Are you 'IN'? I am 'OUT"

Often now and then I hear people saying - 'I am not materialistic at all'. I am sure saying so is 'IN' nowadays. You say so not because you mean so, but because you want to sound so.

Now, someone with a nice house, a great car and an awesome wardrobe once told me - "I am not materialistic, I can live without all these if the person I love is with me." That made me wonder if the same is true for me.

I thought and thought and realized that I am damn materialistic. Of course I am, I could have been content with a loving husband and a small house had I not been materialistic. I searched for a bigger house like a lunatic and then zeroed in on this after it satisfied all my materialistic needs. It is a big house, with sunny and bright rooms, 24 hours water connection, closer to schools and market and all. To top it, my materialistic mind was overjoyed to see that this house has a balcony too, which is scarce in Mumbai.  Then did I stop at that??  NO, I wanted the best colour on the wall, the best curtains, perfectly matching kitchen etc etc.......  the materialistic craving goes on......

Once the house was done, I was frantically researching for a car. Nowadays, Internet is such a boon, you can search for anything and anyone. Had it not been for Internet, how could you have read this silly piece of writing? Anyways, so I searched and loved the spunky Chevy Beat!. And I bought one.

You think that's all?? No dear friends no, nothing can stop me.....  now I love all possible flower vases, wall paintings, cutlery, bedsheets, curtains and all.....so I keep on buying them all the time. I also keep on buying dresses - sarees, salwars, jeans, tops, skirts, gowns....you name them and I have them, you name them again and I crave for one more and buy.

So, after giving it a proper thought I have realised that by no means I can say that I am NOT materialistic. So I have an altered dialogue for me - "I am extremely materialistic, I can live with the person I love only if he provides all these things that I crave for and agree to buy me dresses every second weekend and indulges me." I know I am not sounding 'IN', but then being 'OUT' is such a bliss and fun!! After all, we just have one life!!

Precious 2 minutes!

We casually mention - 2 minutes - innumerable times in a day, but do we really know what it means? Let me throw some light on it....

I was getting ready for office one morning, Ishan was at home with my sister. Suddenly he came to me and said 'aami du minute tomaar kole boshbo' (wanna sit on your lap for 2 mins!). I had no time but still could not refuse his innocent plea...so I was sitting with him for 2 minutes....  it was only 2 minutes, trust me. By the time I came out of my building I saw that my bus which takes me to the station was gone. I could see it going....shit missed it by 2 minutes. Then it took me a while to get a rick. Somehow I reached the station to see I was on time for my local (train). But to reach to that platform I had to climb the stairs and by the time I reached the platform I could see the train moving away. Gosh, missed the train by fraction of seconds!!  Local missed is horrible in Mumbai.

Local missed means I will not get to see the familiar faces, who will somehow or the other make place for me to stand comfortably and get down araam se. Local missed means I will miss out on the gossips of the train friends (in Mumbai we have train friends too). Local missed means I will miss out on Siddhivinayak prasad, or Sai Baba prasad or ghar mein pooja tha wala prasad. It can also mean missing out on the compliments which you get for wearing even ordinary dresses, now these compliments are such mood boosters I tell you. Even if you wear a very very ordinary dress your train friends will definitely say - "yeh tere pe bahut achcha lag raha hai yaar". Now that works how insulin works for diabetics!  

So I missed out on all those things that day. I got into the next train.....people were not ready to move and make place for me the way my train friends would have done. They were cursing me for carrying this huge a laptop bag and also a handbag. While getting down at Kurla, I almost had to fight my way out and my mood was spoilt for the day. Then I found my TLs and managers annoying, also my colleagues nosey and at home I found all possible faults with my husband.

Next day, my husband made sure my son does not ask me for my precious 2 minutes. He also made sure I got my bus. He called me and asked - You got your train today right.....great to know that.....  now I was so busy garnering compliments for my simple cotton salwaar kameej that I did not give it a thought as to why would he feel great if I got the train!!  ...am thinking now......