The Year That Was 2006—In Retrospect

All things, good or bad, come to an end as so has the year 2006! As is customary I, too, am retrospecting the year in all its aspects. Looking back for some incidents that would make this year different from any other I found to my surprise that it is the impressions that I carry about various incidents that come flooding to my mind instead of the incidents. So why do we give importance to incidents or happenings, good or bad, if they just vanish away leaving faint or strong impressions behind?The impressions that I carry pertain to written words, spoken words or the expressions that went along with them. Oh! It is once again the power of the communication behind all the impressions that makes or mars our relationships. The year 2006 has made me mature, wiser and stronger in more than one way then I could think. I am really grateful to the year for a number of things. I carry impressions of my interactions with so many persons, known or unknown, and the aftermath of such interactions. Be it a bus conductor–over worked and stressed but still keeping a smiling face or a complete stranger who was able to leave many unpleasant impressions—I carry them all and have learnt so many things. But the basic truth that I have learnt is the fact that no person can be entirely bad or good but there are situations or circumstances that make a person so. Of the two types that I have mentioned above, I would like to carry forward the impressions left by a smiling Bus conductor but would prefer to forget all the not-so-pleasant ones. Looking back I am pleasantly surprised to find that there are no bad memories or impressions in my mind. Why should I carry the lad of unpleasant memories when life is t short even to carry forward the good impressions? I sincerely feel sorry for certain people who could not be what they imagined themselves to be and I feel happy for some more that were much more than what they ever thought them to be. A year of mixed impressions! A year that put to test my unfailing, unflinching trust in the basic good nature of all human beings! Thank God my trust in humanity is still intact and rather has flourished. A staunch believer in destiny I have become more so thanks to the year 2006. I have started believing more firmly that everything happens for a reason and for the best cause. So one must not blame anyone as people play only the roles that destiny makes them play.  The year 2006 has been exceptionally benevolent to me as it has given me so much. I wonder if I could have asked for more from the year 2006? Life has taken a direction for all those who are important in my life and so far the direction seems to be right one. This is one such year that would go down in my memory lane as the most happening year of my life. When I have so much to remember about the year how can I forget to mention my deep gratitude towards persons who consciously or unconsciously made this year special for all of us? I am thankful to all those people and happenings that made the year 2006 memorable, for various reasons, to me!

Thanks Google…

Thanks Google…December 20, 2006What does a mother want for her daughter if she opts for a job when it is time for her to be married off? I think if I speak for my daughter I speak for multitude of the mothers who have this issue to handle. When my daughter left for
Hyderabad to join a job, my only concerns seemed to revolve around—how would she be able to live in a big city on her own? How would she be able to look after her food? And more importantly how would she be able to adjust to a life in the corporate world when all she had was a small town upbringing? All my phone calls to her would have some common, oft repeated, questions everyday—“are you okay?” “Did you eat well?” “Are the people around you good?” The answer would be all the times in affirmative. My chatting with her would also give the same picture to me—the picture of a happy young girl. But I had still to convince myself. Driven by the dictum “seeing is believing” we planned a visit to her during the month of December. The moment my waiting eyes could capture her standing on the platform, through the tainted glasses of the compartment, they filled with tears, albeit the tears of happiness, as I saw a young girl—healthy, smart and confident waiving at me. Hugging her closely to my bosom I uttered, “You sure have put on weight!” Though it was first time that she was at the railway station she led us confidently to her apartment and the pleasure we felt to be led by our little girl was immense indeed!She sure was in good hands at her work place as the confidence and the feeling of well being exuded from her. Though I knew about it but seeing her bubbling with enthusiasm made my conviction strong–convictions about her being surrounded by good people. I thought of a day—a day when I felt helpless. It was on a day when my Little one was not in her best of the moods that I realized something great about the role that an organization can play in the personal development of an employee. How could I know sitting thousands of mile away from her that she was sad? I just can sense her state of mind even from far off and even if she would not say about it. Perhaps the strange connectivity that I have for my kids and can sense their discomfort from even a distance did the trick. That day it was the tag line to her name on Gmail that seemed to shout “Damn Tired” and I could understand about her state of mind! Whatever it was but the truth remained that I, too, was a bit restless. I tried chatting to her and get to the reason for her lowly mood but could not get much out of her. The second option was, of course, calling her up and talking to her. Even this was futile as all these mediums of connectivity have their own limitations. I was worried about her but could do nothing much about it. I kept on watching at her tagline and got more and more worried. This was not like her. Even when she was in worse situation she would not let anyone know about her sagging spirits. In the afternoon her tagline changed to “Faith reinstated” and I could sense her mood by the song numbers that she was listening to. The mother in me was so relieved. “You seem happy”. “Yes, I am”, she wrote back. It so happened that one of her seniors watching her in a low phase talked to her in one-to-one manner and alleviated some of her concerns, howsoever irrelevant they were. I was so relieved that there were people who had such empathic attitude towards the junior employees. I thanked God and thought that as mothers cannot be present everywhere to comfort their little ones so God made empathic and caring employers!Another day the coordinator of the team had heart-to-heart talk with her and shared many a things with her to make her see life reasonably and logically. I am so happy that she took over the job that was so difficult for me to perform. As my Little one shared almost everything about her life with me I was able to appreciate all that her work place was doing to uplift her both professionally and personally. It was no surprise that the change that I was able to notice on my first look at her at the railway station was the handiwork of the people working in an organization that believed in the dictum “Don’t do evil”! This organization practiced what it preached!I always hoped her to explore her talents and potential which was possible only if she was groomed as a good human being. I believe that if a person is not happy with his own life how can he bring about a positive change in the lives of people around him. My Little one was happy and I was sure that she would spread more happiness around her. 

As many of her colleagues lived in the same residential complex I could meet them and the meeting put to rest many of my concerns about her lodging and I was happy that she was in good hands, surrounded by good people. We were to leave on December 20, 2006 and were happy and satisfied with the choice she had made. One of her colleagues invited us to join them for lunch that day and meet other members of the team as well. And we went to our Little one’s place of work. The exterior as well as the interior was magnificent! It was a pleasure to meet her team members. Everyone was so glad to have us around and made us proud by accompanying us for lunch. We really felt honoured! Surprisingly everyone kept on repeating the question after introductory ice breaking, “How did you like our office?” Though the beauty and the pre-Christmas decoration was fabulous but more than the beauty and the comfort that money can always afford to have it is the beauty of human relationship that I search for, even in the working environment, and honestly speaking the office had it in abundance. The team seemed like a big and close-knit family and careful about each other’s needs and problems. No doubt that the personal development of the employees remains the top of the concerns for people at the helm of the affairs. Where else would you find your seniors concerned about you when they find you not being in your usual good moods? Where would you find a senior who would share his own experiences, both personal and professional, to boost up your sagging spirits? Where else would you find your parents being accorded the same love and respect befitting only your very own? Where would you find a manager who could laugh heartily in a good humoured manner when I blurted out something very personal in an informal way? I am happy to leave my daughter in the hands of people who are caring and have instilled in her a sense of belonging for her place of work and organization she works for! And above all a sense of self-worth and confidence in her capabilities! What more a mother could have asked for her Little one? Thanks Google Hyderabad. Thanks Google for everything! 

Colors, Music and Love Make my House a Home…

My home, these days, reverberates with fun laughter, music and love. And why would it not when the soul of the home is with me these days. It is Bon Jovi’s songs that give company to our endless gossiping and the whirring of the sewing machine that matches our buzzing. Life is full of color these days both metaphorically and literally. There are colors all around me. Different hues of silk, cottons and other dress materials and the matching threads surround us and we feel drowned in color. What more could I ask for in my Little one’s life. My “house” seems like a home these days. We have buried deep all the books as we have so much to talk about and why should we read when there is so much of real fun in life!

But I dread the day she will go back, as go back she must to the place she belongs to. Does she belong here—I don’t think so. It is just a phase a rest-a-while place for her as she has to go away. I would once again be alone with memories of colors and the good time that we are having these days and once again I would start waiting her to be online so that the green blink sign fills me with the sense of connectivity to her once again. I would find life in all the relics that she leaves behind, may be a small piece of cloth or thread here and there in my home. But I love you for being what you are and happy to see you full of jest for life and its colors!

Life Back Home is Idyllic…

Back Home at Last…

Home-sweet home…

I always thought water to be a colorless and odorless liquid but not any more! The first thing that I did after reaching home was to drink lots of water and believe me it tasted so sweet to me. Amazing isn’t it! Having been traveling for so many days and drinking bottled water all the while had made me crave more for the mountainous water that we get as our home supply. Sometimes during the rainy season when the tap water is not so clean, we all decry the public works department for providing us with such unhygienic water. But never do we have to buy bottled water for drinking. Water filters and purifiers are the all that we depend upon during such times. But it was a different story altogether in Delhi as well as
Hyderabad. Bottled water is doing great business in all metropolitan cities thanks to the polluted water that people get as their house supply. I was glad to be back drinking water from the tap and it tasted like manna from the heaven. This reminds me of some natural water sources in Himachal that have such pure and clean water that would put the best of the bottled water to shame. Water brooks running down the hills are a frequent sight in all parts of Himachal. They not only carry clean water rich in minerals and other beneficial constituents making it an invigorating drink but are also a sight to behold. Many a times I would crave for that water while traveling and the bottled water would seem so plain that my thirst would not be quenched at all. Luckily for us we had been on a sojourn of a few days but I feel concerned for people who have to live whole of their life in metro cities drinking bottled water.I have suddenly become a crusader for saving water and wastage of drinking water in any manner has started infuriating me. This is the result of having undergone the experience of watching undrinkable water being supplied as home supply in many big cities. But how safe is the bottled water is another of the million dollar question. Isn’t it much safer to drink water from the running brooks or clean bowaris or the water supply from rivers having their origin in the mountains than to drink it from bottles whose origin we don’t know anything about.  Now onwards it is not only home-sweet-home for me but water-sweet-water as well to welcome me back home!

Personal and Professional Roles for Women

The workshop on “Persnal and Professional Roles for Women” concluded yesterday. The interactive sessions left us with more questions than it could solve!!! We are, perhaps, part of the problem and not solution. It was a highly invogorating experience but would write about it later, some other day. Yet have more of the personal role to perform.

Letter to My Youngest One…

Dear me,

This may be my first post to you but you always have been an integral part of my life,  still are and would always be. More so as you are my son!! Now don’t fget me wrong that like others I, too, am paying more atetiion to you as even you know that I have tried to be a mother to you all and not to you alone, the way it is in many Indian families.

When you called me up today to ask about the cloth for your trousers, you caught me by surprise as I had never imagined you to be so grown up that you would go and buy cloth for your trousers. You wanted to take your Papa’s counsel for that. I was so happy that you still trust our choice and value our opinion.

I want to write so much tday but am so tired that somehow would not be able to continue so some other day may be…

Love

Ma

The Three Musketeers…

 

The Three Musketeers…

Group Photograph for Team Srijan–2006

 

Team Srijan–2006

November 30, 2006

When I rushed home during lunch time to have a bite, Ashutosh rang the bell to announce that perhaps we would be having a group photograph for the team srijan-2006!! My God, I looked at my clothes, Horrible they were. I wonder why do I dress so casually these days? Then I looked at Ashutosh’s face and his clothes and a guffaw of laughter escaped my mouth. God it was as we both were competing with each other who looked shabbier than the other? Forgetting about my own self the motherly concern raised its head and I asked him, “but I m sure that you would have a shave before the photograph!” His week old stubble made him look more like an errand boy than the Chief student Editor that he is! “Sure, Ma’am! I would shave it off.” He promised with a laugh.

And now the million dollar question that all women face when they have to pose for a photograph came to my mind a swell. What to wear? It was first a Salwar suit that I settled for but when I thought of our Director and how smartly dressed he was today—I discarded the first option and settled for a saree. Women would be women only I thought to myself—would a change of clothes make me nay better than I am but then suddenly what I taught during my classes in Communication Skills came to support me. Clothes make an essential part of your communication but not any more when the other party knows you too well t notice what you are wearing. J

Walking towards the college, I felt a little uncomfortable as people were wondering why this change of dress? Even my colleagues were surprised. I was much embarrassed by this. Suddenly the whiff of perfume took me by surprise and wondering who could be using it during final examination days, I was in for the biggest wonder of the world! My own boys, the members of the Team Srijan—2006, walked past scenting the air with perfumes and after shave lotions!! All had very recently shaved the stubble of the exam days and looked so fresh that I was not even able to recognize many of them. When I pointed it out to one of them, “You look so clean today!” he felt shy!

 

There is more to write….

 

and

We the Women…

November 30, 2006
4 PM
I was walking towards the Institute, all decked up as we had a photo session for the college Magazine. I carried my camera as well and whenever I carry camera, my perspective changes from analyzing persons to capturing pictures. On the way I saw her, breastfeeding her baby while another one was playing nearby in dust and stones. It has become very cold here these days but all three were oblivious to cold. She looked at me, perhaps envious of the freedom that I symbolized to her. I thought of taking her picture and suddenly felt so small even to have had this thought. In what way was I different from her? Had I not raised my kids in the same manner? Did I not work as she worked? Then what was different? Nothing! She was even much better than me as she had no pretensions to cater to!

We the Women…

 Attired in a Black Saree

With red border galore

Swiftly I walked past

Space open and vast.

Where the labour force

The humming machines

The crying kids

The sleeping infants

Worked together

To make our world

Stll better.

A feeding mother

With a baby at her breast

Had at last

Some respite

And some rest

From the repetitive

Tiring  job

Of carrying earth

And sifting stones

Where her toddlers

Played in joy and mirth.

Her look pierced me

My whole being

Was it envy

Writ large

On her face for me?

She envied my freedom

My effervescent smile

And a confident talk

An aura of energy

Abundantly released

To add to my gait

A charm and confidence.

Her dreamy eyes

Held a dream

Still unfulfilled!

Was I so happy

Blissful and content

As my swift walk

Effervescent talk

A warm smile

Projected to an eye

That could barely see

The woman inside

The tough exterior

Weak

Crumbling and in

Shambles.

I had so much to hide

The fake mask

The put on smile

Made me to seem brave and virile

But she was the one

Who had no demarcation

Between the real

And the fake

And together we both

Constitute a world

That we the women

Alone could see and take!