Mars vs Venus

I like to wake up early, he doesn't.

I love eggs, he's allergic to them.

I like planning, making lists, he doesn't know what it means.

I keep my money neatly lined in my purse, his money is all over his pockets.

I like the cars parked aligned to the pillars in front, he thinks the pillars are crooked.

When something falls on the floor I pick it up, while he walks over it.

I think the TV is already too big, he thinks it's too small.

When I check out sales at the mall, his feet ache and he urgently needs to use the loo.

When we reach the BOSE showroom, he stands there rooted with healthy feet.

I point out dirt on white fans and cobwebs to clean, he thinks it's the original design and looks good.

He hates exercising, I cannot do without it.

He thinks socks are disposable wear-and-throws, I argue they aren't.

I like dry flowers and keep buying them, he hates them and throws them out.

He laps up compliments. I am very wary of them.

I love adventure sports, anything heartstopping, blood-rushing; he doesn't go near anything where he has to sign that life-indemnity-or-whatever bond.

He thinks pretty women make interesting conversations, I do not particularly agree.

He doesn't notice books missing from the shelf, I notice and get livid.

I love spicy food. He can't handle it.

I remember every button on his every shirt. He doesn't recognize too many of my clothes.

I track transactions in my bank account closely. My darling doesn't notice damage and depletion in his account, due to usage of debit card by me. THIS I LIKE.

studytime

Caught this boy immersed deep in his school books on the foothpath in front of the bank. Such dedication amidst the noise and the busy road! It made me capture the scene with my phone camera. 

Finally getting down to the tag passed on by Getting there. Here you are -

I am thinking about: my baby niece sucking her toe and giggling, oblivious of the fact the mother is traveling on work.

I want to: learn how to swim well.

I wish: I would die before any of my family or friends.

I hear: perfectly well now after an ear operation as a child.

I wonder: often about other people's lives and how I would have lived in their shoes.

I regret: not saying the right things to the right people at the right time.

I am: very restless and yet very patient.

I dance: a lot less now.

I sing: the same lines of a song I get hooked to, the whole day and irritate even myself.

I cry: while reading books, watching telly or listening to stories

I make with my hands: the best mutter paneer my husband claims to have ever eaten (not to be taken seriously as he claims that with almost everything I make!).

I write: to de-stress, to feel good, to keep in touch.

I confuse: dreams with reality, names with faces.

I need: a hug and cuddle everyday.

And finally: I am all grown up! (Feels like just yesterday when I longed to grow up, earn my own money and do my own thing) Though it's a different matter now I long to go back to those days again. Never satisfied, I tell you!

I am not tagging anyone but as usual would ask people reading this to give it a shot. Thought provoking.

Lost in time

I no longer remember what he looks like. But his name and thoughts of him always unsettle me. It's a dull ache but the heart feels light and warm. I hear my mother tell me that he visited her some time back. He's been going to see her wherever he visits the little town.

We met at 7. I went for a coaching camp and while the others went home after training I had to stay on my own in the guest house. For I was the only out of towner. So he took me home to his mother and said, "She's all alone here. Can she stay with us?"

The indulgent mother agrees. An extra bed was moved into his room and I became part of the family. A family of 3 boys and the parents. The boys were curious and happy to find a girl in the house and hung around me most of the time. On my part, I was introduced to noisy arguments at the dinner table and massive consumption of food. The youngest, my friend, was the pampered prince and used his position well.

Later there are questions about my family and thankfully it was discovered that the families knew of each other. While my parents wondered about the people who were voluntarily playing foster parents to me, this family was glad to have a little girl in their midst.

That was the beginning of a home away from home. Of a very important person in my life. We grew really thick. We shared a comfort level that the bestest of friends boast of, and a sense of security and protectiveness that siblings can account for. The whole year as we travelled together, we had each other for company. Two young people tasting life in a grown up world. The happiness was shared, so were the tears. And finally we would come back home together.

We went for practice on his little scooter. And when it ran out of gas, I would push it all the way uphill and then jump behind him to enjoy the ride down. Then there were the beautiful dates with me dressed as prettily as possible, and he, in his neatest, and off we went to have a dinner all by ourselves. We behaved like grown ups and he always paid the bill. Bach at home, I, of course, pulled his hair and we argued till his mother came and put us in separate rooms.

When I wore a saree for the first time, he held my pleats while his brother ironed my blouse. I still draped the saree the wrong way and only realized it when friends saw me in the evening and roared with laughter.

Then a bigger world beckoned and I took flight. For a supposedly better education and to settle my restless heart. College took over and the conversations got difficult. Considering it was over snail mail, a lot happened between one letter and the next. They trickled to a full stop. And finally one day, I realized I no longer know the person I grew up with. I have not spoken to him in more than 14 years. He visits my mother and she passes on titbits about him.

It might seem easy to catch up. But it isn't. He doesn't seem interested and I also have stopped making an effort. I don't know why it has to be like this. I don't even know what else it can be like. But honest, it leaves my heart dull and soft.

When it rained cats, dogs and birds...