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Take Care! |Life Blog
Take Care | Life Blog
The free flow, the collision and the flowing back; the water created all the chaos but still at that moment it was silent. The night was endearing. The sparkling brightness of the stars was at its peak. The moon blossomed adding to the beauty of the night. In the white mud with tiny pebbles scattered all around, they breathed a pleasant air which the water brought with its flow. The beach was creating magic. Everything around them was perfect.
In the white gown wrapped around her body, with a golden bracelet on her one wrist and a beautifully designed watch on the other, mascara decorating her eyes, she was sitting there and breathing the air of happiness and freedom. Her face was glowing seeing the rush of water touching her feet. Each time the drops caressed her feet, chirpy laughter with an everlasting smile came to her face. She seemed like a small girl clapping and laughing in her own joy irrespective of what was going around.
And there he was, sitting in the white shirt perfectly ironed and tucked in the elegant black pants. Both hands in the mud to lay support, he was continuously looking at her and living the moment. Her laughter kept a continuous smile on his face. He too was living the moment in her. They knew what was to follow and but they did not want to think about it. It was their day and at that time it was their moment which they were living.
….
Soon she turned her face and saw him watching her. She stared for a while and laughed. Seeing her laughter he smiled again. Their faces found it difficult to turn around and look towards the sea. As long as they looked towards each other, even the time found it hard and difficult to move on. A sudden wave of cold breeze finally made her turn around; he still held his face the same.
The silence was not killing the moment, instead, it was making the moment and was taking it to the new highs. Her hand waved to let the particles of mud move out from them and her eyes started gazing on her fingers. She smiled seeing her engagement ring and started playing with him. Even in that dark hour, her face was glowing. In the same moment was heard a deep sound of a train horn followed by a movement of the train. The rails were expected to be nearby.
Finally, after taking it out and wearing again, she fixed it in her finger and gave a sudden look towards him. He was still in the same posture smiling on her very actions. He was very much aware of her playing with the ring.
“I think it’s time to go”
she said in the most innocent voice. And without any reply, he stood up and gave his hand to her to do the same. They started walking. Finally getting their legs wet on the seashores, they made their way towards their car.
The car stopped outside her place. He sat there without moving out. She silently went to her gate and turned back, asking
“Will you be there for?”
“No. Leaving tomorrow. Don’t know when I will return” he replied even before letting her complete the question.
With a goodbye smile, his car left. She stood there with a smile on her face and tears in his eyes. Somewhere down in herself, she knew this answer.
Years later, the same old city of their welcomed them. In sophisticated dresses, poised etiquette, and formal smiles they met again. In a function filled with many of their known, they met each other. She was joined by her husband and he was their still alone. They faced each other and were not able to talk. Both had stories to tell, memories to share, emotions to show and words to flow. But nothing happened. The eyes were beginning to turn wet and lips went numb. The relation between them was yet not defined but now it didn’t matter even. Before the eyes start to flow its emotions out, they both decide to bid again a goodbye with no hopes and expectation to meet again.
“Take care” both uttered the words together
Somewhere between the deep chaos of the waves and the deep silence of the continuously murmuring people at the function, they knew that their love has survived the test of time.
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Childhood | English Poetry
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The photograph | Short story | Love
The photograph | Short story | Love
-Revealing the Un-revealed
The Beginning
On the table were lying memories. Different pictures captured at different times, different age and with different people, each telling a story of its own. Ananya gazed at them all as if she was living them in her eyes there and then yet again. But it was difficult; it was her past, unheard by many around her, in her presence. Some she had forgotten about, and some she desperately wanted to forget. This was not the first time she was going through these pictures. She wanted to know why many of her precious moments ended and still, she was happy with her life. She searched for her curiosity amongst those memories.
There was a photograph of her with Anant; her boyfriend during schooldays whom she had met for the first time in Dehradun. A tall, dark and handsome guy with whom she fell in love the very first time they met and dream of a life together. They were just 17. Love seldom showcases understanding, sometimes it just creates an aura of happiness. The same aura, Ananya was living in, then. The surrounding was blurred to them. She had her first kiss with him. Time went by and maturity knocked the doors, teenage was about to end. Who did what? Was that right? Who was wrong? What mattered and whatnot, everything needed a justification. Things began to change slowly and were never the same.
Memories
She picked up another photograph; Anuja, her best friend at college, who always stood by her in her highs and lows. Enjoyed with her in the hay-days and cried in her sorrow. She was her sole support in the 3 years of college at Delhi. Anuja and Ananya spent most of their time gossiping together. But as she began to realize what her life was meant for and what she should do to make it worthwhile, her priorities changed and so did the people around her. With her changed approach, she had to juggle her life between her best friend and her future, ultimately the relation did not work out.With her eyes wet, she kept the photograph down and searched for something which could make her smile.
She picked up the photo of her teddy bear, which made her wonder who gifted it to her. It was Ansh, her online friend. She met him on a social networking site, who made his way into her life, first through Whats App and then through Skype. At that time, she was working in Kolkata, which also happened to be her hometown. At this stage, she did not want a relationship but was eager to keep herself engaged in some activity apart from work.
Marriage was not on her cards at least for the next 2 years and so came Ansh. She met Ansh, and gradually their proximity grew. She dated him for a year. When she was with him, she felt liberated. She lost herself within him. She lived this phase of life. It made her more mature and independent. In an effort to feel free, she missed the part of understanding the person in her life. Her constraints of not entering in a relationship and still to be with Ansh confused her and that confused her relationship with hi. She never convinced herself and so knowingly or unknowingly things ended yet again.
Finally, she kept the pictures aside.
She realized how something that was once a part of her, does not exist today. Whether it was her first kiss in school with Anant, her sloshed state with Anuja, or losing her virginity with Ansh; each moment was an integral part of her life, which added some spice, excitement and thrill to her life and made her feel ecstatic. But none lasted. Going through the scattered set of pictures she realized how it was not the end in a true sense.
They always changed their direction and got lost somewhere, with a hope of returning in future. She slowly began to feel good that how she should not be sad as nothing had actually ended in the real sense. The end comes with the closure of certain things or certain people in your life. But that is what the dilemma of life is; the only thing that ends in life is life, rest everything continues, either in present or in memories of the past or in the hope of a better and brighter future.
Finally..
She was neither regretting them nor was she satisfied with letting them wave off in the ocean and reaching different shores. Instead, she understood how the memories that the pictures brought back were to make her understand the importance of time and how in each phase of life, each experience mattered and did well to her without affecting her present.
She searched through them once again, and a picture brought a smile to her face finally. Bringing it close to her and kissed it. She found an empty photo frame. She made her way towards it and put a picture in it. It was of her and her husband with whom she had an arranged marriage. She just had spent over a year with him but still, he was very important to her. What was the thing which made her choose him over others, she never understood?
She didn’t understand whether she loved him more than Anant or Ansh. Whether she was guilty of not telling him about her past, she never thought of it. She was finally happy with the answers she got. She understood there will be no end to any of the relations she lived; the only end will be that they will be one of these clicked pictures and she wanted to be clicked with a smiling face.
The door knocked, and she realized it was her husband, keeping all the pictures back in the old bag; where she thought the pictures actually belong and leaving them in the storeroom, she went to open the door.
@ramta jogi
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Childhood | English Poetry
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The smile that lasted | Life Blog | Youth Ki Awaaz
The smile that lasted | Youth Ki Awaaz
“Sometimes LOVE has no words, it has just SMILE”
In Youth Ki Awaaz comes my latest article.A story of love, loss, grief and a smile.
Beginning
I met Anant when I was in 6th grade. A very smart person with decent looks, Anant made for a talkative, naughty and charming classmate. He had a smile which impressed many and helped him make quite a few friends. With each passing grade, we became the best of buddies.
However, when college started, I moved to a different city and phone became the only way to stay connected with my childhood friend. During his college days, he met a girl named Tia – his good looking and charming classmate. Their relationship started with a close friendship and progressed to love. And within the second year of their course, the two of them were in a committed relationship. Whenever I visited my hometown, I would make it a point to meet the two of them. Somehow, I always felt that Anant’s smile was what kept them glued together.
Time passed, and we had reached what you could call the marriageable age. Anant and Tia now had 6 years of togetherness to fall back on. In a generation which has the power to end relations by simply sending a message; where people change with the blink of an eye, here I was witnessing two amateurs who were still dedicatedly in love. They knew each other inside out. Whether it was the happy side or the miserable one, their understanding of each other was what made their bond so extraordinary.
They spoke to their parents about getting married – argued and fought but stayed adamant in not letting go of each other. Somehow they knew that love is something which can be and should be fought for. Before I knew it, I was preparing the invitation cards for the guests. A day I wanted to witness for so long had finally arrived.
The middle
In the midst of happiness what we forget is the temporarily of our emotions. Nothing lasts longer than it is destined to. We are animals of hope, and that’s what keeps us going. One and a half years after Anant and Tia’s wedding, I got a call. Waking me up from an afternoon nap, I picked up Anant’s call only to have an unknown voice speak to me –
“Hi, Brother. This is Raj. Our sister-in-law Tia is no more. Her rituals are to be performed at 11:30 today.”
The phone left me in a state of shock. I was not sure what and how to react. Sitting isolated in my dorm in a different city so far away, I felt incapable of doing anything that would make things better. I called my parents and friends and asked them to reach Anant’s place at the earliest.
And then I was crying. Only to try and hold back my tears and be strong the next moment. All those 6 years of knowing Tia was running through my mind. All the short and sweet memories I had with her and, moreover, with them will now be permanently stained with the sorrow of death.
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It took me hours to realize what Anant might be going through. People asked me to talk to him, but it was just not possible for me to do so. Maybe I was scared of witnessing the pain and harsh reality in his voice. I never understood why people often try to console and stop others from crying during such situations. One must shed their share of tears before the wound heals. I didn’t call him for many days. I couldn’t.
My parents told me that Tia had been suffering from a lung infection. And as fate would have it, Anant had to move to a different city for his work at around the same time. He would return to the city only on weekends to meet Tia. During the last week when things got worse and she was admitted to the hospital, he could only return by the time she had permanently made peace with his absence.
My parents said they found it overwhelmingly difficult to face Anant at his home. His eyes were swollen with the constant crying. He was not able to carry himself without the support of others. My mother also cried seeing his plight; pitying his loss at such an early age.
Conclusion
I was not able to imagine what Anant might have felt seeing his companion lying lifeless on the hospital bed, not opening her eyes one last time. I blamed fate, destiny and life and never understood what mistake that 25-year-old girl could have committed.
And what about Anant? Wasn’t this when he was supposed to enjoy life with his love instead of losing everything like this? I cried for days, feeling sorry for all that had happened. I felt sorry that Anant had lost the love which had held him together in times of sorrow and pain; the love which cheered him in his success. The one who was the reason for him to grow and achieve more was now no more. These past 7 years, Anant and Tia had created memories and lived a life of dreams that suddenly all ended in ashes.
3 weeks later, I returned to the city deciding to meet Anant that very night. We sat facing each other, barely talking; not once daring to mention Tia. We exchanged an awkward smile aware more than ever of the huge void she had left behind her. A void that was now filled rather oddly by an inanimate garlanded photo frame, propped in between our sofas. One that froze her in a single moment complete with her bridal suit and smiling face. We glanced at her photo, looked at each other and could only fall silent again.
Maybe it was still the smile playing charmingly on their faces that was keeping them together even now.
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He who knows the alphas and betas of Life|Short Story |Life Blog
Short Story| Life Blog |He who knows the alphas and betas of Life
Beginning
All four were 3 pegs down, consciously or subconsciously having fun and in the midst of it suddenly one of them said, “Rajesh, why you teach the student this way?”
As usual in his jovial mood, Rajesh started laughing and asked “Which way?”
“I think I teach them, in the best possible way, I can. In the way in which they can understand the topic in full detail and which will help them clear the entrance exam. What’s wrong in that?”
To this, the head among them said, “Yes Rajesh, you are right. But this is creating an issue with the other faculties, who teaches them just up-to-the point, without any detail.”
“Students are comparing them with you and asking them to teach to your standards, which to some extent is becoming difficult to other teachers. So better we should have a uniform system of teaching standards”
……
Rajesh said “Do you know what are you people saying, you are saying me to change my way of teaching, not to teach them what I know and what I can explain them, just to make your other faculties comfortable?
The head replied “Rajesh, why don’t you understand? This variable teaching among the faculties in the same institution will hamper our brand and will affect our business. ”
“So what do you think? What you are asking me, won’t hamper the career the students, won’t affect them and make me feel guilty? Will it not cheating to me, if I agree to what you are saying” replied Rajesh.
The Head argued “Rajesh, every one of the department is in this favour but. “
”But not my conscience. I will better quit the job than to continue your way” replied Rajesh.
……
Hearing the word “QUIT”, everyone who was in a different world of their own suddenly came to their senses.
Another member said, “Are you guys mad? Let’s wind up for today, will have a discussion tomorrow”.
“No, the decision is fixed”, said Rajesh. I will teach my way”
“No Rajesh “, said the head,” You need to change”.
“NEVER,” said Rajesh
The next morning was a different morning for him.
Middle..
Rajesh: He Born and brought up in Delhi, graduated from NIT K, left his home a long time before he was even that much matured. With just his knowledge and an exceptional quality of sense of humour, he began his life himself. With long curls of hair, simple looks yet charming smile, with an idea of living life with peace and ease, he moved ahead, not on any desired way, but on the road which was ahead of him, irrespective of the idea of where it will lead.
An intelligent boy from a young age, Rajesh began to take personal coaching for students from the time when we were busy watching action movies and roaming here and there. By the time he entered college, he began his tuition classes for school children, with his NIT friends. His earning by himself paid for his daily expenses during college days.
He continued this way as he never thought what he had to do next. Living his life, enjoying with everyone who meets him and working on the task assigned to him. He too was a common person as others, but with a difference. Always stood up for what he thought is right, irrespective of the opposition. He walked along, fell many times in the midst of his beginning but without hesitation and without any doubt stood up again and continued in his journey. He completed his engineering and finally got placed in a firm.
……
As time passed and after changing various cities and various jobs, he got married to his long term love and then thought to get settled with his wife, here in Ahmedabad and so he landed here and started teaching Mathematics for entrance exams.
Don’t know it was God who favoured him by bringing him in the city of Ahmedabad or favoured the students here, but he was finally here in the city of Ahmedabad.
……….
And now, here he was this morning standing in a strange city, which accepted him, loved him, respected him but was not there for him at that time when he needed them. After 5 years in the city, he was there out of the job and thinking about what to do next. The only problem he felt was that he realized that what he only knew was Mathematics, how he lived his life was with Mathematics and what can make him take care of his family was also Mathematics, and so what he can only do was teach Mathematics, and the problem was the word “ONLY”.
When you are restricted to a single option, your scope gets limited, and so what he was searching was what can he do with Mathematics.
People say,
Life is difficult for us; it was even harsh to him
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We get sad when we get less material happiness compared to others, and there he was, who needed to fulfil his necessity for him and his family and even that thought to earn the necessity was seen difficult to him.
Many of us go to our parents and ask for money for anything that we want, and his parents were far away in a different city without any contact with him from many years, who didn’t even know what Rajesh was up to.
We find it embarrassing to speak to a stranger and there he was standing there in a strange city all alone, with his wife, asking the city now what? Thinking what next? As everything, every tie of past had ended and there was nothing he could have continued.
…….
We crave, we cry, we ask for whatever we want from everyone and there he was, whose crises, desires and wants only he knew, only he felt, and what the outside world saw was his smile and his reply to everyone “Move on, will do something.”
With his calmness, his composure, love for his work, love for each and every person associated with him, truthfulness to himself and others, he was not a man who was a part of the crowd, even in those harsh times. Even in such hard times, he was different from others. He was a shining moon, in the cluster of stars.
…….
He began to approach other institutes for work, but for every place either his level was too high for them, or theirs was too low for him. So with a smiling face, and a contended heart he returned back home. Months passed in planning what to do, but he was in a thought that something will happen. He continued his efforts, to try and implement, but as they say that certain phases of life are rough patches, travelling through them takes time, and the same was the phase he was passing through.
And so on
Then one day after two pegs down that night, suddenly he said: “Why don’t I start my own coaching classes”. That’s it. With the dreams of owning his own classes, he slept that night. Though the reality was not as easy as his last night’s thought, from the next day, he began to work in that direction. The next day, while searching for future prospects, he discussed his idea with people.
Some found it risky, to which he replied that “We have nothing to lose, and only to gain at this stage, so why not take this risk”
Many feared about profits, to which he replied, “Friend, we will have less food, but at least won’t die of hunger”
Some thought it won’t be able to compete in the market, where the big sharks had taken a major share already, to this he said “who wants to have competition with them, I want to just teach quality education and make my family and my students future better”
……..
To all the odds, he heard. To all fears he encountered, he just smiled on them.
And then one day, in a 2 room office, his dream began, he started his coaching classes.
He did branding? No.
Did he ask students, from his end? No.
He just started, informing all that he is ready to teach again on his own. And people started to come in, all those who knew him, not only as a tutor but also as a person.
With a chair by the side of the toilet, where he counselled the students coming to him, and a classroom where he took lectures, he began his journey again with a small bunch of students.
……..
With time, his name spread, people began to know that he is there still teaching, and his institute grew. He changed his office, not once but twice as the number of students continued to increase. And the thing that never changed was his humour. Whatever it was, his talks started with some humorous comment which made people around him laugh first and then the conversation would begin. He became the centre of attraction without moving from the very place where he actually stood.
And the time came when he again became the best of his field as he was back then and always was. The institute reached the heights in education, his students delivered the best results and his name was at the top.
But what was a uniqueness that made him different from other people?
…….
It was his persona. Students respected him for his teachings, but they loved him more for what a person he was. With his pure heart and his frankness with students, he became everybody’s friend cum teacher. Whenever anyone meets him, he was not only there for your doubts about career but he was there for doubts about life.
Students discussed with him their personal matters because he had formed such a trustworthy bond with them. Batches formed, students passed and went ahead to desired colleges, but not a single one of them forgot him. Whenever anyone got the chance to visit him, they surely did, and he was there to greet him with the same warmth and love.
Till this day
You go to him, and he will smile with you and crack jokes like a friend. You meet him seeking career advice and he will be your mentor, you ask him to doubt and he will be your teacher and Discuss personal matters and he will become your guardian.
He believed in the idea “To Act instead to react”, and said that instead of wasting time in criticizing our past, why not to look at our present and try for a better future, and so each bad past always was ignored. Taught the great principles of life in the simplest form.
“He sent many to the colleges where we learn the art to master in business and himself taught the art to master in personal life.”
Knowing him, you learn many things.
……
He believes whatever it is going on, it will be definitely better if not best someday.
Whatever you are going through personally, you don’t have the right to depress others with that as you owe some sense of happiness to others to. So irrespective of troubles keep smiling; troubles will end, but being depressed till the end of the troubles, eventually makes you lose your smile for at least that much time. You meet him any day, but you can never realize that whether he is going through tough times or not. He will always begin and end the meet with a laugh.
His ideas inspired people to live a better life.
Thoughts made many a better person.
His suggestions became a rule, which was unquestionably followed.
Trust on him, reached beyond par.
Whether it was education or personal issues he always guided as if we were someone his closed ones.
What would have had happened, if after quitting he would leave bewildered and confused only. Would he be able to reach this position where he reached? No.
….
He reached because he never stopped.
Reached because he had pure intentions,
He reached because he loved truly.
Reached because he was true to himself and to others.
He reached because of dared.
It has been more than 3 years, of his institute and you meet him today, and you will see that he is still the same. Any time surrounded by students, guiding them, solving their doubts, listening to their issues.
A teacher, a mentor, a guide, a friend, a philosopher and especially a true gentleman that’s how Shri. Rajesh Jha is described and he continues to live the life the way it should actually be lived.
—(@ ramta Jogi)
Short Story: Life Blog
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The Accidental Roommate
Roommate : College Memories : Blog
The Beginning
On a random evening, when the leaves on the pathway were yet to be swept, the campus was peaceful and serene, yet to be disturbed by human intervention of the coming batch, I reached here. On the gate, I was welcomed by the security guards and checked my name in the list of new students that was put near the gate.
The registration of students and allotment of their rooms was due for the next day, so they made some temporary arrangement for those who arrived early.“There is another guy who has come this morning, he is staying in room number A-6. Should we allow you the next room or are you willing to share the room with him?” asked the security guard. Being new to the campus and afraid of being alone, I chose the latter option.
We were allotted separate rooms the next day but hoped to convince our respective roommates to swap. Call it misfortune of my good fortune, my roommate was not keen to shift (I guess he was a strong believer of Vastu-Shastra). The guy I stayed with on the first night, wasn’t allotted any roommate. As soon as I came to know this, irrespective of the several emails from the college authorities asking us not to change our allotted rooms, I picked up my luggage and shifted to his room.It was 2014 then, and it is 2016 now, the decision which was then an option, became a choice for me. This choice resulted in lots of memories, times of joy, laughter, arguments, smiles, stories of travel and a journey full of mouth-watering food. It happened accidentally, but we remained roommates for these years.
The mid-way
He had a personality that was in contrast to mine. Calm, composed, having an aura of solace around him. We began as roommates and eventually became companions, friends for a lifetime! Our arguments were usually replaced by understanding. Perhaps, when two persons with opposite personalities meet, a phase of the war is expected. But not here, at least one had a sense of acceptance and nature to forget the grudges and move on. This logic is not restricted to couples. This holds true for the parent-child relationship, or even for a simple friendship. In our case, he was the one who knew when to drop the matter and avoid further arguments.Though he was younger to me, I learnt several things from him. Whether it was his calmness, his profound understanding of things, or the time he dedicated to eating he did everything with ease, peace and patience. Sometimes I noticed that even after having such a laidback attitude, he enjoyed his life, whereas others panicked and ran around like madmen to complete their stuff.
The mid-way continued…
The first year passed, and without a second thought, we chose to be together in the second year as well. By this time we rarely needed words to express our feelings. Many times our silence was the answer, or laughter explained everything. To some extent our choices complemented. Whether it was having food at a particular joint or running back to our homes in whatever free time we could find, or keeping the room dark with fewer lights, we rarely debated or argued on it. It was understood what the other wanted or is comfortable with.
As the season of placements dawned upon us, we too ran the race. He got placed in a very reputed telecom company. Today, after two months of his selection, a mail from his recruiter came. They have given him a joining date from the next week. We were aware of this, but just the thought of him leaving in such a short time sent shivers down my body.
Relationships are described by a set of standard words and so is hatred. But in the midst of these extremes, what we tend to forget are those small, tiny, peaceful relations which we make in a short time and which stay with us for a lifetime.The Closing
My mornings for the next month won’t be the same again. The dependency on him for many things. Starting with making my laptop work, or waking me up early will all be shifted to my shoulders. I doubt that anyone else would be as concerned for my interview rejections as he was. I doubt that anyone makes insult me so much with the intention to work harder for my next interview. Maybe there will be no one in my room during exams to scold me and abuse me for not studying. The obsession that I have with my phone will irritate no one now. No one will ask me to “restrain from using the phone for a day” on his birthday as a gift.
I don’t feel like expressing my affection for my accidental roommate anymore. Maybe just a smile or a laugh while he goes will make him understand how I feel deep inside. But one thing is for sure; that the life we lived in the college campus will reside in our memories forever.
Good Luck Brother!Roommate : College Memories : Blog
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