Romance with Delhiites

This evening when I set off from my residence, I didn’t know that I would be enacting this blog in the stage called world!!

As I started from my house, to cross the road to reach to the nearest market place to my house, I saw two of my neighbor aunties walking rapidly (of course, as expected, lips moving faster than legs), taking their usual evening walks with a hope that someday they would shed at least quarter a kilo of their excess fat.

My mom and me had agreed to meet at the market place to buy some household stuff. She was to reach there after her office and I had to go from the house directly.

As I hurried down the road, so did the vehicles, making it almost impossible for me to cross it.I crossed the first one pretty easily. And today, I was determined to cross the second one (the busier one) in my very first attempt. I saw four-wheelers and two-wheelers flying by, with the speed of light. No one ready to compromise. I waited for a few seconds. The traffic reduced a bit. The number of vehicles went down to 4-5 cars and 3-4 motorcycles on the road which I was to cross. With my hopes high, I started to cross but as usual got stuck in middle. Standing in the middle of the road, I wondered whether I would ever cross the road or would have to go back and try crossing from some other point. Well!! I am not exaggerating; I was standing at a junction of the two busiest roads of Patparganj. In the middle of all this confusion, I saw something that made my heart beat at a rate double than normal. It was a Blue Line Pvt. Ltd. bus. Well, these buses have been in news recently for killing people by hitting or crushing them. Thanks to all the news channels. They keep us informed about everything- the necessary as well as the unnecessary. As I saw the bus, I decided to cross the other half of the road quickly or I would die standing. Thus I crossed the road. All thanks to the bus that helped in my decision.

I didn’t know the same bus had carried my mom from her office. I saw her getting down from the bus. As I went nearer, she said,”Oh! That was you”. To this I asked what she was talking about. She said that the conductor of the bus was staring at some girl so intently that even if the bus passed by her, his head was turned and his eyes fixed on her. To this I couldn’t help but laugh at least for 2 whole minutes. I was also thankful that my mom didn’t fuss about it

We went to the market; my mom bought a shelf made of wrought iron. The shopkeeper said it was of 110 rupees. I decided to try my luck in bargaining the stuff. I handed him a 100 rupee note and said that the thing is not worth more that 100 rupees; in fact it should be sold at a lower price (as if I’ve done a PhD on pricing). After some bickering moments, when I had lost the battle, I asked my mom to give him ten rupees more. I could not stand my defeat and I asked him to give me a bill for it. [In the afternoon, I had seen the film Nayak where Anil Kapoor was made a one-day chief minister. He has said that whenever you buy a thing, ask for the bill otherwise all the money goes to the shopkeeper.] He tried to scare me by saying that I would have to pay 12% extra. I said I am ready to pay it. And suddenly he looked a bit scared. He said they don’t give bills for such items. And that he has forgotten his receipt book at house. I lost my temper and started swearing in front of everybody. To that, my mom got mad at me. So we had to leave the place and return home.

But I loved the evening; a bit of adventure and a bit of fun to make the evening memorable.

[aug 22 07]

On a Serious Note...

…she is very fond of beauty; beautiful people, beautiful hair, beautiful eyes, beautiful body, beautiful features and everything associated to the word ‘beauty’.

I still don’t know what attracted me to her, or rather, what attracted her to me. But we both reacted to the situation, just didn’t let it pass by silently.

Ah! Those days of pure bliss, when the world would look full of colors. But more colorful was the way we looked at the world [mind you! There is a difference]. It was as if we had worn some rose colored glasses.

Moments that still crowd my mind are those brief yet invaluable moments, which then passed in a jiffy, but now, will take ages to desert my thoughts. Moments when we would call each other up before sleeping just to say a mere goodnight, waiting for each other to make the first move for holding hands, etc.. Those random gifts, surprise visits, jealousy, possessiveness are some things that won’t leave my memory in this lifetime.

But gone are those days long back. I am still confused about who is to be blamed for this. God or mankind or her or ME!!! Or Ego!! A three lettered small word having so much potency that it tore apart two loving souls.

I have put back all the pieces of my heart to place, but the patches are still visible and they often ache.
That often to make me hate people who live their life in pretention….

[aug 14 2007]

A Piece of Shit

Earlier, in the late teens, when a student, we(me and my friends) had to study endless lists of theorems or already proven hypothesis or some theory discovered by some mad(at least I used to think they are mad to do all this work) scientist. Then, we used to spend a considerable time each day cursing those poor souls who had taken the pains to present the undiscovered knowledge to this human race.

While studying at 2-3 am for the next day exam( or rather for the exam which would start in approx. 6 hrs), we would never forget to use our favorite line, "khud to mar gaye lekin peechhe chhod gaye hamari life hell banane ke liye" [converts to 'they died but left behind their stuff to make our life hell.'] which we thought was a very witty comment on those who had created or discovered some theory which we had to study unwillingly.

One day, in the physics lecture, during that period, our physics teacher said, ”Imagine studying the whole thing again where there are no proved theorems, no discovered theories, where each batch of the college has to start anew from the starting of origin or starting of mankind because if u stick to this theory of not studying pre invented/discovered theories, u would be unwilling to accept even those things discovered by your previous batch, so u will only study what u invent or discover."
I got very happy, but a bit confused, wondering what would happen if this turned into reality. But my thoughts were interrupted by her next sentence, “These pre invented/discovered things are presented to you so that you continue from here, this point onwards, not from the starting of mankind, so that you add your contribution to this point [in time] and take the humankind to the next level on the ladder of technology, of perfection.
My premature brain wasn’t smart enough to understand every word of the sentence. That day passed like a normal day used to pass then. So many things to fit in the tiny head that everything slipped out. Oops!!

Like sometimes, a sudden breeze touches you, today, the thought of what my physics teacher had said suddenly flashed in my mind. I am sitting here in Bhubaneshwar, suffering from the frequent power cuts that actually make your life hell. This one instance in my life makes me understand what my physics teacher had said that day. I shudder at the thought of inventing electricity and using it in one lifetime. It would take me at least a lifetime to get my concepts right to invent electricity.

I now thank all of them who have taken the pains to invent, and discover, even the tiniest of a thing. Hats off to all of them!!

But somebody has said, “Never judge a man 'til you've walked a mile in his shoes”. As a student I know how it feels to be burdened by those endless lists of theorems.

I have learned to accept the two facets of life where one criticizes as well as loves a thing at the same time. I love you life. The best Teacher!!

[aug 01 2007]