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Never Gonna Give You Up

HELL YEAH I’M FINICKY! If we are talking about vices that really turn me up and make me leave you, ooohhhhhh, they are aplenty. But lets just have one for the night or my hatred might spill out and the post may turn into a rant.

I found a word for it – Misophonia and wrote a post about it too –

Misophonia – Stop that sound please!!!

I’m severely MISOPHONIC and anyone who wants to spend more than few minutes with me, you better learn to eat with your lips shut tightly. They only open up to let you pass a nibble through your lip door and then it closes like a safe in a bank, so sound from the inside ever leaves it. EVER I SAY!

Not only does it make you like an ass but also gives me vomit sensations and my hunger turns to ashes!

The CHUP CHUP sound and the fact that you are truly trying to enjoy your food may just make it your last meal and get you laid to rest once and for all. THIS IS A WARNING!

Lets find out what others are writing about this topic –

Memories

This Picture Was Taken 5 years after our college ended in fron t of the class in which were together punished for the firs time

OK, I had to Google that! I had no clue what West End Girls meant and hence couldn’t connect its relevance to the description.

But I got that now – Pet Shop Boys and bla bla! I don’t cherish Pet Shop Boys as my lack of understanding would suggest and I’ll stop them right here, period.

But finally a topic, that makes sense. Tells you a lot about the author/writer/blogger, doesn’t it.

How many hands will raise if I ask my audience if they moved around a lot because their father moved a lot for his work? I’ll get many I know.

Short stays here, a longer stay there. Life was quite like that for us growing up. I don’t quite remember the cities I grew up in very early in my childhood. But I did revisit my birthplace for it’s proximity to my college after I finished school. Just couldn’t keep my hands off it. 🙂

Our surroundings in my early years were very earthly. I grew up in company provided colonies. Nearly everyone in my neighborhood had the same job varied only by their positions in the office. Everyone was an engineer – electrical, civil, electronics, mechanical – everything but a computer engineer! I grew up competing with my friends which I will admit sometimes went out of my hands and way above my head but it was all a part of a lot of fun and learning. School, breakfast, home, lunch, homework, cricket, dinner and sleep – this was my routine for all of my school years. Sounds kind of disciplinary doesn’t it and the hell it was.

I’m now thinking, this may be the reason I tend to fall so much towards mundane things with no fun. It was no fun. The best part of the day was obviously – school and cricket. I never frankly liked my home. Home was the last place I wanted to be and yet it was my safe house, my bunk.

I never had friends in school. They intruded me and my mind. Some casual acquaintances but nothing serious. I learnt mostly from my mother and teachers. They decided everything I’d do or won’t and how.

We lived in houses that were often invaded by snakes, dogs, cats, bees, birds. We lived in houses that were turned to homes by mom and dad. They would build huge gardens in every place that we ever lived in. It’s something both really cherish. Home grown fruits and vegetables often made our lunch and dinner and they were both naturally very proud of that.

We learnt riding and driving very young and dad especially made sure that I learnt to take care of my brother. We’d play for hours and hours together during our summer vacations, never getting tired. Board games, cricket, cycling, driving, video games and those fights over Hot Wheels toy cars. Who’d get what for his birthday and when both of ranked first in our class. We lived in towns no greater than Delhi’s Chandni Chowk. All of us knew all of us.

Party’s were common – birthdays especially. Picnics came too and with them came adventures and foolhardy games. It was all very normal.

And so came some of my current properties – introvert being one. I taste a lot of this world through my senses. Since, I’m alone most of my time, I think a lot. The most interesting part that I have and none in my family do is I’m prospective and not judgemental. A true ISTP.

Here’s what my fellow bloggers are writing about this topic –

Job or It’s The End Of You and Me!

Us? We are engineering students. Our life and career runs on deadlines and ultimatums.

“I need that code tomorrow OR!” – Boss.

“If your assignment isn’t submitted by evening in my class, you’re going to have to show your ass in the Principals office tomorrow!” – Professor.

“When are semester exams starting?”… “Tomorrow???”… “I’m fucked!” – Me.

Our hands and feet don’t move till we are as close to deadlines as close is the whisper of death to me when I’m driving!

But that’s all fun. It’s when life-altering decisions are at hand that ultimatums and deadlines show their true colors. They can make you pee in your pants, quite literally. Think of the moment when you may get informed of your terminal illness! Yes, ultimatums and deadlines sometimes show their face when they are least expected and that’s when they make a dent or help you remove one.

Fighting a deadline or an ultimatum is a true test of your character, decision-making prowess and clarity in thoughts and nothing in world strengthens your belief in yourself than conquering one!

Regarding a situation when I threw an ultimatum at someone, it was right at me. I was helpless. The period in which I was looking for a job was nothing less than a mountain to climb everyday and come back down and sleep and repeat the same thing over and over for next 18 months. Shattered wouldn’t even start to define my state of mind. But I had a challenge at hand and I made sure to make an effort everyday to complete it day by day, little by little. So knocked was my confidence in myself after I lost my first job before even joining it, that it took me ages to find myself back again, that same me who had competition for lunch and wins for dinner!

So I threw an ultimatum to myself after I joined my first temporary job at a BPO. That this will never be repeated in my entire life again. I will not go through this humiliation ever again and I have to find a job that’s worthy of my time and effort and hard work and that right after I complete my Mainframes course or else it may be time to look at reducing some weight from this earth which in my case is and was – substantial. I worked and studied hard. Ate even lesser and brought my sleep down to a few hours in the night only to repeat it for the next 2 months. And I won. I got my first job at Accenture and that story is right here.

Here’s what others are writing about Ultimatums –

Daily Prompt – Money for Nothing

Dream Job? Is there ever one? Isn’t the grass always greener on the other side?

Imagine a room full of servers and everything that a company or a firm does has to go through you. They have no way out of it. You designed the system and their money depends on it. I am responsible for everything I built and run. That’s my ideal job.

Do I have it? Well I’m close to it. I’m learning things as I go and 7 years into my industry, I can safely say that I’ve learnt a lot of what I do. I create things alone, run them, serve my clients, make money for my company.

My ideal job isn’t actually a job. It’s the conditions that’ll suggest if it’s ideal. I don’t like being bossed over. I mean, let me have things my way. Don’t create a hostile environment around me. It suffocates me, it takes the breath out of my creativity and prevents me from giving my best. Any job that doesn’t involve these conditions, is my ideal job.

Do I earn the money I want? My question is – is any money ever enough?

By the way, I got promoted yesterday! Yayyyy!

Smitten

It was a really dull evening, another Sunday with nothing done. I wasn’t so zealous back then and had grown incredibly fond of my credit cards! It was just another walk to the temple back in the days when I worshipped. It was yet another stroll to “The Forum” mall in Bangalore, Karnataka. My best friends girlfriend joined me for he was then in Mississippi. We were getting bored even in mall after our dinner when an idea struck my head. I had always been curious about the BOSE shop on the second floor. What was it that interested those surely wealthy people? We dived in.

They made us sit in a rather small auditorium (it was just a room full of speakers and woofers). We sat at the center and the sales guy started directing us – “Sir, I’m going to let you watch clips from some movies. Please tell us about the sound that you hear”. I can’t recall all the movies but “The Incredibles” was one. It was scene where the smallest child is running through the jungle and trying to save his elder sister and incidentally meets his parents. It was the HD print of the movie, a rather rare commodity back then. We listened and the sound came from all around us. Now remember the movies in your theaters. In an average sized theater, you have at least 8 large JBL speakers right besides your ears from both the sides giving you all the effects and the slightest of sounds. That was the only scene I could remember back then.

I was thrilled to say the least. The best part was yet to come though – “How was the sound Sir?” He was taking particular interest in me for some reason.

“Amazing” – The smile just wouldn’t leave my face.

“Which side did you hear the sound from, the most?”

“All around but primarily from behind us”.

“Just guess how many speakers were turned on for your listening?”

I pointed at a few from the front and the back and smartly included a sub-woofer as well to cover the bass.

He smiled sheepishly and spoke softly – “Sir, only the 2 in the front along with the sub-woofer were turned on”.

How the hell could I be proved wrong?? I demanded to watch the trailers again. The result was the same.

I was shell-shocked! Conceding, I left the room and started browsing other smaller equipments that they had placed for trials. The sales guy came to me again. Why the hell doesn’t he leave me alone? How much mockery and embarrassment more?

He said – “Wouldn’t you like to hear these?” pointing at the a set with rather small set of speakers.

I acted smart again and said – “No show me those” pointing at the ones with larger speakers.

I wanted to listen to decent sound. He asked me to plug my phone in the socket of the remote and I played a song at medium volume testing it’s range. I started to slowly raise it’s volume getting really serious at seeing these speakers beside my laptop. They were really impressive, would be an understatement. They blew my mind out. I was smitten!!

I immediately went out and leaned against the railings of the balcony. I couldn’t make up my mind if it was wise to max out my credit card buying this set. It would cost me a fortune and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for such an expense. She came to me and said – “Just gift yourself on your birthday!”.

That was just the reason I was looking for. I went home, got my credit card, swiped it, got the set packed and there it was – right beside my laptop!

I’ve never since rued my decision.

Daily Prompt – Lucky Star

I’ve had an awesome and tiring day. Learnt a lot, played a lot and breezed through my coding assignments. After a thought in the evening though, I had nearly given up on doing the daily prompt for today but it was just too easy to throw away. So here it goes. 3 things I’d like to do with the wishes granted to me by The Daily Post –

1. I’d like to visit all the awesome places that people post about in their blogs. Not that I’m jealous or something but I have a genuine need to see the world (as is mentioned in my introduction).

2. “Gimme all your money”. Yes, please make me rich. Let me have that feeling before I die – the feeling of satisfaction that for once I don’t have to think about the money I’m about to spend.

3. Give my parents and parents-in-law a long stress-free life. They’ve really struggled to get where they are and deserve a lot of peaceful and disease-free retirement years.

Daily Prompt: Lets (Red) Face It

How am I left red-faced?

When I smell a stinky appalling urinal bang opposite to the temple those morons worship in.

When I see the haste to not even let an old woman cross a road.

When I don’t see people turning their vehicles off on a 2 minute signal.

When I see open canals filled with nothing but litter.

When I see how the government uses the money I pay them.

When I see that government can’t do shit about the status of women in this country. Rapes just don’t cease to exist.

When I see uneducated healthy children and adults begging on the streets.

When I see how people shake hands even while taking full part in irresponsible acts.

When was I last left red-faced?

TODAY & EVERYDAY!

Daily Prompt – The Show Must Go On

Rather than tell you what I would want to be in a movie, I’ll tell you what I’d rather not be.

A director and the actor are artists. They require a tremendous amount of creativity. They are people who are on the screen directing peoples emotions the way they want to see it, the way they visualize it. They bring mortality to imaginary characters.

I’m not creative. I’m a guy of processes and initiatives. I’d rather collect than create. So I’d better be a producer or even lesser – an associate producer who’ll do everything for a producer all the while learning from the process as I’m a novice in the movie business as of today! I’d learn how to invest in a movie and make it come true gathering the best people for their parts for directing and acting! I’d watch the real faces of the actors from the background and their tantrums and how to deal with each of them in the future. And last but not the least, I’d make more money than anyone on the sets and they’ll forever care for my offers. I’ll be strict with my schedules and will make sure to see no over-budgeting in the movie. Efficiency will be my second name.

The Undoable Daily Prompts

It’s pin drop silence in my room with my fingers tapping at my keyboard furiously to keep my anger away at yet another failure. I can’t help but smirk at myself, shrug my shoulders and ask myself – what the hell am I made of? A plastic? A piece of paper? Un-malleable and easily burnt?

I mean Daily Prompt throws at me 2 difficult tasks and I cower away like a batsman who can’t play a short ball? It’s been 2 days now that I haven’t published anything for Daily Prompts now. I had almost made them my target for this year but just 2 days of difficulty are making me reconsider my absolute aim and whether I’ll be able to meet it. Two prompts that have reminded me of my un-shruggable weaknesses. The highlight among them is – I don’t read enough. I take so much time writing so little that reading doesn’t get its top place in my itinerary.

Let there be peace. Let there be love. And let there be a quiet for that’s the one before a storm. I’m embarking on a journey that promises to blow a few heads away.

So let me tell you how my so-sought-after Saturday went.

I got up early or let me just say I didn’t sleep that night. It was an unhindered enthralling sense of insomnia that had turned my sleep into a long sequence of dreams that made no sense at all, well this sentence didn’t make sense at all too! I haven’t gotten over it, have I? Let me shorten this up – I didn’t sleep and yet I somehow woke up at 10:00 am, you know how it happens (if you don’t, think it up). So I freshened up and headed straight to the first bank. I caught up with the manager who broke the ice inside my head and informed me right on my face that what I was going to invest into was stupid and I should refrain from doing it. I couldn’t believe him. Their website says that investment would help my credit score. But this is the catch I guess – it says it’ll help my credit score and not credit history. So my idea of applying for a credit card using a fixed deposit account was basically me getting a credit card against security and it won’t help my already robust credit score.

So what do I do? The manager made me catch up with their account manager who explained to me the nitigrities of how things worked and I understood that my concept about the said investment was wrong. He calmly offered me a solution for the situation. He called his credit manager, told him my situation and both of us exchanged numbers with him giving me a list of documents to submit so he could analyze them himself and get them analyzed by his backend team. I said fair enough. At least someone showed interest. We shook hands and separated.

I then went to my bank, one with my salary account, to get a second view on things where the very “intelligent” guy at the reception didn’t even let me in and tried explaining the solution to my situation right at the front desk. I said OK, lets see what you’ve got! He told me that I’d have to raise a dispute with CIBIL (the credit bureau) about my position and send them my documents and that is when they’ll help my case.

So this is what I’m supposed to do. Let me get my hands dirty then, bring it on CIBIL, you damn you!

I then got the tires on my bike changed from MRF to brand new Michelins. AAAAAH that feeling of power over the roads, its twists and turns and whatever it can throw at you. I got a lot of pending work done on my bike as well. It’s been silently nodding its appreciation towards me since then. With every notch of increasing throttle, it gives me a better response and clicks its way to heaven. Man I love my bike!

I also found a brand new South Indian Dosa shop right in the middle of where I live. How the hell have I been missing it for so long? Anyways those dosas are heavenly. Pop up at my home and I’ll tell you why those dosas are awesome and why you were licking your fingers and slurping your lips all the while you were gorging on those beautiful round things made from heaven.

You know, while I’m at it, let me just show my appreciation to someone whom I really adore as a blogger and would like to follow him forever. Let me just dedicate this post to that someone special. Please allow me to well – FLATTER MYSELF!

The Giant Wakes Up – Daily Prompt – SOS

The Giant Wakes up.

The Demon Roars Back.

The Prodigal Son Returns.

The Soldier with the power to keep me awake rises up again.

Aaaaaand I’ve now run out of metaphors!

Yeah, yeah I’m creating a bit of mystery but what the hell… I love doing that! 😉

There are not a lot of things (non-living) that I’m proud of. But a few of them that I’m proud of – I own ’em. My speakers, my bike, my headphones and my PC. These things have power over me. I shall stay spellbound forever with their gaze locked with my eyes. Anyone who knows me in person will tell you in affirmative.

Last week was horrendous though. My PC was hit last friday and it just won’t start. I had no clue what had gotten into it. I had though, a few weeks ago, read a warning message about anyone of the fan/mother board/processor going to go kaput on me but then a few days later Windows 8 thought it better to archive the message when it saw no action taken. I just didn’t have any time or money to spend on the PC. Thankfully I got my salary a week early and I could finally get my PC cleaned up. The bugger fan had jammed of all things. 250 bucks and there you go. Not only did I learn how to clean a PC today but I also got a hands-on when I cleaned the drives myself. Aaaaah that satiated feel of a quiet PC doing all things only it can and me typing away merrily with a smile on my face letting the world know of my accomplishments and how proud I am about them.

But the best part is yet to come. I am about to make my first savings tomorrow and get my credit rolling again. I’ve envisioned this day for so long, I don’t even think I’ll sleep today. Can’t wait to get my bum to those banks and tip their stale icebergs to my side again. You can run but you can’t hide I say and so do many but it made more sense now. I ran away from them when they needed their money and they have been sweetly exacting their revenge on me for 3 years. They have run away from every opportunity to lend me money when I needed it. But not anymore. They shall bow their heads in respect, for a potential customer will come seeking – with money in hand, with head held high and they won’t have any corner to hide away.

My tottering life’s getting back up just like my PC and the world will start to bow now for I am smarter, more intelligent and have gotten rid of my wasteful ways – well most of it! Some like pizzas still remain but food – it’s my kryptonite!

There is a reason why I’m entitled to this feeling of relief because I’ve persevered long enough to know what it means to get desperate when bound. I’ve worked towards it, believing in my goal.

You know what I’ll want from that bottle in the sea. A genie condensing in thin air and saying – “Stop believing in miracles. Know that you are one”!

Daily Prompt – Generation XYZ

To understand a generation, we need to understand what generation means in the first place. A generation by a dictionary means –

“The average period, generally considered to be about thirty years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and begin to have children of their own“.

Welcome to our generation. Our generation that grew up hearing songs on CD players hung by our belts, grew up to carrying mp3 players and then iPods. Our generation that saw an internet boom, fought Y2k. Our generation that’s seen wars breaking states and countries into two. We probably witnessed the rise and spread of a technology revolution so big that it now has changed the lives for every living being on this planet. Things are now small enough to be held on the pore of our fingers which once couldn’t be held in hand bag.

We are the generation that believes that our future beckons to technology while we continue to value things that our parents taught us. We are the hybrids – the best of everything if we have our head in place and yet the worst of everything if we’ve lost it.

The generation that succeeds us, lets just say, gives up way too easily. They are weak hearted and weaker minded. They are affected more by movies and Facebook than their parents. Since I don’t have kids and I deride the next generation, ones that were born even a decade later, I’m going to talk about the generation that preceded us. We have tons to learn from them and yet tons to throw away what we learnt from them.

Our parents were strong for they believed more in human communication and touch. We learn senses. They weathered freedom struggles, wars of the worst kinds and yet survived to tell their tales. We learn toughness. They invented so much, we can’t help but wonder if we would still be the whiz-kids had they not laid the foundations. They invented bits and bytes. They invented memories. They gave the non-living, the brain to decide – yes or no. We can never waylay their contribution to the humanity.

My parents never failed to bring me in touch with that facet of their times. They taught me to see and think different. It’s a different side if I actually did it. But they tried their best. They cheered me up when I raised my first cricket bat. They were open-minded, for I was travelling alone in public buses responsibly taking care of my brother and his friend, when I was 8 years old. They taught me responsibility. Through the ups and downs of their lives, they taught me humility.

Crazy as I may sound now but our preceding generation tried teaching us society when they should have taught humanity. They taught us jealousy when it was competition we needed. They tried teaching us pride but all they really emanated was ego. We learnt to see the blackness in people first than embrace the truth of their deeds.

In this internet age, when the world is literally at our fingertips, we should try instilling hope, pride and humanity in our children than burn them early in their childhoods all the while suppressing their basic need for necessary freedom.

And I learnt this from my parents. Freedom if imparted carefully turns into responsibility much better than any other virtue.

Daily Prompt – Write Here, Write Now

A pair of curtains hangs freely, loose to make me feel the wind.

A refrigerator hums to life feeling the warmth in this chilly winter.

A portrait with 2 happy faces lies gathering dust.

A chair sits waiting for a sit.

A table lies waiting for a mop.

A dog sleeps giving a tough snoring competition to my neighbor.

A half full glass of juice waits to get sipped.

A television set shows crap.

I lie on my couch typing present tenses in a gloomy lonely home.

My wife calls me and lets me know of her excitement about her 2 dogs she has petted.

Headphones bang in my head killing the deafening silence.

A heart hums to meet another.

A clock ticks me into another day.

The refrigerator starts again and falls silent.

The TV is still dumb showing crap.

And I’ve had enough of this present tense that only reminds me of my past.

The way I see it – past is imperfect, present is tense and the future beckons.

Daily Prompts: Nice Is As Nice Does

Life to me, doesn’t exist beyond a certain set of people. Beyond them, life is farce. I don’t mean to be rude to this world but yes, till I haven’t seen you, heard you and sensed you, you don’t exist for me.

And so, my best and my worst has only been with and to the people who are around me.

I was travelling from Durg, Chhattisgarh – place where I studied and completed my graduation to Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh – My Home Town. This evening, to say the least, had been frantic. And then there was this train Amarkantak Express that usually left Durg at 4:20 pm sharp. But it left 45 minutes late and in India, there’s a saying – if a train leaves late, it reaches even later.

A calm night later in the morning, I got up and found myself scratching my head on the small side lower berth of the bogie. As I watched the scenes go by rapidly, I found after passing an intermediate station that we were late by an hour. By accident though, a prick pointing out from the damaged plywood berth pierced and got stuck inside the nail of my right index finger. It was really thick and I now had to bear that pain for next 6 hours.

My mother was to pick me up at the station. We were in touch over the phone and she told me she was on her way to the station. I reached but didn’t find her in the parking. I called her and she gave me a news flash – “I’ve met with an accident. Please come home by yourself”.

“Are you OK?”.

“Yes, I’m fine (sobbing)”.

I reached home 45 minutes later worried sick. I looked at our car – the drivers door on the right was badly damaged. I could only imagine what may have raged. Mom took me in, we sat on the sofa. I was so angry. How could someone do this her? She started explaining out of guilt – “A biker came from the right and banged into the car. He went through the window across my face and banged into the left door from the inside”.

“A lot of people came running in. I was very scared and couldn’t talk. I took him to the hospital. And by the time you came, I had come home. I was very scared. Someone stole my purse too”.

She was crying her heart out now and for a moment, I totally forgot the pain in my finger. I took her in my arms and covered her ,for I don’t know how many minutes.

When she finally stopped crying, I explained to her that it was not her fault and she did very well to take the guy to the hospital.

The brave woman that she is, she started getting better.

That’s when I found the pain throbbing in my finger again. I showed it to her and she ran for the cupboard. She brought a pin and started scraping my finger for a sight of that prick wound which had already healed.

She scraped and scraped and finally when reached the prick, she pulled out nose pliers and dug them into my finger. Only I know the pain that seared through my finger that noon and when she finally dug it out and pulled it, blood finally started running out and the pain relieved considerably.

Since then, she has told me a countless times, how my hug showed her that I had grown up and will take care of her. That she was really relieved when I did that and she remembered it too because I did that for the first time.

Both of us will never forget that day.

Daily Prompts: Mirror, Mirror

The image was plucked from http://themirror-jalesh.blogspot.in/p/photos.html

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall,

The way I am, do I show it at all?”

And the mirror never answers me. It wants to have a better look at me but never gets it. Whatever it knows about me is a dark unknown. A side the world may never understand because even I am to understood it completely.

Inside me though, I see myself as a broad-shouldered hunk tapering downwards – remember Johnny Bravo?

I want to have his accent but I want to show it off intelligently. I want style and dressing sense like Pierce Brosnan.

But hell, I look like a bum. I can hardly keep my hair in place, my shoes are dirty, I wear two pair of jeans for a week and then the other two and they rotate. My shirts aren’t ironed inside my sweaters, my jackets are dirty from pollution.

But I smell good, I have extremely good hygiene habits. My towels are clean, I keep my room clean.

I put really small stock in my appearances but I look decent.

And hence, the mirror wouldn’t mind me checking myself out.

Hell it might even smile when I put a dance move or two in its face!

Daily Prompt: Predictions

I looked up July 30th and seriously nothing came to my mind. No special days for near and dear ones. No serious events pointing towards Indians, nothing memorable but lets just make it a landmark for this year.

Heres my resolution for July 30th 2014 –

I’ll take that day off. Hope people reading this post understand what it means for an Indian Software Engineer working in India to take a leave on a Wednesday. It means I’ll have to get a day of my life scrutinized even further by my boss. It means that I’ll either spend my day with my wife or alone.

July is one of the hottest months of the year in Delhi. That reminds me that July 30th 2012 was one of the two worst days of our lives. That’s when 7 states in the Northern India were left without power due to multiple power grid failures. We were forced to scout for malls to eat extraordinarily costly meals, go to bowling alleys, bowl senselessly to pass time so we could spend our day time in the air conditioners and save the inverter from draining off all power and we could sleep that night. I remember those dark nights. No number of baths helped. They were sweaty and stinky. I hope no such day occurs this year.

I hope in that sweltering heat this year, me and my wife get to enjoy a new working air conditioner sipping root beers and eating excellent food.

I want my credit to start rolling again. So I’ll be sitting pretty on some amount of savings which will guarantee a lot of peace in my mind and hope I get to see my wife wake up beside me. FYI… she’s away on a trip now and hope this is her last to last for such an extraordinary time – 3 months away from me to recuperate alone and heal with nature. She needed it. I hope I look straight into her eyes that morning and tell her how I’m head over heels in love with her and she smiles. I hope we have a lovely breakfast outdoors and are home by early noon. I hope we make out through the afternoon and I take her to a surprise dinner (which isn’t a surprise anymore) to celebrate a better year in our marriage.

I hope I’m fitter than what I am now, even a few kilos off would do. I want to stand on a weighing machine and smile. I hope my wifes work starts blooming but she takes her day off as well. I hope I start saving either for a car or a home. I wanna go to an ATM that day and smile at my bank balance. I hope we watch a movie in a theater and I would buy her something – footwear or something.

Well why am I planning so much for a senseless day as July 30th? ‘coz it may be important to a million others on this planet and lets share our happiness, spread some smiles by being happy and respectful.

Unforgettable Past – ITARSI – The Escapade!

He was 6 years old. His second school after his father got transferred from Bilaspur which then belonged to state Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh). It was his first day at his new school. Far away from his home, he wasn’t used to the alien feeling. He was small and was about to do something that will forever force him to do, only the unthinkable.

Father took him to his new school in his Jeep. He entered the main wrought iron gate of the school – Shri Tagore Vidya Mandir. Like it was his habit from his earlier school from the same town, he started looking for his class. Roamed around for a while and found it wasn’t on the ground floor. Those small feet then climbed the roughly cemented stairs. He was perplexed – why were all the others were wearing red shorts, and his were green? Never having known the concept of mediums in a school, he matched feet to feet and proudly entered his class, having found it on the first floor. He was half an hour early. He entered never having noticed the teacher who was sitting with the kids. She saw the boy with the green pants. She got up from her place and without asking a single question, slapped the boy hard on his left cheek. And then another. She yelled – ‘Baahar jaao yahaan se (Get out of the class)’!

And he promptly did so, shedding tears not because of the stinging pain on his cheek but for the sheer embarrassment that the incident had impaled in his heart. He cried, cried loudly when a maid heard him. But he didn’t notice. She yelled out at the boy for roaming around on the campus and there came another slap on the same cheek. He hadn’t yet spoken a word on the alien land and had already been assaulted thrice. He forgot the face of the teacher with the last slap but will forever remember the face of the maid – the stroke was ferocious. The boy sat on a tampered round-about, looking at that wrought iron gate that brought him into this hell. And in a fit of rage, decided to open it for he had quit. This was not how he wanted it!

He stood on his toes, slowly and silently opened the gate, got out, leaving the gate hanging limply on its hinges. He smelt freedom, still crying.

He knew his way home. Never once thinking about the distance, he started walking. Wandering around, he saw the relieving sight of the railway station. He saw the rails. He saw the ever-so-fascinating engines. Tears blurred his vision as he started crossing the web of rails never aware of the danger. Guess he never knew danger. He was so small. He was just 6 years old.

Getting across the station and into his favorite empty street, plunging trees caving in from the right and the rails on the left. He now knew what he was looking for. He was looking for a clinic where his father would bring him for treatment when he got sick. He knew that the road from this clinic, drove straight to his home. He had forgotten his tired legs, thirst, hunger – for he knew his way home now, joy bleeding from his heart. Home where his mother will greet him. He found the clinic. Finally relieved, he kept walking.

Then a miracle happened, small as the place was, a driver from his father’s office noticed the boy, took him in his Jeep and took him home.

He was then a happy wanderer!

——-***——–

Remember, I once announced that I’ll rewrite some of my posts. This is the first of the series!

Lets find out how others fared today –

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