Stress busters

Talking helps
So does walking
Add to that smiling, laughing and flying
N you're back to how things were at the start... Childlike happiness.

When life stood still...

I wore a crown
Wasn’t afraid to drown
I flew alone
Feeling I could face a cyclone
One day I fell
Couldn’t even tell
Life stood still
I’d fallen ill
I lived alone
So weak, could have been blown
Cuckoo bird sang in my ear
Garfield bought me a pear
Kumbhu couldn’t come in
Blew kisses and said amen
Moon face sat besides me
Banana bringer sang a lullaby
Baby spring whispered at night
Its older version disappeared from sight
I felt loved and happy
Why does being well sometimes feel crappy?

All I want

All I want is to sleep after a hot bath on a full tummy

All I want is to soak in the sun while staring into empty space post lunch

All I want is to hear voices of loved ones

All I want is that rabbit remains at the store

All I want is to walk when I desire

I’m not thinking of flying just yet

P.S. I'm a liar. I want so much more but for starters this'll do :p

Pug? Birds? Naah..... Rabbit!

I’m innocent. All I wanted was a pug... to follow me everywhere once I was back, to look at me with its screwed up little face, innocent eyes... loving eyes. But people told me I couldn’t act so selfish. I couldn’t deprive it of potential company and love and care. So I was forced to act in consideration of a creature I hadn’t even set eyes upon.

Loved ones can sense your disappointment. I soon found myself flooded with suggestions. Cuckoo bird with with her term wise solutions, Garfield with his kitten, Kumbhu baby with his parrot in a cage, blue eyed sweetheart with love birds ;) then cuckoo bird with love birds without a cage :o spring 1 with ducks :o :o someone with piglets but then spring 2 has already got me one ;) spring 1 with tortoise (spring 1 come on!!!) blue eyed sweetheart’s sweetheart reminded me of PETA (thank you!), dramatic lotus with gunea pigs (ppl size does matter!!). Finally came the most far fetched suggestion.

Kumbhu baby: ‘how about a rabbit??? Soft to touch, pink upraised ears, it’ll hop around you, follow you everywhere, sit with you on a table with a carrot in hand and chew. It is also accustomed to living in a cage without much company. You’ll be all it needs, apart from carrots of course.’

It sounded ridiculous then n it sounds ridiculous now. But then you haven’t seen this rabbit I set eyes upon. It wasn’t a baby rabbit. It looked older, wiser. N when it looked at me, I thought I could take it home. I visited the store every day. I smiled, I laughed. It hopped around me nibbling on the carrots I took along. For those moments, I forgot we were at a pet store with people around. Potential buyers eyed us with envy. But we were in our own world. For those moments, I was happy.. ecstatic.. I was at home. When not there, I would invariably end up thinking I should perhaps get it.

You know how these decisions are. Kinda irrevocable. If you can act with consideration towards an unknown creature, how could you not think about one you’ d grown so attached to? Would I not change my mind in future? Did I really need it?Could I really need it?

Doubts vanished everytime I walked into the store and I decided to let it remain that way. Blissful it was, but unless I made up my mind, it was also transitory. Not that I didn’t realise so at the start. That day, as I walked in with the usual carrot in hand, I saw it nibbling on another carrot, someone else’s carrot.

Its not sold yet but there are other carrots in its cage now. Who brings these? I ask myself. I haven’t seen them. I don’t know what this means. I know what it might mean though. What I also know is that each time I walk into the store, it comes hopping towards me as if nothings changed. Perhaps it hasn't. For those moments I'm happy... ecstatic... at home again. Only that now I suddenly want it more than ever.. like crazy bad!

Or do I?

I’m innocent Kumbhu baby. You suggested I get a rabbit. Now i’m addicted to the notion..

Lifeline (continued)

Or fight with them on tough days, when you've run out of activity and need something to distract ya ;) ? Only that in this case, gadgets cant help reconcile! Sometimes you wish they were physically present by your side, so all you had to do was to hug em tight and apologise!

Sigh! Cant I keep my new life and preserve the best of the past as well?
Hmmm... I'm sure there's a way out!

Lifeline

Being brought up in a close knit family can have its advantages (read loads of love and affection). However, it also has its share of pitfalls. The pitfalls don’t appear as grave when you live first in a hostel with 150 plus students and then in a residential university with 5,000 plus students and freedom to roam as and where and when you please. The pitfalls, unfortunately, loom large as you set out on your own.

It is at times like these – when you cook, eat, work and sleep, that you begin to feel a missing something (read company). Times like these make you realise the importance of gadgets, in short your virtual lifeline.

What would life be like if you couldn’t talk to loved ones on your way back from work? have someone scream ‘welcome home’ when you entered an empty house? guide you when the pressure cooker started shaking with pressure on the gas burner? ask you how the food tastes, rather whether it got burnt :p? sometimes when you cant get sleep, sing lullabies (well almost ;))? and wake you up on days you wouldn’t have made it on time otherwise? N what about the bad days, when none of this happens, a movie on the laptop to cheer ya up? Or photos n videos to reminisce the times that were?

Thanks guys! Couldn’t have made it past a single day without ya’ll.

Stand by me... forever!!

Telecom glitches...

Talking of conferences (I’ve spent 6 of my last 9 working days attending em!), I’ve been to several across sectors and never once have I had to think twice before using my phone. Today, however, was a landmark in the history of conf experiences.

After making a late entry, also a dramatic one since I had to keep standing for a few moments before I could spot a vacant seat (read inspired by the lady in red, blue and gold), I was finally ushered to a place in the middle of a colleague from work and a Mr Raja from a telecom company.

The technical jargon intensified, coupled with the lengthy reading material my supervisor had pushed into my hands so as to be read during the conference, I slipped into a day dreaming spell. After stifling a few yawns, courtesy my disturbed sleep habits, I decided to refresh myself. Enter my dear phone and its free messaging service. Luckily, my friends in the room were also in a similar situation. Happily, we texted our way past a session.

After an eventful tea session (thats another post), it was absolutely imperative to share things with a few close friends! Hmmm... strangely something went wrong with the network and every msg had to be sent twice, if not more times, to ensure delivery. Now agreed that I was receiving delivery reports and replies every few seconds, butttt my phone was on silent!!!! After about 15 minutes into the telecom glitch, Mr Raja from telecom decided to make his presence felt. “Excuse me, madam” as he bent towards my direction (btw we were sitting at full arm distance), “you seem to be quite busy msgn, its distracting me” :O :O

Aghast, I didn’t know what to say to him. Had received a particularly vicious msg from someone and was dying to retort, but even after trying to resend it eight times, it refused to budge. The network had given up on the venue! So had I!

Mr Raja from telecom, tell me, were you unhappy that day???

N I'm back!

I wasn't sure if I'll come back anytime soon... but you knew all along didn't ya ;)

Cheers!

Color Palette

As I sat in this crowded ball room housing a gas conference, I was surrounded by a sea of black n whites, the occasional blue and greys. Corporate clothing coupled with the technical jargon of speakers can be an ideal lullaby most would say. However, a few minutes past noon, a mere two hours late, entered a whiff of fresh air.

The lady, dressed in a bright red n blue saree with gold patterns, matching gold bangles and a not so matching yet equally bright silver bag, smelt strongly of strong perfume. Instantly, sleep was a thing of the past. As she sat next to me, I smirked, assured in my blacks. ‘Where did she think she was coming????’

I ignored her for a major part of the day until after lunch, when we finally struck up a conversation. Manager of a leading company, she was humble, patient enough to answer my sometimes really silly questions about her company. Hell, I’ve been using her office as a landmark for over a decade now and didn’t even know they were a manufacturing company! N still, it was me who smirked. The lady was surely a lot more than the color palette I had initially classified her as.

Its amazing how quickly we classify things and people. She looked to me, to use the colloquial expression, a mother of two - the kind that prepares breakfast and packs tiffins and rushes her kids off to school before donning her Sunday best and setting out to a conference representing her company. Well, in that case, listen up kiddos! You’re blessed! Mumma’s this pretty... successful... adorable sweetheart (read motherly) who people look up to.

Today, inspired, I set out in color myself ;)