Oh!! You've GOT to be kidding me!!!!!!

This is something I had decided not to blog about and let go but somehow I feel enough is enough...Lately I have been reading and hearing a lot about Moral policing, controversies / protests over trivial and silly issues which are'nt even a issue, media reports about how Aamir Khan or Akshay Kumar are better than Shahrukh khan, how Akshay is the new King of Bollywood and how Aamir is a better actor and Shahrukh is nothing..how aamir, salman and akshay are ganging up against SRK...blah blah BLAH.

I will first talk about the whole thing in the media surrounding Shahrukh Khan. Anything concerning Shahrukh is of importance to me and hence the mention here. I have tried to ignore such remarks and rubbish them,but with the Media making a mountain out of a molehill and blowing such news out of proportions its leading to a species of the human race, the kind that were born without a brain to leave comments on blogs and forums on various sites against SRK. I confess, it makes my blood boil when anyone says a word against Shahrukh Khan and its only natural that I would not hesitate for a second to defend him even if there is no need really to do so. Something I cant help because I genuinely feel really bad about it.

First of all, You cant compare SRK to Aamir or Akshay. All of them come from different backgrounds, do different genres of film and have different personalities. All three are of the same age, started of around the same time, except that Aamir was already an established star when Shahrukh came into the picture. Inspite of that Shahrukh has more universal acceptance than any other actor does and that is a fact. How many people in a country like Germany or even New Zealand would go see a Aamir khan film. They probably don't know him yet. Whether you agree or not shahrukh Khan is a global superstar.

As far as the genres or the types of roles they do. what happened to the notion of To each his own? I mean its their life , their choice, Shahrukh maintains that he doesn't choose the film,rather the film chooses him, he does what is offered and does not sit and decide what he should make. And if he's happy with that then why do people have a problem? You cant even compare thier styles of acting, while aamir does method acting, Shahrukh feels the charector and enacts. Thier styles are different. Its like comparing an Apple with a Potato. One grows on trees and is a fruit and the other is grown underground and is a vegetable! Ok! Wierd example.I know. But hey you get the point right? If Aamir makes socially thought provoking films,its his choice. I mean if those kinds of films makes you happy then by all means go watch his films but don't deride Shahrukh for his choice. Besides the way things are going in the country today, with terrorist attacks, vandalism, riots, people objecting and protesting about silly things, moral policing etc, how effective would a social film be? So many social thought provoking films have been made in the past.. have we learnt from them and improved as a society? No. we are getting from bad to worse.. so then why is everyone hellbent on insisting that actors only do movies on social issues. If you want a change in society then have the freaking balls to get off your butt and do something about it. Don't pick on soft targets. that's despicable. Movies are entertainment and are meant to be taken that way. We somehow pick on movies more than our politicians when its the politicians who are responsible for the betterment of our way of living. Better still, pick on yourself, after all you have to be the change you want to see. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, I agree, but the problem arises when it turns into an insult. Our constitution said , right to freedom of speech not freedom of insult!

I seriously don't understand what people have against Shahrukh.He has'nt killed anyone, or fought with anyone or badmouthed anyone. He always means well. He lives his life with sincerity, honesty and integrity.He is very grounded and knows his roots inspite of all the success he has earned. He does'nt interfere with others' work. Infact he promotes other actors and praises them. He is very secure in his space and is genuinely grateful with what God has given him. His success formula is to outdo himself, to compete with himself and that's what he means when he makes statements like "He is the biggest brand" or "He is the best actor in the world" which sadly people misinterpret as being vain and pompous. We all pep ourselves up at times to motivate ourselves. Going by that logic he publically makes statements like he is the best etc.. which is more often misunderstood. I guess some people are just jealous and cannot stand someone else being happy and content in life. Thats a shame.

And if you don't agree with what I say then that is your problem! Not everything,especially when it comes to people and personalities, is as simple as black and white.Every human is complex and if everyone understands that then maybe we would be a step closer to becoming a mature society.

But then some people are not complex, they are just plain stupid. And nowadays even the educated section of the society sometimes say things or act in ways which makes you say "what the f***?" I used to believe that a person with good education would make a sensible and responsible citizen but I was SO wrong. When educated people can't differentiate between right and wrong or whats a joke and whats serious then I'm seriously worried about the future of this country.

After the Mumbai attacks there was such an uproar about how people should wake up and raise their voice against injustice, question the system, be the change.. is this how people interpreted raising their voices? Every day or so you hear about a protest over a very trivial and silly matter that its just not amusing. When the attacks happened and Shahrukh was quiet for a while, people were upset , coz their logic was - the attacks were masterminded by muslims, shahrukh is a muslim and its his duty to condemn it. What Rubbish!! He's as Indian as anyone of us.He does'nt need to prove anything. It was shocking for him too. But instead of people getting angry with the government and the so called intelligence agencies for not having avoided the attack, a section was targeting him, Oh and during this time, Akshay Kumar not once came on TV or print to condemn the attacks because he was busy promoting JUMBO..and THAT'S not insensitive.?? oh but wait.. he's Hindu. Right. So not accountable.. How typical!!

Then there was the case of the Mangalore pub attack and even worse the comments by muttalick (I dont care how his name is spelt). Now the moral police is really getting on my nerves, this is where we prove yet again what a hypocritical society we are. We talk about taking India to the world yet behave in ways that takes us back to the stone age. Ill bloody well go to a pub with friends and have a drink or two, I'll wear short skirts if I want to,I'll buy valentine gifts if I feel like, freedom in this country is not only for the men, its for me too. What is Indian culture anyway? That women should be confined to the kitchen, should not go out of the house? puhleez.. even with the pub hopping, working and going out we manage our families just fine. These so called men of the moral police are just threatened by us. Same goes for rapists, who cant control their raging hormones and blame it on the woman. Vulgarity lies in the eyes of the beholder. So if you think something is demeaning , degrading or vulgar, you need to change the way you think.

And then the latest, the salon and hairdresser's association feeling "hurt" by the use of the word "Barber" in "Billu Barber". Wha!! The movie has been in the news for over 4 months now, yet they chose 2 days before the release of the film to voice their disagreement??!! Demanding that they scrap that word from the dialogues and change all posters. They are obviously a bunch of dimwits to even suggest such a thing. I find this whole "non" controversy hard to digest. They obviously don't care if the film is called "Billu Barber" or "Billu Hajam" or even "Billu Nai" for that matter... they just wanted their 15 seconds of fame! Disgusting.

There are hundreds of other issues floating about, not related to movies or Shahrukh Khan... but since these were fresh on my mind I mentioned them here.Besides they would just drain me out..I seriously need to consider anger management else I'll blow my top one of these days!

I'm really saddened that instead of learning lessons, working towards becoming better citizens, people are resorting to cheap tactics. Who are they kidding? Does the salon association or even the moral police think that people are going to sympathize with them? No way!! If anything, it just highlights how cheap, stupid and utterly dumb these people are. This is a classic case of "Aa bail mujhe maar"..."come, see, I have the IQ of a stone! "

When will people raise thier voices against the real issues. Are we always going to remain hypocrites? Where are the men with balls of steel? Or have all of them turned into hijras pretending to be men? When will we live and let others live in peace? When will we grow up as a nation? Why cant the government focus on such issues? Just because they keep quiet it gives motivation to these miscreants. Too many questions and sadly no answers.



PS: There is no offence intended to anyone reading this. This is just me generally letting off some steam!!

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The Hate Within.

Two men casually walk into a restaurant and open fire. Randomly aiming at anything that moves. After surveying the room to make sure none of the bodies show any sign of life they move into the kitchen and mow down some more. Casually grab something to eat, laugh and chat amongst themselves as if they were meeting at a bar. No remorse at the dastardly act they just committed. The audacity of such a crime makes me cringe with anger and I want to play that scene again and again in my head so that I do not forget. So that I do not calm down. I do not want to stop reminding myself that it could have been me or God forbid my loved one at a restaurant or a mall or a market or at the station, just enjoying a casual evening or shopping for diwali or celebrating a promotion or going for a holiday.

The last two weeks since the horrible Mumbai carnage has left me feeling stunned, shocked, sad, helpless, scared and angry. A range of emotions I’m sure many a Indian would have felt and rightly so. I don’t know whether to blame the media or applaud them for telecasting the attack minute by minute on national television. On one hand it seemed as though they were cashing in on the event, being insensitive to the ongoing combat operation by exposing crucial strategies. One channel even flashed this as breaking news “Terrorists hamara channel dekh rahe hain!”. Sick. But on the other hand I feel like applauding them because if it were not for the in your face coverage we would never have been so shaken to have woken up to say Enough is Enough.

We have had enough of the fear, the absolutely unnecessary loss of innocent lives, of politicians who are more interested in safeguarding their sorry asses, in power and money at any cost, the lack of basic infrastructure, and the corruption.

But somehow we have NOT had enough of Muslim bashing, fighting amongst religions on the basis of religion, community, caste. Terrorism is our biggest enemy today or so we think. Ponder over this, why do you think terrorists have managed to strike so many times this year. And no. I am not indicating at the lack of intelligence and security in our country to counter them. That a whole other topic. But because, they saw India as a potential ground where they could succeed. The same way the British saw us.

We are a diverse country. Over 80 percent of Indians are Hindus, with some significant minorities. Muslims number about 110 million, there are over 20 million Christians, about 18 million Sikhs, close to 6 million Buddhists and a number of other small religious groups. To an outsider, who gets taken in by the various languages and cultures it sounds like a mystical land. But the truth is, we are just as divided in our cultures, as we are divided in our unity.

These terrorists are unfortunately Muslim by birth, who come from poor families, are young and fiercely religious. Get some lunatic religious extremist to brainwash them saying that Islam preaches that with Jihad you will please Allah and he will welcome you with open arms in heaven. Any well educated human (irrespective of gender, religion) will agree that this is bullshit. You don’t get praise from God for killing innocent people. The terrorists claim that they strike because of the treatment meted out by Hindus to their Muslim brothers. They know by saying this, the divide between Hindus and Muslims will deepen and cause more disharmony. Pretty soon, Hindu-Muslims will fight amongst themselves and the terrorists will sit back and watch the show. Is this what we want? By Muslim bashing, stating that all Muslims are terrorists we are helping the terrorists accomplish their goal. Let’s not forget these terrorists kill their own as well. We blame Pakistan because all evidence points that it breeds from their country, but lets not forget the terrorists have not spared the Pakistani people either. Because of this they are a bruised and battered nation that is on the verge of falling into a deep abyss. Expecting them to clean out the terrorist camps or even blaming them for it all is not the solution.

We can say that by going back to our routine lives will show the terrorists that they can’t break our resilient spirit but who are we kidding? A majority of people in India are still prejudiced towards Muslims. It’s bad enough that they have this enormous task of reforming the misled Muslims within their community but now they also have to defend their religion to the misled countrymen!

I consider myself to be a very liberal Indian. I embrace every religion and am not a staunch Sikh. I have many Christian friends, I have attended church with them, had the honor of being a bridesmaid. I also have loads of Muslim friends and of course Hindu friends too. I consider myself an Indian first and realize the beauty in every religion and culture. I am patriotic that way. I also believe India is NOT shining. We focus on image management more than the issues that are really degrading our country. So it’s important to tell the world we signed a nuclear deal when the fact is that we couldn’t even stop 10 young terrorists from causing havoc. God forbid if a country attacks us, we probably don’t have anyone skilled enough to use our new nuclear toys!

We have for so long brushed the dirt under the carpet that now a hole in it has exposed all the mess under it to the world. We boast about the diversity of our culture but we can’t see eye to eye with another religion, caste or creed. We crib that politicians are criminals, corrupt and greedy yet we vote and bring them to power. We light candles at the gateway of India for peace and solidarity but when someone is hurt on the road we look the other way. We say that the police is corrupt yet we don’t think twice before offering them a bribe just so that they would let us go. Its sad but a fact - we are a nation of hypocrites.

Its time to stop focusing only on the good things and pay more attention to our flaws. Because how long are we going to hide behind the farce of being a so called “emerging superpower”. Sooner or later our cover will be blown and the world will know our deep dark secrets.

I am hopeful that this time there will be change. We have been jolted out of our sleep, coz now terror has hit home. I hope that we are seeing history in the making. We have come together to raise our voice against the government but I also hope we introspect and start the change from within us only then will it spread and unite us in the true sense.

“I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . .

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

- Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson

Travel Memoirs of the Confused Soul - Mumbai & Goa -Final Part

Monday 31 December
I got back to Ivan's place in Fort aguada around 09:30 AM and straightaway crashed. I woke up around 4 in the afternoon, freshened up, thought I'd take mum out but laziness crept in and I went back to sleep! I woke up around 6ish and spent some time chatting with mum and then calling dad & speaking with him. Around 9 Jude called saying that the plan was to party in Sam's Shack at Baga Beach and that I needed to be ready by 10 as they would come and pick me up. I got ready and by 10 there was no sign of Jude and the gang (Sushil, Louise,Alison and Mukesh...since I am going to refer to them quite a few times later on, lets just call them "J - SLAM" and if that doesnt make a word... well now it does!) Prashant and I then hailed a taxi and headed for Baga Beach. The roads were jampacked with cars, partypeople all on thier way to some club or beach and cops.We had been warned that the traffic situation on the 31st would be terrible. So when we reached calangute, 2 kms away from Baga, we got rid of the taxi and walked all the way. The sights and sounds were amazing, as if all of Goa had come out on the streets. Every cafe, restaurant and shop was lit up, loud music playing and people all dressed up ready to party the nite away. We reached Baga a while later and the road that leads to the beach was jampacked with people. Just before you enter the beach, you will find Tito's (considered one of the hottest clubs in India!) and the the lane leading upto it is called "Tito's Lane". Normally vehicles would be allowed inside Tito's lane, however tonite the cops had put up barrickades at the street entrance. Inspite of that it was overflowing, spilling over the brim with people trying to get into Tito's and Mambo's (a club next to Tito's )and onto the beach. We reached Sam's shack at 11:20 PM and there we met two couple friends of Prashant's. We walked around looking for a place to sit, but all tables were occupied. After a while we spotted a table with no chairs and slowly one by one, whenever someone vacated we pulled chairs and settled down. The beach was so crowded that after a point it got quite suffocating. I hate crowds and try to avoid it as much as possible. We had just ordered our drinks and it had barely set in when the clock struck 00:00. The crowd was in a frenzy with everyone, friends and strangers wishing each other a "Happy New Year" and then the most amazing, out of the world display of fireworks in the sky I have ever witnessed commenced. One after the other, rockets shot up in the sky from every direction lighting up the sky. The whole beach had become so bright all of a sudden as though God just turned on his tubelight! I dint know where to look, I kept turning my head left then right then around, I just dint want to miss a thing. It must have gone on for an hour and after a while my neck was hurting and I decided to focus my attention on one side of the sky! After all the excitement and highly charged up energy of the transition from 07 to 08 plus the fireworks simmered down, the beach starting clearing up a bit. All the families present left leaving just the all-nite- partypeople. A little after 12, Ivan, Jenny and Jeanne arrived. J-SLAM were stuck in a major Traffic jam..what a way to bring in the new year!!

We sat around drinking and chatting and trying to figure out the music. You see, every shack on the beach was competeing in thier version of the War of the DJ's!! If one shack had his music loud, the other one not to be left behind was louder. And the result was a wierd concoction of really loud punjabi+bollywood remix+pop+trance+ hip hop which = a really bad cocktail!! All I could hear and what was prominent from the music mix was...dhin chak dhin chak dhin chak!!! I decided to give up trying to figure out the music and focussed my attention to the people around. There was a foriegn couple sitting behind us. Every minute or so some random guy or group of guys, all locals and obviously drunk, would stop by and wish them a Happy new year and ask about where they were from etc... surprising none of the locals stopped by our table...why? Dont we deserve to be wished a Happy new year..? Jeeez and we call the British, Australians ,Americans racist and Indians the victims ...tch tch poor Indians !! So anyway, there was another, rather large group of foriegners sitting on the other side of our table. They too recieved the same treatment from the locals. After a while I started feeling sleepy. I had ordered for a beer which I had been nursing for two hours by now and I had managed to finish only half a glass!!! So you can imagine how much fun I was having!! Ah! I almost forgot, We also witnessed two gruesome fights. It started all of a sudden amongest a couple of the waiters of two seperate shacks. You see they are quite particular about sticking to thier territory and one must have violated that rule and decided to cash in on the new year rush and the other was obviously not going to let him get away with it. So one chased the other and hit him with a beer bottle...on the head...so hard that it broke. Infact I think he broke two beer bottles on his head!! geez..when will SOME men (thats mentioned in caps so that you understand that I dont hate ALL men! ) understand..all this violence and machogiri just reinforces the fact that they are whimps! Anyway, as soon as that fight started, Ivan and the other boys, quickly got up and got us girls ( we were three girls and the fight started behind us) to the other side and exchanged seats with us. (See I meant it when I said not all men are bad, Ivan and the boys were real gentlemen :) ) After about what seemed like half an hour, another fight broke out and this time on the other side where we girls were sitting!! I swear we did nothing to spark the fight !!

After that little interesting break from the rather exciting time we were having, we moved closer to a table at the shack. The DJ at this shack was playing punjabi numbers and I seriously was in no mood to listen to punjabi.. and the dance floor was empty, I guess everyone else agreed with me. In contrast, the dance floor in the shack next to ours was jam packed with no place for people to dance, yet they somehow squeezed in. I was still nursing my glass of beer!! Thats coz of the consistant level of my excitement. Around 3 AM, J-SLAM finally arrived. Lets hope they dont spend the rest of the year stuck in every jam that blocks the roads! Once they settled down they took out their stash of alcohol ... Flavored vodka - Apple Twist I think and Tequilla. Well I have never tried Tequilla before. Actually Ive been a little hesitant because Ive heard stuff like, it burns your throat, if its your first time you puke and blah blah and Im a very conscious drinker. I always, with the exception of tonight, know my limits and once Im done with my quota I shift to plain ol' H2O. At times I do mix drinks too which I know is bad but thankfully I have never caused a scene or embarrased myself silly. So, getting back, this time I thot..what the heck and decided to give Tequilla a shot and 4 of them at it (small ofcourse) :) It did burn my throat, I dint puke and I felt on top of the world!! hehe.. Well one things for sure, Tequilla makes it straight to the number one position in my Top drinks countdown!! For most part of the rest of the nite, I was quite tipsy and at one point even wandered off without telling anyone.. In my defence I just went looking for the loo!! The music and dancing carried on untill 7 in the morning when the DJ called it a nite.

Tuesday 1 January 2008
Everyone was in high spirits yet exhausted. We headed back for Louise's house and Prashant who had hired a taxi came along with Ivan and Jenny. We hung around for a bit and since everyone was really tired we decided to get back to Ivan's place. On the way we stopped at Mapusa and booked Volvo seaters (never ever am I gonna travel in a sleeper) for the 2nd evening to Mumbai. I slept for a while and woke up around 1ish feeling mighty guilty for having left mum alone on new years eve and decided to take her out. We got ready and decided to head for Calangute. But before that our hosts insisted we have lunch at home. So after a delicious lunch consisting of Fried fish and Goan fish curry we left. We stopped at the market, roamed around a bit and then settled down for some tea at one of the cafe's. We chatted for a while and talked to dad too. That evening there was another function hosted by the Bride's family.. basically a homecoming for the Bride a day after she gets married, at Jenny's place in Al Dona. So after about 2 hours or so we left as I had to get ready for the function. Mum wasnt feeling too well. She had a terrible cold, no fever but was feeling a little weak and so decided to stay back and rest. Ivan's family in Fort Aguada had hired a bus (again the DTC kind) to take us to Al Dona. We left around 8 PM and it took us ..I think.. an hour to get there. Jenny's family and relatives were eagerly waiting for us and we had to wait at the gate untill everyone was ready with the party poppers and camera. After a grand entrance we settled down. The rest of the evening was pretty much about music, dancing , a game of musical chairs & passing the parcel, food and drink.

After the party was over and all the guests had left, we ( J-SLM & me . I missed out "A" coz Alison was not at the party and Prashant had left for chennai the previous afternoon) decided to hang around. There was a lake close to Jenny's house... a secluded and extremely eerie place. We drove down there and hung around for about 15- 20 minutes and then headed for louise's house. I guess we had exhausted all energy to party and so we just sat around talking for a while. Around 5 AM, I decided to get back to Ivan's place and crash.

Wednesday 2 January
The next morning I woke up around 10 and got ready. This was our last day in Goa and our bus was scheduled to leave at 8 PM from Mapusa. Mum and I decided to go to Calangute beach. We were told that the beach was full of foriegners and that it wouldnt be crowded...But when we reached the beach it WAS crowded , not just with foriegners but also with locals and thier families. There were rows of beach beds outside every shack and we found an unoccupied one (a pair of beds are placed together) and made ourselves comfortable. Incase youre wondering if you could just go to the beach , find a beach bed, plop your butt on it and go to sleep all free of charge... well sorry to dissappoint you but that not true... they charge you 100 bucks per hour and Im guessing its cheaper off season. We lazed around for an hour, soaking up the sun, after all in a day we would be back to Delhi and the cold. I heard that it was 1.9 degrees on the 2nd..or was it the 1st.. watever..it dint matter coz we were soaking up the sun when people back home were prolly in layers of sweaters and under quilts with the heaters on... tch tch..:) There was a lot of activity on the beach..if you dont want to laze around (which is something I love to do.. you see, I am the one who makes the word "Lazy" proud! ) then you could try out the water rides on the jet ski scooter or if you are the I-believe-I-can-fly types then there's paragliding for you. After a relaxing hour we decided to head back. On the way we bought some Port wine No 7 and some World famous in Goa - Cashewnuts. I bought a souvinier which was basically a shell placed atop another shell (which helps to make it stand) and has "GOA" carved on it. Its comfortably placed ontop of my music system along with some sand and pebbles and a miniature coconut tree...my very own miniature Goa...why on the music system you ask? Well how could I depict a miniature Goa without shacks playing music? I plan to make a tiny shack made of straw and that would complete my little Goa away from Goa ..:))

After that we went to the same cafe we'd been to the previous evening and had some tea. Then we hailed a taxi and headed back to Ivan's house around 0630. We anticipated traffic and keeping that in mind decided to leave around 7 as it would take us atleast half an hour to reach Mapusa from where the bus would leave. All bags packed, and with the help of our hosts we called for a taxi. Around 7, Jude called and said that the gang was at Mapusa at louise's place and that when I reached there , to call him and they would come and meet us. When the taxi arrived, we bid our farewells and thank you's to the most warm and caring hosts we have ever come across in our lives and left. We anticipated right, there was heavy traffic at Mapusa as all the volvo buses were coming in... we reached at 07:40. Jude, Alison, Sushil, Mukesh and Louise were waiting outside a landmark I provided. Our bus came in a little after 8...I got the luggage loaded, seats identified, mum settled in them and bid my farewell to the gang...promising to keep in touch.

Thursday 3 January
I was finally on my way back to Mumbai...and missing Goa already. This Volvo was much much more comfortable than the one we took into Goa. We reached Andheri around 0700 in the morning. Achcha while we were in goa, so was Rishub and his group of friends, however we couldnt meet up in goa as they had rented a villa on the other end of town in Al dona where Jenny's house is. Funny thing is, when I was in Al dona he would be roaming around in Calangute and Candolim..which is close to Ivan's place in Fort Aguada!!! On new year's eve, when I was at Baga and called him, he had passed by and they dint want to come to Baga as it was so crowded. So anyway, they left Goa at 3 PM on 2nd afternoon (they had hired a car).. when Mum and I were chilling on Calangute beach...and were scheduled to reach around the same time we did. Anyway, we got down at Andheri and took an auto. We dint know the exact location of Ratin's house and tried calling Rishub but he wouldnt pick up the fone (so whats new!!! Hey bubli dont get pissed... its true..okay!! ) We just knew it was near the Lokhandwala market and thats what we told the autowallah. But we got lucky, we made a guess on a turn and landed up in front of Ratin's colony gate!! We spent the next couple of hours relaxing a bit, having lunch then tea, finishing the packing and clicking some pics of Rishub. We hadn't even left for the station yet and we were already missing him! All that done, we left for Mumbai Central around 0400.. our train to delhi was at 05:40 PM..Inspite of leaving early, we got stuck in traffic and made it with about 5 minutes to spare before the train left. This was the time for all the last minute orders from Mum to Rishub and bye bye's .. the train left Mumbai at sharp 05:40. The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Oh! I almost forgot. Let me tell you about this one incident that happened with my Bro, Rishub in Goa. On Saturday,the 29th there was a "Ingo" Market at Baga, which is basically where all the foriegners set up stalls and sell stuff...could be food stalls or souviniers from thier country..anyway Rishub discovered this German couple selling hot dogs made with the most delicious German Bratwurst sausages. He got into line and after a long 30 minute wait, he bought his Hot Dog. He must have just taken a bite or two when there was some commotion and pushing around...well what else can ya expect in a crowded place.. anyway when he looked back all he had in his hand was the bread...the sausages were missing!!! He was furious...Well! Imagine after waiting for 30minutes in the queue and taking one heavenly bite of those sausages, who wouldnt be? Anyway he went to a different stall and ordered a roll (I think..well even he doesnt remember) and walked through the crowd making his way back to the car. He finished his roll in the car. About 20 minutes later, he went looking for the loo. Just before taking care of business, he felt something on his shirt on the side. When he looked down.....The sausage was stuck to his shirt!!!! hahahhahah .. What did he do next? Aint it obvious? It was a sign..the sausage had his name on it.. so he plopped it into his mouth!! hehehe

We arrived in Delhi at 11:10 AM and Dad came to pick us up. We stopped at a South Indian restaurant for some Idli-Dosa and headed home. With that my two week long vacation was over. I went back to work that very evening. But all said and done it was a vacation I would never forget, I may not have done anything out of the ordinary, but in my little world it was so and thats all that matters. This trip and meeting and hanging out with new people has made me realise a lot of things about myself that I knew needed looking into but I kept running away from it. Am not going to get into that, but I will mention the most important lesson I learnt.... I need to chill out more in life!! :-)

~~~ O FIM ~~~.

Travel Memoirs of the Confused Soul - Mumbai & Goa - Part 2

Friday 28 December :
We entered Goa around 7 AM. I had no idea where to get off and where my friend lived. I had called Ivan (the groom) before boarding the bus to let him know that I would be reaching in the morning and he assured me a million times that he would come a pick me up. All he said was to get down somewhere near Fort Aguada. Anyway , I checked with the bus driver and the closest place was Mapusa. When we were close to Mapusa, I tried calling Ivan, and was bombarded with this rather loud Konkani Song!! Anyway he dint pick up. Alternately I tried Prashant's phone, who was also staying in Ivan's house. (Ivan, Prashant and I were batchmates from IHM Chennai). Right from the time we were close to Mapusa to getting off the bus at Mapusa to hiring a taxi to Fort Aguada... I kept trying Ivan's and Prashant's number hoping that either one would pick up. To my horror, Ivan's phone wouldnt get through after a while and the message I got was that it was out of out of coverage area.. Great!! Just what I needed!! After that really frustrating and backbreaking bus journey, I really dint expect this. I was furious. We reached Fort Aguada and stopped at a nearby restaurant to get some tea while I kept trying Prashant's number.I realised that It was silly of me not to have taken an address or alternate numbers. I had almost given up and had reached boiling point, ready to explode..I told mum that if he dint pick up the phone I was not going to attend his wedding... to hell with it and Im not gonna be the bridesmaid either!!! 50 missed calls later (25 each to Ivan and Prashant!) , Ivan picked up the phone. Instead of an excited greeting one would give a friend youre talking to and gonna meet after 8 years, I screamed at him. Poor fellow apologised to the core, but stupid me, I was so consumed in my anger, I kept venting it out on him. Anyway, we got his place and settled down. I gave a piece of my mind to Prashant too when I got there. Apparantly they spent all nite drinking and slept around 5 in the morning so they dint hear the fone. On top of that, Ivan's fone had no battery charge left so it switched off. And If Ivan picked up when I was calling prashant it was by luck. Apparantly Prashant fell off the bed while sleeping and bumped his head... he deserved it if you ask me!! (yeah yeah Ive told you that so dont get mad at me again Prashant!!) Anyway as a reflex he checked his fone and discovered the 25 missed calls from me. And just then I called for the 26th time and he knew I was gonna be majorly pissed so he just handed the fone to Ivan to take the brunt of it !

We then sat around talking for a bit and then Ivan wanted me to try on the bridesmaid's dress that was made for me. It was a lavender colored dress, that was the theme of the wedding... well so were Butterflies,but thankfully the dress dint have any on it. I tried on the dress and I guess Ivan must have had a little too much to drink the previous night coz the dress he gave me was three times bigger than me. Turns out he brought the wrong one!! We freshened up and took a nap. In the evening Mum, me, Ivan and Prashant headed for Baga Beach. On the way we passed through Calangute & Candolim markets. Roadside markets selling clothes and souviniers and every alternate establishment was either a cafe or a restaurant. The city was bustling with life.. everything was lit up, music playing from every roadside cafe and restaurant. Some of them had live bands playing. Foriegners strolling about or riding in hired Kinetic Hondas.. it was a quite a sight. Felt like I was in a totally different country.

For the ones reading who have never been to Goa, let me tell you that there are no wide roads. Its just one long & narrow road like you have on the way up to a hill station. The roads widen in the main city ...since Ive just been to Mapusa, Ive just noticed one there. Away from the city, on either sides of the roads connecting the major areas within the city, you will find vast fields.OK time for a pop quiz - What do you get when you have a long and narrow road + lots of cars, buses & Two wheelers+ peak season+ pedestrians ? The answer is simple - A chaotic traffic situation!! And seriously I thot Delhi topped the list when it came to traffic issues.

We spent a couple of hours on Baga beach. Had a couple of beers and ate something and then headed out. These guys wanted to party later that nite but I told them I was gonna crash as I was still exhausted from the back breaking bus ride the previous nite.

Saturday 29 December :
Since I was one of the bridesmaid I had to stay over at Jenny's place (the bride). She lived on what seemed like the other end of town and which was the complete opposite of the Calangute/Baga side of Goa. A total contrast I must say. It was a very quiet locality, lined with vintage villas and bungalows. Contruction of houses were a stark indication of its portugese past. Again it took us over an hour and a half ..well infact two hours to get there. Im guessing distances arent too great in Goa, but because the roads are narrow and there is just one route, it seems such. We stopped for 30 mins en route at the venue for the reception - Alva Mara, as Ivan had to take care of some friction between the decorator and the owner of the venue. When we reached Jenny's house , her mum, dad and sister were waiting out in the garden. They greeted us with a lot of warmth and welcomed us into their home. There I met Jenny for the first time along with Louise (one of the bridesmaids), Sushil and Mukesh (Ivan's friends from Mumbai) except for these two, Ivan, Jenny, Louise and a couple more Ill mention later are Goans living in Kuwait. We relaxed around a while and around lunch time we had to go to Jenny's Uncle's house for the Bangle ceremony.Quite similar to the chooda ceremony in punjabi weddings were the mamma buys the chooda for the bride before the wedding. The only difference here was that it was not Jenny's uncle who was putting the bangles in her wrists.They had called over the bangle guy (cant think of the appropriate term) to do the honors. Another difference was that , not only does the bride get to make her choice of bangles, the bridesmaids also get an oppurtunity to select a pair they like and wear them. Which to me was great coz I love bangles. Im not too much into jewellery or accessories , and so you would never see me wearing chains or rings but when it comes to bangles and earrings i cant resist. I have a huge collection of bangles at home. So, there's some insight into my likes and dislikes. Well getting back, we spent most of the afternoon at Jenny's uncle's place. While Jenny was wearing her bangles, there was a lot of singing, konkani folk songs. I couldnt understand a word, but I'm guessing the songs were about the new life the bride was to begin and the significance of the bangle ceremony to the wedding. Whats the significance you ask? I have absolutely no idea!! After the ceremony we had lunch,the menu consisted of Roasted Beef, Fish curry and Pork stew.After lunch we headed back to Jenny's place.

In the evening, there was another function,the Rose ceremony. Again it is similar to the haldi rasm in our punjabi weddings. Here the difference being, there was no haldi, and it wasnt just for the bride! Before I explain what happened, I must admit I had absolutely NO IDEA watsoever ,not the slightest inkling as to what was about to happen to me. All the 6 bridesmaids ( Jeanne, Saavia, Louise, Glenda, Alison and Me) and Jenny were made to sit in a row on the floor.Huge bowls of coconut milk were placed in front of us.Now everyone present, right from the bride's immediate family to other relatives to all the friends present there had to rub the coconut milk on all of us starting with the bride. You'd think it must have gone pretty civilised and that they prolly would have just put a lil tikka on us..? Naaaah!! If you're a guy and if you had the oppurtunity to pour some coconut milk on 7 girls? Would you hold your self back? I think not! What followed was crazy. Everyone took generous handfulls of the cocunut milk and poured it on us and rubbed our faces and arms to make sure it seeped in! And I mean EVERYONE... the Aunties, Uncles and so did all the boys present there..geez!! What an experience, Im surely not gonna forget it anytime soon! By the end of it, and it must have taken about 30 minutes or maybe longer I really dont know, I was not in a position to keep track of time, we were drenched , soaking to our undies in coconut milk...yeah yeah.. I know at this point you wanna see some pics..dont ya..? cheapsters!!! Once everyone had done thier bit, the 6 of us gathered around Jenny to take our revenge..hehe..and poured the rest of the contents from each bowl onto her.On the brighter side, I heard we were let off quite easy, you see Ivan had the same rose ceremony performed on him a day before I arrived in Goa. He and his best men were treated to eggs, haldi, coconut milk and what not.. HAHHAHAHA!! So anyway, nothing much happened the rest of the evening. I was exhausted and crashed around 11ish.

Sunday 30 December: Wedding Day
The wedding was scheduled to commence at 5 PM and since all we girls had to do was get pampered and dress up , we got up liesurely around 10ish. We spent most part of the day getting our hair and makeup done. By 4 we were ready and so was Jenny the bride who was looking simply gorgeous in her white gown and veil. What followed was a round of photos with Jenny, the bridesmaids. All the while Jenny was getting ready, she kept going over the wedding and everyone's duties. We left for the church (dont ask me where...Im still not too familar with Goa) around 03:30 PM. They hired a bus ( the DTC kind) to take the us to the church. Enroute we got stuck in a jam. Well not surprising..when the roads are so narrow and there's two way traffic. I was really impressed by Jenny's mum. The moment we got stuck in the jam, she got off the bus, without batting an eyelid and guided the bus out of the jam!

Jenny had wanted all the bridesmaids to stand in line according to thier hieghts and give ourselves numbers so that when we got to the church we could stand with our respective partners. She had, and as far as I know, told Ivan explicitly that he was to do the same routine. But boys will be boys, when we got to the church the best men had no idea they had to get in order!! We quickly improvised and got in line height wise with our partners. My partner was Jude, tall dark and extremely cute.( Alison, dont punch me..am just complimenting your boyfriend! ;) We stood with our partners in line behind Jenny & Ivan. And while waiting to enter the church, Jenny got to know about the miss and she started scolding Ivan.. right there, at the church entrance!! Ah! what a perfect couple..heheh What followed was a sermon by the pastor, live band singing carols and wedding vows exchanged. And finally the pastor said" I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!! . With that, Ivan my dear old friend was finally hooked, booked and cooked. :)

There was another round of photographs to be taken after the ceremony and mass was over, but as luck would have it, the lights went out. Lagtra hai is bhagwan ke ghar mien der tak andher hain!! Hey! said with all due respect :) We then got back on the bus and headed for the reception venue- Alva Mara. Jenny and Ivan left in their Mercedes. When we reached there, we couldnt just walk in.. after all the new Mr & Mrs had to make a grand entrance and not without the bridesmaids and best men. It was an open area, beautifully decorated with a huge dance floor on one end and a live band playing. We stood at the entrance waiting for the MC to give us the cue so that we could enter. As is customary, the guests stand around in a circle on the dance floor and the bride and groom need to take a round with the bridesmaids and best men in two. Once the MC gave us the cue, we made our way around the floor , all the while bieng showered with confetti. Once that was over we gathered around the center of the floor, where a 5 tier cake was placed. It was time to pop the champagne, raise a toast and cut the cake. The first toast was made by Jeanne, Jenny's sister followed by Jenny and then Ivan. They thanked everyone for attending the wedding and thanked thier families. What Ivan said next, really made my day. He specially mentioned my name stating that I was the sole reason he met Jenny and thanked me. You see, when I got back in touch with Ivan over two years ago, we were chatting on yahoo and I told him to join orkut so that we could keep in touch more frequently. Also at the time,when we were discussing our single status, he expressed how he wanted to meet someone and settle down. So i told him that with Orkut, not only could he keep in touch with old friends, but make new ones and who knows find love! And thats exactly what happened. He met Jenny on Orkut! So anyway, I was really moved by this gesture of Ivans ..thanks pal!! After the toasts and cake cutting was done. It was time for the first dance! And people who know me, know very well that I cant dance to save my own life! And here I had to do ballroom dancing...of which I dont even know the B!! I decided to just grin and bear it..after all its for just one number, how bad could it be? Once Jenny & Ivan started, the bridesmaids and Best men had to join in. I let Jude know that I couldnt dance and I was leaving it all on him to help me get through it without a fumble. Thanks to him I survived, but not without stepping on his feet atleast twice!!! Sorry bout that Jude!! Once the first dance was over, I scooted from there and settled down to rub my ankles as shoebite had set in. All of us... Glenda, Louise, Alison, Jude, Sushil & Mukesh settled down at one table. We spent tthe rest of the evening chatting, laughing, drinking and eating. Mum wasnt well, the constant change in temprature from delhi to mumbai to goa was taking a toll. So I got her on the bus that was going back to Ivan's place in Fort Aguada so that she could rest. We lingered around the place until we were literally the last ones left. It had reached the point when the owner was about to kick us out!!!

Ivan, Jenny and the others with the exception of Prashant and me were making plans to go to Palolem. Thats a good two hour drive from where we were. Prashant and I declined. For one, I was exhausted, secondly, we would have under no circumstances been able to get back by 31st evening and I dint want to leave mum alone for the day. So these guys got into Mukesh's indica and left. The Mercedes that they had hired for the day was due to be sent back. But not without dropping prashant and me back to Fort Aguada. A luxourious and comfy 25 minutes Mercedes ride later we were back home. I changed and went to sleep. I must have dozed off just an hour when Louise called to say that thier trip to Palolem got cancelled and that they were gonna hang around at her place in Mapusa and wanted me to come there. I quickly changed, told Prashant and we sat outside in the garden waiting for them to come and pick us up. After about an hour and a half..or was it more..? anyway, they finally came and we went over to Louise's house. We sat around chatting and having a couple of drinks and we played a couple of rounds of Truth and dare. Now this part of my trip is censored.so you aint getting any details ;) All i'll say , it was a pretty interesting time. Ah well I could prolly tell you about one dare..pretty harmless and rated "U", was that I was dared to get some milk in a cup from the nieghbors house at 7 in the morning. The first house I went to, the lady refused stating she dint have any as she just ran out of it. In the second house, not only did they give me a packet of milk they even invited me in!! WOW..such nice people..and I bet a million bucks, if Id done the same thing here in Delhi , people would have just banged the door in my face!!hehe The same dare was given to Sushil, who had to take two table spoons and get sugar in them..not only did he get sugar wrapped in newspaper, he even got some tea leaves..hehe... Way to go Sushil!!! So now we had all the ingredients to make tea.. but lemme tell you they dint use it even until I left which was on the 2nd... I bet the milk is still lying in louise's fridge..hehe

To be continued...

Travel Memoirs of the Confused Soul - Mumbai & Goa - Part 1

A very Happy New Year to you all. Another year gone by...rather whooshed past. Looking back, professionally 2007 was a good year. I got promoted in December, and about time too :) Personally...well, all I'll say it wasn't much to talk about. I ended the year with a much needed break. A trip to Mumbai and Goa. The main reason of this holiday was to attend the wedding of my good ol’ college buddy- Ivan. It was my first Christian Wedding and I was asked to be one of the bridesmaids plus this was my first trip to Goa. So a lot of firsts and I guess it goes without saying, I was really excited and looking forward to lots of fun and long lasting memories.

Inspite of being down with a nagging body and headache, running nose and high fever, I pushed myself as much as I could to somehow get through the shift on the 20th of December, finding solace in the fact that after this nite was over, I'd finally be on this long awaited and God knows desperately needed two week vacation! I was due to leave on the 24th for Mumbai and had three days to get prepared .. last minute shopping, packing and now to top it off get well before I boarded the train. I wasn't going to let anything spoil this holiday for me.

I spent all of Friday and Saturday popping pills and sleeping off the fever. By Sunday I felt good as new and about time too!

Monday 24 December:
CHAOS is defined as “a state of extreme confusion and disorder” No matter how hard we try to avoid it, we can’t. Specially when you have do something important like in this case –Travel! We had been planning this holiday for months…it was also planned that we would have three days before we left and so would finish all the last minute shopping and packing then. But No! Plans don’t always work out the way you want them to. So there we were running about the house, shouting out to each other from different rooms trying to finish our packing. To add to it, all of a sudden Mum realises that my poor ol lil bro was prolly starving and all malnutritioned coz the poor baby hadn't eaten a home cooked meal in over a year.. so off she went into the kitchen to make some dry meat masala and some Chicken pickle for him. Noticing mum in the kitchen, Dad decided what the heck , why not? and he gave his not so little list of food items he wanted mum to prepare for him while we were away.. something he could clearly have done a day or two earlier!! A good 3 hours later mum emerged from the kitchen, swearing that she couldn’t wait to get started with the holiday!

At 02:30 we were finally all set .. luggage loaded in the car, we finally set off for the station. Thankfully we reached well in time inspite of the traffic in Connaught place, confident that we got off near the right platform (all thanks to my masi who insisted that the Mumbai Rajdhani always leaves from platform 12!) Unfortunately for us, we had to go to platform 4... which was way across on the other side. So we made our way over the bridge to platform 4 from 12. No biggie.. we still had lots of time and the train had not arrived at the station yet. Now the thing is our train tickets were not confirmed until the last minute and ours was an extra bogie. We had absolutely no idea where the bogie would stop. When the train finally pulled into the station at 04:20 PM (the train was scheduled to leave at 04:30 PM), we realised to our horror that we were standing near the engine and our bogie was the absolute last one on the other side. With only under 10 minutes to go, we grabbed our bags and dodging our way through the oncoming crowd... pushing people aside..and I mean literally....I gotta admit, it is times like these when the evil side of me comes out... people were actually strolling leisurely about on the platform as if they were at the Rail museum! Also a polite "excuse me" never works..so I dint even bother with that. Making the way for my mum, I literally pushed and shoved people outta my way and finally reached the last bogie and got in with 3 minutes to spare before the train left the station.Phew!! The rest of the journey was uneventful...nothing or nobody interesting enough on the train to talk about. I always get pesky little wailing kids ..ALWAYS!!

Tuesday 25 December:
The train arrived at Mumbai Central on time - 08:30 AM. AGAIN just our luck, since ours was an extra bogie, it dint even make it to the platform!! We had to unload our luggage on the tracks! Thankfully Rishub got into our bogie and helped mum and the luggage get off. Just as we left the station and had driven about 10 minutes or less, we stopped at a signal. There across the road I noticed a traffic cop who had stopped a car for speeding. The guy in the car, without being discreet and not even looking the least bit worked up about being stopped by a cop, took out his wallet and offered the cop a bribe. Just there ..blatantly out in the open! The cop, prolly bitten by the bollywood bug, did his best to act as though he was offended and that he was an honest cop and refused the money. The man in the car tried again and it dint take much insistance on his part for the cop to give in. The cop took the money and here's the best part....after that reached out to grab the guy's wallet cuz he wanted more!!! Sheesh!!!!What an ass!! Now Im kicking myself as to why I dint take a photograph of this exchange when I had the chance!!! Ah well!!

An hour and a half long exhausting mumbai darshan later, we reached "The Privilige Inn" in Malad where we had room reservations for two nights. After a good breakfast and warm bath we decided to crash for a bit. Around 5 pm we decided to head out to Lokhandwala Market in Andheri West. No matter how hard you try to resist and stick to window shopping ,you can’t. So we ended up buying some stuff. We had been invited over for dinner by Priyanka's family (Rishub's friend) where he had been staying. Around 9 we went back to Malad to Priyanka's house. We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Uncle and Aunty, Priyanka, her brother Pratik, Rishub and Ratin (Another friend of Rishub and Priyanka's fiance). It was a very relaxed and interesting evening.. with some fun filled conversation followed by some very delicious home cooked food. The next day was Priyanka's mom's birthday...so at sharp 12 we got out the cake (and a real yummy chocolate-coffee & Ferrero Rocher cake it was!) By 1 AM we were sleepy and bid our farewells and headed back to the hotel room.

Wednesday 26 December:
Since we had just two more days in Mumbai before we headed for Goa, we decided to make the most of it. Our Volvo Bus tickets were booked for the 27th evening at 8 PM. We left the hotel room around 12ish and headed for the nearest Mall - the Inorbit Mall in Malad. It was decided earlier that we wanted to watch atleast two movies, so we bought tickets for "Welcome" for the 4PM show and "Taare Zameen par" for the 11:30 PM show in the same movie complex. Since we had time to kill before the movie started we decided to first roam around a bit in the mall and then get something to eat at Pizza Hut.

After a few hours of doing pretty much nothing, it was time for the movie, so we headed for the movie hall. If you are a frequent visitor or live in Mumbai you would have noticed that before any movie show begins they always play the national anthem..which Im told is by order of Shiv Sena. With all due respect to the National Anthem, I find this routine quite odd. Its quite obvious that the only real motive of playing the anthem before a movie is because that is one place where you have so many people already gathered..so why not force them to sing the anthem and instill some patriotic feeling in them, like we don’t already feel so! What is the Shiv Sena trying to prove? Well, lets not get into that. So Anyhow, that done, we settled down and waited for the credits to roll and the movie to start. I have only one thing to say to the makers of "Welcome" after watching it and that is "You are definitely NOT Welcome" The movie is such a waste of time, money and good talent. C’mon! Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal have done much much better in the past. Nana Patekar was just about OK and Anil Kapoor needs a trip to the parlor to shed off all that hair...where does he think he is.. in Antartica? All that fur aint gonna help him look and stay cool in Mumbai!!! Anyway, after what seemed like 4 hours of torture, the film was finally over. It was quite generous enough to leave us with a parting gift - A Headache!

We then headed off to Juhu Beach which was quite a disappointment after my last trip there. The beach was filthy , crowded and full of Hawkers around. We had some naariyal paani..mum's favourite and decided to head off for dinner as it was already 0845 PM and traffic was bad. We went to this place called "Fingers Crossed" for steaks. Had a delicious dinner and then set off to watch "Taare Zameen Par". I have just one word to describe this film - B-E-A-U-Tee-Full, Touching, Heart wrenching...okay thats three words... but mark my words, if you haven’t seen it you're missing out on some great cinema. Trust me on this coz I don’t normally waste my breath to promote a Non Shahrukh Khan film..so THiS is big!! We (and I mean everyone in the hall) were in tears at the end and People even applauded. I’m soooo glad we watched "Welcome" first.. coz then I’d have to prolly take a pill for the headache to get some sleep!!

Thursday 27 December:
We woke up a little late, finished packing as we had to check out by 12:00 PM.Settled the bill and headed for Ratin's House in Lokkhandwala. We were to drop off some of our luggage there as we dint want to take all of it to Goa. After dropping it off, we headed off to TGIF to get something to eat. After about a leisurely 2 hour lunch we went to Lokhandwala market and did some more shopping.. oh what the heck!! after all am on vacation and I just got promoted.. a lil spending never hurt.. yeah? By 6PM we were back at Ratin's place and left for the pick up point at 0630. The reporting time was 0730 PM.. and even though it wasnt very far we decided to leave an hour in advance as traffic is hell in Mumbai. On the way, at a signal we saw Jitendra in his swanky Mercedes sitting in the front seat. He looked as though all hell just broke loose in Balaji!!

We reached the pickup point by 0740 PM and the bus was stuck in traffic too and got there by 8 PM. It was a sleeper Volvo which was booked by Rishub on the net on Redbus.com. My advice, never travel on a sleeper volvo.. even if you decide to, never book it without checking out the seats. The bus had 18 seaters and the rest were beds. We had beds on top and there was just a side rod that was not easily accessible. I could have managed to climb, but my mum is 56 years old and she couldn’t climb up. For the initial part of the journey we settled down on the seaters , however after the last pickup point we had to vacate those seats as all passengers had boarded the bus. Now the problem was that you can have either a seater or a sleeper. We were literally standing for a while. Mum couldn’t climb up and I wouldn’t get up and leave her standing. The sleeper next to ours, also on the top (there were sleepers on the floor of the bus too) had a proper ladder. It was occupied by two men.. we asked one if he could exchange it with us and he agreed. However the other man blatantly refused. His reason: he couldn’t leave his wife and kid who were on the sleeper right opposite his!!! He was acting as though we were asking him to go to the other end of the bus. All the sleepers were right next to each other!! SHeesh!... Anyway.. I asked another guy who had the lower bed and he agreed to help out. But then after about an hour or so, he wanted the bed back, said that he couldn’t fit into the top sleeper they weren’t the same size!! Just Great!! So now were were back to square one. What really pissed me off was that after that no one wanted to help us. We had no choice and it looked like we would have to travel all the way to Goa standing!! I had decided that the trip was going to be a disaster. Even the conductor wasn’t interested in helping us out. What a nightmare!! Luckily for us, two women who had the seaters offered thier seats in exchange for the beds... we jumped on the chance.. better go sitting instead of standing. The rest of the journey was highly uncomfortable and I just couldn’t wait to get off that bus.

To be Continued...

"Mujhe na gaaliyan sunai deti hai, na tareef. Sunai deta hai toh sirf ek naam.. Shahrukh Khan!! "

I just realised that I have this Blog and I have not even dedicated a single post to the most important person in my life - Shahrukh Khan!.. and so ever since this dawned on me I have been kicking myself in the butt (something which is not easy to do, I must tell you. there are so many factors to consider..one needs a lot of practice to master the technique such as right posture, angle of the leg , wind direction ..etc etc... ) Right! coming back to the point... I must declare (without sounding boastful or anything) that I am THE BIGGEST, MOST LOYAL(17 years and still going strong) SHAHRUKH KHAN FAN in the galaxy (what? you want proof?? ... Nonsense.. I DONT need to prove anything.. if I say I am ... I AM! ).

The thing is, just when I thought Shahrukh has reached the peak of sexiness .. has impressed me beyond possibilities and this is after watching him up until Chak De... he goes and does this.....


6 PACK ABS!!!???!! WOHOAAAA BABY!!!

He was flawless, awesome, mind-blowing even without six pack abs...but now... well ..is there a word bigger than super awesome or super mind-blowing?? coz if there is, its definitely meant for him. But seriously, its super inspiring to see that even at the age of 41(he'll be 42 on 2 Nov) he is so energetic, so full of life and is a perfect example of how one can achieve anything if one sets his/her heart to it. And its not only with the fact that he built up his body, but so many instances from his entire life that prove that If he has undisputed success worldwide today, inspite of not being a star son, or not having a godfather in the industry,.or because he was plain lucky.. its because he had a dream and he believed in himself...the credit goes solely to him. There is so much more to Shahrukh than his performances on screen. What people fail to notice about him, apart from going beyond his acting skills, is that inspite of living amidst people for whom success is a trade, friendships are pretentious and everything is about me,myself and my money, he has managed to etch a place for himself by living a life full of dignity and integrity. He has not forgotten where he came from and how he got to where he is today. All this is so prominent from the way he conducts himself in public. He is the quintessential self made man!

If this sounds like Im saying he's perfect..then , yes...thats exactly what he is! If you think he hams , he's still perfect coz no one can ham better than him, if you think he sounds vain and pompous at times, then he is, and still perfect.. coz if he is vain and pompous he has every right to be, after all he earned it all by himself. Love him or Hate him, you just cant ignore him. :))

At this point I must mention that if you are one of them species who do not like Shahrukh Khan, please exit the blog and if you had the slightest inkling of leaving me a comment that speaks low of him , then let me state that anything negetive said about him would be considered a personal insult to me!!

Tomorrow Will Be Beautiful!

Here's my first attempt at writing Romance....Before you read the story, Let me clarify that even though the story is narrated in the first person it has no connection whatsoever, to me! This is purely fictional and out of my imagination. I just needed something close to reality to help me relate to the charector so that I could explain the emotions and hence the first person narration. So dont go getting any ideas.. like some of you already have!! Let me know if you think I was succesful. ;-)

It was an extremely warm morning showing all signs of turning into a sultry and oppresive day. I stood at the bus stand, like I did everyday, waiting for the bus to arrive that would take me to work. As always it arrived at a quarter past 8. I boarded it and headed for my usual seat at the back of the bus and settled down near the window. After a 10 minute drive the bus stopped and I cast my eyes upon the entrance with anticipation.A tall figure dressed in a crisp white shirt and blue jeans climbed in. He walked down the aisle, eyes  scanning for an empty seat and for a second they settled on mine. My heart skipped a beat and I looked away quickly shifting my attention to the scene outside the window. He settled down two seats ahead of me on the other side. "YEAH RIGHT !!! LIKE if he sat next to you, you'd strike up a conversation! Get a grip..will you? "the voice in my head taunted." "I dont want him to sit next to me ", I though back in response. "I dont need this"

The next day, I was back at the bustop, boarded the bus and took the seat at the back as usual. 10 minutes later the bus stopped and he climbed in. He was dressed in a blue checked shirt and light brown trousers today, looking handsome as ever. As always he scanned the length of the bus for an empty seat.A moment later a whiff of strong cologne intoxicated my senses reminding me of the wild woods.I turned around and found myself looking into a pair of gorgeous deep black eyes.He had occupied the seat next to me. He gave me a smile and I felt as if I would die. I quickly looked away as though nothing happend. My heart beating so loud that I held my breath from the fear that he might hear it. My mind was fiercely ticking away,

"Whats wrong with you ?HE smiled at you and you just looked away.Ughhhhh What were you THINKING? How stupid can you get? He probably thinks you're  nuts.. you're so STUPID.. STUPID.. STUPID!!! .. Let him, I dont care what he thinks of me, I dont know him and its not like I have feelings for him. I dont want to talk to him!"

For the rest of the journey, I kept my eyes glued to the scene outside the window as the bus sped towards its destination, hoping with all my heart that I could just turn invisible.

Days went by, turned into a month and everyday he would board the bus 10 minutes after I did, but except for that one time, he never sat next to me. However with each passing day, I kept thinking about him more and more and the fact that he kept clouding my thoughts annoyed me. "Get a life woman! Im warning you , dont make the same mistake again! Wasn't what happened with Pete a lesson enough? " Thoughts of Pete took me back to the pain, a time over a year back, still fresh in my mind as if it happened just yesterday. Pete and I met in college and took an instant liking to one another. We were together for 4 years and it seemed like nothing could tear us apart. But I was horribly wrong. He was the most devoted, caring and loving boyfriend or so I thought until that evening at a party at one of Pete's colleague's house. We went together.. he introduced me to his colleagues and left me with some of his female coworkers and disappeared. It had been over an hour since I saw him around and I started getting worried. So I excused myself to go look for him. The house was big and I walked around keeping an eye out for him and asked a couple of his friends but they hadn't noticed where he went. I walked up the stairs to the corridor leading to the bedrooms and heard a woman giggling. Thinking I was probably invading someone's privacy I turned to go back down and then I heard Pete's voice talking to the woman giggling. I walked back up towards them. It was coming from one of the bedrooms. I leaned against the door and listened. It was clearly Pete. I pushed open the door and the sight made me sick to my stomach. I dont remember how I got back home. I was in such a daze. How could he do this to me. We spent 4 years together, did that not mean anything to him? I thought he loved me. We were planning to get married. I was devastated. The last thing I expected was my Pete to cheat on me. I was so heartbroken. For a year, I kept to myself, I lost all faith in love and pushed my family and friends away. But then recently I decided that by being this way I was unfair to my friends and family and so I came out of my shell. I had however written men off my life. " And so I'm not going to let this guy bother me "

One day, on a saturday I was at the local coffee shop, seated on a comfy chair in one corner, completely engrossed in a book, when I heard scraping of chairs close-by. I looked up annoyed at being interrupted and looked at the source of the noise. A familiar face caught my sight, a face that I had seen too many times in my dreams, Something I couldn't understand and tried to fight too many times. I followed his every move and then I noticed the other woman. As tall as him, she was almost pretty.If it wasn't for the smug expression on her face and an air of haughtiness around her, she would have been quite a beauty.

I felt something stir in me, an annoyance rising, threatening to explode as I watched the two of them talk. She seemed to be fretting over something and he was trying to console her. "Gawd! what attitude! I wonder what he sees in her." I muttered to myself with exasperation. I tried to get back to the book but couldn't concentrate. My thoughts kept drifting to him and the woman with him.My emotions fluctuated from intense jealousy at watching the amount of attention that woman was getting from him to extreme frustration at myself for feeling jealous over someone I didn't even know and clearly did not care about. "Dont lie to yourself girl, you like him... No I dont.. shuttup!!

The woman received a call, spoke to someone for a few moments and disconnected the phone. Then she said something to him and rushed out. Her abrupt exit was quite unexpected and for a split second my heart fluttered at the realisation that he was alone now and that maybe..JUST maybe...,"Oh ! PUHLEEEEZ! Give me a break! With your attitude, even the waiter wont bother asking you for your order! " That inner voice of mine interrupted.

I dared not look at him with the fear of exposing the hopeful expression on my face." So much for the No men pact you made for yourself!! " But inspite of that I couldn't help but feel drawn to him and so stole a glance at his direction. Our eyes met and for a long moment they stayed transfixed on each other and then he smiled. I stared blankly at him as if he were something unusual and exotic that I had seen for the very first time. Then as though something snapped in my brain,I quickly turned away, raised the book and buried my face deep into it. My nose almost grazing the fine text. I shut my eyes picturing myself banging my head with an extraordinarily large horse shoe! "Tch Tch woman!! WHEN WILL you learn...you are SO hopeless.. HOPELESS!! " mocked my blabbering inner voice. "Shuttup, I dont want to talk to him. Why am I acting like a silly schoolgirl.!! "
 
"Ahem ! Uh! Hi!" , said a deep voice softly over me. I looked up and he was standing there waiting for me to respond. (Say something NOW !)
"Hey! " (Thank God you did not gag while saying that!)
"We go in the same bus to work, dont we?" A silent moment passed that seemed like a light year. "Say something you idiot! He asked you a question. Have you just gone deaf? " The voice inside my head exclaimed.
"Uh! Yes, that's right" He gestured towards the empty seat opposite me seeking permission.(Say yes, say yes, say yes, Geez! Do I have to prompt for every word and action now !! ) I nodded and he sat down.
"I'm Oren." He extended his hand waiting for me to grasp it. I tried to move my hand but it took a moment to coax it to move (Sheesh ! you are NOT paralyzed. Stop acting like one !).
"I'm Tara". I managed to smile while saying that (Yeah, you should get an Oscar for your effort! )
"Thats a pretty name" he complimented
"Thanks! Yours is a weird name." I blurted out  (WHA ! I think I'd better prompt.. you are gonna ruin your chances! ) And immediately added ,"Uh, I meant unusual.. not weird ..and not unusual in a weird way ,, unusual in a different .. nice kind of way.. uh" Paused, took a deep breath and added. "What does it mean ?" (Hoo  boy! stop ..STOP..STOP  You're embarrassing me..!! )
He let out a little laugh, a laugh that lit up his eyes and made him look even more handsome. I thought if I sat there longer watching him smile and talk like that I'd just melt. I've liked guys before but no guy ever made my knees buckle, speech fumble, or make me feel so light headed that created a weakness that sank into my body as if I'd lost all control. I just couldn't understand the paralyzing effect he had on me.
" It means Ash or pine, and thats quite alright. I get that a lot" he was saying (Pay attention woman! ) Coming back to reality, I mustered up a smile to cover up the fact that I wasn't listening and commented  " Oh! thats nice "
"So, what are you reading ?" he asked
"Oh! Im reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of fire", I almost whispered that in embarrasment. ( Great going, he probably thinks you're in kindergartan!!)
"Nice! My favourite part was when Harry fights the dragon. It was more exciting when I read it compared to when I saw it in the movie. I can't wait to read book 7.." I stared at him in disbelief for a second and then smiled. "Hah! for this one time you were wrong..." I told my inner voice.
 
We sat there talking about topics ranging from books, travelling, music, movies, to politics at the workplace to why people prefer coffee and not Tea, to the ways men woo women! As time ticked I warmed up to him and realised how easy it was to talk to him. He seemed well informed about everything and was open to my opinions which was what made it so easy to talk to him. He was very charming, I got the feeling that it mattered to him if the other person was confortable and enjoying his company or not, which to me seemed like wasn't much of a problem for him seeing that it was so easy to fall in love with him.He also seemed so comfortable with himself, completely oblivious to the fact that he looked like a Greek God! He was so unlike the others I'd met. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the thought of Pete. Thats what I thought of Pete at first. "Oh get off Pete. He is NOT Pete."
 
"Oh! Look at the time. It's almost seven thirty. I should be getting home, its getting late." I said looking at my watch and got up.He followed suit. Being a gentleman, he walked me out the coffee shop. Before going our seperate ways we stopped for a minute to say goodbye.
"Its funny, we take the same bus to work everyday and it takes us a trip to the coffee shop to finally talk". He said.
"Well! They say friendship blossoms over a cup of coffee." I commented trying to be witty "Wha! who said that? That has got to be the dumbest thing you've ever said", The voice was back.A smile beamed across his incredibly handsome face and I let out a silent sigh relieved that my silly comment did not ruin things yet.
"Would you," he paused "Uhm like to probably do something tomorrow.. you know maybe go out or something.. That is if you are not doing anything else." ("My My so he can fumble with words too! ")
(Say yes..YES you DODO.. dont just stand there staring at him blankly) "Uh! yes, I'd love to" I couldn't help smiling ear to ear.
"Great! Could I have your number?" He asked sounding a little relaxed after my answer.

We exchanged numbers and he said he would call me in the morning, then we said our final goodbyes and went our different ways. I lived about a five minute walk from the coffee shop. Today somehow it took me 15 minutes to get home. With a song in my heart, a smile in my eyes and a skip in my step I made my way home, oblivious of the sounds of people going about their business, or the rustle of leaves as a soft breeze shook them, or of the cloudy night sky above me. I was on cloud 9 and I just couldn't understand how I felt this way.

Sunday finally came, but not too soon for me. It rained the whole night and by the time I woke up the sun was out bright and beautiful amongst large fluffy white clouds. I couldn't have asked for a better sign. By the time I finished breakfast, I became restless.As always my mind ticked away in hyper over drive mode "When will he call.. Its almost 10 .. he should have called by now. He said he would. Oh God! what if he doesn't call.. what if he just said he wanted to go out and changed his mind later? No. he wouldn't do that. He's such a nice guy. If he changed his mind he would atleast be a gentleman and call. Just be patient will you ? Its only 10 , probably he's still sleeping. after-all it IS sunday. Control your emotions woman!"
I decided that the only way I was not going to think about if and when he would call, was by keeping myself busy, I decided to help mum with cleaning. An hour and a half later, my phone rang. My heart leapt into my throat. "Its him"
I stared at the phone flashing his name, for a few moments. Gathering my thoughts and taking a lungful of breath,I answered.
"Hey!"
"Hey, Good Morning!" (ooh I could just drown in that voice)
"Good Morning"
"What's up?"
"Oh! nothing much, was just helping mum with the cleaning around the house". "And waiting restlessly every moment for you to call." I added, in my mind.
"Ah! being the ideal daughter eh?" He teased.
"I'm ALWAYS the ideal daughter!" I said with mock irritation.My heart leapt at the sound of him letting put a hearty chuckle.
"So, You still want to meet up today?" He asked finally
"Yes." I answered almost immediately.
"Great! How about we meet at the coffee shop at four sharp and then decide what we want to do?"
"Sounds like a plan." I agreed.
"Super! So I'll see you then."
"Yep. see you. Bye."

I headed for the coffee shop at four. I figured he could wait for 5 minutes, after all I dont want him to think Im so eager to meet him by turning up on time. ("Oh yeah you do..Liar!" Mocked my inner voice) As much as I wanted him to wait for me, i couldn't help but walk a little fast. but when I reached the coffee shop he was nowhere in sight. I checked my watch. it was five past four. I went in to the coffee shop. Probably he's waiting for me inside. I surveyed the tables, but he was not sitting anywhere. I felt a little annoyed. I dont believe this. He's late.Oh well i guess I have no choice but to wait. I walked to my usual seat at the far end of the coffee shop and plopped myself on the sofa. It was the best seat in the house, secluded in one corner it gives you the personal space and privacy to do your own thing and enjoy a good cup of coffee. And the angle is great because you can see what's happening around and who comes in and goes out. My eyes darted from the door to my watch.. It was quarter past four now.. the door opened.. and i looked expectantly.. a group of college guys walked in.. I looked at the watch again twenty past four... thirty minutes past four. Should I call him and find out? NO Dont you have any self esteem woman? Give him another 10 minutes and if he doesnt come just leave. Let him call you and apologize and then give him a piece of your mind. quarter past four. I Dont believe this. I am such a fool.. I knew all this had to be too good to be true. he should have alteast called if he was going to be late. Five. That does it you have been stood up. leave while you still have some dignity left.

The next day I boarded the bus to work determined to give him a piece of my mind when he got in later. Ten minutes later, the bus stopped, two girls got in and the bus started moving. Strange. Oh well. Its not the first time he hasnt taken the bus. He's probably cant face you after standing you up.What a jerk! ugghhh I was so wrong about him. I was so furious.

He did not take the bus the whole week. By friday my anger had turned to concern. There had to be a reasonable explanation for him not turning up or calling. There was no point in jumping to conclusions, I had to swallow my pride and call him. So on saturday morning, I dialed his number. After three rings, I heard a female voice say "Hello" The voice seemed strangely familiar, I could have sworn i had heard it somewhere quite recently.
"Hi, Could I speak with Oren?"
Silence for a long moment
"Um, May I know who's calling?"
"This is Tara, we work in the same office. "
Silence. She took a deep breath.
"Oren died last sunday."
The words struck my ears real hard and echoed in my head.
"What!?" I exclaimed "This cant be.. I mean I spoke with him sunday morning and we were to meet at four that afternoon."
"Yes, He had to drop me off at our parents place and then on his way back...." her voice trailed off..I could hear her sobbing. But my mind was ticking away.. I wanted answers.. This was too much to comprehend and I was getting impatient.
"Wha. what happened?" My throat was dry.
"He was in an accident, he was hardly recognizable." She started sobbing again.
I felt dizzy. I dont remember at what point I dropped the phone and found my way to my bed and sat down. I dont remember how long I sat there. I dont remember thinking anything. I just sat there staring blankly at nothing. I dont remember when the tears started flowing.

As days went by,I would often wonder why our paths crossed when things were to end so abruptly even before they started or why didn't I initiate friendship when I had so many chances before, I could have spent some more time with him, gotten to know him better.I was so absorbed with the hurt and despair from my past relationship that I overlooked what I had in front of me. God knows what all I let go off because of my inability to pick up the pieces and move on.It dawned on me one day that even though at times we may not understand why things happen the way they do but Its true that everything happens for a reason and I know that for the couple of hours I spent with him at the coffee shop, it stirred something in my soul in a way that no one else could.I always thought no-one could replace Pete and when It ended with him, something inside me died. But Oren helped me to realise that I still had hope for the future and that I was still alive. I just needed one meeting with him to discover that and maybe that's what was all that was meant to be.

A month passed by since his death and one day as usual I was standing at the bus stop waiting for my bus. There was still about five minutes before the bus arrived when I heard a voice ask." Hi! Are you waiting for the bus that goes to TNT?" I looked up into a pair of gorgeous blue eyes and nodded my head. I then looked away and smiled!

~ The End ~

Set Your Mind Free!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , movie 5 of the series released this Friday the 13th all over. Being a HUGE Potter fan I was mighty excited and my excitement doubled when it was announced that as a part of our Friday fun activity at work , our boss is taking the entire team out for the movie. Well originally we were going for Die Hard but due to ticket unavailability, Harry Potter won :-)

As expected there was excitement around to match mine and lots of .. "Oh no I dont like Potter"... "Its a kid film"( yeah like you're 90 !!) These are the kind of people that really annoy me. From the time it was announced that we would be watching Harry Potter, emails were shot across to bring everyone up-to speed with the story, but those who never attempted to discover the magic of Harry Potter were obviously not going to start now! So what followed was a lot of people cribbing, people can be so ungrateful at times its just sickening, I mean here we are going for a movie funded entirely by the management.. all we had to do was get our butts to the movie hall... but No! I will crib .. its part of who I am... If I dont crib, I wont be able to digest the popcorn and pepsi... sheesh!! Well anyway I decided I would not sit next to someone who was hell bent on spoiling the fun.. and thankfully that part went well. I sat next to a friend who just recently discovered the magic of Potter! Ah! well not all is lost in this world!

Post the movie, when everyone were exchanging notes, the cribbers were on a roll again.. . going on and on and on and on about how bad a film it was, and how much they dint like it (like they are experts on movie making ) One thing I dont understand... Isn't it obvious that if you haven't been following a story you wont understand it? This is something that I've noticed, that a lot of Non potter fans I know have not thought about. Just recently a friend of mine commented that he saw Harry Potter and he dint quite like it and that he just wanted to give me feedback!! Sheesh.. and this from a person like many others who haven't even read a single word of any of the Harry Potter books and who doesn't even know whats happened so far in the story.WoW! Some authority eh?. Like a wise man said "Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise" [Hey! Spare me the shoe for that comment! ;-)]

Okay, here's the real thing that ticks me off- zero tolerance. I have observed that a lot of people I know have a bizarre idea of what movies are about. They expect that a movie should be as close to reality as possible and if it strays away even for a second, its bad or silly or kiddish. Its just impossible to convince them to watch just ANY movie with you. They would at the beginning of the year make a list of the movies they wanna watch and religiously stick to that list, or they would browse for hours over various newspapers for movie reviews or if someone who saw the film says its bad, will refuse to watch it. I mean get a life! Dont you have your own Brain? Aren't you capable enough to decide on your own whats good or not ? These people should not even attempt to watch commercial cinema and stick to them Arty films or better still Documentaries. I have even come across people who believe that you should watch movies suitable for your age!! So nothing in the world could persuade them to watch a Shrek, or a Ice-age or even a Spider-man at the age of 25, coz God forbid, that might tar their image!

Honestly when people say " Thats a Kid's film or its not my age to watch this" I feel sorry for them, coz they have no imagination and Movies are all about imagination. They are meant to be soaked the way they are. You can have your preferences but to demean a film just coz its based on fantasy and coz your teeny little brain has no room to understand it.. is a pity! When Spidey 3 released. some were like, it wasn't that great, the characters were illogical (sandman and the alien goo thingy), there was no story and blah blah. Right! And a man bit by a spider, who gets super spider powers is so realistic na? It happens all the time doesn't it?!!

Same goes for books, I know some who would read a short story and at the end say, I dint like it much, the ending wasn't good. I mean, a story is someone's imagination. It is for the reader to decide whether the pace is right, is it captivating enough .. rather than comment on how the story should progress and eventually end. For instance, when you ask someone who's just read a story, as to how it was and they go, "oh well, I dint like it much, it shouldnt have ended the way it did. It should have progressed into a murder, horror or love story... etc!!" Is it so hard to see things the way they are without having to always want to change it?

So to all of you out there, go beyond the ordinary, open your mind to the possibilities and free your imagination.

"I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel." - Peter Nivio Zarlenga

PS: This article isn't meant to offend anyone. These are general observations I have made and besides I was just blowing off some steam.. and I feel soo much better!! Phew!!! ;-)

Sane driving? Wuzzat??

Driving on Delhi roads is no less adventerous than say bun-jee jumping or river rafting or even a highly charged up video game. Its Heart skipping... emotional..and a whole lot of fun in a sadistic way.

A typical day -

Start your journey to wherever it is you want to go by making some necessary checks-
Seat belts .... Check!
Hand break down... Check!
Mirrors in place .... Check!
Key in ignition ... Check!
Fuel tank filled just about enough so that you dont get stranded halfway ... Check!
Take a deep breath and make a small prayer so that you get out of this alive...Check!

So now you're driving along merrily, Check your rear view mirrors.. No cars..bikes..bullock-carts...tempos...autorickshaws or even cows on your trail ? Good !! but dont get all relaxad as yet, here's the turn that takes you into the busiest road, well! come to think of it even the narrowest gulley looks like the whole damn world is in it! So,you're making your way along this road and here's when you got to be on full alert. Thank God you're strapped on safely..Umm.. on second thoughts I think you should wear a helmet and a safety jacket too.. you never know what might strike and from which direction!!

So now that you've entered what can also be called a battlefield, there are a couple of rules-
> Driving straight and sticking to your lane WILL get you killed for sure!
> If your way is blocked by a bullock-cart, auto-rickshaw, bike or even a leisurely cow and you DONT swear, scream or honk your brains out.. well! Tch Tch...not only is this a Foul, you are missing out all the sadistic pleasure you can possibly feel by not doing so.
> Ignore all signboards telling you to control your speed limit, No U turns, No overtaking etc. All hogwash if you ask me.They were just put there to beautify the city. (you see, Trees take too long to grow) Trust me on this.
> 100 Bonus points for Jumping the Red signal.
> 10000 Bonus points for Speeding... (wooohoo.. whooshing past..okay.. ahem! )
> 10000 Bonus points if you can zigzag your way through the traffic without bumping into another vehicle.
> JACKPOT- If you can dodge the traffic cops for adherence to all of the above.

Ok so? What is it with Delhiites and their traffic sense or lack of it ?
Methinks its Patriotism to blame, this love thy country thingy. The "Treat Bharat Ma as your own.. take care of her as your own" feeling overflowing in people's hearts. As a result we think that everything in the city including the roads are our personal property! And since its all mine I'll treat it any way i want.I'll drive straight, backwards,.zigzag...heck! even horizontally.. I'll spit and pee anywhere I like.. what's your problem ?

Dream on...

Its been a while since I scribbled something on my blog.. I realised its been rejected far too long and if you're thinking this is probably an prologue to a new story I've written.. you're wrong... my mind's completely blank on that front ..and if you're waiting for one then its going to be a while. ( im guessing you dont really care, who am I kiddin!) However if you are interested, then I must tell you I am on a reading spree.. I recently joined the library at work and that's been keeping me busy But I'm not going to talk about the books I've been reading ,no matter how entertaining they were.

Ever since I finished the last story.. (one that I'm not really excited about) I've been wanting to write a highly charged, emotional and thought provoking story.. No! nothing heavy like lost family values, poverty or the life in war torn Afghanistan .. I'll take my time getting there. Recently I watched this movie on HBO - "The Ice Princess" The story is about Casey who is in high school and who's one & only dream is to be an Ice Skater. She lives with her mum who strongly disapproves of the sport because of its short shelf life and wants her to focus all her attention in getting into Harvard. So,she sneaks out whenever she can to practice skating and during this course comes across a teacher and daughter duo. The teacher is a perfectionist and is coaching her own daughter to be a skater.The story progresses to show how both these young ladies are striving for something that is not thier dream but thier mothers'. The teacher's dream was to be a ice skater and since she could'nt realise that dream she pushes her daughter to pursue it . Same bieng the case for Casey, who's mother's dream has been to go to Harvard and wants Casey to complete that dream for her. As the story progesses further, Casey realises that even though she loves Ice skating , she's just about average at it but since she is passionate about it she wants to give it one shot.. one big effort to see how far she can push herself. So, she rejects Harvard and tells her mum " I'm giving up on your dream. I'm going after mine." Her mother is heartbroken and thier relationship is strained from there. Even though Casey realises that she hurt her mother, she continues with her skating in the hope that if her mother just saw her skate one time, she would realise too how passionate she is about it. Anyway, at the end, all the hardwork and commitment pays off and she gets the silver at a Interstate ice skating competition and her mother is there to witness it. All's well that ends well.

In India (i'm sure it happens elsewhere too), most parents want thier sons / daughters to pursue a field of thier choice, live a dream they had to abandon because they had to do something that got them the money but no job satisfaction. So, they slogged all thier lives to be financially secure and then looked upon thier children to realise thier long lost dream of becoming a Doctor or Engineer or something else. Considering all that our parents have done for us, taking on thier dream seems like a small price to pay or maybe its just easier to give in or maybe seems selfish not to do so.It definetly takes a whole lot of guts to stand up for your dreams when there are so many expectations out of you. I'm not saying one should go against what our parents want out of us, but one should atleast make an effort to reach out and have the courage to stand up for one's dream. If not anything, atleast a chance to know for ourselves if the dream we had is our destiny or not. We owe that much to ourselves.

“The tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn't a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.... It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin."
— Benjamin Elijah Mays, American educator and president of Morehouse College (1895-1984)

Twisted Intentions - Final Part

Name - Benjamin Pio.
DOB- 16 Oct 1952
Address- 10 Alcala de Guadaira, Seville. Spain
Occupation- Accounting supervisor , Seville Bank.
Marital Status - Widower


Officer Sanchez finished going over his file at the police station. From the looks of it there was nothing interesting about him, boring was the word. The only thing closest to exciting was a couple of speeding tickets he managed to get about 4 months back. He did not fit the profile of a killer or a rapist from any angle but then the semen sample did belong to him. This can’t be so simple. Sanchez thought to himself. He jotted down the address and left the station.

Officer Sanchez along with two of his subordinates reached Benjamin’s house in 15 minutes. It was two blocks away from Mrs. Gustavo’s house and looked identical in construction, but then all houses in Alcala de Guadaira looked the same. He rang the bell and waited for Benjamin to answer. After about two minutes there was no response and he rang the bell again. Still no response. He peeped through the window to see if there was any activity inside, but all was dark.

“He hasn’t been home in weeks,” Said a heavy accented voice from across the fence. Officer Sanchez looked at the direction from where the voice spoke. It was a neighbor. Sanchez noticed a woman probably in her late thirties dressed in jeans and an oversized shirt. She was trimming the hedges when she noticed the officers pull up ahead of her house.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Asked Sanchez walking over to the fence towards her.

“Hmm. It was sometime in the first week of September. He came over to return the lawnmower he borrowed from me before leaving for work. After that I have not seen him,” She continued.

“Can you tell me about anyone who can help me with his whereabouts, family, close friends, people who visited often..anyone?” he asked.

“Well, apart from the usual people, the gardener, cable guy, there were a couple of friends. And then ofcourse there was Carmen Reyna a regular visitor” And her face contorted in disgust as she said that.

Sanchez’s eyes gleamed as he noticed that a cue was coming from nowhere. He asked intriguingly, “ A regular visitor?”

“Si, but I don’t understand officer, why a good man like Benjamin, who had no vices would keep the company of a prostitute. And moreover if he chose to avail her services then I don’t understand why would he do it in a respectable locality like ours. I would think he was sensible not to flaunt it so openly. And this is the only reason he was ostracized by the neighborhood. We don’t really care what happens to him now ”

“Could you please tell me where she lives?” asked Sanchez while scribbling in his notebook.

Mockingly she says. “ Oh come on officer, you’re a MAN and a man of the law, it should not be difficult for you to trace a whore. I know you people have very good connections with such a tribe. Now, if you will excuse me I have to attend to some work. Good Day Officers.” With that she turned around and stormed into the house.

Officer Sanchez did not think twice about her abrupt exit and he and his subordinates returned to the station. He runs a search through the computer’s database and finds the file on Carmen Reyna.

Sanchez pulls up in front of Club El Mundo. He turns off the engine and waits. The club is located in the heart of the city in a shady side street. He watches a woman in a red leather mini skirt and top approach a car and talk with the driver. After a few moments she gets into the car and they drive off. Sanchez makes a note of the car’s number plate and model and then starts the car and drives off.

On his way, he receives a call from the station informing him that they had found a burnt up car at the bottom of a cliff on the outskirts of Seville. The number plate recovered was registered to Benjamin Pio.

Sanchez reaches the location at the bottom of the cliff in 40 minutes.

The officer in charge of the scene walks over to Officer Sanchez.

“Buenos Dias, Soy Inspector Dimas. This way por favor” He said directing him towards the car’s remains all burnt up and in ruins, ”a local found the remains and called us. We found the partly burnt number plate,” he said handing it over to Sanchez, “it is registered to Benjamin Pio. I heard that you were on the lookout for him and so got dispatch to contact you.”

“Gracias.” Said Sanchez walking over to the car and examining it and then asked, “ Was he in there?”

“Si, his is charred beyond recognition, God have merci on his soul. We found some of his belongings that confirm that it is Benjamin. We also found a knife with blood on it.” Inspector Dimas hands a plastic bag with the knife in it to Sanchez.

Sanchez examined the car and after about half an hour left the site heading for the station. He sent the knife for examination and the report confirms that the blood on it belongs to Mrs. Gustavo. Now he is certain that Benjamin Pio was the killer and rapist. It looks like he was trying to flee the place after hearing about the statewide hunt for him and somehow lost control and went straight down the cliff.

Sanchez was relieved yet disappointed. Relieved that the case was finally over and disappointed because it seemed to end so easily. He wound up for the day, informed Adrian of the outcome and went home to relax with a glass of whisky on the rocks.

The next day Sanchez went to the church to clear his head and ran into Nieve.
He walked over to her and introduced himself as the investigating officer in Adrian’s grandmother’s murder.

She gave him a blank expression and said, “I’m sorry I did not know that Adrian’s grandmother was murdered. Adrian and I have not spoken in months.”

Sanchez looks puzzled, “That is weird, just the other night, I was to meet Adrian in the evening for drinks after work and he mentioned that you would be joining us”

Nieve’s expression turned to anger, ” Adrian and I used to go out a long time back but we broke up. I am married now but he just wont let me be. I have told him many times not to bother me but he just wont let go” Then she paused to think if she should say more or not and then deciding that she should, continued, “ After I got engaged 6 months back he threatened my fiancé warning him to stay away from me. When we just ignored him, he went to his place and beat him up for no reason. Since then I have been trying to stay away. “

“Really?” Officer Sanchez was surprised. “In the brief time I know him, he has been calm and has been handling this incident with his grandmother well.”

“Well, all I can say is that he goes through these mood swings and at times he loses his temper and at that time he does not know what he is doing and in such times he is capable of doing anything.”

Sanchez thanked her and left the church.

A week later, Adrian was sitting in the kitchen sipping his morning coffee and reading the paper when he chanced upon an article.


TOP COP OF SEVILLE – MARCUS SANCHEZ FOUND DEAD

Saturday, October 02, 2006 Seville

Early last evening, Officer Marcus Sanchez of the Seville police station was found dead in his apartment at 16, Avenida del Jardin, West Seville. The cause of death was due to an overdose of marijuana and a half empty bottle of Whisky was found at the scene indicating that he his death was a result of a mix of drugs and alcohol. He was 47 years old and lived alone. Per the post mortem report, time of death was September 31, two days before his neighbor discovered his body. Funeral to be conducted at 5 pm on Sunday, 03rd October by his neighbors.


Adrian finished reading the article and put the paper aside. He got up, picked up his keys and walked out the door to go to work as though nothing happened.

The next day, being Sunday Adrian went to the market He had just stepped out of the café on to the street when a short man dressed in a business suit and a hat, appeared in front of him. Adrian stopped abruptly and looked at the stranger. All he could see was that he was bearded and wore dark glasses, his face was not clear. Adrian tried to step aside but the man blocked his path. Adrian looked puzzled. The man looked him in the eye and said disgustedly “Why did you do it?”

Adrian looked at the man in puzzlement and then in mock seriousness said “ Funny Huh? But I had to do it and it brought me luck“ With that he walked off laughing.

That evening at 5, Adrian attended Officer Sanchez’s funeral.

The next morning on his way out Adrian stops to check his mailbox. He finds a package with just his name on it and no name of the sender. He gets into his car and opens the package curiously.

In it he finds a little box, he opens it and notices a note, as he reads it his hands start to tremble.

“ You forgot to get rid of this. I’m sure you would not want the cops to get a hold of it “

Below the note he finds a small notebook, he opens the book to a random page and reads his own writing, ” …mama Gustavo was the only person in the whole world who really understood and loved me… how could she betray me like this….”

His mind started to race trying to figure out how this could have gotten into someone else’s hands. “ How could I be so careless, I forgot about this journal, who is this person and how did he get a hold of this?” He tries to recall any visitors in the last couple of days, apart from Officer Sanchez he could not think of anyone and Sanchez was dead.

Adrian puts the journal aside and drives off furiously.

Later that afternoon, during his lunch break he receives a call on his cellphone. Its an unknown number.

“Hola”, he answers

“Did you like the surprise?” says a deep accented voice

“Who is this? And what do you want?”

“Who I am does not matter. Its what you did is what matters. Did Carmen ask you to do it?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about. And I don’t know any Carmen” Saying that Adrian hangs up the phone.

Adrian wiped the sweat off his forehead and walked into the store manager’s cabin and told him that he would like to go home as he is not feeling well and then left the store.

Adrian reached home and locked all the doors and windows and peeked out the window to see if there is anything suspicious outside. He walked into the kitchen and switched on the stove and burnt the journal. He then poured himself scotch on the rocks and went into the living room and sat on the couch. He shut his eyes and tried not to think of the journal and the phone call he received earlier in the day.

Adrian woke up with a start when the doorbell rang. He must have dozed off. He checked his watch. It was 10 to 6 in the evening. He walked to the door and opened it.

“Hola Adrian.” It was the man from the market. ”It was rude of you to hang up on me like that, but that’s muy bien no hard feelings, what say we have a couple of drinks and finish that conversation I started?” He said smiling.

Adrian at first did not know how to react and then he started getting furious. He was about to shut the door on the man’s face when he stopped it with his foot.

“There’s nowhere to hide, Adrian. Its over! ” the man said, his voice losing the humor

“ Leave me alone or else I’ll call the police.” Adrian shouts furiously.

“Go ahead, it would make it easier for me” he dared Adrian

“What do you want?” Adrian said feeling hopeless now.

“I want you to confess” The man said bluntly

“Confess what? I have done nothing.”

“Alright, then let me refresh your memory. For starters how about plotting your grandmother’s murder along with Benjamin’s stepsister Carmen. Does that ring a bell or should I go on?”

Adrian stared at him blankly, his face turning pale.

“I know it all Adrian. Carmen told you about the affair between Benjamin and Mrs. Gustavo and that made you mad. So mad that you agreed to the her sick idea.”

“That’s a lie.” Adrian stammered.

“Is it? You claimed that you did not know Benjamin. But you know his stepsister really well. I know that you are a regular visitor at Club El Mundo where she works. Is this proof enough?” Saying that he pulls out an envelope with a photo of Carmen and Adrian getting out of Club El Mundo.

“I did not know they were related”

"So, you agree that you know Carmen? "

“Si, but that still does not prove anything. And how does this concern you.. Who are you?”

“You will find out soon enough. But first here’s the proof you’re asking for. We managed to get your friend Carmen to give us all the answers. ” saying that the man takes out a tape recorder and switches it on.

Adrian listened to Carmen’s voice revealing how Carmen came to him and told him about the affair between Mama Gustavo and Benjamin. Of how they planned the murder..Adrian “accidentally” walking in on Mama Gustavo and Benjamin in bed and then losing his temper and killing Mama Gustavo by slitting her throat with a fruit knife.And knocking Benjamin unconscious and then carrying him to his car and driving him to the outskirts and off that cliff.

“STOP!!” Adrian screamed and fell to the floor.

“ PLEASE STOP!! Yes! YES !! I killed her!! She betrayed ME .. the one person in this whole wretched world who was mine ..MINE .. but she did not love me.. she loved that.. that.. Benjamin.” He spat out that name in disgust.

“I knew that he visited her in the day when I was at work and so I cam home early that day and found them in bed. Behind my back! How could she.. she always said that I was the one and only special person in her life .. but she LIED!!I told her how she hurt me.. betrayed me. But she wouldn’t listen. She defended him. Said that I was overreacting and that I was still her little angel. LIES ALL LIES. And then Benjamin interrupted. How dare he come between mama and I .. he was the cause of all my pain. I lost my temper and hit him hard and he lost consciousness. I went to mama and grabbed her by the hair. And picked up the knife and and slit her throat.”

Adrian’s voice dipped and he started sobbing. ”I was so furious , I did not realise what I was doing.I was blinded by rage and when I calmed down she was gone. I tied her hands and legs and gagged her mouth with the bedsheet.it felt like the right thing to do at the time.”

There was a long silence after which Adrian continued remorsefully . “ I sat there for a long time trying to calm down but It was like I was in a trance. All I could see in front of me was the betrayal, the heartbreak she caused me. She knew that I had a loveless childhood and that she meant the world to me”.

After another long pause. The man took off his hat, glasses and peeled off the fake beard. He then placed his hand on Adrian’s shoulder and said , ” Hijo”

Adrian looked up at him and froze. “ Officer Sanchez.?. but you were…” He asked in disbelief.

“Si,It was an act. I suspected you for a while and did not know how else to get you to confess. What did you do with Benjamin?” He asked.

Adrian looked at him and spoke in an emotionless tone “ He was still unconscious, so I tied him up and carried him to his car and put him in the passenger seat. Then I drove him just outside Seville where there is a cliff. It was dark and deserted and I put him in the driver’s seat and placed the knife with him and pushed the car down.I walked a mile and then hitched a ride and reached home and after a while called the police”.

Sanchez took a deep breath and glanced back signaling his deputies to come over. “Handcuff him! “ He ordered them.

At first Adrian did not resist. Just when the officer was about to handcuff him, he noticed his gun holster and grabbed it. He took a step back and put the gun to his head.The officers are taken aback and the other deputy and Sanchez pulled out their respective guns and pointed it at Adrian.

“Don’t be loco Adrian.” Sanchez shouted. “Put down the gun NOW!”

“NO!! I DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE AFTER WHAT I DID!!”

And with that he pulled the trigger!


~~~~ El Extremo! ~~~~~