She's my Mom!! :-x

Last week the Asa ki Vaar Keertan happened at Kulwinder veer's place. The path, keertan and langar everything was as usual too good, a refreshment for my soul which I always look out for from Monday - Friday. When the program is at Kulwinder veer's place it always ends with a special tea! Something I never like to miss! Bhabhi ji is just awesome when it comes to cooking! That specially goes for the Chhole....both Kaale and Chitte! There is a special recipe that she holds patent for! There's something in that which makes us hard to control for not visiting Kulwinder veer's place on Saturdays.

What was different this time was that we had Kulwinder veer's brother from Canada with wife and kids visiting Kulwinder veer, and their families were together hosting this keertan program. The kids were just in fine (quiet) state till the time Ardas started and it was then when the real play began. Personally I like kids when they are quiet, smiling, not littering around and not crying. I think I expect too much from them ;)

Bascially there were four kids in the house. Jasmine (10yrs), Amrit (the one in the pic, not me, 1.5 yrs), Rabia (few months) and another one around same age as Jasmine..So the drama started during the Ardas time when one of the kids suddenly realised that it is Ardas time and she isnt covering her head! And during Ardas I could hear from one of the corners "Mummy mainu nunni chahidi hai!!" Though I do not understand kids script very well but this one was damm easy to comprehend. The real fun started when I could soon hear two more voices.."Mainu vi, Mainu vi"...

Finally there was enough of noise in the room along with Gujinder veer's voice doing the ardas that Bhabhi had to leave to the kids room to get Chunnis for all chotti chotti bibiyaan...But pange taan oddon painde ne, jaddon bache apna samaan kise hor kol dekhde ne! "Mummy oh meri nunni hai!!" Apni mili hoyi bhavein hun jithe marzi jaaye, but dooje bache kol jehdi apni cheez hai oh laini pehlan zaroori ho jaandi hai!!. Pher shuru hundi hai kheecha taani and the game of survival of the fittest! Te aithe aandi hai mummiyaan di shamat! :)

But still Bhabhi ji and new Bhabhi were too composed while handling the kids..Guess it must be the usual drama for them. While I was fully enjoying this drama without even caring to play the role of refree, I didn't know at that time there were soon more interesting episodes of it to come. The elder daughter of Kulwinder veer's brother somwhow seemed to be well attached with our local Bhabhi and just came and sat in her lap. Amrit just saw that and came rushing towards her Mom and made some space for herself and sat on the other half of the lap.

Then started the love showering session! She almost tried her best if she could pacify her by peace that this was not her place and she should return back to some place which she has rights on! When she could not succeed by her peaceful approach, she picked the second weapon - The complaint requests to her Mom!! Through her mumbling words and her sweet voice she narrated the whole epic in half a minute about what kind of injustice was being done to her!! And that she didn't expect such kinda behavior from her Mom!! How could she allow some kid which is not her own to sit in her lap, and that too when she was just around??

While actually she might have been away playing with whatever she wanted to, away from her Mom, but when her birth rights are at stake of being shared with someone for free, how could she let that happen! And this is what I love in kids...the assertiveness, specially with their parents! Its hard to see that deep love when you grow up! With every minute passing it was becoming tough for Bhabhi to manage with two kids sitting in her lap and one of them pushing the other one hard away from both of them and the other one trying to maintain her composure and position in the universal mother's lap! Soon she had to give up and asked her husband, Kulwinder veer for some help who just picked up of the kids and made her sit in his lap!

And here was Amrit, all smiling and cheering!! And she had won a big battle of wining her Mom back!! There was so much peace in sitting alone fully occupying the complete lap and not even sharing iota of mom's attention with anybody else! I just recall one of lines from a ghazal by Jagjit Singh...
"Yeh dil bhi ik zid pe adda hai kisi bache ki tarah,
yaan sab kuch hi ise chahiye yaan, kuch bhi nahi!"

Anyways the drama soon ended..there are lots of these kind of dramas happening all these days while the veer from Canada is here. But it was just too lovely to watch a small kid fight for a place, the best place for her in the world..which belongs only to her...

Another peg goes out of Checker Board!

“Mera naam Jasmine Wadhwa hai te main aithe Accenture vich kam karni haan. Te mainu Hyderabad vich 1 saal ho gaya hai.” This was the introduction which was shared with Soch members which she joined SOCH almost a year back. Je aj shayad ehna nu Introduction deni paye taan oh kuch alag hi hoyegi. “Mera naam Bibi number 3 hai, te mainu Soch vich aaya 1 saal ho gaya hai.”

I am not sure if people get that feeling of making a confession, when they first time give their introduction while coming into SOCH. For me it was almost a confession of something equivalent to a sin, saying that I have been in Hyderabad for almost 3 years and, “Yes” I admit to that fact that I have been unfortunate to stay away from SOCH all this while. If you do not get this feeling it is still fine, may be you haven’t yet met everybody in SOCH or may be the first meet wasn’t that inspiring for you. But the feeling definitely would come when you have to leave this city and this is what this Bibi would have to go through this weekend.

If I do not consider the past few months, to be frank I hardly knew any bibi of Khalsa House III. Leave aside the idea of writing a blog about any one; I won’t be in a position to introduce them properly to a stranger. Thanks to the times that we have all spent together while having dinner or sometimes in Kitchen fighting over what Masale to be put into the dishes, I can manage to write few words about everyone here now, and this blog has all rights to be dedicated to Jasmine Kaur since she is leaving Hyderabad to join Accenture office in Bangalore.

I think there are some very typical dialogues that we all will be missing in the morning times.

“Veerji, main bahut late ho rahi haan, bilkul time nahin hai, main kuchh nahi khaana, othe bas nikal jaani hai meri, pls….nahin naaa…main challi haan….Achha kehdi daal wale paraunthe ne…vaise garam lag rahe ne..chalo adha de do… swaad taan bahut bane ne….haan ik hor roll karke dedo tissue vich”

“Agar tum aadha khaogi to main bhi kha lungi.” Eh relative bhukh da concept bahut famous hai Khalsa House vich. Eh hunda kiddan hai, kaddi pata nahin lagga but I know even I am affected with it.

Ehna da “oh” matlab taan kaddi hunda hi nahin hai jo ehna de munh vichon nikal jaanda hai. Pata nahin munh vich aa ke kaun gallan rakh jaanda hai ehna de! “Veerji mera oh matlab nahi si.”Te pata nahin kinne saare “I” laga dinde ne eh nahi de end vich.. ;)

“Main na bas thoda jeha parauntha garam kar laini haan..pher na makhan pigal jayega, te swaad lagda hai.” I have heard this one many times but main kaddi samajh nahin paya ki eh mainu samjha rahe hunde ne, yaan makhan nu, yaan paraunthe naal hi kuch zyada intimacy hai ehna di, ke apas vich gallan baatan chaldiyan ne. Jo vi hai main vi aggo “Theek hai ji” jawab use nu de dinda haan jisne pehli gal suni hundi hai! :D

Mainu lagda hai ehna de pichhle janam vich Ajwayan da wholesale da kam si! Though I am myself a fan of Ajwayan but ehna da is naal rishta kuch zyada gehra wala hai! Rabb sukh rahe, eh pyar aiddan hi banya rahe! :P Je eh kaafi saal pehle hoye hunde, te itehaas eh bana sakde, taan aj Punjab Makki di roti te sarron de saag di jagah te, Sarron de saag de naal Pizze khan layi mashoor hunda! Ganddeyan di jagah de Italian seasoning de packet bhane jaande, te gheo di jagah sauce pa pa sehattan bann-niyaan si! This “All time pizza bibi” can eat Pizza anytime of the day, even after full fledged dinner. Rabb na kare, but by chance kaddi kuch kha ke andar gadbad vi ho jaye taan, Jawayan na di vi koi cheez hundi hai! ;)

By the way ik hor gehra rishta hai ehna da kise naal. Te oh hai Y Factor. Mere khayal naal Khalsa House vich hun koi puchhda taan nahin hai ki bhala Y kehdi bala hai, par samajh hale vi koi nahin paaya hai! Jinna ku gyan main hun tak lai paaya haan, us de mutabik Y har khaan wali cheez vich hundi hai, jisdi percentage goes on increasing exponentially with time. Jinni bayi sabzi ohni hi Y zyada! Bas rotiyan nu chadd ke hun tak baaki sab cheezan de vich Y payi ja chuki hai! Mere khayal naal dhaabhe de naal naal je eh Y di dukaan khol lain, taan change kamayi ho sakdi hai! :P Dhaabhe de board de neeche appan likh dena hai, “Khalsa House wale – Wholesale dealer in Y products!” ;) But kyonki Waheguru ne ehna da jawayan naal ehna pyar baksheya hai, enha nu eh samajh laina chahida hai ki Jawayaan di sharan aayan Y da prakop nahin hunda, te eh bhai ehna nu man vichon kadd dena chahida hai! :P

Ehna di Hindi chhuddande chhuddande taan meri Punjabi gawachan laggi si! Haarke I had to abort this operation. Out of all the bibis I must say she was the most enthusiastic to learn Keertan. And she learned it with great pace. She needs little practice and she can definitely get going in this line. Though she has got a lot of dreams to do a lot of things. In fact she is ready to start almost anything but being in IT. Since she is moving out I am worried about the Bibiyan da dhaba which never opened in Hyderabad. May be she has similar plans of setting up this business in Bangalore. And God knows what will happen to the Pedd jisde naal ja ke eh gallan karde hunde si. Changi chup chaap ho jaani hai othe vi… :P

She is good cook. Baddi vaar ehna de hath de bane Rice khade ne assi Sat dupahar nu. Oh gal wakhri hai ki je gussa aa gaya taan pher eh kachi daal vi sutt sakde ne takde de andar without realizing ke oh aap hi bai ke kadni hai baad vich! :P

Jasmine, to be frank we not giving you any farewell. Also considering the fact that you are the one who is moving to place which is closest to Hyderabad as compared to all that have moved out of SOCH in the recent times, we definitely expect you to be here as often as you can, but definitely not in the weekends as you have Rain Sabayi in Bangalore. Dont ever miss it!! Consider yourself as lucky to be moving to a city where you have a similar group going. Make sure to be a contributing part of it.

Wishing you get the company of Sangat wherever you go and best wishes in all fronts of life. I am not writing here much on farewell part, since we all are expecting you here after a month. Best Wishes & Stay Connected.

When guests are coming in Bachelors’ House!!

I was anyways thinking about coming back early from Gurudwara Sahib this Sunday when I got to know that we were expecting Jasdeep veer’s cousin sister and her family in Khalsa House for a short visit. So that meant we need to do some preparations for hosting the guests as are normally done in any Indian House.

I am not really sure why do we always tend to change the look of the house and ours too when somebody is visiting our house. The activities started with bringing in fruits, milk and biscuits and namkeen from the market. Now people are responsible (read as wise) enough to not to be explained that you need to bring in stuff when you have guests coming in. Apne aap hi sab samaan aa jaanda hai bazaar ton and as expected it was Ramindar veerji who did job without any hint being provided.

So started the activity of changing the bed sheets, picking up the extra newspapers from the deewan lying in the drawing room of the Khalsa House and dumping them in an invisible corner. The shoes which had been unlucky for the entire week finally found their graceful position on a shelf in shoe rack. Normally breakfast layi daal wale paranthe hi chal jaande ne, but when you have guests coming in Paneer wale paraunthe taan hone hi chahide ne! ;-) The best we treat ourselves while having lunch is by spreading newspapers beneath the plates or max by sitting on the floored mattresses in place of sitting on chataai. But today we would be having lunch on new bedsheet with table mats ;-) Though it is a different story that we had spread table mats on the mattress which was spread on the floor! :D

Also as per normal hospitality rules, when we have guests coming in we need to find glasses which are at least of same shape and size! And the cups in which tea has to be served also should be socially displayable and should be from the same family. Otherwise normally in Khalsa House we don’t mind having mango shake in coffee mugs of all different colors and shapes. So were brought four cups which all were of same shape and color from Khalsa House 3!! Wow!! ;) But for bachelor guys that also means lack of variety, pata kiddan lagge bhi kinne kidde vich chaa paani pitta si te kehda bina peete chala gaya hai! :PAlso the butter was brought in two packs, the 100g one which could easily be cut into perfect cubes and served and the normal Jumbo pack from which the sangat would eat after the guests would have left. Jadd tak chamach naal makhan nahin kaddeya tad takk savaad kithon aane ne! ;)There is a table which has been unfortunate enough to be loaded like a mule with all that doesn’t find place anywhere else in the Khalsa House. It was a lucky day for it as it was covered with red bed sheet and pinned from sides to hide from the guests, the piles of newspapers, pamphlets, unopened mails and God knows what! And to further add to the beauty of the table we had placed the only soft toy in the Khalsa House – A teddy bear which now more of resembled a galli da kutta because of the dirt on it and the way its fur now looked. But you can’t expect more than this from a Bachelor’s house!! So this had to be acceptable! :P

While all this was being done everybody was enjoying the sudden activity happening around and the fact that the house was getting cleaned on an excuse of someone coming as a guest. The drawing room’s fan has been non functional for a while and we have been too lazy to get it repaired. So we thought of escorting the guests directly to the mattresses which were laid down on the floor in the hall instead of seating them on the Dewaan in the drawing room. You can make all these arrangements to look more sophisticated, hygienic, organized but the simplicity in you is bound to show its presence when guests finally pour in! ;)

And this act was completed by Jasdeep veer when Didi, Jija ji and their kid Parmeet had finally arrived. Just after exchanging salutations Ramindar veerji requested them to be comfortable on the deewan to which Jija ji responded “Nahin andar hi bathde haan araam naal” pointing to the mattresses in the hall. To which Jasdeep veer instantly added “Naale othe pakha vi chalda hai!!” I almost burst into laughter but had to control myself as no one else had noticed it happening! :PSo finally the saga ended in couple of hours and we all could come back to our normal state from being extra civilized. Not that the people in Khalsa House live in inhumane conditions or piles of litter around, but too much of organized stuff is kind of allergic here and we finally breathed as we could now heat the vegetables and take them in the same kadayi and pans in which they were heated to directly serve them into plates instead of first transferring them into serving bowls.

Not that I was witnessing this story of arranging stuff and making sure everything is spotless clean before the guests arrive for the first time. But every time I have to part of it I am always left with questions like why do we change the living standards for those who have come from almost same houses, leaving their houses in may be even worse conditions than ours! Why do people change bed sheets, take out new clean tables mats, napkins and liquid soaps while normal Lifebouys are the ones which have been in use till now and will be back on soap shelves when guests are gone!

Though the formalities and arrangements that were made were very very minimal in comparison to what would have been made had a family been a host! But even this one was enough for a Bachelors’ house to get shuffled completely to a state which was more of somebody else’s house rather than our house! Jasprit Veerji couldn’t resist himself and had finally made a mocking statement “Mainu taan ik vaari ghar dekh ke name plate dekhni pai gayi..sahi ghar hai na!”

Farewell / Reunion

It has been not too many days since I wrote a blog about Harman Veerji when he was leaving for Gurgaon and now it is Parmeet veer heading for the same place. Though I wanted to increase the frequency of writing blogs but not in this way. In the past few weeks there has been a good increase in terms of headcount in the group but with so many members moving out of the city I am now feeling bad. The relay race which started with Sumit veer moving to US, followed by Gujinder Singh moving to Australia, and then Harmandeep shifting to Gurgaon now it is Parmeet Singh which will be followed by Hardeep Singh who will soon be flying for US.

Before Parmeet veer starts feeling that this blog was not meant for him I better start jotting about him. Had I not stayed in this house for last three months I would have probably thought that he knows to speak only one sentence “Veerji aap chai peeoge?” Like me he loves tea, not sure if he loves making it as well but my selfish part always assumed so, and has helped me enjoy his magic many times. Though being a good cook, he could not put his skills to work in Khalsa House’s kitchen. “Jithe Ramindar veer di kardchhi chaldi hove, othe hor koi taddke kiddan la sakda hai!” :D This is a complete topic in itself and I would love to write about it…Till then it would be enough to say that I really admire and love how Ramindar veer does it…and would like to see him continue doing what he has been doing till now.

After kids, I think Parmeet veer (the one in black turban) is the cutest member of Soch. He is…no, he seemed to be a complete introvert when he joined here. There is a complete story about what he felt when he came to Khalsa House for the first time. Since he himself is into writing blogs I would rather leave that to him to write a complete blog about his life’s break at Khalsa House Station.

Had Meerut been an overnight journey I am pretty sure that we would have never seen this guy here on weekends. And it is actually difficult to stay away from your sweet kid (Sidak in his case) and your family. That very well explains his being on calls almost all the time after dinner till we sleep. Am writing this blog on Saturday while he is busy searching a house in Gurgaon on Sulekha.com sitting in the next room. There are plenty of things that are going on in his mind right now…He is just too happy and too excited for his transfer. But am also sure there would be a glitch of going away from here. Not sure how Parmeet or rest of the guys feel here, but I personally feel it would be great for anybody to let their kids grow in the company of these chachus. There are a lot of things which can be seen here practically, which you can find printed in chapters of Divinity school books.

Coming back to Parmeet Singh and his journey here, I think Parmeet veer had that luck to get into the Khalsa House. He had met Kanwal veer casually on road as a stranger and it was just after a conversation that Kanwal veer welcomed him here to stay for whatever months he was supposed to stay in Hyderabad. It is just that those few months have now come to an end and it is the happy time for a family reunion.

In future I would like to see another reunion. I would like Sidak to meet all of these Chachus and know what kind of love and affection did Parmeet veer enjoy while he was here in Hyderabad. With this I recall a small gesture which I would like to pen down in my diary.

Though completely out of superstitions, you would find Khalsa House members believing in Nazar Lagna in one way. The day Ramindar veer looks ‘too’ good (though he looks good daily) Parmeet veer does his act of “kaala til lagaana” so that Ramindar veer nu nazar na lag jaye. Since we do not have Kajal here this is done with a black marker beneath the ear close to where turban ends! The first time I saw it happening live, I thought somebody is trying to leave without eating breakfast and he is being persuaded to have it by Ramindar veer, who has lot of such responsibilities in the morning. But then I got to know…this was a mark of affection which was being put by an elder brother. I wonder from now on, who will tag Ramindar veer with a ‘til’, the day he looks extra smart. I was given a feedback by someone that my blogs have an emotional touch, but I doubt if we have a person here who is not emotional. And I’ve seen Parmeet Singh getting emotional for with a thought of leaving this place, especially because of the bond he shares with Ramindar Veerji and the good time he had while Sumit veer was here.

Parmeet veer, we would like to meet Sidak. Please bring him along next time you come to meet all of us. And I have another request to make... We would like to see Sidak as a fluent speaker and a comfortable good reader in Punjabi. Please try your level best that you impart this education to him while you nurture him. You already have our Master ji in Gurgaon who got a release from here just a week before you.

I am still confused to term this as a Farewell or a reunion. It is a Farewell...Farewell to the bachelor life which he had to live while his kid and wife were away in a different city, farewell to all those lonely times which Bhabhi ji and Sidak had to spend while he was being loyal to his job here, and also farewell to the sweet times which he got to spend here in Hyderabad. But the best is the reunion happening in his family or rather union of two families, Parmeet veer's with the Soch Parivaar. Yes, we have expanded again...

Rendezvous with Harmandeep Singh

The things I could recall about Harman veerji after meeting him for the first time were:
· He had done a brilliant Ardas involving himself and others completely
· He had great knowledge in bani
· Was fond of eating! ;)

After being in touch with him for the past few months the headlines still remain the same, though news have been shuttling between main and extra pages. Though we all knew that he was looking for a change on north side but when we heard about it we were happy and sad at the same time. We would be losing a wise member for the group discussions. The first statement that everybody said was “Hun Ardas kaun karega?” Soch has it…a specialized member for each thing and it is Harman veer for the Ardas. The best about him in this aspect was to include the occasion be it happy or sad, into the last section of the Ardas. There was never a need to tell him about somebody being unwell or a happy occasion being celebrated. Suneya hai kise kise di ardas zyada suni jaandi hai…I believe he is one of them…

There’s a lot of stuff that we all have learnt from him. The last few trips with him to Bidar and Hazoor Sahib have specially been very rewarding for me. He is normally very frank and open for discussions, but sometimes the ambience makes the difference which can take conversations to boundaries which have not been explored earlier. With Harbaksh veerji also being there with us for the trip to Bidar, I was feeling like I am on a trip with two Harman veers. When there are two intellectuals talking the horizon of talks get limited to the domain of the one with less knowledge. And here I was witnessing the conversation of two veers who seemed to talking about anything and everything about principles of life, Bani’s implementation in practical scenarios and how far are we from the right track we should be on. I contributed a lot to their conversation by being silent, for I did not want to limit the domain of their conversation. :)

There are two sides of him and you need to meet both to know him completely. The confident DBA in corporate attire transforms into a complete theth punjabi with saffron keski and white Punjabi casuals ;) at his home. Feels proud to be associated to his culture and the pind diyan gallan which he narrates with great interest. And there is a depth in his voice which will entangle you in his conversations and make you believe that life is still simple and cool. Basically a very good conversationalist I think he can talk at length with anyone on any topic, condition if the person is front is receptive and worth what is being discussed about. His small eyes are enough to scold you for anything he doesn’t like happening around. Though he would wait for sometime before he starts expressing his concerns, the silent stares are enough to hint you about what to do next to keep all calm. Yes I have received some and am afraid of them. ;) Daadd gilli karna is one of his favourite hobbies and we have given him patent for this phrase and for another one…something related to birth of a question! ;)

We have been pushing him like anything for starting a new group back in Gurgaon because with coming times people might be going back to north side closer to their homes. After enjoying the company of Sangat here I don’t think there can be a Happy Weekend without being in such a sangat. And with Bhajan veerji, Gagan bhainji and now Harman veerji being there as well, I hope it won’t take much time to erect a building since pillars are already in place.

We recently had a get together dinner at his place where he addressed everybody, recollecting his memories of how he came into the group and how has he changed since then and what changes could he notice in everybody in the times that have passed by. He just connected it in such a beautiful way like there was a movie playing in front of us and it seemed like we would have a emotional climax to this one but we could avoid it with a joke cracked by Ramindar veer! ;) Ramindar veer, Thanks for that…you could limit the conversation to just heavy voices. Though he said a lot about all of us, even after provoked by Randeep veer I couldn’t muster enough of words to say something for him and rest everybody as well chose to keep quiet. So here comes this blog letting all that out which could have been said that day. It was better not said for we needed some time to digest what all had already been talked about. And sometimes silence is like saying more that could have been with words.

Finally it makes me feel that though we are letting a important element of ‘Soch’ part from us but it is like opening another branch of an organization. Even a division operator actually multiplies the count of entity...one entity into two – a dividend and a divisor. I hope and pray that the new ‘dividend’ which he starts in Gurgaon continues to flourish and blossom in the light of Sikhi while the ‘remainder’ here in Hyderabad achieves new heights with new Gursikhs like him joining and guiding us to be on the correct path of life.

Wishing and praying the best for him...May he continue to be on the right track enlightening others as he has been till now....

And I finally made it to Khalsa House

May be my english vocabulary is too weak to completely understand the meaning of ‘again’ or may be I should use another word to define something that happens in loop, over and over again. Let me make it clear..I dont love changing homes but this might be my 4th house since past 8 months!! Yes, I am shifting AGAIN… I hope my new landlord doesn't read blogs or I will have to soon search for a fifth one! ;)

Believe me it is very easy to set up a home....You do that incrementally, brining it together piece by piece. You would have never known how much of junk have you gathered together until comes that stage of piling it all up and taking it to another home. I think I am no different from others having habit of keeping junk with you, giving self assurances that it would be needed one day. But when finally you throw it one day, it would surely be needed within next one month from the date of disposal! ;)

I often hear my parents and relatives saying “Amrit nu taan ghar set karan di bahut changi practice ho gayi honi hai hun taan!” I have been shifting like anything. Though I don’t love too many changes but circumstances always play some painful but sweet games with me as far as changing homes is concerned. But I think all these years I have always met better companions with each change. Now I finally made it to the best!

There was a time when I was longing to be with the Khalsa House members, almost spending my whole weekend with them and trying to be there with them after office hours and then coming back here again early morning so that I can do path with them. Although I am still not a legal resident of the Khalsa House [A reqsuest to Ramindar veerji if he ever reads this, pls make me legal! ;) ] but have been staying here since February. I couldn’t move in earlier because of the space constraints as there wasn’t more space in the almirah’s which already seem to be overloaded. But then I am able to stay because the Khalsa House members seem to have much bigger hearts than their almirahs. Or may be I am too shameless to go away because there was no space for my belongings :P

I somehow believe that you can’t just get into Khalsa House. People are very inviting, very affectionate, very apne but at the end you need to have some extra kismat to meet them and earn their company. To tell you the truth I never stayed overnight in Khalsa House earlier, always used to go back to my home at the end of the day because somehow I felt that I don’t deserve to stay with them. They all seem to be full of purity and I could see myself as full of all other stuff nothing of which seemed to present in them. If I can recall correctly I would like to call it being in disjoint sets.

But as time passed by the magnetic charisma finally pulled me over to their end and I started finding it hard to go back home. I have been staying with them since Feb end. This house seems to be more of mine now than the one where I often go to collect my belongings. In fact I have also changed my ‘wareHouse’ in the meanwhile. So I now go to Kanwal veer’s house to get my belongings.

This blog comes at a time when there is also another place getting vacant in the Khalsa House II (Jasprit veer and Harman veer’r house). Harman veer, whose Ardas made me shiver the first time I heard it, whose knowledge in bani can spell bound anyone, whose explanation of bani and slok and the way he connects one shabad to another when he sits for some viakheya makes you a motionless stone for while. He is moving to Gurgaon for greener pastures, or I should say Career pastures, for now we all acknowledge that it couldn’t be greener than here.

So though I have been staying here at Khalsa House, I would soon be getting an opportunity to move to Khalsa House II. I am happy, speechless, but I think the stay would have been much more gaining had Harman veer been there as well. May be I am not that deserving to get it right now. Rather I should try my best to get the max out of what I am actually going to get, by getting an opp to stay with Jasprit veerji; because even that is going to be much more than my ability to absorb.

So another week to go before I finally shift again to my new house. Though this time I don’t need to pack my stuff, since I did not unpack it all last time I shifted! ;) It seems I just got 'lucky by chance' to get to stay in both the Khalsa Houses for some time and I really pray I don’t have to shift from there …Again…

The Trespassers

It had been just few days since me and Hardeep had moved into this house. We both now shared the same opinion that the house was not worth its rent: The stains on the floor which we thought would go after a thorough wash, had now proved to be permanent and shelves without almirah doors almost laughed at us for agreeing to the whooping rent which we were paying.

While cleaning the house I noticed 4-5 broom sticks and feathers on floor close to the kitchen exhaust outlet. I cleaned them on the first day but they were back next day and their number was increasing day by day. My queries were soon answered by a pigeon, who was trying to build a nest on top of the kitchen almirah. Daily she would bring these sticks which would be placed on the shelf, adding to the strength and the warmth of the nest. I wouldn’t have minded her presence but somehow I hate pigeon’s “ghutar-goo” sound. So we decided that she would have to choose a better place for her mansion and this place belonged to us. So I needed to check for the time when she was not there so that I could block her entrance to the kitchen by placing a board/stick in the exhaust opening. But to my dismay she was more regular to our home than me going to office. Morning, Evening, Night…even at 2:00 AM!! Now this was heights! And enough for me to climb on the Kitchen shelf to have a peek in the next morning and wooo…This time pigeon was not there!! BUT there were two eggs! That explained the pigeon being there day and night..Mother’s affection! :-

So soon we were five of us staying in the flat..It seemed so impartial that only me and Hardeep had to pay the rent while the rest of the three were allowed to stay for free. ;) Anyways the chicks were not yet born and pigeon mom seemed to be quiet. So we kind of agreed to that as well. But they would soon be out of their shells and we knew that PM (Pigeon Mom) would then become defensive. What would be the situation if she doesn’t allow us to enter the Kitchen? And what about the chirp-chirp and Ghutar-Goo family talks?? They might not be that particular about their privacy but I was…about peace at my home. They have to go away!

Debate time…Should we throw her nest out along with the eggs or should we let the family stay there till the kids grow up and learn to speak and fly! J We had discussed about the Pigeon encroachment with our apartment’s watchman and he arrived next day with his weapons to demolish the unauthorized construction. But now when we had seen the eggs, we could not let that happen. When asked about what would he do with the eggs, he said ‘This just keeps on happening every now and then! Inka kya hai?? Utha ke phenk do..kitni’k tension loge!! Sab ko pareshaan kar rakha hai inhone. Yahan sabhi yahi karte hain. Main abhi isko nikaal ke phenk deta hoon…Aap chinta nakko karo!” But the idea of pigeon mom without her eggs almost made me shiver. She could not spare a minute without them, what would happen to her if she suddenly discovered that the eggs and her nest are gone. “No…We will take care of this ourselves..You can leave” May be we can find a better place where we can just place the nest outside our kitchen, where pigeon mom can still foster her kids and we could maintain boundaries. I wish I had placed the nest outside that day and not worried about the cold outside or cat eating the eggs.

So we started living happily as a single family. Soon a mutual treaty was signed between pigeon mom and Hardeep and me. We didn’t mind her presence in the kitchen as long as she was quite, and she would allow us to enter the kitchen and do our chores as long as we maintain a safe distance from her nest. Without realizing I had added another regular activity in my daily calendar: Check for the presence of Pigeon Mom and if chicks were out of their shells! I used to check for the chicks daily ;-) With a naughty smile Hardeep took a promise from me to take care of the chicks when he was away and started for his home trip.

I was drinking water in the kitchen when from the corner of my eye I noticed a blood stain on the floor near the sink! And there was a body of a small chick, like it had fallen from a great height and had burst. L It lay dead there!! I was shocked to see that. As I moved closer suddenly I stepped on something and I quickly lifted my foot up…and I had stepped on my fears... :-‘( it was body of the second one! Both of the chicks were dead!! I couldn’t believe it! I was feeling like something had hit me hard! What would happen to the pigeon mom when she gets to know about this? I was not sure if cleaning the kitchen of the dead bodies was a better option or letting the pigeon mom know that chicks are dead! The news was definitely disturbing but I did not want her to wander around the window and shelf, trying in vain to search for her kids while they were lying dead in some pile of rubbish.

While I was thinking all this she suddenly arrived at the Kitchen exhaust and came and sat at the corner of the almirah top close to the dead bodies. She was watching her kids..her kids who were no longer alive. May she had seen them dead before I did, but I wanted to leave her alone. I just picked up what I needed from kitchen and walked away.

I am still not sure if I should have allowed the watchmen to destroy her nest and eggs. May be even placing her nest and eggs outside in cold exposed to an attack by cat and other animals would have been better as well. Atleast she could have cried at the loss of eggs for some days and forgotten about them. But now they were out of their shells and alive..the family had started!!

Here I am writing this blog and still feeling bad about the family which never started. While my watchmen might have killed so many families of same species by now. Why is it so easy for a person like him to kill offsprings of a bird saying ‘Inka Kya hai and chalta hai!!’ The reaction had definitely not been been the same if a decision had to be made to kill a human’s child? Because the pigeon mom can’t speak human language or rather because humans cannot hear her plea of mercy; does that give right to humans to kill her kids! I think humans need to be taught a lot!

The pigeon mom was there whole of the day. Next day I had to leave for 10 days for a home trip. Even though the pigeon mom was not there I did not have enough courage to pick up the dead bodies and clean the area. May be thinking too much about all this had moved me enough to not to see any more of it. Hardeep would be back from home before me. May be walking out of home, leaving everything as it is, can help me escape Hardeep’s questions about the pigeon mom and her family; but I will have lots of unanswered questions in my mind. I wonder who has trespassed into other’s world, we or birds…