LIFE | CREATIVITY |INSPIRATION
Two Unbelievable Truths and One Believable Lie
Some fragments from forgotten memories
Writing about myself is not fun, but making other people guess about certain incidents sounds intriguing, so here I am with three incidents from my life, and only one of them is a lie.
Everyone is welcome to take part, but I’m extending a VIP invitation to Neera Handa Dr and William J Spirdione to play along.
Thank you, Dr. Preeti Singh, for tagging me to participate in this exciting adventure. Without further ado, here they are:
Incident #1: A close brush with death
As a teenager, I was caught in the midst of riots and was in a bus set on fire near the largest hospital in New Delhi.
We had to jump out of the window to escape the raging fire with the rioters screaming, running behind us, “Look, they’re alive.”
The police sirens made them turn away from our pursuit, but we had to keep walking for hours to find a safe place to hide. The city’s busiest street had turned into a haunting, eerie place with fires, gunshots, and jeeps full of people playing havoc with the people’s lives and properties.
One of the scariest moments of my life was when I saw the consequence of hatred and fear-mongering making people act like animals.
Incident # 2: A mere happenstance
My immigration application was processed within a week due to a casual conversation with the immigration lawyer while waiting for a coffee order that family members had gone to pick up.
He wanted to know about my educational background, and when I told him my dissertation topic, we continued discussing my research methodologies about Indian urbanization for hours. To my utter surprise, he was a frequent visitor to Delhi and loved everything the city offers-especially the rich cultural history.
If his coffee order had come on time, my life would have been different as there were no plans to include me in the immigration process. Fortunately, my academic background paved the way for me to become the principal applicant for Canadian immigration.
Incident # 3: Never wanted a pet because of sinus allergies
I vehemently opposed having a pet, especially a cat, in the house. My allergies to all kinds of pet hair made me averse to furry animals, as living with a stuffy nose and stifling headache is exhausting.
My children vividly remember me saying, “cats are fussy and noisy. I don’t have the energy or time to deal with them.”
Life was already hectic in 2012, dealing with two difficult teenagers, an aging mother, and a full-time teaching load, so all my daughter’s pleas to adopt a pet were dismissed.
I only agreed to adopt the cat if it would never enter my room, nor I would be doing any of its chores. Also, it was stipulated that if there were any kind of disturbance during the night, it would be sent away to the shelter the next day.
I remained adamant despite my daughter’s anguish and true to my warning. The cat my daughter adopted with a lot of fanfare was sent back to the shelter after two days because it was making too much noise with its bell in the night, disturbing my beauty sleep.
Read all about Dr. Preeti Singh’s two truths and a lie here:
Sincere thanks to the editors of Reciprocal: Sahil Patel Dr. Preeti Singh and Yana Bostongirl for providing a lively environment to create and share our stories. I want to give a shout-out to two amazing writers on Reciprocal for their nature-inspired articles:
Josephine Crispin’s post convinces us how we can learn about reciprocation by just walking in nature:
Neera Handa Dr’s mesmerizing post about all the beauty that nature showers us:
Forever grateful to everyone for your precious time and generous support. Stay blessed, motivated, and live your life to the fullest. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏
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