Of bubbles and flowers...

Scene:1 Trying my best to blow hard into the piper…watching the bubbles float in the air….. And bursting them with a soft ‘POP’ sound! This is by far my best childhood memory. Blowing water bubbles…with the filter piper. I am 22 and I am not ashamed to say I still love doing this. My SP friends laughed hard when I said I’d want to buy one at the beach…but heck! I think that even when I will be a mother I’d still enjoy doing this with my kids. :)

Scene:2 A roadside florist sitting with a basket full of carnations, roses and lilies. Pinks, Purples, Whites and Reds. I am talking here about the beauty of ‘one’. A single flower over a bouquet and a simple yet tender one over a magnificent present. It is the thought which counts not the size of the present. Ah! Too much time spent over appreciating the beauty of the flowers….before I hear the annoying guy friends screaming ‘’Cross the road will you!!’’ ;)

Life is simple…it is we who complicate it! :) You would be like wow it’s not like we don’t know the truth behind this statement and it is definitely not the first time we have heard this but we being the humans we are, we love to repeat the the same mistakes over and over again. We develop complexity in various forms. Sometimes in the form of building castle size expectations, sometimes by worrying too much about what lies ahead and sometimes by nursing the pains of the past.

Woh kehte hain na “ Arrey bhai jab bhagwan ne dimaag diya hain soochne ke liye toh kyun nahin uska istamaal kiya jaye!’’

True cent percent true…and also old habits die hard. With age, with education, with growing interaction and with each passing day…I am becoming more of a servant of my mind than anything. Every single step requires me to want more, to choose between things and to judge people. In short life has become so demanding that instead of sitting back and enjoying the moment, I am always busy being ‘busy’.

Anyways, each one of us can’t do much about this, can we? And I think we have gotten used to this pace of life and tomorrow again we will be yet again engulfed in the daily chores and ticking against the ‘to do’ items on our lists. But still in remembrance of days like today…when I did nothing but mindless thinking by the seaside… looking at the waves and the cool breeze blowing away my not so tidy hair. A day which brought a content smile on my face. And it is for moments like these that I realize Life when simple is more surreal and beautiful.

Daddy's Little Girl...

As I look back to see
I remember the time spent on your knee
When it came to my biggest fears
you came along to wipe away my tears
You always seem to know when I need a smile
especially when you haven't seen one in a while

Ridding on your shoulder, holding your little finger
It was you who taught me how to hold my head high with vigor
Daddy that’s why I'm so thankful for you
I would never ask for anyone new
And I love you so very much
because you help me with all my problems and such

We seem to always be on the same page
even though there's a big difference in age
We know how to make each other laugh
and it makes time fly past

I know you wish you could give me the world
but I'm proud enough with my title of being 'Daddy's Little Girl'
My mentor, my Hero, my Best friend and Guide,
Dad, you have been the special man in my life.

P.S - Wrote this almost 2 years back. And forgot all about it until I started searching for all the old writings today:)

Beyond the Mirage...

There are two voices in my head
One always contradicting the other.
If only it was easy to choose which one should I listen to?
Choices are difficult to make,
Of two evils I should choose the least
A constant struggle with my fate
Oh only if I show a little more faith

Even a mirror has a blackened side
So why do I see it as black or white?
There is no beauty in knowing one and not the other.
Look through my eyes O’ prisoner of mind;
Even in the grey you will see splendour.

I am waiting for the light to dawn
It is no longer about the right and wrong
If only I realise that I am being led
Then I would stop worrying
And enjoy till the end!

A new beginning- On Motherhood

I was very afraid, it was my first time and I didn’t know what to expect. I was told it was fine, though a little weak and tiny than expected but it was breathing. My palms were sweaty and I was exhausted but more than anything I was unable to contain my anticipation. My mind was swimming with all the possible ‘what if’s ‘which were masked behind the veil of my prolonged silence. A moment later, the head nurse came in and walked towards my bed head. I looked at her with expectations in my eyes but there she was standing with nothing in her hands. I was disappointed but I said nothing. She read the look on my face and understood the language of my silence. Next when she spoke she gave me an encouraging smile and told” Doctor will be here in a while.” I returned her a weak smile and yet again my eyes drifted towards the door.

Few minutes passed...which looked like a lifetime. The doctor entered the room with a tiny bundle of what looked like a towel. With every step he took towards the bed, my heart skipped a beat. Words failed me as I had my eyes for only one single thing in the room. So tiny, so delicate and yet so beautiful. I have not seen a more beautiful thing in the world before. My fingers outlined the tiny almond shaped brown eyes and the pear shaped lips. Soft, thin pink lips which looked more like two lines drawn on the angel like face. Then my finger traced the bridge of its nose...the nose which crinkled and relaxed immediately. I laughed silently more to myself than to anyone else. I laughed not because the nose bore a stark resemblance to mine but I laughed at the reaction. She has taken after her mother after all. Yes, it is a girl! In that one moment I knew nothing or no one mattered more. It was just me and my baby.

Chalo lete hain ek Chai-break....uhmm how about coffee?

“Sun chottu ek cutting chai le kar aa...”

I have never been a ‘chai person’ on the contrary I have always been partial to the other hot beverage and substitute ‘ which is popularly pronounced as Kaffi or co-fee’ (coffee) in South India. Why my loyalties lie with coffee and not ek garam chai ki pyaali, could be attributed to being brought up in South India or maybe growing up on Cafe Coffee Day’s frappes and mocha chinos during college days. At one point of time I was a self declared coffee addict and without my hot cuppa I couldn’t even manage one late night during exams.

But as we move places, grow older, make new friends or move from college to work life, we undergo subtle changes. And suddenly the garam masala chai has taken precedence over hot piping coffee.

Galli ke nukkad par shetty’s ke dukaan ki chai peene mein jo tripti milti hain woh machine ke Nescafe ke coffee mein nahin hoti. (Aur Chai ke saath glucose biscuut ka mazaa alag hi hota hain. :)

Why chai-breaks are refreshing and so tempting because they are shorter in length (supposedly) than your lunch breaks. A separate slot need not be assigned in your working hours to accommodate them but they will automatically find their way into the timings. One takes it whenever he/she feels like it or when work gets too tiresome and monotonous... as someone says ‘ arrey chai break toh baanta hi hain” :). Chai breaks are the perfect time to catch up on gossip and gup-shup. For the smoking friends chai and sutta is not a bad combination too. And there is also no compulsion of having a full cuppa....barah number ki (1 by 2) and in bigger groups Choubees number ki (24 or read as 2 by 4) can also be had.

One cannot miss the aroma of the assam spl.and the flavour of the handpicked Darjeeling leaves in the tea parlours of Kolkotta. Move through the chaurahis and gallis of Charminar and you cannot miss the clinkering of the cutlery in which irani chai and samosa are served. And you move a little down south, madras spl.and filter coffee will equally mesmerize you in the Coffee Houses. The fan club for ‘black coffee - no milk’ isn’t small either across corporate offices.

From the bade saab in offices to the chachaji ki dukaan, whether served in china, plastic cups and tiny glasses why tea or coffee holds so much importance in the daily life one cannot explain. Intellectuals, movie buffs, political followers, erudite poets and sports enthusiasts all flock to the ‘adaas’ to discuss the lastesht news over your ‘ ek cup’. Even in apna bollywood when the hero comes to the heroine’s house for the first time, the heroine sings the song ‘ shayad meri shaadi ka,,,mummy ne chai pe bulaya hain’ or when the hero’s best friend comes home the Maa tells ‘ beta chai-nashta karke jaana zaroor”.

On one side if we have the ‘ Maa and her chai ‘ then on the other side also we have the love-dovey chocolate boy asking the girl next-door ‘out ‘on a coffee date. If we thought it was only about which is more ‘hotter’ (pun intended) then the buck doesn’t stop here! Whether iced tea is an equal match to cold coffee one cannot answer the question convincingly, as both are very different in taste, flavor and base.

The debate over which is better ‘chā’or ‘qahwa’ is never ending and it can go on and on...as long as people have different tastes and preferences.

As for me, yes I am a convert from being an absolute no tea person to chai-break why not! But have I given up on my filter coffee, cafe latte, cold frappes and cappuccino? Nah! why choose when one can have best of both worlds.

Mending Broken walls...

Last evening I was mending my compound wall, when I stooped down to mix the wet mud with the bricks. I wondered what led to the present state of this wall. All these years, I was busy pouring water on the plants in my garden waiting for them to grow and nurture and bear fruits of my hard work. And I forgot about the surrounding wall which bore the brunt of the changing weather conditions. The irony of my life, new relationships, recent friendships and latest objects got more importance than old parents, childhood friends, known places and heirlooms. It is then I realized how indifference and negligence can do more harm than outright dislike.