Some thoughts penned down

jo jaayega sab hote hote...

2011-03-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

बोतल खोलो मय सजाओ,पैमाना भरो, होठों से लगाओ
अजी सुकून रखिये,हो जायेंगे बाकी के भी काम होते होते

हाँ ये तो है की नहीं पीता था मैं रौशनी-ऐ-अब्र में मगर
ज़िन्दगी में हुई है जो,फलक पे भी हो जायेगी शाम होते होते
[roshni-e-abr= light of cloud/sky,falak= sky]

छेड़ो न हमें अभी मसरूफ हैं हम सबको आदाब कहने में
मिलेगी फुर्सत हो जायेगी खुद से भी दुआ-सलाम होते होते
[masroof= busy]

हुआ इश्क तो बिक गया सारा जिस्म इस दिल-ए-नाकारा के सिवा
जाएगा इश्क तो हो जायेंगे इस दिल के भी दाम होते होते
[dil-e-naakara= useless heart]

खेले है जुआ, पीये है शराब, गोया तू ग़ालिब तो नहीं
भरम है किसी की बज़्म का हो जाएगा तेरा भी कलाम होते होते
[bazm= gathering Kalaam= composition]

बस उठा कलम और लिखता जा हाल-ऐ-दिल "मकोल"
खुदा ने चाहा तो हो जाएगा तेरा भी नाम होते होते

Gaurav Makol
March 2011

Just a Thought

2011-03-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

मैं मैं हूँ तू नहीं,फिर क्यूँ किया करूँ मैं नक़ल तेरी
गर मुझे तू होना होता,तुझ जैसी होती शकल मेरी

रोज़ करता हूँ खुद तामीर अपनी ही बर्बादी के नए तरीके
अब तुन ही कहो इसे अक्ल कहूँ कि बद-अक्ल मेरी
(Tameer = plan,Construct)

जिस रोटी के खिलाने को मेरे पीछे दौड़ती थी मेरी दादी
उसी रोटी के पीछे दौड़ती है ज़िन्दगी आज-कल मेरी

दानिश्वर हम न सही मगर रखते हैं उम्र से लुच अक्ल
हर बात पे "you wont understand " कहती है मुझे अगली नस्ल मेरी
Daanishwar = Sage

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता

2010-01-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

Hi...this poem by no means is to belittle any community...baniya here simple means a businessman..

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता,

हर सौदा इसका फायेदेमन्द होता |

सस्ती बिकती है हर शे इस बाज़ार में,

यही छपता इस दुकान के इश्तेहार में |

हर किसी को दुख बेचने का मिलता न्योता,

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता |

सब रिश्ते तराज़ू में तौले जाते,

बनते हर जज़्बात के बही खाते |

लगते जब मोल इश्क़ के जुनून के,

मिलते सिर्फ़ कुछ सिक्के ही खून के |

ना कोई आँख से पानी के आँसू रोता,

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता |

दाम होते संग बीते सब दिन और रातों के,

हँसी,आँसू,बिन मतलब के झगड़े,सब बातों के |

चंद मुश्किलों के सामने पड़ जाते हल्के,

कुछ तस्वीरें,बहुत से खत, ये सब मिलके |

एक पलड़े में रख के बेचा जाता सब यादों को,

साथ में दिया जाता मुफ़्त उन अधूरे वादों को |

इन सब को बेच के मैं आराम से सोता,

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता |

ना दबा रहता दिल सपनों और ख्वाहिशों के बोझ में,

बेच देता गम पुराने और निकल पड़ता नये की खोज में |

ना तलाशता हमेशा संग रहने वाले वफ़ादारों को,

सजाता रोज़ दुकान और बुलाता रोज़ नये खरीदारों को |

धोखे में ना रहता खुद औरों को ठगा होता,

काश के ये दिल एक बनिया होता |

A Return Ticket

2010-01-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

A request: Thanks guys for visiting my blog. This one is my first attempt to write a story. After reading the story kindly hit the “comments” link at the bottom of the story and say whatever you want to say. Good bad or ugly, anything and everything is welcome.Your may as well read the other posts too and comment J.Thanks

Disclaimer: All the characters in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to any person dead or alive is purely co-incidental.

A return ticket

Like every IT employee in India Gadin was thinking of his onsite opportunity since the day he joined this MNC and the announcement of the same to him was no less melodramatic. His boss Debasis or Debu as he was known, a man in his early forties, his age shining on his bald head and his big salary shaking in form of his paunch when he laughed, called him to his office.”Gadin you have been doing well here and as you know our company is famous for taking care of its employees and giving them the opportunity to grow” Gadin stopped listening at this and thought “oh yeah...I can clearly see how much growth they can cause”. After showing his love for the company for 10 more minutes, Debu finally told him that he should start putting his documents in his place because a new project was coming and Gadin may have to travel to Edinburg for this project. Gadin also no less melodramatic answered, “Thank you sir, I have been waiting for this opportunity for such a long time and I promise I won’t let you down and perform to my level best and give in my 100%”.At this time Debu had understood that Gadin was taking his revenge for boring him and knew this was his turn to switch off. Then after 10 minutes of his revenge Gadin asked his boss who was the client going to be and what was the project (but believe me he was actually interred in knowing how many GBPs will I get).Debu told him the name of a banking giant there and said he himself was not very clear about the project details and will update Gadin as soon as he gets it.

Gadin came to back to his desk and stared blankly into the screen of his computer which was showing some multi-coloured Greek looking text which these geeks called code and claimed this is what causes the browser to show understanble things when we type WWW.Google.com and hit the enter key. The voice of Debu re-sounding in his head “You might have to travel to Edinburgh”. “Have to”?? He thought he was waiting for this like anything and then his boss telling him he may have to. He knew that actually these bosses were not as modest as they pretended to be or just and exotic places where he could have as much single malt scotch as he wanted.

Soon he was lost yet again in another world.Edinburgh-the capital of Scotland. Scotland definitely meant a lot more than merely a foreign country or just a currency which will multiply when he would come back or simply a country where one has an easy access to striptease bar where he could actually see the girls whom he had been seeing in the playboy. It reminded of his college, of Kangan who was somehow fascinated by Scotland after watching the movie “A walk to remember”, No it was not that movie, it was some other movie which did not remember. But what he clearly remembered was that Kangan had told him that she wanted to go to Scotland and like a perfect idiot Gadin has decided that day that if ever she agrees to marry him they will go to Scotland for honeymoon and his dreaming and idiocy did not end just there. He bought a small box and decided that he would put all his change and some notes daily in that box and save for their trip to Scotland. Gadin was good at mathematics and quickly did some maths and calculated that if he daily put 10 bucks in that box and 200 bucks at the start of every month when he got his pocket money then by the time he would pass out of that college, he would have money to buy at least one side ticket for one person. He though then could save more once he got a job. When he was a kid he wanted a toy gun badly and asked his father for that. His father rather than giving him that toy gun brought him a piggy bank and told him he should start saving early in his life and put away some money from his pocket money for his dreamed toy. He had saved for two months for the toy. Although the amount saved was not much but his father knew that he had got the message and bought him the tank and let him have his money too. After that whenever he wanted something he put a piggybank for it and started saving for it.

After some more mental maths he calculated that if he got a job with a salary that was average each year then he would save for their trip in two years. He chuckled and said to himself- who is in a hurry to get married anyway and took out a crumpled Rs10 note and put it in a box and stared at the box for a little more than necessary.

The project was later scrapped because the Finance department of the client bank did not see enough Return on Investment (ROI) to fund the project.

A few months later Gadin was sitting in his rented flat on a Sunday morning. Technically you don’t call 1 o clock as morning but for the 89.76 % of IT guys like Gadin Sunday 1 definitely counted like a morning as this way the day slept as much as they wanted and this was the only day when they did you wake up calling some fancy names like idiot, asshole etc.

Bachelor’s like Gadin who used be way from their families owed a lot to Nestle for coming up with maggie because that was the best thing that could be cooked if all you knew about cooking was how to boil water.So, Gadin again saying his silent thanks to nestle and tore of the double pack of Masala maggie and poured the contents in water and put it on the small gas stove he had. Although a single packet of it was enough for one person for one meal but he did not want to think again about his hunger as soon, so he decided to have two packets and be done with it. After putting the Maggie on stove he thought that he was becoming just like his bike in which he could put four litres of petrol instead of two and stop worrying about it for a longer time.

The Nokia tune that he had put on his old Nokia phone just interrupted him in his philosophical pursuits. A number flashed on his screen and he said to himself ,”will these Idea guys ever stop selling me their new schems”.He picked up the phone and said an angry hello making his hello sound more like stop-bugging-me. A female voice answered Hello, her hello sounding more like what-wrong-have-I-done. The voice was known. Although he had not listened to this voice in one and half year of passing from his college but he still could recognize it with just a hello.Kangan, is it you? He asked surprised. Yes Gadin, How are you doing, she asked. I am ...I am fine, how are you, where are you, this number seems like a local number, are you...are you in...he as usual asked a lot of question in one breath. He could feel his smile when she said, Yes I am in Bangalore, Got transferred here a week back. Had a chat with Arun yesterday and he told me that you too are in Bangalore and gave me your number. Arun was Gadin’s roommate in college. So are you in the same company, where are you staying, Have you moved in alone. She laughed and said you haven’t changed Gadin, still can’t be patient and ask one question at a time. He was glad that she remembered how he was. Yes, I am still with Hindustan bank, am staying in accommodation provided by the bank in Sundar Nagar and yes have move in alone. Sundar Nagar, cool that is not too far from my place, I am living in a rented flat with one of my colleagues in Hari Nagar.So what are you doing in the evening. He smiled and asked. There is a CCD in Hari Nagar, Want to have a SB? She too smiled and said yes, Let’s meet at 6.

SB was the short form of Sizzling Brownie that Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) served. It was a heated brownie, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and served in a mini pond of hot molten sizzling chocolate sauce.SB used to be the favourite of both of them and although they did not have it too frequently but whenever that had, it became a special occasion. God knows was there something in the SB or was there something in the time they had it. They always shared things which were close to them whenever they went out and had an SB.

It was a year and a half now, precisely the time since Gadin had passed out from his college, since he had his last SB.

Gadin just went back to the memory lane and remembered his college. It was the evening of first Sunday of August. People celebrated it as the Friendship day. The whole batch had gathered in the college lawn and everybody was singing friendship song and enjoying the spirit of friendship. It had just rained and half of the people were soaked in water but this did not dampen their spirit, thanks actually to the spirit they had consumed at the bar which was at a walking distance from the college.

Gadin stood near the college mess and was watching people dance and sing and enjoy themselves, just at that moment Kangan came to him laughing like crazy and Gadin looked at her as if asking dudette how much vodka did you have? She told her some joke about which she was laughing; Gadin did not find it really funny but still smiled. He now strongly believed that this girl had too much to drink today. She just stood there for a few more seconds, laughed a little more and left. Gadin had two realizations later. One he realized a few days later that she did not drink anything but she was generally this bubbly and happy and actually living-in-the-moment kind of girl. The second realization (which technically was first) came immediately after she left. He had fallen in love with that laugh.

This Sunday had come after almost two and a half months of their joining the college, but these two had generally not talked much because they were in different streams and had different class schedule.Infact he could not remember if he had talked to her ever before but he definitely knew about her. After this Sunday he was determined to know more about her and they started interacting more, thanks to the virtual media of chats and the social networking sites where you can interact with people and also don’t have to get embarrassed thinking that you are invading into their privacy or being a “chipku”.

Missing the usual outings or the leg pulling sessions in one of the rooms of boy’s hostel was one of the changes that had occurred in Gadin’s Schedule. He now used to sit longer hours in front of his laptop waiting and wishing that Kangan would come online and would have time to chat with Him. Another change that happened was his usual habit of planning got more intense. Every night before checking his own schedule on the college web site, he used to check Kangan’s schedule and planned how could he adjust his things, project works etc so that he could see her more and talk to her and still make it all seem like that he accidently bumped into her. Well, he was good at planning and his estimates did seldom fail and for the next few days, he “accidently” bumped into her three or four times a day, sometimes at the breakfast or lunch at the mess, sometime between the lecture breaks or sometimes at the nearby coffee shop in the evening.

Now they had exchanged phone numbers and called or messaged each other before going for lunch or dinner or tea breaks. Gadin loved this companionship and though she too liked spending time with him. Kangan had a little problem in understanding the subjects where mathematics was involved and Gadin was good with numbers, so she asked him if he could help her and Gadin more than happily took up this task. They started spending more and more time together-reading, eating, going out. Watching movies etc and as all this happened Gadin’s feelings for Kangan also grew.

Although his love for her was not typically a love at first sight but it definitely had become the love at every sight. Every time his phone rang, before picking up the phone he made silent prayers for the call to be hers but most of the time it used to be some stupid telemarketing call and he cursed them a lot.Everytime his phone showed “one new message received” he wished it to be hers, wishing she asking him to go out for a walk to tea or anything.Everytime he logged into his laptop he wished her to be there and if she was not there, he waited for her to come online and every time somebody pinged him, he wished it to be her. Sometimes he felt he was behaving like a foolish little kid, but whatever, he liked it.

This time machine journey of his was again broken by the ringing of his phone. His heart sank that may be she had changed her mind, maybe she has do some work, maybe she doesn’t want to go out with him but when he picked up the phone, his father’s number was flashing on the screen.

He sighed in relief and picked up the phone and had a casual chat with his parents for 5-7 minutes. They talked about a neighbour Suresh Uncle who was suffering from severe diabetes and was now undergoing two dialysis per week. His father told him that Suresh uncle’s condition was worsening and the doctors said may he would have to now go three dialysis per week. Then his father told him about one his cousins who was blessed with a baby girl yesterday and then the topic drifted to usual discussion about wheather, how it was too cold in Delhi but in Bangalore it was neither hot nor cold. His father said Ok now talk to your mom. His mom asking the usual question “khana waana theek mil raha hai na” are u getting good food there? He said yes mom and then thought he had gained 8 Kilos in the last six month. How can the food be not good? His mom then told him they had made some sweets from jiggery at home and should they send him some of them. He said no mom I will have it when i come back home and they said bye and kept the phone. Although his mind was orbiting in altogether a different trajectory still he dialled his cousin’s number to congratulate him, but nobody picked up the phone and he though he will probably call later in the night.

He still had a few hours to kill before he went to meet her. He picked up the book he was reading. Short stories by Chekhov. He had bought this book day before yesterday and had read a very few of the stories. He started reading it, the first story he read was “Death of a clerk” He could not concentrate on the story but he still vaguely remembered having read that story when he was in school. He then read two or three more stories and went again into sleep reading that book.

It was 5 when he woke up. He quickly had a bath and dressed. It was 5:30 He knew it would take him at the most 20 minutes to reach the CCD in Sundar Nagar but as punctual he was he left early and preferred to wait there rather than getting late. He Reached the CCD at 5:45, Went inside looked here and there for Kangan but he knew she would not have come early. He sat there and picked up the news paper to read. Although he was gazing at the letters of the newspaper but his thoughts were somewhere else, remembering his college days and smiling by himself. Then he finally saw an article of launch of a new motorcycle. He new this was one article where could concentrate and read it. He looked at his watch, It was 5:58.He knew she would be coming any time now. Something started vibrating in his pants giving him a tickling feeling. It was his phone. He again thought it might be Kangan saying she could not come because of xyz reasons. He took out his phone and saw; it was again those idea customer care guys. He wanted to get them out of the phone and beat the hell out of them but he just cut the phone. He looked at his watch at least 20 times in the next 10 minutes. He was not getting impatient, but he also knew that for Kangan 6 meant at least 6:15.He then again remembered and incident when they had a huge argument because he had to wait for her and he shouted on her and invariably ended up saying sorry for being rude. He was just smiling and trying to concentrate on the newspaper when that voice said “Hi Gadin”.He looked up and there she was standing, not changed a bit, as beautiful as ever, same life in those eyes, same killing smile. She was wearing the blue dress that he had gifted her on her birthday before leaving the college. He stood up, said Hi, shook hands with her and gave her a friendly hug and whispered in her ear, “It’s high time you got rid of this stupid bag of yours”. She hit him in the arm and that friendly slap too had the momentum .Then he said to himself, come back Newton, This is no time for physics’ said the same ouch, it hurts-you Mike Tyson and she said the same “I know”.

They ordered their favourite SB and the shine in her eyes after looking at the boiling hot chocolate was again the same. He was thinking nothing had changed but he was not too sure of this Then they ordered again their usual. She ordered a hot Cappuccino with extra sugar and he a cold Mochachillo with extra ice. They sat there talking, laughing, and teasing each other. He pulling her leg on the roadside shopping that she always did and she making fun of his north Indian accent. Time seemed to fly remembering the old college days when she suddenly looked outside and realized it had grown dark and then they looked at the watch and it was 9:30.I have to go now she said, I have to get back to my flat before 10 according to the rules. He said okay and dropped her to her place on his bike and came back home. Lying on his bed he could not stop smiling remembering those old days and how they again had laughed today. Sleep never came easy to him in the night, he had to lie down for at least half an hour before getting sleep but today he was not upset about it. Kangan was also smiling at all the stupid things they did and PJs(Pathetic Jokes) they always cracked about everything, but she was blessed and dozed off within 5 minutes of hitting the bed.

They kept going out and meeting generally on weekends. Although there was not a single day in those one and half years when he did not miss her but his feelings for her again started growing inside him. It was a Saturday night and they decided to go to a discotheque. By now she had moved into another accommodation and did not have to really worry about that 10 P.M. rule bet she kept her landlady posted if she thought she would be coming late. Today also she had told her that she will be coming a little late. They were a group of 6 people going out, one of the girls being Kangan’s roommate. Her boyfriend was coming to pick her up and she offered to take Kangan with them because it would not be very comfortable to with on a bike wearing a skirt. Kangan said okay. Gadin decided to come on his bike only and they went to Amoeba, the most happening Disc of Banagalore.It was early according to the timings of a disc where people started to come in after 10 o clock, so they got an easy entry into the Disc. They went inside and sat at a table. The guys ordered their regular whisky and the girls took a small drink of vodka and ordered some snacks. By the time they finished their drink the disc started filling up. She said Gadin come on let’s dance and they started dancing. The DJ was good and playing latest party numbers. She was a very good dancer and could dance from anything to folk to hip hop and he on the other hand could just perform some of the acrobatic moves which remotely remembered to any kind of dance. They danced for around 45 minutes when Gadin said I want to have another drink and they came back to the bar. He ordered his whisky with Soda.

This whole set up reminded him of their farewell party at the college. It was more than a year that Gadin and Kangan had become friends. They have had their best of the times together in this one and a half year. They had studied together; eaten together, laughed together at times cried also together, they have had their share of fights and their share of sorrys over the ice cream too. But Gadin was still not sure about her feelings for him but he knew that he could not wait any longer. The organisers of the part announced that the first bus back to college was leaving in another five minutes. Gadin went to Kangan and told her that how much he loved her and how he wanted to spend rest of his life with her and do everything possible to keep her happy. The music was too loud, the words could not be heard properly but the lip movement had to be decoded.Kangan’s lips moved for a few seconds and changed expression on Gadin’s face told that she should leave by the bus that was going back to college. He came back to college. Although there were 10 days in their convocation but Gadin left for his home the next day early morning and did not even come for the convocation .The two had not talked since then.

It was same again. The music was loud. There was smell of sweat mixed with perfumes and alcohol in the place. There were again disco lights throwing occasional light and there were again their friends dancing, there was again loud music making it difficult to talk and calling for deciphering the lip movements to understand what the other person was saying. There was again she, looking more beautiful than ever, wearing a simple yet elegant dress, wearing big but not loud earings, having done no makeup except for the light lip gloss, and there was again he with his whisky in his hand and lots of things to say in his heart. He asked her a question again. She answered again his face expressions changed again and he left yet again.

The next day Sunday morning, he was sitting there in his room with his old Nokia phone in his hand and searching something on the internet. Then he got what he was looking for and dialled a number. After three rings a pleasant female voice answered” Welcome to TravelWithUs.com, how may I help you”.Gadin’s heart started pounding fast, He could hear his own heartbeat. The lady on the phone said hello, hello.Gadin could not still speak and just could muster a Hello. The lady once again said his well practised sentence “Welcome to TravelWithUs.com, how may I help you”?Gadin was waiting to say this sentence for a long long time and when the time had come he was so overwhelmed that he could not speak. After a few seconds and a few more hellos from the female, Gadin finally managed to say it “I want to book a return ticket for two to Scotland.”

I am What I am

2009-12-09T01:55:00.000-08:00

I know this might be childish in terms of the flow of the words and nuances of poetry but I just wanted to write and so i wrote...n thats why I say--I am what I am

This is me-good or bad, this is what I am

And I ll be this forever, I can’t be a sham.

Yes without thinking I speak my heart out

At times I am gracious, at times like hell I shout.

I can tell u things n put you into laughter so roaring

And then I will be sullen, dull and be so boring

I can blabber uselessly for many an hour

N then I ll be quiet and my mood so sour.

I ll stand be you and for you everything I shall bear

The next moment I ll be unmoved as if I don’t care

I can give up my everything selflessly to see a happy thee

But I can also be selfish n want the whole world only for me

I am grown, mature and can give advice to you so sane

And I shall act like a trouble kid and can be a real pain.

With all the sweet, rosy, dreamy words I say, I can flatter

And then I can be so harsh, for it all to shatter

I know I am weird but I love me this way trust it

Yes I may change but then I think will it be worth it?

WHO AM I

2008-11-25T22:04:00.001-08:00

WHO AM I?
The name is Gaurav Makol,
And banda is a god-loving soul.
I come from city of Kings – Patiala,
The place is just ooh-la-la.

For graduation I went to G.N.D.U Amritsar,
Specializing in E&C I became an engineer.
Engineering taught to work hard n enjoy to core,
I passed Outta College as a class of 2000 and four.

From Campus Satyam took me for a job,
Excited heart could not help but throb.
My first Job took me from Patiala to Hyderabad,
I had to be 2000KM away from my Mom and Dad.

The fear of Unknown place and people initially kept me worried,
But seeing the city and office work culture my fears were buried.
The people were all intelligent n nobody second to none,
But with my good work some accolades I have won.
I Worked with Satyam for two and a half years,
Learnt about corporate with open eyes and ears.

Nov 2006 I came to Chandigarh and joined Infosys,
Working at this organisation was again really bliss.
Got a chance here to work with esteemed clients,
Some NGOs, some Sports biggies and some bank giants.

Then I took up XAT and came to GIM a.k.a Heaven,
I have got section B and roll number seventy Seven.
Since day one the life here has been in the fast lane,
The pristine beauty around helps me remain sane.
As my majors I will prefer to choose mar-ke-ting,
And get into a job which can give me a zing.

Now I should write about my hobbies I guess,
Of all the mind games I love playing Chess.
My love for this game cannot be beaten by any money,
The chess winner trophy at Infy writes this testimony.
The mayhem on 64 squares is neither by sword nor by a pen,
Thy love for this battle of brains persists till eternity-Amen!!!
I know to play the old six strings with rapchik Ishtyle,
I Play Badminton and also call myself a bibliophile.

I loved writing this humble poem for my CV
And I really look forward to summers at MTV.
Yours truely
Gaurav Makol.

Alvida Hyderabad

2006-10-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

It was 14^th June 2004, Nizammudin station. We were waiting for the Rajdhani express to come. We were going or should I say coming to Hyderabad.

June 15^th, Secunderabad Station, it must have been around 7 in the evening when our train reached there.Shekhar, Manish, Pamma and I, none of us had visited Hyderabad earlier. Thanks to Shekhar that we didn’t have to search for an accommodation as he had some acquaintance in army who had arranged a guest house for us. The guys were there to receive us at the railways station. While we sat in the “Maruti Omni “and were heading towards the army guest house, we were looking at the city curiously and the those big glowing signboards were silently saying us “Welcome to Hyderabad”

Today

Date 25^th October 2006

Time 8:15 PM

Sitting in the office while listening to “Beedi” song from movie “Omkara” I am feeling a strange kind of heart ache as now I am about say good bye to Hyderabad. By the way did I Tell you what brought me to Hyderabad and what is taking me back to Punjab?

I had to Join Satyam Computer Services (my first job) here in Hyderabad and now I am about to join Infosys at Chandigarh.

So now where do I start from narrating my stint here at Hyderabad?

Okay let me start again from the very initial days here. When we had arrived here the monsoons were just in so the weather was really enjoyable. I liked the city.

Then as the stay at army guest house was coming to an end the hunt for house started and believe me it is not easy here if u want to save and don’t go to a broker. So we had some 4-5 classifieds papers with us searching like mad. Then Shekhar came up with an advertisement of a PG and he was quite sure that it was the place where we were going to put up and the same thing happened. We met the Gopal (Owner) of the PG and 2600 bucks sounded quite reasonable to us. So here we were, staying at Tarbund.

Telling that Punjabis come to a place in South India and don’t have a fight with an “autowala” would be an oxymoron and we were no exception. We had this notion in mind that in every cosmopolitan city the auto and taxi walas are all crooks but let me clear it that at least in Hyderabad most of them are not. So coming back to our tryst with the “autowallas.”We were going from some place(don’t remember eggjectly) to May fair center in begumpet and in between somewhere we felt that the guy is taking us wrong way and just roaming around to make a bigger bill in meter. So we made him stop there forcefully and then started the real scene. We were abusing him in Punjabi and he was abusing (I guess so) in telugu.The people came in and the whole matter was settled and we are still not very sure that whether he was right or wrongJ.

The Initial training days used to be loadza fun. Café Coffee day used to be our “adda” the guys there had started recognizing us and played Punjabi songs when were there.

If I talk about about Hyderabad and don’t mention the typical hyderabadi hindi then definitely some hyderabadi will come to me and say”Kya Bhiya…kya kare tumin, Hyderabad ke bare mein likh rae kate,aur hyderabdi ke bare mein eech nihin likhe”

Seriously this hyderabadi dialect is too mast.

A foodie like me would surely like to mention about the “Hyderabadi biryani”.There is nothing like a full cup of “double ka meetha” after a large “hyderbadi biryani” with “mirchi ka salan” and “rayta”.I bet the “Irani chai” in the old city can put Baristas and CCD’s to shame and how could I forget my favorite “rava dosa” with extra coconut chutney and the spicy Rasam idly.

There are loadza things to talk about Hyderabad but I guess I will keep rest of the things to myself.

I will definitely cherish the time I spent here at Hyderabad, I Love you Hyderabad for all that you have given me

I will miss you

Susti ki pathshala---A generation Sleeps

2006-09-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

This blog here(yawn) is for all those people who feel proud(yawn) to be lazy logs and better if they are even lazy to feel proud J(yawwwwwwnn)

It really feels great to sleep for some 16-18 hours a day especially on weekends. In our university days the best part use to come on Sundays. On Saturdays we generally used to stay awake till 2-3 AM and then on Sunday the breakfast used to be poori-chana in the mess. We used to get up at 9.20-9.25 and rush towards the mess as t he closing time was 9.30, and not no mention very few times we remembered to brush our teeth for the feast. Now stop making those”yukk” faces, Poori-chana tastes better without brushing ;-).

Then used to come back with a full stomach and then the bed was so tempting that nobody cud resist the invitation.

As u guys must have guessed our next wake up time used to be near 2 in the afternoon. The mess used to close at 2.30.So this time we could have the time to brush teeth and wash face (optional).Sunday afternoon it used to be “Kadi Chawal “I hope you understand what kadi means. It is something made from curd; I will post the recipe in my next post.

After enjoying the tasty kadi chawal we used to sit in the sun (obliviously in winters),and then gossiping started and then a little nap on the grass. That makes me remember those lines from the beautiful ghazal from the movie “DIl Dhoondta hai”,and the verse goes like “jadon ki naram dhoop aur aangan me let kar” seriously my heart longs those good old days.

I had read somewhere that taking naps can increase memory, so I made it rule to have naps in the afternoon whether weekday or weekend, but I don’t remember where I read it, I guess I will have to take longer naps to further improve my memory. Anyhow as u can guess the nap used to be somewhere around 1-1.5 hours long, the sun now started to set and it would start to be a little chilly outside. So now was the time to get some warmth from the cozy quilts ,and I bet nobody can fight sleep once u r inside a quilt and u start feeling the warmth, so again we used to go the dream world.

The next stop in our journey to eternity used to be at dinner time, and guess what we used to have an extra free in our mess on Sundays…Hurray!!! That used be a time for treat. Although taking an extra used to cost only 5 bucks, but at that time Sunday used be special day coz there was free extra. So with one free extra from mess side and one extra bought, we used to have a royal meal consisting of “dal tadka” and “egg bhurji”.Belive me nothing feels better than a large burp after a good meal, So after giving ourselves some nice sounds we used to head towards the bedroom After all one does get tired after whole day’s sleep and needs some restJ.
So this was our whole day’s activities on Sundays in our university days, and in week days also we could not get up before 10 0 clock, thanks to Sukha who had pasted a very thick black paper which used to fight the sun rays with a dedication equivalent to Indian soldiers.
So all in all I love sleeping till late hours and used to get lots of rebuking from my dad for it, but salute my dedication towards my sleep, never gave up and never woke up.
But then after said and done once in my university days my sleep had suffered from somebody’s “Nazar” and I had tough time with insomnia>I could not sleep even if I wanted to, those were very bad days.So I ll provide some tips here to fight insomnia if somebody is suffering from it:
Do’s
1) Do some physical workout.
2) Drink Luke warm milk before sleeping
3) Read a book. The more bore the book the faster you will fall asleep.
4) Take a bath in Luke warm water

Don’ts
1) Do not smoke before sleeping
2) Do not drink alcohol, tea coffee. All these are stimulants
3) Do not switch on the TV if you are not getting sleep.

Although I have typed the whole thing in one week, even then one does get tired,so I guess now I will improve my memory and take a nap.

Happy sleeping

Ab Ke Sawan

2006-09-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

Rain is an important part of the water cycle. This is the cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation that distributes water all over the Earth. The sun heats the Earth causing water in the oceans and the ground to evaporate. This turns water into water vapor that becomes part of the atmosphere. Next, the water vapor cools and condenses to form clouds. When the water droplets inside the cloud get big and heavy, they fall. That's precipitation, and depending on the temperature, it falls as rain, sleet, snow, or hail. Water that falls to the earth soaks into the ground and feeds lakes and streams. The cycle starts all over again with evaporation of water from the ground and oceans…Okay man!!! Now cut the crap and tell us what do really wanna talk about here.

Me, being a believer love every thing that god gives me (Though I never stop complainingJ), But rains, I just love them. Rains generally do pour when everybody just fed up with the scorching heat, and when it starts to pour WOW!!! The feeling is just amazing.

whenever I hear Jagjit Singh and Chitra Singh’s ghazal”Who kagaz ki kashti”, I feel I could get those days back Every body has some sweet and some sour memories linked with rain and I am no exception. The dark side of my memories is the only thing that I had to suffer from a flood when I was a kid. We were on the roof top for three days but luckily we had enough things to eat and drinking water too, But the smell and the pain of cleaning everything and that was horrible and thank god the material loss also wasn’t too much as my dad had acted pro actively and we had removed most of the goods.

But then it is all part and parcel of life. Rain brings back to my memory another incident, though it is not meant to funny but I somehow find it funny. It was during my exam days, I don’t remember exactly which standard, it was raining cats and dogs and the auto wala had broken down his auto in the rain and could not come. So I decided to go on my bicycle to take the exam. As it was raining heavily and there was almost knee level water in the streets. Something hit my bicycle and I fell down. Now I was standing there all drenched in the dirty water and not able to decide what to do. My heart was saying that to hell with exam enjoy the rain and go back home, but then exam had to be taken and I did not have time to go back home. Change clothes and come back. So I decided to go to school like that only. I reached the hall some 15 minutes late. Teachers were also quite surprised to see me in that condition. But I somehow sat and took the examination that way only and luckily did pass also J

I can never forget the stupid skidding stunts I used to do in my childhood while bathing in the rain, an always left with some bruises or marks of that to keep me reminding of my stupidity, but I never stopped them. And who can forget when in the evenings the current use to go due to evening and mom used to make pakoras and tea. I can bet the taste can put Mc Donald’s and all to shame. The whole family used to sit and chat and enjoy. Those were the golden days.

Even now when it rains I try not any miss any chance of getting me drenched in the rain. When the first drop of rain falls on me a smile comes automatically to my face and I start singing “Ab ke sawan aise barse”

I love you god for rains and everything else that you shower on us.

Bullet350-The Dream Machine

2006-09-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

You go to a mall; you like two shirts blue and light blue, get confused which one to buy. You to and ice cream parlor, again there is a confusion black currant or chocolate chips. Has it ever happened to you? Happens to me all the time. I am generally a confused a personality but one thing I was pretty sure about was that one day I will have that thumping machine, The Royal Enfield Bullet 350.Finally the day came this year. I thought that I would gift myself my dream machine.

I come from a place (Punjab) where there is a tacit understanding that Punjabis and the BULL are made for each other. I also had a same kind of longing since the time I started riding my bicycle. My first motorized vehicle was Hero Puch.My sister had it and I was always more than eager to do any work for her which involved a trip on the Puch to the market. Then I got my hands laid on my brother’s Vespa Scooter and by that time I was pretty okay with riding a two wheeler.

Then I came to Hyderabad and saw there were no Bulls here. I used to miss that thump here. In the start of my job did not have enough moolah to go for my machine and a little later started to think that I ll get one more myself when I shift back again to my place.

Within one year I could see some BULLs setting the road on fire. My longing again got aroused and now I was a going a little crazy. Wherever I used to see a Bullet, I would follow it just to hear the thump and sometimes even got away from my way to keep hearing it. By the way did I mention that in the mean time I had got my friend’s old Suzuki Samurai?

Now I thought that it was more than enough and I deserved the best. But the problem was that I din have money in my hand…thanks to my greed and stock market ;-), But I had to buy that machine this time for my Birthday so I decided to go for getting it financed, but one of friends had cash in his hand and offered to lend it to me. So things were going the right way.

On 23^rd of august 2006 I went to the Royal Enfield showroom just to talk to the guy over there and have a look at the BULL. The Moment I entered the showroom my eyes were fixed on the black Standard 350 Model, while talking to the owner also I could not keep my eyes of f that black beauty. I had initially planned to buy it on 25^th august (it is my birthday) but could not resist myself and decided that I ll buy it on 24^th itself.23^rd night was probably the longest night of my life, only I know how did I pass it.

Then on 24^th evening I went and rode my dream machine back to my office. I was feeling on 7^th heaven. The whole night on 24^th the phatt phatt phatt was sounding and resounding in my head whole night.

I am a kind of guy who thought that cleaning anything or your room is a sheer waste of time and energy, but can you believe the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is go and clean my bull. Now I can see the dirt in my room to and do some efforts to clear it ;-)

Riding the BULL Is a wonderful experience. It feels as if the road belongs to you.Royal Enfield is not just a bike but a way of life.

Keep Thumping