Jazz ain't nothing but soul

Today is international  jazz day..music brings us so much happiness.. Its the best mood uplifter and is the best way to unwind. It can help you transcend into realms of bliss...So its such a wonderful thing that a day has been dedicated to a specific kind of music... jazz.. which so soulful and mesmerising.

Respect to the legends of jazz music ...Herbie Hancock,  Esperanza Spalding and many more.

There hardwork and talent  makes our world a much more beautiful place.

Driving through the incredibly beautiful Alps - Eisriesenwelt Ice Caves

The traveller in me is it itching to tell a story yet again... today the cool breezy morning took me back in time to the summer of 2012 when I was driving through the Alps in Salzburg, Austria with my friends.

Indeed, I was smitten by the greenry and alpine backdrop that Salzburg had to offer but what really took my breath away were the natural limestone ice caves located in Werfen, 40 kms away from Salzburg.

The caves are peacefully hidden 1586 meters above sea level in the Hochkogel mountain of the Alps. The journey upto the caves is quite an adventure in itself as the first one third of the climb is done by road in a vehicle , the next one third by a cable car and the rest by walking up a precipitous, narrow path up the mountain. The climb can be exhausting and time consuming but the spectacular caves and the breathtaking birds eyeview of the valleys and mountains below is totally worth the effort. 

So after an exhausting yet exhilarating journey up to the cave entry we were handed pit lamps to help us navigate through the dimlit caves ahead and advised to cover as much as possible in warm clothes to bear the low temperatures inside the caves.  While walking through the caves, I was left spellbound by the natural ice sculptures and ice formations created by stalactite and stalagmite ice growths. The stunning ice giants were indeed the highlight of the trip plus our pleasent and knowledgeable guide made our visit all the more memorable.

Certain more facts about these beautiful caves are:
1. They are the world's largest ice caves
2. Although the caves are 45 kms long, only the first km is open to visitors.
3. The caves are open May to October

The road

The road we are on is one we have never travelled before,

The mysterious journey is for us to unravel as we go.

It's difficult to predict a turn, a curve or a dead end,

But it's possible to enjoy every minute,  is the message I send.

We start our journey with some people and meet some on the way

Learn to love all, is all I want to say.

There may be heavy traffic or deserted stretches at times,

Make peace and move along with smiles.

The road may not be smooth all over,  it may have its rough patches and potholes,
Enrich yourself with every experience, like it's food for your soul.

Losing Faith

Love,  happiness, peace and joy,
The temporary words of my life.
Many answerless questions starting with why,
Volcanic unrest on the rife.

A rock in the water, created immense ripples,
Shook my core and left me thinking
My faith is crippled
Everything can change as I sit here blinking

They say what will follow will be better,
Everything happens for a reason.

I still want to hang on to every letter,
I am losing faith with every changing season.

Shining Stars

The stars shine bright but I can only see clouds from where I stand.

I see them for a fleeting moment as I move to happier land.

I hop and dance as I soak in their brilliant light,

But they disappear again without putting up a fight

The night creeps in and the demons in me awaken again cause I can't see those shining stars.

As the days go by, a strange comfort fills me as i see the stars being held captive behind cloudy bars.

Twerking

Twerking is as a type of  dancing in which an individual, usually a female, dances to popular music in a sexually provocative manner. This style of dance became popular in the 1990's and the word has been around for almost 20 years now. However, the amusing fact about this word is that what 20 years of this dance form could not do for it , a young American singer was able to do in a matter of days. The dance form was revived by the American singing sensation at a music award function last year and the word was talked about so much that it made to the Oxford Dictionary.

This dance form would be considered 'raunchy' and 'distasteful' by Indian standards and going by the buzz the young singer created by performing in the dance style, it wasn't appreciated much in the west as well.

However the buzz worked both for the singer and for the word. The singer got publicity in abundance for her infamous dance moves and as we all know for a celebrity any kind of publicity, good or bad, is good. The objective of the performance was to shock and it was achieved. The word finally got universal acceptance and found its way in to the world renowned dictionary.

Courtsey: Google images

My views on the dance form: I don't consider it as a dance form at all. For me sexually intimacy when shown gracefully in dance moves such as salsa is dance.. its poetry in motion but Twerking now that's plain obscenity.

These are a few of my favourite things - my favourite cafe in Gurgaon

The magnificent concrete jungle that the milliniem city boasts off can get to you at times.. The numerous identical cafes in malls and other commercial spaces can be a bit monotonous with same decor and types of coffee  to offer. That is why when I discovered The Roots cafe I considered it quite a find and needless to say it quickly became my favourite spot in Gurgaon. Set in a park, it has been built to look like a shack, with jute drapes for walls which can be pulled up on pleasant days. The rustic appearence of this cafe with its cool and shady ambience is topped off by serving of beverages in earthen tumblers (khullards). Although the menu consists of few dishes rather than full course meals it is still better and more economical than any other cafe I have visited. It is one of my favourite places to begin my weekend with a lazy brunch.. the evenings here are even more magical as the paper lamps come alive...try it :)

The traveller in me itches to tell a story today

After putting in five of gruelling hard work in my organization and saving up enough for a holiday abroad , I was finally planning a vacation to eastern Europe. I chose to travel through five counties , one for each year of hardwork thaf I had put in. Adding to the excitement was the fact that I was travelling with a group of travel enthusiasts who I had never met earlier therefore an opportunity to make new friends. The route to be followed was to take us by road through Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria in the same order.

As I travelled through sun soaked Europe in the summer month of June and explored the spectacular beauty of each place, one city which took my heart away was Cesky Krumlov. Located at a distance of about 2 hours by road from Prague in Czech Republic, the small little city is a renowned UNESCO World heritage site. Like any other European City,  Cesky Krumlov also has its own river, town square, castle and church however what sets the city apart is its small town feel, abundant natural beauty and magnificent architectural monuments. Everything around the small city can be accessed by simply walking through its narrow cobbled stoned streets. Every house in the city has history etched in it and various structures in gothic, renaissance and baroque style can be found in abundance. Another endearing feature of this city is the numerous cafes along the banks of its Valtava river. After a  day full of site seeing and enriching oneself with the architectural delights of the city, it is indeed a pleasure to end the day by the banks of the gushing V

altava river while biting into the bakery delicacies and savouring the energising coffee that the cafes offer.

The charm of this beautiful city left me spellbound and I recommend it to all travel enthusiasts :)

Thought for the day

Sometimes I wonder if God is over burdened with sorting out Karma for too many souls. Maybe things get mixed up at times. I wish there was a process by which you could approach God and  lodge a formal complaint if you felt that the destiny assigned to you was due to mix up with someone else's karma. After all there have been instances when people have started remembering their previous birth... The system isn't entirely flawless ;)

Thought for the day

This mind is a strange creature, it wanders off to scary places.

12 years a slave

This award winning movie really stirred my soul. Based on the true story of a free black American, the movie captures the mans picture perfect life in the state of New York to the misery and despair that he goes through on being tricked into slavery in another state of USA. The movie is an epic as it captures the uncertainty that life brings with it; the depths to which humanity, insensitivity, morality can fall; the profound helplessness and despair a man can feel thereby shaking his faith in God and making him lose all hope; and the level to which a man can allow his self respect to fall in order to survive.
What really touches ones heart is that how in an instant the man is pushed from his happy and perfect life in to the hell on earth of slavery. On having his freedom taken away from him , after being brought up as a freeman, no stone is left unturned by his multiple masters to break his self respect and dignity. His boundaries are pushed to the limit and this turn  in his life hurts him more as he knew how it felt to be a free man. His attempts to regain his freedom are thwarted repeatedly and the miseries around him keep on ever increading. After twelve years of living a life no better than that of an animal, he finally gets mercy from a stranger who helps him get his freedom back.
All characters play their roles to the T. It is cinema at it best. 

Something to think about

People who love you will never believe an ill rumour about you and the rest will spread it,  non matt what.

Thought for the day

I like bold and glamorous people. They inspire me. That may be the reason why after the front page I directly go to the entertainment section of a news paper

Train to Pakisthan

As the turmoil of independence and partition was hitting big towns of india, the simple people living in hinterlands were largely ignorant of the waves of change going through the country. The novel , 'Train to Pakistan' by Khushwant Singh is a very well written tale about a  village in Punjab where people of different religions , Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims who lived in perfect harmony had to unwillingly face the unrest the country was going through . As the country was partitioned into India and Pakistan,  anger and dissatisfaction  ruled because people living in different parts of these regions were uprooted from their ancestral land and had to move to completely newer settlements. This anger and dissatisfaction quickly turned into a war of revenge and resulted in mindless killing of many innocent people on both sides of the border. Kushwant Singh in his book takes us through the turmoil and unrest that a sleepy village of punjab undergoes when all the Muslims of the village have to leave for Pakistan, even though  they had lived in complete harmony with their fellow villagers of different religions for time immemorial. The villagers also witness the horrors of  ruthless killing as train loads of corpses arrive from Pakistan at their village railway station making them aware of the sentiments of hate and revenge running through people outside. This emotionally charged atmosphere sees some of these innocent villagers also take to violence to avenge their religion and country.
All in all its an exceptionally well written book and a pleasure to read. 

Tackling depression without medication

There is always a phase in our lives when we feel that life has not be fair and God has been unkind. It can push us into depths of depression. When I had my days of uncertainty and pain , I realised that friends and family can help you tackle depression to an extent however most of all you have to help yourself. Painful thoughts paralyse you and it is as if a dense cloud has set it self o  your brain which stops to function. You crave to extricate yourself from this situation and long for hapiness again.

Help yourself:

1. Take a long walk.. just put on your shoes and start walking.. alone or with someone. Just get out of the your room , your house. Till the time you sulk in your room you won't think that it will benefit you but anyhow put on those shoes and move out. As walk,  admire the trees , the flowers , the birds, the wind on your face, the bright sun..notice all the things which you didn't give much importance to earlier... realise that these are the all important forces of nature.. take in their beauty and be happy to be an part of it.. keep walking.. be thankful for being a part of a beautiful day.

2. On getting back to your house, make a resolve to not let this day just go by.. do a small Lil thing if not big which you have not done in your life before. It could be a making a drink that you have never made before or baking a cake which you never cooked earlier. Read something new. Take a resolve, I need to grow,  I need to experience this life to the fullest.

3. Make new friends renew friendship with old ones.. yes, you have been so busy in your life that you just didnt have the time to keep in touch with your friends..yes, everybody is busy with their own lives... but there is always someone who values you.. God has already decided on that person ... that person is waiting you have to find that person. Spend more time with people who you have around you but don't talk to much.. go to them on your own.. let them know you love and appreciate the bond you share with them...remember the love you show to someone will come back to you in double the measure.

4. Do your good deed for the day: it could be as little as feeding a stray dog, taking an injured animal to the vet, being of help to the ones around you, helping at home, listening to someone who is suffering. Jot it down as your good deed of the day.

5. Exercise: get that heart pumping. It's your body.. you have to keep it fit till the time you have it. Don't give up. Set an example for others. It will take 6 months to come in to good shape if you take good care of your diet and exercise. Results start showing from the first one month itself.

These are some activities which helped me. I hope it benefits those who read this as well.

A short life full of passion is better than a long cold life

Life is no bed of roses , that I knew.. However what I didn't expect was that one day even ground beneath the bed would disappear. Like we all do, I also strived hard to make a great future for myself for which I could sit back one day and give myself a pat on the back. The only real struggle I had seen in my early days of school and college was in getting myself a decent education from reputed institutes which would then guarantee a good career and financial stability ahead. I achieved all that for myself and although academically i did well, my emotional side was in unrest. There was a vacuum in my life which needed to be filled and I wanted to feel deep love from a soulmate. Although my life was going perfect in all respects however true love always eluded me.
But then it happened and it was just like how true love was described. I was drawn to my soulmate for reasons I could not put my finger on.. I had stars in my eyes when I saw him..my heart skipped a beat when I heard his voice... my days were incomplete without being near him. It was perfect.. our relationship blossomed because of great understanding and a
Lot of passion. Each day seemed magical and we were looking at making a wonderful future for ourselves.
But then as destiny had planned, I lost everything in a split second. All my dreams, future plans, everything was disrupted and I saw my life falling apart in front of me. My husband died within 4 months of us getting married.  I was 34 years of age.
As shock gripped me and I went through my grief reaction.. I realised that I was lucky to have felt the purest form of love even though it was for a short time span. I felt lucky..but the future always depressed me. I wished for death so fervently cause I did not see any point in living my life and achieving anything without sharing it with my love.
After 2 full months of mourning and feeling self pity I realised that I had to make a choice. Either to pull myself up and put my life together or to ruin myself. I reasoned to myself that I could ruin myself any day but before I do that why not experience life a bit more. Let the magic of life lead me a bit.
My first step was towards this change was to somehow learn something new each day. Each morning was difficult.. thoughts of the past haunted me however I laboriously got up and started doing small little things which I had never done before in order to experience life a bit more. I bought books that I had never read, cooked dishes I had never cooked before, walked to places I had never seen. These were little steps but they helped.
I also realised that it was good to open up as much as possible to people..share your grief and water it down. I got in touch with
my friends, made new friends and gradually things Began to settle down.
This tought test which life put me through has made me realise that nothing is more important than human relationships.. I value them much more today. Also it is best to make each day fruitful rather than wallowing in self pity.

Philosophical thought for the day

We build such perfect homes to live our imperfect lives..

Although the houses look so perfect from outside, we cannot know the amount of pain and sadness filling them from inside.