Emptying for more

The pictures were flashing on the screen. Every Indian who would have seen it would have let out a word of amazed happiness. I was'nt an exception. Then they focused on Abhinav Bindra. Well being a guy I did'nt expect him to do a cupping of face act with amazemnent like the Miss India turning Miss Universe. It woulnt have been wrong if he would rolled on the floor and even if he would have done "Chahe mujhe koi junglee kahe " act . But he was composed. And a little too composed that it was the only thing I was noticing. He flashed a meagre smile. I was a little clueless. Has it not sink in him yet that he has done that no Indian has done yet.

I did notice right and Bindra's interview answered it. He stated to feel an emptiness that was left after the feat and may be it dawned him that life would move on from this point. May be ,when one works for something with such great devotion and dedication that it absorbs every miniscule of conscious and subconcious existence, achievement equates with loss of purpose. Those who can't handle emptiness fill it with greater goals. May be that is the story of compulsive achievers.

I entered the restaurent and it seemed like a women dominated world. On the right hand side there was a gang of eight chirpy gals.. celebarting the birthday of one of them( The one who was unwrapping the tiny gifts).They were a little too noisy for my ear drums. on the left there was a triad of girls. These were a bit older than the , just out of school, eight bunch. I got seated. Just behind me was the kitty party group of the homemakers all middle aged. Since I was sitting with my back to them ,I could not observe them any further. I had fish on my mind. Wanted to relish fish with lemon and coriander sauce. To my dismay fish wasn't available. But ironically I felt I was in the fish market. The eight were still enthusistic in there never ending conversations complimented with giggles and accentuated by exclamations ,continued distracting me from the menu card. The triad weren't noisy but they were in focus when i tried to look away from the eight. Then entered a 'six' of saree clad women. Nice replicas of Ekta Kapoor's serial... one of them whose weight had refused decrease after her previous pregnancy , delicatly carried the now 1 year old baby girl. They seemed to be completely out of conversation, may be sobered by the in law effect.I felt a little relaxed by there scanty whispered conversations and had finally decidedon the menu. Amidst the din, surprisingly, I was still able to recognize the song whose instrumental was miserably trying to surface over the bubbly feminine voices.
As i started to eat the chicken that replaced the desired fish, a few more gals walked in. The number kept on increasing and till it reached 11. Good they couldnt find a place to accomodate all.However they stood a little behind me , a few of them seated, discussing the alternate places they could go. All of a sudden i felt surrounded .Women of all ages just talking away , as if they wont have a second oppurtunity after this sunday afternoon. By now the baby gal has also started crying.
It sure had turned to be a noisy lunch. Then for a silly second I wondered why was I so destressed. The noisy gals were just a group of friends enjoying . The kinds I used to be a part of. But as one grows up and moves on in life, one gets lesser and lesser oppurtunities for such gatherings. So for the rest of the time i enjoyed my lunch and smiled at the thought of the noisy gatherings me and my friends had in college.

The Pink Link

Yesterday I stepped in Shopper's Stop outlet ( ya I was shopping again :D) and I noticed the Aerosmith song floating..."Pink........ " while I was actually looking at a pretty pink top. And suddenly I was enlightened... wish I could see the spark in my eyes while I was actually amused at the relevance of the lyrics which sounded so weird I heard it the first time long time ago. Well pink is for gals and blue is for boys ( the gender color code). Since time immemorial I doted on blue and ended up buying all the blue shades from my wardrobe to pencil boxes and coffee mugs. For unknown reasons i never bought or owned anything pink. Wasn't ever keen at it. I wasn't a tomboy. But no barbie or baby pinks for me.

This year pink peeped in and seeped in around me silently. My asthetic senses increased after exams and I redecorated my room. Only to realise that I bought pink curtains, pink bedsheets, pillow covers and even pink doormat. I walk in sony store to buy a laptop and its sony viao I decide upon and the only model at the shop that time is Luxury pink and I end up buying it.So whats the relevance of jotting it down? worthless peice of information may be. I don't care . Pink stands for beauty, grace and goodness .There is a whole lot it represents.From gender to wisdom.

Though the song got the idea boiling to write about it .... but it evaporated . Three months back I bought a hibiscus plant .Though mum insisted on buying the one which had already flowered( wise thing to do), but i bought a healthier looking one with no display of the secret color it would flower to. So........this morning it flowered and Aerosmith echoed in my head.....

"Pink it´s my new obsession Pink it´s not even a question

...........Pink gets me high as a kite. And I think everything is going to be all right"

22nd July 2008

The decisive day of the not so clear, Nuclear deal ( I am so tempted to write Noclear deal). After Arushi murder case that unified the news channels, it's another day of National integrity. The Parliament live in your living room. The magic number of 272. The destress call pulling the ailing and the jailing MP's.The "jan hit" claiming MP's when asked about the deal long for a hi(y)de act.Particularly amusing was Govinda's 'Lal dant Manjan' smile on the query and the hilarious claim that it would take hours to explain the deal . Dharma ji and chichi look upon party seniors for answering such clueless questions , they just absolutely side the' desh ka hit'.
The Maya magic emerging. Laloo so vocal about his PM dreams. Well ,Rahul Gandhi did make people listen after all. There was a disclosure of bribary too. A BJP MP entered the parliament with a bag full of currency claiming he has been bribed. The drama goes on.

Question it!!

My mom and I decided to shop today.We chose to go to the shopping Mall. It was the first shopping mall in the city and belongs to the Sahara India group. The busiest part of it being the four floors dedicated to the Big Bazaar. I never liked going in there. Firstly, cos it was about shopping grocieries and household stuff( which was definitely not my idea of fun ,after my hectic hospital schedule, which as such allowed me rare outings). Second, it was always overcrowded. Kids fitted on the trolleys looked cute. But carrying those trolleys through the goods and stuff lanes sometimes felt like driving through a traffic jam. Thirdly, it took ages to get the bills made . So I preferred to explore other stores like Biba ,Mark n Spencers and Pantaloons or resigned to the eating outlets on the top floor.

Being on a vacation these days and taking a break from being a specialist, I am trying to look at things in a different way. Besides since my mind ain't preoccupied with patients , I try observing and questioning things with an open mind . Trying to be a generalist to be precise. So I helped mom shop today and yes i know exactly what to buy. And while waiting for the bills to be made I observe people.

After the bill was made , the young lad at the counter asked " Mam , will you like to donate one ruppee for the childrens fund". I nodded reflexly. Then next moment I realized that its been several times this way. I was a bit curious. I shot back" hey wht kind of childrens fund? Can I get the details?" He was clueless at the unexpected question and directed me to the inquiry counter. I don't know what got into me I went there and asked the same. The same situation there too. No clue . I was directed to some Mr. Vishal on the second floor.Hmm.... my explorers spirit dampened a little but it triggered a mental calculation.' Big Bazzar is a chain of retail stores.... so may be there are approximately 100 such... if a minimum of 100 people shop there everyday...... it would amount to a sum 10 grands a day and 3 lacs amonth.... and does a childrens fund actually exist?.... well it went on till i reached home.

While sipping coffe from a the newly purchased mug, I googled about Big Bazaar. Hell I would have walked in there several times and I never knew that it belongs to the Pantaloon Retail India limited. I had no idea there was any link between Pantaloons and Big Bazaar. Then the name in the next line... Kishore Biyani. It sounded familiar. I ran to the book shelf .... it was there .My dad who loves buying books had this too and I was right. It was the tale of the Big Bazaar. It was about its founder Kishore Biyani. I have been at the book since evening. It's entitled " It Happened In India". While I am enjoying the read I would like to quote Mr. Kishore Biyani....

"Looking back ,I think that someone grows and starts to learn and understand life , he starts to question as well.At a very early stage one starts creating mental models to interpret various observations.At that point, if one finds that what he has learned on his own is different from what is being practised in reality, he tries to distinguish right from the wrong.He soon starts to seek answers to everything and then life transforms.I feel having an attitude of questioning everything is important.Until one questions the established way of doing things, one won't be able to come up with something new."

So friends , question it!! and may be I would check on Mr. Vishal on the second floor next time ...lol.