He walks beside me

He walks beside me……..


I didn’t find my dad at home this time during my monthly visit to Malad. I looked everywhere for him but he wasn’t anywhere around. Where could he be? I thought to myself, and then it suddenly struck me. He lives where I do, in my city, in Noida. He walks beside me during my evening walk everyday. He waits at the park’s entrance and waves enthusiastically when he sees me approaching him. Every evening from eight to nine, is our special time. We discuss our day and whatever else is on our minds. He gives me tips on how to overcome the day to day problems and live a happy life.

His hand on my shoulder, pat on the back and his blessings make me happy and grateful for being alive and thankful for being his daughter. Dad encourages me to go the extra mile and never give up when I feel like throwing in the towel. He is there to support me and egg me on. I look forward to my evening walks and there hasn’t been a single day when he wasn’t there with me. He is the only constant in my life, from my birth and hopefully till my death. I know he will never leave me and go away because he loves me and is my most loyal and trusted dad-friend.

Although we communicate silently, sometimes I get so excited that I speak out loud and many a times, startle the people walking around. To them I am that Looney lady who talks to herself, but I don’t care a bit. Just because others can’t see him doesn’t mean he is not there. I see him, talk to him, feel his love, he lives in my heart and will always be there for me. I believe this fact and to hell with the world.

I love walking in the rain and the other day we both got thoroughly drenched while walking. We laughed a lot but completed our 30 rounds of the park. He loves the outdoors and bids me goodbye at the park’s gate, promising to be back the next day.

I didn’t want to hurt my family members’ feelings by informing them that dad no longer lives in Malad but has shifted to Noida, to be with me. Maybe because he knew I needed his support more than the others did? Or maybe because he loves me the most. After all I am my daddy’s favourite girl.

If you really want something, you can get it. You just have to wish for it with all you got. My wish has come true; my dad is always with me.

My Laptop has character

My Laptop has character

It’s battered, bruised, chipped, cracked, marred, used and abused but it has a certain charm to it. It calls out to you and says, “Hey look at me, I am something special, so what if I am not perfect, there is perfection in my imperfect existence. I have lived a full and rich life, seen things others haven’t, done some pretty wild things and been in some weird locales. I have been around and then some. I am a wanderer with his heart rooted in one place called “home.”

If only I had blood running through my veins, I would dip my pen in it and write my life story but since I have just some wires and a chip in me, I will tell you my story in the only way I can, by way of text. The crack that you see near the touch pad is due to the fact that Shloka had the habit of keeping me on 24/7, 365 days a year. She never slept and never let me sleep either. She kept me up from morning to night and then again from night to morning. She ran on coffee and made me run on electricity.

My charger tanked and gave up half way through the first year of our association of 3 years. The motherboard had heated up and ignited and burnt making a crack appear on my being, my inner turmoil was exposed to the cruel eyes of the indifferent world. Each and every scratch on my body has an interesting story to tell. Now I am as good as a desktop. I can’t move around like my siblings, I have to be rooted to a spot or move around only as far as the wire lets me; I am a prisoner of my own chord and not accord. The charger is always plugged in from start to shut down, have no life without it.

I have played songs for her, millions of songs, sad, happy, and angry and some romantic ones in between the angry and happy ones. But mostly loud, rock n roll ones, she loves music and I have fallen in love with it too. Another thing she likes is playing online games with her friends. I have stayed up playing games, competing with her friends for 4 straight days. She is a piece of work, and I have been her side kick for 3 years. We make a good team. I love her energy and enthusiasm. She rocks and so do I.

Then there are her projects and assignments, the actual reason her father bought me and let her keep me. The research, downloading, printing, reprinting has driven me mad but I have become an amateur lawyer because of her. Thanks to Shloka now I know all about family law, criminal law, constitution and the various sections, the articles, the works.

She used to take me to some crazy places, the library I could deal with but the football field, the strawberry field’s rock band festival, the ice cream shop, Bangalore town, Garuda mall, Koramangalam, Brigade road, M.G road, Nagarbhavi. I have been exposed to all the elements, sun, rain and freezing cold. Sometimes she and her friends have spilled coke and coffee on me other days noodle and soup. She is one sloppy eater but she has never hurt me, never let me fall from her grasp and grace. He has always protected me and cared for me in her wild, careless way. She has loved me more than she has loved anybody in her entire 21 years.

We made a good team, like Starsky and Hutch, Turner and Hooch. I battle scarred and she the same, both valiantly charging ahead in life, against all odds, unafraid, passionate about life and its discoveries. Looking forward to another day in the sun or rain. Unafraid, enthusiastic and happy to be alive, living every moment, enjoying it and appreciating the ironies of life.