when my bus breaks down at midnight

me: Juhi,

u free or busy?

i'll tell a story

Juhi: ya tell...

me: i planned for a week long holiday

there was only one seat left in only one good volvo bus... which we usually take... i booked it....

all others went by state transport

and.. my bus breaks down at the starting point itself

at midnite they tell us, they cant repair it!!!

Juhi: hehehhhe

:-)

me: n i'm in sleepy mode

i come out.. only to see him returning the ticket amount to all passengers

wt could i have done?

Juhi: wat???

Juhi: wat u did then re

u got bus later or no

me: no bus

Juhi: then wat

???????????????

me: talked to a young lady.. asking wt was happening

Juhi: how u came then

me: she was with her hubby...

they were planning to book an innova.... along with 3 other youngsters... all planning to go to goa

she said i cud join them

Juhi: ohhhhh....

then u came with them??

me: and i said ok........ wtever the cost may be :P

taking such decisions in sleep was far easier

:)

Juhi: then

me: then i came with them

Juhi: hmmmm....

me: hehee..

Juhi: great journey.... memorable one na....

me: donno how i decided this.. since i did not know any one of them..

ya memorable

:)

Juhi: ya....

actually risky na

me: add to it... we got a sleepy driver who was so slow...

Juhi: the people where good so ok

me: this was a bigger risk :P which we got to know only after a lil bit of travel.

i introduced a lil bit of bgm to them ;-) feels like an ambassador now ;-)

Juhi: hehehe :D

Juhi: otherwise it would be a very very very very very wrong decision...

me: ya.. they were like me only.. so ok :)

but.. only other option was to go back home

n next day.. bus wud be full again... + match!!!

wt wud i do alone at home

my happy holiday wud go tie tie fish

at start oly :P

Juhi: hmmmm... but next time onward dont do like this....

ok

me: hmm.. :)

hopefully

Juhi: no make it sure....

b'coz its too risky....

anyways u r home now... so enjoy...

:-)

saw the match or no??

me: yea

HEY... i called up dad tht time only.. and told.. wt i was doing.

he knew it all.

Juhi: hmmm

hehehe.... did one work right....

me: the group was nice

Juhi: :-)

good

me: hmm.. lucky

Juhi: ya very lucky...

me: hehee

all such deadly things happen to me... and i jus sail through them swiftly, knowing nothing, jus observing.. :P

Juhi: hehehhehehe :-) :D

daring baaz gal :D

me: lol, no re.. normally i keep myself very safe... doin all such faltugiri like... coming home early, booking tickets in advance...

and i see others NOT doin this...... but i only get into such hell like situations :P

Juhi: but it is not all the time na...

some times...

me: ya

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 :)"

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?

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 :)

on our Visit to the cement factory

We had been to visit my friend’s cement factory.. one of the much awaited things to do. Had thought thought ’n thought, said said ’n said, but nothing was done in this case, for semesters.. until yesterday. So.. gathered all friends together and made the day totally ours.

We left home early in the morning, but started the actual journey out of the city a bit late.. a lil bit. Similar was the case while coming back. And that happened because of unmentionable reasons. Unmentionable because.. it’s about the rare expertise girls have in finding and following routes. Oh! Before you think otherwise, let me tell you.. we’r really good at this, better than most most most others :) And such things happen only because we want to stay connected, ’n saath-saath, so to say.

On-the-way-rides were fun both the times.. even with the normal chatting, music, and the country-side views.. and the not so normal search-the-right-ways. This becomes a vital issue when u don’t know where the shortcut turn is and are trying to find it in dark evenings. Add to it.. getting caught in the mini traffic jam.. ’n thus becoming a lil restless. But how else do u learn?.. learn to discover, use read the notice boards meant to guide travelers, get out of the situation ’n feel a sense of accomplishment, and.. learn to listen! So, such things must happen. What’s the fun if u go the right way always.. isn't it? (we should sometimes go to the left also;)

Btw: I missed out something.. my driving session:

On our way back home, I was asked to hold the steering wheel for a while, kind-of an open invitation to me to try my hand at driving for the very 1^st time.. wow!!.. I caught it tight at first.. trying to understand the movements.. (of the wheels that I couldn’t see.. and the curves of the road that didn’t actually move).. and the moment I stopped trying to understand.. I instantly, fell in love with it! With a wonderful guide, teacher, friend on the hot seat, I did not have the slightest hesitation of what I was doing. Neither did I have to accelerate, nor apply the breaks, nor do anything with the clutch. While I was enjoying this.. there were 4 of them on the back seat.. on full alert (coz the speed was nearly 100) Hehe, they, who were till that moment relaxing, almost tired and half asleep, were now.. I can say.. on their toes, ready to scream at any moment. But they got no chance.. instead they they too began to enjoy the ride..(I thought so, because of the pictures taken at that moment). So now I feel.. aa.. well.. Confident, that I too can someday take anyone for a wonderful ride on the country side.. :)

’n ya, the cement factory was.. like a cement factory.. well managed, out of the city, with efficient labourers ’n good machinery to produce good product, comfortable guest rooms, real good cooks, and a jhoola :)
As for the factory’s cement processing info, any chemistry book would give u the details. That’s why I did not mention it. Don’t mind ok.. ;)

Sirsi Talk (Season -2)

[Written on public demand ;)... or call it the panch-request(read as: punch-request)... after reading Season-1]

We again went on a trip to Sirsi this holiday season. This time.. with the complete hum-panch group, as compared to the trio of season-1. While going, we were a little impatient to finish-up with the journey. The bus was noisy. This time.. the plane, on the way to Hubli, had already taken off, but, it was moving pretty slowly, to our surprise. And the nine Bahubali statues still lie there, but with little maintenance. Also,every town now, I guess, has this new fashion of possessing a new, meagerly-used bus stand along with the rushy-pushy old one.

This time our stay was divided. One night in this house, and another night in the other. What to do.. two families, two homes, two nights, requests/demands from both sides, and our convenience! :D
Our days were on roaming - visiting, repeating some journeys along with a few new ones, recalling..was like revising memories of season-1.., still making it a new experience as we panchams were together. We enjoyed with everyone, be it at home, out, dining table, bus, bed or bathroom! :P

These days were like.. made to fulfill our wishes.. wow! Felt so good, and satisfied as we saw them happening one by one. The visit to the rocky waters, and the amazing field-like view of the flowers in the nursery.. were among those special wishes. This time we had been to the Krushi Mela, organized by ‘some’ organization, in favour of the local farmers. They had a beautiful show set up for everyone to enjoy. The flower nursery was also a part of this exhibition. In the centre of the ground was a live musical, dance, comic show going on. This was surrounded by stalls.. of all kinds. I’ll talk about my favourite few.. The silkworm stall displayed the entire life cycle and the method of silk production with real keedas(silkworms). It seems that a single worm produces almost 1000 meters long silk thread. Rich keedas, aren’t they? Other wonderful things were the tents.. skillfully decorated, one with paddy, another with jackfruits, another with coconuts.. of all types.. and another with areca-nuts... That was one amazing style we saw for the first time. Also, the trees there were beautifully lit with lampshades, side-lamps and other small bulbs. It gave a really pleasing sight in presence of the single-lingual crowd that I don’t like. Thus distracting me and giving a good feeling of having attended the display. (Btw: crowd is what I don’t like and single-lingual speech is what I don’t hate;) They also had handicrafts made of cane, jute and wood. Another interesting thing was.. the natural plate making factory – a bull tied to a machine took rounds continuously while the machine produced dry, leafy, strong-enough food-plates. Wonder how the bull didn’t seem to feel dizzy! :-?

The next day.. we had the most wanted thing to do.. trip to Yana :)
Hired a vehicle and fled off to the rocks, all excited! It was the ghat section. But no dizzy-bizzy feeling.. all were into the singing mood, enjoying the ride and the ghaty scenary. To our surprise, uncle was taking a video; and we did not know it was our’s until we saw it at home later that night.. mast video bana hai, comedy knows no bounds in there! :D
Ok!! so.. after completing the long journey.. we began our trek towards the yana rocks. The walk was good.. enjoyable, amidst thick trees and a narrow pathway. Soon we heard the sound of water flowing.. though we saw it only a few times, it generated a feeling of ‘wow!’ from within. After the walk, there were big, uncomfortable steps to climb. But the sight of the huge, cracky-looking rocks and the exitement to reach them finally, was enough to get us moving. It seems that the continuously flowing water has made a Shiv-linga.. on the rock, and so they have made a temple over there. And that was the reason for us to go over.. round the temple, on rocky, amazingly beautiful pathways.. bare-footed. Later we got nicely roasted on foot, because this place is a manganese storehouse/ore. So imagine how hot the mud would be. Ah! We heard lots of screams and shouts. We climbed everywhere possible, and relaxed in the marvelous scenery. Photo sessions were continuously going on. Unmentionable Comics happened at the tap-waters. We were told that there are 61 such rocks in the entire forest area, but we saw only two -huge ones.

And then, when we did not want to get out of there.. hunger was the key.. we went to Honnavar, got our stomachs over-full and left to see the Sunset at Murudeshwar.. another wish from season-1 fulfilled here. No jatra this time.. I was heartily glad :) wow! but the beach was full:( ~~lovely waves though :)
And as it was just a few minutes to sunset.. we saw masses of people.. don’t really know if they were young, old or kiddos.. all being drawn towards the Sunset Point. It was indeed a worth watch, with all the effort rewarded instantly. (Not like our stupid exams, with delayed unsatisfied results). The Sun must be feeling so precious, so much loved, that so many people flock to see him, time and again.. Everyday.. at different places. Lucky he.. enjoy!!.. both he and we, the Showman and the Audience :D

Then next day we came back home.. that’s it. But the journey was funnily enjoyable. Playing background vocal music for the fellow travelers, we sure made their journey memorable, but the happier ones were we. One fellow was getting a little restless.. felt like giving him one box on his face.. but he behaved himself well in advance. At lunch time.. we irritated the conductor.. went to buy biscuits and he had to wait for 1 full minute extra. There was no lunch, but we played food-antakshiri.. this is one nice game, playable anywhere, anytime, with anyone. We reached one-n-half hour early and that was indeed a very pleasing end of the journey :)

vacating the mind of vacation thoughts

Yeh hawa, kehti hai kya, samjho, meri jaana, meri jaana...

This is the song I must have played more than 15-20 times in the past few days…just love to hear it, hum it, listen to it, utter it and that’s it…I said…that’s it!

THAT’S IT echoed somewhere in the back of my mind. But there it was, on my lips…I was singing it again! :)

[smiling]…dil kya kare jab kisiko..

Pata nahi kyun…but the state of my mind might just be the right reason for me to sing yeh hawa…an unsteady, wondering state of mind.

These holidays have been no different from the past ones…(the semester vacations received in bits, of which you can hardy relish a byte) and yet very different. It included every basic characteristic from each of its ancestors > some work that needed to be done like… cleaning the wardrobe, the book shelf etc. > taking a look at the messy room and attending to it > the unplanned trips…forming fond memories > irregular visits and meetings…that keep you involved for most part of the day and give you a feeling of WOW! I’VE DONE SOMETHING > the rain…yes, the lovely continuously pouring rain, which creates a pleasant atmosphere with the sound of every drop, cutting off all your meetings while it comes to meet the earth!! > and other times…really long ones…which leave you wondering as to what to do next…leave you with one big question mark…bigger than yourself, bigger than your world > and then a few efforts to write something that went in vain…which now I guess is undone :) And then there was some placement activity too.

A glass of water in this vessel and another in that. One, for the noodles she wanted, and the other for my tea. Ah! Chores apart..

So, here I was supposed to be enjoying my holidays and they continued…without ever stopping the search…the search for something that was missing, something that was making me anxious all the time.

Mama, I cry, she isn’t here. And by the time she comes, I’ll be fine.

To phir aaaoo...is the song running on tv and I decide to stop here…got-to go have the refreshing cup of tea :)

Sirsi Talk

Our trip to Sirsi began early that morning at about 8:30am. The journey was good, with our talks including topics about friends, reduced number of holidays, roads (remembered quite a bit of Civil Engg.), birds (peacocks) and Orkut too.

On the way we were astonished to see the air-plane move on its track...(along with us) and the Bahubali statues, close to Hubli. We also delivered a SIM-card on the way to a friend at Dharwad, which took some effort from the receiver missing us at the old bus-stand and then moving ahead to catch up at the new one. We did a bit of pet-pooja… munching some snacks. And then, singing throughout till the end of the journey was real ‘strain-buster’. So, we did not get very tired. With the two singers on my either side, I was indeed into the game complementing and supporting both of them. It was exciting.

We reached Sirsi in the afternoon at about 2:30pm. Lunch time :)

We had the typical ‘Sirsi food’ including sambar, tambli, hashi and appehuli daily. Early that evening we had been to see a few places within the town like Maarikamba Temple, Raghvendra Math and St. Anthony’s Church. The sunset there was awesome! We then had GM...t’was spicy n’ tasty... and sapota-shake and went back home.
The next morning we had the benne paper-dosa (the butter being optional), which was our morning break-fast almost everyday. Heading towards Sahastralinga, we travelled partly by tempo and partly by Rick. An uncle accompanied us there. Blessed by the Sharavati river it makes a nice water place for an enticing picnic. We seriously missed the other friends a lot. Took a few snaps...snaps se yaad aaya, I re-wound Pragati’s camera role. Oops! But then later told uncle and got it done well. Ah!

You know, the people there are so kind. Go to anybody's house and they'll serve you home-made banana chips. And every-one there has a fixed menu for the guest to choose from. It goes like this: “What would u like to have?
1) tea
2) coffee or
3) kashai (now, this new drink is ‘flavored milk’)”.

Coming back, later that afternoon we went to Banwasi. The Kadambas once ruled there. Hence there is this Madhukeshwara temple. The temple is built in the name of Lord Shiva with a honey coloured ‘Shiv-linga’ installed in the place of worship. It was built gradually over the centuries. There is a big chariot made of black rock which is taken in procession during the festival. A smart Nandi, about 10 feet tall, also, cut out of a rock, is seated in all its elegance in front of this temple looking at the Shiv-linga through it’s left eye, while looking at Goddess Parvati seated in the adjacent temple through it’s right. The pillars of the temple display images as should be seen though concave and convex lenses, partly, but both in the same curve of the pillar - A mark of great engineering work and architecture. We did Bharat-darshan too...because the Kadambas have collected statues as memoirs from all over India and installed in the surrounding area. The trees required for worship were planted in Pampa-vana, named after the great poet Pampa. The Varada river flowing though this place is a treat to the eyes and looks just like wallpaper on the PC.

The next day we got into an almost empty bus to Honnavar.
Singing along was so much fun as the only people alive, except the driver, were ‘we’!!! Others were simply waiting to reach their destination, I guess. There were lots of fruits being sold on the station like the local jumbo and some veggies. We stayed at Savitakka’s home (nivi’s aunt). The same day we visited the Karikanamma temple on the hill. The scenary there was wonderful. The view included the deciduous forests (on the mountains covering almost all the three sides visible), and the Arabian Sea at a distance giving a feast to the eyes. I seriously wished I had a handicam. Oh!!! for that. Then, getting into the cab again we moved ahead towards Idgunji, where residents told us that the Ganesh idol in the temple was installed by Narad-muni. Artistic handicrafts made of cane were being sold outside. We then headed towards the Murdeshwar. From quite a distance we could see the huge idol of Lord Shiva which is located near the temple. To our fate, it was the day of ‘jatra’ (festive day), which had dragged lots of devotees there and we had to walk enough though the crowd. This was just another reason for us to miss the sunset. These feelings were soon replaced by wonder and awe as we approached the Big Statue of Shiva. One of his arms is damaged, actually broken, due to lightening during the last rains. But there’s nothing to worry. It’s under construction:). There is a pillar made of real gold situated in front of the temple which is on one side of the statue, while on the other side, there are hotels. We saw an old couple seated outside in one of the balconies gazing at the majestic Shiva. The sunset point is supposed to be another scenic place.

The next day, we spent quite some time at home, enjoying auntie’s delicacies. Later that afternoon we drove to see the railway on the bridge. The picturesque river with small islands wasn’t getting out of our sight. We simply marveled at it. There is a road bridge also, of about 1km. At a short distance across the road bridge is the Kaserkod beach where we played and strolled-by for quite some time before moving on for a boat ride, on our way back home... Imagine 4 people seated on a single motor-bike. We surely were an amusement for the passers-by.

Next morn, there was a twist for all of us. We made an unexpected visit to Roopa’s house(@ Kumta) while going back to Sirsi. We sure made her happy. This was the cause for our ‘double breakfast’ that morning.

Nivi’s father’s ancestral home is in Goran-mane while her mother’s is at Jaji-mane. I’m sure you’ve not got these Kannada words:). Both of these are villages nearby Sirsi. People have made their homes close to the farms which are located on the mountains. Hence there was no network for our mobile. Though, there were basic facilities including electricity and a landline telephone connection.

Every family has a well, for water, used at home as well as in the farm. Since the food crops do not provide sufficient income, villagers grow areca-nut (adike), banana, vanilla and pepper too ‘all-in-one’. Luckily, we got to see how the worker removes the areca-nuts from trees and slides the bunch down to ground on a rope tied to him, while another worker collects them at the other end of the rope. Using a simple ringed cloth he slowly and carefully moves from one tree to another with much ease. T'was brilliant. A part of these areca-nuts are then pealed of their skin, boiled and then allowed to dry in the Sun on an over-head roof called ‘betta’. Another part of adike is dried with the skin to produce another variety. Totally the farmers produce about 6 varieties, which are then converted into a whole lot of 16 varieties in the market.

We spent a whole evening at the fire-place outside the house where they boiled the adike. It was a cool moon-lit night. With the stars above, in between the palms and other trees, we recalled past memories. Ajji served us some more mouth-watering dishes which made our stay ‘perfect’.

We soon drove to Sirsi. All excited to give an actual description of our trip to all at home, we got into the bus. Again the 6-hour long journey just passed off in a short time. This time it was without those ‘hit ho ya flop’ bollywood songs. Finally, the journey was made memorable by our very own Belgaum-sunset and the leafless birdie trees.

:)