To Be Young And In Love. (Monday Moments #66)

          She looked at him and her world stopped. He wasn't looking at her but instead busy talking to someone. She saw his expressions change as he talked about what he loved. She saw his beautiful smile as he laughed over something silly. She watched him walk like he owned the room. She saw him stop and talk to everyone and inquiring about them because he genuinely cared. She observed how his hands did these gestures while conversing and she just wanted to hold them tight and never let go. She saw how handsome he was looking and felt like hugging him and never letting him go. She knew he was the chaos to her calm. She knew he was the storm to her sea. She knew he was different than her, but when she looked at him, all she could feel was love.

          He looked at her and that brought an instant smile on his face. He watched her pretending to be busy on her phone because she was among strangers. He watched her lips as they turned into a frown as she was probably reading a sad love story and he watched her lips smile brightest knowing she was reading how the guy proposed to the girl in the story. She sat there in a corner; shy and beautiful. Not wanting to talk to anyone but also wanting to be the center of attraction for him. He silently observed the glorious mess that she was. He knew she was the calm to his chaos. He knew she was the sea to his storm. He knew she was different than him, but when he looked at her, all he could feel was love.

          Their eyes met in that room full of people. Both were finally happy to be together. In that wedding, more than two couples found their future. Their love was a cliche. But that's the thing about cliches, they demand to be lovely. They both knew, understood and loved each other despite silly things like jealousy, friends, enemies and politics that surrounded them. Their love was enough. Their love went above and beyond all the hate. Their love won.

(‘Monday Moments’ is a blog series wherein I write about an incident or a moment in a short paragraph. It’s not a story, but just a short description to express and explore the most common joys and also the uncommon miseries.)

Praying. (Monday Moments #65)

          She was facing a quarter life crisis. Nothing was going the way she had planned. She was descending into madness. She had no one to talk to because all her friends had drifted apart. She had no family from childhood. All she had was a grandfather who wouldn't understand her problems. Once an optimist, she was now hit by depression. Her To-Do list was never-ending, deadlines were coming to hang her and she wanted to run away. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. This wasn't what she had planned. This wasn't it.

          Earlier she used to write down everything in her diary. But, since the past year, she had found a friend. She used to share everything with him. He had become her diary. He had become her person. He was as broken as she was together. She waited for him to be whole so that they could embark upon their journey together. But then, she was broken and he was together because he moved on to another girl and all she could do was wonder at her stupidity for expecting him to love her. Her best friend who was her guide had drifted away because of an illness and couldn't be there for her. Her other group of friends were too busy and successful to listen to her stories of misery and depression. The one good thing going on in her life was her job. She focused all her time on it. But, soon, after a few months she was sent on a sabbatical as she had become a workaholic.

          She was all alone with nothing to do, nowhere to be and no one to love. That's when she resorted to God. She went to a temple and sat. She prayed. And somehow from within, she felt good. She felt normal; happy even. Since that day, she began praying every day and as days went by she started feeling better. She started to enjoy the little things. She started to change her loneliness into solitude and rejoicing in it. Acceptance of the fact that you're alone is more difficult than actually being alone. Once she accepted, it was easier to live with no expectations. She found herself again in the presence of God.

(‘Monday Moments’ is a blog series wherein I write about an incident or a moment in a short paragraph. It’s not a story, but just a short description to express and explore the most common joys and also the uncommon miseries.)

Happy Independence Day! (Monday Moments #64)

          He was sitting in his office doing his usual work, talking with the usual people but something was not usual about that day. The Indian man's heart could only think about his home country on the 70th Independence Day. Living abroad becomes even tougher on occasions like these. Home sickness, longing to be with family, desire to be among your own people. All these aspects had already settled deep down in him. But at times like these, all of the emotions surfaced and made him miss India more than ever. If he would be in India, he wouldn't be working. But, right now, he was just working in his office with a few people coming up and wishing him. No celebrations, only formalities. If he would be in India, he would watch those patriotic live parades, stand proudly when the anthem played and read amazing historic articles which made him passionate about being an Indian. But, right now, all he listened to was live meetings, read reports and wrote financial articles. If he would be in India, his family and friends would hoist the flag. But, right now, his hands were tied to his desk.

          Once he got home, he talked to his wife and kids. His wife had made Indian food. His kids arranged for a video chat with his parents and friends together. They did a flag hoisting in their front lawn and sang proudly to the national anthem. It was so euphoric that for a moment, he felt like he was in India. Technology and sentiments somehow erased the distance making him feel at home while not actually being at home.

Happy Independence Day!

(‘Monday Moments’ is a blog series wherein I write about an incident or a moment in a short paragraph. It’s not a story, but just a short description to express and explore the most common joys and also the uncommon miseries.)

People Drift Away. (Monday Moments #63)

          I think the truest sentence I'll ever write is, 'People Drift Away.' Once our schooling is over, we hardly meet our school mates apart from selected 3 or 4. Same is with our college friends and class mates. But, that kind of drifting is natural. When the drifting is right in front of you, intentional and cold, then it's only painful. You think you know a person and that person is going to stay as your friend for your entire life. And just when you even dare to think like that, something happens and people drift away. Nothing lasts.

          There were two girls who had been friends almost 3 years, working in the same company and at the same level. Their friendship was very unlikely as they were completely different. If one was naive, other was a masked evil. If one failed to understand people, other understood them and used it against them. If one was a robot, other was emotional. They were poles apart and yet, no one could part them. Soon, the naive one heard rumors about her other friend. Everyone was talking about how she had been foolish to trust such a person. When things started to unblur, the naive one understood the dirty politics played by the evil one to get an undeserving promotion. From that moment on, she decided to keep everything to herself. After she was friends with her for 3 years, she thought they were like sisters. But, right when she started to think that way, she was afraid it was not going to last. The bubble popped and out came the brutal reality. She was better off alone. She started to avoid her. The naive one drifted away. But the evil one even after observing that, didn't took any effort to get back in her life. She moved on to another friend. When people drift away, intentionally and coldly, it's painful because we're not trained to cut people off who we once loved.

(‘Monday Moments’ is a blog series wherein I write about an incident or a moment in a short paragraph. It’s not a story, but just a short description to express and explore the most common joys and also the uncommon miseries.)

Happy Friendship Day!

On the occasion of Friendship Day, I'm saying a huge thank you to all the friends for putting up with me. Here's a little something for being the most amazing friends! 

From one singer to another boy band,

Through their break downs and ours,

Thanks for putting up with me, Suruchi.

From our books and coffee to movies and FRIENDS,

For being the lets-just-sit-at-home-and-talk kind of friends,

Thanks for putting up with me, Divya.

From school days until now,

For those nick names, gossips and immaturity,

Thanks for putting up with me, Aishwarya.

From being the most mature yet crazy friend to being the one who never meets,

For those long humorous advises to being a blog reminder and proof reader,

Thanks for putting up with me, Vaishnavi.

For our late night calls, 60 second long hugs and car jamming sessions,

For one year of drama followed by PTSD,

Thanks for putting up with me, Sukanksha.

From my schoolmates and collegemates to classmates,

For being so unbelievably awesome to a nerd,

Thanks for putting up with me, friends.

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!!!

Art. (Monday Moments #62)

          The Taj Mahal stood tall, beautiful and white. It is India's most eloquent and wondrous monument. At the entry itself, people get lost in its magic. Everything about it is amazing; marble look, architecture, gardens, water streams, carvings. Just everything gives it this majestic look and brings out its power in a delicate fashion. Many people visit this wonder of the world. Everyone even looks at it differently. It's a feast for artists. Among the visitors, there were many artists. One man was using his DSLR camera to shoot photographs. He spoke about its beauty through his photography. Another man was just sitting and looking at the Taj. He looked at it for inspiration for his poems. It gave him an out-of-the-world feeling to achieve his dreams. There was a woman who was intrigued by the design and carvings of the mausoleum. She was lost in the perfection of its architecture. Another girl was sketching. It felt impossible to put it entirely into a sketch but she knew it had to be a perfect sketch of a perfect monument. All the artists had their own way of describing the Taj. But the moment they when they viewed it was similar. It was a moment of appreciating art of the Taj with the art they had in their own selves.

(‘Monday Moments’ is a blog series wherein I write about an incident or a moment in a short paragraph. It’s not a story, but just a short description to express and explore the most common joys and also the uncommon miseries.)