Nivedita Das Narayan

Feel at peace Didn't know I wasn't till I arrived at it; Strange are the ways of the mind and the heart and all that talk of darkness not known without knowledge of light!! I guess, harmony is what brings total contentment to me Harmony, forthrightness, rationalisation of the what's and why's It does take time and once rationalised, I seem to have no qualms about taking many steps, till someone takes their first tentative one and progresses. I guess, I'm not so egoistically obtuse - after all!! Let that be today's recognition, Let that be one more part of the 'self awareness' puzzle that's threatening to take life-long to become a ' WHOLE '; I'm not complaining, very truly the journey being far more satisfying than the destination!! Quest-ing, patient, self-analysing - I continue to BE!!

Life… catches us by surprise, too often for comfort! June 13: N messaged me from Bangalore that he’s raising a toast to Manu… and praying for his soul to rest in peace. I messaged ‘Amen’. Manu passed away peacefully, on June 8. Shock to many, grief to many more, yet perhaps nothing more irreconcilable for his wife. N got to know on June 9, practically woken up by the news, crying inconsolably, miserable, (silently) shocked. Manu is N’s friend, one amongst the delicately few you make during your work years, and stay so, even after jumping several jobs, exchanging cities, getting married and living years not seeing each other. I know N for almost 4 years now, and I’m trying to remember my touch-points with Manu through the years… Like my first invitation to visit Manish Sea Croft to watch a DVD together and my encounter with the incorrigible ‘Peecha Karo’, that apparently was Manu’s heirloom left behind for N. {N, let me tell you it was a precarious choice of a movie on a 3rd or a 4th Da...

I wrote this on the 5th of June, just didn’t manage to give it much shape… still half baked but what the hell… Why give it a name… it’s life It’s been a day full of nuances; germinated somewhere in the chats I’ve had since last evening and this morning. Somehow HAD to source out the two-pin to plug in the Bose and blast the Metro soundtrack. Several thoughts running criss-cross, parallel, contradicting, confirming, affirming; all at the same time. Life, all of a sudden, has offered a unique scale to grade whether I’ve lived a life; fully yet; with its doses of purity, love, hope, hopelessness, despair, optimism, hypocrisy, forgiveness, anger & Déjà vu’s and I’m raring to see how I’ve fared across life’s parameters…Momentary lapses that most of us will find traces of ‘been there’, ‘felt that way’, ‘ah, that feeling’ and resonance The sequence of the ‘lapses’ follows the sequence of the tracks in the album and not necessarily that of life… In dino dil mera, Mujhse hai keh raha Tu khw...

This Saturday’s visit to Tea Centre in town was a celebration. A snacky celebration of memories, in culmination. I’ve visited this place before but this visit with N threw up a special Delhi – nostalgia. Ushered in by liveried waiters, interiors resplendent in Green and its various shades, water color portraits hung on walls - to be sold, almost every seat taken up - by a curious mix of 20 somethings and all ages. Curious because we did not expect the 20’s generation to be enjoying tea when the Café Coffe Days & Coffee Worlds are winning the opinion polls by huge margins. We’re victims of cliche may be! The order was placed. Mind you, the only way to be waited upon was to summon attention by ringing the bell at our table. An unexpected craving for something old and familiar tugged at my palette and I made the suggestion to N. Pakoras . We wholeheartedly succumbed and so placed the order for a plateful of Pakoras. They came. With Daintily flavored Assam tea in a Carafe (they’ve done...

Have been rather busy... with what you'd ask! - cannot translate coherently into anything that makes sense. A jamboree really : N finally met up with his cousin, he viisted The Nest for dinner. The food (that I served! ) was not much to my liking, am not sure hence if the guest went back much sated!! Was good to listen to some anecdotal teasings & nostalgia between the cousins. And some dark family secrets (as they termed it). Net net - it's proven: it's always fun catching up with cousins, despite lengthy periods of no 'connect' over the width of seas, STD/ ISD lines, hundreds of kms, family functions, family group Ids, birthday wishes and the rest. The surprise on my Birthday saved more than a few bad hours (N?)... what with Chaya and gang conspiring with my husband to gift me a surprise-gatecrash with cake, love, hugs, et all. Some photo moments will be posted soon. Secret well kept N! and a great one at the dusk of a day when i'd silently wondered '...