Money, Money, Money...

...Its so funny,
In a rich man's world.

Quite a famous song!
But more so a reality neither you nor I can deny.

The world runs around money. Relationships revolve around this central magnetic force. Let us call it the core of our existence. I as well as most of you have learnt or will learn sooner or later that this necessary evil called "money" is the epicentre of the storm we call "life".

Its amazing how relations as pure as that that of a mother and child can turn sour because one of them cannot provide "money" to the other. We have seen umpteen cases of a variety of relations like parents and children, siblings, husband and wife , friends, relatives etc pushed to the deep abyss of ignominious nothingness for this very evil we so love to amass. Our whole lives are spent earning, spending and fighting over it. Core of our existence, or bane of our life?

In our constant endeavour to amass wealth, we refuse to acknowledge the beauty of all things simple...in the end, we realize that we are gasping for our last breath and look on with glazed, partially impaired eyes how all the wealth we had accumulated are being fought for...as the debate on inheritance increases in pitch, our call for the last drop of water melts into the maddening war cries. We die with a dry throat and a parched soul.

But what if we fail to create a wealth worth fighting for? Ironically, we still die with a dry throat...who would bother to be at the deathbed of an old, withering soul with no money to look forward to for inheritance. But will the soul be as parched? I don't know.

That does not mean we can do without money. Hell no!. Money is a way to various means. We need it for various purposes, it provides us with a roof over our head, food and drink to fill our stomachs and clothes to cover our body. It helps make our life much easier in many ways. But only if we could strive to let it remain a sine qua non and not necessarily make it an evil thing.

Maybe someday, I'll be able to explain...till then...perhaps, someone will read this and remember once more that we're humans with a heart and not just money making machines. Just Maybe!

Selling love by the dozen

Chinese sign for Love

Here I am selling love to you. I'm throwing in a deal too...fall in love, get a romantic music CD collection free...or maybe a 2 nights 3 days trip to an exotic destination of your choice in India. As a socially responsible person who also believes in spreading awareness about HIV and AIDS, I'm throwing in a bunch of free condoms too. Now, don't be shy, we all know the 'moment' may come sooner or later.

Does this make you laugh? Well, love is the most profitable commodity in today's world. You get bored, you fall in love. You get tired of your present love interest, you fall out of love. You want to make a movie, the best selling story would be one centered on love. Love sells in every form...stories, music, cards, scandals --you name it and love wins hands down, everywhere. Lovers from different castes/communities fighting to be together makes breaking news. Murder in the name of love creates headlines. Rapes in the name of love and accusations of rape when love turns sour are the scandals that has the highest TRP ratings. A lovechild creates more interest than millions of starving children on the road. Valentine's day spells profit to companies that sell cards, flowers and an assortment of goodies for your 'beloved'. On that day, a single red Rose sells at 10 times its original price. Ah love! Such a prosperous emotion.

In all this hullabaloo, the true love seems to have retreated in a corner. Do you have to shower materialistic gifts to proclaim your feelings of fondness for that significant other? A poem or a letter seems to have been demoted as a tacky way of showing one's emotions. Well, how many of the new generation does read old English poetry or poetry in any language for that matter? Sex is more important today. Oh yes, physical satisfaction and intimacy is the yardstick of love these days. No wonder we grow out of love every other day. And behold, a string of affairs follow.

Really, how many of us do know the real meaning of love? In all this merchandising of the most beautiful emotion, we have sadly lost the true essence of love. Perhaps, someday it will all come back to the collective conscience of mankind. But by then, it might be too late. Adios Amor Mio!

save the girl child

Recently the television has been inundated with reports of female foeticide. As a woman, I fail to understand the reason behind it. Was the child's being female such a ginormous crime that a death sentence had to be pronounced on her? Imagine you sleeping in a cozy place, believing that you are in the safest haven and some monster suddenly appears and tears you apart...first your legs, then your body, your arms, your head....you are screaming all this while for help...screaming in pain...wondering why your mother, inside whom you felt so safe, is allowing this to happen to you...you ask her for help...she does nothing. The last thing you tell her is how much you love her. A foetus can fell pain, like all of us.

If women were so disgraceful that their birth had to be stopped...then shame on you men! How could you forget that you were born of a woman, without her, you would not have existed. You need a wife to warm your bed, cook and clean for you and also earn for the family if need be and bear your child. If the child is a male, then you extol her as a woman, if the child is a female, you kill the baby before she is born and make the life of the mother a living hell.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry....don't these men know that the 'x' and 'y' chromosomes, the ones that determine the sex of the child is 'presented' by the father and that the mother has nothing to do with the sex of the baby? Still our society abuses women for conceiving female children. The worst of the lot is the women in the family who aid this kind of pathetic, lowly discrimination against their own kind.

We worship Lakshmi as the goddess of wealth, Saraswati as the goddess of learning, Durga and Kali as the goddesses of power...but the little goddess who is yet to be born is murdered in cold blood before she could open her beautiful eyes and see the world.

Maybe one of these slain angels could have become the next Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Wiliams, Sania Mirza, Sonia Gandhi, Indra Nooyi or perhaps even greater than all the women we extol today.

Imagine a world without women...imagine a world without beauty.

Doesn't our little princesses deserve to live...God gave them life, let us not take it away from them.

I cannot write anymore, my vision is blurred. I cry for all the unborn children and I pity their wretched parents.

May God bless their souls!

why do I write?

I write... I write for myself, my muse is my inner self...she is the one without a beginning and without an end...she is my soul. I am questioned why I write for my own self...I am told the nuances of writing for the masses...that i should be writing keeping in mind what my readers would like to read...but how do you make someone understand that I am writing for my muse, my self.
If it were for riches and fame, perhaps my words would be restrained and politically correct. But how do i bring my foolish heart to listen to what practicality whispers in my ears and write not what it feels but what would earn it a few pennies? a penny for your thought please....
my lips part into a smile, can i call it a sad smile, for i know that pennies are not minted for me or should i call it a sarcastic smile because I know yet i dont care what the world thinks...or maybe I am losing my mind...
any which way, the question still keeps looming inside my mind...why do i write? again, the lips part into a smile....this time, I dont try to figure out the reason behind it.