The Chameleon

Ever seen a chameleon? Observed how it changes colour according to its surroundings? When on the bark of a tree, it turns brown; when on grass/leaves it turns green and when on rocks it is greyish-black. Its almost as if the chameleon is eager to please just to fit in! Like its afraid to offend the things it seeks shelter and solace from. It has no loyalties. And its aptly called rang badlu girgit.
We all come across a few chameleons during the course of our lives. Chameleons who belong neither here nor there. Chameleons who will ditch you faster than you say the word "amen" in your hour of need., who will praise you to your face and bitch about you behind your back, who belong to no-one and no-one in turn is theirs. They live life like a gypsy, wandering from one friend to another, one relationship to another, unable - or unwilling - to commit. With no loyalties whatsoever.
What makes them so feeble? So double minded? Is it a weakness of character or is it just fear? Fear of being rejected by their peers, fear of feeling left out, fear of not being accepted? Maybe its their past that is the culprit. Feeling left out on the playground or being made the laughing stock of the school can have disastrous psychological consequences I suppose. Add to that an almost negligible self confidence stemming out of a physical - or psychological - flaw and there you have it - a chameleon in the making!
I am not at all trying to say that all people with physical and/or psychological failings turn into chameleons. Not all. There are some who are at peace with what they do and don't have. These are the ones who are not misfits, who actually have a firm opinion about things, the ones who are not afraid to speak their mind, the ones who accept their faults and are confidant enough to make - and keep- friends.
Chameleons, on the other hand, cannot come to terms with their defects. They refuse to acknowledge their flaws and go on living an existence of lies and deceit. Their self importance assumes humongous levels and they walk with their head in the clouds. They are too pompous and impertinent to believe that someone out there is/can be better/smarter/more learned than them. They drift from one circle to another, agreeing with everyone and still not agreeing with anyone. They have no attachments in life - or at least they believe they don't - and no one ever is ever attached to them. They get treated the way they treat others - use and throw.
All I want to ask is : Who do they think they are fooling? Do they really believe people are going to like them for their fragile, ever changing opinions? Do they really think they are going to be accepted? How can they assume that people they call "friends" are naive enough to not realise how self centered and selfish these chameleons actually are?
It must be difficult living life like a chameleon, alone in a crowd. After all, we all need someone true sometime in our lives.

Caution - Boredom ahead!

It can strike anyone, anywhere and anytime. It catches people unawares and plunges them into a spiral of sleepiness, irritability and anxiety. It comes unannounced and lasts from a few minutes to agonisingly long hours! What provokes it, you ask? Anything. You might wake up one morning feeling fresh, ready to take on what the day might bring, with high hopes and plans for the coming 24 hrs and BAM! it strikes. There you are then, lying on the sofa semi-conscious or just gazing at the television. Its like all the plans, all the hopes and all the excitement for the day has just dissolved into nothingness and all you are left with is a faint recollection of what might have been.

Something like that happened to me today. Here I was, hoping to study something, clean my room, read the news blah...blah....and then BHAM! i got struck! Suddenly, all the energy got drained outta me and I was left feeling weak in the knees (not out of love for anyone believe me). All I wanted to do was...................NOTHING! And even that didnt help. Inspite of doing nuthin, I was irritable and really crabby! Hopefully, after I post this, I will be in a better state of mind. Sometimes ranting helps! :)

Love Hurts............

DISCLAIMER: This post has nothing to do with my personal life. Please dont assume anything. This is just something I thought about after watching lots n lots of mushy movies (curse them!)

Love hurts......and how! It is said that the greatest joy in life is to love and be loved! Its true...theres no feeling that will compare to being in love, gazing into your lovers eyes, caressing their hair and cheeks, kissing them just losing yourself in the moment...but is it worth it?

Once its over, u feel like you've been hit by a thousand knives and they have pierced through your heart all the way into your soul! There are no words to describe the pain, hurt and betrayal that you feel once you realise that a small fight can end everything! And a fight over what? Over something you say, when you finally speak up your mind......thats when hell breaks loose!

All I want to say is dont control my life. I love you but I am not your puppet. You cannot tell me what to do and what not to do. I know you are trying to protect me, but dont you get it? Keeping me away from the things that hurt me is not the way to do it. Let me go out into the world and learn for myself, let me grow, let me get hurt and just be there for me when I need you. Just be supportive when I fall and lend me a shoulder when I wanna cry cause thats all I will ever need. Just you being there, without judging me, without asking me to let go of my beliefs.....just loving me and believing in me........not as a protector but as a lover..... as someone I have loved with all my heart and my soul! Someone I have bared my dreams to. Someone I trust.

Please dont misunderstand me.......I need you I really do, but I need you to grow, I need you to let me go out there........into the real world where not everyone cares for me, where not everyone loves me! I need you to let me go out into the world and learn for myself......thats when i'll understand.......and our love will grow stronger!

And at the same time, believe that I will always be here for you, holding you, believing in you, loving you. I dont want to change anything about you, all I ask for is a little understanding.......is that too much to expect?

BRAVEHEART??????????????

This is a picture of Mr. Pramod Muthalik. The braveheart who dared oppose the "westernisation" of our precious and revered Indian culture. He is the man who heads the Shri Ram Sena. Does this outfit really need any introduction? Any well read individual would be able to state this outfits claim to fame. For the uninitiated, the veer-jawans of the Shri Ram Sena have contributed a lions share in the protection of the culture and sanctity of Indian traditions. They have punished those who dared to cross the lines of decorum and good behaviour set before us by society. They have bashed up women who showed the audacity of going pubbing with members of the opposite sex. Yah yah u read that right..........BASHED UP WOMEN. Sounds masculine enough to me. :)
Finally all of us Indians can heave a sigh of relief. The Shri Ram Sena is here to protect us naive natives from the dangerous, evil and intoxicating "western culture". Does your sister/daughter go out with "boys" to have a cup of coffee? Does she have many male friends? Does she blow away all your hard-earned money on pubs and discs? Never fear while Shri Ram Sena is here. These guys will bash sense into her head. They will kick her and punch her till she remembers her Indian roots. Till she realises that a woman is nothing but a housemaid - all she has to do is the clean the house, cook food for her "pati parmeshwar", give birth to kids and raise them. Till she accepts her inferiority and learns to "respect" her husband and all his decisions.
How dare she, an Indian woman, roam around with a "boy"? How dare she have a cup of coffee with him? How dare she hold hands with him? How dare she........................HOW DARE SHE??????
But, Mr. Muthalik has saved the day by perpetating violence against the uncultured Indian woman of today. He has proved once and for all that violence indeed is the solution to preservation of our tradition. And, like the icing on the cake, he has also declared that all couples found together on V-Day will be promptly married off. Kundalis and muhurats not withstanding. Manglik or no manglik.........if u are found with a guy on V-Day..........subh mangalaaaaa saaaaavadhan! And the same goes for the guys too. :) So if you plan going out this V-Day with your "male/female" friend, dress nicely, preferably in a shaadi ka joda, after all, its not everyday that you get married, and after all the pains that Mr. Muthalik has taken, do you really want to hurt him by getting married in a pair of jeans and tees? I am sure you dont.
Anyways, I know I shall sleep peacefully knowing that the goons, oops i mean good guys, of Mr. Muthalik's gang.....errrrr.........outfit are roaming the streets looking for any girl/woman defying the rich traditions and culture of this great nation that is INDIA. Who says women need equal rights?
Look at the west. What have they gained by treating their women with respect and dignity? Development? A higher standard of living? A stable economy? A LIFE? But who needs all that when we have our cultures and traditions? Not us! Give us our heritage to all the development and stable economies of the world any day. We are Indians. Proud Indians! Bharat Mata Ki Jai!
By the way I just wanna salute the act of sending a pink chaddi to Mr. Muthalik. It was rather gutsy girls! :)

The Late Aamchi Mumbai...........something i wrote a long time back

What has happened to the Mumbai i once loved? where has the city gone? Where are the days when Mumbai was considered to be one of the safest cities for women? Where have the considerate citizens gone? What is happening to my beloved city?

Murders, molestations, eve teasing, rapes....where has the respect for women gone? Do the men who commit such henious crimes have no mothers? Do they not have a conscience? Is it sufficient to say that mumbai is getting worse by the day? Is it not our responsibility, as children of this city, to do something? Should we not get together to punish, no eliminate, people who commit crimes such as these and tarnish the image of our beloved mumbai? Why is no one saying anything? Where have the NGO's vanished? What are social service organisations doing?

Wake up citizens of this great city before crime and doom take over. Wake up before its too late. Your city needs you.....dont turn your back to it. Run to help. Break every fist that falls upon this city. Burn every stove thats sets the city alight. Destroy every human who tarnishes the city. Let not another man ever disrespect a woman again. Make Mumbai what it was before.......aamchi mumbai.....our beloved city where women could get out of their houses at midnight and have nothing to fear.

This is our mumbai.....our beloved mumbai........and nobody...NOBODY.....can take that away from us.

God

The other day, a friend of mine remarked " Why are so many bad things happening these days? Wheres God? Why doesnt he do anything?" A valid quetion if you ask me. I mean, should'nt God punish people who do bad things? Should'nt he be preventing bad things from happening to the world he made with so much love? Instead, we see people doing horrible things and walking away scot free. Just like that. Y is that?

Well i guess the answer to that question lies in my friends' question. Why does'nt God do something? The answer is "He does" That's the reason why we still have some sanity left in the world. Thats the reason why, when we need help, theres always a good samaritan around. There are still people who will stand up against wrong, people who will fight for justice and people who will raise their voice against corruption.

Its these people who truly represent God. Fighting for yourself is easy, but fighting for others is a whole different thing. I was watching a movie the other day, and a dialogue struck me as very true. The lead character says, " A strong man stands up for himself, but a stronger man stands up for others". Wondefully put.

So you see, God is doing something. He is putting sense into the heads of a few people- who are open to sense - when theres nothing but chaos around. Take the incident of the multiple bombings in the local trains in Mumbai. People -all kinds and from all strata of society- came forward to help their fellow citizens. The same people who probably had fought for a seat a few hours or a few minutes before, were now lending their mobile fones, money to help others. It is such acts of kindness and selflessness that show God never leaves us.

God is giving courage to people when theres need for someone to speak up. Take the example of Medha Patkar.That woman has been fighting for the people who are about to being displaced with no compensation whatsoever in order to build the dam on the river Narmada. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has given her much grief. Her health has suffered after fasting for days at end. She has been hit by lathis and dragged unceremoniously into police vans (an incident the news channels COVERED many time over). But can you name anything other than God's blessings that she has the kind of courage she does. Her intentions have not wavered and the andolan has not stopped.

God is filling the hearts of millions of people with kindness and generosity. What explains the millions and billions of dollars of flood relief that pours in for the people in need?

God is doing what he has to do, but are we? We need to be more receptive to what God has to say to us. We need to be more humble and accepting of His wishes. We need to keep our minds and hearts open so that he can speak to us and guide us when we need to be guided. If we cannot do these simple things, we have no right to question God when bad things happen. Cause, its we who have gone away from him, he is always there, waiting for us to come back.

Let us take that first step back to Him. Welcome Him back into our lives and see the miracle happen.