I don wanna fade away

home again!!! :) yup, m back home.. away from my co, away from my current workplace, away from that beautiful yet not-very-appealing dreamworld.
Yes, when I joined my campus-placed-company, it literally looked like I was picked up from home and thrown into a dreamworld. Everything in the campus looked so neat n tidy, with beautifully architected buildings, lush green lawns, a poky-dome-shaped-multiplex, quite luxurious hostel rooms, hmmmm :) it was just WOW!
Mom was the happiest, and I was indeed very glad that she saw this.. The Beautiful Infosys Campus @ Mysore.. because of me ;) ;) ;) lol.

Then they allocated me a pc, scheduled all my days for 4 hectic months which they call "training", loaded me with springs of god-knows-what modules, do-or-die tests, and heaped compre(s).. (I barely managed to keep the nights, and my Sundays/Holidays to myself)..

In the process, I forgot myself, rather found a new self, missed my gang of friends, made some new, met weird people, acted weird at times, observed their reactions, talked so much less, and Lots on the phone (hehe, they call me "infy BPO"), Lost touch with most things I used to be busy with, Lost my interests, adapted some others. Attended my Best Friend's Wedding, and missed another!
Life looks different now, hopefully I don't differ from myself.

Oh ya, m learning to take leave, and it's so much fun! You go running home, all excited, while your colleagues drag themselves to the workplace, hehe.. ;)

Shopped heavily this week, and there's still to shop for quiet a few..
Have to save now, for there could arise a need, totally new!!

An sms from my friend says, "Wassup? Enjoying lots, right?"
I'm replying, "M just relaxing at home right now.. Catching up with one of the things I love.. writing :)"

Curry leaves

All my classmates gathered for a class photo @ the lib entrance. Then, our valedictory_function()-cum-official_farewell began… It began..with an invocation song. The hostesses uttered some not-so-famous quotes appropriate for the closing ceremony of the dept association. Our staff coordinator listed out the activities of least interest carried out during the year. Princi spoke for more than 20 mins. He loves to speak. That even makes the function long enough to be noticed. The already known winners received their (kind-off) delayed certificates. A few clapped and got bored. Few others clapped just to have the fun of hearing the clapping sound. Few “prejudiced” awards were given to selected outgoing students. Literally, everyone was bugged up. Sitting like dummies, without the power to raise a voice (neither in protest nor praise…) but I was busy. Busy wondering whether what I had prepared to speak as feedback would be appropriate. Should I or should I not say what I wanted to say?

I wanted to speak. I wanted and this was a moment long awaited – 2yrs! And so I went up the stage n spoke, just because of those few good people whom we appreciate in the dept. I was shivering (a bit) wondering how it’d be. And it was fun! Absolute fun and I can happily say, it was the best part of the function that day! Big shouts for those who deserved, as I took their names, and chilled silence for those who didn’t. We all were happy. Some grateful. Everyone appreciated and I was satisfied. And..for that one day, princi knew me :P

It was like a different refreshing flavour..like the one produced by adding curry leaves to the garnish! :) lovely!

Excerpts from mobile dairy:

21st May 2009 (evening):
With an incomplete project in one hand and clothing for 3 days in another, we students are being taken- for a proj competition. lol... looks like d dept is making up for all its tortures in d past semesters by taking us for a compulsory picnic :)

We’r on our way to Hassan. After all d hotch-potch at home, of attempting to study for ia n not attending it, instead being taken on this trip, n hurriedly completing some parts of the project while learning a lot of new things so quickly, n now d cool ride.. feels gr8!
Things are turning out to be exactly opposite.. had thought it’d be very hot, but it rained all night..n d lone driver had a tough time. Its 24 hrs since he woke up, n 13 hrs since he started driving. Journeys like these keep me awake these days.. though I dozed off a few times with d sound of d heavy downpour last night. And since 6am d scenes outside have been eye cooling. We even took a wrong route with a lake on one side n a railway track on another, n came back, but it was d most beautiful route till now. Most wrong routes are often d most beautiful n adventurous ones, n I love them :) They’ll come for a very short time but leave behind memories for a lifetime. Later today will be reg n resting day. Will update later :) chao! Gudde!

22nd May 2009 (night):
Had a tiring day…along with d enjoyment of being with classmates.. Its fun to stay together like this…like, in a hostel…for a short time! Learn co-ordination… jus for those 2 days…while d thought might remain for abt a week :P Doing daily daily chores together scares off laziness coz otherwise u are sure of not getting a bathroom…in time, now warm water, or, not even plain water for that matter. Oops, need to wake up early tomo for this.. but m planning to be at leasure. For a change, hanji is seeming calm. It’s midnight n everyone is sleeping. They even seemed to be sleeping during d journey! M still here(awake), though I was awake in the bus too. But now I can see 2 mobiles, n even d words m typing are looking double! Guess I need rest :) good night.

23rd May 2009 (night):
I wanna go home!

24th May 2009: (nothing written in mobile diary.. I was jus happy, I’d be going home.. hehehe. And sir took us for a 1 hr tour to halebidu :) this was good, compulsory picnic from d dept :)

Terrace - 2.

It was a cool breezy evening. He was practicing helicopter rides and stuff. She stayed in the same area where he and his fellow fauji trainees were getting trained. He asked her to come up on the terrace. She guessed he’d be in that copter, flying above. She ran upstairs. The copter took 2 rounds. No signs of any human traces, no hand-wave, nothing. She knew they took turns while flying. After some time, when she was a lil bored and let-down, but still waiting on the top, she saw something flying out of the copter. It was a cloth. He held out a flag kind-off thing with “***, I love you a lot” written on it. She was thrilled, shy, scared, over-joyed. She had mixed feelings. And the flag flew with the copter all round that city area. Children screamed on top of their voices, hoping they’d be heard by the flyer. And others just watched with wonder. Wow! :)

Terrace

The sun is set. The night has dawned. The breeze is getting cooler. The plants are thirsty. She waters them, they smile. They move with the breeze and say, thank you. Lights appear in houses – doors, windows and cracked walls shine bright, and rays come out into the open spaces. The road echoes heavy sounds of vehicles – small ‘n big – all of them want to make noise, a sound which all of us are used to, now! A few vehicles turn home – to rest n find some peace, while she strolls to and fro from the water tank to the planted pots. It is all wet now, with water, cooling the atmosphere even more. It’s lovely!

A few white clouds move in the sky, blurring her sight to the twinkling stars, but the moon hasn’t come yet. She wants to talk to him… She wants to tell him everything – all that happened during the day – incidents, thoughts and feelings. She wants to send messages to her bestest friend, but the messenger, the moon, is not there, not yet!

When he comes, he shines brightly, but not alone; his friends, the stars are all there, with him. They all make the sky look beautiful. She wishes he (her bestest friend) was here. Then, they’d both sit together n may be talk, may be say nothing, just enjoy the company of each other. And in the moon-lit night, they’d look into each other’s eyes and speak volumes, not found in any book of any library.

Then, he’d say to her, you are so beautiful.. and Ah! That’s it. Her ears would shut, at that very moment – shut to every other sound from the surrounding, only to hear him. She’d find him beautiful too and so be there totally with all senses awakened. And all these would have just one input source - he, her bestest friend.
Time would cease while beautiful moments would be made. They’d know nothing but the presence of each other and it’d be the best feeling ever. That’d make life worth living and dying for!

ek pal ke liye hi sahi, ghadiya hamko mili makhmali pyar ki, iss ek pal ko jee le zara..
phir kya ho kya khabar, dekha hain kisne kal, aa raat rok le, phir ho na jaaye sehar

My Best Friend’s Wedding – 1.

It was time for the wedding bells to ring for the first girl in our group of super seven. Wow! We were excited, but I tell you.. when I seriously thought about it, I was scared. She met him, they became friends, and profited reliance communications for quiet a few months:) They kept visiting each other’s places everytime they could, not letting any opportunity go by. Then their marriage date was fixed and my dear friend kept herself busy throughout the day, everyday, with lots of shopping and other prep for her D-day (And of-course with reliance)

Now our gang had got a chance to get together again.. n none wanted to miss out this chance. All of us waited excitedly. Nivi madam had started planning well, 3 months in advance and I would say to her.. its still December Nivi.. long time to go.. n we are not the ones getting married to our respective hubbies :P (had to extend the sentence ‘coz dostana has affected people’s minds A LOT)

Finally the day came, four of us were to travel together with the bride’s cousins n relatives, n catch up with another friend at the destination. One of our gang members couldn’t come ‘coz of work n we.. hell, missed her soo much:) The travel was good, we caught the last seat in the bus n made a hell lot of noise. Got some good n mocking expressions too.. ‘coz when we sang, we entertained the kids in the bus, but later.. one uncle plugged his ears with ear-phones. God! That was so rude:) still we had a good laugh, n that was good. Oh yes.. how could I forget.. The best song was sung by shrado.. she was singing ye dil, deewana (from yes boss) in such a draggy way that Nivi had to shake her head vigorously to get shrado back to the actual tempo of the beats. Lol, this act was too good, simply unforgettable.

It suddenly started to drizzle n then came the rain for just a few minutes. I got my hands wet through the window:) n before we noticed two of them started dreaming.. n we, the other two (bekaar people), wanted to get them back mentally, with us! So we started teasing them.. n while they enjoyed it, we too had fun.. n then something happened, Nivi got angry on us:( guess we laughed instead of just smiling.. Sorry yaar Nivi.. Bhulado, bhulado wo batein purani jo dil ko satati rahi.. (now I don’t even know if this song is appropriate, but am singing it for you, ok?..ok.)

If it wasn’t for these my friends, there was one thing I would never forget in my entire lifetime (only while attending functions), and that was.. forgotting my sandals at home. I was wearing shoes while traveling n Prags was imagining me wearing shoes (with socks of-course) on the saree/chudi/whatever-a-girl-can-wear-for-a-marraige-other-than-jeans:D All I could do was.. stare at my shoes n wonder why they looked the way they looked. Well, I have no comments here, just a big ThankQ for the borrowed sandals, hehe.. but size matters you see.. n I can proudly say WE FIT PRETTY WELL INTO EACH OTHER’S SHOES :D

Then, we finally reached the destination n enjoyed a very comfortable stay at the hotel. The bride looked simply beautiful, like a doll, in all functions, even while missing on most of her sleep continuously for those 2 days. I was remembering scenes from mythological tele-serials.. ‘coz she looked like one of those actresses.. n we just kept looking at her constantly. Devi-ji was stunning, excited, n was enjoying every moment. I haven’t, n will never see a bride like this. Bhari!!!

Then the next day, we stayed back while all others left to their homes. We did some ultimate shopping with juhi n made a new friend.. sada. :) Now we can travel often to Pune;)  Every moment in the hot sunny day, the music n drousy people in the mall.. were nice.. n our eating plans flopped, we got full too soon, couldn’t eat even one khulcha easily!!

After shopping we had a nice dinner at shrad’s uncle’s house, n left Pune to Belgaum.. it was a horrifying bus.. lol.. Many scary things happened.. Broken glass window next to me, the urge to talk all time, shhhh from one ajja-ajji, shifting seats, touching someone who was sleeping on the last seat.. by mistake, sleepy people looking like dead bodies, n then.. one stupid fellow from behind looking at us or the open window next to me.. n my expressions as I was narrating his movements to Prags.. Ah! This was something different, I was really scared, for the first time.. that’s why we din sleep all night.. kept talking.. n indeed it was a wonderful chat:)

All said and done about our Pune trip, We’r waiting for the next marriage now.. ;) isn’t it girls?

It pricks sometimes..

Achievements.. we get them, and then comes the celebration part. We think of everyone who could share that joy with us. First come the people immediately beside us at the time we hear that delightful news, then come our family n friends, with whom we share the laughter, fun, excitement, thrill.. jumping around, spreading smiles with twinkling eyes.. We immediately message the ones far away and they reply so instantly that we don’t have enough time to hold all those moments together.. we laugh and laugh, for few minutes with each one, on every call.

And then we think of our colleagues, our teachers.. but little do we know at that moment how little they’ll get involved in that joy. We excitedly go ahead the next day.. to meet them.. and share with them.. that joy for which we had waited for so long.. and finally when we meet them, nothing much happens! Nothing but an expression of outward “wow” or “oh, that’s good” and a plain dry smile:! And my happy balloon, which had reached the moon, starts to leave the air out from a tiny hole sometimes, and sometimes from a big one.

Then I think of things that matter most, things that happened way back at home, things that added so much joy to that achievement few hours ago, and things that now prick my balloon of joy! For here, there’ll always be better people, with better grades than me. People who’ll compare our grades, and people who’ll not even bother to ask.. I suddenly become invisible to them in the presence of my mates with better grades. That’s when it pricks. But I don’t bother, for I remember my little happy community of happy “frenz” with whom I’ve shared that bundle of joy already.. and a few more whom I now meet. Then I patch up the hole and blow the balloon again. And then it flies constantly, without interruption, there.. high up in the air.. :)

Still Waiting!!!

Its 14^th Feb today. We’r coming close to celebrating our first anniversary, which falls on 26^th March. That was the day we selected each other, to be together in the years to come. It was the only day we met. And since then am waiting, waiting for your official response, because that is the only way we can be together. I know you’ll need me because I’ll do everything possible for you, but actually, I need you more than that, a reason for my earning. You’ll be the reason for most of my busy days in the future. You’ll be the one with whom I’ll spend most part of my days. Yes you, only you. And here I am, still waiting for your response. When will you call me? When will you mail me? Am waiting, and you know it. Dear HRs, Do reply, at the earliest.

Btw: one good news.. I got 70% exact, for the first time in many recent years.. and I am shocked. It’s my first FCD, lol.

Everyone is very happy on this my valentine’s day gift ;) from my varsity.

Thank you Balaji baba (our evaluation registrar) :P and thank you Khincha babaji :) even if you are not involved in me getting this.

Thanks to God, well-wishers and FRIENDS :) love you all.. Cheers! booozzz as much as you want, i won't say a word! lol..

Happy Valentine's Day :)

Booozzed

We were four of us that day.. a nice lazy evening, the mood to do nothing, just lingering around in the room.. when there was a power cut. Ah! So then we were again the four of us, with a couple of lighted candles.. in an even more lazy atmosphere. One of us climbed up the stairs to the terrace, and Wo!.. found a big bright light glowing for the entire city – the moon, it was. He called out to her (who was still with us, in the candle-lit room) ‘Hey! Come up, the moonlight is beautiful out here’. She lazily said ‘ya, ok’, moved to the other side and continued to lie on the bed. He called out again.. ‘Hey! Come up..’. I said, ‘Wow! He’s calling you in the moonlight.. go na..’ she smiled but stayed in her place. He called out again.. to all three of us.. ‘Come on guys, come up.. and get that bottle along.. from the fridge.. and get three glasses also’. I knew who would run to the fridge.. the still-unknown person in this post.. the fourth person, who till now laid silent and still on her couch, and now on hearing the orders ran to the fridge. For the one who would get the things together, would get to drink from the bottle. It was a made-up rule, so to say.

Within three minutes, we four were lying on a mat, on the terrace, looking at the stars, talking whatever.. I don’t clearly remember, and sipping from the glasses. For the first time I felt my head go round.. a bit.. may be I took fairly big sips.. and for the first time my glass was empty before any of the other’s! All were shocked, but that didn’t matter any longer.. everyone was in their own world! You don’t expect me to say something more, do you?

Date:

We go out with someone to.. may be a restaurant, a museum or a theater or just be together and talk about each other, about ourselves, our likes and dislikes, our interests! How many times have we done that kind of talking? Many times?.. A few times?.. At-least at sometime?

One friend said.. Dates - need not be planned. They could just happen. (The other day one of my classmates came up to me and spoke about his fantasy. He showed me his drawings (in his class-work book) - an imaginary world that he had created and narrated a story. It had monsters ‘n heroes, guns ‘n gadgets, speed ‘n accuracy, fire ‘n flowers and someone beautiful, that could be called a boy’s fairy-tale..? You just can’t stop smiling at something like that. But I had to come out of that story and concentrate, for we had internal test in an hour. Huh! We cannot change the internal dates)

Other said.. Well, dates could be spontaneous but they need a ‘lil planning. (It was that day when she was angry over a mischievous act and finally decided to speak out. So she called up this friend of hers and shouted.. whatever she felt like.. without thinking much. When you don’t understand anything, you tend to do as the other says. It was then that things fell into place, at-least it seemed so. Such days are rarely forgotten)

Another said.. Dates - We do it online these days. (Chatting through the little windows, sharing thoughts and feelings with people far away.. and not saying a word to the person next to us.. yeah, the one right beside us. Uh! What game are we playing?)

I think I should stop here.

Re-Union

Many re-unions happening around here.. I found them to be of three types – 1. A school/college re-union where all batches meet, and u can see lots of faces, most of which will be unknown, and you’ll end up hanging around with your chosen group of few with whom you had decided to attend that re-union! Lol, So what difference did you make by attending it?

2. A class-re-union where the entire or most of your classmates meet-up and you spend some good time meeting people, recollecting forgotten faces and enjoying with them and finally getting re-connected with contact numbers, work/home addresses, etc including the discussion.. Are you on orkut? Kool, I’ll add you there. Or the lazier ones might say Add me! Anyways, fewer the better.

Meeting people after a long time is usually surprising, when they come along with their kids (a 6yr old, and another 2 ;) lol, that's when they leave you speechless, if it's too much for you to digest. That's not the case with my friends, not as yet.

And 3. Your group-re-union of intimate friends with whom you are always in contact and still wait excitedly to meet them and finally when you see them in front of you, happy eyes shed tears of joy (if not at the beginning at least at the end! ;) When with them you forget about time, and you just can’t stop talking even though you had talked the last night, or you talk nothing but still enjoy the silent conversation. Then, life simply seems worth living :)

Neat Untidy

My city is neatly lit up like as if in celebration of a wedding of some royal personality. All buildings and pathways along with the dividers of the roads shine with glowing bulbs using the same electricity that was saved by real long hours of power-cut throughout the city, leave alone the extension and rural areas. And mind you, we bared it for weeks while our electricity producers sold it to the neighbouring states. All the current decoration is just an outward show of marking the presence of our very own elected state cabinet in the city. They are here for a week to participate in the sessions of the legislative council. They are the ones who are supposed to take care of us – voters and local residents.

So how do we cast our vote? – On the basis of our voter ID cards. Last month there was a call for the required photographs of those who did not have their voter ID's. I was among one of them. My name was in the list already, but the member in-charge couldn't find it. I knew my name had to bein the list because during the last elections I had used my college ID and voted. Now am not so insane to imagine doing such a serious thing and claim it to be real. But the in-charge smiled at me (must have laughed in his heart) and gave me a new form to fill – form-no-6, so that they could add my name to the voter's list. God! Who will listen to this kid I thought after wasteful persuasion, took that form-no-6 and left. The next day I took my dad along, who found my name jumbled up in some other residential ward's list. Then they quietly took my photograph for the same. If it wasn't for my dad, I would have filled up the form again to see my name appear twice in the voter's list in the next elections. No wonder there's so much of invalidity with voter lists in our country. Regarding incorrect information I remember there was a priest having a beard (even in his voter ID photograph) whose gender was termed female in the same card. Funny mistakes, is all I can say. And today what are they doing with the ongoing sessions in our city? – enjoying the facilities and the attention provided, moving around the city during session hours, causing traffic diversions and trouble to local public.

Though, I must mention the notable improvement in the attitude of policemen especially the traffic police, who are on their toes - day and night. The usual roads with potholes are now looking better than never before, with radium lights and well directed markings. All government offices are working 24 hours a day. The poor villages display painted walls of all houses (even painted taps) in one single uniform colour to welcome the visiting ministers with a clean look that was never seen before.

Whatever all this means, to us localites it just brings a thought, that hopefully they will discuss on some implement-able strategies for the city's development, which would make a noticeable difference in the near future. Even though we know that this neat looking city will soon turn to be untidy as before, there is always the urge to expect the unexpected.

Whom are you messaging?

“Who is that messaging you so late in the night?” Mind you, it was just a while past 11:15 pm.

Arey yaar, you just can’t stop yourself from being amused on reading a joke-sms. You tend to smile, usually alone – simply because the others around don’t know about the joke. Butterflies start fluttering in your stomach and you giggle.. by yourself, in a very controlled manner, yet displaying external signs of your amusement to the others around.

Things get worse if you just can’t read out the joke, aloud. You quickly want to share it with someone and select the ‘forward’ option and there it goes..

Within no time.. rather, at an unexpected time.. you hear mom’s voice..

“Who is that messaging you so late in the night?”

You hear.. “Who is that still awake?”

You to mom – “Chill mom! Am just forwarding, not chatting.”

You to yourself – mom! Its just past 11. Don’t expect everyone to go to sleep so early. Am the only one, ********, of that kind. The world is out there, totally awake and alive!

Just then you get a chat-sms – a comment, probably, on that joke u just forwarded. And you are in a fix of mixed emotions. Expressions dont know what to say.

Yes, your heart jumps, eager to continue the chat. But first your eyes look at mom’s whereabouts, the fingers waiting desperately to start playing on the keypad.

If the field is clear, you enjoy the singles.. else, grumble on your invisible handicap! : )

The proposal

Ah! It was a wonderful day. Princess and her friends were together again (at another bachelor’s B’day party), talking out through long hours and having fun. They spoke, spoke and spoke. Discussions that lead to no conclusion are always the favourite topics among guys, coz they love debating with girls on the silliest topic on earth. Bla bla bla.. it went on.. They began speaking about relationships, proposals, etc.. Then they made pairs/groups and enacted some funny acts.. (Now, the dialog between Princess and her friend while they were asked to enact the proposal scene..)

“If I were your crush, how would you propose me?”, Princess asked.

“I’d do anything that u’d want me to do for you..”, he said.

“Anything?”

“Yes..”

“Ok, then.. Would you sing for me?”

“Sure..” he said and bent one knee, as-if ready for the show..

“What would you sing?”

“Anything that u’d like..”

“I like Christmas carols.”

All eyebrows up! Eyeballs turning left and right.. Bursts of laughter surrounded us for a really long time. It was fun!

: )