If only there was a pencil inside every gun...

A foe turned friend..seriously?

the gun mocked the broken pencil

as it lay amidst the splattered blood

"this is to stop you write, you get it?

and you are talking about friendship

you should be asking for forgiveness"

The pencil asked, with an angry tone,

"hmm, so tell me, If I stop there are

numerous like me, how do you stop that"

this time the gun did laugh,

"Fear, ofcourse what else, simple

What I have done, will be a reminder

and you will not write what I don't like"

The pencil smiled for the first time

"But that's a very small area of influence

don't you think? just the thinkers

who wanted to use me, that's small"

The gun looked surprised, thinking

"But fear rules all and everybody"

The pencil shook its head, smiling

"What I influence is  mindsets,

I create new thinkers every time I write

who agree and disagree with what I do

I influence people to think, to grow

Fear is temporary, it wears off soon"

The gun looked discomfited, 

"but then how do I prove you wrong?

I do not agree with what you wrote."

"very Simple, become friends with me

and write, let people hear what you say

and then simply let them decide"

"But" the gun shouted, "its my religion"

"its about my feelings, you hurt me"

"of course it is and hence prove me wrong

find a voice for your anger and write it

create new thinkers who debate it with me"

"But that won't make you stop, then"

the gun asked, and the pencil replied

"No it won't but it will let people decide

it will make them think about you, your point

and how I am wrong, use me and write"

"That's why I said, let's be friends,

You can't rule with fear, and anger

but you can always rule hearts with me"

And finally the foe turned friends 

as the blood of hatred dissolved in Ink!

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Sri Lanka! The ultimate backpacking experience!

The ancient history that still stood in glory

cycle rides exploring the ruins with stories

the wildlife that called out among the forests

and idle beaches with beautiful sunsets

It was a journey of a lifetime, with smiles

among the warmth of sun and happy cries! 

Sri Lanka, the land of beaches, sun, breeze and ancient history, its a land where you can experience everything depending on what you choose. The best part as a traveler, it is light on your pocket, here is my travel experience of a 6 day trip to Sri Lanka!

The itinerary:

The Six Day Itinerary was as follows:

Chennai Train Station, India

Day 1: We landed in colombo at 3am and then we took a taxi to colombo fort station, since our first day stay was in Habarana. We had decided on habarana being the center point for our visit to polonnaruwa and  Sigiriya. To travel in Sri Lanka, trains are a super medium, the stations are clean and the trains do not cost a lot, so we took a second AC compartment confirmed ticket for our train to habarana. Most of the train journey, which was a five hour journey went to sleeping and in between eating mangoes and local fried stuff.

We reached habarana and from there took a tuk-tuk to our bed and breakfast place, we had already booked our hotels relying mostly on the tripadvisor reviews. The place was nice with clean room and bathroom and then we decided to have lunch at the place only before starting out on our journey to sigiriya. We took bus halfway and halfway tuk-tuk to reach sigiriya around 3pm. The weather had fortunately become windy with dark clouds with slight rain and we started our expedition.

Sigiriya- Sri Lanka, World UNESCO heritage site

It was an exhilarating climb up, the 600 steps but absolutely worth it, you marvel at the architectural capabilities of people in that time. The ancient paintings still are beautiful to look at retaining their colours and the view from the top was just breathtaking amongst the ruins. 

Ancient paintings Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

View from the top, sigiriya, Sri Lanka!

Post that, we ate at the local market, enjoying the famous egg hoppers and rice rotis with sri lankan fish curry and then it was a long sleep to the next day.

Day 2 : The next day morning after breakfast we took the bus to polonnaruwa, which is about 45 km away from habarana, without much of wait we got the bus and with our luggage at the back it was an easy one and a half hour journey. We took bicycles and after a brief visit to the museum started our journey to the ancient ruins, after an initial 2-3 km ride, you enter the first cluster and then the famous quadrangle.

Local Buses, Sri Lanka

Sleeping Buddha, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka!

Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

On polonnaruwa and things you shouldn't miss, I have another post. Post that we had local lunch and then took a bus to kandy with the help of local people. Kandy is about 130 km away and the entire journey took us around 3 and a half hours, we reached kandy station around 6 and then took a tuk tuk to the hotel which was quite near the railway and the bus station. We then roamed around the kandy town, to the lake and market place and the temple of tooth and had dinner.

Day 3: Day 3 started with us taking a bus to Nuwara Eliya from the bus stop at kandy and we reached in 3 hours to the mountain town, we roamed around for an hour drinking heavenly tea at local stores with the local delicacy of rice and coconut roti. We returned back quickly to our bus stop to take the bus to kataragama from where we had to go next day for our Yala Safari to see some leopards!

Kataragama, Sri Lanka

After a 5 hour ride we reached Kataragama and then went about exploring town,visiting old temples and eating more egg hoppers!

Buddhist Temple, Sri lanka

Egg Hoppers, Sri Lanka

Day 4: The next day was morning safari to yala, to just see some wildlife and catch the sight of the leopards! we got lucky and actually saw the elusive creature jumping of the tree, saw elephants wildly playing and a crocodile fight. After the awesome safari experience, which also included seeing a beach in the middle of a forest, we started off towards Mirissa.

Yala National Park, Sri Lanka

Mirissa was actually a discovery, beautiful beach and amazing shacks. After having a quick snack we quickly climbed up a small hill to catch the sunset and it was the most beautiful sunset ever, the ball of red going down in the water, it was just magical. Followed by the most awesome dinner, listening to the waves, having fresh seafood as the candles lit the beach up!

Sunset at Mirissa, Sri Lanka

Day 5: The next day we were just in water as it was a beautiful cloudy day perfect for a beach outing and after a Sri Lankan curry breakfast and an amazing fish curry lunch we took the bus for our journey to hikkaduwa, which took us through galle and some amazing seaside scenery. It took us hour and half to finally reach our destination and we quickly went to check in at our bed and breakfast stay.

After an evening of roaming on the beach and having delicious tea we had a great dinner at one of the numerous seaside restaurants where you hear the waves splashing as you eat a splendid dinner our favorite was the egg fried rice, which I guess is a speciality of Sri Lanka and the fresh grilled fish.

Giant Turtles at Hikkaduwa Beach, Sri Lanka

Hikkaduwa Beach, Sri Lanka

Day 6: we went early morning to again spend the afternoon in sea water, but first we saw giant water turtles as they floated near the shore, and it was simply amazing and exciting. Hikkaduwa is a perfect beach for non-swimmers like me, since there are no big waves and you simply float in water and I had the most amazing time there although because of lack of swimming I couldn't do the snorkelling which I am sure would have been a great experience

Post lunch, we took a bus to Colombo and reached in 3 hours to the fort station again where it was raining, and we just roamed around the city, buying tea and spices and finally having a great finale at the famous german pub, from where we took the meter auto to the airport for our flight back home!

Near Fort Station, Colombo, Sri Lanka

It was a trio which was my introduction to backpacking and Sri lanka truly gives you that oppurtunity! A trip which has made me travel more! 

The Dreams of hopefully a new year..

The little bird on the window looked at me

wide eyed and hopeful it questioned...

"what do you dream of in the new year?

Is it job, love, money or prosperity?"

I stretched my hands to touch its warm feathers

"I dream of all those things and some more"

Its eyes twinkled and it asked again

"More? what more can you ask for?"

"I dream of pavements where I can walk

with out feeling eyes tracing me

I dream of places I can go all alone

without fear walking alongside"

I dream of parks where I can sleep off

under the shade of green trees

without hearing things and mocking

laughters and scary eyes"

I dream of rivers that can flow

without the plastics choking them

I dream of girls being born

and be allowed to live just as they are"

The little bird smiled out loud

"I hope and pray that one day

your dreams do become reality

and here's to a wish of truly 

a change in the new year" 

Saying truth..sometimes hardest and the right thing to do..

“tong, tong” the sound of the recess ending, was one of the most painful sounds to be heard in school, half an hour of freedom ending. Quickly taking our lunch boxes, me and my friends ran from the playground towards the classroom, for the boring physics period to start, on the way cursing the relaxed commerce students. Dragging iron feet, I was dreading the class today for the test scores were to be given out and I knew how I had done, already lagging behind in physics this would just add the insult to the injury. “don’t worry we all are in the same boat” my friend called out as she put her hand on my shoulder seeing me worried.

Just before entering the class, near the staircase, Riya called out to both of us, “hey guys come here look what I found”, leaving aside our talk we rushed where she was standing. Before us were lying the test papers of the physics test with the marks on them, as we looked at each other surprised. Quickly I sorted out my roll number, and my heart sank on seeing the marks, It was even below my pessimistic estimations, all I could think of was how my father would react on seeing this score.

“what if we hide these?” I blurted out as both of them looked at me in surprise, before Riya could say anything Divya said loud, “Ok, lets just quickly take these away and hide them in wash room, we will then take them out”.

Going back to the classroom, we sat on our respective seats as our teacher entered the class, visibly a little stressed, “good afternoon class, today I had to hand over to the test papers to you but I don’t know how I misplaced them, I apologize for that, I guess we will have to do one more, I will announce the date for the same, lets proceed ahead with the class today.”

I don’t know if it was a sigh of relief or of guilt, but all I knew was I couldn't look straight at her in the eye, I couldn't hear one word and all the feeling was much worse than the bad marks. It was as if I had failed her, my parents, my friends and worst of all myself.

I knew I can’t take it any longer and just as the bell rang and she left the room, I ran after her, “ma’am I need to tell you something, I am sorry, very sorry but I found those test papers lying and I saw my marks and I decided to hide them. I am really sorry” I said without a break, “hmm, so then why are you telling me now?”, I looked at her in the eye, “because I just couldn't breathe any longer, lying to you and my parents and to myself”

She smiled,” you have passed a greater test today , telling truth is the right and hardest thing to do”

Just Like the new Kinley ad talks about how saying truth is sometimes the right thing to do!
Watch it here!

The touch..and rediscovering a confused relationship!!

Ms.S looked out of the white framed window, wondering

the colours of the vibrant autumn had descended on the dusk

but her saddened spirit refused to be happy, as she wondered

"Sanya get ready soon, the baraat is already here"

Image source: sanctifiedrant.com

The day had finally arrived but she felt only butterflies in stomach

"Does he still love me? Its been two years since he was away studying"

she said aloud, as the tears started their way ruining her make up

a slight knock suddenly brought her out of her reverie 

She opened the door wiping away her tears stealthily

And her eyes displayed the shock at the unannounced visitor

Mr. M was standing there, with a sheepish expression on his face

“Can I come in, please if somebody sees me then…”

He didn't have to complete the sentence for her to understand

“Why is here now? I don’t want another lecture on how good we still are”

She grumbled to herself as he sat down, uncomfortable to his skin

With a lot of effort, she smiled to him, “you wanted to talk?”

He smiled hesitantly and after a lot of rubbing of hands and glances

“umm umm you know its been a long time since we hang out”..Pause

Getting no encouragement from her, in words or expressions

“I was just feeling too overwhelmed; are we still the same?”

She relaxed a little, even smiling to herself, as she watched him

“ how are you feeling? Anything you want to talk about?”

Surprised at the question but relived, she looked him in the eye

“Are we still the lovers who talked all night? You don’t even talk”

For the first time he smiled, as he bent down on his knees

She laughed out loud as the autumn finally arrived in the closed room

He came near her and held her hand, gently rubbing them

And then they hug, just like the old times, oblivious to everything

They talked and talked and he touched her, bringing back the sensations

She had missed, he had craved and the distance had taken away from them

That touch had evaporated all the doubts, and there was just peace

Of discovering the lost love, passion and the relationship

Image Source:fashionplaceface.com

He finally let her go, to be prepared for the marriage

Which both Ms. S and Mr. M now looked forward to eagerly

As they waited and craved each other’s touch for a lifetime!! 

Bring back the touch, rediscover the passion and love, for its moments and feelings that make us feel alive always!! 

Watch the #BringBackTheTouch video

For more details and to share your ideas please visit: 

 http://www.pblskin.com/

This post was written as a part of Indiblogger for #BringBackTheTouch campaign by Parachute

Where is my toilet??

In the erstwhile village of dreampur, the young babli woke up with a start, scratching her head the young 8 year old wondered, "hmmm, another bad dream let me get up only, I have to go to school on time today and then there is a battle to be fought". The dawn was in its full swing outside but the night slumber had still enveloped everybody but a determined babli had got up. 

Image source: www.domex.in- Toilet for babli initiative

Quietly she took her bucket and filled it with half water and then got out of the house, quietly closing the door behind but her mother's ever sharp ears even noticed that quiet sound, "babli where are you going? its still night..come back and sleep.", she whispered, "ma, you know na, the battle that has to be fought, and I need to go for everything to be good today.", with a sigh her mother woke up, “yes beta I know” she kissed her forehead, “go safely and come back I will wait for you” and then she cried hugging her, thinking of the young girl next door who had just died yesterday after she lost the battle.

And babli then started on her path, aiming for nothing but victory today. She had only gone about 200 steps, when that nasty, weird uncle leered towards her, “babli beta come here, I will give you sweets where are you going?”, but she just ran ahead along with water droplets trailing her hastened path.

She stopped only when she reached the field, the open field that had claimed her friend lata’s life, she shed a tear in her memory but had to quickly move on for the smell of the open defecations nauseated her, seeing her like this the young boys from her village laughed at her, “ohhh look at babli she will just vomit, why babli you don’t like this smell?” they teased her and she ran again to escape them.

Half an hour had passed and she looked at the sky, anytime the sun will rise in the full swing and then she will lose the battle, timing was very critical, she reminded herself and stopped crying. After another 10 minutes of walking she finally found a nice big bush from where you could not see anything of the other side, she smiled for the first time and set out to check the backside.

Image source: www.colorsmagazine.com

But she was disappointed, some animals had already defecated there and now there were insects and flies on it, she looked at sky worryingly again and decided she doesn’t has time or energy to look for any other hiding place for her battle and she decided to start at this place only.

Closing her nose and crying she found a vacant spot and sat there for her battle, battle to do a daily chore, defecation in open, she did it looked around if anybody else was there and washed herself, suddenly a big shadow loomed over her. “what do you think girl? This is your father’s property huh? You will do anything you want huh? And without even listening to her he hit her with his lathi and left her bleeding from head.

Image source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/10/08/why-many-indians-cant-stand-to-use-the-toilet/

Somehow she reached home crying, with her tears mixed with blood from her forehead, her mother ran out to see what had happened, she only said, “I lost ma, another day of battle, I am tired ma now like you I will also only go in night” and with that she surrendered to days of stomach pain, illness since she could not defecate every morning only when its night that too dodging all the threats that loomed and getting infected every day or so with numerous diseases that flies bought along.

Can we help babli win this battle every day? Yes we can, its time young girls and boys in India defecate in toilet and not fight a battle everyday and domex is helping us do our bit for the same.  You can start by clicking at:

 "You Click Domex Contributes" initiative at  http://www.domex.in/.

With every click domex contributes Rs.5 for making villages open defecation free!!

You can bring about the change in the lives of millions of kids, show your support for the Domex Initiative. All you need to do is “click” on the “Contribute Tab” on www.domex.in and Domex will contribute Rs.5 on your behalf to eradicate open defecation, thereby helping kids like Babli live a dignified life.

Let’s save all the bablis and latas from this inhuman condition! Let’s have our villages open defecation free!

Please visit  http://www.domex.in/. to do your bit!

This post is a part of Indiblogger in association with Domex- Toilet for Babli initiative

Diwali : A photo blog with poetry..

The diyas were brightly lit, and the twinkling lights sparkled

There was laughter all around and joyous celebrations

With bright Rangolis adorning the front of decorated houses

And the wafting smells of the freshly homemade sweets..

Diwali..Diyas..

The evening progressed as the houses were adorned in festivities

The gifts were getting exchanged, and the smiles contagious

The air breathed of love laughter and prosperity

As the festival of lights, colours and peace lit the evening sky..

Rangoli

Then suddenly the sound of “boom” crashed in the vicinity

And the sounds of laughter turned to squeaks,

People covered their ears to run inside terrified of the noise

And then started the “noise festival” with jeering sounds..

The animals ran terrified and the birds frightened tried to fly

Blinded by the crackers in sky and the noise on ground

They cried in unknown terror as the wicked gases choked them

They wished for the “evening of death” to finish praying..

The air which had earlier breathed of festivities and laughter

Breathed of toxic gases, terrified squeaks of animals and birds

Shutting of doors who abhorred the noise and the deadly gases

The trees cried in desperation as their green leaves wilted away

 

The spirit of Diwali is in the spirit of spreading love

Through lights, laughter, gifts, love and sweets

Not through noise that makes our trees, animals

Polluting air and harming health of others

Let the festival be for all, without the crackers!