Author - Jui Purohit.

 Bucket list, Wish list, Life's must do's, Life's adventures list...etc etc. Whatever you call it, it's the manifestations that you jot down and wish to complete before you say 'hasta la vista' to this world. So what should an ideal bucket list look like? Well it's personal to each, but I would suggest the following - 1. Conquer atleast one of your fears : You don't have to go bungee jumping nor skydiving, I am not mentioning those kinds of fear. Speak your mind, don't keep it all stuffed in, release what's troubling you. At the most you would get rejected or turned down, but give it a try. Climb up that stage and sing your favourite song, or dance to your favourite number or tell a joke. Hesitations are enemies of manifestations! 2. Travel : If not the world, but atleast leave your house and see new places. You learn so much from what you see throughout your journey. Travelling makes us smarter, enhancing our experiences and adding to our knowle...

 "Yes, I don't earn as much as you do. I don't have to go to the office. But what about the chores at home? Do you believe they happen by magic?" Yes we have  maids, I've help, but is that all to be done? Clothes are washed but have to be folded put back into the cupboard. Who does that? Utensils are washed but have to be dried and arranged. Who does that? While sweeping and mopping, everyday our maid, displaces all the things, furniture etc. from its original position. How do you think it goes back to the bona-fide place? Whenever the maids don't come who does all the work? Ahh! And what about the kids? Have you ever changed the diapers? Have you ever cleaned their potties and pukes? Bacche toh aise hi bade ho gaye na? You feel delighted when someone praises our kids. Who makes them ready for school? Who packs their tiffins? Who makes them do their homework, assignments, projects, activities? Who prepares them for Olympiads, competitions and events? Who runs ...

 Have you been intimidated by a confident face, with a honeyed smile and a sanguine walk, across genders? Well, that's what I was! Yes, when I first saw him. He got down from his car and yes, the sanguine walk, the honeyed smile and confidence on his face. Not that he wanted to intimidate me, not that I was scared. But that kind of intimidation, you know, where you feel, Woah! he's out of my league. I fell for him then and there, but talking to him, was the big dilemma. Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai, ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai....something of that sort happened and we both fell in love. From intimidation to getting smittened to loving to being together, sums up our journey. And as if in Norway, where the sun doesn't set, the luminescence of Northern lights is set upon me, since! Yes, he is my sunshine...my only sunshine. He makes me happy even when the skies are grey. He makes me laugh on silliest of his jokes. By now I can pr...

 Aaj hamare dil mei ajab yeh ulzan hai, Likhne baithe blog prompt jiska 'Guilty' hai..... Raaz ki baat batayein, Raaz ki baat batayein, Hum bhi Guilty feel karte hai, Baat ho jab bacchonki mummy log darte hai! Today, I am writing for the prompt 'Guilty', as you've already guessed. Accepting that you feel guilty is not an easy task. And amending the things you feel guilty for, is way more difficult. To maintain my sanity and also that of my family members, I decided to go on my first all ladies night out, of course with my girl gang. We all were excited. Ahem! Ahem! As the ritual goes, the paramount is to do the necessary shopping. All those atrangi dresses and shorts that you don't usually wear on a family holiday. You don't want to hear those, "Thoda length lamba chahiye tha na?" or "Mom yeh nai suit karta aap pe"...etc etc. So, you know you are not gonna be judged on an all girls' trip, you pack all of those. Family holidays are fun...

 "I am visiting the temple every Saturday to pray for him and his friends, so that they study hard and pass the board in flying colours. I can't do much sitting this far from you. But atleast my best wishes and blessings are with him and you all. Don't worry everything will fall in place", she said over the phone, comforting me when she came to know that I was anxious about my elder son's board exams. My mom, did all that she could when I was in my school, college, post graduation. She wanted me to study well and succeed in life, just like her counterparts. And after becoming a grandmother, she does the same, whatever is in her capacity, sometimes more than that, for my kids. She has so much love to offer, not just to her daughters but her grandchildren too. A mother has a plethora of emotions. When we study and do well she is elated. She celebrates with us, all our milestones. After being a mom myself, I have experienced similar sentiments. When my kids learn som...

'You can't get rid of me, You are my slave, you see, The gloom, you ought to feel, Your spirit, I had to steal, I love to see you listless, I love it when you act careless,  I have the say in how you do things, I dictate the terms and happenings,  In your blood I run, Your energy I sinisterly shun, 'Laziness', as I am known,  In the sea of bleak, you got to drown!'  I snooze the alarm for the fourth time, "Will get up after half an hour", I convince my mind. I sleep, tucking myself in the cosy quilt, again. My mind keeps reminding me, "It's Monday, you had decided to start exercising from today, did you forget?". "Ssshhhhhhsh", I silence those thoughts and once again wander into my dreamland. When I finally get up to brush my teeth and peep into the mirror, I see those dark circles and deep sinking eyes, my sleepy soul for once zapps back to reality. "This 'laziness' is taking a toll on me", I murmur. But the body ...

 The weighing machine in my house, whenever I stand atop, it weighs me down. No, no, not that I am feather weight. It literally weighs me down, Meri atma ko jhanjhodke rakh deti hai!  I seldom hop on it, as I know that it won't be biased, not even once. As if the heir of Satyavadi Harishchandra, it, without putting it's hands on the 'Geeta', tells nothing but, only the truth. The display flashes and my self-esteem crashes! Cut down on sugar, no more Theobromas nor Smoors, no Pizza huts nor Burger Kings. 'Eat healthy, stay fit', has been my slogan, since months now. I control the temptations when I passby Haldirams or Jhama. Yet, the weighing scale shows no mercy on me. Ahh! I sigh. But it's all in vain. Okay, let me increase the reps from tomorrow. I will also boost the step count. More Pilates, more crunches, more burpees (ardous ones). But the weight Tasss se masss nahi....bas mass badhta jata hai! My younger sister is gifted. She has a tendency of not put...

 "I am going to focus on inner peace this year. Let people come and go, I will stay put as a rock. I will not lose my temper whatsoever.....", my resolutions for the new year are ready. And the next day my maids decide to go on a strike. "They take an advance a day prior and just like that decide to bunk the work. I doubt that they plan it out. How can both fall sick on exact same day? It's a milibhagat I'm damn sure", my murmur starts. While cutting the vegetables, I take out all the anger on those carrots, French beans and potatoes, equally. Then suddenly I remember, 'Inner peace...Inner peace'. I take deep breaths. Inhale and exhale as calmly as I can. But then again I recall how these maids have ditched me. "They don't call neither receive mine. How do I know when will they show up? Is this the way? Does it cost to receive a call? What do they think that it's only me who's dependent on them. Isn't it likewise too?....". ...

 Dear first born, I want you to be in pink of health, always. However, I would start with an apology. Sorry beta! Did I make you grow up sooner? Did you unknowingly become a substitute mom? I know you have this love- hate relationship with your younger brother. But in my absence, somehow, I feel relaxed when he is with you. Did I force you to be matured early? You were the only child till 4.5 years of your age and suddenly you had to share everything, starting with your mom and dad. I still remember how your face had drooped when you first visited us, your younger brother and me, in the hospital. I knew that you weren't quite delighted to see him in my arms. You were happy to have a sibling to play with, but you were nonplussed. I had prepared you for this, yet, when you experienced it firsthand, it wasn't easy for you to handle. Later on, you adjusted, adapted, and reconciled with the scenario. You were always eager to help me in taking care of chhotu. You volunteered to feed ...

 Book of awesome? My book of awesome! Oh! Well, how would it be, if it were written by me. That's a lovely prompt team Momspresso. Thankyou so much for this opportunity. It's going to be my dress rehearsal for me to publish a book in the future. I know I am being very wishful here....but, why not? Exactly, so let's start with the 'Foreword'. I would love my mom to write it for me. It's going to be a book of awesome, so the awesomest person in my life would naturally do the honours. She can share some of my awesome characteristics or for that matter, maybe some of my not so awesome too! You know how moms are. Kahipe bhi pol khol sakte hai!  Yet, I will give her the prerogative here. Then for the 'Preface', my preface (read my book's preface) would read a quote of Steve Jobs, nothing personal about 'Apple', I don't like Apple products, nor use any, apart from eating one, just to keep doctor away. Yah! So the preface - "Your time is lim...

 Yesterday, I read my friend's blog, prompt 'Letter to first born'. Her writeup was so emotional,  the title being 'Letter to first unborn'. You all must've got the idea what it is about. How the mom must have suffered without seeing her baby, holding her in arms. The pain, the agony and the melancholy. And then I got this news that my mom's friend's daughter, lost her 9 year old daughter. Her face flashes in front of my eyes, the cheerful, bubbly, smiling one. So what about this mom, who has held her daughter close to her for 9 years, showered all her unconditional love, taught her to talk, walk and run, spent the best of time, cooking her favourite food, taking her to activity classes to learn new skills, making time for her every small and big event. What about her agony? How can you describe it? What do you write about it? I'm not comparing, who's pain is larger, how can I? When they both have lost their precious one. What must be going throu...

  "These are expensive shoes yet see how their sole has come off in less than a year. I haven't been wearing them often too. Cheez mehengi leke bhi kya fayda?", I kept murmuring this to my husband. My three year old was playing jenga blocks in the same room. The building had grown tall enough, he was carefully placing the blocks one top of the other. Yet, his sharp ears were very much attentive to what I was murmuring. He does this all the time. When I think he's busy playing, I carelessly gossip about someone over the phone with my friends, and later he asks me, "So what did that aunty exactly do mumma?". He is so quick eared that I've to be very careful while speaking. So, one such day we were at the market, my three year old son and me. Someone stepped over his flip-flops and the belts broke. I tried to fix it but the hole through which the belts pass itself had cracked. So all my hassle was in vain. "Cheez mehengi leke bhi kya fayda?", he i...

 Nalini opened the box delivered to her by courier. There was no sender's name, which made her sceptical. Even so, she opened, to check. There were light green coloured bangles wrapped neatly, along with a folded letter. She took the bangles out and the jingling sound filled up the silent room. The courier no longer needed the sender's name. A tear dropped from the corner of her eye. She rubbed the tear and wiped her hand with the pallu of her saari. She kept the bangles aside and unravelled the letter with quivery hands.  "My dear Nalini", it read. Nalini closed the letter and held it close to her bosom. The thumping sound of her heartbeats was audible, loud enough. She calmed her mind and again opened the letter. "My dear Nalini, The silver in your hair must be making your face shine even brightly. Enhancing your glow and adding experience to your maturity." Nalini moved the strand of her silver hair falling on her forehead and tucked it back in the hairbu...

*CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS PART(1)*  "Maa, kaha thi aap? I was knocking since ages". Nalini's daughter rushed inside as soon as the door opened.  "You know what happened today maa, this man on the road was walking and a lady riding her scooty couldn't control her speed and she dashed him. He fell down and the cunning lady didn't even wait to inquire about him. She fled from the scene as if nothing happened. This bechara fellow was in pain and public went to offer him help..........maa, maa...are you listening?". Nalini slipped into her flashback. She remembered those days when she was learning to ride a scooter. He had held her hands while sitting pillion and "These are the brakes, you must first know how to apply them, else you will dash someone and forget to apply the brakes", he had said jokingly. And suddenly had to hit the brakes himself, asap, when a man crossed swiftly in the middle of the road. Nalini had alighted from the scooter and had...

*CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS PART(2)*  Navya hugged her maa, "Please tell me who is this maa?", she urged Nalini. Nalini sat down on the chair with a thud. She had held this secret close to her heart for 21 years. But this time, she couldn't hold it anymore.  "He is your father Navya", Nalini said gripping Navya's hand. "Please forgive me beta that I didn't let you know that you were not an orphan", before Nalini could complete Navya interrupted, "So you are my real maa? I am your daughter?". Navya's eyes had a twinkle just like an innocent toddler looking at her mom. Nalini pulled Navya's hand closer and made her sit besides her.  "It is not that simple beta", she said as she sighed. Navya was perplexed. "Maa please no more secrets. You've to tell me everything today. I'm ready to listen", she assured with teary eyes. "Yashovardhan met me when I was in college. He was my senior. We grew fond of ea...

 "Mumma, how can I be like Hulk?", my younger son had asked me this, 6 years ago, when he was 4 years old. I replied with a mommywala gyan, "By eating healthy food". "And how do I become green?", he added. "Well, by eating leafy vegetables", I had quickly answered. I know this was a point blank lie. He would've never been a Hulk. But the best part is he loves all the leafy vegetables till date and eats them happily. He is 10 and now he knows that mom had lied to him about the Hulk thing. But dear moms, you know what? I'm not even a bit guilty about this. If it's beneficial for my kids, there's no harm in lying. Somethings are unavoidable when it comes to parenting and there shouldn't be any guilt attached. I don't want him to hang out with certain friends of his. And to keep him away from them, I brainwash him my way. What's wrong in this, you tell me? Some kids are very arrogant and ill-behaved. And my kid will surely...

 "Hey Bhagwan! Akshay what is this clutter beta? Past few days, whenever I return from the office the entire house is a mess. All your toys are lying here and there. Do you play with all of them at once? Why do you need so many toys at a time?", Nila uttered in a tone of dismay. "Yes mom I need them all", Akshay said in a equally dejected voice. "Kaamwali didi was telling me you don't go down to the play area too. What happened don't you like to play there, outside, with all other kids?", Nila asked while putting his toys one by one in the basket. "No I don't like it here mom. Why did we shift the house? Why can't we stay with dad? Why are we here in this crappy home?", Akshay threw his toy car angrily in the basket. "Akshay! What is this behaviour?How can you call our home crappy? It's our home beta. And I've already told you, henceforth, no more discussions about dad", Nila said in a stern voice. Akshay was mor...

 "Kya yehi pyaar hai....Haa yehi pyaar hai...", Sharon was humming the song as she was caressing the roses kept in the vase in her room. She loved red roses. She picked one from the bunch and started to pluck it's petals one by one. "He loves me, he loves me not". And when the final petal remained she put back the rose in the vase. As a gust of breeze blew in, she closed the window and locked it. She held the vase with other hand so that it doesn't fall. She sat on the chair next to the table and glancing at the roses continued to hum, "Kya yehi pyaar hai...". She loved this feeling called love. She had always dreamt of a Prince, just like in the fairytales, be it Cinderella or Snow-white or Rapunzel. She was ready to be anyone of them. She wanted her Prince to sweep her off her feet and make her fall in love, truly, madly, deeply. And she had finally found him. She gazed the bandaid she had put on her left thumb. It had some cute smiley stickers o...

*Click here for Part 1*  "Here's your envelope, Sharon. I had stayed late at office yesterday. And when I was leaving I found this in our lobby. It has your name on it. Thought it was something important so handing over to you", Nathan explained the episode. "Why is he pretending? Did he not place this envelope on my desk? Ahh! He must be embarrassed in front of everyone. He doesn't want to have an open office romance. Right! It's not appropriate too", Sharon's thought train had to brake suddenly when Alia elbowed her for gawking for eternity at Nathan and making it obvious. Sharon came to her senses and took the envelope from Nathan. Nathan smiled and left for his cabin. Sharon kept staring at his back for sometime. "Hey are you crazy?", Alia elbowed her once again. "Are you into Nathan? I had guessed, but you making it too obvious bro", Alia said. Sharon cleared her throat and gestured Alia to shut up. "Dude now tell me wh...

*Click here for Part 2*  Sharon kept an observant eye for few days then on. She wanted to see who this mystery man is. She was a bit scared too. "What if he is a stalker?", she had mixed thoughts about it. "Jesus, save me", she crossed herself twice. It was Valentine's the next day. Alia had dressed up in a red dazzling one piece dress. "She has a date with Abhay, obviously", Sharon thought. Sharon was dressed just like any other normal day. "There's nothing for you to celebrate today", her soliloquy, roasting herself. When she reached her desk, she was overjoyed. There was a bouquet of red roses aesthetically decorated with a 'Happy Valentines Day' note. However, her excitement got crushed with the ambiguous thoughts.  She rushed to the lobby to see if she could spot the person, but in vain. "Wow Sharon! This is beautiful ", Alia exclaimed. "Abhay dekha, aise karte hai Valentine wish", she poked Abhay. "O...

 Their story - "And it's a deuce", exclaimed the commentator. The crowd cheered with joy. Shalini wiped the sweat off her forehead with her left hand. She made a tight grip on the racket with her right hand. She looked up once and signaled 'ball boy' to fetch her the ball. She moved racket and the ball upwards, and with a loud "Haah" she served, using all her might. The ball hit the opposite court so swiftly that the opponent couldn't judge the speed and it was a straight 'ace' (service point gained when opponent's racket doesn't touch the ball). The commentator announced with elation, "It's an ace. Shalini is back in the game". There was an uproar in the crowd once again. Shalini made a tight fist of her left palm, gripping her racket tighter said to herself, "You can do it, go go girl". She looked to her right side, in the stands, she could she him sitting. He was waving at her, screaming her name, holding a ...

 Was he wrong? Samrat couldn't reach Shalini for days. He kept insisting to talk to her. But Shalini didn't sway. She was firm on her decision to break up. And in few days she left the city. Samrat had his training for forthcoming tournaments. He had worked very hard to reach the peak. He couldn't leave all this at once. He trained the whole day, cardio, practice matches, running, cycling, swimming. His schedule was overloaded. He still kept calling Shalini whenever he could. He couldn't get over her. And moreover he didn't know why she had cut ties just because of the injury. "She can recover. What's the big deal?", he would assure himself. "Let me finish my training, I will go find her soon", he thought. Days passed, then months and now it was more than a year. Samrat got busier with his Nationals preparation. His coach tightened his schedule. He hardly had free time to even think about anything else. He used to instantly wake up with his b...

 "Mumma you know what happened today.....", he used to start his chatters right after aligning from his school bus. "Mumma please help me, I've lot of homework this week. What's for lunch?", he would nonstop bombard me with questions and stories. "This one is a chatterbox, alike me", I used to think. And then just like a caterpillar goes into a cocoon when it's time for metamorphosis, this little boy of mine, the chatterbox, unexpectedly muffled up. He stopped sharing his daily encounters, that my ears were eager to listen to. After coming from school he grabs the remote control of the TV set and starts surfing through the shows. The cartoon channels are replaced by Shark Tanks, anime, international shows, Chess series, football and everything diverse. "What happened at school today dear?", when I ask. "Nothing special", is his plain answer. The excitement in his voice, the voice modulations when he shared his stories, sudde...