My "Bucket" list.

The passing years have not been kind to me at all, ask my back that invariably creaks and groans every morning, ask the remaining hair on my head mourning the loss of more than half their brethren, down the drain pipe, ask the various lines on my face, ask my cheque-book which has more pages than the actual contents of the account it represents, no,the years haven't been kind to me at all.
At this point of my life, speaking like a true veteran, there are a couple of wishes I'd loooove t have fulfilled,,
Shall we start?

• A 2 bedroom flat, in a quiet neighbourhood.
• A dog,
• A small car (the NANO wud do just fine) to commute with.
  
• A flat screen TV, (note I don't ask for a plasma)
• And above all,,,my parents staying with me

It all boils down to the fact that I've been rolling around no gathering no moss, since the last 15 years, and I guess I'm real tired.
I miss having my parents around, I miss sitting around coal fires on chilly January evenings chatting about inconsequential stuff with Mum, Baba playing the perfect listener in all this.
I miss cooking for them, Baba loves something that I make out of Maggi, Vegetables, Eggs and absolutely no water.
I miss all the evenings that we sent at my aunt's, gorging on all the delicacies rustled up by my Bhabhi, coming back home to stuffed to eat, yet finding just enough space for those tasty lentil fritters.
I miss the smell of cooking cauliflowers,
I miss our garden.
I miss seeing the placid, happy face of Baba.
The list goes on and on,,,,
My mum and Baba are old, they aren't going to be around much longer, I'm not being morbid, just realistic for a change, and I'd love to be there to take care of their aches and pains, rather than serve humanity.
Every time I take care of a patient or do something nice for someone, I make a wish that someone out there does the same for my parents, when they need it, it is almost as if I trust the Universe to balance things out.
I can live my life for myself anytime I want to, my parents deserve my time, and me, for now.

Guardian angel of mine

2010 has started off with a real bang!!
Not the costly, noisy, fruits of child labour kind of bangs!!!, I leave those for my moneyed and sense less friends,
it has started off with a real bang-up of a mess here in AP, guess I manage to drag political and public unrest wherever I go,,(remember where I come from?).
Anyway, my partner to a very exclusive, by invite only party for two, by the roadside, below our hostel, was this three legged dog. this dog who roams the streets near our hostel, where during the day there are a lot of eateries open, which translate into a lot of scraps behind when they close shop for the day,, and you can usually find him curled up in some corner nearby, as the night progresses.
I remember feeding him a biscuit or two, a long time back, and since then whenever I come and go from the hospital to the hostel ,at all odd times during the night, there he is, like a wobbly, jumping shadow, limping along behind me, gambolling in a weird three legged way around me, seeing me safely across the street, and I swear he hangs around until I turn around and wave or yell, almost as if to say, "there, I am safely across, You can leave now",, I swear, he does that.
like my guardian angel, or at least that is what he thinks he is,,
I can't help smiling whenever I see him, for a dog with a handicap, and in this canine eat canine world, it is a pretty big handicap to be living with, he is just so cheerful, always smiling, (now do not tell me dogs cannot smile, they can!), always chirpy, never staid, never quiet, he even gets up on my shoulders with his one good front leg, and gives me an extra big grin from time to time, and weirdly enough, those are always the days when I am extra pissed at something, or someone. it is uncanny.
Well, we munched on biscuits and whispered the New Year in,
I just wish I was more like him, at peace with my own handicaps, at peace with the world.
happy New Year Guys!!