Badminton Match

Badminton Match                                                           

I had seen him for the first time on the badminton court. He had teamed up with another girl from the office and was on the opposite side. I was confident that the girl in his team is the weaker link of the two and I would be able to win the match easily along with my partner. As expected, we won it… But not easily. He effectively covered the whole court on his side and made it a tough competition for us. After the match his partner introduced us and we realized that we belonged to the same set of the new trainees who had joined this company. Just that he was in a different vertical and so we had never interacted in last 9 months since we had joined the organization.

The badminton match was one of the sports of the Sports Day Event that was being organized in our organization pan India. Other sports being Table Tennis, cricket and carrom. Now that he and his partner had lost the badminton match from us so he could not qualify for the National tournament in badminton but his cricket team had managed to reach the main matches of the event. After playing our individual matches in badminton it was time to go home. My mixed double opponents offered to drop me to my flat in that city and I happily said yes.

I had shifted to this small city 3 months back when I was given this location after the completion of the cross functional training. After spending 6 years in hostel, I had decided that I would rent my own flat and stay in it all alone rather than opting for a PG. I wanted to lead an independent life in which I did not want to share any space with anyone else. I was reeling under the pain of my first break up and all I needed was some space in my life so that my pain could flow through my tears as and when my endurance cracked. I did not know anyone in this city and that made me happy because I wanted to be nobody in this city. The only people in this city whom I knew and who knew me were my office colleagues. During the car ride I was sitting in the back seat and I was observing the camaraderie which my colleagues on the front seats shared. While he was driving the car, she was chatting up on every conceivable topic... And he was responding to her with his witty remarks. Then they dropped me at my place and we bid each other our formal good byes.. The way we do with people whom we meet for the first time.

The ride from the badminton court was hardly for ten minutes and none of us had ever thought at that time that these drives would continue even after ten years. That was also the first and the last time when I sat on the back seat of the car while he was driving….Now I sit with him on the front seat every time we go for a drive..

Social Employee

It’s my life so it’s either my way or high way.. When I express these thoughts, people around me either end up calling me immature or a fool or selfish.. And I end up asking myself that what gives them this right to call me by all these names. I am also as much a part of this society as they are and I want to lead my life my way in this society.

I get a feel that the mantra to gel well with this society is to just please everyone around us by meeting their expectation or in short, become a “SOCIAL EMPLOYEE”. Even our personal life is lead like a professional one. Every role has a job description attached to it and if you don’t work as per the job description then you are not fit for the role. If one doesn’t behave like an obedient child then he or she is not fit for the role of a son or a daughter. You decide to follow your passion rather than choosing Engg/Medical/CA as the profession and you are not eligible for the role of a competitive individual. Rather, you are somebody who doesn’t know that what he/she wants to do in life. If you don’t behave in a certain way that your beloved expects you to behave then you don’t love him or her enough. So, you are rejected / dumped from that role. ”.

Marriage is the best organization in this society and if you are successful in marriage then you are a super human. This single relationship brings with it such a maze of relationships that if we are able to fulfill our roles in most of these relations then we are the top performers of this society. Somebody please explain me that how is it possible to please so many people. Once you get married, the number of roles increase overnight. You are a spouse, son in law/ daughter in law, uncle, aunt and every single relation that can exist in this society. I feel that the only way to succeed in all these roles is to be a yes boss kind of social employee. Keep your mind and heart at bay and keep on listening to others regarding their expectations from you and just say “YES BOSS, IT WILL BE DONE” and there you go. You are the top performer in the society and you become the role model for many of the individuals who would be told to look upto you. The best task for this social employee comes when he/she becomes the parent and the way your wards behave becomes the new parameter to measure success or failure as the contributor to this society.

It bothers me that if I end up living the roles that have been assigned to me then when am I going to live “MY” life. A life in which I want to define my own goals, fabricate my roles and measure my success or failures on my own benchmarks or not measure them at all. I may not be a good kid because I would always keep my parents on their toes when it came to my choices whether in terms of career choice or life partner but I would love and respect my parents much more because they gave me the right to take my own decision.  I don’t want to be called an engineer or a doctor or CA. I want to pursue my own interest and I don’t want anyone else to tell me that how successful I am in terms of my career or to be precise “bank balance”. I have no aspiration to be called a good wife or to be given the tag of a good daughter in law and end up doing all the external and internal household chores. I am not looking down on these chores. Its just that they don’t interest me and I don’t want to anything just because it is a job description. I just want to be a good life partner to my spouse who can share his happiness, worries, ups and downs with me. I want to share his responsibility in taking care of the house irrespective of the fact whether it makes me a good or bad daughter in law.

My thoughts may sound selfish to many of you simply because it’s full of me but this is how I want to live and this will make me happy. In our endeavor to portray a good image in front of this society we end up living somebody else’s life .Only when I am happy from within then I would be able to spread the happiness to this society and that would be my contribution to this society.

And I loved you... again and again - Part 4

I saw that carefree and confident look on your face. You were aware of what you were doing. I understood it then that you were an ATYPICAL woman. Being an Atypical man myself I always wanted someone like you in my life. Your beautiful eyes, smart mouth and even smarter mind made you even more desirable. I just hoped that your marital status should not dim the spark between us. You were still as desirable as I found you couple of hours back. Just before you were about to alight from the bus I gave you my phone number and I know how difficult it was to control myself from asking for your phone number. I could not let you go without even knowing whether we would meet again ever.”This is going in the history as the shortest love story ever” “Fool, ask her phone number” “You moron, even if she said no, you would have understood how she felt for you” etc etc... All these thoughts crossed my mind in next 5 minutes and this self-accusation stopped only when my phone beeped. Here it was, blinking on my phone screen, ray of my hope – your message. Wow, she is interested in you...she also felt the same way that I did...she likes me...she wants to talk to me...These never ending thoughts about you kept on flooding my mind that whole night and next day. And all this while I just kept on dialing your number and disconnecting the call because I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to say to you. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to hear your voice. I wanted to feel the warmth of your voice flowing in my ears. Finally, I called you towards the end of the day and asked you if you could come out to meet me and you being you, an atypical woman, accepted my offer without making any fuss about it. Even before I hung up I started dreaming that how would I react when I meet you - I would hug you with a light peck on your cheeks, no I can’t make myself look too eager so a normal handshake would be fine.

I left my office an hour earlier and reached the pizza shop, where we were supposed to meet .For next  30 minutes I just kept on looking at the entrance of the restaurant and hoped that the next person walking in is you. Finally you entered and started looking around for me. Sorry, I was so transfixed that time that I could not even wave my hand to tell you where I was sitting. Your black, fitted dress which just ended below your knees was not letting my eyes focus. At one moment they were busy staring at your legs (now, don’t blame my eyes for this) while at the other they were busy measuring the neckline. All I wanted to do that time was to hold your waist, pull you towards me and kiss you on your lips and all the way down to your neck and then your shoulder till the hemline of the dress. I somehow managed to put the brake to my thoughts and all we did was that swift hug which was enough for me to drink in your intoxicating smell.

We kept on meeting every other day after that and during all such meetings I wanted to tell you that I had started loving you, I couldn’t get your thought out of my mind even for a minute, I wanted to hold your hands, our fingers entwined into each other’s, feel the scent of your body and the touch of your lips on my lips. I had no clue about what you felt for me then and I always had the fear of losing you if I told you about my true feelings for you.

I looked forward to your calls every morning and every night when you reached home. I admired the fact that you so honestly told me about your love for Hindi songs. They were never my forte but for you I was ready to do anything and this was the least I could do. When the world waited for weekends to come I waited for Mondays to arrive. Saturdays and Sundays were the longest days of the week for me when I could not talk to you or see you or feel the warmth of your voice in my ears. When I told you about my plan of moving abroad for further studies you sounded so excited and I wasn’t expecting that reaction. I had a feeling that somewhere within you had also developed a soft corner for me and I was hoping that corner had stored love for me. But I did not hear any such emotion in your voice and all it had was a friendly excitement and happiness that a friend has for the other.

And then came the day when I had to leave for this beautiful country and you wanted to give me company till the airport just the way you did at the time when we had met. How much I longed to hear during those 2 hours to airport that you loved me but you being a stubborn woman would not say that... And then at the airport, the sadness in your eyes whispered those 3 beautiful words I was waiting to hear in last 5 months... You looked so sad and beautiful at the same time that I couldn’t control myself from giving you a tight hug, entwine my fingers in yours and brush my lips on yours in those few moments.

We said our good byes but I knew that our relationship that had started on a journey couldn’t get over with a good bye. It rather started with a Good Bye... I shared my new number once again with you.. Have you ever realized that why I shared my number both the times with you and then giving you the choice of entering in my life or exiting it forever.

Babe, I would be lying if I say that I started loving you the moment I saw you in the flight…But yes I loved you during all our meetings, I loved you while singing those songs for you and I loved you during last 5 years when I was with different girls. I loved you when I saw you on skype the other day and I know that I would keep on loving you forever.. And during all those moments of love I did not bother about your marital status because for me you are not someone whom I would fit in a box of Ms or Mrs. You are my friend, my bubble mate.. You are my regret and my biggest happiness... Regret that we did not meet earlier in our life, regret that I can’t offer you my shoulder when you say that you want to take rest, regret that I can’t provide you the warmth of my love when you feel cold and happiness that I have someone like you in my life who is not scared to love again and with you I never cared if you could love again.

Do we really need special treatment?

I don’t believe in the concept of celebrating women’s day. It’s not that I am not proud of being a woman but then I don’t understand that why we need to dedicate a day for celebrating us. For me it’s like saying that we are special and we need special treatment. No I am not special. I am a woman.

I don’t like it when men leave their seats for me. Neither am I very old nor do I have any physical challenges that men should be doing this for me. I really hate it when somebody offers me a helping hand while I am carrying my heavy luggage on the railway station. Dude, I know I had to carry it and I have packed my luggage accordingly. Thanks but no thanks. The idea of separate queues for women has never thrilled me. Yes, from the women safety point of view they are fine but then I am totally open to the idea of standing in the same queue as men and patiently wait for my turn to come.

I really appreciate the reserved seat for the old people and the pregnant women in every coach of metro but why do we need 2 seats for women in every coach? Ladies first – Why? What have I done to get anything before men? Why do a man do needs to hold a door for a woman? Why do they need to pull a chair for us to sit? Why do they pay the food bill when we go out for lunch or dinners? You may call this as chivalry but then why this courtesy is mostly from men to women. We can open the doors for ourselves, we can pull our chair and we can pay for our food bill and we can do this for men as well.

I understand that there is large part of women who are forced to live substandard life, girls who don’t even know how a school looks like, daughters who are not even allowed a life and are killed before they are born but then how this preferential treatment going to help them. They need more than a Women’s day to see the light of the day.

When we teach our young sons to respect women, we are unknowingly sowing the thoughts in their mind that women are different from men. They should be taught to respect human beings rather than respecting women. Sometimes, men around me try to shadow my achievements or may be their underachievement with the fact that I am a woman and so I would have got it easily but believe you me I had to put in extra efforts than any of the you men around to achieve my goal. So, please don’t try to steal my success under the pretext of my gender. It actually shows weakness of men.

Don’t treat me differently only because we are different by birth. Men and Women. Treat me differently because I deserve it. I don’t respect you or love you or hate you because you are a man. I respect you for your hard work, I love you for your sensitivity and I can hate you for any of the millions of things that you do. All I want is same treatment from you. Don’t love, respect or detest me because I am a woman.

It’s so ironical that we talk about women empowerment in a country where we worship Women Strength in the form of Goddess Durga. Somewhere during our evolution cycle we lost the key ingredient of our culture of treating men and women at par. We now advertise these concepts as our inventions. We have forgotten the fact that we were not given a choice of being a man or woman at the time of our birth. Then why should we take pride in claiming that we are woman. We should take pride in what have we made of ourselves. We should be proud of our contributions towards the society and above all we should be proud of our individuality, our identity.

I don’t avail the special offers that flood the market during Women’s day because I feel it degrades my identity. I don’t wait for ladies night and the discounted drinks which the clubs have on offer because I feel that somewhere these offers are making use of my identity rather than celebrating it.  I returned the certificate to my organization which I had received on Women’s day because I don’t need a proof of what I am and what I am capable of doing.

All I need is a treatment that I deserve because of my deeds and not because of my gender. And all I do is to celebrate myself and not celebrate Women’s Day.

Dedicated to all the men in our life

We all come across events/ articles/ stories in our daily life where successful men dedicate their success to their wives, moms, sisters or daughters. And the not so successful men crib how their girlfriends and wives have made a hell out of their life.

I am sure we have paused during such stories and thought how much men have impacted our lives... I owe my success to the men in my life. And this success doesn’t necessarily mean the success in my career. This success means the success of a mother, a wife, a career woman and most importantly an individual.

I am a successful wife because I have a great husband who supports me in my daily chores at home. He doesn’t mind folding the clothes or arranging the shoe rack or offering me a glass of water when I reach home after a hectic day at office. He doesn’t feel awkward in holding the shopping bags for me or watching a romantic comedy with me. He loves to plan our vacations and feed me when I have henna on my hands.

I am a successful mother because my husband loves sharing the responsibility of bringing up our daughter. He makes her bottler of milk in the mid of the night when I am sleeping peacefully and I am secretly jealous of the fact that she loves to spend more time with him than with me. He cuddles her, puts her to sleep and sings lullaby for her.

I am a career woman firstly because of my Father and then because of my husband in my personal life and professionally because of all my superiors and colleagues in office. These male colleagues never approached me with any gender biasness and they always pushed me to perform better. They stood by me during all my professional ups and downs and ensured that my career continues smoothly.

I am a happy and cheerful person todaybecause of all my friends and many of them are guys. They love to sit next to me when I drive and don’t mind sharing their drinks with me. They have always accepted me the way I am and they don’t bother even if I use the cuss words. They are my 4 am friends who don’t treat me differently because I am a woman

I love sports because my brother always played soccer, badminton and cricket with me. He never hesitated in taking me in his team during any match and many a times he proudly made me the captain of his team.

And finally, the most important man in my life – my father

I am what I am because of my father. His upbringing always gave me the strength to fight the world. He showed confidence in me which infused self confidence in me. He gave me the freedom to think and take my decisions and he was always the fall back for all my decisions. I carry his surname even after my marriage because I feel that my whole identity is because of him.

Men in my life have supported me, helped me, guided me, challenged me and loved me. They have impacted my life in all possible manners. Kudos to all the men in my life who helped me to evolve into a better human being and more importantly a better woman in all the spheres of my life.

I had fallen for you the first time I met you - Part 3

Holi break had just got over and I was boarding the flight to my land of KARMA.

.As usual, I kept praying to have a pretty lass for company rather than the boring co passengers I frequently encountered. There you were!!! What a sight it was. I thanked god for the same and made my way towards you with confident steps despite the limited space available on board. When I reached at my stipulated seat 23 B, I found you on 23 C. Your sharp nose, flawless wheatish complexion, the most beautiful pair of eyes fixed on a book, and the aloofness to the commotion that was in the aircraft with passengers either trying to spot their seat or busy tugging in their luggage in the overhead cabinets kept my eyes fixed on you for a minute or so. I don’t know if it was your beautiful face or the indifference to your surroundings that made me to wait a while and look at you before disturbing you to get onto my seat. “’Excuse me, I am sorry to bother you but I have the middle seat.”’. You lifted your head and saw me…It was an electrifying experience. The mesmerizing eyes, innocent face and black wavy hair with gold n bronze streaks . I couldn’t get my eyes off you.


I tried my best to act chivalrous and requested you to excuse me as I had the middle seat and you had to get up from aisle seat to let me sit. The moment you got up from your seat to give me way, I realized that you were just not a pretty face. You were a pretty face and a nice body. The flight took off and you immersed yourself in the book that you were already reading. The inflight TV kept me entertained for next half an hour till the time the meal arrived and you had to keep the book aside.


I grabbed that opportunity when you were not focused on your book. I asked you “Which book are you reading?” and I don’t remember the name of that book because I was lost in your sweet, innocent voice which used my ears to flow to my heart. That was the best meal of my life not because it tasted so but because it gave me an opportunity to talk to you. Your words were more enchanting than you and I took no time in figuring out that you love talking. We talked about the book, my job, your job and my studies. You were so charming and warm and it was so easy to talk to you. There was no hesitation in you that we were complete strangers. I expected you to be a high headed, reserved and snobbish woman because any beautiful woman has the right for being all this and much more. And here you were totally opposite, simple, honest and down to earth. Our plates were cleared and you chose not to go back to your book. I could feel my heart was already somersaulting.


That day,I realized that time moves faster at thousands of meters above the earth and the remaining 2 hours of that flight passed away without me even baiting an eyelid. I started dreading the fact that the flight was about to land and the journey was nearing its end. ”I would never get to talk to you again” was the only thought that was resonating in my mind for the last fifteen minutes after the landing was announced. . I could feel your nervousness while the plane was landing and how you tried to control yourself from not holding my arm.I felt the electrifying sensation running through my body when your arms just touched mine while you were attempting to hold the arm rest during the landing.


And then you suggested that you would take the bus with me to the city. I still don’t know that why you took that decision but at that moment my self-obsession forced me to think that my charm has worked on you. That meant another two hours with you and I was ecstatic with joy. I was alone in that city and the only people I knew there were my colleagues. I had already started dreaming about having you as my girlfriend and spending my days and nights with you. After all I was all of 26 and I had all the rights to day dream of a beautiful girl in my life. During that bus ride I told you that I sing and how the girls drool over my songs and me (The truth is I loved singing but nobody ever drooled on my songs except you. That was just to impress you my girl) I even told you about my first love and was touched with your compassionate response. I never believed in love at first sight but during those moments I had started believing in the fact that love can happen anytime, anywhere and with anyone - Even if the person you love is married to someone else. When I asked you that how would you go home after getting down from the bus, little did I know that you answer would change my life. You very plainly replied that your hubby would be there to pick you up as if you were also aware that your answer would definitely hurt me.

It took me a couple of minutes to come to terms with the fact that you were married. I started looking for all those symbols which could have given me a hint that about your marital status and I could find none. Nomangalsutra, no sindoor and not even the wedding ring.

“Why are you silent?”- You asked me. I just turned to look at your face, eyes…I saw it then.

Bundle of Joy or adventure of lifetime

10     Milestones of the baby and millions of thrilling experiences for the parents ……



1)      First time when the baby kicked – It was wonderful when the baby kicked me for the first time. But when the kicks started in the mid of the sleep or in a meeting, I am not sure if I cud call them wonderful. Mind it, the kicks haven’t stopped even now. When my daughter doesn’t get anything to kick, I am her ball..



2)      The first response – Hey! Today she looked at me when I called her. Today was the first and the last time she responded to you. Be prepared, you are the one who is going to respond to her for the rest of your life



3)      The first words – She said Papa first!! No she said Mamma!! You two keep on arguing. Baby is oblivious to all the arguments and waiting to put up her demands in front of you.

Papa, I want this….Mamma, I need that..

And you were on seventh heaven after hearing the first word ..



4)      Baby started crawling – And so do you. Crawling after her under the table to pull her out .



5)      The First teeth – Wow!! I had called so many people to tell them that my baby got the first tooth only to realize that now I am her nibbler and so is the remote of the TV, my bags, her booties nearly everything which was within her reach.



6)      The First walk – Hurray!! I was the one who held her hand and tried to make her walk even before her age and here she is running from one corner of the house to the other. Most of the times I am spotted running after her in a mall or the parking lot or in a movie hall.



7)      When I shifted her from her crib to my bed – Little did I know that I would be thrown out of my bed very soon. I am so used to sleeping in a narrow space now that at times I feel like taking a nap right under my workstation



8)      First introduction to colors – She ignored the number of drawing colors that I got for her. After all, my nail paints and lipsticks are more convenient to use on the walls, clothes, mirrors and any other plain surface



9)      Love for music – Banging the tumbler on the table can be so musical.. How could I not realize this earlier?



10)   Do It Yourself Moments – Now this one really left me not so thrilled because I thought that my baby is growing so fast that she wants to do everything on her own. And she again proved me wrong. I want to eat on my own meant her clothes, the table, floor would taste the food. I want to brush my teeth on my own meant eating the bristles and licking the toothpaste. I will decide what I want to wear meant that whole of her cupboard was on the floor and the bed.


Kids just amaze us at every moment. My room, bed, cupboards, shoe racks, kitchen cabinets and even my life has turned upside down post the birth of my daughter and it is more thrilling than any adventure in this world.