Rhythm divine, call of the "Dhakis"

With arrival of autumn, the whiff of festivities gets thicker in the air bringing in lot of joy, hope, celebration of remnants of traditional customs and rituals, a much deserved respite from our daily grind.

I have always been very fascinated by the traditional drummers fron Bengal; Dhakis and their Dhunuchi Naach, an integral part of  puja celebrations. Its only around this time of the year that one gets to listen to them in full glory of their art form and watch them swirl to the rhythm of Dhaks, (a percussion instrument from Bengal) on every beat. Once Dhakis strap their Dhaks around their shoulders and start playing, the mood of puja suddenly livens up.

The soothing sound of Dhak holds immense magnetic pull and the moment the first beat is played, people start surrounding Dhakis, whirling, singing and dancing with Dhunuchi (coconut husks and herbs placed in earthen pots) in their hands. And suddenly, seemingly ordinary drummers are transformed into different beings; lost in their performance and worship of Maa Durga  adding divine grandeur with lot of energy and reverence, bringing in true essence of the puja. With different rhythms played for different occasions, this carnival of sound is something that one must experience to understand its enthralling magic.

The most alluring aspect for me during Durga puja, is watching conflux of old and new generations, reunion of traditional and modern, varied hues of life, each, in perfect harmony with other in celebration.

I overheard an old gentleman explaining his grandson how music of the Dhaks connects to our heart beat and how it has always been integral part of culture, tradition and life. The joy on face of that old gentleman while teaching his grandson swinging to the beat, was brimming with great nostalgia and I could not help thinking there could not be any better way to bring families together and get in touch with the roots. 

There is ethereal beauty to the energy at puja pandals despite all the chaos of the commercialization. After participating in Dhunuchi naach to my heart's content, I returned transformed; overjoyed, bubbling with loads of positive energy.   

Shubho Bijoya! May goddess Durga, bless you and your family!

Forget world peace, can we be human first?

Sometimes, I struggle really hard to stay away from writing about events that involve violence and human rights violation for a simple reason that such incidents are extremely painful to cope with, emotionally draining and their impact is too deep to shrug off and carry on with life as if nothing has changed just because I am not affected by it!

Yesterday, I read an article shared by one of my Facebook friends about a young mother of two, being stoned to death in Pakistan, for possessing a cell phone! The story is going viral since last two days on internet. I also read couple of articles on atrocities inflicted during recent terrorist attacks in a mall in Nairobi, dormitory in Nigeria and brutal killings in Muzaffarnagar during the recent communal riots. It is beyond my comprehension to understand such abhorrent acts of killings!  

On one hand, our national/global leaders talk a lot about "world peace" and on other, we end up being subjected to gruesome acts of terrorism every single day; whether it is at swanky high end mall in Nairobi, Damascus-Syria, Quetta-Pakistan, Afghanistan, U.S.A, India or "religious" extremists gunning down fifty sleeping students in a dormitory in Nigeria. There is a deeply disturbing trend of cult of hatred becoming a global epidemic endorsed by religious extremists. 

I fail to understand logic behind any religion that demands people from other religions to be killed! Its difficult to fathom politics of hatred that makes inhuman acts of violence not a regrettable necessity but the whole point and make people who subscribe to their ideologies, barbaric savages. With high stakes invested in terrorism, it has become a new currency to establish religious, political and economic power games for global domination. 

I am shocked by the mad fury of blood thirst whether it is the inhuman way people were killed at Nairobi mall or killings in Muzaffarnagar. Why just killing people was not enough that sawing and hacking humans had to happen? What kind of people don't flinch while shooting innocent people, including women and children? We remain savage both as a nation and as a race. 

How many of us would have courage to look into the eyes of a terrorist and tell him, "you are a bad man. Let us leave."?  Elliott Prior, a four year old kid, one of the survivors of the Kenya shopping mall terrorist attack, found that courage and confronted the armed "jihadi"after seeing his mother being shot in the thigh. Reading story of this little boy is truly inspiring! It gives some ray of hope that its okay to confront what is not right and question it. If a four year old can be brave enough in the most vulnerable situation that could cost him his life, can't we all look within and think if this is the kind of world we wish to leave for our children? If not, then what are we doing about it? 

"There is no flag large enough to cover shame of killing innocent people." Howard Zinn .

Please don't deny my love pumpkin!

"Heyy! whats up babe?"

"Whattttt?"

"Is it right time?

I'm sorry who is ....?"

"Listen jaan,I know you are angry about last night. You KNOW I didn't mean to hurt you love."

"Huh!!!?"

"Can we meet for lunch at our favourite place? I will take you for shopping at Palladium and then whatever you say for the whole day. Please?? I am not in mood to work until we sort out things between us. I wasn't myself last night. I want to start with clean slate.I'm so sorry shweetiepie!!"

"Hmmmm but..."

"Will you stop that?(irritated). Why do you always do this to me? Haven't we already been through this thousand times? You get a kick when I plead. Don't you?

THIS is your problem. When I try to make it up, you stretch unnecessarily and we end up fighting all the more!"

"Hello,I think you have got the wrong..."

"Okay listen, I know you want an apology. And I do agree, you deserve a PROPER one."

"Hello, Excuse me!"
"Now what? You know, you are driving me nuts pumpkin!! Didn't I say I was sorry?"

(A loud, uncontrolable laughter).

"Look,I want you to forget about break-up. DONT LAUGH!!!"

"WOULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE???
I Think you have dialled a wrong number and you are talking to a wrong person."

"Holy s...!

F... Y.. Bitch!"

Interesting! The jerk abuses his girlfriend/wife/whatever, wants to make up for it and when dials a wrong number and bombards without listening, I become a bitch!!! 

I hope that his shweetiepie, pumpkin dials my number and I get to listen her side of story too! 

Some stories are far too juicy to hear in parts!  
Life never ceases to entertain me!

Would I leave a ding in the universe?

I recently went to Baroda to attend my late father's "shraddha", on his first death anniversary. In a very short span of a day during the rituals, my mind was occupied with memories making me go through mixed emotions, leaving my sentiments bit wobbly. I returned, engulfed with restlessness; result of yet another reminder of how things changed within the family post my parents' demise in last three years! 

Last evening, while walking on the beach, (my favourite place I visit when I feel the need to calm down) looking at the foot prints on the sand, a lot of memories with my parents were played on my mind; beautiful, abundant memories of a very blessed childhood, memories that brought out best associations with neighbours and extended family members conveying great reverence for my parents that made me feel proud.

Its strange how in spite of knowing that my parents have journeyed well and it was natural for them to depart, I sometimes crave for their physical presence to preserve my link, comfort and indescribably potent sense of security. Try as we may, to prepare ourselves for the departure of those who have been part of our lives, how difficult it is to remain stoic when the moment actually arrives! 

Have you ever observed how the beach unfolds lot of stories of the people passed by before us? We walk different paths leaving different foot prints. Some play, some run, some walk erratically, alone, others, with someone special, making castles while some just sit gazing at the horizon and waves. Some people ensure to erase foot prints of people passed before them, while some walk gently without disturbing anything in the surrounding, enjoying every step. Many of us don't leave foot prints because of where and how we choose to walk while some foot prints are rooted so deeply that even the waves are not able to erase them!

Looking at the way my parents touched so many lives, I can't help thinking, when I am gone, would I have made any difference to a few lives? Am I walking a right path to be like a fossil; leave an impression on sand that solidifies into rock so that many years later people can marvel about life I lived, literally and metaphorically?  

"When its over, I want to say; all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened and full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world." Mary Oliver

This quote reminds me of Steve Job's wish to leave a ding in the universe. It isn't about passing through. Its about leaving a mark. Ever thought, what is your mark going to be?

Dose of inspiration from the road

Traffic signals and foot paths in the metro cities of India are huge scrolls of never ending stories. They narrate tales that are tall. Not tall stories. 

There is diverse array of people trying to do business on footpaths, traffic signals and on road everyday. In our corporate humdrum dominated urban lives, we don't allow ourselves to explore their stories pregnant within. I know, we can't always afford to. In a city like Bombay, that plays host to every conceivable inhabitant on planet Earth, survival for these people gets painfully tough. 

In all these years of regular commute, I have learnt to stop struggling to fight with rising decibel levels and concern about encroachment of public roads and footpaths and have learnt to shift my focus to seeing beauty amid the chaos at traffic snarls and have come across most inspiring and fascinating tales of human spirit.

Since last couple of days, on my daily drive, I have been watching two stunningly beautiful Marwari women from Rajasthan, selling bead jewelry at the traffic signal. Watching these women selling their jewelry is absolute delight! Most of the times, while so many other people at the signal don't even merit a cursory second glance, I look forward to spotting theses women and interact with them as much as possible. Apart from their raw enchanting beauty and breathtakingly beautiful sense of dressing, its their seamless efficiency and mind blowing power of striking a deal within few seconds is what grabbed my attention instantly. 

Think about this. They don't have enough education as back-up or set of skills to define their "core competence" in "key result areas" to confine themselves to as each day brings in new challenges that demands them to change and adept. They have to provide for their entire family, including men and can you even guess the load of that burden? They are left with no choice but look forward to each day, face it head on; shouting, haggling, arguing, avoiding lecherous glances and touches, take humiliations in stride and yet try hard to sell their products taking all this in their stride with great élan, with a lovely, genuine smile on face and sense of "get-on-with-it, no matter what, WITHOUT seeking pity or any help! 

A gentle smile, a friendly wave or a full throated greeting to these women have made many of my days. I have gained a lot when they come to me and in those brief moments, share their experiences of harsh city life. It is in encounters like these that I realize I am part of a very blessed minority. I am waiting to catch up with their life stories to unfold strand by strand and when it does, I know there are many lessons to learn about business, management and life in general, that even the most elitist business school in the world can never impart!