My Independent Moments

My Independent Moments

There are few incidents in my life which can be defined as my little, precious, independent moments. On the eve of 64^th Independence Day of our nation, I thought I should re-visit there of the most important times in my life when i felt senses-of-freedom :-

1. Because you’re worth it: - I used to watch the ads of L'Oreal Paris with kind of awe, when they first aired in TVs. With all those firang babes in their shimmering gown, milky complexion and silky hair- looked like goddesses in my juvenile eyes. It was hard to believe that something-as glossy and sassy as a branded shampoo ( it is claimed to be used by Hollywood stars) would leap into our middle class household’s way by any means possible- back that time. So when for the first time my sister gifted me a L’Oreal shampoo+ conditioner with her first salary, I felt kind of sense of elation(elation from my sister’s achievement-the feeling came out from the deep rooted bonding of universal sisterhood or women financial liberation or any such gigantic terms) and freedom ( freedom from middle-class shampoo brands!).

2. A kiss to remember: - In our childhood days, any interesting and important word which starts from “S”- was a taboo to utter in our houses. We discussed it in hush-hush tones behind our school-desks, left the TV screen at once in the presence of elders, when Amir Khan smooched Karisma Kapur as there-would-be-no-tomorrow manner in “Raja Hindusthani”, cringed in the movie hall seat when rose kissed jack in “Titanic” (not by the visual impacts it did on our minds and vision but by the whistles and taalis by fellow hoodlums of an audience) and savoured hungrily every words which other lucky girls in the school who had boyfriends told us about their daring love-acts. So till now it was a shameful thing and a forbidden fruit. But in standard 8, i read “Nau hannayate”- a famous semi-autobiographical novel by Maitreyi Devi in Bengali.It was a saga of a love-lorn couple-Maitreyi and her first love,an European hunk called Mircea, who met-separated-again met in a heart-breaking manner. The book is one of my favourites till date-and the way the first kiss between Maitreyi and Mircea is depicted in the book-all hushed-up and embarrassing feelings gone and kissing became a moment of treasure between two right kind of people at right times. And it was a tiny step towards my freedom of understanding the otherwise socially-tabooed topics with my own judgement.

3. Waistland :- It’s a story of my waist which from shameful early-mid 40 inches became mid-30s (it’s fluctuating always)after much trials and tribulations.To cut a long- story –short,i got rid of tailor-made salwars (‘cause “Plus” size was not such an in-thing during our school-college days for “Plus sized” ladies like me) and now i am a little bit of hopeful that after knocking off another few kilos, i would be able strut in Rio De Janeiro beach in polka dotted bikinis (if budget doesn't permit, then pattaya beach would do)-As Donald Trump said “If you dream anyway,dream big” or something like that.