..A not so regular 24th of april in my life.

... SO when i set out to the station during the wee hours of the morning, i didn't quite anticipate or even remotely paid attention to what kind of day it would turn out to be.. all i knew was:

i) it was the last day of my three day weekend.
ii) it was a job that needed to be done ... on just a regular another day.
iii) once its done, i will catch a train back to home in the evening.

But if it were a "regular routine day" i wouldn't have been writing about it here ... and no, no world war happened, i didn't witness a dinosaur, and no aliens were spotted by me followed by two men dressed in black... NO. yet it was unusual for my kinda days/events .. so here goes the story TO THE POINT AND SIMPLE (YET NOT SO SIMPLE)...

got up at 4 am, was groggy, sleepy and aware that i was running late.. rushed to the station to catch the train as planned, had a pleasant journey throughout, job well executed and a comfortable stay, the turn of events took place when we had to come back (me, mom and dad). Three factors:
i) Women shopping half hour before departure.
ii) Tickets not confirmed (waiting)
iii) Odd mix of people.
So the picture can pretty much be framed out of the same, me aunty and mom were rushing with the last bit of "have-to-buy-or-will-die" things, dad and uncle getting worked up with every passing minute as the shatabdi is always on time, departure time 7:50pm and we shopping till 7:05 pm ... so so so rushed back home, grabbed the bags , took a rickshaw and off to station with three WAITING-UNCONFIRMED tickets... (Boss hum teeno ka is senario mein first time tha) so we reached... Rushed and boarded the train *puff pant puff pant*

So next task ahead was to talk to the ‘TT’ to get seats, which we were pretty sure we would but alas, as I approached the ‘TT’ who was surrounded by people as a ice cream vendor would be by little children, noisy, reckless and bugging, as the TT was rushing I somehow managed to reach across to talk to him with … my ticket issue, he gave me that “indifferent-yet-will-kill-you-look” and said “apko padhna likhna nahi aata, train se utar jao ap.. apke ye paise to waste ho hi gaye hain, aur waiting ki seat mein nahi dila sakta, utro train se warna 3 jano ke 5000ka ticket banega” and ya I was too taken aback to react,
I was expecting something more like “beta itni bhed hai, abhi kuch keh nahi skata.. Wait karo seat mili to batadunga”.
So a bewildered me returned back to my folks and like a parrot repeated all of it as it is, my parents were as shocked as I was, and we deboarded the train to search for options as we had to reach home by nightfall…. As I inquired about the station master and stated out my situation, he said there is a train that leaves at 12pm you can try for its general compartment… with no other option left, I returned to find my parents loading back our luggage in the Train… as I came to know there are 40 more waiting passengers aboard on the same train and confident like a cheetah that “areeee kuch na kuch ho jayega, baat cheet karke mana lenge TT ko.. apna to roz ka hai.. ajao madam chadh jao” as bewildered as I already was, and not wanting to be left alone at the station I boarded the almost moving Shatabdi…. Thanks to the waiter who boosted my confidence by assuring that he will talk to the TT (the same waiter who server us and whom we tipped well while on our way from Delhi to Saharanpur).
So the journey began, and the rude rhino grunted TT came back to us within an hour, and on the site of us (and few more) he had the same “kill-u-luk” and blasted his engine off… and the entire gathering was busy to somehow please and persuade him, with a bold and cheerful man leading (who indeed was really helpful and experienced yet kind) we saw a little bit of ice melting and gradually persuaded him to act normal and help us … though he did charge us heavy, but (*pppsssttt…ed* us that he will return most of it later) and sitting between the spaces of two bogies in a uncomfortable yet fun journey including lot of learning, persuasion, jugad, adjustments and loads of chattering with absolute strangers we were approaching Ghaziabad, when the same TT came back to ME and handed over the money, took his commission and went on with the usual line “beta huamre upar kafi pressure hota hai, kafi logon ko jawab dena hota hai… ab to tum khush ho na waise, bitiya naraz lag rahi thi .. khush ho na?!?!” and I gave a courteous smile .. And to be honest was grateful that he kept his words and didn’t rob us… so after this one hectic – teaching experience with lotsa chattering, coaxing the waiters to give us food, sweetheart bunch of people and a catalyst TT … we reached Ghaziabad, finally got some seats inside and rested a little.
… oh no not done yet, as we reached and took a auto (after lot of PR/lady skills) we managed to get a decently charging auto driver back home at 11:30pm .. and as we were approaching home, near Minto road we witnessed a typicall case of Road rage ahead of us …. As we approached nearer (slow, sue to the road jam it caused) we heard boys screaming, and the loud noise of someone ruthlessly shattering the glasses of the innova.
And then we saw a gang of 5 well build young rich lads beating up two taxi (innova) driver to pulp and breaking his Taxi into pieces …. All this happening a few KM away from the main POLICE HEADQUARTERS, ITO.
We were outraged seeing it, those two handfolded bleeding heavily while two boys busy beating them and the remaining lot busy braking his car, my dad got so furious (I mean who wouldn’t) That he rushed to the headquarters urging the police men of duty to do something about it, to rush and save those two… just to see the lazy, useless bunch of PROTECTORS so nonchalant about it all and walking around the jeep as if it was there evening walk, as more and more cars approached them (those who witnessed wht we did, n rushed in for help) the pressure build as people actually started screaming on them, two police jeeps rushed at the “spot of crime” and my dad asked the auto wala to drive in wrong direction and reached before them, saving whatever could be of those two poor shmucks from the sardars who were eaten up with rage. As mom, dad and auto wala rushed into the scenario, ofcourse a little angry by now, I was witnessing all this from a distance in the auto with the entire luggage.
Watching and waiting for nearly half an hour, unable to make what’s what cuz all the rush that gathered, was just hoping my parents aren’t harmed.
Finally they came back and could sense my eagerness and worry, they narrated it to me. So it seemed both the taxi driver and group of boys were drunk and what the said next SHOCKED ME BEYOND IMAGINATION….

REALITY – The taxi driver accidentally smashed into a biker, braking his helmet… the group of sardars saw this from a distance, in their all gleamy Red civic, and came to rescue… till when the BIKER HAD ALREADY ESCAPED, but still the “bravehearts” took matters in their own hand, being the court of law that they bashed up the taxi wala to pulp cuz he retaliated, and the scene grow so huge with those two bleeding all over the road.
JIST: taxi runs into a two wheeler, the two wheeler guy escapes unharmed, a group of Naujawans thinking no end of themselves interfere and create a filmy action drama out of it all … finally ending at the back seat of a PCR van, and sending the taxi wala to hospital, beating him up and his car.

MY question – what was the point? Does it make sense at all … was it just liquor or the road rage has attained yet new heights in the capital …. Last but not the least, “WHY”!?

... The Journey called Life

It all started from Evolution ... but it seems it indeed is a ongoing process, not just over a series of couple of years but a process that evolves you every breathing second.

yes here i am after a long break .... and quite a break i must say ! Life indeed teaches us a lot, it can be as rigid and stern as a red hot iron rod and as soft and mellow as a warm blow of wind through your hair...
I believe it gives you a lot, showers you with gifts, gifts you like and gifts you just cant wait to get rid of .. but yes it is a splendid mystery. It brings people, situations, moments, days in your life which leaves you with a plethora of expressions and feelings... and no .. i am not trying to be preachy here, just figuring out .. sharing it out there.... my version so far.
friends, new friends, journeys, trips, learnings, feelings, lessons and back to life ... hahaha what a turmoil .. one that leaves you baffled, and makes you wonder if you are actually headed somewhere or are just in a series of loop !

it is said that "to know that fire is hot, you dont actually need to touch it" but guess no one said its "asterix (*)" marked ! burnt .. yes .. learnt .. yes again .. but will i need to touch it again ... hahaha no cant say !!
so well ... what life recently gave me, if i see the big picture.. it indeed made me happy, and am glad and thankful for it ... but the "wanting more" continues...so does the confusion ... a pondering me is a embedded part of me... alive .. and pondering !

Somehow Stagnation also seems to be moving ... i am marveled yet amazed of my journey so far . :)

life welcoming me back ...

Am happy as a puppy this very moment , reflect a little back and i have been in this mode for quite some time now ! * grinning and nodding my head* at the same time.

For quite some time now my life took a trip down the "dull regular lane" and when i looked around , i used to wonder what happened, rather when did it happen ... is god or lets say fate mistaking me for someone else, cause this wasn't the plan, life was so pepped up with happiness big and small so uummm... is it a wrong turn or a misread direction that happened to me ...?!

But wwwooowww what a come back, as i was kind of enduring to it, life patted me on my shoulder and when i looked around 'whoa' my old way found me ! it was hunky Dory once again !! Just a step away when i went , it seemed the wrong turn never happened, as if i was holding a eraser all along.. just forgot which pocket i kept it !

And so i went from being a tiny food critic to a big girl all alone in the oldest part of Delhi to a traveler and a bag packer !

Whoa Whoa !!! hold on, thats a lot of "first timer" together for me .... i guess life was just taking a tiny nap, stretching a little... and all that i missed was given back to me. I somehow like the collection of all these small packages together as one.

1. ) INTERCONTINENTAL GRAND - So there i was, walking on my office floor ... chatting and laughing, when a colleague of mine (Nachiketa) walked up to me and proposed me this offer, it took me a couple of seconds to seep it through. But once i got it, am sure there was a twinkle in my eye ... thanks to my Blogs, i was being invited to Intercontinental Grand for lunch in their Chinese restaurant "Empress of China" as a food critic, who could talk about them ; and it dosent end here, after gorging on some truly delicious and authentic Chinese food we were given dim-sum making classes ... and all for free !!! absolutely right .. you heard me ! Not only was it an experience of a kind, but also a truly unexpected and joyful honor for me, which i am going to cherish for always.

2.) JAMAMASJID, Delhi 6 - The most yummiest food ! Living in Delhi since my child hood and for the first time i went there, a couple of Sundays back. Heard so much about the food and i must say every word of it was true, the company the ambiance and the oh so mouth watering aroma of the food that we ate. A wholesome treat in itself.

3.) KAMPLAND (Sigri Nanital) - Sigh ! the place would make you melt like a butter, it sure was one fun filled trip . A little painful, but nonetheless quite a change from office life (irony - with office people hahaha)! nothing better then a relaxing weekend in such a beautiful place with nature enveloping you from all around. And the best part about being surrounded with natural beauty is that its so unpredictable! one day its sunny, and suddenly the black clouds whhooosshh down to you and it rains! It had all - lovely scenic beauty, trekking, photography, good food, bonfire and a lovely two days with friends.

4.) SAHRANPUR, down the memory lane - the cliché fits in well here "last but not the least" :P after so many years after my grandparents passed away i went to Sahranpur this weekend, and trust you me till Saturday night i didn't knew i was going. But by golly , trips as unplanned as this one hold the maximum amount of joy, where my darling mom next to me was as excited as a little five year old narrating me every turn and twist of the lanes of her home town, happily showing me her journey from her school to college to her first clinic there! What can i say, i never thought i could forget Delhi at a place Like Sahranpur. Though went there to attend a wedding ( the son of the lady who hooked my parent together !!!!! I had to write this); and it indeed was a fabulous weeding, as good as a one that you would witness in Delhi. The preparations was stunning, so was the menu ! :D Within a short span of time (of one day) i did things i never did before (or did in some BC long forgotten) :

- ate mangoes on road, with many onlookers staring ... recognizing the different types and slurping on the tastes !

- walked in dingy old lanes, with 3 inches heels.

- Slept under a perfectly moonlight sky with cool soothing breeze brushing past me.

- ate pure butter !

- had the rain wake me up at 4 am !

Mountains and much more…

As I set off towards srinagar( in uttrakhand, not Kashmir.. mind it ;) ! ) , in a sudden ( you will know why I said “sudden”) and a hot summer afternoon from Delhi the only thing that occupied my mind was .. Please oh please ‘mera kam ho jaye, for which I am travelling so far’ … but who knew this would turn out to be such a treat, a well deserved and long awaited break from work and Delhi.

A new road … new people … new journey … unplanned excitement!

And as we moved along … it took us ten hours and couple of thousand pictures to reach here, but sometimes the journey is far more pleasurable then the destination itself. And what can I say … cool breeze in your hair, pleasurable company, nice smooth road, long trees on one side and Ganges on the other side … what more could I ask for!! Some part of me just wanted to carry on this way endlessly. The canal that had ganga water ran parallel to us for almost to a 12km stretch, and the water level was so high it seemed as if we were strolling on the bank of the river… just a few steps and you could actually touch the water.

It was refreshment if I put it in one word. Beautiful terrains, lovely music, chit chat and twilight. People often say that these mountains are standing here for so many years silently … I disagree, who said they are silent... infact I would say they know multiple languages …. They speak spooky, they speak beauty, they speak life, they speak height, they speak surprise, they speak whisper… a whisper in their own language... Different for different people and they speak change … change, the one thing everyone needs every now and then.

As we bypassed the cities one by one... and started on Rishikesh, that’s when I realized rather woke up to the fact that nature had a lot more then the boundaries of my imagination and anticipation. The long unwinding snake like mountain roads were like a treat to me … especially when you come from a city full of red lights, honks, and traffic jams! As for the roads … ya it was like a snake... but might I say a rather disfigured twisted snake (which by the way was goooooooddd)!

Stopped for dinner at 11 at a road side dhaba, nothing fancy at all … yet the only thing I would say was superb, perfectly simple fresh home cooked food, with a rhythmic background music of gushing running river behind you, blinking sparkling fireflies across the road and you perched on top of mountain in between all this… WOW!!!

Finally we all arrived in Srinagar at 2 am with a sleepy head. What followed after was like I said “unexpected”… honestly I liked Srinagar. Though I won’t say its every tourist dream destination, but the route was awesome and so is this ‘unplanned-trip-change-stay’. Today I went to see the lovely temple ‘tara devi mandir’ here…. Really pretty one must visit here, Alaknanda River being the second on the list.

… One of my favorite parts about this trip would be clicking pictures... Which I shall SOON UPLOAD so watch out. Though I caught some of the most amazing landscapes behind my lenses... but there are a few things I would never be able to capture… like the joy I am feeling right now being here, the thousands of twinkling stars outside my window smiling at me … lol if I put it in words of someone I know here “it looks like the sky has got chicken pox” , the gushing wind singing to me, the sparkling flowing water which I can listen to out here in the balcony, the random light covering the mountain here and there, suddenly running panther on the road from our car, the relaxation that has enveloped me here and much more ….. Sigh.

What more do I say, will have to be back tomorrow once my job is done here, but oh wow … its nothing like I thought… it’s more... Much more.

Journey so far... then and now ...

time has surely changed to a great extent .... it is rightly said that "man proposes and God disposes" so is what is happening with me .. never did i thought i would be here at this point in my life right after college, and what startles me most is that i am not sure should i be happy or surprised upon it ! "?"

Was a kid in school when all i wanted to do was have fun.. which is more or less what did !! :)
growing up increased my impatience and eagerness to get into college, it sure was pictured rose colored to all of us !! Routine was never me ... i was always capable of finding ways to somehow alter my everyday life ... to bring something new .. even if it were as small as a new sticker for my copy lol !

Two years of working .. and more or less in a stagnated fashion has bought me to this post of mine. The alters now would be a occasional outing, or a new movie ... dosent really excite me anymore. At times i find myself talking and behaving like my parents ... craving for weekends to come and all i want to do on my weekend is to rest .. maybe catch up on lost sleep! I remember how me and my sister would get on their nerves to take us out on weekends, and they would react as if a catastrophe hit them ... and we would just stand there stubborn and puzzled .. why would any one want to spend a nice holiday at home resting !!!?? lol ... now i get the answer !

when i was living my school life college was a "oh - so - wow" dream that i was looking forward to, and when came college ... i never realized when and how those three years past by ... and one day i am sitting in an office giving my interview, and then comes my first day at work ... lol was so excited i arrived at 8 am when office starts at 9:30 ! and today i sit here exactly 1 year and 10 months later .. revising my life! (at least a recent part of it).
.. No am not really complaining.. rather just stating.

those 19 years of life are surely the most treasured and blissful heavenly state one can have ... even a small achievement like completing holiday homework a month before school would give the feeling such immense triumph as if i just won myself an Oscar ! to think of it ... it came down to -
benches to a cubicle
notebooks to a pc
sneaking bites of lunch during the periods to short coffee breaks
pocket money to salaries
pencils and erasers to keyboard and notepads
wild bunch of friends to office colleagues
timetables to work reports
evening play grounds to facebook and gtalk
exam (phone) preparations to excel sheets and presentations
and much more ... which i really miss now. i guess somewhere all of us does.

... Now that i come to think of it, this sure is a good path to lead on but cant deny that dullness has occupied most of the space in my today's life. what can i say.. i could have fancied it up a little to maybe disguise the fact but then again ... wont really make much of a difference.

treading on ... somewhere knowing that this will change .. smiling and now thinking of the work that i have to get back to !

LOCAL TRAIN AXE-PER-OUNCE !

.. This one is still under construction .. as its as fresh as 2 hours ago... ! Its not about the fun trip i had over the weekend or how much i shopped or what yummy (total typical U.P style stuff) i feasted on .. NO. Its about the 5 hours i spent in the train coming back to Delhi, and whoa it was not just any other ordinary train journey ... man was it wild !! It had action, comedy, drama, thrill, suspense... and lots of ACTION (you shall know why i emphasis and repeated that).

No pun intended but i guess i now know where Ekta Kapur picks her (female) inspiration from. A journey of a short 5 hours had so much packed into it that i am still absorbing my midnight episode with the "local-ladies-compartment" train, travel once and you shall realize women are force to reckon ... irrespective of (their mosquito) size every female was all set to fight even before being given a reason to... !

2 am - I woke up (after sleeping at 1) to catch a train leaving at 4 am, distance from house to station 15 min ! i was surprised as to why i was being dragged out of my comfort sleep so early...and so i was told "YOU SHALL SEE" ... so i dragged myself up and got ready in half an hour, and was on my way to station in a rickshaw... totally open and at every turn you feel you are gonna tumble out of it. Got our tickets and was at the station at 3:30 am and then i realized why i was being woken up so early ...

3:30 am - The station was bloody crowded, it was not only me who was having a 3 day vacation, but who would have thought that half the globe plans to chug down to Sahranpur of all places *sigh* well, anyway i braced myself to push and rave through to grab 3 seats (me, mom and oju) as soon as the train halted on the platform, *phew* am sure that must have burned more then 10 ounces of my calories (lol). Finally after (feeling as if a ran a marathon) covering 10 steps between a hurricane of hooligans, i dropped myself and my luggage on our seats, foolishly being happy to grab decent places.. unaware of the following 5 hours and EVENTS.

4:00 am and followed... Sharing the top berth of mine with two huge bags and 3 females, me literally clamped to the very edge against my bag i thought "when did this happen, could it be more of a disasterous uncomfortable journey" hahaha .. i didn't realize we had 6 stops on our way to Delhi "merath" being one of them.

Finally somehow "ADJUSTING" ourselves for the way, i started my journey... within one hour the train was as alive as if it were bright day time and we were in a party !


And then i hear a voice to my left, a skinny lean freckled girl climbs up and asks (all three of us), rather say - "HELLO thoda shift ho, jage karo" and i was perplexed at HER BELIEVE SYSTEM, what the hell was she thinking ... oh BTW it was MERATH station... *ahem* so as i was saying, this female with the dirtiest of expression and bossiest of tone asks us to pile two heavy bags one on top of the other (ONE WITH A LAPTOP) so that she can climb atop (ON A SEAT FOR MAXIMUM 3, ALREADY ADJUSTING 4 PEOPLE AND TWO HUGE BAGS) ... all i could do was to blink at her and she was already picking up our bags to move them, and before i could react a very shrilled voice hit my ear drums from the adjacent seat where a FEMALE HULK (trust me she looked scary) was screaming at top of her voice on a group of college girls "tum yahan ki mahrani nahi ho, mujhe mat samjhao chalo hato jagah karo" and other things that i should rather not say here... and then i was again distracted by this female still waiting us for making space and says "hello" (rude) to which i say "hi" (laugh) SHE looks at me surprised and smiles, i smile back .. she "apne ye compartment kharid nahi rakha, jagah karo" ME "really, mujhe nahi pata tha ki 30 rupee mein compartment bik jata hai" SHE "- shocked, still smiling, waitng ME "scooping GOD KNOWS HOW" pressed against the trains body .. while she sits "PHEW" !

Me laughing, girl next to me laughing, my sister laughing... all three of us discussing the new color scheme of the compartment that we "now bought" hence she laughing lol !

Somewhow getting rather scooping up and changing positions to the most horrid best i could afford there, laughing and cracking jokes we carried on, behind us a brawl taking place between two females - one haryanwi and one UPite... you can imagine the kind of diction and pronounceation they used, sending me in fits of laughter... trust you me the only thing that was left was for them to knock each others teeth out !

As the heat increased in that fight, a couple of women started singing rajisthani folks song, new set of passenger(S) by the dozen climbed at every station, in the already sandwitched ladies compartment, one left four scrammbled to grab those 2 inches of butt rest area (sorry i cant call it a seat).

Across me a smart young mom with her sleepy little kid in her lap trying her level best to "adjust" with fellow passengers in terms of space, some times smiling sometimes awed
(I GUESS IT WAS HER FIRST TIME TOO, LIKE MINE) both of us sharing at times "i know" and at times "hahaha" looks. SO ON AND SO FORTH ......

... And so i guess my high usage of "action" and "adjust" term is justifies, but even after this so shocking and new 5 hours of my life, strangely i enjoyed it all ... stepped out at delhi station with a puzzled large grin on my lips. AM SURE I AM NEVER GONNA FORGIVE THIS AXE-PER-OUNCE OF MY LIFE EVER.

Complexed .....

.. And here i sit wondering how to put it, not that i am not aware of what to write but "how" is something i am mulling over.
it rains.. and when it does just close your eyes and when you listen close and careful you realize the sound of rain drops is hypnotic... might sound mushy boring but then again i am just a girl appreciating and most importantly paying attention to those small things that bring a smile on my lips ... and set my thought ticking ... so yes it is raining outside and YES it is me sitting here , and YES i am happy.

The one thing that no matter how hard i try never occurs to me is why is it that satisfaction is like a horizon .. go forward and further it backs up, and all the while you think you are nearing it ? the more i think of it the more i wonder why are human emotions so COMPLEXED?
it might be true .. i might be an inquisitive being, but the point here is i am glad that i am inquisitive, lot many things are solved and understood due to this trait.

... don't be puzzled as to where the above para cam from ... this post was meant to be complexed and about complexities right... !!

Its ranning outside ( and i guess that works as an inspiration for me .... FYI first post was also triggered by rain lol ) and i just feel like a little kid ... happy and dancing enjoying in my lala land ... drifting and loving to be carried away... the part i enjoy the most about being "me" is that no emotion, especially the bad and dark one are for too long... its easy for me to sway and convince myself and hence i end up being happy... no matter what. I think more people should be that easy to tackle by themselves, half the problems in life would be sorted as you have a new perspective now.

so then i guess life is a beautiful mess all around you, you just need to pick your favorite specks! :)