So what am I thankful for ? | Weekly Photo Challenge (Thankful)

A string of dashed hopes & some really low lows sent me into a ’Count my blessings’ mode lately. The weekly photo challenge couldnt have come at a better time.

And I sat down, scratching my head, wondering :  ”So what am I thankful for?”  Lots apparently!

My biggest blessing : Ma!

Well ye, I can hear MADdy shake her head in disagreement : She nags & she worries about me all the time & she loves to point my flaws out & she constantly wonders why her daughter isnt a superwoman yet. But she is the first person that comes to my mind : When I am lost . Or hungry. Or depressed. Or frustrated. Or thirsty/tired/lonely/sick…Take your pick. I am thankful.

Momma & Me!

Friends!

The sort of pals who can make you giggle endlessly, who are as demented as you are, pull you up when you’re down & well at most times, yell at you to cut out the drama or jump right into the middle of one. For creating moments that are unforgettable. I am thankful.

Gossip. Masti. Madness

I am thankful for the little passion I have.The will to try new things.

And fail. Or sometimes succeed.

At times achieve a little bit of both. And still not feel let down.

Tulip (Oil P)

For hope. For every sunset I get to watch.

Its a sign, that I can actually sleep over troubles. And that a new day awaits. A really beautiful one at that!

Sunset @ Sunview

The lost girl | Weekly writing challenge

It had taken an immense effort for her to free the scrap from the deathlike clutch around it.

She now looked down at the photo that had been once crumpled in the frail witch’s knotted fingers.

That’s what Mrs. Brown was to her lately-A WITCH. The epithet changed every other week depending on the latest unfortunate interaction between her & Mrs. Brown.

The most recent one involved her being snooped upon by The Witch exactly when she was trying to catch to catch the eye of the brawny salesman. What followed were a few barked orders and snide comments – that had almost reduced her to tears.

It had been 5 years now. FIVE incredibly difficult years that had seen her – Sarah work as Mrs.Brown’s assistant & general punching bag. The Witch’s moods changed every hour , though her opinion on Sarah remained constant – that she was an ungrateful dimwit. She kept hoping that The Witch would kick her out for she had lost the will to quit a long time ago. One’s will & confidence can only hold out for so long.

She glanced back at the photo in her hand. At the little girl in pink, frowning back at her. The resemblance was unmistakable. This was Harriet Brown. THE Witch as she knew her now. What changed in the past  60 years or so that turned the adorable kid with golden hair into the woman that lay down before her? As a child she seemed to have held on to her father with her little gloved hand. What made her give up on love and relationships so easily that she lay all alone in a hospital bed now? With only a woman who detested her for company?

The nurse’s soft footsteps interrupted Sarah’s reverie.. It was time for The Witch to come out of her drug induced stupor.The questions about lil Harriet’s transformation into Mrs.Brown would remain …unanswered.

(My first attempt at fiction!)

Where is the Karma ?!

A woman you respected all your life breaks your trust & watches with abject fascination as your life descends into a vortex of misery & despair.

The sweetest, most active & wittiest of friends – is relegated to years of pain & forced to endure endless hours of a torpid life.

A father who gave his all – the best years of his life, money and love to his children is shunned by society & family to the confines of an old age home while another who hasnt ever spoken a loving word to his wife or child still gets to enjoy societal approval and a decent home…

A girl who’s never used any hair treatments is still forced to endure the evil menace of hairfall (!) – (that’s MADdy adding her quick contribution)

Leads me to wonder : Where is the Karma?!!

Karma (Sanskrit: कर्म IPA: [ˈkərmə] ( listen);^[1] Pali: kamma) in Indian religions is the concept of “action” or “deed”, understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect.

Karma is not punishment or retribution but simply an extended expression or consequence of natural acts.

I was always told that good things happen to good people. And that the rest had to pay for their negative traits - right here, in this lifetime.. That your experiences in life were always defined by your deeds

WHO changed the rules?!

6 Funny Things (Indian) Bosses say (and the thoughts that run through my head when I hear them)

5 years of corporate life & there’s never been a dull moment.

Think your satisfaction at work is defined solely by the money you earn or the job you do?

Well one cannot be more wrong… Job Satisfaction is linked to many other aspects – few as important as one’s immediate job environment. 

One’s workplace and its immediate environment is defined by one’s colleagues with the immediate superior acting as a crucial contributor to the same. (My inner goddess – MADdy  is signaling at me to restrict the gyaan at this point)

I  have had the most hilarious of encounters with colleagues and most importantly superiors .

Remember the time when you hear your boss dish out a line you’ve heard a zillion times & then you hear your alter ego whip out some wisecrack to counter the same? You’ve wanted to blurt the kick-ass rebuttal to his/her oft repeated line but didn’t and instead adopted a zen like facial expression instead?

 Na? Well maybe its just me (!)

Perhaps it all comes down to perspective & how your insane alter ego reacts to a perfectly serious & impressively grumpy man/woman  saying the following:

1. ( When you join the company – most probably your first day ) “We have an open door policy”

Yeah?!  Is that why Mr. X stopped ranting about the politics at play within this company, the moment he spotted you?!

   2.  “ You are going to go far in this company, I can see it”

HOW FAR? And HOW? Why wasn’t my FAR REACHING Potential not on display in my annual appraisal eh?!

   3. “ Its all a team effort at the end of the day”

Uh Oh Uh Oh Uh Oh…What the hell did I do wrong for the TEAM to be blamed??!!!

   4.  LAST DAY OF WORK : “ You have grown so much since you joined us”

Really? Last I checked, I was still as podgy…If it was not about physical inches , why did I hear the line : “ When are you going to learn (to do things rite) ?”  from you, a day ago?

    5.  “ Get your ass here right now ” (Amazing how it made me chuckle when I heard      these orders being barked to someone else…only to have the same thrown out at me once)

Umm…how does one get ONLY one’s ass to the boss? Do I chop it off and lay it on the platter for you? Or do I enter the cabin backwards –butt first?

   6.  Deadline  : 5 pm…. You finish the project at 2 , and rush for approvals at 2 o clock – Boss is busy, 3 o clock – He is in a meeting , 4 o clock – Meeting’s still on,  4.30 – there are innumerable changes made AND you get to hear something on the lines of : “ Why doesn’t anyone honour timelines out here? You really need to speed up your pace of working  ”

This is when my inner MADdy goes speechless & starts singing : My dream is to fly , o’er the rainbow so high!