Ginger & Cardamom

A new Story on the Story blog. You can read it here or through the link on the top menu.

It feels really good to be in Pune, especially when I spent two awesome years of my life here in this city. The best part of the student life is that it attaches you big time to the city. You leave a part of yours when you move out, Pune is same to me. Irrespective of 1001 complaints you will receive about it whether the traffic which never seems to be in order, or the potholes which seem to outnumber the number of roads in the city or the rains which show a deep influence from Jim Carrey’s Mast yelling all the time ‘Somebody Stop Me!!!’ or now the latest politician on the block Mr. Raj Thackrey and his lingual biases. Despite all this my love for this city is something which is constant, you can attribute it to weather, the crowd anything but for sake of my comfort I would say I have spent two best years of my life right here. A few days ago I was actually contemplating where to have dinner, was not really sure where I wanted to have my dinner and what I wanted to eat. When me & Sumeet passed what used to be our college building one and a half years ago. I saw the NCC canteen was still open and I immediately pulled over.

As I climbed down the stairs of the canteen, a feeling of Nostalgia hit me. Nothing had changed there. The seats were the same, the students were scattered and the conversations regarding tests, subjects, movies were going amidst thick layers of cigarette smoke (yes I know the sticks are banned, but you can’t stop the kids. Not in their college canteen, absolutely not. More coming on the ban in my next post) It just seemed that we have moved further away. A realization that the places don’t change we are the ones who change; I saw this was the place where I used to have my daily lunch for two years. I actually relished the canteen food after the long lectures and hardships of deadlines and assignments, today I would not think of visiting a place like this. Yes, I am quite a snob when it comes to places to eat and watching movies I do not like any place which lacks proper ambience. But the college canteen despite nowhere close to the places I prefer to eat in was something made me feel home. The surprises came in the form of people, Ganesh Anna the manager & cashier of the place, Chandu and other waiters and chefs recognizing us immediately. Coming up to us talking being concerned how we are doing. We ordered our food and as soon as we did and the waiter narrated the order to the Chef. The manager shouted back at the chef “Ache se banana, Bhai ka khana hai” (prepare the food well, it is for our brother). A feeling swept in that how respect worthy & important we were for this guy. How we sat in the place like we owned it, no formalities, nothing doing absolutely like a king. No 5 star in this world could match that, having eaten in best of the places but the kind of treatment was irreplaceable.

Now I fully understand when DJ (Amir Khan) says in Rang De Basanti “Mujhe University main hi rehna hai. University main apni ek aukaat hai. Log kehte hai DJ main badi baat hai kuch karega DJ. Universtiy ke gate ke is paar hum life ko nachate hai aur gate ke us par life humko nachati hai” (I want to remain in the university only. Inside the University I have a standing, people say DJ has something special about him, they know me who I am. They say I will achieve one day. On the insides of the gates we make the life dance on our tunes on the other side of the gate life makes us dance on her tunes).

I have had parties which have amounted more than my entire expenses at the NNC canteen for months. But still those restaurant people won’t even know what my name is. But is NCC canteen main, ithe to apni kuch aukaat hai. Log Jaante hai mainnu yahan par. (in this NCC canteen I have my own standings people know me here). NCC rocks!!!

Ever since I have developed a fascination for books authors have been a part of conversations around me. Until today my perception of an author used to be of some kind of celebrity, some what like the Katrinas and Shahrukhs of the world. We all know they exist and in real, but they seem to live in a different world. When I got an opportunity to attend the book launch (for the first time in my life) in form of an invite for the launch of 34 Bubblegums and Candies, the first book from the author Preeti Shenoy, I grabbed it with both the hands.

My excitement to meet live with an author, who I used to follow through her blog, took me to the destined place well one and a half hours in advance to ensure I didn’t even a single minute of it. I walked in the crosswords and saw her books being displayed on the showcase. I picked the book in my hands and felt the cover page and the back page details which I had been seeing on the website on actual paper as a book. I kept the book down as I didn’t want to read it before the launch actually happened. I wanted to hear the author and her feelings for her first book before diluting her reactions with my own perception of the book.

The launch started at the predetermined time and in came the person who was very much a normal human being and changed my perception of authors. I was expecting someone with a somewhat stylish Brit accent indicating the flawless English usage and pronunciations. A minute of conversation dawned on me the realities of an author. The launch was triggered by her introduction and a welcome note by the crosswords team.  

The launch was presided by Anuja, sharing the dais with Preeti, who in words of Preeti herself is one of the most energy spreading people she knew and also fostered a passion for Preeti’s writings. She started her address with the answer to the question which was haunting everyone’s mind, what made her traverse the journey from being a blogger to becoming an author. She talked about how a sudden and unfortunate turn of events made her realize the value of every days in her life and more the value of our life being lost every day because we fail to live up to it. She also added how the snippets or experiences of our lives are perfect analogies with bubblegums and cadies and helped her derive the name and concept of her book 34 Bubblegums and Candies.  

Preeti concluded with reading an excerpt from the book. After which another excerpt was read by Anuja and her experience with the author and how she could correlate with the book and could swan how the every bubblegum and candy in the book has come out straight from the heart of the author. The ceremony was drawn towards the end with some games and an interactive question answer session with the author herself. The ceremony marked it closure with the signing of the books by the author.

What stole the entire show and made it so special for the guests and the author herself was the gesture by Atul & Purvi, for whom the author is a full-time devoted mother of two. They made very cute little bookmarks for the guests present in the launch and personalizing them for each one of them. You can read about the entire effort put in by the kids here, by Preeti herself. I being the lucky one got one of the bookmarks, which says “Dear Prateek, Thanks for buying my mom’s Book.  By Atul and Purvi”

@ Atul & Purvi: The bookmark is awesome. I will always keep it with me to remind me of you two.

Attending this book launch was an amazing experience for me specially to realize how the heart of an author goes in every page of the book to actually make it happen. How some unfortunate incidents can be changed by a person’s outlook to create something positive and meaningful out of them.  There were lot of moments where I could actually connect with the author and also feel the inspiration and inhalation out of the book. The most engaging part of the ceremony was when Preeti read a chapter on Radiators & Drains. She talked on glimpses of people around us, how there are radiators who emit constant positive energy spreading a feel good around us and then there are drains which actually feed on our own energy and exist only to pull us down. The chapter concluded on how one should surround himself with Radiators and avoid drains. This one was a certainly the bubble gum for me, I have been thinking of it since the moment I have heard it and read it and then re-read it.

Two questions which actually float my mind are not about radiators and drains around me. The question is about me am I a radiator or a drain? If I need can I change myself to be one or the other by efforts or being a radiator or drain is imbibed through our genes? And more importantly is a radiator emitting energy at all points of time in all moods and in all situations? I have my own perceptions to these questions but no definite answers. I am not sure if there are any.

P.S.: I have read the whole book cover to cover already within 2 hours of the launch. Initial feedback is if you like non fiction without any storyline; this one is worth reading and every word of it. A detailed review will come later after chewing the multiple bubblegums & digesting the sweet candies.

 

This was a tag started by Bhai with Chai and I read it first on Nidhi’s Blog. This is not a proper tag and how it has been propagated is a different story. The idea was to relate it to incidents happened to you correlating these values, Bhai wanted to us to pick up one value, Nidhi didn’t specified to do so. So to make this post a bit of my kind I will skip the stories which just might sound like the MiracleNet televesion where they come up with sound like he is so humble etc etc.

I tried to think a lot and I remembered a lot of stories correlating to a lot of values have actually made me think of about them in a particular way. I will try to put in words what I think of these values which more or less define a moral scorecard of a person. The readers are cautioned that the post is produced by yours truly’s cynical self. So it represents the biased view of the world and is not meant to be taken too seriously.

1. Respect: is like short selling you have to spend before you can earn any.

2. Flexibility: is the argument to make you do things you didn’t wanted to in the first place.

3. Love: is like a Long Island Ice Tea; a very quick and elongated emotional high.

4. Trust: is the first step for getting betrayed

5. Confidence: is the thin rope lining for one to balance. Need just the right amount; over or under and you’re gone

6. Generosity: is the sentiment of the bullish markets where everyone feels they are rich.

7. Mercy: is the virtue which can be only possessed by the powerful

8. Obedience: Is the fear of crossing the line & the consequences of it.

9. Patience: glorified procrastination

10. Caring: is the feeling which makes you a child again.

11. Assertiveness: is a way to say no in a way that people like it.

12. Forgiveness: is the inability to take actions against.

13. Excellence: is a perennial tryst where the bar is always raised up and above.

14. Responsibility: is one which generally precedes the blame.

15. Orderliness: Monica Chandler Bing!!!!!

16. Justice: Capitalism

17. Enthusiasm: is a depreciating asset, enthusiasm for most part loses its value with time.

18. Honesty: or Truth is the bully we all pretend to like (From Shantaram)

19. Peace: George Bush & Laden locked in the same room

20. Creativity: is immeasurable and non comparable

21. Honor : Ability to stand up for own respect.

22. Humility: is the hot IPO which everyone wants to subscribe and sell it as soon as it lists. Only few buy & hold.

23. Reliability: is the ability to stand up for other’s expectation.

24. Detatchment: is moving on in life without being tied to possessions and peoples

25. Unity: is a virtue which surfaces in the tough times.

It is a very sad state of affairs when you write something romantic and you have no one to dedicate it to. Enough insights of my romantic life, so here I dedicate this poem to all the lovely ladies on whom I have had crushes on any point of time, to all the cute chicks with whom I have or tried to flirt at any point of time in my life and especially to those who have had or expressed a fickle of romantic interest in me. So all the damsels (okies; married woman too) this one is for-

YOU
Whispers of your voice echoing in my breath,
The sounds of your silence loose me in their depth,
The reflections of innocence in your eyes,
Leaves me wondering; to steal glances or to pry.

The shimmer of your smile makes my heart skip a beat,
The chimes of your laughter and my mind loses the streak,
The healing touch of your hands,
Sends down in me innocuous breathless pangs.

The rhythm of your walk makes the music of my heart beats,
The tinge of your sparkling earrings makes the language I speak,
Your batting eyelashes showing the glances of glory,
Keeps me alive on the hope to live my own dream and story.

Destiny tells me; my roots would be you giving life to the tree,
Enticing my trapped soul to wander and be free,
Sparkling light would be you for shadows of darkness on me,
Little drops of joy on the deserts you would be.

The wait for changing seasons is the fate of the sowed,
The desire for your loving glance and every moment it grows,
I know your destined to habitate my heart’s abandoned city
For that moment of love I will, I will wait for you till eternity.

Recently I was to shift base from Hyderabad to Pune for a period of three months. All those who are exclaiming in the shrill piercing baritones “AGAIN!!!!”. Yes my dear friends yet again and this time to take some enjoyment out of this transfer process and during the course of the transfer; I decided drive from Hyderbad to Pune. Though my mom freaked out on the idea and her constant pestering made me hire a driver for the route. But I drove all the way from Pune and the driver was a jerk who made my trip a disaster.

I was supposed to traverse the green route and he made me drive on the Red one which had not eating joints in the middle. Being the non highway road the ride was very very bumpy for some Km. I actually drove the first five hundred kms without the break. You jerk if you are reading this you lucky that I didn’t killed you for this. I took you for navigation and directions and that where you screw up. I don’t like this.

But the whole experience of driving on such a journey all alone and such a stretch was just awesome, When I entered Pune I was starved exhausted and almost dead. But still I loved the trip.Life ROcks

I have decided to change the about me section of my Blog. I was quiet a bored of the present one which has been there since the inception of this blog. It was actually relevant till I was doing my post graduation but then more out of laziness I just added one line to make it relate to my current phase of life. However Now that I have decided that I will be making this as my personal blog, I decided to remove the professional me out of here. So here goes what used to be About me in my Blog-
A lone son, an argumentative Indian, A loyal freind, an ardent admirer, a dreamer, a believer, and an egoist. Went through the process of being an nasty engineer, and a cynical MBA. Now a k(NO)w-it-all IT Consultant

To replace this I came up with this-

I am someone,
I am the lost page from the chronicles of Time,
I am the lost note of the music divine,
I am the lost aroma which is fleeting smell,
I am the lost piece which the Jigsaw puzzle compels,
I am the lost word which completed the book of truth,
I am the lost map for the fountain of youth,
I am the lost droplet in raindrops & dew,
I am the lost breath fighting for survival,
I am the lost civilization hoping revivals,
I am the lost king amidst the battle,
I am the lost spectator in this babble,
I am the lost soul searching eternity,
I am the lost link of the human fraternity,
I am someone.

But then I ended it on a very different note.