Namaste 2005.....

"No one can go back & make a new beginning but anyone can start from now & make a happy ending." - Anonymous.

Hope you have a year that Starts Right & Ends Happy!!

I stay in a rowhouse . The best part about staying in it is having a beautiful garden where you can retreat to whenever you feel like. My garden is beautiful.....Thanks to a plump n sweet looking lady..whom I fondly call 'Bai'.

When I first saw her.......I told her 'Hi Bai!!'. She looked up at me with a blank expression. She didn't know the meaning of 'Hi'. Over the months.....she has grown accustomed to my way of greeting her and now she replies a 'Hi' back to my 'Hi Bai'.

Bai must be 46 years of age. In between it was only my father, my sister n I who used to stay in Bombay. My mom was in Calcutta then with my brother who was studying in NIFT. So during that period, I used to be incharge of the kitchen. Whatever dishes I used to cook...I used to give Bai to taste and I used to anxiously wait for her verdict. Never knew why...but she always found my cooking good......eventhough I wouldn't like it.

Today on New Years..... I woke up at 10 am and ran downstairs out into the garden.....just to see if Bai was working or not. Luckily she was. So I wished her--"Hi Bai!! Happy New Year!!". And she waved back with her sweetest smile ever saying "Happy New Year!!" .

There are some people.....who are not related through blood. Yet without them you experience a void in life. She is one of them.

If I ever leave Bombay...I'm definitly going to miss her.

For the Lady with the green thumbs...Cheers to you!!

Love,

Monica.