Protocols

This republic day, 2 protocols were not followed for goodness. In the first case, the tradition of inviting ex-CMs of Delhi to republic day parades was broken by not extending invitation to Mr. Arvind Kejriwal. In the second, the prime minister of India himself received US President at airport. The latter is not unprecedented, Manmohan Singh has done it before. The publicity and mania surrounding the visit was unprecedented though.

I, for one, feel relished at Kejriwal being uninvited. The very person who last year was shouting against republic day parade, carrying out bazooka rallies; while being the CM of the state - 4 seats short of majority but never shy of enjoying the pleasures of office and using 49 days to do publicity (it didn't matter how much was mandated by public, only 40% of Delhi's seats were his) for his future ambitions to become PM of India. The goons he promoted as ministers in his cabinet were carrying out raids without warrants and the rallies to get full statehood were suspended with dismissal of 2 police officers. The protocol was 'broken', but that's still not unlawful as protocols are guidelines and are only moral obligations. The shunning of a protocol for it is being used by someone for propaganda is a positive step forward.

The latter protocol is that ministers and not the chief of state receives the guests, even premiers of other nations, at airports on arrival. This was overlooked in favour of an image building exercise, sending out a visual vibe to the world. The gesture could capture world media's attention towards growing stature of the nation is a positive development. Reciprocity shown by Mr. Barrack Obama is heartening and, if implemented word to word, shall bring about good of the two states.

Below I highlight a recent status update on my FB profile, the post was evoked by disenchantment towards rogue behaviour of a supposedly 'well-wishing' Mr. Kejriwal. The degree of intrusion these elements can bring to the state of Delhi by socialist mindset, uncaring of the concepts like feasibility, economics and several other factors...

That's exactly what you expect from AAP, intrusion in your life. They can call you, you never registered with them, and ask you to vote for them in "aane wale vidhansabha chunav". 

Your unwanted calls are reason enough to mark you SPAM. Last year you were entering houses without warrants, now you are calling without reason. A leaflet describing your aims could do better, but you believe in entering houses. 

And thy subsidy promises will be funded by our taxes. We surely don't want to spend our taxes on your publicity stunts. Enjoy, while you dream of taking oath on Feb 15. Rudeness is your culture, since systems you don't understand.

Saddening that the freebies are able to lure so many people that you actually might score big numbers. The city is already in shambles at many fronts, and your kind of politics is no help. Its very much being an Ostrich, "burying thy neck while the problems approach". 

Never call me again. I believe in humanism and your semi-leftist approaches have been of no use. Opportunism is first tenant of your policy. 

To Arvind Kejriwal, to persist is important. Because if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. That's perfectly your case.

Happy Voting on February 07' 2015.

Underdog

A Bungalow on Barakhamba Road, New Delhi.
Courtesy : linuskendall on Flickr.

Sunlight filters into the first floor balcony of this building of colonial standing. It somewhat perturbs but nonetheless is fun to get some tan on a winter noon. As he and his friend walk through an array of oil paintings, done meticulously on canvas, they are increasingly appreciative of artists' talents, craftsmanship and imagination.

At once she catches his attention. In black stilettos she stands tall, wrapped in her skin tight jeans, her long hair falling over her slender shoulders. He is reluctant to look away, though repeatedly being told how mean it is to stare. He is adamant and continues to gaze as she continues with her task, detailing potential buyers about the paintings, cost and stuff. She mesmerizes walking through the stacks, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. As his friend continues to be increasingly engrossed in details of artwork, he is more and more lost.

As he is not to relent, she now acknowledges his gaze - having caught him looking on numerous times. He is also able to catch her stealing glances and occasionally fixes her with his eyes. He is not to advance, as he enjoys this tranquil conversation. Though sure he will not be rebuffed, given the scenario and his intuition, he refrains from making talk; for he probably prefers being an underdog, away from luxuries and limelight while fancying them in every second of his thoughts...

For Sake Of Corridors

A school corridor at night.
Courtesy: Kevin Dooley on Flickr | License: CC BY 2.0

The future bleongs to those who believe in power of their dreams. - Anna Eleanor Roosevelt

I admit that I have a lot to write but that's not the reason I am writing. This time the reason is that I have got thousands of things to do, but am not able to determine what to do, besides logging in and out of many of my profiles and I write to give myself 20-30 minutes of nostalgia, free from thoughts of pending submission and due exam results. Anyways here is another story...

An annual function and he is there with his friend. He has not planned anything but she happens to catch his attention. She is tall and slim and wears a Saree. And she is full of energy, as she moves through whole of arena with her friends and other important people in her life, stopping just once to greet him.

He passes time looking at the performances and meeting many other friends, customary to be courteous. But it is evident to his concise that his mind is adamant at catching another glimpse of her. But he definitely is not crazy, probably he should have been, and therefore does not bar himself from the pleasure of an ice-cream on that wintery evening and the fun of tresspassing the stage area while performances are going on.

Later he happens to walk through corridors of the stadium. Camouflaging his intents of creating multiple chances of meeting her. Later the quest proves immaterial as he happens to enjoy a lot with guys, causing small troubles and tit-bits of humour outside the changing rooms as the whole performing teams took their times managing themselves. But usual prime target, that is she, was missed very well, probably by choice. Was he mad to follow her whole way, simply not to speak any special word out?

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
-----------------------------------------
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
----------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------
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
-------------------------------------------
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
--------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------
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.

A New Delhi...

Image courtesy : laszlo-photo on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

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.

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).

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

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!

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...

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

Multiple Lives

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Nov 28, 2008 – Semester - I has ended and we have decided to leave Jaipur at the earliest. Having cleared all the balances and settled things we leave for the bus as Dudi boss threatens to accompany us all the way till Delhi and I poke fun at him, knowing deep inside me that he will not. Journey is casual one with my friends receiving calls and I simply waiting for them to be free and meanwhile checking out scenes on the road and around. In no time, time runs specially fast when you wish it to be slow, we are at midway Behror. Large LCD is beaming time lagged videos of Mumbai Under Siege. Its day 3 of financial capital of nation being held captive by some 10 terrorists as defence forces try to allay them. The scenes of choppers air-dropping troops on roofs of multi-story concrete apartments is thrilling, despite the chilling reality of several lives being at risk. A generation fond of playing Call Of Duty, Medal Of Honor though aware of the gravity of situation can’t help but enjoy the adrenalin rush, impulses the repeated telecast of videos gives. The lack of information make it seek more and as always it is fun to sulk at some other “ideology”, probably a way of establishing our superiority and thus feeding our egos. Meanwhile the second half of the journey continues and its a lazy one, in the later part Avi and I are chatting a lot, looking at the high rises of Gurgaon and changing seats just for fun. DK is my destination. Wait there till Tan and Shaily leave. An auto takes me to home, family still don’t know that I am coming back. As auto stops at a red-light in Delhi cantt I enjoy a short game of “catch-catch” with boys in school bus beside me. Since all the paper balls the boys had fall on the road we had to discontinue and I was once again thinking, is Delhi actually that bad as projected by the crap media reports daily morning in newspapers and TV news. At home, as I wait for my plate of Paranthas, it is all gory videos of blood and wrath at the Taj Mahal hotel, The Oberoi and CST massacre. Every channel is beaming its own theory of attack and the saga continues. The first week of vacations passes seeking more and more info about the incidents and yup planning our maiden outing in Delhi; the Adventure Island trip. Remembering those who paid for human insensitivity exactly 10 months ago I close this post, wishing justice to be brought to a city which certainly is unbeatable in many senses and rivals Delhi excellently.

Exclusive And Unique

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Just completed work on web-brochure yesterday and am waiting for II mid-semester exams to begin tomorrow. As usual the lethargy that defines a student has taken me over and I would try every excuse to get over the clumsy business of reading that PDF file about Byzantine and Romanesque Architecture.

Just to pass sometime I take out that novel about Delhi and start reading, imagining the hot, dry summers of the city when mild loo would sweep all over you and throw dust over your face. Shadow of trees would comfort you and the glory of the New Delhi, one designed by Lutyens would mesmerize you. Though the city is changing rapidly with all new skyscrapers, extravagant multi-lane super highways; the imperialist charms are kept alive in this part of city.

The subdued feeling of a lost romance that lingers constantly at back of your mind accentuates that desire for refuse from the solitary pangs in this dingy hostel room but in no case you want to surrender and wouldn’t mind killing time doing random things. You suggest your room-mate some really silly and raunchy but classical novels, not intentionally but as an involuntary action to hide what’s going on inside you and laugh over him receiving the notification - “System hardware not found”, mixing two essentially different themes; mocking a sly smile at him as he would try to let it pass without loosing his temper.

The excellent comparisons and in-depth research about the city by a foreigner make you more proud of your city and infuse a temporary enthusiasm towards life that has been numb and dull lately and you had to put a lot of effort to make it run on tracks as you continue to enjoy with different people at different places, essentially being loyal to none, though you want to be to one rather say some!

With “Zombie” playing in background, you probably don’t even want to come out of the confusions that keep on driving you; but once you give a little breathing space to your “romantic” personality, you will be essentially human to fall and see-off a premature demise to your “practical” hard-rock philosophies!

Unexpected

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One fine evening you take an abrupt decision to leave for Jaipur after a short vacation in Delhi. It is just past 7, you reach Dhaula Kuan bus stand are annoyed by the regular polluted and dull evening environment, and suddenly good things begin happening.

After waiting for some time a Rajasthan roadways bus arrives, though you prefer Haryana ones not for quality of service but the excellent and speedy driving style. There are no passengers onboard the bus and you board it with few others. It soon starts rolling on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and you forget everything and start enjoying the state-of-the-art infrastructure available and being developed alongside this stretch. You witness a long concrete ribbon across the horizon complete with dazzling crystal streetlights. Flowing streams of red and yellow lights of four wheelers pacing up and down the highway. A little further and you see the IGI tarmac, and if you are lucky you might see a touchdown. Its fun to checkout a 24 something lane wide and about half a kilometre long bumper to bumper traffic jam, given that you are travelling in opposite direction, at Asia’s largest toll plaza! Once inside Gurgaon, you experience one of the most extreme commercial landscape available in Indian sub-continent with multi-national giants jostling to show there corporate might by means of glass, concrete, steel and lightings used to extensive scales. Think of an MNC and you find its office there!

Cross this fancy showcase you find regular crude Indian industrial landscape with isolated traces of organized construction, this soon gives into traditional rural terrain followed by vast wildernesses having industrial and agricultural developments. You might get bored in this scenario, a movie on laptop, a few calls or SMSs may be good time-passers.

Night draws dark and bus is nearing Jaipur. For the first time driver doesn’t takes bypass and sticks to NH-8, which passes through city of Amer and you are lucky enough to catch views of Amer and Jaigarh forts under bright moonlight, increasing there glory manifold. Drivers manoeuvres the bus well along the narrow, hilly stretches of roads. You for the first time observe an Air Force Station on outskirts of Jaipur. Beautiful scenes of forts illuminated up above some hills and Lake Palace, before breaking into the Pink City region, which is surprisingly still abuzz with activity at around 12:45 in night, probably because of some festivity. Its nice to find a tastefully modified swift parked at Badi Chauper just beside Hawa Mahal.

You soon de-board at Sindhi Camp and wonder why journeys should be unplanned and somewhat unconscious too!

Zip Zap Zoom III - The Chase

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

Well back after a long or pretty dormant period of 5 months! Wish not to sign off again!

Another witty incident. Am back in Delhi during vacations from my institute in Jaipur and Nilabh and I decide to visit a friend's place. Having enjoyed quite a lot, on our way back we plan to gorge on some food at nerby South Indian food shack. We drive back calmly with no destination in particular. Suddenly his eyes spot a chick cruising briskly through the traffic clogged road in opposite direction on her scooty. He decides to chase her and zip past the street smart, giving the strange reason that his bike must be able to run faster given the comparitive specifications of CC, BHP, RPM and all such technical stuff. With no other choice I sit back and enjoy picking up pranks on his adrenaline driven acts. The girl turns out to be quite accustomed to her game and gives us a very hard chase. She seemed to having taken some serious lessons from some Schumaker sort of person in making her way through the dirt filled, uneven and narrow streets. finally after about 10-15 minutes we are able to cruss her, but only when she is marooned in traffic from 3 sides and has no choice buit to wait for others to move.After about 200 metres, we find that girl is no longer in sight and stop to wait for her (probably another chase!). But asn she doesn't turmns up for more than 5 minutes I pursue Neil to ride back, teling him that nothing was gained out of whole thing but only some petrol and money was wasted without reason!

So folks DON'T CHASE GIRLS ON STREETS AND SAVE PETROL!

The French Kiss

Wake Up! Wake Up! sounds in my ears. I pick up my mobile to check time, its just 8:30. We have to leave for submitting the form, said my sister. After some initial hesitation I wake up and went to bath, followed by breakfast and a quick look at the newspaper. Its 9:40 and we leave. The night long drizzle has taken a break. We hire an auto-rickshaw to the Lodhi Estate. The morning rush hour traffic and water-logged roads led to traffic snarls at some bottlenecks. After some time the rickshaw is racing on a Delhi Cantt road. The area has a special place in my heart because of many childhood memories associated. The beautiful boulevard is lined with trees on both sides and is like an urban oasis, maintained by the armed forces. The stretch ends at Dhaula Kuan and now the auto driver takes a different route to avoid the heavy traffic on the Ring Road. He drives through the diplomatic by lanes of Chankya Puri and wades through some roads named on very historic characters. Driving in this area is never recommended unless you are very good at keeping track of roads or are using a highly reliable GPS tracking system. Meanwhile the rain starts again and water begins to fall on me from the sides of the auto. It is Lodhi Gardens on the right so there should be our destination but we are a bit confused now, we ask a number of people but no one seems to know the where-abouts of our destination . Somehow we manage to reach the place, it is Alliance Francias de Delhi. From outside the building seems to be quite posh and we are pleased to go "inside", as rains can intensify at any time. Across the main gate we find long queues of people gathered to submit forms even such a rainy day. The crowd is exceptionally hip and all the very best kinds of fragrances are in the air. People with a wide variety of attires are difficult to overlook and everyone has his/her distinct style. The gate-keeper at the administrative section seems to be a fool to most of the people around. We get a form and fill it and ensure that everything is done. Now we start to wait for our turn, which is supposed to come on a "first-come, first-serve" basis. We are number 45 on the list and number 20 enters the block, we are pleased that we will be free before lunch. But a discussion is going on at the door! "What is this red list and blue list?" ask some inquisitive girls to the gate-keeper. Red ones are people which are pending since last Friday and blue is today's list and as per "first-come, first-serve" blah-blah the blue ones ought to wait till the red list ends. Everyone in the blue list is now perturbed as they are dragged 64 something points in this race! A lot of confusion continues, while people keep on getting disillusioned and leaving the place to find some solace from all the trouble. Many occupy the tables at institutes's cafeteria while others grab seats in the auditorium. Mobile phones come for some handy entertainment, many are now busy chatting with their friends, listening music and playing games. In between we are surprised to find some groups chatting in fluent French as if endorsing the institutes's credentials, these are the students at the Alliance. The day seems to be getting hectic with every passing moment as most of us are not accustomed to waiting a lot, the only good thing is that there is no dearth of interaction and a lot of cultural information is available. A whole lot of informative posters on all possible places, people from different backgrounds, including kids ageing around 12-13 to moms of two! Most have one point in common the lack of managerial skills at the place, which proclaims itself to be the French embassy in India, though it is a cultural centre established by government of France. Its 12:40 and lunch time begins which will end only after 2 in the noon. Meanwhile we go for little snacks, majorly to pass-time and give rest to our feet, as we were standing for the whole day now. After the lunch we are very hopeful that the whole procedure will end soon and we will be able to leave the place very soon. A whole variety of thoughts are coming in my mind now, different plans, I need to this and that, this thing is a must and the likes. In about 50 minutes comes our turn, and my sister enters the administrative block to submit the fee but she is surprised and somewhat perturbed to know that the timing she insisted for are not available. She asks the contact-person for other timings suitable to her but to no avail. So very un-heartedly we have to drop the seat and leave the place. On way back she opts to go to her office and in the way we keep on talking about some other ways of learning the language and getting directly to the next level which begins after about 2 months. It is past 3 and sun is at full glory once again the auto is pacing on south-central Delhi's beautiful yet confusing streets. Humidity has started to take over the pleasant weathers of the morning and I am thinking about the weekend which seems to be going to very humid as MET department at Delhi has predicted unusual heavy rains over the whole week. At Dhaula Kuan we take a very long curve and join the road race on the Ring, the major artery in Delhi's road-network. Lovely to find some gasps of wind helping chill us as the auto speeds at around 60-70 kmph. In the way she leaves for her office and I continue on my way to home, the industrial landscapes of Mayapuri and regular lifestyle in many residential colonies has started to wash the memories of the French Kiss in the heart of Delhi, though I wish to retain them for a long time. I keep on thinking somehow I must be part of such legacy....

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Another Interaction With Delhi.

Last Sunday, I had my engineering and architecture entrance exam. But the post will loosely move around the proceedings of the day. I almost didn't sleep the whole night. In the morning, we took bus till Dhaula Kuan and then an auto-rickshaw to the exam centre. the auto-rickshaw driver zipped it along the southern boundary of Delhi's central ridge reserved forest. The ride extended into the beautiful by-lanes of the New Delhi. Mesmerising roads lined by a large number of trees and a lot of infrastructure development projects underway. I got few glimpses of the under-construction Airport Express Link of Delhi Metro, the line is supposed to provide fast access between New Delhi Railway Station and Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport with top speeds reaching 120-135kmph. Further we moved to Connaught Place, the central business district of Delhi. It wore a deserted look on early Sunday morning. Next came ITO, crossed Yamuna and then the ride along eastern bank of the river. A lot of activity is taking place along the banks of river, majorly in view of coming Commonwealth Games of 2010. Across the road opposite the river front stands the exam centre. A filthy smell disgusts me throughout the tests. And yes the top floor syndrome continues here also! Add to this I got to sit on the first bench in the paper one. In the paper two the room changed to my happiness, I was no more on the first bench and the pesky smell was gone. Paper two had three drawing questions and the last one was to create a colourful composition of some season. But as I started attempting the question I realised that time was very less and I will have to make something very quickly, so I just didn't gave a thought and started sketching a girl, I think as she would be about 20-22 so girl would be appropriate word, followed by a tree then her companion to fill the space. I just started filling the colours, but soon realised that two eyes were glued to my creation. Oh this was the invigilator, to make it less obvious I sketched two kids, giving the hint that they are Mom and Dad and not some romance ridden couple!In the meantime I completed the exam in the best possible way. after the exam I was not in mood of a bus-ride so went to take Metro. About 2-3 km from exam centre was Shastri Park Metro station. I reached there by Rickshaw and the Metro station was one of the best in Delhi. More importantly you get to see a lot of hip crowd, air-conditioned travel and all the best facilities at almost no cost. For the first time I used Metro to transverse across Yamuna and reached first interchange station and so passed about 20 stations and I was at my destination Tilak Nagar. The whole way I kept on thinking about a lot of stuff including web-pages, evening with friends and more. At home I took some rest but could not resist calling up a friend to meet soon, later in the evening we enjoyed browsing on net, some PC games and a little walk. Rest is only schedule, but living in Delhi is a bliss!


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Zip Zap Zoom At 90KMPH

 
Image Courtesy : Shiratski on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

On July 2 me and my friend, Nilabh, went out for our daily night walk at around 9'o clock. He had his scooter on which we drove to nearby street food place. He is a great foodie and eats like a hobby. Then we rode to the park, where we sat on grass overgrowing due to early monsoon rains. Sharing talks about days happening and a few past memories along with some future plans is now almost a routine with us. Looking onto distant stars and venus, our favourite these days, and moon is what we find interesting. Of course there is lot of "Boy Talk" and girls are always hot topic. But cars, bikes and other rides are what we like more, because girls are something we are not totally into which and that we lack "many" good experiences! Anyway for us "Money is what matters more!" and that is how we console each other. Coming back to the night's proceedings, after about 45 minutes we left the place to go for a ride on his LML NV. Soon we were zipping around on the main road because of a bigger promise of fun. On the road we were still looking at the moon, which was looking like a pizza hanging in the sky! He was driving coolly like always but suddenly accelerated hard to reach a speed of 90kmph on that undeclared highway. Still talking and chatting randomly we were zooming past the establishments on the roadside, there past a bunch of trees, a bus stand, some fruit vendors and a gas station. Then started a flyover we wanted to avoid and thereby took the side lane where a biker suddenly veered left from his path alarming us to avoid the collision. Nilabh gave his final try to avert the disaster while we were apprehensive of our chances of avoiding the hit. In a blink we zoomed past the bike and just could not believe what could have happened. All the memories of wrecked vehicles went before eyes like a movie. Suddenly we were more thrilled and excited and a bit fearsome because of the incident. I reminded my friend that only the driver is responsible for pillion's safety and he acknowledged my concerns by maintaining a decent speed of 40 kmph till we reached back to our homes.
 
The driving experience on Delhi's brightly lit roads is amazing and something for which youngsters like me crave but it becomes a responsibility to ensure safety of self and others as some time enjoying life in limits is more worthy.

Over all the evening proved to be a perfect one but like always as it is with real non-existense of background music, those beats with speed, tones of excitement, metallic sounds of agony etc, played spoil sport.

Posh Living

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Recently I visited Council of Architecture, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. The 45 minute bus ride brought back to me the memories of the days when my father used to take me out to places like Railway Museum, air Force Museum, Exhibition Grounds.... I could easily realise what I was missing for so much long a period of life. Beautifully paved vistas of Central Delhi in a sunny backdrop left me mesmerised. The cosmopolitan attitude of the area reminded of an era when country used to be more conservative. It could only be a possible site in Chankya Puri or Lodhi road to see a girl in her early 20s making splashes in her Bentley, a rare scene on Indian roads in any case. Newly erected bus stands and Delhi Metro's sign boards were giving a foresight into city's future, which is fast gearing up for its date with Common Wealth Games in 2010. At the same time couples cuddling each other in demure surroundings of Lodhi Gardens were justification enough for the Taj being in India. The environment at restaurants like Eatopia was enough to brave challenge from global biggies like Mc'D, simply on the firm basis of the fact that the crowd gathering at the place was far more hip, classy and lively. It can be amazing for anyone that still many of the front runners in managing the nation operate from beautifully crafted buildings of the region. The bureaucratic setup is intricated in the area's very being.

On many occasions only the fact that we want to be part of such a rich and posh way of living, we wish to inherit this great legacy is enough to boost peoples' desire to live and gives a feeling of being able to conquer the world....