Bundles of joy.

We all have a liking for some special people or things. The people or things that make our day. That lift our spirits, remind us of someone or something, or even give us a nostalgia. I too am fond of a few things that makes me feel good. I don't know why, or how, but they seem to have a very positive effect on my mind and my thoughts. Its like they show me a ray of hope when I feel low.

Rain!

Image by: Edal

I find rain a happy expression from the heavens. Every year I make sure I go out in the first rain of the season and get drenched, no matter what, alone or with friends. I simply love it. Be it just a drizzle or heavy, rains will always make me happy.

I look up to the sky filled with dark clouds, lightning and thunder. The rain drops pouring down on me. I can feel my face wet, and can smell the wet soil beneath my feet. The spread out my arms and surrender myself. I want to be drenched from head to toe and my soul absorbing it all. Rain will wash away my fears, and my cheeks stained by tears. It will kill all my bad memories and my mind will bloom again like a new flower. Its like being in a magical place. The sound of thunder is music to my ears and the lightning is a visual treat.

I look around and feel the freshness. The earth that was parched a few moments ago, from the summer heat, now seems to be satisfied, like my mind.

Kids!

Kids are angels on Earth. Being in their company makes me feel happy. Their innocence and inquisitive mind makes me wonder. Their innocent questions can puzzle an adult. I look at them with awe, how these little creatures bring us joy. Their divine smile and bright starry eyes.... Their angelic laughter are like bells ringing in heaven. A kid's hug makes me feel loved and closer to God. 

Tea!

A hardcore tea lover will always choose a cup of a proper tea over property, anytime. I am one of them. Morning, afternoon, evening, night or midnight...we will never deny tea!

I love its aroma, the taste and colors. Let it be green tea, jasmine tea or black tea, its like a holy drink to us!

Tea reminds me of my school days when I had started drinking it out of necessity to pull off my nights studying. Now its more than a necessity...Its more than a habit...Its an addiction and I'm loving it!

It fills me with breaths of life with little sips.....

Beaches!

Image by: KingKurt22

Till now I've taken 5-6 trips to different beaches in India and wish to visit more. I prefer a quiet place. An untouched beach would be a delight! No one around. Just me and my loneliness. Blue waters, white sands, beautiful coconut trees around. A small hut by the beach.

I love walking by the sea, leaving my footprints on the sand as a souvenir. But the waves wash them away every time. I love that feeling when the waves caress my feet time and again.....endlessly. I love the sound of waves every time it reaches my ears....endlessly. I love the view of the horizon where the sparkling blue waters meet the clear blue sky. The cool breeze caressing my face. The noise of the seagulls, and watching the sun set down.

Lying down on the sand by the fire and staring at the starry sky above on a dark night. Wondering how the sun rise would be... Anticipations....They keep you going!

We all have our own reasons to be happy. People or things...or events...that define us, our lives, and our state of mind. What is it in your case?

My roomie Lily...

THANKS LILY....THIS ONE IS FOR YOU... :-)
So getting back to the people I came across in this  new place. There are two categories.
Number One- The people I ran away from, that I had mentioned earlier.
Number Two- The people I became friends with, about whom I will tell now.
A few days before I left the old place in March, a new girl moved into my room. At that point of time my mind had already drowned in the ocean of negativity. I got an impression that all the girls are bad. So I decided that I won't initiate any conversation with this new girl. I had just returned from my office that evening, and I saw her sitting on her bed talking to someone on a call. She had her shoes on, which was enough to upset me a bit, as I had mopped the floor that morning.
I interrupted her for a minute and requested her to remove her shoes and keep it where I kept mine after she was done with the conversation. She nodded and said okay and got back to talking on her cell.
I got fresh and continued with my daily activities, like making tea and relaxing for a while and then cooking dinner and chatting away with my family on phone. Till then she was sitting with the other two crackpots and chit-chatting. She seemed to be getting along well with them. I was worried about having a potential crackpot in my room!

After an hour or so she came in and started unpacking her things. I asked her name, just out of courtesy. She said her name was Lily. She asked mine. Then we inquired about each other's job. She said she was in Mumbai for an internship which would last for two months. She said she was a second year MBA student.
I don't know how, but we started talking. I asked her about her family and her college. She told me a lot about it. I came to know her real name was Lalita. And I too told her a lot about myself. Soon she was sitting next to me and showing me pictures of her home, college, family and friends on her laptop. And that night we chatted away till 4 a.m. in the morning. OMG!!! I couldn't believe it! I got through her. Soon, I realized that she wasn't bad at all. In fact, she was awesome!
After a couple of days, we became good friends. We used to talk and laugh a lot together. It was actually a bliss having Lily with me, because my mind was already messed up big time and stressed out after coming to Mumbai. Things were now getting better.
One day, I insisted Lily to come with me to my home for a weekend. And she was more than happy. So on a Saturday we left for my home after office. We had fun during the journey. When we reached home, we freshened up and had lunch. Mmmmmm, there is no match for home-cooked food. We ate till our heart's content. I had an appointment with my dentist that evening. Dad planned we all will go out for dinner too. Till the time I introduced Lily to my neighbors and my friends. We played with the baby Shagun who lives next door. She is my sweetheart. We clicked pictures too.


We reached my dentist's clinic in the evening. Lily looked around and I told her many a things about my treatment and all. My turn came soon. We both went in. Lily put of the flash of her cell phone's camera and silently took pictures when my dental check up was going on. I noticed her dare-devilry from the corner of my eye. I was about to burst into laughter but somehow controlled myself, thinking that my dentist won't like all this non-sense (Non-sense for him, fun for us).


So after  my appointment was over, we stepped out and laughed incessantly. We were waiting for my dad to come. By the time we went in the chocolate shop and had a pastry and a chocolate. We clicked pictures there too. Eating less and laughing more. It was like hysteria.

Soon Dad came and off we went for dinner. We had Chinese food, that's our all time favorite. Oh God! We were so stuffed!
Then we went home and had tea and Lily told more about herself to my Mom and Dad. I was too tired. I went to bed. I woke up at 12 in the afternoon next day. Lily and my younger sister, whom we lovingly call Tillu were chatting till 5 in the morning and still sleeping.
Lol! they were looking so cute!
Mom, Dad and Tillu just loved Lily! Tillu especially... as she really had nice time chatting away with her all night long. Soon it was time to go back to Mumbai and resume with our work.
So did we... We came back with one of the sweetest memories...
We still had great time in Mumbai....till she finished with her internship and went back to Kolkata. But we are still in touch, in spite of all the distances and being busy with our lives...
Not only she made my days better, but also changed my perception about people in a big way...
When I recall the day I first met her and when I was thinking I won't talk, I can't  believe that person has become a great friend now!
She taught me a lot through her experiences...I learnt how the world works. She made me capable and mentally strong enough to accept the fact that there exists a mix of good and bad people in the world. But you just can't run away from the people you don't like. You have to deal with them, and in such a manner that I works in your favor. She made me realize I too can do this, making best out of worst.

Lessons learnt:

• Not all people are bad.
• We should never let negativity get the better of us.
• Life is unpredictable. You never know, what will be the next great thing in store for you...

Till then, enjoy your life, love your friends, cherish your memories....

May God bless us all!

Humanity binds us all together...

It was a pleasant Saturday evening of 17th September...I was really excited as I was going home for the weekend. I left from office at 5.30 pm to catch a train scheduled after an hour. I happily trotted towards the station, and bought a pack of chips and cookies each for the three and half hours journey. Oh!! I was starving as I had to skip my lunch in order to compensate for the time as I had to leave early from office.
I was worried if I would get a seat, since I didn't have reservation as it was a last minute plan. Its really troublesome and tiring to stand throughout journey, and I kept my fingers crossed. So at 6.30 pm I boarded the train.
This world is full of weird kind of people. There were a couple of ladies who had two reservations and yet occupied three seats. There were many people like them. So many people were standing. They requested them repeatedly to shift a bit and let one person sit...but no..they were so adamant.
But as I said, there exists an equally kind and empathetic variety of people. They showed us where the empty seats were in another bogie. And yippie!!! I got one and it saved all the trouble that would have been caused to me standing all the way amidst the maddening crowd and their chatter.
After 45 minutes at next station there was a rush again. And that station too is so much crowded. Local trains come, people rush in and out of it. They push each other like animals...its like a mad bull fight.
While all this was happening out there, I was sitting comfortably on my window seat and munching on cookies and reading Mumbai Mirror. A lady dressed in a simple yet beautiful satin red and white salwaar-kameez came in and occupied the seat right opposite to that of mine.
She looked a bit upset. As if she was going to burst into tears. And she did. She called up someone, may be her family back home. She spoke in Sindhi, very softly. I could hear just a few words. She was talking about some kind of wound, fracture, something something...pain, fall..something something.
I then gave it a thought for a second and looked down at her. Her dress near the knee was soiled and it had stains of blood too. It was simple to guess that she was injured. When she hung up, I asked her what was wrong and why was she sobbing. She told me that she fell down on the platform when she was dashed by the crowd when the local train arrived. She showed me her left foot. OMG! It was swollen. It reminded me of my Mom who too slipped while walking and got such swollen foot. It was a fracture! It was 20 months back.
This lady was in great pain. Many passengers noticed her agony. Fortunately there was a doctor on the adjacent berth. She came in to relieve her a bit. She requested people to give some hard and flat object like cardboard. She applied an ointment on the foot and tied it with a scarf to a piece of cardboard that a passenger had offered. And the other two passengers vacated the entire berth so that she could keep her leg straight. The doc gave her a pain-killer. Another lady offered her a cup of coffee. She now looked relieved. She dozed off for next two and half hours, till we reached Nasik. The doc helped her to alight. Her husband had come to receive her. She thanked the doc and all the passengers for being so kind to her.
Its good to see good people in our otherwise selfish world.
This incident assures me that humanity still exists on this planet. Otherwise, who would have helped that injured lady?
And how would I've got a seat?
Its 'Humanity' that binds us all.... atleast in bad times....

The people around me....

This is about the people whom I met after I came to Mumbai. I was always in touch with my family and friends back home through phone. But I was still alone in one sense. I didn't have anyone to tell me how to recognize people, who is how? Or how to tackle a troublesome bunch people? What to say at times? Or break the ice and mix up with them?
This was because till then I was  always in my cocoon. I barely interacted with people other than my parents, relatives and some close friends. I wasn't interested in  other people's life, their thoughts, their intentions. So I never knew the importance of being worldly-wise.
I never knew this world has so many good and kind people. Neither that I knew  that there were a variety of people equally shrewd and cunning. Its when I left my home that I realized this fact about people, and also my fault of living in my dreamy world all the time.
In Mumbai I had to live as a paying guest. That meant sharing a room with a girl or two, sharing my personal space, respecting each other's differences, and watching what I spoke.
Let me tell you something about my two room mates. They were like 'Sugar coated chilies'.
I spoke frankly and freely to them right from day one. I didn't think about how they were and is it OK to be so open. I had just assumed that they must be good, like my friends back home. They came to know I'm a simple and naive person who couldn't understand the deeper meaning of the things said. But I soon understood what they were. I'm a rebel. And so I could no longer tolerate them being bad to me unnecessarily. It resulted in Cold war kind of atmosphere. And that led to quarrels. And more quarrels. The atmosphere was always tensed up. I never even looked at them, or said anything. It was just that they taunted me endlessly on my weaknesses and provoked me to say something which ultimately led to wars between me and them.
I wanted peace after a hectic day at work. I couldn't bear all that anymore and so after a month I left the place.
My fault in this case was that I didn't watch my mouth. I couldn't just be frank with my room-mates. Because they were after all strangers to me. Revealing anything that would help them take advantage of me could have been bad enough.
Its from this experience that I learnt a lesson. That at first I should be conservative yet kind enough in my behavior. I must gauge a person's mind. If good enough then be friends...and if otherwise then maintain a safe distance and just be neutral.