Beyond

There he sat on his bed, sipping his cuppa coffee which she had carefully made for him. One spoon coffee powder and two and a half spoons sugar. She exactly knew what he wanted, even without him mentioning it. He saw her walk around his room, with her light orange saree neatly draped and her hair left free down her shoulders. He thought to himself how she always adored herself clad in a saree.Suits her well too. Elegant and simple were words to describe her.

He saw her walking close to him, she stopped and bent to kiss him on his cheek. She still smelled like a mint-fresh and cool as she muttered “Take care Sweet heart”. She hasn’t changed much in last three years, he mused. 
He heard her footsteps getting feeble and the door getting slammed and the keys being turned by her to lock the door. He took a long breath and put his legs down the bed corner thereby touching the carpet mat. He didn’t feel the softness of the carpet. He dragged his wheelchair which lay close to the bed and swung to the wheelchair which has been an integral part of his life in this last three years.
 
He drove his wheelchair to the living room and switched on his TV-his second best companion after her. As the power went off, he moved his wheelchair closer to the television and switched off the plug below it and that’s when it caught his attention- his wedding picture, where she was dressed in her beautiful red saree with all smiles and he in his wheelchair looking at her chocolate brown eyes.

 He wheeled himself to move towards the window as he stared outside lost in his own thoughts of how his life changed in the last seven years.

Meera… she was as beautiful as her name. She was like a breeze that silently swept me off my feet. I met her first in an interview, where we were two random candidates waiting for our call to enter the interview hall. Fortunately or unfortunately, both of us did not get through the interview. We decided to exchange our phone numbers with a hope to let each other know if any other interviews came up. 

Time and technology thickened our bond. We were virtually connected every minute and were just a call away.  Eventually both of us got our jobs in two different companies and started our work life.  At one point of time, without her I felt handicapped. She was everything I wanted. She was not all the fall-flat-on-first-sight kinds, but someone who would never fail to mesmerize your heart on having a few conversations.

She understood me like a book. She understood my mood just by a few words I spoke or just by the look at my face. We fought crazily yet we returned back to each other faster than a frisbee. My best friend and my love-was her. I felt incomplete without her and desperately wanted her for the rest of my life. To ask her for marriage was the top most thing on my head then and decided to get her a ring.

Bottom of my heart, I knew she also felt the same and that my love would be definitely reciprocated . After a week  of ring hunting for her tiny fingers, I found a perfect one to adore her small soft fingers.

I mustered all my courage ,also called every god I knew of  when I invited her for dinner at her favorite Chinese restaurant. It was not a romantic proposal. I did not get on my knees or did hold a  bouquet of pink roses to prove her my love. I simply placed the ring  for her to easily notice in the momo basket while she was busy placing the napkin on her lap.

 I waited every second for her to notice the ring, but she was happily enjoying every piece of momo dipped in the special chef made sauce.

Casually as she was about to help me with a serving of momo-she finally saw the ring. Call it innocence or stupidity, her first reaction was to think that the chef had mistakenly lost his ring in the momo basket. But only when realization hit her she spoke “Arvindh?” with a very baffled expression on her face. The next instant her lower lip began to tremble, happy tears filled her eyes and she had the longest ever curve on her face and shook her head up and down vigorously expressing her consent.

I took the ring from her hands and put on the ring on her tiny finger. Since then on, we started dreaming of a  life together, we dreamt of having babies and raising them. Dreamt of cuddling together every morning in the bed and also dreamt of growing old together. Little did we know of what future did hold for us.

 We broke the news to our family and it was all rosy with no nataks/drama from both our families and it was an easy path.

 As destiny had written it, that morning I collected my wedding invitation proof and ignited my car engine for it to start. As I drove the straight road ahead, I had an itch to double check if the Meera’s initial was printed, since I did not remember seeing it on the card in the invitation shop. So I drove with one hand on my steering and the other trying to find the invitation amongst other things in  the front seat. I somehow found it and before I could open it, I saw a speedy truck on the opposite side. Before I could react to the situation, it was too late. The damage was done already and I went blank.

 It must have been days, when I finally woke up. All I felt was pain. I was told that my spine had been intensely damaged and that I would be motionless for a whole life time. The gravity of the situation hit me only when I did soil my bed sheet the other night. All I could feel was my helplessness, nothing beyond that.

I was vulnerable and not strong enough to face any of my friends sympathetic look in their eyes. I avoided to see anyone and felt alone in this whole new world. I was told that my  wedding was called off cos I knew the reason and forced myself to believe that was the best for everyone- especially for Meera and her parents. For some vague unknown reason, Meera had not called me or visted the hospital after the injury. I did not want to ask this to my mom or my sister which would hurt them on asking.

 I was home on my wheel chair the only one who would remain with me for the rest of my life. I spent countless days lost in  a blank space. I wanted to revisit that day and change everything that happened. I cursed myself for my stupidity. What if I had not received the call from the wedding cards shop to collect the invitation? What if I had started late from home? What if the initial of Meera was printed in the wedding card? A lot of What-if’s remained unanswered.

The landline rang and my sister picked the receiver from its cradle. I sensed hesitation in her voice when she called out “ Arvindh” Pause.“Its Meera on the call”

I felt a pang of guiltiness burdening me heavily that could ground me to the floor. Maybe cos I messed it up all. That I burst her happy bubble without any caution.

 A: “Meera”

M:“Arvindh”

A:“Meera…sshhh don’t cry… I am alright”

M:“Am sorry Arvindh. I did not have the courage to meet you all
these days”

A:“It’s okay Meera I perfectly understand”

M:“Can I take you out for dinner today?”

I was sitting there in the same Cascade Hotel in our same comfort spot, except that this time I was on my wheel chair. We ordered our all time momos again and sat there in silence ,not ready yet to exchange words. I adjusted my wheelchair closely to the table and opened the momo basket to find a ring with Meeras name carved on it.
 
I gave her a blank stare and she took my hands on hers and gripped it with firm as she asked  “Arvindh, would you marry me?”

That evening Meera came home holding a bouquet very dearly and gave it to him with a warm hug as she whispered in his ears” Happy Fourth Anniversary Sweetheart… Want to know what's the surprise today?” and winked at him….

The Brown Girl

When I sat down to watch a movie, I was bothered to see the number of fairness ads telecasted while watching a three hours movie. Why are we so obsessed with fair skin? Does our mindset ever change?

Having taken my dad’s complexion, I have been the darkest kid in my entire family. My parents haven’t treated me any different from my wheatish sister, nor did I have any agony aunt who pointed to me that I was dark. I did not realize that there could be any discrimination; until I was rejected for a prayer song in my school for parents day program-cos the rest of them were all like Barbie dolls. It just pricked me at that instant, but I quickly brushed it aside due to my distracted nature then.

But subconsciously I started trying all the products I could get my hands on from any fairness tube, compact powders to face masks that would promise to make my skin lighter. Also, I stuck only to brown color assuming that it is the only color which would best suit me. I was against wearing white or any light color dresses.

One day, when three of my fair skinned giggly girls and me had gone shopping when we all decided to get a white tunic for another girls birthday party. I gave them indirect messages to go for a brown color but I finally walked out with my white tunic packed in my bag. So we all got dressed and went for this birthday party and I was taken aback when one of my super model like friend (who was also wearing the same dress) told me how she envied me for how I carried myself then. And from her serious tone, I knew she meant what she was saying.That really made me look at the whole thing in a completely different angle. I was told this many a times but now I genuinely believed it.

I realized that beauty is something which is skin deep and doesn’t exactly have to depend on your complexion. I have started accepting my color and it makes me feel really really good when someone addresses me as a dusky or chocolaty person. On the brighter side, I need not worry about how much I would tan after a day out in the hot sun or worry about the temporary dark spots which would not really make any difference on how I look. How much dark circles would be even visible on my face?

What if you are dark? Instead, you might have the best smile, best figure or shiny hair or wonderful cheek bones or sparky eyes. God is not all that cruel you see,he must have blessed you with something of how you look. Find it out yourself, or ask your besties -what’s best in you and flaunt it girl.

It has been a very sensitive topic and I have mustered all my courage to write this, for I felt the urge to share it here hoping that there would be at least one person who silently nods and thinks” this is what I wanted to hear” when reading this post.

Cheers,
A-confident-dusky-woman
He he.. I just called me a woman….

P.S: Now don’t ask me or think” But I thought inner beauty is all that matters?”

Yeah I agree, it does matter but still people decide you on how you look before they get to know the actual you.

Do Not Flag this Post

P.S: If you are a boy, please stop reading when I ask you to do so.
Am sorry for not replying to the previous post’s comments, not that I was busy. But I simply didn’t know what to reply.Is there something like comments-reply-block or commentomania?
Please enlighten me on that.
So one of them asked me, how is that all these humorous incidents happen only to you. The trick is –to find humor in whatever circumstances(read:s$#t) life throws out at you. Okay fine plus my absent mindedness too
And one of my hostel mate, who is a Viscom student wanted a model errr me ,for a photoshoot;-) yes , that’s true.. she wanted expressive eyes and I still wonder why she chose me

Three reasons why she shouldn’t have preferred me:
One, I am not even relatively close to the models who are featured in the local tv channels ad.
Two, my eyes are the least expressive ones you could spot on a crowded Ranganathan street.
Three… grrrr.. I think I just had two points to say…

But deep down I was all excited about this. I wanted to give in my best expressions;-) I in fact slept thinking about various expressions I could pose –like the ones in classical dances or like a page 3 girl..
Oh wait.. I am not going to start over with how the photo session went. I had already blogged about soit. So I will let it pass.
But you will have to know what happened in the parlor and the after effects.

Okay this going to turn gross from here and I want all the male gender to close this page now  

I haven’t been to the parlor except to get my eyebrows/haircut done. And now, I was here with my ultra-modern roomie who accompanied me in this painstaking task.

The parlor girl, looked at me with a cold stern thinking if I was living under the rock all these days. And she started saying things like” you shud do something to your hair, face, neck and all that.”
So I thought I would start with my hair cut( Mind you , I had just taken a hair bath with my Pantene shampoo then).

Lady: You will have to get your hair wash done
Me: But I just had my hair wash twenty mins back
Lady: *touches my hair* followed by a *frown*” I suggest you wash it again, it’s in a bad condition
Me:But?
Ultra-modern roomie:Don’t argue melani. Do it as she says

So after a wash , I am asked to sit on a rolling chair(read it in Santhanams style) while she comes back with her scissors.

Lady: *frowns at my hair for one more time*
When was your last haircut?

Me: Two months ago
Lady: Where? It’s not done properly
Me: Why? I had it done in bounce. 950 rupees. Senior hair stylist. That’s where even jyothika gets her hair cut….. I instantaneously fired at her
Lady: Okay Okay…I will do it better than them now.. *smiles like a maniac as if trying to pacify me*
And then, I got a cool bleach and facial which made me glow like a 90 watts bulb and the photos turned out as an evidence for it.

Wait, its not over… as I was paying my bill, I beamed at my ultra –modern roomie *posing like a page3 model with my face at a side angle* eagerly waiting for her compliment like” wow, you look fabulous “ or atleast something like that

She: What you didn’t get your hair cut?
Me: I did, see properly

Okay, I come back to office and I walk past my friend ten times for her to notice my new look. But after so many failed attempts, I simply walk to her and say “Hey, look at the new me”
She: uh-huh?whats new in you?

Only one question to ask now: Why me,my Lord?

P.P.S:To All the guys who read this post completely in spite of my bold warning, all you get is my *tongue out smiley*

What were you expecting from my blog anyways?

Of Nothing In Particular

Last night, after having two servings of mutton biryani in my team leads wedding-I swore that I would start dieting(again!!!). I ve put on 57 gms since my last weight check. Since then(Read: last night)the whole world has been conspiring against me and my strong resolute-one of them from onsite has returned and has got ferrero rocher to be distributed. Cursing my bad luck and resisting my urge to ask “ can I take two?”, I behaved decent and took one.. relished the chockie for full 60 seconds and got back to work. Now what? I am craving for chocolate again… therefore I decided to blog –my distracting factor.

P.S: I like to kill time and don’t mind helping others do it either(My employer will love me for this). SO there you go, with all the random things I would want to tell you.

1.My friend Swathi walked me to Mom and Me showroom.No No.. She is not going to be a mom or was planning to gift some expecting mother. She completely freaked me out when I was told that the stretchable pant she was holding , was for her -given that her tummy was rising liking sensex.

2.I was riding a scooty with my friend behind me and I don’t know what I was thinking when I honked at the speed breaker expecting it to move. The stranger guy who was riding beside me in his two wheeler-smirked at me. I ended up showing him a thumbs up sign and by grinning to glory showcasing all my 34 teeth. Sigh.. Such is my brain-finger coordination. (Do you get the drift?)

3. Bored and have nothing except for biting nails in your to-do list? Watch “dreamum wakepum” song from aiyaa , followed by “open gangnam style” in youtube. Fits of laughter guaranteed.

4.As I write this, I realize it’s a very bad idea to eat cookies when you type. A crumb has settled under the letter “s”. Is “s” the most used word?

6. Everyone keeps asking me the history and geography of my name and I finally ask my dad about it. Instead of answering me, he simply laughed stating that the father drank a glass of water after christening me. And ping ,there was a vision of what must have happened then.

Father: I hereby anoint this baby girl “ Josephine Edel Melani Rayen.F”
*coughs inetensely*
Father: ”may I have some water please?”
Will be back with a most sensible/cheerful post soon..

Till then,
Mel A.k.a Josephine Edel Melani Rayen.F ufff… *does finger exercise*

Citizens of a Paradise- Lessons Learnt in sharing a Room

Have you ever shared a room with five other complete strangers?

Did you ever believe that sharing a room would teach you lessons for life? (On a positive note )

I was first cynical about staying in a hostel. After a search which seemed like an eternity, I found this Royal Women’s Hostel in Nungambakkam(A better and safe place to stay- sarcasm at its best used here)

It was a Monday morning- and I had just started my hostel life in a 12*18 sized room, where there we
re five beds spread across in a fashion which reminds you of a hospital atmosphere at the first glance. It had an attached bathroom which had a western closet and I cringed at the sight of it. Yes, I had issues sharing a closet with four others. I was worried about my things and wanted to get a lock at the first chance.

I scanned the room once again, there were no locks on any of the cupboards. I wondered how the inmates trusted each other and left it unlocked. I quickly gazed at the photographs and other stuff which were on their shelves. The pictures conveyed all of them were happy people and seemed to be at ease staying here. I waited till evening for all of them to come back to the nest . And then it all started……

Since that day, I have seen people of different kinds in the same room. The aggressive kinds, the submissive ones, the one who would not nudge at all, the ones who always keep talking irrespective of whether you listen or not, the one who always snubs you, the cleanliness freak, the lazy ones, the calculative ones,the moody person,the one who is always on the phone, the one who screams over the phone when all others are sleeping, the one who would not switch of the light. And I have survived all of this.

There were a lot of extremes that I felt time and again.

I was hyper when I stepped inside the room, they wanted to get cozy on their bed after a hard day’s work.

I was thick skinned and wanted the ac to show 16 degrees throughout the day, they wanted it the “human way”.

I did not mind eating on the same plate/road side, they sulked at the very idea.

I hated to cook and wash, and they were sweet enough to even pack my lunch box.

I wore a new dress for everyone’s b’day and would be dressed for their cake cutting, when my friends hid me in the other room, so that I don’t spoil the surprise essence.

The was a person who would always maintain zen like calmness, which people like me would attain only after reading ten self motivational books and after attending twenty workshops on the just said.

On the brighter side, in spite of all these differences I have been one happy person there.

They taught me how to press my shirt, fold my kurti, make my bed neat after I got up,. They taught me that there could be other colors except for “brown “ in my wardrobe. They taught me table manners, how to cook, how to relish my food. They taught me how to share things and they understood my mood swings perfectly.

Till my last breath, I would hold my memories of all the surprise b’day parties, the lovely time spent window shopping, late night dance moves,screaming loud enough to scare the next room people while watching horror movies,fighting on who gets to use the bathroom and the mirror in the wee morning hours. They taught me how to tackle the strict warden,how a heart-to heart talk would be a solution for any difficult problem. I was fortunate enough to know all the hotels in Chennai through them and most of all they taught me how to use a kajal and mascara which I would not have known otherwise.

And not to forget gay(gayathri). There were times every time she spoke ,I would resist the urge to stuff an unwashed sock into her mouth or use her like a treadmill or break a bottle on her head or at-least break her nose. We argued and fought so much, that it would’nt have shocked people if we slit each others throat.But she taught me how a smile and a hug after a fight could set all things right.

I sensed sisterhood with them.

As I write this, I cant express the extent of my nostalgia. Such is the gravity of my thoughts.

I have no regrets till date on my staying in a hostel for last two and a half years. These lovely roomies have seen my peaks and lows and have made me a better person from what I was.

Finally I learnt a valuable lesson- Life is all about small compromises and adjustments, that would make it seemingly beautiful.

P.S : This post is dedicated to all the people who share their rooms. Now that, I am left with a new set of people completely and thrown in the sea of new fishes, I still look forward to have wonderful memories.

Till then,
Mel.

Randomness

P.P.S: People around c2 blogs have been saying nice things about my writing and for the person I am. I am not sure if I live up to even half of it or even deserve it. But my love to all you people around who follows my blog closely for some alien reason I don’t understand. Thank You from every bite of chicken puff.. uff I don’t know what that means…

P.P.P.S : P.S is missing? Yes, that was intentional.No, no, not another crazy blog. Fine, it maybe one.
I am addicted to randomness, so I’m going to be just random in this post .Okay? Okay.

1.Something keeps fidgeting in my nose and I have been behaving like Sudheep from Eega(naan-ee) in the process to sneeze. This drama has been happening since morning i.e for last three hours and have failed literally in every attempt to sneeze out that foreign particle. So after losing all hope, I googled on “how to sneeze” and resulted in getting weird ideas. It gives you super 14 ways to sneeze -out of which everything seems bizarre. Want to know what they are? I insist, even if you don’t  Ways to Sneeze
Also wikihow enlightens our mind by saying how to sneeze cutely. I still wonder how one can sneeze so cutely that you would not take your glued eyes from that person. *rolls eyes*
Hereon Sneeze Cutely

2.Some girl called Sahana has managed to woo 50 people ,got married to all of them and even coned them. How is it so easy for her, when I struggle here day and night and haven’t even managed to turn one male-head to look at my side? Shame on me.

3.My other friend who had gone for a vacation to Singapore gifted me a Gucci bag. Oh now wait for it, it’s a fake one (but who knows that ) Everytime I walk on the floor with my handbag swinging by my side with my hair waving behind my neck like in shampoo advert-people turn to stare with that soft question “ who is that girl?”. Whoo I simply love that attention

4. One of my colleague(no names disclosed for my security reasons) happened to put a mokka of the highest order,from which I haven’t recovered yet . So here goes the conversation
Me: need some part of an information
Coll: info
Me: what? *rolls eyes*
Coll: info-part of information.
Buddu buddu* wicked Laugh*
Me: *bangs head on the wall*

5. My roomies fiancé has got her an audi car as a wedding gift. I just gave a heavy sigh as my reaction. Anyways I get a ride on that brand new car next weekend.. vrooommm…

6. They ve blocked facebook again. No comments on this.

7. I ve started watching 7C, Saravanan Meenakshi and airtel super singer. Why? Because I have nothing better to do. Needless to say more.

8. And finding a good cup cake in Chennai is like spotting a polar bear in Sahara desert. Do you get the drift? Let me know if you could be of any help on that.

Am done for now.

SO everyone who snoozed, wake up and leave 

Till then-
Mel

Humor Contest

I was in my second year college then, fifteen minutes before my semester practical exams I realized that I had forgotten my labcoat. Coming from a strict college, I was very sure they would not let me do my practicals without a lab coat at home. My smarty friends asked me to rush to hostel(which is like 5-7 mins from the main building) and borrow one from the hostelites. (Will have to tell you here, that I was in the hostel in my first year but later shifted to my aunts home).

I ran to the hostel and on the way stumbled on one of my hostel friend who was walking to college. Explained her the situation and she happily gave me her room keys and instructed me that her lab coat would be on the top shelf of her wardrobe.

I opened her wardrobe and checked out the top shelf and picked the white lab coat. I panted for breath after the long run, while everyone was already inside submitting their records and picking their experiment sheets. I walked in as I tried to unfold the lab coat and to my horror,I was holding a pure white petticoat.Yes, I had mistaken a petticoat for a lab coat.

After a lot of embarrassment, I was let to do my practical’s without a lab coat for the first time in history of my college.

All I could react was to laugh sheepishly for the next one week till everyone forgot the incident

P.S: Not sure if it would count under humor category