We'll miss you 'paachi'

14th March 2005-was like any other day for me.... i woke up around 8.00-8.15 in the morning after listening to the Marathi Batmya jingle on alpha marathi..... that told me mum had already prepared tea and that it was time for me to get up...... after some effort and thought,i headed towards the bathroom and then to the kitchen....................... had my glass of water and fetched myself a cup of tea......... went to the hall and switched the channel from alpha marathi to star news first then to ndtv india then to ndtv english....... they all were flashing what they had the previous night,some additions and some developments.......... it was a friend's birthday,called him up and wished him................ came back home.... was feeling a bit uneasy ....somehow thinking of aparna's mom.... who i called paachi which means aunty in konkani,my mother tongue..... she had been unwell for 6 months now,last,i had met her in november,2004,all of us,the saraswati mandir batch of 2000,had met at aparna's place for diwali. she had seemed weak to me then. i asked her,'paachi,how come u look so weak n ill,are you alright?' paaachi had just laughed and said coolly,'nothing yamini,it is yoga taking on me.......' . i had then learnt of how she had suddenly got into yoga about months ago and quickly got out of it,due to which she had developed certain complications which made her ill for sometime......... anyways ...... i asked her to take care and joked about it with appa,'whats this affance,u r doing ur physiotherapy and u can't do something to help ur mum.... shame affance ' n we had a laugh over it........ but somewhere,i had a slight shock,to imagine that paachi could have been so ill as to lose her health that drastically,yes,paachi had noticeably lost her health to the illness..... we all then headed towards the drawing room,where all of us had gathered,and waited impatiently for the goodies paachi had made for us.......... paachi was an excellent cook ....... i still remember how in school i used to wait to see what apparna had in her tiffin for recess and not to forget dhanno's mom,she is an excellent cook too...... paachi brought us the goodies,which i was eager to lay my hands on.... but my mum had taught me once in a memorable way not to ask for more than one helping when a guest at someone's place...... so i let paachi force me to take more than one helping..... i used to love it ... it was like obeying my mum and having my fill of the goodies......
we spoke about our days at school and the fun and left afterwards shortly................................. And somehow,i was thinking of paachi today..... i just let the thought pass off and resumed my work for the day......... and by night,i had forgotten about it

19th march 2005....... i was coming back from the cyber cafe and met kalpita on my way back home........... she was giving her final year papers and we started discussing the papers ........after a while,she casually asked me,'you know about aparna's mom na' and i said,'yes,i know she was ill for quite sometime na,how is she now?'.... to this kalpita gave me a stagnant look for a second,looked down and said,'she is no more'.................... Goodness! this is not possible was my immediate reaction..... and for a moment i thought i had lost someone who was my own...... it took me a couple of minutes to regain my composure and then kalpita told me everything about it...... paachi had expired on the 14th of march and they all were trying to contact me in order to tell me the news.................. i was stunned!
couldnt say anything more........ just managed to say,'ok kalpita,i'll see u on the 23rd' and i left........................


On my way back home, i could see my entire school life flashing in front of my eyes........ aparna and me had a tough competition in our school days and paachi used to talk to both of us about it....... it was famous how paachi had made aparna study in her 10th standard and how much of an effort paachi was taking on her part to ensure that aparna scores well........ almost everything rolled in front of my eyes within those 5 mins and somewhere inside,i cried like a baby..........

i spoke to aparna next day,and she seemed to have taken it well, promising her to meet up when she comes back to mumbai,i hung up.


And today,i sat thinking,time changes ........ it exemplifies change in its each and every aspect...... i still can't believe paachi is no longer between us....... but the thought moistens my eyes and i know,it is true..........

sometimes life teaches you its lessons in weird ways..... and it has taught me one for sure....... i know,i can be sure of this day only....... tomorrow is a distant dream and past is a memory .... a road travelled ...... what i have today is for me to cherish ..... what i may have tomorrow is for time to decide ....... what i had yesterday belongs to someone else today ..... can i do something about the above? yes,one and only .... cherish this moment,for it belongs to me and those around me ....

Whoever said,'Present is a gift by god,hence called so...' is so right ... not getting senti .... getting real..... it is high time I be

We'll miss you paachi

love,
Yamini

wellllllllllllllll......
life is really strange... i mean,..... almost at every point in your life u seem to have options options options ........... it is so opposite to the 'economic' laws that i study..... wish it was something like this in the real world too.... u have options but just one way to exercise them :)

with so many moral and emotional issues involved...... i wonder,who finds it easy these days......

around me,all i see and feel is utter confusion... and surprisingly,people seem to be confused about the very simple things around..... escapes me..... if i heed to gibran's words......... gosh... everything seems to be so simple... but is it that simple....

welll.... dunnno..... have to re-think a lot...... gibran's one guy who comes very close to ayn rand.... i feel so....
the only difference being that they 'literally' represent different eras of literature

gibran sounds very naiive,beautiful and pleasant..... ayn rand is passionate,confident and attractive......... but i worship the works of both........... she introduced me to the real world and he filled in the colors of innocence for me...............

My First

Welcome Yamini.....
:)