Bye Bye 2009! Happy New Year.

Image courtesy : jurvetson on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

This would be a boring post, though I have tried my best to make it readable. But at the best it just accounts my whole year of 2009.

January
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1) Jan 5 - Back to college, after long winter break! We all love that slow journey on Indian railways.
2) We had cards sessions in Shashi's room, while his roomies exercised to guitar's tunes! Tried for 2 days, after that my abs were extinct. And I was not able to keep track of my losses! Time is spent setting things up!
3) Jan 14 - Guddu's birthday! :O Hardly matters, I am busy flying kites in the sky!
3) Jan 23 - Got my laptop. Love it, exclusive purple matte finish for me only. Shall I say this? But nice to find Shrey and Nilabh welcome you at home along with your family, late at night. Boosts na!
3) Jan 26 - Back to Jaipur. A fantastic journey, will never forget! Forgot Foo's birthday! Movies and a truly effortless laugh-riot.

February
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1) Feb 6-8 - Blitzschlag days! Funny times. Nice outings.
2) Feb (end-week) - Pune visit, met Debz, Mumbai-Pune expressway journey! Mumbai was dull experience, kill you Foo I think you could manage flunking an exam!
3) In true sense it was dumbest month of the year!

March
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1) Mar 19 - A distinct birthday, can't be more thankful for the fun and surprises you provided.
2) Mar 22 - fabulous scooty ride with Abhinav.
3) Newly acquired Nokia slider (miss you buddy) made me click happy!

April
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1) Blogging month of the year, not actual blogging but management stuff, networking, socialising!

May
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1) Vacations begin! Lazy times! Did nothing, just eat, sleep, friends and Mafia wars.

June
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1) A month of communications. Internet networking comes into play.
2) Phone livens up again.
3) Evening cricket matches and socialising did things great.
4) Jun 29, a college reunion.

July
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1) July 1 and 3 - Outings with college friends!
2) July 8 - Agra visit. Hotel was a sucker. Enlightening train journey, poor kiddos still in my mind. Piyush, Nilabh, Gaurav and Me! Monuments were just nice.
3) July 9 - Return from Agra, still remember that we didn't try to convince Spaniards to join us on the bus journey! The leaking roof of bus was fun. Nilabh and Piyush must be able remember my most jolly and outrageously ecstatic moods in the beginning of journey. One of most crazy adventures of life, after long time did something so out-of-mind, ran away without paying auto-rickshaw, got caught resulting in a 2 month long cold war with Nilabh!
4) Colleges reopen in end week - Probably the busiest day of the year was registration for the 3rd semester. Totally exhausted after moving into new room.
6) Enjoyed long late night strolls to Gandhi Nagar station with Abhinav.

August
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1) As a general trend it was an ecstatic beginning to the semester, it at least to me was enthralling to discuss designs with Kalpana madam and have those climatology lectures.
2) Aug 2 - A nice friendship day. Thanks Tanvi and Kriti.
3) Oh! Mr. Siddharth got new really fantastic approach! A legalised way of bunking classes, mail me assignments! Not being sarcastic, I in reality like this approach, saves time.
4) Jantar Mantar! Shaily, Kriti, me and Abhinav. Tell me guys if it was fun or not?
5) Jumped into ANDC thing! Learned a lot from this thing, but now-a-days I cease to be appreciative of everything and I really shall repent getting into this endeavour, and for the first time I am ready to accept I was not firm in my approach, it was just an outlook. Talk more, do less attitude of every single person in the team and every group and even from my side made me go haywire and I acted out a moron in later parts of months. But this fiasco taught me some of the nicest chapters! (What the fuck! Why am I even yelling????)

September
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1) Partially realised my errors, made amends in first week, roped in Himanshu (Oh! Manik Doomra is an asshole and considers himself the in-charge of some big projects!). Love you friend, my first Photoshop tutor (I will never need another). Salute, to everyone who was a partner...
2) Ran to Delhi, don't now but now I consider myself lucky to have been through a 65 km long jam which made Jaipur-Delhi travel last 14 hours!
3) All submissions delayed by at least one week, aftershocks I guess! With no reasons to give I made my own joke in class-rooms!
4) Dusshera celebrated with a ride (tripling), Pawan, me and Abhinav. Crossword and Dhabas!


October
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1) Started revival, got organised.
2) Great I was exercising for a change! (Happens when you want to drain out that extra energy!)
3) Diwai breaks! Abhishek and me are jolly doing something common (...silly he made me think it as of a mutual thing, it was a distinct case with me!) Social I was becoming, sickening even to think I hosted family members with courtesy! :O
4) Back in college, had a plan (Like most things involving more than one person failed miserably! Avneet dear sorry, I can't keep the bet!)
5) Now I was bunking with an excellent degree of precision, but now I was careful not to misuse this time!
6) Got friendly and frank with room-mates and visiting friends! Bike rides are back in scene, Oct 26 - Zip Zap Zoom - V! Since Diwali break, everyone was asking where Himanshu boss has vanished.
7) Got back to reading habits, 2 states and City of Djinns (yukk, its real bore stuff!) Sidney Sheldon (couldn't read more than 50 pages, not because of boredom or heavy lingo, but my lazy nature (killed it anyhow) . Senuti's recommendations!)

November
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1) I love this month. Exams, movies, magazines, thadi nights, cricket matches, strolls...
2) Room-mates, me and few new found acquaintances (Shri Krishna Meena, Mani and xyz), that's life.
3) Madam Foo is there on the other end of the fan. Guddu and Mom are among other regular callers! These people are punctual. Must tell you, am a sucker. If these guys can be so good despite their hectic and busy lives, why the hell I do fail?
4) Everything was Photoshopped! Exams were fun (for last time I guess, expecting a dip in scores!)
5) Later in the month, I was getting ecstatic as well as hasty to leave for Delhi. Plans were set and abuzz on net as well as phone!)

December
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1) Blog is the new life. Shri Krishna challenges me to post once daily! And I do accept and here you see results.  I write poems and social stuff!
2) Dec 4 - Blown by jury, totally injured state of mind! We are back in Delhi, nobody knows my whereabouts for next 3 days.
3) Contacted friends one after another. Even tried to make a plan of excursion with few college friends (frankly a half-hearted attempt, and essentially a half-hearted response!)
4) Mumbai and Chennai both were turned down! Thankful to myself for the decision, loved to be with friends and family in the city only.
5) Daily morning it was a walk, basketball, badminton or cricket, sweet-corn, bread-butter, fog and sunshine, dipping temperatures are fun!
6) A girl comes back and makes space to linger in my mind and I tell you she does no bad any more. And I like to dance (edit, go on long strolls, vo hand-in-hand wali walks, head on shoulder wali talks, banayengey buildings saath-saath with her (in my dream world) as 95 FM and MP3 buzz in my ear-plugs. :)
7) I try to complete some works and take time (...ajeeb dastan hain, vacations mein
busy college days mein ye ladka free hai) to not annoy family people by joining them to various places. (I actually don't want to deny this thing, it is true that I can spend hours sitting on floor of that District Centre Wordsworth book shop if Guddu gets along with me. And madam don't dare tease me for this confession as you know I still have that option in mind, though she thinks me as no option ;) )

Chalo! Account closed! New Year, probably a new Manik, the experiment continues!!! :D Perfect nahi milega, item yeh pango se bhara hai!!! :D :P :$ :O

This was a summary of my 2009, complete to best of my knowledge! Though I do not guarantee not missing some things. An excellent year passes by! No regrets. Happy New Year to everyone. Make sure you all make 2010 even more successful and fun.

3 Idiots - A Pragmatic Approach

Image courtesy : antwerpenR on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Through this post I am not trying to be critical of anything depicted in the movie or any particular view. I just want to bring to focus an alternative view, which I consider must be highlighted and brought to the light, and surely it is not entertaining but intriguing!

The flick talks of changing education system, but does it serves the purpose to make comedy of an existing system to promote another one which actually does not exist, or better say does good at individual level only (I for one practice that free-spirited approach to life, speak what's on your mind, do what you want, live by mood, don't follow any rules), you simply cannot ask others to jump with you into the mad race, at the most you can tell them the good and bad. At institutional or organizational level the idea of grading still serves the purpose, how else you want an external observer to grade you? In the movie a person decides to 'help' others achieve their dreams "photograph and become engineer", clinching from them the experience of working for themselves.

Even I too don't like practical and feasible approaches because they are not easy-going and are intensive and painful but then they are sustainable. Why not they show in the movies the true struggle paths one should follow (ask Aamir if he didn't struggle to reach this stature where he can just make one flick a year and share his concerns about society and get people applauding to his excellent skills at delivering babies on a college TT table!) and not some elusive dreams. Why don't they people tell that in true sense hard-work got no substitute, because there are no, or very few limited edition Renchos in the real world to help you out of your own fears, inabilities to communicate your views properly and take those essential steps to visualise your dreams. You are the one with wholesome control of your life, losses and gains being part and parcel of a good life game.

The movie does not highlights the problems actually occurring to the youth and generally mocks things like economic consideration or probably the movie still takes a 15 year older approach to education system, which used to be insensitive. In my opinion need is to make schools and friends to act as true support system for each other and help youngsters brave their career choice decisions at the very time of joining colleges, sometime or probably many time convincing parents to the core. What the movie does is, giving a point-of-view of situation from a successful group of people overlooking the things that situations are not actually so rude in colleges and institutions. I don't know, but I must say pseudo-sympathetic approach sells but to me it fails Aamir's social cause philosophy of recent years.

As Guddu speaks teacher-student relationships have been given a nice treatment. Ego clashes, to the extent of forcing one to commit suicide is just disgusting to look into. We essentially need to stem these problems and it has roots somewhere deeper, probably where parents come into play. Or shall a whole genre rebel?

Any way now the good things. I like the portrayal of characters. Aamir looks a true young-adult, unbelievable to find some 40 something so fitting in a 20 year old's role. The guy called Silencer beats many hands down, probably an implacable character. Truly fond of Mr. Boman Irani, I want that bird's nest and the whole getup he wears in his first interaction with students, just perfect check shirt, spectacles and coat. Madhavan and Joshi are excellent bits, superb punches added to the comedy! Baba on scooty is something so true and sacred that hardly people speak it out on the face. Cinematography dimensions extended to levels excellent. Shooting of north-Indian terrain is appalling, Shimla, Manali and Ladakh. Just awesome to find a dirt-clad Volvo running on exclusively Indian terrain. And yup purple windows on white facades of Cannaught Place give me another colour scheme to toy with....

A New Delhi...

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Born in Delhi I am a proud pro-Delhi turk. And it automatically translates into the fact that the person in question loves urban enthusiasm. This is essentially the reason why I hear so many say, "...I wouldn't mind appreciating the beauty and exclusivity of many small towns, but when it comes to live in metropolis like Delhi or Mumbai, it is a lifestyle, an addiction to be precise". It is not me but people who say that a person used to living in Delhi or Mumbai has little chance of getting anchored elsewhere, they are not an adaptive breed then.

As of Delhi, I find it to be a total delight, an excellent one. Have always been here, though travelling is something I kind of love. This city is something I breathe, I tease, I wish to hold in my embrace and I wonder, whenever on rare occasions I get serious about a girl (...which is something that once started never ends, I just never give up...), this is the city to romance her. Some things that differentiate Delhi from others are - its horizontal expanse, a cosmopolitan cauldron which is co-operative yet rowdy, this city symbolises contradictions and thus it manages to appeal to almost everyone.

Whenever my mind goes on a Delhi walk (a slow stroll in cityscape, it generally happens twice a month or more...), it most of the time overlooks the old Delhi by-lanes and disciplined DDA squatters and straight away flies to Lutyens' Bungalow Zone, Delhi Cantonment, many beautiful and institutionalised places which generally do not feature on tourist maps.

The city, as we all know, has gone drastic and excellent changes in the last decade and this brings this historic city to its latest incarnation, which boasts of a robust infrastructure (still improving), a demanding populace which is ready to fight for almost everything, a jolly diaspora and lot more.

The city once held by creative Urdu elite was taken over by hardworking and somewhat crude on outlook Punjabi tribe after 1947 partition. Though Punjabis still tend to be biggest stakeholders in the city, but time ticks, change takes control and now Delhi comes into a new play becoming a kaleidoscope of what can be called an exuberant bunch of ideologies, mindsets.

Six universities within city limits make it a students' heaven and we all know what 'young' is about, hot-blooded move forth ambition, we-leave-our-mark thoughts, and youth create revolutions. Being political centre has made it a power centre, the satellite cities and the centre live in symbiotic association. It feels like organic evolution in play. 15 years back it would have been outrageous to be out on streets after 10, but now the city never sleeps. The race to become "First City", a "World City", live upto the reputation of being capital of world's largest democracy has done tremendous good to city and we see a New Delhi shaping up...

I wonder if the ancient ideas of city states do good to growth of the cosmopolitan cities, we still remember Athens, Sparta, Babylon, Cairo, Alexandria, Harappa and Mohan-jo-Daro, don't we? Across the world, cities independent of state jurisdictions (at least having privileged statuses) have done excellently well -
> Tokyo,
> Hong Kong (the city probably should never be retrospective about being in foreign control for 100 years),
> Singapore (a city state in true sense),
> New York (probably one of best users of public transport and everyone knows it is one of major main-stay of world economy to date.),
> Washington D.C.,
> Los Angeles (must say money comes into play),
> Dubai (an excellent display of quick wealth, sustainability is questionable after the debt fiasco)
> London (capital of the island nation, in whose empire sun never set barely 100 years ago. This city terms itself cultural and economic centre of world)

How about going for a competitive growth spurt within India. It has always been a question of tussle, which is better? Why not let these megapolis in India with funds and ambitious targets to meet their aspirations and compete for being the best (nothing less does today) on one front or the other.

Fear

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Ever thought what fear is? I learn, it is something that makes one respect. If someone is not afraid of something, the person has extreme likeability of disobeying and causing hurt, and then justify it as 'freedom'. Sometime it occurs that love makes one respect things and people, but don't you think it actually is fear of loosing that makes one behave?

Or probably love, in itself, is a kind of fear, simply because we choose to bear for someone else's sake and then we like it and we suddenly don't want to loose it (afraid)! We are just obsessed to be with people, no matter what. Or probably it is that we have jeopardised definition of respect and simply mean that not disobeying someone (even in case they are wrong) is respect. This again brood out from the habit of being afraid of annoying someone.

Now I am left with no choice but to believe that an involuntary sense of fear (not that something wrong will happen to us, but something wrong should not happen to anyone around and anonymous thought, 'none should be lost') grips us most of the time and, if we let it, it for sure does us good by calming us down, killing our impulsive side and providing us near peace-effects. At least in my case I turn more open to my creative side, more forgiving,more unassuming, more open, more determined, more fulfilled...

My Favourite Song!

My favourite song? Never been able to decide, listen to all kind of music, fluctuating moods make me go for fluctuating choices! Yet one song that has caught my fancy for a very long period of time is "Tanha Dil, Tanha Safar". Its a song by Shantanu Mukherjee, popularly known as Shaan. Lyrics are just awesome, but like most things I like it also is a complete presentation, just spell bounding in all respects, the video of song has a nice blend of student-teacher relationship, attraction is unavoidable, friendship portrayed nicely, passion for a hobby (music) depicted brilliantly. Like the Christian backdrop attached to the whole thing and it is just mesmerising to see a loner walking on a beautiful tree-lined street, while browsing the memories of times gone by.

Haven't listened to it in a long time. May be need it, I should try and reconnect with the good things in my life.

Objective Approach

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As a child I used to be successful. Because of reasons not sophisticated but primitive. I had things in mind and I had too accomplish. Be it the podium position on prize distribution ceremony, being the first one in the line to sports ground, grabbing that window seat on a picnic; I always knew what was my need! I knew what was I desired (it was a wrist watch from Dad on scoring exceptionally well, or sometime that jealous look on a friend's face when I admired my glory having failed him in a competitive endeavour)...

But then I grew and I grew indifferent. No objectives now seemed worthy, because I mindlessly searched for something exotic. Sleeping in jeans was now a hobby, not being punctual was only punctuality, scores appeared like symbols from a dead script; 0 being no different from 8.5 (my self-suggested best), breakfasts can be skipped, dressing is to prevent others from the shame, who cares for bathing?...

Successful always used to have a physical form unlike now that I want to turn every success of mine into a publicity gimmick. The object has been lost and its overtly boring being subjective.

Euthanasia - Suicide Crippled?

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Disclaimer and Content Advisory : The content below deals with a subject of controversial nature and represents author's take on it. Further it is advised that you avoid reading beyond this line if you are not OK with content heavily descriptive and heavy on intensity, specially the questions part of the post.

Suicide - (noun) the action of killing oneself intentionally.

Euthanasia - (noun) the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable disease, this generally is done to prevent the person in question the suffering he is going through and is by his/her consent only.

In republic of India Euthanasia is not a legal act. People suffering several unimaginable, painful, extensively shaking, horrendous and disturbing situations (words are not enough to explain these) are now raising voice in favour of something loosely termed as 'Right To Death'. They, and me too, are of the opinion that ultimately when one has to die, why not choose it now and save oneself from a life which lacks dignity and is extremely painful. The 'destiny' has made it a rather exaggerated form of punishment for them to live.

I in my personal opinion consider it as a suicide, difference being person him/herself is not able to execute it and therefore needs external help. The empowered class at top brass of the country should come out of their euphoric idealism of 'Chance To Life' and take an approach which is practical and empathic towards the suffering soul and so provide for a legal framework to do the inevitable, because many a time one has to overlook emotions to express extreme degree of compassion, and feel what the victim is going through. It is irony that the person in this case has to suffer and go through a slow and decaying process of elimination, just because an idealist order and nature itself has gone against him/her to the extent of crippling him/her from making a choice between life and death, which would have been just a matter of suffering a fall from floor 10 or popping few extra pills given he/she was able to act. Horrible must be chaining a brain and heart, unable to anything.

Would like to close this post with few questions -
1) Abortion, why not 'Chance To Life' in this case?
2) Why not there be 'Right To Die'?
3) Would you consider it just to make someone live a life - tied to bed, gasping for breath, unable to eat and drink by self, help him/herself of cleaning (I don't know those technical and medical terms in this case and I know you get what I mean to convey...), feeling hapless seeing those dreams and ambitions die within themselves, still not loosing faith in that 'almighty' despite him breaking them in every possible way, treating them like flesh and not humanity. In the process breaking a hundred around, seeing the pain of unimaginable degree and still denying it the relief.

Having written the last para I have nothing but a head hanging loose in the silence with a glowing laptop screen, gathering voices of the taps of fingers on the keyboard moments before. Hope this 100th post of mine helps India come out of a state of denial and brave the challenge of doing something painful yet epitome of love, legalise mercy killing. Pardon me, I might have deviated a lot because of my inexperienced age and shallow and extremely emotional nature.

Season Break

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It's not vacations neither their duration, it is the season that makes the things sick. Prolonged winters, that's it. A sudden numbness spreads over the whole terrain, despite the sun shining bright, sky being blue and the grass being green it seems as if everything has come to a standstill. Life seems stale and everyone wishes to create ripples by doing some activity. But as soon as get hold of the things, once again a dam of troubles comes in between. None gives up and mounts an attack and doesn't try to flee. Soon things will open up, mist will clear and spring flowers will be there to cheer masses, the every bit of it. For the time being we can get cosy, wear that blanket and extend our sleeps and treat us unconscious yet deliberate dreams from our vivid memories.

Dogs And The Family

Image courtesy : Manik. An old family picture depicting 'Robin' in it with Guddu. All Right Reserved

My family, oh extended family i.e. me, dad, mom, Guddu,Shivani and hundreds of others spread over the whole country have had some special associations with the quadruple species called "dog".

My knowledge about the family tradition of loving dogs tells me that the hobby has roots with my grandpa's brother being fond of this loyalist breed. He is said to have certain flings with at least 2 of the species. They were named 'Kalu' and 'Sheru'. Going by some trustworthy sources 'Sheru' jumped off the roof the day uncle died and later died of hunger, he denied any food not being able to cope with the loss.

After uncle's death the next dog to enter the clan was 'Robin'. This one is the most famous till date as all of us have been associated with him at some point or the other. We all were fond of this brown chap as it will roam around and respond graciously to every call. But like almost all good things, this one met a tragic end with some asshole poisoning him to death on an evening when most members of the family were busy doing different things.

Something called 'Robert' was roped in to fill the space. But it essentially failed to build any rapport and was not popular among the young turks of the house and soon abandoned the house.

'Panther' now joined the family and got reputed as a dog who would bark only on the known family members and strangers were always welcome for him. He got a twin called 'Ceaser' which was gifted to a friend family and later proved to be much more energetic, healthy and agile. 'Panther' later was able to build happy bonds with family, mostly due to longer acquaintance and familiarity. 'Panther' met a natural end.

Cousins in my mom's sister's family had two dogs called 'Tommy' and 'Popo'. Cousin was extremely fond of both the dogs. She didn't eat for three days when 'Tommy' died. It had jumped off first floor parapet. 'Popo' was able to fill in the space very quickly and became part of the family rapidly. But it too met an end which was not natural and caused hurt to many in the family.

Till date I come across stories of various dogs. One such thing lives just across my street and I learn that it was cause of police being called after a fight broke out between 2 families because of him. I am told that this dog lives luxuriously, enjoying blankets, mattresses, and devoted love from his owner...

Enigma : A Journey From School Days

Image courtesy : joaquinuy on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Bus treads rapidly on National Highway 58 enroute Mussorie form Delhi. It is a dark night and guys (and gals) are having nice time in the back rows of the bus - chattering, pranking, giggling, tricking and yup for some it is nothing but looking out in the dark to sight any possible trace of light. Others enjoy toying around with their newly acquired gadgets - mp3s, walkmans, discmans, handheld gaming devices and more means of amusement, which certainly are objects of begrudge from many.

A very fond topic of discussion earlier that night had been Mallika Sherawat of newly released Murder fame. Nishant would brag telling "x times I have seen that movie including y times with parents accompanying me". As the discussion heats up and more guys come with their inputs it becomes ravishingly entertaining to listen to all these stories, most of which can easily be judged innocent fibs, with the added effect of the yellow overhead lights (...this is certain that during journeys most good things happen in yellow light or total dark, and I wonder how beautiful that bus would have looked from one of the fields in the western UP with light errupting from square windows of a moving rectangular box...)

About three hours up Red Fort, Delhi (the place where probably Prime Minister, yes certainly he only gives speech to the whole country on an appointment which is universal in nature yet not so ordinary) across Ghaziabad, Hindon and several adjoining dingy and exceptionally disgraceful townships, which to most do not mean anything but termite-hills harboring swarms of drone labour forces which find substitute in keeping the movement of the industrial work-horse running in one of most urbanized region of world's largest democracy, the bus breaks its movement to let its riders have a break and fill their bellies or gulp down a few bottles of world's favourite soft drinks. Still some are blessed enough to find better and more demanding activities, one or two of which essentially goes against centrally propogated agenda of gender-equity. Going by my reccommendations you must not think at all and have a look around to find a few white-birds falling over each other, while crude folk music (...there is certain something with women echoeing musculine baritones and bold attitudes while flutes and more such aboriginal and native add-ons accompany them in their endeavours...) plays on the cashier's blackbox of probably 1980s.

Back in the bus I sit exactly in the middle of backseat, having a clear view of all the black figures, hands and legs falling out of the seats' defined boundaries, and the road ahead. Yet it is so boring until I barter Sankalp's walkman for the seat that I occupy. It is a win-win situation as I get to stand in the bus, a nice excuse to eye every secret crush of yours. Not long you enjoy the whole thing that you are told that a front seat is unoccupied, and even with that disgrunted thought and look it is a bliss when you press the play button and a distant but extremely pleasing, feminine and very mystic voice asks you to close your eyes and prepare for a meditation trip. You don't think much as you actually don't have anything to care for and the lovely voice and drum's mild beatings are hypnotizing and you are drawn to the instructions being communicated to you (...wonder if it is some sort of brain wash...). This being my first introduction to ENIGMA, one of the most celebrated electronic music enterprise. I can not remeber if it was 'Mea Culpa' or 'Sadness' that made me an ardent follower.

A large part of remaining journey is spent in cabin with Chetan and few others while driver and helper maneovure bus on very busy stretches of this 2 lane highway up the haunted district of Meerut towards Roorkee, Haridwar and then the Doon valley. We continue to devour that diesel smell that certainly acted anaesthetic to me and I just remember waking up next to Sargam or may be Aakash but certainly at the left most window corner of the full last seat. Between Dehradun and Mussorie most of us feel nauseated as the bus zig-zags on the roads engulfing lower Shivaliks, very close to the edge as if considering a homicide to ultimately make it to the headlines, like a concrete Anaconda. Feeling difficult to control I just puke, like many others, just about 2km from the final destination. Bus's engine grunts, pained by the load it carries while I sympathize with it feeling embarassed on my own act of vomitting, but certainly enjoying the toffies that came to me to supress more of it...

Nocturnal?

Image courtesy : Lunchbox Photography on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

As the dark sets in and things begin to go for their regular sleep.
This is the time a different breed comes to life.
It is creative, likes peace and enjoys to peep.
Ambitious, hard working and is certainly not afraid of strife.

After dark, when details are sharp!
This breed rises to the small resistance thrown to it.
Continues on its path, in the warp.
It looks in the dark to achieve its theme, "Go Get It".

Focussing on the self-being,
It proceeds to do the cardinal deed.
Breath and thoughts numb, senses benign,
This way thrives the self-proclaimed, "Nocturnal creed"!

Hope

Image Courtesy : mindfullness , on Flickr. Check usage terms here!

A bright and focussed shaft of light tears smog and dust filled air, while a whole orchestra blocks major part of it. An exceptional contrast is visualised. A whole spectrum of dark lies in front of an explosive brightness. Providing us a crude sense of depth, the third dimension and thereby completing the visual experience. Small dust particles continue to float and vibrate through the air.

Suddenly the instruments start playing, in perfect sync but without any external help. A stick would beat drums while 3 guitars are strum. Keys dance on the keyboard and mike would rotate around the stage as synthesizers explode their best.

You close your eyes, everything fades, silence prevails and a shock-wave follows sweeping everything clean and clear and virtually refreshed for new experiences, beatings, strums and expressions. Sharpness moderates and eyes are able to stare normal and decipher the visible spectrum, the same orchestra is seen once again...

This time green tendrils creep up the stabilizing bars while red and pink flowers blossom listening to mild melancholic and sedative music that originates from the very same devices. Bright blue sky completes the backdrop where the horizon meets the sky in beautiful embrace. Kissing each other in a passion that ceases to emancipate.

This is how hope continues to thrive, for both the aspects - the heads and the tails! Technically and mystically sugar-coated as - "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen."

Zip Zap Zoom - V : Shopping And Food Fiesta

Image courtesy :travellingtamas on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.


Its a Monday and everyone in the hostel room is bored to the core, but this time no one wants to curse things but everyone wants to make an effort to be happy and have fun.

Soon they all decide to go to nearby mall called Gaurav Towers. The 4 guys got 2 bikes. I decide to sit pillion to Vikas, because am told that he drives crazy and its not the speed but his driving style that drives you mad. He in their words can make you scream even at a slow speed of 20 kmph. Hearing all the appraisals I had to experience the whole thing to believe it.

Sitting pillion to this guy I understand what the whole talk was about. Late night bike rides are not new to me, but this driving style was surely. The only limit with this guy was his CD Dawn. He would throttle it to the full, even on the curves. We definitely jumped 2-3 road dividers and half the way was passed, bike making an angle of 45 degrees with the road.

At the mall, all 3 guys are busy checking out clothings as I continue to check myself out in the mirrors simultaneously giving my expert comments on the things they choose for themselves. In a Pantaloon showroom Hrithik Roshan's life size posters grab my attention and I let myself loose to imagine wearing the expensive clothing he endorses. After the mall, we guys come back to hostel for a short refreshment and continue with the plan.

The break ends as we make move for our next destination, a Vaishali Nagar rented house; Vikas lives here. Guys mock me, "You can switch rider if you are afraid". But reality is actually opposite as I liked the road-rash kind riding of this guy who is excellent with Hindi literature, Premachandra and likes being his favourites. This one is a guy with as wide a range of tastes and moods as I do have. We enter a virtual race as my two room-mates zip pass us on a Pulsar while we cruise on Ajmer Road passing Gopalpura Bypass, Gujjar Ki Thadi and several known landmarks in south-western Jaipur before we go off the main roads to enter the streets of western Jaipur, where we shop for some vegetables and water. Soon we reach Vikas's house and now it is time for Vikas and Mahendra to cook food for 4 of us while me and Rohit get busy calling friends, checking out newspapers, browsing Vikas's collection od Hindi literature and yup I train Rohit in Spider Solitaire, a cheap and quick but extensively engrossing time-pass. We do a bit of help too, but that can be discounted for.

As we get the food, we eat a plenty ignoring the fact that it was not awesome but definitely a 1000 times better than the hostel shit. Going by Punjabi standards food had no salt and was good only for a blood pressure patient. Having our share of food and enjoyed it nice, we decide to move back to hostel quickly, mostly to avoid closure of colony gates. Vikas has to guide us out of the mesh of streets. Once on the main road it takes us barely 15 minutes to cover a distance of about 10-12 km, while we do tripling, avoiding the heavy commercial traffic of the nights.

Time To School

Image courtesy : mckaysavage on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Admissions? Not for me. I have completed my schooling and currently pursuing graduation degree, so not a case with me, lest I make mind for a master's degree which going by my current thinking patterns and requirements is highly unlikely. Coming to the actual story, when your cousins are married and have nice families (I mean kids), it is inevitable for you to visit them - for society's sake and sometime you too like to communicate with kids 17 years younger. And when you visit them you learn that these days admissions are no cake walk, parents got to pass interviews, try to live as near as possible to the school they wish their kid to study in, a girl child is always preferred in schools!

In case you thought you had tough time getting admitted to your college a year or two ago consider this -
to get admission in a school in Delhi for 2010 session procedure begins from Dec 15' 2009 and continues till March 31 next year. Parents can fill in forms till Jan 15 and schools will scrutinize them till Jan 30. First list of successful candidates will be put up on Feb 01 and they are then free to party, which is defined as getting prepared for the session which begins 2 months later on April 01 - babies ageing between 2 and 3/4 years and 4 need to dress up proper; white shirts, grey tunics, properly worn socks and black-polished bellies! Accessories can be anything like red-yellow tiffins, sip-from-the-tube water bottles. Assorted collection of glossy magazines, books, glittery pencil boxes and flashy notebooks are all indicators of level of accomplishment of child's family! All right! Schools too are not spared from the gruesome schedules and are pushed hard to limits with 2nd, 3rd and 4th lists following latest by March 15.

As I see the kid in front of me. I wonder how they so easily get accustomed to the routines of waking up early to catch that 6:30 am bus to a school 1 hour drive from their home and then mingle with all the small heads their. There would be regular morning swarms of properly uniformed kids, gathering for an assembly. And at the home same 3-something would quite innocently yell that she desires to grow her hair long! Its nice to revise those Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck days with this new breed, I tell you it is refreshing even for me! And the naming exercise for the kid continues even after 3 years of the birth, providing the parents with activities that keep them from being bored, at least so it seems on the outside.

Innately, unknowingly and somewhat in agreement to our happiness the environments, facilities, situations and several such things beyond our control and many a time object of our curse have been successful in carving us into citizens who are positive, good and think responsibly for the future that lies ahead...

Bank Job

Image courtesy : Studio494 (Simon) on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Happened to visit the bank for something I lost out of 'memory troubles', sometime back. I forgot my e-banking password, and got to apply for a new one as I find it of excellent utility.

The job is a regular procedure, but I many a time consider forgetting password often as I like Nangal Raya branch of State Bank very much. People here are accomplished, talented, patient, talkative, regular, cheerful and many more things! More precisely they are outrageously opposite to my personality and therefore magnetic to me.

There is another uncanny observation that I made, environment is always bright and luke warm when I visit this place. Sky is azure, exactly the way it should be, mild wind makes leaves rattle against each other, honk of an approaching car shakes you out of your day-dream, rag-picking girls at that construction site remind you that something still needs to be taken care of, but the regular activities in market just across that traffic signal assure you that order still prevails.

On the whole you have no reason to repent deliberately missing that bus to your destination and opting for a 2 km walk instead (one side only, downside story has been omitted to maintain readability).

Mango Pickle

Image courtesy : madpai on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

A sudden jerk shakes containers that lie parked in yard at Hazrat Nizammudin railway station in Delhi. The 6 year old is inquisitive figuring out which of the two trains, one in which he is sitting or the goods train beside, is moving.

Soon he is more interested in the mango pickle, that his Mama got packed in the tiffin for the night. He is not very much interested in the food, but mango pickle is his favourite; even with the sore throat. He prevents both his Mama and Dad from having even a single piece of vitamin A and C rich delicacy. He literally enters into quarrel with mamu, who incidentally happens to be his another favourite and very fondly pats him on the back even to this date.

Night passes calmly in that train berth with yellow flickering lights and noisy fans. The morning dawns bright and lanky kid continues to stick his head at the window rail while vendors continue to scream to make a living. He is adamant and continues to take notes of descending numbers, 267/45, 267/44, 267/43... that appear on each passing pole on this route to Indore city in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

At Nagda junction, the engine would shunt and train would move in reverse direction after a break of about 20 minute. Mamu would use this opportunity to prank the guy that the driver is annoyed so we are returning back and the guy would still be happy thinking it to be another opportunity to be in the train for 12 more hours. Meanwhile train would gather pace and switch tracks rapidly, producing melanchonic music of its own kind.

Guy sticks his head out again and this time will exclaim with bright glowing eyes that a diesel engine is pulling the train, unlike the electric locomotive in the morning. He always liked it when the snail like train took a long curve, blowing dirt from rubble clad tracks in the Malwa plateau region. An ecstatic yellow milk drink at Ujjain made this 850 km long journey worth it and a temple sits graciously atop the hill just outside Dewas city, famous for a Reserve Bank Of India printing facility. Indore is an altogether different story, a ride in Premier Padmini, with a PAL logo decorating its steering, to Massi's place is an unparalleled luxury...

The story is not complete but journey part is over and what remains is more sugary!

Avial Is The Daddy!

Image courtesy : code poet on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Hmm, I found the daddy! In my last post, I missed some points that I wished to write about Avial, this Kerala born rock band, and so I continue today! The whole day with nothing much to do I was listening to rock music and downloading the stuff, probably this is my way of acknowledging that they do good work!

Well what I missed yesterday? I missed what I can term as spontaneous visual imagery (even I am yet to figure out what that actually is, but it sounds pretty cool and hip to many tech maniacs out there)! So here I go, I see a Tarzan like athletic personality jumping across the stage grinding its hips to tunes of rock music. A lungi clad bald entertainer enthrals the crowds as the chaotic stage fade into serene backwaters of Kerala. He makes mic subject of his attention while he performs some sort of pole dance and my mind suggests me alternatives ranging from metro handles to trees in lagoons in the state of Kerala. In more wilder fantasies I visualise him circling traffic signals at mind-boggling speeds. Soon a Chinese add-on joins him and the imagery now features a dragon to complete the scene, with background music having slight tones of land of Chowmein!

Oh the guy seems to be putting a lot of energy in keeping the whole band going and he definitely succeeds! This was the first year of the event and if it continues to happen on more occasions I promise myself more delightful treats of this kind and wonder if they would be jumping into the crowd itself in their coming performances...

Who's Your Daddy?

Malayalam rock band 'Avial' performing during South Asian Band Festival at Purana Qila, New Delhi.
Image Courtesy : Manik

Well certainly not me! And anyways this post is about something not related to any of ours' ancestry! Its about eye-candies, cult bands, youth and urban enthral, zest and thrills and well those beautiful drills. Its about people, nothing personal, nothing emotional but what looks on the outside!

So here we are in a new Delhi Metro coach, heading towards Pragati Maidan. Me and Piyush catch up a chat that revolves around Telangana, tri-furcation of UP and Greater Delhi! And other topics include the greyish environment of new metro coaches, yellow lights suck, sickening like tuberculosis but information panels are better and trains are less noisy.

Certainly at this evening our destination is not Pragati Maidan and we wish to reach Purana Qila, to check out some groovy performances by some amateur and established bands of the Indian subcontinent! Well the event is called South Asian Band Festival and we are eager to find out who is the daddy of Bhutanese band named 'Who's Your Daddy'.

Am impatient and not willing to wait for that free shuttle to the venue and make Piyush walk about 500 metres, giving excuses like I need to check out new architectural and civil improvements and yup the new fashion trends, wish to know what the chicks are wearing these days and what delight is thrown to our eyes! Going by my observations I am certain that all 'nice-looking-girls' are short on thing called brain as they 'tag along' with those stupid looking asses who are certainly short on IQ as well as money! Another 200 metres and now am sure it is not the girl but her attire that grabs our attention, thanks Mr, Miss or Mrs Designer at that Gucci/Puma/Hi-Design workshop for making these nymphs certain eye-candies! Oh, I like those straights but probably the curls are much better! A minute please, am a good guy and so I should not look at her (...good guys are supposed to stay aloof of girls, unless needed to extreme. They certainly ought not tag along with a girl, they rarely do actually...)!

Sorry! We were supposed to talk about the Band Fest! We get off the bus (yup we took it after walking through some 3 or 4 signals.), we are at the venue! Accustomed to being frisked, we do not care where and what they touch these days! But I actually hate it when someone toys with that lovely mobile in my jacket's pocket! Let it be. The lighting is nice at the monument and the great but 'long-before' dead Pandavas are not fortunate enough to enjoy Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy perform for them in their own establishment!

As we walk towards the stage, we learn that the crowd is bigger than we expected and is mostly the youth from Delhi University. I acknowledge that Chinkies rock in this city. Every 1 in 20 is lighting up a puff and so there is no point arguing that the honourable Supreme Court, just beside the fort, doesn't like it when young people reduce the surface area of their alveolar sacks! Anyhow am getting used to it and now-a-days it seems more of an added effect to the lighting at the occasion.

Ahem! Here is this band, 1974 AD, performing live in front of us! We like their performance, it is rock after all! Those spikes, overcoats and Nepali syllable all get them our attentions and we learn that we are too dork not knowing how to speak Nepali, everyone around did! I tried to click this guy from Sikkim but my Nokia has limits! As they sing their last song they tell us about their ideology and I agree with it. I too stand for 'positive pride', 'identity', 'national chauvinism'. Their always is a revolution when their is a red flag, know history? Anyways "Nepali Ho."

Nepalese were good but I love Malayalese! The Mallu rock band from Trivandrum (capital of God's Own Country) stole my heart. They call  themselves 'Avial' and were conceived in the First City (New Delhi) only! I can still visualise the bald lead vocalist shake his hips in that 'Lungi' and white figure-hugging shirt! the athlete would jump around the stage like Tarzan while making us utter "Tak Tak Ta Re Tak Ta Re Tak Dimi Tak Ho! Tak Ta Re Taro..." They would add Chinese zing to their act by bringing to us this feline called Naomi from China on the stage! Awesome dudes!

I am not much impressed by Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy's performance. They do their usual thing, and the Bollywood stuff only. Saving grace being "Rock On". Nothing new and out of a studio environment it was not worth it. Certainly their story of a hero dying being shot in the head, while in the bed (added by me) was tasteless and made half the audience flee (not certain if they were more interested in reaching homes or saving themselves the torture these people were turning up to be!)

I and Piyush walk the talk back to the metro station, time is not an issue with both of us and nice to catch glimpses of 4.5*2 lanes of asphalt while glowing bus shelters dot the scene! High hung halogens make day of the night and some red blinkers in distance tell you to beware! Paved and clean pathways are delight and you feel like spending time there only. Hmm, it is only for people to decide whether they like the forts or the steel cage high-rises! I love both and I love them together!

A performace by Avial on Youtube

A performace by 1974 AD on Youtube

Challenge!

Image courtesy : 1Happysnapper(is trying to catch up ) on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Well Today is Dec 13' 2009! Anniversary of attack on Parliament, that is all that comes to my mind right now. Am not a great patriot but like any other person I too love my country and wish it to have a peaceful course. Am not writing this post to show my anger against terrorism or my love for my country but simply to complete a challenge thrown to me, by my friend.

But still there is a point I want to show through this post and that I don't want to coat or mask under any cover. And the message simply says, "Terrorism probably roots out of identity crisis. People tend to think of political ways for carving niche for themselves and tend to take offensive paths and thus end up being terrorists and the important thing is that people like me are not affected by this thing and most of the time use it for some small tasks like completing challenges, meeting deadlines and things...."

Chained Liberty

Image courtesy : Morning Magician on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

It simply seems horrendous, with so many resources and liberty at my disposal I can act a fool and not succeed! I simply continue to consume and abuse the powers that lie with me. I continue to be shameless and not leave the greed. The mask continues to separate me from the truth, it stops me from attaining what should be procured. I continue to chain myself, poison my own purity and further dilute it, to fall and be one amongst the common! I punish myself for the unknown, meanwhile corrupting what was destined to be nonpareil.

Simply the basic idea of many and most superheroes before they realise what they are made of and what defines them! The thoughts occur to me after watching Batman Begins and Batman : The Dark Knight, salute Joker!

The guy who loves to put smiles across the faces and wears a purple coat while making us believe that he is a psycho, truly captivates the imagination and deserves lauds a thousand times.

Wordle - Digital Grafitto

Well the title and the image tells it all! I like this art called Graffito (plural Graffiti) a lot. It is an expression of masses, willing to leave their impression on things they consider to be theirs but probably lack resources and means to claim them and thereby resort to getting hold of them by means considered unethical and anti-social but still exceptionally creative and eye-catching!

Above you see a Wordle created out of my Twitter posts! Click it to have a better view. You can also create your own at - Wordle.

There Used To Be...

Image courtesy : » Zitona « on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

There used to be days,
When I would lie down on the green grass,
And stare straight into the sun against the azure backdrop,
Continuing to paint imaginations in cerebrum.

There used to be days,
When I would sit amock,
Stealing glance or two of every new found interest,
Running hands through my hair as the exam continues for everyone!

There used to be days,
When I would arrive late,
Ignoring every special remark that teacher made,
Circling the grounds with bag over the head, hiding the expression of disgust on my face.

There used to be days,
When I would not blink an eye,
Sitting straight for hours glued to a book or tube in the sight,
Pretending as if nothing was there to take care of.

There used to be days...

Slang Bang

Image courtesy : jetheriot on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

I chat a lot and I love using slangs! And the best thing is there are no universal slangs so everything works! Plain language is tasteless, so it is like adding spice to the lingo!

Some words that are mast include 'Bidu', 'Machak', 'Item', 'Jhakkas', 'Hakuna Matata' and more . Mixing of tongues, 'Hinglish', 'Punglish', 'Hinch' (I made this Hindi + French) is something that keeps the conversation going! Tongue twisters in Bihari and Punjabi are nice to laugh at. Mockingly adding a double meaning helps in creating that special spark! And once the frankness is lost the talk essentially will loose the purpose, it will then be just another meeting to discuss a deal of work. 'Bhasad', 'Thuss', 'Tadka', 'Masala', 'Spice', 'Chicklet' etc add to language slightly slapdash munches and slippery twists and you will surely tune in with any group, I usually fail or I usually don't want to! Need too much of openness and familiarity to communicate!

I would like to make a special mention of our own Toy Lingo, with its different variants, has a patterned set of words which include - 'Saax', 'Taax', 'Maax', 'Faax' and more such 'aax' stuff. While Jaipur version of it comes with more meaningful and intellectual things like 'Phantom', 'Farzi Phantom' and more.

I like updating such stuff on my Twitter feed, which in itself is a super sexy way of communication with all the short forms and new lexicon like 'Tweeps', 'Tweeple', 'Twooshes', '#tags', '@eds' and likes. 140 character limit make you go for innovation and this adds zing to what might be rather boring conversation! Twitter = SMS of the internet!

What more is - you always love to enjoy your time and the best movies I find in India, all have a regional slangish identity to them, be it Khosla Ka Ghosla, Rang De Basanti, Omkara, Bheja Fry, Dil Dosti Etc and many more...

Language No Bar

Recently some funny things are happening to me! I feel I am able to understand everything, language doesn't matter! Things started with music German 'Du Hast' banged my head for months. Foo would sometime share with me Marathi folklores and the bong music supplied by Debz is difficult to match. Haryanvi and many more Indian crudes are irresistible. Numerous films in alien tongues followed before I found this Gaelic thing called 'Scaliwag' on my room-mates Philips GoGear and as I come back to home a french maniac would make me listen to -

 A distinct work in French, you would definitely need no lyrics to understand it!

I myself am finding it very much fun to enjoy Punjabi Pop by Aman Hayer, Punjabi MC and likes. Morning radio is very much English and Hindi and my new found interest in Monica Belluci makes me think of learning Italian a bit. And not to mention but a boy called Enrique Iglesias introduced me to Spanish tongue and holds my romantic imaginations till date. Shakira would gravitate her hips to Latin tunes and I am equally pleased to listen to Phillipino.

As I sit before TV, very less occasionally these days a few channels will throw me with exceptionally well crafted media in Japanese, Korean, Cantish, German and more.

The Street Party

Just ventured out a bit astray from my regular territory after some time and was confronted with traffic! You can not spare yourself for too long from this thing when in Delhi and have two choices - bear it while sulking it or bear it while not sulking it! This time I chose later!

Then what I did? Simply started staring into eyes of those small and big creatures crowding the streets! They have a language of their own, which mostly appears noisy. Eyes gleam nice and generally come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Bodies and skin tones can be heavily masculine or subtly feminine! What generally annoys on Indian turfs, is the rear, craftsmen are not good at producing sexy ones.

In a friend's words Suzuki Swift seems baby hippo! I found new Honda City i-VTEC quite buffalo like looking from front! And you all can easily guess that a Tata Safari is like an emasculated bull while Scorpio and some other SUVs are heavily masculine and appear to push their claim on the road! New Ritz is a hatchback with beaten bum! Old Zen seems to be a damsel and most of us definitely miss it! Since its launch I prefer calling Innova an ant-eater for it feels a tongue would come out of its bumper and lick away every creature from the road! WagonR, Santro and some other hatchbacks look aggressive and very boyish! And if you spot the oldest version of Maruti 800 you definitely love its simplicity and distinct personality! Mitsubishi bred Lancer and Mercedes S-Class seem to be tigresses or panthers waiting for a classy act on the wild streets.

There are other outcasts like Qualis and Taveras, which act asses transporting goods and peoples! Buses are like nannies taking care of hapless masses! And cycles seem to be an endangered species...

A bullet or in some case an occasional BMW would rob all of these of their glory, the husky loud voice throwing the crowd out of the gear or in case of the luxurious an uncanny elegance would hypnotize eyes to admire and dance to its tunes! Making it clear and loud to the general that king of the party has arrived!

The High Rise Cult

Image courtesy : Manik

Well I have started to like glass, steel and concrete! Simply because a person into construction and building should love these materials, without which modern day skyscrapers are impossible.

Anyways I come from a city which has always been devoted to the low rise phenomenon and is still trying to keep its low rise profile intact, but residents of this city - those who associate with this lovely land realise it will see the face of defeat soon, simply falling prey to worldwide trends and needs of the hour.

I myself am against high rises, with few exceptions for a hotel block here and a mall there. In general I like small dwelling units with open green gardens double the size of built structure and a two-lane black asphalt texture laid before it. It lets you breathe, soothe and get pampered by the morning sun. I like those shanky shopping arcades which would have shopkeepers exhibiting their goods; likes of vegetables, edibles and stuff, on roadsides.

A high rise on the other hand would go to hang you twenty floor high from the ground, making you think of jumping straight down fifty times a day! Placed close to another structure both would fight for their share of light and air and would simply appear concrete devils screaming out of the Earth unless given a glass mask to hide their ugliness!

And yup am not against the glass but truth is that it hurts our environment, adding to cooling and lighting expenditures, making us burn a lot of fuel to sustain the structure and thereby give our leaders opportunities to enjoy free buffets at annual meetings in Kyotos and Copenhegans...

All settled we still need pumps to feed waters to drones living in those condos. And let me not imagine of gas-cylinder blast at floor 15!

The Frooti Tetrapack

Image courtesy : Bryn Pinzgauer on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Hmm! So can you visualize a kiddo with his small flawless neck jabbing out of that white shirt, carefully ironed but yellow with stains of a juicy drink as the guy adjusts his maroon big frame spectacles, pressing his lips wide against the window pane of that yellow-black box that transports him to and from his school.

No juicy stories like the movies. Setting this time is Shiv Ji's statue, Gurgaon, Delhi-Jaipur highway. School picnic stops at the venue as it is a new attraction that has taken shape in the county and is quite popular. Folks make a bee-line for the refreshments they will be getting beside binging upon all the fancy food stuff they have got packed by their mums.

Once everyone is through having glimpses of the tall structure, groups settle at various locations; some taking seat beside the banyan, some check out goodie stalls and few others would settle their bums at some parapet, yet another group of sticky-noses would haunt the teachers...

Later the small groups would catch up at beating one another at their adventure for the day, holing up Firangs to have a chat. This they did to prove that they are good at their 'favourite' language - English, without even thinking that a Firang can be German, French or Spaniard as simply as he is believed to be English. In any case they almost always succeded in their aim of accomplishing distinction of having talked to a jean or skirt clad beauty or in case of girls it would be a tight t-shirt hunk with his 24" biceps crossed in front of chest.

Sooner it would be time to leave the place and bus would jostle a bit as a crushed Frooti Tetrapack would fall behind to tell the tale, "Our group was enjoying here".

Those who have read so far are requested to do a redo and imagine the kid in first paragraph. You will definitely love it when you imagine and visualise it. ;) :) 

Another Term ...

Image courtesy : Benimoto on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

So another semester closes and I must say it was one enjoyed with full zest. Had its troubles and things, but made you learn a lot. A classic one at that. With little roaming a lot of things to work on, this semester made me a student again. Never toiled this much to complete works, actually never cared! :D

Leave work aside this semester made me closer to my room-mates, but as always I can never be relied upon so they better be careful! ;) Found new places in campus to have fun, I was mistaken that I have explored every inch and new places include - Dean Gate, Football Ground and yup Thadi! :)

Did not explore much of Jaipur in this semester and could not be consistent on many of my projects. Ways of communication have changed a bit. Facebook is the social network, no more loyalty to Google and yup Twitter rocks.

Three semester down still it looks as if only yesterday I joined the college, lest I strain a bit and every second seems to stretched like years. Surely I love my life, this place and everything around! :*

Another spell of vacations begin!

Tune In

Image courtesy : purple monkey dish washer on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

I was wondering if thoughts and ideas flew on radio waves. We can hardly control what might cook next in our minds. As we walk down, chat with a friend, have dinner, bathe or do any other normal activity some thing or other will occur to our minds and we generally will have to make objective choices a game of 'Yeses' and 'Nos', only often and not always. And these remaining times will be called 'Dilemmas'.

Anyhow, back to topic. So probably the ideas fly on Radio waves and there are special recievers in human mind that just catch them. Once we get a nice idea, it is our job to nourish it. And I most of the times fail miserably! Well we can always dump an idea or pretend if it never occured to us. And if we choose to nourish them and go a long way in doing so we get somethings called 'results' or 'outcomes' and these are expected to be good only.

I just can hope that I simply get to tune into those divine and nice frequencies and be able to do good work. While imaging Shivani Kashyap whistle out the lovely and very famous All India Radio (AIR) jingle.

Though AIR is obsolute in practical senses in this age of MP3s and private radio stations, this is something that got me into the habit of listening to the radio other than those lovely fancy stories put up by my father about his college day radio romance!

Lipstick

Image courtesy : ZedZap(Nick... NEVER slow ) on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Those beady eyes are no longer there,
Chirp is missing and nobody seems to care!
Hairstyle is not good I must say,
But I'm told to stay away! :|
Lost and Found I felt oft,
And wished I could flee soft,
Most of the time, most of the days!
Come December, And we will be on our way!
Because now we realize, Not everything goes by our say!
Limerence continues to stay,
Get back to work before you go too astray! :)
Rebellion continues... Fire still burns in the foray!!! :| :$
Not my fault that I do not believe in pray!

One of my attempt at poetry. Actually written on Nov 18' 2009, I tried to modify this one a bit but kept it largely in its original form.

As for post title, I interpret it as Lip + Stick. Hope I got myself clear!

Route 73

Image courtesy : fotologic on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Going back to home I take Route 73! Journey is calm and casual and is serene as wind blows on your face from the open window constrained by bars and you continue to enjoy lame sunshine, better say the shade of it. People come and people go, leaving no trace of their existence on your memory...

The bus snails along the newly inaugrated metro lines in central and south Delhi. As I am looking at markets in Patel Nagar suddenly I catch glimpse of a couple in the bus. They are around for sometime but I hadn't noticed them in earlier, was rather engrossed by greens and inanimate but golden hills of the central ridge.

They communicate so flawlessly and are in perfect sync. Her gestures are vivid and clear only to him and he understands them like his own thoughts. She never fails to capture his moves and most subtle of his actions, she excellently marvels at deciphering his concealed communications. They speak with their eyes to share with each other the most wonderful and beautiful of their experiences...

Meanwhile the bus continues on the road towards its destination, more bodies enter and leave the scene and many are spellbound by the chemistry between the pair, probably they envy it, may be I am envying it!, or are too appreciative of the bond. The scene outside the window is blurred now, just a few fonts floating on haphazard billboards and structures and a blinding brightness as my eyes are transfixed on the duo. They are confident in their moves and are headstrong and clear about what they need.

They deboard the bus somewhere near Pusa Campus and now I can feel their absence, the silence they exhibited, the calm and contendness they made part of their personality. They made me realise my speech is useless as it fails at its purpose on many ocassions, it cannot get the thoughts across. They made me understand that I need to learn more and be better since I am not that good yet...

Those school going teenagers neither could speak nor could hear, come back to me when I fail in communications. That journey on Route 73 remains in my memory and that year too... To be true, I sometime wish I was one of them. Probably I would have been better then...

I was not willing to post for more than 1 month or so, but this memory intrigues me and I simply wanted to let it come out. I am obsessed with people, I simply love travelling, looking at people and understanding what they are concealing as messages in simple acts of theirs. Probably I miss my freedom! I miss those faces that occur to you during solo journeys, those eyes and gestures telling you something you will never learn from books and novels! It is not that books and novels don't teach you, it is simply that they don't work for me! For me people and place around me are books...

Morning Star

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06:15, MNIT Footlball Grounds

I just abruptly take a walk listening to some "different music." "Stroke 9" playing into my ears, I catch glimpse of thick black clouds flying past the Arravalis as sun redens the sky and the morning star (venus, yes it is venus) hangs high at the zenith giving competition to half pizza which is slightly to its left or probably right (now I know why a benchmark is necessary!). A group of guys gather for their morning play.

I observe this spectacular 360 degree panorama, simultaneously taking note of the whole beautiful feeling on my rather retro mobile, a 5 year old thing is retro when a new model is launched every week! Bryan Adams is still happy on "Cloud No. 9".

Chilling mid-november wind blows over my face and sleep-deprived eyes as I enjoy my slightly feverish body and muscles straining from last few days of exercise drives.
Occasionally gasping for breath.

Round one is over and its about 10 minutes, sky is more bright revealing alot to eyes. More colours have appeared on the canvas generally reds, pinks, purples and shades of black. Blinking red lights scare away airplanes taking off and on at nearby Sanganer airport.

Third round begins for me and now I can distinguish ashes of Oil Depot fire from the black clouds. Britney Spears does not wishes to be "Overprotected". More the light more truth is revealed. As the world has started its day, birds are heading away from their nestles, school bell rings as dogs sync their barking tone in this rather barren land.

And yup I have made my mind for another bunk, excusing myself of worthlessness of attending a 4 hour session just for the sake of a "P" marked on an obsolute paper sheet.

Meanwhile I learn it is good to wait and watch, before any action, as when their is light things are not that good. The part of hills in front of me is not that cool, it is barren and nude. Thanks Mr. Sun for teaching me a simple lesson. Round three is ending I wind up my morning walk, Bon Jovi screams aloud "Its My Life".

Back to hostel. Times Of India confirms its Jaipur after Pune in the race of H1N1 casualities. 52 more confirmed cases, 10 school shuts, CM holds meet as Shakira gets busy telling us "Whenever, Wherever..." and I no longer find words and thoughts to write more.

TATA C.U. :) :D Time to sleep! Probably!!!

Mixed Breed

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Whole family needs to attend a marriage party on the outskirts of Delhi, in a locality called Malviya Nagar.

Just another social gathering for the small kid for whom it means another chance to gorge upon those unlimited soft drink serves, lots of cups of ice-cream, oil-laced food with a distinct non-house flavour, an occasional steal of coffee flavour, opportunity to tweak those marigolds threads hanging behind the stage, posing sitting on the stage chairs, acting stubborn to get those balloons, toy-guns and more such stuff.

The guy would move around the whole chimera meeting and greeting those hundreds of figures whom he hardly recognizes, and doesn’t even wish to recognize occasionally, catching sight of some familiar figures before once again loosing them in the flood of people.

Fellows are fun including the turbanator who is great at dancing and gossip-crazy tall guy and some younger counterparts. The guy definitely loves the heady mix of vanilla flavour ice-cream dipped in coke as aeroplanes which have just took off from nearby IGI airport fly past over the whole scene.

Its not long before this guy will be screaming and squeaking all around, troubling his father, forcing him to leave for the home, don’t know against his wish or may be saving him the trouble of waking up till late in the night…

Busy Bee

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I am in Jaipur for about 68 hours now. I knew the classes would not begin until 26th but had plans to execute and assignments to complete. Anyways the task still hangs loose as I enjoy my time completing works and preparing for the coming Monday as we would have teachers expecting us of completed assignments, as if they don’t know we have more important and urgent things to do, including the maintain-weight drives in this haunted-food zone!

In last 3 days, I have been part of a happier lot, crazy things of life being more visible to me. As I make my 3rd round to library to return a book which is already 3 weeks overdue I see this guy walking as if a tall camel is cat walking in this dry but colourful (have too say this, need to be gentle and generous) city. The person is my ex-roommate, and you never get over friends and roommates, tells another ex-roommate of me (I hardly can make any difference between both, they all are people who are part of your life), certainly another ex-roommate of mine will never understand this thought as to him a birthday party is a regulated buffet (a Chapatti costs Rs. x, Curd will be another Rs. y and so on… annoying 3rd-first-year-roommate of mine, he is still with me!) thrown to repay birthday parties and treats given by, classmates, roommates, friends and those who wished him on Orkut.

Anyhow I was able to complete this novel by Chetan Bhagat, reading 38 chapters over night, writing two page letter by myself and avoiding internet for some more time. Don’t blame me for I couldn’t help but compare myself with the protagonist of the novel, with some edits. Ananya is a heart throb and am jealous that am not totally Krish, or say there probably is no girl who likes me like Ananya liked Krish! Some answers were there in the novel apart from the entertainment and yup I accept Punjabis are like this, can I oblige by showing you milder and more tamed versions of the breed?, but that is the way they have to be!

As I find some time free from drafting, shopping, anti-ant and break-lock drives in room am engrossed in Call Of Duty. Turning my room into a war zone and taking pride in killing morons from Japanese and German sides. Gun battles, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, grenades, head-shots… … is all that my world is comprised off. Am trained enough to take any bastard trying to tease a north-eastern chicks on the streets of New Delhi, or for that matter Jaipur, Goa or any other city, as the morning newspaper tells me of another such thing happening. Currently I can take pride in saving the world from getting assaulted by German and Japanese forces.

Sheets hanging at window are keeping my room comfortably dark, excessive light doesn’t let this rather sleepless soul have his share of peace. Feel like killing Aman for the asshole has not yet booked the domain I need, though I too have not completed the final design of the website that is likely to shape our future.

Excessively busy for I made rather excellent efforts in about last 3 months to land me in a situation with no time to think of anything else but to meet deadlines. Hardwork pays off, but only if you continue to be patient and don’t loose hope any soon.

And to tell the truth, this life has turned really unpredictable and more in control of me, except the fact that am 99% sure that I will receive a miss call from Foo daily. :) :D Hope you learn to make calls buddy!

Unwind

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You wake up late, 11:02 AM, to find no newspaper being delivered in the house, Diwali break! Make your bed and arrange your laptop and stuff. Its time for the 'morning walk'. Headphones in your ears and you are busy walking round the garden footpath, listening to that English punk, romance, soft rock and electronic stuff while letting your brain fantasize about the drifs along some nice boulevard, a coffe cup in Central Delhi, walk down South Delhi malls and that stage performance ending in a proposal to your dream girl.

Suddenly a call breaks the fantasies and you are back in real world! Guddu asks you to come to another park, you should walk some rounds with her. As we walk the talk and discuss some 'serious' issues the phone rings again! It's Abhishek, still recovering from dual heart-break. He asks to get ready to leave for Divya's house as we have to meet his father who is just out of hospital after getting treatment. You argue over the timing but can't borrow more time than 12. You quickly call Piyush and ask him to reach your home by 12 and meanwhile take bath and brunch.

12:20, Piyush is here and you have no time, even to discuss his 10 month effort growing those lovely shoulder length curls as he strives to correct popular opinion of IIT people being nerds, geeks and dorks, since Abhishek must be at bus stand and you as usual will be target of his blames for being late. Leaving apart the 'tension' of being tagged 'late-comer', you and Piyush talk things. And it is going to be a sexy day, as you brag having knocked 6 or may be 7 hapless night-owls during single chat session last night. Abhishek is obviously target of pranks before you meet him. Reach the meeting point and this time Abhi is smart enough to not wait for you and make you walk towards his house, time teaches. As you meet this estrogen starved hunk, you are all but praise for him as he looks smart in that black ironed shirt and blue denim. :D

You take route 801 to Dabri Mod. And obviously it in itself is an experience to have a ride on almost endangered, rickety, 'no horn' old DTC buses. Get tickets and sit to talk. Chocolate you got is still not eaten and Divya should be given his share! We reach the place soon, nobody noticed but the bus probably made no noise. You call Divya to recieve us as you learn that volleyball was a game invented, or probably designed for athletic old guys and not teenagers neither young adults! :( As Divya comes with two guys you are terrified at the thought of being beaten in an unknown territory, but for the time being you are pleased that your favourite game is no more being humilated in a modest way.

In Divya Prakash's house its time to get a bit serious as it is learnt that it was a major health care issue that his father has gone through and prevention is always better than cure! Learning all the details, RBCs, WBCs, plattelets and ECGs and all those big things that only those white coat wearing big docs know better than you but all pretend to have learnt them over years. You share your concerns but are obviously hapless as the best you can do is to advice or better let the person have rest and not visit them frequently. Enough of Sanskaar TV, guys make move to have some chat with Mr. DPS.

Well cricket is hot discussion topic, not scores but play! Mind it you don't know who Andrew Symonds is but an off-spin is what you know how to throw! There are ingenious talks about pads and l-guards and then talks are about football and yeah the room has a PC with an 'active MTNL' internet connection! Broadband means minimum 256kbps, but if you are able to log into Gmail and chat fluent, its a nice deal.

So here you go, happy-go-lucky. It surely is not a good start for Miss Raj Laksmi, teacher's-most-obedient-student-in-school-day-girl, as Abhishek pranks her by coming up with quite bold and assertive talks, engrossing all in the thing and later pranking us too! She downplays the things to the best but soon it is out-of-her-wits to stand the wicked things as her statement, "Shastri sir is not OK abhi bhi? Or is he out of home?", tells that she is not able to take more of it!

Well here is this girl, one of the heart-breakers, online and Abhishek just gets you into the things because of your so-called experience at wooing girls online! Well you must confess you are not good at it as you just know to have simple chats that are amusing but thrown to a challenge you had to do it, and as you are supposed to be good at it, it ought to be fun! This girl in some NIT was quite kool in start but went hesitant in later parts of chats as she probably was convinced that Abhishek is really serious about her and the group had to act out fastly to not let things go too haywire! Soon she was reassured that it was all prank and it is supposed that she must be happy that you were good fun and she got so many admirers, though Abhishek was worried a bit too much, and obviously he must be. Well almost forgot, but Piyush and Abhishek try to dupe you of the whole packet of Dairy Milk as you are 'busy' setting a girl for later.

On way back to home you talk all things but girls, you have to make carriers so GPAs, placements, prospects are to be discussed. Get to meet Abhi's parents. It always is fun to be with this really frank family :) Lovely are these people as you need not listen to those daily big doses of serious talk and obviously you learn that you are someone to be trusted upon! You love that Kaju-Katli and cold drink. Abhi you are great at making sketches and it is still unknown if Emma Watson was more beautiful or, being formal, you were more cute in childhood.

Back in home you are again aloof not knowing what to do. Having newly learnt patience and practiced happiness you enjoy this lazy day, checking laptop, talking and doing almost all things you hardly expect of yourself! :D

Multi-Task

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02:46 by the clock on my mobile. I turn off my laptop and take out the latest novel by Chetan Bhagat, my fourth one and the latest bought by me – I have read all of them till now. This red covered paperback has been titled 2 States - the story of my marriage.

Earlier I had a chat with Foo and one more friend of mine. The later one was mixed stuff, I just acted as if I actually believed this guy’s rather ‘true-looking-jokes’. A walk in the colony’s garden at 01:15 made me an object of suspicion and I had to explain to this guard and another night-crawler, why I like to listen to music on HIT 95 FM at this unearthly hour on an early winter night in mid-October.

Anyways, I read first 3 paragraphs under the dim light of reading lamp and soon move to loo with novel, only the second time I have made an effort to read a book in the washroom. Last time it was social sciences book during class X. I used to be determined to score perfect 100s and was on occasions lucky enough to get 99s, reasons being beyond comprehension, sounds embarrassing these days.

The novel seems interesting for it has a feline and quite real feminine character introduced on page 1. One reason I love writings by this guy is that these are real, even if he claims them to be fictional then. Ruskin Bond too catches my fancy, these guys make it appear so easy and fluent and are not fond of those ‘out-of-the-box’ heavy words.

Anyways I keep on reading and drawing analogies between the main male lead and me, do you really need to know the reasons for this behaviour. Am not much like him but there are similarities, though am in a technical field and like it, still given choices I would like to go for more leisurely works like writing or mark-up coding.

It is fun to flip through the pages of the novel in the loo and taking note of some words, to be looked out for meanings in dictionary, on your mobile phone. Of course it is tough to handle all this stuff, but then multi-tasking is all about being efficient and enjoying the stints. As I flush it is difficult to handle the book and maintain its sanity, though a little practice makes you perfect.

Back in my bed, I continue reading under the lamp and wonder how similar hostel traditions are all around the campuses, my buried love for economics; I still regret not having changed my school in class XII to get a bio-economics combo in science stream, and yeah eye-candies are always the part of the gossip, somewhere I feel nobody wishes to be next on the dump-list of the girls and everyone wishes to have a backup list (…do I have one yet?Let it to be to you to guess!). Hey guys suggest me, need I be silent a bit?

03:20 - 2nd last line of chapter 3 and I plan to write up this blog post and start writing as soon as I save message I have composed, containing the ‘difficult’ words. 3 minutes down and am posting this article, still looking for sexy vocabulary and acting critic as well as editor to my own writing. And please do tell me, for I am still doubtful, is it nice to multi-task in loo? Your opinion will not change things as I will continue to respond to SMSs, listen to music and do more such important things from the ‘best place’ in the world.

04:17 – Still no sleep in my eyes, internet forbids to work properly. So, I would continue with my reading. Wish to experience the fun most of my friends get in completing a novel in a day or two, while for me it is a task needed to be done at a rather slow pace…