Quote Challenge- Day 3 of 3

I often visit this particular children's home and I see that many people sponsor the meal on special occasions, like their children's birthday's or their wedding anniversaries, or in memory of their parents. All you have to do is write out a cheque and specify your choice of day. Very noble you may say, but is that really enough? The staff usually ask the donors if they would like to mingle with the kids, and it shocks me that most people say 'no', they think they have done enough by just donating money. They cannot bear to move around the corridors with the kids or bother serve them food! 

But I feel that the kids here need love more than they need food on their plates. The first time I went here, I told the kids a story, and since then they have known me as the "story akka". Whenever I visit, they insist that I tell them a story. Nowadays, I insist that they tell ME a story! We have quiz sessions, like the one in the picture on the left. There are some really bright sparks who know all the answers! There's one tiny five-year-old, who insists on singing to me whenever I visit! And she learns a new song every time just for me! 

This picture on the right was taken during one such lunch hour, by the parents of the little girl who walks with me. The little girl shared her birthday with me, and her parents who had come to donate, asked me if I could take her with me and talk to the kids. She shook hands with the kids as I told her the names and the kids looked thrilled. I wish more people would realise that just donating is not enough. Of course, money can buy a lot of things for these kids, but they also need love, and the hunger love for that is much more.


         
This inspires my quote for the last day of the challenge.

 "The Hunger for love is much more difficult to remove...
          than the hunger for bread"

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Thank you Parul, for nominating me, so that I could share these quotes through my blog. I am not nominating anyone today, but if any of my readers want to take it up, please do, and let me know you are doing it!

Here are the rules- (but feel free to break them!)

This is what the 3-Day Quote Challenge is all about.

1. Post one of your favorite quotes (different quote on each day) on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own.
2. Nominate 3 bloggers to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Quote Challenge- Day 2 of 3

Today's quote is dedicated to my crazy gang of friends! We are together for the past 15 years, and the gang of six expanded to 12 after everyone got married, and then to 18 after everyone had their first child and eventually with the second kid, we are now a gang of 24!! And here's the quote-

                                             "Good friends don't let you do stupid things... Alone!!" 

That skull sitting on top our friend's head belongs to a bison, and guess what we did when we found it?  Yea! Exactly what is visible in the picture!! That's how crazy my gang is! This picture is about 15 years old!

This was supposed to be a new year groupfie...but that perfect shot kept eluding us... hundreds of shots later, and in the melee to keep clicking we almost missed the strike of midnight!! 






Fast forward 15 years, spouses and kids later, the gang is now 24 member strong, but the craziness continues! This picture was taken at 12 midnight...in the middle of the road...letting the street lamp illuminate our faces!!

On Day Two I nominate these three awesome bloggers- Kavi, Rajalakshmi, and Ajay to share their quotes with us...

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This is what the 3-Day Quote Challenge is all about.

1. Post one of your favorite quotes (different quote on each day) on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own.
2. Nominate 3 bloggers to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Quote Challenge- Day 1 of 3

My elder one, all of 11, is away for a Karate tournament in Chennai. This is the first time he is on his own, with just his team for company. The karate master has completely banned talking on the phone, except for once before bedtime. He called me up last night and the first thing he says is,

"Mamma, I am missing you, and I just wanted to hear your voice." 

It just melted my heart to hear that! Almost brought a lump to my throat. A mother's voice continues to be the most reassuring sound for a child, no matter how old he is, isn't it? And that is exactly what inspired the quote for today...

             A child may grow out of a mother's lap, but never out of her heart!"

Here's a collage of pictures of my first born, smug on my lap, clinging to me like he'd never let go and then all grown up and ready to fly! 

Thank you Parul for nominating me for this wonderful challenge. I have turned to quotes too many times to keep count of it now! And there is always that one perfect quote which totally sums up what I have in mind! 

On day one I nominate these three awesome bloggers, Chicky, Roshni and Devika to share their quotes with us...

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This is what the 3-Day Quote Challenge is all about.

1. Post one of your favorite quotes (different quote on each day) on three consecutive days. The quote can be from your favorite book, author, or your own.
2. Nominate 3 bloggers to challenge them.
3. Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

Undo..

It seems Google added a new feature called the “undo” button to the G-mail account. You can set the timer at 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds and it gives you just enough time to undo an inadvertently sent mail and avoid an ‘oops moment’ later on. How convenient!

So, in case you are terribly upset about the unequal treatment meted out to you by your boss, and in a fit of rage you happen to type and send him an unplanned resignation letter just in the heat of the moment, and realize the consequences of your action just a second too late, AFTER you have hit that send button….do not panic! Google uncle has ensured that you can quickly undo that action before it has the chance to escape out of your reach. Wow!

You are fuming at your boyfriend for ignoring you? No problem! Set your timer for 30 seconds, shoot him a nasty mail, send it and then count to 29 seconds before you press that magic ‘undo’ button, if your anger did not subside by then, that is! Fair enough right? Google baba ki jai!

I have been guilty of sending mails at the drop of a hat, sometimes at the most inappropriate times, sometimes when I am not in the best of my moods, sometimes when I have written the most should-never-have-written-this kind of words, and more often than not, the minute I have hit send, I have regretted sending those mails! And by then, the damage would be done, and there would be nothing more I could do about it. But not anymore!

Sometimes I wish my mouth had an undo button. I could say all that I wanted to say and then undo it. And everything would be back to the beginning of the conversation, like, I never said any of those things! Imagine what a boon that would be for motor mouths like me!  

There have been some moments I wish I could undo. Some really embarrassing moments, some painful moments, some hurtful moments… and an undo button could make all that come undone, wipe the slate clean, get back to status quo. I had this absolutely beautiful and precious relationship with someone, and one confession, (that I could have done without) soured everything between us. There have been times I have desperately wanted to erase that day from my life. I have wished innumerable times for things to get back to normal, knowing that things will never be the same again. Yesterday, I happened to chance upon reams and reams of g-talk history between us and reading them made me smile, laugh and cry all at the same time. I smiled at the heaps of information we had shared between us, I laughed at our wacky jokes that only we could be capable of cracking, and cried at the loss all of this and more. Such easy conversation, so much fun, the closeness, the trust, being at each others beck and call, the friendship, all gone….whooosh.…just like that. Like droplets of water on a hot pan. We patched up, but like they say, the crack remained. The distance just grew, conversations grew rarer, the frequency of being in touch grew longer, the awkwardness began building up and as much as I tried to jump and vault, the pole kept falling short of taking me across the finish line.

These are the moments that make me wish life had an undo button too. For now, however, we will have to make do with the one Google has given us!

A new chapter...

We all go through various stages in our lives...From a stage where we have no wants, to a stage where wants dominate the needs, from a stage where needs dominate the wants to finally where you have no needs at all...there are times when you roam in search of love, and at other times love roams in search of you.. And somewhere along the way, the twain meet and intersect your vector for wants and needs giving it a totally new meaning. 

I find myself at that crossing now...and there is an increasing urge to jot down my thoughts about that path. Here is where I have chosen to write it all down. A new Blog titled-

                                                                   " My Blue God "

This is not a Blog that has anything to do with religion, rather it is my quest for spirituality. An attempt to delve deeper into the soul, find meanings, and have my questions answered. I have chosen Krishna to be my guide on this journey (who else can it be!) and it is holding his hands that I take my first steps forward.

Do join me if your vibrations and visions are on the same path. I would love to have you on that space too! 

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my heart where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”- Rumi

And the struggle continues...

The eternal war goes on and on...
The fight between the heart and mind,
Neither wins, when one loses,
That's how fate has them designed!

'tis the heart that knows it all,
And yet it lies so quiet and still,
As if it is loath to speak,
Accede to an inordinate will.

The mind so restless,
Brimming over with thoughts,
Rationalising and filtering,
Battling it out with the heart.

The heart tugs at the core of the mind,
While the mind knocks at the wit of the heart,
One gentle, the other ruthless, 
Until one has torn the other apart.

In being foes, they are allies still,
The heart enriching the soul when it wins,
The mind protecting the heart with his,
And yet the conflict continues within!

In brief...

No, no...This post is not about people wearing short clothes. I have nothing to say about the clothing preferences of people, however brief they might be. Who am I to judge anyone but myself? There are already enough people shooting their mouths off and giving the world their well researched 'gyan' on what people should wear and what they should not wear, and what catastrophe will befall the world should their prophetic words be unheeded!  I’m not that learned and hence you get to be spared of my sermon. 

(Breathing a sigh of relief, are you? Not so soon, people… *lets out an evil laugh… Buhahahaha…)

Well, coming back to the post, this is also not about those briefs that managers give their subordinates and expect them to dish out an extraordinary performance merely on the motivation obtained from those brief words! I have been subjected to many such briefings in the span of my corporate life. In between a gloating, self pompous, all-knowing manager (obviously, with a puffed chest, soaking in the thought of himself being the best, the most inspirational and motivational speaker since Zig Ziglar) at one end and a sleepy employee (trying his best to put up a moronic smile and nod on his face) at another, is a brief, which by the way, is anything but brief, telling you what a cakewalk it would be to achieve your monthly budgets should you follow their briefings to the ‘T’. How foolish of  you to think your effort had any part in achieving those demonic numbers!

But anyways, this post is not about that too. I guess, the beginning should have kind of set you up for what is to follow.

The point that I'm referring to is a kind of disability that people like me face on account of their inability to talk in brief. I guess the term nineteen to a dozen was coined just for me! I cannot even 'think' in brief. How in the world am I supposed to talk or write in brief? I was a child wonder if you can call me that. Some kids become dancing masters at a very young age, some become cricketers or turn out to be exceptionally high IQ kids. I turned out to have the gift of the gab. I was one of those kids who got full marks in essays- something that was totally unheard of. But I ensured that I compensated for the high score by scoring a zero in précis writing! 

I belong to that tribe who painstakingly types out every letter of every word checking for grammar even as I type out a message on Whatsapp or Messenger. I am not a grammar Nazi but it disturbs me greatly when people type something like, ‘wud u lyk 2 jn m 4 lnch tmrw.’ What? Is it a fad to swallow your vowels? So hungry, eh? A conversation with a younger cousin had me thinking if I was indeed growing old, or was I plain stupid!

What are you doing? I typed.

Cousin: ‘ATM LMBO

Me: What?

Cousin: At the moment, laughing my butt off

Me: Why?  

He forwarded me some joke I couldn’t really comprehend.

Me: What’s so funny?

Cousin: NM

Me: Huh?

Cousin: Never mind. (And then…) BRB

Me: What?

Cousin: Be right back…

Me: Sure

Cousin: K

I didn’t want to ask him what K meant, but he replied back instantly,

Cousin: Okay :-P

By the way, the ‘K’ is a part of almost all conversations. Any question can have ‘K’ as the answer or reply. It is like that ubiquitous aaloo (potato) that can find its way into almost any cuisine. Conversations like these make me imagine a mason building a house, who lays every fourth brick and leaves the gaps in between unfilled. So much for conversations!

The only abbreviations I remember using is “etc” and yea, maybe, 'ok'. And then I learnt LOL and ROFL. But the list just seems to be growing longer each day and I’m not sure I can keep up with it any longer! 

Thankfully I knew what it meant!

By the way, if you haven't seen it yet, the "about me" page on this blog also looks like a complete blog post!! Someone puhleeese teach me the art of brevity!! My husband often jokes that my Facebook status updates look like a complete blog post by themselves! Well, maybe that explains why I couldn’t embrace Twitter thus far. 140 characters? Really? Not even 140 words…just characters! What am I supposed to say in so few alphabets? 

It is like telling a person to just put the key in the ignition, start your car but not drive it! Or just ordering the appetizers and forgetting about the rest of the meal. It is this insatiable appetite that makes me hungry for more and forget all about brevity. 

By the way, I hope you are still listening!!

Awards!

People have been always been quite generous with praising me! I find it so admirable that they are able to find so many admirable qualities in me!

I remember that my kindergarten teacher was the first one  to
recognize my hidden (no, not really!) talents and to start with this award thing. At the tender age of four, I was honored with the "Most Talkative girl" award! On the progress card, she wrote in large red letters - "Stands first in class, but very talkative!" You tell me, how many people can yap away to glory at such a tender age and also manage a get a mention of it in their progress cards? See the point?


My mom continued the tradition. It is from her that I got the "Miss Kumbhakarni" award for being able to sleep like a log. Again, that was pretty special. Being able to sleep peacefully, undisturbed, and for the right (okay...for longer) duration needs special talent, doesn't  it?  You need to know how to detach your worries from your head and store them away for later use before you hit that pillow. Needless to say, I could very effortlessly not worry about just about anything. Exams never gave me sleepless nights, neither did anything else! I  peacefully slept through most of my worries!!


Yep...this award was given to me by Hubby dearest! The "Most unorganised person" award. Now THAT is one award I am proud of receiving! I'll tell you why.  I read some kind of study somewhere which says that creative people tend to be a little unorganised. And this award just goes to show that I might have that little creative side to me!! There you know now! So if I'm forever misplacing things and hunting for things thereafter, you'd know that my creative side is trying to burst out of my highly unorganised side!

A friend's husband gave me the "Miss Wikipedia" award. If she's ever stuck with something, he'll casually remark, "Aren't you asking your Google?" I'm not sure if that is meant as a compliment or otherwise, but I believe, awards are awards, and must be treated as one! 

A friend gave me "The Drama Queen" award. And true to the drama queen that I was, I gave this beautiful teak jerking speech afterwards, thanking him for thinking me of being worthy of this award. I also made sure to thank everyone from mummy and daddy, to my kaam wali bai for their unflinching support because of which I got this much-coveted crown! 

 Yet another friend gave me the "Chashmebadoor" award because I wore a huge pair of spectacles back those days (and that makes it sure, he did not know what chashmebadoor meant!) There have been some more awards, but it would be highly inappropriate for me to make a mention of those here! So I'll leave it at that!



By the way, here's another addition to my list of awards- Top 15 short stories Blogs in India. Just when I was beginning to worry if it meant someone thought I can 'spin tall tales', hubby dearest said, 'Eat the mangoes na, why worry about the seeds?!!'