Love

The breeze is strong.

The smell of the ocean is overpowering but delicious.

As she walks she feels the wet sand beneath her feet.

Something makes her stop and she looks over her shoulder and watches as the tide washes away her footprints.

Alone in that moment she realises, the past is but the past, erased by the tide and the path ahead is still to be walked...

In the ocean breeze she can hear his voice. He is telling her to be careful, be safe. She looks around.

A smile. And a shake of the head, she walks ahead.

Ahead in the cottage the lights are on and she can hear her favourite song. Her feet begin to tap.

An achievement and a celebration.

He really does know it all :)

SMILEEE

There is nothing as simple and honest as the smile of a child.

Photo Courtesy: Ken Carl

I have always loved being with children for a whole lot of selfish reasons. They make me happy with their uncomplicated chatter, they hold no malice, they love chocolates and sweets, cartoons still fascinate them, they help you find joy in simple things and they allow me to never grow up :)

If I ever get stressed at work or saddened by events in my personal life I run to Latika Vihar. Its one place where you can drown everything out and just have fun! I paint, I dance, I run around or I can just sit and read out stories to anyone who cares to listen. I can remain quiet and let the children tell me their stories.

They know no fear, their imagination has no boundaries and their love is without limits. I love children because with them I can believe in pixies and fairies again. I love them because without knowing they make the real world better.

I wish and pray that one day every state, every city and every country will have a Latika Vihar. Because sometime just the thought that a place like this exists is enough. I hope for this not just for the creative development of the child, but I hope for it for us, the adults who have forgotten what life truly is about and how simple it really is to smile.

Unexpected.

Unexpected, out of the blue.

Silent prayers were washed away by spoken words.

From the sidelines an onlooker in my own life

I am angry.

I understand.

Sometimes that which makes no sense, is truly the only path to take.

I wish I had said the unreasonable

I wish I had pushed the door instead of waiting for the window to open

If you had more faith

or we more strength

I am angry.

I understand.

I wish I didn't.

Friend's Speak: Invictus

The poem below was shared (read out) from 'saat samundar paar' by my friend as he felt I needed a little inspiration. As soon as I heard this poem I absolutely loved it. It ‘re’-reminds me of the undying human spirit and in our capability to endure, fight and survive. It reminds me that at the end of it all how my life turns out and what becomes of me, is up to ME

Thanks Sood, you are the best 'annual' buddy one can ask for :)

INVICTUS by William Earnest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.