My moment of fame...

This post was picked as a WOW post by BlogAdda in the Write-Over-the-Weekend initiative ! :-)

"Who is she ? A fan or an ex-flame ?

I jumped at the headline. But the colorful picture below it made my day. The first page of my morning newspaper had never felt so heart-warming. It made me feel elated. It transported me back in memory to the earlier day and it's turn of events.

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Standing outside the elevator of the corporate building, my mind went into a tizzy of thoughts. 

"Yup, it's official ! I am never attending late night parties. Else how would I ever turn up in the same work attire as yesterday for today ? To add to my woes, of all the days in a week, the meeting had to be scheduled for today. Who wants a meeting on a 'Saturday'? IT'S WEEKEND, for Pete's sake. When I get promoted as CEO in........ God-knows-how-long....... I'm declaring a ban on all Saturday meetings."

The elevator arrived at the lobby, putting a stop to my galloping thoughts. I entered and fidgeted through my bag for the sales report. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a tall man entered in a brown suit. 

We were 2 floors away from our office level when the elevator decided to suddenly jerk and stop in a limbo.

"Oh, c'mon ! We are nearly there." I yelled at the doors at the top of my voice. I am very mellow otherwise, you see. Just as we stood gaping at the floor indicator, the gentleman decided to speak.

"Hello!"

It took me a moment to look at his face clearly and identify him. Was I dreaming ? Or was my hangover from the earlier night so terrible that I had begun to hallucinate ? Either way, my question was answered when I gained my composure. You see, it's not everyday that Dan Brown walks into an elevator and greets you. Yes Dan Brown, the famous author !

While I stood dumb-founded with an open mouth, Dan took a second glance at me and repeated - "Hi!"

I gulped quickly and returned a quick greeting - "Hi ! It's so nice to meet you."

He flashed a smile and looked away at the indicator. And I stood right next to him, looking for words to say. When I finally garnered my tongue (and some guts) I said - "I am so sorry I didn't notice you earlier. You see, I am running late for a meeting." Once I began, there was no stop to my rambling.

"Sir, I just wanted to say that ..... I'm a huge fan of your work and I profoundly admire you. Your book, The Da Vinci Code, changed my perspective of historical fiction. I have read all your books and I must say, each one has been a unique masterpiece."

"Thank you. It's always nice to meet a fan." He said. "I'm sure you will enjoy reading my next novel - Inferno. In fact, you must come for the launch to be held today."

"Wow, I wish I could but I've this meeting that I have to attend." I told him with a sulking face. "If you don't mind, can I take a picture with you ?"

"Oh yes... why not ?" He obliged.

My trembling hands brought out the phone to start the camera. As I held my hands high above our heads, he held me close with his right arm making me go weak in my knees. This was going to be my best selfie ever !

I clicked the snap and right at that moment, the elevator jerked back to life with its door opening.

Dozens of shutterbugs clicking their cameras stood outside the elevator, which blinded me. Dan stepped out, turned around to give me his dimpled smile. I smiled back at him mesmerized by his charm

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I found myself smiling again as my recount ended in my mind and my eyes landed on the picture. The front picture of me and Dan Brown posing for a selfie made me feel proud. Maybe going to the office on a Saturday wasn't so bad after all. When I turn CEO, I am keeping the Saturday meetings. 

Who knows who I'll run into the next time ? ;)

**This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.**

**This is a fictional story which evolved as result of my imagination for this week's BlogAdda prompt. I admire Dan Brown's work and truly wish to run into him one day.**

Yours' truly,

Live like there’s no tomorrow

           It's 6 in the morning. He looked around with innocent eyes.

          

          “Where should I start from?” he must have thought.

Source : Google images

         Only a loose pair of shorts adorned his waist, even then he walked upright with a small broom in his hands. He couldn't have been more than 7 years though his life may have seen well above what a normal 7-year-old would witness in a life time. He had a small build but the twinkle in his eyes shone brightly even from a distance.

          

           After looking on both his sides, he chose the side away from me. A couple of steps ahead and he bent over to start his chore – more like his job.

         

           Sweeping in to-and-fro movements he stopped after a couple of times only to head over to my end and begin sweeping again.

          

          Once he chose to stop sweeping anymore, he walked up to the opposite end and stretched out his hand, this time to a fellow passenger – asking for money.

          

            He earned a few coins from the handful of train travelers and walked up to my end again.

          

          My dad handed him a 2-rupee coin which he graciously accepted before continuing his routine with the co-passengers.

            

           “Give him some more, dad.” I told my father. When dad gave him a 5-rupees in total, my mom called out to the little boy one last time and said – “Good job on the sweeping. The whole place is so spick and span.”

          

            Off he went towards the exit door of the train. He counted  the coins at hand and stepped off the train when the next station arrived.

          

The little boy had gone but he triggered an ocean of questions within me.

          

“Did he get enough money?”

          

“What food would the money buy him?”

          

“Why isn’t he in a school right now?”

          

“Where is his family? Rather does he have a family at all?”

          

“Do all of them ask for money in local trains regularly?”

          

            Seated in a train compartment with a 9-month old baby on my lap, wondering how life seems fair to some and turns into a struggle for others even for everyday survival, I thought about this week’s BlogAdda WOW prompt – “What if today is my last day on this planet? What would I do today if I knew I have no tomorrow left?”

          

The answer was right in front of me. Donate a part of my savings to sponsor an under-privileged child who needs financial support to live, to eat, to survive and most importantly, to learn.

          

                I may not be able to resolve this social issue on my own but if everyone donated to charity (irrespective of how big or small amount), our contribution would be so much higher and bigger.

Even though free education is provided all over the country today, a massive section of the society still choose to send their grown-up kids to ask for money in local trains and on streets, to acquire income for their survival.

After today’s experience, expensive gifts and getaways to foreign destinations don’t entice me as before knowing that I can help bring about change in a child’s life makes me feel proud and gleam with happiness on my last day of survival.

As I jot down these obscure thoughts, I realize it’s time to leave with a goodbye but also knowing the fact that someone, from somewhere will be happy for a better tomorrow.

Yours' truly,

**This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.**

I wish I could...

Source : Google Images

I wish I could soar high into the skies,

Away from reality, into a different humanity.

Treading on soft, white clouds – blithe and naive,

With a fleeting glance of the earth passing by as a stream.

I wish I could see past this fickleness,

To look clearly at life the way it unfolds.

To behold and comprehend, to devour and endure,

Some may call it a mystical journey; I call it an unanticipated jaunt.

I wish I could stroll deep into the wilds,

And remain captivated and enthralled by nature.

Admiring the plush greenery and dancing to the rhythm of the forest, 

Isolating my mind from all careless thoughts.

Source : Google Images

I wish I could live entirely in this moment,

To disappear into solitude – mind, body and all.

To surrender myself and not worry about consequences,

To gaze into the future and await a better tomorrow.

I wish I could gather all my past memories and live in them forever,

Breathing in and breathing out the very essence of my life.

A better cohort I could not ask,

A stronger confidante I would not want.

I wish I could etch this story so true,

This experience of being and feeling alive.

I would inscribe it entirely on my heart,

And leave it thus open for the whole world to see.

I wish I could be a better me,

Go into the past and obliterate those times,

When people were misunderstood or when I was,

When epochs were changing or when I was.

Yours' truly,

My second Liebster Award !

It took me by surprise when Anmol Rawat, a fellow blogger, nominated me for my second Liebster Award. The reason being, I wasn’t expecting it. The blogging world has kept me awestruck and fascinated with the range of articles and its network of talented bloggers worldwide ever since I joined in 2011. Most importantly, it has helped me build my own world of favorite bloggers who have, in the process, turned into friends.

When someone from this amazing world shouts out to you with an award, you feel ecstatic for having been noticed. Thank you Anmol Rawat. I owe you one. J

Rules of the Liebster Award (taken from Anmol’s blog post) –

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1.     Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2.    Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3.    Answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4.    Provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5.    Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6.    Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7.     List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

8.    Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster Award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!

My answers  –

Q1. What makes you venerable?

Answer. People say I have a good memory. Telephone numbers and faces are kind of easy for me to remember.

Q2. Paperback or EBooks? Why?

Answer. I would say, both. At home, a paperback is what you’ll find my nose deeply perched into. While on a journey an eBook is always easy to carry in terms of quantity of books and portability.

Q3. If you are given full freedom for 24 hours and you can do anything without any consequences, what will you do?

Answer. Get into a famous bookstore and rob them of all the books that I wish to read.

Q4. Have you ever felt Déjà vu? When?

Answer. I have always experienced déjà vu from time-to-time right from my high school days. Although it was hard to understand or explain it back then, the last time I had a déjà vu was in 2013 before the birth of my daughter.

Q5. Do you think that India should work more towards the growth and development of mindsets rather than technology?

Answer. India has been and continues to be a traditional society. So mindsets have ruled us for so long but now it’s time to give technology a chance. Many of our age old processes need to undergo improvisation and that would only be possible with newer technological findings. In order to flourish as a super power country, our primary investment definitely should be in technology.

Q6. Have you ever felt anything supernatural? A brief explanation would suffice.

Answer. Yes, more than once. I will share a recent experience. Of all the possible meanings that could arise from the word ‘supernatural’, I choose to pick the words – weird, bizarre or mystical to describe this word so that it fits perfectly in my scenario.

Recently, I had to visit the US consulate in India for a visa thing. I reviewed my forms a million times to avoid any last minute pandemonium or goof-ups on the D-day. But as you would have it, sometimes things are bound to go wrong even if it isn’t your mistake. So right before entering the consulate, the officer checking my documents finds a mistake in my form and asks me to print a new copy with the correction included. Now, since the consulate is located in an upcoming industrial area, the vicinity wasn’t very well developed so you can rest the idea of a cyber café existing there. I was sure that the finding for a cyber café would make me miss my appointment time.

But as mystical as it gets, just as I was walking away from the consulate entrance, a gentleman approaches me and tells me that his cyber café is right up ahead so we need not worry ourselves with the form correction. Since none of the existing crowd seemed to head any way other than consulate, it seemed a little skeptical to trust a complete stranger but as he correctly stated, his cyber café was indeed located some 200 yards away. He promptly helped me correct the form, print a new copy and emailed me the corrected form in case I needed to check it using my phone. As a result I ended up on time for my appointment back at the consulate with no worries or tensions in my mind.

Q7. What is your biggest fear?

Answer. Being alone amongst family. Mind you, family here doesn’t mean your parents or siblings. I’m talking of feeling alone in a big crowd of people who are your cousins, uncles, aunts and the likes. If family isn’t with you always, then that was never your family to begin with.

Q8. What is your biggest obsession?

Answer. I am an OCD freak so cleanliness comes naturally. Not to forget being meticulous and organized about everything in life.

Q9. If you could go in the past, what would you like to change?

Answer. I would like to change some of my statements I made to my near and dear ones in the past due to frustration or anger. Apart from this, I also wish that I hadn’t helped certain friends who just turned out to deceit me in the end. But thanks to the change in their nature, I was able to judge them correctly and stay away from them.

Q10. If you found out that your pet is an alien morphed into the creature, how will you react?

Answer. Then that explains why my dog is having adjustability issues with me since I landed at my parents’ house. She likes to growl and bark at me at every instance. So much so that I remain captivated in a closed bedroom only because my pet wants to wander like a lion in the rest of the house. How would I react ? Let’s just say I am not amused and need my freedom back. (Pssst…. I also want the alien to be sent back to its planet soon…. )

Q11. What is the most beautiful dream you have ever seen and remembered on the following morning?

Answer. There was one particular dream I saw last year. The dream started with me feeling very sad and overwhelmed about the things happening around me. I became restless and couldn’t hold my tears back. That’s when this gentleman appeared from nowhere and whisked me into a comforting hug. His touch seemed to soothe me. His golden words were – “It’s ok dear, everything will be fine.” I remember waking up to this dream feeling hopeful and positive. A sudden rush of optimism surged all over my body and made me want to see that person in my dreams again. In real life too, we need someone like that who can make us stop for a second and give us a warm hug to assure us that in the end, it will all be fine.

Random facts about me – I have posted about this earlier. Click here and here.

My questions for nominees -

Q1. If you had to give up one of your personal favorites forever (like a favorite fruit / food / belongings), what would it be ?

Q2. If you could have one superpower, what would it be ?

Q3. Who has been your biggest inspiration in your life ? Why ?

Q4. If you could choose to view one of the world’s most historical events, which one would you choose ?

Q5. Tell us one goal of your life you are working toward.

Q6. Jewelry or money ? Why ?

Q7. What is one song you cannot get out of your head ?

Q8. If you could bring back one dead person from your life (like a friend or family member), who would it be ? Why ?

Q9. Name the happiest moment of your life so far.

Q10. A day trip to a big bustling city or a walk in the countryside ?

Q11. And last but not the least, how long did it take you to write this post ? ;)

Blogs I nominate

1. Purn!ma Prabhu
2. Absolutely Not Sure
3. Red Handed
4. Rainbow Hues
5. Journal of a Bookworm
6. Bingo
7. Any Excuse to Write
8. Maya

Go on everyone. Let's see your answers come through !

Your's truly,