My First Book - 'Pages of Life'

My first book: an anthology of poems entitled 'Pages of Life' will be out very soon, it is under publication. This book has been a dream for me. It is for the readers to judge whether the poems were worth publication or not but I cherished that dream for long and now I'm happy to see it come true.

How wonderful it is to see your dreams come true!!!  :)

P.S. The picture here is the title of the book and the photo is  my original, that is, my photography.....so don't you dare copy it ... LOL

Women's Day

"We are cute daughters, sweet sisters, lovely lovers, darling wives, adorable mothers.

We are a source of strength. We are Women."

A very happy Women's Day to all the women around!

Pic Src: Girl Child

On Women's Day today, a news making it to the front page of the Ludhiana supplement of 'The Tribune' made my head hang in shame: Baby girl left to die in beehive

Shouldn't we all be ashamed for this? As a part of the society, we all are at fault. Each one of us is just as guilty. Society is not something that exists in absentia. We all make up this society but when it comes to blaming for the wrongs, we most casually blame it on society, as if that is some alien thing. Folks, it is high time, we tidied ourselves up and become civilized in the true sense of the term.

As a tribute to the girl child, I would like to share one of my poems, 'Female Foeticide':

A spark of life

about to die,

a cry that’s unheard –

and the unmindful

that looks on!

Mother’s womb is just

cradle turned into grave,

where death comes with life,

where lively lives are laid to rest.

A cry piercing the walls –

the walls of separation,

reaches out;

but oh! falls on deaf ears.

“Let me breathe, oh,

let me live!

They say like mother, like daughter;

O Mother!

Your own fleshes don’t slaughter.

Give me lungful of fresh air,

let me, O, let me enjoy

life’s little pleasure,

let me enjoy the high flight,

the flight of my dreams;

please don’t pity,

don’t pity my poor plight.

Give me wings to fly

the taste of success

even if want to try.

Mother, I am your part

please don’t set me apart.

Think of your childhood:

your mother’s lap

and your father’s pat

your brother’s care

and a family fair.

Don’t deprive me of

the joys of infancy,

exuberance of childhood,

the teenager’s fancy, and the

satisfaction of motherhood.”

The very word ‘motherhood’

rings a bell,

she thinks of her mother –

her poor helpless mother

her piercing pain,

the heart-rending torture.

And she forgets all,

her own self;

the pain vanishes

the flowers dry away

her dreams lose colour

the shadows don’t haunt her

on her face spread palour.

Mother’s face fills her sight

tears lurking in mother’s eyes

while pain stood staring at her.

© Amritbir Kaur
(just to suggest that please don't copy!!!)

The Touch of God

Pic src: Nature

Have you ever felt like you had the best conversation with your friend even when silent? Did it ever happen that when you had lost all hope, suddenly you spotted a streak of light entering your life? Did you ever receive help when in dire need from the most unexpected quarters? Were you ever witness to the most eloquent silence of someone close to you? Did you ever experience a heavenly feeling when having a cup of steaming hot coffee sitting in your verandah with rain pouring? Have you ever felt the beautiful smiles the flowers shower upon you whenever you pass by?

All these are life’s nothings but in the real sense they are life’s everything, the life’s real essence. Just imagine your life without even one of such that you experienced. Your life would be much less magical. These are all small miracles of life that endear us to our life and make it all the more worth living. They are the moments when we feel the touch of God. The moments, no matter how small and short-lived, are cherished forever as the most precious ones. It is said that we cannot blindly follow the dictates of our heart but another fact is also equally true that it is the heart with all its emotions and feelings that makes our life so ‘full of life’.

'Without You' - a poem

Pic src : Lonely

I was alone when with you

And lonely without you,

No matter how I comfort myself

I’ll be incomplete without you.

This world where I live

Is so scarry without you,

I can’t smile to my self

And say “I am ok without you.”

My heart humbly asks “What happened?”

“Nothing” I say thinking of you,

The heart’s reply, “I’m shattered with your nothing!”

And I don’t know how to go on without you.

© Amritbir Kaur
(just to suggest that please don't copy!!!)

The Height of Optimism

Pic src:Life is Beautiful

Yesterday evening, I suddenly heard myself singing, “Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance I wanna grow up once again” (courtesy: a song from ‘3 Idiots’). That set my mind thinking. I travelled back to my childhood days of sheer innocence and pure bliss - the time when the only thing broken was toys and the only thing that hurt were skinned knees. I stayed in the cozy comfort of my home for two and half years, and then went to a nursery school for one year. By the time I was three and a half I was in school. But now I had a chance to grow up again. So school would be a bit different now! Having got an opportunity to live all over again, I polish, mould and prune myself according to my new-found dreams. In my mind I start growing up once again. It was indeed a very charming thing to do. But a big question was: How do I change my life for the better?

A simply answer would have been: By erasing bitter memories, unwanted experiences and also by undoing the unexpected turn of events. So in my mind I jotted down a list of all those moments. Then reliving all those one by one I had a strange feeling. I tried to imagine my life without all those painful episodes. But I couldn’t … strange!!! I was shocked at myself for this! I should have been the happiest person but I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t bring myself to accept a smooth life without any heart-rending ordeal. So no matter how much I complained till date, I had realized that each and every experience had some relevance. I had heard others tell me this, but their words were not been as convincing as has been my own thought process. Safely I can now conclude that I don’t want to change my life. I am happy with myself, with what I have and with what I am. Now I no longer want a ‘Redo’ or ‘Undo’ button in my life!

Hitherto I knew myself as an optimistic person. But now this was the height of optimism!(at least that's how I put it!). I would cherish all the memories with no bitter after-taste. I don’t want to change anything because I don’t want to forget anything. After all, that is the wealth of life…

© Amritbir Kaur

'A Search' - poem

Pic Src: Search

When there was darkness all around,

when the black sky did surround,

when every hope of light was drowned,

where were you all the time?

When nobody was there to lend a shoulder,

when tears too did smoulder,

when no one was to be the candle-holder,

where were you all the time?

When by words was the heart broken,

when nobody else could offer a love token,

when all made me lonely and forsaken,

where were you all the time?

Probably You were within me,

guiding and protecting me:

through the tough times You carried me

that no one else could have done for me.

© Amritbir Kaur

Faith, Prayer and Miracles

Original pic src:Running

Poster created by: Amritbir Kaur

“Life never leaves you empty. It always replaces everything you lose. If it asks you to put something down it is because it wants you to pick up something great.”

Indeed, it is this belief in God that would keep us going in life. This faith provides us the confidence and we move ahead with hope. This thinking is reflected in Browning’s optimism:

“God’s in his Heaven

And all’s well with the world.”

The unshakeable faith helps us to maintain the rhythm in the journey of life. Miracles do happen. If things are taking time to straighten up, then have patience. Because masterpieces take a greater time in being produced! After all, is the last laugh that matters…no matter who wins faith will always be victorious.

Remember ‘God is at work somewhere for you’. Even if we cannot see Him, He makes us feel His presence at times.

Who says prayers are not answered! It might take a while; remember there is light at the end of the tunnel. God answers your prayers in three ways:

God says YES and gives you the something good.

God says NO and gives you something better.

God says WAIT and gives you the best.

So it is just a matter of faith. We as human beings falter easily sometimes. But sooner or later we realize that how wrong we were in doubting the concept of divine justice. Whenever you face testing times remember you are being prepared for a nice surprise. And when you reach a point where you feel you can no longer hold on, stay put; because it is at such vulnerable points that there is a change and our life is never ever the same again… REMEMBER KEEP GOING NO MATTER WHAT…

'3 Idiots' and Indian Education System

Watching ‘3 Idiots’ was a wonderful experience. And that too on the last day of the dying year…a perfect adieu!

Often we relish the flavour or the feeling that is left behind. So I’ll begin with what the film left behind – it was a sense of satisfaction, a feeling that at last justice has been done. Creative and innovative thinking was victorious, even after having signed the declaration of defeat. Even in life, it is only the winner in the true sense of the term who can accept defeat so easily because there is no ego involved.

Overall, the film is a satire on the Indian educations system, where within the first few minutes after the birth of a child is decided that the child would be an engineer as is done in the case of Farhan (R. Madhavan) in the film. The film has some very meaningful messages to convey.

• Don’t aim to be successful. Be a good engineer (can be applied to any profession) and success will automatically follow you.

• Fear is not good for grades.

• Choose the profession and course for which you are passionate.

• Don’t be a machine. Rancho (Aamir Khan) in the film is someone who is passionate about machines but he is the only student in the college who is not a machine.

• Rancho has the courage to give wings to his dreams and imagination, yet he doesn’t forget to help others realize their dreams – making both Farhan and Raju (played by Sharman Joshi) follow their hearts. He also devoted time to make Joy Lobo’s model of plane fly.

• The measure of success that was to be done on the fixed date (September 5) is mistakenly understood to be the wealth, palatial house etc. by the character teasingly called as ‘silencer’ his classmates.

• Only bookish knowledge cannot be the mantra of success. Like we say, ‘home is where heart is’, similarly, we can succeed in that profession into which we put in our heart and soul.

The situation of ‘I QUIT’ comes only when the real talent goes waste, when it is lost somewhere in the crowd of people crying hoarse for better grades.

We have to fool our heart and say ‘All izz Well’. Of course, very rightly mentioned in the film, this does not solve the problem but definitely gives us the hope and courage to face the storms of life.

The moments from the film which I cherish the most are: the concept of astronaut’s pen, the interview given by Raju towards the end of the film, the success of Rancho as a great scientist at the end (glad that creativity got the much deserving success)… all these and many more moments from the film make it a cherishable experience even after I have watched it; and my heart cries out:

“Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again!”

In the end, I would like to say that the film is a must watch by all students, parents and teachers of course.

This review was published on MSN '3 Idiots' is a must watch for everyone
Some of the views of the readers on MSN are as under:

Raj - Visakapatnam on 1/1/2010 5:41:47 PM
I felt the same as ms.A.Kaur did.Point to point.As said its a must watch film.and no doubt is the best film of the year.

KP - chennai on 1/1/2010 8:58:51 PM
beautifully written.makes me want to see the film

Ravi Kumar - Bangalore on 1/1/2010 10:47:39 PM
I completely agree... Its an awesome movie ! MUST WATCH for all !

Ricky - London on 1/3/2010 1:04:45 AM
Good Post.. By the way, that Astronaut's pen sequence is kind of made up to portray Rancho as a cool and clever thinker. Fact is when they Astronaut's began to fly they used pencils, but the often leads broke and became hazardous by floating in the atmosphere where there was no gravity. Leads could float into an eye/nose or cause a short in a electrical device. Also, both the leads and wood could burn rapidly in the pure O2 atmosphere (Apollo 1 fire). To fix those problems they invented that pen.

Farooq Hussain - Qatar on 1/3/2010 4:22:07 PM
GR8 View def u would be like Rancho in ur life. Aal is well.

PRASHANT B.GADKARI - MUMBAI on 1/3/2010 8:11:51 PM
ITS MASTER PIECE, AND MAKE CHANGE U R LIFE SO WORTH TO WATCH,SO WHO WANT TO CHANGE OUR LIFE SO GO AND WATCH

I still believe

I fall upon the thorns of life

belittled, I bleed,

but life has roses somewhere

I still believe.

No matter how dark and dreary

the tunnel of life seems

there’s light at the end

I still believe.

What if the roads don’t lead anywhere?

What if I see a dead end ahead?

Life’s a journey ongoing

I still believe.

Doesn’t matter if someone’s bad

doesn’t matter if he punches you hard,

the world is essentially good

I still believe.

© Amritbir Kaur

An Honest Confession

img src:Photobucket

Nobody says a word,

voices are hushed

my dreams subdued.

I made a mute appeal

to vent the tongueless grief;

and then…

the barriers broken,

silence speaks out

when the words refused:

it’s the heart that listens.

Dreams don’t die then,

they come back to me

with a rejuvenating strength.

Waters flow down the dried stream

and I begin to sail along…

© Amritbir Kaur

The Absence

Img. source: Deviant Art

My hands are full
but not a speck carried,
I have lost being the winner
I am an innocent sinner.
This world that I have –
it’s something so strange,
something so familiar yet
miles apart…
there’s nothing I can change,
nothing, nothing…

© Amritbir Kaur

'What if...' - poem

What if I can’t cry
when heart is heavy,
I still can wipe a tear
with my laughing eyes.

What if I can’t fly
even if heart wishes to,
I still can soar high
with daring dreams.

What if words fail me
when it is most important,
I still can surely make
my silence expressive.

What if I can’t have
what I wish to,
I still can achieve
what I aspire to.

© Amritbir Kaur

'Detachment' - a poem

picture source: Clubsnap.com

The tree standing tall

near the river bed,

but never ever got a drop

the yellow never turned red.

The wait was eternal

longer than life itself;

there came thousand springs

but soul couldn’t reveal the self.

The leaves were buried

the twigs swept away:

grayed leaves dying underneath

and the river slid silently away.

© Amritbir Kaur