10 Years and going strong......

9th June, 2006
A Decade has gone by since……since 9th June, 1996…..the day the prettiest lady that has ever set foot on earth united with the most eligible bachelor for decades to come…in Holy Matrimony…..

Marriage, the most sanctimonious of relations that man has ever INVENTED for himself….
Marriage marks the rebirth of a boy as a MAN and that of a girl as a WOMAN….
It marks the beginning of “rest of the life” for each other…
Marriage… an institution where unfathomed love, dissolved in distilled- pure commitment, flavoured with trust, romance, petty quarrels and such similar spices of life, forms the very base ….

Well today they complete 10 years of married life…10 years of togetherness…

At the age of 2* (twenties…. u r not supposed to reveal a lady’s age…Basic manners) … she was this pretty charming angel... sweetheart of a whole college (her dad had a tough time taking care of all those guys who happened to be truly madly deeply in love with her)….Miss popular of an entire city(oh!! U r HER brother???)… dancer (started learning Bharatnatyam from the age of 3….)… singer (well with the most enchanting voice)…. engineer (she managed to get hold of that degree somehow)…what not she was???

At the same time….He was the most eligible bachelor…. An engineer ( he too was…ghosh… there’s something bout these engineering colleges…these days love stories always seem to have an engg college somewhere in the script)….ok back to our hero…God had gifted him with one of those only for one in a million kind of brains….its kind of filled with grey matter to the brim….god seemed to like our hero a bit too much..so he gifted him with smartness, a handsome face, great Culinary skills(his Biriyanis are lip smacking)..and lots of other goody goody stuff…. God even sent him to The US of A for a Masters Degree….As a result of this, the grey matter in his head started overflowing…..so to prevent this overflow…he let some of the Grey Matter flow out through his mouth into the heads of some poor little Indian engineering students who had till then been deprived of Such Matter…..

Oh!! Did I just hear someone utter a “I have heard this story before”…..
Ok don’t mistake this to be a typical…Tamil / Telugu College Prof – Student Love story....because it simply is not…
Because the hero nor the heroine had to run away from home
Because the hero wasn’t Christian nor the heroine Muslim
Because the heroine’s brothers never had to beat up the hero
Because both the parents gave their blessings for the marriage without any filmy melodrama….

And so on 9-6-96 ,…. (9.6.9.6…..they had a car with the same registration number),….she became his wedded wife FOREVER….recently he told us that before marriage he used to think as to why its necessary that we need to spend our lives with just a single person….cant we marry another when we get bored….so we asked him..”and now have your thoughts changed cheta???”...”no comments….” he replied….

And so the new couple started their lives with great Zest and Zeal….too much Zest and they became hungry ….so as per the great Indian tradition….
SHE started cooking…..and guess what….HE realised why God had given him Culinary skills….,marriages are definitely made in heaven….He cooks till date….but in 10 years she too has become a great cook…their marriage…there’s magic in it…(atleast it taught her to cook….)

They were happy with each other….they loved each other….. but then….Honeymoon period ends some day….its strange how these petty quarrels creep into a married life…
Her birthday….he called her up every 2 hours from office to reveal gifts hidden in the many nooks and corners of the house…..they were happy…(he still does similar stunts…so they still are happy)…..but one night he just took off to the beach all alone…she was there crying at home{was it because he didn’t take her along…I never knew.. I wasn’t married… I still don’t…cause I still am not married}…but he came back……(maybe because these police guys never let people sit idle on the beach at nights)

but then that’s the beauty of marriage….u quarrel with your love….and after a while you just realize how much he or she is a part of you…and love n life go on…..Theirs went on..

To add to the existing beauty of marriage…they are now blessed with two kids{man !! babysitting those two seems to be my prime occupation these days….Serve the Nation..Serve its kids…}….The kids have added a whole new dimension and meaning to their being together…its beautiful…..their married life and all that surrounds it…

They have told me a lot about life…rather taught me…. How a marriage works out…how that eternal bonding and understanding is developed…about mutual respect for each other….willingness to adjust….and lots more…..

Guess, I don’t want to get married!!!! (they taught me right???/ ;-) )


Dearest chetan and chechu.….Happy Wedding Anniversary…..

Was I Wrong ???

She loved me? (did she)…I loved her(for I thought that was love)…a beautiful school time romance….,but in my present frame of mind, I would rather say ,victims of the age old saga…..Childhood Crushes.
She was pretty…had a very beautiful voice which she flaunted with her singing prowess…and was weak in Maths…thank God she was…..for so was I…and thats why she came into life…Maths tution…the ideal place for a school time love story…..

Acquaintance nurtured into good company…that was followed by friendship… I liked her…the extrovert that she was....her non stop chirpy sweet talks…. Her smiling face.. . above all…. The way she treated me…it was the first time I felt that someone gave me some importance in his or her life… she asked me for my opinion for various things… was I that good? …whatever be it she made me feel special…made me feel that I was being LOVED….
What a strange feeling it was …. It was nice… still is a sweet memory…very sweet…

This friendship grew into a deeper stronger bond ….I should rather say our equation worked out in that mathematical environment…..

She was adamant on sitting next to me always…. I liked it
She collected and kept the wrappers of chocolates I ate..(childish)…but I started eating more of those…
She started introducing me to all her friends….man!! few of them were damn pretty…
She wanted to know a lot more bout me than any normal friend would want…
She wanted to know bout my family, friends, likes ,dislikes…and what not…

Well all this was new to me…. . it was strange but I loved this feeling… . was this love ?? does she really love me…oh man!! I was on top of the world….
With these thoughts in mind…I should say I became more fond of her. .more close… what to say all of a sudden I was too interested in maths classes…any extra class…I would be there on time…if not, well before time…

Valentines day …what better day than this to reveal your unfathomed love for your beloved….but is this ritual of PROPOSING to your dear one necessary???..
I KNEW SHE LOVED ME…then why??… but I guess some formalities are meant to be followed…atleast for the beauty in it…. So let this 14 feb be the most memorable one for me for ages to come….with such spirit in heart I went and expressed my feelings for her… I asked her …dearest “L” do thee love me???
That 14 FEB still remains a memorable one…..SHE SAID NO…..

N..O… what ??? did I hear her correct…. She loved me…I was sure about that…sitting through all those classes ,though I still was clueless about calculus,…. I was sure of this…she loved me…she loved me…….

I had been brought up being bestowed upon with more responsibilities than a normal kid of my age…maybe this helped my thinking mature faster than many…. I was taught never to cry over spilt milk…. I was taught that whatever happens in life..happens for good…you should learn from all your experiences and understand life…..
After that incident I learnt about new things like Infatuation, immaturity , crush….and what not…. I laughed at myself…. I thought she was childish…look who is talking??..... sheeeshhh… how could I ???? but better late than never… I even understood my feelings for her was something that almost everyone at that age develops… part of growing up….but she was mature enough to understand all that beforehand…man I liked her more….a great friend she has been….

I still continued to meet and talk with her….but just as a friend…rather a very good friend… I had shed all my infatuations for her and treated our relationship as just friendship…. I had moved on in life (though I didn’t know what it meant then)..

But now she was in love with me…. I didn’t realize it till much later…. Or rather I didn’t want to… she started bonding to me like never before…. It made me uncomfortable at times…she started becoming possessive about me and had lost warmth for all my other friends…..she was in love with me…truly ..madly…deeply… but she never told me so… maybe somethings are not to be said but to be understood….
All her dearest friends told me that she loved me..
My dear ones warned that she loves me
But she never told me….never….
Maybe she knew that I knew….but she never told me…

Time had come to say goodbyes and part ways… I had chosen a career in the Air Force and so had to leave the city almost like forever….. she wanted to do engineering and stay back there…..
She still meant a lot to me…. Though not in a way she wanted… I wanted to make this clear to her so that she too could understand that her feelings for me is nothing but infatuation….and move on in life…..

I met her for one last time (for a long time to come)… I told her that I didn’t hold such feelings for her…but that it was all just an infatuation I felt… and that…. What she is feeling is infatuation tooo…this is not the age for love…. We need to concentrate on our careers…atleast I had to…. Etc..etc…
I still don’t remember what all crap I had told her then… or if at all I told anything…. I used to be such a dumbo that it wouldn’t be surprising if I had sung the National anthem to conclude my speech…. I don’t remember…for I never wanted to….
But one thing I remember for sure is that I broke her heart…for I had seen those tears flowing down her cheeks…. I didn’t want to look into her eyes…..neither did she ……. I guess?.. but she cried ….. she cried aloud..and maybe said something to me…but her voice was swallowed by the buzzing traffic……
I had made her cry….. for what??? For loving me..??? should I have????/..but she never told me…..
But what about me…. ???/ had she told me once….???? maybe……
BUT SHE NEVER TOLD ME…..
And I was not ready to be in ambiguity forever…….

Was I wrong?????

Love THEM all !!

8^th of March

It was just an usual day for me. During my normal tryst with the newspaper I found its pages overflowing with articles and write ups about WOMEN – their empowerment & social status. It was International Women’s Day. A day meant especially for them.

So in my routine “good morning” messages to all those dear ladies, really dear to me, I included special greetings for the day.

In the night my brother called me up from Bangalore and told me that our dear lil sis had rang him up to express “her GRIEF” that he had not wished her for the DAY but that only I did. He explained to her that I would have send the same message to all girls whose number happened to be in my address book.{thank u bro..}

But surprisingly she said “ whatever be it, he wished me” {‘surprisingly’- because she never took sides with me especially against big bro}

My brother kept on laughing for a long time and then kept the phone advising me to cut down on my messaging tendencies to the fairer sex, or atleast not to send such messages to sis dear that would land him up in similar trouble.

After that I thought about that message I send, as my bro had guessed, to almost all ladies whose number I had….it read..

“to one of the most wonderful and amazing

Lady I have ever known

Happy women’s day”

I decided not to send anyone anymore messages just for the sake of messaging, in future. But then I pondered over the message. It was not a “just for the sake of messaging” message. I had meant what I had typed.

Every single lady/girl whom I had send the message is actually amazing and wonderful in her own way. That’s the beauty of women. They are so beautiful and amazing in their own special ways.

That’s why ladies…
I love you all….

LIFE… CHASING IT !!

LIFE…its something I always wanted to live to the fullest.

Three years in NDA, a place where people think you having nothing called “life”, but I had lived those three years to the fullest . Live life King Size- that’s what I always followed. Maybe the charm & glory of becoming a fighter pilot after the three grueling years pushed me forward.

Dreams are great motivators. They have the ability to make a person sail through anything. Dreams are powerful…they are STRANGE.
Life and dreams…a twin package where to enjoy one, the other is quite essential. You lose track of one its difficult to bring the other to terms with you.

Pilot to navigator at AFA in lieu of my non-possession of flying skills… well, I never understood if it was shattering of my dreams or if it was life slipping out of my control. It played confusing games with my mind. It made me believe that I had lost the life-dream package. I just wished that it was a treacherous reverie I could wake up from. But when I woke up I found myself facing life…. A life that was fast running away from me.

Life is strange. Its like a Neigro’s left ball – its neither fair nor is it right.
The faster you realise it, the better. So here I stand like a fool watching life run away with all my dreams. He turns back and smiles at me – a wicked smile – through which he kept shouting “you fool, you thought you could conquer me with your dreams”.

But hey, I am no fool... - “ I ” – the one who lived life King Size…. I’m no fool..

So here I start chasing life again, sure to conquer him this time, for little does he know that I have got bigger dreams now….. BIGGER than he could possibly imagine…