Mother Nature: Intriguing, Surprising, Fascinating

Oh, did you know, did you know

How beautiful Mother Nature is?

With a blue box-shaped jelly fish,

watching which, is simply a bliss?

With a mind controlling fungus

And a giant bird eating spider,

This world of wonders,

Just grew wider!

There’s also the Devil’s Worm,

That is the deepest living organism on Earth.

And the giant blue scorpion

Ready to snap at you in mirth.

Ever heard of a Night-Blooming Orchid

That works quite opposite to the sunflower?

It blooms after 10 p.m.

And closes in the wee hour!

How about the Spongebob Squarepants Mushroom

That is just so scant?

Or the beautiful Walking Cactus

And the invertebrate-eating ant?

Fascinating and intriguing,

Isn’t Mother Nature?

With so much to discover,

So much for the eye to capture!

A Penny

A penny I saw abandoned on my path,

A penny of no worth to me.

The penny I walked past without a second glance

But doubled up at a scream of glee.

I wheeled around in my spot

On hearing a little girl’s delighted cry

And my eyes were wide in surprise

For the valueless penny was the reason why.

Her eyes gleaming, her hands trembling,

She snatched it from the ground.

And, sprinted to her little brother

Teaching a lesson without uttering a sound.

Appreciate your possessions.

Trivial though they may seem.

For in the eyes of another, they are the world.

Cherish them, adore, esteem!

Appreciate.

Days become months

And months make years.

We go down memory lane

And cheeks flood with tears.

Happy days come and go

As do the sad.

Everyone has ‘em all –

The best, the meridian and bad.

Blinking tears away

As we look back now,

We wonder why we lost it all

What went wrong and how.

Never take anyone for granted

Or pay you will, one day.

You may have hundreds now.

But you’ll stand alone on D-day.

When you do the Crime and Someone Else Pays

“Tomorrow, 5 PM. Okay? And I do NOT want procrastination again!” came a strict but sweet voice.

“Okay, okay. No postponement of this meeting. Tomorrow for sure! Did you tell the others?” came the reply through a calm but naughty voice.

“No, that is your job.” She said with a slight laugh. “They are always ready. You are the killjoy, hon.”

“Yeah, yeah. I ruin everything. I know. But I get busy!”

“You aren’t the only one who works round here” now the sweet voice turned threatening.

“I know. I didn’t mean. . I am sorry.” He faltered, not wanting to rile her up again.

“No worries. See you.”

“Bye.”

-------------

He was wearing his shoes when he heard loud banging on his door.

“Open up Busy Bee! It is time to go!!!” Jenny cried in glee. “We even have to pick the others.”

Rohan ran with only one shoe on to open the door because it seemed like Jessica would bang it down if he didn’t. The banging grew louder.

“Wait a second you noisy brat!” he bellowed and pulled the door open. Jessica almost fell on him due to the force because she was still busy knocking with all the ATP she had in her.

She surveyed him from top to bottom and glared.

“You aren’t ready yet? What are you, a girl?”

“Oh shut up.” He replied wearing his shoe and jumping up. “Let’s go!”

She ran behind him and kept chattering away in enthusiasm. “I brought cookies! And, chocolates! And and, chips!”

He smiled at his silly, cute friend and started the car as she wore her seatbelt safely. “Hey! Wear yours too!”

“You know I won’t.”

“You are an ass. Wear it!”

“Stop it!” and with that, he drove out on to the road.

Jenny’s head was moving in sync with the music when the phone beeped with a text.

“cum soon. Whr da hel r u gys?” She boiled looking at the chatspeak but managed to stop herself from retorting, making it a mental note to bonk Nathan’s head when they reached his place to pick him and their other friend Lisa.

“See, he is yelling now.” She said to Rohan as she stuffed her phone back in her pocket after reading the text out loud.

“Oh, he won’t yell, don’t worry. We’ll be there in 5 minutes.”

“5 minutes?!” she spluttered. “He lives at least 30 minutes away!”

“Not when I am in the driving seat.” He replied with an almost insane laugh and pressed hard onto the accelerator.

“Oh no! Oh no! Not so fast.” she realized she had unleashed the speed-freak in him just by reading the text out. He loved speed and he hated being told off. 

Both combined together made him the mad fool he was now.

“Slow down!”

“Shut up. I know you want to be there more than I do. The sooner we reach the resort, the more we’ll party. Plus, I know you like speed. So sit back and enjoy” and he laughed.

Jenny quietened down and distracted herself with the music as he drove fast and furious.

CRASH.

Three bodies lying on the floor; one of an infant held tightly against his dead mother’s chest. A moped broken and destroyed lying a distance away. And blood; innocent blood.

He got so carried away only 2 minutes into driving that he forgot he was on a busy road. He lost control and he drove straight into a young couple on a moped, the lady with their infant in her arms.

Three lives – innocent lives – ended in a second. Blood was shed for no fault of their and the baby died even before he could learn how to speak.

Rohan and Jenny only suffered minute injuries and a dent in their car.

Drive safe.

Give a damn to innocent people at least.

Youth: Messed up or Misunderstood?

“Aaj kal ke bachche bhi na!!”, “Kids these days, I tell you!”  And that disgusted expression.

Only the other day, I was in the supermarket quietly looking through stuff when an old man passed me, turned around to look at me as if I had sworn at him and muttered to his wife, “Kids these days are so spoilt! Their parents should be blamed for buying them such expensive cell phones while they are still in school.”

I looked up. He had noticed my cell phone. I shut my eyes tight for a nanosecond to stop myself from saying what was going through in my head and smiled pseudo-sweetly at him. Then I very politely said, “I am not a school kid, sir. I am a post-graduation ‘kid’. Also, my parents don’t spoil me by buying me things. I spoil myself because I earn. AND, I pay my own college fees.” I so wanted to mouth, “Problem?” in the end but I managed to keep it to myself. I swear I would not have retorted had he kept my parents out of it.

He stared at me as if I punched him in the face and I simply walked away with one final smile.

This is the problem everywhere and with everything we do or say. Why is the train of thought about youth today so messed up? Okay, we know how to use a cell phone at an age when you didn’t even know what a landline was. But is that really our fault? Aren’t you the ones who taught us to stay on par with the changing world? Now that we are, there’s a problem?

So what if when you were kids, you listened to your parents? We sure as hell listen to our parents too. The only difference is that we have the guts to voice our opinions. You never spoke a word in your time and that is why most of you were forced to study subjects you didn’t even like. We know what we want today and we want to pursue it. Most of you even regret not telling your elders what you want to be in life. Now is it bad that we refuse to be the same puppets? Agreed that we can be very rash at times but that does not give anyone the right to misjudge us so brutally.

Yes, I agree hands down that some of us are indeed messed up, indeed spoilt and have no values whatsoever towards elders, family and even friends. But are you telling me that your whole generation was whitewashed with purity? That none in your generation were spoilt? To which generation did Osama Bin Laden belong to again?

Most of us see our parents work in a 9 to 5 job that they absolutely hate just because they ‘respected’ their parents too much to tell them what they wanted. We don’t want to end up like that. We want to work in a profession that we love so that we don’t quietly blame our parents for ruining our lives forever. That does not mean we disrespect our parents at any level. Most couples live together today because they are married and not because they are happy. The relationship stays intact just because they are now parents and the damn society will talk in their backs. We don’t want that. We want to marry someone we love so that we live together because we want to and not because we have to. We DON’T care what the society thinks of us. Is that so bad?

We may make decisions in haste but that is why we always look for our parents’ approval. I know a big handful of people who have obediently given up on relationships because their parents did not approve of them. We know how much we respect our elders and how much we try not to hurt them. Why can’t one just PLEASE get out of the clichéd thought and see that?

We have a world of opportunities open to us and the world is no more divided into doctors and engineers. Some of us want to be photographers, some writers, some dancers and some journalists. We only believe that this is our life and we will live it the way we want to. It is up to us to make it or – spoil it.

We respect you deeply and we have all the values our parents imbibed in us. It aches that we are so widely misunderstood. Just give us one chance to prove that to you. And please don’t judge us OR our parents by the clothes we wear and the gadgets we carry.

A Boy

A boy holds a soft heart

Engulfed in a hard shell.

He smiles even if he's being ripped;

even if his heart is unwell.

You will never see him cry

but know that he's very weak.

He's ego is just a facade

behind which lies a worried child meek.

Oh, his ego is everything to him.

And thus he acts carefree.

But he is super possessive;

in seconds, high on a burning spree.

He will show loadsa attitude

but inside he's inferior.

He has doubts about himself

hidden in that coarse exterior.

All he needs is for some support,

For someone to share.

He's the guy we know to be harsh;

in reality the eden of care.

A Girl

A girl is like a gorgeous flower

that spreads fragrance every hour.

She's delicate and sensitive;

in a cocoon of emotions she lives.

She's a fairy on earth,

a precious gift right from birth.

As a child she spreads warmth and cheer,

babbling away, wanting everyone to hear.

She transforms into a beauty,

but sincerely performs her duty.

Duly, she gets married;

away from her loved ones she's carried.

She adapts to the new place quickly,

taking in everything quietly, meekly.

She gives up on her life, caring for others.

She feels too, about that, barely anyone bothers.

Yet, she doesn't complain or whine.

Of a happy family, she's the spine

She takes all the anger, all the trouble.

But never lets her strength wobble.

Next to God she's placed,

for with the power of giving birth, she's blessed.

A girl is an angel in disguise,

She's the other name of sacrifice..

. . . Being a Child

I wanna rewind to the time

when "song" meant nursery rhyme.

when "hurt" was only a bruise on the knee,

When promises were meant to be.

When the only annoying thing was your brother.

When the safest abode was in the arms of your mother.

When the only fear was upsetting dad.

When skipping a meal was the only thing bad.

When "hate" was an unknown word,

when "music" was the singing of a bird.

When darkness was the only scare,

when your best friend was your teddy bear.

when jumping on the couch was the only thing wild...

. . . I wanna go back to being a child..

I Love You!

I, love and you. When these three words are strung together to form one sentence, the reactions followed are usually horrific. When your mom overhears you say those words to someone else on the phone, oh God save you! If your dad hears it, your phone will probably be taken away from you. If your friends hear it, you’ll be subjected to a lot of sniggering, teasing and what not.

Why? What is so wrong with saying “I love you” to someone you love? Does it HAVE TO be your ‘lover’?        

      

Sad life we live, don’t we?

There was a very expressive girl named Suzzane. She believed in voicing whatever she felt. What was in her heart was on her lips. If she loved her friends, she made sure they got to know it. For her “I love you” was a very simple way of saying what the words mean. I. Love. You. Simple as that. There were no hidden facts in those words. All was plain and simple. Of course as aforementioned already, people’s train of thought always went in the wrong direction. Some sniggered, some made fun of her and some even scowled at her. She had once written “I love you” on one of her guy friends’ Facebook Wall and all his friends nearly ate him alive for ‘hiding the truth’ from them.

Oh, did I mention she had a lot of guy friends? She easily said those words to them too – no strings attached – but people failed to realize that. When she made a new friend and suddenly said it to him when he made her happy or feel better, his first reaction would be “Whaaat?!” and then his mind would say – thankfully say – she is really expressive and she doesn’t mean it ‘that’ way. She was carefree. She didn’t bother what people said or thought. Some even called her promiscuous but she couldn’t care less. Okay they have a problem if she said those words to a guy. Leave the girls alone at least? “Gay!” would be the response most of the time. Again, sad life we live, don’t we?

“I love you!”

“All right then, bye!”

Click.

This was the response she always got from one of her closest and dearest friends, Vikas. She never complained but once in like 23 times, it pricked her. One day she decided on asking him about it.

“Hey, I need to hang up now. Mum’s calling.”

“All right! I love you!”

“Okay then, bye!”

“Hey Vikas!”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you never respond to my ‘I love you’? You don’t love me?”

Pause.

“As a friend!” she hastily added fearing he’d take the wrong meaning. “Only as a friend! You know I say that to everyone na?”

“Yes. I do. But I never said those words even to my family!”

For him, his family was the priority. He was never closer to anyone else before. 

Well, before Suzzane walked into his life and made him realize there were others outside his house worth his love.

“Why? Don’t you love your family?” she asked.

“I do.”

“Let them know then.”

“Is it necessary?”

“No, it’s not. It will just make them smile. Come on, you could do that much to make someone you love smile, couldn’t you?”

Pause.

“Not wanting to be overtly proud or seemingly arrogant but I know every time I say it to you, you smile. Don’t you think your parents deserve it too? Your sisters? And you know what the best part is? You aren’t even lying or trying too hard! You are simply voicing what you feel! Words can do magic and I know you realize that.”

Longer Pause.

“Hey! Mum’s yelling. Will talk later. Bye!” came Vikas’ reply then.

“Sure, bye!”

Suzzane also loved channeling her love through various media such as personalized gifts, surprises and a few loving texts. They were enough to cheer her friends and that is why she was adored. Same scenario came up with Vikas once. He was dull one day and was barely talking properly. She was not really okay either but her motto was “Friends First!”

She decided on cheering him up and worked towards it all day. She sent him little self-written lame but sweet little poems and texts to make him smile at least once. They couldn’t meet up because both had college to attend. So she made sure by the time he checked his phone in the evening, he had a lot of nice stuff to read and feel happy about.

[You must be wondering why he would wait to go back home to go through his text messages. Well, that was just how Vikas was. He never touched his phone when he was out. He only attended calls and hung up within 30 seconds. Weird slightly, yeah!]

He reached home in the evening and went through his text messages. 17 texts from Suz. He read each and every one of them and his smile – his gorgeous smile – only grew wider with each. He called her immediately.

“Hello?”

“HEY!”

She smiled at the enthusiastic greeting.

“Feeling better?”

“Much better! You really know how to cheer me up!”

She smiled again.

“I just know how to voice my feelings.”

“You sound low, you okay?”

“Oh, I am fine! And, I am so happy I managed to cheer you up.”

He sensed something was wrong and he could easily co-relate it to her awful pangs of loneliness. She was a happy girl to the world but somewhere inside, she felt very alone. That feeling surfaced sometimes. He knew not to ponder her further.

“You sure did! You are amazing!”

She laughed.

“I am not!”

“You are!”

“Hey, have to go! Dinner!”

“Sure!”

“Bye!”

“Hey Suz!”

“Yeah Vik?”

“I Love You.”

Her loneliness and her sense of depression were replaced by the best smile she ever smiled.

Indeed, simple words could weave magic.

The Tech-freak Gen Z

Want to feel great about yourself? Take a look at someone from Gen X [considering we are a part of Gen Y] – they will seem way too naive and ‘backward’ if I daresay. Want to feel crappy? Turn around and take a look at the kids [Gen Z I think].

The other day I was with my friend at Croma, drooling over Macbooks when we heard a little boy scream at his mother.

“I want that!” echoed the boy’s voice.

Annoyed at who was disturbing my ‘lone time with the superb Macbooks, I looked up and saw the same expression on my friend’ face. We both then turned around to see who this person was. He was no more than 10 years old and he was creating havoc in the music players' section.

I leaned over to see what he wanted. I was shocked out of my very soul when I saw his tiny finger directly point to an iPod Touch.

I turned to my friend again for support because it felt like I was going to pass out from the shock. His eyebrows were raised so high, they threatened to disappear in his hair. I snorted and turned back to look at the kid who had drawn quite a lot of attention by now.

“No Varun! I’ll buy this one for you.” His mother tried to negotiate with him by pointing at an iPod Shuffle.

The boy glared at his mother as if she suggested that she was going to buy him an eraser in exchange of the iPod Touch.

 “No!” he screeched. “I want that! Only that! This one doesn’t have video!” and with that, thick tears rolled out of his eyes.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned back to the Macbook selection, my mind plagued. When I was ten, I didn’t even have the guts to ask daddy for a walkman. All I cared about was my little teddy bear and the only thing that bothered me was daddy scolding me for getting my hands dirty from playing in the sand. I knew no music, I knew no video. I knew nothing but playing in the sand, jumping around with my loved brother, whispering stupid secrets in my friend’s ear and giggling at the silliest jokes.

From what I heard from my dear friend who made sure he saw every bit of the drama, his mother had given in and gotten the iPod Touch. I shook my head in exasperation. Indeed we are slowly losing that innocence in kids. Indeed, those careless whispers, those childish games and those naive smiles are a thing of the past. . .

Is the tech world going to take the childishness out of the coming? I shudder and I hope not.  Because next thing you know, your five year old kid will demand ice-cream only from Creamstone and nowhere else! :D