Mukta...

As I sit down tonite to write this post...I can't help but think about the way "Love Story" by Erich Segal starts...Those who have read the book would exactly know what I am refering to...

One of the greatest follies perhaps about every journey that a group of people undertake together is that...the noise and the celebrations at the end often tend to drown the faint voices that though started with us...don't make it till the end. There are those who leave us somewhere along the way...forever.

I can still remember the converstaion that I had with arguably the most brilliant and fiercely competetive lady I have ever come across in my life. It was a typical 1st Semester evening...all of us totally tired from the daily grind and trying hard to avoid thinking about the routine that awaited us the next day..and the next day through mindless chit-chat outside the cafe. She and I were talking about how sometimes everything seems so "in-a-plan"...like we exactly know what's gonna happen next and we're mere just going along the flow. She had been going pretty steady with someone for quite sometime and the way it looked, a year or two after passing out of the course, they were sure to tie the knot. Her to-be mother-in-law literally doted on her and there was nothing more she wanted from life. Of course, apart from the best damn marketing job the campus had to offer! Oh...yes...she wasn't the types to take what came her way. Rather, she was one who set targets and then work hard and endlessly to achieve them. In short, she was a winner all the way. Though as I said, in a lighter vein, she almost admitted that it does dissapoint her that there are no surprises in store for in life. And that...she more or less had a clear idea of how her life was going to turn out in the years to come...

When it happened...it wasn't just a surprise. Shock would be more apt. We were all stunned. Mukta Juneja, PGDM-I, SCMHRD was diagnosed of last stage leukemia. The fighter she was...Mukta didn't throw in the towel without a struggle. But this one time...she lost.

On 3rd of Feb 2005, Mukta passed away...

I wouldn't lie and say that I knew her too well. I did not...we were barely beginning to come to terms with our course and she and I were in different divisions. But that incident (and that talk I had with Mukta) taught me one thing. There are no guarantees in life. Nothing is forever. Do the best with the time you have, i.e. our today. Not all of us may get the luxury to live to see another tomorrow...

We miss you Mukta...

"...jaisa aap kahen" (...whatever you say...)

A getaway with friends and more importantly with "a friend" has been long overdue. But when on the phone Shimla came up as one of the possible destinations, I wasn't that gung-ho about it. Not for anyother reason but I have practically been there once / twice every month while I was working in Chandigarh. I must say though...that few hill stations have the kind of charm that Shimla has for me. I simply adore that place...

This post is, however, not meant to be another of the Tourism Ministry's efforts to strengthen the "Incredible India!" campaign.

Since I was a lil' boy...I've always been taught to not poke into other people's business and worse...to overhear other people's conversations. But that evening while I was walking with my family on the famous Mall Road of Shimla, I couldn't help but having my ears tuned to what seemed like some kind of a course in manners. The conversation was apparently not between strangers but the whole thing was quite...what should I say...mannered & formal!

"...kya khayengi aap?" (...what will you have?)
"...jo aap ko pasand ho... (...anything that you like...)
"...nahi fir bhi...kuch toh bataiye... (...still...tell me something about your choice...)
"...jo aap kahen..." (...whatever you say...)

Now it was too much for even my military upbringing...to restrain from around and find out the source of the "lessons in hesitancy & manners". So very slowly...almost pretending to check out the array of hawkers on the other side of the street...I turned my head. And there were the culprits!
As I saw them...I tried so damn hard to not break into a laugh...a grin did escape my lips though...

About 10 odd steps from where we were standing...there was this newly married couple standing infront of an eating joint. The whole conversation that I was now privy to...was apparently about deciding what to eat for dinner. The problem was quite simple. The couple quite obviously had an arranged marriage...something thing quite common in this part of the world. Matrimony where one day suddenly you are told that you shall spend the rest of your life with so-and-so-person. Period.

So what you have...are two young people trying to make friends with each other from the time they get married one way or the other and at times over-doing the part where each tried to be the ideal groom or the ideal bride. In this case, the bride, apparently under strict instructions from her Mom & her Mom-in-law to wear bright reds and such "bridal colours" along with all the jing-bang of bangles, jewellery, bindi, heena and the works...was dressed up like a mannequin in a bridal showroom's window! And the young man was dressed much more...normally...so to say. Each one fighting hard the ackwardness of a complete stranger entering their lives...so abruptly and so very completely. Their efforts were genuine. Their being shy yet trying to overcome it and display a "I'm-in-control" look was a creditable effort I must admit. Above all...they were really cute together in the whole situation...

As I walked I could faintly hear them again,

"...kahin aur chale fir?..." (...so should we go somewhere else?)
"...jo aap kahen..." (...whatever you say...)