The Case Of The Missing Comment...

He: Busy?

She: Naah! Just catching up over emails. I was out the whole day. How was your day?

He: it was ok.

She: Hmmmmm

He: How is your trip going on?

She: It’s been great so far. Still assimilating the hotel room size.So used to the spacious rooms in Delhi hotels that this one in Mumbai is surprising.

He: Yeah that’s there.

She: It’s alright. I won’t be spending most days inside the room anyways.

He: Oh by the way I read your last post and I commented on it.

She:  (long pause) What? You? Commented on my post?

He: (smiling) Yes I did. Didn’t you read it?

She: (shocked) Nooooooooooooo! I did not get it. I have activated comment moderation so I would have definitely gotten an alert if you would have written a comment.

He: But I did. It was anonymous though. I didn’t want you to know that I had read it but if you would have read the comment then you would have known that who wrote it.

She: No way! Hang on! Let me check the blog dashboard. (scrolling through) Nooooo! It’s not there. I don’t see any anonymous comment. Are you pulling my leg?

He: No!

She: this is not possible. Ok let’s not worry about the comment. Tell me what did you write?

He: Naah! I won’t tell it like this. That’s the reason I had written the comment.

She: Hey but that’s not fair. I want to know what you wrote. You have to tell me.

He: No ways!

She: Please…please….please. You have to tell me. I want to know.

He: I can only tell you that when I read the post I thought, she is thinking haywire and it’s time I write a comment to lay all self-created doubts to rest.

She – Is it? If that’s the case then you must tell me what the comment stated.

He: No dear. I will not tell. I will write another comment on another post in the times to come and this time I will ensure that you receive it.

She: Hey but that won’t be the same comment. I want to know what you wrote this time.

He: Nice try but not happening…

She: Oh….oh…..ohhhooooooo!!

And so went on the conversation for two hours. This happened,in the wee hours of one night this month, between two souls who are crazy in their own right. Maybe they did find the missing comment… eh?

Two And Maybe Forever...

This one has been one hell of a ride. Every now and then we come across people we never expected to cross our paths and they end up changing our lives forever. The funny part is that it all started with confusion and it still confuses me. 

Two years back, Shera came charging in my life and what a roller coaster ride I have been on since then. The journey has been like an ultimate long island tea - endearing, tumultuous, sweet n sour, tangy, heady, and consuming.  

With seasons changing, our association has also changed a lot and only time will tell where it is headed. But why should that stop me from celebrating a small milestone – the terrible twos (don’t panic coz I am using the term when babies turn two… wink…wink…)

What do I wish for, now that we’ve reached here? Ummmmm…a lot of things actually.

I wish that we bring back the warmth of the connect that we used to have. We don’t have to talk to each other whole day but maybe we stop being strangers coz we aren’t.

I wish that both of us leave the clouds of our personal troubled times from the last several months behind us and learn to be vulnerable again. In our attempt to be the superman/ superwoman, we have forgotten the fact that we are actually humans and we should act like one.

I wish that none of us holds any grudge for things gone wrong. Come upfront and bring everything on table for the other to see and assimilate. It all comes to down to being vulnerable and telling all that has gone unsaid…

I wish we both could believe in the power of transparency. I deserve to know anything going in your life that has an impact on me and so should you.

I wish we both would not let our actions lead the other person into believing what we may be trying to convey, instead we actually speak out what we want to convey.

I wish that even if one of us reaches out to the other, asking to be heard, no matter how busy we are, we take out time. Even if we don’t want to do this, we still make time coz the other one asked for it. Once the time goes, it never comes back and we would never get to know what the other person wanted to share. This could make all the difference and so this one is really important.

I wish we never leave an opportunity to celebrate life together coz that’s what dear ones are for.

I wish we never leave an opportunity to make cherished memories coz these are what sail us through our old age.

I wish we always find reasons to make each other smile and feel special. This is priceless.

I wish that if ever it is time to bid adieu then we tell the other in person and not let them second guess. Nobody deserves to go through something like this.

There is so much more that I could wish for but if we could even start with the above mentioned, wonders would happen.

Enough with the rhetoric so I shall now pause.

Cheers to the two and wishing to celebrate many more in the years to come…

Gratitude...

As kids we were taught to say “Sorry” and “Thank You” as the situation required. It was supposed to be good manners. Over the years, whenever I would say these words out of habit, most of the times my buddies would say “Oh! You don’t have to say sorry/ thank you!! What are friends for?”

In fact, I used to be such a buddy for my friends & acquaintances. I don’t recall the exact time but probably it was around the time my father passed away, I realized the power of speaking out what’s there in your heart and mind. You never know what would happen next and I for one would not want to vanish in thin air before telling others what I felt. 

I’ve learnt that the missed opportunities always suck…

So I did resolve that I will always express my gratitude to the ones who are or would be by my side during my times of need. 

One such instance occurred last Friday when I was returning from a learning conclave and my dear car started giving me a trouble. Unfamiliar territory, severe traffic jam, ticking hours of late evening, did not help my case. I was anxious and with each passing minute my anxiety was increasing.

While I was trying my best to come out of this situation, guardian angels suddenly appeared – one after the other. First came Shera and then followed SB.

They did their best to get the car repaired, keep my anxiety at bay and also had my room upgraded at the hotel where I had to check in under emergency. It did not end there. They made my evening memorable and were more worried than me about getting the car repaired. The next evening, when I finally headed back home, I realized that I had not expressed my gratitude to both of them.

While SB enquired whether everything was fine, Shera , as usual, was somewhere fighting another battle for somebody else and thus I could not thank him for his help.

So here I am, doing what I like the best – using my forum to express my feelings for the ones who matter.

Shera & SB – I can’t thank you enough for helping me out. I couldn’t have sailed through the choppy tide without you guys. Happy to have you in my life. 

God bless & take care…

Safar

It always feels good to come back to my world of penning thoughts and sharing them out with the ones out there. Over the last several years, I have begun to realize that there is a gypsy somewhere living inside me, who craves new trails and passages.

There have been times when I have nurutured this personality of mine and made the most of every avaialable opportunity to travel and then there are times when I deliberately subdue it coz work's all that takes up my attention. 

Well for past 2 years I have not really been able to travel the way I would love to. I must tell you all here that work did take me to new places within India, short stays and long ones as well. I did explore as much as I could but still could not let out the gypsy within me. Work was always on the back of my mind.

 So  suddenly few weeks back, when I heard this song, something stirred in me. And since then, this urge to travel - just to satiate myself, has been slowly building strength within me. With friends or solo, it doesn't matter but I have to have to travel  now. I can't let more time slip by becuase it is this moment that we must live in and cherish.

So, very soon, I would pack a bag, tie my shoe laces and pop I would go to another destination unknown to me. While company of friends always brings in lots of laughter and fun, it is the solo trails that satiates my soul. It is just a matter of time.

While I wait to embark on the next journey, I would have to be content with these tunes only for now and trust me- these are addictive, a music to any travellers ears.

Happy listening amigos...

Happy Birthday Shera...

I sit next to the window in my hotel room, gazing out at the midnight traffic, tapping my fingers on the laptop keyboard and wondering… what is it that I want to wish for your birthday.

Yes…your birthday. 

Time flies in a jiffy and it’s that day of the year again. 

Mmmmmm coming back to the wishes.Well there’s a lot that I would like to wish for you and here goes me…mind you… it’s all heartfelt…

I hope that this birthday fulfills the dream that you have been working so hard for… the success of your venture.

I hope it fills you with a sense of well-being and you keep your health before anything else.

I hope it makes you understand that to win the adulation that you long for; you have to win hearts - not with luxury or lavishness but with substance.

I hope it makes you value the people who care about you and worry about you all the time. And when you do, you move mountains to make time for them. Because nothing is as precious as time - once gone, it will never come back. Because no one is as precious as the ones who care – once they go, life usually doesn’t give us a second chance with them.

May the Gods shower you with so many blessings that the good in your heart grows exponentially and nothing could overshadow it.

I hope that the love exhibited by your dear ones on your special day or any other, makes you realize that you should keep it real with them. Always…say what you mean and mean what you say to them.

May the good forces always guide you to do right by the people who mean the world to you and vice versa.

May you shine bright…shine as bright as the sun that a Leo symbolizes. When the king of the jungle, stands at the tip of the highest cliff around, head held high, its mane going wild with the wind…nothing is more spectacular than that. I’m not saying you go wild with your mane (wink wink) but I hope, wish and pray that you become the king that you were always meant to be. And when you do…hold your head high and feel the breeze of success.

There so much more that I want to say but my eyelids slowly blink. They say that it’s time to call it a night. With a song on my lips I now sign off. It’s not one of the usual ones you hear me listening to, but one that I happened to stumble upon by chance and thank God for that…

Happy birthday Shera!!!

Creating Ado About Nothing...

This one’s for a King & Queen who are very dear to me. He is the King of Style and she is the Queen of Elegance.

When they are together, they glow to glory and no one can escape their charm. But when they are at odds, they can be two stubborn mules waiting for each other to concede. 

As one season changed to another, both of them didn’t seem to notice when their fingers moved away from the redial button on the mobile and started selecting the message, while disconnecting the phone. In fact, the disconnected calls turned tounanswered calls sooner than they had thought.

There was a time when both couldn’t stay away from talking with each other and alas, came a time when they would go without speaking to each other for days.

The Queen missed him, missed his voice and his touch so she mustered all the courage that she had, and wrote a heartfelt letter. The King, surprised, taken aback, forged forward to comfort her. Being the master of few words that he had become, he still made her believe that all was well in their paradise. 

Few days of bliss just flew by and the Queen once again felt the pangs of isolation engulfing her. She felt the King drifting away towards work, personal struggles and maybe something more. If only, he would open up and speak about all of it. If only….

A health blip scared the Queen and off she went looking for her King. Just when she needed him, he, surrounded with his world of worries, brushed her off.

“You are creating ado about nothing”

It is then, that the Queen, with her head held high, stepped aside. She could put everything at stake, sans her pride.

As summer slowly descends upon spring, the fate of the King and Queen hangs in silence. He can’t leave his streak – workaholic, stressed, aloof. She cannot fathom his streak. Why can’t work and love go hand in hand? One doesn’t have to cross another…

Only if the stubborn mules stop creating ado…about everything….or nothing...

Kal Ho Na Ho...

Last two days have been perplexing. A good news and not so good news as well. My bestie became an aunt and I heard that squeal of joy in her voice after ages. Her smile brought smile to my day that has overstretched beyond measure. My spirits lifted, thanks to the new cherub in town. God bless him.

And then my heart went back to a colleague of mine. I remembered that my day had started with the news that he had lost his mother. A silent, kind hearted business suppport executive, RT is the back bone of one of the accounts I manage. I'm a fan of his hard working nature and prompt attitude.

RT would go home every weekend and when this news reached me, the first thought that hit me was-

"Hope he was with his mother when she passed away."

The pain of losing a parent is unfathomable and everytime such a thing happens, I end up thinking about only one this.

Did we told the person that we loved them?
Did we spent enough time with them?
Did we do right by them?
Did we let our egos come in between the relationship and kill it slowly and painfully?
Did we let silence grow between us like a towering beast?

Oh I could go on and on.

My heart goes out for RT and I wish I could do something to help him sail through his loss. But only time can do that, probably. As for all of us, before we lose someone dear, let's bridge gap, let's be there for them, let's be with them for as much time as possible. Let work not come between us and the people who matter the most to us.

क्योंकि कल हो ना हो॥