A hand written letter

It is just one month for my wedding and the preparations are in full swing. My mum and dad are busy and the mission on priority is inviting people. They are using media like WhatsApp and email for inviting people who are not Pune or India. Yup, they are tech savvy.
They sent few invitation cards via post. One of them was for Colonel Varun Mathur and his family including his mother Srimati Sumati Mathur. My father posted that invitation card along with few other and forgot about it. He had talked to them few days ago for getting their postal address. They were dad's neighbours for a long time and our families were having a really good bonding .
Yesterday, we received a letter from Sumati aunty for dad via military courier service.
We just opened the letter and we were overwhelmed with the love that the letter contained. Yes, it was full of love. Sumati aunty must be around eighty three years old. I remember her treating us with awesome Pattice when we visited their Delhi home. She is a very affectionate lady.
The letter went through all memories of the times when  dad and Varun uncle were together and their medical college days. It also had memories of Garima who is Sumati Aunty's granddaughter. In her letter aunty also said that they won't be able to attend my wedding but they will celebrate my wedding with a lavish dinner on that day. She liked the invitation card and expressed her emotions about the card in a very apt manner. We became nostalgic after reading the letter.
I realised one thing yesterday. WhatsApp or any other social media or email cannot convey the emotions that a hand written letter can convey. It is magical. I was so happy that I told everyone I met about the letter.
I would like to say thank you Sumati aunty for the magical letter and we will write you a letter for sure. I will remember this for lifetime. I am so happy that my marriage is bringing these small but very precious and happy moments in my  life. I realized that how much people love me. These are the things which make your life worth living.. :-)

Believe in the system

I am an ordinary Indian who generally doesn't believe in the country's politics and overall system. My usual attitude was to blame the system for problems like corruption, unemployment, population growth and for every possible problem on this planet. But a recent incident changed my opinion drastically. 

It was 29th July 2014. Me and my college friends were going for a picnic. So, obviously I was excited. I was supposed to meet my friends at Swargate. I took an auto from my home. I think, I got the auto near Ramesh Dyeing. I was busy eating chips and WhatsApping with my friends. The auto reached Swargate and I was supposed to pay him 21 rupees. I didn't have one rupee change. I got down  and I was still busy with my chips.  In the whole excitement, I totally forgot about my mobile. The auto vanished in fraction of a second. I immediately realized that I had forgotten my mobile in the auto. It slipped from my pocket. 

Within few seconds, I realized  that my mobile was missing. I immediately tried to call on my number from an auto driver's cell phone. But I got "User Busy" message and then my phone was switched off. The auto driver was helpful enough to help me chasing the previous auto. But my luck wasn't in my favor. The previous auto was already vanished in the crowd. I got very upset. I called my Mum and said that I am not going for the picnic. She just tried to cheer me up and said that I should go and enjoy. I listened to her. In the mean time, my friends had arrived and suggested me to inquire in the police station nearby. I went there and asked the inspector about the formalities. He asked me to come with the IMEI number of the cell phone. I decided to enjoy the picnic and file an FIR in the evening.

As decided, I enjoyed the picnic, thanks to my friends who cheered me up. In the evening, my father had come with me to the police station and we filed a FIR. I was very upset. But the police told me not to worry and I will get my phone back soon. For me, filing an FIR was just a formality and I didn't have any hopes. The official FIR got filed on 31st July with PI Yogesh Jagtap. He is a very honest and dutiful police officer. He promised to give details about the investigation to my father on a regular basis. I didn't have any hope really. I got back to normal and my routine was going on. My father kept on ringing him on regular basis and had no news till 15th August. I ordered a new smart phone as there was no hope left to get the old phone back.

But suddenly, on 1st September 2014 we got a call from PI Yogesh Jagtap that my phone was tracked and I will get it back after Ganapati festival. A special officer was sent to the location where my phone was traced and my father got a call from PI Yogesh Jagtap on 11th September 2014, telling that he has recovered my phone. We got back the phone after completing all the formalities. I was the happiest person on this earth. I was really very lucky as everyone said. This strengthened my belief in our System. We have got a really good government and the people really work hard for the citizens. We should support them and the only intention of this post is to create awareness about Indian police and the overall system.They do look into small matters such as mobile theft very seriously. We must believe in the system and co operate with them. It will create wonders definitely. :)

My special thanks to PI Yogesh Jagtap, PI Santosh Kshirsagar and API Sandesh Kenjale from Swargate Police station again for their hard work. They did all this without expecting anything in return. They did not make us wait in the police station for long. We didn' t know anyone of them before hand. They did an excellent work. You make us proud with your work! We feel safe because of you! Hats off to you! They made the "Impossible" task possible with their efforts. We had a pleasant surprise. We exactly followed the procedure they told us and we got the phone back! :-)

So, I would like to tell you, "Believe in the system. Be an alert and responsible citizen and you would definitely get the returns!". Proud to be an Indian! :)

FRIENDS

"When will I get married? Tell me no, please." Buzzed the WhatsApp ping from my friend. "Rani( as I fondly call my friend) everything will be fine. Just chill!". I have become an adviser, a fortune teller and what not  for my friends.

Recently, J.J. has started watching FRIENDS. And she feels the love she has for her friends in her heart. She has a very  small circle of close friends. But each one of them means a lot to her and adds a lot of value to her.

The sad part is that all her interaction with her friends is online or over the phone except her MBA friends as they meet every weekend. Everyone is away from her :( . Still she has the warmest conversations with them. After all she is best at it, making her friends feel warm.

"When will you feel like talking to me at length?"Said one of J.J.'s friend. He was fed up of the written chats I think. J.J. curses herself when her busy schedule doesn't allow her to be in touch with her friends.

She is her friend's confidant ,knowing darkest of their secrets. She has the habit of convincing them and cheering them up.

She keeps on annoying her best friend for "the good news" and at the same time her heart pines for hearing "I miss you! Long time no see!' from her friend in Seattle. She drives ten more kilometres for her friend to track a key maker and that gives her pure happiness. She doesn't mind sacrificing a good night's sleep for helping Ash in studies or staying awake just for forwarding an email. She misses her hangouts with Varada, but is happy for her as she's living her dream.

She is overwhelmed when her sweetheart Sneha calls her from Canada to just help her make an important decision.

This makes her realise the worth of her friends in her life. Her life is incomplete without them. The love, care,attention,appreciation and support she gets from them is priceless. These relations without expectation make her life worth living. She's just waiting for a friend for life who will take care of her! ;)

Back to school :)

J.J( as I fondly call myself) was at her laziest best today. She was lying on the bed till ten in the morning.(this is very rare in her life these days). While she was thinking about some random things,she suddenly became nostalgic.She was missing her college days very much. But looking at the positive side(she has become really optimistic these days.) she thought she is back to college again. She has landed in a "B school". So why not make this journey enjoyable?

The thought process of doing an executive MBA started in her mind way back in 2012, immediately after her visa was rejected. She started browsing internet and found about SCIT. After overcoming all the hurdles of interviews and the admission process, J.J. landed in SCIT. She was thrilled but at the same time she wasn't confident. She felt, how can she give her hundred percent by sacrificing all the weekend fun? But nevertheless,the journey started with a bang in June 2013.

J.J was excited. She started attending lectures. It was fun indeed. All the subjects were new. Her confidence was on a new high, when she realised that she really has  good general knowledge.Her presentation skills improved and she was having fun solving financial accounting problems. Really, Financial Accounting was a nightmare. With all this hard work, there was awesome fun too. :)

J.J. met some really good people here. She had a bunch of intelligent, fun loving friends here. Be it a group chat on WhatsApp during boring lectures or the awesome trip to Splendour Country, everything was full of fun and adventure. She was enjoying the tea sessions at the small vendor outside her college. The lunch dates with her buddies were the best hangouts.

She had also started understanding psychology better. She met the serious A.K., the rowdy P.G, the boring C.R. and the studious P.C.T. here. Her bunch of girl friends was the best part of her life at B school. She shared her crushes with Ash. She realised that she should always smile(as Miss P told her). After all that makes her look much prettier ;). She got to learn work life balance from Arti, Maddy and Prerna who were managing work, kids, family and studies at the same time. She got a pat on her back for being helpful and talkative. She also learnt to be systematic and methodical. She has stopped complaining and has become much more calm.

She has learnt how to study a whole subject in one night flat, how to apply economics and marketing concepts in day to day office work. She learnt how to become more practical. She realized her own strengths and the importance of team work. She has learnt multitasking too. :D

And now after more than one year, she has stopped being lazy. She loves being busy. She is very happy with her life at SCIT as she is earning and learning at the same time. She loves the fun filled weekends at SCIT and would miss them when she finishes her MBA :)

Memories..

I absolutely have no idea how to begin this post but I just try to jot down some of the best memories of my childhood and teen age.
I really had an awesome childhood. Being the first child in the family I was pampered by everyone. But I consider my teen age as the most beautiful part of my life. The memories of my teen age are most beautiful memories that I cherish.
When I was in twelfth standard, we had human anatomy in detail in biology. We needed practical demonstration for better understanding. But any sort of animal dissection wasn't included in our syllabus. But we decided that we will dissect a frog on our own. Obviously my surgeon dad came to our rescue. Our first challange was to get a frog. My father arranged a frog somehow. I don't know how but my father has a solution to all the problems. After getting the little creature in a tiny box, we decided the place for dissection. It was our terrace. All my friends gathered at my place to participate in the adventure. We bought a dissection box and were thrilled to handle those instruments. But it was my father, who was actually going to dissect the frog. The frog was forced to go in an unconscious state and we started the adventure. My father did his job very skillfully and we were watching the whole procedure very earnestly. We studied the nervous system, digestive system of the amphibians. I still remember holding the flower like tiny pancreas of the frog in my hand. It was a very different experience which taught us many things. The only regret was the tiny creature lost his life in the whole adventure.
Our IIT Mumbai visit during second year of engineering has to be one of the best memories that I cherish. We were quite comfortable with each other and knew each other well by that time. This was my first trip with my friends and the destination itself was one of the best technology institutes in India. Meeting and interacting with  the best innovative minds, experiencing the wonders of technology , exploring some different side of my friends and making some new friends were few of the most cherished and important things about this trip. We got familiar with the brightest minds of this country and got a chance to watch amazing competitions like micromouse and few other robotics events. We also explored the scenic IIT powai campus. My bonds with Amruta, Indu, Pallavi strengthened during this trip.
The Manali trek in the summer vacations after my board exams holds a special place in my heart. This was the longest vacation of my lifetime and this trek was the best part of it. This trek taught me many things. The most important being the group or team spirit. Right from staying in tents to crossing the Biyas river in the chilling cold, each and every memory related to this trek is full of adventure and thrill. It taught me how to mingle with people and stop being the usual shy myself. The train journey from Pune to Delhi was one of the most memorable journies I had till date. We never let the other passengers sleep for two days. I met many different personalities and also learnt how to accommodate in seriously crunch situations. I also got to visit some beautiful places and Manali is one of the places which I admire the most. I am mesmerised by the natural beauty of this place. I loved being very close to nature in these thirteen days.
The next one in the list have to be the nightouts at Maithili's place during our school days. The ARAI tekdi visit with the whole  group, dancing on some random bollywood songs at two in the night or just random talks and laughs with my best buddies, everything is very fresh in my mind as if it happened just few days ago. I still remember eating the apple pudding at twelve in the night and games of badminton at her place.

The rangpachami celebrations at Swapna's place had to be one of the best I ever had.It was super fun.

Our early morning Parvati visits during our summer vacations, those long study sessions with Rati, the only night out with Mugdha at my place, the long swimming sessions at our club followed by some awesome food at some restaurant, watching Bend It Like Beckham at my place with the whole gang are some of the best memories of my teenage. These little things in life make it worth living. I will write a separate post about my college life memories.

Smiles :)

I have been meeting quite a few people these days. I am fond of meeting new people and I always enjoy these experiences. I just try to think what impresses me most when I meet a person. And I immediately get the answer, its their smile :)

I have seen many smiles till date. The real ones, which come from the bottom of someone's heart, some are fake which try to cover up the real feelings, some are very genuine, some are very innocent, some are really infectious, some are enthusiastic, some are wicked, some are trustworthy, some are flirtatious, some are playful.

I met a lovely lady some days back. She must be approximately that of my mothers age. She was dressed in a simple saree. She was very beautiful for her age having flawless complexion. But the thing I distinctly remember about her is her lovely and warm smile.It was a reflection of her warm and pure heart. It created a positive vibe between us. The purpose for which we had met could have really created some awkward moments between us.But we could really have a meaningful conversation after it. And of course, the credit goes to her smile.

Another smile I remember is that of my little cousin. She is the naughtiest person around and the youngest one too.Each time  I ask her to give me a hug, she just gives me an innocent smile and runs away.Her naughty smile can make my day!

The one which I can never forget is that of my grandfather just the day before his sad demise. The smile had a sense of calm and satisfaction to it. He probably knew what was stored in future.

I have a friend whose eyes twinkle when she smiles. The joy she feels lights up her face. I could feel her joy on her wedding day, though her eyes were not twinkling that day. The others I remember are that on the farewell day of my friends,knowing that we won't meet so soon. Driving 15 kms in the hot sun was worth it for that smile. I also remember the one, which my visa interviewer gave me after rejecting my Visa. Her pretty smile surely had the pain that she felt after rejecting my Visa.

Today my colleague cum friend winked and smiled at me while she was counting the number of people in our team. I knew she had something in mind. Her smile told me everything.

When I try to remember my own, I distinctly remember the one which I had after meeting my cousin on Bombay airport. We were just six years old then. But I still remember the curiosity I had about her and of course the smile I had when she came running to hug me. Another ones that make me nostalgic are I had when I held my new born brother in my arms, when I first drove a car, when I got praised for my Pavbhaji which I had cooked for the first time, when I get praised by my manager, when I got my first pay check and the list goes on.

No doubt I adore anyone's smile more than anything else. They can transform a saddest moment into the happiest one. They can turn hatred into love. They bring the sense of positivity. A smile brings a sense of freshness and enthusiasm in the atmosphere. So I end this blog post with a big naughty smile, thinking of  the mischief I have in mind right now :)

The books that made an impact

I was never a book worm kind of person but then I like to read in my leisure time. I feel that I have a different taste.I am not the one who likes to read Harry Potter kind of books. I like the books with an emotional touch.
Here are few books which made an impact on me. They changed my perspective and shaped up my thought process.

We the living :  This is a book by Ayn Rand. The story takes place in the Soviet post revolutionary era. This book has the best characterization. I like the book only if I am able to relate to the characters. The strong central character that of Kira, is the USP of this book. Her journey from being a raw teenager to a strong independent woman has been captured very beautifully. It has a sense of reality to it. It is said to be a book based on Ayn's own life. The sacrifices done by Kira, are described very beautifully keeping her emotions alive.The expression of her sentiments through different incidents is one of the best I have ever read. The incident where Leo leaves her is one of those incidents which you can actually feel.I loved this novel, instead of being a tragic one. All the characters are layered and truly very expressive. The main protagonist - Leo has some gray shades but somewhere you feel that his behavior is fully justified. At the end, I ended up crying and everytime I read this book, I will end up crying every time.

The diary of a young girl : This is one of the books which I read when I was a teenager. Again having a background of world war two, this is a book which inspired me to write my diary and most probably my blog too. The emotions of a teenager are expressed in the most beautiful way in this book. Being a teenager, I was able to relate to it more I guess. The struggle of Frank's family to hide from Nazi government teaches you a lot of things. I realized the quality of life I have and the things I don't need to struggle for. It taught me to value the "freedom" I have. It also taught me to express my mind and heart without having any inhibitions. The amazing way in which this young girl has written her diary is commendable. I now understand many relationships in my life much better than before.

Coma: This book is a medical thriller by Robin Cook. Many people find it very ordinary. I read this book when I was dreaming of a medical career. Again the thing I liked the most is the strong and subtle characterization. The story keeps you hooked till the end. This is one of the best suspense thrillers I have read till date. It changes your perspective towards the most noble profession in this world and shows the other side of it. You can actually feel 'chills running down your spine'.

P.S. I Love You : Well this is a very emotional one. But I liked it again for it's gripping story and the subtle emotions. The journey of Holy from being a depressed, good for nothing girl to a independent free spirited girl touches your heart. And the fact that her lost love gives her this strength is the best thing about it. This novel has taught me to be strong in worst of the situations and look at the brighter side of life.


Little Women: This is story of four sisters and their struggle for the life. The most loved characters from this book have to be that of Joe and Lorrie. The story emphasizes the name 'Little Women' and you go through the lives of these little four sisters. You feel their joy, their sorrow, their insecurities and even their future plans. Your heart stops beating when Joe says 'No' to Lorrie. And you feel that her decision was the most wise one when you read the novel till its end.

Well, these are very few of them but are the ones most loved by me. I ll keep adding to the list.  :)