EVERYBODY LOVED PRIYANKA...

It was raining then.Must have been sometime during monsoons when a new girl entered the class entered..She sat on the bench in front of mine.We still didn't talk to each other for quite some days.We were studying in Prep A and I don't remember having great friends(as i have today) at that time..The only ones I had were My "little master" video game and a few elder didis in my neighborhood.Too small to understand what friendship meant.
It was after few weeks,that i came to know how verbose the girl was.She would go on and on blabbering about any thing..
We struck a good bonhomie in class 1.She lived some 3/4th km away from my house.
I remember when she had first come to my home,how excited I was.I had been waiting the entire afternoon,staring at window, waiting for Priyanka to arrive..with time both of us were really forging a strong friendship.

In class2 we would stay back in school after classes had ended doing up the Class bulletin board or preparing articles..we shared common interests..and we were made prefects and captains alternately.I must admit she was far more responsible than i was.
While I would hone my simian instincts on the yellow painted monkey-ladder or sway on the swing,Priya(shortened her name coz i found Priyanka too long) would take pleasure in combing Aaya Didi's(school's staff) tresses and tell her how lovely they were.Then she would plead to me"Sneha,come down,let us try the see-saw".
We started visiting each other's place more often as we ascended classes;for assignments,class-notes,exhibition work(she made lovely clay balls as planets when we made a model of solar system).I loved the lip-smacking pickles her mom served to me while she kept trying to ride my bicycle.She was outstanding in maths and hindi.
Once she won a local elocution competition,still never let it go into her head.I drew inspiration from her,and won it the next time.
Aahh!!The dramatics and dance that we were into..She was made Sonia Gandhi once,Queen of King Solomon(when King solomon had to bow down and propose to her,both of them were too shy to do it),a dowry demanding mother-in-law..but my favourite one remains the "Mind your Language"skit in class 6 and the falguni pathak dance we taught to the slum children.

We were both choir members and enjoyed singing together.The way she would impersonate one of our teachers in an attempt to sound very much like those high pitched opera singers...that still invites my chuckles.
Gutsy and brave she was,and would stand up against anything she felt was wrong.I remember when in class6.she saw a std.10 captain leaving the tap
at the water point open,with water spewing all over.She went up to him,though she saw he was with his gang,and questioned him"Bhaiya,you left the tap open,is it not your responsibility to close it?"The captain said"Can you see my badge,do you know who i am?"
That didn't budge her to say"You should put forth an example ,so please do close the tap."
Priya was compassionate and would helping out people.One day when one of our classmates was being teased by the rest of class guys,for no fault of his,she took up cudgels on his behalf.The rest of the guys were all put to silence by her words.She later became friends with everyone even that senior captain who would call her"Priyanka madam" in banter.She was a real tomboy and everyone started liking her.
Not that Priya and I never fought.We had plenty of tiffs between us,but very soon we would get over it and laugh at each other's stupidity.
We enjoyed those "girl talks"..I told her how i couldn't stop thinking about Hrithik after the release of KNPH and she confessed even she was nuts about Salman.
Our friendship was getting noticed by everyone.Once our Games teacher gifted us a bouquet(which was gifted to him) saying,"this one,for your friendship girls"

In Std.7 Priya lost one of her three elder brothers,to some undiagnosed illness..The loss was obviously too big for the family,so they were moving to Patna where her father worked,and where most of her relatives stayed.
I was really downcast at this thought of her leaving..I remember giving her a tight hug and a lovely showpiece while parting..she presented me a walkman(she knew how much i needed it).
Though time healed the void,that i had initially felt after she left,as i made new good friends.
But still,class periods were never the same and recess never as amusing as it used to be..
Its not that easy to stop missing one's first friend.
We always were in touch with each other..confiding those teenage secrets over the phone..she was no more the same,as she now had started giving me mature advices.

On 11th May 2 years back,my B'day,she had called me in the morning to wish,her voice was not the usual perky one,probably coz she had just got up from sleep then..and said she'd call me later..I kept waiting for that "later"..
Exactly 2 years back on 23rd May,our 12th results were declared,I kept calling her to share my frustration,as my results weren't as per my expectations..but no one picked it up.Then the other day her Father rang up to break that ill-fated,shocking news"Beta,Priyanka is no more.."
I just couldn't believe what i had heard..Then her eldest brother took away the phone from uncle,as uncle started to sob bitterly.Bhaiya said that she was fine at the dinner last night,only when they tried to wake her up the next day on 23rd,they found her breathless...
I was not in a position to ask any further.I still am not..I tried doing that on her B'day but feared what if one call of mine revokes the grief of the bereaved family.
It took weeks for the feeling to sink in,that I no longer will be able to talk to my adorable friend.
I feel eerie at the thought,how often Priya and I would end our conversation saying to each other"HASO,JIYO,GAAO,MUSKURAAO,KYA PATA KAL HO NAA HO"(laugh,live,sing and smile what if tomorrow never comes)
Today,on her second death anniversary,I just want her family to be blessed with fortitude to get on with their lives,after losing two of their lovely children...
Truly,WHOM GODS LOVE DIE YOUNG.

SMART and I

Sorry folks!! If i havent been in touch with u all these days..Not at all my fault...
Here is something which will make some empathise and others sympathise with me..

How ironical!!they call themselves RELIANCE Smart.None of the 2 adjectives has been true in my case of consumerism..so spare me!!
Ever since i bought my first mobile phone it has been no less than a dream for me to talk without interruptions..never have I had a breakthrough in talking ..
Each time I tried calling someone "NETWORK BUSY" signal would flash on my mobile screen..Shouldn't there be a NETWORK to keep itself BUSY??
At least the signal"ERROR IN CONNECTION" was justified.I agree ...Yeah!!there were plenty of errors in the connection..And when,at all,I made some success in connecting with someone i would heave a momentary sigh of relief,and remark"I cant hear you. sorry can u please be a bit louder??"," Can u please come in a better network area?"
After much of the martial arts i practised near my room's window placing my cellphone in all possible directions..
The best network area that i could access was my hostel lawn..
So i would run out of my room out in the lawn..where I had to battle the cold,rain and many a times mosquitoes' army conspiring a carnage on me.
predicaments of all sorts...but still no hassle free conversation.After a few months I gave up...No point! manoeuvring my mobile and myself in all directions screaming"hello,hello" for the umpteenth time..wasting my cellular balance(pun)..and still not able to hear a word from the other side.

Friends and relatives would complain that i had turned unsociable,rude,cocky..no more bothering to exchange pleasantries over the phone.
One of my frnz scrapped me on orkut "What shrill!!after uve reached colg it seems all your calls are just being directed to one number,what no.is it??
Uve forgotten us..yaar
Wont ask u much coz i know such things do happen...All the best to u two"
GOD!!What on earth did my frnd mean??Nonplussed i was at this false accusation.
Some even asked mom if i was OK(some presumed i was under depression, or given to one of those teenage"identity crisis" fits)
The situation became all the more hopeless when my message tone beeped and hostel frnz next door would ask"So,Shrill what message is it?","Is RELIANCE asking u to download ringtones or asking u to take a look at your horoscope,coz Human beings are hardly in touch with you"
Sorry!!people..i tried my best..rang up the customer care where no one picked up the fone..wrote mails addressed to Smart ppl which they dint received ..
Then came LAN in BIT..all buddies hooked onto it..I dint have my comp in the hostel,so when my frnz were busy confabulating
and making new frnz on LAN..
I was CAST AWAY!!
At times this incommunicado feeling made me feel like a reclusive islander.
Even Robinson Crusoe had Man Friday with him..

But yeah it came with its own advantages too!!
Best part being whenever in class or labs my frnz with some other network provider, would have painstakingly take their
cell out and switch it off,or silent it..Huh!! i would shrug my shoulders in that smug pleasure and say"See,i wont need to do that..no network,no calls"
And as one of my hostel friends Gita(name changed to protect privacy) suggested;the service acts as a call filter...How come??
she explained.."look,when ure getting call from a no..u don't want to attend,just place ur cell somewhere inside your room..no network,no call,
and even if by some quirk of fate
the person contacts u; just go on..saying,hello cant hear u"
Well such a situation never arose in my case...
As of now,I m happy ;meeting all my friends this summer,making up with them,and asking them to read my blog.
LESSON LEARNT:"What LIES in the name?!";-)

2002:A Space Odyssey

A girl when in std.9 always wanted this work of hers to get published in the school magazine...but the magazine didn't come out..and this text got lost,
later she retrieved this work of hers after years.. i thot of publishing it in my blog,...so give it a read please..its about her first hot air balloon flight.

The sky was painted azure,and cottony wisps of cloud dotted it.The green sylvan strands swayed in the air dancing to the tunes of the melodious,fragrant breeze.
The garment that mother nature wore was more than "just favourable" for my first hot air balloon flight.
The authorities at the airport had organised a free hot air balloon flight for students.
As the old saying goes "the early bird catches the worm",i was amongst the first few students who had turned up early in the morning probably
coz i never had the flight experience before ..I was geared up in a helmet and a leather suit(just in case smthin went wrong).
The colour of the balloon was red.It was so; to be distinct in the sobre background.An airport attendant Sheena was there to accompany me.
(She was probably there to check on my nerves and in the next 5 mins. she would become my "messiah" for life!)

"All set", Sheena told her colleague as they tested the hot air engine which emanated blazing red fumes.
In one frantic motion we got into the basket of the balloon and in a trice we were elevating and soaring new heights in the sky.Merely ten metres above I felt I was on cloud#9,but as i scaled new heights my blood thickened,heart thumped,temples pounded and
intestines went haywire...Acrophobia,i guess.I just closed my eyes.
Sheena understood that things werent fine ..Much to my relief she clutched my hand and bolstered me saying"Think ur flying..all by yourself..".
My conscience urged my mortal senses to be brave..

Very surprisingly,my belly turned red from yellow.Yes!I now was transformed from Little Miss Muffet to Joan Of Arc.
On opening my eyes I found a much friendlier Earth under my eyes.At a height of about 200 metres, I enjoyed playing hide and seek with the sun..and the clear pond beneath; served as a clear mirror for it.
There were these lush fields,with meandering brook running through them.I was not wearing my myopia correcting glasses so the aeroplanes below
resembled giant horses unable to trot.The statue of the Maharaja seemed like a frozen truant waiting for his gang members.
The cars moving up and down the street looked like mice scampering about..and the horde of students waiting below looked like ants of different species.
As the 30 mins. of this exhilarating odyssey was coming to an end..I held on to Sheena,thanking her,as we retarded our pace..The gravity pulled us down.
I now wanted to relive each moment of this flight.However when i reached the ground,i was submerged in an overwhelming feeling of reunion with my Mother..
My mother in all sense..my MOTHER"LAND"..