Homeward Bound!!!!

August 11th
Me landed home after a 2 month break. Home began to feel less like home. It's begun to feel more like an obligation.

I was invited for the TeK Music inaugarals, the club I headed in my final year in college.

I left that night knowing for sure..., I never belonged there. but the memories will forever remain. Of all those midnight practice sessions. Of waking up at 6 with the bass line buzzing in my head, taking a quick shower only to head straight to F-301, to pick my bass guitar, switch on the tape and play to the song.

I must confess, I never felt part of the group. Now after XL, after knowing all the possibilities. I know I'll never get back. Definitely no, not for the music. but like i said, for the friends....

I was dying to get back to Bangalore..... to home. I'm beginning to love the freedom. It may come in the form of a sprouted Aloo lying in the vegetable tray in the kitchen ...but yeah....its...

"that little place called Neverland .... where the world around you ceases to exist......wheres its just you and your dreams...."

So like i was saying .. back to job descriptions.

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Now this is song writing...

Sarah Mclachlan - I will remember you
***********************************************************

I will remember you,
will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for the memories
Remember the good times that we had?
I let them slip away from us when things got bad
How clearly I first
saw you smilin' in the sun
Wanna feel your warmth upon me
I wanna be the one

I'm so tired but I can't sleep
Standin' on the edge of something much too deep
It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word
We are screaming inside
But we can't be heard

I'm so afraid to love you
But more afraid to lose
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose
Once there was a darkness
Deep and endless night
You gave me everything you had
Oh you gave me light

And I will remember you
Will you remember me?
Don't let your life pass you by
Weep not for
the memories

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August 5th

9:33:36 AM

Finished checking my mail. About to check my new pair of earphones. Creative EP 630. Its all about Noise cancellation.

7:27 AM

Finished a round of foosball. Lost both games. Looking forward to a day of job descriptions for my client. Now how can I make it “fun”???

12:29 PM Melancholies
Do not mistake my reticence for ignorance.
I only wish to help. I might seem distant at first, but am hoping to bring us a lot closer. Forgive me for the tears I planted on your cheeks. The time is now,to come to terms with my own incongruence, to make decisions.
I should have long realised that it was just a silly masquerade in my own private world. I should have realised that the clothes I donned were to be shed sooner or later. Each time, I have detained the anguish for later, out of sheer fear. No more. These things are never supposed to be secret, Things to be loudly acclaimed. This two-faced dialogue with myself is drowning me. Pangs of jealousy, of sheer loss will always abound. It is hard to quell dreams I have fleshed myself, but I know I can change them. I am happy though that you deserve each other. If I nurtured the love, so be it.
We will get back in touch. For now, we need to go different ways. We each deserve the right to remember the world when each other never existed. Take in the new panorama. I have tried and trust me it is not that bad.
Hope, I will gratify myself with the hope of finding someone better. Probably she is just round the corner. It is not that hard to dream. And for now, my dreams keep me company. Reaching out to the world that I live in, but that I know does not exist.
Like Mr Fenn says, “You can learn to love almost anybody. All it takes is the decision!”

But yeah, you do not know what you got till it’s gone.

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Bangalore ahoy !!!

The next chapter of my life moves to Bangalore. Will begin work soon in an HR consultancy there.. but before all this, need to zero in on the den.



Bangalore is one of those places where finding a home is as easy as pie, courtesy the insane number of software professionals working there. I'll hit bangalore sometime this week hoping to find a 3 bhk apartment, fully furnished somewhere near Frazer town for around 15k.



"Dude, I have one for now for around 17k."

"17K!!!!! thats a little too much, don't you think??"

"But split 2 ways??"

"Hmmm... fair enough, considering we can afford to spend so much now"

"Cooke town, Puravankara, swimming pool, Tennis court and the likes"

"Go on.. .its sounding better now"

"3 kms to where u work and 5 kms to my office"



"Can we keep a labrador? A black one?"

"Who takes it for the poo poo? and worse... what if it does it all over the room"

"What about a day care centre for the puppy?"

"Hmmm.. worth a look. There should be one right? considering its Bangalore"



"Forget that. What about the maid?"

"I'll bring a chottu from Mirzapur. He'll stay alright"

"Mirzapur??? In bangalore, There is a system of a cook coming in the morning to get your grub ready."

"Theek hai. So I tell mom to stop looking for chottu??"



"Thats like almost 2 lakhs in advance. We don't have that much money. We'll get a CLA from the company. Don't worry!!! Trust me, I've lived in Blore for 4 years before XL"

"Chup be...the old man paid for it then."

"4 bedroom penthouse in malleswaram for 12k.. those were the rates back then. It could not have gone much higher....."



Will know soon...meanwhile, I'll continue plotting the way to office on google maps.

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Now that the Yearbook is out...

I would like to make some clarifications, now that the yearbook is out.

The yearbook looks good in real. There have been a lot of work put in the yearbook and lot of work discredited as well.

Just to get down to more specifics. More Courtesies and credits.

The Photos on the Front Cover - Vishesh Puvadi
Brilliant shots of the academic block (aka Learning centre) taken by Vish from his room. There were several brilliant pictures of XLRI in his collection. Of the lot, it was a mutual agreement between us that these 4 deserved the cover in that, it captured fleeting moments of our stay at XL.

Negotiations with the Printer - Tuhin Jain :)
After..... all the hard work on the soft copy. There was still the small issue of getting the hard copy made. Fortunately our maxi chief held a lot of goodwill with Mr Krishna, and was able to pull off a brilliant piece of negotiation to get the entire yearbook done in colour for around 75% of the initial quotation. It might not sound like much. But folks, remember we are dealing in lakhs here.

300 Character limit - Sunil Koul
Our very in house Java god helped me out with nifty coding to put in the 300 character limit on the comments box in the yearbook site. Some of you went the extra distance to hack the system. If you did, Congrats and remember next time you might not be so lucky !!! :)

Collages - Hrishikesh Godbole
Our man was responsible for the beautiful collages in the yearbook (Between both sections) I would like to apologize as well here, as there were 4 more which did not make it to the yearbook. There was a lot of confusion in the last week of making the yearbook that we lost track of four of the collages he had made. It took him an entire night to make the collages.

Committee Writeups and Photos Collation - Arjun Srinivasan and Naqi Abbas
During the last week of compilation. The work piled on us from all sides. And we were sent help in the form of Arjun and Naqi who went about bringing order to the chaos. Scouting the huge database for photographs, articles and classifying them in order. It required several buzzes from their side to get some lazy Secys to send in their committee articles and photos.

Signature Hunting - Ashish Agnihotri
We were in need of signatures for getting the funding from the caution deposit. Agnihotri came forward to scout around collecting signatures from the junta in GH-3. It might sound small but to us that day, he was a life saver.

*********************************

Things gone wrong

I would like to apologize on behalf of the yearbook team for any of the following errors.

• Comments not being printed in the ranked order
  
• AIS photo being put up in profiles (We tried hard to squeeze in time for shooting the better ones, but we had a manpower and time crunch)
  
• Lack of enough collages in the yearbook. (As mentioned earlier, we lost them in the crowd of pictures.)

The descriptions were supposed to be a fun read. There could be some who found it offending or rather impossible to show it to their parents. Our apologies to them as well.

**********************************

Diplomacy? Hmmmm.... Nope... Hippocracy rather

In the future will watch out for being too diplomatic.

The sooner u let the other person know, the sooner and better he/she understands what you think. Diplomacy is understood as acceptance. The desire to appear nice and courteous is often mistaken, which can be a dangerous thing.

For example, never be diplomatic about

• Your teammate fraxing away to glory (Tough one)
• Friends not paying you back on time :-))
  
• Your girlfriend flirting with the colleague from office :-)
• Your boss showing differential treatment
  

These things can build to one overwhelming mass knocking everything in its path.

There is a very thin line being being diplomatic and being Hippocratic. sometimes its not worth taking the risk, blast it all out. Atleast you don't leave the other person guessing and you don't regret the missed opportunity later. Lets just say Truth sometimes stinks.

The Yearbook Fiasco

Working on the yearbook has been a frustrating experience. I'm glad it's over or is it??. Let me not be diplomatic about it, it was shitty work and I have begun to loathe it.

A kaleidoscope of memories which has stamped the frustration deep in.

*********************

"What is your justification in a core committee?"
"Why not?"
"Because there was never a core committee.....There's no one who's stuck till the end!!!!"

*********************

"I wish he had helped me in the beginning. I've called him so many times."
"He told me that he'd wanted to be on the core team right from the beginning. What was the justification for not taking him anyway?"
"He was in the design team right from the beginning!!!!!"
"Come on.. Its only natural... anyone would want to be on the core committee..."
"but... I have consulted him on all design issues..."
"Still come on... who wouldn't want to be part of the core committee...."

**********************

"The CD... I ll take care of it.. I've taken responsibility right???"....


**********************

"Ek ghar mein dho yearbook kyun?"

**********************

"Yeah... we have the money. If you reach jampot, we'll be able to give a hard copy. The printer needs a maximum of 10 days. We ll ask him if he can do it in a week. It should be possible. Meanwhile you reach jampot....."

**********************

Learnings
The economics of the yearbook. Friends can turn enemies just because they have a better incentive. Worse when they turn to emotional means of coaxing you to work.

Its not only passion that drives work, a certain amount of responsibility chips in. There have been numerous occasions where I have settled for the Softcopy.

***********************

Yet despite all this... there are some who go the extra distance to help you out. I would like to mention Tuhin and many others in this regard, who helped without much of an incentive, just the pleasure of carrying memories home. God bless.

But yes........... The "credits" page "means" a lot.

p.s.
I think finally the printer guy deserves a two page ad in the yearbook. He might end up shelling 30 k from his own pocket because the batch of 2007 decided to save some money for the "lean" times ahead of them.

Yes... A charity show to aid the cause of to-be corporate managers.
I know my blog is not much read.. but here goes.... Heres to you Mr Krishna

Goel Printers (9431180077)

I'm not leaving my Bike!!!

Somebody took my keys sometime back from Aravind. The set consists of two Bajaj keys with two key rings. If any of you have it, kindly return them to me. Sorry for the spam and TIA.

"Don't take your bike, Saji. What will you be using it for over there? Its dange........"

"Daddy, atleast there, I get to use it. I don't want it rusting away here. I'll take it on the same train anyway. There won't be any issues transporting it there."

It's always hard convincing daddy. This time around, I sounded more responsible I guess. I had just won the debate on taking my bike all the way to Jamshedpur.

July 11
I took the bike to the station, made sure it was set to leave on the same train as me, the Dhanbhad express to Jamshedpur. I paid the guy who "embalmed" it 20 bucks just to make sure, it reached Jampot in one piece.

July 13th 2.30pm
Hopped of the Dhanbad express, went straight to the cargo compartment...... Searched frantically for anything resembling my bike.

"Guess the bums delayed it. Hopefully they'll send it across the train scheduled to arrive the next day. "

I went on to the freight department and told them about my predicament. My Hindi was broken. I wouldn't have gone very far without CM helping me with all the Hindi he knew.

"Bhaiiyaa. Isko bahut takleef hai"

I was told to come again the next day to check up on the bike. I went the next day again with CM, hoping to see some sign of the bike. Nope...none.
Days slipped into weeks. Three weeks on, I spot this kind gentleman at the freight department who resolved to trace the bike down for me. I don't know what he did. but 3 days hence, i spotted the bike in the bike stand with all the embalming intact.
Did a quick check up and found the clutch hanging loose broken at the edges.

"Bhaiyya, Clutch ko kya hua?" , He glanced back. More of a grimace.

I could hear his expressions shout...."Come on sonny, I thought you wanted the bike !!! Do you think I rode it all the way here ??"

"Theek hai..Koi bath nahi...Leke ja raha hoon bhaiyya Thanks."....innocence splashed all across my nonchalant face.

As I took my bike, the supervisor narrated the story of how my bike went all the way to Dhanbad, found no takers there and returned to Chennai. It was in Chennai when yours truly traced it. He managed to get it across to Jampot in one piece. As I rolled my bike out, he sported a grin. (lets say signing off in style) I handed him a hundred rupee note. (It was the least I could give!) "Kaafi hai bhaiya" "Thank you Sir" I thanked CM for all the help, took it to the nearest bunk, filled some petrol and was away to college, quite relieved that the Indian Railways was atleast this good. (Dante was also part of the several rescue attempts. Bro...If you read this, Thank you)

I looked out my window towards the bike stands. Hmmm... my bike stood right there. Unfortunately no keys. It sported a second skin of dust, though.

Sometimes, friends can turn out to be worse than the railways. But must confess, it has not been a totally bad experience. I have ...gotten to use my bike. While the railways emptied the tank, friends always kept it full. I've never had to fill petrol (Probably thrice at XLRI... I m not joking!!!)

Right now, as I wait for some kind soul who took my bike to return the keys, (All I'm asking for is a bit of responsibility) I can't help feel some kind pf remorse in not listening to my dad. Perhaps, the bike would have been better off at home.

I guess, the railways is a little better, it did bother to return my bike.
p.s.
Friends, in the above rumination, for all purposes, is to be taken in context. I shall not be held responsible for any misinterpretation of the same.

The Full Circle

Life in a B-School is no walk in the park. I learnt this the only way it could be. The summer internship process is to start in a few days here. I will fondly remember them as some of the most traumatic days in my life.

"shortlist aa gaya dost ....CTS.....is mein bhi kaat gaya" shouted a voice in the corridor.

my heart began to beat a little faster. The eeriness of GH3 made it a little harder for me to silence the excitement.

'Please...god.. atleast now...'

Fear made me stay back. I opened up the 'summers' folder...quickly scanned the folder for the CTS application. Went through the answers .

'No... nothing wrong .. here'

shut down my comp. The entire afternoon was spent in contemplation. went down for the 4.15 pm lecture. I hated to look at the noticeboard.

The previous nine companies had ditched me. I was one of the last 10 to be shortlisted. I had company in my roomie. We kept each other good company in fact. We never had to console each other, because both were in the same boat, heading nowhere.

s...sanj.. saur.. shiv.....

The weight pulled me down. It was becoming difficult to put on a brave face. The past seemed to have suddenly lost meaning. I walked straight on, fighting to keep the tears back. I did not want to call up home.

The rumination did not help much either. It was sometime later that evening that I got my first shortlist. It wasn't a miracle. Everyone who applied were shortlisted. but comforting... yes....

Now, as I write this blog, with a PPO from EY (one of the 5 companies to have shortlisted me, including the one above) I can't help but laugh to myself....... Life and the box of chocolates.

Vikky ... yeah... I guess I did come the full circle.

Juniors......well...chuck it... Who am I to be advising anyway?......Enjoy the coming week.

I had to update it...

Rishi’s started a new blog. All the blogs mentioned in the right hand bottom corner of the screen have been updated, in the last one month. Why would people read mine? I guess it is the repeatability quotient. People out there love reading sad poems, trying to understand what they mean. And when they do figure it out, it is Sharjah all over again.

“We did it folks. I think I know what this bugger’s writing about. It’s about his girlfriend.”

(Applause)

(Coughing out Loud) Ahem… Sorry. Hate to disappoint you Pal. But let me leave you once again in the dark.

“It is always good to not know something about someone.” - Sheetal A. Mehra

Meanwhile, writing this blog with a renewed dedication to make it more frequent. Now for a more objective measure to a goal which so far has only been defined by my “efficiency” of meeting targets, which are not well defined.

I might have gone a little verbose there, but excuse moi. After all, I haven’t blogged for ages.

Lets see…… a new blog every third day…. Or every other day. Now let me get ambitious. Every day.

(Crowd yelling in the background)

(Panoramic view of the audience across the world, a la “Independence Day” breaking out into wild celebrations.)

(Silent Chuckle)

I wish.

Where to from here?

I  have lost my charm.
He’s  losing interest.
I’m not serving the purpose
I was meant to.

His lost diaries
To be seen by a few
A close conversation
Me and you.

Too many footsteps
Have come this way
Let me be the one to say
Please stay away.

If I could tell you again
I d tell u to be aware
Let him close to open me
His deepest secrets are meant for thee

But say not a word.
Just know the man
He might not be worth it
But maybe he deserves a chance.

Keep on the Firing Line.

I hope to have been a great friend.
When everyday, it becomes a struggle
I question if it was the way
It was meant to be.

I will never know the answer
I will rest in the quiet ruminations
Of questioning my being
Of understanding the man I am

I have ditched friends before
For more selfish reasons
And brushed aside the guilt
Leaving behind the shrapnel

Will leave the cleaning for another day
When I probe my self for the carelessness
And ask my self for forgiveness
For now, it is just time and me.

Give me Red!!

“Conjunctivitis!!!”
“No. Actually I don’t know what. It happened after the Bod...”

At this point, the person is no longer looking at me. I begin to feel like a patient who’s just had the pleasure of having his scalp opened up by Dr. Hannibal.

“Did you see the doctor?”
“No.”
“Then why don’t you!!!”

Others choose to simply flip over.

“Saji, Saji please look at us and give us all Conjunctivitis.”
(How much did you say is it going for in the markets?)

Funnier still are the ones who realise it is conjunctivitis in the middle of a conversation. The following is one I had with someone on the lift…

“Dude!! Kya? Just woke up?”
“Nahi yaar. Somethings gone wrong with the eye”
“IR Chootiye…”
“I don’t know… I don’t think its conjunctivitis…”

There is momentary silence. It’s like the other person had a sudden attack of claustrophobia. His whole body wants to cringe away and his mind preventing. The silence reigns, till we reach the 4th floor.

“Take care, dude!” Still looking away from me.

“Conjunctivitis” brings with it a bundle of goodies. I get to stay the whole day in my room doing things, which I’ve wanted to do for ages like reading a good book. The others don’t mind either. They would rather have you stay to yourself. It is one time when fraxing becomes legal. (For the uninitiated, to frax is to free-ride)

But it’s weird at the same time. I personally don’t enjoy people telling me I sleep a lot. I don’t. Conjunctivitis has given me the laziest-soul-on-GH4 look which I’ve begun to abhor. Right now, my only prayer is I don’t get to the point of wearing glasses like my super sexy Chief Minister.

Now don’t get me wrong here. No particular reason. Don’t think the fashion’s caught on in the North yet…

Party Time !!

27th May, 2006. D-day.  The result of a month of hard work was to show in an hour. The venue - the Royal Orchid Plaza. I was really anxious to see it unravel before my eyes. Even more because of the large sponsorship we had notched. Shatdal and me had spent a lot of time on the field for the alumni meet and was in a way hoping for it all to end soon. It was not doing any good to our projects but our experience had taught us a lot. With the grades we boasted of I guess the decision was easy.  Of the sponsors for the evening, Urban Yoga and MohanChoti were the biggest. We also had Canon sponsoring in kind with a Photo Shoot Studio. To make it even more memorable, everyone who took photographs that evening was given a XLRI titled frame to carry the photograph along.

Bodhi Tree graced the “festival” too and it was not long before we had the alumni swaying to the beats of GMD and XL Ki Kudiyan. Better still, I was at the drums. I still hold on to the drum sticks I used that night. Not everyone gets to drum live on stage for the Bodhi Tree!  Some of the alumni went all out for the “Crooner of the Night” award and did well in the process. Think A+ sponsored in kind with Kids games and the kids were treated to good intellectual entertainment.

To increase the nostalgia quotient, the alumni were subjected to farewell videos of the 2005 and 2006 batch. It was no surprise when the familiar chant began to make its presence felt. We got a doze of 1…2…3…4 to open the dance floors. “We want a Wet Night experience”. Unfortunately Bangalore has turned into the epitome of merciless curfews. All hotels and restaurants were “obliged” to close by 11.30 to ensure that they remained “operational” the next day. Hence the wet night experience did not carry on very long. But on the brighter side, the biggest party, the biggest sponsors, the best chapter and to top it all the most enthusiastic bunch of summer interns.

…Viva XL Bang! ... Viva XL!

Weekend with the King

Had an amazing last weekend. I went to work on Saturday morning, trying to knot up loose ends of my "first" project. Was a few hours into it when Shatty called me up for the trip to Mysore. The decision was quite easy to make. Quite an "amazing" experience...7 of us ...in a Qualis..Shatty, Ravi, Divya, Joyda, Manku, Misra and myself.

The Bangalore-Mysore highway was brilliant...... pride of the Roads Ministry, four-laned all the way, and quite scenic. To top it all, the highway also had a Coffee Day ...from out of nowhere...where we stopped both ways.

The first stop that evening was Colonel Baileys Fort where Tipu Sultan used to torture enemy spies and soldiers....atleast that was what we liked to imagine...there was a cannon lying in the middle out of nowhere.. talk about running out of ammunition. We then headed for the Brindavan Gardens....a brilliant show of Fountains. will always remember the night. went on to get dinner in a Hotel with a "slightly" overpriced menu.

Then began the interesting part....went hunting for acco at around 12 after a grand dinner. Ravi remembered it having the suffix "International"....;-))...Mr International, we couldnt find. There were hardly any rooms in any of the other hotels....considering there was some festival happening. Finally we did manage to find a place that "fit" the international look.......;-))...... the door of the bathroom creaked and was delicately hanging on to its hinges..... There was a huge piece of rock in it..too.......Joyda held the contention that it was the physical fitness equipment....a Bench Press or something.......and finally the shower did not have the shower-head. so a fine trickle..... ....eh..... happened.....Everyone was wary about using the commode......Mysore was always a city of wars and battles.....and the commode confirmed it. There was sufficient proof of long battles there and the remains of war were for all to see...

Anyways..next day we visited the Mysore Maharajah's palace.. Grandeur at its most elaborate...."Phew" a nightmare for the palace maid......daily exercise for people living in it.......Guess the King needed his exercise...

Anyways, soon after we left for somnathpur ....to check the brilliant architectural marvel of the 12th century.... the Narasimhan temple.....was simply brilliant.....and had a wonderful time ..with joyda and Divya explaining wonderful stories from Hindu mythology.....

Vijayshankar had called us in Mysore on Saturday inviting us for his birthday party on sunday....so we had to get back by 8 PM. We went home ( where I stay) planing to clean ourselves up but came to a hard realisation....with 7 others in the PG where I stay.....water wasn't necessarily a luxury. Took our dirty selves to "Mainland China"... it was quite a huge gathering of around 20 xlers....of three batches '05 '06 and '07......Ended it with brilliant dessert.......

"Bangalore................. is happening Dude...."

Reverie

Well, nobody’s turned up so far. Today might just be the day. One of those days when you sit back, do nothing, but listen to the wind blow by. Breathe in deep and smell the sweet lavender….

THUD……..

Damn the fool who hurled the brickbat of a book.

“Wake up U Moron!!”

Now coming back to the sweet lavender….

The Bachelor Life !

Summer of 2006 is teaching me a lot.

I m a paying guest. Bangiyappa gardens to be my residence for close to 10 weeks. No sight of a flower around let alone a garden. or was it that tuft of grass growing in the corner? Anyway a garden its called.

but for the lack of a garden, the lack of water, crowded rooms, the dog that prefers to "mark" (quite a pungent mark at that) the entrance as its territory, the place is damn neat.
The place is a quarter kilometre from where i work now. for company, I have in order of meeting Shifin, Aditya, Koushik, Anshul and Jinson. Aditya and Anshul, summer trainees themselves.

Anshuls trying his hand at cooking today. Must say hes quite the cook. Hes cooked a pasty Poha today. I used to despise this "thing" up there in Jamshedpur. But now, it tastes simply delicious. Guess I have higher priorities in my life now.

Only when you are away do u realise how close u were, how much u miss them. You now realise that u have one more chance, one more year to make it up, to be part of those moments, to carry with u those memories, to pick those bits and pieces....

Will be back.

Summer of 2006.....GET MOVING !!

..."Summer of 2006" .... I have it scribbled across the first page of my Summer Internship notebook. Started expecting the flow to be real smooth....right now bottlenecks all around. I guess its upto me to get around them...
An amazing project ...lot to look forward to ...a clear deliverable.....Everythings perfect....xcept
(Very Confidential !!! sorry.....)
Having to deal with the first Job. had a lot of expectations .......still do......but several closely held beliefs came crashing down.

"One cant be that Jobless !!"
Look at me Now.........guess blogging will become more regular now

"They definitely can't leave me on my own !!"
(Coughing) If its about company, you have the desktop cat..... its upto to you to make your mark. Start with cutting wood for the pencil.

"Quality work will be recognised .."
not disproved yet.........will see to it that it is not.....for now it still ain't a myth....

Its not that I have nothing to do....I have lots to do in the Future ......theres this bottle neck in the fray. For all the "Operations" I learnt....this one seems to be THE ONE. Only time will tell.....

I ll fight .....will squeeze out of..it............. especially..when I have no other option.

Right now there's blogger and stumble upon toolbar

....He He........Thank God for small mercies.

The concept of NOT going around...

I am single. Not committed. In the society I grew up in, it would be considered quite normal. (quite a dismal picture actually) but where I m now. Whattttttt ? Seiously ?? (must be Gay !).

"U ....going around?"
...negative
"Seriously........U must be jokin !!"
...negative
(or if the persons more on the "wittier" side
"Seriously.....come on...There must be some guy out there who likes u")

The next 2 seconds are a nightmare. picture myself on my knees, outstretched arms
"but.......people .....understand !!!!"
Yeah, Somehow people don’t seem to understand the simple fact that I haven’t met the girl of my dreams. or rather "available" (talk about lingo ...) girl of my dreams. It can happen u know.
The next stage is the funniest. They give u the look reserved for people walking the gang plank.

“Not planning to go for the arranged stuff, are you?”. Let me confess here, I ve always answered “no.”

The truth........ in an other 6 - 7 yrs. (Hopefully!) btw You are all invited for the answer.

Can I blame it on my schooling.... No.... happiest days of my life. Crushes have happened. But that’s all thats happened. Quite Sad. but status quo remains...

as long as I m okay with it.
...affirmative.

Maxi Fair...

Maxi fair was tiring. Wouldn’t complain though. It was a whole lot of fun too. I have never laughed so much in public....actually....never have had to try so hard to stop laughing either. The blank faces on the respondents, trying to grasp my version of Hindi, had simply opened the floodgates. “Hanuman” next door wasn’t doing much to help either. Reminded me of my initial bouts with the language… tuition classes with Thomas Master.

Ashwin, Sebin, and I if I remember right… were weak.... The subject….Hindi. Thomas Master used to come to our parish where he was known for two things: his military discipline and tuitions. I don’t know how, but somehow our mothers got to know of our desperate struggle with the language that they decided to call on Mr. Hindi himself.

Now Thomas Master was an army veteran...the ones who had worked on tanks and all that. He constantly harped on them glory days during our tuition classes. The army had left quite a mark on him in addition to the knowledge of the national language.

Our tuition classes were fun. I by some grace of God had this faint knowledge of the language. (Which now on hindsight, I’d have to deny). Hindi was not a very interesting subject. Our Hindi book consisted of several chapters, collection of short stories actually. Essays on each of these short stories were part of the curriculum. The general convention was to learn these essays verbatim..... Which we were quite bad at.

Not to worry....We walked our own paths. If the words didn’t come to us, we made them. We were kind of “good” at it. We could churn out Hindi words like the popcorn machine at annapoorna. A lexicographer of the language would feel scandalized at the rate at which we generated new words. Ashwin especially was king of the ring. A typical creation would be something like “Tenzin Norgay nay Mt.Everest climb kiya aur uthar ek green flag dala.” It required some skill to keep the attention of the reader on the subject at hand. Our masterpieces were often "appreciated" I thought....so much so that it soon rose to means of entertainment.

Now...Thomas Master himself sometimes provided us means of entertainment. He had an ailment….Ulcer or something similar. This often forced him to burp frequently, really long ones too. He would ask us to read the essay. We would be so “deeply” engrossed in the essay when it would break out. The silence torn apart by the deafening roar of his burp……. BUUUUURRRRRRRRPPPPPPP!!! (Just realised that a burp is one of the hardest things to spell!)

The response …immediate. All our faces would dive into the books, peering out to take a glance at the protagonist. The only thing visible would be our shoulders and they would be shaking violently. Let me inform you at this juncture, that laughing to oneself is not very easy. Talk about self-control!!!

The silence would continue to reign till Ashwin’s vocal chords decided to break free.....the silence ………before the storm....torn apart...kind of like the reaction for the action. The rest of us would faithfully follow with wild laughter. Thomas master would only raise his head, snicker and then continue doing whatever he was doing. From all his experience, he usually chose to ignore us. Probably it was because he understood us. “In autumn, the young leaves always laugh when the old ones wither away.” I remember him advise me, “Son, Don’t ever let your senses control you.”

Thomas master passed away in the year 2002, when I was in my 2nd yr of college. It was a cardiac arrest that took him to his heavenly abode. I owe him a lot for what he’s taught me. I know Hindi now….at least enough to survive, enough to last a day in Maxi fair. But more than all the Hindi…..I owe him a lot for what he’s taught me about life.

I am in hanuman chambers ….. The cast sitting right next to me. His tail is lying broken on the floor next to me. I am squatting in the corner, my sides splitting with laughter. I am desperately looking for someone to take over my stall. A simple advice… but yet…

Guess I’m only human...