THE START OF SOMETHING NEW

What happens when two perfect strangers meet up on a socializing site in a quest to know each other? Ever thought of the idea that two strangers who didn’t know the other existed (until they found each other) turn out to be two people who care for each other and enjoy each other’s company, and maybe fall in love? – 8 months down the line … and counting – to eventually find out it was only 10 kms that set us apart from each other.  Strange as it may seem – Marriages are not the only relationship’s that are made in heaven (as toast-masters claim to say at weddings) – but Friendships are made there too, and its only left to us to find each other on Earth – and in “her” I found a true companion, a faithful friend and a wonderful extended family – It was about “ us “ – and our journey as it started and how it continued to move on, early as we may called it – This was our story – our new beginning – our friendship… which started in the virtual world, facing a computer screen, developed into telephone calls, and eventually blossoming into a beautiful understanding of being with each other – be it in person or having each other in thoughts, it is the pleasure of having someone you can call your ‘ own special friend ‘ your  ‘own special someone’.

I introduce you to “her” -sweet, cute, sensitive, and having an adorable smile, the elder of two sisters, mum & dad. She was one of the cutest gals I’d met, it took me 27 years to have found this ‘pearl’, hiding somewhere in the midst of a quiet & picturesque village of our very own Goa. As for myself, I resided in the midst of the hustle-bustle commercial capital of Goa, the younger of 2 siblings.

It all started on a hot lazy afternoon, it was a Sunday I recollect-logged on to the google server, logged onto the orkut network, browsed through all the pretty goan girl profiles, stumbled onto one certain profile which caught my eye, and what did I see? A display picture showing of a petite young girl, sitting by the staircase – I thought to myself  ‘we should be friends’ typed along a scrap which said

‘hi, like to be friends?’

a few days passed and I received a reply – then on what started with a single scrap reply, we exchanged mobile numbers and got talking to each other. On getting to know each other better, we got to know that the families knew each other way before we met. Call it a slice of luck, or destiny – it seemed we were meant to meet.

It was not long before, that we were to meet in person after long hours of talk, frequent exchange of sms’s – All of this thanks to the friendly AIRTEL network – which went by its then tagline “Express Yourself”. THE DAY had finally arrived – I awoke wee hours into the morning, in anticipation of how the day would unfurl, a little bit of nervousness, a little bit of excitement, filling my day with all the positive vibes. Everything seemed fine, I was now feeling a little confident as her bus neared to its halt, and there got down 2 young girls – as I watched from a corner which of the two could be “her” – then came that adorable smile from a distance, at once I knew she was the one! It seemed she recognized me, even before I could lay my eyes on her. She was this cute girl next-door type, innocent smile, and a sparkle in her eye, at that moment, it all seemed that life had come to a standstill. We spoke all the way back to her place, driving through a busy highway, lush green fields to finally reach her hometown – a good 25-minute drive from town, I didn’t speak much, I thought I’d give her a chance and I would listen.. and boy! wasn’t I not disappointed.

I met the parents and as serious as it sounded “meeting the parents”, the reality was quite the opposite. Her parents came across as people who on talking to could put anyone at ease almost immediately; it did not seem as if we were meeting for the first time. While conversations flew amidst smiles and small talk, “she” was standing beside me all the while-little did I realize….

The feeling of having someone stand really close to you… is kind of un-explainable; it surely was for me those few moments. Time surely passes by fast when you’re having a good time, we were nearing dusk.

We spoke, we met, the families met-what was next I thought? I spotted her again the coming week at Church, talk of distractions… there she was, she had left her hair lose; she looked quite the stunner! …dressed very well in an off-white blouse and skirt, walking confidently to her seat-as my eyes followed her direction.

While bumping into each other at Church services wasn’t really enough of “we” time, we thought we’d take a few time out of a day and spend it with each other. As I made a dash to the main door, dad called out. On turning back – he just smiled, I knew what that smile meant, it is after all a father-son thing! On reaching her residence to pick her up, greeted her folks and set off no sooner – her mom wished us a great time. Something about parents sensing the obvious, though we were keeping it really cool.

An evening to look forward to..

On deciding where to start off with, we thought we’d head down to the beach stretch. No sooner we reached, we were among jolly goans enjoying a Sunday evening at the beach-we decided we’d walk by the shoreline, as we walked, we talked-we were not quiet there! But as we shared, we got to know each other better… time ticked, and it seemed my tummy was asking me questions (didn’t quite know if it was just butterflies or hunger) – I took the more obvious choice, and asked “her” if she’s like to join me for dinner. We both agreed on a place  by the beach would have a lot of nosey goans trying to figure out permutations-combinations about ‘us’, hence we drove on to the more quieter  side of the village side-and parked into one such simple yet elegant restaurant – A quiet dim-lit restaurant catering to  the ‘special ones’, who liked their evening to be just perfect. The night seemed special for the simple reason that we had each other for company, the food and drink did not matter-the music played along as we ate at ease with water-melon juice to accompany. As we continued on into the night, we drove by the lonely roads of GOA, leading us from one beach road to the other. I then put my arm around her, as she laid her head by my shoulder, as the wind blew through the window, getting us into what was a now a very romantic mood setting. As we went along, what we did not realize was that time caught up on us-it was past midnight, and it was getting way past bedtime, hence we drove home to a smiling mum & dad at the gate (to my surprise), not before she gave me a kiss on my cheek to only say

‘I had a wonderful time’

No sooner than we met for the first time… Many more meetings, that brought us closer to each other in many ways than one……a few months down the line, yes! We hit it off, and we hit off so well – that anyone who saw us together would say that we were in love with each other, well we were, at times we held hands, and other times I put my arm around her-we kept sending lovey dovey sms’s to each other, exchanged feelings openly, went shopping together…. You get the picture!! Parents meet parents, questions were asked by neighbors. To an extent that even an out station trip was done especially for time to be spend together with each other, future plans were being chalked out about marriage, housing, and children and our future in general. We moved at fast pace, and in all I wasn’t even aware we went that far – Thankfully not that far that we could not return back!! To sum it all, I had to apply the brakes – Somewhere! Somehow!

I took it all out on ‘her’, I broke the heart of the girl who I was made KinG of and ruled her kingdom until that day!

Not exactly with words said, but deafening silence….with no explanations given!

It was the 1^st day of a new year!  …..

What did I do? Was I even thinking then? Wait! I wasn’t thinking at all in the first place! I surely wasn’t aware of what I did, but life went on. It was here that Life taught me the lesson, but only after the mistake was made. Could I have done it any other way – Maybe I could have, but Life does not give us a second chance, does it?

Many years have passed, and time has healed (or maybe not) many of the wounds I had left open, the world keeps ticking by, one day at a time.

She said:

“It’s difficult to go back being friends, when you meant much more than a friend to me all this while”

I did not understand those words then, when all I thought it was just a simple thing to do, REWIND and everything will come back to the way it was … How wrong was I? It happens only in the movies, Life has no re-takes! Today we are both on the same social network, yet not connected.

“Love Stories are meant to end well, mine certainly did not – Boy meets girl, Girl meets boy and they fall in Love-have their differences-get back together. But then comes reality, and I lived it at different stages in moments, with silver sprinkled all over.

Are we friends or are we not? Or do we hate each other? I do not know, I have never asked her, and never will. This was my story. Edited yet very much true.

 

TO THE MOON THAT WATCHES OVER ME

Hey there,

I may not say it always but you do mean the world to me. Had you not been there with me during those nights of despair, I would have ended up doing something really wrong.

You know everything about me. Don’t you? How often you saw me sitting aloof, fearing the failure, losing my trust over friendship, bidding goodbye to the one I had always looked up to? Messy hairs, teary eyes and red face is how you caught the glimpses of mine when I used to visit the terrace at 3o’clock in the morning. I wish cuddling your own self could have been as pleasant as gazing at you.

Unlike the people I am attached to, you don’t force me to share what is it that hurts me or what is it that makes me laugh. For you know that I can laugh for absolutely no reason and can cry too. You never judge me for whatever I do. After all, you understand the silence of mine. I need not think if what I am going to share might hurt you or put any of us in trouble I just share. I need you at every phase of mine not just to vent my pent up emotions but also be saved from the selfish world of us. With you, I find solace and share the dark secrets, worries and sorrows of my life. With you, I rejoice and decipher the boundless beauty of nature. 

More than just a friend you have been a life saviour to me. I wonder had you not been into existence, how the things might go? Could I ever believe that there is something so beautiful even in the darkness?

Truly yours,
Vipra.

CAN NEVER THANK ENOUGH

Dear Babai & Pinni,

There are days when you simply can’t express yourself good enough. There are only two reasons for that situation, either nothing much to say or so much to say that you find yourself amidst rare numbness and words simply don’t find their way from heart to mouth. I identify myself with the second reason. And I feel I will be in this situation till the end of my life : Can never thank you both enough for how you impacted my life at different stages and phases.

Babai, I have never seen a person as emotional and straight forward as you are. I have always been in awe of how far you have gone for the people you care for. Since the time I started understanding relationships and their beauty & importance in human life, I have seen you as a rock who stood by your brother (my father) in his thick and thin. At the times when relationships are motivated, made, twisted and broken by money, thanks to you we never saw such moments in our family. I saw how you would never take it lying down whenever people hinted disrespect towards my father. Your sibling love gave our generation sibling goals – to love, support and respect our siblings unconditionally. Thanks for making our family an epitome of brotherly love for the world to see, it isn’t an exaggeration.

It’s a popular belief that to make or break a family, the responsibility lies with the lady of the house. And I can proudly say that I belong to a family that got amazing women who no matter what makes sure that family bonds are not severed. And leading from the front is you, Pinni (Chachi/aunt). Babai’s (uncle’s) love for us can be understood by the linear nature of relationship we had – brotherly love. But you are the support system of Babai who always stood by his decisions. You embraced us as your own kids. You have always been my idol when I think about strong, independent woman. A woman with strong values who values family, wisdom being your second name, love and compassion is your identity. I am fortunate enough to share the same date of birth (same date, same month) with you. You have an immense impact on how a woman has to take charge of her family and bind it. After 11 years of marriage if I can relate to happiness and sorrows of my extended family from my husband’s side, its because of a wonderful lady like you. Thank you so much for all the love, motivation and inspiration you have showered on me and still doing it. And before I forget to mention, it’s always great to spend time with you, it’s fun second to none.

Both of you have cared for me and my brother like your own children, a rarity in these selfish times we are living. You hold the same place as our parents in our hearts.

And it would be so insensitive and wrong on many accounts if here I don’t mention about my sweet little sister, Divya. As a child she used to be our favourite for she used to be super cute and we used to look quite lean (famished wouldn’t be appropriate😂😂). I will always be grateful to God for giving me such a wonderful person as my sister. She is an exact replica of Babai when it comes to emotions. The way she cares for people and bonds, so invested in them wholeheartedly I have never seen anyone else in this practical world. I have a great camaraderie with her and my brother. Summer vacations, late night talks under star lit sky, silly fights, sharing clothes, dancing till we dropped, watching movies in the front row of cinema hall, keeping secrets, breaking down, building up each other – I can literally go on. Technically we were in nuclear families but literally we grew up together (with and on each other). Thank you is a small word for the support you have been to me.

I may not have vast materialistic fortunes but very fortunate to have you in my life, it’s a blessing to have such a loving family, wonderful strong people guiding me at every step, shaping up the right ideology to look at life in a positive perspective, heaping up treasure of memories. Though I don’t like to repeat myself but can’t help today – can never thank you all enough.

Yours lovingly,

Daughter .

AN UNPOSTED LETTER TO A MAN OF FEW WORDS

Dear Dad!

I don’t know what to write and how to express my feelings for you. The number of lessons that you have taught me when you were amidst us was unexplainable in this letter. But they are all so rooted within me that I can train myself as well as the people around me.

You had slapped me only once in my whole life. And I wept so bitterly as I wasn’t expecting it ever from you. I took you for granted that this man can be teased and bullied in any manner but he won’t say a word. I know, you never had touched me afterwards till the end. I was a kid that time and that slap was a souvenir for me. 🙂

But I am sorry, I could not be like you who always had stayed quiet, wearing that gentle smile on your face when you were teased. I don’t know how you must have been feeling, how much pain you hid it behind that beautiful smile of yours. I retaliated at times and bashed those who tried to tease me or bully me.

I am sorry, I could not be as happy as you were when you had very little. You were happy even when you had earned a small salary, ate whatever was given to you, and led a very simple life. You never demanded, as I sometimes demand.

I am sorry, I could not tolerate like you did whenever you suffered physically. You endured all the time till the pain becomes unbearable and the wounds are visible or prominent to someone else other than you. I am no match for your endurance.

I am sorry, I could not be as aloof and peaceful as you were when you were not included in any one of the important discussions. You never flaunt around announcing your presence amidst all. You either sat or walked away quietly.

I am sorry, I could not share my belongings with others as you did in your lifetime. You never said that – “this is mine”. You always used to share what was yours with us and others; whether it is your share of food or anything else. I miss this the most when you used to share your food with us and we used to scold you to take your food back.

The amount of patience and resilience that you had taught me through your life that I could not learn from any school or college or from anyone else. It is because of your gene and your blood I stay strong and be patient against all the taunts, insults and bullying in the name of this and that.

You taught me the simple way of growing in Christ’s likeness which sometimes I find so difficult to follow in my life. Our saviour did more than saying a lot of words. You followed Him as best as you could have with all your simplicities.

Dad! I was sorry about many things that I could not practice what you showed through your life when you were in your physical body but I am so very grateful for being an example as my father. I thank you so much for the lessons you left for me in stacks to understand, learn and practice them one after the other till I mature more in His ways.

I hope to meet you soon 🙂

Your apologetic son,
Chiradeep

A NOTE OF GRATITUDE TO MY ALMA MATER

My dear Alma Mater,

I entered inside your huge gates as a tiny tot of three and a half, holding my parents’ hands. The sudden familiarity and comforts of the home were soon replaced by strange faces all around. I never could understand why my parents had to leave me with you every day and then pick me up after some time. As the A-B-C-Ds and the 1-2-3-4s started sinking into my mind, I realised that it wasn’t that bad after all to spend some time in the company of strangers!

Within a year, I was made to understand that you were to be a part of my life for many more years. Though it was difficult to fathom what that actually meant at that time, the picture became pretty clear when I saw the Report Card at the end of each year.

I am grateful to you for all the sweet and sour memories that I have had with you that have played a crucial role of shaping me into what I am today. It goes without saying that I am grateful to you for having such expert teachers who instilled the subject knowledge into me. I still remember some of those difficult formulae of Maths and those experiments in the Chemistry lab which would invariably end up with someone breaking a test tube resulting in severe reprimanding.

And yes, these days when I see people going crazy for physical fitness regimens, I often remember the compulsory PT (Physical Training) classes each week, which we would often look for convincing excuses to skip (but could hardly ever succeed to escape from the vigilante team that were assigned the task of exposing such escapists). I find many of those exercises I did at school then, in the fitness training modules today. A salute for incorporating such ageless fitness regimens!

I am grateful to you dear school, for training me in three languages so well. I can vouch for every student that our English, Odia and Hindi speaking, writing and reading abilities are among the best. It is such a misconception in our country that English-medium schools compromise with regional languages training. But, a school like you wonderfully dispels such doubts by churning up multi-lingual scions.

I am grateful to you for the discipline and values that you have imparted, that actually made you one of the best in the city. Rules were a bit too harsh, I must admit. But, they have moulded and made me.

As I am grateful to you, I am so much more grateful to my parents for introducing me to you – one of the best decisions they have taken for me!

I can go on writing letters running into pages to express my gratitude, dear School, for what you have been to me. But, more on it when I meet you in person in the Alumni Meets!

Gratefully yours,

Rajnandini

MERCI BEAUCOUP MON AMIE!

Dearest Shruti,

Hi. Won’t ask you about your well-being and the quintessential things people ask in a letter; we have smartphones for that. But I would say things that are difficult to speak on the call, but they are simpler to write.

We are school friends and are still going strong, despite the miles spread out between us, you are closer to my heart than most people living near me. I am writing today to thank you for being my friend.

We don’t call each other for months on end, but your welfare and well-being are always on my mind. I know the same goes for you. We belong to the era when we didn’t need FB or Insta or WhatsApp to stay in touch. We used to visit each other.

You have stood by me through my thick and thin. You were always so easy to like, love, be around and me, just the opposite. You are still an outgoing, extrovert, people’s person. I am still the same shy, introvert, loner person. We were poles apart; I think that is what pulled us together like a magnet.

I still remember your dog, Fuzzy. And your wacko but awesome dance at your birthday party. You always kept me close, making me a part of your world. I was so thrilled to have you as my friend that a couple of girls from our school asked me if I had a crush on you.

It sounded indignant at that point of time, but today, I can say, if not crush, at least I had always admired, adored and loved you so much.  Maybe I wanted to be like you, lighting up the entire room with your energy and vibrant aura, pulling everyone in the current of my cyclone, making them a part of your joyride.

You made those years special with your pranks and practical jokes, sassy humour, and bold words. I still laugh at the lizard prank you pulled on me. The week you spent at my place was one of the very best times of my life.

You are a gifted and talented person. Your art always represents the wild child in you. You are such an enigma. Multi-tasking and doing several things at one time. I look up to you, your brushes add colour to every life you touch.

The most beautiful thing about our bond is our mothers. Mine loves you and yours loves me. Your family has always been my extended family, and I miss it all. Whenever I see something bold, colourful and out of the box, I think of you. You are the beautiful mess that gives an order to my chaotic soul.

But the thing I cherish most is your faith in me. You never lost faith in me. Thank you so much, my friend, for always believing in me. Thank you for carrying me in your heart and making me feel special, even it was two days late. :))

Thank You, Sweetheart!

Your Friend,
Saakshi

P.S.: Coffee never tastes the same without you.

GRATITUDE IS RICHES

“I am not your driver,” Gaurav slammed back to his wife Reena as she coaxed him to drop her and their daughter Palak to a friend’s party. His frustration was genuine as he had just reached from office after spending more than one hour in heavy traffic. Driving through the snail pace traffic was indeed tiring, physically and mentally as well.

Reena was flabbergasted by Gaurav’s reaction and wished she could drive. It’s not that she never tried driving, it was only the fear of driving alone on the busy roads. She instantly picked up her cell phone, booked a cab and went with her daughter to chill with her friends. Throughout the party, one thought kept haunting Reena that Gaurav wasn’t her driver. She HAD to learn to drive at any cost. 

The next day, Reena enrolled herself in one of the driving schools where the instructor was impressed by her previous learning and was very sure that she would be a perfect driver within two weeks as she only lacked confidence. 

The next month Gaurav had to go abroad for a business meeting. Reena had started driving already and used to make trips to the nearby grocery store. 

One fine evening, Reena was busy preparing dinner when the doorbell started ringing continuously. “Palak, stop doing that,” Reena shouted, thinking that must be her only. 

It was Palak’s neighbourhood friend Ashi. Before Reena could say anything, Ashi was panting “Aunty, aunty…Palak…”.

“Ashi, what happened?” Reena asked in surprise.

“Aunty, Palak fell down from her bicycle”, Ashi said, grasping her breath.

Reena turned off the gas stove and rushed downstairs. Palak was already surrounded by her friends and was crying loudly.

Reena could make out that her daughter was in deep pain. She mustered the courage to see her. Thankfully, there was no blood, but she was holding her elbow. The skin around had turned darker. “I am getting the car keys, just look after her,” Reena instructed the kids.

She picked up Palak and drove to the nearest hospital. The x-ray was done and it turned out to be a hairline fracture. They returned home after getting the temporary plaster.

“Thank you Gaurav,” Reena said in her mind as she felt that it was only because of him that she could become a good driver. The sense of gratitude filled her with joy.