The ground reality...

Picture this: Its vacation time, the gullis and the building compounds look like a cricket or a soccer ground. The kids are engrossed in their games, aping their favorite players and trying to recreate the magic of the game in a constricted space. Suddenly one of them hits a major ‘Shot’ or a ‘Goal’ and there goes the ball hitting either a person or a flower-pot or window panes; and thus begins a huge show-down between the children and the person concerned.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Sadly this is the scenario everywhere. I remember my grandmother once narrating her childhood stories. She had said that her childhood days were filled with fun and innocence and that there were absolutely no playing restrictions whatsoever. “We would run in those large, paddy fields; play hide and seek and many more games” she would say. “But now children have no place to play”, she added remorsefully. “Yes”, I nodded in approval.

What my grandmother said was absolutely true. There seems to be no free space left for the children to play. Let’s face this: Mumbai is an island that has been used and perhaps over-used beyond limits. The builders and the BMC just do not have a plan for the city’s infrastructure. Today there is only handful of playgrounds in Mumbai. The proliferation of buildings has left no open spaces for anyone to play.
The builders smartly allocated a space for a small landscaped garden with slides and swings for children. But that’s for the toddlers or a kindergarten child. Children grow off it by the age of nine or ten; what they need is a proper medium to channelize their excess of energy which they do not get. The residents of these new buildings are promised ample parking space but never are they promised ample playing space. Some may suggest that a membership in some clubs can ensure proper channelization of energy in children. But not every child can afford to seek membership in such clubs.

Parents and Health Experts lament that kids are growing obese because they eat loads of junk stuff and spend their time playing games on the computer. Can we blame the child? No. At least online world provides them with a feel of the real game, which the small lanes do not provide. No, I am not professing the idea of playing online games instead of playing on the field. What I am trying to point out is that it’s high time that the kids are given a medium to channelize their bottled-up energy through rough outdoor games before it becomes latent.

पानी पानी रे...

This is a very serious issue that I wish to raise. The issue is water shortage!!!
This is surprising. My geography teacher taught us that 79% of planet earth is covered by water and the rest of 21% by land. If that's true then why is it that we face shortage of water? Why is it that two states (read it as: Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) fight over a Cauvery river? Why is it that daily Vidarbha farmers commit suicide because they do not have enough facilities to do agriculture?

Questions are many...but unfortunately answer is none. Every summer we read about the grim situation of watersupply. Every year the water tax increases. I fail to understand that why an element like water that is supposed to be in abundance has become a matter of concern. Probably the reason lies in the haphazard planning done by the builders, city architects and ofcourse the government babus. Reclamation may be the order of the day in the city but what they fail to understand is that by doing so they are actually depriving many others from the planet's most important source.

Why just reclamation...even we ourseleves tend to waste water unconsciously. I do that too considering we have 24 hours water supply. But a single day spent in a place without water taught me the importance of this great elixir of life.

I indeed hope that people shall share my concern and ensure that water is not wasted in any way. This is an urgent issue that calls in for urgent precautionary measures. A small precautionary measure from all of us can enable the ratio of water:land to remain the same...

Amen!

Why that song inspired me so much...

I am not a Bon Jovi fan...but this song had hit me at the right time.

To begin with, I have been brought up in a conservative South Indian family, where everyone of us chose to thread a safe and conventional path. Be it career, marriage or anything...we always took the safe path. My parents never really enjoyed life. They probably never understood the true essence of life. At every phase they have sacrificed their desires for the sake of others. In a nutshell, they are living a life full of compromises.

I do agree that sometimes compromises needs to be made to make relationships and situations work. But then kab tak? I have seen my close ones- be it my parents, my brother or my close friends making compromises to make life easier. But the million dollar question is: Are they happy with their decision? I bet they are not.

All my minute observations coupled with Bon Jovi's song has brought me to a conclusion that I need to live my life to the fullest coz life is short. I ain't gonna live forever...I just want to live while I'm alive...coz IT'S MY LIFE!!!

This song inspired me!!!

This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice When I shout it out loud

[Chorus:]It's my life It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
It's my life...
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said I did it my way
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life...

This is for the ones who stood their ground
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down
Tomorrow's getting harder make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky Got to make your own breaks

[Chorus:]It's my life And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
It's my life...
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life...
Better stand tall when they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down

[Chorus:]
It's my life
And it's now or never
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
It's my life...
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive
[Chorus:]
It's my life...
And it's now or never
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
It's my life...
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive'
Cause it's my life!