My Dad's Last Message

My dad was admitted the previous night at about midnight. His preliminary check-up's were done and his surgery was to be done next day. I was beside him. We talked for some while and agreed to sleep. The night didn't let us sleep. We slept in bits. I woke up and made my dad ready before the operation. He was advised not to have anything. He regularly had tobacco and that day he was looking at me helplessly. I could understand the urge in him and I arranged for his tobacco. He was delighted. I shouldn't have done that but I couldn't resist too. The doctor came and announced. We were both afraid. We were thousands of miles away from home and there was nobody beside who could console me. I was fighting thousands of negative vibes inside me while he was being taken inside. I gave up everything and plugged in my headphone. Music was always my saviour. I tried to go for my favorite playlist but couldn't. I was getting calls from my mother whether everything was fine or not. Even if I had no idea of what was going on inside I kept telling her that everything was fine. Nobody from my paternal kin bothered to give a call. The moment when I needed someone there wasn't anyone to hold me firm from falling. I got plenty of calls from materal kins and close friends. After three hours they came to announce that his operation was successful but I wasn't allowed to meet him. I went to every extent of requesting but the lady turned no ears. I was pushed off by the guard outside the operation theatre. Meanwhile I conveyed everything to everyone who was concerned. We belong to Hindu faith but there were few people who were praying in the village Mosque when my father's operation was going on. Probably that had kept him alive. After two hours I went inside after bargaining a succesful deal with the guard. Dad was lying senseless in the recovery room. I came outside and again made another succesful attempt inside after some time. This time, he was awake. He smiled at me and waved his hand. He was alive and perhaps that was what he was trying to convey me. He asked me show my watch. He saw the time. I was again pushed outside. I made it inside again after two hours. By that time, I was a pro in getting inside and was also used to being thrown outside. Dad's oxygen mask was removed and he wanted to drink something. I approached the doctor and she gave him a cup of warm tea and also threw me outside. I again went it after two hours and this time Dad caught hold of me and he started walking. He walked for sometime inside the recovery room. This time I was not thrown outside and instead the doctors called me up to say that usually patients took at least 24 hours to walk after such a major surgery and Dad was walking withing 6 hours. It was never so easy to hold him away from freedom and even this time they could but only for mere 6 hours. They allowed Dad back to hospital room from the recovery room. The doctor came late night to ask if everything was alright. To their surprise, Dad asked the doctor about his native and children. Dad also asked him to arrange for some good food as he was hungry. Soon there was idli and rice for him. He insisted me on having one idli too. He was hungry but he knew I was hungry too. I knew he didn't walk in the 6th hour itself to prove anything to anybody but only to let me know that I had nothing to worry. We woke up at 3 am again. He wanted to go for a stroll in the floor itself. Initially I held his hand, not firmly but just as a support. He left the grip away and started walking on himself. We saw a very very fat man who was probably thrice as fat as me. Just then after he walked away Dad started with the old nursery poem Humpty Dumpty. We laughed out loud. The nurses too heard us but they were too amused to see a man laughing just after hours of such an operation. Dad died after twenty two days. He left  with a message that one should never stay away from laughter. He believed in sharing happiness.

Religion, Rituals and Superstitions

We can define faith as belief in revealed truth. Superstion is belief in happenings of supernatural activities. Superstition directly contradicts faith. Ritual is set of activities of a particular group of people performed in fixed order for a particular cause, necessarily originating from a religion, community or even a small group. Religion is a fundamental set of belief agreed upon by a group of people who believe in the cause, nature and purpose of universe and performsome devotional activities. Superstitions are although believed to  originate from religion is not necessarily so. Superstition originates with the fear from predicting a series of misdeed happening to an individual or several individuals coincidentally after some same action to happen to all other individual who does that action. It has nothing to do with religion. Superstition is all about fear.

I encountered several such rituals  and superstitious beliefs during my the events after my fathers death. Although I agreed to follow a few of them, I gently denied to follow the rest. 

• There has always been a belief of taking bath after cremation in Hindu faith and taking birth before burial in Islam faith. During my few visits to attend cremation, I don't remember taking bath everytime. I took cremation as a day to day task and only took bath if I hadn't taken bath in the entire day. My rule is to bath daily. I was told to believe scientifically with the logic that wind brings flying ash from the pyre to fall upon the one's standing near the pyre and that's why we need to bath after attending cremation. In that case, I will always take bath after entering home from the polluted city life.

• I was asked to not have anything or drink water even, for three days as I was the one who gave the fire to my fathers corpse, popularly known as 'Mukhagni'. I didn't get any logic to that and I drank water. Although I didn't eat anything, still I drank water. I didn't get any logic to stay thirsty for three days. I was told this was to feel that someone close has left me. My father was dead just couple of hours back and I didn't need anything to impose grief on me. I am still broken because of his absence.

• I suddenly turned untouchable. Some people started standing away from me. Luckily I had near and dear ones who too didn't believe in anything of that sort. They believed that for 10 days my fathers soul would be wandering around me and so touching me could land them up in danger. 

• I am asked to not visit any temple or take part in any religious activity up to an year after my father's death. I seldom visit any temple, but I feel sorry for my mother. 

• I was also asked to remain wet for three days. Everytime I dried up, I had to take bath again. This was supposed to go till three days. I was told to do so to feel the grief. I denied to stay wet for three days in temperature range of 24 C - 14 C. 

• Me and my Mom had to take meal only once in day and that too at a time when nobody ever felt hungry. This continued for 13 days.

• I am asked to stay away from attending weddings, cultural gatherings, eating outside, going to any social event and anything auspicious. This is to keep  me feeling the grief.

I would consider most of these to be superstitions as I don't see the root of any perfect logic. My father was not at all superstitious and we would often laugh at such superstitions. Although he was religious, he was not superstitous. My fathers rational nature gave me the strength to oppose such beliefs. Social pressure compelled me to follow a few of them and I shall continue to follow those few for the works of everyone dependent on me. However, for whomsoever I would be dependent upon I would ask to deny such beliefs. If it is believed that by following certain activities blindly I would feel the grief of someone's absence than its absolutely not so. It would turn me more rebellious. I will always feel my fathers absence and it is not for just a year. I will feel my fathers absence even if I don't follow these. It comes from heart and it can't be imposed. This is all about respect. I believe these superstitions are just to impose the grief of someone's absence on his near and dear ones and which is not at all necessary.

Life's best lesson

The night before I didn't have my dinner. I woke up late on that day. I left home without any breakfast. I sat on my friends pillion. We left for breakfast at our old joint, but we couldn't due to an interrupted call.

 

He asked me if I could volunteer for blood donation. I instantly agreed, although I was six months less than the permissible age. My friend rushed to the hospital. While climbing the stairs I asked him who was unwell so as to find out if it any any of his kin. He disclosed that it was none from his kin but a lady who worked as a helper in the school where his mom was the Principal. We rushed to the ward and found a young girl in her early teens lying on the bed. We found out that she had severe haemaglobin shortage and needed blood urgently. Donors were asking for fifteen hundred bucks and the lady's salary was such that she could pay only for two such donors and she needed more. She managed a few donors from her known relatives. We immediately volunteered. The lady and one of her relative rushed to touch our feet, but we asked them not to do so as we were younger than them. We rushed to the room where there was some pre-donation inspection by a doctor.

 

"How old are you guys?" asked a lady doctor.

 

"Nineteen," my friend replied.

     

"Me too," I lied instantly.

 

"Did you guys have breakfast?"

 

"Yeah, we had had rice for our breakfast," I replied.

 

After our blood pressure check we were taken to the room. We were asked to take rest on adjacent chairs.

 

"Are you seriously nineteen?" I asked my friend.

 

He laughed and replied, "I have two months left to be eighteen."

 

"I have six months left," I added.

 

After our blood donation was complete, we visited the lady and said her that few of our friends would volunteer the next day. We were welcomed by a smile of relief from a helpless mother. We were contended.

 

With empty belly's we headed to a food joint. We emptied our purse and ordered for three chapatis and 1 butter chicken. We were allowed credit for some more as the manager was one of our close acquintances.

 

We broke a lot of rules hat day. We rode a two wheeler without any proper driving license and helmets. We donated blood even when we were not allowed too. We lied to the doctor which could have been fatal for our health. Things didn't go in vain. We got the good news a week later, when the lady called to inform us that the girl who had very less chances of survival as per the doctor was out of danger now. We saved a live.

 

The lesson we got is that we should never step away from helping someone because it could even save someone's life.

How my parents passed the test

I was then 17 and my 12th board exams were going on. I was sick with jaundice (which got detected after the exams) and heavy fever. I couldn't study. The day before the last exam, which was mathematics I was down with fever. The thermometer read 104 degree Celsius. I had two pills to take care of the fever and which was sufficient to make me feel drowsy. The last thing which I could see before falling asleep was tears on my mother's eyes. I could make out it was because she was worried about my health and my exams.

"You are too sick. You don't need to give your exam tomorrow and you will be taken to a hospital tomorrow," said my mother with the grief that I would be losing a year of my academics.

"Don't worry Maa, please wake me up tomorrow morning. If needed I will crawl to the exam hall. I might fail but I will still appear," I said my words just before I fell asleep.

I woke up and had two more tablets of fever. I reached the hall and soon after the question paper was distributed I started feeling drowsyp. I couldn't fight the sleep and instead fell asleep . I woke up after one and half hour. The exam was already half gone. I turned around to see my best friend in tension. She even cried later. I went to the toilet and washed my face. I sprinkled water upon my eyes so that I could be awake for another ninety minutes.

I saw the paper. It wasn't easy and luckily I knew most of the paper. I had a perfect partnership with the pen and I jolted down 60 marks in the time left. I didn't know the rest or else my pen would have sure been with me till the end. I was sure to pass.

My best friend walked to me and she cried. She didn't want me to lose a year. I assured her that it wouldn't have been so.

As I walked out I saw my father. He was there with sweets and juice. I grabbed some and passed on to my friends. It was the last day of our exams and all my friends had different party plans. I went home, had my lunch and was rushed to the hospital. I was admitted immediately. When most friends of mine were having cuisines, I was there at the hospital with salines. I was detected jaundice, fever and weak liver. I was later taken to Hyderabad for further treatments. The day of results came. I scored 42 out of the 60 that I had attempted and passed with first divisions and later got in to engineering.

My neighbours and relatives complained about my poor performance and also placed their suggestions. Later when I sat with my parents they coined me to be a hero. They were happy that I made it somehow.

I was glad at my parents than at my results. I was glad to have parents who were least bothered about my exams and results. I am proud of my parents. They passed the test. Most Indian parents wouldn't.

About a School going Kid

I have known Saranga for almost a decade. We have been great 'Chaddi-buddies' at all time of our life. He has always been a support and is always near. He prefers to remain quiet at most times of the year. I would pen down a small incident from his life.

It was during his fourth standard when he studied at his native and his dad is the head-master of the school. While every student had their lunch from their tiffin boxes, Saranga liked a different taste. He never liked it when he was served with a cold meal. He always needed a fresh prepared warm meal. His lunch was being sent to his class everyday during the recess. This had continued for months. His place for the lunch was his teacher's desk. He liked sitting there. Perhaps he enjoyed the solitude there. It so happened one day that the carrier who used to carry his tiffin everyday was a bit late. Saranga had already turned red with temper. His tiffin was in front of him just five minutes before his recess ended. While he was enjoying his lunch, his teacher was in front of him. Now he was in the middle of the sea. He was confused. He was in a dilemma whether he should step down from the teachers desk on the note of respect or he should continue his lunch on the call of hunger. He chose the third path. He decided to throw his lunch on his teachers face. The class was paralyzed with silence and then our hero realized that he had committed something inappropriate. The consequences could have been fatal but everything was spared for a boy of such a tender age. At that age even the stupidest mistake is being considered cute.

Egg Mend

Why should we be away from such a wonderful egg chicken biryani only if the egg is a little broken?? There must a solution to every problem here on earth.

Siva, a good friend suggested to get a feviquick and he would try to mend it somehow. Feviquick wasn't available at the hand, so needed another alternative. Bingo!! We can try cellotape. After all the manufacturers assure a lot about the adhesiveness. It was the time to test the manufacturers word, our intelligence and the eggs luck.  We cut a strip of cellotape and paste it above the hairline break of the shell. For our safety, we put another strip. The egg is set to boil and we wait for the result. Eureka!! Within a couple of minutes our egg is boiled without any disfigurement. Now its time to cook the biryani. 

I can never compromise my delightful lunch just for a simple hairline break. I am sure I won't have to run for the grocery shop again to get another egg after discovering a simple hairline break on one or two off the eggs.

Three Laureate's..

The first days in BIT seemed to go slow, with no new friends and none whom I could call as someone close. Surely destiny wasn't going to be cruel to me. I obviously had to meet a few special people here. As time passed by, I met Satyakam, Sarabjyot and Yashwant. We formed a nice group of four. While me and Sarabjyot always insisted on bunks, movies and house party, Satyakam and Yashwant could barely turn themselves from their motivated minds. Midst of all fun and few group studies our time started to flow great. While Satyakam and Yashwant aimed for distinctions, we both enjoyed passing semesters even with the lowest mark. 

The time came when the lecturers would now divide us and categorize us on the basis of marks. The time wasn't going to be good for Sarabjyot and me. The first internal of the first semester of engineering was ahead. Physics professor Mr. Rangappa had announced that it was must for everyone to get 15 out of 25 and if anyone got any less, things won't be good for him. The test went on and with every attempt to cheat we wrote our tests. After all possible attempts our test didn't go well. Mr. Rangappa announced the results within a day or two. The entire class of 60 made its way above the barrier of 15 except the three of us. Sarabjyot got stuck at 12, Yashwant at 13 and me at 11. Mr. Rangappa made us stand for a few minutes launchers of lectures regarding bright future and established career were fired at us. It was embarrassing just for the first few minutes but later we enjoyed the moment and felt like battle heroes. After all only a few dared to fail their first test of engineering. Later we came to know that Yashwant was not the one as he showed us on that first test, instead he is too good in studies.

This incident even after 40 months remains fresh as if it was just yesterday. Our first semester rocked!!

Doorie-Philia

The album Doorie by Atif Aslam was released in the end days of 2006. I remember it was a revolution on the last few seats of Bus No - 13 (the bus which carried me school for years). Everyone of us used to sing those songs on the way back to home. We appreciated the music and the lyrics. Each of those numbers spoke a thousand hidden words at a moment. Those few numbers somehow managed to build a bridge between our childhood and maturity and we spoke on topics of future, love and a lot more. Prasiddha was most attached with the track 'Yakeen'. I still remember this conversation once-

Prasiddha - Toi Doorie'r kuntu gaan besi bhal pau? (Which track you like the most of the album Doorie?)

Me - Hum Kis Galli jaa rahe hai.. aru tur? (Hum Kis galli Jaa rahe hai.. and yours?)

Prasiddha - Yakeen.. last'or line keita khunibi sun bhal lagibo.. bahut positive end eta diye. (Yakeen.. You must hear the last few lines of the track.. It gives a end on a positive note).

I returned home and heard the track again and again. Prasiddha wasn't wrong. The last few lines gave a positive end to the entire track.

Ab agar tum mile to,

itna yakeen hai,

haans denge hum to,

rona nahi hain..

अब अगर तुम मिले तो इतना यकीन हैं ,

हाँस देंगें हम तो रोना नही हैं । 

After hearing the track numerous times I asked Rakesh the same question.

Me - Oi tur kuntu track bhal lage? (Which track you like the most?)

Rakesh - Title Track tu (The Title track)

Me - Kio? (Why?)

Rakesh - Video tut suwali joni dhunia (The girl in the video is beautiful).

I dared not to ask anymore. His answer was obvious. After all, we can never expect him to change. Our bus and those days of flashback seriously rocked our childhood.

Bheema's blunder..

Few days back I was in Davangere with Mayank and Harshit. The purpose of journey was VTU's pool campus. We didn't expect such a huge crowd there. We got a hint about the crowd only when we reached Majestic Bus Stand. Majestic seemed full with student's and everyone was waiting for a bus to Davangere. Luckily Mayank had booked ticket's advance and we were relieved. It was obvious that hotel's would be filled too by morning. So I called Justdial and managed a few phone number's of lodge's in Davengere. The first four calls depressed us and we presumed we had to change to formal's at the public toilet itself. The fifth call somehow managed a room for us at Bheema Lodge. The manager also informed that his lodge was two kilometer's away from the bus depot. While in the bus journey Mayank didn't let me sleep; he was keeping me busy brushing up the subject's of Mechanical. I was feeling sleepy; still couldn't sleep. I still remember him saying, "Bhai, aaj jaag le, kal placement ho gaya to Cab rent pe leke sote hue aayenge.." (Brother, stay awake tonight, if we have a good news by tomorrow we will rent a cab and sleep in peace and come).

We reached the bus depot. The army of auto rickshaw driver's covered us. We had gained experiences from our past trip's that after midnight taking an auto-rickshaw cost's a great deal. We avoided them and decided to walk. As soon as we stepped out of the depot, we discovered an isolated main road. The only creatures accompanying us were the street dog's. We saw a many lodges nearby. We banged every door of every lodge to search for a room. We enjoyed waking up the snoring manager's at the counter's. Everyone replied with a harsh tone, "Room Illa.." (No room). We somehow found the route to Bheema Lodge and walked in. The manager spoke in his sleepy voice, "Boss, Room Illa..". After we let him know about the advenced booking he handed the key to us. 

Luckily the room was in the ground floor itself and we were spared from the pain of climbing up & down the stair's. The room was a single room with a single bed for three of us. We were shocked to hell. It was a small room with a bed, two chair's, a table and a TV. Harshit placed himself on the bed, Mayank rested himself with the hotel blanket on the ground and I slept on the chair itself. We slept for an hour or so. We woke up for the last minute revision. It was time to get ready for the bid day ahead. We then realized the real shit was yet to come. The toilet had no lock. Finally, we were three boys in a single room and no lock for the toilet door. We swore to each other that none shall open the door while one of them is busy attending the nature's urgent call.

We got ready for the big day with a lot of expectations. We turned there on time. There were many thousand's like us. We did stand up for six hour's and there was nothing except depression. We returned back to hotel and came back to Bangalore on that day itself. I realized that day what Mriganka Sir taught me when I was a child,

"Less Expectation, More satisfaction
More Expectation, Less Satisfaction"

The Aristocrat feeling

Guwahatians must have traveled through the city bus plying through the length and breadth of the city. Have you ever stood on the back door and had experienced that aristocracy. If not, please do it soon. My high school days have always passed standing beside the back door and leaping in and out at every stop. The experience of enjoying the cool breeze on your face on the summer evening's of the city is another beauty. Standing on the door step is not a reason of the bus overcrowding; it is even seen on an empty bus. I once remember one incident when I had to reach Panbazar early morning. I got up at Maligaon at 6:15 AM and there were only three passenger's. The driver was full excited on the empty road and every bus stop looked empty. He stopped at Bharalumukh for a minute or two and again he accelerated. I still remember the sight. The early morning view of river Brahmaputra near fancy bazar and the fog that was a blanket above the mighty river created an epic of natural beauty. The aristocracy of enjoying such a climate with the blanket of nature gives a different definition to life.

Seeing Vajpayee Ji..

Seeing Modi Ji

Atal Behari Vajpayee Ji is one of the most fantastic, energetic, corruption free and far sighted leader's India has ever got. His rally was scheduled on the North-Eastern Frontier Railway Stadium, Maligaon where he was going to address the public. The stadium was in my neighborhood. I was in the second or third standard. I didn't have any clue regarding who was coming and what was the rush all about. I didn't want to miss my Sunday noon Shaktimaan. My dad wanted me to come. He said me that one day when you shall grow old, you'll realize you were lucky enough to see a national hero. I hesitated, he scolded and took me along. The crowd itself there scared me out. It was a very huge gathering. Thousand's of people gathered to see the hero. The security was too tight. The gathering was increasing with every passing moment. My dad was going to see him for the third or fourth time. He arrived at the time he promised. The crowd got excited seeing him. I was standing on the ground beside my dad. I wasn't able to see him. Seeing this my dad picked me up on his lap. I still wasn't able to see him. My dad picked me up on his shoulder's and now I got a clear picture of him. I didn't understand the word's he spoke. Perhaps he spoke of India Shining, Golden Quadrilateral, Eradicating Corruption, Employment to all, and nuclear deals. I didn't understand any of them, I was of a very tender age to get any clue on those subjects. All I focused on his voice and the way he spoke. That fascinated me. I still remember him waving his hands to the gathering while he left. I came home and asked dad more about him. My dad replied all my queries. I got to know his vow and devotion to the service of the nation and that he was always for the public. The next time  on wards every time I use to scroll around the TV channels and I saw him I paused and listened him speak. As a child, I developed kin interest in his words and thought's. His ideologies made me go deeper into Bharatiya Janta Party thoughts. Today I am a national member of Bharatiya Janta Party and shall forever be with the party. Seriously a leader's words motivated me. If I am ever asked whether I ever saw God, I shall proudly reply I saw Vajpayee Ji. 

Goel ( A reporter ) : Why did not you marry?

Vajpayee Ji: I did not find time to get married.

Escaping the Cops..

Going back to the date, 25th January 2009, when I was in eleventh standard. 25th Jan is a very high alert tight security day in Guwahati or in any other North-Eastern City, just because of the threats by different extremist organizations. Section 144 IPC is enforced and people are not allowed on the pinion and any person found without proper vehicle document seriously gets screwed. Parent's generally advice to stay indoors and avoid classes and hang-outs.

I came out for my tuition classes. There were very less of us. Prasiddha was there on his dad's Yamaha RX-135 CC. He didn't even have a license to ride then but he rode very well. After the classes,like any other day I joined him in the pillion. We decided to take isolated colony lanes to avoid cops and reach home as early as we could. We tried through many colony lanes; but the security seemed tight. We rode over to Maligaon Chariali to join the busy road and escape the cops in the cover of the busy traffic. We reached Chariali; but the number of cops there was much more than any other day. We now decided to take the route from Boripara and take the Yamaha beside the rail tracks and join the Maligaon road by the rail gate. We tried but the cops were even there too. We both were on half sleeves and the cold winter breeze had almost frozen our ribs and there was only a last option left. We decided to  take the riskiest road by the highway and join Maligaon Goshala that came from Tetelia. We reached Jalukbari. There were almost 10 cops. We were shivered down to zero when we saw them. We discussed whether to march ahead or take an U-turn. We grabbed the last piece of courage and Prasiddha accelerated the 135 CC beauty midst the cops. Luckily none of them held us and rather they were busy checking the trucks and lorries and we escaped the scenario. Prasiddha got tempted on that smooth highway and his bike was close to 100 KMPH in the highway and we both were on our half sleeves and ever without a helmet. We experienced a part of Antarctica. We somehow  saved ourself or else our parent's would not have let us escape the scene so easily. Thank's to Prasiddha and his bike, the day always remains on a page of my book of nostalgia.

P.S - The picture is taken from google. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the bike.

Our Bermuda Triangle..

It was our school exhibition. Rakesh and me obviously had to do something. We decided for Bermuda Triangle. 

We seriously worked hard browsing the internet and collecting every single data on the topic. We tried made the replica out of wood and  somehow made a large pothole and covered it with a light blue sheet and tried with water. There were leakages everywhere. We didn't sit back and disappoint our spirit. We sealed every leakage with M Seal and somehow after multiple efforts we succeeded in minimizing the leakage. We even got an air bubble producer from an aquarium shop and connected the system to a low voltage motor; which gave waves and somehow made the replica of a real ocean. It was good; at least the best thing that class eight student's could do. The next milestone was a boat. We needed a boat that could manage its way straight and steady across the waves. We needed a boat made out of steel base so that it could easily get attracted by the magnetic effect of the magnet that we placed in the base of the pothole. We thought of generating the boat with a battery system but that would be too risky cause the force of the battery may impart greater strength on the boat and the boat may neglect the effect of magnetism and hence the motive of the project may get demolished. So we decided to put the boat without any external source of force and left its motion on the impart of waves. We tried a lot of times. Our boat was steering as we planned. It would be on the waves for a while and later sink with the magnetic effect.

On the day of project, the parent's came in and our project worked as we planned. I explained the working and Rakesh delivered demonstrations to the parent's. The judge came by evening. The judge was impressed by the title and he wanted to see the demonstration.  Rakesh placed the boat and this time the boat didn't steer itself towards the magnet. It indeed stayed motionless. It was the first time it behaved this way. Rakesh was clueless what to do. I immediately gave a small strike to the boat with my index finger with the hope that the judge won't see that. I got caught; he saw me. He laughed his heart out. We were obvious not to get any prize. Even our teacher's who stood behind the judge laughed a lot. We were seriously embarrassed. The next thing we did was to lift the project in the school bus and bring it back home. We kicked it until it was shattered to pieces. Our Bermuda Triangle just got devastated.

Passing Class Eight..

Rakesh & me were always on the same boat as kids. We studied together, lived nearby, played together and also flunked together. It was the half yearly exams that went too bad and our results was scheduled on the day next to Diwali. We almost saw our marks card with a red mark in every nightmare and our peace turned into havoc. We could not even dream of celebrating Diwali as we knew that the next morning our Garden of Eden would turn into a haunted house for us. We watched the day turn dusk and dusk turn dark and then every lane and every door covered with the brightest color of light and to the opposite, our faces covered with the mask of dullness. We saw our friends bursting cracker's and became even sadder. Our football field was dark, same as our face. We searched a lot, yet didn't find anyone to sit beside and comfort us in hour of pain. We decided to sit beside our football field and watch everyone celebrate. We did regret a lot, and realized nothing could be changed at that hour. We wished if somehow our answer paper's got misplaced or our teacher showed some mercy on your sweet young faces. We never felt lonelier than that moment. We even counted stars in the sky; our count went till 16-17 and then again we became busy filling the voids of our loneliness. We talked about studies and swore to no mischief's and decided to study seriously. We separated and reached home; slept early. We woke up and prayed every God we knew. We reached school and saw our result's. Luckily it was not that worse as we thought it would have been. Still we were screwed. Somehow I managed with my usual policy of 'Self Signing the Report Card with Dad's sign' and escaped the scolding scenario. Within a day or two we forgot our promises and then we were back. Me, rakesh, friend's and our football field; together we smiled in the evening's with the smiling Sun. Luckily we didn't flunk the final's yet never passed with good mark's.

Placement Day..

Last Tuesday was our placement day. Me and Mayank along with a few friend's didn't satisfy the requirement criteria for the company. The entire day I saw most of my friend's in formals and they appeared so matured. They looked completely changed within a day. Everyone of them had a face of hope. They watched us as we stared towards them. While they marched ahead to the placement center with a ray of hope; me & Mayank stood motionless with our sad little face. While everyone walked for a job, different ideas started walking in our head. Several business ideas suddenly started popping in our heads. I knew that someday I had to see this day in near future but Mayank never had this day in his worst nightmare. Even Roshan was not there to be with us; which further added to our disappointment. We attended an hour of lecture; and our Lecturer's words seemed to sympathize us; which added more to our bucket of disappointment. Mayank and me decided to bunk the rest of the day. The next question was What to do for the rest of the day?? Several ideas like Chicken Party, Bowling for Soup came to our mind. We declined and decided to go for Grand Masti. After a relinquishing breakfast we headed for the theater. The movie somehow made us happy for an hour or two. We separated and reached our rooms. Mayank looked depressed as he left on his Enfield. After I reached home, I had numerous questions for myself. I was confused whether someday I will have a job or not. Just then someone from inside spoke to me that after graduation life shall be a mountain for me. I will have to climb a great altitude to stand tall. I realized fear deep within. Just then I remembered I love Mountains..!!

In search of Laden..

Flashback to those days of my golden childhood when treat meant a bubblegum, fun meant football, happiness meant friend's and sadness meant getting hurt on our knees. We were three great buddies then - Rakesh, Tauseef and me. We were classmates too. Those days we had less pocket money and our desire for junk foods was endless. It was all of sudden in every news channel those days, where Osama Bin Laden's photo was shown and a heavy amount of reward for the person was announced who would declare any links associated with him. An idea popped in Rakesh's head. He said his idea would end our crisis and we could eat every food that we wanted. He said us that if some how we searched for Laden and found him somewhere we could get a huge amount of cash. We supported his thoughts. He further added that might be he is hiding somewhere in our locality. It was obviously stupid thought, but as young detectives we supported him. He made the plan and asked both of us not to disclose it to any one. We swore it would remain a secret. We searched daily in the evenings and in the noon on Sunday's. We never got tired for three week's. We searched every lane in our locality, we even jumped in the shallow drains. We got tired within a few days and left our search. We sat disappointed in our football field and watched other mates eat freely and wondered in our young heads where Laden might be. Our dreams for that cash just got shattered within a while. At the end, we prayed Almighty that where ever Laden might be, may he get killed early and may the entire world again breath some air of peace.

South Indian Wedding..

Both me and Mayank had never had any chance to be a invitee to any South Indian wedding. We obviously wanted to experience the magic of South Indian wedding. One of the seniors from our college, who was three years senior to us was getting married and Mayank was invited on the wedding. Mayank was on the modelling team of the college group in the first year and so he got in touch with this guy and he was a good model too. Mayank asked me if I wanted to join him and he was sure I would never disagree. He gave me hints that this was a real high profile wedding and so we needed to be dressed good. I got myself an expensive outfit for that uninvited wedding and Mayank also got dressed. We decided to get a bouquet as a present for the wedding but later we decided to save the money instead and invest in our thunderbird fuel. We reached palace grounds and it was a high security place for the wedding. I asked Mayank if he had got the wedding card with him. He replied with a smile that he was only invited on facebook. I was astonished and later commented him that he could have bought a printout of the conversation in which he was invited and he could get it attested from the groom; we broke out into laughter. We walked towards the reception hall with no gifts in our hand but only a helmet. We entered and there were variety of soft drinks and milk-shakes there. We grabbed a few glasses and quenched our thirst for the evening. We saw a long line and people standing just to wish the couple with their gifts and blessings. We thanked God we didn't get any gift. We roamed around the hall for a few minutes and smiled at the beautiful girls in their traditional outfits and sometimes smiled on the video recording cameraman. We sat for a while and made ourselves comfortable at the dining hall. We entered and there were chaat and dahi vada on the left hand side and different types of dosa's on the right hand side. We had a lot of dahi vada's. Then there was pizza and chow chow. I had a few pizza pieces while Mayank was busy with the chaat. Then there was the main course and which were filled with all mouth watering dishes. We took around half an hour to complete our course on the main course. We stood there for a while and also got relaxed for a while for the dessert. The dessert had around 11 types of sweets and faluda and raita and phirni and a lot more. I had all the 11 types of sweet two pieces each and three plates of faluda. I burped a few times after that. Mayank asked to take a look around if we had left any  dish untouched. I saw every corner but there was nothing left to adventure more. Mayank asked me to search if there was any coffee. I found the coffee man near the exit. We even didn't leave the coffee. Then we were over and we decided to leave now. We were gifted a coconut each at the exit which was meant to be auspicious according to the Hindu tradition. After our grand meal we were unable to get on the bike. It was a real great experience. While it was time to leave, I came to know that the security was so tight because some of the MLA's of the state and an ex-Prime Minister Mr. H. D. Deve Gowda was coming for the wedding. Our eyes left open with surprise. We had an adventurous evening and seriously a great wedding. That made me feel that South Indian Wedding's are really great. To be frank weddings in any part of the country are great. Where the bride and groom sits silently and their friends dance the nagin dance and to the tunes of some best item songs. Indian weddings are the best place to adventure the taste of ethnic Indian dishes. Now-a-days even there has been the introduction of Italian, Chinese and Continental dishes on the wedding menu which has even made it more glorious. As for me, I have the habit of self inviting at the uninvited weddings. Indian Weddings are great.