When was the last time you saw him?

"When was the last time you saw him?" Shelly asked her.

There was a look of longing in her eyes when she replied "It has been three days".
"That's not a long time at all, you need to cheer up. 3 days ago is almost like yesterday. People don't get to see each other for decades and they survive"

"Yes, I know but I miss him already. It will be a whole month before I see him again. I don't know if I can wait that long. The last time I saw him he seemed aloof. He was happy but engrossed in his own world. I wonder what he was thinking about.
I asked him what was on his busy mind, but he didn't tell me. This month, I plan on calling him more than I did last month. I want to be more involved in his daily life. Last month I got too busy to talk to him daily and then last week when we met,  I felt like I wasn't a part of his life anymore."

Shelly tried to shake her out of her monologue "I think you are thinking too much. It doesn't matter if you couldn't call him enough last month. He has been so supportive all this while. He is the smartest guy I have met so far. I am sure if you pester him a lot, you will invite more trouble to the relationship than anything else."

She wasn't listening to Shelly at all. Lost in her own thoughts, she was weaving the beautiful dream date for when they meet the next time. She has so much to say to him and so much to ask. "I will call him tonight and we will talk all night" she thought.

Life and lessons learnt :)

In my life I am yet to meet a person who thinks that textbooks can actually teach you more, than life can teach you. If you are that kind of person, don't tell me coz I will judge you!! I am not even talking about the really profound life altering lessons here. Just the small important ones that you learn on a normal work day or even a beautiful Sunday brunch. You just need to take a moment to stop, think and absorb that right. For example, lessons that you want to learn - like a tip from a good friend on 'where to buy that perfect jacket that goes with every skirt?'; or lessons you need to learn - like a survivor's guide from a co-worker on a really bad work day;  or lessons that you didn't even know you need to learn. I wanna share a story about a lesson of the latter kind.

Sachchi Advice :)

Parents are a child's first teachers and for me they are my best teachers coz they gave me the best advice ever! Needless to say, when I was young I didn't like hearing their advice but am extremely thankful for all of it today. However, there are some particular pieces of advice that shaped the course of my life for good.

The first one came from my dear mother. My parents (like all good Indian parents from their generation) wanted me to either be a doctor or an engineer. And I (like all bad teenagers from my generation) didn't wanna do what they wanted me to do. In 11th standard, I chose non-medical stream but did all I could to not be an engineer like not enrolling for any preparatory classes for engineering entrance exams. 

Much to my surprise, my parents were betting on their intelligent genes and not on the prep courses so much!! So they made me sit for all the entrance exams anyway and in parallel I started applying to all English and Chemistry Honors graduate courses (the only two subjects I liked). I started attending my Chemistry Honors course feeling quite confident about the failure in the other exams :) However, I passed each of the engineering entrance exams. On the day of first counseling I attended, my mother very subtly told me to select 'IT' in the counselling form for a college near our home (not ECE or CSE which were really popular but IT). I got selected to the college she suggested and in the course she suggested. Till date, I have no idea where all this confidence my parents have in their kids comes from!! But that subtle piece of advice didn't just shape my career but everything else in my life as well. I met my dear husband in that college in IT stream. :D Could a choice of graduate course 'BE ANY BETTER'? (big Chandler Bing fan ;) )

The second advice came from my superhero father. He gave me the same subtle piece of advice at two instances in my life. I was in my first job clocking endless hours in a week and was exhausted. I was feeling incompetent having to work so hard at something I am supposed to be good at. I did IT engineering and got selected on campus for this job after all. So I called my father at 2 AM one night from my office and said - 'I can't do this anymore, I am quitting'. Very calmly, he said - 'Sure, quit, come home, we are here for you'. And the next instant he asked me - 'Will you be happy sitting at home?' 

He knows me too well to know that I can't be happy sitting at home all day doing nothing or doing household stuff. So he threw this curveball at me and I decided to stay and fight it out at that job. I did well thereafter, not just at the first one but at all the ones following it :) The second time, he said the same two lines to me but in a different context. I had one big fight with my husband and called my father to say - 'I can't do this, marriage is too hard, I am coming back'. Same two sentences in the same calm manner - 'Sure, quit, come home, we are here for you. Will you be happy sitting at home?' He knew I loved my husband too much to be at my father's home!! So I stayed with my husband - 'Happily ever after'. After all, sachchi advice apne hi dete hain :)

I am participating in the #SachchiAdvice Contest by MaxLife in Association with BlogAdda.

Somewhere I belong !!

What do you think makes people move from one city to another? or one state to another? or one country to another?

I think apart from the people who have jobs where they are regularly transferred all across the country, those who move always have the same reason deep down inside. Trying to find a place where they belong. The move might take them closer to home, closer to a loved one, closer to friends or far from the world they don't belong in. I have been living away from my country for more than a year now and this question bothers me more than ever - Where do I belong?

Fake it till you make it !!

I have heard this phrase - 'Fake it till you make it', over and over in a lot of different contexts.

Self-help books ask people to pretend to be what you want to be... day in and day out.. and voila... one day you will actually make it !!

Spiritual books tell people to channel all your energy and focus on what you want to be... project the image on the world... and one day... it will be reflected back on you !!

I am back - after an amazing trip back home :)

It's been a month since I last wrote. I was pre-occupied with the preparations of my trip back home and then with the actual trip. A trip back home is always exciting, partly coz I get to meet all my near and dear ones and partly coz I get to shop a lot and receive a lot of presents ;) (did you just call me materialistic!! guilty as charged :) )

The time I burnt my own hair!!

I have been hooked on to this Taylor Swift song - Bad blood for some time now. It portrays the emotions that arise inside you when a great relationship (that she calls mad love) turns sour (she calls it bad blood). There are a hundred emotions that arise like confusion, pain, sadness, but I think the most dominant one is - anger (unless you are an absolute saint). I am quite bad at expressing anger so I keep it to myself and brood over every little detail silently. I recently spent a good one month being angry with a person (day in and day out). I had lost all good sense and cultivated my anger into this all-consuming hatred for everything around me that connected to this person.