Preeti Shenoy - 34 Bubblegum & Candies

By the same author

Life is What You Make it

Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake

The Secret Wishlist

The One You Cannot Have

SRISHTI PUBLISHERS & DISTRIBUTORS

N-16, C. R. Park

New Delhi 110 019

First published by

Srishti Publishers & Distributors in 2008

20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13

Copyright Preeti Shenoy, 2008

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

The author asserts the moral right to be identifited as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

Contents

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For my DadLove is always stronger than death.
For Atul, Purvi and Giathe three candies in my life.
For Satishwho is sometimes a bubble gum, sometimes a candy.

Acknowledgements

Heartfelt Thanks to:

My husband Satish Shenoy who means the world to me.

Ajay Chauhan for being a rock, morale boosting, giving additional inputs and hand-holdingall this in between his very busy life.

K.S.Narayanan for the countless delicacies that he always surprises us with and also uncomplainingly reading and re-reading whatever I wrote.

Sathya Narayanan who enriches our lives by just being there, of course his bartending skills help too!

My brother Prem Kamath for being there always and who told me I was capable of so much more when I told him about my newspaper columns.

Cherissa Castellino who shares every joy and every sorrow of mine.

Bharathi Narayanan who is always willing to empathise.

Chandni Pai who is ever encouraging, ever enthusiastic about anything I do

Niall Young who calls me the star of India!

S.K.V Prabhu who rocks, inspires and proves that age does not matter.

Rohit Srivastwa who designed my website and educated me about many technical thingsI spelt your name right!

Also a big thanks to my friends for being ever ready to listen to me ranting about anything and everything : Suman Jeetender, Sujata Vijaykumar, Jayashree Chinne, Naazneen Pansare, Madhumita Goswami, Gayathri Shenoy (Babbiakka), Priya. (all three Priyas in my life)

And to all my cousins who have given me many happy memories in the growing up years.

A special mention of my online friends

Bibin Das (Whose words were a constant reminder to write), Prashant Mallya (Who is always ready to carry out anything I ask him to do), Guto Carlos & Ravikumar (Who always tell me how much they enjoy reading what I write), Asha Dey (For her kindness), Prathibha Rajesh (For her encouraging words) Shruti Kannara (Who is always thoughtful, always caring) and Rahul Kumar (For the times that he was there when I needed him)

Thanks to my blog readers and other online friends too. (You know who you are!)

Special thanks to the whole team at Srishti, my publishers, and my Editor Ms. Satjit Wadva for the encouragement, tips and suggestions.

And a Big, Enormous, and Extra large thanks to my mom from whom I inherit the ability to laugh at life.

Preface

It is only in fairytales that there are happy endings and the Hero always wins. Real life is rarely like that. It is mostly imperfect. There are times when some things happen that are so embarrassing that you wish you had the powers to escape like Houdini or you could change things with the flip of a switch like changing channels when you don't like a TV programme. No such luck. You just have to grin and bear it. But the good thing is that no matter what it is, it always ends. Just like candies that melt and fade and the bubblegum that you spit out when you are done with it.

When I mentioned the title of this book to a friend, he said, "Sounds interesting. Really interestingbut why Candies and Bubblegums?"

"Because, there are incidents that make you ponder and make you want to think and may be re-think. Like chewing a bubble gum. Then there are others, spiked with doses of humour that make you laugh and leave you a feel-good sensation. Just like eating a candy," I explained.

He liked that.

Most of the incidents described in this book happened to me, and some of them to my friends. You may even relate to some of the incidents yourself and see yourself in some of them!

They just demonstrate that no matter how bad a day you have had and no matter how hopeless the situation that you are in looks right now, things always change. Always. It is just a matter of time.

If you think you have had a bad day, just delve into the candy jar. And if you are in a mood to muse and ponder, help yourself to a bubblegum. I have collected 18 candies and 16 Bubblegums from my life, in this book. But, what is a candy to me might be a bubble gum to you. It is for you to decide which is whatand we all know how deceptive it can be. Just like those sweet colourful balls that seem like a candy but when you bite and chew, they surprisingly turn into a bubblegum. Or that Bubblegum which suddenly has sweetness oozing out from its centre again, just when you thought that the juicy bit was over.

Each morning when you open your eyes you are gifted 86,400 seconds to make a difference. And that by itself is worth celebrating!

My special friend

M any of us have a friend who is more than just a friend. A relationship that cannot be defined or fitted into norms defined by society. A relationship that you treasure and which makes your life richer, more meaningful and happier. It sometimes cannot be named and fitted into a pre-conceived slot as the bond goes much deeper than the mere definition of it. I am no different.

Let me call him 'K' and not give you his name, for obvious and the not-so-obvious reasons. K has always been a part of my life ever since I can remember. Despite the vast age gap between us (he was so much older than me) we got on really well. The age difference between us never really bothered us. K looked so much younger than his age. He had the energy of a man half his age, and the maturity of a man twice his age! He was that rare, perfect combination. He was also amazingly fit, tall and handsome, with a very striking presence.

He was an excellent swimmer. He was the one who taught me how to swim, when I expressed a desire to learn. He would splash water really hard on me, with a swift repetitive movement of his hands and joined my delighted peals of laughter, when I got completely covered in a water jet, created by the sheer power of his hands. We were like children when we went to the beach. K could run really fast, and I would try to catch him, running as fast as my legs could carry me. I never succeeded. When I could go on no more, sweating and panting, I would stop and call out to him. He always laughed and said, "You have to try harder. Never give up!"

I loved him with all my heart. And I think he knew it toobut we never spoke about it. When I was a gawky teenager, trying to find my footing in life, K was there with gentle understanding. After all, he was a man, and here I was, dealing with only silly boys! He listened when I talked. Really listened. I could talk to him about almost anything except boyfriends. I think he knew exactly who I had crushes on.

K encouraged me always to reach my full potential. It is only because of his encouragement that I have several academic degrees today. He loved all my paintings, and even when others thought they were just mediocre, K would always say they were brilliant. I don't think he ever lied to me. He sincerely believed what he said because he could not even draw a straight line, let alone paint! And funnily enough, his belief helped me to become betternot only in academics, art or sports, but also as an individual.