Random #3

Albeit here exists the sound of doors shaking, air flowing, clock ticking... But it strikes the most to hear the silence echoing..

#whatifeltafterenteringmyclosedhouseformonths #missupapa

Random #2

"Don't be too blind about your opinions that, at the cost of getting others convinced, you are left alone with your opinion at the end."

~Dishi

Witnessing the Change - Women Power !

"Be with someone, who is proud to be with YOU. "

This line touched her. She is a woman right next door. She very easily let her family members laugh at her, her imperfections. She too laughs at those jokes then. That's fine at times! But off late, she has started to defend these imperfections on the back of feminism. Why should 'She' know it all? Why can't the imperfections be ignored while it is ideal to ignore imperfections of whom you love. Why is she reminded of what she does differently than other man or woman, in form of jokes...everyday jokes? Is it fine everyday? She is now suffering from identity crisis. Her imperfections and thus coming the innocence was the reason people used to like her. But right now, she does not want any more affection. She is just unable to handle the jokes anymore. Because when it is cracked everyday, it is criticism!

For thousands of years, continuously men has been given the importance in the society. Most of those who existed then did not think it was a big deal. But it is surprising to see women questioning the importance given to a woman today. Women themselves do not respect the things that they DO.

I am glad to see the change in point of view of the society. Women Power - Naari Shakti is rising. For those who get offended by this overdo of woman-power please note one thing - "Men are not being less respected and questioned...or whatever you think..It is women, who are being respected finally!" Long back I read an editorial in TOI, where the writer complained that because of the trending Indian Ads she is unable to look a good mother. Reasons are ample. Be it dishwasher, washing powder, MTR, baby care products, soaps, Bournvita etc etc everything is done by a Mother. While more prestigious stuffs like buying a car, 2 wheeler, taking a home loan and many more are done by Men. Her point was that her kids expect her to behave like those mothers shown in the television. Well how thoughtless, but they show both Men and Women when it comes to using the beauty products. Phewww!

Sometimes I feel that these ads and our thoughts are so old dated. People take pride by saying that they have changed with time, but for most of them it is more or less change in outer dressing and eating habits may be. Letting woman work is still a big deal, but not all families till date do that, and even if they do, she is expected to be equally pro in her household "duties". And yes, don't call yourself having given equal education to both your boy and girl child, if she cannot work afterwards if she wishes to..it was of no use to her, no use to the society! Break the shackles and divide the responsibilities equally and then question women if they are any less than a man!

Thanks to a few ads, my eyes go around the room noticing every one's gestures when they are aired. One of the Ariel ads shows 2 old women talking how their daughter-in-law earns more than their son and how times have changed for women now. While on the backside, guy asks his wife that "why hasn't she washed a particular shirt" making these 2 old ladies look at each other with disappointment and a gesture that says still there is a long way to go . Please share the link in comment section if you found this ad! Their expressions are priceless and make me wonder whether these changes in women would be welcomed, appreciated and accepted by male community or not! Well if not, then please define an ideal woman/wife/daughter for me once, I want to know precisely what do you expect from her? And I know that just like any other movement you pick from the history, this too will have it's own share of challenges, lessons and downsides! However this change is constant and unstoppable.

Thanks to Divya for this ad's link :)

Overall, good to be a part of the era where women are really speaking up! Two last quotes I would like to share to sum up this blog:

"I live my life on my own terms, they call me Rebellion - because I am a girl!"
"If you are a true feminist, you wont be surprised to see a woman doing something grand!"

Hail Naari Shakti!

And yeah, be with someone who is proud to be with you!

~ Dishi

Note*  I could be Feminine but I am not a Feminist. I respect all the men who truly have earned it.

Random #1

Your spectacles are your the best friend at times.
~ Dishi 

Miss You Papa - For Ma

She looked at me with a half hearted smile. She was trying to make me feel better unaware that her eyes were filled with visible tears. I could not sleep with peace that night.There were times when she used to poke me and my younger brother early mornings hard so that we wake up early to eat her cooked delicious breakfast and spend time with her. It never bothered earlier, because we knew Papa will be there to appreciate her cooking and give her company. We knew that she will keep herself busy serving him and waiting for us to wake up, knowing we too will fight for the last byte of the food served. But today morning it was different. I knew she is not busy. She is sick and she can't cook easily any more. Her hands are full of pain. She has nothing to keep herself busy, no one. And she will think of Papa, she will miss him. I woke up earlier than usual, to divert her mind, sit next to her as long as I am home. 

Things have changed so much!

Happy New Year 2015 !

Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365 page book - Write a Good One :)

2014 was full of ups and downs, unlike the last 25 years! As you grow up, you experience, you evolve, you make perceptions, relationships, friends and all in all develop a personality with which people start to quote you!

Don't forget to make a new year resolution..may be unlike before you succeed this time (if you haven't yet)! We as humans do need reasons to push us forward for fresh starts, count and make this as one! Set goals, mould your perceptions, find time for your loved ones , travel as much as you can, give people a second chance, strengthen your relationships and lastly do not stop taking chances!

I still have a backlog of pending resolutions, and I am preparing to take one more chance..:)

Be a kid at heart, Be honest, Love yourself!

Thanks to all the people who have read my blog posts and have inspired me to keep writing. I hope I evolve too year by year and get to share my experiences better, shorter ;)

Best Wishes

A Walk down the Memory Lane

The moment I entered Nirma campus, our graduation collage, my heart started beating faster. Going through a turbulence of emotions & memories attached to that place.

There have been times when we used to remember our college days and I'd often said this to him 'Wish we could relive those days'. Since our childhood till yesterday there are times in our lives, most of us would want to relive, but somehow with the busy lives we live it seems unachievable. Well not to Harsh, and as usual he could surprise me with a well planned visit to Ahmedabad on our First Wedding Anniversary! :)

The watchman was brimming with smile, the moment he saw Harsh's 2006-bacth bus pass to allow us entry in the campus. We parked the car same place where Harsh used to keep his bike then. There were many student, some walking towards the bus stop, some on bike, some sitting in groups on those road-side benches, who were totally unaware of the fact that we were seeing our past in them. Well, there was a batch of students celebrating their Signature day and we suddenly realized that we should have worn our signed tees. :)  To be honest I was smiling to the fullest my facial muscles allowed me without pain. Feeling younger at heart and filled with the deja vus of past as we walked ahead. We went to the NIT canteen first, the K-Block, recollecting food menu, those coupons we used to have, which are discontinued now BTW. It had same arrangement, almost same menu items with of course some new additions to it. There were a few infrastructural changes too regarding that Kalhupur Bank and fee office, but it still felt as much familiar as it used to be then. Moving towards the lake side, NIM campus, Law, Research centre, we observed many things were yet as they used to be and many things had changed in past 4.5 years. The campus area had expanded with additional blocks, canteens and play grounds. Few of them were under construction when we were studying and now completely operational.

That football/cricket ground is still there and the basketball ground has been covered by a new building. We went to NIM canteen whose Aloo parathas were famous in our group and of course it was in the plan to have that dish again :). To our surprise, the lady seemed familiar to me at the coupon counter, just that she was married now. She was looking back too with a smile you do not give to every student and I could not help but say that "we are old students" and she immediately replied saying "yes, I felt so.." :-) Shaah, I so badly wanted to say "We are married" Hahaha. While we were walking in a circle around the campus, we kept looking for one of the biggest fountains available in the campus. Once we thought may be they have removed it, but when we found it, it was simply relieving and as good as checking out some famous old monument. Then comes the B-block, where we've had attended most of our lectures. As we walked upstairs, we kept talking about how, when, what has happened there and the people who were involved. Many of the staff members and watchmen were recognizable and they too were giving that being familiar look back.

B-213, the classroom which had lot, lot of memories from initial semesters. Harsh found his back bench and I found mine first bench. Recollecting some old memories there we moved ahead. We decided to check if our professors were available at the staff-room and guess who did we run into? KP agarwal sir. He recognized us..The best part was when Harsh shared his business card and he said, please both of you write your roll numbers on it :) We were a bit late and could not meet other faculties. Harsh was very eager to meet Anitha mam. One of the teachers on whom somehow Harsh had an impression of being a rigid student, because he would not take any wrong teachings :P So we decided to drop her a note of thanks, and we did! Crazy us :D Hoping to hear back from her! I am sure one of the lines in that note will force her to recollect who we were - i.e. "Yeah, we are married!" :P :D

Now comes back Block-K, the main canteen.We had already planned to have "Papdi Chaat", which we quite often used to have, given it was the tastiest affordable food item then. Haha! So we had a plate of Papdi Chaat, 2 plates of fried rice and one onion-tomato uttapam. Ab kya kanjusi :P haha..Visited the D block, our first year block and the audis, labs, every corner we could jump in and recollect more and more memories. :)

We spent 4 heavenly hours in Nirma, much more to our expectations. When we were leaving from the campus we have decided to come back with our Surati group, we missed you guys a lot... :)

Btw on the right side is one of the assignment files we discovered lying unclaimed. Well, they are still the same :)

After this overwhelming visit to the campus, our next destination was the Barissta cafe where we first time talked something other than projects and college :P We just happen to go there to celebrate one of our project competition's victory in 2009, just 2 of us btw and that too on Valentines day! Believe me, a lot can happen over a coffee ;-) Sadly, that cafe was closed! :|

We then went to The Upper Crust, cafe. It has an interesting story to it. It was during the last semester of our college we 4 friends decided to have  lunch here. The moment we saw the prices listed in the menu, none of us was willing to eat there any more :P Well not that we could not afford it at all, we were damn hungry to keep the budget in mind before ordering. So it was funny but we decided to move out one after the other shamefully rather than staying hungry :P So this time, it was in Harsh's plan to visit this place :) We were not hungry at all, but we managed to have one of their specialities!!

While we were reaching to these destinations, Harsh was pointing out the places where he used to hangout very often with his flatmates & Surati friends.I could notice his eyes scanning down the memory lane!

The next thing in the plan was Vastrapur lake. My Surati group members had planned my Birthday cake cutting there once, so this place :) Disappointingly it was a challenge to find out a single soda shop here..what happened to Gujju people :O! Post this, as per the plan we met my younger brother staying in the town. After a round of family gossips, we had all time favourite Fafda-Jalebi and Sitafal shake..Had a peaceful walk along the newly developed river-front. One of my younger sister joined after her classes got over and then the last planned thing in his list was Manek Chauk. I had been there just once before with around 9-10 other friends, just because he could convince me to ;)

This is one place every Ahmedabadi must know. It comes to the life after around 12:30 AM at night, yes night!! You will get most of the street foods like pav bhaji, pulav, dosa, kulfi , sandwiches etc etc. This place is famous for it's pineapple-chocolate sandwiches and gwalior dosa which is filled with cheese and butter...yummm!! We had sandwiches, dosas, pulav's', pav bhaji's' and famous Asharfi kulfi and Faluda in dessert. Well, don't frown..it was 4 of us :O

The latter part of the day was completely foodie. But that's what you do when you stay in Ahmedabad. People are fun loving, foodies and that's how they make memories too. The day was as expected and the excitement stayed till the end. One more thing which we were discussing  was how we could reach from one place to another very quickly unlike Mumbai. The city is peaceful in many ways.

The entire day starting from the college till Manek Chauk was fun-filled. For once more, I could relive those moments! Though it was just two of us, most of my college memories were around him. I had lived 4 years in last 3 semesters, and believe me coming back was a real fun and a touchy experience. I never thought we could ever make it happen. It is not impossible but who thinks of planning an entire day for it! This day is truly an addition to the college memories.

While leaving the city, at that impeccable moment I could not help missing my Father. How I wished I could somehow share this with him. I wished if I could thank him for the efforts he took for me, so that I could be where ever I'd ever been. He would be happy for us somewhere, Wishing us our first anniversary!

And last but not the least, a big wala thanks to you..Harsh, for believing that we were going to enjoy the day. Says a lot about how Nirma and Ahmedabad were special to us and still are..our Fevicol Bond..It was the best Anniversary gift I could have asked for :)

Touch Wood ^_^