Bikini,Burkha,Beautiful

I have never given a thought on this but it struck me the other day when I was roaming around in the busy streets. The area was crowded with people and a one way lane where pedestrians,autos,cars and cattle all moved together.Its a struggle to survive here in the crowd and I am learning it well so far.So, we finally reached a shop from where my friend had a parcel to collect. As I looked around in that shop I saw that I was surrounded by hundreds of burkhas.They were in varieties...with laces,embroideries,gems studded,heavy work,gorgeuos and some even sexy! Then I noticed the women walking by who wore burkhas and had their faces covered.Wasn't it simply amazing how each woman seemed different from one another in that same attire.Each woman in that crowd of burkha brigade was complete within herself. They were confident and independent.They took their children with them holding their hands in this busy street,fed them,bought them clothes,shopped vegetables and carried heavy bags. They looked beautiful when they lifted their veil to gulp a pani puri or when their soft white hands came out of a sheath to exchange money. I was excited to view this .......phenomenon!
We don't pay attention to these minor details nor have I met many women in burkhas. So,speaking from the notion that all of us bear in mind that women from minority community are backward & illiterate is a biased point of view.The truth is they do not have a choice and we do.
But I believe from now on that every woman in this world has a right to feel she is beautiful; irrespective of what she wears,her weight,vital stats,skin colour,height. A woman clad in a burkha has a right to feel as sexy and beautiful as one wearing a skimpy bikini. Beauty was never meant for others to look, its what it makes you think & feel inside. It doesn't matter that the magazines and TV have branded plastic beauty as 'beautiful'.A tube top isn't what defines a woman.I sincerely respect women who dress for themselves and not for others.
We are the fairer sex and there is a reason why god made us all different and beautiful. Those burkha clad women made me proud to be a woman.They might be suppressed and dominated,but the burkha shop spoke of their hidden rebellion.Their birthright to dress well,look good even in that obligatory black burkha.Its a disgrace that beauty has been misinterpreted all these years.

Mumbai

Mumbai,a city with huge population of about 2 crores is nothing less than a 'being'.It grows every day and has its own bunch of experiences to share. A week in this place and I have already been through numerous ups and downs. It broke me down and now is making me grow as an individual. I learn so much every day that each day seems like a journey. I loathed it...the mess,the crowd,the cheats,the hustle,the struggle,the pain...everything. The reality has sunk in. We come alone, we leave alone. We work hard for ourselves and at the end of the day that is what matters. But now I look around and observe this is what I was waiting for all my life. Battling on my own, independent, free, unbounded, the pleasure of struggling. I learn, I perspire, I smile, I fall,I get up...

PAIN

...and I know how it feels. Deep down the pain of separation tears you apart. Its cruel, its unbearable,its suffocating. You cry only to know it doesn't help. You smile but its never from within. The heart aches and no medicine heals it. The worst is that your words cannot express your pain and you fail to show what you are feeling.