A stage in a relationship comes when his happiness naturally spills in to become hers, when his sorrow is something she will go the extra mile to lessen, and when her joy becomes his priority too. When they are in a state of 'oneness'- each step, every move and experience being uniquely lived by this 'one' being than the two different beings....is this love? Or something much higher, much more divine, many times more true than it?...Something that still doesn't bring in with it the rituals of human existence..

Why do I feel alone even in iland? Why do I feel retentive, reclusive and vague here in the Land of Anonymity where everybody becomes themselves, without fear of dejection as in real life...am I careful to uncover my mind even to my ilander friends?

Virtual life is not very different from real life. We are still governed by the same set of emotions, apprehensions, hopes and joys as in real life. A phone call from a friend and a comment from a fellow blogger don't feel very different. Though blogosphere is to some degrees more honest, more straightforward, more close to the heart..

Giving up food for a day by majority of the country's women would go on to save a huge amount of food........and be a substantial help in the foodgrain shortage problem of the country.

The Government should make a couple of Karvachauths in a year mandatory for both wives and husbands...

Apart from that, if men and women honestly search for the answers within themselves, they will not see any merit in this much cherished and much commercialised tradition...

Now she is alone. Almost everybody around seems to have friends, exchanges casual chatter in mornings and evenings. They laugh together, sing together, and perhaps even back-chat together. But nobody talks to her and she to nobody. She is, an island, all alone, now that her boyfriend is working in another place. She is not very close to her family. Nobody knows what all she goes through. It begins with silence and ends with silence these days.

She tries to find out what went wrong or what can be corrected, only to be overwhelmed with tears.

Hey friends,

Have u ever got the feeling of being, or feeling 'alone' in life? Of having nobody around to talk to, to share things with, to chatter with. A paralysing feeling of leading a solitary existence? A stretch of endless time populated with just me, myself and I? A feeling of pained sensitivity about the fact that everybody is leading their respective lives and nobody has time to bother to hear what you would have said, if given the time and space to vent it..In short, a void expanding into itself.

Of late I get the feeling quite often. Perhaps that is also the way many people, young and old (actually more of the elderly perhaps) feel in a city that runs too fast..

What is the solution? How can one make things better, or learn to live with things? Suggestions and advises solicited..

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

I often hear reports and views of people today who look at you as a community that has empathy for, or even support anti-national activity, terrorism or just a cricket match played by Pakistan against India.
I just want to tell you that I DON'T think that way, and there are many and many like me. I have regard for you just as one human being would have for another, and our respective religions come nowhere in the picture. You are my fellow countryman/ woman whom I consider to be equally if not more trustworthy, patriotic and lovable as any Indian Hindu. I do not see the imaginary lines of division forced upon us by politicians, religious fundamentalsists and other separatists forces. In short, I love, respect and trust you.

It sometimes pains me though why I don't hear your heart's voice- pure and individualistic and humanitarian- in the midst of the drowning sounds of religious fanaticism, like a spark in the dark. Perhaps you have your own reasons to be silent..

Coincidentally Gandhi Jayanti is closeby. We could do with a long lost Jadoo ki Jhappi on its eve.

Love and take care,
Flickering Candle

Ok, I give myself 5 minutes to pen something down. Quite pressed on time, like everybody else now-a-days. Sometimes makes me wonder how so many ilanders find time to write all those lengthy posts.

Ok, so the blogging is disturbed by two ladies who ring the bell asking- Paanch saal se chhota bachha hai? ...The Pulse Polio Campaign. Well, I live on the 2nd floor and there is no lift here and I gape in admiration at the honesty, hard work, and determination of these volunteers! Hey, who the hell said India is full of corrupt people! They might as well have not checked- they didn't make me sign a document and climbed all those stairs for just a verbal confirmation. Nobody would know. Hey, I'm going to volunteer for this work occasionally, I tell myself. Somehow their question does bring a smile to my face each time I tell them, "Nahin hai."

Hats off to the work of these people.