A Day In The Life Of Rini.

"What have you achieved in your life? Anything? You are nothing but a failure."

As if the words were still echoing in the air. Rini sat at the corner of her room,a cup of tea in her hand, already cold, the words still ringing in her mind. Innumerable times she has heard them, they have but little impact on her anymore. But still she thinks sometimes ,are the words right! She has done nothing in this life! Achieved nothing!

She is not the one who listens mutely though. But answers at times.
"My greatest achievement is staying with you this long," she lashes out, " have maintained the family which could have been broken long back."  She continues," I don't earn money but I have earned the family with my patience and hard work, may be not always physically but mentally."

Am I right in thinking so? Rini thought. Have I burnt myself out completely through this journey of mine, adjusting myself constantly, fighting crazily at times. Did the dreams I  had once all fade away , turned into ashes in this fire?

Or are they just excuses? As some say, you haven't tried enough, you gave up too early, you are lazy ,used to an easy life. Easy life? Looks like. But we all have our struggles. Looks simply from that side of the river, Rini says in defending herself. But some even struggle more, they say, you get everything, you complain more. Rini laughs silently. Hardly can she say everything.

Its eleven in the morning. Rini gets up hurriedly. Need to prepare lunch, special for the girl. If only some day the girl becomes one she always wanted to be ,independent ,happy, upright, she will get her payment from life, her achievement. Till then she will not stop hoping.

But now she must run into the kitchen.

The Part 2 of my December tour.- A picture story.

A little late. But let me say about the second day of my visit to the Andaman Islands and the most fascinating part of my journey.

The Baratang Island.

We started from our hotel at 5.30 in the morning and it was a long long drive through villages , 45km through the forest. And here let me say permit is needed , a row of cars start their journey,  no stepping down, no stopping in the middle,  no taking any photos. Here ,  in the jungle lives the Jarawa tribal community,  with their bows and arrows and spears. Previously they remained completely naked but now some of them are learning to dress a little and the children are even picking up hindi. You can google to see their pics as we are not allowed to take any or give them anything,  mainly food, but let me say,  we gave our tiffin to the children silently when the police were not watching , yes,  we all were escorted by the forest guards.

Then we had to take a launch and then a speed boat which speeded through the mangrove forest to take us to a forest area. And from there a long walk of 2 kms through the ups and downs of the forest to reach the LimeStone cave. First time for me. The wonders of the world.

The mangrove forest.

Through the jungle.

We are entering the Lime stone cave.

And this is the cave. Absolute darkness. Our guide shows us light. Its slippery ,its salty by taste ,though you are not allowed to touch, but its too great a temptation. Guide said previously it was about 100 metres long but now only 40% is visible, the rest has been eaten up ,its the guides language, no more visible, the path is closed.

Look at the shapes. They take different shapes and our guide keeps telling us .

And this! Wonderful ,isn't it. Fascinating!

And the little rays of light that enters. 

My return journey was no less beautiful.

But some other day.

A mother's letter.

My dear  girl,
                         You birthday has just passed. Your 16th birthday. How time flies. It seems just like yesterday. On a cold afternoon of January I was admitted to the hospital and you arrived three weeks before the scheduled time. The tiny you. So small and thin that I could hold you in my palm. You hardly had any voice and I remember one day ,among my seven days hospital stay,I became so anxious just because you wouldn't cry ,I could not feed you, and then when the doctor hit you hard on your toes to wake you up I was a bit upset with him. That's how mothers are. And on those days ,as I stared at your tiny frame I knew I will have to live, live long just for you. Not even for your brother ,but for you, anyhow, somehow ,because I always feel a girl needs a mother more than a boy needs her. And now I realise a daughter completes a mother, a family ,as a sister her brother.
                You have changed a lot in the recent years. If something has not changed its your fragile health, your thin structure. You loved to play ,was not that naughty or talkative but loved friends. And you had many of them, from your age to younger ones,you always mixed easily. Can I call it a teenager problem or blame the place we are staying now ,you are becoming an introvert, you love spending time to yourself with your mobile and your family around you.
                      Earlier you always wanted a party on your birthday,and we had one until we were transferred to this place. You loved to go to school in your best fancy cloth, loved a little show off, distributed toffees among friends ,but this time you preferred your school uniform ,no toffees , not even to our neighbours but satisfied with wishes from your friends and a very private family dinner.
                        I wish you to grow up into a fine ,strong and independent lady. I wish you to be successful in life. I wish you to be everything that I wanted and could not attain. I wish you to be brave enough to fight back every odds of life ,to face every challenges of life bravely. I wish you to be a kind person ,a true human being, having all the values of life. These are my little prayers.
                

My winter holiday - Part 1

As I said earlier everything that ends well seems perfect. All through the year I have been through many ups and downs, many because of my own faults but the last 10 days of the year 2018 turned out to be fabulous.
And that is mainly because of our trip to the Andaman Islands.

We were trying this tour for a long time but something or the other were coming our way. But at last we made it.

It was a six day tour and we reached the Port Blair airport at 9 in the morning. The 1st thing that jolted us was the absence of net connection. Another thing, we did not see any newspaper throughout our stay. Truly an island. The sun was strong and there was no chill even in these last days of December.

But all our initial surprises were washed away as we stood in the small beach in the evening with lots and lots of people around. What a picturesque view it was. My words are not enough to description. See for yourself.

The cloudy sky, the reflection on the water, a perfect setting.

Lots of people around. Young people with their fashionable cloths playing around.

The lines of coconut trees all around.

And even our favorite evening snacks is present. Can you see the man selling  jhalmuri.

The bamboo bridge. Basher sako,we call it.

And we return to our hotel fully satisfied, looking forward to some heart moments in the coming six days.