Sometimes Less is More!

Once I asked my maid whether she is willing to work at an Ayurveda clinic. I used to go for a treatment to this clinic and I personally knew all the staff there. We had become friends over a period of time and that’s how they had assigned me the task of finding a maid and i could not find anyone better than my own maid.

I: Mavshi, there is this clinic near Yogi Nagar. They are looking for someone who can work for them. There won’t be much work. Just sweeping and mopping twice a day, washing utensils of kadha (medicines) and wiping the treatment beds and cleaning the bathroom at the end of the day. Would you like to work there?

Maid: No!

I was super surprised to hear a plain No from her. I tried to persuade her.

I: Are Mavshi, they are going to pay well. 6000 Rs a month. You can leave all your jobs and just do this one, you will earn more. If you want you can keep couple of your current jobs to do in the evenings, it will add to your income. Plus it is close by. You wont have to roam around in sun trying to reach from one house to other house. They are also providing tea and snacks daily.

Maid: No, i don’t want to work there.

I: Why not? Give it a thought please. You will earn a lot more with lesser efforts than you have to take right now.

Maid: I don’t want more money. I like working at my current households. They are dependent on me. They don’t find a replacement even if I take a week long leave or fall sick. They never treat me badly.  I am happy with my work. Money is important, but not everything. Most of these households have helped me during my financial crisis, I can’t leave them for a few thousands extra. I owe them my loyalty.

I was astounded with her reply. She had a beautiful thinking. I was wondering that this woman who is barely able to make ends meet is so contended and happy and what’s wrong with me? Most of us are never satisfied with the progress that we make, the more and more money that we earn. We are always running behind materialistic things. If i compare myself to her, I have a lot more money (Thank God!), lot more luxuries (Thank God!), lot more education (Thank God!) than my maid but if I compare happiness, i think she is way happier than me.

What i realized was, her’s is a small world. There is no entry for unnecessary things (read luxuries) in her life. She is very clear with the distinction between necessity and luxuries of life. And hence, her life is full of happiness and satisfaction. She has lesser necessities and more happiness.

Sometimes, Less is More, isn’t it? 🙂

Like A Love Song – Book Review

My friend Pooja gifted this book to me on my birthday and it was such a lovely gift I tell you!

Like a Love Song is a love story authored by Nikita Singh and she has done a good job. I had never read Nikita’s work before and this book set a good opinion about her in my mind.

The story is all about Mahi’s life, dream and the people important to her in her life. It is all about how she gets dumped and fucked up her life. Nikita has penned down Mahi’s first relationship to a great detail. She has perfectly captured the attitude a 17 yr old would carry. She has portrayed Mahi beautifully. I could see myself in her in bits and portions and I am sure you will relate to her too. She is more of a live person than a character in the story.

I liked the fact that she has shown the protagonist as one little kid who messes up her life, drops out of college, fucks her relationships and almost destroys her dream. It all feels so real unlike other novels where the lead character is “know it all” kinds with great looks and super brains.

The entire story is knitted together against a plot of Mahi’s relationships and dreams. It is interesting to unfold Mahi’s life and Nikita has done a great job in keeping reader’s interest alive till the end. It does get boring in between when Mahi is shown hell bent on dropping out of college the second time, this time to chase her dream. But i think such things could be happening  in reality.

I loved the intensity with which Nikita has narrated the “post breakup” Mahi (the first time) and all her efforts to put herself together. It will really move you. Another powerful narration is towards the end of the story where Mahi has blown out practically everything that was important to her like her family, best friend, her love and most importantly her dream. You will really feel bad to see her in that state.

The falling in and falling out of the love will consume you, it consumed me at least because I hate to see personal relationships falling apart even in movies and novels. I personally think the end could have been better because I believe in happy endings but yeah, life is not always that kind and Nikita has captured that really well.

I think Nikita could have done a better job for describing “falling in love again” phase of Mahi. She did show her inhibitions but i feel should could have elaborated more on that and shown how slowly yet beautifully she enters the world of love again, rather than jumping in love after a small phase of holding to inhibitions.

All in all, its a good book. There is no moment of “what a crap story” or “it is so boring” but there are no moments of a great high either, apart from some power pact pieces i already mentioned.

Over all Rating: 3.5/5

P.S: I loved the character of Laila in this book :). Do read this book to find out more about Laila and Mahi.

IPL Fever & Fun

As soon as April sets in, a unique enthusiasm runs through the country. For the country who is in deep love with Cricket and bears unmatachable passion for the same, April brings in a treat of IPL (Indian Premeir League).

A lot has been said about IPL ever since its conception 10 yrs ago and hence topics like friendly betting, cheer leaders, Shipa Shetty, Nita Ambani, ALL cricketrs etc have been trending for a decade now. IPL now forms a part of India’s culture. And it is clearly evident that this culture invites and welcomes one and all irrespective of caste and religion.
How much ever I may not be a fan of any kind of cricket, IPL does grab at least some attention from me. This year it was in the form of this joke that is doing rounds on WhatsApp. Read and have some hearty laugh. This could might as well be a reality, you never know! 😂😁😀😉😅😆😄

Pl let me know if you can help – A friend of mine  bought tickets to the IPL match .. the problem is that he completely forgot that this Sunday is his wedding… coz he bought the tickets few months before fixing his wedding date …. Now he wants to know if anyone is interested in getting married….!

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The English Teacher

“Mom, my English teacher has called you to meet him tomorrow” announced Abir as soon as he entered home.

“What for? I hope it’s not for reciting your mischief’s and complaints. What did you do?” I asked taking off the bag from my 6 yrs old son. I always dreaded when any teacher asks me to meet! And rightly so! How embarrassing it is to be told by (all) teachers that my son is very mischievous, plays pranks and talks a lot. But what to do? Like mother like son!

I checked Abir’s calendar for English teacher’s remark and saw the following note:

“Please see me tomorrow at 10:00 am, teacher’s room on the first floor”

It was signed artistically or that’s how it seemed to me! I thought the signature read Spaes. I couldn’t recollect that name as any of Abir’s teachers that i knew. This one could be a new teacher, i thought. I wondered what kind of a name that is, but didn’t ponder much over it. I put back the calendar in Abir’s bag, took out his tiffin only to see it half eaten, as always!

While the rest of the day passed away like normal routine, I couldn’t stop thinking about why the English teacher would want to meet me. Abir was good with language. He had great story telling abilities, was good at reciting poems and had just fine sense of pronunciations. He was a little weak in spellings though! I told myself that it must be because of the spellings only that his teacher wants to meet me. I prepared myself for a mini lecture about how important it is to spell words correctly and how i need to work more with Abir to make him learn spellings well. Huh, if teacher tells me that, i was sure it was going to fall on deaf ears because I am worse at spellings myself. I swear, had there not been computers which highlight a mis-spelled word with a red underline and also provide correct spelling at the right click, I think it would be difficult to differentiate my spellings from Abir’s. Like mother like son.

I reached Abir’s school at sharp 9:45 am next morning. I asked for “Spaes” teacher in the teacher’s room and I was asked to wait outside. I sat on the bench outside watching cute little children totting to their classrooms in a line maintaining one hand’s distance. I could see a teacher dragging a student out from another class and making him stand with his hands straight up. Awww! Suddenly a familiar voice reached my ears. Who was speaking? It was somebody inside the teacher’s room. That voice was strangely familiar. So familiar that it made me restless. “Where have I heard that voice before? Whose is it?” were the only questions crowding my mind. I wanted to peek in to the teacher’s room to see who was talking but I stopped myself. It wont be seen as good manners.

I was relieved when I was told that I can go and see the English teacher. It meant I was going to get a chance to enter the teacher’s room and see the person whose voice sounded so familiar. I quickly gazed around to find someone familiar, but hard luck! I quietly made my way to the place where I was directed to meet the English teacher.

I saw a man sitting on a chair, facing the cupboard behind his chair and bending down to reach the lowest of the cabinets.

“Hello Sir, I am Abir’s mom. Did you want to see me today?”

The English teacher turned around just said,”Yes please…….”

Moments of silence passed and we kept looking at each other.

“Savio!!!! What are you doing here?? Don’t tell me you are Abir’s English teacher!!!” I almost screamed in excitement and I am sure my eyes had popped out too! (My typical expression when I am excited 🙂 ) I was so happy to see Savio – my first blogger friend, some one who shared honest opinions on my blogs, always motivated me to write, shared plots and ideas for short stories and the same guy whom i used to take on a virtual grocery shopping spree!

“Hey Aditi!!! World is such a small place. Never expected I would get to teach your son”

“How did you land in Mumbai? I thought you hated this place.”

“I surely hate this place, but this school is a great institution. I really wanted to pursue this career opportunity. Plus, my training website is getting a great response. I am working on setting up an office here in Mumbai too. Here, the logistics and proximity to clients are far better than Goa you see!”

“Agreed. Welcome to “Amchi Mumbai” . See, i had told this to you 7 years ago! By the way, in the name of uninstalling WhatsApp, where did you disappear for all these years?” I tried calling you several times, shot some emails and also checked WordPress for your blogs, but you seemed to have vanished in thin air. If I am not wrong, the last conversation we had was a SMS that you sent telling me that you would call me back later.”

“Common Aditi. I was busy then. So many things were going on. And you can’t blame me for vanishing ok? I didn’t vanish. I had to change my number. I called you so many times from my new number but not once did you answer. I think you still have the habit of ignoring unknown numbers!”

“Yes…even today!” I chuckled. This calls for a coffee Savio! I think we should meet in a cafe and not in this teacher’s room!”

“Mam, we are here for an official meeting, so let’s just stick to the agenda” Savio tried to be serious, but failed 🙂

“Oh please Savio, I am not going to listen if you are going to complain about Abir’s language skills. And now that you are his teacher, please take some efforts on him. I am sure Abir is in the best hands now.” pat came my reply. So informal, and so assertive. This was the first time I may have spoken to any of Abir’s teacher like that. But who was considering Savio as a “teacher”? For me, he was still a dear friend, co-blogger and a nice guy 🙂 (He often complaints that he is tagged as a “Nice Guy” but can’t help, he is indeed one!)

I was lucky to strike chords once again with a close friend of mine, but all may not get that opportunity. Don’t let your career aspirations and other tensions in life ruin your friendship. Friendship exists beyond electronic medium of Whatsapp and blogging sites, just be sure to maintain that personal touch to it.

PS: This write up is my response to You & Me Tag that I was nominated for Savio.  Be sure to go over and check out his blog, The Extraaa Mile. Thank you Savio for this opportunity.  Always be the NICE GUY that you are! 🙂

Now to continue the legacy of this super tag I nominate Jothish Sumit Official and Elaine

All that you have to do is write a post on how i may influence your life or play any minisucle or important role in your life. This world is a small place and it is round. We shall bump into each other someday. How about imagining the same beforehand? I am sure you will have great ideas for this tag.
Looking forward to reading your post, and please do not forget to pass on the legacy like u did. ☺