Committed

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Smell of hookah, lots of smoke, navel rings, ear deafening Trans and Metal music, beautiful faces, smooches and sensual touches…..this was Hawaiian shack, a pub. Neha was dancing and swirling across the 3^rd floor, tracing out arcs of energetic rhythm. Shakira and her hips were not lying…and neither was the mood, 5 friends in upbeat mood, cheering each other and dancing their heart out. They proceeded to bar, salt in one hand and lemon in another and bottoms up tequila shots, 5 each. Some more music, some more drinks….after that they needed some support to dance, Avinash readily supported her by placing hands on waist. When you are having best time of your life with people whom you like….hand is known to slide, while dancing on INGRID MICHAELSON "The Way I Am". She was losing herself, when suddenly she saw the guy and he was Avinash not Madan.

Neha, Avinash, Manish, Mushin and Pooja, all were colleagues from Voltas India and were celebrating FFO i.e. First Friday Outside.

Neha Madan, Female, 23 years in official records, Kuhu by family & friends, heartless by public; these were the few adjectives, she was always known as. Neha drives a Maruti Zen, dates a simpleton called Madan Gulati and works as PRO in Voltas India.

Neha was born and brought up in Bombay and was always kind of bindaas. Bombay brings a lot of insanity along with the upbringing and bombayittes always love this long lost charm of small towns & simplicity. Madan was a simple guy who wore slippers and specs to college; when a gang of guys comes in fancy cloths and lot of cologne, just to impress you…you get used to it but you also miss the natural ones. And Neha was used to all the big talks but she was not used to simple talks and all the respect, which Madan used to carry. Madan was above average in studies, gave her notes to copy, never complimented her on beauty and always looked at her through corner of his eyes… he was “take him to mamma” kind of boy. There was an air of ‘simplicity-meets-boyishness-meets-different’ and she loved it.  She knew he was smitten by her but also knew he will never be able to give words to his feelings so she took the lead and made him confess.

Time passed by, they graduated, joined different companies but always found some time for each other and they were enjoying it. Avinash was the one to take lead and inform his family about Neha and both the families agreed for the alliance, condition to their settling down professionally.

Come Feb’2010; they have completed 8 years of courtship and are just 4 months away from marriage. Now things have changed a bit, Madan behaves more like a husband and Neha like any other girlfriend.

Madan works in a semi-government bank as a manager, where 70% of the population was under ‘you blink and I die’ category and rest 29% are after going home early types. His public bank organizes early going to home opportunity and right to strike. Neha works in a young company where average employee age is 25 years. As part of her job profile; her company offers a lot of lunches, dinners and social do’s.

Both had a different level of exposure in their after love life, Madan remained a small town boy whereas Neha experienced a higher level of exposure unintentionally.

Albeit she liked the simpleton behavior of Madan but she has grown up listening to MLTR, Venga boys & all the English bands and Madan was simply not interested in pop, rock or metal music. She liked being in his arms but she also liked dancing in a club…for her it was a way of living life to the fullest.

Neha and Madan both has experienced same type of feelings with different level of intensity…from last 1 year, there were differences cropping up and they felt things have changed a bit from the day they started dating. Sometimes Madan found Payal more understanding than Neha whereas Neha thought Avinash is of her type. However things were still not lost, they still loved each other; sometimes just because they were together for 8 years, sometimes because they were getting married in few months and sometimes because their families were meeting …….. they had stopped loving each other but they loved each other for the reasons and the reason was not love.

2 months to marriage and Madan started spending some more time at office and with Payal whereas visits to CCD, McDonalds and Hard rock café by Neha & friends increased too. They both knew their limits; both knew they are getting married but still laying their hands on fire.

They were aware of happenings but it was simply uncontrollable...or maybe they dint wanted to control it.

Come 7^th May, 1 month to go…. Things were approaching make or break but unaware of the changes…families were busy preparing for marriage, marriage invitations were being sent to relatives.

Madan took Payal out for lunch and came back unimpressed with her manners, social etiquettes. He remembered Neha and he knew what he was missing; she had made him a man he is.

Avinash took Neha spinning out on the bike and then for a small do; what Neha saw there was not something she liked…Avinash took grass, shared exhaustive details of his prior affairs and playboy days. Neha knew inside her heart, she is getting a firsthand man but was running behind a second hand loser.

8^th May, 30 days to go…Neha and Madan met, lost in each other but found themselves…..it was not a date but it was a meeting of 2 souls, who were meant to be together for life.

Huf huf….and heavy breathing, noise of treadmill and smell of sweat & iron. This is the definition of the place as per , where svelte figure Nayna runs on 3^rd treadmill. Why 3^rd? ….arrrrr….because it’s a corner and she enjoys sweet nothings with the trainer Yogesh.

Let me introduce you to characters in the story:

Nayna: 21, MBA, Investment banker, JP Morgan

Aditya: 24, Medical Scientist, ICMR

Prologue

Nerdish Boy and sweet girl literally growing together in middle class neighborhood. ‘Bride & groom’ game in child life, didn’t take much effort to translate into real life. They knew each other, liked each other and had seen through ups and downs.

Nayna studied to become a banker and Aditya completed his science studies and started working as a Medical Scientist at ICMR. Nayna who was a simple middle class girl with no taste of lipstick, make up kits; had to start it all because she was working with Investment banking arm to keep up with her image. Aditya was nerdish and had to remain nerdish because of his job as a scientist. If you look cool, you can be a model not scientist…that’s how you define them in India. Some people, who pretend to be intellect, apply a lot of oil and wear nerdy specs…but thankfully Adi didn’t overdo it and he was presentable and well behaved man.

Good behavior and beautiful wife is a deadly combination and it paid in terms of rishi…a sweet little cute child.

1 year before present

As a part of corporate wellness programme, Nayna was gifted an annual gym package. Initially she was tired and never wanted to go but encouragement & constant praises from Aditya made her go gym regularly. When she saw the before and after images, vital stats of herself…she was glad and proud of herself.  

Lioness had tested human blood and slowly she started comparing 4-8 packs of gym junta with single pack of Aditya. The comparison engine continued working whenever she visited hair salon or any happening do with or without Aditya.

Re launching characters

Nayna: 27, MBA (Married but Available), 34” / 27” / 35”

Aditya: 30, Medical Scientist, ICMR, 36” waist, receding hairline

Yogesh: 21, 12^th pass, Trainer at Moksha Gym, Athlete body

She met Yogesh, a 12^th pass or fail trainer with access to human body, licensed to touch. He saw dada kondke movies, read crude stories…and sometimes to try something new, crudeness attracts... it started. He wanted to touch and see how a reach girl looks like; she wanted to be touched, to see how an athlete body feels like. When you are deprived of some things, you long for it and are not concerned about consequences.

Aditya was himself, a caring & loving husband; he has reached a senior position and needed to require more time at work.

Nayna started meeting Yogesh outside, he took her to small joints, shoddy corners and she liked it, because it was an unknown territory. It was a blessing in disguise because even if she wanted, yogesh was not presentable to be taken into social dos and it was always a danger that somebody will see through it. With Aditya around, she never had to pay a bill and here she was footing all the checks so she was feeling good about it too. When you have grown under a banyan tree and suddenly everything goes and u get opportunity to grow at best pace….she was contemplating being with yogesh forever.

Present

Aditya was going to New York to attend some medical seminar; he insisted she must accompany and she followed suit as such she needed some time to decide the future course of action. The compliments from fellow passengers and glances from strangers were enough to tell her, she was looking good whereas Aditya was ok.

She thought about it, decided about future course of action to be taken back India and slept. It was a best evening out for her, Aditya was his jovial self, poured her a glass of sparkling wine, took her to have sushi, presented her a nice Armani dress, she has always longed for.

Morning 7 am, Aditya was out, gave her a bunch of flowers and told her to be ready as they had to leave for some ceremony.

The reached venue by 8:30 am and when they got down from limousine, flash bulbs were going crazy…she was lost in her own thoughts….her own beauty and admirers. But she was dazzled by seeing so big a crowd.

When Aditya was called on the stage, she came to know who he was married to. Aditya has invented a Chromosome jumping coupled with genomic DNA technique, which was helpful in reversing the human age by 10 years, improving the receding hairline by 70% and making the human body proportionate and ideal.

More flashbulbs followed, he called Nayna to receive the award with him and dedicated his invention to her. Just after the award ceremony, there was ‘Meet the Press’ initiative and questions followed:

Press: What made you invent this technique?

Aditya: My wife. She used to work out and cry in pain, I love her so much and thought of making her job easier.

Press: What will you name this invention?

Aditya: I am dedicating this invention to my lovely wife, Nayna so it will be named after Nayna.

Press to Nayna: Since you look younger to Aditya and he is showing signs of aging, do you want Aditya to use this invention to look 10 years younger?

Nayna: No. Time we have spent together was and is beautiful and immortal…I want nothing of it to go away.

One tear left the corners of Nayna’s eye and lost his way on the hand of Aditya, he was holding her in his arms and smiling…and she was proud to be back.

She was walking on the tar road; her eyes were filled with rage, fists tight and pounding heart. She has just won the war and took bloody revenge. She was Prajna, a cute girl in her twenties. She was walking away from her past, unsure of her future, because of her present. The black tar road was alike to her black past…. she was running away from past and now the tar road; more she wanted to forget her past, more it was trying to catch up with her, just like the tar road.

Prajna was studying to become a biotech graduate; she wanted to be a micro biologist and play with micro organisms’. Theirs was a small family, consists of her elderly parents and motherly sis, Priyanka.

The only earning brother was killed in war between India & Pakistan, over a stupid hill. The land on the hill is barren, deserted and without any population and it was trying to pass on its characteristics to humans, who were fighting for it.

The death caused in war was the life turning experience for the family. Mother died of shock, father wanted to be there too, but Yamraj seeing his two pretty daughters, refused to take him in. Priyanka had to take a job in a jeweler shop to prove Darwin’s theory “Survival of the Fittest”

Life was again getting back on track, Priyanka doing a fine job as a Jewelry designer, Prajna studying to be a microbiologist and the father trying to walk after the paralytic heart attack. Then suddenly God unveiled the hidden plan to enrich their lives.

Priyanka hanged herself with a swollen belly; it was not the fat accumulated by McBurger but there was a human life inside, the most beautiful creation a man can create. The beautiful creation becomes the ugliest creation, if the father disowns the mother. She was going around with her employer. Father wanted to be hanged too but his legs were not supportive enough. At last his balcony, which was mostly used for drying cloths….came to his help; and he did not cry while falling down from 7^th floor.

Prajna could not fight with Pakistanis last time but this time she was not ready to take things lying down; she was ready to fight, ready for revenge. She left her masters mid way, got into one of the biggest Jewelry Institute and started working on a plan to get even with her sis employer. One day, she felt a sharpening pain in the head and felled down; was taken to hospital. And when she woke up in her senses, she got Turn # 124 of her life; was told, she was HIV positive. It seemed to her that revenge will not be complete in her short span of lifetime. Indian law prohibits disclosure of patient’s AIDS status without consent, so she could afford the anonymous tag.

She bagged the most coveted job of jewelry designer with Narotamdas Jewelers; in few days time, she was epitome of Seth Narotamdas…mostly because of her curved body, polished communication and wicked style.

As usual, Seth’s wife was out and Narotamdas forgot some precious stones at store, he called up and wanted a real diamond to carry the stones to his home to be delivered by hand…and this time real diamond was Prajna.

Precious stones were delivered but hands which delivered them were beautiful too and beauty needs to be appreciated. Narotamdas started appreciating her beauty in his own style and Prajna was party to the crime. Seth Narotamdas, who was unable to do it, was able to do it and he wanted more….Prajna started laughing.  Next 2 sentences were death nails for Narotamdas.

Prajna: 2 truths for you, one Priyanka was my elder sister and second, I am HIV+

She enjoyed the pale look of Narotamdas and walked out from his Malabar hill home.

 She reached home; saw a thick brown envelope lying at the door from “Jupiter Diagnostic”. She sat on the sofa, switched on the TV and opened it with heavy heart and read

------------------------------

Accept our sincere apologies from heart

We have detected some machine problems and that caused faulty detection of HIV+ in several of our patients. We are happy to inform you that your samples were tested at AIMS and you are not HIV+

Warm Regards,

Kedar  Betgeri

-------------------------------

She reached for sleeping pills bottle, took all of them, gulped down with water and with faint senses, heard famous news reader Amit Gupta on AajTak “Breaking News: Seth Narotamdas committed suicide by hanging himself”

She saw the watch and it was 2'O clock and date showed 14th Dec'09; now she remembered the sleeping pills bottle had only 3 pills and it was exactly 17 hours after the incident, she woke up....a smile came to her dry lips, which was a tribute to her family.

Are you an SEO Expert?

This tells me to update myself too often otherwise i may get lost in this big crowd of Online Marketing.

Note:Amit Gupta is a SEO expert based at mumbai and working with some of who's who of industrial power houses.

In the school they said, write what you wanted to be in your life.She came with a big blank paper and a 5 letter word 'HAPPY'. Ms. Raima said i think u didnt understood the assignment and everyone heard her "You dont understand the life"

Now you must be wondering to know more about her, where is she,what she did,is she happy after a good 23 years.

Let me take you back to eighties when dharmendra and dev anand were everywhere and we were at Bokaro. A girl and a boy and many other boys and many other girls....she was never an epitome of our group, she was a bit boyish, a bit outgoing and to say the truth she was more forthcoming and mature than all of us. At that time, we never knew 'Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus'....we thought we all belong to this mother of all planets, earth and Bokaro was the whole earth for us.

She was a golden girl because whenever we didn’t do our homework, we copied from her, whenever we did something wrong, she owned the responsibility……she always felt happy when we ate her lunch…we loved her heart shaped golden pendant……I used to touch it and love the touch.

We saw so many pictures, publicly screened by Bokaro Steel Plant authorities but we knew they were not from our planet and they really looked different with so perfect screen presence.

So, lets go back to the story....priyanka did well in studies,so did we.Just like good fellows, we bid good bye to each other and flew in different directions....i did engineering,prakash did biotech, sarla got into medicals and priyanka got into speach therapy. I know a speach therapist story among all those doctors,engineers and management looks weird, but life do have weird ways to teach you and mind you….. speach is most important aspect of human existence.

We got busy in our own worlds, far away from each other and not aware of each others existence.

Now our story has to take a turn and as they say "chhoti si yeh duniya, anjane raste hain..tum kahin to miloge, kabhi to miloge.........toh puchhenge baat "  and I met priyanka at shimla airport about 4 years ago, she was with a guy on wheel chair, crippled guy with or without movement. I was getting late for my tech conference and was the lead speaker so just exchanged our numbers and got going.

The conference was fine, people appreciated and jotted down management lessons i shared with them but to say truly........i was still thinking about priyanka and dat guy on wheel chair. Way back, Kamlesh had told me about priyanka's affair with Rohit...she was good, he was a gem and i heard he also gifted her a 32 Carat potato sized diamond ring on her Birthday. She was always a girl of dreams...she had heard it all; para gliding,go karting and bungy jumping....and at that age, we knew non of them.When kamlesh asked me about bungy jumping, i could only tell them about the one i did; wearing my elder brother's baggy green pants and jumping from 6' high boundry wall,when my father was chasing me for a pretty bad score card.

To worsen the situation in Shimla, snow gained muscles, turned into heavy snow and started falling everywhere; consequently all flights and connecting routes got closed....in a nutshell for 10 days i had to remain in shimla. I did prepare some slides and posted some nice pictures on my blog but in a day or two....slow internet connection and boring routine made me contemplate suicide. 

When life bores, we look for friends and i could see one of my school friend in form of a visiting card,lying on the table. It read "Priyanka Mukhorjee,CEO-Akash Bangla " . In eastern India Akash Bangla was a leading channel.I tried calling her but to no avail..line was dead like hell. I decided to take a walk and may be drop in at Priyanka's address.

I had to take a long stroll as it was snow, snow and all snow. It was a old bunglaw and had to bang umpteem times to see it open. And here at the gate, a different priyanka sans her non chalant voice was standing,.....she looked a godess of sacrifice(weird imaginitation....mind can paint anyone red).

There was nobody home, it was a big house with 1 servant and my friend priyanka with crippled guy.

She was still intelligent though,made me do away with my rinsed fur coat and had me seated near to bone fire; by that time i had renamed our crippled guy....Bone.

I was self invited guest at lunch,surprisingly a veg affair;priyanka the self pledged 'will not start day without chicken' eating veg gave immense pleasure to a pure veggie like me.

The crippled guy had to take rest so servant took him away. P looked at my question filled eyes and 'i know you have quite a few questions'.

She has to marry someone else,at the behest of her dying father and crying mother. Ranjon Mukhorjee was not a bad man but she missed rohit like hell. She was not used to gentle care & unconditioned love and that made him different from her childhood sweetheart's ways of violent & passionate love.

Ranjon was a trainee pilot and he always pushed air baby to full throttle to quest his thurst of speed. He was good, brave and couragious that made him a good fighter and in turn got pushed to all corners to fight the battle. In one such insurgency fights in sri lanka, LTTE shot down his MIG13.....he tried reasoning with the mean machine but to no avail....his legs were numb and when Ranjon crashed on the rocks, his legs could not take the load of body. When he woke up, the 'body to die for' had turned to 'near dead body'....and thereon he was responsibility of Priynka.

 P was not yet settled into the married life and this casualty took a toll on her. Ranjon was the only son of his dead parents; so she has to look after him. Ranjon’s family also owned Akash Bengla TV Channel so she has to also take care of family business. To her surprise, She met Rohit, who was working as Marketing Head. Rohit knew the conditions, bumped into her house, wanted to embrace her and follow him leaving everything right there.

Although P didn’t liked Ranjon so much, could not find a reason to stay with him but leaving him like that’s was not acceptable to her golden heart……so next day Rohit was fired.

She wanted to research for some medical advances and when I contacted my other school mates; it was pretty easy. Shantanu was in Michigan and he was into medical.

The history was made, we all pooled together and gave them time of a life……and a healthy and active Ranjon.

I Reached Shimla………..we friends had a great time, Ranjon and P were great host. They gave each of us a momento……when I opened the packet in the flight, it was a golden heart pendant….seems like a piece of her heart.  

by Amit Gupta

Continued from previous post [after coming back from Ranchi]:

Management type 006: tough nut

 This type of management people are very straight forward and demand action at their nod. They tend to get to the interior type of problems and find you playing with them. So guyz, be aware if you are delaying something or you are the reason behind some problem…….you will be under fire. 

They may look casual and easy to approach but they are very tough nut to crack. 

Management type 007: James Bond

 Management type 007 does resemble James Bond not just because they share the lucky number but because they are master of all trades. They have an opinion for everything and anything on this earth and they love to poke their bloody nose in all directions. 

Although this management type can do justice with every task given to them because of their vast resources and learning capability however flip side is they scratch everyone so everybody is looking for opportunity to have a go at him/her. Be aware, they have a license to kill. 

Management type 008: Creative Intellect

 They are known as intellects and generally from creamy educational institutes and acts as a showcase for organization. They do have fancy degrees and fancy posts but in reality they never have the power.

Upper stanza of management uses them to hide their original self. They are involved in creative work which does not benefit anyone but gives a reason to him to be occupied. 

Management Type 009: Intellect multiplied by 10

 This management type of people is intellect multiplied by 10 and outspoken. Here “Outspoken” means speaking even outside their periphery and keep speaking till everyone says “enough is enough” but this type of management is hired for internal entertainment and punishment to client …..So you can’t really help yourself.

If you are working under this type of guy, your chances of being busy are more …look pre-occupied in some serious stuff and you will be epitome of organization in his eyes.  

Management Type 010: Good for nothing

 This Management type of people are typical managers, they don’t work but believe in torturing you so that you work for them. You will always find them roaming with folded hands and standing just behind you when you opened your personal emails. 

They will always find excuses to make you do their work and show gratitude for things , they have never done for you. 

Management type 011: subject experts

 They are in management because they were never comfortable in their core areas so they enter management. Although their intentions are sincere, but un-intentionally some or the other damage happens.

You will find them getting into various discussions but results…who the heck invented this word. Nepolean didn’t had IMPOSSIBLE, he does not have RESULT.. Help save my friends from these all type of management people….help India. 

This was written for fun and I hope you don’t associate yourself from any of these and think it’s inspired by you.

 I take this opportunity to thank none of you, who read this, because it’s not inspired by you.  

Other than writing this crticism, I also work as Search Engine Optimization expert and my SEO work will not give you any area to criticise. [Amit Gupta SEO]

Long time……. NO C...directly M.

Yes, this was such a long period ... although I wrote 3 stories but postponed their blog birth because some people who know they suck, they heard about it and was upset to know that secret is out on the street.

Anyways, I have so many friends from management background and vice versa, so decided to devote my 5 days blog entry to them. People write so much about geeks, nerds and socially deprived software people however we tend to keep Management aside, for abuses after appraisal and for jokes in lunchtime.

History will remember me; I gave them a chance to be recognized….so be a part of history.

Before starting, let me take this opportunity to deny that it’s inspired from any of my management friends….this is a non management view of Management. I want you folks to read it, decide which types are you and let me know by your kind comments…phone calls strictly from beautiful management people. Say no to DOSTANA.

Management Type 001: Born Leaders

They are sincere, committed and light hearted; share their trade secrets with you. This type of management loves their job and backs their team to the tilt. They want you to learn everything and never fail on your deadline.

They are simply adorable but can’t handle criticism because according to their memory, they invented all that is good around them and take ownership of the “Perfect” word. They are very demanding too so if you are a thick skinned employee; your days are numbered.

Management Type 002: Silent Leaders

AJ entered office, talking on his blackberry, waved good morning to everyone and took his seat. While traveling from home to office, he has already solved 7 problems faced by Indian offshore team. He is Akhilesh Jaggnath Madatiparambil, fondly known as AJ the solution.

Last week, there was some compatibility issue while running the latest version of web application and we were harassing our onshore coordinators as usual. The browser settings refused to let it work. Prasad, our charming IT coordinator was bugged and told us to recreate the problematic conditions faced by USA team to get into the muddle and find out the exact problem. AJ was passing by conference area, stopped for a moment, hopped on the call and said “Guys!! Recreate the Solution, never the problem” That was AJ as usual, you throw a challenge on him and he will give you so many solutions that you will pity on your stupidity. AJ was always every where, talking on his blackberry every time; he was always solving problems or winning over someone with his blackberry. He bribed the priest for allowing him to talk on his blackberry, while taking rounds of heavenly fire during his marriage. 

Company was proud of AJ and employees loved their savior. Although everyone always talked about his bravado, he always had a fear of losing his lucky charm i.e. his blackberry. This blackberry was testimony to his rise from rags to riches; he was nobody, but the day he bought this blackberry, lady luck favored him and he got this creamy position. He never looked back, gave his best to his job and ultimately it became a habit to touch the soil and make it gold. One day, Jennifer got a wrong number by calling AJ on his blackberry and he got a right wife for life. Whenever he got into a problem, his blackberry was not with him. Once he forgot his blackberry at office and he got fined, twice for lane jumping. Conditions, situations both forced him to believe in the lucky charm. From thereon, he used to keep his blackberry with him, in showers, on treadmill, virtually everywhere.

AJ was doing great, so was the company and he never cared a dim about anything else. However on that particular day, there were some divine powers working against him; he was driving back home and traffic sergeant instructed him to stop in last lane. He asked AJ for his name, as soon as he uttered Akhilesh Jaggnath Madatiparambil, Marabou started writing something on some paper. And to his horror, AJ had to part with his blackberry, his 4 wheel drive and his passport. Traffic sergeant was Marabou Lewinsky, a kind hearted man to everyone but always held a grudge against people, who had bill in their name. He was always a butt of jokes for sharing his surname with Monika Lewinsky (Bill Clinton fame) and every time somebody told him a Monika joke, he took a pledge to fine 10 more people sharing Bill Clinton’s first or last name. AJ tried reasoning with him but to no avail, he was told to collect them after 15 days from the court.

Without his blackberry, he was feeling devastated. As soon as he reached home, his always sweet wife Jennifer yelled at him as some ‘Kristin’ had called up home and left some kisses on the voice recorder. He made her at peace but he was feeling doomed. He knew, with his lucky charm being away, problems will attack him from all the corners.

And he was so true, he reached office and nothing was working as it used to be. He got an email about dropping sales, that’s a warning. He tried writing a mail, his computer hanged; he tried calling some new clients, nobody took his calls. He was getting mad, he was desperate to hear some nice word about him; he tried talking to Indian counterparts, they always showered praises on him but today they only complained. AJ’s head was paining like hell, so he decided to go for a cup of coffee, but as the luck had it, coffee vending machine showed no coffee. After spending a near disastrous day at work, he reached home; Bruno the dog was having fever and roof was leaking. After a hard fought half spent night, AJ the winner was feeling like a looser and retired to bed. AJ woke up by some hussy mushy sounds. He came downstairs and saw his sweet son Jr. trying his best to reach the cookie jar kept at 6 ft height. AJ got lost in his innocence; he felt at ease with himself and sat right there watching antics of Jr.

Junior was just 6 years old but he seemed to be blessed with more patience than his father. He tried umpteen times and sat there watching the cookie jar. He felt like giving him the jar but thought to see what all he can do. Jr. had a watch, which was with him day and night and he kept it close to heart every time. AJ told to himself, my son is not succeeding because he also does not have his lucky charm, his watch.  He wanted to see if Jr. looses hope just like his father without his lucky charm or get to the Jar. Junior disappeared somewhere and he thought, Jr. will be back with his watch and everything will fall in place for him. But, Alas! Junior was back with his toy ladder and AJ’s hockey stick, and in few moments, the Jar was all his. AJ hugged him tight, junior was scared but he saw his always brave dad crying.

Junior relished the cookies and AJ enjoyed the new found hope; at 2’O clock duo were having a time of life, eating cookies together.

AJ was out of his bed at sharp 6, it all went well in the gym; this was first time, he clocked 5 km in 20 minutes flat. AJ kissed Jr. Goodbye to school and dropped Jennifer to office. Within a week’s time, he could restore and improve the sales figures of the company. He signed some new contracts for the company and was sure of good times ahead. Although nobody showered him with praises, he was sure it will come eventually.

The days at office were never so good; AJ never felt so confident about his capabilities. Six months passed by and he was virtually everywhere, his strategies were talk of the town; he bailed out many companies from near bankruptcy.

His blackberry was back in his bag but he rarely used it. He treated it as a bad omen, suddenly it rang. A sweet voice was heard asking for him, somebody from ‘Blackberry the company’ wanted to speak to him; he heard Blackberry’s CFO Malcolm Speed voice on other side; they needed his help for bailing them out from a near bankruptcy. They wanted to meet him anytime convenient to him, even at 12 midnight. AJ’s Rolls Royce took a sharp turn; he met them, discussed strategies and assured them of help. He carried all the necessary papers with him for finalizing the strategies.

Next, he got a call from his son; Junior wanted him to bail out his paper boat from the pool. He reached home, bailed out the paper boat; AJ was ready to bail out the berry boat.

I was going to office from Vashi to Mulund in my brand new car. Yes, at last I own my dream car.

Although, this was a perfect day and I was driving my dream. My eyes were searching someone on the road…somewhere near the bus stop…I could not see her....neither him. 

Traffic signal showed 320 seconds to turn green and I soaked myself 3 months back in time. I was sitting in nearly empty BEST 512 Bus, bus screeched to a halt and some laborers boarded the bus. I was looking at their cloths and was thinking about hard times they face in this cold season. I started feeling bad…that’s why I hate this bus journey; always forces me to turn into a social activist.

Someone was blushing and talking sweet nothings just behind me; I turned backwards and saw two innocent faces talking to each other. Their clothes were same as other laborers but i could clearly see the distinct spark in her eyes. Her eyes were saying 1000 words per milli seconds and the guy had expression of King..he looked content, happy, responsible and full of love. Someone said it very right “Allen Solly can not bring a smile but a happy face can; wear a smile instead”. Her smile was surely infectious and he was holding her hand like no matter what, we are made for each other.

This became a routine, I used to take 9:15 morning bus and they used to take the same bus from next stop.

I was expecting some guests so needed someone to clean my garage to portray a clean man image. These guests with 25 Lakh cash and a dream car, were searching for a groom; according to my parents, I was one of the candidates. After researching well about my dream car on India’s Leading Automobile portal i.e. Carwale.com, I was pretty convinced about my ability to afford the car and inability to afford the fuel. To get my dream car without paying a single installment and a bank balance protecting me from all the forthcoming international fuel hikes; I opted for this so called cleanliness campaign. I never wanted to leave a chance to own this car, a hefty bank balance and so called lure of home cooked food from the hands of lovely wife.

I called my friendly Turnkey contractor Siddhartha, he promised to send over some laborers for my house cleaning campaign. I took 3 days holiday, now I had a extended weekend and ample time to prove my worth of a well settled man with clean habits sans my wine bottles, cigarettes etc.

I recognized them from far away; they were the same laborer couple holding hands and traveling with me everyday. Their name was Raja and Kajri. I welcomed them home and told them what all I expect from them and why. They smiled and started working collectively.

I observed them giggling, helping each other, dreaming with each other. 2 days past, I was a proud owner of a neat & clean house; neither my parents nor my guests could believe their eyes. They were way impressed with my teetotaler habits and clean house ; they finalized my candidature for their high profile daughter, who has studied all letters in alphabet but has forgot to understand few of them like K for Kitchen and  Khana banana  but she knew khana kaise khana..clever thing nah.

Anyways, now I was sure of getting hands on my share of money and my dream car; so thought of celebrating by calling a party for all contributors at lunch.  I could not have forgot Raja and Kajri so invited them for dinner; I wanted to learn something from their happiness, so they were the only guest at dinner. As promised they turned up; shy and reserve but confident. I served them dinner, sat with them and asked them about their life.

Their story was full of love and inspiring; they got married at the age of 14 and 16. Although she could not study much beyond 7^th but she has her own dreams. She wanted a guy, who is confident, caring and able to take bull by horns. Nobody could understand her and she was married off with Raja, a guy she has not even seen before. Raja was a fine man, a hardworking and shy guy;  she knew he was right one but wanted to mould him into her dream piece. She asked him to hold her hand but he looked down shyly. She thought to herself, sometimes you need to work towards making your dream into a reality.

She made him believe in her dreams and helped him understand the importance of many more things, which she has seen in books but not in real; they left their cultivating farm lands behind and came to this cruel city. They did odd jobs but trying conditions polished them, made them realize the importance of being together and what they mean to each other. The shared their bread, pain, smiles and life and now they understand the meaning of soul too. Yesterday, when she was getting into the bus, conductor started the bus and she lost her balance but he did not let her fall with his tight grip. Other day, Raja got promoted due to his sheer hard work and another worker got bruised due to his eyes venturing out of focus and staying too long on Kajri.

Although they were sitting besides me, I could feel sounds coming from so far, may be heaven. I could see an Aura encircling them and their love, she was clutching on his hands. Suddenly she said “Sir, today I am proud of my husband. I dreamt about him holding my hand and my dream is attained. We will leave for our home place, tomorrow early morning. We had come here to get exposure and learn from the life. We will go back to our farms and can cultivate gold from our lands”. Her beaming smile and his lightened face was assuring of awaiting gold mines.

Signal turned green and I drove towards office.

I had learned my lesson from them, worked hard towards achieving my dream car, dream bungalow and dream wife. I did not compromised with what was being offered to me in plate; 25 Lakh in cash, 4 wheel drive and a wife different from my dreams. I worked hard – full time and part time, increased my savings, ran a consultancy, invested in studies and now I own this place called Ventura Tech InfoTech with 300 strong employees.

The cherry on the cake was I could marry the girl, whom I loved from bottom of my heart i.e. my own Kajri.

Believe in dreams and have faith; you did one compromise and you won't be able to dream thereon, because you wil not have a sound sleep.  - by Amit Gupta