oUt WiTh iT !!!

have been thinking about this for a few days now... communications, conversations, relations, expectations everything mixed up... was wondering why and how people who were friends once tend to move away from each other...

is it that our lives take different turns with time... or our priorities differ... or as Raina says "out of sight.. out of mind"... not really sure...

i am wondering why ppl who once used to be an integral part of my social circle are now nowhere to be seen.. except in some old photographs or some occasional phone calls which are good enough to remind me of the great times we had...

where did the distances creep in from... how come "moving on" became leaving the great present behind...i must say in a lot of cases.. i stopped making any efforts to be in touch... there used be so li'il to talk about.. and at times i feel.. just a casual hello call would have done wonders to keep things alive...and in some of the cases.. where i did some sincere efforts to keep in touch the magic "two way communication" did not happen and eventually those relationships came to a halt...

during all these letting go times.. i managed to earn a lot of new friends... and continued with letting the olders ones go !!! and somewhere down the line i feel that life has become more like a automobile assembly line... where things come to get together... they grow together for a while.. and then comes a time.. when the near perfect piece of machine moves on.... leaving the assembly line there... to think of the good and the bad which got into the machines when they were there...

is this note getting too pessimistic.. well that was not the idea.. the idea was really to find out

why ppl go away... why do we let the best of our friends move away knowing that they are invaluable for us...

why do we part saying that i will be a phone call away.. and not that i will call you sometime...

why do we part saying that i am gonna crib if you do not write an email... and not that i will try and write to you...

why do we part saying "bye bye"... and not "see you"... ( this reminds me of Aarti... who never used to say Bai... she always said C U... good goings Aarts... God bless...)

phew... too heavy a note.. but i am feeling kinda light after getting all this junk outta my head...
time to read the lyrics of a song and try to humm whatever i remember of the music....

Somebody once told me

The world is gonna roll me

I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed

She was looking kind of dumb

With her finger and her thumb

In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

Well the years start coming

And they don't stop coming

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

Didn't make sense not to live for fun

Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

So much to do so much to see

So what's wrong with taking the back streets?

You'll never know if you don't go

You'll never shine if you don't glow

Hey now you're an All Star

Get your game on, go play

Hey now you're a Rock Star

Get the show on get paid

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars break the mold

It's a cool place and they say it gets colder

You're bundled up now

But wait 'til you get older

But the meteor men beg to differ

Judging by the hole in the satellite picture

The ice we skate is getting pretty thin

The waters getting warm

So you might as well swim

My world's on fire how about yours?

That's the way I like it and I never get bored

Hey now you're an All Star

Get your game on, go play

Hey now you're a Rock Star

Get the show on get paid

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars break the mold

Hey now you're an All Star

Get your game on, go play

Hey now you're a Rock Star

Get the show on get paid

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars...

Somebody once asked

Could you spare some change for gas

I need to get myself away from this place

I said yep

What a concept

I could use a little fuel myself

And we could all use a little change

Well the years start coming

And they don't coming

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running

Didn't make sense not to live for fun

Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

So much to do so much to see

So what's wrong with taking the back streets

You'll never know if you don't go (GO)

You'll never shine if you don't glow

Hey now you're an All Star

Get your game on, go play

Hey now you're a Rock Star

Get the show on get paid

And all that glitters is gold

Only shooting stars break the mold

Thanks Smashmouth....NOW ME IS FEELING BETTER :)

RiDiNg mY fRiEnD's DrEaMz !!!

Riding my friend's dream... literally.... last to last weekend i was in Gurgaon... just to catch up with old friends... yes old... the reference is to their age :)Why am i writing about something that happened a fortnight ago right now... well coz the picture proofs of that meeting came yesterday... hang in there you will know what am i talking about !!!

so i meet aro.. at his apartment... yeah.. thats wat they call in in the firangland.. an apartment... where he treated me to a chilled mug of LASSI :) and i had it in a huge BEER MUG... well why.. just to get the feel of having beer ;) anyway... and after some usual and unusual stupid and not so stupid convos about life, and the extra terrestrial ( that would be him) and shuffling the settings of his deck and the TV, we decided to go to Hughes....

Narang was there in the evening shift.. and it was great to meet him as usual... he listened to the new amp and the tube in my car.. and was happy and satisfied with the output though agreed that it needed some minor tweaking for a better performance...

so the time came.. and i was excited to see what i really was there to see... his new old bike... well new coz he bought it recently.. and old coz its a 1987 model... is he crazy... yes he is.. and the bike is crazier... its a Yamaha RD 350.... hearing it growl when he kick started it was amazing.. and i had no clye what it was capable of until narang asked me to sit at the back seat and hold on to him... i heard that our loved Abhijit Hati freaked out after 5 mintues on that bike and i was advised to be careful..... so i was... and trust me i was holding narang for good... i almost fell when he accelerated the bike... what else do you expect from a raw insane power pack which can go from 0 to 100 kmph in 9 seconds flat....

what followed next was a long short drive... long thanks to the kilometres we covered.. and short thanks to the time it took.... the bike was roared like a lion and get respect automatically on the road... phew what a ride that was....

thinking about the kinda bike enthusiast narang is.. it would not be long that this baby is going to shine and move like a brand new one... enough of words...

time for some fotos now....







and for those who want some tech details.. here is what you might like to read about the bike....
1987 Rajdoot RD350 LT
- 0.5 Bore running Genuine ART pistons.
- Stock Mikuni Carbs with 165 Main Jets.
- Original Jap Points
- Stock Pipes
- Wire Mesh Filter
- Genuine Yamaha Chain Set with 17 teeth Front Sprocket.
- Stock Seat.
- Paint and decals are intact.
- Tops out at 140 ( Speedo ) (* trust me this happens with this bike*)

this would be worth another foto shoot.. in day light and when narang is back in India after his trip from Mexico with the parts and accessories he needs to get this baby burning the road !!!

MiSSiNg HeR !!!

did not expect this day to end at this kinda note...

i really miss neha... after she has left for paris ... i find it so tough to talk to anyone about whats really happening inside ma' mind now....

there is no one who says.. nai nai anymore...
there is no one who tells me.. aise maje nai aate na...
and there is no one who will stand in front of my and make me realise where i went wrong in that day where i think everything went just right...

i kept writing emails at a regular interval for a few weeks after she was gone.. and got some replies too.. and then the frequency reduced.. and its almost nill now....

i guess the last i wrote was about the fotographs that i clicked on the rafting trip.. and then not much... but in the the brief email convo that we had last week.. seems that my feelings.. which were a mix of sadness.. and anger...came out kinda hard and she is feeling bad about me complaining...

she had left saying that i better keep writing to her regularly or else she will crib and get angry... and here it was the opposite... i got angry and i was cribbing...why.... one simply complicated reason.. expectations... i was expecting that once she settles down in paris she would have a better internet connection and would be able to write more often then not... and failed to realise that because her project would be starting she wouldbe working reeeeeeally hard on that which she is...

well whatever be the reason... i am not getting those small happy one liners that would do me good.. that would keep me happy... i am being selfish here.. i know...

i think this blogging thing is not doing much good here... coz she knows whats happening here... and i do not have a clue about what my dearest friend is doing...

missing her bad today :(

ByE ByE WeEkEnD !!!

umm.. the weekend is about to get over... and back to office... how come time moves faster when its a saturday or a sunday... and for some reason.. the clocks.. the watches of the world slow down when its weekdays....

anyway... first half of saturday spent in taking care of the Aircon in the car... and the result... well... chilling it is.... literally...

second half spent in sleeping and watching two too good movies.. Kangaroo Jack and Dil Chahta hai... add one to the number of times i have seen DCH... even i do not remember it anymore....
sunday morning.... ummmmmmmmmm... who wants to get up... no one.. but i had to.... coz we need to take care of the kitchen machine which has conked off.. and the only place where it can be repaired is Narayana.. yes... for ppl who know where i live... its kinda awkward.. but the brand that we have is Sumeet.. and the only service centre is supposed to be there in Narayana.... well... it was supposed to be there as we later found out... they have closed down their operations in Delhi :( haard luck... neva mind... we can get anything repaired here in india... and to our luck... we managed to find one guy who knew exactly the problem we were having with the machine.. and after some initial diagnosis.. and a quick response on the repair estimate he assured a machine as good as new in about 10 days.... why that long.. welll some parts need to be shipped to Nasik and a new one needs to be arranged from there...

back from there around 1900 hrs... went for a haircut... what a feeling.. back to my usual short hair.... too good in summers i tell you...

and yes... talked to aro.. about my financial state in the month of june.. we had planned to go to ranikhet.. but thats not gotta work out thanks to the kinda money i have spent in the month of may :( but i am happy.. all of these were long term investments and in things that i wanted and finally got.. so no regrets...

and july is to welcomed with a trip to the valley of flowers... lets see how it works... out....

ChEeRs 2 mY fRiEnDs !!!

I have reasons to scream loudly today....
no no.. not because i am in pain or something..
but because i am happy...

what happened... yea...nice question...

well here is what happened...

Narang calls up and tells me that there is something that he wants to tell me, before i find that out from anyone else... and i was like what... and he tells me that

• he has been promoted to the position of a PROGRAM MANAGER.. that is a jump of two vertical positions from where he is right now...
• he goes to the US to transit the Flextronics America's IT helpdesk.. so will spend a good 2 months there in Mexico, which has the Flextronics Headquarters and houses over 25000 employees.

he would be going there with Soumya... another very dear friend who is a part of the BD team in Flextronics....

and that brings me to another good news... Naveen Katlaria is the next Assistant Manager in DIRECWAY now... one of the coolest fellas i have met.. and we have been childhood buddies...
i can cry with joy today... and i can dance with happiness as well...

NeW KiD oN 'd' bLoCk...

I have been trying to put up my foto-log for the past few days... after some effort... it has come up.. and looks nice too...
now wat i would be waiting for some critical appreciation...
lets see when where who...
someone would just look at a foto and like the place/object/person captured....
someone would like to think that (s)he could have taken a better foto...
someone would like to tell me how i could have taken the same foto in a better way...

i see a lot of things coming my way....

would i be able to click with all of them... lets find out !!!

RiShiKeSh AgAiN WiTh FoToS !!!

Playing beach volley ball just while the rafting was being prepared for a great trip down the ganges....



From left to right... Caroline, Adams, Waquar, ME and Toosh.... All set in our rafting gear with the life jackets, our helmets, and the paddles... the life jackets and the helmets we brand new... what a feel that was.....



After we crossed some rapids there was a lot of distance which was flat and without any rapids... there all of our got out of the raft and were floating in the river.... in this foto.. very near to the raft....



And in this Waquar and me are trying to get Toosh back to the raft.... trust me it was not easy to swim with just one hand being into play....




Just before we were about to reach ram jhoola.... strong sun... tired though excited bodies...



And me... with the helmet off... in front of the raft.... what a trip this turned out to be.... three trips and the first one where i could managed to get the pics....

and by the way these are the pics from my new camera used more or less in an auto mode.. with a fuji proplus 100 roll !!!!

nice eh !!!!

CoNdiTiOnEd 2 LoVe !!!

I had an interesting discussion with a friend yesterday...

she would be getting married pretty soon.. and said that she was "conditioning herself to love the person she is going to get married to".Somehow i felt that is not how things are going to work for me... i do not think i need to make myself love the person i am getting married to... it would happen.. with time ofcourse... there is not need to work hard towards it at all...

what i feel would be the key to any successful relationship would be respect for the other person as a person... if i can respect the other person... i think i will hear what (s)he has to say... also try and understand it... and from there move towards things like compromise, trust, not to forget love, affection and all those...instead of telling a person that i love her i rather tell her that i respect her for what she is.. and what she is not... and let things and feelings take their time to develop....

i have not been able to write all what i had in mind... i guess i am short of words here....

rightmore might write more !!!!

AnOtHeR 1

I am waiting for the girl of my dreams... till then... i live in reality !!!!

Prashant Bhardwaj

17-05-05

2200 hrs

WaH wAh

Of all the grey that I have, seems that I have more on my head than in my head.

Prashant Bhardwaj

17-05-05

1330 hrs.

RiShiKeSh & BaCk

back to delhi.... back to summers.. back to heat... this weekend seemed longer then it really was....

i jumped from a 22 feet high wall into the ganges....
i travelled in the lovely UP roadways and Uttranchal roadways buses for over 12 hours...
i slept most of the time during time mentioned above in just about 20% of the space that i usually need to sleep...
i waited at har ki pauri for the aarti to begin for over 2 hours...
i saw the friday sun setting in delhi...
saturday morning sun-rise in Rishikesh...
saturday morning sun-set in Haridwar...
and i slept the entire day on sunday....
not to forget that I got back my oldie goldie Maruti 800 after the grand work done on it....

too much to do for a weekend... here is how it all started....had planned for a rafting trip.... yes.. i went for one about a month ago... so what... second trip to the ganges was planned for the weekend of Friday the 13th.... left home around 2200 hrs with Waquar and Tushar and in about an hours time.. reached the ISBT only to realise that the next.. and last 2*2 push back deluxe bus to rishikesh was to leave the ISBT at 0000 hrs.... almost every bus was going to rishikesh.. and we three did not bother.... and to our unpleasent surprise that last bus did not turn up :( and we were left with no option but to take a up roadways to rishikesh... fare just about 116 bucks to rishikesh.. comfort... none... we still planned our way towards the last seats of the bus and tried to lay down so that we could just pretend to be asleep when someone comes and we can continue that way till the end of our journey... but fate had something else in mind... that damn bus was full.. and I had to move from almost lying down to sitting on two seats... and continue that way till rishikesh.... trust me it was not the most comfortable way to travel...

we reached haridwar.. in the morning.. around 0530 hours... and it was a wonderful temprature there... saw the ganges when i woke up..and a cool breeze welcomed me as well... and this time i did not get back to sleep... was awake till rishikesh with my camera in front of my face so that i could take some good pics.. lets see what have i managed to capture when the fotos come....
in rishikesh around 0600 hrs.. with no shops open... asked a few rafting agents about the status.. and managed to get some place in a raft... from shiv puri to rishikesh..though i reeeeeally wanted to do that 27 km stretch.. but no space... so 450 bucks.. and shivpuri to rishikesh is what we had to settle for....

went to the river banks after we finalised everything... and stayed there for a good one hour... what a feeling that was.. really cool strong winds.... and the sound of water flowing in its full glory.... why is delhi not on the banks of ganga i was wondering..... and then realised that it would have the same fate as the yamuna... so i dropped the idea of doing something to get it closer to Delhi...

started for shivpuri at 0930 hours... and to give us company were two foreigners and one fella who was an indian but his accent highlighted his amount of conversation with the two UK based friends he had... Adams and Caroline.. and this guy was Charandeep....

this journey from rishikesh to shivpuri was interesting too.. as i was sitting at the back of a Tata 207 ( a small pickup truck) and it was fun standing there and enjoying the breeze hit my face while our driver was negotiating sharp turns on the hills and i working hard to hold on to the bars to save myself from falling :)

anyway... we reached the place from where we had to start... used a specially designed pump to inflate the lovely blue coloured raft !!! brand new bright red life jackets.. and smart looking yellow and blue paddles....

we were in the river at 1145 hours finally... first time for waquar and tushar.. and both of them were visibly excited... third time for me.. and i was looking forward to a great experience again... the water level was high.. and the current sharper.. but to my surprise the rapids were easier this time.. coz the raft was just gliding over them.. comparing the exp to the previous ones.. it was not as exciting... but the over experience was not any less then the ones i had before...
i managed to overcome my fear of height and water (combined) and managed to jump from a wall 22 feet high into water this time... i could feel my heart beating just before i jumped... but once i jumped.. i could do that again.... i probably would next season....

finished rafting by 1430 hours.... and were off to haridwar after having a light lunch at madhuban restaurant.... we were feeling very very sleepy... and had a good power nap... all three of us on our way to haridwar.. it was terribly hot.... and once in haridway we were only looking for a shade near the Har ki Pauri to rest... we managed to find a good place below one of the bridges.. and sat there for a good one hour.. before deciding to check out the local market and have lassi... (which was my idea) somehow i know all the good and inexpensive places to eat.. not only in delhi but outside too :)... anyway.. an hour later... me and tushar were back in water.. for a holi dip at the "har Ki pauri". the flow of water was too high.. and i could barely manage to stand even though i was holding the safty chain tightly... anyway.. managed to kill some good time there and washed away a lot of my sins... before changing to fresh clothes... looking for a good place to sit and then enjoying the Evening Aarti !!!! What a lovely exp. that was....

starting back to delhi soon after that... and was back home at 0300 hrs early sunday morning.... so much for the second rafting and a religious trip to haridwar and rishikesh !!!!
__________________________________

sunday evening spent in taking care of my old 800.... it was with the mechanic for about two weeks now.. where it was being restored... new paint... new interiors... an overhauled engine.... suspension and steering overhauled... its moving as good as new now... i decided to put in new tyres as well.... total cost of 5 tyres after the wheel balancing and alignment came to 5600 bucks... and the total expenditure onthe car about 30K INR... i think its worth it... and definitely better then going for a new car...

will post some pictures of the new car too... soon....

so much for now.... will write more... waiting for the fotos to be developed soon.. lets see how soon i can get them printed and scanned !!!!

EoS 3000v Date !!!!

Another day gone... and it ended giving me something that i was waiting for a very long time... my new EOS 3000v Date camera !!! got this baby bundled with the EF 28-90 lenses for a nice price of 11500 bucks...

for the last few days i was eating Gaurav's head with all the seemingly stupid questions... though he being a professional fotographer for over 2 years now... was patient enough to listen to me and answer as many questions as he could.... we decided to go to Chandni Chawk to find out what the market was really like on saturday.. and see if i can find something that suits my level and pocket equally nicely....

there was no intention of a purchase... the idea was to do some research only... so there we were in one of the biggest photographers paradise at around 1030 hrs... not many shops had opened by then.. and we could talk to a few shops.. and one of the guys showed me 4 camers... the EOS 66, EOS Rebel K2, the EOS 3000V and the nikon f75. the first two under 10K, EOS 3Kv for 11500 and the F75 for about 14K.... nikon looked better in terms of the body quality... features not much different... canon better in terms of money.. and the one that i bought.. too cewl in terms of the feel good factor... and when i am to move up to digital SLRs in sometime.. it made sense to save money....


so we decide we want to buy that camera... did some price verification at a few more shops... did not realise that we had spent over 1 hour in that shop looking and talked about the various options that we had... anyway... we were hungry and did not want to loose the opportunity of treating our tummies especially when we were in chandni chaowk.... our first stop... "Gali Paranthe Wali".... ummmm.... paneer parantha... mix parantha, dal besan parantha..... and curd made from cow milk...pet bhar gaya.... and now that we wanted to burn some calories after being filled with guilt and the fat.. we decided to walk to Fatehpuri.... and then have the famour rabri faluda at Giani's.... umm... lovely stuff there... and we were too full and it was too hot to walk back to lal-quila.. so we took at rickshaw..who effortlessly drove in the middle of the road where rickshaws, cars, two-wheelers, autos, jeeps, and pedestrians beautifully coexistt...... we got down in front of the ICICI bank but the damn ATM was broken.. so i decided to give SBI some money.. 55 to be precise and take some money outta their ATM.... took out the money... bought a relay for the inverter which papa wanted.... and 10 CLF tubes... for 17 bucks each.. they usually cost anything between 25-40 bucks in noida... so money well saved....

our next stop.. the camera shop.. where i made the payment for the baby you see the foto of in this post.... fuji proplus pack of 5 for 220 bucks.. and a nova b/w roll for 37 bucks... and a UV filter for 25 bucks... did not like any of the bags... and so we fitted the camera in the bag that i was carrying and moved on to monestry.. where gaurav wanted to buy a jeans from...bought the jeans... walked around place.... and then back to the buss adda.... or ISBT as ppl know it... took at DTC back to ghar..

reached home happy :) lets see how much i improve with time... there is a lot of things to learn..... life's beautiful.... does that look equally cewl from the other side of the camera... TIME WILL TELL.....

LaDKi WaLe AaGaYe !!!

Some family came to see me....
after all my parents want me to get married... the father and the brother of my may be to be came to meet ma parents and me..

I am asked a simmple question..

beta would you like to get married?
no, i like myself to be treated as someone who is willing to get married.. and then when everything finalises i elope with the person i choose for myself... for some reason that does not workout.. and i have to come back home to be displayed in front of another family...

do you know how to cook...
yup.... though that is not really appreciated by the ppl who eat what i cook...

do you know how to sing...
yes... i was one of the finalists in the African Idol....

what are your hobbies...
listening to music...cooking... and other ghar ke kaam...

and they say to my folks... hamein ye ladka pasand hai....

isn't this wat most of the girls who get treated as objects when someone or the other comes to see them, would like to happen to a guy... why not for a change the guy is displayed at his place.. and someone asks him if he knows how to cook.. and if he can wash clothes.. and if he knows how to use the sewing machine... i am sure lotsa gurls out there would like to see this happening... unfortunately this is something not really happening !!!!

coming back to what is going on at my place....

beta is ladki ne MCA kiya hai.. and she is working in some MNC.....
beta us ladki ke papa kisi school mein princi hai... ladki ke baare mein abhi kuch pata nai hai....

this is getting really scary now... do i have to decide if i want to spend the rest of my life on this planet in one day... that one day when i would meet the gurl my folks probably would think is the best for me... actually they will not take any call before i decide what i really want to go ahead for.. but still the first level of filtering is being done by them...

i am thinking about the kinda gurl i would like to spend my life with.. reealy thinking now.. and also thinking about what kinda gurl can manage to spend her life with me.... oh boy !!! some brain needs to go into this...

i am shit scared... what is going to happen in the next few months and how i am going to live through it... upar wala jaanta hai !!!!

TiMe, CaRs DifFeReNt ; pLaCe, cLoThEs SaMe !!!

This is a mix of two fotos.. the one with the zen was clicked about an year and half ago.. when me, aro and Narang had gone to attend Jai's wedding in D'doon...

incidently i was wearing the same clothes... and aro had the same t-shirt... we were standing on the exact same location.. in the middle of the Rajaji National Park...

some nostalgic moments these were !!!! missed you narang here :(

rAdHe rAdHe !!!

Radha in her full glory at Mama's place !!!! Ain't she an absolute beauty :)

Nazar na laga dena ;)

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...

dO gUyS aNd GaLs DiFfEr !!!

Have been thinking over this for a few days now...

Are gurls any different when it comes to choosing a boyfriend and/or a husband as compared to guys when they are on the lookout for a gurlfriend/wife...
I will start with what guys usually look out for... (This is not about me or anyone in specific, but what I have seen and noticed)
Gurlfriend :
~ Should look good, no no.. should look reeealy good...
~ Should be able to go out when we have time...
~ Should be...........
damn !!!! I cannot figure out what guys want from a girlfriend.... oh yes....
~ Should not start talking about commitment and all...
~ Should be open to physical relations...

And when it comes to getting married, we completly change our stands.. and want a different person as a wife...
~ She not being very beautiful is ok, she basically should understand me and my family...
~ Spending time together is essential, but not at the cost of individual space and independence...
~ Should be commited towards me and my family...
~ Should not have any history of affairs...

Strange how we want two completely different persons in our lives at different stages... I guess most of the affairs turn to relationships and then to marriages as the two ppl involved grow together from the first stage to second and so on...

Why such relationships do not work out.. no idea... i guess because the expectations start changing, life becomes different... not too sure though... someone would need to gimme some gyan on this...

Coming back to the main thought... is there is a difference of stands when gurls are looking at boy friends and husbands... Some might agree and some might not.. Some might get angry hearing this, and some might just ignore it...
Boyfriend:
~ Should be smart...
~ Should have a vehicle to roam around in the town...
~ Should have money to spend as well...
~ Should be commited...

Husbands:
~ Should be fairly good looking... Does not really matter if he is very smart or not...
~ Should be career and family oriented...
~ and so on..... not able to find a lot of words here....

i feel i have not been able to write all what we want and need in the points mentioned above.. but the idea is to figure out myself and with the help of a few ppl who read this blog.. how our expectations.. our aims, our needs change at different stages of our lives... at one point of time we are looking forward to just a good time and companionship... though that continues throughout our lives.. but after a while, some other thoughts and expectations take over.. when we start expanding our thoughts to things which would make our life stable and worth living...

i guess its more like having different coloured balls in a big bucket, every colour is a quality that we need in our partner... at one stage of life, we want some colours and and at a later time, we want to shake the bucket and have the other colours too...

I am also waiting for some colours to come to my life.. wonder what kinda would they be :)

tHuRsDaY NiTe @ HuGhEs !!!

This was written on saturday morning.. holi-day.. but i did not have any net connection for the last two days and could not post it....

Thursday evening.. spent inthe company of some great friends... here is what happened... i went to Flextronics Software Systems BPO ( When i joined and left that company it was Hughes BPO) after my office....
first went to saket bought some movies... ek to jhankaar beats kharidi and the other one the play by Omar sharif "Buddha Ghar Pe Hai". I really like all his plays... ek dum full time masti... so from there i directly went to Aro's place, and saw the play for sometime before going to hughes.... around 2230 i reached there.. and called nishant and all outside...

we sat and talked and talked and talked.. and it was my mom's call that reminded me that i had to be home by midnight and it was already 0100 hrs... anyway... mom had woken up because of some dogs barking outside our house and was kinda concerned that i was still not home... i asked her to go off to sleep as i was planning to be in hughes for some more time... well that sometime was till 0330 hrs which i realised later on...

anyway during all this time we were 4 of us, joined by more ppl at sometimes... but primarily it was me, Aro, Nishant and Sanjit who were talking... then Shubhadeep, Arun Salwan and a few more came in... We have planned to meet on Sunday afternoon @ Fun & Food village for a weekend blast... i am expecting about 15 guys to be there on sunday... let see what happens...

I feel so much at home when i am with friends at hughes... When I joined this company in 2003, we were still very young...young professionals you can say... i was in the first batch for voice.. and in the second batch overall... got trained for only a week before we had to join the production floor... I also had the opportunity to cut the cake in Feb 2003, as I took the first ever customer call that came to Hughes BPO.. What a feel that was... Something that started with me and my batch is going places today.. one of the best places to work in.. not because the management is good, or the infra piece is good... but because the kinda supervisors in that place...the Team leads from my batch take some pride in being a part of the group and take every task up as if its their personal goal... I feel I am very fortunate to be in the company of such hardcore professionals... who even in the bad image of "call centres" have kept Hughes away from the entire bad part of the BPO industry and helped make each other grow, personally and professionally... Thank you God for making me know ppl like these......

oh and yes.. today is holi... Have a blast everyone...Hope our lives are as beautiful and colourful as the colours of holi...

God Bless everyone...

oLDiE GoLdiE fRiEnDs !!!

Today is a day to write...
Why... this is why... I wrote an email to a friend Ajay.... he is with ST Micro... i had lost contact with my school buddies after i moved out of school for i do not remember what reasons.. but still i feel that whatever said and done.. my comfort level with them did not go down.. i am saying this because of the feel that i had after i talked to him... he is one guy who is one of the most hardworking chaps i have ever known.. always on the move.. always willing to work harder and learn more.. and i am happy to find him the same today as well... God bless Ajay, and God bless Gita... who is she? uski biwi hai bhai :)

and then Ajay gave me the number of another of my very dear friends... Alok Gupta... pyaar se baniya bulate the hum usse... had a good 20 minutes of conversation with him... and was happy to see that he was on way to success as well... great chap.. God bless him too...

Its my mistake that i have missed out on many good friends.. because of a lot of reasons.. but i want to get back to them.. it was fun when we were school kids.. and i sure things have changed for all us.. but being in the company of them would still be fun...

God bless them all...
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about what i was upto for the last few days.. here is the best thing that i have done.. apart from what i have talked about upar... i freaked out on tikki, papri chaat and dahi bhalle day before yesterday with Ankur and Tushar.. and yesterday had another treat of Papri chaat with mom... life's going the spicier way :) yummmmmm...

for everyone who has been to noida and missed out on the chaat... here is a good tip... do go to Chatkara, he is usually parked on the chauraha of sector 20,26,27,19.
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Holi aa rahi hai.. mere koi plans nahin hain.. prolly shaam ko will try and meet a few friends... zyadatar dost log ya to gurgaon mein hain.. ya dilli ke bahar... milna to nahin ho payega.... but still.. happy holi to everyone !!!!
Rang Barse... bheege chunar waali rang barse.....

oh yes.. i will play these songs on a loud volume though on saturday.. so if you want to party.. you know where to come.. mera 7000 watts ka deck kis din kaam aayega...

I like that song too... Hori Khele Raghuveera Awadh mein.. Hori Khere Raghuveera....

ME mE Me and me !!!!

WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Prashant Bhardwaj
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO? Some stupid Instrumental music playing in the office
THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Corn Flakes
IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Red
HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Masta...thoda hot thoda cool
LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Gabbar
FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? The face, more specific, the eyes
DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS MAIL? Define "like" for me please...someone...
HAIR COLOR? Black
WEAR CONTACTS? Neah...6 by 6 eyesight so far
FAVORITE DAY s OF THE YEAR? Any day can be a favorite day...depends on who all come forward to make it special :)
FAVORITE RELAXATION SPOT? Any hill or a mountain’s edge
ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? Nope
SUMMER OR WINTER? Dilli Ki Sardi
HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs... and kisses
RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS? Relationship(S) thanks to history...
CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Pineapple if you please...
DO YOU WANT YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE BACK? If they feel like... most of them are going to delete this as another one of the stupid forwards around....hehehe... as expected
WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? No one
WHO IS LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everyone
LIVING ARRANGEMENTS? I work for a living...
WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Whale Done, Outlook, Autocar (do the last two count as books... are magazines books... and vice versa)
WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? The last one I had, it had a bug bunny ka foto on it... i gave it to Ritu...
WHAT DID YOU DO LAST NIGHT? Surf, sleep, dream
FAVORITE SMELLS? My gal after her bath...
CAN YOU TOUCH YOUR NOSE WITH YOUR TONGUE? Tried... tried... still trying...
WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Anyone who I feel has something more then me... something that i can learn from... so... basically everyone inspires me...
BUTTERED, PLAIN OR SALTED POPCORN? Pop--corn... why?
FAVORITE FLOWER? Carnations (did I spell it right?)
FAVORITE ANIMAL? Kutta
What I like to wear? Kuch bhi chalega... comfortable hona chahiye.
What I listen to? Too moody... kabhi rock to kabhi fusion... kabhi lounge music to kabhi purane Hindi gaane... sab chalta hai
Things I like to eat? Ghar ka khana... and Chinese...
Favorite drink? Fruit juices
Favorite alcoholic drink? Me no alcohol
The weather I like? The months of April, October, November
How do I rate myself at the moment? Help me with the scale please...
Favorite board game? Ludo and Saanp Seedi
Favorite car? Fiat Palio 1.2 NV Sports, Ferrari Red, UP16F 7821

2nd fRee sErViCe !!!

Radha went for her second free service today, at 7560 kms... 6 months have passed by very quickly.. and a lot has happened during this time... and i am happy that whatever happened happened...seems that i am over-obsessed with my car... i guess a lot of reasons why this is there... i experienced love at first sight for the first time in my life when i saw this car... and then when i bought it.. there was so much content such a great satisfaction of buying my OWN first car... the purchase left me with no money to get a deck.. but then finally i got one deck as well... after a good wait... and during that time.. i had a small radio in mycar. which used to play FM.. driving without music is something that i just could not do.. and then when i finally got my system in the car.. i have loved it.... jussssssssssssst loved it.. the best time of my day is when i driving to the office and coming back.. or driving for anywhere.. whenever...

this is where i wrote about my deck...http://rightmore.blogspot.com/2004/11/have-some-fear-dpalio-is-here_07.html.

Today I think about getting an amplifier and a base tube in the car.. there are not many branded base tubes available around.. infact the only one that i have seen so far is the blaupunkt one.. lets see that looks like a good tube at 5K, there is another tube... Blaupunkt only.. some Velocity segment.. 4250.. that also needs to be looked at... and then a 4-channel amplifier.. lets see.. i guess the entire package would not be anything less then 10000 bucks.. but then i want to spend it.. not right away... but after I buy some RAM, and All-in-One, a Camera ( digital or SLR), a DVD Player... hehehhee.. the list is endless.. so are the expenses.. but then that's life....khush raho mast raho vyast raho...

hey Tushar yesterday sent me an sms... Here it is: V never have what we like, v never like what v have, still v live, love n hope that sum day v'll get what v love, or luv what v have. That's life...
Phir likhunga zindagi !!!

hey and btw.. Radha is shining like new today.. this second coat of teflon is making her looooooooooook sexier then yesterday.....

ShAaDi Ka LaDdOo :)

Waquar came home today... he is getting married on the 27th of this month.. i am very very happy for him.. one gem of a person.... I am sure Saba would be very very happy to have someone like Waquar in her life... He got a beautiful Beige Sherwani for 27th and a black one for 9th. that's when the reception is... or rather call it "Dawate-Walima"... I am planning to get him a stole for his reception.. and my radha would be taking him and saba to the reception area from their house.. i am happy to be a part of this wedding... in whatever way possible.. he is a very dear friend.. and it feels good to see him getting settle down...

Ok.. now the interesting part.. so Waquar comes home.. and bhadkaos mom about she getting me married as well.. arre bhala ye koi baat hai.. teri shaadi ho rahi hai to aish kar.. mereko kyon fasata hai bhai.... then started the discussions of what kinda girl i want to get married.. when should i get married and all those things... I personally feel that the girl that i get married to should have something that I have always longed for in myself... i guess i have always wanted to do something related to music.. and if I can get someone who has some hold on music.. its going to be great....then comes another thought... i still have my roots and attachment in the village... where for obvious reasons ppl are not as open minded and open cultured as saddi dilli.. so this girl who comes into my life and becomes my better half would need to be equally comfortable when we are in the company of ppl in delhi, or around ppl from my village... can that happen.. too much to ask for is it... but i guess if that does not happen.. then there would be issues...i feel in my marriage.. respect for the individual would play the most important role... and then comes love, trust, faith, compromise, responsibility, learning, and so on and so forth... i need to have someone who I would look upto for the rest of my life.. someone i would surrender to.. someone who would be confident enough to surrender to me.. and yet ensure that i am treated like a baby... and a spoilt brat at times.... hehehehe.... i am surprised to see that my expectations are kinda stupid.. i need to be treated like a kid even after i am married....someone who makes me learn things.. someone who knows how to control.. someone who is energetic.. someone who takes pride in what i do.. someone who knows when to shout at me and when to take me in her arms to make me cry.. and still feel better...

hey, but am i thinking about only myself.. i guess i am.. is that right.. i guess it is... bhai afterall.. let her tell me what she wants.. andi will do it.. simple...

"kahin to milegi.. kabhi to milegi.. baharon ki manzil raaheee"

tRiP 2 DiLLi !!!

I have not written for a while... missed out on writing about a "trip to Delhi"... Why calling it a trip to delhi.. well keep reading.. you will know...

I have been in the NCR all my life.. well now close to 26 years... 10th April 2345 hrs would see me complete 26 years in this country, in this city, and I was surprised to find out that I had never visited the Qutab Minar... i have driven down to Agra to see the Agra fort, I have been to the Fateh Pur Sikri.. but how come I missed out on this monument... well.. i never stop surprising myself.. anyway... last saturday, Charu, my cousin came from Assam and was stayin with us for a day before moving on to her Engineering Institute in Longowal, Punjab... I had also asked another cousin of mine Ashu, to come over so that we three could freak out together... and so it happened... we decided to go to the Qutab Minar... I am happy we did that... i just loved it... somehow i feel some peace with broken and old forts and such buildings.. i can spend any amount of time there... why... I have no clue so do not ask me... we took at lot of pictures as well... old stones, broken walls, all the possible shades of brown in those stones and walls, the greenary... everything was making me feel good...I think i will visit all the monuments in Delhi... Humayun's Tomb, Lal Quila, Qutab Minar, Tuglaqabad forts...Bas ek camera kharid loon....
Baki to life is as usual.... same old work... same old office.. sab old people around...

and before i forget i am kinda excited and nervous about meeting this group of people on the 1st of April... some friends from Orkut have taken this initiative of meeting next to next week.. lets see how it goes.. its going to fun... i am hoping it does...

pHuLL TP !!

Not much has happened since i last wrote on the blog...

1) Bharti's security policy does not allow my blog to be visited from the office network.. it has been blocked...

2) I had a good weekend... went to aro's place on saturday after a training in the office and then came back in the night.. he bought be a soft toy.. rather i made him buy one for me...khud to wo kuch nai dega kabhi bhi... and then i tricked him into buying some CDs and tapes.. for himself.. heheheh.. sahi paise kharch hue uske.. but i am sure the money spent was worth it... in the evening watched Page 3.. and felt bad about the cultural erosion the society is going through...still feeling bad about it... next morning sunday... got up at 1100 hrs.. did not do anything but selected some songs that he wanted to take along with him... and then burnt a cd for him to take along...evening was spent with some old guys from hughes.. some of them still with Hughes ( now flextronics) and some with Bharti teletech... good fun it was... after a long long time i got a chance to lie down on grass.. and it was so cewl.. did that while waiting for some guys to join us when we were in the ansals plaza.... slept around 2300 hrs... and tushar called up at midnight to discuss a issue chunna was facing with the camera her chachi got.. which was resolved... not by me.. but chunna herself.. she is a smart gurl.....

3) monday was as usual unwanted.. first day of the week.. never is welcomed :) anyway... tuesday was an off so i was kinda happy about it.. the day went as usual.. work and more....

4) tuesday, mahashivratri... kept a fast... yes Me, I had a fast on tuesday... hehehehehe... and the day was good... slept for most of the time.... relaxed... mast din thaa...

5) wednesday.. back to office.. same ol' schedule... with some new tasks ahead... also Aruna called from Direcway to tell me that my name was shortlisted for the course from IITD that I had applied for.... good now i have something to study every weekend... its going to be hectic... its going to be tough... but i am looking forward to it....

6) Thursday today... Neha's parents' 25th Marriage Anniversary... and guess who was the first one to wish them... hehehehehe.. yes yes folks.. it was me... Pao the great !!!! Infact even uncle had not wished aunty and aunty had not wished uncle... mainse sabse pehle kiya.. and ofcourse along with my wishes were the wishes of neha... who is a li'il far away from all of us these days... but its all in the mind set i guess...

7) Pawan wrote a stinker on the blog.. about me not talking to him... and he does not pick up his phone when i call.. i actually have been trying to talk to him for over a week and he never picks up his phone.. idiot kahin ka...

that's it for today.. more sometime later... when... mujhe bhi nai pata !!!!

WaLkiNg @->--

i am victim of mood swing syndrome these days... sometime in my day i will be happy and delighted... and then i will be sad and alone... and then i will get angry over small things.. and then get irritated by things which i usually ignore easily otherwise....

sahi hai.. kehte hain jo hota hai achche ke liye hota hai... par wo achcha kab hota hai... yeh kaise pata chale... on this journey called life there are so many halts.. so many stops.. so many turns... twists... resorts... and we experience it all.. we walk on the rough country side road with no lights in the nights.. and also drive on the cemented roads in broad day light... and we still carry on...

we at times share our luggage with someone.. or take their load... and then again move on.. with our bags with us... we stop for a while to chat with a few friends... who happen to be there at that time.. and then because someone called.. either they go away or we move on...

there comes a time when we feel that life is coming to a halt.. its going to stop.. and we cannot move any further.. but there like every rose has its thorn.. every night has its dawn.. we see that ray of light showing us the path of move on.. and we walk.. towards we do not know who... towards we do not know what...

am walking... still walking....