Saturday, December 31, 2016

A Verse for 2017!


May your sky
Be bright and clear
May your heart
Be brave and
never fear

May your sea
Be calm and blue
May you stay
To yourself true

May the Sun
Always shine
on your parade
May your goodness
Never fade

May you ride
Your favourite Star
May your dreams
Take you far

May you
in yourself believe
May all your goals
You charge out
and achieve

May your heart
Be always kind
May your true purpose
You strive and find

May happiness
Always hold you
in its arms
May life besot you
With all its temptations
and charms

 May you find promise
Even in your darkest hour
May you learn rich lessons
From every hurt and every scar

May through all of
life’s tumble
And roller-coaster ride
You face it with
faith and conviction
Showcasing your
brightest, bravest side

May you fill your cup
With aims,
ambition and hope
May you always be able
And strong enough to cope

May you always lend a hand
And add sparkle to
someone’s tomorrow
May you always raise it
To smooth out even
a strange forehead’s furrow

May you find your wings
May you fly away and soar
Still, may you have roots
That tie down your very core

May love be your music
Passion your playmate
May your life remain promising
Keeping you on
the right side of fate

May the divinity in you
Rise above and shine
May you lead a wholesome life
And stay a soul always so fine! 


Note 1 - Top Picture - Mukhteshwar, Uttarakhand, India
Note 2 - Bottom Picture - Half-Moon, Landour, Uttarakhand, India 

Monday, December 26, 2016

Last Christmas - Rest in Peace George!


It, indeed, is Last Christmas of sorts, in a heart-wrenching way. George Michael was the Rock star lover boy who made our heartbeats race with his silky, smooth voice and Greek God good looks. His irresistibly attractive swag (shades better than Andrew, though the latter was no less good looking) always made us swoon and sweat.

Friends, who know me since the 80s, would recall my unabashed love for George and my tribute to him through the way I wore my hair for years. My shaggy, messy-top hairstyle was a collective homage to my Pop idols of that time - George Michael, Cyndi Lauper and Janet Jackson.

Besides grabbing a huge chunk of space in our hearts, George Michael helped us feel, emote and express the teenage and early 20s love we wore on our sleeves. I remember being pulled in for a New Year's Eve dance by one of the most sexilicious of Doon boys at that time, the hunk a lot of us girls crushed over. With a pounding heart and the white fear that he would listen to the loud sound my heart was making over louder music, I crumbled into the luscious dude's arms as we danced cheek to cheek in dimmed lights on "Careless Whisper."

During one of my longest infatuation periods, George's mellifluously sung Love Ballads kept me company as I teared up at the thought of unrequited love. In the absence of a real boyfriend and engulfed in the mushily imagined phase of romance, I cried copiously into the pillow with the strains of "Last Christmas" causing the right effect on my weak nerves.

Back in the day, fed on the "boy chases girl" diet of Bollywood flirtations, I often looked out the window into the Farmhouse Orchard to imagine George Michael tease and tempt me with his "Edge of Heaven."

With his golden voice belting out tempting lyrics in the background, I would time and again sit by my bedroom window and either watch the rain falling on the garden swing or count dew drops on the summer grape vine or look at frosticles on the edges of the fir tree leaves. The seasons would change but what would stay constant was my love and intense admiration for this blonde bombshell.

In my late teens, early twenties, without the experience of a real-life boyfriend, George filled the gap admirably. My fertile imagination was all I had to reach into to have a rollicking affair in my mind with the hottest Pop star; the deep sense and craving for passion making me go to places I did not know existed within me and feel such sensations that brought only pure joy. Song after song, from "Father Figure" to "A Different Corner" to "I Can't Make you Love Me" he made me relish the gamut of amorous feelings that every girl or boy should; and more importantly, he made me feel those without the baggage of guilt, secrecy, hurt and heartbreak.

For a large part of my life, dance has been a big segment of my exercise routine. More than walking and cycling, what I have really enjoyed is an hour long dancercise to pulsating music in the cozy confines of my house. Whenever I have done that, Wake me up before you go-go, Club Tropicana, Young Guns, Come On and Bad Boys have always been on the playlist.

Even today, at my heaviest, sedentary worst, it is Faith that makes me get up and wear my blue Suede shoes!

Well the thing is; first loves never disappear, reappearing in some corner of the heart with the slightest nudge from nostalgia. They, like an autumn rash, flare up at the faintest teasing of the memory, coming alive as if they never went into a deep recess buried in the life that existed in another time. And great musicians never really die. They are as immortal as the music they have created; rising up in our consciousness with just a turn of the knob.

George Michael, you were an essential part of my youth. That stage of life that one never lets go of, even when one advances in age. So, as long as I am young at heart, you will always reside in my mind.

I love you George! I will always miss you for all the music you could still have made, George Michael.

For now, go and do the jitterbug with God!


Picture courtesy - Joost Hogervorst