Where did the fireflies go……

Gaganpreet kaur

8898008889                                                    Word Count : 700

Living in a  metro comes with its own pros and cons. I was just sitting in my balcony in Pune and enjoying the view. There are mountains right outside my balcony and they seem at just at arm’s length. There is a green patch and I see nature at  its best!! “Nothing can be better than this”, I thought. Life is peaceful yet we are living in a city which is full of madness. One of   the  IT hubs of India.  People from all over India come to this part of the world which is also known as the Oxford of India.

The city is beautiful. It has old time’s charm and metro’s facilities. The weather is awesome… great relief from Mumbai weather where my husband was last posted.

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I did not realize when my 3 years old daughter got up. She was watching cartoons as I came inside. I wondered how much life has changed since we were kids. We never woke up to TVs and as soon as we were up, we would run off and played outside. Playing with cousins- one extended family in the verandah of our ancestral house.

Summer vacations was a special time since all of us would be free and would play games, go out to near by river for a swim in the fiery afternoon, picking up mangoes from a nearby grove, chilling them in the river and enjoy the dripping juices of the fruit!!

“ What beautiful days and what an amazing childhood I had,” I sighed. My daughter was still immersed with the cartoons..saying chatpata chatpata chat..rhyming with a TV commercial. I smiled. As I gave my daughter breakfast, I thought about the evening walks that we as a family took.

We lived in a small village. My father was an Engineer and had a govt. job. He loved his village so much that all his life he never accepted any promotion because a promotion would mean transfer to a new city. He loved his ancestral place too much to trade it for the world. He loved nature. The evenings were fixed for my ma and papa’s leisurely evening walks. Sometimes, we would also go along. Me and my elder sister. I would tease my sister and run off, I knew she will not be able to catch me ever. We used to sit near river banks, try to catch fish with our hands or dupatta that we carried specially for this purpose.

We used to see fireflies in our backyard. What an amazing creature. I was always mesmerized by them. They glowed beautifully…I would run after them and catch them in the hands..and show it to my sister who would run away screaming. I just loved them. I was wondering where all the fireflies have gone!! I haven’t seen them in years! The very thought that my daughter would never be able to see such a beauty made me sad.

I was brought back to my present by the phone. I picked it up and it was my friend, Sonia. We had a small chit-chat. I sat beside my daughter. I asked her if we could play together, she was too happy to oblige. So, we started playing switching off the TV. I was happy that she agreed, even though her favourite cartoon “ Chhota Bheem”.

My daughter made me tea, snacks and yummy yummy tomato soup as she played. She was pretending we were on a train and she was one of the guys who continuously came in to serve us.

She asked me,” mama aap udaas kyon ho? Ka ho gya?” My heart melted as I smiled and said,” Nothing Bache.” She hugged my tightly and said,” main hun na! Fir ka zaroorat hai!” This was her way of saying that when she is sitting right beside me, then how can I be sad!!! I laughed. She laughed with me, imitating me and started running..mujhe pakdo!! Naturally I had to chase her and catch her. She is my firefly, my angel I thought.

May be one day, I will be able to show her a firefly. Till then, I have my little firefly to chase!! We laughed as I ran after her.

What is this life if full of care

" What is this life if full of care
   We have no time to stand and stare."

Beautiful lines by a famous poet...I read these lines when I was in school. I liked the poem, however, at that time, I did not understand its true meaning and how deep feelings it contained. I consider myself lucky to be born and brought up in Anandpur Sahib- a small town where we had a loving extended family all living close by, enjoying family functions together and occasional get-togethers. Marriages were a grand affair and the most amazing part was to see all chachaji, Taya ji and bua jis perform. What a talent!!! I still feel amazed and the salute the spirit. Each one of them had something special in them, still have!! The songs sung by my buas ( Not orchestra) or the poems written by Darshan Taya ji and then the giddha by everyone..wow what beautiful days and what pleasant memories. Then, Hola-mohalla...when we made sure that everyone goes to khetan ( our farm house where chacha ji and his family lived) and had fun!!! Those were the fun-filled, carefree days. May parents had leisurely walks in the evenings daily, played games with us, ate early and went to bed early. Life was slow, serene, peacful!!! How I wish I was a child again!!

Contrary to this, we today live in a fast paced world. Extended holidays to enjoy family weddings in out of question....never get a time to spend time with friends and family. The people that I loved the most in my life have been away and I am too busy or too lazy to call them up and tell them that I still care and I still miss everyone. We get up late, go to bed late, never go out on a walk and are almost always rushing in life...Every month, my husband exclaims..This month is gone already!! he doesn't realize how days turn to months and years are passing. We do not have time to stop by and exclaim and enjoy the beauty of everything around us. In this maddening world, beautiful, precious moments are slipping by.

Thank God I have some amazing memories of my childhood which help me pass through every phase of life!!!

A short story

Sandhya was sitting in her balcony and enjoying the morning cup of coffee alone. Her husband, Samir had already left for the office and her only daugher Kiara was in a boarding school in Ooty.

She was engrossed in her  thoughts. She was looking back in her past and  thought about Rahul.  Something that she does quite often whenever she was alone.

Sandhya was born and brought up in Delhi. She was attractive and happy-go-lucky person; taking life as it comes. She never planned her life. Just flowed with the life wherever it took her. She was a gifted child, excelling in academics, sports and every other activity in her school and college days. It was during her college days that she had met Rahul. They soon became good friends and were inseparable. Rahul was smart and handsome and good at studies. He made freinds easily. He was a genius with words. When he spoke, everyone listened to him spell-bound. Whereas, even though Sandhya was not a shy girl but she liked to remain in her little world. She never liked to talk to strangers, but within her friend-circle she was  always talking and laughing and giggling like a school girl. Days passed and their friendship grew stronger with time. She never realized how and when Rahul's feelings changed towards her. Even though Rahul always loved her, he never gathered the courage to tell Sandhya how he felt. Then, in the summer break during their final year Rahul went to meet his parents in Jammu.  Sandhya was in Delhi. With her best friend gone, she was bored and decided to take up a part time job in a marketing firm. This is where she met Samir.

Samir was the Assistant Manager there. He had recently joined the firm after completing his MBA. Samir was the smartest person she had ever met. He had a sense of humor that Sandhya loved. He was tall, fair and handsome. Sandhya and Samir were like a house on fire. Samir was a man of few words. He spoke less, observed more. He had tremendous patience and was very down to earth. He was an easy going person. He took life with a pinch of salt. He taught Sandhya the true meaning of life.

They went on long drives after the office hours. One such night, when they were going outside the city for a long drive, Samir stopped his car and turned towards Sandhya. It was a beautiful night. The moon was full and the stars were bright. Samir went outside the car and looked at the sky. Sandhya was puzzled. Samir said he has no words to tell her how he felt for her. But his life would be incomplete without her. He then took her hand and asked her if she was ready to spend the rest of the life with him.

Sandhya was at a loss of words. She did not answer him and said she will talk to her parents and then will let him know.

That night she brought Samir home and told her parents. Her parents were very happy. Samir lived with his parents in Delhi only and he was everything that her parents ever wanted in their son-in-law.

Within a week, they were engaged and their wedding date was decided right after Sandhya's final exams. Sandhya was living in her dream world. Marriage preparations soon started and the summer vacation had ended.  Rahul came back from Jammu to find out about Sandhya's engagement. He was crushed. He was hurt that Sandhya never bothered to tell him about his engagement and soon she will be married.  Rahul cut himself away from Sandhya. He did not speak to her and got busy with his studies. During their class, Rahul did not sit with her as he used to and after the class he would run off to his hostel. Sandhya did not know what to do. She called him several times, but he always remained distant.

Then, one day one of their common friends Nisha  told Sandhya about how Rahul felt about her. How much he loved her and he could not see her leaving her. Sandhya didn't know what to do. She loved Rahul with all her heart. He was his best friend and he was the only one who has been with her through thick and thin. Sandhya cried a lot that night. She did not know what to do. How she wished she could change things. May be, if Rahul told her earlier about her feelings...may be if she didn't join the summer job. She hated to loose the only friend that she ever had. But she loved Samir and he was the one! She can not think of anyone but Samir to get married to. She wrote a letter to Rahul and apologized. The exams were almost over and her marriage was due in next week. She invited him for her wedding, but Rahul never came. She lost a friend forever.

It had started raining and Sandhya was brought back to the present by the rains. She came inside and saw the package that was delivered yesterday. It was from Rahul! After fifteen years, he had sent her a birthday card. Sandhya smiled and dialed the number on the card. She hadn't lost a friend forever after all.

Friends for life: Honey, am I looking fat today???

Friends for life: Honey, am I looking fat today???: Well, I know for one thing that this is the question that is invariably asked to poor husbands and they do not know how to reply to this tri...

Honey, am I looking fat today???

Well, I know for one thing that this is the question that is invariably asked to poor husbands and they do not know how to reply to this tricky question. " Yea, dear a little bit." they are insensitive and if they lie-well, then they are liers...poor guys!!!

I have realized that most of the conversations today with friends and family invariably lean towards- You have become fat or thin or pretty or old or young..whatever!!! Thats rather funny how we have become obsessed with our looks these days. I look back at our parents generations and they have always been comfortable about themselves...about their appearance and whether or not they are fat..it never mattered.

Frankly, I feel that the obsession is little too much. Its true that everybody wants to look their best and feel good about themselves, however, your life should not be ruled by this obsession. You should work out for your health and a healthy lifestyle should be the motto, you get lean and pretty-- well, thats the added benefit.

Remember, it is said that beauty is skin deep- and guess what!! It really is. Back in college days, my husband always used to say that he never wanted a beautiful girl to marry, he just wanted me. I wasn't flattered, I hated it. Oh why don't you say it directly that I am not pretty!! But the fact remains, I wasn't pretty and there were so many beautiful girls around. I know he wasn't lying. 13 years have passed by and I know now what he really meant. Even today, he would never say anything about how I look or how fat I have become simply because it doesnt matter. It never did.

Each one of us is beautiful in our own ways. Especially women. They are beautiful in the way they take care of their families, look after their children, love their friends and accept new family as their own. They get married, leave their own world and love everyone as their own. They stay awake till midnight so that she could serve warm food to husband, loom after their young ones when they are young, get up early in the morning and run around all day to be a successful housemaker, manager, enterpreneur and so on. So, they are lovely and beautiful despite the fact that they don't look like Kareena or Katrina.

So, ladies!!!love yourself for what you are. Let the inner beauty shine and please don't put that poor guy in an awkward spot.

Cheers,
Gagan

Friends for Life

Friends for life...thats seems unreal in today's world!! Don't you think so? Well, that certainly seems so. The world seems to be full of unfriendly friends..mean people, selfish people and so on.

Guess what...its not entirely true. There are people who are wonderful, amazing, make friends and keep them close to their heart. They help their frends whenever they need them and cherish relationships. Yes, there are both kind of people in this world. But, here the important question is-- which category do you belong to?

We would love to have our friends around, to laugh with, to grow old with...but how many of us are willing to walk that extra mile for friendship. We are so absorbed in our little worlds that even smallest things such us picking up a phone and calling an old friend seems like a task. We never make an effort to call a friend and say--Let's catch up. But, if we do...trust me, it will brighten your day. It will bring back the old day's charm and the youthful energy that we are missing out. The world is a brighter, happier place when we have friends with us. Friends for life.....So, why wait. Lets walk that extra mile for friendship. Cheers!!!