Bitter Truth

I was appointed to handle a project in Chennai, so I decided to stay in Nitesh’s house for 2 days as he is my closest of cousins. I was glad that I could meet him, Navya (Nitesh’s wife) and of course the naughty Prajwal.

Nitesh was waiting for the train to arrive, he received me and it took nearly 1.30 hours for us to reach Ashoka Nagar by car. We entered the house and Navya welcomed me remembering that it was 5 years since I visited them. I could also re-collect that I was there in Chennai when Prajwal was born.

After non stop talk and lunch I preferred to rest in the afternoon. The clock showed 5.30 when I opened my eyes, but as usual it took me half-an-hour more to get out of the bed. Navya and I joined Nitesh in the sit-out outside their house to beat the heat with a cup of coffee. As we were watching Prajwal cycling, Hari came out with his rubber ball and a broken bat.

Opposite of the house is a slum where Shanthi, the maid and others leaved. Shanthi is now working for more than 7-8 years and has always been great help to Navya. Hari is Shanthi’s son. Referring to Hari, Navya said “If you remember, he is the same boy who was born on the same day as Prajwal; I said “Oh Yes, I do remember visiting Shanthi in the hospital, 5 years ago”. Suddenly my eye caught the sight of Hari’s shabby hair; torn dirty shirt, a broken ball-bat, a piece of half baked roti in his hand….. And my attention was diverted when Prajwal pulled my hand to show his new shirt and the new cycle!!.

The next day, the loud horn of an auto woke me up at 7.30 and I went down to see Prajwal in his uniform. His parents helped him to get into the auto, Navya as daily instructed him to keep his hand inside and not to put his head outside the auto. They also made sure that their little boy was seated in between 2 seniors. As the auto started, both entered the house and I could see a feeling of satisfaction in them as the little boy has started going to school!

At 9’o’clock, I was ready to go to the office and I took my bag as the cab was parked in front of the gate. I peeped into the other side of the window to see Hari help his mother by carrying lot of vessels and he even managed to help his little sister walk by holding her in his other hand. By then my cab moved.

The next evening, Nitesh and his family dropped me to the airport, I wished both ‘All the best’ and boarded the flight. As the flight was up in the air, I could remember two sentences. The first was told by Nitesh, ‘He wanted his son to study in the best school of the city’ and the second was told by Shanthi, ‘She wanted her son to go to the house on the next street and water the plants in the garden’….

Suddenly, I stopped and Thanked God! I said silently ‘Oh! God, Thank you, I am born in a wonderful family and I thank you for blessing me with another wonderful family after my wedding too”…. I continued and questioned “ But God, Prajwal and Hari were both born on the same day and on the same street but why was that difference??.... I further prayed him for probably which was impossible but still to my satisfaction, I said, ‘God! ‘Please bless every single soul, at least with the basic comforts of what prajwal enjoys and then see how beautiful the world looks”…..

But then I could hear the announcement which said “We have landed in Bangalore and the temperature here is 26 degrees” They also thanked us for traveling by ‘Jet’ airlines.

I took the taxi back home and the life continued as usual…..

The 11th Hour

I was back to office after 10 days. Myself and my friends were excited for the obvious reason that I had returned after my brother’s wedding vacation. Trust me, my office which is so called a software company is nothing less than a college and my friends so called software professionals are nothing less than college going kids!!

Apparently, I was enjoying sharing my experiences. Referring the people in the photos and proudly addressing them as ‘uncles’ , ‘aunties’ ‘cousins’ or ‘friends’ (Almost everybody falls in these 4 categories, so there was no need to think much about relationship complexities). I thanked guys for their praises on yummy food on the wedding day, I felt honored letting my friends know where I got my wonderful saree from, I felt happy explaining few others about ‘How my mehandi looked so dark on my hand’ and how expensive it was to pay to the beautician, I was also busy asking few of my friends for a treat for giving them all the details about my beautiful cousin who was a lime light in my brother’s wedding. I even did not miss out to share about that smart looking guy from my ‘Bhabi’s side’ to few of my close friends, A wedding function and there is no 'Girls talk', how could that happen? As expected, the conversation revolved around a new member of my family. Gosh, half a working day was already passed!!. The numbers on the right hand bottom side of my system showed 12.55PM which meant that it was time to share the wedding sweet, the mouth watering 'Vobbattu', as usual all of us occupied the chairs of cafeteria in group. Later, all of us were back to the seats without realizing that we all had a long lunch. It was not all over, the chats and talk continued through the lovely 'IP msger'(I somehow have a strong favor for this software, as
it allows us the talk hours together to our neighbors without opening the mouth or
even turning around!)

Working hours of the day had almost come to an end and I was convincing myself that ‘We had taken lot of advantage of the day and I was also preparing for the hectic schedules and regular busy working environment’ which follows the day. I got up from my seat, to leave for the day when the phone rang. Fortunately or Unfortunately the other party over the phone wanted to talk to me and I realized that my preparation for the busy working days has to be bought into practicality at that moment!!

I could hear the other party saying ‘At 5.30, we had a meeting, the build will be released at 6.30 and it has to be tested and delivered to the client on or before 7.00 in the evening!
(We Kids were never surprised, because we were very much used to this)

Now that I am back to my work, I have forgotten to give so called ‘Connection strings’(Trust me, if given a chance I would always prefer by-hearting 1 to 30 tables instead of giving this 3 lines of connections, this always haunted me)

Arre yaar, I am not yet out from the wedding mood, can anybody come to my seat and help me with these connections? Since the goods has to be delivered at 7 in the evening.

My wish

I was relaxing at home on a Saturday afternoon after a long time, fortunately I had no other engagements on a weekend. Suddenly I remembered that it was a long time since I gave my ‘list of wishes to be granted’ to my Dear God!.... you see, this is a good practice that we follow at regular intervals. I have always been honest in preparing my list of wishes and God has always been kind enough to grant those. Frankly speaking I had nothing to be asked in particular but still good practices should not be discontinued!!

The next day I was in the temple without any appointment but still I was the first one to be attended by God. God said, ‘This time only maximum of 3 can be granted’ and I said, ‘I want only 1 wish of mine to be granted’. God was surprised and asked me to put forward my wish. I continued saying ‘My first wish is that you have to grant all my wishes today’!!.. God was perplexed but had no other go, since he had already commited.

I said, Dear God:
‘Bless me with opportunities to serve my parents, so that I have to be the best daughter’
‘Bless me to show unconditional love to my partner, so that I have to be the best wife’
‘Bless me to help my relatives when they are in need’
‘Bless me with time and media to keep in touch with my dear friends’
‘Bless me with the commitment to my work’
‘Bless me to carry the feeling of gratitude always,to thank everyone who have helped me’
‘Bless me to respect every individual’
‘Bless me to think good and do good’,
Last but not the least
‘Bless me to believe in you’

I continued…. God, since I have asked you only 1 wish out of 3 today , I want these to be granted for ever and ever.

God smiled and I said ‘Taata, bye bye’ to him. He replied by saying ‘Take care maadi’ and I left the temple.

My Love

I entered the most prestigious college of the city with lot of enthusiasm to attend the first class of my MCA. Lot of new faces around but I managed to make few quick friends. The days passed and my first semester exams were round the corner. We friends were busy preparing the notes, discussing important points by the time the lecturer entered the class. Prof. Srinivas, the most respected of all started teaching the toughest topic. I was almost immersed in the topic, but as always from the degree classes the thoughts of my Aryan started haunting me….

Yes, Aryan My love!. Our relationship is now 3 yrs old. He has given a special meaning to my life, a deep look into his eyes makes me forget the world, his clever thinking, his naughty talk, his silly questions, his sweetest smile, his softest touch makes him dearest to me. No day has passed without his thoughts….

A question from a back bench student took me back to the lecture.

I was looking forward for a opportunity to introduce my Aryan to all my new friends, then there came the day, his Birthday Party!

All my friends had assembled in a hotel for the treat; I proudly called my Aryan, kept my hand on his shoulders and introduced him to my new friends as ‘My sweetest nephew and he has stepped into 4th year of his life today!!’

Happy Birthday ‘Aryan’…..