UNFREEZE

Often, we are so busy in our daily rush, we overlook and undervalue little blessings bestowed upon us. The homemade food, soaking in the sunlight, walking on grass, a walk hand in hand, enjoying the rain, and watching tv together. Now we have no time to sit and eat with family, though we do have meals with gadgets. Vitamin D has gone down sitting in fully air-conditioned rooms. Too busy to walk on grass as we move in cars and cabs cursing the traffic and chasing office hours. Romance and walking hand-in-hand are replaced by gadgets and arguments. Rains often annoy us due to the potholes and jams they cause. And who will watch TV together when we all have separate gadgets and subscriptions. When did life change so much? Chasing money to give a good future to our kids, we often overlook the present we are spoiling. The future we envision may not even exist. Little by little, step by step, we are getting mechanical and mad and chasing the unending quest. The quest for money, a bigger ca...

            The Lost Best Friends Forever               There was a time When they would be  Together, forever! Same School  Choosing the same stream To be together  Then came the major decision  To select the college And one got a dream college  But left to be with his buddy 3 years of college meant  Attending and banking lectures together  The markets, shopping The late-night assignments  And preps The freshers and the farewells And dancing on All is Well And then it was year 3rd We got serious in life Job started  And further studies It was so difficult  To catch up and keep the promises We did as BFF Practical we became The Chai and tapri were replaced With the meetings and flights And coffee at Cafe 9 I sit and look at the college buddies And go back down the memory lane What is it that took over those promises To meet and be with each other In happiness and pain Frien...

  ERROR 202   So, few days back I was trying to check out the help section of my online banking account as I had locked my transaction password. While I was struggling to understand how I could unlock it, I saw the 'Help' tab and clicked on it thinking that it will solve my issue. However, when I pressed on it, it showed- "Error 202, Your request could not be processed Try after some time." It’s so funny that even for help, you need help! Life is so much similar.   Also there is ERROR in our relationships due to several reasons. When we forget our password, we keep follow "trial & error method". Each time we enter a wrong password, we feel confident that this might work. After failing for few attempts our account is locked. Similarly, in life, we often keep running after that friend, cousin, partner or anyone who we feel are right but they are actually not. And those who are good to us, true to us, are often taken for granted. We even forget t...

Amidst the hectic schedule I managed to see Shakuntala Devi. Vidya Balan's movies generally offer good story and acting skills. I was expecting that the movie would talk about the celebrated mathematician and the magic she created with numbers. But to my surprise the movie was much more than that. The movie is based on Shakuntala Devi, born in 1929, a woman with dreams to fly. And the dreams can be matched with the dreams of any 21st century girl- to be financially secure, to have freedom of speech, to travel the world, to make her own identity and to be famous. However the hurdles she faced decades ago, still exist in 21st century too! Yes, we all will agree that India is a patriarchal society, mostly. One can easily notice the preferential treatment that boys receive over girls in everyday life- whether it is praying and giving blessings for a baby boy, the differences between their upbringing, their conditioning, availability of opportunities, terms and conditions of marriage ...

2020 is not a normal year. Thanks to COVID 19. But then don't we have ups and downs every year? So what is different with this year? The difference is that 2020 has given same threat to 195 nations across the globe- The COVID pandemic. So everyone can understand each other's plight (such understanding is missing in other cases). There are a dozen of things we can count which has changed in our daily lives. But for now, I feel for my students and want to talk about the anxiety and uncertainty they are facing during this time. A lot of educational institutes have cancelled their exams and promoted the students on the basis of average marks. Many students are attending classes of new session too, of course online. Home-schools are also going on. Though we understand that students, specially younger minds are finding it difficult to study in a room with no friends around, with no activities, with no colourful boards and educating charts; we must also pay attention to the amount of ...

Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi, as we say, is here. Its an annual affair for most of the Indian houses to celebrate this festival with lot of excitement. Its most exciting when we have small kids at home. Dressing up little baby girls in traditional attires to tie the rakhi (a talisman or amulet), the little boy to be the "bhaiya" who is ready to take the pledge to protect her sister (no matter how small the bhai is). Imagine this scene and one can agree how innocent the little brother and sister looks doing the rituals- tying rakhi to brother and receiving gift from him. Years pass by, the rakhi and gifts change as they grow up, what remains same is the love and bond between siblings. The festival is celebrated on last day of Shraavana month of the Hindu Lunar Calendar. Though Indian society has changed over the years, we have nuclear family and members of family living in different parts of the world for job or studies, it might not be possible for the siblings to meet each year a...