An Unusual happening

Now something very unusual happened today. Something which I did not think could have happened. I actually got stranded in Varanasi rains for 40 whole minutes, when my home was hardly 15 minutes away, walking !

It rained cats and dogs today, agreed. But only for an hour! and the entire loveable city of mine has been transformed into one big whole swimming pool with water 3ft in depth. So now just imagine the plight of someone who is barely 5ft…phew!

As such I love rains, but I have just recovered from cough, cold and fever, so could not risk getting drenched and falling sick again. Thanks to my sibling, younger bro (who is a complete brat!) I did not have my humble scooty (though I would not have risked riding it in a pool).

The rickshaw guys..they are classic! I can very well imagine their plight when they have to pull someone of my stature, but they could have shown a little mercy, especially when I was ready to pay thrice the usual charge, but no! It was their day and me, helpless little poor girl was standing by the road and getting drenched in the rain!

One of the classic responses I got, “madam, baarish ho rahi hai”, as if I did not already know that! (but thank god he said “Baarish ho rahi hai”, there are some people who say “Baarish gir rahi hai”, a direct translation from “rain is falling” :P :P)

I stood at the Spencer’s departmental store when my dear brother messaged me saying that he is coming to pick me up and that I was to tell him my exact co-ordinates (imagine!). I obliged and then with the money I had to pay the rickshaw guy, bought myself two chocolates! (btw, I was on my way from gym :P )

I was never more pleased to see Ayush ever than I was today and what a ride it was! The roads had turned into a big pool with whirlpools. Those iconic ditches were overflowing, gurgling happily with water, ready to take anybody in their embrace that chanced to step on them. To add to the scenic beauty the electricity supply was terminated temporally and only light that could be seen was that from shops and automobiles. The perfect picture of a city that prides itself on its rich heritage, but I think we could have fared better with modern roads and a well developed drainage system. or for that matter, Mohenjo-Daro civilization had better drainage system!

An insider trivia: if it remains cloudy two days after the rainfall, without any sunshine, there will be no way the water on the roads would get drained. It is only through the process of vaporization that the city doesn’t come to a standstill after a spell of heavy showers..after all nature is bountiful, it will see us through‼

P.S. hiral shah, please forgive me,,,the next thing would be yours...pacca

An ode to friendship

An ode to friendship

It may be the most clichéd way of doing it, but at this point of time, it is the best way I can do it, express my sincerest heartfelt gratitude to all my friends who have made my life a living nightmare :P :P

Nightmare because they are not normal in the ordinary sense of the word, there is nothing in life that they have ever done which can be called as remotely sane, and the crazy bunch of people I call as friends are just that, CRAZY‼

I don’t know where would have I been had it not been for my bestest friends, the God Almighty, who has made me jinxed in every way possible and grins notoriously whenever I land myself in some or the other puddle; I think the God likes to play the ‘Knight in shining armour’, coming to the rescue of this ‘damsel in distress’, time and again. Thank you…and just let me know your future plans as far as am concerned.

Jojojo is perhaps the dumbest, yet most understanding soul on this earth, who will even deactivate her Facebook Profile if she senses that someone is stalking it. Expect her to say ‘I understand’, in the situations where you know you are clearly at fault, but she will refuse to acknowledge any vice in you just because you are her friend. You rock Jo…I can fool you umpteen number of times, and get away scot free: D :D (guys out there, only I enjoy such liberties…don’t think she is too easy to date :D)

My most selfish and one of the oldest friends, Vasundhara Saraf. Selfish because the female is most of the times busy discussing some or the other economic policies of the government on Google Talk (talk about being pretentious :P :P) But expect a call in the middle of the night when she realizes that you can also be put to some use in this world so full of useless people. You rock Vasundhara…thanks for always being there for me J

It is not easy to render me speechless, but one person has almost become a pro at it and hence all the more despicable (read : admirable). Stop grinning foolishly Divyanshu Srivastava and remember that you will not always have the last word!! (and no one is expecting you to take a humble bow at the compliment but am sure the overdoes of chivalry in you will anyway prompt you to do so)

This female claims to be not weird, but just limited edition. But Hiral Shah epitomizes irrationality and stupidity as no one ever did. talking of her generous disposition, well don’t be astonished if she sacrifices your belongings on your behalf just because one of her friends expressed a desire for them. And the female has a knack for convincing (read: nagging) people, fuse their minds, to the extent that they either give in to her whims and fancies or curse her thoroughly under their breath :P :P

Miss smart pants who enjoys life to the very core and am not ashamed to say that am through and through jealous of her, Miss Suruchi Bharagawa, who is as cool as the girl next door, still every bit special. Best are the moments when we sit down together and gossip (read: bitch) profusely about common and even remote acquaintances, deriving a quixotic pride at our current status in life. she is one girl who knows how to wear her I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude on her sleeves, without really injuring the fine sensibilities of people and their conceited notions of themselves.

One person whose life I have made a living nightmare is Aamod Potdar. Poor guy has to keep up with all my mood swings, temper tantrums, meanness and a thousand times a day iteration of how being an ISC puts me at a status superior to him. But the guy understands one thing: forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them so much. Grrrrrr….after so many atrocities, it is tough to extract a single cruel word from him…and then I feel extra miserable, not capable of any kind of sweetness in this world…grrr…thank you for always being there for me…the last one year would have been impossible to survive without your incessant support.

Have you ever heard of stupid moron who falls constantly in one or the other traps, multiply it a hundred times with their own eccentricities and then boasts of his courage in having survived the calamity, if only by an inch! While all this while, his friends lay in constant anxiety of what will become of him, or speculate whether it would be too cruel to guillotine him! yes, Anurag Sharma, in the past 8 months that I have known you, there have very few moments when I have thought of you, without associating you with the hundred thousand problems you invite for yourself. And I still marvel at your courage to brave it all and emerge a survivor. Proud of you my Friend…but you are still every bit miserable.

Don’t curse me or pull at your hair. Your wanting to kill me at this point is only natural, Priyanka Jajodia, because I have still not mentioned anything about you, when I have said nice, gratifying things about so many other people. A through and through shopaholic, she stops only when she runs out of moolah (wonder what prevents her from borrowing money from others and splurge that as well). She surprises me till date with her magnanimous acts of generosity when she is in essence a bitch of the highest order :P :P….I will never let you forget me gal, something feels utterly wrong when I imagine your absence from my life…love ya J

Don’t die of insecurities Harsha Ohri…I cannot take the chance of forgetting you or not writing a few lines about you; only imagine the plight of poor someone who will have to bear through your added and heightened tantrums :P Expect this females to come up with classic problems in life, some never heard before types which will either make you swear at her or laugh at the sheer hilarity of the problems :D but a true sweetheart, one to whom you can turn to in your best times and enjoy life..she will feel truly happy for you…I don’t dare take the chance of burdening her with my problems, lest she should be overwhelmed and their be reversal of intended roles :D :D

There are a lot of things you can't discuss with your friends, for everything else, there is Sharad Jain :P. You truly lighten up my boring hours online and I can virtually talk anything with you without the fear of being condemned, though I do look forward to lots of appreciation :P :P and let me tell you am only living in bold anticipation of the day when you will come to trust me :D….may god give you all that you desire…stay blessed J

To all my friends who have not been named here, let me tell you how privileged you are, for ask them, it is not easy being in the position they are in :D I truly and sincerely cherish our bond of friendship and assure that it will always remain close to my heart….

“my heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains, as if of Hemlock I have drunk….” Like Keats, am slowly succumbing to my predicament which currently is Fever…but do not for one moment think that the words above have been written in delirium…they are the Gospel Truth :P…and please find it in your hearts to appreciate the grandiloquent gesture of mine and return the same in kind…gifts of all kind :D :D

From the diary of a Bookworm

How often do you come across a book that you think is just another tale or love, war or hatred which ultimately threatens to penetrate through the very fabric of your existence, so much so that the process of your transformation had already begun even when you were only halfway through it?

Or how often do you take up a book, based on its popularity and reviews and halfway through it, you have this inkling that ‘yes, this is going to be the monumental one’ but towards the end, it just doesn’t strike the chords with your being?

I don’t know about you, but the former happened with me during my teenage, 16-18 and the latter happens till date! I reflect back and still smile at the thought of reading Pride and Prejudice as a 16 year old, never caring to find the real meaning of the word prejudice even. I remember enjoying the novel thoroughly, especially the way Darcy had proposed to Elizabeth (trust me, it was the most shocking I ever came across)

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

and when the schools re-opened, I had timidly asked my English teacher as to how the title stands justified :P :P

But that was the first Victorian classic/Romance I ever read and till date I am in love with Victorian classics. What words, they seem to have a sophistication and authority of their own! I never truly bought myself to reading or appreciating casual novels and books, though I have read many from Sidney Sheldon to Mills & Boons (:P ) to Sophie Kinsella to Chetan Bhagat.

This rendezvous with the classics went on for a year where “A Tale of Two Cities” followed “Pride and Prejudice”. Dickens was a genius or I was a fool…because it took me good one month to finish that book! What patience I had even I marvel at to be reading at the same lines over and over again in order to grasp their meaning!

The first Danielle Steel I ever read turned my life topsy-turvy! No, wait, life was already chaotic then, it bought some order and gave me the courage to withstand it all. Now, all those who are acquainted with what “Long Road Home” is about, please don’t for a second think that I had one-tenth as tumultuous childhood or teenage as the protagonist. But the courage with which she bore it all somehow transpired to me, when as a 17 year old I would compare my modicum of miseries to hers (yes, I was stupid enough to do that) but it worked fine and I was able to pull myself through. And then 3 years later I realised that it takes gumption to read through that book, because my weirdest, bestest and the most courageous friend could not find it in her heart to finish it‼

And then I fell in love with the books by Judith McNaught (thanks to Vasundhara) and there was no stop to the madness. Before you feel the need to Google, I will tell you that Judith McNaught has penned the most romantic and heart rendering love tales, all 500-600 pages and I enjoyed reading them thoroughly. Three works by her in particular I have read thrice over and I still can’t get over them…phew! And its so much fun to discuss about her characters. Reading one day in Oxford, I met this Burkha clad girl who saw the Judith McNaught Title in my hand and very keenly asked “Did Niki Duville get married in this one”? I was like, “hell no, this is about Stephen Westmoreland” and in that very store we stood chatting about Judith Mcnaught characters for like 45 minutes…I don’t remember when I felt so elated last.

Oh, the main purpose behind this blog was I had to pen down my reactions on reading “Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell, but I gather that I will reserve for my next post. And yes, the direct inspiration to write or discuss reactions to the works of classic came from “Reading Lolita in Teheran”…..lo-lo-lo-li-ta ‼:P :P

Transmuting into a Recluse

I don’t know when it started but I want it to end ASAP.

There was a time when I religiously remembered the birthday of the remotest relative, even my sixth cousin for that matter. Forgetting the birthday of friends was as bad as committing the most hideous sin. But of late, it seems, “birthday hai? Acha thik hai…will put a post on Fb”. At max, will tag the birthday boy or girl…that should be sufficient to make his or her day‼

When did this exactly start happening? I have no clue but yes, this is what is indeed happening. Even before calling or texting my bestest pals, I have to think as to what will I exactly talk? And after two minutes keep my phone aside….chod na..will call after sometime‼

The other day a staff at gym asked me as to why don’t I interact with others or even a single person? Is there nobody I know over here? (this question is a big thing when you are living in a small city like Varanasi….you gotta know at least one out of 10 or 20 people you meet at a gathering such as Talwarkar’s….sorry but I don’t consider other members anything better than this).

Is it being snobbish? Well, that’s what some people thought of me in the MBA classes I had joined for like two months last year…but things were really different then…but somehow was the beginning of the current situation. They thought I was a snob because I came five minutes before the class started and left immediately and interacted with nobody (contrast this with the fact I am still in touch with my friends from 10^th and 12^th standard classes). I’ll tell you a secret..you know half the time I did not interact because somewhere I had this feeling that whatever I will say or want to say, they wouldn’t understand that, I mean my thoughts, ideas and opinions….hmmm…was I being snobbish in this?

Another adjective to describe my condition that comes to my mind is “parochial” or “clannish”. But I can bet on this that I was never clannish or parochial else I wouldn’t have had such diversity of friends or friends from such diverse situations, backgrounds, streams or whatever. My being clannish is also not possible because I have never been compatible with people of my own clan :P :P

Now coming to being recluse…well I know its a temporary phenomenon and happens when people start going their own ways or have little time to share or little things to talk about. But its like in my case it has been kind of prolonged and please do not relate it with my being at home or something. I have kind of enough to keep me pre-occupied and enough time at hand to talk to friends or even socialise…but don’t feel at all up to it. (I know a certain segment of people are gonna ridicule this because of the flurry of activities and going out involved in till a week back but trust me that was also more or less made fun and exciting by presence of Harsh, Harsha’s cute and Shinchan-kind brother :P :P)

Well, I just wrote this all too randomly, without paying a single thought to what I am writing. Do comment if you connect with my condition at some point. Avoid reading it if you are bored with the first paragraph itself…

Analysing People

The simple philosophy of my life has been to accept people, the way they are and not to analyse their actions or the reason behind their behaviour. But here I am, analysing people’s handwriting and telling them, perhaps what they already know‼ Aamod, a friend of mine calls me a show-off and wanting to hog the limelight when I sit down to analyse people’s handwriting and telling them anything with which they will obviously agree :P:P

This I have been doing for around two to three years now and nothing great about that, except that I have made some really good and great friends, who were complete strangers to me at the time of the analysis. Anyhow, needless to mention that I did hit the bull’s eye at every point and thus impressed these nice, curious souls and did manage to grab a few favours, like a lunch date =>. Thank you, thank you and I just reconfirmed my status to be a, sycophant..right Anurag? :P :P

But off late I have taken up compatibility analysis, which Divyanshu very fondly calls as “Jodi Milana” and also insists on sharing the bounty, that what I get in return for fooling people, only that I don’t fool them but tell them the truth. Handwriting can seriously speak volumes about someone’s character, someone’s life, someone’s mental stability, decision making power, and love for family, even how passionately one kisses!

But what I find completely strange and rather disheartening is that the very people who ridicule it as being totally nonsensical, some way or the other insist on getting an analysis done! This has happened a lot of times and I kinda feel disillusioned as well.

But then there are some true admirers of my skill, if I may call it so. First is Kinjal, who agreed to be my manager, lol. Next is Sharad, who today confessed to having read my analysis at least three times in past four months and who also blogged about it. Then Raja Bhaiya, who gets nice people’s handwriting for me to analyse. I consider them nice because they pay me for analysis..yeah :P :P

But whatever it is, something that has started has a hobby has become a part of my life, seriously. Very few people know that I had taken up reading books on analysis, because we did not have faculty for UNIX in the third semester and our UNIX classes would be free. And the best is while Ahmed would read Vijay Mukhi’s book on UNIX, I would be reading P. Hollander’s book on graphology…lol…all in the name of IT education. The real boost came from Riki, who literally opened my “dukaan” in the canteen and had a BBI people queue up for the analysis :P :P Those were the days indeed…miss you guys…big time…

But this analysis has been profitable as well given the scores of fruit and nuts, roasted almonds, rochers, Bourneville and BR ice-creams I have already coerced from people :D

Well, this isn’t some publicity stunt..as I lay on my bed tending my swollen heels, I decided to pen down some of it….but seriously there is no need for you to analyse people and their actions, life is too short for this…just be with them, live with your cherished ones and at any time you feel skeptic about them or any of their actions, just for a moment put yourself in their place and decide how would you have acted/reacted….you will indeed get your answer  

NEW BLOG...a must read for "CAT Aspirants"

oh well, its been long since I have blogged about something and since not many people are interested in hearing what i have to say on a particular subject, I am gonna rant and rave about it here.

BTW, this blog is solely and purposely dedicated to the task of preparing for an MBA entrance test, primarily CAT, the entrance exam for admission to the "hallowed halls of premier Management institutes in the country" aka IIM. This was the description I came across on one of the sites. basically( or is it basicaly?) either way it is too confusing. and Given the fact that I m gonna appear for the CAT-09 exam in November this year, it makes my case all the more deplorable.

til now i haven't been able to get the exact rationale behind learning and knowing high-profile words when hardly a percent of us use it for communication in everyday life. Forget everyday, in business communication even, one wont come across a word such as 'ante-jentacular'. My mom was kinda perplexed when I told her m going for my antejentacular bath!

(don't google it...here's the meaning: ante-jentacular means 'before breakfast'...i had the same expression which is now registered on your face when i first came across it! )

Nevertheless, preparing for an MBA entrance can be fun also provided you have that kinda company and motivation around you. Unfortunately I don't and I m obviously worse for it.

but the best part is that you become so acquainted with solving a particular kind of sum with typical figures that you end up memorizing the answers or related figures. And then you can show this off really well, provided you try the right way.

And the worst part is that every one, virtually every one is aiming at getting admission in an IIM or Symbiosis or S.P.Jain. Isn't there a world beyond them? Isn't there an option beyond an MBA?? Think about it and I'll also do the same.

first post

well, this is my first shot at blogging and i don't know if am gonna rock or suck at it....but I will surely do justice to this forum of expression and use it in the best way possible.
Starting today, I'll post blogs concerning my hobbies, interests, passions(which may or may not concur with yours) and also the upcoming days and events of national and cultural interests. Opinions on current national and International events will also be posted and please feel free to refute them...there is nothing better than an intellectual debate on the topics of mutual interest.

on this note, I take your leave. Would be back with my first blog soon.