Reflecting illusion

My friend was in need of household furniture for revamping his house. Someone told him to glance through the classifieds section of newspapers, as there are sparingly used secondhand furniture advertisements and the prices were cheap. Thinking of the money he might save, he tried to take a chance.
He called up a guy who had advertised in the Sharjah classifieds section. The person told him the location was behind the Millennium Hotel. They fixed an appointment to meet the same evening.
My friend on reaching the area called the other person to alert his arrival. He asked my friend whether he could see the mosque nearby. My friend turned around and saw it.
“ And there is a small restaurant opposite to the mosque. Can u see it?”
“Yeah, I can,” answered my friend.
“There is a new tower building next to that restaurant and I’m staying on the fourth floor,” guided the advertiser guy. But my friend couldn’t find the tower building.
After long talks over the phone, unable to locate, the guy asked my friend to stand at the entrance of Millennium Hotel. He came over there but couldn’t find my friend.
Two and half hours they tried locating each other with no positive result. At last, my friend asked him, “There is only one millennium Hotel in Sharjah, right?”
“Sharjah??!!! I’m in Abu Dhabi,” was the answer. For a moment there was utter silence. Both of then didn’t want to talk anything.
Who was it to blame? The people at the classified section who misplaced the Abu Dhabi advertisement in the Sharjah section? Or both the people involved for not communicating properly? Or the location that was almost similar?
Thinking in retrospection, all that happened to my friend was the reflection of illusion’s vision.

Dialogue mania

The other day I was chatting in the car with a friend when he pointed out to a couple walking through Sharjah Buheira Corniche. My friend who was a screenwriter as well as a director asked me to watch their actions. I could see the husband pointing out to the flyover and the wife pointing to the other side of the road. It was obvious that they were talking something seriously. My friend started scripting dialogues to their actions. Here is his version of the couple’s talk.
Husband: The flyover has not been made properly. It should’ve been connected to the other road.
Wife: But it eases the traffic from this road. I think it is apt. There is no problem at all with the flyover.
Husband: Too ease the traffic, another road must’ve been made. They should’ve not used the flyover to ease the traffic.
Wife: So, r u planning to demolish the flyover?
Husband: Yeah, that has to be done.
Wife: Oh! Don’t tell me…!!!
Husband: Why not?
Wife: Please don’t do that. Then the traffic conditions will get worse.
Husband: I don’t care about the traffic. I know what to do… You don’t have to tell me, better accept what I do…
Wife: (on the verge of tears) you are such an awful person. How will I bear this? I have no one who understands me. You are the worst person I ever met. I wonder how I got married to you.
Husband: Don’t try to fight or cry and make me accept the way you want to…
I couldn’t help laughing. Watching their actions, dialogues were perfect. I couldn’t help wondering about the couple that became the subject of our conversation. Will they ever know that they were responsible for the creativity of my director friend? Or at least they were the ones who made my day with their actions?
I also became conscious about my actions while I am at a public place. You can’t be sure that a creative guy watching you, far away from you, is making a character out of you.

Celebrity modesty

Last week I was more than excited. It was the first time that I was going to meet Bollywood star, Shahid Kapoor. I kept my emotions under control as I had a junior colleague with me. I had to portray myself as a senior journalist in front of her. I wanted her to understand that they were just a subject for our reports. All the excitement went down when he arrived late than usual due to delay in airline flight schedule. We had to wait for more than three-hours to meet him.

Shahid Kapoor was an amazing personality. He was just like any other youngster in town. Although it was obvious that he was exhausted, his smile never faded away. After the interview, my colleague who was a crazy fan of his posed for a photo with him. She asked me to take a snap of theirs and handed the camera to me.

I had no idea how to handle the camera,but could not decline her request.

I clicked... but nothing happened. I clicked it again....a bit nervously.. and again nothing happened.

Shahid came over and told me,just press it and don't leave it...

And I did that... and there , I got a beautiful snap of both of them. We thanked him for his time. As we left the hotel back to office, I started wondering about the modesty of the actor. He was not a celebrity who thought of himself as someone great. He was always humble and down to earth.

I started dreaming of being a star and being as modest as him.

Yeah! Afterall, we have the right to dream. There are no limits when dreamz are concerned.

As though in a dream

As though in a dream,
Water splashes through the air
And gushes from the clouds.
Shimmering refreshing shower
Transformed from white to blue,
From springs to streams,
From torrents to waterfalls,
Whipping up mountains of froth.
As though in a dream,
You hear the faint spattering of a mist,
The babbling of a mountain brook,
The roar of a majestic cataract.
Sparkling in the sun,
The water murmurs its ode,
Chattering with a stream,
Humming a sweet melody
As whispered confession of love.
As though in a dream,
she releases her ethereal essences,
Like the freshness of a garden.
Light as a cloud,
Diffusing exhilarating perfume
With delightful chill across the skin,
Despite the enveloping heat.
For her, water becomes a caress.
The sensual sweetness of rose water
Blended with the succulent flesh of pear
For a mouth-watering start.
For him, water becomes a bracing spindrift.
Frosty zests of mandarin bubble with vivacity.
Sprinkled with aromas of aromatic sage,
He becomes an invigourating wave,
Cooled by the nearly marine
Accents of sweet nothings.
The frosted white heart holds the promise
Of an otherworldly paradise:
A vision of water, air, clouds and flowers.
It opens to unveil bottles tinged with poetry,
In glass as blue as the midsummer sky,
Adorned with delicate murmurs
Screen-printed in white thoughts.

Paradox!

The other day I was having an email discussion with one of my friends. It was about troubles and relationships. I wrote to him, ‘I love troubles...That’s why I'm where I am... After all, I love u and that is all what matters…’
He replied, ‘in three lines, u have said that I am trouble!!!!!! I love troubles and I love u. The inference is you are trouble.’
The whole thing was laughed out, but I realised that I do make such comments often. I am confused if anybody is offended by such remarks. It is never deliberate, but it creates uneasiness within me. I am more conscious when I make even the silliest comments.
Here is another incident. After office I have to wait for a taxi to go home and getting a taxi is a nightmare especially on weekends. As I work on the weekends, I face it every now and then! Last time it happened, I phoned up my mom and told her,
“Mom, I can’t get a taxi. Will u come? If I get a taxi, I’ll come by myself.”
She asked me, “If you are getting a taxi and coming home, why do you want me to come to the office for nothing?”
I just laughed out feeling myself as a clown. What else could I do?

Cat-talk

AROUND 10 years back, on a Friday morning, I went to the fish market with a friend of mine.
We were travelling in a pick-up. After buying fish, we set out to have lunch in a restaurant nearby.
My friend argued that leaving the fish in the pick-up was big deal as there were no stray cats. As he elaborated about the cats, the waiter approached with the menu, my friend asked, “What are the dishes made with cats? Any special varieties?” The waiter gave him the strangest look I ever saw in my life.
It was just a slip of the tongue.
Trying to revive from the embarrassing situation, he told that he spoke the way to see the waiter’s reaction.
Calmly smiling and after having our fill, we went back to our vehicle only to find that there were a bunch of cats at the rear end of the pick up.
My friend was taken aback and did not know what to do. He immediately commented, “ I saw a black cat in the morning. That’s the reason!”
Poor black cat!!!!
Some people never take the responsibility.

Remarkable relation

Last week I attended a bloggers' meet at a park in Dubai. It was great, seeing the virtual people who were the best buddies around...(and rivals too). All the people had a common creative backbone. In a matter of seconds, the unfamiliarity vanished. All actions were censored with humourous comments. I was quiet, humble and down-to-earth person to create the homely girl image. I rarely care about what people think about me, but I'm concerned not to be in the limelight. But being one of the few female bloggers, attention was very much focused.
There was an online friend for over two years who knew that I'm never going to take any pranks to heart. And he had challenged to bug me the whole day.
I helped with food-serving after which he told, "With you here, how come we have so much leftovers?" I just passed a pleasant smile at him so that no further talks went on. But the guy never meant to leave me alone. I was collecting the empty cans, half-eaten plates and putting it in a garbage bag when he said, "See, there is enough and more leftovers. Then why are you packing these home?"
As I turned red, he started laughing. But another guy took advantage of the situation to almost box his ears for talking that way. "Look, you're meeting her for the first time in your life. And how dare you be like that?"
It was then that the 80 people gathered around remembered that they've never met before. It was another realisation of the intensity and depth of technology-defined relations.

Perfectly imperfect

People are of different characters. And I like to accept them for their imperfect nature.
I had amusing experiences with a person quite normal, but never heard well. He was a colleague of mine and had no hearing problem, but just that he never concentrated.
Once, when six of our colleagues were having lunch in the food court, I sneezed and he asked me, “What happened to your father? What did he do?”
We all were shocked and asked, “What father? What are you saying?
He said he heard me saying ‘father.’ I said that all I did was sneeze.
Another incident happened in the car with the same guy. I was talking to him about brother’s wife who suddenly went to Kerala, as she is pregnant, but has some uterus complications.
This guy is driving and he suddenly asked me, “Oh, that’s sad, your brother has uterus complaint?”
I wanted to punch on his nose but just told him, “I was talking about my brother’s wife! How can he have a uterus!” We laughed so much that day.
Another realisation that it is the variety of species that make the world exist.

Missing alphabet

I hate people who say they are busy after attending their phone calls. I think you should not be answering if you don't have the time for the caller.
But then, I did exactly the same in a crucial situation last week.
After five minutes I received a text message. "Having 10 passes for the tennis tournament as if your friends are interested."
Reading this, I concluded that she is angry with me. I called her and arranged for meeting up the next day.
Amidst our chit-chat, she asked whether I had enquired with my friends about going to watch the match. I started apologising to her complaining about the hectic routines. She was wonder-struck by my reaction. Explaining the situation, I showed her the message and she burst out laughing.
"It is a matter of 'K'."
I was sure that I've made a fool of myself but didn't have a clue. She re-read the message for me. "Having ten passes for the tennis tournament ask if your friends are interested."
I had no words.

Blurred imaginations

Men always tend to be bad learners. Or maybe it is the anti-instinct within me that makes me feel so. A confession I have to make is that I always prefer guys as close buddies. I believe they are more secretive. And I have a conclusion that guys are the most talkative, once given a chance. Most often, ladies don’t let them.
I debate with my female friends sidelining with my male friends and do the vice-versa while encountering with guys. In retrospection, I feel guilty over the matter. Frankly speaking, I can’t make a fair judgement and cunningly keep away from speaking my stand. Also, I feel there is no point in being a feminist or otherwise.
All these thoughts stormed into in my head while talking seriously to a close friend. A schoolmate came along and surprised me.
She started her talk. “Oh! It’s so long we’ve met. And, gosh! You’ve become so fair. Have you been using any new cosmetics recently? And see… this is the new bag and shoes I bought last week…blah, blah.”
My male friend was patiently listening to her conversation with me. And after she left, he told me in disgust, “ Sami, you were speaking like a girl!!!”
“Hey, I am a girl and how do u expect me to speak?” That was my immediate answer. But it set me wondering whether there was something wrong with me. I get along pretty well with everyone. But, where do I belong? Or, is there a need of belonging somewhere.

Learning it the hard way

I advised him many a times to quit smoking as I was in the anti-cigarette squad. He was my colleague, or more, he was brother to me. He was the person that I always thanked God and I could not afford to see him doing something that was harming his health and others too. But then, he had his justifications.
On that particular day, he stormed off the office telling me that ‘he’s gonna smoke three cigars instead of two.’ (Oh! that was the outcome of my one-hour lecture). And down the office building, he was just about to light his cigarette that a pile of concrete fell over his head. The office building was still under construction and it was one of those safety issues. Our programme director rushed him to the hospital and later he called me to tell that he had nothing but ‘just twelve stitches on the head.’ After all, he was the comedian of our radio station.
Back in the office after two weeks of rest, I noticed that he never took a ‘break,’ other than for his lunch. When asked he said, “The concrete that landed over my head was powerful than your lecture.” And we burst out laughing. Yes, he learned his lesson. It was a tough way to learn.