Love Marriage Arranged Marriage....

Priya was celebrating her birthday...she had made arrangements for a party at home..She had been wanting to call her friends over for the time that she had taken up a place of her own.So it was to be a House warming cum Birthday party.She had invited her close friends..about 10 in all. The party was going to be special also because one of her childhood friends was going to get married-3 weeks away. She had ordered food but the dessert was being made by Swati ...the girl getting married . Swati had insisted on taking charge of the dessert section. Priya knew how excited was Swati about her forthcoming marriage and in her sweet way was trying to learn making some special dishes ,two out of which were to be presented tonight. Swati 's marriage had been fixed by her family and she was very happy with their choice.

The party was on..Everything was taken care of...Swati had been helping Priya with everything ...Friends had come and there was laughter ,music and merriment. Dolly had flown down from Bangalore for the week end for this get together ...she had another interest too..she would get to spend time with her boyfriend too so Dolly was snuggling up with Harsh and everyone was having a great time..
Dinner was announced...food was excellent ..was being relished by one and all. Then Priya announced that the best was yet to come ...The dessert was prepared by Swati....there was a big cheer and the tempting gorgeously looking dishes were laid on the table. Everyone gave out cries of appreciation and jokingly Harsh told Dolly,''Swati has been at cooking ,getting prepared for marriage .have you started too?''Pat came Dolly's reply,''Swati is having an arranged marriage...I will have a love marriage. She needs to learn to please her new family . Thankfully I would not need to do any such thing...so why should I be doing all this?'' ''Love or arranged any kind of marriage would entail eating ,Dolly so?''quipped in Priya.''well Harsh will see to that ..thats not my problem'''sang Dolly and gulped down a generous spoonfull of the chocolate mousse...

Swati was thinking about the conversation, lying on her bed late night. Was she doing it to please her new family because it was going to be an arranged marriage? Just because Dolly had found her life partner before marriage , did she not need to please anyone ,as she had put it? Swati was confused at the inferences...what was the difference between Dolly and herself? Both were friends ...same generation ..then ?

Slowly slowly peace started setting upon Swati's face ...she had got her answers ....
She concluded that she believed that it was not just a person that she was going to marry ...to possess...she was marrying into a family which would henceforth be her new home. She had learnt from her mother ,seeing her all life doing things for her loved ones. She had learnt the joy of caring ...doing ...serving ...making extra efforts to do things for the people who are her partner's family...would be loving him in the true sense . She did not want to love where it meant possessiveness and made her narrow minded. She remembered her mother saying once,''Swati, the relationships that you make on your own, the ones that you take upon from your loved ones willingly ...always putting others before you ....will actually reflect the person that you are from heart. Always have a large heart and try to encompass more and more....I never think of the wealth that I could leave behind for you for I do not have much...but I would always want to leave behing a big big flexi heart filled with love ....for you to carry on giving out love and joy to all.''
''Yes Mom...I too want to do the same. To love my new family from the core of my heart...because I know it is going to be my family....''Spoke Swati in her heart and went off to sleep with a sweet warm glow on her face. She had her sympathies for Dolly's thoughts.....

A Perfect Gift

Rohit had been thinking for the past few days....he wanted it to be different ...his wife's birthday this year ....as it was her first after their marriage.He took her shopping....made plans for a nice dinner....suddenly he was excited on getting an advice from his sister....''Do something yourself ''she apparently had suggested...''like what ''...''well like bake a cake!''The idea appealed to Rohit a lot. He came to his mom in the evening,''can you help me bake a cake mom?'' On hearing about the idea Pooja felt very happy ..She readily agreed on helping Rohit with it.

Came the day ...Rohit rushed backhome early that evening...Pooja had made all the arrangements for him ..and Rohit baked the cake with Pooja's help...The cake turned out perfect...

At the stroke of midnight the beautiful cake was laid on the table...Pooja told Ria , Rohit's wife,that the cake was baked by Rohit.The expression on her face was apt for the Visa Master Card ad....Somethings are Priceless....Pooja looked fondly at the loving glow on her son's face....She looked at her husband and she could read the same satisfaction in his eyes too ...the satisfaction when you see your children happy ...God's blessings on you to see the things you value, in your children...

Pooja was filled with gratitude towards the God Almighty that she could see that her children had understood and had valued the art of Doing something Yourself to show your love.....

Money has immense power ...no doubts about that ...but money should never be my master...should never have the power to enslave me ....make me weak...

Pooja had seen her children rating this simple home made cake much higher than the best of cakes from the best of bakeries that any amount of money can buy and this was the reason for her contentment...for she always believed that money should help one do more rather than make one do less. Money is the means ...to strengthen oneself rather than weaken and any amount of money can not bring the happiness that one can get by ''Doing ''something for love....

Order and Disorder

Hi I m Cheeni......the little girl blinked at me smilingly....She is a ten year old...cute girl...with a label of Down syndrome. It is said to be a disorder....incurable,but if understood correctly can be dealt with....The word disorder....I was looking at it with a new perspective....what is a disorder ...anything that is out of the normal range of human behaviour qualifies for this term...the normal range ...again is decided by man ...you have to do so as everything is relative...to understand Day one needs to know Night...similarly anything that does not subscribe to our accepted parameters ,is said to be a disorder....

I was trying to understand this....I was thinking we have pass and fail catagories in our academics....anyone getting marks above 40% is said to pass ...anyone getting below that fails....I was thinking about the 39% and the 41% ones....how much of a difference is there between them ...not much in terms of capabilities and performance....but a sea of a difference in their catagories....one has the stigma of a faliure and the other has the distinction of having passed....

God has created this amazing world...most of it we do not understand..but there are certain things that we know are not in our hands ...like having a child like Cheeni....does it sound cruel? I dont know....what I know is that what ever we are and what ever we have ..if only we try to understand and work upon it correctly ,we can change the results dramatically...Mahatma Gandhi had rightfully said...condemn the wrong not the doer...for if we condemn the wrong and try to better it , instead of spending our lives shunning the doer.we can bring about a lot of positive change in the situation in turn affecting our own selves positively....

If only we understand this simple connection between our thoughts and our fate,probably we will try to always find ways to solutions ,rather than be stuck to the blame game syndrome and ruin our own lives.