At the end, you are only left with Love Stories. That's all you will remember. Rest is just the universe's attempt to make you figure out what snagged a place in your heart and what didn't. I was born with a big black mole on my toe. Baba said I will love to travel. I do. Don't know if this love for travel stemmed from Baba's love for all that I do. Or maybe it was just meant to be. These love stories are not very clear. You figure it out as you grow up. You keep going back to them. These people, a random tune, a habit that keeps you going, some place you think of while you are not thinking of anything in specific. Don't let go of these stories. Of these people who are a part of these stories. As far as I am concerned, I am a hoarder. I retain every scrap of memory that stitches these stories together. That note you had sent. The prayer we said to make things right. We ran up to the rooftop because it rained on a hot summer night. The card you made and the letter I never sent. There was a mixed tape with a voice-over before every song. I think you gave it before we left for college? You said I could tell you anything. I did. You didn't judge and in that moment, you made everything right. There was a princess in your story. The ending was always a happy one. She fought valiantly. Against all odds and all that was evil. Maybe that was your way of teaching life's lessons. We sat with the doctor that day, discussing our options. And he said, if this doesn't work, nothing will. And it worked. Because love and prayers heal. And in that moment, that is all we had. There is no specific point that I am trying to make here. In the humdrum of our daily lives, we get lost in the mundane. And we forget these stories. And how they, in their own way, shaped you to be the person you are. In a world which compels you to be ordinary, these love stories help you to be your best version. It is Mother's Day tomorrow. Ma says be happy in whatever you do. In her daily chit chat, over updates about my lunch and dinner, I should probably let her know that she is one of my favorite stories. :)