A tryst with nature

Clicked by me at Raja seat- Madikeri . Coorg

The first time I touched the heavy mist drops up on the hill,
it was a tickling sensation with a chill!
I cannot explain the feeling in words.
I felt I was  floating in sky crossing the dense woods!

When the fog cleared with a dash of sunlight,
there was a shower of rain drops, an amazing sight!
There was a flock of birds over the hill on a flight.
I felt like dancing in high spirit and delight!

The lonely benches and the dense fog covering the lamp posts,
rain, grass, every element of nature seemed to be "the hosts"!
Music was made by the flowing river midst of rocks.
Silence ruled with no necessity of talks!

The lush green trees surrounded the two sides of the road.
The whiff of Coffee and Pepper plants  was soothing and made me smile broad!
There was a mysterious pathway deep down the valley.
Each and every sight was inviting either with a rose or a Lilly.

The valley at Rajaseat: Madikeri

Lilly down the valley smelled heavenly

The sight and smell of the flowers and the gentle breeze took me to a different world.
My spirits rose and I could sing a song with ease as the evening started getting cold.
The wet mud smell soothed my nerves and sent me in to the valley of memories.
My head became light with aroma and heavy with nostalgia, increasing my energies! 

There was a gush of water flowing through the gates of the dam.
This eye capturing sight made the mind jam.
I felt like an enthusiastic kid when I traveled in the little tram around the forest.
Chirping birds ,a distant roar and the clear air filled with fragrance of nature surrounding me were the purest!

The smell of the hot tea and samosa brought a great end to the cool day.
It felt like the nature exuding it's beauty through out is about to rest!
The moon and the stars were shining bright in the sky.
They carried all eternal memories with spirit so high.
It was time to leave and I bid farewell to the mother nature with a "sigh"! 

Image souce : here

The above poem describes my heavenly trip to a hill station Coorg, in the Western Ghats of southwestern Karnataka where I savored each and every element of nature! If you are near by, you must and should visit the place.

This post is sumbitted for #InspireAFragrance contest by Indiblogger and Godrejaer

The "Black" magic :)

Black has always been my favorite color. Not sure if it was love at first sight when I saw the dark night's sky dotted with bright stars or when I saw those long Rapunzel like black tresses of my mom in her college pic. I love almost every thing and anything in black. Black phone, Black Tuxedo, Black shades and so on so forth. Black is forever classy and magical. Black does make me look thinner and my wardrobe mostly has black dresses. If I have to list down five things in black which I love the most, it goes like below

1.) Dark night's sky : I can stare at night's sky and dream on. The night sky looks charming with all the dotted stars and moon. Be it a chess board or the vast sky, white and black are the best companions. Recently we had a super moon and I thought some one hanged a huge air balloon on top of a building, looking at the size of the moon .I gazed at the sky with a wide open mouth once I realized it is the super moon and not the  balloon. Funnily I can day dream looking at the night sky and get lost in my thoughts. When I was in school I was lucky enough to witness a total solar eclipse. I always dreamt of  the possibility of being an astronaut but never mustered enough courage to kick start the plan. Sky , clouds, space every thing fascinates me. Shared below is a pic of the sky I clicked last year when Super Moon adorned it.

Super moon clicked by me

Image source : here . The super moon which beautified the earth on 23rd june . Next super moon is on 10th august.

2.) Long tresses : I love beautiful long black tresses. I envy people who have a long silky mane . Even a horse's silky mane looks beautiful. I never grew hair beyond my waist but I am happy with what ever I have. How ever when I see a woman with long jet black hair I gape at her as black beautiful hair feels magical. There are many crazy colors coming in the market to color your hair. Many try hard and get the artificial blonde look but what steals the show is the natural , lustrous black hair. I don't like the artificial glossy and glassy tresses they show in ads which act as mirrors. Hair looks best if it is natural. Black hair looks beautiful when let loose and even as a plait.

Hair is there to play with :) Anything and every thing done on the hair looks bful! Love this bun. Image source : here

3. Black beautiful eyes and the Kohl: Kohl just enhances the beauty of already beautiful eyes. I am addicted to Kaajal , eyeliner and I love applying mascara too some times. With out Kaajal I feel incomplete. When I underwent Lasik surgery, the first thing I asked doctor was , after how many days should I apply Kaajal, to which he smiled broad and said 2 weeks or so . I felt like I came to office with sleepy eyes all those days. Kohl is believed to have medicinal properties. Refer to wiki (Kohl)to know more . Whether or not it has medicinal properties, this is the best cosmetic a girl can use, provided she doesn't have any allergy towards it. Shared below is a pic of beautiful eyes with Kaajal.

A smokey eye Kaajal liner which makes eyes look sharp and dreamy! Image source : here

My eyes on my wedding day :)

4.) Black Cat : "Black cat is not a good omen". We often hear people saying this. They are scary . "Eeww" , " Yeeks" are the usual reactions. I went with the flow and believed the society's norm that a black cat may actually harm us in some way, till I came across a black cat,my in-laws have as a pet. It erased all the stupid beliefs. The black Persian cat they own is given a name Kaajal and is highly adorable. It is actually very cute and pampered a lot. There are white cats too at home who have the names Missy and Mothi, but Kaajal steals the show. It is unique. It looks royal and I started looking at black cats differently after I met Kaajal- the cutie :)

Kaajal and chotu :) - Adorable kittens 

5.) Black Lamborghini : Any electronic product be it a mobile , tablet, laptop and any automobile be it a bike , car or a jeep looks classy and royal  only in black to me. As we are talking about royalty, here I want to mention my dream car. Lamborghini is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and, formerly, SUVs, which is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary brand division Audi. In 1998, Mycom Setdco and V'Power sold Lamborghini to the Volkswagen Group where it was placed under the control of the group's Audi division. (source: wiki.) It is my dream to travel in one black Lamborghini or a Ferrari. When ever I watch any sports car, I get an adrenaline rush. Even if it scares me I would love to travel in a luxurious sports car once.

Image source: here

A black Lamborghini - Image source : here

This color surely does the "Black magic" of the best kind! There are many more things which look best in the black but for now I am stopping at five :) .

This post is a part of #WhatTheBlack activity at BlogAdda.com

The "Asus Zen Time-Travel Phone S014" for the greater good !

On a pleasant winter morning I am under my rug having a deep slumber. The alarm had beeped thrice already and I was too lazy to wake up. The phone started ringing loud which gave a throbbing pain in my head. I held my head with both my hands and with extreme effort opened just one eye to see who is calling. I saw that it was an unknown number and instantly revised all the choicest abuses which I can dump on the caller and feel relieved as he destroyed my sleep. He sure must be some one who will speak in a husky tonne to make me buy a credit card or ask me to opt for an insurance. I checked the time. It is 7 A.M. Saturday

I cursed under the breath, "Who the hell is calling me at this God damn hour on Saturday!"

I spoke in a groggy voice, "Hello. Who is this?"

On the other side of the phone, "Madam Afshan. We are calling from Asus Zen Phone . In a lucky draw you have won our latest remarkable invention Asus Zen Time-Travel Phone S014 . You are the first lucky winner who can use this phone. If you can come tomorrow, we will give a demo of the phone and explain you its features. It can be viewed by every one all over the world on TV."

I rubbed my eyes and pinched my self to make sure that I was not dreaming.

"What! A time traveling phone? How come I have not heard of it till now? " I questioned.

"Because it was a highly confidential project madam. A big surprise is waiting for you tomorrow. Trust us and you and Asus both will be in limelight, " the lady spoke.

Even if I felt it was a phoney call I decided to take a chance and reached the location on time hoping it would be a MTV Bakra episode.

A huge crowd has already gathered there. Too many TV reporters , their vans and journalists were seated and some have already started interviewing Asus employees. The spot light was on me as soon as I stepped on to the dais.

"Myself Ram, manager of Asus branch Bangalore. Heartiest Congrats Afshan on winning the phone. With out much ado let us have the demo first."

Saying so he handed me the magical time traveling phone and explained various steps of time traveling. I can click on the Zen time travel app and enter source and target destinations with exact date time and day. It has one more tab where it gives a drop down of super power to be chosen , if at all I need it. Source should be entered carefully and correctly so that I properly come back to present. For now it doesn't have the feature to travel much in to future. I can still travel 1 year in to the future but not longer than that. I can travel to past where I didn't exist. I can see but I won't be a part of it. I listened to all this as if I was in a dream. I still hoped it to be a joke and some one comes from behind me and shouts, "MTV Bakraaaaaaaaaa," season 10 which is hosted by our very own lovable Cyrus Broacha.

But nothing of that sort happened. In-fact as and when I clicked the app a kind of whirling sound ringed in my ears. After all the instructions were disclosed to me, I entered the source carefully. I thought a lot to enter the target and then as if I am in a trans, gave the date when I was in seventh standard and I wrote a letter to one of my very good friends which was followed by a massive friend ship break up. I never bothered to hear her side of the story even after her endless trials. I thought I should try to mend the episode and avoid the heart breaks which followed. I found my self standing at our gossip adda, the bi-cycle stand. She hesitantly walked towards me. I must have had a bewildered look pasted on my face. 

She spoke to me, "Err. Can we talk Afshan? I need to explain to you."

This time I killed my ego and managed to say, "Yep. Go ahead."

She explained her side of story and the bitterness in me decreased. I was happy that the influence of third party was not that strong right now, I mean right then :) . I smiled by the end of the conversation and we went to canteen to have our favorite sweet paapad and ice candy. In a jiffy I traveled back to present, feeling a lot better. 

Every one was whistling and clapping. It was like I apparated in to thin air just like Harry Potter and re-appeared again. It was magical. I waited till the havoc subsided and spoke, " I am truly amazed. This is a fantastic invention. How do you do this?"

Ram: " Unfortunately we cannot reveal it Ma'm. It is our top trade secret. How ever we have a huge user manual which has a long list of do's and don'ts . We kindly inform you to read it thoroughly. You can go to any time zone you want to but your safety is in your own hands. You have a super power to choose to but Asus is not responsible if you enter a risky time zone and face any danger."

I shuddered at what he spoke. He continued, "But you do have an emergency exit button . You should grab your phone asap and click on the red button , where it is written "take me to the source destination". In seconds you can come back to present. Want to try a different location Afshan?" he questioned.

I tried many time zones. I traveled to Mughal Era to see how Akbar ruled. I was charmed. I traveled to 1930s to witness Gandhiji and his honesty and all the freedom fighters. I traveled to my mom dad's years of childhood and I can't explain how I felt. I was thrilled , sad and excited . Of course when ever I traveled to a timezone where I didn't exist I was just a viewer there. They can't see me and I can't change whatever happened in that era. After few interviews with ASUS folks , a grand lunch and a celebration I left that place.

I came back home, still not able to believe the super-smart phone I am holding. After having a bath I settled down on my sofa and wondered why I won the first unique phone by Asus of all the people. I switched on the TV. I was there on all the channels. I became a celebrity overnight. I thought to myself, if I deserved all this attention. I wondered if I could use super powers and alter some disasters. I wondered if I could save lives. I was all charged up.

I opened the time travel app and entered source and with my heart racing  entered the target as Dec 16 , 2012 , Munirka South Delhi , the spot where Nirbhaya was picked up in a private bus and few demons gang raped her. I selected the super power as wonder woman. I was there in the flash of a second or may be nano second. The lechers laughed at the prospect of having two women in the bus. As soon as they started harassing Nirbhaya and her friend I pounced on them and punched them hard in the face. I used my indestructible bracelets, and blasted them . They obviously could not over power me and as they were severely injured they couldn't hurt Nirbhaya. I beat the driver to death and made him stop the bus . I called police using my Asus phone. I tied them all with my Lasso of Truth and they agreed in front of the police that they committed crime. In no time they were behind the bars. Even before the victims in the bus thanked me properly I was back to the present. I was extremely delighted. Whatever happened was still like a dream to me. To believe what I just did I browsed internet and checked the news for December 16th 2012. I was all over the news. It was magical .  " I can change the world for greater good." I thought to myself. I instantly made a mental note of places I need to visit in past and the nearing future.

I time traveled to the VIBGYOR school in Bangalore and beat the men who were about to rape a 6 year old kid. I turned to Hulk and smashed them with out any delay. I traveled to Guwahati  and broke the limbs of the goons who molested a teen girl and gave my piece of my mind to every one who was watching the drama by scaring the shit out of them.

Image source : here

I traveled to many other places where a crime or disaster happened or is about to happen and tried to curb it as much as possible. My daily routine started with office , reading news and traveling to as many places as possible in my attempts to eradicate heinous crimes. People looked up to me. Some treated me as a Goddess! I became invincible. I got the real zen like feeling.

I am a super heroine.That feeling made me happy and sad as well. I valued my existence. I started a website where people can lodge their complaints and I mostly try and close them. My enemies increased. I was on the hit list of many mobs and gangsters. I would be killed in no time if I lost my phone. I wondered at the prospects of starting a team just like in marvel comic books! The phone should not fall in the wrong hands. ASUS team should make sure that it reaches people who actually want to do some thing good which no others can do. I should take an immediate action and see that the time traveling phone is not misused. May be we can form an ASUS TEAM.

A - Adventurous

S- Smart

U - Ubiquitous

S- Super Heroe(in)s

I loved the idea. "Now I shouldn't be late in implementing this. " My head was buzzing with too many thoughts when my phone rang in full volume. I tried to lift the phone but I was not able to do so. "Was I in a different time zone ? " I questioned to myself. Then I heard a shrill voice. It sounded like my mother. I rubbed my eyes. I saw that I woke up from my deep slumber and was holding my Asus phone on which a reminder to carry some important documents was ringing in full volume from long. I woke up extremely disappointed. 

My mom : "Afshu , you said you have some important client meeting today. Don't you want to get ready?"

Me:  "Yes Mom. What else will I do in this life ?" I replied with out hiding my feelings.

Mom : "What happened lady? Early in the morning you are getting philosophical?," she inquired.

I said nothing and brushed my teeth , wore  a good dress as we had a client meeting. Had my toast, eggs and coffee. Opened the main sheet of the newspaper hoping to read some good head lines, but came across the news ->MH17 shot down by Ukraine rebels using a Russian supplied missile, claims US :  and Israel war updates. How I wish my dream came true ? How I wish I really had a super power which can curb the unrest in the world ?  How I wish I could time travel ? With these thoughts racing in my mind I started for office to spend another mundane day , only to share FB updates/ statuses and sign online petitions to protest against the crimes.

I have always marveled at the marvel comics and the super powers our super heroe(in)s possess. They can save the nation, mostly the USA from calamities and they always come out with flying colors. I mean they literally fly in those vibrant colors and amuse all of us. This post is just a crazy twist to my train of thoughts when I started thinking on what if we have similar super powers in a phone ?  Like a wonder woman, spider man, like all other avengers in marvel comics , it would be so cool to possess one or the other super power and rule the world. There are various super powers which are coming to my mind like flying , disappearing, possessing a weapon which can destroy the ones who should be destroyed. Of all the super powers I am really enchanted by the concept of time traveling, may be it is due to some time traveling movies I recently watched. If I possess an Asus Zen Phone using which I can time travel I would love to do so many things in so many time zones. The phone should act as a crystal ball and help me in divination as well. Explained above are just hypothetical scenarios of what I would do! Let us wait for some super hero/ heroine who can save the world. Till then let us do our bit by doing what we can to change life  from bitter to better.

This short fictional entry is written for the contest #INCREDIBLEZEN (Do What Others can't do) by indiblogger.in and  ASUS ZEN FONE