The 'Seed'

Within your darkness, find that light.

That seed which was planted in your heart when you were born has to be nurtured with love and life,
It has to be occasionally sprayed with tears of joy to bring out that sapling of a feeling called 'love'.
Let this plant grow and grow, don't stop feeding it.
Give it love,
Call it with love, 'love',
Be in love with 'love'.

This 'love' in your heart will give you a different sight every time you see around you,
You'll see love,
The naked light within you will guide you to 'see'.
You'll see a world with no boundaries,
You'll see people loving everything with the little most life in it.
You'll see sparkling eyes with peace and silence in heart.
You'll see content smiles and relaxed colorful minds.
You'll see patterns of life.
There will be music all around you made by every little object asking for the seed.

Let that sapling grow and plant the seed you were planted with in every soul you meet.
Make the world an even better place to live in.

Rains in 'The City of Nawabs : Hyderabad' and 'The Girl'

Those first showers of the monsoon when the clouds are rumbling, Rumbling and calling your inner spirit, Inviting it to dance in the rain. Those first drops of rain that fall so hard on your skin. They're piercing. They pierce through your skin and seep into your soul.They are hard and cold yet so calm and serene, They seep to your soul giving it a different kind of cool and peaceful feeling. This feeling is unmatched by any feeling in this world. You're on your own, enjoying the briskness and beauty of the nature.

She was driving her scooter in the rain. This rain marked the arrival of monsoons in her city, 'The City of Nawabs : Hyderabad'. The road was jam-packed and it is really scary for a newbie to drive through the city where people drive with almost 'NO' traffic sense. She has been driving for a week now, but in some corner of her heart she wasn't still confident.

She was right there in the middle of a wave full of cars and scooters which was meticulously waiting for the red light to turn to green. She was this girl, You see her cross your mind once in a day at least. She is small yet strong and has these millions of dreams which she is aiming to fulfill someday in this short life of hers. She is struggling each day for her dreams to come true.

The roads of Hyderabad are usually filled with all kinds of vehicles from Bicycles to Audis, from City-buses to material trucks. 
Hyderabad roads during monsoons, 'Horrible' is the word.
Engines of the autos are begging for rest, Cars are spitting smoke and dirt and showing their frustration through the journey to be crossed, Bikes are continuously honking for reason you'll never know, City-buses will push you to death and the best part, Share-Rickshaws and autos will stop at any side of the road without any indication. No-one here turns with an indication, They turn at their will and no one says a word.

In one of those few hundreds vehicles was her scooter, A red one with a broken mirror. Yes, As mentioned earlier she was a newbie. Her mind worked a lot than her body and her soul was a complete stranger to herself at times.

She was stuck by sudden thoughts, Thoughts about thoughts which are mostly active in our sub-conscious mind and rarely come to our conscious mind, But, right then it was her both conscious and sub-conscious mind thinking simultaneously. She was asking herself 

"What it is to be completely complete yet be completely incomplete? 
What it is to have a million another people around you and still feel empty and unsure? 
What it is to feel everything yet nothing at all? 
What it is to be alone and on your own without being questioned or answerable to anyone?
What it is...."

Ever since the day she was born, She questioned herself about her existence and true being which wasn't weird at all. She was unlike those other girls who chatter and gossip about 'Shopping at Accessorize' OR 'Shopper's Stop has an up to 51% off' OR 'The guy who just got down of that 'Merc' is so hot' OR 'That girl is such a bitch'. 
She was different.
Very different.

She would never want to sit in the balcony with a hot mug of coffee and pakodas during monsoons. She would take her scooter and run away. Be adventurous, bold  and to be on her own. She was someone who believed in feeling the pain to get calmness inside. Each time a drop fell on her skin, her skin cried with pain and her insides felt pure and complete. 

She felt. 

She was feeling after a long time, the soothing effect left by the pain.
She was smiling and entering into a state she call 'Home'. 'Home' is where you find peace and inner solace. 
For those few minutes that day, She was in the world physically but mentally she was in 'home'. Her conscious mind was stable enough to let her drive through the traffic but her sub-conscious mind was highly unstable because it was working, working in a direction which didn't really exist in the real world.

  

The "BIG" Question

Why was this specific combination of atoms of Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen put into you? 

Why do you feel what you feel? 

Does anyone else feel the same as you feel, Not just about love or lust, nature or time but anything else, about 'life'? 

Does anyone question them self at times about the existence of their being? 

Does anyone get surrounded by the plethora of questions you get surrounded by? 

Do you believe in that eternal power who made you?

Do you question yourself about your purpose in life?

What are you meant for?

For what have you taken birth?

These questions might bother you at some point of time, consciously or sub-consciously.

Well, Lately I have been asking these questions to myself. I've been thinking and over-thinking about what I am meant for and what is my sole purpose of existence. Everything happens for a reason they say, What is the reason behind my birth? What do I want from my life and what I want to give back?

I am not born to live just a normal life and succumb to the eternal world. I am to live and mark my presence.

In fact, Each one of us is to live and mark their presence. We are in a journey of which destination is unknown since the day one. We have to discover our self and find that destination. I live with a thought that makes me believe that, that boundless power above me has made me for a specific reason.

I am a traveler now with no aim, no goal, no real destination.I am in search of my destination. I am just walking and walking towards the horizon with a hope of discovering my true reason of existence. If you are my fellow traveler and feel the same let me know. We can help each other. We could be the lights for each other in the dark. We could help each other create a path and travel on it. We can pick up the one who falls and give them support when needed. We can help each other overcome that horrible period when we feel aimless, useless and non-existing.

The "BIG" Answer

"Life is not just about living and wailing it away,

It is about leaving your imprints in the sands of time, 

It is about finding your own identity, your aim, your purpose and your sole purpose of existence,

It it to know thyself and fulfill your purpose after knowing it,

Life is not just living."

Across the river

I always knew someone was waiting for me across the river,

I could see him each time I passed the river bank.

It was this weird tingling feeling which kept obsessing me day by day and moment by moment when I thought 

about it.

It was like a new world beyond the horizon of my own world and little dreams.

I wanted to know who he was and what he wanted, 

Why was he making me want him so bad,

I had various little numerous questions for him to answer,

I wanted to know,

I was curious.

One stormy day I was determined,

determined to know him and ask my questions.

I took out my boat, hopped in and started rowing across the river.

I was rowing and rowing.

There were large ripples and whirlpools all around me,

Against all odds of nature.

There was this strong force stopping me from meeting him

But it wasn't stronger than my urge to meet him.

My urge, My desire, My dream of meeting him was going to be complete and I knew however hard anyone tries,

They wouldn't be able to stop me from meeting him.

I reached the bank there was no one there,

I lost hopes, I lost every dream I had.

Suddenly my eyes were stuck to the bank where I came from, I could see him there.

No, It wasn't possible,

He was looking for me, I knew.

He was standing and looking at me.

There was this lightening, I could see his face,

Yes, I could and He wasn't a 'he' 

He was 'she'.

She resembled me.

Oh god! It was me, I could see my own self,

It couldn't be true, It cannot be possible.

But then I knew,

All this while, I was searching for my own self,

I was searching my soul,

My non-materialistic real dreams,

I was in search of myself.

And suddenly I opened my eyes with a new energy, A new hope, I woke up from a deep deep sleep.

I was dreaming.

But this wasn't a usual dream,

It was a realization, A new energy and probably what I want from my life,

To find myself.

To know myself.

The Seven Realizations

It's been long the last I posted. I won't be fair enough to say that I have been busy, It isn't like that at all. If I had to write something I would have surely took out time for that.
Weird but true!

I have almost forgot that, sometime I used to write. Its like loosing yourself in the hustle and bustle of a new city and not even knowing that . Suddenly, One day you realize how much you've changed. Not just mentally, But psychologically and emotionally too. Changed in a good way and how you realize things. So it was just another day of my self realizations. 

Self-realization.

1.You need to be a devoted person to whatever you do.
If you're doing something, Do it with whole-heart OR Don't do it at all.
The former may make you a little unhappy but the later will effect your mental status drastically. You'll probably end up feeling that you cannot do anything at all. You'll feel you're not at all capable for the job, Which is not at all true. 
You can always do what you want and always achieve what you want to.

2.You need to have masks (Not the literal ones) But emotional.
Yes, You don't have to be the same with everyone. You don't have to show each person what kind of person you are but you can't be the same to everyone. Here, You have to wear a mask. With different people you need to be different with your way of talking and behaving and even sharing. Its not called being multiple-faced, Its just being practical cause you don't want to be bad with anyone.

3.You need to be strong, Extremely strong.
You need to have these stone hard goals and your heart should be stone hard when it comes to achieving them. Don't make your dreams flexible. Never. Don't make yourself vulnerable to anyone. Anyone.Yes! I remember reading this somewhere. Always give more importance to your career than anything because your career is never gonna wake up someday and say that it doesn't love you anymore. (which I think is partially right and partially not, Life you know!)

4.Do mistakes and learn from others' mistakes. 
Mistakes, You learn from them and Do feel free to share them, As it helps others not to do the same. Especially with your younger ones. Also, try learning from other mistakes. Yes! That doesn't stop making you do the same mistake, but it just makes you mentally prepared about what can happen. You should be strong enough to accept your mistakes and others' too. Everyone does mistakes, its up to us how we deal with them and how we react to them.

5.Motivate yourself and others. 
Self-motivation is very important and so is motivating others, it always opens up path to make you believe in your self and It's really important to believe in yourself.

6.Be confident.
This is one of the most important realizations I've ever had. You might make just a circle on page and say its an art. Be confident about yourself, Be confident of what you do. These days I find myself at an entirely new level. Frankly, I always lacked self-confidence, Now I feel that I am being confident enough. I don't ask people twice a thing, I just make and give it off. Being confident takes lot of time but it really helps.

7.Love yourself and the world will love you.
Yes! Love yourself and the world will love you. You love yourself, you're cheerful, happy and always bubbly, The world is automatically going to like you and respect your identity. They are going to get positive vibrations from you which are very effective. The aura is so strong of you loving yourself and being happy that you can cross over big negetivities and hurdles and you won't even know how easily you did that.

I hope reading this would have been a little beneficial to you and If not, then just forget it like a normal story which came and passed by.

At the end I would like to say something, I told a friend today.
"What at the end matters is, If you gave in your 100%, If you did all you could.
Result at the end never really matters, It's just the feeling that does."

P.S. Don't forget to check out "She was my Girlfriend! Or... I thought so!". A novel by DEV VERMA & PRASHANT SHELKE.
I designed its cover, So, It's a "MUST BUY".
Link: http://www.snapdeal.com/product/she-was-my-girlfriend-or/1337210

Also, Lately I have been working on Graphic Deisgning a bit again.
You can always get updates at my page.
Link:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Akritis-Photography-and-Art-Works/117625978387280?ref=hl

Night in ' Real Streets'

'Yet another day passed in this city roaring for wealth,
Yet another day, A day different from other days but another day.'

Coconut-water hawkers in Hyderabad are very common sight but this wasn't a common one. He was a small kid. Probably as young as my own little brother. At that time he should have been in his home playing with his siblings or studying. Well, I don't even know if he goes to school. He had those sparkling eyes, eyes with some charm and a lot of energy. He was selling coconut-water. I don't know the reason behind him selling coconut water, Maybe he was made to by the circumstances of his house or any other reason.

I couldn't stop my tears then. He was a little boy with little hands but he still had that energy to run to the car and attend his customers. I wish I could do everything for him, take him out of that miserable life. I wanted to help him and I did what I could. I bought a coconut and paid him. I did try to give him an extra few bucks, initially he denied but then he did take when I insisted. He thanked and smiled.

I felt very good, a feeling which is not at all expressible when he thanked with those shiny bright eyes. Yet, that was not enough. I waved to him a 'bye'. That wave wasn't just a wave, that smile to him wasn't just a smile, it was an assurance to him from my side that I am here and I'll be back soon to help him another day.

Life is so different for people like us. But, Do we ever walk out of our illusionary world and look at lives of others and try to help them. Well, Most of us, Don't. We can spend a thousand bucks on food and party, But with these little kids we bargain for even ten bucks. Now, I feel ashamed. Ashamed of the society where I live. Ashamed of the society where the rich is getting richer and poor is getting poorer.

I sincerely wish I could do something for all these minors working on streets to earn a living and Yes, A part of my aim is to help them, to make them feel that they aren't alone and a few people do care for them.
  
May god bless that kid and all such kids on streets.

P.S. We, who are able, 
We, who can help them,
We, who can bring a change.
Let us create a difference, Let this generation be a source of inspiration to the older and newer generations. Let us try to make life of all these under-privileged kids and people a better one.
Let us help them earn their own respect, their own life.
We can make a difference.
We surely can.

The Eternal Cycle: Birth, Life & Death

Was lost and out of track for such a long time & Yes! Breaks are neccessary. Sweets. They make you realize how much you miss things.

So here's after a very long time.

The last semester, towards the end I was frustated, lost, aimless and pissed at my inability towards thoughts. I was wandering through all sorts of lands and fairytales, love and hatred, Ice and fire..Ahh! ask me 'What NOT?'. We had all sorts of assignments in the last sem and I wanted to give a hundred percent to each one of them.

Well, quickly coming to the point there was this part of an assignment which included making three freestyle posters. The problem with me or anyone is, When we're given a topic we tend to keep thinking in one direction and we are ready with out shots but when its freestyle, Our mind runs wild. We have all sorts of ideas in all different direction and I was stuck up so much with the second problem. I keep thinking, thinking, thinking and thinking, but could never really come up with something that would satisfy me. The frustation period started here and I had to call up 'Maa' (My All-time Idea Advisor) and I did she was talking to me about all kinds of things.

Next day I wake up, meditate a little and I feel light ( as suggested by Maa). I go to college all fresh, fresh and suddenly I see a tree which usually is there all the time. I notice many birds live in there. Oh my god! Thats when I have my concept. A beautiful one. 

This is it.
This one.
So, Now I tell you this is basically a series of three posters depicting the BIRTH, LIFE and DEATH. 'We always end at the place where we start from'. I find this saying pretty true now.

I took the tree as my main element in all the posters.
In the first one we, the birds take birth on our tree, In our case, Our land. Birth in itself is nature's most beautiful phenomena. From the birth of a baby rat to baby human. Its a miracle and the colours in it give us a sense of liveliness, happiness and warmth.
In the second one, which is life. We fly high to achieve our goals high above our tree, our own land. This is a very important part of the cycle of life which has both happy and sad times, Warmth and cold, love and hatred. It is a mixture and forms up the true beauty of the series.
The third one is a depiction of Death. We at the end of our journey come back to our tree, the place where we are born and brought up. We want peace then and its our peace. Death is inevitable and a very important stage to complete the eternal life cycle. It is the darkest and saddest part of everyone's life.

Another important part.
These posters when joined together in a cycle make up 'THE ETERNAL LIFE CYCLE : Birth, life and Death'. and the tree too completes itself we when fold the three posters and then join them get a triangle which for me states that the eternal cycle is inside god as god is usually depicted by a triangle. This also makes up my triangle lamp. (Picture below)

This has been one of my most thought-overed projects, I hope you guys like it.