"The 12 !!!" - All Aboard !

So one year back in month of February, I had a brainwave. 

An idea that originated from a gift for someone and culminated into something that is hard to describe in a word, in a sentence or maybe even in a blog post.

12 People, Hundreds of memories & Thousands of feelings!

This series was not just for the people I chose to write for, it was also a way to thank each and everyone who ever entered my life and brightened it in some way or the other.

When I started writing, I thought it will be hard to have more than 5-6 posts and now that its over, I have realized it was harder keeping it down to just 12.

I have way more valuable people in my life than I ever consider.

And each one of them is special and I am glad that they are part of my life.

So this is me raising toast to the 12 who were, the 12 who are and the 12 who will be !

For all the late joiners to my blog, I am rounding up all of my posts below with their titles as direct links to respective blog posts and after much thinking and mulling I have decided to not reveal the names. 

Coz some things are better left unsaid :)

• Man Of Steel - Part 1 & Part 2
• The Unpredictable Risk Taker - Part 1 & Part 2
• She's the Man - Part 1 & Part 2
• The Dazzler - Part 1 & Part 2
• Golden Heart Hero - Part 1 & Part 2
• Miss Congeniality - Part 1 & Part 2
• The Queen of Melodrama - Part 1 & Part 2
• The Soul Sister 
• The Army Brat
• Felix Felicis
• The Teacher
• The Spirited Shopaholic

Happy Reading! 

The Spirited Shopaholic

Let me start with a quick, small rhyme

As I begin with, “Once upon a time”

I met a girl who was not so shy

Chirpy with her spirits always high

Stuck I was; with her to be,

We were as different as one can be!

I thought this will be a small tale to end

But alas she became my one true friend.

Life.

The existence of an individual.

People have their own definition of life. Some say life is like a box of assorted chocolates. Some believe it is a theatre with all of us posing as actors, playing out our roles in some grand play prepared by the unknown or better termed as God. And then some very deranged philosophical ones say it is just an illusion.

There are so many inspirational quotes lying around everywhere teaching us the meaning of life. ‘Life is what you make of it’, ‘When life gives you lemons..’ or ‘Life isn’t perfect’ and so on.

I say life is right now, right here. Life is living every moment the way you want to so there is no room left for regrets. Life is there for you to make mistakes and then learn from them and then make new ones all over again. Life is all about friendship and love.

But I never thought like this until I met her.

She entered my life as just a mere acquaintance but the bond we share now is so strong that not having her around to coax me and sometimes irritate me, is unimaginable.

She is the perfect opposite of me with her beautiful features, wide smile and really tiny eyes. I have never seen a girl as fond of camera as she is. And she prefers being in front of the lens rather than behind. Vivacious and lively, she can easily fill the room with her laughter and super loud voice. Starting a conversation is no biggie for her be it her boss or boss’s boss or a complete stranger she meets on the train. Drama, theatric entrances and perfect nonsensical jokes is what makes her so endearing. If just chatting away for hours could pay, she would be a billionaire by now. I have yet to meet someone who has so many crazy dreams as she does. She is truly the perfect embodiment of Jab We Met’s Geet; a living, breathing and blabbering example of that fictional character.

Just when I thought that she just had one passion, and that was to talk and just talk, I figured out, that she is one of the people responsible for all the fashion retails’ booming sales figures. Just one word to describe it all. Shopaholic.

So now she was Geet + Amy Adams’ character from that chick flick Shopaholic. And boy that is some combination!

You know the first time I met her, I being idiotic at times, had completely formed an opinion about her and almost made it clear that I didn’t like her. It was I guess fate’s way of showing me the finger at being judgmental that we ended up working in the same team in the office. And slowly I realized how terribly wrong I was about her.

Yes she is still crazy, chirpy and maddening to the core, but she is a gem of a person.

She values friendship so high on her relationship meter that I am not amazed she has such close friends in her life.

There was a time when I was not in any mood to let anybody in my private life, except her. She pulled me out of my shell and made me accept that I was equally silly and crazy as her (in a cool way btw)

She is my one confidante in the office; someone who I can rely on completely to get me through a bad day. Her filmy dialogues and stupid jokes completely cheer me up and I forget what the issue I was mulling over was.

We have our own routine back in office, our inside jokes, gossip to discuss, people to hate, the silly theories we chalk out, the random coffee breaks, lunches, over the top dramatics, outbursts of singing Hindi songs, goofing around and everything else friends do.

I am glad that fate intervened that day and made me meet the real her. We are not at all alike in tastes, whether it be choice of pet (her cat, me dog), choice of spending money (her clothes, me books), choice of favorite actors (her salman, me SRK FTW!) or even choice of beverage (her tea, me coffee) and yet we have been through problems and have dreams and hopes alike.

It has been a year to our slowly evolving friendship. We both know each other’s flaws and we accept them with love and affection.

People have these different labels for friends. Close friend, office friend, 9 AM coffee friend, 3 AM agony aunt friend, bar-hopping friend or even crying-over-exes friend. But guess what I got a complete package in my half mad slightly mature very sweet friend.

She taught me what “a friend in need is a friend indeed” phrase really means.

I like being organized and having a plan in head, but she taught me how much fun being spontaneous can be. This free spirited, makes-her-own-decision woman just freed that slightly nervous girl and I will always be thankful to her for this.

I will just end by quoting the Narnia world creator C.S Lewis- “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”

I value this unnecessary, unexpected, out of the blue friendship. I hope she does too.

"The 12"-#12

Hey everyone,

Finally it is here!
The last one in "The 12" series..

Last year when I started writing, I almost had a feeling deep down that I will never really be able to come this far and write so much. That I will give up or procrastinate and then let it be.

But the overwhelming response with people wanting to know who and what I write about, well that got me till here :)

This last person is well maybe a surprise addition or maybe not, but without this person, life would be tough and different and maybe not so pleasant.

Hope you love it as much as rest :)

Happy Reading!

P.S- This is not the end ! :D

ONE YEAR LATER, ONE YEAR WISER

A year ago same time, I was a nervous wreck. 

Fresh college graduate, all I had with me were hopes to be the best, dreams of success and a completely different life ahead.

I wasn’t ready for change, but I was prepared to adapt to it.

And adapt I did.

Tomorrow I complete a year at my first job. And what a year it was; a year that made me strong, determined and ambitious.

Back as a student, I was carefree. Unaware of what is in store for me in the future, I was living life every moment like there is no going back. I had friends, a great social life and a definite nonchalant attitude to academics. Independence, self-sustainability, maturity and decision making were few heavy words that were thrown at me to scare me and to make start gearing up for the “Big Bad World”

I had dreams but of a different kind. Dream of starting my own blog, dream of opening up a nail art parlour, dream of travelling with friends around the world and what not.

I never worried about anyone else except me. For me, I was the most important being on this planet.

And now here I am, one year old as a corporate professional earning decent enough to survive. I still have friends, a normal social life and now a definite future planned in my head. Independent, matured (slightly) and better at making “life-changing” decisions, I am still learning how to stay alive in this world.

I am learning every day, every minute, every second.

This year taught me more lessons than any lectures of college.

I learnt failure, tasted success, made new friends, lost few more, cried, repented, laughed and lived.

If there is anything that this one year taught me, it is that life is unpredictable; challenges are bound to be thrown right at your face. There will be a time when you will doubt yourself, when you will be forced to face your worse fears as well. But that is exactly what makes living worth it.

Someone last year, just before my joining, told me, that I am a fearless confidence woman; that I can achieve anything if I have the heart to do it.

And I guess I am on my way to doing something, achieving what I want to and excelling in what I do.

So this year is not just to discovering a better me, it is also to the friends and the bonds I made in a year. To the friendships that lasted beyond college life and also in memory to the friends who distanced themselves over course of time. Coz as Stephen Chbosky said, “Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”

And now the following paragraph is dedicated to my super crazy 'Mandali'. We started together on a journey, as we stepped into the office and were termed as the campus hires. We broke the ice and behaved really nice until we got extremely comfortable with each other and in no time completed a year.

So this year is to all that madness, the silly pranks, the wonderful one month training where I made few everlasting friends (hopefully), to petty fights, to silly teasing, to random spontaneous plans, to well executed plans and to plans that never went past the planning phase (winks), to hopes and dreams alike, to Secret Sankrant, to birthday cakes, to gossip, to ‘very’ frequent coffee breaks, to the ‘family ties’ (twisted but Sanskaari) to being called kiddish, to acting kiddish, to growing up.

And finally to no more being a FRESHER…!

The Teacher

Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever?

I wish I had that chance. It is only when you lose someone, that is, when you realize how much that person meant to you. I am left with no words to say and hundreds of feelings to express but none can be said without hoping that I wish I had just one more chance to hear the voice, to just hear the words and have few more thoughts to exchange with him before he left us with this gaping hole of absence.

I call him the Teacher though he was more than that for me, for everyone.

He was a mentor and my tutor for as long as I can remember. His values, his principles, his thought process was so noble and straight-forward that he taught me more than any teacher of my school.

A man of simplicity and humility, he had no air or any pride. He was soft-spoken and everyone respected him. He was honest, a man of values and full of love and affection for his family. He adored his grandchildren and always beamed with pride when he mentioned both the sons and daughter-in-laws. For him, his family was above all.

I have all my best and most cherished memories revolving around him. For me the image in my mind is not of the frail, delicate man but of the one who would take me for long walks to the park; who used to be full of joy if I would ever win any prize in the office or stood first in the class; who would spoil me with chocolates and random ice-cream treats; who now and then shared with me words of wisdom.

I owe almost all my knowledge to him. He always sensed the potential in me and made me stretch to that point so I could excel in academics. He always encouraged me in whatever I would want to pursue be it studies, hobbies or career related. He gave me his full support in every decision that I ever made.

The thought of not having him around will be a bit difficult to get used to. Time heals grief they say, I wonder if this can ever be healed.

I will miss his luminous presence in our family. His timely calls every night just to hear my voice. The long awaited trips to home so I could atleast meet him.

I know it is hard, but part of me is happy that he was relieved of all the sufferings.

I am supposed to be good at expressing what I feel through my writings. But this is tough and somehow almost feels like ripping your heart out.

This was not supposed to be a tribute or a eulogy. This was intended to be part of the 12 people who impacted my life. I regret that I never wrote this any time soon for him to read.

I read somewhere that the world is not a wish-granting factory but if there is one wish that can be fulfilled then I wish to hear his voice one last time. For him to tell me that he is all good and then wish me “Goodnight Rani bitiya” one last time.

But now this will end up being just a wish.

May you always rest in peace.

Love you Baba.

"The 12"-#11

Hello,

I know I am posting this out of the blue without completing the previous post. But I am sure people will understand why.

This is for the man with silver in his hair and gold in his heart...

THE YEAR OF FRIENDSHIPS- LOST AND FOUND

It has been 10 days since we all stepped into this new year (11^th being the day I am writing about this). And for me, ever since I was a kid, new year meant looking back at how the previous year, accept it with grace (okay with happiness, grace is too formal a word) and move on.

We always dedicate the year to something, like UN declared 2013 as Year of Water Conservation. I on the other hand have a more personal take upon naming or dedicating year to something or someone. Like for me the year 2007 was the PotterYear given the last book released in that year, or perhaps this year could be the Year we are Re-SHERLocked because of the season 3 which came, which we saw, which conquered our hearts yet again and will again vanish.

But the last year, 2013, is the year I dedicate to friendships.

Last year was a new beginning in a lot of ways.

It was the year I honestly stepped into the big bad world. With freedom in mind and, like every young person, strong will to “change the face of the world in some way”; I paved my way to the corporate life. And it has been a pretty different unexpected journey so far but if we start getting everything we wish, where will the fun be?

I met new people, interacted with them, befriended few, judged few. That’s typical me. But the friends I made are special in their own quirky fashion.

The bond I have varies with all but stays strong and there are times when I get annoyed by the sheer juvenility of all of us, I enjoy their company and nowadays I have even come to miss them when I don’t see much of them. We eat together, laugh together, crack the lamest jokes, play the silliest pranks and yet when we are busy we are truly busy. That’s just the best summarized version I could give of my batch.

But these aren’t my only friends in office. There are yet few people who I call my own and I get very defensive if someone says anything misappropriate about them.

I would rather term these all as a band of crazy, idiosyncratic but brilliant people. I call them my S.W.A.T- Slightly Weird but Adorable Team.

If office friends are one thing, then I also have a maniac group of virtual friends. Brought together by common love of tv shows and books, we are one crazy (word is open to suggestion) babbling band of buffoons if I quote Capt. Haddock. They are a delightful bunch of people slightly younger than me but oh how much more they talk than me. It is no surprise I have become a good listener too now, kudos to them.

But if I made new friends, I perhaps maybe lost a few of them too.

To be honest, we are all so busy fending for ourselves that in all this process we somehow forget that human interaction is the best way to keep you sane and happy-minded, “Happiness is only real when shared”.

So yes, I did get perhaps tad bit selfish last year and maybe moved away or got left behind, but nonetheless I still cherish every bit of the moment I ever shared with everyone in my life, past or present.

This year was not only about new and broken, it was also about reviving some forgotten bonds. I think I reconnected with a lot many pals of mine this time, sometimes my efforts, mostly theirs. I admit I have become habitual of distancing myself from all after a point but that’s only so that it’s easier to let go when required.

I could keep rambling away about importance of friendships and the broken ties and all but I guess we all know about them already. We all have those set of friends we can die for and fight for.

I thought I did too. I might still do. I hope I do.

I read this quote online (reading quotes is becoming a tasteful hobby recently) and it fits so beautifully with what I have been trying to write for so long.

It says-

“The thing is, that when you're young, you always think you'll meet all sorts of wonderful people, that drifting apart and losing friends is natural. You don't worry, at first, about the friends you leave behind. But as you get older, it gets harder to build friendships. Too many defenses, too little opportunity. You get busy. And by the time you realize that you've lost the dearest best friend you've ever had, years have gone by and you're mature enough to be embarrassed by your attitude and, frankly, by your arrogance.”

I hope I don’t become this person. And so as I hold my half-full glass of water (trying to be a optimist lately), I raise a toast to this ‘Shiny’ New Year and to all the ties in my life- old, new, broken and revived.

May the odds be in my favor this year.