My Manly Blue Umbrella

Dear reader,

Here I am, sitting in an air-conditioned room during the half-time break of two EURO matches, the first chance since its inaugration i have the chance to view in totalilty, at my cousins house in andheri. The journey to this chair and the keyboard of his laptop has been far FAR more complicated. To put it very simply, this has been my schedule since i left for Mumbai from Delhi:

• 8th June : Delhi -(flight)- Mumbai -(train)- Lonavala


• 9th June : Lonavala -(bus)- Pune -(train)- Lonavala


• 10th June : Lonavala -(train)- Pune -(train)- Lonavala


• 12th June : Lonavala -(bus)- Mumbai


• 14th June : Mumbai -(bus)- Lonavala


• 16th June : Lonavala -(train)- Pune -(train)- Lonavala


• 17th June : Lonavala -(bus)- Mumbai

And mind you, this is all excluding the number of local trains, cars, taxis, auto-rickshaws and buses I've had to travel in in each of the cities!!! My schedule here has been crazy and maddening (and its drained almost all my energy out!)

But anyhow, all this was part of an experience... and i've seen and experienced a LOT of things... I've eaten duck, turkey and almost emu soup and crab soup, I've ridden in an amazing, classic open army jeep at 80k's in the night :D, cooked chicken on a BBQ :D and seen the strangest mix of people in the strangest of places. And amidst a lot of chaos, I cleared and got into Symbiosis Institute of Design (SID) for the Product Design course :D

Oh yea, and the name of the topic, that's from one of the meaningless conversations i had to shoo away my sister.. for a whole day, whenever i was asked to carry the umbrella, i'd ask her to pass my manly blue umbrella :P


(sorry, i wrote all this a few days ago, when i was in Mumbai... couldn't complete it and post it... if i dont post it as it is, i probably never will..)

Rainy Days

Dear reader,
Like i told u earlier, i had to bail out of my admission into Raffles Design Institute, Mumbai, because no Indian Banks were giving a loan for it and the ones that did, expected me to repay the loan @ 50000 a month for 36 months after passing out of college. IN YOUR DREAMS!
The news had almost broken my heart. Everything was planned and final for my college life in bombay, except this loan and it killed it! I thought my world had come to an end and all options blurred in front of my eyes. I had missed two interviews that i had cleared the entrance tests for and I had only seen the score of the Symbiosis institute of design entrance test with no idea of getting selected for the Studio test. Little did i know that my name WAS on the list. I got to know only after my mom called SID and they told us to check the website. This was on Thursday. My Studio test was scheduled for Monday! I had 2 days to come up with a portfolio, collect all my certificates and pack my bags and head to Maharashtra. And thanks to my parents and a few friends of mine who helped me sort out stuff for my portfolio, i managed to do all that by Saturday night and was ready to depart from the airport early on Sunday morning.

A magnificent flight aboard the Kingfisher Airlines took us to Mumbai while I watched Friends, listened to some good music and watched the spectacular scenario outside my window wishing i had my camera handy. We were welcomed into the city by streets that had been cleaned by the rain gods and it being a Sunday, streets that remained clear thanks to the sleeping Mumbai-kars. Once we got to my masi's house in Andheri, we freshened up, ate quick lunch and headed to the railway station and another one after it to get onto a train to my mama's house in Lonavala, while we got our first rains in Bombay. I was going to put up at my Mama's house and travel to Pune by a local to give my studio test next morning. And through all the rain and chaos, we reached Lonavala and settled down by nightfall and after filling up on some vada-pav, retired to bed.

After waking up the next morning, i quickly got ready, took my portfolio and headed to the station to catch the next train to Pune. My studio test was scheduled at 2.30 but we wanted to get to Pune before hand so that the rain would mess things up. But for a minute, they did. The next train to Pune was delayed by an hour and twenty minutes. Waiting for that, at the risk of a further delay, was out of the question as it would become last minute and so, we boarded a bus and reached Pune well in time. We ate lunch at a restaurant near the Bus Depot and rushed to the campus. I was startled to see it too. It was almost as if i entered a Mall and this was where i would have to study for 4 years if i got in. My last chance at college this year seemed like a blessing. It left me awestruck at first site and i was now determined to get in. The test that awaited me, however, was another chapter. Out of the four topics i had to choose from, i chose to depict the feeling of MISERY through a 3-D model using the materials provided (ice-cream sticks, matchsticks, glue, ribbon, thread, needles, wire, etc etc..). I chose the topic cause i was sure not many would and that mine would be different. But contrary to the simplicity of my sketch of an ice-cream stick with matchstick hands was commiting suicide by stabbing himself with a board pin, was a lot harder than i could ever have thought it would be. Halfway into it, i almost gave up all hope but SOMEHOW, and i don't know HOW, but i completed it. I FELT MISERABLE once i was through and walked out of the hall with my head hanging low and all hopes almost shattered after i saw the great stuff people in just my room had made! But my mom and mama urged me to not lose hope and were confident that i'd get through. A couple of hours later when the results did come out, i DID! I was ecstatic and had a huge smile accross my face and felt lighter in the heart. And after all the tension, we headed back home by a train which eventually stalled a km or two from our destination station and we had to walk back to the car. Anyhow, i had to get some good sleep that night, since my interview the next day was scheduled for 7.20pm... i had plenty of time in my hand and my portfolio was all ready, so i didn't have to worry about anything. And the next day i went for my interview, this time minus the hassles in getting there. All interviews were, however, running late by an hour and i was told mine would be only after 8.30.. I wiled away time waiting for this one last chance i had to come. My roll no. was announced. 880760, please head to the second floor. And so i did. After seeing the files and folders of the people in my room, i felt a little under-prepared but this time, i didn't lose my confidence. I knew my work was worthy of a selection and i had thought of the questions and answers the panel would throw at me, and though i was a little worried they wouldn't give me much time, but they gave me sufficient. This time, i ran down the stairs with a smile on my face, a lot more confident than the day before. Tired, but relieved. I ran and told my mom, "lets get the pizzas you were talking about". We ate dinner, and climbed aboard a train that would take us home, and even that didn't screw up this night. After a good nights sleep, i woke up to an early wake up call and got ready to board a volvo back to mumbai and overslept in it while dosing on my stock of music. It hasn't really stopped raining here, all these days, it only seems to increase day in and day out. But still, life is moving on. I went to my sister's rented apartment, put bags there, went shopping with mom and headed to andheri to spend the night with my cousins. I'm writing this in a hurry and now, wrapping it up cause i need to rush back to my sisters apartment for the next two nights. Wish me luck for my result which comes out this saturday and take care.

Till next time,

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

Going away

hey reader..

I'm sorry for not having blogged in the past two days.. was too busy making my portfolio.. I'm flying to Bombay in the morning.. have an interview @ Symbiosis Inst. of design in Pune on the 9th... i know i had said i got into raffles and all that but there were a lot of hiccups when it came to taking a loan... i NEEDED one but it isn't recognised by the I govt so no bank was willing to give the loan.

Symbi was my next choice so still lucky to get a chance.. ill be back home on the 17th.. gonna check results there and come, in case i get in and need to pay the fees..

WISH ME LUCK!

till then,

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

Stepping Forward

Dear reader,

Like i had told you earlier, i had just had the weirdest couple of weeks of my life... My grandmother passed away, the football club i supported lost two of the footballing world's biggest prizes and the girl of my dreams wanted to breakup for a reason i can never explain to myself. But that was not where these two weeks would get over. There was still one more day i had to get through.

23rd May 2008

This was the day my board results were scheduled to come out. The website said they would release the marksheets at 8am. Most of the people i spoke to the day before, whether online, on the phone or face to face, were a nervous wreck. This is what they spent 13 years in school for - this is what it would all come down to - one sheet of paper that could change their future.

I, on the contrary, was only really worried about passing my maths exam. I had realised a couple of weeks prior to this day that my practical marks would probably clear me in physics and chemistry but my maths was horrific (i had attempted 41 marks!!).. But i wasn't the wreck most of my friends were... i slept late the night before, wanting to play a whole night of the games on my desktop (FIFA, CS, etc etc) and so, woke up at 8.30.. A major reason behind this was my mom, who begged me to wake up and check my score so i could tell all my aunts calling up again and again my marks myself and that dad had already printed my marks (Guess who was the wreck at my place) :P

I had passed... i got a 65% overall, which was fine for me because all i needed was to clear all my exams and get at least 70 in english to apply to Raffles Design Institute (the college i had narrowed down upon), but would probably make most of my engineering aspirant friends want to kill themselves... A few calls later, i was ecstatic with not just my marks, but also cuz' i got to know that most of my friends had done well and were pretty happy.

After gulping down a portion of bread for breakfast, i freshened up and headed to CR Park (my grandma's house, where another of the post-cremation ceremonies was scheduled for the afternoon) in an auto-rickshaw with my mom. We bought sweets on the way and once we got there, i took that packet along with a couple of bags of stuff we needed for the puja and walked into the house. For about half an hour, i was congratulated by my aunts and uncles, then my cousins and in the process, got a hefty amount of money and a few gifts here and there. Then, i remembered that my friend Mansha had called me while i was outside the sweet shop and that i had told her i'd call her back when i'd get to my nani's house. I dug deep into my pocket to take my cell phone out. When i didn't, i searched the other pockets and when the phone was absent in all of them, i went on the hunt for it in all the rooms of the house, then an in-depth look into the furniture only to NOT find it. I traced my steps back to the point where i had gotten off the auto and still there was nothing. While i kept calling it from my dad's phone, all i could hear is the tring-tring of the call. Then it became not reachable, then rang again but no one was picking it up. No one switched off the phone. No one had any idea as to where it was. In all probability, i left it in the auto but thats one answer ill never be sure of. What i am sure of is that i lost my N91. It was the best phone i ever had and had stuff in it no new phone could replace. Not only were all my contacts and favourite messages in it, it had rough drafts of songs i had started to write that i hadn't written on my computer. It had photos i don't have anymore. All my music and all my playlists had gone. That phone was my survival, almost. And i LOST it. And trust me on this, i'd rather have it stolen. At least i wouldn't have to live with the guilt of just "DROPPING" it somewhere and would know some poor, yet greedy bastard had ripped it off of me! I was on a low, lower than i could ever imagine myself in.

That wasn't the end of the day. There was to be another high point in it... I called up Kelvin, the admissions officer of Raffles and told him i was in the vicinity (his office is at Nehru Place) and he asked me to reach there at 4. And so i did, with a completed form and a cheque that covered their application fees (I was supposed to have done that two days after my mom left for bombay but the death delayed it till this date). But when i did hand over all the documents to him, kelvin assured me that he had saved me a seat @ the college. That i wouldn't have to worry about waiting for an acceptance letter and that i was accepted already!

I had passed out of school and walked into college on the same day (now, without my phone but i walked thru nonetheless!). I didn't slog in class XII, i didn't stay up all day all night to study for it. I didn't even buy an IIT form. Didn't attend Brilliant Tutorials or Akaash or Narayana or any of those prep classes. I didn't try being a doctor or an engineer. And yet, at the end of the day, with just a 65% that i passed out of school with, i don't have any regrets. All i had was a smile on my face. And the transition from school to college wasn't the only reason for it, infact that was almost nullified by what was the biggure picture, the real reason. I saw my parents smile. I saw them happy, unlike the parents of kids around me, bugging their kids to walk on the safe path. My parents urged me to do what I wanted to and not have any regrets with it. I did. And they were happy. Life seemed to come full circle and i lived up to not my parents, but my own expectations and now set out to achieve my goals and ambitions!

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

The Beautiful Game

Dear reader(s),

Today was pretty boring... most of it anyway. I know that's a pretty awkward start to this post but i really didn't know how to start this time..

Anyway, the interesting part of my day, the time when i wasn't playing on my computer, or sitting online looking at people signing in for 5 seconds and appearing offline (SERIOUSLY PEOPLE!! STOP DOING THAT!!!), i was playing The Beautiful Game. For the less literati of my readers, that is just a translation to a game the world calls FOOTBALL (except the stupid Americans and Australians who'd rather call it "soccer" but whatever).

It was in the early evening, kick off at 5.30 p.m. (everyone was told it would start at 4.30, but come on! This Is INDIAN FOOTBALL!!). Now, there might be a little briefing about the teams and why they were like such before i tell u about this amazing match. The match was basically between Bonny's society against a mixed team comprising players from tintin's society and mine. But, Bonny, Tintin and I, along with Prasid, Niloy, my school friend Marshel (who was playing with us for the first time), Bala, Anant, Shitij, Dhruv, Udit and Noni. Some may ask why and well, simply cause' (a) I don't get along with anyone in my society, (b) We both like playing with our friends (c) Its not half as much fun playing with those bastards that reside in my colony, the same ones I've had my share of fist-fights with!

So anyhow, the game kicked off and well, i wont bore you with minor details cause' i know it cannot be close to being really interesting to have to read a description of each pass made and each wild shot, etc, etc... But ill tell u this. In a VERY, VERY long time (i think BONNY, of all people, has had at least 5 hair cuts since we've been playing together, and trust me, that is a very long time!!), this was one of the best games we've ever had.

P.s. A few of our girl friends (not GIRL FRIENDS, so to say, more like our female friends from Bose's society had come to watch the game... They were in the nearby market and when they got to know we were playing, dropped by to "cheer us along"...

--FIRST HALF--

Like i said, not gonna go into details... But mainly, the other team had scored a goal, well constructed and well finished. We got charged up and went all guns blazing. However, LUCK killed us. I alone had hit the post of the goal and not scored twice. Everyone did the same. If i were to sum up the no., i think there were at least 10 such shots... we were awestruck.. SO CLOSE yet so agonizingly far!! (DAMN I HATE THOSE POLES!!!) ... Imagine, a shot bonny hit, struck the inside of a post, hit the goalie square across the face, fell to Marshel's feet and his shot hit the upright and sailed away!!! DAMMIT!! We lost our steam soon enough, in the hot late-afternoon sun and went into half time a goal down. As we took monstrous sips off a small supply of water, the ladies joked about bonny's and my reduced clothing (we took off our t-shirts.. IT WAS HOT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!) and we talked about plans for the second half. Marshel, the star player of the first half, Marshaled the troops along, playing manager-manager (you know, like there's doctor-doctor and ghar-ghar!! :P).. we got a refill of water, re-hydrated our systems and marched back into the field...

--SECOND HALF--

We went a goal down and were pretty confident that a few positional changes would bring us back on level terms with the opposition. We were wrong... The game slipped out of our hands (it was a muddy pitch too!).. In went goals 2 and 3... Almost all hope of coming back and winning was lost. ALMOST.

Then, with a flash of inspiration, i stole the ball from just outside our box, ran like the wind to the other half, dribbling across 2 opponents, crossed the ball to Bonny, whose touch directed the ball to tintin and whose decisive touch guided the ball where it belonged... Into THEIR goal!!
Score: 1-3
Within 2 minutes of restart, another goal, almost identical, by Prasid made the score 2-3!
The Game was coming back into our hands (or more rightly, into our feet), the shots went on target, some still struck their posts, but they could hardly ever find a way into our half of the field... Soon enough another strike by tintin found its way into their goal and we were back into the game... 3-3!!!! FINALLY... As the game went on, everyone checked the time.. It was hot and no one really had much energy left in them... We decided to play till 5 minutes after the next team scored (just to give the others a chance to equalize)... and then, this happened. They were surging into our box, passing smoothly and finding their guys well.. one took a shot at goal and hit Udit's hand... Penalty time.. well taken to.. blasted into the goal and the score was 3-4 now.. with 5 minutes left, we poured men forward and gave it our best, hit the post once (AGAIN) and shot wide a couple of times before i bodies gave up and we called it quits.. shook hands with everyone for a game played well, changed, packed our bags and got going again...

That's just how football is i guess.. you can never really tell what could happen until the final whistle goes, till its all FINALLY over.. A team you could count out could come back from a 3 goal deficit and equalize and then, though the momentum is with them, against their luck, could concede a goal from an unforced penalty. That's why they call it The Beautiful Game...



The next part of my weirdest two weeks' story is about this beautiful game and i guess now is the best time to tell u this tale...

21st May 2008

Luzhniki Stadium in the heart of Russia's capital city Moscow was set to host the first ever all-English final in the history of the UEFA champions league... Manchester United prepared themselves to face Chelsea FC, who appeared in the competition finals for the first time. I was at Bonny's place, along with Prasid, Niloy, Tintin, Dushyant and Aparna. It was probably the biggest game of the season and Chelsea needed to give their fans (myself included) a reason to cheer and went in the more determined of the two teams. The match kicked off at 12.15 am here... The game went well, tensions were high and the events of the days prior to the game had multiplied them. Manchester Utd scored, Chelsea followed suit and leveled the scores. It would stay that way till the end of the 90 minutes of the game.. and nothing changed after 30 minutes of extra time, though Chelsea regularly looked to win it, being the better side in this prestigious tie... They hit the post a few times and surged into the Man U area more often than the reds would please..

However, a few drastic events, including the suspension of Chelsea's strike force, Didier Drogba, drove the game into penalties and everyone had their fingers and hearts crossed. We had together finished 4 large packets of chips and some namkeen apart from the 3 2l bottles of Pepsi, Fanta and coke... Then the shots weer struck. 5 shots later, the scores were tied at 4-4. Then, Chelsea's Anelka struck straight at Van Der Saar and it was all over. Chelsea had to climb the stairs to the podium, heads held as high as was possible, cheered on my their fans and clapped in respect by the oppositions' supporters, to receive their runners up medals. Then, the team in red climbed the same stairs to receive medals of gold and a trophy that meant a lot to not just the European footballers, but the millions who tuned into the game. Though the Man U players posed with their Cup, They knew just as well as the rest of the world that they were, in reality, just the second best team on the pitch. Chelsea deserved to win, but it just wasn't our night.

That's just how the Beautiful Game goes about. You win some, you lose some, but if you go down, u do so with heads held high. Lesson learnt. Match over. Good Night.

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

Indiana Bones

OK.. its been three days since my last post and obviously, i dented my promise to maintain this page like a diary and write in it everyday. But then, that's what happened to all the diaries i enthusiastically started pondering weird stuff in the diaries we were gifted on all those January's since almost when i could write words that made the smallest iota of sense!

Today was, well.. interesting...

I woke up at 8.30... The guys had planned to watch Indiana Jones today (actually wanted to go watch it yesterday but it didn't work out because of the gujjar riots!) Anyway... so the show was at PVR Spice in Noida. It was supposed to screen at 10 and everyone was informed and asked to be up and ready by 9 (MAX!!). BUT.. and that's a big BUT :P.. as usual, someone forgets. Prasid had exams for most of the month and stayed up late almost everyday.. i hardly heard of the guy sleeping. And regardless of how good/bad the guy must have done in the exams, he deserved some sleep. Agreed. BUT WHY TODAY DUDE!! :P And he wasn't the only one. When Bonny (a.k.a. BONES) called me up at 8.30 (yes, when i had JUST woken up), he said we were leaving in 10 minutes (which in the normal English language would translate to about 45 minutes, at least :P). I told him my dads office was 2 mins from spice and that he would drop us there and once he agreed, i went for a bath and got ready by 9. He then asked me to call Prasid up and ask him to reach Anandlok in 15 minutes so we could reach Spice on time. I called him 3-4 times only to get a NO ANSWER. Anyway, only later did we get to know that HE WAS SLEEPING. In the end, Bonny, Niloy and Shankul went with me in my dads car. We reached the hall at 10.15 cause of all the delays caused by the sleeping kids... Met Shardul and Jasmine there too.. and Adarsh.. DUDE!! Who cares if u didn't take a bath till then... THAT'S WHAT DEODORANTS ARE FOR U MORON!! The movie was totally worth it in the end. And well, we had our share of latecomers... Prasid did eventually make it to the hall.. He, along with Akash and Tintin in t2's car and enjoyed the movie just as much.. The movie was followed by a couple of snacks at the in-house haldirams after which i bought another t-shirt and we hit the road back home. Or so we thought. At a little T-point on the road home, i had a fantastic idea of everyone going to sector-18... Actually, we had a match scheduled for today but got a call from one of the guys in the morning informing us that kids have football coaching today in that field and it would be out of bounds! So we hit the gas and parked the ride in sec-18... got off, wondered where the hell to go, checked our total money and hit a few cold drinks, drove back in all safety, parked at anandlok and took to lift to bonny's house. Then, things became LEGEN...wait for it.. DARY!

The first few minutes at his place, we kept increasing the volume of a few special songs to wake up Surender bhaiyya, who had been lying on the couch in the computer room. Once that mission was successful, A lot of fun unfolded. After telling t2 how loud he was in the bathroom, he ravaged out the door only to be welcomed by a pillow aimed at the bridge of his nose by yours truly! Then, random people changed random music, randomly. And the same random people (i.e. Bonny, Niloy, Tintin and me.. Pokey caught up on his sleep through most of this EPIC episode) took random shots at other random people in random groups. The pillows flew across the room like huge bullets in slow-er motion and hit like little cotton filled rocks that left nothing but a puff of dust and a random moron (usually Niloy) in a randomly LOL situation!!! ( i said RANDOM nine times, BTW, plus this once)

The pillow fight lasted about half an hour (which included an AMAZING chain of gang bashes.. the best one on me :P).. Then, we got a little tired and a huge bowl of lemon rice was more than welcome to our empty stomachs. Once the cutlery was cleared away, ROUND 2... FIGHT. BUT.. that one couldn't last too long.. We were to full up. Another tiny break caused by a few phone calls was all it took. ROUND 3 time... THIS TIME.. NO PILLOWS, NO CUSHIONS! Let the bodies hit the floor (or the sofa, whatever makes you happy ;)... CRASH, BOOM, BANG and the bell rang. I don't remember who won. Don't know if there was a clear winner at all. But it was funny. Bonny had passed out by the end of it. His lights were out. Prasid started watching Robin Hood, Men In Tights (the spoof)... this was the movie these people were watching on the night of the champions league final and i had fallen asleep 10 minutes into i, but heard it was good. Saw glimpses of it as Pokey jumped to his favorite scenes and soon enough, i felt the need to get some shut-eye and went back home, listening to the some of the 300+ songs i had finally transferred into my phone last night. I ended up not sleeping at all and just yawning for most of the time that i was online once i did get back home.. Of course, i played a couple of games here and there but that was about it. Then, as people vanished from the Online list, i decided to follow suit and went to the the market for a while. Thought I'd stop by at anandlok and say a few hellos before heading back home and to this desk. Did not expect the event that followed. From out of the blue in the recreation room where the favorite TT table is located, a brawl between two of the guys whose names must remain undisclosed here. And the only good part of it I remember is the slap! Very reminiscent of the slap bet from HIMYM. It was AWESOME! Then it was about time for me to go, mom had ordered Chinese food and that was my call to get my ass back home. Since then, times passed by and the noodles became the most interesting part of the remainder of my day, till the time i started writing this post... Oh and yea, The INDIANA BONES wasn't a spelling error.. that's the IM name Bonny put for himself on MSN Messenger. WAT UP! :P

All in all, the day was.. LEGENDARY.. wait for it.. DARY!

(p.s. I HOPE u have SOME idea of HIMYM cause if u don't, you'll NEVER get my LEGEN-DARY joke :P)

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

The Rat

Dear reader,

I know I've been telling u the never ending story of the two weirdest weeks of my life but today, i wanna tell u a different story.. one that has nothing to do with the weeks that were.. its about today and the stuff that built up to this day. Its the story of "THE RAT"...

DAY1

About three days back, i was up late at night publishing another one of my posts while chatting with my IM friends online at the time.. It must have been around 3 am. I don't really see the time when I'm at the computer.. ESPECIALLY at night but i think it was around that time. And sitting for a long time at the desk obviously tired me and i went to the kitchen to get myself a bottle of water. Now, you must understand the layout of our kitchen to really understand this story... From the door, there's a fridge on the right, followed by the kitchen counter complete with a stove and a rack for some utensils near the window where the room ends just before which, we keep bottles of water at room temperature. On the left is a whole shelf where most of the groceries are placed after which there are some more utensils on a hanging rack and the basin.

I marched into the kitchen to get myself a PET bottle and just as i picked one up... BANG!
Now, i know that might sound very loud here but it wasn't an explosion. And no bottles hit the floor either. But.. IT WAS HORRIFIC. From out of the blue, and for the first time in the EIGHT years we've resided at this house, I SAW A MOUSE.. and not just any other mouse.. it was in all probability, A RAT! And after falling from somewhere around the water purifier (my best guess as to where it came from), and the moment it saw me, that thing ran back up from the shelves and into the cupboards over the counter (i.e. at the top of the ceiling!!) THAT THING CAN CLIMB.. Which made us believe that the only way it could have entered the house was though the kitchen window, and the cupboard was where he had set camp .

A rat wouldn't generally freak me out much but seeing once up THIS close after SO long was overwhelming. I know A LOT of people who would scream at the sight irrespective of the time of the day! What it did do however, was gave me a weird stare from its "campsite". That look was intimidating. So much so it was almost certain to me that it would pounce onto my shoulders if i took even a step to grab the bottle i had dropped to the floor on seeing him. To maintain the peace (and not cuz' i chickened out), i opened the fridge, which was in my half of the kitchen, took out a bottle which felt frozen and REALLY REALLY cold and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.

DAY 2

The late hours of the night had crept in again. This time, at 2.30 am (yes, i saw the time), i wanted to get a bottle of water (again! i LOVE water, i guess) before i went off to sleep (I like having a bottle in the room in case i get up at night and need some). I walked into the room, this time with a torch in my hand, shining its bright, almost xenon-like lights in the direction i would flash it. And when i aimed it at the bottles in the corner or the room, i saw ITS eyes. Staring down the light as if it were staring at the sun. But it didn't move. This was no ordinary rat, it was a different, superbly intimidating kind. One i had never come across ever before. It scared the living daylights out of me. And i don't know why, i was the only one in the house to have seen him. It was like he PICKED me be his target! Anyway, i repeated the drill from the night before and went off to sleep after checking for rats in my room.

DAY 3

Now it was getting out of hand. I had put a bottle of normal water in my room at 8pm to avoid confronting that stupid THING at night and told my parents to KEEP THE KITCHEN DOOR SHUT! They did. Dad was up till about 1 watching the news and nothing went wrong till then. I thought to myself that perhaps, my little friend had called it a day and found a new CRIB for itself.

I was wrong.

I don't know what was up with this rodent and the 2.30 deadline. Ive heard of werewolves but what the hell was this!? Again, though i tried ignoring the watch, at the strike of 2.30 am, while i was playing a round of counter strike on my computer, in a moment of silence, I heard an unusual sound from the kitchen. Something, maybe a box or so, had fallen. There was not a wind blowing outside and the kitchen door was closed. My parents were both asleep too. I had to get up and check on this. And so i did. While standing at the door, i saw a container of garam masala had toppled from the shelf over the stove onto the floor. IT WAS BACK. As i went to pick the box up, the BEAST squeaked, looked at me and from the top of microwave and the extension of this shelf, ran back to its shed. Lightening had struck not once or twice, but three scary times.

TODAY

Finally, my parents were convinced about the inhibition of the rodent. Afraid it might destroy our kitchen supplies, my mom, dads helper and I set out on a mission. GET RID OF THE RODENT IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE! We shut all the doors to our rooms. And the helper started cleaning out the stuff from the shelf the rat had set camp in. A few sightings of him led to another discovery. This rat was purely non-vegetarian. The only food supply he kept upstairs were a few bones we had thrown into the bin after dinner a few days back. But nevertheless, we took the stuff out, one at a time... Once most of it was out and it started running around, i was handed a stick and the responsibility to beat it against the shelf's wall so as to scare it away to the adjacent door where the helper stood ready with an empty sack we had gotten rice in. A few hundred beats later, it jumped out from the opening, onto the helpers shoulder and to the ground, jumping over the sack successfully.

After this, we spent about an hour continuously tracking it down and then trying to shoo it out of the open door after we realised he was too fast to be caught in a sack. But it just wouldn't give up. I don't know but i reckon he was on some weird drug and his testosterone was sky-rocketing! It ran from point A to B to E and back to B before going to points X Y and Z!!! It went crazy!! And it went everywhere but outside the house!! UNTIL.. Yours truly used his brains.

See, this rat made us clean up most of the mess the house was in (blessing in disguise, truly) and in doing that, a lot of useless boxes had stacked up in the drawing room. Or so the other humans in the room thought. I stacked up the oxes and blocked every way the rat could and would have gone. With one last bang, we got it to sprint, only to find a box in his way. He turned to the other way and guess what... a BOX awaited. After a third such incident, it took the only way it could spot. About an hour and a half after we started the mission, i declared it SUCCESSFUL!

The work wasn't over there though. We had to make sure it wouldn't try finding a way back home. Now, i stay on the third floor. This thing ran down half a flight of stairs and climbed a pipe that's used as a guide-rail. After the helper dashed behind it to shoo it away, it jumped onto the wall and clung on! And surprisingly, started ascending upwards, almost like a Lil rock climber. expertly manoeuvring its way through. I dashed up to the next floor with a broom to knock it down and when i saw it, in a sudden blink of an eye, the helper took a ball of mud from the plant on the balcony and knocked it down all three floors!! I saw it plummet to the ground with a wry smile on my face. My nemesis had gone. I was victorious and the war was over. Finally tonight, i can grab myself a bottle of a desired temperature and not have to worry about a rat pouncing on me!!!

:D

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

Trust

Dear reader,

I'm sorry for last night. I was desperate to get some sleep in. Anyway, the next chapter is here... i've tried to find ways of ignoring this bit and moving on but i think its best if i get this confusing phase off my chest...

--TRUST--

It had been a couple of days since i had come back from Haridwar, with a lot changed in the way i thought and my perception of things. It was here.. I'm sorry ill have to edit most of the details here since all the people in this story are still very dear to me and i don't wanna mess things up with anyone.

-- INFORMATION REMOVED SINCE PEOPLE INVOLVED WERE NOT OK WITH IT --

That instance, when i got to know that HE got to know, i lost all my TRUST.. i didn't think anyone was really worthy of it and that in the end, everyone had a motive. I stayed up till the break of dawn pondering all possible thoughts about this.. the whole four months came running back into my head. I still won't let it get over. I don't think it is. I hope SHE is reading this.. All of these things made me stronger and made me realise that i shouldn't give up easily. She means too much to me to let it slip away.

And though a LOT of things killed me when i thought about em (, there were a lot of other things i learnt from those 24 hours. One of the guys who spilled it, my best friend from the gang, proved exactly why i thought of him as that. Every time i got another message from HER or something else got messed up, the first thing i tried to do was throwing my phone away (MY DEAR N91!!!) and trying to break all contact with the world and run away. Every time i did that. EACH of the 9-10 times i threw it (once into a garbage disposal), he made sure to pick it up and not let me run away (being faster than me when it came to running obviously helped him too). The trust that had been dented, though didn't get fully revived, but a lot of it sprung back up. That's when i realised what friends are for. and yes, it is true that a friend in need IS a friend indeed. Period.

I realised that i HAVE to learn not to give up on life and all these things that revolve around me so easily. I realised that no matter what i say to them, even if they aren't at fault, my friends are going to be there more often than not.

I learnt that my life had a reason. It had its worth and had a value. I meant something to some people at least. And i learnt that no matter what i post in this blog i chose to write, SOMEONE WILL READ IT!

The Next Chapter

So.. The last time i was writing stuff for this page, i told u the story of the cremation and how when i came back from Haridwar, i had changed the way i perceived things.

Thats when i thought things were getting alright again. Little did i know that all of this was a part of an ugly puzzle, and i wasn't looking at the whole picture, but just a piece of it. Like i said in the beginning, this was part of the 2 WEIRDEST weeks of my life thus far.

This is one chapter of this story i really REALLY wish i could ignore. But its too close to the heart to hold back... that would only kill me and i'm too young to die..

but well.. i hate to break this to you, but you're going to have to wait for this post a little longer.. a whole day of doing almost nothing, though my buddy Marshel was over and we saw some episodes of HIMYM (another bugger infected with the disease!!!), i feel tired and really sleepy right now... i promise o fill up this article asap.

till then,

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

The Saga Continues

My first whole day with my new phone.. i'm getting used to this already, and it sure feels good to finally have familiar names in my phonebook (PHEW!!)... I even got to use my new football shoes today.. had a match that we lost terribly but hey, every dog has his day, right?

But anyway, thats enough about my phone and most of my day... i wanted to urge all readers.. request you... PLEASE DONT MAKE UP YOUR MIND ABOUT THINGS AND FEELINGS IN MY LIFE.. CONSIDER THIS ONE CHAPTER OF A STORY, A FEW BAD DAYS.. I'M WRITING THIS AS WHAT I FELT AT THAT MOMENT, IVE MOVED ON NOW AND THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER BUT YOU'VE GOT TO LET IT UNFOLD.. PLEASE!! :)

And now that i've written a whole para in bold, italics and caps, i shall continue the story of the week that was...

--MOVING ON--

So, where was i? Right... i left you at the horrendous description of the burning body.

13th May 2008.. The day after the cremation, i had to travel with 3 of my mashi's (aunts), a mama (an uncle) and a mesho (another uncle.. damn ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!) representing my mother to "visarjit" my nani's ashes into the holy ganga up north... it was a long, tiring journey that drained most of us mentally too but once the ceremony was completed and my aunts, uncles and i sprinkled the water that now carried my nani's remains, we visited a temple on the banks of the river (just as most temples in haridwar are placed) after which we did what everyone in the car wanted to do and told me i should. We washed away our sins by taking a swim in the holy river. I dont know if that swim washed away my sins or not but it surely removed the muck from my eyes and opened them up... That one swim and all those dips made me realise that her death was the only way she could escape the pain that enveloped her. It was always a very disheartening picture to see her so very ill... It was really heartbreaking.. she was living like a leaf, honestly. I think that dip made us all realise that fact. and it WAS a fact. The ultimate truth...

And with this enlightenment, despite a few minutes of an awkward silence, we all felt lighter in our hearts.. the burden of this loss felt like more of a blessing now. Smiles returned to the faces that had thousands of lines running across them from the tears and frowns of the days that preceded. And we all drove back home, smiles intact, tears of joy flowing down our cheeks in slow motion, all to tell the tale of how we learnt the ultimate truth..

But like i said before, this was the beginning of the two weirdest weeks of my life... Ive been through the high and low this week.. its like trying to surf on rough waters, really.. but all that comes in the next chapter. Hope u turn the page and read.

Till then, take care my friend.

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

Apologising

Hey reader...

I'm terribly sorry but i am in no condition to post the rest of The Loss right now. It's been a long, hard day. Had to go file an FIR for my phone, apply for a duplicate SIM, buy a new phone AND buy new football studs for myself... Then i had to spend the remaining part of the day including now getting used to the phone and it been killing me... i bought a Fly Hummer HT1... its a GOOD phone. Very Good. Just very new to use.. i hate the fact that i lost my precious Nokia N91 but i gotta move on from that now...

But for now, i'm dead tired.. im sorry but i assure you that ill post the latter parts of that story asap.

\m/rock.in.peace\m/

The Loss

Ok. So i made a blog today. But that was just how i decided to wind up my day. A lot had happened in the 23 hours before i wrote this, and not much of it was really GOOD, so to say.

--FLASHBACK--
HOW IT ALL BEGAN - The Loss

Let me take you back in time. I'll start with Sunday, the 11th of May. It wasn't just any other Sunday. It was different. See, on Sunday afternoon, my mom and elder sister were packing their bags. They had a train to Bombay scheduled @ 4.30 and had to resolve to last minute because my sis and I threw our parents a pretty big party the night before to celebrate their 25th anniversary (it was on 24/04/08 but my sis had exams going on in her law college in Jodhpur). Anyway. So the house was all a huge mess and a cloud of confusion hung over our heads. My sis did manage to stuff a few thousand bags of a million kilos each with all the stuff she needed urgently (actually there were 6 or 7 but who cares, right).
They even managed to catch the train, all bags intact (and a Rs.1000 fine too).

Then, weird stuff started happening.

That same evening, the English Premier League was set for its grand finish. Chelsea and Man U went into their ties level on points and Chelsea had to put up a better show than Man U to seal the league. The task would never be easy, but someone had to step up to the plate and create some magic. I sat with my friends Bonny, Niloy, Tin Tin, Aparna, Adarsh and a friend of his @ Adarsh's place with a decent supply of chips and cold drinks while we kept swapping between ESPN and Star Sports to keep a tab on events. Soon enough, disaster for us Chelsea fans. Man U scored from a penalty away @ Wigan and it was an uphill battle. Chelsea did take the lead @ the Bridge but learnt a VERY valuable lesson. 1-Goal leads are NOT a safe option and are almost NEVER enough. Wigan taught us that a month ago and Bolton made us revise that chapter. They scored and nullified Chelsea's chances of regaining their championship.

Things didn't end there though. At almost 9pm, while the games were still well on, i got a call from my dad. He said he was coming to pick me up and take me to CR Park. Ths where my nani (grandma) resided. At 8.50pm, she had passed away. My mom was on a train quite a few hours away from Delhi when she got the news. She would be in Bombay while her own mother was to be cremated. The sights and sounds and the whole air in and around the house was terrifying. Never in my 17 years alive had i seen any of my aunts shed a tear. As i slowly walked into my grandma's room, i saw and heard them cry their lungs out. Their husbands feared the worst, some believed they had to stop their wives before they slipped into mental trauma and disturbance. I saw my grandmother shrunken and pale blue. her jaw was wide apart and stiff. She passed away in her sleep after dinner.

I sat there, amongst the tears and the sad faces, hardly bothering about the Chelsea loss that my best friends Daksh and Surabhi (both Man U supporters) tried reminding me of, only 2 learn about a much bigger loss.

As i spent the whole night sitting in front of the body, which now lay on ice to preserve it till the cremation scheduled for the morning after, i learned that life was a lot more than money and fame. At the cremation, these thoughts were cemented. I saw my grandmother burn. a few hours later, the priests came out of the electric crematorium chamber with a red hot steel bowl of my grandmothers ashes. Then it hit me. That's all life was worth. Whatever one may do, however u may look, whatever hair style u keep now... none of this would matter in the end. Because when the end would come, you're just going 2 be burnt. Most of your ashes would fly away from the hot vessel once cold water is run into it. The rest would be put into a pile of ash where no two bodies could be distinguished and a couple of your bones would be poured into a holy river up north. That's how it will end. Period.

I now had to face the days ahead representing my family at all the prayer ceremonies and cremation. I would have to live with the guilt that my mom couldn't attend her OWN MOTHERS funeral for the rest of my being. I know (god forbid this but) if my parents were to pass away before i do, i would at least want to be at the cremation to see them one last time before they went away. And day in and day out, the picture of the burning body would flash in my head. Nothing seemed to go my way. And unfortunately, this was just the beginning.

(to be contd...)

Hopes and Dreams

MY FIRST TIME

I never really got the idea of people keeping blogs but thought that since just today, i officially passed school @ 8am, and got admission to my first choice of college, life's starting all over again. Kind of anyway. Hence, with a flash of enlightenment and inspiration, i figured i might as well share my experiences.

And yea.. it feels weirdly nice to have a space for myself... a place i can speak all i want without anyone giving me any bullshit in return (or any weird look... OR THE CRAZY EYES!!!). Plus, I've been on an overdose of a show called HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER... BARNEY STINSON.. The guy INSPIRED me to do this for myself.. he made his blog just sound so cool, i HAD to do it myself :P

Also, since i dont have the college worries anymore, i got a month of "nothing to do" time!! this SHOULD help me survive it.

And yea.. the name.. Speranze e Sogni. I cud never have come up with that myself.. i even thought of naming this page BHATTA'S WORLD. Then, i remembered babelfish! Apparently (and pardon my italian) Speranze e sogni means HOPES AND DREAMS in italian.. that would've been the name i probably would have ended up with had it not been for that site.

But yes, this page is gonna be (atleast ill try making it) the narration of the story of my life (again, i got inspired by future ted from HIMYM :P ). Ill try putting in everyone and every AWESOME event from my life in text and post it on this page.. Ill honestly try.. ;)

And well, if this page gets boring (it mite already have nailed that impression but incase it still hasn't), blame it on my friends. I cant REALLY play computer games all day all night and be the most AWESOME person now, can i?

And with that, since i'm running out of ways to introduce this blog, i shall now sign off with dignity intact...

\m/rock.in.peace\m/