My Airtel App

          Telecom major Bharti Airtel has launched a campaign ‘Bachat ki khunn khunn’ for its prepaid consumers who use smartphones. The other day I came to know that the company had launched a new avatar of its ‘My Airtel’ mobile application with a wide range of fresh features and capabilities. First of all it’s a very first of its kind app from a telecom operator. I installed the Android version to know more about it.

          My Airtel App is described to be the simplest way to manage your Airtel services through your handset. It is the smartest way to recharge, pay bills & manage all your Airtel mobile, 3G dongle, landline/broadband and DTH accounts at ONE place. And it also promises to give you amazing offers on recharge. And I couldn't agree more. The Airtel App is a must have for every Airtel Customer. The App is amazing. Kudos to the team for coming up with this! Talk about making life easier, ‘My Airtel App’ is a great example.

          Now let me tell you about my experience in using ‘My Airtel App’. Once you start using the app, it automatically detects your Airtel Mobile Number and retrieves your account information. Post this; you can add various broadband products like Broadband account, Fixedline or Airtel Digital TV. It is very convenient to have all these products in one place making them easier to access. You can select any product, e.g. Airtel Mobile; you get a dashboard showing your account balance, your account validity and also an option to recharge your account through the App. You can also view your recharge history. Also, there is an option to Manage Services. This option helps you to start and stop various services from Friends, News, Astrology, Sports, Entertainment and so on.

          Let me take you through my favourite features of ‘My Airtel App’. Firstly I liked the ‘Airtel Surprises’ feature. With help of Airtel Surprises you can receive coupons on all first recharges equivalent to the denomination of the recharge from merchants across categories like shopping, food, wellness, entertainment, etc.  The coupons are launched in partnership with Mydala and partnership with popular brands like PVR Cinemas, Café Coffee Day, Flipkart. Amazon, Ebay, Myntra, among others. I love shopping and these coupons certainly come to my budget’s aid.

          The second feature has to be ‘Shake and Save’ feature. By just shaking the phone you get amazing recharge benefits, recharge offers & free coupons when you recharge or pay bills. Listen to the jingle of money you saved with help of the ‘Shake’ offer.

          And last but not the least, the ‘I Want To’ feature which allows customers to make their frequent tasks like recharging quickly on our App’s home screen thus helping us to replicate the action fast.

          This is a very handy, fantastic and decent app. You can manage all your Airtel services right from the app. I’m very much happy with my decision of downloading this App. I highly recommend this App.

You can download the application by simply logging into http://www.airtel.in/myairtel

My Most Treasured Memory

  The Closed Heart can be like a dead weight stone, so cold and dead that nothing is really felt anymore, mostly thoughts and vague emotional conflicts, but no deep feelings. But Mother’s unconditional and infinite love can even bring a dead weight stone to life.

          The phase; most of the teenagers experience it. Almost everyone if I must say. As I grew older, the teenager in me became increasingly rebellious. To be honest, I had pushed patience of everyone around me. Nobody could believe that I had grown up to be such a ‘spoiled brat’. I had been very tame as a child. Obeying everyone, excellent at studies, soft-spoken, is how the people who hadn't seen me for 2 or more years remembered me.

          But the phase, had introduced them to alien me. She was alien to me a well. But I enjoyed the attention she used to get. I liked how other girls envied her. I loved being a part of most famous clique with her. The need of independence, a separate identity and testing authority made me cherish the alien me.

          But this package of enjoyment came with bitter gifts. Whenever I attended family gatherings, I could hear people whispering behind my back. They would stare at me.  They wouldn't let their children talk to me, thinking I would be a bad influence on them. I wouldn't have been surprised that if their children misbehaved, they would have compared them to me. In short, I was a bad example for them. This didn't stop me from being the way I had become; in fact it made me more rebellious. I stopped attending family gatherings. I started drinking secretly. I had the most understanding parents, but I had become too ignorant to even listen to what they had to say.

          I would shut myself in my room once I got home and would get out of the room only when the dinner was announced. My grades dropped drastically. I bunked schools, never submitted any of the assignments on time, made students do proxy attendance for me. I was in bad books of my teachers.

          It culminated one day, when I was found breaking school’s rules along with my friends. The Discipline Committee had called for our parents. My mom had to take off from her work. I had been rusticated from school for a week.

          We didn’t speak until the next afternoon. I had locked myself in my room. I didn’t even get out of the room for dinner, the previous night. My mom ordered me to open the door during lunch time. I was ashamed and had no courage to face her. But, I was extremely hungry. I opened the room. I expected to hear the words, ‘You are grounded.’ But none of us spoke anything. She broke the tension by giving me a small gift-wrapped box. I nonchalantly opened it and found a little rock inside. I rolled my eyes and said, “Cute.”

“Read the card,” my Mom instructed.

          I took the card out of the envelope and read it. It read- ‘This rock is more than 200,000,000 years old. That is how long it will take before I give up on you’. Tears started trickling down my cheeks. She hugged me. There were no conditions in her love. It was unconditional. I knew she will love me forever and nothing can change that. Her Love had brought a dead stone to life. This was not one of our sweetest memories together, but this is the memory which I’ll always cherish. Because that moment made me realize, my mother is more than a fearless woman. She’s more than a hero. She’s more than a best friend. She’s my Life.

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A Mystery League

Like any other day I logged into me Twitter Account to find myself in the middle of ongoing buzz. The talks about Ek Nayi League had shaken the twitter world. Everyone was racking their brains. I also discovered that Kapil Paaji is now on twitter. I followed his Twitter handle & went through his tweets. Then when I logged into my IndiBlogger Account, the history repeated itself. I decided to watch the videos to know more about it. Before watching any video, I assumed this to be somehow related to cricket. And the first video that I watched was, the one addressed to M. S. Dhoni which made my assumption stronger. But then the next video was addressed to Sania Mirza which confused me.

          So, this is not about cricket. What could it be possibly about? The more I pondered, the more I wanted to know. I read every possible tweet about the much talked and trending hashtag. I went through blog posts of some people. But perceptions! And everybody had a valid point and if it could be possible to say, an even more valid explanation.

          Kapil Paaji has put lot of stress in telling us that this game should be played with brain rather than heart. Whenever we play any sport the first advice our coach, captain or our senior and experienced player gives us is,”Dil se Khelna”. But Kapil Paaji’s advice was really unusual and catchy. What he said was -

“Dil se khela toh Hit Wicket

Dil se khela toh aapki Googly”

          It once again brought me where I started. A game where you need to use your brain rather than your heart. This sentence kept me intrigued. I thought it could be chess, but somehow it did not convince me. Then I thought it could be sport personalities from different  fields coming together and competing against each other. But my mind wouldn’t take and agree to it either. After innumerable assumptions and racking my brain till it would explode, my brain allowed submission of one possibility. I ‘really’ tried to think out of the box. In our day-to-day lives where do we use our brain the most? In trading or business! From a peasant to a billionaire everyone uses their brains for trading. I immediately thought it could be real life Monopoly or Business related to sports; where you have to trade something, gain something to emerge victorious. Where in the board game monopoly or business, you can become bankrupt; here there might be some kind of other bankruptcy.

            But again this is my perception or you could day wild imagination or guess. I hope the mystery unveils soon to make way for the fun that this Ek Nayi League is about to bring in our lives.

Do Check-  http://www.eknayileague.com/

A gifted moment

          Even the laid-back ones can motivate themselves by understanding the heartache, passion, commitment and perseverance. Somebody’s faith in us can go long way in motivating ourselves. Never ending obstacles seem to disappear once you come to know that somebody believes in you. Hope keeps us going.

          The phase; most of the teenagers experience it. Almost everyone if I must say. As I grew older, the teenager in me became increasingly rebellious. To be honest, I had pushed patience of everyone around me. Nobody could believe that I had grown up to be such a ‘spoiled brat’. I had been very tame as a child. Obeying everyone, excellent at studies, soft-spoken, is how the people who hadn't seen me for 2 or more years remembered me.

          But the phase, had introduced them to alien me. She was alien to me a well. But I enjoyed the attention she used to get. I liked how other girls envied her. I loved being a part of most famous clique with her. The need of independence, a separate identity and testing authority made me cherish the alien me.

          But this package of enjoyment came with bitter gifts. Whenever I attended family gatherings, I could hear people whispering behind my back. They would stare at me.  They wouldn't let their children talk to me, thinking I would be a bad influence on them. I wouldn't have been surprised that if their children misbehaved, they would have compared them to me. In short, I was a bad example for them. This didn't stop me from being the way I had become; in fact it made me more rebellious. I stopped attending family gatherings. I started drinking secretly. I had the most understanding parents, but I had become too ignorant to even listen to what they had to say.

          I would shut myself in my room once I got home and would get out of the room only when the dinner was announced. My grades dropped drastically. I bunked schools, never submitted any of the assignments on time, made students do proxy attendance for me. I was in bad books of my teachers.

          It culminated one day, when I was found breaking school’s rules along with my friends. The Discipline Committee had called for our parents. My mom had to take off from her work. I had been rusticated from school for a week.

          We didn’t speak until the next afternoon. I had locked myself in my room. I didn’t even get out of the room for dinner, the previous night. My mom ordered me to open the door during lunch time. I was ashamed and had no courage to face her. But, I was extremely hungry. I opened the room. I expected to hear the words, ‘You are grounded.’ But none of us spoke anything. She broke the tension by giving me a small gift-wrapped box. I nonchalantly opened it and found a little rock inside. I rolled my eyes and said, “Cute.”

“Read the card,” my Mom instructed.

          I took the card out of the envelope and read it. It read- ‘This rock is more than 200,000,000 years old. That is how long it will take before I give up on you’. Tears started trickling down my cheeks. She hugged me. There were no conditions in her love. It was unconditional. I knew she will love me forever and nothing can change that. This moment brought back the real me. This moment motivated me to be a better person. This moment gave me a hope for future. I decided to leave the alien me behind, and embraced my new future and the old me.

          

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A Motivational Journey

          I just wanted to share my story with you all because I have learned that motivation, inspiration certainly takes you a long way. Motivation, inspiration can come from anyone or anything in your life. For me, it came at the right moment; when I least expected it. It certainly took me where I never imagined I could reach.

           After working with an Event Manager for 3 years, I started up my own business. The first project was in Delhi. I was truly terrified. I got into the train and searched for my seat. An elderly lady was sitting in front of me with reading glasses on. I immediately recognized her.

“Hello Meera Ma’am! Remember me?”

She looked up from her book, removed her reading glasses and smilingly said,

“Ankita Jain, right? I'm so glad to have met you!”

“Same here Ma’am.” I replied.

          Meera Ma’am taught me Economics at college. She was also the chairperson of my College’s Cultural Committee. When I was selected as a volunteer, she asked me to stand for the election for the post of Cultural Secretary. I was unsure about it, but decided to give it a try.  I won the elections & I learned a lot from her and my post. She would never get angry with any of us, if we made mistakes. She would always say, “Mistakes are the proof that you are trying.”

          After this, I knew what I wanted to become. I decided to become an Event Manager.

Her question brought me to real world.

“So, where are you headed to?”

“Delhi.” I replied. “What about you, Ma’am?”

“Me too. So visiting a friend or a relative?” she asked.

I explained her about my first project without hiding the fact that I was very much afraid.

I would never forget her words.

“If it is important to you, you will surely find a way. My husband & my brother died in a car accident. My brother was unmarried, so there was no one to look after my parents. I was 29 at that time. I had to support my son, in-laws and parents. All I had was my job. I was also doing my Ph.D. at that time. Life was getting difficult with every new day. I had to pay bills, repay loans, and manage being a mother, daughter-in-law, daughter and a professor. My in-laws never objected me supporting my parents. They were very supportive. At times, I had to miss my child’s annual day or a prize distribution, but he would understand. I would feel extremely helpless at times, but never gave up. The problems never stopped but I had learnt to face them. There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes, but with hard work, there are no limits.”

          By the time she had finished her story, I had tears in my eyes. I had never imagined that this lady who always wore a beautiful smile on her face, this lady who always was so positive and full of life, would have experienced so many hardships.  And we feel sorry for ourselves for little things. You have to fight through bad days in order to earn the best days. Sometimes you win; sometimes you learn. There are very few people who celebrate what they have learnt as they would celebrate victory. And she was one of them.

          She had many stories to share. She told me she was visiting her son in Delhi, who is a doctor now. The day-long journey ended in no time. And I felt that I didn't just boarded this train to reach my destination; I had found the way to destination which I had always aimed to reach.

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Change- Essence of Life

“Ruhi Di! Arjun asked me out!” I screamed as soon as she entered the room. Her face started showing some excitement which soon faded.

“What did you say ?“ she asked.

“No! Obviously!”

“Apparently you had a crush on him.”

“Yeah! But... Relationship... Me getting into a relationship?”

“Why do you run away from this?” She stopped and then added “Always”

I didn't answer because I didn't know it myself. But she was right.

“You’re like a box of colorful beads. You've different colors for different emotions. You just need a right person. A string. A string which will tie all your emotions properly & beautifully to bring out the best in you.”

“I don’t need anyone! I have you!”

“I won’t always be there.”

I couldn't utter a word. I hugged her.

          Months passed. I took a stroll in the gloaming. I didn’t know where I was going, I just kept walking. I loved that silence & the darkness seemed calling me more & more. I could clearly listen to my heart. I knew I was far off, but the darkness wanted me to continue. Somewhere beneath, expecting that string to find me, I didn’t expect him to appear suddenly and astonish me, but let live me each moment of his arrival. But this thought brought me back to the real world. I felt the urge to run away and I did. I turned around and made my way towards home.

          When I reached home, I found my parents waiting for me. They looked worried. I could see that in their eyes. But they didn’t ask me anything. They knew I was depressed for I had lost my elder sister to cancer. It was the last day of December. Like every year there was a party in our society. My mother asked me to get ready for the party. I agreed because I didn’t want to hurt her; I agreed because I wanted to try not to run away; I agreed because I missed my sister.

          I sat on the garden bench, among people still aloof from them. My parents & other grown-ups were partying in the club house. Younger generation had occupied the garden. It was the same night but now it was filled with light. I was too busy in admiring the decorations that I didn't even notice him coming & sitting beside me.

“Hi!” he said alarming me. “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you.” He added.

“It’s not you. It’s just me.” I replied philosophically.

“I'm sorry for your loss.” He said in a low voice. I just nodded. There was a silence between us. But it wasn't uncomfortable. We just sat there until I said,

“Would you like to join me for a walk?”

          It had been three months since Di left me. I & Hariaksh lived on the same floor. But I never met him after my sister’s funeral or never did I see him. Perhaps ‘I’ never saw him. In these 3 months I had never talked about Di to anyone. But today I recalled every memory of hers & narrated it to him. It was as if I was re-living those moments. He already knew most of those stories; he had seen us all these years and was a part of many of our mischiefs. By the end, I was laughing for the moments we lived together & cried for I realized this was it. He let me cry. He let me empty my heart. He had stopped me from running. I looked up to him & remembered all the memories with him which I never cared to recall. He was always there for me, right by my side, but I never notice him. I looked up to him & noticed his care-filled eyes for the first time. The same care-filled eyes which saw me when I fell off my bicycle while racing with him; the same care-filled eye which looked at me after he punched the guy who had teased me at school; the same care-filled eyes which consoled me during my sister’s funeral. How did I fail to notice them before?

         Suddenly, I felt guilty for what I did to him a year back. How I had insulted him. How I had walked away.

“Sorry.” I said

“For what?” he asked puzzled.

“For not treating you right.”

He understood what I meant. He just smiled.

“That’s the past! I was such a fool.” He laughed.

“You know before I...” he stopped.

“Don’t hesitate.” I smiled encouragingly.

“Before I came up to you, I told Ruhi Didi that I’m going to confess... You know...”

“I should’ve guessed.” I laughed.

Hesitantly he replied, “After what happened, Ruhi Didi told me to be myself for a little while. I didn’t understand what she meant by it though.”

“Do you still feel the same about me?” I asked him.

“Sorry? I mean... Yes... But you've nothing to worry.”

“I would have to worry if you had given up on me.” I said between my smiles. I got down on my knee, the same way he had gotten down on his knee a year back & said, “I’m a box of beads. Can you be my string & bring out best in me?” He made me stand up & took my hand in his and said,

“Forever.”

            Not all endings are endings; they might be beginnings of new endings.

           From that day onwards I stopped running, stopped feeling sorry for myself & welcomed the new me. Change is Essence of Life; be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become. Embrace the change, it will surely bring out the best in you.

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Short Story 1

She woke up with a startle. Had she overslept? She checked the time on her mobile screen. 4:30 it moaned sleepily. She still had 1 hour to sleep. But she had so much to do! She didn’t even need the sprinkle of cold water on her eyes to wake her up; the thought itself was enough to wake her up. Hurriedly, she made her way to kitchen. She stopped by calendar and smiled. ‘My Birthday’ was scribbled on the date. It was decorated with so many flowers and stars that the date was no longer visible. With a soft chuckle she moved on with her work. She started baking the cake. Pineapple cake was Sally’s all time favourite. She could almost see her screaming with joy. She knew every child waits anxiously for his/her birthday. But there was no match for Sally’s anxiety. She was kind of obsessed with her birthday. Each time she was invited for any of her friends’ birthdays instead of lighting up she would make a grumpy face which demanded to know ‘When is her birthday?’ She would only be satisfied with the answer that stated exact number of days left for her birthday. She remembered last year when Sally woke up, she went to her room and wished her Happy Birthday. She got so excited that she made everybody at home wake up and asked them to wish her. She even made Leo (our dog) to shake its paw with her. She smiled at the memory. She was busy with her chores when her husband appeared in the kitchen.

‘Honey its 5:15. Why are you up so early? What are you doing?’

’It’s Sally’s birthday! I have lot to do!’

He stared at for her a moment and then without saying anything went to living room and sat there. He saw that her happiness knew no bounds. He sat there quietly. After an hour or so when everything seemed perfect she took out the colour boxes and sweets she had bought for Sally to distribute in school. Then she took out a pink frock, matching earrings, stockings and hair belt. She took these things and went to her room. The door was closed. She felt it weird and was puzzled for a moment. Sally always kept door of her bedroom ajar while sleeping. Lost in thoughts she opened the door and emptiness of the room filled her mind. She stared at the empty room. It had been the same it was 3 weeks ago. The toys lay scattered, bed was cluttered, she could see used plates below the bed, but everything seemed colorless without the sight of her precious one. She dropped the things down and cringed in a corner. The loud thud made her husband hurry to the room. She sat in a corner motionless. Emotions were burning up inside her but they just failed to come out. He knew this is no good. He kissed her forehead and hugged her. But she didn’t move. He got up and came with a photo frame holding Sally’s last year’s birthday picture. She was feeding cake to Sally. There was an outburst of emotions. Tears ran down her cheeks. He said ‘Wherever she is, she loves you’. With a crack in her voice she replied ‘But I love her more’.