It was well past midnight and I still kept tossing on my bed, my wits active with all the nerve cells in my brain searching for material on a subject that is close to my heart and that I religiously pen few lines about at this time of the year, every year.
Kuwait’s humidity was at its peak and as if taking a cue from the occupants of the flat, our central cooling compressor was working as usual “susegad” as any Goan is. Although my restlessness irritated me, the imminent approach of deadline to complete the write up kept persisting on my mind.
But to do something different this year, I decided to hold this event strictly as a low profile family affair with no writeups on cyberspace.
Changing the AC settings to high I turned off the table lamp and went to sleep.
My cell phone kept persistently ringing at 4:00 am early morning. I am always skeptical and frightened about those odd hours calls as more not than often; they bring in bad news. As reluctantly as I could, I reached for the handset and before I could accept the call it stopped ringing. It was displaying unknown number meaning an overseas call and thinking that someone would call back if the matter was urgent I went back to sleep. It was only when I got up early next morning I came to know that a friend and a neighbor in Goa had passed away in his sleep, at a prime age of 51 with a massive heart attack (RIP). He went to bed - healthy, but never got up in the morning. That jolted me.
This life is so unpredictable, so I thought. There are numerous things in your lifetime that have to be said and done and if not accomplished those remain like Hitler’s diaries that were never found even after his death. Surely some of the readers of this article may question my indulgence in advertising something that to many of us is personal, are shy to converse in public and which is often termed as keyhole morals in our society. Yet accepting the challenge to debate the reason on Whatsapp, Facebook and other social media with friends on my list after it is published, I decided I had to write, albeit shorter than previous years but I had to, just in case if tomorrow never comes.
4th September. A date that has much significance in my life. Every year on this day when so many people seem to be out for themselves first -- or themselves alone I had decided that on this day I would religiously Thank, Remember and Remind the sweetest example of what love and companionship is.
Thank God for this wonderful journey and the wonderful companion and a friend he provided me. Many didn’t make it till this milestone. I was fortunate.
Remember the importance of basic elements of Commitment, Love, Respect, Acceptance, Communication and Empathy to a married life.
Remind and educate as a small gesture on my part to my other fellow married friends that nothing makes people feel better than that wonderful feeling of being appreciated and valued. Never take your partner for granted. Make time to say “Thank you” and appreciate. Remember, your relationship is like a garden. You have to care for it consciously and consistently if you want it to produce fruit.
I had just completed my 60th birthday last month and apart from ensuring that all the world and my female friends in particular are aware that I am a senior citizen now, my children also gave a plaque with 60 reasons why they love me.
I thought it was a excellent idea to give my wife 34 reasons, on this day of 4th September exactly 34 years later, one for each year why she meant so much to me. Interestingly, in two days I could agree and reach only to number 11. That surprised me. Two days of stressful thinking and only 11 reasons and yet the world would fall apart and life would be boring if she was not around. Therefore it couldn’t be numerical. It had to be a innermost idea. I had to find out. It set me thinking.
34 years out of 60 and 35th year directly facing you……mathematically covers 56.6% of my entire life span. To ward off the suspense and put it in a nutshell some 34 years ago on this day of 4th September we got married amidst stormy weather, severe winds, thunder and rain. These weather conditions rarely occur in Kuwait in September and yet paradoxically they did in our lives on that day. Although the highways of Kuwait are well constructed and smooth, our journey during the past 34 years was often grueling, bumpy and difficult. Many a times our Jar of love may have had cracks but we were swift enough to repair it with “Lovefix” a glue far stronger and durable than Quickfix or Patex and is readily available in the shelves of our bedrooms.
And finally when I look back, I cannot find the right words to thank the Lord for his numerous graces and blessings of a wonderful family, and most of all giving me a companion, a best friend , my wife who made sure that on this journey and in these storms I never walked alone.
This was one and perhaps only reason that would make up for all the 34 I was looking for. Thank you Neeta, for I dread the day, I reach for your hand and it’s not there.
I have said it often and I will say it again. You will be everything I’ve always dreamed my wife would be. Although in every test we take we come out as opposites and in every argument we do you turn out to be a winner, it is orchestrated intentionally for I love and enjoy to see glow on your face and feeling of victory in your attitude. I find irresistible spending time with you and am overjoyed that we have the rest of our lives to continue to do so.
The day I said “I do” was the day I found the other half of my heart.
Happy Wedding Anniversary Neeta.
Kuwait’s humidity was at its peak and as if taking a cue from the occupants of the flat, our central cooling compressor was working as usual “susegad” as any Goan is. Although my restlessness irritated me, the imminent approach of deadline to complete the write up kept persisting on my mind.
But to do something different this year, I decided to hold this event strictly as a low profile family affair with no writeups on cyberspace.
Changing the AC settings to high I turned off the table lamp and went to sleep.
My cell phone kept persistently ringing at 4:00 am early morning. I am always skeptical and frightened about those odd hours calls as more not than often; they bring in bad news. As reluctantly as I could, I reached for the handset and before I could accept the call it stopped ringing. It was displaying unknown number meaning an overseas call and thinking that someone would call back if the matter was urgent I went back to sleep. It was only when I got up early next morning I came to know that a friend and a neighbor in Goa had passed away in his sleep, at a prime age of 51 with a massive heart attack (RIP). He went to bed - healthy, but never got up in the morning. That jolted me.
This life is so unpredictable, so I thought. There are numerous things in your lifetime that have to be said and done and if not accomplished those remain like Hitler’s diaries that were never found even after his death. Surely some of the readers of this article may question my indulgence in advertising something that to many of us is personal, are shy to converse in public and which is often termed as keyhole morals in our society. Yet accepting the challenge to debate the reason on Whatsapp, Facebook and other social media with friends on my list after it is published, I decided I had to write, albeit shorter than previous years but I had to, just in case if tomorrow never comes.
4th September. A date that has much significance in my life. Every year on this day when so many people seem to be out for themselves first -- or themselves alone I had decided that on this day I would religiously Thank, Remember and Remind the sweetest example of what love and companionship is.
Thank God for this wonderful journey and the wonderful companion and a friend he provided me. Many didn’t make it till this milestone. I was fortunate.
Remember the importance of basic elements of Commitment, Love, Respect, Acceptance, Communication and Empathy to a married life.
Remind and educate as a small gesture on my part to my other fellow married friends that nothing makes people feel better than that wonderful feeling of being appreciated and valued. Never take your partner for granted. Make time to say “Thank you” and appreciate. Remember, your relationship is like a garden. You have to care for it consciously and consistently if you want it to produce fruit.
I had just completed my 60th birthday last month and apart from ensuring that all the world and my female friends in particular are aware that I am a senior citizen now, my children also gave a plaque with 60 reasons why they love me.
I thought it was a excellent idea to give my wife 34 reasons, on this day of 4th September exactly 34 years later, one for each year why she meant so much to me. Interestingly, in two days I could agree and reach only to number 11. That surprised me. Two days of stressful thinking and only 11 reasons and yet the world would fall apart and life would be boring if she was not around. Therefore it couldn’t be numerical. It had to be a innermost idea. I had to find out. It set me thinking.
34 years out of 60 and 35th year directly facing you……mathematically covers 56.6% of my entire life span. To ward off the suspense and put it in a nutshell some 34 years ago on this day of 4th September we got married amidst stormy weather, severe winds, thunder and rain. These weather conditions rarely occur in Kuwait in September and yet paradoxically they did in our lives on that day. Although the highways of Kuwait are well constructed and smooth, our journey during the past 34 years was often grueling, bumpy and difficult. Many a times our Jar of love may have had cracks but we were swift enough to repair it with “Lovefix” a glue far stronger and durable than Quickfix or Patex and is readily available in the shelves of our bedrooms.
And finally when I look back, I cannot find the right words to thank the Lord for his numerous graces and blessings of a wonderful family, and most of all giving me a companion, a best friend , my wife who made sure that on this journey and in these storms I never walked alone.
This was one and perhaps only reason that would make up for all the 34 I was looking for. Thank you Neeta, for I dread the day, I reach for your hand and it’s not there.
I have said it often and I will say it again. You will be everything I’ve always dreamed my wife would be. Although in every test we take we come out as opposites and in every argument we do you turn out to be a winner, it is orchestrated intentionally for I love and enjoy to see glow on your face and feeling of victory in your attitude. I find irresistible spending time with you and am overjoyed that we have the rest of our lives to continue to do so.
The day I said “I do” was the day I found the other half of my heart.
Happy Wedding Anniversary Neeta.
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