One of these days at a billing queue....

It was a week after I took an oath of not purchasing clothes for my birthday this year(I had my own justifications and so called "no mood"). Rather, I would ensure all my good old (most of my wardrobe items never look any old even after years :) :-O)clothes get distributed to people who would genuinely need them.

Things change...you see, it was Dad who gave me some money before leaving to native for business as usual "Mummu...I want to gift something for your b'day, why don't you go buy a dress?". Yes, what else can you imagine???!! My eyes twinkled like the stars, a broad grin like close up ad...few butterflies above the head and my bike gave a irresistibly pleasing look as to when would I start the engine!!

Dear Literature,
I've a problem. The "not so good" writer in me never stops :)

I tried to recollect some info about the ads seen..30%..mmmmm 40%?(or upto 40%)sale at one of my favorite retail brand outlets and directly zoomed in my bike to Commercial street(giving away good old clothes still stands!). As usual, rambled across the floor for a while, observed that "Ladies" & "Kids" section was overflowing like "Rath Yatra" festival and "Mens"(poor) floor hardly had 15-20 people around...some of them just baby sitting.

 




No wonder, the service executives working in that floor evidently looked  so happy:)Now, don't ask me why did I go there...like to know about latest trends & collections, for men too(it's interesting!).

You need to actually visualize this whole little episode to get the feel of the narration(not that great..yet:))

Prologue : I reached the billing counter not so late after, things which we have good expertise on doesn't require much of our time..isn't it? ;) and anyway I don't prefer spending too much time at one place to select a few things, instead I could buy 10 different things all through the street (being quick). Oops...where where we? Yeah, at the counter..I managed to smartly find a queue that just appeared long (due to 3 ladies together occupying > 8 ft distance) but wasn't ! Thought it would move faster than others and settled there, standing behind two guys.

The scene: They were very western looking fellows, one with a goatee and the other with spiked hair. Both were having a conversation typical as that of youngsters....

Mr.Goatee : Hey dude...this is so sick man. I can't do shopping like this in an hour among so many people.. s..t, look at the crowd !
  
Mr.Spike: Tell me about it dude...feel the same. Half an hour is more than enough, what the hell people do after that, I wonder!

Mr.Goatee : (with a weird look) Nooo..I meant I need half a day ! I mean, with so much of variety and hell lot of clothes, who could shop so soon? I wanna take a look at everrrrything(stress) and choose theee(stresses again) best. You know...I like to wear the best of stuff (Mr.Spike gives a blank look) and different man, very unique..arre Ranbir...man, didn't you notice his outfits in APGK...(goes on)

This is when I looked up at Mr.Goatee, intrigued to see what's unique in him. Well there was something very unique...not ironed,shabby...faded and almost colorless looking red tee with a plain blue jean appearing like school uniform!

Mr.Goatee(loudly) : Ab dekho...ye Aunty waale yaar! Kitne time lete hain. She is so huge and covering the whole billing desk from almost half an hour now...damn!

Aunty heard this and turned around to give him a stern look. Mr.Spike got a bit uncomfy as the executive at the billing desk threw a begging look ("already she is eating my brains...please don't worsen the scene guys...") Mr.Goatee stood least bothered.

Aunty joined with her friends to rag the executive(he was a thin innocent looking fellow...almost in tears) at the desk :
"Arre...tum log itne kanjoos ho? Hamne ittttttne saare purchase kee hai our dete ho chhoti se cover?Bade cover nahi hai kya?" and the fight continues..."Woh nahi...aree our ek cover to do na..arre aise nahin, theek se daalo, bacche log ho... kuch nahi jaanthe, complain karna hai...I am telling you, India mein aise hee hai". Another Aunty adds on, with her eyes rolling dramatically " We have ever seen so much of delay, you should be put on training..inspection...suspection(??!)...(what ever!!)".

  From my side, I sincerely didn't notice any delay or mishap there, people just want to have fun...scolding others or creating a scene(effect of  some useless TV serials....god!).

Mr.Goatee(loudly again) : Look at them man...they are going on and on. What the ...k(low voice) ! Am not standing here anymore. Common, there are a hundred other places around !

Aunty obviously heard(missing the ...k i guess) and almost prepared herself for the next battle when her friends(or sisters..) dragged her out saying it was getting late.

Mr.Spike gave out a huge sigh as his hands started playing with his spiked hair...
(thought) "Oh god, please get me out of here and away from the fellow. Why did i even come with him? Looks like I ll not be back home without getting thrashed..." and said to Mr.Goatee "Dude...relax,chill...lets justtt talk later please".

Mr.Goatee somehow decided to keep mum as the Aunty group left the place(I wouldn't be surprised if they were waiting outside to punch Mr.Goatee once they were out....) and these two moved on to the counter.

Mr.Goatee(opening his wallet) : Dude...you have any change?I mean, money!

Mr.Spike: What(stress)? I didn't carry anything(shows his almost empty wallet), you....you didn't get cash?(phew..)

Mr.Goatee: You know what...I actually hate these colors, very very girlish...very very chweett(in a mocking tune) types. Let me pick up the yellow one(thatttttt was the mostttt horrible color of all)...yup I like that,and asked the executive at the counter "How much?"

Executive at the desk: Sir...you don't need all these?

Mr.Goatee: Why? Koi problem hai kya? I just need this one...fast !

Executive at the desk: No problem sir..(after handling the previous customers, this would be no where near a small problem also!! ;)told the amount)

Mr.Goatee: Cool.... & turned to Mr.Spike(exclaiming) "Dude, lets just leave the place, its so hot... s...t!"

Mr.Spike(with a defeated low voice):  Sure, I just want to go back home!(and scream....)

I guess no one around the place noticed the whole scene except me and the executive(who knew I was observing). As I proceeded to the counter, we exchanged meaningful smiles and the executive almost conveyed a thanks through his smile " At least someone seems to have observed the extent of irritation that i go through here". I couldn't stop giving him a piece of chocolate from my bag, though he said "No ma'am..no.." he took it readily with a smile again.

I left the counter with a thanks(stressed), tried not to think of his work life there...and just focused on  remembering some of the dialogues for this write up, before I forget :-)

Joy of Motherhood !!

Julie.. Its not that I was seeing pregnant women for the first time but Ju was something different..with her peppy walk and clear laughter(not to miss that she munched some eatable every half an hour!)

 Like every woman, she had her little troubles during the while, but I would still talk to her for hours together & forgetting her stuff...she would rather dive deep into my stories and cheer me up for the day :) The last few weeks went in discussions like how to click the baby, me explaining the concept of using a basket..definitely not the ones like Mango & Guava walas use - i.e what Ju imagined !!

Basically..she doesn't like knowing about anything around(general knowledge), all happy by just grabbing something to eat after her household work and crash to bed.The only time she appeared a bit sharp(sharper) was these 9 months or so...(to our surprise) :-p



Her weird imagination of the final day was actually awesome...that she would play rock music in her mobile and increase the excitement level of the doctors - it would obviously then make their hairs stand straight like Porcupines! On the actual day..to her disappointment, the nurse looked very boring and there was no music inside the labour room...these were all updates sent by the crazy girl just before her delivery ;)

When I actually rushed to see the baby next day morning (June 16th), I was overly delighted to watch the little one yawning...trying to open the tiny winy eyes, seeming to get irritated. I must say that I couldn't stop remembering about Ani...the day in 2007 and I really wished I had this Canon beast, we could only click through mobiles back then! Getting back here...the little boy's lips were the best, with a small pout, neatly shaped and looking very much like Auggie(Ju's better half)..Some babies appear so obvious in resemblance(to mom..or dad) and some..people keep associating their looks to every single person in the family but when they start growing up, they don't look like anyone but themselves, quite an interesting subject to research huh!

Auggie seemed to be more excited than Ju - his heartfelt smile and happiness was reflecting all over the place. Ju was as cool as expected, but at least I didn't want her to be almost running around in the ward - like an athlete(thats what she claims!). I was initially lost in the mood of watching the most beautiful and tender being around....and got into conversations with people there when I remembered about the pictures(photography) plan that we had discussed earlier. 




It was actually a very tough thing to hold the camera above the baby's head and still not to get diverted by the softness of the scene...but concentrate on the aperture/ISO. After all, the woman in me was very will alive!

I managed to click a few good pictures and not wanting to disturb the baby more, rushed back...but... didn't miss visiting them the next day (couldn't afford to miss to enjoy the scene of the baby boy yawning). I don't think he would be a cranky one cause when the chief doctor came to take a look at him...and pushed away his warm clothing, he went "waaaaaaaaayn..." for just a few seconds and when wrapped back, got quiet like a sleeping doll - aah the cute little smile too ! Babies look the best when they are babies...if you know what I mean...as they are, all innocent, new to the world...blinking at people, watching at things with curiosity...I don't mind writing even a hundred lines more about it :)

I promised Ju that I would visit her sometime for better photographs...as the baby gets used to lights and people and food - our creative juices would flow in composing the pictures with the best use of properties. I was thanking Ju at heart for giving me the space to explore my Anne Geddes side...anyway, not to worry with Ani (also) being my in house child model ready to pose anytime...perhaps I could work on my concept ideas and get them into frames in near future. 

Note: Ju says that becoming a Mother is the best feeling any girl can have...these days!!Hope this statement helps her grow up and get a change to her comical, funny and childlike version to an extent ;)

Hopes & Smiles.... San :)

It's all about out of the routine....& landing at a lovely place (luckily) !

It’s been a period of “lazy to write”, “which one to write about?!” kind of moods for a while now and the few incomplete (and weirdly named) word documents are just filling up my folder making me feel high….anyway I have written so much. Who cares about the content or completion? ;) Work(Office & Home) and photography assignments plus dance classes have been so occupying and getting impatient is so obvious here. Beena continues to hold the esteemed (dearest) position of my very patient sister to laugh along for any silly topic that we discuss. Ani’s attempts to talk in Tamil with her cute rhythmic baby tone is a fancy add on :) !

Getting to see Saras(especially her ironical high school boy look & the officer  and pistol stories!) was a huge break – too many interesting things to share with each other, very short outings and getting to eat all the yummy delicacies at her place , all at the same time you see. 

On a weekend just after this, I realized that I better venture out for photography before I go frenzy and rampageous being in the busy city life. The location was a place called “Nandi hills” which is around 60kms from Bangalore and the route is pretty easy to figure out because of the very popular and finely designed new airport on the way. As we drove along, there were a lot of bikers (riding THE best of bullets & imported bikes) with traditional black leather jackets on and I almost wanted to jump out and take a lift from one of them (car appeared less interesting at that moment). After all, the place is known for bike rides, quick trips and adventures, we also spotted jazzy looking imported cars (Sarah knows the model names;)). As we were nearing the little blue tinged hills covered with mist, the road behind looked very scenic and reminded me of country songs. If we had carried speakers, Sarah(by force) and I would have danced along with the sophisticated looking strangers on bike there – their lucky good fate ;)

I always had imagined that this hill would be a rocky elevated space where photographers rush every weekend to capture sunrise, sunset...mid day sun and all the versions of the enormous fire ball(some of them slip and fall whilst those attempts - to die and appear later in the newspaper). But I was totally wrong and regretted for prolonging this visit till this auspicious day!

                                                                                     Okay, the scenes(if visualized well) were exactly like:

 (1)There would be an upward steep landscape with few rocks….greenery around and out of nowhere, an arched pillar with morning mists passing above – so poetic!

(2)The road to hilltop would be so neat with huge eucalyptus and pine trees on both sides playing around with the clouds as sunlight peeps in to kiss the ground from all possible directions – mesmerizing!

I was wondering that perhaps one could shoot a short movie or album (as effective as professionals) at a location like this! It was like a wonderland (at quick reach) unleashed as we proceeded further. The temple at the highest altitude is known for its antique structure and divine powers and is adorned with pillars and metal work - very attractive. Seems it was built during the period of the Banas, Cholas, Hoysalas and the Kings of Vijayanagar. But I was intrigued by the fact that how did they manage to build such a huge “Theppakulam” (the huge pond with at least 30-40 steps on all four sides) above there.

There is another pond inside the temple too with fine architecture and sculptures spread along the surrounding stone pillars. Everything…everything was crystal clear, fresh, dust free – that’s a likely story!There is also a lamp tower in front of the temple and it is lighted every evening by a boy who wobbles up the tower (we couldn’t wait till then though!). After the temple visit, there are places to have breakfast but not worth it (glad we carried some stuff to munch). The photographers were only keen on capturing every single living being found there, also the obviously eye-catching huge array of flowers (over a hundred species). Poor Sarah had to pose for me amongst the trees…hugging, leaning (of all things) and twisting her body for the lights to fall on her face exactly. I heard she has lost interest completely in modeling after that day:-P 

Oh…and how would I forget to mention about the guest house with a rich appearance amidst the flower garden! They could be rented for a day or two and the rates sounded far too reasonable. I decided that I should head back there sometime, to stay and explore the little forest with all the sweet time I can take – also visit the spot where people love to click sunrise/sunset as they fall down the hill :-O. From my side, I managed to click a few babies, lots of flowers, the temple, pond, trees, mist, mom, Sarah…and a series of “Magical Monkey Moments”. Plus clicking ourselves in all weird poses…like jumping high to catch the flowers up on the tree (obviously knowing we can’t), biting the huge crocodile (made of stone) and this entertained the little crowd around. Can’t forget the scene of Sarah screaming out like in a horror movie cause a Monkey almost came as near as leaning on her!  Common girls…you dress up all pretty and don’t blame the Monkey man for that ;) 

 

I felt glad that I could discover a perfect place for the rest of my concept shoot(it almost had all the locations I had dreamt of) and its much easier if someone like Dad would drop us and pick us up(a little luxury) from the spot. An old grandpa for whom we sponsored lunch, posed with Sarah for a picture in return ;) As usual, I forgot places I had wished to stop at(onward journey) while coming back cause it was already mid day and it got too much for my head to hold back and write(am sure I missed out stuff here too). 

 

 One thing I was sure about was, anyone who goes there would definitely not feel like getting back to the city, indeed inevitable! Generally, it is that people who visit or migrate to Bangalore have the tendency to slowly drift towards addiction to the climate and culture here (largely increased traffic and population is a drawback) – and looks like places like this would additionally create more attraction. The best part of this minute is my huge grin that I did manage to finish one of my scribbling with a combination of few interesting snippets with a decent vocabulary.

Malpua and Murukku makes it a Sunday evening…

The weekend was unusually moving in a sluggish pace and apart from my dance class and few errands; I very much seemed to relish being at home…with the regular cleaning and washing tasks. A few other activities were, trying out whether old traditional skirts (pattu paavaadai) still fit me , clicking buckets and mugs (innovation!!??), revising on music lessons and start a long procrastinated task of tanjore glass painting.

It was almost Sunday noon when mom reminded me of a paper cutting of   “Malpua” recipe which we had collected earlier. It’s a popular sweet dish of North India – has many versions, the one we choose had khoya and flour combination with the fritters dipped in sugar syrup after they were fried . I quickly shopped for khoya and the rest were items available in our storage. Now, the fact is neither I am a born chef nor did I spend time in the kitchen anytime (other than sitting on the slab and tasting food….fresh from the pan). My favorite place of hangout used to be the huge balcony, grandpa’s hand made swing…or our farm. 

My first attempts of wondering how something like “Sambhar” would so colorfully evolve and how  “Pooris” would blow up artistically like small balloons started when I was 20….and already busy(?!!) with my business management(so called..) studies. I was rather forced to enter what’s defined as the girl’s arena (because mom was in complete rest) where the initial few episodes of wonder, adventure, accidents and failures happened. I certainly don’t remember the exact point where I transformed into a comfortable cook who loves her work - anyway glad I did manage….serves my crunch for variety and taste in food (plus smart ingredients).

Oops...ignoring the topic diversion, lets go back to the beautifully named “Malpua”. The most important part of the preparation was the consistency of batter which I hardly had any idea about. After all, what are mobiles for? After a little browsing for names, remembered my workplace buddy who is from Mangalore and called her up. She took enormous efforts to get me the recipe details (along with her mom-in-law who was rather sure I was going to spoil the dish and hence, displayed a stern tone).

Finally we realized that was something called “Malpuri” which was a famous sweet dish from Mangalore, very different from Malpua. Still, I convinced myself that I got to know a bonus recipe to try out next weekend and got back to action. The grand first round of Malpua turned out to be a hilarious scene with the batter spreading out like a football team in the pan (in the oil) and I had to struggle to get them all together. Past experiences warned me that perhaps the batter needed some flour and I bravely went ahead for the modification ( meanwhile, the chef got a few curses from me for mentioning wrong measurements in his article). 

It’s kind of a ritual that I follow, to have any good genre of music on…whilst cooking. These would be English…country music/Ilayaraja/Classical etc.. and this time, it was Yesudas, creating enough of nice impact through his melodic singing of”Muttathettum thennale...” in Malayalam. As I hummed the song…to my surprise….golden brown round cakes tastefully floated up in the pan getting a broad smile to my face. I delicately took them to add to the syrup and finished frying the rest of rounds happily.

The idea of preparing “Murukkus”(a south Indian snack) popped in from the economical thinking that we could use up the oil, plus have a spicy item too. The simple version of the dough comprises of rice flour and gram flour (4:1 ratio), sesame seeds (fried), asafoetida, chilly powder, fresh butter and salt in addition, of course water too. Again, it’s a wonderful snack less in cholesterol and fat, if prepared in the right consistency – thereby absorbing minimal oil and quickly fried.

 With the metal “Achu” (shape), one could easily explore varieties like Ribbon murukku, Thatta murukku and so on. I was tempted to have quick bites before the fourth round and climbed up on the kitchen slab for a few mobile clicks too, as mom reminded me it was already 10pm. The very update of time tickled my stomach and I suddenly felt too hungry. With a sympathetic look, I left place for mom – not to miss the hot rotis that filled my plate  and appetite for the night.



Cooking Results:  Malpua got 4 stars(out of 5) from brother and murukku was already known, no surprise..

These cold nights...

Flashing pictures on the screen,
music filling the air, from the radio next door..

Feels tired to rest, it disturbs the silent mind at times..
  I grab my coat to get out,
     for a walk which i know would be long...

A walk along the almost empty streets,
 through the yellow tinted lights and shadows!

Flipping songs on my hand phone..
until something makes sense for the moment..

I picture myself, the shadow of a young lady,
   the scene of her rambling across the lane..
       numerous thoughts crawling within !



Looks like she choose to be lonely this cold night..
 its a bliss she thinks...for she is the master of her memories!

Little scenes pass by.. and disappear quickly,
 and everything seems to remind her of something !


She wishes to remember these cold nights
  for all the thoughts she held within...for the wandering fears that touched her soul !!

Feels better to have her hands in the pocket,
  as she crosses her home and still keeps going on..


The freedom of a lonely mind..is all that she enjoys
  these anxious dreams would never exist,
     when she is held, when she has someone to walk along...

Then it slowly transcends...am already back here, out of the vision..

The night gets darker around..and
   i would love to remember these cold nights.. when i plunged into wary thoughts...silly smiles
     these cold nights which filled my page and emptied my heart!!

Life around...

After a few faint efforts to complete my last 3 incomplete blog entries, I totally came out of the perfection mood and felt its better to scribble about the moment. Could hardly feel like a usual Monday this morning - may be because I didn’t want a Monday today and neither do I have the right instinct. I had finished important tasks at work early in the morning and tried to disturb my “just awake” brother when he easily lifted me as if a lamb to almost throw to the sofa. I stole mom's hand made pooris(all of them) from his plate to take revenge later though ;)

Considering to switch over to a safer idea, I got into innocuous discussions on daily news with dad and spent a while watching my favourite pigeons around home. Later, I indulged into serious inspection of my “anything available” wardrobe to pick up mix and match stuff to wear for the day and was more than happy with my white & maroon combined attire with huge earrings dancing along my neck.

One might easily think that i am being crazy….may be my weekend wasn’t too great but that’s not the case. I  went on with my “fancy witch” shopping series which typically includes hunting for new shops with good discounts where we get the same clothes as at the big brand outlets at < half the prices. The outcome was indeed more than satisfactory with some nice colors in our hands and yummy snacks filling our stomach.

And a much happier event was the visit to Makkal Mane – it’s been a while since i made a visit and yet didn’t anticipate the kids to be on such high spirits to see me. I realized these little ones are wealthy relationships one can earn in life, with a little investment of love and sharing. They anyway don’t understand thousands… its just playing, pictures, some good food and words that can get them throw up billion dollar smiles. Thanks to Beens this time or I would have delayed the plan by another 2 weeks. While Ani seemed to completely enjoy the place and the kids, she also made friends with everyone around with her usual smiling tint. Every picture would have her hugging someone or she would manage to grab some kid to pose along.

 A little rewind of the frame takes me back to Friday evening when we could finally execute our long postponed “Girls night out” plan. Since Julie(her baby inside) was vulnerable to loud music, the idea of lounge and DJ stuff got diluted to good music and food(grrrrr I had great ideas to make Rash and Shree dance). We made sudden plans to visit Preethi’s apartment on the way to the restaurant and ended up chatting and dancing, totally enjoying her place when I realized that we had booked a table and it was time.

 We were the noisiest gang around the posh restaurant with rich décor. When i started feeling a little conscious, we observed that the service guys seemed to actually enjoy our spirit and smiles (NOISE..) and the manager went ahead and generously offered with a grin“ Anything here except me, is part of the buffet and you could take it Ma’am”. I am sure he didn’t realize that I was capable of flicking those glittering ceramic spoons and expensive salt & pepper holders.

 After managing to create enough disturbances around, with my mimicry and few other jokes from all to make Julie cry to laughter and Preethi staring in astonishment (she totally mistook me for a matured professional may be ;)), as usual I remembered about petrol and that we missed to fill it in the evening.After a series of adventurous sequences, we still hadn’t filled fuel (bunks were closed by then..) and through my busy thinking about which of the gods would help me the best, it was almost home and I felt glad that all the gods got together to help me out.

 Shree’s call was obviously expected soon after, she has the typical best motherly traits out of us all – I still remember her worried follow up calls during my trip to Delhi, my mom wouldn’t do half of that ;) A little more flashback is about the last two weekends…one of which I travelled to mom’s native place – a small colorful village near Salem.

 The best part was the drive with sister and sis-in-law to the nearby town, leaving the young chaps of the village awestruck and getting them peep into our car to check whether we were some media personalities. The other weekend was the trip to Coimbatore, with the primary reason being Grandpa, to watch him laugh at me making faces and we discussing old funny memories.

Along with that, I managed to go for a drive to the best possible water place nearby. Be it the village visits, be it a vacation…I somehow always like places where there is simplicity, nature around…remembering the line from a Paulo Coelho book which talks about god being closer to shepherds because of their patience and the silence of places where they spend their lives, and why does it feel so good to be around such places. If God is about discovering yourself, feeling happy connecting to the natural world around and getting out of materialistic boundaries. then I agree with his words for sure, such places have a heavy impact on those lines. Though I like to explore all kinds of places, somehow these suit me better than the city flats and crowded hang out areas…..

Am sure i have managed to divert far beyond the topic and guess its better to get back to finish work and relish lunch – I can already smell something really good, let me contribute to garnishing ;)  It’s my friend’s birthday today…considering the distance, I wouldn’t be able to meet up...perhaps I would go for a movie in the evening to complete my “no mood” day and celebrate it a few scoops of butterscotch...hopefully can scribble again soon.

Dreamwalk after a visit to lalbagh....

I somehow knew i was dreaming but in what seemed to be reality then, i was busy walking through the fields… fiddling with my camera and looking around with intense curiosity about the loneliness of the place. I could relate it to my Uncle’s farm but the next moment I tripped off a stone and tumbled down a narrow slope. When I managed to pull up myself and looked ahead…the scene over there was completely unbelievable....

I wanted to pinch…hit…slap...myself to ensure it wasn't real because the huge(.....) rose just inches away from my curious eyes, in pink and white was preceding a widespread field of roses behind....I deliberately avoided any touch in the fear of getting out from the serene mood. As my eyelashes flickered slowly, I looked up to feel the cool breeze and the sight of a million roses, it was a perfect moment of awestruck.

 

There was an enchanted mood around and I anxiously turned around to see a long array of purple flowers and white lilies, i was still doubtful how could all the beauty on earth get together at one place. I forgot about my darling camera which was neatly decorated around my neck..and started ambling along the flower beds whilst my eyes captured every single flower dancing merrily to the breeze….tulips, sunflower, lilac, chrysanthemum, daisies and my walk turned into a happy jog as I started singing aloud and wanted to freeze the moment forever.

The surreal feel was because the flowers actually expressed their happiness to me, answering to me by swaying softly, smiling at me by flowing across my frock, as if the whole eden garden was built for my dream's sake..Then I realized at an avid moment, that I would be a fool to miss clicking the inherent beauty. After all, it was a dream and my camera could have easily worked…ironically and naturally, it didn’t and with all my clumsy efforts, the shutter didn’t like to get opened at all. I got nervous all of a sudden, trying to open the shutter manually  all that I wanted was the camera to click. Well, you know….the next scene is obvious, I woke up startled and took more than a few minutes to  convince myself that I was back to reality and was 7.00am sharp….

 But…something different about this dream was I could still feel my heartbeat when I looked upon the huge rose and the minute when my senses got scared at the real image of all those roses and there were only them…beautiful flowers, natural colors at their best existence and my excited eyes which forgot to blink. I hardly had any interest to get out of the bed and start my day, how ever interesting that was going to be…... nothing could be as gracious as some unknown heaven right? 

 

After a couple of minutes of interrogation with my mind, I derived that the reason behind the dream could be my long chat with mom the previous evening, about my photo walk in Lalbagh recently - how much I had enjoyed the colors, smell and unbelievable sight of  flowers, though I couldn’t click too many good pictures because of the crowd…and that I wished there were not too many people.

 I tried my best to write everything I remembered about the most beautiful dream…but  was sure I won’t be able to convey the frantic rhythms of my heart I felt then. One in a hundred dreams stay clear in your mind and even this minute…if I close my eyes, I literally see myself travelling to serendipity with foot steps which never want to be travel backward again!!