Mere Dost Yaar!!!

My previous blogs spoke about me and my family, now the next. What could be more important than my family and myself? Yes, it would be my friends. Dost yaar and very important part of a person’s life. As correctly said actually sung in a song by KK, “Yaaron dosti badi hi haseen hai, yeh na ho to socho kya yeh zindagi hai….” Hmmmm…. True I cannot imagine my life without them.

As friendship day approaches…what better than a blog dedicated to all these jewels in my Crown of Friendship. Yes jewels, as when you read about them you will also realize that they all are unique and I have a bunch of these unique people as my friends and that all fit into the crown of Friendship that I carry with Pride.

Here is an excerpt from my Goodbye note when I was bidding adieu to V2. This part of my note was dedicated to my friends….

Now I will never be able to get market updates at work or listen to songs, send IP Messages throughout the day asking ppl for coming on Tea and Lunch. Akanxa will never have to wait for me on tea for latest V2 Buzz and I will never get to hear all those interesting stories that she has to share. No Mukul, who is always trying to convince people that he has to save money as he has 2 daughters and they will be getting married in near future… there will be no Sharad who actually gets Yummy Food for which I can leave my Mom’s cooked food… there will be no Lakshmi who is still trying to prove to Mukul that Panvel is a Town and not a village… I won’t have Hitesh Pau there who actually has been my mentor here and a guide for any problem that I had at Work…

Shuru se shuru karte hai… Let me introduce you to the head of this family of Friends of mine, Hitesh Pau: He is the father of Page3 Team. I always take him as my Guru/Mentor cause he was the one who gave me opportunity to grow in my career. He is very open to ideas and a good conversationalist. On a lighter note, he is a Perfect Man desired by women. He is handsome, smart, intelligent, witty, humourous and to top it all he is a very good listener and those silver strands in his hair add to spice. Kiddin’….Sorry Sir I know you don’t like someone complimenting you so much but….this is my Blog space…I will write what I feel….neways I can imagine your facial expressions while you read this.

After Mr. Pau, we have Mrs. Iyer (Lakshmi) aka Amma. Yes, she always treats me like a daughter and is always complaining like a mother. She was my Team Lead but more of a friend. Lakshmi is one Keralite I know who can beat a North Indian at Hindi. She is dedicated to her work, spends more of her time in office and that is the reason sometimes she is aloof of what is happening in the world outside. She always is arguing with Mukul about Panvel is not a gaon! Lakshmi shares her Birthday with Mr. Pau…

After parents, come the siblings… I have had two siblings a sister and a brother as my friends. Akanxa Desai and Sharad Rastogi, they both used to stay in Millenium Towers in Sanpada and have those etiquettes of UP and MP which I love.

Akanxa Desai aka Aku she was my Gossip Partner, Tea Partner, Lunch Partner… After coming to office the first thing I used to do is Ping her and ask her for coffee. I remember the breakfast she used to get for me! One thing that I haven’t understood about her is her family background where in she is a Maharashtrian from Indore but stayed in Sagar(Gujrat) and has her roots in Rajasthan. She has always been very supportive and a elder sister kind. I admire her dedication and respect her for how she manages to strike that perfect balance between work, husband, kids and herself. I am jealous of her because she went to Paris and took her husband along…  she also sent me a mail from there informing me about the rooms in the hotel :D but I am happy if she is happy and I love her for all the affection that she has for me.

If I would have a chance of having an elder brother I would love him to be like Sharad Rastogi. Simple, Sober, Sophisticated and Gentleman these are the words that define Sharad. Even though my interaction with him began a bit late but still I have had a chance to understand Sharad very closely. He used to get Awesome Food in his tiffin which was topped with Desi Ghee. I Miss It till now Sharad. Sharad talks less to strangers but is very comfortable with all his friends. He understood me very well when he got a champagne bottle candle for my birthday this year. Thanks for coming Mrs. And Mr. Rastogi. He has a beautiful Daughter who has those same Cat eyes that Sharad has.

After the family, let us talk about Neighbours. There is a saying, “Love thy Neighbour” as they are the ones who are always there to help in any emergency but they are our biggest critics. I also have a friend who is no less than that Perfect Neighbour, Mukul Shah. Mukul Sir as I fondly call him is always very upfront about his feelings but the first one to be there to support in times of need. He is one of a kind whom I took more than a year to understand. The way he says so many comedy things without himself giggling or laughing is a scene worthwhile. Father of two beautiful daughters never forgets to call and ask his daughters about how was their day at the school. There are so many things that I want to write about him but I guess I want to keep them as memories exclusively for me.

Parents, siblings, neighbours and now what…. Now those people with whom you play while you are growing. You spend time together and have fond memories which you always cherish. Such are these two people Shashin Chheda and Shailesh Gohel.

Shashin – Sweets no no don’t get me wrong this is because he is one guy who gets Sweet Bhindi. I have had this chance of being friends with this guy who was an allrounder in his performance at V2. He was as committed to his Projects as he was to all those stupid guy games of cricket, football etc. I became friends with him over the Lunch table. Then when I broke up with my Ex, everyone else was empathizing and sympathizing with me, Shashin was the only one person who gave me his mysterious smile and gigglingly asked me in his patent style “What???” After that day he has always been the person to whom I turned for advice and for support. He is a very loving husband and has a beautiful wife, Hemal. Lot of people thought a lot of things about us but I would like to make it clear that he has till date never ever taken me out for a cup of coffee also. Thanks for being there.

Shailesh Gohel, Gujarati Chokra! We never ever got along and were fighting always but we have been best of friends. Shailesh is one such person who dares to tell me that I am wrong. He was my co-partner in Page3 activities… I would like to learn the Garba that he does during Navratri. One regret, we both could not participate in each others wedding as there was difference of 6 days between our marriage dates and we just could not make it. Shailesh is now in Baroda with his cute wife and enjoying life there. I always have a chance to meet the other friends of mine in Mumbai but Shailesh is the one whom I have not seen in the last 2 years.

This was all about my friends and I am sure that you all will agree that they all are unique and special; and I should be proud to have them as my friends.

Thank You guys for being there for me. Even though there are distances between us but still thinking about you people makes me proud and happy that I have you as a “Part of My Life”.

Happy Friendship Day!!!

Mayke se bandhi dor! - People who matter the most to me...

As promised last week I am back with my second blog for all you guys! This is all about my family and people in my family who matter the most to me and are important to me.

Let me begin by introducing my daadi and daadaji because if they were not there it would not have been possible for me to exist.

Jia (Daadaji) and Chaiji (Daadi) Darshanlal Thapar and Kailashdevi Thapar, got married when they were 11 and 5 respectively in Pakistan. They came to Mumbai after partition in the same way as it is shown in various movies that talk about Partition sitting on top of the Train. Sounds exciting but they say it was not that pleasant experience. After coming to Mumbai they had to start from scratch. Out of my grandparents, I have always been close to my Chaiji and for her she always had 3 sons and 3 daughters. I don't know yet whether it was good or bad but when she left me in 2005, I was the last one who feeded her dinner and then she asked me to put a blanket on her so that she could sleep. This incident has left me scared of giving food to anyone. Anyways, she was my best friend and we have been to a lot of places together having fun. I always thought that she could never leave me and go but I was wrong. I just have one regret that she could not meet my husband.

Moving on... to my Naana and Naani. Sujan Singh Thapar(Daddyji) and Amratdevi Thapar(Chaiji) same is the story about them coming from Abbottabaad, Pakistan to Mumbai. But they got married in Mumbai. They have 6 daughters and 1 son. Here I am close to Daddyji but lately after my daadi's death I started getting closer to Chaiji too. Their's is a unique couple....sweet, loving...but they also fight and argue a lot. Daddyji is still wondering, when he was so educated they why did he contribute so much to the Indian Population.

Now comes the turn of their Kid's and my parents.Mahendra Thapar and Nirmal Thapar... they were the eldest kids in their families'. Being neighbors they knew each others families right from their childhood. Ma is strict disciplinarian and Pa is a relaxed human being. I am their eldest daughter, and the most pampered and loved. When I was in college all my juniors used to call my parents and asked them how did they manage to have a daughter like me :) and some of them actually thought that they should get Bravery Award for being my parents. I always took them for granted as to whatever I need is their responsibility as they have given birth to me but today here on this forum I thank them for everything. I am what I am today because of them. This is all after I am so far away from them here in Delhi in a new house, new environment, new surrounding.

Then comes Behni (Drishti Wasan)... if someone tries to find out our actual relation then they would be surprised to know that we are very very very far off related but love and affection that we both share is very very very close. To me she is my daughter, sister, niece, best friend, daadimaa, mumma, everything that possibly she can be. I have seen her since she was born and have taken care of her since she was 40 days old. Today she is 9 and in class4 but for me she is still that baby. We both think that our day is not complete until we talk on the phone and talk about what all she did during her day. She is my spy in Mumbai who keeps me updated with all the Gossips and Happenings there. When it comes to daadimaa talks, behni is on top of the list, don't know where she gets all those fundas. Behni has been an integral part of my life and family right from the beginning and that is the reason my mummy papa say that they have 3 daughters and her parents think that they have 2 daughters and 1 son. She is really adorable and the most cute thing about her is her usage of certain words like gurudwara is dugaara, madraasi is mardaasi, mehmaan is nemaan etc. My sister shweta and Behni are the biggest enemies in the world, they just cannot stand each other. Behni is very biased when it comes to me then whether I am wrong or right she is always there for me, and this is the very reason everyone gets annoyed. But for me she is always right, she is the one who can say anything, advise anything and do anything to me. I always strive to fulfill whatever she desires and now Hubby is also that caring and loving towards her.

This was all about my family in short as if I started to write about everyone then it would take me days but still I will try to cover everyone at some time....

Do read and provide your feedback so that I can improve on my writing.

Take Care, God Bless....

Cheers!

Karuna