Taking a break

I haven’t written anything lately. 2 posts which I had started last month never got finished because of a big lazy bum. BTW that’s me. And then I lost the patience to finish them.

This Friday I am going home, after a long period of 7 months. A whole week full of Masti, Mazaa, Khana (No Peena) and future planning awaits me. Hopefully by end of next week I shall have some news from my side for my friends. Or may be, as the trend has been with me lately, nothing will work out and I shall have to continue this miserable piece of shit (BTW itna bura bhi nahin hai :)) , which people call LIFE.

Weise jo bhi ho, Life goes on. Friends are there and my family too. Loneliness will never bother me anymore (Because of the 26 years of experience I have with me). Now that I remember that I am 26, I must tell all that I am actually 25 and will turn 26 next Sunday (17th August). Since I will not have any access to net till then, may be this will be my last post in my silver jubilee year.

I am taking a pen and a pad with me on my journey back home. Will try to write something juicy, useful or may be just interesting during my leisure time. If I become successful in doing that, then of course my blog will have some new posts.

CYA ‘World’ till then.

Nice young Love story

Imran - ‘Ek baar fir se Bolo’.

Paresh - ‘Kya Bola?’

Imran - ‘Maine kaha Ek baar fir se bolo yeh baat’.

Till this part of the movie ‘Jaane Tu…’, Imran khan had come across as the guy next door. The same guy, who had played Aamir’s childhood role in Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander. The cute little disappointed face with a single cup in his hand (while his father Kulbhusan showers all his love on his elder son, Mamik, who had won loads of trophies) suggested this child definitely has some future. In the first half of the movie, he portrays the ole of a very humble & normal guy, who is scared of confrontations & uses some smart excuses to avoid them. Little does he know that he is the Ranjhor ka Rathor, a synonym of bravery and strength? But one insult inflicted on his mother by a police inspector, changes the color of his eyes. You can actually see the transformation of his face from being cute to angry, much like the way with Aamir. If one looks closely, he will find some similarity between Imran and Aamir too, I think it’s because Imran has modeled himself after Aamir. Well if you really want to follow somebody, Aamir is definitely not a bad choice and Imran should be congratulated for doing it successfully.

Coming to Genelia, well, she is a natural and that’s her strong point. She never seems to overdo it. During the ‘Kabhi kabhi Aditi’ song, she looks genuinely sad and still gives a feeling of how comic the situation is. I can imagine how a Kareena in that situation would have ruined the whole scene and that is where the genuineness of Genelia wins her some well earned praise.

There are several other characters in the movie, who are so close to reality, which makes the narration believable (though some scenes are just clichéd filmy, like the airport scene). There are innumerable phattus and gujratis around us, that they seem part of our lives. I loved the scene where phattu kisses his girlfriend with such a loser’s line. Prateek babbar has done a tremendous job as Genelia’s brother. Even though he is a star son, he doesn’t quite have the looks for a hero. He might just be the next parallel cinema sensation. At least this much can be expected of Smita Patil’s son. Paresh rawal in a non comic role after so many days was refreshing too. Khan bros had interesting characters and I guess overacted a bit.

The best part was the conversation between Ratna pathak and Naseeruddin. Just fabulous comic scenes and the dance from Naseer in the end had me in splits.

Overall I think it’s a young generation light hearted movie and should be treated that. Terming it as a cult or path breaking movie as DDLJ or Dil Chahta hai would be highly unfair.

My Rating – 3.25/5 (.25 cut due to some clichéd scenes)

Nice Change

Last week I shifted to the Bangalore campus of my company(supposedly short term). I had kind of got bored with the pink walls of my Hyderabad office. There is a limit to which you can like pink. Pink on a girl looks very sexy. On a wall, it’s a disaster. And let me tell you, it was not only the wall. Pink was everywhere, on the partitions, on the carpet, on pillars, just everywhere. Here it’s blue, much to my liking.

This Bangalore campus is huge. It is the biggest in India. There are more than 40 buildings inside this campus, plus a nice hotel. I will be staying here for the next 3 months at the least and will have ample opportunity to explore this campus. The first thing that hits you in this campus is its greenery and weird buildings. Don’t know what fascination has this company with weird building structure. Let me give you some example. There is a 5 storied building which looks like a front loading washing machine. Just at the middle of the structure they have a huge round glass piece on both front and back side of the building. It really looks like a front loading washing machine and even people call it that.

Then there is another building which is in the shape of a lotus. And it is a food court. Now food courts are supposed to be big, so that they can accommodate maximum people. But this one, due to its unique structure, hardly accommodates 50% of the maximum capacity that it should. Clients are sure going to be impressed with such building structure, but employees' convenience, huh…well who cares for employees these days. One more building is completely made of glass in a pyramid structure. Few poor guys sitting inside that building have to face the sun ray coming through the glass whole day. That’s why most of them look darker than they really are (I am not one of them. I guess I am just slightly dark by birth).

The thing I liked most about this place is the gym. I am a person who never goes to the gym regularly. I can motivate myself to go the gym for consecutive 5 days, max. After that I have to pull myself towards it and that is difficult. But if you have a gym which runs from 5 PM in the evening to 8 Am in the morning, one need not bother actually. I can go after office hours, after dinner or in the morning. Now who would not like so much flexibility in life? Plus these are really hi-tech gyms (even the star hotels don’t have such gyms), which is an added advantage.

Another facility, because of which I am impressed with this campus, is its food. 6 food courts with 12 vendors, each serving different kind of food. Just awesome. Plus most of them are open through out the night (add two 24 hour CCDs too). Today I found out that I can have Chinese, Italian or Mexican food anytime I want, even at 3 AM. And the taste is not bad at all. Though I will have to control myself, otherwise the whole point of going to the gym goes down the drain. Well, let’s see how that goes.

There are several more small observations I have made about this campus. Shall pen them down, when I have enough.

PS1 – Next one about a normal guy’s life.
PS2 – Sunday Football and spiritual session at Jijaji’s place (aka P ka S)

Change Point

I have not been writing anything since a month. A lot has been going on professional and personal front. But next week onwards the scene will change for better, i hope.

The IT capital of the world will be my home for the next 3 months (at least). Hope to catch up with long time friends, family and also find time to write many more interesting posts.

Lets hope for a better future.

SLAP

Time 3 PM, Room No 113, South Hostel, UCE Burla, 5th Jan 2001

‘What do you say? Let’s go, man. I am pissed of with this Maths paper. Who was the idiot who set it? Hardly 50% of the question was from the syllabus. I know I am going to fail.’ said AB in his irritated voice.

‘No yaar. No one is going to fail. They will surely give some grace marks for the questions out of our syllabus. Anyways we have the Electrical Engineering basic exam (EEBE) in 3 days. I haven’t touched the books. Need to study man.’ said D.

‘See, don’t worry about EEBE. We shall start tomorrow morning first thing. 2 days will be enough and who knows, there could be 100% question out of syllabus this time’. AB said like a true engineer.

D moved his head down and thought. ‘Hmmmmm’

‘Abe what are you thinking man? Let’s go. Just imagine, we shall watch a Shah Rukh movie in the theater after 6 months. And that too a Yash Chopra movie. It will refresh our mind. SD and AM will join too. Chal’

D had to agree. He was also disappointed with the paper and was frustrated. These were days before he touched cigarette and liquor. So movies and music was the only way he could divert his mind. Plus a Shahrukh movie can never be avoided.

Time 4 PM, South Hostel front, 5th Jan 2001

‘Do we have to wear these formal full shirts, pants and shoes to a movie? I am just a tie away from attending an interview.’ said D.

‘See, it’s either this or no movie. Anyways it has been 6 months since we have been forced to wear this by our seniors, anytime we go out of hostel. Last week I was out of toilet soap and had to wear all these formal stuff without washing my hand and go out of the hostel to get it. So why are you complaining now?’ was AB’s reply.

‘Man, you shouldn’t have said that. Now don’t dare to seat near me during the journey or the movie’. SD said.

‘Ok stop this and let’s go. Why isn’t the bus coming? I am bored.’ said AM.

‘Asshole. We haven’t even started and you are bored. Itni jaldi bore hoga to shaadi ke baad kya karega’. Came the reply and all of them started laughing.

Time 5:30 PM, Ashoka Talkies, 5th Jan 2001

‘Ok. Tickets are booked. Lets get in. I have heard there is a very nice song at the beginning’. Said D. As usual he was the most knowledgeable among the group, when it was about movies.

‘What the hell yaar. This place smells of pan (Indian mouth freshener). People in India will never learn etiquettes. Mark my word, this country is going down.’ SD was in his India bashing mood again.

‘Haan haan. Ab bas kar. Let me watch Aishwarya and Shah Rukh making love. I mean romancing.’ said AB.

‘Oye. Don’t say anything bad about Aishwarya. I will kill you. She is your Bhabhi.’. D, the Ash lover said.

‘Yeah. Salman Khan is my brother.’ AB was not someone to back down.

‘Stop this crap. Let’s watch the movie.’

Time 8:30 PM, Ashoka Talkies, 5th Jan 2001

The song ‘Pairon mein Bandhan hai’ is being played on the screen.

‘Abe how long is this movie? It has been 3 hours and still no sign of a climax.’ AB was getting irritated. But in the same breath, he added ‘Abe Shah Rukh. Why are you singing alone, when all these Bachchas are dating their girlfriends? Catch hold of some girl and Puppy Le Le.’ As they say, engineering students will never change.

‘Shhhhh. Do you know we have 17 seniors occupying the whole row behind us?’ said AM.

‘WHAT? How do you know?’ SD was scared.

‘Why are you shivering? Even if there are seniors there, how does that affect us? For them, we are local people only. They don’t know us personally’. AB said with an air of confidence.

‘Ok. Keep quiet and lets get out of here, as soon as the movie ends’.

Time 9:30 PM, Sambalpur Bus stand, 5th Jan 2001

‘Movie was good. Dinner was perfect. Dekhna, next exam will go fine’. AB after a heavy meal generally talks nice things.

‘Damn.’

‘What?’

‘The same seniors are in this bus. What will we do?’

‘Look boys. Its 9:30 already and it is the last bus. We have to board this bus or we shall have to stay here all night.’ D said.

‘Let’s sit in the front. They have occupied all the back seats. They might recognize us from our dress. So let’s sit as far from them as possible.’ AB’s strategy had some sense.

All 4 of them went to the front. But there were just 3 seats available. The conductor signaled SD to move to the back. There was 1 seat empty and it was between 2 seniors.

From where D was seating, the seniors looked like the monsters from hell. He was praying to God that the monsters would let them go home (hostel) in safe & sound condition today. He had heard many stories of how seniors used to beat up juniors, when they were found alone. Just a month back, B had returned to the hostel from an evening walk with reddened face. All he could say afterwards was that he had been slapped 42 times. Here there were 17 versus just 4. His fear was not unfounded.

Time 10:30 PM, Power Channel Road, Burla, 5th Jan 2001

‘Let’s get down’. SD came and said.

‘Are you crazy? The hostel is still 2 KMs away. Who would walk that long?’ AB as usual.

‘I am not suggesting. I am informing. The seniors know who we are. They told me to inform you to get down from the bus here’. SD was sweating.

‘How did they know? And why should we get down? What do they want to do?’ too many questions were popping in their mind.

‘They recognized me from the Electrical Engineering Seminar and due to my dress. Probably more due to my dress. I had to tell them the truth’. SD was on the verge of crying.

‘Ok. Let’s get down. We can’t avoid this.’

All got down from the bus.

On one side of the road were the huge landscapes of MCL with big buildings. On the other side, the huge power channel coming from Hirakud Dam was flowing. The reflection of Moon on the water, the slow sound of flowing water and the cool shade of the trees on the bank of the river made the place quite romantic.

But romance was the last thing that was on D’s mind. The monsters in the moon light looked scarier.

Senior1/Monster1(S1) said ‘where are you looking at?’ looking at D. ‘Look Down. At the 3rd button of your shirt. If I catch you looking up again, will not spare you’.

S2 caught hold of AB’s collar & asked ‘Where are you coming back from?’

‘From the movie’

‘Didn’t you have an exam today? What were you doing at the cinema?’

‘We went after our exam. The paper was bizarre. So just wanted to divert our mind’

SLAP.

That one sound was the last thing D wanted to hear at that moment. It meant that the monsters were in the mood. D could not look up, but could feel AB’s pain.

SLAP. Another one on AB from S1.

S1 said ‘So does this divert your mind?’

D could not hold himself back. ‘But we were only watching movies.’

SLAP. Another one on D this time. ‘Did I ask you? Do I need a reason to beat you up? I can be beat you anytime I want? Bada aya movie dekhne wala.’

S2 suggested ‘Let’s split up. Let’s teach these bloody junis a lesson’.

This guy looked like a born leader. The strategy was at once approved and executed. Each of the Junis was distributed among the groups of monsters. Poor D was dreading this. S1, S2 along with another huge lad literally dragged him to one side of the road. After the distribution got completed, each of the groups started walking towards the hostel.

S1 asked to D ‘Keep looking down. If you raise your head by even 1 inch, I will show you my real power. So how did you find the movie?’

D said ‘It was Ok’

SLAP. ‘OK. You know what, Shah rukh is my favourite. How dare you call his film OK? So how was the movie?’

This time the reply from D was almost inaudible. ‘It was a great movie’.

‘What? We can’t hear you.’ said S2 and SLAP.

‘It was a great movie’. It was audible.

SLAP. Again from S2 ‘Great movie? Huh. It was so fucking boring that I want my money back from Chopras. So how was it?’

Silence followed. D knew whatever he might say; he is not going to be spared. They did not want the movie’s review. They just wanted an excuse to beat him. What he could not understand is WHY. What had he done? He didn’t even know them. .

But what he did not realize that Silence is not something these monsters were familiar with. The result was quite expected. Another SLAP.

‘Chup kyun ho gaya? Something in your mouth? Achha tell me, who is your Favorite heroine?’

The reply took some time and even though D was looking downwards, he could see a hand fast moving towards his face.

“Aishwarya’.

The hand which had stopped for a fraction of seconds on hearing his answer continued with its trajectory and the SLAP was completed.

‘I hate her. How dare you take her name in front of me?’

SLAP. SLAP. SLAP…..

This continued for the next 15 minutes. At last they reached the South hostel gate. D had lost count of the number of SLAPs he had received and that too without any reason. His parents had never beaten him and here he was getting beaten by strangers. Tears had started flowing way back and even that did not stop the monsters.

Just ahead of him, he could see AB, SD and AM in similar situation.

When they reached the gate, S1 said ‘Ok now go and let your batch mates know what we can do. Show them your face, they will understand. Go, you Bastard’.

With this, all 17 of them started laughing. D could never forget that laughter for all his life. He had not even seen the faces of the monsters, who had beaten him and his friends. All 4 of them were standing there helpless. At the very last moment D raised his head and glanced towards S1. S1’s face was filled with pride. He was proud of the fact that he is a person, who can beat up people.

At that point of time, D realized one thing ‘How cruel a person can be if given a power to control things and if not provided with a suitable mind to control that power. Power can turn him into a monster. The pride that S1 is feeling is actually so hollow.’ He promised himself that he will never turn into such monsters, when the power is handed over to him. He will be helpful and kind towards his juniors.

He fulfilled what he had promised to himself. He spent the next 3 years in the college as a senior, a senior who loved his juniors, rescued them when they were in danger and tried to guide them towards the right path.

PS – This is a truestory. As you could have guessed, D stands for Dave, i.e. me. :) This was one of the tale from my ragging period in college. People in our college say, if a senior rags you, in later life he becomes a friend. I have never felt that. In the next 2 3 years, I came to know the persons who had beaten us during that night. They even tried to be my friend later. But my heart could never forgive them.

My Longest Moment

I take the baton from P3. Her longest moment has inspired me to write about my own. The term ‘Longest moment’ here means road accidents. I have been riding bicycle since I was 9. I learnt to ride a scooter, when I was 13. When I turned 15, Papa got me a Hero Shakti (3 gear moped). By the time I turned 20, I bought a TVS Victor. So I had been riding 2 wheelers for 14 years, before I started working.

These 14 years on bikes were the most uneventful years for me on road. Never did I face a single accident. I was proud of that fact and considered myself as a very skillful rider. Even I used to ridicule DM, who had faced a major road accident because a dog came in his way. He used to tell me, ‘beta rukja. Har kutte ka din aata hai. Tere kismet mein bhi koi kutta likha hoga’. Little did I know that actually har kutte ka din aata hi hai. I used to drive my bike like John in Dhoom (my friends can testify that). Till 24th April, 2006 this was the norm. On that day I faced my first accident in my village, where I had gone to attend a marriage. It was a freakish accident on a village road, in very bad condition, which I chose to ignore. I still used to think that I am invincible.

Then I came to Hyderabad. For those who have not seen Hyderabad, I must say that the IT region and Hilly region (Banjara, Jubilee) have great roads. Anybody will fancy driving a bike on these roads. After a single look at the road and the overcrowded public transport system, I decided to buy my own bike. Within 10 days, I bought my bike, a 180 CC Bajaj Avenger. It had a very unique feature, not available in any of my previous bikes. It had a front disk brake and normal rear brake. While the disk brake ensured much better braking, the danger of skidding was always there, because of the mismatch of braking system in both the wheels. This proved to be my doom.

July 29th 2006 was a Saturday. I had some urgent work in the office and hence had to go. It was drizzling slightly in the morning. I vrrroomed my Avenger and started from home. On my way to the office, there comes a part where a huge 12 storied building stands today. During those days, it was getting constructed. So there was a mixture of sand, cement and small chips on the road. The rain had converted that into mud. As per my habit, I was going at some 50 60 KMPH on that rain soaked road. By the time I reached the construction area, I had avoided many path holes & natural mud holes. With each maneuver, my confidence was increasing manifolds. And then the incident happened. 2 black dogs were quarreling over a biscuit under the road side stall. As soon as they saw me, they decided my time has come. They left the biscuit and ran on to the road. I was at 55 KMPH to be precise and by my manual calculation; I think I got around 2.1 seconds to react to this.

And I reacted. My brain asked my leg muscles to press the rear brake pedal, which they did effectively. At the same time, the poor brain (which should not be allowed to do parallel processing again) instructed my right hand to press the front brake and it obeyed too. The combination of mud, front disk brake and rear normal brake was something which the bike was not designed to handle. So obeying its own flow chart, with all the three condition satisfied, it completed the resultant task. i.e. it slipped (taking me along with it). One moment I was driving my Avenger, feeling like GOD. The next moment I was being dragged on the muddy road by a 1 ton bike. The pebbles didn’t like the design of my shirt and pant. So they were torn at several points, by the time the bike came to a halt. While I was being dragged, I noticed that the road divider is just 2 feet away from my head. It was my good fortune that the bike dragged me in a parallel line to the divider, so my head never had the opportunity to touch it. I got scratches all over my body, which eventually took 2 weeks to heal. The biggest problem was the huge scratch on my left palm (which had to remain bandaged for 10 days), because of which I had to use paper after No 2 for several days (not so easy for us, Indians).

Some nice fellas came running to my help and dragged me from under the bike engine, which was still running. I then had to drag the bike to a shelter. When checked the bike, I found that the bike had no severe accident signs, with just a scratch on the leg guard. So it had chosen to save itself and get the driver killed instead. Future Avenger buyers, please think twice before buying one. I can never forget the moment when I was being dragged on the road by the bike, with a concrete divider just 2 feet away from my head, waiting to kill me. Due to severity of damages and mortal danger, this qualifies as my longest moment.

Over to the next person in line.

PS – There was another accident on the same bike, just few months after this accident. This time M sr. was with me. I will share that experience sometime in future.

IPL suru ho raha hai

At 6:30 PM tomorrow (18th April, 2008) we shall see a giant taking birth. A giant which in near future is going to revolutionize the world of cricket. by the time it achieves adulthood, it could well be the emporer of the cricket world. Soon we may see the cricket fans cheering for a city team from India, rather than cheering for the nation. Yes, the giant is named IPL, i.e. Indian Premier League.

IPL is in the same format as the English Premier league, with its share of home and away game. one difference is the knockout games. but that's how cricket is played. Fans will cheer for Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, royal challengers, etc.

I have been a fan of the English Premier League for a decade now. I follow Manchester Unted with the same passion as i show for the Indian cricket team. When Ronaldo or Rooney score a goal, i feel very very happy, just like when Yuvraj scores a six. There are numerous fans like me and it shows that club or city based fan club is quite achievable in India. That is the main source of hope for IPL. As the competition grows and the format matures, the fan base will only increase. May be soon enough we shall see cricketers playing cricket for their city more often than for their country.

Anyways, its a new phenomenon in cricket ( i choose to ignore ICL, which has not met with any success). This will change the way cricket ios played and will bring in a much bigger fan base. With increasing popularity, cricket might soon spread all over the world and be a part of Olympics too. at least then, we can hope to get a gold medal in Olympics. Lets hope for the best.

three cheers for IPL.

Kya Pyar Hai. Kya hai nahin?

He clicked on the red submit button. After 2 weeks of brain storming (his own brain being the only contributor), he came to the conclusion that he can’t make it to Priya’s birthday this year.

He would have to take 3 days leave to do that. He was saving that for the upcoming Andaman tour that he and the gang had been planning since last March. Andaman was a dream vacation, which he never wanted to miss. Once the fresh leaves get credited, he can visit Priya in next quarter. May be he can ask Priya to come to Hyderabad. Priya would understand. To make up for it, he has sent 2 extra bouquets to her.

‘This online transaction thing really rocks’, he said to himself. ‘No need to be in Delhi to celebrate her birthday. I can send cakes, bouquets and card to her, sitting here in my room in Hyderabad. She likes balloons a lot. I shall send some balloons too.’

1st Feb 2009

‘Hi Babes, Happy Birthday. Many many many many happy returns of the day.’

‘Thanks, Purab.’

‘Sorry I could not call last night. I came very late from office. I had no strength left in me. So hit the bed straight away. I slept at 11 PM itself you see’.

‘Its OK, Purab.’

‘Kya hua? You seem upset. Achha tell me, you got the cake, bouquet & stuff’.

‘Haan, I got them all. Thanks again’.

‘No I can guess the disappointment in your tone. What’s the matter? Tell me do you want anything else. I knew I had to give you something real. Don’t worry. I shall buy you something expensive, when we meet. You know how much I love you’

‘And when will that be?’

‘Offo. I don’t know baba. You see, this new manager depends on me a lot. He would not give me a leave. Why don’t you come to Hyderabad?’

‘You know I have a job too. Since last April, I have taken 8 days leave to meet you. How many leaves have you taken to come to Delhi? Do you realize that I also have a family & some friends? I need leaves to meet them. Have you ever realized that?’

‘Shhhhhhh. Quiet babes. I understand. I try all the times. But yaar yeh manager. Ab mein kya karun?’

‘Manager maar dalega kya? Agle saal humari shaadi hai. Tab bhi yehi bologe? Purab do you love me or not?’

‘I love you babes. Do you even have to ask that? And please don’t cry.’

‘hmmmm. Achha mere ghar se call aa raha hai. Talk to you later. Bye.’

Purab was taken aback by this. He had seen priya crying on small things, but she never cut a call just like that. ‘She must be really mad. I might lose her if I go on like this. I love her so much. I will have to do something. But kya karun? She needs me to come to her. I will go to Delhi. But then What about Andaman? well to hell with Andaman. I can visit it any time. But right now, all i should do is to meet her. I can do anything to make her happy.’

4th Feb 2009

‘Hi Sandeep. Good Morning. ‘

‘Hi Purab. Good Morning. Come in’.

‘Boss, I need leave from office from 13th Feb to 16th Feb. I have to visit my uncle, who is not feeling well.’

‘Ohh. See Purab. You know, how much work is pending on you. You were on leave last Thursday too.’

“Boss, I have already done my work and updated you yesterday. Remember?’

‘No no. More work is round the corner. Client is sitting on my head. You don’t know how much I have to listen from the client’.

‘Boss, this is important. I shall complete everything before I go. That a promise’.

‘Ok. I will approve your leave. But keep in mind that you have to finish every piece of work before you leave. Otherwise chutti canceled.’

‘Thanks Boss. Sure. I shall finish everything. I will get back to my seat and start working right away then. Thanks a lot’

‘Purab. Just a sec. Tell your uncle, ‘Happy Valentines day’.

‘You are a genius, boss’.

12th Feb 2009

‘Abe kya raat bhar kaam karega. Go home buddy. This bloody company does not pay any overtime either’.

‘Who is working for the company? I am working to save my ass. Yaar chutti hai 14th se. kal tak yeh kaam khatam karna hai. Man, I have been slugging day and night since the last 10 days. Still I am nowhere near the completion. Too much work. Upar se manager har kaam mere pe laad deta hai.’

‘Can I help?’

‘No buddy. Go home. Enjoy your evening. I will complete it’.

‘Chalo. Cya then’.

13th Feb 2009 (5.30 PM)

‘Bhaiya. Sarojini eye hospital pata hai kahan hai mehndipatnam mein’.

‘Haan. 150 lagega.’

’150? Meter se to 50 rupye se jyada nahin hoga?’

‘Meter kharab hai. Jana hai to bolo. Airport jaa rahe ho naa? 5000 ki flight ticket le sakte ho, humein 150 rupye nahin de sakte’.

‘arre baba to pura ticket ka paisa hi le loge kya.’

‘Jana hai to bolo’.

‘Achha chalo’.

13th Feb 2009 (6.00 PM)

‘Bhaiya. Yeh airport keliye express bus kab jayega.’

‘ek abhi nikla. Ek fir adhe ghante baad 6:30 ko’.

‘adha ghanta? Mera flight hai 7:30 ka’.

‘to pehle aana tha na’.

‘Please kuch help karo. Mein time pe kaise pahunchunga’.

‘abhi kuch nahin ho sakta. Aap bologe to mein auto buladunga. Taxi keliye rukoge to aur der ho jayegi.’

‘thik hai. Bulado.’

‘abey abdul. Saab airport jayenge. Le jaa.’

‘chaliye saab’.

‘ruko. Kitna paisa loge airport tak ka. Meter se chaloge naa’.

‘saab time se phuncha dunga. Jo samajh mein aaye de dena.’

‘nahin thik se bolo kitna loge’.

‘saab, har koi 400 deta hai. Aap bhi utna hi de dena. Ek rupya jyada nahin maang raha hun’.

‘Sigh. Thik hai. Chalo’.

13th Feb 2009 (6:30 PM)

‘Chalo auto se utro. Bags kholke dikhao’.

‘Hawaldar saab. Kis chiz ki checking chal rahi hai. Dekhiye meri flight hai 7 baje ki, miss ho jayegi, please jaane dijiye’.

‘nahin nahin. Kuch bahana nahin. Kholke dikhao bags.’

‘chaliye, le lijiye talashi. Meri flight miss hui to aap pe case kar dunga’.

‘haan haan. Kar lena case’.

13th Feb 2009 (7.05 PM)

‘Excuse me. Boarding pass please.’

‘Ohh. Haan. Here it is.’

‘Is there any liquid in the bag?’

‘No. my perfume may be.’

‘Sorry sir. Not allowed. Please take it out. You can not take it as part of baggage.’

‘ohh my God. Do I look like some terrorist? It’s just a perfume’.

‘Sorry sir’. You will have to take it out’. ‘OK. Hmmmph.’

13th Feb 2009 (11 PM)

‘Bhaiya ji. GK jana hai. Jhik jhik aur mat karna. Mera dimaag kharab ho chuka hai. Jitna lena hai lelo. Bas 12 baje se pehle pahuncha dena.’

13th Feb 2009 (11 :58 PM)

Tring. Tring. Trrrring. Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring. Trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

‘Who is that?’

No response.

‘Who is that? If you are here to deliver some cake, then go back. I don’t want any cake, bouquet. I want nothing. Just go back’.

‘Priya’.

‘Yeah its Priya and I don’t want anything’.

‘Priya it’s me.’

‘Purab. Is that you?’ opens the door. ‘what….what…how?’

‘Wait a sec. yeah. 12 baj gaye. Happy Valentines Day babes’.

‘But how?’

‘Kyun chutti sirf tumhe milti hai mujhe nahin’.

‘Maarungi. Tumne rula diya mujhe. You didn’t want to come here. Isn’t it? Your boss needs you all the time’.

‘Yeah may be I wouldn’t have come. May be I never bothered to come to Delhi. Because I thought that you love me and you would come anyways. I would meet you then. Till then I would be happy with my office, my work and my friends. But that day your words touched me. I had never realized how much you mean to me. I had always thought you as an important part of my life. But may be at some point, I had started taking you for granted. I had started expecting everything from you, without thinking about giving anything in return.

This trip has helped in me in understanding how much you have to go through each time to reach me. I had never appreciated that. Aaj who saari baton keliye maafi mangta hun.

That day, after talking to you, something else happened. For the first time in my life, I felt that I might lose you. Then I realized that I can’t think about a life without you. 2 weeks back I was very happy with myself that I have fulfilled my duties as a boyfriend by sending you some cakes, bouquets. But I never understood that the gift of being with you is the greatest gift I could ever give you. I assure you, I shall be always there for you, jab tak meri saans mein saans hai.’

‘ek minute ruko, main abhi aati hun’.

‘kahan jaa rahi ho? Meri baat sunke emotional ho gayi kya?’

‘ek minute’.

After few seconds, Priya is back with a box in hand:-

‘Yeh kya hai’.

‘These are all the cards and gifts which you have sent to me from Hyderabad. Milke dekhen?’

55 Word Stories

All of us know that when you name a bulletin board as CREATIVE, crazy things are bound to happen. 3 days back in our HYD Creative folder, one guy proposed to write stories in 55 words. No more and no less. Then the poor BB saw a flood of mails from users sending 55 word stories, which the poor server was unable to handle.

Anyways given below are some of my favorite 55 word stories out of them.

The Wait

Totally bored, he glanced at his watch. He had been waiting for the train for nearly half an hour. He had decided he would not try the bus or any other transportation medium. Only the train should take him to his destination.

Then he heard the horn.

He prayed silently and sat on the tracks.

The Blow

The Man entered the ground with his usual elegance, he was quick on his feet for he realised he had a job to finish.

Within seconds he was the cynosure of 50,000 spectators at the Wolloongabba (Gabba in Brisbane) and they were all cheering his courage.

Then came the blow from Andrew Symonds which floored him - the streaker.

Speed Thrills!!

Jack was speeding beyond the speed limits .He was being followed by the police cars with their siren blazing, If caught ,He had to pay a huge amount as fine and some years at the prison.
He still hit the throttle and was about to finish first in the race ,when the power was gone.


Kaise Kahu!!

For some men it is so simple while some never have enough courage to say it. But I have suffered a lot. Earlier I didn't know how to tell her. Not anymore. She must know this. It's so important for both of us. Here she comes and off I go, " Mamma, you make horrible pancakes."

The Glimpse

I pushed my way through the crowd, to have a glimpse at the man. I was waiting for this chance for several years. Finally he arrived and apologized for being late by few minutes. I wanted to see him more clearly. Suddenly there was sound of shots and the man dropped down – uttering “Hey Ram”.

One Fine Day

I think it was early evening, may be around 7 PM. The sky was turning dark red, as I came out of my house. I started walking down the lane, which leads to the main road. It’s a narrow lane and irresponsible HUDA people forgot to put up a streetlight in the lane. Plus there is a nice little jungle (very small actually) on the other side of the lane, that only increases the darkness.

Anyways, as I was saying, I was walking down this lane. I don’t know about others, but generally when I am passing through a dark lane, I feel like somebody is following me. I never dread about ghosts & all, but the idea of being followed really freaks me out. So when in such a situation, I run. Quite naturally, I started running towards the end of the lane. As I was approaching the end, a beam of white light (much like your tubelight) flashed somewhere to my left. All my 6th, 7th senses started working overtime. I was sweating. Soon I reached the road at the end of the lane. This is one of the busiest roads in town. But on that fateful day it was empty too. There were 1 or 2 street lights on the main road, which eased my situation a bit. I started walking down the road (I think my destination was the petrol pump, I don’t know why).

As I was crossing the Hyderabad house restaurant, it happened. She zoomed past me at 100 KMPH. Hundreds of ads come on TV how the fragrance of a perfume or deo mesmerizes the crowd and leave them spellbound. I never believed such ads. But I should have learnt; this is no ordinary day. I can still smell her fragrance; I can still see her when I close my eyes. Her beauty added the xing factor to the moment. I hope I could have seen her face, but alas that was never meant to happen. Still I felt at that moment, that I was in love.

Then reality hit me. She took a U-turn just in front of the petrol pump, her face still hidden. And I found, she was not alone. She was with a guy, which my subconscious mind was trying to ignore till now. They stopped in front of the fruit shop on the opposite side of the road. Like every admirer, I hated the idea of seeing my beloved with some third person. The animal in me was waking up. I found a log lying by. I picked it up and went towards them. The intention was to hit the guy from behind and take her away from him. But I had to be careful that I don’t hit her by mistake. Soon I was behind them. I sized up the opponent. I felt one hit would be enough.

With all the strength in me, I hit him from back. The connection was perfect. The poor lad had no chance. Blood started pouring out of his head. I dragged him out of her lap and threw him down the drain. She was horrified. I jumped onto her lap feeling all too happy for myself. I had never felt this much excited ever. With a smiling face, I turned on the key and the smoothest sound of a running engine followed. Man!, the Lamborghini rocks.

BTW let me tell you its 1st of April and all this happened in a dream, the dream that I watched while sleeping during my office hours. Oh Boy! Vella panti rocks too.

When will this stop???

Which channels do you generally surf on Indian Television? If you ask this to a Kid, you will get answers like Pogo, Disney, etc. If you ask the same to a teenager or working bachelors, they would say ESPN, STAR ONE, etc. A housewife will answer Star, Sony, Zee or NDTV Imagine. Retired people prefer watching Astha. But if you ask the same question to a married corporate person, he would answer NDTV profit in the morning. Then the natural question follows. What about the evening? Even though most will not say this, but the actual answer is – ‘Arre bhai, biwi TV dekhne kahan deti hai? Jab dekho Tulsi ki kahani leke baith jati hai’.

This is the kahani of all most all families in our country. Saas bahu dramas which have been running since the last 8 years are no where near their closure. Can you imagine daily soap running for 8 years? That accounts to 1600+ episodes, at 200+ per year. 1600+ episodes, i.e. story of 800+ hours. A sane person can never imagine how a story can be told for so long. I think there must be 50 such saas bahu serials being telecasted on various channels. All these serials have almost the same story. Even if the background is different, ultimately they show the same things. E.g. serials like Dil mil gaye, Jersey No 10, etc which are based on Doctors and cricket players respectively have turned into dumb love and hate stories after few episodes.

But the problem with these serials is they are not story based. They are TRP based. Even though the serial makers have nothing new to show, they would add some ridiculous twist to the story (hero dying, heroine marrying somebody else, hero returns and badla) to drag it for few more months. These kinds of twists have been happening in all the serials. Still the stupid viewers in India never stop watching them. This increases the TRP and such sick serials go on forever. Somebody should show Ekta kapoor (the lady who changed the face of Indian television, from good to bad) the serials being made in the west (LOST, Smallville, Prison Break, 24, etc) to make her realize what TV serials are actually capable of and what she is delivering.

15 years back, we were making serials like Stone boy, Indradhanush, Malgudi Days, Mahabharat, Jungle Book, Neenv, Mitti ke rang. Just have a look at the serials running now – Babool ka angan chute naa, Betayaan apni yaan paraya dhan, etc etc (all CRAP)

The only show which is watchable on Indian TV is Roadies, but that too runs just for few months. Sometimes I feel I should lift my TV and go and break it on Ekta Kapoor’s head. And I am sure many will help me in doing that.

The Black Saturday

The Saturday started like any other day. I woke up at 9 AM. Nobody else was up yet. There was no live telecast on TV, nor were there any fav TV series (read Roadies….everything else is just bullshit, but more about that in future posts). Still it was an important day, I mean even Gabbar was querying about it the other day. It was Holiday, i.e. Holi Day. So I started waking the others up from their slumber. With some people this task is pretty easy. But with some other like Poo, P and M Jr, it is like getting Sachin Tendulkar out. Anyways after some hard work, put in by D and M Sr, all of them got up.

Then M Sr and D went to get the Rang. Requirement was very specific. No colour, only Gulal. We delivered as per the specification. But like every client, Poo changed the requirements at the last moment and raised a change request (she wanted some pichkari and balloons too). After much deliberation and brain storming, we decided against the change request and asked everybody to manage with the current config. So we played Holi with Gulal (later on Poo brought some colour too, which she had brought from Kolkata). Till this part of the day everything was going fine. We were enjoying the holi. Keeping with the tradition, we even went to a bakery and had samosa, cold drinks and desserts.

But once everybody washed the colour down the drain and were ready to enjoy the rest of the day, the god of bad luck decided he has no other work and will spend the rest of the day with us. We went to Runway 9 (for new comers in Hyderabad, this is the carting place). But by the time we reached there, it was already raining and the carting track got closed down for the day. Still we hoped may be the laser gun game will open up and hence to do some TP till then, we played snooker. But the rain didn’t stop and hence no laser game happened. We left the place with a heavy heart (as our evening plans were ruined) and went to Mocha.

Mocha as everybody knows is a great hangout place and we generally enjoy our time there. It has a closed roof and hence we were sure, nothing could have gone wrong there. But as they say, Murphy’s Law never disappoints you. Between our chitchats, M told me that he can smell something burning. I thought kisika dil jal raha hoga (remember dil jalta hai to jalne de). But just 2 mins later, a stampede started in the coffee shop. Apparently there was a short circuit and the safety equipments were already burning. So we had to leave Mocha without having anything. I was thankful to God that nothing disastrous happened. However after I saw people leaving in a hurry, I thought, oh shit, only if we could have had something and then this incident would have occurred, at least kuch to fayda hota (khane ka khana and no payment). You see the Monisha (Sarabhai fame) in all of us never dies.

After 2 utter failures, we were left with hungry stomachs and loads of time to kill. So the next target was barista crème. When we reached Barista, M in his car was just in front of my car. Just as M entered into Barista, the sky turned red, a dreadful lightening struck somewhere near and the power for the whole area went down. Although nothing else happened, but due to the power failure, poor souls in Barista had to manage without AC the whole time. By this time we were suspecting that all these can’t be coincidence and there is something wrong.

To verify this, we went to Ohris for mid night desserts. We enjoyed our time there and rejected our theory that there is anything wrong with our luck. However, Mr. Bad luck was sitting right next to us and laughing. While returning from Ohris, a portion of the hussain sagar (read the pothole on the street) got splashed onto 2 bikers by Poo (accidentally). Unfortunately, the riders were John Abraham and Uday chopra (Dhoom fame) in disguise. They chased Poo’s car till her place (in between they fell down after crashing on another pothole). Once they stopped Poo’s car, they started sharing their knowledge of Telugu very politely and created a scene. By the time we reached there in my car, the atmosphere was red hot. After half an hour of climax fighting, a settlement was reached and we all came back to M & P’s place. No one was ready to sleep yet. A long discussion about the incident, about Sriram (a character we met during the climax fighting, more about him later) and game of LIFE were waiting for us.

Killer - The Holi Assassin

Last 3 days have been so hectic that I had to take leave from office today to refresh my mind and prepare myself for the office tomorrow. NO, I haven’t been working day n night, which demands this break. I have been holidaying with friends. 3 full days of pure fun n masti for us and bad luck for some other people (details to follow later, for the time being just one small part of it).

There were 7 of us in Hyderabad for this Holi and we enjoyed our days outside, whereas night time was for board games, card games, dumb charade and killer. We all assembled at M n P’s place and the ground rule was that no one will sleep until all of us feel sleepy. I learnt about this killer game in the process. Believe it or not, I had never heard of this game before (even though it seems it’s a very famous game). And it turned out to be pretty interesting. First the rules for the new comers. Pretty simple, paper chits are made with 1 K (killer), 1 D (detective) and rest just NIKE tick marks. One who is the killer had to kill tick marked people by winking at them (without the detective knowing about it). When a tick marked person dies, he/she has to say ‘I am dead’. After 3 people die, the detective has to guess the killer’s identity.

This game was sandwiched between dumb charade and LIFE. We played it for some 45 minutes, as it was getting increasingly monotonous. People were getting bored, when M suggested some changes to the game and all 7 of us started devising new rules for the game. After 15 minutes of brain storming and vetoing various rules, we decided on one basic change. We added a new person into the game, called suicide bomber. He is an agent of the killer and has the license to kill one person before exploding himself. So his job description is to kill 1 person by winking at him and the say ‘I m dead’ himself. This made the game much more difficult for the detective and excitement level suddenly rose. We enjoyed an extra hour playing killer because of this rule. LIFE followed killer and god knows what after that. It has been very very hectic 3 days and nights for us and we always wished if only these holidays could go on forever.

Anyways, I have learnt a new game and our group has devised some new rules for it. May be one day we will patent this rule and make it as famous as football. May be one day this will be a part of the Olympics and I shall be officiating in the final. Ok, now I guess I am day dreaming. Its 1 PM in the afternoon and instead of working in the office, I am writing this blog. Jai VELLA baba ki jai.

Next post – The black Saturday.

Nice Troy (oops...Try)

It is a very very VERY long movie. Making a 3 Hr + long movie is definitely a crime in current time. What makes it a much bigger crime is that it is based on the love story (to most extent, fictional) of one of the greatest Historical character, India has ever seen. Akbar is somebody who is respected irrespective of loyalties and religion. Hence it is very hard to imagine a young Akbar wooing his wife with his sword skills and bare body. All through my life, I have imagined Akbar as a skilled emperor with a great vision. To watch the same Akbar making silly mistakes on the advice of a mysterious character (his badi ammi, fictional character) was quite awkward.

We have very few Historical or medieval movies made in India after the 50s era. Possible reasons behind that are – They do not click at the box office (remember Mangal Pandey, Asoka, etc), the cost incurred in Producing them and lack of juicy and heroic stories. The main reason why I did not like Asoka was the lack of knowledge in history clearly showing in the movie. It showed Karubaki as the lover of Asoka, which is not at all true. I am a fan of anything related to History and I think I know the history of Orissa pretty well. The way History was murdered in Asoka; I just could not accept it. In case of Jodha Akbar too, the director is trying to create an eternal love story out of nothing (I mean you can find such love stories in every goddamned romantic novel). This is a mistake and if you actually do not have much historical facts to boost up the story, then at least the movie should be as good as Mughal-e-Azam in terms of quality. I don’t feel Jodhaa Akbar’s name will be taken in the same breath as Mughal –e-Azam and quite rightly so.

Still I like this movie. Why and what about it? Well then read on. First let me confess one thing. Any movie with Hrithik and Aishwarya will be a treat for me, as they are my most favourite stars. But then I had my share of doubts. How will Hrithik look like in the character of Akbar and can he bring the aura to the floor, which is so much required for such roles? If there is anybody in India who can be a Princess on screen, it has to be Aishwarya. But that is only based upon her looks. What about the acting skills? Similarly, how will 16th Century India look on the big screen? Can the director re-create the magic that he did with ‘Lagaan’? And I liked the movie, because I got most of my answers.

Hrithik with his Greek god looks was the best choice for Akbar and what really impressed me is the way in which looked to be a part of the huge canvas. He looked so assertive and so much persuasive in the role that I can say without any doubt that, even Akbar would have wanted Hrithik to play his character on the celluloid. The only blemish came towards the end, where he was supposed to recreate the magic of a Brad Pitt Vs. Eric Bana duel from Troy and he failed. But that had more to do with the story, or the lack of it at that point, than him.

Aishwarya is the prefect match for Hrithik on screen and she proved it again. She looked beautiful as a Princess and delivered a very satisfactory performance. In the character of Jodhaa, she matched the charisma of Akbar and sometimes overpowered him.

As a director, I feel Ashutosh failed at certain points in the movie. He dragged the movie at times unnecessarily and failed in the War scenes particularly. Also several characters were introduced into the story without thinking about the story or length of the movie, which made the plot complicated at certain points. His idea of creating a historic love story also did not work properly, as ultimately the audience did not have the patience to experience it themselves. Still this a good try and must be applauded. This movie might bring a change in attitude towards historical movies in India and encourage worthy people to try their luck in this genre.

I feel soon my review will be as big as the movie itself and I should stop here. Overall I felt i did not waste my 300 bucks.

She doesn't know me, but “I still know who she is."

On the Valentines Day eve, A very Happy Valentines Day to all Couples and Happy Independence Day to the Singles. This is a forward i received on the occasion of Valentines Day and liked it.

Scene starts :-

It was a busy morning, about 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him.

I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know me, but “I still know who she is."

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, "That is the kind of love I want in my life." True love is neither physical, nor romantic. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

Happy Valentines Day

Debi's Day out

The day started at 5.45 PM the day before. I was dragged from my 1 room palace with a tennis racket (which proved useless, bcos pcube forgot that we need 2 rackets to play tennis) in my hand. I was thrown into the back seat of a Santro with Pcube besides me. I was scared, as would all people be, if they know the power of Pcube. On the front seat I could see a person (MA) at the wheel. He was behaving like a monkey (much the way Symonds behaves on field) during certain parts of the journey. I could visualize myself crashing to death as had happened to Aamir in ISHQ, when another monkey was driving the Car. On the other front seat, a lady (PBA) was trying to calm the animal man, but was not succeeding at all. Anyways, we reached our destination without much injury to my health or mind. Once we reached, I was greeted with a welcome drink, i.e. khatta pani with Panipuri as side dishJ. I think there was also some plan to prepare some sweet dish, which due to lethargic nature of all did not materialize at all.

No human being can stand this much of torture, but there was still more to come. The dumbest movie of Nagesh Kukkunoor was waiting for us in Prasads. Statutory warning to all people – Don’t watch Bombay to Bangkok, if you are not BIVAS. After this, the weekly torture (only to the eyes though) point, Ohris was the next destination. My luck was so good that day that I was fortunate enough to get some free zalebis due to the kindness of our very own Oriya waiter bhai. Whenever I get something free, be it Zalebi or Johnnie Walker, I feel sleepy. So I went to sleep right at 4 AM. Some great person had once said ‘early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. With hardly any wealth or health on my side, I had to sleep early.

The plan for Sunday was that we will utilize the services of my company like the Pool, BB court, etc, for which I pay loads of dollars each month. But what we ultimately learnt was that ‘you should read each and every policy of your company’. While using the pool with friends, the guard came and very politely asked us to leave the pool as it is supposed to be used only by the employees (he said in a manner which suggested that his father had built the pool and he is the rightful owner of it). Anyways, we had to abandon the idea of utilizing any more services provided by the esteemed company after this.

The next stop was Prasads again, but not to watch a movie, rather to sell the tickets of the Golden compass, so as to save ourselves from another torture. As experienced by myself, I have now become an expert at identifying prospective movie ticket buyers. May be I will soon start the ticket black dhanda as a side business, since the salary that I get, somehow dissolves into thin air by the time 20th of a month arrives. After this successful mission, PBA insisted that we should try our hand at cart racing, specially keeping in mind the 2010 Delhi F1 race. We had to agree to her idea and landed at runway 9. This runway is not straight as most runways are, rather it’s a 14 Bend full-fledged racing track with other dangerous sports arena besides it. One of these games is Skating. Again a statutory warning from my side – Don’t ride a skate, if you are above 15 years old, no matter what your weight is. Pcube who is weighing at 110 pounds, fell down thrice during skating, PBA once and your’s truly twice (that too backwards, could not sleep properly that night L and no need to mention about my weight). Only MA did not have any damage, may be because of his monkey like acrobatics. During carting, I had my first major accident on a Cart where I ran into the barriers and 6 tires decided that its time they ride me, rather than the other way round. I came out of it with miner bruises and I am confident that if given a chance in the 2010 Delhi f1 race, I can challenge Alonso and Raikonen. With a quiet dinner at BB, the day ended.

It was indeed an eventful day (and a half) and what was sone pe suhaga or icing on the cake was that this happened after a long time. Friends are back in Hyderabad after a long time and happy days are back again.

Not My Story :)

It was late in the evening when I entered Howrah Station .It was teeming with office workers returning home after a typically tiring day at work. I didn't look forward to the prospect of returning home to my husband. The love between us had died years ago. Our marriage had been transformed into a dead corpse buried deep beneath a pile of painful memories. The bits and pieces of pleasure I derived from my daily existence were my only source of sustenance. My husband had accused me of being mentally deranged. But only I know better. He should have thought of a better reason than that to get rid of me.

I hauled my self into a train standing nearby. Finding a seat lying vacant I gleefully slid into it. After having exhausted myself at work securing a place to ease my legs was a welcome relief. The scene inside the train was disquieting. The train being the last one on that particular route, it wasn't long before the compartment was bursting to the full with people. They jostled and fought with each other in a desperate attempt to keep from falling off.

June is the hottest month in Kolkata; it's when the summers are at the peak of their torment. The sweltering heat conspired with the intolerable humidity to beat the lives out of the commuters. The stench from the garbage rotting on the rail tracks combined with the nauseating smell of human sweat to pervade the whole atmosphere. I felt like vomiting. I subconsciously swallowed the spittle that formed in my throat. In despair, I stared up at the ceiling for comfort. A solitary fan hung up there in a state of eternal rest, hideously shrouded in spider webs. I closed my eyes in a bid to rest my mind. Slowly I allowed myself to fall into a labored slumber.

When I awoke the train had traveled far into the countryside. The seat next to mine was occupied by a pretty nymphet. She had a concerned look on her face. The object of her anxiety was seated right opposite to us. He was the most loathsome, horrid specimen of mankind I had ever seen. He evidently appeared to be a village goon of some reputation. His bloodshot eyes were planted firmly on the girl. She squirmed uncomfortably in her seat under his leering looks. The redness of his eyes was indicative of the fact that he had soaked himself in liquor far exceeding socially acceptable limits.

The girl's nervousness was infectious. I looked around the compartment. It was completely vacant except for the three of us. I began to grow uneasy. The girl pressed my hand and held up a piece of newspaper for my inspection. She pointed towards a front-page news report. It was on a sensational serial killer who had been haunting Kolkatans for the past couple of weeks. Six young girls had been murdered in different parts of the city. They were discovered with their throats brutally slit open. The killings had been executed with such meticulous efficiency that the murder scenes were totally devoid of any clues. The police were baffled. The report went on to draw parallels with the legendary 'Stoneman' who had terrorized Calcutta in the early 90's and whose identity was yet to be ascertained. The report was undeniably scary and chilling to the bone.

The girl had visibly paled. She motioned with her eyes indicating to me that she considered the man sitting opposite to be a prime suspect. The girl was badly scared and I must admit I was pretty worried myself. Suddenly the train slowed as it approached an oncoming station. I was contemplating the feasibility of getting off the train, well before my intended destination, when the man himself stood up. To my utter surprise and immense joy he hopped off the train as it came to a screeching halt. The girl looked at me and both of us let out a huge sigh of relief. The tension having been released, she began to giggle. I caught up with her silly laughter and soon both of us were laughing away in abandon.

With a rude jerk the train started moving. Soon it was speeding across vast open countryside at a furious pace. Her jangled nerves having been calmed, the girl had begun to doze in her seat. As I looked at her I wondered just how naïve and unsuspecting young girls can be. I slipped my hand inside my handbag and firmly gripped the kitchen knife I always carried. I felt a strange numbness in my fingers but it had to be done. Besides she had an exceedingly beautiful neck. Such a pity!