And the past held only this wisdom: that love was a damaging mistake, and its accomplice, hope, a treacherous illusion. – Khaled Hosseini
💕💕💕
When days are dull and joy is rare, When warmth is replaced by the chill in the air, I sit at my corner and fix my gaze, Where you sat everyday, at my favourite place.
I already know and I don’t care, That I’ll keep looking and there’s no one there, But this flicker of hope takes time to go, Makes me high sometimes, sometimes low.
I wonder if you think about me, The way I do whether busy or free. I wonder if you feel like I do, This love that’s everlasting, pure and true.
Days have passed, months and years too, Only my heart can’t stop feeling blue. Will I succumb waiting to see your face? Should I let someone fill that space?
I sat on the edge of the couch with my head pulled down meekly, as my aunt frantically paced the hall yelling and shouting at me. She left no stone unturned in telling me that I was the most stupid and foolish person she had ever come across. She was red-faced and enraged, partly in anger and partly in frustration.
As I saw her walking back and forth, for once, I felt that I should not have dropped the bomb!
After my graduation, much like many small-town folks, I had decided to go to Bombay(now Mumbai) and try my luck at landing a job there. For sheer convenience, resting on the fact that my aunt lived there with her family and my elder brother was also working and living there, I chose Bombay.
The ‘average in academics’ person that I was and with a simple Bachelor of Science (Zoology) degree, I had no idea what I was going to do in the most ambitious city of India. In fact, it’s funny that the reason why I took Zoology was not because I was interested in the subject, but because it gave me an opportunity to travel to the beaches of South India. That’s how frivolous I was in matters related to studies.
Bombay was everything my hometown wasn’t (not in a positive way) and since it was my maiden venture outside of my home, I was lost! I longed to breathe the fresh air of my hometown, smile back at the cheerful faces of my neighbours, engage in pointless banter with my friends and most importantly watch sunsets with my boyfriend.
Of course, I had my share of good times with my aunt’s family. My cousins tagged me along on all their day and night-time adventures with their friends and I accompanied my aunt everywhere she went. But all the fun I had did not compensate for what I felt inside.
In the meantime, my aunt whose strong network of contacts ran as far and as wide as the Mumbai inter-city railway system, word had spread that I was job hunting. And as luck would have it, I was offered the opportunity to fly in a reputed Airlines in two months while I would be working as an intern at the front office of a five-star hotel for those two months.
I have to mention here that I belonged to the time when the job of an airhostess was a very happening, lucrative and fruitful career option and what most small-town, middle-class girls dreamed of. Although it wasn’t what I aspired to do, the prospect of travelling abroad did lure me. Moreover, there weren’t many airline carriers in India at that time and the compensation and benefits of the aviation industry were huge.
So yes, I was job hunting when there were no MNCs in India… and yes, I started my career in that era!
I was scheduled to start my front office internship the next week and I had already visited the hotel once for an induction sort of formality. It was three days after this that I dropped the bomb one May morning.
Only my aunt and I were at the house when I told her that I had made up my mind to go back home. I had thought hard and long for over two days and had decided to give up this career opportunity… an opportunity that would give me the chance to travel the world, live in luxury, meet new people, upgrade my standard of living and most importantly give me financial freedom, loads of it! Everything a normal person would want from life, and yet I decided to kick it all and return, the way I had come… broke and jobless!
Obviously, my aunt’s hostility and rage weren’t uncalled for.
That day, more than two decades ago and now! When I look back, I realize that I didn’t then and haven’t ever regretted the decision I made. Well, except for the time when I thought that my aunt would pass out due to the stress and tension welling up inside her.
However, one thought never left my head. Something that was gnawing and ate at me time and again. It used to prop up when I was idle and pondering over the decisions I’d made in life:
– What gave me the courage to go against my entire family and make that decision? – Why didn’t I regret it? – Why wasn’t I lured by the prospects of a successful career and greater still, the money that came with it? – Would anybody else have done the same?
All my life I had been seeking answers for these questions and many others like:
– Why was it so difficult for me to survive in the corporate world(I quit when my elder daughter was two)? – Why am I not ambitious like others? – Why don’t I get motivated by money and financial assets and the high life? – Why do I make choices that others don’t appreciate?
Like me, I am sure there are many others who often or sometimes wonder why. Their questions may involve different aspects of life and not necessarily job and career… mine did too!
My questions were answered some years ago in a way that of the six most important things that make me, affluence, career, ambition, professional success and the likes don’t feature anywhere. What does and in the order of importance are: Love, health, happiness, freedom, integrity and balance.
I totally relate to the concept of each person being uniquely built around his/her own set of core values and how each one should operate in life based on those and make all choices based on those. And that’s why I had done what I’d done, albeit unconsciously! And that’s why I’d had no regrets!
It was the biggest breakthrough ever!
Pic Courtesy : Google
Now that I am aware of my core values, I am at peace. It’s much easier to accept the person I am, what I want from life, lead my life accordingly and not get anxious or bogged down by peer pressure or the world around me.
Not too long ago I saw a meme about this mystery man called Orry. Since I am not on Instagram, I didn’t know who he was so I googled him but still didn’t know who he was!😀
After a few weeks, a friend in one of my whatsapp groups was fussing about Koffee with Karan hosting Orry in its season finale episode and said that it was ridiculous and he was undeserving of it. A few others made similar comments about him and the episode too.
I was curious and since I was following Koffee this season and was enjoying it too, I watched the episode. To be honest I didn’t like the jury’s decision on most of the winners and to an extent I thought it was rigged. Given a choice I would’ve chosen Ajay Devgn and his piquant episode as the best as I absolutely loved it and him in it. His matter-of-fact promptness and wit was totally unexpected and stellar! Saif in his suave best was okay too but nothing close to AD in my opinion.
Anyway, that was the whole episode, but today we are talking only about the first half and Orry.
From the time he made that flashy entry and sat on the couch till the time he exited rather modestly, the only thing that was playing in repeat in my mind was, OMG!
Orry’s distinctive character, his resoluteness, his sharpness, his lucidity, his courage, his eloquence, his ideas, his entrepreneurship and his boldness all blew me away.
To be so clear about what you want to ‘do and be’ and execute it with mastery… commendable! I mean what are the odds of coming across someone with an unwavering attitude and aplomb (no matter how ridiculous they may seem to the world)… and the ability to harness them to achieve your dreams and goals and be successful at it?… rare? and Orry is rare!
I could watch his section of the final episode infinitely and still enjoy it everytime.
Till before the episode, my opinion of Orry from what I had heard and seen here and there was a ‘silly wannabe.’ But boy, was I wrong! He is everything but that! He is sassy, smart, shrewd, steadfast, spirited, sincere, sociable, sensational, scintillating… and I can go on and on.
Orry with his ‘orrygis’ printed ensemble on Koffee. Pic courtesy: Google
I wish Orry the best for his future endeavours – the minions, the orrygis, his digital demise and his comeback and if I ever join instagram, he will be the first celebrity I will follow!
😎😎😎
P.S: For the ones who haven’t watched the episode, please do… it is worth it! And the ones who have, it would be nice to hear your opinion about him in the comments section. As for me, and it may still sound unbelievable to many, I was in awe of Orry and continue to be!😊
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