Groom

Everybody will have a dream spouse right from childhood. Be it the cartoons or movies, all people are exposed to the understanding of the relationship of couples. As I grew up being the only child, my dream about my guy was influenced by movies and classmates. The first time I got a crush on a boy was when I was in class six. Gradually my image of a dream boy started evolving with respect to age and exposure. I studied in a girls school and did not have much chance to move with my peer boys. UG was the first time that we came under one roof and the taste of a co-education in a third rated college was horrible. I did not fall in love with any of them for two reasons, one, I thought that I did not attain the right age for a relationship and two, I did not find the right guy.

So passed my days. I was in the final year of my Post Graduation and finally attained the age that I had conceived to be the right start for a commitment. But this, did not go as planned. I did not find my prince just the time I had planned to get one, one of the main reasons being that I completely trusted on my mother’s judgment. Whenever I spotted a guy, my index finger navigated from him to my mother, asking her permission for becoming his girlfriend. Parents you know, can never let you into such things so easily. Still, I let her take the final call.

This led in a no love marriage option and the only alternative left was arranged marriage. I was worried. Worried about marrying a stranger. Giving way to these apprehensions, was the way the groom hunt started. While one moron’s mother kept staring at me for not wearing a saree during their formal visit to my house to hunt a bride for her son, another guy was literally into all bad habits and wanted me to be his accomplice. Totally frustrated, I ended up threatening my mother into filtered searches at the earliest.

To this day, my ideas about a groom has changed. I do not look for impressive looks or six digit earnings but someone who will be just compatible with my personality and eligible enough to build his own dreams. A gentleman will treat his better half better and that man seems within the boundaries of my vision. I’ve had different special people in my life and this time, THE special person’s entry will be special, fully under my control and I promise myself to treat my better half better.

Father

While mother’s day is celebrated with great reverence, only few even remember when father’s day is. So is the placement of a father’s role in our lives. The recent Myplan Airtel ad got me irked due to the message it conveyed. It drives people to coax their father for monetary benefits. Does that mean that poor fathers do not deserve love? This is just one example of the wrong notion and undervalue that the society gives for fathers.

It is also agreeable that fathers are not as intelligent as mothers. Often times, they do not even know the pulse of the children. But, because of that, his role in life is ignored, no matter how much he works hard to stay glued to the family.

Here are some of the good things that fathers of adults do get converse results:

• Tries to be kind but ends up getting bossed upon.
• Tries to teach what is right but ends up being a boring old school fellow.
• Tries to buy his favourite eatables for family but ends up being branded as forcing his like on others. 
• Requests for things but ends up with denial. 

However positive the actions intend to be, it ends up giving the converse results because fathers are as selfless as mothers that they don’t even bother about their value in the family which is conveniently ignored. So next time, you find you dad annoying you, take a deep breathe and smile at him. He would at least feel relieved at your friendly gesture. Treat him with the same love that you give your mother and you will feel even better. Last but not the least, don’t miss out the father’s day that falls on June 3rd Sunday!          

                                                               

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is the baking powder of life. With it you rise, without it, you are flat. What does it take to be enthusiastic? Interest. What does it take to draw interest? Enthusiasm. This is an interdependent phenomenon. However, here are few tips to stay enthusiastic in life:

1. Make it a point to do or learn at least one thing new each day.

2. Meet different people or at least make a call to them or at most, drop them a text message that they passed by your mind.

3. Let your family know how much you love them. Love will always make you happy.

4. Grow pet plants or animals. They not just keep you occupied but involuntarily teach life lessons.

5. Break away from daily routine and sign up for classes to keep you fresh.

After all, you should be able to look forward to each day right before you start. The maximum time you are going to spend with is yourself. So make yourself as interesting as possible. Never mind, if you are not. There is always time to improve yourself. Just make sure that today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today. Surround yourself with the enthusiastic aura and life will never get boring. Happy day!

Donation

There is this joy of giving on one side and the pain of giving on the other side. What is it to give away your happiness to someone else? Noble? What does one gain from being noble? Is anyone going to award you a noble prize? Most of the times we think we are being noble and sacrifice our happiness for someone else. It doesn’t stop there. As humans, we expect it back.

 

We want others to sacrifice for us just the way we did. But reality slaps. It does not happen the way you think that it would. So, if you choose your happiness over another’s, is it called selfishness? It certainly is not. Some people always think about others and empathize. It is surely a good quality. At the same time it is important to not forget the person in you. She needs an equal importance too. You cannot pluck away happiness from one person and give it to another. Giving must be done joyfully. If it isn’t joyous, then, you did not choose it right.

You cannot give until it hurts the receiver, you can only give as long as it doesn’t hurt you, for, hurting yourself is equally a sin as much as hurting another person. Like Shakespeare said, be it the quality of mercy or giving anything, it has to be twice blest, blessing the giver and the receiver. When you have less expectations and give as long as it does not hurt, you will lead a happy life. If you give until it hurts the receiver, you may attain salvation in heaven. But, the purpose of your presence on earth is to be happy here and make others happy. Do not sin hurting yourself and anyone else. Thus, you will automatically attain salvation wherever you are.

 

Having said that, we all enjoy the kindness of people and things around us. So whenever you can, do reflect it back. When you cannot, its still okay. First make yourself happy and then spread the joy!

Copper Pods

Have you experienced redolence? It is an emotion associated with fragrance. Copper pod trees and flowers always get my memories of school flashing in my mind every time I cross by the road. In India, we might not have an exclusive spring season, but we sure do have spring-summer where these flowers bloom in abundance. The best quality of nature is sharing. The dry summers are made lively with these natural flower shows by mother nature. These flowers remind me of my exam and vacation days. To be precise, just the day when our annual exams get over, these flowers start to bloom, giving us a farewell for our holidays. The aura these flowers create during this time, is a feeling of ecstasy that only people who know to appreciate their gifts can experience.

In fact I have some plants at home, but I’ve never watered or grown any copper pods. But still they choose to delight my pathways and it seems such a selfless and noble thing in my eyes. When trees for which you’ve never even cared about can give you so much joy, as human beings aren’t we capable of much more? Make it a point to light up the day of at least one person today. You may never know when you would reap the harvest. Do not expect the returns from the same person. God is watching over you. If he can make even the simplest of his creations, delight you, he is surely capable of doing wonders in your life. As for atheists, even if god doesn’t exist, karma sure does. What you throw will surely bounce back. I wish all my readers the ability to appreciate your gifts and may nature bestow upon all of us, the best of everything!

Birthday

The word birthday by itself sends through me a shudder of excitement. Birthdays are special because it is an occasion of celebration to be crowned and crown your special ones. But as time passes by the occasion seems to lose momentum about its specialty. Why? Because, celebrations have started to pick pace on selfish motive. Being selfish is not as bad as wanting to harm someone. Often times we sow, to reap the harvest for ourselves. So are birthdays too. We make someone feel special that day, hoping that it would be reciprocated on our day. I’ve always envied the people who celebrate grand birthdays, not by themselves but with surprises from their loved ones. I’ve always longed for at least one such birthday but never had such a time although I used to celebrate many of my friends’ birthdays. Why does this happen? Because:

• People do not think the way you do. Not everyone gives back what they get and vice versa. In fact if you introspect, you would not have on discretion reflected the love of many people.
• You cannot buy friendship, you have to earn it. 

If you genuinely want to care for a person, show it to them from the heart, if they don’t reflect it back, you might also realize that you have to hold it until your worth is recognized. Over time, I have also realized that friendship cannot be planned, and the ones planned will not last. There are even arranged marriages but there is no arranged friendship. Birthdays are not occasions to expect. It is a day to be happy about and personally wish someone from the heart rather than materials. I’ve done crazy things for people on their birthdays.

Even when some refused any such plans, I thrust gifts and love but over time, I learnt to respect people’s preferences and refrained when they said no to gifts and celebrations. Now, I feel content that I would not expect anything from anybody for my next birthday because people who will celebrate you will love you for what you are and not what you give. Being unique, not everyone in life might fulfill your expectations but when someone becomes close to you, give them their space and time. After all, the best gift you could give someone is your time. Happy unbirthday to all of you ;) Celebrate everyday with love!

Mr.A

So this is my first post in #AtoZChallenge this year. With all your support hope I make it till the end! Cheers to all participants!

It was yet another time of my life when I was impressed with someone in random. Im Samyuktha. People call me Samy. He calls me Sam. Lets call him A (known by his first letter). I did not fall for him but liked his profile. I did not want him to reciprocate it either. But giving the benefit of trying, I asked him out. He responded courteously that his passion was more oriented with his profession at this epoch. I was not disappointed because I didn’t expect. However, in a curiosity to know this person, I fixed up our meet at a temple. Even though I was anxious about the usual type of men shying off in first meets, I was up for an introduction no matter how my opponent behaved. Fortunately, A was a confident and even better, a friendly man, willing to respect a woman for what she is.




After our formal greetings with each other and my home deity at the temple, we caught up for coffee late in the evening. We walked some distance and he pointed out at a secluded restaurant in dim lighting. Although he appeared decent, I knew that my first encounter with a stranger should be cautious. After all I’ve been to more places all by myself as a journalist and I was certain that I could handle being alone with him.

We preferred a table in the open and ignited our conversation with details about family. He commented about a girl inside the restaurant pointing at her as an aunty. Looking at that direction, I saw her facing with her back at us. As it was dark outside, mosquitoes would not let us alone and he ushered me inside. Moving into another seat, I saw that the so-called aunty being accompanied by another woman. Suddenly, she waved at me. Soon I recognized that she was my school mate. What a floppy date, I regretted. (Although the meet was disregarded as date on consensus between us!)


As I went closer to her, she was kind enough to alert me that the whole school gang was going to be there and that I could avoid embarrassment. Getting the hint, I urged him out and as we did, my school mates were sorry for that. My friend let out a formal apology that she hoped that it wasn’t them that we left, which became a subject of mockery later in conversation between me and A.






This meet gave us a ticket for friendship and gradually we met once in a while within the short span of time he stayed here. (He was due to return to USA in a month) As a matured guy, he was cautious not to fall nor let me fall in a trap of relationship and made his intent clear as not more than a kind acquaintance turning friend. Incidentally, his birthday fell in the same month and we met for dinner the next day. For someone who has been so kind to me, I thought he deserved some appreciation but was worried that my gifts would not match his kind of expensive goods. I resorted to a hand made birthday card that would contain the efforts put in to the amount of respect and gratitude I wanted to reflect back. And yet, I thought there was a special touch missing and it was only hours left before our dinner and I had to find out a nearby store to get something that was worth my special friend.


I tried my best but could not find one and finally gave up. A was on time for dinner and we drove aimlessly to spot a good restaurant nearby. My eyes navigated to one of the restaurants on my bucket list as we drove past the road. As soon as I suggested the place, the gentleman agreed and we ventured into it. He seemed to have a taste just as inverse as mine. However, the food there was good enough to consume. Against my dislike for pizza, I shared two pieces since it had an edibly thin base. As A and I conversed about our recent and past happenings, I handed out my card. He seemed to be okay with it and yet I knew that I had not given back my gratitude in full. On.our way back, I confessed about it and he opined the same as I did claiming that he had everything that he needed and this was the perfect gift. Some people might not be the missing piece of your life's puzzle but however their presence makes a difference at some point of life. A was one such boon to me. Even if he leaves India, he would be regarded as the special person who made me feel happy with his presence.