New text message received:

Hey my princess I know you’re angry on me, but I’m so sorry as I couldn’t make up for our last meet. 🙁 But guess what I have a surprise for you as my posting is going to be around in our city, I’ll be coming home next week for your birthday.:)  Just don’t go mad at me this time, I promise we are meeting soon. Love, daddy <3

A week later she was excited as hell, she was on the seventh cloud not because it was her birthday within 2 days but her daddy was going to come by any moment. All her close friends, relatives and neighbours were invited. The room was decorated with hundreds of balloons of her choice. The music was on its peak, all were gone crazy, dancing and enjoying. But there she stood, trying so hard to hide chaos in her mind, keeping both her eyes on the door, with a smile. She was having mixed feelings of happiness and disappointment. Suddenly her thought breaks as she heard someone calling her name.

“Elena come here” she rushed with excitement towards her mommy as she thought there is some news about her dad. There was not just news alone, it had disaster along by which the tiny world of Elena got shattered.

The news channel was flashing with the headline: “There is a sudden attack on the Southern land border. Our 3 officers have lost their life and 2 are badly injured according to the sources till now. We got to know the names of the officers who are no more with us.” Something died within Elena when she heard the names of the martyrs. The ground beneath her feet slipped away. She was numb and traumatized.

A day after was her dad’s funeral. Holding her mom she cried a hell lot but couldn’t be helped because the loss is much more than that. After the end of the ceremony she was in her room surrounded by loneliness with her swollen wet eyes and thought,

“The most painful goodbyes are the one that are never said and never explained.”

Next morning when she woke up it was her birthday. All things have turned out something unexpected and worst. She started imagining the scenarios what if things were normal as they were a day before yesterday, but the very next moment she came back to reality. With all her defeated hopes she was lying on the couch and suddenly the doorbell rang. There was someone at the door. “Elena, baby come down. There is a courier for you.” her mom yelled. In a confused state of mind she came down, received the courier and shut the door.

She was shocked when she saw the name of the sender, it was form her dad. Quickly she took off the wrap. Tears rolled down off her cheeks when she found the gift inside, her birthday gift, a doll with a pen-drive attached to it.

She quickly played the video inside it. She was mesmerized seeing her dad in it.

Dear Elena,

I’m sending you this video so that I won’t be failing you this time. I have broken lots of promises right from the start. Whether it was the promise to be on your PTA, or at sports day, the time you won an award or the time when you need me the most.  I know there is  an equal role of both the parents in a child’s life but my part has always been left unfulfilled and empty. But I’m sorry it’s my job to serve my nation first then my family.

Today there is some emergency on the border of Southern land, they need me there immediately. But you don’t worry I won’t be breaking my promise this time. I’m sending this gift so that you can feel my presence there even if I’m not around.  I know you might be amazed by seeing this gift but I remember the time when you were small you had a doll. With whom you used to share all your stuff whether you were happy, sad, angry, irritated, your secret wishes, everything and you used to feel like home with her. I never understood your bond with the doll but somehow it always ended up making you happy.  But then you grew up and now you have lost all interest from dolls. Now when life has turned up there will be lots of time when you will be lost and feel low but I want that my Elena should always fight and end up smiling. Elena, that little Elena is still there inside you, somewhere still waiting for you. Let’s go get her. Wish you happy returns of the day. God bless you, keep smiling 🙂 Cya.

As the video ended she started crying and hugging her laptop she said, “Dad you have never let me down you didn’t break your Promise to be on my birthday. I wish I could have hugged you for the last time and I promise to be your little Elena once again.”

There’s always less importance given to fathers when talking about an emotional relationship between parents and children.  Research has proved that fathers and mothers equally affect the child’s well-being, self-esteem, emotional stability and mental health.

I wonder what I ever did to deserve this incredibly beautiful, strong bond I have with my father. Throughout my life, he has supported me in all the steps I take forward. Whenever I saw a failure, he held me up and taught me how to face them. He was there cheering for me during my achievements.

He used to come and drop me at school when I was little. He let me tie a ponytail in his hair. All my documents, mark sheets, certificates right from junior kg till date is in an appropriate place because he taught me how to be disciplined in all aspects of life.

There’s nothing that I can hide from him. I can share everything with him without any fear. He allows me to learn from my own mistakes. He is one of the go-to persons of my life. I don’t even remember if he ever said “NO” to me for anything.

He is my superhero. He motivates and encourages me to be as strong as him. He inspires me to be like him.

The father-daughter relationship is one of the most loving relationships. It is truly said that That no one in this world can love a girl more than his father.

I am so proud to have my father as my inspiration. He does everything that makes me look up to him. He does everything in his power to keep us happy.

THANK YOU POPS FOR EVERYTHING.

It’s not about eating. It’s about using the food to deal with anxiety and stress.

Food is just a fuel not therapy and there is difference in tapping into a food inherently calming properties and using any food as a kind of emotional anesthesia.

The daily hassles of life rises cortisol level which causes food craving. As per researchers of the University of California at Sans Francisco Medical Center, in women craving is for sweet food and then cortisol trigger an enzyme in our fat cells. Visceral fat cells have more enzymes than subcutaneous fat cells.

Stress cause women to accumulate fatter belly. The more is the stress, the more abdominal obesity occurs. There is a lot of food whose consumption can help in reducing the stress level.

1. CHOCOLATES

This mood food is the most heart healthy food and its link to the mood is undeniable. As the depressive symptoms increase men and women eat more and more chocolates. To reduce the stress level especially the dark chocolate is consumed as it lowers the blood pressure and contains more polyphenols and flavones.

2. GARLIC

Garlic is jam packed with powerful antioxidants. It neutralizes free radicals and reduces or prevents damages of free radicals caused over time. Garlic contains allicin which fends off heart disease, cancer and common cold.

3. WALNUTS

Walnuts provide bit of a cognitive edge. It contains alpha – linoleic acid, essential omega- 3 fatty acid and polyphenols which help in preventing memory loss.

4. CASHEWS

Nuts are a cure for many cravings. Cashews help in reducing weight and potently satisfy the combo of proteins and fats. It is a good source of Zinc-a, 1 ounce serves 11% of you RDA. Low level of zinc in body kills anxiety and depression.

5. AVOCADO

Avocado stress proofs the body and is rich in glutathione. Glutathione is a substance that specifically blocks intestinal absorption of certain fats that cause oxidative damage. It also contains Lutein, Beta – carotene, vitamin E and is more foliate than any other fruit.

The green mountain grass wobbled to the rising wind. The temperature was dipping with the dipping sun, sending the fugitives of the forests to their cosy homes for a little warmth and rest. The cold mountain air swept through the myriad forest, whistling eerily to the otherwise silent hillocks. A bunch of bats took to their wings in the search of belly filling supper.

The last rays of the fading sun were all that were left to the lonely marksman as he adjusted himself to the plummeting mercury levels. The thick green foliage efficiently camouflaged him in the jungle vegetation. With the anterior of his torso kissing the hard forest floor, he rested on the cliff scavenging the view below through the telescopic sight of his SV­-96 rifle. His eyes were bloodshot and tired. He had been invigilating incessantly at the lake that stretched at the foot of the mountain for the last 18 hours. As he eased his sight, a pair of sparrows brushed across him, chirping to each other delightfully.

They were heading home.

“Home,” He thought. Beside him, a heap of dry grass swept to the wind, as did his thoughts….

Just a few years ago, life was so different. He was a blissful man. He had a caressing mother, an inspiring father, a loving wife and a couple of beautiful daughters. Life ran in perfect harmony, pampering his little heart with small joys and felicities. He was ignorant, childish, uneducated, illiterate, and immature and loved being so.

But his happiness was short-lived. Gods seemed to envy his felicity and prosperity.

An owl, a little distance away, hooted bringing back the marksman to his senses. He adjusted the gauge, aligning it with the double cross­-wire of the telescope and strained one of his eyes to it. He peeped through the lens, there was nothing in sight.

“Patience”, He whispered to himself. Patience. Patience…

He had been patient too long. His patience had cost him his land, his home, and even his wife. His land was looted, his home was plundered, his father was enslaved and his wife was killed. He stood helpless, as they poisoned the land and water of the clan, contaminated the harvest of the tribe, and snatched the cattle from the shepherds. In vain did he run for justice, tangling himself deeper and deeper into the intricacies of law? His lawsuits cost him more than just his fortune. His elder daughter and mother were sacrificed in his battle to justice. He felt suffocated, heavy, dejected and defeated…

One such day, he sat on the brink of the lake brooding over the unfair misery befallen to his life.

His little daughter was the only family he was left with. He couldn’t afford to lose her too.

“What more are you willing to lose?” he heard a stern voice directed towards him.

As he tingled his gaze, he saw a dozen men pouring out from the jungle. Well built, and dark-skinned they were clad in khaki outfits, each carrying huge rifles in their arms, their faces beamed with a sense of pride.

“They call us mercenaries, Naxals, Maoists, communists…… but we too are people like you fighting for our rights. Pacifism will never bring you justice but radicalism will.”

Their leader announced as he handed him a rifle.

That day he was a changed man.

He soon found out that he was better with gun than with words. He had innate talent in manoeuvring it to accomplish his tasks. Vengeance quenched his thirst for justice. Soon he gained respect, pride and a meaning in his life. His indisputable prodigy in hitting the targets with ease, accuracy and precision, earned him the name “The Marksman”

Focus. He reminded himself to concentrate his straying mind on the task at hand. Darkness had completely befallen the land. The moon seemed to play hide and seek with the ebbing and flooding clouds. Stars blinked in the eastern sky as if acknowledging his presence. Fatigued, he checked his watch; it had been full two hours since the sunset. He longed to go back home but he couldn’t.

He had learned from his informers that a few government recruited spies had infiltrated into the forest, to gain clandestine information about his brotherhood. All of them had been either captured or neutralized except for one rogue who fled from their clutches. He was a potential threat, too sensitive to be compromised, hence needed to be sabotaged.

The marksman had stationed himself near the lake because he knew, how clever the agent might be, he had to satisfy his physiological needs i.e. thirst which would unflinchingly draw him to lake.

However he had been preying at the lake for the last 20 hours without any luck. Stretching his limbs further, he tried to ease his gaze and laze.

In the shadows below a silent silhouette lurked in complete silence…

The marksman adjusted his gaze as he felt something move in the pitch darkness. He could now see a dark outline loiter, canopied in the vegetation. The gait of the creature wasn’t of any animal, his fingers tightened. Though he could see the spy, he couldn’t get a clear shot and risking an imprecise shot after such long wait was completely a wrong call.

He waited for the spy to break out of the foliage towards the lake. Patience.

A moment later, the spy entered the clearing. Without wasting a second more, the sniper took the shot. The bullet ricocheted with a heavy thud, hitting at point blank.

Perfect shot.

The victim fell helplessly to the ground, uttering his last cry.

Lifting his rifle, the sniper carefully walked towards the lake to verify the accomplishment of his task. It took him half an hour to reach the spot. Approaching the target, he lowered his gun. The victim had fell face first, revealing the back to the marksman. However it didn’t seem to be the body of a man. Frenzied, he turned the body.

His eyes froze as he stared into the face of the deceased. His heart felt heavy, pounding harder and harder. His hands shivered, the rifle fell from his hands. His knees wobbled. A sharp pain shuddered his chest. His bloodshot eyes were flooded with tears. His voice refused to utter a sound. He collapsed onto the ground beating his chest heavily with his hands.

He uttered a loud cry as he failed to stare into the lifeless eyes of his daughter. The dark brown eyes seemed to question him. He tore his matted hair crying, wailing and screaming. A little distance away, the earthen pot, meant to fetch water, lay shattered. And so did his life.

Scanning blankly for help, he saw the fallen gun. The very rifle which he had adorned to save the last essence of his life had taken it away from him. Irony.

Moments later a second gunfire resounded through the forest, breaking its taciturnity. However this time, the deceased didn’t need an introduction.

She stares at the mirror- mascara running down her face, hairs must not have seen a comb in ages, same clothes since two days, swollen eyes, shrunken face and well, a broken heart. She stares at the ghastly image of hers. She realized what a mess she is- inside and out. She cries harder. She is tired of fighting.

Her phone beeped. Messages and missed calls go unchecked since two days. But today she decides to check her phone. She goes through her log. Missed calls from mom, dad, best friends, college mates, ex-roommate, school mates, brother and Oh! the never ending list. Checks the inbox, and finds her father’s message at the very top. It read: “Beta you haven’t talked to us in 2 days. Is everything okay? Well I know everything is. You are my strong girl. I know you must be busy. Mom is too worried. I keep telling her not to because our daughter is busy making us proud. I love you beta.”

Two big drops of tears land on the mobile screen. She put her phone down. Looked at the mirror again, ran to the bathroom, had a nice shower, put on new clothes, combed her hair, put some make up on, went out and ate till she couldn’t force another bite down her throat, came back, and texted her father : ‘Dad, I’m alright. I’m grand. Yes I’ve been busy, had to make some tough decisions. Your girl is going to make you proud. I love you both. I’ll call soon.’

12 years later, she brings her parents to the screening of the movie based on her first ever bestseller, in a car that she gifted her father, and her mother stealing the spotlight with the beautiful silk saree and the diamond jewelry gifted by her daughter, and her little brother with a proud smile on his face.

You fall, you get hurt, you’re betrayed, you’re pushed down and further down. You get up, you rise and you fall again. Then you stand up again and you fight, again. Who told you life was going to be that easy? Who told you would face the sufferings just one time? No. It won’t end and you cannot give up either. There are some choices, some paths which are greater, more difficult and never easy. It’s all about the choice that you make. You can choose to end it once and for all, because you’re so darn weak. Or you can choose to keep fighting till you know you have deserved to get what you’ve always wanted. But besides that, what you need to understand is, it is not about you every time. Fight for the ones who do not deserve to see you quit. Fight for those who never knew when to stop loving you. Fight for the ones who never thought they must have done enough for you and that they don’t have to anymore. And also, fight for the ones, who never believed in you. Because the reward of choosing to fight, would be everything you must have ever wanted from life.