The decade that was

As a decade is coming to an end, I'm thinking of everything that went on. From being a naive school girl to a grown up woman handling a household, this has been the most eventful decade. And probably it will remain so.

I loved growing up with each experience and have no regrets whatsoever. It's crazy how we mugged up for board exams, thought of every possible option for graduation and ended up doing the mundane, spent college life sitting in the cafeteria laughing our hearts out, participated in the rat race by taking the ubiquitous CAT, ended up in a regular MBA college and enjoyed every bit of our education years.

Friends were the most important part of this decade. These were the real gems whom we could cherish for a lifetime. I'm glad I made the right choices. Today, in sunshine or in rain, I can turn to them anytime and never be disappointed. Sadly, some friendships couldn't last, but the ones that did, have stood the test of time.

This was a decade full of love and I didn't spend even a moment without it! There was a time I was broken till the limit of being depressed and disheartened for days, but God had a different plan. Thankfully, he always sent angels down my way. And we found each other in the most amusing way there could be.

Talking of angels, I've thanked God for them each day. There are several hardships I go through every so often. Most of the times it doesn't look as bad as it really is. And somehow from somewhere emerges this one person who helps me. I never thank them enough for I feel embarrassed to be helped, but I do bless them from the core of my heart. As the decade ends, I think of these family members, my closest friends and a lot of total strangers. I don't know how I could have done without you.

I'm people centric. For me goals, money, materialistic comfort, traveling.. all this isn't as important as the people around me. Sometimes I feel it's not the right approach to life but then emotions take the top priority. And the rest doesn't seem to matter.

Among all the other things that happened, some work and a lot of play, easy paths and the roads taken, hardships, struggle and a sense of achievement, I dedicate this decade to all the wonderful people with whom i lived it. You have made me who I am today, and really, I think I'm pretty good :).. God bless you all!

One world - one nation

I saw 'Paa' with a Pakistani friend. Incidentally in the morning we were discussing about our religions and how we were similar in most ways than not. The first scene in the movie showcased how Auro won the first prize when he depicted the globe as one entire nation without any boundaries.

I come from a country where we learned to live comfortably with different kinds of people from the very beginning. We went to a Christian school, had a Hindu teacher, made friends without even knowing the caste/culture/religion, celebrated eid, christmas, diwali and gurupurab with equal fervor and the works. As we grew up, we saw friends falling in love with the person and not the religion. Some are married now, some bowed down before the society.

Today I'm living in a country where we have people from almost every corner of the world. As always, the host nation is quite unfriendly to the vast majority of immigrants from the subcontinent. I don't blame them considering what was said about people who migrated from UP and Bihar to Mumbai. If tolerance is so weak within a nation, its unfair to expect anything from across borders. But I've noticed a silver lining in this whole Us v/s Them drama. The victims unite disregarding their nationality. So, between us, there is no India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Most of us like each other's company and are fascinated by the similarities between us. Language creates a wonderful bond and we find solace in knowing how we enjoy and dislike the same things. My Pakistani friend told me a lot of things about Islam and I shared my knowledge with her. And we both drew the obvious conclusion that its the extremists who plant seeds of hatred in us.

The idea of One-world, one-nation is possible only when we are not rigid in our minds.Considering the big divide between North Indians and South Indians within and outside the country, the one-nation theory sounds highly unrealistic. It can be the subject matter of great speeches and outstanding movies, but in practice it is hard to imagine.

Lets forget the technical problems that can arise, can you imagine us tolerating and accepting each other like we really are and removing all the barriers?

End of First's?

I celebrated my first wedding anniversary yesterday. It was a rocking first year of being married to my love of 5 years. Between all the smiles and tears, there was a feeling of satisfaction. It feels great to have someone by your side, someone to care for, someone to look upto, someone to love... strange how I can't imagine my life without him.

There were times in this year when I thought it was so much better when we were living our own lives and met each other in a few weeks. Then there were times when I thought how was I living away from him for 26 years of my life! But no matter what thought I had, I thanked God each day for sending an angel my way :)

When I look around and see guys around me, I feel I have the best deal! Yet there are times when it seems some things could improve. And then I argue with myself, what was life if it was perfect! And, well, are we ever satisfied?

I don't want to get into details as to how we celebrated our anniversary. Lets just say we did a lot of first's! As expected I didn't get any gift. I saved a whole lot of money to give one and was veryyyyyy happy with the response and the pampering I got. Of'course I wrote a poem to mark the occasion. It's depressing to think that the first has ended. I'm looking forward to the second's and I'm sure they will be better than ever before :)

If poetry could do it, I would grab our year in beautiful verses
If words could do it, I would fill pages with our experiences
No essays, no letters, no blog posts can express my feelings too
Just look into my eyes and you’ll know how much I love you!

If sky was the limit, my happiness would touch it
If fun was the criterion, it would surpass all measurement
No scales, no tests, just nothing can say I’m among the lucky few
Just look at my smile and you’ll know how glad I am to be with you!