Memories well preserved :)

Its surprising how the various elements of nature trigger our emotions and take us towards the long lost memories of the times that have passed.
Whenever the morning sun peeps through my window and the birds can be heared singing their chirpy song, it takes me back to the time when as a little kid I was picked up from my bed and couriered to my grandmoms' place, while my mom made her way to her work place.The smell of the crisp morning took away the sleep that lingered on and lighted up my eyes as staying at grandmas place has always been an appealing invitation for me.
The morning sun light also takes me back to the time when grandma sat on the white cane chair in the huge courtyard, and kept the old tin of coconut oil to melt in the sunny winter morning....I could just spend hours sitting next to her playing with my toys while, my grandfather (nana), sat right across in the same courtyard reading the morning paper or reciting the holy Scriptures.....the two blessed souls sure had a way of giving a beautiful feel to the whole environment.One could also see my uncle going in and out of the kitchen preparing his favourite drink, a fresh cup of tea. My grandma used to tell him..."too much of tea is not good for you,"my uncle with his usual innocent smile had the same old reply every time, "this is my last cup aapa(that's what he called his mom), the last one for sure...but everyone knew that this indeed wasn't the case.
The morning sun rested on the terrace and stretched across the courtyard....it gave us warmth till late in the afternoon, as everyone in the house turned into their rooms for an afternoon nap after having the sumptuous lunch that one ate to the hearts content.The afternoon sun blazed away and sharpened its rays as if to warn all the kids in the house to stay indoors, grandma too kept an eye on us since she was scared that we might fall sick in the afternoon heat, but as soon as her eye lids were heavy with sleep, I sneaked out carefully without waking her up.
So yes the sun, the wind, the colour of gulmohar,the shade of the zizyphus, the night sky full of stars, the moon, the early mornings, everything takes me back to the most cherished memories of my life...
When I grew up things changed and people left, but whenever the sun peeps through my window or a dove sings its lively song, I go back to the times when as a little girl, my grandparents were my world.

A Soft Embrace For Life

Today as I reached the yoga centre, my car came to a halt as I saw an ambulance parked inside the gate . I froze for sometime..it's not that I haven't seen an ambulance before, it's just that the very sight of it, with its rear door ajar, wasn't a pleasant sight at all. For sometime I just sat inside the car, without making an attempt to go inside..when I saw a lady from my class entering the gates and looking equally surprised, I gathered the strength and followed her in. A stretcher was lying in the portico and the door to the house on ground floor was open...When I reached my class, on the first floor, I got to know that it was an ailing old lady who was being taken to the hospital.
I don't know why but ambulance, hospitals, stretchers...all these things just leave me a little numb..Maybe it's after nana passed away in the hospital, that I started reacting this way...can't say..Nana used to say, all of us have to die one day, there's nothing to fear, it's just that our deeds should be such that we won't have second thoughts in entering God's abode...the judgement day would be easy for us.
Our deeds make our stay and our end both quite easy and joyful....as good deeds give us a happy life and an end, after which one is remembered and blessed by people. If we're rude to people, no one would like to talk about us and we'd become history very soon, facing the deterioration brought by a stale life and unknown death sans love..sans happiness!
We've come to this world, not just to live , but to set good examples for others to follow...If we lead a good life, even death would take us comfortably in it's arms, placing us on the heavens above.
Live a life that would be remembered after you, love humanity, pray to God, be kind to those in need...Good deeds don't demand much ... they just require a soft embrace to lighten up your life forever!
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Dear Friends,
I'd be a little busy for sometime so wont be able to post anything new! Would be back soon with precious memories and loads of stories!
Till then, take care, build beautiful yaadein and preserve them forever :)

A push towards a better tomorrow!

All of us love swings, as kids when we conquered one, each push aimed towards greater heights!
Every time our heart longed to touch the sky and we tried hard to do so....

Sitting on a swing, a good push makes our feet point towards the sky, it feels as if we have achieved what we longed for...even if it's just the idea that keeps us kicked, we do feel good for sure. Be it a little village boy, or an urban kid, once the swing goes higher both of them share a similar feeling of joy!!

Our efforts are an important factor in our life, they help us reach greater heights.
Nana ones told me, we never know what life has in store for us, it's the best preserved secret that is beyond our imagination, but we can create a positive influence on our future which would help us gain confidence and would strengthen our hope...our efforts do the needful in this regard...our efforts are the only key that make the inevitable future a lot more stable, coz whatever happens, whichever course life may take...sincere efforts never go wasted..
Just like a swing...when we try to swing towards the sky, we try to go higher each time...we might not reach the sky but our efforts do give us a lot of pleasure in the process.

Wherever you are..whatever work you do...put in your sincere effort...your work would speak for itself!

Dignity of Labour

The guest was about to arrive..one of grandpa's close friends....every thing was in order, right from the delicious food that was making every ones mouth water with it's unique aroma...yeh..unique is the word...though grandma was an excellent cook, it was always something special for the guests!!
Irshad's hotel, another trade mark in my list of memories, was an important part of the occasion as well, since a huge container of wheat dough was sent to him to be converted into piping hot naans (bread)....right out of the tandoor (a clay oven)....it was a treat to watch the naan, going into the tandoor and coming out well cushioned and full of tender aroma that reached every corner of the muhallah (neighbourhood).
All the kids in the house were super excited. Nana as usual was in his calm and composed state, going about his daily routine as was well expected from him....
Everything was in order.... when all of a sudden the phone rang....it was the guest on the other side of the line....my uncle took on the job to explain the route to him.."ya, you take a right and then a left..no no not there, yes exactly...do one thing, just call me up when you reach the main road, I'll send a servant to help you reach here..."
That was it!!!Nana peeped out of his room...."whose servant are you talking about?"
Uncle got a little unnerved, but he poured out an answer carefully..."our servants bhaijaan" (all his children use to call him bhaijaan, which actually means an elder brother, but since they had taken to addressing him that way...the word remained the same..feelings counted as they usually do)
No one is a servant in this house!!!!!Nana shouted out.....they are not your slaves!!! They are here to help us with the work we find difficult to do...address them by their name! Just because they are doing a job which you do not consider up to your standards, doesn't give you the right to degrade the person doing it! Don't you believe in dignity of labour!
Uncle was a bit embarrassed but got the message instantly.....so did I.

People call their helpers, Ayah, Bua..servant e.t.c...they too have a name and should be addressed with it...it makes them feel happy and gives them a sense of identity.
No one likes to wash someone else's dirty clothes or utensils, but life has a different story for each one of us...it's just that we should be respectful towards the less privileged, they deserve it...after all as nana put it...."they do what we find difficult to do."

Nana ki Patang...

Kites have a lot to do with the way our mind works, be it our dreams or imagination. Our imagination tries to soar high, just like kites, but when reality hits hard, they come flying down. Like a Kite goes through multiple owners, in the same way many people share the same dreams , for some they become reality , cutting and reaching above the rest and for others just a short play. Therefore flying kites can contribute towards the over all development of a child. I was unaware of the said fact, till one day, I overheard my nana talking to nani..
We loved to fly kites, my cousin controlling the kite while I was given the duty to hold the manjha..the roles were interchanged for sure!!
Nana(Grandpa): Don't worry about the kids, let them be, what's the harm in flying kites??
Nani(grandma): Don't you see...both the kids go to the terrace and are totally lost in the play, what if they slip and fall...they are so engrossed....
Nana: All of us are engrossed in achieving our goals, those who aren't have never made an attempt to achieve anything..they are happy with being stagnant and I don't want my grandchildren to be like them.
Look at them, they want their kite to fly high, higher than they expect it to go, higher than their dreams and one day when they'd take the kites of their life in their hands, they'll never get tired of trying and achieving the best...I can see two happy souls in the making.
The conversation ended, no one could argue with nana, he was indeed a born winner.
As the wind got high on its spirits, our kite began to give up.....Oh no! what now, It'll get cut and someone else will take it, my cousin cried out.
Nana: It surely will if you give up my boy!
Cousin: But what can I do, I can't control the wind dada!
Nana: The least that you can do is to keep trying....try harder!
"Try Harder", two words and a life long package of strength...
Whenever I am on a verge of giving up, nana's words resound within and I get a grip on the kite of my life....If nothing else the least I do is to try....try harder!

The Princess and Her Moon!

Once there was a little princess, who was a happy soul, as her father catered to every need that her heart could ever hold. Happy she was as she possessed, the choicest of all the things...beautiful gardens, lovely rivers and creatures that could sing.
While looking outside her window one night, she saw a brand new moon, as thin as it could possibly be and as white as the pearl in her room.
The next morning she called for her father and asked him to fulfill her wish, "get me the moon, oh father dear as this is my only wish!"
The king got worried as he very well knew that it's impossible to get what she wanted, he called all the men from the royal court and asked them to think of something!
Then one wise man got up and went straight to the princesses room, he asked her as to how exactly would she describe her moon.
Oh!My moon is a small little thing as big as the nail in my thumb and it has a curve, a nice little curve, like the one you see in my thumb.
The wise man went to a silversmith and asked him to make a new moon, one as big as the princesses nail with a curve that would make it look cool!The silver smith made him a little moon and hung it in a chain. The princesses happiness knew no bounds as she got her moon that day.
The next night, the king got worried as he saw the moon in the sky, the princess came to him and said, "Look dear father, that's a new one up there!"
The king heaved a sign of relief as he was happy that the problem was solved, the princess got her moon as its replica was safe in the sky! ;)

I read this story as a little kid and since then it has become a special part of my memories. Fairy tales have always been a part of every girls dreams. I remember,what nani told me once, fairy tales are not just a part of our imagination, they are a dream that we can make possible through our endeavours. When we read about a good human getting the best in the end, it holds true for our life as well, if we strive to become a good human being, happiness comes to our door, uninformed, as a surprise that colours our life forever.
Fairy tales are not just a story, they are sugarcoated reality, in fairy tales one can witness instant results while reality is a little slow but who says it doesn't have a happy ending!
The king fulfilled an impossible wish since he was determined to make his daughter happy..if we are determined to make our life a success, our wish would definitely be fulfilled, since then we would work hard to succeed!
Don't ever stop dreaming, life may not be a fairy tale but it can definitely have a happy ending leading to a new beginning :)

Nani Ki Beri : The zizyphus tree in nani's courtyard

There was a huge zizyphus tree in my grandma's' courtyard, we used to call it "beri ka ped"!
It had the tastiest ber (zizyphus) hanging from its branches.
The afternoons were mostly deserted as my grandparents took a short afternoon nap....anything that had to happen...be it playing in the sun, or turning on the water hose and playing with water...all the mischievous plans came into action, as the soft rays of the late afternoon sun, sat on the eyelids of our elders, making them sleep like a log ;)
And it was one such afternoon, when me and my cousin who is a year younger, decided to climb on the beri (the zizyphus tree) and relish the fruits to our hearts content.
A great plan as it seemed, needed a lot of preparation for it to be a success....making it come out well, sans thrashing from the elders.
An iron ladder, which often worked as a train when laid down was the first tool that we used to work out the plan....
Cousin: You climb up first and drop as many fruits as you can then I'd take my turn!
Me: Alright, but hold on to the ladder or I'll slip.
Cousin:Ok (quite unsure about his strength)
I climbed on the ladder with an unbeatable zest and............slipped back with even greater force!!
Both of us were in a shock as the broken ankle and the noise of the dropped ladder were enough to wake everyone up!!!
Nana came running out of his room....
Nana: What happened !!! what was that chaos about!!!
Nani: I heard it coming from the Beri (tree) !
Us: Beri !!!!!!!!!!!
We ran as fast as our legs could carry us and hid next to the pile of coal lying in the backyard!
Well, I think what we learnt that day was the fact that it's very difficult to fool your elders....
Caught red handed, with our clothes smeared in coal, we were taken to the courtyard, where the adult team cornered us from every side possible and we what then looked like the emblem of innocence , tried to wear a long face...as long as it could possibly be!
Nana: Do you like that fruit!!
Me:No nana!
Nana: Then what were you doing up there.....dancing on the tree???
Cousin:Aaaaaa, we were trying to collect some fruits for you....it's your birthday!
Nana: There's an year to go!
Me: But this fruit is seasonal isn't it????
Laughter broke out from the vessels full of anger and we like sprinklers of joy, danced ( I with a slight limp) around relieved but not without punishment....
We had to press grandpa's legs until he fell asleep :(
With Iodex smeared on my ankle and a slight limp, I was a centre of some extra care...much to my cousins dismay, who had to hear the advise against climbing trees..repeatedly..for as long as the topic was hot! But not for long, as we were good at giving a new reason everytime ;)
Memories, the piece of our past that lingers on and flashes on the road towards a new tomorrow...giving us light when we need to find our way through darkness!