The Coffee

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word coffee? Here are a few responses that might come to mind:

Caffeine, for how tiring your life is and how it is easy to relate to the coffee I.V. joke.
Hot good quality roasted cup of black coffee, you can almost taste your best cup.
It’s good for you/It’s bad for you… each with supporting reasons.
Starbucks boycott to save the local brand.

All answers, true yet focused purely on coffee being the main constituent rather than an element of the thought. Besides, all very fundamentally influenced by the masses. For instance, tired or not, everybody can use more caffeine. Whether one cares or not, can certainly agree to boycott Starbucks. For me, a cup of coffee is only validated as an excuse to share valuable time with another soul. The caffeine has never accomplished keeping me up, whereas my taste buds are almost immune to quality; instant coffee is as good as one poured in one of those Nescafe advertisements. (I am sure many of you disagree, sorry, my five senses rarely operate to their full ability and I am still developing my sixth sense)

So coming back to the only valid excuse, I cannot start to explain how crucial a role coffee has played in getting to know some of the closest people in my life. Whether it was the Irish coffee I shared in the mountains of British Columbia or the sweet peppermint mocha in the basement of Irvings. I guess I am simply trying to urge you to try this just one out. Order a coffee not ‘To Go’ for a change. Sit down with a companion and sip it from one of the large coffee bowls over an extensive afternoon. It will bring you closer to another person more than you’d ever get in a hundred parties/movies/dates. Be sure to go there with no agenda and let the conversation unfold on its own. Share it with friends to bring some relaxation in each other’s fast paced life.

If we are in the same town, your next cup of coffee is on me. I’ll be glad to hear some of your experiences here if you have already enjoyed this subtle activity or are soon going to give it a shot in the near future.

With Love, Mo

Pull out that pad and pen… Write a letter…

With the advancement in technology, one of the (not so long ago) routine gestures has amazingly taken a higher level of significance. Aptly quoted by my dad, the world today is as small as we choose to make it. Cell phones, email, social websites such as Facebook, even professional websites such as LinkedIn allow for you to contact any friend of yours instantly or at the least expect a response within a few hours of leaving a message. Location and physical distance from you is no barrier. In fact, not just friends, but total strangers can be looked up in a matter of minutes and traced to their current location almost effortlessly.

In this day and age, writing a hand written letter is no longer the method of choice to communicate with someone. Unless it is a legal notice that requires a paper trail of certified mail, or someone lacking the technology skills needs to pay his/her bills, paper mail is nearly obsolete. However, such a decrease in its use has brought with it an opportunity to make someone feel special. Absolutely unexpected yet unusually unique, a hand written letter is considerably appreciated by most of us. The content itself isn’t even of much importance; simply a short paragraph or two will be read over and over again, as the lucky recipient just received non junk mail and have you to thank for it.

So, I urge you today to pull out that pad and pen and write up about your favorite color perhaps. Send it to a special friend and see it make his/her day. Do not forget to put down a return address now; it is my guarantee, your friend won’t sleep before responding to you. I have swayed a bit from my personal nature of the blog; however, I felt it was important to remind everyone about one of the little non-effort gestures that can go a long way.

To my friends and strangers interested in pen-pals, I will not put down my address on the blog. As mentioned before, it is readily available online within a few smart clicks for one who really wishes to write. For your effort to go through this entry, I urge you to leave your comments and feedback.

With Love, Mo.

The Couple Bubble

A few days back I commenced a Question Series on Gtalk (Gmail chat software). It was started to instigate discussion on various thoughts that cross many of us every now and then. Overall, it has received very interesting responses. I am glad that many of you have taken interest and have started looking forward to my questions.

As a form mainly of self-reflection and retrospection my first question of the series was, do couples live in a bubble and forget about their friends? 2008 has been a year of growth and fascination with the idea of love. Looking back, I realized many of my friends, myself included, have been under the influence of the couple bubble. I was intrigued to see that every friend of mine currently involved in a relationship took offense to this question and believed it was intended for them. Some food for thought I guess.

Whenever one enters a relationship, a feeling, a feeling stronger than one that can be described in words, blinds him/her. They are surrounded by a jolt of happiness and lose any capacity to reason logically, as they have their whole life. The stronger the relationship gets, the fainter the memory of past life. I can list innumerous positives that the entry of someone in your life brings with it. However, I’d like to discuss one of the absolute shortcomings of it today.

I call it the couple bubble because a relationship brings with it a layer of aloofness. People intertwine their life to such an extent that everything else becomes secondary. Usually nothing so wrong with it, however, when friends take a secondary spot one needs to be reminded of the big picture. Whether a relationship turns into a lifetime commitment or it is cut short due to irreconcilable differences, life is incomplete without friends and poignant when deserted by them.

The end of every relationship, whether for love or friendship, whether a loss or simply a disassociation brings with it a sense of sadness but more importantly a fear of loneliness. Instead of letting that fear guide your life, one needs to use his/her friends while at the same time regain their love, confidence and nurturing. It has to be looked at as a time not to be sorry for oneself, but to provide every happiness and joy to the friends who might have taken the backseat. It is a time to explore and move away from the only thought that surrounds us; the thought of a hollow space created in a very short time. Twenty 0dd years with a loving family, one to two with your counterpart; you be the judge about the non-existent/mistaken hollow space. Honestly, once through such an experience as many of us have already been through and many will certainly in the future, I feel you’ll never desert your friends.

I, for one, will always be there for you. Anytime, anywhere, I am simply a phone call away. If you are currently involved, I hope you do not take this personally. I have no fears of ever being forgotten by any of you. As aforementioned, this is pure hindsight. If you have taken interest in reading through this entry, one very close to my heart, your responses, rebuttals and comments are extremely welcome and desired. Please provide me with another point of view and I’ll gladly incorporate the same in my own thinking. <3

Candid Mo

I hate writing and am not sure why I am doing this... This is what you get for tagging me! :P

1. When I was 5, I bit my annoying uncle.

2. I have successfully gone on diets... almost every time... almost.

3. My childhood was spent growing up with two elder sisters who made me play everything from doctor-doctor to house to dressing barbies!.. ofcourse, I was always the nurse, or the kid at home!!.. Rest assured, I get them back for it, daily..........

4. I was facebook proposed for marriage! :S... and I accepted it :P... FACT: Its a joke!

5. I am very gullible. More than you think. My prof told me he is going to alaska on a hunting trip with sarah palin... and I believed him... Gosh, he was headed for research purposes.

6. I am very serious about dieting, at all times that I ain't eating.

7. I was a teacher's pet. :(... I was termed the conscience of the classroom!!... Things have changed...

8. I wasn't too much at ease, talking to girls in school... If you can even believe that... As I said, things have changed.

9. There is one song... one song alone... that my eyes get watery to. No, am not telling you which one.

10. I was born on a wednesday at 9:15 am.

11. I am a gadget freak. If its technology, if its out there, I want it.

12. I started the EE BAR TOUR!... and am looking forward to the EE Reunion Bar Tour....

13. I spent three weeks in a boarding school in 7th grade... The Dean called me the most pampered kid he has seen. I couldn't last.

14. In my three weeks, I learnt pottery, making hand made paper, and leading a disciplined life. I still feel not staying was a good decision... The school was churning kids as machines.

15. I am the annoying question asking kid from your Physics lecture... Class of 40 or 400... if I doubt ain't clear, I just can't move on...

16. I won a race in 3rd grade.. Believe it or not.. Ever since its been all about Tug-of-War.

A Symbol of Peace

17. I took this picture while on the ferry to the statue of liberty... Sent it to Mumbai Mirror (city newspaper) along with a peace message after the london bombings... They Published it :)

18. I believe in honesty a little too much. Please do not lie to me.

19. My earlier referred elder sisters have a very embarrasing dance video of mine from when I was younger... and they use it as ransom anytime they'd like something... Its only time before I get my hands on it and desecrate it!

20. I blog. rarely. http://mkk5001.blogspot.com

21. Reserved to strangers... Open book to friends... you are certainly the latter...

22. A music slave... Like all kinds of stuff, and cannot walk without my shuffle...

23. I suck at matching colors... Till date the only working combination am aware of is Black and White... For the rest, I refer to my younger sis...

24. I am the binder for school friends on my trips back home... Gettin them together, hasslin wid their nakhraas ( tantrums ) ;)... At the end of the day, its worth it... let the pic speak!

Friends for the road ahead...

25. I believe in non ending goals. Spreading one smile a day.. a perfect and most simple goal I follow :)

Love, whats your interpretation?

I love my family, my close friends, my computer, my shoes.

Hmm. I find it interesting that even though Love is an abstract feeling, all of us are able to find numerous things we are absolutely sure of loving. So here’s a question for you. What’s your interpretation of love? Especially, what makes you so sure about your love for something? And yes, I have heard all the reasons like, you just know or there is an inside voice or you have just struck a chord with someone.

I think, like everything else we look for a reason to explain our surroundings. Explain things we come across for the first time. In doing so, we take society’s help. We learn from its experience and adapt what we see. From what I have seen around me, unconditional love has often come from such reasoning. The unexpected is more often than not explained as an act of love. Whether its family being nice to you, or your best friend buying you a St. Valentine’s gift, or simply receiving a call at midnight on your birthday – It sure must be out of love.

Okay, I am not sure if such interpretation of love is actually wrong. It is, in fact, abstract and thus can be defined by an individual’s whim. Mine says that if you are a person that comes to mind on more than one occasion a day there is love I hold for you in my heart. That love dictates my behavior, my conduct towards everyone. It simply makes me happier and keeps me smiling. Caring for someone or being cared for are the closest things that get to being happy. Spreading and sharing love certainly accommodates both. I do not wish to look at love as a sacred entity preserved only for one other individual. Not only do you risk deserting those who deserve your attention, but at the same time you truly risk losing your identity when you give in too much. When there is that special someone in your life, they get to rule your heart. When they are not, they shouldn’t take it away with them.

I might be a little misplaced in the above discussion. St. Valentine’s just kept the topic revolving around. I guess all I am trying to say is please have a broad outlook towards love. Please do not be afraid of the feeling. Let it be easy to fall in love. Just let it be impossible to lose oneself for it. Identify the different forms of love. Do not limit yourself to the one for family and one for the special someone. Instead make an effort to show your true feelings. Trust me; it is more appreciated than you think. The other day, I remember writing an email to a few of my friends simply letting them know that someone had thought of them. I was responded to with some very true smiles and a unique sense of joy.

This blog is dedicated to my friends and family. If you are not yet aware, or if I have been slacking in communicating so, I absolutely LOVE you. As always, if you have chosen to go through and read the irregular fallout of my mind please respond with comments, rebuttals and/or feedback. In this case, your interpretation of love would certainly be apt.

Life in Short, at 21

Following is an excerpt from a chat with a wonderful friend (referred to as anon) to preserve privacy. I post it because it seems to relate to a lot of people at my age, atleast from what i see.

Mo: you up late on a friday night.. in a goood mood presumably...

Anon: was in a pathetic mood actually...when im in a good mood, i sleep... when bad, i stay

Mo: hmm.. now what could be a reason to make dearest anon in a pathetic mood.you shoot reasons.. n i'll kill them.

Anon:
1. getting old
2. too less time at home
3. what to do further in life
4. my boy mearly never beside me
5. sister away
6. depressing world
7. nieces and nephews way smarter

Mo:
hmm... i honestly request 3 mins for rebuttal.once u complete the reasons.

Anon: hee hee hee

Mo:
1. omg. you are not old. you have barely spent a 5th of your life. with 4/5th of it on its way with equally ton of fun that you have had uptil now.
2. i understand less time at home.. but thats why man invented phone/web conference. further frm family,, closer you get .. stronger the love. more time you give thm to miss u... better the getting back.
3. Wht to do further in life.. Hmm... 40% of the world population that revolves arnd the 18-25 age bracket.. has no answer to that question. you are not alone .

Anon: dats nice !

Mo:
4. aww... dun miss ur boy too much.. you got friends arnd... cherish the moments u get with him... enjoy the rest split amongst friends. coz trust me, they miss you a ton, when he's arnd.
5. hmm.. my sister is 9 yrs younger... n not gone married away yet... am sure i'll miss her... but thats acceptabe.. gets u another place to visit with a reason to visit as often as u like!... expandin ur footprint on this earth

Anon: hmmm....

Mo:
6. Now, i really don't like this reason. My world, is my friends, my family. That seriously ain't depressing. and I am sure i speak for you too, when i say they are not depressing at all!!!! then how is ur world depressing... u jus need to think the answer thru.. and u'll contradict urself.
7. Everyone loooks smarter in schoool. i haven't done the amount of work i did in 10th boards ever since. those are days of bein nerd smart... these are the days of bein street smart.

Comments, rebuttals... most welcome. as always.

Can't Sleep?

Ever rolled in your bed for hours at a stretch? Forcing yourself to think in a certain direction, trying to distract yourself from anything and everything? Well, maybe not. Maybe you haven’t faced the need to do so. I hope the need never arises. The only way I feel you can help it is by achieving distraction in the form of something you like. To evaluate what could be keeping you away from sleep might be a good start. From the short afternoon nap, to the evening pinch of caffeine in your Starbucks coffee anything could trigger a sleepless night. Stress about upcoming work or fear of facing tomorrow could also push your dream world away. Once recognized, however, the most difficult part becomes to submerge yourself completely into a different thought. People usually play an important role when it comes to doing so. Memories of family and friends is what one tends to dig in to find solace far from the recurring bothersome thought, whatever that may be. Memories related to a close one however can further deter sleep when refreshed about every waking moment spent with that person.

I lied earlier in my assumption that you may not have had the need to face a sleepless night. In my experience, the more you mature, the more you come to grips with life, the faster it throws a sleepless night your way. If I am correct, then this piece is written to simply explain the fact that everyone around you is undergoing or has undergone the same feeling as you due to one aspect or another of their life. The solution to it does not have to be sleeping pills or other drug induction but a simple acceptance of the reality, a walk through the childhood years where the concept of a sleepless night might have sounded funny to us. Maturing further to not let the tension grip you, not let anything dissuade you and remember the time you slept in your loved ones arms (mother, soul mate) without a worry in the world.

To avoid the recurrence of sleepless nights, one can also immerse themselves in a completely packed day. Getting involved in things you like to not leave the smallest window of idle mind between sunrise and sunset though daunting can promise you peace of mind and body and bring you a night of dreams just as that of a new born baby.

I know it must all sound as easier said than done, which is why I am writing this piece on one of my sleepless nights. Doing something that I like, writing…