Being with friends makes me happy and smile

I have been a cricket fan since childhood and ever since I can remember playing cricket gave me the maximum happiness. Every run that I scored , every wicket I took  or every  run that I saved brought a smile on my face. Then celebrating every match whether we won or lost used to be a regular ritual. After each match me and my gang of friends would ride our bicycles and raid the pani puri shop that was quite famous for its spicy treats and fast foods. Irrespective of which and whose team had won we would pool money and order plates of “chaat ” and “Pani Puri” it used to be the celebration of victory that was collectively ours. In these moments of celebrations there used to be happiness, joy and smiles. It was the most joyous and memorable time of  my life that was very carefree and gave me every reason to smile. Then as we grew older playing computer games and specially the game of cricket on the PC or gaming console used to bring a lot of happiness and gave me reasons to smile. These game sessions which happened  on weekends  generally were followed by a small party thanks to all the snacks and the lemonade my mother would  make for me and my friends who used to get together at my place to play on the PC or the gaming console. I always looked forward to these weekend parties and get-togethers. I look back with fondness to all these collective celebrations and get together’s  with friends and even today those memories bring a smile to my face.Then as we grew up we became more of armchair players who would follow every match on TV get together at my home and enjoy the matches. We would cheer every run scored and every catch taken when our side would be fielding. Then we would go out and celebrate or order some food that we could consume while watching the match. Now most of that lot of my friends have moved out of the neighborhood and settled in different parts of the country or the world. We wave found a new way to spread happiness and bring smiles. Whenever there is a cricket match being played on a TV we watch it in our respective locations and through interactive social media and messenger  keep updating our groups with scores and indulge in chit chat and discuss the match that is in progress. This gives us the feel that despite being far away and distant and geographically in different parts of the world we are still united  as one gang of friends. This feeling gives me and my friends a lot of happiness and makes me smile. As for the parties and the combined celebration. We maintain a diary and note down all the parties that are due and every year we make it a point to get together a couple of times a year and then the party and happiness and smiles flow. 

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Together We can Take on the world

When I got out of college I got a good job with a leading big company with a nice fat package . My job kept me very busy and in no time I had become a high flying executive. As I grew in my new life I found a new set of work friends and colleagues. This was a new world for me full of excitement and achievements. However slowly but surely my old life and friends were being left behind. Actually  the higher that I was getting in life the lonelier I was getting. Each pay hike or promotion was just an achievement like the numerous trophies that I had earned and were lying on the shelves with no one to share the joy with. Then one day I discovered that the company I had been working for had been  taken over by a bigger company and as the management changed so did the policies. I found myself to be out of favor with the new management as they found little use for a person with my skill set. In this newer working environment I was even more lonelier. I did not see a future in the current organization. I had grown lonely and reclusive as there was no one with whom I could share my feelings and do a heart to heart talk. Then the day came which I dreaded the most I was given the pink slip. Having being retrenched from work was like adding insult to injury. Suddenly all that I had earned in all these years had been lost. Overnight I had been reduced from a high flying first or business class executive to one who would travel in economy or better still train as the industry that I had been working for was experiencing a serious down trend. Jobs were scarce and executives were taking a pay cut. Then who would give a person like me who had been fired, a new job. I found my world come crashing down around me. I felt there was no place for me in this corporate world and for a change decided to go back home for a few days. When I reached the railway station to board the train I was a distant shadow of my earlier more successful and flamboyant self . My train was late and as I waited in the waiting room my thoughts drifted to all the mishappenings that had happened in my life. Then suddenly the chain of my thoughts were broken by a voice who was calling out my name. I snapped out of my thoughts to find myself face to face  with my best friend from school days. We had been best friends for many years but ever since I had got my first job we had drifted away. Though he had tried to get in touch with me a couple of times I had avoided replying to his emails or the birthday cards that he had been sending to me with uninterrupted regularity. Despite all the time that had passed and all my indifferent behavior he gave me a tight hug. A hug that seemed to last a life time and that moment of togetherness was very special. The warmth of that hug and the conversation that followed sapped all the negativity, strain and stress that had been bottling up inside me. I poured my heart out to him and he gave me a patient hearing, after all we were two long lost friends who were meeting after a long time and had so much of catching up to do.  That chance meeting brought a sea change in me . In the time that I was #together  with my friend were very special moments.The togetherness with my best friend had taught me the value of relations and togetherness. A lesson that I would cherish for the rest of my life.
 #together

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Relocate is my mantra for upward social mobility

Home to me is the perfect resting ground that you retire to at the end of the day. And as the sun goes down you play a game of chess with your neighbor in the common courtyard or watch the raindrops fall off the window pane during the monsoon months. Everything was calm and serene in life both at the work and home front, you may say so. The other perspective was that everything was routine , dull and boring. I agree that our homes provide a great place to rest and recharge to face the challenges of day to day life but they also make us battle ready to #StartANewLife . My argument is as follows that can you imagine eating your favorite food every day. However tasty it may be you are sure to get bored of it sooner or later. Same was my case so I opted for a change and decided to change my house and relocate to another part of the city to a more posh colony. I use the word relocate for moving to another part of the same city as I need to emphasize what important changes it has brought in my life. I am a laid back person and have a well-furnished fully functional apartment, so for me to give up this property and to move to a new one was a big decision that became  a game changer in my life. The biggest  benefit that I noticed is that when you move to a posh colony your social status increases. You suddenly become more sought after amongst friends and for singles like me you get a lot of attention from all those beautiful smart and intelligent members of the opposite sex who would not even have normally given me a second look. Secondly with a higher social status all those at my office and those in my social circle began to take note of me. Having moved to a new posh locality gave me the opportunity to throw a house warming party and invite my boss and all my colleagues. This is when I discovered the benefits of calling your boss over for dinner. Suddenly I became his blue eyed boy at office who could do nothing wrong. I noticed that I was being made in charge of important projects and my mistakes were being overlooked. Everybody at  the office from the peon to the beautiful office secretary who is often the damsel in distress seeks my opinion and advice and I have become a very sought after person. I hope this excitement and attention continues to shower on me and when it would begin to vane I can always move to another colony in another part of the city or to another city altogether and continue my journey of upward mobility.

https://housing.com/.

Baby Dry Hai toh Happy Hai

When our little one arrived it brought with it  a 24X7 channel of fun filled entertainment. This is our baby’s own channel and he is the star performer and we are all his audience. Right from the first day of his arrival we have been his biggest fans. Cheering to every sound that he makes. Be it his mmmm…. Or trying to talk to us in his baby language which has its own set of symbols, consonants and vowels. Despite the fact that we may not be able to make out anything as to what he is trying to say or communicate but we are always paying full attention and watching him with rapt attention. Cheering his every move. Applauding every word that he utters as if it is an Oscar winning speech. We have noticed that it enjoys all the attention that he can get. He seems happy when we are around him and try to talk to him then he is all smiles and really happy. This is the time when he points towards the TV and we know he wants it switched on. Then Our task is to switch channels and watch his reaction for approval or disapproval. We keep surfing all the channels and our little one jumps with joy on the cricket and the cartoon channels. When he jumps and kicks really hard we understand that we have arrived at the channel that he would like to watch. This is usually a cartoon channel. However the rule for TV watching is that he would watch the TV and in between see us .If he finds that we are watching the TV instead of paying attention to him then he would make a lot of ruckus. He is trying to communicate that he is the one supposed to be watching the TV and we are there as his audience and are supposed to keep watching him. He is an attention magnet and requires all the attention that he can get. Then one day we noticed that he kept crying despite having got his daily feed on time. He was uneasy and would cry even more when we tried to put on a new diaper. Upon close examination we found the skin around his nappy area to be pink. It had a mild rash. Due to which the baby was in pain and had discomfort. We realized that this was due to the fact that even though the diapers that we were using seemed to be dry from the outside but actually they were quite wet from this inside. Due to the exposure of the skin to this wetness the baby got a rash. On that day we switched to Pampers Baby Dry Pants which were recommended to us by a friend.

What we experienced was that these Pampers Baby Dry Pants are so easy to put on and take off. The material used is such that it can absorb up to five glasses of liquid from its surface. The magic gel technology locks the fluid and keeps the baby dry at all times. The diaper keeps the baby dry for up to 10 hours. This translates to dry nights and dry days for the little one. The baby lotion used in the Pampers Baby Dry Pants smells so nice and over rides any bad odor and nourishes baby’s delicate and sensitive skin. It protects the skin from rashes and skin irritation. This keeps the baby dry throughout the day and night and free from wetness, skin irritation and rashes keeping my baby dry and happy.  

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Moment of hope and optimism changed my life

It takes just a moment to fill your life with hope and optimism and this moment can change the course of your life. This is what I have learnt in my life.Since my childhood I was not the studious type. The whole day I spent playing games with my friends. Neither was I good at studies nor a great sportsman. Even doing homework seemed like a burden and torture for me. I was a typical backbencher and most of my school periods were spent standing outside the class as a punishment. This did not perturb me at all as I was not at all serious about my studies or carving out a carrier for myself. The teachers had given me up as a lost case and even my parents considered me to be a black sheep after being called again and again to the principal’s office. They had become tired of hearing complaints about me and given up all hopes for my reformation.

It was summer time and the school was closed for our summer holidays. I heaved a sigh of relief as there would be no more rushing to school for attending classes. Then my grandmother came to live with us as she was not keeping good health. She showered her love on me which was a pleasant change from the scornful looks of the family members. Getting so much of love was a nice experience so I found myself staying more and more by her side.She took out a packet from her suitcase and gave it to me. On opening it I found that it contained a Stethoscope. When I proudly displayed my gift in front of my family members they all made fun of me saying that what would a boy like me need a stethoscope for. At this moment my grandmother stood up for me and said that I am a true carbon copy of my father and that I have the potential to do and achieve whatever I set my sight upon. The moment she said this I saw a glint of hope and optimism in her voice and eyes.I felt a spark of hope and optimism within myself . From now on I would tend to her smallest of needs like getting her food, water or medicines. Now nearly my whole day was spent by her side she asked me to bring to her my text books. Then she selected and read out stories from my course. She made the lessons  very interesting and easy to understand. Slowly as I started to understand the lessons my confidence grew. Whenever my attention drifted from studies my gaze fell upon her gift of the stethoscope which I always kept by my side  and looking at it made me relive the moment when my dear grandmother had instilled in me a new optimism and hope that I can achieve any goal. Filled with this new found optimism and hope I became a transformed person. When the school reopened I became the front bencher from the back bencher. The teachers were astonished when I could answer every question asked by them. The new found confidence had given me a new focus and the words of my grandmother had helped me set  a goal and a target for myself. As days passed I got better and better at both studies and sports. Soon I passed out of school with merit and got admission to a medical college which was my goal. Today I am a successful doctor . Many years have passed but that stethoscope still remains with me . It is the reminder of that  moment when my grandmother had filled my heart and life with optimism and hope to reach out to my goals. 

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My baby’s bedtime ritual

My baby’s night ritual as I discovered one night..

The day my daughter was born my happiness knew no bounds. I was the proud father and played the role to the hilt. My friends congratulated me on this new addition to my family. I was flooded with advice on how to be a good father and how to shoulder my new responsibility. I did not then realize how enormous this task was. Looking after a child who could only utter sounds of either joy or distress could turn any one’s head.

 I showered her with toys like dolls, balls and bright multi colored battery operated birds. In the beginning this was the only role played by me that of the doting father.

My whole day was spent at the office and I did not know how much effort had gone in making her happy throughout the day. Then it was my holiday and I had the chance to observe her closely. The day passed by in a jiffy and now my real test as a father surfaced.

My wife had been busy throughout the day giving her a bath. feeding her and preparing food. Seeing her look tired I offered to look after the child in the night so that my wife could have some rest. I thought that I had taken upon myself an easy task as there would be no work to do in the night. I was sure that the child would sleep at night as all adults do. was. This way people would praise me for being a good father and I would get the entire credit of looking after her. This was not to be so and my happiness was short lived

What happened was as follows..

When night fell the house fell silent as all activity came to a stop and all the members went to sleep. I lay down by my child’s bed upon seeing my wife sleeping. I was as pleased as punch and prepared myself for a pleasant night. I checked the baby. It had closed its eyes and seemed asleep. I smiled to myself and had just dozed off when the baby began to cry. I had seen my wife talking to her and singing a lullaby to make her sleep. So I also started talking to her. This was not of much help so I began to sing a song to calm her but it too failed and only woke up my wife. She suggested that I should check the diaper.I found it to be wet and promptly changed it. The baby went to sleep and so did I. Only a little time had elapsed when my daughter again started crying.I picked her up and began to rock her to find the diaper to be wet again. Thereafter the whole night seemed to be full of diaper changing. I discussed this issue with my wife who had also faced the same problem. One of my friend suggested that we should go for Pampers baby dry pants. Pampers dry pants helps in keeping the little one's skin dry and healthy. They are easy to put on and remove and would provide our baby with up to 12 hours of overnight dryness for getting up fresh in the morning. Moreover they are infused with a baby lotion to keep the skin moisturized. Ever since we started using Pampers baby dry pants it has become a part of our baby’s bed time ritual along with story telling which has become my forte as it makes my child chuckle with pleasure. Is it my story telling or is it the Pampers dry pants that keep her happy.
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5 wishes to BefikarUmarBhar

My bucket list of wishes that would help me life  #BefikarUmarBhar has so many wishes that it would be hard to pick just 5. These long list of wishes ended up in the so called bucket list and made it literally overflowing because of the fact that at times one has to give priority to work over wish fulfilment and at other times the lack of available resources makes me postpone them for a future time.

This makes me think that out of the unfulfilled wishes if I could have at least a few fulfilled then I would be able to live life #BefikarUmarBhar .These wishes when fulfilled would prove more stability in my life and add to the security and comfort level for me and my loved ones that is my family who are dependent on me or whom that I would always like to see happy, content and make sure that their needs are met.

With this perspective the five things that will help me live life befikar and let me live  #BefikarUmarBhar are

1)      A house that I can call my own. A residential property that is owned by me and for which I do not have to pay a monthly rent would free me from the whims and fancies of landlords. As for now I have to be always mentally be prepared to hike the monthly rent on the expiry of the annual rent contract or be on the lookout for a suitable new residential property that me and my family can call their home till such a time we have to be prepared to face the  wrath of the landlord. Free from this overhang of monthly rent and whimsical landlords would be my first step to  #BefikarUmarBhar

2)          After getting a roof on my head that I can call my own the next thing on my list would be a set of four wheels or a Car that I can call my own. This would free me from the clutches of the black and yellow cabs and auto’s that ply in the city and hold you to ransom to take you to your desired destination. They ask for exorbitant rates and if their meters work then they run at a rate that could put Usain Bolt to shame in a 100 m dash except that they keep going faster and faster.So my own car would give me and my family a trouble free and a more comfortable commute day in day out and even at odd hours. With our own car the whole family can travel together (unlike my scooter rides where I have to take my family in instalments) and also we can attend all the weddings and parties that we are invited to .As of now we have to take leave and goodbye before the dinner which is usually served very late for fear of not getting a taxi.So definitely a car of our own would help me and my family  #BefikarUmarBhar

3)      The third on my list has to be ample money for me as I grow old and can no longer work. Also with rising cost and the ever increasing cost of living and medical expenses If I do not get lump sum money then it might get difficult as I would not like to get dependent on those who I support today. Definitively ample finalcial resources would make me  #BefikarUmarBhar

4)      I have been working hard all my life without a proper holiday .In the name of holiday most people like me go to the nearby hill station or the marriage of a distant cousin is all they have experienced in the name of change from their day to day routine. At some point I wish to have enough money to visit all the places that I have listed in my personal diary. These are places far and away that have been visited by friend and some I have seen in numerous Bollywood and Hollywood movies. I have been making this list with the hope that one day I would have enough resources both in terms of time and money to see all these far off countries then my life would become  #BefikarUmarBhar

5)      Having achieved all that I have for me and my family its my endeavour to have a sustained support system of resources ,wealth and prosperity for my family. It is important that my family enjoys the same level of comforts and lifestyle as I am able to provide for them in my current working days. I could really live  #BefikarUmarBhar with the assurance that this life would be sustained for them when I am old and probably not working or not even alive!

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