march 9th, 2017.

​So my mother, who recently discovered her love for Whatsapp is going through a difficult time dealing with the latest Whatsapp update. She has been cribbing and to be rightly put, sulking over not being able to read the Whatsapp status of her friends. On being asked to what do next if we do not like the new update, I instantly replied saying, “I guess we just have to deal with it.” Upon hearing this, my mother kind of frowned and kept down her phone and dozed off.

Rewinding the conversation my mother and I shared a few minutes back, made me think. It made me think of those countless number of times when we decided to ‘just deal with stuff’ instead of doing something about it. The number of  times when we intentionally or even unintentionally let things be, even when we could have done something to better the situation. Regardless of how small, or impactful our actions were or could’ve been.
When all it required for my best friend to not cut herself was one idiotic inside joke & a Grey’s episode where Meredith says how life is too goddamn amazing for us to not respect it enough for having one.

When one truthful confession written over a small piece of paper by a boy to his father, could have helped him come out of the closet rather than giving up and never come out.

Truth be told, things are never easy. Things are never going to be easy. But just because they don’t seem easy does not give them more power than us. If things aren’t easy now, they are going to be easy a few days, weeks, months, or even years after now.

Living in the feeling of failure is always going to be much better than living in the feeling of regret to not have tried enough.

So the next time your best friend is having a bad day, write a letter to her and drop it in her bag secretly; only for her to receive it with a huge unannounced smile on her pretty, pretty face.

The next time you’re leaving for college, increase the radio’s volume and dance with your mom for two minutes and give her the best memory of the day.

In the metro, if you happen to find someone looking a little off, give them a compliment and watch them smile. It’ll be the most honest smile you’ll ever see.

Let us not let things be.

Let’s try to never stop trying. To make things better. To make people feel better. To make people feel about things, a little better.

Chai aur Zindagi.

Our lives are exactly like our cup of chai. All of us have one to ourselves, and we like it just the way we make it.

Some of us like our chai extra sweet, just like those stolen moments of happiness shared secretly with our best friends.

Some of us like our chai with the right amount of bitter and sweet, just like the ups and downs that we face as we move forward, but never complaining. We know it’s our own cup of chai and everything about it goes the way we want.

Some of require no sugar. We don’t require candy coated drama and we’re just fine with what we have. Content and complete.

Some of us add adrak and elaichi. The memories we create on our own, because we want to enjoy each sip as we take it in. The chai, the life.

All of us have millions of different things going on in our lives, just like the million different ways we make our own cup of chai.

Amidst these little differences, the one thing that keeps us together is our cup of chai.

So we know, that even when we all lead difficult and different lives, there is always going to be at least that one thing that would always hold us together.

Let us all just hold each other together, the way chai does. Let’s be with each other till we have the time to enjoy one more cup of chai together.

Maa.

Maa, you’ve been complaining about your terrible headache for over two days now and I am starting to get worried. None of the antibiotics have worked and you’re complaining about it again tonight. So, I finally sit back and ask you to sleep straight so that I can massage your forehead for the first time in my life. Maa, you smiled  as I applied balm on your forehead and ran my fingers up and down massaging your head. I remember you saying that something finally seemed to calm down the ache. I hardly massaged your head for good five minutes and you told me it was the best day for you in years. You sounded relieved and happy. Five minutes and now you are in a deep sleep.

As I pressed my fingers on your head massaging you, I felt the pain leaving. The sighs of calm that you exhaled clearly spoke volumes about the relieve you experienced in those five minutes I dedicated to you. It did not come as a surprise to me, your headache. You run around the house all the time because you’re just as crazy as Monica when it comes to your ceremonial cleanliness. You never seem to complete an 8 hour long sleep because you keep breaking it by checking if I still have my quilt on. You wake up the earliest and make me the yummiest parantha that I do not eat half of the time and go on to pack more of it for college which I have a hard time saving for myself because the whole group hogs into it. You scold me half of the time and make me furious at the tiniest of things. I have issues with you because you take away my entire privacy even when I am about to turn twenty soon. You would never let me do half of the things I want because that seems to make you the happiest. But maa, you’re the scariest woman I would ever come across wherever life takes me; and I am pretty glad about it.

Maa, you’re the strongest human I’ve ever seen. You’re stronger than Dad, and you hold my life together. I know I am the most impossible kid you could get and I know you feel sick to the stomach when I am unable to do half of the things that I know my sister could. I know you miss her every day, and I know I would never be able to make up the best daughter like she was, but I try. I always will. I know Maa, you’ve seen the saddest of days and have come out the strongest. Maa, you’ve molded yourself into shapes impossible. I know you want to cry your heart out, but you won’t; in front of me. What else is strong, Maa?

Amidst the absolutely missed shopping sprees and stolen moments of mental breakdowns, you’re sleeping without a headache today, Maa. And I couldn’t be happier.

Boomerang.

Boomerang. That’s how their love felt like.

Coming to you slowly, and strongly. Hitting parts of you and making you jump with excitement and then leaving eventually. As swiftly as possible.
It wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t their happy decision to be in a relationship & staying a thousand miles apart. But they chose the boomerang. They chose the boomerang because it hits you, making you feel its presence.

Their love hit each other every time they met after months of eagerly waiting to see each other. Their touch felt so much more real when they knew they only had a few hours to spend together in the entire week. Their kisses grew more intense and passionate. Their hugs would fix the two of them into each other almost like completing a puzzle left unfinished for a long, long time. The secret glances at each other increased. The idea of making memories meant the world to them. And the goodbyes, they grew quiet. For when the boomerang hits you and takes its leave, it doesn’t make any sound. The goodbyes were hugs attached with a smile that spoke for itself. A smile which pleaded them to stay a little longer.

That’s what a boomerang does. Leaves you asking for more.
A little more time with each other spent laughing and eating home-made food. A little more time holding hands while walking back home. A little more time to look into each other’s eyes. A little more time to kiss each other till you run out of breath. A little more time to look at them laughing and dancing. A little more time to tell them how they’re the only safe haven you’ve ever known.