Tuesday, April 6, 2010

First visit home - The Heritage tree - Life, THE Race!!, etc...

 
I'm back. I'm back to the place I live. I'm back to the place I chose to live. I was home, home is where I belong. And I felt that I belonged there as long as I was there.

Mom made 'pulihora' and 'payasam' for me :) I had a mug full of Bournvita every morning and evening I was there. I ate 'pappu-annam'. It was heavy, but I liked it. I bought my lovely-dovely sister a Cadbury's Silk. And the fact that she's sweet, she gave me my share. Two-thirds :D plus a large Dairy Milk :D :D My family Doc gave me a choco-lava :) My other sister, promised me a hat :) Dad bought me my tea-kettle :) I met my kid-cousins. I dined with my good-old friends. We spoke of those who were there and about those who weren't. I drove around my city. I slept on my bed. I touched my PC. Everything was the same. Or was it?

I was visiting all my folks back home and when I visited my Grand folks, my Granny  was telling me how the 'chikoo' tree (Sapodilla) in their backyard was planted when her kids were young and how they used to play around it, eat its sweet fruits... Then it was our generation... We all began  playing around it... Swings hanging from its branches, the way I hid on the tree-top while playing hide and seek, how I was
and still AM fond of its fruits every summer... And now, no one's left in that house but my grand folks with memories, probably fading, of all the three generations that were there. Just the 92-year-old man, as strong and active as ever. And his 80 something-year better half. So... I climbed that tree once again as there was no one else to do it. I plucked its fruits. As big as ever :) (I couldn't stay long enough to eat one though! :() everytime I thought it was the last fruit I'm going to pluck, I found another large one and I found myself reaching for it! I went on for a while and then, I stopped. I could still go on. But I didn't.

And then, as I looked down from above, I began to wonder, how life goes on... How we all grow as kids, how we learn from the little things in life as kids, how we create a mould for everything that we perceive, and then when you're out there... Making your living, how you wish your life could still be 'song-and-play' around that old tree, how you would love to play all day, get tired by night, and sleep sound without a thought for the rest of the world. We all slept as babies. Like babies. Then something came over us. We began worrying. We began having sleepless nights. We lost the baby in us to the world around us.


We're all running the race. What race? Who started the race? Is there an end to this race, like all others? When we realize all this, we're already running. I like to run. Run along. Not run away. I'll run. But I know, one day I'll have to stop. What then? Will I be able to sleep like a baby then?

I dunno. I know I have to hit the floor tomorrow morning. And that I have to sleep now. I'll sleep. I'll just sleep so I can wake up to the sunshine and run once again. Run Joe run... For you've got to win your bun! :P Run... :) FTW!!
 
See you when I see you folks... :D
 
P.S. Thanks Supertramp, for saving my blog!! :D

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Pune nagariya... :)

Hello folks!! :) Loooong time!! Well, a quick update... I moved to Pune about a month back, in search of my roti and dal (quite literally :P) and things have been good so far. In fact, they're great!! :) I've made myself comfortable in an amazingly short time, I set a small cozy corner for myself with Wilson (my large blue ball!! :D) to keep me company all day... and work's good too!! The best part being me doing great at work so far!! Haha!!

So, back to Pune... I totally love the climate here, though we spend most of the day in our world-class training facilities ;) The sunsets are all amazing, the city is amazingly clean for the kind of populations it has... And there's something about all the houses here... Each house has a name... most of them are the early 90s kind and the names sound so good!! All of them... like 'Kalpana', 'Maya', 'Kajal'... and many more good names, of which I cant recollect even one now!! Darn!! But yeah, its something more to call a house by a name... creates that magic touch I guess!!

I haven't gone around much YET but, the little has been good. And there's absolutely no language issue... we continue to talk in Hindi to ask what we need... and they respond in Marathi (which is extremely sweet to hear when pretty girls speak!!) a word of which we don't understand. But as long as you can get what you want, doen't matter!! ;) I may even end up considering a few rosy prospects here ;)

And apparently, this place is called 'The OXFORD of the East'!! I can see where all the literacy shows!! Very civilized I must say. This place is proving to be quite a happy place away from home!! Dindn't miss it for more than a day after I got here :P That says it ;)

So, this is it for now. I'll get back when I'm less lazy. Too lazy to upload pics right now!! Sometime later maybe.... aaanyway, until then, see you when I see you folks... :D

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Lal Salaam Lal Salaam...


The Marxist leader, and if I may say so, The Godfather of Bengal, one with a lighter side to him and a man of great wisdom, Comrade Jyoti Basu died this morning.

Let me be honest here, I know not much of the man himself, other than the fact that he ruled Bengal for 23 years straight, which in itself speaks a lot about him and also that he was a very strong-old-man.

But I felt it was needed to leave a tribute to him in my small way... I have a great respect for people like him who even make it to live so long as they have... 95 years!! Whoa!! In this age when we guys think of retirement plans, boredom in 40s, 50s... lack of energy to take the staircase to reach the top floors, etc... these people life for so long, live healthy, live with a definite aim, live by something they've chosen for life. The amount of WISDOM these people possess is just amazing!! And to top it all, I just learnt that he read PG Wodehouse to chill off all the time!! :D Now, that's really some humor for a man of his age!! Not that age has anything to do with it, but just amazes me for that very reason. He studied law in UK in the 1930s... guess that's the Wodehouse link that changed his life forever after!!

Whatever, I'm sure the man has a lots of credits to his name and most worthy. I'm just not the one to be enlightening others about him... RIP Comrade Jyotibabu

Friday, January 15, 2010

Why should girls have all the fun??!!

Its one thing many men have done and definitely something many more would want to do!! Yeah, I'm talking about the Scooty Pep :)




Its a tested and proven fact that Scootys (in general the class of gearless, brake-accelerate vehicles) are easier to drive when it comes to shopping for groceries, carrying some extra luggage back home and a lot more!! At least for a guy like me, who just loves to fall asleep while on two wheels, these vehicles are more safer and make it less tiring without all that gears and clutches!! And must say, the way you can squeeze these vehicles out of traffic... just terrific!! I can actually life one of these and put them on the less crowded lanes if needed... oh yeah!! And the storage space adds more ease to throw in random stuff you pick. Talking of colors, I'm only talking of Black or maybe silver here, its a little too much to ask for to have fun on a PINK scooty!! :P

For me, I feel like I'm cruising through when I place my feet straight on the little slant platforms on either sides, push myself to the back of the seat, throw my head back and zoooooommmmm.... :D

Yeah, its a whole different thing with bikes, all that power, the killer-looks, the rattle that annoys your next door neighbors when you come back late, the harle-harle-harle beats... all of it... its all the DUDE stuff. But tell me, how'd it be to carry a bag of tomatoes or a tray of eggs hanging from the handle of your bikes from the mart down the road?? Totally out of place... it'll be like playing a record slipping tracks. And I have had my share of crashes this way.

Lastly, talking of a greener place, lesser pollution... smaller the vehicle... lesser of all of it :)

Go ahead guys, you can have your share of the girls fun too!! ;)

See you when I see you folks... :D

P.S. What a post to begin I say!! :P And yeah, for those waiting to be blessed by me for the new year... SHINE O Dear Crazy Diamonds... :D