Manasvini

Today as usual has been an hectic day. Calls, mails, Teleconferences, meetings, learning requirements, ELTP substream numbers from various units and CEBC clarifications were making my head spin. And when my friend pinged me this evening during an official conversation saying , “ My daughter wants to talk to you” I didn’t realize what was in store for me.

As I was conjuring up in my mind how I can break ice with this little girl, to whom I haven’t spoken before, Manasvini ( guess she is 4 or 5 yrs old) started rattling off in her sweet childish blabber ( made a lot of sense of course) without giving me an opportunity to say a word. I was transported to another world in this vast expanse of our milky way enjoying every minute of hearing her voice.

Her voice was melodiously sweet, soothing, silky, comforting and her innocence was flowing through her conversation without her knowledge into my soul. Her voice sometimes moved from all these softness explained into a piercing high pitch especially when she realized I was not catching her point. At a few points she was gasping for breath but she did not miss out on the flow nor the thread of the conversation. If she completed one thread of a conversation, she did not have a problem, harping on to a next topic which had no relevance to the earlier one with such ease. For instance she was talking about her apartment and how big the campus is, and moved on with grace to the topic of losing her toy in a cab in Mumbai that she visited recently.

My stressed out mind without my knowledge moved from a slow easy smile to laughter and I found myself so much in peace with myself at the end of the conversation with this little girl.

Joy that children bring to our lives is immense. God touches all of us in different ways .. every day.. Today he touched me and showed me his presence through Manasvini.

Knight in Shining ( not so shining though) Armour

Every profession has its own occupational hazards. Mine is no exception.

Take for example my mornings. I keep thinking i have lot of time only to turn one of those powerranger characters by the time it is 8 am and I almost spin like a top and run / ride in the car or bike and rarely walk to get our bluish bulky office bus. Invariably I keep wondering " will I miss the bus today?"

Our profession also teaches us a lot of skills both at work and off work. I would like to focus on the skills that I learnt off-work. Ability to multi task in one of the primary skills - I learnt to cook, look at the clock, stare at Joe and yell at Denny all at the same.. and thats what multi tasking is all about. Crunching your time to fit in as many activities as possible into a short period of time is another. Like cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner in less than 40 minutes and also pscking them. Or brushing, bathing and clearing the bowels and the bladder related activities within 10 minutes. better still, closing the door, locking it and wearing a footwear in less than couple of seconds... Oh god, am I proud of myself?

Wise people call it mismanagement of time. anyway this is my routine and I have gotten used to it. I barely manage to have a bath and  wear pressed clothes ( thankfully for the neighbours and general public) and comb my hair before getting out of the house. I keep thinking if only i could run in my home clothes to pick my bus and the one hour i spend in bus could be used for mundane stuff like bathing et all.... forget it, thats very nasty !!! and there is No Make-up : absolutely nothing. Deoordarant sometimes. I have all the necessary stuff in my bag which I efficiently use within the confines of my dark cabin at office, once i reach there.

Most of the days, I manage to huff and puff and stand in the place where the bus temporily halts to pick me up. Few days I have the luxury of standing for a minute or so. Most of the days I run behind, chase the bus or stop it midway and get into it. I wish the driver does not change for some time. He is a nice chap. The place where I wait is also close to the public transport bus stand and 8 am is those terrific times when that place is overcrowded with people and vehicles and people share almost equal space in the place where I stand.

Now it was one of those days Joe dropped me at the regular point said the ritualistic bye and moved on. His mind is generally preoccupied in turning into a superman and completing his tasks within much lesser time than i took and leave for his work. Intuition, that day, kept telling me that I missed my bus, but my conscious mind would not agree and I was turning towards the direction in which the bus generally arrives. It must have been telepathy, I suddently looked in the opposite direction and found the " Knight in Shining Armour" just that in this case it was Joe in his home clothes. A sleeveless white T and a grey tracks. Surprised I kept looking at him, completely spell bound. Spell bound because he was looking smart number one. I didnt expect him number two. and yes there was one more reason.

He did say something that i didnt hear, but later realised that was about my bus leaving me. He took my laptop bag put it on his shoulder ( reason no 3 for my open jaws) and walked so fast in front me with those broad chests and i guess it is the sleeveless, I could also see his hand muscles. I had to cross the entire crowd in the bus stop who wait for MTC, Auto, share Auto and other IT company buses, some of whom are regulars at 8 am in the morning. I could feel all eyes of me ( no.. US)

So there was this Knight in shining armour walking in front of me carrying my laptop bag and I when went near my office bus I realised that my KISA had stopped the car in front of the bus and blocked it for me. Thankful, proud, happy, sweating, I just mumbled a thank you with a broad smile but that image of Joe coming and picking my bag and the sight of our Car in front of the huge bus in an successful attempt to stop its accelaration so that I could get in, is in front of my eyes.

One of the many moments that I was thankful for a wonderful husband. My kinght in Shining Armour :0)