Too much noise

The apartment complex in Hyderabad where I live in, has kids of various ages, but those that are below the age of 3 outnumber the rest. Every evening, as I come tired from office, I am welcome to their playing around the parking lot or at the adjacent kids' park or on my apartment's floor. Most of the time, their noise continues till late around 10 p.m. Their endless chatter and games make the atmosphere lively as I keep watching them from my balcony.

It so happened one fine evening, as I was flipping chappatis in the kitchen, that I heard a group of them rush to the floor. All the while most of them shouting and make noises till they reached one end of the floor. One of them later on, shoo-shoos the entire group and then there is pin-drop silence. I wondered why. Then again, every one rushes back from the other end and this cycle of noise and shoo-shooing continues. Hearing them giggle, I cannot but help giggle to myself and at their innocence.

All of a sudden, one of the neighbors, comes out screaming at the kids - " hey all of you! Too much noise around this floor! Go downstairs and play! Will you? or I'll tell your mom!"

Poor kids, I think, as I hear them slowly dispersing off.

The incident reminds me of how as adults we have changed becoming intolerant to a little noise around us and worrying ourselves with the baggage of tensions, worldly wisdom, grudges and complaints all the time. The kids are a gifted lot though, with their innocence still intact, they continue giggling, shouting, shooing, irrespective of what's happening around them. The kids reminded me of life's lesson. To take it as it comes in life, irrespective of whatever happens around you, keep that "thing" going.

Year of the Void

It is but the topic to write for.

The year 2008 was an year worth living through. Personally that is. As for the nation, well, everyone knows the "downs" that impacted our lives - directly or indirectly - terror attacks, recession, financial worries, layoffs among other things.

By far, besides being the worst year of my life, 2008 meant literally living through silent and invisible hell. And at the end of that hell, stands nothing. Just void. There is this feeling of emptiness from within and nullification of those thoughts that used to preoccupy my mind.

The reasons for the feeling of hell on earth might well be because of personal reasons and several other factors. But, at the end of it all, I thought to myself as I do now: " Did I deserve all this?" or "Why did all this happen to me?" Unfortunately, the void stares back from within myself. No answers, no more questions to myself.

Probably that is what the year meant to leave behind in my life. At the end of all this madness in the world and inside/outside ourselves, there is this ultimate void for sure. It might also mean that no matter how much one may worry, yearn, achieve, lose,win in life - there is nothing going to be left behind us. Maybe this is similar to the end result of a tumultuous period like a war, or a depression and life in general. Just what this year was. An year of void.....

Quotable Quotes

Being in the habit of reading quotes off the web, I chanced upon some interesting ones from this link
Some of my favorites and the ones I literally nod at, while reading are:
"Love: a temporary insanity, curable by marriage"
"Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle"
"It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages"
And the last quote is so true, that I cannot agree more!

Discovering oneself through tags

This is one post where the tagging concept is borrowed from several blogs I have visited.
I am: a dreamer, sometimes idealist
I think: of all good moments gone by
I know: a little bit of everything I think I know
I want: to give to my country in some way or the other before I am gone
I have: reconciled to accept the things they are than changing them
I wish: there were no poor in the world anywhere
I hate: flirts, ego driven, short tempered and "back-biter"/gossip-monger type of people
I miss: my childhood days
I fear: God
I feel: the constant need to change everyday
I hear: music most of the time
I smell: the scent of rain kissed sand just after the rains
I crave: for my own home with my parents and sister
I search: for the person I was before I became worldly-wise
I wonder: why people do the things they do everyday
I regret: words hurled upon near and dear in anger
I love: spending little romantic moments
I ache: when I pass by beggars
I care: about cleanliness everywhere around me
I am not: as egoistic or knowledgeable as some of my relations think I am
I believe: in myself and that destiny is written jointly by God and God's children
I dance: whenever I listen to foot tapping film numbers only when alone
I sing: whenever I like a new song or listen to an old melody
I cry: when I get emotional or think of irritating past memories
I don’t always: want to do something or the other, I'd rather be lazy
I fight: when I see the opposite person speaking a white lie w.r.t any situation
I write: to know myself better
I win: arguments with my husband
I lose: my temper at children subjected to work and smoke of any kind
I never: wanted to be the person I am perceived to be
I always: wanted to meet God and ask Him why He made earth
I confuse: different language slangs while speaking multiple languages at home
I listen: less and hear more
I can usually be found: smiling or brooding
I am scared: of my Dad's temper
I need: to liberate myself from the monotone of worldly actions
I am happy about: whatever I have achieved in Life till now
I imagine: an India - who would supercede the biggest and richest nations in terms of everything I tag: No one, because I know very few friends who might read this post!

Uncertainity

Some stray thoughts crossed my mind today and were best reflected by this quote of Winston Churchill:
“Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty, the drama of human life would be destroyed”

Unrest

There is lot of unrest in life these days. Marriage has created new plans for me I guess. Lots of things have conspired before my eyes until now. From childhood, where I used to visit cities because my Dad's job was transferreble to being in Madras for schooling, running past those competitions in class X ,XII and college for getting the best marks, going away from home to an alien country to do higher studies, deciding to come back home to marry my love and now settling down to plan ahead, is a whirlwind of events if I think of it... It reminds me of that poem we used to read in our high school English class by W.H.Davies:
"WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare. "

Now, I think, those carefree pre-high school days were much better....