I miss....

Happee children’s day

Now that i am no longer a kid.. not even a teenager, all i am left with is memories of my kid life and being a bit childlike ! 

Thought of making a list of what all i miss... well half century toh maar di... can think of more though....

1    1.      Miss being swung in a chaddur by my parents.
2.     Miss standing on the scooter’s front space holding the handles as my Baba rode.
3.     Miss being cradled and put to sleep.
4.     My aaji drying my wet hair and making funny noises and telling stories!
5.     Miss standing on my toes to reach the wash basin.
6.     Miss playing teacher-teacher with my toys.
7.     Miss playing with that thread tied apple shaped fugga.
8.     Miss being scolded at for not studying.
9.     Miss swinging on the bench.
10.   Miss playing on the slides and the swings, the see saws, the jungle gym!
11.   Miss horse riding in deshmukh garden.
12.  Miss those frilly frocks.
13.   Miss those socks over ballerinas.
14.  Miss those water bottles hanging around my neck.
15.   Miss the triangle shaped handkerchief pinned to my uniform.
16.   Miss the uniform.
17. Miss the horizontal two buckled school bag with cartoons on it.
18.   Miss the talking to imaginary friends anywhere and anytime.
19.  Miss making up stories.
20.  Miss playing on that two battery buttoned video game.
21. Miss putting free sticker tattoos on my writs and palms.
22.  Miss putting two ponies.
23.Miss the matador rides to school.
24.Miss dirtying my uniform.
25.  Miss playing “aao mina”.
26.  Miss playing fire in the mountain, orange juice and lemons.
27.   Miss playing pakda pakdi with my cousins at somebody’s wedding.
28.  Miss those clip on clips.
29. Miss  the art and craft period.
30.  When the monitor wrote my name on board for talking.
31.  Miss rolling down on the garden lawn.
32.  Miss playing hide and seek with mum at home.
33.   Miss talking to dried leaves visiting my balcony.
34.   Miss riding my red tricycle.
35.   Miss the tricycle rides to the dairy with Baba and Appu.
36.   Miss taking Appu everywhere.
37.   Miss screaming at the top of my lungs.
38.   Miss laughing out loud.
39.    Miss playing boxing match with neighbour friend on the sofa.
40.   Miss preparing and performing for the parents day!
41.    Miss playing with stray dogs for hours.
42.    Miss writing h.w for homework.
43.     Miss those red remarks of teacher – very good, very talkative, incomplete!
44.      Miss the sick leaves to school and being pampered at home.
45.       Miss the octopus bubble bath gel.
46.       Miss jumping in the puddles in rains.
47.         Miss that raincoat and gumboots.
48.        Miss going for tuitions and babysitter.
49.       Miss waiting for Mum and dad to come home after office.
50.    Miss the chaan chaan ghoshti cassettes.
   

Well, no big deal wishing people "Happee Children's Day"... atleast you smile at the thought of being a kid :)

Walking with the Butterflies :)

I met her all along my way. And whenever i did she smiled at me! She always made me smile. She made my day when i was low, made me happier when i was happee... She spoke a lot even in those few seconds. 

She is always there! She always makes me smile... 

Thank you my dear Yellow Butterfly :)

I was new to this place i was going to. I knew no one. All i knew was the Yellow Butterfly. She flutters her wings. Never stays still and flies from one patch of colour to the other. All this while making the onlooker happee.

That day the little Yellow Butterfly let me take a look into the world of butterflies. Never had i seen them much just heard about them. Never had i seen them all but that day she showed me all of them! 

And they were so beautiful... To me they were the prettiest, the happiest, the most colourful of all creatures on this planet. 

All i did as i walked with them was smile. I smiled at every butterfly i spotted. And they smiled back! 

Some were black with white polka dots, some were white with black polka dots. Some were yellow on the inside and black and white on the outside- so when they flew, they flew in three colours! 

Some were blue-ish white, some were flaming orange on the inside and chocolate brown on the outside. Some were tiny white. Some were green. Some were biggg and long and some were tiny and swift. And ofcourse showing off her world to me was my little Yellow Butterfly! 

They were dancing everywhere. Not just on flowers or green grass but on thorns and dried grass too. 

I wondered don't they fear of their soft wings getting stuck in the thorns? But all my fears were out to rest when i saw them doing there pair dancing. They were so fearless, so ecstatic, so carefree and free to fly wherever they wanted to. 

I mean look at these tiny creatures so cheerful, so beautiful, so delicate who think nothing about getting themselves hurt but think about how more happee-go-lucky they can ever be! They enjoy this freedom to the hilt without worrying of the bad they can run into. But just doing what they really love- meeting different flowers, dancing and flying! 

They add that colour, that extra spunk to the nature! Unknown to them they make millions of people like you and me happee. Now that's what i call the noblest thing to do. Making others happee! 

After our walk the Yellow Butterfly asked me about my trip and did I like her friends. 

All i could say is, "You teach me to live on, dream on and fly on without any worries!" 

Thank you my dear lil' Yellow Butterfly. I shall pass this happiness around :)

The oldies and the cup of coffee

Im dreaming an Aisha( wake up sid's )....

The Living room a white washed walls and the wide spread wall donned a yellow crome colour with the photo frames of my folks and friends, my mumma's water colour paintings and some of her charcoals. i had decided to put off the while lighted tubelights and lit the kandils. The chinese paper lanterns and the very Indian clothed kandil. My room looked looked bright and very beautiful all lit and welcoming.

My studio didn't have a bed. It had a gaadi. the one i could convert as a low sitting sofa when i had friends and aai, baba and aaji over.  I had an antique small wooden carved shelf cum desk with my books neatly arranged on it. I had choosen a light shade of pink transparemt curtains for my windows. A thick coat of orange curtains bordered them. A cool breeze made my curtains dance. I let them. I din't really bother tying them.

A strong brew of coffee wavered into my studio. The evergreens 'Ajeeb dastana hai yeh', 'musafir hoon yaron', 'yeh raat bheegi bheegi' filled my room making the entire mood yellow and happy. Everything seemed so relaxed. My book laid on the bed next to the lowly laid light shade waiting for me to get back to it with my cup of coffee.

I was so so happee with everything. My life. My job as a freelance coloumnist and photographer and a blogger.I was a proud owner of a yellow Beatle and the brand new studio apartment i had shifted into in Bandra after a lot of cajoling my parents. The morning walks on the beach. The nights by the marine drive sipping hot anna's chai.

It was so me !!!

- the Yellow Butterfly :)

                                                          **********

I was free. Backpacking and discovering the beauties of Himachal and Kerela. I was back from a visit to my school friend Mallu who was working as a magazine writer in Himachal. She was "the girl with the room with a view". Having put up in an old Brit bunglow near Dharmashala she stayed in the company of a Tibetan girl and two Pahadi dogs- both furry and fuzzy.

Every morning she and I sat in the small garden she had at her entrance sipping masala chai as we looked at the Kangra valley at the left, the beautiful snow clad mountain caps at a distant in the right and the lush green cricket stadium next to the small hillock next to ours.  She covered the culture and the travel beat. She showed me around on her newly purchased bullet the loacales and the flea markets. our favourite spots. The little Tibetan monks with their eyes skewed smiled at us and got all shy when we had to capture tehm on my camera.The old ladies- all above eighty-five ferried backpacks with grass and logs, their revenue.

Sometimes she had to report to her office. Those days I set out all by myself. Clicking happily on my foot all my way. Trying out the cafes and meals at the cafes owned by the Firangs was my hobby. It was really interesting- having meals in the cafe and observing the world go around me.

 Dharmshala had the Tibetan markets that sold petite and authentic tits bits. Many that i got for a cheaper bargain for decorating my lil' studio and china wears for my Mumma. I decided to pick a wall piece for my best friend Savina, a house warming gift for her new apartment. She had just recently moved in with her fiance in their new apartment.

Everything was yellow around me. Sunshine days. Yellow people. Yellow places. Happee things around !!! Everything was just so apt for the Yellow Butterfly !

RUNNiNG TWo STATES !

Ahh..there were all packed and coming back home... Reached Chandigarh just on time for the train. A visibly relieved Noon, our Baghdadi sent tour friend sat down with us after settling us all in the train. The dabba was in a mess. Stinky, messy, dirty. We had been lucky to get a brand new freshly painted dabba on our journey to Chandigarh. Already a bit sleep deprived we sat together hoping to catch a wink...

Most of us got up after the afternoon nap before the Delhi station came in. The Delhi sun was too soft to ignore the Delhi cool winds. Hoping to find something hot and better than the watery chai some of us got down on the station. Nothing in sight. Just some chips and the normal tits bits sellers. The train was going to halt for some half an hour in Delhi. It was 5.00pm then. Hiten, Heena and I determined on finding something good to eat walked along the train. We remembered buying hot masala corns on the same platform while on our way to Chandigarh.
Ahh.. there he was! Picking up three cups of hot juicy masala corns we saw a puri bhaaji wala ... We confirmed the time left for the train to start. The pantry guy said,"Aur 10min hai."

Not long after we said"Bhaiyyan ek puri bhaji do na." we saw the train moving out.
The three of us wrigled in the pantry car. "Jiggy must have got another heart attack." The pantry guy was kind enough to allow us to sit in their dabba. The next station was Faridabaad. some 45mins away. Till then we relished the pantry benefits. The garma garam cutlets and chaai. Chai and the chocolate cake we had reserved for the rest. Some kinda experience we quipped. But story abhi bhi baki thi.....

The normal train loos are just okay. Why not go into the A/C loos. It must be all clean and good. As i came out of the loo. I could see the train already moving out of the Faridabad, a 2min stop station. Hah! we got down and started running top speed like Kareena on Ratlam. Huffing and puffing we had managed to reach till the AC cars. Bad! That was the second time we would have missed the train.

But by now we were superlatively confident and had a backup plan. Heena's dad was in railways. the worst scene: We would have extended our stay and stayed in the railways guest house for free with all good Faridabadi food!

A kind railway uncle suggested that we sit in some vacant seats in the AC so that on the next station which was like another hour away, Mathura we could get off soon and reach our dabba.... As we sat in a vacant AC seat and laughing too hard for our "happening adventure" a khadi claded man came to fetch Hiten...
We were sent back... Shooed away kindly. The Sr. Ticket Officer uncle had asked us whether we wanted to book 3 AC tickets till Mathura.

Too bad... we came back to where we started.To the pantry! Our Ratlamish run went waste. And then a bit of information bombed in! Abu Salem was in our same train. Now that was quite some news! And through the pantry guys we came to know that we were near him. He was travelling general with other 40 policemen and we were hardly some AC dabbas and a general away from him!

Chottu a pantry guy appeared a bit excited to see us three cramped near the door. As he asked us what we did. Hiten answered,"we make films." Films got him all the more excited. "Ji main accha gaa leta hun ji.'  People have this amazing fascination with Mumbai and Bollywood all around the place.Hoping to get into the magical world of films. "Tera hone laga hun" came in with an applause from Chottu. Later we realised that this Chottu from Gwalior had done polytechnics and had landed a 3,000 Rs job in the railways just for the sake of his family.His ideology and philosophy of working in his life amazed us!

We later followed him to the end of the AC dabba so that we could finally get off Mathura and run back to our S9.Chottu had stories to tell of Abu Salem the dreaded still alive DON who was relishing on his biryani and chaai served by Chottu. During our short time with Chottu he allowed us to peek in his life as a pantry boy. His scar that he received when a train run over his foot. His happy go lucky nature and his hardships to support his family had us thinking that somewhere we were a lucky bunch of people doing what we like!

Saying a bye to him and Sandeep Bhaiyyan who served us the cutlets we were back doing a Kareena on Mathura... But this time we finally reached. It was almost 7 45. We were back to our daaba after a long truly happening and adventureous journey in the same train. Running between the pantry and the AC and back to the pantry, crossing the Abu Salme's general dabbas and finally our dabba! What a run!

It was some kind of running two states. From Delhi to UP. We had done a Two States!

IV Recalled- The Shimla episode

After a lot of jumping and fighting and dancing around for in the name of the third year industrial visit(i.v) we did go on one! To the never touched areas by the students of VES we the 2009-2010 batch went to Chandigarh- Shimla!

As we got off the Ambala station and got into the seats( i specially got into the right three seaters so that i could get a view of the green mystic river on the way! And would get the first glimpse of the snow mountains.) I was happy to go to Himachal to what i consider my second nature home! I was in a dancing and a bubbly mood that i would see the snow claded Himalayas after a long city life.

During the four hour journey i slept through most of it. People puked. I slept. People sang. I slept. SOmewhere happy to know that i would get to see a better sight when i opened my eyes.

Kalka went by. No river. Ahead we climbed on the windings. No river. 3 idiots had surely fooled me. No green big river on the way. Although this was my fourth visit to himachal i was taking the Chandigarh-Shimla route for the first time. How i missed and cursed the management for not allowing us to Manali(my actual home).

As we reached the hotel it was pitch dark. Our opposite rooms had the best view. Small lil lights tinkling on the mountain... As if the sky had put on kandils. And there was my star studded sky too. I imagined the snow covered mountains to tower the town and the city that tinkled.

The next morning totally excited i got up from the bed. Warm and cosy i pushed the soft razai off me and climbed on to the sofa below the window. And there i was smiling broadly! What i saw was the same tinkling houses of last night not looking beautiful this time but cluttered and jammed onto the adjacent three to four hills looking all ugly. The only hill with some leftover pine tress stared blankly at me. My smile almost disappeared. No snow cladded mountains. Not even the sight of snow peaks or some left over snow. Only congested town is all i could see from the hotel room.

My excitement landed with a big thudd! But i learnt a thing. Not all Himachal is snow. And maybe Shimla had a beauty in it's colds climate and rains. And yes Himachal didnt disappoint me at the end. We did enjoy the fog and the rain that screwed our mall road trip. But the shopping hardly mattered. What bothered us that we missed the photo sessions on the famous spots- the Jab we met and the 3 Idiots in Shimla.

But as i say if you have a camera nothing can screw you. We made the most of the fog and the view and the camera and modeled a lot for it! Bloody posers is what we all were called!

Musafir Hoon Yaaron...

Many a times I come up with new theories... theories on all stuff in life... when i get into the" all philosophical mode"... so many times while my order is still to come on the table i read around from the frames hanging on the hotel walls... one-liners that say,

"Life is like an onion, it has many layers to it!"

or the most common that we get to read in our school slam books( wherein some philo friend has given you a bookish advice of,

" Life is like an ice-cream. Relish every lick of it!!"

Im somehow obsessed and and in love with the word"COLOURS" (the one with a "u" in it...the Brit spelling)and all the words in it's family- colourful, colours, shades, colourey...it makes me feel cheerful and jolly... gets a smile on my face :)
I always built a theory called the "colour theory"! the one where i went on to say "Life is colourful... you have all the shades in it...dark shades, warm shades, cool shades, light shades..."

Recently while working on a project with my group we came across this amazing video- Incredible India ad... its a good 2 min ad with a firang wondering what to write down on a postcard when it came to describe his journey so far in India... and what follows is snapshots of the beautiful ride of India through his eyes...
and tada !!!! i came up with yet another theory and also a mammoth thing to do in my life's wishlist!
i would call it -
The "Musafir Hoon Yaaron" theory...

Its like- life itself is a train... with no first class or a general class in it... just a whole train of general compartment... and I am a traveller in it... meeting so many different co-passengers from different walks of life in my journey... so many people gets on and off on different stations...joining you, teaching you, sharing with you and building new memories before they get down on their destination station...
i see alot many places through the train windows as the train goes... the train ofcourse can just move ahead and halt and slow down and stop at signals but ofcourse it can't take a reverse!

and along the journey I ofcourse get my doses of the masala cutting chaai and loads of different food ;)

as of now this is my new theory of a "musafir in the train yatra"... not that im coming up with an another that says me as a truck driver on the road journey some days later... hehe...

The Lil' Girl Who Smiled Back...

With her hands outstreched as she held His, she smiled back...with laughter and bliss and love all around she is smiling and gleeming with joy...the tinkering of her trinkets and her laughter makes Him smile too... "its okay my child, you are free...you are safe...don't worry everything else will be fine soon...All you have to do is to be an angel and spread happiness around."


She joins the others in play. Dressed in white they all paint a serene picture....

I didn't know her...neither did i knew her name nor had i heard her voice...but she needed somebody who could help her...somebody of her kind...I had spoken to her Dad the day before and it was decided upon the next morning...

The next morning as i was to leave i messaged her dad saying that i would reach there by 10.As i was about to leave for it i got his message that read ," Thanks alot.I lost my baby...thanks for your gratitude." I went numb.I dint know what to do, what to say. My Dad asked me," lets push off. aren't we going?"

It dawned upon me that i was late. She had left before i could do anything... I couldn't help her...Maybe my share of blood would have stopped her from going...Or it may not have...
But i knew of a thing. She was now in the safest hands of GOD ....free from the pain that she had gone all along ...away from the suffering she couldn't bear...she had become a free soul now... now she could laugh and have a painless life...Rest in GOD's arms...nudge onto him to play with her...
...Now she has become a lil' fairy who would help GOD in lighting others' lives...

My friend reminded me of the Gladiator line," When Death smiles on us all we can do is to smile back."
..... The lil' girl had smiled back too.... :)