LIFS---X P R N S --- L N S

The title is the short form I used for 'LIFe'S---eXPeRieNceS---LearNingS'
After Marriage, life makes most of us travel through many new places with some or more twists, turns, U-turns, breaks etc some of which are familiar/expected and some other which are totally unfamiliar/UNEXPECTED..! True na..?
Yes.. I too have travelled through many new paths and saw many new things which gave a mixture of happiness, sadness & some madness too..
Lets travel together my life which I am also unveiling here remembering things from childhood as far as I can explore backwards..
Before going back, let me give U a small description of my current status :
I am a 28 year old lady(but the word girl only came in mind first) ;
a mother of a lovely 2 year old baby-girl ;
a wife of a wonderful 31 year old man ;
a sister of 3 amazing younger-brothers(25 year old one is biological & the other two 19 year old & 10 year old are cousins ONLY by-birth) & 1 ever-loving 24 year old sister(cousin ONLY by-birth) ;
a daughter-like of 2 ever-supportive 51 year old & 46 year old aunts ;
a first child of a 57 year old caring father & a 52 year old protective mother ;
a first grand-daughter of a late but loving & always-present Grand-Father(now he would be 81 years) & an active 71 year old Grand-Mother ;
a best friend of a 27 year old girl/lady/wife/mother for 19 years & a 26 year old girl/lady for 9 years ;
a close friend of many dear & near ones throughout ;
I
I am in my home with parents taking bed rest with my baby after an accident which happened before 2 months. It happened

When Lightning Strikes..[11]

Annie was sitting on one of the treetrunks of the sidepath that almost touched the ground below. Sitting there, she could see the nearby cottage in a different view. It appeared even more beautiful in that view. Annie had literally fallen in love with that cottage, even before seeing its insides. Maybe it was due to the silence that prevailed in the atmosphere, or maybe the yellow-flowered background was doing the magic..Annie didnt know the exact reason..But she knew one thing for sure-she has totally fallen for it!!

The daylight was already fading away for the moon & its stars. And from a distance, a battalion of fiery dark clouds were rampaging towards the white cottage as if to embrace the clear sky above it which was filled with the shining stars. After a while she spotted Ajay at a distance, accompanied with a middle-aged woman who wore a red saree in an unusual fashion..something like you see in fancy dress competitions! Not to mention the big round red bindi on her forehead! But more than anything else, it was her big broad smile that was prevalent in her whole appearance. Annie quickly stood up when the woman, along with Ajay reached near her & the treetrunk. Out of the sudden rise from the trunk, Annie had slipped her balance and had fallen right into Ajay's arms. Ajay, who was totally unexpecting such a quick fall, stumbled himself with Annie who was still in his arms. At the same time, as if in a fairy tale, a thunderous lightning occurred which shook both of them from their inclined position & made them resume back to their standing positions.

The woman was standing there with a big broad smile on her face. Ajay was clearly embarassed with all these chaos & without much hesitation, he introduced the woman to Annie as 'Sangri Bai'. 'Sangri Bai'??!! the name also seemed to be quite strange to Annie. Suddenly large drops of water started pouring from above..it was raining!! Giving a quick hug to Annie, Sangri Bai said something to Ajay in the strange language & started running towards her house with both her hands above her head. It was again a strange sight!

By that time Annie realized that she was totally drenched in the rains & Ajay was nowhere to be seen!!

When Lightning Strikes..[10]

It was almost sunset when the auto-rickshaw stopped in front of a small gate which had white fences around it. They were in front of a beautiful little house which looked like a small cottage. There were 7 wooden steps painted in white to reach to the front door above. 2 houses with a common wall could be seen at a small distance from the cottage. There were many huge trees that had small yellow leaves in both sides of the road that led to the cottage. There were heaps of the fallen yellow flowers under each tree. In short Annie was totally mesmerized with the whole scenery. Just then Ajay called out to Annie from behind. For a second she was startled, but soon enough regained her senses.

The whole day had been exhausting. They had travelled to almost every nick and corner of the city. First, as soon as they had breakfast , Ajay took Annie to the local police station, filed the details about Annie and gave his address to contact if any information was obtained about the valley and her family. Then as per the officer's advice, they started a look out for a place to accomodate Annie. This time Ajay was extra conscious about her accomodation that he refused two-three places where Annie had to share a room as a paying guest. They then went to some working women's hostels which in turn refused them as that they only allowed working women to stay in there. After the third try at yet another hostel Ajay took Annie to a coffee shop.

As they drank their coffees, Ajay said " Look Annie, as u have seen today, it is very difficult for a single woman to get a place here to stay unless she is employed. So what i am telling you is that you first find a job here. Then it will be easy for you to find a suitable place and familiarize with the city life. By then lets hope that everything would be fine and we would soon be able to hear a positive news from the police. Till then i can arrange a safe place to accomodate you. Lets go there "

Annie simply nodded to what he said. She realized that by now she had given the complete burden of her present state to Ajay. He had to decide things for her and she will simply follow them. Poor Ajay, she sighed.

Annie followed Ajay to a nearby bus stop and as they travelled in the bus Ajay told her about the place they were going - 'Saffron Villa'. It was the house of an old couple - a retired army officer and his wife who was a teacher by profession. They were Colonel uncle and Shobha aunty for him. They have a son who is now settled in UK with his wife and 2 children. Ajay had known this family for 2 years since he came to this city. Actually a small accident had brought them together. Ajay had seen colonel uncle lying in a side road one day and he had quickly moved him to a nearby hospital. It was a mild heart attack. Colonel uncle was put under observation for some time and doctors prescribed some medicines and complete bed rest for him. Ajay took a taxi and took Colonel uncle to his house to see a panicked Shobha aunty. She was very much worried about her husband and it was Ajay who cooled down her and explained things mildly. From then onwards, Ajay had been a regular visitor of 'Saffron Villa' and the best 'friend' of Colonel uncle & aunty. Shobha aunty reminded him of his mother and whenever he was bored of fast food, the delicious home made food by Shobha aunty awaited him eagerly in Saffron villa. Ajay was literally a second son to them. Their world had brightened once again with Ajay since the day their son left to UK.

Annie saw a glimpse of a tear drop filled in Ajay's eyes as he said this. They took an auto from the bus stop to Saffron Villa. As they reached in front of the big black gate, they saw a big lock hanging in the gate. From the security of that colony, they came to know that the couple went to UK the previous day to spent a month with their son. Ajay and Annie sighed almost at the same time and looked at each other with a 'what-to-do-next' expression in their face. As it was getting dark, they took an auto and reached Ajay's place. This was the flash back of that day - the first day of Annie in the garden city!

......................[.......TBC.........]........................