One Insane Moment

Nooo....!!! I should not have done it. It was just one insane moment. I deleted all my contacts in the mobile and I don't even have a backup. Now I have some serious entertainment in my hand. This is going to keep me occupied for some months now. I am not even sure if I am going to get all the contacts back. This was the result of boredom. I was sitting in the bus for one long hour with Mr.Shreekant our escort from DIAT Pune. He was so boring that to distract myself I started fooling around with my cell. I wanted to make some space as I was running low in memory when I accidentally deleted all my contacts. At that second it felt as if my whole world was falling apart. I wanted to yell but I couldn't. I composed myself and reflected back at the loss.
Some of the contacts in it were hard earned. Some were the contacts of the college professors which at first sight seem to be an easy task but I guarantee it was not as mundane a task as it appears. Some of the professors were so unworthy and I had to let go my ego to make them feel important before I could get the numbers. I don't think I can ever achieve that herculean feat again in my life. Another difficult set of contacts that I hope every guy would agree with me is the contact number of the beautiful girl sitting next to you in a journey. It is a real challenge to get their numbers in the short time that you spend with them. It is an altogether different issue whether or not you contact them again ever in your life. There were some trophies of similar achievements in the contact list ;) I have lost those for ever now.
But now after one day I have come to see the positive side of it too. I realize that there is no need to cramp the memory unnecessarily. Now I can be more organized and I will keep only the numbers that I really need. I will now know how many contacts I remember to get the number back. May be finally All is for Well.

Mumbai - Pune Express

So many people have already blogged in the praise of Bombay Pune experessway. I am going to add one more today to the plethora of available blogs. It truely is the Sierra Niveda of India. I am having the perfect weather to enjoy the drive. I have managed to siege the front seat besides the driver. I was determined on getting this seat today. This is my first drive on this route. I wanted the best of it.
So I am positioned at my vantage point. There is a slight overcast. We are driving at just above 90. Music is playing loudly from the speakers and the smell of the smoke of cigarette from the smokers behind who are unable to resist, tempted by the beauty, is filling the vehicle. There is lush greenery everywhere. Hills run parallel to the road continuously. Some small ponds and lakes appear sometimes.
The tunnels here are mesmerizing. The other end of the tunnel offers a new vista. I just crossed the third tunnel en route and I always found two completely different views on either side. On one end the sky was kinda clear and here I am just 400 m on to the other side and I see heavy rain. The transition through the tunnel is also equally captivating. The top of the tunnel is lined by yellow halogens which spreads an orage hue. It gives me a spooky and sad feeling. That color always has the same effect on me but still it is beautiful in its own way. The divider between the to and fro lanes have neatly trimmed grass growing. There is so much around that I will not be able to write everything in here. This is a memory which I will hold cherished. I am going back to enjoying the drive.

Trilok's attempt at Silent Assassin

Let me narrate this from the start. Yesterday was Nitin's b'day. He had called for a treat in the evening. I have been having some problem with my knee since past few days. I was not quite comfortable walking because of this. So I asked Trilok to take his bike.
So me and Trilok reached the gate sooner than the rest 12 who were following. We decided that we will call for an auto so that they dont have to wait when they reach. We stopped an auto but it had 3 people in it. We explained the autowala that we are 12 people and we need an auto to take us to Dominos. He agreed and said he will arrange for the 3 people in the auto. He got down from his auto without killing the engine. He stopped another auto and was talking to the driver when we noticed that the auto had started rolling as it was standing downhill. Me and Trilok held on to it to stop it.
Sometime passed and the fun began. I dont know what came in Trilok's evil brain that he quickly moved his hand to the gear side of the auto. He pressed the clutch and then there was a click sound. He had engaged the gear!! LOLZ!! What followed was chaos. Our autowala was standing in front of his auto talking to the other autowala oblivious of the things going on behind. Suddenly the auto lept as if trying to do a wheely. I am sure the sound scared the shit out of our auto waala. He saw his own auto coming straight towards him. No driver in the drivers seat! He did not understand anything. He had his hand stretched straight forward shaking it violently side to side as if pleading to the auto not to run over him. His eyes were wide with bewilderment. He surely thought for the moment that he will be dead.
Then there were people sitting in the rear of auto in front. They too saw the auto approaching them. They let out a horrorstruck scream. They didn't have anything else to do and for the three people in the now unmanned auto I could not see much. I could only hear angry "Aye Aye!!" coming from inside. Then there was a collision. This auto hit the rear of the second auto with a bang and slowed its approach towards our autowala. This brought our autowaala to his senses. He got out of his vex, quickly moved away and boarded the moving auto and stopped the auto.
By this time the auto had moved quite a distance. Trilok who was near the drivers place was now standing at the rear of the stopped auto. I was already left behind.
Next train of thought that started in my mind and possibly also in Trilok's was what would be the autowaalas reactions. When we reached the front to face the autowaalas there was still confusion on their faces but eventually it broke into a smile. Initially that smile was of relief rather than forgiveness. We all then smiled except for the other autowaala who was busy checking the damage. Luckily there was no damage and it all ended coolly. I had a hearty laugh recollecting the incidence.

Complete Body Overhaul Needed

I want to brood over my body pain and I know no one will be interested to listen to me so I am going to write it down. Those who are reading this have full right to skip this blog without scorning me. I am doing what I want to do. Rest is up to the readers.
I am having a terrible body pain and this all started after my last blog. I had been for shopping and it has made me sick. Well even on the morning of that day I was not feeling all that great but I had decided not to fidget about it. But now the time has come when I need to sulk to feel better. I promise to keep this short.
I have pain in my head. I can feel water in my head when I turn my head. My body also aches terribly. Every morning when I get up I have pain in my throat. My left ear has been paining since last few days and it has increased since the Lonavala trip. I developed pain in my knee in Lonavala too. I slipped several times there. May be one of those times I hurt my knee badly. The pain had subsided last week but Saturday's walk has aggravated it again. Saturday we started walking around 12 pm and kept walking till 9 pm. I wish I had the option of abandoning my body and getting a new one. On top of all this it has been raining continuously since yesterday. This weather is making me more sick. I hope it stops raining for gods sake!!!

Weekend Again!

Ewww... It is eerie. Last few weekends have started giving me a scare. I spend a forturne every weekend and this weekend is going to be no different. I am planning on blowing up some more today. Waiting for my mates. Mathew has already arrived. I hope I have enough time to finish this blog. Still two more to come. Lets continue now.
So where was I.. Yeah, the thing about blowing cash. I am planning to buy some unbranded clothes today. I have deided not to be a sucker for brand. This transformation has happened after last weeks fiasco. I had soaked some clothes to wash along with my new branded jeans.. That blasted jeans painted 3 of my white colored shirts to become its siblings. Now the shirts look like jeans' half brothers. Half white half blue. Since that day I have decided; screw the brands!!
Other than clothes I have to buy some novels to kill time here and I also need a nice hair cut. Hair cut reminds me of Habibs. Last time I had a cut from there.
I will complete that part of the story later. Got to go now. Friends hav already arrived.

Pune at its best...

Let me describe the ambience here in DIAT. It is around quarter past five. I am sitting in my balcony. I have my legs crossed with my one leg on the metal parapet with my back resting comfortably in the chair.
There is mild breeze blowing. It is getting little cold. I sometimes hear the rustling of leaves. There isn't absolutely any noise around. I can hear the tweeting of the birds. There are atleast 5 different varities of birds which I can hear. I hear a dog bark somewhere far away. Some music is playing in somebody's room . It is too soft to understand what is being played. Now and then I can hear a group of people talking. Their voices slowly fade as they walk away from our hostel to probably gole market. Intermittently I also hear a vehicle pass by.
I can see some dark clouds in the sky. There is greenery all around. I can see some trees with dry leaves. There are others with flowers of varying shades of yellow. On the far side behind the trees there is continuous chain of hills.
In totality this place is an absolute treat to the mind. I am loving this place :-)

News paper Trouble...

I am grown up and I still do not read newspapers. I have tried several times to read news papers and be up to date. It simply turned out to be a futile effort. I have realized that these attempts start every time I reach a new place or city. I got the craze of reading news once when I was in IDEA. I read and listened to news for few days but I could not carry on. 2 months back I had given it another try. I bought news papers for a month but I could make myself read only 3 of the 30 subscriptions. That is a really bad ratio.
I have been trying to ponder upon why I am unable to read news papers when I can read novels. Let me list down 5 reasons why:

1) There is too much happening around in this world and it gets very confusing as to where to start from.

2) I am always amazed by the people in India who manage to keep track of the news. There are too many ministers and too many scams. Every time I start reading news papers I get baffled. The minister who supposedly resigned a few days back will still be in the news only that this time he will be holding a different post. When a minister says he is resigning he means only his post. He will soon be taking over another post.

3) The terrorist who is already been given death sentence will again be given death sentence the next time you read news paper. Sometimes I even wonder if they print the same news paper I read 3 months back again!

4) Business section: Oh gosh!!! There is no way anyone can make me read that. There are so many numbers and it makes me go bonkers. I don't mind data ever as god has given me only a small brain. I can't afford to waste my precious memory trying to remember which company has got how much turn out this year.

5) Finally to the sports section. That seems pretty interesting and probably the only section that I can read sometimes. Here again I try not to remember facts and so this information is something that I can't make use of.

I have finally come to peace with the fact that reading news papers is not my cup of tea. I am composed with the ignorance.

The Ten Digit Attachment

I was having a normal day. I was reading my novel lying in the bed when my mobile rang. It was a message. It was from a new number. I read the message and I got a chill.
The message from the new number said it was my dad. This was not the reason for the chill that I felt. The real reason being it read that this is the dad's new number!!! I initially forced myself to believe that it must be a prank. Not that he plays pranks with me but I was still hoping it to be. How can he change our 8 year old mobile number without giving much thought to it and that too for only the thrill of it. I have this mobile number deeply etched in my memory and it will always live with me. The new number does not feel welcomed. There is no symmetry in the new number and there is an added burden of remembering a new number.
This was the first time ever that my dad did anything without telling me before. Now as I am writing this blog I am getting a new feeling. May be I am not as attached to my parents as I was before. They needed me for making every small decision. If only my dad had spoken to me about this I would have talked him out of this idea. How I wish he had kept his old number. I am surprised how even a mobile number is capable of getting attached with my life. May be this is the last time I am quoting my old mobile number. Dedicated to 9890707633.

Lonavala And Khandala trip

Lots of people and a bus along with one motive, to have fun is all u require to spice up a trip and that was the exact ingredients we had yesterday. 42 crazy people along with the last minute entry of Rizwan, our professional photographer, a noisy bus and fun was what we had.
Trip started at exactly 8.30am IST as it had to start. The said time being 6.30 am Indian Stretchable Time so No delays there! The trip started with some romance in the air. The first pic in my mobile captures Avanish pinching Souvik's cheek with love. Our bus was then loaded with the much needed breakfast. Thanks to the efforts of the mess committee we could carry food from the mess.
Our bus started rolling and we were filled with euphoria of the anticipated excitement. Lots of hooting and then the inevitable singing started. Thats one thing that i dont like really so much but i have well adapted to cope with this. This random singing soon evolved into antakshari.
Souvik and Jayesh were being starcast during this leg of the journey. They did their part well. Then followed some rounds of dumbcharades. This our team won as Komal could not enact god knows which movie it was! The credit for suggesting the movie goes to Trilok from our team. Way to go buddy...
Our bus needed fuel so we stopped at a petrol pump. We thought by the time bus fills itself up we will take a much needed leak. Some guys were so desperate that they even had to forget their gendre ( Some know whom i am referring to). So our bus was all fuelled up, next was our turn. We had the puries and potato sabji that we got along us. I really appreciate those who volunteered to distribute. The smell of sabji was so appetizing that i wonder how they could resist eating. Hats off to Praveen, Jayesh and others. I was too busy eating to notice who were there. Hearty thanks for whom so ever was responsible for the arrangements.
Then started individual compulsary performances which was called upon. People again resorted to singing. I was trying to escape it by protraying a broad smile. But suddenly from somewhere I hear my name. I like listening to my name but not in situations like this. I later discovered the source to be Nitin. I was pulled to the front but luckily I could get away with only a dance.I am comfurtable with that. Some of the performances worth noting were one of the Jayesh's friends. He was a really good performer. Sang well and I know he got the crowd with him and the jest that i liked best was Deepak's one word joke "Jayesh". No hard feelings Jayesh but it was a great one you should admit.
Our slow ride finally reached our first destination Khandala. View was hipnotic. Clicked lots of pics and ate bhutta. There wasn't much there to write in here other than the cute monkeys. Our photographers took charge.
We headed for Lonavala next. We reached city and stopped for lunch. Hogged a heavy lunch and decided to walk to Mulsi dam. We started walking a big number but only a brave few could make the 6 km long walk. Rain drenched us before we even reached the dam. Reaching the dam we felt the walk worthwhile. There was flowing water where the actual fun started. Guys plunged into the water instantly. Apurva and Kriti who also managed the walk, chose not to bathe there. They were being responsible and kept a watch on our belongings. We wanted to make it to the waterfall above but before we can reach there the guards called it a day and we had to go back. On our way back we met Shyam, Trilok and Praveen. We found another spot of flowing water and started playing "splash splash". Girls also joined in this time.
We finally were returning back when a minor accident happened. On our way back we saw another waterfall. We were trying to make our way to that spot when poor Appu slipped and got a nasty cut on his for forehead. Nothing serious but only that his face now looks like one of those which has directly come out of Aahat (Hindi horror supposed to be scary). I felt the walk back to be shorter thanks to the chat with Kriti and Apurva. [ now that is for flattering them ;-) ].
We reached the bus around 8.30 and started back for Pune. There was constant singing again. There were plenty of sancks and choclates on the way back.
We reached back at 10 and our organizing group had even areanged for the dinner in the mess.. A hearty thanks again to Shyam, Jayesh, Souvik and Praveen whom I assume were the organizing team for such wonderful arangements. Please consider my thanks extended to those names that I have missed as well. Hope more such trips are arranged.