Footprints - Haiku

few walk in life

their footprints stamped in our hearts

changing us forever

Written for Carpe Diem Haiku # 529 – Foot-prints

My Wishlist Continues - #WhatTheBlack

Being a photographer’s daughter, this is the most obvious choice. Though I haven’t really tried my hand at professional cameras, I wish to own one myself. An amazing Nikon DSLR in black is what I am drooling currently on. I wish I would be able to lay my hands on it sometime soon.

It’s been years since I have trying to learn to drive a car. But no matter how hard I try, the accelerator - break and clutch synchronization is just out of my understanding. My brother has given up trying to make me understand the basics. And hence when Maruti launched Maruti Celerio – the Auto Gear Shift Car that gives the freedom from having to press the clutch pedal or change gears, I think I have found a solution to my problem. I hope to buy one soon.

My room is currently painted in a dull shade of grey which looks drab and boring. Going by the current interior decoration trends, I have always wanted to paint one of the walls in black. I love collages and I wish to hang some of my handmade collages on that wall. The wall would also be the home for all the wonderful greeting cards I have received till date. (Yes, I have all of them in my safe custody)

What can be a writer’s wish than to win award for her writing skills. I wish to pen down a movie someday. And that Salman Khan acts in that movie. And then that movie goes on to become one of the biggest hits of its times. And then, I win a Filmfare for best screenplay. Yeah, Yeah, I know am daydreaming. But this is a wishlist and I can wish for anything :P

And now when I shall win the Filmfare, obviously I shall need an amazing black gown to wear for the occasion right? 

So well, that’s pretty much my wishlist for black.

This post is a part of #WhatTheBlack activity at BlogAdda.com

Inspiring a Fragrance

This incident happened a few months back. I was driving from Mumbai to Pune with my dear friend who has recently been married and stays at Pune. I was in Mumbai for some work. My friend, Priya had come to meet me in Mumbai.  I had the weekend off and she insisted I visit her home. I couldn't refuse. After all, what better way to spend the weekend than with a dear old friend, I thought. We took her car and drove off to Pune. A pleasant weather, a large flask of coffee, some eatables, cool music and an old friend to keep company. What else could I wish for! We started early morning so that we could avoid traffic.

It must have been around 8 am when just before hitting the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, we saw a lady waving her hands furiously asking for a lift. I could see her car parked which I believe must have broken down. My first reaction was to not stop. After all, you can never trust strangers these days. But just as I drove past her, something inside me asked me to stop. What if she is in some emergency? I can atleast ask her what’s wrong, I thought and stopped the car. Both of us got down. She seemed relieved to see our car stop and came running towards us. I could see she was well-dressed and looked like an educated woman. Panting a bit, she said that her car had broken down and she needed to reach Pune urgently and asked for a lift. She also said that she would pay me if need be. I wanted to help her but somehow I couldn’t really trust her and asked her to take a cab. May be she sensed that I was hesitating to help her.

‘I know it’s really difficult to trust strangers these days. May be if I would have been in your place, I would have done the same. But trust me. I could have taken a cab but it would be very late by the time I call for a cab service. Besides, I cannot hire a cab here since I have my two year old son with me and I am a little apprehensive about unknown cab drivers. I work for a multinational. Here’s my card. Hope you would be able to trust me now’, she said.

I looked at the card. Shivani Prasad. She was a General Manager at an Advertising firm. Priya and I looked at each other and talked in Gujarati saying that it wouldn’t be a problem if we gave her a lift. She seemed genuine. And we nodded to give her the lift till Pune. She seemed relieved.

She ran back to her car, brought her luggage and put it inside our car. She then went and picked up her son. She took the backseat and we started the journey with her thanking us profusely. She told us that it was her brother’s engagement today at Pune and that’s why she was in a hurry. She went on to tell us a few things about herself. Her son, Aditya was a cheerful little baby. Contrary to my expectations, not once during the whole journey did he cry. Shivani kept him entertained with her songs and funny noises. Priya held Aditya for a long time and he seemed comfortable even with complete strangers like us. 

We took turns to driving. And while Priya was at the wheel, Shivani offered me to hold the baby. I refused saying that they are delicate creatures. And that I was sure the moment I would hold him he would start howling. Shivani laughed at this and thrust Aditya in my arms. And to my utter surprise he did not cry. He smiled his cutest smile at me and my heart just melted holding this beautiful little kid in my arms. He somehow found my earrings very amusing and played with them all through the journey.

I don’t know whether we kept Aditya entertained with our gimmicks to make him laugh or we were being thoroughly entertained in his company. Hours passed in a jiffy and soon we were in Pune. Shivani told us her address and it was time to say goodbye to Aditya. While Shivani insisted that we join her at her brother’s engagement, we politely refused even though, I had half mind to attend it since that would have meant some more wonderful time with the cutie pie. I clicked a few pictures with him for the amazing time I had. Shivani thanked us again and we drove off.

I somehow felt so connected with that kid. The car without Aditya’s smiling noises felt so quiet. While we were driving quietly towards Priya’s home, I suddenly asked, hey what’s that fragrance?

‘What fragrance?’

‘Can’t you smell, there is this amazing kind of fragrance in the car. Something very different.’

‘I got it’, she said.

‘What?’

‘This is Aditya’s fragrance.’

And she was right. It was a baby’s fragrance. I know everytime a baby is around, a unique mesmerizing fragrance enwraps the air. A faint fragrance that is a concoction of various baby products and something indefinable. May be the indefinable is the fragrance of their innocence. A tinge of sweetness mixed with the warmth you feel in your heart when you a hold a baby. Perhaps it is this warmth that leads to this baby fragrance. Ethereal you would say and I wouldn’t argue. Perhaps, every fragrance isn’t meant to be defined, some should be silently savored, in all its purity amalgamated with an aura of bliss. That scent tugged my heartstrings in ways more than one, capturing my mind too, as I drifted away in its smoothness.

How I wish I could capture this baby fragrance in a bottle and keep it with me. And every time I used it, it would bring me back to the wonderful time I spent with Aditya. How I wish such fragrance existed !        

This post is written for #InspireAFragrance in association with Indiblogger and Godrej Aer

My Wishlist - #WhatTheBlack

Majestic, Dark, Intriguing

These words in my head start ringing     

When you ask me #WhatTheBlack

What do I wish, What do I lack

A Black Labrador is on the wishlist first

Holding it I am sure, day’s stress would burst

Coming home to eagerly waiting eyes

To unadulterated love and its accompanying highs  

(Yes, I have been dying to get a Labrador since quite some time now. It’s just that a few members of my family aren’t too keen on having one. But I hope to convince them soon. I just can’t wait to have one)

A huge Black Reclining Chair follows next

So that I could sink in whenever I need rest

After all the travelling that I do everyday

A cozy place is what I need at the end of the day

(I saw one at a friend’s house sometime back. And I have been waiting to get my hands on it since then. And I want a huge one. Trust me, a huge one.)

Was thinking of what follows third

And then to me it suddenly occurred

A limitless supply of Kohl would do

For those sexy eyes to make everybody drool

(Kohl eyes. Sigh. I love it. No, wait, I just lurvvvvv it. You wouldn’t find me without kohl in my eyes. Never. Ever. I have tried almost every kohl product available in market. And if I stop buying kohl for atleast next two years, I am sure I wouldn’t run short of the products. But, why make such high hopes. I am never gonna stop buying them :P )

And then comes the wishing for the fourth

What else would I need to survive henceforth

Endless cups of Black Coffee would just be suffice

To make sure my words are magical enough to entice

(Mind overflowing with ideas for new stories. Rain. A laptop. Black Coffee. Enough said !!)

And finally what would be number five

Let me check of what am I deprived

A sleek Black iPad is something to which I wouldn’t ever say no

To keep me connected while I am on the go

(Need I say more ?? I guess not)

This post is a part of #WhatTheBlack activity at BlogAdda.com

My Phone, My Super Power

Picture this. A thirty five year old well-educated, well settled person is busy in his hectic office and personal life. His parents stay in a small town that he grew up in. He takes care of all the needs of his parents. But what they need is not the money or materialistic wealth that he sends, but a few warm words stating that he still values them and misses them too. But who has the time to call up parents and ask them about what they had for dinner last night or if the old father is taking his medicines on time.

Picture this too. A teenage girl is stopped by his mother from going for late night parties or to her friend’s house by her mother again and again. The girl feels that her mother is overly strict and has problems with everything she does and gets increasingly irritated by her mother.

How about picturing this? A son hardly talks to his father replying him in monosyllables. The father believes that it is because his son is too arrogant to even acknowledge his presence or that he doesn’t even bother to reply him coherently. In reality, the son is an introvert who finds it difficult to express his feelings but finds his father's presence comforting.

And finally why don’t you picture this? There is a small tiff between lovers and they stop talking for days. Individual egos restrict them to come back to each other even though they terribly miss each other. One thing leads to another and the relationship breaks since none of them took the leap to convey the other person their feelings.

Do you see a similarity in all these cases? May be you guessed it. Yes, it is communication. Rather, lack of it.

‘Communication is the key to the survival of any relationship’ - is one of the most clichéd lines I have ever heard and yet it stands true to its every word.  Lack of it can wreak havoc on any relationship. Everybody knows this and yet how many of us follow this. In all the examples above, lack of time, inability to express feelings and ego became the medium of this thing called ‘lack of communication’. (Yes, I know I sound like those relationship experts but am I not correct here?)

For the heck of saying, today we are connected with people around the world 24*7. Yes, technically we are. But all this time, while we were getting connected with strangers across the continents, we probably forgot connecting with our own near and dear ones.

So, when it is being asked if my phone had a superpower, I can think of nothing better but this special power inside my phone that when held close to my heart would let the person I am thinking about know that I am missing them and that I value them or that I am worried about them or that I love them.

In all the examples above, how wonderful it would be if the parents would receive a ping from their super busy son when he thinks about the backyard garden where he played with his father. Or how relieved would the mother be if she knew that her daughter understands her concern everytime she is out late at night. Wouldn’t the father find more time to spend with his introvert son who needs his help everytime he is stuck up in a situation? And that relationship which broke-up because none of the two people who though terribly missed each other took the plunge of just picking up the phone and talking, wouldn’t it have been beautiful when both of them received pings when the other person missed them. 

As for me, how badly I wish that when I am in middle of a meeting, and I think about my mother for a flash of a second and my phone would let her know that even though I don’t have the time to call her up from my office, I still miss her. How I wish that when I see a group of friends having fun at a tea stall, I remember my college times and my phone would let my best friend know that I miss those times and that even though I don’t call quite often, the college memories are still afresh in my mind.

Just like me there are thousands of others who have probably got disconnected with their near and dear ones due to this so-called thing known as ‘lack of communication’. And this superpower phone could let their families and friends know that they are being missed or that they are still valued and ofcourse loved too. 

Just a simple mechanism and yet so powerful to make our lives so peaceful, so beautiful - to read the heart, and to convey the words that are often lost in chaotic pace today. How I wish my phone has this superpower !!   

This post is written for '#IncredibleZEN' contest organized by Indiblogger in association with Asus-Zenfone. 

Things That Zest Up My Life !!

Humdrum of life everyday

Colours missing, it sometimes seems grey  

Life passes by in mundane routines

Unless done a few things that add life some sheen

There are a few things that I swear by

They add a vivacious zest to my life

Around them, in my eyes, a smile you would see

With these near me, a good time I am guaranteed 

Words cannot describe what I feel

How writing makes my insides heal

Passion is just filament of a feeling

When my thoughts meet paper, a whole new world starts reeling  

 I lap up books like a hungry child

When I hold one in my hands, I feel beguiled

In them, sometimes I become a saint and at times I play somebody’s wife

With every book that I read, I live a beautiful new life

Shopping for me is no less than a therapy

Days become cheerful however they were horrible or crappy   

Like every woman, I’m a shopping lover by birth

And trips to malls are my ticket to heaven on earth

Long drives in rain recharge me

In my ecosphere of thoughts, I love to flee

Because with every falling drop

Negativity and worries inside me get wiped off

 Melts my heart on seeing ice-creams

Bland without them my life would seem

The diet goes for a toss when they are around

With every bite, in a never ending bliss I get drowned    

These are things that bring in my eyes a fresh gleam

Happiness happily following along with its team

These are the things that invoke within a fiery zest

And I celebrate my life’s moments with them like a fest

The list of zests for me is enough long

And I can about them, go on and on

Coz what would life be if you live without any passion

Coz I believe, Life is to be lived with a contagious enthusiasm

This post is a part of the #ZestUpYourLife activity in association with TATA Zest and BlogAdda.com.

My 'Zesty' Five

There are some words which are positive in their sound itself. They carry a happy and a bright feeling with them. ‘Zest’ is one such word. The dictionary defines this word as ‘great enthusiasm and energy’. I am sure everybody has something or the other in their lives that induces this zest in them. These few things make moments in life worthwhile. A few such things for me would be:

Watching Reality Dance Shows: No, don’t think that I can shake a leg or something. Nope. I just can’t. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying these shows. No matter how bad day I have had in office, play these shows at the end of the day in front of me and my mood gets lifted watching all those amazing and complex dance moves and lifts. I follow them fervently not missing a single episode of them. And while they are on, dare anybody touch the remote?  :P

Listening to Wind Chimes:  I love them. I just love their music. I have so many of them in the balcony of my room. Their soft tinkling sound is a great mood lifter for me. I think they are one of the best gifts that I receive (Yes, people around me know my love for them and I keep on receiving these once a while. Ofcourse, that doesn’t stop me from buying new ones for myself :P ). I love collecting them. And I hope to have a room full of wind chimes someday.  

Collecting Diaries:  My love for diaries is well known to people around me. And if a writer woudn’t collect diaries, who would? I have a huge collection of them. And I have different diaries for different purposes. One for writing all the good happenings of the day, one for making to-do lists, one for writing bad incidents and learning for life, one for remembering birthdays (yes, I am the traditional types, I don’t depend on my phone for that) and the most special one is for writing thoughts that get converted into blogposts. I protect my collection fiercely and nobody (even from my family) gets a chance to take away a single one from my collection. Seeing my collection everytime fills me up with immense happiness.

Making personalized gifts: Yes, I make personalized gifts for my loved ones. Somehow, making scrap books and other such personalized gifts gives me satisfaction. It makes me believe that I have put my heart into giving that gift. And I know the receivers treasure it too. That way, a part of me and the moments they have spent with me always remains with them. I love seeing the smile it brings on the people receiving these gifts. It makes them feel special and me happy.

Baking: This is my newest hobby or passion or experimentation field, whatever you can call. I have been fascinated by it. Watching ‘Cup Cake Wars’ and other cooking and baking shows on television has induced this new found interest in me. I have tried my hand at a few dishes recently. Not that everything turned out to be amazing but a few of them sure did. And I hope to hone my baking skills with time.

Well, these few things do the trick for me. What about you?

This post is a part of the #ZestUpYourLife activity in association with TATA Zest and BlogAdda.com.

Five Sentence Fiction - Rain

He folded all the clothes that were to be ironed in the old sari and waited patiently at the verandah for the madam to appear.

He prayed with all his might for a yes to his question because this was the last house where he could ask and if she too denied he would have nowhere to go.

‘I am sorry Shankar, I don’t think it would be possible for us’ said the madam and his last hopes sank, moistening his eyes.

‘But Madam, it is not such a big ..’ and before he could finish the sentence, the door had already closed.

He looked dejected at the sky covered with clouds, ready to burst anytime, remembering the urgent repair required in the leaky rooftop of the small room that accommodated his family of seven members.

Written for Five Sentence Fiction for the prompt - RAIN

Drive - Haiku

striving I have been

to drive myself away, from

your numerous thoughts

your numerous thoughts

clinging tight under my skin

not letting me breathe

not letting me breathe

I choke on our memories

they refuse to fade

they refuse to fade

and you cascade inside me

wounding me again

wounding me again

yet, it's driving me nearer

to my past in you

Written for Haiku Horizons Prompt # 21 – DRIVE

Friday Fictioneers - Clouds

Beautiful dark clouds cover the sky. Such a welcome change after summers! What a wonderful romantic evening it is! When Pranay comes home, we would go on a long drive just like old days. It’s been so.. And suddenly the words ‘old days’ echo in my mind and twinge of sadness rises inside me.

I don’t even remember the last time we did something romantic. I never thought that those amazing courtship days would vanish in thin air after getting married. I feel tears rolling down thinking about the beautiful past and a bland present I share with the same man.      

Written for Friday Fictioneers Photo prompt. 

Five Sentence Fiction - Dazzles

As a head-maid, she rushed around the house entire day overlooking the preparations for birthday party celebration to be held in evening.

She knew everything had to be perfect right from decorations, food, cake and return gifts because her madam wouldn’t take anything less than that.

While serving the guests, a quick look and tears rolled down her cheeks seeing her daughter who dazzled in her pink birthday frock looking every inch of a fairy while blowing two candles on her Barbie doll shaped cake.

She knew that being addressed as a maid by her own daughter for entire life was worth the pain because the well-to-do life her daughter was getting at the house where she had been faithfully serving was something she could never have been able to give.

After all, what more can a mother’s heart desire than a child’s wellbeing!!

This five sentence fiction is written for the topic 'Dazzles' at Lillie McFerrinWrites.