My Happy Corners!

Memories are like a jealous mistress; they require constant homage for them to become in sync with the well being of the provider. With memories, I consider only the ones which take me to a comfort zone, to the less complicated life, to my alter ego which I want to relive.

So here they are, my happy corners:

1. Rainbow of Colours.
My most comforting memory is of me in the 3rd grade, preparing for my English exam, the next day. Out in the garden, I sat on the swing, with Modern English in my hand and reading and dreaming. I gazed up in the sky and there was my moment of kaleidoscope, my first Rainbow. I exclaimed in joy. With that memory began my love affair with Literature and authors.

This memory I go back to in the event of despair and hopelessness. That Rainbow is my personal advent of Spring.

2. Memories of Fall.
Fall takes me back to the best days of my life- School Days. Coming back from school, after an exhausting day, mom made us have chilled meetha dahi. Sugandha and I both relished it. Even today when I see trees shedding leaves, I go back to those school days when with the meetha dahi we told mom about all the happenings of school (slyly kept quiet about test scores, home works and assignments).

3. Games with Sugandha
Sugandha is my younger sister, more so, my personal playtoy. I have some heart etched memories of play games with her. She was my pet dinosaur who I forcefully fed spinach leaves because Popeye taught me spinach makes us strong. She then became my dog. I used to tie my Mom's chunni around her and cuddle her to choke her to death. Growing up meant innate interest in clothes and make up and obviously my muse was Sugu. I wanted to be a hairdresser while growing up and obviously my first coveted client was Sugandha. And I cut short Sugandha's hip long hair with a garden scissors. Mom obviously grounded me for a week. I also dressed Sugandha up and tried my first eye liner skill on her. Needless to mention, Mom had a hard time devising new punishments for me.

4. School paraphernalia.
'Woh time alag  tha. Woh hum alag the'. School undoubtedly was the happiest time for most of us. Carefree and untampered dreams. Bonds of friendship not scarred by opportunism and materialism. My class was a bunch of hooligans, breaking the maximum school rules, annoying all the teachers. But no school representation was complete without a votary from my class. We were punished/ rebuked/ penalised but never did we let anyone corrupt us to be a traitor and break our unity. Recess, water fights, shooting airplanes at teachers, blushing on the reproductive chapter in the biology class, crushes and proposals, first advancement towards love, ambitions, dreams, boards, results, victories, loss and failures. Never have I cried as much I did during the school farewell.

5. Poona.
That says it all. College and Poona meant untamed freedom. Poona is a mini hippie city with happiness quotient highest in the country. Poona times were wild, WILD and my checks on 'Never have I ever'. But you know what they say 'If you haven't been wild and young...'. . Living independently for the first time, managing household chores, law school and the scarce attendance, pathan notes and semester exams, goa escapades, psychedelic activities, throwing up after 'mad rush'. Vaishali/wadeshwar/ savera- never ending lust over south Indian food. Living like a pauper at month end and salvating on vada pav. Marathi landlords and the scandalous behaviour of 'north ke bache'.

Poona has my first interface with everything 'not legit'. But still it's my most revisited time. My half a decade of 'Ja, Simran Ja'.

6. PepsiCo
First work and first pay check is always special. The first work has one's loyalty at par with that of a dog. Working like it's your own baby was the agenda and definitely PepsiCo was the best work experience I have had till date. They say, choose your boss not your work. Well, PepsiCo raised my expectations of a 'Boss' to the zenith. In person interaction with Indra Nooyi, working on the entire corporate restructuring of PepsiCo India and receiving accolade from PepsiCo legal head World and PepsiCo legal head Amea are the biggest work high till date. The retreat to Kerala, the town halls, team dinners and parties, and making family out of colleagues. PepsiCo gave me a living example of 'Work is fun'.

7. My all girls Vacation
Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with. Amen. My girlfriends are my treasure house, not denying that with time the dynamics of the girlfriends has changed but at any given time, I have not been without them. My all girls vacation to Goa rolls us in laughter even today. Bunch of junglees with no morals and decency, let loose to rot in Goa. While one of us tripped and started battling a bunch of ants destroying her kingdom, the other hooked with a hippy and planned to stay in Goa and own a shack, the other one drunk her luts out to get over a pending breakup, and the next bruised herself in a scooty collide. Our tan was not the only black mark that Goa gave us.

Having said that, the wilderness of these 6 girls is a my one after the other lindt  chocolate memory.

8. My solo vacation to Pondy
Never did the world make a queen of a girl who hides in houses and dreams without traveling. For a girl who has not even gone to a restaurant or a club or for a movie alone, a solo vacation was a mammoth gamut. But I needed that check. And then Pondy happened. Never have I been so indebted for making a decision. It made me acquaint with my 'courageous' side which I thought didn't exist. It made me interact with locals who I thought about while reading travelogues. It made me make friends with whom there was no pre conceived notion. It was a stranger's best interaction. Contentment lies a step away from your comfort zone and Pondy gave me that.

Ah! So these are my happy corners which I visit in the times of distress and then rejuvenate myself for life struggles.