Adieu-Keep in Touch

Yesterday I had to work till late in the office and by the time I reached home it was 9:30 PM.I happened to have a brawl with my Onsite Co-ordinator and I was lost in cursing him with the choicest of abuses till I reached home.I put my bag down and sat down on the bed heaving a HUGE sigh of relief when my cell started ringing. Instant thot that passed was “Is it from Office….Noooooooooo don’t tell me”.Seeing that it was from an unkown no….it took sometime for me contemplating if I should be receiving it or not.Even if its not from office I am in no mood of speaking to anyone right now….and the cell stopped ringing…..”Thank God!!”.I went and gulped down a glass of water, had dinner and decided to sleep early…having had enough for the day!!Just then the cell started ringing again…”Now who’s it at 10 in the night”!!
Finally received the call….
Me : Hello
Speaker : Hi yaar
Me : Er….Hi??!!
Speaker : Remember me??
Me : aa…no sorry I can’t recollect…may I know who’s this?
Speaker : Arey main yaar XXXX!
Me : Oh hi yaar….kaise ho…after a long long time !!
Speaker : Haan yaar bas thik…tum batao
Me : yeah, me too fine…aur howz ur job and all
Speaker : Bas chal rahi hai yaar…busy at times what abt u??
Me : same yaar…routine life aur kya
Speaker : haan mera bhi…aur batao
Me : main kya bataun yaar…tum hi batao
Speaker : hmmm main kya bataun…filhaal I am in Hyd yaar
Me: Oh wow!!Thats great…kab aaye
Speaker : Just abt a week back
Me : Oh great yaar…pehle kyun nahi bataya…we cud meet up sometime
Speaker : haan yaar was a bit busy…
Me: ok…no problem we will meet up soon
Speaker : yeah sure…
(An uncomfortable pause for abt 1 min)
Speaker: acha yaar so this is my no. note it down and do keep in touch
Me : haan yaar sure…u too keep in touch


“Keep in touch” this I remember was the phrase we had said to each other when we had parted about a year back.We had been in college together ….we were a close knit group of frens…!!We had shared a hundred things and had days of fun and frolic together….we had laughed and cried together watching movies in the college auditorium,we had put night-outs together working for tech fest,we had crept together into the girls hostel after long past the closing time and had jubilantly congratulated each other for breaking the hostel rules successfully,we had studied for courses together and flunked them together,we had supported each other while giving presentation lectures in order to make a few marks,we had worked on each other’s assignment and ended up muddling it all the more till we had to copy it from the net,we had gossiped on every other group present in the college,we had given b’day bumps to others to our heart’s content only to receive double the amount back on ur own b’day,we had bunked classes together and also helped the other to go to sleep behind one's back in class,we had drafted each others write ups and made sure to see that the person runs out of shy on his/her farewell,we had filled in each others slam books till there was no space left in it…..we had shared four years together…the memories of which will stay for lifetime. We had parted with heavy hearts and promises to always be in touch.There had been lot many such frens…who had been really close…in school,college,work place.Some never attempted to keep in touch….some whom u expected will keep contact didn’t live upto ur expectations and some of them u couldn’t sustain keeping contact with not living upto their expectations…and finally the number reduced to just one or two who were in regular touch …who might also be swallowed in the wave of time!!

It sure does feel great to receive a call from one of ur college frens who had been so close…..but we happened to have nothing to tell each other except for a few formal words….the closeness seemed to have vanished over time ….All those promises of keeping in touch which had been made seemed to falsify somehow….!!”Keep in Touch” a phrase so lightly used by us….. how much essence does it have practically. How much do we abide by the promise that we make….all that remains between frens is a few fwded mails, a few wishes on festivals and b’days and calls when some help is needed……almost narrowing down to a state when we are just a step ahead of being complete strangers to each other.Distances and time seem to have engulfed the relationships and priorities seem to have shifted in life…..Your horizons have broadened . The phrase “Keep in Touch” also has broadened with broadened horizons….and has reduced to just another formality.Frens have been replaced with colleagues or a new set of frens (who will also eventually be replaced with time and distance) and mails have been replaced with career goals and have been prioritised over.Looking back , a handful unknown people that u had come across over the years….who grew from being strangers to acquaintances and acquaintances to frens…..the innumerable promises made,the innocence shared and the immense importance given to each other….all seem faded over time. All that remains are lingering memories of long lost frens….. a few words far and between…..which lack to fill up the space and vacuum that has been created by the negligence that has crept in with time.Life has moved on and u have learnt to move along with life….learning in a smooth or hard way to hold on to just the memories and experiences which are not perishable ….as u move along taking in home the learning that the charm and vigour of evrything perishes and transforms over time .Now when someone says “Keep in touch” I mentally translate the phrase to myself and reply with a smile “Sure yaar,u too keep in touch”!!

A Smile Makes ur Day!!

Its just another routine day….getting up at 8 with the alarm having been set and re-set umpteen no of times since 7 for an interval of 10 -10 min till the alarm clock itself is tired of ringing and literally yells in ur ear “Get up now or I will bash u up!!”….”U grumble and growl abt it being another working day….”…rush to office…cook up an excuse for being late and pat urself for coming up with such brilliant and innovative excuses each time….(keeping up the company’s spirit of innovation)!!And then the day drags on….it either ends right at 6 on days when u r absolutely free and have been sitting and staring the whole day at the monitor…reading each and every mail that pops up in ur mail box even if it’s a group announcement or put up an earnest act of reading some very important project related documents whereas the reality is either u r lost in the songs of Lucky Ali playing on ur Winamp or are deep into an e-book……sometimes I seriously wonder…had Winamp been barred at the work place I wud seriously have to consider shifting to another job.And there are days when u just happen to look at the bottom right corner of ur system and see the time to be 10:00 and wonder if its AM or PM and it takes full 5 min for ur brain to register that its 10:00 PM and then u wonder if there will be any coffee in the coffee machine realising that its long past lunch now and ur stomach is growling!!
The day ends and u manoeuvre ur way through the traffic back home and ur ears keep ringing with the blaring noise of the vehicles on the road till half an hr after reaching home.Switch on t.v….browse through channels for half an hr…curse the channels for screening nothing of ur interest and for repeating the same old things…at times if u r too tired to browse channels you satisfy urself watching the same old movie “Mera Dil Tera Sanam…etc etc” for the hundredth time and really appreciate the channel for actually researching so hard to zero down on a movie like that and screen it repeatedly (as viewer’s choice)which wud have stayed unheard of otherwise!!And then when the clock strikes 12 u slowly feel overpowered by sleep…sometimes it even happens that u luckily find something interesting to watch on t.v and want to watch the whole program but the muscles in ur body blatantly refuse to keep up to ur expectations !! And thus ends the day with u being in the dreamland watching urself free out of this routine mundane life…throwing the resignation at ur boss’s face and getting back at him for the torture that he bestowed upon u.
A mundane life that almost all of us lead.Most of us have the same routine…its as if we have become like a tuned alarm clock running as per the settings ….without any escape whatsoever.But as I sit and sip coffee at my desk looking at my colleagues sitting around me and ponder over where my routine life is heading to I realise that everyone around me has the same kind of routine and thots like me.But when you have a look at them closely u see that some people have adapted themselves very well to the routine.There are people who always have an enthusiasm in them…smiling broadly while moving around on the floor…smiling at every person (known/unknown) they come across,taking time off their work and spending time going to others desks and making them laugh as well along with them, taking up any kind of work with equal amount of enthusiasm even if it is as boring as correcting grammar in some documents that are to be delivered,making a lot of frens around,dropping nice cheerful mails now and then ….these are the people who are noticeable in the floor which otherwise consists of hundred odd people…..The people who bring in life to the floor …the only ones whose absence is noticed when they are on leave.And u will see that u invariably end up having a secret admiration for such kind of people.And there are another set of people who are unnoticeable, lost in the floor as much as they are lost in their computers and lives.They are the ones who have a gloomy face all the time, smile evades them as if its another precious thing which they wudn’t like to part with or spend on any tom dick and harry, always grumbling abt their work,cursing their routine lives …they are the ones whom u look at and realise how mundane ur life is!!There is one thing that I realised after getting into profession is that being gloomy or staying happy is upto one’s state of mind.The more you grumble abt things not being the way u like the more life grumbles at u and life eludes u!!Its totally ur call to either find happiness out of the routine or follow a routined gloominess.You are frustrated as long as u decide to be…the moment u decide that no I will laugh away at everything and drown my frustration in my laughter there will be no frustration.Starting the day by telling urself that today is the best day for me helps.U stop realising the monotony… u infact start enjoying it!!
The way u can live life to the fullest is something that is a never ending lesson which unfolds new lessons for u at every step and the lessons end only with life.A lesson in which to progress through all its chapters u need a whole lot of enthusiasm and the right spirit…sticking on to gloominess and grumbling or for that matter sticking on to anything will stagnate u in the first chapter and will not help u progress.Now when I am talking of all this I might as well mention of a person’s blog that I had come across…..although I don’t happen to know the person personally and had got the link to his blog from one of my close frens…I really admire the way he perceives life.Some of the articles of his that I read had been so humorous that me and a few of my frens had laughed so hard that tears came rolling down our eyes and our supervisors suspiciously asked us the reason for our ecstasy..thinking that we were planning to play some prank on them.At times I have been really frustrated with my work and his humorous articles had proved to be a heavenly break.Hats off to his humour and satire !!And today in the morning my fren mailed me asking me to read his latest post which talked abt his engagement breaking up.When I heard of it first I was really taken aback and almost dumbstruck.But when I read his post I was amazed at the way he’s handled it…and the way he’s put it across with his usual humorous touch.I empathized with him and decided to drown the sad news in a cup of coffee.But I was in for a bigger surprise when I saw all my frens who had been reading his posts empathising with him and actually praying for him.
Now coming to think of it….this is a fast moving world and everyone is trying hard each day to keep pace with it.Who has the time in the world to empathise with some unknown person and pray for him.In such a fast moving world where people don’t find time to pray for themselves if we are actually pausing and taking out time even for a sec to pray for someone then I guess these are the true blessings that anybody should count on.The people who know how to bring a smile on other’s faces and make the day for others by their humour inspite of the problems that they face….the people from whom u can learn how to imbibe enthusiasm in ur monotonous life are those whom u will always admire and pray for and learn from.May God create more such people for ages to come and may God keep them as bright and smiling as ever.

Holi

The clock struck 11 and I was in a deep slumber lost in dreamland when there was a sudden thud….someone was pounding at the door.”Its 11 in the morning…do u have any intention of waking up”….God!!I don’t understand why parents have to get up so early.Do they know how much they are missing by getting up so early in the morning…afterall isn’t it in the morning that u get the best of sleep possible!!Anyways, I looked at the watch…mumbled half asleep….ok baba getting up and got out of the bed!!Checked for the time and it showed 10:45…”Oh Papa its not yet 11….and I got back late from office yesterday…”…anyways!!

The day was as normal as any other weekend and late in the afternoon there was a msg on my cell…”Hi Hutch!!On thi Holi discover new colourful ringtones and caller tunes on ur mobile ….”…..How can ringtones be colourful….nevermind but yeah isn’t it Holi today!!Let me go and look out as to how people are celebrating Holi!!Looked out of the window…and there wasn’t a soul visible…switched on the tv and watched the news for a while where people celebrating Holi in different states was being shown….got bored after sometime and decided to call up a few frens.None of them seemed to be celebrating…and half of them didn’t even know it was Holi today.However all of them seemed to remember how we used to celebrate the festival when we were in hostel in our college….”yaar yaad hai how we broke rotten eggs on ur head and how u went stinking for a whole week after that”…”and haan kaise we had emptied the whole bucket of colors in ur room yaad hai…u took two whole days to get over that mess”

True!!We used to have such a blast on Holi in college……that was the first time ever I celebrated Holi…. making it all the more special for me.That was the day when there were no distinctions made between profs and students.All of us used to get together in the lawns and play with colors to our heart’s content.There were no restrictions on our wear and no etiquettes whatsoever…..all of us tried to be as uncivilized and barbaric as we could shouting and yelling our lungs out!!Pulling everyone out of their hostels , messing up rooms….cleanliness seemed to be alienated for that day!!Catching hold of the people who looked less messier than the others and trying our best to be the messiest of the lot.I still remember that day when it was declared that playing holi was over for the day and everyone left to take bath….just to fool me…and after 2 and a half hrs of tidying up I was bathed with a bucket of colors when I got out!! Holi and Diwali had always been the two festivals which were the most enjoyable ones since childhood!!Probably these are the only two festivals which actually bring out the child in everyone….!!Only festivals when people of all age groups are seen celebrating in the same way…the only days when kids get official permission to play pranks on elders.

But now we are back again to square one.No Holi….No diwali…most of us don’t even notice when the festivals go by.And the reason we give is…”Got to go office the next day yaar…let me take rest for today”….”Arey office mein bahut kaam hai yaar…no time absolutely”!!If we are giving excuses of work load to ourselves for not enjoying these small things in life isn’t this a valid enough excuse for not living life at all.Workload seems to be the excuse for anything and everything around.Not celebrating festivals,not being able to attend frens/realtives functions,not being able to keep in touch with frens,not being able to get back home for a long time,not remembering to wish on ur siblings b’day,not having the time to pursue our hobbies and interests,no time to get up early and enjoy the morning walk,no time to meet ur school fren who’s on a visit to ur place,no time to wish anyone on festivals,no time to even smile at ur colleagues sitting in the same floor as u ….and the list goes on.In short workload seems to be an excuse for not living life as it is meant to be….an excuse that u r giving urself for letting life by pass you.We all seem to be in a race…..not realising that we have left all those little things that we used to enjoy in life far behind.For all those things that we miss could our workload serve as an excuse…..aren’t we just missing out on just a little more than that!!