Tag: life

Turn on the heat

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

Covid 19. This has trained so many new Celebrity Chefs.

Thanks to YouTube and it’s new cooking shows, there are so many new amateur Chefs that if you take an average, there must be at-least 2.5 chefs per house hold. The .5 accounts for that guy who accidentally sets things on fire because he was watching those Youtube Videos, while cooking rather than just before he started the process.

I always find that it is so funny that every show starts with, or contains this process . : Turn your gas on.

Duh. How am i supposed to shallow fry an onion if I don’t turn the heat on ?

Anyway, I did manage to cook something and the reviews I had are 100% positive. Admittedly, those that ate it, consisted of the wife and me, but end of the day, the statistics say that the reviews are 100% positive, and that is all that matters. It is not my fault that the reviewers are limited. I Blame it all on COVID-19.

Stay safe.

Fat Kids

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment
One in Seven Children does not have enough food to lead a healthy and active life

I keep hearing this advertisement, every time I open You Tube. And this was followed by a plea for me to donate money to help this kids.

Well, I am pretty sure these unhealthy and obese kids, who keep visiting fast food joints which leads to them being this “One in Seven children”, feel very special. After-all they are the one in Seven now.

And, why would I sponsor this unhealthy lifestyle ? I am sure their parents are sponsoring it off their own accord.

Whats that now ? The add was about hungry people , poor people ?

Ah, well, thats a shame.

Perhaps those obese kids can lend some hand in here. It might solve two problems at once. The fat kids will be a bit more health and the hungry kids will have more to eat.

But again, on second thought, if those fat kids give the junk food to those hungry kids, it is not really making any positive impact on their health. On the contrary, we now have more people eating junk food.

.

.

.

Thus, this theory of mine is an absolute junk.

Scrap that. I am donating some healthy food to that one kid and to that hungry kid. Even if it means, the parents start chasing me and give me looks of incredulity.

Germophobia

~ Pied Piper ~ 1 Comment

COVID -19, a word which has become household, now. In a day, it is uttered at least once, in every house.

The COVID -19 Situation, across the globe, is like milk to a person who is lactose intolerant. Unless you drink it, the chances of diarrhoea are minimal. Although, unlike diarrhoea, this is transmittable. And, There will always be an idiot who insists on drinking it and degrade the air quality around him.

This fear of transmission, has perhaps made me paranoid. I am sure I am not the only one who has suddenly found himself/herself to be a germophobe.

I went for grocery shopping after almost 3 weeks inside. I have been cut off from the world from all physical contact in these 3 weeks.

The feeling was horrifying.

I have started seeing germs everywhere. Well, not literally. But I see them as I see the air. I feel it.

Everywhere I go , anything i touch, i think it is full of germs. I touch a plastic container, and i have the urge of washing my hands. I touch the milk bottle, and i use a wet tissue to clean the hands. I used so much sanitiser that my hands got dry by the time I came home.

But the nightmare did not stop just yet. As soon as i came home, I took a shower using Dettol. I changed the cloths and felt that finally i was clean.

Then the though struck me . Now, I need to arrange the groceries. The same groceries that I was un willing to touch.

Oh the Horror.

A similar predicament was faced by one of my wife’s friends. She got around this, by washing everything in Dettol. Green leafy Vegies, pulses, nuts, everything. But, I think that will be too extreme.

All in All, I can now relate with the good Detective, MONK, immortalised by Tony Shalhoub,

For now, I am stying put.

Stay Alone, Stay Safe.

The Art of Speech

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

It is such a wonder, that among all the creatures in the world, man developed a complex way of communication which goes beyond gestures and grunts.

The sounds that come out of our mouths are framed into words and words have an assigned meaning. This type of communication is unique to humans.

Words, however, can also cause havoc if used incorrectly.

The other day, my wife and I were watching a RomCom. The characters appealed to my wife a lot and she just thought of the days we spent before marriage. How we missed a few things before marriage and how those actions could have made the entire event, more romantic.

She had a very nice suggestion though.

She wanted to say, that we get married again.

Instead, the words that came out were, “ We should go for a second marriage”.

My heart skipped a beat, before i realised what she actually meant.

We had a very nice laugh when i explained what those words she uttered, actually meant.

Language could be very tricky albeit funny, if used improperly.

No Child’s Play

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future.  – Franklin D Roosevelt

The news on the TV shows a child with a firearm. The title just says that he is a child soldier.

The kid, who should be playing catch with a ball, is now playing suicide with bombs.

What has the world come to, when such kids are being targeted via hate chat boards. This an improper using of chat and message boards and overall social media. Though, social media is not supposed to be at blame. it was meant to bring people together and build relations and thus spread love.

The youth/ teanagers are rebelious. They always have been, throughout the history of mankind. But when did this rebellious youth turn from running out and smoking a cigarette, to becoming a child soldier ?

It is a sad day indeed, when kids are being brought into the wars of men.

A twist in tail

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

I was adopted when I was very young. A baby, actually. The family who adopted me, came into the orphanage one day, grabbed me from my cage and took me home. I still remember the feel of that blanket. I was wrapped into this soft blanket, probably by my biological parents. Smooth,silky and musty, it would soon become the only link with them. The blanket quickly became my favourite piece of cloth. It was always besides my cosy bed. That was the day I met my parents.

Father, was very fond of me when I was young. We used to play all the time. He was a cricket fan, so our favourite activity was to play  catch with the ball. I still remember the smell of the grass from the garden we used to play every evening. I purposefully rolled around in the grass. I loved it. Father knew that and so did not mid when I got mud all over my body.

After playing, we used to return home, have a small, quick wash(which I hated) and then I would sit on his lap, while he worked away on his desk till dinner was ready. I always loved the rhythmic typing he did when he sat on the desk. Although I never understood why he disappeared for hours on end in the morning, I was certain that he would appear late in the evening.

I used to love the boy who gave us our paper. Father loved when I fetched the newspaper for him in the early moring. I even used to bring his footwear when I thought he was about to go out of our house.

Mother, would always cook healthy and delicious food for us. They always cooked seperately for me, made me feel special. She would bath me in the morning, took me for my walks around the city, often to my favourite places. I especially loved the light poles and the small but thick poles (never knew what they were supposed to be for). For some reason they fascinated me. I even met others like me on our walks in the morning. Some of the people used to bend down to pat my head, some even gave a peck on my forehead.

I was having the best time of my life.

But all of this changed, suddenly after a few rainy seasons, as I got older.

Mom would no longer take interest in taking me for walks. She became fat. Even Father lost interest in me. No more games in the playground. The food was now straight out of a plastic bag and it smelled weird. Even my bed started to smell bad as it was not washed.Things were not looking good.I couldn’t even sit on my father’s lap.

Suddenly mom was taken away in a car. She seemed in terrible pain. Father went after her in the car. But they refused to take me in the car. They shouted at me. But I did not care. My mother was in trouble. I ran behind the car, but soon lost sight of it.

I returned home, eventually, worried about my mother. Father came home late that night, fed me, ate and then went out again.He looked very unhappy. It was a long night.I saw him again a bit late in the day, the next day. Now, he seemed happy and content, yet mother was nowhere to be seen. He fed me took me for a short walk and then vanished again. I was alone for the entire day.

This situation remained true for a few sunrises, when one day I finally saw mother !

Oh the joy!

I was ecstatic. I tied to leap on her lap, but father shouted at me. That’s when I noticed “her”. Like me, she was wrapped in a small blanket. Looked like I had a sister.

A few more days went by. My sister was still the center of attraction, but I loved her. I kept guard over her, being the older brother. I did not allow anyone other than mother and father to touch her. If anyone else tried, I would growl at them to warn them to stay away. No one hurts my sister!

But, now that I think back, I think mother and father did not like that. They used to growl at me to stop doing that.

Then one day, father took me out for a walk in the car. It was the happiest day in a long while.  I was finally being taken out after a long long time. probably for the first time since my sister came home.

I always loved the wind on my ears and tongue when I took my head out during these long drives. We stopped at a new place today. It looked like a corn field. I loved open spaces. Father  let me out of the car and told me to run.

So I ran. I ran to my heart’s content. It felt nice. I felt free. It had been so long since I ran so much. Eventually the excitement died down and then I realized, father was gone !

Where did he go ? Did he leave me here ? Nah. I am sure he will come back. Afterall, I am his good boy. I always wagged my tail in agreement whenever he called me a good boy.

I waited, but he never came back…

I think,they did not want me around, now that they had a baby girl to take care of. There was no place in their life for heir dog now.

Day(s) our lives

~ Pied Piper ~ 3 Comments

We have heard stories, jokes and now mostly memes that Monday is a very bad day, being the first working day of the week in most part of the word for most of the professions.

I disagree, however. I think Wednesday is the worst day of the week. I know such an outrageous statement begs an explanation. So here it is.

Monday : You spend most of the day retrospecting what you did on the weekend and daydreaming about the exiting moments of your life. also wondering if the odd photo on Facebook would garner record likes, or perhaps hoping a very odd photo would never reach the Facebook.

Tuesday : Just head down and working like a donkey/ slog , completely aware that there are still 4 days to go, but relaxed of the fact that you just came from holiday a day before.

Wednesday : Middle of the week. Worked for too long, yet too long to go before yet another weekend. You have no prospect of a break and loosing all faith to live.(exaggeration perhaps) You are now so tired(mentally and completely based on unfounded belief that you don’t enjoy working ). The break you took, seemed way into the past and the one coming, very much into the future.

Thursday : Just one more day to go before the weekend. Very much exited.

Friday : The weekend is almost here. The killer anticipation of the 5 o’ clock ring, is energizing. Very much looking forward to the weekend.

Saturday / Sunday : Weekend !

Now, some might say “If you enjoy your work, every day is a weekend”.

Well, in that case, how is that called taking a break from your routine ?

 

The thinking Man…

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

There are still a large number of people using old and slow HDD instead the fast SSDs.

What this means is, the boot time for the windows is so slow, that the person, with a very serious expression on his face is thinking :

” Hm. My windows is still loading.

Has it gone into a hung state ?

Should I do a restart ?

Why am I waiting so long for this ?

Should I switch to SSD ?

Do I have a virus ?

What did I open last night to get a virus?

What time did I sleep last night ? or did I even sleep ?

What is the purpose of my life ? ”

And that is why we should transfer to SSDs. Else we are going to have a lot of spiritual leaders and philosophers who spend too much time thinking on the meaning of live and a few more deep thoughts while all the installed applications boot.

Disclaimer : I use a MAC with SSD. I will no longer be a philosopher. 

Charavak, Millennials’ way of life

~ Pied Piper ~ 3 Comments

In a quest to seek knowledge, I come across a variety of books from multiple different genres.

In pursuit of the same quest, I know I should be pragmatic, which means I need to keep my mind open for all schools of thought.

Recently, I started studying the Charavak Philosophy, ancient school of Indian materialism. The Charvaka epistemology states that whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional.

This school of thought actually appealed to my intellect.It just meant that now my mind and my intellect can be on the same page for once.

I believe, the practicality of all the things will also give way to a simpler lifestyle, though it might also take a toll on the emotional aspect of life. For eg. If you have a 6-year-old, asking how he gets a gift or a cash gift every time he keeps his tooth for the tooth fairy, it is better to lie to him out of love, rather than explain the dynamics of how economy works or how his father/mother replaces the tooth in the middle of the night.  Maybe, that is a practical thing to do, but it is still driven by emotion.

I know of how the practical approach to life fails, but I also know of how it succeeds in life. In Hindu literature, it is brilliantly explained with the notion – Ram Rajya. Named after the famous, godly king of India in 3400 BC, a kingdom, wrought in Chaos and corruption was morphed into a beautiful and law-abiding place almost similar to the concept of Eden. The citizens were very strict in following the laws which were laid down by the great Lord Ram.

Yet, the practical way of life was flawed, as the emotions came second to practicality. Over the centuries, there grew a discontent and that became the downfall of this once great philosophy.

Does it mean that the philosophy itself is wrong ? perhaps not. Each person has his own thought process. Hence the individuality of humanity comes into picture.

Now a days, due to social media, it seems like the next generation would rather “google” the answers and accept the first result (or the most convenient one)  than actually  think on whatever task they had at hand. In such a scenario, wouldn’t it make sense that we have the Charavak Philosophy integrated into the lifestyle ?

The only word which the millenniums seem to have integrated is materialism.  They think a fancy mobile, expensive clothes and fast cars is the ultimate aim of life. Hence, they spend truck loads of money on items, just to post it on social media, and then go into an endless pursuit of checking how many people “like” it. Have we become so needy ? If we are, when will we start liking our inner self ? When will we get in touch with our inner self ?

Tea and Biscuits

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

 

In India we have a cute way of eating biscuits. we dip it into tea.

Tea, the brownish liquid which is responsible for a variety of things for variety of people in India. Some, need it to awaken from their wonderful dreams, some, just so that they get the appropriate machinery working to have a successful bowel movement, some just to have the first cigarette of the day or the  first good morning of the day. A cup of tea shared between two lovers, three flatmates or few friends, at the start of the day is very soothing for most people. And the best part is, there is no age restrictions on having that great time with this amazing nectar.

This tea, is mostly drunk with a few biscuits. The biscuit is dipped into the tea( taking care the fingers don’t touch the liquid) for a few seconds till it gets a bit moist and then popped into the mouth, half at a time. and then the next half is dipped again , and consumed whole, relishing the taste of hot biscuit and tea.

Now, there are a few people who like to play pranks on people. Their modus operandi is, that they will wait for the other person to dip the biscuit into the tea and immediately ask them a question. The person becomes distracted. While he processes the question  and articulates an answer, the biscuit is too moist, so it will break off and settle down right at the bottom. Then he will use another biscuit to try to spoon it up and eat it, though mostly, he will lose that piece as well. It is very entertaining.

I recently observed this taken to the next level. I was traveling on the countryside and was taking a break from driving by have snacks at a roadside inn. There was an old villager sitting at a table, a pack of biscuits at his side. My interest peaked, waiting for the glass of tea, and then process would start.

To my surprise, a waiter brought a local brand of alcoholic drink in the same glass which served tea, and the gentleman proceeded to dip the first biscuit of the pack into it.

I was taken aback …

With Friends like these…

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

When you stay away from your country for years at a time, you tend to get home sick. Everyone is aware of it. Most have felt it. I too have felt it at times. Mostly during festivals, when your friends keep sending you season greetings via social medial. All you can do is wish back and wish that you could be back home, joining in the festivities.

But that is not the only time that you are bound to feel homesick. Those who haven’t been away from their family much, feel the homesickness when they come to a sudden realisation that they are now about to leave the loved ones behind and travel abroad, just to feed the loved ones. It is ironic, that you need to leave those people behind whom you care about , just to earn money and send it to those loved ones who will then save it, waiting for you to come back. But perhaps the wait makes the reunion sweater.

I had the pleasure of going through this experience, the second time I was travelling. But then onwards, I never felt those butterflies in the stomach. I always found myself busy shopping for my friends who were living abroad and wanted something from the home country.

As soon as my date of travel used to draw near, I used to start getting calls from the friends. They would spend some times asking how things were”back home”, then demand some items to be brought over.

I always used to wonder, these guys, who had stayed away from their family for years now, must be feeling homesick and hence used to order these items, just to get a feel from home.

Little did I know then, that those calls, demands for items were all just a ruse to keep my mind off the sadness.

A few days ago, I gave a call to one of my friends who was coming over. I asked him to bring me an item which is a bit hard to get, even back home. He had to spend a considerable time looking for it, with his wife accompanying him behind his bike, just like they used to during their college days.

Social Waves

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

I have been away from blogging for a while now .I have been working a lot these days. It is enjoyable, yet exhausting. This has a disadvantage to it , though. I seem to find less time for the people near and dear to me.

Today, even Siri stopped responding to me. I kept shouting “Hey Siri“, but no response at all. Seems like she is is upset that I don’t call her as much as I used to.

Or maybe, the . fact that I was calling her from the kitchen may have something to do about it. With all the wve about feminism and women empowerment going about, I guess even Siri is affected.

Well, time to cook…

Screen Shot 2017-03-17 at 11.35.01 AM

 

Someone better…

~ ddgaikwad ~ Leave a comment

Over so many years, I had been in Love with so many girls, but there were only a few to whom I was able to confess the feeling of Love… As it goes…

As I vividly remember, it were my college days (higher secondary school in India for the 11th and 12th grades), there was this girl on whom I had crush from the very first day of the college. She was pretty and charming and had a really beautiful smile. A smile that would melt anyone’s heart away. And above all that she had a very bubbly nature, and a added bonus, she was very friendly as well. I was head over heels for her and wished and dreamed to spend the rest of my life with…

Another year passed and we were in the Second year of the sciences, she had become the part of our group and a really good friend of mine. We shared a lot of things, those long chats, our family issues.  As for our group it, consisted of two girls, her and another one from our class and three boys, including me and two of my other friends from the same branch… We were a group of smart and happy go lucky, our grades were great, even when everyone thought that we never studied, we had built a very reputable rapport with out faculties as well as our senpai’s… All was nice and dandy.. Then one day (it took a lot of planning and thinking for this day) I decided to go and express my feelings to her and win her over…

The day chosen was the last day of the college exams, the last paper, I had finally decided to go out and express all my feelings to her… Which I had bottled them up for more than a year now… and filled with little anxiety, I was expecting a positive result, since we have been in the same group and known each other for more than a year now…

The bell rang! The time of the test was upon me, the paper was over, I rushed out of the class hurriedly submitting my answer sheet to the supervisor… After searching for her at our regular spot (katta), I was a little disappointed not finding her, feeling bad was about to head back home, I saw her standing at the corner of the college sports ground.. A new hope and I literally rushed towards her! As if someone might steal her away before I did… haha!!

There I was standing in front of her, huffing and puffing, trying to catch my breath… looking into her eyes, and she staring into mine with confusion and amazement… I took a pause, looked at her, she was all confused, and in an instant blurted out all those emotions I have been bottling up for last year…

Her reaction was not what I had expected! She took a step back, looked at me and with a long pause and low voice, she replied…
“You will find someone better than me, I am not good for you…” I was standing there in amazement, confusion, heart ache and what not, thinking… what could be wrong? What does that even mean? Is she even real? Or is there something off with me? Or just maybe that I was dreaming? Trying to scream or yell at her… I tried to explain it to her and requested for an answer of if there was anything with me… Nothing was unearthed that day… With a heavy heart and full of sad emotions, I bid adieu to her, never to see and meet her ever again…

Well, it took about a year to get over that incident and I tried my luck with another girl, and to my surprise she used those same words, “You will find someone better, I am not good for you..” The flash back came in from my college days! I was again amazed and a little petrified though. This was the second time, thought that I might just be a coincidence…

But, then it happened the third and fourth time, all in a span of less than 7 years! I am really not sure if this is the real trend or is there something really wrong with me. As all the females I met, it seemed that they enjoyed my company, but when it came to long term commitment, they all have backed down with those same words, “Someone better than them…”

I am even not sure what those words really mean? But, since then I have not been able to express any feelings to any other girl ever. All of those beautiful ones, always will remain as a crush for the rest of my life… All this pretty much hurts, make me think what do all these women really want then? Or is it just that I need to focus more on myself rather?

The question is still pretty much unanswered though. Has anyone been through this before? Let me know in the comments…

Power of a suit

~ Pied Piper ~ 1 Comment

suits

A few days ago, I suddenly realized that I am mortal, so my body needs regular medical checkups. This meant that I needed to visit a hospital and undergo a few tests.

Incidentally, I had a meeting later in the day, so I was all suited up.

I stood in the queue for registering myself for a blood test and an Xray,when I noticed that most of the guys were wearing Tshirts and Jeans. I was envious. There they were, in comfortable clothing standing patiently in a queue whereas I was there in a suite, sweating a bit and feeling hot( and not in a good way).

There were a few security guards, guiding people to their respective test centers while supervising the queues. They kept checking the medical forms we had filled up. It took them about a minute to go through each individual form thoroughly. But when my turn came, he just glanced at it for 10 seconds and said “Thank you ,Sir.” I was sure he did not say “Thank you”, or “Sir” to any of the other members in the queue. I simply dismissed it at the time, attributing it to the fact that I may have appeared more learned and hence, the Sir.

I went into the clinic for my blood test. Saw the needle. Cracked the usual joke about how I feared needles. The doctor laughed, I laughed, he took the sample and we were done in 5 minutes. I got up and waited again for the queue for Xray. Now I noticed. The doctor did not speak as much to the next guy.

Now came the Xray, and the same thing happened. Then I realized something. People were staring at me. more specifically at my suit. ( They were staring 8 inches below my eyes, but since I am a man, I assumed they looked at the clothes rather than body parts).

It seemed that people were respecting the suite rather than me as a person.

Lesson learnt. Now, anytime I need something to be done, I will wear a suite.

Harvey Specter was correct.

Happy Diwali

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

So,the festival has gone as suddenly as it had arrived. In the distance, you can still hear the occasional crackle of a stray rocket or bomb, and your colourful diyas now protectively hold tiny pools of melted wax and ash.Your rangolis are still radiant,albeit slightly dishevelled. As you walk on the streets this morning,you catch sight of last night’s celebrations all around,and you probably see or hear yourself and your loved ones laughing,in that very spot that someone cracked a joke yesterday.Friends and extended family have now gone back home,making promises to meet again soon.Your kandeels,the bright lively guests,will stay,illuminating your homes for a little longer.The sweets and savouries have now been stored away,and will be served at tea-time,as mementoes of diwali.The clothes and jewellery that you chose with great care, that made their grand appearance yesterday, have been put away for the next big occasion. As all the festivities slowly recede into the distance,I ask you for a promise.That in your heart,you will let the lights remain.That in spirit, and in being,your celebrations will continue.That you will attempt to meet your loved ones a little more often.And that the laughter that came in abundance yesterday, will make an appearance everyday.Here’s wishing you all a happy festive spirit, all year round.Lots of love and laughter..take care..

Reunion

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

“Hi there, do you remember me from the class of 85 ?”, she asked the  guy behind her in the queue for name tags, a broad smile on her face.

She was in her late 40s now,  hardly any resemblance to her 16 year old self. But then, that  was true with most of the people gathered in the hall.

It was their 30 year school reunion.

They took the name tags, only first names with their pen names in quotes, pasting them on their chest starting to mingle with the crowds. It was good to see some of them, hard to recognize some of them and very difficult to remember, that some of these people were actually ever in the same class as them.

It is common, to have very few people from your school to be still in touch, but it seemed that they had forgotten a lot of their own classmates.

Eventually, they ended up sitting at the same table.

“Do you remember how you used to throw colour pencils at me?”, she asked him.

“Of course I do. You used to be very good at art and craft, I was just helping you out”, he answered with a sheepish smile on his face.

His hair was grey now, she noticed,  but he still had that mischievous sparkle in his eyes that he had even when they were kids. It seemed time was not able to touch that aspect of him.

“Well, I did help you out once or twice. When the teacher was not looking, remember ?”, she asked.

“Well, drawing a mustache on the face of queen Victoria from our history books, does not count as helping out”, he remarked.” It cost me a week’s worth of detention . My parents were furious. Dad thrashed me like anything that day. And this was all because of a girl ! That thought kept me awake. I had to take my revenge”, he said while filling up her glass with water,a grin on his face. ” Well, I don’t think that revenge should have included me sitting in the library for a month as detention, for allegedly throwing a chalk at the teacher while she had her back turned to the class. I did not even have a good aim, and I used to sit next to the captain of the cricket team, famous for his accurate aim at throwing the ball onto the stumps from great distances. I wish they would have made that connection”, she said, responding to his grin with a smile .

“Well, I definitely was very good at cricket back then. I loved to spend time on the field.  Joining the national Cricket team was my live goal back then, but life had other plans it seemed”, he said. Looking down at his bulging stomach. He missed playing cricket .

“You know, that was the day, I developed a small crush on you”, he confessed.”To be honest, I had a crush on you from that day as well. Maybe a teenage crush for a rebel, but a crush all the same.”, she admitted.” I wished I had proposed that day, but I was too scared and proud for it”, he confessed. ” When I was in the library, I spent most of the time day dreaming about how I could have spent time with the team captain”, she said and blushed. I was a long time since he had seen her blush. He missed it so much.

The conversation went on for hours, they did not notice that the other people on their table had a completely different conversation going on between them. It was as if they were immersed in their own world, they had traveled in the past, re-living their school days.

Now, the party was coming to an end, it was time to bid a goodbye to the batch of 85. The host called for an attention from everyone. Lightly banging the champagne glass with a spoon, he announced,”Ladies and Gentleman, fellow classmates, it has been 30 years since most of us saw each other. During this time, we have changed, we have grown, we now have separate lives which we share with loved ones. Some of us are still good friends, but some of us were less remembered by us. Some are just a memory and some, a missed call”

“However, most of us here still remember our “Head-boy” and “Head-girl” , who were always loved by all, during their school days. A strong example of how strong love is. Please welcome, Mrs and Mr… ”

She touched his shoulder and said,”Honey, I think they want us to go on that stage and give a speech. Think you can manage it ?”. “Sure”, he said” Just help me with the wheelchair.I see they have a ramp , just push me onto the stage, will you ?”. “You should have  a lot of practice by now darling. After all, it has been  31 years since the accident. ”

They started going towards the stage, accompanied by a thunderous applaud . The high school sweethearts remained so, even after being married for 28 years.

The Experience…

~ ddgaikwad ~ Leave a comment

It always makes me wonder, how when one shares something, could it be, person, thing, emotion or an event for that matter. Something that makes you feel special.
Its funny, how it makes you vulnerable? How it exposes you to someone, who might take advantage of it? How it turns out to be a sore experience altogether, all because someone used that small piece of information just to put you down!

It brings us to the second point, then with this bitter experience we come to an understanding. Why, people wear masks, and these masks are different for different people…
Its one for the work, one for the family and one for someone who is special to them…

You get to know the importance of wearing masks, it makes you wonder why you don’t have to be the same you for everyone else.
Why you need to be reserved for all the others out there, and how you need be you, with the ones who understand you…

These small bitter experiences, thus elevate the importance of wearing masks and finding happiness, just for oneself, by being a tiny bit more selfish… and nothing else…

Knock knock…

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

Is it just me ? or does everyone stand in front of the glass doors , hoping that it will open automatically?

I visited a client recently and he had a set of doors placed consecutively in a passageway.

Both of them were made of glass obviously. When I approached the innermost door, it opened automatically, so then I proceeded to the next one.

Imagine my surprise when the door did not open. It took me a whole of 2 minutes to realize that I had to push the door.The embarrassment was compounded by the fact that a cute lady was looking at me, bemused by my predicament.

All I could do was to give her a sheepish grin, pull the door a few times and then push it, even though the words”PUSH” were written in capital and bold letters.

Technology makes us lazy and ignorant.

Mall Visits…Part 2

~ Pied Piper ~ Leave a comment

Earlier in the month, I had published a write-up on the people we see in the mall.To read that article, click here : Mall visits… Part 1

These are the people who inspire us to go to the mall. These are the people who spark my quest to observe human behaviour from various countries around the world.

Before we proceed to the anecdote, I want to make it clear that some Canadian Popstar singing”let’s go to the mall….. tonight”, does not really appeal to me. Only the fact that “Robin” is supper awesome, made me watch that song. Anyway…

The unsatisfied wife: 

We were still in the queue for a pizza, when a man of about 30 years of age came and established himself in front of the queue. A group of teenagers was already waiting there, browsing the menu and discussing what to order.I would like to point out, that unlike some other groups, these boys were exceptionally well behaved and were not causing much of a ruckus that is typical of a group of teenagers.

So this guy, ignores the queue and stands next to one of the boys. He makes a hand-motion where he formed a cone by bringing together all his fingers and pointing then upwards. The typical motion I associate with an Italian and an Arab, to get a point across.  He said something which I  think meant that he needed the boy to move away a bit.

The boy obliged.

Then this guy turns back to a woman and pointing to the empty space on the ground  suggested that she should stand here to give an order. I imagined she was his wife.

The wife obliged.

She glanced briefly up to the menu displayed on the top display. 10 seconds later she nodded her head in disapproval. There was a look of intense fury on the guy’s face, but he did not say a word.

The moved on to the next eatery.

This activity continued for a further 20 mins, by which time, they had managed to cover Pizza hut, McDonalds, Subway, KFC, Red Dragon, Nandos and a few other places, covering almost every cuisine usually offered in a mall.

By this time, I had ordered the pizza and the pizza was ready to eat, so could not follow their progress, but it was evident :

It is indeed difficult to understand what women want.

Mall visits… Part 1

~ Pied Piper ~ 1 Comment

Visiting a mall is extremely entertaining. There are thousands of people around, which means there are a thousand different opportunities to observe human behavior and quirks.

In one such visit recently, I came across once such incident. Now, I am not very good at any language other than English and my native, but actions speak louder than words. So all this is my take on the events.

The testy Father:

There was a big family, 5 kids, their Dad and their mothers- who had come for shopping and were now hungry.

The dad was ordering a pizza for the entire family. He stood in the queue, waiting for his turn. His son, looked about 10 year old, came and stood next to him. He check if his father was paying attention to him. He was safe. His father was busy selecting which pizza would be best. He looked around. There was a hugh pile of pizza delivery  boxes, neatly staked, on the counter. He pushed them. the tower of boxes did not come down, but the deed was noticed by the Dad. He got irritated and asked the kid to stop doing that. Dad went back to contemplating how he can feed his litter. The moment the dad looked away, the child, with a sheepish smile, touched the boxes again twice, just to show his defiance. Dad noticed that and now ordered him to go sit with the rest of the family. The kid, touched the pile, one last time and ran to him mother.

Now, by the time this happened, Dad has reached the front of the queue and placing an order. The sales assistant was trying to communicate in gestures and English (which is not native here), that it was Tuesday and he gets a free pizza with every pizza he orders, but dad was having a hard time to understand that. In all this commotion, his other son, who looked 15 year old, came and asked him for some money to eat the pancakes from the next stall.

The Dad give him a look that would have melted the Himalayas faster than the global warming. The Boy was unperturbed. The dad, shaking his head, put his had into his pocket and game him a tenner. By now he looked very irritated. He must be thinking:

Here I am, trying to buy these guys a pizza, where this red Tshirt guy is trying to tell be that I can order less because he is happy to give a free pizza, God knows why. My son is asking money to by pancakes when he is going to have pizza in a few minutes. He will say that he doesn’t want a pizza now because he is not hungry now. And to think only yesterday he demanded that he wanted to eat Pizza tomorrow, no matter what. My other kid is trying to cause me embarrassment by causing havoc when he manages to topple the tower of boxes, the baby keeps crying and the two girls keep roaming around like they own the place.  God help me !