Smile is that Curve that straightens everything, they say

But do ask her that how did she bring it on, if you may;

It happened because she had faith,

That his brightness shall be around, even if darkness envelops her in swathe;

Yet let this Smile not deceive you into thinking that all is fully well,

It comes in when it sees the dawn or waits for it to dwell so that it grants its magic spell;

Then All will not be in the Well,

Though she didn’t seek escape or Yell,

Yet Your Smile brought her out of her Shell

And showed her the path to Excel;

And So She shall always Smile

And So We shall always Smile.

PENNED BY SONALI MALHOTRA

I am Happy Today, Because I have the opportunity to seek Justice and Truth with arguments that I convey,

I am Happy Today, As I see Fairness and Equity, come what may,

I am Happy Today, Because there is a courage in me that I can display,

I am Happy Today, As Compassion in me, never stays away,

I am Happy Today, Because the Diamonds of Knowledge & Intellect comes my way by precious gems every single day,

I am Happy Today, And Today and Everyday, Because I taught myself when life and living was Underway,

That I shall always be Happy Today.

Tomorrow’s Road, Traveled Today

We definitely always want to live with the Old Adage, that one should live in the present and not worry about the future and of course, let go of the past.

As we inch towards attaining this to utmost perfection, what I always wondered that although I don’t want to worry about my future; yet I do want to focus on my future goals.

So I believe in making a conscious effort of seeing the beauty of the future, in the present, as I walk through my today.

There are some paths, literally, {no pun intended} that I want to walk in the future, and when I walk on my treadmill today, I see myself walking that very future path, so clearly, so realistically, as if walking on it right now. This sight into the future with utmost conviction that my future path is waiting for me to walk on it, shows me the beauty of walking tomorrow’s road, today. As not only I will walk it today, with utmost conviction in my belief that I shall literally walk it tomorrow, there where it actually exists.

And Yes we all Shall...

I thought it’s only the ink that drops on paper when I write,

Never knew it gets wet by the tears that softens my sight;

I thought I will never lose my known to the Covid Monster,

Never knew that even those valiant fighters would fall to the sinister;

I thought I shall keep my smile, come what may,

Never knew that it would start taking an effort in every way;

But I thought that I would break in despair,

Never knew that I shall have the courage to fight for repair;

But I thought, Will I stop believing?

Never knew that my belief became much bigger than my own living.

Isn’t it a Wonder, that these times showed us,

that banks would mean banks of prayers;

Isn’t it a Wonder, that these times taught us,

that assets are the friends who are there in need, indeed;

Isn’t it a Wonder, that these times surely vouched,

that association of people was formed to help humanity;

Isn’t it a Wonder, that these times displayed,

that prosperity was when strangers would come to rescue;

Isn’t it a Wonder, that these times shall always signify,

that God created Universe will stand together and No virus shall have the power to Undermine that or Nullify.

Your Flight reminds us of the Tenacity,

that no Virus can break nor it can have the audacity;

Your Flight reminds us of the Freedom,

that we have enjoyed & bloomed in it with growing wisdom;

Your Flight reminds us of the Determination,

that we have always displayed even in isolation;

Your Flight reminds us of the Endurance,

that we have always been capable of and not allowed it to be disturbed by any hindrance;

Your Flight reminds us of how we are Strong,

and that we shall not be away for long;

Your Flight reminds us of the Courage,

and that we shall never lose and continue to Encourage;

Your Flight….

’Cause we will Fly again

with all the strength that we shall regain.

We shall fight with our eyes,

and see the rays of hope that shall pierce like knives;

We shall fight with our ears,

and deafen the sound of the ambulances with the echo of our prayers;

We shall fight with the strength of our smell,

and even if we lose it temporarily, we shall have tales of courage to tell;

We shall fight with our mouth,

and shall keep the strength to help humanity and quench the drouth;

We shall fight with what we feel,

and never let ourselves get dampened by all the pressure that may reel;

We shall fight,

Even if the monstrous virus tries to stop us with its might;

We shall fight

We shall fight

Page 3; an alphanumeric word of the English Dictionary, a leaf in a book, a sheet in the newspaper. But is Page 3 just that? Is it just a simple word like mentioned above? Or does this word/phrase have much deeper connotations? Page 3'. the phrase entails in itself an attitude, a lifestyle and the state of mind and state of existence and life of a particular group of people read the rich and famous. Having said that, the aforesaid state of mind and state of existence definitely does not remain limited to the so called ‘rich and famous’ but does permeate all in many different ways and through many different means.

The movie Page 3 is a story that very truly and very superbly depicts these facets of our present society. It has very clearly brought about the extreme shallowness and the complete superficiality that exists behind the blinding beams of glitz and glamour. It shows the pettiness, the tardiness and the frivolity that exists in abundance in the ‘abundant’ world of these sparse society people.

The Movie Page 3 shows that there exists a lot of fakeness and materialism in the present day modern society. It has also very illustratively depicted that there does not exist much reliability and trust worthiness. Page 3 has also very boldly shown that for a large number of people ideals and values erode and vanish in thin air to achieve ones purpose at one particular point of time.

These depictions of the present day society are a complete truth, hard hitting, though. The present attitude of the society definitely has a negative impact all across. Consequently it also somewhere gradually corrodes the faith people have in humanity. In certain cases, it therefore results, in an angry retort, which is in clear defiance of the basic positive human values. Will it always be the case that the Youth will retort with anguish? Will it begin to happen that people will start feeling that complete honesty is a self-destroying virtue? Will the world be only materialistic? Will our children grow up in a world that has sunk deep in the muddy muck of selfishness, dishonesty, materialism, non-reliance and distrust.

My belief in God’s created humanity makes me feel that the answers to all the above questions shall eventually be in negative.

'Show me the Money’. The famous line from the Tom Cruise starrer Movie Jerry Maguire, resonates time and again depending on the circumstances we are going through.

So the question is, how far is money important? First and foremost, taking a cue from the movie itself, although howsoever much this quote was made popular by the movie, a more popular quote in the same movie was ‘You Complete Me’.

Therefore, though one can never underestimate the necessity of Money which actually helps to satisfy our need for the basics — the food, the clothing , the shelter etc and other accentuated basics which are significant, like providing for the family, children’s education, health etc; yet what is significant is that one definitely needs to form higher goals in life.

Higher goals could be empathy for others, finding respect worthy and love worthy people in life, having the pleasure to learn from soulful mentors, trying to search the path of one’s soul, attempting to achieve the purpose for which one is born — which could be achieving the pinnacle in one’s profession or leaving a legacy that one desires.

Believe you me, if one focuses on the above goals, money will follow. So, thus, this would also show you the Money. But its then that money would become secondary and Living to your truest potential would become primary because it is then that you would say to Life

‘You Complete Me’.

Music is melody, Music is tune, Music is rhythm and Music is also Harmony. Music is that power which has a tremendous strength to unite and coalesce. This belief was reaffirmed among all the people who were the pleased invitees to the concert of Austrian oldest boys choir that is the St. Florian Boys Choir founded in 1071 Ad.

The choir programme coincided with the 75th Anniversary of the Salt Satyagarh and therefore, as a tribute to the Father of our Nation they sung his favorite hymns Vaishnav Vatan and Raghupati Raghav. The audience revered with joy and pride and applauded with a standing ovation. Every one of us, present in the audience had a feeling of immense appreciation for the Austrian Embassy who were so thoughtful to invite the Boys Choir to India. Moreover, the greatest appreciation was for the boys aged 10–14 years who so beautifully sang the hymns and the songs.

Music, as I stated earlier, is a great uniting force and has an enormous power to being harmony in the world. Music is the medium that acts a good leveler whether its between nations, or between individuals. In the past there have been so many instances that the West has connected with India on the basis of music.

In the present century, we have the most modern systems of communications and connections because of which the world seems to be a smaller place. But, having said that, the present century is also witnessing unprecedented numbers of disturbances and disintegrations. In this air of disillusionment, Music is that device that can harmonize, that can sensitize and that can bring world unity and world peace. It has the strength to bring so much peace to our world and that too in the most innocent of ways. Music is that instrument that can make our lives more melodious, more friendly, more cordial and can bring an end to several discords, disagreements and disturbances. Gandhiji, once said ‘ Music exercises great influence on us’ Harmonious music has the power to soothe the anguish of the soul.’

(Written by the Author in 2005)