Left Recluse

Things change, 

we all know,

Through stillness, 
winds blow,
Rivers abate,
oceans swell,
Silent sometimes falls the bell.


Flowers wither, 
trees turn bare,
Nights shroud sunshine fair,
Born to die, old we grow,
All of these, 
I too know.


I knew you would go away,
To a land where angels play,
I'd be left, bereft of love,
Arid earth, grey skies above.
Yet this knowledge is no use,
To a heart left recluse.

Love. Happens~ Again.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, 
while loving someone deeply gives you courage..




The words echoed around her like a symphony, never ending--strumming every heartbeat of hers into Karan's memories. A cacophony of sweet nothings that he'd whispered into her ears now felt like chiseled pins bound upon her hands as Mishti folded them tightly around her, as if to protect her cold cold heart, although in vain.
It had been drizzling for quite some time now and as she stepped into the cafe, she wanted to escape into a flurry of thoughts which had been winding into her senses for a long time now.


Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, 
while loving someone deeply gives you courage..


She breathed to herself.. Why did it seem so sensible all of a sudden? All this while she'd been tormenting herself about how life had come to an end after Karan's Exit..
She'd seen him go in front of her eyes, what else was she expecting? She had known it all along, hadn't she? Then why did the tears swell up even at the thought of never meeting him again? Never snuggling under him and taking in his manly scent as he held her tightly(he'd never leave her, he'd teased her quite often)?


That familiar choke made her cough again as she sat in one of the tables in a place, where most of the tables were filled with couples happily chatting away. Been there, Done that and Made a mess of it All, she muttered to herself . The Beatles filled the air with their Love me do chants as the aroma of Cappuccino and latte floated around. She had been longing for such tranquility for days..months..
She didn't realize that she'd closed her eyes, relishing the atmosphere till one of the waiters came to her and slightly tapped her on her shoulder, "Mam?", he asked, "Are you fine?"


Mishti opened her eyes to the bright sunny afternoon and felt like she'd been dreaming..No, it felt more like, waking up to Reality. She had been dreaming all this while. The reality seemed much more pleasant now-perhaps because it had No Promises.
She ordered for her favorite Tropical Iceberg with double shots of chocolate syrup and rested back to her thoughts. And she smiled. For no reason.. She didn't need one anymore.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Why would someone smile so beautifully for no reason at all, he wondered. That too, so enigmatically? Is she in love? Well, it should be none of my business whatsoever, Sandy thought to himself. But somehow he just could not take his eyes off her. His coffee lay untouched as she again opened her eyes and started gleaming all of a sudden like a small girl who'd just discovered few toffees in her pockets.. A grin appeared on his face too. And all of a sudden, she turned aside. 


And their eyes met..




~~~~
And in the background, Jack Johnson hummed ~Better Together~

Make Poverty History by 2020.

Well, some applaud-able news for the government in the times when it is being accused of every single disappointment that the nation is facing. The United Nations suggests that India has been making significant progress in reducing Poverty in its annual Millennium Development report. It is a report that tracks the long-term goals adopted by the UN and it shows that the poverty-rate in India is expected to drop down to  22% by 2015 as against a 51% in 1990.

This figure is a sign of improvement as last year, the rate was calculated to be 24% by 2015. The poverty rate is measure d by assessing the number of people living under the minimum income of $1.25 per day, as decided by the World Bank.

India's performance in reducing poverty has led to an overall reduction in poverty globally, confirms the report. It further elaborates that by 2015 the number of people who are termed as living less than the standard of the developing countries would lessen to 900million from 1.4 billion in 2005. That is an incredible improvement!

And to put the icing on the cake, about 320 of these people, around 320 million would be uplifted from poverty in China and India, the two most populous countries in the world.

Although the report shows the positive element in India's success so far in combating poverty, it is still much behind China and some other east-Asian counties in terms of eradicating poverty. China, on the other hand has seen the sharpest reduction in the poverty-rate in the recent years.

So, while India's poverty-rate would reduce to 22% by 2015, China's poverty-rate would reduce to 5% by then, as estimated by the Report.

This stark gap is quite striking because in the early 1990s, India and China had comparatively similar poverty-rates. China is the most populous country followed by India. But today, while India at present, has about 650 million people or 54% of the population living below the Poverty-line, China now has less than a 100 million or about 8% below the line. This is according to the 2010 Asian Development Bank Report that sets the poverty bar at $2.

Poverty reduction is the main goal for the UN Millennium Development Goals or MDGs. and also includes achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and reducing child mortality.

The latest statement issued by the UN says,  “Based on recently updated projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is still expected to fall below 15 per cent by 2015, indicating that the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target can be met.”

The Nine is Mine campaign is a sub program of the Make Poverty History campaign.

A campaign that is aimed at putting forth some fundamental changes that need to be addressed and looked after by the Indian government.In response to Nelson Mandela’s call to keep our governments accountable to their promise of halving poverty by the year 2015 and ending it by the year 2025, children in India have rallied themselves into a movement called the NINE IS MINE campaign.

Meeting the Prime Minister of India, Dr.Manmohan Singh

The present Indian government has promised in its Common Minimum Program to allocate 6% of the GDP for education and 3% for health. These promises best reflect the aim of realizing goals 2, 3 and 4 of the MDGs (The UN Millennium Development Goals). Along with budgetary allocations children are encouraged to demand for proper utilization of funds in insuring quality education and basic health facilities for all.

Governance accountability therefore is the crux of the campaign. The realization of Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that is the Right to Participate is at the root of the campaign. It attempts to provide children (and in particular those in situations of exclusion and deprivation) platforms to engage with their government. It aims at advocacy for children but solely by the children themselves.

The campaign has organised a website that would be launched on the 18th of July, which is the Nelson Mandela day at 9hours, 9minutes and 9 seconds. And every registration to the site would contribute Rs.9 for the movement.Do support the change. The site link is   www.nineismine.in   .You can also join the group on Facebook- Just search for "Nine is Mine". A cause that needs your support.

There are times when we want Change. But we just wanting. We have nothing to do.Now, is the time. We must help those who help us. I urge all my readers to at least register and contribute towards a better Nationhood and a better future. 

And like I always say,

Every drop counts.

Thank you.

Why do we need Friends?~The Art of Communication

Today, is my birthday.
But very few people know about it.
I have two Facebook accounts with approximately 1000 "friends". And about 50 people would know about my birthday. None wished. They were reminded either by me or by my status or wall posts. And hurriedly sent a message wishing me.

Friends- I recollect today, the lessons we are taught right from the kinder-garden about how friendship is that one relation that stands beyond classrooms, houses, matches , fights, and Life.
We are taught about how Friends are our "family" away from family and who add texture to our otherwise rudimentary and monogamous lives. And by the time we come to college, they inherit various other denominations such as "partners in crime", "BFFs"( Best Friends Forever), and we even often find our soul-mates in our friends.

I was quite disappointed with this particular friend of mine who was so engrossed in his problems that he too, forgot to wish me even when I'd hinted at it, just a day back. And as we began chatting, I told him how I feel so bad at times when my friends don't act the way I think they would. About how much I would love to feel special , wanted and needed by them, at least on my birthday.
To that he spurted, "why do we need friends for that?"

And I had no logical explanation. Yes, why do we need others to tell us how special we are. Why would they care if you're upset or cheerful. Yes, if you're cheerful then they'll smile with you but if you're drowsy then they'd find someone else who'd make them smile. No, they won't sit with you, hold your hand and tell you everything's gonna be fine.

It doesn't make them a bad person.It is an orientation, more of a sort. Like the saying goes,
When you laugh, the world laughs with you
When you cry, the world laughs at you..

All things said, I being a history student, trace back the cultural evolution of Mankind across centuries! What is the singe element that has transformed itself the most and has thereby transformed the reciprocity of Mankind itself so vividly?
It is, Communication.

Whatever man has done, it was to hone the art of Communication- with Nature, with one another individually and then across different groups of species. Communication has been central to our very existence. How Man learnt to communicate with the Nature around him- identification of the edible foods, invention of art, science and technology and languages.

In the twenty-first century, we have all aids of communication available to us at the wink of an eye- internet, telephone, mobile phone, social networking sites, mail, postage and what not. But havent' we stopped "communicating" like our forefathers did?The motive then was to reach out, to understand and then to reciprocate.

Today people prefer sending off a nice forwarded "Happy Birthday--God Bless you" SMS rather than calling you up and fretting to meet you and ask for a treat. Now chat has taken over those long lazy meetings friends once had during the Industrial Revolution which had then resulted in the tumult of the worker's union and had been a symbol of expression of one's views and opinions.

Why do we need friends? Why rely on others to find your happiness? Many great philosophers have talked of how happiness has to found within one's own self and how it then transcends on to others. All agreed. But, I beg to differ. If one could have possibly been satisfied with one's own self, then we probably would not have been emphasizing so much on the key word "Communication" today.

The difference between animals and the Mankind is that Man is a "social" animal. Man depends on himself and his surroundings to sustain himself and his family.By Man here, I am referring to Mankind in the broadest possible sense. It cannot be forgotten that it was the significant role of women that Mankind learnt to differentiate between tastes and sensibilities. Even today, females are considered more approachable and easier to communicate to, as compared to the men. In fact, hermaphrodites were used all across the globe to send and receive crucial secretive information in the medieval period. Thus, the sex-differentiation stands of no concern as far as the evolution of Mankind is concerned strictly.

Communication- reaching out, understanding and then reciprocating-- That is what makes us different than the other species. Our interaction with each other moves beyond the realm of  physical intercourse or food cycles. There are needs other than that- emotional dependency, societal pressures, emotional bonding and belonging and so many more. To put them  point wise would be a difficult task. But the point remains- we are all dependent on each other. Then why pretend otherwise? Why prove to ourselves and the people around us that we don't need them or that we can survive without them. Because the truth is, each one of them, make you the person that you are however insightful their roles may be.

I urge my readers, on my birthday- Please don't refrain to reach out. To tell the people around you that you love them. Because I have known the loss only too well, but I don't regret anything because I told them how much they meant to me and even when they are away, they'll always be part of my world, My Neverland.