This is for you Mamma…


I was a tiny little egg then,
Deep down inside your womb,
Didn’t even have lungs to inhale,
Was an insignificant being?
But you made me a vital part of yours,

Who was I then, of yours? Strangers completely, you n me,
But still you wanted to bring me to life.
You felt the pain inside you; I was the one,
Who was giving you that?
But still you accepted all that without a groan,
You gave me my eyes; you gave me my nose,
And you gave me my arms,
And you gave me the fingers,
You gave me the legs, and
I kept kicking you from inside.
However unknowingly, unwillingly, I kept doing it,
Coz I wanted to come out somehow,
Not realizing how selfish that was of me.

But you kept saying that you cherished the ache,
How can someone love like this?
I was trying to come out of you, real hard,
And you were so impatient to see me,
That all the hurting was so trivial,
And then I came out of you, in the world of people,
You held my fingers so tenderly,
You held me so gently,
I was a lily in your garden of roses.
You watered every wish of mine,
You have nurtured every thought that went through me,
You are the reason that I learnt to smile
Coz I used to watch you smiling always like Mariam.
You made me stronger to live life my way
Although you couldn’t live yours the way you wanted.
You made sure your baby got all that she wanted;
May it be a balloon or a kite;
A doll or the stars;
You made it a point to bring me all that I didn’t even think I can have;

You nursed me when I was ill;
Sat besides my bed the whole bunch on nights,
Wishing that God could more have put you through this illness;
You wanted me to be healthy all the time;
You scolded me for not eating proper lunches;
And I thought you were just being over protective;
You made me study day and night & you bashed me up when I didn’t;
And I thought how cruel can a person be, beating a small child like me;
Never realizing that you were making me bigger day by day by giving me knowledge;

I was growing up when you warned me about not talking much with some people,
But I being an obstinate & annoying child
Never noticed the unconditional love behind those warnings,
People ditched me, I was heartbroken, I thought you’ll leave me & go away like everyone did coz I treated you the way I shouldn’t have ever;
But you stood by me like a solid rock; undeterred, firm & strong;

You taught me how to tackle losses;
You taught me how to stand face to face with fear;
You taught me what love can be;
You taught me that life can be tough but we can be tougher
I now realize Mom, How much you gave me;
No matter how much I hated you for being over-possessive, dominating, irritating at times, adding to my frustrations, and not understanding me;
I realize how wrong a child can be,
I realize that I love you like I love no one else, not even Dad,
I realize that I am not even a minute entity without you Mom,
I realize that I am the one who deserves hatred;
But still you love me; with every passing day I realize how wrong I was when I didn’t understand your Love;

So today Mom, I take this opportunity, to tell you,
(Although you know it all)
That I love you,
I can’t exist without you,
I am sorry for all the pain & illness that I gave you,
I am sorry for all the rubbish I spoke about you,
I regret my words & I don’t know how I can repair this damage,
I need to tell you today Mom, that you are my Goddess,
I kneel down before you & salute you for everything that you did for me,
This is dedicated to you Mom, Goddess of love, sacrifice & humanity.
I thank you for everything that you gave me.
I thank you for letting me get born, wish, dream & live life to the fullest.

I love you Mom.
For ever.

Regards,
Anushree!!

Look what you've done to me!!

This one is dedicated to someone really special!!

"i wandered with my heart in my hands,
I searched for you in the stars...
i prayed to God that i get you in ma life,
I loved you like i loved none so far....

i live for you n i breathe for you,
i laugh n cry n i struggle for you....

I bet I wasn't like this before.....
Look what u've done to me.....
Take a look what u've done to me.....

I am yours only yours
I can assure this forever,
I love you, maybe from the time I was born,
I realized, I’d love you, Till death.

My heart beats coz there’s you in it
My brain works coz it thinks of you
My senses are stable coz I can sense you
Always with me, besides me, holding my hand,
I know, you love me like I do.......

i live for you n i breathe for you,
i laugh n cry n i struggle for you....

I bet I wasn't like this before.....
Look what u've done to me.....
Take a look what u've done to me.....


I dream of you day or night
I see you in the broad daylight
I see you in the stars
I see you in the moon
How much I love you, Care for you,
You will know very soon.

No one’s so dear for me other than you
You make me smile You make me cry
You can make me do whatever you want
You won’t find anyone else,crazier than me
Just For you.

i live for you n i breathe for you,
i laugh n cry n i struggle for you....

I bet I wasn't like this before.....
Look what u've done to me.....
Take a look what u've done to me....."

We are not ardent followers of politics as such. We don’t seem to be interested in Indian political scenario so we can’t expect ourselves to even look through international politics. But there are times when certain things tend to change our notions about things we hate from the bottom of our heart. One such thing was the race for Presidential candidacy and then the American general elections. It was not because we were concerned about global economic meltdown or recession or terrorism for that matter. It was because first time we saw the rise of someone very unconventional to the US supremacy. The duel between a black Obama and a white Hillary Clinton did not just make news; it depicted a beginning of history of sorts. Obama went on to take over as the first African-American and the first Hawaiian born President of the United States of America. At the age of 48 the kind of position that Obama is at this point of time is worth admiration.
In his second year at Harvard Law School, in 1990, he was elected the president of law review. As he was the first black to be elected for this position, it was a widely reported and much publicized event. Because of the publicity that he garnered at Harvard, he was offered a fellowship from the university and an office from where he could write the book. Most of the part of the book was written in Bali and the book was named Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. This manuscript was published in 1995.

Obama was born to a Kenyan father, Barack Hussein Obama II, and an American mother, Ann Stanley Dunham and hence had a multi-racial heritage. His father was of Luo tribe of Kenya. Hussein was the middle name as Barack Obama Sr. had adopted Islam. Ann Dunham was an American born and brought up in Kansas state. His father died in a car accident in a road accident in the year 1982. Before his death, his father had met Obama only once in 1971. So all he knows about his father is through his stories and photographs. Obama’s mother married an Indonesian student Lolo Soetoro and after that they all moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. Till his fourth grade Obama lived in Indonesia and attended all local schools over there.
Barack Obama has admitted in his autobiography that all through his childhood he tried hard to find answers for his questions on his multicultural and multi racial heritage. After his law study he could have easily taken a job but his values and mother’s teachings him to do something for the society and the less privileged ones.

Barack Obama had five major reasons for failing in his motive – his black ancestry, a white country, his young age, his dark past (Obama is said to have gone through a phase of drug and alcohol addiction) and his inexperience. But the fact that he won the elections of the supreme power that is USA renders all pre-conceived notions futile and worthless. He has shown through his persona that inabilities and inefficiencies are not so powerful as to block the paths. Your ambitions and aspirations can nevertheless be fulfilled if you have the required gumptions and will-power to defend yourself and attack the other when the need be. There are a lot of candidates that stand for elections. None of usually feel positive about many of them. Some are too old, some are too cheesy, some are too fat, some are too corrupt and some of them are just nothing at all. There is ‘n’ number of reasons to criticize our politicians. But Obama’s existence keeps our hopes alive that there still are sensible politicians out there who definitely care about their people and not just their people but others as well. When Obama gave his victory speech at Chicago’s Grand Park, you could see people stepping up and acting, even if they’ve never been involved in politics before. Every eye had a tear that day and November 4th 2008 was written in the books of American history.

Let’s just read some extracts from his historic speech in Chicago –

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

“Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.”

“Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.”
“To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.”

The extracts are just a few inspiring ones while the fact remains that Obama is always worth listening. We see every American and global issue referred right from the economy, the Iraq war and the Global Warming, It was to America’s friends and foes and to every single citizen who is going to be affected by the elections. The likes of Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey were seen weeping in the crowd.
Such a personality is always worth a read.

“Dreams from My Father” covers everything from Barack Obama’s childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia to his community work in Chicago, his inspiring journey to meet his father’s family in Kenya coming to terms with the death of his absent father, the fact of being raised primarily by his white grandparents and the ins and outs of being a community organizer in Chicago. It’s very motivating to watch Obama move through his problems and always looking at two sides of the issue while resolving it, something that can be used in the managerial life that we as a corporate are going to face in coming years. Obama has shown this both in personal life as well as in his political career. It’s always easy to prove bad guys wrong but the fact that Obama simply thinks his way through them and goes far beyond them much too all our knowledge to become the President of USA.

Let’s now go through some of the quotes used in the book:

“Our rage at the white world needed no object, he seemed to be telling me, no independent confirmation; it could be switched on and off at our pleasure”. [Page No. 62]

“That’s just how white folks will do you. It wasn’t merely the cruelty involved; I was learning that black people could be mean and then some. It was a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in otherwise sane people that brought forth our bitter laughter. It was as if whites didn’t know they were being cruel in the first place. Or at least thought you deserving of their scorn”. [Page No.62]

"I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."

The above quote depicts that insecurities can grapple you at any age and any time and can be the master players in pulling you down.

"I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, Dubois and Mandela."

Obama made sure that he gave due credit to people who deserved it.

"It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."

The above quote points out the fact that great personalities also have gone through tough times and pressures where there were situations where you needed to choose between your ideals and your fate.

“Sister Regina,” Marcus said. “You know Barack, don’t you? I’m trying to tell Brother Barack here about this racist tract he’s reading.” He held up a copy of Heart of Darkness , evidence for the court. I reached over to snatch it out of his hands….
I tossed the book into my backpack. “Actually, he’s right,” I said. “It is a racist book. The way Conrad sees it, Africa’s the cesspool of the world, black folks are savages, and any contact with them breeds infection.”
Regina blew on her coffee. “So why are you reading it?”
because the book teaches me things,” I said. “About white people, I mean. See, the book’s not really about Africa. Or black people. It’s about the man who wrote it. The European. The American. A particular way of looking at the world. If you can keep your distance, it’s all there, in what’s said and what’s left unsaid. So I read the book to help me understand just what it is that makes white people so afraid. Their demons. The way ideas get twisted around. It helps me understand how people learn to hate.”
“And that’s important to you.”My life depends on it, I thought to myself. But I didn’t tell Regina that. I just smiled and said, “That’s the only way to cure an illness, right? Diagnose it.”

Now that’s the uncanny ability that Obama possesses. The ability to look towards the positive side of even something as sharp as hatred. The above extract substantiates the fact that it’s not just voicing our hatred that’s going to help us in our journey, it’s also the fact that we’ll have to change ourselves and our perceptions to get things right, to face problems, analyze them and then resolve.

Here are some quotes of Barack Obama while he has spoken – on TV, news, shows etc.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”

“I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed of is a dumb war. What I am opposed of is a rash war.”

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”

“Issues are never simple. One thing I’m proud of is that very rarely will you hear me simplify the issues.”

“It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little better than the one we inhabit today.”

“My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.”

“My parents not only showed improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me a African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.”

“The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me completely baffling to my wife.”

“There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America – there is the United States of America. “

“We can’t drive our SUV’s and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees all the times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

“We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible”

“I am asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe I yours.”



1) Obama has epitomized the meaning on “Change” and has gone ahead and shown us how far a person go with a consistent grit and determination. This quote teaches us a very important fact of life that one can’t wait for things to happen. If things have to happen, they have to be brought about. Responsibility has to be taken to change things and not just play a victim to circumstances.
2) And Obama has shown it to everyone. During the time he was working as a community organizer he showed uncanny skills of leadership. His power to step into someone else’s shoes and think through his/her point of view and then making a decision helped him to realize and resolve the problems of the urban poor.
3) Barack Obama was always against the Iraq war and had always criticized Bush administration for not taking proper measures for Americans’ protection. He kept Iraq war on the priority list in his agenda and maintained it throughout his election campaign.
4) As mentioned at the start of this description, Obama had 100 reasons to feel inferior to others and many enemies who always tried to pull him down. But he kept on with his grit and gumption and followed the path that he always wanted to.
5) Obama has always been a staunch lover of humanity. He knew that things don’t happen easily and people put a lot of efforts to achieve them. He knew the power of appreciation and this is what made him a great leader.
6) Obama had a clarity of goals. He knew that he is not here just to win and play politics. He knows his job very well, which is to be for the people, by the people, of the people and to define the true meaning of democracy.
7) The power of positive thinking and strength of character can anytime help you to overcome any disasters that come your way. You always do things for the good and things that happen to you are also for good.
8) Through his graceful eloquence Obama has characterized a generosity of perception and spirit rare in young men of many gifts and charisma.
9) Obama’s life gives us the meditation on the questions and legacy posed by his absent father whom he saw only once. It is also a story of a son learning about frustrated dreams of his father, tragic flaws that he had. Obama had always held his father as a distant paragon but he learnt a hard lesson that there is no use looking into the past because all you have there is disappointment and a lot of questions with no answers to them.



People of mixed heritage raise interesting questions. But this book ends with a spirit of genuine, well-earned affirmation. Barack Obama gives us many lessons to be carried with us in our journey towards the corporate world. He also teaches us the value of hope and optimism in a world full of hatred and jealous people; he makes us realize that will power will always triumph may what come. Life has many questions and every answer cannot be found. But at least attempts should be made. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst is what Obama teaches us.

Thane Vashi Train @ 08.40 a.m.

We live in a city that is ruled by Railways. Our time is not in hours. Its in minutes. We are all on a constant run for life. And in this run we have our life-lines, the railways, ready no matter what.
I am a regular commuter of the morning 8.40 THANE-VASHI train. M gonna post the pic of tht trn soon. But till then. Lemme just introduce it to it.

Here is how it goes -

And here starts the challenge again,
Every morning when 8.40 halts @ Thane station,
This thought passes through me,
I recite Gayatri Mantra thrice,
as soon as I see the train approaching from a distance,
And then I put all my belongings in my bag, including my life,
Pack ‘em up to ensure that nothing is lost,
N then the whistle shouts out loud,
On your marks, Get set go..
I close my eyes n m shoved off,
in the empty 2nd class compartment of the local trn,
N thn starts the game, musical chair, except for the fact that the music here is ear-splitting noise of the train roaring, threatening the boarders that if they dnt behave now, it might not wait for the rest of the lot,
Nothing bothers the mob, n in the next 5 secs there’s no space to keep a nail of the small finger of the foot, life’s become so tiny and yet so big,
Its unfathomable, immovable, firm, sturdy, strong, roaring to live, to survive, to enjoy n to rejoice.
I sit in a posn which isn’t doing any good to me or the women sitting next to me,
M trying to read things out frm the newspaper,
N thn starts the stink of the sweat & the shit,
But Mumbai isn’t a city that cribs, it smells fragrance amidst the shit,
Of roses & jasmines & perfumes & talcums,
U see a beggar in the trn, a small kid of 4 maybe asking for food,
U r overcome with a feeling of asking the toddler’s mother to educate him,
But the next moment u see another swarm of people squeezing in the already full compartment,
My nails ache now, m trying hard to concentrate on the tiny fonts of the newspaper,
N there comes an old lady squeezed to almost half her size by the crowd,
I wanna stand up n make place for her,
But luk @ the desperation,
Can’t stand up, m packed, I dnt hve place to move my hair,
I feel sorry, I feel like slapping the old woman’s son for letting her go through all this,
I feel like holding her legs n asking for forgiveness for all the misdeeds that we as youngsters are doing,
I feel pity on myself for being so self-centered,
I see a lady in front of me throwing a chips wrapper out of the window,
I almost scream @ her for the act, I tell her that if tomorrow this small stream turns into a beast n floods ur house n drowns ur child, remember you are responsible, not just for screwing ur child’s life but millions like us,
N she looks @ me aghast, not knowing wht to say n how to react, not looking @ me for the nxt 20 mins till the end of the journey,
I look outside @ the huts n I keep staring @ them, n then I see a child sneering @ me, I m nt sure why exactly,
But tht child makes me smile, amidst the chaos,
I wonder if this chintu can smile without evn enuf clothes on,
I am fully clothed, sheltered, nurtured, protected..
Y do I find it so difficult to smile?
Thts becoz life throws such questions @ u sometimes n whn u dnt knw the answers u tend to forget the smaller joys,
N thn all you do is crib,
N thn I smile @ myself, I dnt want any answers, I knw I’ll get thm if I leave the questions on their own for sometime.
N thts wht I do,
I get dwn @ Sanpada n thn @ Belapur smiling n satisfied with the way the day started,
Praying to God to gimme strength to channel @least one mind my way…..

Anushree H. K.

Oops!! I've been absent for a long time... :(

Hey Guys..

All you there!! I know I have been absent for a long time now & I know thts pathetic. How can some1 be away from her own blog for as long as an year!!

Anyway.. Here's a new year and a fresh start with brand new resolutions.

I am gonna start blogging again and will try to post something every alternate day.

For the first day after almost a year,

Munch on this,
This is something I made recently. I wished I could set a tune for this one. I want to really make this a full fledged song.

This song is for all you guys n gals out there who wish to be left alone (almost everytime to want the world bak).. :)

Lemme live my life my own way,
Don’t fuss about, Dnt temme what to do and when to do and how to do and why to do,
Don’t mess with me, don’t come my way,
Lemme do it my own way coz m a bird n I wanna fly n I wanna scream and I wanna love and I wanna dream n I wanna stay alive and then survive in my own way…

Lemme just a breathe a lil, Lemme own myself awhile,
Lemme dance to my tunes, Lemme cry and then agn give a try…
Coz I am not ready to get smothered this way n m not ready to be bothered this way
With your hopes and dreams, with your world and life,
And I am not ready to take it the way you want me to.
I am not a mat and I am not a rat and I am not a slave and I am not a brat.
I am just a girl and I am just so human and I wanna fly and breathe a lil.
I just wanna drown in the sun so bright, in the wild light and in the pale moonlight,
Lemme just bring some life to my life so dry, lemme just drink my passion,

Lemme just fly so high and Lemme just lemme try and lemme just give some love to me.
Lemme just dream a dream and lemme just sing a song n lemme just dance a dance, just lemme free…..(2)

So far I have done what you wanted me to, I have cried but you never saw,
I have hurt myself but you weren’t bothered, I have broken in front of you but you never thought,
It was fine for you as long as I was doing what you wanted me to.
It was fine for you coz I am not you.
I’ve been thrown away and I’ve been torn apart and I’ve been throttled and murdered numerous times.
I’ve lost a lot and I’ve forgotten things and I’ve given up again, numerous times.
But I keep living and I keep giving but you never saw.
Your eyes r closed, and they’re so, so far, you cnt see me anymre getting torn apart.
What am I, Who am I, Why am I, How am I?
There is no, no answer for anything, anytime.
I live here with my fears, with my broken dreams and my shattered heart.
I am trying to mend my mind, And I am trying to mend my life,
I am trying to get back the art, I am trying to get back the voice,
I am trying to love me.

So now,
Lemme just fly so high and Lemme just lemme try and lemme just give some love to me.
Lemme just dream a dream and lemme just sing a song n lemme just dance a dance, just lemme free…..(2)

India keeps shocking me every new day....

I was glancing through the pages of a newspaper the other day, when I stumbled upon a headline that read, "They erected a set worth 9 lakh rupees. And burnt it." I just couldn't stop thinking. Was this worth it? Do the TRP's of a show depend on what amount of bucks are spent over constructing one set? Moreover, what amused me even more was these people burnt 9 lakh rupes to ashes knowing that the same 9 lakh rupees could have given a new life to hundreds out there. One more thing that intrigued me was the fact that all this glitz and glamour consistently happens to be in Indian Television. I understand the need of glamour but I just dont reckon that a set worth rupees 9 lakh was needed just to add a glamour quotient what with the whopping amount that is already being spent on the costumes, jewellery and make-up of the "so-called" actors and actresses of these daily soaps.

I don't think this has ever happened with international chart buster serials(daily series) what with series like F.R.I.E.N.D.S, The OC, SEINFELD, SIMPSONS etc. are reigning for years without any larger-than-life characters. Which character do we relate the most? Tulsi of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi or Rachel of F.R.I.E.N.D.S? Who do we think is more a woman of today? I am not trying to advocate international stuff over desi things. I am relating both so that we take what is good without copying and realise that the need of the day are characters that we ourselves could go about understanding. People are tired of seeing people cry, That happens on a daily basis in one's real life. Reel life is expected to be a bit more simpler, understandeable and sensible not forgetting entertaining. I suggest instead of spending those 9 lakh rupees over one soon-to-be-burnt set, if you had only spent them showing us the plight of people who are being rammed down on the pavement by rash driversit wuold have been more fruitful. Or probably how about giving a way those ready-to-be-burnt 9 lakhs to those slum-dwellers??

ANU

Maaze Gaaneee....

In Marathi, coz I am a proud Maharashtrian

Kadhi zaley swapna vedi,
Kay zaley nahi thav,
Kadhi haravle majhya,
Swapna madhle te gaav....

Kadhi haravlya vaata,
Ani sodlya me aasha,
Kadhi punha aas dharli,
Door kelya me niraashaa....

Kadhi lotlaa andhar,
Kadhi saarey sunna zaaley,
Kadhi kalokha madhe hi,
Ek chandane hasale....

Punha ubhi rahuni mee,
Chadhu lagley ha ghaat,
Ek sarli ni dusri,
Suru zali vadalvaat...

(Translation) For my english and hindi counterparts,
I dont know when I lost myself in my dreams,
I dont know what happened,
I dont know when I lost the village in my dreams...

I got lost in the roads sometimes,
And then I became so hopeless,
And then again I enlightened myself,
And heaved away the hopelessness.....

There was a time when everything darkened and nothing could be seen,
Everything was silent and haunting,
But there was also a time when in the same darkness,
There lit a star, high up in the night sky...

I stand up again,
To tread this winding road,
One stormy lane has just ended,
And here I am facing the next one.