Break-up

Everything was going just fine. There were no issues at all. But off late I have been feeling restricted. I needed space. Hence the break-up.

I  ditched blogger for wordpress.
My new blog address is www.here2enchant.wordpress.com. Few of my favorite posts are re-posted in my new blog. Here is the FB page for it. Do click on the 'like' button there. :)

Hope my new relationship gives me much more joy and fulfillment.

Adieu, mon cheri!

World Cup India vs SriLanka

World Cup offer... To celebrate and spread the joy, this offer was extended even after the world cup finals was over. :) :) :) Yay!

Hope. Love. Pray. Mantras for the hour.

A video. Food packets were thrown from a van… people ran behind it to catch the food packets. They ran like they ran for their lives. There was stampede. After that the video showed an elderly man who was crying. He told ‘Few days back I had all the luxuries in life. Today, I am a beggar. I haven’t eaten for days. I am not able to run behind the vans to get the food packets. Please help.’ That video was during the earthquake at Gujarat. More than 10 years ago. But even today that video haunts me.

So I have been running... running as far as I can from the images of Japan.  I guess I was the only person alive who did not look at a video/picture of Japan after the dreaded earthquake. But people spoke to me about the disaster. I could not admit that I am a coward and tell them, “Please, I do not want to hear about it”. So I listened to them and chose to concentrate only on few parts of the information:

The earthquake was registered around 8 in the Richter scale. But the buildings are of Japan are built in such a way that it can withstand earthquakes. People were inside the building, almost safe.

Tsunami ruined everything. The country is seeing such a horrific Tsunami after decades. But the government has evacuated as many people as it can.

Nuclear blast in Japan. Warning was given to evacuate people within 20 kms of the blast. The government and volunteers have evacuated people who were within 16 kms. 
I don't even know if all this is true.

In the last few days, I have been looking at pictures of babies, reading happy stories, looking at wedding photos, watching romantic movies, talking to people like never before. It helped me run…

But on FB, a friend of mine was tagged in this picture.

I saw it. I could not run anymore. I broke down. I cried for her. I cried for the girl in her arms. I cried for everyone in Japan. I cried for myself. It has been a many months since I prayed. After seeing that picture, I spoke to God aloud. I pleaded Him and screamed at Him. Asked Him to leave us in peace. It took me sometime to regain my senses.

I am writing this post now directing it at every idiot, senseless fool, brainless moron out there who has been updating things on FB.

Earth is going to end in 2011? Do u people have any sense at all? Evano oruthan kaasu panna padam edutha adha pathuttu moolaiyae illama penathuvingala? Tsunami hit us in 2004. Did the world end in 2005? It is not funny, idiots. If you want, please go ahead and die in 2011. But quit updating such things. 

One more update in so many profiles. Saying quit worrying about people in Japan because there are many in the same situation in India! Bloody hell. I mean, do u people have any sense at all? It is not about India or Japan, you fools, its about human beings. Plus, the situation in India is created due to idiots like you and me who let ourselves be exploited by choosing the blood sucking creatures as ruling people. So it our mistake. yours and mine.But people in Japan are suffering for no mistake of theirs. They are in pain, paying back to whatever you and me do to our mother earth. Fine. You are so patriotic? You care so much about India? Then stop updating such things and go see how you can make a change to your fellow countryman's life.

What is all this pessimism about? Please. The earth is facing enough disasters without your pessimism adding on to it. You can't share anything good? You can't spread love or give hope? Then please keep your mouths shut and pray to God to give you some sense.

I am a coward, yes. I can't bear to see pain, yes. But at the same time I can be strong when I have to face pain. Coz I have hope and love. So I am safe. But your pessimism will dig your grave.

 

Fourteen Days

"My only son. 24 years old. He is working in the USA", I proudly say to anyone who would listen to my brag.
 That is the only part I share with others. There are other parts to it - to him staying a few thousand miles away.

He is our only son. He is our joy and love personified. He said state board to CBSE - we said OK. He said engineering. We said OK. He got recruited through campus placement but he pointed towards America. We said OK. If we had known then how lonely we would feel without him, we would have told a different two letter word.

 Every morning, my wife and I take bath, get dressed and we will be ready by sharp 6 A.M. to sit in front of our laptop. To see our son. That is when he gets back home from work. We chat with him for an hour.
 Our laptop screen is full of my wife's fingerprints. That is because while we are chatting with our son, my wife keeps touching the screen. I get annoyed and ask her to stop. "That it is the closest I can get to touching my son." she retorts and I shut up. This is a daily scene at home!

He loves the non-vegetarian food my wife cooks. After he left, my wife stopped cooking non-veg.
My daily chores include:

·         Cleaning his bike which hasn't been used in the last three years.

·         Cleaning his computer that hasn't been switched on in the last three years.

·         Cleaning his book racks.

He asked me to sell it off or give it away. But I never get the heart to do it. It’s a piece of him, the only piece of him that is left with us.

When any of his friends come to India, he will send stuff for us. We have preserved everything he has sent us. We look at them every now and then. To some, we seem like a couple-obsessed-with-their-son.

Every night I ask myself why we have to go through this. If we miss him so much, why can't we ask him to come back home. Why does he have to have to stay thousands of miles away from family, friends and home... I go to sleep without finding the answers to my questions

He planned on coming here many times. Something kept coming up and delaying his plan. Finally he is coming in another two days. He has booked the tickets and packed his bags. Ever since his trip got confirmed, my wife has been smiling, making sweets, telling everyone who would listen and also those who wouldn’t listen. And I forgot to add… he is going to be staying for two weeks. Three years of longing… and we get fourteen days with our son!

Ahan!

I am Sanjay. I have looked at girls, appreciated them... But falling in love with a girl, commitment, relationship - never. Result - I asked my mom to decide the girl I was going to marry. I did not want to look at any 'eligilble' girls' photos nor did I want any of the 'bajji saptu ponnu pakra' business. So I asked my mom to decide. After five months my mom told me that she has found the right girl and her name is Madhu. My mom kept pestering me to go meet the girl and her family. So one fine day I went... To meet the girl and her family.

Tamil movies have taught me what to expect when the guy goes to visit the girl and her family for the first time. It will be - men, chaos, laughter, women in silk saris, noise and lots of food. I thought I will consider myself lucky if I get at least a glimpse of the girl while the entire crowd gapes at me. 

What actually happened was -

I got down at this house. It looked peaceful. I knocked at the door and the girl's dad - my mamanar - greeted me. When I stepped inside, I was shocked. There was no one. Absolutely no one. While I was trying to come out of the shock, he asked me to be seated and went inside. He came back with a glass of juice. Mamanar bringing juice - never did a tamil movie have this scene. I realized that I was on my own and the knowledge gained from the Tamil movies was not going to help me. When I was staring inside the glass, wondering what to do next, I heard someone say hi. I looked up to see the girl. I expected the girl to be covered in a sari, wearing every piece of jewelery she had. But there she was standing... In a purple salwar. She was wearing an almost invisible chain with a pendant like a rain drop. Her dad suggested that the two of us, myself and Madhu, go out for lunch.  It can't get better than this. :-) Tamil cinema need to learn. During that lunch, I realized how true my mom was when she told me that she had found the 'right girl'.


Everything about Madhu is simple and beautiful. No fireworks. No tingling bells. No glowing bulbs. I fell in love with her gradually and stayed that way for years now. Whoever told that people cannot find love when its arranged marriage... I would like to punch him hard and tell, "Speak for yourself, Idiot".

*TADA*

When someone asks me what is the easiest thing to do on earth… I will say it is falling in love. It doesn’t require any time or effort. It just happens… When you are not looking for it!

This post is about random people falling in love at random times. Whenever I mention *TADA*, I want you to picture the person falling in love.

• Too much work at office, horrible fight with mom and she was standing in an ATM queue under the scorching sun. Totally it was a bad day for her. So it was only after a while that she noticed the guy in front of her. He had apple for cheeks and almond for eyes. He must be a year old. He was clinging to his mom. She smiled at him. He reached out, touched her cheek and smiled. The smile showed off his dimples. She forgot all about her bad day…. And *TADA*
  
  
• When she was standing in the balcony, she noticed the auto which stopped opposite her house. A gentleman about 50 years got out of the auto, followed by his wife. The moment they got down, he bent down to adjust the pleats of his wife’s saree. He did not care that it was the middle of a road or that people were watching him. It seemed like all that mattered to him was that his wife should look perfect. The girl standing in the balcony saw the love between and the couple… And *TADA*
  
  
• He was walking on a deserted street. He felt lonely. Sometime later, he sensed that someone was following him. He turned to find this dog standing behind him. He walked... The dog walked. He stopped… The dog stopped. He stared at the dog… It looked at him with puppy eyes. He ordered the dog to leave him alone. It stood there, wagging its tail, making it clear that it is not going to leave him alone… He smiled. *TADA*
  
  
• She was walking alongside her friend in the crowded streets of pondy bazaar. Among the hundreds walking on that street, she spotted one guy walking towards her. He was wearing a grey tee shirt and a brilliant smile. She couldn’t take her eyes off him… He was not this great looking guy. But something about him made her want to keep looking at him forever. She was thunderstruck and felt stupid… He crossed her. She turned to look at him. He kept walking without turning back… It seemed like he did not notice her. She asked herself to stop being stupid. She ordered herself to keep walking. But she turned. And… he turned, looked at her and smiled. *TADA*
  
  
• A page from his diary – ‘I was nervous, scared, anxious, happy… All at the same time. The doctor came out and broke the suspense – ‘It is a girl’. He informed that my wife and my baby were in the room. I opened the door without making any noise and stepped inside. The two most important women in my life were asleep. I looked inside the crib. She had my nose and her mom’s hair colour. She yawned and I fell in love’. *TADA*

It is not complicated. It is not just about a guy-going-behind-girl. It is happiness. It brings joy to your life like nothing else. Open your heart, fall in love and make the most of this life. :-)

The Human Dracula

I am the elder brother of an all-time-annoying girl. Our parents named her Madhu. But Dracula suits her better.

I have been demanding a temple for me coz I managed to survive her torture for twenty four years!!

I have never been the bully type… So our mom and dad were shocked when I was suspended from school for breaking a boy’s nose. Madhu was in third grade then. One day she came to my class crying. Between her huge sobs, she explained to me that a guy teased her about her broken tooth. I guess that did it! I do not know what got into me… I rushed to that guy’s class and gave him one hard punch on his face and smiled at my sis’ beaming face. :-)

She is now married. I never pardoned my brother-in-law for luring my kid sister into falling in love with him and marrying him. They have an angel for a daughter. :-) That doesn’t mean my sis has become any less of a Dracula.

All her life she has tried everything humanly possible to be a pain in my ass. Very rarely, unintentionally, she has been this complete sweetheart. So this post is divided into two parts:

Here goes the pain in my ass part…

She will enter the bathroom. The next minute she will scream and bring the roof down. Why? It will be because of either a scared cockroach or a just-born lizard.

She will torture me to get a bandage for her saying she got hurt. Believe me; you will need a microscope to have a clear look at the wound. It will be THAT tiny. But she will clean it with dettol and smooth a bandage over it every single day… This will be a routine for the next one week.

All I have to do is look at a girl in school and the next minute my mom, dad, paati, and thatha will be updated with the information.

My mom gave us two cupboards to keep our things. Those had eight racks totally. Out of which she will use seven racks. And my clothes will be dumped in one rack… actually in a portion of that rack. The other portion was for her hand bags! She stays with her husband now… but still manages to use the seven and half racks.

We used to share a room. Every time we renovate our home, she will make sure that our room is painted pink. How anyone can think pink looks beautiful is beyond me…

She will not let me watch my favorite program on TV saying there is something that she needs to watch. And that something will be one of those sentimental movies which she would have already watched a million times. She will cry all through the movie even if she was watching it for the millionth time…

When I take her on my bike, she will scream saying I am riding too fast. And the speedometer will show 30 kmph.

And now the complete sweetheart part…

She has always been very proud of me. Even when I did not believe in myself, she has stood by me and told me that I will be able to do it.

When we were kids, she had written this list with the title ‘My brother is stronger and cooler than superman’. That list is something I will treasure all my life.

She is the best critic. Any new tee shirt, coolers, hairstyle… She will tell me right away whether it looks great, good, bad or terrible. And not one has her judgment been wrong.

Even when I achieve something very trivial, she will rejoice it. And she will make sure that the entire world knows about my success.

She makes the world’s yummiest cookies for me.

She was the one who will secretly let me in when I used to get back home late night totally drunk.

When there used to be fights at home, she will be the one I hold on to.

A man should have a sister… To love, to protect, to tease, to fight with, finally, to understand, appreciate and respect the fairer sex.

P.S: This post is dedicated to Jai and Mukund :-)