Joy that is me

The names we love and things we love to do. Some of these never age with time.

I remember I loved being called Joy by my friends (My dad used to call me Joyce sometimes and I used to love that too, my dear friend Arc used to call me Zoya and I loved that too ) . I still love it so much that sometimes I feel like changing my name permanently to Joy. Maybe it is also because it give a nice feeling, an uplift , a sudden spurt of hope and happiness .

In my ealier workplace, I got once an email regarding some clarification and some bugs to fix. The From in the email was "Zoya", CC: Joy and To : "Jaya" (me). I attened to that email before any others. Just because all the names were so striking and they reminded me of fond memories of my past and people whom I love.

One of the many things I loved was going to a small library in a strip mall (In Delhi, when I was growing up there were no malls- only strip malls or shopping centres as we called them). The name of the store was "BookLovers" and the person in charge was a strict (khadoos) old guy. He was the only one in my area having the grand colletion of TinTin, Asterix/Obelix, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and Five Find Outers. I do owe him sincere thanks. But for him, I would have never relished all these collections .

I am still able to maintain my quest of reading by going to our township library. I can still feel the same thrill when I enter the library , seeing the books and possibility of me reading them. I remember when I was carrying my elder daughter, I used to devour books everyday to that extend that I took one to the hospital when I went into labor. Since this was my first pregnancy, I was much unaware of what to expect. In the Lamaze class and umpteen advices given from anyone in the street, I understood the mom-to-be needs ways to calm herself before the much-awaited moment arrives. They adviced me to do whatever I like - walk slowly, listen to music. So, I took their words and took with me what I thought would relax me and put my mind away from the growing pains. I was reading a book - "The Staggard Journal " and I was desperate to finish it.

Do you think that would have kindled my sweet little pumpkin's love for books? She loves reading and I love her for that (and for many other reasons).

PS: I have decided I am going to change my pen name to Joy .