A Morning Affair

“Oh no, I’m late! How did I not get up?” were the first words that came out of Neeya’s mouth as soon as she woke up. Her phone showed it was 5:27 a.m. Indeed she was late. She has been waking up at 5 o’clock for the past 1 year 4 months and 16 days. No, 15 days since she got late today. She wakes up at 5, brushes her teeth, washes her face and pinches her cheeks (to get the natural flush) before she rushes down to her lawn to water plants. Well, not really to water the plants but to see Avi run by her lawn at 5-15 a.m.

Avi studies with Neeya at St. Martins. They are in class 12^th, but different divisions. And Neeya has had a crush on him ever since he joined school in April 2 years back. It was only in August that she found out that he runs from front of her house. She had just come back from her grandparents’ house after spending her summer vacations there. Her train arrived at 4-15 a.m. and at 4-55 a.m., she was home. Sleepless as she was, she decided to go out and water the plants in her lawn. That is when she saw Avi running and said “Hi Avi” without even thinking once. She was just so happy to see him, but the moment she said, her cheeks flushed out the color of apples.

“Neeya, right? Hi… How are you?” replied Avi with equal enthusiasm.

“Good. And you?”

“Very well, thank you. Hey, you like watering plants too? I love it”

“Ummm yeah, I think it’s a perfect way to start one’s day. You know, when the sun in just rising and the air is fresh.” Neeya managed to lie.

“Really?” questioned Avi. “But I have never seen you before. I run every day from this route”

“Oh no, what am I going to say now?” thought Neeya. “I used to do it around 6 o’clock. But I just thought I should get a up a little early. I used to get late for school. And now that the school is opening in a week, I thought maybe I should make it a habit to get up early.”

“Cool. Ok then, I better get going now. See you tomorrow” said Avi.

“Bye” was all that Neeya managed to say. “Thank god he believed me” she thought.

And that is how she her habit of getting up at 5 a.m. was developed. Every day for the past 1 year, 4 months and 15 days, they used to exchange their good mornings and sometimes a little conversation. It was not the sunrise and fresh air that gave Neeya the perfect start to her day. It was Avi’s smile when he wished her good morning that made it perfect. But today was just not her lucky day. She was late by 7 minutes, and by the time she reached down she would be late by 15 minutes. Nevertheless, she jumped off her bed, brushed her teeth, washed her face and rushed downstairs. She skipped the ritual of pinching her cheeks today. She knew she was pushing her luck too hard, but still she went into the lawn and started watering the plants. She waited there for about 10 minutes and just as she was about to give up and go back inside, there he was!

He was wearing a deep purple round neck t-shirt, which read “I moustache you a question” in red ink and underneath the text was a moustache drawn in black. It was a t-shirt that he wore most frequently with his black standard Puma shorts, ankle socks and Nike Air running shoes. Never had she seen him without those earplugs in his ears and the music played was always some fast numbers. The songs “pumped him up to run with a steady pace” in Avi’s words. Each muscle in his body used to move and the muscles that melted Neeya’s heart were those of his face when they broke into a smile.

“Good morning Neeya” wished Avi with his 1000 watt smile.

“A very good morning to you too Avi,” replied Neeya. “You got late today?” Oops! She had not meant to say that and was embarrassed when she saw a look of astonishment on Avi’s face.

“Ummm… Yeah. Actually I could not find the keys to the main door. Dad came late last night and he took them inside his room by mistake. So I had to wait for him to wake up.”

“Ohk…” Was all that Neeya managed to say. She thought she was too obvious in showing that she kept a track of his time. She did not want to make it any more obvious.

“You get going then or else you will get late. I will also go in and get ready for school” said Neeya in a very calm voice.

“Yeah I should. All right then, see you in school”

“Sure. See ya!” saying this Neeya turned around and thanked god for not letting her perfect start ruin. Just a good morning wish and she knew her day was made. What she did not know was that not only were the wishes the perfect start to her day, but also Avi’s days’.

To be continued…

Seasons of life

“To everything there is season and a time to every purpose under heaven”- Ecclesiastes 3:1

While I was going for a run today evening, these beautiful hues of sky caught my eye and throughout the run I was just thanking God for showing me such a beautiful sight. It looks as if far away at the horizon, the sky is burning lighting up the universe. And these colors kept changing with every lap I took. The season is changing. Quite early though. But feeling the chill in the year, it looks like the winter is just around the corner. Is it good or is it bad, I don’t know yet. What I know is that how ungrateful do we sometimes become. Sometimes?? No. Always?? Yes!

With the change of the season, not only the colors of leaves and our surroundings change, but we change. We often hear the phrase “changing over the years”. But I think we don’t change over the years. We never change over the years. We always change over the seasons- from the free soul in summers; to a deep thinker in fall; to a loner in winters; and finally a hopeful you in spring. It is funny though that we never realize the same.

With each season we get opportunities to think a different way. What might seem impossible in winters may be super successful in summers.  It is all about breaking the shell and moving out of it, like a butterfly does. As a larva, it must have considered itself to be the ugliest, but as soon as she breaks the cocoon and comes out of it, she is a beautiful living being with the most delicate wings that take her to far and away to the most beautiful flowers. Had the larva given up on itself, it would have never been able to fly from one flower to the other, not only enjoying its fragrance but also helping spread it.

It is all about the perspective we hold and how we decide to live our lives- in despair or in hope. Living in despair will only make us a negative mind spreading negativity all around. The world already has a lot of negativity and does not need any more of it, what the world needs is a positive approach to life. One positive approach per person equals to billions of positive approaches. Comparing that to the negativity, it accounts to much more since I still believe there are much more people with the positive outlook than negative, which is one of the many reasons that we are living this life today.

So let us all take this chance to be grateful to God and pledge to be a more positive with each day. Just like the seasons, let us all change for the good.

Every day may not be good. But there is something good in every day.

This evening, I was talking to my friend and she was sharing this article written by a woman on how to know if you are really happy and content with your life. And that put me on a thinking mode. We have one life. And we have a billion dreams to fulfill in this one lifetime, not realizing that we are falling short of time with every minute passing in which we are doing nothing to achieve our dreams. Amidst the madness of this crazy world, we sometimes tend to forget to take a break. We know we are alive. But how many of us actually feel the life? Merely breathing is not living. Or is it? Not for me at least. I am not asking anyone to stop following their dreams. Never do that! All I am saying is that it is necessary to take out some time for you and introspect that is what you are working towards really your dream?

“You fall, you rise, you make mistakes, you live and you learn. You’ve been hurt but you’re alive. Think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive- to breathe, to think, to enjoy and to chase your dreams. Sometimes, there is sadness in our journey, but there is also lots of beauty. We must keep putting one foot in front of the other even when we are hurt for we will never know what is awaiting us just around the bend.”- Anon

How aptly the above quotes describes on how we should be living. Have a purpose in life. There has to be something that keeps us sparked all the time. Do more of what makes you happy. I understand that it is easier said than done. But trust me; it is not that difficult either. It is all about organizing your thoughts and actions. Start with doing something once a day, something that you want to do and not need to do. Inculcate it in your daily schedule. It will make a huge change in your life. You will feel more happy and alive. Because now, you are doing something you love daily. You will look forward to it. Every day may not be good. But there is something good in every day. There are infinite things that will spark up your life and make it good. I am listing 5 of my favorite things:

 1.  Believing in God:

God is my biggest strength and my love for him is beyond any measure. I don’t go to the Gurudwara every day. But that does not make me any less a devotee of God. He is everywhere and solely responsible for turning my every dream into reality. Always be thankful to God. Always! 

2. Dreaming:

I dream and I day dream. And I believe in my dreams. They say “A dream is a wish your heart makes.” Indeed it is. And so, only your heart has the power to turn it into reality. Sometimes, you have to defy all the logic, rhyme and reasons and just go with your instincts and gut feeling. I am a very strong believer of “Everything happens for a reason” and therefore, if there is a gut feeling, it has a purpose. Go for it.

     3.  Reading:

Reading is my super power. It is a stress buster. It is my passion. I cannot be thankful enough to my massi for inculcating in me this habbit of reading from the time I was very young and then gifting me the best book I have (and probably will) ever read- Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I feel reading makes me a better person with every passing day. The more I read, the more I keep improving on myself. 

4. Spending “Positive”  time with self:

I love loneliness. Solitude, to me, is bliss. No, I am not an introvert. I am very talkative person and I just love talking in general. But at the end of the day, I need some time by myself to reflect upon my day. This is the time for my self-realizations. This is my time for self learning. And over the past some time, I have gone into the mode of “positive thinking” on everything that happens. Even if it is something bad, I think of it as something that happened to stop the worse or worst from happening. So that kind of helps me be a happier person.

5. Food and retail therapy:

And finally, I love eating. I like to treat myself with some yummy treats anytime I feel like. Give me a nice cup of coffee and my day is made. I also like splurge into shopping. I am a huge makeup fan, and so I have been rushing to Sephora at every possible chance and buy myself some lovely things. Even if it is as small as a lipgloss, it gives me so much happiness.

There is perfection in each one of us

Let us talk about life! Sharing your thoughts with others, just in general, can be scary. Especially as a young female and as a person in this world, I want other people to know that it is completely OK to have a voice. And as I sit here, I want to talk about perfection. There is no single person on this planet that is perfect. We have all heard it before, but I think it is really important, especially in today’s world to really absorb that and understand what that means. There is an idea of perfection and no one can really attain that. I feel that everybody may have their own idea of perfection, but instead of putting our energy into attaining that non-attainable perfection, we should put all that energy into growing as a person and finding happiness and beauty in times when things aren’t really “happy-go-lucky” types. There have been times in my life when I have felt really very low about myself. In fact we all have gone through those times at some point in our lives. And it was really about concentrating my energy into positive things. It took baby steps. It wasn’t anything that just happened overnight. All the experiences that you may be having in your life, they may not be fantastic, but they are a stepping stone to who you are going to be; and to take those negatives and turn them into positives.

Because I know that body confidence is such a huge issue right now, especially with all this social media, I like to tell people that no one is perfect, but everyone is perfect in some or the other thing, even if ends up being the tiniest little speck of glitter or something like that. I feel there is always something to focus on that is positive. As far as insecurities are concerned, I, like every other person on this earth, has some insecurities, whether it is about some things I can or cannot do, because I am not always the best when it comes to physical activity and that is something I become very self conscious about. It may seem weird, but I feel that when it comes to insecurities, there is nothing that can’t be put on the table- because everyone has them.  They may not seem important to others, but that does not make those insecurities any less real. People will always point them out which makes one feel even more insecure about it. But the fact is whether one accepts them or not, they are there. Accepting them does not make us weak or any less beautiful. What makes us beautiful is having a strong mind. I always think of Tyrion Lannister from A Game of Thrones and how he said that he uses his mind and he has to keep it sharp, because he didn’t have all the qualities of a strong man, but his mind was his strength. Therefore, let us all embrace our flaws and make them our strengths. 

"Once you have accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you"- Tyrion Lannister (A game of thrones)

My memory book

I don’t even know where to start from. Words don’t come easy at times like these. It has been a journey full of experiences- A journey of lifetime. We met as strangers. Never did we realize we will be a part of each other’s lives forever.  When you are 24/7 with someone, you tend to get close. You have no choices. No matter how much you dislike a person but you cannot stay away from them because somewhere, they have become a part of your story and you, theirs. Every one we know, they all have labels of their stories.

Such is my story and the label is “Dreamer”. Do I even need to tell that?! I cannot be thankful enough to God for this wonderful chapter of my life which is full of so many characters- each one with different story. I thank you all for making me a part of your stories. Life has been tough dealing with all our daily problems. But with you all by my side, it was kind of fun to face them, because I know it was not just me, but we all were going through similar downfalls. It is funny that although we all have our own stories, yet it has been almost the same for the past one and a half years. Each story has a label- many a times not very visible. But we just have to make a little effort to read it. And that’s the tricky thing about labels. Once in a while they tell us everything we need to know. But most of the times, it is a very small part of the story. Slapping a word or two on a person can make things worse. In reality, nothing is as simple as the label may depict it. I have misinterpreted so many labels. I am sorry for all those times.

My label too has been misinterpreted so many times. I am not perfect. I make mistakes. And I learn from them. I have been good and I have been bad. And I have been more than bad.  Thank you all for bearing with me when I was at my worst. I know my stubbornness can get a little too much to take, but you all have taken it and accepted me like that. I may never show it or say it, but you all have played a very important role in shaping my life. Where ever I go, whatever I am, I shall never forget the love showered upon me. I also learnt a few lessons that will last me my lifetime. I don’t know whether to be thankful for those, because as much as I have learnt from them, they have broken me somewhere. But nevertheless “C’est la vie”.

God bless…