Living Diagonally In My Parallel World!

Parenting is a role that has to be learnt on the job using the experiences we had as a child. While we tend to “teach” values to our children, we also “learn” a lot from them. As a parent we impart and encourage our children to imbibe culture by sharing stories, traditions, experiences, and rituals that connect them to their roots, making heritage a living experience. We teach humility through example—by showing grace in success and dignity in failure. We nurture ambition in them by encouraging curiosity, setting goals, and celebrating effort over outcome. Humanity grows in the child when we, the parent model empathy, kindness, and service to others. We instill in them the values of decency through our everyday actions—speaking truthfully, treating others with respect, and standing up for what’s right even when no one is watching. The following lines bring out these emotions. From A Parent To Child As the world endures beneath our willing feet, Here we stand in purpose bold and sweet...

 Few days ago, I was hearing a conversation on the table next to mine in the office cafeteria. They were a noisy bunch of Gen Z’s. What caught my attention was their use of the term 'depressed'. They were actually using it to express the word “difficulty”. While talking about the load of assignment in their project a girl said,   'What is this? So much work!? It’s depressing!" 'Depression', I'm depressed'. They repeated it so very often. But in that group was another girl telling her to stop saying it because she's invalidating people who actually suffer from depression. This is not an "only" example. We do see a lot of them. They just use this word to express “sadness” or “difficulty”. This is actually making life difficult for people who actually suffer from Medical Depressive Disorder (MDD). They get invalidated so hard because people now use it as a term that just signifies sadness. When they hear 'depression' the thing tha...

पराधीन आहे जगतीं पुत्र मानवाचा People generally look at Ramayan from a religious point of view. I view Ramayan from a different perspective. Its about human tragedies of epic proportions. Its about the hardships a mature human endures.   This song is Ram's way of consoling and counselling his step brother who is angry at the craftiness of his own mother. He seeks forgivenes and asks Ram to return to Ayodhya and and not proceed to 14 years of exile. Every stanza of this long ten stanza song, brings forth a different truth (some may call it philosophy) of life. Like the first says "None to be blamed, all happens as a result of our past deeds and misdeeds". Yet another stanza says birth and death are those realities of life that no one can avoid. The next says "Death is the eternal truth ... all logic stops its door step". Its about a rightful heir to the throne having to leave the kingdom and make way for his youngest step brother to be the king. This is a forc...

The Burning Train Title Music Here’s a quiz. How many title tracks of Hindi movies do you remember? Sholay? Shaan? Saagar? All were created by to RD Burman. He had this knack for creating outstanding title music that is remembered even after so many years. The title tracks of Sholay, Shaan, Saagar and The Great Gambler are regularly spoken about. The title track of “ The Burning Train ” belongs to this category. I distinctly remember the reviews of the movie in 1979 had as usual trashed RD’s music especially the title track. Sholay too had to face the same fate. The simpletons who wrote those reviews failed to understand that RD had fantastically incorporated Jazz successfully in a Hindi film. RD’s sang the vocals in falsetto with Annette. The awesomeness and richness of his sounds were such that in September 2014, BBC’s Classic 100 piece Philharmonic Orchestra decided to include this song in their show that was forecast LIVE on 12 global networks. The main sounds in the s...

I had first published this blog on 27th March 2017. Since then some songs were taken down on YT. Now re-updating links in October 2025.     One song inspires many more This is a heartfelt reflection on the ripple effect of creativity. I have tried to explore, how a single song — its melody, mood, and meaning — can spark a cascade of poetic responses, each one echoing and transforming the original in deeply personal ways. This post celebrates the power of artistic dialogue, showing how inspiration flows across languages, cultures, and emotional landscapes. It’s a beautiful meditation on how one tune can awaken many others.   The notes of one song  Thadi Hawayein Lehra Ke Aaye from “ Naujawan  created in 1951 were tweaked by various music composers to create their own version of the original song. Except for the Tamil version (which is similar note by note) others are “different” as they have been tweaked. They retain the original melody but are distinct in...