Aaja Bachpan?

We have all read many variants of the line 'Aaja bachpan ek baar phir' from different poets time and again......But is bachpan worth giving a call?

Well for me, NO!!! I am more than happy ...

C'mon guys being carefree and all is ok.....but just imagine, if childhood returns to us with the age of less than a year....we wouldnt even be communicating properly then. I see my 6 month old son cry for something....but only he would know what he is crying for...He might be having an ant biting him, and we think he has stomach ache and try to soothe him out of that....GOD no...not this stage of bachpan for me!

What if it returns at a stage when I am just going to school....well I would hate going there and would still be forced to.....no..I dont want this stage to return too!

What if it returns at a teenage.....hmm..most dangerous..whatever you say...ppl would just ignore saying..teenage!!!..not this stage either...

well after this age.....I dont call it bachpan.....

If you ever want childhood to return....dont call for it (not that it would listen to us ;)) just re-live it with a child growing.....and thats exactly what I am doing right now....

Never ever have I been so busy and yet so relieved in my life before.

So...this would mean a break to my blogging for sometime, as I gear up to catch up on some responsibilities....

I will have to learn to control my temper....else I cant get my child do it.

I will have to make sure I dont miss to brush my teeth at night, else I cant get him do it!

I cant just lie down and watch TV.....else he will do it too..

I will have to control my urge for chocolates....else....

GOD....being a parent is sooo difficult!!! Give me the strength..

Praying...

Ritha Hegde

1 hour of tension......

Ocotber 13th 2009
It was a normal day in office with the usual set of escalations, cribs and deliveries. Back home from work also had been the usual set of activities. Had cuddled under my blanket by around 10:30 and was driven away to sleep land in 5 mins…..something very usual again…. But something that happened after 45 mins from then, was not something very usual…

“Tring Tring……Tring Tring…..”
I opened an eye to see who was calling me at this time..My cellphone flashed – Anirudh Das calling….I couldn’t think of any reason why he would call me at that time…By the time I could answer the call, the ring had woken up my husband too. I picked it up and said – “Ya… Anirudh!” I don’t remember what the earlier lines that Anirudh said were, but my husband murmered…."oh your project!!!" and went back to sleep.
Anirudh was continuing on the call....“Ritha..Nishanth got a call from Vishal’s mobile. It seems he has met with an accident and is admitted in Vittal Mallya Hospital. We will be going there now.”
“Whaaat????”
“Oh you were sleeping!....sorry sorry”
“Nooo problem”
These had kind of woken me up completely from my sleep and I walked out of my room. From the living room window I could see that the rain was lashing outside. I talked.. “Take an auto Anirudh, don’t take your bike….its raining very badly outside.”
“Ab Ritha is waqth kahaan se auto milega….koi baath nahin….we will take care”
“Ok…drive carefully…. and keep me updated”

I don’t know what made Anirudh call me for this, but to be frank, I have no complaints either.
I sat alone in my living room trying to digest what he told me. Thoughts rushed in my mind..Vishal did not directly call…somebody else called Nishanth…that means he is not in a very good condition….Sent out a small prayer to God too for his well being.
Then thought we should try to contact his roommates atleast….Messaged Anirudh – “I think we should try calling up his roommates also”
After sometime, Anirudh had reached Nishanth’s place….all wet to pick him up and head to the hospital. Nishanth called me…"Hey Ritha, this is about Vishal..Anirudh told you everything right?"
“Ya Ya Nishanth tell me”
“Do you know any of his roommate’s or friend’s numbers?”
“Hmm…no actually….but I have Ramit’s Pune number… he will know someone… you can call him and check” (Ramit was in our project earlier, and had quit the company now for his MBA in Pune. Ramit was Vishal’s roommate when he was here)
“Ok can you send me his number.”
“Ya I will send it now”
“Alright Ritha….we will check”
I sent Ramit’s number to him…

Nishanth calling…. My cellphone flashed again…
“Ya Nishanth”
“Ritha…someone called again and they are telling a different hospital name now…Bowring or something.. he was talking in kannada…so could not make out properly also”
“Do you want me to call on his cel then?”
“Ya I think that will be good”
“Ok I will call Vishal’s number and get the details…I will call you back”
I dialled Vishal’s number….and someone cut the call..
I tried again…that someone who cut the call, picked it up now….
Below is the translation of what we talked in kannada
“Hello…actually we got a call from this number that there was an accident”
“Yes Madam…how many times should I tell? Why is no one coming? The body is here only!”
“Can you please tell me which hospital?”
“Bowring Hospital”
“Where is it?” My Bangalore knowledge is still very poor…I learnt later that it is quite a famous government hospital.
“Government Hospital Madam….Bowring Hospital…shivajinagar. Please come soon. By the way who are you?”
“I am his collegue…is there a ward number or something where he is?”
“No No….Body is outside only as no one has come….only when someone comes, checkup will be done.”
“Oh…..ok…. people are on their way….will be reaching soon.”
“Ya Ya come fast…and you can collect the mobile from Shivajinagar circle police station.”
“Ok..ok..thank you”
“Please don’t call again and again…we are on duty”
“Ya ok…but if we are not able to find it or we have any doubt…we will call again…please bare with us”
The guy did not respond and simply cut the call…

I called up Nishanth and told the whereabouts of the hospital.

Hearing my panic voice over the phone and getting hospital details, my husband also came to the living room. He said… “don’t take so much tension…do you also want to go?” I said… “No that is ok….Anirudh and Nishanth are going….they will tell me”. My head was reeling with words…"body lying outside"

I called Nishanth again – “Were you able to reach Ramit?”
“No not yet…trying…”
Few more mins passed…
Nishanth calling….
“Ya Nishanth”
“Hey Ritha..I talked to Ramit….he said Vishal is fine and he had talked to him an hour back.. Vishal apparently lost his mobile phone at around 10 in the night today…looks like the person who stole it met with an accident!”
“Whaat?? Oh god….anyway give me his roomie’s number…I will talk to him and sleep”
Nishanth passed on his roommate’s number to me and finally I got to talk to him.
“Could you not block your sim Vishal???”
“I did actually…they said it will take 2 hours….so in sometime I think it will get blocked”
So finally what we thought was a tragedy….ended on a happy note.
Not sure what happened to the thief in hospital…..dont know if that was a real call also or not….hope everything was good at his end too…

Thus ended the unusually panicky 1 hour………which shook away sleep off many people associated with Vishal that night.

Start Pessimistic!

Hmm…what a thought… let me explain :)

Its just about some experiences I had in my life after the ‘marriage’ phase of my life. A dear friend of mine is getting married soon and she had sooo many questions for me….I had put down my thoughts in a mail to her and thought why not put it here….share my thoughts and ofcourse as usual…bricks n brats invited :)

In my spinsterhood, I always thought that when I get married, the husband I have would be very very cruel…..something of the type present in that movie of Aishwarya Rai….there was that real life story made into movie na…I cant recollect that name now….jist is….the most terrible husband, beating up his wife for any small thing etc etc. I thought my mother-in-law would be of the typical saans type…”Kalmuhi….&*%$% .... This lady stole my son from me!” or may be “This is what your parents have taught you!” My husband’s sisters, bhabhis, brothers and all would be ever-ready to plot against me and waiting for me to do a mistake and tell it to the whole world(too much influenced by the Ekta Kapoor soaps!). And ya, my father-in-law to be of very very disciplined nature and would shout and yell at me for putting a little less salt in the sambar!
I don’t know if I am just plain lucky to have got all the above notions wrong…..but this is also true that no one is always bad.

Try this out….you start off like this, and keep your mind wide open to see the right things. One small good gesture of their’s would make you feel really really good. Expectations maan….keep them low. Like someone said, “prepare for the worst and hope for the best”, low expectations can help you prepare for the worst.

Do you ever feel one little joy in your heart when you cross a road like Hosur road in peak traffic hour? (not at the signal….generally crossing in between when vehicles are rushing in). It might seem silly….but I do… my teammate says…I walk on the road expecting each vehicle to come and hit me. Probably that’s the reason, I feel happy when I cross it alive :).
Be totally pessimistic and be ready to see any good and 99.99% of the chances you wont be disappointed.

When I get a surprise call from my hubby dear that he is at home before me, and he is planning to put the milk on boil, why do I expect him to turn off the stove when its boiled? I come home and get the baaad stench of burnt milk and all my expectations are blown off….rather burnt off!!!

Why someone else? I have seen myself only thrashing away hopes of so many people, when I dressed up like an idiot to a family function, where many of my new family members wanted to proudly introduce me to their friends and family. Way to go before I improve upon this still!

Hey, I got the Aishwarya Rai movie I was talking about…..Provoked is the movie.
Why did I expect SlumDog Millionaire to be a ‘wow’ movie? I watched it with so much of excitement and it did not live up to my expectations…… Be pessimistic!!! Sometimes it really helps…

All in all dear, if you see that you are hurt by a person, think what has gone wrong from your side….after all the person on the other end is not that bad, as you can see her/him loved by sooo many others….and you are loved too…so it could be just some thought that did not match the frequency of both…..fine tune it….you both will rock…..there will be resonating sound (remember our physics lab in PU ? experiment on resonance?)


All said and done, its your life….hold more friends than foes, more smiles than grouches….

Oh maan….just got a mail…not a good news for the project….aaaaah my day is gone….. wait why did I start cribbing? I think more than anybody, I need to go back and read my post again with all that heavy philosophy!

Have a good day!

New Year... Problems....Resolutions...

I found three topics really interesting to pen down on....
New Year..... Problems....and Resolutions...
Nothing connected to each other.....but may be they are.....let me see...
First of all.....wish you all a very happy new year....a year full of pleasant surprises.....a year full of smiles....a year full of blessings.....a year that would be really full of memories for years to come....
one second...hold on...
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k....I am back now.....had got a call......naaaaa not any friend/relative wishing Happy New Year...... some Insurance related...."Would you be interested in our offer" call.... Hmm....with my usual tone I said...."No not interested"......the lady on the other end replied...."Ok Madam...no problem....Happy New Year!" Aaaaaawwww I should have talked in a little softer tone.....but it wasnt intentional also :( I hope that poor soul gets many many customers who would want to take her offer.....my new year wish for her......
With this, I think I should make a resolution to be more kind to people when I talk.......dont know....sometimes situations turn out the way you dont want it to.......Ok....Ok....nothing happened now.... I am Ok....very much Ok.... I thought I will make a resolution that I wont eat chocolates for the complete month of Jan09.....reached office, a cubicle mate offered Toblerone and I gobbled it......then all that I told myself was...."OH!" and then..."Itna cheating tho chalega yaar!"......Hmm I have a problem....what to do? I love chocolates/icecreams/some sweets/chat items/.../.../... the list will continue;to put it in one word "JUNK". Everyone has problems......no, I am not talking about the major problems....terrorism, pak, hamas bombings.....yes there are many....but we also have so many which are great ones at some point of time, someone wants to go on a trip with friends, but the manager is hell bent on not giving leave..."I saw Karzzz in PVR!!! Paisa barbaad"....see the problems...aur suno....My friend cribbing that she is bored of eating upma every morning for breakfast...and ask me who cooks at her home....its she only who cooks...now what problem is this!!!!!!One more saying..."Rithaaaa I lost my ATM card again"...hmm there is a serious problem... someone is desperately trying to reach to her crush....but the call is not going thru....see problem exists......and in many cases, the problem persists...
With all this as part of life in 2008, we have stepped into 2009.....We dont know what's in store (dont ask me which store..medical store or retail store......Did you shout NO PJs????)

Enjoy your year ahead....if Resolutions are a problem...just chuck them....leave it....one of my friends has put in her status message : "Resolutions!!!" sounds so broken... Do you like the sound of someone breaking a piece of chocolate with nuts??

Lazy Sunday....

Do you feel the same too?

Lazy Sunday...

Waking up at eleven in the morning
Freshening up, but still yawning
Hunger is more and the energy low….
“Should I have breakfast or lunch now?”
Who cares about it anyway?
Life feels a waste sometimes on this lazy Sunday….


Pick up the laptop to check for mails…
Routine of checking new movies never fails….
Sit with friends and discuss just anything
Fight to watch your favourite show on tv
and end up seeing youtube videos and enjoying..
Life feels fun sometimes on this lazy Sunday…

Gobble up something in the name of dinner…
Play that last game online and declare yourself a winner…
Complain that the weekend is getting over….
Promising that we will not waste a weekend ever..
The promise which is kept never….
Life feels philosophical sometimes on this lazy Sunday…

-- Ritha Hegde

The journey begins.......

I remember reading somewhere like - The journey to a destination is more enjoyable than the destination itself. Writeup today is something revolving around it.

I for the first time was about to step out of my country. I did not have enough time to prepare myself for this trip......and so I had the feeling that I would miss out somethings... But yes, I had to start my journey on the date my company wanted me to.....there was no other go... It was definitely a mixture of all feelings.....sad that I had to leave my dear hubby alone and happy that I would be seeing something new..... Anyways, will not get into the details of it, as this post is about the journey that I said.



With loads and loads of information from every possible source around, there I was in the airport...all alone. Little nervous and pretending to be confident, I moved along to the baggage checkin counter. A lady standing in front of the counter, smiled and handed over a paper to me.... I smiled back, folded the paper and kept it in my handbag. She also handed me the cabin baggage tag and I promptly attached it to my bags. Got my luggage checked in and was instructed to move to the immigration counter next. There were many queues and I went and stood there, with my boarding pass and passport in my hand. I was pretending to be confident and was looking around....and what do I see...hee hee....ppl are holding their passport, boarding pass and a sheet of paper....form like..... oh oh...i think that lady gave that only.... where did i keep it, did i drop it?....ok its in my bag.....went back, filled it and stood in the queue again and then cleared it and the next baggage checking also fine. Then there was this big seating area where ppl are sitting and waiting.... My flight was at 2:20 in the night. I had my dinner at around 8 that day and had started for the airport...was not able to eat much also with all the thoughts gng on in my head....

It was around 12:3o in the night that i started feeling hungry..... looked around to see what I could eat.....i saw a pizza shop, a cafe shop, some other shops of not much importance to me at that time (ya i mean the book store, the garment store etc etc...). There in the cafe, I saw they were selling fruit bowls too.... dont even ask me how much it cost me.....but ya it was all fresh and good.

I think I wil skip some details here, as it would be of no use to you nor its anything worth remembering for me.

I went and sat in one of the empty chairs......cursing myself for not getting along anything with me to read also........oh god how wil I pass my time....its just 12:45 and I need to wait for atleast an hour more :(

A middle aged gentleman came and sat next to me and said "Hi", introduced his name as some Santosh or something ..forgot now...and working for some company...forgot that also....

"Travelling alone?"

"Hmm"

"Where to?"

"US"

"First time?"

"No" :P



Ya I was behaving like the kid who has been instructed not to talk to strangers....so I told him "Not the first time" :-) But why was he trying to get over - friendly anyways!

Then there were general talks of "This new airport is good na" types....

After sometime...."Ok then its my flight time, got to leave now..... see ya"

Hmm.... clock is stil ticking 1:15...... oh man why isnt the time running now as it does when we are studying for our exams? or when we get up late to go to office?

Few minutes later..... an aunty took the seat next to me....smilingly she said "Hi".

She asked - "Tamil?"

"No aunty Kannada"

"bangalore?"

"haan"

"naan kooda bangalore.....tamilian....kannada artha ...." and she smiled and gestured.... I understood that she can understand kannada.

She said she was travelling alone, for the first time to San Francisco.

"Oh....ok"

She asked me to help me out if needed in the flight as we had the same flight till HongKong and she could not understand or speak english. I checked her tickets and found that our seats were way apart. In any case I told her that I would help her in all possible ways.

After boarding into the flight, I saw her in the HongKong airport only directly. She had her flight 2 hours before mine. Reached HongKong at aroung 11 in the morning, and my next flight was at 4 only. So I had all the time in the world to see the airport leisurely......
Oh god I think I wrote a lot today.... will continue some other day.....

Thanks a million.......

I want to write on this, but just don’t know where to start it from…… I know this is the most wonderful topic on which probably anyone of us could go on and on…..so I want its starting to be a fantastic one too!
But if I just keep searching for words at this stage, then this special day will just pass….so I will just jump to where I want to go….

With the friendship day, friendship week and all in the talks this season…..I thought I should remember my friends who made me feel special sometime, made a difference in my lives and may be who just dint know that they did it….. Somethings that I was never able to tell them personally, here I want to make sure I praise them all…. Names not disclosed here for some reasons…but if your story is there, you will catch your part there for sure! If your name is not mentioned, that means I have told you already that I love you J

I will go with alphabetical order may be….

Arcs, I will never forget the way you made me special with your special birthday surprise when we were in college…. The roses you got up every hour or so…..what a wonderful gesture….I was thrilled…..one of the best surprises I have ever got…. Thank you…..

Ch, you have always been a mental strength for me when I was away from my family. You have always fascinated me with your matured behavior…. I have learnt a lot from you….you were strict, you sometimes scolded….but you were really adorable…..When I call you, the word you say ‘hmm helappa’…..love you for all that you are!

Gau, kya hua re tere poems ka? Kahaan gaya who saara passion? Lagtha hai client ne tera jeena haraam karke rakha hai…thanks for helping me send a gm message to KM :)

Hg, when the mobile technology was just booming and you were one of the guys around who had a mobile. Thanks for showing those n number of messages to me and help me quench my thirst of exploring the mobile at that time. Thank you.... I really admire the way you respect each of your friends.....

Na, the liveliness, the energy…..hats off… There were sometimes in my life when I was down….calling you up and talking to you has always instilled a smile on my face. I know we have fought so many times, but that I guess is a part of friendship. We don’t call up each other every now and then….but when we do, I still know I am talking to a dear friend…..Thanks for being the same always…..

Nith, a synonym for smile….She has that smile instilled on her face almost all the time… I have felt my tension melt when I am around her… Nith, love you dear…. Hope you are on your way to become the best cook by now J

Panna, a cousin, a friend and what not… you are one of the firsts who made me feel that someone can actually look up to me too! Thank you for making me feel important… You have such a pure and an honest heart…. I hope this big bad world does not change it anytime.


Pra, one of the most matured guy I have met…. With all the odds in your life, the way you have rose to the heights you are today…. I just am short of words….’WOW’ and a great applause for you….. Keep it up… Thanks for teaching me the trick of reminding friends of your birthday….If they don’t wish you, just send them a ‘Thank You’ message :)


Ra, if I have got great marks in my lab exams, I know I owe it all to you. What a mentor you were….I know many others also who felt the same….so don’t dare to argue with me over this point! When I asked a doubt, I knew I was asking the right guy, if you don’t know….no one else can know… Thanks helping to clear all the misunderstandings we had….and being the same old Ra to me as you were before….except that ‘re’ ofcourse!

Rosh, love you dear…. You are the one I disagree the most with….but you know I just cant say ‘no’ to you for anything….

Sen, one of the mostest intelligentest guy I have ever met who never makes the others feel he is so good! This is something anyone should learn…but for me its not useful as I can never dream to be as intelligent as him any day of my life. Thanks for getting the poet inside me to life sometime back…but its dead again now :P

Sham, the perfectly imperfect guy…its so difficult for me to digest how we became such good friends. Thanks for loosing all the fights we have…makes me feel intelligent…though from deep inside, from day one, I know you are a genius. Thanks for helping me be myself when with you.Thanks for all the surprise mails which make my day :)

Shi, I just cant stop adoring the way you are…. I have never seen you cribbing for anything….no complaints about anyone…however hard I try, I know I can never reach there…

Sup, I miss seeing that positive glow during lunch time… I miss those talks we had….I miss a person who would listen to all my cries patiently…. I miss you…

Sm, the one who got the child in me back to life….with whom I don’t have to think 10 times before I talk….You are different and be tht way…I know you are stupid, I know you are an idiot, but I know you also scored more marks than me in the exams…so no comments :P. You better get me loads of dark chocolates when you come back….

Sur, I love the combo of modernity and traditionality in you…. The perfect blend of both… Down to earth that you are inspite of thousands of accolades that come your way every day…. I really don’t know how you cope up with them…. Be what you are….everyone around loves you for that only :-)

Sush, never say die attitude… whatever you are today, I know its all on your own…Thanks.. I don’t know for what….but I love you as a friend.

Simi, Rash and Sush, thanks a lot for making it to one of the special days of my life...my wedding day.... I could feel the affection you had on me...

Va, what do I say about you? Thanks a lot for wasting your time to get the diagrams drawn for me in my lab records. Thanks for listening to my cries whenever I wanted you to....thank you...

You all and many more have made me the way I am today…. If you read it and dint find your name, then as I said, it only means that I have already told you many times what you mean to me.

You are the bright sunshine in my life
You are the soothing morning dew
You are the one there for me in any strife
God has blessed me, hope you are blessed too

Happy Friendship Day!