Long weekend phobia

In India i never faced such a crisis. There were few long weekends if not many, every year and no one ever bothered, they planned or they didnt, it was just a matter of choice. people who really want to visit some place will do it anyway, long weekend or no long weekend. 

But here in US it is slight different, call me less adventurous but yes, there are times i just wanna stay back home, read some book, watch some movies and get some quality sleep, those times my mind doesnt even bother if its a long weekend. anyway, point is, here, call it way of living, long weekend is nothing but festival, irrespective of the mood, everyone plans some or the other outing three months back and worst is not yet over, while they plan for their own, they keep asking each and everyone who they meet with the same bloody question ‘whats the plan for long weekend’ dare you answer ‘nothing’.

This phobia is really making me worried. because of incidents happened recently, i mean happening daily, just after the meeting, client shot ‘so whats the long weekend plan?’. in the washroom, while crushing the paper towel, ‘whats the plan for long weekend dude?’ near the coffee machine, everyone to everyone, ‘whats the plan mate for the long weekend?’ i have started asking myself, is it something wrong with me? probably.  

Coming weekend is a long weekend, as we are getting a holiday on Monday for labor day, so continuous three days leave from office, a really really long weekend, isn’t it? say yes. So all of them are busy planning for those three days. well to be true even i am involved in few of not so concrete plans. yeah, there is one for state park in Michigan city. other is to Starved rocks and the third plan is to visit Indiana dunes in Indiana. after all its long weekend.

So whats your plan for the long weekend?  

 

Whatever !!

Gyaan

Religion and marriage !!

it has been two years she got married. Soon to be a mom. Yes, i am one of those blessed people who still share friendship with the one whom i loved. i still love her and what makes me happy, is to see her happy in her life, managing her family and work so perfectly that she can make anyone jealous, i envy her husband, as he is one lucky fellow to have such wonderful wife.

Many a times i think what if we would have got married? what if her parents would have agreed? what if we were more rebellious? would she still be happy like she is today? answer perhaps is, no. Being a Jain, there are various routines and beliefs she follows. and as she got married to a Jain, her husband shares the exact same thoughts. His family is amused when every time they see her going to a Jain Mandir, forcing her husband. everyone loves it.

My Family on the other hand would not be that exited, out Hindu temples are far different. Though nobody would have stopped her from visiting a Jain temple but nobody would show any excitement as well.

Let Temple be a separate matter. eating habits, thought process, food priorities, all needs to be adjusted, either from her side or from mine.

If you are alone its fine. Involvement of families makes it tougher.

Today whatever she does, makes her husband and family more fond of her, they can relate and know what she does is appreciable. But any other religion would not be able to tolerate. Its the nature of all religions, intolerance towards other religions.

Marriages are by nature combination of two families. and if there is a basic difference in the thought process, it becomes difficult to gel.

Though more and more people are becoming liberal, but for a middle class family, inter religion marriages are still a big deal.

have we become immune?

Like every other guy who has a smartphone with whatsapp messenger installed in it, i too woke up this morning and checked my phone for new messages. and like always there were few conversations popping up the screen. mostly messages were in groups of which i was an inactive participant. but two of them were eye catching. one from a very old friend whose message came like after ages. second was again from a friend who was now married but keeps dropping by every now and then, in short we were in touch like every fifteen days.

i opened the first one, ‘Hi Mate, How are you?’ was the message. somehow this ‘Mate’ word doesn’t look very familiar to me. though i am in US, but the word is more like European. which reminds me this friend of mine is in UK for say like almost three years.

I opened the second message. ‘need to talk…its urgent’ now this is something to be acted upon. i picked my phone and dialed her number. she was on another call so i dropped it. first thought was something bad has happened, she was calling everyone.

while i waited for her message, i typed a reply to my first friend ‘Hey…long time….m fine…how are you?’ there was an immediate reply,

‘Good…last week came back from India’

‘Oh wow…so found some girl? marriage plan progressed?’

‘actually, my father passed away’

i was shocked. there was nothing i could reply for at least few minutes. meanwhile second friend’s message came, ‘call now’. what else bad news will be here, i thought. i thought of calling her after some time as i must talk to him first. I could not call him as my US number does not allow me to make call to UK due to my India calling card. so i asked him about aunt and his brother on the messenger itself, it was weird consoling someone via messages. every message lacks emotions and somehow makes you more detached. but i had no other choice. 

I looked at the watch, it was already 8 and i was getting late for office. soon our conversation ended with words like ‘hmm..okay…and take care’ i turned to the other message. and dialed back. ‘Hi…sorry couldn’t call immediately. whats the matter? everything okay?’

‘yes, all is fine, i just need your expert advise on which company should i join? i have two offers. one is paying good but work is hectic, also very less leaves. other one is paying less but lot of leaves and work is also not hectic’

my first thought was what the hell, here is a guy whose father had died and he was like ‘how are you’ and there is this girl ‘call me urgent’ isn’t it weird how the world works, how different people react on situations? i find it weird. well like she said, as an expert i gave her both pros and cons of both the companies but with no conclusion as it was she who has to decide for herself not me. she was satisfied. time was already 8:25 and i was really getting late.

i ran to the bathroom and within few minutes i was all groomed for a reputed US based pharmacy company. while traveling to the office, what was changed? a friend’s father had passed away, other friend was more worried about which job offer to accept. apart from being late for few minutes to the office, what was changed?

here when i thought of penning down this incident, again i thought ‘what was changed?’ then a more relevant question passed by my mind, ‘have we become immune as humans?’ 

Software Engineer’s leave plan

moving on from here !!

There was a time i used to think that this is a life time relation. how many of us can be friends with the one we loved. our friendship was too strong to be broken by the distances and events like marriages. we shared a bond even after she was married. seven years, two of which was after she was hooked with someone else through the social ritual of marriage, is a long time to be with someone. it turns into habit to get rid of it.

past few days there was a weird stress. regular calls and emails were decreased drastically. first i thought work keeps us all busy. it had happened earlier too, but we always managed to take out some time of it. this time it was stretching, long enough for me to think it as a sign, i knew her so well that she doesn’t have to tell me. and when for a single stretch of fifteen days there were not a single attempt from her to contact, i was quite sure that she was now over me, she has been moved on with her life.

only thing which hurt was her silence, which kept me hanging for so long. i made a fool of me thinking that she still wanted to be in touch. now its time, to make myself realize, and to move on. i don’t know how i am going to tell her this. but then i guess, she doesn’t even need to know, or i can say she don’t even care anymore.