He missed her smiles, he missed her dhamkis, her shararat. "Where was his ladylove?" For a moment, Mrityunjay stood there shocked to the core, did he just voice out, "L-A-D-Y-L-O-V-E?"
Oh my!

He stooped down to pick up the paper that was lying on the floor. "Uff, yeh Tara bhi na, kya kya karti hai." Looked like a laundry list. Was it?
He saw illegible scribbles on the piece of paper, to decipher it would be a challenge, not just for him, but to the most eminent handwriting expert on the face of this earth. Why try at all? His wife had a penchant for leaving notes for him, so his mind was caught trying to puzzle out the note.
"Beta," Jayraj walked in. MJ stuck the note in his pocket wanting to decode at a later time when he was all alone. He did not want to be caught stealing glances at that secretive note.
On the other end of town, Tara squealed like a delighted child who had a visit from Santa for Christmas as she held the gaily wrapped package in her hands, paid for it and looked it side ways, before she skipped down to the waiting car and hid it in the boot of the car. No one was going to know, what she was up to.
She rushed down the aisles to where Meethi and Vasu were picking up some stuff.
"Tara, did you find anything," Meethi inquired.
"Nahi Meethi, nothing worthy is here," Tara said with a slight grimace. "Did you guys find what you are looking for?"
"Yes" chorused both Meethi and Vasu, while Tara started to hurry them up for billing. She was eager to rush home and surprise everyone.
It was almost six hours since they'd left home. Mrityunjay was restless and zing went the cackle of Tara's phone as MJ called her for the umpteenth time and madame decided to not answer. MJ's face grew stern and he was frantic with worry. Ping went Vasu's phone and the message read, "Vasu, please call me."
Vasu ran down a few aisles and called up her bhai.
"Vasu, tum log kahan ho? Tara kidhar hai?"
"Bhai aap shaant ho jao, she is right here with me and Meethi bhabhi, we are gonna be back in a while."
"Itni time kyun laga rakhe hai," MJ questioned.
"Bhai, woh aisa hai na...Tara bhabhi ko kuch pasand hi nahi aaya" Vasu said.
"Chhoti, usko bolo, baba pareshan ho rahen hai."
"bhai, aap pareshan nahi ho rahe" she teased her brother, "jhoot bol rahe ho bhai, aap se bhabhi ke bina nahi mann lagraha tha...issiliye aap baba ki bahane phone kar rahe hain."
MJ scowled that his chhori was pakadoed by his lil' sis and he glared at the phone, "aisa kucch nahi, ghar jaldi wapas aajao aap log."
MJ got a call from the hospital where dadaji was and decided to leave immediately.
Tara entered the home and called in Joseph and asked him where MJ was.
"Sir had gone out," she was told.
She ran out to the ujada chaman with the bags. Told Meethi and Vasu to take rest and that she will be back in a while.
The CLOCK struck 12 in the night.
Zero Hour!
Pandemonium hit the hells!
It was all whistles and bells!
Frights, shrieks and loud-loud swells!
The Shekawat household shook like an earthquake
All jumped up in their pyjamas and tore down the staircases racing at jet speeds
Like soldiers on a march past that stop with the commander's call to STOP they came to a standstill at the foot of the stairs dumbstruck and frozen like statues as before their eyes were tiny angels walking through the open front doorway, all carrying candles and in their midst Tara resplendent in glorious pristine white dazzling like a shiny night star holding a cake in her hands.
A glorious hymn touched the night air as they sang. ("Wishes")
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRIzFNeEMqs[/YOUTUBE]
When stars are born, they possess a gift or two.
One of those is, they have the power to make a wish come true.
Star light, star bright,
first star I see tonight.
I wish I may, I wish I might,
have the wish, I wish tonight.
We'll make a wish, and do as dreamers do,
and all our wishes
will come true.
When you wish, upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come...to...you.
MJ was led into the group and was surrounding by the little angels who smiled at him with love and happiness.
Baba's eyes were moist with tears as the serenade came to a standstill and the group chorused "Happy Birthday Mrityunjay bhai" and in their midst stood Tara alongside Mrityunjay, full of love and a glint in her eye as she whispered in his ears, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATIDEV."
She handed him a gaily wrapped package.
MJ prised open the package to find the rarest of rare picturebooks with a picture of his birth mother as the cover.
Wrapped in Tissue paper was also one of the Books that he was searching for and wanted to order from Flipkart but was told that it was out of stock.
Okavango: Frans Lanting
Frans Lanting's vibrant tribute to Old Africa revisited on its 20th anniversary
For a year, between 1988 and 1989, Frans Lanting roamed the wetlands and deserts of northern Botswana, living by the rhythms of the water and the movements of the animals as he captured them on film. The National Geographic had sent him there on assignment, but what he would take away was much more than a magazine story; it was a seminal and unparalleled collection of photographs depicting a world of flora and fauna that many had assumed no longer existed on this earth. As Lanting wrote, "To many who have seen the fate of other wild areas in Africa and elsewhere in the world, the very notion that such a place as Okavango still exists is like a dream." Living out of vehicles and canvas tents, gliding through swamps, following lions by night"Lanting, armed with his Nikon FE2, got up close and personal with some of the planet's most formidable creatures. The book he published a few years later, Okavango, was a testament not only to the wondrous wildlife of the region, but also to Lanting's extraordinary courage, skill, and photographic eye. After many publications of Lanting's work, including Jungles, Eye to Eye, and Penguin, TASCHEN now revisits his original classic with this updated and expanded edition of Okavango, further enhanced with all new reproductions and dozens of previously unpublished photos, as well a new preface by Lanting.
PS: This is written especially by request for the LADY who goes by the User ID: Shaina_b