A Stranger in the town

How does it feel to be in a place you have been years ago?
It's like meeting an acquaintance u knew long back..it's like..u have to re-introduce urself to that person/place again...
Sense the sights, smell, temperature..in a new way...
It's like adjusting urself to a place u called home years ago

An hour's drive in the early morning of 9th March from Dum Dum airport to Pretoria street gave me an eerie feeling..

The smell was so unfamiliar..the humidity so foreign that I had to ask myself.....Did I really ever belong to this place?
Born a Bengali,brought up in North East ..and having spent my growing years in Delhi & NCR..I often wondered...Where's my home?

To that ..once my Dad had replied..."The whole world is your abode...where u can make ur home..that's where u belong to..."

Beating the blues...

Life sucks when u wait the whole day to meet someone - and he says he can't make it..coz he has other commitments...

After a series of emotional crests and troughs u decide u had enough ..when ur Dad enacts how u were shown dancing on the TV (Aaj Tak Video footage of Kritva-IMI(International Management Institute) fest)

Ur Bro drags u for an outing..
U go to Shoppers' Stop and make good use of ur membership card and bad use of ur Dad's hard earned money..
But fortunately retail therapy always works..
Suddenly ur Debit/Credit card refuses to get processed..and u wonder aloud.."How wrong can a day go???..One single day?"

And then the guy at the counter asks u how/where u got ur nail art done..u explain to him..
IMPULSE..GK M-Block Market..n u feel the day isn't so bad...after all

and then u see a baby gal in a pink frock
and an infant in his peram..
and a li'l old lady thanks u coz u helped open a door for her..
and a T-shirt with the slogan
"Life becomes a lot more interesting when u make MISTAKES"
And u smile to urself...

What the F***!!
I don't need anyone else to be happy..my happiness is an independent variable.
An intrinsic factor..it comes from within...

I wonder, how can someone who is as practial and mature most of the times
(at least most of my friends think so..otherwise I wouldn't have to play an agony aunt ...a thankless job anyways..) can make a complete jack ass of myself on certain occasions...!!!???


Maybe...I need to stop watching those stupid romantic comedies
(What the hell I watched Serendipity on Zee studio today!! And wept..Shit! Shittt!! SHITTT!!!)

It's my life!!

Someone recently remarked I appear to be a character from some novel..living in a far-off castle...who loves to play with puppies and wants only flowers as gifts..
Maybe I am not grounded..but surely I am not that fantastic!!
I wouldn't have existed in real life then!!!

But what the hell !
Who cares!!
And even if I do...who cares that I care?

Here I am ..having the time of my life -playing Movie Crosswords and Dumb Charades @ Kritva..

And pronouncing my fav F word a no.of times enough to make my Mom wash my mouth if she heard it..

I am happy..I am being myself..wild..crazy..fun..


I have never tried to be someone else in my life...
not only coz I think it's cowardly..but also coz I think it's much more convenient to be myself...


Love me or hate me...but only coz I am ME...

And if u think U want to change me... only to suit ur whim..then..I am terribly sorry..I can change for NO ONE.

It's not vanity..just simple logic
If I cease to be me...I will cease to exist..

and u wud actually be liking someone else...not ME


So next time u think something is not right ..or something needs to be rectified..just let me know..don't try to dictate..coz it's my LIFE!!!

Memoirs of a Geisha

She paints her face to hide her face. Her eyes are deep water. It is not for Geisha to want. It is not for Geisha to feel. Geisha is an artist of the floating world. She dances, she sings. She entertains you, whatever you want. The rest is shadows, the rest is secret

Watched the movie and I loved it...And one thing is for sure...if I don't get to read the book...I won't rest in peace ...

How does it feel to be the most desired woman of the land..n yet not have the right to desire the man she chooses?
How does it feel to have wanted only one thing in life truly..n try to accept the fact that ur wish can never be fulfilled..??
To know a mere glance can make a wayfarer forget his way...n yet... to know u can never choose ur own path..

U can't decide ur destiny..coz u have no choice...

Ask a nine-year-old named Chiyo from a fishing village who is sold to a geisha house in Kyoto's Gion district ..who grows to be a legendary Giesha named Sayuri..she fetches 15,000 Yen from her patron..the highest bid in Geisha history..

Schooled in the artistic and social skills a geisha must master in order to survive in her society,she is blessed with the beauty of expression which can melt the heart of even the most resistant man ...

(Trivia:The movie has been nominated for 6 Oscars)

The wackiest things

It was not until someone called me “wacky” after a long time that I thought to myself "How whacky am I?”
A few instances popped instantly to my mind and I think I have grown up enough to confess them…..here.
I am not immoral but someone whom I would call amoral coz some restrictions don’t make any sense to me…

Anyways before I plunge into a deep reverie and begin sounding like some criminal..
I’d like to share a few light moments of my not so long life..
Which I think can be categorized as “wacky” or “crazy’

#1 I was in sector 18 ,as usual..freaking out with my friends..fortunately/unfortunately armed with a camera(had come to get a roll washed )
a few shots remaining..I was desperate to make the best use of them

It was when Raddison,Noida was under construction..
Two snake charmers were moving around with a python n I dunno why…but I thought..the only thing I want in life right now(typical me) is to wrap that creepy thing around my neck..like my life depended on it
n a get a pic clicked..

I paid those people handsomely..lest that snake should faint(lol)
N asked them to help me get adorned by that reptile..
The python was strong…
A couple of passer bys stopped and gaped at me..n I thought..”Poor creatures..wish they tried out the same..it’s so thrilling”
After the photo session the snake turned a bit moody n refused to uncoil itself
The more those snake charmers tried to unwind it..the tighter it wound itself around my neck..until I choked myself n felt it’ll wring my neck n probably this is going to be the last snap of my life..
I wondered if my parents would put it in a frame if I died..
N honestly I can say..for once in my life..I was scared
I gestured those idiots to stop pulling the python from both ends n let it have its way..
It soon relaxed and I felt a gush of fresh air filling my lungs again…
Aah..a narrow escape

Mom freaked out when I emailed that pic to my parents…Dad I guess was proud. Coz all he said was”That’s like my gal”

#2 I don't fag for a stupid reason...it darkens lips!!!
But once I shared a bidi with a blue collared woman who worked in my hostel...
She taught me how to cup ur hands to take a kashh
Somehow ..it was the most liberating experience of my life..
I found all social barriers vanish..n her to be just another human being...

#3 This is what I call juvenile deliquescence.
We were a close-knit group of six females..prurient and curious.
Three of us stole an essential commodity from Store 18 which usually comes in a pack of 3 and the rest of us met in my hostel room(yeah u guessed it right-the HeadQuarters)
The first one was blown like a balloon,the 2nd filled with water and pichkao-ed and the 3rd was thrown in front of the warden's room :D
Now that I am safely out of the bounds of campus..I can confess who helped the warden set a world record in Screaming the following morning...

Btw u can pluck my teeth one by one..or pull my nails..or skin me alive (or try any other medieval form of torture...) I am not going to name the other partners in crime...LOL

(continued)

Eerie Replay

The headlines arrested my attention...and I was soon reading a cursory glance by the print media which needed to fill its columns...
It was a tale of a young ,beautiful woman who had committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her Juhu apartment..leaving behind a two-page suicide note,saying she couldn't cope with life's pressures.
All the elements of romance included..she even had a loving boyfriend about whom she wrote
"I'm sorry ,Bhanu.I 'm paying for my sins.You're the most beautiful person in my life.You taught me the true meaning of love"

Yes,I am talking of Kuljeet Randhawa-the female lead in teleserials "Kohinoor' and "Special Squad"..who was awaiting the release of her first Bollywood film.
Having featured in a host of commercials for Whirlpool,Maruti and Reid & Taylor etc...a wannabe might think what could have made her take such a foolish/bold/(n a plethora of other adjectives to suit one's tastes/inclination) move when her career was going great guns.

We read.We muse over for a while..n we forget..

and another story another day...another headline..makes us think for a while


Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste it's sweetness on the desert air

What cures me..

I hate doctors..and medications..
My general physician Dr.Meenakshi Jain of Max Noida had given up on me long back..coz she knows I won't show my face until I am really ill..

For the past few days I was taking rather pride in the fact that I am having fever n still fooling about...n giving those viruses a permanent abode

But not for too long..
someone came over to visit me n insisted I get a check up done..
Hospitals n nursing homes have a very depressing ambience..no matter how cheerful the staff is..the other patients always make u gloomy...

Now when Tanu di insisted I go along with her to a doc near by..she said..I needn't bother about it..the uncle is so sweet..unhe dekhtey hi tumhara bukhaar bhaag jayega..
That was promising..

Somehow I relented..
And I will never repent I did so..
He was the sweetest doc I have ever seen in my life..so less a doc n so much more a human..

Obviously the first thing was to check my tempt..which he found to be a little more than 102
..now I felt ill...shittt!!!
n then he asked how long had I been running a tempt..I had to tell him..umm..a couple of days maybe..(maybe more ..fingers crossed..lying)
He suggested an injection wud ensure a quicker recovery..
first I thought he is kidding..but then I realised he is serious..!!

Ouch !! I hate needles!!! Mummy..Piercing is ok..but injections!! NO!

But the kindly man hardly made me realise I am ill...n so did his wife..who kept talking to me all the while

I soon found myself laughing at his jokes n n his theth Punjabi(which I found very endearing)

Fortunately,it was their son's bday n I got an extra treat of my fav laddoos...after those goodies aunties had already stuffed me with..
It was fun..just like visiting ur fav aunt/uncle n getting pampered...n his "Oye puttar..tu jaldi theek ho jayegi .." really worked..
I soon found myself laughing...

Seriously it's not only the medicines that work..Love has a strange healing power...