Author - Jui Purohit.

 I am eager to reach the other side of the river. I cannot swim. I decide to row a boat. Yes, the boat is there at the shore, afloat, waiting for me. I land a gaze at the oars. Oars are in good condition, not worn out, blades are flat enough, for me to row. Now the question is "Have I rowed a boat before?". And wait, the question doesn't end here. "Do I have the strength to row a boat across the river?", "Can I overcome the currents that will obstruct my course?", "Can I row against the flow in case I need to?"....the questions keep popping and I stare at my hands, palms, arms, fingers.....And my brain goes, "Are you so fragile that you've given up even before getting on the boat? Even before taking the oars in your hands? Even before getting to know the river? You've a boat, you've hands and you've the courage, let's get started". Well, life is always like this, isn't it? It throws us in deep waters even bef...

  Goodbyes are difficult. Goodbyes are despairing. Goodbyes are sometimes contemptuous too. But some goodbyes are inevitable, obligatory.  Talking about deaths makes us uncomfortable. But mandatory events as these cannot be disregarded. Bidding goodbye to loved ones is the most difficult. But somethings you ought to do there's no option.  Likeso, every year we bid goodbye to the past year and welcome the coming one. We recapitulate the recently spent 12 months/365 days of our life as to what did we achieve? What difference did we make?  There's a flashback of the whole year in front of your eyes. All the ups and downs are limpid and you weigh everything done, your victories and debacles. Achievements may not essentially be winning prizes or awards, but may mean winning hearts or people. Or just overcoming your fear, or maybe running that extra mile or withal, advertence to self.   Even if you've made a tiny bit difference, you've contributed a diminutive sh...

 "How can you love two people at the same time?", Sakhi exclaimed.  "Why not? Don't we hear stories of Kings having many wives?", Maya argued. Sakhi tried to put her point across, "But that was a different era. And poor Kings!....What? Don't look at me like that. I know it's a paradox. But most of the Kings I suppose didn't marry out of love. They had to strike the deal for expansion of their kingdom or married the princess after defeating her kingdom. They were forced to do so...."  "You are justifying the royals that don't exist anymore and ignoring the feelings of your own best friend?" Maya sighed. "I'm sorry Maya. But I can't support your decision. I mean I would prefer if you decided on one", Sakhi was loud and clear. "What do you mean decide on one? Is it a commodity? Well, I like one of them for his brains and the other for his looks. So what's wrong in that? I don't want to let go of the...

  She was standing there. Her forehead covered with droplets of sweat. It was a warm summer night. Hesitation in her eyes was vivid. She dabbed her forehead with her folded handkerchief, then unfolded it to wipe her neck and nape, carefully sliding her hair to one side. The delicate rose gold chain around her neck dazzled and it interrupted his gaze. He looked a little away. She stood there, indecisive. Whether a yes would mean this girl was easy? And a no, well, that wasn't even an option for her. Where would she go this late at night? It was way past the curfew at her dorm.  She looked at him. His eyes engaged with hers. His heart was pounding. He thought, "You don't need to shield yourself from me. As I want to be the one to protect you, not just today but for the entire life. I want to be the one you could lean on, always. You don't need to worry about staying with me tonight, for, I want to cherish this love and not ruin it by falling for a moment of temptation. Y...

All the non-marathi readers must be wondering what exactly the title is. It means 'Tadke wala rice', verbatim. We Indians usually don't like to waste food. We make sure the stale food that's edible is converted into something which is different from its original state or taste, to get a feeling of eating something interesting and diverse from the one we had yesterday. Well, mother's especially, have this unique ability to use and reuse everything till its last drop. And isn't it a great habit? Whether its food or clothes, there's so much of labour, effort, sweat and blood that goes into making them.  Starting from the farmer to the manufacturer, to the consumer, everyone in this chain has worked hard to create and utilise all of that. And we can't waste their efforts nor ours. Each house, I'm sure, has that piece of rag, used for cleaning, which was once an elegant garment, adorned by a person in that house. It transforms itself from ourdoor wear to ...

My maid is on leave. What? The title seems confusing? Are you saying I'm translating the phrase in a wrong manner? Absolutely not. The maids of honour are necessary to a bride for a wedding, ain't maids equally important for us ladies in our homes? You call her a house help, you call her didi, tai, maushi, bhabhi etc, etc. doesn't that mean you have some kind of relationship with her? The way you call your other relations by names, kaka, kaki or bhaiyya, maasi and so on and so forth. Why are we trying to initiate a relationship with a woman, working at our place? Why don't we call our subordinates at work, with same names? Why don't we call our bosses, uncles or aunties? Well, this house help is no doubt working for us for money, but she's making our life extremely easy. We don't have to do the tedious job of sweeping the entire house and wiping it clean. We don't have to wash our clothes or utensils daily. We don't have to carry on the laborious and...

  I love this cheese!", I announced, standing at the cheese stall, in Savona, Northern Italian region. I fell in love with cheese and the young lad fell in love with me! " Hi! I am Christopher, Christopher Colombus. I run this stall along with my father ", he said. I smiled and in a reticent tone, replied with a "Hi!".  I kept visiting his stall and there began our love story. He used to often tell me how he always wanted to travel the world. He loved exploring places. His fairy tale-ish dreams made me fall for him, even more. One day Christopher came to me and said, "I got a job as a business agent, am going to England and Ireland ". I was thrilled to know that he is travelling these far off places. I so wanted to join him on his voyage. But we decided to wait. He said he would come back and we should get married. He finished his work in England and Ireland. He came back but met me once to just tell me he's travelling again, this time it's Po...