time of my life

I had the best winters ever...went on this holiday with ush...am sure all u guys know her...for those who don’t she's one of my closest buddies...her birthday was on the 2nd of December and i was running out on ideas what to give her...
it was this point in time that we were bonding...and she told me she had never seen snow just like me..That’s what sparked off our two week long vacation. Just the two of us.. We left for Delhi on the 12th and shopped there till the 14th. on the 15th we went to shimla...shimla is scenic has a couple of architectural wonders like the place where shimla conference was held and the museum....other than that. The place is very lazy...it dies after seven.. But we were very excited as barista stayed awake with us. We chilled there for three days... ad them left for manali a ten hour drive from there..
haan before i forget we went by train till shimla and that was truly amazing...the drive to manali was as beautiful as ever...and even my hill sickness left me this trip...manali, kulu and naggar was truly what they all seemed like in the travel books. And we actually went until rohtang pass and a little beyond on the leh ladakh highway despite it being closed to public in the winters...the snow I mean ice from last year did need some work out. We literally broke the ice...and played with our version called snow...but what stole the entire scene were the frozen waterfalls. They were truly spectacular...i was completely enthralled the way even the ripples and folds of the waters lay completely frozen...the icicles were a treat...
back at Delhi...Vivekh gave me a surprise as he landed there with tickets to Agra...something he and ush had not seen...so that was another trip...we made it back to the hot and sultry Chennai through the fog...
Just had to share all this...it was the most rejuvenating trip...and i had a blast...
Merry Christmas and have a great new year ahead...
Cheers…

time of my life

IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL LOVE?

They were married for 5 years. No attachments yet…was there a reason? She was a from a very well to do family. He had lost his earlier job and family. They were both staying with her parents. She was his wife… yet her duties were not limited to just that. Her husband was working at a pharmaceutical company or so he said and so she thought. He would leave the house each day at seven in the morning and would come back after everyone had fallen asleep. She would finish her chores, extra too cause she was a burden in her paternal house. At nights she did a different duty. She doubled up as a watchman. Neck turned 180 degree toward the bus stand she stood night after night that maybe this would the night he would come back early…

He was an alcoholic and a chronic consumer of tobacco. The minute the tobacco starts working sending its affect to his blood, that’s when his mornings kick start. Usually it’s screaming at his wife – a reaction from last night’s hangover. He would make her keep clothes for him, make his choiced menu filed breakfast, polish his shoe, and even brush his teeth if possible…she would do them all. Make his breakfast, polish, clean the room, make his bed…her ordeal was the same each day….she always wore a pleasant smile on her face…

I often wondered how that smile on her face never disappeared…she was so cheerful…my sister told me maybe it got stuck and now she’s stuck with it. Its amazing how someone can put up with all that and yet and want to do willingly. He beat her every night…and she never retaliated….how? I have no clue…she had no reasons for outlet…she could not cry everyone would know and she would never let that happen. She could never give up on her husband…she stood there to guard him…protecting…he was a devil and she was his angel…

Then one day something happened and I saw that she was not smiling…when they asked her she kept quiet…but her face said it all. He had beaten her black and blue and she was sore…how could the body then smile?

I just kept silent…observing the harsh realities that took place in front of my eyes day after day…trying to be insensitive otherwise the feminist inside would get the better of me…but the tears stuck in the tear duct, and her attempt to smile without the body agreeing to let her…all let me know that she was probably dead in feelings lunch before she knew, much before she realized and her love for him was only because she did not even know what was happening, how could she even react…she had become comfortably numb…