Celebrate Life...!

It was 10.30am and Madam’s Honda city car was nowhere to be seen. The special unofficial reserved space for madam’s car beside the Neem tree will be occupied by any ordinary customer …… Chottu was worried and sad as well. His boss, Ram Lal was shouting from behind “now, stop dreaming about madam ji, go and push the white Maruti car further ahead”. Finding a safe parking space behind the high rise buildings of Tolstoy and Janpat Marg ( New Delhi)  was a privilege. Every inch of the area was gainfully utilized by the expert parking drivers. Chottu was one such aspiring driver without a valid driving licence. With no sight of his favourite Ma’Am throughout the day, a dejected Chottu was returning back home late in the evening. Half way to his home he encountered a sudden downpour. The un- seasonal rain  in the month of May bought about a positive swing in Chottu’s mood.  With all commuters running for shelter, the empty Hailey road seemed to him like a cr...

“ No No, there is no requirement of any loan ….I will pay in cash, but I want the delivery right now”  Paramjit, informed  the sales executive at the Mahindra & Mahindra showroom in his home town Bathinda. Wearing a white Kurta pyjama, he drove the brand new Scorpio from the show room, with his girlfriend, Mahima sitting next to him. Within minutes they were on the highway, smiling at each other, listening to “Baby ko bass pasand hai”. With the Olympic Medal still around his neck, the ambience was perfect for Paramjit to propose to his childhood sweet heart. But, suddenly he experienced darkness all around. The truck from the opposite direction hit them head-on and the brand new Scorpio rolled down from the highway. Paramjit, woke up with a shock, at his hostel room in SAI Centre, Patiala. It was 3.30am, one hour before his alarm usually beeps. Waking up, he realized, he wasted one hour of precious sleep. Last evening his coach had already informed him of t...

There cannot be bigger relief in a foreign country, than spotting a mug inside the toilet …! And that’s precisely, what made me feel at home , way back in 1997 when I first landed in this country, which otherwise was supposed to be our by-default enemy number one. For reason best known to Volleyball Federation of India, it was decided to send the Junior Indian Volleyball team (instead of the senior team) to participate in a seven match volleyball test series with Pakistan senior team in Islamabad and Lahore. Since, there was no direct flight from Delhi to Islamabad, we took a connecting flight from Lahore. It was at Lahore airport wash room, where I experienced my first feel at home moment . It was followed by a grand welcome at  Islamabad which made us to believe, for a while, that we were no less than Sunil Gavaskar or   Kapil Dev. The excitement doubled when convoy of four jeeps escorted our bus to The Best Western Hotel in Islamabad. The delicious yel...

Before, the sun rises above the Savy Ville  De building, she would take her seat on the green iron benches of our society lawn. On most occasion, she   walks   alone from the lift, with Mehta ji carefully watching from behind. Only when it rains the previous night, she used   to take her son’s help to reach the bench. At 89, she was the most beautiful women of our society. If you have talked to her, you must have noticed, she listen with her eyes and speaks with her eye lashes. There was a vibrant aura around her. Sitting beside her and touching her wrinkled hands makes one instantly fall in love with her. She was Mehta ji’s mother, Meenu bhabi’s mother In-Law, Kunal’s and Kartik’s grandmother and for rest us who are not fortunate to have their parents with them she was there to fill the void.     Mata ji Around 7 months ago I developed a special bonding with her, which I will never be able forget throughout my life. Realizing that I was c...

At around 2 in the afternoon, I got a call from my wife asking about what should be the  menu for dinner. She informed  that she had  invited few of our friends to celebrate Bihu (Uruka) and Lohri together. On Uruka’s night, Assamese people have the most delicoious dinner of the year. So, a big-fat Uruka menu was decided over phone. Before disconnecting the phone, she informed that everything was arranged including the firewood, the only instruction was to reach home on time. Hearing the arrangement of food and firewood, brought back memories of celebrating Uruka (Magh Bihu) 30 years ago. Exactly 30 years 7 days ago…..      Moon, informed that there are plenty of hay at the hill top in front of his house. Subul, Suruj and Luit was falling short of quality hay. In the last three days they could gather only five bundle of paddy straws from Ron da’s pathar (paddy field) and that too of very short size. That year Ron da’s men had cut the paddy ...

      Rituraj was more optimistic than his fiancé Divyani. His mobile camera was on selfie mode right from the time he jumped inside the Gypsy. Divyani, was slightly practical, she took her DSLR along. Statistics speaks presence of tigers   within 1 kilometer radius of the couple. They were sure to capture few never seen before pics, for their new year FB update. Accompanying them is Palash and ten others. Palash, have always lived his dream, he even tattooed his right shoulder with the giant cat few months prior to the trip. His fiancé, Dhriti, who ultimately was credited for removing the decade old “ most eligible bachelor ” title from Palash, was silently enjoying the ambience. Shantanu, who was dressed like an 18 century hunter, became a self-proclaimed bio-scientist in the morning by certifying the age of an elephant dung through a newly invented smell-taste method. Beside him was his ev...