Surprise!! Life this side!

Life is not easy. That is what we have been told time and again by the experienced. But humans have a strange tendency, unless they experience something first hand, they tend to believe they are not part of the loop. Nothing can happen to them.  They are mere audiences.

But life knows better. It will throw up the biggest surprise for you when you are least expecting it. The moment you start believing that your future is shaping up the way you want it and you start getting smug; lo and behold; life will step in and make its presence felt. It slaps you hard in the face for being ignorant enough to think that it is under your control. And that is the moment you realise that everything is a farce. All your hard work and worries were nothing but momentary ( and false) belief of having power to rein in life ,in your hands.

That is the moment that is very famously termed as “My world coming crashing down”. The equations change. All that you had believed was yours suddenly becomes alien to you. You find yourself all alone in the middle of a sea of your yesteryear’s acquaintances.

And that is the moment you realise your actual worth. You will be surprised to know that people you would give your life for, don’t really need you in their lives; also you will know the people who truly care for you. You will be betrayed by some, accepted by others; forgotten by your nearest ones, remembered by long forgotten; disowned by your most loved one, included by those you never thought worth talking to. Some will make you realise your special place and others will make you feel worthless. You will break into a million pieces and then will be your rebirth. You will find a hidden strength in yourself and you will rise up and move again

RESILIENCE. That is the word that you have to imbibe in yourself. That is the quality you need to find within yourself to keep standing for the genuine love and concern shown for you. Put up a brave face so that life itself goes on back foot and  offers you a second chance.

Leap up that chance . For even though things will not be the same again , you have got to live life as it comes.
Life is definitely difficult. It changes you and your feelings time and again. It is upto you to emerge a better fighter out of it or bow down in defeat and submit to your fate.
Whatever  be your reaction, it will take time. It will take time for sure.

How could she?

It was middle of the night and she was lying wide awake in her bed. Her husband and kids were sleeping soundly next to her.

Their peaceful faces brought a sudden surge of immense love in her heart and she quietly kissed their foreheads. As she did so, a small drop of tear fell down from her eye. This love was not enough to calm down the turmoil inside her. A storm that had been created by her own people or rather, ones she thought were her closest.

Her sister, one who was five years younger to her and whom she loved as dearly as her mother, was the one responsible for the turmoil she was in. ”How could she?” That was the only question reverberating in her mind as she recalled the recent happenings.

Sasha had been living the American dream for last one year with her husband who had been sent for a yearlong project to USA by his company. Her mother and father had come to bid a teary-eyed adieu to her and most importantly, to their grandkids. She missed her younger sister in that moment. She wished she could hug Trisha once as they would have to do with video calls for next whole year. But Trisha hadn’t come and even her parents did not know the reason. She cursed the overflowing traffic on the road believing it to be the culprit behind Trisha’s absence.

She was sure Trisha had called but her cell was on airplane mode. So the first thing she did on touching down was to call her sister .She was sure Trisha must have been waiting as eagerly for her call as she herself had been waiting during the whole flight. After all, the bond they shared was special. They were not only sisters but also best friends, confidantes, guides, protectors, in short, everything to each other. And as for children, they loved their massi more than their mother, a love which Trisha had always doubled in return.

The phone rang and it seemed as if it took forever to be answered. Finally she heard Trisha’s voice -sans the excitement or the hurt.

”Hi Di, have you reached?”

“Yes Trish, just landed. I….”

“Oh great! I will have to hang up now, got a meeting. Call you later. “

“But Trisha, you didn’t come…” The call was disconnected.

Oh, maybe she really did have a meeting. During the next whole year her conversation with Trisha was always sparse and short. Trisha was always busy with something or the other that she could not avoid, even for speaking to her sister or her darling kids. But Sasha overlooked it every time .Her sisterly love could not think otherwise.

It was time to go back to India and as she came out of the airport she searched for the face that she had missed badly all the year through.  Trisha had not come to meet her at the airport. And neither had her parents! Sasha decided to call once she reached her flat.

No one received the call and that got Sasha worried. She went to her parent’s house the next day but found it locked. On inquiring from her neighbours she found out that Trisha had taken her parents somewhere the previous day.

That was strange. She had spoken to her parents two days earlier to inform them of her flight number and time .They had not mentioned anything about going anywhere then. She dialled her father’s cell number. Switched off! This got her really worked up. Her father’s cell was never switched off when he was out of home.

Calming her nerves, she dialled Trisha’s number and got a busy tone. She kept re-dialling but all she heard was the busy tone. Sasha called her husband and asked him to go and check Trisha’s office for details.

Trisha was in the office when Rishabh went to meet her but she refused to meet him .Instead he was told very rudely by Trisha’s peon to not disturb madam and leave immediately. Sasha was completely shaken on hearing this. The whole situation was completely unexpected and unfathomable. Where on earth were her parents and why was Trisha behaving like this.

She barged in Trisha’s office, glared at her with furious eyes and hissed quietly in her ear,” What is all this Trisha? What the hell is happening here?”

Trisha was completely taken aback by her otherwise mild-mannered sister’s wrath and stammered,” I…I…sold the house.”

Sasha staggered back holding onto the chair for support. What Trisha told after that was unbelievable for Sasha! Was she dreaming? Was this the same Trisha, her own sister, her parents’ darling .How could she just shift mom and dad to a small, dingy flat in a sub-standard locality.

Sasha had to deal with multiple blows in that moment. Trisha’s new, disgusting face; her parents condition; and Shalabh! Shalab , her best friend since school, who was treated like their own son by her parents, one on whom she could fall back on any time.

 In short, her 3 a.m. friend had double-crossed her and her family. He had in the garb of being a well-wisher stabbed them the hardest. Claiming to be in love with Trisha, he had somehow poisoned her kid sister’s mind against her parents and Sasha accusing them of being the biggest hindrances in Trisha’s achievement of her dreams. 

Taking advantage of Sasha’s absence from the country Shalabh had tricked Trisha into selling their parental house and buying for himself a penthouse in a posh locality where Trisha was living in with him.

It was as if a dramatic scene from some movie was playing in front of her eyes. It was hard for her to believe that desires and dreams could make people forget their closest relations along with the love that they shared.  Her most trustworthy loved ones had brought her world upside down.

Loss of property wasn’t of as much consequence as was loss of faith, trust, and love. She couldn’t bear to be in the same room as Trisha and walked out somehow. She could see Trisha showed no remorse or guilt on what she had done. Sasha was broken to pieces, as were her parents, whom she brought to her home to live with her.

 This whole episode had made her restless. Were bonds of love so easily broken? Could happy memories be so easily forgotten? Did desire for money actually have so much power that it could overpower every other feeling? Were ties of love so fragile that mildest blow could shatter it to pieces?

 Sleep was the last thing on Sasha’s mind that was gradually coming to terms with betrayal by the least expected people in her life. She wished that when she woke up the next morning this would all turn out to be a scary dream but she knew this was just a wishful thinking. She would have to live her life with this ugly truth and hoped someday Trisha will realise what she had done .She hoped Trisha will someday miss her family and cry her heart out! Sasha didn’t wish to be there for her in that moment!

Vacations-to love or not to love!!

‘Yippee! Vacations are over!”

My joy knew no bound as I remembered that my kids’ school were re-opening the next day after a month long summer break. It was difficult for me to contain my excitement and the mere thought of three peaceful, quiet, completely-at-my-disposal hours lifted my spirits the way even girl’s best friend, i.e., diamonds couldn’t have done at the time.  After all, I had managed to walk through FORTY DAYS of constant fights, bickering, crying, calls for help for easiest possible tasks, with my sanity intact and hair on my head in place!!

It was time for celebration and I could not help singing my la-la-la’s as my children and husband looked at me with suspicion wondering whether the vacations had finally taken their toll on my mind. I sobered down immediately. I couldn’t give my husband the satisfaction of that amused look.

The day could not have been better. In fact, I did not even mind all the toys strewn over the house or crumbs of food forming a pattern (sometimes floral or geometrical or abstract) on the dining–table and the floor. To be honest, I felt a little embarrassed too, at the thought of being happy rather than feeling sad at how my poor children will have to go to school in this immense heat which drains one out in no time while I will enjoy the air-conditioned cool of my house. But I banished the thought from my mind. I sailed through the day planning how to spend those three much-awaited hours next day.

 And voila, night it was finally. I laid out the uniforms, polished the school shoes, made preparations for the lunch box and came to bed.

And as I picked up my cell-phone for turning on the alarm for the next morning, it struck me like a lightning bolt. Break of the dawn, that is when I will have to get up from next day onwards till the end of the session, well almost, sparing the Sundays and a few holidays.

All of a sudden I started wishing for the vacations to be extended. Then I realized how important vacations were for my beauty sleep.

  OH, that extra hour of sleep in the morning, it was so sweet!!

 It was all over now, a thing of the past until next year. I was already missing the forty days. The same forty days, which I had been cribbing about the entire day. The forty days which did not require me to get myself active as soon as I opened my eyes, or rush the half-sleepy children through the morning routine or wait at the door for the school transport telling my crying child the benefits of going to school , all the while.

I guess this is what vacations are about. Sometimes you love them, sometimes you hate them. You cannot do without them. Once you get them, you want to be done with them. Vacations....until next year!!!

The Mad Woman on the road

There is this woman in her advanced years...one I see everyday without fail. Sometimes she is dressed up in a muddy salwar-kurta with a bright red bandana with Jai Mata Di written over it. And at other times she sports  a beige colored trouser with varying colored shirts. But the bandana never leaves her forehead, be it winters, sweltering hot summers or rains pouring like cats and dogs.

When I first saw her she was lying down on the side rail of a small bridge, built over the canal flowing in our city .At first glance I thought she was probably a village woman, who being tired had decided to take a little rest. Lying down in open view , on a busy road had seemed improbable even for a village woman though. It was when I saw her the next day again, day after that, and everyday repeatedly in the same clothes at the same spot that I realised that she was not of sound mental order. It was then that I took notice of her baggage which was a dirty ,torn bag and a potli tied on a stick which she carried on her shoulder. She had nothing but torn pieces of polybags, shreds of clothes and other such castaway items tucked away in her bag as if that was the most precious treasure in the world.

Then I started seeing her roaming around the city.It was as if she had decided to be present in or near the same place where I had to go. I saw her roaming in the market with her precious treasure carried safely on her shoulder. She was present outside the multiplex ,where I went to enjoy a good movie, sitting on the boundary wall and combing her hair looking all the while in a small mirror kept in front of her and oblivious to world watching her with interest.. She has now become a fixed presence in all my outings now, so much so that I actually look around to see where she is standing and what she is dioing.

There is however, one thing that is remarkable about her.Wherever she goes , she goes with a smile permanently plastered over her face.It is as if she is the happiest soul on the earth with not a care in the world. Penniless, I have never seen her begging on the street. Sometimes I wonder how does she manage her meals( a human's got to eat to live after all!!) or her daily needs depending on how many she has.

 And that makes me wonder if there are genuinely kind souls who instead of shooing her away , feed her and provide her with whatever she needs. I have recently started experiencing guilt pangs whenever I see her, with her trademark smile and lost in  her own world demeanour. I who claim to be grief stricken on seeing someone suffering for no fault of theirs, have actually just passed by her with no qualms at all or even a thought about trying to improve life and living conditions for her.

She is one person who has managed to show me that I am not yet ready for all the hoo-ha I make over being a socially responsible citizen. If only I could show enough courage and will to help her in taking her home,ie, if she has lost her way home, or in case she has been turned out from her home, take her to care home meant for such 'divyangs'. Alas, I lack all that courage and will and am a long way away from taking such initiatives for social betterment  , or in this case, the betterment of this mad woman.

Detached

What will a person who still believes in the inherent goodness of the world will be called…I guess ‘ Silly ‘ would be an appropriate word for such a person because in spite of having seen and experienced the ‘pragmatic’ and ‘self first ‘ side of the world numerous times if one still continues to live on in their dream world, silly is just the perfect word.

But when one does finally realize that there is no one (relatives, cousins, friends) who can be called upon in the hour of need , is a sense of detachment the right feeling…I guess finding people who give you unconditional, unflinching, selfless love and support are rare. Lucky are those people who find someone like that.

Though I think that it’s not the people who should be blamed but the times in which they are living that are responsible for dying humanistic values in people. So maybe detachment is the right way to move pon.

VERONICA vs BETTY

Finally Archie Andrews has popped the question to long time heart throb Veronica while (as Sunday TOI says in an article) ‘Miss Goody Two Shoes’ Betty has been left to cry over her loss as well as that the days of such simple women are passé.

The writer seemed very excited by this development and its social significance. He couldn’t stop raving about how the men today have moved over their inhibitions about marrying the ‘fast’ women and how the vampish women like Veronica have now become ‘marriageable’ rather than being only great company to spend time with.

However in his excitement he seems to have forgotten the long term implications of such a marriage. He says himself that Veronica (and women like her) has dictating, nagging ways which seem to have a certain seductive charm for men in the initial stages ,but he seems to have forgotten that this nagging dictatorship is what is going to convert these ‘trophy wives’ into a trouble which will have no solution.

It doesn’t mean that such strongly assertive, fiercely independent, stylish women cannot make good and understanding wives but at the same time the percentage of women who would be able to prove this image wrong is very less. And this, simply because they don’t need a support system in their lives and thus do not really need to give in to someone else. As a result, if unhappy in a situation they would not probably make that extra effort to try and fit in and would rather prefer to walk out of the situation with a simple nod of the head.
And then there is the extravagance of Veronica. Would Archie be able to provide sufficient for Veronica’s spendthrift ways? It is doubtful because their social status is poles apart. It is possible only if Veronica earns sufficiently enough so that she doesn’t have to depend on her husband for any fulfillment of her wish, which again doesn’t give her any reason to stay in this marriage.(except of course for love). Thus I really doubt archie’s choice .
At the same time I wouldn’t say that women like Betty are perfect choice for marriage because the way Betty fawns over Archie in spite of being treated as a sidekick all the time is despicable and demeaning. She does not seem to have a life of her own and all her likes and dislikes revolve around Archie who doesn’t really care for her. Such women also become a kind of a burden.
What men really need is a mix of Veronica and Betty.

Simply Riveting