Common Pleasures

Its been quiet awhile since I wrote something. What incited me to write this blog was a simple line that I read somewhere. Here goes the line “He'd usually stamp on the piles of leaves on the footpath to hear them crunch under his shoes”. My topic for the blog today is “Common Pleasures” . Common because I am sure that most of us have experienced the pleasures from the simple thing. Even now when I recall them they bring a smile on my face. So here is the list of common pleasures

1 Fun Clips does that ring a bell somewhere…. I remember stacking them all my fingers and then relishing them slowly one by one. I couldn’t finish them all at once since my sister would then tempt me with her remaining stock. More then the taste it was the idea of eating them on fingers that excited us.

2 When was the last time you had a cream roll ? I know most of my memories are associated with food . But I really relish those childhood memories of mine where I imagined myself all grown up and having cream rolls for breakfast lunch dinner everyday. I thought I will have to work really hard to achieve that lifestyle.Kids have amazing imagination.

3 I am sure we all as a kid were enticed by our mom to have disguised milk served to us as tea. When I was served one I demanded some ‘bakery biscuits ‘ with it. I remember the struggle of having the dipped biscuit without having it dissolve. It was one of those big things on which you felt proud as kids.

4 This I can bet that every gal has done as a child. Playing ghar ghar. I am not sure whether this generation does it or not. But in our time it was mandatory for girls to play ghar ghar irrespective of how much of a tom boy you were. There would a (many)kitchen sets which we would arrange and then come up with a script , proper characterization and instant dialogues. One was not suppose to laugh since most the times we played adults and adults were those serious types who rarely laughed.

5. It was the time before the low cost aero planes divorced the distance from time. It was the time when you spent your summer vacation at your grandparents house. It was the time when there no balley classes, painting classes , dance classes for children. So in our two months long vacation we went to our grandparents by train. During the journey we coaxed our parents to buy chacha Chaudhary,billu,pinki and champak.

6 Name,Place,Animal,Thing. How many times have I played that game and since how long I haven’t played that game ?

7 yeh anek kya hain didi ?
anek yani bahut saare....
bahut saare, kya bahut saare?
acha, batatee hoon...

suraj ek...
chanda ek.....
taare anek..

Do I need to explain this to 80’s born Indian?


8 Cassettes its been ages since I saw one in this digital age. I remember when I used to keep a part of my pocket money for buying various cool cassettes of the time Saturday Night and Sexy Eyeeees Sexy Sexy Eyes and of course Aqua’s Album. I am sure all of us rember this . All day and night... Whoa...you got the FM music playin. AIR FM Studio...all the time...on ALL INDIA RADIO.....


Keep adding more :) 

Hum Hindustani

God has been grateful to me. I am born in a good family, I have good friends but most importantly I am born as an Indian. I am not saying because of Patriotic influx of feeling on the eve of Independence Day. I am saying this because Indians are by default spoilt for the choices. Although in most case you make choose something out the choices available, we don’t , we just embrace all the choices. I have the choice to wear a sari, salwar suit, skirt, trousers and shirt, business suit , I wear all of them without feeling out of place in any of them. I can speak hindi and comfortably switch to English when I like, I haven’t chosen any of them, I have open heartedly embraced both of them. For sweets we just don’t have 51 varieties of ice creams and cakes, we have 51 varieties of sweets/mithais whose ingredients are totally different from one another and not just the flavor. In relations we just don’t have uncles and aunts we have chha, chachi, tau, tai mausi, mausa, bua,fufa.I am spoilt because I can go to any of my neighbors ( we don’t just have one neighbor we have neighbors) without a prior appointment. We just don't have the festival season during the year end, we have it through out the year. I savour equally a sawai made at my muslim friend's place, cake at a Christian friend’s place, mithai at my place, halwa at a sikh friend’s place on our festivals(its not just theirs its ours). I am spoilt because of my nationality .

I am born in a country which enriched with multiple costumes , languages , literature , art , dress , manners. We are used to seeing variety , color in our everyday life. I ask to be born as an Indian in my next life and the lives after that.

Lets play Holi with life :)

I believe in myself. I believe in his gift, that’s why I think I am special."The hardest thing is to be yourself in a world that is trying it's best, day and night, to make you like everyone else” E.E. Cummings. Once we start believing in ourselves, appreciating our capabilities, accepting our limitations, we then start investing our energy, time and resources in doing what we want to do rather then aping what every one else is doing. There is a dearth of originals in this world. We were all unique when we were born, but somehow the world colors us in its color as we grow. We start living in the illusion that more we will look like this world the more we will succeed. But this thinking has bereft the variety in this world. We all look alike, dress alike, do the same things, go to the same places, even the places look alike (go to any mall anywhere all look the same).There is a clear logical flaw in this argument. We don't have put any effort to look like this world. The world does it automatically, effort is required in maintaing our unique identity.How can we achieve success in doing something which doesn't require any effort from our side. Need of the hour is out of box thinking, which we all did when we were kids. Remember we had our unique games, our rooms were different and so were our stories. Lets splash some color in this world, be your selves . “But how do I believe in myself?” is the obvious question that arises. We will have to first know ourselves. This is the biggest hurdle; sages have spent their life time in knowing themselves. But this doesn’t mean that we have go to Himalayas to meditate in order to understand who we are. It is a gradual process which starts with acceptance. We have to accept who we are. Acceptance is the key for the door which embarks our journey in knowing ourselves. Believe me, there is pure enlightenment in this path.

Fervent Prayer

I wish I had learned those Sanskrit chants which have powers to coerce the Rain God. I wish I had known those tribal dance which could invoke the Rain. I wish I wasn't born as a muggle but as a wizard ,I would then just gesture towards the sky with my wand and say some Rain spell.

Why are Delhites being deprived of an afternoon of rain beating against windows, "gilli mitti's"(sounds lot better then wet mud) fragrance,samosa and pakora's evening? Its only in the rainy season I feel like having a cup of masala tea. There is a sense of adventure in managing to have a biscuit dipped in hot tea without letting the biscuit dissolve(I end up having a beige mush at the bottom of my cup) .For Semi atheists (which includes me) it was through rain that God revealed himself. Rain was my moment of faith and certainty in the existence of God. If you think of it, God has managed a prayer from a semi atheist(although its in a blog but technically it is a prayer).OK I give up , I believe in your existence. Now please Indraji(deity of rainfall) bestow some rain upon parched Delhi ,Ameen.

You Owe us an apology Mr Akshay Kumar

As the week started I waited eagerly for Friday (nothing unusual though,I do it every week :)) , but this week was special we had planned a team outing.
First day, second show of 'Kambhaqt Ishq' starring Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards , Akshay Kumar(arranged in descending order of their performances , I am deliberately omitting kareena or miss beboo since she can't give a performance).I never had any expectations from this movie , but thought it would be a fun watching Akshay Kumar. They say "A wise man learns from his previous mistakes " ,this shibboleth challenges my Prudence since i didn't learn anything from Chandani Chowk to China ( comparing CCC with KI is like comparing comparing Sanjay Leela Bansali's Black with his Sawariya).


I don't want to write anything about what was in the movie since if i do then i will have to go back to those tortorous hours which my doctor has advised that I shouldn't. But somehow the movie has made such a impact on my brain that howsoever hard i try two tunes " Om mangalam mangalam " and "Bebo O Bebo "keep playing in my mind . My agony does not end here these tunes are accompanied by visuals. My doctor has advised therepy ( which is watching some movies with a story line and good music) and has warned me from watching any new releases as it could prove lethal to my fragile health.

Thoda Gyan !!!!

I had been thinking what should I write in my next blog then I thought how about Phrases since one of it is the designation of my blog!!!! Here are some phrases which have a story about their basis but first I will explain Cogito Ergo Sum .


Cognito Ergo Sum -'I think, therefore I am'----- It’s a Latin(Language of ancient rome) phrase. The statement became a foundational element of Western philosophy It was first used by Rene Descartes who is called the ‘Father of western Philosophy’. In case anyone of you wants to read more of western philosophy and go get a book ‘Sophie’s World’. I know I am digressing from the topic but just one more thing before I come back on track. Whenever I use the word digression I recall my English teacher who used to play game called digression (which means Diversion). She used to give us a topic and we were supposed to stick to it and in case anyone of us drifted from it whole class used to shout Digression Digression. Needless to say I never won that game . Can you think of a English word which is derived from Cogito....Its cognition (which means knowledge).

Achilles heel--- When I first came across this phrase my first reaction was oh we have some thing like this in our own epic Mahabhart.It was also there in the movie Troy.Achilles was one of the bravest hero in the Trojan war, according to Greek mythology.When Achilles was born, his mother (Thetis) tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river (Styx).As she immersed him, she held him by one heel and forgot to dip him a second time so the heel she held could get wet too.Therefore, the place where she held him remained untouched by the magic water of the Styx and that part stayed vulnerable.
The use of “Achilles’ heel” as an expression used for “area of weakness,vulnerable spot” ,“small but crucial weakness”.

Sword of Damocles---- There was this Greek king(Dionysius) who was very rich with all the luxuries and riches of life. Among his sycophant (means flatters) there was guy called Damocles. Damocles used to make comments to the king about his wealth and luxurious life. One day king said "If you think I'm so lucky, how would you like to try out my life?". Damocles agreed. Damocles was enjoying himself immensely... until he noticed a sharp sword hovering over his head that was suspended from the ceiling by a horse hair. This, the king explained to Damocles, was what life as ruler was really like.Damocles then eagerly returned to his poorer, but safer life.The use of “Sword of Damocles” as an expression used for “walk a mile in my shoes”.

Last phrase it’s a bit cliche and I used to use it so many time without knowing its origin… We again go back to Greek mythology for understanding this phrase. I wonder if there is some book which can give me a brief overview about Greek mythology . If you know such book then please tell me. Anyways, here is the phrase and the story … ……….

Pandora Box (told you its a cliche) : In Greek mythology God of Gods is Zeus. Prometheus who was a Titan(deity) was given the task of creating humans Zeus. Prometheus started liking his creation that were humans and he stole fire from Zeus gave it to man.In order to punish Prometheus Zeus created a woman (men are really lucky, even in punishment they got the best creation ;)).First woman was named Pandora. Various gods gave her varied gifts like beauty, charm, wit, elegance (we are gifted) and also curiosity.Zeus gave her a box and told her never to open it. Curious as she was, she opened it and from it flew hate, anger, poverty ……. and all the bad things.When she saw what was being let out of it, she closed it and one thing that couldn't escape was hopelessness.

Jannat :)

I always knew that its a girl. I conceived her in my imagination first, didi conceived her later. But when i saw her the first time i knew the limits of my imagination. You have to experience it to know the warmth of her touch, glow of her eyes, sound of her laughter, tickle when she sucks, power of her grip as she holds your finger.

I had named her Jannat even before she came and she is nothing but "pure" bliss,"pure" beauty,"pure" love. So we decided to name her Satviki (pure).

Today she went to back to her place with her mom and my heart riped as i saw her going. Selfish as i am , i want more of her. God bless you Satviki... may you be what you want to be... live upto your name and don't get adulterated by this world.

Purpose of our Life

What am I doing here ?
How did I come here ?
What is the purpose of my life ?

These are not the questions from some abstruse philosophical book rather these are the questions an infant must be pondering over when he enters the world. But as he grows he wanders away from them. The thing is that we all are afraid when it comes to dealing the question "what is the purpose of life".T's why we keep ourselves busy with work,family,grades,college......... mistaking them for purpose of life.


Most interesting part of humanity is the way it distorts the boundary between what we need and what we want "We need food but we want chocolate sundae"(Mitch Albom).

A soul is standing in courtyard of God and discussing how humans squander their life in pedestrian activities. God responds and says that what the game of life is all about. Life makes you miss your endeavor of being by enslaving you in day to day activities,those who balaces the two tend to attain the nirvana.

Life is all about "BALANCING". Balance between need of the body and the soul.What does our soul needs, it need to find the purpose of Life. Finding the "Purpose of Life" is also a purpose isn't it?