Partners In Crime

I think each one of us will have a partner in crime..someone to plan a crime with however petty they may be and someone to hold your back and never give it away at any cost. And thats Kalyani to me!

- There were times when I had to have coffee every single day. My head would ache otherwise. Thanks to Kalyani for she was the one to introduce coffee to me!

- Do you remember the days teachers in school would point fingers at you and ask you questions no matter how much you hide from them? Kalyani made that easier for me by solving all the mathematics exercises in my book right before the school reopened.  So I had the answers right there and when the teacher questions me, I be the smart kid.

- There were days when all Kalyani and I would do was lounge on the couch, eat chocolates and chips together and throw the wrappers behind the couch like a boss and didnt give a damn to clear them away. When my mom sees the wrappers hidden behind the couch, we never knew who put them there in the first place.

- Do you know how to get down to one in brainvita? No? Oh, you should have had 'Kalyani' with you so you could have boasted to your friends that you figured it all out by yourself.

- It is the day before your school exams and dad says no television and you try to abide by it. But then comes the reminder that your favorite show is aired right now and you get tempted to watch. That's Kalyani for you!

Kalyani - A great friend and an awesome grandmother a girl can ever ask for! It is already 16 years since she left us to a better place but memories are still fresh in my heart.

Death took her away from us on Jan 2, 1999. She was sick for quite a long time and as a matter of fact, she was bed ridden for as long as I can remember. But on Jan 1, 1999, we knew that was it. I was in my 6th grade and my sister in the 8th grade. My parents prepared us the best they can of what was going to happen.

Jan 1, 1999 - We had a New Year's party in our apartment the night before and my sister and I had won so many prizes. That usually makes my paati so proud. We couldnt wait to show her and we did show her the prizes and she did feel really happy about it.

Jan 2, 1999 - She was struggling to breathe her last and you know what she asked few hours before she left us? PERK ! A chocolate she absolutely loved. That's Kalyani!

She finally breathed last and rested in peace. Everyone around us said she had suffered enough and that she is now in peace. My sister and I nodded to it all not sure how much of it we understood then. That was the very first loss we had to encounter and it ripped our hearts so much.

And now on every second of January, I recollect these precious memories of her and all I want to tell her now is -

"You will always be my favorite partner in crime and I really really miss you! "

Ghosts and I

I USED to be scared as hell for ghosts when I was a kid. There are so many incidents that I can tell you to prove how scared I USED TO BE! But here are just some of them -

For a very long time, maybe until i was in the 4th grade or so, I needed my mom to wait outside the restroom when I am doing my job and talk to me till I am done with it. I was scared ghosts would attack me in the restroom when I am all alone!

When I was in 5th grade or so, we were planning to move to a new house and I went along with my family to check out one in the neighborhood. I don't understand why, but I took a walk around the house outside all alone when it was late evening.It so happened that finally we decided not to proceed with the house for some reasons. But the impact that it had was I had sleepless nights for atleast a week imagining some ghosts in that house and feeling scared if it got into me as I took the walk all alone.

My sister and I were watching a horror movie one night and I was beyond petrified just watching it. Like any older sister who loves pulling pranks on the innocent younger ones, mine was no exception. She changed her facial expressions and in a voice imitating a scene from the movie told me that considering my date of birth and the alignment of stars at the time of my birth, I am a ghost child and Satan will take over me soon! 

She went far and beyond to tell me that she can see evil signs at the back of my head which I can obviously not see. I started weeping and called out for my mom. My sister got handful from mom and I went to sleep uttering all prayers to God. I am not proud of it but yes, this happened when I was in .... hmmmmm.... tenth grade!

I am not proud of any of it but do you think my intent here is to just embarrass myself by writing all these? Well, no! 

There are few things that changed over the course of time even without my knowledge that I am extremely proud of!

Ah, The Joy Of Writing Letters!

I have this fascination for ‘Pen-Pal’ from as long as I can remember.

I still remember the day when my best friend from first grade moved to a different school. I sweetly got her home address and had it memorized so we can be in touch with letters.

I used to send festive greeting cards to my friends promptly for every festive occasion. By that, I don’t mean the e-cards but hand written cards with my personalized message in my crazy handwriting, carefully slid inside an envelope and stamped with so much excitement. My grandfather would then take me to the local post office and my happiness would know no bounds when I drop the envelopes into the box.

And then slowly, e-cards became the thing of the moment and of course, I wanted to catch up with the trend. Now, I very much doubt if anyone even sends e-cards (except for my mother in law who promptly sends me e-cards for all special occasions and one of my aunt who does the same.) E-cards and e-mails have been replaced by instant messaging services where you get responses with a blink of an eye. No points for guessing but yes, now instant messaging is how I to talk to my family and friends. 

However, I always find sending letters and waiting for responses more exciting. Sadly, I do not write physical letters anymore. But I do have a pen pal to whom I send emails regularly. Although it cannot compensate for the physical letter, that is the only 'make-do situation' I can be happy about as of now.

My pen pal is around 65 years young. He is my relative and surprisingly, I met him for the first time in a wedding only when i was about 25 years old. Sadly, we did not get to meet after that till date. It was just one meeting but that was enough for our friendship to blossom! We send each other emails regularly, not just one liners but lengthy emails that reminds me of physical letters on paper.

Maybe it is his intelligence. Maybe it is his witty sense of humor. Maybe it is the fact that he reminds me of my grandfather who I miss so dearly. Maybe it is any of these or maybe it is something else, but every time I receive an email from him, it brings a smile to my face and instantly brightens my day.

Ah, the joy of writing letters to your loved ones and waiting eagerly for theirs!

An Introverted Extrovert

There might have been a time, especially as a child, when we might like to believe that friendship just happens and we connect better with people of our own age. But then as you grow older and maybe wiser, you realize that the connection happens only a few times and when it does, age is just a mere number. But being the smart kid that I was, I attained this priceless wisdom at a very young age.

My first best friend that I can ever remember was close to 12 years older than me. I was in my kindergarten and he was doing his engineering. What a cool kid I should have been right! We used to live in the same apartment community. I loved hanging out with him. He used to take me out for ice creams in his bicycle and I would look forward to those rides every day. I was found to be at his house more than at my place. He was the one who taught me how to read time from an analog clock. He was the one who showed me what fun flying a kite was. You see, we shared such a great friendship. I thought we are BFFs until one day 2 years later.