A Tinfull of Mush!

Its our tenth or should I say, 'Tin'th anniversary today!! Who'd have thought we'd come so far??? Certainly not those, who gave me endless gyan on how we are as different as chalk and cheese ( I being the more evolved & sinful cheese in this combo while Vj was the plain & simple chalk). And certainly not me, who lived the first year of my marriage with a packed suitcase under the bed!

Come to think about it, we are so different we could define two ends of a spectrum! 

I'd rather listen to 'O Sole Mio' while he starts his day with Oye Lucky or some such noise that's today's excuse for music! I wouldn't even be surprised if the man thinks Bocelli and Pavarotti are names of types of pasta! I spend hours fussing over the perfect decor while he takes years to notice the paintings or artefacts he has been living with! I love ordering the most exotic of dishes while he orders his standard chilli chicken, even in a sea food restaurant on the beaches of Goa! He loves to spend every free minute running/ swimming/ playing tennis while the only exercise I like is pressing buttons on my TV remote. He threw up watching my all time favourite movie, Kill Bill; while all the cricket, soccer, tennis, F1 he watches makes me nauseous!

So its nothing short of a miracle that we have come so far, together, each of us in one piece, without missing any limbs and with our sanity intact! In a rare moment whereby, engulfed by mush, I would say the credit goes mainly to the marathon runner and his love for long distance races. Hopefully this shall be a marathon that we run for many more years to come! And thanks to his need to be challenged by adverse conditions - whether it be running in the killing heat & humidity of Mumbai or the freezing winds of Amsterdam or being married to the temperamental queen from Hell, he has made this run seem like a stroll in the park :) 

So this is a once in a decade lapse into mush to acknowledge the one person who has always been there to share a laugh and a drink in the good times and be my sanity in the bad ones, who has patiently listened to all my yelling & my rantings and has had the courage to suffer my moods and my family!!! And who has been my Zen guru and has brought some semblance of calm, peace and the ability or atleast the desire to "go with the flow" into my frenzied, stressed out life.

He may not know my favourite flower or perfume, but he knows what my favourite comfort food is, and where and more importantly, when to get it! He may think flowers are a waste of money, but he is generous enough to fly my sister down from another part of the world for a vacation. He doesn't bat an eyelid when I swear or get into arguments or get sloshed or all of the above, with his friends and at his high school reunion. He may not know what Cubism or Impressionism is, but he can sit patiently for hours in a corner in a museum, waiting for me to finish my sightseeing. He can be irritating about how he is always right but that never deters him from saying sorry even when he is not at fault! And he is perfectly willing to stay up nights to tend to our two boys so I can have a good night's rest; even though he has to wake up a few hours before me and go to work & stay without sleep for days. 

So here's to the person who has taught me its our journey that's important, its you who make this journey worth the while.... and there is no one I'd rather have by my side on this journey of life, love and parenthood, than you and each day, I thank God that we are in this together.

Now as an icing on this horribly embarrassing cake of mush, I shall end with one of my all time favourite poems, by who else but the Bard himself. And I am willing to bet every last rupee I have in the bank, that the man who this beautiful verse is intended for, will not be able to comprehend even a word of this! :)

"When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 

I all alone beweep my outcast state, 

And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, 

And look upon myself, and curse my fate, 

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 

Featur'd like him, like him with friends possess'd, 

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, 

With what I most enjoy contented least; 

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 

Haply I think on thee, 
and then my state (Like to the lark at break of day arising from sullen earth) 

Sings hymns at heaven's gate; 

For thy sweet love remembere'd such wealth brings, 

That then I scorn to change my state with kings"
~ William Shakespeare