It is one of those days at work when I don’t seem to be having any work. Guess this is what disguised unemployment means.
I have been thinking to post something here on this blog, but there were no stories to tell. So, when this friend of mine invited me to her birthday bash I thought I would blog about it.
Her birthday has a history. A two summer old history.
That was at Marine Drive in Mumbai. Some 6 of us decided to give this lady a surprise party and broke as we were during summers, we decided to treat her to a modest Pizza from Pizzeria and a pastry on the Marine Drive.
So, this (another) friend of ours was entrusted upon the responsibility of getting a Pizza while returning back from work and we would meet her at a pre decided place. And as we would have expected, she lost her way and created a big confusion regarding her whereabouts. After a mile long walk, we did meet and tried setting up candles and all on the marine drive when we noticed that the couple sitting next to us was getting quite cosy (ahem!) and we had no option but to shift our place.
So after all the mehnat mashakkat our birthdaygirl did “cut” the pizza and we had a good time giggling and screaming while we savoured it. And now was her turn to return the favour. One among the gang suggested a modest looking restaurant and we walked in.
Well, it didn’t turn out to be that modest while our budget was. So finally after a lot of brainstorming we settled for sum soups (three-by-six, I guess). The sauces and water were free, so they were used in copious amounts. The giggling and laughter continued in this fine dining restaurant, right under the pricey Ambassador Hotel on Marine Drive. The waiters gave us side long glances, as if we cared! :)
After we were done (with our soups and the payment) we gifted her some unique cards that were available for free at the restaurant… and wished her a soupy birthday.
And from them this story has been pretty much a wonderful memory of our summer of '07 at Mumbai.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Recipe to a perfect Rassam and Tamarind Rice
Well if you would have asked Little Johnny he would have said "isme kya naya hai babua! yeh to kisi bhi Tarla Dala cookery book mein mil jayegi" but then the Rassam that I am talking about is different.
It is different because it's not just a meal, it is an idea of enjoying your time with friends... So, this is how you go about making it.
Wake up real late in the weekend. This is a must, else the Rassam wouldn't taste yum!
Get some friends.... any number above four would do.
Get two of them to go to the market to get the ingredients.
If they forget to get some things that you had asked for.... don't worry, send them again :)
Once you have everything in place, get one of them to chop three tomatoes.... and if they seem to be taking eternity, which in all possibility they would, get the knife and do it yourself :)
Ask the guy, who was earlier making futile attempts to chop tomatoes, to wash the kadhai and put some oil to heat.
When the oil is hot ask the other guy to get some rai (mustard seeds) and when he picks up any random masala give him one of those killer single-liners... Soon he would pick up the right jar :)
By now the oil would have got hot enough for the rai.
Add some curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric and red chilly powder.
Add tomatoes and ask either of the idle fellows to stir it till the tomatoes get cooked to a paste.
Don't forget to add some hing to this. It would give that typical aroma to your recipe which you would have imagined for a perfect rassam. Your friend would definitely not know what hing is... so explain it to him again.... no need of one liners here :P
Now ask this same person to put some tamarind to boil... and get the pulp separated from the seeds thereafter.
Boil some arhar daal in the cooker and then blend it.
Add this daal to the tomato masala that you have prepared.
Add Rassam powder to taste.
Add some sugar. Very little amount.
Add water and tamarind juice and bring to a boil.
When done, add a tadka of ghee, rai and dried red chillies.
A perfect rassam should have a watery consistency with very little traces of daal and taste more or less like the sambhar.
Well Well..... if you think you are done... you are not.. The rice is yet to be prepared..
So while you are making rassam you may prepare the seasoning for the rice.
While you were preparing the rice and rassam, your other friends (who do not stay in you apartment) would have prepared a potato recipe (for which I would ask the readers to contact them).
For the rice seasoning, heat some oil in a pan. This can be done by your friend who has been standing idle for quite some time now.
Add dried red chillies, rai, curry leaves, green chillies, chana daal, udad daal, groundnuts, little bit of turmeric and red chilly .
If you see some strange crawling creatures in the packet where you had stored chana daal, probably you would have to throw away this seasoning and prepare a new one without the chana daal.
When the lentils get crisp, set it aside.
By now your rassam would have got ready and the burner can be used to put on the rice.
When the rice is ready, mix the seasoning, salt and tamarind juice for a delicious tamarind rice.
Hit the shower, get fresh and when you are ready - Bingo! - find your living room full of friends all fighting for the limited plates and bowls that you have.
Duly acknowledge any compliments that you get :)
Slip into sweet slumber induced by the rice and the rassam....
When the maid comes in the evening for cooking.... remain asleep and don't open the door for her.... to get a phone call from her later in the evening after you have made plans for gobhi paratha for the dinner :( .....
Call up your friends (who do not stay in your apartment) to appraise them of the situation only to know that an awesome dinner awaits you at their place!!
Put the recipe on your blog to make your oter friends feel J!!! :)
It is different because it's not just a meal, it is an idea of enjoying your time with friends... So, this is how you go about making it.
Wake up real late in the weekend. This is a must, else the Rassam wouldn't taste yum!
Get some friends.... any number above four would do.
Get two of them to go to the market to get the ingredients.
If they forget to get some things that you had asked for.... don't worry, send them again :)
Once you have everything in place, get one of them to chop three tomatoes.... and if they seem to be taking eternity, which in all possibility they would, get the knife and do it yourself :)
Ask the guy, who was earlier making futile attempts to chop tomatoes, to wash the kadhai and put some oil to heat.
When the oil is hot ask the other guy to get some rai (mustard seeds) and when he picks up any random masala give him one of those killer single-liners... Soon he would pick up the right jar :)
By now the oil would have got hot enough for the rai.
Add some curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric and red chilly powder.
Add tomatoes and ask either of the idle fellows to stir it till the tomatoes get cooked to a paste.
Don't forget to add some hing to this. It would give that typical aroma to your recipe which you would have imagined for a perfect rassam. Your friend would definitely not know what hing is... so explain it to him again.... no need of one liners here :P
Now ask this same person to put some tamarind to boil... and get the pulp separated from the seeds thereafter.
Boil some arhar daal in the cooker and then blend it.
Add this daal to the tomato masala that you have prepared.
Add Rassam powder to taste.
Add some sugar. Very little amount.
Add water and tamarind juice and bring to a boil.
When done, add a tadka of ghee, rai and dried red chillies.
A perfect rassam should have a watery consistency with very little traces of daal and taste more or less like the sambhar.
Well Well..... if you think you are done... you are not.. The rice is yet to be prepared..
So while you are making rassam you may prepare the seasoning for the rice.
While you were preparing the rice and rassam, your other friends (who do not stay in you apartment) would have prepared a potato recipe (for which I would ask the readers to contact them).
For the rice seasoning, heat some oil in a pan. This can be done by your friend who has been standing idle for quite some time now.
Add dried red chillies, rai, curry leaves, green chillies, chana daal, udad daal, groundnuts, little bit of turmeric and red chilly .
If you see some strange crawling creatures in the packet where you had stored chana daal, probably you would have to throw away this seasoning and prepare a new one without the chana daal.
When the lentils get crisp, set it aside.
By now your rassam would have got ready and the burner can be used to put on the rice.
When the rice is ready, mix the seasoning, salt and tamarind juice for a delicious tamarind rice.
Hit the shower, get fresh and when you are ready - Bingo! - find your living room full of friends all fighting for the limited plates and bowls that you have.
Duly acknowledge any compliments that you get :)
Slip into sweet slumber induced by the rice and the rassam....
When the maid comes in the evening for cooking.... remain asleep and don't open the door for her.... to get a phone call from her later in the evening after you have made plans for gobhi paratha for the dinner :( .....
Call up your friends (who do not stay in your apartment) to appraise them of the situation only to know that an awesome dinner awaits you at their place!!
Put the recipe on your blog to make your oter friends feel J!!! :)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A Strong Man or Weak!!
I am not pro-Advani or anti-Manmohan Singh, but a recent article got me thinking. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh(MS) has accused the UPA Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani for being an incompetent home minister; that in his (Advani’s) times there were incidents of Gujarat riots and Parliament attacks and also that he played an important role in the Babri Masjid demolition.
Coming back to the modern times, why has our competent Prime Minister forgotten the bomb blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and the terror attack in Mumbai? Why does he not remember the recent trouble in Sikkim created by the Maoists?
To quote MS from the article “Is he (Advani) a strong man or a weak man, let the records speak for themselves”. What is his take on the advices of Madamji to which he very strongly complies…. Should he not answer to the public if he is a strong or a weak man??
They say in Hindi - jinke ghar sheeshe ke hon, woh auron par patthar nahin phenka karte....
Coming back to the modern times, why has our competent Prime Minister forgotten the bomb blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and the terror attack in Mumbai? Why does he not remember the recent trouble in Sikkim created by the Maoists?
To quote MS from the article “Is he (Advani) a strong man or a weak man, let the records speak for themselves”. What is his take on the advices of Madamji to which he very strongly complies…. Should he not answer to the public if he is a strong or a weak man??
They say in Hindi - jinke ghar sheeshe ke hon, woh auron par patthar nahin phenka karte....
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Baffled by the Baflas!
Returned from a friend’s wedding today at 5 in the morning and am in no mood to work :)
The marriage was great fun, all Indian marriages are. Good food, friends, music, masti, no tension about deliverables and deadlines, no mails and no long distances to commute make a perfect weekend.
The wedding was quite eventful, atleast for us :) A couple of incidents that I would always remember.
First, we almost missed the train to Dewas. The clock was ticking silently while P was enjoying her tea. And the Taxi ride to BCT would just not come to an end. When we alighted the train, it had almost begun to move!!
Second, was when P went off to sleep after having sold the horses :) and such was her sleep that a crowd gathered outside her room to wake her up. After 11 missed calls and uninterrupted banging on the door she finally woke with a surprised look on her face! What adds excitement to the whole incident is that when one of us standing outside tried to peep in through the ventillator to see if P was alright, he could not se anyone inside and said "andar to koi hai hi nahin" . This was P's claim to overnight fame.
And how could I forget this one!! I was playing the saviour of my friend's shoes. For such an honourable job, I had to face the fury of a big mob of girls !! All captured live on the camera :)
And then it had to be this incident on the journey back home when the TTE made us pay a fine for boarding the train from Indore while our tickets were from Dewas. P and A could not hold their laughter while I dealt with Sutradhar :), the TTE… Am sure P and A would not let this incident of their minds that soon and it would turn out to be my claim to fame :)
And in-between all this we had the wedding and the good food.
Talking about good food, we had the much famous Dal-Bafla of the Malwa region at the wedding. Bafla is a preparation of wheat dough fried/baked and rich in ghee. Though it tastes amazing and I enjoyed hogging the ghee laden delicacy, it is pretty much indigestible for many of us (P happened to be one of them) who belong to the low-carb world. Well as J pointed it out... she was “Baffled” by the “Baflas” :)
The marriage was great fun, all Indian marriages are. Good food, friends, music, masti, no tension about deliverables and deadlines, no mails and no long distances to commute make a perfect weekend.
The wedding was quite eventful, atleast for us :) A couple of incidents that I would always remember.
First, we almost missed the train to Dewas. The clock was ticking silently while P was enjoying her tea. And the Taxi ride to BCT would just not come to an end. When we alighted the train, it had almost begun to move!!
Second, was when P went off to sleep after having sold the horses :) and such was her sleep that a crowd gathered outside her room to wake her up. After 11 missed calls and uninterrupted banging on the door she finally woke with a surprised look on her face! What adds excitement to the whole incident is that when one of us standing outside tried to peep in through the ventillator to see if P was alright, he could not se anyone inside and said "andar to koi hai hi nahin" . This was P's claim to overnight fame.
And how could I forget this one!! I was playing the saviour of my friend's shoes. For such an honourable job, I had to face the fury of a big mob of girls !! All captured live on the camera :)
And then it had to be this incident on the journey back home when the TTE made us pay a fine for boarding the train from Indore while our tickets were from Dewas. P and A could not hold their laughter while I dealt with Sutradhar :), the TTE… Am sure P and A would not let this incident of their minds that soon and it would turn out to be my claim to fame :)
And in-between all this we had the wedding and the good food.
Talking about good food, we had the much famous Dal-Bafla of the Malwa region at the wedding. Bafla is a preparation of wheat dough fried/baked and rich in ghee. Though it tastes amazing and I enjoyed hogging the ghee laden delicacy, it is pretty much indigestible for many of us (P happened to be one of them) who belong to the low-carb world. Well as J pointed it out... she was “Baffled” by the “Baflas” :)
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Winds of Change!!!
One thing that I used to like about my place of work was the freedom we had.
The freedom to do things your way and the freedom to take a break when you wanted.
So much so that I have been home on almost all alternate months ever since I joined my company.
First it was July. That was Ahmedabad. And then is was Rakshabandhan in August in Faridabad. Then came Dussera in October in Ahmedabad and then Diwali in November in Faridabad. This was followed by Christmas in December in Ahmedabad. Gosh!! 5 times in 9 months!! that is incredible.. but those were the good old days when the Indian economy was booming!
I remember someone coming to our campus and telling us that we are lucky to have been graduating this year when the economy is at an all time high.
Who would have guessed then that the tables could turn so quickly. That in a span of one year it would become impossible for a batch of 120 to be placed! That the golden era of investment banking would come to an end! That the high paying finance jobs would vanish! That we would have multi million corporate scams! That the stock market, being shoved up by the bull would be brought down by the bear! That oil would come down to record low and the dollar rise up! That we would prefer a salary cut than to loose our job! That taking leaves would become such a pain in the A@@.
We had a course in our B-School that questioned the current world order. Sitting there in the classroom we analysed why the World is the way it is! Why US is so strong and Japan is sinking. Why India is not a world power and why it may never become a developed nation! The course taught us how a firm is the centre of an economy, a Private Enterprise Based Market Economy (PEBME) as he called it. How the currency markets were equivalent to a shadow world government! And many of us were the sceptics.
But when I look at it today, I get a flashback of those lectures... With the crash of the i-banks and the bursting of the mortgage bubble the world has changed... The shadow Government has doomed the fate of this current design and a new design is emerging.
The firm is still at the core... the Private Enterprise!! We are now having more stringent corporate governance rules being put in, banks don't go door to door giving you loans... we have seen lot of restructuring within the firms and outside them.. lot of mergers have happened and lot of demergers... At the end of this turmoil only those firms are going to stay alive and kicking who have made their internal processes stronger and the other would die...... Countries like India are beginning to change their outlook towards the growth of the economy.... may be we would learn that it is not the KPOs and the BPOs that are driving us, but it agriculture and capital goods that would make us a sustainable force!!
Though I hardly remember anything what we discussed in those lectures but this thought of a change in the world order always stuck to me...
I am reminded of the last lecture when we had no discussion... but just a song... and how we really felt what we were singing!!
aa chal ke tujhe main le kae chaloon ik aise gagan ke tale.... jahan gam bhi na ho.. aasoon bhi na ho, bas pyaar hi pyaar pale.... ek aise gagan ke tale !!
The whole class reverberated to the tunes of this song..... how each one of us wished that the world would change.. but it would be like this... no-one would have imagined!!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Photo Frame
They say pictures are worth a thousand words... and this post would prove that!!
There sits on my desk a photo frame which was gifted to me by one of my closest friends - "P".
How me and P became such good friends is something even we wonder many-a-times.
Long years ago when I was doing my engineering I met this girl there who was sitting next to a schoolmate, "N" (who was also going to be my batchmate for next four years) and I was like - N and P would surely turn out to be the best friends. And as luck could have it, that turned out to be the case.
I got introduced to P through N. I still remember all of us being at P's first birthday at the college when we had gifted her some weird assortment of gifts. In between the four birthdays we celebrated were the four "Ganapati" (As P calls it) that we witnessed at her Nani's place.
Life moved on.... I got a job at L&T and P couldn't make it. I remember the day when I told P about the offer from L&T. She immediately hung up the phone. I knew she was crying.... not because I got it but because she didn't.... silly P.... and then we heard from her that she has made it to Infy....
She moved down south and we hardly got to meet.. in the next two years till she shifted to Pune I went to meet her and other good friends "S" and "R". And we had a gala time... It was then that I saw the first signe of transformation in P.
I am reminded of how I had asked P to make wada and nariyal chutney for me.... and also her famous rajma with rice (that she would serve twice to you). P is an excellent cook!!
I moved on to XIMB and P told me that she was moving to US. I remember that time S had also gone to US. Suddenly I realised that I had no friends to talk to.... B-school was a new experience and I was yet to come to terms with it.....
Life moved on.... 2 years flew by...
P switched her job and then I knew she was never to return back.... But we did get to meet her... She had come down to India on a vacation and we met.... and this is when she gifted me that frame....It had Friends written all over around it!
I searched for a suitable pic, with the good ol' bespectacled P giggling in there....
She has changed over the years... but its just the outer being... and she has changed for good.... but then she is still the same good ol' P deep within.... and I know we are going to be Friends Forever!!!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
The one that follows....
I got this as a forward from a friend and somewhere it struck a chord !!
2008 was when.........
We passed out of college....
We got a job.........
We made new amazing friends.....
Some of us moved to a new city.....
Some of us celebrated our 21st - 25th birthdays.....
We waved good bye to our buddies leaving to the States for higher studies...
Some of us fell in love........
Some of us fell out of love
Some of us got hurt
Some of our 'friends' screwed up our love life
Some 'one' we liked, did not like us..
We made mistakes .... and repeated hem...
We made life decisions....... and these decisions turned out to be a tragedy
Some of us felt lonely ....
Some of us made an amazing friend in a new city
Some of us would have learnt to be stronger.....
Some of us would have realized that everything happens for a reason.....
Some of us let out our anger.....
Some of us never opened up to our friends about how we felt....
Some of us felt so glad and happy to be the way we are.....
We went out everyday and met up with old friends...
We had serious talks with our dad about our future.....
We missed each other when we were at hometown.....
We missed our mom here ...
We cried for each other ...
We celebrated our first Christmas with our friends ..
We were jobless all the time in office ....
We walked around the streets late in the night ..
We put budget for the next month (but strictly not following it)
2009.......one more year.....A year to....
Find our life partner (might be)
Smile........
Let people know how much u care...
Learn from our mistakes.......
Cry when we are feeling down.....
Follow our dreams.......
Fight against everything for our dreams to come true.....
Be more confident.........
Be more strong at heart and mind.....
Enrich our knowledge.........
Make others happy....
Take each day as it comes........
Forget about the downs we came across in the past year........ and remember every lesson we learnt through them........
Enjoy Life to the Fullest............
LET'S WAIT FOR THE WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD!!
2008 was when.........
We passed out of college....
We got a job.........
We made new amazing friends.....
Some of us moved to a new city.....
Some of us celebrated our 21st - 25th birthdays.....
We waved good bye to our buddies leaving to the States for higher studies...
Some of us fell in love........
Some of us fell out of love
Some of us got hurt
Some of our 'friends' screwed up our love life
Some 'one' we liked, did not like us..
We made mistakes .... and repeated hem...
We made life decisions....... and these decisions turned out to be a tragedy
Some of us felt lonely ....
Some of us made an amazing friend in a new city
Some of us would have learnt to be stronger.....
Some of us would have realized that everything happens for a reason.....
Some of us let out our anger.....
Some of us never opened up to our friends about how we felt....
Some of us felt so glad and happy to be the way we are.....
We went out everyday and met up with old friends...
We had serious talks with our dad about our future.....
We missed each other when we were at hometown.....
We missed our mom here ...
We cried for each other ...
We celebrated our first Christmas with our friends ..
We were jobless all the time in office ....
We walked around the streets late in the night ..
We put budget for the next month (but strictly not following it)
2009.......one more year.....A year to....
Find our life partner (might be)
Smile........
Let people know how much u care...
Learn from our mistakes.......
Cry when we are feeling down.....
Follow our dreams.......
Fight against everything for our dreams to come true.....
Be more confident.........
Be more strong at heart and mind.....
Enrich our knowledge.........
Make others happy....
Take each day as it comes........
Forget about the downs we came across in the past year........ and remember every lesson we learnt through them........
Enjoy Life to the Fullest............
LET'S WAIT FOR THE WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD!!
Monday, January 05, 2009
The Inaugral Post!
This is going to be the inaugural post in 2009 on my blog. I was wondering, what to write and then decided to talk about those moments from 2008 that I would always remember.
Let me begin from the beginning:
Placements 2008 @ XIMB : And what trying times!! Have seen the best of friend turning foes
Trip to Simlipal and Hirakud : Amazing time with batchmates… wonder how many of them qualify to be friends… guess quite a few of them!
Maxinations 2008 @ XIMB : Our last chance to prove our worth !! :P and boy!! What a victory we had!!
Convocation : Was such a proud moment for me and my family!
Orissa darshan with Family
Bootcamp @ Irevna, Chennai
Transfer to Mumbai
Hunting a house in Mumbai : Trust me it is difficult than mouse hunt and I saw this for I have tried both :P
The Jinxed Happy Singh!!
First Birthday in Mumbai with friends : I literally ran out of air !!!
The guests at our place… they just can’t resist our house :P
The coffee time with colleague-turned-friends at office
The Rakshabandhan weekend... Never would I have been so optimistic and so much in trouble!!
Matheran trip
Diwali trip.... Never could I have been so much more optimistic... missing the train... and flight fares touching skies..
Watching plays in Theatres and the associated events!! – Am sure “R” has much more to say about it !!
Numerous evenings spent in South Mumbai
The Mumbai Terror Attack!
The pulao and rassams we made
Receiving a close friend at the Airport
Seeing a friend break-up with that someone special
The New Year eve bash….. Wouldn’t talk much bout it though: P
These moments take me to lines from one of the various Hindi poems i like....
क्या भूलूँ, क्या याद करूँ मैं,
अगणित उन्मादों के क्षण हैं,
अगणित अवसादों के क्षण हैं...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
For the Glory of "Jan - Gan - Man"
The other day we went for a movie, a late night show at a multiplex in Mumbai and as is ceremonial here the National Anthem was played before the start of the movie.
Whenever I have been a part of this ritual, I have always hummed the tune and also tried to see through the corner of my eyes if the person next to me is also doing the same. Some find this ritual funny, but I don’t and I try to give the national anthem the respect that is due to it.
So, this day that I am talking about, the anthem was being played and almost everyone was at least standing. I used the phrase “at least standing” here because that is the minimum that is expected out of us when the Anthem is being played. And I used “almost” because not everyone was showing that minimum respect due also.
Down the aisle was an elderly lady, who was sitting while the anthem was being played. I had also noticed that towards the start of the Anthem a younger lady accompanying the elderly has even nudged her to get up and I had noticed the very prominent gesture of negation. And throughout the Anthem my eyes were glued to the lady (for no other reason!!).
But as we have another ritual in India “Chalta hai” no-one seemed to have been pained by the disrespect that the elderly has just shown towards the Anthem. The movie started, and we all got engrossed in the movie. It was an interesting movie.. don’t remember which one though!
It was interval, when we saw commotion down the aisle. A couple of agitated voices and violent hand gestures. I quickly realized what it was!
A young guy had supposedly gone to the lady and pointed out to her that she was not standing for the Anthem. Bas itna kehna tha, and the whole group accompanying the lady went defensive. I think, I also heard the lady say, “You don’t know! I am a very patriotic person”. The younger woman accompanying the elderly was heard saying, “Mind your business”. All this while the young guy was standing there and smiling, not uttering a single word.
Probably his simple intervention had made a big blow to the conscience of the elderly and the group accompanying her! Probably all her justifications were directed towards that inner guilt conscience than to its outer stimulus!
We couldn’t help but admire the young man who by now had already walked up the aisle and was quietly sitting at his seat while the agitated group downstairs was still settling in!
My mind wandered off to the old song that all of us would have once hummed in the schools, at least mechanically…
विजयी विश्व तिरंगा प्यारा
झंडा ऊंचा रहे हमारा
Monday, December 08, 2008
From अंजी to Chaos Theory!!
Long time ago I saw a play at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai – Anji [Hindi] by Vijay Tendulkar and I saw a yet another play yesterday at the Prithvi Theatre – Chaos Theory by Rahul da Cunha.
While “Anji” deals with the life of a girl, in her late twenties or mid thirties, trying to find a suitable match for her; “Chaos Theory” is play about two people, each with a chaos to manage in their lives.
One thing that I like about plays is that they are live! You see the actors in flesh and blood and their impeccable performances leave you dumbstruck at the end of the day. There are no retakes, just like our lives and that is what makes you wonder how on earth can someone be so perfect!!
Let me come back to Anji and Chaos Theory. Or rather to only "Chaos Theory" as the memories of the act are still fresh in my mind.
The main protagonists, Mukesh and Sunita “Sen” are in love, but they never express their love for each other to each other. And this is a chaos that they face.
Towards the end of the act there is a very beautiful and heart rendering dialogue. Sunita is meeting Mukesh for the last time and she says:
"You never knew who you were, and that is your Chaos."
To which Mukesh replies:
"You knew who I was, and that is your chaos."
Just two lines and the whole play gets summarised in them.
There were many other instances where the love between the two protagonists was projected in a very subtle but yet a very strong way.
A scene when Sen is marrying another guy and reads the marriage contract: “If the material witnesses present here have any objection to this alliance, they may speak now”.. She looks at Mukesh who is standing there with an air of indifference…. The audience is waiting for an answer from Mukesh… At least he would say something, at least now. And Then Mukesh speaks “Read the fine print”…..
But, apart from the strong portrayal of love between the protagonists, what also appealed me was the ambience of the theatre.
Set amidst the quite surroundings of Janki Kutir, Prithvi Theatre is a delightful place. The Pritvi Café is the perfect place to spend an evening with friends or with oneself. There is a bookshop with a limited but rich collection. I managed to lay my hands on Hindi literature which now-a-days is a thing of passé.
What also makes the play a memorable one is a small incident that happened with a friend of mine who had joined us for the play. Just that she never got to watch the play! And that is one Chaos that she had to manage while we enjoyed a new version of the Chaos Theory inside!!
Friday, December 05, 2008
हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी....
It could be called serendipity! Today morning when I plugged the earphones into my ear canal, the first song that my cell played of a random lot of some hundred songs was "hazaaron khwahishein aisi" from the movie by the same name.
What else could have been a bigger coincidence that the theme of this movie was based on what we are seeing in Mumbai now.... I get goosepimples when I hear these beautiful and yet so very powerful words in a poem that goes alongside the song...
"A thousand desires such as these
A thousand moments to set this night on fire
Reach out and you can touch them
You can touch them with your silences
You can reach them with your lust
Rivers, mountains, rain
Rain against a torrid hillscape
A thousand desires such as these
I loved rain as a child
As a lost young man
Empty landscapes bleached by a tired sun
And then
Suddenly it came like a dark unknown woman
Her eyes scorched my silences
Her body wrapped itself around me like a summer without end
Pause me, Hold me Reach me where no man has gone
Crossing the seven seas
With the wings of fire, I fly towards nowhere
And you; Rivers, mountains, rain
Rain against the scorched landscape of pain
A thousand desires such as these......
हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी के हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फ़िर भी कम निकले"
Thursday, December 04, 2008
With regrets to the President!!
The other day, I was just casually browsing through the website of all the president of the nation when I happened to come across a section that read:
"Located on the hill top of the Mashobra, the building was taken over during 1895 by the Viceroy. The president visits The Retreat at least once a year and his core office shifts to that place during his stay in The Retreat. Thousand feet higher than the Shimla Ridge Top, The Retreat is located in a picturesque surrounding. The architectural pattern and the natural beauty of the place have made The Retreat a tourist attraction in Shimla.”
“Located at Bolarum, Rashtrapati Nilayam building was taken over from the Nizam of Hyderabad after India attained independence and handed it over to the President's Secretariat. Constructed during 1860, this building has a total land area of 90 acres. A single storied building, it contains in its premises 11 rooms. It also has a Dining Hall, Cinema Hall, Darbar Hall, Morning room, ADC's dining room etc. The President of India visits the Rashtrapati Nilayam and stays there at least once a year and conducts his official business from this Nilayam."
"Located on the hill top of the Mashobra, the building was taken over during 1895 by the Viceroy. The president visits The Retreat at least once a year and his core office shifts to that place during his stay in The Retreat. Thousand feet higher than the Shimla Ridge Top, The Retreat is located in a picturesque surrounding. The architectural pattern and the natural beauty of the place have made The Retreat a tourist attraction in Shimla.”
“Located at Bolarum, Rashtrapati Nilayam building was taken over from the Nizam of Hyderabad after India attained independence and handed it over to the President's Secretariat. Constructed during 1860, this building has a total land area of 90 acres. A single storied building, it contains in its premises 11 rooms. It also has a Dining Hall, Cinema Hall, Darbar Hall, Morning room, ADC's dining room etc. The President of India visits the Rashtrapati Nilayam and stays there at least once a year and conducts his official business from this Nilayam."
Now, me being me, thought to take a shot and wrote a mail to the lady at Rashtrapati (agreed it could not be Rashtrapatni, but may be something else!!) Bhawan. I wrote:
Respected Madam,
It is a pleasure to see a lady chair the seat of the highest authority in the country but it is of utmost regret to see that the Indian system is not yet ready to accept this fact.
How would the society awake to the fact of woman empowerment when the country's politics is marred by a male oriented approach to things?
The following paragraph taken from the official website of the President of India is a sad example of how we never ever in the history of 60 years of independence thought that a President could be a lady. The use of masculine gender in the statements below is such an irony to the very vision of woman empowerment that you embody.
Hope you would direct your secretariat to rectify this social, political and grammatical blunder as soon as possible.
Respected Madam,
It is a pleasure to see a lady chair the seat of the highest authority in the country but it is of utmost regret to see that the Indian system is not yet ready to accept this fact.
How would the society awake to the fact of woman empowerment when the country's politics is marred by a male oriented approach to things?
The following paragraph taken from the official website of the President of India is a sad example of how we never ever in the history of 60 years of independence thought that a President could be a lady. The use of masculine gender in the statements below is such an irony to the very vision of woman empowerment that you embody.
Hope you would direct your secretariat to rectify this social, political and grammatical blunder as soon as possible.
I never expected a reply from them, let alone any action. However, I was surprised the day after when I saw a mail in my mailbox from some S G Sharma, which read:
Dear Shri Sudeep Dube,
This is to acknowledge the receipt of your e-mail dated 1st December 2008 addressed to the President of India. Your concern is appreciated and necessary step has been taken in this regards.
Regards
S G Sharma
Technical Director
I immediately checked the website and the error stood rectified! I was amazed at the promptness of response!
This made me realise that we, just the common people of this country, can bring about a change in the system. I am not saying that to get a small grammatical error rectified is the same as to be able to manage the mess in which our country seems to be currently, instead what I am saying is that no step, however small it may be is going to be a waste, especially in times like these.
धीरे-धीरे रे मना, धीरे सब कुछ होय ।
माली सींचे सौ घड़ा, ॠतु आए फल होय ॥
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
A quick musing!!!
Why does it need to be tagged "the 9/11 of India"?
Why can't it be "26/11 of India"?
Do we really need this comparison? Is the fact, that this was a heinous act of crime in its own right not sufficient?
Why can't it be "26/11 of India"?
Do we really need this comparison? Is the fact, that this was a heinous act of crime in its own right not sufficient?
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Arrey... Kamaal hai!!!
"Arrey... Kamaal hai".. how often would we have used this phrase, and more in concatenation with another phrase "Ek to chori, oopar se seenajori"..... But then who would go and tell this to the CM of Maharashtra, "Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh" Who has, who had the audacity to take his entourage for a terror tourism trip at the scene of Taj carnage and massacre.
How on earth could he think of tagging along his good-for-nothing son, Ritesh (now spelled as Riteish, to bring good luck to his doomed career; which unfortunately would now be doomed forever if the people of India excercise their disposition) and the equally good-for-nothing director Ram Gopal Verma to the scene which would have witnessed the biggest and the most horrendous terror attack on the country.
Jo kiya, so kiya but at the end of it all, how boldly he is making statements "Arrey Kamaal hai.... we gave you the footage on goodwill and you are stretching things..... (or something of the sorts, but Arrey kamaal hai is what I am sure of)" One look at the face of the beloved CM during his recent press conference would have cleared us of any doubts of his love and respect for fellow citizens.
Did I write "Fellow Citizens"..... guess no politician in this god-foresaken country would be considering the aam aadmi even close to that term. To them we are the lesser mortal beings and in bade bade sheheron mein to yeh chhote chhote haadse hote hi rehte hain.
Wonder what the Patils and the Deshmukhs would have to say if their residence or the Mantralaya would have been the focus of the attack. That being the case, this would have been another big attack on the democracy of this country, after the Parliament attack. And did I say "Democracy".... did someone not tell these demigods of the society that democracy is a system of governanceof the people, by the people, for the people....... Wish at least some of our politicians had not been the school dropouts then this much sense would have prevailed!!!!! Not that those who have degree from the Howard and Cambridge Universities of the world are doing some wonders..... Bhai kamaal hai!!!!
How on earth could he think of tagging along his good-for-nothing son, Ritesh (now spelled as Riteish, to bring good luck to his doomed career; which unfortunately would now be doomed forever if the people of India excercise their disposition) and the equally good-for-nothing director Ram Gopal Verma to the scene which would have witnessed the biggest and the most horrendous terror attack on the country.
Jo kiya, so kiya but at the end of it all, how boldly he is making statements "Arrey Kamaal hai.... we gave you the footage on goodwill and you are stretching things..... (or something of the sorts, but Arrey kamaal hai is what I am sure of)" One look at the face of the beloved CM during his recent press conference would have cleared us of any doubts of his love and respect for fellow citizens.
Did I write "Fellow Citizens"..... guess no politician in this god-foresaken country would be considering the aam aadmi even close to that term. To them we are the lesser mortal beings and in bade bade sheheron mein to yeh chhote chhote haadse hote hi rehte hain.
Wonder what the Patils and the Deshmukhs would have to say if their residence or the Mantralaya would have been the focus of the attack. That being the case, this would have been another big attack on the democracy of this country, after the Parliament attack. And did I say "Democracy".... did someone not tell these demigods of the society that democracy is a system of governanceof the people, by the people, for the people....... Wish at least some of our politicians had not been the school dropouts then this much sense would have prevailed!!!!! Not that those who have degree from the Howard and Cambridge Universities of the world are doing some wonders..... Bhai kamaal hai!!!!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Yeh Public hai... sab jaanti hai
Today morning, as my rickshaw approached Bhandup I could see a big mob of Police constables. I call them a mob because that is what they behave like. They hardly have a human side to them. One of these constables stops us and mutters something in Marathi. He wants to check our bags and we oblige. He gets disappointed for not finding any illegal arm or drugs in our possession. But how would he letus go just like that. This isthe boni ka time. Yeah pretty much like those road side vendors who have their boni (the first customer) early in the mornings when one buys a comb or a wallet from them at one of those foot-over-bridges.
So this Police-wallah asks the auto driver for his licence and other documents and the driver obliges. Bad Luck! The Police constable mutters under his breath. But he is unabated by this second failure in a row and gives it a final try. A thousand ideas cross his nerves in a fraction of a second and he realises that the Auto-driver is not carrying his badge. There! Caught! Hurray!
Now he is half way through with his boni. Alas! The poor auto driver, who probably is having his boni time has got no money in his pocket. Additionally he has his passengers waiting in the rear seat. The Police-wallah tries to be rude and demeaning, signals the auto-wallah to come in the khopcha (where he could settle for kharcha pani). The rickshaw driver is now in a very odd situation and so are we, sitting in the rear seat. Suddenly something happens, the Police-wallah darts towards the rickshaw and in a split second we are off on our way. We just see the driver slipping something in the hands of the Police wallah and pocketing his licence into his pocket.
As we inquire he says, “ Chaalis rupayee liye saab. Sharifon ko hi to pakdenge, do number wale to aise hi nikal jate hain”. And my mind wanders off to the bomb blasts that we have witnessed in the recent past….
So this Police-wallah asks the auto driver for his licence and other documents and the driver obliges. Bad Luck! The Police constable mutters under his breath. But he is unabated by this second failure in a row and gives it a final try. A thousand ideas cross his nerves in a fraction of a second and he realises that the Auto-driver is not carrying his badge. There! Caught! Hurray!
Now he is half way through with his boni. Alas! The poor auto driver, who probably is having his boni time has got no money in his pocket. Additionally he has his passengers waiting in the rear seat. The Police-wallah tries to be rude and demeaning, signals the auto-wallah to come in the khopcha (where he could settle for kharcha pani). The rickshaw driver is now in a very odd situation and so are we, sitting in the rear seat. Suddenly something happens, the Police-wallah darts towards the rickshaw and in a split second we are off on our way. We just see the driver slipping something in the hands of the Police wallah and pocketing his licence into his pocket.
As we inquire he says, “ Chaalis rupayee liye saab. Sharifon ko hi to pakdenge, do number wale to aise hi nikal jate hain”. And my mind wanders off to the bomb blasts that we have witnessed in the recent past….
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Mumbai Meri Jaan
"ऐ दिल है मुश्किल जीना यहाँ ..... ज़रा हट के ज़रा बच के यह है बॉम्बे मेरी जान...." went the last track of this movie Mumbai Meri Jaan.... Quite an impressive attempt by the director. I wonder if it would not also have been pertinent if the director would also have added the following stanza from the same song " ऐ दिल है आसां जीना यहाँ, सुनो बंधू सुनो मिस्टर यह है बॉम्बे मेरी जान"
I do not want to rate this movie. I have always had a bias in favour of those movies that are off-beat and this movie I believe was precisely that, else the hall would have been running a houseful . Two characters which I felt very moving were that of the News reporter (Soha Ali) and the high-paid desh bhakt professional (R Madhavan). May be Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan and Paresh Rawals' characters could also have been made more powerful if the movie was of a smaller duration. Nevertheless, if nothing else, the movie does leave you more observant of your surroundings.
Today morning while travelling I noticed a Police constable talking to a private taxi driver. then the driver digged out something from his pocket, possibly his licence and what would have entailed thenafter is something that we all can guess. I have not picked up today's newspaper yet and am sure it would also have something that I could relate with the movie. Guess it is the effect of the late-night show... by the time the day passes by, I would soon be back to my normal self.
What I find quite amusing here is that the movie in itself is a big paradox. The movie sort of portrays media in a bad light. I may sound a bit outrageous if I call today's reporting as Journalistic Voyeurism but that is what today's news channels are. the are the biggest possible reality shows. If we look at it from another angle, even this movie was supposed to "entertain" us by portraying what would have been the plight of the bomb blast victims. Never-the-less, I rate it as an honest effort from the director to portray life's realities.
The final note from me on this:
After the movie had its "The End" (sadly, they don't have this appearing anymore as the movie ends) a friend of mine quite pertinently noticed that why is this movie "Mumbai" meri jaan. Had it been Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Banagalore for for that matter Bhubaneswar the meaning would not have changed. I guess this is a movie about India. That Indian spirit which has kept us going for generations..... this again reminds me of a couplet from Iqbal
"यूनान मिस्र रोमा, सब मिट गए जहाँ से, बाकी मगर है अब तक नामो निशाँ हमारा... कुछ बात है वह हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी... "
I do not want to rate this movie. I have always had a bias in favour of those movies that are off-beat and this movie I believe was precisely that, else the hall would have been running a houseful . Two characters which I felt very moving were that of the News reporter (Soha Ali) and the high-paid desh bhakt professional (R Madhavan). May be Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan and Paresh Rawals' characters could also have been made more powerful if the movie was of a smaller duration. Nevertheless, if nothing else, the movie does leave you more observant of your surroundings.
Today morning while travelling I noticed a Police constable talking to a private taxi driver. then the driver digged out something from his pocket, possibly his licence and what would have entailed thenafter is something that we all can guess. I have not picked up today's newspaper yet and am sure it would also have something that I could relate with the movie. Guess it is the effect of the late-night show... by the time the day passes by, I would soon be back to my normal self.
What I find quite amusing here is that the movie in itself is a big paradox. The movie sort of portrays media in a bad light. I may sound a bit outrageous if I call today's reporting as Journalistic Voyeurism but that is what today's news channels are. the are the biggest possible reality shows. If we look at it from another angle, even this movie was supposed to "entertain" us by portraying what would have been the plight of the bomb blast victims. Never-the-less, I rate it as an honest effort from the director to portray life's realities.
The final note from me on this:
After the movie had its "The End" (sadly, they don't have this appearing anymore as the movie ends) a friend of mine quite pertinently noticed that why is this movie "Mumbai" meri jaan. Had it been Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Banagalore for for that matter Bhubaneswar the meaning would not have changed. I guess this is a movie about India. That Indian spirit which has kept us going for generations..... this again reminds me of a couplet from Iqbal
"यूनान मिस्र रोमा, सब मिट गए जहाँ से, बाकी मगर है अब तक नामो निशाँ हमारा... कुछ बात है वह हस्ती मिटती नहीं हमारी... "
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Of Blues, Beiges, Blacks and Whites
I often wonder why I do not see people wearing colours to their offices. It has to be a combination-permutation of the above four, or at the max a variant of the shade.
May be it is a silent protest against how pale their lives are at the office or it is to remind themselves that everything has to be in black & white with no traces of any intermediary shade, be alone a different colour.
May be it is a silent protest against how pale their lives are at the office or it is to remind themselves that everything has to be in black & white with no traces of any intermediary shade, be alone a different colour.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Midnight's Angels
It was 2 am in the morning. The Indian bureaucracy was probably celebrating the 61st Independence Day, or probably they had not even realised that wewere already in the 61st year as a free nation else I would not have been there sitting in a pre-paid cab stuck in knee deep waters in the middle of nowhere. This was the last I could have expected after my ordeal to reach home for that extended weekend (Those of you who are still figuring out what I am referring to may please refer to my earlier post). If I look back at it now, I am reminded of that song from popular film Mughal-e-azam “ Jab raat hai aisi matwali to subah ka aalam kya hoga !!”
Such had been my plight ever since my flight had a touch down at The IGI Airport.
The Arrival lounge was unusually crowded. I thought may be Delhi has now opened the arrivals to visitors but I was proven wrong when I saw the long queues at the pre-paid taxi counters. Then someone got the news from the counter that the whole of Delhi was enjoying heavy rains and the Delhi drains had refused to let go the water that they seldom get to feel (other times it’s the solid waste). And all the vehicles in a radius of 7 – 8 Kms were having a holy dip in these monsoon waters. So we waited. At the stroke of the midnight hour when the world was asleep (and India had awaken to freedom and glory at the same stroke some 61 years back) I got the parchi which was my boarding pass for the pre-paid cab ride to Faridabad. After another half-an-hour-long queue I finally managed to get a cabbie for Faridabad.
The journey was quite un-eventful, initially. For the next one hour the driver waded through thick traffic and I was getting restless. I was not being able to understand whether I was hungry or sleepy (probably I was both). I had a company of another passenger who was going to Sector 30 and we both had some small moments of discussions on the way. I dozed off soon.
The gentleman guided the driver to his destination and then directed him the way to my place. In the dead of the night at 2.30 one should always expect a driver to loose his way and the same happened that fateful night. Luckily, we spotted a sardaarji (with due respect to be called surd) and he was kind enough to direct him again. However, the poor soul, tired after almost a two hour drive got scared when he saw the road ahead filled with water and in an unsuccessful attempt to protect his rozi-roti managed to get the car stuck in knee deep water. At such an odd hour whom do you expect to come helping? But then came the same surd, driving with a merry band of quite a few of others, all cramped in a small car. Initially they made fun of the driver but the very next moment they were all out in the water with their trousers folded upto their knees. One push and the car was out. I could almost hear the “Jo bole so nihaal…….” in the air. Not a single word was exchanged. None for help, none for thanks. As I stood there figuring out how to thank these gentlemen off they went in their small car.
I asked the cabbie, “What would you have done if these people would not have come? I would have called my family and be gone with them, what would have you done the whole night” Pat cam his reply, “koi aur mil jata sahib” and I could not stop admiring his optimism!!
Such had been my plight ever since my flight had a touch down at The IGI Airport.
The Arrival lounge was unusually crowded. I thought may be Delhi has now opened the arrivals to visitors but I was proven wrong when I saw the long queues at the pre-paid taxi counters. Then someone got the news from the counter that the whole of Delhi was enjoying heavy rains and the Delhi drains had refused to let go the water that they seldom get to feel (other times it’s the solid waste). And all the vehicles in a radius of 7 – 8 Kms were having a holy dip in these monsoon waters. So we waited. At the stroke of the midnight hour when the world was asleep (and India had awaken to freedom and glory at the same stroke some 61 years back) I got the parchi which was my boarding pass for the pre-paid cab ride to Faridabad. After another half-an-hour-long queue I finally managed to get a cabbie for Faridabad.
The journey was quite un-eventful, initially. For the next one hour the driver waded through thick traffic and I was getting restless. I was not being able to understand whether I was hungry or sleepy (probably I was both). I had a company of another passenger who was going to Sector 30 and we both had some small moments of discussions on the way. I dozed off soon.
The gentleman guided the driver to his destination and then directed him the way to my place. In the dead of the night at 2.30 one should always expect a driver to loose his way and the same happened that fateful night. Luckily, we spotted a sardaarji (with due respect to be called surd) and he was kind enough to direct him again. However, the poor soul, tired after almost a two hour drive got scared when he saw the road ahead filled with water and in an unsuccessful attempt to protect his rozi-roti managed to get the car stuck in knee deep water. At such an odd hour whom do you expect to come helping? But then came the same surd, driving with a merry band of quite a few of others, all cramped in a small car. Initially they made fun of the driver but the very next moment they were all out in the water with their trousers folded upto their knees. One push and the car was out. I could almost hear the “Jo bole so nihaal…….” in the air. Not a single word was exchanged. None for help, none for thanks. As I stood there figuring out how to thank these gentlemen off they went in their small car.
I asked the cabbie, “What would you have done if these people would not have come? I would have called my family and be gone with them, what would have you done the whole night” Pat cam his reply, “koi aur mil jata sahib” and I could not stop admiring his optimism!!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
How I made it ..... Almost
14th August 2008 was the Independence Day of Pakistan and, the entire Mumbai was on roads. Not that they were celebrating Pakistan’s independence or staging a dharna against it, but they were all rushing to their nests in their hometowns. It was that long weekend, which each employee longs for…. And the preparations had begun almost a month back. All the trains were running high on waitlist and the travel agents were minting money with people ready to dole out huge sums for that tatkal ticket… All thanks to Lalooji for the 60 day window for booking tickets and inflation for the soaring flight fares…. And in the midst of all this brouhaha was a confused me still planning the trip home forr this extended weekend which coincided with Rakshabandhan.
After not much of a jaddo-jahad I booked a supposedly low cost air carrier for 14th August and a train ticket at a whopping W/L 91 for the return journey.
The moment I clicked the “OK” button on the payment gateway of the air carrier I took a deep breath of relief – ab jana to pucca ho gaya. How I ever got inspired to book at wait-list 91 cleared was another story and I wouldn’t delve into that for now.
Let me take you through a flashback of what I went through.
The day started early and around 9.30 I was at office. There were some mails from the client. By the lunch time I was through with all the mails and the deliverables for the day. I had called on the client and told him that there was a colleague who would be working for him in my absence. Post lunch I had done all the KT to this colleague of mine and had just packed my bags for the day when the an “URGENT” request came from the client. My watch showed it was already 4.00 pm and I had the flight at 7.45. Quite a margin, I thought, and I lingered on with the mail trying to figure out the solution. Soon I was at my wit’s end and I called up the client who was considerate enough to not to have held me back. It was not before 5.30 that I reached home. By the time I got ready and was done with the final packing the clock struck 5.45.
It was at this moment that I realised I had misplaced my flight ticket. And while I was searching for this, I happened to stumble across the train ticket and pocketed it, else even that I would have left back. After a phone call to the air carrier’s call centre and being assured of a duplicate copy at the ticketing counter I left and took an auto. Ah! I forgot to mention that I had no money in my wallet and had to stop by at the nearest ATM to get some cash. And then began the journey. Half an hour passed and I was still pretty close to my house. Another half and hour gone and still the airport was not to be seen. The suto-wallah took a “short-cut” to cut on time and traffic which was now proving costly to me. All calls to the call centre to get the ticket cancelled or postponed were futile. They wanted me to have done that 2 hours ago…. NOW, HOW DO THEY EXPECT SOMEONE TO ANTICIPATE A LAST MINUTE TRAFFIC JAM in those 2 hours !!! The best they could help me was to refund me Rs 225 in case I missed my flight!! Done with all this, my watch told me it was 7.15 and I should press the Panic button.
So off I was from the rick and was running like a mad man on the Western Express Highway. To describe my situation in a poets word would be
And when my legs gave up and I could see the turn for the airport, there came another gentleman, dressed in White, in a rick and stopped at the wave of my hand. So in I went and was sson at the airport Terminal 1B. That day I didn’t have to stand in any queue. I was late and I got the full VIP treatment. And the moment I was done with the security check, I heaved a sigh of relief. The Muimbai Delhi flight 186 was boarding. And I was there at the fag end of the queue, calling up my folks at Delhi that I have finally made it…. Almost :)
After not much of a jaddo-jahad I booked a supposedly low cost air carrier for 14th August and a train ticket at a whopping W/L 91 for the return journey.
The moment I clicked the “OK” button on the payment gateway of the air carrier I took a deep breath of relief – ab jana to pucca ho gaya. How I ever got inspired to book at wait-list 91 cleared was another story and I wouldn’t delve into that for now.
Let me take you through a flashback of what I went through.
The day started early and around 9.30 I was at office. There were some mails from the client. By the lunch time I was through with all the mails and the deliverables for the day. I had called on the client and told him that there was a colleague who would be working for him in my absence. Post lunch I had done all the KT to this colleague of mine and had just packed my bags for the day when the an “URGENT” request came from the client. My watch showed it was already 4.00 pm and I had the flight at 7.45. Quite a margin, I thought, and I lingered on with the mail trying to figure out the solution. Soon I was at my wit’s end and I called up the client who was considerate enough to not to have held me back. It was not before 5.30 that I reached home. By the time I got ready and was done with the final packing the clock struck 5.45.
It was at this moment that I realised I had misplaced my flight ticket. And while I was searching for this, I happened to stumble across the train ticket and pocketed it, else even that I would have left back. After a phone call to the air carrier’s call centre and being assured of a duplicate copy at the ticketing counter I left and took an auto. Ah! I forgot to mention that I had no money in my wallet and had to stop by at the nearest ATM to get some cash. And then began the journey. Half an hour passed and I was still pretty close to my house. Another half and hour gone and still the airport was not to be seen. The suto-wallah took a “short-cut” to cut on time and traffic which was now proving costly to me. All calls to the call centre to get the ticket cancelled or postponed were futile. They wanted me to have done that 2 hours ago…. NOW, HOW DO THEY EXPECT SOMEONE TO ANTICIPATE A LAST MINUTE TRAFFIC JAM in those 2 hours !!! The best they could help me was to refund me Rs 225 in case I missed my flight!! Done with all this, my watch told me it was 7.15 and I should press the Panic button.
So off I was from the rick and was running like a mad man on the Western Express Highway. To describe my situation in a poets word would be
“Auto Auto everywhere, but none is able to move;
Auto Auto everywhere and am sure the flight am gonna loose”
Auto Auto everywhere and am sure the flight am gonna loose”
And when my legs gave up and I could see the turn for the airport, there came another gentleman, dressed in White, in a rick and stopped at the wave of my hand. So in I went and was sson at the airport Terminal 1B. That day I didn’t have to stand in any queue. I was late and I got the full VIP treatment. And the moment I was done with the security check, I heaved a sigh of relief. The Muimbai Delhi flight 186 was boarding. And I was there at the fag end of the queue, calling up my folks at Delhi that I have finally made it…. Almost :)
Monday, July 07, 2008
In the memory of my grandmother..Love you always!!
Vasansi Jeernani yatha Vihay
Navani Grihyati Naroparani |
tatha sharirani vihay jeerna-
anyani sanyati navani dehi ||
Navani Grihyati Naroparani |
tatha sharirani vihay jeerna-
anyani sanyati navani dehi ||
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