Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons...We all have either that heavenly Angel or the vicious Demon in us. Well, most of the times both. It is us who choose to be either one of them at times. Sometimes we are the angel who helps an old lady cross the road, and sometimes we are the Demon who lies to a beggar on the streets saying we don't have change, because of lack of time. Take an example from our daily office environment. Sometimes you be the angel stretching a night out, just helping a colleague, and sometimes you be the demon and get envied a bit about the accomplishments of the same colleague. A part of the angel and a part of the devil..when these elements come together, it brings out our real self, what we are.. Humans..!

Friends?

Going Home-II did not happen. I went too far emotionally to write something about that. Life has not been the same after I returned... Its been a turnstile going this round and coming back the other round. Read somewhere - "Shit Happens!" Well it does, but so does life.

Fun part about the journey of life always comprises of friends. Friends that are always around you, some who care a lot, some who make you smile, some who also irritate you, but keep you live! They don't let the fun part of you die in you. My life has been full of them. As I moved from school to college and then onto a job, I kept making better and better friends. Well, can't say for sure that you should quantify friendship into words saying, good or better friends, but definitely the closeness increased as I stepped towards more mature bonding with people.

Have I personally been a good friend? Well, I am sure my different groups of friends would have different opinions about it. While the current group might say some decent words, the older ones must be mad at me for not being in touch. Not calling them up when I should have. It isn't that they are out of my circle of care and attention, its just that I have been not so social. Well, who am I fooling, whatever is the case, I should have been calling up my old buddies once in a while. Now there are things that I can't change, and part of it includes my self righteousness about my lazy attitude!

Going Home - I

2 Years isn't really a long time. Although this time it felt like I had not been home for decades. Probable reason could be that in these 2 years, I had worked for 4-5 years in these 2 years. The thought of going home for a vacation had never came into my mind. Not sure of the reason! May be was just waiting for the right occasion. 

Booked the tickets after battling with managers on dates and compromising on delaying the trip by a week to get an extra week. Primary purpose of the trip was to see Babuji (grandpa).. and Bade Mai (mom's aunt).. They were counting the last breaths of their lives. Doesn't really sound like the right occasion that I was waiting for but this was more essential than going for a marriage.

8th May: Papaji called up. Babuji had left us. He had once said-"Pandit! Mere marne ke baad aaoge kya?" I cried, without a sound, I did. All I was left with was a regret for the whole life. Had I been home little earlier.... and that question came into my mind again - 

"Is this all worth it?"

Cleveland>Detroit>Amsterdam>Mumbai>Raipur>Raigarh

4 flights and a Tata Indigo. 

The journey was almost the same until Amsterdam. Smiling faces, people doing small talks and bland but supposed to be classy flight food. Best thing about Detroit>Amsterdam was I got to watch Sherlock Holmes movies. It was the Amsterdam boarding gate where things started to seem little different. Expressionless or frustrated faces. People not talking at all. Some young chaps showing off their iPhones and Dell laptops, for us to assume that they were working in the states and earning in dollars. Yes, they all were Indians. It was the old age couple talking to each other in soft spoken Marathi, which made me feel I was getting closer to home. 

Reached Mumbai. Immigration queues were crowded at 12 night. I was under assumption the queues would be crowded with IT employees or returning students or visiting Gujjus. I was wrong! The major crowd was labor returning from Saudi countries, who were not even sure how to fill their immigration forms and were fighting with attendants.

Customs was easier than I thought. The mamu at the exit gate greeted in English - "Welcome to India". I replied - "Dhanywad Kaka!" 

.