One Pomeranian Puppy

Anjali was fond of doggies. Her father Mr Prasad was equally crazy for them. They lived in Shillong, a beautiful hill station located in the North eastern part of India. Shillong is at a distance of 100 km from Guwahati and situated at an altitude of 5000 feet above sea level. Guwahati is the major city and the commercial hub of the North East India. People from neighboring states have to visit the city frequently for official as well as for other unofficial purposes. One day Mr Prasad visited Guwahati for a couple of days. When he returned home he had a surprise for Anjali. He brought an extremely cute Pomeranian puppy from the city. Anjali was quite amazed and her heart filled with delight.

'Where did you get this cute little puppy?' asked Anjali.

'I bought it from a pet shop in the city; I paid 4000 rupees for it,' her father replied.

'Wow!  So nice. It will be so much fun to play with the doggy,' both Anjali and her mother expressed with delighted.

'But please don’t tell others that I’ve purchased this puppy from a pet shot. Better tell them that one of my friends in the city had given me this,' Mr Prasad suggested.

'But why we have to tell a lie?' Anjali and her mother asked, confused.

'You don’t know the neighbors; they are very complicated people and I don’t know what they would feel about us if they come to know we have purchased a puppy,' replied Mr Prasad.

Even though the ladies found it a little weird but they were aware of their neighbors. Anjali and her mother knew that their neighbors looked for opportunities to speculate on every minor things. So they also felt it would be wiser to tell others that one of their family friends in the city had given the puppy to them. 

As usual, one of the neighbor families visited them in the evening. Mr Prasad was not at home that moment. 

‘Wow! Such a cute puppy! Where did you get this from?’ asked the neighbors

Anjali and her mother eyed each other for a while and then they simultaneously replied, 'Actually, one of papa’s friends in the city gave him this. They already have two-three puppies and since father is very fond of dogs so they gifted him the puppy'

Everyone was having a wonderful time, slurping their tea and biting the hot and yummy onion pakodas. Suddenly Mr Prasad popped in and joined the party.

‘Wow! Mr Prasad, you have got such a cute puppy,’ expressed one of the neighbors.

Mr Prasad's face brightened up with pride and he had a big smile on his face. 

‘Yeah, it’s one of the cutest breeds; it is called Pomeranian. I visited four to five per shops yesterday in Guwahati and finally got this one. It’s very costly and I paid Rs 4000 for this puppy,’ uttered Mr Prasad.

There was an awkward silence in the room and everybody started staring each other. Mr Prasad realized his blunder but the damage was already done.

One Creepy Journey

Vacation was over and it was time for Shilpa to return to her hostel. Her college lectures were supposed to start from the next day.  It was 9 pm; Shilpa’s parents went to drop her to the Bus terminal. Shilpa smiled at the elderly lady who was sitting next to her seat. She placed her luggage in the overhead bins and sat comfortably. It was a non AC bus. Well, those days, AC buses were not that common. Shilpa was happy to get the window seat as it was always her preference. She slid the window glass slightly and the sudden blast of cool air embraced her face at once. She was refreshed and looked outside the window. It was an over-night journey and Shilpa would reach the city by 6 am.

It was summer and she was in her casual jeans and t-shirt. Shilpa was enjoying the cool breeze, lost in her thoughts, trying to get some sleep. Suddenly, she sensed something unusual. She felt someone embarrassing her waist smoothly. Shilpa was very nervous and didn’t know what to do. She tried to catch hold of the unknown hand but it departed instantly.  After a few minutes Shilpa again felt someone fondling her waist. She remained still for a while, but it was getting embarrassing. She again tried to hold the hand tightly, but it escaped in no time. The lights were off and it was dark inside the bus. The lady sitting beside her was sleeping deeply. Shilpa knew it was someone from behind but she didn’t want to create any scene. She continued to bear the embarrassment for the next couple of hours and then, the bus stopped at a place for tea/snacks. The bus illuminated as the lights were switched on. People were slowly getting off the bus one by one. Shilpa stood up and looked behind. She saw two men sitting there. One of them seemed to be in his thirties and another one looked a little older. Shilpa was confused. She wasn’t sure who the culprit was.

Shilpa also went down and had tea in a tea stall. It was middle of the night. Shilpa noticed a small shop where people were buying cigarettes. She bought a chocolate for herself from there.

'Do you sell blades, brother?' Shilpa asked the shopkeeper guy.

'Yes, I’ve blades but we are not supposed to sell any sharp things during night time,' the guy replied. It took some effort but Shilpa was able to convince him and bought a packet of blade, for which she paid double the price. 

As expected, once again Shilpa felt the unknown hand embarrassing her waist. She was holding the sharp blade in his hand, still confused whether to go for the assault or not. Meanwhile, the mysterious hand grew in confidence and it was slowly moving upwards towards her breasts. Shilpa held the hand tightly with all her energy and attacked it with the sharp blade. 

“Ouch, ouch…” Shilpa was expecting sharp screaming but all she could hear was some mild and uncomfortable sounds from behind. She couldn’t hold the sick hand for long. Shilpa’s hand became wet and she could smell raw blood, but it wasn’t hers. She was prepared for another assault but the evil hand never bothered her anymore. Everything happened silently and except Shilpa and the mysterious man, no other passengers were aware of the incident.

PS: This is a true story that happened many years ago, one night, in the highways of Assam.

Love, That Shit!

"Like a roller-coaster, relationships have their nauseating ups, downs, twists and turns… Sure, like a rollercoaster, relationships are also fun and exciting but what happens when the ride isn't as smooth as you thought it would be? What do you do when you want to get off the ride but disengaging the safety harness is a lot harder than you thought? Or simply, what if you’re finding it difficult to get on a ride in the first place, especially when there isn't a height restriction?
…Unfortunately, relationships don’t come with perforated edges and Love, That Shit! (LTS) hopes to help you through the process of getting into, dealing with and even the aftermath of relationships. What sets LTS apart is its contemporary approach, aimed at enlightening while simultaneously, entertaining.
Challenging norms and common thinking at times, LTS hopes to keep you chuckling, or at least smiling, as you embark on the journey and absorb its message"

I'm not a big fan of non-fiction books, particularly self-help kind of books. A self-help book on love, relationships and marriage is definitely not my cup of tea, but there’s something in the title that had grabbed my attention. I was sure that it would be an interesting read and I wasn’t wrong. The author had written the book with some good humor. He mentioned that there’s not much of a difference between online dating sites and arranged marriage. The main variance between them is that parents are the portals and they simply use more traditional means. The author described about many faces of Mother in laws (MIL). We have the L’Oreal MILs, who refuse to go silently into the night and continue to cling on to their youth. There are Status MILs. This breed of women is all about designer wear and making sure everyone knows about it. Some other categories are Yummy Mummy, Kitty Party, Owl MILs, Nosey, Google MILs, Hari-Om MILs. 

This book is all about different phases of relationship. Even though I enjoyed the book a lot, but I'm not sure how much knowledge I have gained. I think every relationship is unique and it's not easy to generalize the problems. Also, I felt that the author didn't give convincing solutions to the relationship issues. He suggested that it's always better to walk away from a relationship if it's not working and find a new one. Well, Chandru the author lived most of his life in abroad. Born in Africa, he was raised between Nigeria, India and the UK. After graduating with Masters in International Business and Management, he moved to New York where he worked for three years as a Business Development Manager. In 2002, Chandru returned to Nigeria where he currently resides and runs a trading company.

Title: Love, That Shit
Author: Chandru Bhojwani
Publisher: Om Books International
Genre: Non Fiction / Self help