Bliss has a different formula for each one of us....for me it was coffee + books + rain and the equation seemed so perfect. While sipping my cuppa coffee, my eyes roved through the crowds and how wonderfully every face presented the painting that can adorn a luxurious living room's wall. There were these chatty college kids for whom bookshop was a place to hangout and ofcourse buy the boring text books. On the other, were these mavericks lost in some best classics and literally sipping in every word. In this era of fast paced entertainment and popular sports knocking us at every turn, real time book lovers come across as a very endangered specie. Many dub them as book worms or consider them to be geeks wearing big black rimmed spectacles. However, midst the distractions and baseless accusations, this category is thriving.

Religious sentiments are one of the most delicate and intricate aspect surrounding our lives.....like the prodigy of Gen X, we all express our secularism in form of apathy towards religions around us. Not visiting a temple, not knowing the scriptures or not being able to recite basic pujas are disguised easily when we proclaim our so called modern religiosity. The convenience based religious concepts are firmly embedded in our fast paced lives..where we wonderful fold our hands and bow in front of innumerable deities ( many of whom we don't recognize) on those marked occasions which crop up a few times every year. Thus, most of the times we do things out of either regard for people around us or habits taught without reasoning during our childhood days.

More often than not, I come across people who give a blank expression why they follow a particular ritual. They then start associating omens and weird non founded reasons to support their acts. Some of them blatantly follow of because their forefathers did it. Some fear a bad omen and few others are scared to question the predicament. I do not wish to sound the eccentric sci-fi person and nullify every ritual. Bowing my head in front of someone who evokes respect or covering my head at a religious place seems appropriate under the concept of common sense. However certain rituals come across as utterly absurd and adding to the absurdity is blind following by educated ( not the snobbish revolting youth) modern generation. They say knowledge is power and when someone questions ' hows' and 'whys' of things around he/she is not trying to demean someone's faith or hurt religious sentiments. If there is darkness in the room don't we make a basic effort of switching on the lights, then why are we so lazy when it comes a corners of darkness in our mind.

Ironically, India is a nation of secularism as well as staunch religious fanaticism. A muslim sitting next to us in a bus makes us uneasy but a song by Mohammad rafi or movie featuring Sharukh Khan makes us feel wonderful. Covering the mouth and washing the hands to worship idols is considered sacrosanct but following few basic hygiene tips while cooking every day food is forgotten. Accept it or not but there is this facade in our daily lives. We are all somewhere making a satire on our lives. We easily point fingers around and the bigot within each one of us tries to portray this modern avtaar of tolerance.

IGI, GIA, HRD to KHAKHRA, THEPLAS, CHOLE PURI While trying to make round parathas, a scene from ' Bend it like Beckhem' crossed my mind...though I cant make round rotis mumma, I can kick round footballs....and I said to myself..yeah, though I cant make perfect round parathas, I can tell a perfect round diamond and grade it too. Life has changed but I haven't. The twist and turns, the blush of a newly wed, the world of new family members, a completely different life...is there for me to live. There are times when I pinch myself to realize I am married. There are times when I feel wow with a compliment on something I cooked. There are times when I sit and count every minute awaiting his return from work. And then there are times, I wish to rush back to life as it was..... God in his strange way has has brought a bouquet of people, relations and things in my life. Sometimes they do get handsfull!!! However, most of times its a silent whisper of a thank you prayer I learned long ago in school. When I sit and observe the new traditions, mingle with the melange of new people adn try to absorb the new setting....I just retain the me in ME.....

and i looked around with a feeling of being uprooted....everything had changed and the person for whom I had undertaken the change was far far away...the culture, the food, the people, the relations, the religion, the location....everything. My sleep ditched me and my reasoning alluded me. Words didnt form to describe a state of chaos that littered my heart. When there is just plain unease....no complains, no problems...yet everything far from normal and my soul finding answers to unasked questions... Amid the whirlwind of rights and wrongs, she emerged to provide my perturbed self the much wanted solace....her high pitch voice concealed a soft hum and the rough tough exterior revealed a child like innocence...she understood me and my unworded thoughts....when i let my guard down, she welcomed me with her embrace...she stood for what was fair and true....her unassuming style, her simplicity, her enthusiasm gave me the room to be me.....hours slipped by and mistress of night twitched by as we shared the giggles of school girls, the mysteries of adolescence, the problems of womanhood and the tales of matured adults.....in her I saw reflections of a long lost friend....a sister I never had... God has his own ways...she became the light house on some dark windy nights...I wonder how God knows whom we need and when.....

I sit with frosty fingers enveloped in the blanket of winter mist to recount the warmth showered by my students....This is not the first time I am moving place..when I say moving place I mean changing profile, leaving friends, differentlocation and packing hordes of memories as life's journey takes a new turn.

This time it was bidding adieu to IIPM. Everytime I have walked into a classroom, my world gets transformed(really). I leave behind the baggage of ''things to do'', I forget the worries wheather personal or professional, I forget the essence of time. When I am teaching I experience somthing known as PEACE which tactfully alludes me the rest of the day. When I read my students feedback, I cherish them like treasured love letters.When my family members and friends complain about my speanding too much time in classes, I retort 'I love my bachas''. They can never understand what my statement means.

On Christmas eve, Santa Claus arrived at my humble abode in form of bunch of wonderful kiddos. They came to surprise me and bid a warm farewell. The cake was cut and wonderful theme photo sits at proud aisle in my living room. We all sang and danced like there was no tomorrow. The photographs tried to capture memories for years to come. When I ll be sitting with afew more wrinkles on my face in some distant corner of the world, my eyes shall turn moist looking at them. When the hours of merry making slipped through the fingers of the christmas eve, the students said they goodbyes, 'We ll miss you mam', 'we love you''.....I stood speechless. Later, when I recounted every scence, I called my father and said something which I had never said before. 'I feel successful"