Letters, Rains, Books, Conversations – A Friendship

100 Happy Days – Day 88

Happiness is friendship in rain, with book, through letters and conversation.

It was 6.50 am. The queue began from the first floor, stretched through the staircase to the ground floor and out. I was on the staircase closer to the first floor. I heard Carnatic music emanating from the room filled with 50-60 youngsters; CA students. A guy with curly hair and sacred ash on his forehead emerged from the crowd, took out his phone and answered the call, cutting off the Carnatic music.

I walked into the classroom after my registration. A friend gestured me to come forward, for he had saved a seat for me. As I took my place beside him, I looked around to get acquainted with my neighbours and there he was, right in front of me. I glimpsed a drawing in his notebook. A rough sketch of Lord Shiva. There was a Shloka written next to it. I asked him about it and as he explained it, I made a mental note to read more on it. But soon, I forgot. I must ask him again. Or maybe, he’ll tell me if he reads this. 😉

*****

In a while, Gopikrishnan, the guy with the Bhasma on his forehead and immense love for Carnatic, and I became friends and then, there was no looking back.

We have these deep conversations at times, but we could easily talk silly too. They happen very rarely; maybe twice or thrice a year. But, it doesn’t matter. It is easy to pick up from where we had left. But mostly, we don’t have to pick up from where we had left. We could simply start a conversation with absolutely no back history.

During one such conversation, we realised that both of us loved writing letters. From then on, we started exchanging handwritten letters. (Heck! That was when I realised that most of the post boxes never functioned.) Whenever I saw the blue inland letter waiting for me in the hall, I knew where it came from. Sometimes, I’d tear it open right away. Sometimes, I’d keep it safely and opened it when I could read it peacefully.

Each of your friends add value to your life in different ways. Gkris, as he calls himself, prods my inner consciousness through our conversations and letters. The things he says, give new perspectives to my thoughts. His words have the power to make me see new things, take me to a new world where things needn’t really work as per a set of rule books.  There is a spiritual connection underlying our friendship and this is what makes it special.

While we spoke about so many things, bonded over books, music, movies, poems, quotes, ideologies and TV shows, we couldn’t meet. When I was free, he never came to my place. When he came, I wasn’t here. And so, after  three long years, it was time to meet.

*****

I picked him up from a common point and we stood there and spoke, oblivious to the place and the time. After a lot of discussions, we decided to go to a mall though we preferred a peaceful place amidst nature. On our way, the rain beat down from nowhere. Though we took shelter initially, the next time we were on the road, the rain couldn’t stop us. Both of us being rain lovers, decided to embrace the drizzle and continued. After a while, I heard him laugh ever so softly.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Now I do. Tell me!”

“Your hair brushes against my face every now and then. Um… and the smell. It smells so good.”

“I know”, I said.

“What is it with Women’s hair really? What smells so good? It isn’t Shampoo.”

“I don’t know. But I agree, it does smell good.” 😀

(The conversation ended there. It was later on that I got to know about Pheromones and remembered this conversation we had.)

Mall is a sad replacement for these rains, I thought. But not after we entered the mall and veered into the crossword book-store. Time flew as we bonded over books. Well read as he was, he showed me the books he liked, he suggested me some, he narrated some of the stories, his eyes twinkled as he described his book-shelf; a mini library.

During the conversation, he picked two books that I hadn’t read and asked me to pick one for myself. I was over-whelmed for that was the first time someone was gifting me a book. I asked him to choose since I had no clue about the two. He gave a gist of both the books and asked me to choose. Since both seemed interesting, I picked one randomly.

Later, as I was sipping a cup of tea, he spoke of his wanderlust, his experiences, and experiments during his journeys. He suggested places I’d like and he described beautiful sights. His plate was empty and yet, I was sipping my tea. He took the book he gave me and scribbled something in it. As he handed me the book, he said, ‘I have underlined some sentences in this book. Don’t read it beforehand.’ and I kept my word.

I returned home that day with the satisfaction you get only after you meet a close friend. When some people say goodbye and leave, we feel low. But when I dropped him off, I didn’t feel sad. Our bond wasn’t made through meetings. It was through words, letters and conversations. As long as the letters were exchanged, the conversations continued and music prevailed, this bond would exist.

While there are those friendships; the ones with lots of backstories of trips, heartbreaks, jokes, pranks and much more, there are some friendships that are subtle yet deep in their roots. One isn’t better or worse than the other. As I mentioned earlier, every friend adds value to you. One need not meet them or talk to them often, face tough or funny situations with them or go on trips. Probably, there are just a few silent moments together, just a few stray words exchanged. The bond speaks for itself.

This post has been written in association with Chaayos & Blogchatter on occasion of Friendship Day

The Years Changed, Nothing in Between

***Flashback***

As I walked into my room for the first time, she was sitting on a cot. I kept my luggages and looked at her uncertainly.

‘Hi’, she said.

‘Hi’, I answered.

In a few days’ time, we became cot mates. In out hostel, we had a cot for two and we took turns sleeping on the cot and on the floor.

Both of us were Bcom first years, both of us were in the music & bhajans group. We had so much in common except, she was silent & I wasn’t. College unleashed the prankster in me. The real me was out there running about to everyone’s surprise. I have no idea how or why I suddenly became myself. Maybe because, there were so many lovely people who were willing to accept my quirky side. She was one among them.

2nd & final year took us through many ebbs & flows and to our surprise, the room shuffling did not affect us. We both. Just the two of us were in the same room all 3 years while the rest changed. It rarely happens. Most of the students have stayed together for only 2 years.

I found her changing with time. She had her naughty side. She wasn’t silent as we had all thought and before we knew, she was cackling away with us. I’d like to know that I brought out her naughty side. But I’d never know.

In our final year, we were THE seniors and as always, our room was the happiest, noisiest and the most happening room for the punishments.

We used to discuss about how she would visit Kerala and how beautiful the place is. Towards the end of every year, I used to force her to come to Kochi. She would agree and never come.

We used to bunk certain sessions and prepare Haldiram’s bhel puri & eat during that time. We used to switch off the lights and prepare the food using torchlight to avoid being caught by the warden.

We had a “Pichakkari Rock Band” where we used to hold dust pan, broom (our guitar and mic) and sing some really weird songs we composed and dance on the cot. Don’t ask me what pichakkari means.

We used to enact how exactly I will be meeting the love of my life. God! We used to look stupid. To satiate your curiosity, I was supposed to meet him in a temple. There was a song sequence after that.

We found two kittens in our hostel. She took one and I took one. She named hers Poona & I named mine Poocha. They mean cat in Tamil & Malayalam respectively. We used to walk around the hostel with the kittens in our hands.

We used to sit on the floor and pretend to be carnatic singers giving a concert. We used to spread Vibhuthi (Sacred ashes) on our foreheads – three horizontal lines like the sages – fold a towel and place it on our right shoulder like the ideal carnatic singers and then commence with, “ek… ek… chathuranaar, karke singaar”. There used to be unnecessary emphasis on the ‘R’s. I wonder how our seniors bore us.

Image courtesy: hindu.com

We also had our own Bhajan sessions where we sang ‘Kambaqt ishq’ as a bhajan. Don’t try to imagine anything. It really did sound like a bhajan though. We had this huge hardbound notebook that we used like a harmonium and another one that we used like Ganjira and some more crazy friends who pretended to sing after us.

She was my partner in crime and craziness. She had a soft toy dog named Rocky. She was very very very fond of him. She used to hold him close and sing,’O Rocky re… tere bina bhi kya jeena.’ 😀

After all those lovely days we parted our ways. Soon after college she got married, and once when I called her up, she told me in that very same childish tone of hers, “Ranju, I’m going to have a baby.” She said so like a baby and I’m sure no one could ever put it so sweetly. I was so happy for her and wondered how she would look after her baby when she herself was one.

100 Happy Days – Day 73

Happiness is meeting up with a long time friend

She never came to Cochin. But I used to know about her daughter from her. A doll, she was. Finally, fed up of calling her, I visited her. When I reached Bangalore, that was the first thing in my mind. I went to her house, met her husband, a very amiable person and her daughter, she is one angel like her mother. 🙂

She cooked lunch and I had hot and yummy Aloo Parathas and since it was Thiruvathira, she had also made Puzhukku which was also very delicious. Her daughter Oviya (a beautiful name meaning art) wasn’t very drawn to food and her mother took around 2 hours to feed her. My doubts had vanished by then. You don’t have to grow up to look after a baby. It was all the more better if you were a child.

She hadn’t changed at all with respect to looks and behaviour. She was the very same person I said goodbye to in our campus on the last day. I asked her about Rocky and she said that, in college, she had gotten Rocky married to our roommate’s doggy and send him with her. I do not remember that at all. Hope they are living happily with their puppies. 😀

She showed me her engagement album and also the birthday cards we had given to her during college. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had painted them and I don’t remember how. I wouldn’t be able to do something like that now.

Shameless boasting: I painted and drew most of them with my roommates’ help 🙂

We spoke about college, life after college, about Ovi; the child liked Ranju aunty a lot! When she realised that I was about to leave, she kept saying, ‘Stay here. Stay here.’ She made me sit down and refused to let me get up. When I finally walked out, she held my hand and said bye to Mamma & Pappa. 😀 We told her that I was going to the doctor and that I will be back soon. That was when she let me go.

As we parted, she also gave me a gift. It was so very unexpected and over-whelming. It was a beautiful dress material she had purchased. She asked me to choose from two and I was confused since both looked beautiful. I asked her to choose and she did. Every time I look at it, I remember those three years and that day in her house, not that I need a token to remember them all.

About Tiny, New Fingers & Toes

A close friend of mine and his wife were blessed with a Baby Boy today!!! 😀

This is his debut appearance on my blog. I don’t remember writing about him before. We worked together around 6 years back. Both of us had just graduated and had joined a tiny firm for time pass. Well, I joined for time pass. He must have been serious because he soon worked his way up his professional ladder and flew out.

I had instantly taken a liking for this guy because he was very understanding. I missed my college a lot during those days and kept talking about it. All other friends were fed up and one of them admonished me saying, “You talk about your college all the time. It is as though we haven’t been to one.”

I was hurt. I might have annoyed them, but those 3 years were the best part of my life and I missed that place badly. I did not say anything, but he came to my rescue and said, “Hey! Don’t say that. She is missing her college. She has many memories to share. Let her talk.” Then he turned to me and said, “You can tell me all the stories.” 🙂 And I ate his ears. 😛

From then on, I realized that I could be myself with him. Soon, he let me in his secret. He was committed. When we didn’t have work, people at office used to make me sing. Apparently, one of my favorite songs was related to their romantic life. He always asked me to record it and send. But, being the prompt girl that I am, it took me 3 years to send it. It was my gift to them. 🙂

After 4 months of working together, we went our separate ways. We lost contact, not totally. We did send a mail or two, a year. That was it. But our friendship went on. Once, he told me casually that a nose  pin would suit me. I laughed it off since I hated piercing my nose. On another instance, when I called him up to wish him on his birthday, that moron told me that he was getting engaged the next day. I was mad at him. But he had his reasons. So, I forgave him. I am merciful. 😛

He invited me for his marriage, but I couldn’t go. Being a CA student is difficult you know? We are super-busy in May and November. 😛 After marriage, he flew abroad. He occasionally appeared out of the blue. Once, he mailed me asking what was that thing shining on my nose. Well, things had changed and I had a nose pin after all. He vanished again and then appeared in the form of a Facebook message. He sent a job vacancy link for the post of content writers in an online newspaper. He appeared once in a while in my blog in the form of comments. He is a friend who has been there without being here.

A few months back, he told me that they were going to have a baby. Today, he made the big announcement. About a new life in their midst. A tiny pair of hands and legs, ten little fingers and toes. The news of a new born is always delightful. When it is about someone close to you, it is all the more heart-warming.

Source

I wish the family lots of happiness, laughter, health, peace and prosperity. Happy Birthday Baby Boy! 😀

To add to this excitement, the baby’s zodiac is Leo! Same as mine! Welcome to the herd! 😛

Oh and where are my manners!?

100 Happy Days – Day 47

Happiness is the blossoming of a new life

Day 14 – Surprise Visits

100 Happy Days – Day 14

Happiness is when friends decide to give surprise visits.

Tomorrow my CS exams begins. Today noon, I was trying to study when suddenly the bell rang. I don’t know who got the door. But my sister came and told me that my friends had come home.

I was awestruck and went to the living room to find 3 familiar but unexpected faces there. I remembered one of them texting me & ask me if I were home casually. But I did not see this coming.

Ever since I left my office, I missed all the fun we used to have there. Being a CA firm, the place was pretty much like a college. The office atmosphere was maintained only during the tax seasons. During the off-season, our sirs had a tough time controlling all of us.

Unlike in college, we complete our articleship one by one as per our date of joining. A batch does not leave all of a sudden. So the feeling that some of my friends are still there, the tea time is still as noisy, some of the audits are still fun and I am not a part of it keeps bothering me. Well, I wouldn’t go back. I had a wonderful time there. I want to keep my memories as they are now. If I rejoin and find a different atmosphere, I’ll lose this fondness I have for the place. So, this doesn’t mean I want to go back. It means I want those days back. 🙂

That is evidently not possible. However, meeting those people, surprise visits like these, the knowledge that even in future we could continue to meet and be as we were, makes it so much easier. As I mentioned in another post, it is not about the place. It is about the same bunch of idiots.

They might not know how much this visit meant to me. No matter how many times I tell them, the words wont suffice. 🙂

Image courtesy: cutehappyquotes

Tips and Ideas For Inexpensive Gifting.

Here is another year and there are many events coming up. How about getting prepared for them from now on?

Note – Here I am talking about inexpensive gifts which are available for INR 300 or LESS. So if you are looking for higher budgets, I am sure you will have many more options.

I love Birthdays, Mother’s Day, Friendship Day and any event that I could use to show someone how special they are to me. There is nothing like springing a “Surprise!!!” on their face and see it go pale to white to pink to a deep shade of red with happiness! 😀 Please don’t be misled by the post title. I am not going to point out items to gift. I’m giving you ideas about how to find the gifts you want and how to present it to your loved ones. Some times, the gifts do not matter, but the way you gift makes all the difference. The sad part is, surprises are costly. Specially if you’re a student or are doing internship with low salary. Well, not anymore! I am always in short of cash (I’m still a student, you know!) and try to find new methods to throw surprises. So, here is how I gave some lovely surprises last year.

1. Flowers – I don’t know about all men. But some men and almost all women like flowers. When it happens to be your mother, she would definitely be overwhelmed. The amazing thing about mothers is that, they do so much for us. Yet, they need so less to be happy. This is how you make her day special with flowers.Buy a few flowers or pluck some from your garden. Gather little children from your neighborhood and ask them to give her those flowers one at a time. If she is about to go out, the kids could line up outside your house and give her those flowers as she passes by, or let them ring the bell one at a time and give her the flowers. We tried it and my mom loved them. She preserved the flowers for as long as they stayed. 🙂

   

   Jarbara we bought Mom on her Birthday 🙂

   Note – Flowers can be gifted to anyone if you’re sure they will appreciate it. I mentioned Mom because, we gave it to her.

2. A Note For Every Hour – This works with anyone. Prepare notes with quotes or memories or anything you want to tell him/her. Ensure that the notes reach them every hour. It would be a reminder of how special they are and that they deserve a full day celebration.

   

   Image courtesy: pinterest

   

   Image courtesy: pinterest

   I did this for a friend’s birthday. I asked one of her colleagues to give her the notes every hour. I kept alarms on my phone for every hour, to remind her. Once the Birthday girl received each note, I got her message. 🙂

3. Common Inexpensive Gifts – Photo frames, Books, Deos, Diaries and Coffee mugs! I know. They are the most typical inexpensive gifts you can give anyone. If he/she happens to be a book lover, you can buy them a book that they would enjoy. If he/she has the habit of updating diaries, there are plenty of undated diaries available at reasonable prices. If he/she has a favorite brand of deo, they will be happy that you cared to remember. As for photo frames, find a lovely picture of the two of you and gift it.
4. Undated Diaries – Earlier this year, I had reviewed Matrikas Paper Products’ diaries. They have some elegant and creative undated diaries. The cover designs were so tempting that anyone would fall in love with them. They have diaries designed for all age group. If your giftee loves writing and maintains diaries, you can find good ones starting at INR 110. MATRIKAS PAPER PRODUCTS is their website and their products are available in Flipkart, Snapdeal, Zoffio etc.
5. Gifts Need Not be Branded – If you’re so desperate to gift someone something, that someone must be very special for you. Regardless of the fact that he/she uses only branded items, you can gift them something inexpensive for a change. After all, if they love you as much as you love them, they would get the emotions behind your gifts. Just ensure that you pick something beautiful even if it is unbranded. Be it wallets, belts, shoes, clothes or anything. You have a wide range of inexpensive things out there if you just let go of brands for once. Which brings us to the next point.
6. Lookout For Fancies – 2015 has just begun. You can keep your eyes open for all the beautiful and fancy stuff available. Last year, I did a lot of window shopping (Microsoft Windows :P) and found really pretty watches for just Rs. 300. There is no quality assurance or warranty. But once in a while, owning some random pretty stuff doesn’t harm. This friend of mine always buys quality and classy things. I thought she could do with some girlish, dangling, funky stuff. I gifted it to her and she loved it. Want to see it?

   

   This is the watch I gifted her.

   So lookout for the low priced pretty things. Even if the Birthday is a couple of months away, there is no harm keeping your eyes open.

7. A tiny party – You heard me right. If it is your friend’s, love’s or family member’s birthday, and you love them so much, you can actually give a party at a very low cost! Cake – If you need really good cakes, they cost a lot. And that was why, in my previous post, I had given a very easy recipe to make a cake. It’s out of biscuit and chocolate alone. Click HERE to read it.Lightings – You can prepare beautiful lamps out of orange peels. 4-5 orange lamps would suffice for the right glow. Here is what we made.

   

   One half of the orange peel

   

   Entire peel with designed cuttings

   You can use the oranges for preparing any delicacy of your choice. 🙂 Decorations – Colorful streamers are always in fashion and cost very less. Just find innovative ways of decorating with streamers.

8. Maintain a Wishlist & Lookout For Discounts – I get newsletters from many shopping sites and I visit them whenever there is a discount. I buy things only when I am convinced that the discounts are acceptable. That is how I found some lovely sarees worth Rs. 300 in May 2014. I bought them immediately when I had the money and gifted it to Mom for her Birthday in Dec. Needless to say, I was in short of money in Dec. All who saw the saree, loved it & thought that it was some expensive material (giggles :P). Another time, I bought a couple of handbags for just Rs. 150 and they came in handy when I had to gift a friend. 🙂 So, add something to your wishlist and you never know, during the next clearance sale, it might just shoot down to a very low price.
9. The Age Old Custom of Group Gifting – You all must be aware of this. But now that we are talking of gifts, I’d mention this. If you want to gift Mr. A something, contact his close friends, and if they are willing, pool some cash and buy something really good. When you all gift it together, you not only give him the gift, but also an overwhelming experience with his close friends around.
10. Gift Some Time – Imagine, on an anniversary, the couples decide to take some time off and spend the day together. As a child, your parents decide to stay home, cooks you some lovely dishes and takes you out. When your parents are old, you decide to take them somewhere and spend some time with them on their special day. Time is very very expensive. But we can easily lend some to our loved ones. It is simple and means a lot. Do try gifting some time.
11. Time With Creativity – You have many DIYs available on the internet. If you have a flair for creativity (which I believe most of us do have), take some time off and prepare something beautiful for your loved ones. Your loved ones would value your creativity more than the masterpiece they bought at an exhibition.This is one such gift I made for my Best Friend. My first attempt in Paper Quilling. 🙂

    

    Paper Quilled girl. It is full of adjustments 😛

    There are many creative things you can make and you wouldn’t believe how easy they are. Bookmarks, photo collage, simple paper quillings ets are few among them.

12. A Letter – With the advent of emails, internet and social networking sites, the art of letter writing has almost vanished. Buying cards and sending ecards are cool. But writing what you feel about them with a pen on a paper in your handwriting, THAT is priceless! Take a letter pad or an inland letter and write about how special they are and what you feel about them. Get hold of their address and post it. I wish you could see the smile on their face when they get hold of your letter. It would be a perfect gift & a perfect wish. 🙂
13. A Book of Wishes – You can gift a book of wishes to someone close. It would be the compilation of wishes from all their loved ones. Let me assure you, it is not an easy task. Many people would hesitate to write. But five wishes could make a book too. Trust me! If a letter in point 11 could give them so much of joy, imagine the joy on receiving a book of letters! 🙂

If I were you, I’d plan in advance for upcoming birthdays. But since I am myself, that is what I do. 😛 I get super-excited a month before birthdays and make all the arrangements. Things don’t go exactly as planned. For instance, we bought sky lanterns for Mom’s birthday and it became the King of flops. 😛 All the same, mom looked flabbergasted after every surprise. The purpose was served and so, I really don’t mind. Hope this list helps you. Please let me know if there are more inexpensive gifting ideas. I exhausted this list last year. I desperately need something new. 😉 And while you’re at it, ensure that only I know the plans & not my family ok? Shhhh… 😀

I Can’t Keep Calm Because It Was My Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to meeee…
Happy Birthday to meeee…
Happy Birthday to meee meee…
Happy Birthday to meee 🙂

It all began with the wishes at midnight. After which I finally slept, though with difficulty. There were so many thoughts passing through my mind – my previous birthdays, the surprises I got, how the next day will be, how sweet of my friends to wait until 12 AM and call etc. And the most prime thought was, ‘Yayy! It’s my Birthdayy!’ 😛

When I woke up, mom wished me with a cup of coffee, followed by the others. My baby sister gifted me a pair of earrings. And guess what!? It was made by her friend. 2 months back she gave the order, chose a color combo I would like and arranged it. Isn’t that sweet? Oh, I loved it! 😀

Here are the snaps 🙂

Dad gave me some cash & asked me to buy whatever I wanted.

My Anne Cherian Thomas 😉 did call me as usual. Yes, she is my bestie. No, there aren’t any midnight calls during birthdays between us. It was there during the initial years of our friendship. But later, it was alright without them.

Later I went to a Shiva temple nearby. Mr. Shiva looked majestic. The face made of Gold just emblazoned the Shiv-linga. It shone all the more bright and austere with all the lamps. I stood there drinking in the beauty, spoke to Mr. Shiva for a while & got back home.

Now comes the dull part of the day. Firstly, I felt sleepy because I slept late and got up early, on top of that, I had my Financial Reporting questions spread before me. For the next few hours I scratched my head, stared at the walls & doodled on my book wondering why on earth those stupid companies had to amalgamate. :O Even if they had to, why couldn’t they just add all the items in both the companies’ Balance Sheet together and form another company? Why complicate life? :O

Sorry dear non-commercialites. I got a bit carried off there. But still, I don’t get it. Why?

Then came the lunch time. My chweet Ammamma (Grandmother) had prepared many dishes to celebrate this angel’s day *blush*. She made rice, parippu, sambhar, potato curry, pachadi and pappadam. To start with something sweet, she put some sugar in my mouth. And then I had that sumptuous feast. But she was upset because she couldn’t make payasam. 😦
I know, right? She is so adorable you have no idea. The entire day went by with her telling how upset she was about the payasam not being there. *Choo cute!!!*

Courtesy: Google Images

 

Meanwhile, more calls, more texts, more whatsapp messages and facebook posts poured in. Oh! And I couldn’t attend few calls because of this & that. Sorry folks! I felt bad when I saw your missed calls. But the wishes have been accepted. Thank you. 🙂

Evening came & I had my music class. The rains, the cold & my birthday were all screaming at me not to go. But I pulled my raincoat over, rode my lavy, crossed all the puddles and went for the class. I was back by 8PM and after some loitering around, settled to study when the door bell rang.

I opened the door. But no one was to be seen. I took a step forward and people just sprang at me from both sides ‘Happy Birthdayyyyy!!!’. I first jumped, then stood there open-mouthed & gaping when my sister came with an all knowing smile.

Ashwin, Godwin & Blissen came in, unpacked the cake and placed it on the table. It took me some time to register what was happening. Slowly I came to my senses while they gifted me a bottle of wine. This was followed by a Bournville sent by another friend Varna. Both have a backstory.

The wine: I had mentioned a month back that I badly wanted wine. Earlier, we used to have it for Christmas. But it has been quiet sometime since I had. So a craving had begun for the same. I said it, forgot about it & here it was; my birthday gift. 🙂

The wine 🙂

Bournville: I love Chocolates. Like crazy! Most of my friends know that. My favorites are Dairy milk fruit & Nut and Bournville (Also any other dark chocolate). Just before I left office, many of my friends either lost a bet with me, or they had to give me a treat. Every time, I insisted on a Bournville. So, sure enough she knows I like dark chocolates.

After the gifts session, as usual, pulling each others’ legs went on. Should I mention that I was the scapegoat most of the time? I’ll skip that part 😛
Apparently, those guys were really hungry and there was nothing at home to eat. I made some delicious tea (Oh yes! They said they liked it.) and tried to keep them entertained. Soon, all sang the birthday song & clicked some snaps while I cut my cake. I hurriedly gave them some cake to appease their hunger a bit.

My Birthday Cake 🙂

Meanwhile Amma swished her wand, converted the lunch’s potato curry into masala (Guess they didn’t know that). You should have seen those faces when I announced they will be having Masala Dosa. I swear I saw someone punch the air & say a triumphant ‘Yes!’ 😀 They relished the food while repeatedly saying that the sambhar was awesome & the Dosa was superb.

From somewhere my sister appeared and smeared some icing on my face. And I was like :O.

After a few more sessions of pulling legs (mine!) and some laughters and chit-chats, they left.

When I checked my phone, I had a voice message waiting. My friend Sharu and her parents (Yes, her parents :D) sang the birthday song for me and wished me!!! 😀 Isn’t that lovely?

That was one of my special days folks. Whether it is typing that message, ringing me up and telling me how much I mean to you, appearing out of the blue and ringing the doorbell, recording a birthday wish with the entire family, singing the birthday song while handing me the coffee, ringing me up at 11.30 PM with an intention to talk until 12 AM and be the first one to wish me, cooking my favorite dishes or getting a custom-made gift for me. Love you all for this love. 🙂 :*

 

Once again, Happy Birthday to me. 😛 Love myself too for this love! 😀

PS: Next time you’re planning to come home unannounced, let me warn you in advance. All the snack items here, finish in a jiffy. So ensure that you’re sufficiently loaded. 😛

Twist in an old tale

2 years back I had written a post about my childhood friend. For those who haven’t read it, here it is. Nameless-friendship-a-golden-shade

I had accepted the fact that I may not see him again. I wasn’t bent upon finding him either. Because I believe certain relationships are beautiful when they are incomplete. Let me tell you why.

I had a friend whom I met during one of my summer vacations. Settled in Noida, he had come down to Cochin to visit his relatives. We became really good friends.Promising to keep in touch whenever possible, he left to Noida & I left to Bangalore to continue my studies. We neither had cell phones, nor Facebook then. So there was no way to keep in touch. After around 8 years, I found him on Facebook. But that friendship didn’t go well because we had changed. Our wavelengths could never match.  Slowly & steadily, the friendship came to an end. The sweet and happy memories we had 8 years back was charred by the new face it bore.

Strange, isn’t it? It was like a beautiful flower that I had seen 3 days back. Now when I see it, it has become dry & withered.  And there is nothing I can do about it. I would have been better off with the memories of the fresh, beautiful flower & its fragrance. That day I learnt a lesson about chasing the past. If what ended was beautiful, be glad that you have beautiful memories of the past. Don’t chase it, for it must have ended for a reason.

Few months back, my mom rang me up, ‘I have a happy news for you. I met Nandu’s father. Suddenly he had come to my office for some reason. Nandu has completed his studies. I’ll tell you more when I get back’

I was over-whelmed. I was confused, shocked, awed & what not!  But most of all I was tensed because I had my exams that day. So I put Nandu to the back of my head & continued my studies. I decided as soon as my exams got over, I’d call him. Once my exams got over, I further postponed the call to another week and then another & many more weeks passed thus. I feared that the beauty of those lovely days would fade, that they’ll be charred if our friendship couldn’t click like before.

3 months later, suddenly I got up & began searching for his number. I wanted to know his name first. I dialled the number into my true caller app & hit search. The name was shown & first time in 16 years I got to know his real name. Then my mom told me to ring him up & so against all odds, I did. His phone rang & rang & after what felt like an eternity, he picked up,

Hello

Hello! Nandu?

Yes?

Er… do you recognise me? (I know that was super weird! But how else do I start?)

Umm… can you talk some more?

It’s been really long since we have met

How long?

Probably 10-15 years

15 years? (There was surprise) Are you family?

A friend

From Eroor or Edapally?

Neither

School friend?

Nop

College friend?

Nop. You had gone outside Kerala right?

Yup

Where were you before that?

Edapally

Ok. Where were you when you were 6 years old?

Kalamassery

Where in kalamassery?

He thought for a while & both of us said together  ‘Soorya nagar’

Oh I got it now. I remember you.

No you don’t.

Yes I do

So what is my name?

Name… Name… eh… I can’t remember. What is your name?

I won’t tell you. Find out yourself.

Um… please please tell me

Nop! You have got to find it.

Ok I will.

We spoke for some more time & then he promised to call back that day after he got my name. Sure enough soon he called up,

‘Ranjini!?’

‘Yes?’

Apparently his mother had told him my name. We spoke for some more time & hung up.
That evening I sent him the link of the post I had written about him. He was over whelmed. He was very much touched & he kept telling me that. 

It was like watching a short film. You had reminded me my childhood days.

I’m glad you liked it

Liked it? I loved it!! It brought tears to my eyes.
I’m sorry. Forgive me for not remembering your name.
Thank you. I’ll never forget you again.

In another week’s time, we met. He gifted me a card & said, ‘This is a gift for that post you wrote. I read it & I was shocked. This is also for remembering name. Thanks a lot for that.

I went home & opened the card. It was a really beautiful one. Certain cards bring a smile to your face. This one was such a greeting. On a yellow background, glittering pink flowers were painted. In front it said, ‘Thank you, for your wonderful gift of friendship’. Inside it read, ‘it means the world to me’. It was signed NANDU.

 

I texted him saying I loved the card. He said ‘It is nothing compared to what you wrote.’

I have heard the saying, The earth is round. That day when my mother called me up saying she met Nandu’s father, I learnt the depth of the quote. The probability of meeting my childhood friend – who had left to Chandigarh, whose name I didn’t know – was what? One in a million? Yet, we met!

There is another quote that says, friends are those people whom even if you meet after years, you can resume the conversations from where you left. We did have awkward silences & searching moments when we were out of topic. Yet our friendship didn’t feel awkward. We were just too good friends catching up after a bit too long .

I signed off my previous post saying ‘This is neither a fairy tale nor a movie story & so it doesn’t have a happy ending yet.’ But now all I have to say is, picture abhi baaki hai mere dost! 😀 🙂

Heaven is here – find yours.

Heaven is the familiar sweet smell of your mother
when you lie on her lap
and she hugs you.

♥♥♥

Heaven is when your stomach grumbles,
your grand-mom conjures up her handmade food
without your asking for it. 🙂

Your grumbling tummy automatically texts her. 😀

♥♥♥

Heaven is when you successfully fight back your tears,
your sister comes, takes one look at you & says,
‘You were crying, weren’t you?’

♥♥♥

Heaven is when a  friend says,
‘Don’t switch off your phone the day results’re out.
You will be one of the first persons I’d want to tell’ 🙂

 

Or when you cut all contacts & feel lonely
 a close friend texts you, ‘Where are you?’
You say ‘I’m home.’ & she says, ‘Just asking. ‘

♥♥♥

              

 

Image courtesy: inspirationaldaily.wordpress.com