It happened one afternoon...

She has been walking for hours now in search of life. With no cars on the road, or a gas station or even a tavern in the vicinity, the winding road next to the thick forest looms as a threat in front of her. It's especially hot for this time of the year.

She knew the moment her car broke down, that it's going to be a long day. "Hello...hello...can you hear me?", the cell phone breaks down. What a surpirse! She curses herself for not charging it. "May be I can use the car charger for the time being..." she wonders. "Nope, the battery is down...no luck there"! "What a deserted road", she panics, "how will I ever get out of here!" The road stretches in front of her like a lazy Sunday newspaper on a verandah full of sunlight...one must spend hours exploring every inch of the newspaper, there is no way out of it. The blue skies, the dry sun taunt her ruthlessly.

The day started off as usual, with her morning alarm snoozed thrice before she gave up and got dressed. The Prada handbag, the Gucci shoes and the Burberry walked out of the apartment with her in great precision. Her day looked fine too, couple of meetings in the morning, one lunch appointment and one late afternoon presentation. She decided to take the presentation off the count, no one listens after 3 PM anyways, so it was a pretty relaxed day ahead for her.

"What made me take the detour from the Interstate?" she wondered. It was her regular drive of 15 miles to the office, why did she take that turn? The trees suddenly grew closer and closer. They covered the path as she tried to walk further down the road in search of life. They started talking amongst themselves, "I am gonna take her", one said, while another one brushed its branches against her mascared face and smiled as she grimaced in pain. They conspired to pull her off from the ground to the top and then smash her off to the ground while the sun decided to burn her down. They poked her, the rocks came on her way and they threw her off her feet.

She got up, brushed off the dust and walked ahead steadfast, "I was walking on a road, how am I on this trail now? Why can't I see anyone?" she kept wondering. The wind whispered and decided on their next move. The storm came gushing by, dust, dry leaves, sand, they all blinded her, her Burberry torn, her Gucci dirty, she trudged along. They conspired, the wind, the sun and the trees. They all planned to take her down. With a force that she had never felt before, she found herself being heralded to the ground, broken twigs punctured her face, red spots blotted her Burberry,

She decided to retrace her path back to the car. One tiny step at a time, she dragged her thirsty, hungry, injured self back to the car. She figured, may be some other car will pass by and she can stop that for help. The steps that she took so callously away from the car are now the ones that she needs to remember, follow and reach her destination. She cursed those who did not respond to her many pleas, "what kind of people are they? what's wrong?"

Through the clearing she could see her car, there were few other cars around, and people have come out of their cars. "Finally, finally, I will be okay!" she exclaimed in joy! The last few steps were easy to take, she rushed to the gathering and pushed and shoved her way through. They failed to notice her. "this is my car, she exclaimed, I need help, I need water, I need rest...oh thank god! you all are here..." her voice trailed off.

The broken glasses had red spots too she noted, the Burberry was torn here too she saw. She found dust all over the Gucci, even a heel broken. The car looks wrecked,she remembers leaving it in perfect condition!! Who did that to her car? And who are they trying to take out of the car? She is right here, "Hey help me, idiots!" She shouts. Inch by inch they drag the lifeless body out of the car...she watches in great despair as her voice trails off and her eyes stare at her own body, limp, cold, red, broken and distraught.

The door bell rings. Once. Twice. She turns back. The dry winter day slowly breaks down into pieces on the carpet as she walks towards the door. The sweat dries up fast as she tries to reharse the smile and the lunch menu in her mind. One last look at the fast moving Interstate 20 outside her window as it takes away with it the car, the long walk, the Prada, the thick forest and the dry leaves...Tomorrow she will visit the depths of the Pacific she tells herself...as her 6-year old daughter walks in.

Anyone can weave a story, be a story teller, be a poet, be a dreamer...anyone can...all one needs are some windows, some faraway trees, some lonely path winding away to the distance in their minds...just some windows in their minds...and they all have a story to tell...she knows, with a smile.

Of packing and unpacking a lifetime...

I know this is going to be a controversial topic, way more controversial opinion that I have ever put down in the expressionless cyberspace. But it's been nudging me for a while to be explored and I finally am taking the plunge. Before I forge ahead with my blabber, I really want to appeal to the unfortunate folks who are actually reading this piece that I am not being judgmental  nor am I trying to paint every story using one brush, I am, but, merely curious to comprehend how this certain aspect of human relationships, that I am about to write, works. Now that I have made enough disclaimers, let me get to the point.

I have been very fortunate in my life to have had known people from different backgrounds, having weird lifestyles, making unconventional choices, courageous and chivalrous people who are living life to the fullest and some of them have been truly kind enough to accept me as a part of their lives, to allow me to witness their lives and learn from them. It is from their lives that I have drawn inspiration.

Couple of years back when I came out of my marriage, I looked back and thought that's the best I had lived, most I had loved someone, most I had fought with someone and had been as intimate as I can ever be with anyone. We knew each other for over 17 years, and that seemed like a lifetime of experience for me, good enough for one life, even after considering the high life expectancy these days.

However, soon I realised that that's not enough at all. I have half of my lifetime ahead of me, and my near and dear ones, especially my mother insisted that I get married again. That demand literally translated to me as follows: I need to pack my likes, dislikes, my nuances, my mood swings, my occasional nicotine, my love for onion, my burps and other bodily decibels, my unwanted hair growth or hair loss and my bad temper, my kohl eyes, my passion for travel, my love for life, my fierce independence and my “mild” snoring, pack all of that and put those in someone else's cupboard, toilet, bed and living room, again, in the same lifetime.

Now that is a challenge for me. How do I do that? How can I pack and unpack myself in front of someone else? Again? More importantly, this time around I need to do it in superfast speed. I do not have 17 years to slowly unpack. I have merely couple of more years to unleash a lifelong of irritable existence syndromes on to an unsuspecting soul and expect that person to give me a lifetime commitment of care and comfort, that's what my near and dear ones think I need. Hmmm...so if I am not comfortable, then what do I do? I unpack myself in parts? I always wait before producing decibels? For the rest of my life? I hide the onion in a Prada purse and eat it alone and then use Listerine? I do not share my stupidest fears and my craziest dreams? Or is it that I get into a relationship and then hope like the Bollywood movies that love/comfort will blossom someday and then I will eat my onions in front of him?

This brings me to the controversial question, finally. How does one do it? Second time around? I can understand when someone has come out of a brief marriage, an abusive marriage, a marriage that scarred them...they need healing and they can very well find their healing and their comfort in someone else. But I belong to the old school, where it takes a while to really love someone and be comfortable with their decibel-producing capabilities. How can that be achieved in super-fast speed? And believe me it is super-fast!! My mother became tech-savvy, bought herself a tab and opened up an online account for me in one of the matrimonial sites. And I have actually been told off by some of those “expressing interests” because of my ‘slow’ response. I am sure, they are all running against time, at my age and need to find that special someone and their special nuances at their earliest.

It seems impossible and unfathomable for me to really need someone so desperately in my life, that at this age and stage of my life I am ready to hide my onion and eat it later followed by a Listerine wash. So going back to the original question, how does one do it? What is it that makes them feel that it is okay to unpack themselves, share a bed for the rest of their lives with someone, someone whom they definitely do not know as well as they did the first time around? How is it that one finds comfort in fast-forwarding information download of more than three decades on to someone and at the same time process their information all in less than a year? What broadband do they use?

Jokes apart, I admire people living life to the fullest, taking their chances and fighting their odds. But I am curious to know how do they deal with this particular quandary, if they face one such? I am sure those of you who are reading my blog, have known people around you who have had similar experiences, what were your observations? Even if you haven't, what are your thoughts given a situation like this?

" You seem to me like a loner"

...My colleague said, emphatically. I immediately apologised, with a sad smile, "Sorry!" Two questions popped up in my mind as I watched the traffic zoom by while entertaining my usual vices, with two of my loner travel buddies, in Montra, Pattaya, Bangkok: 

1. Why was I apologetic? 
2. How do you define a loner?

I haven't had quite a chequered life as many, I have tried to take my decisions by myself, I have tried to execute most of those by myself, from my unconventional choices in education, work, people I had been with, people I am with, things I do or things I do not do. Is it because I always chose to be a loner as my defense mechanism or is it that I always knew that no one can possibly live with my idiosyncracies for long? Does that make me loner? Am I sad that I am one?

"What are you thinking?", he asked sipping on his beer. He hates beer. He was really conscious about his regular gym workouts and cursing me for having to give me company over beer and counting the number of days of workout that were going down the drain. I smiled at him and asked, "Do you think I am a loner?"

He stared at me for few seconds and said, "Well, we met through travel portals, and now we are on a DIY trip to Thailand and Cambodia with two other again from the travel portals. So yes, we all are loners."

I argued, "But then why are we travelling together? We should be travelling alone. Technically we are not supposed to be liking people's company, isn't that how a loner is supposed to be?"

My travel buddy quickly googled (yes, it's a verb now) and said, "Loner: A person who prefers not to associate with others." 

"I rest my case", I said. He continued, "But then, you are with us, or all four of us are with one another because we know it's for 7 days and so we have convinced ourselves to be a groupie for this period of time, it's an arrangement of convenience and that's it." "We are loners." he concluded, ordered another beer and I watched silently as a faraway look crept its way into his eyes.

My other travel buddy had by that time made good use of her time and was chatting away to another tourist, chances were she won't go back to the hotel with us. I probed him further, "What do you think makes people like us loners?"

He nibbled on some pork stir dry and inquired, "Durba, you know I am a Muslim, right?" I responded, "How does that matter in the conversation we are having now?" He said, "It matters".

They had a very passionate affair he claimed. He showed me a scar on his face and said he got that when he fought with her brothers, who were political goons of the land and dead against them being together. He told me that he never thought they would be together, she had always dated the hoities and toities and was extremely rich, while he was the only son of a government engineer with a humble livelihood. But she always came to him after every heartbreak, he always consoled her and one of those days, to keep her heart safe, she committed it to him. They got married against tremendous family opposition and started their lives together. While there were good days, there were bad days too he said.

"Am leaving guys" told our travel buddy from Kazakisthan. We bade her goodbye and ordered one more pitcher.

He continued how her family insulted him and his background again and again, they wanted him to shift to Dubai, he refused and wanted to stay in India to take care of his ailing parents. My mom said, he quoted, "With every responsibility comes a choice. Always make a choice that gives you a good night's sleep." He stayed back. Some way, some how, many more people started living their married life he thought. And finally, after two years, they found themselves in a mosque, saying "Talaq" in front of a Qazi. "I don't even have a paper Durba to look at that says I am not with her anymore...something tangible...nothing..." he sighs..."you see why I said I am a Muslim. I am denied that paper...with every trip I take with folks like you...I tell myself that I don't need a paper. This trip itself is a testament to the fact that I am alone."

I met him two days back at Suvarnabhumi airport, I didn't know what to say. I kept silent. He concluded, "So you see we are loners." I kept silent while I wondered whether not being with anyone is what defines or makes one a loner.

It is a trait of your character for sure, but when it takes precedence over anyone and anything in your life, then may be you are one. There are many decisions in our lives that we take because we do not have any other option. It's like that decision is staring at your face and saying, "well buddy, this is it." Do you always have a choice? I wondered, as his mom said once. And is it that one choice that makes us loners, just for today, for a month or forever?

I remember the times when my mum, having a wonderful life with my dad in that one room in a joint family, stealing those moments away from 8-10 family members and reading out aloud her favorite Shakespeare sonnet. We were barred from troubling her then. I remember someone, very close, just going out of the house and walking for hours just by himself. I remember someone whom I admire a lot saying, "...regarding space-if u don't need it in closest relationships then i think it is sheer dependence and nothing else.i am glad to be whole and complete by myself..."

Aren't we all loners at some point of time or the other? Aren't we all, what we are, because of those 'loner' moments when we confront ourselves and define our next few minutes, next few hours, next few months and next few decades of who we are or will be? Is that shameful? Something to be apologetic about? I don't know really. I won't comment on it either. I just noted, when my colleague said, "you seem to be a loner" that I said' "sorry"...in this cyberworld, I would like to conclude by sharing, again something that I always felt reaches me, effortlessly at any point of my life, a song about "I", the "I" that pushes away the rest, the "I" that faces the big hard sun...and yes, often by choice...

What are your thoughts on being a 'loner'?

Of misplaced Bindis (colorful dots that Indian women wear on their forehead)

They are everywhere...on the mirrors, on the bathroom walls, on the dressing table cabinet, even on the headstand of a bed. In the hotels, resorts, beds and breakfasts and even in the shacks. On the roads, ambulances and police vans...they are there too.

The first time I saw them, left on the bathroom mirror of a hotel room, I immediately thought of the story of the forehead that adorned it and the owner of the forehead that abandoned it to oblivion in a hotel room on a bathroom mirror. The forehead that adorned it will never return to fetch it, the forehead will easily replace it, the forehead that may not even exist any more. 

The misplaced bindi does not have much control over its state. Of course it is true that the ones that are misplaced are mostly the red, black or the maroon ones, so in the bindi caste system they surely come way down at the bottom. I don't think I have seen any of the ornamental bindis misplaced. So as a bindi, it needs to move up in the bindi caste system to ensure the forehead's loyalty to it. But we digress, any social revolution needs time, before that we must really first know their stories.


It is my believe that every misplaced bindi has its own story, what brought them to that place, the bathroom, that particular hotel and who accompanied the forehead. So like a fool, every time I see them, misplaced, forgotten, left, trampled, I talk to them, I ask them these questions...I want to know their stories. 

One misplaced bindi once told me that it was not the intent of the forehead to leave it on the dining chair. The forehead was having an heated argument with it's companion, one thing led to another and a slap across the forehead dislodged the bindi to the dining chair. I found it quite improbable, the trajectory, the force of the slap and the perfect placement of the bindi on the dinning chair, but I did not quite argue. If that's what makes the bindi feel comfortable, then that's the story am gonna tell every body.

The other misplaced bindi in one of the run-down motel room bathrooms told me that the forehead was in a hurry. While washing her face she saw on the mirror that she still had the bindi on, callously stuck it on the mirror, washed her face and then walked out of the bathroom, leaving the bindi on the mirror wall to talk to me, someday. I don't like this bindi's story much, it has a matter-of-fact way about it, no room for imagination, a tad bit depressing and way too practical. But again, if that's what the bindi tells me to tell every body, then that's what am gonna do.

Their love blossomed under the trees, the bindi said. "I was her lucky bindi", the bindi proclaimed. "she was wearing it the day, he asked her out." They held hands together, against the sun, the rain, the families and the society. They stood together, by it all, and then won. It was a monsoon evening, the bindi said, when they came to this resort after 30 years of togetherness. They sipped their tea on the balcony in silence. He looked at her and asked her not to go. The forehead said that she was ready. She was happy, content and ready to go. She touched his face and said, "I lived with you, I now need to go." She took off her worn-off bindi from her forehead and placed it on the balcony frame. She looked at the bindi and said, "I have all the luck that I needed all through my life. I set you free." This story made me teary. The bindi wanted me to tell every body that it was not forgotten, it was not misplaced, it chose to be there, that evening, left on that balcony frame as a witness to life and death.

Her heart rate grew faster. The strong hands pushed her, her frail body could not resist. Her saree got stuck, they ripped it and shoved her into the van. The others followed, all cramped in that van, shivering, sweating and numb. Strong hands slapped them, pulled their hair, kicked them. They endured. They knew they will be back in this van, again, few months later, and it would be the same. The bindi on the van floor told me so. I looked at it, I picked it up and carried it with me. "Why are you doing this?" the bindi asked me, "there will be more. will you be able to pick each one up?" I stay silent.

The siren blared through the traffic as the ambulance sped. She couldn't stop crying, she held his limp hand firmly, hoping that every breathe in her body goes to his, gives him life, gives him health. The siren kept blaring, she wiped her sweating forehead, walked out of the van with the stretcher, rushed to the emergency, the misplaced bindi on the road hoped and prayed for his good health. Do you know if he is fine now? the bindi asked me. I assured it that he is.

The misplaced bindis, they all have stories, I believe. They all have...

Where did good ol' pen and paper go?

I am the type who takes long to adapt to changes. 

I don't like it when one picks up the pen from my desk and never returns it, somehow the Reylonds company had managed to make one customised pen for me, and now it's gone...I have to get used to a new one!! 

I also don't like when my neighbor's kid glances through my newspaper and folds it in a different way before I open the paper. Yes, am a meanie...but I do like to see the headlines first on a newspaper. I do not open the television with my morning cuppa, I read the good ol' newspaper.

I do not like when I receive a text message from Indian railways reminding me of my train timing, this was not supposed to be like this, I was supposed to check the ticket, calculate the traffic time and plan my travel. I don't like this. 

Psst...I hate it though, these days, whens they miss sending me the text.

I think, if there were a Tech goddess, which I strongly think that there should be one, considering the close to crore gods and goddesses that we have, would have been really pissed with me at my resistance to carry a cell phone. I remember my mum had a cell phone in 2000s, I reluctantly got my first cell phone in 2006. Tech goddess, tried her best (yes, it's a she, very persistent, you see) to lure me to the cell phone world, and finally, when I gave in, must have had a party by launching smartphones :(.

We will talk about that experience in a while. 

Then came the ages of social networking, Orkut came jumping around, scrapping and sh******** all over the cyberworld. Peer pressure pushed me to Orkut and I found many people 'Checking me out' every day!! I felt popular, wanted...amen! I hated getting used to the social norms to follow in Orkut, but nonetheless I managed to scrap. Then Orkut just became intrusive, I shunned it, took a sigh of relief, no more pressure, till a friend sends an invite to make my face available on a book. 

We will come to that story in a while too.

So the point I am trying to make is that I do not like change. I take long to get used to that. I remember my dad used to be all hyper, at the start of every month, lining up all the bills that he had to pay, tracking all the details in his diary. A friend forced me to do auto-debit for my phone and landline bills, I hated him for long. Mum, on the other hand managed to get her land tax, electricity bills, all paid online :(. 

I believe, that's also a trick of the Tech goddess, finding an ally in the family and thereby making inroads to the non-believer.

Amidst all of these shameless invasions of technology, I, of course, took up jobs, that predominantly took me more and more away from the ol' ways of doing things, of pens and papers and increasingly towards the bytes and pixels. I can never talk tech lingo (you know the chants to worship the Tech goddess), but I managed to stutter my way through. I learnt strange ways of communicating through pings and beeps, through cartoons and stupidly smiling faces, I learnt that you can really control your expressions when you communicate this way. I also learnt that I am going increasingly bad at behaving in real life with people and that I get terrible pain in my hand whenever I try to write on paper with a pen for long. However, my left hand seemed quite useful, as I punched my way through the QWERTY key board...I became ambidextrous.

So, while Tech goddess was at her fag end of celebration by introducing the smartphone, I decided, by now, getting quite ambidextrous with QWERTY key board, that I need to move away from the alphanumeric ones (that's the only reason for me getting a smartphone, no other reason, you can understand how challenged I am) and buy a smartphone. More challenges awaited me as I surfed the smartphone market. It seems they all come with a touchpad, touchpad only, and you really have to look hard for phone with a keyboard to punch on.

So the Tech goddess, wasn't just stopping at taking the pen and the paper away, she now wanted to take the opposable thumb away too, thereby taking us back to the world of the apes, where finger tips did wonders. A change I refused to take in, till now, can't promise though.

While the book with many faces changed their interfaces like the girls in their pre-teens, I continued in my struggle to make the most out of my smartphone, downloading some of 'this' for Android and some of 'that' for Android. I wandered through the book on my smartphone, I 'liked' and I 'commented' instead of s...crapping. While doing all of that, I realised that a bigger and wider version of this smartphone has also entered the world, they are spreading themselves like wildfire, every other chair in the airport lounge is hunched on them, every other palm is trying to hold them, every other finger tip is recording videos on them, every other shoulder is sporting a bag with them. 

I sigh again...only a while till it gets on to my palm :(. One with a keyboard to punch on, I tell myself, my saving grace...to write while I travel, to note down quickly while I observe, yes I do need one of those, I repeat, but with a keyboard to punch on, I reassure myself.

I have difficulty adapting to change....I do.  

Of a ‘Broke’n Existence

Of late I have found myself precariously positioned at the edge of bankruptcy, every month-end. It’s been a while and I must say being broke is possibly the best education on life, economy and relationships that you can get for free. Learned the ‘penniless’ way, these lessons may just make you wiser.

Lesson 1: ATM

There is some way, I don’t know how, the ATM machine senses your state. It’s almost like animals sensing their inevitable perils and going into the death hole (aka Madagascar 2). As you approach the ATM machine, it cringes at your sight and wishes that you do not shove that useless plastic card through it. But you are desperate. Granted that you have not checked your bank balance for fear of the inevitable, but then there are those moments when you just have to hope for the best, you hope as you may not have hoped before for a better exam result or a nod from that special someone, as much as you hope for some despicable figures to show up on the Account Balance screen. The ATM machine is also poised to resist insults. This is how the whole scene unfolds:

• The one before you grabs his handful of paper and walks away.
• The ATM machine nods in pride.
• You put your card in the slot.
• It refuses to take it.
• You try again.
• It reluctantly takes it.
• You enter 200.
• It reluctantly spits the notes out.
• You try to grab those ‘precious’ notes.
• It tries to hold on it.
• You snatch it out.
• You win!

Moral: Do not give up. At the end of innumerable insults, you will have your moment worth 200 bucks.

Lesson 2: Economy

We crib. We crib all the time on inflation, on price hike, on cost of living, on Congress government, on corruption. When you have been broke for a while, and you have resigned to it, you learn a lot of lessons on economy:

Lesson 2a: Interest is the money that bank pays to the customer for keeping their savings in the bank

Your learning: Load your fridge in good times. In lean times it might pay you interest through some long-forgotten cheese block, some ‘refusing to rot’ vegetables and semi-fermented curd. Who cares? Curd is rotten stuff at the first place ;).

Lesson 2b: Barter is exchanging goods in place of currency

Your learning: This one is a gem. Barter a coffee for a smoke, barter a good deed for a café late, barter a working from home with a 9-hour online status on office communicator (don’t sleep in the name of working from home) and save auto fare.

Lesson 2c: Assets-Liability=Net Worth

Your learning: Get real. You rent an apartment, you rent your furniture, you pay your maid, you pay fare to reach office. Believe me none of these are your assets. All are your liabilities. Your net worth is zero, get real, my friend.

Moral: Economics does make you burn midnight oil when it is part of your college curriculum, but when you are broke is when you crack all the theories of economy.

Lesson 3: Life

You look at life in a completely new way. You are a lot more open, accommodative and observing.  You realize that there are options, it is all not that bad. You also appreciate options that you overlooked before. Did you know that there are half litre pouch packs of vegetable cooking oil? Or that old newspaper is selling at Rs8 per kg that you can request your building’s guard to sell old newspaper and adjust towards the electricity bill for the month? Or did you know that at your despicable situation, your cook may not hesitate in borrowing a couple of tomatoes from the neighbours’ to cook your lunch? Such is bliss.

Moral: You are never out of options. At all roadblocks in life, get broke and you will find your way out.

Lesson 4: Relationships

Well, they say you know your true friends in bad times. Wrong!! In your bad times, you get to know yourself the most. Friends more or less are always trying to bail you out of the situation, it’s you who springs surprises at yourself. For example, you suddenly realize that you are really not that fastidious about that special brand of coffee or that you can in fact eat semi-fermented curd. You also realize that you can count really well to put together the dimes to pay auto fare or that you have never ever been so happy when you finally see the bank account refilled.

Moral: Give being broke a chance, you will know yourself better.

Relationships

Relationships are always counter intuitive. You think you know its going in one way, bang it comes and bites you where it should not. Let me also make this humble observation: Relationships are not between humans only, they are between you and objects, you and narcissism (your and your near and far ones), you and that particular pot hole on the road, you and that rotting apple in your fridge, you and the morning alarm, you and that dream that pokes your conscience every now and then. 


Let me elaborate with one of the very first relationship that you encounter at the start of your day - with the throne. The throne, usually accommodates as much assault a human body can conjure up and takes it all in its own stride, without much complaint. But what do you do in return? Your girlfriend puts the seat down (or vice versa) and you (for no fault of the throne here) slam it back up with such fury that Prudence trembles.


Lesson 1: Relationships don't believe in give and take. They are, in all probability, mostly about take.


As the day progresses, you make, break and revive many such relationships. That traffic signal, which invariably turns red when you are just inches away from taking that turn, the elevator that purposefully takes off just when you are half a step away from it, the laptop that reboots by itself when you are in one of the most important meetings of the day, the coffee that spills on your favorite shirt reminding you of earth's rotation, the dish that burns by 'itself' when your earnest desire to display your culinary skills is challenged, and the last smoke in your packet that nudges you to take it, and its too late to go out and get a new packet.


Lesson 2: Relationships, often form by themselves. They do not quite wait for your approval and/or your rejection. They just nudge, push, shove and make their places in your lives.


One of the special relationships that I have is with my conscience. It is that of convenience. We do not look eye-to-eye, we prefer the 'sideways glance'. Every now and then, a thought takes its form in my mind, it could be that of leaving it all and be a recluse to making it all and showing the proverbial finger to the world. I refuse to choose a middle path, my conscience nudges me to do so (being fully aware of my capabilities), but I firmly refuse: all or nothing! Result: I stay put. where I was. Billions of years ago. And 'shoo' away my conscience. 


You remember the first time you touched the base of her neck and promised you will forever hold that in your fingertips; your conscience knocks at your door at the same time, and tells you not to tie yourself down, not to promise yourself what you cannot. You, oblige to your conscience. 

From the dreams that challenged the mundane existence to the promises of a lifetime, your conscience stands in between and takes up the self-appointed role of a monitor (really, who wants that?); my advice: don't listen to it, choose what suits you the best. It is about YOU and not about that intangible conscience which surreptitiously promises some heavenly solace in some highly debatable 'after life'. 

Lesson 3: Relationships don't quite believe in reasons. They are self-oriented (not selfish) and change with time, people, place and emotions.


When was the last that you had spend your money, time and emotions on your most desirable object or subject at that point of time? That nice pair of shoes, that really awesome play station game, that purse, that piece of clothing or that dinner and the time spent together? How did that make you feel? How was that relationship? Satisfying, wholesome, defining? How many times have you repeated that with different objects and subjects? My guess: a few.


Lesson 4: Relationships are recyclable. All you need to do is hold on to the crux of the emotions that matters to you in any relationship and then apply, reapply and reinvent it.


However, the best relationship, I think is that of our observations on relationship (just as in this apology of a write-up). We all have opinions on it. We all are, in some strange way, completely bummed by it. We all, in our deepest desires, want to get a hang of it. We all, in some way or the other, are perennially running away from it or towards it (never indifferent), in some form or the other. We get into the deepest of the bonds (love, hate, addiction...whatever...note the word bond) and in our minds are continually evaluating, judging and rating it, thereby challenging it in every waking, and may be in sleeping moments.


Lesson 5: Relationships are our own doing (dreaming, imagining, building or ending it). They do not live or die by themselves, we steer them.

*****

When they steal...

At 85, she looks surprisingly young, may be around 70 or so, strong built, signature marks left on her determined lips by years of betel leaf chewing, power glasses and an warm smile. She has recently moved to Kolkata with her second son and his family: wife and two kids. In a small 550 square feet, 2BHK flat, the family lives through their daily chores, silences, nods, laughs and disagreements. She is a mother of four sons and two daughters. Almost all of them are well-established now, with their respective families, spread all over the country. She raised them well, is what she thinks at times.

At 85, she is also pretty fragile. She depends on her children to take care of her. She misses her husband, but at this stage, her children are her strengths. Her fragile health is a concern for them all. She has a doctor son and daughter-in-law. They enquire about her health regularly. They can't keep her, as they stay far off from the remaining siblings and it gets difficult to care for an elderly member in a busy city. She understands. Her elder son and daughter-in-law are eager to take her on, but the children have board exams, and they cannot afford disturbances. She will move with her elder son after the exams, she decides.

At 85, she is quite senile too. Her frequent fights with her daughters-in-law on the day's menu, on missing petticoats and blouses, on misplacing her medicines intentionally put her in their unfavourable side. We all know daughters-in-law play a significant role in accommodating an aging member in the household. She does not quite understand that. She holds her ground, and more often than not, fights tooth and nail. She makes enemies often, her undiplomatic and headstrong ways do not help her sons fight her case with their respective wives. She did not choose her daughters-in-law well, is what she wonders at times.

At 85, she takes her regular walks outside the apartment. A diabetic, her doctor promised her good health if she exercises regularly. A modest kilometer around the apartment, every evening, is her time to reminiscence about her life so far. The clothes she wore, the food she cooked, the chores she finished, the efficiency with which she managed her household, the expenses, readied the kids for school and maintained her relationship with her neighbours. A mother and a wife, a 'home maker' and a woman, what were her proudest moments, she debates as she takes her daily walk.

At 85, she broke down. During one of her daily walks, when she was about to enter through the apartment gates, a boy in a cycle passed by and snatched her gold chain. She had no defense, she shouted for help. By then, the thief had made away with her gold chain. She somehow managed to get to her flat, got the attention of the family members and neighbours, and narrated the story minute-by-minute, umpteen times to each curious well-wisher, till they decided to lodge a police complaint. Tired, shocked, disturbed, the 85-year lies down. Next day, she walks to my mother's place and sits down. She starts crying, profusely.

"Why are you crying? Did your husband gift you the chain?", my mom enquires.
"No. I bought it with my own money. I saved money from my household expenses, and had bought it", she laments.

At a time and age, her gold chain bought from her 'own' money was possibly the only pride left in her life of senility, old-age, ill-health and transit from one household to another...Only if they knew what they all steal, the thief, the family members, and the acquaintances from her uneventful, mundane life, I hoped then.

Let this new year bring her and us all moments to be truly proud of and moments that no thief (in any form) can steal from us. Amen! Happy new year, 2012.

The illusive tiffin box

It started with the steel ones with small plastic snappers on its sides. A small top-open container inside it. It will carry biscuits, banana and may be a small sandesh in the small top-open container. I eyed with envy at the other five-year old opening her tiffin box, compartmentalized with a lovely Tom and Jerry cartoon on the lead (in my days Barbie wasn't immortalized). She had a small piece of cake in one compartment, pieces of apple in another and some noodles in the main compartment. My steel box can't hold that much - it was happy with its biscuits and sandesh, while I stared in envy.

Many many many years later, I observed with great interest, the office crowd walking in to different towers through different glass doors and security barriers, carrying along with them, different sizes, shapes and makes of small bags protecting and holding the stuff that sustains them throughout the day - little chaklis, some chapati, a bit of rice, may be a sabji. Amazingly colorful, in different sizes and shapes, the horizontal ones, the vertical ones, the ones carried in paper bags, the ones carried in cloth bags, some in plastic bags while some come with it's own carriers, the tiffin boxes proudly march through the glass doors, everyday, Monday to Friday. Some of them have a pouch to hold snacks, some bags have a pocket to hold a small water bottle, some have separate zips for each box, the list goes on.

Post steel-box days, when I was in possession of that small miraculous plastic card, I decided to erase all memories of steel boxes, and venture into the world of amazing, all encompassing, magic tiffin boxes; I started with Tupperware. I weighed my needs, my plastic card and my choices and settled for a round big box with a small box that comes inside and all of it in a round carrier with a handle. Hmm with the jhola on my shoulders, round tiffin on my hand, I marched towards my office, all pleased. In a month or so, suddenly the round bag was an obstacle to pay for my auto fares or swipe through the security nightmares in the so-called information-secure world. Also I started missing my water bottle. What do I do with it? Carry both the water bottle and the round carrier in one plastic (oops paper) bag? Or should I keep my water bottle locked in my pedestal. Eyes were suddenly inadvertently straying towards the other tiffin boxes marching through the glass doors. They were nice, easy to carry, Milton cases ensuring warm food...sigh. I continued with my round box.


Many more years later, dejected by the various permutations and combinations, I decided to go for a rectangular one. one big rectangle and two small rectangles that can hold 2 ounces of sabji or daal. I think I felt an urge to diet and got that really concise square box. Within days I had bigger challenges. This time a laptop bag, a gym bag, a rectangular tiffin box and water bottle. Lo behold, next to me, comes the colleague with his perfectly tidy tiffin bag, longitudinal, 3 containers, 2 small, one big, zip for snacks and a pocket to hold a 250 ml water bottle - where did he get it from?

Eyeing the illusive lucrative tiffin box, with compartments and boxes to hold the necessities of survival, Monday to Friday, I cannot help but notice how deftly my tiffin box teaches me everyday how I must wriggle out of the latest revised deadline by displaying very little availability of resources as my small 2 ounce box proclaims during the lunch time, and how I must learn to politely refuse furnishing the 200th excel sheet with the same data as my square box refuses to get inside my laptop bag. The lovely compartmentalized, water-bottle-carrying tiffin carrier next to my colleague's desk always shows me how important it is never to display all your capabilities, because believe me, come performance cycle for want of development areas, they may actually want your tiffin carrier to hold a four-piece cutlery set. It tells me always to weigh my options, because once I give in to the all fulfilling notion of the perfect tiffin 'career', I will be too comfortable to get out from my desk and away from the people around me and doing what I did for many years again and again. With its inadequacy to hold enough food, my tiffin box, gives me the option to buy a tasty side dish, every now and then from the canteen showing me how important it is to test one's market value, once in a while, by updating your resume on the job portals.

The all-illusive tiffin box - you win! I will try many combinations, but will always stay away from the perfect one! In the donkey race, I shall run the slowest.

Being rejected

How often have you been rejected? In love? In relationships? By companies? By educational institutions? By friends? By your own dreams? By your own capability? And by reality? How do you feel when you are rejected?

...Perched throat, thumping heart, cold fingers, trembling voice, sweating forehead...? All of it? Some of it? I have had my fair share of rejections till now, and must confess, did not make me by any means any stronger! But then, that's just me. I am sure rejections a.k.a failure is making someone somewhere stronger. Nonetheless, my encounter with rejections started at a tender age of five, when I was ruthlessly rejected by my Art teacher (yes Bengalees start everything when they are five and their fate is decided by the time they are six) saying I was no good - I especially had problems drawing shapes, and he insisted that I will never learn.


Over these years, I have gone through a number of rejections, the insult and the agony of every rejection made me that much weaker, heavier, bitter, older and madder. More often than not, I have been rejected by my own abilities or the lack of it, you know the ones where you 'know' that you are the world's greatest singer, the most intellectual thinker and the most understanding partner that one can get with the 'funniest' sense of humor and a great 'swagger'? Turns out that you hardly have a sense of tune, you are a below-average thinker, you somehow manage to win five rounds of bridge in your whole life and that 'swagger' is just a worn-out shoe that desperately needs to be replaced. Off to the fridge for some cocoa therapy.

But it is the daily rejections that are more difficult to live with. It starts towards the end of the day, being auto rejected. If you are someone who avails the precariously balanced three wheeler that flies on the road for daily commute, would know how desperately hopeful you are as you approach the auto rickshaw stand outside your office after a hard day's work, hoping against hope that there will be a decent one agreeing to take you home for a decent fair. They are all eager, they throng around you and want to know the destination. You say it. They sneer in pity; only three kilometers?! They reject. They quote three times the regular fair and you reject. They sneer at you with more vengeance. Their eyes follow you as your try to get hold of other auto-rickshaws. They see your lonely figure, observe the rejecting herd sneering at you, and driven by their eternal obligation reject you again. You can almost feel the stare breathing heavily on your neck as you fight the humiliation and walk the distance to the next one. Yes, auto rejection hits me bad.


In today's competition, it is also often that your pride gets a beating as you try to wiggle your way through to secure a domestic help. And more often than not, looking at my flat, my bare means of living and my small tv, they reject me outright. I try to convince them that I will work on a salary revision very soon, they enquire about my job status, nod their heads, look around the room once more, again stop at my battered fridge and walk away. It is not often that your lifetime of work is rejected like that!

From being glanced at and questioned for trying to choose a particular cloth size to being adviced to dye my hair in a posh air-conditioned room to the ominous look on the gym instructor's face at my irregular cardio routine, either my financial stability, or my affordability, my looks, my thoughts or my sanity gets a rejection on a daily basis. Thumping heart and sweaty forehead, heavier and bitter, cocoa therapy, the cycle continues...