Paintings!!!

The Dancer

The Hunter

The Naughty One

The Room-mate in Distress

The past two weeks have been a gala time for me, I took one week off and company is shut down for the other week in the name of Christmas and New Year's. Praise the Lord. Don't ask me what I did to make my time - a gala time. I do not have an answer to that.

Today, I came home after a lazy lunch with one of my friends - average height, wheat-ish complexion, slightly slouching and walking with his feet pointed in opposite direction and pointing outward (sort of in "V" form), annoying but a very honest, genuine and close friend of mine. I don't know why I described his appearance just now, but definitely more on him-later. So, I come home after lunch with this friend of mine, knock the door and wait patiently for my roommate to open the door.

Digression: Yes we don't have a two way locking system yet, so having my room key is basically and absolutely pointless. I can't complain much though, this way I have learnt a lot of things like being patient, tolerant and not a murderer (very important) by perpetually waiting for her to get out from her slumber and open the bloody door. EVERYTIME. Life is good, peaceful. No complains. At all. What so ever! :)

After what seemed like an eon, my roommate opened the door and ambushed me with loads of information (whatever happened to her sleep :/) Her exam was good - her best friend's exam was not so good ( like I care) - half of her class did not give the exam (again, do I look like I care?) - she met her ex- boyfriend and now is thinking of leaving her current boyfriend of past three months for her ex of 6 months now. At this point, please know that I am not judging her, in-fact I am no-one to do that. But, I just didn't know what to say to that 19 year old face, that was talking to me as if this is the most normal thing a child would do when it's bored with its toy. I didn't see an iota of seriousness or for that matter emotion on her face, so then why was she sharing this piece of information with me? As a compliance to being social animal, my brain tried but failed to process these words reflective of utter sadness and regret, but which did not quiet match the visuals very accurately, visuals reflecting a perfect state of happiness. To these kind of situations, thankfully my brain has come up with a good coping mechanism, the most simple one.

Digression:Mechanism to cope with situations where people don't make sense:

It involves shrugging your shoulder right about till it touches your ears, raising your palms, facing it upwards and positioning right next to your shoulders, shaking head from right to left/left to right (whatever you may prefer) and rolling your lower lip exactly for a second followed by utterance of the word that marks the finality of the mechanism - "whatever".

CAUTION: Please do not try this in real, people may find you stupid (we don't want them to know that yet). Imagine the whole thing in your head for best results!

Whatever my roommate was trying to establish there by sharing that information - I really couldn't bring myself to care any less. This statement will make many people right away judge me and label me as a "non-sensitive" human. But, just know that my brain has a good coping mechanism :D. Well then moving forward into the story, she went on to say that her current boyfriend asked her to return all the gifts that he had given her till now - mind you she is laughing at this point. I am sad - our pet was a gift by him. A blue fighter fish, she had named it Bubbles - not after the Power-puff girl Bubbles, but well because it is a like a fish you know and like it lives in water - so like the bubbles in water - so yeah like fighter fish - Bubbles. Please don't laugh, it was the thing that I was most attached to (in this room, my life is not THAT sad yet). I bid my goodbye to Bubbles. Do not ask me if it were Mr. or Ms. I do not have answer to that.

It was almost 9 o'clock in the night. I was done with my dinner and looking forward to a lazy night ahead watching Doctor Who (series I am hooked on to right now) in my shorts with my legs spread across the bed like no-one is watching. Well this could never quite materialize to its best potential because my roommate who had gone out an hour ago, to return all the gifts never came back - she had informed me that she will be back in 15 minutes (the guy was already waiting downstairs you see). But I was not aware of her absence and right when the Doctor was figuring out how to save the planet and his companion Amy Pond from the aliens, my phone rang. I was furious to have been disturbed. It was my roommate who was calling and its then that I realized that she had been gone for a while.

Digression: Yes, I was unbelievably careless especially when she have might actually informed me thinking that there will be someone who will know where she was and with whom if something was supposed to happen to her. So yeah, not a very good idea to inform ME and go when you think that your life might be in danger because the help may never arrive in time, I will be busy watching The Doctor save HIS damsel in distress.

I pick up the phone and hear her cry. I ask in a panic "what happened?" ( see I am not that bad now, I was finally concerned, alright?!?). She told me that the guy had confiscated her phone and refused to return unless she went home with him and sort things out. My very brilliant roommate agreed to that and happily went with him to HIS home which is in the other end of the town. After half an hour of journey to his home and talking to him for about 15 minutes there, she suddenly had the epiphany THEN that this may not have been a very good idea. It is at this precise moment, that she thinks of calling me! It is almost 11 P.M, and I don't know what I was thinking I offered to come and pick her up( the better side of me overtook). But these are the times when the practical side of your brain STOPS. The coping mechanism doesn't really work. That time the only thing that your brain can process again as being a social being is that a fellow human is in distress and asking for help to YOU. I give her full assurance that I shall come somehow, pick her up and if need be pick up a fight with the guy! The guy takes the phone from her and starts speaking to me, assures me that it is one of the stupid fights that couples have and that there is nothing to worry about. I somehow get convinced and cut the call. It was more convenient to believe as I could continue with Doctor Who and not be bothered about being the responsible one. It is a difficult task, a very difficult task. But my conscience got hold of me. I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I texted her and asked her to send me her location on WhatsApp. She did so within 5 minutes with another message saying, please call me in 15 minutes. As instructed, I called her in 15 minutes, not once but some 5-6 times as each time she cut my call. Somehow, that freaked me out even more.  I knew for a fact that the guy had the habit of confiscating the mobile, was it him who was cutting the call? Was my roommate in more danger than I had imagined. Did I take everything too casually like everything else and later repent about it to an extent where I go mad? These thoughts freaked me out. That is when I became the damsel in distress and thought of calling a few people to pull me out of the same.

The first person advised me to not do anything about it and if I were planning to go and get her then call him, so that he can accompany me. This way, less of a trouble. Definitely it is a support, but I don't really think that it is helpful in a situation where I also fall short of courage. I think in that case he will support me best in one thing - running TOGETHER. The second person got really concerned about me, which was super sweet I must say. He advised me to actually call up the guy and threaten him of the police - this was actually a VERY good idea for two reasons 1. That will frighten the guy enough 2. I might not have to actually go there to get her and jeopardize my safety (this of course being the more important reason). I thought of giving it a try. I left a message to my roommate ( I very well knew that he will be the person who reads the message), I said " Please pick up the call or else I am coming with the police I swear). This magically made my roommate call me, this time she was crying. I repeatedly asked her if she was alright, she just said one thing " I am fine, and he will drop me in half an hour". I asked again if she was alright and if she is not opening up as he is around, I asked her to reply in just a YES if that was the case. She replied a NO. So then, that was it. My role was over there, but I chose to talk with the guy one last time to give him one final aunty-type advice. I said " See, if a woman doesn't want to be with you/ talk to you, then you should have enough decency as a gentleman to  respect that and let her be. Also, drop her here by SHARP 1 A.M or ELSE I am calling the police. I don't care if this is one of the usual fights that you guys are having, but now that I am involved I will make sure that my roommate reaches safe back home. So for today, you follow my instructions and drop her safe at 1", I cut the call feeling like some righteous gunda. But ummm, he dropped her at 1.30 ,good enough - I mean in today's time this is kinda expected so I never called the police at 1 A.M ( in my defense it was a threat, I didn't mean it)

After reaching home, my roommate actually tells  me that she was crying as he slapped her for having told me about their issues. Apparently, he slapped her not once but many times - and she didn't seem to be as deeply offended as I was. I couldn't believe that a woman can take that so lightly to laugh about it so nonchalantly. Whatever happened to the concept of "self respect". 

Right when I started being concerned about people, she had to ruin it. All I did that at time was shrug my shoulder, raise my palms, shake my head, roll my lower lip exactly for a second and say "WHATEVER".

Write to Retrospect

Writing is something that has brought clarity of thought, understanding of the same and above all absolute joy to me. However, it is very difficult to make yourself sit, think and start writing about something. The first question that comes in a writer's mind is - what should I write about. Is that what a writer should do? Plan it out? I really don't think that is a good idea. I have observed one thing that it is the most random of works that are often the best ones.

Anyway, so one day I was talking to my dad while waiting for a doctor at the clinic for my mother's back pain. And that was one of the many times, that I came closer to knowing my dad. That day I got to know that he too liked writing and after talking to him for few minutes I realised that his imagination was quiet good. The power of imagination is what makes a significant difference between a good writer and not so good writer. Like I knew all these years that he did have a flare for writing, but I never took it seriously. It was just like how a kid cannot imagine their parents to be young that I could not imagine my dad writing stories. But that day's conversation changed my perception. My dad shared a story that he had written, a full novel length story. Unfortunately I don't remember the details of it, but I do remember that it was sort of bold for the times it was written in. By bold, I mean he had a woman as protagonist and the story revolved around the unusual life decisions that she makes. Frankly speaking, I couldn't believe that dad would have had such a great imagination and above all such forward thinking. I was really happy to know and also a little bit upset that he doesn't write anymore. Later I asked Amma if she ever had a chance to read his work, she said she couldn't read it herself as most of his work was in Malayalam and so my father used to read it to her. She admitted that she really liked his writing, but over the years, the drafts of all his stories were lost due to all the shifting from home to home. I wish I could have read his stories, and I hope that he starts writing again. He always encourages me to write, but I wish even I was able to motivate him the same way. 

Coming back to writing : Writing for me is to know myself better, I understand myself as a person better if I write my thoughts down. The good, the bad and the ugly side of me.  Writing lets one confront the thoughts that were deeply buried in the brain which is predominantly programmed by the society to have certain pretentious set of thoughts, often acknowledged as the "right" set of principles. Where as the truth is that every man has a darker side to him. Every man tries to live in make belief world where in he is the epitome of goodness. The thought of being evil is scary in the beginning. Almost maddening. But then one learns to live with it, and tame it. Once the fact that as a human one is capable of the highest levels of evilness is accepted, it becomes easier to live life. Accept everyone as just a human and nothing more. Everyone includes yourself as well.

Coming back to writing : It is also a hobby for many, I wouldn't say it is a hobby for me because I do not write very diligently every day. I would love to though. It is a perfect getaway from the daily routine. Imagine you can write absolutely anything you want, and chose if you want to share it or not. Isn't it amazing? Share your thoughts with a piece of paper- these days with a word document, and never let any living soul know about it. I think this can solve many emotional issues that a person might face, you know at a time when everyone is busy in their own lives that they don't have time to listen to each other. Hence I feel writing things down is like doing a self check, introspection or counselling, whatever phrase makes you feel better.

Coming back to writing ; I am bored to type now, yeah so everyone should give writing their thoughts down a try. Tell your story. Liberate that complex mind of yours that plays tricks on you. Keep it simple ;)

Color Color Which Color

Remember the game almost all of us played when we were kids? Color Color which Color? What fun it was!!! And lately, I have come to realize that almost all childhood games have a "hidden life lesson" or say a "hidden message" for how to play the game of life. Let us take this particular game for example-Color Color Which Color. I remember I used to like this game a lot, one of the reasons being - that we always used to run out of colors and this made us think about different colors and learn their names! Now, before we get into the "hidden message" of "Color Color Which Color" , let me explain the game. It is a game which can be played by two or more-no limits. The denner shouts out loud a color which the other players must find around them and touch it as soon as possible so that the denner doesn't catch them. If the player fails to touch that color or if caught by the denner before touching the color- then he becomes the new denner and the process continues till the time you just don't run out of colors. Now, the "hidden message"? No, not yet, but I shall explain it very soon. Before that I will talk about my sister, she is equally philosophical like me. I know, I know "philosophy" is boring and anyone and everyone is good at giving philosophical lectures :P But then just listening to philosophical talks  helps you understand ones' personality,  perception and thinking (that is what I think!). Anyway, So my sister - Keerti and I get into such discussions a lot of times and then there is no end to it. It goes on and on and then, we realize that we have ended the discussion on a competely different note than we had started it with. So coming to the point- no! not to the point of "hidden message" of "Color Color Which Color" yet-  but to the point that in one such discussions that my sister and I had, she explained a thing, which probably solved all my guilty feelings of life. She started it with some questions "what defines one's personality?", “Is it the same and never changing?" “Who defines it?"- I had no clue about the answers. So she continued - "Everyone has a different set of personality for everyone, like for example you! You are not the same Kruti as you are with parents or for that matter when you are with your friends... you are different to everyone! You are a different personality to your friends, your parents your sister and so on and so forth! Does this mean you are fake? No! No one is actually fake! No one likes to be fake. You cannot think of different SHADES of your personality to be fake! All those personalities together -is what makes you what you are. You reveal different shades of yourself to different people. You cannot be the same person everywhere! Imagine you being the same person to your parents the way you are with your friends! This explains the reason as to why there is an awkward silence and a cunning smile from your friends when they visit you at home. You need to be you in a way the situation and the people around you - demand. Or else God save you from the troubles you may face! Ah this reminds me of -no it's not the "hidden message"- just wait for some more time! 

Excited, thrilled or amazed, I don't know which word would rightly describe that feeling. The feeling we had when we were told to stage a drama in our college as a part of our Theatre subject's curriculum. We concluded that Prem Gadhvi Sir, (professor for theatre) was not joking when he said that we had to deal with every aspect of a drama - all by ourselves!!!- from story line to directing to performing. It took us one and a half month to decide just on the story line. And then script was fun but required too much of brain storming. Right from the stage of script writing, we had stepped in to the shoes of the characters to get the appropriate dialogues-to get the feel of it. Directing was another major part, which had to be done smartly. My friends came up with amusing ideas and our sir helped us with the execution of it. Believe me it is very difficult to bring a drama from papers to stage. 

That large echoing auditorium everyone standing in troops, holding their scripts, mugging up their dialogues, dressed in various costumes and waiting for their turn to use the stage for their last rehearsal was a sight that gave me an adrenaline rush!!! The day had come when we were supposed to exhibit our play. It was obvious that everyone wanted their play to be the best. The batch had come up with several themes like mime, Indian Pledge, Mystery of the lost train, Family drama and so on. You might be wondering why am I saying all this?The reason I am saying all this is to explain that- no not to explain the "hidden message" - but that our drama was a family drama in which we tried to show the expectations and emotions of various family members and the realization of their family bonding through COLORS. We had related the emotions to the seven colors of the rainbow and named our drama accordingly as "SATRANG". Then we were informed that we were the first group to perform! Hearing this my heart skipped a beat. I looked at my friends, to find some terror- but I could find only Colgate smiles returned to me. As per them it was good that our play would be the first one, we will have that "IMPACT", is what they had said. Their positive attitude made my eyes gleam with enthusiasm  As far as the acting part was concerned, I don't know there is some charm that the stage holds, each actor just forgets himself and gets into the character deeply. Every play went well and it gave us immense pleasure when people came and told us that our play was one of the best and that we acted well.So that was an end to the drama event-an event never to forget!!! 
So yeah about the-no not the "hidden message"- but the one thing I learned from our play was that everyone is made up of different emotions-colors. I feel the color white envisages all other colors, absorbs them! and hence gets its color WHITE (Peace), where as black just reflects all the colors. resulting to its color BLACK (Unrest, Fear). You need to be ready to accept any color in life in order to be at peace with life.There is a constant need to change the color of your personality as the situation and people demand or else you are OUT from the game of LIFE and then probably a denner.
Okay so where was I? The "hidden message"? Oh yes! the "hidden message"! -Common now! You are smart enough to have got it by now ;) The name of the game suggests it all...:)

Live the way you want!

There comes a time in everyone’s life where one meets a stalemate situation and has no idea how to get out of all the troubles that are happening only and only to him .You look around, and see everyone is happy and think-WHY NOT ME! Then you do some introspection and end up with the conclusion that after all, the problem lies within me and the way I am living my life and that I must try changing it a little bit. You start reading some books and do some self-improvement activities that helps you escape from your real self.  Does it work? Is it the right thing to do after all- to blame yourself and rely on books and motivational movies?

It feels so great to read something that tells us as to how should we be living our lives? Easy, isn’t it? You get tailor made solutions! What usually happens after reading? Let us see. In the beginning, it gives you immense motivation and the hope that you are capable of changing yourself and your life for better. You follow the new suggested “theory” that guarantees a better life, provided, you give your precious time to the new “theory” which has claimed to have changed people’s lives. These days, even I am in one of these phase where in I am trying to understand and explore some “theories” that might help me to understand myself and my life better. This is what happened to me, I followed the “theory” religiously with all faith in it, but then all that sincerity just faded away. It happens every time! It fades away within a month, a week, a day and sometimes the moment I am done reading such a philosophical book and put it down. Why does that happen? Why does this feeling follow us all through our lives? Why can’t we be just happy with what we have and are capable of?

The other day I was watching this movie “Tuesdays with Morrie”- adapted from a book written by Mitch Albom with the same title. It has got some of the most simple and best dialogues which tell you so many things in just about a single sentence. One of my favourite is when Morrie says “Why always be first-What’s wrong in being second?”How great it would be if all the people had the same thinking! Don’t you think all this frustration in life and WITH life comes from the fact that everyone is a part of the rat race! Everyone is just striving themselves and throwing themselves into the deep sea of stress, frustration and eventually disappointment. I would not deny the fact that somewhere even I was a part of this. But now after a bit of introspection, fortunately, I have decided to stay on the shore and enjoy my life. I don’t want to get drowned in this sea where in all I get, is suffocation. Instead I understand my capability and incapability, and do things without any expectation, because it’s the only way you can always avoid being disappointed.  The most unexpected thing happened after exploring all the self-improvement activities -- and it is that I realised one thing and I believe in that now- That in no way I can follow nor do I need to have a life-map giving me directions and instructions on how to live, and how to behave, how not to be angry ever and how to keep calm every time. For if I start doing all of that- I would not be a HUMAN anymore. Having said that, I don’t really mean that all the self-improvement activities are useless. NO! They do help in certain ways-like making you feel that after all there is a solution to every problem and the fact that life can be pretty interesting and good if perceived rightly. It gives you perception and a faith in life. No doubt about that. It’s just that you don’t have to follow each and everything that has been suggested by the “theories”. Well of course you can try some of them, but I am sure it won’t last much- for we human are not programmed to function that way. If you are able to follow it strictly, then please do accept my salute to your determination. But then, wouldn’t it get kind of robotic! I mean how can you not show anger and smile instead when you actually are burning red with anger! It just sounds so impossible and almost not human like. However this doesn’t mean that we have got the license to get angry on each and every small thing. Some people are born with the skill of controlling anger, some are not. So the point being is everyone is different.  You can’t do much about your inherent characteristic though, but then there is always a scope for improvement that comes with self realisation, which is hard to get by sitting and reading some self-improvement book. You need to experience your own bad traits in order for the self realisation and to understand that there is a scope of improvement.

No one has to change himself for the sake of it, don’t have to live the life for the sake of it, don’t have to take lot of pressure to be the best RAT in the lot. Instead he can live life peacefully and work towards changing it only and only if he really feels the need to, change it for adding quality to life, No one has to be the best student, best daughter, best friend, best wife, best husband or whatever just for the sake of being FIRST in the race. Strive for it only if you feel it, only if you want to do it. Don’t study to just PASS in exams, study to add some quality in your life, some perception to your life and eventually to add some happiness to your life. Always remember there is someone who is always ahead of you, so stop running for the finish line, instead run - to enjoy the journey.

Live the life-the way you want! or say...FEEL the life – the way u want!

Sudoku

He knew it then and there, at the very moment that she had after all, really got it for him. As she approached him with a gentle and serene smile, even he could feel a smile stretching on his lips which otherwise was a rare.  He took the book from her, feeling his rough hands against her soft and tender ones.

“For you” she said.

He felt rapturous, astonished and above all cared for.... and somehow he managed to say “thank you”.

The commencement of their beautiful and purely innocent friendship happened 3 months back, when she entered the library for the first time.

                                                                                                ****

He was sitting on his chair, just near the entrance, where he could see people coming and leaving the library, one leg crossed over the other, reading a local language newspaper, and some other books lying on the table. She entered, sat on the table just near to his. Both were engrossed in their reading, not even noticing each other. She was amazed at the silence that prevailed, it was as if the world had stopped - no sound, no music. Suddenly, breaking the silence he moved his chair away from the table, got up and started collecting the newspapers and books that the students had left on the tables after reading and had not bothered to keep it back on the rack. That is when she noticed him and their eyes met for a fraction of a second. He took them all, and placed them back very neatly. He arranged  the chairs back to their places, switched off the computers which once again the students did not bother to shut down. Seeing all this, she was impressed and she never expected him to do it, because she never saw someone of “his kind” do it.....after all who cared to put “things” at their proper places?!?

Observing him was intriguing for her now, she forgot that she was here to read the newspaper. She was a an observer and loved to observe people and guess their lives or say personality to a certain extent. For today she got her target, it was him, an intriguing personality, and now she was on her so called “mission” of knowing him better...

                                                                                                ****

The next day they were sitting at the same places, reading their own stuff. But this time not without noticing each other. She was observing him constantly like a hawk. She, for the first time noticed, that he was reading a book! She was bewildered by his uniqueness from others of “his kind”. Him reading, that too a book came as an unexpected surprise. Now, she started observing him admiringly.

Feeling someone’s eyes on him for more than 5 minutes, he turned to face her, she smiled at him, but unfortunately she did not get the same warm response from him, he just forced a smile which was unwelcoming.

This continued for days, when finally she decided to break the ice and talk to him, actually appreciate him for his efforts.

“Hey you are doing a great job, you know, keeping all the newspapers and chairs back. Good. It is for you that the library is so neat and clean” she said.

He could not say anything, he just smiled, this time a genuine one as  no one bothered before to appreciate him, no one bothered to talk to him....

This somehow changed his perception towards her, he accepted her as an acquaintance at least. Every day was same, she would come to the library, both of them would sit at the same places and then give each other a warm smile, not just once, twice or thrice, but all the time their eyes met. It happened once that she could not come for a long time and he could feel the void in the library without her. But finally she came one day and she crossed his table, giving him a smile as usual. She saw him solving Sudoku in the newspaper. Another surprise element in him, but this time she was not shocked as she had learned observing him that you should not judge a book by its cover. She accepted in appreciation. But this time she was really impressed by him, totally unexpected out of him.

The second time they talked was this day.

“Oh you like solving Sudoku?” she asked

He just nodded to this, once again managing not to speak anything.

“Even I like solving Sudoku, I do it every day, the one that comes in TOI? that one, and sometimes in my Sudoku book too”

He replied with a smile.

“Do you know that there are Sudoku books? You can solve more than one in a day if you want to”.

No, he shook his head.

“Hmm, I thought so, I have many books at home, Shall I get you one?”

Nodding yes, he smiled. She went back smiling and started reading her paper.

He did not expect her to get him a Sudoku book, he thought that she might have asked it just like that. Obviously, she would not remember to get one for him. Why should she remember for a person like him? She has got many other things to deal with in her life after all. And he just eliminated the thought of it from his mind thinking all of this. For the whole next week he did not see her at all. He got a little worried and felt a little lonely too. Where was she?

                                                                                ****

She entered the library, it was early morning 8.30. She saw him sitting on the chair, one leg crossed over the other, reading a local language newspaper, and some other books lying on the table, the same way she had seen him the first day. He looked up from his newspaper and saw her. She opened her bag and took out the book. 

He knew it then and there, at the very moment that she had after all, really got it for him. As she approached him with a gentle and serene smile, even he could feel a smile stretching on his lips which otherwise was a rare.  He took the book from her, feeling his rough hands against her soft and tender ones.

“For you” she said.

He felt rapturous, astonished and above all cared for.... and somehow he managed to say “thank you”, speaking for the first time ever to her.

She realised that she did not know his name.

“What is your name?”

“Rajesh” he said, she took the book, scribbled something on the first page and gave the book back

He could not believe that after all these years he did really manage to make a friend, a genuine friend, who really cared and after all bothered to know him personally. That was the day when they became from mere acquaintance to being good friends. He was enthralled and on cloud nine to share this with his other acquaintances. No one had done such a thing for him in years, it was just a book, but it made him feel very special. He showed and boasted it off to almost everyone entering the library. He pointed out her to everyone who asked as to where did he get the book from.

“It is a gift for me” he would say with pride .

He could not believe it, his happiness knew no bounds. He saw her leaving the library. The entire day he solved Sudoku. It was late night and time for the library to close. He opened the first page read it again.

“ To, Rajesh...From Ananya”, this was the first time he got to know her name.

This incident created an unnamed bond between them, it grew stronger and stronger with each passing day.

He was so happy that he even called her for a tea, they sat in the library itself and had tea talking over the Sudoku book. He was content that there is someone with whom he could talk to now.

It was late night and time for the library to close. He got up from his chair, the usual place where he sits all alone every single day. He kept all the” things” back to their places, with all the sincerity towards his work he switched off the lights, locked the door with the book still in his hands.

Walking towards his home and realising that he has really grown old now, feeling the pain in his knees and looking at his wrinkled hands, he was happy to have made a new friend after so many years. He was still amazed at the kindness and the affection of Ananya, after all who would even bother to do such a little thing for a man like him, for just a security guard of a library...

Sketches !!! :D