Unifications And Separations

Being an army kid is such a blessing. We get an exposure to colorful and a variety of cultures throughout the country. People belonging to different backgrounds and lifestyles stay together; celebrate festivals and other special occasions together. I have got to learn scores of things plus have had wonderful experiences, whichever place I have been to. We used to have a special celebration during every festival. Especially during Dussehra time, functions were organized everyday for 5-6 days. I have grown up at a GR training centre and have seen the hard-work that recruits do and the hardships and punishments they have to face. Such live scenes and experiences help us learn what struggle and discipline mean.

Right from nursery standard we get accustomed to leave old friends and make new ones at the new place. But leaving your buddies with whom you shared life’s craziest experiences is one part no one likes. But there are always chances that you might meet your old friends if they are posted to the same stations where you are. I have experienced this and it feels miraculous to see your old friend and tell others that you know this person already. And talking about the common old friends and all the experiences that you both have had together is the most amusing part. Shifting from one house to the other is a common thing. The funny thing is that sometimes you stay at the place where once one of your friend’s family used to stay. This too has happened with me. After my father retired we shifted to our hometown. Being in the army environment all your life and suddenly shifting to a new place feels a little weird but one can’t do anything about it.

Everything about army life is incredible. Getting separated from people who are no less than family to you and meeting someone else who then becomes important to you is something that we experience all our lives. So unifications and separations are part and parcel of army life and one has to accept that. In fact I would say unifications and separations are inevitable things in human life. Earth is round and life is a surprise-package. You never know what might happen next and you never know whom you are going to meet next. The old friend whom you miss a lot, who was someone you weren’t able to live without but got separated from you for some reason and you aren’t even in touch with him/her, might bump into you in the crowd someday somewhere. You never know! So always be hopeful, always be optimistic. 

Opportunity

Music, I think, is lifeline of every young person these days. I am no different. My life has been surrounded with music right from childhood days. Father sings more often, friends are musical enough. But before everything else, I myself am a passionate music lover and singer. My voice might not be really wonderful but I have always taken my hobby quite seriously. Since primary school days I would be a key member in every group song, holding the position right in front of mike. My teachers used to appreciate my voice quality saying that little bit of polishing would make it sound even better. I would be at cloud nine hearing all that. I would also be expected to sing at the family get-togethers and my relatives would be pleased hearing me and said I could turn into a great singer if undertook training. Singing with friends all day long is a common practice.

But one thing that I always wished for was one opportunity to sing alone in front of a huge audience, at least one chance. And in class 11^th, though pretty late, this opportunity knocked my door. But as they say, you never get EVERYTHING you wish for. In view of that, I was incapable of participating in that solo-singing competition as my throat was in a seriously terrible condition. I wasn’t able to talk properly, leave alone singing! I was unquestionably disheartened for this was one thing I desperately wanted to do but I also knew that this wasn’t my call. But friends are friends; my friends Neha and Nisha were constantly compelling me to go for it and I was constantly negating. It was the last day for name-registration and next morning competition was to be held. It was the last period and we had no class; both of them went straight to my House-Master to put my name in the list. Two students had to participate from each of the four Houses and coincidentally no second entry from my house was enlisted till now. And when the House-Master got to know about my singing hobby, she too started to convince me to participate and after a long talk and encouragement I had to say yes.

I came home thinking which song would be appropriate for the occasion. Those were the days when we had just shifted to our new house and didn’t have a computer. Also the tape- recorder was not working so I rushed to my cousins’ place to browse their ‘song- folder’ to choose the one. I finally selected the famous mesmerizing bhajan, ‘Payoji maine’ and wrote the lyrics on a paper and heard the bhajan repeatedly to catch the tune and rhythm properly. I went back home and took all the precautions, did gargles with salt + turmeric water frequently and was continuously practicing my song and now my throat was also in a better condition.

It was the ‘competition-day’, I reached school, and all my friends wished me luck. Everyone was singing very well and I was enjoying every performance. My turn came; my throat was feeling choked but somehow keeping my tone low I sang the bhajan and was glad that I managed to finish it without coughing in between (haha).When I came back after performing, my co- contestants appreciated me and that was pleasing. Results were announced; both the 1^st and 2^nd position holders were my classmates. I didn’t get any position and I already knew I won’t be getting any but for me the fact that I got this chance and courageously sang in a bad condition before huge number of people was something more important. When I came back to our classroom my friends and classmates appreciated my effort and my voice and that, for me, is something more important than winning any prize. One of my classmates remarked that if my throat was in a proper condition, I could easily grab a position, this was encouraging.

I have always followed one principle – ‘trying is more important than winning’. I was happy that this opportunity finally came my way. I was thanking God for this. I am also thankful to my friends for compelling me and for making me Optimistic.

( P.S - We have just one life so do everything you want to. Don’t bother what people would say. Grab the opportunities that you get, it might be the last one. Winning and losing don’t matter; the only thing that matters is your effort and your passion for something. This is the only way to make dreams come true. Be optimistic…… :) )

Let's Look Within

We were sitting in the Garden area of our college discussing all the negativities in the world, considering ourselves aware citizens of the country. “If I were the President, I would do this and that”, said one of my friends. How could the other one stay quiet? “Government should do this, it should do that”, she started listing out all that should happen according to her. The other guy said “Change has to take place”. I was listening to them nodding my head because yes I too think that things should be good in the country now but somewhere my mind was in some other zone.

Agreed that we have a government and an administration which we, as citizens, expect to work properly, yes we feel agitated when we see things not working and we get angry on the responsible officials but above all what about us and our own responsibilities? Are we playing our own roles well? Are we being good and responsible citizens? Let’s look within ourselves to find out the answers. And in more than fifty percent cases, the answer would be No.

We need to understand that only blaming the concerned authorities is not going to solve the problem. Before blaming anyone we need to introspect ourselves. We don’t need to give lectures, become super-serious or anything, just do what we should do as responsible people of the country. For example, just think when was the last time you jumped red-light that too when driving without helmet? May be this morning, and then we expect things to be perfect when we ourselves are imperfect. I am not saying to be perfect, nobody can be. I am just emphasizing on being little concerned. Little things can bring big change. Following traffic rules, keeping your surroundings and your city and therefore your country neat and clean, not getting involved in acts of corruption, following all the mandatory rules and regulations and more importantly being a good human being are such ‘small’ things.  We should indulge in programs where we can make people aware of social evils and help to remove them. We have one life and let’s not waste it. If we want a change to come, it has to come from within. And more importantly we should start acting rather than just making agendas. Let’s bring the change, let’s look within.

( P.S - I am not trying to teach things, people are intelligent enough, all I am trying is to divert the focus towards the priorities we have right now. It’s high time that we come together and change things.)

That Unforgettable Birthday

It is human nature to feel that unusual emotion when birthday is arriving near. A friend of mine told me once that she starts feeling butterflies in the tummy a month before her birthday to which my reaction could be nothing less than a big laughter, because I am not that type of a person. Birthday to me means any other usual day but yes the only thing that I keep in mind is to feel very ‘optimistic’ and work even harder that particular day.

But there is one birthday which is difficult for me to forget. I was in twelfth standard and this birthday was going to be the last birthday of my school life. So I was naturally very excited (for the first time in my life about my birthday). My birthday comes a day before Teacher’s Day. But latter was falling on Sunday and therefore the school was going to celebrate Teacher’s Day on my birthday. As we were the senior most students we were going to be the teachers for that particular day and pay a tribute to our esteemed teachers. I love teaching and I was super excited thereby. We were given our duties a day before. I was extremely honoured to have been allotted the role of Vice-Principal. I reached home and started the preparations for the occasion that had two reasons for me to be enthusiastic. I along with my mother went to the market to buy a suitable dress for the event. I bought a greeting card which I was going to present to Vice-Principal Ma’am. I had decided which topic I would be teaching to the class that I was going to take. Everything was perfectly done and I went to my bed knowing that after two hours I will have to wake up to receive phone calls from friends. My phone rang two hours later at 12’o clock as expected. Half asleep half awake I attended all the calls and finally slept.

And finally it was the ‘special’ day. I got up on time, received best wishes from the family and got ready for school quickly, dressed in the new outfit, excited to be the Vice-Principal. I had to report at 8:00 am and it was 7’o clock. My brother was going to drop me so 7:30 was the time we would leave for school. It was drizzly outside but I was sure it wouldn't rain heavily by the time we had to go. But it happened exactly opposite. By 7:30 am it started raining so heavy that it was next to impossible for us to go out in such weather. We could do nothing but wait for the rain to stop. By 8:15 am, rain slowed down a bit and this was when we could try to go. We went out, started the scooty and left. Roads had turned into big swimming pool but my expert brother somehow managed to drive safely. On the way we reached a spot where water was coming up till my knees. Scooty seemed to be drowning. Above it was the heavy rain and down it was the blocked water. And then suddenly our vehicle stopped to move any further, it had kind of surrendered. We tried hard but it wasn’t getting started. Somehow we brought the scooty and ourselves on the safe road walking some fifteen minutes. I was numb, had no idea what I was going to do next. My dress was all spoiled and my watch was showing 9:15 am. Now we were left with only two options, either to go back home or to wait there for some help. Going back would prove fatal as we couldn’t again take the risk of crossing that ‘ocean’. Waiting for some public transport was time consuming which I was already running short of. But we chose the second option. My brother parked the scooty at someone’s place (God bless those helpful beings) and we tried to stop some vehicle which could help us reach our destination.

After waiting some time there came an auto rickshaw and we asked the driver if he could take us to school. My kind brother came along with me. Auto driver charged Rs 50/- and finally we reached school safe and sound. My brother went back and I went inside the campus. As I reached the reception area, I saw my friends who stood there greeting me and wishing me birthday. I had tears in my eyes as all I had imagined took an entirely different shape. They consoled me and asked to cheer up for we still had the whole day ahead of us. The Teacher’s Day celebration had already started and some other girl had replaced me as Vice- Principal. But when my teachers came to know that I had arrived they welcomed me and gave me the chance to greet Vice-Principal Ma’am. I apologized to her for not being on time . She understood my plight and told me that it was okay as she knew that weather was terrible outside. My mood got a little better then. After that some of my friends presented me greeting cards and that felt really special. I was cheered up receiving all the good wishes from my classmates. All my teachers wished me and blessed me with their love. Then my role as the Vice-Principal began. I took two classes where students and I had a good time. Discipline maintenance and monitoring everything was one responsibility that I enjoyed the most. After the celebration was over everyone started clicking pictures. This was the most interesting part. Weather was also better now; in fact it was soothing and refreshing. Boys and girls posing in different styles in the lawn were huge fun to watch. I was looking not-so-good-and-all-messed up as my dress and footwear had got spoiled due to that heavy rain but my friends were nice and welcoming enough to make me enjoy all those moments despite my appearance. We clicked innumerous pictures and the day ended in a pleasant manner. Today when I look at those photographs, it brings a genuine smile on my face.

At the end of it , that day became a truly unforgettable day not only because of the ‘adventure’ that I had but also because this was the last birthday of school life and it gave me a big experience and countless memories to cherish all my life. So, I realized all's well that ends well.

A Special Mother's Day

It was another usual hot May evening.I was sitting in my room beside the window,busy doing my work.Mommy was making some delicious sweet dish and whole house happened to be filled with that sweet fragrance.As I was sitting I felt some disturbance,there was some unusual sound that I could hear.I looked here and there, but when I could not find anything, I continued doing my work. Few minutes later, again the same sound distracted me. I had to get up this time to find out what was wrong! As I turned away the curtain I saw it was the 'mew mew' of a kitten that was distracting me.It was looking too feeble and helpless, it had somehow got trapped in the backyard of my house.I told everyone in the family about the scene.We knew that the 'mother cat' would definitely come to rescue her child. Through the window, as I was keeping an eye on the whole picture, I noticed the cat coming down the wall in order to take back her young one. But she was somehow not able to take the kitten back with her easily. She tried hard, came down, climbed the wall many times but all in vain. May be the plane cemented wall without any space and support was the hindrance.But she made it a point to spend time with her child, she pampered him, played with him and the kitten looked so comfy while being with 'mom' but when she left he again looked all scared and lonely. I gave the kitten a bowl full of milk twice with crumbled bread in it. It finished the 'meal' in a blink of eye, hungry as it was. Meanwhile we were wondering how could we help them. My father kept a bunch of sticks and a ladder in such a way so that the cat could easily climb taking the kitten with her.While we were doing this; the kitten ,afraid of us, hid itself under the cooler. It happened exactly as we had thought. She came and this time easily climbed taking her young one along. A mother's perseverance and determination worked. Even after failing multiple times she kept on trying as she could not see her child in danger and fear. I was moved to see the cat's love for the kitten. So pure, so true. It was a great coincidence that the day happened to be Mother's Day. This experience made me realize a mother's worth in such a deep manner. What could be a better end to this special day. The sweet dish was ready. Mommy served it to all of us. I hugged her and wished her and thanked her for all that she had done for us and for showering her selfless love on us.
P.S - It was surely the best Mother's Day experience ever (till date).  :)