We are always one desire Short!

At the most what we would be able to achieve would be one less than what we desire ultimately. Interestingly, this holds true universally and this is what keeps us going, isn't it?

Always striving for that one thing that we are devoid of currently and rather not enjoying the things that we now possess but once aspired. Well! As to what I could understand over these 22 years is that there will always be something running against you that would earn you an inferiority complex. This is where it is co crucial to have your own perspective, have a clear thought process and define what that ultimate happiness is for you because when God designed this concept of life, He made sure that it remains challenging!

What is rather more startling is that most of us must be knowing this at the back end of our mind yet fail big time when it comes to practical application. Retrospection tells us a lot of things, gives us a lot of fodder for thought but then, at the end of the day it is that one desire we are "short of" that fuels us to carry on and carry against life, hoping that we one day achieve everything we desire. Hah! Virtually impossible, if thought sensibly!

Life moves on, so do we. Our ultimate desires keep changing. Just to re-assert this fact, think of what we aspired to be when we were a kid, and what we are now. Both of them being in complete resonance is a rarity. If we have shuffled from our childhood desires, then going by the theory History repeats itself, I guess we would again do!

That last night

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 26; the 26th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'That Last Night'.

You might want to read this post before having a go at the contest entry below. Not that the post can't be read independently, but just that it would add to the beauty.


******

She ran away as if wishing to never see me again. I stood there, regretting my decision of waiting to propose her on the farewell night. Perhaps, love doesn't need an occasion, it just happens, no rhyme, no reason, it just happens!

The rain was getting harder by the minute. When everyone was busy clicking pictures and promising to stay in touch, it was time for me to get back to the hostel. Those 20 minutes were the longest 20 minutes I've ever had.   When I let out the emotion I had kept in my heart for the past 4 years, I felt betrayed by hands of fate.

The intensity in the hostel was amazing with loud music being played and plans about going out for the night being made. It was no longer the place I had been living in for the past so many months. Everything about that night seemed different, completely in contrast to how I thought it to be. I looked out from my window and could see the joy and happiness around, which somehow wasn't the case with me.

I could not sleep the entire night. It was around 6 in the morning that I moved out of my room. The hostel was quiet for the first time in the last 24 hours. The emotion of farewell had got to everybody. Now, the very thought of not being able to live in that place, curse the mess food, the hygiene, every possible feeling started to creep in.


Looking down from the third floor, the place we used to play cricket would soon be taken over by our juniors. Those peacocks moving around the hostel will not be the first sights in the morning anywhere. The chirping of birds would never be heard so clearly. That rush to make it to mess timings for meals would not be there. There won't be any queue to have food, neither would anyone steal the sweet dish from your plate. 


It is strange how memories can come flooding to you in a second and leave you in a moment when the last thing you want is solitude!


All this while when I was embraced by the memories I thought I would never cherish, my phone beeped and it was a message from her reading......


I really did not know what to say when you proposed me, so I thought I would just write everything so that you don't misunderstand me. I have kept that piece of paper on the attached to the tree where we met today. Reach there soon, it's really windy out there.


I took off like a guy with tail set on fire, wishing I would also get to meet her one last time. I reached there soon and took the letter.

If the night was not enough, this was another shocker for me.

I looked at rain gods as if hoping for them to masquerade my tears yet again with the raindrops.

The farewell night turned out to be my last meeting with her eventually, leaving some memories to be cherished and a few lessons to be learnt.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

When Journey Meant More Than Destination

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 25; the Silver Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'When Journey Meant More Than Destination'.

For the past 10 months, I had been roaming around the city which I intruded into, in search of a job. Without much success, rather without any success and a growing feeling of helplessness and devoid of any relative here, my worst fears were coming true. According to the meteorological department, monsoons were going to hit soon and it was going to be disastrous this time. The lease for my home was about to get over in a month and arranging for enough money to get the lease renewed was a major roadblock.

The meteorological department was wrong yet again. Monsoons arrived pre-mature to their forecast. And that was some rain! It rained like it was the last time. The subsequent days followed the same pattern. My quest for a job was hindered as I could not gather any courage to move out in such a scenario. After having waited for a week, I decided to set out for a task to be accomplished. Not because I was fed up (I somehow never felt guilty of anything, though I wish I did, sometimes!!) but because I saw a small window of hope. My interview was the next day, but since that place was outside the city and with rain gods being so hostile, I thought it was better to start a day before.

I had no idea of my means of commuting after I cross the city. By evening, I was completely drenched in rain, I barely had any food, not many restaurants were willing to tone down their charges. The hailstorm, the rain had finally given a breather to the city. Even God needed rest!

I was contended that the weather conditions could not get the better of me. But just by my outlook, even a blind person could interpret that all was not well. She was not blind though and I could judge that by the way she looked at me and offered water to me.

"I have had enough of it ma'am, I have absorbed a lot of it throughout my journey", I said, though I doubt if she really understood my stupid and lame sense of humour. She realized that I needed to calm down and be in an aura of sanity. She must have been right there with me. I still wonder how the blink of an eye could turn an evening into night. Perhaps, I had fallen unconscious. I finally had someone to talk to who did not appear to take advantage of me. She advised me not to travel in the night but leave with the first rays of the morning.
I had known by then that conveyance won't be available and I would have to on-foot the entire journey.

She had to travel towards the city, so the first rays of morning meant departure from a genuinely caring person I had met in a long long time. And I can say that because she had the heart to share the inadequate amount of food and money she had with her.

Though that too was a sleepless night eventually, but unlike the past ones, it was not a haunting one! I don't remember after how long did I share a smile and enjoy a laughter. She too was alone. When one is willing to share the only belongings they have, they are sharing a piece of their heart. They need company, not because they cannot be independent but because a smile from a stranger is sometimes all you need to get up and carry on again.

Finally, the first rays of the dawn did hit. We hugged each other before we took our ways. With each step forward, it was taking me away from her and closer to my destination. I felt the struggle had started the moment we departed. I was loosing the conviction to move forward. I stood there with my arms stretched out as if asking for help, helplessly! But I knew it was only me who was to make a decision there. Having closed my eyes, I thought of all the lessons I have ever learnt in life.

I wondered, do I really want my destination? Or, was the journey more beautiful. Is moving forward the way to go, or going back is the new keyword? I took out a coin and tossed it up in the air. While the coin was still in the air, I knew what my heart hoped for!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Black and White

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 24; the Twenty-Fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is BLACK AND WHITE.

Black and white were the only colors his life was all about. For the past 3 years, he had been in the profession  he never thought he would land in. He used to say that, "I would often be doing things that I don't like but those would be the ones most important and almost a necessity".

Rohan came from a well-off family and used to be the topper of his school till the time he did not meet Mihika. Mihika was Rohan's senior in school. They first met bitterly when Rohan accidently hit Mihika while playing basketball and she retaliated, but what followed was in complete contrast. In order to avenge their anger, they kept confronting each other, a bit too often. Soon, the people around them started to feel the care in the way they fought.

Rohan got carried away by rumors that were doing the rounds about him and Mihika. His academic performance started to fall steeply. Mihika unfazed by such things kept pushing Rohan to do things that were of benefit to her. Having a rich boyfriend had its own advantage, felt Mihika. He did not realize it till the time he had lost all his appetite for studies and when Mihika left him saying he was good for nothing.

After Mihika completed her schooling and joined college, she refused to keep any contact with Rohan. He kept searching her for one year to regain her back but all in vain. His scores in 12th were an all time low for an otherwise illustrious academic career.

After 4 years, Rohan found himself left with nothing but a relentless search for Mihika. While she on the other hand graduated from her college after doing a course in hotel management and was employed in a 5 star hotel.

That day must have been scripted down with a different pen, but it was something surely apart from the normal. As their eyes looked into each other, Rohan and Mihika realized that they were at an inexplicable juncture of their lives. Mihika, who was totally unaware of what a feeling love is, tried but failed to ignore those eyes which said every untold and unheard tales of pain and misery they have been through for the past so many years. Not only was Rohan jobless, he also left his family.

Black and white became the colors of Rohan's life, soon after that meeting between the two. He got the job of a waiter in the same hotel, by Mihika's referral. Nobody knows why Rohan always wanted to be near to Mihika even after being ditched and betrayed by her very evidently. Perhaps he had experienced a feeling that was bigger than anything else, even bigger than his own intellect which could have taken him to places galore. Another fact that nobody knows; Why did Mihika refer Rohan for that job when she had herself left him years ago. The kind of girl she was, she would never feel pity for people she dumped.

These are the 2 questions that remain un-answered till date. One loved the other so madly, while the other took advantage whenever she got a chance. They complemented each other in the same way light complements darkness and black complements white.

Anybody knowing Rohan would believe him when he said, "I would often be doing things that I don't like but those would be the ones most important and almost a necessity". This statement made so much sense.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

He never thought it existed

Being from a well-off family and brought up in luxurious facilities, he was not aware of how rare the resources are, with the economically backward sections of the society. The environment around him was according to the standards of his family, or so was it kept intentionally. He studied in a school which only the elite class could afford, so he never really mingled with people who were from a poor background. Rahul, a proud associate of a MNC giant, had a blessed childhood, an even better youth which was still pursuant. He was on his road to attain milestones which nobody at his age did.

It was a big day for him, he had prepared for this day for some time now. As a part of corporate social responsibility, it was their duty to give some part of their income to charity. Since, he had never visited slums; he claimed this opportunity with both hands. He was visiting the slums for the first time, and knew that it was going to be difficult for him, as he was told by his colleagues and friends. Though he was prepared mentally, but it was going to be altogether a very different scenario.

Rahul with his colleagues reached the slums. As they stepped out from their air conditioned cars, there was a stingy smell all around, an odour that was obnoxious and unpleasant. It had started; a not-so-good start for a difficult day ahead. As they stepped into the murky environment, they could see naked kids running across; they were all over the place. There were no roads there, only pathways, seeing which one could easily get a notion of how they used to get in the monsoons.

Rahul, unaware and not being subjected to such conditions was shocked and amazed. One roof and a door was all that could be called for a shelter, there was no order and everything seemed to be in disarray. Taking the first step, Rahul entered in a household to get to know what actually the state of affairs is. He was greeted warmly, with so much affection that he felt actually nice being in a small 8 x 10 square-feet room. His outlook towards life was changing, fast.

The entire slum was beset with problems, perennially. When sometimes electricity failed, water made life difficult at the other, there were no doctors in the slums, no hospitals nearby. Some houses were such that one thunderstorm might leave them inhabitable. There were families where there was no source of income, which primarily relied on the leftovers they had from the previous month, or they were excessively dependent on the fact that someone like Rahul would come once in a while and bail them out of trouble.

Rahul had seen all of which he thought never existed in one day, and he could not come to terms with the fact that living standards could be that worse. He realized him being rich was a decision God made with a belief that when Rahul goes out there,  he would, without thinking of his social stature, show the usefulness of the bestowed resources he has with himself. That night when he reached back home, and took out his diary to write the experiences, the wind blew and took him to the slums where that 6-year old kid said to him, “Fir se aana bhaiya”

He smiled.