Talk the Walk!

Image Courtesy – Pixabay

Things haven’t been normal since I wrote ‘What continues @2019…‘ I must admit this has got me to worry about my well being now. I realise, how stupidly I had been procrastinating actions or the decisions in this area of my life. Unnecessary though, I don’t know what made me choose some shitty lifestyle and habit over the importance of being healthy.

I am still clueless, what gave me this spark that I currently possess or why did it take so long bringing itself to me? I always had my people with me, trying to encourage and at times insult, just to get me moving out of the bed. No doubt, what an ass I have been so far.

I do not love my beer belly any more. Its time for me to come home. I think it is pointless to dwell on why and how and better to cash in through the current string of thoughts, which is just prioritising my health.

I knew I wouldn’t turn things around just by thinking or by preserving ideas in my head. I wouldn’t suddenly become better. I had to act and most importantly continue. I wanted to be the best version of me.

So, I picked carrot from ‘the carrot and stick’ approach. I decided to run my two goals together, my writing and health, in parallel. I made it a point to write about the steps I have taken or will be taking in the direction of my well being. That’s how the wagons are hitched.

Now, I had to start somewhere or some way. To do that, I spoke with my better half. Let’s see what she has got. As I knew, the response wasn’t straight forward. She touched upon the times when she tried to push me as well as lectured me for not realising the importance or value then. It was true and I didn’t know any other reaction than to nod in guilt, which worked.

Sometimes, you get the best from the ones you expect the least. Exactly, that is what I experienced. My better half didn’t just provide a simple solution but also volunteered to participate. Her plan was to walk with me for 30 mins every single day. Damn, so easy.

Next morning, we hit the park placed within our residential premise. We timed our walk to the exact of 30 mins and it wasn’t just walking because we talked too. I loved the fun part of exchanging a few naughty comments on the move. Indirectly, this was also raising my relationship quotient.

We continued since then. Now, the next thing is to watch what I eat. So far, I ate to fill my stomach and never cared about what was going in. That has got to change.

(I am open to any suggestion over what is best to eat or what should be the diet)

Possibly, you will see me blog about on similar topic for a next few days. I am sure, there are plenty of observations to make and share it over here. I think, it will require quite a few reiterations to become my way of life.

Till then, its goodbye from my side.

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Sports Day!

I woke up to a noisy doodle-doo of my folks at home. It was abnormally early for me, which in normal circumstances I completely ignore. Instead this time, I was up and walking towards my bathroom.

The occasion ‘Sports Day’ at my son’s school. I heard about their preparation and planning from my wife. I was happy to know that all the children were excited and looking forward to this day. We had also received special invites.

I remember my sports day. It indeed happened but surprisingly none of the parents ever received an invitation. The time has changed and so the approach.

I can afford to disappoint myself but not my son. So, I had a quick hot shower in the cold morning and draped in my regular wear in no time. My son was already at the school, they had to report earlier.

After reaching, to start with, I enjoyed watching a few overwhelmed and happier face of other parents. We exchanged looks and acknowledged being sailing over the same boat. Then we sat on the chairs preserved and reserved by my wife’s friends in anticipation to have a wonderful first half of the day.

Like each year, we had a wonderful time watching all the children perform different sporting activities. I was delighted to see my son participating in Yoga. Mind you, he is in a position to teach me a few Asanas now. All the kids were amazing and I could see proud parents with their broadened chests witnessing their child’s performances. Somewhere I felt my parents would have had the similar experience, had they ever watched me doing what these kids did, during my childhood or they must have had these moments watching us do different things in our lives. You never know!

They made it more interesting by getting parents to participate in a couple of activities. I knew about it and due to my shy nature I had decided not to participate, it wasn’t compulsory. I felt like that when I was at home but now on the field the atmosphere was electric. Then somehow, I managed to lift my spirits and ended up participating in one of those activities, alongside my better half. We didn’t win but we won our son’s heart. I think that was more than what any parents can dream of.

The hard work and commitment of the school as a unit showed up very well. I liked the structure and scale in which this event was organized. But, as we say no plan is full proof and there is a possibility of finding leakages and few ups as well as downs in execution. Here are the ones I observed –

• Initially, the children positioned to welcome the Chief Guests, made to stand for a very long time. They arrived almost 50 minutes late
• All the parents and staff were comfortable but not all the students. Some of them were unnecessarily made to sit outside in the open sun
• In my opinion, there could have been more motivating stories and less of unnecessary speeches

It was great to see even School identifying these gaps and acknowledging what I could observe in such a short period.

In the end, It was worth being physically present and watch kids create history.

Time To Review and Reflect

The countdown has begun. The year 2018 is inching towards its end and it is just a matter of time before it makes a way for the new one to come. It is almost time, when we all share the same hindsight i.e. this year has passed a notch faster than the one before, Don’t we? Well, we certainly do. The irony is we repeat this every year and we compare its pace with the previous year each time.   

In addition, we tend to retrospect in the flashback mode and we all have our own methods to revisit the happenings and doings in that year. I have one up my sleeves as well. I like to picturize each month as one column, 12 columns in the calendar sequence. It becomes very easy for me to preview and review.

Well, I don’t just stop there, I like to go a bit further and compare the doings and happenings with the previous year. Mind you, the list for comparison is long as well. Out of those, a few of them require a special mention. These are the ones, I can say, I will regret on my deathbed if left unfulfilled.

What makes one regret? Not having enough money – which will never be enough, or that luxurious life one could afford to live, NEVER! And I am sure you would agree. When my time is up, I would regret for not creating enough memories and moments, I would regret about love that I could offer and perhaps get in my lifetime. I would be happy if I did well being born as human. Now, the question is; am I doing enough to avoid what could potentially be remorseful for me? Forget about my non-existence, what about right now at this moment when I am alive.

Year after year, the importance of these memories, moments, love etc. is diminishing. The problem is we are still creating these, may be more than ever before, but certainly the not the way we did in the past. When I say ‘in the past’, I mean before our social lives were taken over by social media. Back then, we created moments with, amongst and for our dear ones, which we still cherish in the present. Now, we do the same, not for the ones who matter the most, but for the sake and interest of the world outside. Appreciations received through virtual likes and hearts prove to be far more important than what is being conveyed to us in person today. I fear we are losing too much to gain anonymous proximity in this bargain.

I have said enough. May be it is not too late for us to reflect and review our ways. Technology is certainly a blessing and I would like to keep it that way. Let’s not socialize virtually but in reality. Let’s not wear a dress to seek outsiders appreciation while there is enough beauty within. Let restrict some information for the knowledge of who cares for you.

May be its time to amend our ways a little that suits either side of our world. Let’s balance it out.

It is about time we change with the changing calendar.

Emotional Push-back…

Has this ever happened to you?

You intend to do certain things for someone that makes you and the person involved happy. You nearly get through it until the last moment,when something dramatically happens that puts you at the backseat. If not literally, I endured through a similar impediment a couple of days ago after writing about a person with whom I share a deep emotional connect.  

I was delighted to publish my last blog – Recovery from Maddening Recklessness. I am not sure how you as a reader found it and I leave you all to judge, but it was indeed very satisfying for me. I can put it as ‘killing two birds with one stone’ although wouldn’t dare to do so literally. It wasn’t just recovery from sickness, but a recovery from abstinent period of writing.

I desperately wanted to revive writing in my routine. It is true;this was not for the first time. I had made a few plans in the past, stupid ones as it turned out to be, but I had a feeling this one somehow would work.

After all, there is no point in giving up. There is no harm in trying again. With that living thought I came up with another plan,tailor-made as per my convenience. Let us see how this one pans out in the long run.

The plan was, or rather, is simple – I would start working on my new blog as soon as I finish publishing the previous one. In order to make it work, I made a few arrangements too. I literally stationed my laptop, in a way, it is one of my utility, next to my cell phone, always visible to me as a virtual reminder. It is sort of a ‘You can run you can hide but you can’t escape’ approach.

When you prepare well the chances of failure is too minimal.This approach was proving to be already effective. It helped me to finish the draft of my potential post. It was quite late though and by the time, I wrote my last sentence my eyes gave away. Having no energy to re-read to check its flow and stability, I decided to push this activity for my fresh pair of eyes,next morning. May a fresh look in the morning would pick up errors that slipped through my tired eyes.

Next day the weekends’ errands kept me occupied for most of the time. I had to dodge my virtual reminder in grief for a couple of times but it still kept calling for it.

Finally, I got a chance to go through my draft one more time in the evening. Just to familiarize you with the content of that blog; I dedicated this one to my better half. I tried to capture ‘as-is’ version of how my heart felt preparing for a special day. That is when the lightning struck and it struck too deep.

Sometimes a minor spark let off accidentally burns the entire structure in seconds; in my case that spark was a spark of an argument that let off unnecessarily over the minor things. Soon it reached the foundation blurring my emotions that I had penned a few hours ago.

Suddenly, the words triggered during an emotional turbulence by either of us washed away the emotions from the words written in the post.Strange enough, how these are interconnected but I could not withstand all-of-a-sudden impact and scrapped the idea of writing that blog. It had to be vented out somewhere and it is better those words were at the receiving end.

The darkness is not permanent; soon it would fade away with the first light of dawn. At this moment, I have neither the strength not the courage to undo it, not at least now.

I foresee many ifs and buts, raised eyebrows and disgruntled sighs for my  actions. In the end, it is me who is the bearer of the brunt. Hope this get sidelined so that I muster the same strength and courage to express the way I meant it to.  

Before I call it a day…

I was on the brink of having hell of a fabulous day after a long time. I hoped if its rhythm could continue for a couple of hours more. I wondered, if this was any short of a miracle, which made me further questioned, how can everything be so perfect? It was like scoring a goal on your every run towards the opponent’s goal post.

I am sure you saw that coming courtesy – ongoing FIFA Fever!

It appears too good to be true, isn’t it? In the end, the truth is what prevails. I am not a pessimist, but I was certainly not looking forward to such a great day, especially the day, which was so uncertain to start with. It will be unfair if I leave out the details. So, let me share how it all started.

Like my most of the mornings, I was awake getting ready to work, that is when I glanced towards the sky outside. Well, it had a similar appearance as it had yesterday, rainy and cloudy, but fortunately, not as devilish as and as harsh as, it was yesterday. It had disrupted the options available for travelling, so I had to stay at home. No, I didn’t miss my work, I am totally equipped to perform my professional activities at home, so that’s handled well. Although, today that harshness had subsided a bit, but its grip continued to remain on my unassailable mode of commute. That’s where jigsaw puzzle started for me.

I hate to lose out on time especially the ones that go unaccounted for, during such uncontrolled situation. I knew what my heart wanted, but my head swung frantically like the pendulum in the clock. They tussled for a while with each other, against and forth to convince unconvincingly, and I couldn’t reach a decision whether to continue, take that chance to travel or stay put and continue my work at home.

Somehow, I had to end this unfruitful endeavor of lousy exchange between my head and the heart. So, I broke the rally and decided to work from home. That was the kick start! Since then it multiplied contagiously over every other task that I undertook. It was like playing on a snooker table, potting each colored ball in a sequence with every single strike.

As the saying goes, ‘Nothing lasts forever’, my fate took a U-turn, tossed me back in the black hole of uncertainty again. In fact I was exposed to a vigorous situation this time, slightly intense comparatively. Unlike other situations that I had faced earlier, this one appeared to be highly unpredictable and unstable right on the onset. So far no colossal damage, as I have been playing it by the fence, standing still to heavy blows lodged over me and balancing to avoid a knock-out.

It is heading towards completely an opposite direction. Not sure if the day would wiggle any further. Hope to return in the desirable state BEFORE I CALL IT A DAY.

‘Sure M’lady, You have My Attention!’

‘I don’t want to talk to you at least for few days.’, she said unconvincingly.

‘Is there any problem? Is it about me?’, I asked while going through mails in my laptop.

‘Yes, you are the problem for every damn thing happening in my life’, she retaliated immediately.

I wanted to protest immediately, but a mail marked as ‘URGENT & IMPORTANT’ brought my attention back to my inbox almost instantly, so I chose not to respond.

‘See, this is very frustrating and irritating, you always want to control things your way’, She continued raising her voice a little.

I couldn’t ignore her and replied, ‘What is wrong with you? we always discuss before reaching any conclusion, don’t we?’, still looking at my inbox.

 ‘Never, never, you never seek for my agreement.’, she said. This time her voice grew many folds louder and she continued, ‘This is my life and I will decide what I want to do with it.’

‘I don’t want a person like you who pokes his nose into everything’, she added out of context.

I was immensely agitated and wanted to end this unworthy menace immediately.

I looked straight at her by slapping my laptop screen down and was about to blurt out loud in my defense, but couldn’t. I swallowed my words back instantly, you know why? because…

I found her staring at me with a smile and then she said, ‘Finally I have your attention’, Lets discuss about the place where you would like to spend your birthday, shall we?’

I felt dumbstruck and replied, ‘Sure M’lady, You have My Attention!’

(A short snippet basis my experience for you to read)

Dare to Dare…

This is going to be my first virtual dare!’, I mumbled before setting my fingers on the keyboard. That moment an adrenaline rushed throughout my body in excitement and with some apprehensions.

The dare is to come out of the shell and express, right here in this platform – GO LIVE. I know It’s not new, there are millions floating here, one more addition wouldn’t matter. But it is quite a task for me, I have a history of multiple starts that stayed as start with no end – only half-baked work. Most of them remained buried or lost in the folders with no memory to trace it back again and whichever made it live perhaps made no sense. I doubt if this one does… see this is what the apprehension is for.

Anyways, I am putting my unworthy expressions and starts in the past to rest and set to make a new beginning, this time a positive one, being upfront in the real world where whatever I write will not be limited or will never be lost anymore.

So my DARE is to DARE and express to reflect me as a writer, right here!

(Had to let go my old published work in faith of new ones to come)

Avenging My Obliviousness of AVENGERS

I was not an Avenger fan, but I am one from now in. Thats my immediate reaction after watching ‘Avengers: End Game’.

There is no need to worry. I am not going to spill the beans. Like I mentioned to one of my friend on a Watsapp convo, it is difficult to resist and zip my lips. There is so much to discuss yet so little opportunity to express. I respect the fair expectation of keeping silence for those who have not watched it yet. But it is a question as well, WHY!

Being a newbie in Avengers fraternity, I was thinking where to start. Having watched the End of it, I am curious to know where it all started.

Fortunately, I had seen a few of the movies in the past and that is why I could connect some of the strings but not all of them.

My friend has shared with me the list of those movies that one should watch in sequence to connect the dots. I am sharing it as an image of this post.

I believe, like me, there are many who don’t follow the herd mentality. So, they may not pay any heed to the new release. I consider myself from that category and I went for the new release for my son.

Before I watched the new one, I felt they are creating an unnecessary hype. One of the tactics from the big franchise to cash in. Well, it could be that but still worth watching.

During the movie I discovered there are so many characters and like I said I didn’t follow the sequence, having watched a few made me realise that they are a piece of the same pie.

As I am told some of the movies from this series are available at Netflix. So, the first task is to identify them and watch those during the interval of my commute for work, to and fro.

I am not sure how the rest can be found. Since, I have begun I am sure to connect the dots and Avenge my obliviousness of AVENGERS.

Eyeing an Eye Problem…

I sat right beside my mother in the waiting area. She has had the first round of checkup done, after which the nurse had put an eye drop on her eyes. Now, she is supposed to keep them closed unless told to open.

A couple of days ago, while talking about generic things, she had insisted to see an eye specialist. I perceive it as something out of nature. My mother never talks about her health issues, unless it is really an issue. Indeed, a bad habit to contain. That is why I randomly ask if everything is okay whenever I talk to her.

This time I didn’t even have to ask. Due to work constraints, I asked if it was fine to visit the doc on Saturday. She agreed.

Then, finding a good doctor wasn’t that difficult. My brother closely knew the one who was best in the business. I spoke with him to arrange an appointment and it was arranged by his wife.

I reached the clinic with my mother on time. I parked my two-wheeler in front of the building where this clinic was situated.

It took us 10mins to figure out the way in. First, we began climbing the spiral stairway with large steps. After reaching the first floor, we were told to go down and use the elevator to meet the receptionist. It looked like the admission hall of the same clinic but unfortunately, it wasn’t the entrance.

We got down somehow and started looking for the elevator. I walked a few steps faster to check if we are heading in the right direction.

I kept turning back in every 3-4 secs to ensure my mother was fine. I saw that she was already panting. The summer is at its peak and so was the Sun plus it wasn’t just her eye that she had a problem with, she already has other bone-related medical condition and high blood pressure. So, I am ought to be careful. Right now, her body doesn’t stand a chance to afford any sort of accident or incident for that matter.

’How to get in?’, I asked the security guard pointing out to the unlit neon sign which bore the clinic’s name.

The confusion was that there were two different clinics in the same building. The other one was familiar to me because that’s where I used to take my son for a check-up whenever required; to the paediatrician.

I didn’t know these clinics shared the common entrance. The security guard escorted us towards the escalator. And that’s how we got in.

I didn’t have much to do. While we waited for our turn, I thought why not write a post about it. I got busy writing but a sudden call for my mother broke my trail of thoughts. The attendant asked us to wait at the mini-waiting room near to docs cabin.

In about 15 mins we were out. The credit goes to the process. The preliminary checkup and the diagnosis was already done by junior doctors while we waited in the queue.

The diagnosis identified a slight rise in the power of spectacles that she was supposed to wear now.

Thanks to the optician available within the clinic. We zeroed into the type of glasses and frame and moved out.

I was relieved while I revisited what doctor said while descending the stairs of the clinic. ’Nothing that cannot be cured’.

Live or Survive?

It’s the end of another beautiful day. Literally, on all counts.

I believe each day brings some change in us. As a matter of fact, we all get older by a day irrespective of the age group we belong. That’s inevitably common amongst us but the difference lies in whether we lived it or survived just another one.

I don’t intend to infer the situation where survival is living. The people who belong to this category are legends. The truth is, they are the ones who can teach us how to live. My heart goes out to them. But there are also a few who have no such limitations, still, they get entangled in their own cobwebs and choose to survive, consciously or subconsciously.

To be honest, if there was a way to rate or rank, I would have beaten each one of them who despite having no disease, pain, inability or limitations are not living their life. Believe you me, I am not making this up. I have been that way for a long time.

I behaved like someone who is deprived and whose hands are amputated. I ran in circles doing the same set of things, accepting things that appeared on my way as my fate. Whether I wanted it or not, anyway I embraced it, without giving a second thought that, ok, the situation is tricky can I work my way out of this or possibly dodge it and save myself. Nope, I didn’t do any.

The flow was from top to bottom with no reverse gear. This implied to my work and my personal life both. Absolutely, hand in hand.

But that was not the end.

It became worse when I started believing that there is no solution and this is going to stay like this forever. There is nothing I can do to change it. I believed it and that is how I was surviving, with no confidence and sense of achievement.

After all, there was a limit to what I could take in and soon I realised that this has to stop.

As we say – ’Better sooner than later’, slowly and steadily, I consciously made subtle changes in my approach. Earlier, be it my work at the office or a personal situation, other’s priority used to become my priority. But now, as an effect of this change, I set expectations keeping my priorities first.

Initially, this change did ruffle a few feathers because those who thought it was easy to impose on me and get things done, are now made to think and consider. What’s important to them, need not be important to me.

Of course, there are exceptions and this does not apply to things that are truly critical.

Gradually, due to repetitive iterations of this change, the people around me started to accept. After all, it is just a matter of getting used to a certain behaviour.

With the approach I had before, the people had gotten habituated to deal with me in a certain way. The renewal of my approach has made them mend their own.

Moreover, I try to create fun-filled ambience, which gives me an opportunity to build rapport with people and improves my chances to establish fair dealings.

Therefore, with this organised approach of prioritization, I could attain a sense of fulfilment and confidence. That is how I live nowadays and not just survive.

I SAID GOODNIGHT…

I had a decent day at work. Nothing new, but ordinary things, which have got more interesting now. Well, I ain’t be sharing any of that now. It doesn’t matter and will not make any difference whether I choose to mention it or not.

I am at home now and just want to call it a day peacefully by keeping things random and lighter. That pretty much resembles my current state of mind. It had been working throughout the day so, I thought my mind deserves some time off to cool off and optimistically wait for a new day.

Not too long ago, I was glued to my TV screen watching another battle unfold. The battle in which gladiators don’t fight with the swords but with their mighty willows and a leather ball. Yes, the gentlemen’s game as they call it, the game that drives me nuts all the time – Cricket.

It is that time of the year when we, here in India, gear up for Indian Premier League, which is also famously known as IPL. That is how I prefer to spend my evenings and my weekends with some good snack to accompany me.

Being a weekday, there wasn’t much room for me to munch on snacks so, I settled with the dinner watching the second half of that encounter.

Anyways, I didnt have any choice, my wife is adamant to keep my health in-check. After hearing a few cases of heart attacks at an early age, she is judiciously monitoring my diet and ensures that I get to eat only those food items that are nutritious and healthy. So, delicious and mouth watering oily snacks are out of the charts.

After the game was over, I had nothing to do but sleep, then I thought why not write a few words and bid a night to you folks out there.

Perhaps, this post goes down the alley of casuals, but do not refrain yourself to share a thought or two.

No matter what…

I wonder how people spend their Saturdays. I am not a traveller but desire to be one. It is an unfulfilled wish. I fear if it remains as a wish before I call it a day.

The circumstances too haven’t been favourable. There is always something or the other that keeps on coming to fill the void. These are in the form of some pending work or undone things that could not be squeezed in during weekdays.

There are other things to be done which is mostly managed by my better half and she does it so well. No doubt, I would remain eternally thankful to her for what she does, frankly speaking, without her support my life would’ve had been in a fix.

Amongst so many things that she does, there is one thing that peculiarly stands out. Each day after school she takes my son for cricket practice. The game that pretty much runs in the blood of almost every Indian men.

I am happy that the love for the game has equally receded in my son’s gene too.

Like most of the parents of currents generation, I do not impose things on my child. I feel fortunate to share a common interest in this game.

Apparently, it is easier for the children to pick up things they see since childhood. That’s what my son had been watching me do. He has seen me passionately following this sport. So, for him to make this choice is something I had always anticipated, but to make this choice so early in his life is a bit surprising. Not only he appears to have taken this up as a passion (at least for now) but has also been progressing well.

I am not sure if he continues to do so for the rest of his life. He may change his decision and may think of doing something else as he matures. Even then, I would continue to support and I would never stop him to pursue what he eventually desires to do or to become in his life.

For the time being, my son goes for a practise every single in the coaching academy located 15 kms away. During weekdays, he clings to my father and my wife to travel and on a weekend it’s my turn to help him meet his destiny. I am thankful to my father too.

So, travelling such a distance is like being on a mini road trip. And I disembark on this trip every Saturday. The only thing that I love to do on my weekends and I would love to spend many more weekends like that.

What will ultimately become of this, us something I don’t know but I would certainly cherish each moment for the years to come. No matter what.

Eggs and more…

It’s the writer’s eye. Anything peculiar and worth mentioning is an opportunity and I got presented with one yesterday. Here’s a quick walk through of what I witnessed.

It was an usual morning. I wanted to go to work but decided against it as soon as I opened my eyes. I woke up with enough time in hand. I could have gotten ready and gone to begin my routine commute. But as the fate would have it, I stayed back.

I thought, ‘Today is the last day before this week ends, why not stay at home and work.’

My intention was to make productive use of the time that gets consumed while travelling to work. I prefer to do that, especially when I am loaded with work and I had plenty to deal with.

As you know, not all intentions are meant to be rightful and clean. There was one craving for a treatment, which it deserved eventually.

I never start my day with empty stomach, not especially when I am at home. I went out to get some eggs from the mini super market located right beneath my apartment.

Luckily, I could lay my hands on one of the remaining tray of 30 eggs. I quickly grabbed it with my both hands and pulled the tray out of the shelf and walked towards the counter for billing.

Being an early hours of morning, there was no queue at the counter. So, I placed the tray there and gestured the attendant to scan. While, I was removing the required cash from my wallet the attendant asked me to step aside and allowed the other customer for billing.

My first reaction was, ‘What the fuck?’ Which I didn’t say out loud but wore that expression for attendant to understand.

In return, she gestured politely while looking at the old lady – the other customer. There was no one else in the queue and as I said the store wasn’t crowded. Then, I thought, ‘I may have over reacted’, and I stepped back awaiting in peace.

The attendant quickly scanned all the items and asked for the money from that old lady. She honoured the payment and was about to leave when the manager stopped her and asked her to come aside.

I ignored it and moved closer to the counter to pay for my eggs. Surprisingly, the attendant did not budge and now in fact was looking at that lady directly. ‘Aren’t they already paying more attention?’, I said it in my breath.

The moment later, I heard that lady pleadingly move at the back of the store, following the same manager and saying, ‘Please spare me this time. You can take the money if you want.’

Obvious to the unfolding situation, I was curious to find out what’s going on and I moved back too leaving my eggs at the counter. Before I could reach there, I saw that lady coming back to the same counter but this time she was told to leave.

‘I am not going to refund your money and the stuff you purchased stays with us. You may call anyone but I am not going to allow this.’, were the managers words and post which that lady left.

The same manager recognised my quizzical look and said, ‘We caught her red handed today. She has been purloining items from the store from last few weeks. She is a thief. But we caught her this time.’

I was amazed. I am not the one to judge the rational for stealing but who does that, when you have cameras all around these days. I already had much of it. I wanted to get going and eat before this episode runs in my head again and again.

‘Now, could you tell me how much I owe?’ I said looking at the same attendant, who looked to be relieved now.

‘153 bucks – Card, Cash or Paytm?’ she asked looking at me.

I was missing…

It’s been a couple of weeks since my fingers found their way here. My eyes are no different, it is taking ages for them to set on a book or at least on a piece of article, necessary to regain its strength.

It’s like being starved for a certain stretch.

Literally, I cannot stay hungry. Forget days, a mere thought of going without anything in my stomach nauseates me. Perhaps, similar instincts are betting for my return.

I seem to have reached my tipping point. Maybe, the post I am writing right now brings my rhythm back all over again. Or else this may too end like a one night stand, where love fades away as soon as the sun hits the deck.

At this moment, my thoughts aren’t the only one in trouble. My ideas and my ability to put a string of words together are also feeling the heat. Apparently, they are hard to come by the virtue of rust that has uncoated my smoothened layer of will, determination and purpose.

I may be sulking like a child who has just heard ’NO’ for ice cream. But the same approach appears to be the only way to bring me back, yet again. And maybe that annoyed child in me doesn’t take NO for an answer and gets the desired flavour in the end.

With that hope and optimism, I announce my return in writing. Guess, this is the missing piece that I am looking for.

Hopefully, this blog doesn’t meet a similar fate, as the last one did and will have the attention of fresh pair of eyes out there.