Love once Love twice. It's still the same!

Let's begin by saying, opinions differ and so do ideologies. Each of us, young or old, educated or not, possess the ability to create and destroy our own opinions on life.

Why should your life be similar to his? Why does she have to apply your suppositions of life to her own?
Why does anybody's life have to be identical?

Based on these questions, I wondered, "Why can't one be in love with two individuals at the same time"? Why can't affection be divided? Although, the degrees will sure differ.

The Phenomenon......in pointers. (Because let's accept it, paragraphs are lengthier and boring) 

• It's like 'rock and hard place'....just like Chandler said!
• If you are one of those that believes in the soul mates theory, you would definitely rule out the possibility of being in love with two people at once.
•  Love, is actually a fiddly subject, sometimes you have all of it and still feel empty; whilst at times, you have none and still feel happy!
• Sometimes, the universe hits you hard with the soulmate signs, and then you realize, 'infatuation struck like a lightning bolt'!
• Love is complex. Loving more than one, often calls for a strict inspection of the sentiments and the situation in particular.
• An incredible phenomenon life is. You will never have control over your ability to love two people at once, although some will try, against the law of nature.
• Haven't you been an unbelievable relationship, the 'out-of-mind romance' types...and one fine day wonder, if it really existed?
• In the battle of the mind and heart, in a very spooky way 'the mind' does show you the right way. The heart can be weakened.
• Never base your decisions on that of the societal norms. And not even on 'Google quotes' by great thinkers. It was their life, the quote fit them well. May not for you.

Oh! It happened!

You can never combine the heart and the mind in the same sphere. Complete opposites these are. Like the poles we have, like the sun-moon concept and other examples that you might have just thought of.
As the sage said.....the heart goes with impulses and the mind with reasoning.

If you love two, compare them. Use those two friends in despair, logic and rationale. Don't feel guilty about comparing the ones you love like some cut-rate outfits. It's required in desperate times. You may find it tricky to distinguish these two lovers, on the basis of who understands my silence and who surprises me the most, which one makes me laugh all the time and who thinks exactly the way I do. It is a decision that needs to involve the direction of your life; and only you know where you need your life to turn about. 

Is it really possible?

Oh yes it is. You can feel for two people at the same time. These two might contribute to gratifying two completely different needs. And hence, the dilemma. I mean, one may be a great listener and advisor, the other may know music just the way you want your prospective partner to.

If a mother can have two kids and love both equally, why can't someone else?

A not so common and common dilemma

As per my knowledge, there can be just one staunch reason to this dilemma. You are not able to vividly see the deeper issues yet, which can potentially put one in the negative and the other in the positive! Reach deeper, think about stuff. It's ok to over-think at times. (only at times)

When ripped in two, reach out to the intricate questions. The questions you have been running away from. Because, love for a person is not determined by choice, at times it is so because it is created for that purpose. The purpose to beat faster and slower for someone! (The insight is from a movie that I can't think of)

To tell or not?

Completely your call. Analyze. Do you really want them to know at the same time? Who would react and how? But no matter what, do not drag it long enough. 

Most of all....

Love and be loved. Make mistakes. It's ok to be wrong. You don't have to have it together all the time. Love two people. Experience the inexperienced. Feel good. Feel bad. Feel hurt. Be hurt. Create an illusion. Live it. Romance your hidden secrets. Smile all the time. And then, decide and move on. Love again. Live again.

A Carol, for Nikhil.(Or I wouldn't have attempted this).

The winds have learned music tonight,
the shepherds have moved to snow.
The children have picked their best socks,
the Santa takes a bow!

A white Christmas awaits our trumpets,
the angels have rejoiced too;
With glistening tree-tops & red candies,
Mom helps dad find his shoe.

The home now looks lit up with grace,
the love I see is just too much to embrace;
I dream of sleigh bells with every carol sound,
I dream of my parents wintry kiss too.

Sing unto the Gods tonight,
Sing unto his divine birth;
He is born a Saviour, we all need to know,
He is no religion, he is our Divine tableau!

The Black - The White - The Grey. The Bandh.

Part 2

The excerpts posted in bold are from an excellent article I came across. The link is given below.

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"Call me biased, but I don't think I'm the only one who has noticed that 90% of all recent senior citizen-killers, rapists and murderers seem to be from villages up north. Every TOI story I've ever read talks about the criminal being picked up in UP, or as he was boarding a train to Bihar."

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I strolled through those so-called diserted roads. No. They weren't diserted.
Women and young girls taking a walk, giggling. Boys out with bicycles. Men with bikes. Some other groups of men at random nakas, bidi jalaving, laughing. Some more playing gully cricket. Basically, a road minus vehicles, but hustling people. Something you can't help but notice is the Diwali Lanterns at most homes were switched off. They respected him. Feels good to know.

Similar scenes the next day (Sunday). Let me repeat myself; basically, a road minus vehicles, but hustling people! Yes, it is a bandh! Shops shut and public transport shut.

***A humourous incident amongst this was, a 7 yr old hurling stones at a bus. He wasn't from Shiv Sena. He wasn't from any political party. Instead, he was of the notion that "arrey bandh hain na?" And very conveninetly the on-lookers assumed that it was Shiv Sena in action. In actuality, Shiv Sena for once was grieving. (May be minus some goons)***

But then again, the world is divided in 50's. Every pack has the evil in equal quantity. But that doesn't blind the good does it?

 Talking about our 'Man in Question'. He lived 86, but Oh Man did he live it well!

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"So instead of castigating Thackeray for being communal, look in the mirror and ask yourself - wasn't he just the focal point of all our own "communal" rage? Didn't he just tap into our own "communal" sentiments and give them a voice?"

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I'd not know facts and details about his autocratic rule, but I know he was not completely black or completely white. He was grey. Just like all of us. Just like the living politicians among us, who have scams worth 300 crore to their credit. He was only grey.

Although, out of the many articles I pondered over, this one explained his Grey Rhapsody the best.  http://www.keyboardandink.com/2012/11/bal-thackeray-shades-of-grey.html?spref=fb 

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"Fortunately, we're liberal enough, and educated enough, to move past irrational hatred. To point fingers at a few misguided elements rather than take up arms against an entire community."

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I detest the 'Anti-Valentines' - horrendous act.  I do. But, on the other side of the coin you cannot take it away from Bal Thackeray, the fact that he protected Mumbai, when the rest of the country was in ashes.

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"It's worth mentioning that when he died, he was being monitored by two physicians - one a Muslim, the other a North Indian."

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Once again, NO. I don't believe in Shiv Sena, or their ideologies or their methods. What I'm rather forced to think about, is the millions of us. How we actively stone one dead man, and talk about "Mumbai being back to normal". Someone rightly said, "It's limping back to normal".

Moving on.

I may hate him for renaming Bombay - the moment the city began its decline - but I do respect him for being protective about it. Even if I disagree with his methods.

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" Now on to what Thackeray said about North Indian immigrants doing to Bombay. He said that the unchecked influx of migrant populations would be the death of the city. I don't believe he was talking about the educated classes, the ones who complete their MBAs and come into the financial capital to drive the wheels of our economy. He was referring to the uneducated ones who come in and settle down in slums, becoming taxi drivers, security guards and daily labourers. He was talking about villagers who grow up in khap societies, and bring their own (archaic) values to a cosmopolitan city."

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There's no use hating him. Because, he did good, just as well as he did the bad. There is a little him in all of us. We do good, just as well as we do the bad. Yet, we hope to be forgiven. May be his sins are a notch higher than ours, but let's accept it. He is just one pick in the pond. Be scared about the fact that the rest of them are alive.

Move past communal hatred. Move past unreasonable and unquestioned doubts. We don't know him the way our parents  & grandparents do.

Ask them the reason for their respect and you'll know a story that is buried in ashes.

Mumbai's most memorable bandh. Till date.

Part 1

Have read too many blogs and articles in the last 24 hours. Too  many. And I mean it. What took me by surprise the most is the part where I read - "roads were abandoned", "haunted streets", "not a single soul on roads", "Mumbai diserted"! Now let me rewind my memory back........rewinding 30 hours earlier.

Got the news, "Balasaheb Thackeray No More". People rushing home, shutters going bazinga on the locks, vegetable vendors pulling carts away, auto-walas deciding not to ply (fair enough), amongst all this the buses kept moving, for a while.

I was supposed to be taking a Shivneri to Pune that exact evening at 5 p.m. Obviously, I couldn't. Why? Because my friends and family were scared for my life. That my bus would be ransacked and I'd be thrashed mid-road. And eventually dead. 

Wow.

Then I went home. My overjoyed family made me feel wanted, all of a sudden.

I frowned. I watched news. I watched my hyper-cousins text and upload Facebook statuses. Then happened the Swedish House Mafia #SHM tragedy. Another trending topic for Twitter and Facebook. Cousins on an adrenaline rush. Phone networks jammed. Infinite messages. High BP elders. Amongst all of this, I relished my evening chai. I decided to wait for a while, till I could ransack my Facebook profile and Twitter profile with my thoughts.

Waited. Waited some more. Then posted. Then tweeted. Smiled.

My Immortal - He left. He wanted to.

It was the loudest scream Meera had heard in her living life. Her eyes weren't open yet; she was yet to figure if that was for real. Plucking her eyes open, rubbing them thoroughly, she looked around. Her mom was standing in the drawing room, looking at something on the floor and almost in tears.

Meera somehow dragged herself out of bed and walked out. After a few steps, she found herself stuck to the ground. What she saw killed her a little inside.
He was seated on the sofa, looking down at the floor, peuking blood and the black coffee he just had. Clots of blood; she analyzed the blood stricken floor for a minute. Interrupting her blood-examination was her mom's scream to her brother. Meera was speechless. She looked at him.
Pale, frail, he struggled to even stand by himself.
She fell to the floor. Sat there, among the blood. She looked at him again. How could he not be strong she wondered to herself. He was everything she had. And now, he was trailing to nothing but pieces.

Within seconds Meera flung to her feet. It was like some energy ran through her. She knew she had to battle this. Alone. Walking up to her kitchen, Meera asked her 'bai' to wash up the bloody mess. She consoled her mom, wiped her tears and dictated a few instructions. No, she didn't have time for emotions right now.

She woke Jenna and asked her brother to gear up for the ride of their life. The hospital.

Meera didn't know she had to deal with Jenna too. "Shit, I should have woken her after it was cleaned up", Meera thought to herself. Jenna, by now was scandalized, seeing him and the blood. She was now ready to cry. Such a pity for poor Meera. 

Within minutes Meera's uncle (MAMA) had reached. He too was stunned but stayed composed. Neo, picked him up, had his face washed at the basin, dressed him up. It was time to be treated he told him. 

The auto-rickshaw was called. Mama & Meera escorted him to the rick. A napkin and a handy plastic bag were given to Meera. In case he peuked again.
The ride to the hospital was a nice one. Meera lay her head on his shoulder and held his hand. She looked at him and smiled. He smiled back. She kissed his forehead. 

They reached the hospital gate. Neo had followed them on his bike, the bullet. Mama and Neo had to drape him on their shoulders and usher him to the 2nd floor. His legs had given up, so had his throat. Meera, by now, scared to her nerves, was finding it difficult to compose herself anymore.
The doctor entered the room where he had been laid to rest. After examining him, he looked at Meera, tapped her head and said, "Don't worry, he is going to be just fine". Meera, after a gruelling 12 hours had now heaved a sigh of relief.

But no, life didn't really want Meera to sigh so soon. The nurse came running to the cabin with a blood stained napkin. Neo, walked out.