Yes, she survived...!

“Okay honey, now I gotta hang up the call. The conference is about to start.” Rajat told Anshika.

“Alright baby! Take care & come back soon …. & … I miss u a lot… Mmuaahh.. Love u!” Anshika replied.

“Love u too honey. Bye!” And the call was hung up.

“How lucky I am… thank you for this beautiful life my almighty!” Anshika spoke to herself. “How many people get so lucky in life? Which girl has got the most loving husband on this earth; or bestest of people as her closest friends? The number must be very low …haha..!”

Anshika was having this lonely yet pleasant monologue while getting ready for her best friend’s farewell party. Her best friend Snehal was switching job and moving to London for a new life. Anshika was extremely happy for Snehal’s new venture and therefore she had planned this surprise bash for her with their whole gang. All of them had planned to party hard in Olive Bar for a memorable farewell to their lovely friend. They had decided to meet at Olive at sharp 8. It was already 7:15 in the clock so Anshika decided to rush as early as possible. She quickly took out her LBD from the wardrobe; switched on the geyser as well as her hairstyling gear.

As she was about to enter the bathroom, the doorbell rang.

“Who the hell has arrived now?” Annoyingly she headed to the main door. She saw a man dressed up as a delivery boy from the magic lens and asked. “Yes, who is it?”

“Madam, courier hai aapka” The man replied.

 “But maine to recently koi order place nahi kiya.”

“Madam, aap Ms. Anshika Khanna hain?” the dialogue continued.

“Haan ji, Anshika Khanna main hi hoon.”

“Naam aur address aap hi ka hai madam. Ek baar parcel check kar lijiye.”

 Anshika stood silent for a second and then thought it could be a surprise gift from Rajat perhaps and she asked him to wait.

 She opened the door and took the parcel.  The courier guy confirmed all the details with Anshika and told her that he called up twice for the delivery in the noon but she didn’t pick up. Anshika, in an ignoring tone told him that she was in office.

And when she was just about to close the door he said, “madam, meri paani ki bottle bhar ke de dengi please?” Anshika looked at him with an expression of denial but he again requested, “madam, bahut kaam bacha hai abhi , pyaas lagi hai”

Anshika told him to wait.

Hesitatingly she closed the door fully but didn’t lock it. Back of the mind, she was in doubt why is she helping an unknown man in this city called Delhi. Having mixed thoughts in her mind, she finally filled the whole bottle with purified water thinking that after all it is good to help others.

The moment she stepped out of kitchen closing the bottle’s lid, her body was shoved against the wall, her mouth was blocked with a strong hand and someone pushed a heavy body onto her. Everything went black for a moment but then Anshika realized it is the courier guy. He placed a sharp thing to her waist and pierced it a little in her tender skin to make her feel the terror.

“chup kar ke khadi reh, warna pet mei ghusa doonga” he said and Anshika stood still, looking at the water bottle laying on the floor. The bottle’s lid was only half closed and hence, the water was slowly leaking out of it. She filled it up just thinking that God will mark it as a noble deed in her life book but now her life was at the mercy of this formidable opponent. She cursed herself for not locking the door.

For a minute or so, they remained standing there and when he knew that Anshika is in the surrendered mode, he threw his pen which Anshika mistook as the sharp object. He then put his one arm around her waist as tight as he could, kept other hand on her mouth and started dragging her towards the couch. Anshika was trying to make a grip on the floor with feet but he didn’t let her try that for a long time. He threw her on the couch and pounced on her like a mad unsatiated animal. She tried hard to come out of his grab but as much power she’d put in, the stronger grip he made. She tried to scream but he didn’t let her. She was trying to beat him with her feet but his grip was very strong on the whole body. This went on for a couple of minutes and Anshika started losing her energy. Her pushes n punches were getting weaker n weaker. He sensed this and started kissing n biting her around neck n cheeks and it mentally hurt Anshika so bad that at one point she managed to scream. This baffled the man for a moment and Anshika managed to loosen his grip n got herself free from him.  She ran towards the bedroom and he chased her and got grip of her once again. But this time Anshika was determined to fight him and she bit him near his wrist and dashed straight into the bedroom. He chased her and locked the room. Anshika threw all that came in her reach and finally she plugged out her hair curler and told him to stay away else she’ll snap it in his face. He laughed a wicked laugh and said “ch****a samjha hai mujhe. Roz khelta hoon aisi cheezon se” and again pounced on her. Anshika advanced to blow the curler in his chest in defence of which, he touched it and fell down on the floor with pain. The skin of his palms had got stuck on the extremely hot rod. He started screaming in pain.

Anshika wasted no time and went out of the room locking him in there. 

She looked around for her mobile phone and realized that it’s left inside the bedroom. She instantly stumbled out of the house to seek help and met a neighbor on the stairs. Her teary eyes, shaky voice and scattered hair didn’t take a moment for the neighbor to believe the predicament Anshika had got into. Both of them rushed towards the society gate and asked the security guard to come with them. Meanwhile, another guard informed the police. The dangerous man was taken into instant custody.

Anshika’ friends rushed in as soon as they were informed. Rajat got the news when he replied to the heap of missed calls and took the very next flight home to be with Anshika.

Sympathies, appreciation for bravery is what she received for the next few days. The whole episode ended with a brave survivor getting justice in real time.    

Heaven or Hell - We Decide

An old man and his dog were walking along a country road, enjoying the scenery, when  suddenly they were tragically hit by a truck and both died on the spot. The man and his dog's soul arrived up in a beautiful place. He wondered where this path would lead them, and continued onward.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the path. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall, white arch that gleamed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother of pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked radiant like pure gold. He was pleased that he had finally arrived at heaven, and the man and his dog walked toward the gate. As he got closer, he saw someone sitting at a beautifully carved desk off to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, but is this heaven?"
"Yes, it is, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The gatekeeper gestured to his rear, and the huge gate began to open.
"I assume my friend can come in..." the man said, gesturing toward his dog.
But the reply was, "I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."
The man thought about it, then thanked the gatekeeper, turned back toward the road, and continued in the direction he had been going. After another long walk, he reached the top of another long hill, and he came to a dirt road which led through a farm gate. There was no fence, and it looked as if the gate had never been closed, as grass had grown up around it. As he approached the gate, he saw a man just inside, sitting in the shade of a tree in a rickety old chair, reading a book. "Excuse me!" he called to the reader. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there," the man said, pointing to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on in and make yourself at home."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.
"He's welcome too, and there's a bowl by the pump," he said. They walked through the gate and, sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a dipper hanging on it and a bowl next to it on the ground. The man filled the bowl for his dog, and then took a long drink himself.
When both were satisfied, he and the dog walked back toward the man, who was sitting under the tree waiting for them, and asked, "What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is heaven," was the answer.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "It certainly doesn't look like heaven, and there's another man down the road who said that place was heaven."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates?"
"Yes, it was beautiful."
"Nope. That's hell."
"Doesn't it offend you for them to use the name of heaven like that?"
"No. I can see how you might think so, but it actually saves us a lot of time. They screen out the people who are willing to leave their best friends behind."
 

The Innocent Guy!

It was a Saturday and we spent the entire day like an ideal weekend day. By the evening, we decided to go for a movie… checked online tickets for the same but unfortunately, there was massive traffic on the website so we had to rush to the Multiplex quickly. My husband decided to go for parking and I ran to the Box-office to buy our tickets. Reaching there, I just thought to check my wallet first whether I have ample money or not. My luck was again unfavorable to me as I was falling short by just 100 bucks and my turn to buy tickets till then had come. I decided to pay through my card but the guy on counter told me that unfortunately, their swipe machine was out of order. I felt like kicking him.
The ATM center was just 10 steps away so I decided to withdraw the money first. I was fourth in the row. Before me, was a girl standing who was showing off her makeup a bit much... stylish curly hair and her Kohl eyes. And ahead her, was standing a decently dressed guy. By the time of this observation, the first guy in the line entered the ATM center and had withdrawn his amount. Then the decently dressed guy went inside and closed the door. He kept on playing with Machine and didn’t come out for 2-3 minutes. I was so impatient that I just wanted to go up there and shout as to what on earth is taking him so much time to withdraw the money. Just after my thought, he came out with an innocent smile and asked the stylish girl ‘ paisa nikal nahi raha hai’. She answered in ‘SORRY’ as if she didn’t understand Hindi. He again said innocently ‘ hamare card se paisa kaise niklega madam, zara dekh lijiye’. She was smart enough to take advantage of this opportunity… she went inside with him and took out her card and swiped it. Showed him the entire procedure only once and went away with her money. The innocent guy’s expressions were the proof that he could not understand a single bit yet he was smiling. Instantly came to my mind for the girl's behavior “How selfish!”
Now was my turn to get in. I went inside. I gave him a serious look. He understood and went to the corner. This expression of him did the right effect on me and I asked him ‘kya hua? Paisa nahi nikal raha aapka?’. He smiled and nodded in a "NO". I withdrew my money and asked him to swipe the card. He said, ‘Madam! Pichli baar ye card machine ke andar chala gaya tha aur is baar andar kidhar se daale samjh nahi aa raha’. I smiled and said, ‘ye machine alag hai, isme card sirf swipe karna hai.’ He didn’t understand “Swipe” and tried to repeat it which sounded “sabipe”. I tried to translate Swipe in Hindi but couldn’t get the correct word (time was running out).. So just said “card ko isme se chalana padta hai”. He smiled..
I asked him to feed the password and amount and completed the rest of the process for him. After this, we came out and he gave me a thankful expression. I gave a brief smile and told him, “do tarah ki machine hoti hai, ek mein card ko andar daalna padta hai aur dusre mein sirf aise chalane se kaam ho jaata hai”. He smiled and said, “ Ji! Hum dheere-dheere seekh lenge”. He bid a NAMASTE to me and I just nodded my head for the same. He went away and I lined up myself in the queue. Just a thought came to my mind that things which we are grown up with, which we can’t live without are still very complex to others.

Tom & Jerry- The real characters

If I ask a question in a public forum... Who are Tom & Jerry??
All hands will raise up and there will be a unanimous voice... Our most loved cartoon characters. But how about if I talk about our real lives???
Confused??
Oh Yes! If you think deeply.. You’ll realize that all of us across this globe are sometimes Tom and sometimes Jerry in our lives. If I take a small example, a college-going boy would be a Jerry mouse in front of his parents at home and the moment he reaches to the college his talks are all about his daring and smart personality which all college gals fall for.
Why don't I take my own example... At work, I am the Tom Cat and my sub-ordinates are the Jerry Mouse. But in the day end when I have to submit the work report I, automatically, become the Jerry mouse and my so called Kind Boss becomes the Tom Cat (ready to eat up his juniors). Ironical. Isn't it??
But that's how life is... sometimes daring and sometimes scaring but always full of adventure and humor. Even though you dislike the Tom/Jerry of your life and always cook up plans to take a proper revenge, his absence makes your life dull… Am I right ??
So always be involved in this wonderful game of life and never miss the cartoon on TV either. :)

Wake Up!

Traffic is a problem which is increasing day by day and along with it is increasing problem of pollution which actually seems to be at no end. What I have always observed is that people (read: well-educated people) while waiting on a red light or in a jam don’t turn off their fuel and this habit is going to give serious and disastrous results in the future. Problem of traffic can not be solved overnight neither can the problem of pollution be but we can always take initiative to reduce them. My main concern is with the pollution crisis.

I really feel bad to see that even after constantly growing initiatives taken by govt and media, people do not seem to be aware and remain reluctant. Why cant we ourselves take a step forward for this. Whenever I m standing on a red light or stuck in a jam my first step is to turn off my fuel even if I have to wait for 15-20seconds.
All the humans on this earth must open their eyes, their minds and get aware asap. If we are stopped on a Red Light for more than 60 seconds we should turn off the fuel. People who are having self-start two-wheelers or the four-wheelers and are in third or fourth row of the Jam can easily do this. And even if 50% of us start practicing it, I am sure we will be able to reduce the repetition of some daily problems like:
Increasing pollution
Increasing fuel prices
Increasing hazards of Global Warming

Wake up people!

Same Dish- Different Garnish

Imtiaz Ali has directed three movies so far-- Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met and the most recent one Love Aajkal. I have seen all the three movies of him, and after a normal observation I found an alike factor among them. If I compare all the six main characters of the three movies who are--

Viren & Aditi- Socha Na Tha

Aditya & Geet- Jab We Met

Jai & Meera- Love Aajkal

I found these similarities....... All these characters understand each other, they bank on each other for small things, a bit much cuddly-cuddly with each other. In short, they are just perfect for each other. The very moment when the viewer realizes this and starts feeling cozy within self, the twist in the story happens. One out of the two in each of the couple takes an immature decision and part the ways with the other in the first-half.

In the second-half, again a twist happens.... They realize their mistake of choosing the wrong love and go back to their true love. Another common factor among the three movies is that they all have a Punjabi Tadka. In short, we ate the same dish with different garnising three times.

Cum'on Imtiaz! We look upto you for great love-stories . Don't disappoint us by showing same story again n again.

Well, this is my observation. Comments on this are most welcome.

Instant coffee....Instant Food.... to Instant Relationships

Today's world has rightly reached to the juncture where everything is being done "fatafat". Youngsters do not want themselves to be involved in lifelong relationships, be it friendship, romance or anything. The relationship between parents and children has also reached a crunch where both do not wish to interact. Marital relationships fail to survive due to lack of understanding. The whole concept of relationships has undergone transformation. People have become selfish and have started thinking just about themselves. "I, me and myself" have become the most important words in life. Let this not happen anymore.........Let the spirit of sharing prevail among all of us rather than "give & take". And the more we give, the more we get, be it love, care, peace or knowledge.