the Republic...for 60 years!

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60 years of being the republic means, six decades...

...of being the most diverse nation on the planet. of bearing the weight of the expectations of a billion people. of cutting corners paying and accepting bribes. of making a mockery of our political and judicial system. of bitterly fighting amongst each other in the name of religion, caste and land. of pitting our individual identity against that of the nation. of electing corrupt criminals to our politico out of indifference, ignorance and fear. of exploiting and hurting each other. of ridiculing each others beliefs and values...

60 years of being the republic also means, six decades...

...of saluting our martyrs in absolute honour. of shouldering each other in times of grief. of laughing together. of celebrating together. of praying together. of congratulating each other on a Sachin century. of crooning along together to the tunes of Lata and Mukesh. of wanting to leave to find a better life somewhere else, but of always coming back to reclaim it here. of accepting the generous hospitality of unknown countrymen and of reaching out to others. of being awed at our collective culture. of greedily indulging ourselves to the never-ending culinary delights of this big kitchen from each others plates. of learning the mystic knowledge collected over centuries through folk tales with talking animals. of embracing each other. of always dreaming of success as a nation. of sharing one nation despite our differences and apprehensions...

...today is the completion of 60 years of the Republic of India! but being an Indian lasts forever. and this song is one of the many cherished memories that i grew up with. a truly Indian song of unity and love...

...Happy Republic Day!

if perspectives went downhill in a cart...

...a moment is what it takes for the present to be the past. for everything to become distant. from "when" to "now" to "then" to "back then". such is the nature of time. yesterday seems like a long time ago now. looking back now makes it all seem so distant. where did it all go? all that we can see now is the future. mechanical & shiny, perhaps...

...it all seems like one of those fairy tale beginnings, "a long long time ago" fable. back when everything was seemingly easy. when we were what we wanted to be. back when we changed the world. back when we were the revolution...

...funny part is, "far far away" was never that far away. all it took was a little bit of imagination. the child in us knew it...

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"i believe that eventually we are all at the right place at the right time. call it 'in retrospect' or 'statistics', what are the chances of it all being otherwise?"

of colors...

..."color me red!"

for more pics visit the photoblog



...would it change anything if i were to be colored red,
instead of black or white or blue?
a single stroke of the palette soaked brush
bestowing to this life a tainted hue.

a different shade,
for a different me...

..."maybe not"

the great sun jester...

photo taken by Gayatri Thangjam. location: Shimla 01/01/10

"sunsets always bring about a change. they are like the heralds of time, summoning the old day back into the recesses of the grand old design from which it emerged in the first place. what is here, must be replaced with something else that shall be here. the night must engulf us and a new day must dawn.

this is the 'one' rule."

...its all a big joke! this daily melee of our days.

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