ChirpyQuill

I am liking this feeling. These vistas, snow covered slopes, sometimes too thick with snow and sometimes with thinner snow cover. Cool wind in my hair is playing, channeling from the Eagles song and from them mountains right into and through me. I am liking this feeling. I am staying within my Skis, by and large. The slopes are long and lazy sometimes and steep and brutal at other times. I can just bend my knees and stay put while I pick up speed here and have to cut really sharp S ss there. Too much snow piled up on this one, almost like Moguls, but I keep on and what a beautiful day!! I am happy as a lark. Suddenly in a split of a split of a split second every sinew, every muscle fibre, every neuron is lit up like a thousand fireworks as the body navigates itself into and then out of a severe fall. It’s the feeling we get when we are walking or running and hit a stone or sidewalk and are about to be on all fours. We come alive like at no other moment in time, don’t we? At this moment...

  2023 was a year of revelation. It revealed that my daughter is a good story teller and can write well(her college application essays) but still cannot read and remember the deadlines😵📚. My son can finish his first triathlon and yet will not make it in time to the school bus stop each morning🚌. My husband can swim bike and run a 70.3 but a .5 mile road trip to the Indian store is still a summit to the Mount Everest🏔.. And my 2 dogs 🐶🐕‍🦺  still love their daily quota of single socks.🧦And as for me I still drive like there's no tomorrow...🚗🚗🚗 So,2023 was a roller coaster 🎢. Started slow and steady and mid-year the gears changed. The movie of the year changed from a simple family drama to an action thriller helmed by my daughter..Well,she got her driving permit and my plummet down the dizzy heights began.  Being in the passenger seat alongside your teenager on her first driving lesson 🚗 is not for the squeamish.  The year 2023 revealed to me that I ain't a...

    " And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” -Abraham Lincoln The sudden rumblings awoke us from sleep on a Friday morning. It was 26th Jan, My sister's birthday. Our parents grabbed my sister and I and rushed out of our eighth-floor high-rise apartment. We were left with no option but to stand outside the house with our neighbors and cry and pray to the God aloud. We cried and hugged as the building shook and shook and shook!!!!! There was fear written on our faces. Fear of the untamed fury !!!!!!!!!! Amidst  utter chaos and mayhem ,w e rushed down the building as it ceased to shake. For the next 3 months we stayed at a rented house as there were cracks in the building that required repairs. Our neighbors had become an extended family sharing the same fear, the same feeling of homelessness and the same gratitude to have survived this disaster. It has been more than 2 decades since this brush with catastrophe but the m...

आज दिल बचे जैसा मचल उठा, ये सोचते ही कि दोस्त आएंगे कुछ कहकहे, ज़ोरदार हँसी, उमर का भुलावा कयोंकी दोस्त आएंगे कभी मैं सजावट ठीक करूं, कभी मेनू फाइनल क्योंकी दोस्त आएंगे ना बनावत, ना दिखावत बस भरपुर आनंद की ख्वाहिश क्योंकी दोस्त आएंगे आज फिर सालों पहले रिवाज़ को दोहराने की कोशिश दोस्त आएंगे कब हम 30 से 40, 40 से 50 हुए पता ही नहीं चला क्योंकी आज भी वो कहते हैं, ''अरे वही वाला गाना गाओ ना, हां फिर चश्मे वाला डांस ही दिखा दो खुदा का शुक्र है कि दोस्तों का साथ है वर्ना जिंदगी बुलकुल बेरंग सी होती. ----- Dost Aaj dil bache jaisa machal utha, ye sochete hi ki dost aayenge Kuch kahkahe, zordar laughter, umer ka bhulava kayonki  Dost aayenge Kabhi main deoration theek karun, kabhi menu final kayonki Dost aayenge Na banavat, na dikhavat bus bharpur aanand ki khavahish kayonki  Dost aayenge Aaj phir saalon pahele rivaz ko doharane ki koshish kayonki  Dost aayenge Kab hum 30 se 40, 40 se 50 hue pata hi nahin chala kayonki  Aaj bhi vo kahaten hain ,”aare wahi wala gaana gao na, ...

समझौता   कर   के   मत   चलियो बात   मेरी   तू   मान   ले सच   की   गागर   को   मत   तजियो गाँठ   हृदय   में   बांध   ले पाखंड   झूट   का   बड़ा   सबल आडंबर   उसका   है   हसीन   उसके   चुंगल   में   मत   फँसियो उस   छलिया   को   पहचान   ले जहां   झूठ   झूम   कर   चलता   हो और   सच   कौने   में   काँपे   थर   थर ऐसे   जग   में   तू   मत   बसियो मन   में   तू   ये   ठान   ले दुनिया   का   सच   और   तेरा   सच कई   बार   सिरों   को   खींचेगा   अपने   सच   से   तू   मत   हटियो संकल्प   तू   मन   में   आज   ले   हो   नर्म   झूट   और   सक्थ   हो   सच हो   मीठा   झूट   पर   कड़व...

It doesn't matter the roles she takes on with pride, Whether CEO or homemaker, in love, she finds her stride. It doesn't matter the feats she daily achieves,    Yet acknowledgment may elude, a dance  like autumn leaves. It doesqn't matter the chores that fill her day,    Turning mundane moments into a ballet. It doesn't matter the love woven in each chore,    Recognition may not always knock at the door. It doesn't matter the billion-dollar tasks she commands,    True wealth lies in the warmth of her hands. It doesn't matter the organizational feats she achieves,    In every tidied corner, her love perceives. It doesn't matter the care in every meal's delight,    A thank-you might feel a distant flight. It doesn't matter even if she manages the whole house,    Acknowledgment may not always find its spouse. It doesn't matter if she works tirelessly round the clock,  ...

A friend and I sat down a few days ago, to discuss a pont of view I had expressed rather publicly. He said he was in complete agreement with it but would never say it out loud, for fear of offending some people. This was a few hours after I had had another discussion on the same content where another person had agreed with the content entirely. But I know he would not put that opinion out for fear of retribution. I have reflected upon the same and realized that quite sensible, open minded and thoughtful, positive people have been silenced by exactly the opposite kind; the narrow minded, dishonest, disingenuous and rather destructive people using the most important virtues that the first group prided themselves in. In other words their own goodness has been turned against them to silence and neutralize their opinion on matters of critical importance in our social framework. If we do not recognize this and come out of our artificially crafted shells, we risk pushing the society backwards...

A whim and a fancy, a few wordsmithing brave-hearts, a quirky title and ChirpyQuill(CQ) was born. A blog for “Mujhe kuch kehna hai” people. We knew they were walking the sidewalks and by-lanes of life; thinking, contemplating, musing, somewhere. They just needed to be found and introduced to each other, and the world. A year, a hundred writeups(that are love letters really), and twelve thousand views later CQ is not a baby anymore. It isn’t a grown-up either. It’s bones are starting to strengthen. Those around him are building affectionate bonds, with it and amongst themselves. It still has no personality. It adapts to the personality of the clothes grown-ups throw on it each day in their the latest write-up. And that is just fine. The personality will evolve and build. For now let it just imbibe and soak all that it can, from it’s environment. Like we all do. The sapling must grow first. Let it build it’s root systems and gain strength.  So what is it’s design? what is it’s purpos...

Connected to everything, attached to nothing. A friend shared this phrase on a lovely WhatsApp group he and I are a part of. At first glance, it seemed like one of those doctrines from WhatsApp University. Everyone is a life guru now, I chuckled. Ah! But this was a wily one; it stuck with me. It wouldn’t go away as I went through my day, week, month, even. What does it even mean? I thought as I went on a run. I thought about connections and attachments. It led me to discover what had been nagging me for a while now. Validation. Startled, I thought, why would I need validation? And yet… As I ran, I went through my mental Rolodex of people I am either related to or know or love or know and love anyway. Surely I didn’t need validation from everyone? Miles later, I came to a startling realization to the contrary. I realized that I may have created a fragile ecosystem where each person had to periodically play a part in my self-worth. Not hearing from a loved one was a trigger; not getting ...

  I wonder all night in vain If it would once more, your love rain The joyful droplets on my face, Oh my! How difficult it is, to you replace. I wonder all night in vain If I would ever kiss you again, Your lips against mine, ‘Twas the sweet taste of heaven, divine. I wonder all night in vain Why to hear your laughter my ears do strain My playful quips now on deaf ears fall, Like you, no one I can enthrall. I wonder all night in vain When I would think of matters germane But it haunts me, it does- your smile Thinking of which I ran many a mile. I wonder all night in vain Why we sat there, missing the last train Your presence by my side, The wonderful distances we did stride. I wonder all night in vain This wondering, would it drive me insane? The memories stare at me and shout, The scent of your body drifts about. I wonder all night in vain Does it play tricks, my brain? I hear your voice as I pick up the phone, My heart beats wildly, alas! Its only the dial tone. I wonder all nigh...