New Year Greetings!

I love this time of the Year and there are many reasons for the same. Firstly, it’s winter and I like the blend of calmness and chillness that the weather makes me feel. Secondly, I can play Badminton outside which is one of few sports that I love and not to forget, it’s also a time of going for picnics with family and friends. Thirdly but not currently, during this time, New Year Greeting Cards used to start piling up at home and it feels so good to receive them within an enclosed envelope. However these days in this internet era, wishing through cards have become a rare thing. So this year, I made Greeting Cards and sent to my near and dear ones to give the same feeling and make them FEEL GOOD.

Wish you all a wonderful, healthy and happy New Year!!!!

Kids at the Bakery!

In Mumbai, whenever I used to pass through a lane nearby my place, the aroma of Mawa Cake of Iyengar Bakery would make me stop by and end up in buying few pieces of the same. In one of my visit to the bakery, I saw few kids looking at the glass shelf from outside, where the bakery items were placed. I saw them savoring it with their eyes. I could not stop ignoring the sight and went near them and asked why are they standing there and one of them replied-“Didi humare paas paise nahi hai khareed ne ke liye” (Didi,we don’t have money to buy food). I was thinking that they would ask me for money or tell me to buy food for them and I was glad their reply didn’t match my thought. That indicated that they were not beggars. I called them inside and asked them to choose anything from the shelf and I will pay for it. There was joy in their faces and the way they were choosing the food items were clearly saying how much they wanted to have it. When one of the kid asked me if he can take some for his brother ,I got moved by his selfless and caring attitude and nodded with a “yes”. I spent some time with them inquiring about their family background and found out that their parents work as a daily wage labourer in the nearby semi-constructed building. After spending some time with them I bid good bye with a wish that one day they would be able to pay for their own food and don’t have to end up in only staring at the food shelf.

Adieu Mumbai!

I saw the same sparkle, a bit of anxiety and lot of excitement in her face which I had seen in the mirror some five years back when I was new to this place. Those eyes with dreams, to learn something new and to experience something different. But this time, She and Me were on the opposite side where she was stepping in and I was going out from this place. The place that gave me more than I had expected and filled my life with so many wonderful memories. I learned the art of giving smiles to others including strangers, to help the unknown without any expectations, to meet people from different cultures, to gain knowledge from people from different walks of life and to finally start doing something which I had never thought I could do. To sum it up, I learned the art of Living.
-28/04/16

Connectivity!

Well if you are thinking that I have something to relate with our Mobile/Telecom towers then you are wrong. Here this word has something to do with People. Now some of you must have got what I mean. Ok let me elaborate and start with “no-connection” thing. Have you ever wondered why we meet so many people in our life but end up in making few good friends? The reason for this is we fail to make connection with all of them. To elaborate- when you don’t feel like sharing your hearts out, when your laughter becomes pretension or when you prefer solitude then being with somebody.
Now coming to the other side-when you talk for hours with somebody and still you don’t want the time to end and want to meet them again and again. If there is no conversation also, their presence is enough to make your day. When the heart fills with joy when you are with them, and the eyes become teary when the time comes to part and everything with them that makes you feel ALIVE! That’s what I meant by Connectivity aka Friendship.

A moment with a Kid....

I with my friends had just finished our activities and were wrapping up to leave when suddenly small fingers held my hand. I looked back and he asked- “Are you going to come to this place again?” I was glad to hear the question as that showed he liked my company but did not know what to answer. I did not want to say Yes as I had no idea when will I come here next and give him a false hope. Neither I wanted to say No as it would have saddened him. But from my heart I wanted to visit this place again and again so I gave him a hug and said-“Yes dear”. After he heard this, I could see the sparkle in his innocent eyes and then I bid goodbye to the 7 year old kid and his friends in the Orphanage

The City that never Sleeps....

“Mumbai never sleeps”- One of the popular punch line of this city as it’s so common to see people roaming around the city even after 12:00 am and still you don’t see the crowd fading away till 2:00 am. At 1:00 am, it’s not uncommon to see people walking and playing around or waiting for their turn in a food joint to place the order.
It was my first few days of stepping into Mumbai and I was not expecting that the above mentioned line would be presented to me in such a weird fashion. One evening when I was returning from the office, I could see people gathering in the housing society to celebrate Satya Narayan Puja. After doing a brief prayer, I went straight to my room and that day I had to spend the whole night all alone as my flat mates were not there.
Suddenly at 1:00 am while I was in mid of my sleep, I heard the sound of my doorbell. I thought I am dreaming and ignored it but then the bell rang once again just to make me realize it’s not a dream. This time I was a bit nervous as I knew it’s definitely not my roommate and this made me wonder who it could be. There were two thoughts running in my mind. My Cautious Mind was telling me not to open the door but my Curious Mind wanted to know who is at the next side of the door? I followed the later and went to check from the peephole. I saw two boys in their teens are standing with a container. Now this added to the suspense and I wanted to know why they have come at this time. So after gathering some courage and holding my breath, I slowly opened the door keeping it half closed.
Before I asked anything to them, one of the boy handed me a small polythene bag by saying “Satya Narayan ka Pooja ka Prasad” and they went away by saying “Sorry Ma’am, thoda late ho gaya” . I did not know how to react. I felt like someone has just turned me from the character of Sherlok Holmes to a naïve who has no idea what just happened and I went back to sleep thinking-if this is “thoda late” then what time would be “jyada late” ?

Cook is the King !

I wanted to write this long back of one of my memories of my stay with friends cum roomies in Mumbai. One day we all decided to hire a cook so that we can have proper homemade food and don’t have to spend time on cooking activity. After some search, we managed to find one. She was a young, married, lean presentable lady (must be in her early 30s). We were quite happy to have her(only on first day as later we could hardly see her as it was more of her absence rather than our presence in the house). After some negotiation, we had a pact with her that she will come everyday in the morning to prepare meal for us but to our dismay, she could be with us only for few months with less than 50% attendance in each month. So we used to check with her the next day for the reason for not coming to her workplace i.e. our house and the excuses she used to give us were as follows:
1. I could not wake up early in the morning. (One of the most common reply which she often used to say)
2. It was cold in the morning so could not step outside. (You know Mumbai’s Cold)
3. I lost my phone. (Whose phone was she using then?)
4. Had to attend the funeral of this and that relative……. (Some of them died twice)
5. Someone in the local train stabbed me with a knife and I fell on the Platform and got senseless. (Shall I believe this?).
And the height was –She asked us one day if we can wake her up in the morning by giving her a call so that she can come. This time we were half senseless.
All these lame excuses by her used to make us wonder- what would happen if we come up with the same thing in the office for not coming or reaching office on time….