Ever since I was a little girl, I've had crushes on men I couldn't get. It was always older men who would sweep me off my feet. Now this isn’t too unusual or bad at all, as some might have already exclaimed at my insolent words :)

My mom tells me, that it is something that almost every girl goes through at some point or the other. So to list my crushes - it was my Physics professor when I was 16 and then the director of my college when I was 18, a famous dance choreographer, not to forget the endless list of stars I lust after and the list goes on. Once I went to see a "Raas-leela" conducted by a famous troupe from Mathura - and you won’t believe it - I fell in love with the person playing the character of Lord Krishna, so much to the extent that I had pictures taken with him and kept them hidden in my books. My mom once pointed out that I fall for people who are in power and yes...she was absolutely right - I have even fancied Rahul Gandhi at some point too.

I remember, my friends hooting when my Physics professor picked me up to answer a certain question - and me turning beet-red - unable to find the right words to answer the question. I doted on him so much that I fell in love with his car too and would fabricate excuses just to get glimpses of him :D

Regardless of all I mentioned above, the purpose of my post is a rather selfish one.
This time I have my heart on something and I need your help to get it. Fortunately it’s not one of my professors or the to-be-President of a country...but it’s actually a thing. It’s a bag.......I know how ridiculous this might sound, but after trying all I could rather unsuccessfully, I’ve decided to resort to make a global appeal...No...Don’t get me wrong...I don’t need you to contribute to my bag fund - all I need from you is to go - tell my mom to give me her approval.

Let me explain: I am in love and love is actually not enough to describe what I feel right now. It has reached the point of devotion and reverence (yes - I am still talking about the bag). And it’s a bit expensive and as my Mom puts it - it’s disgustingly exorbitant and not worth the hard earned money of any human being. And the thing is – as childish and immature it may sound, but I don’t do the smallest thing without my Mom's approval, so my conscience is just not permitting me to go ahead this time also.

I have tried everything I could - request/beg/emotional blackmail....
Here are a few excerpts of our conversation:

Neha: Mummy pleaseeee approve...I beg of u...
Mummy: I've said no...Now its upto u
Neha: Mummy u know, I won’t buy it unless you say yes. You know how much I respect your approval. Atleast in return of the respect...approve
Mummy : I know u respect my advice so much and that’s why I can’t let you spend that much on a ....bag. You should rather invest that money in something like jewellery...or just save it.
Neha : Some girls don’t even bother talking to their moms’ about big decisions of their life like marriage…and I am dying for your permission to just buy a purse…could you want more
Mummy : Neha… you are literally trying to extract your “yes” from my mouth…but you know how I feel about it

So on and so forth...we have been going since the last 2 months. I have almost memorized the mom-pep talk ... you have no responsibilities right now…but later you will…and you need to learn to be economical…blah…blah…blah…
But as they is love is blind…and deaf… I have turned totally deaf to my Mom’s melodramatic speeches on this issue now…but I still can’t ignore them :)

So I request all you wonderful people to appeal to my Mom…to just give me a green signal… Please write to her on http://anjugandhi.wordpress.com/ and tell her how fortunate she is to have an exceptionally respectful daughter …and that she should just say... YES

I know a lot of mothers’ probably agree with my mom on this…but please don’t forget you are daughters first and try to remember the doll in the store that you were literally dying for… remember the longing? Remember the impatience?

Everyday we come across people who touch our lives in a certain way. And in our so called busy schedules we just forget or rather overlook them.

Just a few months back when I was on my way back to Boston from New York – Now going to NY is like going to Lonavla from Bombay, if you know what I mean. The same distance, the same traffic if you miss the right hour and the same excitement. Coming back from New York is always a pain because the drive invariably gets extended because I could never leave New York at the “right” hour. Some store, some sale or something delicious to be eaten would always play a prank in holding me back. On my way back from one such amazing trip, I stopped at one of the Subways (fast food restaurant) to get a quick sub and get back on the highway as it was getting really late. Almost 35 miles and 3 exits later, I got a call from an unknown number which I completely ignored as it was so distracting and I was really in a hurry to get back home. Another 5 min passed and the seemingly persistent caller called back. Annoyed due the traffic, late hour coupled with the guilt of not hitting the route to Boston on time, I just answered the call. Apparently it was someone from AAA (roadside assistance service in USA) to inform me “Mam, your wallet and keys were found in the parking lot of Subway in Connecticut and they are holding it there for you. “Now…. Can you imagine the gamut of emotions I must have gone through in that one instance…? I couldn’t even understand that why someone from AAA would call me and how would they know and how the hell did I leave my purse … so baffled that I could hardly thank the person enough for the call. I went back almost 40 miles to the Subway to get my wallet with its contents zeroed down would sum up my life ( house keys, license, school alumni and library card , debit card, 2 credit cards, $100 forever21 store credit card , insurance cards , a $20 bill , and the lucky AAA card ,– none of these actually with my cell number on them ) Someone found my wallet lying in the parking lot and actually took the pains to call AAA and give them my AAA account number and look up my cell number and have them contact me. Now, to be honest, if I were to find a wallet in the parking lot, all I would have done is to hand it over to the concerned store. But to actually go through the wallet, find the contact information of the owner and if not easily available, search for something that could link the person… wow. I mean…that’s a completely different story. When I reached Subway, the person had already left with no name or number. I had no ways of thanking him… but if it were not for his honesty, presence of mind and concern – I would have been struggling to get my things back on track for atleast a month.

My cousin was in the Bean town from Chi town and we were chilling out at the Prudential. I was on the phone when I entered the restroom and maybe just left it there. Cousin and I left the towers and started walking towards my University (Northeastern) Almost 30 minutes later when his phone started ringing, impulse or instinct – I felt the need to check to my own cell phone. And there it was --- missing! Now the thought that atleast 1000 people use the Prudential restrooms every hour – the chances of getting my endeared iphone were so bleak. Numerous thoughts came to my mind–Apple would give me a replacement for double the original price and losing $400 from my new bag fund, the trouble I would have to go through to get my contacts, and then chiding myself for procrastinating to take a back-up on my laptop. On checking with the security desk at Prudential, apparently someone had handed over the phone to one of the janitors who further handed down to the Security office.

Now imagine if the person would have thought differently or if the janitor would have cared less and not bothered handing it over – I mean if it were not for those 2 genuine people, I would be fretting over on the phone with ATT and Apple to give me some discounts to get a replacement and not to mention the trouble to get the numbers congregated over all these years!!!

Therefore I say that there are certainly some angels out there who in the disguise of genuine souls help us in making so many things just a smooth sail for us.
Don’t you agree?


I am sure you too have some such stories to share - do tell me about them :)

Something happened today morning that makes me think again
-why do people try too seek cheap publicity in the name of God
-why do they wear the “Hi-are-you-from-India-too” mask and embarrass us “Indians”

I live in a private community where I consider safety and privacy as the most basic amenities. Around 1pm on a Saturday, I was freely moving around the house in my bath-robe, when someone knocked on my door- thinking it would be my room-mate, I just opened the door to see 2 strangers standing (which is not at all usual) I was obviously embarrassed a little, but thinking it must be something quick – I decided to just let them finish the work they had come for.
Apparently, they were from some Indian Association and had organized a street play to celebrate the festival of Janmashtmi (Lord Krishna’s birth)
To publicize this, they were apparently going through each name on the plates in the complex and picking out apartments with Indian names against them.
Also, the street play was scheduled to be performed in the swimming pool area of the community.

Now, I seriously doubt that the association (whoever they were) got or rather took permission to have a public event near the swimming pool. Considering a small gathering and a street-play style performance can easily be taken in the pretext of a small private party , which is “allowed “– the association people must have felt unnecessary to go through the right channels to seek permission to hold the event.

To go through every individual name listed in the complex directory, pick out the seemingly Indian ones and knock doors to publicize your event is utterly shameful. There are other inexpensive ways of publicizing your event – take print outs and ask the management of the community to distribute them along with the weekly community letter or simply drop pamphlets in the mailboxes of your short listed apartments.

You come to my apartment, knock and upon answering “ Hello – are you from India? “ and the hospitable people that we Indians are would never close the door on your face, so Inspite of being a bit awkward in my bath-robe and talking to 2 strange men, I did ask them if they would like a glass of water. And with a very brief introduction of the association they represented, I also realized that they did not even live in my community.
I was really enraged and tried hard to let that now show and rather be very polite. They started asking personal questions as in where I am originally from and then which part of Bombay (testing my patience now….) and then the main part – the association publicity….

Now I am a very big Krishna Bhakt and would really encourage such events taking place, so that we the Indian living away from the culture and tradition can get to learn and enjoy these festivals. But I would really appreciate, if rules are not broken , privacy is not breached and things are done using the right channels and hierarchy.

I just feel insecure because they could have been some impostors and using the Indian name and easily fool someone. Also I feel a little ashamed, because some people do not appreciate this uncalled visits of publicity and might go and complain to the management about this incident and tomorrow we might have the management sending us fliers that “Some Indian Association has been going around knocking doors and holding events without permission near the pool area – please BEWARE”

I don’t want that to happen … I really love my country and people and want us to be known for the good reasons…