Strangers.

You will never gonna guess it

If they were lovers last summer

You will never gonna guess it

If they used to be perfect for each other

Even they themselves are amazed

How beautifully they are pretending to be strangers!

------------------Mandrika Sarkar

The Jasmine Tree

Years ago, we had a Jasmine tree at home. It started as a small sapling when we were kids and grew into a large creeper climbing the 2nd floor of our house giving lots of fragrant flowers which caught the attention of the whole colony and people couldn't keep their hands off the flowers when dusk fell. It connected to us in a serene way, being with us through thick and thin, listening to me when i was alone at home, being a home to a sparrow's family when they still used to chirp in the mornings, being a good background when we clicked random pictures, silently with us. It almost substituted the idea of a pet. Every morning we opened our door to a lush green leafy tree during rainy season and the autumn made its leaves drop at our door step.

Now as i look back into the past, i feel nostalgic. We lost a friend, a pet, a companion, for circumstances inexplicable and random. When i brood over past, it brings beautiful memories to light, although its impossible to stay there forever. I must say, past is a place where you can go for, as a vacation, visit few places that brings you happiness and then come back to present. 

Its always amazing to recall those hands which wrote what the heart wanted to write, the fingers giving shape to the exquisite thoughts; the half filled coffee cup he sips and keeps aside, only to write the rest of the sentence of a story or an article and letting the hot coffee go cold which clearly annoyed me every single time; the twinkling stars i used to stare at and wonder if i could ever reach them when i was a child, the lonely lamp-post on the highway which illuminated its surroundings with the yellow light and made the leaves of the trees look golden yellow, forming a clear portrait of shadows which were occasionally disturbed by a speeding car or truck. 

One can treasure those moments and cherish them and be happy for it happened. My mom expressed her thoughts about missing that Jasmine tree. But when i asked her what she's gonna do now, she replied nonchalantly "just plant another one and hope it grows as the previous one did, filling our lives again with its fragrance."

Its HOPE. Hope that makes us look forward for what we want in our present. Hope that we could encounter those moments again and be blissful with those moments. Hope is  a powerful tool for someone who looks forward for things they want.

So i hope i get to see a new sapling of jasmine growing in our house when i go home for a summer vacation this year. 

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Sunday Morning Craziness!!

 So i was thinking candidly that i don't DO anything on Sundays. Especially Sunday mornings. I tried to remember what i used to do every Sunday, only to find that there's nothing exceptional about Sundays. So i took the book beside me (my birthday gift btw..yeah! i'm shamelessly flaunting about it.back off!!) and there's a pencil and tried to write a poem. But came out with this sketch. Without erasing, i used a lead-click pencil for the sketch(just so you know). And every time i wonder what i do on Sundays..i should be able to remember this. So this post is kinda self-inspirational. And yeah,i acknowledge that its not a 'really great piece of drawing', but i DID something okay! Enough of rant.
P.S. You can appreciate me definitely after seeing the sketch :P

Mirror~~|~~ Mirror

I look at those faces and poses

Them untired of the whole focus

Examining every flaw, every detail i show them

Sometimes admiration and other times desperation.

I wonder if my unbiased nature

Ever tried to nurture

The beauty they are born with

And hide the grotesque reality of their worth.

Thousands of faces pass through me

Gawking at me, in a way looking at themselves

Can't help it, since i am a Mirror

And then one day, she came to me.

Different as Bumblebee and Simple as Amoeba

Beautifully crafted hair locks and almost almond shaped eyes

With innocence drawn on face and vigour filled persona

She stared at me, as if she knew my liveliness.

A moment later did i realise

That she almost is a glass with little silver paint

And can be easily looked through

Emotions welled up her face failing from grand concealment.

An infinite images reflected between us

Yet undeterred was she from the pose

The unfathomable depth of her eyes

Challenging everyone sane to muse.

Mentored many a people indirectly did I

Also disposed their vulnerability 

But this girl didn't let me do anything

Just the expressionless stare was enough to shook me. 

Anant!

He woke up to the cramps of his back owing to the acquaintance with the couch that assisted him after the previous night’s fight with her. It was 5.30 am. He checked his watch again and rubbed his eyes and sighed loudly as if he’s late to some important meeting at work. Indeed it was something important. Unlike this time, its more personal rather than professional work that needs his cent percent deliverance. And he’s late already. Moreover to worsen the situation, he’s had an argument with the boss of his life -Meera!

It was the anniversary Anant was planning meticulously to surprise his dear wife-Meera, from the time they both came to the guest house for a vacation.

Anant quickly changed into sweatpants and hurried to check whether the preparations at the lake behind the guest house were done as instructed. The boat with flowers and a cake with “Happy Anniversary Dear Wife” written on it and he specifically asked for roses, for his lady-love prefers nothing other than the rose! It took a good one hour to decorate the mosaic flooring till the lake with rose petals and meanwhile at the back of his mind he doubted whether their SUV is in good condition if her highness would wish for a tour in the coffee plantation near guest house. Anant just couldn’t wait to see her expression when the tickets to Norway would be delivered there; for Meera always wanted to go there. He even made sure of calling the travel agency about it the previous night.

And suddenly he was worried about the little argument they had.

‘Meera looks best when she’s mad at me’ he thought playfully and continued pumping the jack while he remembered their little fights and suddenly an image flashed in his mind of her wearing a sari! He stopped with a jerk only to find that the car raised enough that the flat tyre is facing him with its sad face.  He swiftly loosened the nuts with the wrench while he thought about the time he left her the first time without any notice. And the painful memories that followed after almost losing her.

Two months earlier, Anant took Meera out for a dinner which went pretty boring owing to the un-ending texts and emails from his work. It was the workaholic Anant that met Meera’s eye in the first place, but when the marriage went on with the lame excuses of work and pressure, she couldn’t tolerate and erupted at the table in the public. The fight continued till they reached home and Anant in a fit of emotions, left her the next morning thinking that their marriage was after all a big mistake. Only after it was late enough to break her heart did he realize what he’s done to himself and her.

While the mutual friends of the couple suggested they take a break and go for a vacation, they arrived at Coorg hill station where the guest house with the lake continued their existence since 50 years. The previous night, they again had a fight after all the preemptive efforts from him about the day he left her. It was inevitable and they both knew that the tension had to come out in some sort, and it did. But he didn’t want to ruin their anniversary by sulking all day about the past and hurriedly prepared for the BIG surprise. Only while tightening the nut of the new tyre did Chotu-the guest house worker’s son scurried to tell him that Meera has cut her palm.

Anant took to his feet and feared all those 20 seconds till he reached kitchen thinking if she’s hurt badly, if she’s cut herself too deep or if the blood loss was too much. It was heartrending for him the moment he saw her sitting on the floor with hand held far and eyes closed with pain and the blood dripping off her delicate as a petal; pale palm onto the shining white tiles. And the next moment he had a severe urge to slap her tight for letting such thing happen; for he knew Meera isn’t among those who could fumble with cutlery and the wound said a different story. Controlling those freakish emotions, he rushed off to get the first aid kit and swiftly did the bandaging of the wound.

He just couldn’t fathom the reason behind all this. And when he asked, her rather quick answer made him dumb-struck!

“Because I love you!” she said.

And she continued. “You weren’t talking to me, and the past few days have been awkward between us. It was like we were strangers and I could see the past repeat itself. On top of that, I heard you talking with someone about ‘leaving as early as possible’.

Seeing his wife making a potpourri of events and connecting dots rather sheepishly that doesn’t make sense, and cutting her hand thinking he’d leave her again made him go berserk with anger. But at the same time, to think she could cut herself at the thought of him leaving her, made him realize the crazy, stupid love of his wife. It was a mixed emotion; the kind where you wouldn’t know what to do other than just stare into those unfathomable eyes and get lost in their depth.

Gasping a moment and assuring himself that the situation is under control, Anant explained her frantically the ‘true’ significance of the phone call only to be interrupted by Chotu for the part of surprise he planned; the Norway tickets delivery from the travel agency.

“Happy Anniversary Dear Wife”, he whispered in her ears, rather lovingly.

When she didn’t budge on the idea of taking her to the hospital, he lifted her with full force for which she let out a sigh of relief that she’s in safe hands. And all was well again.

Image Courtesy: deviantart.net

An Unusual Love Affair

I pucker my lips, ready to take in, and open my mouth, only to listen to my inner self screaming at its highest pitch!

 "No! Don't do it. I am not satisfied. If at all you care for me, get me what i want". 

But then i try to calm it saying, 'this is not as bad as you think and good for you too unlike your love to that insanely harmful & vicious .....' 

"Stop it! Not one more word! I hate you."

And in that moment,all of a sudden, my hand twitched and the hot Tea spill all over my lap.

Yes. I tried to force myself into drinking Tea instead of Coffee. And my inner passionate self whose love for coffee is climbing Mt.Everest day-by-day has defeated me in trying to avoid coffee.

I am a person with simple beliefs that 'nothing should be excessive, lest it turns poisonous'. Now its not that difficult to understand, is it? Yet, the other me doesn't get it quite right. I  ( both me and the other me) have loved coffee ever since i took the first sip of that instant-mix you get in the market.

 But as time went by, there came the side-effects of having too much of it. Its more like, i can't get my head straight without having a sip of it everyday and when i drink it, there's acidity in the alimentary canal. Its like something is lacking in your daily routine if you don't have it. I had this insane desire of wanting to smell it, feel it and drink it everyday and once i have the first sip, i feel that all my grey cells start working faster than usual, my body feels strangely warm and relaxed. 

Now my logical self, which is the actual ME, has realized that this is going to be a problem someday in the long run. So i tried to chide the other me. It feigned fear, and then got back its usual self and continued the love affair with coffee. I felt dejected. I need to control it. Yes, i am a control freak and i wanted myself to control my love for coffee. Yet, it didn't happen.

So one day i give an ultimatum to it and stopped having coffee. Thought to myself that if i substitute it by another supplement before completely stopping, i can overcome the desire. TEA was my first and only option. So i resorted to it.

Day after day i've been giving myself tea instead of coffee so that the other me doesn't recognize the sudden change. But it did! It tried to reason with me and i neglected it.

"Tea is fine...but doesn't have the ambience of coffee. Coffee is much better y'know"

'Yeah.Fine.Just drink it up.Does no harm'

"Alright, just this time. Next time its gonna be coffee,okay?"

'You bet! Definitely'

The other time, it was bit more serious.

"How can you drink something like this?! I mean, seriously?!! This is not cool. I need you to understand that i can no more tolerate this."

I didn't give my two pence for its so-called threats.

And day by day i started conquering it. But something changed. I was no more happy. The inner bliss is lost. But i was adamant to control myself. And simultaneously unhappy.

Finally it rebuked that i spilled it all over! And only then did i realize what's going on. 

Sometimes, somethings are not good for us if overdone. But we can't abandon them completely; they gotta exist in our lives. Just like people. Though they are not-so-good influence, without them, life is not so enjoyable. It creates a void. Which can't be filled by Tea or anything better. You just gotta cut yourself some slack and try to be easy on yourself for the sake of happiness.

Tears started rolling by after that incident(Tea was way too hot and burned me like hell, you see!).And i cleaned up, strode towards kitchen, to make myself coffee and promised to never 'over-do' it so that i can satisfy both the persons inside me.

END OF THE STORY! People who got bored after reading this post can go have coffee. And people who found this article worthwhile, never lose the coffee of your lives. And don't over-do it either.ADIOS.

Mediocre But Arrogant-book review

A casual stride through the Indian Authors section of Crossword Book Shop showed me this 'No.1 Book On Campus'. Having completed my exams and searching a good-read for my insanely boring train journey, i picked up this book and flipped through the pages, to get the feel of the book. And guess what, i found few cartoons and doodles in it which immediately thrilled me to read and try new stuff among books. And as i leisurely opened the book, comfortably seated in my train berth, i dived into this imaginary world of MIJ. And the rest as they say, is history.

As the cover suggests, its a story of a guy Abbey, who stumbles upon luck and lands in MIJ-the premier institute of Management in India during the '80s who had been a Economics student in SRCC of Delhi University previously. Our protagonist finds its hard in the beginning to adjust to the stress-filled, pressurized B-school life, just like every living entity trying and adapting to the change that is induced in its environment, and during these modes of survival does he encounter many friends like Rascal Rusty( the brainy one who guides him every time a problem strikes), Gopher (the bottom licker of profs and nosy guy on campus), Ayesha-the coquette, Alps,Gur, Neats, Arunesh or lovingly called Annie, Pappu-the giant sleeper, Sethu-the geek etc.  A very good deal of narration spent on the professors like Haathi (Ed Hathaway-the founder of MIJ), Chatto (Chattopadhyay who gives 9.80 as the highest score out of 100 in the test of Mean,Median and Mode), Pari ( Parihar-who is the 40-year-old handsome hunk and know-it-all prof), Fr.Beez, Prof. Kameeni (shez Prof. Kaamini infact, but students change the name....you get the drift) will take the reader back to their splendid college days.

The story portrays the on-campus life, the love life of Abbey with Keya, Ayesha and Priya, although every time something nice is about to happen, he manages to mess it up. This novel brings the feel of college life, those stupid pranks on each other or the symbiotic life we opt for good grades during the exams, the rat-race for Placements or Summer Jobs, and the way one can get screwed and unscrewed during a summer job.

And halfway through the novel did i realise the actual meaning of the title-Mediocre But Arrogant which is indirectly screaming out its on MBA. Abbey says to himself, 'accept it Abbey, you are mediocre!' 'but i am an MBA' he defends. 'so what, do you expect the world to kiss your feet?',says his counterself.

Enjoyed reading this book and thoroughly laughed over Chatto and Gowariker of the book. And the author has a way with nicknames, they are funny and apt. 

Last but not least, the final letter from Haathi or Mr.Hathaway is the best advice for any outgoing student. Shows that he cares for his students and draws a summary for their college life at MIJ saying "You came here to understand yourself and your strengths. To believe how easy it is for you to make a difference. That is the purpose of higher education"

A real good novel for people not just aiming for MBA, but everybody who loves to go down the memory lane of their college life!

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