All Comments By Abhaya

Jagdish, Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. It is very uplifting! Also totally agree that being responsible is the way of life! :)

Tammy, kudos to you for realising what you want and making an attempt to make it tight! All the very best!

I must admit that I felt a little lost going through the first two paragraphs but appreciate the way the reading took the flow to the conclusion. I am unmarried and when I saw the theme, the first thought the came to my mind was to just scribble “No comments” but curiosity got the better of me and I read through the whole passage. My thoughts are solely based on my understanding of marriage and I may be completely wrong since I don’t talk from experience. This particular sentence resonates with my thoughts- That's the irony of marriage as we've created it. Per me, marriage is between two individuals and what they make out of it. Within the constructs of being good, just, humane and responsible, it is solely the resolve of two people on how they want to embark on this beautiful journey of marriage, love and companionship. I don’t think any society or family or friends can define this bond. I think marriage is an interesting aspect of life to be able to grow with your partner, to share, respect, cherish, understand, uplift, love, encourage, enjoy each other’s company and enrich one another’s life and the community around you. No being is perfect and just like everything marriage needs work too. It might not be easy but it is the will to make it as simple and enriching as possible. Love Is peace Is simple Is innocent Is pure Is joy Is abundance Is trust Is care Is strength Is acceptance Is beautiful Is to uplift Is freedom to be yourself Is freedom to grow Is freedom to change Is freedom to express Is freedom to be different Is freedom to fail Is freedom to disagree Is freedom to say No This would be the most apt understanding of love for me -  Love is the most authentic experience within the framework of the human adventure. All I would like to say is - enjoy this adventure or experience to the fullest and leave no stone unturned to make it all worth it!   ... [View Full Comment] I must admit that I felt a little lost going through the first two paragraphs but appreciate the way the reading took the flow to the conclusion.

I am unmarried and when I saw the theme, the first thought the came to my mind was to just scribble “No comments” but curiosity got the better of me and I read through the whole passage.

My thoughts are solely based on my understanding of marriage and I may be completely wrong since I don’t talk from experience.

This particular sentence resonates with my thoughts- That's the irony of marriage as we've created it. Per me, marriage is between two individuals and what they make out of it. Within the constructs of being good, just, humane and responsible, it is solely the resolve of two people on how they want to embark on this beautiful journey of marriage, love and companionship. I don’t think any society or family or friends can define this bond. I think marriage is an interesting aspect of life to be able to grow with your partner, to share, respect, cherish, understand, uplift, love, encourage, enjoy each other’s company and enrich one another’s life and the community around you.

No being is perfect and just like everything marriage needs work too. It might not be easy but it is the will to make it as simple and enriching as possible.

Love
Is peace
Is simple
Is innocent
Is pure
Is joy
Is abundance
Is trust
Is care
Is strength
Is acceptance
Is beautiful
Is to uplift
Is freedom to be yourself
Is freedom to grow
Is freedom to change
Is freedom to express
Is freedom to be different
Is freedom to fail
Is freedom to disagree
Is freedom to say No

This would be the most apt understanding of love for me -  Love is the most authentic experience within the framework of the human adventure. All I would like to say is - enjoy this adventure or experience to the fullest and leave no stone unturned to make it all worth it!   [Hide Full Comment]

A beautiful passage and a bit close to the heart. Apologies for the long post! For most of my life, I wasn't exposed to the concept of being alone. I am 41 now and well into my early thirties, I never realized that people can be alone or feel lonely. I'm an only child and my parents always let me do things by myself. We are not this typical family where everyone does everything together and so I'm used to doing things by myself or taking my own decisions. I could easily have lunch by myself at school or spend a full day alone even when I was quite young. Even now, I can go and watch a movie alone or have dinner at a quiet place all by myself. However, it is in the last few years that I feel lonely at times. I have a good friend from work - Tinaz who I met almost 16 years back. She has been sending me a "Good Morning" message almost everyday for the past few years. I am not into sharing daily or regular forwards or greetings but just to acknowledge this sweet gesture, I respond back to her message everyday. This never had any major impact on me until a few months back a thought came to my mind that when I pass away, Tinaz might be the only person to realise that I'm no more since she checks upon me every single day. At that point, I did feel less lonely in this big world :) Tinaz mentioned a couple of years back that her mom told her that we both shall be there for each other till the very end. I viewed it to be a sweet thought at the time but it has more value now. My other experience was when my beloved grandma suffered from dementia the last 2 years of her life. She was the most giving, loving and caring person and would always be there for everyone. She was always full of life and led a very simple life. Her family, siblings and friends meant the world to her. I had not experienced anyone in my family go through any physical or mental issues till my grandma suffered from dementia. I always wondered why her? She was such a sweet soul... [View Full Comment] A beautiful passage and a bit close to the heart. Apologies for the long post! For most of my life, I wasn't exposed to the concept of being alone. I am 41 now and well into my early thirties, I never realized that people can be alone or feel lonely. I'm an only child and my parents always let me do things by myself. We are not this typical family where everyone does everything together and so I'm used to doing things by myself or taking my own decisions. I could easily have lunch by myself at school or spend a full day alone even when I was quite young. Even now, I can go and watch a movie alone or have dinner at a quiet place all by myself. However, it is in the last few years that I feel lonely at times. I have a good friend from work - Tinaz who I met almost 16 years back. She has been sending me a "Good Morning" message almost everyday for the past few years. I am not into sharing daily or regular forwards or greetings but just to acknowledge this sweet gesture, I respond back to her message everyday. This never had any major impact on me until a few months back a thought came to my mind that when I pass away, Tinaz might be the only person to realise that I'm no more since she checks upon me every single day. At that point, I did feel less lonely in this big world :) Tinaz mentioned a couple of years back that her mom told her that we both shall be there for each other till the very end. I viewed it to be a sweet thought at the time but it has more value now. My other experience was when my beloved grandma suffered from dementia the last 2 years of her life. She was the most giving, loving and caring person and would always be there for everyone. She was always full of life and led a very simple life. Her family, siblings and friends meant the world to her. I had not experienced anyone in my family go through any physical or mental issues till my grandma suffered from dementia. I always wondered why her? She was such a sweet soul and I could never understand why she had to go through this suffering or abandonment in life. She was mentally confused for most of her last 2 years, forgot people, relations and she would always refer to me as a boy. She had even forgotten that I'm her granddaughter. I was just some boy living in the house. She loved to see what I would wear for work everyday and would get excited like a small kid to walk me outside to say bye before I left for work but she would still refer to me as a boy. The sad part is that almost everyone she cared for stopped calling or visiting her in those 2 years just stating that she wouldn't remember that they called or visited and she doesn't speak anything relevant over the phone like she wouldn't even remember what day it is or what she had for breakfast or lunch nor make any sense of what the other person is saying and so on. The reality was that it would always bring her immense joy when someone visited or called her though she would get super tensed if anyone asked her anything, maybe because she wouldn't remember what to reply. I guess what everyone thought was right from their point of view but having stayed close to a person who went through dementia, all I can say is that though they are in touch with the current situation nor have much mental clarity, they long for company, affection and warmth. They need people to show them that they are still part of the community and not feel left out or alone. A huge thanks to my mom for taking care of my grandma religiously. I must say that it wasn't an easy task even with the help at home but we are very happy to have been able to try and make the situation as comfortable and happy for her as possible. Another experience is around my neighbor who lives 3 houses away from my place. He is a widower. His kids stay abroad and he stays all by himself. He has leg problems and stays home mostly except for the occasional visit to the doctor or his native place which is a few hours away from the city. He has befriended my dad and calls our house at least 4-5 times if my dad doesn't visit him. My dad enjoys spending time with him but skips visiting him if there is something interesting to watch on the sports channel. However, my neighbor rings up my dad and ensures he visits him. I find it hilarious. They have a conflict of interest - My dad loves to watch sports whereas my neighbor likes to watch soap operas but they somehow find a common ground and spend time with each other. He calls my dad if the cook doesn't show up and requests my dad if he can bring him some breakfast, He has now become part of the family. A few months back my neighbor had come outside the house in the night to lock the gate and fell down and hurt himself, A passerby recognized him as my dad's friend and called our house and my dad took him to the hospital and got him treated. He asked me to WhatsApp his kids. They might have called him directly but they never responded to my message. They were supposed to visit him but I believe they later changed the plan to go elsewhere for summer vacation. During the visit they had planned to move him to his native place. His brother and family stays a few hours away from there and they had agreed to take care of him. They had even rented a place for the last 3-4 months and my neighbor visited the place a couple of times but he finally decided against moving to his native. I feel he has now found a friend in my dad and does not feel all the lonely I think that people might feel alone or lonely at any stage in life and it is really special to have that someone who can make them feel alive. Also, it is not just humans, even animals at times need that special someone to make them feel loved. Few years back there was a stray puppy in our street. It always looked thirsty, hungry, alone and lost. My dad would put some water in front of our house and give some food. We had construction going on next door and the puppy would sleep there sometimes. When the new neighbors moved it, they adopted this puppy and named him Bingo! Now he is loved, pampered and has a family. I see a huge difference in his personality and can see the sparkle and joy in his eyes, GOD bless the family for making Bingo part of their life! :)[Hide Full Comment]