April is for Mom...

She called my name in panic and then joggled me hurriedly, "Wake up, you did not tell me you have your economics exam today. Why are you are still sleeping?"

"Please Ma, it's day after tomorrow. Let me sleep." I turned on the other side of my bed and hid my face under the comforter. Last night I had studied till 3.00 am. 

She was annoyed and losing patience, "Your friend is sitting in the living room, waiting for you. I don't understand why you are so careless!", she reprimanded me pointing at the clock "Get up, you should have left by now." It was eight in the morning.

She shook me again,"Get ready in 15 minutes. I am going to prepare breakfast", and she left hastily.

My eyes were wide open in panic- from last few days I had been practicing for my accountancy paper and she said economics.

I rushed from my bed, and ran downstairs to confirm with my friend. I hardly had any time. I would fail, I was in extreme panic. After reaching the living room, she wasn't there.

"I walked towards the dining hall and found my mom gazing intently at the newspaper. She put down her reading glasses and lowered the newspaper, "She is in the washroom." I went near washroom but door was open, and still there was no clue of my friend. Finally my attention dawned upon my sister who couldn't contain herself anymore and started laughing hysterically. She had been fooled an hour ago with the same prank. Now our mom joined in laughing and jumping like a teenager and shouting "April fool, April fool."

This incidence is still vivid in my memories of 1st April among many others. Our mother being a morning person always managed to fool us in sleep or even otherwise. And none of us in the family are spared from her pranks, not even our father

P.S. This year due to my travel plans, I won't be taking part in April AtoZ challenge. Though you can check my previous years' participation posts of April challenge here:

A to ZChallenge, 2014

A to Z Challenge 2016

Harish...

“We need to talk. I don’t know why you are so fond of him but this guy took us to the wrong place. He is a fraud” I said in an infuriated tone.

“Don’t be judgmental. He  too was new to that place.” GK was trying to soothe my sulking mood .

“You know I cancelled all other places from our itinerary for today and asked him to take us to that mountain. But he dropped us at some third grade place to explore. And after that he was defensive saying madam I too am coming to this place for the first time.” I said mockingly “Why the hell did he say yes, that big yes..." I emphasized expanding my eyes, "with so much confidence when I asked him if he knows about that mountain.”

My whole day was spoiled. While our passports were with the visa authorities to be stamped, we planned a short trip to Coorg in Southern India soon after our wedding. It was our first trip together. I didn’t know much about this place. In the hustle and bustle of our marriage I couldn’t do my homework that I normally do before traveling to any place. 

GK's sympathies were still with him, “He is not proficient in English, there must have been some misunderstanding.” 

“He is a shrewd man. You are innocent. I have traveled a lot in India, I know how sometimes these people dupe the tourists to save their efforts.”

He tried to suppress his smile, “Okay okay calm down. What is done is done.” He said, trying to cool down my fumes of disappointment and loss of a day. 

Harish, our driver promptly arrived next morning to drop us to Bangalore Airport. He had dark brown skin and a slightly bearded face. His hair were curly and his eyes were small. He was always smiling, medium heighten, lean man of 25 years. On our way to airport GK was constantly talking to him.

“How much do you earn from driving a cab Harish?”

“Sir I get Rs.15000 per month.” He replied in his south Indian accent.

“Oh! That is hardly enough for a city like Bangalore.”, he asked him while cleaning his glasses “So are you married?”

Sir I live here with my elder sister and her husband. My parents are searching a girl for me. It is not easy to find a good girl these days. All the parents see the pocket of a guy, then only they are willing to give their daughter's hand for marriage.

“Hmmm” my husband sighed in a tone drenched with empathy. “So you send money to your parents?” 

“Sir we have our own land in the village that is 65 kilometers away from this place. We grow coffee and cardamom there. My Brother also works there. But a single piece of land can’t feed all the mouths."

And he talked further to Harish about his career plans on which GK gave him plenty of free advice (I admit those were good pointers). I was not in a very great mood ofcourse because I still felt cheated by that guy.  

On day, I was surfing the internet sitting beside him.

It was one o'clock at night, this was couple of days after coming back to Delhi. He was lying down with both his hands under his head and legs crossed picturing something on ceiling above. Just when I started wondering what was going in his mind, he rose, as if from a meditation and said in his deep voice breaking the silence in the room
"You know I am a lucky man. I have met good people in my life like you...and Harish!"

I was staring at him in fury...

H is for Harish, on April 9

Grown Up

I was standing outside before the porch of our home with my hands soaked in mud silently looking at my mother’s face. A light colored cotton saree was complimenting her beautifully. Her eyes were blacker like I always had seen outlined with kohl. Her eyebrows were frowning, forming vertical scales on the skin of her forehead behind her bewitching big red bindi. “Wash your hands first, dare you soil the walls with your muddy hands. Next time you eat that mud and I will lock you in the bathroom”, She tried to scare me. My face exhibited every emotion that I would cry. My eyes were begging for sympathy. I was oblivious to why couldn’t I eat the mud when plants could. A tear rolled down from my eyes as she washed my hands. “Take a sip of water and throw it out. Mud contains germs, you will get sick! Do you understand? Say yes if you do. Say yes!” She was trying to teach me in an authoritative voice. I nodded my head in affirmation and  took a mouthful sip of water and spitted it out. I went to my room to play with my sister.

Twenty five years later, I was standing at the porch of my home, my hands sopping in turmeric paste. I was asked to imprint both of my hands on the wall of our house. That time I wanted my mother to stop me, to tell me to go and wash my hands. To tell me if I wash them thoroughly then only I could enter the home. As tears rolled down from my eyes, a voice from behind came, “touch this wall here with your hands.” With eyes filled with tears I looked at my mother’s face, her big red bindi was still there right between both of her eyebrows. Her nose was red. This time only, her eyes outlined with kohl were in tears too. I had grown up…

P.S. After the wedding ceremony, as per north Indian tradition, a daughter is asked to imprint her hands with turmeric paste on the wall of her house before sending her off with the groom.

P.P.S. Writing this part was more difficult for me than I thought as it took me back in time.

G is for Grown up on April 8

Image credits: Google

A lesson from my Grandma

Nani (my grandma) always taught my mother never to look down and talk low of others. One's inconsideration and self-pride can anytime turn those blessings that one has into distress. She had a few real life stories behind her teachings that had strengthened our faith in karma and imbibed good values in us.  Today I am sharing one such story I heard as a kid about her neighbors. 

Before I narrate her story, I would like to remind my readers about Indian desperation for a male child over female. While a bride is worshiped as Goddess Lakshmi (the goddess of material possessions), a daughter was (and is still in some parts of India) considered to be a liability and stigma on the manhood of a father. Sons on the other hand have been seen as successors of the family, the name takers. Hence in many orthodox families having sons was (is) the matter of pride. 

When my nani was a child, having two younger sisters and no brother yet, her neighbor used to boast about having sons. He, filled with pride, talked aloud about how fortunate he was with 3 sons and how unkind God was to those who have none. Nani’s mother (my great-grandma) never paid heed to him and advised her daughters to turn deaf to his blustering. She always focused on the education of her daughters and treated them as a blessing from almighty. 

As time passed, she became mother again twice and both were sons. Life went on, and neighbor still had this habit of looking down at these three daughters, but none of them ever said anything to him. All five kids grew up with decent lives to look forward with respectable careers.  On the other hand the haughty and arrogant neighbor witnessed a tragic life. 

His eldest son developed mental retardation (reason unknown) and one night ran away from home to be never found again. The second son died in a car accident. The third one lived a very mediocre life with many struggles and never got married.

No one among us knows our future, how worthy or terrible our lives are going to be. Hence before judging or making derogatory remarks on somebody out of superiority, one should always think about the uncertainty life brings to us at each step.

A happy life can only be enjoyed by the kind people having good virtue.

What do you think? Do you believe in Karma? Do you know any such stories? 

Images from google

Have you danced in the rain yet?

“Maa, this year none of us has danced in the rain yet.”

My mother who was reading something moved down her reading glasses from her eyes to her nose and smiled looking at me. She knew what I was referring to. I often miss being a child these days.

We have grown old, I thought. In old days hearing alluring sounds of water pouring down outside, we kids used to run to get dripped in the rains, singing, dancing and playing. Now we don’t enjoy rains like before. We whine about the puddle it creates, all the inconvenience it causes and spending those elongated hours in traffic.
We nag more if it doesn’t rain. Why! Why we don’t enjoy nature like before?

I remember how earthworms hidden in anonymity used to get out of their hideouts to enjoy a stroll outside. And then there was me shouting and jumping through the veranda to get out of the home, making sure I don’t step on any of them. These days we don’t see any of those, who we have read are very good for the soil and environment.

Droplets on lemon tree leaves outside our home...

I decided not to get wasted in the technology today. And so taking a break from my mobile screen I have sat outside in the veranda of my house to enjoy this beautiful hue of novel green. The clouds have washed everything around giving a new life to this part of the earth. As morning winds caress my face with freshness, I took a sip of my tea.
Rains, they are one of the most gorgeous things in the world!
They have brought everything to life. We no more like to be jailed in closed air conditioned rooms. I love to see everyone enjoying their surroundings outside during mornings and evenings, feeling alive, free from the scorching sun-rays. Even the mornings and afternoons have become beautiful with louder chirps of birds, honey bees playing on flowers and resting droplets of water everywhere. While the nights have become bewitching like those magic tales, full of croaks of frogs and creaks of insects, the winds have become pleasant and fresh from  roasted brown.
Let us embrace the beauty of rains with open hands. Look above in the sky, there might be a rainbow somewhere crowning the earth.

If there is heavy rain again, I am going to dance in it like before. I have decided not to waste this monsoon any more… 

Ten things you might find common between your child and you as a child...

Wish you all a very Happy Children's Day. Today for some reason I was remembering my childhood and was reading back the posts I had written long time back about my frisky and adventurous childhood memories- Childhood Discoveries, Teachings and Lessons...

With changing times plays, priorities and lives of children today have changed as well. But a few things may never change. There are times when you find a stark similarity between your child and your childhood . Here I have tried to point out ten such adorable similarities that have passed on between the generations...  

...and you smile during these times thinking back about the fond memories of your childhood!

Didn't we believe the same???

That is the time when you are amused and awestruck!

We all sail in the boat!!!

We all had a colorful home at sometime in their lives!!!

I remember doing this a lot of times...my mom does too...those guests do too... Gosh!!!

I have heard a lot of stories like this, as a child, as an adult... Can you relate to this?

A child with scissors is a child on the job!!!

Ready...Smile...Click!!!

Happy Birthday to all November-Borns.

Could you relate to above situations? Can you add more to the list?

Wish you all a very happy Children's Day again! 

P.S. There is an online community RapeRoko against rape and abuse. Do join the cause and create awareness:

The Jump

She was careless, untroubled girl of 20 years of age, immersed in her own life. Her weeks used to be the short ones, shortest were her weekends. Her mother always used to reprimand her for her unconcerned attitude and for forgetting her duties towards her home. Her room had the similar story, where clothes and other stuff were placed on bed during day time and on a sofa during the nights. It was Sunday her holiday, when she got a warning. Her mother asked her to clean up her room and cupboard or else she will give a duty of cooking for the entire week. She decided to compromise her one day and started up with cleaning. She arranged her clothes in her closet, placed shoes into the shoe-rack; and started up with dusting the windows. She opened one of them and suddenly something jumped over her head. When she rolled her eyes up she screamed out of terror. A lizard infant was peeping down from her head looking at her eyes.

P.S. This is a true story about the time I was careless; I don’t want to remember how I spend rest of my day after my encounter with that lizard infant…

J is for Jump, on April 10
A to Z Challenge

4 March - Day's Update

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Like every year wishes poured in abundance - I love each one of you for making me feel so special. Though unlike last year I missed the physical presence of many friends and relatives. Things that really moved me:
1. Arrival of my Aunt (Yamini Chachi) and my bubbly younger Cousin (Shreya) an evening before to celebrate things at birthday midnight. I love you both so much.

2. Unexpected but very pleasant arrival of my very close friend Ashima who has been recently married. Thankyou Ashish for making it possible for her to come. It felt wonderful.

We did some ho-halla and cut the cake. And then loads of midnight wishes- phone calls.

 3. Thankyou so much to Ashima for being with me for whole day. A birthday is brighter in the presence of close pals.
4. Thanks to people at Barbeque Nation for singing that birthday song for me. That cheer and excitement made me dance on the tune!

5. After reaching home from lunch I received  a surprise bouquet from my sister cum friend Saumya. You know how much I wanted you to be with me. Missed you a lot. Thankyou for sending me beautiful flowers. And of course I can never forget your birthday wishes at regular intervals for the whole day (you always manage that!)

6. Some dearly amazing wishes on facebook that made me smile big time from my younger cousin Apurva, and his (now mine as well) friends Sanket, Manu and Swati. Sanket I will always try to follow your advice - "Stay Young, Stay Foolish." Shine, Supreet, Neha, Shailly, Chavi Didi- Loved your wishes too! Thankyou Sumit for praying for me on this day. Bharat- thankyou for helping me in making that gift and being there for me (mere pagalpan mein ab tera bhi hath hai-Lol).
7. Thank you to some more friends for sending me special email b'day greetings. I appreciate your hard work.
8. Even if you are not present physically- I always feel nice about being your sister - Puneet Bhaiya!
Parul, Rinki, Piku- Missed you too! 
9. Thanks to my Buas- Shanti bua, Shama Bua, Prabha Bua for your Ashirwaad. They didn't miss the day and gave me so many wishes.
10. Last but most important- Thankyou Ma, Papa for being with me in all thick and thin. I know sometimes I am difficult, but you manage me so well. Thank you for Hugging me when I need, for caring about small and big problems of my life, for bearing my mad and crazy fits, and for those smiling and adoring eyes when you look at me. I exist because you do. Happy 4th march to you too!

Thank you to my My sister- Rochana who always make it so extra special for me on my birthday. Roaming all day long for my birthday presents, and birthday dresses. And we all love your redeemable handwritten vouchers more than anything. I know how hard we fight, crib or cry we are there for each other to stand firm and strong against the high tides of the world and will continue to love each other in a very uncommon way. (haha- ye apne aap aya)

Sugat- I wish you all the best for completing your studies soon and take a high position job where you can manage to save 4 march for me. I love you :) And thank you for lifting me every now and then - I enjoy it and feel light. :P

Above all- Thank you To God for blessing me with all wonderful, loving and caring people around and blessing me with a wonderful destiny. Give me strength to keep them happy and with me. Bless me with whatever else you want. ;)

For the first time I received so many- flowers and cut three cakes in a Day... That ofcourse multiplies the celebration... :P

 
P.s. Pardon me if I have forgot to mention you (anyone), but your presence and wishes were warm. Thankyou for wishing me

Rupee vs Toffee

This is becoming a trend. A trend that every retailer cultivates and advocates religiously. If not every retailer most of them do. Hence, its becoming popular with passing years.
My story started with an emerging requirement for some commodities one day. I went to the stationary shop first and asked for some ball-point pens that I needed, the total bill came out to be Rs. 38, after giving 50 rs.  I got  back Rs. 10 note with two toffees (1 re. each). I then went to a grocery store and asked for sooji(rava), besan and other stuff and handed the shopkeeper 200 rupees against the bill of Rs. 145/-. I  got back Rs. 50 + five sweets, I asked for change to which he replied he had no change.

Coming back home, I noticed there were too many such sweets in a small basket on the table near our dining table -contributed by all the family members! So we unknowingly bought Rs. 50 sweets in a few days span, which we were not interested in consuming at all. The drift was becoming popular.

So we were discussing this new exchange system at home thinking if people can keep sweets why can't they keep change? If this is the new one rupee coin, or a new exchange currency we should also make use of it.

Post few weeks, me and my sister were getting out from a metro station. We bought water from the stall, he asked for 12 rs. I handed him Rs. 20. He gave us Rs. 5 coin + 3 sweets. (As usual).
My sister told the guy that we don't need sweets. He insisted he doesn't have any change. I asked for my 20 rs. back, handed him a Rs. 10 note and 2 sweets.

Smiling sheepishly he uttered-" hehehe Madam esa thodi hota hai." (madam, this doesn't happen) handling us the sweets back,
My Sister- "Bhaiya kyu? Jab aap humein 2 rs. ke badle sweets de rahe ho, toh wapis lena bhi seekho. hum hi mile hain bevkoof banane ko?" (Why? When you can use them as a currency why not us? Don't make fool of us)

He was embarrassed. after a few minutes of debating sessions, his logic failed, he fumbled for some change inside, gave it to us, and yes we were victorious and over with this sweet collection hobby...

P.s. You can't sell me the things I don't want to buy.

P.P.S. Try the trick. Its fun!!!

Author's Note: I noticed  yet another problem with some folks i.e. not returning the change at all. While watching a play we bought some snacks during the interval, the quality wasn't good hence we returned it, the shopkeeper handed us 50 bucks back retaining ten rupees on purpose. We had to ask for the rest of the change which he handed back reluctantly. Assuming a customer won't ask for Rs. 2 or Rs 5 change(out of embarrassment), which multimillionaire Delhi folks might be doing considering it a status symbol entertaining and facilitating greedy habits in the markets, shopkeepers are facing a change in the values . Better to hand them to a beggar outside on roads, at least they are openly asking for a Bheekh!

शौक

बड़े शौक से जीती हूँ मैं
हर शौक को जीती हूँ मैं
मसलन, मुझे है
खाने का
खिलाने का
महमान-नवाजी करने का शौक,
हंसने का
सबको हंसाने का
और ख़ुशी से आपको रुलाने का शौक
कुछ वादे निभाने का
कुछ हंस के टाल जाने का शौक
बीते दर्द बयान करने का
कुछ खामखां लड़ने का शौक
सुनने का
सुनाने का
कहते कहते खिलखिलाने का शौक
मेल-जोल बढ़ाने का
हवाई गप्पे लड़ाने का शौक
रूठने का
और रूठे को मनाने का शौक
जब होते नहीं हैं यहाँ पर आप
मुझे है याद करने का
या कभी अपनी याद दिलाने का शौक

किस्म किस्म से जीती हूँ रोज़
हर तरह के पूरे करने को शौक
आपका शौक है काम करने का
मेरा काम है पूरे करने का शौक
जब होते हैं पूरे सारे ये शौक
मुझे है कुछ नए शौक जगाने का शौक.....

The day I grew an year older..

One more year to my existence!  As always I was super excited for the day. For some reason, each birthday seems better than the last year and 4^th March 2012 was no exception.  Since it was a Sunday – a golden opportunity to celebrate it with my close friends, the party was held at home. Thanks to all of them for making the day so special for me. We played toddler games like Cat Mumma, Bingo (which involves calling consecutive numbers and substituting multiples of 5 by the word ‘Bingo’)  playing cards, blowing b’day whistles, wearing funny masks and joking around with each other. My parents gifted me an SLR camera which was in my wish list since last year. The sudden appearance of my very dear cousin and one of the closest friends Puneet Bhaiya with his newly wed wife(living in Pune) was the surprise of the day, which left me overwhelmed with tears of joy.

The whole affair was beautifully managed by my younger sister Rochana along with a very dear friend Ashima. My brother took charge of the camera, and I was saved from every responsibility and enjoyed the day at full throttle. The day was packed with entertainment- hopping around, chirping for infinite hours, giggling, laughing, and what not. I love you all for making it so warm, special, beautiful and one of the best birthdays I have ever had.

I loved the sumptuous honey-almond cake!

P.s. Wishing everyone a very happy Holi.

[I loved this image alot, found it on Shine's wall. :)]

P.P.S. Sharing this post with a hope that you would never miss a chance to celebrate your day in a special way. 

The Ascetic

We were going to Uttarakhand (a state in North India) by car. The journey was long. Those were the winter days. The route was green and beautiful. Roads were topsy turvy and the journey was getting more tiring with the passing time. We decided to take a halt for some time. It was a chilly afternoon and the strong winds were making it worse. While we were enjoying the scenic beauty around, our eyes suddenly rested on an old man with dark complexion whose bone structure was visible from everywhere underneath his wrinkled skin that was covered by almost nothing. Apparently he looked like an ascetic or could be an ordinary beggar. He had some wheat flour, probably someone living down the hill might have given to him. He took it out and made dough out of it. He then collected some dry wood from around and created fire by rubbing two stone pieces (like in the stories from stone age) and cooked a chapati with it. We were amazed to see that, how a man at such a low temperature wearing almost nothing living in the wilderness arranged a meal for himself! And as he was eating it, he was crying out of joy, saying "Thank you God, for giving me food to eat, fire to be warm even in this place where there is nothing to survive. I am grateful to you, its because of you i am enjoying my fill with whatever i am having, I need nothing else thank you God for all the kindness you have bestowed upon me." And the tears of joy were constantly flowing out of his eyes..."

This was the real life story, told by my maternal uncle.
Contentment, a state of being in peace with whatever one has. I shared this story here with a hope that it will inspire us all to be happy about this life and we would work to attain that higher state of perfection of soul and true happiness and peace, the ultimate goal behind this life.

After Thoughts : Are we happy with what we have? Should we be unhappy about what we do not have? What is peace and satisfaction? What is ultimate Goal of our lives? Are we in the same state even after having everything that one needs and not desperately searching for what we do not have? I feel this instance gives depth to our thoughts and another perspective to see the world and our own lives..

The Traveller

Its a long way
not longer than life
I have stayed here
for some time that i cared

I had to flow further
long stayed water always flusters
going to nowhere my path shows
through the deepest lows of shadows

For my path was still undecided
neither I fled nor chided
I walked alone in the long deserts
got scared of forests and leopards

Sometimes In darkness I cried too loud
I was alone in between the crowd
I became strong yet so strange
stronger than life,
and stranger than disdain

Throughout the journey i was with me
above the mountains and beneath the seas
Never the money or a relation died
never again i cared, laughed or cried

The journey has been stark-black and white
I lived every virtue and committed every sin
I traveled to grow and grew some more
higher than skies and cleverer than lore...

Just Another Conversation!

A few days back, I received a call. Here is the detailed story on how it went:

Caller: Hello!

Me: Yes!

Caller: I was waiting for you outside the gate of your society in my car yesterday. You made me wait for four hours and didn't even bother to pick my phone after that.
Why didn't you turn up?

Me: Its because i don't want to meet you like that anymore.. I want to tell my parents about us now. Sooner, the better!!

Caller: hahaha You have become naughty..
Me: hehe Namaste Nanaji.. How are you? (He was my Nana i.e. my mum's maternal uncle)
Nana: I am very fine.. how are you?
Me: I am too good nana. Congrats on your retirement..
Nana: ThanQ kid! So Who is the lucky Guy you have found?
Me: I was thinking my Nana will do that job after his retirement.
Nana: Naah, why would i search for you, now that i am free, i will search start a search for myself!
Me: Haww! I should share some secrets with nani now.. By the way, we got to know your real age now! haha
Nana: aah! I am tooo young, nobody knows my real age.. I have faked in on papers to get free early. hahaha.. Where is your mom?
Mom comes on phone, they both talked for a while..

Mom: Mama, now you are free, make a plan for lunch/dinner or a whole day here asap!
Nana: Yep! Will make a plan soon.
Mom: Do tell me in advance on what u like to eat.
Nana: Anything!
Out of my habit of jumping into conversation trying to be witty..
Me: Tell her, tell her, else she will make something nice, that a retired person should eat at this age.
Nana: I will see you after coming there.. you just stay there.
Me: haha please come soon we are waiting for you..
Nana: okie beta, i will make plan soon.. God bless You.
Me: bye Nana!

P.S. Sometimes small things make you smile a lot, conversations with my mum's maternal uncle are such things. I don't know why he always tries to start conversation in the same way with different styles. He would have surely tracked somebody's affair. Glad all kids in the family have their personal mobile phones these days. Lol.
Keep Blogging, Have Fun! :)

Navjyoti India Foundation

Its been quite some time since i was wanting to write this post. Got time today, and i feel i should not let the time go wasted. Being a part of Navjyoti India foundation for some time at Karala, inspired this post to come up.
Karala is a village in north Delhi, near Rohini. Its an urbanized rural area and possesses the characteristics of fringe i.e. it has the characteristics of rural area as well urban area.. The occupation of people include agriculture, production and services. There are various factories in that region.
I happened to work with Navjyoti organization for sometime and got to understand the works of social organization and community work and development. The experience was good.
During my stay there I enjoyed different types of tasks and works. Being a graphic designer, my skills were utilized as well. Again the my social skills helped me in linking people and organization to each other. Learning under the supervision of Ms. Chandni Bedi helped me a great deal. She surely is a good teacher and motivator.
Visiting slums and Majri village in Karala, helped me in developing an understanding of people there and their lives. For some time i took beginner level computer classes for children of 11th, 12th and graduation. Just a few weeks ago i got a mail from a fellow colleague that my students were missing me also a few days before that, my supervisor, during one of our interactions on phone said the same thing. I want to tell them that I miss them too. Being their teacher i tried to teach them in the most interesting way i could. I feel worth, when my success pays and hear they still think about me.
Meeting Dr. Kiran Bedi and watching her closely during her interaction with staff and audience was a great experience. I also happened to work at Family counseling center there,
During my stay there i experienced:
1. people were not gender-biased and were keen to educate their daughters with the same zeal with which they wanted to educate their sons.
2. The most common attire among the students there were western outfits as well that shows the village doesn't have sticky mind and girls enjoy freedom and their personal choice.
3. Some of the people came up with inhibitions and fear at NCC and talked in a very rigid and rude manner initially, but soon after practicing some patience before them and further talk a trust was formed.
I understood that people in villages have a great fear inside them that they will lose their identity by the third party intervention and hence show a rigid and rude body language to hide their fear.
4. The married girls also had supportive husbands who encouraged them to learn computers etc.
5. Majority of youth coming there were of girls.
6. The problems at Family counseling center were of very different nature.
7. Being an urbanized rural, the place had pakka Makan and the homes of residents were big.
8. The roads were not built properly but neither were they in too bad condition.
9. I learned when you work in a village and work with a community, they judge you on attire you wear, hence to avoid any misunderstanding and pre-judgemental attitude, one should be in proper dress.
10. Working with people and for people gives a great sense of satisfaction. understanding their problem and socio-psychological issues with them provides a further understanding of life.

Childhood Discoveries, Teachings and Lessons..

This Story revolves around Me, Rochana (my sister), Shweta(a family friend, we fondly call her piku), Jai (piku's brother) (we often used to meet on Sundays for which we used to wait eagerly), Shine and Karnika (prep friends).
We were a bunch of kids always ready for some mischief. But on the other hand we also used to treat ourselves as young Einsteins.
I dedicate this post to our childhood learning and to our friendship. Love you guys! Enjoy the Post. :D

1. Cloth Supply Machine
Lemme start with Shine, my friend from prep school. She was a child genius. Her dream was to make a machine which will be a box like and will have a handle to rotate. Utility- we can store a long cloth (like saree) from one side and when we will rotate it's handle we can get the supply of that cloth from the other side.. Today when i think about it, i feel it will be a good machine for the supply of handkerchiefs. Anyway, we used to talk about it for long hours on the terrace of Shine's house.

2. The Discovery of the Main source of Water
This Discovery was associated with another child genius i.e. me. There was a nice decent lawn in the front area of our house, where one could find leeches, earthworms, centipedes and other varieties of insects. My mum showed me some black leaves turning into leeches after pouring water over them. (they gain size, after getting water) So during my routine excursion around my house, i came across a black leaf. I brought water from inside my home and poured onto it, and yes it was not a leaf but a leech. now i thought of feeding it with sugar (just as ants) i poured some sugar on to it and to give it something salty i poured some salt over it. And the moment i poured on the salt, it started melting. Yeah! So this is the discovery. A few days later, Shine and chikki came over our house, i demonstrated the same thing after finding a leech. and Came on to the conclusion that there is a mountain of leeches somewhere, and somebody pours salt on them and we get water in our taps after that... :D

3. Who has the Longest small intestine?
Me and rochana used to create some art pieces and used to exhibit them in our room and make every guest visit the 'Picasso Gallery'. It had some models (like volcano, Iglu, Paper Aquarium), Paintings (fevicol paintings, glass paintings, colorful canvas comprising modern art :)) etc. ) and things like that. Our friend Piku, on a fine sunday evening told us that cockroach has got the longest small intestine and we decided to collect some facts to include some "Do you Know?" in our next exhibition. We did it. The next sunday she informed us that no! Its not the cockroach, its the frog. When we asked her that how can it be possible as we are bigger than them, she very calmly said because God has made them so. Their intestine is very thin and a frog can Jump very high only because its intestine helps him do that. Sounds logical. For once, I just want her to track the person who fooled the poor baby and hence us! We confidently included it in our fact sheet, giving all possible explanation to the elders.


4. Discovery of the 11th Planet: Smiley :)
During one of the days with piku, she told us something very strange. She just got to know from some kind of a freak that scientists have discovered two more planets beyond Pluto, however the name of 10th planet just flew away from her mind but the 11th one is SMILEY. My sister was curious and excited and learned it by heart, though I relied on the world around me and being more interested in the things that are in my reach and less concerned with GK.
Hence, when the teacher in my sister's class asked about the newly discovered 10th planet in our solar system, she raised her hand and overflowing with enthusiasm, cried out "Miss, I dont know the name of 10th planet but 11th is the Smiley." :) It was her teacher's turn now to bring her back to earth. She shattered her heart by saying arrogantly "no, There is nothing like that, who told u this?" And smiley died for that time but its still there on our faces whenever we remember about it.

5. Tradition of vomiting among mesopotamians:
Again the source of enlightenment was piku :). She had a strong GK (We believed so). Another of her teachings that Rochana fondly shared with everyone everywhere was about mesopotamians. We were informed that they eat alot to the extent that they are filled to the throat and after that they vomit the whole food. Its just their tradition and there is nothing scientific about it...

6. The Remains of the Previous Births:
Again the light was shown to me from my dear darling P. She asked me purposefully "Do you know why newborns close their hands till a certain time?"
Me: Ummm No (puzzled)
P: This is b'coz they have memories from the last birth. And closing their fists means they don't want to let them go, and thats why they cry.
Me: Wow! How do you know? (impressed by her knowledge of different things, i certainly cherished a friend who can not only play with me but also tell me the hidden secrets and mysteries of the world.)
P: yaa... Umm. Somebody. (she said suddenly)
Me: That is why every newborn baby cries.
P: Yes. And when i grow up and get a baby, i will keep his fists closed till the time he learns to speak.
My mom overheard the conversation. She joined our world.
Me: Ma, do you know?
Mum: I didnt know (she moved her face to P). And if he remembers his previous birth he will go to the place he belongs to!
P: Oh! Then i will not do this, (changing the topic) But do you know if we don't run we will gain so much fat and will never get to enter from our doors, we have a very fat girl in our school. and her parents are very very very fat, so fat that they had difficulty entering the class. Lets play red cross now...

Media Shedia Hai Rabba...

On 14th September we went to attend the book release Function of “Hamare Kaptaan: Nayudu se Dhoni Tak.” by my Fufaji Prof. Surya Prakash Chaturvedi. This was his 9th book on Cricket. The Book is about Indian cricket captains till date and it covers 12 of the greats.

The function went well. The compere withdrew at the last minute, hence mum was given the responsibility. Although she is a writer, Prof. in Delhi University and has compered and conducted many `programs in functions and radio but it was somewhere difficult without any prior preparations. Still she managed well. People who attended the functions have been calling and praising her work. Anyhow here the anecdotes by Fufaji were very interesting and attracted and managed to retain the interest of even a non-cricket fan like me. Virender Sehwag was the main guest at the ceremony and he released the book. He surely is an honorable person, full of ethics and courtesy. His speech was wonderful too. He said he will read the book and since he doesn’t have a cricket background and so his knowledge about former cricket players is not rich. He said he will share the knowledge with the children of his family and his team-mates.
Anyhow the blog title as it suggests is about Media and the expression surely doesn’t depict the praises about the same.
Hence here I go further to the questions and answers session, where people attending the function were given the liberty to ask our chief guest the questions they want to. They were as follows:

Q: If you will be given an Opportunity to be the Captain of India, what strategies would you like to follow?
Sehwag: I think there is no need as of now for me to be the captain.

Q: Still if there is a do or die situation and you have no other option?
Sehwag: I will do my best then. If there will be an offer, I surely will accept it and will do justice with it. But I think team is doing great under Dhoni’s Captainship and is making new records.

Q: Who is your favourite captain?
Sehwag: Team is doing very well under Dhoni and Saurav Ganguly was also very good.

Q: Still who's your ideal?
Sehwag: Sourav Ganguly

Q: What is your say about CWG?
Sehwag: All the Best to them.

Q: It has been seen, the players who become Captain in India, their performance level as a player decreases. Is it due to increased pressure?
Sehwag: I don’t think so. This is not factual and its just false perception.

Q: The word “Dabang” has been used for you, how are you feeling about it?
Sehwag: Film is good

And so questions kept on flowing in…



As we reached back home and surfed through the news channels, we were awfully shocked with the news coverage on one of the channels. The Media quoted “ Sehwag said he would love to be the captain and has challenged Dhoni. He feels that Sourav Ganguly was a much better captain than Dhoni. He gave best wishes to India for CWG.”

It’s high time our Media should understand the importance and responsibility of their position.
Anyway I have seen such misquotation of words in real life. In the end its media, the business people and they would of course add some extra spice to sell the news.
No Comments!

A 'Green' Expedition

We planned this Sunday for cycling... And on our way to Bonta it started raining heavily. Because we didn’t want our plan to fail, we decided to go for the fun ride in the rains. Contrary to our fears en-route, it felt even more worth it. We loitered around the whole North Campus Area, cycling around Bonta with our bikes rolling up and down the hilly pathways. The Rain Drops seemed heavier with the increased pace of cycling. We met monkeys, snails and very long earthworms during our expedition. From Bonta we went to St. Xavier's School and enjoyed our tour there. The Luck Was on our side and due to heavy rains and Sunday the traffic was very less. And we took advantage of the opportunity, and seized the roads. Since we were biking for last 3 hours, experiencing growls in our stomach out of hunger, we decided to hop into a famous eating place in Kamla Nagar i.e. Bille di Hatti and enjoyed Poori and Aloo chole ki sabzi with a glass full of Malai wali Lassi. The hot and fresh breakfast was no less than a royalty after getting drained in the rains. We decided to go back to the Delhi University Metro Station to return those lovely cycles, singing songs on our way back. The place is full of green vegetation and clean air and nice roads. We will soon plan our next biking trip again.

Place: North Delhi

Where to get Bikes From: Delhi University Metro Station.

How to reach: Metro, two wheelers, four wheelers. There is Parking space at all the metro stations.

Eating joints Nearby: Chacha Ke Chole Bature (closed on Sundays), Vaishnav Chat Bhandar and Bille di Hatti. There are many restaurants there too like Mc Donalds, bercos, CCD, Barista, Gyani’s and other small eating joints.

Don’t forget to take your I-cards to rent the cycles. The rent is Rs. 10/- per four hours per cycle.

Also Check the Breaks and presence of air in the tyres before starting the Venture! (as informed by Shine.)

Happy Biking :-)

STORY OF ACCENTS

There have been funny instances that you, I and others around us might be experiencing or might have experienced. Language is an expression, a medium through which we convey our emotions or needs and wants. But after our classroom learning and real life experiences sometimes we fail to understand “what the other person is trying to say”. This is because of either our weaknesses or else difference in accents.

Today I am sharing some such instances which can be hilarious and meant only for a simple hearty laugh and not targeted to insult or make fun of any creed, caste or person.

A few days ago, I was asked by my uncle for some of his business deal to talk to a Chinese woman. And I called her up, and there was I, ended up just saying yes, no, what? And it was really a pitiful situation of mine, where I was hardly able to understand her accent. Just because, she had different mother tongue so her accents were influenced by it. Normally I don’t find any difficulty in understanding the different accents, as people have clarity in speech, but honestly the most difficult English seems to be them Chinese English, a challenge for me, where in I just secured 40%, i.e. I was somehow able to deliver the main message in the whole conversation.

After a month, again my uncle was having some trouble with his phone connection, so he asked me to call her and to deliver another message. Here I was asking my sister to do the job. As I felt it might be my fault, that I didn’t get her accents properly. So she took the job after much discussion and with the fear that she might end up in the same boat.

Anyhow she called her up. I saw her too, just like me, she was totally concentrating on understanding the accents and jotting down whatever she understood of the main points. She was either squeezing her eyes or closing them. “Yaa”, “okie…” ,“What?” ,“I am sorry??”, “Ahaan…” were the prominent words. Minutes felt like hours to her. And there she was writing her email Id: ya “x”, “o”, “I”, “k”..

The lady on the other side of the phone said: No, not “K”, its “K” for “Kob..”

My sis – “Kob?” You mean “K?” (Thinking to herself: Kob is a word??)

Lady: No no, not “K” for “Kob”, its “K”. “K for Kob”.

In puzzled tone my sis asked is it “K” for “Kite”?

“Oh no” the lady said, its not “K”, its “K” for “kob” “KOB..”

She was puzzled and pondered over whether she should write “C” straightaway or ask once again.

Just a last guess my sister made: you mean “Job”,” J”??

Lady in a relaxed tone: yaa, right, its “K”, “K” for “Kob”...

Anyway somehow conversation came to an end.

The outcome was, next time our brother will call her, I am not going to call her again.. I will ruin everything.

The second incidence- one of my brother’s friend, was attending trial class for his science tuition.

So there, his teacher said write “bhi”=12,

“ Bhi”= Distance/time.

“Bhi”= momentum/mass,

“bhi”= u + at.

After a while he peeped into his notebook. What is “bhi”?? Write “bhi”! He was puzzled, and changed the spelling from “BHI” to BHEE”. He said “bhi”, “bhi…” Write “bhi” not “bhee!” He said sir I am not getting you, his teacher took the pen from his hand and wrote down V and said this “bhi” for “bhilocity” (velocity), and he then moved to another trial class for his quest for a decent enough tutor.

Another one happened a few years ago, as I have been to Chennai many times. I liked the place and people were really helpful during the journey. Once me and my mom were received by some friends of my mother’s friend. We stayed there for a couple of hours. I called my cousin brother, Puneet bhaiya, to book our air tickets for Delhi for the night, as we were through with the work we went for. He asked me the address. I asked some girl sitting there. She said “Teynampet” I passed on the word to my brother who was on phone. He said “I didn’t get it, spell it” so I asked the girl to spell it.

Girl: “T”

Me to Puneet bhaiya: “T”

Girl: “E”

Me: “E”

Girl: “Y”

Me: “Y”

Girl: “YEM”

Me “YEM “

Puneet bhaiya: whats that???

Me: she must be telling one whole syllable.

Puneet bhaiya: Chup chap dobara pooch! (ask her again!)

Me: Can you please pardon the last letter?

Girl: YEM

Me: I don’t know, she is saying YEM only. Write it like that na.

Puneet bhaiya: Are you nuts? Ask her to write the spelling.

And I asked her to jot down the whole address.

While I unsuccessfully tried to control my laugh, in order to not annoy the girl who was helpful, my brother on the other side was laughing at my stupidity and ignorance and also on YEM which was M.

Ending note: One of my jija ji who is from south India tells us a joke, asking us how will a person from south India spell MOON?

He will say YEM-BO-YET ANOTHER BO-YEN.

On this note I bring this blog post to an end.

P.S. – As quoted in one of the autobiographies there was written “When someone has an accent, it means he knows one more language than you do.”

HAPPY BLOGGING ;)

Fourth March

If you are an early reader of this blog you must be well aware of the madness and the reason behind fourth march. With the passing years i have been experiencing a contentment in me, more and more peace and love for the things around me. I no more ask for gifts (Exceptions: clothes, shoes, handbags, cosmetics, cash, some jewelry) hush.. :D :P I still have wants and greed, I am not that old yet.

On the auspicious occasion of my birthday i want to thank God for blessing me such destiny, for providing me with everything I could ever asked for, for giving me such a nice and loving family, a protective and loving mother, an understanding supportive and very loving father, and loving and adorable sister and a brother. I want to thank my protective, and supporting cousins and trustworthy and pampering friends. I want to tell God how glad I’m with this life and for all his gifts, which he gifted me when I was born. Be always with me to guide me to the right path and to help me in becoming a better human being. On this senti note I wish my self a happy b’day. :)

Things I enjoyed on b'day :
Never ending phone calls and loads of wishes from midnight till 2 am. And from 7.30 in the morning continuing whole day. Cake and flowers, surprise gifts by Puneet bhaiya and Saumya. Whole day shopping and hopping with Rochana and sugat, sizzlers at Golas tasted awesome, a wonderful B'day song in chorus by Pari and Shine, i enjoyed it Shine.. :) and South Indian food in dinner with Montu and rest of the family was wonderful.. Cake was delicious bhaiya and Saumya.. i enjoyed it a lot, and that's why saying it again n again. :) And last Photo session and unlimited photos with with Apurva, was hilarious and lovely :)
The world around me made my day. It was a Happy B'day.

Nothing is forever
neither a hill that stands still
nor river that seemed flowing forever
the winds and pretty weather
the roses and carnations
neither this beautiful time
Nor even you and i
who make it so
But the moments will be here
somewhere
till the eternity
till we live them again n again
until the ages
until our births n rebirths
until they are forgotten
but left touched forever...