WE HAVE MOVED

DEAR ALL,
WE WOULD LIKE TO INFORM YOU THAT WE HAVE MOVED TO www.aliveandkickin.wordpress.com
WE THE BLOGBHOOTS WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR VISIT AND COMMENTS.
THANKS AND REGARDS
BLOGBHOOTS

Happy New year 2007

Wow!!! 2006 What a year!!!! Its been soooo awesome and I don’t know where to start. To recap in jus a few words is impossible, but I will make an effort to do so.

So what made 2006 such a awesome year? Everything….every single awesome thing. From the miniature moments of happiness to the tears to hellos and goodbyes. It was the fights and the misunderstandings, it was the jokes and the laughter, it was the coffee and the noodles.

It was the college life:
It was the sharing the salary booty with loved ones. It was the “I am so broke man” of student life. It was ‘’zero balance’’ for 11 out of 12 months of the year. It was the transfer of and request of (well more or less the demanding of) NTC phone recharge from friends who were equally broke. It was walking home with jelly feet coz you hadn’t eaten the whole day. It was walking home coz you were too broke to climb the cheapest available transport and the only thing you wanted to do was cry, isn’t it MizBold? And yet we shared our booty and our phone recharge. And we swapped pennies. And we shared lunches and complained and lived on.

It was the flippin words: yeah that’s right. The development of sinister vocabulary that was as close to code tongue as we could get. There was the ‘’flippin’’, ‘’floppin’’ and what was it ‘’fluppin’’? There was the ‘’arse olds’’. There was the ‘’vulgarian’’ and ‘’vulgaria’’. There was the “meet” and the ‘’productivity’’. And lots more.

There was the list drawn up as to what exactly we will be (as per our teachers from first year till today): We will be “development walas”, and Community development workers, development advisors, development practitioners, development economist, conservationists, human resource managers, peace builders, leaders, professional mediators, professional negotiators, social workers…..and you name it, we’ll be it!!

There was the “I wanna hug you” and the “I wanna kick you”, the intellectual talks and the side talks. There was the rolling of eyeballs and the rolling on of long loooong boring classes.

But most importantly there was the laughter and there was the love. The growth of friendships and self discovery. We saw ourselves in each other and we discovered new persons in people we’ve known for months. We’ve discovered new potential in ourselves and supported the potential in each other. We’ve competed and let others win. We’ve understood.

It must have been the love:
The defense and offence of protective love. The unconditional love, the newly found love. The love for strangers. The love for family and friends. The merger and the diffusion of love. The sharing and the retaining of love. The protection and the letting go of love. The love to need, and the need to love. The selfless love and the selfish love. The love the one found within oneself and the love for oneself one found in others. The love to keep to oneself, and the love to let free. Thank you for the love.

It must have been the tears:
Motherly tears, paternal tears. Tears of anxiety. Tears of strength. Tears of utter hurt and dire possibility of letting go. Tears of leaving and being left behind. Tears of inspiration. Tears of tiredness and stress. Tears of losing oneself in the process of living life.

It must have been the inspiration:
The “Yeah man I’m gonna do that too”. The “Lets do it!!” and the “Garnayneee!” The transitional justice class, the talk of a youth parliament, the possibility of improving lives of people one has never met, the human rights tosh and the post conflict rebuilding chitchat. The youth social forums and the power packed good governance hand outs.

It was the fusion:
It was all of the above in its individual retrospect and in the mosaic of intertwining the functioning’s of each other. The sadness and the happiness hand in hand that made this year so splendid for many of us. And it is our hope that the next year that shall arrive to override this one and make us older wiser humans shall be all of the goodness and strength of this year’s and more.

I hope that it will make someone of all of us. I know wishing for world peace has become stale….but here’s wishing each of our contribution in making space for the betterment of a life, ours or others a more easier one to live through.

Here’s wishing that you smile and laugh manifold and that every tear you cry make you stronger and may it be worth it.

Here’s wishing you manifold happiness and incase sorrow passes your way, believe that it’s a blessing in disguise. Because everything has a reason, and that reason will make you more sensible.

Here’s wishing you confusion that shall help you find answers to life’s questions. And hurt that shall help you heal. And happiness that shall let you share. And hugs that will melt your pains. Here’s wishing you strength. And best of all love that shall come your way infinitely that shall let you give infinitely.

Most of all here’s wishing you the BEST YEAR YET!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!!

WITH LOVE

HAYAH

Paradox of Love

Was having a conversation with a friend lately…when she suddenly said….

“The paradox of love”

“What??” I asked her.

“Its true isn’t it? Unconditional love is loving someone with the no hope of getting love back…in unconditional love you don’t expect anything” she said. “If love does come back your way, then you are just the lucky one.”

I thought about it for a sec. “What sorta unconditional love are you talking about? The blood relation?” I asked her.

“No” she said. “A blood relation, like a mother or father towards her/his children will always be unconditional. It’s when you have a choice that I’m talking about” she said.
“In our case, when we love a man, we can choose to love unconditionally, fairly or selfishly.” …she moved on to say… “I wouldn’t love any man who doesn’t love me back, and I’ll always check his love- not with what he says, practically every man has a truck load of words, but at what he does.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her

“You know, the small romantic stuff he does, like flowers, letters, long emails, poems, songs, calls, when he takes time to do such special things…ill know he thinks I’m worth it. Every woman wants to feel like she’s worth it”

She then asked me “what do you think?”

“I don’t know” I said. “Sometimes words are enough…a simple “I miss you” seems enough…..poems, songs, letters…everyone loves them, but sometimes, words are all someone has to take one’s heart away…right?”

She smiled at me. Unconvinced. She said “Listen girl. I give but I don’t get. Does that mean I stop giving? Ya!! Tit for tat. You need to teach men how to be romantic. Well actually some men were born sweet. But most men, they give and give and give while they date, flowers and dinners and letters. But at some point it stops. They get bored, take their woman for granted. Why should it stop I say? Even in my old age I would still write my old man a letter and want a reply back, I’d pick him a flower and sing him a song. And would love for him to do the same. Wouldn’t you?”

“Erm…yeah I hope so.” I said. “But still, “romantic” is relative. Sometimes an sms is romantic enough. At most times a memory is enough na? Maybe a flower or a letter or a song should be for special occasions only, why everyday or without occasion? People are just plain busy. I know some women who love to do stuff for their man, but don’t expect him to do the same, and they are happy. Not all women are demanding of much love, low profile will do for many.”

“So you’re saying that romantic moments should occur on occasion? Fine then. Why not only love on occasion, why love someone everyday? Every miniute, every sec? Everyone is just plain busy right? Why waste our time loving? Love is cheaper and less hurtful if you love on occasion right? And women who give and give will one day realize that its not worth it. Every woman would love a small gesture of love everyday, something special. Women need to make themselves feel worth, but being worth it and not settling for second best. And men need to realize that women have feelings too. And can be crushed if the loving is less than the very best.”

I am befuddled, but I think I’m right.

I put this question to the readers…what do you think?

The type up was as close to the convo as I can remember. She is one hell ova debater. The woman who will fight for love, provided her love will fight for it too. I know she’s not a believer in sacrifice. But as a woman, I think sacrifice is sorta inevitable in our instance na? Somewhere down the line all women make more sacrifices than men in love. We compromise more. I know, being a gender student this is theoretically the wrong thing to say, but still, being a member in society its true in many many most instances. So tell us what you think. MizBold, Radiance, Hayah…have your say too!

Anonymous

Pokhara poetry

Hey all,

Back again in KTM. The Pokhara trip has been a delight. And we are in the process of documenting all the delightful bits and pieces…so do bear patience for good read. I couldn’t help write a poem thou, reminiscence brought back inspiration. Yeah I write poetry sometimes, but I haven’t in a long time….so I might be a little out of touch. Whatever said and done, this is a poem I thought wanted to say what I had to say in limited time and words….so here goes….this one is dedicated to my one and only…..

WITH LOVE FROM POKHARA-

Early morning chill brushes one’s skin,
One longs for warmth a quilt can bring,
But the day outside,
Draws you to,
The quite rising of drops of dew

On mountain ranges blessed with ice,
The slant of light,
caresses gently warmth on white,
And golden fumes vaporize

On lakes as quite and as deep,
As Fewa rising from its sleep,
So vast, so still, so shimmering,
Who knew trouble brew just beneath

Coffee on the table top,
Giggling voices that could not stop,
The warmth of liquid,
Warmth of skin,
Warmth of feeling of belonging

The nights stirred sweet romance,
Gentle lights in song and dance,
Rustic hues and earthly shades,
I longed for you to serenade

Drops of fire, wood and coal,
Voices sang love songs of old,
I missed you most when past twilight,
They sang of departing love on a lonely night

Back again in kathmandu,
Back to busy days and nights so blue,
I had longed for an escapade so true,
So close to nature’s loving hues,

But mostly I long….
Still long….
For You.

Yours truly,
Hayah

OUT OF TOWN

Hey everyone,
We the blogbhoots will be our of town from 10th Nov, till 14th Nov, so please forgive us for not posting these few days. we're on a college field visit to Pokhara and Lumle.

for a few days please check out one of our friends blogs, her name is Zaded..

www.zade.wordpress.com

urs truly
Blogbhoots

A cup of Coffee and a Thousand Possibilities

RADIANCE-

A day before yesterday three of us decided to finally have a coffee together. It was on the roof top canteen of our college. Our canteen these days has been a nice place to hang out. It serves good variety of food and so we enjoy being there ...basking in the sun.

MizBold started the conversation asking Hayah why is it that people express their emotions through touch, why it moves from a handshake to a hug and then the kiss. Is it necessary?Then Hayah the most intelligent among us gave the scientific theories involves our hormones (being an ex med student) Something about "pheremones"...

Then I asked MizBold and Hayah how to instigate the passion to write. In my case, whenever I sit and try to write, I always end up not writing ,except for few sentences which I do not like at all. And the two intellectuals in front of me started to explain. Hayah said that one should try to write whatever is in the mind continuously even if the sentences are wrongly constructed or there is no flow but just keep writing.. This is called “train of conciousness” . MizBold also told me not to be “perfectionist” while writing. After writing one can edit but while writing just go with the flow. I really liked the idea.

By the way Hayah has tagged me as a “vulgarian” (try figuring out why). I don’t know whether these things happen in your case or not but when I am with friends, and when one says something, I tend to think the simple sentence in a different way. That is only for amusement.

Happens to everyone na? But frequent tendency to understand everything in that sense is absolutely uncool .Sometime for fun, it is cool.We finnnaaaly got to the point....discussing what next for

Alive and Kickin. Basically we will be
dealing with most of the topics that are contemporary, that are thought
provoking and that totally interest us.

MIZBOLD-

It started with a kiss. Not the act, but the talk. French kiss to be exact. "Coffee wonder" I would say or what else can be the reason for the subject which is never discussed to surface?

Don't you need to learn to do it?

Hell no. You just need to be overwhelmed with emotions and the rest is automatic.

Do you think South Asians do it? Like our parents?
Can't think of that really. I'm sure they don't even know of it!
I can't imagine them doing that , man...... Ugh! Sounds gross.

And what about the chances of suffocating to death? Something I always wonder about: Why don't Smoochers Die?

Duh! Kisses, here we go. There are two kinds. One done with the mouth closed. Just a peck on the lips, you know the mother child thing. The other is done with an open mouth.

What if your mouth is locked with one another for good?
'That doesn't happen silly' she said giving me that weary look. We roared with laughter.

So are we discussing a kiss over a cup of coffee? Absolutely not! It was a Coffee Date that had finally materialized months after we actually planned it.

The Coffee bums: Hayah, me and Radiance.
Venue: Our rooftop college canteen.

Though its self service at other times, on this particular occasion the coffee was brought to us. The coffee arrived and our diaries and notebooks were brought outside their usual hideouts and placed on the table. We were there to talk "Hardcore Blogging", discuss the ample of possibilities in the blogosphere. And if you're wondering why discuss over a cup of coffee rather than a couple of pizzas and momos.

Then here's the Catch:
A Cup of Coffee and a 1000 possibities. Nothing's impossible over a cup of
Coffee!

So what do we want
Alive N Kickin to be? A potpourri: Art, religion, terrorism, business, politics,
development, feminism and emotions anything under the sun. We just voice our
thoughts.

HAYAH

I think what has to be said, has been said na? You guys sound sooo gross man!! Vulgarians!!! hehehehe....it was fun thou, coffee and a thousand possiblities....

And yeah, we now know what next for Alive and Kickin.

Alive and Kickin we hope is gonna
be a pot pourri blog....of a mish mash of everything that intrests us, amuses us
and brings out the fiery in us. We want guest coloumists, regular bloggers, free
flow of words, ideas and intellect!! Its gotta be smart, fun and fab!

So...here goes...

We the Bloggers

The idea of this blog is to pose as a space where young individuals, known and unknown to us can share with each other the things we most value in life. For some of us it could be studies, work, world peace, health, cricket, marriage, whatever it maybe, we know we value it and we know we want the world to know. The three of us, Radiance, Mizbold and me Hayah will be the regular crazy blogstresses, in other words we moderate and young writers who are friends and family, will be the jist of this blog, the heroes, the force alive and kicking.

For starters, we three wanted to put out a profile of ourselves and of each other, so here goes -

Radiance -

"Radiance" thats me . Talking about myself, I love watching humorous movies, dancing and listening to songs be it nepali, hindi or english. I like all types of music except for heavy metal which I can’t stand even for a minute. These days, sending sms to Kantipur News has been my chore. I find it so cool. As mobile is available to most of the Kathmanduites, this system of sending sms to express your views simply rocks. That’s what I think.

I am a person who believes that living life with perseverance and doing work fairly is cool rather than cheating people and harming others. Life is here for just once, so why hurt and harm anyone. However, if someone is hurting you without you doing anything wrong then hurt him/her back so that that person feels how it feels to be hurt. TIT for TAT. That is a philosophy in my life. Funny right???

My aim in life is to earn a lot of money so that I can travel as many places as I can, inside and outside Nepal. My everyday attempt would be to stay happy and make those around me happy.

My priority in life has been and will always remain my family because I believe that parents are the ones who will be with you all the time in both your ups and downs. I owe my existence to my parents.

I think a lot but I am just too lazy to put them into words.
So this blog I guess will be a platform for me to express my views and ideas and hope that you all will comment on them. Some of my views may be ridiculous but who cares after all every one has a right to express right?? SO with this ALIVE AND KICKIN attitude, I am here to candidly express myself. Enjoy the ride with us and comment on whatever topic you like. ROCK ON dudes!!!

Mizbold-

Mizbold that's me. An emotional fool: a lot of laughter, an occasional burst of anger and an ever blazing fire of ambition that's me. Its dreams I am made of, dreams I live deprived of and dreams I aspire for. A typical South Asian kid you could say, brought up under the imposing shadows of Great Expectations.

Kathmandu is my home, has always been. The ever-noisy crowds on the narrow and wide streets of city, the evening walks under the streetlights, the honking vehicles and the weary pedestrians on the bus stops. That’s the Kathmandu I know. That’s the Kathmandu I love. Just the extension of my life, a walk, a solitary walk that evokes my senses to get a grip of life and spill it on the black and white. Writing and walking, make two acts I am most passionate about.
Hail the Power of Words: I survive on it. So I do my share of wordplay to exist. .

Hayah's an inspiration. A few words with her and that's all I need to Start Living. The Smartest person I know, smartest you will ever get to know.Take your time to figure it out. Radiance, is undoubtedly The Ultimate Brains. Brains that go beyond thinking and Act. No wonder I am the proudest blogger in town! Can life get any better? Here I am collaborating with the Red Hot Generation Next of Women.

Yeah, WE are finally Here Alive and Kickin! Just ready to rock your existence with the power of Words.

Hayah-

Hayah. That’s me. In Arabic it means “life”.

As a person from the youth population, a third culture kid, Sri Lankan, I belong to so many different communities of people that I find myself lost and found time and again. Although I am Sri Lankan, my ancestry arises from South East Asia. I have therefore a mix of identities, but most of all I identify with the fact that I’m Muslim and I’m me.

At present I live in Nepal. Nepal is my haven, my home, my solace for 14 years of life, nurturing me into the person I am today through its own innocence. Nepal is my nest. I shall leave her soon. I shall fly into warm hands and open hearts; these two years will be preparation for a parting.

Life has many many crossroads, and I’ve been through my fair share of them. Being ambitious, I fail and fall miserably. Each time I plan for the long run, I waste my time. So Allah's forced me to live by the day. And I shall and will. For I know that the person I am and the place I'm in will eventually get me to the place I will be in and the person I was born to be. Not forgetting the person with whom I want to be WITH - my soulmate, my husband.

Yes I am married, and for me youth and womanhood have merged into an early and precious rendezvous. And I choose to treasure both.

Alive and Kickin started as an idea, to embark on a mission of possibility. Mizbold and I planned this endeavor months ago, but life takes its own cool time. Mizbold is one of the All Time greatest bloggers and writers of my age and geographical area. I don’t just think so. I know so. I am honored to share this blog with her as an outspoken and passionate expression of youth, womanhood and the world around us.

Radiance is the smartest, brainiest, most intelligent (well she’s smart u know!!) person around. Not only that, she uses her intellect to think better for this world. Brains with a purpose. That’s Radiance. And I’m honored to know her…and share this space with her.

We’re young, just into our twenties. But age is no bar for intellect and age is not just a number. My policy on genius is that the world will give you only so much of knowledge. The rest you need to take from it. Take it, as in grab it, absorb it like a sponge and use it wisely. Knowledge is power and knowledge is pure. The key to world destruction and the secret to saving it.

You know we youth, we are either the least bothered about the world, or are too ambitious in saving it. The mediocre's are rare and prized. Mizbold. Radiance and I are the ambitious kind. Young and on fire.
Therefore for now WE got it all - the fire of youth. The flame of womanhood. The guts to be outspoken. The intellect to be rebels. The heart to be compassionate. And the hope to be human.