LIFE AND IT’S STRANGE WAYS

This is the story of a dear friend. I met her in my college days. Sorry, I can’t reveal her name for obvious reasons.

A boy proposed her when she was in school, in eighth grade. She refused, as they were just kids, moreover love marriages were a taboo in her orthodox family. But the boy was persistent. He did all the filmy things to win her, even gave her love letter written with blood. Yeah, that’s crazy, I know. It became impossible for a sweet little innocent girl to not fall for a smart, intelligent boy who wouldn’t stop trying. So, one day, still confused, she accepted his proposal. Well, accepted is not even the right word. She half accepted it.

She said they were too young and must wait till they reach a marriageable age. Then they can discuss it with their respective families, but till then they will be just friends. Sort of #halfgirlfriend thing. Though, at that time, there existed no such word. Time passed and their bonding grew, but being a part of an orthodox family the girl could somehow never convince herself for love marriage. In those times using a word like boyfriend in front of parents was no less dropping a grenade on them. After about 8 years of their friendship, she wrote a letter that was so long it could compete with a novella. She wrote it over days, capturing her tangled emotions in pages over pages, asking for a break up. Long back a love letter written with blood united them and years later a letter burdened under the weight of a responsible daughter departed them. He broke up. Though she had asked for it, but still him accepting the break up broke her and she used to cry for hours. I still remember once we were travelling in bus and the song played in the background “dil deta hai ro ro duhai kisi se koi pyaar na kare” (heart is in pain and pleads not to fall in love). she cried for hours listening to that song. Till date, whenever I hear that song her face clouds my memory.

Soon she shifted to another city because of her father’s job transfer. We couldn’t talk much after that since there were no mobiles and internet wasn’t easily available. After a few years, she invited me to her marriage. I couldn’t gather the courage to ask if she was happy or if she still missed her old friend. I congratulated her and wondered if her old friend knew this or not? And if yes, how he must feel? I think a lot, even about people I have never met. May be that’s the reason I get the answers, sometimes even years later.

Years passed, and I joined a firm where I met a man whose name was same as that of the boy I am talking about. Thoughts of my friend cluttered my mind as I was being introduced to him. As soon as I was back to my cabin I checked his file. (A benefit of being in HR Dept. You can access all employee files.)

I checked his resume.

Same surname

Same school
Same year of passing
Married

And the file fell from my hand. It was odd, because my friend was married and it was wrong to expect he was still unmarried. A thousand thoughts cluttered my mind and the most prominent one was does he still remember her? Well, again the answer awaited me.

Our office was on outskirts of the city and one day I missed my office bus, so the same colleague offered me lift. I had no choice but to take the offer of the gentleman. When he started talking I was surprised for I never knew he was so talkative. He talked about his wife and kids.

And then…

He spoke about school. He said “I had such wonderful friends in school. One was so special”

And there was a sudden pause as he was lost in some other world. I got my answer.

Life has its strange ways. They both are at happy places, faithful to their respective partners, somewhere still preserving the precious moments lost in time. I was a witness to a beautiful story that unfolded bit by bit and I got all my answers. Answers that told me separation is not always a sad ending. Love is not only about marriage. It is about a bond that connects two people beyond time and place.

I was inspired to write this post after watching trailer of the upcoming Hindi romantic film Half Girlfriend. It is based on the novel of the bestselling author “Chetan Bhagat” and has a fabulous star cast of Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor.

The trailer successfully captures the confused mind of today’s youth. Friend or girlfriend? Sometimes people are unsure what they want. Their priorities waver between society and love, ambitions and relationships. And a havoc is created when one is sure and the other is not, what exactly happens here. Our smart but non-English speaking Madhav falls in love with the sexy and suave Riya, who is unsure of her relationship with Madhav. And hence starts the roller coaster of emotional ride that pulls you to the extremes of joy and then drags you to the depths of pain. The passion in the eyes of the hero is what I liked the most. The surety, the commitment, dipped in a wave of pain – it always attracts me and so it did this time. The movie looks promising and I will join their roller coaster ride as soon as it hits the theatre on 19th May. What about you?

“I am sharing a Half relationship story at BlogAdda in association with #HalfGirlfriend”

Living Life #MoreIndianThanYouThink

“Censor board” is what my dear friends nicknamed me in college. Their reason was valid, no curse words or dirty jokes were allowed in my presence. Well, they were considerate, else they would have called me behenji (a girl whose conservatism borders on being orthodox). I laugh at that now. Though my thoughts have undergone major metamorphism over the years, but at the core, I have changed little. Temples still attract me more than pubs. Family is priority over everything, including my career. At parties, mine is the only glass filled with soft drink clinking between dozen wine glasses, and sadly it annoys a few friends. Sometimes, I am the only one crying at an emotional scene in a movie.

I thought I was one of the endangered species on the verge of extinction. So, before my nightmare could come alive I wrote my debut novel “45 days in a cancer hospital”. The protagonist is a simple girl who is shy, smart, sensitive, resourceful, helpful and humble; in short, she is Indian. She is an author who stays in a cancer hospital to write real life stories of cancer patients, but is intrigued by the mysterious death of patients. Going out of the way she solves the mystery of prematurely dying patients. There is also a love story interwoven (sorry, no cheesy scenes). The book got longlisted for Crosswords Books Award 2013. It was a proud moment for me since my debut novel was longlisted for such a prestigious award.

I was overjoyed as people still love stories revolving around Indian values. I don’t belong to endangered species as there are many people #MoreIndianThanYouThink around the globe. Sharing and representing Indian traditions, stands with me and every Indian, Lufthansa, a German airline that is #MoreIndianThanYouThink. Right from the moment you enter the flight an Indian aura surrounds you. A sweet voice welcomes you with a “Namaste”. Indian flight attendants with well-versed Hindi will be there to assist you throughout the journey.

Garam chai awaits you once you get seated. Yeah, seriously! The drink without which our day remains incomplete and the lack of which can even cause us headache. Fresh aromatic Indian food will make you feel at home.

After a refreshing hot meal, you can indulge in Bollywood blockbusters, Indian radio channels and Hindi newspapers.

And finally, when your destination arrives you can only wish the journey lasted a little longer.

Can’t believe? Watch the below video where the coach instructs his cricket team to act like Indians, to win over them; think, relax, eat, walk, and even dance like Indians. So, when they fly, they fly like Indians, in Lufthansa airlines, and of course, they enjoy it.

I am sure, now you are intrigued to know more about Lufthansa airlines. You can visit http://bit.ly/2oQTj8q to learn more about them.