Friends are not lists, lists are not friends. (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

They had been facebook friends for ten years now; the friendversary video was simply wow! It had received about a 1k likes and 500 comments from both their lists that ran into thousands.

Both wrote heart-warming comments on each other’s pics, posts, wished dutifully on birthdays and wedding anniversaries with tagged posts and what not. But they had never met beyond inboxes.

Ruhi was in Delhi for the Fashion Week. Her SUV crossed a crowd around a hit and run near Pragati Maidan at 10 am. The next day’s newspaper said it was Ajit on his bike, her facebook friend.

Here is a complete list of my A to Z challenge posts 2018.

The Missed and the Missing

 

 

When the unbearableness

Of this immense loneliness

Becomes unbearable

I succumb and call

The four numbers on that long list

Who I believed

Would care

 

one busy, one distant

one casual, one carefree

None pick up

 

A person in distress

Is a dead rose

None cares to water

 

My multiple ME's

Shatter beside me

 

When broken

A thousand pieces

Of hope,of love, of trust

All look the same.

SENDING LOVE TO SOME BLURRED NAMES & BEDIMMED FACES

• A grey-haired caretaker lady from nursery school who walked in a wobbly manner
• A lanky classmate in a pre-primary classroom who always had the yummiest tiffin
• The only pet I ever had- Jackie, who was not just a German Shepherd but was my first ever best friend.
• Many childhood friends from our old neighbourhood with whom I played hopscotch, hide and seek, snow games.
• The bespectacled librarian in the library beside the church who would sit on her desk in the mild winter sun and always have a reading recommendation for me.
• The blind beggar who would play Pahari tunes in his flute in the market when we went for evening strolls
• The junior doctor who would talk to me about Shakespeare as she changed the dressing everyday on a painful surgery scar.
• A friend, fellow researcher and a wonderful person who chose to break all ties with me on quite a bitter note. Hope she knows I still wish her well.
• So many of my wonderful students whose notes and gestures of kindness were always in excess of any of my talents or efforts.
• Some extremely learned colleagues, seniors and bosses who were open to learning and sharing their experiences and knowledge.

LIFE let me be grateful always no matter what !!

Of the purest friendship....

Ella and Priyamvada in school ( personal pic)

the purity of your emotions
the affection
you share unconditionally

your words of love
gestures of care
the bond you share

FRIEND is not a mere word
when I see you together
God bless you angels !

A SILENT BOND

She is the eldest of four sisters in her family, a petite quiet girl who is much stronger of will than her small physical stature. Lets call her EM. We have known each other for more than two decades now.

She was a classmate in school, we went to different colleges but our shared love for books and meetings at the public library forged a deep bond. We would discuss anything on this planet over endless cups of tea and knew each other as the back of one's hand.

We were thick of friends, lived in the same university hostel later in life and are now both moms. After all these years that one phone call that sealed this bond as a lifelong commitment will always remain etched in my memory.

Who said friendship is only about happy memories? Her father had passed away after a long illness, after cremation there were hushed up discussions happening as to who would sit for the ceremony where the mantle of the family gets passed on to the children, generally the eldest son.

In that house full of relatives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, siblings my friend held my hand and looked at me. Without a word between us I knew what she meant.

The detractors were a majority, but we held our ground firmly and finally she sat in her father's place a place that was rightfully hers as his oldest child.

The detractors became even more non-cooperative labelling us rebels ,we never exchanged a word about it and managed the next day's ceremonies quietly.

That day as I stood by her I wasn't the one giving her strength or supporting her, it was mutual. The empathy, the perfect understanding of someone else's thought process, the unquestioning support you can only give someone you fully trust - all these incredible moments happened in that one moment and we both graduated from best friends to soul sisters.

Today in our busy lives we don't talk often but we understand mutual silences and pauses, we draw a lot of strength from each other and we know that the other one knows.

I am blessed to have a special friend for life !

This post got the FIRST PRIZE @ this contest.
 

SOME HAIKUS

i
friends sorted in lists
people as profile pictures
life is a timeline !

ii
scratch the skin of a
city, look for its soul,lost
on a busy road.

iii
The lines on your palm
the moves of planets and stars
destiny by chance.

 iv
cities may change
and so do centuries, this
bond is eternal.

v
Stones washed in
milk,kids on the street wish they
were stones instead.

vi
I shred a cabbage
nature's multi-layered
haiku lay open.

vii
a contested space
zig-zag back lanes of my mind,
hide behind my smile .

A girl called Pooja

Its yellowing pages
still being held
by the dog-eared binding

the dreams
of a teenage soul
poems,quotes,
even birthday reminders
and mindless scribbles

there it was buried
under the pile of
scholarly mumbo-jumbo
just like the innocence
left long behind

the dreams of a teenage soul
the aspirations
the real pink words of love
the joys and the frustrations
all real,tangible

no copypasted updates
no morsels of thoughts
or mundane chunks of life
to throw out of a facebook window

I don't know why I cried
when I found out
Once upon a time
much before internet
lived a girl called - Pooja .

UNFRIEND

Many years ago I had a friend,lets call her H. we were in the same course in college but at that point our interaction was limited to exchanging pleasantaries,notes or debates in seminars. I liked her panache,her outgoing nature and her broad smile,but we had our own set of friends and didn't get thick while there.

A couple of years later we were put together in another course in another university,here we also shared a hostel ,became more intimate and friendly.I found her to be even better than I had imagined.We now talked more,shared more and kind of became each other's family away from home.All seemed well.....
The day I got married in a sudden and small strictly family function she was the one who called and wished me happiness.After that I got so tied up in settling down in my new life that didn't get back to her though I kept myself updated about her by some common friends .She got married too,cities changed,numbers changed....no contact for almost four years.
Then FB happened,I located her through her blog ,contacted her,but understanably enough she seemed annoyed and distant.I was elated though that she had done well for herself ,was in a job she loved and had an adorable kid a little older than mine.A few weeks later as I was going through a bad patch ,I wrote to her and I'm sure it sounded like asking for help.
She responded.She hit the cruel UNFRIEND button.
I was hurt,but didn't want to loose her a second time so I found her number and called,but she had moved on.Sadly I haven't,I still think about her.I admit it is my fault too,maybe it is all my fault but I wanted to make amends and thats what I tried to do.
Whenever I see that button on FB ,I wish I could undo it and win my friend back.
Is being less successful so bad?
or is asking for a second chance unforgivable?
Whoever coined that word unfriend,and whoever made that into clickable possibility has lent a new dimension to human relationships.Will we soon also look for unmother,unfamily,unlife.....
So please the next time you hit that button on someone please think twice....and yes pray that me and H befriend each other again and heal our relationship.

Some F words

It all started casually on a random day ,but the past one week I have been obsessed with F-words of all variety.No,not the obvious one but the ones that we overlook all the time,the ones that actually influence a lot of all our lives.They are numerous ,jumping at me from all corners ,here I start with only ten.

It started with the new word in my life-frenemy.People who are friends and adversaries rolled into one.I am sure at some stage of life we all encounter one- the bitter-sweet types, the ones we endure but can't do away with.They are everywhere,and come in all shapes and sizes, moms , kids ,colleagues bosses,neighbours and the list is endless.

Friends and family the two important f's for all of us,the two pillars of support,the sunshine when the weather of life is nasty and the shade which we all seek when the sun is too strong.Faith,food and fun are the ties that bind us to our friends and family.The faith of being there always for each other,the joy of shared meals and tastes and the fun that originates from being witness to mutual happiness and success.
Face and facebook-the two profile badges we all carry.once upon a time we all had a face,the physical identity of our being,the one we all carried around,had to there was hardly a choice.And then came the facebook,the alternate,the omnipresent self,the one with the wall,the status and the friend list,only it was after all virtual.
My personal favourites are fear and failure.The two faces of life that we all must see and experience.Failure so that we know the importance of success,so that we know who are the friends from the foes.Fear so that we know always what is at stake and learn to prioritise,so that we know the anatomy of courage.

so what are your favourite f -words?think and share...