My Guest Post on marriage book website

There are so many things that you get reminded of when I say the word 'Wedding' - Bright Colored Clothing, Exquisite Jewellery, Shy Expressions,Colorful Decorations, mantras, rituals, Flowers, Vows, Delicious Food, Music, Dance and what not

Every wedding would leave us with some beautiful memories and your own one ....Its something that would stay etched in your mind forever....

Lot of moments - touching, emotional, sentimental and some funny or Stupid?

I have written a guest post on Pramod Lohia's website. The link is given below. Thank you Pramod for the opportunity.

http://marriagebook.in/the-moment-i-entered-matrimony/

My Story That Was Published

My first story to get published on paper :D

I am feeling extremely happy today.

Some time back I had sent a short story that I wrote to Womens Era Magazine. They had notified me that it had got selected for publishing. It had been a few months ago and I was not sure which edition would carry it  and I was not aware that they would send me a copy.

Today I received a copy of the May(SECOND) Edition 2012 of Womens Era and on Page 78, I found my maiden  name Jayashree Soundararajan along with that story.

I am not very sure how to describe the feeling...Elation? Satisfaction? Pride? Contentment?

I really dont know. But its a very nice beautiful feeling.

Agreed there are millions of writers out there and I am like a tiny drop in a huge ocean.

But every word of appreciation and every recognition one  gets is very very important for the self esteem of anyone aspiring to become a writer some day.

I pray and hope I learn more in the years to come and that my journey in the literary world continues with more strength along with the other beautiful droplets in this mighty ocean.

BLANK PAGES

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 28; the 28th Edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The topic for this month is 'BLANK PAGES'.

The sun, now an orange red mild circle was slowly getting swallowed by the horizon at a distance. The rocks silently withstood the onslaught of the waves and seemed to emit musical roars of defiance.



A young girl in her early twenties sat staring at the home bound birds, her arms encircling her bent knees. The evening breeze carried a chill and she drew the duppatta of her yellow salwar closer around herself. A small tear rose in her eye, plopped itself out and gently trickled down the bridge of her nose.


The wind threw open the diary that lay next to her, that had luckily escaped every wave that lashed the shore. ‘Shreya Gopal’ the first page held in impeccable handwriting.


She picked the diary and turned over a few pages.


12th May 2010:

”Met a new guy in the lift today. He seems to have moved in recently. Kinda Cute” her own writing brought in memories of the first day she had met him.


He was tall and good looking, not exactly muscular but had an obviously healthy physique.

“That’s a good book. A little spooky though”, he had said looking at the title of the book she was carrying. Few things can ease the flow of conversation between two people – Books, Music, Art to name a few.


16th Sep 2011:

“Today was one of my best birthdays.

As I write this I am holding a pearl bracelet D gave me today. Well, you are my journal and I can’t lie to you. I think my feelings for him are getting a little special. He is adorable and cute and oh! the way he moves with kids- He is an angel”

20th Jan 2012:

“ Hip Hip Hurrah. At last D told me …At last! He said it just like that you know. Matter-of-factly! Shreya, I love you. Ha ha “


Green memories slowly got overshadowed by those of a darker hue as the events of the previous day enfolded in her vision again.

D was not returning her calls and she had begun to get worried.

Brinda, her next door neighbor and a friend since her teens knocked on her door.


“Shreya, we need to talk”

Brinda was silent for some time. Then she said ‘Its about Dinesh. “

Brinda was silent for some more time as Shreya looked at her quizzingly. “You were not here since morning and I am sure you would not have heard what happened. Dinesh…Dinesh has been putting on an image not at all related to what he actually is. He is a monster”

“What?”


“Its little Varsha. Sunanda’s daughter? She is just ten. Do you have any idea what that bastard did to the child?”

As Shreya listened to Brinda in absolute horror, the facts about the pedophilic part of D emerged.


“ The poor child had kept quiet all along. Thank God, today Sunanda and her husband came to know of it. All the men here were extremely furious and had stormed infront of his apartment in a murderous rage. He somehow escaped before they could get at him. ”


Shreya was silent for a few minutes and then she burst into tears. ‘Damn It!! I…I” and no words came out. Brinda hugged her and tried calming her down. Shreya was shaking by now.


The diary did not carry any lines about the previous day. It was too painful for her to write it down. Though she had no part in his actions, the relationship she had shared with the pervert filled her with a strange sense of guilt. She had stood for an hour under the shower trying to wash away the dirt that seemed to be sticking to her.



She tore away all the pages containing her musings about him and tore them further into smaller pieces. The wind slowly swallowed the pieces from her hands and took them to sail away to destruction in the ocean; Every piece that left her hold seemed to remove a fraction of the heaviness she felt inside.


She slowly ran her fingers across the remnant immaculate blank pages of her journal.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Horse,Fish and a Tiny Art Teacher

I have a disastrous little ball of energy at home that keeps running around wreaking havoc all over the place. This little bundle that bears quite a chunk of my genetic wiring a.k.a my son is an animal world afficionado.

Some of the very first words he started uttering are cat,dog...'Well all kids do that' I can almost hear you comment...Let me complete Rhino,Dinosaur, Elephant, Giraffe and believe it or not Iguana and porcupine.

Sometimes it was disaster, like in front of all our relatives I would ask 'Darling, whats amma's name?' and he would reply without thought 'Rhino' ! That was when he was just learning to talk and did not actually get what I was asking. Nevertheless, damage is a damage is a damage!!

His favorite toys are a set of miniature plastic animals which can keep him occupied for hours at a stretch.

 Another of his ardent interests is drawing and coloring. I have a three-year old interiror designer who has uniquely split the walls of my home into two sections, the top half pristine white and the bottom - Well not exactly half, whatever is reachable to his 104 cm height is full of products of his vivid imagination and some abstract art that I am still trying to decipher.

His favorite as of now is what he calls a horse.

Not just to my 'Oh My SOn Is Such An Artist' proud-mommy's eyes, quite a few people think that it does look like a horse but a modern-art version of it. And yes, it has around ten legs.

I went to a parents teachers meeting and the teacher showed me his worksheets from class. Irrespective of the nature of the sheet - Shapes, Alphabets, etc every sheet bears this trademark symbol of his. There is one sheet which had a white,yellow,blue and red versions of this horse.

What took me by absolute surprise and left me a little open-mouthed with amazement was something he did when we were writing alphabets on his little black board at home.

He wrote an A first and then attached a tail and an eye and said 'Fish'

Nobody actually taught him that. Its something he discovered on his own and taught to dumbo mommy. How to Draw a Fish From an A. I beamed with pride at my 3-yr old little art teacher!

Kecak Dance - Bali

‘We saw Ramayana dance in Bali’, my friend who was just back from the island had told me. This roused my curiosity and one of the very first enquiries I made during our vacation to Indonesia was about this dance form.

‘Oh! That is the Kecak(pronounce Kay-Chaak) dance. Its about Hanuman and Sita and Rama’ the receptionist at our hotel had explained.

Kecak dance is promoted widely as part of the tourism in Bali and there are daily performances in some places, predominantly temples. We stayed in a place called Ubud and we got to witness this beautiful art form during our first evening there.

At the entrance , they had stacked some print outs in different languages – English, French, German, Spanish etc. containing a detailed explanation of the structure of the day’s play – the order of the scenes, the different characters in them and a gist of the plot to be enacted.

There were no electrical lights at the venue and the entire place was lit up using oil lamps that did not overdo the illumination and gently sprayed a serene radiance all around.

There were around 50 men seated in a circle on the floor, clothed in a checked robe around their waist.

The main background for the dance is provided by the ‘Caka Caka Caka Caka Cak Cak Cak’ (Pronounced Chak) chanting of these men that takes the credit for the name ‘Kecak’.

I was flabbergasted at their energy levels and stamina. For nearly an hour they kept chanting non-stop with a relentless fervor . Their expressions depicted the depth of their involvement and their dedication to the art form; the synergy of their unified voices reverberated all around us.

Then came the lead artists and enacted one scene after another. These actors have a very distinct costume characterized by decorative head gear, heavy make up, lots of jewellery and unique shiny and colorful clothing. It reminded me of some of our Indian art forms like Kathakali and Yakshagana.

Thanks to the print out they provided it was very easy to follow the scenes, given the fact that we have a basic idea about the contents of the Ramayana. The title of the play was ‘Kumbakarna’s Death’.

Scene 1 – Rama and Lakshmana cross the ocean with the help of the Vanaras(monkeys)

Scene 2 – Ravana brings a fake head to Sita and says that he has slain Rama but he fails to convince her

Scene 3 – Ravana’s son uses his Nagastra (snake-weapon) on Rama and Lakshmana and makes them unconscious. Garuda the bird comes to the rescue

Scene 4 – Rama kills Kumbakarna


The chanting men also play a part in the enactment sometimes as the bridge, sometimes as the snake.

Once this was over, they placed a pile of coconut husks at the center and set it on fire. It was time for the fire dance. The dancer entrusted with the role came charging like a race horse and pranced on the burning husks , sparks flying all around him, his movements scattering the burning fragments all over the place. They gathered them again to a mount at the center and the whole act was repeated. It was mesmerizing.

This was the final act and they thanked us all for being a part of the evening.

As we walked out the performers also started leaving the venue, done with their evening engagement.They seemed to be from all walks of life and apparently the ‘Cak Cak Cak’ was a passionate interest for which they gathered everyday like a game of tennis is to many of us.

Providing a write up for reference before a show is something our dance forms can learn from them and incorporate. Though I could not understand a word of the lyric I thoroughly enjoyed what was being shown. Today if we go to a Bharathnatyam or Kuchipudi concert, except for those who have some basic knowledge about the art form its very difficult to comprehend and appreciate. A similar measure would play a big role in promoting the innumerable art forms we have in our country - a few which need a lot of support to prevent their extinction.

The following is a video I found on YouTube.

Internet - Crazy Fun and Funny Craze

6 pm.

Work just got over..

My bus stop app tells me that the next bus is due in 5 mins.

My walking speed is similar to the steps Armstrong took on the moon and I better start immediately.

6:05 pm

I am holding my mobile with both hands. Hence I refuse to hold on to the bus railings though I am standing. As if I am a gold-medalist in Gymnastics.

Whats on Facebook? I go into my friends group. Eight of us best friends posted in 8 different corners of the globe but huddled together in a cozy virtual group....

'SN has been admitted to the hospital'  the status update says.

The driver applies a sudden brake and I land on my face. The gymnast in me fails miserably.Oops! I quickly look at my mobile. Unhurt!.

6:10 pm

I decide to check my email. A long one from my mom.Aah, I love those. Oops, where is the recipe I had asked her? Never mind , I can google that. Electricity Bill, Water Bill , Gas Bills... all Emails....Huh, I rarely get ones for money inflow...Its always someone asking me to pay for this and that....Irony! ..Air is everywhere and is gaseous but you need a specific type of gas to make your food and you need to pay for it!!!..Hmm!!! These guys are so damn prompt at what they do!! They simply never forget to send me the bill!!! Who on earth coded the software? So Bug-Free?

I browse through old long forgotten emails.

Aah!That fateful one meets my eye.

 'Profile of Mr.Vats' the subject says, email from 2006.  That email that brought me his picture, when I was still single and my parents were desperately going through matrimonial websites to find me a groom. I allow myself that imperceptible smile. That reminds me of a recent matrimonial ad I came across. 'Wanted Bubbly girl.Should be a non-Facebook user' .Huh?

Into the Facebook App again.

'Tried calling SN. She says the pain is unbearable' the status update says.

6:20 pm

Suddenly my stomach starts making noises!

The image of a pizza with overflowing cheese, hot and yummy appears floating in mid air and just refuses to go. 'Please Go Away' I plead. The pizza starts getting bigger and bigger. 'No! Thats too many calories' I try to tell my craving but cra-Wings keep flying higher and higher. Now there is garlic bread on the side as well.
Ok, Where is that Pizza Hut App I downloaded yesterday? Two Veggie Delites, 1 garlic bread and 1 Coke. There I am done!!!

I get down at the train station.

6:25 pm

'Hey Need to transfer some money to my dad. Remind me ' my phone beeps an SMS aloud.

'What is the exchange rate today?' I wonder and go into my Finance App. I am sure almost every Indian outside of India would do this umpteen number of times in a week!

6:30 pm

I am on the train. Everyone looks like they are praying to some distant God as they all have their heads bowed, glued to their mobile phones.

I get into my blog. 2 Comments . I reply and then start going through the ones that I follow. I come across that long word that sounds like it originated from the tribes of Zulu. Huh? My expression should have resembled the one I had during my vivavoces of college days..the 'I  simply have no clue' expression. Anyways there is good old Dictionary website to refer to..And you
know whats good about online dictionaries...no matter how many words are in store, they all weigh the same !
Isnt that great?

6:40 pm

'That agent has agreed to show us two houses tomorrow' my SMS beeps again.

Our house lease is getting over.

The Property App reminds me that home rents are sky rocketing and I better cut down all the impulsive buying that I do. Like going to buy a loaf of bread and coming back with an electric oven with the intention of baking it on my own!!! The oven is still in one corner of my kitchen. And we still buy bread, not bake!!

In between I take a look at Facebook again. 'The chief doctor at the SMF hospital has been summoned to examine SN.Awaiting her opinion'  the comment says.

7:00 pm

Its going to be another ten minutes of travel. Movie Reviews Time! One - Boring, Two - Avoid, Three-Average, Four- Dont Miss. All for the same movie? Phew!! Lesson Learnt - Always stick to the same reviewer. Anyways the cinema website says that all tickets are sold out.

7:15 pm

My train pulls into the station with a screeching noise. The song I just selected from the music website jingles in my ear.

I reach home and there is a parcel outside my doorstep. Okay, thats just a reminder for impulsive expenditure. Its something I ordered online. Now what on earth was that? A camera? Book? Cosmetics? Damn!

I pick the parcel and go in.

8:00 pm

My son is running around the house and I am following him with my phone. My in-laws are watching him on Skype. An hour of grandparental bliss for them.

8:30 pm

I have been reading about this contest for weeks and now I realize that today is the last day. I keep typing at the maximum speed that I can. I should tweet 'Procrastination is the thief of time' today.

There, I am done with the post!!

I open facebook again and a smile spreads over my face.

'SN gave birth to a baby boy. Mother and baby are fine' gleams back at me with a picture of a one day old tender baby wrapped in a baby blue blanket beside it.

Internet can be fun as http://www.vodafone.in/funindicates. But it can be crazy fun and sometimes it becomes a funny craze. But I am loving it!