The Last Kiss

There was a brief silence.

“Is there no hope at all now? Is that all we can do?” Rajiv asked in a quivering voice.

“They are not ready to listen to me at all. I am really sorry, but I can’t go against my parents’ wishes.” Nisha replied. She was about to break down as well.

“What about my wishes, my love for you? Do they not matter to you anymore?”

There was no reply from the other side. Rajiv could hear her sob. He was raged, he was sad. He was going through an emotional turmoil.

“Look, it’s as difficult for me as it is for you to forget our relationship, and we had a beautiful one. But I’m helpless in this situation. It’s absolutely my fault that I don’t have the guts to go against my parents. Please try and understand this.”

Rajiv was trying hard to keep his emotions in check.

“Are you really sure about this?” he asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry, really sorry.” she continued to sob.

“OK. Then this would be the last time we are talking I guess.” The rage within him had vanished and his heart felt very heavy. He disconnected the call and broke down. It was a difficult time for him. He had so much love for Nisha, but fate had different plans for them. He decided never to call her again.

It was 11.30 pm. Rajiv had fallen asleep. He got up, his head felt heavy. He went into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. He looked terrible. He washed up his face and came back to his room. He felt like talking to Nisha again. But his brain was adamant on not allowing his heart to rule. He switched on the TV and sat down. He felt lonely. All the beautiful memories of him and Nisha came to his mind. Their immense love for each other was so evident, that their friends had termed them as ‘Inseparables’. He loved the way Nisha cared for him, life was unimaginable for him without her. The way she used to say, “I would love you forever and ever...” with her eyes closed and the red-nosed face, was unforgettable for him. He was deep-immersed in his thoughts.

Suddenly the door-bell rang. He got up lazily, wondering who it could be at his door step at the middle of the night. As soon as he opened the door, he was shocked. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was Nisha!

“What are you doing here at this hour?” he asked her, sounding alarmed.

“I have come here to tell you sorry again. You did not let me complete on the phone.” She replied with a sad-looking face.

He allowed her inside and they sat down.

“Look, I know you love me a lot. I love you too. I am not lying about this and you know that. But I love my parents as well. They don’t like you, and I cannot go against them. So you’ll have to let me go.”

“But...” Rajiv was about to say something when Nisha sealed his lips with hers. It was like their first kiss – passionate, yet innocent; tempting, yet divine. All the rage, anger and sadness within Rajiv had melted down. He looked into her eyes. They looked so beautiful.

“That was our last kiss. I will love you forever and ever. You’ll get a better girl than me. Marry someone nice and be happy, please... for my sake...” A tear rolled down her eyes as she spoke.

Rajiv was unable to reply to her, he still couldn’t believe his senses.

“I love you.” That was all he could say.

“Rajiv, promise me that you’ll be happy for the rest of your life and settle down with a nice girl.”

“I can’t.”

“Promise me, you’ll at least try.”

“Okay. I will.” Rajiv said, after a long pause, with a heavy heart.

“It’s time for me to go now. I must leave.” Nisha said with a face filled with content, but sad.

Just then, Rajiv got a call on his phone. It was Ruchi, Nisha’s friend.

“Hello!” Rajiv answered the call.

“Hello! Rajiv! Where were you? I have been trying to reach you since long!” Ruchi was crying.

“Sorry, that could be a problem with the network, what happened Ruchi? Why are you crying?”

“Rajiv, Nisha is dead! She slit her wrists two hours ago and has committed suicide.”

“What? What nonsense are you talking about? She was right he...” he turned around and nobody was there. There was no one else in the room except Rajiv and an eerie silence around him.

“Hello... Hello... Rajiv, are you there?” Ruchi kept on asking him. The phone slipped out of Rajiv’s hand and fell on the floor.

Darkness filled his eyes and he lost consciousness.

“You’ll have to let me go... That was our last kiss. I’ll love you forever and ever...”

  

  

Celebration Time!

It's Christmas again! 

It is that part of the year, when we all begin our celebrations for the annual commemoration of the birth of Lord Jesus and at the same time, we get ready to welcome the new year with great zeal. The festive season is on and we all should feel blessed, for we have had a great year.

Though everyone would have had their shares of ups and downs in 2011, one should celebrate the highs, and learn from the lows in the passed year. The bad days are just to remind you of your mistakes, you have been doing in your life and improve upon it, for your own good. If this does not make sense, do spare a thought about the numerous natural calamities that have occurred this year and the families which have suffered because of them. Many have lost someone dearer to them and many are still trying to deal with the repercussions of the terrible events that have happened this year. Then try to think if some bad days at office, break-ups with boyfriends/girlfriends, bad results in examinations etc. are enough to let you down in your life? Give it another chance and give everything you'll do from now on, your best shot. Nobody will dare stop you from reaching your goal.

All said and done, I personally had a great year, with lots of things to learn - both in my professional and personal life. There were times when I had the taste of success, and times when failures were asking for an equal share in my life. I have myself decided to give my best in anything I do and have faith in the Almighty. Let's not worry about the results for a change.

Hope you guys celebrate Christmas in its true spirit and have a wonderful year ahead! There are lots of things to worry about, but more things to cheer on! The choice is yours.

Lastly, I would like to end this post with this beautiful quote:

‎"Love came down at Christmas; Love all lovely, love divine: Love was born at Christmas, Stars and angels gave the sign." - Christina Georgina Rossetti

P.S. Got to study for my exams now (without worrying about my results). :) 

P.P.S. My next post in the next year.

Cheers!

Sid

Spread a smile :)

Three generations

“You never see a man walking down the street with a woman who has a little potbelly and a bald spot.” - Elayne Boosler.

I came across this quote and believe me; I couldn’t resist myself from adding it to my post. Although it’s indeed a funny comment, but it depicts the thoughts that I wanted to convey through this post very accurately.

I could not have agreed more to the comment as I cannot even imagine being the man described in it. I’m sure most male readers of this post would agree with me as well. However, it also signifies one of the many sacrifices a girl or a woman has to make in her own life. Of course, I am not ruling out the fact that men do sacrifice too, but let us concentrate on the topic of discussion here – WOMEN.

There are three most important women in my life – My Mom, my Grandma and ‘The Unknown’. They are three generations of women who have had and would have an effect on my life in the most significant way. And this post is purely dedicated to each one of them. I am sorry if it looks like a school essay, but my fingers can’t stop typing.... 

My Grandma: She’s old, cute and a lovely lady. Since I’ve known her, she’s the kindest person I’ve ever seen in my life. She cares for everyone – for her sons and daughters, grandsons and grand-daughters, the neighbours, the maids in our house, the dhobi... and the list goes on. She has spent 80-odd years of her life doing so much for her family, that is hardly believable and any girl in today’s world could even imagine of doing it. She had 7 kids to look after. Taking care of all of them, looking after their studies etc could be such a daunting task, which as a mother, she has completed her duties so smoothly, none can complain. I still remember, when we used to pluck mangoes from our garden, she would take some of it and distribute them among every single person she knew, who was within her reach. Even now, although I am old enough to earn my own money, whenever I go home for my vacations, I get packets of biscuits from her which she had kept it for herself. And if it wouldn't have been for her, my Dad wouldn’t have been a person as good as he is now.

My Mom: She has been the most crucial part of my life. Right from my birth till now, she obviously had to make a lot of sacrifices to make me a better man that I am now and helped develop a conscience in me. In fact, both my parents had always been preaching me not to become a ‘successful man’, but rather a ‘good person’ in my life. My mom, although wanted to work as a lecturer, didn’t get a chance to, as she had to take care of me and my kid brother. If I start mentioning each and every sacrifice she has made in her life, I’m afraid; the people running this blogger website would start charging me money. 

I have been told that I am good at Maths and of course, I love the subject. But mom played an important role in laying the foundations for it. I remember when I was a kid, I was so poor in Maths, I could hardly make out the smaller/larger of the two single-digit numbers given to me. And the solution given to me was to start counting from the number ‘1’ until I reach any of the two numbers. The first one I encounter in the count is the smallest. Of course, the theory was provided to me by mom (or as I call her ‘mommy’). The numerous thrashings I have received from her to learn the multiplication tables, different words and what not has resulted in everything I am good at. As I write all this, I’ll quote another line as well:

“Men are what their mothers made them.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson  

So if any of you have liked anything in me ever and found it to be appreciative, the due credit goes to her. I can find no more words for the unlimited love and care she has given me.

‘The Unknown’: As you would have guessed, she definitely being my other half in the future, would again be affecting my life in a significant way as my grandma and my mom. She could very well be a person who brings out the best of me and her presence in my life would be deciding the course of the ship I’m sailing in. As this is an unexplored territory, I would prefer to stop here and not make further predictions about my future, as I am no great a soothsayer.

But I’m sure, people who are reading this would be thinking of the women important in their respective lives and how they have had an impact on them. And you would certainly agree, that this is only for the good that women should be treated with the respect that they deserve. After all, they have several roles to play in a man’s life and could decide the course of their lives, be it as a mother, grand-mother, daughter, sister or a wife.

   

The Choice

Rajiv was hell-bent on buying a new Mercedes. He could surely afford it! After all, he had the bank-balance, which could make many people envious. He was single and successful and enjoyed a good reputation in the society. Owning a Mercedes would just be the icing on the cake.


He had gone to the showroom and selected the colour of his car as well. Black it was! The colour that rich men preferred. Now he wanted to get rid of his old Santro as soon as his car arrives. After he booked his new car, he headed back to home. It was raining heavily. On the way, he stopped his car at a small tea stall. He went into the stall and took shelter in the shed.

“One tea please.” He asked the vendor.

“Five minutes saab, I am preparing it right now.”

“OK. No problem.” Rajiv said, flashing a smile. Just then, he saw a small boy walking across the road and came to the stall. He was wet and dirty. Rajiv confined himself to the corner of the shed so as to avoid any physical contact with the boy.

“Bhola, what took you so long?” The tea vendor was furious on the kid.

“The owner of the dhaba left me late and on the way back, I slipped and fell on the ground.” Replied the boy in a frightened tone. He looked to be around 7-8 years old.

“I won’t pay you today’s salary. And if you don’t come to my stall on time from tomorrow, I will not pay you another penny for the next 2-3 days.” The vendor said harshly.

Rajiv felt bad for the boy. He also felt anger within him for the vendor for such rude behaviour towards the boy. He didn’t express his anger spontaneously though.

“Saab, here is your tea.” The vendor handed him the cup of tea.

“Thanks. Who is this kid?” Rajiv enquired.

“Saab, don’t worry about him. He is a lazy kid, doesn’t work at all. I pay him a daily salary of Rs. 20 and all he has to do is offer some help to me in the morning and in the evening in my tea-stall. But he comes late all the time. I told him so many times...”

“Does he have a name?” Rajiv interrupted him by asking in an angry tone.

“Saab, why are you getting angry? His name is Bhola. We have a simple equation of an employer and an employee. I am not forcing him to work at my stall. It’s his choice if he wants to work or not.”

“But isn’t it unfair to not pay him his daily salary, just because he’s a little late?”

“He was late by 15 minutes. Don’t argue with me anymore. Drink your tea and go.” Rajiv felt the politeness of the vendor vanish instantly. He drank his tea, paid the money and left the place. Soon after he reached home, he tried to relax by not thinking about the incident. But it was not to be. He was disturbed at the plight of the boy. Endless thoughts came into his mind. He didn’t realise when he fell asleep.  

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Rajiv woke up and looked at the watch. It was 8.15 am. He got ready and went to the same tea stall. This time, he parked his car a little further away and waited inside it. At around 10.30 am, Bhola left the stall and started walking along the road. Rajiv followed him and after he was sure that he was far away from the stall, he stopped the car in front of Bhola. He opened the door of the car and asked him with a smile on his face, “Bhola, want a lift?”

Probably not used to such kind gestures, Bhola was astonished. But soon, he became conscious and without giving any reply, started walking. Rajiv was not able to comprehend this action of the kid, but persisted. He followed the kid and finally they reached a nearby Dhaba.

Rajiv saw Bhola going into the dhaba and finally, he noticed him taking orders from the customers. He came out of the car and went into the hotel. Seeing a new customer, the owner of the dhaba called out, “Bhola, take the order from this saab.”

Bhola came out quietly. “Saab, What do you want to eat?” he asked Rajiv.

“I don’t want to eat anything. I want to talk to you.”

“Sorry saab, but I cannot allow this. It’s his time to work.” Screamed the dhaba owner.

Rajiv took out his wallet and flashed a 1000-rupee note at the owner. “Will it be possible now?”

“Arre Saab, you can take him for a ride now.” He said to Rajiv and smiled shamelessly.

Rajiv asked Bhola to sit beside him. “Why didn’t you come with me? I could have dropped you.”

“Last time I took a lift from a person, I felt so much pain in my stomach. I didn’t want to feel that pain again.”

“Pain? What pain?” asked Rajiv.

“Nothing.” Bhola replied.

“It’s OK, I am not going to hurt you. You can consider me as a friend.”

Bhola showed his stomach and Rajiv was shocked to see a big cut on it. It was more like a stitch on his abdomen. He knew what this could mean, but he wanted to confirm it.

“Where do you stay? And where are your parents?”

“I sleep here in the dhaba itself and I don’t know where my parents are.”

“OK. You carry on then, and take this.” He took out a chocolate and gave it to him. Seeing such a big chocolate, he seemed very happy and flashed a million-dollar smile to him. Rajiv now had a small friend.

Before leaving the dhaba, he talked to the owner and gathered information about Bhola. He never had parents since these people know him. He worked in the afternoon and in the night in the dhaba and slept there itself. The owner paid him a daily wage of Rs. 80 in return. In the early mornings and in the evenings, he worked at the nearby tea stall. Two years back, he was offered a lift by a van and he accepted it as he wanted to reach the tea stall early, and didn’t come back, until two days later, he was found unconscious at the same place. The people then came to know that he was robbed off of his kidney. Now, he’s unable to run or play or dance unlike the other kids his age. 

Rajiv quietly walked to his car. He couldn’t believe the cruelty that this world held and how severely was the innocence of the kid crushed. He quietly drove back home.

Bhola finished his chores in the dhaba and was getting ready to sleep. He went near the bushes to attend nature’s call when he saw Rajiv’s car in a distance. He walked towards it. As soon as he reached near it, Rajiv opened the door and said with a smile on his face, “Want a lift?” Bhola smiled and sat inside the car. 

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“We’ll have an ice-cream and then we’ll go to our house.”

“Our house!” Bhola exclaimed.

“Yes, you no longer belong here. You will stay with me and you’ll study further.”

“Please stop!” Bhola screamed suddenly.

Rajiv stopped the car right there. Bhola went out of the car. “Doesn’t he want to come with me? Is he happy in his own life?” These thoughts flashed through his mind. And then he saw Bhola come back to his car with a little puppy in his hand. “Can we take him also please?”

“Where did you find it?” Rajiv asked, relieved that he was not making a mistake.

“He’s my friend. I feed him daily on the way to the tea-stall. So I get late every day.” Bhola replied.

“Of course you can bring him in.” Rajiv said with a smile. And they drove away.

The Delivery Boy

Drowsiness was setting in. I was gradually transcending into ‘The Dreamworld’. And then something startled me and I woke up. Soon I realized, it was a knock on my front door of my 2 BHK flat that had forced me to come back into the real world. I waited for another 10-20 secs for my flatmate to open the door. No one showed up. Finally, I got up cursing him in my mind, and opened the door. It was the delivery boy from the nearby grocery shop at the door. He was standing there with a 20 litre can of drinking water, which probably my flatmate would have ordered over the phone.

The boy had a faint, half-grown moustache, was average-statured and seemed like in his early adolescence. I opened the door wide enough to allow him to come in and place the can in its right place.  He then sat down for sometime in the drawing room. I felt irritated as I was sleepy and was waiting to close the door behind him.

“Bhaiyya, can I have a glass of water? I am tired.” asked the boy.  I was getting restless now and every second I had to keep my eyes open, standing there waiting for the boy to go, irked me even more.

“One minute.” I replied and fetched a glass of water for him. The boy drank water and I expected him to go now. But that was not the case! He was still sitting there and didn’t budge from his place. I was running out of patience and finally the rude person within me blurted out, “I’ll have to close the door now.”

“Oh! Is it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay!” He exclaimed and started moving out with the empty can. I heaved a sigh of relief and as soon as he moved out of the door, I closed the door behind him and walked to my room as soon as possible and made myself cosy in my bed.

But I hardly got sleep after that. The people-pleaser within me then got into the act. I started asking myself, “Was I being the rightful person here by showing such behaviour towards an innocent kid who was just plain tired and wanted some rest? After all, it was afternoon and carrying the big can of water all the way to the third floor could tire anyone out!”

Getting irked, just because I am feeling sleepy shouldn’t have been the case. There could be so many reasons that the boy is working at this age, when he should ideally be studying. And if God wouldn’t have been kind to me, I would have been in his place delivering big cans of water in hot sunny afternoons to various homes. I cursed myself and felt really bad for my behaviour towards the boy. I promised myself that I would never repeat such a thing and would behave in a better way atleast.

I realized that the tussle between the people-pleaser and the rude protagonist within me will always continue and my mind will always be tempted to support the latter. However, it’ll always depend on me to choose the former as the winner.

The next day, I went to the same shop to buy some eateries and noticed the same boy standing behind the counter. “How are you maalik?” asked the boy.

“I am fine, how are you going about your business?” I replied.

 “Everything is going fine maalik.”

Just then, the owner of the shop arrived and ordered the boy to deliver some items to a customer in the nearby apartment. I paid the money to the owner and glanced at the boy.

He smiled at me innocently.

I smiled back at him in a friendly manner. 

The Prologue

My greetings to the readers!

People who know me would be surprised to see a blog from me and for the rest of the readers, if any :), I hope you would like it.  Since I decided to start off with a blog of my own, I felt an obligation as well to explain why I chose to do so. I could see the 'Description' field while updating the settings of my blog, but realized 500 words was a little too less to complete what I intended to put forth.

My motive behind starting this blog is not just to entertain the readers, or amuse them with flowery words and gain applause for that. As of now, I don't intend to write fictional stories or write romantic poetry for the lover boys and girls. I'm sure there are hundreds of books available in the market, and in the internet, in case anyone opts to engage in those pleasures, and I sincerely consider myself too meek a mortal to be capable of doing so. Trust me on that. :)

But the question haunts again! Why write a blog? - Well, If I am not wrong, we all would have faced many situations in our life and would have thought of our actions taken at that point of time to be regretful. How we wished then that if time travel was a reality, we would revert our actions and hence, make things better! But if things would have been that simple, there would hardly be an unhappy soul in the world. God tends to test us in different situations and see if we can come out of them with flying colors. Similarly, there would have been experiences in our life, where we could see the misery and suffering of others and yet, all we do is feel sad within and get back to our normal routine. I am not counting myself out as I have had so many such experiences in my life too, where I was just a mute spectator to others' pain and had hardly done anything about it at all.

At the same time, I am not being judgmental about myself or anyone else, as we have our work to do and are very busy in our lives. But I wanted to give a personal insight to all my readers into my experiences and ask ourselves that, are we so busy in our life, that we cannot spare a moment to bring a smile to others' face? By 'others' I mean anyone apart from you, yourself. We all have some moral obligation towards our society and the people, who are a part of it. We just need to take a step forward to realize it and do something about it. Being a little selfish about ourselves is fine, but becoming self-obsessed is a different thing altogether.

Now that you all know what to expect of my future posts, I feel relieved of the burden of expectations of entertaining you all. Although, I now feel that I have a responsibility on my shoulders and the similar-to-egg-shaped head of mine to enlighten you with what I have promised to in this post. It could bore you to death, but if it inspires you to do something for the betterment of others, I would consider this a major success in itself.

Thanks again for the patience you've shown to read my first post ever, and I am open to feedback from all my readers, be it positive or negative :)

Yours Truly,
Sid
Spread a smile :)