So long, and thanks for all the fish ...

This post was long due, but hey, it's not a goodbye post ...



Pop the champagne bottle, the blog marathon has ended. 31 posts in 31 days, phew, I can't believe I did it. Looking back, I am so happy that I decided to do it at the first place and I stick it to it. There were days when I had been soo tired after my work and all I wanted was to hit the sack once I reached back home. Still, I kept at it. I wrote, wrote and wrote everyday. Then there were days when I worked till 3.30AM in the morning and wrote a post after that. All of this wouldn't have been possible without the continous support from all of you. Thanks for all the support, suggestions, post ideas, feedback and criticisms. Loved them all. I made friends with new bloggers, explored new blogs and read a lot more blogs in the past one month. Blog Marathon was a wonderful experience and I loved every bit if it.

I believe the whole experience was a reinforcement to the fact that unless you push yourself, you never know what you are capable of doing !!!

Until the next post, keep smiling and yeah, I haven't forgotten the part 3 of a pair of eyes :)

The day that was ...

Today, I went shopping with my girlfriends. Five of us shopped until we literally dropped. We shopped for 12 hours straight and I tried on clothes after clothes but still I didn't buy a single piece of clothing today. And thanks to technology, I tried on several clothes, took pics in my camera, send those pictures to my sister in Kerala(through MMS) where she downloaded them to the computer, analysed them with my mom, cousins and aunties and gave me suggestions real time :) Such an innovative use of technolgy, isn't it? I should say today, I am proud of myself to have used technology to my utmost advantage(Hehe, dodges the rotten tomatoes and eggs coming my way). But hey, I wanted them to be a part of the decision making process and this was the only way I could make it happen considering the distance separating us. But it was so much fun. Shopping with girls is always so therapeutic.

Another incident worth mentioning happened today when I was alone, away from my friends for about two hours. I was in a crowded street and I had come there looking for a shop. I couldn't find the shop, I was in that part of the city for the first time, the street was so crowded, I was feeling so inaapropriate to be in that place and I was not getting an autorickshaw to go back to my place. I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable standing in that street and none of the autorickshaws were stopping by. Suddenly an auto came from nowhere and there was a lady inside it. I took a chance and asked her whether she is going to my part of the city. She indeed was going to the same place and readily agreed to my place. I got inside the autorickshaw. We started chatting and talked a lot about each other. She asked me why I came to this part of the city and where am I working, etcetcera. We exchanged a lot of details about each other and I felt so comfortable with her. Upon nearing our destination, I offered to pay half of the autorickshaw charges and she politely refused telling me that she decided to help me out because it was so clear that I was not feeling comfortable in that street. Anyway, the charges were so minimal, but I was touched by the humanity showed by a random stranger. All these happened at a time when everyone thinks twice before helping out some stranger we randomly meet. It was very nice of her to drop to my destination sensing my predicament. And the funniest part is I don't know her name. We talked a lot about each other, but never mentioned each others names. When we reached our destination and got down from the vehicle, I got a phone call and I started talking over the phone. When I finished my call and just turned back she had gone. I felt sad that I couldn't even thank her properly. Random stranger, you may never read this, but please know that I am touched by the small help you extended towards me. It gave me a sense of happiness that I carried in my heart for the rest of the day. Thanks a lot.

The Wind

With no companion to my mood,
Against the wind as it should be,
I walk, but in my solitude
Bow to the wind that buffets me.

- The Wind by Vikram Seth.

Short, crisp and to the point. I would like to write a poem like this someday :)

When I felt alive ...

When was the last time you felt alive? Alive as in you feel the fury of the nature on you; the moment which makes you believe in the perfect harmony of the universe. The last time that happened to me was when I visited Niagara falls. What a beauty it was. I was marvelled by the whole picturesque view, truly one of the wonders of nature. In Niagara falls, one of the main attractions is Maid of the Mist, which takes you much closer to the falls in a boat, That in itself is a surreal experience. At the point closest to the falls, three sides of you are surrounded by falls and you are blinded by Mist from the falls. There is nothing else in your mind but the admiration for the falls at that point of time.

But, one of the truly amazing experiences for me was 'Cave of the winds' in which you can climb up a stair of steps and get very closer to the falls. You feel the falls directly hitting you and mind you, the water hits you with such an amazing force that you can't be there directly under it for a long time. Yes, that was the moment I felt alive. I felt the force of nature at its fullest and realized how mortal we are. I was so mesmerized by the whole experience that I didn't want to go away from it. Each time the water hit me, I was getting connected to the universe more and understanding the value of my precious life. I was truly one of the best experiences of my life, an experience of a lifetime.


Pic Courtesy: Sujith Mahapatra

Now tell me, when was the last time you felt alive?

While I was on my bike ...

She looked closely at her new toy. There is no backing off now. She asked for it afterall. She mounted the bicycle very carefully. Her dad held the bicycle from backside and she slowly started pedalling the cycle. She swayed this side, that side, many a times, she felt that she is going to fall the next moment. She was really scared. But dad reassured her that he is not going to loosen his grip on the bicycle. She held on to it and slowly learnt to master the fine art of balancing on two wheels. The day she balanced a bicycle on her own, she was elated. Her joy knew no bounds. She cycled that day for a longtime.

My cycles changed many a times after that, but one thing that remained constant was my love for biking. I always felt an adrenaline rush whenever I mounted on a bicycle seat. While I used my feet on the pedal to race ahead, I loved the wind touching my face, tousling my hair and I always had a song on my lips. One of the simple pleasures of life.

In my bskul, I used a bicycle for two years. Me and my friends used to go for long drives on our cycles, we had cycle races, night cycling and even slow cycle races. I still remember the morning rush when it would be only be five minutes remaining for the lecture to start and we will rush from our mess towards the cycle stand. We pick up our cycles and zoom we go. Those are the times when I would have cycled at the maximum speed. We had to reach there at any cost before the lecturer closes the door. We used to park our bicycles in the parking area and rush to the lecture halls, at a speed that would have put any sprinter to shame.

When in NewYork, I was always fascinated by sheer amount of activities that goes in and around Central Park. One of the things I always wanted to do was to cycle in the Park and I managed to do that one fine Sunday. I had been putting it off for many weeks because of various reasons like wind speed too high, temperature too low, etc. And when I finally managed to do that, what an experience it was. You can rent bicycles right outside some of the park entrances. While in one of those shops, I noticed the large amount of merchandise associated with biking. There were cycling shots, helmets, goggles, gloves and what not.

We rent our bikes and started going around the park. There are designated paths for cycles and even traffic lights where you have to stop and allow the pedestrians to cross, all right inside the park. While going around the vast expanse of Central Park, there are several things that catch your eye. There will be musicians playing melodious music, people boating in the lake, kids/adults playing different games, baseball game being played in the central ground, lots of people walking around the park, street vendors and a large number of people on their bikes. That was my first experience of using a geared bike also. I had so much fun and I completed two full rounds around the Central Park. Quite strenuous and a very good workout session. I plan to go back for many more next time I am in NewYork.


Pic: My shoes and helmet in the grass in Central Park

Always fascinated with its charm, I think I always go back to being that little girl whenever I mount a bike. All my worries and stress vanish and I start playing hide and seek with wind. Moreover, its so eco-friendly. Three cheers to you bike, one of my first and most favourite toys. You will never cease to amaze with the charm you ooze out on me.

SO what is your favourite biking experience?

Trivia: Lance Armstrong's book 'Its not about the bike' is one of the most inspiring auto biographies I have ever read.

Social networking

Dunbar's number is a theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. Proponents assert that numbers larger than this generally require more restrictive rules, laws, and enforced norms to maintain a stable, cohesive group. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar's number, but a commonly cited approximation is 150.

How many friends do we have in our social networking accounts? I think well above this number. I have an orkut account in which I used to be very active until two years back. Then I moved to FaceBook and I gradually became totally inactive in orkut. The simple reason is FB is lot more fun. I have had friends much above the number 150 always in my accounts. But come to think of it, I have hardly known some of them and have hardly spoken to many for years now. Still why are they in my friends list? Because it felt so rude to reject the request from a known person, even though you hardly keep in touch with them. Still, I must say social networking sites have helped me find friends whom I lost touch with after my schooldays; it also keeps me updated on the important events of their lives and re-kindle many of the old friendships. But, one of my favourite pet peeves is 'people trying to make frandship after finding my profile interesting'. Its funny. I don't know when these people will learn to act more maturely and stop 'making frandships' over a website. The crimes that you seeing happening over a social networking site is also alarming.

I think its all a matter of drawing the line and understanding whom you want to 'friend' and whom you should 'defriend' to retain the sanctity of your online identity. After these sites have its own advantages too. Let the number of friends be above 150, after all this is one place where all of your friends can co-exist :)

Interesting Fact: According to a latest study, pictures from FaceBook are increasingly used as evidence while fighting divorce cases in United States.

55 Fiction: A small love story

I run into your arms when I am depressed or sad. As soon as you touch my lips, I am transported to another world. You play with my tongue and I melt in your arms. You have your own way of making me feel better. Oh Lindt chocolate, what would I have done without you?

Blank ...

Today, it had been a roller coaster of emotions. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. But at the end of the day I am happy. Maybe that's how life is, you go through so many good moments; then there are bad moments to bring you back to reality and to wake you up. It's like a thunder striking you and telling you "Hello, get your lazy feet back to ground and start toiling again". At the end of the day, everything is evened out. The sum total is always zero, with a tint of happiness remaining (hopefully always) !!!

A pair of eyes -2

Continued from A pair of eyes - 1

She speaks:

First time I saw him, I was shocked. I didn't know that he was standing right next to me all the while. He smiled and I was in a trance. Even if I had smiled, he wouldn't have seen it anyway. I was too embarrassed to even return his smile and quickly turned my head. It was getting very late for me, so I decided to walk to the nearby autorickshaw stand and take an auto, instead of my usual bus.

After that I kept meeting him in the busstop. We always took the evening buses. He always had a mischievous smile on his lips and he kept looking at me once in a while. I kind of started liking the attention that he was showering me with. Whenever he caught me looking at him, I blushed. Thank god for the hijab, else he would have seen my red face everytime. Once I started giggling after seeing his smile towards me and a friend of mine caught me. I had a hard time explaining to her that I just remember something that happened earlier that day and giggled.

Every day, I noticed something new about him. First, there were those curly locks which kept falling off to his forehead. He seems to be pretty irritated by those locks and kept pushing it off his face. Another day, I noticed that his lips curve to left whenever he smiled. Next day, he was speaking to his friend, I realised he was a weird way of stopping in the middle of a sentence.

Many a time, I thought he will speak something to me, but he never did. Had he spoken something, I don't know whether I would have responded. If someone sees me speaking to him in a busstop, there will be a huge ruckus at home. Babba will scold me to no end and may stop me from going to college the very next day. So I kept quiet and enjoyed all the attention he was giving me. I was happy in those silent moments that we shared.

I don't know when I started timing my visits to the busstop so that I can see him everyday ...

To be continued ...

That's my dad :)

Home sweet home :)

Guess what, my pappa gifted me the book 'Truth and Beauty' by the Nobel Prize Winner and Astro Physicist S. Chandrasekhar. The book was autographed and presented to pappa by Chandrasekhar himself. He met the Nobel Laureate when he visited University of Chicago way back in 1991. Pappa was always proud of the fact that he could meet Prof. S. Chandrasekhar in person. It was so sweet of him to gift me the book from his personal collection.

Thank you pappa, you are the very best :) :) :) Love you lots. Muuuaaahhh.

Now, the reason for the gift - He likes my blog and the way I write :) Double wow!!!

I am sleeping with a huge smile on my face today.

Have a great weekend everybody :)

When I am feeling low ..

What do you do when you feel horribly low on a given day(whatever reason it may be)? These are some tried and tested things that I do and these work for me like magic.

1) Eat large amount of chocolates :) Works all the time, everytime. The serotonin does it part and your mood is elevated instantly.
2) Call your closest friends and rant about it.
3) Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S or any other sitcom which you absolutely love. FRIENDS worked like a marvel for me each and everytime I was feeling low after an horrible exam during my bskul days. I used to watch four-five episodes back to back and it worked like a narcotic drug for me everytime.
4) Listen to music. One song which works like magic in my case is 'Aashayein' from the movie Iqbal. I just love the song and it always feel so appropriate when I am feeling low. All you music lovers out there, plug in your headphones and listen to your favourite tracks. Better still, switch on your loud speakers, play music at a very high volume and dance away :)
5) Clean your room. It's very therapeutic. Throw away things you no longer need and make space for new things and thoughts.
6) Go for a run/jog.Exercising is scientifically proven to lift your moods.
7) Shut yourself up for sometime(only for a few hours, mind you), don't talk to outside world and you will feel better yourself in sometime.
8) Analyse the situation, see where you went wrong and check whether you can rectify it somehow - Believe me, you can't do this in the first few hours when you were feeling bad, give it sometime and then go to this step.
9) Finally, whatever happens, remember that there is a solution for everything and nothing is permenant in this world. Even this too shall pass. It is just another phase in life.

Always remember "In the end, everything will be fine. If it's not, it is not the end"

I read some alarming statistics about depression, mental health and suicide rates in India. Why are we so unhappy with our lives when chocolates are just a hand away? Cheer up !!!

A pair of eyes - 1

Blog Marathon Post 20

He speaks:

She had dark kohl rimmed eyes. They were slightly green in colour, dove shaped and deep. In short, they were beautiful. Those eyes were all I could see. Her face was not visible to the outside world. However, I envisioned a beautiful face behind the purdah, the moment I saw those gorgeous eyes. I first saw her on a rainy day when I was waiting for the bus at the busstop. She made haste to the stop, with an umbrella which could barely protect her from the rain. Rain had succeeded in drenching her almost completely. She came inside the shed and seemed entirely irritated with the rain. She kept her bag and umbrella on the side and tried to shake off the water from her purdah. She started wiping her hands in a handkerchief and that’s when she saw me. She looked alarmed because she didn't seem to have realised earlier that I was standing there. That’s when I first saw those eyes. There was something enchanting in them that kept my gaze. She quickly withdrew her eyes and concentrated on taking care of her bag and belongings. As soon as the rain subsided, she stepped out and walked away in a hurried pace.

After that, I met her several times at busstop. Sometimes she came with a friend, most of the times alone and always took the 5 o'clock bus back to her home. Our eyes met several times and she always withdrew her eyes hastily whenever that happened. Her eyes spoke a lot about how her day went so far. The whole gamut of emotions she went through was very efficiently portrayed in her eyes. They went from bright to droopy to sad to red with anger, depending on her mood of the day. I first found it intriguing that I was attracted to a pair of eyes so vehemently and later found it exciting. I started timing my visits to the busstop so that it will coincide with her 5o'clock bus. I was happy just being in her company but couldn't muster up courage to utter a single word to her. I was happy in the silent moments that we shared together.

To be continued ...

Bubbling away

Blog Marathon Post 19

A fine gush of air and I come into existence. I notice the twinkle in your eye when I grow big, but the right mixture and components are also the factors that go into deciding my size. Once I enter this world, I float like a cloud, dance with the wind and fly like a butterfly. You can see rainbow in me and I can see dreams in your eyes. I know that you become a little girl in front of me. You watch me wide-eyed and you try to run after me and snatch me. But one touch that’s all is required for me to vanish into non-existence.

I am the bubble.

Ever loved blowing bubbles using a small loop dipped in soap water? I have and will always be. One of the innumerable joys of childhood which I don't want to grow out of. I go back to being that little girl whenever I hold that loop and see my bubbles floating up in the air.



This is a photo taken by a dear friend Prashant, who is an awesome photographer. We had lost touch for almost four years and recently got connected again through facebook. I was in awe looking at his photographs. So proud of the wondeful photographer you are Kulli :)

A quote I absolutely love

Blog Marathon Post 18

'Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away'

This is a quote I absolutely love. Each time I read it or tell this to someone, I get a high. How true is it? What is the whole point of life if you don't have enough experiences to make it wholesome? What is the purpose of life if you are not ready to take risks and experience it to the fullest?

I believe that life is measured by experiences and unless we explore, how will we experience it? So, make new friends, return smiles, travel to new places, fall in love, try out new cuisines, read books, watch movies, challenge your beliefs, engage in good conversations, take risks, engage in a hobby that you like and love life.

I captured the picture below some months back. It was my first snow and it happened last December. It snowed the entire night and by the time I woke up, the whole apartment area was covered in snow. It was a thing I only read in books and seeing it all in front of my eyes was marvellous.



It was a moment that truly took my breath away. I was so excited to watch snow through the windows, sitting inside my apartment with a hot chocolate in my hand, the entire day. I was so mermerised, like a little child who was experiencing the outside world for the first time. I wanted to hold on to it while there was no tomorrow. It was an experience of a lifetime.

So tell me, what is an experience that you had in your recent past that took your breath away?

P.S: I googled a lot to find out who wrote quote, but all I could find out was that the quote was originally on a Carleton greeting card. If you get anymore info on this, please let me know.

55 Fiction - A Present

“Honey, look what have I got you”, gushed her father, handing over yet another Barbie doll. She looked at the doll; it had gorgeous face and shining hair. Seeing her blank face, her father asked her whether she wanted some other birthday present. She muttered “Time with you”. His blackberry buzzed almost the same time.

Author's Note: This is for you anon, you know who you are :)

A new dimension to reading

Blog Marathon Post 16

I owned my first real book(something other than children's magazines/books) when I was 10 years. I had to coax my dad a lot to get my hands on that book. He complained how costly it is, however was more than glad to buy that for me. Ever since, my relationship with the books had been a long lasting one. I got books as gifts; I borrowed them from libraries; I rummaged through huge piles of them during book exhibitions; I exchanged them with my friends and when I started earning, I used to spend a huge share of my salary on books. They gave me company when I was sad; they gave me company on a rainy night; they inspired me through quotes; they told me stories of places and people which I have never seen or heard of. They were my companions in exploring the world unknown.

Nowadays, whenever I open Amazon.com to search for a book that I read about or to check for its price, their home page always greets me with an advertisement on Amazon Kindle. They say its Amazon's No.1 bestseller(What is the need of using No.1 and bestseller in the same sentence. Any thoughts?). They even have free reading apps to go with it. They have two versions of it currently - Kindle(6 inch one) and Kindle DX(9.7 inch one). It's slim, can hold upto 3500 books and has features like automatic battery backup, full image zoom, adjustable text size, bookmarks, built-in dictionary and audiobooks. I find a pretty cool device to have. You can carry 3500 books with you all the time, pretty nice, right?

Lets go three years back.

"An e-book and me? Oh, please. I would never love to read an e-book. Sitting in front of a computer and reading an whole book? As it is, I spend so much time sitting in front of computer, I don't want to read an whole book sitting in front of it. I love the feeling of holding a book close to me, turning the pages with my fingers, a lazing around in my couch or bed. I don't think I will ever read an e-book"

The above words were uttered by yours truly exactly three years back. So what happened in the next three years?

The first e-book I ever read was "Rich Dad Poor Dad". It somehow came inside a folder which I downloaded from my b-skul LAN. I started reading it out of curiosity and got hooked to it because of the amazing fundas he gave about money. Before I could realise it myself, I was scrolling pages after pages and in no time, I finished the book. I totally liked the book, above all, I was surprised that I could actually finish reading an e-book. I was amused at myself.

The next one was 'How Opal got drunk, got kissed and got a life'. I read this as an e-book because I didn't want to spend money on a paper back for two reasons: It was a chick-lit and I didn't expect it to be any good. Still, I wanted to read it because for all the controversy it created about Kavya Vishwanathan plagiarising from two books of Megan F. McCafferty. I didn't enjoy the book much, but there I finished reading my second e-book.

It broke a huge barrier inside me. I came to realise that its not so difficult to read an e-book. I read articles, news, papers and so much other online content, then how different is it to read an e-book? Not much. Since then, I have read a few e-books and I don't find it a daunting experience anymore.

Still, I have bought all the books which I really wanted to read and find reading a paperback/hardbound a more enjoyable experience than reading an e-book. Seeing all these ads of e-book readers make me realise they are the future of reading. Who has the space and resources for carrying all the huge books when you can do it all in an e-book reader? An e-book reader or e-books are much more convenient and with e-book readers coming up with so many features, it makes reading a pleasurable experience too.

But, if we digitalize every book that is available to us, won't we have libraries any more? Won't we borrow books?

How will we show off our book collection?

How will we exchange books to read?

Would the parents read their children bedtime stories through a Kindle or Nook? What will the children read without all those colourful picture books?

No more book exhibitions? :'( No more second hand bookstores? :'( :'(

No more spending hours on a Landmark or Crossroads? How will I pass time when I am all alone? :(

Sigh, the one advantage that I can see is lesser number of trees being cut for making paper and hence, a greener world. Though I have kind of accepted the fact that e-book readers/e-books are the future, I refused to buy a Kindle while I was in US. I would hold on to my paperbacks/hardbounds/second hand books as longer as I can. I may go to a phase wherein my books and an e-book reader can co-exist. But what can replace that joy of holding a new book in hand, smelling its fresh pages, flipping through the pages slowly and arranging it all in a book shelf. Nothing can beat the euphoria of being surrounded by so many books either.

Happy reading folks and have a great weekend ahead !!!

An ode to Maggi

Blog Marathon Post 15

She looked into the pan as her mamma crushed the maggi and put it into boiling water. Masala was added next and the mixture was stirred into perfection. She waited for that two minutes to get over, with her mouth watering over the thought of her tasty snack.

"Mummy bhokh lagi, bas do minute! School se aate dhoom machaate
Ek hi baat pe manaate, Maggi Maggi Maggi!" - A jingle that we all have grown up hearing.

Maggi had always been my favourite junk food. During my childhood days, it was eaten once in a while, as a snack or when I was hungry at the odd times. I have a story of messing up maggi when I tried to cook it for the very first time :) Can someone go mess up maggi too? Yes, I did :) I read the package instructions so thoroughly that I timed my maggi and it ended up uncooked. Mom had to cook it again to make it edible. :|

Some years later, Maggi became my staple food. I was doing my internship in Mumbai, and I used to eat Maggi everyday, read "everyday" for dinner. I tried to experiment with Maggi a lot those days. I tried adding different veggies, scrambled eggs, etc. to make more tasty/healthy :) I never got tired of it and it was always the safest option. You can't mess up Maggi really. Can you? Oh ok, everyone is allowed one mistake in life, right?

During my MBA days, I discovered a whole new facet of Maggi. The whole economy of my B school survived on Maggi. We had plain maggi, veg maggi, egg maggi, onion maggi, fried maggi, chesse maggi, tomato maggi and any other variety of maggi which you can think of. We had all the eateries in our campus competing with each other to provide as many varieties of maggi as possible. Had maggi not been discovered, I think many of our batch mates would have gone without food for days :) Fond memories of those days include going to have maggi in the nearby eatery as late as 3AM in the night(or morning, whatever you want to call it), skipping dinner all together so that we can have maggi late into the night and having maggi for lunch, dinner, midnight snack or whenever we feel like. I told you, the whole economy survived on maggi :)

After a long hiatus, I had maggi three months ago in US. It was late into the night; I was too tired to cook anything and hungry. I looked through the cupboards, and found a maggi packet up in the shelf. Viola, I cooked it in no time and my favourite 'junk' food was ready. While digging into it, I remembered my days in B school and internship days when I survived solely on Maggi. I was so happy that day, as a little child who found her lost toy back.

Maggi, no matter how many McDs/CCDs or Baristas come up, no matter how much McVeggie try his best to lure me, no matter how much more packaged/ready-to-eat foods market themselves, you will remain my favourite junk food. I promise, no one else will take your place. Three Cheers to You, may you continue spreading your charm in two minutes always :)

What is your favourite maggi story? C'mon, don't tell me you don't have a maggi story, everyone has one :D

The War

Blog Marathon Post 14

White soldiers and black soldiers glared at each other. They were both staying at the nearby towers. The only thing that separated them were two glass panes. The glare was so intense that it could have broken the glass panes itself. The white soldiers stuck their tongue out, black soldiers mocked back at them with a hand gesture. White soldiers shouted "We will see you at the battlefield", black soldiers shouted back "So be it". Strategies were decided, plans were plotted and weapons were sharpened. They waited impatiently in their towers; there was smell of blood in the air. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes to hours. At last, the moment they were all waiting for arrived. They held their breath.

But sadly, that day the diner decided to put only salt in his salad and no pepper. Alas, there was no war as expected. They waited for the next diner so that they can meet at the battlefield.

Authors Note: This post is dedicated to my dear friend PB, who is very sad today. Please send your wishes his way so that he will feel better. PB, I hope atleast you smiled reading this :)

The Chair

She slowly removed the cobwebs from her attic doorway. Suddenly some dust fell on her from the roof. She coughed twice. She had always been allergic to dust. She looked around, the attic was dim-lit. She had a hard time adjusting to the light in the attic. Today she came here to look for an old tool box. It had been so long since she came to the attic. Recent pregnancy and child-birth prevented her from moving around much, let alone the attic.

She rummaged an old cardboard box with the hope of finding that tool box. She searched for a while, got dust covered all over her body, but all in vain. She couldn't find that old tool box of hers. Disappointed, she was about to get out of the room and close the door behind her. Just then, she noticed that chair. Abandoned, in one corner of the room, the chair lay fully covered in dust. She was surprised to find it here because she had long forgotten the existence of this chair.

The chair and she have a long story together. The earliest memories of chair include her Pa reading newspaper diligently, sitting in this chair, every morning. Many a time, she climbed up into his lap while he was sipping his morning coffee and rested her head on his chest. He would continue reading the paper and tell her one or two stories from that days news. Sometimes, she came back from school and insisted that she wanted to eat sitting in the chair, much to the resentment of her mom. Later in college days, the chair remained her favourite hang-out place at her home. She loved spending hours, sitting in it and reading her favourite books. She cried sitting in it when her heart was broken for the first time, she drifted off to sleep while watching her favourite late night tv shows. The chair grew as a part of her and she always felt comfortable in its arms.

Somewhere in the folds of time, as days progressed to months and months to years, the chair was moved to attic. It happened as a natural progression of life. Thinking about it now, she believes that happened after her Pa passed away. She couldn't look at that chair without seeing Pa in it. Soon, she forgot about the chair and other priorities started shaping up her life.

She was woken up from her day dream by the wails of her new born son. She directed her maids to clean the chair and bring it to the front porch of the house.

With her son in her arms, she walked slowly to the front porch. The chair had settled in the porch as if it has a long association with this house. She sat in the chair, with her son's head resting against her chest. While she patted him to sleep, she felt life has come a full circle. She felt that somewhere up above her Pa must be smiling at this beautiful picture.

Authors Note: This post was triggered by a picture that was send to me by my friend Madhu. He sent it to me thinking that I will get an idea for 55 fiction, but I couldn't contain the story in 55 words :) The picture is given below:



Madhu is a Freelance Eclipse Trainer and Consultant and is the master mind behind the website eclipseBible.com. He also blogs about his experiments and the latest advances in Eclipse over here

Stamp Collection - A forgotten hobby?

Blog Marathon Post 12

She looked hard. Three dusty hard bound books peered back at her from the bottom shelf of the cupboard. She picked up one of it. It turned out to be a stamp album, with several stamps sorted by countries, arranged alphabetically. She dusted it with a soft cloth

I used to collect stamps during my school days. That was the first hobby I had developed. Me and some of my friends used to collect stamps carefully extracted from the mails that our parents and relatives received and arranged them in a stamp album. We took those albums to school and showed off our collection to each other. Whenever we had duplicate stamps, we exchanged them with others so that our collection will have stamps from all the countries in all the continents. The person who had stamps from a varied number of countries were always looked upon with awe. I also had stamp albums which we were passed on to me from my cousins. I used to go to exhibitions to collect stamps; I used to exhort my relatives coming from far off places to get me stamps of those countries.

A few basic items of equipment are needed to collect stamps. Stamp tongs or tweezers help to handle stamps safely, a magnifying glass helps in viewing fine details and an album is a convenient way to store stamps. The stamps need to be attached to the pages of the album in some way and stamp hinges are a cheap and simple way to do this

I clearly remember the day our teacher taught us a lesson on stamp collection. She told us that this hobby will help us improve our knowledge of far off places and whenever we see a stamp, we should try and ask ourselves several questions about it. Me and my friend had a laugh riot that day looking at the stamp of Mecca Masjid and asking all sort of stupid questions (No offence to Mecca Masjid, it was all innocent fun that we had).



This makes me wonder does anyone collect stamps anymore? I don't know any kid who collect stamps anymore. None of my cousins do that, they are far better off with their PlayStation and XBOX. But, do we have any means of collecting them anymore? In this age of email and internet, how many of us send snail mails? I myself haven't used stamps for a long time now. If less and less people use stamps, would stamp collection be a long forgotten hobby? :(

I would however end this with a few stamp collection trivia.

- Stamp collecting is not the same as philately, which is the study of stamps. A philatelist may, but does not have to, collect stamps.

- The first postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued by Britain in 1840 and pictured a young Queen Victoria.

- There are many types of stamps-for example, commemorative, definitive, and special-and formats such as sheets, booklets, or coils. Stamps may be conventional adhesive ("lick-and-stick") or self-adhesive ("no-lick, peel-and-stick").

- The most popular US postage stamp sold over 120 million copies. It was a 1993 stamp of rock singer Elvis Presley.

- The only country to print stamps without its name on them is Great Britain. This is okay because they invented the stamp

Did you use to collect stamps? Any stamp collection stories from childhood?

Info coutesy: ducksters.com, wikipedia, stampcollectingbasics.com