Riya was a vibrant flower who always infused energy in Reena with her unending enthusiasm and charisma. Reena never felt lonely when she was in company of Riya! She still remembered the day when her father got an opportunity with a big firm in Delhi and decided to move there. Reena felt as if her entire world had fallen apart! She was dead against her father’s decision and tried her level best to waver him from his decision. Be it tantrums, bad manners, cajoling or crying, Reena tried everything but to no use! Finally the day arrived when they had to say a final GoodBye to their native place and move away from an entire phase of their life. Every one from Reena’s parents, grandparents, her uncles and aunts, their family friends were visibly upset but neither of them ever portrayed it. After all, a son of their place was getting a golden chance to improve is living conditions It would have been a crime to stop him because of any emotional reasons!

While everyone was busy in bidding goodbye to Reena’s family, she was nowhere to be seen! Where was she?? Well, Reena was in the company of her true love, her best friend! Her Riya! Both the girls were sitting at their favorite place, near the village temple, secluded from outside world, where only two of them existed and no one else. Both of them had tears in their eyes and so many words on the verge of their tongues, but none of them could dare to speak a single word. Then finally, Reena hugged Riya and told her that she was her best friend and would remain so, no matter what happens. Even if they were to die tomorrow, they would remain best friends! They would not leave each other alone! It was a promise, which was to be kept not only till they were alive but even after their death.

Now after 13 years, Reena could proudly say that neither of them had broken the promise. Every single Friday was the day when Reena got Riya’s letter and she reciprocated back. It was only on 14th February 1997 that Reena didn’t receive Riya’s letter and she was hell lot of upset on that day. It seemed as if someone had taken her life out! Has something happened? Why didn’t Riya write a letter! Was something wrong? These very questions pestered her mind day in and out! But next Friday, when she received the letter, there was no limit to her happiness.

Riya said that she had gone to a place near her village and that is why couldn’t write a letter to Reena! But she didn’t tell her the name of the place. Reena’s village was in a far away region of Kerala, where there were no phone lines so letters were the only medium of contact between people and these 13 years had been so busy fro Reena that she couldn’t find time to visit her place. It was only once when her father took all of them back home and that too after 4 years of their exit.

Finally, the train’s whistle told Reena that she has reached her destination. Wow! But where is Riya? She hasn’t come to meet her on the station! When Reena had specifically told her that she would be there on the particular date. Has she forgotten? But how could this be? How could Riya forget the date! Reena, Reena!!! There was shout amidst the crowd. It was her youngest uncle who had come to pick her up. Her father must have told him about Reena’s arrival! Reena frowned, as she wanted to meet Riya first! Well, with a pretentious smile on her face, Reena waved back and started moving towards her uncle, when something caught her feet! Her heartbeat got fast! Something warned her against moving. She felt as if the entire the world has come to a standstill! She tilted her head sideways and her eyes rested on a water cooler kept on the railway station for the public. Underneath the water cooler, it was written in bold letter: “In the loving memory of Riya Sachdeva. May God rest her soul in peace!”

What?? Riya Sachdeva? There must have been a mistake! These people who write these boards have no sense of spellings and make such gruesome mistakes! Idiots! Her uncle had reached her by this time and was also reading the words, which she was reading. Come Reena lets go home! She heard her uncle telling her to move. People who go away don’t come back, only their memories remain like Riya’s. What? What was her uncle saying? She looked back and gave a weird look to her uncle! Was he on drugs? Uncle, who are you talking about? Words were automatically coming out of Reena’s mouth. I am talking about Riya, your friend, the one who died of jaundice years ago. I think it was some date in February 1997. Yeah! It was 14th February!. She was cremated outside the village.

Now the entire world started moving in front of Reena’s eyes? Riya was dead? Then who was writing her letters by her name? Was a common friend doing so? She took out the last letter and went straight to the post office. The officer there told her that the letter was sent from the same office but thee was no stamp on it! He was also shocked that how could a letter be sent without a stamp? So, was Riya sending her letters to keep their promise alive? Or had she given the task to someone who was sending her the letters? Reena is still looking for these answers!

What a shame!! Teachers burning the very instruments, which were awarded to them for imparting education to their students! Just imagine!!! Teachers who were once considered to be the angels who had taken over the task of spreading education and literacy among the children of God have stooped so low. For their selfish means, they didn’t even shy away from burning the very books, which had to be distributed among children.

Just to keep themselves warm on a chilly winter morning, some very “dedicated” teachers of a school in Bihar decided to get some warmth by making a bonfire of the books that had to be distributed among the students! The incident was brought to light by some of the students studying in the school who also lodged a complaint in the police. Now comes the very funny part about the entire incident.

Teachers argue that they did so to keep themselves warm on the coldest day of the season, when the temperature was as low as 6 degree Celsius. There was other means for them to prevent themselves from the chilly winters and they had to take shelter of the bonfire, which was build up with the help of schoolbooks! If they had not done so, they would have died because of cold.

Now arises the question?? Were the teachers right or wrong? If we think from students’ point of view, the teachers were utterly wrong in burning the books, But if we think from humanity point of view, the teachers were not wrong, as they would have died otherwise!!

So, now decide, should these teachers be punished or not?

You will not introspect this for this drawback of yours. Rather, you will blame him or her for being negligent. Imagine this! Women of all ages are often eager to hear a word of appreciation, especially in the family matters. If an old lady is colouring her hair, she is doing that to look better, with a desire to be appreciated by her husband. When a young wife dresses herself, she does that with a motto to hear from her husband: “Wow! How beautiful you look in this dress!”. Well, her life becomes meaningful. Instead the man after finishing his routine, turning his face sideways, sleep peacefully.

If this is repeated again and again, it brings premature old age for the lady. Even if you disagree at a particular point, instead of shouting at her, you can very calmly and lovingly tell her that this is not the way to do so. If you don’t understand this simple rule, you are definitely reaching towards a marriage break sooner or later. We may criticize the western world for its mechanical relationships, but one has always to keep in mind their gestures, etiquettes of saying thank-you and sorry. If we lack these manners, we have to start inculcating them in our lives sooner. They say that good manners belong to everyday, despite their caste, creed, sect, religion or nationality.

I remember a folk tale, which I would like to share with you. A farmer’s wife one day served dry grass to the men folk of the family. When they sat for the dinner, they were indeed very surprised to see the peculiar dish and started rebuking the lady. Well, she very calmly told them that for the past many years, I had been serving you sumptuous food of all varieties, but you never had a word of appreciations for my preparations. Today I have done so deliberately, so that the taste of good food for which I was longing, for a word of appreciation by you people can be recalled. It is time for realization that the lady was toiling all along to maintain the household without any expectation or reward. There must be some science in the background of this tradition! Try to unfold that, try to appreciate your wife once a day for her hard work and see the fruitful results in your life.
Listen my dear! You would surely get to know the real meaning of heaven for this gesture of yours.

The boy seemed to be nice, and the family seemed to be sober. What else can a father ask for his daughter? My dad was really excited about this alliance. My mother on the other hand was equally happy about this relationship! But, I guess this happiness was also shadowed by the future questions being posed to her for her daughter’s life.

Well, what to do but? You can’t decide upon a person until you stay with him, until you talk to him for hours, until you spend some valuable time with him! But, this was only possible when we got married! So, I was left with no other option than to await for my future to unfold itself with this stranger.

But yes there were still some question. Would he prove to be a good husband? Would we be able to lead a good married life? Would he understand my aspirations to fly in the sky, as far as my career is concerned? Would he be a friend to me? Above all, would I be able to love him??

Well, after seven months of my marriage, I can proudly say that I have got the most loving person as my husband! He is my best fiend, my confidante, my lover and everything! I Love him for everything that he does for me!!!

He caught my hand and drove me into the nearby Westside showroom. Once inside the showroom, we forgot all about the bomb scare. Beep! Beep! My mobile showed a new message on the screen exactly two minutes after. One of my dearest friends had messaged me about the bomb blast in Karol Bagh. She was just two turns away from the bombed area in Karol Bagh. This was too much to ignore. I looked for my husband who was looking in the shirts section and trying to decide between a green or red coloured shirt (Phew!! Guys! They can never know the art of shopping). The moment, I took the first few steps towards him, my phone rang. This time, it was my father, who was calling to tell us about the bombs.

On getting his call, I panicked and told my husband to leave everything and go home. Though my husband was least interested in running away from the situation, he agreed to do so, on seeing my fear filled eyes. As luck would have it, we were not even having our car, which meant that we had to take an auto rickshaw for reaching home. We were trying very hard to find one, when I remembered that my father-in-law was talking of going to meet a friend and he usually goes to Connaught place for such purposes. Fear gripped my mind again and forgetting to look for an auto, I took my cell phone and tried calling my father-in-law.

The network of the mobile went down at the same time and all my attempts of reaching him went futile. Was everything fine? Why has the mobile network been jammed. I was angry at the police, the administrative powers, the terrorists and the mobile phone at the same time. But what to do? Stranded in the crowded market place with no means of conveyance and a fear in the heart that this could be the next place for bomb blast, with all failed attempts of contacting my father-in-law, I was no more than a helpless birdie, caught in the pinjara of terrorism.

Somehow, we got a rickshaw, which agreed to drop us at the bus stop outside the market. A ray of hope atleast! On reaching the bus stop, we saw a huge crowd trying to get an autorickshaw. After all, every one wanted to reach home before it got too late. We decided to walk down the way, so that we can atleast reach near our home. But, from somewhere, an auto came and stood just in front of us and LO! The owner even agreed to take us to our destination. The moment we boarded the auto, my hubby managed to reach my father-in-law’s mobile and got the information that he was also safe and was reaching home.

Phew!! The evening went quite disturbed. Afterwards, we thought over the day and analysed that terrorists were very well able to inflict a phsycological fear in our minds. Though, thankfully, no bombs were found in Lajpat Nagar, but the turmoil that we went through, did surely was no different from going through any death experience. And in my life, I would never like anyone to go through this painstaking experience again!

Every one around me tells me that I have a slight attitude problem! That I don’t usually open up with people, even if they wish to be friendly with me! That, my face reactions can easily tell a person, whether I like him or not! Guess what, even my best friend tells me this! Though after spending some time with me, these perceptions of people close to me go away, but still this remark has been bothering me from quiet some time.

Is this true? Do, I really have an attitude problem? But then how come, there have been friends who have remained in contact with me from past many years? Why haven’t they left me? Why does my family members don’t tell me this? Well, I guess that my initial attitude is the root of the problem! I don’t easily get friendly with people and above all if I don’t like a particular person, I would never be able to evn pretend to be friendly with him or her.

But, my well-wishers tell me that this can pose as a big problem in my career graph, as the corporate world likes only those people who can pretend to have a big smile on their face, even if the other person is ready to abuse them! But, for me my smile is very precious, so how can I just waste it for people whom I don/t like and how can I take such a big lie on my conscious? Any solutions anyone???...

After an hour or so, I happened to witness the Grandad taking a quiet stroll in the garden in front of our colony. I was trying to imagine the thoughts that must be dwelling in the old heart, the pain that must have stabbed him a hundred times; and the words that must have died on the threshold of the cracked lips. A few minutes afterwards, I saw him sitting on a bench in the corner, having a look at his wrinkled hands. What was he thinking? Was he trying to view his future in the lines or was he just trying to peep into the past?

I could not hold myself any longer and five minutes afterwards, I was in the garden trying to pounce upon the first chance to talk to the old man. After many trials, I finally sat with him. At first, he tried to ignore me, but I guess the loneliness was just killing him from within. He turned to look at me and asked me – How old are you. My age was not a concern for him, I guess, but I answered him in a meek voice ‘ I am 26 years old grandad’.

‘Oh, so young! so what are you doing here? You should not be sitting with an old soul who can embarrass you at any moment? Go away and leave this old house alone! ‘ These words killed me over a hundred times. I couldn’t think of any suitable answer to this ironical question! My future was in front of me. Would my children also leave me like this? Is our older generation such a big burden for us?

I wanted to shout on the top of my voice and ask the society all these questions. But, whom to ask? Who is responsible? Can we shift this blame on any individual? I guess, no. Today, in the ever running fast lives, when every one of us is a part of the blind race; we are simply ignoring our responsibilities, our small moments of happiness, our peace and above all, our humanity! In that old person’s tears, I could sense many accusing questions, to which I didn’t have any answers. Why is it that when we were considered as responsibilities for our parents in our young age, our same parents become a liability for us in their old age? When we can take out several minutes in our day to sit in front of the television set, why can’t we take out even five minutes to sit with our parents?

Well, someone once said that young children are the future of any well-built society and the older generation is the building block of the same society. So, its high time that we start taking care of these building blocks, or the time is not far away when the society would just falter away!

So, the next time, you happen to misbehave with our granparents, remember the question ‘How old are you?’ and you would get your answers...

After all, the completion of these six months is an indication that our marriage is going to stay for many more years to come! As we both (me and my husband) have took our first step towards learning to adjust with each other in these six months. Well, Mine was an arranged marriage, with my parents deciding the groom for me! And believe me! I was scared to death about this big change coming in my life! Since my childhood, I have always been a free bird, with disliking all kinds of unnecessary boundations! Though, I have always been a disciplined child, I have always disliked being repeatedly reminded about my responsibilities! And here I was being tied in a relationship, which required me to listen to everyone! To be more mature! (A big task)

The moment, it was decided by my parents to get me married to my husband, everything around me changed! Elders started giving me advices on life after marriages, friends started increasing my ecstasy levels by constantly reminding me about a romantic life and my cousins started showing some more respect towards me!!! (Phew!!) All these changes even before the marriage started inflicting a sense of fear in my heart. My biggest fear was to share my life with a stranger whom I knew barely for the last two months (Obviously, he was still a stranger to me!). Another one was to cope up with the responsibilities of a daughter-in-law as well as a good homemaker! Yet another fear was to make a balance between my personal and professional life! (Would, I be able to do so much??) Wow, believe me, I wanted to run away from all this.

But, now after six months, I am happy with the course that life has taken! In my hubby, I found a simple, yet understanding man, who loved me and stood with me at every stage of married life (Though, short it is). He fulfilled his promise of lending his hand whenever my steps faltered, of lending his shoulders, whenever I wanted to shed my tears of solitude, of being my friend when I wanted to confide something private and being my lover, whenever I felt the need of being loved! Cool Na!

Well, now I just hope that this journey of married life, which I have started goes on to become a success and I am able to write more and more articles on my blooming married life! Need your wishes.....

Seeing his present state of mind, I thought it best, not to question him about anything. But, at the same time I was waiting anxiously about hearing his part of the story. Well, the story came but only after few minutes of consoling from my side. His girlfriend was dating someone else.

But, then it was perfectly ok! Actually, the girl he was talking about was his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had broken off barely a month ago. And now the same girl had found someone else. And my sweet cousin was not able to digest this fact. He had actually thought that the girl must be sobbing in her room after their so-called break-up and must be feeling guilty of letting go of such a wonderful person. But, the scene reversed! The tables were actually turned! The girl was perfectly doing fine, in fact found some one else! But my cousin was standing on the same threshold of his past relationship!

Well this young couple and their story set my thinking bulbs lighten up! Well, why do we humans suffocate our lives because of our failed relationships! Why can’t we let go! What is there that binds us to our old ropes? Is it human tendency to hold on to old things? Even if we get new things?