*One Liners*

The Mask

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One mask after another,

Man of today scares the mirror;

Confused emotions,

False identities,

Mala fide intentions;

A look in to your eyes and mine,

What are these capable of hiding?

A grotesque reality lying beneath,

The faces behind masks,

Chiding and deriding.

One mask after another,

Man of today scares the mirror;

Practiced expressions,

Fake concerns,

Convincing pretensions;

A look into your eyes and mine,

What are these capable of hiding?

The ill-will and nosy intentions underneath,

The slander, back-biting and fighting.

One mask after another,

Man of today scares the mirror;

Plastic smiles,

Sugar coated words,

Pernicious guile;

A look into your eyes and mine,

What are these capable of hiding?

The superficial emotions, the cursory relations,

The selfish streak, the hypocrisy circumscribing.

One mask after another,

Man of today scares the mirror.

The post is written for #INDISPIRE Edition 133 Take this poetic challenge.Mask and masks, masks everywhere. What is it that the mask tries to hide? put it in prose poem, poetry, micro-poem, haiku or anything lyrical. #masks

The Story of a Suicide- Book Review

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When I learnt about this book titled 'The Story of a Suicide' http://www.storyofasuicide.com/ , I immediately started reading this book. I have always wondered if there is no after-life, then could the morality or immorality associated with the suicide be classified in terms of black and white? Our scriptures say that this life is not the end because it’s just one of the many lifetimes we have been here. Recently, I read Dr. Brian Weiss’s and Dr. Michael Newton’s works and the picture of the afterlife that they have revealed in their books based on the case studies, is strikingly similar to that in our scriptures.

Our life is not as limited as we think it to be. We are all on our own journey, learning our own lessons at our own pace. No two fingers of our hand are alike. Similarly, no two humans can be alike. We all have our own set of strengths and weaknesses. But it does not mean one is lesser than the other. In the end we will all be the same. We are just at different points of the same journey. It is true that we all get deluded and start comparing ourselves with others. Sometimes in this process of judging, we lose our self-esteem while at the other times we as a part of the society as a whole become so consumed with a particular point of view/ way of life that any digressive point of views/ ways of life are ridiculed. The person who is different becomes a victim because the society collectively acts in a way to lower his self-esteem.

“The Story of a Suicide” by “Sriram Ayer” is a novel based on four main characters Sam, Charu, Hari and Mani. The story captures the complexity of circumstances of life which lead one of the characters to suicide.   Out of the four characters Sam was downright wicked. Charu was a mysterious character or rather it can be said that she had some kind of identity crisis. It was not very easy to understand her but there was one quality of hers that was appreciable, her strong headedness and her don’t care attitude towards the judgments passed on her. Hari was a timid and sweet natured guy.

The storyline is quite Ok. Although while reading, at certain points, the narration leaves you disappointed at the picture of these youngsters' lives which has been painted so grimly throughout. When I read the title, I had imagined it to be a story which would include problem as well as solution. But there are no words of hope written explicitly. The story is very dark and even the positive traits of characters are overshadowed with their negative impulses.

While Sam is a very good programmer, he is not very good in his interpersonal skills. He is not dignified enough to take rejections with a neutral mind. His revengefulness is what shapes the course of other lives in the story as well. Charu is strong but she is much prone to depression. In her definition of freedom, I find hints of overt use of sexuality as a means of escape. Hari is still suffering from the childhood trauma of being raped by his uncle. But his emotions seem all tangled with him turning gay after the childhood suffering. This turn seemed a little inconsistent as his experience with his uncle should rather have had scared him of men. Mani is a hard working student from low income family. His father had abandoned them and his mother was a labourer. He is dealing with his own problems like learning English. His involvement with Hari was an unexpected turn for me. 

All in all, I found the story to be a dark one. Although, there were many problems or rather mental barriers each character was dealing with, what I did not like about the characters was use of too much sexuality and mental violence in dealing with the problems.  I would have liked it better if there was focus on solutions rather than problems alone. 

On an ending note, life is precious and so are the ones gifted with it. Without sorrow, none would know the value of joy. It's true that sometimes life can be testing us in the ways which seem impossible to cope with. But at the end of tunnel, there is always light. The life may seem unfair sometimes, but life chooses us for a reason; because it knows we are larger than the problems it throws on to us, because we are capable to endure and win even beyond our own expectations. Because we are much more than what we think we are. Don't let your story end on a hopeless note. Be a fighter and remember that you would be pushed to light when darkness becomes too overwhelming for your soul.

For more answers about the book, read the story at 

http://www.storyofasuicide.com/ 

Six Degrees - Game of Blogs Review

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

Paperback: 422 pages

Price: INR 349

Publisher: Blogadda.com/Leadstart Publishing; First edition (27 October 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9352013891

ISBN-13: 978-9352013890

About the Book:  

The book is written with the collaboration of 30 Indian Bloggers spread across 3 teams resulting into three unique stories filled with a variety of emotions.

As part of their #CelebrateBlogging initiative, BlogAdda.com, ran the first edition of Game of Blogs in September 2014 where five characters and their descriptions were provided to the bloggers. The objective was to write a fictional story revolving around these characters. Bloggers came together as teams and after three rounds filled with its own set of twists and turns, three stories made it to the end.

Well known Indian Authors like Ashwin Sanghi, Ravi Subramanian, Raksha Bharadia, Meghna Pant, Natasha Badhwar, and Kiran Manral were in the panel of Judges. The three stories in this book are a fascinating example of how one set of characters can have interesting lives with completely different dimensions.

My Review:

The book contains three stories each revolving around the lives of six different characters. Shekhar Dutta is a freelance writer and a stay at home husband. Tara Dutta, wife of Shekhar Dutta, is a successful media professional and Roohi Dutta is a nine year old daughter of the duo.  Cyrus Daruwala, a law student; Jennifer, a photographer; and Aryan Ahuja, a neighbor of Tara and Shekhar Dutta, are the other characters of the story.

Story 1 – The Awakening by the Team Bylines

The story is a sci-fi fiction involving aliens who are living on earth as human beings. The marital life of Tara and Shekhar is going like a smooth sailing until Shekhar starts penning his most important project.  Around that time Cyrus Daruwala comes to their house to stay for a few days as a guest. Jennifer, who is a childhood friend of Shekhar and stays in US, also happens to visit Mumbai at the same time. The four of them brought under the same roof at the same time- Was it just a co-incidence or a game of destiny? A strange turn of events takes place in the Dutta house which leaves everyone bedazzled and confused. But Cyrus is unfazed despite of an air of confusion around him. Infact, Roohi feels drawn to him the very moment he enters Dutta house. Is Cyrus the only key to unrevealed secrets or is there more beneath the unaware brain layers of Duttas?

The story takes you to the territories of spiritual science, mythology and telepathy. All in all, it is a good and engaging read.  

   

Story 2 – Entangled lives by the Team Potliwale Baba

The story is a murder mystery, which involves the murder of maid of the Dutta household, Naina. This has been my personal favorite among all stories. When Tara gets mired in her career aspirations; differences start surfacing in the couple’s relationship. Cyrus is a law student based in Delhi, who lives with her mother. Is there any secret his mother is withholding from him? Why, after the death of his mother, Cyrus shifts to Mumbai? Why Jennifer ends up at the Dutta house at the time of murder? The story has been brilliantly told with an air of mystery and suspense, which makes the reader curious enough to flip through the pages to untangle the entangled lives.

Story 3 – Missing-A Journey within by the Team Tete-a-ten

The story starts with Roohi going missing. Shekhar and Tara put in their best efforts to hunt for their beloved daughter including putting up posts on facebook. That is how they encounter Jennifer. The story also touches the subject of homo-sexuality. However, the characters were not really well integrated into one single story and there were rather too many parallel stories. As a result, the story seemed a little scattered to me.

All in all Six Degrees was a good read with a chance to explore thirty different minds in one single book. Collaborative writing is definitely an interesting thing to do. I would love to see more collaborative writing initiatives by BlogAdda in future and I would make sure I do not miss it. :) 

Not every Good thing is easy to Come by!

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Pride makes the egotistical man, consciously or unconsciously, try to cut off the heads of others to make himself appear taller. It likes to belittle or humiliate others, to gloat on their mistakes and discomfitures and to gossip and criticize. But woe unto any person, even well meaning, who intrudes into ego’s own sanctum sanctorum. He is met with instant wrath, vengefulness or at the very best, a “you should feel ashamed for hurting my feelings.”

I happened to read the above lines in Bhagwad Gita and I was instantly overwhelmed by the reality of it. It is the pride which comes in the way of forgiveness.

“you should feel ashamed for hurting my feelings”. Isn’t it something that we use to validate our anger and the bitter feelings we harbor for whatsoever reasons? Even when we forgive, sometimes, we do not forget. Pride, Ego, Hurt; these are but powerful enemies, and while we are blinded to the enemy residing within our own selves; we, sometimes, or may be most of the times, are unable to see the greener pastures in the wetland of our mind’s making. It is not for someone else that we need to forgive, but for our own selves. Forgive and then forget. It sure is not easy. It sure takes a lot of inner strength. But it is important for our growth as a soul. And only after trying can we reach that goal.

This post is written for Indispire Edition 124# Forgiveness is not easy to come by. But it is a sign of one's inner strength. What is your take on it? #Forgiveness

Love??

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The tale of forlorn love,

Lost before it could be found;

Eternal wait and moments,

Of hope and despair;

The search for the whole,

And the fiddling with parts and pieces;

The seeking of momentary comforts,

And the temporary solutions;

Deep down tryst with difficult realities,

And the layer of camouflage of indifference;

The void that appears and disappears,

Like the unexpected rains in a summer sky;

The laughter and the pain,

Fleeting like the fuming vapours;

Like a shower washes off certain layers,

Of you,

Leaving the parts bare;

Like the ripples unsettle the calmness of waters,

Only that you will never be same again.

.................Love?

.................What is it that people call love?

The poem is written for INDISPIRE EDITION 122Loving is not always an easy task. Love comes with it's share of pain and guilt. Share a story or invent one where that pain is revealed in a form unimaginable, in a direction not-thought.#thatstory

Coz its about my own growth, my own peace!

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There are people who will try to pull you down; there are people who will unnecessarily try to insinuate you to get into arguments; there are people who will talk too highly of themselves while trying to show you your limitations all the time.

And I say, don’t get angry on such people. Don’t give validation to their ego at the expense of your own peace by getting into arguments with them or trying to justify your limitations. For the truth is that we are all limited in a way or the other. Take these people as challenges and love them for giving you a chance to grow and become more patient and accepting. Accept your flaws and your mistakes with dignity. For at the end of the day it does not matter that someone was trying to pull you down; because you chose what you want to have from the incidents and from the people. If at the end of it all you take a step towards your growth by accepting your faults to yourself and still do not be negative about such people, you have only stepped up one step higher.

So, leave their choices to them. You chose only your own growth and your own peace. Be capable of loving in every circumstance.