My Dad's Last Message

My dad was admitted the previous night at about midnight. His preliminary check-up's were done and his surgery was to be done next day. I was beside him. We talked for some while and agreed to sleep. The night didn't let us sleep. We slept in bits. I woke up and made my dad ready before the operation. He was advised not to have anything. He regularly had tobacco and that day he was looking at me helplessly. I could understand the urge in him and I arranged for his tobacco. He was delighted. I shouldn't have done that but I couldn't resist too. The doctor came and announced. We were both afraid. We were thousands of miles away from home and there was nobody beside who could console me. I was fighting thousands of negative vibes inside me while he was being taken inside. I gave up everything and plugged in my headphone. Music was always my saviour. I tried to go for my favorite playlist but couldn't. I was getting calls from my mother whether everything was fine or not. Even if I had no idea of what was going on inside I kept telling her that everything was fine. Nobody from my paternal kin bothered to give a call. The moment when I needed someone there wasn't anyone to hold me firm from falling. I got plenty of calls from materal kins and close friends. After three hours they came to announce that his operation was successful but I wasn't allowed to meet him. I went to every extent of requesting but the lady turned no ears. I was pushed off by the guard outside the operation theatre. Meanwhile I conveyed everything to everyone who was concerned. We belong to Hindu faith but there were few people who were praying in the village Mosque when my father's operation was going on. Probably that had kept him alive. After two hours I went inside after bargaining a succesful deal with the guard. Dad was lying senseless in the recovery room. I came outside and again made another succesful attempt inside after some time. This time, he was awake. He smiled at me and waved his hand. He was alive and perhaps that was what he was trying to convey me. He asked me show my watch. He saw the time. I was again pushed outside. I made it inside again after two hours. By that time, I was a pro in getting inside and was also used to being thrown outside. Dad's oxygen mask was removed and he wanted to drink something. I approached the doctor and she gave him a cup of warm tea and also threw me outside. I again went it after two hours and this time Dad caught hold of me and he started walking. He walked for sometime inside the recovery room. This time I was not thrown outside and instead the doctors called me up to say that usually patients took at least 24 hours to walk after such a major surgery and Dad was walking withing 6 hours. It was never so easy to hold him away from freedom and even this time they could but only for mere 6 hours. They allowed Dad back to hospital room from the recovery room. The doctor came late night to ask if everything was alright. To their surprise, Dad asked the doctor about his native and children. Dad also asked him to arrange for some good food as he was hungry. Soon there was idli and rice for him. He insisted me on having one idli too. He was hungry but he knew I was hungry too. I knew he didn't walk in the 6th hour itself to prove anything to anybody but only to let me know that I had nothing to worry. We woke up at 3 am again. He wanted to go for a stroll in the floor itself. Initially I held his hand, not firmly but just as a support. He left the grip away and started walking on himself. We saw a very very fat man who was probably thrice as fat as me. Just then after he walked away Dad started with the old nursery poem Humpty Dumpty. We laughed out loud. The nurses too heard us but they were too amused to see a man laughing just after hours of such an operation. Dad died after twenty two days. He left  with a message that one should never stay away from laughter. He believed in sharing happiness.

Priortizing Life First

You realize how beautiful your life is only when you are inches away from death. Your complaints never end. You are in a race to prove how pathetic your life is and that nobody has a more pathetic life than yours. You never compare our life what is today with what it was previously. Instead you keep comparing your life that you dream to live and that you are living. You might have started your journey on a bus and perhaps have bought up a car now. However, the only regret that you have is why you aren't able to own that SUV which that rich brat friend of yours rides around the city. When you are on your deathbed or have somehow escaped an accident you suddenly realize how far have you come. It is perhaps because from your schedule of office, selfie's and EMI's you hardly have any time for introspection. You just keep rolling in the wheel of desires without even realizing that where you should have stopped.

You realize how beautiful she is, only after you see her with someone else. You somehow fail to remind her how beautiful she looks even today. You forget to appreciate her for all the things she does to keep things calm and composed. She is the same girl for whom you once bought a teddy bear, saved pocket money for a gift and suddenly when you have married her, you have forgotten to make her feel special. She still expects some special moments. If she has decided to be with someone else it is only because someone else has made her feel special. Had you been taking some time out of your busy office schedule for her everyday, nobody would have definitely got a chance. Someone is in only because you have left a void.

You will realize the value of your parents only after they have passed away. You have had some dreams with your parents. It can be going out for a family meal at an expensive restaurant, buying some clothes for your parents or taking them out for a vacation. However you keep delaying with the hope for a perfect occasion or a office leave. You never realize what would the delay cost you. You repent only after you lose your parents. Were you so busy? Really? Did office matter so much? Was the month end sales closing so vital? Don't you repent on how transformed are you today that a presentation holds more importance to you than your parents?

Perhaps we should start with priorities. You might not be working with the same company after two yours but your parents, spouse, children and your health is of utmost importance to you and that will matter to you in the long run of life. You might spend the golden time of life working for someone but when you will be old then won't even bother to give you a 'hello! how are you?' mail. The only people who will be beside you are your near and dear ones. Taking some time out for them is not a bad deal.

The love deprived generation

What do we get by the enthusiasm of today's generation to celebrate an entire week on valentine's day? Why are they so crazy for just one day. They have never ever realized that love blooms in those small moments everyday than celebrating a grand  on one special day.

I belong to a generation with one leg on the modern era that's running now and the other on the era that belongs to a decade back. I am not modern but a semi-modern lover and that has made me realize the deprivation of today's generation. This generation has abundance of sex and sex partners. I am not pointing my disagreement on anybody's independence but today's modern generation hardly has any difficulty in finding sex mates. What we lack is that special someone who would kiss them on their forehead or hold their hand while enjoring a stroll in a nearby community park or talk till midnight or just be there and feel the essence of being special to someone or save pocket money to buy a gift. A decade back, things were mostly of that sort. 

Decorating restaurant corner seats with a special dinner and costly gifts are impressive but why are we doing them only on one special week of the year? Anyday anytime we can bring a moment of love in our partner's life. We belong to a generation who is starving for love. We need someone to hold us tighly. We need someone to hug us more frequently. Emotional breakdowns are now more often than anytime else and so we need someone to lend us their shoulder to rely upon. We need someone we can trust always. We needmore of holding hands. We need more of kisses. We need more love. Love is what will keep us alive in this winter of  life.

Travel To Discover

Why to Travel? Is it seriously to explore new places or try out new cuisines or have an experience about different culture or food habits? Or it is just to load your instagram with fancy selfies and fish around for more double-taps or check in at new airports and let the world know that you can afford to travel? Is it seriously for yourself or a status quotient?

If you are travelling to save your social status amongst your network then its seriously an issue that you must give a thought. In this era of global village, where you are stuck between presentations and EMI's, you hardly get to know who lives on the other end of your apartment. If you are getting a chance to explore then you must go on with discovering your inner peace and exploring things that probably you won't even dream about while you are in your conference room. Some of you might find it strange but there are people who are more bothered about their facebook likes on their pout selfie in front of an international airport than have the real fun of travelling.

I like to travel. Whenever I go around to explore a new place I either do it alone or with the least possible company. Having someone with whom you can share a similar thought is what matters more to me than a group of noise making dissimilar crowd. That gives me a lot of benefits. I  get peace which isn't so easily available these days. I get to know the  place better as lesser people means lesser priorities and more similarities. Also, if I am travelling with someone special then it gives me a chance to know the other person better. It is about discovering our common likeness and common dislikeness.

Written for Indispire

Best Proposal Scene Ever

We all have proposed or received proposals. While some hide themselves behind the cellphone screen and drop a simple text over whatsapp, there are quite a few who prefer to do it vehemently. Movies have always had a great role in idolizing love in our lives. The scene from 'A Walk To Remember' where the Landon asks Jamie if she would marry him while they were gazing at  the sky with a telescope  even after knowing that Jamie was fighting against cancer. Also, the scene from 'He's just not that into you' where Beth is about to throw away the trousers and Neil asks her to check the poskets and she finds a ring and turns around to find Neil on his knees saying, "I love you so much, so much, so much and I want to make you happy. I need to make you happy for  me to even have a shot at being happy.

There are quite a few remarkable from bollywood too. The scene from Saathiya where Aditya proposes Suhani in front of his friends in a moving train. Also the scene from Wake Up Sid wheer Sid runs to Aisha and hugs her in Marine Drive while it  was raining. Even in Rang De Basanti Ajay took his entire gang to an old fort and proposed Sonia in an utost serene environment. 

However the best scene that I have ever seen is from Jannat where Arjun takes his car to stop in front of Zoya's car at a traffic signal, gets down on his knees and proposes her. While you can call it as overrrated bollywood or a bookie's crazy on the moment instinct reaction without any damn fear, it is still the best scene ever. It can also a try to copy real life businessman Mukesh Ambani's proposal style to Nita Ambani where he stopped his car in mid traffic and proposed her and he only agreed to start it again after she agreed to his proposal. 

The Bid Adieu

Since the day you have left

I have wept in solitary and prayed

May Your smile and happiness

Fly from your lips across your face

With the broken heart I cried all night,

Wish you were nearer and always mine.

I shall wait for you to return,

Cause I know there is a lie hidden.

You left alone in the dreary desert,

With the dry hope of swimming around beautiful Madagascar.

Now there's a last wish that I do tame,

Be with someone whose heart beats with yours.

The one who showed you dreams of beautiful blue,

Are all unreal, vague and untrue.

There is beauty in your smile,

That only a drunk poet can define.

For he who wants you for the glory of sex and beauty,

Remember, he shall be gone once it fades away.

Allure of Marriage

An elderly man was disturbed by his neighbours compalints of a married life and he often got offended when recently married couples often cracked jokes that that 'happily married' was an irony. He called a few couples one evening and he asked any lady to volunteer for a small game.

 

 

 

"Write the names of twenty five near and dear ones in your life?" he asked the lady pointing the board.

 

The lady got astonished and she looked at the man. The man insisted her to continue. She wrote the names of her husband, her child, her parents, her in-laws, her friends and few of her close relatives. In no time her list of twenty five got filled on the white board.

 

The man read the entire list and asked her to remove five names, She removed a few relatives. The man again insisted to remove five more names. She removed a couple of her friends. When asked for the third time, she removed the names of few more friends. The final list contained six names which had the names of her parents, her in - laws, her husband and child. The man now asked to remove three names, which left the lady in despair. He reminded her it was just a game. She omitted the names of her in - laws and her Dad. The only three names in the board contained the names of her husband, child and her mother. The man now asked her to remove one more name. She left the game. He insisted her and reminded her about the veritability that it was just a mere game. She stepped forward unwillingly in the saturated silence of the entire room and unwillingly rubbed her mother's name. She was left with a board full of two mere names that held her whole world. The entire room of compalining youths was now left with silent sympatheies and realizations. The man broke all went to test the extreme endurance and now asked her to omit the final name. She broke down like never before. She forgot the game and repeatedly said that it was impossible. When insisted again and again, she rubbed her child's name.

 

"Now you all know the game", the man said and he helped the girl to her seat and asked her to calm down.

 

The irony of a happily married life was now turned in to deference. The man gladly remembered his dead wife.

What made me happy..

“Thank you, thank you so much.." she walked towards me to grab my feet as a mark of appraisal for saving her daughter's life.

"Please don't do this. You are of my mothers age and I am not an exception. Anybody would have volunteered to donate blood to your daughter at such a stage of emergency" as I said consoling the lady sweeper who has in great tension searching blood donors for her daughter who was severely sick.

"No Sir, nobody had arrived before you and your friend volunteered. I had approached many people but was turned down every time. They didn't think that blood donation to be safe. Or rather they would not have felt reluctant to donate if my daughter would have been born in a family who belongs to the upper strata of the society" she said rubbing the roll of tears from her eyes.

"You mustn't be disheartened. Please feel free to call us. We will be there with more donors if it is necessary."

I  left the place with thoughts of the society's reluctance to donate blood to a needy person. I was disheartened to find out the greed of certain donors when they were asked to donate blood at such an hour of need. I was not accustomed to such moments and the reply of such selfish people made me more furious.

I was suddenly delighted with something. I found it hard to find. I hadn't had any food for the last 24 hours and I lied to the doctor regarding my last meal and my correct age. I was feeling happy. I thought for a while. As my friend rushed the scooty in midst city traffic to get something to eat, I grabbed a half liter bottle of Coca-Cola and started wondering in thoughts. I finally realized that it was the smile in the helpless lady's lips that made me happy. I realized that my happiness was in a helping someone really needy. I figured out that blood donation was something that really made me happy.

Two days later I got a call. The little girl to whom I had donated blood was really deteriorating. The doctors gave their heart and soul. The blood which was donated by me and my friend was infection free and was injected into the body of that young girl. She started to improve eventually. It felt great after saving the life of that young girl.

My friend called me up, “We never visit temples but I feel today I am blessed. We have done a great job.”

“Yes brother. We have done a good job and let us do it again and again. Let us serve humanity till our end” as I said.

It was the first time when I donated blood and I was underage. Since then I have donated blood for a total of sixteen times. I have realized a zenith of happiness every time I donated blood.