13 Cheers!!!

Today is 13th of december!! It is a bit unfair to think that "13"is an unlucky number! By this statement, I do not mean to hurt any religious sentiments! I am merely stating for me,the number 13 is very special!!!

My parents were married on this day! Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, today is their anniversary and not just anniversary...it is their "25th anniversary"! It's kinda sad that I am not with them tonight! There is this big family dinner, which I am not a part of...but thanks to technology, I'll get to see them through the miracle of webcam and world wide web!!!

You know, my parents are very special to me...They are not just my guardians but my friends as well!!! By friends, however, I am defining my relationship with my mother! Dad's always been aloof though we are quite frank with each other! Initially I had difficulty in understanding his love for us..(i.e. me and my bro). He is not very good when it comes to showing his love or affection! I guess, I have got this from him along with the dimples! :P Although, once I am comfortable in a relationship, I am very open and warm, quite unlike big daddy! ;-) Anyhow, I must confess...after moving away from home and staying all by myself I think I can understand and definitely feel his love better! And, I do not know if my parents will ever read this...but I would just like to say that they are the best in the world and I love them a lot and definitely MISS them quite a bit!

Anyway, as I was saying today is my parents anniversary! I always wondered how two people, completely opposite be so much in love??? In the past 20 years of my life, I have never seen them fight even once. I have heard of the saying that people who love the most, fight a lot...I don't think I believe in that anymore. 25 years, and not a single fight!!! Soul mates are they? And what is more beautiful is their relationship! My dad is not a very possessive man, or nor very romantic and definitely not at all expressive! (Mom, as usual is opposite except she isn't also very possessive) Can you believe, he never proposed to mom or said "I Love You" to her? How can 2 people even love each other without telling each other? Something to think about or something,I'll never understand..may be I am not meant to!

I don't think I have ever seen dad asking mom where she is going, or why she is so late or seeing him going through her call list! Infact he doesn't even answer her phone when its ringing and she is not there! Instead, he will shout and call either of us and ask us to take it! Same goes for my mother! Their trust, their loyalty, their committment...something which is inexpressible yet so very there...something so beautiful..yet so abstract! As a child, I thought may be them being opposite is the key to their success! But I learn now, not all opposites are so happy....................!

I guess "passion" is quite over rated! Isn't it?? It has to die someday...but what we are left with is trust, love, respect and care....a bond which is everlasting and so very beautiful that you don't even need the gift of language or words of expression..... just like my parents! I guess we youngstars should learn something from these "big mommies and daddies of romance"....;-)..shouldn't we?

So Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to raise a toast to the most wonderful couple I have ever met...and here's wishing them a life time of happiness, good health and prosperity forever, together and always! Cheers....

Now, coming back to number 13, apart from my parents...there's some more special people and sweet memories related to it! Prachi's birthday is on 13th March...someone so beautiful, and not just from outside, but also from inside...how can she be born on an unlucky day? 14th april is my other favourite's birthday...Manpreet's...24hours from 13th april...coinciding with Bengali New Years...not unlucky..very auspicious and anticipated! Last but not the least 13th feb, each year we...at 12 am..the world starts celebrating the most romantic or should i say, loving day of the year..(technically its 14th but the celebration starts from 13 midnight itself, so lets keep the technicality aside for a while!)

For now, lets all celebrate the magic of this number and for once forget its unlucky past!

"No. 13...I love you..and I'll always will!!!

Yours truely,

Sugana...

Gone with the wind...

Once upon a time...there was a little girl....skeptical, shy, timid, unaware of the harsh realities in life....She lived in far away country, amidst the beauty of nature....where men wore hats...and women adorned skirts...a place that was free from the shackles of the cruel, ruthless and competitive world. She used to live with her grandmother in a small cottage, isolated from the rest of the town. Her grandmother was her only family. She had never seen her parents....all she knew was they were up there in the starry sky twinkling as stars...looking down upon their little darling. The girl was content in her small world. Her only best friend was this mango tree. Lovingly she would call it "Momo"...Larger part of the afternoons...she would spend with momo...amidst its branches..in its lap, talking to it..and when no one was looking she would dance holding the branches. There was something about the tree that made her feel so secure and comfortable. When her grandmother would not give her 2 cents to have icecream, she would run to Momo..and hug it and share her grief! Surprisingly, when she would look down..there would be a 2 cent coin lying!

Then finally the day came when she had to go to school. She had cried a lot that day. She couldn't wait to get back home and run to Momo. Slowly she got used to the "regular" life. Her visits to Momo lessened . She could only visit the tree in weekends, as homework took most of her time. Hence, she eagerly waited for holidays to come....

On Christmas eve, her grandmother presented her with a very pretty frock...the one which she read in the story" Cinderella"...excited she ran to show Momo..her present!!! She wore it...dance around the its branches like a dainty little angel...spoke her heart out and finally when the sun set...she ran home. On her way back, she met her friend Christopher, who invited her to the christmas party. He also said she was allowed to bring a "date". Not knowing what date was...she asked her grandmother, over dinner. Her grandmother explained that a "date" was a friend whom she liked and who liked her aswell and with whom she could share anything. Then her grandmother explained how she was her grandfather's date and how her mother was her father's date. After dinner, she lay on her little bed thinking who could be her date! and then her eyes feel on something outside the window and she had an answer!

The following evening, she dressed up in the Cinderella frock and went to Momo. Then very politely she asked it, if it would come to party as her "date"!! A faint breeze was blowing that shook the branches of the tree! The girl waited there for the tree to move...and finally realising it will not, she broke a twig and took it with her to the party as her date!

Years passed by, the little girl grew up to be a beautiful and charming woman. Her bond with Momo also strengthened! Momo was one thing in her life that was always there and accessible to her!

One fine morning, the girl dressed in a white dress and a wale approached the tree. The moment she was near it, this familiar breeze began to blow again...the same happiness...the same comfort the same security! Today was a special day. She was getting married! Her groom to be was the same Christopher!

As she stood there talking to it and caressing its branches, she recalled what all things she had shared with Momo over the past years...her first meeting with Christopher in school and what a "jerk" he became in college...their friendship, their fights...the first time they went to the ball, the homecoming dance, the first drive together, the first rose which Christopher gave her, coincidentally he had found the rose beneath this tree only! their first kiss, their first valentine's day, the day he proposed! As she reminisced , tears filled her eyes but there was this shy smile on her lips! and suddenly it occured to her that she wont be able to meet Momo every weekend now! Christopher and his family had moved to the other part of the town and the drive was a long one! There was this "bittersweet symphony" playing in her heart! She din't wanna go. She stayed there hugging its branches! As she heard the town clock strike 1...she knew she had to go. Christopher was waiting in the church... Before leaving she broke a twig and kissed the branch. As she turned to go the church, the branches of the tree, began to shake, but there was no breeze! It was something unfamiliar..as if the tree was calling her back! She stood there, waiting for sometime and then she left!

Marital life came as a bliss to her. She was happy with Christopher and her new family. Life was never so romantic! She hadn't completely forgotten Momo...whenever she would speak to her grandmother over the phone, she would ask about her mango tree! Occasionally she would look at the twig which she brought with her. She would speak to it, when sad or She would blush and share her romantic adventures with Christopher !

Oneday, the news of her ailing grandmother reached her and she rushed to see her! The doctor said the grandmother had to be immediately shifted to the "big city hospital"! Christopher made arrangements to shift her grandmother and she started packing her stuff! Suddenly her eyes fell outside the window.She stood there still! And then she ran out...she ran out to Momo...

There Momo was standing with dead branches and fallen leaves! Tears started rolling down her cheeks! How could she not visit Momo? The grief was unbearable and she had to sit! As she knelt down before the tree ...she saw a worn away rose lying there, amidst the fallen leaves!!! She picked it up... and suddenly the familiar wind had started to blow again.....

"Amidst the lofty towers...I seek you both"

Hey there...

Sorry was quite busy with exams...hence haven't been blogging much...just wrote my second last paper yesterday.....awaiting the last one...or should I say the dreaded one???

Its a lazy Saturday afternoon...I am in an oversized t-shirt, track pants and a pair of socks..having hot chocolate...(underlying hint anyone???)..but more of that later...:-)

Yesterday after the paper, I was sitting with prachi at our "favorite spot" and was observing the crowded corridors...densely flocked "H-cafe" quad and the jam-packed parking area...what struck me most was the lofty buildings...the buildings where we have our classes...the buildings that nest the hostelers...and they stood still...there was an innate silence encompassing them, amidst all the noise!!! Who knows what these buildings have witnessed...???

I wondered how could they be so still? Except for some destructive prank played by nature, or man, they never move! something about it was unsettling but also so familiar. It was similar to the void, I feel at times...We all have people around us...yet we sometimes feel lonely! Our conscious is never stirred unless we encounter a personal or professional turbulence...just like these lofty towers.......how closely do we associate with our emotions? and why do people ignore feelings as " emotional gibberish"...I guess I would never know and may be thats why the void in me keeps stirring...and there is this emotional silence, all around; except when I am with my Mannu darling aka Manpreet or prachi!!!

Its not only the skycrapers that touch me deep...its also the conversations...I have with my these two gal pals...I know I am gonna miss them,after my college is over or when we are 40, looking down the memory lane!!! These talks are not necessarily "girl talk"...they can be anything under the sun...or nothing at all!!...surprised??...sometimes, we just sit silent and melt into the surroundings... when its time to move our lazy butts...I realise I had the most amazing conversation with them! I can share with them my darket secrets without feeling guilty or without the fear of being judged! What amazes me more is how they spell out each word I think! It feels great to be "understood" for a change....

God knows what future beholds....where we are placed...but I know whenever I reminisce about "young days" I would remember these conversations and the lofty buildings...I would remember the time spent with mannu at CCD or Burp or PizzA Hut and with prachi in college...I would remember the times we cried and laughed...the moments spent together...

The bitterness that fills my heart at times about the "wrong doings" or "misunderstandings"that i have been through...I know it will be long forgotten and only these sweet memories would reside....

On one such day, while sharing a laugh...I thought of this and told prachi..

"Amidst the lofty towers..I seek you both"

I'll keep this as the title of my post!!! ....