Back to pavilion

Work after two getaways in one week.
Five 2 rupee coins in pocket.
The knowing rickshawallah nods as you get in.
Train at 7:34 am sharp.
The cute lady at the bus stop.
Conductor with no change.
Clumsy security check at building entry.

Mundane life is fun sometimes!

Roles

You had slogged hard all your life, giving up smallest of the pleasures with a desire for a better tomorrow, when you can have all the fun.

Your penance pays off, and the tomorrow becomes today.

So, now you want to lose yourself and have some fun.
But wait! You have now become a role model. Good enough to be emulated by your brothers and cousins.

All they can see is how much fun you are having and not what went in the process, much much before, when they were too young to understand all that.
They are lost in the sugar coated dreams that you live in front of them and think, it will be theirs, all too easy! Suddenly, it all falls apart for them and they are brought back to the bitter, dark reality called life.

And you feel guilty.

Is it wrong that you feel you should protect your siblings from the harsh struggle that you had to undergo? Or should you just allow them to fall and pick up the pieces and figure it out for themselves?

Change is constant

Then

Time: 12:30 pm
Venue: Classroom

Hey, 1:30 ka show hai. Yeh lecture ke baad nikalte hain. Aa raha hai kya?
OK.
Devde ko bhi poochte hain.
Usko poocha, woh bhi aa raha hai. Apan paanch log jaa rahe hain.
Theek hai. Lekin main 50 rupya hi kharch kar paaoonga. Stall mein dekhte hain.


Now


Guys, let's meet next weekend.
Yeah, let's go to XYZ place.
Nahin yaar, last time gaya tha achcha nahi tha.
I am doubtful.
Mera working Saturday hai.
Mujhe 5 baje tak ghar pahunchna hoga.



Then, we had nothing else to worry about. Except money.
Now, we need to worry about our bosses, families, jobs, travel, siblings, girlfriends. Except money.

Paintings at night

Somehow, the memories rekindled in your mind, when you stare at the blank white canvas of your ceiling, as you try to fight to put yourself to sleep, always turn out to be bad.

Somehow.

Confidence

"I was batting on 291 at Chepauk, against South Africa. I told Paul Harris, "Come round the wicket and first ball I'll hit you for a six." He accepted my challenge and the very first ball I hit him for a straight six, and there was a long-off, long-on, deep midwicket and a deep point. I was so tired and he was bowling on the pads and I was getting bored. So rather than spending 10-15 minutes to get to the triple-century I gave him good advice."

- Virendra 'Uncluttered' Sehwag

A

Dear A,

Come tomorrow, it will be a year since I got booted out. So, I thought I should thank someone who has played a big part in my ressurection in this period. I know you would say that you did nothing.

But, let me just tell you, though it might not be such a big deal for you, it meant a lot to me. A hell lot more than you can ever imagine!

A drowning man will clutch on to whatever little twig that can possibly keep him alive. I was almost sucked into the cesspool of desperation, and I would like to thank the rope which helped me climb out of the quicksand, even though the rope itself thinks that it is a small twig.

I have heard that greatness is in not making a big deal of one's positive contribution to other's lives.

And you are great!

Regards,
K

Just another rant

All it took us to forget this was a four day weekend. We got out of our homes, and shouted slogans against the ineptness of the leaders in handling our security. Everyone from Barkha 'senti' Dutt to Rajdeep 'hyper' Sardesai claimed this as the emergence of the youth power. People like me, who were doing their work in office without indulging in the brouhaha, were jibed at for being insensitive! Come elections, we have now seen how 'youngsters' are active in participation. No amount of Tata tea will keep us awake, hum kabhi nahi jaagenge!

'We have lost faith in the system' is the common refrain. If you have lost faith in the system and don't want to get your fucking ass to the polling booth, then its your job to change the system for the better! Stop rocking in that armchair, wearing those Che Guevara t-shirts and get the hell out of your houses and vote, else just shut up and drink Tata tea! :P

I know this post is not very coherent and structured and all, but I don't give a damn. I am just bloody pissed off with a turnout of less than 40% in my city.

Jai ho!

Weekend Whine

After sending off my family friend at the Pune Airport after his interview, I planned to surprise my friend who works in Pune. So, I sent some so called cryptic messages, in the form of prediction for the day and other crappy stuff. But they were easily decoded, with my overeagerness giving it away, a bit too easily.

So, I called to confirm the so called surprise visit. But, quoting Palahniuk, the weather was partially cloudy and was getting hazier. So, we decided to check mutual availability at around 5:30, so that we could catch the Indrayani.

However, call it fate or will, the expected non-availability was confirmed. The energy levels went for a toss and the eager quick walk was transformed to a slow heavy trudge.

It seems, this depressive virus shifted from me to my rickshaw driver as well. As a result, he took exactly thirteen years and four months to reach Pune Station. Drawing full energy from my frail frame, I dashed off to the tickets counter and found myself in Tirupati-sized queues. After being fined 250 bucks for loitering in the station without a ticket just the previous day, I did not want to take another shot at my nervous-face-in-front-of-ticket-checker. So had to bite my teeth and stand in the queue for a gruelling seventeen minutes and buy the tickets.


Indrayani was on platform 2. So, I ran, and ran, and ran. But, she slowly, but surely, was getting away from me.

As I was getting down from the last steps, I could see the huge 'X' mark on the last bogie. A million hands bade me good bye.

Since, there were no trains for about a couple of hours, there was no choice but to go by bus.

In between, my mind was split between whether to call my friend and inform about the train miss and suggest going in bus together or otherwise. Going by the apparent discomfort in the previous conversation, I chose the latter, not knowing what my twisted fate had in store for me.

After waiting for about half an hour, I caught a volvo bus towards Dadar, deciding to get down at Panvel. The fast moving images at the window, brought back some old memories of my previous visit to Pune. As I was getting lost in my own world, I was brought back to the real world by my neighbor, who puked on me. The idiot forgot to use the packet provided for the same and conveniently decided to use my t-shirt as a toilet sink. I was almost getting a vomit bath. Eww!

Now stop making faces, and understand the situation, you idiots!

The only good thing was that the bus had almost reached Kalamboli where I was to get down and catch a town bus to my place. There was just a small problem. I was already Mr. Stinksalot, and the stop was in the middle of the highway and it was getting very late, thus reducing the already low probability of finding the town.

After a 15 minute wait, at the godforsaken bus stop, I caught a town bus to my place. As soon as I entered the bus, everyone gave me nasty look, with their cringed noses. I am sure they thought I was drunk and had puked on myself! Haha!

My stink had a benefit. No one was ready to sit beside me and I got to use an entire two-seat and sit comfortably. But then, a comfortable life puts forward uncomfortable existential questions. I replayed the entire day in my mind and could not stop smiling. Probably, now the co-passengers were quite sure about me being drunk!

Somebody was singing somewhere,

I hope you had the time of your life.

Conversion...

...from humans to cattle, is complete!