The English Girl!

I was a little more cautious and woke up in time and was quick enough to get things going. However to my bad luck I had some external factors that affected my timing again.

We (my colleague and me), like yesterday followed the routine breakfast and also the routine route to reach the work place. At work it was a light day, with a few business interactions. After this we were having an argument, or call it a discussion on endless topics and to end all the talking music was the saviour, as we drove back to our hotel. 

We were back early, so decided to explore the city. We could not see most of the tourist attractions as it was quite late for any of it to remain open. But just a market place was open where the driver advised us to take a stroll around. This was an interesting place and all thanks to the driver. It was a local sight with all its common 'janta' around, with manual rickshaw pullers who were transporting people, local stalls selling food, street vendors screaming to sell, shop-keepers inviting us to their shops and give them more business. I was enjoying the local environment around me.  

Just while I was moving around, there was this small little girl who came running behind me to sell some fashion accessories to me. To my surprise, she started talking to me in English. I was astonished to see this 10year old girl to be speaking in English so well, with no much of accent or grammatical errors. She gave me an accessory and priced it 10Rs. and told me that the money would help her with her needs related to her school. However my colleague immediately commented, 'hey, she is lying just to make some money out of you.' before I could respond to my colleague, she instantly replied to him, 'sir, I am not lying I go to school from 7am to 2pm and then sell in the market till night to help myself'. He dint have words to respond to her. I handed her the money, picked my stuff and wished her luck. 

She was confident of what she was speaking, smiling, and also could read the buyers mind quite well. She said she was going to school and attended 3^rd standard. It was a commendable interaction with her I felt, a girl who might have been just 12years old, had such acquaintance of the business she held and the people with whom she was dealing. While I returned I clicked a few pictures of her and smiled at her. A few of her friends also came along to bid goodbye to me. My friend gave them all a few bucks to buy some ice creams.

After having bid them, we drove around the city and tried some Kolkata food for dinner. I could see some horse riders around finishing their business and discussing their day among themselves. 

We finally ended our day with some delicious pan, a speciality in Kolkata (beetle leaf). However, my thoughts about the little girl did not end with my day, she really inspired me and I remember her as 'The English Girl'. 

Day one!

I got up late just by 10mins but the challenge was that I dint have my mom to run behind me or my dad to shout at to help me reach my work place. All set and done I was actually ready on time for my breakfast. Now the breakfast had some flakes and fruits, it also included some south Indian dishes, Dose, Idli etc. But as always I chose to have something that looked and smelled new to me.

At the breakfast table I was noticing people around me. I saw a young girl come in to carry some food back home(parcel), she placed her order and was waiting to receive it during which there was an elderly woman who visited the place for similar reasons. As the young girl noticed this woman, she walked up to her quickly and bowed down to touch her feet for blessings. This elderly woman to my understanding was just an acquaintance to her.

Having had a light breakfast, we headed to the car which was waiting for us. Travelling across the city, our friend from Kolkata (Mr.Biswajith) pointed to us a lot of famous places around the city, beginning from the ITS Sonar Bangla, the Science City, Eden Garden , Hanging bridge(Over the Hoogly river), etc. The travel from our stay place to our work place was an approximate of an hour. The old buildings the yellow taxis, Bengali hoardings and boards, green auto rickshaws, garbage all around, the police out here were in Blues and Whites and not in Khakis, they were trying their best to avoid traffic jams in the city(Kolkata is known for its hour long jams). Kolkata being a very un-clean place there were a lot of mosquitoes even inside the car we were travelling in, and my friend was bitten by many of them and me by a few. With this he decided to shoo them out of the window…..however the success rate is confidential and is known only to him. :P

Crossing the Santragachi railway station we reached the out skirts of the city where I observed tiny garages, tiny village like scenes at the out skirts of the city, barber shops and tea corners in bamboo huts, open jeeps to transport people, also some unique transport to accommodate and reach people short distances.

We finally reached the college, well before we further, my colleague (Rana) had requested our bong friend to help him find a waist belt for himself while we were getting into the car from the hotel. The time was about 9.30am, we had not found a belt till we reached the college. So now is the belt hunt. Rana, placed his request again and this time it was a little tricky to people around as the place (college) we were in was in the outskirts of the city and the chances were tough. So the people in charge took a call and sent with us a person who lived in the same vicinity to help Rana. I decided to join them and for me it was a joy ride!! J

On the way to the Belt hunt, I found bullock rickshaws commuting people to their nearby destinations…this was a very unique thing that I found, a small little motor vehicle in the front and attached to it was a wooden plank board supported by two wheels. These bullock rickshaws transported nearly 10-12 people at a time.

There were tiny huts with small shops were we just could not anticipate to get a belt. However, we took a ride around and dint find the required. However, Rana being a determined person and also being very conscious about his looks dint give up on his belt hunt. Luckily, He found a belt and we returned to the work place in time to start with our work for the day.

A usual day went by at work and it being the first day we had a lot of preparation for the following days and the day ended with a continental dinner and an Ice Cream! J

Bangalore to Kolkata!!!

The Flight – 

I love to say this and I say it again “I Love travelling!!” So this time my privilege was to travel to Kolkata. Now this was through my work place to hire a few young techies from their campus. Me and my colleague started from Bangalore at 6.45pm on the 2^nd March and flew Kingfisher via Hyderabad to reach Kolkata by 10.45pm. We had a warm welcome by the respective delegates. The weather was humid and I was sure to sweat out during the next few days. However, after having guided us to our respective rooms they took leave and now was time to just sleep and snore away to glory. 

Mouth watering!! yum....yum.......yum!!!

When you're happy, your food of choice could be steak or pizza or just anything you relish, when you're sad it could be ice cream or cookies, and when you're bored it could be potato chips. Food does more than fill our stomachs -- it also satisfies feelings, and when you quench those feelings with comfort food when your stomach isn't growling.

Today was among those happy days when I just wanted to treat myself and ignore all the extra pounds that I was putting on! At work we usually have a walk to the street corner to have a healthy bowl of fruits. And I wanted to have some delicious mouth watering pastry. I actually wanted to have the fruit bowl as my lunch and the pastry as my desert. The two were in different directions, time is a constraint, and the heart craves for both!!

Well I am surrounded by lovely and beautiful people among whom there was one person who assured to get me my desert for the day!! After my fruit bowl, the desert had just slipped out of my mind. I returned to my desk and just was about to begin with my work and the extension line rings…….on call was my lovely colleague who had promised me my desert for the day!! Wow…..I realize…….I hurry…..call along a couple of my friends to share……collect the desert and rush to the cafeteria.

Imagine…..a yum looking chocolate pastry, with a load of calories, and a chocolate chip on it!! Isn’t that mouth watering?? That was my pastry!! I relished it for its taste, for the company, and of course the sweet person who bought it for me.  It was among the best deserts I’ve had…..for the taste, for the people around, the good heart buying!! Well sometimes just eating is not just all that matter……..what?? from where?? from whom?? how?? And why?? Also matter to get the best out!! 

Thank you........Bhavna, Sapna, Rekha, Rajatha and Sunil!! Also my thanks and sorry to all the on-lookers, blog readers and the rest with whom I have not shared this moment and experience. 

Journey from marriage to heaven???

'LOVE'!! I would more call it "Happiness". Life is all about being happy end of it all.

Growing up with parents with their love and affection was happiness.Being with relatives(not always pleasant). Being at school........among friends.......then moving to 'college', University.....and now in a job. Life has been a roller-coaster ride. It has scared me to death but I am still alive!

For now the next level is called "Marriage".........the most important happening in lives of many friends(as well mine) these days. Many hunting for their perfect ones and many getting married. I have seen quite a few marriages for the years I have lived! A few very happy, a few adjusting, a few on the verge to kill each other etc. The happy ones I have seen are a true compliment to each other and to the institution of  "marriage" itself, and also to the quote "Marriages are made in heaven!". I have known a few couples who live their married lives like in heaven.

A few quotes on marriage -

- I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. - Rita Rudner.

- It is not a lack of love, but lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. - Friedrich Nietzsche

-A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude. - Rainer Maria Rilke.

-All weddings are similar, but the marriage is different. - John Berger

-I first learned the concepts of non-voilence in my marriage. - Mohandas Gandhi.

-Love is ideal. Marriage is real. - Goethe.

-Damn, it, Sir, it is your duty to get married. You can't be always living for pleasure. - Oscar Wilde

-To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven. - Karen Sunde

-Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along. -Rumi

A few WHY(s)??

Do people marry because its the time to get married?

Because its the right age for marriage?

Because the society say's so?

Because parents want you to get married?

And the list goes on............

But to understand your own dream, to accept another persons dream and to be ready to live them together.........is all not easy......It takes a lot! But on the other hand all that it takes is not much when you have the right person for whom you are doing it!

I am amazed at the strength that a women has. How does she at all stand strong to support one man whom she has met in life through friends, parents, or any other source.....I respect the feeling of a woman where she is ready to sacrifice 'her world'(her parents, her home, her friends.....)

 and accept the world of a man she loves. And a man who respects her for all that she initiates to do for him, promises to protect her all throughout. Most of the times on a comparison a woman forgoes her dreams for the man she loves and for his happiness.

Is this marriage?

To stimulate your dreams.....to allow you dream.......to sow his/her dreams into you......to say "We'll live them together" all happens just once. There are many people who don't get fortunate in their lives to marry their 'dreams and fantasies'!!

But why is it forced on them to marry someone else? It is easy to move on in life. Is it easy to accept and love a person who you just do not know?? Where does life lead to if you are not married?

Is it more of how the world looks at it or How you look at your world??

The first Rains !

Rains....almost everyone would hold a pleasant or an unpleasant memory with a rainy day!! To me it’s like drops of memory......that fall on me and follow me throughout in life.

This was very recent...I'd decided to walk in the rains with no reasons at all. (I don't enjoy them as I did before!!) It was pouring crazy and was the first rains of monsoon. I had just met a few of my friends...who did of course offer to drop me home by the car...but the wired me had a firm mind to walk home.

I did have an Umbrella but it dint really help much. I could see only a few cars, gallons of water flowing down the road, all people trying to squeeze in where they could find some shelter from the rains, cars stopping along on the road as they could not drive ahead.

Thinking of the rain to me it is the condensation of thoughts and emotions into unmanageable feelings and behavior that pour out....they are so heavy that they just drop to the surface and yet can’t be differentiated. Depending on the condensation and the swift of the wind the power of it is defined......(Does that make sense??)

Continuing on this day....after quite a lot of walking in the rain a car approached towards me and stopped there with a sweet lady lowering her window and asking me if I need to be dropped somewhere...I was amazed...I just answered to her, '. Thank you aunty! I am ok' I was just wondering if she was not ok? or I was not ok? As I walked ahead I saw this old man who with a bag of food was try to cross the road. He was signaling the traffic that he could not see due to the rains to please slow down and allow him to cross. I went up to him held his hands that were shivering in cold took him under the umbrella and walked him across the road.

I walked with him till his small little hut where is old wife stood waiting. She worked as a maid at homes close by, he told me. He was affectionate and blessed me like any other Indian old man would do. I was pleased that he reached home and enjoyed the moment when the two of them waved at me with a smile as I continued to walk towards home.

As I continued to walk my way home, I had another car to my surprise stop and ask me if I needed a drop. This time it was a man who was aged as much as my dad, with a sweet smile he asked me would you need a drop? No Uncle I am ok, I said and continued to walk. I had noticed his car a few minutes before as he had parked along the road.

I was wonder struck when I thought of the events that occurred as I walked in the rain.....Why was I offered a drop twice to my destination while the old man on the road was left alone to reach his destination. I wonder why?? There could have been anyone with an umbrella to walk out of their car and help him across. Why dint that happen? Why was there no one to initiate??

With all the thinking running through me.....i looked to my left to find myself in front of my home. I slowly walked in to find my mom and grand parents asleep....I sneaked in and changed before anyone realized I walked in the rains. But there is always a question in my mind 'Why?' for every happening of life.

Cheers to life!

Its not tough to value people.......everyone is worth it!!!

Woman!!

A little child asked its mother:

"Why do you cry?"

"Because I am a woman"she answers.

"I dont understand" the child says.
His mother hugs the child and says : "and you will never".

Later the little child asked its father: "Why does mommy cry?"

"All women cry for no reason", is all that his father could answer him.

When the child became an adult it asked god:

"God, why do women cry so easily?"

And God answered:

"when I created woman, she needed to be special.

I created her shoulders strong enough to bear the weight of the world.....

And soft enough to be comfortable."

"I gave her the strenth to give life,

The kind that accepts the rejection that often comes from children."

"I gave her the strength to allow her to go on when everyone else gives up.

The kind that takes care of her family, despite illness and fatigue."

"I gave her the sensitivity to love her children uncinditionally

Even when they have hurt her deeply."

"I gave her the strngth to endure her husband in his faults

And to stay at his side without weakening."

"And finally , I gave her tears to shed whenever she needs them to be shed."

"You see my child the beauty if a woman is not in the clothes she wears, nor is it in her face or in the way she does her hair"

THE BEAUTY OF A WOMEN RESIDES IN HER EYES.

IT IS THE DOOR TO HER HEART;

THE DOOR WHERE LOVE RESIDES.

"And it often through her tears that you see her heart go by."

To those who made you simle, when you needed it the most.....To those who have made you see the good side of things when you only saw the bad....

To those to whom you want to say...How much you value their friendship...or simply....

....thank you for giving me a glimpse of.....

....a better world....

Respect every human in life for life to return it to you!!

Treat the woman in your life with respect ( just views from all*!). It means putting her in high regard no matter who she is, where she came from and where she is heading towards. It means valuing her spirit within. If you show respect to any woman you meet this way, you will have a sure spot in her heart. She will respect you back and so will life.

Take the time to understand woman’s nature. This includes her physical and emotional makeup. True, a lot of men complained about how women can be very hard to understand and predict.
Women can be very mellow one minute and erupt in rage the next moment. Men should not get discouraged with this for its just one small part of how a woman is (The way men say, ‘That’s how we are!’ or That’s how I am!’). When you put more time understanding a woman’s mind and heart, you will find that women are lovable. You just need to know how to appreciate her uniqueness (Every human is unique!!).

Appreciate her by your love and gentleness; for all that she has done for you to be what you are today. Showing love means being patient, being kind, listening to her with an open mind, supporting her dreams, seeking out her good, etc (I am not kind or patient with my mom or others but most importantly I try!!).

The best way you can show your appreciation to the woman in your life is thru your words. It’s an important step not just to improve your relationship with her but also to make her feel wonderful and happy (genuinely!).

Tell her what a wonderful job she is doing at home, in her career, in school, community, what a wonderful cook she is, her recent accomplishment, etc. Remember to let her know also how much she means to you. Use words to encourage and support her to do the things she loves.

Spending time with her……. It’s the best investment you can ever make to maintain your place in a woman’s heart. Find even few minutes each day to focus yourself on the women who are dear to you (positively). Even a simple conversation with her means so much and will let her feel appreciated.

“Make a special woman in your life smile today; above all days, make them smile today!”

Cheers to life and womanhood!

Check if you understand this??

This one is totally not my kinds but I am trying to put it in words!!


Major topic in everyone's life!! LOVE....wow....no too much philosophy but just a small narration.


I observe people for reasons unknown to me, times unknown and some observations just remain deep within me and come out like this one!!


This was on a very busy road near Vijaynagar (Bangalore) .......I was walking my way on a hot summer afternoon with all my madness. I thought I was the only one mad but as I walked I saw a cute couple with their faces shining bright in love.(unmarried, but in love for life)

Both of them looked very cute and walked hand in hand.(very much Bollywood) One could see the love in them as they walked amidst the crowded street yet in their own sweet world of 'love'. Appreciable for their age and to my critical eye they walked very respectable.


I was to cross the road with this couple ahead. I was watching them continuously!! The lady in love was quick and the gentleman was careful about his love.......What a moment it was when this girl took a step to cross the road and the traffic rushed from the other end of the road.


He was prepared and knew her moves. He spontaneously pulled her back with all the force his in his hands and all the love in his heart, stepping back she turned to look into his eyes....And they looked at each other as the traffic and people continued with their respective tasks.....none watched them...but they watched each other and felt no one there.


She waited for him to speak, but he smiled and the had everything said to each other with no words. Moments froze.....for them with each other and for me with questions!!


Why was it that I could feel that they were in love???
Pulling her back and looking into each others eyes...was this love???
What was it that was spoken and still remained unsaid???
What was it that was understood just by the two of them???
How was it that they had their world amidst the crowds???
How was it that he knew her so well???
What was she waiting for?? a smile or words as I thought???
Did she really wait for anything or was it just my illusion???
Was it a moment of love that I witnessed???
IS THIS LOVE???


If it was may their love flourish and may they together live happily all their life!


To this couple it was just another moment of love in life, which they might not have noticed themselves. But for me it was among those moments when something was strange now and became familiar in a matter of time!!


Cheers to lives in love !!