Lights. Camera. RCNM.

An experience that completely changed my life makes me go back in time. I was 25 or maybe 26 then. In Bhopal, there is a lake which is famous for attracting love birds, the ones that don't have wings. I out of habit used to tell my mom wherever I was and where I was supposed to go. It so happened that on my friend's birthday, he took me to the lake. I had informed my mother about the plan. When I went there, I saw my aunt in the vicinity. But it doesn't end there. She saw me, with those doubting eyes of hers. Then she moved her gaze to my friend, scanned him as if he was some alien. With all dignity, I decided to approach her. Slowly I moved towards her and her eyes became bigger and bigger. I don't know whether this was because of the decrease in distance or the increase in the level of shock. Finally I stood right in front of her. I asked her about her health and various other silly, non-sensical questions, which we ask people out of courtesy.   ...

Mumbai, the city of dreams. Shifting to a new city is always a humongous task. It becomes even more difficult when you come to a city which is bigger than your hometown. Well, not for me. I have lived all my life in Ahmedabad. The calm, peaceful and slow moving city. So Mumbai was a refreshing change to the laid back outlook. You know you are in Mumbai as soon as you step in the city. The culture makes its presence felt. When I stepped into an Auto Rickshaw, I was treated to a peculiarity which only a Mumbai Rickshaw-wala can have. I was given a 'Free of cost' visual tour of all the celebrity bunglows. He'd say "Saab woh na Mannat hai, apne woh Shah Rukh ka bunglaa "  or "Woh Jalsa hai, Amitabh Bacchan Saab hai na, unka ghar ". He also went out of the way to show me Sachin Tendulkar's Bunglow! I knew Mumbai was famous for its rains. I happened to arrive in Mumbai just in time for the rains. Initially it was fun, the cool breez...

B.E.L.I.E.F.  6 letters. One word. Bazillion different interpretations. If we go by what the oh-so-boring dictionary says, ‘belief’ is a vague idea in which some confidence is placed. Synonymous with faith, you could say. Your beliefs motivate you, make you the person you are or wish to be.  Be it the belief that everything will be alright by the end and if it's not alright then it's not the end (filmy much?) Or the belief that you'll pass an examination even after buying the books a day before the exam and studying for just a couple of hours. A belief is a belief no matter how humongous or petty.  Remember the cricket world cup? When India was on the brink of losing? Saying ' Dhoni hai nah..bass! ' is belief. Believing profoundly in something that you love doing always makes you do that something with twice the force and four times the joy.  Self-belief : Believing in yourself, your abilities only makes you stronger as an individual, pumpi...

A great deal of meaning is squeezed into this 7-letter word- ' passion '.  Passion is nothing but the intensity with which you pursue your dreams. Your passion sets you apart from the rest! Nothing in life defines us more than how passionately we chase our dreams. It is the most important ingredient of success. Life today is pretty much equated with a ‘rat race’. However, the crux of this race is not beating your competitors, but fighting your own battle; being passionate about your dreams! There is nothing more powerful than a human soul on fire. You know what you are, but you don’t know what you can become. Passion makes you realize that. It adds meaning to your life. As Martin Luther King Jr. said: if you are a street sweeper, so be it. Clean your street so well that others are forced to acknowledge,” Here lived a street sweeper who did his job well”. Dignity of labor does not bind passion. What matters is the intensity with which you wish to achieve a certain ...

Do you know what it is you feel when you find yourself in danger?  Do you know what it is when you do not want to let someone you love out of your sight; the persistent force that propels you to act recklessly when your life steers out of your control? It is Fear.  The four-lettered demon, which sells your sanity when you are not able to escape a locked door in an alien room, is fear. The emotion that you are compelled to feel in a fight or flight situation. It ensnarls you in its paws, so much so that you eventually start taking refuge in it. A shrink would probably tell you that your fear is just a mental state and that you are the only one who can fight it and all that jazz.  Your love is what actually triggers fear. Your attachment to your life, your devotion towards your loved one, the rush and insecurity you get with the knowledge that there’s someone waiting for you to go back to them, is what triggers fear. It hardly matters if you feel it and yo...

Slang of the day! -  Zonked A not-so-common British slang, the word is used to display feelings of frustration, fatigue, weariness,etc. 'To be zonked' or being 'zonked out' literally means being totally knackered or 'exhausted'. In extreme cases, a person can even 'zonk out' to bed (sleep). Caution: Though all of us have an uncanny habit of over-using new slangs, this is not the word to mess with! Never tamper an unofficially 'official' slang! There are complete chances of making blunders like 'zonking' or 'zonker', which are totally senseless. So that's your slang for the day! Go on, use it, but wisely. Don't be zonked thinking about this one. There are others coming up in the weeks to follow. Watch this space!