Memories - Life's rear view mirror...

Another wonderful day in Bengaluru…a hot cuppa tea….a boring newspaper which I skim for any interesting offers (not job offersJ)….chirping birds and the occasional crow…as I breathe in the chill winter air sometime in mid December…I realized this is the last 14 days of the 365 allotted to 2010. This has been a year that just whizzed past…..by the grace of God, we got through this year without any issues of health, wealth or mental peace……but if you think back, what can you remember about 2010? What did 2010 mean to us, what have we accomplished in the 8016 hours this year? Don’t worry am not gonna give all of you a guilt trip J If you think of it, your memories of a year is like a rear view mirror of all you left behind….as said by Meat Loaf in a very famous song of his.

Every second we leave behind that second and the next and the next…..
Flipping through channels, I happened to catch an ad an old one shown again…that of an SUV that claims to “Reclaim your life”. A very relevant question it asks….

When you look back at life….what can you remember?
…..The corner office
…..The big house…etc etc

Come to think of it – What can you remember…”How many moments that stay etched in your memory do you have in your life?” For some reason we seem to be able to remember the memories we want to forget more vividly, than the ones we wish stay with us forever. To me, I think the most memorable, were when I first saw Shobi (now my wifeJ) though she had no clue of my presence…..when I proposed to her….when I first broke my arm…..my first car accident….the first time a girl said she loved me J all I can remember is how fast my heart was beating at that moment…Thanx…or UNThanx to my very senior cousins in Shanthi Nilayam in Palakkad who encouraged a 15 year old kid to go propose. What was I thinking…but well thanx guys, I thoroughly enjoyed it!!! Whats even more funny is I met her again almost 16 years later….and well…we had a laugh!!

Well, memories are memories…however sad, funny or odd we still treasure them…my mother even today talks about the chaos at home when my report card came….I guess that is her scariest memory J but she fondly talks about how cute my sister and I were both as kids…..

One memory I have to mention is something that happened in San Francisco….my child hood buddy and I went to SF downtown, partied and were SMASHED!!On the way back I was almost dozing off when I heard this loud siren on the freeway….a cop’s car was behind us and with lights blaring…..was asking us to pull over. My buddy put his indicator and we started getting tense….and he was about to move to the left, when the cop spoke in his megaphone….” Don’t stop here…don’t stop here…take the next exit….” We obliged…. “turn right at the fuel station…” we followed as instructed… “stop the car and turn off the engine….”.

At this point, I thought we were doomed…I cant go to jail here in the USA L Images of NYPD Blue and COPS came flooding in my mind….my buddy rolled his window down and kept his hands on the wheel with his license in hand…..There were 2 cops, one went to the drivers side and the other came to my side and knocked the window and I rolled it down….he asked me for an ID…and I reached out to my pocket….at this point I noticed I was probably a bad move away from getting electrocuted/shot….cause the cop moved one hand towards a holster which held what was maybe a gun or a stun gun.

After a brief round of questioning…the cops concluded that we were harmless and my buddy was not intoxicated enough to cause an accident…suddenly they were best of pals and even wished me a happy stay in the USA!! A total contrast to what a cop would do back home….he would firstly have his face in my mouth asking my name and where I came from to know if I drank…and if I did, he’d probably ask me for a few hundreds and release me….Well that memory stays with me….and so do several others….

Memories….Life’s Rear View Mirror...
Never loose sight of it…
For from them we learn…
For moments as those we yearn
Every moment we breathe..a new one we churn
“Life ain’t about the number of moments we breathe….but the number of moments that take your breath away!!”