The Last Call

It was time for the last call. He hated it but he has to do it. Whenever he made it he could hear deep sighs in the air. Some mixed with pain of going back to the real world and some in disappointment for the end of the party. Being a bartender for last 10 years he was used to all this. But unlike other people for him last call meant the end of his world as it brings back the memory of the ruinous night ten years before which not only took away his hopes, dreams and love but also his life. And for him it was all because of that last call.

It was September of 1999. Life was on a roll for him. He has got a great job and it was time for him to express his love for his college best friend and his companion is all walks of life. She used to work part time as a waitress in a bar to support her education. He was happy as he was now capable enough to take care of her and get her away from the humiliating life of a bar waitress.

He reached the bar at 11 in the night. The time of last call was 12 and so waited in one corner of the bar watching her. She passed him a smile and continued working. He ordered vodka for himself and started preparing his lines. He wanted to tell her about how deeply he loved her. How she brings hope and purpose in his life. How he wants to take care of her all his life. How he wants to give her all that she deserved. He could see himself walking the altar holding her hands. He could imagine their lovely little house and beautiful kids. A smile flashed across his face, the dream world was so lovely.

He was brought back to reality by a loud shattering noise. He was startled not realizing that it was his dreams that were shattered. He looked at his watch. It was 12. He looked around to see what has happened. He could see few people gathered around a table. He looked around for her but couldn’t find her. Anxiously he walked towards the little crowd. Somehow he struggled to make his way to a sight which was horrendous. She was lying on the floor in a little pool of blood. Smears were present all over her head. Her eyes were closed, forever, but she still looked beautiful. He fell on his knees and took her in his arms for the last time. He was not crying, some part of him died with her. People around were talking about the whole incident on how a drunk rich brat banged a bottle on her head when she refused to serve drinks after The Last Call.

A thing called Life

You were always there but I never noticed
As you were a part of my routine life
Your jokes made me smile, your teasing made me irritated
You were sometimes wise, sometimes stupid, sometimes funny and sometimes jerk
In all these forms I adored you
But I never noticed
Today when you are not around
I feel that something is missing, something that I never noticed
I can feel the void which no one can fill
If only life can give another chance, I would want to tell you
I may not notice you when you are around
But I do really “Miss you” when you are not…

Dedicated to my dear friend Gajendra, who is no longer with us :(.

There is something about Honeymoon

Yes, there is something about Honeymoon that makes people well less astute. Yesterday I was browsing one of my friends recently uploaded honeymoon pics in orkut. It is really fun to see someone’s honeymoon album, for one reason that it shows out many fascinating and bizarre moments at the same time. Here is some of the interesting stuff that one can see in someone’s honeymoon album.

• Females in awfully revealing outfits. Females, who would normally not even sport a kurta without a duppatta, will be seen wearing backless evening gowns, strange swim wears, short skirts and tight tops showing some of their desirable and mostly all undesirable curves. I agree that honeymoon is a very private and intimate occasion which fully justifies wearing sensuous attires but posting that images in public for everyone to see is little beyond sensibility.

• ‘We two are one soul two bodies’ pose. In other words man and wife very close to each other holding their, well not just hands. Ok, we understand, it’s your honeymoon, time to get cozy-pozy with each other but please posting those moments in public portal is embarrassing.

• ‘See my hotel room/bed’ pics. Guys, nobody cares what was the color of your bed sheet and walls of your hotel rooms. If you really have the itch to post some pics, we won’t mind seeing some good sceneries and picturesque landscapes.

• Lots of pics, really lots. People post like hundred odd pics of their honeymoon. Right from ‘here I am packing’ to ‘on my way to airport’ to ‘my coolie, my driver, my maid’ to ‘long queue at airport’ to ‘inside the flight’ to ‘hotel room’ to ‘dining room’ to ‘the loo’, you name it and you will find the pic.

• ‘I still love myself’ pics or in other words all solo pics. I have seen one honeymoon album which consisted of only guy’s pics. It seemed that he had his honeymoon all alone :P. Poor guy.

Honeymoon is a lifetime spent in weeks. Cherish it, live it, enjoy it but don’t let people like me make fun of it.

P.S. - All these are my personal observations and pointing to anyone in particular.
P.P.S. – May be I’ll also do the same when it’s my turn :D.

Where are we heading to....

Yesterday night I wasn’t feeling sleepy. After restlessly tossing in bed for sometime in the hope of getting a good sleep, I finally gave up. My cell phone showed 2:30 AM. What the hell was my first reaction. After sitting still and glaring at the darkness for sometime I decided to turn on my laptop and do some time pass. For people like us the word time pass is now confined to laptop, internet, chatting, orkutting etc. I always wondered why orkutting is not yet added in the dictionary. With recession seeing mass impacts and inclusion of ‘Bangalored’ in dictionary, orkutting is next to follow. Anyways that’s a topic for separate discussion.

So I logged in to see if some friends are online, of course the only hope I had was to find friends who are outside India . Or if insomnia has a mass strike too the way swine flu had then I could find my friends in India too. Unfortunately insomnia still has to catch up. Seeing no friend online was quite a disappointment. God!!! Now what? Suddenly something caught my attention. I saw my cousin online and his View my webcam at 2:30 AM was enough of a draft to snatch away my remaining slumber. And yes I am not being melodramatic and impulsive; the only reason for this bizarre reaction was that my cousin is in class 5th which means he is only 11-12 years of age.

I buzzed him and asked what is he doing? This is how our conversation went.

Me: Hey. What’s up?
My Cousin: Hey di. What keeps you awake this 2:30 ;-)
Me: Well. I should be the one asking this question.
My Cousin: Yeah…right. Well I am chatting with my friend.
Me: Hmmmm…is it not too late for that.
My Cousin: She is in US so I have to match the time.
Me: :O how come you have a friend in US.
My Cousin: She is my online buddy.
Me: Ohh ok. So what are you talking about? And what’s with the webcam?
My Cousin: Sorry di. It’s too personal to tell.
Me: Is anyone aware that you are up so late.
My Cousin: What are you talking about? They are going to reprimand me bad if they’ll come to know. Please don’t tell them.

OMG!!! Personal!!! Was my first reaction after this conversation. When I was of his age I didn’t even know what personal implies. For me computers were only meant for learning BASIC language and paint brush. Online buddies and webcam was a far cry. And I didn’t even dare to dream about doing something without telling my parents.

I decided to do the RCA of why there is such an enormous difference in thinking pattern of youth today. RCA!!! Uff these IT jargons won’t leave me alone even in the middle of the night. Btw RCA is Root Cause analysis. I could think of many reasons like – Impact of western culture, peer influence, increased nudity and profanity in cinema etc. All these reasons don’t even need further justification or explanation. And infact parents today are well aware of all these factors and they do try to prevent their kids. But I personally feel that the main reason for this drift is that parents of today are not able to spend much time with their kids. So when it is the time to imbibe values and teach culture to their children, parents are busy earning, working, partying, socializing and traveling. They are not able to give sufficient time to their children but they do provide swarming resources to them by fulfilling all the demands. This is making matters worse.

My chain of thoughts was broken by the alarm. It was 6:30 in the morning and time to get up. I wasn’t feeling too bad about the sleepless night as I at least gave a thought to a problem which I’ll be facing soon when I’ll have kids.

Advancing is not bad. We cannot expect things to be the same as they were twenty years back. This will be indicative of stagnancy and non progress. It is a great achievement to see children of today well versed with technologies like computers, internet, media, cellular phones. What is missing is the wisdom to distinguish between what is good and what is evil. If we elders can inculcate this sense in the coming generation, I see a bright future ahead of us.

Yeh Dilli hain mere yaar

Few days back I was in Delhi . Finally I got to see the great Indian capital which is famous for its historical values, awesome food and big hearted people. The excitement was humongous. Infact I and Ujju decided to speak only Punjabi for our four days stay in Delhi , though we really suck at it. And so after all this bakar, leg pulling, muching and sleeping in the flight we finally landed. We included Rishi, Ujju and me. Well after landing and coming out of the airport a shockwave in the form of extreme Delhi heat hit us. Yes the heat was bad really bad, we were sweating profusely even at 1 o clock in the night. But yes when it’s a question of having a blast in a small four day trip nothing can stop us. And so with high spirits we started for an hour long drive to Rishi’s place. Delhi in night is quite different from Mumbai. Mumbai is more awake and more crowded all the time while Delhi was more like a half awake beauty. The entire conversation during the way made me aware of two things – Delhi has two ring roads outer and inner and if you traverse these you will see all of Delhi . And the second and most important thing that I learned was that Rishi knows very less of Delhi roads :P. So we finally reached Rishi’s place and I felt really bad to disturb uncle and aunty’s sleep in the middle of the night. After that I dozed off like a dog and don’t remember any more bakar.

Next day started with amazing parathas made by aunty, lil breakfast family chatting and rushing to occupy the washroom first to get ready. Important mention here is that Ujju took the longest time to get ready, he perhaps wanted to create a big impression on Delhi babes (tottaas as we call them with all our love). Rishi’s chacha ji gave us lift to Palika and saved us from the extreme heat. There we met more friends – Punu (Poonam), Tinu (Amit), these people I have always heard of but never got a chance to meet and Sakshi, the old FTP pal. Rishi by now was all shining, now I am not sure if that was because of shiny particles from the bouquet smeared to his face or because of Punu. Ujju was looking a little disappointed, no eye candy as yet for him. Palika was an amazing place. When you get a 350 Rs belt just for 80 bucks you are sure to love shopping there. Where Rado watch is bargained for 150 bucks, yups a duplicate one. Punu and Tinu were exceptionally good in bargaining. May be I’ll learn that skill from them someday. The only villain was heat. It was really really bad. After sauntering for sometime in Palika and Janpath it was time to rush home. There was a party at Rishi’s place in evening. The occasion was uncle’s birthday. The home was somewhat changed from what we have left in the morning. No no the wall color was still the same, it was just that there were so many people. Yes all relatives, family, friends, cousins, kids loitering around in the house. Everyone was so Punjabi, I could feel the Punjabi vibes of fun, laughter, eating, bakar all around me. And yes I loved it. So after havan and awesome dinner it was time to rock the night. So we planned to go to Elevates.

Elevates – one of the famous discs of Noida and I guess Delhi too. All gals (Pal, Punu and Sakshi) got ready in their jazzy, flashy outfits and high heels. All guys (Rishi, Ujju, Tinu and Sandesh) got dressed in stylish shirts, jeans and ofcourse formal shoes. I never understand why sneakers are not allowed in discs. Anyways that’s a different topic. The place was usual – loud, noisy, smoky and crammed. We danced there for four good hours and it was great fun. There were babes and dudes and couples all around. All the couples were passionately and intimately dancing with their partners. At 4 when all realized that we have reached our thresholds and gals cannot take those high heels anymore, it was time to move. We went straight to Rishi’s uncle’s home and once again I dozed off like a dog.

Next day again started with great breakfast of sandwiches and poha. This time it was chachi’s culinary skills. It was a lazy and sleepy day. Well if you party all night then next day is going to be gloomy. So we somehow dragged our asses out of the bed and by the time we got ready it was already 3 in the afternoon. It was the day of the big fat Indian wedding. Finally it was time to officially handover over bigtime rotlu buddy Div to Rahul. The plan for the day was to see Qutub Minar first and then to attend the wedding. The meeting point was GIP mall (or Spice mall) where Punu was waiting for us in the cab. The cab ride was ok, it was a decent cab and atleast AC was there for some relief. The first stop was Divya’s place. We wanted to see the bride before her big day or perhaps big night. Div was looking pretty exhausted (I can imagine), with almost 1 kg weight hanging from her each hand who will not be tired. We had a lil bakar with her, uncle and aunty. Then we moved and destination next was Qutub Minar. Well I liked the monument though I imagined it to be more elaborate. The night view was not something very great and so after clicking few pics we moved back to Divya’s place to get ready for wedding.

Wedding was in a garden. It was a huge garden, nicely decorated but yes the heat was killing. We met our old pals Khush and Abhishek there. After the usual bakar session we went to the room where Divya was sitting. My my, she looked like a doll. I have never seen her looking so pretty. Ofcourse makeup did the trick here, hehe, but truly she was flawless. Receiving the baraat and groom was also a great and funny experience. Now in Delhi or probably in Punjabis, I am not sure whose tradition is that, the groom has to bribe all her sister in laws before he can get in. So there was a bargaining session between the baraatis and all sister in laws and there was some literal pushing involved. Yes believe me we literally pushed the groom and the baraat with full force. Poor Rahul could barely manage to hold on to his sehra. Finally after much tussle the sister in laws finally agreed to take rupees five thousand and let the baraat in. Yeah it was fun though. There was one awesome babe at the wedding. A real eye candy, bigtime totta. All guys enjoyed staring at her. Rest of the wedding was usual and we came back home at 2:30 in night. And once again I dozed off like a dog.

Next day was not so happening. We already carried a tan coz of extreme heat and so we decided on our last resort of roaming in malls. We went to GIP mall, did bowling, some shopping, bakar and munching. We came back at 10 in night and at 12 o clock we celebrated uncle’s birthday. Rishi’s relatives were there and so had quite a blast in the night. Rishi’s cousin Prashni got a yummy black forest cake and we gifted uncle a huge flower vase. After 1:30 everyone dissipated and we finally called it a day.

So the day finally arrived. It was time to say bye bye to Delhi . We went to Spice mall in morning. I first time went to a 4D theatre. It was ok, not too great. At 3:30 we came back home. Then we played dumbsherads with aunty, chachi, Prashni and Daksh. Finally the cab came at 7 in eve and we left for airport.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

It was going on and on. They both were somehow waiting for it to reach somewhere, some conclusion, some ending. Like a sailor struggling to reach to the shore. Every time when they met to discuss about the future of their relationship they were somehow lost in each other’s eyes. Those amazing eyes which at one point of life were the most precious treasures in the whole world. But this time they finally decided to talk once and for all to finish the miseries they both were going through.

He: I think we can still make it work. I just need some time.

She: I am ready to wait. You tell me that you will be mine after ten years then I will wait for ten years without a single word of whine. Can you assure me that?

He: Please understand that it is difficult for me to give any such commitment of time frame. All I can say is that I am trying.

She: I know that you are trying. I have been hearing this for long time and I always trusted you. But somehow you do not understand my situation. I can’t sleep in night thinking about our future, I can’t concentrate on work, I can’t enjoy anything, all I just keep thinking about is what next shock is waiting for me. I remember the lovely days I spent with you; I remember the ugly nights I have spent crying without you, I think this all is making me insane. I never thought that this relationship will give me so much pain.

He: I wish I could do something to lessen your pain. But somehow things are going out of my hand. I had always hoped that I will keep you happy but seems I am not able to that anymore. Please tell me what can I do to get you back to your ‘happy go lucky’ self?

She: If you really want to do something for me then just let me go. I had some great memories of the past with you and I atleast don’t want them to fade away because of our miserable present.

He: You know I can’t do that.

She: Life is not always the way you want it. You can’t promise to be with me and you don’t want me to go. I can’t live in such dilemma. Now since you are not able to decide its time for me to say ‘Good Bye’. I loved you and I love you but I will not always love you.

It was not easy for her to say all that. But may be he will never understand. She did cry her eyes out for so many days. But may be he will never understand. He did try to resolve things for good. But may be she will never understand.

One more year...

Today I turned 26. One more year passed. This year was particularly eventful, both at professional and personal front. I finally switched my job. It was a tough decision to leave my first job. I had great friends, colleagues and managers there. Work was easy, less hectic and travel was not at all tiring. Everything was good overall but I was not finding enough growth. Work was getting monotonous and less challenging and I was getting complacent and so decided to switch. Joining Techmahindra presented new challenges. New domain, projects and people. After initial discomfort, things soon became pleasant and people became friends.

On personal front I met some new people, made some new friends. Some special people walked in my life to stay forever. Presence of such people around me made life more beautiful, colorful and delightful.

One more year in the beautiful journey of life makes me feel a little older but at the same time fills me with zeal to face new challenges and to look forward to what interesting lies in the future.

Happy Birthday to me :-)

Brain Churning

An empty mind is a devil’s workshop. Your mind wanders and rambles when you don’t have anything to do or focus on. This piece of mine is an outcome of such a state of mind.

Have you ever asked yourself where the life is taking you? Are you happy with what you are doing and where you are heading to? Are you the person you always wanted to be? I know for sure that everyone has these questions in mind but most of the times we just ignore the answers. We all spend almost half of our lives sitting in the four walls of office seldom doing stuff that we really want to do. Yes we do earn decent enough to spend on fancy clothing, gadgets, food and drinks. But does that money really compensate for the things that we are missing.

Most of us are living alone and away from our families. The only time that we get with them is a ten minute phone talk at the end of the day and if the day was screwed then we don’t even enjoy those ten minutes. After spending like twelve hours at work we are too exhausted and drained to do anything. This anything includes all the stuff that we always desired to do like working out in gym, cooking, talking to people we love, hanging out with friends. For people who are not bachelors are missing a greater deal in life. Can any amount of money equal your kid’s first smile or first steps?

When was the last time you did something really challenging at work which if not anyone but made you proud of yourself? There had been no complains if we were able to work on things which interests us. We would not mind even working 24X7 if that is something of our own. But most of the times we are doing the same mundane copy paste job which provides no value add to us.

I know that some people will not agree with the ideas that I put forward here. They will always counter by saying that if you really want to do something you will do it. I agree to this but most of the times it’s easier said then done.

P.S. - Now I have to get back to work. So more brain churning later on when my mind is empty again.

Life is Precious

I came across this video in Youtube and it really touched my heart.

In today's fast and speedy world where everyone is running behind something or the other, we have somehow forgotten to live. In the tussles and struggles for things like money, fame, power and other worldly pleasures life has taken a back seat. When did it happen last time that you thanked God for giving you a beautiful life? We are never done complaining about little things without realizing that there is nothing better than a healthy and peaceful life of yours and your loved ones.

We get only one Life...cherish it...