The Perfect Match

The shrill ringing of the mobile on a late Saturday afternoon brought Suma back to reality. Who could that be she wondered, as she got up from her bed to pick he mobile. "If it is one of those credit card or loan guys again they had it" she thought as she picked up her Nokia N95. "Mummy" flashed on the screen. She had just spoken to her mum in the morning; it was her regular practice to call home twice a week. The call went on for a good 15 minutes. Mummy did most of the talking and all Suma kept saying occasionally was; " Not again" "You should have told me earlier" "Fine Fine don't start off again". Here close friend Priya by sitting on the bed puzzling over the crossword in the magazine. She occasionally looked up at her friend knowing very well what the topic was and who the caller was.

"Your mum again?" she said once Suma finished the call. "Ya" replied Suma "She wants me to meet up with some Prakash on Monday"  Suma was 28, well placed in a multinational company with a fat salary package. For various reasons none of her marriage proposals had come through for the past 4 years. Too thin, not fair, not traditional, more dowry were some of the reasons sited. If most of the things went well horoscopes would not match. A year back Suma pleaded with her parents to let her come to Bangalore for a change of atmosphere. She had moved into a PG and the change of atmosphere seemed to do her a lot of good. It was not as if she was free of "boy seeing", but at least the constant nagging had stopped. Her parents and so called well deserving aunts always seemed to send her photos and details of the prospective groom. She no longer looked forward to home visits on extended weekends or festival season as it meant "boy seeing" again.

Monday dawned and Suma was rather glum, Prakash had already called her at 9 the previous night to confirm the place of meeting. They choose a cafe that was convenient to both of them and agreed to meet at 5. Suma would have rather joined her friends to see 'Race' then meet Prakash, but she had no choice. Prakash had told her that he would be sitting at a table near the huge glass window; he would be clad in blue jeans and a white shirt.

Suma intentionally left the PG at 5, as the cafe was just 5 minutes away from the accommodation. She definitely did not want to reach there before him and wait. On reaching there she saw that the time was exactly 5.06. Rather than rush in she walked on the footpath past the cafe, and casually looked inside. There were 4 tables near the glass window. One was occupied by young couple, the second by 3 college guys and the third by family. At the fourth table she saw a guy dressed in blue jeans and a cotton shirt. He looked well over 40, with his huge paunch and shining bald patch. Suma felt a lump in her throat. Was this Prakash her mother had not mentioned his age or sent a snap yet Suma had assumed that the guy would be within 35. Suma hesitated for a while, not sure what to do Should she enter the cafe or should she just go back to her PG.

Luckily for her the cafe was located on a busy road, and it was not obvious that she was standing there to peep inside. The guy inside was fidgety; he had already ordered a coffee and kept looking out often. Few minutes later Suma saw him pick up his cell and dial a number, at the same moment Sumas mobile rang startling her. She took a few steps away from the cafe towards the mobile showroom and picked the mobile with trembling hands. "Hello" said a pleasant voice, "Sorry to have kept you waiting it took me 10 minutes to find parking space, will be there in 2 minutes." Suma was too stunned to reply, her throat was dry and her hands cold. All she replied was "Fine" and she heaved a sigh of relief.


Three months later Suma and Prakash were happily married much to the joy of Suma's mother.

Change the World

"If I could change the world, I would make it the most beautiful place inthe universe" someone commented. "Just see the state it is in corruption, natural calamities, wars, adulteration, etc., etc".

  

"My manager won't change, always the same . Short deadlines, work .. Be dictated, clients are to be kept happy. That's all he knows" said mycolleague tossing her notepad on the table. I looked at her and

 

smiled. Kavitha never got tired of cribb ing about her boss, She always wished Mr. Modi would change his attitude.

"How do I get my hubby to change, he is so indifferent and does not understand" grumbled by close friend Preethi over lunch.

 

"I just can't change my parents way of thinking, they are so old fashioned" my teenage cousin screamed one evening. "All by friends are going for the concert and they refuse to let me go" Tina always grumbled about her parents as they were not lenient like her friends parents.

 

What is common between Kavith, Preethi and Tina Its quite clear, the are not happy about the behavior of people around them and they wish they would change to suit their demands. Nothing new or surprising, I am sure each an every one of us would like the people around us to behave according to our whims and fancies.

 

Yes won't it be really simple if we could change the behavior of the people around us. Change their behavior to suite our needs. Imagine if you had a remote, which could make people around behave the way you want I would be fun. Or come to think of it, it may not be fun after all because someone will have a remote to control us as well. However in reality such things are not possible. Therefore it is no point grumbling or brooding about the behavior/ attitude of the people around us. The main reasons being:

 

• You cannot change someone to behave the way we want.
• Trying to change someone would result in you and the other person getting upset.
• It is humanly impossible to change so many people

 

What is the solution? What is the solution? Well take a few minutes to read the words of poems I received in my email some years back, it will help. It goes like:

 

 

When I was young, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn”t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn”t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world. ~Author Unknown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memories

The masked man entered the dark room a knife in his hand there was silence all around. There was no electricity and the only source of light was a lone candle burning in the next room. I could clearly see him walking stealthily towards the shelf ' just a few feet away from where I was standing. What do I do now; scream for help or pound him on the head with the flower vase .Suddenly some one nudged me "Wakeup we have reached" I get up with a start ' where was I, where was the masked man. Then I realized that I was in the office cab and we were in front of the office. Luckily I had not reacted by clouting my friend when she woke me up.


Many of you who have worked in the outskirts of Bangalore city at ITPL or Electronic city would have experienced these long tiresome journeys. Well when my company announced that they were shifting to ITPL in 3 months time there were a lot of "ooo" and "ahhs". We were located in the heart of the city and moving so far was not really welcome.

Luckily we did not move for 5 months, but then the day finally dawned when we had to move. We all met at the old office premises, got into cabs and headed towards our new destination. All "firsts" are really exciting- be it your first job, you first trip abroad, your first flight; and so was this first trip to ITPL. The 6 cabs left together and one could hear singing, joke and shouts as one cab overtook there other. One hour 45 minutes the excited lot had reached our destination.

Well I must admit that the first 10 to 15 days was really exciting. Most of us enjoyed the long journey, the chance to chat (my friend and I would chat so much at we were nicknamed the "Talking Twins"), crack jokes and play antakshri etc. At each pick up point we would greet our colleagues with loud "hi's" and good mornings". Book lovers found ample time to read novels, and some even managed to do some knitting/ embroidery in during the long journey.

Soon this excitement began to wear off- and problems began to surface. The pick-up time was too early, the pick-up point not convenient, journey was too long and hectic, and traffic jams were a nuisance. We would inch through heavy traffic at Marthalli wondering when the bridge work would be completed; wait endlessly on Airport road for every minister or delegate who decided to visit Bangalore. As the days rolled on these journeys to and fro were considered a headache. Many would just sleep through the journey, some read books and some talk endlessly on their mobiles.

Well 7 months later I switched jobs. Now I am back to working in the heart of the city. My commute to the office takes a maximum of 10-15 minutes. No more traffic jams, no more early morning pickups and no more grumbling. However at times I do miss the cab rides, the nonstop jabbering and the nice peaceful sleep in the cabs.

Might

I walked into the store. The purchase had to be perfect and I was in no hurry. I browsed through the racks of crystal showpieces- so delicate and beautiful. The store had the best penknife collection I had ever seen. Then my eyes fell on exactly what I wanted. I picked up the beautifully designed gleaming silver piece. The cold metal felt like ice in my warm hands.. a shiver ran down my spine. I looked around the relatively empty store and opened the cover- what a fine pointed tip- it would be just perfect. Holding the instrument in my hand, I ran the tip across my left palm. The deep dark red line stared back at me. I grinned yes it was a fine pen. I walked toward to counter to pay for it. True the pen is mightier than the sword.

Summer Jobs

The summer holidays had just begun; there was so much fun to have under the sun. I had just finished my 1st PUC exams and we were all in a relaxed happy mood. However that year my friend, my sis and me wanted to spend out holidays in a more "fruitful manner". An older friend suggested that we take up a summer job- he had also taken up summer jobs during his college days. Well this sounded exciting- our first job with our first salary what more could any teenager want. Our friend recomended the best choice would be Casa Piccola or a supermarket or some product promotion sales. Well the 4 of us concluded the Casa Piccola was the best option. The next Saturday morning 4 young enthusiastic girls headed over to the nearest Casa Piccola branch confident that we would get jobs (as if the guy out there was handing out jobs from a hat). When we reached it appeared that the restaurant had just opened for the day only few tables were occupied. The moment we entered a young waiter walked towards us and directed us towards a table. We however told his that we wanted to speak to the manager. Though a bit surprised he told us to wait for a few minutes. Shortly a middle-aged bespectacled man came forward to meet us. Upon hearing the purpose of out visit he smiled and told us that he could do with some help with taking orders and serving. Waitress- well we were not really looking for something like that. Noticing our apprehension, he told us that there were 3 posts possible- waitress, chef and manager. There was no way he would allow us in the kitchen to cook; the restaurant needed only one manager- he was already managing very well. The only other post was ' well a waitress. We stood there for some time looking around disappointed. Then he said "You girls are still young, enjoy life now- sing, dance and have fun. You have your full life ahead of you to work where you want." Well this was years back- since then I have passed out of college and worked in various companies. Looking back I realize that the gentleman was right. Those were the days to enjoy- without a care in the world.

The Golden Era

Sitting at home on lazy Saturday evening I was surfing through the endless TV channels hoping to find something interesting. In spite of having a setup box which provided over 120 channels, I could not find any thing to catch my attention. I spent more that 15 unsuccessful minutes and yet did not find a single channel worth watching. I was really disgusted and put down the remote. So much to choose from yet nothing to choose.
I took a walk down memory lane to the good old days of DD1. That was the golden era…isn't it…DD has produced such great serials that you will be amazed… I was a kid then but most of the serials are still there in my memories. Given a change I would really love to watch many of them. Remember . Nukkad, Chunauti, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Hum log, Bunniyad, Bharat ek khoj, Vikram ' Betal, Malgudi Days, Gul Gulshan Gulfam, Mr. Yogi, Phattichar, Karam chand and of course Mahabharata and Ramayan. What about Circus and Fauji

The list could go on and on But then that was only in the good old days.

Where do I walk?

The state of Bangalore roads is nothing to write home about. Many roads are unplanned, have potholes, heavy disorganized traffic and have encroachments. Well guess what is worse than the roads in Bangalore Well it's the footpaths or pavements.

When was the last time you last walked on pavements? Not many roads in Bangalore can boast of decent footpaths. Many of the roads do not even have a pavement and if they do ' well try walking on it. Most of the pavements are broken, have missing slabs, discarded debris, rubble etc. Some vendors also make themselves quite comfortable on the pavements and sell their ware. Government bodies have also added to the mess by digging ditches and holes in many places across the city, thus damaging many a footpath.

Bangalore was once called the Garden City. At one time there were trees lining footpaths. These provided a green cover and also shelter from the scorching sun. However many of these trees are now cut down, and the half cut trees pose to be a danger for pedestrians.

As if all this is not enough just wait for a traffic jam on a busy road. There are umpteen instances of demarcated footpaths being blithely used by motorists.

So, do you walk on the roads dodging vehicles, or do you walk or the so called footpaths both a risky proposition.

21st Dec 2012

“Yesterday is a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope." These words have never failed to impress me- simple words yet so true. The following conversation (via chat) took place between a friend and me some time back. Let's call him SR. Here is an extract of the chat.

SR: Hey what do you feel about 21st December 2012.

Me: What do u mean.

SR: Come on, don't tell me you have not heard about it. Every one is talking about it.

Me: Well I have no clue.

SR: It's the end of the world ya.

Me: ha ha ha. End of the world. Are you the modern day Nostradamus by any chance.

SR: No but I have read so much regarding this for the past few months. I would not be telling you and the others if I did not believe in it.

Me: 21 You mean to say you actually believe in predictions.

SR: Come on.. just visit these sites and you will know I am not joking.


He then went on to give me many links and references of sites which spoke about D-DayJ
The contents went to describe the Mayan and Hopi predictions that the world, as we know it, will end on the 21st of December 2012.
After reading for some time I resumed chatting with him.


SR: there . Did u read the articles.
Me: ya but come don't tell me that you believe in it

SR: Of course I do, I have informed all family and friends too. Most of them believe me.

Me: J ok good. But I don't.

SR: I have decided to spend the few remaining years of my life differently. I am fully convinced about 21dec 2012.

Me: Fine the why don't you transfer your bank balance to me on 20th December 2012 :)

SR: you don't believe me do you.

Me: NO a big NO. Any way go ahead and transfer that fat bank balance of yours. I will enjoy it.

Well friends, what I am trying to say here is why worry so much about some predictions. Let the world end when its wants to. We need to live life to the fullest each and every day.
And my dear friend SR here is something especially for you “Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.” Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip.

Laws, Laws and more Laws

To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction- Newton’s 3rd law of motion.

Sir Isaac Newton was talking about the relationship between the forces acting on a body to the motion of the body. However let's look at the same "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction:" in a lighter sense.


Action: Traffic jams.
Reaction: Use the foot path to ride your bike.


Action: Newly laid out and tarred road.
Reaction: Another set of workers digging up the road to solve some cable, water problem etc


Action: Police stops you for going on a one-way or for jumping signal.Reaction: You take a out a 50 or 100 rupee note as bribe.

Action: Heavy drizzle with some strong breeze.
Reaction: Immediate power-cut


Well with due respect to Sir Isaac Newton let me slightly modify is 3rd law of motion. "To every action there is an equal and senseless reaction.