All incidents or opinions mentioned in this article are 'fictional' and are not completely subscribed by the author.

....except for a few ones!!!

 

Just on my way back from office.. sitting in the bus.... I thought.... what is it that can make people happy? I mean..look at me... after slogging my ass off and going thru stress for so long..I was finally able to give myself the much needed break (bench life is like an earned break!!!)..where I could do everything I ever wanted......waiting for a good 'probable' opportunity to materialize in a few weeks !!! Till then...all I had to do..is utilize the time in doing something worthwhile...something that 'makes me happy'.

The journey all the way till this place was not an easy one. I had my ups and downs..with work..with loved ones.. with myself....And after going through all that I was finally at a peaceful juncture in life!! Staying with my closed ones and having the best of times with the freedom to do whatever I want. What more could I ask for? Then?? Why was I not feeling 'happy'. What was missing???... was it all not there... available for me on a platter....??? And here I was wondering...'What to do'!!

I have heard.. that if u feel bad..lonely..close your eyes and go back into the happy times..... so..there I was sitting in the bus..closing my eyes... so that I could look back at some happy times(wondering whether there were any??!! )......

And know what I saw...... a smiling cheerful me...... that smile (my own smile ) skipped my beat... heheh..... awwwwwwwwwww how romantic..isn't it? !!! But back then...... when I claim to have been 'happier' ... what was it that was different? I have a lot more freedom right now.... my friends are not that far..... I have that special someone in my life this time to enhance my joy.... then what makes me go back and get stuck to the past??!! Well..... let me go back into those times.... I might find an answer there.....

So…. I started thinking about all the sad...happy...embarrassing……beautiful moments of my roller-coaster ride called LIFE………….. the happy times with my friends...... the bitter-sweet pain of parting with my loved ones…………..... the excitement of getting back again...... falling in love(or so we called.. ) for the first time...... being loved.....(or rather getting attention )..... gosh.... that was so much fun....... and as the old memories came flooding in……… my heart felt heavy and there came a smile..that lit my face.... and brought a twinkle to my eyes..... Gosh.... how much did I miss it since soooooooo long!!!!

Suddenly..... everything seemed to change.... !! I started enjoying myself.... enjoying the ride back home..... with that smile which had brought ME back....... !!

Some moments always stay close to the heart.... like.... falling in love...with my pup....I remember how hard it was to leave him with my relatives for 15 days when we needed to go for a trip. I had even started associating myself to all those songs where the heroine misses her hero...well...of corse.... I was the heroine..... the hero was my pup..!!! The love went to rest on other objects of affection gradually as I went into my teens......and there were moments when my heart skipped a beat everytime I saw that (then)special someone(who almost changed every month)...... or got a rose on my college rose day(I always wonder how a small innocent flower can invoke so many sweet emotions!!)..... then..that 'cute' unknown stranger in the bus..that made the 2 hour journey to college a memorable ride(I wonder how I would react if I bump into him again!!! )...... The most wonderful moment was when me and my 'close friend'(and now my fiancé) confessed our love for each other....no matter how 'matter-of-fact' the tomboy in me was trying to be...I have to admit ..I felt the girly blush in me at that moment for the first time in my life!!!

Then there were unforgettable times with 'college buddies'(the GANG as we proudly called ourselves)..... dancing like savages in the college disc(and me collapsing almost always)........getting that first alchoholic kick and basking into the glory of that 'top-of-the-world' feeling(anything seems possible in that state after all)  and those treks and overnight stays that bloomed our friendships ........ and assured a companionship forever!!!I can still remember our (so-called) 'Industrial visit' to GOA ('land of bikinis'....mann wat a place to learn )where we had our 4 days of bliss in the most adverse of circumstances (Prof getting drunk, bus break down, 12 hours wait on the road seeking refuge at a chai stall....). Mann.... how much we wished the wait would go on forever with an unlimited stock of poems and jingles(AK classics as we called them) made by amateur artists of our GANG. Then there were endless laughter sessions... may it be with my GANG in college... or trainee friends(my Baaaa******* GANG) at work(so called) in the lab.. or with my 4 crazy room-mates.....or my best-buds of school ...or my sis....... (being with me..is laughter guaranteed...and no reason needed!!)... I remember how we spent hours planning 'budday' surprises for each other.... and all the excitement just so that we do not miss even a fraction of the 'priceless' reactions that followed......

Of Corse.. there were embarrassing moments to add the spice too..... saree day at school...(with the thing draped around me almost looking like a saree), ...first boy to shake hands with in junior college(I was from a gals convent...u see…it took a long time for me to start treating boys like human beings rather than species coming from some other planet!!!! I can’t help but wonder some of their ways even now!!)..... first day at engineering college(it scared the wits out of me..to see the scary long-haired creatures...with jeans hanging wayyyyyyy down.... asking my name!!!!).. those were my seniors whom I grew to love and ADORE in my later days of graduation!!!!

Gosh..the most embarrassing one was that first day at math class where I felt like burying myself alive for giving my math teacher two 500/- notes in place of 6000 RUPEES...and blurting out "I don have change"(I mean...you can WRITE 600 IN PLACE OF 6000...but how can you THINK 600 in place of 6000??????????????)I can never forget the look on my teacher's face. I always wondered how I could efficiently manage to get myself amidst an embarrassing situation.....like.....the day when I made the class laugh at me when I entered late for a lecture(I still dunno whether it was the look on my face.. or the question that the professor asked..."Does she belong to this class?".....when it was almost the end of the semester!!!).... the stage where I sang for the first time..and was showered with paper balls(C'mon...those were blessings of my college-mates!! What are you thinking?????????)...... my first day at office where I fell down from the bicycle on my way to office through the lush green paths of my training campus.....caught in one of the bushes at the side-walk with a crowd of unknown faces staring at me in amusement! The dent I left behind in the bushes was named as the ‘historic point’ from then on (hey…. But I really don’t LOOK that heavy!!!!)!!

And there are moments that added a 'celebrity spark' to life..like the moment when I got a chance to 'accidentally' speak to SHANKAR MAHADEVAN(on behalf of the alumni committee of my college)… I spoke to him as his ‘ex-college mate’ (mann what an honor!!).. and the 2 hours after this 2 minute phone-conversation where I was floating in air with a beaming 'OMG....what did I just do??!!!' smile......(I heard rumors doing their rounds after that.....about me having got an opportunity to meet and converse with SM and they even graduated to me doing a few musical stints with him in a few of his songs...now that’s what I call living a dream...... virtually!!!) and.....that 1 minute opportunity that gave me a celebrity status..(well almost!) on talking with the CEO of my company and getting complimented for my 'beautiful' name.....I might have never been as thankful to my parents as I was at that moment... to get MY NAME ... It had given me the hope of being the FUTURE CEO of my company..(..it's now that I realize that it's really not difficult to make an SE dream about being future CEO of his company. After all ….that is the only hope that makes him put in the endless hours of donkey labor that follow!!)..... don't even think about the rumors that made rounds after this...... I'll be fired if I disclose that!!!

Suddenly the bus came to a screeching halt and I opened my eyes..............

Wow.....I lived a decade of happiness in the 20 minute boring bus ride.... It did add the much-needed  'sweetness' in my otherwise CHEENI KUM life!!!

 

I have learnt a very important lesson..... it's not the 'good moments' that make you smile.. it's the 'good' that you can make out of a moment that actually does the trick....

Don't wait to get those happy moments back.........LIVE every moment to make it happy again!!

So SMILE please..... and..LET IT STAY!!!