बाप्पा

"बाप्पा बघत असतो सगळे , बर का वेद ...."
"if i am hiding , can he see me ?"
"हो, तरीही..."
"कसे काय दिसते त्याला सगळे ??"
"त्याचे घर त्या उंच आकाशात आहे...तिथून सगळे दिसते त्याला "
"पण मला नाही दिसत तो..."


"आई , now i am hiding under table....can he still see me ? "
"yupe, He can still see you  "
"now? NOW can he see me ?" अजून लपायचा प्रयत्न...
"हो"
"but how?"
"he got super powers"...
"why he got super powers ? why dont i have super powers ? how can i get super power ?"


"झाली का रे?"
"नाही अजून....."
"आई, can bappa see me doing potty ??"
" गप्प रे... आणि हो, he can still see you ...चल आवर आता पटकन ".

1-2 wks.....अजूनही तोच प्रश्न अधून मधून.....

"अहाहा , काय मस्त sunny आहे आज...चल park मध्ये जाऊया..."
"मुग्धा आपली ती flying dish कुठे गेली ?? " " अरे असेल वेद च्या खेळण्यांमध्ये कुठेतरी "
"श्या , एरवी इकडे तिकडे लोळत असते,नेमकी आता जागेवर नाही"
"त्या तिकडे बघ ...vaccum cleaner ठेवतो तिथे..." " तिथे ??? तिथे कशी जाईल ?" "काही सांगता येत नाही , just have one look"
"nope, नाहीये रे मंदार ..."
"जाऊदे , मिळेल नंतर कधीतरी, lets play bad minton today "
"चला चला लवकर बाहेर निघा..."
:
:
:

"आई , can bappa see flying dish ?"

जिन्हे नाझ है हिंद पर वो कहा हैं

"मेरा भारत महान"...लहानपणी खरेच खरे वाटायचे हे ! इतिहास , संस्कृती , भूगोल, विविधता आणि "मिले सूर मेरा तुम्हारा" ह्यानी एकदम पक्के मत बनवले होते ... सारे जहाँ से अच्छा..... (आता पूर्ण ओळ लिहीणे पण जड जात आहे)
हे शेवटचे कंसातल वाक्य त्या वयात कोणी बोलले असते तर एक चार-पाच तास तरी आमचा वाद रंगला असता..किंबहुना जास्तच !
Indian Army त जायचे होते मला ! कोणी मित्र आर्मीत गेले तर केवढा अभिमान वाटला होता त्यावेळी !
दर १५ ऑगस्ट ला झेंडावंदन करताना अगदी मनापासून Salute ठोकायचे मी ! छाती वर छोटा तिरंगा अगदी न चुकता मिरवायचे.
सावरकर, टिळक आणि नंतर नंतर गांधीना पण समजण्याचा प्रयत्न केला होता.....
भ्रष्टाचार, गरीबी आणि गलथानपणा हे शब्द काही नवीन नव्हते ..पण तरीही देश प्रेम वगैरे फार भारी अशी धुंदी होती !
पेपर मध्ये छापुन आलेले सगळे १०० टक्के खरे असे समजण्याचे दिवस ते ..... लोक पण सगळे खरे वाटायचे !!
College सुरु झाले ..मग brain drain वगैरे वर चर्चा रंगायच्या .... कधी मस्त रंगलेल्या मेहंदी चे नसेल तेवढे मला १८ पूर्ण झाल्यावर बोटावरच्या त्या काळ्या ठीपक्याचे अप्रूप वाटले होते...
आर्मी आपल्या आवाक्याबाहेर असल्याचे जाणवल्यानंतर आपल्या मुलाला आर्मीत घालू असे मनास पटवले होते...
एकंदरीत फार म्हणजे फार जीव होता माझा आपल्या भारतावर ...आपल्या मायभूमी वर....तिथली प्रत्येक अगदी प्रत्येक चांगली वाईट गोष्ट माझी होती.
आणि हे अगदी आता आता पर्यंत......
गेल्या काही वर्षापासून अगदी कुरतडतय मन .......१० जण येतात शेकडोंना मारतात ..त्यातला एक मोहरा ४ वर्षांनी फाशी वर चढल्यावर अगदी दिवाळी साजरी होते ! आणि लोक विसरूनही जातात कि म्होरक्या अजून तसाच आहे निर्धास्त...
इथे "ईट का जवाब पत्थर " नाही फुले उधळून होते....या या क्रिकेट खेळा ...गाणी गा....picture करा .....आणि एखाद दुसरे जवान मारले तर मात्र आम्ही निषेध नोंदवू हं !
विचार सुद्धा करवत नाही अशा रीतीने एका मुलीचा शेवट होतो आणि मेणब्त्त्यांचा भरगच्च खप होतो ! इथे आल्या गेल्या प्रत्येकालाच मग नोंदवायचे असते आपापले मत .... न्यूज वाहिन्या राहतात २४ तास गरळ ओकत !
निषेध सुद्धा करवत नाही एवढे मन सुन्न होते ! महागाई , भ्रष्टाचार वगैरे तर चावून चावून चोथा झालेले विषय .....
मेरा भारत महान या वाक्यातला फोलपणा आजकाल सारखा डोके वर काढत आहे.... कोणी म्हणाल लोक बदलले , सरकार लाचार आहे, देशाला का दोष द्या ......

जड वाटतेय हे लिहिताना.......

पण खरे सांगा , जिन्हे नाझ है हिंद पर वो कहा हैं ?

To you...with love..

एखाद्या छानश्या कॉमेंट ने हुरळून आनंदाने तुझ्या मिठीत येऊन मोठे मोठे डोळे करून तुला चिडवावेसे वाटते रे …..
रात्री परत एकदा 12 नंतर आइस क्रीम शोधत भटकावेसे वाटते…
कुठेतरी ऐकलेल्या तीनपाट गॉसिप बद्दल…कधी तू भेटतो आणि मी ते तुला सांगते…असे व्हावेसे वाटते…
कधीतरी एक अख्खा दिवस अगदी उठल्यापासून ते गप्पा मारत मारत झोपी जाण्यापर्यंत फक़त तुझ्याबरोबर आणि फक्ततुझ्याबरोबरच घालवावसा वाटतो…
वाचलेले छानशे पुस्तक तुझ्याबरोबर लगेच शेयर करावेसे वाटते....

तू सर्प्राइज़ म्हणून आणलेल्या एखाद्या ड्रेस वा गिफ्ट चे मैत्रिणिना फुगवून फुगवून कौतुक करावेसे वाटते…
सकाळी सकाळी वाफळ्ता आयता चहा देऊन तुझ्याकडून सासू समोर माझी स्तुती ऐकावीषी वाटते…
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एक दिवस संध्याकाळी 6 वाजता फोन करून …आता डाइरेक्ट थियेटर वरच भेट असा निरोप यावासा वाटतो..

FB च्या एका फोटो वर "कसली खास दिसतेयस..Love you Honey" अशी कॉमेंट तुझ्याकडून यावीशी वाटत आहे..

एक दिवस फक़त तुझा ..मी मुलाला सांभाळतो ..."जा जी ले अपनी जिंदगी मुग्धा" असे ऐकावेसे वाटते रे....

Picnic...

The word got so much happiness within it...

today it was my 3 yr old son's first picnic..school picnic.....well picnic is always with school isn't it?? with family, its a trip :)

The night before picnic..we hardly get any sleep..."need to get up early tomorrow".... what to wear..what to see..will dad allow camera...what will we have for snacks? n finally we sleep dreaming about the same...

next day...mom packs up some tasty food in tiffin...for just one day, she doesn't think much about "healthy food"...or may thinks in back of her mind and tries hard to get away from that thought.

I remember my school picnic days....early mornings...6-7 am bus timing... mom dad both coming to drop me at school..even though it was at 3 min walking distance from home and waving hands till the bus moved away 1-2 kms ...

I remember those small but very effective avomine tablets...a must for most of us.....

Remember and miss those stupid pranks we used to play..like throwing peels of oranges on the other car's top, making faces to passer by.....playing antakshari... eating n chatting non stop till teacher says "get down".

the siteseeing "WOWs" and then after boarding the bus..."yes teacher" attendance..

after long journey ( read 1- 2 hrs) seeing mom n dad's delighted faces saying "hushh...returned back safe n sound"...

you wont believe I even remember what i had as snack in my 3rd std picnic !!! It was a "nankatai" (my favourite) and an organge...well you wont even believe where the picnic was...it was to a garden just across our school building...I even remember whose hand i held while crossing the path !!!!

such were the beautiful days....picnic days...

We had picnics to "Pune darshan", "Mumbai darshan" ..across the road garden...and to even Goa but dad didn't send me to Goa :(

Guys...never disallow your child to any picnic..he will remember it for ages :)



hmm...all this written....all this remembered once again cos it was my son's first school picnic today...

I guess i was more excited than he was :) got his favourite "strawberries" from market y'day.

woke up early today...filled his tiffin with bread-butter-jam and strawberries...



And went to school to wave till the bus went atleast half km away...

Travel blogs....different style :)

I have to travel daily 40 Kms (20-20) to reach my damn office.... to get a bit faster i prefer it by my bike...even though its hell of a trip !!!
But todays post is not about how 'poor' me have to travel through such distressing situation...but...its about the birth of my "blog" ideas.
Yes, most of my blog ideas come from this 1 hr travel ...
Get to see so many exciting things on road , so many stories unbound in my own imagination.

Like the other day, saw a young dad on activa carrying his 5-6 months old baby snugged in a baby carrier close to his heart...where might he going? Drop baby to his mom's place or crushe? Where might be his wife..must be working woman ... i remember "zaansi ki raani" when i first saw him...only difference she was carrying the child on back and riding on horse :) else everything is same....he is fighting his own "ladhaiee", isn't it? isn't it a war , a struggle to live in this fast moving world?
just 2 min and so many so many thoughts :)

Then one day , waiting to get a "green" on my way saw a young cool chap...on a 2 wheeler, wearing a dhoti and a cool "Adidas" jacket on it !!! and to add more a fancy looking head phones .
Very funny site indeed....must be celebrating some mismatch day i guess...

There is banyan tree on my way , and it is perfectly situated when i take a sharp turn..a splendid sharp turn i would rather say :)..... and every time i pass this tree...i feel an urge to leave my bike and hold its branches...like a super hero (or any bollywood hero for that matter :P).......EVERYTIME. I am in fact so afraid of the intensity of this thought that i might do it someday :P

on the same road ahead once i saw an old lady being a pillion rider to a 40+ age man... she was wearing "nav-vari" ..a traditional sari wore in "koli style" . She had clutched her son's jacket so tight...guess it was totally new experience to her.......she was looking damn cute :)

At the same sharp turn one day an old vintage car was going steadily in front of me...after few seconds i was parallel with it , wanted to see who is riding this old beauty... and to my surprise the driver was as old and as beautiful as that of the car. A lady, must 80 + age driving it so confidently that i decided i am gonna take my car out tomorrow :)
i wanted to keep on looking at her face....such a marvellous confident face. I distinctly remember that day my mood was horrible , i was upset but when i passed her....i was smiling, in a fraction of second my mood took complete 180 deg turn....i was happy ...this was the magic of the moment i shared..

This is the magic i shared with these unknown faces, unknown stories.....wish i could share with you all....wish i could have a camera installed in front of my bike to take pictures whenever there is something so magical, so beautiful and inspiring... wish my idea would be legal in few days and i can have this innovative idea on front page of "economic times - power of idea" section :)

Till then...just "see" through my words :)

falling in love again....

It was past mid night... n I whispered "I want Icecream" ....he looked across the road to see if the shop was still open, it wasn't...
few seconds back, i with my girlish essence asked again...."i want icecream".
He got up, put on his jeans...took bike keys n said..."chal, lets go".
jumping with excitement...I in my night pyjama...cross checked if its okay to go out in this "avtaar"....wore the sandals n followed him happily..

it was cool outside...making it more beautiful.
"it was nice in US, the shops used to 24 * 7 open, isn't it? " ....i said "nope, its nicer here...searching for ice cream at this moment".
we reached the main road...fewer vehicles, open empty road...some "night riders" .... n there we saw a "icecream vaalaa" around the corner.
"should we take it from here" ? i said..."nope, lets go ahead, if we dnt get anywhere else, we will get it from here..." I didnt even bother what if he "wasn't" here till then !!!! :) It was just the ride i was enjoying...
after a while we found 2-3 more "gaadees" ....we took a U turn...n finally settled to one "kulfi vala".
"you have anything? " ... i knew he wont disappoint us :) pista is my usual choice in kulfi...
"malai n gulkand hai" .....
"wow...malai dena....well....umm..uh...thoda gulkand bhi" ....i was ready to explore new tastes :)
he gave us in one plate.....i looked around to sit for a while..there it was, a perfectly situated bench .... such a bliss to have at that time.
we sat on that beautiful bench...talked about our happy future...n finished up the most tasty kulfi i ever had in my entire life :D

while returning...took some more for family...

somewhere in my imaginary world...the song " falling in love again....." was playing in its finest tune ever .....

innocence personified....

Day before yesterday, i was walking down with my kid to nearby shop to get Rakhis. To my surprise he was very happy to walk with his one hand firmly holding mine...or was it vice versa :)...

we were quite. He was busy observing each n every vehicle that passed us and naming them enthusiastically...Riksha, motorcycle..car..bhubhu doggy doggy...yeah sometimes he repeats doggy just like bhu-bhu :)

i didn't ask my usual questions like "what did u do today" or "what u had for food" ....i enjoyed that little , silently connected walk of ours.

we reached our destination, the general store. As soon as he saw the shop with multicolor balls hanging on the door, he ran in.... i got busy selecting the rakhis. His eyes wandering and trying to catch every glimpse of surrounding...looking for the things he would love to get his hands on.. I just had a look at the small aisle crowded with all weird things starting from books to small buckets ...from mugs to bangles....and ofcource a enthusiastic child :) Just made sure he is safe among all such glittering gizmo before returning to the rakhi selection.

By the time i was done with my rakhi selection ,which i am sure was just a matter of few minutes, he was there standing with his new possession ( yeah once its in his hand, he already has possessed it ;)

He stood there looking at the new "Car"...

"wow, nice car, let me see it" ....well he is my kid, didn't fall for such lousy comment, he didn't hand it over to me :)

it was silver color with beige sit covers convertible car. I picked up 2-3 more fancy bright color cars but he was firm he wanted to get the one in his hands. Had to pay the shopkeeper "guessed" price :) and we started way back to home...but this was different journey all together.

No other 2/3/4 wheeler was of any importance :)

As soon as we were out, he wanted the car out of the plastic cover...60% was done and it was already on the road ....he just sat there in the middle of the road driving his brand new car.. I somehow managed to get him up and pursue to park the car in his hand till we reach home. He looked unhappy but still excited.

I couldn't stop smiling with his next move...he held my right hand and his right hand managing to hold the big car...he kept on driving it...on his Tummy !!! :D :D

This reminded me about a conversation i recently had with a friend, "as we grow up , the things which makes us happy decreases...so may be when we grow very old, there might be just 1 or 2 things which can give us pleasure, which will make us smile ".

So true isn't it?

The twinkle in my kid's eyes after each new thing in his life ......

yes, i have one immortal thing to be happy about. :)