TIME

Twelve groups of thirty days,on an average,printed on a piece of paper is what we call a year.Each day has twenty four hours or one thousand four hundred and forty days or eighty six thousand and four hundred seconds (I hope my calculation is correct :-) ) It feels very strange to me to observe how we have defined time in the form of seconds,minutes,hours,days,months,years,decade,score,century and so on.

Ah! I am not here to give any lecture on units of time.All I want to do is express the value of time that we fail to realise in this system of units.Let me give you an exercise to feel how time flies and how you won't get a moment back again.I hope you all are capable of snapping your fingers and creating that clicking sound.So all you got to do is snap your fingers once and think of the moment in which you snapped them.Feel,if you can,the moment flying back in time as the seconds hand,in the clock,continues its forward journey...

The trick worked like magic for me when I tried it for the first time.Today when 2011 ended and 2012 began,I felt like I had traveled from one mountain to another,and when I tried to look back there was a valley of feelings and experiences which I had not shared with anyone.Feelings that could have made a difference in someone's life,if not in mine.

We all have a habbit of taking things for granted and the worst victim of it is time.Why don't you share your feelings with your loved one,be it your mom,dad,sibling,friend or better half, right now? Probably because you think you have a tomorrow to say all that or you feel that you should wait for the right time.Can you really define the right time? I can bet that some of you will never be able to figure out what you mean by right moment.For me there is no such thing.You feel it,you say it.That is it! I need not say that there are chances that may be one of you(you or the apple of your eye) never sees a tomorrow.Then why not give the other person the joy of being loved today,why not hug him/her today and say you miss them or why not tell them that they hurt you... Happiness comes in small packets and these small packets are words and emotions wrapped up in the covers of love and care.

Let not another year fly away while you choose to wait.Share your feelings with the ones whom you love.

Keep sharing,keep smiling! :-)

LIST

The year is about to end and I thought of making one last entry for this year.Lets make some resolutions. Oh! did I say resolutions? Nope! Lets make WISHES :-D Hum hain naye andaz kyun ho purana? (we belong to a new generation so why follow the old style?) Remember the song from the movie 'Dil Chahta Hai'? :-) Moreover,I am yet to see a person who can stick to his/her new year resolutions.That is why I choose to make a 'wish list' rather than a 'resolution list'. :-)

Here I go

Visit Haji Ali Dargah, Mumbai (biggest of all)

A trip to Leh Ladakh

Learn hip hop dancing

Get a platinum chain

Play a song on my guitar

Practice motor bike riding

Have a puppy

To be able to save more money to buy books

To be more stable emotionally and  enlightened spiritually

To attend one of Sungha Jung's concert 

Go for river rafting once again :-)

To brighten up someone's life...

I don't know how many of these will get fulfilled but one thing is sure,I won't find myself running away from these as the year progress,which is quite common with the resolutions. :-)

Keep dreaming and keep wishing.

Happy New Year!

REWINDING and FAST FORWARD

The other day I sat down to think about my school life and to my surprise I could remember more than a thousand moments from that glorious time period.Though I won't be able to jot down all of them but I 'll make an attempt to share with you few of them.:-)

The earliest of my school memories is that of my first school,Budding Flower.I am riding the tricycle in the school garden and racing with the other kids.I remember the morning assembly where we sang the national anthem and the song 'Hum Honge Kamiyab,Hum Honge Kamiyab,Hum Honge Kamiyab Ek Din' and when the assembly got over we rushed to the class to claim the seats which we reserved for ourselves.The school had a pond with ducks.It was a small school so I was moved to a convent school after a year.

My new school,named Sacred Heart High School at that time,was huge.I can recall the time where I am being interviewed by a Sister who is asking,"Where does your mother cook food?" and "Where will you seat the guests at your home?"... Lets fast forward a bit :-) So here I am in U.K.G where I learned the first lesson of my life,taking someone's belonging without their permission is called stealing and stealing is not good.I took out the fancy sharpener that Ankita boasted about,whole day.I told my parents about it on returning home.My father made me sit on his thigh and made me understand meaning of what I did and next day I returned the sharpener to my classmate.From that day I never took anybody's things without their consent.It was the impact of the same lesson that in fifth class,after the school got over,I found a five hundred rupee note and I gave it to Sister Sisly,the receptionist at that time.My mom gave me a tight hug when I narrated the whole incident to her.

From fifth I will rewind and go back to second grade.The single moment that I cherish of this class is the time when I got my first unexpected reward,a brand new pencil, for knowing the another meaning of the word 'Bat'.

Third grade was an eventful class.I remember my hiding behind mom on parent teacher meet even when the teacher kept on calling me, the math problems written on the board and my struggle to solve them,my weird desire to use three different types of  handwriting,one for each term,learned the meaning of niece and nephew and for the first and the last time I scored highest in Hindi 69 out of 70 giving me an all time high.Fourth grade didn't have much except two things.First,my being punished,for not completing my homework,and sent to the main ground to stand so that whole school could see.Secondly, my falling in love with the basketball.

Fifth class: heating the sugar experiment and then being asked by the teacher to taste the hard black mass...  ,my answering the question about the weather of desert and no one else knew the answer :-),long answers that were to be noted down from black board and the whip of the stick on the hands of  every student of the class because we made noise in the absence of the teacher and our class happened to be just above Principal's office :-D, Avadhi's habbit of leaving the tiffin inside the desks until fungus grew on food...

Sixth:Sixth Sister Gracy teaching Tom Sawyer and nightmares of scoring low in the English test,the last seat with window behind from where I can look at the cow tied in the small field who kept eating grass and going round and round whole day and also the main road visible that was busy throughout the day with traffic.I would keep gazing out of that window and at times felt my lessons were outside the class and not in subjects being taught inside... the Jaipur trip where my camera broke down and I lost many lovely memories of Sister Sisly who choose to learn break dance... my selection in the St. Thomas house's basketball team and my best pass ever where I was about to fall on the ground with my back facing it and the opponent team's player,four years elder to me,almost falling over me and I manage to pass the ball just before I hit the ground... those basket ball matches in recess with me as captain of one team and Reishma of the other and I always winning,my coming across Puneet Di and she gave me the name Multani and Pnky to Reishma,for she wore a pink trouser on the trial day and how can I forget Arpan and Radhika,the dreaded tom boys of the school but the best basketball players at that time. Loved Arpan's Blind pass.

Seventh: the classroom had four doors and my gaze was most of the time fixed on the assembly ground outside.I loved looking outside the class... sir O.P khanna's pledge to make us learn the tables by heart... sneaking away in the needle work period of Mam Agnes with Geetan Di and having Chat with her on the stairs...

Eigth was crazy class of fake faces,became friends with Priyanka who gave one or two advices that I carry with me till today and remember her whenever I follow them... mugging up the antonyms and synonyms in hindi grammar for test in recess and the Hindi stories ' Usne kaha tha' and 'Chhota Jadugar'. Chhota Jadugar(magician) was the story that moved me to tears when I first read that in class and I never dared to read that story again because in it the chhota jadugar performed magic tricks on the road side to collect money for his ill mother. The mother died before the kid could reach home.I asked my mom to read it and do the question answers for me.

Ninth has funny moments clinging to it and is also the class where,for the first time,I thought of reason behind the existence of the universe and mankind.Once our English teacher was making us revise 'The Diverting History of John Gilpin' or 'A Ballad of Sir Pertap',I really don't remember now which of these two it was,and suddenly the topic of friendship and sharing started.I never had the joy of  having a friend for life till that time and I had a new friend for every class.I believed 'variety is the spice of life' :-D LOL. So the teacher asked,"do you all have friends to talk your heart out?".Everyone nodded their head and said yes.I did not have one so mine should be a 'No' I thought.I was on the last seat and shook my head to convey a 'No',wishing that the teacher did not notice me.To my surprise,the next  moment when I looked up,I saw Mam Kanwaljit teacher staring at me though no one else came to know what happened.My heart was racing.I did not want to stand up and explain my answer.She started speaking and looking away she said,"it is good that you have one and if someone does not have it,she can come and share it with me anytime".While she said to came to her and share she looked back at me and I had a faint smile on my face.I was relieved for not being asked to stand up and elaborate my 'No' and filled with joy to hear the last part of the sentence because I felt it was said for me...

Tenth was a BLASTING year.I became the captain of school basketball team and we won both the tournaments we played that year.I remember hugging my principal,Sister Regis,after we defeated the district level champions...:-D YaY!!!

Apart from all the above,there are numerous small things coming to my mind like reading the news and thought of the day in the assembly,stalls at fete,annual sports day,rush at the canteen,use of long books as a partition to avoid any sort of cheating during test,the love for small,colored,sugar coated,chocolates called 'Gems',writing of  'A.M.D.G' on top of the page...

Phew!!! Enough blabbering for tonight.Remaining of the memories will have to wait.

How S.T.U.P.I.D I was!!!

I do feel the need to change the title from 'I was' to 'I am' but I'll let it be what it is because it was the first thing that came to my mind.Taking the spotlight from the full title to just S.T.U.P.I.D,I want to mention that the title is an equivocal one from my side (only if you know the full form of  STUPID). LOL :-)

The Lenovo advertisement says that the 'doers' have a creed of there own but I found out today,while reading a blog,that the 'dreamers' too have a creed of there own and I fall in the dreamer category.No No! I don't wish to start discrimination on the basis of  the above mentioned categories, as there are already many basis to do the discrimination.Let me leave that aside as I don't intend to ponder about any serious stuff at the moment.So,where was I? Yup! my being a dreamer.The blog pushed me through a tunnel of time where I saw myself deciding to big things but never succeeding.One of my dreams which made me eligible for the title of  STUPID was  of  owing an airport :-D Yeah! you heard that right. Owing an airport.I not only dreamed about it but tried to live the dream too.I would get to the terrace of my house,which is the third floor of the building and high enough to give me a view of the city.Then I would try to imitate a rich businessman by standing in a way in which rich businessmen stand,which I had learned from the book of body language that I have,and I would imagine those huge Boeing planes taking off and landing in front of my eyes :-) It was nice that way but only until the day when my enlightened friend put some light on the fact that airports are owned only by government.

From that day onwards I went to the terrace with my Boeing Planes parked permanently in the hanger. :-D

I am a little less stupid now because I have developed the ability so say "I don't know" when I have no clue about something and go ahead to ask for help.

DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY :-)

This is another incident that took place in the train.I had a couple sitting on the opposite seat and it had been five to six hours since we were in the together in the train.I have always been very simple.No ear rings, no nose rings, no rings,no make up, nothing at all.I do wear a silver chain with an eagle pendent in it but that day I did not wear even that.I was wearing my blue jeans with blue t-shirt.Over the t-shirt was a brown jacket and a black woolen cap on my head.I feel the cap makes me look a little cute.:-)I had a canvas side bag on my lap.

So the lady on the opposite side spoke up first, about her visit to Amritsar.It was her dream to visit the Golden Temple(Harmandir Sahib) for which she was coming to Amritsar.She shared few more things before she asked me in which school do I study.I was busy with my phone but on hearing school I couldn't help smiling.I looked up and said I go to college.Next question that came my way was about my degree, B.Com or B.B.A, to which I replied B.Tech :-) at this she was surprised (don't know why).The last one was,which year? I kept smiling and said with little pride,"third year". The lady gasped and said,"haw! you don't look like a college going,third year student.You look like a cute school going kid". Now I stopped smiling and burst into laughter.I really did not know what to say.After that whole way I kept smiling because my day was made.I never liked following the tradition of getting your hair straightened,wearing lenses and having fancy purses, that girls of my college follow.Though I did make a blunder of getting my hair colored red but that was all. :-) I have a cute look and I love it.

DUET WITH THE RAILS

This experience was a crazy one.I was sitting on the window seat and looking out on the railway line laid along the track on which my train was running.I had my headphones on and was enjoying the music by Sungha Jung.For the first time I understood what it meant when people say 'Time Flies' because I gave a look at my watch and it was 1 p.m. Five hours since my train left the Delhi station had passed and I was not aware of it at all.My eyes were wide open and with a smiling face started gazing out again at the rails.I played the bollywood music folder in my player now and the my mood was in accordance with the number that was being played.Suddenly the song 'Tera Hone Laga Hun'  from the movie 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani' started.I was still fascinated by the rails moving alongside and kept looking at them.As the song progressed I found myself dedicating the song to the rails :-) LOL Whenever the lines 'Tera hone laga hoon khone laga hoon Jab se mila hoon' appeared the rails moved far away from the train and when the chorus ended they would return to their original position.This happened every time the above mentioned lines appeared.It seemed as if the railway lines were singing the song with me :-)

I played the song twice and enjoyed my duet with the rails.

TEENY TINY TODDLER

A magician has to learn the tricks which he can call magic but little kids don't need to learn to anything.They just need to look into your eyes with the puppy dog face and you are under their spell.I have such a trick master in my life whom I get to meet very rarely,but spending time with that tender soul is something out of this world...

Following my nature, I wait for him to approach me and make himself comfortable.Once he is done with it I make sure I make the most of my time with him.He is three years old and has a feeble body.His golden brown hair make him odd one out considering the rest of the family members.His wide bright brown eyes are full of life and it is a delight to look into them.I fall short of words to describe the softness of his skin and the touch of that  sacred soul.Loved by all and is thus named Harman.

Harman will come to you when he needs something and if you choose to say no to him he won't fight or start getting angry.He will start requesting in his sugar coated voice :-) I usually said to him that he has to use 'aap' instead of 'tu','aapko in place of 'tujhe' and so on but kids follow the elders around them.Following his own habit he would return to 'tu' and 'tujhe' from 'aap' and 'aapko'.Whenever he used disrespectful language I told him I won't talk to him and walked away and every time he came to me saying sorry and kissing me as he said he won't do it again.How could I keep away from him then? When it happened for the first time I thought he was serious but then that sweet devil repeated his mistakes and the scene was enacted again.

One afternoon i was having tea and Harman was sitting beside me.He insisted upon having a cup of tea made for him and we agreed to let him take few sips from my cup.I handed over to him the cup and he took a sip.He then said that we will have alternate turns to sip the tea.I agreed.He gave the cup to me and I returned it after sipping the tea.Harman took a sip and did not return the cup.I reminded him it was my turn.He looked at me with his sparkling eyes and smiled while giving the cup to me.Again I took a sip and handed him the cup.This time he laughed and drank the whole tea in one go and I was looking at him with my mouth open and a smile on my face :-)

He has a playful heart and is always ready to fire at you with the 'why' question machine gun :-) I guess this is common to all toddlers.We played with the basket ball set that he had.Harman had the ball and I held the pole to which the basket ring was attached.Every time he shot, I moved the pole to make sure the ball was in the basket.Once the ball was in Harman would burst into laughter.

I had spent two and half day with the little angle and next day I had to leave.I told Harman about it but how could I expect him to understand anything.After all he was just three years old.He said,"bhua  mat jao" and I could feel the pain I was going to give him.He is angry with me at the moment and refuses to talk on phone because I left while he slept.Whatever it is I love him and I know he loves me too.

JUST TRYING TO SHARE...

Getting up early morning and get a rickshaw ride to the railway station isn't a bad idea at all.In this speedy daily life,slowing down at looking at the things around you is very essential to know what all you are missing.Everyday you might not get a chance to sit at the same place for an hour and keep observing the activities around you.This was what I did two days back when I arrived at the railway station an hour before the train's arrival.

I sat on a bench on the platform and started looking around.There were a lot of things happening but one that is still fresh in my mind is of the pigeons.The cleaner cleaned the platform but threw the paper shredding and other material on the track.All those pigeons looking for material to make nests, flew to the track,picked up the shreds and returned to their selected areas in the steel frames that were built to support the roof.The birds kept doing it and every time they tried to place the material it would fall back to the ground,at times on people standing below.After almost half hour the cleaner had to again clean the area and he still chose to throw the garbage on the track. :-)

While traveling by a train one will never  come across same kind of people.Every time there is a new species.This time I came across those middle aged, working class men who traveled daily from station A to station B.There were four of these.One of them started the topic of  hike in prices of the daily commodities.Another said that the government had promised certain benefits(I really don't remember what they were) to be given to the farmers.The discussion continued for some time till one of them said,"everything is going to be paid from our pockets" and they all laughed.

Looking out of the train window,I am always delighted to see the birds flying,as if they are trying to compete with the train.I won't even blink while watching them.One game that almost all kids love to play is too see who won't get scared when another train passes by.I love it too.Staring at the open fields,at the cars moving along the train on the nearby road,at the electricity wires which too seem to be running and the engine that appears only when big turns appear, is what takes me away from the common din.

Apart from the journey,I met a wonderful soul at the place of my stay.I will be describing her in my next post because this is the time of my favorite show.

To be continued...

LONGING TO COME HERE...

I tried to keep away from this blog thing but I feel its being a part of me now.Just can't do without it.I tried to keep writing in my brain,as done by a famous writer :-),but that was not enough.I had to land up here giving in to the strange desires of my heart.Though I have made today's entry but I won't be writing much.Feeling superbly sleepy owing to the two days train plus bus plus auto rickshaw journey and a night at no man's land.There is only one thing I feel like doing after this and that is listening to Jagjit Singh's gazal, Tera Chehra Hai Iynae Jaisa and dosing off.

Take Care!

THE COMMAND

Weather has a will of its own and is not bound to anyone's likes or dislikes.From past few years it has not been punctual at any time of the year.The rainfalls get delayed and summer gets prolonged.Winter becomes lazy too and keeps sleeping but when it wakes up it will hit the city with a bang leaving people perplexed about the temperatures.I don't know why some people will not start wearing their cardigans and blazers until they see others wearing them.I am always asked about wearing the woolens when no one around me is wearing them and I always have one reason to give 'my Hypothalamus does not function properly' :-) This does not mean that I have any disorder.Its just my way of getting away with the question.LOL

Today I had to go to the market with momy.As usual I choose to wear a sweater and a jacket and momy wore only a sweater.I knew the temperature has taken a drastic change and it was quite chilly outside though one never feels that inside the house.So, I asked her to take her shawl with her and as expected she said ,"I don't feel the cold and you should start doing some exercise" :-). At times mothers start acting like little kids.I told her its cold outside and she should get her shawl but she won't listen.Then I commanded her to do as I said.I read this in the 'Man Of The House' that mothers tend to take commands from those in pants, meaning from sons or other male figures.In my case I do try to command my mother and she does follow them too, though only at times.Today she followed my directions and took the shawl.

We finished up our work and returned home.On our way back home the air became very chilled and one can feel it penetrating the skin and reaching the bones.My momy started complaining about how cold it was but never asked me to take out the shawl from the bag and give it too her.So,I kept driving.We were still one and a half mile from our house when she started shivering and asked me to give her the shawl.I stopped on the roadside,took out the shawl and gave it to her.After that whole way she kept thanking me :-)

I guess when you grow up,you have to take care of your mothers rather than they taking care of you.

FUNNY MOMENT...

I do get emotional when it comes to momy (I call my mother momy).Today I saw her working throughout the day,at times in the kitchen and at times in the workshop.Oh! I forgot to tell you that we have my dad's workshop combined with our residence.As she was working even at 10 p.m. I thought of going and helping her.I put down my phone and head to the room where she was working.I entered the room to find her talking on phone with some relative.I examined the work that she was doing.She was putting those semiconductor components,diodes,resistors and capacitors, in the PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards). I knew how it was done, so I started putting the components.At the same time I was listening to her conversation too and kept giggling along with her.After I had put two resistors in fifty PCB I thought I would wait for her to end her conversation because it was geting quite boring for me.After five minutes she finally ended it up.Now the fun begins.Momy had a look on what I had done and examined the places where I had put those components.I was expecting her to say "thank you sweetie" but what did she say??? She said with a plain face,"what have you done?". I sensed it, something went wrong somewhere.I gave a look and found my blunder.In my excitement to help my momy I had interchanged the places of the components... :-) I tried to sneak away after saying sorry but she won't let that happen.She said in that soft threatening voice, that mothers use, to sit back and do the amendments. I had no choice but to take out each component one by one.When I was done I was kicked out of the room... :-) I ended up in my room laughing at what I did.

DRIVING...

Every time I am standing at my college bus stop, I can't take my eyes off the road.Those rotating circles,called wheels, going hither and thither, are a delight to watch.I love the way my eyes keep moving from one side to the other.It seems like some sort of a fun ride and when suddenly I look up, I find within me a strange joy.

I feel lucky that I can really balance myself on two wheels and be able to drive.Today I got a chance to drive throughout the day with small intervals between each sessions.I drove to my college, which happens to be out of the city,probably countryside, then from college to the interior of the city, which makes it a really long dive and to make it even longer, I took no shortcuts :) ... I didn't stop there.I came back home and then back to city and then again back home.What made the whole driving thing wonderful was a realization.I was riding on the greatest invention of all times,the wheel.Wheel,the thing that changed the future of transportation.It paved the way for a blasting future of the world.Just for a moment remove wheels from everything around you and experience the feeling of a world without wheels.It was after the realization that I was connected to such a great thing, I started feeling that all the wheels are laughing and rolling on.I started imagining the world of wheels.

At times you just need a long drive to connect to the one that resides in you.I kept pondering all the way and kept connecting to the soul within me.They say God is within everybody but we forget it is within ourselves too.It is not just that we need to see a God in everyone around us,we need to see it in ourselves too..I wonder how many of you ever felt like getting out of  your body and  hugging it back.

Going for the drive ALONE was not a bad idea at all.While I was on the elevated road,I could see my busy city- busy malls,busy bus terminal,busy roads below, and at far end stood the sacred temple,THE GOLDEN TEMPLE, which too is getting busy day by day.There were hoardings of brands and what not! I couldn't help smiling and wondering why can't there be hoardings to connect people to nature.Why can't there be the words of great people on these hordings instead of luxury attires,watches,shoes, etc.One thing I like about my college is the quotes that can be found in all the corridors.They keep reminding me about the values of life.

Another exciting thing today was the 'Rider Like Feel'.You know what I mean? The way you turn your bike at the corners,almost bending to touch the ground,coming down a bridge at a great speed and putting your own driving skills to test.Oh man!!! It was awesome.

Now I sit here relaxed and smiling to myself .Driving is not just an act of accelerating and applying brakes.Its a way of reviving yourself.

GROWING UP AND MOVING ON

As a little kid I was quite moved by a movie named HALO.

It was a story about a girl who had no mother. Once while returning home after school, the girl came across a fortune teller. She saw him telling people what was going to happen in their future.The girl was very fascinated  to see that.Next day the girl went to the fortune teller and asked about her future.The fortune teller knew about the girl's past, about her mother's death,so he told the girl that her mom was concerned about her and she will soon send her an angel.The girl inquires that how will she recognize the angel and the fortune teller told her that the angel will have a yellow light behind him.He will have a HALO.The girl was convinced and she left with only one thing in her head,the angel will come soon.

The little girl waited for days but nothing happened.She got disappointed and stopped waiting.Few days later she was playing with her friend when she saw a puppy standing on the small table in the room and that too against a light bulb.You can guess what thought hit her mind! Yes, she thought that puppy to be her angel. :-)

The days that followed were the happiest off all for her, until one day, when the puppy gets lost.She tries hard to find him back but all in vain.Then one day her friend comes to her to tell her that she had seen the puppy in someone's house.The girl rushes to that place.She heard puppy's voice there.She asked the people living there to return the puppy but they refused to.The girl was determined to get her angel back and she managed to get the puppy in her hands somehow.She was about to leave when a boy on wheel chair came calling the puppy with the name he had given him.The little girl turned around to see the boy and was moved by what she saw.The boy was not only handicapped but mentally retarded too.The boy was calling the puppy with so much love that it seemed to the girl that he couldn't live without the puppy.The girl realized that the boy was more in need of the little one than her.She handed the puppy to the boy and left with tears her eyes.

**********

From the day when I watched this movie I wanted to have a puppy for myself too.As always, I was lucky to have one soon.

My cousin brought a puppy to his place but his parents refused to keep it because they already had a dog.I was scared of my  parents as they had not agreed to keep a dog but I tried my luck. I took the puppy to my place and hid it under my mom's shawl.When momy came to take the shawl she found a puppy under it.The puppy was cute enough to make anyone fall in love with himself.I stood beside her with pleading eyes and to my joy she agreed to keep it.This was how I got my first dog and I named him Halo,my angel :-)

I would treat him like a baby.Stared at him when he slept.Played with him.He was a healthy pup so I use to show him puppy biscuits to make him walk even few inches.Had a happy time with him,till one day when  my Halo got lost.

Somebody took Halo away.I was in tears.I could not believe that.I would go out with my dad to find him.We even tried to find him in streets at mid night. But there was no sign of him...

Five days passed,then ten and then fifteen.It was the sixteenth day when the miracle happened.I had returned home after school and standing in the street when someone from the neighborhood told me that my dog had returned.I jumped in joy and ran inside the house to see my Halo.He was there and was very weak.He did not come to me while I was standing at the door.He was too scared to get out of the house.I hugged him.I came to know that our maid had brought Halo back.She was walking on the road when from nowhere Halo came and jumped on her.At first she was scared to see the dog but after few minutes she recognized it was Halo.She walked back to our house with Halo.

My angel was back but he wasn't the same dog,that I knew before.He was aggressive and was ready to bite anyone.I was bit by him thrice.He started attacking people when he felt threatened by them.May be it was because he was a mixed breed of panther,a dog that is used for hunting, or due to some other reason. Whatever it was,my parents had decided that he was leaving.They got him in the car and head to a place that was about thirty kilometers from the city.A family had agreed to keep Halo.They lived in a farmhouse and needed a dog for security reason.I was assured that those people will take good care of him.

A month passed and during this time period I heard my parents talking about Halo trying to run away the farmhouse a several times.When I tried to ask about Halo they would just say everything was fine.I did visit the place once to see him and he was happy being there but when I was leaving he started barking and made sounds which, a dog lover knows, are only meant for pleading.I came back with a heavy heart.Few months later I came to know that Halo died.He was tied to the pole with the rope and he wanted to escape again.As he tried to free himself,the rope tied around his neck tightened and ultimately he was silenced for ever.

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My love for dogs was bound to increase after that.I had learned to move on and I knew my dog was not coming back again.No more dogs in the house was my parent's command so we did not have another one.One good thing about India is that you need no license to keep a dog and you can have dogs in your street too :-)

I don't remember exactly how Gopi,a street dog, came here.All I can recall is the cold, foggy winter morning when I was standing outside my house and saw five or six puppies,shivering severely.They were trying to get together,one on the other, to keep themselves warm but it was of no use.I went inside and told mom about it.We got a cardboard drum and a jute sack for the poor puppies.We thought they would get into it as soon as they saw it but they did not. I pulled up my sleeves,took a towel and started running after the puppies to put them one by one in the drum.They made funny noises while I was running after them. :-)

For the whole winter season that drum was there house but their number kept on decreasing.When spring arrived I saw only two of them and I guess Gopi was one of them.

The name was given by a four year old toddler in my street who found the dog as his first friend.I never felt like changing the name for myself and started calling the dog Gopi.

Thought Gopi was a street dog but he was loved by all the houses in the street.He was every house's dog.Some would feed him with milk in the morning and some would get bakery buns for him.He would play with the kid I mentioned before in the evenings.During hot summer afternoons we would let Gopi come inside our houses and rest under the cooler stands, and during cold winter nights he was made to sleep in a blanket.When he was bit by other street dogs I was the in charge of  looking after his wounds.Once he got bitten at his back and that too to such an extent that that he had maggots in his wound.It was tough job to treat him,after all he was street dog.Day and night only one thing ran in my and my brother's mind that how to inject the medicine in Gopi's wound.That was the sole mission of our days at that time.We succeeded then and Gopi recovered fully.

There was another class twelve boy who spent most of his time with Gopi.They were usually found together roaming in the street.The boy was so much attached with Gopi that he cried for several days after he had gone to Australia.He would call back home just to know how was Gopi.Not only the boy but even Gopi was found grieving and looking for his companion.Days passed and Gopi knew the boy was gone.Now he spent most of his time with the other younger kid.He would come to me too for being cuddled. If I stopped he would touch his head to my hands and insist to carry on.I loved it that way. I FELT HALO WAS BACK.He would even come running to me in the morning when I would be walking to my college bus.

Two years passed like that and it was happy time for Gopi. He was loved by all.

Last month Gopi was was attacked again by a group of street dogs.This time his wounds were fatal one and he could not survive.Few minutes before his death I went to him to spray the medicine.Just when he saw me and my brother he started shivering.We sprayed the medicine and returned home with doubts and fear in our minds.I knew he would not survive this time.My younger brother came to me after almost an hour and insisted to go out and see Gopi.We did go and saw him lying there.My brother was scared to check it out for himself so he asked me to touch him and move him.That was the first time I felt a dead body,cold and stiff.

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I'm not sad while remembering these incidents.These have surely made me strong and taught me the need to move on.

Had To Be A First Time

Finally ,here I am, at my own blog.

I don't have any good stories or really very exotic experiences to share. All I will be sharing is what I learn from my daily life, those pearls of wisdom that I gather from the nature around me. I have always been fascinated by the power of the universe, as depicted in books and even because of the way I look at it. I would love to share my thoughts on such things.

I will be writing this blog not just to share my learning but to be more expressive too. Growing up to be a better human being is another motive behind the creation of this blog.

Wish me luck.