Kacche Dhaage

I don’t know if I’ve told you about this guy who keeps sending unsolicited forwards, but here’s a very interesting thought he sent the other day – It's a wise man who lives with money in the bank; it's a fool who dies that way...


My neighbor expired on Friday . I wouldn’t have been too shaken if the circumstances hadn’t been so dramatic.


He was a lovable chap, roughly around 56-58 years old. Always dressed in his long chaddis and a white banian, he sat watching TV with the door wide open in the evenings. Whenever we used to walk up to our flat, he used to smile and say hello, not bothered about his attire or posture. I also remember him as he returned from work, straddling his daughter’s rickety yellow scooter. Quite a merry man...


The circumstances I’m talking about are this... He and his wife have two daughters, both married off happily, one abroad and the other right here. While the daughters have a few years between them, both of them happened to get pregnant and deliver a baby girl on the exact same day, a few hours apart on different parts of the globe. While the mother went to tend to the elder one in Canada, the dad stayed with the other daughter and her grandma in Delhi.


Thanks to the internet, they shared experiences, feelings and pictures, and were due to meet soon as both new mothers had completed their interlude. His wife landed on Saturday dawn, but she was a few hours late to say a final goodbye to her husband who departed Friday evening. Massive heart attack. His local daughter says he was over excited to see his wife and other daughter. I wonder what his thoughts and emotions were...

Life is so unpredictable. Senior folks past 80 continue to live like death has forsaken them, while youth and middle-aged people have their lives cut short by fate. Is this fair? Is this how it was always meant to be? That while we are anxious about road mishaps, people die at home without a flutter?


I've heard so much bad news last year related to babies and pregnancies... I wonder why destiny is playing such games. Have people really erred so much??


(Just like I do whenever I hear “Hey Ram, Hey Ram... Tu hi mata tu hi pita hai...” That was the song that was going on when I went to offer condolences at a family friend’s demise. How things get associated...)


Blood relations are sometimes not as strong as relations of the heart, which is often why friends and neighbors rank higher in the priority list versus relatives. Maybe that's why their misfortune and deaths affect us more...


Also a Dad, who doesn’t let his teenage son walk 1 kilometer to the school alone. The car plies up and down to lug the brat, even as the Dad orders another’s child to ride alone 20 kilometers in the dense traffic all week for some work.


Even if the family is bickering away day and night, one cannot bear even a finger raised by a stranger on his/her family member. And that’s what makes it all the more special... (I don't quite know how a spouse who comes in a few weeks ago can be obeyed meekly by the guy who yells incessantly at his concerned parents, but that's how it's meant to be, I guess...)


Well, I don’t know where I’m heading, but now that this post is so all over the place, I might as well put all my thoughts in...


Each person is a different individual, with his unique temperament, ambitions and principles. That is why we end up in conflicts. Coz one’s laziness is another’s concern, and one’s life is voluntarily not his own to live and direct...


Thank you for reading.

Wedding Traditions Around the World

Here are some cute wedding traditions from around the world. Found them on the web... Enjoy!

GERMANY : Stealing the Bride
At her wedding reception, the bride is stolen by the best man, who then carries her away to a local pub. The groom has to search for them and pay for all their drinks when he finds them!

(Now that's on helluva idea! Hic hic :D )

GREECE : Baby Rolling
A baby is rolled on the newly-weds' bed. This is believed to enhance fertility and happiness in the new marriage.

(Poor baby!! :-P )

IRELAND : Tokens of Love
An Irish man often gifts his ladylove a bracelet made of human hair. If she accepts and wears it, it shows she is linked to him for life. Some men also give their beloved a Harvest Knot made of straw (shown alongside), decorated with flowers or bells, to wear in their hair or around their neck.

(The second idea is so romantic!)

ORKNEY (A group of islands near Scotland) : The Blackening
In Orcadian weddings, the groom's friends ambush him and blacken him with a mixture of flour, treacle and feathers. The idea to make him look as drunk and messy as possible! He is paraded around town in the back of a truck, while his friends make a din so that everybody sees the groom's sorry state. The parade usually ends at the sea for washing up.

(LOL... Fun for everyone except the groom!)

RUSSIA : Head of the Household
The bride's mother hands the newly married couple a loaf of bread at the wedding reception. The one who can take the largest bite from the loaf will be the head of the household.

(Not fair! Men, with their massive mouths and disgusting eating habits, have an advantage. Boo!!)

ALASKA : Buying the Bride
The village elders must first approve a proposed marriage, after which the groom's family spends the next year arranging for the payment for the bride. They seek help from their relatives and assemble a house full of gifts. Once the bride's family accepts the offering, the groom must work for her family for one year; he has to do everything, right from hunting to chores around the house.

(Now that's one wonderful custom. Serves you men right, making the women run about the house!!)

ITALY : The Evil Eye
To ward off the evil eye the groom must carry a piece of iron in his pocket and the bride must wear a veil. At the end of the wedding day, in Southern regions, the couple shatters a glass or vase. The number of pieces predicts the number of years they will be happily married.

(Anything that helps.)

CHINESE : The Tea Ceremony
The couple kneels before their parents and ask for permission to marry.

(Decent... But hardly fantastic...)


You got any to share??

Silence

And then, Pinkoo asked Punkoo, "How you doing?"

"Fine."

"Hows life - your college , health, friend circle...?"

"Okay."

"Hmm..."

(Silence)

"Hows ur life - settled in the college and everything?

"Yeah. It's a very different experience, but I like it."

"Good."

"Hmm."

(Silence)


"So, Punkoo... Who's been giving you the strength to stay away from me?"

(Silence)

"Who's giving you the energy to be without me?"

(Silence)


Some questions are left unanswered...

Some relations end despite the love and commitment being evergreen...

What happens to the people?

Silence...

That invincible silence...

That Night

She paced back and forth in her backyard. It was almost dawn. The plan was to run away in the dead of night.They were going to elope!


It was final. They could not bear staying away from each other. They knew they would never be allowed by their families and societies to marry. And while they did not want to shame their parents, they could not bear to spend their separate lives unhappy. No, some things had to be done whatever the price. And as long as it involved the two of them being together, no price was too high to pay. She was sure. He was certain. The rest would work out. In time. They were confident.


She muttered to herself. What was taking him so long? Someone or the other could come by any minute and ask her what she was doing outside so late at night. They would look at her bag and wonder. It would not take them too long to figure out. True, they would not know who the guy was; she had ensured that she never made any direct reference to him. But that was a minor detail. Running away from home was the greater sin.


She looked at her cell phone. It was almost three quarters of an hour over and above the appointed time. Drat! Trust him never to make it anywhere on time! Not even on this momentous occasion! This was ridiculous. How annoying could he be!


Uh oh, but here was another problem. In her excitement, she had forgotten to charge her mobile phone. It had just one bar of battery left. Another couple of minutes and her cell would conk off, leaving her lost and confused.


Her heart raced. She could not believe all of this was actually happening. She was worried about how it would all end.

Her battery was almost dead. She thought she would switch it off once and switch it on again. This sometimes increased the battery life by a couple of minutes.

Switch off.

Wouldn’t switch on.

Pressed harder.

Still dead.

Panic.

She pressed the power button a little harder.

The battery came to life.

Relief.

Tweet tweet… Sms!

“Hi baby. I have lost my way. But I know I am just a minute away from you.”

Anger. Darn his screwed up sense of direction!

The battery conked off again.

The sound of an engine being killed reached her. She was terrified. Who could it be at this hour?

She slunk to a corner waiting for whoever it was to go away. She hoped nobody would catch her.

She tried to switch on her handset again.

The cell powered on. Whew! She better find out quickly where this guy was philandering in the night.

Tring tring…

“Babes I’ve been trying to call you for the last five minutes! Where are you?”

“Right here, waiting. Where are you?”

“At your door! Come out fast!”

She ran out, not even bothering to cut the phone.

There he was… Grinning in his usual, stupid way.

She hugged him.” I thought you’d never come!”

“Oh baby, I took a wrong turn. I couldn’t find your house…”

“Ok enough talk! Let’s run before we’re caught!”

Vroom….

Aah… Was this what was called ecstasy?

She felt ecstatic.

Insan(e)

People never cease to amaze me… First of all, thrs this unflagd race goin on all the time at every signal on every street… Whats d hurry buddies? wat m sayin here is ppl come in all shapes n sizes, n v often make mistkn jugdmnts abt them… There are those who I don’t think are worth a 2nd glance, yet they bcum an integral part of my life thnx to their luvly nature and adorable behavior... And then thre r those I wish to meet a million times before it gradually dawns upon me that they’re nuthin but a bucketload of s***. I‘m sure u’ve experiencd d same.


We r so immature na? We let go of our rationality and get blown away by emotions and intuitions. When we hit Mother Earth, v realiz how silly v wer to b taken for a ride. V vow not to be so gullible n foolish d next time, but r v realy successful? I doubt it… Really admire those folks who can live happily and carelessly, not botherd by how others behave and nt affectd by wats goin wat way…


Other than dat, there r 2 ppl who surprised me… one is a sweet little (literally) person who I dint think much abt whn I met him 1st, but now it feels as if I’v known him all along. He makes me very very happy n I luv spending time wid him. Attitude lik was I’v alwes adored, gives me praise n priority which leaves me little to ask for, and well, how shal I say? Jus abt evrythin I’d dreamd about… God pland for us to meet n v did, but I wish v’d met sooner… he undstds me betr dan I can say, n I can read his mind. We laugh together, v share joys n sorrows (ample of both), but life is much happier n content thanx to him…


The other one is one I have gr8 expcttns from… Smart, decent, ambitious, sincere, simple, consider8, unassuming... thot he’d be an amazing person to stand by for life, but ego raisd its dirty head n made life ugly… but still we are really good frnds :)

I duno how my relations wid these people will chng over d days, weeks, yrs… But I certainly wont forget thm ever… I can forgive, nt forget…not d guds, nor d bads… Dats life, aint it? Full of lessons and experiences… Wid each person I meet, I gro as a person, regardless of whether I like him/her or not, whether I keep in touch wid him/her or not… So far… to be good to those who cant return d favor… to be happy… To not expect… N life is indeed feelin good… who says happiness lies outside you? It’s within, jus delve a lil deeper…

These are a few of my favorite things...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, Brown paper packages tied up with strings......
... These are a few of my favorite things

(Sound of Music)

Charming poem! Though I like the above, I would still like to mention some of the MORE favorite stuff ...

Barnita ;)know this girl ? She’s cool and funny and sensible. She can only listen to your worries but terrible at solving them , and she’s not afraid to tell the world what she wants and what she hates,she’s one of my favorite people!!

Blogging & Bowling - The former I needn’t justify or describe. It’s just ME. The latter, well, I ain’t too great at it, but I do manage to clear the aisle once in a while!

Chocolates - Being a girl... But hullo! Even men freak out on chocolates. And this guy I know is crazy about MILKYBAR...tough I hate Milk Chocolates ..More in love with dark chocolates :) Umm, I like most Cadburies including Dairy Milk and Perk.And Ferrero Rocher and Lindt among the foreign ones

Glasses – (NOT my specs, puhleeezz! I respect them, but they certainly don’t feature on my “likes and loves” list). I mean the cutlery and crockery stuff. Elegant wine glasses and cute shot goblets, colorful plastic tumblers and exquisite champagne beakers. (Dunno the jargon, kindly excuse and educate!) I find them marvelous and I’m gona have an entire collection once I have my own house and showcase!

Hookah (or Sheesha) - Not good for health, but good for kicks and style! Not recommended if you’re under 18, but you sure will love this lounge-y feel and care-a-damn ambience.

Ice-cream – No explanations again! I love chocolate..vanilla with hot chocolate sauce... STOP DROOLING OVER YOUR KEYBOARDS, FELLAS!!! (Slurp, slurp! Gotchaaaa...)

Karaoke – Sing as the lyrics are flashed on screen. No sweat if you don’t remember the lyrics as long as you know the tunes... Go on throaty, ugly-sounding buddies and bathroom singers! Find out which pub in your locality has a karaoke night on the cards and introduce the world to your irresistible charms! Why suffer alone???!!!!

Life & Laughter –I don’t know how people end their lives. Suicide, according to me, is a moment of extreme courage and at the same time, an instant of severe Cowardice. To lose all hope and not think about the future (which none knows what holds for you) is by far the stupidest thing on my list. I love life, and I live it once. Give it your best! No regrets... And what's life without laughter? The best way to judge a person's spontaneity and integrity is to see the things he laughs at and the manner he laughs. This will betray what you can never know by the way he speaks or behaves...

Nostalgia – Thinking about old times and reminiscing about events gone past is sucha pleasure! (Not when someone else just doesn’t stop yakking about “how popular I was in college”). Sharing lives and reflecting about how one has spent his/her years is a great way to kill time, and also to make it come alive!

And that brings me to the end of my list! I’m sure I’m gona remember a dozen other things by the time this post is published, but well, whoever said this was my last?!!

Human or Humean?

We all are mean sometimes. Probably because we're humans, right? We all want somebody to understand us. We all want people far away to miss us and say that. We sometimes, just sometimes, deep inside, want people to sympathise with us. Is that selfish of us? [ I don't know why I'm writing this.] We want a shoulder to cry on. We want to be dependent on somebody but NOT realise that. We want to cry and secretly wish that somebody could see us then and console us. We want to speak eveything out in front of somebody, cry, and then end up being happy coz we've vented it all out. [I still don't get the logic.]

P.s- This is what was written on a piece of paper I found while cleaning my drawer. God, I was born philosophical. :P