A letter to the future!!!

                                  (This post was inspired by another blog! So credits to her)

Dear Son/ Daughter,

Feeling a bit odd to write this, but I want you to know the 'me' when i am writting this! May be when you are old enough to read this, I will be stressed, overworked and unbearable; Or may be cranky and cynical, or may be too sweet and softspoken like my parents are now! But believe me, Im not one of these now. So, I want you to meet 'me', at your age, or may be a slightly older version than when you first read this.

My ideas, my principles and my values are being formed now kid. I want to preserve some of them for you. Are they still relevant in your generation? I hope so! Else, just humour me. These are what i believed.

I wonder what attracts you kid? History or Chemistry? or neither. I am attracted by words. I love them when i read and write. I want you to read; and may be 'write' too. Read everything you like. Do read about your country and your family. They are both interesting. Atleast I thought so.

Do you sing? Or dance? Are you attracted by the keys of the piano or the strings of the violin? I wish you are. Learn music child. Atleast try learning them! It is ok if it just did not come to you properly. They give you a lot of peace. I am pathetic at them, but believe me, my live without music is incomplete.

Have lot of friends. Boys and girls! Go around, visit places, meet people and make friends. Debate, fight, cry but never for once stop loving them. People change as they grow. Even i did, still i am changing. But that does not and it cannot in any way justify not loving them. Stand for them, hold them and fight for them. They are going to be there for you, if you are there for them. I have a hell lot of friends and i hope by now you would have known every single one of them.

Kid, there are certain creatures called brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. They are called family in my time. I hope your generation know them like we do. Listen, they will be the last people standing for you even if the world goes haywire. Love them all. Every single one of them. They have the same blood.

Play any game child. That will teach you life. It really did for me. Cricket, Badminton, Basketball, carrom, chess or even golf. Just play them for the love of it. Watch its greats play, imitate them or try your own style, or learn from them. I did play kid; Every game my school offered.

I wonder your grandparents will be around when you read this. But if they are, learn to smile from your grandmother. And your grandfather will have hundred things to teach you. Try them all. May be they will be too laidback and weak to tell you stories, or may be their stories are outdated, but don't let them go away without their stories. Believe me, experience has a way of teaching life.

Do you believe in God? I do! Believe in something kid; and disbelieve somethings. I honestly think the problem with this world is not that people believe in certain things but the people believe in anything. Be honest and defend to death what you believe! It is ok if the world says the opposite. Also child, listen and understand others. May be they have a point too. It is equally ok to change sides if you think they are truer than you. But write this down kid,' the person is always more important than his view points'. Never lose a person because you don't agree with him.

I want you to know that everyday is a challenge, but that everytime you walk out of the door, there will be someone waiting for you to get home to whom you can proudly display your battle wounds. There will be people who use you child, but know that, for each of these, there will be people who love you for who you are.

Never stop dreaming. Dream big kid. I do. I dream big and watch my dreams fall. Then I rise and dream big again.

There are certain 'No-No' in life child! There will be those who say try them. For heaven's sake dont do it. Life is far better when we don't do certain things

Do I sound too mature to you kid? or do i sound like a teenager? I was considered boring by some, but believe me, lot of people thought im fun too. May be we will have lot of fun together too.

Listen kid! I love you. And will Love you come what may!

Lots of luv
Sam

Living his dreams! Dhoni!

Only one more over to go; I was the last batsman standing. The other end was the one who we use for 'tail enders' definition. 15 runs to win! The bowler was the opposition's best bowler, a fierce fast bowler who had got our best batsman out! Three balls later I was thronged by the entire school. Two huge sixes and one four over the covers and I was the hero!

Suddenly I woke up; Our geography miss was at her boring best. The monsoon is just at its doorstep, and the climate is what we call 'awesome'. I looked dreamily out of our classsroom, remembering the dream that I just had. How I wish life was like that!

When Dhoni, the iceman, played that unimaginable innings my mind went back to that day when i had that dream. Dhoni lived my dream yesterday.

Dreams! what would be life without them? They always have that flair. Are never text bookish. May be that is why i never dream of playing a straight bat dravidesque defensive stroke. It has always had that "Obama calling on phone" or "ME killing a tiger with bare hands" effect to it. Life of fancies. Life that we wish we live!

I really think Dhoni dreamt like that too! May be he had a history teacher who always made him dream. He dreamt of hitting balls out of the ground. May be he dreamt of lifting the world cup; May be he dreamt of being the greatest captain of all times; May be he dreamt of playing in the same team with Sachin. And He is living them all! one by one. Every one of them!

Living life's dreams! How I wish I live mine too!

Remembering those days daddy!

I did not want to be seen as sentimental daddy, but I am; When Dan wanted me to write about you today (Today being father's day), I didn't want to do it, i really did n't.Though i am very fond of words, I know they have limitations. They cannot show who you are to me; They just can't. So i decided daddy, to just let go, and write what all i remember about you;

These are precious moments daddy, moments i have cherished through my life.

I remembered you saying me daddy, that you did n't sleep the day i was born.
I remembered daddy, when i was young, the first thing i wanted as soon as i wake up was you.
I remembered those precious moments spent on your lap daddy, not doing anything else, just being there.
I remembered the words you said daddy, when you caught me lying, they were so loving they make me cry now.
I remembered daddy, the first day you came with me to school riding a cycle just because you wanted me to be independent.

I remembered many of those stories which you told us to put us to sleep daddy; I really do!
I remembered the long walks we took with hands on shoulders as close friends do, when you patiently listened to all my stories, my frustrations, and my joys.
I remembered the day you said you will not buy me a medical college seat daddy; and I'm proud you did.
I remembered the day when you took me for my first cricket coaching; and I remembered the pride in your eyes when I first played for my district
Yes, i remembered the day you cried daddy, when i boarded the flight to Assam; I know they were
proud eyes.
I remembered most of the values you taught me daddy, I remember them well, because i see them in you.
I remembered the times I scolded you daddy, as if I know more than you;

I remembered daddy, when i cried to you and stopped playing violin, that is my mistake daddy, it was never yours!
I remembered the look on your eyes daddy on the day I missed a medical seat; I knew you were hurt, yet the eyes never showed that,just because you never wanted me to be hurt.
I remember the reply you gave me when I said, why can't we just buy a medical seat daddy; Looking back it had such meaning to it daddy, it really did.

I remember every time your voice turns proud when you mention your dad daddy; I always say to myself, that when my child see me, he will see that pride 

Well, I want to be a father daddy, a father like you were to me! May be, I cannot think of a better compliment! And yes, I will stop on that note!

The art of social Networking!

A lazy morning today was! Though i got up earlier than usual, i skipped my gym session. My mind said, get up, you should be gymming now. Body simply refused. My body won as usual! And so is the pattern, i lazily opened my tab to check my FB. Oh fine! FB is FaceBook for those who read this page like my dad. Their dictionaries are outdated. How can they not know FB? i still struggle at such ignorance, rather innocence. Was not FB considered the greatest discovery ever since man invented the wheel?

The opening post on FB was by one 'A' whom i had never known before. Oh ya, he is on my friend list, but should i really know him for that? Social networking this! And his post is in a language which i last learnt in class 5 to pass the exam. That is ok, languages barriers are meant to be broken. And the post also showed two pictures of a swamy with some random girls. They are there to test my general knowledge. Believe me!

Well, I scrolled down after getting to know that Swamis have some things to do with women, there is this post on how my cosuin's birth month flower is 'white rose' which signifies innocence and purity of thought. Oh ya, FB had analysed my cousin's character in the last few years of aquaintance. So I scrolled down again to learn "The age of the prophets of the world", that 'Singham II' is a grand success, that one friend had 'Afgani chicken' for dinner yesterday night,that 'Bruce lee' could actually fight.

For the sake of sanity after accumulating such a huge amount of knowledge, I clicked on my notification to find out one friend had invited me to play "Farmville"(Virtual farming - He really respects the farmers, and for their sake he plays this); and another friend had liked my status update on my philosophies of life. I smiled; happy that he is learning life's philosophies at last.

Suddenly I realized the sun was out and my tryst with FB should stop now. My day have to start. What would life be without FB i thought! Bliss, my conscience replied.

 May be that is why they say "Ignorance is bliss!"

Ya, tomorrow morning the first thing i do is to log on in again! The art of social networking!

Potter's clay

When the best friend called to remind me to write on this, my mind started to wander. Where did it all start? Where is it going? What is it doing? Why is it doing all this? Questions as usual came in clusters and 'answers',  well they are after all 'answers', did not bother my mind. So i decided to dig deep in search of them.

Well, Im talking about potter's clay! For starters, potter's clay as the name indicates does not denote geologic clay, but a christian organisation started way back! 'Way back' is all that i could recollect how much ever i dig. I could not even recollect the year, leave alone the date. I got it! 2008 it is. or is it 2009? But much before that the seeds were sown some where else.

Me and the best friend always cherished Sunday evenings. A group of friends met over a cup of coffee and some biscuits and discussed God, Bible, Country and what not! It was always followed by a game of cricket. Always! There in that small town of Sivakasi were those seeds sown. Seeds as ideas. Idea to start one such group, many years after those glory days of sivakasi, when me and the best friend had no other work on a sunday evening in the crowded city of Chennai.

Like all Tamil Youngsters from small towns, Chennai attracted us too! We had jobs, we had money, we were independent and more importantly we had the time. Time to think, time to recollect and time to reminesce about all that was good in Sivakasi and all that we missed in Chennai. Well, as usual the best friend had an idea one fine day and we decided we will do it. The idea was to gather friends in Chennai and meet over a cup of coffee and bisucits on boring sunday evenings. We just had to find a person who will give us the snacks and the place to meet and of course, had to look for a cricket ground too.

Chitthi and Chitthapa were kind enough to allow us in and greater still, gave us the much needed snacks. We started as four(Two other close friends from hometown joined). We did this for many weeks, even when only the two of us met, we enjoyed it! There is joy in HIS presence.

Slowly the four of us started giving programmes in churches and were blessed! We loved being in that company and i truly treasure some of those memories. We travelled far and gave programmes, planned for that, prepared, prayed and found ourselves to be doing some thing meaningful in life; 

May be i dug too deep! am not able to control the flow of answers!

There were similar friends who were looking for worthy things to do. Through common friends and word of mouth, we all came together and slowly the numbers started to increase. We had to move to a bigger place and a church in Kodambakkam was kind enough to give us their place and also the snacks!

So we meet on Sunday evenings, take turns for bible studies, invite special speakers, attend special programmes and even now conduct programmes! People have moved on and newer guys have joined, the enthusiasm has ebbed and flowed but potter's clay canters on. Never for once it has stopped. HE has been gracious enough.

We really think friends can be life changers and that is exactly what we try to achieve. We want to be friends with people, especially youngsters who come to chennai wide eyed and suddenly find themselves lost! We want to be friends, who will be the shoulder to put your hands over and also the friends who will say, ' Not this way'. May be that is our mission, our vision! To be friends!

Where do we go from here? I personally don't know! and almost don't care! HE started this and HE leads us on. When he decides enough of friend making we will shut shop. Till then, we will walk in the direction which HE shows, which till now has been to "Live a christ centred life" and help people do that.