Pack your bags and leave!

I am not hinting at any upcoming vacation plan of mine nor am I pushing my brain to make a plan for one.

Weekend usually gives a lot of time to think over matters which you have been pushing under the carpet over the past week or may some more time than that. And I am not talking about the chores to be done. I mean matters that are intangible in presence but very tangible in effect. Matters of heart, so to say. And when there is some time at hand, mind does wander off. To far off places. To prohibited areas. To long forgotten landscapes. 

On this unusually lazy weekend I decided to chuck all the plans and just stay put at home. I stuck to the plan (which was a actually a no-plan!) to the T. I watched TV, some movies, some sitcoms and read a book. Also lied on the sofa just listening to the music. And that’s when my mind also wandered (like it never does otherwise!! Huh!). A trip down memory lane happened and you never come out of it chirpy, do you? 

I realized there is so much clutter or baggage that we carry, some of it even unintentionally. We know we have to get rid of the aching memories or avoid falling in the same pit, but it takes time and may be somewhere we don’t want to do it. And honestly, if we take it all seriously, it is lethal. So why bear it in the first place or for so long?

Delving into my share of ‘avoidables’, I resolved its time. It’s time to let it all leave my system for good. So why not tell that agonizing pain or that scar from a healed wound…Pack your bags and leave!!!

Yes, it is only that easy and that much difficult. We can either let it simmer inside us every single moment or let it out of our system once and for all. 

And these are what I am talking about:

• That love story gone awry
• That friend who turned his back when you needed him the most
• The decision that took you to a wrong direction in your career
• The unfulfilled romance
• The hurt you have been nursing long after that person has gone
• The promise that was never kept
• The expectation that never got met
• The tears that have now dried up but potent enough to give you a sleepless night
• The relations that were once close and now are a sorry distant sight
• Those people in your everyday life who do not deserve any bandwidth from you but end up getting the maximum attention

This sounds very simple but I am sure this is how you get rid of something that refuses to leave on its own. You have to show it the right door to leave and close that door behind it, forever.

So whenever you find yourself fighting with one such monster in your head, look in its eye confidently and tell him, yes you know that by now, ‘pack your bags and leave!’  :-)

Oh well, as I was busy saying goodbyes to some such monsters, I realized it was time to bring some nice positive and tangible change. Hence the new look of this blog. Tell me what you think of it. 

Much love!

Love Stories

In a lot of ways I am looking forward to November. So many of my friends are walking down the aisle. And most of them are getting into a ‘love-marriage’. I have known many of them for a long time and it felt nice when I heard the news of their engagement. More so after getting to know who was actually seeing who!!

There is something really alluring about love-marriages. I have been a witness to some fabulous love stories. And now some more happening. And when I say love stories, I literally mean love stories. People, who are completely opposite to each other, make an appearance in each other’s life at a random place at a random time (or may be right place and right time??), falling in love and taking the big step of matrimony. 

I have a cousin who met her life partner while studying for MBA in a b-school in Mumbai. Incidentally, both of them belonged to the same city in UP and had attended the same classes for CAT preparation. But they were oblivious to each other’s existence on the planet. However, destined to meet and spend their life together, they met in college, spent those 2 years knowing each other and being great friends. Only in the fag end of the course did they realize the feelings for each other and confessed their love. It wasn’t a particularly an easy ride for them. They had to literally fight the world for their love and they came out with flying colours. Now, they are considered one of the happiest and made-for-each-other couples in our family. And I never fail to tell my cousin how lucky they both are to have found each other.  Both of them have quite different tastes. One such clear point of distinction being my sister is a total foodie, not surprising coming from Punjabi roots, and my jiju is an ascetic when it comes to food. But when you meet them, you will instantly know they were always meant to be together! :)

My best friend met her life partner in January and by July they had decided to spend rest of their lives together. Today, after about three years, she is one beautiful mommy-to-be and I can’t wait to play with her kid.  She and I go back to school days and have had our share of fights, disagreements and rough patches in these roughly one and a half decades long friendship. But like best friends are, we have come back to each other very effortlessly. I have seen her love story starting from ground zero and I can’t say in words how pleased I am now. 

Another awesome friend of mine fell in love with this awesome guy who she had known as a friend for some years. Only when they bumped into each other at the same workplace, sparks flew. And how! They got hitched and got married in next six months. I was particularly surprised when she told me she is in love because she always wanted an arranged marriage and believed she will never fall in love. Well, destiny!

One of my closest friends met a girl when they both were in class 7. And something special happened. A courtship started that lasted well over a decade! Everything fell into place, families agreed and they took the holy vows. Now, after some years into marriage, they are well-settled in Australia, happy and very much in love.

And then, there is this ex-colleague and a good friend of mine who I thought to be a flirt and someone who would never take things like love or marriage seriously. He actually fell in love with the girl who is stark opposite to him. Nobody even had a clue that these guys were even seeing each other. So, when the news broke out, there were lots of shocks and gasps. ;)

Let me add that the right end to a love story need not be marriage. Though conventionally, it is considered the best ending. For some, the endings are not that rosy. There are not really any ‘happily ever afters’ for some. I know many such people too. But they have not let that stop them from falling in love and finding their perfect love story all over again. And someone has rightly said, ‘True love stories never have endings.’  

And I am not sure if I am looking at making my own perfect love story, but yes, I will continue to be a witness to many stories to come and write about them.  :)

Let that love happen to you, if you have been avoiding it all along. It is got to be one heady ride, or so say my ‘in love’ friends!!

I would like to end this lovey dovey post with my favourite scene from When Harry met Sally. Take a look.  Fall in love. <3