Musings on the beach

The sea is absolutely delightful just because you can feel it, without actually getting soaked in it, the smell of salt and air and the sound of waves. You just need to sit on the beach. I have often wondered why everything vast and limitless inspires me to write? Why is it emotionally so overwhelming? The sky, the sea. There are no answers but I can very well say what I feel. I once sat on a beach in Chennai till late night……..

I am staring at the sea, right into it and I feel as if am inside it. I wonder where it begins and ends, its width and its length. Everything must have an end. Everything, all around us must finish somewhere and leave space for others. And finally, everything must have a beginning, so that it can end somewhere. They say the seas are endless and yet it leaves space for all others, around it and within it. It nurtures so many species under its mysterious womb. But I am only thinking how can it not end or begin?

For me it seems to begin right on that beach, but I know beyond my eyes it should end somewhere. As of now it is so silent all around, and the beach has never been better.

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LOST

I am in the midst of nowhere…… I sit under the sky, and I stare into the blue…..

A cloud floats in the sky, the sky is so vast and the cloud so lonely. But still it does not stop, it goes on with the wind hoping to find something on the way, may be it can touch other clouds and be a part of them or perhaps it is searching for the perfect rainbow. The cloud flies in every direction, it travels all around the sky. The cloud realizes that the sky is endless and so is its journey, and so is its quest to find the perfect rainbow and shine with it, and that her life may end ‘as water’ but her quest will remain incomplete. The cloud no more wants a ‘perfect rainbow’, it no more wants to fly with the wind. The cloud does not know what it wants…it is so lost in the emptiness within itself, from outside.

The cloud knows that nothing can be perfect and that it is possible to be very happy within that imperfection. The cloud just wants to be happy in the sky and cling to it, it can’t fall onto the earth so soon, so young. The quest is lonely now, but the cloud knows it has to just keep going, it has to find something…..the only question is find what??

I get up, I walk away from its emptiness, the hollow is all around me.

LESSONS FROM LIFE

I am from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha. I heard that I was born on a hot, sultry afternoon in June, although I am not very fond of such weather! The doctors said my position was complicated and so were my chances of survival. But since then, life has been easy for me, and survival very smooth. I was a spoilt child, who was pampered by her grandparents and gently admonished by her parents. Soon, my sister came to my life too.We grew up listening to stories about fairies, ghosts and Hindu mythological legends, from my grandparents. This convinced me that, goodness always wins, no matter what odds it faces. It was only after I came out of the cocoon of my rosy eyed childhood, and faced the world, I realized that goodness in fact rarely has any takers. Manipulation works better sometimes.
My school life was somehow boring, although in retrospect I would say that I miss it sometimes. School life seems to me now, as if it all happened in some another life. I was shy and an introvert and followed all the rules. Teachers adored me. Perhaps being ‘too good’ made my school life a bore! But I realized that school is all about what Chomsky calls ‘manufacturing consent’ for values that society upholds.
Now as an adult, I speak the language of deviance, according to my acquaintances. It is very obvious, being a feminist, I often face a lot of ‘flak’ from ‘traditionalist’, ‘conservatives’ and from people who do not understand what it means.
The next five year after school, made me extrovert, although I did not learn anything, neither from friends nor from teachers. The major transformation of thoughts and evolution of ideas happened during my masters, on which I will elaborate later.
Now, a few words about my city, Bhubaneswar in every sense is ordinary. It is neither endowed with gifts of nature nor is dotted with exotic tourist locales. It’s also not a city on which you can write a book about. It is neither a citadel for rash politics, glamour nor has any tryst with 'shrewed' mafias. It continues to be a fine place to have an average career and good family evenings. The second thing, I realized that I do not want to be ‘average’ or ‘ordinary’. I am a person who craves for fame (yet aspires to remain simple on the personal side). I knew that I have to one day leave the city and fly off to those cities which gives you chance to rise up in your career, squeezes your knowledge, challenges you and success lets you win a large pie of the ‘good life’.
So, after graduation I moved to a better university than my city offers. I did my masters in the University of Hyderabad. It was the campus and the intellectual social scientists from whom I learnt a lot about the society, higher philosophies, dealing with myriad ideas, all of which helped me decipher a bit of life. My mentor taught me that it’s possible to be very professional and yet have an overtly humane side.
My friends taught me that you can have radically opposite viewpoints and still be friends. I learned the fourth important lesson, that the word ‘normal’ is an illusion. The quote ‘what is normal for the bee is chaos for the spider’ made a lot of sense. I started shedding my earlier inhibitions, this allowed a diverse group of individuals to enter my life, all of whom dropped their pearls of wisdom, into my rather naïve and fixed outlook.
Now, I am into journalism and I know this means a lot of hard work and struggle. I am more than willing to do it, since I know hard work and passion for the job is the guarantee for success. I feel that it is the path which is more interesting than the goal and I feel the excitement, as to what kinds of challenges this path will bring.
On the personal front, I will always face the challenge of keeping my foot firmly on the ground while letting myself grow wings that touches the skies.

MAHARASHTRA AND HARYANA ELECTIONS 2014: BJP EXPECTING ‘BIG VICTORY’

Modi is changing some old ideas of Bharatiya Janata party(BJP) , this was evident as Jothish Nair, the national executive of BJP’s national intellectual cell said about Vidarbha. When asked about the statement made by the PM about assuring an undivided Maharashtra, which is contradictory to the Party’s earlier advocacy for a separate Vidarbha, he said, “Modiji will only be supporting ideas that help the country to grow in a faster pace. Many earlier BJP impractical decisions were vetoed by Modiji and Vidarbha could be another”.

Hectic campaigning by Modi and other BJP leaders show the way in which BJP is gearing up for assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. The party is very positive about emerging victorious. Media is also speculating BJP emerging as the single largest party, yet falling short of seats to form a government; a hung assembly can’t also be ruled out. According to the National Executive member of BJP’s national intellectual cell, Mr. Jothish Nair, “Political observers give BJP the edge and it will be the single largest party. BJP would garner 110-120 seats which mean it will be short of 25-30 seats for forming government”.

In such a situation the party will search for possible allies Mr. Nair opines that NCP will be marginalized and will become irrelevant;so they will give support from outside.But post poll alliance between Sena and BJP can’t also be dismissed.

The statement seems surprising as shivsena and BJP recently called off their 25 years of togetherness but according to Mr. Nair, “It is a strategy of Hindutva parties to fight separately. In future, there will only be BJP and Sena as major parties in Maharashtra. Ultimately the ideology of Sena and BJP is not much different. In 2019 elections too Sena and BJP would again fight separately”.

He said that Modi is a super strategist and one of his main agenda is to remove Congress party run by the Nehru dynasty from Indian political scene. He also criticized the Congress governments as mere extensions of the British policies and it is important to free India from the Congress rule. Also in the game of politics no one is a permanant friend or enemy In 1999 also Congress and NCP fought separately & joined hands after polls to form government.

This election may appear promising for BJP yet critics say that it’s necessary for BJP to move beyond ‘brand Modi’ and give a face to the Chief Ministerial candidates in this elections, else the party may have to pay the price, since faces are important in Assembly elections. Mr. Nair mentioned a couple of faces in Maharashtra like Vinod Tawde, Devendra Fadnavis and Pankaja Munde. But also accepted that there were no leaders to the stature of late Gopinath Munde or Gadkari in this elections, hence Modi was a safer bet. He also accepted that in Haryana too there is a dearth of strong leaders since BJP was not in power until 2014 Lok Sabha (LS) elections.

After landslide victory in LS elections the party lost many by polls and assembly elections, notable among them are Uttarakhand, Rajasthan. It is said that BJP has become complacent after victory in LS elections. Some also attribute it to the party talking about ‘love jihad’ and raking up communalism. “Losing by elections is not because of being complacent or not due to raking love jihad and stuff. These analyses are done by anti Modi brigade especially the media. When the voter turnout is extremely low BJP has lost. If you see the results of by elections held just before LS polls BJP had fared badly too”, Mr. Nair said.

Moving away from assembly election, the party has no stronghold in states like Kerala, Bengal and Odisha, it does not seem BJP is thinking about any particular strategy now; due to its preoccupation with elections. Mr. Nair also said that he is not aware of the strategies planned in these states but he mentioned that “Amitji has asked Kerala cadre to start working on booth level and BJP’s immediate aim is to capture Trivandrum Corporation”.

METRO CONSTRUCTION: CHENNAI AFFECTED!

Chennai,Oct 7: As the construction of metro railway lines continue, in and around different parts of the city, the shopkeepers and commuters are feeling the burn, owing to change in routes of public transport and increasing traffic in these areas.

Prem Kumar of Rathina Bakery in Guindy area now works hard for ten hours everyday, as a resident of K.K. Nagar he is also a regular commuter, the construction of metro railway lines is affecting him in many ways. “Even after working for longer hours the profit margin is not going up, I am unhappy that my business is no longer doing well. When I come to the shop in the morning, the traffic is very congested too”.

But Kumar is also optimistic about the future. He said, “I am very positive that once the construction is over and the metros finally come, people will definitely come to my shop for a quick snack”.

Deepa T.C. a resident of Adambakkam, is also dismayed as a commuter. She said, “ I am someone who regularly travels by bus. But after the construction work started it has been difficult for me to travel. Now its very tiring. Since the bus routes have changed, I have to often walk for longer period or take an auto”.

But she also expresses her happiness  saying that Metro is actually very good for the city. “All these problems are temporary, very soon Metro train will be a bliss for us”.

Padmini V.K. a commuter expressed her joys. “I travel by train and the routes remain unchanged so I am not affected in any way, rather I am happy that very soon, I will enjoy the benefits of the metro train”.

Tilei Naikkam is an auto driver and stays in Adyar. He seems very happy at the prospect of good business in near future. He said, “When the metros finally comes and by 2015 when the trains start running, I will be benefited”. He added that, “When the trains run, it won’t drop people at their doorstep, they have to get down at the station and hire an auto to take them home”.

Farooque of Amma Tea stall in Guindy, said that his business is not affected. “I do not think the sell of my chai and biscuits have fallen in any way, although I would not also say that it has increased; it remains unchanged”, he said. He grinned and added that “No matter what happens around here, people will always stop by for a cup of good, cheap tea”.

Abdullah, shopkeeper, Beena Textiles is also disappointed and does not see any bright future. He said, “Traffic in this place has increased so people rarely come to our shop these days, we are simply washing time doing business here”. He is also thinking about moving abroad. “All the shops which are within 50 feet of the metro station will be demolished. We will not get subsidies as these areas belong to the government. I can only see my future, and a better life, abroad”.