The Yellow Rose..

I see a chirpy home she said, with birds singing the morning song. As I wake up from my bed, I want to enter a garden and keep my feet on the lawn, smile with the first tickle of dew drops making my feet happy with a hot cup of tea in my hands.

A dream we once had she said, when we were young and worked hard for a great life. The life we promised we will give your father, one day and eventually to you as a heritage.

From the hustle and bustle of city life, we want to live, we see a blue bungalow of our own, with a wall full of yellow roses. A dream we saw when we were young, with fire in our bellies and give you all the comforts.

Will you fulfil my dream she asked? When I open my window all I want to see is Yellow Roses. I then want to come out on the lawn and get my feet tickled with dew drops. A hot cup of tea will only ensure that blood flows well in my streams as the fragrance of the roses makes me remind of the dream we had seen together.

Magical isn't it? Same dream, one saw and so did the other? She then smiled at me and said, your grand father was a simple man, guess he blended with my dream, just like how sugar blends in our morning tea.

It's been 7 months since she is gone, She lives within the first smiling rose, now popped out in our garden today, all in her memory. I sat on our garden bench couple of days back looking at the buds with my wife, all we did was let the dew
kiss our feet and our eyes too. We smiled eternally!

Chuck a U-EY

Did ya know? knowing the true meaning of 'Chucking a u-ey' in 'Straya' is so important, it's like missing throwing caramelised onion rings on the side, when you barbecue.

When I started driving in this wonderful country, I was once asked by a buddy to Chuck a u-ey. Trying to blend with the culture, I did not ask what he meant and just continued driving like a kick-ass Indian driver, nodding my head and biting on the gum saying 'Ya mate'!.

After missing several U-eys and driving for extended 20 k's I was reprimanded and made to blend in my bloodstream, this brilliant quote of mother nature so simple, serene, that only meant - Take a U-turn!!!

Come on Utpal, how easy was this to crack. When in 'Straya' (Australia) you gotta chuck a u-ey mate!! Having enriched with this pearl of wisdom, I was geared up for many more road trips with this friend. We decided to head to Sydney one day for an on business training. “Ootie” (Uttie for Utpal) as my close mates call me here, he said, we are gonna have Dingo's breakfast today mate. Wow!! While in India, I had known Dingo is like a wild red four legged animal found in the Australian outback.

Being a carnivore, I thought god has planned to bestow upon this exotic specie on my plate, with utter happiness and hunger I began to nod and drive, It had been a while and I almost saw the road sign saying Liverpool (a suburb on the outskirts of Sydney)..wait a minute, we were to have something exotic right? “Pig's arse” (I don't agree) he said, Dingo's breakfast means no-breakfast you mighty Indian god!!

Haha..“Ripper”(Great) I replied and we had a hearty laugh! Deep down under, in my heart I knew I was better off having a McChicken from Maccas (Mcdonalds) and not Pigs Arse or some Dingo for gods sake.

Although my formal education has been in English, I am sure even the doyens of Oxford would just nod when asked to chuck a u-ey and say Ya Mate!!

Snug

As I curl up to sleep for the extra five minutes after smashing the alarm clock for more than three times, I realise how important it is to just relax and sleep in at times. I also realise how important it is to iron the business shirt before going to bed, polishing the leather to walk down the business street, hanging the winter coat in the car just to save that extra minute or even opening the garage door to save those 5 seconds.

The warm winter snug then takes me to a different parallel world, as I party in my bed on a weekday, I see a lot in those five snoozed minutes. I see cars I fantasise, a favourite straight drive hit by Tendulkar, our first bike ride as the pillion rider sleeps next to me like its still mid-night, as I still interact with the builder to put the right coloured timber baton chosen by us.

And then, I hear a soul threatening sound, it takes me from the unreal to the real world in micro seconds. I run to the closet, pick a shirt, polish the leather, hang the winter coat in the car, open the garage door & yes, I shave and shower in midst of all this too.Yes
Spider-man you were correct, responsibility does follow great power, but had you mentioned what to do when it is -7 degrees outside, the movie would have been a bigger hit. Caught in your own net, mate?

As I count 5 days of the week and sleep like a baby on the morning of day 6, after threatening the chirpy bird in the morning to sleep for little long too... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnng.... my soul wakes up again..why did I not shut the alarm clock last night? First world issues!