me learns to blog

A simple guy, in search of the truth …

2007-02-04T05:40:00.000-08:00

Spk’s in town (en route to raleigh). Went to College for a drive at 12 midnite. Reached the college at 1 after much struggle. I swear RV has improved incredibly; in fact it looks a lot like some IT company in whitefield!!! SPK (aka speaker) was busy narrating his anecdotes – his uncountable crushes (and few of mine) during college life – to Pawan and Sabya who were accompanying us, and I soon realized there were really few things I seemed to recollect. Strange me! Enquired at the Gate reception, but getting in looked difficult – the guard asked us to wait for sometime. So we decided we’d walk along the boundary. Had a view of the Admin block. I recalled the classrooms I used to be fond of those days. Reached the far end of the canteen, and some of the not-so-happy memories flashed past. Came back to the gate, but despite incessant pleadings we weren’t allowed to step in. Finally gave up. Reached home at around 2. The speaker was ruthless and far and from giving up though.

Soon we found ourselves amidst arbit reflections on the past, about the college, about how things could’ve been different but for a few “stupid” decisions and how naïve we used to be. I always believe that I’ve grown a lot as an individual after leaving college, and at times tend to mock my past, those so called ‘dark ages’. I was at some level trying to run away from my past. Soon dawned upon me that even today, if I was confronted with the same situation, I might end up treading the same path. This made me a bit uncomfortable, but soon found solace in the fact that I was making too many assumptions. It’s been about 4 years now, and by now I had had a better shot at my life, with more experience and context around me than ever before.

We (Spk and I) were soon clocking 100% CPU utilization. I looked back at my life then and realized I was in search for something, unawares. Tumbled down the rabbit hole for a few more years, and now, I seemed to be somewhat cognizant of what the search was about [my orkut profile surely is in sync]. I won’t say I know what I want to do in life – let’s not really go there yetJ. Dug in a bit further, and I managed to rephrase the Butterfly effect – theoretically life is deterministic and that if one is to go about objectively dissecting it, one would only be left with variables. We’re constrained by our practical limits to discern only some of these variables, largely ignoring the rest of the lot. I never recognized these variables when in college. Today, I appreciate and feel their presence in every sphere of life and that’s what the search was about. Wasn’t particularly interested in their values, but just how deep they went, as the variables are variables too [it’s like this meta about meta thingyJ]. In a way, wasn’t Education’s sole purpose to aware me of more of these variables, so I could better predict the behavior of entities specific to my field of study [although in very specific ways]. In short, knowing more variables ups my clairvoyance quotient, so I could plan my life better. In contrast, Chaos Theory says that though the system is deterministic, the behavior of the system is random and which cannot be predicted. Though it appears to be the converse of the Butterfly effect, but I interpret it as a mere consequence of the unknown variables. So IMO, Butterfly effect and Chaos are related, much like as ‘cause and effect’, or more accurately, means and manifestation.

This is in fact just like the relationship between Fate and Destiny (although I feel these terms are generally misconstrued to be the same). I feel what distinguishes them is the direction of reference. I look backwards, I see my Fate. On the other hand, when I look ahead, I speculate my destiny (which again becomes my fate, if I change my point of reference). The more I look back, the more I relate to the variables which shaped my fate (butterfly effect), and which I then use to extrapolate to predict my destiny. As I said before, it’s just the overwhelming set of variables, which lead me into believing that my destiny is in chaos. I’d like to believe it’s the cycle of reflecting and extrapolating that helps unify these theories (though converging only at infinity), and it’s tempting to believe that I could constantly reduce the delta between my objectives and my “chaotic” destiny, and feel more in control of my life.

Not quiet! This control only seems to be an illusion. Thanks to chaos, I can’t even control my objectives in the next few minutes, objectives of life are a lot more distant. What I can only control is my present and create an atmosphere where preparation would meet opportunity (again some variables), where ‘my variables’ could resonate well with the unknowns. Cuz my future is just a non-exclusive culmination of each of these zillion presents. I always struggled to truly appreciate the adage – ‘Live in the present’ (though it sounded hep). It sorta falls in place now. The present weaves the path to one’s future (though the present is generally inspired by one’s future dreams). Present is the platform which allows us to do our Karma, which is nothing but the initialization (value-setting) of variables that one is aware of. And that’s the best that I can do, and leave the rest to the chaos (for the unknown variables to manifest their karma) surrounding my destiny. Karmanye-vaadhikaraste maa-phaleshu kadachan makes so much more sense.

We should certainly try and shape our future, but just that the focus should be on the present. For if we focus on future the present loses its meaning. I had a strange realization during the recent India-WI series when the matches were telecasted on DD Sports with a 7 min delay, and one could check cricinfo.org to get the live scores. In the first few matches in the series, I’d always check the latest scores on the website and feel in control of my future knowing how I was going to feel and react when my present reaches that point, but I realized that slowly I’d lost interest in the present (telecast). Finally I gave up and stopped visiting cricinfo.org, I wasn’t anymore interested in the future. Strange contradiction, isnt it! Only emphasizes the need to live the present and karma, without unduly fretting over the future (or for that matter even your past).

This gyaan session seemed to have gone on for too long (till about 6-30 in the morning), reminiscent of days in college by the electrical dept terrace facing the slanting road leading to our hostels. It’s strange how we tend to retain most our variables but lose reference to them over time (dash being the only exception I know so far ;) ). They are like linked lists so when you recollect one, the rest tend to surface and so on. Wow I seemed to recollect a lot more things about college than I initially thought. Felt good.

Before sunrise/sunset

2006-06-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

#203 watched Before Sunrise/Sunset last nite, back to back ... im not one who watches too many movies ... but am sure romantic movies cant get better than this ... (PS: This isnt a movie review, but just tht this got me thinking)

Its a movie about a young american, Jesse and a young french woman,Celine. It about how it takes small things for people to connect, things we typically ignore - innocense, compassion.
So, Jesse and Celine meet in a Eu-rail coach and after talking for a while, Jesse convinces Celine to get off the train with him at Vienna so they can spend more time together.

"
Jesse: Alright, alright. Think of it like this. Um, uh, jump ahead, ten, twenty years, okay, and you're married. Only your marriage doesn't have that same energy that it used to have, you know. You start to blame your husband. You start to think about all those guys you've met in your life, and what might have happened if you'd picked up with one of them, right? (Céline starts laughing a bit) Well, I'm one of those guys. That's me, you know. So think of this as time travel, from then, to now, uh, to find out what you're missing out on. See, what this really could be is a gigantic favor to both you and your future husband, to find out that you're not missing out on anything. I'm just as big a loser as he is, totally unmotivated, totally boring, and, uh, you made the right choice, and you're really happy (motions to towards the door).
"

More here

Taking place over the course of one night, their limited time together is always on their minds, and leads to their revealing more about themselves than they normally would, since both believe they will never again see one another again. They scale the lanes of Vienna, unknown to the world around, living anonymously for a change. There's something enigmatic about anonymous existence, you unconsciously transform into a different human being, lose your baggage, back your instincts. You feel 'HIGH'.

It's ironical that life's self-balancing wrt everything, n invariably comes back full circle. So, as the two got more into each other's lives, the idea of walking away the next day started looking distant. So, their emotions got the better of them n they finally decide to meet in freezing Vienna after 6th months, on Dec 16th. And interestingly, we watched the movie last nite ... quite a co-incidence! (Moreover 16th June's certainly a red-letter-day in Ankit's calender)!

The first movie ends on an optimistic note ... and you wish they meet up n live happily ever after ... the sequel is much more realistic. Entire Script here

As reality takes over, Celine fails to turn up. 9 years pass n by now Jesse is married n has a kid, but far from happy. Celine has had many relationships, searching for a Jesse in each of one them; each relationship damaging her from inside. Meanwhile Jesse spends 3-4 yrs to penn down that single day that turned his life on its head, into a best-seller, with the hope that Celine would some day ... Finally they meet, to set off a conversation lasting 90 minutes. Every line in the conversation reflects how connected they were despite their isolation for 9 yrs. Every line talks about the what ifs, and why nots. Both Jesse and Celine look so helpless, failing to come to terms with what had transpired, wondering how different their lives had turned out to be, from what they'd dreamt during their hey days. The ending, as expected was left for much speculation. Only wish, life allowed parallel existence.

"
Celine: Oh, God, why didn't we exchange phone numbers and stuff?
Jess: Why didn't we do that?
Celine: Because we were young and stupid?
Jess: You think we still are?
Celine: I guess when you're young... you just believe... there'll be many people with whom you'll connect with. Later in life you only realize it only happens a few times.
"

"
Jess: In the months leading up to my wedding, ok, I was thinking about you, all the time. I mean, even on my way there... I'm in the car, and a buddy of mine is driving me downtown, and I'm staring at the window... and I think I see you.
Celine: Not far from the church, right.
Jess: Folding up an umbrella, and walking into a deli, on the corner of... 13th and Broadway.

Celine: And I thought I was going crazy, you know?
But now I think it probably was you...
I lived on 11th and Broadway.
"

"
Celine: I don't believe in anything that relates to love, I don't feel things for people anymore.
In a way... I put all my romanticism into that one night and I was never able to feel all this again.

Like... somehow this night took things away from me and...
I expressed them to you and you took them with you!
It made me feel cold, like if love wasn't for me!
"

No words could describe the emotions flaring between them. It really makes me wonder wht a big difference someone somewhere in such a small time can make to your life; wht its like to be loved by someone ... n to be able to give love in return.

i feel good .... umm ... sure ?

2006-04-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

got a good change after talisma, was a great reason to celebrate ... but suddenly it pains to leave Talisma after close to 3 yrs ... it really hit me hard when i was looking at the Talisma building from the PI cafetaria this evening with dash ... the building seemed devoid of the life, once it boasted with absolute disdain and audacity ... thr it stands bare, with all its energy gradually drained out ... the beating it got after the rajkumar riots was the last nail in the coffin ... was feeling strange ... in fact i donn even know if this is the last hour im spending in this building ... as i've got a flight to catch to mumbai early tomm morning ... 15th may's the Last wrking day, n looks like the last mail from abhijeetg@Talisma.com is all set to happen from some sad corner in Mumbai ...

then again was thrilled about working with some of the best brains (of Talisma) at PI, and break from my hectic out-of-the-suitcase schedule, and tht I'd for once get to spend a lot more time home @ 203 ... wasnt to last too long as i'd forgotten the jolt 203 was to get,wen two of its brightest kids make their way to A, this june; tht 203 wasnt to be the 203 ever again. Was sad ...

then again was thrilled about barua's long awaited home-coming this may, for wht I'd call the grand finale of one of the best real life love stories ... but i'd forgotten that nammi's leaving for dubai early tomm morning; cudnt spend much time with her during this so to say long trip (3 days!!) to blr ... good enuff for the mood to oscillate to the other extreme again ...

its a strange feeling ... life is never a straigt line ...
as dash once put it very innocently... 'mujhe straight lines achche lagte hain ....' how true ... n how i wish ...

thankfully it just took a call from across the arabian, to bring that smile back ... and make those lines straight ...
i feel good ...

cme bck to life ...

2006-03-02T11:00:00.002-08:00

Haven’t posted anything for a long time now … As nammi puts it, I’ve been literally living out of my suitcase for the past 3-4 months … Mumbai rocks … but life sucks!

No wonder I've been drinking too often lately … drank the last 4 days that I was in Mumbai. Met dad this time in Mumbai, free booze for 2 more days; finally I get back to Bangalore n Dash says – ‘dude, bahut dino se piya nahi hai be …’ … n that makes it 7 days on the trot …. Such a drunkard I’ve become … Been lucky to have actually managed to stay put a good 2 weeks in Bangalore now … feel so much relaxed in life … not sure if its for good or bad … the booze is still a regular affair, all we need is an excuse … be it bumping into someone after watching RDB … or be it a fake level change I’ve been conferred … or be it HimS’ last day in Talisma … be it Naren’s b’day party … or be it a stupid Product launch event (this is whr I just cme bck from) …

Banjo sutta has become the all-time favorite number in 203 …

I’ve now reached 15 a day … Dash has switched to dunhill … with my count, u can hardly afford tht … I’d given up Marlboro long bck … Navy rules …
twas early last year, that we’d learnt to fly … n now flying has become a habit …

kabhi kabhi I wonder where my life’s heading, as I see ppl getting all set to part ways, but dude, all said n done, I’m back to life … 203 rules ... live it till it lasts ... though i wish life would stop for a while.

Luv across the arabian ...

2005-10-08T03:59:00.001-07:00

i'll b bck soon ... watch this space ...

A simple world – Wht? Where?

2005-07-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Once I happened to take a stroll with a senior collegue of mine, generally discussing where our much hyped IT industry’s heading, also bordering occasionally on how ‘easy’ our lives hv become.

Thought I’ll b showered with gyaan on the latest app/framewrk in the fray, stuff which cud make things simple, so to say ‘make technology work for the common man’, and somehow try n get the kicks that u being in the IT industry are playing such an key role in the lives of these ‘Common men’. Surprisingly, all tht this dude with over 10+ years dev-experience in the industry had to say was:

I hate technology. It has made life so fast, so stressful, so miserable for the Common man. A common man wants ‘some’ work, wants peace, wants time. Can technology really fit in here.

Seriously, think of a farmer, staying in a village. Can technology really help him ease his job? Yeah mebbe, but can he afford it? Can technology really substitute the conventional modes of entertainment? Can technology really save him a great deal of time, without changing his conduct, his daily schedule much? Can technology really fill in his quest for solitude?

Chance illla!!!

Was forced to think, how technology helped, if it actually did? In fact there’re certain aspects of life that undoubtedly gain from technology. Sheer pressure from our peers forces us to allow technology to impact the rest, permeate almost every sphere of our lives.

A classical example being that of a sales guy who uses a cell phone to keep in touch with his customers 24x7. His job in most cases has got nothing to do with technology, and as part of which it’d ideally demand him to be accessible for abt 8 hrs a day, but to keep up the pressures of the Sales job in ‘today’s’ world, he’d invariably have to remain accessible 24 hours a day, bole tou cell phone. If not, he’s shown the door. Had it not been for technology, the Customer’s wouldn’t have been so demanding; his job wd’ve been simpler. And we thot technology made life simpler! Phew!
Same is true with our desktop machines; so if we don’t keep upgrading our systems from time to time we’d not deliver solutions in better time thn our competitor, and it wd only b a matter of time before getting thrown outta business.

I’m confused. Not that I’m particularly against novel ideas, newer technologies. But why this rat race? where are we heading ? where is all this gonna end ? what is that we really want ? whats the truth ? Not the first time that I find myself @ square one, asking myself such cliched yet fundamental questions!!

I tried hard to pin-point where the problem really lies, found the soln in the rate at which things are changing, obviously! One idea comes out and the industry pounces (obviously no one’s prepared to backout frm seizing the initiative) on that and comes out with a zillion products, flooding the markets and overwhelming the users with an ever-increasing list of options. More the options, tougher the choice, tougher the decision to tell the right from the wrong, the critical from the important, forget the useless, which infact forms 70-80% of our options . There’s far too much noise. This is akin to searching the meaning of a word on Google. It throws up a million search results (who’z bothered dude). Its much easier with an oxford dictionary. Not always though, but in most cases yes. (diffnt matter tht Google surely realizes this and something’s surely in the works)

Change is good, but with the tech-revolution, the rate of change has become atrociously rampant, which has made life only more complicated – technology’s made life simpler!!
A possible solution is mebbe controlling the rate at which a new technology impacts the market. Idea-horses have to get their timings right, give the market, the users some time to settle down. We’ve gotta somehow control the current chaos, although I believe tht it’d self-balance over a period of time, but whts the time period we’re talking about; who’s got the time dude?

comfortably numbbbbbb ............

2005-03-26T06:59:00.000-08:00

Life has never been like this before …

Life has never been so discontinuous … so meaningless, yet so intense n meaningful. I’m euphoric, n the next moment I’m miles from it, miles from myself, miles from the world of sane, into this ethereal sensation.

I’ve never been so helplessly outta control … paranoid delusions have overcome my senses …

Life’s never been so short … so painless …

I feel this overwhelming sense of distance and isolation … Life’s never been so lonely, yet soothing …

Life’s never been this hallucinatory procession of events … events that I tend to realize only after they’re over … events that never happened ….

Life’s never been so slow, as if come to a standstill, just feel I’m stuck in time … I wanna burst open, but fail to reason why …..

I’ve been strumming the guitar, but don’t know what. I donn remember what I just played, without absolutely a hint of whats coming up next.

Is it a dream that’s just gonna end the next second. Second, each second has a new meaning, new dimension attached to it … I tend to wake up over n over again, trying to catch up with the real, but before I realise I’m into the brief journey back into my mind, before waking up again …

I hear Dash calling through the haze, but we seem to be hopelessly anachronous to strike a meaningful conversation.

Not sure if I’m half alive or half dead. I’ve never been so unsure of my existence, not sure if the last second existed. Not sure, if I’d be a part of the next , but I reckon this second’s certainly reflecting the multiple layers and unfound depths of the human psyche , but I somehow seem to have felt this before, I’ve felt lifeless before …

The song in the background seems to have been playing for ages. That’s something I feel I’ve been listening eternally. Life’s never been so pointless, so comfortably numbbbbbbb …

peace ……..

Gimme a ‘Break’

2004-11-29T10:17:00.000-08:00

Twas 9 in the morning, and as usual I was far from awake, when I got a missed call from an unknown no, good enuff to do its job. “Who can call me up on a Monday morning”, I wondered as I woke up. Yeah! I’ve heard some of my friends get a missed call too; n tht usually happens when there’s a break, yeah, a build break.

“O maah gawd”, cried I, as I dreadfully hoped it wasn’t my break. So, I called back the no. and there I hear the “Yamraj” break the sorry news about 'my break' today. Its such a sick feeling to have in the morning, a Monday morning that too! I kept the phone down after I promised to be in office within half an hour.

“Lekin, the intermediate builds went through, n there weren’t any errors”, thought I (cuz I’d made my checkins on Friday evening, and checked the results then n there). So I again called the Manish (our build engineer, referred to as Yamraj before!) to tell him the same, and was kinda relieved to learn that even he was wondering why that happened, kinda signalling that it wasn’t really my fault afterall. “Huh!”, a deep sigh, as I hurried up n left for the office.

The day was pretty cool, as against wht I’d thot first thing after getting ‘The Phone Call’. But man! it really gave me the shivers - Mails from Ramesh (Director - Dev), some fire from my manager, some gyaan from the senior team members, with some of my batchmates trying to hopelessly console me, as I was mentally getting prepared for my worst day in Talisma. Fixed the damn thing aaram se towards evening. In fact spent the day fixing some P3/P4 bugs.

The Kashmir Diary

2004-11-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

For Complete Story : Click here

What a way to start

Day 1 (21st Oct 04): Long journey from Delhi to Jammu.

Day 2 (22st Oct 04): Entered 'The Kashmir Valley'

Day 3 (23st Oct 04): Shalimar aur Nishat, Hazratbal Shrine

Day 4 (24st Oct 04): Sonmarg

Day 5 (25st Oct 04): Gulmarg

Day 6 (26st Oct 04): The day I’ll remember all my life!

Day 7 (27st Oct 04): Pahalgam

Day 8 (28st Oct 04): Bye bye Kashmir, back to Jammu

Day 9 (29st Oct 04): Jai Mata Di !

Day10 (30th Oct 2004): Delhi Darshan

Day11 (31th Oct 2004): The Ordeal is over …

This Diwali

2004-11-12T16:36:00.000-08:00

This Diwali - This is one of the oft-used phrases of late. Everyone seems to be using it, so thought I, why not join the club.

Was kinda happy to learn that we’d have a long 5 days weekend “This Diwali”. All kinds of plans were given a thought. Going home and celebrating it with parents, or chilling out in Goa (as we frenz from hostel had done 3 yrs back). Dunno, whether I wanted to save money, or was perhaps too lazy to finalize any of those. Was pretty tired of late, eversince I came back from the Kashmir trip. As a result, planned to put all those options to rest; came back and slept early on a lousy Wednesday evening, absolutely clueless about the day to follow.

So, ended up spending “This Diwali” in Bangalore. Feared it would be one of those long boring holidays in bangalore, where all I did was try to do some work, and finally end up wasting my time on orkutting and chatting with folks (a big time killer I must admit).

Twas a dull Thurday morning as I woke up after sleeping for more than half the time that a human-being gets in a day. In fact a good 2 hours more than that. Was kinda sad to start with as it was already afternoon n I’d gotten around 20 missed calls and as many sms’es by then. Somehow dragged myself out of the bed and started brushing as my building watchman started ringing the door-bell like mad. Seeing no response, he started banging the door. Apparantly he was eagerly waiting for me to wake up so he could clean my Gujju (Gujju bole tou My environment friendly Khatara) – as I pay these guys 50/- for each wash. The real motive was to get an excuse for asking for some money before he left for his native place. Half an hour went past, and again the door started shaking. This guy knew English as well as I knew Telugu.
He’s like “saaar … money”.
I’m like “coming coming”.
“yes sir”, as he pushed me aside and started marching into the house, all serious n stuff. Half surprised, I dinno wht to say. Thankfully my DC skills helped me enuff to convey the right message and get him out of sight. He was to again catch hold of me once I finally went down. But this bugger scared me for a second!

As I was wondering when to go to the co, it actually occurred to me that it actually wont be a bad idea to go meet some people. A Bangalore Darshan would sound more like it. Went to Food World, bought around half a dozen packets of “Cadburys Celebrations”. Came to the petrol bunk right nxt to our house on Bashyam Circle. Put petrol worth 1000 bucks for the first time, and it was great to see the my petrol needle in close proximity with the ‘F’ word. “Warna humesha ‘E’ ke ird-gird mandrate rehta hai”.

10 min down and there I was “ghar ka nikla … tanha akela”. Headed down south, to what I now consider my second home – to the Barua’s, since 1991 – home to one of my best friends – Arindam, who’s currently busy cooking his meals and washing his clothes in USC, Los Angeles (looks like he’s getting himself prepared for married life), and I heard he occasionally attends classes wheneva he finds time from his busy part time job. Jokes aside, its always been a great feeling spending time there, and what better occasion than diwali! Spent a good time telling uncle and aunty about my recent trip to Kashmir. Aunty like a true mother was busy telling me about how Arindam’s getting up early these days and getting all responsible responsible (I can only hope so!).

Took leave and headed furthur south, through the narrow road intersecting the Rly Line meeting up with the Mysore Road. Ah, Mysore Road, tht brings back quite a memory. Dint realise, and I’d spent like 4 yrs, all of which flashed in front of the eyes in a few milliseconds. Dint get too much of a time though, as I quickly moved on to the Ring Road, past Pesit (something we RVites used to look upon very much the way most of the Indians look at Pakistan, it even started with the same god-damned letter, how silly, hehe!), past Food World, and a right-turn, and the fourth left, and the nth house on the right took me to my next destination. The board read – “Surayu” or something like that. Called up Sindhu (classmate from RV), and was kinda releived to realise that I’d finally managed to reach the right place, after having parked my vehicles in front of two other “gray” houses and ringing her up. And Surayu was far from “gray” as she’d described it long back. All along I was too busy trying to impress her with my gyaan on y MBA and y!MS, often bordering on philosophy – can't account for any semblance of logic as to wht philosophy had to do with a BScool – but ask Sindhu and she’d surely agree with whateva I had to say. In fact the actual credit for all the knowledge comes from our “Gyaan GuruDev” in Talisma (better known as GyaanJee amongst his ardent followers).

Soon I was out of Surayu, and I was contemplating meeting up with someone with a similar sounding surname. But, tht person lives up-north. But as I was still in South Bangalore, thot the Diwali Santa Claus should meet up with the folks in that part of the world – it was just a coincidence that it was mostly young women - who constituted the “folks” on my Road Less Travelled.

So, me calls up Seema (nice friend) who was unfortunately out with some friend. Damn! I should’ve guessed and no wonder as there were too many guys hitting her scrap-book @ orkut, and she’s too sweet a girl to say no to the corniest of dudes. Again a co-incidence that I happen to be up-to-date with the scrap-books of most of the women on my orkut-list, cant help it L.

As I was crossing Jay Nagar (on my way to MGs), just thought of meeting up with the Bakshis. I vaguely remembered where they stayed, and when I reached where I thot they lived, all that I could see was an empty land instead of a three-storeyed building. I was astounded seeing the building disappear. After struggling a bit, managed to find their land-line no. and Boxy da (as we called Abhishek Bakshi – my snr from college and indisputably RV’s most eligible bachelor) was all surprised to see their land-line ring. The instrument made it presence felt after a yr or so apparently. Inspite of boxy giving me the directions, I cud reach only after my share of Binary Searching. I’ve been to their place at least thrice before; Damn, I’d make such a hopeless driver. Btw, it was two diwalis back that I’d visited this place last, and boy did I have a nice time then – u always do when there are good looking women around – donn u? Anyways, that’s a different story altogether. Bakshi aunty was all goodi goodi sweet sweet, as she always is, narrating stories about boxy and his unending list of friends. Couldn’t have digested boxy’s friends without the lovely pudding that Aunty had prepared, yum! But, honestly, it felt good going there after a while. But, could manage to spend only little time there, as Rama (da Talisma dude, yo!) kept calling me time n again to find it I was planning to come anytime sooner.

Finally, rushed back to the better half of bangalore (for all the reasons). Went past a few “mamas” – especially the ones near Cauvery theatre circle - who’s only job it seems is to pounce on any vehicle with a non-Karnataka registration. I’m scared of them even when I’m not driving my Gujju and actually walking past them, damn!

Had called up Namrata (classmate from RV) in the morning, and promised her tht I’d visit her “Paati” (granny) in the evening once, the “social animal” that I am. But seeing no one at her home (Malleswaram) dinn dampen my spirits. I was only happy cuz that meant that I saved on a packet of “Celebrations” – which would be my dinner if no one cared to offer me one (I can be such a scoundrel at times!), and moreover I could spend more time at my next destination, which happened to be a lille further north. Actually I’d been to that place only once in my life, and I guess I don’t have much left to talk about my sense of direction and memory. I went past IISc, took a right turn and dragged along as I crossed KV IISc. Kept going straight as I looked for the elusive left turn. But that was not to come. Finally after some time I got one and I moved right in (kinda knowing that it was the wrong turn, still hoping otherwise). But now I was stuck, I dint remember much after that anyways. No Search Algo would’ve helped. Parked my vehicle and thought it was a nice time to walk after driving for close to 60 kms. I walked past all the subsequent right turns that I could, with a stupid grin on my face, as all the residents happily celebrating diwali stared at a stranger lost as if unsure of his existence. Finally I had to give “her” a call, to find out if she was at all at home – I obviously wansnt particularly interested in meeting her family. A touch disappointed with the answer, Diwali wishes were exchanged and I headed for Shriram Srishti (SS) Apts where dear Rama was eagerly waiting. Although there was enough room for old sparks to fly, I must say, this was more out of honest intentions and zero expectations (u folks know me), so nothing really to be disappointed about, rt? Readers who know me at a personal level, I guess would very well know who I’m talking about. Yeah right, about Champakali (:D). Khair!

Reached SS, and was amazed to see the atmosphere. It was like 100 people jumping all over the place, lighting candles, bursting crackers and the likes. I headed straight for Rama’s flat, met up with Ram Senior and aunty. As usual, handed over the “Celebrations” chanting “Happy Diwali” in true Santa style – guess I’m taking the metaphor too far! Then as per mom’s strict instructions, I was to light some diya’s at our to-be flat (707B). Rama arranged for the needful and there we go. Although there’s still no electricity as yet in 707B, the view from the verandah was breathtaking. From that height you get to see a good part of the city, and it was just a treat to the eyes. In no time we were done with the lighting of diyas and before we could assemble for the functions and events at SS, we found time to visit Sriranjani (our collegue at Talisma – by the way lotsa people from Talisma have bought flats at SS) and family. Her son – Adwik – was just too sweet to take your eyes off from. Spent about 5-10 min playing with him, before we joined the gathering in the space between the two SS towers. General introduction was taking place for the SS dwellers, and before I could realise they started calling out the people from 7th floor. Somehow gathered myself up, and managed to blabber something amidst thunderous applause. Later Rama told me that I indeed made some sense. Felt happy about it J, hehe! As everyone followed me, a familiar voice called me from behind – “oh Nikhil Bhaskaran” – another Talisma dude (n a big-time biking freak). Next to him stood a young lady, and before he could say anything I suggested – ur sister right! The answer was not to be in affirmitive, as he immediately pointed out that it was “his aunt” and not his sis. I was like – thank god it was not the other way round! I tend to open my mouth more than I think I shud.

Soon, the events started unfolding one by one, beginning with the fire-crackers and the colorful rockets. Soon after, we started off with a competition for the couples and it was amazing fun, looking at the urgency and seriousness that was exhibited by the participants. According to the rule, the couples were to stand facing each other and a circular strip to be passed across them – top to bottom. The fate of the couples was based on when the music stopped as they passed on the ‘cycle rim’ to the next couple. It was fun to see how some of the slightly hefty couples managed to pass the rim across their combined might. Then we started off with Antax (myself and rama leading the gentlemen) and some cute looking young ladies (unmarried I hope) leading the other team. It was great fun and age was really no bar, as each member on either sides added to the fun. Great show! Then we had another game called “30 seconds to fame”, and there we really went after Rama. Rama – the creative guy that he is - came up with a great idea of making the couples (less than 5 yrs into marriage) propose to each other in their unique ways. Remarkable among them was one couple where the guy proposed to his wife like a “mumBHAI” – “apun ko tere se shaadi karna ko maangtaa hai kya” – types, and guess what, in return he actually received a sandle. That was quite a response! Time’s changing guys, watch out!
Finally the time came for the prizes for some of the events. And I was kinda shocked to hear the results of one of them being “the best dressed male”, cuz it was given to me.Not too surprised after I opened the gift, only to find that it was a deo-spray (AXE to be precise). Was wondering for the actual reason y I was selected. I knew the long day had its toll, but …

As I started my way back from SS towards Talisma (yeah Talisma, cuz its more like home; if u’ve got nothing to do, u know where to go), the mama’s made their entry into the story. “You don’t have your seat belt on. You only need to pay 300 now” – was all they had to say. Eventful as my life always is, I aint anymore surprised with how my life unfolds. I requested them to be fair to me on a diwali evening(this would infact work during ramadan days in Kashmir with Muslim traffic folks), but not with these mama’s during Diwali. I was asked to park my car and wait. Thankfully so, as it allowed me to do the smartest thing I’d done the whole day. I immediately took out all my 500s and put them inside my car and walked up to them again to plead. One of ‘em tried to sound a bit understanding and offered to lemme go at a 100. I was like, this is all I had (3 tenners and some chillars) and no wonder that bugger settled with that after another dose of persuasion (long live Sudeep Saha – one of my RV classmates – the god in these matters). Later I realised that I could’ve done away with a tenner or two, damn! I aint that smart also!

Finally I reached Talisma at 12 am. As I went to the café to recharge myself, I realised that the folks who were partying in the compound in front of Talisma were not done as yet with their diwali celebrations, leading me into one of the best displays of rockets ever. The colorful explosions happening in the sky in rapid succession was truly mesmerizing. The fact that I was standing on the terrace added to it cuz most of the explosions were happening at my level, giving me a unique - so to say - 3D view of the explosions. There must’ve been around 300 explosions in a span of 2-3 min, around 2 per second. The sky was bright and colorful all along. Just outta this world!

Wht a way to end “This Diwali” and it was surely better than sitting in the co. the whole day and …

Just a passing thought – Obvi it has its own charm celebrating Diwali with your folks back home, but it isnt that bad celebrating it with the folks as I met them at their respective places, with the RJs on Radiocity (that kept me going), with the kids as I crossed small lanes - planting tiny bombs or lighting flower-pots, with all the people I saw on the road – full of energy in their sparkling outfits, with an odd rocket dispersing its colors on the horizon; seriously the festive mood the pervaded the atmosphere. Believe me, it was great fun seeing the city celebrate “This Diwali”, and twas truly worth the 100 or so Kms tht I covered to realize that.

Aint I blogging?

2004-08-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

Watch this space !!