And we say that - We are Working Hard...!!!

There are days when I curse my job just because I find it hard to take out time for myself, my family and my home. I also hate to wake up early in the morning and miss preparing the breakfast and lunch for my husband so that I can catch my 7:30 office bus on time. The sudden rush for things in the morning takes away many minute moments of happiness from me like a patiently wishing a sweet and pleasant good morning, watching the golden rays of Sun shining brightly in all its glory, feeling the quietness of the early morning as if its spreading some message across, reading newspaper while having a cup of tea etc. etc. And then I curse more on the fact that I have to travel for almost 1 hour 30 minutes, reach my office, do my work (If I get some!!), again leave from office at 5:30 in the evening and travel back home at 7 PM. Fridays are best for me as I know that weekend has arrived and I spoil my Sunday as I am tensed that Monday is near and the same story has to repeat.

You must be wondering why am I telling you all this as this routine is not something which is applicable only to me. All of us go through this same course life everyday – only exception is that some of us go through few more adventures every day. But what led me to write this post was an e-mail which I received few days back. It promoted to stop Child Labour and I was deeply moved by it as there were certain photographs in the e-mail which made me realize that there are lots of people in this world who have to go through as many hardships as possible every single day just to earn a two times bread for themselves and their family. It’s not that I was not aware of Child Labour before I read the e-mail, but reading it made me look at life from a wider perspective and in a more matured manner. The message spread by the e-mail is self-explanatory from the pictures that I have posted below. But what I have learnt from it is “Life is a blessing for all of us who have a decent job, have a bundle of joyful memories of childhood, a home to stay, a family to love and care for and being loved and cared in return, not only a two-times bread but a grand list of cuisines which includes our own likes and dislikes, all types of electronic gadgets to our feet and almost everything which can make our life as easy as we want”. But “Life may not really be a blessing for the rest who don’t have any fixed income leading them to search for a new job everyday, who may have lost their childhood in ‘Child Labour’ kind of thing or are losing it, neither they may have a home to stay nor they may have a family to love and care for and being loved and cared in return, a very hardly earned bread even for a single-time which also must be replaced by Water at times, electronic gadgets may be a dream for them as hard as its “Going to moon” for us and almost everything which can make their life as hard as it can be. So I have decided that rather than crying on the so-called hardships of my life, I will stay happy and content with whatever I have and feel lucky about it. And most importantly, I will contribute my best to stop child labour in any possible way I can. In fact, I have already initiated it by spreading the message and hope you will also spread the message further.

“If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own . . . how much kinder, how much gentler he would be.” – Willian Allen White

Those Who made our Lives Worthwhile...!!!

Last month, I went to my home to celebrate "Rakshabandhan". I was home after about 7 months, so I didn’t miss any opportunity to enjoy each and every moment to its fullest. I also decided to help my younger brother in his preparation for the upcoming exams. He is in Second standard and hence requires utmost attention in studies. I first started with "English" subject and when I saw the chapter, the first thought that came to my mind was "What’s the big deal in this?" But it was not less than "Burning the midnight oil" when it came to explaining the chapter to him and the worst part was to make him learn the answers for those silly questions. I wonder how my parents would have dealt with me when I was a child! Next day, he came to me with a maths book in his hand and asked me review the numbers from 1 to 1000 which he has written as a part of his homework. I must say that the numbers were correct, but the mess he had created while writing them was horrible. He is too lazy to even use an eraser if something goes wrong, as a result of which he simply overwrites making it difficult for others to read. And then I had to spent another hour in helping him with the corrections. There were lots of such incidents, but what touched me deeply was the fact that I was simply helping him out with his studies, while the people who laid foundations for him were his teachers. I am not really sure about how much efforts teachers put these days on their students, but I remembered my time when my teachers used to teach me how to hold a Pencil in my hand and then slowly helped me writing every letter and number. My teachers were the ones who taught me how to pronounce letters and read words and sentences which slowly became the stepping stone to my success. I am sure; you would also remember your teachers on reading this post and thank them one way or the other for making you what you are today. On this "Teacher’s Day", a special tribute to all the teachers who have lit the candle of light in our lives.

Nothing Can Go Wrong Now...!!!

It was the beginning of monsoon and I was super-excited to enjoy the beauty of nature. The first place that comes to the minds of all Puneites in rainy season is “Sinhgad”. It is a fortress situated on a hill in Sahyadri mountain ranges, located at a distance of around 30 kilometres from Pune. What attracts the most here are the lush green valleys, the small water-falls, the fresh air, clouds covering the entire area and the sudden rains, all of which only add to the beauty and serenity of the nature. So one fine Sunday, I and Yog along with our group of friends decided to hit this place, all of us equally enthusiastic about the short trip, but hardly anyone knew what was coming next.

We left at around 1 PM and the weather seemed a perfect one for the 1-hour drive. We were two couples in the car and two of our other extreme nature-lover friends out of over-excitement decided to ride on a bike and that too without any rainy-coat. Our car halted at a traffic signal when we saw our fuel indicator blinking – “I am running out of Petrol. Please refuel me”. Even after a round of advises given to Yog that he must get the car refueled at the nearby Petrol station, he was over-confident about the fact that the indicator always gives the wrong signals and this time the car would definitely go well for the next 10 kilometres. We accepted this undigestable fact and after travelling for about another 7 kms, our car stopped and that too in the midst of a heavy traffic road and yes, not to miss, in front of the RTO guys waiting to welcome us. Next task was to push the car to the side of the road which was very well performed by Rinku B. (lovingly called by his friends) who had seated himself very comfortably in the backseat of the car. And then Yog took a lift and rushed to a nearby petrol station with an empty bottle in his hand only unaware of the fact that his efforts would soon be wasted. Yes, the petrol station was strictly adhered to its policy of not providing petrol to anyone in bottles or cans. We then called our biker friends who were ahead of us almost 5-6 kms and there was no U-turn in between, however they managed to come back to us after few minutes. Finally, Yog managed to get Petrol from another Petrol station and all of us sighed in relief that “Nothing can go wrong now”. All of us were reset again for the trip now.

It had started raining heavily after sometime, though we realized this only when our biker friends (Henceforth, I will call them as MJ and NS) were seen nowhere. Again, Yog and Rinku B. showed their male intelligence by making a phone call to NS on speaker mode. Though they were a bit expectant of hearing few “beep” words from the other end, we girls were quite oblivious about it. And yes, NS stick true to their expectations leading to roars of laughter amongst us. Both of them were struggling hard to find a shelter amidst the heavy rains, however they reached safely to the place where we were waiting and after gulping cups of tea, everyone was  reset the second time for the fun-filled adventure that was waiting ahead of us. And yes, we again sighed in relief “Nothing can go wrong now”.

We would have hardly covered a distance of 10 Kms when my friend suggested dropping the plan of Sinhgad and rather going to a resort named “Splendour Country” which we hadn’t heard the minute before. And soon, everyone started discussing on how superior is “Splendour Country” than “Singhad” and how “Sinhgad” is the same old story everytime and how everyone would be so tired of trekking over there making it impossible to go office next week. And most unbelievable was the discussion going on about how difficult it is to go “Sinhgad” in rainy season and how heavy rains would leave nothing for us to see over there. Oh common! Now this was the only reason we all had started off for, but optimistic minds anyways – always finding out all the positive points when there is a “Road to be less travelled by”. So finally, we all four decided to go “Splendour Country” (Henceforth, I will refer to it as SC) and again called NS, this time extra care taken not to keep the phone on speaker.

After almost reaching till the entry point for Sinhgad, we were told that we are on the wrong track and have left SC almost 7-8 kms behind. The adventure seemed to be fading by this time for we girls (Yes, I still love to call myself a girl), but the guys were in no mood to back off or choose any other option over SC. Though we asked the local people over there, no one seemed to be aware of the location which led us to doubt on another over-confident friend behind this change of plan, who shouted like “Yes, it’s there. Why don’t u believe me?” Yog and Rinku B. started searching on Google Maps but it was all in vain when soon MJ and NS arrived saying that they have found out the way to SC and we are only supposed to follow them. And all of us sighed in relief for the third time “Nothing can go wrong now”.

As per the information gathered by MJ and NS, our destination was not very far; still we had to travel for about next 15 kilometers before finally reaching SC. The journey was quiet this time as everyone was completely captivated by the surrounding view with hills and rocks on one side and a river on the other. It was complete green everywhere and as it had stopped raining by that time, the cool breeze flew gently refreshing our souls. We finally reached SC, parked our car and saw MJ and NS approaching us, only to inform that their bike was “Punctured”. Now this was the worst anyone would have expected. Added to it was the fact that the garage was 3 Kms down the hill from where we were standing. It was 4 PM already and the resort didn’t accept new customers after 5 PM. After considering all the possibilities, it was decided that we all would go to the garage and if we could not make it before 5 PM, we would return from there itself. The journey to garage was also not that easy as it may seem. Five of us were in the car now and Rinku B. was riding the bike balancing it on front tyre and was completely drenched in the heavy rain. GOD knows what happened to him or his bike in between. We reached farther with no signs of him coming behind us and when we decided to turn back, the PMT bus coming towards made us realize that we had no possibility of turning back on that Single Lane road. So we went further to the garage and waited for Rinku B. to arrive. Not forgetting to mention here, he had handed his cell phone to us, so there was no way to contact him. Everyone was relieved when he came and handed over his bike to the mechanic. Together we sighed in relief for the fourth time “Nothing can go wrong now”.

We reached SC safe and sound before 5 PM, took our entry tickets and rushed to the cafeteria when we were told that snacks are about to finish. We obviously deserved treat to ourselves for making it to SC after all the hurdles. What came next was the most joyous and fun-filled part of our trip. All were crazy about the swimming pool and the indoor games especially the Pool. Though I had never been to a swimming pool earlier, I tried swimming for the first time and kind of liked it a lot. It appeared to me as an “Infinity Pool” though I am not really sure about it. We even sang songs at the Karaoke section, played Pool and Carom a lot. We also tried our hands on Table Tennis, but it appeared more of a badminton so decided to drop it off. Finally we had our dinner at around 10 in the night and we called the day off leaving from there at 10:30 in the night. I was a bit afraid during the journey back home as there were no street lights in that hilly area, it was raining and there was no one else apart from us on that route. But soon we were back in the city and I said to me for the last time - “Nothing can go wrong now”. Amidst all the unending appreciation going on about SC and the second trip back there with more number of friends, we all waved good-byes and good nights to each other. It was a trip which everyone remembers till date and feels happy about it and so it definitely deserved to be a post on my blog.

PFB some of the photos which we had taken at SC:

The Notebook..!!!

Lately, I have been reading a lot of novels by Nicholas Sparks. And I must say that there is some magic in the way the author writes. He has 16 published novels out of which 6 have been adapted into films. I have read 7 novels by him and that too one after the other continuously, which obviously explains the depth of my craziness for reading novels by Sparks. Today, I have started reading my 8th novel by Sparks which is entitled as "Message In A Bottle". Well, this is not in continuation to the previous seven books which i have read as I was captivated by works of some other author for around two weeks (which I am surely going to discuss in my next post). So coming back to Sparks, I personally feel that the books by him are specifically for those people who love reading romantic, emotional, religious, tragedy, fate etc. kind of stuff. Moreover, while reading his novels, one can always feel that "Love is in the air". I am so much moved by his works that I have started collecting all the novels which I have read till now and will soon have a good collection of his books (along with other ones as well) to my credit.

The first novel that was published by Nicholas Sparks was “The Notebook” in 1996. Though, few of my friends to whom I had suggested reading this novel didn’t find it too good, I enjoyed the book to a huge extent. Well, I am not too good at writing detailed reviews for a book or a movie I have seen as my mind goes blank when I think of doing the same; hence i would skip going deeper into the details about the book. But yes, there are few lines at different stages in the book which deeply touched my heart and which I would surely like to share with everyone. Here it goes:-

 

-   Science goes only so far and then comes God.

-   I think our love can do anything we want it to.

-   It's the possibility that keeps me going, not the guarantee.

-   So it's not gonna be easy. It's going to be really hard; we're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, everyday. You and me... every day.

-   We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created. For me, love like that has only happened once, and that's why every minute we spent together has been seared in my memory. I'll never forget a single moment of it.

-   You are the answer to every prayer I've offered. You are a song, a dream, a whisper, and I don't know how I could have lived without you for as long as I have.

-   They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other every day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.

-   In times of grief and sorrow I will hold you and rock you and take your grief and make it my own. When you cry I cry and when you hurt I hurt. And together we will try to hold back the floods to tears and despair and make it through the potholed street of life.

-    “A living poem" had always been the words that came to mind when he tried to describe her to others.

-   A person can get used to anything if given enough time.

-   Our lives can't be measured by our final years, of this I am sure.

-   Would you stop thinking about what everyone wants? Stop thinking about what I want, what he wants, what your parents want. What do you want?

-   No matter what happens to us in the future, every day we are together is the greatest day of my life. I will always be yours.

-   Miracles, no matter how inexplicable or unbelievable, are real and can occur without regard to the natural order of things.

-   Our souls were one, if you must know and never shall they be apart; with splendid dawn, your face aglow I reach for you and find my heart.

-   It might seem as the hardest thing to do, but you have to forget the guy who forgot about you.

-   That a day spent with dreaming and sunsets and refreshing breezes cannot be bettered.

-   No drowning man can know which drop of water his last breath did stop.

-   I am no one special. Just a common man with common thoughts. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who ever lived. I've loved another with all my heart and soul and for me that has always been enough.

-   You and I were different. We came from different worlds, and yet you were the one how taught me the value of love. You showed me what it was like to care for another, and I am a better man because of it. I don't want you to ever forget that.

-   The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected. Maybe they always have been and will be. Maybe we've lived a thousand lives before this one and in each of them we've found each other. And maybe each time, we've been forced apart for the same reasons. That means that this goodbye is both a goodbye for the past ten thousand years and a prelude to what will come.

-   Dusk is just an illusion because the sun is either above the horizon or below it. And that means that day and night are linked in a way that few things are there cannot be one without the other yet they cannot exist at the same time. How would it feel I remember wondering to be always together yet forever apart?

-   We sit silently and watch the world around us. This has taken a lifetime to learn. It seems only the old are able to sit next to one another and not say anything and still feel content. The young, brash and impatient, must always break the silence. It is a waste, for silence is pure. Silence is holy. It draws people together because only those who are comfortable with each other can sit without speaking. This is the great paradox.

Freedom...By Choice...!!!

He was very afraid. He hid himself in the corner of the dark room so that no-one could find him. Today was another day just like rest of the days. He saw his mother being beaten up badly. Her nose was bleeding and she was not able to even stand up on her feet. He was watching this from the corner of his eye and felt helpless at the same time as he could not do anything to save his mother. “How things had changed all of a sudden?” he thought. Theirs was a perfect and happy family. He remembered the days when they all together celebrated every small occasion enthusiastically. Life was going quite perfect till someone else entered their lives. He did not like this new member at all, especially when he saw that she was given more importance than his mother now. Most of all, he hated her for taking the position which his mother held once. He saw his mother crying every night; he could feel the pain she was going through but was not able to understand why did she never complain about this anytime? May be, it was her love that provided her the strength to tolerate everything and the hope which assured her that everything would be fine one day.

While he was thinking all this, suddenly he heard his mother crying out loud. She wanted to explain that it was not her fault at all, but the distrust and hatred which she faced, broke her down. Her heart was shattered into pieces and she could find no other option than to tolerate everything silently. He could no more bear the situation of his mother and so decided to put an end to all of this. Somehow he gathered the courage and stepped out from the place where he was hiding himself. Soon he realized that he was no more afraid of what was coming further as he knew that soon his mother would be free from all the sufferings she had from the past few days. He wanted his mother to smile again and to stay happy forever. He had never thought about this earlier, but he had to do this today, for the sake of his mother.

He ran towards the place where his mother was being beaten up. He clenched his jaw tightly and gave a bite as hard as he can at the master’s foot -The same master who everyday used to beat his mother harshly and mercilessly since the day when he had brought the new dog in the house. The master cried out in agony and fell down on the floor at the very moment with his foot bleeding severely. The son helped his mother to stand up and they both ran away from the place. He was happy that both of them had escaped successfully from the house which was no less than a hell to them since few days. After all, there was no love for them in that house and the master kept them there so that he can sell them one day at a decent price. But he no more wanted to be anyone’s slave. He cuddled his mother and started wagging his tail in happiness. Soon they saw a group of street dogs in a distant area and smiled at each other. Their future was waiting for them.

Those little things in Life…!!!

Few days back, I was waiting with my friend for our office bus at 7:30 in the morning when she got a call that the bus would be late by 20 minutes. Well, that is quite irritating for me because of two reasons. First, I don’t like to wait for anyone and anything at all. Second, I am quite habituated to the punctual bus timings; thanks to our driver. So finding nothing interesting to do, me and my friend decided to wait and sat down on the steps of a nearby shop. What I saw next took me back in time and I was flooded with memories of my childhood.

I saw little children with bags on their back and water bottles around their neck, holding their mama or papa’s hand, waiting for their school bus. It reminded me of my early school days when either my mom or dad used to take me to the bus stop every day. And the last it happened was when I was in 2^nd standard. After that, I was old enough to catch the bus on my own – as I think so.

I then saw some ladies in a sleepy mood, buying milk packets from a nearby seller. I earlier thought that this must have stopped these days as usually people get the milk packets in front of their gates early in the morning, but was amazed to see that there are still many people who take a walk till the shop in the morning to buy milk.

There were few people, especially the aged ones, who were coming back from jogging and their morning exercises. They stopped at a corner where a man was selling all the newspapers and near to it, there was a tea stall. What a perfect combination! The satisfaction I saw on their faces, having a glass of tea while reading newspaper early in the morning, was something incredible.

There was a sweeper cleaning the road with his broom. He was too busy in his work that he hardly paid any attention to the people passing by. There were clouds of dust everywhere but he continued with his work. It was a scene to watch once in a while for me, but an everyday task for him which was the reason he didn’t even look up for once at anyone who passed through there.

Few ladies outsides their homes were busy cleaning the verandas. They were still in their night gowns, but the daily chores were something more important to them than grooming themselves first, which showed their commitment and dedication towards their family.

Few shops started to open slowly, especially the tea stalls, green groceries shop and general stores. A van loaded with green groceries stopped by a small shop. The servants unloaded the groceries speedily and soon started arranging them in their shop. I usually buy groceries at once for the entire week, and that too I go in the evening, so I was watching this after a long period of time.

A florist was arranging flowers in his shop near a small temple. The fresh flowers and their fragrance left me mesmerized.

Suddenly, my friend saw our bus coming and we stood up from there and left the place. But I was still thinking about those little things of life which were very common to watch when I was a child. Today, I hardly get a chance to see these day to day activities going around or rather I should say, I do get a chance to see, but don’t pay attention to them. Life seems to be very busy these days and sometimes we miss the enormous happiness which we get from the smallest things happening around us.

Light Moments...!!!

It’s been one year of my marriage with Yog and till date I get to see many surprising sides of his personality. Though I already know them, but every time he comes up so differently in situations that leaves me enthralled. Below are few of them:

Once I was grinding something with my hand grinder when it got dismantled. After several failing attempts, I was pretty sure that Yog would fix it up. So last Sunday, I handed it over to him while he was watching his morning news (I forgot that I can least expect him to do something while he watches news). Without giving a look to it, he assured me that he would fix it in 10 minutes and so I got occupied with my work. The next thing I heard him saying was that "This can never be fixed. It is permanently damaged" and was busy watching news again. Hardly would he have expected this reply from me when I said - "No problem! We will get it fixed from that uncle running a shop in the corner of our street who says that "I can repair anything"…" And it worked….I got my grinder repaired within 10 minutes.

One fine evening, we went to a newly constructed mall opened recently near to our place. After shopping there and exploring it for around 2 hours, we decided to call the day off. The "Exit" of mall was provided at different directions based on the area it would lead to. We had to follow the "Exit to Viman Nagar" board, but as it was not yet open, we followed route having board "Exit to Nagar Road". Although Yog was aware that the other route (Viman Nagar one) is not permitted to be taken, he took the car near the security driver and asked "Idhar se bahar jaa sakte hain kya? (Can we follow this route?) ", to which the security driver very rudely replied "Idhar se nahi jaa sakte hain (You cannot take this route)"… After leaving from there, Yog’s first reaction was "Nahi jaa sakte tab hi to pooch raha tha…jaana hi hota to poochta kyun (Why I would have asked if it was permitted to go from there?)"

Mega Yacht...!!!

Few days back, one of my friends forwarded an e-mail with the subject "Mega-Yacht". I opened it to find out that the e-mail mentioned of the yacht gifted by Mukesh Ambani as a birthday gift to his wife. The yacht costed 20 Million Euros and was to be parked at Breach Candy, Mumbai. For those who have not yet received that e-mail, please refer: - http://zillionarts.com/most-luxurious-yacht-ever/

The e-mail spread as a fire in my group in the office and soon there were group conversations on the communicator and we started forwarding it to those around us who hadn’t received it yet. In such cases, often we come across some funny comments. Here are few from my friends:

Btw, my friends strictly refused to disclose their names with the comments mentioned below, so I’ll refer them as A, B, C….Seems they feel it as a threat to their identity.

A: Hey Bhagwaan!!! Ye mujhe god kyu nahi le leta? (Why doesn’t he adopt me?)

B: Kaash humko iski yacht pe kaamwali baai ka job mil jaaye….

C: How people earn so much that they afford to buy such things?

D: Bohot mast hai yaar….Par ye iska karega kya?

E: Apni wife pe itna kharcha? Very costly, they are not simple anyways. World’s richest person, friend of Bill Gates, he should learn something from that person who lives in a single house…I m forgetting his name…yeah "Warren Buffet"…

And last but not the least…

F: Ohhh man!!!! Iska ladka single hai kya???

Faded Love...!!!

"I will be coming home late today. Please have your dinner and go to sleep"

"But you had promised that we will….."

"Hey listen. I have to go in a meeting. Call u later…"

Beep…beep…beep…beep…

She was used to these types of conversations lately. But today, she had least expected this as it was their second anniversary. For a moment, she forgot that this was a part of her life now, in fact their lives now. She tried not to think about all those things but her thoughts drifted in that direction speedily. Her head was spinning, her mind seemed out of control and she went to her favorite place – the one where she used to go whenever she felt down. It made her feel relax and ease all her tensions.

She thought about the initial days when their love had just blossomed. Riya and Aditya were deeply in love with each other and both had decided to spend the rest of their lives together. There was an essence of purity, respect, trust, forgiveness, acceptance, sacrifice and loyalty in their relationship which blended both of them into a single soul. They were determined to be together no matter how many obstacles may come their way and they stuck to the promise they had made to each other. Though their families didn’t agree, they got married and started a completely new life together.

In the beginning, the romance between them was abounding. They both were the world for each other and were extremely happy that way. But hardly had they known that it takes huge effort to sail a ship through the storm successfully. It all started with minor issues first and then gradually the differences between them increased. Initially, they would quarrel only amongst themselves, but soon their arguments started coming up in front of their friends as well. Their life was an open book to everyone now and it became the source of entertainment for few as well. Aditya started spending more time in office than at home. He started ignoring Riya and would never lose any opportunity to tease and provoke her. She too would always find flaws in whatever he said or did, ultimately increasing the gap between them.

Thinking about all this made her feel suffocated and she started breathing heavily. She desperately wished to go back in time and correct all those things between them that had gone wrong. She wanted to be in love again with Aditya. Though situations were going against both of them since long, she somehow expected that they would celebrate their anniversary together today. But she was shattered into pieces after hearing his response. Everything seemed useless and unbearable to her. She wanted to escape out of all this and set herself free. She wished to live in a world where there were no more hard situations between both of them, where both would only love and respect each other. She was roaming restlessly on the floor and she felt her legs could no more hold the burden of her own body.

She still moved forward, giving the entire place one last look with the hope that the place which always gave comfort to her and spared her from all the tensions will help her today as well and suddenly that place seemed a best mate to her. She felt a lump in her throat as she was going to leave this place forever, may be to find solace somewhere else. Her eyes were swollen and red, her mascara was washed with tears along her face, but these things no more mattered to her. She reached the parapet of her terrace and glanced down on the road. A distance of only seventeen floors to be travelled and everything would be fine, she thought. Without thinking too much, she climbed the parapet and stood on it. She stretched her arms and felt the cool breeze across her body. She closed her eyes and saw an image of Aditya. A soft smile spread across her lips and soon she was floating in the air….

"Happy anniversary Darling…..I love you!!!"…. She heard Aditya’s voice. She glanced everywhere around, but could not see him. She wanted to be with her husband, to hold him tight in her arms, to feel him around her, to love him, but why was she feeling so helpless? Why she was in no more control of her mind? Why was her body not responding accordingly? She started struggling a lot…She tried to get up, but could not. She started sobbing heavily and continuously. Suddenly she felt as if her body was being shaken up. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see Aditya in front of her. He was holding a bouquet of roses. She quickly looked around her and found herself in their bedroom just to realize that it was a bad dream. She hugged Aditya tightly, cried a lot and felt that in spite of the differences between them, their love was far beyond everything and she promised herself to bring back the spark of love which was only faded between them, not lost.

"Happy anniversary to you too Darling. I love you too and always will through eternity and beyond...!" was all she could say…

Realization...!!!

Sometimes, we know certain things in advance, but it feels good and more helpful when we hear them through someone else in a better form. Today, one of my best friends told me something good, about which I had hardly thought earlier so deep. She said "A person always gives those things to others which he/she has in excess within him/her." At first, I didn’t exactly understand what she meant as there could be as many as possible explanations of it, but she cleared it further with a simple example. A person of high temperament always talks to others in an angry manner because he has anger in excess in his nature. Same holds with all other qualities of human nature like love, hatred, anger, fun, sorrow etc. People behave with others according to the abundance of good or bad qualities present in them. After that, I started relating this example with many other different categories of people I have come across and found it very true. A person who himself is always in a joyous mood and stays happy makes others happy and spreads smile across everywhere. A person who always seems to be frustrated with everything mostly speaks in a frustrating tone and sooner or later makes others feel frustrated. A person whose heart and soul is completely filled with love always showers love upon others even if he doesn’t get the same in response. A person who is never satisfied with anything in life has a tendency to always complain about other people or things frequently and as a result he will have a large number of people complaining against him. A person who is selfless at heart is always ready to help others and will also have many helping hands raised for him whenever he is in need of. A person who himself is self-motivated, motivates people around him directly or indirectly and inspires them to achieve their goals. A person who is optimistic lights the lamp of hope in low times, while on the other hand, a pessimistic person finds flaws in everything good happening around.

In short, people behave according to the quality of nature they have in excess within them and pass on the same thing to everyone they meet. This might seem a very simple thing to anyone, but its realization benefitted me with two things:

1. Whenever I will think "Why does this person behaves like this?" I will say to myself = "She/he has this quality in abundance within him". Earlier, I used to think that he/she behaves that way out of habit.

2. I will think more on which qualities do I need to inculcate within myself in excess and which ones should I remove. I do this till date, but it will be more easy and helpful now.

Acceptance, More or Less…!!!

It was around 6 pm. That evening, it was a bit dark early as it had rained for the whole day and the weather was chilled. Neha was roaming in her garden with her favorite shawl wrapped around her which her grandma had given her years back. She wore a light blue colored jeans and a white shirt and the gentle breeze blew few strands of her loose long hair over her face. She was quite nervous about what was coming next? It had been 7 years and her relationship with Yash was still going nowhere. No doubt both of them loved each other deeply and from the very beginning they knew that there were many obstacles further in their relationship. It was the most common problem – caste difference, yet their story was different from others as Neha’s parents had no objection with their relationship while Yash’s parents had some different opinion about it. But, like most of the optimistic lovers, they both were confident about working it out sooner or later.

It had started to drizzle mildly again making her a bit wet, but she planned to stay in the garden. The sound of tiny rain drops was very clear in the silence that was spread everywhere. She curiously looked for the time in her watch every now and then. Today was the biggest day of her life – yes, for her, it was, as today Yash was going to finally tell her what would be the course of their relationship further. She was constantly thinking whether Yash would have succeeded in convincing his parents or not? If yes, what would be her first reaction…after all she had waited desperately to marry him since long. If not, would Yash take a stand for her? Yes he would, she thought, after all it was 7 long years of relationship during which they both had together seen many ups and downs of life. It was only due to his support and love that she felt lively and complete. And same was the case with Yash - Neha was his lifeline in true sense and without her, he could not think of living for even a single moment.

It was still 6:30 in the watch and she was expecting Yash to come by 7:00 pm at her home. Time was going very slow and she felt running short of breath with each and every passing moment. Suddenly, her mobile started ringing. As usual, it was the 6:30 pm alarm that she had set in her mobile since long back. Every day at that time in the evening, she and Yash used to go to a nearby coffee shop for half an hour. Today was something different as it was almost a matter of life and death for both of them. Soon her memories were drifted 7 years back and she started thinking about the series of incidents that had happened in their lives. It was in the first year of her college when she was attracted towards Yash. At first she thought it was infatuation but soon realized that she was in love with him. At that time hardly she knew about Yash’s feelings for her. Soon they became friends in the second year of their college and to her surprise, by the end of second year; she was the first to express her feelings to Yash and was happy about it. Though Yash had put all his family concerns in front of her the very first day, but as its truly said "Love conquers all", they both decided to face it together.

The next two years of college were the most memorable ones in their lives. They used to go for long walks in the evening after having their regular 6:30 pm coffee in the fixed coffee shop. They were together for most of the time in the college, and due to their shy nature (despite of the romance between them); they were considered as the cutest couple in the college. Though both were together for almost the entire day in the college, they used to talk on phones till late in the night. At times, they went for long drives on his bike and rest of the times, they spent time sitting beside each other without saying anything. Both of them hardly realized when college came to an end and they started a new journey of their life. Neha got a job and shifted to Noida and Yash decided to pursue higher studies and moved to Bangalore. Though Neha had already started thinking about taking their relationship to a concrete end, Yash was still not prepared to talk to his family regarding this as he was ambitious for his career and wanted to settle with job first. He needed three more years before discussing this matter with his parents and Neha too willingly supported him in his decision.

For the next three years, both Yash and Neha faced a new side of their life – Long distance relationship. Within these three years, they neither celebrated each others’ birthday together nor the Valentine’s day. But both were happy with the fact that their love was sufficient to keep both of them together despite of being so far. Yash too completed his post grad in two years and got a job with a descent package in Bangalore itself. On the other side, Neha was working with the same organization for the last three years, but her only motive was "Getting married with Yash", so hardly was she paying any attention to her career.

Finally, Yash put his views of getting married to Neha in front of his parents. Though Yash’s parents already knew about Neha, but they didn’t expect that their son was still in a successful long distance relationship with the same girl for the last 5 years. It was very hard to convince them and with the passage of time, it almost seemed next to impossible. This was affecting their relationship as well and majority of the times, they both ended up quarrelling together. Neha somehow sensed that it was time to stay near to each other now and face whatever comes. So she left her job, moved to Bangalore and started working in a new company. Now they were together most of the times and both started reliving their college days back, though Yash’s efforts to convince his parents seemed to go in vain.

Suddenly, Neha heard the sound of a bike in front of her gate and her heart skipped a beat. Immediately she was back to her senses and she saw Yash coming towards her in the garden. Thousands of questions were crossing her mind and she was trying to find their answers in Yash’s eyes. Somehow, she sensed what she was going to hear next. Yes, she could easily read his mind; she understood the expression on his face. Even though she had faced the same answer nth time, she was not prepared to hear it again as this was the final one. His one answer today would decide the course of her life. She moved slowly towards him. She was expecting him to say something, but he didn’t even utter a single word. Her heart was beating fast now and despite of the mild rain drops, her forehead was completely wet with perspiration. She felt as if her heart was sinking and her body was getting numb, but still she reached out her hand to touch him and collapse in his arms when suddenly she heard someone calling –

"Mama, I am very hungry. Please make something for me".

Neha noticed everywhere with the same questions in her eyes and there was no-one around. She rushed to the gate to see the bike, but there was none. It was dark everywhere. Rain had completely stopped now and she could hear the turtling of frogs. Then she saw her mobile. It was 8:00 pm and the date was 26^th July, 2017. It had been 8 years since that incident – the last day when they both met in the garden of her home and Yash gave her final decision. It was impossible for her at first to accept whatever he told her, but slowly she realized that he had a choice to make – to either select his parents or her. And he went with the former one. She never came to know why he made such choice as it seemed no more important to her. The only reality was that the love of her life was no more with her and it was sufficient enough for her to spend the rest of her life in a manner which even she didn’t know was good or bad. The next two years of her life were the most terrible ones – without any aim or direction until she got married to Vivan. It was an arranged marriage, but it was beyond her expectations and she slowly started realizing that "Love is always bliss for everyone". Though she had lost her first love, her life was getting back to normal when she opened the doors of her heart for the second love in the form of her husband. Soon, she and Vivan were blessed with a baby girl whom they named Tina and with that; her life took a completely different turn.

She saw her 4-year old Tina coming towards her with her little footsteps. "Mama, I am hungry.."

Neha smiled at herself… "I am sorry sweetheart…let’s get back inside. I’ll make something for you"

Tina said "But Mama, why you were not listening to me?"

Neha glanced at her and took her in her arms… "It’s just that I forget everything when we come to my Mama’s home"…

WHY...????

One day I was chatting with my friends post lunch, when I got a message from Yog and the text conversation between us went as follows:

Yog: M gng 4 lunch
Me: Ok
Yog (After few minutes): I am not talking to you
Me (Out of surprise): Y?
Yog: Y = Yog !!
Me: Hehehe..i meant WHY?
Yog: WHY = What the Hell Yog!!
Me (Sharing the message with friends): ROFL!!!

Feel The Rain...!!!

This morning, I was looking for something in my cupboard when my eyes caught upon my little umbrella. It is indeed very special for me as my dad bought it for me when I came for the first time to Pune. Soon, I realized how long it has been since it rained last. No, I am not living in a drought-prone area where it has not rained for the past 10 years, but it’s almost 8-9 months it rained and now I am desperately missing the rainy season. If someone asks me "Which is your favorite season?", the first thought that comes to my mind is "Winter" just for the reason that I like to sleep in my warm quilt till late in the morning (Gone are those days when I used to do so, but it left a mark on my memory that I like Winters). But the thought of Rainy Season gives me a "Feel Good" feeling. I was thinking what is so special about this season that I am waiting madly for it (I know, everyone else is) and I came up with the following list:-

1. The cloudy weather…especially the black clouds in the sky making the entire atmosphere cool and romantic…I just love them.
2. I love people saying – "Aaj mausam kitna achha hai…pakka baarish aayegi!!" (I am not sure if I really love hearing anything else so much from others)
3. The gusty winds and first few drops of water coming down slowly just before the downpour.
4. The sweet smell of the freshly drenched soil after the first rain…Oh! I just love that "Mitti ki bheeni bheeni khushboo"…
5. The thunder and lightning giving goose bumps all around.
6. Stretch my arms and feel the water droplets falling on my palm.
7. Watching people – some packing up their things, some finding shelter, some stopping by under a tree and others simply enjoying the rains.
8. Watching kids wet themselves from head to toe welcoming the first rain of the season.
9. A cup of tea with a plate of hot pakodas.
10. Standing in the balcony and listening to the sound of water drops amidst the silence all around.
11. Fog on the window glass and writing names on it.
12. A short-drive in the car.
13. Waking in the middle of night and hearing the soothing sound of raindrops.
14. The clear sky next morning with cold breeze everywhere.
15. Walking on chilled floor after struggling a lot to come out from the cozy blanket.
16. Sunshine after the rain :-)
17. Trees and plants appearing fresh and green with crystal-like water droplets on their leaves.
18. Kids going to school in their raincoats, jumping in the puddles of water and splashing it on each other.
19. The feeling of taking a leave from office.
20. Staying back at home and reminiscing the good old memories of childhood related to rains.

The list seems to be unending, so I should stop here. Co-incidentally, when I am on the verge of completing this post, Pune is welcoming the first rains of the season and me along with my M3 group (I will be soon discussing about my M3 group in further posts) in the office is enjoying the pleasant weather to its fullest. Black clouds have gathered in the sky making it dark and gloomy, the cool breeze has held our breaths, water droplets are touching us and I recall a rhyme from my childhood days :-

I hear Thunder, I hear Thunder,
Oh don’t you ? Oh, don’t you ?
Pitter-patter raindrops,
Pitter-Patter raindrops
I’m wet through,
I’m wet through.

Dormitory!!!

Lately, I and my friends in office have been using the term "Dormitory" quite frequently, not because we use it too often, but because its unavailability whenever we want to use it. This recalls me of the incident that happened faced few days back. One of my friends reached office and decided to use the dormitory as she found herself ailing. There are around 6 beds in the ladies dorm in our office, which is far better than the single bed present in the dorm in my previous organization, but to go there, one has to walk for about 10 good minutes in the scorching sun. Somehow she managed to reach dormitory, but found out that all the beds were already occupied. What surprised her most was when she saw two girls sharing the same bed (which means 12 girls sleeping in the very first hour in office) with few waiting for their turn to occupy a bed as soon as it gets vacant. She patiently waited for her turn which came after an hour and after resting for another hour, returned to her desk. She was not only baffled with what had happened but also wasted up an extra one hour waiting there. But what gained our attention was the way dormitory was used.

Ideally, dormitory is provided in offices so that someone can take rest there if he/she is unwell. (That was what I had seen in my previous company). But here I found out that dormitory is being used "mainly" by those people who are on bench or who feel that sleeping is something more important than completing the work within the office hours. I emphasize on the word "Mainly" here because I do agree that I have seen few people as well who use it in case they are feeble. But what happened with my friend was merely because there were girls who slept in dorm as they didn’t have anything else to do, leading it to situation where the really needy ones had to wait for them to wake up. I even don’t blame them for this as the lack of work allocation and infrastructure would definitely leave anyone useless. But in the end, we all were left discussing few questions - Should resources understand the purpose of dormitory and use it effectively? In cases like above, should there be someone to keep a watch on who is using the dormitory for a genuine purpose? Is it fair that in spite of such facilities provided in the office, people who are in need cannot avail them? Are "Library" and "Games" the only options sufficient to reduce the frustration of an employee? Should an organization hire extra resources and keep them on bench without providing any work…Not even terminals? Or should any dormitory be provided in "our" office?

A Beautiful Journey!!!

Its rightly said "Time Flies Fast". I wonder how many times a day I think of this quote and keep reminiscing on all the new experiences I had in the past one year. I would soon be celebrating my first wedding anniversary with Yog and am highly excited about it. At the same time, the sweet memories of the last year make me feel nostalgic. We had tied the knot on 29^th May, 2010 and as I look back, there is a saga of experiences that I take with me welcoming another year of our love.

My grand welcome by my in-laws after our wedding would always remain the most memorable part of my life. Nothing could have been better than the special treatment I got as a "nayi – bahu" over there and the way I was made feel homely was completely heartening. We went to Vaishnodevi, Patnitop and Jammu and it would always remain the most wonderful trip together ever. The first visit to my parents and siblings post-marriage will always remain special as the feeling was completely different and I don’t know why but moms do start behaving strangely after their daughters get married. By strangely I mean they start caring more about the little things and giving advises and what not. May be, it’s their way of expressing love and care and no doubt, it’s the best feeling. Since childhood, the image of "Saasu-Maa" (Mother-in-law…i call mine as Mummyji :)) was a bit different in my mind (a negative one…may be owing to the Lalita Pawar movies I saw :D). But I was surprised to find myself crying in the arms of Mummyji as were leaving for Pune (She definitely provided the warmth and love of a mother to me).

We came to Pune on 20^th June, 2010 and my "Griha – Pravesh" (house warming ceremony) in our new home was done by Yog in a typical filmy style. He bought candles from nearby store as an alternate to "Aarti"; as there was no "kumkum" I had to take out my "Sindoor" and the Bisleri bottle was the source of "Jal" (Water used for auspicious purpose). I remembered the scene from Chalte-Chalte, only missing thing was the Talcum Powder that SRK sprinkled on the floor to mark RM’s footprints, but as our home was vacant for more than a month, the dust served the purpose very well.

After coming to Pune, we both were back to our normal lives (Though there was much more than normal). On the first day of our office, post marriage, we were welcomed by all our friends with ‘Ohhhhhhhhh….", "vowwwww….."(The vow was for me of course ;-)) etc., everyone demanding for sweets and treats. Along with managing office, we started setting up our home and it was a real fun doing that. It does feel wonderful when you buy new things for your home and it becomes more fun when you have someone to quarrel on who is going to open the box first? And this continues till date. Almost every day, we were visited by lots of friends (especially Yog’s…believe me they are the best buddies I have ever come across), all of them equally excited as we were about how we are settling down in our new lives together. The tea, lunch and dinner parties that we all had together at our home are some of the wonderful memories of our initial days (It doesn’t mean we don’t party anymore :P)

Soon, we were visited by my in-laws (My mummyji, papaji, both didi-jijus and their kids) and it was a complete blast. We performed our long-pending "Satyanarayan pooja" at our home the first day and the next day, we all went to Lonavla. It rained heavily that day but still we all decided to go to Bhushi dam amidst the continuous downpour and though we planned to visit Khandala, the highly foggy atmosphere didn’t allow reaching there and we had to return back to our home. The next day everyone left and in spite of the short trip, we still relish those two days as some of the best memories of fun-filled time with family. The next visit was by my parents and siblings in December which was after 6 months of our marriage. So I was very much enthusiastic about the visit. As expected, my mom was home with a bag full of one or the other kind of eatables, explaining me the nutritious value of each one ("Beta, ye roz khana, health k liye bohot achcha hota hai"…). We visited different places in Pune the next two days and when they left, we were again alone and I was shed to tears. After some time and lots of requests, my brother-in-law finally came to our home for a week and I could not have expected anything less than the fun all three of us had together.

In between all this, we celebrated lots of festivals and occasions together for the first time. We both went to my home to celebrate Rakhshabandan (Being the first after marriage, it held a lot of importance for everyone), we did Janmashtami pooja for which we are awake till 12:00 in the night, I kept nine days fasting in Navratri (though I had to convince Yog a lot to gain his permission :)), celebrated "Maha-laxmi" pooja with some of our close friends (I tried to follow all the rituals which my Mummyji does at home…just to continue the tradition), kept my first "Karva-Chauth" vrat (it will always remain very special to me). We both went to my in-laws place to celebrate our first "Diwali" post-marriage and though I was away for the first time from my home and missed it a lot, it was a whole new experience to celebrate it with my in-laws and I must say it was an awesome one.

We also celebrated our Christmas and New Year with our friends and it was a right hullabaloo. Though we had a Christmas tree at our home and I was really excited to decorate it, Yog didn’t let me do it and I don’t know why ( I don’t like you Yog for doing this to me :(). And then we welcomed 2011 with new dreams and hopes. As we never lessen the importance of any special day, we celebrated "Valentine’s day" in our own special way with cake, cards, chocolates and roses (Rather than buying a separate set of cards and roses, we bought common onesJ ). We also celebrated our birthdays together in our own unique way making it special for each other. The next major thing that happened in our lives was that both of us changed our companies.Though I was very excited to change my company after almost 2 years 8 months, I ended up realizing that its almost same everywhere. Only change is that your daily routine changes (and yes your salary of course), everything else remain the same. After that I didn’t give much thought to whether my decision was good or bad. In between, I also visited my home and in-laws place after a gap of 6 months and it was good to reunite back with the family.

Amongst all these big events (yes, they are and will always remain big and special events for me forever), we both had our share of little experiences, the long-awaited weekends (I still wait for the weekend since Monday itself), the monthly budget planning (it always feels good as it makes you realize that you have got someone to share your expenses with), the cleaning of wardrobes every weekend (I like to manage Yog’s wardrobe more than mine), the new dishes I cook for Yog (doesn’t matter whether he likes it or not… I experiment just to add it to his "Favorite cuisines" list in case he likes it), the small fights which only end up with both of us realizing that we love each other more than we did prior to our dispute :)…, and the best thing for me is the way Yog understands my unsaid words..Though it may be as silly as my wish to have an ice-cream (I don’t know how he understands it very well…Trust me I don’t even give that kind of expression: P)

As one of our friends said that life is moving fast in the form of 5 days installments…It sounds so true as I am about to complete my one year of marriage and life has went every fast. It is said that "First Love can never be forgotten"…I must also say that all the first experiences of life remain memorable. The first year of marriage in everyone’s life always remains special …so has been mine. Hence for all my buddies, who are not yet married – start giving a thought to it ;), those who are recently married – enjoy your days :) and those who have completed more than a year – cherish your beautiful memories. And I hope you all would have already done this after reading my blog :).