Friday, November 18, 2011

Why do I travel ?


I travel to feel things I never have before.

I have never understood hope as I did watching the sun set in Varkala. Satisfaction under the perfect sky in Dharamshala. Abandon in goa. Singularity (& ok with it. not happy. not sad. just by myself.) in Kihim. Being wonder-struck in Kerala. Comfort in Naukuchia. Discomfort in Darjeeling. Empowered in Bombay.

But I have also best understood happiness at home & love in the arms of a boy.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

You said it. I got it. (explanation to self)

So my friend who loves putting up new status messages on fbook writes some pretty smart stuff now and then. Recently she wrote:

"There are two kinda of friends in this world. The one's that will help you when you have a problem with somebody else and the other who will stick it out even if the problem is to do with them."

I did not realize how this idea got stuck in some dark corner of my head and then like a ghost for the,last few days evaluation sheets of friends keep jumping out of forgotten spaces. The second kind are rare. Cherish and love them. There is a greater chance you will have them by your death bed. (Actually that's easy.Any friend pumped on nostalgia and sympathy could to do that.) You will still have them after you've had a horrible day, where you messed up badly or simply had a break down. Technically, since you're fighting-they shouldn't care. But they will. Respect them for their faith and patience to work things out.

WARNING: NEVER PUSH THEM INTO CATEGORY 1 BY BEING A SUPER BITCH.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Little kids and KKHH...(people who don't know what that stands for needn't bother reading)


So kids(read first year l.l.b.) were discussing the great/eternal love story of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,and how it is such a relevant plot because every person can put themselves in the shoes of some character or the other and definitely find people in their own circle of friends forming the exact same constellation. Now KKHH was a very important movie for those who were born in the eighties. But by now we have mostly lived through the age of the story. So this is how it really turns out, for real...

Rahul indeed is cool enough to have a chick best friend, Anjali. Yet, Rahul is afterall a boy and can't help but "jhukao"his "sar" to peep into Tina's pushed-up cleavage and publically declares that he would rather watch her "fake-guitar" "koi mil gaya" than go for the Metallica concert with the guys(he will so regret this later!! because Tina has "sanskar" and she won't be giving him any for a loooong time.)

Anjali can't believe Rahul actually wants to be with another person. If that person is a girl(Tina) who wears not-waterproof make up, so will Anjali. If Tina will jump up and down on the stage so will A (Jumping in red dungarees can't even help a Lara Dutta. Trust me.)Anyway, attention seeked- not found= time to wrap up and withdraw. Only that people don't actually leave mid sem, they become awkward and withdrawn and wait for the exams to come along because it signals the end and a perfect excuse for not meeting/ taking calls. Rahul can't think beyond "f*** man A's wierd!"("kuch kuch hota hai Rahul, tum nahi samjhoge.") Tina knows, but like she cares!

Now hold your breaths, because I am breaking this nice and easy........TINA DOESN'T DIE!!!!(You so wish that stuck up bitch did...par aphsos, yeh medical science aur bhagwan ka karishma hai ....)Tina does go away from the scene, but only when Rahul and Tina break up after 6 years of togetherness and many songs (on the i pod)...
In the emptiness of his life then, Rahul needs a bud. And after downing many he drunk dials Anjali (no irritating daughter needed.) She can't comprehend a word of his slurry speech, but thinks at the back of her head.."that voice was sooo like a drunk Rahul"...then puts that thought away and goes on to chose vacation destinations with Aman(the real stud).

Sober Rahul actually wants to meet A. He not-so-accidently bumps into her at a bar. Senti reunion happens. Maybe even a random make out. R starts calling/ msging. A starts questioning his intentions and her own. But this time she can't help but see his "looserlyness". How did he become so lame she wonders...she guesses being with Tina-the bimbo did that (after all who chooses Indian Riverdale over Oxford!)

Then the weekend with the funny, sweet, greatest kisser(and maybe other things ;) in the world, Aman happens. Now A knows for sure that her girly crush on Rahul is over. Life moves on. Everyone does well. R finds another Tina. And we find another movie.



Monday, July 4, 2011

My ode to the greatest food on earth!



It often gets hot and sultry
by the time you come around.
You are the only thing to look forward to,
when I am indoors,bound.
Your texture is addictive.
Your "oh! so sweet" smell the hook.
Mangoes!! you make me crazy!!
Don't want to give winter a second look.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Caught in a time warp in Burdwan!





I happen to visit a small town only two hours away from Kolkata called Burdwan, last weekend. I was staying with a friend and her mother in their family home. This town seemed like it was barely out of the 1940’s. There were small stores, workshops repairing cycles, selling items made of clay, cobblers, sweet shops, libraries in small rooms. The merchandise seemed old. Not used, but as if the latest in Burdwan is what was sold in Delhi 50 years ago. The imprints of the past are so prominent and alive. The architecture is unique. Delhi is full of buildings built by the British, yet Bengal displays a very different kind of influence. Perhaps I am too uneducated to know why or how. But it is not the same.

There was a huge gothic dilapidated, deserted structure with obviously what had been a long drive way and gardens, now filed with wild growth. I am told the family moved to England after independence and never came back. Guess not many like to time travel!

You can see how Bengal was the cultivating field of the British clergy and western education. The town is full of old colleges, with huge campuses churning out doctors, nurses, lawyers and engineers even today. The name plates reflect this trend across Burdwan.

A lawyers chamber, used by multiple generations of the Mukherjee family is located right opposite my friends residence. It looks like it’s from the freedom fighter movies. Stone steps and flooring, old law journals in wall to wall racks, huge wooden desk and a cycle parked outside!!

The town was obviously active & alive in pre-independence India. Perhaps something important happened here once, for the Curzon Gate stands at the entrance of the main market, in the same style that the British liked to welcome their dignitaries to the colonies. GRAND-and now out of place among the busy, dirty, crowded marketplace filled with “natives.”

I am compelled to mention the only Krishna temple (female deities rule the bong spiritual spectrum, just like their homes!) in the area. So, we were walking down the narrow winding streets lined with shops and houses and my friend stopped to cross the road to go into what looked like a British godown. I followed clueless. As we entered I noticed the heavy carved wooden doors and the wood panelling on the sides and the ceiling. The 5 metre corridor led to a courtyard surrounded by rooms on left and right, with a very wide (covering almost the entire breadth of the compound) staircase leading up to a mandir (temple) where the deities of Lord Krishna and his beloved/ muse Radha stood happily beside each other. There was calm and peace and an astoundingly different environment from what we had left only 5 metres behind. We only spent 10 minutes there, but they were beautiful!

This little town gets as Bong as it can get! I cannot conclude without appreciating the hospitality of my hosts, the Mitra family, who fed me delicious authentic Bengali meals, always accompanied by deserts and their warmthJ.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

To go horrorscoping or not?

To go horrorscoping or not?- That's the question I face every January. I have been (in phases) a horoscope addict. The Sunday Newspaper has been a very important part of my life. It is also true that by Wednesday I can barely remember my lucky colour, temperament advice and indicated misfortunes. Nevertheless I admit to making references in uncertain times.

Does it hurt less if you know you are going to fall?? Not really. Am I less frightened if I know the ghost is coming out of the mirror. Perhaps a little. At the end of the day its all the same. I will get angry even if it is going to result in an "uncomfortable situation at the work place." I know now that a "new and exciting person who will enter your life" can be a little niece and an "inheritance from a dear one" is my mom's old sari (no kohinoors here)!

Let 2011 be different. This year I may try to live without knowing ( by the end of this sentence I am tempted to open the yearly horoscope in another window. But i refrain. For now.)