Manjaridreams

  Friend zone  😊 Aspirations have no ends. We, humans, are born ambitious. Some make it quite obvious to choose the shortcut to be on the up and up, and some try to mislead themselves by making big plans every day and later succumb to the disastrous end results. Lastly comes those who strive really hard to become victorious with a well-chalked-out plan, and this gradual process leads to the road to the desired success.  I am so happy that as a youngster I was part of the 1990s era. All over the world political, social and also economic changes were taking place. USSR was in the process of disintegration and President Gorbachev coined the words ‘Perestroika’ and ‘Glasnost’ which later paved the way for democracy in the Soviet Union. Britain shifted to a labour government from conservatives. Also, Britain joined the US-led forces to liberate Kuwait from the clutches of Iran in 1991 and in 1995 Clinton visited Northern Ireland to help the peace process. India did not lag be...

 किराये का घर🏠 घर एक सपना होता है  जिसको पूरा करने में आदमी की उम्र निकल जाती है  किसी सरकारी बाबू से पूछो तो  घर वो होता है जो जी पी एफ के पैसों से बनता है  और वो भी तब जब  रिटायरमेंट के एक दो साल पहले !! किसी व्यापारी से पूछो तो  मुनाफे में कटौती कर के  घर का सपना पूरा होता है .... तभी तो कहा जाता है  हर किसी की ख्वाहिश  'मेरा भी हो सपनों का महल'  क्योंकि छत तो सबको चाहिए  सारी उम्र तो सरकारी घरों में या  यूँ कहें तो किराये के घर में निकल जाती है  खानाबदोश ज़िन्दगी में हम  एक सपनों के घर का सपना मात्र संजोते रहते हैं  कभी माँ बहन बीवी से भी पूछा है ? घर क्या होता है  नहीं ना  पूछ कर देखो तो सही , तो शायद एहसास हो जाएगा  सपना यह कब अपना होता है  किसी दिन गुस्से में पति बड़े आराम से कह देता है  "नहीं पसंद हूँ तो छोड़ दो मेरा घर"  ज़रा इनसे पूछो  माँ ने जब आंसुओं से भरी हुई आंखों से  अपनी लाडली को विदा किया था तो  कहा था "जा बेटी अब अपने घर जा"  पर देखो ना  ...

कितना कुछ हम, एक दूसरे से कह जाते हैं लिख कर (आंखों से) शायद लिखतें नहीं, तो .......... हमारे एहसास एक दूसरे तक पहुंच ही नही पाते !!!! कॉफ़ी से शुरू हुई इस सफर की यह छोटी सी कहानी कब,  उपन्यास का रूप ले लेगी कभी सोचा भी नहीं  दिन महीने में कब तब्दील हो गए  पता तो चला,  पर तब तक बहुत देर हो गयी थी  जुड़ने की वजह तो बस एक ही थी, तब तक  शायद  समझ ही गये होगे नही समझे? तो अच्छा है ना  इसी से बातचीत के और बहाने तो मिल जाएंगे  जब देखा नहीं था,  तो फिल्मी गानों में एक दूसरे को ढूंढ लेते थे  कभी तो माध्यम सुर जैसी ज़िन्दगी  खूबसूरत और रोमानी लगती थी  अगले ही दिन loud गानों में मनचली हो जाती थी  हर सुबह एक इंतज़ार होता था, तुम्हारा  फीकी चाय भी मीठी सी लगती थी  नई सुबह, एक नई पहेली लिए हुए खड़ा होता  पर तुम जो थे  दूरियां अब मीलों  वाली नहीं रह गईं थीं   स्पर्श मुखर जो हो गया  ज़हन में हम थे  एक दूसरे के  चाहो तो,  अजमा के देख लो !! क्या कहूँ ,  हर रोज़ एक कोशिश रह...

    Beyond blue   ‘I love pink 💓 ’...it’s my natural choice ....unbiased and without any inhibitions. Colors undoubtedly rule our psyche. They depict our persona. Many theories have been propagated and thousands of psychological tests doing the rounds at Facebook and at many more similar sites. Western culture taught us blue for boys and pink for girls...I failed to understand why? The other day, I went shopping with my elder son, he preferred to buy shirts in solid colors dominating red, crimson, and pink. We are so used to dressing our sons in a combination of blue check shirts with grey trousers and white shirts and blue denim that our brain doesn’t accept shades of red. Again it’s the attitude culture and our upbringing which naturally choose our imbibed habits.   Being a student of anthropology    I was always fascinated by the matriarchal culture. My dissertation on ‘Kinship’ further increased my curiosity to know the complexities of interperson...

Pocahontas  “You are my Pocahontas” , My father fondly nicknamed me with this unusual and unheard name, which depends on how one perceives, “playful one" or “ill-behaved child.” Its quoted from the history books,  Pocahontas  was the favorite daughter of Powhatan, the formidable ruler of more than 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes in and around the area that the early English settlers would claim as Jamestown, Virginia. She was famous for her bravery, generosity and more importantly she saved somebody’s life while risking her own.  My growing up years was full of fun, adventure, laughter, and undivided attention is given to me not because I topped my class or did something great. Instead, I tried to find tricks to avoid monotonous school study books, rather I was interested in finding the root cause of the practical problems surrounding us. Trying to fix the radio which stops playing, looking after my pet cow ‘Gauri’ in the absence of the caretaker, even dreamt of the on...

  Who made the Maids Who made the maids? certainly, God has  😍 I an avid reader of Indian mythology came across the various roles of maids, which were performed by them without their consent. Initially, when any princess was married to another state prince or crowned kings, they were usually accompanied by their personal maids from their maternal house. Since they had either grown up with them or they (the maids) were their nannies. It was easy for them to adjust to their new abode as they were surrounded by familiar faces. Our mythology has many interesting tales of maids who were used to reproduce for the rulers. Vidur, the uncle of Pandu and Kauravs, was born out of wedlock from the maid Parishrami, as Rishi Vyas was invited by the mother of the king of Hastinapur to produce an heir of Hastinapur. The firstborn of Dhritarashtra was Yuyutsu from the maid Sauvali, as Gandhari failed to produce a child in 2 years of marriage. We have many shreds of evidence of maids in our hi...

Unpublished Diary page-3 Of a Home-maker....... Every day we find at least one meme reminding us that we are from the era of near to extinct landline phones, puffed sleeves, bell bottoms, life sans internet, and also the time of disco beats .......how much we deny it but the truth is our offsprings evoke us to the world of reality as they think that we won’t be able to understand their life and challenges since for them we are precise, two generations old.  ‘Yeh ikkisvin Sadi Ke bachhe jo thehre ’ .....look at the audacity, in a moment they deny our existence in their lives.  The other day my son told me that I want to meet my girlfriend ...what should I do? ......can I ask her to come home or I have to go outside and meet her .....what a solid jolt I received?.... I knew it’s time to change myself or else had to retire from normal life and adopt  Sanya as ..... I remembered my time when my classmate had to tolerate my father's insult and anger when he came to drop some n...

Unpublished Diary page-2 of a Home-maker... “Did u both packed your bags?...taken your lunch box? ...tied your laces?...finish your glass of milk fast.....go downstairs and sit in the car ...I’ll be there in a minute”.......blah blah blah....these were some of the routine instructions which if prerecorded can be played every day in the morning without fail to add more chaos in my already chaotic house....And you guessed right...I was the one to be blamed ... 😁 ...my body was tuned to play in the certain regimen for 5 days a week ....screaming to the highest pitch..... I sometimes use to be so exhausted that, hastily use to dump my boys to their respective  pathshalas .  “Maa where have you parked the car the previous evening ....it’s not seen here...pls come fast ..we are getting late”...kids were shouting from the ground floor in a sarcastic tone as if I have committed some unpardonable crime.......today I was on the extra duty of a driver to drop them to school as previous ...

             Unpublished Diary page-1 of a Home-maker... It seems a lifetime as I entered into the 26th year of my marital bliss. Now I can conveniently say  Sasural  and  maayeka  are equally shared as I stepped into my 51st year of life in this heaven called earth. Cooking was never my strong point...I realized this once I was into this connubial felicity in the very first week. Did a couple of courses while I was still a bachelor, in non-conventional cooking and impressed my neighbors residing near my maika house. Baking, ice-cream making, and sambhar dosa chutney were some of the dishes that can be counted on fingertips ....but I could very well boast to others that I can now don the hat of a chef...don’t laugh!!! 😛  ....I was about to get married but still, if somebody asks ‘dal pehchano’...... goosebumps ho Jaat the 😂😂 . But the ordeal didn’t end here  😉 .....the first day of the second week of my marriage...I wa...

Stars do speak  “Dear moon, you are the only one which causes hindrance in my view ...eventually have to suffer eclipse...I have warned you time and again ...... better stay away from being near me or else be burnt to death by my aura.”  This is just a    concocted version of my filmy dialogue very well suited to describe how large Sun’s supremacy is well accepted ...believe it or not...The universe has an overabundance of galaxies of stars and also many more minor planets rotating around them like Bollywood stars having their personal fan club. But only meteors changed their loyalty and later succumbed to its fancy. Pun intended no offense pls 😉 . We do believe in Astronomy.......as it is supported by our physicists...but sadly many don’t believe in  astrology . It has repeatedly proved its validity but has to go through  agnipariksha  since ancient times ...as if predictions only go wrong in  Vedic   Jyotish .  We have sufficient exam...