Half a day with the girl next door!!!

Middle of the week that is wednesday's and thursday's are usually those days where you are exhausted after woking and wait eagerly for the weekend.This thursday I had no such feeling as I was suppose to spend half a day with "the girl next door"...The anticipation turned out ultimately as a great experience spending time in the sweltering heat of Delhi...In my earlier blog I had written that I hope will get the chance to know Miss.N better with time and this is exactly what I got to do on Thursday...

A visit to Jamia for submitting Miss.N's form made me realize that whatever I had written in my earlier blog was actually cent per cent true..The hesitation in filling up the form, the making of small mistake while writing the year 2010 and the child like eagerness to learn how to calculate the age in terms of years, months, and days all together fortified my intial belief and perception about Miss.N....She is innocence personified...

She made sure that she asked questions atleast a couple of times to the guy taking up the filled up forms so that there was no chance of any mistake in the submission.Also the special yellow water flask served chilling cold water and made me learn a new thing-the water remains cold if wrapped with a newspaper-Wow what a learning experience.Who said taht learning and fun cant go hand in hand...

Later spent some time at the south ex market joined by Miss.N's sister who was rather more worried about going back to office rather than spending some quality time...Never mind thats how she is during last 3 days of her month's closing...I have started accepting it.

How a rickshaw is stopped by merely waving the hand and without uttering a single word amazed Miss.N..Probably she didnt know I was capable of doing that as well...Her facination for bags came into highlight when she stopped at two places just to check the bags and then declaring that she must posses one of those....

After almost spending four hours it was time to say goodbye to Miss.N as she had to go to a cousins place over lunch...It was fun being with her and the heat of the summer sun seemed less threatening in the company of Miss N....

The Sunday Afternoon...

A sweltering sunday afternoon...The only sound worth mentioning was the steady rumbling of the old ceiling fan desperately trying to keep the temperature down, but all in vain as the might of the summer sun out side was no match for my poor fan...Still she gives enough comfort to keep both nerves and the brain calm-at least enough to keep me sane....

Having nothing to do constructive I kept tossing from one side to the other of the only comfortable luxury item for me-my bed...Staring at all the four walls like a maniac I kept thinking how another week passed away and it was time to start toiling again.The time duration between a sunday and the approaching monday sometimes seems so less that you actually repent why its a sunday at all...I thought I will sleep off the afternoon and rejuvinate myself but realised soon that was impossible in the present condition..Next I thought let me think of all the things that I like the most and make a list of them in accordance to priority.I failed horribly in doing that as well since it seemed I could not prioritise or zero in on anything other than good food...

I even went to the window once or twice hoping to catch a glimpse of my attractive neighbour but guess she was tucked away in the comfort of her ac not bothering to loiter in and around the window...plain selfish people..

The idiot box in such days is not of much help either as the repetetive programs and movies gives you anything but respite.Suddenly the power went away and all hell broke loose.I sent a silent prayer to the Almighty to restore back the power immediately or He might loose an opportunistic believer of His who remembers Him only in times of distress..But I guess I am not an exception in this case, I consoled myself...But He was busy listening to others as the power was away for good 30 minutes and I was half baked half roasted and partly fried and steamed by the heat and in my own sweat...I treid imagining all sort of things right from being in the beach to lying dwon beside a swimming pool to help me forget about my misery but was unsuccessful in getting the forced "Nirvana"...

Finally the power was back and so was I to life...I finally gave up all the fantasies that I was drooling on and decided to do the best possible thing I could under the given circumstances....Yes I made a cup of my favourite black tea and spread out on the chair....The first sip made me realize that even such small things can sometimes give a lot of rejuvination....I attained peace of mind at last!!!!!

Deceived in the hills...

The road was winding up the hills giving mesmerising view of the valley being left behind with every turn...It was a huge respite form the chaotic life of Delhi as we headed on Jammu - Katra highway. Four of us were packed inside an old ambassador hired from Jammu railway station. It was relatively early in the morning and the wind was still chilling as we gained altitude. Our heads could not remain steady for too long as the fresh gush of air swept past our tired physical being. Soon I noticed that my companions at the back were oblivious to the beautiful sorroundings and were quite happily tucked away in deep slumber. I guess this is infectious as soon I too realized that keeping my own self steady was becoming a tough exercise.I dont know when I passed away. The faint sound of the driver humming an old hindi song was the only noise that was coming to my ears apart from the occssional horns of the army trucks passing by.

Suddenly all of us were awaken by a noise that made us go dry by the throat. I hurriedly caught a glimspse of my co-passengers in the rear view and saw that they were too confused with dishelved hair to understand anything. Finally the driver made us realize what had actually happened. Our tyre had a burst and we had to get it done before resuming our journey. Luckily it happened at a place which had a road side tea stall few meters away. Since it will take a good 15-20 minutes to get the tyre fixed, we decided to freshen up to a cup of steaming tea.

The tea stall was decent enough with wodden benches laid out in the sun for the travellers to bask. I also discovered by chance that it offered some of the best pakodas I had ever tasted. We finished one platefull and ordered another as we all had an early dinner before boarding the Rajdhani from Delhi the previous night. The feeling that a replinisehd stomach gives is always heavenly no matter wherever you are and in whatever situation. While having my tea I noticed a small boy of around 10-12 yeras, shabilly dressed smiling at me constantly from some distance. As we got ready to depart after our driver came and informed that the tyre was fixed, the boy approached me and asked for some money to help him buy his breakfast. I do not encourage giving money to kids but somehow could not refuse this little boy. Now this may be due to two reasons, one the boy had a pleasing smile and two I herad of legends that Mata vaisno Devi often visited in differnet forms to test her deciples in different ways. I dared not have taken the risk of erring the Mata. I gave him a fifty rupee note so that he could buy his breakfast and may be take some back home for other members of his family. He looked surprised at my genorosity and instantly took the note and ran away. I was taken aback by his behaviour for I thought he would atleast smile in appreciation if not anything else.

We resumed our journey in a couple of minutes after our driver too finished his cup of tea. Suddenly I saw from the window of my car that the same boy was coming out from behind a wooden house. He now had a mobile phone in hand and was talking to someone. As soon as our eyes met he gave a smile which conveyed to me that I was deceived by his behaviour.

I kept thinking on the entire way to Katra what a fool this small little boy made of me. But I had no one to blame but myself as I was moved by emotions and superstition and the combination of both has never given anyone a fruitfull result. At the end I consloed myself by forcing me to believe that I did an act of charity just before a piligrimage.Yes that was the only consolation I could offer myself....

The girl next door....

Hmmm...Its difficult to pen down about someone but never the less an effort made honestly can actually turn up well than imagined.This is exactly what I am trying to do and the points highlighted will be from what I observed and could know from few candid conversation.It is in no way intended to be judgemental but merely an effort to describe someone as vividly as possible. Since this content is available to the public hence I would not use names but instead would like to call my protagonist "Miss. N".....

It was a cold afternoon of January that me and my family who were visiting Delhi during the winter vacation was invited over lunch at Miss. N's place.Although I had met her once for a while it was that day that I could actually know and observe Miss. N better.Later following few posts on facebook also added to the advantage of mine trying to describe her to the best of my abilities..

Miss. N is the youngest of her siblings preceded by two elder sisters the eldest of whom is a very good friend of mine and hence the invitation for lunch that I just wrote above.Has a profile and demeanor that would easliy help her slip into the shoes of the proverbial "girl next door". Fond of good things in life and likes the latest in electronic gizmos.Is an extrovert and has an uncanny innocence that compliments everything else.

Likes being and also is pampered by everyone at home.Fond of taking her own pictures in different styles and likes comment on each one of them.Particularly fond of the colour pink. Given a choice between a pink Puma jacket and a holiday in an hill station might probably choose the pink jacket over the holiday:-)...Crazy about shoes so much so that even thought of a career in shoe designing though recently changed her mind after not getting desired backing from the family on the same.

An amulgumation of innocence and childishness, a little confused about self yet more or less focussed.Knows how to give a style statement and carries almost everything perfectly and is fond of gorging on chinese delecacies.

Well thats in a nutshell of whatever little I know of Miss.N and hopefully will know better over a period of time.This description comes just as a tribute to the attitude of Miss. N which makes her perfectly the "girl next door"...

The thirst of the Godman!!

We as an individual and even as a society have the uncanny demeanor to fall back to someone when in distress and trouble.The only problem is that "this someone" is often a self proclaimed Godman who is usually reffered to us by some one who has a blind faith on his abilities to liberate us from our troubles.

Right from the troubles of not bearing a child on time, to marriage woes and problems finding a desirable job, everything is believed to be cured by the ways and means the Godman shows.It is more often the emotions of a worried mind that plays the trick leading us to the traps laid by them.We dare not disobey his prescribed solutions for the fear of something more adverse happening to our already depleted condition.

But what is the genuineness of such Godman needs to be given a thought. I for the record know the fact that in rural areas the women are subjected to such extreme points where the God man actually fathers her a child on the pretext of giving the family an heir, and its not a case which happens once in a blue moon but is rampant everywhere whereby the Godman gets a chance to quench his physical thirst.

Families are sometimes even made to handover their last piece of possesion to appease the Gods through his medium in the forms of these hungry wolves. I know how Mr. Das was forced to believe that his daughter was not getting married due to the spell of a black magic done on his family. His already tensed mind was played around with numerous ceremonies that was performed at the behest of the Godman. Everytime he ended up spending huge amounts of money but his daughters woes never seemed to end. Good sense prevailed upon him sooner than later and it saved his daughter from the clutches of the Godman as he even suggested she might need to spend a night with him.

I believe and it is my personal opinion that we are born with our own destinies and no one claiming to be a middleman between us and the Almighty can change it what so ever.Mr. Das's daughter just got married at the age of 45 and is leading a happy married life.No it was not because of any Godman but it was written in her destiny.

Aloo Muri Wala!!

Having met with an accident recently and being confined to bed for almost a week made me tax my brain a little more than usual as I did not have the liberty to carry out any physical task apart from the very necessary ones. This condition of mine made me go back to my growing up years spent in the beautiful abode of clouds- Shillong. I kind of remembered small little insignificant things that are somehow no longer cherished here.

We (all our contemporaries) were particularly fond of a street side food called aloo muri. Now this was made with small pieces of sliced boiled potatoes mixed with bhel which is refferred to as muri in the eastern part of India. Also the combination of different spices and raw mustard oil complimented handsomely with few spoons of tamarind water made it heavenly in taste.If permitted I could have offered it to the Gods as prasad. Even as I write down about it now my mouth has already become watery. All we needed was two rupees to buy this delicacy brought in by migrants from Bihar.

Now this was something which was not either appreciated or encoureaged at home to indulge in.There were many reasons that they gave to make us refrain from having it but the foremost was the cleanliness and hygiene factor of both the food and its seller. But believe you me the same dish if offered at a good restaurant or even prepared at home will never ever give you the taste that it gave when made by these street vendors. Thier black sweaty hands peeling the potatoes, in between scratching at different body parts, sometimes digging gold from the nose simulteneously or even preparing with a running nose-the combination of all these or even any one of these was actually responsible for giving it the unique taste.

I still remember the guy standing with his wooden box filled with all the stuff near the street corner and how we used to see him make the dish with our tounges sticking out.At times the dog nearby was put to shame seeing the length that our tounges come out in anticipation. We plainly ignored all other facts about him but concentrated only on what he offered as an end result of all his preparation.The guy did not change all these years nor did the taste that he generated out. I could not resist trying it out on my last visit.Different people liked it in different ways and he customised it accrodingly.I usuallly just liked the aloo without the muri or bhel as you may like to call it.

Why I remembered this suddenly is simply because lying on my bed on a hot summer afternoon I had nothing to do but stare at the walls around.I let my imagination and memories loose for some time and it moved around everything before finally resting on the aloo muri wala and immediately made me have the sudden urge to have the dish. But being immobile and confined to bed I only had the option to think of it but it was still enough to be able to make my mouth watery.

Long live aloo muri wala!!!

Journey with a FRIEND.....

I had the good fortune of sharing my days in Delhi with my childhood friend and have seen many ups and downs in life together.No I have not shifted my base to another city but have merely moved to a new accomodation as he gets ready to take his life to the next level by getting arrested in matrimony.It was a good 5 years spent together shuffling between houses in old double storey-Lajpat Nagar. I still remember the day I landed in Delhi.It was peak of summer in July 2003 and my Rajdhani from Guwahati was delayed by 4-5 hours. I found him waiting for me at the station from 10 in the morning with the temperature hovering at 45 degrees.I moved on with him after completing my MBA in 2005 and since then we shared the days of our life together.

Be it hiding from credit card recovery agents to drinking every evening whenever he came home early the memories are deep rooted for ever.I may not have expressed such feelings earlier but recently meeting with an accident and being confined to bed for almost a week made me think in solitude about each incident.Although some people say that staying alone has its own charm and you have the liberty to lead your life the way you want I still felt within a few days that it actually had no charm. Your intial feeling of independence soon turns out into lonliness. This feeling further gets mulitipled many folds when you see something hilarious in the TV and have been so used to share it then and there.But now have to fall back to the mercy of SMS to share your thoughts and feelings...Although we never emoted very frequently but still there was a sense of understanding for each other which probably made us see through 5 good years together without any rift.There were days when we even did not utter a word with each other but shared the same space.

As he moves on with his life and I with mine, the memories of the days spend together will be etched in my mind forever.....It also reaffirms my belief in the saying that the childhood friends you choose are the one who are your actual friends as the time when we choose them we are devoid of any other motive other than plain selfless friendship....

Good luck with your life ahead friend....