I had been to shopping yesterday and bought a week's food and stuff. In the UK, its all self dependency: "you choose, you buy, you swipe and you pay." A very few are the people around, but those are profound to help and assist.
The malls are huge and almost have everything at one place, from the delicious pastries to the tissue rolls to wipe our asses. When I look at the cats' and dogs' food section, I feel someday the world would be such a social place that these malls would have food sections for ants till lions and elephants. Then there would be a wide scope for architects, civil engineers, product designers to design things for size of the elephants. The toilets would be equal to the size of the malls to accommodate elephants in them.
You take a trolley, and enter the mall, initiated with automatic doors. The sections starts with oranges in fruits and ends straight down to baby nappies. The complete mall comprehends CCTV cameras inside and outside of the mall, maybe to catch a hungry bastard, irresistible to keep the food outside his stomach. Initially, I was prone to be one of those bastards, because of the long walk inside the mall and seductive food sections, which make it almost impossible to keep the food packed. Lately, to avoid being caught, I go for shopping after having a heavy meal.
I've learnt a lot of things since I've started the food shopping. What to buy, how much to buy, what not to buy and when to buy. Its like performing a research project in consumer psychology, involving just myself.
Initially I used to shop without any planning and it would cost me a lot of time. Twenty minutes of walk to the mall, an hour wandering around to look stuff than buying, and wasting money on biscuits and chocolates on a hungry stomach, and finally regretting the buying of biscuits after eating the whole packet while walking back. Now, I make a list, eat a heavy meal and then leave for shopping. 'Heavy meal' is important, because if I just have a meal, I get hungry while walking around in the mall.
The worst problems when you go for shopping without a meal, in a hungry stomach are: you buy more than you need, which wastes money; you need more carry bags, ecological problems; you carry more than you can physically bear and eventually make a taxi back your home, which is a waste of money and deep regression as you're about to finish a packet of biscuits after your tummy is full. These are factual statements, tested and tried out on myself, by myself for myself.
I desperately miss the Indian grocery stores, supermarkets and malls. I remember my parents used to take me to the 'Tulshi baug' and 'Laxmi road' (these are the places in Pune where you can get all the things on Earth and learn the money saving techniques of Puneties). I think bargaining was invented and founded in Pune, by the 'Sadashiv Pethies' ('Sadashiv Peth', an area in Pune) and eventually spread the art all across the city.
Although the trip used to be tiring the fun creates homesickness in my mind. It used to be a picnic more than shopping. The salted peanuts, spicy 'Bhel', 'Paani Poori', and the ice cream while coming back with the load of material, each bought in discount, and the breath of relief and satisfaction after returning home is still pretty fresh in my mind. I still remember the loud cry of my brother and me for buying toys. Sometimes we used to get a toy, but it also depended on the mood of my parents. Sometimes it would end up in a slap. It was a complete freedom, without any tension of money, dad was always there to care.
Now the new shopping culture is gradually getting deployed in the Indian retail genre. Trolleys are replacing the hands holding their little ones. The art of bargain is on the verge of extinction and self payments through debit and credit cards are on high. All in one, everything at once, saves a heck of a lot of time but is it satisfying and fun, is still a question.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A musical drive
I drew this illustration while listening to music. I wanted it to feel like a musical journey. I hope it makes sense.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friends part 3.2
Sid and me were the first two of the six of us. The others are Mayuresh, Mandar, Tejas and Bhushan. We all had pulsar dtsi 150s and used to boast attitudes while on road for no reason. Our enthusiasm has no bondage. From emotions till brotherhood(bhaigiri) we always find a chance to enjoy ourselves.
Once I remember, we all were at Sid's place and Sid's brother came in running as some drunkards were behind him for some reason. We all went down on our banyans and pyjamas for a chance to satisfy our scratchy hands. But all was in vain. They had fled away till we reached down. I think they must have seen us coming. We all look quite healthy due to our bulkiness. We all weighed above 70 kilos and averaged of 5'9" of height. I suppose they saw us coming together.
We had weird names for each other. I am still searching a dictionary having their meanings. I am called 'Betrya', Sid is called 'Bolan Bol', Mayuresh is called 'Rapa Rap', Tejas is called 'Basla', Mandar is called 'Bevdya', and Bhushan is called 'Nari'.
Except Sid and me, we all weren't quite good friends in school. But as if it was destined, we came together after departing to our own ways. We came closer and closer until we became a compound of the chemicals used in 'Fevicol'. I remember, me and Mandya weren't best friends in school at all. Mandar had hit my head in school and I was crying as it had started paining. But thanks to him, I got a half day off from school.
Mayuresh is an enthusiast in physical activities. He is always eager in eating, trekking, exercise, biking, etc. I simply admire his commitment towards us. I recall when he had once just returned from Nashik, after his ass busting journey on his bike. Instead of going home, he directly came to the 31st Dec. night party. He was always influenced by army and wanted to be in the Indian army, but he couldn't make it there.
The best thing I recall about Mayuresh, when we're together, is his non-reactive face in our night-out parties. All of us would split his ass on a single topic every time, and that was one of his girl friend's emotional torture. He always used to entertain her in spite that we all and Mayuresh knew he would get a more better looking girl than her. He was and always is speechless on this topic. Tejas is the man who always initiates the topic.
Tejas is more a moody person than an enthusiast. He's a great ignorant of his other friends except the 5 of us. His patent statement, "I'll call you in a couple of minutes" is by heart to us. We knew the meaning and hence we never expected his call after this statement. He is an easygoing person but can sometimes stuck on one wrong thing of yours, resulting in your mental torture and the profit of the telecom service. He'd call you after short intervals until his anger is cooled down. The worst thing of Tejas, to be scared of, is his cricket shots. His eyes have no relation to the ball and his bat is destined to hit or die situation.
Mandar was always a shy, quiet person in our group. We all used to discuss in his absence about the reasons of his calmness and how we can make him express himself. He's a brilliant in mathematics and logical things but only till the academic part. He's the most bullied guy in our group, and he tolerates it only for us. He's now started cracking boring jokes, expecting us to laugh out loud.
Bhushan is the shortest guy in our group, in a sarcastic sense. He is always boasting himself up, but not with us. He is the most enthusiastic person in our group for hard drinks. He is quite straightforward and an intelligent freak.
I remember when we had been to Lonavala for 3 days, those were the most cherish-able moments of my life. We had a lot of funcohol, I mean fun and alcohol. It was my first time to get sloshed away with drinks. I was feeling like I am walking in a virtual environment, kinda video game, when we went outside for a walk in the midnight around 3 am.
We all are freaks and we don't have anything planned in our parties or hangouts. The best moments in our lives were when we used to do all the financial calculations for hours and none of them were successful. Some of us would then had to pull out excess money to save washing the dishes. I remember the day when we returned from Lonavala, we had around 5-10 Rs each kept safely for the bus tickets. But now all are working and wouldn't mind spending thousands of rupees in funcohol.
In all of us, only Tejas is committed and I am the experienced, kinda having a degree in girlfriend management as being in a relationship for 3.5 years. Sid also has a short experience of having a girlfriend, but his was like a two month certificate program. We all adore and respect Tejas's relationship. Mayuresh is in desperate search, and Mandar is out of the love, relationship scenario.
These characters are a metaphorical representation of my life. I am desperately waiting for the next funcohol.
from L to R
Bhushan, Mandar, Siddharth, Mayuresh, Me, Tejas
Once I remember, we all were at Sid's place and Sid's brother came in running as some drunkards were behind him for some reason. We all went down on our banyans and pyjamas for a chance to satisfy our scratchy hands. But all was in vain. They had fled away till we reached down. I think they must have seen us coming. We all look quite healthy due to our bulkiness. We all weighed above 70 kilos and averaged of 5'9" of height. I suppose they saw us coming together.
We had weird names for each other. I am still searching a dictionary having their meanings. I am called 'Betrya', Sid is called 'Bolan Bol', Mayuresh is called 'Rapa Rap', Tejas is called 'Basla', Mandar is called 'Bevdya', and Bhushan is called 'Nari'.
Except Sid and me, we all weren't quite good friends in school. But as if it was destined, we came together after departing to our own ways. We came closer and closer until we became a compound of the chemicals used in 'Fevicol'. I remember, me and Mandya weren't best friends in school at all. Mandar had hit my head in school and I was crying as it had started paining. But thanks to him, I got a half day off from school.
Mayuresh is an enthusiast in physical activities. He is always eager in eating, trekking, exercise, biking, etc. I simply admire his commitment towards us. I recall when he had once just returned from Nashik, after his ass busting journey on his bike. Instead of going home, he directly came to the 31st Dec. night party. He was always influenced by army and wanted to be in the Indian army, but he couldn't make it there.
The best thing I recall about Mayuresh, when we're together, is his non-reactive face in our night-out parties. All of us would split his ass on a single topic every time, and that was one of his girl friend's emotional torture. He always used to entertain her in spite that we all and Mayuresh knew he would get a more better looking girl than her. He was and always is speechless on this topic. Tejas is the man who always initiates the topic.
Tejas is more a moody person than an enthusiast. He's a great ignorant of his other friends except the 5 of us. His patent statement, "I'll call you in a couple of minutes" is by heart to us. We knew the meaning and hence we never expected his call after this statement. He is an easygoing person but can sometimes stuck on one wrong thing of yours, resulting in your mental torture and the profit of the telecom service. He'd call you after short intervals until his anger is cooled down. The worst thing of Tejas, to be scared of, is his cricket shots. His eyes have no relation to the ball and his bat is destined to hit or die situation.
Mandar was always a shy, quiet person in our group. We all used to discuss in his absence about the reasons of his calmness and how we can make him express himself. He's a brilliant in mathematics and logical things but only till the academic part. He's the most bullied guy in our group, and he tolerates it only for us. He's now started cracking boring jokes, expecting us to laugh out loud.
Bhushan is the shortest guy in our group, in a sarcastic sense. He is always boasting himself up, but not with us. He is the most enthusiastic person in our group for hard drinks. He is quite straightforward and an intelligent freak.
I remember when we had been to Lonavala for 3 days, those were the most cherish-able moments of my life. We had a lot of funcohol, I mean fun and alcohol. It was my first time to get sloshed away with drinks. I was feeling like I am walking in a virtual environment, kinda video game, when we went outside for a walk in the midnight around 3 am.
We all are freaks and we don't have anything planned in our parties or hangouts. The best moments in our lives were when we used to do all the financial calculations for hours and none of them were successful. Some of us would then had to pull out excess money to save washing the dishes. I remember the day when we returned from Lonavala, we had around 5-10 Rs each kept safely for the bus tickets. But now all are working and wouldn't mind spending thousands of rupees in funcohol.
In all of us, only Tejas is committed and I am the experienced, kinda having a degree in girlfriend management as being in a relationship for 3.5 years. Sid also has a short experience of having a girlfriend, but his was like a two month certificate program. We all adore and respect Tejas's relationship. Mayuresh is in desperate search, and Mandar is out of the love, relationship scenario.
These characters are a metaphorical representation of my life. I am desperately waiting for the next funcohol.
from L to R
Bhushan, Mandar, Siddharth, Mayuresh, Me, Tejas
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Rubbish n quick illustration
This is a rubbish and quick illustration about 'online social networking'
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friends part 3.1: The six gems
This is one more glimpse to the nostalgic memory lane in the city of my life. We are six, rocking, sturdy guys extricating fun from our lives. Stating us as rocking and sturdy has an evidence and its not a boast.
The lane starts with our school days, it starts with my langotiya yaar, Siddharth. We were the bestest friends since birth. The only distant thing between us is age, a couple of months, nothing else. We first met when I was nine months old and he was six. It was the occasion of Haldi Kunku at my home, when his mom had come to visit my place. I cannot remember our chat that time, I guess it would have been a recitation of a couple of vowels like aaaaeeeeiiiiioooouuuuu, as most of the infants do. The next time it was a general visit to each other's places as we also used to stay quite close-by.
In school we used to sit besides each other, ate our lunch together, and play together as well. I still remember that he always used to bully me and make fun of me, and that was always related to my studies and my lack of interest in sports. We never had a fight on that issue, and he still does that. I knew and I still know that all that he did was to help me realise my potential and be a sturdy guy in school. I still remember, it was my 1st grade, when he admonished me to beat up a guy who was making fun of me. I had beaten up the first person in my life. As days passed on and as we reached higher grades, I was quite strong and well in academics.
I still remember, we used to sleep during boring periods in spite of sitting on the first bench. There was a technique, keep your hands on the sides of your eyes, rest the elbows on the desk and put the related textbook between the elbows. Now we used to close our eyes. It appeared as if we were reading notes, but we were actually fast asleep. The interval bell was our alarm.
We also used to steal chalks from the teacher's desk and we had around 200 (approx.) chalks at the end of the year. We used to bully a thin guy from our class and we had also complained that he stole all the chalks. We used to push each other from the desk and empower ourselves. The best thing I still remember was, two of us had started planting trees in our school ground after a lecture by some ecologist. We used our water bags to pour water everyday in the recess.
We both were die-hard fans of the Batman cartoon serial on cartoon network and that was the prime topic of our discussion after reaching school each day. We were so influenced by the powers of batman that we had also planned to start our own detective agency, post graduation. We planned work schedule, finances and strategies to make the country a better place. The name of our project was HB. We had sketched how our costume would look like and the secret weapons in it. It was a top secret for us. We used to exercise hard everyday, measure our biceps and count the repetitions.
We used different unique telephone etiquette. We used to blow air and make a kind of farting sound on the speaker instead of saying hello. This started when we learned about the invention of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and also discovered about the early telephone etiquette.
We separated for our careers in different streams after school, but our friendship's track didn't go separate ways. I can compare it with a rail track, which is always equally distant from each other but still goes parallel till the end. This distance can be stated as freedom or independence. We never enforced our views on each other. We gave each other the respect for our own views and also well understood our needs from each other.
We always had fun together. We rode Sid's bike at 80 kph on the busy streets of FC road just to reach a movie on time. 75% out of all the movies I have seen, were with Sid. Once we disobeyed 5 signals, we tricked 3 policemen and we exceeded the normal speed limits to 80-85 kph, on our Pulsar DTSi 150s, on the busy streets of the city in the morning at 9 am, just to watch Die Hard 4. We were influenced by iron man and recalled our HB memories. We laughed in the theatre loudly while watching Dhoom 2. We recently invented 4th, 5th and 6th law of gravity after contradicting Newton existing laws. Those laws are high in vulgarity and hence cannot be elaborated here.
He was always there for me whenever, wherever I needed him. Just a call away was the distance. He would just put behind his existing work, degrading its importance if I am in any trouble. The only worst thing is when he's angry. He won't speak a word, pick up a call and hide somewhere when I go at his place. He would take his time to calm down and then put a message, full of emotions and bitterness. This was for me only. If someone else, not amongst his friends-list, is a victim of his anger that person would never ever dare to call or meet him again. Sid would either beat him up or if its a girl she'd have a neat firing of words. That also doesn't mean that he's rude to others. He's just right at the right moment.
We never cribbed nor we sought or boasted our friendship in front of each other and others. Its an unspoken, unwritten understanding between us. We are HB, the Hardy Boys.
To be continued...
The lane starts with our school days, it starts with my langotiya yaar, Siddharth. We were the bestest friends since birth. The only distant thing between us is age, a couple of months, nothing else. We first met when I was nine months old and he was six. It was the occasion of Haldi Kunku at my home, when his mom had come to visit my place. I cannot remember our chat that time, I guess it would have been a recitation of a couple of vowels like aaaaeeeeiiiiioooouuuuu, as most of the infants do. The next time it was a general visit to each other's places as we also used to stay quite close-by.
In school we used to sit besides each other, ate our lunch together, and play together as well. I still remember that he always used to bully me and make fun of me, and that was always related to my studies and my lack of interest in sports. We never had a fight on that issue, and he still does that. I knew and I still know that all that he did was to help me realise my potential and be a sturdy guy in school. I still remember, it was my 1st grade, when he admonished me to beat up a guy who was making fun of me. I had beaten up the first person in my life. As days passed on and as we reached higher grades, I was quite strong and well in academics.
I still remember, we used to sleep during boring periods in spite of sitting on the first bench. There was a technique, keep your hands on the sides of your eyes, rest the elbows on the desk and put the related textbook between the elbows. Now we used to close our eyes. It appeared as if we were reading notes, but we were actually fast asleep. The interval bell was our alarm.
We also used to steal chalks from the teacher's desk and we had around 200 (approx.) chalks at the end of the year. We used to bully a thin guy from our class and we had also complained that he stole all the chalks. We used to push each other from the desk and empower ourselves. The best thing I still remember was, two of us had started planting trees in our school ground after a lecture by some ecologist. We used our water bags to pour water everyday in the recess.
We both were die-hard fans of the Batman cartoon serial on cartoon network and that was the prime topic of our discussion after reaching school each day. We were so influenced by the powers of batman that we had also planned to start our own detective agency, post graduation. We planned work schedule, finances and strategies to make the country a better place. The name of our project was HB. We had sketched how our costume would look like and the secret weapons in it. It was a top secret for us. We used to exercise hard everyday, measure our biceps and count the repetitions.
We used different unique telephone etiquette. We used to blow air and make a kind of farting sound on the speaker instead of saying hello. This started when we learned about the invention of telephone by Alexander Graham Bell and also discovered about the early telephone etiquette.
We separated for our careers in different streams after school, but our friendship's track didn't go separate ways. I can compare it with a rail track, which is always equally distant from each other but still goes parallel till the end. This distance can be stated as freedom or independence. We never enforced our views on each other. We gave each other the respect for our own views and also well understood our needs from each other.
We always had fun together. We rode Sid's bike at 80 kph on the busy streets of FC road just to reach a movie on time. 75% out of all the movies I have seen, were with Sid. Once we disobeyed 5 signals, we tricked 3 policemen and we exceeded the normal speed limits to 80-85 kph, on our Pulsar DTSi 150s, on the busy streets of the city in the morning at 9 am, just to watch Die Hard 4. We were influenced by iron man and recalled our HB memories. We laughed in the theatre loudly while watching Dhoom 2. We recently invented 4th, 5th and 6th law of gravity after contradicting Newton existing laws. Those laws are high in vulgarity and hence cannot be elaborated here.
He was always there for me whenever, wherever I needed him. Just a call away was the distance. He would just put behind his existing work, degrading its importance if I am in any trouble. The only worst thing is when he's angry. He won't speak a word, pick up a call and hide somewhere when I go at his place. He would take his time to calm down and then put a message, full of emotions and bitterness. This was for me only. If someone else, not amongst his friends-list, is a victim of his anger that person would never ever dare to call or meet him again. Sid would either beat him up or if its a girl she'd have a neat firing of words. That also doesn't mean that he's rude to others. He's just right at the right moment.
We never cribbed nor we sought or boasted our friendship in front of each other and others. Its an unspoken, unwritten understanding between us. We are HB, the Hardy Boys.
To be continued...
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Illustrating lectures
I was concentrating on the lectures and at the same time conceptualising and executing illustrative visuals of my gained knowledge in those lectures. Following are my illustrations. Critics are welcome.
^ This one was during a lecture on academic writing and journalistic writing differences. So a viable caption for this illustration would be "Writing."
^ This is an illustration done during a lecture on designing innovative research. So a feasible caption for this would be "Research".
^ This one was a pass time illustration with no specific motive. It directly came out of my mind, through my hands on to the paper, without giving my mind the time space to think.
^ This one was during a lecture on academic writing and journalistic writing differences. So a viable caption for this illustration would be "Writing."
^ This is an illustration done during a lecture on designing innovative research. So a feasible caption for this would be "Research".
^ This one was a pass time illustration with no specific motive. It directly came out of my mind, through my hands on to the paper, without giving my mind the time space to think.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Friends Part 2 - The Fighters
I am continuing another set of nostalgic memories with my classmates. I should rather publish a book instead of writing this blog, as those memories are vast.
You would think why the name "fighters"? the mystery behind this heading is that this story again has three main characters including me, rather best buddies from my class in Abhinav College, Sahil and Abhishek. Basically, we were die-hard fans of Arnie(Arnold Shwazzeneger), and Sylvy(Sylvester Stalone). We always used to compare ourselves with each other and boast our muscles. My muscles were all hidden under excess fat, still trying to convince myself that no, something's still present inside. I still remember ourselves bluffing, Abhya and me used to bluff like rabbits are discussing how to eat a lion. Abhya was once boasting that, all the busses, on a bus stop he was standing, were forced back a couple of miles due to his sneeze. I was not a noble listener to his bluff and in my reply I told him that the earth rotates because I walk and jog everyday. We both used to have these chats in front of Sahil and I can still remember his expressions. We knew, we were childish, immature but the fun and humour was our bond. We didn't care how many people are listening to this rubbish. We were always happy.
Abhya is a bit darker in his complexion but lighter in heart. He was a muscular hunk in our class, full of rage and anger. I still remember his eyes when he had a quarrel with a guy. But gradually he changed, rather gained maturity with time and is more patient, calm than ever, now. We met in my first year, as destined to be best buddies we never had a quarrel, though a few misunderstandings were apparent as everybody does. But those never mattered in our friendship.
The best thing in our lives, I would never ever forget is that we were Karan and Arjun, from Rakesh Roshan's hit film "Karan Arjun". Abhya was Karan and I was Arjun. I still remember, everyday when we arrived in the college and saw each other, we used to pull our sleeves up in a disguise of checking something tattooed on our forearms, like the scenes in old bollywood flicks, and then shout loudly "Bhaiiya"(Brother). I used to shout, "Bhaiiya Karan"(Brother Karan) and he used to say " Bhaiiya Arjun" (Brother Arjun), resulting in a hug. We were supposed to be departed brothers from the so called "Kumbh ka mela". Sahil was our "bichda hua"(departed) third brother. We still do that when we meet.
Once, Abhya called me for a cd of windows xp. I didn't have it but I was reluctant to say no directly, so in a humorous tone I asked him to call and ask Billu(Bill Gates). His response was out of the world, the most gut-busting thing I have ever heard. He simply said that Billu himself had borrowed a pirated cd of Windows 98 from him yesterday. We were laughing for around 15 minutes on the phone. We also used to have giggly fights on comparison of his muscles and my fat. When ever he used to show his biceps after rejoining the gym, I used to call them as pimples. Both Sahil and Abhya used to call my belly fat as a huge packet of biscuits resting down, waiting for the right moment to tighten up.
We were, insane, inhuman and brutal sometimes in our humour. I still remember, we had ruined the names of all the people in our class. We had started calling all the girls, modifying their names to male names and modifying guys' names into girls'. For instance, I was called Ketaki, Abhya was Abhilasha and Sahil was Sayali. In girls, Amruta was Amrut, Sneha and Shrutika were called Suryakant1 and 2 recpectively and so on. Our final examination, the last examination of our group was hilarious, full of fun and serious, sincere work as well. Even if we busted all the people in our class with prankish comments, we never exceeded our limits.
Sahil, we call him, Sandu. He is a dude, a fine artist, in spite of being lazy and a procrastinator he was always the best in academics. Me and Sahil had one thing in common, we never attended classes on time. On an average we used to be 1-2 hours late. Once we weren't allowed to sit for the mid term examination as we had not managed according to the college timetable. We were simply following our own timetable. The next day, without any interruption in our personal schedule we were a bit early. The first day was 2.5 hours late, but the next day we were 2 hours late. Our professor was astonished by our courtesy to come half an hour early. He was full of anger, frustration and anxiety as well. He didn't know that we were fighters, we didn't even spare our graduation exam. There we used to be 10-15 minutes late, though it was much better than earlier.
Sahil and his Ambition. Don't get me wrong, ambition is his 135 cc, Honda bike, which suffered more than those starving africans. Sahil was an expert in wheelies, stoppies and accidents. I thank god nothing major happened and I pray that it wont. The best thing for him is that he recently bought a new Yamaha bike, which is eventually the worst thing for his new bike. I don't remember the name but its the recent one with 160cc engine and 73k Rs.
I still remember our graduation exam, we used to sit beside each other. We were always laughing, cracking practical jokes, shouting and also working at the same time during the exam. There was one classmate, Amruta Saraswate, who was sitting just beside us. She was continuously laughing on our comments, almost rolling on the floor. Later, she used to laugh if even our names were taken by someone. I felt, we were so much influential.
Broadening memories, I recall when Sahil and me used to talk about the world, currencies, and behave in such a way that world is running on our words. We used to call all the politicians, presidents and prime ministers as our friends and would do anything for us. It was hilarious when we boasted our views regarding ruling the world. I used to say that, I was actually going to run the American government but at the final moment, I wanted to concentrate more on my graduation, so I just opposed the offer. Sahil, after my statement would state in affirmation that, he actually passed the offer to me and it was him who was actually going to run America, showing his fake wholeheartedness.
Sahil and Abhya were again the best buddies from my class and the thing I adore again is our informality. We usually don't say "hello" when we call each other, but we tend to change the universal phone etiquette by saying "a bhadya". Sahil and Abhya were my best friends not only because they were humorous or we had fun together, but also because we also shared our life.
We actually are like three brothers, departed from each other in our childhood and Abhinav college was our "Kumbh ka mela", which brought us together.
You would think why the name "fighters"? the mystery behind this heading is that this story again has three main characters including me, rather best buddies from my class in Abhinav College, Sahil and Abhishek. Basically, we were die-hard fans of Arnie(Arnold Shwazzeneger), and Sylvy(Sylvester Stalone). We always used to compare ourselves with each other and boast our muscles. My muscles were all hidden under excess fat, still trying to convince myself that no, something's still present inside. I still remember ourselves bluffing, Abhya and me used to bluff like rabbits are discussing how to eat a lion. Abhya was once boasting that, all the busses, on a bus stop he was standing, were forced back a couple of miles due to his sneeze. I was not a noble listener to his bluff and in my reply I told him that the earth rotates because I walk and jog everyday. We both used to have these chats in front of Sahil and I can still remember his expressions. We knew, we were childish, immature but the fun and humour was our bond. We didn't care how many people are listening to this rubbish. We were always happy.
Abhya is a bit darker in his complexion but lighter in heart. He was a muscular hunk in our class, full of rage and anger. I still remember his eyes when he had a quarrel with a guy. But gradually he changed, rather gained maturity with time and is more patient, calm than ever, now. We met in my first year, as destined to be best buddies we never had a quarrel, though a few misunderstandings were apparent as everybody does. But those never mattered in our friendship.
The best thing in our lives, I would never ever forget is that we were Karan and Arjun, from Rakesh Roshan's hit film "Karan Arjun". Abhya was Karan and I was Arjun. I still remember, everyday when we arrived in the college and saw each other, we used to pull our sleeves up in a disguise of checking something tattooed on our forearms, like the scenes in old bollywood flicks, and then shout loudly "Bhaiiya"(Brother). I used to shout, "Bhaiiya Karan"(Brother Karan) and he used to say " Bhaiiya Arjun" (Brother Arjun), resulting in a hug. We were supposed to be departed brothers from the so called "Kumbh ka mela". Sahil was our "bichda hua"(departed) third brother. We still do that when we meet.
Once, Abhya called me for a cd of windows xp. I didn't have it but I was reluctant to say no directly, so in a humorous tone I asked him to call and ask Billu(Bill Gates). His response was out of the world, the most gut-busting thing I have ever heard. He simply said that Billu himself had borrowed a pirated cd of Windows 98 from him yesterday. We were laughing for around 15 minutes on the phone. We also used to have giggly fights on comparison of his muscles and my fat. When ever he used to show his biceps after rejoining the gym, I used to call them as pimples. Both Sahil and Abhya used to call my belly fat as a huge packet of biscuits resting down, waiting for the right moment to tighten up.
We were, insane, inhuman and brutal sometimes in our humour. I still remember, we had ruined the names of all the people in our class. We had started calling all the girls, modifying their names to male names and modifying guys' names into girls'. For instance, I was called Ketaki, Abhya was Abhilasha and Sahil was Sayali. In girls, Amruta was Amrut, Sneha and Shrutika were called Suryakant1 and 2 recpectively and so on. Our final examination, the last examination of our group was hilarious, full of fun and serious, sincere work as well. Even if we busted all the people in our class with prankish comments, we never exceeded our limits.
Sahil, we call him, Sandu. He is a dude, a fine artist, in spite of being lazy and a procrastinator he was always the best in academics. Me and Sahil had one thing in common, we never attended classes on time. On an average we used to be 1-2 hours late. Once we weren't allowed to sit for the mid term examination as we had not managed according to the college timetable. We were simply following our own timetable. The next day, without any interruption in our personal schedule we were a bit early. The first day was 2.5 hours late, but the next day we were 2 hours late. Our professor was astonished by our courtesy to come half an hour early. He was full of anger, frustration and anxiety as well. He didn't know that we were fighters, we didn't even spare our graduation exam. There we used to be 10-15 minutes late, though it was much better than earlier.
Sahil and his Ambition. Don't get me wrong, ambition is his 135 cc, Honda bike, which suffered more than those starving africans. Sahil was an expert in wheelies, stoppies and accidents. I thank god nothing major happened and I pray that it wont. The best thing for him is that he recently bought a new Yamaha bike, which is eventually the worst thing for his new bike. I don't remember the name but its the recent one with 160cc engine and 73k Rs.
I still remember our graduation exam, we used to sit beside each other. We were always laughing, cracking practical jokes, shouting and also working at the same time during the exam. There was one classmate, Amruta Saraswate, who was sitting just beside us. She was continuously laughing on our comments, almost rolling on the floor. Later, she used to laugh if even our names were taken by someone. I felt, we were so much influential.
Broadening memories, I recall when Sahil and me used to talk about the world, currencies, and behave in such a way that world is running on our words. We used to call all the politicians, presidents and prime ministers as our friends and would do anything for us. It was hilarious when we boasted our views regarding ruling the world. I used to say that, I was actually going to run the American government but at the final moment, I wanted to concentrate more on my graduation, so I just opposed the offer. Sahil, after my statement would state in affirmation that, he actually passed the offer to me and it was him who was actually going to run America, showing his fake wholeheartedness.
Sahil and Abhya were again the best buddies from my class and the thing I adore again is our informality. We usually don't say "hello" when we call each other, but we tend to change the universal phone etiquette by saying "a bhadya". Sahil and Abhya were my best friends not only because they were humorous or we had fun together, but also because we also shared our life.
We actually are like three brothers, departed from each other in our childhood and Abhinav college was our "Kumbh ka mela", which brought us together.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Dil Chahta Hai
I watched the evergreen film, 'Dil Chahta Hai', today. I couldn't resist to recall the happiest moments of my life with my two best buddies, Viraj and Mandar.
It was the first year of my college, the foundation year, with new people, new environment, new world. I was no more than a kid. I met Mandar, who was studying in the third year, on the Swargate bustop, where I used to board the bus sharp at 6.40 am. Me and Mandy, become close friends in a short time, as if it was destined to happen. Later in a couple of months, I met Viraj, who was studying same as Mandy. Viraj used to boast himself in front of the first year students like he always did, every year.
Mandy and Viraj were kind of elder brothers for me. They used to imitate my innocence, bust me off watching dirty assignments, and also help me impressing a girl. I recall incidences when I used to call them all of a sudden in a serious manner. We would have a meeting and my disclosure was that I was in love. Later, it became habitual for them. We experienced all human senses in extremes, emotions, laughter, fights.These two bastards used to visit my classroom in a disguise of giving a demo of their work. Their actual motive was to impress the girls in my class. Once measured our biceps at Mandy's place, I remember, Viraj was the strongest in size and strength.
Mandy was a flirt, he used to experience all different kinds of girls, as if a doctor is performing multiple DNA tests. He was the most impressed and happening person in our families as well. He was a resemblance to studiousness made by my parents. Of course they didn't know the hidden facts. He was a mastermind in uniting couples, he was always busy giving advices and suggestions to guys on this subject. He was the most hated person by the teaching department in our college.
All these things never mattered in our friendship. I never cared, nor do I now, about what he did to other girls, guys, or any other mystery he has not revealed to us. I only cared about his friendship with me and Viraj. That was always intact and the strongest. I still can't believe that he got married a couple of months back!
Viraj, was always an expert in computers. He was patient yet an angry young man. Me and Viraj are working together since 6 years now, on many different projects. The best experience we had together was when we met Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the honourable former president of India. We also have a couple of photographs with the honourable president.
I call Viraj, "Bhauji". I don't remember when I had his naming ceremony done, but he likes it as well. He was in an unprecedented love with a girl in our college, for four years. He fought, yelled, slapped Mandy outraging his anger in support of his love, but that never affected our friendship.
You would think that why am I boasting our friendship and relating it to the classy bollywood flick, 'Dil Chahta Hai'? The answer is that we had absolutely similar incidences, except we never went to Goa. I think Farhan Akhtar stole our story and added Goa to hide his conspiracy.
Instantiating the characters from the film their resemblance with three of us, Mandy was comparable to Akash, Viraj to Sid and Me to Sameer. Clarifying the earlier facts, one: Mandy wasn't ever serious in girls except flirting, two: he was slapped by Viraj, which was consequential to a quarrel on Viraj's unprecedented and one sided love, three: he had to go to his wife's home (before marriage) to ask for permission of marriage in front of her huge joint family, four: he was never serious in anything until marriage. Considering Viraj, one: he has limited hair on his head, two: he is understanding, controlled, creative, three: he slapped Mandy. About me, one: I was always in serious love with many girls, which were all infatuations of the colourful college life. Two: I was always a mediator in Mandy and Viraj's grudges, helping them to resolve their disputes and enjoy the threesome beauty of our friendship.
I remember a couple incidences when, me and Viraj went at Mandy's place for submissions in my first year. The environment resembled to the scene in DCH when, Sid(Akshaye Khanna) presents his artwork to Sameer(Saif) and Aakash(Aamir). We had colours spread all over, brushes lying down, two or three containers full of water ready to get spilled on the floor, while working on our assignments.
We used to laugh out loud, creating scenes in the public without being shameful. Our typical 'Katta' was Sarasbaug. I remember once Mandy had bought all the balloons from a balloon seller to gift them to some of his girlfriend. That was hilarious. We used to sit, sleep, play, roll on the grassy landscapes in the garden. The chats used to last for hours, without keeping any relation with the existence of time. They comprehended, serious family matters, girlfriend experiences or even a lecture on seduction points of women, by professor Mandy.
Both of these bastards didn't have a specific time to visit my place; one of the informality I adore, which kept our bond intact. We used to eat 10 samosas each sometimes when we were at my place. Amrit sweets near my place was almost irresistible to the three of us. Years passed without disturbing or interfering our friendship or even weakening it. Even if I call Mandy or Viraj after a couple of months, years or decades, the tone and informality of speech is and, I am sure, will be the same.
The last time I met them was on the airport before departing from India. In the morning that day, I was the most angry, I had ever been in my life. The reason was Viraj and Mandy had refused to meet me or come to the airport. The said they were a lot busy in their respective work. I felt like something was fishy, but my anger didn't let me keep a hope of them meeting me. Unless they arrived at the airport directly, one and a half hours before my check in, totally surprising me. I was the most happiest person on the earth, I felt. I was overwhelmed with happiness by their presence. I was almost in tears, but these were 'Khooshi ke aasu',(tears of happiness). They neither said bye or good luck nor did they wish me luck for my future prospects. We exchanged a firm hug and then they just admonished me to make a girlfriend as soon as possible and... (censored)
I think that's what make us different!
"ya toh ye foto 3D hai ya fir humari dosti gehri hai" - bad joke! :)
It was the first year of my college, the foundation year, with new people, new environment, new world. I was no more than a kid. I met Mandar, who was studying in the third year, on the Swargate bustop, where I used to board the bus sharp at 6.40 am. Me and Mandy, become close friends in a short time, as if it was destined to happen. Later in a couple of months, I met Viraj, who was studying same as Mandy. Viraj used to boast himself in front of the first year students like he always did, every year.
Mandy and Viraj were kind of elder brothers for me. They used to imitate my innocence, bust me off watching dirty assignments, and also help me impressing a girl. I recall incidences when I used to call them all of a sudden in a serious manner. We would have a meeting and my disclosure was that I was in love. Later, it became habitual for them. We experienced all human senses in extremes, emotions, laughter, fights.These two bastards used to visit my classroom in a disguise of giving a demo of their work. Their actual motive was to impress the girls in my class. Once measured our biceps at Mandy's place, I remember, Viraj was the strongest in size and strength.
Mandy was a flirt, he used to experience all different kinds of girls, as if a doctor is performing multiple DNA tests. He was the most impressed and happening person in our families as well. He was a resemblance to studiousness made by my parents. Of course they didn't know the hidden facts. He was a mastermind in uniting couples, he was always busy giving advices and suggestions to guys on this subject. He was the most hated person by the teaching department in our college.
All these things never mattered in our friendship. I never cared, nor do I now, about what he did to other girls, guys, or any other mystery he has not revealed to us. I only cared about his friendship with me and Viraj. That was always intact and the strongest. I still can't believe that he got married a couple of months back!
Viraj, was always an expert in computers. He was patient yet an angry young man. Me and Viraj are working together since 6 years now, on many different projects. The best experience we had together was when we met Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the honourable former president of India. We also have a couple of photographs with the honourable president.
I call Viraj, "Bhauji". I don't remember when I had his naming ceremony done, but he likes it as well. He was in an unprecedented love with a girl in our college, for four years. He fought, yelled, slapped Mandy outraging his anger in support of his love, but that never affected our friendship.
You would think that why am I boasting our friendship and relating it to the classy bollywood flick, 'Dil Chahta Hai'? The answer is that we had absolutely similar incidences, except we never went to Goa. I think Farhan Akhtar stole our story and added Goa to hide his conspiracy.
Instantiating the characters from the film their resemblance with three of us, Mandy was comparable to Akash, Viraj to Sid and Me to Sameer. Clarifying the earlier facts, one: Mandy wasn't ever serious in girls except flirting, two: he was slapped by Viraj, which was consequential to a quarrel on Viraj's unprecedented and one sided love, three: he had to go to his wife's home (before marriage) to ask for permission of marriage in front of her huge joint family, four: he was never serious in anything until marriage. Considering Viraj, one: he has limited hair on his head, two: he is understanding, controlled, creative, three: he slapped Mandy. About me, one: I was always in serious love with many girls, which were all infatuations of the colourful college life. Two: I was always a mediator in Mandy and Viraj's grudges, helping them to resolve their disputes and enjoy the threesome beauty of our friendship.
I remember a couple incidences when, me and Viraj went at Mandy's place for submissions in my first year. The environment resembled to the scene in DCH when, Sid(Akshaye Khanna) presents his artwork to Sameer(Saif) and Aakash(Aamir). We had colours spread all over, brushes lying down, two or three containers full of water ready to get spilled on the floor, while working on our assignments.
We used to laugh out loud, creating scenes in the public without being shameful. Our typical 'Katta' was Sarasbaug. I remember once Mandy had bought all the balloons from a balloon seller to gift them to some of his girlfriend. That was hilarious. We used to sit, sleep, play, roll on the grassy landscapes in the garden. The chats used to last for hours, without keeping any relation with the existence of time. They comprehended, serious family matters, girlfriend experiences or even a lecture on seduction points of women, by professor Mandy.
Both of these bastards didn't have a specific time to visit my place; one of the informality I adore, which kept our bond intact. We used to eat 10 samosas each sometimes when we were at my place. Amrit sweets near my place was almost irresistible to the three of us. Years passed without disturbing or interfering our friendship or even weakening it. Even if I call Mandy or Viraj after a couple of months, years or decades, the tone and informality of speech is and, I am sure, will be the same.
The last time I met them was on the airport before departing from India. In the morning that day, I was the most angry, I had ever been in my life. The reason was Viraj and Mandy had refused to meet me or come to the airport. The said they were a lot busy in their respective work. I felt like something was fishy, but my anger didn't let me keep a hope of them meeting me. Unless they arrived at the airport directly, one and a half hours before my check in, totally surprising me. I was the most happiest person on the earth, I felt. I was overwhelmed with happiness by their presence. I was almost in tears, but these were 'Khooshi ke aasu',(tears of happiness). They neither said bye or good luck nor did they wish me luck for my future prospects. We exchanged a firm hug and then they just admonished me to make a girlfriend as soon as possible and... (censored)
I think that's what make us different!
"ya toh ye foto 3D hai ya fir humari dosti gehri hai" - bad joke! :)
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