The lenses and the I

Life is infinite but the view finder gives a
perspective to every frame of it. Click click click this
sound also continues to redefines my existence.

Black Hole

Black hole of formulae you'd say! But as soon as you stop moving around in a complex way the letters of life would be legible.

Loud and clear

   Even when written in bold and capital, people
   tend to miss the point. Indeed everyone NEEDS
   an outlet.

The travel diaries

Witnessing the structural changes on the streets on instanbul, this man along with the trees on the pavement has been here, with his boot polish stall for 25 years. Hope peeps on!

Recent Articles:

Ever Shining Future!

July 8, 2011 Life

Youth, stand like the lion,
In the dense muck of today.
Youth, soar like an eagle,
In the skies of tomorrow!

The respite of the onset of the monsoon as we bid the heat away, will be cherished a little more specially this year by some tender hearts.

I dedicate this post to the kids of my building – Evershine Grandeur. Honestly, it was an aimless, self-imposed summer project for these kids that turned out to be a truly value creating spectacle.

[Click on the picture to enlarge]

In one unused corner of the building compound, the kids ventured into making a small hut, or a sort of tent from the waste material they found within the premises.  Cardboards from the trash, wooden block from the carpenters’ leftovers, borrowed sheets and nails and hammer from homes. It took them a few dedicated hours to erect the structure.

It perhaps looked too bland to the creative colorful minds and so they enhanced it by drawing graffiti on the wooden sheets, making a hanging pull-me-up door & gave their team a name too. Paints and brushes and sketch pen got together and gave more soul to the shanty.

Soon it became a thing to notice. Elders stared dropping by to check this cute hovel as they passed by. The next I knew, there was a board hanging there demanding 5 bucks from anyone who wanted to see it. ‘BY ORDER’ it said.

The kids of the Metro cities today are fortunate with a certain exposure vis-à-vis their counter parts in smaller cities, but it is a concern that they still don’t have the space and grounds that would complete their growth. More kids are obese today than before. Beside the lack of play area, it’s the junk food, the Xboxes and the laptops that have altered their lifestyles to a little dangerous degree of lethargy.

Anyhow, within a week these kids had, in their fancy collection box,  over 2,200 Rupees. A quick visit to an orphanage was organized. With the money they brought milk power, fruits & chocolates. Besides they also collected old clothing and other stuff to give away.

It’s a small but a definite step in shaping tomorrow. It is my strong belief that a revolution of individuals is the most vital, especially the direction we are heading in.

Until Next Time…

Love

Manav

Maid in Delhi!!

March 1, 2011 Family, Life

Reporting Base: Home
Time: 07.00 hrs
Status Report: One soldier down!

Off goes the alarm and I force myself out of bed with a sense of urgency and rush to the kitchen. Find the kettle, fill water in it and switch on the burner. As I move to draw all the curtains and open the windows of the house I notice a groggy Shweta making the bed. Hardly do I reach half way at the chore at hand and I hear the whistle of the kettle on the stove. I rush back to the kitchen and switch the burner off. As I pour the hot water into the cups and make coffee for the two of us, from the corner of my eye I see Mowgli (my pet) standing at the entrance looking as if trying to communicate something. Oh…yeah, I gather… I need to take him down for a walk. I hand Shweta her coffee, take mine and head for the lift with Mowgli for his morning walk. I suddenly realize I have not taken a paper for Mowgli’s poo, I rush back inside to get it. In the fraction of these five seconds, my pet is missing… damn… perhaps he decided to take the elevator by himself… I take the stairs to chase him and spill some coffee on my pajamas … ouch… it’s still hot!! And this chaos spills from the morning to the noon and way down into the night.

That’s like a regular day in the month that Amma, our house help, takes an off as her annual vacation. She is gone for a month now and as anticipated, Shweta and I are struggling to keep the home and shoots, rehearsals, Mowgli and meals… all of that in order. It’s quite an ordeal. This one month I am 4804758 times more domesticated as compared to the rest of the 11 months. My close friends in the US would be very happy to see this as they always feel that we, in India, enjoy the luxuries of having drivers, house help and the other help we get here….Grrr.

Ha… I feel lighten now that I have vented out. Actually it’s not that bad after all. It’s a trip, Shweta and I love to take together. It’s like taking full responsibility of your own home and it sure is fulfilling. We mostly divide our duties under such crisis and we do pretty well. What Shweta expects out of me on the domestic front is very little, so once in a while I love to surprise her by doing something she would absolutely not expect.

At such times I am often reminded of my childhood when we were trained to be ’self sufficient’. Don’t have the fondest memories of those days, but today, it sure is coming handy. Everyone can be self sufficient. It’s the way we pamper ourselves and spoil ourselves that makes life so incomplete without a lot of cushion around our backside. While growing up, even when it was 42 degrees I never felt the need of an air conditioner. It’s only now that my endurance and threshold have shrunken, making life more complicated.

Today, I thank Amma profusely for keeping me in check. Reminding me that you could buy all the luxury, but being enslaved by it would be a folly. I feel immense appreciation for all the help I have around. I realize that all the articles of luxury I am surrounded with are only objects and not me, myself! Thanks Amma but that’s it…enough… now get back quickly… need my morning coffee by the bed ;)

Yours Lazily :)

Manav

Getting there!?!

February 17, 2011 Featured, Philosophy


A revolution, when ignited, is the most potent weapon to transform the society.

I Cannot see it now…but I know it’s somewhere behind!!

Nonetheless, even when there is no evident upheaval in the name of a movement, I sense there is a revolution – a dormant one.

What Egypt just witnessed is remarkable and historic. A people’s movement! No specific leader involved! The intensely burning hearts of the people who for years have sustained suppression of sorts, when got access to a social platform through networking sites figured the scale of the dormant revolution. The precursor of a huge wave… and BOOM… out wentMubarak!! Sure it was more painful and more dramatic and more drastic, involving more detailing than I am drawing out, but in culmination- it’s a fabulous example of people’s victory!!


Now, the bunch of questions that have been troubling me are – Do we really need to be pushed to the corner to wage a battle?? Are we taking our democratic freedom for an easy ride?? Does it really help to keep blaming the corrupt politicians?? Is lighting candles and shouting anti-govt. slogans really working?? Or maybe this is the beginning of a dormant revolution that might take a concrete shape once we get more aware of how much our hard earned money is stocked outside the country by the biggies.


I am not able to reach anywhere with these thoughts. How about you, my readers, pour in your thoughts on this. Lets make the next blog – your blog!! Please write in to contactmanavgohil@gmail.com and leave your write up so that I could select a couple of them and put it up on my blog.


Now, till I hear from you… take care and lots of love!!


Manav


Happy Diwali!!

November 4, 2010 Life

‘Change is the only constant’.

The season’s changing, the climate’s changing… The heat is out – the cool is in!! Soccer’s out – cricket is in! Umbrella’s are out – woolens are in…ummm… or… maybe the Umbrellas are back in [to the closet] and woolens are out ; )… and yes, Daily soap is out – Theatre is in…VOILA!!!

Just started working on a new play as I bid goodbye to the grind of the daily soap for now. It’s great to discover and rediscover the artist within and see him flourish like a child… each day! It’s therapeutic! It’s refreshing!!

Too much noise in the heads. Avoiding the noise outside and the pollution it causes, once again this year I resolve to have a cracker free Diwali and still have a cracker of a Diwali :)

I take this opportunity, on behalf of my entire team and my family, to wish you all a very Happy Diwali.

Love

Manav

PS – So then, Ravan’s out – Ram’s in! Though I personally admire the former.

You wanna guess why?!?



Recent Comments

  • manisha: hey Manav......really liked ur pics ...:).bt 1 thing u wrote which m unable to digest......in the beginning of ur article u mentioned urself...
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