Memories

A smile comes on the lips,
a tear drops from the eyes.
Whenever heart thinks of those
unwanted truths and innocent lies.
Temporary friendships which have given
permanent, inseparable memories,
Little gossips, small episodes
Now have become much told stories.
Time that can be remembered
Time that can't be respent
Days which came by and went
Why now repent?
Think, create and live an incident
Which in future becomes an unforgettable event.

P.S. I wrote this poem after after our tenth standard farewell

Together

 Together we relish the golden touch;

 the touch of sun rays

 We sit beside the placid lake

 You push me into the water,

 I pull you along

 We skylark together.

 Together we enjoy the falling pearls;

 the pearls of rain

 We get dripped in the essence of love

 You hold my hand & implore for a dance

 I nod and you sway me

 I fall into your arms.

 Together we celebrate the blossom;

 the blossom of flowers

 Passion blooms inside our hearts

 You present me a bouquet of roses,

 kiss my forehead

 Aroma of love spreads all around.

 Together we rejoice the flying feathers;

 the feathers of snow

 A fire is enkindled in our souls

 I cuddle up to you

 You croon me a self-made number

 I fall asleep by your side.

 Together we grow through all seasons;

 the seasons of life

 We promise to be always there;

 to stand by each other through thick and thin

 The nature cradles our relationship

 As we make our love our everything.

PETRICHOR

We have all experienced the sweet scent that arises from the soil after fresh rainfall. Perfumes based on this fragrance are also available in the market. This peculiar odor is known as 'Petrichor'. Have you ever wondered where it comes from? It can be attributed to 'geosmin' , an organic compound produced by actinomycetes. The actinomycetes are soil bacteria that resemble fungi in morphology. Geosmin is also responsible for taste of beet roots.

     So next time when you enjoy 'mitti ki saundhi saundhi khusboo' or have beet root do thank  the actinomycetes.

MY CATS

Ever since I was a kid I was fond of animals. I wanted to keep a pet but neither of my parents permitted me to have one. Me and my siblings were allowed to play with them, 

feed them but never to bring them over for a 'night stay'

Then Cressida happened. And the rest is history.

        

Cressida was a typical grey cat with black patterns all over her body. She visited us only once or twice with her kitten Niknu(christened by my neighbor Nainika). But the three kittens from her next litter came to our house very frequently. We called them Lal Bahadur(The brave one), Gol Matol(The round faced) and Maha darpok(The timid, lanky one). Maha darpok used to remain behind and managed to get only a small share of the food we gave.

She gave off a strange odour. One could sing  the song "Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat , what are they feeding you...for her" I tried to catch her once but she shrieked and scratched my hand.

Lal Bahadur left the area but visited once in a while. She would climb our window and come and sit on my sister's lap while she was studying. Gol Matol died young. Apparently she consumed some poisonous herb.

As time went by Maha darpok opened up with us. She transformed into a wise, mature, full fledged cat. We looked after her and her two generations for almost five years.

In these five years she gave birth to a number of kittens. We tried our best to safeguard the neonates from the  local dogs but they brutally killed most of them. Some of them who survived were Tebetha(Tabby), Chris, David, Camilla, Diana, Misty and Cheetu. My brother had this weird habit of naming every other kitten Cheetu. So we had a new Cheetu every season.

Misty in a playful mood

  
Maha darpok also became a proud granny when Tabby gave birth to Betty. She also fed Betty when Tabby left. 

Maha darpok with her kittens

There was a time when five cats came to us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When it snowed outside we invited them inside and switched on the electric heater for them. The kittens jumped up and down the chairs, went under the bed. Maha darpok trained her young ones by moving her tail to and fro and they played with it as if it were a mouse.

We also had three black cats. Kalu was a large, sensible tomcat who fought with Lal bahadur and cared for Maha darpok and her kids. Shagun and Chota Kalu were two small black kittens. The former did not get along with any of the cats while the latter managed to befriend our aggressive dog Scooby. Every morning he accompanied me and Scooby on a walk. He was found dead on the stairs one day and buried nearby.

Camilla and Chota Kalu

Betty and Misty

Misty and Betty tried to woo Scooby. Betty left the locality after she found out that Scooby paid more interest to Misty. But once Scooby grabbed Misty and shook her so hard that she left our area for good.

After Scooby came all cats left the neighbourhood one by one. What is left is the sweet essence of the time spent with my furry friends and a scratch on Scooby's muzzle gave to him by Maha darpok.

 

QUOTES ON MEMORIES

• Memories warm you  up from inside. But they also tear you apart - Haruki Murakami

• The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It is the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared -Louis Lowry

• What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that's gone forever, impossible to reproduce -Karl Lagerfeld

•  Memories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you apart and leave you in pieces-  Richard Kadrey

•  Music is powerful;it transforms emotions and experiences into something tangible. Everytime you hear a familiar song, the feelings from it bubble to the surface, bringing back memories you might have otherwise forgotten- Michelle Madow

• Never let your memories be greater than your dreams- Teresa Tuten Author
• I want to fill my mind with life-enhancing, positive, beautiful memories. The dark experiences can remain buried without a funeral - Alexandra Stoddard

SCHOOL DAYS

The best days of our life- as most of us would say. They were, indeed.

                As I look back I laugh at the worries that kept our little minds occupied; the tension of homework, the insecurity from newcomers, the frustration of getting less marks than our competitor, the fear that our best friend will be stolen and  the agony of our crush going on a long leave.

               We used to play silly games like throwing chalk pieces or splashing water on one another, writing '420' or pasting 'Kick Me' on others backs and making jollies on our hands. We used to get our pens married. We also sent them on a honeymoon after marriage and yes the male pen's owner used to walk away with both the pens after the wedding.

              Lunch time was the best period. Sharing lunch(if not finished in Hindi class), drinking water from water bottles, imploring peon aunty to bring samosas from the market and having chit-chat in our secret place in the back of the school. Sometimes the girls  used to lock the classroom from inside and sing, dance and enact the teachers. The boys would watch from hiding.

                There was a phase of obsession about looks. I used to comb my hair so many times on my way from home to school. I tried so many fairness creams and soaps as I thought I was too dark skinned. Like every class our class too had the good looking overacting karne wali girls. The ones who wore their skirts high, sported bangs, merged their two plaits into one before leaving school, sat on the last bench and had boyfriends from other schools. I too had crushes, a new one in every session.

                 I was an anti-cheating student. I used to complain to the teachers about the ones who copied and also warned them about the probable cheaters before the unit 

tests.

                 Preparing notebooks was a daunting task. Once in a while when our Maths teacher would ask for Maths copy I would buy a new notebook, copy the latest exercise and produce it in front of  him and claim that the old notebook was full, checked and had no pages left.

                I can just go on and on about my school time but for the time being I would like to stop at this notebook note.

               .

QUOTES ON LOVE

•  Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence- H.L.Mencken
•  Love is a game that two can play and both win- Eva Galor

• They say love is life. I can't agree more. Once you are in love it runs inside you;it is all over your head. It goes away only when you die- Vandana Sharma
• Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses -Ann Landers
• Love is friendship set to music- Joseph Campbell
• Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead- Oscar Wilde

I AM A STRAY DOG

  

    I am a stray dog. I don't know who gave me this name but everyone in 'Tribhuvan Colony' calls me 'Kalu'. I am a skinny black mongrel. I have soft and shiny fur except for my back which is burnt. That was when a drunken man tried to put my tail on fire. However, I managed to bite him before running for my life. One of my feet is gone for good but you can't call me lame as I run pretty well.

I was born in a garage with my six siblings. Two of them died due to cold, one after falling from a roof. One of us, the white one, was adopted by a family living nearby. He lives in his own house and eats branded food. I get to see him in the evenings when Ashish takes him for a walk. He walks in pride and groans at me. No, I've never been jealous of him. After all, who wants to be on a leash all the time? My mother along with my sister shifted to another locality. Finally, only  my brother and I were left in the family. A leopard took him away one night.

Now I live with my gang which  comprises of five other dogs. One of them, a so called Pomeranian joined us few days back. I say 'so called' because ninety percent of her hair has fallen out. She doesn't resemble a dog, let alone a Pom. At first we tried to get into a brawl with her but she was too timid to fight with. She was turned out of her house after she got that incurable disease. She has been sulking since then .'Max', the German Shepherd of our gang tries to console her by citing his own example. He was abandoned by his owners before they left for the US.

We keep loafing around the whole day. We do not bark at local residents. We scare away the monkeys and mess with the dogs of other localities. Then there is this troublesome cat called Clara. I have tried to catch her many times but she's a big cheat who climbs that damn tree each time we get into a face off. For my afternoon nap I go  to the deserted house at the hill top with my pals. People say it is haunted. What on earth does 'haunted' mean? Most of my time goes in scratching myself. My fur houses a few ticks and some fleas. But I'm far cleaner than my friends. At least I don't have ticks on my eyelids and thorns clinging to my body. We spend our night in a semi-constructed building. It is going to be a hotel soon. Thinking of the delicious food makes my mouth water. 

We eat whatever we find. There is a nice old lady who calls my name everyday and gives me fresh rotis to eat. There is also a fat middle aged woman who throws stale and stinky food at me. Though I hate the taste I can't resist the temptation. Me and my gang loves it when there is a party at the Kapoor House. We always get to munch on some yummy bones the next morning. But I hate Mr. Kapoor's daughter Lily. I don't know what's wrong with her. Whenever I cross her she covers her face with a handkerchief.

    I enjoy my life but sometimes wonder how will it come to an end. Will I be run over a car like Jimmy or will I die of some disease? Will I be poisoned by municipality people or  will they  take me away in a sack to never bring me back. Or maybe a leopard will have me for his dinner. One thing I'm sure of is that I won't be dying a natural death cause ' I am a stray dog'

QUOTES ON LIFE

                             

• "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" -Allen Saunders
• "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself"- G.B.Shaw
• "If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present"- Lao Tzu
• Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it"-Ferris Bueller"
• "In three words I can sum up everything I've learnt about life- It goes on"-Robert Frost
• Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it"-Lou Holtz
• There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle - Albert Einstein

INTRODUCTION

'A Slice of Life'- You must have heard this name before. Me too. I was tad disappointed when I discovered that quite a few articles, stories and even a facebook page by this name exists. A few months back I was planning to write an anthology by this name. I dumped the idea;not because the title was taken but for several other reasons.
    Now I'm here with this blog which is open to those who:

• are in love with love & life
• cannot let go off old memories
• want to share their feelings about anything under the sun
• are DREAMERS like me