Kanpur-Gandhinagar-Bangalore-Calcutta

Short story - The comeback

2011-11-25T18:34:00.015+05:30

Story continued from - http://kgbc.blogspot.com/2010/05/short-story-proposal.html

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My proposal was turned down. I saw her walking away from me. I stood aimlessly in the faculty block for quite some time. Could almost hear some sad music playing in the background and winds blowing dry leaves in air to create a melancholy effect.

I returned to my room. Felt like tearing her photo, except I had no photograph of hers. I wanted to throw away her gifts, sadly I had not received any gift from her till date. I never had got a card, mail or anything that remotely indicated she was interested in me- which I could destroy to feel good. But I needed to do something rude to vent out my frustration. I finally settled upon deleting her orkut profile link from my bookmarks.
That felt so good. Now I can forget her, I told mself.

Days passed and I would still find myself staring at her. I would madly wait in canteen for her and once she would arrive- start looking in opposite direction to show her that I didn't care. "Yeah! Now she will realize that how much she missed me". One week passed and nothing happened. "I need to do something!"

I started stalking her. I used to sit for whole evenings and nights on a bench in garden- from which her seat in computer lab was visible. I could see her smile, getting bored, making child faces, getting sad and wondered if I would kill myself for her. That day I was sitting on the chair and she had not turned up since afternoon. It was late in night and I felt kind of stupid sitting in the park for whole evening. I shouted out loud- "Kahan hai yaar? Abhi tak kyon nahin aayi?"

I heard a voice - "Kaun nahin aayi?" I shouted- "None of your business" At that time I realized somebody standing next to me. I turned to my right, saw her and fell down from my chair, out of total shock. I hit my head to a rock- the best thing that had ever happened to me for some time (Seriously!). She saw me bleeding and started apologizing for the surprise (Hell yeah! Who cares if it was her fault or not!) "I was waiting for ice cream. I had a stupid bet with one of my friends who taught I'm scared to sit alone in park in middle of night. I had won and was waiting for my ice cream. But seems like he lied" . I started blurting out randomly before she could realize my true motive of sitting there. I think my acting-in-pain-performance was really good - for she actually believed it.

"Hey are you fine?"
"Yeah I'm fine. Please don't talk to me"
"Oh about that! I was angry that day. I'm sorry. We are friends after all. Can we stay as friends? I have no feelings but you're a very good friend of mine. Please!"
I was disappointed but that was my only option -"Yeah sure! I'll try"
"Let's go for an ice cream then."
I wished like shouting at all the other guys who were following her and acting like complete morons (I feel my case was an exception as I was destined to be with her)- "Take that you idiots! I am going out with her"

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And that's how things got back to track once again. Took me approximately one more year from that day to get the magical "Yes", still the day was extremely important for me to make a comeback after being shot down the first time.

The wallpaper

2011-09-24T15:23:00.008+05:30

I watched her sitting in the corner of library. She had neatly arranged 5 pencils, 2 pens, 3 erasers, 1 blue marker, 2 black markers and 1 pink marker in front of her books- I could have completed my B.Tech and Ph.D (maybe double Ph.D) with that much of stationary. She fiddled with her hair- realized she was acting stupid, got conscious and looked around to see if anybody was watching. I quickly looked down to avoid being caught staring at her and started reading some text book that made no sense. Sadly, the book had to make sense soon, as I had my exam tomorrow- but then I looked above and got lost again.

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I asked her for one final time- give me your answer in yes or no. She was feeling strained- I've not decided yet. I don't care. Give me an answer. I'll go mad without an answer. Yes.- she said. I felt guilty of forcing her to say yes. But then I looked at her. A drop of tear appeared on corner of her eye. I thought of being the devil- to accept the yes that was said forcefully. How could I let her go? I'm sorry for forcing you to give an answer. Just was irritated as have waited for more than a year now for your answer. I'll be there for you. Take your time. I kicked myself atleast 1000 times while returning home that day.

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It was moonlit night. We hold hands while watching the stars. She rested her head on my shoulder. If somebody would have recorded the scene, the video could have been easily mistaken for SRK's next flick. Her face glowed in the moonlight. I watched her watching the moon. I just stared blankly at her. She suddenly looked at me. As an instant reaction I started looking towards left. She laughed. Now you can be caught staring at me. Though I will kill you if you're caught looking at somebody else.- came the first disclaimer of 1,34,234,123 more to come.

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I was standing on the stage with her. I felt that I looked like a complete fool especially with she standing on my right. I saw my parents and her parents standing together infront of us. I tried hard to wake myself from the beautiful dream- but it didn't work. Maybe it was really happening. I got the ring, bent on my left knee and asked- Will you marry me? She laughed- I need more time. I hastily put the ring on her ring finger. I can't make the same mistake I once did before.. We posed from the camera and the pic has been my wallpaper ever since.

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Nostalgia

2011-08-30T03:09:00.003+05:30

Few years back (Vadodra, Gujarat):

Hey Akshay! Look, my school, my mom shouted in joy. It was weird to see her clapping her hands like a small girl. For a 6 year old, mom is the most powerful person. She is the one who controls your destiny- from what you eat to what you wear to what you get beaten with. Seeing her acting like that confused me.
Come on ma! What a big deal! Just a building. That too in such a bad shape. Who likes the school anyway?
Mom mellowed down her excitement, but still stared at her school, seemingly lost in her thoughts and watched her school left behind as we drove through.
Hey why do you hate your school so much?
Ma! What is there to like about a school? Homework, Exercise, Wake up early, Dress, Punishment, Bullies- who in the world can love his school?
You'll realize some day.

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25 years later (Pune, Maharashtra):
(Life had moved on. I was working in a software firm. Married, settled. Ma was no more. But I knew she was still looking after me.)

Angel! Come on. Get ready for school. It's 8 a.m. already
Come on dad! Please let me sleep. I'm not going school today.
Angel, subah subah punishment chahiye kya? Chalo ready ho! Dress nikal di hai. And breakfast mein cornflakes khayenge. Jaldi!

I turned on the news. The headline said- "Today President will visit JK school in Kanpur and address students."
Angel angel! Come here. My school. See!
I was jumping with joy seeing my school in news footage.
Dad! She said, rubbing her eyes and looking confused - It's just a small building. What's the big deal?
I looked up facing the sky and said with a faint smile- You'll realize some day

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(Too much of a mushy story. Thought of deleting it, but then I'll post it anyways since I get very few opportunities to update this space now.)

The guy in the corner

2011-08-04T01:01:00.007+05:30

"Excuse me? Is this the Strategic Inputs team?"
I stared at her. She was beautiful. She look lost. The blue butterfly clip on her head was shaking ferociously- as she was trying to look in all directions, trying to find her newly allotted team.

"Yes.There is the manager. You can talk to him"

I saw her going to the manager. They were talking and I saw two completely contradictory persons in same frame. Yin and Yang , Devil and the Angel.

"Guys she is Nikita. She will join our team. Let me introduce you to them".
Somehow the manager failed to introduce me. It was pretty obvious too. I was junior most member of the team. Pretty much non existent. I cursed my small town upbringing. I sulked in the corner of my team's cubicle and got back to coding. World was pretty small for me.

"Hey can you help me out. I need to attend a party today and I'll be really late."
I thought to myself-"Dude she is way out of league. You are just going to make a mockery of yourself. Don't harbor any feelings for her".
I helped her out and saw her leave. It felt magical talking to her. I shrugged myself to not to think any further and got back to work.

Life went on. I saw her little disturbed at times but I didn't ask her. It was none of my business.

"Oye kal kyon nahin aaya! Atleast inform to kar diya karo agar nahin aa rahe ho to!" I was shocked. I don't think anybody else from my team would have even noticed that I was absent yesterday. "Yaar thoda tabiyat kharab thi. Office ka khana " "Koi nahin. Kaam khatam kar lo. We'll go to McD for lunch".

"Hey! Why you did not came to office yesterday. I wanted the part of code you were working on", shouted my manager. Sigh!

Gradually we became close friends. I really loved her company. If you wanna label that as love,I really don't know and it didn't matter. All I know was we had good time.

A year passed.

"Hey I want to tell you something. Let's go for a tea". I wondered what it is. My codes were not running and the devil would be hunting me down soon. "I got an offer from ZS. I am quitting. Next week would be my last. I'm so excited. They even doubled my pay". I was shocked. All I could say is "Awesome! Let's have a party".

The week passed by. I felt helpless. Should I disclose my feelings? But she is just a good friend. She obviously had no regrets. The final day came. We had cake cutting ceremony, she got her relieving letter. Everybody said goodbyes. I came down to see her off. "Good Bye. It was nice to spend some time with you. Best of luck", I said.

She wanted to say something but then stopped and left. I would like to believe there was a tear in the corner of her eye. I came to my team cubicle, sat in the corner and started coding again.

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Fictional story inspired from life of one of my very close friend.

Daddy's little girl - as she was

2011-04-17T01:13:00.011+05:30

She had a weird smile. A kind of smile that made her mysterious- layers of confusion, sadness and complexities wrapped neatly under that smile. Facing the world bravely, taking people head on- never letting anyone realize that she could be scared. Being the coolest girl in her neighborhood, very few people could have imagined that she might feel desperately homesick at times.

Daddy's little girl- as she was.
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Her experiences made me feel - maybe all love stories are not meant to end on a happy note. Or maybe the good ending in some love stories is saying goodbye forever. She had a very normal life- working seriously in office, partying with friends, handling weird followers, talking while eating, fiddling with her cell phone- typical girly habits. But behind that normal life was exceptional courage to make life normal, definite determination to end her relationship, for which she had already sacrificed a lot.

Daddy's little girl- as she was
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There was something that set her apart. Initially, I was quite intrigued - despite being so common what made her so uncommon. Slowly I realized it was the way she handled all her problems with dignity. World was falling apart and she was standing unfluttered in the middle of chaos peacefully. She was lonely and confused. Times had changed and even she had changed a lot. Staying away from home for the first time- she had a major overhaul. She loved this makeover- infact was enjoying it. She was more confident, suave and trendy. But on rare occasions, the little girl inside her- her true self would again dominate.

And then,once again, she would become the
Daddy's little girl- as she was
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[This post is dedicated to my little sister. I wish her all the best in life.
And as she says- sometimes bloggers tend to make things dramatic so that people read. IMHO this is not a dramatic representation of hers(though I am not aware of what exactly is going on in her life, hence this post is just my perception)]

Poem: Unanswered questions or unquestioned answers

2011-04-16T14:29:00.005+05:30

Don't know why,

I feel so ecstatic.

who is this inside me,

that is so aesthetic?

Is it my own self?

Have I changed somehow??

or is it that I was like this only

but I have discovered it now..

Don't know how,

a breeze of change swayed me away.

Backtracking down the memory lane,

can't see the footprints on the way.

Don't know when,

an angel entered within me.

A world with fragrance of love

is all that I can foresee.

No answers to these questions,

but one thing is for sure.

The blessings of that angel

are so sacred and so pure.

PS- This poem is composed by my special one. I absolutely love the subtle abstractions.

She hates love stories

2011-04-06T23:55:00.006+05:30

Back in college, when you're "just" a friend - you try pretty hard to impress her.
Suddenly, you would start having same opinions, same hobbies and same likings as her.

If she hates cricket - you'll instantly add it's just a waste of time
If she is animal lover- you would feel like hugging the stray dog on the footpath (and chances are you just might have kicked the same dog while being drunk previous night)
If she loves peace- you press shift delete to all the war documentaries you have.

As for me, I am absolute sucker for romantic movies. So "50 First Dates" is the best movie ever made, "A Walk to Remember" makes me cry and I was heartbroken after Winny and Kevin broke up in the greatest television series ever made- "The Wonder Years" (Watch it if you have not watched it yet).

So here is a snapshot of discussion we usually used to have-

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(5 years back)

(Smiling)Hi, One of my friends gave me 50 First Dates.
(I was about to say- Oh My God! That's my fav movie too)
What a sissy movie.
(Now I'm confused).
Do you ever think such a person would really exist out there in world? I kept laughing at it the whole time.
(Making a disgusted face) Yeah! I don't know what was that person thinking while making that movie. He still had not come out of his dream world.
Absolutely. I don't understand love at all. What a stupid concept!
(And here I am falling flat in love with you) Yeah. Totally over-rated. People are so dumb. They actually feel that they can stay with one person for life time(even I do..what's the harm in that :banghead: )
I'm glad you think the same way. My friend who gave me was a sucker. He told me my husband will suffer for life. And I replied back to him - who is going to marry in first place?
(Stumped) You're not going to marry? Ever?
Yeah. You see I'm not the romantic kinds. I can't fall in love. I'm sure about it.
(Now I'm about to cry. What kind of girl are you? And I was thinking of what dress she'll wear in our marriage) Hehe. Me too. Who believes in that concept except for maybe Karan Johar?(and me.)
Now look at A Walk to Remember.
(No Please No! Why are you just picking MY movies) Why? What's the harm? I feel that there might be someone who might love her girlfriend so much that she might even marry her on her deathbed.
Hehe. Nice Joke. I really appreciate your sense of humor.
(Kicking myself). Hehe. I'm glad you didn't fall for that. I would say in real life that guy would just have got busy in finding himself another date.
Yes. I second. There is no guy who would do this
(Come on! I would) Yeah right.
Let me leave. I'll meet you later.

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(Today)

You're really bad. You made me like the romantic movies.
Why? What's the harm?
What kind of guy will propose a girl 50 times?
Oh no. Not again.
You're an exception. But majority won't.
I'm glad that atleast you said that.
I won't forgive you for making me like the romantic movies. I still feel they are sissy.
Yeah. I'm glad I did that.
And I won't forgive you for making me want to marry. I never ever wanted to marry. And you came and changed that. I hate you for that.
Is that a compliment?
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PS- The scene at the top is my favorite scene of all times(from Love Actually).I wished her Valentine day(4 years back) in the same way and it did wonders.

PPS- and that's why readers find ALL my posts to be hopelessly romantic.

The moment when I knew it

2010-11-02T10:59:00.003+05:30

Flashback (Class-II in school):

Senior:Abhishek say ‘Kite’.
Me:Tite.

Laughter all around. Reason- I used to stammer. Even students from class 12th used to come to see my special talent. I could’ve easily won the Talent Hunt of my school as a standup comedian without even cracking a single joke.

That made me go into a shell. I stopped talking to anyone. Even in interval I used to sit in a corner and study. Well if you don’t speak at all then nobody would come to know if you can pronounce K or T correctly. I became an introvert and was scared of talking to anyone new. Slowly my seniors and classmates stopped picking me and the folklore died. Only thing that remained was my silence.

College:
I had never tried to rectify my wrong habit. I never needed to -as I hardly spoke. Now when you need to impress a girl of your life, you need to speak and speak smartly. I was in dilemma. To speak or not to speak.
So I figured out a middle path. I would try to avoid words starting with alphabets K,C,T and few others.

Hey hi! So how are you doing?
Doing good.
(Seeing a book in my hand) So, which subject you’re reading?
It’s a Physics thing related to movement of bodies.
You mean Kinetics?
Oh yeah. I thought you would not have heard that name.
You think I’m dumb?
No no. Absolutely no. Well when are you going home?
Maybe next week. Where is your hometown?
Well I’ll give you hints. You guess. It’s largest town of UP, has an IIT.
I don’t know.
(Come on!) Kanpur(saying very slowly).
What? Didn’t hear you.
Hey how is your assignment going?
Going great. But some idiots are not doing their part and I’m sort of getting tensed.
Ahh. Don’t worry (fearing my team mates of the Humanities electives project would be thinking the same). Anyways, what are you doing tomorrow? We can have dinner.
Yeah. I’ve not been out for a long time. We can. What’s the place called?
It’s a food chain of Italian dishes. It has many branches all over India.
Still, it might have some name.
Pijja Hut.
That was the moment when I realized I was doomed. In the excitement of having dinner with her, I had forgotten to censor my words. I had increased my chances of seeing her again from 0 to minus infinity.
What? No it’s not the way it’s pronounced. It’s pronounced with a z like hard S.
Ok. I know I’m not great in pronouncing words. I know that.
Yeah, even I have noticed that.
You knew? You knew from all this long.
Yeah. But it’s such a small thing. Why are you getting so frustrated? Just try once again and you can pronounce it correctly.
Yeah. You want to make fun of me. Right?
Come on. Ok. If you can pronounce once correctly, till we reach the girls hostel, we’ll have dinner tomorrow. Else the plan stands cancelled.
Now I was in a shock. My nightmares were coming true. I just walked with my head down and almost in stage of crying.
Come on!
I realized this was my only shot. This was the only chance for me to conquer my fears of lifetime. And also that was my only chance to go out with her.

Pijja
Pijza
Piiiiija

No. Try to focus on middle part. It’s z and not j.

Pizza
Pizza
Pizza
Hey very good. Let’s meet tomorrow evening then.
I couldn’t believe it. I had done it. It might not be a very big achievement but for me it was like climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.
And that was the moment I realized- She is my dream girl. She never looked down upon me. I was strong when she was around. I was not ashamed to make mistakes infront of her. I was not ashamed to be myself. I could go down to bullies of my class and could Pizza-fy them.

That’s the moment when I realized- May be this is what true love looks like.

PS- My bad! It's called as Lisping and not stammering. Thanks to Anshul for pointing that out.

Short Story- So you think I can dance!

2010-09-10T23:09:00.016+05:30

Continued from-
The Perfect Opening Line

It was the "Garba and Dandiya night" in college. Yeye.
People were busy making masterplans, plan-A, plan-B...plan-Z of hitting on girls. Teams were being formed, alliances were being made.

"Tu Raju ko dekhna. Wo Shalini ke saath jyada dance na kare. Tu use occupy rakhna aur main Shalini ke saath dandiya kheloonga."

"Wo bhai-bhen gang mein dance karte karte hum entry maar lenge. Jaise hi circle banega, apne usmein jayenge aur tu pooch lena usse- Can I stick with you to play sticks? Nah. Bad pick up line. Soch le yaar koi impressive line. Par aaj hi mauka hai."

Now if you want to imagine how well I dance - Imagine a Tyrannosaurus Rex doing Kathak.

I called Misra.
"I have no other option. She is a Gujarati. How can I convince her parents unless I learn Gujaratiness.Give me some motivation."
"Dude don't you think you're going overboard. Abhi tak to wo tera naam bhi nahin jaanti!"
"Are wahi to! See my plan is really different. What I can do is I'll convince her parents that I'm a good guy. Aur ek baar uske parents maan gaye, to propose kar doonga. Love marriage nahin to arrange marriage ho jayegi"
"Are you drunk? You're talking all crap"
"I thought I'm looking for some motivation from you"
"Ok. Listen. Just try to enter the Gujju gang. Go to her and say you want to learn Dandiya. Ask her help and then get talking. Then ask out for coffee. Simple"
"Thanks dude! That seems to be perfect. Only thing is I don't know how to dance"
"Nobody is seeing you dude. Do some stupid moves. Remember any PT exercise of childhood and try to do that in a fancy way"

Finally the D-day arrived. It was one of the rare occasions in our college when students reached before the official reporting time. The ground was shabbily decorated. You couldn't help but doubt that you might have been teleported to good old Ramayana days with ethnic clothing all around. Some of the girls had definitely gone overboard in make-up. Some of the boys had definitely gone overboard in their attempt to impress girls.

Everyone was scanning the crowd to locate his target group. Music started and we marched in to complete our missions.

That's when I spotted her. Man oh man! I stood still. There are some people in life who can make a hot humid evening in rusty college ground filled by people doing Bhangra in Garba really beautiful.

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Two hours had passed. I still was unable to enter Gujju gang's circle. Each time I attempted to enter it, I was prudently shoved away. Meanwhile some people had resorted to desperate measures. From Bhangra, people had started demonstrating their fictional Kung-Fu skills to attract attention. I decided to take the plunge.

"Hi"
"Hi! Do I know you?"
(bad bad. She doesn't even remember me)
"Remember I came like a superman. You can say I am the superhero Dogman of your life"
"Sorry. I don't like to talk to people who are drunk"
(Why doesn't anyone appreciate my sense of humor?) "No No we didn't start drinking yet. Remember that day when the dog was following you and we met for a brief instant. You told me that we'll meet again. So here we meet again."
"Oh! Ya ya."
(Silence for 3 mins).
"Hey can you teach me some special gujju Garba moves?"
"What?"
"No I mean Gujarati Garba moves"
"Ya sure. Well here it goes" And I swear to God she did some superhuman flexing moves that I couldn't even properly see, leave alone copying it.
"Hey that's too tough. Can you teach me the basic one?"
"No no try doing it. It's the easiest of all"

That's when I followed the wise advice of Misra. I completed my special PT-merge-dance-merge-randomness move. Somehow I heard a fictional round of applause. I thought to myself- "Man! I'm awesome". In turn, I realized everybody had been looking at me for quite some time. The applause was real, though not for appreciation of my talent. People were in fits of laughter. To add to my humiliation, they even tried to enact it. But I had executed it so awesomely bad that it was not possible for them to copy it.

I looked to my right and she had disappeared.

Met Misra the next day.
"Man! It was fun yesterday"
"Come on! It was just a stupid dance by stupid bunch of college going kids"
"Oh! Words of wisdom from our disco dancer"

----------------------------------

Yesterday:
"Will we go to Garba in navaratris after we marry?"
"Are you mad! Me and dancing! Don't you remember how good I am! I had screwed up even the basic step"
"Oh that! I didn't know that you are a good guy and I was scared that you'll trouble me. I had intentionally taught you the toughest moves of all - To shoo you away."

The War

2010-08-16T23:48:00.007+05:30

"You're too possessive. I hate you"
These were the words that were SMSed to me once the war was over. Now the best part of being in a relationship is that the harder you try to hate the other person for being rude or being non-sensitive to you, the more you fall in love with them.

Now it's a different story that it was you who was acting like a jerk. In the heat of moment, you always feel that others are acting weird and insensitively.
Plus, The best part of having a girlfriend is, she remembers all your mistakes.

"Why did that idiot talked to you? I told you he is an ass. Stay away from him. I really don't trust him."
"Have you ever met him?"
"No"
"Do you know him?"
"No"
"How can you say he is jerk? He is a friend of mine."
"Oh come on! Don't you care about me? Who is more important? Me or Him? If I tell you to not to talk to him, then better not talk to him"
"I talked to you when I didn't know you"
"That was different! That was me. This is him. And I don't feel like you talking to him"
"I don't feel like listening to you"
"See I told you, you really don't care about me. It's always me who does everything and you can't even do a small thing for me"
"Let me give you a warning! Don't get me started"
"Oh! Ab tumhari galti realise hui na, toh you're changing the topic. Ek baar sorry tak nahin bola"
"Let me point out tumhari galti-

Mistake #1- Not getting your cellphone repaired. If you really had to talk to me, that would've been your first priority. I've told you 100 times atleast
Mistake #2- Doubting me. Giving me no freedom
Mistake #3- Yesterday you didn't even care to pick up my call.
Mistake #4- Day before yesterday you didn't have lunch
Mistake #5- One month back, you fought with me and shouted at me.
(continues)
Mistake #50- Six months back, you even forgot to wish me on my birthday.
(continues)
Mistake #101- One year back, You forgot to book my tickets even though you knew it was so urgent.
(continues)
Mistake #1001- Three years back, You followed me whole night like a jerk. I was so scared and you had no concern how would a girl feel if someone follows me at night"

"Hey that's not fair. I don't agree with your last point. That was me!"
"Did I know you then?"
"Still that was me. Dekha apni galti accept nahin karni hoti to excuse banati ho. Dekha. I win I win. Wiase how do you manage to remember 1001 list?"
"Coz I care about you. Everything you do wrong, hurts me a lot"
(Silence) "Theek hai na! Ab aaj tumhari galti maine maaf kar di na. Main kuch bol raha hoon"
"Warning di thi tumein"
"Tumhari galti hai. Better warning diya karo aage se. And Mujhe nahin sunna. You really don't care. Ek chota sa kaam bola tumein. Itna bhi nahin kar sakti"
"Haan nahin kar sakti. Khush"
"Dekha. I knew I knew. Acha ab sorry bol raha hoon na. Chalo. Sorry"
"I'm sorry. Please leave me alone"
"Yaar ek to tum galti karti ho. Upar se main sorry bolta hoon. Upar se tum bhaav khati ho. Kabhi main tumhein realize karata hoon tumhari galityan?"
"Oh aisa! jara ek batana?"
(thinking hard) "Hmmm..are main koi mistake database thode na maintain karta hoon! Maine tumhein maaf kiya! Bas khush!"

Beep...Beep...

That was the time when phone was disconnected from other side!
And I was still wondering-"Yaar maine kya kiya! Ajeeb hai!"

When God writes, you Read!

2010-07-09T19:44:00.003+05:30

I'm really glad the person who motivated me to write a blog is coming up wih his book.(Man the cover is awesome!)

Check out the awesome blog and awesome book-

http://www.arshatchaudhary.com/

I wish all the luck and hope it becomes a big success.

PS- sorry for not posting regularly. The work is killing me.

PPS- My craziest dream today is to write a book. Though I don't know who will read that book. :P

The white lie (soccer)

2010-06-13T07:58:00.011+05:30

This post is dedicated to beautiful game of soccer and my childhood memories associated with it

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I was running. Panting. A drop of sweat followed a parabolic trajectory from my forehead to my cheeks. I was disturbed for a moment. I regained my concentration. Dribbled the ball avoiding the defenders. My breath was heavy, still I kept on running, scanning the ball and the defenders at the same time. It was two on one. I had one of my team mates - Abhimanyu on my left and goalkeeper infront. The goal should have been a cakewalk. I was now running from midfield to goalkeeper's area. Suddenly I heard Abhimanyu shouting- "Pass! Give me the pass! You won't be able to score. Give me the pass". I saw goalkeeper approaching. A straight forward kick would have been a goal. Again I hear the same words. In a split second, I passed skillfully to Abhimanyu. The goalkeeper was nowhere near. Abhimanyu netted the ball perfectly. I saw my team erupt. I,drenched in sweat, lied on ground facing the clear blue sky trying to regain my breathing. After few seconds, I stood up. Saw the team circling Abhimanyu. Picking him up. Abhimanyu was now sitting on the shoulders of teammates, giving a large grin to onlookers and abusing the opposition. I stood by the sideline. I felt like shouting- "It was my goal. I did all the hardwork. I did all the running. I did all the tackling. It was my pass damnit!"
Nobody noticed. The play started again.

We used to have 2 games period in class 5th. I was the best and most committed player of team. The problem was nobody noticed that. Since we were small kids, the concept of team work and playing selflessly was something incomprehensible. The one who scored the goal takes the glory. I somehow didn't understand why nobody realized that it always used to be my hardwork. The strategy of my team, Ganga House(dawned in color Blue) was simple- somehow give the ball to me, I will take the ball from our goalkeeper to opposition goalkeeper, give the pass to Abhimanyu and he'll have the final word.

Jab tu ball le ke jaata hai goal tak to marta kyon nahin?one of my friends asked.
Yaar Abhimanyu bahut jor se shot maarta hai. Dekha hai. Uske paas wo nails(spikes) waale shoes bhi hain. Main kahan se goal kar paaonga.

I hastily walked away from him. I knew he was right. Abhimanyu was rock star of our class while I was just a sideline player.

I reached home. My mom knew it was a sports period today as we had to wear our house color shirt. So Himachal house was red, Vindhya was green, Yamuna was yellow and my house Ganga was blue.

Toh mere beta ne kitne goal kiye?
Maine goal nahin kiya Ma. Par I assisted. I did everything.
Haan. Koi baat nahin beta. Thoda aur mehnat karo. Goal bhi karna aa jayega.

Now my mom to soccer is like Ramayan's Sita to F TV. Still I was furious. I had decided. I won't give the final pass to Abhimanyu. I would score the goal. I would be the hero. Next one week, I just had dreams of my winning move after the goal. I finalized the arms open move. As soon as the ball would kiss the net, I would widen my arms and start running randomly on the field pretending to be a free bird(The move which was later copied by Shoaib Akhtar).

The match started. It was a lack lustrous first half where the football match had turned to rugby and people were busy hitting the opposition players than the ball. Some sanity prevailed in the second half when both team realized that they needed to score a goal to win. Amit tackled the opposition player. He gave the pass to Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu dribbled the ball and tried to spot me. Seeing me to his right, he gently kicked the ball to right towards me. Bhaag! Bhaag! We need to score the goal. I took the ball. Dribbled. Me and Abhimany stated running towards the goal. I kept running, artistically saving the ball and myself from mindless tackles (there used to be no umpires) of opposition. Finally I got the ball between the legs of last defender and it was again two on one situation. I had been in these situation a lot of time. But now I was in quite a new situation. We both were running mindlessly towards the goal, when I heard the same words- "Pass! Pass! You can't do it". I shouted back- "I can! Don't come in my way!" The goalkeeper approached towards me. I was ready to take the kick. The goal was mine. With my full effort, I kicked the ball. I saw the ball beating the goalkeeper. I saw the ball beating the goalpost. The ball flew above the goal outside the ground.

Abhimany picked me up by my collar.
Bola tha nahin kar payega. Dekha teri wajah se haar jayenge. Miss kar diya na.
One of my teammates joined him- Khelna to aata nahin. Gola karega. Hero banega. Ja ball utha ke la.

I slowly walked towards the road. The ball was lying on one of the footpaths. One drop approached my cheeks. But the origin of this water drop was my eyes this time. I let my team down. Maybe I can't do it. I threw the ball to the ground. Abhimanyu came down to me and said- Tu bahar se pehle dekh aur seekh football kaise khelte hain. Fir khelne aana. I was substituted. Needless to say Ganga house lost the match. I was saved by my friends from being beaten by Abhimanyu.

I reached home disappointed and lost in my thoughts.It was just the goal. It was just above the goal post. Nobody noticed that I shot the ball so hard that it went above the goal post(This was a big deal in class-5). I just had it. I was the reason for which Ganga house used to win everytime.

Beta! Aaj kitne goal kiye?
Ma maine goal maara. Maine bahut jor se shot maari. Poori takat laga ke.
I demonstrated her a kick. Then I showed her the free bird celebration move. I felt I deserved to take the credit, to do the move at least once.
Maine aise fir dance bhi kiya.
(Laughing) Mera beta to bada acha football khelne laga hai.

I still don't know what made me to lie. But I couldn't see in the eye of mom when she said the last sentence. I cursed myself. I felt I had done a very wrong thing by lying to mom, though somehow I didn't feel bad. I was living a dream.

That was the last time I played football. Even now when I see kids playing football in the field, I can see a small boy in blue shirt, running hard, running fiercely towards the opposition's goal and I can still hear those words -"Pass! Pass! You can't do it".

Short Story- The proposal

2010-05-17T10:16:00.013+05:30

I was tired of being a friend. Rising from the echelons of 'orkut friend' to 'gtalk friend' to 'project friend' to 'good friend' to 'best friend', I had hit a roadblock. I decided to take next leap and spill the beans. But how to propose? Where to propose? What will be my perfect heart winning words?

My simple plan-> I'll take her for a romantic outing. At the end of it, I'll propose. She'll say yes. We'll hold hands, sing romantic songs and be together for lifetime. Perfect!

I decided to call her and fix the plan.

Hi, How are you? What about an outing?
Nah I'm not interested to go out.
Please.
Nope. I've lot of work this month. Most probably I won't be able to find time to go out for whole month.
Whole month? (I need to think of something and something fast!) Ok. Can you spare ten minutes for me?(Can't wait for a month!)
Sure. Come down to the garden outside the lab. I'll be in lab. My final sem project is killing me.
Sure. Done.

I don't know what was the big deal about the final sem project. I had not even started the work for project after two months. I barely remembered the topic of my project and had not even met the prof once under whom I was supposed to work. Because of my hard work and dedication, I had acquired a legendary status amongst my batchmates.

I ran to the lab.

Hi. I need to talk to you for 10 minutes. No disturbances please. Thoda serious issue hai.
Aisa kya emergency hai. Jaldi bolo?
Are let me speak. First of all I need a place where I can talk to you calmly. I don't want anyone else to hear me (or see me being hit by a girl).
Oh! Let's go to faculty block. That's one place no student comes.

My initial reaction was- "What! You gotta by Kidding me. You wanna me to propose at the place surrounded by offices of the faculty. That'll be the most unromantic place ever!"
We reached the faculty block.I was really nervous. Plus being surrounded by all the negative aura of faculty I forgot the lines I had rehearsed for past one month.

So go on! Aisa kya hua?
Well...ummm...mmm...I need to tell you something. Very important.
(Bending down on my knees) I want you to be my partner for rest of my life. I won't say even after life since you're afraid of ghosts(Kicking myself! What the hell proposal was that one?) I really like you(avoiding the L word - love).

There was no sound for next 5 minutes. She stood standstill in a stage of shock. I was in alarm stage- ready to run -in case she decided to reach for her sandals. That's when I heard from the back-

Abhishek! Where are you? I've been looking for you for long time.

I was really frustrated. Who has the guts to disturb me at this moment? I turned back and freezed. It was my project mentor. Next half hour he slammed me for being careless, casual, rude and dumb - adjectives you won't want to hear from somebody while you were proposing a girl to marry her! I apologised furiously and promised to show him the first part of project tomorrow.(He was really naive to believe me on that!)

Phew! That was a close shave. See I can risk my life for you.
That was a bad joke.
Yeah. So what is your answer.
Well you're my best friend(damn!). You need to listen to me very carefully and patiently. You need to understand me(After so many disclaimers I already knew what's the answer going to be). I don't want to hurt you or make you feel bad.
Please cut the crap. (I was getting impatient) Tell me yes/no.
No. I need to add one more thing.
Bolo! Ab bhi kuch bolne ko bacha hai kya?
I think we should not talk from now on. The more we talk now, the more you'll think about these things and feel bad. This is the last time I'm talking to you. Thanks for being my best friend. Bye Forever!

I was stunned. My eyes were wet. She ignored my tears and started moving back to the lab.

I saw her beautiful hairs fluttering in the air. My dream girl walking away from me forever. I could almost hear sad music played in the background. That was the end of my love story - or at least I thought it was.

Short story- "My first valentine- The Dustbin!"

2010-02-10T00:47:00.020+05:30

I was mad in love. And it was V-day tomorrow.

I asked with a shivering voice "What are your plans for 14th?"
She made a disturbed face as if to silently indicate- "Oh no! Not you too!"
I realized that damage control plan was required and backtracked from lover gear to good friend gear(the safest of all)- "Are yaar! I'm not saying you to come for a date with me. Just a coffee. I don't have a valentine and will be lonely. Atleast I thought I could bank upon my friend to give me a company"
"Oh! Ok..I thought you too joined the list"
"Pagal hai kya?" (Lied bluntly with a heavy heart)
"Good. Even I don't have a valentine. Let's meet at 4 tomorrow!"
"Glad to hear that!"
"What?"
"That you can take some time out of your busy schedule."(Lied Again)
"Anything for friends!"
Damn friendship!
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So here I was all set for my coffee-cum-secret-valentine-date. I made a To-Do list for my special coffee at canteen of my college.

Came the V-day and this is how my list read at 3:00 pm

-> Deodorant - Done
-> Combing- Done
-> Bath- Irrelevant. Deo already used. Done.
-> New clothes- Done
-> Shoes- Got it from roompartner- Done
-> Socks- Done. Hope the deo is as good as they claim it to be.
-> Gift-

Oh! I had forgotten. We are supposed to take a gift for her too. Even if it was one sided date, I need to have something. Something not too expensive but still good enough to win a heart.

Counter Strike CD- Nah!(I wish someone could have given me this on my V-day), Love song CD- Nah!(Too bold), Friends episodes-Nah! (I had started hating the word friend), Roses from garden- Totally ruled out, Book- geeky gift.

I settled on a safe gift- Chocolates. Bought the chocolates from daddu's shop. Secretively (so that no one notices me) and neatly packed in a red gift wrapper. I mumbled- "To my dear valentine"

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Reached the canteen at 3:30 p.m. Waved to my friends and prayed to God that they leave early. And God listened to me once.
"You coming? We are going for table-tennis"
"Nah! I'm not coming. You people enjoy"
"Waiting for someone?"
"You think any girl will agree to spend time with people like us on valentine day"
They became sad after realizing the harsh reality. With a sullen face they departed to play TT on valentine day.

Meanwhile I waited. Observed the love struck couples.

4:00 pm- Called. Phone switched off.
4:15 pm- Went to the lab to check out if she was there.
4:30 pm- Went to library.
5:00 pm- 10 rounds of coffee completed.
5:30 pm- Sleeping in canteen at the table I had occupied in the corner
6:00 pm- Sleeping
6:30 pm- Sleeping
7:00 pm- 20 rounds of coffee completed
7:30 pm- My friends arrive from playing TT. Sat with me at my special table.

Here I was spending my valentine day with a bunch of guys. My dreams had shattered. Meanwhle they discussed about valentine couples in canteen and new entries. And then I heard her name. They told me those people are sitting outside canteen from 1 hour. I darted out and found her there sitting with another guy having dinner.

It was the worst ever feeling. Felt like banging my head on the wall. I approached her and said- "Thanks for making my day". She tried to follow me and I could hear- "I'm sorry! Something urgent cropped up. Can we have coffee tomorrow?". I didn't stop. My eyes were filled with tears and shouted- "To hell with it"

Devastated, I walked back to my room. Momentarily stopped at the dustbin and gave a slam dunk to my red valentine gift. Stared blankly for few minutes at my gift lying in the garbage. And then walked back. Banged the door of my room and lied down on bed.

My room partner asked-"How was your valentine day?"
"I had lot of coffeee"
"Oh! good good. Who was your valentine?"
"The Dustbin"
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Later I found out that her reason was indeed genuine. She was in a major trouble at that moment and hence had her phone switced off. I acted like a stupid guy but come on, I was mad in love and to see your girl(ok..atlease one sided love affair girl) with someone else on valentine day is a genuine enough reason to get mad. And yeah! I did have my 21st coffee, this time with my valentine on post valentine day!

Short Story- The Last Breath

2009-12-30T20:05:00.016+05:30

He was lying on the road, blood oozing out of his punctured body. His mother had told him that people turn into stars after death and shine in our lives forever. He turned around in great pain to see the night sky, trying to figure out a place for him.

It was a lonely road when a speeding vehicle had hit him and ran away. He knew nobody would be coming to save him. He was thankful to God for these uninterrupted last few minutes in this world, as even if somebody comes to save him, that person would be just interrupting his precious time in a futile attempt to save him.

He was smiling. Smiling after a long long time. He tried to think of the last time when he was all alone. A tear dripped from his eye. For the first time in his life, he could admire how beautiful the stars were, how cool the air was and how good it felt to lie down in mud. On his deathbed, he felt like a child- no concerns about the world or future or ego. Images flashed in his mind. What had he achieved in his life? A regular job, an unhappy wife, disappointed parents and a huge bank balance. That's it? This is what he had lived for? He had made the banks and boss happy and his family unhappy. If he had a second chance, he would try to reverse the things. But this was what he thought whole life. He thought he'll do this in future and today, future ceased to exist.

He remembered his mom waking him up for his breakfast, dad running around to make an earning out of his mediocre shop- just to educate him. In return, when he grew up, he ignored their needs. He remembered his wife, who supported him in the lowest periods of his life. When whole world laughed at him, she was there to ease his pains. He missed her. He wished if she could be there to ease that pain too, albeit for the last time. And when he tasted success, he didn't make an effort to bring that beautiful smile on her face. He got too caught up with keeping his impression in minds of others, his company, his boss, his colleagues at office, his friends from college. He was so busy in wearing a mask, a different mask for different person, that he never got time to be his true self and to give happiness to people who were his life.

He thought of dinner today when his wife had told him that she was pregnant with a child. She was so excited, dreaming of having dinner with their daughter, sending her to school and so on. He had dismissed it as saying what was the big deal. That caused his wife to cry and he left her for a night walk figuring out how to finalize the marketing strategy of their new product. It was a big deal! He so wished to buy that blue frock he saw in the hypermarket today, he so wished to bring her a bridal doll, he so wished to see her daughter sleep in his lap or cut a chocolate cake for her birthday. Wishes, he realized were useless.

His breath became heavy. The stars started getting blurred. He wished he could say a Thank You to his parents. He wished he could say I love you once more to his wife, this time truly from heart.

He limbered to scribble the words on mud-

"Name her Princess"

Happy holidays

2009-12-27T17:54:00.008+05:30

Faced with eternal boredom and loneliness in these holidays, I'm spending my time by distorting facial features of random people. *Sigh* Holidays are so much fun!! :)

This is one of my masterpieces (I don't know who the person is!) As they say - "Empty mind is the Devil's workshop"

Oh! btw Happy New Year 2010...

Short Story- The perfect opening line

2009-12-19T18:44:00.018+05:30

"Coming for dinner?", Abhijeet asked.
I calculated my options- had skipped lunch for a movie and was damn hungry., But then image of mess food flashed in my mind and scared me. Both options were bad.
"Abe soch kya raha hai? Ph.D karega ispe? Chal raha hai?", Abhijeet said while lighting his cigarette. I wondered if it's better to have a smoke and watch few more episodes of friends. A virtual battle between my stomach and mind started and in the end I decided to die from food poisoning rather than from hunger.

"Haan chal aata hoon. Dinner se pehle bhi sutta?" I muttered.
"Abe sutte ka bhi time hota hai kya",came the reply. I nodded in agreement as we walked towards the battlefield.

The canteen was almost full. Everyone was excited,upbeat and I wondered what made them so ignorant to greenish-jelly like-messy-liquid infront of them. Probably they are stupid or too busy in flirting, I concluded.

After strangling few people to death, I finally bought the gold coin supposed to be the coupon for our full meal. I was standing in the line and thinking about the fortune of the mess owner - greesy food and such a line. I was tossing my gold coin coupon and waiting for the line to move when I heard a soft voice from behind- "Excuse me". I thought my mind was playing games with me - like people see a mirage, I was listening one. But then again I heard the same two words "Excuse me". I turned behind and a sort of lightning struck me. There was a beautiful girl standing by - the cutest I've ever seen in my life. I was blocking her way and promptly got in side to give her way.

"Kya hua bhai! Hosh mein hai?", Abhijeet asked.
"Nahin...abhi to nahin...hehe...Saw that girl?", I asked
"Haan, kyon tu janta hai use?" asking curiously, as we were the most useless people in college, according to girls of our batch, and we used to stay away from our female batchmates(or it was the vice-versa).
"Nahin..abhi to nahin janta. Par one day I'm going to marry her" I don't know what prompted me to say these words, but I was so in love at first sight and I was so sure about my statement.
This statement of mine erupted a roar of laugher, not only from Abhijeet but all my batchmates standing in queue.
"Bhaiya khana lena hai ya apni shaadi mein hi khaoge ab", even the mess serving guy was taking a dig at me.
"Shaadi mein to khaoonga hi aur tujhe bhi khilaaonga ki bakwas na kare tu", I retorted back angrily.

As soon as we moved to occupy a seat, Abhijeet pointed at her and said to me " Lagta hai teri wife ka boyfriend hai." There she was siting with a guy, laughing. I should admit that her smile had almost got me killed. Maybe I had made the record of shortest heart break . "Bhool ja ye sab. Khana kha jaldi warna fir daddu ki shop band ho jayegi. Sutta reh jayega mera", Abhijeet complained - cigarette was the love of his life. Somehow for first time in my college life, I found the canteen food tasty. I concentrated on my food, finished it in 5 minutes straight and ran out of the canteen.

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It was a heartburn and I decided not to give up. I tried to go for round everyday and on context of evening walk followed her everywhere till I deciphered her minute to minute details of schedule.

I tried to figure out a plan to talk to her-

"Lecture theater" - morning - nah...LT kaun jata hai...
"Canteen" - nah...wahan pe uske sab gujju friends hote hain (I had also managed to decipher that she was gujarati by following her on evening walks and overhearing her)
"Evening walk"- nah..wahan pe uska "Bhai" hota hai saath mein...
"Library" at night - raat mein kaun padta hai yaar..infact log padte hi kyon hai college mein..i sighed...guess i don't have an option....

"Kahan ja raha hai", Abhijeet asked, once again lighting a sutta.
I wondered how much he used to spend on matchsticks, leave alone the cigarette.
"Library"- I answered harmlessly.
"What?" Abhijeet shouted in a shock, almost spitting his cig out. "Fir se bol?"
"Library." I said with emphasis on the word. "Hum padhne ke liye aaye hain college. Padhne ja raha hoon. Ismein aise pretend karne ki kya baat hai" I retorted and started moving out as soon as possible before he can get a clue of my actual reasons.

I sat in the corner of library and avoiding looks of padhaku students of batch. I almost felt guilty of encroaching their space. After shuffling through pages of my books, I brought a magazine from shelf and started reading when she entered and sat diagonally opposite to me. I went to the shelf of humanities books (which was right next to her seat) some hundred times in next three hourse on pretext of searching for a book. Even Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology and other monstrous words engraved on the books in the shelf couldn't deter me from coming yet another time to the same shelf.

After 3 hours of staring at love of my life, I noticed that she was left handed. She looked confused while reading and the more she read, more confused she looked. She had a black wrist watch, white sandals 4 pens, 2 pencils and 1 eraser(I realized I was looking at stationery items after really a long time- I thought they were extinct!)

"How do I talk to her? I need to think of a perfect opening statement" I muttered to myself.

I'll wait for her to leave. As we get out of library, I'll call her. I would introduce myself and say I think you look pretty. She will smile and we would get talking and then I would get a red rose and propose. After she says yes, I'll go to her parents and say in bollywood style- "main aapki ladki ka haath mangne aaya hoon" Lost in my dreams I didn't realize the chair that was diagonally opposite to me was empty.

"Sapne mein shaadi hogi ab meri",I said kicking to myself, running out of library. I saw her on way to girls hostel and seeing me running in her direction, she got a little scared and started walking faster.

"No,no,no. I'm not a bad person. I've screwed it up. Now she thinks I'm a stalker(which in some sense I was). How do I say I have no intentions to hurt".
She gave me a cold look which warned me not to follow her. But as blind in love as I was, she seemed more beautiful than ever.

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That's when the hero of my life, one person(or rather creature) I'll be ever grateful to appeared. A dog came in her way and she got scared. She freezed at the place The dog freezed too, maybe trying to figure out what had he done. In the confusion, I entered and shooed the dog away(I could hear myself whispering to the dog- "Sorry dude! Thanks" with a salute).

"Are you scared of dogs?" I muttered, I kicked myself for forgetting all my planned lines and style. What a dumb opening statement to make to a girl.
"Yes I am. Thanks for help. I would have fainted if you would not have saved me" she said.
"Saved you!hell yeah!I so risked my life to save my princess", I wanted to say....
"I'll keep meeting you", she said with her beautiful smile and disappeared in the dark.

I tried to find the dog to thank him but he was nowhere to be seen. I turned back and reach my room. Abhijit was watching a movie and searching for his matchbox.
"Ho aaya library? Ye din to tu bhulega nahin jindagi mein kabhi...Landmark event hai tere liye library jana.."
"haan yaar...it was the best day ever in my life" I said lying down on my bed. Abhijeet saw me in disbelief and shock for next two minutes straight. Maybe he thought my mind was not functioning properly after being exposed to harmful radiations of library and would become normal by next morning.

But that was the day my life changed. Also I discovered that it's pretty tough to execute a good opening line - especially if the girl is as beautiful as her.

Obama's Nobel Prize Speech

2009-10-13T20:47:00.009+05:30

Our own superhero Stickman was recently in White House to rescue Mrs. Obama's cat stuck on tree (since throwing stones by Mr. Obama was not helping...duhh..so much of a basktball player). with a stroke of luck, he got hold of rough draft of Mr. Obama's speech for Nobel peace prize thrown in the garabge...Here are the excerpts of highly secretive and sensational document...

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Ladies and gentleman,
I stand before you and gladly accept the Nuclear Race...ahhh...no...Nobel Peace Prize. What if we lost in Olympics despite of all my marketing skills. Afterall I'm the president of US and a little arm twist can help me to maintain my TRP and popularity ratings. Now now, before you all start jumping, ask yourself, have you not used some influence at some point of time. If not, then that's why you are not the president of your country. If yes, damn..you seriously used it at some wrong place.

Anyways, ya I do deserve this price. I have reduced the number of bombings in Afghanistan from 10 per hour to 9.5 per hour. No you idiot, we don't throw half bomb every hour. We throw 1 bomb less every two hours. So, I was saying, yeah..we got installed a new laundry service in guantanamo bay bay (see Guantanamo bay bay sounds mouch more peaceful than it's old name), so that the prisoners can atleast wear clean underwears after getting whipped. What a shame it was! Not to even have clean undergarments. Now they are better off than atleast half the population of India.

We have funded Pakistan, so that they can make peaceful bombs. The bombs they use now disturbed the sleep of little poor hungry children. How insensitive was that on part of my predecessors. These brand new peaceful bombs are revolution,I say. These cute bombs don't make a noise while blasting. Now it will be a silent bomb. *Boom*(Note: remember to speak this very slowly) and you're dead. No noise pollution. (See we are also reducing pollution.)

And don't get me started on South America and Israel. I have given a 1000 promises. You think that's less than monumental or historical. Remember my speech in Cairo! We need to end cycle of suspicion and terror. We now plainly deny visa for muslims rather than stripping them on airports. That's a hope to start with.

I might not have some or rather any glistering achievements on my resume now, but then at least I tried. I tried to make this world a liveable place. Obviously I had to act as shocked or else how would have I appeared as humble and noble person you morons. But I stand before you to achieve this prestigious award. Now all our missile and bombs will have photo of this coveted prize on them. See I got brand new thousands of messengers of peace. This will also help us spread the values that this prize stands for. After all, not only we bomb all the parts of earth, we bomb the moon too. So you see, this message will be spread not only on all parts of earth but also moon. And you dumb people thought I didn't deserve this prize in first place.

All I can say is blahhhhh.....Let peace be bestowed upon this earth. Remember death alone can bring the ultimate peace. I am looking for permanent solutions and not temporary patch ups.

Yes, we can!

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Rio muppets

2009-10-11T23:10:00.005+05:30

Check out the muppets(for definition of muppets check out the link)

Stumbled upon this video. From my limited search, found that it's a video from an old episode(The Muppet Show). Also it was used as a part of presentation by Rio for olympic's presentation.
No doubt they won!

omg...I'm just humming this tune now..it's real addictive...
cool penguins...lizards...ahhhh...i love this video...

I go to rio..lala...i go to rio....

lyrics-

When my baby
When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio
De Janeiro,
My-oh-me-oh
I go wild and then I have to do the Samba
And La Bamba
Now I'm not the kind of person
With a passionate persuasion for dancin'
Or roma-ancin'
But I give in to the rhythm
And my feet follow the beatin' of my hear-eart

Woh-ho-oh-oh, when my baby
When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio
De Janeiro
I'm a Salsa fellow
When my baby smiles at me
The sun'll lightens up my li-ife
And I am free at last, what a blast

Woh-ho-oh-oh, when my baby
When my baby smiles at me
I feel like Tarzan, of the Jungle
There on the hot sand
And in a bungalow while monkeys play above-a,
We-ee make love-a
Now I'm not the type to let vibrations (Rio...)
Trigger my imagination easily (Rio...)
You know that's just not me
But I turn into a tiger (Rio...)
Everytime I get beside the - one I love (Rio...)
Woh, oh, woh, woh-oh..., (Rio... - Rio...)
Yeah Ugh - (Rio...) - Ugh

Woh-ho-oh-oh, when my ba-a-aby (when my baby)
When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio (Rio...)
De Janeiro
I'm a Salsa fellow-ow
When my baby smiles at me
The sun'll lightens u-up my li-ife
And I am free at last, what a blast

When my baby (when my baby)
When my baby smiles at me I go to Rio (Rio...)
That's when I go to Rio (Rio)
Rio - Rio De Janeir-eiro
Rio...., Rio...., Rio....

Lost - in Calcutta and in life

2009-09-30T21:59:00.010+05:30

Bold black alphabets against yellow background of rock at the platform read- Calcutta.

It felt like this rock was only thing stationary in my vicinity. Everything else was moving, rather bumping into each other. The whole place was in utter confusion. Somehow I managed to locate my uncle in swarm of people.

I was on a short trip of my dream city. But the dreams seem to fade in the utter confusion and chaos.

Mamaji, gaadi kahan hai?
Bas besta, saamne hi hai. We can drive inside the platform to park our cars close to the bogey. (You need to be there to understand it).

Anyways, the car was just infront and I thanked God for saving me some millions of pushes and stepovers on my foot. We drove, rather slowly moved ahead to the main road. The traffic was overwhelming. Everyone wanted to go everywhere.

There were black colored cabs, new swanky cars, old ambassadors, trams, autos, handrickshaws, scooters, bikes and not to forget poor old pedestrians who were trying to figure a way out of the puzzle created by vehicles. Suddenly loud bong accent voice started coming from some distance. I tried to take a sneak peak to realized that a car tried to smart it's way infront of tram and created a deadlock.

Whole area was brought to a standstill, save the pedestrians. Honks and screams were only thing that indicated the city was alive. And then it started raining.

Oh great! What could be worse in life than being stuck in a stupid traffic jam! We need few helicopters to air lift us!

I closed the window of car partially because of the rain and partially because it was stinking like hell. There was a huge pile of leftovers of food, probably remains of a night party, thrown on the footpath next to us. It was stinking like hell and I prayed to God to atleast move our car few metres ahead so that I'm saved of this torture.

Kaise log hai yahaan! Kahin bhi khana fenk dete hain! Ise to janwar kya bacteria bhi nahin khayenge!

I was cursing my luck when I saw a beggar approaching the pile. He squatted next to the pile. And then my vision faded because of the water on glass. It seems like world was melting and images were getting distorted. I saw some activity from the beggar but it was too unclear to determine what he was doing sitting there. Out of curiosity, I opened the window.

Beta bheeg jaaoge. Khidki band kar lo!
Bas mamaji, 5 min thoda hawa kha loon!

What I saw next, changed my entire life. I saw the beggar merrily eating rice and daal from the huge pile. It seemed like a feast to him and he was gulping down handful of the pale yellow mixture. The same leftover that was painful for me to even see or smell, to somebody else it was a lucky meal. I took out my head of the car so as not to vomit in the car. I vomited not only the food, but my preconceived notions, my sense of misery. I realized how lucky I was to be sitting inside this stupid car stuck in the stupid traffic rather than being outside.

Kya hua beta! Theek ho na!
Nahin mamaji! Bas wo thoda journey ki wajah se....

I closed my car window hastily and allowed the world to melt infront of my eyes. It was a pure bliss to live in my virtual world with meaningless problems. I wished I could do something, but like a coward, I felt comfortable in my small little world. I was so happy in my small-little-problems-of-life.

Chalo beta! Traffic khul gaya. Ghar chalte hain! Ache se khana khayenge!

Still, a dent in my wall had been made. The world really melted and distorted for me that day. I was lost in the streets of Calcutta and in the realities of life.

Dhan te nan!

2009-09-01T02:26:00.004+05:30

Dhan te nan..te nan..te nan..
Dhan te nan..te nan..te nan..

I didn't like the new version of the song...accidentally stumbled upon the old version of song....it's mindblowing! Simple song..Great effect!

Enjoy the song..till then..dhan te nan!

Agnostibus

2009-08-23T17:07:00.003+05:30

Many times, I wonder if God exists? What makes us alive? What happens when a person die? A moment before- he was alive, moving, breathing..and next moment..*spoof*..he is as good as a stone. And each time, I have found no answer. I just end up sleeping while thinking about this topic.

But yesterday, I read about "Atheist Bus Campaign" -

Though this campaign "claims" to be peaceful and in tune with humanity, I would like to admit two things that came to my mind when I saw this poster and bus advertisement. Firstly, it's damn creative. Using buses to market your idea is nothing new. But the idea and exact wordings of campaign has got to catch lot of attention, given it's potential to create controversy and hence more marketing. Secondly, the advertisement is damn rude! It seems like(at least to me) it's saying- No God exists morons! Get back to work! No claims, no reason, no request, no views..nothing. Just because they say, it ought to be true! Who says that person has worries and unhappiness in life just cause of God or just because he is not sure if there is God? Even if I agree to their point, what will make me happy? Now I'm not a very religious person, but still I'm searching for an answer for the question and would not buy some logic blindly, just cause it's marketed colorfully.

But as expected, Red bus campaign( the buses used in campaigns are called- Agnostibus - now that's creative!) has created a lot of stir and has been really successful. Successful means damn damn successful.

I'd say- "Who cares God exist or not? Get a sound sleep."

Short story- Constellation

2009-08-04T00:57:00.007+05:30

Title - Constellation
---------------------------
It was a cold clear night. The sky was full of stars and it was possible to make a constellation of your own- any shape you want, any size you want. She looked up. Look - it's a bird. We'll call it Birdie constellation. He looked up. Yeah! a duck! Why not duckie? He then looked to his right and saw her face shining bright in the night. Look there is a dog. hmmm..that can be a teddy...that is a pirate boat, with a flag, sailing in ocean of light. He was not interested. Rather he was so captivated that it did not occur to him to look at the sky. Yeah! was his only response each time. He just kept staring at her beautiful face glittered by moonlight. Who the heck needed stars?

She had a broad smile. She was lost in her own world of stars, drawing meaning out of unmenaingful things. He was staring at her, again lost in his own world, trying to draw unmeaning out of(trying to distance himself from) all the meaningful things.

It was like world paused except for the gentle wind.

Then she turned to him. He started looking up, just in time so that she didn't notice. She said with a teasing smile - What? You think I'm stupid trying to make shapes when none exists. Nah! I don't think so. And who am I to comment. After all aren't we all trying to derive some meaning, some shape out of our lives when probably none exists. Why are you so pesimistic? Can't you appreciate the beauty? Why you have to make simple things so complex? I'm trying to make a complex thing more simple - our lives are meaningless. My life had only one meaning - and that meaning will soon cease to exist. Now I wonder, if that was a meaning to start with? She didn't understand what he was trying to say. Even he didn't understand what he was trying to say. It was clear night and their paths were lit infront of them, albeit two different paths. He didn't understand why they had to take different paths.

She said to him - Goodbye dear! Take good care of yourself. Will you meet me sometime? She looked up and said - Let the stars decide!

A tear trickled down from his eyes. He looked up. He saw a cruel-smiling-face-constellation.
-------------------------------

edit: on orders from my special one..high command...
This is a story inspired from my real life with ending change...in real life..we share one common path :D

Dreams unlimited..

2009-07-23T19:36:00.001+05:30

There are times when we have doubts about self. Times when others have doubts about us.
There's a thin line between confidence and over confidence and even a thinner line between courage and stupidity. How does Mr. Stickman decide that on which side of line he is?

P.S. -How stupid is this drawing thing? Should I continue? Please let me know...

Sadistic Pleasures..

2009-07-23T00:04:00.000+05:30

(Image source: http://thememoryofrain.blogspot.com/)

It's been raining daily here. I love watching the rain. But strangely it introduces a feeling of sadness and loneliness. Rain is like a sadistic pleasure to me!

Well anyways, things are going weird at my end. I am feeling tired and worn out these days. Only positive is I meet loads of crazy people here. Sadistic fun!

This is a conversation with one of the placement officers of a "self-proclaimed" best college in Hubli-

--------------------------------------------------------
PO:Hello Mr. XYZ(while reading my profile). If you don't mind, I can see you've worked in ABC company(a software company in Bangalore). What you're doing here?
Me: (Even I don't know what I'm doing. Some days, I wake up and struggle to remember where am I and how the hell I reached here.) Ma'am, it's not just about brand name. It's kind of work profile that matters to me.

PO:(confused) You're passout of Dhirubhai Ambani college. Do you know about their school in mumbai? How good it is?
Me: (What? Seriously what?) No ma'am. But my guess is that it would be good.(Why is she taking my interview?)

PO: Oh..you've scored 99.3 percentage in Maths in CAT. Where did you loose 0.7 marks?(laughing as if trying to make a joke)
Me: (Shocked! Who made her a placement officer?) Ma'am it's not percentage. I've mentioned too. It's percentile.

PO: Oh..so you want to give a presentation on MBA. Why is this MBA in demand these days? I mean I'm not able to figure out why everyone in corporate is shouting MBA MBA? What do they teach in 2 years?
Me:(Lady you are the placement officer! Somebody get me out of here! Who hired her?) (Was about to say something but interrupted...)

PO: Oh you know I'm really interested in Maths. Do you teach shortcuts? Can you please teach me a few shortcuts in Maths?
Me:(My brain couldn't bear more shocks..I give up) Yes ma'am. Gave few questions and explained how to solve it using options. (Took me 20 minutes to explain one question and 15 minutes for next one.)

PO: Oh! I forgot? What were you here for?
Me: (Seeing a pencil stand infront of her and remembering the scene of The Dark Knight where joker appears for the first time - does the magic of disappearing the pencil) Ma'am I wanted to have a workshop in your college.

PO: Oh yeah yeah...You see we've really good students here (wanted to add - and a great PO too). They'll surely benefit from you. Do you have any present batches for CAT going on?
Me: Yes ma'am. Two batches having 10 students(lied. In reality - 0 students)

PO: What? Only 20 students? Why only 20?
Me: (Get me out! SOS! I'm dialing for ambulance..) Ma'am we've just started. We're trying to create an awareness so that more students can benefit from us.

PO: Ok. I'll try to see if we can work out a seminar from you guys. Thanks for maths problems.
Me:(exhausted) Thanks ma'am

---------------------------------------------

Exhausted after an hour of torture...

If wishes come true...

2009-07-18T22:58:00.001+05:30

What if all wishes do come true? Would it make the world more happy? or more sad?
How many times have we blamed God, luck, almighty(or whatever we call him/her/it) when our dreams come crashing down? But then, when we fight back and taste the sweet success, that makes the journey memorable.

Failures adds spice to the life curry!
And if you really believe in your dream- Fight back!

Rise of the Stickman!

2009-07-18T22:09:00.000+05:30

Well meet a new crappy (infact crappiest of all) superhero THE STICKMAN !He could be me, he could be you, he could be any
one amongst us! After all, aren't we all superheros in some sense!

What I learnt in last one month!

2009-07-13T22:49:00.000+05:30

So am into marketing these days! There have been a lot of transformations - from bangalore(a big city) to hubli(a small city), IT to marketing, being with friends to being lonely all the time.

I have started drawing(something like the way Matt is to dancing - read last post for more details). Will update scanned pictures sometime soon.

Anyways what I've learnt in one month is-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) In education sector single biggest factor is TRUST. People will not look at money, location of classes, infrastructure, blah blah if you've brand name. And the single biggest challenge for a new coaching is to build a brand name.

2) That brings me to the next point. I've tried all means possible for marketing of MBA coaching here. Posters, Flier distribution, Newspaper Advertisement, Newspaper insertion, Room insertion. But the best way of marketing is "Word of mouth" marketing. Nothing beats that. And the best part is it's absolutely free. But as we say there is no free lunch in the world. It's free when the financial aspect is concerned but it's really tough to achieve. If students are not happy with your classes, whole city will get to know that very soon. If students are really happy, only there few friends will come to know that. So then their few friends will join and then their juniors and hence starts a slow chain reaction.It's easy to spend money on other form of advertisement but to earn RESPECT, you need to work real hard.

3) Local players are a big pain. They've been dominating the market for long and provide courses dirt cheap. And since they've the bulk of students, obviously they've best ranks of city too. Who cares then if only 40 out of 4000 students get selected. Plus they've had solid contacts and a huge system/network in place to suck in the students to their camp.

4) That brings me to the next important aspect- Jugaad or Links. It works really fine here. You need to know a relative of placement officer or principal or a member of director. Else you're welcome to spend a lot of time with the office peon or with stray dog outside the office.

5) Marketing in academic world can be subdivided in 3 parts- Pre, On and Post marketing. Pre marketing- activities before students join in. On - activities when student enters the coaching - posters, counseling or as simple as asking for a glass of water. Post- follow up of queries and updating about info like new batches. Once he registers, taking care that he feels good(student won't tell you he is satisfied but would certainly tell that to others outside). Also once the batch is complete, following up makes him feel important and reflects genuine concern.

6) Coming up with right plan at right moment is a must. or else bite the dust!

7) MUTUAL RESPECT is one of the key ingredients. Further keep exploring the opportunities. For example I studied the market and realized all the queries of test series were coming from outside hubli. Maximum of these were from Jindal Steel Plant from Bellary and we decided to become more aggressive in marketing there. To our surprise, there were people from BITS Pilani, NIT's and possibly IIT's but we never had cared to look out of the well in the past.

8) The strategy should be to go for kill. My final aim is to have a tie up with big institutions and colleges. If this is achieved, we can target our potential customers at one place, saving our time and energy and hence money. Newspaper advertisment is good for catering to a distributed group of customers in city, hoardings are good for big brands but for a coaching, nothing works better than a workshop or seminar!

9) Market segmentation is important. In the starting we were trying to market CAT class room course,test series and PGCET(local mba) everywhere without giving a thought. It was complete waste of money. What we realized after studying the queries were that Engg students were more inclined to CAT, BBA and BCA students for PGCET and people in companies like JSW(outside hubli) preferred test series. As it can be gazed from the fact that we didn't get a single positive response after messaging to 3000 students and 4000 flier distribution, regarding test series, outside biggest college of Hubli for continuous 4 days

10) Just like language changes from region to region, Marketing strategies change from region to region(infact from city to city). Something that worked so smoothly in Bangalore, I realized was recipe for big disaster in Hubli. The major reasons I figured were lack of awareness and exposure. In Bangalore a person sees himself competing with thousands of other and he also sees big software and other firms. This mixture of fight + hopes is a priced combination for coaching. In general motivation level and fighting spirit of students is low in Hubli. Few who are really good don't know that they're good enough.

11) TV advertisements do work! To my horror, everyone knows about TIME coaching here even though their is no TIME in hubli. But nobody knows CL even after all this. Reason- advertisement on television.

12) It's just not about meeting the targets. If you think short term, you may meet target for this month but will certainly fall short in next month. It's about thinking long term. Having a plan and backup plan and backup backup plan in place. Identifying the right set of people. Identifying the right time. For example, colleges will start in august but I've to start my preprations in july. Meeting key people, fixing time, finalising details take time. If I start in august, it'll be not be till September that I'll get permission to interact with students. So it has to be well planned. Another example would be - CAT going online. CL was genuinely prepared for the changes in CAT whereas I feel TIME was caught unaware as it considered itself to be the undisputed market leader. But changes in market scenario turned the tables around and CL was able to gain majority of junta whereas TIME is still struggling to conduct it's free mock test and finalize the schedule yet. Complacence is a crime!

13) How you position yourself in the market is important. Saving brand dilution may cost money but then saving some money sometimes lead to loss of huge revenues in future. So having a Vision is critical.

14) Last but not the least, you should genuinely believe in the product you are marketing. If you're not convinced then it's not possible to convince others.

------------------------------------------------------

Enough gyaan for the day!

Dancing Matt (Visa card guy)

2009-06-14T02:22:00.002+05:30

I thought I was the worst dancer I've ever seen. But that was when I had not heard about Matt Harding. And heck, he is famous for that!
I hope you've seen Visa Card Travel ad(Link) with beautiful music and a guy dancing(or whatever you call that thing!) at different locations.

It's the best ad I've ever seen. But never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that the guy had a history of dancing all over the world and was quite famous. I mean the guy dances like hell. That reminds me, he has his official website too - http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

Check out the videos section and his experiences in the blog in his official website.

But coming to a bigger point,- Why the hell did Visa took Matt in his ad?

That's a fairly simple question. Matt has been dancing all over the world now and dance is a unifying language in the world. He organizes events or simply in an unorganized manner starts dancing and people just join him. Visa wants to draw a parallel here. Just as Matt's dance is unifying language, Visa has been a unifying currency.

Great find and great concept.

I still don't know who developed the background music of the ad, but the ad has been created by BBDO(source).

Well waiting forward for Matt's book to be published soon.

Till then, Where the Hell is Matt?

P.S. Getting famous and travelling the world for dancing like that! Cool!

P.P.S. - I'm using 'hell' a lot after visiting Matt's homepage. :D

P.P.P.S - enjoy this-

Short story - Insane sanity

2009-06-12T17:39:00.002+05:30

(Thanks for the superb image to "The Revig".
source: http://theyareamongus.blogspot.com/2007/03/12insanity.html)

-------------------------
Title: Insane Sanity

Pizza....
Walking on a road, he watched the big billboards of a Pizza outlet. The larger than life pictures of Pizza with streaks of yummy cheese and toppings of paneer, capsicum, corn, mushroom and olives made his hands reach to his stomach. He had to bend down like a soldier who got hit by a bullet in his chest in a war. Was it a mirage? He wished to rush inside, jump on a pizza and spend his last few bucks left.

After getting few strange looks by the passerby, he took control of himself. He tried to look at himself in an imaginary mirror, which he visualized was in front of him. Sunlight-burnt-uncombed hair, face covered with dust, a tie that seemed critically ill after facing harsh weather, shirt that was perfect to be a demo for detergent ads and shoes that were about to loose battle of life after being kicked hard against the wall after each interview. How hard had he tried?

Things were better before. He had been selected by one of the biggest software companies. Great salary, swanky office and people respected him because of the big tag of ABC corporation tattooed on his head. All people except one. He didn't respect himself. That's when the problems started. He saw himself as the CEO of a company. A guy who dreamt of how will he handle the mergers and acquisitions of such a big organization. But those were dreams and completely out of sync with reality. His work was menial, boring, repetitive and provided no chance of growth.

He decided to tune in realities with his dreams rather than vice-versa. One fine day he resigned from company. He had belief in himself. He would join a small organization rise to top and switch to a big organization and handle critical resource. He didn't even care about his friends who branded him as everything from a dreamer to an idiot. It didn't matter.

But then realities don't care whether you cared about them. Reality was no body wanted him. And here he was roaming from street to street, office to office for a job. Once a visit to pizza shop had been weekly affair where he never cared about the price tag and now even the guard was about to shoo him away from the same shop.

Things became hopeless.
-----------------------------------------

He was after all good! Finally after great pains, he had landed in his dream job. He was good in studies and his new role involved teaching maths and marketing of the coaching. Two things he dreamt to do! Maths was something he excelled and marketing something he wanted to excel in.

He thought that he was having fun. Atleast that was what he thought. He had a great team who had soon become his friends. Work was good. Students were less but still good enough in number to keep him busy. He earned salary and more important respect in eyes of his students. He had also become friend with the counselor there. She was a nice girl, of the same age. She had major economic problems that had forced her to quit her studies and search for a job. She was little reserved, introvert but knowledgeable. He was happy that he was finally having a good job with good people around after all.

But one call changed everything.

"Tring Tring...Who cares she is good! She is not good looking! Fire her! Find someone whom students find attractive and who is extrovert! Kick her out! For the God's sake, you are running my center with my money. How can I be paying for such idiots! Go and tell her not to bother coming here from tomorrow. We'll settle the dues later..Beep...Beep...".

For two minuted he stood motionless trying to figure out the meaning of the words. In the middle of the converstaion, his mind had fazed. His own past picture, the one he saw in the invisible mirror, appeared before him. And yet he had no family to take care of. What would the poor girl do? He planned to start running from the place and keep running till his body could run. But soon sanity returned, only to make him more insane. He knew what it meant to be jobless and giving the same treatment to other, that too his friend, was unimaginable. He decided to take a walk. He saw laborers, beggars, rickshaw pullers. Am I responsible for everyone? Is it my mistake? Am I not a professional? Why does it matter after all? I've fought so hard for a job and why to ruin it for a stranger? He shook his head hard. No, no. What is he thinking? When did he became so mean, so selfish. His mood had switched from confusion to feeling helpless to careless,mean to finally feeling guilty. What had made him so bad(wanted a word worse than bad but his mind was not working at the moment)?

What should he do? Damn reality, he thought. He remembered Calvin's statement - " Reality continues to ruin my life". He could not have agreed more. He decided to take the situation head on. He will go now to her cabin and ask her to leave at this moment. He would be the devil but then wasn't God the real culprit, who forced him in this situation, assuming there was something/someone called as God. If he was there, why in the world he created poverty, sadness, selfishness or misery creatures like the girl and himself. He shunned the thoughts. No use of escaping. He stood outside her cabin for two minutes, looking at the floor. Then he looked at the door and smiled. His thoughts had become crystal clear now. He kicked in air to break the imaginary mirror he had created for himself. He had transformed. He knocked and entered the door.

Things became hopeless.

Short story- "That way"

2009-06-09T23:19:00.001+05:30

well not truly a short story..but still my first hopeless attempt at writing one...
Title- "That way"
-------------------------------------------------------------------

It is a cold winter morning. Woke up early. Everything outside seemed lifeless. I rubbed my hands to feel them. I tried to recall what was going on in my life. Seemed like remembering a bad dream.

I had a sort of good habit of going to a long sleep(you may call it hibernation) when things start going wrong and I find myself clueless. Yeah! I had decided I will ponder over it at morning tea. Ah! The mind seems so fresh now! How I survived yesterday? Anyways, what exactly was my problem? Let me remember...

Oh yeah! Wondering whether I made the right choice...

I had spent my last year cramming up vocab from Barron's and even had to pay a fortune for that torture. World seemed to be all "sunrise yellow" the day when I aced GRE. How painfully I had shortlisted the univs, brought those green color packets with my Statement of Purpose! Haha...What a piece of shameless self-appreciation that was! I dreamt about snow falls, chilly winter mornings, hamburgers, crisp dollars, Swarm Intelligence, New York. But then heart break started. Reject after reject till I forgot the count. Last count was 9 rejects, latest being University of New Jersey, my safe bet.

But the day finally arrived. I had casually forgotten about my application to Denmark University. How happy I was. I ran from my hostel to girls hostel to call her. It was early Sunday morning and even the stray dog of my college was rusty. Tring Tring! Hello...Abhishek here...I got one more reject *sob*..Where are you? Below your hostel..Wait I'm coming...Beep...Beep.. I planned to give her a big shock. She arrived. I wondered if I was happy at that moment because of the convert or because I saw her. Oh! I'm so sorry...You see it's not end of life...No..It's not the end...It's the beginning...I'm going to Denmark! What..You just said...Nah...was kidding...Oh my God! I'm so happy for you...Congrats...Hi5.... I don't know why but she was not happy. It felt like she was pretending to smile. I thought to myself is she jealous? nah! Maybe she was going to loose one of her good friends. Maybe some girlie stuff.

Friends! Yeah my problem is that. I don't want to remain just a friend! How hard I tried to convince her to say yes to me! But she remains defiant. We'll be good friends. That's it! Why? Why not marry me? I don't feel that way. That way? How in the world am I supposed to know what that way is? Would some lightning strike on you some day and it would dawn upon you that you love me? I know you love me...No...I don't feel that way about you...Again "That way"?? I was fed up of my feelings. Wish I could take them and throw in the dustbin which I was using as an ashtray.

What I'm supposed to do? If I leave for Denmark it would mean absolutely no contact with her. If I don't, I feel like a worthless friend who doesn't know when "That way" arrives or doesn' t arrive at all. I smoked and kept smoking till I realized Earth does go round and fell into hibernation.

I didn't see her after announcing her my admit. I boarded the plane, arrived to Copenhagen. Got a part time job at a small software firm near by, watched aimlessly at the snow falling from the sky. The world had suddenly turned "melancholy blue". It was when my phone rang...Tring! Tring! Abhishek...How are you? I'm fine...I'm really glad to hear from you, my angel...Abhishek I've told you na...Ya ya...I know...."That way" stuff...Listen I've a good news to share with you...I'm getting engaged....What! The world turned upside down for me. Somehow I gathered my strength and muttered the words...Congrats! What a great news! But let me tell you one thing...You won't be able to find a guy who loves you as much as me...Also who is as weird as me...Tried to make a futile attempt of making it sound as a joke with tears in my eyes...I know...*sob*...But then you had all those dreams of going abroad...Who am I to break them...And you know I'm only child of my parents who have done everything for me...Can I not sacrifice something for them....I wish you could have stayed back...I lo ......Oh am sorry! I should not say this...Now this is not right....Take care...Bye...Beep...Beep

What? I tried to call again but phone was switched off. Tried again. Spent my whole night trying the same number. But the same message. Switched off. Ran to get a new pack of cigarette. But no new message yet again. That's when I passed out.

Oh, the tea is ready. Where is my smoke? Yeah, found it. I never knew I would have to pay such a heavy price for the option I choose. I never thought that sometimes your intuition is damn right. I should have realized she loved me. "That way" was always there. I wish I could just run back. Let me check if there is any train to Bangalore. Man! I forgot I'm out of India. It's the snow fall that I had always wished to see...It's the hamburger...the swarm intelligence research paper I'm working on...not quiet New York but still exploring Copenhagen...Now I would like to give up all this any day for the second option....

The world seems a little different today...It seems like turning into "hopeless black"........

------------------------------------------------------------------

Dil Chahta hai!

2009-05-20T03:51:00.000+05:30

.
Oh yeah..Let's flow the senti stuff...
Whenever I read senti mails/blogs...

My first impression before reading is-
kya bak hai?

But then after I'm through...
Secretly I might admire the post but I give a look like -
kya bak hai?

It's your shining eyes

that makes me go crazy...

Your sweet smile

that makes me forget our pains...

When I hold your hands,

it's the softness I feel that comforts me....

Your priceless tear, your mischievous expressions...

Your belief in me...

Your complaints -

aaj phir handkerchief nahin laye?

aaj phir shave nahin banayi?

aaj phir bathroom slippers?

makes me wonder....

How I survived without you

before you were there in my life?

The fights we had....

The times we had cried together

and ended up laughing together....

The times we sat aimlessly in the park...

The times our dreams crashed

and you supported me to fight for them again....

When you say Goodmorning...

feels my day started with a dream...

and Goodnight-

starts another sweet dream....

You bring sanity in this insane or

insanity in this sane....

I know I don't need to say...

as You would've already read my mind and heart...

But then these words are all I have -

THANK YOU!

kya bak hai yaar?

;)

Why KGBC?

2009-05-20T02:05:00.000+05:30

What a weird name to choose? KGBC?

I selected this simply because others in my mind were not available :P...

Few of the names i had tried were -
1) The Hated Agnostic ( my last blog....wanted to start afresh...)
2) Sanity of the Insane
3) Hopeless Hopes

Then I thought(yeah I sometimes think!) about the things and people who have had maximum impact on me....Then a brilliant(or not so brilliant :)) idea came to my mind...

Why not dedicate this blog to cities that have had maximum impact on me....
I was born and brought up in Kanpur(U.P.)...
My college (ahhh...the college days) was in Gandhinagar (Gujarat)...
I am currently in Bangalore (Karnataka)...or wait...Bengaluru...
And my future dreams are buried (rather standing erect) in Calcutta....(no Kolkatta because IIM-C still uses Calcutta :D...

This is a totally random blog...even I don't have an idea what I'll be writing about...
It would be a blog that would make an attempt to be humorous but will surely fail in doing so...
It would be a blog that would try to make you think about realities of life but will surely look more like a place where I sulk and sound like a frustrated looser...
It would be a blog that would try to make me sound like a genius who knows all about world but will surely end up as a laughing stock for readers (was I wrong in humour part! hmmm...)..

In short this blog would be totally waste of time....
shoo...stop reading here...
(okay....I want this blog to be famous! :D )

Hail Jokaland! Here I come..........(IIM-C is situated in Joka)