Dreams Do Come True!

19^th November 2015, Gurgaon, India!

It was a usual day...I was lost in my entrance exam preparations…Bored to hell… Taking a break from my books, as always, I logged in to twitter only to find out a news that turned my usual day into an unusual one ….and Magic happened…. “Madhuri Dixit will be in Delhi Tomorrow for the Women In the World Summit” it read. WHATTTTTT??!!!!! Madhuri Dixit will be in the same city as me tomorrow!!! Is it true?? Does that mean I can meet her? Is my dream finally going to come true? But how?

To confirm the news first, I quickly did a google search and found it to be true. My heart started thumping faster. I ran to my sister, who was sitting in the other room and told her, “Didi, MD kal dilli aa rahi hai. Mujhe milna hai usko yaar.” (Di, MD is coming to Delhi tomorrow, I want to meet her.”) She just laughed it off saying haan kyun nahi! Ja mill le…tere liye hi aa rahi hai.. (Yeah why not, go meet her, she’s coming for you only).

Having missed out on meeting her at three occasions before because I couldn’t arrange for the tickets in the short stipulated time…Now that she was going to be in the same city, I didn’t want to miss this chance. But how does one meet her? How do I proceed? Whom should I contact? Her team? Will they listen to me? Can a meeting with Madhuri be arranged? Bammm!!! I don’t know.

The first person with whom I shared this on the social media was my Diary Co-admin, Avinash. Main reason being that I knew he too lives in Delhi. So maybe even he will be equally excited to hear the news. I dropped him a message on Diary saying “MD will be in Delhi tomorrow. Is there any way to meet her?” ….He replied, “Ask Nitesh, maybe he can contact the team”… Yes Nitesh!!!! How can I forget him. He’s a pro at this. The most experienced person in this entire fandom. (Experience of arranging meetings with MD, because he’s met her the maximum number of times). He could surely help me out here. And then I thought of another good friend from the fandom, Bhagyashree. 

I dropped them individual messages saying that “MD is coming to Delhi tomorrow and I’m in Delhi. I want to meet her. What should I do?” Both told me to contact her team. Tweet them, mail them, send them a message on Facebook. Whichever way I could think of. And I did. I did everything. I tried to contact them on every platform. Literally feeling like a desperate fan dying to meet her idol. But does it end here? NO! Nothing can happen until they reply. Yes, the big question, “Will her team reply to my messages?” After a long wait, I got a reply from her team which read, “Sorry, no fan meet possible this time, Ma’am has a tight schedule”. That’s it. This sentence broke me. Literally. I was in tears….It’s all over. She’ll come tomorrow…attend the summit. And then go back to Mumbai. I can perhaps never meet her. It’s a dream that will always remain unfulfilled. Is it? Or NO? Somewhere, my heart didn’t believe it too soon. With a little hope still left in my heart I waited for tomorrow. 

Early morning 20^th November 2015, the day when Madhuri Dixit was supposed to be landing in Delhi. After the reply from her team last night, I forwarded the message to Nitesh, and he told me to call her team and directly go there at the venue without a second thought!! WHATT!!! These were two herculin tasks. Can I directly call her team? Won’t that be like stalking her? Is that punishable? And how can I land up at the venue and say I want to meet Madhuri. Who will allow me that way? All these thoughts kept floating in my mind. Nitesh was adamant on this and kept persuading me. Go! That’s how fan meets happen. Most of the time it’s never planned. If you’re there, They can’t stop you. Go there if you can. I somehow thought it will annoy her team if I landed there directly and moreover I didn’t know about her schedule. So, when do I go there? And till what time will I stay there. Will I be allowed? Will my family allow me to be there for the entire day without knowing if I’ll even get a chance to meet her? “No!” was the only answer that came to my mind. 

But I didn’t want to give up either. So, I resorted to the other idea instead and called them up. 

Yes! I dialled the number. 

Somebody pinch me now. 

Is it actually happening? I am calling her team? Dialling someone’s number who’s perhaps the right hand of Madhuri Dixit. What the hell am I doing??!!  What if she doesn’t answer? What if she says no. But What if she says YES? Will that mean I will meet Madhuri? OMG!! 

Thousands of thoughts kept gushing through my mind in those few seconds. And suddenly I heard...” The number you’re trying to call is currently switched off, Please try after sometime.” And the same message repeated in Marathi. Oh God! Why is the phone switched off now? Will it be switched off for the whole day? Do they not take calls when she’s travelling? Heart beating faster and faster I didn’t know what to do now. 

Suddenly I got a notification on my phone. Madhuri Dixit tweeted. I quickly opened the tweet, she had posted a picture of her in the car & it read, “In Delhi for the Women In The World” …. So, the queen is finally here.  YESS! And that explained why the phone was switched off. They were perhaps in the plane when I called.  Heart beat and Blood Pressure rising to an all-time high. I started shivering from head to toe.  Now that the spark had already been ignited, I wanted to re-dial the number. Without a second thought, I called her manager again. And this time to my surprise, it started ringing. And she even answered my call. I explained her everything as quickly as I could and asked if a fan meet was possible. And she replied, “will let you know if anything is possible”. I didn’t want to annoy her further so said, "Thank You" & kept the phone down. 

Now, another volley of question splashed through my mind. How will she let me know? Will she call me, text me, mail me? How?? 

I wanted to message her again. At first I thought it might irritate her since I just spoke to her. But then I even realised that half the day was already over so when will I know if the meet is happening or not? She might go back and I’ll never know about it. Meanwhile I even came to know that her session was supposed to happen at 4 o’clock. So, there was no question of meeting her before that. It could only happen after that, if at all. But I can’t wait till 4 for her team to tell me that the meet is at 5. I can’t reach Taj Man Singh Hotel, the venue, in that short time.  

Somehow the idea of going to the hotel without the meet fixed didn’t please me. So, I waited..waited..and waited for her manager’s reply. After a long wait I sent her a reminder text saying that if anything is possible please let me know. I again tweeted and mailed her on every email id of her team that I had. Did everything I could. Even had some friends asking her on twitter to arrange for the meet. And when nothing worked, I realised how big a star she was and how small a person I was. I realised how difficult it was to set up a meet with Madhuri. And this just made me eager to meet her even more.  

Her session ended. She had some interviews lined up. I was catching all this action live on twitter. It was almost 6 or 7 in the evening. I didn’t get any reply from her team. I now thought that she must be already ready to catch her flight back to Mumbai. I was disappointed but was at least satisfied that I tried my best to arrange for the meet. Maybe it wasn’t my time yet. Yeah, when it has to happen, it will happen. 

Everything was back to normal. A couple of hours later in the night that day, MD tweeted to Filmfare Editor, Jitesh Pillai, congratulating him for the success of Marathi Filmfare Awards and saying that she wished she was in Mumbai for the awards. WHATTTTT??!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does that mean she’s not in Mumbai yet? Where is she??? Is Madhuri Still in DELHI????????!!!!!!!!!!! Heart started thumping faster n faster again. Hoping that she must be online, I quickly replied on her tweet saying that I want to meet her. And minutes later at around 11pm, I got an SMS on my phone. Can you come to Taj Man Singh Hotel Tomorrow at 10am?  I couldn’t believe what my eyes just read. My happiness knew no bounds.😊 I quickly replied YESSSS!!! She answered,” okay then, see you.” 😊😊😊  I Screamed yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Told my family that I’m meeting MD tomorrow. 😊 I shared the good news with Nitesh…Just to take tips on how to behave sane when you’re in front of MD… 😊😋😎  He asked me if I had called up other fans from Delhi as well. It was midnight so I couldn’t call anyone that late. Nitesh then informed Avinash and there we were… Madhuri’s Tweet Diary was all ready to meet The Madhuri Dixit-Nene. It was finally happening. 😊 Finally, one big thing was about to get ticked off from my Bucket List… 

To add to the excitement, I realised, how am I going to take her autograph? I had nothing here. Everything was at my home in Jammu. I had kept a card specially to take her autograph on it but that was all lying back home in Jammu. I didn’t even have a good notepad here to take her autograph. Wow finally meeting Madhuri but will come back without taking her autograph. Hmmmmm.. It does not sound good. Then I thought of the white dwm t-shirt that I had just purchased. I thought, I’ll get her autoghraph on that. But it already had her signature. I can’t ask her to sign it again. Her autograph must  be special & it should be on something that is even more special. 😊 This reminded me of the video of the phone call she made to me, 2 years back, to congratulate me for winning the Jhalak Dikhla Jaa- Dance With Madhuri contest. 😊 I had kept a screenshot from the video in my phone. Yes, I’ll take her autograph on this picture. I decided. But that required taking a print out of the picture first, which couldn’t happen until morning. Knowing that we had to leave early, before 9am, getting a print out even before that was difficult. The shops here mostly open by 10. Let’s see what happens tomorrow. "Que sera sera!!" is what I told to myself. If not an autograph, at least I’ll try to take a good picture to make up for it. With thousands of thoughts, anxiety, happiness, excitement…. I slept. 😊

21^st November 2015, I woke up early… Got ready. Was all set to live my dream. The moment I’ve been waiting for all through my life… It was all about a few hours now. We left the house at about 8:45am. I needed a print out. Tried my luck and hurriedly rushed to the nearest market only to find the Photostat shop open. Like they say, “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”… Yes, it was that moment for me. I quickly handed the shopkeeper my pen drive, he took the print out… I gave him the money and we rushed from there as fast as we could. 

Meanwhile I got a text from another MD fan from Delhi, Lakshay, saying that he’s already reached the hotel. Till today, I don’t know who informed Lakshay about the meet though..but I was happy to read his message.. It made me even more excited. Then Avinash called saying he’s reached as well. Which meant I was the only one not there on time 😋  I almost thought I will not make it by 10. 😋 But luckily, I reached well on time.. sharp at 10 am. 😋

The excitement was sky high. I met Avinash and Lakshay for the first time. They told me, they saw her team there. MD’s luggage was being taken. We were standing in the lobby of the hotel. I informed her team about our arrival and her manager was surprised to see three fans instead of just one (me). LOL.. Anyway, we were asked to wait. 😎 ab aur wait nahi ho raha tha.. 😋 and Few minutes later we were called to her room. Oh God!!! Somebody pinch me!! WOW!!! 

Three of us were equally excited and happy. Avinash was the only one who had met MD before. So he kept saying she looks like this… like that.. very different from what we see on screen.. 

Soon we reached the room. We were first made to sit in another room. Then few minutes later, her manager took us to Madhuri’s room. The moment I waited for my entire life was right there in front of me. I was finally going to meet my star… Madhuri Dixit.. I wanted to scream on top of my voice and make everyone know that I am about to meet Madhuri.. holding my excitement, I entered the room.. I saw her.. is it her? No it isn’t? YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She’s MADHURIIIIIIIII …… Oh My God!! were the first words I said. "Ma’am you’re so prettyyyyyyyyy!!!!!" She hugged me.. she said. "I’m sorry, I have bad cold..I don't want you to get that"... awwww… I wanted to freeze that moment.💖 For once, I wanted the clock to stop.😊

Then Avinash n Lakshay came in. Avinash complimented her saying she was looking Ultra beautiful. Believe me… She was.. She was looking like a doll..😊 we talked…and chatted like we’ve been friends for years.. 😊 I told her how happy I was to finally meet her after having missed out on three chances of meeting her before. Even after winning multiple contests on DWM. She said she knows…and she remembered that she talked to me on phone ..😊 which star remembers that much about their fans? Only Madhuri does. And thus, she’s the most special amongst them all. 

Lakshay then read out a poem he had written for her during Aaja Nachle time..she was running out of time and had a flight to catch, but she patiently heard that. We clicked pictures.. requested her for selfies.. and she happily agreed…😊 I took her autograph on the print out. 

The most surprising thing was, she knew my name ...😊 She didn’t ask before signing and she’s the first person who spelled my name correctly without asking me the spellings. 😊 That’s My Madhuri... She just knows everything. 😊 Then we clicked some more pictures, talked some more and requested her to do more films. 😊 “I will .. of course I will..” she said.. 😊 ….and like all good things come to an end, it was time for us to leave (though we didn’t want to..but we had to) 😊

 I lived the best moment of my life.Yes! She’s so full of love, that every fan must, at least once, try to meet her. It’s a feeling worth experiencing. 😊 trust me, the best in the world. 😊Until we meet again… 💖 cheers! 

Thank you Madhuri, thank you Team M, Didi, Jeeju, Nitesh, Bhagyashree.. for making this happen for me 😊..  I owe this to you guys. 😊

Thank You! 😊

happy b'day sis!! :))

“Phoolon ka taron ka sabka kehna hai, ek hazar me meri behna hai

sari umar humein sang rehna hai...!”:) <3

They say, “When god made sisters least did he know He was making best of friends” 

Lucky are those people who have an elder sister & with one like you, I very proudly say that “My di is THE BEST”!!

Di, it’s hard to say what it means to have a sister so wonderful like you… You’re someone I can depend on for any damn thing… someone whom I can count on always in sunshine & shade.

Words can’t describe my luv for you.

You mean the world to me, you’re my every thing … with u beside me, I have no fear.

You’re the most caring, wonderful & amazing sister on earth!! You’re God’s most precious gift to me… Lucky to have a sis like you whose been my greatest support pillar, my best friend, my confidant :)

In times of trouble there’s no place more comforting than being in your arms… One smile from you & all my worries go choomantar!! :* 

God knew that I’d need a hand someday to guide me along the way... Perhaps that’s why He sent you ahead of me... & you’ve been my best guide always!! 

Someone has rightly said, “There’s no better friend than a sister” & I say there’s no better sister than YOU!! :)

On your Birthday, I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Bless you, My Darling!! :*

loads n loads of luv

khone se darti hun mai

"badal pe chalti hun mai..

ghirti sambhalti hun mai..

khwashiyen krti hun mai...

khone se darti hun mai.."

My friend once told me, "you have a habit of thinking & introspecting a lot" … well I guess there’s no harm in exploring, reasoning & examining ones own thoughts & feelings & according to me relationships are certainly one of the most complex things one has to deal with… & dealing with friendships is surely one of them… though I am really lucky to have some of the superb people around me, who’ve accepted me the way I am , have always been there when I needed them & most notably have tolerated my doldrums and rigorous mood swings…

Inspite of this I still feel insecure & find it difficult to deal with certain things at times…

The kind of person I am, I have always had very few close friends. Yes, I admit I am very reluctant to make new friends easily... & I think trust has a lot to do with that. I cannot trust people easily but the ones I gel along with nicely should consider themselves really lucky ‘coz I’ll always bat for them no matter what… I know I don’t express it too often, but I love you all my buddies & can’t imagine a life without any one of you. You all mean my world to me…I guess when you are so closely attached to someone; you would obviously want those feelings to be reciprocated in ditto & that’s where it all starts… expectations always hurt… this surely doesn’t mean I question their friendship but, I think it’s my obsession or my over protective & possessive nature that lands me into trouble most of the times. i fear losing them & I tend to get anxious about so many things that it actually makes me uncomfortable & starts troubling me & forces me to think if it is wrong to associate so intimately with your friends that if sometimes they aren’t there you start feeling apprehensive, concerned & even disturbed at times… and the worst part is that in spite of knowing that it’ll spoil & ruin the relationship you still can’t get over it.

I read it somewhere that “getting over attached to anything would lead to sadness, unhappiness and misery”… I don’t know if it stands true or not but have been a victim of this many a times… & believe me it feels like hell…

this question often haunts my mind,”‘ Is being over protective & possessive really so bad?" Well... I don’t think so… as far as I believe, being possessive for our friend’s just means that we love them so enormously & it is unquestionably not bad to care for someone so immensely…is it ?

But yes, if not controlled it may worsen the matters sometimes… (Actually many times in my case)

Someone has rightly said, “Friendship is like water contained in our hand, As long as you keep your hand gently open, it will always be there. However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to posses it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds.

For someone like me, to practice this is like a mission…

Here I am also reminded of the famous saying of Richard Bach, “if you love someone set it free, if it comes back it is yours, if not, it never was…”

I guess the only solution to this hitch is to simply accept things as they are & move on… but its not so easy to move on… what disturbs me max is even if I want to, I can’t avoid these extreme feelings from entering my brain… but i know, with such wonderful friends around, I’ll surely get over it one day…

If anyone of you has a better solution to my problem, you are most welcome… will be waiting for your replies…

p.s : take love & multiply it by infinity,

then take it to the depths of forever & still then only can you see a glimpse of how much i love my friends... :)

“Tu hai toh I’ll be alright”

"Tu hai toh tedhi medhi rahen

Ulti pulti baatein

Sedhi lagti hai,

Tu hai toh joothe moothe vaade

Dushman ke irrade

Sache lagte hai,

Jo dil mein taare vaare de jagah

Woh tu hi hai, tu hi hai

Jo rote rote de hasa

Tu hi hai wahin,

Jaane kyun, dil janta hai

Tu hai toh, I’ll be alright…”

Dedicated to my “greatest buddy” ever, for the person whom I can call my soul-mate, the person with whom I can share my secrets, my happiness… just about everything…… What better than sharing my name with her !!!!

Lots to write about her but where do I start from???

She’s the most fantastic friend I’ve ever had...She’s got the most magnificent smile I’ve ever seen, and she is the gentlest & the most grounded person I’ve ever met... Whatever I say about her is surely not enough. All I can say is her kindness & warmth touches my heart like nothing else does, her serene smile mesmerizes me & her caring & giving nature teaches me that ‘there is greatness in giving’. …!! I even envy her for so many things…one of them being her patience; I wish I was even 10% of as patient as she is… :) !!! She is undoubtedly the most generous person I’ve seen , though I keep telling her at times ‘learn to say NO’ & which I am sure she will one day… but jokes apart, I still love her the way she is.. :)

Dear, I care about you more than any words I've told to you, you just don't know it yet… so here I am, with the least I could do to show you what you mean to me. When I first met you in college we were strangers but the moment we talked for the first time, something within me clicked and I knew our friendship was here to stay… Just a year & a half since we’ve known each other but it seems like we’ve been together for ages… Each day spent with you is better than the last.

You are a Gem of a friend sweetheart. Knowing you as a person has been great but having you as a friend is a blessing…You are like an inspiration for me when I’ve lost all my hope. Someone I can count on whenever I am low. You are in short ‘my supporting pillar’… Boring classes in college are fun ‘coz I have you with me… The full on masti, the celebrations, the ‘photo sessions’ & all sorts of enjoyment we have in the college- everything is just superb because of you. I am proud to have you in my life.

They say, “A true friend is that one person who makes you laugh when you think you can't smile anymore...” & believe me dear you are one such friend for me... :)

Akriti, I wonder if you know how special you are, how precious you are, and how lucky I am to have you in my life. I promise to you honey that,

“We’ll be friends as long as the stars twinkle in the sky, as long as angels are there up high… till oceans run dry & till the day I die… :) :)

Happy B’day darling…

Have a wonderful b’day & a gr8 life ahead…!!!

P.s- luv u honey

Always there…

:) :) :)

Dadagiri unlimited…!!

Cricket has always been a religion in India & it is no different for me. Sourav Chandidas Ganguly or ‘dada’ (as he is sweetly called by his fans around the globe) is someone whom I truly idolize & admire. He has probably been my biggest source of inspiration. I am actually crazy about him.

“Dada” is & will always remain one of the greatest players of the cricketing fraternity. Titles like:

· “The Prince of Kolkata”- Geoffrey Boycott

· “On the off-side, first there is god and then there is Sourav Ganguly…” – Rahul Dravid

· “The Bengal tiger” …

Have been lovingly bestowed on him…

From the little ‘Maharaj’ born with a golden spoon in a royal Bengali family to becoming the most successful captain of the Indian cricket team in both forms of the game, dada’s journey has indeed been remarkable. Football was his first love & he took cricket seriously only after he was in his 10^th grade.Dada started his ODI career in 1992 against West Indies but was dropped ‘coz of his poor show & was perceived to be arrogant in his game. It was only after him scoring heavily in the domestic cricket for the next two years that he was picked for the England tour in the year 1996 where he surprised everyone with his performance by smashing a century in his debut test at Lord’s… a feat that not much have achieved in the cricketing history. Aggression has always been his asset. With an elegant style probably matchless on the off-side & a murderer against spin dada has been one of the best players the game has seen.

He took over as the Indian captain in the year 2000, when cricket was trapped in the match-fixing quagmire. Fans had almost lost their faith & the biggest stars their sheen. It was said that the worst job in the country at that time was to captain Team India. But unaffected by all these dada took the challenge with full confidence & yet again proved his critics wrong. History will surely remember him for saving the Indian cricket from its deepest low: the shackles of match-fixing. His biggest contribution to Team India has been the winning attitude. It was under him that the team started winning more matches on the foreign soil. He backed and motivated players like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan who went on to contribute significantly in several Indian wins.

Dada always believed in youngsters and taught them how to get together & fight as one unit. He painstakingly backed the raw talent & infused a sense of passion and confidence in them. His methods & madness made him the most colorful skipper. His leadership skills are just phenomenal … something out of the ordinary. The best thing I like about him is his fearless, never say die, aggressive attitude… its something that’s incomparable... There are many historic moments for which he will always be remembered, the biggest being leading team India to the finals of the 2003 World Cup & his much famous shirt-doffing act at Lord’s after India’s victory in the Nat-West series against England in the year 2002…:)

Ups & downs are a part of life & dada’s journey was no different. He was unquestionably one of the most controversial players of the game. It was even said that controversies seem to be his middle name. As a captain he often drove the selectors crazy. Dada has faced hordes of criticism but he never let it bother him. He took it all with a smile on his face & always used to say “you just need to do your work, Let the results take care of themselves”. Nobody other than him probably knows how to answer his critics better. He had to go through a lot of problems in his career: the short-pitch ball nightmares, selection issues, struggle for runs (in later part of his career) & lastly the final face-off with Greg Chappell which was the ugliest chapter in his career. Yet he sat through all this silently.

Talking about his marriage to Dona Ganguly, when parents from both sides kept opposing their relation, secret marriage was his only solution… :) The man definitely knows how to get things done his way, be it cricket or his personal life… :) and that’s something that makes me go fida over him…:)

Can actually go on & on about dada but will fall short of characters. So to sum it all, here are some of my favorite Quotes by dada-

· “There’s no point in playing well & losing”

· “I don’t believe in draws, either you win or you lose”

· “If your job is totally free of problems that’s no job”… :)

On your 38^th birthday here’s wishing you a great year ahead.

Happy birthday dada…!!! :) :) :)

THE FACEBOOK GENERATION

These days when we make new friends the first thing we ask "Are you on Facebook, orkut, twitter…etc?" That’s what we call the generation of social networking… Words such as tweeting, blogging, scrapping ---which wouldn't have made any sense to anybody a few years back, are being used with such spontaneity today… Well…thats the impact social networking has created on our lives..Right from the way we talk, the way we interact or the way we think… it has taken a toll on everything…

Social networking has revolutionized the way people, esp. students communicate & interact with each other… & a huge credit for this goes 2 “Facebook” , the biggest social networking site which was created by three college students in the year 2004.

Facebook or Fb (as it is commonly called) has become an integral part of most of our lives…& has caught with the young & old around the globe…

Facebook has had a tremendous impact on today's “technologically advanced society”… The best part about it is that it allows people, who probably never would have met each other in person, to communicate with each other, create new relations and friendships & reconnect with the old 1’s... It is a different world altogether… & the most amazing thing is that sites like facebook, twitter…etc. provide a platform for the individuals to express their views n ideas & in true sense give them the freedom of choice and expression... Actually there is something for everyone to share… All this is just a click away..!!!

Positives apart there is something we need to worry about & thats the element of “addiction” consciously or unconsciously we are all indeed getting drawn into it … some experts have estimated that most of the people now spend AT LEAST 50 % of their waking time online.. Facts like these have prompted a lot of companies to block access to all the social networking websites in the office premises….

Addiction to such websites has led to several alarming consequences…. A lot of time we hear people specially college goers saying “How can we imagine a life without facebook !! ” This itself says it all… The network is no longer limited to people we know. It extends beyond boundaries of nations and to people we haven’t even met before.. This has led to several security issues leading to Facebook being banned in some countries. Although Facebook has taken several steps to prevent occurrence of such issues but still we cannot rely much on it…Personal content on net is not “Safe” yet…

But all said and done, I think such websites have a lot more to offer than we can actually imagine… They have become an indispensable part of our life today…Whether we like it or not….

And as they say- “like it or hate it u sure can’t ignore it “…!! :)

& to be honest even I can’t live without it… :)