Adieu to Michael J

Today I cannot help but blog about Michael Jackson. There might be umpteen bloggers blogging about him today and among them there might be people who met him personally or attended his concerts saw him live. I just typed Michael Jackson on Google search and there were 45,100,000 searches in .13 seconds this throws the light on what an ICON or Celebrity he was. (Feeling really sad to use 'was' instead of 'is')

I was just going about the daily round of morning chores at home, when I got the message from my Morning Jock, thinking that she wants to complain about something that is not in place or some permission to change something on the show etc I opened it and could not believe what I read and really could not believe it I scrolled down to see if it was some kind of Joke. Because of late there could be any kind of jokes on sms forwards. But it was not. I immediately switched on the NEWS channels(not that I did no trust her but because it was not sinking in) and every channel it was the 'BREAKING NEWS'

'How heart breaking can 'BREAKING NEWS' be.... very apt "

I just sat still for some time, went down the memory lane when there were cassettes instead of CDS and no MTV or V channel no limewires to download but still we exchanged cassettes and any remote English Music Lover (why I say a remote English Music Lover is I myself was more a bollywood music buff but still had a few English favourites like MJ, Madonna, Cliff Richards, George Michael" only the famous numbers and albums.) I think people of my genre would be more nostalgic. My personal favourites at that age were" They don't really care about us" most kids do think about parents in these words.... when parents disagree. And of course "Black or White"(Felt happy to see the Indian dancer dancing with MJ and Indian culture reflected in the world song)

The TV went on playing someone or the other was talking about him, and there were clippings of him in concerts, with celebrities. Then I smiled wryly, the media has got its hands full.(Me being part of the Media Industry should not be saying this but after 26/11 and the media coverage of that I think many will agree with this....
I came to work in the same mood, opened Facebook and almost every status was about MJ and responses of comments about MJ. For a while I started feeling cynical, are all these comments genuine do they really Love him so much or do they just want to be part of the in group? Then a friend said, the world is like that, a person is talked about all his positive points only after his death. And you cannot even blame the media, will you stay tuned if the same channel says MJ is sitting at his home doing nothing? Hmmmmmmm what he said was right. That is the way things are and we have to accept it.

Seeing the status messages "Rest in Peace" I whole heartedly felt that he must be really resting in peace. I wonder to myself "How Happy and peaceful was he when he was here?" Most of us know that he a had a turbulent childhood and racial discrimination, drugs, broken marriages, allegations of child molestation, controversies of changing skin color, what not?

Here is Paradigm to show us Lifes' complexities. If we think being RICH we will be Happy MJ was super rich what with owning Neverland Valley Ranch what with his own amusement park etc. If being Famous one can be Happy then is there a celebrity or ICON in Music in the world bigger than him after Elvis? No Friends I am not denying that we should stop trying to be Rich or Famous but in the trials even let us be Happy.

But yes while his SOUL RESTS IN PEACE and in a day or too he fades out of our channels, we can be of the certainty that he will Live in our Hearts Forever somewhere even after many more years his songs will be playing in the nth version of Apple ipod or some other device better than that and his videos and dance forms will always be watched and inspiring for generations to come.

Rain and Relativity!

Yesterday it was cloudy, but still the temperatures could penetrate through the clouds and it was definitely not pleasant. Even humidity was at its peak. Well before all this sounds like a weather report I need to say that it rained last night between 12 and 1am and what a rain it was, a real downpour with lightning and thunder. I really do not understand whenever it rains or the winds start blowing with high speed, immediately there to be a power failure.

Does this happen only in Vizag? Is our power system so weak that it cannot withstand a few strong winds?Anyway although it is not the proper onset of monsoon in Vizag(Psst: I really doubt if Vizag has any specific monsoon, bcz it seems to rain only when there is depression in Bay of Bengal) This downpour did bring a respite from the heat that we went through for the past few days. It is cool since morning and cloudy, perfect weather for a Long Drive with some good music on.

Now I told about Rain, then you all must be wondering what is it about Relativity? Nope I am not definitely going to quote Einstein's Theory of Relativity here.(Physics was definitely not one of my favourite subjects in school, I was class topper in Biology)

Coming to the point, how people are happy to see the rain, I am seeing so many comments on FB thanks to Friends across the country from Bombay to Bengaluru and from Delhi to Kerala either people are waiting for the rain or smiling that it rained. And come to think of it none of them are farmers to start their farming season :-). Most of them might not even face the heat so much getting out of AC cars into AC chambers, still .....

Where as in the rest of the world people say "it is bright and sunny and wish for a little bit of sunshine" that seems to be the weather for a picnic or rejoicing. So no wonder it is relativity where there is snow or rains or cold weather for most part of the year a little bit of sunshine brings those smiles. And in our tropical country like India especially Southern and Eastern India where almost for 8 to 10 months it is sunny a few drops of rain do bring the smiles.

And there must be many rain lovers out there especially people of my generation born in the seventies who had the time to sail those paper boats in the puddles of Rain. But even now rain has its charm, even on screen for all those wonderful rain songs now and then in Tollywood and Bollywood.

But one more fact of relativity that surfaces in my mind whenever there is continuous rain for 3 to four days is, why are we not as happy as the first day when we have rain? On the first day we are happy, we gather together and have a party of hot pakoras, or curl up on the window sill with a hot cup of steaming coffee. Then slowly the effect wears off, we cannot sit confined indoors, there are thousand and one tasks for the people in this world to go out. We do not want to get wet and reach our destinations. Clothes do not dry, the house starts smelling damp with wet and semi wet clothes everywhere. And again we start wishing for sunshine :-)

Did anyone ever had a thought about the effect of rain for the pavement hawkers and slum dwellers? We are happy that we have our groceries fully stocked, power in place, glued to TV sets or playing games on Xboxes we have fun. But for those people if they earn for that day, then only they can have their meal at the end of the day.

The proverb is well known 'Save for a Rainy Day' but it seldom happens with most of them hitting the bottle and no savings left. Here it is again relativity. Someone is Happy and Someone is not.

So next time you venture out in the rain and if the Auto rickshaw fella or fruit vendor demands a few extra rupees please do not bargain but part with a few notes and smile that you are the reason for some one's happiness and a meal for a family.

Great start and fizzle out!

As soon as I started this blog, wow what a great feeling it was. I immediately changed my Gtalk status and Facebook Status. And like a little girl who painted her first pic was waiting for appreciation from any body and everybody. :-) I think there is a little kid in each one of us hidden behind the mask of dignity and sophistication and it is but natural for that kid to emerge now and then. Trust me it makes 'Life Happier'

I thought I will not write today. Because I know with the roles that I juggle it will be certainly difficult for me to post a new post everyday. But when I was riding on my two wheeler to work and it is a beautiful ride overlooking the curving bay of Vizag with the waves kissing the shore and specs of boats out there with there sails up. As usual there were thoughts and thoughts and of course today there were thoughts about my blog and what all I wanted to write on it.I had so many topics to write about, then I immediately sync it with the something new syndrome.

Most of us at some time or other in life go through these "Great Starts and fizzle out" syndrome. Like the little girl who plays with her new doll day in and day out and then she gets bored of it throws it aside. The teenager who gets a new jeans and just keeps changing the t-shirts and is not willing to put it for wast until she gets a new one. All of us or rather most of us start a lot of things or hobbies with a new jest but then if we burn out all the jest then there is nothing left to continue.

Whether it is a diet, exercise regime or a healthy habit I read somewhere that if we can do it for 21 days continuously then we can continue it. But somewhere there is a break and the Gap widens. So like child hood story that we read/heard/ and tell to our kids of the Rabbit and turtle

Slow and steady wins the race. I think I should go slow and steady not that I want to win any race but I as a friend of mine said "Writing keeps you Happy so do not stop writing"

who among us do not want to be Happy? ;-P

So here I go now with one post a day may be later one post a week but definitely not slower than that. Unless I am on a Holiday to ManasSarovar(someday I want to go there) and I do not have my Laptop.

Please be generous in your comments, they do give me a lot of energy to write further.

My first Blog!

I have been wanting to blog since long, I even lost track of time since when?
Approximately I remember it was somewhere in 2006 May when I posted a write up called 'THEN and NOW' about how times have changed since we went to school and how they are now on my School Alumni Group and got a lot of positive responses and gave me a high.
But the born procrastinator that I am, the thought took a back seat.

In 2007 again I chanced to peek into the world of Food Blogging through my friend Sailaja's http://www.sailusfood.com/ and for many days contemplated the idea of starting a food blog but seeing the amount of pateince and time and skill required for food blogging that idea also evaporated soon. Then as I was the parent of a preschooler+single child shifted my thoughts to have a blog about parenting so on so forth I went on wishing and thinking of writing a blog and days passed into weeks, months and years.

I strongly believe in the right time syndrome, when something has to happen it happens when the right time comes, whether you have to meet your soulmate or own your dream home or land in the right job so finally I can admit that the time has come.

I also was motivated by my friends SreeBindu of 'Moon Breeze' and Teja Priyadarshini of "Xentric Angel" time and again to start writing. And also inspired by Alekhya of "Uncle Sam's Dairies".

What you will find in my blogs will be like collage of thoughts, thoughts about life, incidents to ponder upon, parenting and may be once in a while a recipee also bcs queit often did I get a compliment that I am a good cook. And of course Movie Reviews also that is if I am able to catch a movie immediately after its release. Psst Shall I share a secret from the closet"Once upon a time there was movie called "Akele hum and Akle tum of Amir Khan and Manisha Koirala and I caught it on Friday the day of release and my views matched with the great Film critic 'Khalid Mohammad" hi hi hi so I think I can qualify to be good Film critic. What say?

As such it is a know secret that Virgos are born critics. :-)

So friends wish me all the best for "Happy Blogging "
Should I say stay tuned to more posts ahead?