Mommy.... :-)

Shivers of fear... Creep from my thoughts...
Uncertain are actions... To move these rocks...

One thought, so very pure...
Of your sight, always cures...

Peace within, your warmth provides...
The calm it brings, a pure delight...

Smile today... Do smile always...
Thoughts I'll conquer... Shadowed by your grace...

Close to you... I'll always be...
My rock you are... I lean by thee...

Thoughts conquered... Peace attained...
Love you mom... Shine or rain...

Love, Mo
PS: Thanks, Christine...

If my silence spoke...

If my silence spoke... It would say to you...
With courage & fear... It would whisper few...

I would like to meet you... I really would...
I would like to know you... The best I could...

In your search... I abandoned words...
You know best... How to break the curse...

In your presence... The rhymes begin...
When you're gone... I scream within...

I am quiet today... For you to see...
You are my voice... My soul to be...

If I know you... As I have come to know...
My silence will break... To you I'll owe...

If my silence spoke... It would say to you...
With courage & fear... It would whisper few...

Love,
Mo

A friend in sight...

A frown on your face...
A thought misplaced...
Crawling into the night...
Nightmares stuck in your sight...

Comes along a smile...
Comforts your mind...
Battles your frown...
Turns your thought around...

A smile on your face...
Dreams back to a steady pace...
You crawl into the night...
With a new friend in sight...

Love,
Mo

The Innocence of a Mature Soul

A discussion on the guilt of losing one’s culture, a lovely response to my question “What’s new with you, Mumbai?” from a close friend and my recent trip to India have caused me to reflect today. A reflection that concluded on what I consider to be a strong paradox; The Innocence of a Mature soul.

Let’s break it down a bit.

Recently, a friend expressed guilt in loving a lifestyle too much; A lifestyle much different from the one they grew up in. Guilt because they felt they were losing their culture. The movie spanglish, quotes a mother asking her daughter, "Is what you want for yourself to become someone very different than me?". Is it really wrong to lose attributes of one's culture and accept others instead. Should active proponents of traditional India be allowed to stop you from celebrating valentine's? Are you sad when you see yourself speaking a different language more often than your mother tongue? I questioned myself, Should I be guilty too? Am I losing my Indian culture? What makes me Indian?

Now, here are a few snippets of Mumbai from my friend’s response. She says Mumbai has a place for both dwellers of paradise and dwellers of hell. Only that, they each receive just the opposite. Every possible cuisine served in restaurants filled with people wearing every possible fashion statement gives, dare I say, a very westernized feeling of diversity. And yet, traditions thrive, elders are respected and temples filled day and night. We dare speak back to our elders. We keep our religious fasts and maintain our faith in superstitions. Only in Mumbai, would one go to a forced family gathering by day and still be able to go party the night out on one’s free will. Extending a similar comparison to metro cities and other smaller cities developing all over India, I questioned myself again; what does it mean to be Indian? What is Indian culture?

A few days back, I uploaded an album from my trip to India on facebook. I titled it, India Unplugged. I did so, as I felt the pictures shared provided me with raw emotions that held the intensity to shake my world up. Mumbai, friends and most importantly family – the pictures summed up my entire emotional being. The selfless expression of love and the sharing of feelings I felt there, I am sorry to say is not achievable in any western use of the phrase, “I love you” and is unrivaled by any spontaneous intimate gestures. Mumbai, today, has achieved a unique standing in the world, where you are close enough to contribute to a developing nation and yet distant enough to live a developed lifestyle. Mumbai offers you an educated developed lifestyle that makes people live a logic driven self interest life without actually letting you disconnect from a culture that puts people first; People for whom you live an emotional, illogical journey thus completely balancing your life.

MUMBAI is where a mature soul re-cultivates its innocence.

To answer the aforementioned questions,

What is culture? – Indian, American or from any part of the world, YOUR culture is merely what you attribute as your stepping stones. Be proud to have this heritage from the entire world without a shred of guilt of being selective in your adaptations of the one you were born in.

Who am I? – A global citizen of mother Earth, loving every instance of what this beautiful world has to offer, accepting every attribute that applies to me and refining my soul.

As always, I highly appreciate your time in giving my thoughts your time and consideration. Comments, rebuttals, feedback very welcome.

Love,
Mohit Khadaria

Life

I was four
Life was pure
I turned eight
Life was great

Came along twelve
School became hell
Rushed through sixteen
Keen to find meaning

Turned a corner at twenty
No longer in a hurry to lose my sanity
Will turn twenty four
But not a minute before

Will live a driven life
Not lose my confidence twice
Will live to share
Not settle in lifeless despair

If you chose to come in my life
Plan to be on a unique ride
There are ups n downs you’ll face
Ones that will definitely change your pace

Hope to meet you on this wonderful journey
Look out World, here comes me
Drop a line, if we share a memory
Will help reminisce, when I think about thee

For a change, Mo gets questioned!

Many of you have been a successful part of my Question Series on Gchat. To show my gratitude, I decided to share one of my answers to a recent question from a mate. I was asked, “Tell me about something that you desperately want in your life... as in for a change or perhaps always wanted it...could be anything... a thing, emotion, person, anything under the sun!!”

Let’s see, it is hard to be on this side of the question. I guess I expect my friends to have a reflex reaction to my questions and thus will share my own. The very first thing that came to my mind on hearing the question was a recent quote I have definitely been living by; Do not put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket.

Made me realize, to desperately want a thing/emotion/person rather anything under the sun is doing exactly that. It is basing your happiness at the dodgy chance of success in achieving this artificial goal. I say dodgy, as nobody can assure you of achieving every goal 100% of the time; I say artificial, as these goals whether successful or not will come to an end leaving you without direction once again.

So, here is my thought; Instead of wanting something, striving to be happy or yearning a person’s company,………. Desire a life, more specifically, a lifestyle design. Hold a constant aspiration to define your lifestyle and your goals will line up accordingly. With experiences, this definition will simply keep getting better and your life will never fall into a rut. Also, it is this desire that will last you a lifetime thus not leaving room for a deep emotional crash that often follows the failure of an artificial goal.

Now, how to design a lifestyle? Taking direction from the past couple articles, do what you can convince yourself is right. As long as you are not intentionally hurting another being, your actions will be considered as wrong by half the world, right by a select few, different by the lucky few who have come to accept all as is. If you hold the drive to be different yet accepted, develop the skill of unique adaption. Say what needs to be heard to the extent which can be defended for life and you'll have a smooth sailing.

Lifestyle Design – An aspiration to define a life that makes one happy and restructuring all priorities around this one central goal for life.

Unique Adaption – Adapting to everything positive and good in your environment without losing your uniqueness. People often confuse being social to being a chameleon; someone who can adapt to the people around him/her. Being unique gives one just as much an edge as making the company comfortable by adapting to them.

This is an answer, incomplete without discussion. Help me refine my thought by sharing your own. Comments, rebuttals, feedback highly welcome. More importantly, if you have the patience to hear my answers, Questions are truly welcome.

Love,
Mo