Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Poori, kachori hua purana, Guptaji ke nashte ka aaya zamaana!

I recently moved from Bangalore to Delhi. The wide variety of dishes and amazing breakfast had played an important role in making me feel comfortable when I had moved there years back. Now I was moving back to Delhi. After so many years, my fear was that my taste buds may be too reluctant to adapt to different flavors now. My parents had shifted to Dehradun to spend their retired life peacefully. I was all by myself.

I landed in a popular, posh Delhi locality with my baggage. Most of my furniture and kitchen utensils were being transported by a packer. It was going to take at least a week. So, here I was in my own city but somehow felt completely out of place, no familiar faces. With increasing number of tall buildings, we had lesser spaces both in our homes and also on the roads. The first day I managed to survive on couple of bread slices and peanut butter. Bread….boring. How much did I crave for something that was more mouthwatering, something that was different. I wanted something that was healthy but also tasty. I was missing the perfect day’s start.
My dad figured out that one of his friend’s distant relative stayed in the same society. You know how it is in India right? Everyone is everyone’s uncle or aunt. So here I was on a Saturday morning sharp at 8:00 a.m. as instructed standing outside Gupta uncle’s apartment. I felt awkward but I would be lying if I said I was not looking forward to it. Before I take you on the delicious journey there has to be this strange incident that I should tell you about. My neighbor aunty has always been curious about my life- how was I surviving all alone in the big city? Did I have a boyfriend? Did he visit me and so on and so forth? I told her as I locked my apartment, that I was going to visit #guptajikifamily. She almost screamed with excitement vo #KelloggsWaleGuptaji ? At first I could not even make out who was she referring to. Her looks drastically changed from being excited to a sense of envy. She made it evident that she wanted to accompany me as well. I ran to escape her claws. https://www.facebook.com/anaajkanashta.

Hellooooo….helloooo…as I stood there watching a flashback, a sweet, amiable voice greeted me. Mrs. Gupta- she introduced. I was taken in with all the love and affection. There I saw the most inviting breakfast ever at a distant. I was introduced to everyone. Everyone seemed a part of my long lost family. As we all moved towards the yummy breakfast- I could see myself a part of a typical Bollywood, multistarrer drama. There was a wide spread on the table. The dishes looked so tempting. Some had exotic fruits- some had cream. There was no typical, traditional stuff. As I moved closer and became aware of all I was being offered my brain figured it out. There was a good amount of my favorite, healthy, crunchy, delicious #Kellogg’s. How much did I miss you my Kellogg’s. But wait, innovative recipes, different preparations had made my Kellogg’s look much tempting. Eureka- how much could be done with this magical breakfast component. Gupta uncle had already started given me weird looks. I quickly filled my plate with everything that could fit in. I was amazed at Mrs. Gupta’s creativity. With so much yummy variations who would ever get bored of breakfast.


I couldn’t resist my laughter, as I imagined Mrs. Vakeel’s (my neighbor) face. I was the one who had the privilege of eating the yummiest breakfast ever. The heavenly spread had all my attention.
What next??? Was I supposed to go back to my boring, monotonous bread slice story or can I spice it up with some new flavors? As I bid goodbye I waited for the magic words from Mrs. Gupta. I said bye and there she was “beta- come again”. Whoppie this was what I was waiting for. I self-invited myself for Wednesday when I planned to work from home. There was much more in life to look forward to now. https://www.facebook.com/anaajkanashta.

Monday, March 23, 2015

I #ChooseToStart

And here it goes again! My cell phone- Mind it, that mine was a very basic mobile phone nowhere closer to today’s smartphones. My poor phone died an innocent death. Poor chap had been with me for ages now. It fell off the second floor and straight down…it had eventually left me... sob sob….
I rushed home, opened the door without the familiar beep accompanying me today. But life needs to move on. I started my hunt for the latest, economical smartphone options. I am not a gadget freak so it was definitely a challenge for me. I kept on looking. I tried looking online (as is the buzzword), visited a couple of stores too. Things were too confusing than exciting.
I had almost given up. I was tired both mentally and physically from this endless search. But the truth was I definitely needed a phone. Who in today’s world even gets out of bed without holding onto their smartphones: no one “except me”?
After another unsuccessful weekend, as I parked my car, stepped down to get off, my fiancĂ© stood there smiling at me. I was already pissed off and could not understand the reason of his smile. Well, hiding my irritation I greeted him.  There was something he had in his hands that he was trying to hide. An attractive box waited for me. I grabbed it and without a blink opened the box. What waited inside was priceless. Really, was it for me? I asked him twice. It was my all new Moto E. It looked exquisite. Beautifully crafted, bright and shining.
I gave him a tight hug and shouted aloud with excitement. He quickly asked what did I #ChooseToStart my smartphone journey with the all new Moto E. I thought for a couple of minutes and had the answer immediately. The moto E smartphone opened myriad of opportunities for me. I had always dreamt to write and share my thoughts. I could pen down my ideas quickly and share it with the whole world using my new Moto E. Moto E was the perfect gadget for me. I immediately added all my friends and family members. I wanted to tell the world the power that I had now in my hands. I clicked a selfie with my new love (read Moto E smartphone) and immediately shared it with my loved ones on the messenger. I was surprised to see how fast it was. Moto E had brought me at par to my peers. Most importantly it has given me the ability to stay in touch.
I was really happy with my first ever smartphone. It had opened the whole world for me. It made me fall in love with technology and the web. I love you so much my smart Moto E.

 

My happiness is you

It is strange how simple things could make your day. All the twists and turns that we take throughout the course of our lives, we just aim for #happiness and love. Our lives revolve around our loved ones. As I sat on my porch one beautiful evening this thought kept on crossing my mind. I sat there watching the birds fly back. Everyone together in complete sync. The sky kept changing its colors. It turned from blue to really, to a beautiful orange. I kept o staring at the changing hues. The cloud changed their forms. It was as if I was trying to look for a face. It appeared as if I was meditating. Multiple planes passed by as I looked at the sky. Where were these people coming from? The chirping of birds, the rattling of leaves- everything was music to my ears.

The doorbell rang…trrrriiing! I ran downstairs bare foot. Who was sit? I already knew the answer...smiles. It was someone that I had been waiting for long. My husband came back from work. As he entered I felt alive again. I felt happy. It was a daily routine but today was different. In spite of being married for a fairly, long time now, the way he looked at me, his smile still made me blush. It was the #happiness that he had filled in my aimless life. The vacant space was now filled with his love.
I made his favorite tea and led him to the verandah. We sat there without speaking a word. Just looked at each other. My soul danced to the music of his breath. We exchanged some of our day’s events, drank tea and relaxed. He continued with his newspaper and I with my newly bought book.
 
Suddenly we decided to go for a drive. We had no idea of where we were headed to. We packed some basic stuff quickly, put on our shoes and started off on a journey. We drove and drove. We drove away from the madness and the crazy city madness. Since I had met him, he had surprised me n  number of times but it was his spontaneity and unplanned moves that had made me fall in love with him every single day. With loud music, him by my side, laughter and giggles I felt as if time had stopped. He was the one who had made me happy all these years. He was the one who had brought all the joys back in my life. I wanted to say so much. I wanted to tell him what he was for me. However, I was too overwhelmed to speak. I saw a tear slowly sneak out of my eye. I wiped it briskly. This tear was the symbol of happiness that he always brings along like my secret Santa. My happiness is you “dear hubby”.