A trip down memory lane

Ok so Ms. Adisha tagged me on this one..but unlike her I am not a narcissist...so i am not sure if I will be doing justice to this..but what the heck will try to reach the 25 mark....

1) When I was a little kid, and would go out with the family, the moment we would start nearing the house, I would pretend to fall asleep so that my dad could carry me in. I was caught smiling so many times, but he never seemed to mind :).

2) My mom had made me join Kathak classes, I would enjoy them so much that I would start dancing in the streets.

3) I always always always hated studying, would hide some book between my study books and read that in between when no one was around.

4) I had made my younger brother eat the leaves of some plant (dont remember the name, all I remember is that it smelled like garlic), telling him that it is very good for the teeth. Got chased by him around the garden when he found out that I had tricked him.

5) In one of the pool dinner parties at my dad's friend's house, one of the aunty's was making chicken starters, the moment the first batch came out, me along with 2 of my friends, finished up the entire plate before it even reached the others. We were banned from coming near it the rest of the night.

6) When I was in Bhopal, every year before holi, us along with some family friends would always go out in hunt for some special flowers which come only during that time. We would pluck them and get them home and try to make colors out of it. We never succeeded, but it was fun.

7) When I was in the 5th standard, we had gone to manali. On one of the days we had stopped near a plum orchard, when all the parents were busy making purchases, we kids sneaked into the orchard and filled our pants with as many plums as possible. Soon our pants were sliding down. Our parents didnt notice it till the time we were in the bus, when they did, they were furious, and they made us go back to those people and apologize. Luckily for us, they were very kind hearted and laughingly told us that it was ok and refused to take payment for the same.

8) When we had shifted to Goa and I joined the new school, during the first music lesson, our sir had taught us "Leaving on a Jet Plane". I was so touched by it that I started crying in the class.

9) When we were kids and our parents would sit and watch movie and some scary scene would come, I would go and hide behind the sofa and drag my brother along with me. He used to have no clue about why the hell am I doing that, but would just come behind me.

10) When I was in the 6th standard, in Goa, my best friend had bought a dog. We used to go over to each others place to spend the day there. At that time I was very afraid of dogs. I was visiting her and I had asked her to tie up her dog before I entered. She didnt and the moment I entered the big furry German Shepard got all excited and climbed on top of me. His forepaws were on my shoulders and I was staring right into his barking mouth. I dont think I have ever screamed so loud!!

11) In the third year of our engineering, during the monsoon season, my friends and I used to just hang out around college, and wander around in the rain. We would keep our stuff in someone's room and just walk around in the rain. Then we would go to the cafeteria and have a steaming hot cup of coffee. *sigh* I miss that.

12) When I had just learned to ride a two-wheeler and had started going around on my kinetic, many times, I would just pick up the bike and roam around through the green tree lined streets of Goa, during the rains! All by myself!! :)

13) Our last holi in bhopal had started out very dull. Usually our family friends would all get together at someone's place and celebrate it. This time, while planning everyone seemed to be busy with something or the other so they said they couldnt make it. I was very disappointed thinking that it would be my worst holi ever. Since I would soon be leaving all of them and going to a new place. As the day went by, one by one, people started coming over. When more and more people came, we called up the rest of them and forced them to come too. Soon the entire gang was assembled at our place. We removed the cover of the water tank behind our house and poured color in it and jumped in it. It turned out to be my best holi ever :).

14) When we used to come to my grandma's place for summer holidays, we would sleep in my grandparent's room. In the middle of the night I would wake up many times with my grandpa's snores. I used to belive that there is a tiger loose somewhere out and if I make any noise it would come in. I would just close my eyes tight and will myself to go back to sleep.

15) When I was in the 6th standard, we had a group of 4 girls. After our lunch, we would get together in the school shed below and play the game of famous five. Only there was just the 4 of us. We called it our secret game, so holy that we had made a pact that we would not divulge the details of the game to anyone. And the person who does that will be banned from the group forever. (I feel so stupid now).

16) When I was in the 4th standard, our dance school was putting up a classical dance performance for doordarshan. Instead of playing the songs on the radio one of the teachers were singing all the songs. During my groups dance performance, she skipped a paragraph and went to the next one. Even though we had realized the mistake we decided to go ahead with our steps. My mood was off for the rest of the day. I did not go back to the school untill my sir called my mom and assured me that he is not angry with me.

17) Two years ago I had gone home for vacation and 2 days before I was supposed to leave for here, I slipped while coming out of the bathroom and got a hairline fracture in my foot. I spent 3 horrible weeks in a cast. I removed it a day beofre my birthday. When I came back from the hospital I saw that my mom had made the most wonderful chocolate-cherry cake. We all finished it in 2 hours. She had to bake another one for my birthday.

18) After I came back from my leg breaking vacation, there was a salsa party and a friend forced me to come for it. I was having a hard time watching others dance while I just sat in a corner. One of my friend then came over to me and lead me to the dance floor and made me dance. I didnt feel the pain of the broken foot at all :D.

19) I hate to admit this but the reason I had joined the salsa classes was because I had a massive crush on a guy. Later I fell in love with dancing, and keep falling in love with it everyday!!!

20) When I was in the 10th standard, I would sit out in the balcony and study. All the people around in the colony would see me study and keep praising me because I am study so seriously. Little did they know that 80% of the time, I would either be reading a hidden novel or be off in the dream land.

21) The first time I ever sang on stage was for an office party. A friend of mine wanted to sing a duet with someone and he pulled me along with him. I don't have a very loud voice so when we were doing the final stage practice (the first practice with a mic), I found that even though I am singing my loudest on the mic, only the people who were standing around me could hear me. Fortunately I had got a very loud mic during the performance, in the middle of which my friend asked me to give him my mic. I absolutely refused to. Later he told me that he was asking me for the mic as there was something wrong with his!! I was so embarrassed.

22) A couple of months back, I needed a time away from everything so I decided to go on a trip alone. I went to Matheran. After a lot of initial hassles I reached there in the middle of the afternoon. I was tired, hungry and feeling hot as hell. Wanted to crash in the first hotel I could find. But they refused to give me a single room. When I was turned down by the second place too, I asked them for the reason and they told me that they do not give out rooms to single people because they are afraid that the guests might commit suicide. I didnt know whether to laugh out loud or just slap the guys face!

23) I had gone out for dinner with my friends. They had a 2 member live band out there and they were playing all sorts of songs ranging from oldies to rock. There were not many people around so initially we got up and started dancing in the little space that was avaialable. Then as we got tired, we just sat and listened to the great music, singing on top of our voices. We sat there and sang the night away. I was still on a high the next day.

24) Last June, we had gone out for a picnic during my friend's birthday. It was raining slightly, green all around. We pulled up on to the side of the road to cut the cake. Once we were done hogging, we put on loud music and danced in the middle of the road.

25) When I was in college and still staying at my grandma's place, my crazy friends had come over for lunch. A new guy had moved in next door and he used to stay alone and his friends would come over at times. I had told my friends about him. My aunt's kitchen opens out to the balconey from one side. And this balcony looks out into the balcony of the house next door. We were all in the kitchen and my friends wanted to look at the cute guy next door. They opened the connecting door and started walking out while peeping into his house. Only to see that he and all his friends were standing out in their balcony looking at us staring at them!!! We turned back and ran inside.

Phew finally done, its hard to stop once you get started. So I guess I will have to tag people now. Not many to tag, Dreamer, Ramer, Shal thats it I suppose.

The power above

Its really strange how at times you feel that the entire powers in the universe are coming together to make things wrong for you. But whats even stranger that there are times when these same powers come together to make things absolutely perfect for you. To bring a smile on your sad face. Times like these your faith is restored, and you feel lucky to be alive.
I have had so many experience like this, whenever I am feeling sad or lonely, its as if everywhere I turn around, there are things happening to make me feel better. To cheer me up. In some kinds of actions or maybe the words I read somewhere.
For eg, yesterday, I was feeling a bit low because I was saying goodbye to a close friend of mine. Or rather he was saying bye to me. I was hurt and angry, angry at him. My head was getting heavier by the minute. I just logged on to a site and casually checked my horoscope. It said "You will be saying good bye to someone close. It may seem that everything is going wrong but its for the best." The moment I read that I realised that its true, it is for the best. A little while after that I got a story from my mentor in a mail forward, the bottom line of that was "Never keep the key to your happiness in someone else's hand."

It is not a new or some extraordinary saying. It is something all of us have heard at one point or the other. But we keep forgetting about it. Reading that story, those words, made me realise something that I had forgotten. The fact that I had once decided to live my life according to this principle and somewhere over time it faded away.

It does not mean that you would be truly happy if you live your life as a hermit. All it says that wether you are happy or sad, its your choice. No matter what the situation is, its upto you to think how you want to react to it. Would you let someone eles's bad mood spoil yours? You have no right to blame someone else for your pain. Its you, its you all around. You just have to realise it.

And of course, whenever you forget, the big guy up there, is sure to send some signs to remind you. You just have to keep a look out for them. :)