Zindagi Safari

Prayers and rituals have always been an integral part of most of our existence- they have evolved and taken various shapes depending on an individual’s caste, creed, religion, beliefs and so on. I feel very amused however by the whole idea of associating Prayers with such limitations, and mostly by the whole “fear of God” ideology. For me, prayers have always been more of a conversation with God, a way of communicating with this higher power that lies deep down inside my soul and knows me better than anybody else. As any other child in India, I have grown up watching my mother do the rituals- lighting up an earthen lamp at the corner of the room where she kept the different pictures of God, mainly Krishna. And somehow I inherited that faith and found it easy to follow to my liking. It filled me up with this instant positive energy to face the day. Also every Thursday she would visit the Namghar, a place of worship in Assam where a group of women and children  gather and sing ...

    I shall always remember you, dream about you...the frosty darkness of a December morning, it was cold...The mist quietly slipped me further into my imagination...to the point where I could breathe the ice cold air and feel the numbness in my fingers...     The trees have always whispered in my ears, but today it hummed an almost eerie kind of a song. Walking past the whistling leaves that fell from the trees, I could hear quiet whispering and murmur...I  began to wonder if I was being followed and looked back to check, but saw none. Maybe it had something to do with the way I ran from the real, noisy world out there, to lose myself and be found again in this tranquil...     Letting go off my confusion, I resumed my path once again...My mind flew upto the trees and its scantily covered branches, the young birds must be nestled there, wrapped under their mother's wings...staring at the mist with their sleepy eyes...vulnerable and unaware of the a...

As I fix my stare on the wet dog basking himself in the morning sun at my front porch, I feel content and pleasantly surprised at his rare obedience...for the verdict I took on his behalf this morning - to give him a ‘Christmas shower’! Not the fancy shower, adorned as a blessing on a mom or bride-to-be, but the ‘bath’ shower. From my humble observations and knowledge about dogs, I can tell- THEY SIMPLY HATE IT!! Growing up, I looked forward to Christmas as a school kid. Local channels on TV played Christmas choirs and hymns all day and broadcast short documentaries on the life of Jesus. Winters would typically be filled with excitement of the school holidays ahead and marked the end of the painful final exams. For me, anticipation of the Christmas celebrations at school was a quick mood-booster. The whole school would be adorned with beautiful Christmas decorations, carols, beaming lights and life-like miniature statues depicting the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Chocolates and ...