It's just music!

It's just some words, the way they form a line. It's just those lines, the way in which they are sung. It's just the singing, so seamlessly blending with the music. And it is just that music, that gets me high, and is sheer magic to me!

My Daddy Strongest

Sometimes, living on your own gets to you! When you thought that you are all grown up and ready to take on the world, you are reminded that you will never stop being Daddy's little girl. Oh, the perks! Late last Sunday evening, I realized with a jolt that I was to report to my new office the next morning at 6 AM. Living on your own, away from home, having to leave home at 5 AM to get to a new place that I knew nothing about suddenly gave me jitters. I suddenly felt alone and missed my Dad. Missed the fact that on all important events in my life, he was the one who dropped me off, making sure his girl is safe and secure and on time. Be it my board exams, the hazaar debate and essay competitions I used to be sent from school to, my first day in office, and of course, my very first day at school, he has seen me off with a customary 'All The Best' that is an intricate part of his vocabulary. In fact, every single time I have stepped out of the house, and said 'Anna, bye!', he says,'All the Best, baby'. It is almost a ritual of sorts and very underrated, till one fine day, when I thought about it and realized how deep and meaningful those three words really are, wishing for the very best for his children, every single day of his life, every single minute of his life!

Me and my sister have never been the typical daddy's little girls. When I say typical daddy's little girls, I mean those who are never allowed to travel by buses, or bike to school, or go out with friends; well, who are just over-protected, in short. My dad has in fact brought us up like boys, giving us all the freedom we needed with, of course, restrictions when necessary. He has made sure we learn to be independent as much as we can. For instance, if my bike was out of petrol out of my doing, daddy dearest would not come and push it for me, I would have to push it myself till the petrol pump(which I have, many a times)! We have been pampered, and he has a soft corner to buy us all the stuff we ask for but what we have never been are his over-protected little girls, and I absolutely love him for this. This let me grow up, take my own decisions, make my own mistakes and learn from them - just the way it has to be - with the secure feeling that he will always be there for me, no matter what.

When people who know us see the best in me and many times the worst too, it is evident to plain eye that I get it mostly from my Dad. We are so alike and I can easily identify it and this, according to me, is the best gift that my Dad can ever give me. I have seen his virtues and I can see them in me too. More importantly, I can see his weaknesses, which help me not make the same mistakes that he has done and I typically would have too, otherwise. Where he has lost in the past, I have earned, and that makes him the ultimate winner. From trusting people blindly, to spending and lending money liberally, I have seen my Dad being hurt many times in the past and these things have taught me to always exercise some judgement and caution in my life! But after such episodes too, to have such magnanimity of only giving and never expecting anything in return is something truly great and something I still need to learn from my Dad.

Being so alike, me and my Dad know what irritates each other the most and we each do precisely that when we are in a fight. Now, being so far away from home, I miss those stupid unwanted fights we used to pick with each other and the way we both never had to say sorry to each other but just understood that talking to each other meant forgiveness. I miss his amazing sense of humor, jokes targeted at me (especially when my friends were over). Jokes that irritated me, but kept me in splits nevertheless. I miss those summer nights, when we used to sit in the balcony across the coconut trees swaying in the breeze, when my dad would recount his childhood heroics and I would sit and listen to them, maybe for the hundredth time, but still with awe and pleasure. I miss waiting for him to return home every evening, when he would surprise us every now and then with our favourite treats. I miss him every night here, being accustomed to his 'Goodnight baby!' for all these years. But at the end of the day, I know my father has given me the love, respect, freedom, education and courage that I need to survive on my own here and I sleep peacefully.

You do know you are blessed to have parents such as mine, when friends of yours visit home and tell you 'Your Dad is so much fun! Loved meeting your parents yesterday', or when you are chatting with a friend back home, and he tells you your parents are the coolest he has met, ever! You do know you are truly blessed, when all you can think of is going back home, just to hear him say, ' All the best, baby', yet another time, coz you just can't get enough of being Daddy's little girl :)

[The Blogadda contest gave me a wonderful opportunity to write what would otherwise have been just thoughts in my mind, never penned!]

http://www.pringoo.com/custom-designs/Good~dad-paaaaaaa/did-25739/mid-12/ppid-534

A Midsummer Night's Melancholy

A midsummer night's melancholy

As blue as blue can be!

Longs for a time well in the past

And feigns to be not aghast

A year in time, passed too fast

A home made away from home

A girl, her dreams and her very soul

More confused than ever before

Longs and sighs for the ones she loves

Those days and nights - of blacks and whites

These grays, they loom, all day long

And lurch and lark, through the dark

These blues that she feels, as time reels

Subdues, she hopes, with other hues

Hues of hope and hues of dope

And hues of laughter and of cope

A week's worth!

One place, four friends, five days - and memories to last a lifetime! Those five days were enough to set us into another world, another routine, another mood altogether!

Running to catch the bus to Peenya Industrial Village. Standing in those crowded buses where we could hardly see outside the bus; but craning from time to time to check if we missed our stop or not! On lucky days, sitting by the window seat and looking at B's mysterious muse of a house and planning on going there someday! Waiting for K to get off from the back of the bus and finding that he got off much earlier and had to walk a lot. Trying to find an auto at that place, gosh!

Walking on a to-become familiar route to reach the gates of ISTRAC. The same old routine security check at the gates. Parting ways with our cell phones for 8 whole hours - the thought itself was torturous, the act was pure agony. But the result - bonding time with B, S and K, just like back in an era without cell phones - simple and fun!

Sitting for hours on the sofa, waiting for the training to begin. Passing time by playing word games and planning class trips. K's (in)famous tryst with the air conditioning. Leisurely lunch breaks. Full meals for four rupees. Managing to finish the amount we put on our plates and thereafter wanting to sleep, in the already soporific surroundings. Wondering if work life would be dull, looking at the sad faces of the employees. Trying to determine just where the sensors started working on the auto-opening glass doors by walking back and forth. Hiding stuff in K's hair. Exploring the campus. Looking at a fresh entrant of trainees and wondering, how bored will they look after a couple of years at work. Waiting for the benevolence of Lakshminarayana and his assistant. The balloon guy who made us laugh till we cried. Soma and his friendliness. JV and respect! The TV lady who just fell in love with K. The beautiful flowers on campus, and how we wished we were allowed to get in cameras to just take pictures of those flowers. The inspiring talk by that man, whose name I can't remember, but whose words I can. The room from where they control launches. Watching the tracking of the satellites, live! JV's in depth and detailed explanation of the antenna system, which valued more than my semester worth of Antenna classes. The thrill of it all!

And then, after a long day, catching a bus again and returning back home, having learned, laughed and lived another day in ISRO.

DISCLAIMER: It is in no way intended that the work at ISRO is boring and hence the employees look dull. Infact, ISRO would be one of the most exciting places to work, and hence, we pondered about this fact. Also, a year later, having entered the corporate life myself, I realized that this is a general trait and not particularly caused due to any organization.

Blinded!

I was washing my hand, when I saw a girl behind me, in the mirror. My eyes shifted to take notice of her, just as naturally as it always does when you see something new in the scene. My good manners told me that it is rude to be caught staring and turned away. As I was turning, I noticed her cane. Although my brain could arrive at the most logical conclusion soon enough, I still looked away, not wanting to stare at her. And that moment, I wondered. Wondered if blind people can feel people staring at them? Wondered why I could not even get myself to look at her even though I knew she possibly would not know I was looking at her. Wondered how it really would feel to not be able to see while the rest of the world can see you, even stare and gape!! Wondered why this unfair world has deprived some people of seeing the beautiful creations of nature! Some questions, I believe, really have no answers!

Define: LOVE

Two days ago, my roommate suddenly springs up this question: 'Define Love!'. I, for a minute, was speechless. How long ago was it that we gave up looking for a definition for love! This question took me back to middle school and slam books. That was the last time I consciously tried to define the word that only has to be felt and understood. I remember that I wanted to get it darned right, because it went on everyone's slam books for posterity and more importantly, every one of your peers read what you wrote and you obviously had to come across to them as a cool person!!You portrayed your 'coolness' by either writing the first ridiculous thing that came to your head or by coming across as sensible and level-headed. Now, I really don't know what I was trying to be at all but then I was convinced that my definition was really the best of them all and all my friends' slam books are filled with this : Love, is as sweet as chocolates!!!!

Another Day In Paradise

It was just another day for them. For us, it was a holiday!

It was the same road, the same junction, but nothing different to do for them. For us, it was the same mall, the same stores, the same movies, and nothing different to do either.

They did not have a choice. We did.

We decided to drive to Pearl Valley.

We did.

We spent some time there and headed back.

We were on the bike waiting for the guys in the car to catch up.

We were on their road, on their junction.

We were famished, hoping our friends would come faster, so we can choose where to eat. They were famished too, hoping we would buy their stuff, and get their food at the end of the day.

They were relentless. We were too.

It is absolute shame to feed the Beggar Mafia. Especially when they toil on their tiny feet all day long and some monster benefits from it!

We felt sad, wanting to help them, and not the Mafia, but not knowing how.

Then we had a thought.

We asked the person selling the sugarcane juice give him a glass of juice.

He was confused at first.

Then he drank the juice and smiled at us.

Then, there were more of them.

We became their 'juice-buyers'.

Now they did not even ask us if we wanted the pen they were trying to sell.

They said 'Akka, Nangu one loTa juice?' (Sister, can I have a glass of juice too?)

We left soon after, when our friends joined us. We discussed and chose where we wanted to eat tonight, how much we wanted to spend and what we wanted to eat tonight.

The irony of it was all coming back to me. I felt helpless. But again, I was happy I chose to not do the wrong thing, and did the right thing instead.

Their smiles of thanks had just made my day.

It is very disheartening to see these small kids begging, for no choice of their own and all the money they earn go to someone else. I try to keep a packet of biscuits or buns in my bag, which I gave the kids when they came asking me to buy something. I hope others are encouraged to do the same and not yield to the Beggar Mafia, but help the kids directly this way.