Pinku-Enchanted Life

Hi! Am doing a tag on characters in literature that are my favorites because I identify with them or would love to have their qualities or maybe their experiences. The liberty I am taking is to add comic characters and those from movies. Want you guys to tell me which you think I resemble most and more importantly use my comment space to tell me your favorite character. So here goes….. Eve from the Bible – imagine having the whole of paradise to yourself, no competition for your man’s attention…..the option to roam naked all over without worries and lots of cute animals for pets. Only thing missing would be chocolate…which I think I will wheedle out of God by being extra sweet to him one day. (Am sure him being a man and me being the only woman around, he would relent) Athena from the Odyssey – imagine being beautiful, intelligent and a warrior with magical talents to boot….can fight and defeat the best of men and gods. Wish I could be her for just a day…would have a long list of peopl...

I was born late in the afternoon on a Friday in april, in a suburb of Delhi. My grandmother (dad’s mom) who barely spoke hindi and had come from Assam to be there with mom during her delivery distributed sweets to the entire neighborhood. Though the largely Haryanvi and Punjabi neighbors found it hard to believe that anyone could be happy at the birth of a girl child. Earlier grandma had stopped mom from going to her parents place for the delivery (as is the custom in most parts of the country). She insisted mom was a part of her family and therefore looking after both mom and the newborn was her job. She stayed with mom for three months, helping mom recover and then teaching her how to handle small children, their symptoms etc. You see I was my parent’s first child and mom had never handled a small child before. Three and a half years later my sister was born. My parents prayers for a healthy child was answered, the sex of the child had not been a part of those prayers. Throughout o...

I'm: a child woman I think: honesty is the best policy especially in relations of the heart I know: the earth is round so everything comes round. Make sure you do good therefore. I want: to travel across the world and return to my country to be able to cherish its beauty afresh each time I have: confidence and a ' can do' approach to things I wish: I was taller, slimmer, prettier, smarter...naah I just wish these were not the things we judged fellow human beings by I hate: hypocrisy I miss: dad and my sister I fear: religious fanaticism will take over sanity in the country if we don’t do anything about it I feel: I have magic within me I hear: our actions in this birth determine the next...(more motivation for being good) I smell: of secret desires, enchanted lands and mysteries I crave: love I search: for fellow travelers on the road of life who share my passions and thoughts I wonder: is the world really as black as some people say it is I regret: not being always able to...

It was father’s day yesterday. And today is baba’s birthday. The last time I saw him was fifteen years ago. I saw him gasping for air as his body slowly descended to the ground trying hard to resist the massive cardiac arrest he suffered. How would my life have shaped up if that fateful day he had not died but recovered? I have often wondered. Were he alive today his hair would be more grey than black. At that time it was just turning grey at the edges. Mom would still wear red and not say that her life is over. Payel, my sister might also have been alive. Might have been. Could have been. Should have been. Failed plans all. The reality is that he died fifteen years ago. Payel followed five years later. Mom looks grim and her eyes rarely smile. I am anchorless. Miss you Baba. Happy Birthday!!!

Can see only the top of your head. The nose and mouth are snuggled into my bosom. The arm thrown over me holds me tight as if the fear of my going away is real even in dreams. The legs are wrapped around mine. I can't move. Nor do I want to. Can't bear to disturb your sleep. Caressing your hair, I wonder how many more hands have done this. How many other women have lain awake, in order to cradle you this way? No, you didn't say you wanted me to But your body says it wants to be held close It wants to be reassured It wants to be loved. I am tired too, Sleep touches the corners of my eyes But I don't want to miss this exquisite moment I have lived through so many sleepless nights for this this opportunity, this right to hold you close, to touch the tip of your ears with my tongue and watch as you shiver ever so slightly what is it that I am feeling right now? Its not lust, its not even love like the romances describe it to be I feel like a mother watching over her youn...

Feeling miserable that I will have to walk in the heat, to go to the bank to inquire about the status of my accounts which were to be opened I move from office. The lift is not working yet again I walk down cursing the idiots who couldn’t repair it in time. Once outside I squint, the sun is so harsh, beads of perspiration appear even before I have taken half a dozen steps. The walk is through a subway, out the other side and then a long walk thanks to the MCD which forgot to leave space for pedestrians while making a long wall to guard the colony within which the bank is situated. Into the bank and I look around for someone to help me. A newly married woman obliges in a disgruntled manner, without taking down my name and number she dismisses me saying I will look into the matter and let you know. I insist that she takes my number and only then she does though reluctance is writ large on her face. I wonder if she will throw the piece of paper as soon as I turn my back or wait for me to...

The office decided it needed to give us massive targets to achieve, for the current financial year and so it took us on an offsite seminar to a 600 year old fort called Neemrana in Rajasthan. The trip was actually the sugar coating on a bitter pill, as we got to know while sitting through the day in a stuffy seminar room, as figure after figure were rattled off…..the good, the better and the ugly they called them. What were these? Basically the revenue for last year, the figure by which we exceeded the target and the money yet to be collected…in that order. And then came the ugliest…huge targets for the ongoing year. We sat through two beautiful days cooped up in a small room….as nature and history stayed richly displayed outside…..can you believe, it actually rained in Rajasthan in May and we didn’t enjoy it at all? The fort is nice, though through so much refurbishing and recreating its now difficult to make out which is the modern installation versus the original. In the distanc...