Celebrating my 25th birthday: Pooja

25 and yes it's an accomplishment! a quarter ode to the century, still left, unseen! Yes I have turned 25 today. Does it feel this special to everyone or is it just me who has gone crazy? Honestly if I pour my heart out, I started festivities of my birthday with the onset of this August itself. This month had to be really special. Some girls go fanatic with another year added while other hit their QLC (quarter-life-crisis), I was in neither of the category. I was super happy with my existence of these twenty-five with my lovely family. I have no regrets. I simply cherish some sheepish incidents & happy memories.

17th August 2013, 00:00 IST- I told Mamma, Papa and Rish to sleep away as this time I didn't wanted anyone to be wide awake to wish me at 12 am. Who and why the hell this tradition of wishing birthdays at 12 am in the night started! Welcome your beautiful day with the onset of a sunrise, ray of new hope. But the western culture has gone too far in our veins. Both hands of clock meet to strike 12 and these lovely creatures pecked and cuddled me to kick start my 25th year. I told them to sleep away and I would go to bed in sometime. For I knew phone will start ringing and if I left it unattended then I will face all form of castigation for giving these people the 'POOJA attitude'. With all lovey-dovey gestures of my friends, one call after the another, email inbox flooding, facebook wall-scribbling,  I finally dozed off at 2:45 am only to wake up at 5:30 am in morning. I shouted for waking me up so early. Reprimanded to let me not sleep (the least) on my birthday. "I don't want to go to mandir, what difference it would make" (am sorry bhagwanji for saying this but I was sleepshot hit).

The day started with morning temple pooja, then back home for seeking amma-baba's blessings. I again went off to sleep but my phone didn't stopped ringing. I wanted to buy some time for myself as the same mundane event  was going to be repeated the day after. Same old story of meeting a boy and his family, then something or other would happen to stall this in between. I wonder has God made a normal guy & a family who are interested only in 'me' (for the values and intelligence ;) I'd be bringing to their family). A normal guy with good education, nice family and yeah decent looks. Honest confession- I had always thought if I would ever get married to a guy who is as genuine looking as I am, for people look at both of us, while we walk in Ballroom, to say "Ah made for each other are they". But to my dismal, off-lately, all the guys I've met in my recent past were none like this. Still all my thoughts were at backseat when I woke with my phone calls to get scolded by my F&F- friends n family "Neha kitna soyegi, moti-patli uth jaa birthday hai aaj tera". I decided to celebrate my birthday at home only. Attended calls back to back with all their lovely wishes and hours of gossips chit-chats. After then I did a mini-home spa to pamper myself with all the cosmetics & fragrances purchased from my recent UK trip. Ah indulgence I must say is heaven for every girl. 

Mom-"Pooja Have you thought what are you going to say tomorrow? I mean whatever you want to ask or tell this guy please do that. Just let him know what kind of person you are. Ask whatever you want to, we are completely okay with you."

"Momm I'll see. Aaj birthday hai mera, let me be at ease". I didn't want 'some' guy to ruin 'my' special day.  

But back at my mind I wasn't sure of what am I going to tell or ask this over-rated guy, I have to meet him tomorrow. By now I have become sure that prince charming doesn't exists. All fairy tales are sham. Though I love my hindi movies but does this love really exists! Does that romance of Shakespearre & Lawrence's novels really exists? Naah I mean in past I have made a deal with myself, real gentlemen don't exist. Hence less of expectations is key to happiness. So what difference is tomorrow going to make? Forget it Pooja enjoy your spa and sit back to the beautiful day and much beautiful life.

With this I really don't feel like meeting this guy, without much of enthusiasm. Just sit back to enjoy the day left.

Beginning of another Delhi sojourn: Gautum

August 16th 2013: 12:00 pm Pacific Time, San Jose. "God!! Why am I like this? Why can't I change? Why don't you let me change?" are my pleads and requests to the Almighty. All the above cries are targeted towards my non-self improving personality which is always late and trying to catch up with the deadlines. The deadline is of course the arrival of the shuttle at 12:30 pm for the San Francisco International Airport. The work that needs to be done is checking for all immigration documents, packing, shaving, bathing and having a glass of protein shake. 30 minutes left and an hours worth of effort. You can do it GG. "You are a sharp and confident young man so what if you will hit 30 in an few years time." comes an internal voice. How about another round of email checking? Everything looks good at office front. Now Gmail. Papa sent another photograph of her's. She is looking beautiful in that pink dress but she feels so much beyond me. I suggested her to meet the new prince of England. But she decided dress up like the queen. 12:15 pm, now that's challenging enough. Let's do this. Remember to take the "Timeless Steel".

The shuttle arrived 12:40 pm. I am done with document checking, shaving, bathing and dressing. I look good in the black T-shirt with all the protein and time spent in gym beneath it. Again the internal voice "God!! when will this self vanity leave me. I am neither Bhagat Singh nor SRK".  The drive calls and I tell him that I will down in about 5 minutes. Cash check. Credit/debit cards check. Documents check. Laptop check. Bags check. Its 12:50 pm. The driver calls again, "Sir, I have other passengers to pick-up. Please come ASAP". A soft-spoken squeak makes it way out of my mouth, "Yes, I am coming". Had it been Papa, it would have been an authoritative order to wait for another 15 minutes, "Arre, Wait!! We have paid for the service". I quickly move my bags and backpack out of the room, besides my apartment entrance, and pay my homage to the idols kept in my room. "Please get me back here safe", I plead. The plead, to the idols, is after nearly 6 months when I flew to India in February. I rush downstairs with the bags. The driver is kind enough to accommodate me even after the delay.

I sit in the shuttle and another Indian man is sitting in front. We exchange looks and he says hello. I acknowledge back but I do not apologize for making him wait. I want to but the moment had passed. It was time to sit back and enjoy the journey back to India. This time the trip is only 10 days with 4 days of travelling and one day of parade in front of strangers. There will be rejection either from the girl or her parents (could there be an acceptance?). Five days of recovery or mourning that another arranged marriage proposal did not go through. Dadi will again look on the side of my right palm to see if a girl is at all in my life. Ma and Papa will try to console me and then start looking for another girl to get me married. Baba will get emotional saying that 'please marry him before I go from this world'. And I will again blame myself for the proposal not going through and offer him fearful and empty condolences. And the aforementioned cycle will continue. Man!! I forgot to take "Timeless Steel". It's going to be a really long trip without it. Oh!! I also forgot to take the protein shake. No workout for a week. Muscle degeneration. It's too late, we are on the highway now.

This time I did not announce in office that I am headed to India. Only my manager knew about it. Last time I announced that I am off to India for five weeks and everybody thought I will bring back a bride. Turns out I came alone and became a butt of all jokes among office mates and friends. This time I went to office in morning to print out the ticket and boarding passes. And also fought with a person who helps in checking-in the code. We fight every-time I need to check-in the code. Then I dropped in an email to other two developers in my team that I am on vacation in the coming week. No uncomfortable questions asked. No need to come up with evasive answers.

But who is other more important protagonist, apart from me, in this story? She is Pooja. Well according to her that's her raashi name. Let's keep it at that. She's about to turn 25 on 17th August and is a typical Delhi girl. From photographs she looks decently beautiful and is well accomplished professionally. She is an engineer and holds an MBA  from my university which is probably second to the IITs in India. An okay beauty with brains. Will 1800 $ trip to Delhi prove worthy enough? We pick-up a middle aged woman. She smiles at me as she enters the car. I do not return it. I feel so like a beautiful girl in Delhi with men ogling at her. "I am a many women man arrrre, sorry one woman man. Keep of me." We hit the highway which is crowded. I have nothing else to do but to stare in the endless blue sky. The blue sky with its stillness, deepness, calmness and nothingness. The blue sky with soft white clouds that look so soothing like reading Ma's email. The blue sky with dark clouds that signify turbulence, disturbance, chaos and anarchy. The blue sky whose nothingness and calmness I crave for but which is always filled with dark clouds for me. As the shuttle hits speed towards SFO (San Francisco International Airport), my mind begins to drift away. Its now trying to recollect where it all started.