The Day She Had...

She was in a hurry. There was so much to do and so little time to do it all in. She was in the middle of a major cleaning activity which she needed to complete before the afternoon and then she was going to be travelling with her husband.

She finished one portion of the cleaning and was to begin the next round when she heard the loud shrill of the phone, cutting through the silence in the house. As she picked up her mobile, she saw that it was from the workplace.

Within minutes, she changed. She needed to go out and get something done related to her work.

"It's as well that this came up," she thought. There were other things that needed to be done outside more important than the cleaning.

She stepped out into the bright and sunny morning. Disoriented with the brightness of the sun, she took a minute before she caught an auto to the place where she needed to go.

She reached the gallery and viewed the beautiful paintings. Confusion set in as there were too many to choose from. She called a friend to ask for help. They decided to not to go ahead with the initial plan and that being done she was free to carry out her personal work.

She walked across the road and waited for a bus. Many buses passed her way but none that would take her to the destination she needed to go. She waited and waited and at last she saw her bus coming from far. She closed her bag, kept the phone inside and groped for the umbrella. That's when she realized, she had left it behind in the gallery.

She trudged back to the gallery, and then back again to the bus stop to begin the long wait.

But she didn't have to wait for long. A bus came soon and she left for the next destination.

She reached her stop soon and stepped into the large market place. She moved from one shop into the other , the personal work now being taken over by the shopaholic in her.  As shops passed and interesting things caught her eye, she forgot the time and set to bargain in earnest.

Another sharp ring of the phone, amidst the loud throng of the market jostled her out of the shopping frenzy she was in.  It’s when she grabbed the phone she realized that much time had passed. She needed to rush back, buy things to cook in a jiffy and then rush home to pack for the travel.

She hurried back and into another shop, this time closer to home. She looked and poked at fruits and vegetables before she settled on a few.  She moved outside lugging all that luggage to check out on the other fruits that shop had. As she struggled with her packages, he opened the door for her and smiled at her. She thanked and moved forward to finish the shopping and move home soon. He was forgotten and done with in her memory.

She finished paying and stepped out with another few packages in her hand. The bags were heavy and she was in a hurry. She moved forward when she heard a voice from behind. She turned and saw it was him.

"Don’t mind my saying one thing to you," he said.

He waited while she nodded.

"You are looking gorgeous", he said.

Shocked she could only stutter "Thank You".

He turned with a smile and walked away into the milling crowd.

Who is he, she doesn't know…

All she knows is that her bags feel lighter, her heart seems fuller and smile graces her face. She walks home with a spring in the step wondering, "Who was he….?"

Cooking Extravaganza

For those of you who have read my earlier post on "My experiments with cooking" will be surprised to hear that I have been making inroads with my cooking.

For the past almost three months I have actually been cooking or at least experimenting with cooking. I don't do too much other than make lunch for Gowtham and me to take to office. Of course the occasional laziness does set in and we scrape by.

My cooking skills were put to test just two weeks ago when his parents had other agendas and left the house to just the two of us. Within no time, we made plans and that too huge plans. Without another thought in mind, we made a few calls and were set… We were having dinner at home and had invited a few friends over.

One Monday evening, we sat and decided on the menu and went out to buy the required ingredients. As Tuesday evening  came forth, I began to panic, "What had I gotten myself into!!!" My panic spread and within no time both of us were taking turns in panicking and comforting and reassuring the other not to panic. After a bout of panic, we sat down and listed whatever needed to be done and sat down to cut the vegetables required for the 'big event'.

On Wednesday morning, instead of cooking for office, I made the preparations for the evening and decided to give cooking for lunch a skip.

We rushed home that day and were in by 4.45 pm. By 5.00 I began the marathon with Gowtham cheering me from the sides and also stepping in between to relieve me of my duties or to give me a break. So focused were we on finishing it all in time that we were done, ready and all set for everything in less than two hours.

So there we were, with two big bowls of Tomato Rice, Raita, some Munchy Friames, and a casserole of White Sauce Pasta. We then decided to order a plate of chicken gravy to satisfy those of carnivorous appetites.

The meal went well and the food, even though, it is only me putting it down here, was liked by everyone. The fault being only that in my haste to ensure that the food lasts for everyone, I ended up making double of what was actually required and we ended up eating the same things two day in a row.

All's well that ends well...until my next major attempt at cooking!!!

OMAK

A few months ago I needed a small write up  for a magazine.  That's when I hunted and hunted...and stumbled upon a weird  acronym - OMAK - It meant 'Observe Merit and Appreciate Kindness'

Now this concept of OMAK basically tries to highlight that different people have different qualities which could be considered as merits or shortcoming. And it talks about our natural tendency to focus on faults in things, people and everything around us. It cautions us  not to do so, but to "Observe Merit" in people and "Appreciate Kindness" in what they do.

As I began to read a few articles from the internet on this, I began to shake my head in negation,  "Of course not! We aren't that negative….It depends and varies from person to person and on the person's outlook"

As I finished reading and pondered a bit on this, I began to see that may be I had to change my stance.  Recalling a few instances made me realize that at many instances many people including me have been negative. I read a bit and tried to understand the concept and for a few days even tried practicing the concept of OMAK.

Now I had read an article, tried practicing the concept for a few days and that was it… Gradually, things returned to the way they were...

So caught up in life and the daily grind, going through the motions day in and day out, the smile that was plastered on my face was getting tinier and tinier. Was it because I was finding faults with everything or was it because I was in a situation to be considered as a fault?

I am unsure….

As I sit and ponder I realize that 'fault finding' and 'whining' have become a integral part of human lives. In fact we do not just limit it to these two. We have now also specialized in the area of 'sarcasm'.

You may shake your head and say no...But just think for a few moments and you realize that a lot of interactions that take place in our lives may have either of these things

What has changed so much in the world that these things  - fault finding, whining and sarcasm have become a part of our life?

I am really unsure and saddened by this. But something forced to revisit the article I read on OMAK earlier and I am directly quoting a few lines from the last paragraph here….

"It’s hard tochange the world; it’s certainly easier to change how we see the world. The keyto happiness has always been in our own hands. "

It put the smile back on my face and hope in my heart. Let's see what tomorrow brings!!!