माहितीये! आम्ही पाहिलं ना टीव्ही वर…

सगळं लाइव्ह दाखवण्याऱ्या आजच्या मिडीयाने आपल्या आयुष्यातला एक छान आनंद हिरावून घेतलाय… तो म्हणजे किस्से सांगण्याचा!

जेव्हा टीव्ही नव्हता तेव्हा वारीला जाऊन आलेली माणसं त्यांच्या अनुभवाचं वर्णन किती रंगवून रंगवून करत असतील. त्यात प्रत्येकाचे अनुभव वेगळे, त्याकडे पाहण्याची प्रत्येकाची दृष्टी वेगळी त्यामुळे प्रत्येकाची वारी वेगळी… आता कोणी सांगायला लागलं तर? लोक म्हणतील, "माहितीये! आम्ही पाहिलं ना टीव्ही वर…"

तीच कथा बिबट्या किंवा कोल्हा पाहिलेल्या माणसाची… बिबट्या किती जोरात पळाला हे जर कोणी सांगायला लागलं तर आयुष्यात कुत्रा सुद्धा जवळून न पाहिलेला माणूस तज्ञाच्या थाटात त्याला सांगू शकतो की "माहितीये! आम्ही पाहिलं ना टीव्ही वर!"

आणि अशीच गोष्ट पावसामुळे अडकून पडलेल्या माणसाची, काजव्यांनी भरलेली दरी पाहिलेल्या माणसाची, अपघात घडतांना पाहिलेल्या माणसाची आणि समुद्रात अचानक उंच उंच लाटा आल्या तेव्हाच चुकून मरीन ड्राईव्ह वर असणाऱ्या माणसाची…

बातमी सांगण्याला काहीच आक्षेप नाही. पण हल्ली बातमी सांगणारे त्याचा किस्सा करून सगळ्या जगाला सांगून टाकतात. मग आयुष्यात कधीतरीच असा भन्नाट अनुभव येणाऱ्या माणसांनी कुठे जायचं बरं???

Cloud of Creativity

It just occurred to me that it must be extremely difficult to paint something that is truly abstract. I mean, how do you visualize something that doesn't exist? Is the process similar to writing? Or similar to invention?
Even in writing it is very difficult to write in a non structured way. It is like trying to drown when you know the art of swimming. It is impossible. Doing something, anything out of structure is so very difficult. I always knew it in writing. But it is for the first time that I am appreciating the beauty of it in a painting.
Where does it come from? Or for that matter, where did this realization come from? Does everything come from the same place? If yes, is that 'some' place inside my mind? Or is it outside somewhere? The "Cloud of Creativity"???

Why are there no girls on the grounds???

I know it is not very easy to confront issues that need a lot of thinking.... I also know that many people avoid discussions just because their brains are too lazy to do that exercise. But what I don't know so far and can not understand is why do people tend to avoid issues that are so blunt that they are literally staring in their faces?
Let me tell you about one such issue... This is one issue about which I have tried to discuss with many friends with very little response and that too with minuscule enthusiasm... And the issue is such that I really can't not look at it. I see a lot of photographs and videos like everybody does. Many on them have children playing on the ground. These videos are rural as well as urban. But there is one thing common in them. They only show 'boys' playing on the ground.

There are boys playing cricket.
There are boys flying kites.
There are boys swimming.
There are boys running just for the fun of it.
There are boys playing football.
There are boys doing N number of things...

But there are no girls.
I have hardly ever seen a photo or a video where there are girls playing freely on the ground. And in all the travel I have done so far, I have hardly ever seen adolescent girls playing on the ground just like that. And the least I can say is that the number of girls found playing on the ground against boys is pathetic.
My question is, why is it so? Why are there no girls on the ground? What or who is responsible for it?
Do the girls don't feel like playing? Is that really possible? Or is the social pressure so strong that the thought of playing doesn't even cross their minds? Is it fair that the girls never get a chance of being fit? Or of experiencing the joy of playing? Or of knowing how it feels to run so much that you are out of your breath?
How would these girls know there are more beautiful things in life that shiny clothes? How would they know there are more beautiful feelings than being useful? How would they ever have the deeper understanding of life?
And the most important question... Why doesn't anybody feel that this issue needs to be taken up?