Playlist

Today,the road from Mumbai to Pune seems different. Not because I am travelling on my own in a bus,unlike other times when I am accompanied by Dear Husband (DH) but only because there is something else that is accompanying me today : songs and lyrics...
I put on my headphones and the first songs that I hear is : musu musu haasi; a song that depicts college time romance,innocent-not-so-complicated love;love that reminds me of my college years (also because it is shot in Fergusson College)..life was much simple then..love meant just 'love' without any hassles and complications and dilemmas..love during that time had yet not become synonymous with having a boyfriend or a girlfriend. The usual practice of 'dating' or 'going around' was not so popular...Falling in love really usued begin with smiles and love letters , and phone calls on the landline phone were the most popular modes of communication....such was the 'Pehla Nasha' of love....I remember ,that even in the absence of gadgets like mobile phones some of would easily remember where their loved one would be.....those days,one had no way of letting the loved one know that she/he would be running late,but yeah no one would mind waiting.In fact,waiting made the hearts even go fonder. A dear friend of mine made her boyfriend wait at the station for almost 3 hours every time..and it is not surprising they are now happily married !
Just as I have crossed Lonavala my mind is wondering how I used to feel empty after listening to the song 'Bheegi Bheegi' from Gangster....
When I heard the song first time, I had completed 3 years of my relationship...things were settling down...each other's moods,habits,thoughts and even weird ways were somewhat familiar....it was a period of change: the era of cellphones had begun with full swing. Some fortunate souls like us had started using cellphones...communication was more frequent so were the unnecessary complications...I saw so many of friends getting in and out of love;breaking up ,patching up,mourning lost relationships,going on a rebound spree,dealing with a difficult and over possessive partner and much more...I guess the 'pal main hasaya pal main rulaya' phase and 'bheegi bheegi si raatein' was something that everyone could relate to...Shaan's 'Tanha Dil' was also round the corner....and we did not know where would these phase in love lead us to...
I have now browsed my playlist and chosen a song that I know,must be a dream song for many: 'Aye Udi Udi' from Saathiya
I remember how that for the first time made me realize that marriage can be the next step for a relationship...I am sure, many girls and boys of my age must have found it as a good movie to relate to...they must have watched it with their loved one,hand in hand, and must have looked at each other with same adulation as vivek and raani had in their eyes....
Hum jo chalne lage,..chalne lage he yeh raaste...
A fairly recent song from Jab We Met takes me back into the world of possibilities...
Possibilities of career,higher education,aspirations and need to make a mark in this world...possibilities of reshaping the relationships, holding on to the loved one even in the time when everything else in life was changing....When the 'Calling of the unknown' was strong and uncharted roads were inviting with open arms...how difficult it was to romance anything else but life!
Separation was sweet during this time...while walking on the separate roads to reach personal roads the words 'tera na hona janne kyu hona hi hai.....tum se hi...'reminded many that life was not only about running in the rat race but also about enjoying finer moments with the loved one....
I am approaching Mumbai now....I need to get back to reality...the 'real' playlist of today reads a full time job,a full time husband,home and family, a tight schedule and deadlines,work pressure and fomality...
But I know , when I hit the real playlist,it reminds of my choices and dreams that have turned my sweetheart into a husband,my career aspirations into a full time job and my life into an enjoyable journey....
Amruta
Sent on my BlackBerry® from Vodafone

Silvassa and the Art of Doing Nothing

In the recent movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Arjun is very scared to enter the deep blue ocean as he does not know how to swim. Laila , his diving instructor helps him to come over his fear and Arjun manages to dive deep to enjoy the glimpses of underwater wonders. When his friends tease him and ask him what was his learning from the whole diving experience, Arjun says 'just inhale and exhale'....

Arjun's sarcastic yet real words made me think hard about the crazy times we all live in. Our lives are constantly oriented towards 'achievements'. As if every action that we do has to have some concrete outcome. We live our lives bordered by ideas
such as 'one should utilize every living second meaningfully and constructively' in order to be truly successful. This is almost considered as a ground rule for life and if we do not produce an 'output' then the whole act is equated as a waste of time'.

These days, we are all rats in the race. Our time is 'money' and spending time 'doing nothing' is probably considered a modern day sin. But there are also lots of people who believe that ‘ doing nothing’ is also an art.

I got a first hand experience of why 'doing nothing' . Last weekend, I visited Silvassa , a quiet capital town in the Union Territory of Dadara and Nagar Haveli, sandwiched between the states of Maharashtra and Gujrat. It was an unplanned trip by me and my husband H and an escape route from the stressful work and lifestyle.


We left Mumbai on Friday night and unlike other times where we would drive ourselves, we hired a driver. When we drove past Andheri and Goregoan through the jampacked traffic and reached to Dahisar , the official border of Mumbai , I looked back at the city and sighed with relief. I thought the next two hours would be full of fun with me and my husband sitting behind and talking till we reach our destination. But the real fun began when we crossed the Ghodbunder road and the rain gods started their weekend fun.


I had read Silvassa is just 2.5 hours away as it is around 180 k.m. from Mumbai. When we pulled over at near a Cafe , assuming that we had reached close by, people in the Cafe they told us that we are still 150 k.m. away from Silvassa. When we were on the NH 8. , hoping to reach to Silvassa quickly it started raining so heavily that we could hardly see the road before us. The visibility of the road was extremely low and at one point of time, Sunil , our driver barely managed to save our car from falling down from the bridge. To top it all up , we did not have any idea of where exactly we were. Finally, after 2 hours of maddening rains we reached the town of Silvassa and managed to find our resort.


The next morning , we both woke up to the sound of rains. As I got out of bed and stepped in the balcony, I realized that our room was overlooking the Daman Ganga river. Daman Ganga was flowing with full force with its water in shade of dark maroon from the silt and mud it had carried the entire night. Between our room and the river , there was nothing else except a small garden with tall mango and ashoka trees. We spent the next one and half days in our hotel room doing nothing significant. We sat in the balcony and looked at the rain without any purpose. We looked at the dark clouds and smelt the scent of wet trees. We skipped showers and lounged around in our home clothes…We laughed, shared our thoughts and also enjoyed silence together. We had not carried a camera to click photos, there was no rush to finish food in given time, no rush to wake up and go out for sightseeing, no compulsion to dress up, no pressure to make anyone else happy.

Now I realize how essential it is to just 'be' and not do anything for a while. Throw away your 'to do list' , books, music players , camera and cell phones. Just sit and relax. Stare at the sky, rivers, trees, people , ocean.....just do nothing more than inhale and exhale for a while and feel the change !

(image from here)

Traffic and two curious eyes

I was travelling from Pune to Mumbai by bus and as usual was caught in the midst of maddening traffic. The slow pace at which the bus was moving was making me anxious and I was already cooking up excuses that I would give at the meeting for being late.I glanced outside the window helplessly,looking at the two wheelers finding their way out from the mess, people crossing road, some jumping out of taxis and choosing to walk to their destination. Pressure in my mind was building up and I cursed myself for not choosing the earlier bus, cursed the traffic and everything around me.

In some time, my anger took form of boredom.I flipped through the magazine I had, sipped water, tried to move away my mind from the situation by listening to music.But my monkey mind wouldn't let me do anything.

It was at that time that I glanced out of the window and saw another bus next to mine. Two curious eyes of caught my attention. It was a small boy sitting on his mother's lap. She was busy talking to someone besides her and the boy was looking out of the window with his big eyes. I wondered if he knows that he is stuck in a traffic jam, his mommy would be late for something or if he has no control over whatever he is stuck at. The inquisitiveness in his eyes touched something in my heart. I thought have I really lost the ability to 'stand and stare' to be curious about the world around me? When you are stuck in a situation which you have no control over, what should you do? Should you let your temper soar high and worry about the consequences or should you take a deep breathe and concentrate on the present moment? Wouldn't it be nice if I control my restlessness and simply glance out of the window at something interesting , something unusual which I would never if I am not stuck in a traffic jam? Like today , out of the million people on the street I observed two curious eyes...

That day I was an hour late for my appointment and funny thing was the person whom I was meeting was late also due to heavy traffic.I am curious to know if she observed something interesting that day....

- Amruta