My first century - and a dedication

Eight months ago, a chance comment from a colleague of mine prompted me to start this blog.

My first post

Little did I know that within such a short time, I would have such a regular readership. While looking at the list of posts, I realised that this would be the 100th post. Special circumstances deserve special solutions. So the 100th post has been written by a guest contributor. Who better than the man himself. Hitherto I had not named him, but now I shall name him and fame him (or shame him depending on whether you like the blog or not). Over to you Pramod

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I have been quite lucky when it comes to friends. They have always been kind and generous, both in terms of time and money. I have always been flooded with gifts and copious amounts of advice from my friends. The former I gladly accept, the latter I routinely reject politely.
A very dear friend of mine would take me to a shop and ask me to select dresses for him and on the way out would hand me a packet, saying he bought some for me too.
It was as if "My wish was their command". I happily accept goodies and gifts from my friends without reciprocating. My wife, who is also my well-wisher, absolutely abhors this habit of mine. She chides me no end when I come back and announce to her my latest possession.
I am reminded of the dialogue in Seeta Aur Geeta when Ravi (Sanjeev Kumar) introduces Geeta (Hema Malini) to his mother (Ratnamala) and she tells Ravi how beautiful Geeta is looking. Hema responds with this line

"MaiN maange huye kapdoN meiN hamesha achchhee lagtee hooN"

"मैं मांगे हुये कपड़ों में हमेशा अच्छी लगती हूं"

A slight distortion of what I tell my wife at such times. Whenever we get something free of cost, we seem to enjoy it more than if we had actually paid for it. Ghaalib also conveys this thought beautifully with his line

"muft haath aaye to maal achchhaa hai"

"मुफ़्त हाथ आये तो माल अच्छा है"

Not very true for some of my very conscientious friends though. But if you agree with me, and ever land in a similar situation, use this line.