happiness and food

If life was a machine, joys are like fuel to this machine. They may be little but the energy they pump into the machine is enough to keep it running till the next joy acts as additional fuel. Each of our lives is made up of many memorable moments and when I look back, it is hard to pick one. There are many that have fueled my life – personal, professional, moments as a couple or as an individual, my machine is up and running looking out for what will come next and which happiness it will bring – will it be our housing or will it be the travel we both are dreaming about.

It is said that when people get married or decide to get married, their joys and sorrows also get tied to each other. Their lives, moments of togetherness and little or big troubles are all to be shared. When VT and I met, we were not the usual couples in love. We shared our goals for a better future, our values and in spite of sharing so many things, we were(still are) very different from each other.

While I wanted a career that would help me work at my best potential utilizing my positive traits and provide me a happy day at work; VT wanted power, money and control. We started preparing for CAT together and the only time we could share notes, ask questions or teach something to the other happened over weekends. On week days, he attended the morning class and I was a regular to the evening classes. The mock tests, LR, DI and the QA (Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation, Quantitative Ability) took most of our time. While I would be teaching him how to deduce something in the questions of LR, DI was his strongest area – the charts and the number crunching used to crush my brain.

Months of preparation and exams leading to high hopes of cracking these competitive tests used to be stressful even in those days. Of CAT and JMET, JMET was only for engineers and in my mind, cracking that exam felt more prestigious than getting through IIM-A. Both VT and I being engineers had taken up the exam which had gone fairly well.

I remember I was in Mumbai when VT called me from Bangalore. The JMET results were out and he had got an All India Rank which meant calls from IIT Delhi, Powai and the likes. I was really happy and if I were in Bangalore, I would have certainly dragged VT to some joint for an aaloo paratha and lassi treat (That’s what was most lavish and affordable in those days). We spoke for close to an hour and chalked out plans on which IITs to apply, how to manage travel, where to stay and stuff. Towards the end of the conversation, I realized I hadn’t checked my results. So, I logged into the website and keyed in my number to see what were my results. For those 20 seconds, I felt a lump in my throat – I did not even have a rank. We studied together, prepared together and I had totally lost the chance. I was ashamed but the very next second, I knew if not JMET, CAT will bring some good news.

The joy of VT’s success actually over rode my failure. What happened in early 2008 is still responsible for the life we are leading today. VT joined a prestigious college and I joined another (CAT was not bad) good institute, we both got jobs in Bangalore and then got married. The little struggles we shared and the successes we celebrated together are all fuel to the machinery of both of our lives. We continue to support each other in many ways possible. He lets me contribute 80% to the electricity bill by using a laptop that plugged 24X7, and I encourage him to study as much as he wants even on my behalf. While I write blog posts, he reads only text books.

Being together is not always about talking your heart out, it’s also about listening to the silence that surrounds us and conveys what each person wants.It like a fuel giving you the sparks to move on. Yes, it’s the company that matters more than the advice, and that is the power of being #together!

Thanks to Housing.com for yet another wonderful prompt! I couldn’t resist writing again! 🙂