Staying Alive...and healthy....

Staying healthy is the choice that I make. If I show irresponsibility towards my eating habits, it inconveniences me in the long run. I have decided to take charge of my life. For when I am sick, it is only me who suffers…..in pain and in paying for doctors and medicines…… ..Just little care, and I am able to save that money for a luxurious holiday to some fancy resort. I can lay back on the easy chair and ask somebody to press the point on my foot..and all that I do is to drink my cool drink and enjoy a book near a seaside enjoying the gentle breeze…. But when I am at home, burried within the four walls of my room, I press the points on my hand and I feel quite well. My friend has given me a plastic messager which has narrow point on one end and flat rounded surface on other end (it looks like a hammer) and this is a good instrument for pressing the points in the hand. When I press a point and if it pains, it means that there is some problem there...when I had kidney stones, the centre of my palm would pain, whenever I would press that point. I spend lot of time on a computer, But still, I can keep myself healthy by just self-message.....the windows sometimes take too long to open the page, during these spell a few minutes of these exercises really help.....to improve my concentration, creativity and the clarity of my mind...so while I am munching on some dry fruit by my side, it is a good idea to do self message..... After all it's my life so why give the chance to others to rule my life?

RIP

The memory of Kalagoda fiesta lingers The show comes to an end. The Panel discussion and Coffee meetings With workshops at different stands I loved the gallery and pavement shows Concerts, film, theatre, and performing dance The lively festival with heritage walks. Oh! There were too many events, And so little, limited time It was all over in a passing glance But Me I want to sit on a Black Horse To gallop with a silence band…….. Puff! Puff! Puff! Me Quite tired! All good things, like always Have come to an end…

The last day of the KGAF

was the day, when there were too many interesting events happening everywhere, and if I had some magic powers, I would have loved to attend them all. But unfortunately, I had to tick off many events to be able to attend a few of them. I attended only those which I could fit into my limited capacity of endurance. Sigh! There were many films showing at different venues. I was most interested in watching the film that was specially made for KGAF by celebrities like Anu Tandon, Brinda Miller, Soni Razdan, Sangita Jindal, Bandana Tiwari, Ayaz menon and Tony Singh. These were the set of short film with a common theme of the state of affairs in India after sixty years. It was amusing to watch the ‘Never Ending Story’ where people continued to watch the serial “Saas Bhi Kabbi Bahu Thi” even after sixty years. Also, I liked the one in which the world is ruled by Bollywood. There will be Hollywood stars dancing and acting in Indian film and all the Hollywood film plagiarize Bollywood stories. Later I headed towards David Sassoon Library Garden to spend the rest of the evening watching some interesting events that included discussion on ‘Graphic Story Telling’ and ‘Poetry Slam’. The theme at ‘Poetry Slam’ was ‘Name, Place, Animal, Thing’ All the participants were very talented and it must have been very difficult for the judges to score them. Towards the end of the show, I got my (own) two-minutes-fame, when I got to read my children’s story about cloud and wind called ‘Badli and Windy’. I had created this story during work-shop on ‘Writing for Children’ and it had some how reached the finals.

Workshop at Muse Boutique....

Muse Boutique was the venue for the workshop on ‘Getting Published’. Tucked away in the narrow by-lane behind Rhythm House, I reached there after inquiring about its location from several paanwallahs. In the interior, surrounded by books, artifacts and a pleasant ambience, I learnt the secrets of ‘The Ten Commandments of Publishing World, the role of a literary agents and the fine prints of a book contract’. While Anita Roy spoke about publishing in a real world, we had Vikram Chauhan enlightening us on publishing a book in a virtual world. Vikram Chauhan hosts a site called ‘If I Were A Book.com’ where everybody has the right to express themselves by publishing their book. Currently, book publishing is a long and difficult process. So 'If I Were A Book.com' has made book publishing instant, easy and free! It is a site where you can post content of your blog which you feel is book worthy or your manuscript on 'If I Were A Book.com' and watch it instantly take the shape of a book! It is a good medium to get noticed by different publishers and knock off those long walks to different publishers for release of your work. This is the place where the only thing that matters is that you can express yourself by publishing your own book! Late evening at David Sassoon Garden, surrounded by cool breeze of winter winds, I enjoyed an evening of multi-lingual poetry about Mumbai, that were recited by some well-known and published poets.

Richie Rich, Poorly Poor!

On a more serious note, while the kids at KGAF are having a wonderful time, painting, drawing and attending all the workshops on Clay modeling, Calligraphy and other art activities, there are other kids that I see in a local train, on my way towards the venue, which are not so fortunate. I see this child, barely seven year old, making a living out of selling the crumbled roses to the passengers in the train. I ask him, ‘Don’t you want to study? Do you wish to go to school?’ and he growls at me as though I am speaking some gibberish words. At another station, I see this 10 year old, who has been brutally abused (there are deep knife-cuts on his face and neck and his one finger is missing), I see him crying with pain as he walk slowly down the aisle, begging for alms. Are they aware that they, too, could enjoy those activities and that, those art and craft activities are free for all, rich and poor. On the streets of Kala Ghoda, I see group of kids performing those street shows of walking on a tight rope accompanied by the group of musician kids, and yet another pair of street kids, who ask for water from a street-side-stall but they are being chased away. ‘Surf Excel’ sponsors of the children's activities, promise to remove the stain off the clothes, but the children with real stain of poverty and dirty clothes are not inside the ring.