The Women of Substance

I really loved this click a lot. I had clicked this one during our Yercaud office trip earlier this year. A small tribute to all the wonderful women I know!

Hope - At the Traffic Signal

The week started with the worst kind of nightmares you expect at work. Big release around the corner, projects running in red, the usual chaos on the floor and yeah, yearly appraisal looming around the corner. Work can get really crazy at times. But you already know that! But in the midst of all this madness, something beautiful happened the other day. Something which gave me a lot to cheer about.  

I drive down to work daily. The 40 minute ride gives me enough time to plan my day. Sometimes I sing and that somehow makes me forget about the traffic I have to battle everyday. It puts me in a zone where all I am really bothered is the next note and how to zoom around and be right in front of the red signal. I think it is the monotony of the routine which makes you want to block your immediate reality out of the mind. I suspect everyone who drives in Bangalore have their own way of coping with traffic and stress like that. 

However, sometimes, something happens which snaps you out of that reverie. I was at the signal near St. John’s Hospital on the Hosur Road. (I work at EGL, Bangalore). This is a really long signal which can make you wait for 3 minutes if you are lucky to cross the signal in one go. During peak traffic hours, you may have to wait for almost 5-6 min before you can move on. It was such a morning. Somewhere at the end of that sea of vehicles stood an ambulance with its siren on. The really loud siren made people turn around. It sounded a desperate plea more than a warning signal. For a split second no one moved. And then all of a sudden, as if there was one collective consciousness and not our individual selves, began the honking from everyone waiting there. Everyone wanted to make way for the ambulance. Some moved left, some right a bit to make space. And soon the ambulance was moving amidst incessant honking. People actually peeped out of the windows and called aloud to make the person ahead of them move. People out of the way of the ambulance did not just wait. They all honked.  

It worked. The ambulance could move ahead of all that traffic and was right at the front before the signal turned green. It gave me goose bumps. I did wonder about our emergency management systems and how badly we are equipped to handle something as basic as this. But more than that, this small incident gave me hope. It made me believe in the human spirit that means only good. It also made me believe that we all can make a difference if we uphold the spirit of contribution.  

It was wonderful and it had made my day!

The Free Spirit!

I had not seen a face more beautiful than hers. She looked familiar as if I had known her as a friend forever. She had a perennial smile and could laugh at will. And when she laughed, everyone and everything around her would laugh. The flowers could bloom and the raindrops could shine. She walked with the grace of a swan, the pride of a young maid. She spoke the words of a Zen with the innocence of a child. She walked through the clouds with her feet firmly grounded. She was with everyone yet she was different. She looked at me once and she said a thousand words in her glance. She wanted me to do something and I could have done anything then. She met for a moment and yet she touched lives. She believed in love and yet she did not fear the hurt love might bring. She was special and she made me feel special, if only for a few moments. 

She was everything I ever wanted and ever wanted to be.  

I saw the free spirit today, I met a free soul!

The Second Homecoming

Yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking and possibly even asking in the online gossip rooms. What has happened of me in this last one year? I have been getting a lot of concerned calls and comments on this blog asking me whether I was still alive, or worse I got married or something. So let me begin this post by assuring you all that I still exist and am very much single. Some of you might argue that existing and being single is really one and the same thing, but yeah, whatever.

So what really has happened of me in 2011? Lots, to be honest with you. So much so that I could have posted reams on my blog and blogger would have actually started charging a handsome for every post. But I did not have the heart to post any of it here. That’s because none of it was funny or just a tidbit. They were major happenings, the kind of events which shake the earth beneath your feet, make you cry like there is no tomorrow and change you as a person forever. You try to hold on to things and people. But you realize that they are gone and your tears will not bring them back. You are humbled and brought down to your feet and 2011 suddenly starts feeling like 2008 all over again, if you know what I am saying. No, you don’t blog about such things. You write them in your personal diaries and cry every time you go back and read them.

But my dear readers, if there are any left that is, there are a few things which you might be interested in knowing. Three of my favorite people got married – my cousin Rachana, my good friend Amit ji and my best friend Varsha. “Varsha”, probably, has been the most used word in this blog after “I”, “me” and “myself” so you all already know her. She is married to prince charming from Pittsburg - Shashank. I do have a hand in helping these two meet. You see, theirs is an arranged marriage and the ceremonial tea which Varsha took shyly in a tray when she met Shashank for the first time was made by yours truly. Like coffee, a lot can happen over tea as well and Varsha and Shashank can vouch for that. The celebrated and highly bribed commentator on this blog, Amit ji got married to this amazingly warm person Archana. Now I do take some credit for their marriage also because I have a habit of taking credit for everything good that happens around (? Ok, in spite of) me. The thing is Amit ji, at one point of time in his life, decided that he will never ever marry. And at that precise point of time in his life I let out a laughter louder than a F18. That, people, was the turning point in his life. But to be honest, one look at Archana ji is enough to understand why Amit ji is married to her. Yeah, she is that good. And finally, my sweetest and naughtiest sister Rachana married this cutie pie from Ahmadabad – Ravi. Do I have a hand in this too? Hell yes! Rachana could never have married any guy without my approval and she knows that bloody well!!  

But for these joys of life, I can’t imagine how I would have made it to 2012. Almost everything else tested me. I was tested for life and the results came positive. Wow! I like that sound of that! But in the midst of all that, I completely ignored this space. I did not feel like writing. I am back not because I have found an urge to be funny again. No, no, not that. But my friend Vishu, disguised as an anonymous, made me realize that it has been almost one year since I last posted. This has been my longest time away from this blog and I almost felt a little sad. It is not time to say sayonara, yet. But one more year of draught of posts, I think we can then call it a day.

Let me take a chance to wish you all a wonderful 2012. I don’t know why but I have a feeling that some wonderful things are in store this year. Some are shouting Armageddon already but hey, it might be the best thing that happens to us, who knows. Look forward to hope and happiness, take care of your health and your loved ones and love a little more than you did last year.

I sure am going to do all of that!