Mid-year blues!! :)

Reaching for the sky!! :)

Gosh!  Its the end of July. It just seems a few weeks ago that I updated my new year resolutions and today I realised that half of the year is already gone. How time flies!!
Well, this has been an amazing year as yet and I am sure by the end of it when I retrospect I am gonna give a toss to myself for having had one of the best times of my life. I knew it...I knew that 2012 will be my year. I have had a good feeling of this year. Finally and again finally, the sun is shining down on me. 


Half the year past by like a sudden gust of wind. I will be turning 26 this year and its strange but my friends and I have agreed on a sacred pact of getting married before one of us hit the 30 mark (a typical girl's thing), so we have a few precious precious years and we are geared up to accomplished all the wild things we've left out. And working in these lines, I enrolled myself in swimming classes and gradually learning to tame my fears of getting drowned. I learnt a foreign language too, French...and If ever I happen to wake up out of nowhere at Paris I guess I can manage to survive with a French kit (lol) Très bien, merci.
I got to experience the joy of teaching all over again as I became an online teacher for Korean students. It just feels great to discuss kimchi, hambok, sushi and teach English to young and old alike. It broadened my horizon and its a great feeling to realise that I can be a mentor to someone who lives half across the globe in a different time zone and who speaks a different language. 

And, Ah! That wonderful feeling when you realised that you can finally do your bit and share the load of your parents!! Gifted a formidable amount to my parents from my scholarship fund and in return I had my Mom in tears out of sheer ecstasy. The best thing I have ever done!!

Also, I lived a dream of visiting my school days and relived those days once again. I became a proud member of Tiny Tots Alumni Forum and one of the lucky ones to witness a historic event as alumni from 1982 onwards came together for the first time in the history of TTUS. 

Its a brand new start. Memories fading away fast and it all seems like dream now. What I have now is real and it is all that matters and it means the world to me. Finally, I can spread my wings and fly coz I know I have a place to land, I have a heart whom I can come home to. And, all that I left behind are remnants of my past, my stupidity and innocence of youth anchored and tucked away safely. Forgiveness and forgetting all the way. I knew all along that this year is gonna be a great year........and it sure will be!! 

Cheers mate...Have a great year ahead!! :)

Bring home a MEDAL!!

Heart beats fast, the urgency is even more, the spirit is intoxicating and infectious. It’s the battle of the best, finally the games are here. I see it everywhere. Everyone seems to be talking about it. It is in the air. Social networking sites, newspapers, hoardings are flooded with pictures of Olympians and notes of wishes and support from their fans and well-wishers. The proud parents whose kids are fighting to bring laurels to their native land, who are a thousand miles away in a land beyond their reach are offering their prayers for the success of their kids. It is a time when nations are united and hopes are raised, just a medal, and all the sweat and struggles will be oblivion and a whole nation will rejoice the sweet success.

And me, being an avid sports fan can’t be far behind in conveying my support and best wishes to all the Oympians who will be representing my country. Hailing from Manipur, a tiny North east state of India, it is indeed a moment of pride to realise that we have five Olympians from my native place competing in the global platform. My heartfelt wishes to them. Just show the world that we exist. 

Fight for all the times that you were discriminated,

Fight for justice and love denied

Fight for all those discouraging words

Fight for that moment when you felt that u have been let down.

Fight for all the times that you got“NO”as an answer

Fight for all the sweat and the hopes you had

Fight for Peace

AMEN

C'mon folks...Lets cheer for our team!!

 http://e-pao.net/epSubPageExtractor.asp?src=leisure.Sports.Manipur_Olympic_Dreams_2012_London.Schedules_for_Manipur_sportspersons_at_London_Olympics_2012

Walking the distance

Flowers - best way to express love

It was another mundane Monday morning. I woke up at the sound of my cell beep. 

1 new message. 

I read it sleepily “Good morning Vi. Wake up sleepyhead. Im already off to work.  I smiled and replied “Good Morning Da. Happy hours ahead ”  God, I wished I could see him. Now I can feel it myself, how my friends used to sulk over long distance relationships. I sighed and dragged myself out of bed.

I got myself busy with my daily morning chores and was getting ready for college when my cell buzzed. I smiled. “Hello Da, whats up?”. He sounded upset. “What is wrong with you? How can you be so careless?” I was surprised.

“What happened?”

“Didn’t I tell you that you’ll be receiving a courier? Can’t you even inform your hostel authorities?”

“Sure, I can, but what happen?”

“That courier guy has been standing at your hostel gate for the last 20 minutes and your gatekeepers won’t even let him in to take your signature.”

“Seriously? Wow…u never….er….ok….let me help him out. Don’t worry, I’ll hurry downstairs and see him. And, thank you.”

I ran downstairs excitedly. What on earth will it be? My birthday is 3 months away and there is no special occasion that I can think of. May be he sent me that book which I’ve always wanted. I stopped running as I approached the gate.

I was panting when I opened the gate and stepped out. I gasped for breath and stood there awestruck.

At first I could not believe myself. There he was, looking right at me, with some roses put together in a Maaza bottle. I felt breathless and reached out for more air. I just stood there gaping at him like a fool....words failed me. He came near me. I could feel a sharp tinge of tear.

“Oh….how could you? I mean you never…when did you…I am so happy to see you.”

“Really?” He smiled.

“Of course I am. But I never thought. You said you got held up in an important meeting last night”.

His eyes were glued on mine. “Yeah, that’s coz I didn’t want you to call me. You’d have found out that I was travelling and it would have ruined the surprise.”

“Hmm. You…and why are those flowers in a bottle?”

“Oh, I thought I will not get flowers here. So, I bought them yesterday from Delhi but it wilted on the way so I bought a Maaza bottle, drank all the stuff and poured some water instead, to preserve them. Nice idea, na?” He grinned and handed me the Maaza bottle filled with flowers.

I laughed and took the bottle of flowers from him. “You are crazy. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what else to say”.

He smiled mischievously. “God, I am famished. Lets grab some food. U want to come with me?”

“Of course, I am coming. Just give me 5 minutes. I want to look pretty”. I held the flowers closely and smiled all the way to my room. That was when I realised that I was falling for him all over again.

BACK to SCHOOL

My school, my days gone past

I sat down to write about my school days and I am swept away by nostalgia. Its hard to believe that its been a decade since I have walked past my school days. I can almost hear the laughter during the recesses, the haste of the morning bells and the sigh of relief when the last bell rings, the rush for the morning assemblies and the heartbeat before exams and the applause when we get good grades.

Those were the times when we metamorphosed from innocent chubby faces to confused teenagers, when we start nurturing a dream, when we had our first secret crush, or may be when we had our first heart break. It was the time when we shared cute tiffin boxes and a pocket money of 10 rupees meant the world to us. Those were the days when girls were all so geared up against boys and vice versa only to realise that they can find a best friend in each other. Those were the time when we came late to class only to get the attention of our favourite teacher, when thoughts were shared during class by passing notes with odd smirks on our faces pretending as if we were fooling the teachers and our hearts raced during exams and as the examiner passed by we tried to hide the stupid things written on our answer scripts.

I can trace some of my fondest memories way back from high school. Life sure is more complicated now and there are many friends of mine whom I’ve not met ever since we bade goodbye after that last day in school. Our lives have taken different paths and I hope that wherever we are and in whatever we do we are keeping the spirit of being a Tiny Totian alive.

In moments like now when I try to remember my school days my mind is flooded with many thoughts and wonder at the queerness of life. How much we’ve grown in this decade…we’ve emerged as adults, each one of us caught in the race and even if we feel nostalgic and remember all our innocent promises to remain best friends and to write to each other, it all seems so futile now and remains the best treasured memories ever ready to be buried in the sands of time.