My Sister's poem for my father - ONE MAN WHO IS OUR GOD

This is a work by my little sister Dolly. She in copywriting profession and this is one of her hw/draftwork/roughwork... whatever...the beauty of this draft ad is the poem.She has managed to capture everything our father did for us ....things we take for granted....ONE MAN...we adore..ONE MAN who inspires us...ONE MAN who has taught us to be soft..honest....real... ONE MAN..i have really failed....ONE MAN i seek forgiveness from...ONE MAN who is my HERO..the wind beneath my wing...my existence...my search for GOD/ONE....ONE MAN where i get my answers to the quests....

glittering swarovski crystal balls and around 80 stars...you belong to me!!

yet again...
i play with the stars
talk to the moon
wait for the sun
and fly with the wind

i walk in the forest
of red and yellow maple leaves
relish the crunch
beneath my sole and soul....

the silent music of crunching
filling me up
from body to soul

i have plucked around 80 stars
and have mixed them with swarovski crystal balls
of dreams and promises
they glitter and shine
in my eyes
light scattered on the mansion in my soul

i laugh
and my soul smiles
i am again the little girl
who talked to stars
and played with the moon...

this universe and the immense beauty
belongs to me!!!

My Miss Universe - 2025

check my baby out..i usually don't post her photos for fear of "nazar lag jaayegi" ...i am a pure traditional indian maa...but this one is an exception ...look at my cutie pie... she will freshen up your mind and soul :)...and the poses are her own.... she loves camera...

Auto Wala Bhaiyas Bangalore/Delhi... Thank You!!- Learning on the Roads and in the Lanes...

This post has been long due...it goes back to the time when i was struggling to get an admission in LSR, DU for my Graduation in Psyhcology. With a mere 75% in my 12th i stood no chance to get into the institute which is a dream for any psycho student. so i travelled, for my back up, in scorching JUNE summer of Delhi, from north campus to south campus ..applying in some more colleges..nursing my wounded dreams but absolutely upbeat spirit !!

coming out fresh of hostel walls, 2 yrs in delhi meant null and void to me..i could not tell Daulat Ram from SRCC..i was completely dependent on the auto wala bhaiyas..even to take me to Kamla Nagar from KMC!!!! hee..hee..

It was during one of these trips that i learnt something so precious that till date i cherish it and plan to pass it on to my baby as one of the finest learnings in life..

.....it was sunny, hot and thirsty afternoon..i was travelling past south campus to north campus and my auto wala bhaiya stopped (in the city of crime i was all alone in an auto :)) ..he wanted to have water (i miss that bantha water ...) and i waited ...you PAY for every glass you drink..so i waited little more.....AND THEN he came to me and offered me one glass of water!!!!! i was shocked...who was i to him..a nobody..ours was a conditional relationship...i paid him to do his job...haggled with him for money if required..and here he was paying for me!!..assuming i needed that glass of water...this incident has NEVER..just never left my psyche...concerned friends around me tell him how i have to be careful in this big bad world...but how do i explain the fact that i have seen angels where i expected it not to exist...how....

till date, if i am in auto/rickshaw and i have water or coke ..i first offer it to them..it is my way of saying thanks to that bhaiya ...he taught me to be humane..

this was then...NOW

Bangalore auto community was very different from delhi one...here they have the right to say NO to you if they are reading a newspaper.. :) no matter what your need is ...

but then, something happened...and i discovered a world beneath those fawn clothings :)

i got pregnant...new marriage, new city, new family, new job, new tension (it used to rain a lot in bangalore then) and new pregnancy...aah....words cant express how tensed you can be on road...

then ..they happened to me...those angels i always was lucky enough to find in this cumbersome matrix of money and journey.... i would just request them about going slow and the moment they would realise i was pregnant, certain level of respect and concern would envelop our conditional relationship...they would drive slowly, carefully...real slowly..going around the holes and ditches and the famous bangalore traffic jam ....this journey continued for next two months till we got our own car...and NOT even once ..when i say it ..NOT even ONCE did i come across any autowala bhaiya who did not drive me carefully to my office and then back to home..(except one incident) and even today when i look back...i am so thankful to all of them ...

then there have been sweet incidents like one bhaiya would wait near office around 6 pm to make sure i was his pick and without even saying a word he would drop me home and charge me one stable price...there were no discussions, no haggling, if he was around it was understood by other bhaiyas that i was his traveller :)

once i was haggling for 10 rs with an aged auto wala bhaiya and in that process i told him i was poor and 10 rs extra is not fair...he stopped me immediately..with loads of affection he told me ...according to indian belief system ...saraswati ..the goddess of learning ...sits on our tongue at least once a day..so if i wanted i could take all my money back ..but NEVER use such a negative statement..needless to say he went ahead and blessed me with loads of good luck and wealth :)

now that i go to attend interviews ...there have been at least three incidents where auto wala bhaiyas wait for me to get down and wish me luck (and i see it in their eyes..it comes direct from heart) and bless me for the new job,..they are so convinced that i get the courage to go on ....

in one such incident, i was running late for an interview and being an HR i believe not reaching for interview on exact time is blasphemous..i told bhaiya how i was running late....he drove ..and he drove real fast and then when he realised his old auto was not able to keep time ..he stopped called another auto wala bhaiya and told him urgently and earnestly that i was running late for interview and that he shd take me to the destination on time ...since this angel was an old one i guess the younger new one took it seriously and drove me with full speed to the interview destination ...

in one incident...auto broke down while coming back from office..near marthahalli bridge...it was a bad rain..and this bhiaya kept trying to revive his auto..i told him to take it easy..he was drenched and tensed to be stranded...he stopped another auto..put me into it ..and hold your breath...refused to take money from me !!!! now ...how do i explain something this sublime...what i have heard of world is money matters..and here i see one AUTO WALA BHAIYA who refuses to take money for the already travelled distance of prestige tech park to the bridge...

once there was a bhaiya who was an MA.. who would go to court in the evenings, and to the airport and then in his spare time he would ride an auto..he had lost his job with some engineering company he was working with .......and he did not charge me a penny more ..he was awesome..

and there have been bhaiyas with lights and music in their autos..and i feel so upbeat when i see the dreamy eyes...a promise to the future...they know they will surpass the difficulties and have already created a beautifully lit musical world for themselves...you can know who is sophisticated, who is treacherous..who has been beaten by life..who is ready to beat life...beautiful world of all possibilities...

so much to learn...so much to think about..i have been touched by them in manners words cannot express...i believe life is beautiful...because even at the layer where life is not kind to you..the beauty of soul and spirit is outstanding....standing ovation to the beauty ..to the soul..to AUTO WALA BHAIYAS :)...

GOA...AAH - part II - we broke the rules

hmmm.. so this time we captured the GOA not everybody talks of ...Calangute and Anjuna were the only beaches we visited..we shunned other beaches and went touring fortress Aguada instead :)

We cancelled our FREE reservation for Marriott for a PAID stay at our old favorite Angel's Resort :)(hee..hee..just a point to prove how emotional we are as a family about certain things), the obvious reason being warm staff members of the resort.. 

My baby sure knows how to make a style statement .. the pics will prove that :)

And.......since my husband was kind enough to give me pocket money to spend on myself..i thot what better way to spend it than gift him a one-hour session of ayurvedic massage at a beautiful centre!!!!

GOA rocked as usual !!!

Fortress Aguada

The angel's resort..

I know the style statement - its me !!!

Ayurvedic Massage Centre

Fortress Aguada

Oops...i love her

Anjuna Beach

We went cruising..Swastik

Deafening Silence...

never knew
silence can be so noisey

NO thing to say
NO thing to share
NO words spoken

the dialogue between
brain and heart can be so tiring
it tires my soul
and makes my body sleepy

there was a time
when i would snatch my piece of silence
even in a crowded place
would put my soul to sleep
and my mind to rest
so easily

today

i feel lost even in the silence i so preserved
this constant
chatter in the brain
the constant noise in the mind
can be so deafening
so tiring

my soul wants to escape

my lady love... genetics speaks... my baby's love for camera :)

hmm... so the genetic coding is in full swing... my baby loves camera as much as i do...not only being shot but also shooting !!! These were clicked when we decided to have a little break and pose infront of laptop lense!!

when roads teach you the way of life...

:hmm... with no job and enough of tv watching i am trying to locate some work to keep myself busy.

thot it would be a good idea to jot down things i have learned after spending 33 yrs on earth :) for first 16-20 years i was protected with friends, hostel walls, and an adoring family.. now in the second part of my life i have learnt a few things which might sound very funny and stupid to people who have spent all their life dealing with life !!

so here goes the list -

• if you are not carrying a cell and you have forgotten to put on wrist watch ..not sure when you have to knock on the school doors to pick your 3.5 yr old up from playschool, walk unfazed to a post office nearby and check what time their big prominent wall- clock is showing :)-  this is when you are literally on road not knowing what to do , and you are embarassed that you can be such a fool
• for normal postal services you have to use a stamp, even if it is within the city - this is when you are so used to courier system and your visits to post offices are limited, that you do not know such a stupid thing  - i had actually posted my tax papers without a stamp!!

• if there is one hour left in your hand before your baby's pick is to happen and you do not know what to do with your time - go through different lanes of the areas and learn the designs and architecture of the houses around you, it is amazing how each house has a story to tell
• there are things which might go actually wrong- when i say that , i mean they can ACTUALLY go wrong. Normally we think nothing can happen to us ...but life teaches you something else
• if there is no time for haircut and you are in a real mood to experiment - chop off the front hair and see what style comes out (check the pics ..hee...hee)
• if you leave your purse unattended for even a minute - people around you literally shout at your carelessness - not with WARMTH of care, but with a FEAR of being labelled a burglar if somebody picks the purse...well.... aahh.. this was certainly a shocking experience
• that the world of novels and writers are just that - most of the time in real life nothing like novellish happen :)
• your signature changes with time - ACTUALLY...and the money you have invested somewhere gets stuck because you have to prove to them with an affidavit that YOU are the person who invested that money - i mean running around on road and offices to prove your existence..wow...paper work and life do not go hand-in-hand...
• that no matter how honest and self-respected you are - when life slaps you ....the need to beg for a job grows :) - how you handle yourself in such tough situations is actually who you are ....
• that no matter how strong and independent you are - you can be weak and tired and look forward to a little hug...the need is there

some more insights will come ... as and when i am struck with NEW learning ..on the roads...in the lanes :)