Catharsis

And the 23rd August is here

Bringing memories of you in my mind

Most, sweet and fond and some the painful kind

You, in good health and spirits, this note to find

Wishing you a Happy Birthday!!

Stretching my arms and floating in pools of desire, I am

Crumbling, yet hoping to find "the one", I am

Dreading the unknown, expecting the unexpected, I am

Blind-folded, treading an uncharted path, I am

Wishing you a Joyous Birthday!!

Somedays I wish to hear you, be near you

A day-dream it is, I know, when I get a cue

Moments once treasured, now a festering scar

I so wish my burning wounds were only a scar

Wishing you a Happy, Happy Birthday!!

To bring you the sense of contentment and fulfilment, this Birthday!!

To make you regain the trust once lost, this Birthday!!

May it bring you your soul-mate, this Birthday!!

Read more

Improv

Dear Reader,

When was the last time that you thought of taking up an activity just for fun? Let me confess that it's been sometime that I gave it a serious thought.

I was presented with an opportunity, a week ago, by a stranger. Yes, a "stranger" who met me for official work on a Thursday and asked me "Why don't you try some theater?". I was as surprised as you are (considering that you are stunned now) with that question and before I could say anything at all, he said, "there's a workshop on comedy this Saturday, would you like to join?".

The next thing I know, I am at the Workshop with a bunch of strangers and all of them extremely creative. The 2-day workshop was called Improvisation on Comedy and was facilitated by Adam Dow.  Although the initial intention of me taking up this activity was to only have fun, I ended up learning a lot by the end of the 2 day program, some that could be used in behavioral training (just in case you didn't know, I am into Learning & Development).

You're onstage without a script,  relying on your mind and wits to come up with lines and actions that advance the game (I'd rather call it a "plot") further. You have no choice but to trust your fellow-players and they are in the same boat as you. That is Improv. Sounds difficult? Let me tell you it is *super-duper* difficult. And to top it up, I was a rookie at it, doing this or anything close to this for the first ever time in my life.

From my experience, two things seem to be very crucial for creating humor - timing and change. Both of these components bring in a surprise element to the audience and that's what keeps them interested. And trust me, neither of these are easy!! Also, without team-work and contribution, the act is going to fail miserably. Each person in the act will need to work with the group while contributing "detail" to the scene. Adam calls it CROW - Character, Relationship, Objective, Where.

So, yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this workshop and will keep my contacts with some of the creative souls. So come back here sometime during the next week and I will have a few more updates / news for you.

Read more

Overture

Dear Reader,

Dream Theatre - I am a die-hard fan. And like any other true music lover, the lyrics are of no interest to me.

Tonight, in an attempt to bring in my music into my new Macbook, I discovered that there is a "whole" album of Dream Theatre that I have never listened to!! Obviously, it goes without saying that the next task in hand for me was to get all the songs downloaded.

As always, the music is so sirenic, alluring, gravitating and invigorating that I had no qualms in repeating the tracks a million times. Generally, I'd be able to gauge the mood of the song with the music however, in this album there were a few tracks that puzzled me. I wasn't able to understand the context. So I decided to check the lyrics to understand the theme behind the album and what I found out blew my brains out!!!!

The album is split into Scenes, each track representing one. The reason why I wasn't able to figure out the mood of some tracks was because I wasn't listening to them in the original sequence. And here's the kicker - Scene 1 is called "Regression" and the lyrics go something like this.

A book about soul-mates and now an album!! May be, it's a sign but I am unable to decipher it.

Read more

Only Love Is Real

Dear Reader,


"What should I blog about?", I asked a good friend when I was talking to him sometime ago. "Only Love Is Real" was his answer. It's the title of a book that I have been harping about for over a week now and yet I don't know why I didn't think of sharing my thoughts about it over my blog.


I landed up on this book, Only Love Is Real by Dr. Brian Weiss while I was aimlessly wandering in one of the bookstores. I would call it serendipity. I am a great fan of Dr. Brian Weiss and that is what inspired me to buy the book instantly.


This book is about past-life regression therapy of two individuals who are "soul-mates" and do not discover it until they are brought together again. It makes you truly believe that each one of us has a soulmate. Dr. Weiss states "Destiny dictates the meeting of soul-mates. We "will" meet them. But what we decide to do after that meeting falls in the province of choice or free will. A wrong choice or a missed chance can lead to incredible loneliness and suffering. A right choice, an opportunity realized, can bring us to profound bliss and happiness." 


The two characters in the book, Elizabeth and Pedro, are put through past-life regression therapy and they remember the details of their previous lifetimes - their name, the place, their choices and their soul-mates, they identify all of these during the therapy. Dr. Weiss explains this by saying that the soul is immortal. He elucidates this with the example of a car and a driver. The soul, he says, is the driver and the body, is the car. When the car is old and rusty, all the driver needs to do is step out of the old car gracefully and step into the new one - rebirth. 


While I was reading one page after the other, I was going through a constant conflict in my head. I have been conditioned to believe (through religion) that we are here to perform certain karmic duties carried forward from the last life-time and my logical mind doesn't want to believe in reincarnation. 


I believe that this is the only life that we have and the result of the choices that we make in this lifetime will build our destiny. Hence, I believe we have the right to make self-righteous choices. 


Having said that, I have had this strange feeling of familiarity as soon as I have met someone for the first time in my life, a feeling of being able to connect with them, a feeling that is incomprehensible, a feeling that is beyond my bounds of control, an inner-voice that tells me what they are about to say, an instinct that makes me say and do things that I would judge as irrational, as a witness.  


Yeah, this is the kind of conflict that I am talking about!!


The book is undoubtedly captivating and some parts of the book did send chills down my spine and here's a poem from W.B. Yeats for those who believe in soul-mates.


"Many times man lives and dies
Between his two eternities,
That of race and that of soul,
And ancient Ireland knew it all.
Whether man die in his bed
Or the rifle knocks him dead,
A brief parting from those dear
Is the worst man has to fear.
Though grave-digger's toil is long,
Sharp their spades, their muscles strong,
They but thrust their buried men
Back in the human mind again."


From the poem, it does seem like W. B. Yeats believed in reincarnations. Do you?

Read more

The Stalking Stranger

Dear Reader,

Before I begin this tale, I need to tell you that most people living in a city like Mumbai end up going into a mall during the weekend with the hope of finding some entertainment - coffee, snacks and movies. Un(fortunately), the place that I live in is surrounded by malls (there are literally 5, each at a stone throwing distance from my house) and I needed some retail therapy this weekend.

So here I am, all by myself, in the middle of hundred other couples who seem to have forgotten what is acceptable and what is not in PDA (Public Display of Attention), trying to pick a store to start my therapy from. Oh, and OK, I must tell you that I am one of those dorks who starts feeling claustrophobic in crowded places and "crowded" is an understatement for the amount of people that I saw in here.

After a lot of convincing that I had to do to myself to stay in the mall, I chose an electronic store since I  needed a new laptop, anyway. My Sony Vaio, FE28GP (I take pride in the fact that I own this piece!!) has been away at the service center for a couple of days now and I was in the state of impuissance without a laptop. No, I am not someone obsessed with technology but I missed the regular reading up that I did online and the chat with some good friends.

Anyway, I didn't buy the laptop on this day and the tale actually begins when I walk out of the store. I see this person, probably in his mid thirties, standing there and gazing at me. Yeah, I know, gazing isn't a sin but he looked really weird. He was wearing very thick glasses, the ones that make your eyes look larger than the normal size, with a strange moustache...... The shorter, thicker version of the Chinese moustache.

I gave him a glance, walked past him and sat down in the nearby seater with the intention of catching up with some of my technologically advanced friends about the new laptop that I had considered buying. In moments I got busy with texts and phone calls, however, I wasn't able to stop myself from noticing that the guy is now standing right in front of me and yes, u guessed it right, staring into me!! Now, that makes me very uncomfortable. So I stood up and started walking aimlessly in the opposite direction. Just to be sure, I took the escalator down to the ground floor and I walked into Body Shop. 15 minutes later I walked out of Body Shop with my hands heavier and my pockets lighter AND there he is in front of me again!! This time our eyes locked and he has a smile on his face. I am sure he caught the surprise / shock on my face too.

Me thinking aloud: Could that be a coincidence or was he keeping an eye on me? Am I simply overreacting? Why would anyone stalk a stranger? What should I do next? WHY ME?

To take sometime to think to myself, without being distracted, I headed to the ladies room. And, in there, I convinced myself that it was purely coincidental and that I was not being stalked. I anyway decided to keep my eyes open (most of the times I behave like I am blind. I can never spot a friend and I seem to be completely incapable of checking out the "big-muscles", "broad-chest" of men that other girls don't miss).

Anyway, with my mind a little more peaceful, I walked out of the ladies room and I must have walked just a few footsteps and I see him yet again, standing in the aisle. "What the hell?" didn't even begin to describe my reaction to this situation. Now, this cannot be coincidental, can it be? But instead of pressing the panic button, I decided to play it strategically. I walked briskly into one of the largest stores in the mall with the thought that he would eventually lose me across the floors, only to realize that he was following me, now a little more closely than before. The distance between me and him was hardly a foot at any point of time and I was failing in my plan.

After some 30 mins I decided to end this "running around" and confront him if need be. I stopped, looked around, saw him and kept my eyes on him. He started walking and my phone rang. While I looked at my mobile phone, he walked around me and stood by on my side. "Excuse me", he said. I turned to look at him with an expression that cannot be articulated.

"Waiting for thomebody (somebody with a lisp)?" While I thought about that question that came my way and the crispiest reply to it, I said "Yes" and zipped away. That was the only "verbal encounter" that he had with me. I did see him a number of times, in and around where I was, even after this incident.

I found this behaviour so inexplicably odd that I am still wondering about it. I mean, who asks a rhetorical question like "waiting for thomebody" when they want to make a conversation? I'm assuming that this was a misguided effort at some kinda socialising. And why on earth, among all the beauties, ME? I don't think I fit into the common definitions of being beautiful. Rather, I'd fail the 1st in the list that says "Being fair".

I wonder all the time why people do what they do and this particular stranger intrigued me.

Read more