Fluidity

The term fluidity is ‘the ability of a substance to flow’; that’s how the oxford dictionary defines it. However, it’s not a substance but the human life I am referring to. I could have used the term liquidity as well, to describe the flow to the reader. However, I am sure most of you would have misinterpreted it and wandered off to its interpretation in the financial terminology. Liquidity reminds us of our ability to have cash available as and when a liability arises. In order to prevent you from delving into the finance aspect, I would stick to the term fluidity.

How fluid we let our lives be, is entirely at our disposal. The freedom to be with people we want to be, the freedom to change our profession or place of residence, the freedom to be ourselves. Fluidity is simply the freedom to flow with our heart, to travel in the journey of life without baggage. It’s not about being irresponsible about our duties, it’s not about being indifferent to friends however, its about being able to take the unexpected flight.

‘Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains’ Jean-Jacques Rousseau meant a lot by this single statement. As a child we enjoy the freedom of crying loudly, running freely and being ourselves. As years pass by, the social norms, rules and regulations curb this freedom. I am not speaking against regulations necessary for survival of human race on the face of this earth. Rules are inevitable for peaceful existence and meaningful living. However, the point I want to put across is that rules don’t rule life. They are the sidelines on the road of life but not the crown of thorns on our forehead. In adhering to the laid down norms, we compromise on the fluidity of our lives. It’s just like building dams on a free flowing river.

In the logical progression of questioning, I wonder how can a stagnant life get back to the state of fluidity. How does a human being; who has grown into a pre programmed machine; break the code? How can we be ourselves and still follow the societal norms?

As it requires the sacrifice of freedom to be one in the herd, similarly it requires a few sacrifices to bring back the lost fluidity in life. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out what those sacrifices are! Giving up a comfortable life and just being what you want to be without falling into the trappings of societal judgments. Listening to all that the world has to say, however making your own decisions. The world might frown at you or raise fingers at you but someone rightly said, ‘the world criticizes and points at those who rise above them.’


Being oneself is the most pleasurable yet the toughest thing to do. When are you getting started?

GOD's dearest Daughter

It is one of those last weekends, before I leave Antwerp. The bags are half packed and stand obediently in the corner of the room. The room is silent only to be woken by the music of the church bells. It's super discount sale season and it is not hard for me to picture all my friends and acquaintances pulling out clothes from heaps, trying on new shirts and standing in the row to pay their bill.

Amidst the ocean of human bodies, there might be one thinking about the girl who touched a few lives here and unruffled things around. The girl who broke the rythm of lives around. Or maybe this is just one of my distant dreams. Dreams are nothing alien to my life, infact I eat, sleep, work and literally live in a dream. They nourish my being, they are sustenance for my soul and they are the shinning lamps on the road of my life. Being poetic about the rain or just marvelling at the shinning stars doesn’t take effort. When I narrate a paragraph about the way a person makes me feel, I haven’t prewritten or rehearsed it.

Thus, I feel my decision to leave my current job wouldn’t shock those who know me well. When everything seemed enviously perfect, I gave it all to follow a cloud of dreams. A fantastic salary, pleasant colleagues, good profile, prestigious company, close friends and an adorable house, just faded into insignificance for that precise moment. It is utterly incorrect for anyone to believe that I don’t care for friends; I am reckless with my career and I am irresponsible human being with no sense of commitment. There is nothing great in following a dream but believe me, it saps the core strength out of you. Its not an applaudable act but surely a unique one in these times. For all the months I woke up and told myself, if I love my work, I don’t have to work a single day of my life. Really, I didn’t work a single day at B&S. The day my job started seeming like work, my heart asked me a simple question ‘do you want to compromise’ and the soul gave the loudest possible answer ‘NO’.

When my friends asked me what’s next, I had hundreds of answers yet no answer. I said things which seemed haphazard and weird to them. Communications, teaching, marketing, writing books and poetry are so distantly related things but to my eyes they seem like branches of one tree. What I vision in this entirely absurd combination of streams, is one wholesome dream.

The church bells are ringing and their music is seeping into my soul for long after I am gone, I will carry this along. My phone lies next to me, it’s restless and purple tea cup stands composed over the side table. In a few minutes I will be beaming on a webcam narrating tales of joys and fears, past and future to my parents. This has been the thing I did for past few months and they shall be done no more. I am just in the transition phase where my mind wanders off to unknown terrains at every moment of solitude and heart is dishing out the recipe for a brand new dream. Someone said ‘ it takes b***s to do what you did’, one said ‘f**k’!!! Many wished me luck for ftutre endeavors and a few asked'when do we see you next???'.I saw teary eyes and indifferent smiles. I experienced the high of being myself and the low of losing my friends. Among plethora of emotions I am just clinging on to FAITH. After all I am God’s Dearest Daughter.

Hihihhihi

Smile is a small curve that can straighten your life. When I woke up and looked around at faces of people, I noticed a kind of drudgery. My heart questioned ‘Why are people walking around with a disappointing look on their faces?’ Ofcourse I realized that people can be sad due to a disease or death in a family, due to financial problems or because of a family feud. However, my heart didn’t digest this explanation to the fullest. He bounced back with another question ‘But not all of us have big problems and even if we have, doesn’t every problem have a solution?’

Hence, the puzzled expression on the faces around puzzles my mind. Is every life gloom ridden? Are problems the only thing we think about? Does it take tons of effort to smile? Is finding solutions left to the lawyers, doctors and psychologists? Why are we sinking into a world of all pervading gloom? Where has the simple laughters and joys vanished? Are morass ridden human beings the future walking the earth surface?

N number of shopping bags, lavish parties, loads of goodies and insurmountable comforts adoring lives fail to accomplish the objective of fulfilling human lives. The direct correlation of wealth and happiness simply falls flat on the face. In reality, the wealthier the person, the more gross the expression on his face. However, I do not mean to say that the poor are invariably glad with their lives.

It’s just that there are million of things around that can make a gloomy soul feel delightful. The best part is we do not have to go to shopping mall or museum to find them. A grin comes free of cost, anywhere and everywhere. Doesn’t cost a penny!!!

Wow, isn’t it amazing. The irony is that though it costs nothing, its freely available anytime, anywhere, most of us don’t even look at it. It’s as if we are totally indifferent to the little beauties which pass our eyes. I just saw the rain drops pouring outside my window and smiled wide, I passed by a toddler and grinned, I heard a lovely melody and grew ecstatic, I just received a sms from a friend and my joy knew no bounds. Jump into a puddle of water, give a compliment to your fellow colleague, smile at a passerby or just thank God for the bounties of life- you will experience the magic.


Smile a while and while you smile others will smile, and the smile will go miles by miles because life is worthwhile only when you smile.:)

WHY

I read men are from Mars and women from Venus, now I am living it. Question that bogs me down is ‘do I speak Chinese or an unknown dialect’ or why do things so evident to me seem far fetched to men?

Why our simple life suddenly appears to be a complicated puzzle, which none of us can solve?

Why do your jokes hurt me and my comments seem taunts to you?

Why is that for every second of joy we bring to each other, we inflict many sorrows on each other?

Why are we trading our beautiful time for scorn and mistrust?

Why are we not appreciating the differences and celebrating the wonderful union of diversity?


The uniqueness of genders baffles us. Why men stare at women and why women blush at a man’s comment?

How God created such wonderfully different beings to survive and co exist. They sometimes admire their differences and at others they want to scream their heads out. The battle of the sexes, as the high rated Television shows call them, is actually a strife for recognition one seeks in the life of the other. How ironical?

They go through all human emotions from rock bottom sorrows to heights of joy, from inhuman hatred to devotional love. The tug of war to prove the supremacy of one gender over the other continues along with seeking comforts in each other’s arms.
It seems that they speak different languages, as if they have descended from distinct planets. Why women ask of romance and men think about sex? While men consider football, women want to shop. Why destruction is a manly sport and delicateness a female adornment? While women think you of draping in the house, men plan the Saturday night hangout at the bar. Are just gender differences or our we referring to specimens from absolutely far off planets

Dil lagaana padtaa hai

You have great job, comfortable lifestyle, wonderful routine and to top it all an amazing life partner(or probable partner).

Everything seems fine…..And then life asks you WHY? (a silent, subtle and rare question)

It’s not the feeling associated with being greedy in life…not even the one called being ‘unsatisfied’ with all that God has blessed you with…but its something…

Something that asks you to change the course of life, something pushing you away from your comfort zone, something asking you to test waters, something taking you to an unknown terrain. This is asking you to do something the world would consider strange and stares at you with queer eyes. You would look too idealistic yet too stupid to them if you listen to this ‘something’

And the strangest thing is that this ‘something’ is not a force or doesn’t compel you…its just as silent as a prayer or as subtle and soft as a mother's touch. It is not one of those loud horns tearing you apart. Its like a random tide which rises from vast ocean of voices and you run away from it towards the direction of your comfort shore.

Some call this ‘something’- a calling. I am yet to figure out the right word however, my search is on. Hence, I believe all of us have a calling however most of us either suppress this calling or throw it out of the mental window.

Pursuing the girl of your dreams, leaving a high paying job to become a chef, changing the place of work to be with your parents, taking longer holidays to take your children to a summer camp….all these can be your something.

Its one life guys…..its short…its now….listen to your silence….your calling and that will give you real joy. It’s so easy to compromise and be lured into comforts, it’s fantastic to follow the routine and do what others think right. For once, stop saying ‘Dil lagana padta hai’ whether its your profession or your personal life. You will understand what is the meaning of joy the day you say ‘maine dil ki sunni’(I listened to my heart).