Like Forest Gump

 I started narrating our farm construction story to one of my colleague - Amit today. After like half an hour Shakti joined and I kept telling the story. 

Then in few minutes Amit realised his meeting which was about to start in 30 mins already began, so he had to leave. 

I continued my narration with Shakti and the story took a while to finish.  

Why am I writing this down?

Because this episode reminded me of Forest Gump today....and he is nothing less than a legend in my book. 

Add on - 

Also, I was planning to pen down our farm stories, and the interest I saw in my story made me feel stronger about the idea.

Finding a Role Model

How does it feel when you are able to see where you want to be say 20 years from now?

I met this awesome French lady "Lawrette" who had come to take one of the travel domain trainings in office. Though the training was for 4 days but because of work pressure, I could not attend after 1st day.
Feeling sad (and guilty for unnecesseralily occupying a seat) I went the next day to apologize.

Before I tell you what we talked about, I would like to tell you my first impression of Lawrette.
I enter the training room, one nice middle aged french lady is already sitting in the room.
Blue eye shades, dark grey mascara, very pretty haircut, to top it all a very smooth and glowy skin...i never could imagine she was 59 if i had never talked to her about personal life. She was old, yet so pretty. Weird combination? O, you should see her once to believe me.

So, I go ahead and apologise having to miss such an informative session where she was not only sharing knowledge on the given topic but also her experience in various travel related organisation and associations. One topic led into another and so on, I did not realize when we had actually started talking about home, kids, husband - LIFE.
And why instantly we connected is because when I told her I have a 20 month old baby, she also started telling me about her life experiences when both her kids were small. She loved raising them, teaching them good habits, teaching them about good behaviour and being polite, teaching them what is right what is wrong. The moment she told me this, I could so well recollect how momji insisted that we should leave Chia with her as I want to work, and how I explained to her How important it is for me to see Chia grow, teach her Sorry , please, thankyou, inculcate good habits and good language.

She liked it when she started working after her second baby. At home, there used to be no time, but at work, she could find some time to relax. She told with a naughty smile that sometimes she used to rush for work to get her space :P
And this reminded me of the first week when i started working after Chia :P

Lawrette before babies, indulged in too many adventure sports, excercise routine, reading etc; but after babies, she hardly used to get time for anything else. Sometimes even husband was forgotten for the sake of babies. People to whome I generally talk would have heard similar stories from me :)

Then I did tell her I do want to have another kid sometime in future but Ravi does not. For which she started talking about the relationship she shares with her brother. They talk a lot and discuss about almost anything and everything, so she also feels that having more than 1 kid certainly makes up for the company and kid is not rendered alone.
To this, I almost remember the statement that i always make to ravi "What fun could possible Garima have without Gaurav? And you would agree the same for Rinku without Shinu" :) :) I felt as if an older form of me was talking about my thoughts and ideology :P
She says "That phase when your kids are small and need all your attention, is like a tunnel. If you plan for a second one, you may think of the tunnel to become a little longer.
In your age, spending those 2-3 extra years would mean something, but you should take it like this: Say your baby is 3 years, and you talk about her 1 year, it's 1/3rd of a lifespan that you are talking about, so it's huge; but at my age, if i talk about 1 year, the % is much smaller and hence that 1 year is nothing to me. Investing those extra years makes so much sense to me now"
Wow! I never thought on these lines.

When her 2nd baby was 5 years, she decided she will start gymming again. When her baby was 9 years, she started playing Piano again which used to relieve her from all tension. She did start reading again, but only after 15 years.
I was little disturbed, rather scared to hear this. 15 years!!!! Man, will it happen to me too?
But then, she started explaining:
"It's just a phase of life. Although I love adventures, but when I look back the most adventurous things that I have done is raising kids. You do have to invest all yourself during the initial years, but then what you get in return, words are less to express those feelings.
It's so nice when your daughter comes to you and say "Mumma thankyou so much for whatever you have done for me."
 :) :) :) "
It definitely was a goose-worm moment for me.

At 60, she does have retirement plans and much more fun and adventure plans after retirement.
I cannot think of that long, but she has definitely inspired me to be even more attached to Chia, find out time for Ravi inspite of the busy schedule and yet have time for myself to indulge in activities I like.
Tough??? Ya! looks like, but it would be interesting trying to work that out.
And why not...this is a blog after 2 years or little less, let me consider it as a start ;)

Thnaks Lawrette for making my day a happy one and giving such an inspiration.

The Flavor of Surprise

It's 28th June -- 11pm.
I am waiting for the clock to put one hand over other so that ma bday wd start, Ravi wd wish me, I'll attend few calls and then I'll doze off. Very very sleepy I was.
What? B'Day cake??..Hmm...already checked the fridge...no traces of the cake.

Letter to God!

My mom is a theist and she has taught us right from the beginning how important and powerful prayers can be. She also encouraged me to write right from the beginning. Letters, essays, cards, 'WORDS' have been with me since childhood.

I was in 2nd standard then, I was complaining mumma about something. She gave an intelligent solution "Why dont you write to God? He'll solve all your problems." :)
Yeah!!! Sounds good. Afterall, i have never written to God, so why not give it a try!

I sat with a paper torn from my H.W. copy (Homework Copy) and started writing.

M not well...Yippieee :)

I am suffering with Chicken Pox...Thank God for that :)
What??? U really think m crazy???
Unhu Unhu...plz read on.

Well...how about i ask my boss "Hey bossy, i wont work for 10 days...i need a freaking break!!!!"
Unh...i dont think i know his answer...the point is...i wont be able to ask that 1st of all. This sickness has made me realize how workaholic i have become..and believe me, it's a sad feeling.
So here comes my bro for rescue...hey di, do any godamn thing in world, but plz...STOP THINKING ABOUT WORK. ok. I'll follow it. n hey...m relieved :) n m happy :)

Or let me imagine...i walk up home from work one fine day and tell ravi..."I don wanna cook n clean...JUST FOR 10 SWEET DAYS" and throw a filthy smile @ him :-) :-D :-P
Noooooo...it's difficult to imagine...again, m8 be ravi accepts this happily bcoz i know he loves me, or m8 be he gets annoyed (love is not everything in life after all :P)... i cant imagine his reaction, again the point is....i cant do that!!

Or how many time does that happen that mom calls me and tells "Meri Pyarai Bitiya...abb kaisi hai???" Yeah i know that's the way my name is stored on their cells 'Pyari Bitiya' , but how many times actually do i hear it in in words :):)

So, i thank god for blessing me with this sickness which has not left me bedridden, alongside has given me enough time to njoy, watch movies, have good food, do surfing all day long, read whatever i like, chat for the entire day, receive calls from all over the world... :):):)
Its good to feel important, wanted, the focus of somebody's (read everybody's) life, to get so much of attention, care, love.

Aaah!!! m blessed :)
But Sonal correctly said yestday "इंसान कभी भी खुश नहीं रेहता!"
So God! here i am praying ... Thanks for making my life heaven for all these days.
But please, please recover me soon. I wanna go out, feel weather, see the world, take a bath and feel fresh, and most of all...hug ravi, put my head on his shoulder and talk to him. It's hard...really hard to shoo him away :)

A small story...

It's friday night...and as usual...we sat for watching a movie at 11 in the night.
The movie is damn interesting...it's about terrorism and US spies and it has an interesting face of Leonardo...still...i slept in between. Why??

Hmm..a question to which i can associate a sad story of life...well, this is the time when my 'BAI' is not coming. She's celebrating Sakrant for 5 days, which simply means, she wont come for 5 days...5 GODDAMN DAYS :(
So i did all the brooming and sweeping, fought with the utensils until they came out clean and shining...hufff!!!! Believe me...if every girl starts doing it like the old times, then half of the gyms will definitely shut down.
Ok! getting back to the story, i was damn exhausted by the EOD and even leonardo couldn't help much in keeping my eyes wide open. So i slept. Mind you, movie was still running as today surprisingly ravi was wide awake till the end of the movie.

Next Day: Saturday, that is today!
My eyes opened at 7:30 in the morning. And as soon as i got up, i planned to finish the movie. Hey comeon, this is not odd ok! This is not the first time i was about to watch a movie early in the morning(yes, 7:30 is too early for me), without shining my teeth, or gulping down a hot liquid. I used to do it quite very often during college days. I had watched 3 movies back to back and believe me, instead of getting tired, i was feeling all fresh :D. The record of fourth movie on the roll stopped just bcoz of mum's concern "Betu aaja, thodi der hamare sath baith le, fresh ho jaegi...continuously 1 sath itna nahi padhna chahiye" :P

Back to the story: so i plan to finish my movie. While going to the TV, i crossed the kitchen, and just the site of it changed all my plans. In 5 mins time, instead of watching the movie i was again having a war with utensils.
Hmm...utensils done, now let me continue with movie, but a look around the house...and in 5 mins, i was standing with a broom in my hand. After all, it's My House and i cant bear to see it messy and ugly.
Hehe! How things change.

While cleaning the house i just recalled those childhood memories when mum used to be crazy after cleaning the house, and we being the kids used to torture her more with throwing things here and there. We always used to tell her, comon mum, please watch a movie with us...this flick is really nice. But she wouldnt take a sign of relief till she was done with all the core activities...we could never understand why does she love working more than njoying a film?
But now...I do!
Sorry mum, sorry for not understanding you that time and sorry for rendering the least help when u actually required.

Anyways! this is a small story of how life changes after marriage.
But i have a magical 'always-make-you-happy' ginnie, who not only knows cooking...but cooking is also his passion :)
He always makes sure to give an 'happily ever after' ending to all my stories :)
So, as i end up writing this blog, my ginnie is ready with T n brkfst for his wife :)

One Fine Holiday

It was April 2008.
Though i made this entry elsewhere a long time ago, still making an entry in my blog as i dont want to forget these sweet memories.

We had undergone a rough phase in life. Nothing seemed to be in-place. So hubby dear suggested going for a holiday….somewhere far faaar away!!! Away from our hectic schedule, away from tragedies of life, away from boredom which had ___ us….
The place he decided to take me was…Turtle Bay Beach Resort!
Before even we reached there, one glance of sea from a far away desistance was enough to turn us on.
When we actually reached there, it was HEAVEN. The resort back gate opened on the sea shore. Hardly 20 steps of walking distance from the Cottage we stayed in.

Few memories i'll always love to cherish:
That was an amawas ki raat.so we cd see the stars very clearly…ravi ke achanak mann me aaye…drawing karni hai (inspired by that airtel add). Main taaron se ravi ko dil ka shape banwa rahi thi…n ravi ne usme dinosaur ka shape imagine kar liya…wah!!!! kya romantic imagination hai mere hubby dear ki :P
Bus me mujse ladai kar rahe the…to main rooth kar baith gayee….
Muje manane ke liye kya tareef ki hai….amazing….
Teri giraffe jaisi neck…bhains jaisi naak…sherni jaisi aankhen…blah blah blah….romantic naa? :)
Hey hubby d’ling….don kill me after reading this post :P…kya Karen….sach to chhipaye nahi chhupta ;) :P
But even after all this….u al choo cshweet… ma chweethrt chona!!!

U know what…ravi gave me an amazing ride on his back along the sea shore….absolutely quixotic…but real!!!!
N watching that perfect sunset….sitting on a rock…hands in hands…my head…his shoulder…
N those night walks along the shore…under that start studded glittering sky…it was like I’m imagining with starry-eyes…unforgettable yaar…will miss it forever….till we go to some beach next time ;) :)

Evanescent Thoughts…

Its night…1 o clock. Ravi is sound asleep. Somehow I am not able to drag myself to that peaceful dormancy. Ocean of thoughts churning in my mind to form a whirlpool and I easily admit to sink in it.
There are thoughts about me, about him, about us, families, dreams, wishes, ambitions, wanna do’s, wanna be’s and lot lot more.

This time, a very strange thought stuck my mind. I don’t know what it was, how it proceeded leading to another thought, yet another…forming a sequential chain tangling me from inside.
And then a realization…I wanna do things I used to do, I miss doing them, for a little while…I wanna be what I used to be, I wished a little space, space for my self. A little more pondering over it, then eventually my gaze shifted to Ravi.
From day 1 of our marriage, it has become my best pass-time.

I luv to watch him sleep, the tranquility on his face, that mild simper shown in the dim moonlight falling on his face, it seem to be the most exquisite sight for me.
All evanescent thoughts moving one by one, passing out of me, bidding me good bye, seeing me smile at the sight of Ravi.

----------------------------------------------

Shona often says…u think a lot…its very bad habit…but then, m helpless in that :)…probably m suffering from the sickness of high EQ :P

It took one year...

1st day when I started cooking at home…after doing all preparations, when I started preparing chapatti, I realized we don’t have a ‘belan.’ So I experimented roti belna with a glass, which did not turn out to be so bad.

I usually wanted to escape the process of chapatti preparation, I used to hate it like anything. It was not only that I did not like preparing it, but it was more because I did not like eating chapattis as well.
Some times my chapatti would look like some unique art by an artist (I may rather say some roadside Artist :P), it would take various shapes, Australia, India, Panjab…I have seen it all in the face of my chapatti :)
It’s not that I hade never made gol chapattis, it’s just a matter of lack of practice.
The passion with which I used to cook different varieties was totally opposite to the ‘feelings’ I had for chapatti.

I often used to complain ravi …when will I learn to cook gol matol chapattis with good speed..it has been 2 months now…3 months now…4 months now…and the complaint against myself went on.

How I used to manage times when ppl came for lunch/dinner is an interesting story (I loved and still love inviting ppl to have food together…but…read further to get details of this ‘butt’…hey…its but and not butt :P)
My zeal to run away from the labor of chapatti pakaing indulged me into cooking interesting dishes (Atleast I feel they are interesting ;) There used to be Paav bhaji, chhole bhauture, tikiya, pulav, idli, dosa etc…
Found something common in them??? Hehe, yeah…this used to be my rescue from the crisis times which required me to cook chapattis not only for two of us, but more number of people.

With time, our methods also changed. Initially, I used to cook all chapattis and store them in a hot case. Then we used to have dinner together stuffing the first roti ka kor in each others mouth.
Then I started cooking garma garam chapattis for Ravi. I used to serve them directly from Gas to his plate. The happiness I saw on his face when he used to eat it made me more enthusiastic and I started preparing good chapattis.
I also noticed that his diet increased because of hot n fresh chapattis. I don’t know how, but gradually I started loving preparing chapattis.
Then there were times when Gaurav came to stay for some time. And I really felt it to be an achievement that my cooking speed could compete with their eating speed.

And just yesterday, when I asked Rv y u did not had salad? So innocently he said ‘mere paas time hi nahi tha…tu itni jaldi chapatti la rahi thi”:)

Hmm!! It took one year for me to learn making good chapattis at decent speed. No doubts I can never beat mumma n momji, (oye…ye beat vo literal meaning wala beat nahi hai :P..i know as usual ganda PJ hai)
Today also I like eating anything else over chapattis (Meri sehat ka raaz ;) ) but I don’t hate making them anymore.
No Complaints now :)

Khwahishon Ke Per

Khwahishen hazaron hai in aankhon mein,
Manzilein lakhon hai in rahon mein,
Par har woh dagar apni bane jaruri to nahin
Har umeed, har khwahish puri ho jaruri to nahi.
:)
While browsing through net, came across these lines. It just reminded me of a conversation i had with swati few days back.
All of us have some khwahish, some icchayen, some sapney...but zaroori nahi ki aapka dekha hua har khwab poora ho jaye. Still life goes on...and you live happily...hoping that some day hamari wishes apne anjam tak pahunch jaengi :)


Well ...to boosten up friday mood...I m starting with some of my khwahishein. And i would like you to share with me your khwahishen(Ofcourse...in comments ;...in case you have some wild wishlist which u cannot share in this common forum...feel free to mail me :P)
Note: Do not point out that max of my wishes revolve around Ravi

1) I wish to...sorry...i WANT to learn Salsa with ravi.

2) I wish to learn spanish guitar, mouth-organ and violin. Also wish to play synthesizer frequently. And then...on a fine evening...I wish to play tunes for Ravi :) Kasam ki kasam hai kasam se...humko pyaaar hai sirf tumse.

3) I wish to roam around the world with Ravi.(atleast a few foreign countries/cities)

4) I wish to learn 'How to Cook Better Than ur Hubby' :D

5) I wish to be a little bit thinner(this little bit might change after a few days :P)

6) I wish to have the characteristics of a loving and caring bahu, and adorable daughter(forever)

7) I wish to learn a foreign language-probably german or french

8) I wish to write 'endless' love letters to Ravi...probably one for each day :)

9) I wish to have my office somewhere around home.(Traveling time gets cut down from personal life only)

10) I wish to have a beautiful sweet home.

11) I wish post marriage my bestam best frenz and both of us are in the same city.

12) Once in life, I would love to spend 5 days again as a bachelor(preferrably in Noida)..going to movie at 9:30 in the morning(without taking a bath)-- watching back to back movies -- breakfast, dinner, lunch all ready without putting much effort -- spending blindly on shopping -- freak out with frenz -- listen to tanupanti and be a part of it myself :P -- also attend her marriage :P -- and arohi's too.

13) I want to spend 2 days with mom and want to be what i was to her before marriage. :( (She never scolds me now, never asks me to work in kitchen also :()

14) I Wish I liked 'eating mashroom', and cooking Mashroom Dishes(Poor ravi...mere sath unko unka favo masgroom khane ko nahi milta)

15) I want to read a novel written by Gaurav :D(HIMYM types...i think he's alraedy in person working on the script :P)

16) I wish to die either before ravi or with him. (preferrably with him) This is my ultimate wish.

Bas..mera to chalta hi jaeyga...the list is endless...some of then are ones which i do not want to mention here ;)
So now...it's your turn...what do you wish to do? What r ur dreamz which you wd love someday to fulfill on thir own?
I am waiting to hear...

Remembrance--My Granny

My Grandma recently passed away and I will miss her terribly and this is my tribute to her.

When I was a small baby
And used to act so crazy
I shrieked and yell, how bad was the milk smell
She used to hold my hands and legs
So that mum could give me those milk pegs.

The day I was married, i remember the brightness her face carried.
Like a teenager did she dance, we were surprised at that glance.
My life had just been revived,
A few days later this news arrived.

I was told on a day that she had forever gone away.
The funeral room full of fears, Grandpa's eyes full of tears.
The pain we all felt, all of it still we haven't dealt.
I wish I could've said good- bye, maybe now I wouldn't cry.
I know she loved us,
Why couldn't she stay?
I still miss her to this day.

Dadiji…We miss you!!! We love you!!! We still need you very very much.

Socha Naa Tha

Phewww…..Life has been hectic for me since last so many months. I completed my graduation, got placed in a company which has ample work to distribute among employees, got engaged to a perfect ‘Hero’, had an awsome…outstanding…fabulous courtship period, and started preparing for D DAY…:)
Everything feels good...as if I was born to face all this :), Njoying my shopping spree to its fullest, going home traveling a distance of 744 km every weekend and coming back the next day.

But this time something different happened. I went home but did not involve myself in any shopping or any kind of shaadi ki taiyari. Instead I spared some time for my family and frenz. Met all my close and dear relatives and finally…went to one of my very gud friend’s place to pay a visit. But it turned out to be a miracle for me. Shailja…a friend with whom I have spent very gud time in my college days. We did all the things we used to do in our golden days…college days. We chatted a lot, put on a movie…Socha naa thaa as usual(this name seems to be apt for the situation I am in), had snacks n coffee and…laughed a lotttttttt. Both of us were remembering those old days and how I used to go to her place almost daily and we used to share our dreams, emotions, assignments etc etc including the gossips of all the ppl we knew….Owww, How much we loved it. I use to wander aimlessly in college and school corridors, laughed at things which were nothing at all, had lots n lots of getogethers, parties, night stays and what not...

Seriously, Socha Na Tha that all these new progress in my life will happen so soon and I wont even come to know of it.Every thing seem to be changed all of a sudden. My daily activities, my dreams, my chatters, my likings & dislikings, preferences, priorities…I mean…I feel my life has turned upside down all of a sudden. And it struck me that I am really really missing all that. I used to be a big time movie fan…and now there have been times when I haven’t seen a single one in past 3 months, I loved being frenz with all and chatter with anybody and everybody…and now I don’t have time to give calls even to my dearest pals. I mean…I am happy and content with Ravi n my new life…but since my visit to Shailja’s place…I feel I am missing a part of my life.
Very True...You dont realize the importance of something unless its gone.

Hi All….
Happy to inform u that today…I have completed 1 full year successfully in HCL. :)
I remember all the time spent with my dear frenz…it was amazing…but time doesn’t stop for anybody...
Kaash koi lauta de vo beete hue pal…
Coincidentally…one of my friend asked me today… “Garima, College ka time yaad nahi aata”
K aata hai…bahut yaad aata hai…
Miss u guys yaar!!!!
But I am also happy…this year has truly been special for me. End of college, My first job…my 1st & last engagement…new friends, new family members, new responsibilities…and a sort of Job content :)
But yes…I do miss all my freinds.
Hope to meet them soon. :)