Rest in Peace Baba!

The world comes crashing down when we get to know that someone close to our hearts has left us for good. Never will we see that face talking to us again, that room and office where we had those discussions will be empty when I visit home next. The vast distance between us means that I wasn’t there to pay you my last respects. This sudden journey of yours to the heavenly abode has left us dumb-struck and grief stricken. It is only after the initial shock at hearing the news, has the realization dawned of the possible after-effects of your loss.

You may not have been our own grandfather, related by birth, but you have always been our very own Jha ji “Baba”. With passing years and the commitments that this world brings in, our communication may have become less, but the memories with you had never been forgotten. Meeting you in your office in hotel was one of the few things I did, every time I got a chance to visit home, and those few but precious moments will forever be etched in my memory.

Tears come to my eyes, when I think that I will never see you again. Being so far from you at the time of your untimely demise that I can’t be there for your last rites, writing about what I feel and what you meant to us is the least I can do as a token of my love and respect for you. To learn about you and my grandfather work together, amidst personal turmoil and society’s snide remarks, and to have built something big from scratch has been admirable, and you have given us something to emulate.

Events like this makes me question the trivialities of my day to day cribbing & problems. There is just not enough time to make everything work, and I must utilize my moments to the full.

Wherever you are, you will always be there in our hearts and your memories will linger within us.

RIP Baba!  

Jobs and our homes back there

Gen Y Life in a Big City

It's a weekday and I come back from my corporate office. Since last few days, this empty feeling has started to kick in as soon as dusk starts. As people start leaving for their homes, you start to dread going back to your house. Not because, there is something at work which makes you want to come there over & over again, but because the emptiness is more at house.

As a small town child, it had been a dream to come to the big city and make a name there, to have more control of what life has to offer, living life to the fullest and on your own terms. With each passing year, the control seems to be getting away. When you have to miss the important days in your family's lives, just because you can't be there for more than certain days, since you don't have enough approved leaves left. When you have to cancel plans with your friends, because every time, someone has to tend to some critical stuff at work which can't be avoided. When you have stayed at a place for over a year, but still don't know anyone else in the neighborhood because you can't afford the time required to build a relationship. When you want to go away in the calmness of wilderness, away from the city hustle & bustle, but need to be present in office the next day. 

And all this for what, to go back to the emptiness of your house. As these situations get repeated over & over again, so does the illusion of control, and you miss your home. You miss the warmth and love of your parents, your siblings, who supported us in our every dreams and encouraged us to dream big. You miss the familiar surroundings, the affable neighborhood, the goofy relatives.

But come another morning and we embrace ourselves to a new day, because what needs to be done, needs to be done. We packed our bags and came so far away from home in the search of happiness, only to realize that is "Happiness is Real only when shared".

Enjoy the day!