Wet Wet Delhi

Carefree Childhood: Playing in the rain

Cleaning the roads for MCD: Thnk God, Thnk Rain God

A Watery Fair

Riding in the rain

A Blissfully Rainy Day

Busy Traffic Clean Roads Gloomy Sky.... of course good music

Atlast a good stretch without traffic: Rain Incentive

Welcome Rain: Bye Bye Traffic

Courtesy: Nitant Kohli & Plaban Mohanty

Politically- (in)Correct

As we draw close to one of the most impact making summers of Indian political history, we are now quite sure that a certain person called Mr. Ma’am-Mohan Singh… I mean Mr Manmohan Singh is going to be taking the reins in her… oops I did it again… his hand. So we are looking at a Congress led UPA Govt. As all the hoopla over the UP going to BJP settle down, and Congress lauds the effort of their God-Son, Mr. Rahul Gandhi (naam to suna hi hoga) we are definitely looking at a election that makes me feel that not only have we grown as a democracy but also evolved. Beyond the realms of cast voting (take for example Mayawati in UP) and religion. Of course, we have not thrown them out of the window for good, but of course we have made a move. So as the NDA strongly hopes and prays that the initial trends take a u-turn and the Left with no hopes 'left' are cooling heels, UPA is probably having the last laugh, with everything going right for them, starting with the Jay Ho! campaign, deciding not to align with anyone in UP and even allowing Ma'am Mohan to be vocal (locking horns with L.K. Advani). So Mr Advani now needs to look at making post poll alliances and bend more than his back, if he wants to realise his dream of making it to the PM seat this time...
One of the most heartening thing for me in this election was the 44% turn up in places like Kashmir. But equally saddening thing was the low turn out, even after a lot of campaign, in bigger cities like Mumbai. As I flip windows, between work, blog, TOI site and poll results: a much clearer look of the Lok Sabha emerges with every passing minute.

On behalf of all of India, I would pray for a stable, sensible and effective Govt that sails us through these trying times of global recession and economic slowdown.

Jaye Ho!

The first rain of the season...

Delhi is very mercurial, and when I say that I mean both people and weather. You see tempers flying and People not shying away from a fight, and when it comes to weather you see the extremities quite clearly. The summer this year has been no different, it has been a hot oven for the last few days. But then God was in a lighter mood yesterday and that’s why he tried to give us a discount from the deadly heat by opening up the sky for us.

Okay after all those here, there and everywhere lines were just to show the philosophical side of me, I would rather put it in straight words, it rained yesterday. Thank God.
I was to meet Tamo in the evening and therefore was waiting for an auto outside the office. And it started raining. I am the kind of person who love to have a fair share of getting-wet-in-the-rain moments every year and this being the first rain of the year I didn’t want to miss the chance.

Rain brings with it the fresh fragrance of the earth and the sweet music of the nature; the pitter-patter of rain drops on the window panes, the metallic tone of the drops hitting the tin roof or the simple gushing of the wind, everything is so musical.

Rain is always nostalgic; it brings back a lot of memories, some sweet some not so sweet ones. The naughtiness of the childhood days, the football matches with friends, samosa and chai in the adda, dance on the terrace to the beat of rain, holding her hand, bike rides, teenage romance, Shubha Mudgal’s Abb Ke Saawan, paper boat races, garam jalebis, hot pakoras, giving your umbrella to the prettiest girl in the school and reaching home completely drenched, playing in the mud or simply listening to the sweet music of falling water. Rain was so much more than just getting drenched.

Rain has always been associated with romance, and romance it is that the rain brings with it. Bollywood always has a soft corner towards rain, let it be the romantic pyaar hua ikraar hua or sensuous tip tip barsa paani. They have always been a part of bollywood. There was a time when a movie was incomplete without their share of rain dance. Rain was metaphored for every emotion may it be happiness or sorrow. May it be love or betryal, rain is wonderful, rain is blissful.

Life has become hectic and somewhere, we have alienated ourselves from the pleasure of indulging in the rain. Here’s to falling in love with rain all over again...

RAIN RAIN RAIN

Rain Rain Rain,
On those tinted window panes.
Pitter patter pitter patter

Rain Rain Rain,
Take me down those memory lane,
May it be sweet or bitter.

Rain Rain Rain,
Of those love stories and pain,
some smile some tear.

Rain Rain Rain,
Promise me you will come again,
Promise you will be the same.

How to kill a 'meeting' bird...

Meetings are never my cup of tea, I usually doze off half way through. I never understand why do we have a meeting when we can all be fine with just a call. I seriously do not understand. Yesterday this client of ours called us to their office just to ask us the progress of the study, I mean in which part of the world are you, haven’t you heard of an invention called E-MAIL or for that matter PHONE. Graham Bell must fuming at his own invention, we don’t need your stuff Mr Bell, please take it back and return that Noble.

Then you run into these gyaan sessions where the best you can do is shut your brain and dream about any PYT sitting near you. But then be careful, these Gyaan Gurus can sense your absence and turn to you with a question that even they find difficult understanding, let alone answering. So what would people like me do. Okay so this is one is for those people who think meetings to be a sheer waste of their time.

Carry a note pad with you, this is your weapon for mass destruction (read, killing time). If you are artistic kind you can use your time sketching all people in the room. If you are just words then scribble down any peculiar behaviour that you see in the people around and wow the time will just fly away. Okay you are like me, then just play tic-tac-toe. But for that you need to find an equally disgusted-with-the-meeting kinda person next to you, well thats not difficult.

You can always impress a girl in such meetings. Just look around for the most boring expression on the most beautiful face during the session, and when there is a session break try to move close to her or better just start with a hello or something like ‘What a boring session’, if she agrees and smiles, then find a place near her seat. What next? Simple, make your writing pad a yahoo messenger. Start with simple things like what do you do? And then try to make it funny, girls always fall for good humour. Then go on to ask her out for coffee after the session. If she agrees then atleast there would be some outcome of the meeting. If she denies, don’t loose heart there would definitely be more meetings and thus more opportunity.

P.S.: Find a sample on top right, of how to kill time
P.P.S.: There is no chats with PYTs in the sample, as they are classifieds
P.P.P.S.: Boss, if you are reading this article, all I wanna say is “It wasn’t me”

What is KKR doing????

Nothing is going right for KKR, I mean they had the match in their grip for the major part of the first half but then things started changing and I think only those team who have nerves to stand in the face of adversities and act fast and wisely have the capability to win. McCullum has been a disappointment for KKR all thru the IPL Season2. And he didn’t try to change the image this time round too.
The bowlers did their job to the perfection in the first 15 overs, but then they let the things slip from their hand. McCullum is not a good captain when it comes to tight situations and he has proved the same again and again. That leaves dada as the next option but then is he the right choice or not. I am not sure I certainly feel that Dada is the answer for the situation in hand but then would that impact the team’s fortune anyway, well I doubt that.
Playing Mumbai Indians, who are on a roll, is a tough game but then when you get Sachin and Sanath out cheaply, you definitely fancy your chances and go for the kill. McCullum went with the follow and let the batsmen do the mistake rather than forcing them to get out. And then when it came to batting letting Dada open was a good choice but it didn’t fire. Calypso king didn’t fire this time, this farewell was not well enough. The team was on a downslide and then Hodge and Shukla start the resurrection. But the twist was somewhere hiding, and as soon as the match seemed to be under control Hodge and Shukla departed and that left McCullum who brought himself at 6th number to lead the team to victory. He failed again and so did the KKR.
More than winning I think the team needs to believe in themselves first. Every move of the team shows how badly they have accepted defeat, every time Mc speaks you hear a lost captain’s mumble. Time for some soul searching and major over-hauling....

The Beginning of my book...

Its been a long time since I am thinking about writing a story, after many an unsuccessful and half hearted attempts, I have thought of putting together a few short stories, this is one of the few that might get into the book. So I need your help and inputs for the story. You can leave a comment if you like it dislike it or think I should go ahead with this... Waiting for your responses:

11th September 2008:

The rain was insistent since the morning. Rahul was getting late for his office. All the buses were going full. No bus seems to have a single seat. After letting four buses go by, he found a bus with one empty seat in the back row. He dashed in and as he was about to sit on it he dashed into Asha, the books she was carrying fell in a heap. He apologised to her and picked the books, she simply nodded.
The rain had picked up the pace and there was no way it was going to calm down. The bus moved.
Rahul works in an MNC in Noida, his company bus picks him up everyday from Nehru Place, but today he missed it by a couple of minute and therefore had to do with Blueline. Asha goes to her college in Noida everyday in the same bus.
As they settled down, the conductor came and they paid for their tickets. For the first time Rahul looked sideways and his eyes saw one of the most innocent faces that he had ever seen in his life. Asha was looking outside, fresh wet air was playing with her hair, at times they would bring a strand on her face and then she would flip them back with her hand. He got lost in her. The bus stopped at sector 18, Asha stood up to get down, so did Rahul. It was not raining anymore. Asha took an auto, Rahul stood there for sometime and then he walked to his office.

12th September 2008:

RAHUL:
I reached the stop on time, the company bus was right there but I didn’t want to take it. So I hid behind a tea stall, SMSed a colleague that I would be late and they need not wait for me. The bus took off at the scheduled time. I waited at the Noida bus terminus, I was looking for her. I saw her, she was wearing a white top and blue denim, she was carrying some books. Probably she goes to college. She looked at me for a moment, probably she didn’t recognise me. She entered the bus no. 493. I followed her. I went upto her and asked if I could sit next to her, she smiled and then nodded, probably she recognised me. Her name is Asha, it’s written on her book.

ASHA:
I reached the bus stop on time, the guy who had dashed into me yesterday was there too. I feel he was waiting for me. I took the usual 493, he followed me too. I was bit scared, thinking him to be like usual guys who follow every other girl. But he is not like others, he came near my seat and asked whether he could sit next to me. I nodded in affirmation. He is working in some company, I don’t remember the name, it was written on his i-card, his name is Rahul Sharma, I remember that. He is decent looking and seems to be having a good job. I got down at my stop in Noida, and took an auto to the college.

13th September 2008:

RAHUL:
By the time I reached, Bus no.493 was already there, I took my position behind the tea stall, waiting for her. She came from Kalka temple side. She was looking even more beautiful than yesterday. I was dreaming about her whole day yesterday, I don’t know what has happened to me. Am I falling in love? She went in to the bus I followed her, she had taken the seat right behind the driver’s but the seat next to her was occupied. I stood there. She seemed to have noticed me. But she didn’t look at me. She was looking outside the window. The bus reached Noida, we got down and like yesterday she took an auto and went. I walked towards my office.

ASHA:
He was there again, I saw him. But didn’t look at him, I didn’t want to give any signal to him. The bus was half filled when I entered the bus. But I took the seat behind the driver’s as it had another passenger an elderly woman already sitting, I was hoping he would find a seat for himself and sit somewhere else. But he didn’t, he rather stayed there. It’s nice to get attention of a guy but I am a bit nervous. Only I know the secret...

My visit to Lucknow

A train journey atlast. Its been more than a couple of years when I last been on a train. Time crunch and long distances have all contributed to me not being able to take a train journey. But the opportunity came, when we were to visit Lucknow for Manisha’s wedding.

Tickets were booked in advance and we were ready to hit to road, rather tracks. The wedding was on 28th and we had booked our tickets for 27th. Nupur and me were to meet at the station itself. It was KKR match night and I didn’t want to miss the match. But the KKR guys are so accommodating, they played to their potential and by 10th over the match was decided. I rushed to the station and reached well before time. That’s the good thing about the Indian Railways they always have a hedging with the time. So you can never be late.

Nupur reached soon after and as we settled in, the train moved and we were on our way to Lucknow. Night was of course dedicated to some office talks and some planning for the next day,. We talked into the wee hours of the morning and then slept took over and we were deeply into our sleeps. The train was 2 hours late and we reached Lucknow around 9 am. Fatima and her sister, Mariam, were there to pick us. Mariam enlightened us with her knowledge on politics and Mayawati. We reached their place, had our breakfast there. Some hot jalebis, breads, butter and makhan… what a breakfast. Jalebi anytime is welcome. So breakfast was done and now we were to move to Manisha’s wedding venue. Rajesh never says no to food and therefore when he was offered breakfast once again he didn’t shy away. All full he lied down and slept.

By the time he woke up, it was 1 pm. We were running late, we needed to go to Rahul’s place and in a new city its always a tough task to find a proper location. After much search and research we were able to find his place. We were served what I call a deliciously homely lunch, I think Rahul’s mom would be right up there in my top 5 all time fav cooks. She definitely made me eat till I die. Thanks Aunty the food was simply great. We were dead tired by then and so we fell on the bed and slept.

We woke up at 5:30 pm. I was new to the city and had asked Hadia, Fatima’s sis, to show me the city. So she did exactly that. She picked me up and we roamed around the nawabi city. It’s the culture of the city that you can see in every single person you meet. By the time we were done it was evening and time to rush to the wedding and that’s exactly what we did. Our stay at the wedding was brief as we had to take a late night train to Delhi. So we left the venue before the wedding take place and reached the station in time. The journey back home was quite, as we fell asleep even before the wheels moved.
It was a great journey I must say. One day is not enough to know Lucknow and therefore we might be revisiting the place, the culture, the people and the food will always pull us to this city, again and again… One of my most memorable journeys.