The Train incident



 

She immediately caught my attention.  I looked at her, she didn’t look like the normal kids I saw day in and day out.

It was the usual crowded train that I took back home.  Somehow I managed to get a place.  She sat exactly opposite me.  When I was just trying to settle down, she smiled at me and I smiled back.

She looked a little different, very innocent – those big eyes were searching for someone.  A lady sat towards the end of the seat at the other corner. I put two and two together and quickly arrived at the conclusion that she could be her mother. I happened to look at her, she smiled back.  She gazed at her mother and was sort of happy. Everytime, the train halted at the station, she looked for her mother. Why was the little one scared? Was she scared that her mother would just leave her and go?  Not sure.

Then came a vendor selling her wares with a lot many toys. One of it was a caged parrot.  Kids were raising hue and cry and the mothers had to buy it for them. This little girl was looking the toy, touching it and looking at her mother. She desperately wanted to hold one in her hand. I wanted to buy the toy badly for the girl, but was unsure as to how her mother would take it, lest she take offence.

Just then a eunach entered the compartment. The girl went into a shrill and started crying. The eunach came near and just patted her, but she was so flustered even with the touch.

There were women standing all over and she was comfortable with the happenings around  but the moment the eunach entered,  she was so uneasy. A shrill went down my spine and I started wondering what could be so wrong with this.  We hear a lot of stories about child abuse and child molesting. The train arrived at my place of destination and I had to get down. However, it left me thinking about the little girl and I prayed for her safety. That’s all I could do at that point in time and got down.

The train left the station, but I could not forget the scared look in her eyes. We are not sure how many girls and boys get molested.  The numbers are scary, the percentage increasing. 

It is our duty to stop such acts that bring disregard and disrespect to our society.  Take the first step NOW!

Love

Rekha

 

 

The Sequel - Gayatri stands cold and numb

Gayatri is all dressed and is really anxious - Why the hell has Avi called her.  What did he want to convey?  Was he in another relationship, What if he walked out of her life ? She had a kid to take care of.  Would he be introducing her to someone he was involved with or attracted to?  She did not even have a decent job. The flat – oh yes! The flat was in his name.  There was nothing to call her own, except for Avi and her little princess.  What an irony, her princess also was named after him – she was Ananya Avinash.  It reminded her of the dialogues of the movie:

Yahi toh kiya hai tum jaise mardon ne hum jaisi auraton ke saath ... kabhi kok mein hi maar dala toh kabhi pehda hote hi ... yeh kaisi ajeeb parampara hai tum logon ki ... sab kuch tumhare naam ka ... maang meri sindoor tumhare naam ka, gala mera mangalsutra tumhare naam ka, kalai meri chudiyan tumhare naam ki ... yahan tak ki kok meri, khoon mera, doodh mera aur bacha tumhare naam ka ... sab kuch tumhare naam ka ... phir yeh batao aakhir tumhare paas kya hai mere naam ka?

 

This is what men like you have done to women like me ... sometimes you kill us when we are in the womb and sometimes just after we are born ... what kind of tradition you guys have ... where everything is in your name ... the hair parting is mine but the vermilion powder is in your name, the neck is mine but the wedding necklace is in your name, the wrist is mine but the bangles are in your name ... infact even the womb, blood, milk all are mine but the child is in your name ... everything is in your name ... now tell me what do you have in my name?

All sort of negative things were flashing down her mind.  Did she make the right decision of agreeing to meet him, she just wanted to delay the entire process of what was going on at that point of time.  It made Gayatri so stressed that she started sweating and tears started dripping uncontrollably.

She walked down her flat literally dragging herself.  Avi was always punctual then and even now. She sat next to him and he drove in the car, seated next to him.  It felt as if he was a stranger and there was stone silence between them.  There was so much to talk even few years back - where did all that vanish.  It kept her wondering. She just looked out of the window and it took her back memory lane.  Avi didn’t have a car then.  They just walked for hours together, holding each other and it felt as if nothing could be more beautiful than those moments.  It was like time was so less and both of them had to reach their respective homes which were in opposite directions. They just wanted to “BE” with each other.

What an anti climax. Here they were sitting besides each other but having nothing to talk except looking at blank space.  From the corner of her eyes, she looked at him. He looked so handsome and smart in his crisp white shirt and navy blue trousers with the designer tie and of course his spectacles.  What an irony? She was seeing him everyday – day in and day out.  It was like – so near but yet so far.  Thinking to herself “ He looks so handsome, is he the same Avi I see everyday”.  What was so different today? 

It felt like yesteryears when they sat at a restaurant and spoke for hours together, looked into each other’s eyes. There was coy, shyness every ingredient in that love recipe which made them stand out as the ideal couple then.  Where did all that vanish and how did it all simply go away with the wind.

More to come!!!

Keep reading, love you loads

Rekha

 

 

Night out with husband after a long sabbatical – What was in store for her?

Get ready tonight!  Will pick you up from home. We are going out for a dinner date.  Just wait down at the gate was what Avinash told Gayatri.  To give you a short brief, Gayatri is in her late 30s and Avinash just 5 years elder to her. 

Life passed on for both with Avi getting busy in his corporate life and Gayatri taking care of her daughter and with the household stuff.  All of a sudden, this call put her a little uneasy as to why Avi would want to take her out (without any rhyme or reason) for a dinner night. 

As always, she did not know what to wear.  She remembered her days of courtship with Avi when she would wear the choicest of outfits -  crisp chudidars with the collar neck and she looked impeccable in that.  Avi could never take her eyes off her and she would drown in all the attention he showered on her.

Things were a little different now with both of them becoming busy in their respective jobs. With time drifting, there was a little drift in their relations as well, thanks to their daughter growing up.  Avi climbed the ladder of success to such a great extent that he practically had no time for Gayatri. She too wanted him to do professionally well and gave him all the space he desired.

What happens when two people who loved each other so much, suddenly drift apart after years?  Is there nothing more to talk and discuss other than kids, their studies. The lady is either too busy with her household chores and kids education that she somehow forgets that she has a duty towards herself as well.

Why do we tend to put our likes and feelings always at the backend?  We need to know that only when we are happy, we will be able to keep others happy as well. What is the point if we are trying to play the martyr and keep sacrificing things that people love about us.  Gayatri now wanted to look her best and though she had put on a little weight, the curves did look attractive on her.  She looked quite the Indian feminine beauty with the innocent look.

She gazed outside the window and it took her years back, when they were dating each other, the first time when Avi proposed her and how he had fallen head over heels for her.  He could not take his eyes off her when she had just entered his cabin for an interview. 

Gayatri gave a long sigh. She could not be late.  Why was she feeling anxious and tensed ? She had dated Avi years back, after that it was the usual routine. But this sudden going out for a date.  It was a mix of anxiety with a little fear.  Did Avi find her as attractive even now as he did years back. So many questions to which she surely did not have the answers.

She draped a beautiful chiffon saree that clearly clinged to her body. Put on her big red bright bindi, applied the kaajal and looked absolutely ravishing and after wearing Avi’s favorite perfume – it just completed her look.

Wait to read more about the story…….

Loads of Luv

Rekha

My Small Platter of Words – Living It Up

Heya all, Am back after a longggggggggggggg lull and this could have been the longest break I would have taken from writing.

Just got tied up with few things, had something new to learn and stuff to be completed.

There are many small things and events in life, which may just come and appear before us just like a fairytale dream. For me these are dreams, that I would have surely imagined at some point. It could be just anything from meeting someone new in the office, exchanging conversations, have a cuppa coffee with your school friend or just as simple as eating a roadside vadapav, listening to a beautiful music note and making me go completely orgasmic.

These are the little things that pep me up and am happy that keeps me going.  Honestly, don’t know what to write, but it’s just that starting problem after this so called break.  I always have identified this connect with people – absolute strangers, but when we start conversing with them, the flow of words is absolutely natural like long lost friends.  Many a times, many amongst  us would have come across this sort of a feeling. What is this? They call it chemistry in today’s lingo. Without the slightest blink of the eyelids, we tend to link chemistry to the physical aspect.  Let’s think out of the box!  If I am made of energy and I am connecting with you, our energies are meeting and the CHEMISTRY strikes.  Am sure there are more takers for this. I call it the hormonal crush trying to go a little haywire..  Oops ! this is no medical terminology.  This is from my small platter of words.

What is that connect which connects me to people? Why do we connect to some people and are absolutely in sync with them.  We do connect to people who may be many many years younger to us or may be much older to us, but it’s as if we have known them for years.  This happens and if we jog our memory, we will find that life can be really strange at times.

If the connect had to be just between two people sharing the same age, I am unsure of what the world would have looked like. If age is a number, so be it !!! It’s good for the Maths lovers.

So let’s enjoy all that is new and exciting and live it up because LIFE IS ALL ABOUT LIVING

Loads of Luv,

Rekha

p.s. Someone told me anything connected to life is spiritual.  It made me smile and am still thinking!!!

 

 

What is the vacation fragrance – Yes, Summer is here

When I was a child, I always used to love summer vacations just like any other kid.  With exams getting over around end of March or the first week of April, we as kids used to be so thrilled.

I still recollect the times when I used to ask my amma – the air is appearing so fresh and I can smell the fragrance of the vacation.  My mom used to be amused at this statement and gave a surprised look at me.  I was all of 10 or 12 years, but the fragrance of the summer vacations still mesmerises my soul. Summers are not any longer so fragrant? You may ask why?  May be we have grown up and we no longer get to smell the summer and remain carefree the way we used to.

Those were the days when the drink “Rasna” had become so popular. I used to literally trouble my amma so much to buy all the flavours. It was just the feeling and happiness of opening the fridge and seeing all the different coloured syrups. That was fun for me. It was the thought of my amma laying the rice vadams and karuvadamas (papads).  The perfect place for laying these was the building terrace.  We literally used to book the places for these

I was the first to get up early in the morning and used to run to the terrace to broom that particular area where my mom used to get the big pot with the batter. It was fun.  That was all the help I could give her.  But I used to be with her for the entire time she laid those papads and vadams/vathals.  I used to count every little papad/vadam that she laid and smiled.  Hahahah, come to think of it, it brings a smile. There was this excitement. We used to have neighbours who would come to terrace to dry their mango pickles and chundaas. I can never forget those days of papads and drying mangoes.

We as kids used to literally ravage the terrace and steal away those goodies that were neatly covered with the white muslin cloth.

Yes, that’s the fragrance of vacation. Come April and May the fragrance always stayed for many many years.  It was happiness for no reason and there was every reason to be happy.

Luv Always

Rekha

Get a Life – GET YOUR LIFE

Aww!! I look awful and feel terrible, said Reema to her cousin Nandini on the phone.  What am I doing of life? I am just working day in and day out, managing home, kids, cooking, swabbing, cleaning and that’s it!!!!

It was Monday morning and Nandini had just reached office.  She saw 3 missed calls from Reema and she thought that maybe she should call back.  The first thing she did was to call Reema and this is what fell on her ears. Reema sounded really low and she did not know what to do.  She had been working before marriage - marriage, two kids was becoming too much to handle for her. 

Nandini had somehow managed to strike a balance between family and in laws and her kid and was satisfied more or less.  We always feel that the other side of the pasture is always green till we actually get to it.  Reema had help, her husband was well known in the corporate world.  She had all the luxuries that a corporate guy’s wife could ask for. A chauffeur driven car, the best restaurants, the best travel, luxury salons – what else was missing.  Yes, Nandini was just trying to figure out what is that vaccum that Reema was engulfed in and what is it that she was missing out.

It is just that small change in hormones which can suddenly make you feel as if you are at receiving end.  Yes, it could be the 40 plus syndrome.  Nandini immediately gathered her wits. They met on a weekend.  Reema spoke her mind out.  Yes, she was missing the corporate life and she was missing it terribly. She felt she had nothing to look forward to and it was the dreary routine day in and day out.  Nandini asked her to enroll for a yoga class nearby or may be something that she wanted to do(but never got the opportunity to do), probably try out a new hair style, consciously get dressed up and go for a morning walk and to give time to herself and think of something that she could manage from home. Yes, all this was possible, but at times, we just ignore these small things which may make up for the big things in life which we may regret years later.

Nandini asked Reema to meet her after a month. Yes, Reema was definitely a changed woman. She had a brimming smile and was looking much younger than what she looked probably four weeks back.  It’s just about making this small change in our life.  At times, simple words and gestures from someone can change the way you look at your life.  It could be a really big turning point for many of us.

At times, we switch off from the world, switch off from our life itself.  But for how long will we love to sit in this darkness?  A little of conscious shift in our routine, just a little change will help us to bounce back and believe me, it works wonders.

We need to get a life – GET OUR LIFE!!!

Love always

Rekha

Love knows no relations – It just happens!

He (Ram) had just graduated from his engineering college at Trichy and he arrived in Mumbai, totally unaware of what was in store for him.  He had received  a call for a written test and interview at one of the top Engineering MNC companies.  It was his first trip to Mumbai and life had just started for him at a corporate level.

He landed straight in (her) Reva’s home and was welcomed by Reva’s amma who was his first cousin.  Reva was Ram’s niece who was all of sweet sixteen.  Bubbly, chirpy and chattering all the way and they were complete opposite poles. The smile on her face was captivating and little did he know that he had fallen for that innocent smile (just like the ones you read in Mills and Boon novels) – Love at first sight.

Reva was not even aware that Ram had secretly begun to love her.  A little extrovert and someone who would call a spade a spade had many a times not responded or was rather curt when he approached her for some help, be it for shopping or when it came to guiding him, considering he was new to Mumbai. But still he was mesmerized by her.  All Reva knew was studies and just wanted to top in her tenth exams.  Ram had just completed a month in Mumbai and he got his first salary. That evening he got cakes for the entire family, knowing very well that Reva loved cakes especially the chocolate filled ones. She dug her nails into the cake and ate it like a child.

The joy of getting the cakes was much more than the first salary.  But Ram could never express his love verbally to Reva for fear that it might not be accepted. After all she was his niece and knowing well that marriage within the family may result in complications.

Years later, they met again at some common relative’s marriage.  Both of them happily married, but first love is something so beautiful and only he knew it.  He had loved her first and last!!!!

Rekha Mahadevan