Zip Zap Zoom - IV

What's new? Well this time I am the one riding! Its not Delhi but Jaipur, vehicle is neither a bike nor a scooter but Scooty Pep. Himanshu owns it and doesn't hesitate in passing me the keys of the vehicle though he knows its first hand experience for me. Abhinav and I get hold of the two-wheeler from back gate. I ask him to drive till the side lanes beside main gate, and after that I take hold of the vehicle and so begins the lovely journey. A round trip beside the railway tracks passing behind GT. We reach Saras Parour and enjoy the chocolate softies. I drive the vehicle out and reach the nearest fuel station, a top up of 20 bucks is fine for a ride. Quite confident now I take on the JLN Marg, moving on towards Gopalpura bypass, we take a little halt at Gandhi Nagar station. Further I drive the scooty through Tonk Phatak towards Crystal Palm, we do not stop there but decide to go for C-Scheme as we want to visit Crossword, book shop I came in first week of my Jaipur arrival about 8 months back, again. The place holds very good memories for me. I had bought a novel there, argued with Dhruv and enjoyed some food and Coke in the shack opposite to the book hub. I simply repeat the sequence as a ritual, this time I click the place too. Further we move and accidentally find Central Park, pass some time there and then ride beside Youth Hostel, Vidhan Sabha and Vit Bhawan. Here onwards I simply have no idea of ways but I know I will reach some place. The random ride leads me to Tonk Road where I simply drive towards Ajmeri Gate and get caught in a VIP mess at City Pulse. About 15 minute waste, further a U-turn from Ajmeri Gate and a left turn towards Albert Hall, back on JLN I drive fast and cool as I feel more free and relaxed. Reaching a top of about 75 kmph the whole 25 km ride was nice fun. I and Abhinav park it at the main gate and walk back to hostel sharing the earphones of mobile to listen music as I check the clicks we had managed...

Having not bathed whole day felt like shit so took plunge into water soon and it was crazy roaming all these hip, upmarket places in li'l too down market Tee and Pyjamas!

The Longest Birthday

Caution : If you are short of time, don't even think of proceeding to read. You will only miss out on a little fun but surely save your precious time as I intend to make it go a length of whole 5 pages... Make a choice and let me know through a comment (guess you know that there is a comment link at the bottom of the page!).

Well came back from Delhi on March 13 and then onwards there was a buzz about my birthday! Was not much enthrawlled about the day initially, was even thinking of spending the day somewhere in a solitary environment, but friends made me interested in the whole idea of the birthday party. By 18 every one was in party mood and I had learnt that I could not escape even if I wished to so made my mind to stay and enjoy the day and love every moment of it. In evening Avi, Kitty, Abhinav and I went to GT for simple shopping and food. At Spencer's Avi bought me my first birthday present, 2 bottles of breezer and 1 of beer, I had long sought to try the stuff. She wanted to keep one but I didn't let her. Of course I was not going to drink any but wanted to keep the stuff and use it my birthday party due on the next day. Its dinner time I am back in hostel and find friends gathering now only, 1/2 buddy is here with his non-stop talks and demands of NFS games at night. Later I spent next hour and half sitting idle and passing time on listening music and going through photos and gaming. 1/2 buddy, Sossy, Sid and Bhatta join in and ask me to move out and give them a party. We take a little stroll and move to hostel 6 where 3 people called Sagiraju, Prudhviraju and Krishnaraju are sharing there birthday with me! 11:54 pm and my phone rings, its Kitty she remains on the phone for next 6 minutes simply because she wishes to be the first one to wish me, like this crazy attitude. Rini calls to wish, another wish from Guddu at home, Mom Dad sleep by this time. Meanwhile all friends gather and wish me and Prudhvi. Tan calls and wishes me and we are talking about GPL when I get my first ever GPL! I was saved from the ceremony till date :D Don't know I dismissed the call or she or it got done automatically while I get my share of mild bumps from the whole group, someone said Prudhvi hit the hardest so I going by Piyush's advice I had to pay back in same coin. ;) Soon we move to a place called Badi Thadi, my first time once again! Recieve Debz's call in the way, share the whole story yet. The place is a dark shack dishing out indigenous fast foods named like Chaska, 1/2 roll and things. Herds are sitting there gossiping, smoking and in short killing time. I am very soon pissed off, nothing new actually and decide to leave my own birthday party for the sake of cozy comfort of my room. I wonder Neil has not called yet, Abhishek (uncle Sam will kill you for this), Foo's, Shrey's and Piyush's calls are also missing! I ring back to Tan and we talk for about 10 minutes, transferring the responsibilty of planning the party tomorrow. As soon as I enter my room my room-mate is ready with another round of bumps, not satisfied with this he calls others to and so I have 2nd one for the day. Later in room I find Piyush on net, he wishes me and tells that number is not reachable. On Orkut I find numerous posts, some galis from Nilabh asking to give him a miss call. Love your gift (here it is) buddy. I call him and later we talk on Yahoo, by now Nilesh and Abhinav are back. Now we try a bit of NFS and tired I fall asleep soon. What happens till morning is something I don't know, probably Nilesh and Abhinav share the bed! The day is a calm one with me passing time doing some regular stuff, food and letting my imagination leap here and there. Nidhi calls, I ask her if she can come to party I am expecting in the evening but she declines modestly. Recieve calls from Mom, Dad and Bhani wishing me once again. Many more calls from family members are there. By noon I am impateint, no calls from friends! Probably no one is interested in party and ya the RPG thriller is gonna rob me of this day (had heard ki there is a RPG farewell on the same day! Will have to do something in this regard, can't sit back and see! Lolz). Recieve Tan's message, "hey manik.. m really sry.. v rpg ppl wunt b able 2 mek 2 d party 2day.. plz mind mtt kario.. sry" 3 2s and 2 srys in a msg! Now I got no mind to mind anything! Reply casually and we chat a bit. Kitty calls and asks me for a party but I intend to go for one party where all of us are together which seems not possible today. But since it is an off and we have nothing to do (atleast we don't feel like doing anything) we plan and outing to Crystal Palm with Central Park in mind. Me, Kitty, Rini, Abhinav, Himanshu and Senjuti meet at PMC at 5:30 in evening. Reach Crystal Palm and head for McDonald's. Grab a central big table and sit idle for a short time and suddenly I am surprised to find the whole group surrounding me and wishing me something like, "Happy Birthday to you, Many many girlfriends to you..." Love ya all for being such adorable people yaar. Thanks Abhinav, Avi, Divita, Himanshu, Kriti, Nidhi Nilesh, Shaily and Tan for the most surprising birthday bash of my life. The cake is mostly on my face and only a small part is shared among us. The T-Shirt they give me in present is very funny, though I have some modifications in store. I like the greeting card but Div and Nidhi leave early, Nidhi ko dekhne aa rahein the vo log! :'( Ek option minus! Photos are clicked! A small burger and cold-drink party follows. Sameer, Shashi and Bhatta are missing! By 7:30 we leave the place and grab a corner in Saras parlour, here these amazing people come out with and APT assignement and end up writing comments about me! Having talked a lot we move towards our hostels, it is already late for girls. On our way we open the bottles in my bag another first, breezer and beer are good drinks but being mixed together those are not nice, I end up puking it out. In any case breezer tasted like syrups we despised in childhood. Thanks Avi for this gift. But I am not going for the drinks again until there is a very good reason for it. Remaining of the breezer is shared among Senjuti, abhinav and Avi and I have to carry the beer to hostel hiding the open bottle in my bag. On my way I buy pastries for Shashi and Sameer. They share it. At Bhatta's room we decide to move for the dinner as mess is over and many haven't had their dinner. A dinner at local dhabba is mast and stroll back to room via Saras is good. A call from the application I had posted is another gift, they wish to meet me regarding the project. Walking back to hostel we meet 2nd year seniors and coming to know about my birthday they are happy giving 3rd GPL of the day to me and a forced 3rd visit to Saras, intended to celebrate LuvKush "BOSS's" birthday! Enjoy talking with Pranav (Pauni), Sayon, Nikhil Aggarwall (Aggy). Totally shaken to the core just wish to move back to my room at the earliest. Reluctant to think of the exam scheduled at morning 8:30 and submissions due at 11 I end up sleeping at around 2:30 with my laptop screen still shimmering....

Liked the hectic day that followed also but my eyes must have given out the lack of sleep and rest but I seriously loved the 3 days which left me with no time to think of anything but only enjoy every bit of it while managing with the situations falling through, just lived what came to me and planned for nothing!

Must have surely missed a few of you. Pardon me!

Happy post number 50 and happy birthday to me.

Truth Or Dare?

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

Hmm posting quite emotional and depressing stuff lately. Time to break the routine and post some cool and hip masala, but it is also real stuff, as usual, not a cooked story. Times back to my initial days in hostel 7 of NIT, probably initial 1 or half month. Due to Supreme Court instruction regarding safety and ragging, there used to be regular attendance at 9:30 PM, after which entry and exit from hostel was not allowed. On one regular day after the ceremony was over me and my room-mates casually decided to delve into the game of Truth and Dare. Bottle rotates and turns come one by one revealing some fun and dark secrets from everyone falling into the trap. Those who opted for dare had to act various crazy things. And now the bottle suddenly points at me! Truth or Dare, the quetion resonates in my mind. I opt for dare thinking it will atleast keep some things under cover. Well the crazy demand comes from Mahinder, he asks me to go out of the main gate, not giving option of jumping walls, to the back-gate of th campus - a stroll of about 15 minutes. Move into a liquor shop, buy the stuff and get it back to the hostel room once again walking just below the nose of guard attending to his duty there. Having said it all I had to do the stint, just because I didn't want to cheat or was afraid of being called a coward. The next moment I decide and make headway toward the hostel gate, luckily guard does not notices me and I am able to slip away quite easily. Walking down the way I just expect that I find no familiar face on the way and that my face just doesn't give away anything. The dilemma of doing it or not also helps kill the time in the way. As I reach the shop I look around that no one is looking and hastily enter the shop. I ask the vendor for the brand Mahinder had told and quickly agree to pay anything he demanded, first time I was buying liquor and till date it remains the only time and don't know why just wanted to flee even though I was sure I can handle any situation that comes my way. Having it packed in a black polybag (just another beverage then why black polybag?) I try to hide the stuff in pockets of my pyjama. I wish to walk fast as the backgate closes at 10:30 and earlier I am back is better but the sound that the liquid produces with the glass bottle forces me to slow down. Througout the way I just keep a straight face, having learnt that it is the best way to camouflage the act! Hostel gate is in front and once again I am lucky the guard is 'busy' smoking and gossiping his time with a counterpart. I slip into the hostel through the side gate and reach for my room. Mission accomplished. They all cheer and I am happy with the praise that comes my way. Some kind of bravery award I deserve?

The dare I was given, the truth I have written so it is Truth and Dare now. Adventure and fun is life back here in hostels, specially when you are novice and amateur.

Confused Again Or May Be Exhausted, Probably Frustrated...

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

Something is definitely wrong when I tend to think too much about what people around me are doing. This does not stops me from doing my work but certainly tenses me a lot on ocassions as I tend to draw comparisons. The problem is intensified as soon as I realise that it was none of my business and start regretting that I even gave thought to such a thing. Of course am not able to hold these things for long and bail myself out easily by consoling myself or by any other means since I am good at playing with words and justifying myself. And as we all know there is nothing right and nothing wrong and its just a state of mind. Still trying to improve. Off late have realised the things that brought a smile to face even on thinking about Jaipur are drifting apart and I am loosing control of them or may be just feeling the same way. May be if people simply what they felt actually and whats on their mind the life would have been a lot much simple and we never had to think about what on others' mind and etc etc. Hope to get them back and shred the loner tendencies of mine I sometime love a lot. Love the thought of lying down in Central Park on a bright windy day with music plugged into my ears with simply no associations with anyone in the real world around, totally free. Wish life is similar fun for everyone and we all get our desires fulfilled without much interference in others' lives. All done and happy after spitting out some real fake crap, masking away from realities...

March Ahead

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

March has dawned upon and last week past very quickly. Time is running at a rather rapid pace and life has gained its usual pace. All the ill effects of hectic and unorderly schedules have been cleansed away. The regular organised and lovely class routines are back and quite amazingly most of us like them this way only despite of them demanding us to put in all the efforts in drafting, planning and the things. Once again massive submission festival is ahead and a mass of pending submissions is with us. Still we stand united and look straight into the eyes of this menace saying just about two weeks and we will settle everything, albeit we are planning to run to our houses. The fest season of Jan and Feb was rather a spoiler but it taught a lot of stuff to me and us in general. The learnings are quite personal and at the same time very practical and much rational. Learnt that our insecurities and lack of communication mar the situations most. On most occassions we are our best friends and our worst enemies too. Came to know that we all are very similar thinking alike, acting same and living quite simple lives, and not amazingly we all hesitate in baring our selves to others and delving complete infos thereby making a lot of room for confusions and the fun that follows. The important part is I tend to understand people more, being a part of them and avoiding over indulgence simultaneously. Being a part of crowd is more fun and still having your own identity is a requirement. Ultimately we all stand united and will surely do beautiful and lovely things to make life fun for all.

Love life, flying high, busy times...