Friends are forever

It's amazing what a friend can do to you - your mood, your emotions, your day, your life.... This song is for you my friend!


Shoulder to Shoulder
- From 'Pooh's Heffalump Movie'
- Composed by Carly Simon

We stand shoulder to shoulder
We see eye to eye
We dive deep under water
We jump high in the sky
High

We stand shoulder to shoulder
We stand side to side
When one of us gets a tiny bit tired
One gives the other a ride
Ride

I've never had a best friend before
So I can't be sure
What it feels like
But I think it feels more like this, I do
I think I feel more like myself
When I'm with you

Finding, finding
Losing and finding
Making, making a bond that is strong
Building, building a house for a friendship
Breathing a breath for our song
Song
For our song

Ultimate expressions of my MIND!

There was a time when I was so allergic to the F-word that I would object to people using it in my presence, even though it wasn't used on me. Yes, I was quite a prude - in more ways than one! And then, I met this person who, I claim, is responsible for bringing out the beast in me, and he ends up enriching my vocabulary of offensive expressions. I start using not just the F-word but other abusive words quite liberally in my conversations.

When BG wrote his blog post Of Samosas and Abuses, it simply dawned on me how far I had come in life: my prudeness has been mostly replaced by crudeness. So much so that a few times, I have heard Mehuli use expressions like 'Shit man' and 'Shuck man'!

It's gross, coming from a four-year-old. I am perpetually paranoid and often hope that nobody follows her accent and understands what she's saying. I wonder if she will forget her childhood vocabulary and grow up to a 'prude' like her mum. Wishful thinking, did you say?

MIND the yap!

Not very long ago I had written a post on how I was teaching my one-year-old to communicate so that one day I find my best friend in her
( http://paularay.blogspot.com/2007/05/games-your-mind-plays-with-you.html ).

Three years later, she talks non-stop - starting even before she opens her eyes in the morning - and asks innumerable 'irrelevant' questions. So much so that most of our time together is spent with me trying to shut her up either with a Walt Disney movie or a book about a 'Hairy-Scary Monster'! But then, if I get too upset with her and she is kind of forced to do as I wish, she comes to me and asks: "Are you happy?"

Now, how am I supposed to respond to that? She isn't mature enough to use sarcasm, is she? So yes, I take her question at face value and say: "Yes, I am."

She has made a couple of good friends at her creche. But the other evening after returning home, in between her chatter, she asked: "Mamma, are you my best friend?" I was engulfed with such emotion that I could only hug her and say: "Of course, I am."

A positive MIND!

Wake up Sid is one film I have wanted to watch for a long time now and no, I haven't yet been fortunate yet! Heard this song at an 'Indian' birthday party recently... Wanted to share it with you.





O re manwa tu to bawra hai
Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai
Tu hi jaane tu kya sochta hai
Baware

Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaagte
Jo barsein sapne boond boond
Nainon ko moond moond
Nainon ko moond moond
Jo barsein sapne boond boond
Nainon ko moond moond

Kaise main chaloon
Dekh na sakoon
Anjaane raaste

Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara

Sun rahi hoon sudhbudh kho ke
Koi main kahani
Puri kahani hai kya kisi hai pata
Main to kisiki ho ke yeh bhi na jaani
Ruth hai yeh do pal ki ya rahegi sada
Kise hai pata
kise hai pata

Jo barsein sapne boond boond
Nainon ko moond moond
Nainon ko moond moond
Jo barsein sapne boond boond
Nainon ko moond moond

Kaise main chaloon
Dekh na sakoon
Anjaane raaste

Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara iktara
Goonja sa hai koi ektara

- Kavita Seth

Konkona is turning out to be a pretty face, of late. It goes well with her extremely good acting skills. Keep it up, girl!

Of birds and bees... and a baby!

My three-and-a-half year old daughter is shocked to see a pregnant woman on the magazine cover. She comes running with it and asks, "Mamma, why is her tummy so big? What's inside it?"

"She is pregnant. There's a baby inside her tummy," I explain to her. But she continues to look at the picture in surprise. So, I add, "When you were a baby, you were also inside my tummy."

She digests this information and takes a few moments to comprehend it. Then asks, "Can I get into your tummy again?"

I tell her she is too big now. When she was smaller it was possible, but not any more. She ponders over it for the next few minutes and then comes up with an explanation: "If I try to get in now, it will break your teeth. You will get hurt. That's why you are saying it's not possible."

I nod in assertion!

Jab we met

The rain is coming down in sheets and here I am waiting for Rion to pick me up after work. This has become our routine ever since we relocated to Pune. People around me under the bus shade are also waiting for the rain to subside before they can scurry off to complete their chores. A radio somewhere is belting out Bollywood golden oldies - as if to keep our spirits high in spite of the damp cold weather. But hang on... what's that again? The song, I mean. Isn't it the same number that was playing the very first time Rion had come to pick me up after work?

Cut to July 31, 2005. Mumbai. Andheri station, Harbour line. The city had witnessed its worst flood in a 100 years, only 5 days back. The trains had just started plying after the deluge. My fifth floor Navi Mumbai apartment was totally washed out with the water seeping in through the door connecting the bedroom with the balcony. So I had taken refuge at a friend's cousin's place that was comparatively dry. It was at Nilakshi's that I met Rion - another of their cousins. He had seemed a bit of a flirt right away, but charming at the same time. I was curious about him, but not really interested in anything long term. He simply didn't look the type.

On the second day of my stay, I had come home to clean up my flat. Rion had offered to help but all he did on reaching my place was sleep and snore, just to make up for being out all night, most probably partying. Later that day we discovered each other and after a heart-to-heart, Rion insisted I go back to his cousin's place with him. So, there I was in Andheri again, returning from work the next day.

The rain hadn't stopped and was particularly heavy at the time I got off the train. Slowly I was walking towards the exit, wondering if I should wait for a while or just make a dash to catch the nearest rickshaw. And this very song - a popular Bollywood number on romance in the rain - was blaring off somebody's mobile radio. And then, I saw him. He was standing near the exit, holding on to a dripping brolly and feeding a wet hungry dog a packet of glucose biscuits. That was the moment I fell in love.

He had wanted to surprise me by coming to pick me up from the train station, and what a pleasant surprise it was! He is man of surprises. He loves to take you by surprise - and revels at your pleasure!

Rion was actually looking for an accommodation and so had put up with his cousin. So, instead, he moved in with me. In about two weeks, we went on a trip to Goa and that's when he proposed marriage. But I asked for time, not knowing that I had already conceived our daughter! When I did discover a few weeks later, my life turned on its head. I wanted to get married the next day or go for a termination, but Rion backed out thinking I had agreed to marry him only for the baby. Neither did he support my abortion. After a series of messy situations, we agreed on a business proposal: we will be married till the child is born and then we go our separate ways. Getting the marriage legalised involved some serious manipulation; finally, we got our respective families to accept our marriage.

But the biggest surprise of all is the fact that our marriage clicked. Through all these upheavals, we learned to bond somewhere, somehow. People go through a lot of speculations and logical analyses - not just them but their parents and their parents too - before plunging into a marriage. Even then, at times they end up in divorces or non-functional marriages. But destiny seemed to push us into ours, with little time to think or analyse. So far it's been good. No regrets. The future's not ours to see...

I snap back to the present as Rion halts in front of me and jump into the car. The song is still playing on the car stereo. "Remember this song?," I ask him.

You raise me up to more than I can be

Read an interesting article today - Obituary of the late Mr Common Sense.

So very true!

Then, my MIND flipped on to this ">song

The lyrics are here for you to hum along:

When I am down and oh my soul, so weary,
When troubles come and my heart burdened be,
Then I am still and wait here in the silence,
UNTIL you come and sit a while with me.


You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas,
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders,
You raise me up To more than I can be.


You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up To more than I can be.


You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas,
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders,
You raise me up To more than I can be.


You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas,
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders,
You raise me up To more than I can be.

- Westlife.

Thank you very much. That was really 'uplifting'!