some more pictures of the flirt

The Flirt

it happened in the month of february. some where in the middle of the month. i was woken from my sleep by pigeons fluttering their wings and creating a ruckus in my balcony. i woke up to drive them away. the others flew off but this one in the picture stayed back and then for the next 30 minutes flirted with me. i felt like i was being wooed! that too at seven in the morning! and this romance continues to this day. she comes everyday to my balcony and simply flirts.

the situation is quite amusing as i find myself talking to her quite often. [ the romantic in me assumes that this bird is a FEMALE!!!] and believe me, she has such expressions that would put many an actress to shame. she is my bird of love. and yes! she also happens to be the only white one in the flock that haunts the housing complex i live in. thanks sweetheart for your gracious presence!

A Yearning Heart

Only children make sand castles
With smiling hands
And an innocent heart;
Like blissful dewdrops
Watching a brilliant sunrise!

Dark clouds pour out all their emotions
To quench the thirst of the oceans
The moon for all its madness
Is rooted to the sun
And darkness.

The colorless sky
And shining stars
Look for the lost rainbow
Like the earth yearning to touch
The infinite horizon.

A smile is but
A flower of the soul
Twinkling in the eyes
Of the heart
With its fragrance.

Moment of Truth

it was a lazy afternoon. i was watching a movie when i casually looked at my cell phone and saw a message from a friend of mine, Gaurav. it informed me that Mita, a common friend of ours had lost her father in an accident. i tried calling him but simply couldn't get through. so i called up Mita's husband. he was at the hospital as the police were busy with his father in law's post mortem. he couldn't talk much, but he told me that he had died in an autorickshaw accident. that's all. and he disconnected.
later on i came to know that he had died in a freak accident. he was returning to work after his lunch in a rickshaw when a crane that was being used to build the metro that would connect andheri, a suburb in west mumbai with ghatkopar, a suburb in the east of mumbai overturned and fell on the rickshaw. his body was smashed. so was the rickshaw. but by a miracle of some sort, the rickshaw driver escaped with minor injuries.
for a year now, i ve been asking every rickshaw driver i travel with if they believe in fate. almost everyone i ve talked to believes in kismat. and its that very kismat that saved the driver. it reconfirmed my belief in this thing called fate. once again.
the incident also made me realize that the most important thing in life is to be happy. more important than being ambitious or passionate. it also taught me to live every moment from here on. to just surrender to this wonderful thing called life.
we are fools to believe that we make our own lives. we can merely "live" life! that's where the magic lies. within ourselves. what we pursue in the name of happiness is nothing more than pleasure. for how can we pursue something that is always with us?
its remarkable how much a death can teach you!