Kids are the best I say!

Kids are the best mood-shifters. They have the magic wand to make you jump from a bad mood to happiness.

Imagine a dull Saturday, you are in one of your sulkiest best and with lot of effort move out of your home to a nearby temple just to get some fresh air and at least make your body active. Walk as leisurely as possible, reach the temple, ask the Lord the same stupid question – "Why it happens only to me?", do a few rounds of the temple, feel exhausted, and decide to sit in one corner and look at the sky brooding over something.

You see a few images of people walking past you, of someone looking at you, someone waving at you but nothing is registered in the mind. And then suddenly someone pats at your shoulders, you turn back and look at a kid showing you 4 teeth and waving "Bye" at you. It takes a moment for you to come back to this world. You look at the kid, without thinking hug the kid, give a kiss, and then wave a happy and loud "Bye." Oh wonderful!!! :)

So, you are now happy and walk faster back home noticing all the kids playing and one small girl comes near you and says "Hi Akka!!!" Akka it is!!! After being called 'aunty' and 'maami' (that too on the day of marriage) for two years, it feels great that someone still considers me "akka." No prizes for guessing, I kissed the kid and said "Hi kutty…." :) Life is lovely I say…

Wide Angle - Lovely moments

Well... where shall I start? If I say I am happy, it does not do justice to the feelings of heart.

When I saw the contest conducted by Blogadda to write a tribute to Anil Kumble, I thought I should give it a go. I had not updated the blog for months together because of health and emotional reasons. But cricket is an addiction and really can not stop myself. I finally spent a few hours in writing and at the end of it felt wonderful. It was reliving those moments when I had watched those matches and had post-match conference with my mom and brother. :)

I was happy to win the contest but really did not know much about the book and was not sure what to expect in it. But everything changed when I actually got the book last week. Surely, camera is to capture lovely moments and relive those later. And that's exactly what happened with me. I spent the entire weekend looking at those pics. (It helped that power cuts in Bangalore are at its worst. :( ) Let me leave you with two of my most favorite photos.

1] Rahul Dravid, Man of the match in Adelaide Test.

In this test, Ponting scored 200 and blew a kiss to his wife. And when Dravid scored 200, he kissed Indian cap. Me and my brother, who hate Ponting, started comparing the two and made some really sarcastic comments. :) Oh those days!!!

2] Well, what shall I say about this. Fab five - thanks for all the happiness you provided us.

Thanks Blogadda for the contest and the book.

PS: Pardon the image quality. My digicam did not work and hence pics taken from mobile. :(

Reunion – The End

This post is submitted for the Mystery Fiction Blog Contest at Blogadda. Ajay Nair has written a story called "Reunion," laying out some clues. We are given the chance to solve the mystery.

My take is given below.

After Lila spoke to all the ghosts from her past, she decided it was time to make her move. Each of their actions indicated that they did not love her at all. They did not care for her. Even when they knew she had only a few years left, they decided to come empty-handed with no apologies at heart.

"Life is unfair," she decided. How can those people lead a normal life when she has to die? She decided to execute her plan. She had nothing to lose. She had only a few years left and had no one to care for her. Her desire to live reduced and taking revenge became the priority.

She thought of M. and crumpled his scarf in anger. The porcelain cup brought her memories of those six years and she threw them on the floor in disgust. Thoughts of R reminded her of the beads and she threw them to the bathroom. She looked at the arm band. Yeah, she was the snake. She believed in revenge – revenge against people who did not care for her. The arm band made her realize that even blood relation is not trustworthy and mangled the arm band.

She finally took the bullet from the pendant and killed herself. Last few minutes she felt satisfied that she had acted smartly and the cops will ruin the lives of the people in her past.

Sentences that made me think it is a suicide are:

"Lila was smart"

"In my invitation, she'd mentioned that she'd only a few years left to live and wanted to bury the past."

"Everyone knew she was suffering."

"After all, there was only one person in this house capable of killing Lila." – Well, I thought it has to be all or none. Everyone tried to murder her or no one did it.

And somehow the arm band in the shape of snake made me think of revenge. I know I am following Bollywood tradition. :)