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...

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!

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 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. ;) :) 

Journey Or Disaster

04:54, you wake up out of a 2 hour nap, and a rather unrealistic dream that you were fighting with co-passengers for single available charging port on the bus, to learn something not cool! You have actually ended up in something you wanted to avoid, 65 km from Delhi, somewhere in the state of Haryana. A traffic jam that all my imagination and logic told me was nothing short of remaining 65 km, bringing NH-8 to a halt and throwing life out of gear in major parts of NCR.

08:10, another 2 hours of nap, can’t do anything but dreaming and avoiding the views of caravans of trucks, coaches and cars. A marker tells me Delhi – 64 km, simple maths explains we travelled 1 km in some 3 hours on one of the best highway in country, the Golden Quadrilateral. Reason being 2 days of continuous rain in north-west. An infrastructural embarrassment, one can say!

10:54, the bus and traffic around is running down the DG Expressway, you expect to reach Dhaula Kuan in 15 minutes but more trouble is in store. Out of order traffic signals near Western Air Command and other military bases act as final trouble makers extending the travel time to harassing 2 hour. Meanwhile the moron on seat behind, keeps on updating his people about the disaster he was going through every 10 minutes.

A normal 6 hour journey turns in 12.5 hour disaster as the fate of road users is left on the mercy of rain-gods by civic authorities and work is not done perfectly.

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!

Careless And Free

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

Day was relatively dull and lethargic on Feb 14. Few friends urged me to make foray and have an excursion outside but I deny considerately. Was not in best of moods so didn't want to move out. But in the evening we head for some real nice fun in Chaura Rasta, some underground bizarre tech markets in heart of Jaipur city, quite similar to Palika in Delhi and the lovely avenues of the M.I. Road aka Mirza Ismail Road. The dazzling glow signboards, blurring headlights, several noises and a lot of activity made way for some cool thoughts and lovely thought chain. Rum and raisins flavor ice cream in Jal Mahal parlour was nice.

Feb 15 started as another dull and activity less day, but I was determined to cheer myself and not give in to the dullness that has built up around us for some time. The simple problem being unorganized and irresponsible ways of doing work. Leaving all the care aside I simply phoned Kriti and asked if we could move out in a group and pass some time lazing at some nice place in the city. Quite nicely the plan materialized and we (Abhinav, Shaily, Rini, Kriti and me) made headstart to Central Park. We played songs on my laptop, teased a few couples, talked a lot with short silent spans and such funny things. Kriti left for her house and we 4 came back to our hostel after a short visit to Saras Parlour outside the MNIT gate.

Feb 16 had a quite unusual start as we were there in class after quite a long break. Our presenatation was judged and marked and we had quite a nice dose of fun. Some informations during the lunch break rattled me. As I came back to hostel and we bunked another 4 hour session I tried to make myself aloof of all the things going on in this campus. Some SMSs were exchanged meanwhile but I was unable to control my anger and the frequent thought changes. Evening was passed taking a look at rehersals in central lawn and a walk the talk back to hostel.

Feb 17 simply a super fantastic magical day out of nowhere. Love Siddharth sir and Ashok Pareek sir for giving it a real nice shot. Siddharth sir salute your frankness and those hollywood gyan and ya great college day infos and familiarity you share. Frankly speaking quite on many occassions I was believed to think that nothing but these regular class schedules were something I was missing. A carefree class in the 9-10 session and a mind-blowing 10-12 session by Ashok Pareek sir made my day. Took all the notes on my laptop, got 6.5 of 10 in mid-terms and recieved a mild scold from sir for SMSing while sitting in the first row of the class. The single thought of not being judgemental changed all the perception. I was once again running to hostel for lunch until friends stopped me and we made way out of the campus keeping in mind plan of another 4 hour session bunk, love these 4 hour bunks nowadays, don't care about proxies neither about lectures, submissions or marks. It is simply addictive. We celebrate Rini's birthday in a nearby restaurant with Jai Maharahtra slogans loud, she hails from Mumbai so simple teasers. After the lunch we take auto-rickshaw to Albert Hall, simply because Pareek sir gave its example in morning session and we were suppossed to compare it with Vidhan Sabha, nice reason for bunking the class. The museum at Albert Hall is nice and other than artifacts we get to lay our eyes on some really nice looking beauties while talking with friends' about them. Soon we find ourselves resting in garden outside the place and simply talking on vague topics. A quick walk to nearby mall beside New Gate and we are all set to ride our way back to hostels.

Manik is back again in his form, carefree, aloof and aghast, not even giving things beyond his control a chance and taking time to make the amends. Looking forward to a silent Pune visit I promised to myself, full of show-off, simply aimed at self-satisfaction. Saurabh and Debz meet ya there.

Would like to close this quite long post with a few lines from Linkin Park's Breaking The Habit.

I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean
I don't know how I got this way
I know it's not alright
So I'm breaking the habit
I'm breaking the habit
Tonight...

I'll paint it on the walls
'Cause I'm the one at fault
I'll never fight again
And this is how it ends...

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!

Fuccha in Jaipur

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

August 07' 2008, The day broke at 8:15. Daily morning routine followed and I tried to achieve 9:00 am deadline, so as to have some free time before 10:00 am morning class. Wanted to check out Orkut scraps, mails and browse the net before the hectic schedule that was going to follow. The hour past more in circumventing the blocked paths and learning more proxy techniques for a more happy net experience in the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jaipur, as we had to plan for the future! The mathematics class was more than enough to disillusion even most determined student and the 11 am English lecture marred the day as grammar is something that I don't like to study and wish English was merely limited to expression and "feeling", and the same goes for any other language also. The lunch break is always short as the 1/2 hour walk to and from hostels eats into the 1 hour break. Worse is that morning's boring classes make me confuse a Thursday for Friday and I follow wrong schedule and end up cutting short a 3 hour basic design session into 2 hour class. The photography lecture of last hour of academic session of the day was fun as I could have a little nap amidst the boring talk a 3rd year senior shared with us, but what proved to be quite interesting was invitation by our photography instructor to join him at a photo exhibit at KK Art Gallery on Prithvi Raj Marg in Jaipur. We were pleased to go out of institute's walls, sort of jail during initial months of the year, at least for the fucchas, for obvious reasons of ragging! Anyhow we binged upon the opportunity and packed into an auto, 9 in 1 and reached the destination, half hour spent admiring or rather finding flaws in the 25-30 odd photographs. While leaving, we were pleased to fill in the guest cum comment book, our attendance for the day! We, a group of 5; 3 boys and 2 girls walked into Crossword, a book. While I and this girl from Pilani were interested in finding something interesting, other 3 tried to make us walk out at the earliest. Out of the showroom we walked across the road into a roadside nook-and-corner restaurant and ordered Chowmein and some fast food along with soft-drinks, not familiar enough to share beer and no experience of the stuff yet! The food was quite fine but the heavy and boring discussions about mass-bunk and nays and ayes following it virtually divided the united class into anti and pro bunk sects. The hopeless discussion made me gulp down a whole 500 ml bottle of Coke, knowing that it contains pesticide it was brave, or may be I was just trying to make a style statement, the Sir-Utha-K-Piyo style! Brushing aside the topic somehow, we grabbed auto back to NIT, 10 in 1 this time, rapid population growth may be at fault! But the compromise saved us bucks at 10 per head it is and OK deal. The evening in hostels passed over calls, SMSs, reading the new novel (...am modifying into a critic!), music on FM and the stuff of the sort!

My apprehensions about life outside Delhi are changing now, it is more of a life out of the cage now, well life on your own! Pros and cons are there but look on the brighter side and you will find pretty girls everywhere (boys for girls!). Just joking, actually such cheesy comments make your writings worth reading and popular! NIT is the place to be, but SPA final application results are still pending... Things are in pipeline, soon it will again be lack or access of resources governing the future course of my ambitions!

Down the Memory Lane

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

Whole day on the Mall and now we are sitting in a restaurant in Shimla. Its quite evening but we are supposed to have early dinner as we are heading back to Delhi after a 8 day camp. Will not be discussing the camp at this moment as I believe that journeys themselves are far more interesting then destinations and this particular journey has a special place in my memories. At restaurant we were advised by our teachers to avoid going for binge eating as on way down the hills it may not be a good appetite but as always we are tempted by the sight of delicious food. We eat plateful and hop on to the bus, this one is a semi-deluxe unlike the Volvo we had arrived to the place in. And fortunately eat had windows that opened. I grab the seat on the last row just beside window and don't allow my friends to go for the window seat, even though they tried to persuade me in every possible manner. On the seat next to me sat a friend of mine, this girl is the one with whom we have shared a large part of our school life and have enjoyed very much. In some 30 minutes bus makes its initial moves while we all are chatting looking out of the window, some shutterbugs are interested in grabbing every possible second and preserving them so to be looked back in the future. As of me am very much trying to be happy as I know that the following day will be difficult to past because of some post travel pangs. The memories are hard to get around with and a feeling of something being lost captures you. Looking out of window I am feeling a bit uncomfortable now, the excess food, delicacies are proving to be troublesome. I ask my friend to allow me to open a little more window as I would be needing it very soon, but she seems uninterested. I warn her of the "consequences" but to no avail. the bus moves down the hills and paths that curve like some snake entwined to bark of a tree. My troubles grow and it is uncontrollable now so I go on vomit, and unfortunately a lot of the stuff falls on window rather going out of it. thankfully it is not on me and just a seat is wasted. I have no other option but to vacate the seat and go for some other options. Meanwhile I try to make her accept that its her fault but moreover not wishing to blame her. In hurry I throw my jacket out of the bus window, partially to grab some eyeballs, as it is human nature to try to be in limelight. Now I fumble the racks on the top of bus and get my bag. Use it as bedding and I have to spend whole night sitting in the bus's corridor. I miss those scenes out of the bus's window but thankfully in the bus there is a lot to check out. Many are still not able to sleep and busy in various activities. The guy who was sitting beside me seems to be troubled lot as he has to sit beside the shit! The other on the second last seat is busy listening to music on his walkman. Some are toying around with mobile phones and others are chatting in whispering mode! A senior is pleased to get a head massage from a senior girl! While for some am an amusement as they are consoling me by repeatedly offering help and other stuffs and asking questions like, "Why did you throw your jacket?". Night passes quite slowly and our teacher came to check twice or thrice in the mean time, and every time I had to wake up as I was lying in the corridor! Morning around 5, the sun has started to shine in distance on the Grand Trunk road. Those who had slept early are out of sleep now and are busy waking up others and speculating how much more time before we would reach the ISBT. The bus is rapidly traversing the distance and pesky smell at a landfill hints that we are in Delhi now. We start gathering various belongings. In 15 minutes, as we are saved from the usual traffic jams at the bypass, we are at ISBT. Off the bus we are collecting our baggages and helping others reach for theirs. Sir asks us to check out for conveyance back to home. And I decide to go for an auto ride with two girls who lived nearby. We get Rs. 100 as travel allowance but the rickshaw ride cost only 80 bucks. So we save 20. In the way we decide to use the money to have an ice-cream party, but the idea does not materialises actually and the Rs 20 remain with me as am the last one to get off the auto andhave to pay the bill...

The party is due and I will be more than happy to go for it, even if I have to pay the interests on the money!

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 - 2

Image Courtesy : maxim303 on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

Remember last Zip Zap Zoom post? Well nothing rogue like that this time around, but a funny incident from streets of Indian capital, New Delhi.

Well on August 07 '2007 me and my friend were out again, like we often are after dinner. On his scooter we left for the nearby street food place, where he binged upon Burgers and then we were off to have Mango shake (something we consider an important part of our health regime!). Done with all this, now we were back on city streets.

After riding slowly for sometime we decided to go to a major city artery, just to pass over the flyover he likes. Looking at the airplanes in the sky (which were taking off and landing at a nearby international airport, as Delhi gets a major share of its international air traffic at night.) we were enjoying our ride at a comfortable speed of 50-60 kmph. Passing over the over-bridge we were discussing our way back and things like how air planes look great in between light clouds.

After zipping past the flyover we took a U-turn from under the next bridge, which is meant to take traffic across a railway line, and came back to the same street but this time to go back to home. Halfway on the bridge we were enjoying the picturesque lights and night traffic, full with heavy vehicles and call centre cabs, when a horn from behind alarmed us. to give him way we increased the speed of scooter we were riding and changed lane. But to our surprise the guy was tailgating us and honking continuously. We naturally were a bit afraid because of recent road rage incidents in city, but keeping calm slowed down and looked back to find a Sardar in his late 20s following us on his cruiser Bullet.

He increased the speed of his bike and came beside us to have a conversation. "Where is the helmet?", he popped the question. Nilabh replied that, "We have not got it, it is at home". To which he argued, "What it is doing at home? Studying (probably recognizing that we are students) or what?". Again Nilabh replied, "Yeah am studying", misunderstanding him. The Sardar, by now determined to make us realise the importance of helmet, argued with us for accepting his words and promising to use helmet next time. Ultimately, for nothing else but to get rid of this conversation we promised him the same. Now satisfied he again increased speed of his bike to zip pass us. After he left we realised that we had come far ahead of the place we had to turn from...

So the moral of the incident: Wear helmet, whenever you are on a two wheeler or else be prepared to be advised by a wise, knowledgeable Sardar.

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

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

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....

Summer Day Out

 
Image Courtesy : World is beautiful on Flickr, check usage terms before using the image.

On June 08 '07, I got to venture out on Delhi's roads on scorching summer day. The blistering heat could make even the most enduring ones to run for cover.

I live in a bustling colony in western Delhi and had to go to Vastukala Academy, aside temples of educations IIT-Delhi and JNU, to collect result of architecture aptitude test.

So I got up a little early in the morning, expecting to finish my work and come back to home by 2'o clock in the afternoon. Having done with things like breakfast, etc. I ran out of home to catch bus that would leave me at Dhaula Kuan (DK) interchange. It was already 11:30, but I was enjoying the ride; as to passengers surprise the driver of the DTC bus was driving nicely and I could even spot a few good looking girls. Moreover summers are my favourite season, everything being hot, bright and windy. Sooner the bus reached DK and I got off it.

Now I was waiting for next bus to arrive, but to my dismay it was not a very pleasant experience because the Sun was shining harshly enough to melt the asphalt of roads. It was very panicking to stop and wait for a ride while the mercury soared to 44 degree Celsius and loo, hot seasonal winds, blew uncalmly.

To manys' respite the bus was there after about 10 long minutes. I hurriedly boarded it and was happy to find some shade. I found a seat and sat calmly sure that it will take at least 30 minutes before I reach my destination. Through the way I glanced the magnificent reformations the city was witnessing in a bid to prepare well for the Commonwealth Games 2010. The bus zoomed through bustling commercial areas and calm residential colonies of South Delhi. I was disappointed to see encroachments and dirty shanties just beside R.K.Puram, one of the most refined localities in the city. The bus took a turn to Vedant Desika Marg and my mind started reminding me of leaving the bus and as per my habit I de-boarded a stand before (more because of my fear of being lone one to leave and thereby ignored and taken to the next stop!).

So I was here in front of Physical Sciences Faculty of JNU. After waking down the lane about 200 metres I reached my destination and straight away asked the administrator to give my score card. He printed it immediately but as per "Indian tradition" didn't give it to me before another 1.5 hour, the reason being it was not signed by the head of the institution.

Soon I found that i was not the lone one waiting for the signs, but there was a bunch of about 8-10 students! Many others were waiting for there turn for exam. So I could pass time listening to them, having chats with few ones, planning about return, cursing the system and very pleasantly checking out the beautiful girls, etc.... But as the time progressed it was becoming difficult to bear the delay. And it all ended only when few guys started something like a little agitation (not the Rang De Basanti style, but just a simple negotiation). And now we had our score cards with us, at 89/200 my score was average considering the topper could manage only 117.

On my way back I had to walk about 500 metres before I could find a bus stand. Very annoyingly I had to hop onto the bus while it was still running. The rest of travel till DK was fine.

It was about 2:55 and the hot weather had started taking toll on me. With no snacks or drinks for last 3.5 hours I was feeling uneasy and in a hurry to reach home as early as possible. But the whole thing went wrong when I mistook route number 568 to 588 and boarded the wrong bus!

The bus this time was a real hell, the staff of bus was 4 people strong with each one smoking proudly (I hated them for this) and stopping the bus for uneasily long intervals of time. but it ended soon and I was on my way to home, on another bus followed by a 15 minute walk in scorching sunshine!

After reaching home I was happy and comforted as I could sit on my PC and enjoy playing the race game abbreviated as NFS-Most Wanted!