My take away from 2016

My take away from 2016

 

Waking up on an early foggy morning is rare for me, but somehow, it happened. And then I tried a forceful sleep, which was like, awake when you were asleep. At that point my thoughts had the freedom to go haywire …. but it had a practical approach…and whispered silently…hello… today is the last day of the year ! The whisper made me alert …end of a year…wow…all those minutes, seconds and hours gone..!!

 

The calculation started automatically, what did I do throughout the year? Honestly, I could recall only yesterday, nothing beyond, it was almost blank. I immediately jumped out of the bed, opened up the laptop....to my surprise, a soothing vibration of music started, "Spirit of India" by Ravi Shankar…so powerful music, could  take you to a different world altogether…and good for me, memoirs would sure to revive..!

 

·        My new year started at Ranthombore, amidst the beauty of nature…and the whole purpose of visit was fulfilled at the amazing sight of a tigress and cub playing and petting…yes..once in a lifetime kind of experience..!

·        Visited home twice…to spend some time with Ma & Dewta (my father). For me, my home is still the place where my parents are…they are ageing, ailing, still they are there to hold my hand....I am blessed.

·        Jethai (Ma's elder sister), whom we met in September passed away in November at the age of 86…she was beautiful and happy with life.

·        First time I witnessed the final journey of a friend, Protima…returned sad and wise…actually understood the difference between a body with a soul and a body without a soul..!

·        I remembered few occasions when I had a hearty laugh with friends

·        I never wanted to recall any such situation that made me upset and tried to heal myself by ignoring the whole situation

·         I remembered the most thoughtful discussion I had with a Uber Cab driver Ravi during my fifteen minutes ride in the car. Ravi commented with authority of his real time experiences that:

" Education is for two sets of people…one who has money and the other who has brain…for the rest it has no meaning". According to him, so called degree holders are basically illiterate, because they can never guide anyone on how to survive, whereas he, a class VII dropout has learnt so much from life, that he had actually shown path of survival to many.!" Ravi wishes to give the best of everything to his three months old daughter 'Mitika'….and he is working hard to make that possible.

·        I could not forget that nine year old "Nisha", who was so proud to say that she did cleaning of the house, washed utensils, cooked food and served to her brothers….and I would not ignore her brother, eleven year old "Sanju", who used all his authority on her to ensure that she remained disciplined and learnt to behave like a girl.   

·        I wish to move ahead to 2017, with a dream for Nisha , Sanju, and many more wise learned person like Ravi ….. hope our dreams complement each other and we create a wonderful place for all of us..!!  

·        At the end of the year, it is good to see the smiling face of "Roopkumari", thora to taklif hua hai, par accha hai woh bhi humare barabar ho jayenge"…. It's becoming slightly tough for us but good that we all will be equal now….!

 

A dream that assimilates in thoughts…!

 

Wish you all  a Very Happy New Year  

 

Love Life..!

 

Dewta’s Birthday : November First

Dewta's Birthday : November First

Every day is likely to be a birthday for someone or other. I have not read any such study which says that no one was born on this particular date for last ten years..! So, here comes November first… celebration day for many..a special day for us…my father's birthday..(Dewtar Janmadin).

The image we used to have of Dewta as that of a strong, strict, tough man … it continued for decades…and then time took its toll…slowly Dewta's reverse scenario started…he started becoming weak, old and emotional. Now he would often recall his childhood days…its joys and pains and at times he would be just like a baby…that one and half year old child…who would cry for his mother .."Ma, where did you go, why did you go...leaving me here."

Last time I wished my father on this day was three years back when we could communicate. Of-course, I could not recall, when we started this practice of wishing birthday's to parents. But one thing I remembered from my childhood memoirs that Dewta lost his mother when he was one and half years old.

Nobody knows, how many times he might have cried longing for his mother, how many times he might have wanted that warmth of his mother's lap, and how many times he covered his pain of rejection and struggle with hard-work and smile….to become my "Dewta"!

I wish if I could have asked him what does this "Happy Birthday" means to him…the pain of missing his "Ma" or the pleasure of survival in-spite of all odds…!! Love you "Dewta".