Thank you Kavita Bagga for posting on Facebook a delectable
picture of a tandoori crab you ate at Gazalee. Sonu, Karan and I were so taken
in by the picture that we all decided, one month after my book’s release, to
have a quiet family celebratory dinner at Gazalee. We opened a bottle of Dom Perignon
champagne, drank ourselves silly and nearly came around to throwing our flute
glasses behind our backs as they once used to do in Czarist Russia. The joy and
coziness of a family rejoicing in each other’s successes and achievements is
one of the understated but high points in anyone’s life.
Sociologists often highlight the excesses and unsavory
undercurrents in a family set up but I wish that there would be more talk of
how big or small families come together whether in times of happiness or
sorrow. This feeling is like no other in the world and the sense of tuning in and
then being completely absorbed in the other’s emotional state of being is a
feeling like no other. In a world that is shot with strife and chaos the sheer
joy of knowing someone completely believes in you is like ballast that keeps a
ship afloat.
At a time like this when a family comes together, the mind
overreaches beyond the tight circle of joy and wonders at who all stood by you
and those also who failed you in your personal journey or in your quest to
achieve something new. And as always it is the strangers, the completely
unknown entity, who bowls you over with the love and support he or she offers
for your endeavors’ in life. They say you can choose your friends but not your
relatives. But once you have chosen them how many of them stand by you either
in your hour of need or when you have every reason to celebrate and enjoy.
One thing I have learnt in my quest and journey as a writer.
There are many who will laugh and drink and make merry with you when you set
sail but how many of them will stand by your side when the waves start rising
is an answer blowing in the wind.
Well Said Juggi !
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