The Unqualified Addict

I hate shopping. There. I said it. But today was different. May be I had a suppressed shopper gene that bloomed so late. And now it’s insatiable… well at least as far as shoes are concerned. I want them. I want them all, in all colors and designs. I know I am not a shopaholic yet, but who knows this might just be the beginning.

Ye Karvan @ Inception 2013

When the GIM chapter came to an end, I looked back at the two years spent with some really amazing people. People who became friends for lifetime, who were the life of that place. People who gave me some wonderful memories. GIM wouldn't have been the same without them. So here's a song dedicated to all of them. I hope to come with a proper music video soon. Till then, here is a clipping from an event called Inception, where I performed this song. It has been written and composed by me. In the video you'll see Aarti and Krithika giving the vocals and me attempting to strum some chords ;)

Before We Say Goodbye

Life’s but a journey. This has been said by quite a number of writers in different ways, in different languages, and is felt by all of us, especially in moments like these when we stand at the edge of one phase, ready to jump into another. It is amazing how faces that we never saw before suddenly became an important part of our lives, our highs, lows, photo albums, and their names got written with indelible ink in our memoirs. We enter new seasons with every new person we meet. Some people are like summer, free, independent, inviting and exciting. Some are like winter, cold, dark, reserved and harsh, if not in tone but in attitude. Some people are like the rain, relieving, refreshing, and reviving, taking away all the scorches that the heat of time left on you, making everything around you pleasant. They give way to spring, for new joys to blossom, new friends to come in. We live these seasons, see life in its different colors and flavors, sunny and crisp, cold, dark and rough, wet and comforting, flourishing and happy. We collect experiences, lessons and philosophies and keep moving. Without them our life would be monochromatic. Some people become so special that you wish you can somehow keep them in your pocket and take where ever you go. They are that page from where your story was never the same. They are someone you always want to fall back on whenever you get tired of walking. They are ageless for you, they are not just seasons, in fact they make every season beautiful. If it’s a hot summer, they’ll be the soothing breeze. If it’s a cold and dark winter, they’ll be the comfort of warm sunshine, if there’s rain, they’ll be the fragrance of wet earth. These are the gems you should never let go as they are what you’ve truly earned when you invested your heart and soul in life. They’ll be the ones that might become a tree when you need rest when you proceed in your endless journey. So let this farewell season be like Spring when you shed all your illusions, inhibitions, doubts, hatred, ego and just prepare for the new life to arrive while holding hands with friends you’d want to cherish all your life. Tell them that you love them, before it’s too late and secretly make a promise to be there for them, as they’ll be there too.

Is Santa for Real?

Knowingly or unknowingly innocence gets killed in all of us. Somewhere deep down we regret that a lot. Remember the days when Santa Clause and Tooth Fairy were true and one of the much awaited visitors? As we grew up, these angelic characters faded away behind the curtains of so-called reality. Either we caught our parents secretly putting gifts for us tagging it with Santa’s signature or we got mocked down by our friends for believing in these fantasy creatures. Both ways, a little hope is us died and suddenly world became more ‘practical’. I don’t say that we shouldn’t face the reality and should always remain in a make believe world where everything is ideal, but I beg you to keep that child alive in you, the child that makes you believe in miracles. Because it is this child that will help you sail across the most troubled storms of your life.

Here’s an article I came across. It’s about an eight year old girl called Virginia, who was hell bent on keeping her Santa real, despite being teased by her friends. She didn’t want to give up on her belief in miracles. Somehow I could relate to it. I guess you might also spot a little part of you hidden in this article.

Back in 1897, New York’s newspaper, Sun, was the most credible source of information to people. It was believed that ‘It’s true if it’s in the Sun’. So, little Virginia sent a letter to the editor of Sun, asking him to clarify once and for all if Santa was for real. Here is her letter and what the editor Francis Pharcellus Church replied to her. Both of these letters went into print and became history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial.

Virginia’s letter: Dear Editor, I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.Papa says,  'If you see it in THE SUN it's so'. Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus? VIRGINIA O'HANLON. 115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET Response of the Editor: VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism  of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can  be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether  they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere  insect,an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him,  as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and  knowledge. Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and  generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your   life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were  no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS.  There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable  this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight.   The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!  You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on  Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus  coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no  sign that there is no Santa Claus.  The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see.  Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no  proof that  they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders  there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is  a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united  strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy,  poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal  beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there  is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand  years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will  continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

 ----

Merry Christmas friends

Don’t stop believing in miracles. There is a Santa who sees all the good and bad you do, and he rewards you with miracles when you need them the most.