Gudiya Chaahe Na Laana, Pappa Jaldi Aa Jaana...

I was playing with our neighbour's kid again, yeah D :) She loves to listen to songs, and sometimes tries to sing with us. Generally, my mother sings for her as she knows all the lullabys. But yesterday, for a change, I sang to her. 

D's father was on his way home and I know how excited she gets to see him. Well any daughter would :) And the song that came to my mind was 'Pappa Jaldi Aa Jaana' from the old movie Taqdeer. The restless baby that D is, I was surprised when she calmly rested on my shoulders listening to this song. Beautiful lyrics in the first stanza itself :

Saat samandar paar se
Gudiyon ke bazaar se
Achi si gudiya laana
Gudiya chaahe na laana
Pappa jaldi aa jaana....

This song never came to my mind for all the times I have sung for D. But it did yesterday, and I have not been able to take this song out of mind since then. I hadn't watched the video before today as well. I don't quite remember if my mother sang this song for us when we were kids.

Childhood memories crowd in. All I can think of since yesterday is how much I would be worried when my father wouldn't come home on time. Even one day if he wouldn't come on his usual time, I would miss him. If I had asked him to bring something for me, then it would pretty much be like how it is in the song above - Gudiya chaahe na laana, Pappa jaldi aa jaana! As a kid, I was scared to get out of the train on stations, simply because I didn't want to miss my train. When the family would travel together, I would keep looking out of the window when my father would get down. If the train started moving and he wouldn't be seen near us, I would panic. Just for those 10 seconds!

All the women in our colony had these monthly trips for them to spend some time away from the daily rush. It would be those Sundays when Mom wasn't around, that me and my sister enjoyed being with Dad the most! He would cook us the most delicious meal, also keeping in mind what we would like to eat.

I remember those nights when he would tell me the story of a brave boy. I remember how he would nurse me and my sister when either of us would fall sick. The worried expression on his face is still etched in my mind. I remember his big belly near which I would sleep using it as a cushion sometimes :) I remember the times he had fought with Mom for us.

Outings on Saturdays, his half day at work, would not involve Mom, mostly. He would take us to the zoo-cum-park to feed the animals there. I guess such small lessons made me and my sister an environment freak :) When the three of us would be on the scooter, he would keep tucking at us for fun, asking if both of us were there :) Cleaning the house on Sundays would be a family thing. Each of us would be allotted a department. Dad would switch on the music and off we would groove and clean the house. The tradition still continues! I'm grateful to Dad for the ear for music he has given us :)

My dad wouldn't tour much. But whenever he did, as any other child, I would expect him to bring something for me! May be a doll.... But at the end, I would be most happy for his return. 

Little did I know that someday he would never return from the hospital....
May be that's why the lines have been inside my head since yesterday, "Saat samandar paar se, Pappa jaldi aa jaana...." For we want him to return... We miss you Dad! But I also hope that you're having fun up there in heaven :) And we will always love you! :)

A fun 'Earth Hour'!

Yes, the annual earth hour. It was celebrated yesterday with family and friends. I take the liberty of saying that it was a celebration, though it's a grim situation at the base, because I realised that such serious things can be made fun without losing the importance or reason behind it.


The other day we were discussing how people have made their own terms and accepted it to be 'what is supposed to happen'. Yeah right. You know what? Even if it is supposed to happen, it's not necessary that you screw it up. And at the end of the day you could just escape saying, "it's supposed to happen". I believe that something huge is going to happen in 2012, but that doesn't mean I mess around with this very planet who has provided us with so many things, everything!


I'm so sure that our creator must be crying silent tears for creating us. Have you ever had that feeling of creating something of your own and seeing it doing bad for others? Yeah, exactly. That sinking feeling. I'm not saying that I'm a full on go green person, but then I'm doing my bit. For starters I'm not expecting or believing that the earth is meant to be in a worse state :P I've been thinking about buying a 2-wheeler but the first thing that comes to my mind is, am I not adding to the traffic, the pollution? Yeah I know, in your head you just went "This woman is crazy". I do want to own a car but I don't know how much guilt I'll go through or how much time it'll take for me to think it through!


Anyways, so last year on earth hour we had been to our cousin's place. We played scrabble which could only have 'green' words and eventually named it 'Greeble' :) Our cousin's wife used only organic stuff to prepare dinner. We shared our worries about and towards our planet, and realised we're much much better than some people. We made it a fun event and later found out that we ended up extending the time of switiching off, unknowingly! :) This also was our shot to fame in Infosys [;)] as our cousin shared about the evening on Infosys intranet. And our ideas were a suggestion for this year's earth hour :)


This year we thought of having fun again! So we invited our cousin and two friends. Though late by half hour, we switched off the lights. We decided not to use LPG for dinner. But we had proper dinner with dessert and beverage! So raw poha (beaten rice) was used to make 'Gopalkala' - a dish famous in Maharashtra made on Janmashtami and during Ganesh Chaturthi. Dessert was also made out of poha, and for beverage we had Jaljeera :) Candles were lit and we shared about green initiatives - our bits. We also shared how we know of people and their bits towards going green. And then one of our friends, who is a guitarist, suggested that we make a song about the whole evening. And we recorded a video of the song as well!! :) Below are the lyrics and the video:



Lets make an Earth Hour
To remember
From January 
To December


Candlelight
Aint just about romance
We switched off
Gave Earth a chance


It was our way
Of getting together
And contributing
To make it better


Our food
Was made without LPG
The Earth is now 
A little more Carbon-free


Notes of honey
Emanate from wood
And make the evening
Sound so good


It was our way
Of getting together
And contributing
To make it better


The Earth hour
Is just a stepping stone
One day a green Earth
We'll claim as our own...


(Chorus): 


Lets make it greener
Lets make it better


Lets make it greener
Lets make it better


Lets make it greener
Lets make it better


Lets make it greener
Lets make it better...



I'm proud of all those around the globe who are worried about our lovely planet and are doing good things towards it, however small or big. I'm proud of those who shared the evening with us last night - family and friends :) Thank you for being there!


I love this planet and I'll try and do as much as I can to do my best towards it. This planet deserves respect, if nothing else. I love the earth! :)

A Child's Play!

I was playing with my neighbour's daughter today. She's a sweetheart. Just about to finish a year, she taught me quite a few lessons. Let's call her 'D'.


D just learnt how to climb up the stairs, she still doesn't know how to climb them down though. She climbs a few stairs and then looks back at us - checking if we're there to ensure she's fine and also to encourage her, applause when she climbs. She pauses for a nice time and smiles to her own content. As I applause when she finishes climbing the set of stairs, she starts clapping as well. Enjoys it thoroughly. 
The lesson learnt here was, that when we achieve a particular goal, before moving ahead, we should totally savour the moment. Get encouraged, and most importantly, applause for self! In the rush of climbing those stairs, we might just fall on our face - flat! And when you finish climbing your own set of stairs, apart from you there'll be others who will stand in awe of you too!


The next favourite thing for D, after climbing the stairs, is to observe the world around. Observe in every sense of the term. She pays thorough attention when I point out the colourful cars passing by. She admires the birds flying across the sky, without blinking her eyes. She tries to call the dogs that roam around. She observes people, gestures a 'hi' when we ask her to. Admires the flowers that are in full-bloom right now.
Haven't we forgotten all these things somewhere, while keeping up with the world? Who stops and looks at birds? They've always existed and hence are easily ignored. While walking on the road, when we see flowers fallen below, do we take a moment to look up and see the same flowers in bloom? Gone are the days when we could trust anybody on the road, and hence fail to give any stranger a smile!


Like any other baby, D likes to do things which we ask her not to do. And if anybody resorts to scolding her, she pretends to be upset. But the moment we smile or laugh, she bursts out laughing as well. Trust me, that happens every time we scold her!
But as we grow up, we take things to heart. We don't take the lesson out of it and make merry, like D. We choose to savour the sad moment that comes after being scolded...


One favourite thing about D, for me, is that if you look at her and smile or laugh - anytime - she replies with the same. A happy baby that she is, it just ensures that my habit of smiling is definitely worth something. Even if it means watching a baby's face glow up with a brilliant (and toothless :D) smile :)


As it is, growing up changes a lot of things for us, which is inevitable. But if we give it a thought, life just might be a child's play!

Spring Tales!

Heavy YELLOW on GREEN, makes the branches lean
Beautiful LAVENDER carpet all over, makes u want to roll-over!
The PINK welcomes you by shedding itself from the tree
The WHITE wants to touch you, and makes itself free!
So dance around as the spring charms you!
Be enchanted by the beauty that surrounds you...