A God of My Own!!

Preposterous idea indeed!! Talking to God?? What the &^%$!! That was MY reaction when I was gifted a book titled Conversations with God. It is the usual reaction of a person who views motivational literature such as the above mentioned book with disdain. And I do not go on here to reveal how the reading changed me and turned me from a skeptic into a believer. No. It just made me realize that I had been conversing with My God for years... unconsciously, subconsciously. I am not a schizophrenic. I know there are skeptics like me out there but it is hard indeed to explain exactly how you talk, how you converse. I believe each one of us has his/ her own God or rather the idea of what God is. A Personal God. A God of My Own. And I have been asked what is my God like. There have been things/ events in my life where my faith in God was shaken badly. Loss of anything you hold dear makes you a disbeliever. And I became that. I ridiculed silently the people who went to temples or prayed religiously. But then God proved me wrong. It was not because of any miracle or any prayer coming true that I started believing in Him again. But believe I did. And yes I conversed with My God. There is a line in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I where a character says, “We Owe God A Death”. The line somehow stuck in my mind and this became my tribute to My God.

We owe God a Death
and yet the ignorance of it
Makes braves die but once
and cowards bit by bit..

We owe God some love
for making us see
The infinity of a moment
and the limits of eternity

We owe God a smile
Coz when we are in pain
He gives us the strength
to stand up once again

We owe God a chance
When faith in heart dies
Coz He comforts us
and with us, He cries

We owe God a life
Coz He set us free
To overstep boundaries
and explore immortality....

My God is a friend, a teacher, a comforter, a mother and most importantly someone I can talk to. He is always there to listen, waiting for you to come.... perhaps it is time you took the step..

Delhi 5

The onslaught of the title track of Delhi 6 on FM stations made me think about my part of the city.. It is known for its market, the crowded lanes and the hustle and bustle.. for me its home.. The lanes are familiar, the landmarks.. well I have seen them change shape and color over a period of time..Delhi 5 is a place where the refugee families, especially Punjabi families, were allotted land for homes after the partition. My grandfather brought his family from a village in Sargoda, Pakistan to New Delhi. My aunt laid the bricks of our homes with her bare hands.. that is the history seeped in this area. I often walk through the narrow galis just to have a look at the homes with arched doors reminiscent of an era gone by.. you can see history here not just in architecture but in the walls themselves.. The tiny balconies and jharokhas, the latticed windows, and the posts made for sitting outside are something you don't get anywhere else.. and there are actual wells on the chaurahas that have been covered up.. people say someone committed suicide by jumping in the well and since then the local people covered it up.. I have had the chance to sing national anthem and watch the unfurling of the flag at one of these chaurahas on and independence day. It was a feeling that cannot be described in words..

In a comparative old locality like ours the special ingredient is the people you are surrounded with.. your neighbours.. you know everything that goes on in their homes and I guess your life is no big secret either.. So we refrain from lighting the lohri in the front of an old woman's house whose husband passed away on the same day many years ago.. and we celebrate festivals together by making rangolis on the doors of not just our own home but everyone else's too.. if there is a wedding in someone's family.. the neighbours help you like its their celebration and in the case of a death... they stand by your side and give you strength.. On sundays when the kids have an off.. the street is teeming with tricycles and kiddos playing on the one slide that we have.. yes we have a slide in our street.. lucky we!! And aunties sitting in the winter sun..knitting or talking.. gossiping actually.. but its a feeling of being surrounded with love.. and safety.. the feeling of coming home at the end of the day.. that is what Delhi 5 is to me..:)