to take a pic of that one, but one day will surely put it up)

Red Whiskered Bulbul. Saw it on the way home from Office. I just love the hairstyle-Punk. Realllllyy nice

Posing up

I still remember the rucckus you made
that flittering around the entire house on the little legs of yours
your vain attempts to build a home
finding telltale signs strewn all over the room indicating you had visited
Oddly, never missed you while you were gone
Even after being told that you were dying, I did not pay heed
But now,
Like a phoenix you have risen
One day above the incessant city din,
I caught a glimpse of you
My heart skipped a beat
There you were on the window sill,
Still with a twig in your mouth,
attempting to build that house of yours
Go on ahead Sparrow, Chirp and chirp away