Just catch up!!

"Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose" - Lyndon B. Johnson

So this morning I am thinking, let me once, for a start, write something very different here. Yes I have written about my feelings, my thoughts of love, pain and all but today, let me write something different and much more positive. Even though not on a particular topic or theme, or even if it doesn't make sense, let me just write, for a change, something different.

Yes it is very true that in life we change and so do the people around us but how is it that we stop leading our lives with happiness because of a someone who changed? Does it make sense? This morning, as my routine is...this one word, routine, is the root cause of a lot of us being unhappy you know? We live everyday the same way without initiating or inviting change and then complain to the Almighty that our lives are the same? Well, so as everyday, I come office and go through my Facebook (like it is my newspaper), read my horoscope, check my personal and work email, read articles on Yahoo that interest me (like this morning I read this heart-touching article: https://www.yahoo.com/travel/realtravel-i-met-my-fiance-on-study-abroad-in-spain-94137808422.html), but this morning I read someone's blog and I really thought to myself, yes how much has life changed and a line that hurt as much as it was true sort of stayed with me and will do so for some time to come now (my weakness I'd say..words don't leave me easily)..the line was 'The people I have in my life now are not the same ones I had a year ago.' Do we become friends with someone to be replaceable? Let us all think about this and about all those who we have known particularly the very close ones and ask, how come they faded? And today, within the busy lives we are leading, find one minute if you can and send an SMS, an inbox, a call and just...I guess catch up!!

Finally this morning, I leave you with a quote that brought inspiration to me. Life with a smile is just much more beautiful and if that smile has really come out of meaning, it is the best feeling one shall have.

Joseph Campbell said:

"find a place inside where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain"

Peace!

Cheers!

Champ!

The one who walked away..

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”  - William Blake

When we talk of life, the one thing that is certain is 'alone'. We come alone and we leave alone but then along the way, we find bits and pieces of our soul residing in others. Universes are bound to collide and whenever we meet someone, we connect a little and share a bit of ourselves with them. If we allow our hearts to ponder freely, we even experience the feeling that these days is so casually used as a word; 'love'. We start to live for that person. We see their happiness as ours, we begin to find meaning and purpose in life as if all of a sudden, a candle has been lit in the tunnel of darkness we call life. And I am not talking about the casual relationships you see everywhere that are merely there for the bodies to unite. I am talking about those 'old fashioned' deeply-felt-at heart relationships. I want to believe that they exist till today!!  But then just as hard it is to find or meet that someone, easy it is for them walk away or for us to lose them and all the happiness that came with it. Today, I just wanna pour my heart out like I have always done in my poems; and today, this poem is for someone who walked away... 

"You are the star that lights my path", she used to say,

And as I saw today, she gave my nickname to someone else,

I wonder whether I am the one who is unworthy of her,

Or she simply fell for a star when the moon was her lover.

They say we don't know what we have until we lose it,

One day she will wake up and probably realize also,

But for now she seems happy, and so let her be,

For it is her choice to erase me from her life, 

And mine, to fight the urge of not letting her become a memory!

Time heals everything, give everything time; I read somewhere,

The writer probably forgot to add 'except love wounds',

Much as time seals those wounds, they never heal,

One song, their name, a picture; almost anything related,

Just digs up the wound hurting like a dagger, as if it were yesterday!!

She walked away from my life without giving me a reason,

Not that the reason would make it any better,

But at least I would have an answer that my heart would repeat,

Instead now it just ponders and wonders,

Was I unworthy of her, or she simply fell for a star,

When the moon was her lover.

All of you out there with someone you love and someone who loves you, keep it and value it, for tomorrow has no guarantee.

“It was a mistake," you said. But the cruel thing was, it felt like the mistake was mine, for trusting you.” 
― David Levithan

Peace!

Cheers!

Champ!

Graduation!

So I finally graduated this evening and it was a touching and emotional evening. I shall remember this for ages to come, but I read somewhere that 'do not cry it is over, but be happy that it happened', so I pondered and wrote a little something...

Should I cry that it is all but finally over?

Or should I rejoice that it happened and I did it?

The one question that I really have on my mind, right now…

They often said graduation is one of the happiest days,

I don’t understand how can you say bye and be happy?

How can an end be the best part of the journey?

I really asked myself this evening as I sat waiting to be called upon,

Do I really want this journey to end?

The answer frightened me as much as it was an honest one,

And that the answer to the question was a clear no,

That I did not want to part away from all these people,

That I never felt like saying good bye to the life I have lived this past year,

So the question my heart is pondering upon this wonderful cold evening is,

Should I cry that it is all but finally over?

Or should I rejoice that it happened and I did it?

I came with nothing at all but myself to give and I leave with all these people,

I leave with their beliefs, their thoughts, their jokes, their dialogues, their poses,

The next time I shall be elsewhere, I will probably give the ‘_’ pose of someone,

And much as I shall smile in the photo, my heart shall weep of the memory it brings with it,

As a photographer, I can take photos and capture the moment forever in time,

But I can’t bring the moment back and that; that is a painful fact,

The fact that this time will not come back, nor will the one that passed by,

So with all the happiness and achievement this evening, I ask myself,

Should I cry that it is all but finally over?

Or should I rejoice that it happened and I did it?

I can cry that it is over, or smile that it happened, does not matter,

Because it is over; the time has gone and what I do now is less relevant,

So either ways won’t matter; but one thing I am very sure about is;

That I am going to miss every moment and I really mean every moment,

From the house parties to the lectures to the trips to the programs and events,

The photos I took to the ones I was in, the strangers that became friends,

The dude who turned out to be a brother from another mother and a ‘selfie’ partner,

To the one who couldn’t make it for the ceremony yet was a major part of the journey,

Every moment shall be missed of the journey which sadly had to end, today!!!

Peace!

Cheers!

Champ!

The ritual of life!!

One of the harshest realities of life is one of it's fundamental rituals as well; the meeting and parting of people. It is a bitter truth of life that no one can be ours forever, but does that mean we should never make someone ours or love someone with all the depth of our heart that exists? A tough question it is. If we see a hole in front of us, surely we won't walk on that road yet the path of love always has immense pain at the end of it yet we dare to walk it, and in fact joyously move forward...I simply wonder, why?! “It is better to lock up your heart with a merciless padlock, than to fall in love...”  - Michael Bassey Jonhson

I guess I myself have the answer to that question. The answer is simple; love is the most beautiful thing in this world and we all want to have a taste of happiness. Imagine waking up every morning knowing that somewhere in the world, regardless of the distance, someone really cares for us with all their heart...that we are in someone's thoughts and importantly, in their heart. Isn't it a good feeling? 

But then many a times, we all have that someone in front of us and we simply fail to recognize them. George Eliot said "Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love." Khalil Gibran shared a similar thought: "Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." It is true what they say then that we only realize the value of something/someone once we lose it. It is one of the saddest realities of life that we need to change. Valuing something that is around should be an aspect of our personalities.

I am a traveler and as they say about travelers, we understand and are used to the pain of parting from people but what no one says is that it is not easy ever for us to part from someone regardless of how many people have come in our lives and left. Every time I part from someone, it hurts and a little part of me goes with them. Raymond Chandler in the 'The long goodbye' says "to say goodbye, is to die a little." Trust me, it isn't easy. There are times when we feel the connection with someone and we want to be close to them as a friend, get to know them more but then a time comes and you knew it was coming but you aren't ready to accept it, and that is the time to say goodbye! Adding to the sadness is the fact that when it is time to say goodbye, is the time when you start to open up to that person. It hurts doesn't it? TOTALLY DOES!!

Finally, I would like to say to the few probably who read my blog that, life is very short and we must not take it for granted. You have someone you love, someone you appreciate, someone your eyes keep searching for day in and day out, someone who makes you laugh despite all your pain, someone who is the star shining you life with all the darkness in it, someone who you think of silently at night with a slow love song in the background; then go and tell them how you feel, say the I love you; just say it. It is very hard and no one will know this more than I do but make that effort. It will save a lot of regret that will follow if you don't! 
On this note, I would like to end with one of my most favorite quotes. The line that makes so much sense yet it is one of the most hardest things to do.

"If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were" - Khalil Gibran

Cheers!
Peace!
Champ!

The feeling!!

My favorite poet once wrote: "One can love someone else after loving someone countless times, but to love someone more than yourself happens once only".

Most of us find love and let it go like just another simple thing but only the wise understand; sorry only the hearts understand that love is the most extra ordinary thing in this world. We can never find meaning in and of life alone. The Almighty never left gaps between fingers without a reason. I believe someday somewhere, someone's fingers will fit in perfectly and the soul shall meet the soul. At least once in our life, we all have such a someone walk in but whether to move forward towards them, accept them or decide not to is completely upon us. Many of us fail to find love because our hearts are tamed. We do not have the ability to trust people, to overcome our fear of getting hurt; and with a tamed heart, we simply can't love. We simply can not love!!

Two days back I went with my friends to watch a Bollywood movie. I had great expectations from this movie but it didn't turn out to be that good but none the less, the movie touched me especially it's songs. Many a times I live in denial of a fact that will remain a fact until the end of this world; and that is when we have someone in our lives we love, someone who cares for us, someone who makes us feel the luckiest person on this planet; life becomes much more beautiful than we can ever imagine and the fact is; we all need such a someone. This movie just brought up that desire!!

I conclude this short "really nothing" article with a quote by Khalil Gibran, that sums up true love for me:

“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

Cheers!

Peace!

Champ!

A good bye

"You will never be completely at home 

again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place"

It is human nature to be very excited before a journey has started. We all look at the countless possibilities ahead of us and have our expectations of the path we are going to walk, but few are those who are happy at the end of it as well. Paulo Coelho in the fifth mountain says "it is all about re-creating our past". Why is it that when a path has come to an end, we tend to lose hope and feel that life has ended here? Why can't we look at the future with much more hope now that we have achieved all that we have? I came to Mauritius 8 months back with a few goals and one ultimate destiny in mind; to graduate! I have, all praise due to the Al-mighty, achieved a majority of it and I return back home tomorrow! I feel nostalgic as always when I leave a country because we get so used to the life we are living that we do not want to see that much more awaits us. I have always been an explorer and traveler and now I am used to the good bye's yet they remain a huge part of the journey; a part that is one of the most painful ones of it all!

 Everyday the sun sets reminding us of death (if one may see it that way) but it rises the next morning reminding us of the Al-mighty's mercy that He has bestowed upon us; that He has granted us another day of life to live our desires and be happy. I wonder how many of us sleep with a smile at the end of the day feeling contented of the life we have! If we just take a look around, we will see that we are very fortunate for He has given us countless blessings. 

I just want to say that I am a bit sad about leaving such a beautiful country yet I am very excited and happy to be going back to mom and dad and family. I know whatever the future holds, as long as I am in His mercy, I am safe!

I say good bye to this country in about 28 hours and I know I shall cherish every moment spent here with the amazing people I came across. 
I end with a quote from one of my most fav articles...

"We are all just waiting for another universe to collide with ours, to change what we can’t ourselves. To fill us, to make us whole. It’s interesting how afterwards, we realize that the storm returns to calm, but the stars are always changed and we don’t choose whose collisions change us. We all start as strangers, but we often forget that we choose who ends up a stranger too."

More photos on: https://www.facebook.com/pages/One-world-Different-views/468399296610357?ref=br_rs

Cheers!

Peace!

Champ!

Strangers with memories...

"Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you're really strangers" - Mary Tyler Moore


We all have that one person or the few who were once strangers and then became close or perhaps very close and are now once again, strangers!
It is scary to accept such a situation isn't it? I know and I totally get that but it is good to accept rather than live in a bubble. Perhaps some people aren't just meant to be ours. Yeah, took me a long time to accept that...some people aren't just meant to be!!!

A song, a picture, a poem, a quote, an action by someone like a walking style; such little things bring back the memory of someone we cease to forget. I came across a quote this week that just touched me and told me a lot. Nan Goldin said "I used to think that I could never lose anyone if I photographed them enough. In fact, my pictures show me how much I've lost." Being a photographer, I could relate to the quote and just how deep the message is. When I turn back to the photos I have taken over the years, I see how much I have lived, how much I have lost and how much I tend not to remember as part of my life today yet one single image brings back that moment. Whether it is of a place I visited, a someone who is a no-one today or has faded or of a particular moment, my heart whispers to me the feel I had back then. Indeed, a picture speaks a thousand words!!!

I have come a long way to learn that unconditional love, however bitter and sour the pain is, it is better because the pinch of broken expectations is way more painful. In life, we shouldn't expect of others no matter how close they get because reality is, we all grow as individuals and whenever our close ones do, it will be painful for us; after all humans don't like change. One of the most difficult things to do has the highest reward too and that when you don't expect anything in return, you love deeply and smile from your heart even after that source of light; that one person that made your day by just showing their face; the person that made you feel alive; the person without whom your life seemed incomplete; that one person leaves you and goes very far. Pain is inevitable but suffering is upon us!!!

Lastly, I would like end with two lines written by one of my most favorite poets, Ahmed Faraz.

"Tera na ho saka toh marjaunga Faraz,
Kitna khubsoorat woh jhoot bolta tha" 

meaning;

"If I don't get to be yours, I will die Faraz,
How charmingly she used to lie"

Peace!
Cheers!
Champ!!

It is just music, isn't it?!

"Main dhoodne ko jab zamane main wafa nikla, 

Arijit Singh in Mauritius

Pata chala kay galat leke main pata nikla"

The one song that has been on repeat constantly from the past few days..The lines above mean:
"When I went in search of loyalty in the world, I found out that I had left in a wrong search"


I love this song so much yet it touches the corner of my heart that I want to forget exists. We all have dark spots in our heart that are empty; empty like the kindness in evil, we have those people in our life that we wish we could forget yet they mean so much or meant so much to us. I was reading an article where the author said "I want to believe that you either love someone, in some way, forever, or you never really loved them at all." I tend to disagree to this because I think we do love someone but then something changes or as my good friend says, people grow, and if any of the two people 'grow', other one perceives it as a change which by human nature isn't liked hence the relationship becomes the bait, however with acceptance and a heart, things can last.

If you have loved someone, you probably know that it is the best feeling in the world and if you have someone who loves you, you know that there is no better feeling than that, even better than being in love but the aftermath of both almost is darkness unlike for those few who find each other and stay there for a long time.When I see a couple truly in love with each other, I feel so happy for them and pray that they stay there because if they don't, the sunset of love is darker than a night!

Anyways music..always a powerful thing isn't it? brings back so many memories!! Yesterday here in Mauritius, Arijit Singh, one of the leading singers of today's era performed. It was an amazing show and truly my touched. Music has the power that no language has. If you haven't had the chance, listen to his songs..AMAZING!!!

I will like to conclude this article with a quote by one of my favorite author's, Khaled Hosseini. This quote is from the book 'And the mountains echoed'. I can only say that there was a time, this was quite true for me but today, it seems all lost...

"I was happy enough to be the vessel into which she poured her stories"

Cheers!
Peace!
Champ!!

Happiness...

Clear blue skies, sun filled bright burning clouds and a cold mild breeze; on a day like this I took a flight into dreams and on a day as this I shall take on back home..

It has been a mixed journey of emotions, feelings and experiences. I haven't come so ahead in future that I can connect the dots yet I see why this trip was necessary for me like all the other ones I have take. I have grown as a person in this past 5 months and I have understood the value of life and things in it better.

The soul residing in us is like a connection between us and our Creator but most of us do not pay attention to what is being communicated but if one does listen, you find out that the answers are there within us; answers to our problems, quests and even our destiny! I have always been a seeker and a listener to my inner voice and trust me, it hasn't betrayed me. Try and listen to yours and see what you find out!!

Most of us aren't unhappy because life has given us pain but because we have failed to light the candle or stir the tea. Stir the tea? Wondering, aren't you? So then let me tell you a story to explain. Don't search for logic but try and grasp the essence...

A man who was about to die was locked in a room with a chair, table, a cup of tea and a spoon. He tried a sip and found that the tea had no sugar and hence started looking around the room for sugar. He laughed at how stupid it was to give someone tea without sugar in it. He died, went to God and complained how even the last thing God had given him, a cup of tea wasn't sweet. God told him 'the sugar was there but you just did not look well and think'. He claimed hes searched every part of the room but could not find the sugar. God asked, 'did you stir the tea?' He said 'no!' God said 'the spoon was there for you to stir the tea. I gave you the tea, even put the sugar but the only thing left was the simplest of them all, to stir!'

All of us complain to that God doesn't give us what we want yet none of us see the limitless blessings He has bestowed upon us. We expect Him to do everything for us, even stir the tea and that is where we fall. A bit of faith, hope, and effort on our part can give us the happiness we seek daily. All we have to do is look within us, find the sugar and stir the tea. Happiness is all around us if we set in pursuit of it!

On this note, I conclude with a couple of lines from my favorite book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini...

"But you can't swim Hassan!"

"It is a dream, Amir Agha. You can do anything."

Cheers!
Peace!
Champ!

When I left home...

The bird that flew me miles from home!!

"When I left home, I had a smile", said a friend of mine and this line has inspired me to write this article.

When we set off on a journey, our mind is such that we try to anticipate the future, try to think positive, somewhat cover our fears, we are very excited and pray for the best. I have always been a traveler kind of a person who loves to explore and take risks in discovering places because to get lost is to take risk. Some 4 months back, I left home with a desire and ambition and I am still chasing it but along the way, I have learnt how life can change by just making a single decision. I have learnt that no matter how good a country is, how beautiful it is, it can't be a replacement for the place where our heart lies, where our family is and where we are truly happy. I have learnt that the best chef in this world is our mother. I have learnt that it is in solitude that we realize how important family is. I have learnt that life is not gifted to everyone, something I have always realized.


I think this one trip has changed me and continues to do that in many ways. My future is depending on this trip yes but besides that, I have grown as a person. It feels good to hear how members of the family feel proud of you and that you're parents say with happiness and joy that you are their child, that my friend as Steve Jobs said, is limitless.

"Zendagi Migzara" said Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner. It means life goes on and indeed it does, unfortunately in happy moments, a bit too fast. Everyone out there who reads me, life is about discovering new places, new people. Just because someone broke our trust doesn't mean everyone will and doesn't call for us to shut ourselves. I know you might be saying it is easier said than done but trust me, after a while when you reflect back, you will realize that everything happens for a reason and that some people shouldn't be in our lives and that letting go is probably the most wisest decision you will have ever made.

I am sorry this article couldn't be any better but I had to write it. I haven't written for long and today just felt like. I would like to end this article with one of my favorite scenes from a series I love to bits, Criminal Minds. It is a scene that probably relates a lot to me.


"Where are you headed?"
"No where in particular."
"How will you know you have got there?"
"That is a good question. That is a very good question."


Peace!
Champ!