A rainy story!!

Rebecca looked around terrified at the prospect of being lost in this strange city. Bombay as she prefers calling Mumbai was a new place to her but she felt that this city had absorbed her in its unique fashion. She was here with a purpose, her sole aim was to do well in her studies. And little did she know that she will have to face unexpected showers, derailment of her usual local trains and further troubles as she awaited the bus that will take her to her destination.

Her only relative in this city, her uncle asked her to come to his office. "Just take a bus and come to lower parel" he had said 10 mins ago when she called him. Her dear friend and companion, Avantika had not come to class today so she was left feeling further confused and helpless. Around her, people were briskly walking, some running to get into whatever bus they could since the trains had stopped working. Nobody paid any attention to her as she looked around to ask someone the bus she could get into. "When alone, in an unknown place never trust strangers", her mother's warning, rang loud and clear in her head. "But, if I don’t do that, I will never reach this place". Her uncle, a distant relative seemed oblivious to her predicament as he rushed off for an important meeting at his work. She did ask a lady and got into a bus, silently thanking Jesus as she found place to sit in the over crowded bus.

As, it passed the by lanes of Mumbai, Rebecca looked around with wonder. It was still pouring, she did not have an umbrella and the place seemed so strange. "Isn’t it the kind of place, a girl could get raped?" she thought and quickly admonished herself for her unintelligent thoughts. The roads were deserted which added to her nervousness.

Suddenly, she realised that the bus was slow. The driver and few other people got down and there was a huge discussion. Though she could follow Hindi, Marathi was still an alien language to her. A little probing revealed that the driver had taken another route as the usual road was clogged with water and now the bus has stopped. “Engine failure beta, we will have to get down here”, a kind woman (and the only one in the bus) told her. Her watch showed 10pm – not late by Bombay standards but definitely a reason to worry if you don’t know where you are and how to reach your destination!

Still praying and thinking of her mother she got down with the crowd. Rebecca stood there for a few minutes wondering which part of the earth was she in at the moment. The lady who spoke to her was now walking ahead with a little girl and an old man. They seem like Muslims, she thought seeing their attire. “Trust your gut instinct, go ask them for help” her heart told her and she obliged. Running towards them, she explained her story to the family and asked them for directions. The man has kind eyes, she noticed. He reminded her of her grandfather. “You should not be out so late in this city beta, come with us. We will take a cab. Do you have the address of the place you want to go?” he asked Rebecca. As she replied in the affirmative, he hailed a cab and all of them got in. “Bombay can be a dangerous city, we will get down here but you don’t worry child. I will note down this taxi no. Give me your cell no too –just in case I want to make sure that you reached safely. And don’t pay the driver, I have taken care of that”. After giving instructions to the driver ,the family who were Rebecca’s angels, got down wishing her a safe journey. She did reach her uncle’s office safely but was surprised when the “kind man” called her to ask her if she has reached. And as she profusely thanked him for his help, he replied “You reminded me of my elder daughter beta, apna khayal rakhna. Khudha aafis!” She never heard from him since that day.

As she wiped the tears from her eyes, this single incident re confirmed her belief in all faiths, in humanity and mankind. Bombay she told herself, is a city with a kind heart...............

Technology & Connectivity: related??!!

I don’t know what to write, er.....I mean type. Thank god for technology. I should send a personalised letter to the person who invented Science, or rather who invented Computers, or maybe just thank Microsoft for Vista- not by letter, by mail. And that is the point!! I really need to thank these genius brains because initially I had to write long stories in a notebook, keep it away from the peering eyes of my brother and also tear some pages if they do not make sense after a few years, which I must admit was a difficult task. And today? Well, thanks B Gates. Now all I need to do is type what I want in my laptop and then save it. Control S is a superb function. And to protect it from unwanted elements, all I need to do is keep a password. So there my baby is all saved and protected and nobody but I, can have access to it. And if I really don’t want to keep it with myself, I just need to click on the Delete button. Life at our fingertips!! Can it get easier than this?

We are so dependent on technology today that it has become very difficult to imagine life without it. How on earth can we survive without emails, gmails, google, blogspot, youtube, Linkedin, Yahoo?? Not to mention our very own networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut. Need I even say anything on all the computer games people are addicted to? On the bright side, we stay connected with our loved ones all thanks to these facilities. But talking about connections, how connected are we with ourselves?? Isn’t there something deep within each one of us, our inner voice with whom we seem to have no connection?? How can we connect with ourselves, when 24 hours seems so little a time to do all that we have always wanted to?

Our days run by like haze, but what is it that we actually do? When was the last time we asked ourselves whether we are truly happy? After all, being busy does not necessarily qualify as being happy and content with our lives. At some level, each one of us are in pursuit of just one thing –happiness (just like the name of the movie). However, isn’t it true that we pursue so many things that we find everything but what we need to!!

I don’t have any brilliant suggestions either, after all I too am a part of this rat-race. A race where you are yet to see the finishing line.........

Now What??!!!

The most dreaded word is heard often at my place these days. Families make a mention of it. Family friends are even more keen to know when will it be? Close friends offer me their peaceful ears and strong shoulders so that I can vent out my frustrations.

It all boils down to the "M" word- Marriage. Not that I am that "old". Though ideally when a girl crosses a particular age, parents do find justifiable reasons to worry. I just feel that am too young for my parents to even think about it. Not that my dad (who considers himself coolest dad on earth) is worried. It is my mom, like all other mothers in general who gets super-paranoid wondering what will happen to her darling daughter!! Long conversations with a lot of my girl friends have proven the fact that it is the same story in almost all houses!! In any case, I am glad I have company.Added complications is the fact that I do not have any elder sisters to be married off so am free, in every sense to just go, find myself a man worth sharing the rest of my precious life with. Which brings me the important question- How do I choose a guy??

Well, the scenario is that there are many girls who have made “right choices” leaving the less fortunate ones like me dwindling our thumbs. The only other option is go the good-girl way!!Make full use of the fact that Indians follow a tradition of arranged marriages. Not that I can vouch for any of these marriages. Personal observations have guided me to believe that neither arranged nor does a love marriage necessarily end up with a happy-together. It is just that nothing in life is constant, people change and so does various situations and our reactions to it. So, choosing your life partner is by no means an easy task. Besides, marriages are a gamble- you will be lucky if yours is a successful one. Play by luck is the mantra followed. Age old characters such as Sita, Damayanti had it easier. All they had to do was garland any man who could prove himself capable!!

As I type this, I am wondering the significance of matching the horoscopes and “stars”. I come from an aristocratic, god-fearing family. But the purpose of matching the horoscope is a lost cause for me. I mean, how can you determine how compatible are you with someone purely based on the time your mother choose to go into labour and bring you to the world? It is a topic, I am still researching on. Meanwhile my parents can do their research. And I choose to go to my world and complete my education :)

Life @ its BEST!!

I have never in my life felt so well loved, my day passed by so quickly that I did not want it to end........ After all this wasn’t an end for me, just a new beginning. A beginning that I was awaiting for quite some time now. But some things come to you when you least expect it. And that’s exactly what happened with me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that during my 2 yr stint with MBA- I will work for an NGO and that too full time for 15 days. An icing to the cake was that I was working with children. What more could I have asked for!! All good things in life come in small packages and these tiny tots are a testimony to this statement. I have wanted to work with children since a long time now.....to be precise since the day I visited an orphanage with my mother and her few friends.

It was somewhere in Andheri. I was in my junior college then. Children are so beautiful and captivating.......their innocence shines through in every action. I specifically remember the warm Sunday afternoon I visited this place. There were so many children there. They looked so happy and content that they spread this positive aura all around them. The orphanage was run by nuns. They took us to a room where there were only toddlers. A small baby girl, dusky complexion, beautiful, bright wide innocent eyes captured my attention. I kept staring at her crib and she smiled at me. There was this moment of mutual happiness which passed between us. My heart went upto her. She waved her tiny hands at me, indicating that I carry her. I did not. Even today this is one thing I haven’t forgiven myself for. I do not know why I did that. I wanted to take her home, raise her, play with her, teach her and bring her up as if she was my own- but I did none of these things. My heart melted, but my hands froze and all I could do in that moment of total helplessness was stare at her lovely face. Maybe I was afraid that I would not be able to put her back if I carried her in my arms.She was very attractive for a baby, would have grown up to be a attractive young woman some day. Her eyes even today haunt me. This was a few years back, I often wonder whether she goes to school, who her friends are, is she happy, has someone adopted her - just random thoughts.........

And so when after all these years, an opportunity came knocking for a social cause I believed in, I was more than thrilled. Dreamz home works for street children. The children were such an enthusiastic, high energy kids. Within half a day my group members and me were panting!! The kids, all 44 of them were all over us- hugging, cuddling, asking us to tell them stories, read out books to them, teach them dance and songs. Name it- and we have done that. There are a lot of things we learnt from these children. They are so innocent, their thoughts so vibrant, their souls so pure, their smiles so captivating. Words fail me today as I type this. Every action of theirs is enduring. Like they would not begin eating their food, till every child has got his lunch and after which they say a prayer - all 44 of them with joined hands and closed eyes. Even when there was a party, where there were lovely goodies to eat the kids were more concerned if my team members and me had eaten!! I don’t think I will see such lovely angels. These are one of a kind. The kind that knows that what hunger is- that’s precisely why they happily offer their food to everyone and then eat. The kind that has faced rejection- the reason why they crave for so much attention.

They would be in an age group between 3-15 years. We as grown up matured adults crave for attention and love. All of us want to be loved. Somewhere, deep within us, we are children afterall!!. Fate can be cruel sometimes, I see no other explanation when I spend time with my little angels. Angels of love, of hope, of promise. They reassure me that this world is not that bad as it seems. :)