Happiness is what happiness does.........

Hi there Amrita Chakraborty! This one is for you... you got me thinking, and got me happy too!

So we were talking about how extremes of wealth and poverty can be happy together! Never mind the place or continent, they are just happy! I say I am happy when I earn two hours of consulting time! My counterpart frowns when she clocks just 12 hours in a day! she is prolly earning six times as much as me, but her definition of enough is rather different from mine. We are both as equally qualified as equally competent and also equally complacent, but happiness seems to be a state of mind- so we are not on the same platform for intrinsic feelings like happiness and joy....and 'enough'.

I pack in some dynamite when I use those 2 hours of consulting time- my friend also packs in a lot more of dynamite but laced with a sense of dissatisfaction which prevents that smile which perpetually is on my face. It is purely a  question of mind over matter- if you dont mind, it does'nt matter. Its not as if I am happy with less- but I look forward to more while being thankful for the less.

So whether we be in Asia or Africa, or even Australia or America, the advanced continents, it is immaterial. Our smiles are governed by those around us- havent we often commented that just because a killjoy happened to be around, we really could not have a good time? Attitude here seems to be the killjoy. And a historic melancholia which often overpowers the current euphoria! hey guys, i just got the right words- honestly, i couldnt have thought of a better phrase with my limited intelligence and painfully limited vocabulary. But just because I wanted to say something to you, I tried to say it just like I really want.

We cannot be happy on a hungry stomach. We cannot be happy being nurtured on hatred. Most people cannot be happy when they are confused and almost everyone doesnt like to feel cheated and used. Can you tell me why Humpty Dumpty had a great fall? Because eggs don't sit on walls! And if they do sit there they fall down, they break their heads! And their smile disappears! They are happy eggs till they fall down and break their heads!But eggs arent supposed to sit on walls, I say? They have to nestle in the cardboard rack. Or be incubated by Mother Hen. If I had written that rhyme, I would have prolly thought of  a metre which went like....
"Humpty dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
Egghead, didnt he remember at all
That eggs don't sit on all those walls?"(with apologies to the poet)

So what is a happy situation? For me, the post writer, it is "where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..."(Tagore, the illustrious Tagore) and never mind the killjoys around. But I cannot stay hungry, thats for sure.

It helps to know that 95% of the people I know share the same sentiment. But what are we doing about it? And the remaining 5% are never happy- those are the killjoys.We are actually continuing to promote unhappiness by logging on to unqualified 5% killjoy viewpoints and then latching on to them. We can hold our heads high only when we are convinced about what we are doing. Eggs should not sit on walls and even if they dare, they should be careful.

Knowledge is power, screams Economic Times, all the time! Secure in your knowledge quotient, you can dare to be happy. You can be without fear, only if you know. You can hold your head high, only if you know. You can smile, only if you know.Smash that ignoramus inside your head, get a scalpel and knife it away. Get that smile back, life's not so bad after all! The top 5% know it, the bottom 95% need to make an effort to rise above their current levels and learn to become the 6th-7th, 100th% on top!
Live happy, die happy! Keep smiling!

India, I miss you- today more than ever!

Vande Matram..... maa tujhe salaam..... Jai Hind!

I woke up with the sound of loudspeakers playing "kadam kadam badhaye ja....."

Went to montessori and heard the rendition of "nanna munna rahi hoon..." on the EP(extended play) record....."

The experience of the Indo Pak War in 1971 made me shout with joy whenever I heard the number "ye desh hai veer jawano ka" and by then I was old enough to feel my heart burst when "ae mere pyare vatan, ae mere bichade chaman, tujhpe dil kurbaan" would play on Vividh Bharati. My father, an engineer by profession, was nominated to the Civil Defence and Vigilance Directorate for this war . I think this is what it was called....it was a group of civilian people who were nominated by the Collector's Office to help in maintenance of law and order during the War. As soon as the hooters would blow in anticipation of an air raid on the defence establishments in our town, he would just pick up his Royal Enfield motorbike and go to Collector's Office, to sit there till the bomb loaded enemy aircraft had passed over and changed direction. Or maybe dropped a bomb on us.During such warnings, the whole town used to be immersed in darkness- the Electricity Supply Company used to just pull the plug and supply to all sub stations would cease. Then my mother and us two sisters(my brother was not born yet), would huddle in one corner of our huge bungalow, trying to listen to the sounds of the aircraft overhead, and hoping that if a bomb was dropped that instant, at least we would get to see our father before we died. Yes, I was old enough to be scared of dying....

In class seven, we did a group song and dance on "Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle..."

In class nine, I cried to the lyrics of "Ae mere vatan ke logon...." thats when I understood them actually.

In class eleven, there was a spate of books by various authors, Indian and foreign. Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie won awards for its eloquent midnight and onwards storytelling.It was all about India.

My brush with democracy came when my nana(paternal grandfather) contested elections and we were there for our holiday, canvassing for his party, which incidentally, was always, always, always Congress. Actually he was always contesting elections, and as we all know in India, elections are not seasonal or time bound- they just happen. So this once, we happened to be there for the Dussehra and pooja holidays, and had a blast! I still remember the jeeps and the cries of "congress ko vote do......" rhyming with some cheap remarks about opposition, and we used to come home at closing time, tired, hoarse, happy, hungry. Chai with the volunteers was a delight and then we used to don all sorts of pro congress badges and walk around proudly. Even when nana backed up a harijan candidate, the fervour was the same, and victory was sweet.

As I grew up in the NCC ranks in college, I proudly won an opportunity to participate in the Republic Day Parade at Raj Path, New Delhi. It was prestigious, to put it very very briefly.

The next opportunity to participate came when, while working in Delhi, I got to see the same Republic day parade, by invitation. My uncle with whom I was staying, had an invitation, he had seen the parade before, so we used his invitation. Sanjiv's father, who really did not know then that I would be his son's wife(but he was very fond of me, all the same), and I- we both left the house at dawn, to arrive at the designated entry gate and find our seats on cross legged three tiered bamboo structures. Sitting atop the bamboo stands, with bottles of water and bags of biscuits, because there were no mineral water bottles those days, I cried with love.

And walked for miles after that to get back home at dusk- the traffic rerouting in Delhi for the Republic Day Celebrations is legendary.Needless to say any more on how the metropolis looks on Republic Day- it is simply festive.

As all other towns also are, in their own way. The way they can afford their festivities includes rallies, marches, festooning and banner campaigns, bhashans (speeches), theatre, nukkad naatak (street plays), school marchpasts, displays, music programs. Overriding all these expressions of love to motherland, is Bollywood's very own signature gesture of songs and dance and film releases appropriately timed.

Today, as an NRI, I think of all this. I sit and wish that I should have participated more while I was at home in India- should have drunk in more of the smells, sounds and feel of freedom that is so tangible on Republic Day. And I also wish that I should have contributed more positively to the aura- not just sat there and enjoyed my holiday mostly.

More later- I am already feeling better after having shared this with you.:)

OK, so here I am. Just can't get away from this page before telling you all. This morning, we all got together to share the joy of freedom. And again, the rang de basanti chant got me senti. The Chak de India got me rocking! I was already crying to the sounds of the bengali "aamar mathrubhumi" sung by the group. We, the women looked glorious in our sarees, and the men looked so good in their khadi and bandh gale ka coat.

But somewhere, I missed India. I missed the morning smell and the vasant. The little bit of cold and the foggy haze. The television dedicated to freedom today. The pulsating pitch of excitement in the voices of our democratic leaders who renew their promises to the people. The cartoons in the dailies talking about six decades over, seventh one going on. The theme parties that people have to celebrate the Republic Day, where each one has something saffron, white and green to show off to others!


.....tu hi meri jaan- to mother, janani, creator and preserver.