NeWs @ 12 !!!

my net connection was down.. this post was supposed to be published on April 30, at 0000 hrs... par ka karen.. netwa nai na chal raha hai abhi.. baad mein postwa karenge... starting in english.. and then turned to hinglish... looks like ending up like a PJ... ehehhee... but i enjoyed writing it... lets see how many ppl enjoy reading it too :)

What a day this turned out to be... from not having my boss in the office.. to one very very important meeting not happening...to me attending the entire class of PM... to sending atleast 25 sms' to Bharti and Anshu... to meeting Ajay and Alok... to dropping Waquar and Saba on the train *they were going on their honeymoon*

Ab samachaar vistaar se....

aaj subah hamare sootron se pata chala ke prashant ki boss office nai aa rahi hai... cycle-o-logically aisa hota hai ke boss office mein na ho to employee ko achcha achcha lagta hai.. prashant, jo ki noida ke niwasi hain unhe bhi aisa hi laga.... generally general feeling hoti hai !!!!
phir kuch vishwasniya sootron ne bataya ke ek zarorri cabinet meeting jisme ek aham faisla liya jaana thaa wo nahi ho rahi hai... is baat ko lekar kaafi vidhayako mein asantosh ki sthiti paida ho gayi hai.. shayad ab ye meeting somvaar ko ho :)

ab agli khabar... gaurtalab hai ke... office se late hone ke bawajood.. prashant ghar gaye.. khana khaya aur phir apni class mein pahuch gaye... wo bhi time se.. aisa kabhi nai hua hai... par aaj hua... ye prashant ne kaise kiya... iski exclusive story dekhiye aaj raat 11:30 par theek sasur bhi kabhi damaad the ke 6th repeat telecast ke baad :)

aayie ab aapko le chalte hain sms ki duniya mein.. ek aisa aavishkaar... jiska istemaal karke aap kabhi bhi kahin bhi kisi ko bhi 3-4 line ka sandesh bhej sakte hain... aaj noida ke prashant babu ne "limca book of world records in india only" mein aane ki koshish karte hue karib 25 sms bhej diye... apni do doston ko... anshu aur bharti...anshu unke school ke zamane ki bahut pyaari si dost hain.. aur bharti building banane ka kaam kaise karte hain wo seekh rahi hain.... wo bhi lagta hai kuch dino mein achchi dost ban jayengi... prashant babu ka ek exclusive interview aap pad sakte hain hamare akhbaar... "rozana wahi kabaaad".. oops khabar ke agle hafte ke weekly edition mein...

*Breaking news* abhi abhi pata chala hai... ke prashant ne sms karte karte apne seedhe haath ke angoothe mein chot kha li hai... lagta hai wo ab kaafi dino tak sms nahi kar payenge.. par india cricket team ke physio unke saath hain... unka ilaaj karne ke liye... waise bhi unko koi aur achcha kaam to hai nai...

Karib 3 saal ya shayad 2 saal baad aaj ajay chopra aur alok gupta ki mulakaat prashant bhardwaj se ST Microelectronics ke noida office ke bahar hui... ye teeno dost ek doosre se milkar kaafi khush dikh rahe the... wahan se teeno radha ke saath Cafe Mocha mein gaye jahan par ajay bhai menu card se khud ki hawa karte rahe kyonki unko garmi lag rahi thi.. aur alok, aur prashant ke saath Mocha Shake ka anand bhi uthate rahe.. wahan se un logon ne lavanya naam ke ek dhabe ki taraf prasthaan kiya.. jahan par unhone masta khane ke saath live ghazals ka bhi maza liya....

ab din ki aakhri khabar.... Waquar aur unki patni Saba aaj raat ko Raanikhet express se Pithoragarh ki taraf rawana ho gaye... Prashant babu khud radha ke saath unhe purani dilli railway station chorne gaye the... waquar ki shaadi 27march ko unke hi gaon mein jo banaras ke paas hai bade dhoom dhaam se hui.. aur aaj se unke pehle honeymoon ki shuruwaat bhi ho gayi... aayiye hum sun dua karen ke unki is shaadi se hamare naujawano ko pyaar, ikraar, izhaar, intezaar, wagerah wagerah karne ki seekh mile.. hamari shubhkamnayen waquar bhai ke saath hain...

aur ab mausam ka haal...dilli mein dopahar ko garmi hogi.. aur shaam ko mausam achcha rahega....jahan burf giregi wahan thodi si thund hogi.. aur barish jahan hogi wahan par boondein girne ki sambhavna hai...

hamare news channel... roz wahi kabaad.. oops again... roz wahi khabar par khabron ka silsila zaari rahega... dekhte rahiye....

LiFe iN d'ReAr ViEw MiRrOr !!!

One of the fotos I like to like... the contrast between what is there in the front of the car and what i see in the rear view mirror....

Solid plain rocks vs. Mountains full of trees....

for some reason I have always been facinated by what i see in the rear view mirror of my car.. and i use that not only to see who is approaching me but also to find more about them... how ppl look in extreme heat.. and what are they doing when its a cool morning breeze splashing their faces... or when they are stuck in a traffic jam... there are so many shades of life that this rear view mirror shows me everyday... everytime i look into it... sometimes empty roads.. sometimes ppl rushing like mad.... sometimes strong sun... and sometimes (like today) RAIN *it was very beautiful today while coming back from office by the way*

Do i see some part of my life in this foto... i think i do...

rAdHe rAdHe !!!

Me and my Babe... somewhere between Chamba and Dhanaulti :)

tHoSe wErE d'DaYs !!!!

Was talking to a friend of mine... about the movie theatres in Delhi and NCR and reminded myself of the first ever movie I saw at Priya's... Call it an embarassing moment or a innocent mistake of a young boy :) whatever... this is how it happened...

Once upon a time.. ok 1996 to be precise, a young boy named Prashant went to see a movie at a movie theatre called Priya in Delhi... when he reached there he promptly went to the ticket counter and bought two tickets for the balcony, one for himself.. and the other one for his friend who tagged along with him for the movie... the movie he wanted to see was "Desperado" Antonia Banderas and the ummmmmmm Salma Hyke.... So he enters the hall with his friend and takes the great centre seats from where the movie exp of that action movie would be great !!!The movie did not start on time.. however there were a few movie trailers of various movies and then this loooooooooong trailer of a movie called "Miracle on the 24th Street".... this trailer looked like a movie itself, and when it did not finish for about 45 odd minutes, and Prashant really got restless looking at the santa and the young kids on the screen when he was expecting Antonio Banderas to kill the bad men with his gun.. he finally decided to talk to the person sitting on the next seat.... he asked the guy... "Sir ji, what movie is this?", the man sadly replied, "I have no idea, I came here to watch Desperado!!!" and Prashant was back on his seat.. looking at that sweet movie about christmas.... finally the movie got over in about 90 odd minutes.. and when he came out of the hall.. he found out that Priya was playing both the movies though at different times.. and by mishtake he had bought the tickets of the show when they were showing the Miracle movie....

those were the days... when we used to move around on scooters without licenses.. and always had only enough mooolah in our pockets to bribe the policewalas if they catch us...
those were the days when college gurls were really attractive, specially coz they could wear whatever they want.. even when they went to their classes...
those were the days when we got punished for not standing in a straight line during the morning prayers in our school...
those were the days when we used to plant small bombs in the school toilets around diwali....
those were the days when we used to talk to our juniors as if we owned the school...
those were the days when we used to steal sodium out of the chemistry lab and put in the water sink to see it explode...
those were the days when we used to sneak into the commerce section as soon as our classes were over...
those were the days when we used to stand outside the class in the entier period coz we were late for the class...
those were the days when we used to reach home in the afternoon and sleeep till evenings....
those were the days when we used to stand on our bus stands in the mornings and check out gurls from other schools...

those were the days that still make me feel nostalgic and want me to go back to them.... missing you life !!!!

9998.....

9998 : This is what i see on my car's dashboard tonight... just 2 kms short of a 10K mark in about 6 months.... there is a lot that has happened in these last few months...

1) I feel i have matured personally and professionally; Saying this because I feel more calm and composed these days to myself...

2) I feel bad (at times) not to have friends who are around me all that time... after I left hughes.. i could never feel comfortable around any new ppl except very few. Neha is one of them... though she is off to paris for a looooooooong time; Pawan is another.... though we talk quite often.. the sad part being we have not met yet... I have not managed to get along well with a lot of ppl in the Office on the personal front... i do not like being in the corporate at times... and i feel the primary reason is that the kinda of sporty competition that I have lived in Hughes is nowhere to be seen here.... everyone is only about making sure that the other does not get any credit for what they do... every wants to score points as and when possible... and in any way possible...

3) i still love my car from the core of my heart... looking at her, her fotos... makes me soooooooooo happy.... i have the wallpaper of the car on my desktop.. and trust me she is just awesome....

4) I am seriously getting inclined towards photography... its good that i did not rush into buying a camera and have decided to do my homework before I get into a huge investment.. which can be anything between 40-60K

5) Ma and Pa are getting serious about getting me married... and having a daughter for themselves.. i think they cannot take me anymore... hehehehehe.. they have given up and seriously want someone else to come up and take care of me and handle me:) i at times think how things would change after we have two kids in this house... one me and the other meri BIWI

life is interesting and boring at the same time !!!! funny yet quite.... hectic yet calm... lively yet lazy !!!!

might be continued.....

Dilli-Rishikesh-Chamba-Dhanaulti-Mossourie-Dehradoon-Dilli

Steering wheel in the hand for two days.... and now the keyboard of this laptop... trust me it reeeeealy does not feel good... I am already missing that cool air... something that could make you shiver in the hottest of sun as well... something that tells you what being pure is really about... umhum..... what awesome two days these were....

16-April; NOIDA; 0545 hrs....
8818 kms on the dash !!! Me, Aro and Martina leave NOIDA... we had not planned anything for the next two days..and were in a mood to take it the way it was coming.... though we were a good 2 hours late then the planned time to leave.. the early morning sun was still not there to greet us.... moving from noida towards haridwar at an easy 80 kmph i was realy enjoying the morning breeze... while listening to the Mahamrityunjaya Matra...Drove for about three and half hours before all three of us decided to stop and have tea... so there we were 8978 kms on my dash, 0930 hrs in my watch.. and about 60 kms before Haridwar we took a break..... Sat on the "charpais" in the Mansarovar Restaurant , surrounded by thick trees and a sweet smell of wet soil (the owner had just sprayed the entire area with water)... it was good feel... this is when i am usually in the office.. working on something or other.. and today i was walking around with a Nikon n65 thinking where should i take a few pictures from... what a striking difference between friday and saturday :)I think we were there for about 45 minutes... and then moved to Haridwar... instead of going to Har Ki Pauri, we decided to take a different road and try reach the banks of the actual river in the car itself.. and managed to do that too :) the flow of the river is actually diverted towards the bathing ghats and that is why the river itself did not have a lot of water flowing.. which made it really easy for us to just pull up our pants and walk inside the water for sometime :) :).... and then take a bath as well... ummm... the water was reeeeealy cold and once out of the ganges.. i was as fresh as ever.. not at all tired... ready to drive !!! took some fotos around the place.. and finally moved out of haridwar around 1130 hrs...

Driving from Haridwar to Rishikesh is a good exp. The road is good.. and is between the rajaji national park.. so you can ( if you are lucky) can see some deers at times.... monkeys lotsa them :)... sometimes inside the cars.. and sometimes outside .... reached rishikesh in about 45 min... the plan was to stay in rishikesh overnight.. and do some rafting in the morning on sunday !!! Aro checked out a couple of hotels.. but i decided to move ahead.. and see if can get some better options... and this is where things changed.. I saw this booking office for rafting and all and decided to check out if we could go for rafting righaway... and the good news was that we could... from Shivpuri to Rishikesh... checked two places.. one wanted us to pay 450 bucks per head.. and we would be picked up from that office around 1500 hrs and start rafting by 1600 hrs... we were fine with this arrangement.. when I decided to walk into one more office and see what he had to offer... and here was the offer : 400 bucks per head..Shiv Puri to Rishikesh... and we had to move rightaway :) Aro reeeally was not keen on this.. but me and Martina forced him to go.. and we paid the guy 1200 bucks and sat in the Amby which was to take us to Shivpuri... Martina was kinda suprised when we told her that for about 20 odd years Amby was the car which was driven on Indian roads...

anyway... we had to take a sumo from some distance ahead.. and then reached shivpuri... Aro was shit scared and me and martina were enjoying the looks on his face while was busy looking at the Ganga and the rapids that he would actually get in... hehehehehee.. it was a good drive....
finally we were at the banks of Ganga in Shivpuri... Three rafts... 24 ppl... 4 different groups... i was kinda uncomfortable with this.. coz on a raft its always good to have ppl who you know a li'il or more.... coz rafting is one "team" exercise that I have seen.... however the raft we took was a good heterogeneous mix of ppl... Me, Aro and Martina... Two more german girls... two guys from somewhere in India...makes it a total of 7 ppl and our instructor.... I took that front left space... martina behind me on the left.. and because Aro was really scared... he took the last place on the left just next to the instructor !!!! Aaaaaaand there we go... finally in the river.. did some small warmup exercises... Front Paddle.. back paddle...left front right back... left back right front... and STOP !!!!

Went through rapids like Return to Centre, Roller Coster, Club House, and finally "No more Rapids"... back in rishikesh at 1745 hrs... wat a water trip this was... awesome... changed our clothes and had food in Madhusudan Restaurant.. this was something on the lines of ISKON... they had a temple and a small restaurant and a guest house as well... good food.. and very very cheap... 219 was the bill for the three of us... and me and aro as usual were really hungry and ate as if this was the last time we were getting food :)
Time to decide what we want to do next... we asked a couple of ppl as to where could we go from there.. and out of the many options that we got we chose "Chamba" as our next spot... 60 kms and about 2.5 hours away.. considering that I had never driven on the hills, we decided to move to Chamba... started at 1915 hrs... distance on the dash at this hour was 1915 kms... It was dark, it was hilly and it was my first drive on the hills... so a lot of excitement... and exactly 2 hours and 60 kms later we were in Chamba.. the small hilly town was already asleep and we had to find the Garhwal Nigam Bunglow to sleep... on our way to that place.. we saw this small but ok sorts of a hotel.. and decided to stop there... we were not hungry... coz we had great food back in rishikesh about 2 hours back... so we decided to call it a day !!! Aro as soon as got inside the bed got up again... saying that he was feeling as if he was still in the raft :) and was moving like that.. hehehehehe... but we convinced him that he was very much on a bed which was on firm ground and could sleep as well.. so he went off to sleep, snoring away to glory while Me and Martina decided to take a walk around the place for a while before we get into our beds....had tea at 2230 hours.. and then finally got inside the rooms and slept.. We took a single room and got an extra bed for her inside that room.. and her bed was right next to the window from where could see the valley, and the small lights here and there !!! good view..

17 April:
Some disturbance in the room wakes me up at 0600 hrs.. and look out of the window to see the sun just about to come up from the hill in the east.. so even though i wanted to sleep more.. i got out of the bed so that I do not miss this view !!!It was chilly outside... there was no sun so far at the point where I was standing... and the air was very cold.. and i did not have any jacket or anything... enjoyed that feeling for about 15 minutes before the sun was there in front of us... we decided to have a quick breakfast and move from Chamba.. the route that we had to take was go to Dhanaulti and then to Massourie on our way to Dehradoon... We had to decide that we want to go back to Haridwar from D'doon or straight to Delhi once we reach there... so we moved outta Chamba at 0830 hrs ( 9118 kms).... Only a part of the road between Chamba and Dhanaulti is good, most of it actually is in a bad shape... we stopped at quite a few places to enjoy the surroundings...there were no sounds except the air... cannot decribe that feeling in words... no way possible...the hills were full of Buransh... a deep red flower, the juice of which is supposed to have a high medicinal value... at a lot of places on our way... the red petals of the flower were there.. which had fallen off the trees at higher mountains.... Drove past Dhanaulti, as we did not feel that it was any more beautiful then wat we had seen in the past few kilometres.... though i was driving very slow enjoying the cool breeze and the scenic looks of the place.....

Reached Massourie at 1200 hrs ( 9176 kms) and I did not like that place.. too crowded... not the kinda hill station i would like to be in... reminded me of Nainital which I really hated when I saw it for the first time.... we thought we would go to Kemty falls but it was a good 15 kms away.. and we would have to be back on the same road... I was in no mood to drive to that place after having a look at this town.... it for sure would be full of tourists and families... who would never take a chance and go to a town which most do not frequent !!! anyway... we parked the car there only.. and walked to the market... had some food there... and some mango shake... on our way back.. bought some grapes and bananas.. so that we could eat them on our way back !!! and finally managed to leave Massourie at 1325 hrs...

The road to D'doon is very well laid.... and it was real fun driving on this road !!! though I was careful about not picking up speed which I cannot control... though it was the first exp of hill driving.. i was enjoying it like anything... tooooooooo GOOOD !!!

Once we reached D'doon, we were not in a mood to go to Haridwar again.. so we took the way to Roorkee from there which goes through the Rajaji National Park and managed to get on that highway at 1430 hrs ( 9210 kms)... As soon the hills end there is a road for about 50 odd kms which is a straiiiiiiiiiight road... managed to touch 120 kmph on this road without any problems and was driving b/w 100-120 for about 15-20 minutes... too bad the traffic started building up soon.. and had to get back to a comfortable 80-90 zone !!! Reached Roorkee.. took a turn towards Meerut, stopped at Khatauli for a quick bite and was in Delhi by 2115 hrs (9475kms)... Thinking about another day in office.. and how bad i wanted to be back in Chamba :(
Anyway....here i am today.... writing about whatever happened in the last two days...rafting from Shivpuri to Rishikesha total of 40 litres of Petrol used and 650 kms covered. No refuel needed on the entire trip thanks to the huge 48 litre petrol tank of the car.about 120 kms of driving in the hills which was fhinomenol !!!the way my car worked on this trip is something that strengthens my trust in Fiat... it was absolutely effortless.. and I was not at all tired when I reached home in the night !!!

Here is something that I thought of right now:
40 litres of Petrol : 1500 rupees
17 kms of Rafting : 400 rupees
Food for three in Rishikesh : 219 rupees
The feeling of not being tired at all at the end of a two day 650 km drive : Priceless :)

Oh yes.. did i forget writing that we managed to take over 70 fotos in these two days? Thanks to my dear friend Rupak who was kind enough to give me his NIKON N65 :)

CaN't wAiT 2 LeAvE hOmE

I have not been able to sleep tonight.... too excited to think about getting to drive for a long distance... and mosquitos as well.. hehehe... so i get up at 0130 hrs after going off to sleep at 2300 hrs yesterday to fight some of these small but irritating creatures... someone temme what role do they play in the entire food cycle !!! i am missing neha right now... for a couple of reasons... One there are chances that if she was here in india.. she would have joined me on this trip.. which would have been jussssssssst wonderful... and two she can tell me about the mosquitoes...
ok coming back to the trip thingie.... Aro is still in the office and there is no cab that can drop him around NOIDA till like 0630 hrs... banking on our manager Amit to drop him to NOIDA !!!! now when would he leave office... lets see... I really wanted to start early so that we could beat the early morning traffic and reach Rishikesh as early as possible... around 1000 hrs is when I think we would be able to reach if we leave around 0500 hrs.... Lets see when do i leave and when i reach there... the idea is to drive up in the mountains for another 100 kms before we stop.. spend the night there and then come back to rishikesh on sunday morning to do some rafting and stuff...
but then u never know... once me and aro meet.. we might just change the plan of where we are going :) might go to chandigarh as well... or is Jim Corbett a good idea?... lets see...

bai bai for now... the next i think i would write on would be monday..... till then this is your host and buddy Prashant signing off !!!! Have a wonderful weekend :)

Arz Kiya hai !!!!

I never thought ke main sher bhi likh sakta hoon !!!! But then what the heck... Writer to sabke ander hota hai :)
to sahibaan meherbaan kadardaan paandaan peekdaan meri jaan kabristaaan... arz kiya hai :

Kuch is tarah chalte rahe andheri raat mein hum,
ke manzil ka pata nahi aur chalna chor nahi sakte...

JuSt LiKe DaT !!!

Doooooooo Try This At Home !!! :)

A ten year-old Jewish boy was failing math. His parents tried everything
from tutors to hypnosis; but to no avail. Finally, at the insistence of a
family friend, they decided to enrol their son in a private Catholic school.
After the first day, the boy's parents were surprised when he walked in
after school with a stern, focused and very determined expression on his
face. He went straight past them, right to his room and quietly closed the
door.For nearly two hours he toiled away in his room with math books strewn
about his desk and the surrounding floor. He emerged long enough to eat, and
after quickly cleaning his plate, went straight back to his room, closed the
door and worked feverishly at his studies until bedtime. This pattern of
behaviour continued until it was time for the first quarter's report card.
The boy walked in with it unopened, laid it on the dinner table, and went
straight to his room. Cautiously, his mother opened it and, to her
amazement, she saw a large red 'A' under the subject of Math. Overjoyed, she
and her husband rushed into their son's room, thrilled at his remarkable
progress.
"Was it the nuns that did it?" the father asked.
The boy shook his head and said, "No."
"Was it the one-to-one tutoring? The peer-mentoring?"
"No."
"The textbooks? The teachers? The curriculum?"
"No", said the son.
"On that first day, when I walked in the front door and saw that guy nailed
to the Plus Sign, I KNEW they meant business!"

iNdO - GeRmAn TaLkS

Have been thinking of writing for a few days now.. but just could not get started... the feeling has to come from within to come out with words.. here is what is happening to me in the last few days...
friday april 08..... martina had to come from goa and i was supposed to pick her up from the station...
*flashback*
neha wrote an email saying that some friend of hers was starting on a world tour and india was her first destination.... i was to take care of her when she reaches delhi... and plan her trip around here... martina called from goa on the 6th and told me that she was taking a train that leaves goa at 0500 hrs and reaches delhi at 1700 hrs the next day.. this is where the conversation ended... and i could not find out which train she was taking... finally she called me on the 7th and told me the train number... now i knew which train she was coming in... i still did not know how i will recognise her and how she would know me...

*back to the present in history*
she called me after getting out of the station.. and we met..... i was prepared to use all the accent i learnt in my call centre exp.. roll all the "r"s and let her know thati could speak english well as well :) anyway it was a comfortable introduction.. and we could talk easily... we still had to figure out where she is going to stay... so we moved out of the station... ate raj kachauri at Comesum... and i had a tough time explaining to her what all was there in the dish :) forgot what half of the ingredients are refered to as in angrezi... anyway... from there to Humayun's tomb.. and found out that she was not really interested in forts or castles.. but was very keen in having a look the city.. get to know india from inside.. and not from a tourist point of view....

over the next two days... we talked about india, its culture.. differences in india and germany... how thoughts differ in the two countries... we talked about the gita, Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, Pushkar, Ganga, Mahabharata, Pandavas and a lot of other things...we went around the city.. went to dilli haat, india gate, upsc chaat wala, sunday book market at darya ganj, a friend's reception, metro rail, CP, eatopia, noida etc etc.... and the best part.. she spent two nights at a friend's place in def col... he and his wife really took care of her, and she was very happy to be there...

sunday evening.. she went to jaipur and would be back to delhi on friday night... so that we can go to rishikesh for river rafting on saturday morning !!! There were a lot of small small things that I have missed out on.. but i guess i would be able to speak about them instead of putting them in printed words...

This burthday was different too... this time i was wondering about the amazing difference in what she was going at an age of 20 and where I was at 26 years...brought me a thoughts of wondering about what all i have done in the past all years of my existance.. and what i really want to do... where do i really want to go... what is it that i am aiming for in my life... there are a lot of questions that are hitting me from everywhere.. and i am trying to figure out how to move ahead on my way to these answers...

HePpY BuDdAy 2 Me !!!

10-04-05 0907 hrs :

So the budday night starts with a call... i pick it up..and its from a "private number"... well.. who can it be... and its my dearest friend... Neha.... she was calling from her Lab in Paris.... we talked for a while... and then kept the phone down.... i think i got two messages during time time.... and even Aro called... i for some reasons never have felt that my birthday is a special day.. but then so many ppl calling me, wishing me... make it so very special for me.... Neha, Bhoomi, Vinod Mama, Danu Dimple, have called me so far... and i have messages from Raina, Nidhi, Adi, Aro, Bindu ma'am, Batra Bawla, Pawan, Dinesh Chacha and my cousins there, Sudip, Priya Rajpal.... and ofcourse.. my cousins Ashu, and Puneet are here with me... When I was talking to neha in the night... they were putting a candle on the cake they brought for me... after I do not know how many years i cut a burthday cake.. it was very sweet of them :) And mom dad are here to gimme all the wishes I need to have a life better and happier...will write more !!!! there is a lot to happen :)

1900 hrs...
Waquar called... Neha's dad called... Batra Called.. Neeraj called... Aro called... ruchi called... Maya didi called...... i am feeling important today... I also got a bouquet in the morning today.. lotsa roses.. and i do not know who sent it across... secret admirers.. or some friends who forgot to tell his/her name to the flowerist... welll... time will tell... still sometime to go before the day ends and i complete 26 years of my existence on this planet earth... lets see how the next few hours go by :)

God bless me !!!!

TaLkiNg 2 StRaNgErS !!!

Tareekh : 5-April'05
Jagah : Cafe Coffee Day
Waqt : Raat ke 9:30 Baje

Me and Tushar had dinner outside yesterday... and then we went for a walk in sector-18.... went to the cafe coffee day in Centre Stage Mall and that is where this discussion started... though Tushar did not do much other then nodding his head and agreeing to me for most of the points but still I feel it was a good conversation...

ME : Yaar, I want to get a part-time job in McDonalds. No no.. not really McDonalds but a cafe like Barista or Cafe Coffee Day.

Toosh : Good idea... but then we do not have that kinda coffee bars where you would be respected as a professional and ppl would like to get into conversations with you. Not like what we see in TV serials on Star or Zee Cafe where you have a coffee bar and ppl come there, meet friends, and talk over coffee or muffins or donuts and the owner of the cafe or for that matter someone who works there is also a part of your conversations and your friend list....

*and this is where the talkative devil in me came to life, and I started speaking about what i felt and Toosh kud only say hmm or nod his head*

Me : Very true... I can only stand over the counter and serve.. nothing else... but then there is another thought that comes to my mind... why don't we have new friends being made in such cafes... or for that matter.. how many times do you remember yourself approaching a group or an individual to talk just like that... now, why does that happen.... here is what i feel why that happens :
1) Most guys are looking for women with whom they end up in a dark corner of a street with or in bed with... and not really looking around for friends...
2) Most women know that they are being looked at and approached only to be treated as sex objects.. and definitely do not like to be approached by strangers...
3) The genuine guys also get treated as some road side onlookers who are only looking around for girlfriends.
4) I have not seen a gal ever approaching a guy, probably because she will be treated as a despo or something...
*This is where I stopped*

*afterthoughts*
This is something that happens or does not happen out on the streets, in the malls, in the cafes, in restaurants... as Tushar said rightly that we have so much fear of rejection in our minds that we do not even smile when we have an eye contact with ppl while walking driving... we carry our expressionless face just perfectly during all those moments which otherwise would help us break the ice !!!

I feel that once we start feeling that what we do not have to start off with any relationship whether short or long term thinking that we have to achieve something out of it.. but take it as something that carries on.. something that does not endup in bed or in a car... something that is for your mind and for yourself as a person...

There are a lot of things that I am thinking at the same time right now.. from why don't we have good thought provoking conversations to making new friends and new places to why don't we approch people without the fear of being rejected....and i think i have mixed up some of the many thoughts that came to me...

might be continued...
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OrKuT MeEt - PhoTo

Aseem, Me and Jassi (L to R) @ Barista in Ansals Plaza...

OrKuT MeEtS iN DeLhi !!!

So orkut finally meets in Delhi... some faces some ppl who i had met virtually came alive... had read them for sometime.. but seeing them in person was a thought that made me nervous, that made me excited, thoda sa tense... if it was not for aseem, who i know for more then an year now, I would have been really uncomfortable meeting this new gang...

so there I was in Ansals plaza, at 1850 hrs... well 10 minute ahead of time.. and as expected, there was no one to greet me as a celebrity in the Barista :) so i got up and went to place where I feel at home... Music World... looking at all the movies that I want to watch, and the ones that I want to buy... i picked up Lakshya, i like that movie a lot... but later i kept it back... at the end of my 20 odd minute visit to the music world I came out happier with Top Gun, Face Off, That thing you do, and the hindi comedy Masti....

back to barista around 1925 hours... ask the counter fella if there are ppl from Orkut there... and he looks at me with a face which tells me that he has not heard this word ever... anyway.. i order my fav. Mango smooothieeeeeee.. and settle down on a table near the rear exit of the coffee bar... meri kismat.. the only newspaper i could manage to get to read there was "financial times" i do not have a clue about what was written that paper..except that one article about cars and insurance caught my attention and helped me learn something more about the entire insurance thingie... while i was reading that.. some guy came and asked for the paper.. and took that greek of a paper away from me :)

anyway... called up aseem to find out where he was and he with jassi praji and the night nisha managed to reach there around 1940 hours... IST is it? Indian Strechable time :) and talked for a while.. after the introductions and were joined by Bhaskar and another friend of his... Can't remember his name... did he even tell it? can't even remember that... anyway.. i finished my smoothie... we took a couple of pictures of the gang... nisha and jassi went to the bookshop to get some tarot cards, and me, aseem, bhaskar and his friend continued talking.. it was good to see that there was a good amount of comfort in that meeting...

Getting bored of sitting in barista, we moved out to the amphie theatre... and sat there for a while, before jassi and nisha joined us back... now we decided to eat... offered jassi some south indian food, and he hated the idea.. hehehehe.. he has been in banglore for a while now.. and going to hyderabad.. what else do you expect... nisha wanted to have a burger... and she wanted to have it from pizza express for some reason... bhaskar and the friend, were open to eat anywhere.. i suggested bangali sweets in south ex. but that did not click.. so my next proposal was to go to my fav. restaurant in the India Habitat Centre, Eatopia... i just love that place.... so we all agreed to meet there again... in a while ofcourse... CUT !!!

Dilli meets in eatopia : Scene II : we met again... took some pictures again.. and talked... aseem and jassi and nisha went and ordered some food and got it later too.. so that we all could eat... nisha maidam got some nachos and some sauce.. which would now be famous as "Papad ke tukde and Tamatar ki Chatni"... and we also ate some tandoori rotis and makhni dal :) masta food i tell you... spent about 45 odd minutes in there.. and then decide to call it a day... hoping to meet again soon... for another wonderful evening....

here is something about all the ppl i met

Aseem : still the same cool dude always good with words and has a lot of energy...
Jassi : very calm quiet and a composed fella... very talkative on orkut and a completely different individual in person for starters i think.. i think i takes his time and starting to speak.... thoda bolo par achcha bolo.. aisa wala hai wo !!!
Bhaskar and his friend : Engineers in making, bhasker from NSIT, and his friend from DCE... good fellas..nice company.. good to talk to...
Nisha : dominating and authoritative lady... does not understand what is written "agar hum hindi ko english mein likhen..." :)
and finally me: as good or as bad as ever... talked to everyone, was nervous in the beginning, though i am sure no one noticed...and quite comfy later... a part of the gang !!!

chalen.. bas karte hain... this was all about this meeting on the April Fools day.. turned out to be one day I would like to remember for a long time...
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This day also reminded me that it was one complete year that i had left Hughes... time really flies by....i feel good that I still am in touch with a lot of ppl there.. and have not lost out on the gem of the friends i have made in that organisation...
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chalo chalta hoon.. aaj saturday hai.. chutti ka din.. ma badaulat thoda aur aaram karna chahte hain :)

TeCh uPdAtEs !!!

Some technical updates to the blog have been done...

• Now the posts would be displayed before the content on the left side so that everyone has quicker access to the my posts, the accessories will open later... Idea courtsey Tushar bhai !!!
• There is a small poll on the page, about why ppl blog... just two votes so far on that.. lets see how it moves ahead...
• There is a link called world map.. credit goes to missnupur's blog for this link... if you click there.. it opens a page with a world map where you can place a pin and write a comment.. that way i can know where are you reading ma blog from...

There is something going on in my mind... par abhi nai likhunga.. shayad kal !!!! lets see...