Was it conditional love?

Tumko dekha to ye khayal aaya... She hummed along with the song on FM as she dressed. She thought how true the lyrics were for her life.  She had met Ankit when he had lost hope to live and slowly bit by bit her unconditional love had helped him gain his aim in life and a good job. What had he done for her?

A text beeped. "Baby sorry can't make it right now, urgent work!"

She threw her phone in anger. "How could he not say no for a date to her?"

Unconditional love... Or was it conditional love?

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Also Linking it to Write tribe's 100 words on Saturday - 11 and UBC

Was it a trap?

I stood in front of it; mesmerized by how it functioned without flaw…it looked too right. I kept staring for a while before declaring that it was a trap.

My brother looked at me as if I had lost my mind. He, four years older than me, prided himself with knowledge of technology. Whereas, I at the age of five still wasn’t introduced to the term “Science”.

He looked at me with all the confidence and said “just do it”. Then he took my little hand and made me take a step forward.

Half jumping, really scared, even before I knew it, I was standing on a step and the escalator was safely moving.

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Linking it Wednesday Prompt -11 at Write Tribe.

I am taking part in Ultimate Blog Challenge and A to Z Challenge this month.

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of April here.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

An unexpected visitor?100 words on Saturday

She stepped out of shower and got into her night suit. She had had a long day and couldn’t wait to get into her bed. She double checked the door and walked to her daughter’s bedroom.

Anaya slept soundly. She bent down to kiss her daughter and adjusted her blanket. She felt that there was some moment behind her. Was it an unexpected visitor? No! She was alarmed.

She turned around to find nothing. Yet she heard a ruffle. She let out a slow scream.

Anaya mumbled, “Mommy! I bought a Cat home”. As if to agree, there came “Mewww!”

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I woke up to the sound of doorbell. I have clear instructions to all that no one should ring a bell on Sunday morning.

I gingerly woke up and walked to the door. The bell rang for the second time. I shouted “Coming!” annoyingly and peeped through the peep hole. I didn’t see anyone.

I slowly opened the door. To my surprise, my sister jumped right in front of me. She had bought breakfast for us.

She helped me spread it and we sat there, eating, talking and enjoying Sunday. Who says an unexpected visitor is a problem? I don’t!

Linking it to Write Tribe's 100 words on Saturday # 10

One post for this awesome prompt just wasn't enough so I wrote two :)

Today never comes!

“Today I’ll begin writing my posts for A to Z challenge.”My last few days have been beginning with the same hopeful feeling. I wake up and I tell myself that today is the day when I need to do it.

However, today never comes. I know you are thinking that the saying is Tomorrow never comes, but that’s what the case has been with me for last few days. I convinced a few blogger friends to write a guest post for some days but that’s about it.

I at times wonder if I could use Procrastination as my middle name. Imagine how self-explanatory it will be if I called my self Sugandha Procrastinating Agrawal or if I called my blog Shades of Procrastinating Life.

But it doesn’t sound great does it? Therefore, today I did begin writing my first post. Having scheduled one, I feel good about it and realize that it isn’t too tough. But imagine what I scheduled first? I scheduled my post with Z. ;)

Yes! I am going last post first approach on A to Z because the second half of April is quite busy for me. Good luck to me because I am still stuck with several letters for which I can’t find a book, movie, place, website or brand to review.

In case you can think of a suggestion for the remaining letters, here are the ones you could suggest. “K – L – M – N – P – R – U – V – X – Y”

Better still, you could offer a guest post and I will be happily hosting your post on my blog. (You know where to find me)

Good Luck to all my co-bloggers in A to Z.

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Linking it to Write Tribe's Wednesday Prompt # 10

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

The greatest love...

He prided himself with his skill to open strangest locks. Trained by local goons, his skill was now an asset to the country.

So when he discovered Sally’s little box with a cute heart shape lock, he set out to his task. 

He tried to open it for hours. She at last found him, stepped in front and used her little hairpin instead of the key and it opened. Letters from her parents stored inside.

She snapped the box shut saying “the greatest love of all is of parents, and it is so strong that no one can unlock it”.

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Linking it to Write Tribe's 100 words on Saturday

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

Millionaire by Chance

My elder brother had taught me to deal in my business. I couldn’t thank him enough ever in my life. But as many realizations come to us late, this also came last year, eight years after my brother died.

I hadn’t seen my father. My brother was all I had. Ten years elder, he was my only parent. He worked with a scrap metal dealer and supported my education. I wouldn’t say I was a bright student.

When I was fourteen and I got into a fight with some kids in neighborhood, at the time when I was supposed to be in school, my brother decided, I didn’t need education anymore. He started taking me to the small store, which by then he had started independently.

School had fed me dreams and I wanted to be a pilot. The small garage turned into a scrap yard was a nightmare. I spent more time dreaming than working.

For years my brother patiently taught me the value of different metals and deals that made bucks. Although I learnt the fine tricks of the trade, my heart was never at work. I picked up several jobs, at times more than one in order to make enough buck to avoid sight of that yard.

My brother worked hard at his business. Even with differences at work, we were really thick together. He supported me and my family while I fancied a good job and end of misery.

At forty, a sudden illness, and my brother could no longer work as hard as he did. I reluctantly joined him.

We then began to deal with gold and other precious metals. Few years in business, my brother passed away and I was left on my own to deal with the business.

A small Easter egg, I bought in a bric a brac market, sat in my shop for long as I tried to fetch a good price based on the costing my brother taught me. To my frustration, I couldn’t find a guy who would purchase it for a decent price. I believed it could give me a profit of few hundreds and was made of some good gold.

However, unable to find a buyer who would melt it down, it sat on my kitchen top. On a dull evening, my inquisitive streak from school kicked in and I tried to google the words engraved in small letters.  

The result was this –

And the rest is history…

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Above is a fictitious account of events that led to finding of the Faberge egg, turning a scrap metal dealer into a millionaire overnight.

Based on Write Tribe's Wednesday prompt # 9

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

Book Review - Double Jeopardy

Before I begin the review, I’d like to give a highlight of my day on which I downloaded this book from Indireads, i.e. yesterday.

My day yesterday began at 5 am and consisted of 600 km travel through the day. It was supposed to end at 10 owing to a headache. At about 9.45, just checking mail before I slept, I decided to download the book from Indireads and prepare myself to read it the next day.

One the download was completed, my phone automatically opened the file for me to preview.

What began as preview of the book at 10 pm, ended at 1.30 am in completion of the book.

The write-up:

Sanya last saw the twins, Arth and Ansh Sharma, when she was ten years old. Now, all grown up, she has come looking for gentle Arth, the twin she has loved ever since she can remember. But instead, she is confronted with fiery Ansh, who is hell-bent on seducing her. And what’s worse, she can’t seem to stop herself from responding to him.

As she chases Arth and is chased by Ansh, Sanya finds herself on a crazy roller coaster ride with no way of getting off. How will she deal with these two very different men in her life? Will she be able to convince one twin that she loves the other?

My take:

The story is simply written and characters are nicely woven into the story. Each character plays his part well and the story keeps on edging you to read further. Sometimes it reminded me of romance of Mills andboons and some times emotions of Cecelia Ahern. 

A complete story, well rounded in 56 pages, Double Jeopardy is what I say a good light chick-read. I rate the book a 3 out of 5.

P.S. Thank you Sundari Venkatraman for sharing the book for review.

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Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

Women's day - Can I please celebrate?

When it comes to International Women’s day, I can be called as a non-believer. However, now that I am part of the festival, I’d just put up my views and a few questions for you -

A text conversation -

Me: I am going for this women's day meet I told you about.

Him: K

Me: You are okay with it right?

No reply.

Me: you don't want me to go?

Him: no, go.

Me: it seems to me that you don't want.

Him: no it's okay. GO! I am busy.

Me: okay.

I go with a heavy heart.

How many women relate to similar experiences?

If I am not mistaken, many will. Why I ask?

Statistic shows that women are independent, confident as individuals, yet insecure and unsure they are in their relationships.

We might be CEO of multi-national, but we always unsure of our position in front of our partner.

If we miss a dinner, it is more guilt than sadness. If we forget an anniversary (which we rarely do) we go miles out of our way to apologize.

We seek his approval to meet new people, unsure how he'd react. We seek his permission to tattoo. We even seek his approval to get a new haircut.

We feel the need to justify our each action, even when we are not asked for explanation. We feel guilty if we spend some unexplainable time just with our selves.

Yet, we do it. We do it and justify and feel guilty and then again do it. Is it because in our hearts we know we are right but we are not assertive enough?

We gain a few pounds, we are insecure that he might fall out of love. He gains a few, we shower extra love. We make sure that he looses those kgs, but will be extremely careful to not mention it.

We do not say no to him. Literally. Be it in-bed, or out of it. We believe that there is no “no’s” in a relationship. We are pleasers and when it comes to men, we roll ourselves like a foot mat in front of his feet and take all his demands. With time some of us have learned to say “no” but then again we do it with guilt.

More often than not, I meet women who remind me of Julia Roberts of Runaway bride, whose taste in eggs changed as per her boyfriend’s taste.

There are many of us, who understand their position as an equal. There are some who do not live in that guilt. But a majority of us somewhere believe us to be “the weaker sex.”  Are we really one? Do we really need a women’s day?

This women’s day, I want to pose this question to all my female readers – “do you think of yourself as an equal in the relationship?” And to male readers – “do you think your partner is weaker than you?”

Before we go, I'd like to quote Mahatma Gandhi -

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This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

And the award goes to

He shuffled in his seat, waiting to rise up. He composed himself to wave and to smile. Scanned around to see whom he will kiss first...

The presenter opened the envelope, paused for the effect and he half rose in his seat.

“Mathew Mcconaughey”

And he slumped in his seat again before anyone could notice.

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Above is a piece of fiction written for 55 on Friday for Write Tribe Festival – 3.

Have you found Shades of Life on Facebook yet? Please check it out here. 

Please take out time to read more about the featured blogger for the month of March "Aditi Kaushiva" here.

Also, check out the post by a non-blogger who penned down her feeling.

Guests are always welcomed at Shades of Life. Drop me a line at sugandha118@gmail.com and I would love to share your thoughts here.

The search for inspiration

For last twelve hours I have racked all corners of my brain trying to search for inspiration, while the inspiration was right there in front of me.

I blog (ha! as if it is a secret) and I blog mostly based on prompts and inspiration from others. Did it ring a bell? Yes, inspirations.

While there are many who inspire me in my real world, there are many who inspire me blogosphere.

Corrine Rodrigues – We all know her. Her blog Write Tribe (this post is also for that na!) constantly keeps supplying us the prompts and other reasons to blog.

Jairam Mohan – His research behind his each post is impeccable. He is my inspiration when it comes to planning and organizing. 

Richa Agrawal – Talk about someone who is active at all fronts. She blogs, reads, travels, manages groups on social networking websites, tweets and keeps bringing new stuff to the table constantly. You can expect her to ping you on whatsapp and remind you about something that has been due for a while.

Sid Balachandran – Have you seen his blog? Quirky, witty, clever, variant and lively.  A person who can manage social networking as well as blog if not better. You can count on him to remind, reply, comment on all posts on blog as well as Facebook. At the moment he is feeling inspiro-confused ;)

Sakshi Nanda – Did you get a chance to read what I told her after she guest posted on my blog? Well read this and you will know why she is inspiring - Thought I should tell you that I am still overwhelmed by your efforts to write a guest post, actively reply, publicize and manage everything else around the post. It was great to have you on my blog :) guest blogger ho to aisa :)

Well there are a few more whose content inspires me (and actually makes me realize how much I need to work) by how well are they researched and formed. But that’s way too long to put it over here.

Lastly to the one whose post was my inspiration to write this post.

Srilakshmi – Her post on the inspiration that came in form of her mother and her sister inspired me to write about those who in their un known ways push me to do better and bigger in the blogosphere.