How foolishly we giggled away!! That was my first afternoon out with my school friends after embracing my new found freedom. Dodging various hurdles and stuffing commitments in garbage bags, Ritu, Nisha, Nita and I met up at the mall for a meal together.
After the initial debate of where we should eat and what we should eat, we settled down. Ritu and I dream of mannequin like figures but refuse to cut down on eating…so that is easy! Nisha binges on special days but Nita is "self discipline" personified!! She only wanted “tomato shorba” lest her hour glass figure gathered an inch!!!
We gorged, suffered from profuse verbal diarrhea, minced each other up and giggled …till we realized that our responsibilities were frantically beckoning us.
The following evening was equally thrilling. Jashodhara, Reena and I were 19 year olds once more. Just a fortnight back Jasho and I had reconnected with our dear friend Reena from college on Facebook. The excitement was spilling out and it was imperative that we meet. Both of them came by to my house and time stood still! With “google eyes”, grins glued to our ears, we hugged one another in ecstasy! Soon there was a talkathon in process…statements, questions, exclamations whizzing around the room, often colliding with one another. “Do you remember…?” “Of course you did, silly”!, “Oh dear, no!!”…we skidded down memory lane, laughed at our insane escapades, and fondly remembered other dear friends and our wonderful professors. Updating one another on our present families was purely incidental. There was one thing that was certain. We were definitely going to make up for lost time!
At night I dug out my old photo album and gently turned the wrinkled pages. There we were, with silly expressions, posing together as if we were beauty queens! How little we cared for the world, how little we knew about its complexities. Yet we thought we knew it all, in fact had conquered it all!
28 years later, we have evolved. Life has happened to each of us and we are what we are. It is only a few fortunate beings who can transcendent time and giggle foolishly once again. I have begun collecting such moments greedily. They make me richer than the Kohinoor diamond would.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT!!
It was 7 minutes past midnight when my cell phone beeped. I received the first birthday message from my former student, Sanya. I managed to open my heavy eyes. My limbs paralyzed by deep sleep, did not move, but my mind did. I thought, “Yipee! My birthday, and the day of FREEDOM from restrictions!!” and I sank back in slumber.
When I was a child, my mum would complain that I had far too many friends than was manageable. That is something that my Creator has blessed me with. As I said before, I have innumerable angels (my friends and family) all around me. The birthday messages started beeping and ringing in since the wee hours. I was not feeling too well that morning…a side effect of radiation. The energy generated by my loved ones gave me the strength to get ready for another day’s therapy.
I wanted to do all the things I had not done for four months. My mind shouted, “Hurrah! Let’s do it!!” but my body groaned, “Sorry, just cannot…too exhausted!” Normally I hate surprise gifts from my family, but as I returned from therapy there was a beautiful bouquet of tube roses waiting for me from my friends and a lovely gift from Madhu. Of course I was thrilled, but I still hadn’t done anything to mark my day of freedom.
Pradipta returned home from work with a gorgeous bouquet of colorful carnations, and Diya with a chocolate cake. All three of them (Pradipta, Diya and Tisham) insisted that we go out for dinner to mark my liberation day. I had neither eaten cake nor dressed up and certainly not gone for dinner in the last four months!! I wore the chic pair of denims that Tisham had given me, dashed the Armani perfume that Pradipta had bought for me, fixed my wig on my glossy pate and was ready in a jiffy. :)
Despite the incessant rain we went out for a sumptuous Chinese dinner. Unfortunately I had difficulty in swallowing the food as my oesophagus was sore due to radiation. My meal was restricted to bland, white Chinese dishes. Nevertheless, I ate as heartily and hungrily as the rest of the family. My excitement was that of a 4 year old or a 9 year old…certainly not of someone who had turned 49!! :))
I cut the delicious chocolate cake at night and we savored every morsel of it. Simba expressed his glee by barking loudly enough to awaken the neighborhood! After satiating my sulking stomach and satisfying my hungry mind, I bade adieu to the magical evening. From one mid night till the other, I had celebrated my birthday and my liberation. But above all, I had celebrated the joy of being alive in this world amidst my family and friends who held my hand!
When I was a child, my mum would complain that I had far too many friends than was manageable. That is something that my Creator has blessed me with. As I said before, I have innumerable angels (my friends and family) all around me. The birthday messages started beeping and ringing in since the wee hours. I was not feeling too well that morning…a side effect of radiation. The energy generated by my loved ones gave me the strength to get ready for another day’s therapy.
I wanted to do all the things I had not done for four months. My mind shouted, “Hurrah! Let’s do it!!” but my body groaned, “Sorry, just cannot…too exhausted!” Normally I hate surprise gifts from my family, but as I returned from therapy there was a beautiful bouquet of tube roses waiting for me from my friends and a lovely gift from Madhu. Of course I was thrilled, but I still hadn’t done anything to mark my day of freedom.
Pradipta returned home from work with a gorgeous bouquet of colorful carnations, and Diya with a chocolate cake. All three of them (Pradipta, Diya and Tisham) insisted that we go out for dinner to mark my liberation day. I had neither eaten cake nor dressed up and certainly not gone for dinner in the last four months!! I wore the chic pair of denims that Tisham had given me, dashed the Armani perfume that Pradipta had bought for me, fixed my wig on my glossy pate and was ready in a jiffy. :)
Despite the incessant rain we went out for a sumptuous Chinese dinner. Unfortunately I had difficulty in swallowing the food as my oesophagus was sore due to radiation. My meal was restricted to bland, white Chinese dishes. Nevertheless, I ate as heartily and hungrily as the rest of the family. My excitement was that of a 4 year old or a 9 year old…certainly not of someone who had turned 49!! :))
I cut the delicious chocolate cake at night and we savored every morsel of it. Simba expressed his glee by barking loudly enough to awaken the neighborhood! After satiating my sulking stomach and satisfying my hungry mind, I bade adieu to the magical evening. From one mid night till the other, I had celebrated my birthday and my liberation. But above all, I had celebrated the joy of being alive in this world amidst my family and friends who held my hand!
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