Friday, September 29, 2006

Happy Birthday to...

Today is the birthday of one of my dearest friends. If I think about it, he's rather an unlikely person to be my friend - and wouldn't have been except for certain circumstances.

Let me explain. We were classmates at b-school. Same class, same section, a few common electives. So we met each other every day. We even had common friends - two of my best friends were friends of his. Yet, while we had a healthy respect for each other, we never really touched base. One reason being, that we were both busy with other (now inconsequential) things to have much time for fraternising.

He was one of the early birds to get a job (or the worm, if you want to put it that way). I got one too, eventually. It was time to move out. And I did, without meeting any of those three friends, without saying a proper goodbye.

Strangely however, the friendships persisted. Maybe true friends are like that. He came to visit me once, with one of our common friends. After that, we didn't keep very well in touch.

Then I got back in touch with the other close friend. This friendship went too deep for distance to fade it. It took only a few days to become better friends than we had ever been, only a few conversations to bare our souls to each other. Maybe the distance helped. It was like talking to God, or to oneself: talking to a listener who does not exist.

This friend is my Guy, and we are getting married in a week. But I began by talking of my other friend, whose birthday it is today. He and the Guy have been the best of friends for years. So my relationship with the Guy brought me closer to him too. So much so that now I probably talk to him more than the Guy does. Yes, the Guy will always come first for him. But when he comes to our wedding next week, I'll know he'll be there for me too.

We might disagree (often), fight (rarely, I hope), and meet but once a year (or less - who knows?), yet this is one friendship that I hope will last. I need him in my life, need him to be the rock he's been. He is the only person before whom I might contemplate cribbing to about the Guy - simply because I know the esteem and affection he has for him, which would not make my act the disloyalty it would be with anyone else. To put it simply, I need him because he's a genuine friend - and experience has taught me these are hard to find.


So, on his birthday, I wish him happiness to fill his life.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

My Birthday

One of my dearest friends wished on my birthday that this be my best birthday ever. Well, it was.

It started out by being rather ordinary. On second thoughts, maybe not quite. Hopping around on a bike on bumpy roads trying to find a cake before midnight is (thankfully) not very common with me. Fortunately, we found one bakery that closes late.

The best part about this birthday was that I had my dearest people with me. Mom and the Guy were both present when I cut my cake. Though not a novel way to celebrate a birthday, it was a very satisfying one for me.

And of course, the wishes of friends always makes a birthday special.

But what was most special, this time, was the way it ended. The Guy and I spent a great evening at a discotheque - for the first time. Yes, in spite of our having been together for most of eight months, we had never done that before. I fulfilled a long-standing fantasy - of dancing with my love.

As we rode back home, the silence of the night with the stars twinkling down contrasted perfectly with the loud vibrating music and dancing lights at the nightclub, and made for just the right ending to a wonderful evening.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Stars in My Hand

I recently realised why I like diamonds. And why I like them small and few, not huge and flashy. They remind me of stars. Like the unattainable stars twinkling in the night sky, they wink at you from a ear or neck.

So I have five tiny stars on my finger, twinkling to celebrate our love.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I like...

…riding on a bike with the wind blowing in my face.

…going for a walk on a cold evening.

…sitting in a cafĂ© sipping strong hot coffee – better still, letting the coffee grow cold while the Guy and I are engaged in an animated discussion.

…getting up early in the morning – on a holiday.

… reading a book on a quiet afternoon while the Guy is sleeping with his head on my lap.

…sitting outside on a clear night, looking at the stars or the moon


.…cooking a simple meal for the Guy and me to share.

Friday, September 08, 2006

I Do Not Understand…

why women two-wheeler drivers in Pune cover their heads and faces with scarves but do not bother to wear helmets. Are their skin and hair more precious than their heads?

why drivers zip across even when the traffic light is red. I may even understand someone being callous of other’s lives, but of one’s own…?

why so many men are quite incapable of treating women with respect… why so many even educated men look at a woman and see not a person but a body…

why so many women willingly consent to, even propagate, the idea of a woman as more a body than a mind…

why people who are never there for me when I need someone expect me to be there for them – always… (as if that is my sole purpose in life!)

why people go through privations for religious reasons but are unwilling to put up with the slightest inconvenience for humane considerations. For instance, a non-vegetarian will boast of eating lamb or fawn, but will observe a strictly vegetarian diet during a religious festival!