Ode to the rain cloud!

Ah! The Winds, The Rains, The Waters. The Rains are here and how I love it. The Monsoon is so poetic, so romantic the entire season is like poetry recital calming and exciting!

Masses of dark clouds are arriving from over the Arabian Sea. I had been breathlessly waiting for the monsoon to arrive partly because it was bloody stinking hot and also because quiet simply I am in love with the rains.

The first rains always brings with it happiness but also brings that dusky smell of mud. I still remember those school days :D. The new school year starts on the 13th of June, getting ready for school and also welcoming the arriving monsoon ah those were the days!, walking to school in my school uniform with ankle length high water wearing gumboots, Yes! gumboots I wore em when I was a little kid and I am proud of that. Those moments make me wanna go back in time.

Rains also remind of the water that accumalted in our building compund every single year no matter how many times we tried to improve the drainage system. It was harrowing for the uncle and aunties but we children could care less. The water was a mixture of rain and gutter water :P as i said we could care less so we kids would have our monsoon party splashing water on each other, playing football in it.

Once we were playing football in that very muddy water. So this one guy kicked the ball and the next thing we knew was the guy standing opposite had that muddy yucky water in his mouth hahaha! it was the funniest expression on his face ever. There was this one day, when we would just not stop we were splishing splashing water, shouting, doing the craziest things in this one rainy day put on a nice show for the on-lookers until our mums came down and dragged us home shouting and pulling our ears :p..hahah..



However, over the last few years the charm of the rains in Mumbai has somewhat diminished . Now a days most Mumbaikars hate the rains and everything associated with it. The endless traffic jams, the wet shoes, flooding etc. this more so after 26/7. Ive grown, Mumbai has grown there are alot more people in Mumbai, the cars have doubled from back then. The Infrastructure of the city crumbles agaisnt the might of the monsoon. So you can say with the rains come additional problems for Mumbaikars especially those who have to deal with water accumalating in their houses.

But for eternal romantics like me, I hardly think about these above mentioned gory details. Ok I admit rains back then were alot more fun compared to today. I still remember running in my chaddies around in the building splashing water, playing in every single puddle of water that had collected in the compound.

Rains have so many joys associated with it those warm cup of coffee and cutting chai, waves crashing agains the walls at marine drive/worli, butta, sitting at home doing nothing but just gazing out the window watching the rain drops.

The other day I was talking to my friend Disha "twisted angel" Diwan and she said something really simple yet so true "Mumbai rains havent lost its charm, its just that we've grown up!"

With that I'd end this post. I'd really love to hear some of your experiences of the rains old or new, It would be so nice if you guys wrote in.

Until then I'm singing in the rain, Just singing in the rain, What a glorious feeling ...I am happy again!

A simple dry-wall man

Firstly, Happy Fathers Day! to all dads all over the world! :) I know this is a bit late, Im sorry!

According to Wikipedia Father's Day is a secular holiday inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and parenting by males, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers.

For me its just a day to contemplate all that my father has done for me and to thank him for his unconditional love and support.

Tell me what a father really is. Should he be tall or short. A father is a guide a mentor, the family stone, the glue that holds the family together, all in all a father is someone to talk to and someone who listens. He knows how you feel when you even don't. A father is the strong masculine role model.

I wanted to share this writing with all of you guys reading this.

I fell in love with a man
When I was only four years old
He was tall with big blue eyes
And he was strong enough to holdme when I cried.
He loved my mom
He loved me and my sis
And together we'd make a family.

The teenage years were so hard
I know at times I broke his heart
But God's love shown
Through Dad's strong will
And he stood by me even still.

He taught me how to love and care
He gave me hugs when I was scared
And I thank God for each day
My Dad's been there.

It takes a special kind of man
One that fits Gods' perfect plan
To be a Dad
And to give the life we've had.

He was just a simple drywall man
Trying to get by
But little did he know
God had a plan for his life.

There is another writing that I wanted to share which my friend Disha "twisted angel" Diwan has penned. She has written a beautiful verse describing her dad, a painful incident in her life that she had to go through and she concludes by cherishing the times she has spent with her dad! (Thanks D for the writtings)

"He was Fifty,
Half a century as I would normally say.
Well rounded and a moustache like a Walrus.
Reddish brown hair and he was fair.
Popularly known as Ginger not just by his friends but by me too
he never forced me to call him dad or papa,
so for me he is ginger forever and for always.
He was one of the typical boarding school boys, athletic in everyway!

It is a day I wont ever forget,
seeing him sitting helplessly on the bed
not being able to walk properly
entering the room I saw this image of him
i could not understand anything
then i heard my ma tell me what happend
i never wanted to cry
i wanted to be daddies strong girl
but helplessly a few tears rolled down my cheek

Sitting there looking at him.
seeing the tears in his eyes
I was scared
didnt know how serious he was
and i didnt want to think about it either
at that moment i wanted to yell out and say
"my dad strongest"
just like the ways in the ad would say.

He had indeed had a stroke and help was on the way
for us to take him to the hospital
It is just then that I realised that he wasnt that young anymore
I still live in that fear that something might happen to him
Its been 2 years but it still feels like yesterday.

I remember i refused to visit him to the hospital
I couldnt see him that way
My friends forced me to but I couldnt
In the end i built up the courage and went with them.
As soon as I walked in I wanted to run away

Seeing he is old now
makes me go down memory lane
I remember the time we've spent together.
and i cant help but smile.
from buying me toys nearly everyday
to playing video games with me.
from watching wrestling, to getting me my own punching bag
for coming to all my football matches and cheering me
to sitting with me through all the World Cup matches
Doing the last minute running around for my admissions
to getting not even a THANK YOU from me
I am thankful to him and always will be
cause for me there is only one ginger in this world
and he truely is the best dad in the world"

D thanks for sharing this. I know most will be able to relate to this in some way or form :)

And Finally "HAPPY FATHERS DAY!" to all dads

Being Single!!!

I am single! :D committed to no one and nothing in particualar. Single again after a good relationship but didnt work out for some reasons, although my my ex did let me down a bit but i am over it after all i am here to be happy and not hate any one! Though she is one amazing woman!

Fuck sorry I drifted away from the topic on hand.....taking a deeeeeeepppp breath in I exhale saying im FCKING SINGLE :D and it fcking feels good to be fckin single, rahul for fucks sakes stop with the fucks :p....haha. Damn i am having fun! :D, talk to alll the chics in the world I want to, go to the places I want to go to, do the things I want to do, see the movies I want to see. Let me tell you it is a great life and why shouldnt it be?

There is no pressure to find love or to find and emotional support heh heh cause I dont need to find love, I love my self and there are 100's of people out there who love me, so i dont really need "any one" person to love me in particular. The thing is when you love some one you are close to them, you find faults in them. But finding faults destroys love and instead of helping to fill these holes we run away. Staying and helping to fill the gaps is wisdom but anyways...shit i dont know why i am drifting away!

SOME REASONS FOR STAYING SINGLE!

1. You can take the time to find the right Woman

By staying contently single you can afford to wait for your true soul mate (if one even exists). You can take your time to wade through the dating pool and wait for the right person.

By holding out for miss right you can avoid a mistake and have a relationship for love rather than for desperation.

Its sad but we guys fall in a relationship for wrong reasons.

• We have reached a certain age
• all our friends have girl friends.
• we are afraid that this one will get away.

by taking your time you can avoid the probabilites of a break up, cuase a break up simply HURTS!.

2. You can focus on your career

You remain free to put in serious thoughts about your work life or the career path you have chosen. Wait for sometime once we are successful hoardes of women will be around! :D

3. You can do what you want and when you want to

You can pick up and go anywhere you want to, do anything you want any time you want. No one is in the background saying that you should grow up!. Free to hang out with buddies, time for personal interests!!...chatting up with different women ha!!..

4. You can enjoy serenity

Being single does not involve fights and mood swings and emotional storms or you blaming her for everything and vice versa.

Although relationships are alot of fun (speaking from my experience) by being single you are keeping the door open to so many options and oppurtunities in your life.

I guess it would have been different if a women had written this post

I dont really rule out dating someone in the near future as well or even getting back with my ex cause hey she is a babe :P...

BUT RIGHT NOW IM SINGLE AND LOVING IT!...

Something i wanted you guys to read!

The other day i was travelling down to kandivili when i realsied i had a flat tyre. So i decided to stop at the small road side punture shop just next to the signal near the Andheri flyover.Small shanties lined the road and small, dirty kids played on side of the highway, like it was their playground. It indeed was, the pace and speed of the cars notwithstanding, they continued with their game like nobody's business!

While the tyre was being repaired, I decided to take a look around. Right next to the shop sitting on the pavement was this garrishly dressed young woman. With ornate fake jewellery, badly done makeup and tired eyes, she just sat there. I guessed, she was waiting for her next customer...a lady of the night! The men, young lads more like, went about fixing the puncture like pros doing it for many years now.

The kids in the picture above, were the 2 little guys playing their imaginary game next to the highway, darting back and forth between 2-3 shanties. One little guy, the fellow in white, squats down to examine the repairs being done. I bend down and take a picture. The other toothless fellow steps on the tube and squirts it all over the muddy road! A stern look from the older boys makes him run back into the hut. But soon, he is back and just as naughty as ever.

I couldnt help smiling, they were just too cute to ignore. I had to take a picture. I have driven past this place so often over the years, but never stopped here. I have become so oblivious to the poverty, that we just ignore and walk past. The 2 little boys, dont even know their names, are just like any other numerous street children we find across Mumbai. In the trains selling small trinkets, on the roads washing cars, working at chaiwallas for a living, or worse still begging at the signal, or drugged into sleep to evoke a more emotional response from the general public!

Thousands of kids are brought to Mumbai every year to be abandoned by their parents on the station. Unable to afford food for an extra hungry mouth, they leave them in Mumbai to earn and make a living. Some do get reasonably ok jobs. But for a few, this is nothing short of hell. Raped, sodomised, molested, made to work like slaves in countless sweatshops...this then becomes life as they know it. Childhood's innocence lost forever.

These guys were the luckier ones. Living next to the puncture shop, they were learning the trade and would soon, in all probability, have their own little puncture shop at the corner of some road some day. The poverty, the filth, the atmosphere around just made no difference. They played, like all kids should. The smiles convey it all, dont they???I wish the same for all of Mumbai's little kids. I wish all could play, play with the same joy and laughter as i was able to when i was their age.

I wish these kids rather than repairing punctures could learn, read and write. Afterall every single kid on this planet desevers education.

I for one am on the verge of doing something in my own small way to help these street kids, I plan to teach some of the young street children through a few NGO's & its not that difficult all it requires is 2-3 hours every week in the evenings, even if you cant teach just spending time with them would make them so happy!

Its an african Proverb, " It takes a village to raise a child."We all have been fortunate Enough to have some one to take care of us...but we also have some who are not that fortunate..
I wish happiness to all the children of mumbai both rich and poor!! :)