People here are getting engaged/married at a frightening(for someone like me) pace. Yesterday, I got to know of 2 shockers :
1) Ofcourse, Benazir`s Assassination and
2)my neighbour`s betrothal.
The shock value of the latter wasn`t any lesser than the former.She is known in campus to be one of the happy-go-lucky kinds, someone who was in no mood for any kind of a commitment (the thought of an engagement was enough for her to screw up her nose),someone whose "male-friends" list grossly outnumbered the buddy-list of the same gender (one of the first things looked down upon by prospective maa-in-laws) someone who wanted to travel the world, someone who wanted to meet as many people as she could before she ultimately (she`s all of 25 only!!) settled down with some exotic and tanned hunk of a man.And here she was , flaunting "The Ring", after having met the guy just once before giving her nod of approval, and the lead-time between the family-staged 'girl-meets-boy' ceremony and the engagement ceremony being just 10 days!!
After the customary hugs and congratulatory "Im so happy for you" wishes.I asked her a mellow version of 'How?When?Why?'.To which she replied, "Too rushed up aint it? But you know, all your life you keep waiting for a kinda person you have just dreamt of. You are with other guys and realise they are not that 'dream guy'.You move on.And then you chance upon that person in 'arranged settings' like mine, and you realise in no time that this is the Mr. Right you`ve been wanting to be with all your life till now and want to be with hereon".
Umm...I really din`t know what to make out of it.My being a sucker for romance notwithstanding ,this whole equation of: love-at-first site =>(implies) partners-for-life , was a bit too heavy for me :(
For now, I shall just safely tag along with my long-assumed notion - "During this time of the year; year after year, the unforgiving wintry chills make you wanna be with someone for comfort.Someone to snuggle close to, to feel all warm and cozy ; all of which makes you feel taken-care-of and laziness steps in with its 2 cents and whispers in your ear "This is THE ONE..search no more.."
And the rest as they is another Happily-ever-after(???!!) being crafted at your neighbourhood wedding mandap...

Shocked and Numbed ...

8 months ago I had written this one mid-summer night,after watching an interestingly intriguing interview; excited and awed by the sheer commanding presence of a charming lady - Benazir Bhutto.
Circa 27th December '07..
A cold wintry evening I enter my room after a backbreaking schedule of a day jampacked with classes..Soni tells me "U wont believe it , Benazir Bhutto is assasinated".....

Shock..awe..anger..disbelief..intense loathing...and a lot many emotions which wont subside for quite sometime to come...