'Well' wishers

You will know a well wisher when:

1. In school, you are good at studies, your grades are really impressive. But during one exam, you fall ill and sadly couldnt appear for the test. Your mother visits your teacher to let her know of the situation and she expresses her concern. On her way back, mother meets your best friend, she asks about you. She looks really concerned and asks mother, "Aunty what happened to her? Wont she write the exam?" Your mother explains your condition and is glad about your choice of friends until she blurts out, "WOW! If she wont write this time, I will be the topper!"

2. You spend sleepless nights to write an article for the college magazine and submit it before the editors and wait with your fingers crossed. Finally the magazine is published and your article is noticed by few. Yours truly goes through the magazine during the break, has an opinion for every article including the ads but skips your page. You fume.

3. You are dressed up to college in a sari for the first time. You feel beautiful and like a lady sail about the campus until she arrives in a stunning outfit, gives a glance to your side and says, "I like the colour of your sari, but it doesnt look much good on you, 'cos you have have large head and skinny figure, besides your ears stick out and your eys are so small which could be the reason for your big head." And you feel like doing a vanishing act then and there.


4. You wake up early in the morning, after a good night's sleep(no nightmares), the sun is shining and you feel great and fresh, having a positive attitude (unlike other days), ready to take over the world. As you step outside, she would bump into you insisting to delay your appointment, look at you intently for a while and ask you, "What happned to you? You dont seem well today? Are you alright? Your eyes are puffy, your skin looks grey? Didnt you sleep well yesterday?" And your smile fades and your head droops and the sky turns cloudy.

5.You are happy with your marriage. You feel you are taking care of your husband well. But ouyr 'friend' doesnt think so. She pulls you to her side and advices you to 'feed' your husband well. She exclaims, "My, he looks so skinny. Looks like you are having his shar of dinner too", she jokes and you try to hide your vexation. Now, God had blessed you with kids. They are bounding with energy and in your eyes look pretty healthy. Your well wisher apppears and looks worried, "Oh, what happened to them? Were they ill the whole week? Why dont you feed them anything? Just let me have them for a month, I will show you how to tak care of kids this age."

6. You have piled up a few kilos over the years binging and ofcourse in my case, post delivery. You need to desperately to do something about the burden you are carrying about because the doctor has also warned you of the dangers of being in the borderline of obesity. You feel like a whale. Teens have started calling you 'Aunty' (Hey dont you dare, I am still young) and your husband, 'Bhaiyya' though he too is on the heavier side. You feel miserable. Then she meets you (wonder how they find you at the 'right' time), gives you that intent look and then says, "Wow! you've never looked great before. What did you do? I love your complexion and the way you've draped your shawl around, I simply love it. And you just look the same even after having two kids..."making you feel on cloud nine and you immediately abandon the idea of shedding that blubber.

7. Finally your husband (in my case) has convinced you (dont ask me how, it was really hard for him) to finally drag yourself to that exercise cycle that had been gathering dust all those days. You work out, diet, drink vegetable juice, stop eating all those yummies and it pays off. Your family feels great about your new avatar. You can finally fit into those old pair of jeans which you had hidden in your cupboard for your daughter's legacy and had to resize most of your ballooning kurtis. In general you feel wonderful, accomplished. Then our Miss/Mrs truly arrives, the new you stand before her as a surprise, wait for her reaction...nothing. She goes around the house, appreciates even the new footmat you have put near the kitchen sink but 'fails' to have noticed the 'big' difference. As she steps out the door, she pats your tummy and says, "Time for a tummy tuck..." And you feel defeated...

8. You are excitedly describing the holiday you had with your family in a resort, which she had suggested and had gone before umpteen times. She seems interested for a while, but then asks you, "Did you play in the pool?" You look disaapointed, "No, it was under renovation". She looks releived for the first time and adds, "I am so happy about the pool, we didnt miss the fun after all."

9. You decide to go real trendy today to church ( in my case), so you dress up really cool, with silver jewelry and dangling earrings. Your husband tells you, you looked as good without them, you disagree. Her eyes travel all over you and she looks surprised. You wince when she finally says in front of a huge gathering, " You do look good, I must say, for once."

Yes, I do have great many 'well' wishers in my life but one thing I cannot deny is that they do stick with me through the 'thick' and 'thin' of life and deflates me at regular intervals that I always land up on the ground,though head first, thus ensuring I am always well grounded.