Maa Tujhe Salam

We Indians feel pride saying these words. There may be political difference among us, we may fight with each other all through out our life but respect for our nation has always been the priority for every citizen of this country. We have unity in diversity. Different states, different cultures, traditions, opinions yet our country is one.

Maa Tujhe Salam is not only a proud thing to say, it is also a beautiful song to sing. The very popular song by A.R.Rahman was released on August, 1997 to celebrate the golden jubilee of India’s Independence and I am sure, no matter who you are, listening to this song brings a sense of pride and more love for our country. For me, along with the above things, I get goosebumps whenever I hear this song.

This post is about the song and how the idea for this song made this one of the best patriotic song. we all know it was A.R.Rahman’s masterpiece but there were many others who helped to create this into a sensational song.

Before entering into the film industry and creating storm and breaking records with his songs, A.R.Rahman initially composed different documentaries and jingles for advertisements. Bharat Bala and Rahman were good friends and had collaborated on many ads. Post Roja’s success Bala still tried to continue to work with AR Rahman on ad tracks as he couldn’t work with any other composer.

Bharat Bala’s father was a freedom fighter. Dismayed at what he was seeing among the youth, he told Bala –

“I do not like what this country has become. You sell soaps to others. Why can’t you sell India to Indians?”

This got Bala thinking. Armed with a prototype CD cover with a painting of the India flag by art director Thotta Tharani and the words ‘Vande Mataram’ written on it, Bala approached A.R Rahman and said “You’ve never made an album. This is your first album.”

Rahman was hooked with the idea and decided to work on it. He recruited Mehboob as the lyricist. They both have had successfully collaborated in Rangeela and the Hindi version of Bombay. But this was something different . So, the instructions were very clear –

Don’t create anything that “youngsters would respect but never sing”

Mehboob had looked to the patriotic songs from the past – all the songs were almost always about giving their life for the country. He thought to himself that it is a given, that people will give their life, and then he decided to try and create something different.

After repeatedly listening to the scratch tune, prepared by AR Rahman, Mehboob penned the words – “Maa Tujhe Salaam”. He then decided to look at the Indians abroad who miss their country so much and are still proud Indians. Hence the line –

“Yahan Vahan Saara Jahan Dekh Liya.”

He was reading Jules Verne novel – Around the World in 80 days at that time and then from that he incorporated the line –

“Assi Nahin Sau Din Duniya Ghooma Hai”

The lyrics of the song worked in 2 ways – for Indians who are staying abroad it was a call to the motherland and for Indians who are in India, they would be going to their mother. Hence the line –

Tere Paas Hi Main Aa Raha Hoon

Apni Baahein Khol De

Zor Se Mujhko Gale Laga Le

Mujhko Phir Woh Pyaar De

To work on the video, Bharat Bala decided to empty his bank balance, lock his office and embark on an unreal project with his wife Kanika. To make 300 one-minute films from all over India which would then be incorporated as the music video for the song “Maa Tujhe Salaam”.

The result was a stunning music video with a lyrics so beautiful that it will make you more proud to be born in a country rich in art and music and a billion of other things.

The album also featured the song Revival, a choral reinterpretation of Bankim Chatterjee’s original ‘Vande Mataram’, with Sting’s guitarist Dominic Miller and Snake Davis on the sax, and Sara Prosser on oboe.

The three main songs Maa Tujhe Salaam, Revival, and Gurus of Peace were meant to represent the three colors of the National flag. This is also reflected on the album cover.

Amid great hype, the album was released on 12 August 1997, three days before the 50th anniversary of Indian independence. The album became one of Sony biggest selling albums of all time. Maa Tujhe Salaam has inspired many covers and is still today part of A.R.Rahman’s concert set.

Prior to the release, Rahman said: “I dedicate this album to the future generations of India.”

Now, in the year 2022 we are celebrating India’s 75th Independence Day and this song is celebrating its 25 years of glory.

Happy Independence Day! Maa Tujhe Salaam!

Here is the link to the song..

Friends

You can have a lot of people beside you when you’re famous but to have a group of people to encourage you, stand by you when you’re nothing is friendship.

If I go with the first case, I will have a lot of people who I can call friends but the courage and level of tolerance it takes for someone to be with you when you’re down is something more than friendship. This is the reason you can call some of your friends as family and it is special and then these people, who stand by you in difficult times, become more than family because unlike family they have the option to opt out of your life, but no, they stand by you in these times no matter what. They encourage you, they motivate you and most of all they take time off their life just to listen to you.

You’ve a friend for everything; there is someone who listens to you when you’re sad, there is someone who listen to you when you’re exhausted or when you’re in a mood for party or may be when you just want to sit with someone and do nothing. Nothing. Just their presence will make you feel that you can take on life come what may! And you know what the best part is?! If all of these characters is in just one person. But I am lucky because almost everyone of my close friend have these characteristics.

I am a kind of guy who gets easily exhausted with his life, I am the first to say no to any fun things my friends want to do and I hardly celebrate being me. But there are still some who have stuck with me in these times, believed in me and made me feel so worthy that I feel that the whole group won’t operate if I am not in it. Believe me this is true!

There are always some technical glitch in any relationship and it is definitely there in friendship but I can proudly say that none of my close friends have left me because of that even if most of the time the glitch is from my side.

I have not been able to keep in contact with everyone in recent times but still when they call, after years that I have not called, they talk like nothing has changed.

There is a reason I am writing such a long essay. There is a series of problem in my life and the level of motivation and confidence each of my friends are giving me during this time is the reason I am still surviving, still smiling! And may be this is the reason I can think of no better line than this – A good friend knows your best stories but a true friend is someone who is there for you in your worst nightmare.

Happy Friendship Day!

Demon

There's no demon under my bed,
It's within me instead .
Don't worry it doesn't harm anyone else,
It just answers to my name.
It makes up imaginable stories
and messes with my brain.
This demon is a bit different,
It just keeps me sad.
May be that's why it never talks,
Because it always keeps screaming inside my head.

My demon always told me that I can't 
I tried everyday to prove it wrong.
Sometimes I succeeded and sometimes I didn't
Everyday was a challenge and everyday was a struggle.
Was it trying to keep me sad or make me better person?
or was it trying to break my soul by testing my patience?
In the midst of all, the demon had become my friend
slowly and gradually it was trying to take control of my soul
After a few wins and heartbreaks
There is one thing I realised 
There is no demon in me,
The demon is me instead.

Demon in me

The Invisible Fire

“I Would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I gave up.”

This was, a part of, probably the last known letter written by V.G Siddhartha, a coffee chain tycoon, a successful entrepreneur who had the “Make in India” dream long before it was implemented. He had a huge empire but when things fell apart he took his own life. He was at the top of the chain but he was lonely up there.

Depression, loneliness has been taking a lot of lives since.. ever. One must understand that it takes a lot of guts to take your own life and one doesn’t do it just because he is hopeless, depressed or lonely. There is a whole lot of other crazy things, things that is randomly going on in his mind, which he is not able to express to anyone or may be which is not understood by people, leads to taking his own life. The term coined for this – Suicide.

Suicide is an epidemic which needs to be stopped but the adjective “committed” used before it deprives it from the deadly disease that it actually is. The person who dies of cancer or diabetes doesn’t knowingly dies of it. Similarly, a person dying of suicide doesn’t knowingly takes his life. There is an invisible symptom that only that person can see which results in taking his life.

For instance, Imagine you’re standing below a building which has caught fire and a man is trapped on the 40th floor. The only two option for him is to jump off the building or get caught by fire. You’re standing down shouting him to jump from that great height and he even does jump thinking that falling off will be slightly less painful than being engulfed by fire.

Now imagine yourself standing below the same building with no fire but the man is on the fence of the terrace rewinding his own life of how he has disgraced everyone. You’re standing down shouting “Don’t Jump” and “hang in there” but what you’re not understanding is the invisible fire that has been behind him for so many years. Like in the first instance, the fear of falling from great height is there but the other fear, which is only for this guy, is the fear of invisible fire flames which is getting close enough. So he jumps and “commits” Suicide.

I’m not trying to promote suicide by claiming it as a disease. Every disease is bad and any person who dies an unnatural death should be a concern for the society.

Like there is promotions to prevent harmful diseases, there must also be promotion to prevent suicide.

Another aspect is responsible reporting on suicides. “This is extremely crucial since journalists should realise that others are watching. The reportage has to focus on how suicides should be prevented. It should be non-sensational. It should highlight the helpline numbers available,” says Dr Parikh.

Also, people link it to mental disorder. “People need to understand any mental ailment is because of a chemical imbalance like another medical problem, for example, in diabetes it is due to an imbalance of insulin,” says Dr Sonia Lal Gupta.

Lastly, if you see someone who is close to you suffering from loneliness or depression you should try and talk to him about his problems. Make him feel that he is not alone and he can get over the situation.

11 Signs You’re Forever Alone

tiknaspeaks

Most of the people in a relationship wish they were single because of the constant emotional mood swing of their partner. They wish they had a life were they could go on random dates and meet new people, probably sleep with some of them too. But this, is a whole new level. It is achieved by a very few people and whoever is in this level has to go through the situation all by himself. Because he, my friend, is forever alone!

When you call your friend at night and the first thing he says:

Like seriously, Can’t you call your friend at night just to talk to him. Why is it so difficult for them to understand that you just want to have a normal conversation and not cry over your issue. But the story doesn’t end here! In the middle of the conversation you’re again asked

All you can…

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Laughter is the Best Revolution

Everyone reading this article (or even just the title of the article) might be wondering about the unusual title. You all might have heard the adage “Laughter is the best medicine” and obviously used it at some point of time. Some might have used it as an explanation after their continuous giggling over a very small thing and some might have used it as an advice they give to people who always remain morose and have a lot of life issues (like me). But we all have used the phrase.

However, the title of the article is not about laughter being a medicine. It’s about laughter being a revolution. I too was confused when I heard the statement but later it all made sense. I was going through Reader’s Digest, which by the way I think everyone must read (don’t worry they don’t give me a single pie for their books promotion). It has a section called “Things to Ponder”where they have compiled the quotes by renowned people to motivate their readers. As they don’t pay me for the promotion I am not writing much about it.

In that section was a quote of a very famous comedian Roseanne Barr in which she talked about laughter being the best revolution. After reading it I wondered if it was really true. But after hours of thinking and analysing the phrase I came to a conclusion that perhaps it’s true.

Let’s take an instance, there’s a guy who is talking about anti-feminism(which btw I don’t support) with his friends. His friends listening to him might retaliate with varied arguments and examples but the guy is steadfast and assertive. In the end two things might happen:

The guy might agree with his friends, or
He might be a big jerk and would ignore his friends and believe his view point.

In this case, apply the phenomenon, rather than arguing with him the group of friends start laughing at him unanimously. At first he might not even understand what is happening. He can’t even retaliate or prove his point in front of his crazy friends because they are just laughing after hearing his statement. There might even come a point where he starts getting angry but there is nothing else that he could do except for saying nothing and walking away from there. Further, he would never dare to say that statement again in front of his friends because he knows what might happen if he did.

Isn’t it wonderful? It’s like a form of Gandhigiri where you don’t have to do anything but just laugh at whatever wrong the person thinks is right and not only in the above case but this can be applied in a lot of places with varied situations. Just laughing will change everything. The person, at whom, a group of people is laughing at, might even change his whole perception about the nuisance idea that he has put forth. So isn’t it the most powerful thing in the world? Think about it..

“As soon as a large group of people or citizens laugh at something, it’s never the same. That’s the most powerful thing in the world. They say Laughter is the best medicine, but it’s the best revolution too.” – Roseanne Barr

11 Signs You’re Forever Alone

When you call your friend at night and the first thing he says:

Like seriously, Can’t you call your friend at night just to talk to him. Why is it so difficult for them to understand that you just want to have a normal conversation and not cry over your issue. But the story doesn’t end here! In the middle of the conversation you’re again asked

All you can do is wish them a good night and go to bed.
when your friends always try to set you up with someone

Oh no no no, you don’t say this when they try to set you up. you say this when the girl and you don’t get along because obviously how will you?! You’re forever alone.
When you’re in the middle of a conversation with a friend and she asks you

well it happens a lot. someone will be talking to you and during the conversation you prefer going into your own imaginary world. It’s kind of embarrassing but being lost is the only thing you know.
When you’re watching a movie

This is a very difficult thing to do (at least for me). But you’ve been rejected so many times that you don’t even feel bad watching a movie alone. Plus you even save some bucks on nachos and cokes. 😉
And in restaurants too

It’s not just the movie theater but you feel comfortable going and eating alone in restaurants too. It’s like a self-date. May be by doing this you get some time to know yourself better. You get some time to spend with you. Oh don’t kid yourself with such thoughts! You’re forever alone!
And even a trip

well if you can go to a movies alone, eat alone then why not a trip. Celebrate your loneliness in a romantic place. 😛
When you go to a party

Every close friends of your will be with their partners and having fun.But the only person you can show a good time is – you. So Party Hard! 😉
And at night this is all you can wish for
Do I need to say more about this?!
When your friends tag you in some post

When a notification comes on your phone about a friend tagging you in a post, you actually feel happy. You think they might have shared a photo of you, but then when you see such posts then you feel being tagged in a post “with 30 others” is much better. 😛
When you’ve friends

when people say, you don’t have a girl friend so what do you do and you say proudly that you’ve F.R.I.E.N.D.S. :’) It’s like having everything in the world and being “Forever Alone.”
In the end, when nothing works and you give up
This is all you can say!

I know how the feeling is because I myself am in the same level. If you’ve been through these following situations then I just have two words for you – “Welcome Aboard”

Hello world! My First Blog!

I’m 24 and I didn’t have a blog yet, so what?
Fine, I know I should have been shot. But there is a famous saying:

Better late than never

So here I’m. This is something I wanted to do since a very long time.
Do I know how to write? No.

Do I know any good fancy words which would make me look like a professional? A big No. *Probably the reason I wasn’t here yet*

But I’m still here because I wanted to do something good for myself(which I haven’t done in months). Generally, for a professional or for a person who knows to write, it would take maximum of 1 min to write the above lines. But I’m sitting in front of my computer since the last 15 minutes writing these lines. So for a person like me it’s a very good platform to learn something or probably write something.

I wish the dear readers to leave their valuable comments and correct me wherever I’m wrong.

Happy Blogging to me! 😉

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