A relationship unlike the rest

A few strands of trust, promises of a lifetime!

We are born surrounded with people that some cosmic artist had chosen for us to paint our spotless minds with memories and experiences. Siblings, parents, neighbors, relatives, are all decided by destiny even before we are born.

On the way of life, as we move on to find our successes and failures, joys and sorrows, we come across others who are also on the same path. Unconsciously, we judge them based on our own values and perceptions of human life and build an impression about that person in our mind.

If we are lucky, and it has been so ordained, we instantly find a channel of trust build up with someone who was a stranger just a few days ago. It is so natural that we never find ourselves making an effort to maintain that trust and bonding. It just gets stronger and stronger as we interact more.

It is then that we, again unconsciously, choose that person to share our joys, sorrows, ups and downs; unlike the destiny's choice to let us be surrounded by people not of our choosing, we choose that person to share the deepest thoughts about ourselves, the thoughts that we only can speak to a mirror!

And that person is whom we call a friend!

Friendship is that underlying purity that bonds every relationship which so ever. Teacher-Student, Mother-Daughter, Manager-Subordinate, Husband-Wife,You and God! Every relationship is not complete until an essence of friendship is present.

What is most cherish-able about friendship is that unlike all the other relations in the world, friendship exists only because the two like-minded souls have identified each other. They mean no greed to each other. No hate and no selfish motives.


They are just there for each other when needed. Truly concerned and honest. Distances and time cannot separate them and no evil soul can cause a rift in that trust.

Today, I feel proud to have had  and still have friends, moments spent with whom have become my golden memories. These memories that will always bring a teary smile on my face. Those few strands of trust so childishly exchanged on a few first Sundays of some distant Augusts have become promise of a lifetime that I am so happy to keep in spite of the distances and businesses that years have brought between us.


Consider yourself lucky if you have or ever had a friend!

Happy friendship day. :-)

Happy Birthday to you

Dedicated to those wonderful persons who have been there on my way on life to influence me in one or the other positive way. People who have been in a role of teacher-in-disguise in bringing me up and taught finer skills of being a human, a learner, a professional, a student, a friend...the list goes on.

What coerced me into this post is that while leisurely browsing my calender, I observed that few of those gem of a persons share their month of birth with this month. A very close friend, students, professional mentors, my spiritual guide, friends with whom I share many high-five moments, and a someone who is simply a delight to be around; all share this month of birth!

This also brought into perspective the fact the persons who play a nourishing role in bringing us up at every stage of life. That there are many virtuous human beings who, even while not being a part of our family, delight us no less than someone very close to oneself just by 'being there once upon a while'. Subtract the influence these people had in our lives, and we would be much less of professionals and much much lesser of persons.

People we come across impact us in one way or the other both positively and negatively. And once in a while, we all would come across a person who will influence us with one of their qualities so much so that we try to imbibe those qualities in our persona, want to be perceived like we perceive them. Or simply enjoy their company that it is never enough of being with their presence. To be in presence of someone so virtuous is a blessing in itself because such an happening needs a magical stroke of The Cosmic Artist.

Holy spirits keep on conspiring and creating opportunities to bring the learner and these teachers-in-disguise together so that the ordained treasure of wisdom may be passed on to the humble seeker.

And it is not only this wisdom that is gifted away by a teacher-in-disguise but also the shimmer to an ailing spirit by the one who emerged out of nowhere, the that last breath of courage enthused  into a tired mind by someone is no less than a Midas touch. Someone who told you that your nose is perfectly placed. ;-)  That you look fine in that color. That you are not fat. That you are doing just fine. And these words from them, you believed them with absolute trust and emerged more lively! I doubt there exists a person who does not have fond recollections of such beautiful persons that will always resound in their minds as from the ones who made a difference.

And what moment could be of more significance than the one when this journey of their lives began which was destined to cross roads with ours to drop in our laps, a Black Pearl of pure joy, enthuse new zeal, take away a self-doubt or just make our day with a heart warming smile. :-)

That is the day when they were born in this world. That is the day we should celebrate because that is when these beautiful human beings were set on to a road to these however small but pre-ordained associations with us that were going to make life of a truth seeker so very liveable.

Today may be that day in their life or maybe not but I wish to announce that I am glad that these beautiful people were born to make a difference in my life. Happy Birthday to all wonderful persons.

I hope that some day, I might be worthy of the same honor to someone else.

Love is...

Dedicated to all who seek the truest of Love

There were these two individuals, unknown to each other. They lived their life happily and enjoyed every moment of their life like any other individual.

Years went by and they never realized when an emptiness that was uncalled for, crept into their souls and grew inside them.They tried to fulfill this emptiness by venturing out into the world yet unknown, to look for a remedy to this feeling of hollowness. The need to get a resolve to this void sometimes became the only ruling thought in their minds. They wandered, indulged and, in their sub-conscience, prayed, in a hope to witness that one moment, that one streak of life, that will bestow a sense of completeness that they have been yearning for so long now. Looking for the soul that will relieve them from this this incompleteness which now just did not seem to loosen its grasp on their conscious selves.

In this yearning, they realized that no amount of entertainment was fulfilling enough, no cuisine was satisfying, no amount of success seemed to be stimulating and the adventure had lost its thrill. The world has just went dull. There seemed little point to continue living on.

But what they did not know was that the destiny had its plans for each of them. It has been conspiring against them and for them at the same time. It was the destiny that had silently sowed the seed of this need in their souls. And it is the destiny itself that had also planned for a moment when they will be rewarded for all that wait, all that yearning, all that hoping and praying, by a scintillating streak of life that will entice them towards it's source. This source being the soul from which this stream of hope seems to emanate. The soul that would pass as another human being to another human being. But not to the them, who were a part of that divine conspiracy which had acted upon the two of them.

Then one day, that moment came. Their vicinity of each other had that magnetic influence on each other that they both, in a flash knew that their moment have arrived.

The Cupid had struck.

Time around again this time, to them, no amount of entertainment seems to be fulfilling enough, no cuisine seems to satisfy, no amount of success seems to be stimulating and the adventure has lost its thrill...

...unless they are together!

These two souls who perceive each other as destiny's response to their unfulfilled emptiness are now bonded together in a spiritual tie which is beyond what any law or tradition can prescribe. It is beyond what any philosopher can describe. It is only what, on the two unnamed souls, that destiny can inscribe.

The hollowness that has been haunting them, the incompleteness whose resolve they have been waiting for, has been renounced by the advent the other. They are so glad to have been united. So much so that they feel that they are re-united. That they were two wandering souls of whom half only remained and other half was that void that they were awaiting to be fulfilled. Now that they have found their better halves, they are now one soul. From the two hollow halves have born one complete soul.

The only wish now of this complete soul is to live every moment in this state of utter fulfillment where even a twinkle of an eye, a small gesture of the body, an utterance is too important to be missed.

A flaw in any half of this soul belongs, not to that half, but now, to this one soul. The other half knows this and accepts this. In this acceptance, they remove the last boundary between them. They are one. For once and all. Till death does them apart.

It is now, that they are in the Love that Love itself is.

Where are you headed for Sardar jee??

Traveled home this weekend. Return was on Sunday evening and as usual, I reached Mohali around 10:30 PM. If you are lucky, you may get a few autos on the bus-stop but on some not so lucky days (lets be optimistic and avoid the word unlucky :-) ), you can be greeted by an empty stretch heading towards where your home is with couple of street dwellers to garnish the scene.

Worse still, and what I hate the most, you may be welcomed by an enthusiastic but opportunistic auto rickshaw driver seeking  the chance you just provided him. He is the only conveyance available and you are in no way constituent enough to walk some 8 KM to your home with that backpack on you. So, the kill is you and if he is able to make your situation seem miserable enough he may shell out four to ten times the normal fare!

The wise reader knows why I am building this pretext. So that is how it happened this time as well. A sudden surge of blood into my skull made me refuse to the only option offered to me to take me to my place that was made in a plain, indifferent and highly professional sounding tone.


What follows next is what made my day most interesting.


There was no point in staying at the same place that auto stood in order to become an object of misery and occasional verbal pokes to avail the offer being the only available option. Like a vulture waiting for the prey to succumb to hunger and thirst to feast upon, they keep an eye on you till you surrender.


I found it more dignified to move on from that point onwards. On foot! Generally I have experienced that you encounter some other auto one on the way to pick you up after walking a couple of kilometers. There are honest people working for bread out there as well you see.

So, walking I am, with traffic moving on but none for hire. Looking back for an oncoming auto, then walking for a few meters and then again looking back so that I don't miss one.

In this commotion going on inside as well as outside, I suddenly noticed a goods transporter auto rickshaw stop about 30 meters ahead of me. A man unmounted and stood there for a while. Then started walking towards me and dangled a bit to this and that side of himself as if drunk. At this time of the night you cannot be sure what is about to come. However my experiences with uncivilized part of the society have been rare.

That dangling figure was now only 10-15 steps away. A confrontation was inevitable. So what? I turned my antennas up to high level of alertness and walked on. As soon as he was in proximity of one hand's length to my personal space, he inquired, "Sardar jee kithay jaa rahe ho?" (Hi there, where are you headed to?)

That sounded normal and the words where put in a pretty friendly tone. It was in invitation for a free ride as the guy was headed in the same direction as mine. I again rethought about the offer, tried to smell any booze on him. There was none and I realized that that dangling gesture was his way of waiting for me. Funny isn't it?

Looked at his face, seemed like a God's humble creature so I trusted my instincts and hoped in the driver's cabin.

On the way, he started this conversation about why he stopped here for me. I was able to learn that when he was newly married, someone had provided similar services to him and his wife on the way to home while it was raining. And that he returns the favor to the society by helping out travelers whenever possible.

That was indeed dramatic. I don't know whether I would have been able to obtain a for-hire ride home or not. But I certainly brought something home that day.

A black pearl and a debt to return to the society!