Life

  I had thoroughly enjoyed the advertisement made by the company "Jeevansaathi.com", where they depict the bride's father holding a turban and running behind every perspective groom, trying to see if he is the most suitable groom for his daughter. The best part is the questioning eyes of father to daughter when he symbolically places turban on the boy's head. the daughter's anguish is a separate hilarious subject to be discussed elsewhere. Today we are in the process of looking for a suitable groom for our daughter and the sentiments of above mentioned advertisement resonate perfectly with us. When my husband and I married decades ago, it was clear to us that decision of marriage should rest entirely with the perspective bride and groom. The perfect story goes as " The boy meets the girl. They fall in love, their parents( supposedly the society) oppose the union, they both struggle to bring them on board, the loving couple wins,  the marriage happens, and the

 If I asked this question to someone"what is your biggest pleasure in today's life?", there could be many interesting answers to it. For example your child's smile , your job, the book  you wrote, the post on instagram etc etc. But for me, the answer comes instantly without any doubt. It's " Carrot Halwa in winters and mangoes in summer".  I have never been a foodie in my life. Since childhood, I have managed to adhere to a strict diet of two chappatis per meal, no oily food and rarely junk food( though junk food like pizza and momos were very rare and hardly available in those times.) But as far as my memory goes(till the age of three years) my love for carrot-halwa and mangoes has been eternal. Nowadays winters are at its peak in northern India and I have pleaded with my maid to never let container go dry of Carrot Halwa in refrigerator. As soon as one batch finishes , another is ready beforehand. For me its a joy to have my daily filling of this delic

 She looked at the building and marveled at its declaration of class and sophistication. She tried to suppress her fears “I will enter confidently and rest will fall in place”. She was not at all surprised to observe that she was talking to herself. This was something she often did when she was terrified. Though she had felt nervous before but this was different. She had come to interview the CEO of the company.  This was actually Mira’s call. Her friend Mira was doing journalism from the same college where she was studying literature. Mira was supposed to interview this person today. But she was down with flu and hence she begged her to do this for her. Mira had got this appointment after months of struggle. This interview was important for her final project. Hence she had come to do what she hated most “talk to a stranger”. Her world was filled with people who were long dead and gone as Shakespeare, Wordsworth etc. Their writings filled her days and night. She was happy in her wo

Lost in woods      She looked here and there helplessly but no one was around. In hills it is difficult to get help. The local population is very less, that too distributed sparsely across various villages. She had no idea where she was. She had left Nainital at four in the evening and she was trying to make it to Ramnagar that same evening. She had a quarterly meet of her company at a resort in Ramnagar, famous for its Jim Corbett National Park . Now there were many beautiful resorts in Ramnagar one after the other, where tourists flocked for their wild-life adventures. These resorts on the bank of the river Kosi made a perfect destination for weddings and conference for corporate. Everything was going fine when on third day of her conference she decided to break loose and visit her aunt in Nainital. Her aunt had insisted that she stay overnight as it was not safe to drive in hills in evening. But the road was so good and drive so scenic she ignored all warnings and

The first day of bride It was her first morning in the house as ‘the new bride’. She was hesitant and terrified as to what were the systems in this unknown place. She tried to reach for her mobile in the dark and actually knocked off the steel plate on the side stool of bed. The plate went flying with an erring irritating sound and luckily landed on the nearby carpet. She thought “Damm….not a good start. Thank God the carpet was there otherwise the whole house would have been awake.” In the dim mobile light she saw Avinash sleeping like a baby, oblivious to all the worries in the world which had been bothering her since days. “Why only females have to leave their parents and house to come to unknown world? If there is anything called ‘reincarnation’ I would like Avinash to be my wife and I should be the husband in next life.” A smile crossed her lips at this funny thought. She was not sure how she was going to survive in this alien house for even fifteen days. Where she m

Airports are fancy places, resembling miniature ‘shopping-malls’. Jazz and glitzy, people are seen in their best attires at airports. It’s something beyond comfort, mostly about style and luxury. Air-crew seems to be the smartest people on earth while air-hostess represents one’s role model for makeup and etiquette. ‘Grooming’ is the word which defines this industry. One can see people in their so called ‘style-diversity’. Business travelers and frequent-flyers, all dressed formally rolling their executive stroller-bags, students in latest hip-hop styles and housewives as if all dressed-up for parties. Some tourists and vacationing beings are seen in holiday mood with Bermudas, t-shirts and bathroom slippers. She noticed that whenever she traveled by train she took out her most comfortable and sober clothes along with flip-flop for travel. But whenever she traveled via plane it was like getting ready for a party. This time she was traveling from New Delhi to Mumbai for a