ASLI SWAAD ZINDAGI KA

What does it take for my day to get a head start? A mere jingle from the past.

The winter nip is still hanging in the air like a reluctant lover after a wild night and the balmy sun filters in through the curtains as the day dawns for me a wee late, thanks to a movie and then Mount Etna that kept me glued to its pyrotechnics (LIVE) late into the night.

It was sensational to watch Lady Earth vent the fire in her heart, making me wonder if it was ire or passion that she spewed. It could be either or both, for who knows what secret sentiments lie at her core that she sleeps over for prolonged times and one day purges in sudden, glorious eruption, as if she had suddenly discovered a new song of love and life.

Taking such spectacular sights to bed probably has its own benefits. It mellows your night, humbles your heart and invokes the lyrics of a forgotten song that celebrates the wondrous nature of life.

KYA SWAAD HEIN ZINDAGI MEIN! – I wake up with this inspiring, old jingle in my head, like Lady Earth woke up to her fiery love song last night, and it is playing nonstop like an anthem in my ears. What in my sleep could have rekindled it many years after we left it on the backyards of Doordarshan I can’t say (was it the splendour of Etna?), but the way it emphasizes the beauty of life makes me want to reach out instantly and touch with my breath all that is khaas about living. The woes of the world can wait and the cankers in my heart can rest for a while. I have a song in my head today that takes me to where life rejoices and breaks into a dance.

Thank you, Piyush Pandey, for bringing magic into our lives. For the love of life and in memory of an old jingle, I shall bite into a bar of Cadbury today. How wonderful it is to know that the real taste of life lies in small bites of joy!

In nibbles of a volcano’s visuals, a walk by the sea, a piece of poetry, a drizzle, a sunshine, a song, a sunset, a dream, a drink, a love…and moments in which resides infinity.