The Love Collection Review

Stars: 2/5

I have read 'Bright Lights' under the Urban Shots series, which is a collection of 29 stories by 21 writers. Bright Lights was a nice read with many different flavors of Urban Life, with ironies, romances, memoirs.

With the experience of Bright lights I ordered "The love collection".

Review: The story-lines are not very impressive, with most of them very predictable and cliche stories. A few stories like "Written in Stars" are good. But for most of the stories I had to make an effort to read all of it, as they felt easily put-down-able.

Super hero of Gujarat

Ten year old Chintu was very excited to go to school, or let’s say ‘super’ excited to go to school. Why wouldn't he? He had worked very hard for this. Only last evening he noticed his power. He checked it by lifting his dad’s car. He saw a truck parked on the roadside. He wanted to check his power once again. He looked around, there were not many people. He quickly went to the rear side of truck and put his hand to the cargo. With a small pull truck’s rear axle was off the ground. Assured of his super power he slowly kept the truck back. There was a small dent on the cargo of truck where Chintu had lifted it. It was clear, now Chintu was a super-boy.

We all had wished for a superpower when we were young. But as we grow up we realize there is nothing like a superpower and we are all at almost same level. OK, some may be more powerful than others but overall our maximum powers are limited.

Even as now we know that there are not super powers, we all still enjoy the comics, cartoons and movies based on them. I have been fan of superhero movies. I know a lot of them. We all know, to name a few these are Superman, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, and Spiderman and so on. And for today’s kids there are some things like doremon, pokemon etc.

I am still thrilled when superhero beats the bad guys, or aliens or even gods and saves the world with his powers. Sometimes I dream that I also have the powers of superman or Ironman, this happens a lot when I had recently seen a superhero movie. :)

But this all settles down soon. Because such superheroes do not exist Or do they?

They do exist in reality. But they do not wear any special costume, cape or metal suit. They look just like us, dress like us but do extraordinary things.

Superhero Name: Mittal Patel, Superpower : Giving identity and helping the ignored communities.

This lady has single handed worked a lot for the communities which were ignored. She had started alone in 2006 and now formed VSSM – Vicharta Samuday Samarthan Manch.

She has worked to provide identity for more than 20000 people. That is actually a lot of work, especially in our country. Here is the Youtube link to her inspiring video.

Just one of the many inspiring stories of VSSM is the story is of nomadic tribe “Sarania”, from Vadiya village of Gujarat, where the women are forced into prostitution by the male members of their own family. Girls are not married in this village. And this is going on from generations. The new generations are born without marriages. How can they have an identity. As a rule of their community if a girl is married she is not brought in to prostitution. But this is seriously resisted by the families themselves as prostitution is the only income source for many of them.

VSSM came forward and arranged marriage of 8 girls, and engagement of another 12 in this village in 2012, to end the prostitution, bring this tribe to mainstream and enable them live with dignity.

To do this huge amount of work, you got to have super-powers.

I hereby salute to the Superhero of Gujarat, Mittal Patel. She has inspired me to again look for a superhero in myself, like I did when I was a kid, as we need more superheroes.

This post is written for Franklin Templeton Investments partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.

My Jaipur visit

A Visit to history.

I had recently been on a road trip to the Pink city of Jaipur on a long weekend. It is a lovely city and luckily we were welcomed by first rains of monsoon. Following are some of the photographs from this trip.


A colorful window in Albert Hall Museum.

Albert Hall

A Window in Amber Fort...

Deewan-e-aam - A place where common people could go and talk to the kings directly for anything.

Deewan-e-Khaas - Place for officers and royals to sit and discuss. Notice the shine in the walls and roof. These are all small mirrors. It is said on a dark night  a single lamp was enough to light up whole Deewane-e-khaas.

Amber fort by night (During the Light and Sound Show)

Hawa Mahal: A small palace with lot of windows specially constructed for queens to see the city and market, without being seen themselves.

Story of "Su"

Rohit, Neha, Amit and Isha... my best buddies. I think I am lucky to have them as my friends... Actually, they are also lucky to have me. Whenever we are all in city, we are together. I think we all met first during our studies. Now after more than 10 years a lot has changed. We all are working; Rohit, Amit and Neha are married, but our group is still the same. It has been so many wonderful years together. Time just flies, when we are together. Sometimes we did not meet for months, but whenever we do it is like the same group of buddies. There is no awkwardness or formalities.

Never serious and always funny Rohit, witty and intelligent Amit, Oh-so-glamorous Neha, and sweet and simple Isha... and myself... all of us together make our awesome friends group.

There was one more member of our friends group, Supriya, whom we sometimes called “su” with love. In whole of the world only me, Rohit and Julie know about who she was. I tried telling about Supriya to Neha and Isha, but they never believed me. Let us now begin the story of Supriya aka Su.

Supriya. The amazing girl we will never forget.

Let us start from when I met her first time, about ten years ago.

It was Rohit’s party at Pizza Hut. We used to party even for small things like is someone bought a new mobile phone, it would call for a party. We would never miss any chance to hang out. But this time reason was very valid. Rohit was leaving India for a job in France.

While most of us knew each other well, there were some new faces also. One of them was this girl named Supriya. Rohit introduced all of us. Supriya was jolly and sweet little girl. She was average height, with a doll like pretty shining face, with deep black eyes—a picture perfect look, with not even a single hair out of place. For a moment I urged to touch her and check if she was really made of plastic. She looked like the youngest of Rohit’s friends. I thought she was probably just out of college. But when Rohit told us that she’s a professor in local university, and she was 25, we were all surprised.

‘WHAT?,’ I was surprised. Soft drink was about to come out of my mouth. Amit’s eyes were also a bit widened with surprise.

It was unbelievable. I must have lost the bet even if someone told me that she’s more than 20. I mean she looked like a teenager who is very graceful and mature also. She must be working hard to stay in shape. And that shining doll like face must be over make-up. I thought. I had heard about people working real hard to keep looking younger. She was the same case.

She had a shy and mischievous smile on her face. Very soon we were chatting with her like she was part of our group. As we were enjoying Pizzas, Pastas and Garlic breads etc, Supriya got up to leave waving bye to all.

Rohit asked her to stay for some more time, as it was only 05.30 PM, but she did not stay.

Supriya just said with a smile, ‘you know dear, I have to go there is lot of work. My sister is waiting for me.’

‘Come on Yaar, you cannot break your 05.30 PM rule for even a day, I am leaving tomorrow morning, and do not know when we will meet again’ Rohit was a bit emotional at that moment, ‘chalo anyways, take care and be in touch’. He got up, hugged her, and walked her out of the Pizza hut. He knew there was no use convincing her.

She will probably go to work out in gym. I thought

Later on Rohit told us that Supriya is very strict about her time schedule. She has to reach her home before 06.00 PM always. We all partied till late evening and wished Rohit well for his journey.

After few weeks of Rohit’s leaving we met Supriya again in another party. Neha and Supriya became friends first, may be due to both of them interested in looking good always. Very soon she was regularly hanging out with us. Before meeting her I thought she was all-looks-and-no-soul type girl, but I was totally wrong. She was instantly liked by all. She was friendly by nature and very intelligent. With time I found her even cuter. She became bubbly and emotional element of the group. However, her time schedule was still strictly followed. She never stayed with us later than 05.30 PM. We never minded her strict rules, as she was always there with us during the day. This went on for years. She still looked like a teenager.

Rohit visited India once or twice every year, during festival times. It is always fun when he is here. He had always been the funny element of our group. He knew how to bring excitement into a dull day. Be it going to the lake in Midnight, or making me bunk my office, he always brought excitement to our life. Once he came to India for attending a marriage ceremony. This time he was going to be here for two weeks only. I took rest of the day off from my office to meet him and others, the day he arrived. He also called Supriya, Neha, Amit and Isha. We met at our regular place from afternoon to evening. I used to hang out with Rohit all the time while he was in India. My whole days were booked while Rohit was here.

‘Chal yaar take care’, Supriya said while getting up, right at 05.30 PM.

Isha and Neha got up and gave Supriya a lazy hug.

‘Hey Su, please stay, Julie is coming. I have told her about all you guys, she would love to see you all, and she is in the city only for two days. We are leaving for Jaipur day after tomorrow. I really want you to meet her’ Rohit said.

Julie was Rohit’s friend from France who came along with Rohit to see an Indian Wedding. Indian weddings are a craze among people, who have never seen one.  Julie had gone shopping for some traditional Indian dresses with Rohit’s sister. As expected despite lot of persuasion by Rohit, Isha, Neha and myself, Supriya did not stay. Rohit was visibly disappointed this time. He did not even get up to hug Supriya, as he usually did, and did not even say bye. Supriya just smiled and left.

Rohit’s mood came back to normal when Julie came. Julie was very beautiful. Rohit had told me that she was the prettiest of the girls he had even seen. And he was right. The guys in the Bistro were noticing her well. Rohit introduced her to all of us. Rohit had told Julie about all of us. My eyes were also fixed on her. I had used a lot of French curves in my engineering study, but today I got to know why they were called “French Curves”. In next one hour Isha and Neha also left. The time out allowed to girls is always less than us guys.  Now it was only Me, Rohit and Julie left. Rohit’s sister also left.

After some time, Julie asked Rohit about Supriya.

‘She was here, but left early.’

‘Oh, I really wanted to see her.  I have heard a lot about her’

‘You know she has a very strict time schedule, she has to reach her home before 06.00 PM always.’

‘She also missed Neha’s Wedding and Engagement parties’ I added.

‘This is very strange, why this 06.00 PM rule’ Julie was not able to understand this time concept of Supriya.

‘Nobody knows, it has been like this since we met her more than 03 years ago. We could never know’, I said laughing, ‘It is like mystery of Bermuda.’

Rohit got up and said,’ Let us solve this mystery today, Julie will meet Su today. I have a plan.’

Rohit really got serious whereas I was only being funny.

‘Do you have her address,’ He asked me.

‘Mm.. no, but I know where she lives. Once I dropped her off, it is near an old fort just outside city limits. She said she lived just next to the Fort. But I have never been to her house there myself’.

‘OK let us move, tonight we will have a surprise dinner at Supriya’s home’ Rohit was excited and serious at the same time.

As I had nothing else to do that evening, I thought it would be a good idea. I would love to see the look on Supriya’s face when she will see us unexpected. I had never seen Supriya’s house, even in such a long time.

‘Good idea’ I said.

‘Yeah good Idea’, Julie also supported this plan. I think she liked mischievous side of Rohit. Very soon we were in Rohit’s car moving towards Supriya’s home. We planned to order Pizza and Chinese food at Supriya’s home.

In twenty minutes we were out of city. We reached the fort, I asked Rohit to take the turn where I had dropped Supriya once.  We turned and moved for more than 1 Km, but that road led to no residential place, there were only empty fields. After some time we realised we had completely encircled the area, but there were no houses visible nearby. Now we were getting tired. I tried calling Supriya, but her phone was switched off. That was also one of her stupid rules. We asked guard at fort about any houses nearby.

The guard was a funny character. He looked like someone from Ramsay brother’s horror movies, but only funny instead of scary. He was large built, with long moustaches, but his voice was like that of an old lady. He was wearing a dhoti, kurta and a pagdi on his head, with an old 303 gun. He said, ‘Who are you looking for? There is nothing. This place is not safe. Every evening there are strange noises coming from the back of the fort, Noises of Whistles, Whooshing sound of wind... You should go away, come in daytime only.’

What he was saying was not making any sense at all. We thought it was better not to talk to him. He seemed high on something and probably did not even know what we were asking. Julie was scared by guard’s appearance as she had clutched my hand tightly, which I gladly allowed.

Once we were back in the car, Rohit mimicked the way guard was taking, and we burst into laughter. Julie was also relaxed now. We called Neha and Isha to ask for Supriya’s address, but surprisingly they had also never visited Supriya’s house. Only Neha had also dropped her at the same place once like me. This was really intriguing. It was already 09.00 PM and we were getting hungry so we came back to city and went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner.

‘This is really freakish. None of us has ever visited her house. How is it possible?. This is inexplicable-- totally weird’ I said while digging a sizzler. I was actually freaked out about Supriya. I had dropped her at the same place near the fort, and now there is no house nearby. I was being proved wrong. How was it possible? Now I was in doubt if I got the location wrong. But Neha also told the same location.

‘Oh do not worry. This might just be a coincidence. May be she is just too private person at home’ Now Rohit was trying to talk sense.

‘Too private... naah.. I do not think so. Why she always have to reach home before six? Nobody has seen her home, she has never invited any of us to her home? It is all too weird, nothing makes sense. This is definitely something odd. She is hiding something’ I said anxiously.

‘Maybe she likes to roam around naked at her home after six in the evening,’ Rohit said laughing. He was back to his real funny and cheeky nature, not paying any attention to my anxiety.

‘Oh come on... please’, Julie said smiling.

‘Yaar, now I really want to know what is the mystery’ I said

‘Relax, It is very easy, we will ask her tomorrow’ Rohit said.

‘Oh she will not tell. She has not told in last seven years.’ I said

‘OK there is one more way to find out’

‘And what is it?’ I asked

‘We will follow her tomorrow and see for ourselves where she lives and then, we will surprise her. OK?’

‘OK. Done.’ I said with excitement. I felt like a kid excited for a treasure hunt.

Next evening we met Supriya again. She was same chirpy and teenager looking sweet girl. We had not told about this plan to Neha and Isha. Of course they are our friends, but we did not want the risk of Su getting to know of our plan.

We were good at acting cool. Supriya had no idea of our plan of surprising her. Like always, she left at 05.30 in the evening. We waited for couple of seconds to ensure she is in her car, and then rushed out to follow her. Neha and Isha were surprised, as we never left this early.

Thankfully Supriya’s car was a red in colour, which was really easy to follow. Rohit’s car was in white colour, the most common colour in the city, so it was not easy for Supriya to spot a car following her. She was driving at steady speed so it was easy to follow her.

After some time, we reached outside the city limits. Supriya was moving towards that old fort.  She took the turn from where I had dropped her. It was a small village road between fields. We kept following her from a distance. Now we were in a village road, and there was no traffic. There was no other vehicle. The area was dark and silent. We were all ready to surprise Supriya. After moving on the same road for about 1 Km, there was still nothing around us. Only empty fields and no person visible anywhere. Supriya’s car stopped midway. We also stopped at a distance. After about a minute she came out of her car. She seemed taller and slimmer. She looked towards sky. We were watching all this from our car. It looked like there was some problem with her car, it stopped and she came out frustrated.

Just when we started to move for helping her... the weather changed. It became windy. At this time of the year this weather was surprising. Supriya was standing still looking towards the Sky. Sound of wind kept on increasing and we would not believe what we saw next.

It seemed like some kind of very advanced rhombus shaped air craft, with bright lights all around. It came whooshing down from sky and stopped right next to Supriya, just a few feet above the ground. Supriya took a step back, but next moment she vanished in to that air craft type thing, her car was also not visible now. We were almost paralysed with fear. Our friend was abducted by aliens right in front of us. We were really scared, now even I was clutching Julie’s hand. We all clung to each other.

The real scary thing happened next. That aircraft stayed there for a second and then it floated towards us. In a moment it was right outside out car. The whooshing was very loud, we could not see outside. We were all trembling with fear now. Now it was our turn to be abducted by them. I had heard stories of people being abducted by aliens on Nat Geo channel, but never believed them and never thought anything like that happening to me or my friends. And here it was actually happening. Rohit tried to start the car, but engine did not crank. We were doomed.

The blinding white light from that aircraft was focused on our car now. Three very tall, may be about 08 feet tall and very slim figures, with slightly bigger heads came out from that light. They came close to our car. They were having very big shining black eyes and their skin was shining grey. All of them had some strange looking object in their hands. It looked like some kind of weapon. For a moment I thought it was a very weird and bad dream, but it was not, we were actually going to be abducted by aliens. They pulled us out of the car.

Just as we were about to be pulled in to that craft, another grey person came out of the aircraft. This one was little shorter than others although taller than us. We were stopped right outside the craft. This grey person came close to the three grey persons who pulled us out. They seemed like talking to each other, but we could not to hear anything. They were probably talking in some frequency in-audible to us. After some time those three went inside the air craft. This new one came to us. We all were holding each other now. The grey person came right in front of us and then started speaking.

‘Why did you come here?’ It spoke in our language, and the voice was sounding familiar. It was Supriya’s voice.

OMG! Supriya is alien. The reality struck all of us together. She always looked younger, and we had never seen her in the night. This explained everything; Supriya’s being so secretive about her house, then that unchanging teenager look. Even what that funny guard was saying a day before was making sense now. 

‘Su..Supriya.. Is it you?’ Rohit stammered, while looking at that grey person like he was searching for Supriya in that grey alien.

‘Yes, it is me and my real name is Tevachi. I am from the planet Telbertus’

‘What are you saying? You have been us all these years. How can... how..? What are you going to..?’ There were so many questions I wanted to ask but words were not coming out properly.

‘Our planet was captured by Xenomos, a species from our rival planet Xenom. My family managed to get out and since then we were living here on earth. Every evening we shift to the next dimension from this point, as we cannot stay in human form for more than 12 hours. My parents and my sister thought you guys as a threat to us, but I have explained that you guys are friends and not a threat. So relax... you guys are safe.’

Finally we were little less scared, but we all were still astonished by what we were witnessing. Julie was still scared. She moved back and sat in the car.

‘So now you are going to go to this different dimension and come back again tomorrow?’ Rohit asked Tevachi, trying to understand all that has happened.

‘No, since you guys have seen us, we will move away to some other place on earth, or may be another planet or it will be threat to our species. I may come back here in about 100 earth years’

‘What... 100 years? This means we are never going to see you again?’ I said. Even though Tevachi looked horrible, but somewhere inside that scary alien body was our friend whom we called Supriya.

‘Yes. 100 earth years are like a few months on our planet. And for your own good please do not tell anyone about us. People will not believe you and may call you crazy. I wish you guys all the best.. Love you guys’ she said moving to the air craft. She turned and waved to us before vanishing into the bright light. The whooshing sound increased again. We stood there waving to her. Next moment that light disappeared and aircraft whooshed back to sky.

That was when we last saw Supriya.. or Tevachi.

______

This is a work of fiction. Resemblance to some people living is intentional. 

Picture Source: Wikipedia

Baliram

I don’t know why we all called him a ‘Dhobhi’ which means a washerman, he never actually washed any clothes, he only iron them with his bulky old coal press, and sometimes washed cars for some society members. He has an old table on which he irons clothes. Our dhobhi, Baliram is very cheerful person, about 30 years old, but looked older. His wife Madhu helped him and his five year old daughter Nimi played alongside while he worked. He had enrolled his daughter in the local Govt School and was very proud of her when she sang English poems to him, though he did not understand a bit, but was very proud of her. Considering his situation, I respected him for what he was doing for his family.

He was not always this cheerful, he was a very silent person, never speaking anything other than telling the money due for ironing clothes and sometimes he had a discussion with my mom when he had to increase the rate per cloth.

About Seven years ago...

‘Rahul, please see who’s at the door’ My mom said.

I checked the door, and it was Baliram. ‘Mumma, It’s Dhobi bhaiya’.

‘How much?’ My mom came and asked Baliram after he handed over neatly pressed stack of clothes. Baliram was very thin boy of 23 at that time.

‘38 Rupees, Auntie ji’ Baliram replied

‘How? For 15 clothes at 2 rupees and 50 paisa per cloth, it is 37 Rupees and 50 paisa, not 38 Rupees. You always do that, it is not right’. Baliram did not say anything, and took 37 Rupees from my Mom with 50 paisa to be adjusted in next lot.

‘Auntie ji, I am going to my home for one month’ He said slowly introducing the neighbourhood Society Dhobhi as his replacement, ‘He will be ironing in my place, till I come back’

‘One Month. Why? Is everything alright?’ My mom looked concerned, he usually went home in March or April, when it is Holi time.

‘My family is alright, auntie ji, they have found a girl for me and I am going for my marriage’

‘Wah-wah, thats good, wait let me give you something’ My mom who was negotiating earlier for 50 paisa gave him 50 Rupees as shagun. After all, Marriages always cheer up Indian women.

Rare thing happened, Baliram shyly smiled for first time in front of us. He thanked mom and left. He was actually happy to get married I guess. As informed he came back in one month, this time with his wife, Madhu. She was not very fair, was slightly plump, but even as a child I could say she was the best Baliram could ever expect as his wife.  He increased his ironing rate. Madhu, started working as a maid in two flats of our society besides also helping him in delivering clothes and sometimes cleaning the ash from that bulky iron and adding the new coal. Baliram also took good care of his Madhu. His life was going smooth.

My school rickshaw used to come to pick me with several other kids of society everyday at 7.00 AM. Our Rickshaw puller was slim man about 30 years old, his name was Masseeh. Masseeh was also from Uttar Pradesh. All kids used to call him ‘Rickshaw waley uncle’. He was very kind to all of us. Unlike Baliram he was quite talkative. He used to ask us about the day on our way back from the School. He also replied to our silly questions.

It was the cold Month of December in Chandigarh. We often did not see sun for one whole week or so. Our society was last in Masseeh route. He used to sit with Baliram close to small coal fire. Every other day Maseeh brought him coal from coal depot on his way back from our school, which saved Baliram’s time. In return Baliram offered him a cup of tea made by Madhu. After that it was time for Baliram’s afternoon nap on a jute carpet near his table, it was important for him as he worked till late night every day. Madhu went to one of the flats for doing their house work and Maseeh went back to his colony on his rickshaw.

One evening, at about 10 PM, Baliram knocked our door. He looked tense. That day, he was not there to deliver ironed clothes but to meet my father.

‘Uncle Ji, my wife is missing, what should I do? Please help me’ he said with crying like expression, perhaps since my family treated him nicely, he thought we could help. It was clear from his expression that he was genuinely disturbed.

‘What? When did you see her last’ My dad asked, thinking what he could actually do in such situation.

‘She usually came back at about 6 after working from Flat no 849, today when she did not come back by seven, Auntie ji of Flat No 849 told me that she did not come today.’

‘Baliram do not worry, she will be back, she may have gone somewhere else, Its only few hours, Even police do not register missing report before 72 hours. Did you fight with her today?’

‘No Saabji, we did not fight at all, she worked in Flat No 830 in the morning, then in afternoon she made lunch for me, even served tea to me when Rickshwa wallah came, then I went to sleep, when I woke up I thought she was at Flat No 849 as usual. Saabji she never went anywhere alone.’ This time his eyes were teary.

‘Ok Baliram, do not worry, let me see what I can do. I will talk to my friend in Police and they will surely find her. For now you go back and relax’

Next morning me and other kids were waiting for our Rickshaw waley uncle to take us to school, who normally came at 07.00 AM sharp every morning, even when I sometimes wished him not to come. If he was late sometimes, my dad used to call him on mobile to confirm his location. Someone had given him an old mobile phone to keep track of him and it monthly expense was part of his charges. That day he did not come at even 07.15 AM. My dad called his mobile number, and it was switched off. It was good news for us kids, we had already made plans for playing throughout the day, it was half day carrom at my place and then a Ludo marathon at Priya’s place. I thought finally my prayers have been answered. But our Dads spoiled our plans, and dropped all of us to school in their cars themselves, as it was a Saturday, and most of them had their day off from offices. I asked God to be more careful next time while granting my wishes, he has to take care that there should not be any other option for sending us to school.

          That afternoon my dad and mom both came to pick me up from School. They were talking about Madhu and Maseeh.

‘I do not believe Madhu can do this. She was very nice and kind girl’ My mom said.

‘Savita, these people have no morals or principals at all, they can do anything. Leave it’ My father showing no concern, and thankfully concentrated on his driving.

As Maseeh and Madhu disappeared together it was rumoured all around that that Baliram’s wife had ran away with Maseeh. Police also believed the rumour and showed no interest in find poor Baliram’s wife.

By next week we had another Rickshaw waley uncle for taking us to School, and for us life was back to normal. Only Baliram was alone and silent now. He did not talk except for telling the amount against ironing clothes. His smile which came with his wife was gone now. He concentrated more on his work.

This new rickshaw puller uncle was even more punctual than Maseeh, despite my prayers he always showed up on time, his rickshaw never got punctured, and we always reached school on time. Baliram was always busy ironing clothes. Even after one years since his wife left him, he missed his wife as he had kept her photo under the mattress where he kept the money change. It was a photo of him and Madhu in their wedding dresses.

One day when I returned from the School, I saw the group of ladies in the society around Baliram’s little work place. They were discussing something loudly. ‘This is the society of respectable people’, one of them said. ‘She must leave’, another said. This was strange but was not important to me as my favourite Chota Bheem was about to begin on Cartoon Channel in fifteen minutes and I had to change first. So I picked my school bag from rickshaw and moved up to our flat.

‘Madhu has returned,’ My mom said as we were enjoying out after meal dessert, which was custard that evening.

‘Madhu? Who?’ My father asked

‘Arrey, our Dhobi’s wife’

‘Oh, That’s good’ my father replied enjoying his after meal custard, while blinking his eye at me. From his reply it was not clear that my father was referring to return of Madhu, or his custard.

‘No, not good, she has come with her daughter, who is from that Rickshawala.’

‘What?’ My dad stopped eating the custard. He was definitely paying attention now.

‘Yes, and we all ladies of society have met and decided, that either Baliram has to throw this woman out or he himself move out with her, we cannot let this characterless woman stay in our society’

‘If Baliram is keeping her, then let her stay, why you are so much bothered Sarita. Where will he go if we throw him out’

‘Oh please Rohit, this woman can have bad influence on our kids. I just want you to talk to president tomorrow morning and get that woman out or... or I don’t know’, my mom’s ‘I don’t know’ meant you don’t know how dangerous I will be if you do not agree. Now even I was paying attention as this could mean no dessert in coming days.

Next morning, the society meeting was called and all members gathered around the Water tank. I also went with my dad. Baliram was called there. Women were standing in balconies, from where they could see the proceedings.

Our president, Mr. Chadda spoke to Dhobi,’ Baliram, your wife has returned with an illegitimate child. All the society members disapprove of her staying in the Society. You may send her back to where she has come from or leave our Society’. Baliram understood what Chadda was saying but did not say anything. Madhu was looking at the group from distance. 

‘We must give him at least a week’s time to leave’. My dad spoke. Considering last night’s conversation between my mom and dad, this was very dangerous for our daily dessert.

‘Rohit Ji, how can we let him stay here, with a characterless woman who ran away and came back with an illegitimate child’ Mr. Thukral spoke this time. Thukral uncle was generally very nice and soft spoken, but this time his tone was quite harsh. I think he was probably scared for his wife. He also turned to Dhobi and said, ‘Bhaiya, how can you take such a woman back, she ran away with a Rickshaw wala, have you no sense?’

‘Thukral ji, Baliram has been serving us for years. He may not have any place to go. We must at least give him time’ My dad spoke again. Now even the dinner was in danger. Why the hell my dad is speaking in favour of Baliram. I also liked Baliram, but not more than the dessert and dinner of course.

All the members starting talking simultaneously about how staying of Baliram with his wife is dangerous for the society. Finally Mr. Chadda spoke again, ‘Baliram, This woman has done no good to you. You have been with us for several years and we understand may not have any place to go, but you must not accept this woman and make her leave the society right now’

‘But I love her. I cannot let her go again.’ Finally Baliram said something.

Chadda and Thukral almost laughed. I felt bad for poor Dhobi. Society members could not understand that a Dhobi could actually love. They moved to his pressing table and started to throw it out themselves. Baliram ran after them, but he could not do anything. Madhu came to stop Chadda to pick the table, but Chadda, pushed her away.

‘Stop it’ My dad shouted this time. Chadda and Thukral stopped and looked at my dad in disbelief. My dad had never spoken much on society matters and always agreed with them for their decisions like hike in monthly charges, some society function etc. But this time he spoke. ‘You are not allowed to do that legally. This is Human Rights violation. We cannot compel him to leave his spouse’.

‘Who is going to defend this Dhobi, who is he anyway and why are you so bothered’ Thukral spoke. I could see my mom watching all this from balcony.

‘He has all the rights to keep his wife and business and I will defend him’, my dad replied firmly.

Chadda was shocked, he knew my dad is a good lawyer and can affect him in many ways. I was also surprised at my dad, but was happy he did that. Chadda cooled down a bit and spoke to all members,’ OK, so we cannot throw him out, but we all will boycott him and will not give him any work’ Everybody nodded, but Chadda’s Dhobi boycott could not be actually implemented as my dad supported and no one liked to iron their clothes themselves. In few days things were back to normal for Baliram.

That evening, as expected my mom was not in a good mood, she served the dinner but was not speaking much.

‘Sarita, you have made awesome paneer today’. My dad spoke. I thought Paneer was just OK, but don’t know why dad was praising it.

‘I know what you are doing Rohit. There is nothing special about paneer. You are just trying to butter me’ 

‘No, it is really good today, Is’nt it Rahul? ,’My dad said, winking at me. I understood the signal and said,’ Of course, Mamma it is really good.’

Since mom was not talking my dad spoke through me. ‘You know Rahul, your mom used to make this Paneer and bring for me secretly before our marriage also’.

‘Rohit, what are you saying in front of Rahul’ She tried a lot to hide her smile but could not and moved in to the kitchen. I knew Dad’s plan had started working. That is when I learned that compliments always work with women.

‘Sarita, where are you going’ My dad asked.

‘To make custard, what else?’ My mom replied.

Tension and Stress

Back from an awesome vacation. Still filled with beautiful memories of Hong Kong and much more than that the carefree time spent there. It took all my will power to get back into the office mood and join the work. This getting back in to the system will take some more time. Not even unpacked fully yet. During my last days of holidays, I was feeling a bit home sick too. The most I was missing was my car. Of course the public transport system of Hong Kong is very good as compared to India. But still the freedom of own car and movement is invaluable. 

So basically I am not happy staying at one place for too long. Hopefully I will get back into the routine in next few days.

When I joined back in office, I came to know that one of my colleagues was highly stressed over some official matters. He had even lost his appetite and was not even sleeping well. When I left he was a charming, sweet person with a jolly nature. Now he was looking so dull, eyes red with lack of sleep and smile was almost gone permanently. 

Of course, there is stress in all the professions. All jobs are demanding. A little bit of stress may be OK. But losing peace of mind over some office trouble is not. We must keep a watch on this. It is also known to all these days that stress is one of the main reason for many prevailing diseases. 

I would like to share my stress relieving method. Who knows, this might help you. Whenever something is bothering me, I think about  importance of that thing after a period of time. For example. - If today I am stressed about one big order being completed on time. Even after my doing my best something goes wrong and the order is not completed and company is at loss and I may have to face the management on the targets. Or if somebody is behaving bad with me today. How important will it be for me in 20 years time? For sure, I will not even remember it. And I keep this power of time in my mind, which saves me from stress most of the times.

It is also a good thing that the bad/stressed/tension times are forgotten much faster. Which is why most people when talking about their past tell about how good their past was, the School times, College times, dating times. They will not talk about any tensions or stress. If you ask any School or college student, they will be having much more tension than us (office going people). Fortunately with the power of time he/she will also not remember these tensions and remember only the good times.

Hope you all have tension free lives.



PS. There are exceptions.

My Hong Kong Visit

Here are some photos from my ongoing vacation in Hong Kong. (Full story will be posted once I come back home)

View from Victoria Peak

Hong Kong

Hi Friends,

I am not able to post anything on my blog since last few days, because I am enjoying my vacations in Hong Kong and filling my mind with lot of fresh energy and ideas. Will be back soon.

Till then take care and have fun.


Saurabh

Bucket List

I have come across a term today - Bucket List. A Bucket list is a list of things you will do before dying. It came from the term "Kick the bucket" which is an informal term for "to die".

Before this I have never thought about making any bucket list. But there must be a list for everyone. So I am making one right now. 

Things I would like to do before I kick the bucket.-

1. Sky diving
2. Visit to Niagara Falls
3. Read at least 2000 books
4. Write 100 books
5. Visit to a disneyland
6. Attend Kumb Mela
7. A World Tour


I am not able to think of anything more right now, but this list will be amended time to time.

What is in your Bucket List?

Inside the heart 1

So.. I was talking about people. About how to know what is going on inside their heart. Are they trustworthy or not. Of course, one should not "always" be judging people, that way we will not have time to love and appreciate them. But sometimes the situations are such that you have to judge them. As per me, the following methods can be a good indication of the true nature of people.

The popular one (Ref: - Hindi Movie Munna Bhai MBBS), observe how the person is dealing with persons who can not benefit him in any way. If the dealing is polite and respectful, the person is likely to be good at heart also. And if he dealing is impolite especially with people below his status, he is very likely to be an untrustworthy person.

The second one, is the behaviour of the person, while s/he is angry. While observing it must be taken care that the anger must be real too. Real anger always brings out the true nature of a person.

Anything else?

Inside the heart

People, people people, there are people everywhere, especially in our country with huge population. We like some, dislike some, hate some, notice some, ignore some and love some. But how do we decide whom to like, dislike, love or hate? by looks

Someone told me that person must be good at heart to love or like them, whatever the looks may be, and if he/she is not good at heart, then he/she is not ok, simple. Agreed. But the real question is how do you know what is inside someone's heart? Is there any concrete method to find out? Can anyone help?

Need some replies...

to be continued...

My First Day at School

The above is picture of  a gate. This gate brings back so many beautiful memories of my School Life. Have passed from this gate for 10 years, from my childhood to adolescence. Still have a faint memory of my first day in this School. My father dropped me up to the classroom. That was the only time when he had entered my school building in those 10 years. Some of the kids were crying around when their parents were leaving them. I was little nervous but did not cry. My bench-mate on that day was a girl, with whose name my parents teased me for several years. I borrowed an eraser from her on same day.

How much do you remember from your first day at School?

Free Love - Last one

True Love

(This post is related to my earlier posts)

So should we love or not? Someone's hurt, someone's lost his life, someone does not care and someone had to compromise with her identity for the sake of love only. Then why must you love?

By all means love is must for us. For without love we are worthless, no matter how successful we are. When we are having a difficult time, a little bit of love can give us incredible amount of hope. Life becomes beautiful when we are in love. Isn't it?

The biggest mistake which most people do when they get love is they try to possess it, demand it and expect.  Love is like water, if you keep some in your open palm, it will stay there, but if you try to close your finger and try to possess it, it will seep out immediately. This sounds very easy, but it is difficult to practice. We have to learn to feel no expectations from ones we love, and yet unconditionally care. True love is unconditional. With no expectations you are free to love anyone.. :) Agree?

Free Love 4

Love

One more love story... of Ajay and Rhea.

Ajay was sitting with his friends at local Barista. They were chatting and enjoying their cappuccinos and Cafe lattes. There was a group of girls sitting near them. One of them, a very glamorous looking girl, caught Ajay's attention. She was wearing a short dress, with long boots and was pretty too. In short she was fashionable, beautiful. Their eyes met several times, and while leaving that girl smiled at him, like she knew what her effect on Ajay was. Ajay could not have even thought about getting a girl like her, but her smile gave him some confidence. He still did not know her name, but already started dreaming about her. He wanted to see her again and talk to her.

He kept visiting same Barista consecutively for next few days expecting to see that girl again. And he succeeded. She came to same Barista and noticed Ajay. This time Ajay introduced himself and chatted with her. Her name was Rhea. They had similar interests, both were outgoing persons, both liked travelling. Everything seemed perfect. They started meeting regularly. Before they knew, they were in love with each other. Ajay had proposed to Rhea and she agreed. He had never expected that a girl like Rhea can become his life partner. He was on cloud-nine the day when Rhea said yes. As their relationship matured, they planned to take it to the next level, Marriage. Fortunately parents of Ajay and Rhea also approved of their relationship and they got married.

Now after six months of marriage Ajay was changed. He still loved her a lot. He took good care of her. But he instructed Rhea on everything, from what to wear to where to go, whom to meet. He did not let her be like the outgoing sophisticated girl she used to. She had to dress conservatively, as per Ajay's choice and approval. Ajay did not approve of her meeting her male friends, even those who were her friends before her marriage to Ajay. Rhea was disappointed with the way things turned out. She tried to explain this to Ajay, that she was still the same girl whom Ajay liked and loved, but Ajay did not understand. She remained frustrated for some time, but later on compromised with herself to save her marriage and changed in to what Ajay wanted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is Rhea's compromise a good step?
In your opinion, can such a compromise work?
If not, what else could she do, considering she still loves Ajay?

Free Love 3

Love

Love research continues

From previous two cases, it seems that love is really a terrible thing. We must stay away from it as far as possible. Let us see one more example.-

One of my friends once fell in love with this girl. After going out together for some times, my friend confessed his love to that girl. Their conversation went like this.-

'I think I am in love with you,'My friend said to that girl.
'Oh really,' girl replied smiling.
'Yes, I think I am a different person I am with you. Life seems more interesting when I am with you'
She kept smiling, not saying anything
'So? what do you say about it, 'My friend continued
'So what?' She looked amused by my friend's confession.
'I mean do you love me too?' 
'Of course, I love you too'
My friend's irritation increased.
'Yaar, I have put my heart forward to you, and you are taking it so lightly. I am serious'
'It is not like that, I am also serious.  I love you, I have loved you since I saw you first time.'
Now my friend was more confused than irritated.
 'Are you pulling my leg now, first you stay totally indifferent to my confession of love, then you say you loved me since you saw me first time'
'No no, seriously, I love you, but it is not such a shocking thing for me, I have fallen in and out of love so many times, it happens. love is not something to be taken seriously'

My friend did not understand the concept of what the girl was saying. But he was happy to be with her and enjoyed her company. They were more comfortable with each other after the confession. They stayed together for sometime, till she had to go abroad. They kept in touch through mails, Facebook and occasional phone calls. After some time, my friend fell in love with another girl. He told me that he loved both of them. First girl also knew it and was happy for them.

These examples may not be from real life, but are very well inspired from real life events, and I am sure most of us will be able to relate such events where someones misses a loved one so badly that he is not able to love anyone else in the world and where someone who is not able to get the loved one looks to end his/her life. But very few with be able to relate to this example where both loved each other and even if they are not together they were happy.  This one is rare and strange. Isn't it?

Free Love 2

Love

Continuing my research on love. Lets us take another example.

A beautiful girl once fell in love with a boy who was her friend. She felt very good with him. Very soon, they started meeting regularly, went to movies together, were always seen together everywhere they went. They both confessed their love to each other. Both were very happy with each other. Boy took very good care of her, he made sure she was happy. He felt protective about her. She sometimes called him her "Bodyguard" in fun. Although they were already together, but now their relation was defined. They were now Boyfriend-Girlfriend. This definition of relationship gave both of them more rights over each other. Now they had to meet everyday, and if not meeting they had to talk everyday, especially at night.  

One day, it was girl's last exam of the final year. She was busy whole day with studying and exam, could not call or meet the boy. As it was her last exam of college, her college friends made a plan to go out and have fun to celebrate. She went out with her friends for a party and had a great time with them. With party and friends, she forgot to call the boy and did not even check her phone. When she checked her phone next morning, there were many missed calls and texts from the boy, who obviously missed her. She immediately called him and apologized. Boy was furious, but understood after some time. Slowly with time the boy's possessiveness increased, since he loved the girl so much that he could not spend a minute without her.

But it was not same with girl, she did not like his possessiveness and decided to end their relationship. She wanted to remain friends, but did not want them to be as Girlfriend-Boyfriend, but boy did not accept. This had hurt him badly, he called the girl many times but she did not take his calls, as he was bent on continuing the relationship. 

How can she leave him, who loved her more than anyone in this world, he thought. He tried a lot to convince her to come back to him. But she had moved on. Finally day came when he decided to end his life. He did not find life worth living without the girl in it and committed suicide.

Now, the boy loved girl more than anyone else in the world, and even ended his life for her. And his love actually not only hurt him, but took his life? so is love dangerous? If anyone is madly in love, we should stop him/her, because it may kill? Why did the "heart-less" girl let him die, for they once loved? 

to be continued...