I Believe !!!!

I generally do not insert pictures on my blog !! 

But this one I couldn't resist , had  to share with you all !!!

 

It says ..all that  I want to write !!!

Sometimes there are stormy moments in your life. Times when everything just  does not seem right, and that's the time in your life when your friends do more than just walk with you..... 

They become Angels ...with no wings just in disguise of ordinary person living an ordinary life ....

Who says they reside only in heaven few walk among us on the earth to share our happiest hours and deepest sorrows !! 

Some just dream ! Some just feel ! I have held her in my arms !  

Angels do exist !! I met mine !  

Hope you all meet your's soon !! 

A Hope Not A Promise

She was sitting in her balcony, with a hot chocolate mug in her hand, watching the last sunset of 2015, wondering how life has changed in the last few months. All her friends were to go for the New Year’s Eve party, but she had decided to stay home this 31^stdec. As she watched the sun slithered behind the cloud clad mountains, so did she slip into the flashback!!

Just a day before the Festival of Lights, Diwali as we all Indians call, she had visited the gynecologist thinking she had some hormonal issues, hence did the blood test followed by an ultra sound.

“It can’t be pregnancy!!”  She told the radiologist. ”May be some cyst or an ineffective organ needs to see its way out from my body!!”  She added laughing.

The next minute, what she heard was very familiar sound …. “Heartbeats”!!! Yes it was the sound of the “heartbeats”.

She looked towards the monitor screen dazed, shocked and happy all at the same time.  The radiologist standing there smiling looking straight into her eyes…….

 They drove back home, with “Pin Drop Silence in the Car “.The silence was finally broken.

“Does this all mean that I am going to be an elder bro”? Asked her 10 year old while getting out from the car’s rear seat.

She and her husband preferred not say anything as yet to their son till enter the house.

She was happy and so was her husband. They sat and discussed for a while and finally settled down a bit. She was wobbly, quivering but she had to share it with her “Angel Friend “.

She dialed her number.

In few minutes, two of her friends were at the door hugging her. 

Since then it has been time of bliss. She has been dreaming about a complete family. She has been dreaming about a girl child.

“Mom !!! There’s someone to see you”! her son said. And she returned to the present .She got up rather carefully from the balcony chair and made her way to the hall room.

She had received a call from the hospital that the long awaited; few pending test results were ready.

Time had passed and now she was in the 19^th week She was young she thought, if 42 was new 22 as told by her angel friend..Her first pregnancy was all ok, some normal placental issues were there but nothing was wrong, so she was sure all is going to be fine this time too. She had almost passed her 1^st trimester being completely unaware that she was pregnant. She had not taken and precaution, which needs to be taken and nothing had gone wrong. Her immense faith in god made her believe that nothing can go wrong now.

“Ma’am the doctor is waiting for you “, the lady at the front desk counter told her while handing over the printed report.

“Oh!! But she doesn’t even know that we are here to collect the report “she replied while going through her reports, trying to understand the medical jargons.

“Yes! Ma’am she left a message for us, that when you come to collect the reports, we should direct you to her”, replied the lady without taking her eyes off her computer.

“Thank you”, she and her husband responded in chorus made their way to the elevator.

The room on the first floor was full of happy pregnant ladies. They waited for a while, and then the doctor, called them in the cabin.

She and her husband were curious to know about the reports.

They wished the doctor, and with a brief eye contact and a smile, “doctor, hope all is ok? Asked the husband sitting next to his wife.

“ Hmm !!! it does not look too good “ the doctor replied. The reports state , “ Trisomy 21 “ is above cut of range, which means that there is a very high risk that the baby is not normal.  I can’t guarantee, that the baby at the time of delivery would be a normal kid”, she added.

She and her husband , staired at the doctor in disbelief. No genetic history , the first kid is a normal kid, no family history of abnormality than how could this happen. She asked the doctor.

Doctor said,” Yes to my surprise also!!!”, But we can’t ignore the report. I suggest we do some further tests which unfortunately are not done here, I suggest you go to your home country ”.

They took the next day’s flight to the motherland, with wet eyes, but with lot of hope and faith.  She was confident that the test reports were wrong, the pathology had goofed up big time, and she needs to be doubly sure before they come to any decisions.

They did the entire tests including the other few tests in India, and the results arrived in two days.

When they walked in the doctor’s cabin, he looked at them and confirmed their worst fear.

The reports were 98.9 percent positive, meaning she had a Down syndrome kid. No further tests or surgeries could change what was already done.

 Pregnancy is a gamble, who said it was a guarantee.

They knew what had to be done, a decision which killed them a thousand times, and it will keep killing them all their life.

 Yes the baby might live, but that’s not the life they had chosen for their kid.

Nobody told what was inside her was just “A HOPE NOT A PROMISE “.

This is “HER” story, and it might have no significance to any!!!

But it did teach me Few Lessons!!!!!

We all go through painful times in our lives.

We start expecting a lot in life, but life like pregnancy is very unpredictable. Expectations are the root cause for all heartache. And more worse is the hope. Hope is a very dangerous thing, not always but sometimes hopes just sets up for huge disappointments.  Once you start hoping, with each passing day your expectations increase as well. So the best thing is “no expectations no disappointments”.

How great it would be if the things just turned out the way you had planned it, but it does not happen all the time. Things do go wrong, and they don’t get always fixed. You can’t put it together like it was before.  

The result is you loose your smile, you end up crying, and you end up in Grief. There is no specific rule book to grief; grief is as individual as your fingerprint. Your grief can never end, but it does changes. If you are going through grief, never think you are weak or you lack the faith. Just remember one thing that if you are in grief you are paying the price of love.

The pain will stay with you, in your heart as a memory.

 Generally grief and pain tend to change you as a person; you either get bitter or better. Whether you let it make you a better person or tear you down is going to be your decision, fate cannot decide that.

I feel the experience of grief has neither  any rules nor has any shortcuts. What needs to be done is forget about the past, like the trees shed the dead leaves and creates new ones. It will take its own time; it’s not that you are going to come out of the pain in a day. It might take you days, weeks, months or years!!!

Take your time!!!  Strive to become a better version of what you were created.  Refuse to be held by pain.

Breathe life!!!  Dream Again!!!  Let the hope and faith get stronger!!!

Show that you can overcome!!!

Because, Without Faith, Hope and Trust... there is no promise.

Happy Best Friends Day - Ode To A Friend,

   

We all have a huge list of friends, but today is the day for that one special friend who has always been there for us, life just wouldn't be the same without them. 

Lot of friends I have had,

Few stayed and few fled,

We met as strangers, in the journey of life,

Thinking each other, we would never like.

Through thick and thin, worse of me,

You were there besides me.

The relation is rare, but is true,

It’s because we care, we made it through.

You taught me the meaning of a friend,

You were the one holding my hand.

You made me laugh, when I wanted to cry,

Giving wings to my dreams and make me fly.

It was easy together to fight life’s fears,

Embarrass the failure, and wipe the tears.

As the years trundled by, our paths certainly spilt,

I can never refute, but proud to admit.

God sent an angel, as a friend,

Always to belong, till the end.

Friend like you makes the world a better place,

An extraordinary gift, someone I could never replace.

Miles have definitely kept us apart,

We are always there in each other’s heart.

Those moments spent with you I cherish,

To meet you soon is the only wish.

My Husband's New Found Love 🐓🐓

Being born in a typical Parsi family, every other day the meal consisted of dhanshak, chicken farcha, sali ghosh and the list just goes on.

Marrying a vegetarian Brahmin ! Yeah sounds a bit difficult isn't it ? But It was smooth transition !!!

He is a vegetarian by birth but yes eats eggs ....

And we parsis add egg to every possible dish.To get us to eat vegetables is necessary to break an egg on it . We have "bhida per eedu" ( eggs over ladyfingers ), "papeta per eedu" ( eggs over potatoes ), tameta per eedu ( eggs over tomatoes ) and if you all are wondering what " eedu " means ...it means the "egg" in our typical Parsi style Gujarati.

With great determination and pride, I bid goodbye to non vegetarian food.Not because of any other reason, "it was a personal choice" reason obvious I use to feel lazy to cook for me alone.

My husband has been asking me and a lot of other people , to convince him with one good reason that he should try eating " chicken " . And all of us have been telling him just one thing "It Tastes Nice".

Our house has been a battlefield where he would say how cruel we were to kill animals and eat them too !!!  And in defense I would say, oh so what veggies kill Mosquitos, those rats found in the house not to forget those " lizards " crawling on the walls too!! How cruel is that ?

Ok so after living in an animal free existence for many years, "chicken" made an entry again in our lives when my son grew a little older and his taste buds nodded a yes to eating a chicken .

Now , with the 2:1 ratio in the house for chicken ! My husband finally decided to take that tiny little step of eating "chicken" yet with the true soul of a vegetarian !! 

A few months back , he had a camping night with his friends, with a lot of internal debating between the mind and the soul as to eat or not to eat, I believe the mind won and " try it man " voice took over the soul .

It was difficult to manage the first bite, but than its mouth watering taste was irresistible and he took on more .

( it tastes nice ! Proves right isn't it )

Since that day any Indian restaurant's  we have visited, we have reshmi kababs and in an Lebanese restaurant we have 

"shish-tawook".

And a lot more " chicken dishes " are awaiting their trial.

Well what can I ask for ? Or what can I say ? But .........

My husband's new found love 

SPICY , TANGY AND JUICY "Chicken" 🐓🐓🐓

Munch Crunch and Slurp

Do you love food ? Do you think food ? Do you love cooking food ? I mean loving food is like loving any other thing in life .

And so you have to treat food with all the trust , respect and dignity and enjoy every bit of it ! Making it as well as eating it !!!

I am sure you all will agree with it ! 

So if you are looking for mouth watering recipes , no better place than to visit my friends Facebook page !! And try those yummiest recipes ! Don't forget to hit the like button 😄

The link is below 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Munch-Crunch-Slurp/1411150502526702

Plate the food !! Close your eyes ! Take that one big breath !! Begin to eat ! Chew each bite ! Taste all the flavors !! And say I LOVE FOOD 

Angels Walk Among Us !!!

Do you believe in Angels ? Well, I do !! 

Everyone should believe in Angels!! Everyone needs them , at least one good one !

Today , my soul was lifted by that one Angel. She made me believe that Angels do really walk among us .

Friends are those precious people that make a second home away from our home . They are our family by choice. I am convinced that I have greatest friends in my life and and they have been there for me always ! 

But , She walked into my life at the most unexpected circumstances. It's difficult to explain sometimes how and why people end up together . They just do !! They come into your life and you know right away that they are meant to be there  " SHE " is one of them . We just know each other for more than a year now , but since the time we have met , she has amazed me with her unconditional support !!

I believe everything happens for a reason. Illness , injury , love , heartbreaks , some foolish and sheer stupidity all of it occurs to test us , test the limit of our soul . And in these testing times , today I had her holding my hand praying together with me for me and my family and telling  me " it shall pass , it's just a phase " !!!!

What a beautiful gift , she has given me !!

Her gentle loving kindness has greatly touched my heart !! She made me believe and experience that ,

" Angels do exist , they walk among us " 

Control Your Anger !!!!

Anger!!  What it is it? It’s not a new term to anyone of us. WE all have known what it is as we all have been angry at some point of time. Anger can be an incapacitating condition which can even be paralyzing. The most petrifying situation arises when you end up taking out your anger on your children. Whenever a child is abused verbally or physically it can leave fatal effects on them.  It is very essential that we keep our self under constant “ANGER CONTROL “.

 It could be that as a child we had angry parents, conceivably, our past is packed filled with unresolved hurt and because of that there could be tremendous anger within us or maybe we aren’t happy at the work place, perhaps you are not getting along with your spouse, there could be relationship issues!! There can be disgruntled goals or any other personal issues.  Identify the problems from the past and even look at the current issues which trigger your anger.

As a parent, there lies a wonderful opportunity to undo the wrong!!!

A child learns what he sees, and that’s what they are most likely to grow into. He/ She thinks that it’s alright! As they have seen us doing and for them “Parents are the role model ".

That definitely doesn’t mean that misbehaviors are to be tolerated, a child hurting himself or others, damaging property, of course will need a quick and firm response from us. We need to continually remind ourselves that small stuff isn’t worth getting worked up on. And we also should remember that we are the ones in control of anger and the anger should not control us.

Best way to handle is take a time out, walk away , or do whatever you have to when you thing anger is coming on to you Strong.

It’s important to pick our battles when parenting.

Control your Anger, Don't let it Control You!

Duplicity – Chapter 11

 Team “ Writers’ Express " 

                                               Read the previous chapter 10 here 

                    

        

The silence on the other end disturbed Jennifer a bit; she checked her phone once, just to be sure that the line wasn’t disconnected.

“YES” Tara’s reply brought Jennifer back into reality.

“I tried to search Maya all by myself, the night she went missing. I got out of the hotel and started walking on the road checking with few shops/people about Maya. After a while I realized that there were three men constantly following me. I got scared like hell, taking long steps tried to reach my hotel fast as possible and eventually got lost on the streets of Delhi. An old couple who was taking a walk on the street helped me to reach my hotel that night, so I eventually called up Cyrus and decided not to do anything till he arrives. It’s better to stay safe then be prey to the leering men on the streets.”Jennifer sounded petrified.

 Actually I wanted to meet Cyrus as soon as he landed as searching for Maya was most important of all, but I could not do so as I had a prior commitment which was undone, as I had accompanied Maya to Delhi, and I could not decline in any chance “Sorry” I can’t make it would not have worked with the clients” Jennifer continued.   

“I had called Cyrus in the evening as soon as I got a speck of time from my unfinished job and we decided to meet over coffee next day morning and I wouldn’t finish my work till late night” said Jennifer. Being in the same vicinity where Cyrus lived so we thought will save on time and decide the further action plan” Jennifer tried to sound convincing.

We met at the coffee shop Cyrus was accompanied with Shailesh, and I think you all know him very well.  He is a wonderful person, Cyrus and you all are lucky to have him as a friend “added Jennifer.

“He is a Gem!” Shekhar did not need even a minute to second that.

“OK! Not deviating, we decided that first thing first, we needed to lodge a police complaint. 24 hours had passed since Maya was missing, so we were sure police would not have an issue doing that - we are all aware how stingy police procedures can get,” said Jennifer.

Tara and Shekhar responded in chorus “Yes”. Cyrus was amazed at their compatibility and how their minds worked alike. Tara did not want to intrude in between, so she let Jennifer continue without probing anything in between.

Jennifer further said, "We finished the police station formalities, but deep down we knew that police will follow their protocol systems which will take its own time. We could not wait till then hence, we decided that we will give our best shot to find Maya on our own”.

“Not a wise thing to do though,” Tara said, “But I can relate how it is when  someone so dear who is in trouble, you just can’t sit and wait for things to happen,” warmth was reflecting in Tara’s voice.

“Yes, exactly my thoughts! I could not wait for something bad to happen for Maya,” Jennifer confirmed.

“It was a difficult task on hand and none of us were detectives, but thanks to Cyrus and his “crime serials” gave us a start” replied Jennifer.

Tara and Shekhar looked at Cyrus for the first time, since the call had started. They all had a smile on their face though for a short while but it eased the tension in the house in Mumbai.

“Since Maya’s disappearance, we had been hanging on the hope that she was fine,” Cyrus added. “We needed to do something and that also immediately”, Jennifer punched in.  Tara and Shekhar were listening to the conversation in utter silence though their minds were ocean full of questions. 

Jennifer’s voice was shrill on the other end , “When I had spoken to Cyrus the day before , I had asked him to collect Maya’s photographs from a photo gallery near his residence , you know I thought if we had Maya’s pictures, it would be handy to show around to people and even for the police”. Jennifer said.

"We started our hunt from the coffee shop itself but no clue; we approached almost all the nearby shops and the vendors but no success. My mobile needed to be recharged, so I walked into a shop, recharged my phone and before I could ask the person sitting on the counter, he asked me "Madam, inko dundh rahi ho?" (Madam, are you searching for this woman?) pointing at Maya's photograph which I held. Suddenly there was ray of hope, my immediate response was "YES".

The shopkeeper said Maya had recharged her phone as well from the same shop the day she went missing. Jennifer was narrating the whole incident in one flow; there was no chance for Tara and Shekhar to feel that she was making it up.

The shopkeeper told us that Maya was very upset that she was not able to use her “Facebook”. It was now clear to me, why the day she was missing there was no update on the social site. I had completely missed to check that yet again after the day she went missing.

When I checked her Facebook account, her last post was near Rajouri Metro Station. Jennifer stated. “When we arrived near the Rajouri Metro, it was almost late evening, but we finally had some clue and a point of start. We again started the trail of search, somewhere with a hope that Maya was waiting for us; she was waiting for help,” Said Jennifer in a choked voice.

We got success, after a long day and so much of walking and searching, we stopped near an isolated lane where, an old man in his eighties, who was selling tea, slumps on crate. We ordered tea and showed him the picture of Maya; he kept staring at her, as if trying to recollect his memory and then showed us a bungalow straight at the end of the lane. He mentioned that, Maya had inquired about the bungalow to him and he had guided her to the place. His confidence did not make us think otherwise.

We were relieved, that we finally have managed to find Maya; our search had finally come to an end. We dropped the tea cups, paid the old man more than his tea, and straight headed towards the bungalow.

“We were happy but even scared, our mind was not in chorus with the heart, but three of us decided to remain shut and not let the thoughts reach the mouth .When we reached the bungalow, it was dark, no lights and we were surprised as who in this time of the season, leaves the windows, and the gallery doors open and that also at almost in the late evening. We thought we have been directed to a wrong place, blaming the memory of the old man, we turned to return." Jennifer continued, but it was Cyrus who said, ‘Why not have a look, we might just get something, or maybe we won’t but any harm in going inside,’ and we all agreed.

Shailesh was pretty scared; he had been very quite the entire day.

 “We rang the bell first couple of times with no response, we knocked the door, but yet another surprise, the door was open and with the slightest knock it slide open, we entered into the dark hall room, looked for the switchboard and Shailesh switched on the light, and what we saw next is beyond explanation” Jennifer broke into tears finally.

“ What lay near our legs was brutally murdered Maya’s body , she was stabbed on the back , her body soaked in the pool of blood, and the room smelling like copper”.

Jennifer was still crying. “I felt my breath go out of me, I was standing there still, crying and angry but Cyrus and Shailesh handled the situation. They called the police and informed about the murder site and Cyrus took some pictures with my camera, Jennifer had gathered herself by now and it was evident in her voice to Tara, Shekhar and Cyrus.

“You get hold of yourself Jenny; I hope this conversation satisfies you Shekhar Bhaiya  ... Tara Bhabhi?”  Cyrus finally broke the silence.

“Please we are so sorry, we understand and empathize with you” Tara said.

“I can understand how you are feeling right now; the loss is beyond words. Jennifer you please take good care of yourself and let us know if we could be of any help. And thank you for telling us everything,”Shekhar spoke this time and hung up.

Tara felt they had been cruel to make Jennifer go through the entire episode yet again, but they were left with no choice. “Does that make me heartless?” Tara thought for a moment.

____________________________________________________________________

                                        Read the next chapter 12 here  

You can read the previous Chapters collaborated by " Writers' Express "

Chapter 1   Pawan Hegde 
Chapter 2   Partha Sadhukhan
Chapter 3  Sujata Tawde
Chapter 4   Shilpa Halwe
Chapter 5   Manjulika Pramod
Chapter 6   Shazneen Pathak
Chapter 7   Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli
Chapter 8   Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli
Chapter 9   Anuradha Khanna Pentapalli
Chapter 10  Partha Sadhukhan 


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