Parul Tyagi's Blog, page 5
April 11, 2013
To V and N....with love :)
Rise, fall and you rise again
I stand at a distance and stare at you
my hands are unable to reach you love
but my heart beats right next to you
Write, erase and you write again
I smile at every word you ink
I dont poke you for your mistakes today
as you rewrite it before I blink
Yes, no and a yes again
I cringe as to why like this you were made
I still go by whats best for you
as I am the one you will blame
Smile, cry and you smile again
Together you are but so apart
I try my best to shape it for both
with the heart that He split in parts
Keep, lose and you find again
But I will never let them go
Whenever you need your memories together
Till I exist, they are under my pillow
Near, far and far away
One day you will take the flight
I will then call you up baby
to ask if we did it all, right
April 8, 2013
Rejected? What the hell??
Its easy to say that one should take rejections in their stride. Trust me, its a very bitter pill. Now that I write and make submissions at a lot of places, its encouraging to get responses which are positive. But yesterday when I got a mail from someone who said- "We are afraid we will not be able to accommodate your piece this time........please keep submitting in future....this is not a comment on your style of writing........we love you but just that we do not love you right now.......". Yes, I made up this last line but the politeness with which this rejection came was so poorly disguised in encouragement, that it taught me an important lesson.
It made me ask myself as to why the hell am I not taking this in a good spirit? I know why! Because I have been loved way too much first by my parents, then by my sibling, then by Saurabh, then by his mother and latest by my sons! I haven't told any of them yet about this mail and I already know their reactions(listed below) which are my life lines, my motivations to keep making mistakes, my reasons for not accepting the fact that someone can REJECT me!!!!
My Dad keeps a track of what all I am doing with my new writing career. Yesterday too, he probed me on our phone call if everything was alright with me. I did not tell him about this mail. He will read about it now through this post and definitely feel as bad as I have felt and say to me : "Arre unhe aata hi nahi padhna. Tu chinta mat kar. You are a star"
Saurabh also isnt aware of this mail. Now when he will read this blog he will call me to know what exactly happened and why I didnt share this news with him. I can hear him say : "You cant expect everyone to like you babe. I know you are the best!"
Rahul is the biggest spoiler of the lot. He will read this blog post late tonight. Then he will wait for me to wake up in the morning. Then he will call me around 10 am and say: "@#%$& reject kar diya? Di you send me the story. I will bloody get it published"
My Mom will get to know about this from Papa. She will casually mention it in our daily call and comment : "Are you alright? Keep writing okay? If they dont understand, someone else will"
Does this mean that we should stop loving our kids, harden ourselves so we can teach
them to take failure in their stride? Oh not at all! It just quietly and
profoundly (is this even a word?) tells me that I should prepare V and N like this- "What you may mean
to me, you may not mean to the big bad world outside- the day you decide
to make them privy to your innate thoughts, beliefs and creativity. But I know that you are damn good and Mamma will always keep you insulated when others judge you". It keeps me going now and it will keep them going then too :)
Image Courtesy: www.cartoonstock.com
March 21, 2013
My Holi Dodge!
I grew up with cousins till I was 10 years old. We lived in a joint family in a good South Delhi locality. We were about 8 of us all of varied age groups- ranging from toddlers to college goers! Every festival in the Tyagi Mansion was a riot! How will it not be when there were way too many kids and adults like my Dad and his elder brother who were always party to whatever craziness their kids were doing! When they were not scheming the pranks, they were safeguarding us from complaining neighbors. With such a support system to back our mischief, our guts were fanned regularly.
The inspiration of this post is that one balloon which attacked me day before and wiped the dust off old memories! Memories of using this same trick to irk every passerby who dared to enter our territory. Not to forget that we were strategically placed on a 3rd floor terrace to carry out our (mis)adventures. You must appreciate that when at least 8 kids are targeting an unsuspecting victim, it must take tremendous team work and understanding to also hide in unison. However, repeated Holis assured everyone living around that it was this particular household that was at the center of all silliness. How we chose our year on year victims was also quite scientific. Whoever looked up and scolded us the most- was naturally the target of maximum mess. I can never forget one Khanna Uncle (is there any chance that he will ever read this blog post?) who was so mad at us for making him a butt of our Holi pranks that for atleast 5 days before every Holi, he used to come out of his house with Henna applied on his head, so if we target him with a balloon, the mehndi will spread on his face and he could have a better case to come and fight with our parents- parents who if were unaware of what their kids are upto still protected us with impromptu excuses like: "Our kids? None of them is even home!" or "Holi par balloon nahi throw karenge to crackers burst karenge kya? Aap chai pijiye!"
Now we are all grown ups. We all have kids who are roughly the same age as I was then. But its their hard luck that they are not together in a joint family set up :). They will never know what fun it is to grow up with older cousins who make you smart simply by being themelves! Trust me all these episodes have made me wiser in dealing with Holi myself! I am going to teach V and N to never target scooters or bikes or people with phones or an old age person or an aunty with a kid blah blah.
Day before yesterday in the evening, when a balloon landed on my feet, I realised that I am quite a pro in dealing with this! How? This is how....
While I was at some distance, I could see a small kid looking first at me and then up-again at me and then up- I knew a balloon awaited me.
As I neared the small kid, I said to him- "Agar gira na mujhpe balloon, Ill teach you a lesson"
Poor kid made some gesture to his friends on the Top floor of the building and rushed inside his home. He probably meant- "From now on , I am not your friend guys!"
As the kid rushed in, I knew I will be thrown at now- FOR SURE! So I had to come up with a plan to avoid severe damage both physically and reputation wise! This is, in case, my threat which scared the ground floor kid had not scared the Top floor ones!
As I was right under the 'terrace of menace', I moved as close to the wall of that house as possible so even if they throw it, they cannot aim my head. How silly it is to aim someone's head anyways.
Just when I thought I had moved out of the danger zone, IT landed on my feet- luckily not a drop of water on my clothes.
I kept walking as if nothing happened. Now this is the best way to tank someone's best efforts! Ignorance. If you will react (like start running in anticipation or keep looking up while warning them not to throw)- trust me- You will definitely be thrown at!
Ya so, as soon as the balloon landed and I kept walking at my normal pace- the kids felt no need to hide. When I moved atleast 15 steps away from their house, I looked back. They were all hanging from their railings waiting for a victim who would show some respect by getting angry or irritated.
Thats when I shouted- "Do this again and you are all gone!". See the logic is simple. Denial is the first way such people will react if you confront them. Catch them red handed and look them in the eye. Dont smile and encourage them (unless ofcourse you are happy to be targetd again when they brand you their "most accomodating victim")
Yesterday as I stepped out of my house and was still at my gate, the ground floor boy ran inside as soon as he saw me.
I walked past the house with tremendous confidence (from the inside I was trembling) and the kids above kept hanging on the railings.
I am sure they were saying to each other- "Ye boring hai yaar. Lets not waste a balloon on her!"
Good BOYS!! :)
The inspiration of this post is that one balloon which attacked me day before and wiped the dust off old memories! Memories of using this same trick to irk every passerby who dared to enter our territory. Not to forget that we were strategically placed on a 3rd floor terrace to carry out our (mis)adventures. You must appreciate that when at least 8 kids are targeting an unsuspecting victim, it must take tremendous team work and understanding to also hide in unison. However, repeated Holis assured everyone living around that it was this particular household that was at the center of all silliness. How we chose our year on year victims was also quite scientific. Whoever looked up and scolded us the most- was naturally the target of maximum mess. I can never forget one Khanna Uncle (is there any chance that he will ever read this blog post?) who was so mad at us for making him a butt of our Holi pranks that for atleast 5 days before every Holi, he used to come out of his house with Henna applied on his head, so if we target him with a balloon, the mehndi will spread on his face and he could have a better case to come and fight with our parents- parents who if were unaware of what their kids are upto still protected us with impromptu excuses like: "Our kids? None of them is even home!" or "Holi par balloon nahi throw karenge to crackers burst karenge kya? Aap chai pijiye!"
Now we are all grown ups. We all have kids who are roughly the same age as I was then. But its their hard luck that they are not together in a joint family set up :). They will never know what fun it is to grow up with older cousins who make you smart simply by being themelves! Trust me all these episodes have made me wiser in dealing with Holi myself! I am going to teach V and N to never target scooters or bikes or people with phones or an old age person or an aunty with a kid blah blah.
Day before yesterday in the evening, when a balloon landed on my feet, I realised that I am quite a pro in dealing with this! How? This is how....
While I was at some distance, I could see a small kid looking first at me and then up-again at me and then up- I knew a balloon awaited me.
As I neared the small kid, I said to him- "Agar gira na mujhpe balloon, Ill teach you a lesson"
Poor kid made some gesture to his friends on the Top floor of the building and rushed inside his home. He probably meant- "From now on , I am not your friend guys!"
As the kid rushed in, I knew I will be thrown at now- FOR SURE! So I had to come up with a plan to avoid severe damage both physically and reputation wise! This is, in case, my threat which scared the ground floor kid had not scared the Top floor ones!
As I was right under the 'terrace of menace', I moved as close to the wall of that house as possible so even if they throw it, they cannot aim my head. How silly it is to aim someone's head anyways.
Just when I thought I had moved out of the danger zone, IT landed on my feet- luckily not a drop of water on my clothes.
I kept walking as if nothing happened. Now this is the best way to tank someone's best efforts! Ignorance. If you will react (like start running in anticipation or keep looking up while warning them not to throw)- trust me- You will definitely be thrown at!
Ya so, as soon as the balloon landed and I kept walking at my normal pace- the kids felt no need to hide. When I moved atleast 15 steps away from their house, I looked back. They were all hanging from their railings waiting for a victim who would show some respect by getting angry or irritated.
Thats when I shouted- "Do this again and you are all gone!". See the logic is simple. Denial is the first way such people will react if you confront them. Catch them red handed and look them in the eye. Dont smile and encourage them (unless ofcourse you are happy to be targetd again when they brand you their "most accomodating victim")
Yesterday as I stepped out of my house and was still at my gate, the ground floor boy ran inside as soon as he saw me.
I walked past the house with tremendous confidence (from the inside I was trembling) and the kids above kept hanging on the railings.
I am sure they were saying to each other- "Ye boring hai yaar. Lets not waste a balloon on her!"
Good BOYS!! :)
