Travel

People travel for two reasons.

One- Duty beckons
The other - The place calls out to you.

How wonderful it would be if both happened at the same time.
How heartbreaking it would be if one was mistaken for the other.
How rewarding it would be if one followed the other.
How unfortunate it would be if one were to conflict with the other.
How tiresome it would be if only one of them happened all the time.
How distressing it would be if one had to be given up for the other.

How would it be if you never traveled?
Stayed right inside that body, buried deep in the cotton candy world of of ignorance?
To be born and die without having stepped out of the womb!
Not to have undertaken any journey?

My dear mind please step out.
Doesn't matter if duty beckons or it's a pleasure trip.
Go on a voyage.
Bring me back some thoughts and ideas that are fresher than the dewdrops this morning. Bring me back some light.
Take a trip.
Travel.
Bring me some hues of the Raindrops falling far far away.

Go Fly!

Smokescreen

To be with someone without being there is an art. I guess most men have mastered this art without realising how lucky they are to be blessed with such a hidden talent.

I wish I could have done this at work or while I listened to a friend for the twentieth time cursing her date. But every time I disagree or get bored, it shows right on my face and the other person asks me, "What are you thinking?"

I wonder why women should be so transparent? Why do naked emotions play riot right where it matters. The eyes. Disinterest, jealousy, sadness, joy....nothing is disguised. Camouflage is best left to animals and men.

This is so true as long as the woman is honest with you.

A very fine thread that is.

A woman wants to be honest with you, shares what is going through her mind and wants to maintain the purity of thoughts and actions is sheer good fortune if you are the person after her heart.

Because if she doesn't then you are in for a long wait facing the smokescreen before you know what's going on. Blurry haze and elusive clarity will be presented to you with such dexterity that you have no choice but to believe it to be the and only truth.

Transparency is only for the blessed.
The rest have to make do with the widening void and fragrant fumes.

Bade acchhe lagte hain

Since I heard this song in a movie called Balika badhu on TV as a teenager, I was obsessed with getting married and that too to a man who could sing this to me. Well you don't really get what you want. Sometimes you get so much more :)

I heard it when I was 13. I never married till 33. A 20 year wait for this song to be sung to me by the one meant for me. And even after marriage, I longed for the magic moment to happen. It happened a few days back when we were driving past Shanti Path, the most beautiful road in Delhi this time of the year. Almost 2 years after our marriage :)

Today on an impulse I searched for it on youtube and it happens yet again. As I hear this lovely song I can only thank God that right now is the best time in the world. I am happy. My husband is whistling this song in the background as we surf the net on our respective laptops. Not really what I had imagined 22 years back. It is the new age realisation of my dream :)

Sometimes they do come true, our dreams.
Just the time, space and era changes.

Roots & 'The other side of the mat

New stories on Oot-Pataang

Roots

The other side of the Mat

(Sorry people....am in a rush to complete these stories so that the book is out fast. Don't want to neglect 'Raindrop' but it just turned out this way. Enjoy Oot-Pataang in the meanwhile :)

Indumati

Indumati

new story on Oot-Pataang :)

Spin Doctor

It is not everyday that you can get a phrase to mean the same literally as well as figuratively.

'Spin Doctor' is one phrase I can proudly say I have the copyright to have interpreted in both the senses, very aptly so over the last week.

I had my very close friend and her family visiting Delhi for a week and an ongoing film project at the same time. I knew I was going to be either up till late at home working or locked up in the studio for the entire period. I didn't know how I was going to ask hubby to help.

Especially after the ruckus I had created over preparing one meal for a friend of his last December. Didn't really have the guts to ask him to do the running around.

Finally guests arrived and the film project began. On the same day.
It was wonderful to have a full house. One of my best friends was here. I couldn't yap all night long but it was the first time all rooms in my house were occupied and bubbling with energy and laughter. Felt great.

Only one regret - I wasn't going to have time to be a part of it.

Days passed in quick succession.
Hubby refused to let me take a cab late night. Made trips to the studio at all hours just picking and dropping me back. "This is Delhi, I don't want you traveling alone at night", he would say. He made sure everyone at home was well taken care of, well fed and had a jolly good time too.

All logistics at home (of course with the help of Jamuna the great, our domestic help) were carried out with clockwork precision, without me being around.

There was a point when due to some fault, one of my rushes tapes got erased. One whole day of shoot went up 'puffffff'. Any film person will know what a terrible feeling that is.

He dropped me to the studio in the morning and had reached halfway back home when I gave him a panic call. He turned around, I made fresh appointments, shot everyone all over again and went back to the studio at 11 in the night. He was on driver duty, he claims. He had been up since 6 am.

Only when we came back home, he said, "I have a medals round in the morning and have to go and play." He loves golf. It was a Sunday. I had to reach the studio at 11 am.

One would think he had no work of his own but he is a doctor and gets phone calls by the hundred everyday, some are emergency calls. I still don't know how he managed it all!!!

The flurry of activities kept him on a roll in circles. On toes. My spin doctor not only helped me through the whirlwind week but also turned out to be a perfect spokesperson representing us as a single unit and keeping up the notion that after marriage 'you are not two people, but one household'.

I don't think I am ever going to complain about preparing a meal for his friends anymore :)