Beautiful people - I

You learn and grow each day. Travel to new places. Meet new people. Some get erased with the tide of time…among other faceless people. And some leave indelible imprints on your mind. They may not be part of your family or immediate friend circle…they may not have a dashing striking personality or stentorian voice, but nonetheless, you feel such people make the world a better place to live in. Not just for you, but for the sake of the entire community… you feel god should make more such people!

Here are some I met so far:

Lady in the train

Age: umm .. ..60s maybe

I was in the first year of my college, traveling alone in the Shatabdi express back home. I was hoping to get a seat next to a smart looking hunk but to my “expected” disappointment, I found an aisle seat of a three-seater next to a “greying” lady (who made herself comfortable at the middle seat). The waiter arrived with the first round of refreshments…

He conveniently kept the entire lot on my table as I was near at hand.

She burst out laughing... the people around and I did not get the so-called funny idea… and so we couldn’t help but stare at her.

‘The boy kept the entire lot on her table… poor girl sitting on the aisle seat… now she’ll have to deal with this all through the train journey,’ she tried to explain in her defense.

After many such “wonder-what’s-so-funny” instances, I inferred that she loved to giggle. So everything around her appeared funny to her in some way or the other.

‘Crazy old woman,’ I thought.

I was trying really hard to sleep. But thanks to the kids who were screaming and running around as if the train was their private garden.

After an hour or so, their chirping became one with the train’s hustle. I almost hit the sack, when BANG! A heavy suitcase dropped from the upper rack and fell right on my head.

I could see the kids who had stopped screeching, got amused and started to show their not-so-white teeth. (Kids under 5 years should be banned in trains!!!)

I was ready to fight with the damn suitcase’s owner, when the lady next to me stood up.

‘Whose bag is this?’ she shouted.

‘It’s mine. I am sorry,’ the owner confirmed, a gentleman who seemed like a strict school teacher.

‘What sorry… why couldn’t you put this suitcase on the rack just above you? Instead you had to put it right on top of her head… What if she’s hurt?’

‘Don’t worry... I am a doctor’

‘You may be a doctor, but you just acted like a donkey!’

I could hear the entire coach laughing now :-) even I forgot if anything happened and ‘smiled in pain’…

The train reached the Delhi station. I brought her luggage down from the rack and got down from the train. She took my support and leaped over to the platform.

As we said goodbye, I thought, ‘that’s the old lady I want to be… cheerful yet stern… caring yet bold… vintage yet modern…who giggles and passes it off, and yet takes her stand when time calls for it because sometimes when you’re neutral you’re an accomplice… witty, full of life and immense charm even in 60s!’

She lived in a world of her own. She had her own way of seeing things… I watched her as she walked down the platform towards her husband (a retired colonel; she’d told me) and grandchildren, and gave them a warm hug.

He was her lil bro…

21st May 1992, a cherubic baby was sleeping placidly in a cot next to her mother. She was just five-year-old and ebullient at the arrival of her brother. That day, he looked like her miniature version.

He had a kiddo face like the cute kids who appear in the TV ads. It was after three years, when her mom had left him to her for an hour to look after. However, she rambled away, and due to her nonchalance and carelessness, he fell down from the cot. She was petrified on hearing the howls and ran back to his rescue. She received a well deserved flay from her mom that day.

As a child, she was no less skittish. She used to pull his leg and unwittingly run him down. He was the only one in the family who was younger to her, and hence the only one whom she could bully and patronize. They had got into the mode of cat-and-dog fight by the time he turned eight. Needless to say, she used to be the undisputed winner. They used to quibble over matters such as who gets the bigger slice of cake, the leg piece in chicken and the better looking ice-cream. At that time, she was taller to him, greater in size and strength, and so she used to bulldoze him out of my way.

There was one thing about him. He never showed any propensity towards studying or books. He was always riveted at the TV watching cartoons or holly-wood movies, or he would rather go out and play. But books were always his enemies. As a kid, he used to ask a lot of questions, he was sharp no doubt and had an eye for grasping things well. He loved to talk and make friends. Their mom and dad were initially worried to see his loathe for studying, but then he was just eight, and so they relied on the brink of hope that things would change.

Things didn’t change and he was 14. Taller than her by then. He started winning over her in clashes. Mom and dad had turned all the more worried about his marks. He was a paragon of a notorious back bencher and he could do anything to evade studying. Dad used to scold him a lot when he went awry. He then adopted the route to mendacity. He used to concoct so superbly casual that one could hardly distinguish. Lying had become his only resort to happiness.

To everyone’s surprise, he scored well in 10th and changed school. He had an excellent track record of extra curricular activites, oration and dramatics. Plus, he was outgoing. The new school - where he occasionally paid a visit. He used to leave from home for school, and then detour to meet his friends. He had become totally wayward. Their parents would not have got to know if the school teacher had not informed them about his misdemeanor and poor attendance.

Things had gone totally overboard. He had become so thick-skinned that no amount of criticism could bring him to track. Dad told him that he should either choose staying at home and study, or go out with his friends. He didn’t take a second to decide and just left home.
And never came back…

Beware of such Scumbags!

I hate to recollect an incident that made me feel inferior, if not devastated.

My 21st birthday! Last birthday in college. I was happy as usual. I was the regular Ninja that day. Somebody had promised me a birthday party. Less did I know that the party was planned so that he could solicit the company of one of my ‘hot’ looking friends. But when she refused presence, the plan was cancelled.

What made it worse was, that jerk even called me up the very same evening and made me aware of the fact that I had been an epitome of stupidity to not comprehend his mean intentions. "It was the other girl, eh!"

The guy- (below), I hope god slaps you tight on your face and makes you realize what a lame SCUMBAG you are.

Each day begins with a SMILE! =)

As they say,

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything in life has to be perfect. It rather means that you've chosen to look beyond imperfections"

I can't recall since when I developed this weird habit of showing my teeth all the time, probably someday in high school. But I feel, whatever happens, happens for good!
However like HOWEVER, in my defense, I firmly believe, it's NOT me, but the people around who give me real reasons to smile.
So crazy is my affinity to happiness that people even call me lunatic and attach taglines to me which somewhat go like

“Better find a no non-sense reason for me to laugh, else I’ll start giggling for no reason at all”

.

Oh, did I say ‘people around’ who give me real reasons to smile!? Well, justice will stand in denial if I don’t revisit that statement.

The moment I reach my desk at office, I am greeted with a wide grin. Enters Isha Chawla, with a smile that makes me regret not carrying a camera. A complete blabbermouth (to say the least), in contrast to my utterly mundane, boring, dull, dreary, introvert and lackluster nature (PS: I am a girl of few words, you see!!!) I wonder how incessantly she can go on and on, and derive sense from non-sense. :-O

Then would enter the DON! Quite dude-dashingly (only he thinks so!) he would slam down his bag on the desk. Call him Kanav, Kaaaaanav or Bebo, it’s totally your call. (PS: Bebo stands literally here, as he is fondly called by his folks *mischief managed :-P *). His favorite dialogue would be “Chaanta maarunga!”, although he is never high and mighty about it to take it head on. With his highly eccentric antiques, he can make you roll on the floor laughing even in your worst times. He has a strange fetish for irritating others with his extremely disgusting BUT funny remarks and awesome critics!

As I open ‘Microsoft Office Outlook’ and struggle with the booooring client emails which Charu, our cute project manager wants me to work on for the day, my spark starts sparking – a new message from Neha Aggarwal(RG-2). She would be requesting for a break at the very start of the day and I would quite hesitantly (seeing the length of the client emails) say yes. Once the ice is broken, and as the day progresses, the frequency of breaks only accelerates. :-P
*PS: Rahul Kaushal even named Neha and I - the "Happy Club, (Rs. 4000 membership fee)!"*

Aleksandra, her all time reaction when I show her my slide “This is not looking good to me :-(” (While saying this, her specs would slowly slide down her nose, until she puts it back upright). Consider yourself unlucky if she stuffs this into you, as then you can exhaust all the possibilities and draw a blank everywhere. She would giggle giggle like “Gigglegoo” when she is chatting on spark and yes, she is in love with Barista!! (just like me)

Dilip loves to search mistakes on the slides I make, and most of the times he is successful. However, no specials credits to you Dilip, coz those mistakes are quite blatant, and any five year old can spot them :-P * Yes, I so love making data errors :-) * But I do give you full credits for one thing - the mutual cribbing sessions on spark lit up my mood always!! :-D

Charu - I have always been scared of my Project managers (that's something called fear-of-the-boss syndrome), but she's really sweet! She would not miss an opportunity to wittingly pull my leg when I slack at work. I must say, she has that rare gift though - to bear with laggards and irritants like me in the team, and still maintain her cool!

Akshat or THE AXE effect, wonder from where he gets all those brains. I love picking them :-) He hides his humorous nature beneath a veneer of scientific objectivity. He with his flatmate Jayan (rocket scientist), I am sure would discover/invent something great someday.

Then enter ME- I am totally appalled and made helpless by the people around me. I can’t see a reason NOT to laugh when I closely observe their seemingly wild hysterics. And then they say in unison like the joker of batman “Wheizz so hilarious son?? Lets put a zzzip on that smile”.

So I put this much-needed DISCLAIMER: “I am losing it too often these days. If you find me smiling at you without any obvious reason, please don’t consider thinking that you’re looking funny, or worse still, that I am making a pass at you. Apologies to all the victims!!!!!!!!!"



*wink wink*

As my last day in office approaches like a Gun-man in hiding, I realize that what had started as a depressionland, is now an indispensable and fun part of my life. Just wanna say, I’ll so miss the place and its inmates. Its real pain saying goodbye!

Hullo Mr. Joel Thomas (or JT for Jewel Thief), Kaise hai aap!? He would start grinning as soon as he would see me. And then I would shoot a famous Jagjit Singh song at him, “Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho, kya gam hai jisko chhupa rahe ho??”, he would say “YOU LOOK HILARIOUS!!” *Grrrrrr…. And this makes me furious like a red bull blowing up his horns and brushing his foot against sand, to charge into action (ok, I mean only metaphorically here)*