TRANSPORT HITCH

All those who are not privileged enough to have their own car or choose not to use their car although they have it (all thanks to the traffic!) would know what a pain it is to reach your office overcoming all the obstacles related to transport. For those who stay in suburbs, this pain is even worse.  And monsoon adds to the problem!

Thankfully my current organization provides bus pick up and drop. But what I narrate below is exactly how my travel used to be when I was working with another organization far away from where I stay.

Read on and I am sure that each one of you must have had a similar experience at least partially. You get up early in the morning to finish your household chores – there are so many things to do… make breakfast, cook food, clean up the house… all this leaves you with no time to get ready. Then you struggle to pull on office formals (they look so sad!), no time for makeup and just dash out of the house. You lock the door and realize that you have invariably forgotten something! Back you go inside your house; struggle to find where you had kept that thing last night and finally you again step out of the house.

Almost all people from the suburbs take a railway train as a mode of transport. You stand in the long queue of share rickshaw which will take you to the railway station and you see a bus coming which can drop you to the same place. You feel happy to save the time you will need to wait for the auto and hence at once you step out of the rickshaw queue and run after the bus but alas… it is so crowded that you can barely push yourself in… And while you do that… your hand is stuck somewhere in the crowd, somebody else is holding on to your bag as support, somebody else is poking an elbow on your shoulder or waist, your duppatta (Scarf worn over a traditional outfit) does not fail to entangle with the bus rod and you struggle to find some support with one hand! Finally you make some space for yourself and breathe! It is only then that you realize that you are actually breathing after such a long time!!! The next task is to find money from your purse for the ticket. It is just so difficult! If you manage to pull out a ten rupee note for a bus ticket of 3 Rs (yes – that time the bus ticket cost was only 3 Rs!)s, bus conductor will complain for the change, then somehow you manage to find change and you get a ticket… Finally!!!! And someday when you hold the change in your hand before jumping in to the bus, it HAS to fall down somewhere in the crowd and you can never find it! You have such a wonderful bus ride and more so because we fortunately have small patches of roads in between pot holes!!! You finally get down from the bus in one piece and thank God for that. You are already sweaty! You now run to catch hold of train as if there is just one train on the earth! You do it because everybody around you does it! When you reach the railway platform, all you can see is people and more people. You run and push and make way for yourself, and in just that much time somebody else manages to squeeze himself/herself in to that space. There goes your struggle in vain. Somehow you manage to hop in to the train, at times in a running train! All that you can manage to do is hold the rod and stand at the footboard. You heave a sigh of relief that you got to get in to the train and hope that you can stand there in peace! But are you ever so lucky? Invariable the lady standing next to you will complain about the bag that you are carrying and how it is occupying a lot of space, another lady standing behind you will complain about how your hair are bothering her nostrils and would want to know why you cant tie a bun and if all this is not enough there will be somebody else who would feel that you are moving too much and because of it she is feeling “touched”. Gosh!! These ladies can be super cranky!!! More often than not, I feel they capitalize this train journey to vent out all the household or professional frustration for the day! While you try and ignore all the jerks around, everybody behind you seems to be in so much hurry to get down that they don’t even want to wait till their station arrives!!! God knows how, but you manage to stand at the footboard like a solid rock and bear all the pressure that the crowd is putting on you. You feel as if you are carrying at least ten people’s weight along with you! As if this much was not enough, it starts pouring like cats and dogs. What do you do now? You can do nothing but continue to stand there like the solid rock that you have been all this while!! After what seems like an eternity, you get down at your station and make your way towards the exit. You are still running, in fact even faster now – because you want to be the first one to reach the rickshaw stand and hop in to a rickshaw. Do you get a rickshaw that easily? You wish!!!!! You get damn irritated to see the rickshawala refusing to take you to your destination, and you feel more rage when they drive around an empty rickshaw and yet refuse your request. You have to keep at least 15 mins time from your schedule to hunt for a rickshaw! After a very traumatic search, you find a fellow who is ready to drop you at your destination in his rickshaw. You think… Hush! At least now I can relax a bit! You sit comfortably in the rickshaw, set your bag next to you, wipe your sweaty face, and reach your water bottler for so-much-needed sip of water! Even before you could gulp down that one sip, you find your eyes on the rickshaw meter only to understand that it is running faster than P. T. Usha!! You say “bhaiya, aapka meter toh bohot fast hain” (The billing meter of the cab is faulty, its faster than normal) and then starts the rickshawala, “nahi madam, ye barabar ha. Itna toh hota hi hain…..” (No Mam, it is working fine, the fare does come up to this) and then you try to explain him in vain, then there is a big argument. You threaten to take him to the police and then either he settles for a little less amount or if he is very rude, which normally the case is, he will put brake to his rickshaw suddenly and ask you to get down. Such an insult!!! And you end up taking it, because all that matters is to reach office on time.

I am sure; most of you reading this must be going through a similar experience every day! But all of us are so helpless, aren’t we? Some active citizens did try to protest against rickshawlas, but unfortunately their efforts were not recognized. All that we got was a continuous fare hike! Does anybody pay heed to the transport problems that a common man faces? Do we even ourselves wish to set things right? All that we do is think that I reached the destination today somehow and I don’t want to worry about it until tomorrow! And even if we wish to set things right and take some measures for it, do we get any kind of support from the government or any political or social activists? Is there anyone who can provide a solution to this transport hitch??

 

A Visit to a Farm

Last weekend I and my family had travelled to Murud, a small village in Konkan region to meet our family friend.  The main purpose of this getaway was to visit the temple of Vyaghreshwar (Lord Shiva) situated in Aasood, another small village close to Murud.

We reached Murud around late evening and stayed at a resort by the beach for that night and next morning we visited temple of Vyagreshwar. We performed a small pooja there and travelled back to Murud. Our family friend had invited us for breakfast.

I was feeling a little awkward since I had not met this uncle before, had only heard about him. But since he had insisted that we must drop in for breakfast, there we were. Little did I know then how interesting this vist was going to be.

As soon as we reached his place, the first thing that overwhelmed me was the BIG house. Yes, the house was really big, and it was extremely fascinating for someone like me who has grown up and stayed all her life in Mumbai where there are only apartments and no houses or bungalows. Well, there are some, but you can’t afford one unless you are filthy rich! So, looking at this house, I was absolutely awestruck!

The house had a porch, followed by drawing room (very big one!).  The drawing room had a staircase that led to another floor. Ahead of drawing room there was a kitchen (again very big) and adjoining to it was another room (again very big! :)) after that there was a huge open space which linked to yet another room where there were many printing machines, yes – printing machines, this uncle owns a printing press  and that too inside his house!! How amazing is that? That reminds me that adjacent to these rooms, there was another very big room  (not room literally, a separate structure but within the premise that uncle owned) which housed about four huge traditional printing machines. Uncle now rarely uses them though! The simplicity with which this house was done is indeed pleasing.  Nothing looked fancy yet it looked so beautiful. Not clutter of furniture and wall decors, no showy drapes, no fancy colors to the wall, in fact, the house was done  up with mud (read cow dung) as the practice that is still followed in villages. I think that is the charm of the lifestyle in a village!

What inspired this article is what we saw after we finished breakfast. Uncle took us to see his vegetable farm. Yes, apart from all this, he owned a farm of his own (again a big one! :)) Well, it may not be as big as a commercial farm, but it was certainly very big for a farm that someone would keep for a hobby. Farming is uncle’s hobby and printing press is his profession!

This farm was the land that started from beyond his printing press and went on to connect the sea shore. Just imagine, a part of your land connects straight to the sea shore, how amazing is that!! Again, this was something very uncommon for me because we barely get to see a sea in the city!

While I was trying to absorb all this excitement, uncle started explaining about his crops and the methods of farming but who was listening to him? Meaning, I was so engrossed in watching the flowers that he had grown that I didn’t really pay attention to the technical aspects of his farm! He was showing us the area where he had grown Jhendoo flowers. It’s beautiful orange colored flower used to make garlands for auspicious events. So may flowers had neatly grown in rows and looked absolutely beautiful! Here is a picture.

Then we moved on to see banana plants, but these were very very small has he had just planted them.

Further, we moved on to see eggplants, chillies, cauliflower and few more flowers. I was so excited with the idea that this uncle grows his own vegetables, plucks them fresh from the farm and cooks them the same day! Wow, and what do we get in cities – stocked up or frozen vegetables!

He had three varieties of eggplant, each with a different size and dimension of the fruit. Here is an amazing picture, you will see the eggplant right at the bottom of the crop.

And the chilly plant looked so cute! To be honest, it took me a while to realize that it was a chilly plant because the green chillies could not be identified from amongst the green crop! But the moment I saw the chillies that had grown on the crop I was dumbfound! The chillies were so crisp and fresh. I don’t remember when was the last time I saw such crisp and fresh chillies in the city market!

Next thing that amazed me was the cauliflower. I must have purchased cauliflower from the city market hundreds of time by now but little did I know that how beautiful this vegetable looks in its original form.  It looked like a green lotus (a species of a beautiful water flower). The picture below speaks more about how beautiful the cauliflower looks. I had never seen this vegetable wrapped naturally so beautifully with leaves!

We roamed around more areas of his farm to see other plants like wild banannas, tulsi, turmeric etc. I asked uncle what he does about the farm’s produce since it looked too much to cook and finish on whis own every day and he told me he sends one tonne of Jhendu flowers to Pune city every year, plus he sends all his vegetable produce to 20 small time vegetable sellers in Pune market. Just imagine, he does farming as a hobby and produces fresh vegetables for his family plus he also helps some small time vendors by providing them his produce for further sale in the city market. It goes without saying that he doesn’t charge these vendors in a commercial manner.

While we were leaving, uncle gave us a bag full of farm fresh vegetables. This was an amazing experience! We visit beaches and resort quite often as a part of our vacation, but this visit indeed was one of its kind!

 

THE LAST VACATION

“Diya maan ja yaar…. Please….” Raghav was pleading to Diya. “Come on Diya, don’t be a spoil sport… This is our last vacation together, who knows where each one of us will be next year. Let’s make this vacation memorable…”  Ishani tried to strike an emotional chord.  But Diya had put her foot down. She had declared that she is dropping out of the plan to go to Goa.

Raghav, Diya, Ishani, Kiara, Rishaan, Medha and Kiran were a bunch of friends. They had been together ever since preschool days. But now, each one of them was going to choose a new way of life. They were awaiting graduation result and each one of them had a plan for higher studies. While Rishaan and Kiara had already started preparing for GRE and TOFFEL as a first step towards MS (Economics), Diya wanted to focus on cracking Chartered Accountancy exam. Ishani was more of a homely kind of girl for whom the priorities were obvious – a job soon after graduation and getting married to the guy of her parent’s choice. Raghav was already assisting a fashion photographer and he intended to pursue his passion as profession. Kiran was preparing himself for CAT – his aim was to secure an admission at IIM Ahemdabad.

“Diya.. if you are not coming none of us will go. This is the last chance I have to visit any place. After this I know my parents will say “enough of fun you have had, now get married and go wherever you want to along with you husband…” Ishani continued to convince Diya

“Guys, its fine if she doesn’t want to come, it’s her choice… we tried our best to convince her.. In spite of that if she doesn’t want to come, let her be, right Rishaan?” snapped Kiara. Of late things were not going good between Kiara and Diya.

“Chill Kiara, don’t be rude. Diya tell me, what’s bothering you? Why do you don’t want to come with us? Yaar Rishaan, you say something… you guys bond so well.” Kiran jumped in to the conversation.

“What can I say? I have been pleading since last night but this girl is just not ready.” Rishaan got up and dashed out of the cafeteria fuming. Kiara was not interested in the discussion so she followed Rishaan.

The whole group was awestruck. What had happened? All believed that Diya and Rishaan shared feelings for each other beyond friendship but they had not confirmed it.

Diya kept looking out of the door even after Rishaan had disappeared. Her eyes welled and she clearly looked hurt.

“Diya, something is wrong between you and Rishaan isn’t it? What happened? Tell me Diya.” Medha said squeezing Diya’s hand. Medha had always been a confidant to Diya.

“Guys, it’s over… it’s over between Rishaan and me. He is cheating on me. We never made our relationship public but we have been dating since a year and it was all so beautiful. But not anymore! He is cheating on me….” Diya finally split the beans

“What makes you think that Diya… I am sure there is some misunderstanding. Why would he do that?” asked Raghav with disbelief.

“Kiara. It’s because of Kiara. They have come very close ever since they have been studying together for GRE since last 3 months. And she has fallen for Rishaan, we all know that!! What is troubling me is the soft corner Rishaan has for her. Their proximity makes me uncomfortable. She just sticks to him like glue and how I hate that!!! “

Diya, baby, listen. I agree what you said about Kiara, but Rishaan is apologizing. I don’t know how bad fight you guys have had and we won’t ask you for any details, but having known both of you for so long, If Rishaan is apologizing it means he is really sorry about what he did. Now come on, calm down and don’t spoil your mood and our plan. YOU ARE COMING WITH US.” Ordered Medha.

“For all you know Diya, this vacation will give you guys a much needed time together. We will make sure to keep Kiara occupied. And you can have Rishaan for yourself to sort out any differences that you guys have had. Trust me, things will be good between you again.” Assured Kiran

Diya nodded softly and screamed the whole group out of joy… “Hurray….Go Goa Gone…!!!”

“Yaar, I am so excited for this vacation, golden sand, sun tanned bodies, girls in bikinis, beer bottles… what a frame man… if I manage to click great pictures then this can be a turning point for my career. My boss had agreed to analyze the pictures that I take and if he likes some he has promised to put them for sale under his brand”

“That’s cool Raghav! But don’t forget to click my pictures. I need some good pictures, my mom wants to share them with a prospective groom” Ishani said blushing.

**********************

The day finally dawned. All were anxiously waiting to board the flight. The whole group was busy taking selfies but Rishaan and Diya weren’t as excited to be in the same frame because there was still an air of awkwardness between them.

“Diya, I am so happy that you agreed to come. Trust me I will not give you a chance to complain. Everything will be good between us.”  Rishaan said breaking the ice.

Diya nodded saying “I hope so Rishaan. I don’t like these fights. I want to be with you….

“Rishaan, darling..come let’s take a selfie…” interrupted Kiara pulling Rishaan towards her and sticking to him as close as possible.

Diya walked away without saying a word. Rishaan kept looking at Diya but she was gone.

Had it been any other normal vacation, Diya would make sure she sits next to Rishaan but today she wanted to be away from him. She was annoyed because Kiara had been constantly disturbing them and Rishaan was not objecting to it. Diya wanted Rishaan to tell Kiara sternly that he needs some time with Diya but Rishaan just didn’t do it giving an explanation of how Kiara would feel bad if he is so stern. Diya was disappointed; she just didn’t want to see Rishaan. How she wished she had not agreed for this vacation. Being alone back in Mumbai had been way better than seeing Kiara stick to Rishaan constantly.

Diya grabbed a window seat and silently hoped that Rishaan doesn’t sit next to her. But as luck may have it Rishaan was about to grab a seat next to her but Kiara raced to grab the middle seat with a clear intention to not let Rishaan sit next to Diya and thus curb their discussion and any possibility for a patch up. Diya could not see them sitting hand in hand; she was heart wrenched and closed her eyes to pretend that she was sleeping. Kiara noticed a tear flowing down to Diya’s cheek but conveniently ignored.

In the middle of the flight, Kiara woke up to go to the washroom. When she returned, she was too lazy to push her way into the middle seat. And with Rishaan readily offering to shift seats, the seating arrangement changed. With 20 minutes still remaining for the flight to land, a sleep starved Kiara took another power nap, this time holding Rishaan’s right hand more firmly. Rishaan’s other hand, though, nervously moved to touch Diya’s. Her heart skipped a beat. Diya pulled her hand away. But a defiant Rishaan held her wrist again, this time firmly and more reassuringly. The changing behavioral dynamics between the three perhaps gave out a foreboding of what was to come in Goa.

When the flight landed at the Dabolim Airport, Rishaan felt uncanny…his excitement seemed replaced by an unknown fear that he found very difficult to decipher.

Ever since last 2 days and all through the journey Rishaan was trying to convince Diya. Rishaan loved her. Or did Diya think so? Rishaan definitely had some feelings for her and feared losing her after this chaos. On one side was Diya – Rishaan’s so called love and on the other side was Kiara – Rishaan’s best friend.  Rishaan had hoped to set things right between them before they land at Goa, but Kiara made sure that things turn worse. And Rishaan could sense that Diya is mad at him. Being mad was an understatement – Diya was furious!

Their fight two days ago had made Diya furious. Diya was feeling extremely unsecured with Rishaan’s attention to Kiara each time and every time. She felt neglected. Rishaan understood this but he also felt for Kiara, he wasn’t sure if it was love though!

They checked in to “Citrus Goa” and retired to their rooms for some rest. Later in the evening, all had were sitting by the pool and enjoying drinks. Diya was feeling restless so she decided to take a stroll. Diya was walking barefoot on grass. How soothing was it! She closed her eyes and was taking small steps at a time. After what felt like a good relaxation she opened her eyes only to find Rishaan there.

“Diya, please talk to me”

“Huh, there is nothing that we can talk about because in no time that idiot Kiara will come here looking for you. Bloody bitch.”

“Calm down Diya.” Rishaan said holding Diya’s hand. Both of them started walking on the grass. It felt awesome. Cold night, dark sky, pin drop silence and Diya and Rishaan. Perfect!

“Rishaan, why do you entertain Kiara so much. I hope you know that she is getting encouraged with this behavior of yours. I mean if you know you don’t have a future with her, why give her hopes? And most importantly I don’t like to see you paying so much attention to her and ignoring me.”

“Diya, Kiara is my best friend and you know it. I want you but I don’t want to lose Kiara.”

“What do you mean you don’t want to lose her? Come on Rishaan, don’t be stupid. You either have her or me.”

“It’s such a difficult choice Diya”

“Rishaan you got to be kidding. I can’t believe that after being in a relationship for a year you think it is difficult to choose me over Kiara???

Diya’s agitation was interrupted by Rishaan’s mobile ringing harshly. The screen flashed “Kiara Calling”

“Cut the call Rishaan. We need to talk!!”

Rishaan was in two minds, pondering whether he should take the call or disconnect.

“What are you thinking Rishaan, cut the damn call!”

Rishaan answered the call “Yes Kiara.. yes I am awake.. I am in the garden… No I am with…

“Kiara.. why don’t you mind your own business?? Rishaan is with me and we are having a serious discussion. Do you mind not disturbing us for a while? And let me tell you bitch, how much ever hard you try, you will not be able to take Rishaan away from me. And if you do that, I will kill you. Now please, stop your fucking nonsense and leave us alone. So many guys have dumped you so far even then you don’t understand that you are not worthy to have a boyfriend..” blurted Diya on phone having snatched it from Rishaan’s hand.

SLAP!!! Rishaan hit Diya hard on her face and turned to go. He waited for a moment, turned back.

Diya had disappeared. He could see her racing towards her room. Rishaan chased her but in vain. Diya had locked herself in her room.

“Diya.. please open the door. I am sorry Diya… Please…” pleaded Rishaan while banging on door.

“IT’S OVER Rishaan. You slapped me for that bitch. You be with her… I am not interested in you!”

Rishaan waited near the door for a long time with the hope that Diya would allow him in and they would talk. But, no luck! In the wee hours of morning Rishaan returned to his room, worried for having lost Diya. Nevertheless, he was still hopeful that he will be able to fix things next morning.

Rishaan woke up with a heavy head next morning. He felt as if something was pounding in his head. He took a moment to realize that it’s not the pounding but someone was banging on his door. He pushed himself out of the bed opened the door.

“What happened between you and Diya last night?” screamed Medh.

“What… Nothing much… I… I just…

“Nothing much??? Then why did Diya leave without informing anyone??” Countered Medha angrily.

“What… Diya left?? How…”

“I was knocking at her door to wake her up but she didn’t respond so I went to the reception to ask them to open the door but the Manager told me that Diya had checked out early this morning.”

**********************

Diya was walking barefoot on grass. How soothing was it! She closed her eyes and was taking small steps at a time. Cold night, dark sky, pin drop silence.  After what felt like a good relaxation she opened her eyes only to find a neon sign at a distance “Citrus Goa” How she wished she had seen Rishaan, like couple of years ago.

An arc of (sarcastic) smile broke on Diya’s face as she muttered to herself “This last vacation will never fade from my memory!” Diya thought for a moment and scrolled through phone contacts. Her search stopped at Rishaan.

Without giving a second thought she dialed his number. The ring went on for some time. And finally she heard a voice from the other end – a very familiar voice. “Hello?”

Diya could not utter a word. After a very long pause she said “Rishaan, I am sorry. I over reacted.”

“Diya??” Rishaan didn’t know what to say but he recognized Diya’s voice.

“Rishaan, I have lost the right to ask you if we can be together again. But I have missed you badly all through these two years. I tried occupying myself with lot of work and I thought I had succeeded in forgetting you. But a work assignment got me here at Citrus Goa and I realized I haven’t forgotten a thing. I haven’t forgotten you! I just want to apologize for what I did. I am sorry. This apology makes me feel light.”

Diya hung up without waiting to hear what Rishaan had to say. Tears flowed down her cheeks. She cried for the first time in two year. She realized the magnitude of her loss – first time in two years!

Diya’s phone rang. Screen was flashing “Rishaan”

“Hello?” said Diya meekly.

“Diya, I missed you too! I always hoped that you will call me some day.  I was so dumb to not realize my true feelings for you. It was only when you dumped me that I realized how much I love you. I tried calling you so many times, but you had changed your number! Never mind, I feel so happy that you called me! ”

“I still love you Diya.” Do you love me?”

“Yes, I do!”

This time both were sure about their feelings!

**********************

Love is indeed letting someone back in your life, like Rishaan & Diya did! Leave no place for ego and hatred in your relationships for you can see ego all around but you will not find love so abundantly. Don’t let petty fights spoil your relationship. Nurture love and make relationships stronger. If you see a relationship reaching a dead end, turn back  and start all over again, you will see a new road which you missed earlier and this road will take you to your destination of happiness.

Public Display of Affection

Yesterday being the Valentine’s Day, all that I could see around me was ambience of love, love and more love. The malls and restaurants  were decorated with hearts and red balloons, many shops were conducting sale on this special occasion, rose vendors proudly selling roses at exotic prices, all youngsters hanging out with their (so called) loved ones exchanging gifts and flowers and hugs and kisses. Sounds interesting? Well, it did not interest me a bit!!  Over the years, this day has been over rated and as a result we get to see public display of affection (PDA) all around us.

These days, the mentality is to show off your love to the audience more than your lover! And there are many avenues that encourage this mentality. It is very common to see youngsters getting physical in open (I don’t want to comment whether it is right or wrong!) but it doesn’t stop there! These guys do not spare the social media websites too! They don’t get tired of updating their walls with every minute detail of how their relationship is blooming, how they feel loved, how they can do anything for their love, how lucky they are to find their soul mates, how perfect their spouse is and what not!

If I read such a post on Facebook, I feel happy! Yeah, I truly feel happy for such a couple, but at the same time I also feel what these guys are up to? Would they be saying the same words in person? I mean, logically, if you are making a declaration of your love to the whole world via a social media website, what’s left to say in person? And more often than not, if a girl makes such a demand, I am almost certain that she will be shun by saying that her expectations are too much, she is not happy even when the boy did so much for her – and by so much we mean posting ‘I love you’ on the wall!

Just imagine the impact these words will bring if you say it to your loved one instead of just posting it on their wall! And then, it brings me to the realization of the band wagon effect that is trending these days! More often than not, these posts are made to attract maximum number of likes and comments from friends (and at times strangers too!) and the author feels so proud to see the number increasing every passing minute that little does he realize that his focus has shifted from expressing love to his soul mate to being a center of attraction. And this is exactly when the expression of love turns into a public display!

While it is alright to express your love with the help of any medium, what matters is the intention behind doing so! I mentioned band wagon effect a while ago –so, “expressing love” is following a band wagon effect indeed.

In simple words, band wagon effect means, I will do a certain thing because most of the others are doing it – whether I agree or understand it is a different story, but I will still do it because others are doing so, and, I do it out of the feeling that if I don’t follow others, I will be an ugly duckling in a group of beautiful swans.  So, most of the display of affection that we see on social media websites and parks and sea sides are because of this band wagon effect more than the real feelings. For many college students not having a girl friend is such a big deal because they fear the peer pressure that would label them as a loser! You are considered a dumb *** if you haven’t being physical with your boyfriend! And these youngsters want to do all these things desperately so that they are not looked down upon by their peers, not because they really really love someone!

What is the need to show off your love to the whole audience who is not related to your relationship in anyway? If you indeed love someone, why not just tell him? Aren’t some things to be shared only with that special person? Are you not trying to be the talk of the town by exhibiting your love this way? And do you really FEEL the same level of love that you demonstrate as PDA?

All these thoughts clutter my mind and at times I feel sad that we are deteriorating the value of feelings and emotions these days by advertising and being so open about them and expressing them just to be a hero! We are losing the charm of love.

These are my personal thoughts and I do insist that these are correct or incorrect; neither do I intend to prove that anybody who believes in PDA is wrong!

But guys give it a thought. What would you like more:

1. Your guy telling you privately how much he loves you and what he can do for you and plants a kiss on your cheek      OR
2. He posts a pic of him kissing you and writing to the whole world how much he loves you but doesn’t say a word about it when you are with him, but doesn’t forget to update you on how much likes and comments he got over that post

LOST IT….

Few days ago how happy I was
Everybody used to ask what the reason was
At that time I didn’t know what to say
But surely knew that some special thing made my day!

I cared for that thing a lot and treasured it in my heart
So that from it I’ll never have to part
At that time I was happy that ‘it’ will be with me till I die
But now I regret WHY?

Happy days flew away fast
I wonder how they took ‘it’ away from me
Today ‘it’ is the past
Because that thing anywhere I can’t see!

I tried searching it everywhere
But did not find it anywhere!

Although I have lost ‘it’, its memories are still alive in heart
But forgetting them I think I should start.

Today they are just fond memories
Arising lot of queries
For which I don’t have any answer
I think I am nothing but a LOSER!

Someone beside me please sit
And explain me why can’t I forget ‘it’
Why can’t I accept the fact
That I have actually lost ‘it’?

Today when I practically think about it
I realize that the thing was never mine
I wonder why I was so upset with loss of ‘it’
IT WAS NEVER MINE…….

That which is not mine I cannot claim
And if I don’t get it, on others I can not put the blame

But even after thinking about it in a practical way,
I am still hopeful to get it back someday…
Will I ever be able to accept the truth – at least a little bit
I HAVE REALLY LOST IT!!!!!

Like It Happened Yesterday

I recently finished reading this book by my favorite author Ravinder Singh.

It is a very well written book that brought alive many childhood memories. I could relate to most of the incidents he has narrated in his book except for a small town life style. It was an eye opener for me in way to know how Ravinder had to travel so far to the school and how he was always reminded of their very limited financial resources and how he was denied a lot of things which most other kids proudly owned! Luckily I didn’t have to face it as much although I have seen may parents live the “end of the month” pressure. I think most of the 80’s generation will relate to this book

Some of the parts that I liked a lot from the book are:

Green packet of Frooti:

I loved this portion of how Ravin and his brother enjoyed drinking Frooti and later on filled the green packet with air and stamped on it to make a loud bursting sound. This actually got a smile on my face because I don’t remember when was the last time I saw this green packet of Frooti! Frooti has evolved a lot ever since. I have done exactly the same thing with my sister!!

Favorite Teacher:

I enjoyed reading the portion that describes how Ravin strives to be good in the eyes of the teacher he admires the most and how the admiration slowly turns into affection and how Ravin is disheartened to know that his favorite teacher is getting married. My mom tells me that when I was in nursery (It was called kindergarten – KG school then) one fine day I declared that I won’t be going to the school anymore because my favorite teacher had got married and left the school J

Vaccination:

I loved vaccination story because I equally hated vaccinations. My mom tells me that when she used to take me to the doctor for vaccination, we had to take an elevator up to the second floor and I used to be all excited to enjoy the elevator ride but the moment the elevator doors opened to the doctor’s clinic I would start crying loudly! I am sure that my mother too must have lured with with some Frooti or something alike to get the vaccination done like a good girl 😉

The book certainly takes you down the memory lane and it’s a pleasant experience. Ravin’s narration regarding his school friends, the phase of changed behavior on account of entering puberty, annual day at school, watching television is sure to make you feel nostalgic.

What was disappointing was that this being the third book from this author, there were great expectations from him. The book is good for sure but it fails to meet “Ravinder Singh” standards. The previous two books that he has written namely, ‘I Took Had a Love Story’ and ‘Can Love Happen Twice?’ were just beautiful and the I drowned into these books completely. But this book needed some efforts to complete reading since some chapters are really boring and more than a story, it seems to be a dairy record maintained by the author from his childhood. There is no story as such that can keep the reader engrossed right till the end except for the curiosity of more incidents that may connect the reader to his childhood.

Love stories are Ravin’s forte, I would say, and I appreciate his effort of writing something outside his comfort zone

Although I didn’t enjoy reading this book as much as his earlier ventures, Ravinder Singh still remains my favorite Indian author and this in no way will refrain me from reading his new ventures in future.

Looking forward to your next book, Ravin. Keep writing!