:)

How happy I was when Bhai was born.....I had someone to tie rakhi to ;) That’s all what i wanted him for.... I didn’t like taking care of him especially during my play time. I honestly declare that my brobs has probably been the most bullied sibling and I do not apologize for my acts. On this special day I just thought I should probably write down one of my favourite anecdotes during my childhood when my brother was just a tiny toddler.

Mom: You better take him to play
Me: No, he is such a slow player, I lose my game.
Mom: You are an elder sister; you should be protective of your brother and look how mean you are!
Me: Of course I am protective....just keep him home so, no one gets to do anything to him. Now isn’t that protection?
Mom: Shut up and take him along with you.

I fretted, cried and tried all the possible ways to let my displeasure known but moms can be pretty adamant you see. I gave up and took him along. As he tagged along on my way to the playground, the cutie pie (he was quite a looker) gave me a nice smile to which I devilishly said -

Me: Stop smiling, do you know why mom takes so much care of you?
Bhai: Because I am her son.
Me: No you idiot. You are not her son, in fact you do not belong to the family. Once mom went to throw the garbage and saw you lying there. She got you home.
Bhai:(Too stunned to react probably)
Me (continuing in my patronizing tone): That’s the reason we all try to love you and mom loves you more

He stopped and asked me to drop him back home. I was so happy....my ploy worked. I dropped him home saying that he didn’t want to play. Mom didn’t ask any questions. I was glad to have my time but when I returned from my game I saw that tiny bundle in my room full of tears. His eyes were swollen red and his cheeks flushed. He refused to believe mom who was trying to convince him that he was indeed her son. When I entered, she looked at me and sharply said "You better tell him the truth or you will have it from me." I went to him and told him that I had lied and that I was just teasing him. He made me do a 'God promise' before believing me.

The tables have turned now; he is no longer the cutie pie that he used to be but a 6 footer who has a sharp wit, a sweet tongue but a teenage temper too. However, I still bully and blackmail him to my heart's content....that hasn't really changed ;)

Happy Birthday bhai!!!!!

Song

....

Shart lagi hai mar jaane ki
Jeena hai toh pyaar mein
Deh kahin bhi ho vo mera
jaan rakhi hai yaar mein jaa
….beh jaa
hai sagaar ka kehna
beh jaa… beh jaa
hai nadiya ko behna

behne de ghanghor ghata
behne de paani ki tarah
saagar mein jaa girna hai
behne de nadiya ki tarah

Gulzaar's beautiful poetry with Rahman's music for the upcoming movie Raavan

Dissecting my bag ;)

"You had to come like this", fumed my mom. I was attending her close friend's party (no idea what it was for) and aunty had insisted that I come along. The ever busy me decided to drop by on my way from office but my mom's question just when I was about to enter her friend’s house took me by surprise. I was appropriately decked up according to Keralite standards - a bangle instead of my adorable bracelet, a pair of mini chandeliers as ear-rings....but yet all my pain staking sacrifice seemed to have done nothing to please my mom. Her singular, focused and undivided attentive look on my backpack let me into the secret....I was carrying a backpack instead of the more feminine purse. It was pure sacrilege!

That evening, after lending me an earful of gyaan she did the unthinkable. She confiscated my backpack and began questioning me about its contents. Here’s how it went -


Mom: Why do you have to carry this file?
Me: I usually hate folding papers, so in case of unforeseen circumstances where I receive sheet(s) of paper(s) I could keep them in THAT file instead of folding them.
(Gives me a dissatisfied look and continues.)

Mom: What are these - comb, kaajal pencil,.......(I don’t wish to name my make up kit)
Me(frust): Mom, those are a woman's birthright!
(She quite agreed to that;) )

Mom: Why are there two wallets?
Me: In case someone steals one, I do not have to call you up for help....I will have some reserve money with me :P
(Hmmmmmmmmm look)

Mom: What is this book for?
Me: Reading......I have some leisure time to read in the bus and.....(she didn’t bother to listen the next part)

Mom: What’s this second book for?
Me: Oh that! the first book is about to get over....in case it does, I don’t have to stare at my fellow passengers, I have another one to start immediately

Mom(putting her hands up): Where the hell is your laptop?
Me: Hey! I don’t have to carry it everyday...I have a different system in my office and...
Mom(cutting me short again): You mean you carry this big backpack for carrying novels.....
Me (Grinning): Yeeeeeeeeeessssssssss

That did it! She stormed out of the room leaving me alone with my idiosyncrasies :D

Peppy track

My mind had been thinking so hard since yesterday that I was in a state of despair when i got up in the morning. No matter what i did, I just felt hopeless. In this state I got to hear an old hindi pop track. Years after it was released, I think it is still peppy (I can see my hubby frowning on my choice).....but i am out my blues with 'que sera sera' attitude ;) all thanks to this song

hawa hawa aye hawa khushbu loota de
kahan khuli haan khuli zulf bata de
ab uska pata de, zara mujhko bata de
main usase milunga, ek baar mila de...
yaar mila de.....dildar mila de.....


zindagi ki dhoop ko saaya kar gayi
aaj mere paas se woh guzar gayi.....
usne joh kahan tune bhi suna
yeh baat aur kisko na batana....

Pakistani singer Hassan Jahangir had barged into the music scene with that song and years later it probably still rocks all parties and dance floors.....

Another to-the-point reply

I wonder sometimes if my blog is turning into 'Pune PMPML Bus diary' but I think I shouldn't bother too much about it.

The bus depot near Pune Corporation is a crowded junction with too many bus stops and no proper pointers. A beginner generally has a tough time identifying his stop and if he cannot speak the local dialect or worse, has a flair for the Queen's language, he is in a big trouble.

It was just another normal working day that had come to an end. Everyone in the bus was busy waiting for the driver and glancing at their watches. Being the start location it wasn’t really crowded. The conductor was distributing tickets. In walked a guy; he wore a 3 piece suit; obviously all eyes turned towards him with a 'did-your-car-breakdown' look. He had a backpack and a separate laptop case which meant he had obviously strayed from the nearby IT jungle.

The gentleman: Excuse me Mr. Conductor. Will this bus take me to Kalyaninagar?
(With that line every single soul onboard who understood English probably LOL.)
The conductor:             (Does that convey his blank expression)
The gentleman in the matrubhasha mode: Conductor ji, aap batayenge yeh bus Kalyaninagar jayegi?
The conductor:           (Repeat act by the conductor)

The gentleman was all lost now and was looking at the nearby passengers to guide him to appease the lord...I mean the conductor. Finally the lord spoke.....

Conductor: Neeche utarneka, left ko turn leke seedhe jaaneka...
The gentleman: Wahan pe Kalyninagar ka bus stop hain kya?
Conductor: Nahin, Enquiry counter.


If you appreciate sarcasm you will find music there ;)

The brilliant reply

Colleges are like that! Looking back, most of the things that we did (rather THEY made us do) make absolutely no sense now, but yeah, they make a part of some fantastic memories.

Ours was a batch that was unanimously horrible with UNIX. We had been working on windows and we have had quite a few visiting lecturers refusing to teach us because we were novice of the first order. What did they expect? Why would a person with a Torvalds DNA structure sit for a lecture on the first hand! Finally we managed to get hold of a professor who would come, ramble in the class and leave. The teacher and the class were unanimously indifferent to each other!

It was this afternoon lecture, hardly a time to learn UNIX or VI, but the professor was busy bragging about VI and its features. Nobody in the class cared a damn. What difference did it make to us? Suddenly he raised his voice (he probably realized that the class was fast asleep) and asked loudly - "Do you know we use the h, j, k, l for navigation in VI? If so, how the hell do we actually type the alphabets h, j, k, and l?” No response. Nobody had probably even heard the question. He suddenly looked at Ashish who had the same 'disturb-me-not-look' as he always had. You there, can you tell me?
What sir, asked the thoroughly confused Ashish. "If we use h, j, k, l instead of the arrow keys in VI for navigation what do we do when we have to type those alphabets?" asked the professor. "Use the arrow keys Sir!” came the brilliant and unadulterated reply.

Never again, as far as I remember the professor asked any questions in our class ;)

p.s. As with most of my posts, names changed :)

Anecdote

It was already 11 and our turn to register our group. But there was no sign of Ravi. Sid, Neeta and me were worried. He had the project reports and without submitting them we would have been disqualified immediately. It was one of those college competitions where a win ensured you could bunk classes for the next 20 days on the pretext of being tired. Obviously! Winning a competition is no mean task even if it’s sponsored by your local chaiwallah. A win is just what it is - a win. And yeah, it nurtured our adolescent egos too.

Our worried faces searched every moving object in the room to catch a glimpse of our 4th partner who seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Frantic searches lead to a dead end and just as we were about to give up, in walked Ravi with our reports and a bunch of girls with worried looks. Until that moment we thought we were the only ones with a question mark on our faces. "Can you guys help?", I heard him shout and looked towards him. "Neha here has lost her purse. She had lots of money in it. We have been trying to locate it visiting every place she went to but no use. Can you guys pitch in for help?" So there lay our answer! As we 3 idiots were finalizing our strategy, our cool-as-a-cucumber partner was busy skirt chasing.....he had probably got introduced to Neha half an hour ago but he spoke of her purse as if it contained his hard-earned money. We were too angry probably because none of us spoke for full 10 minutes. Finally, Neeta blurted out, "Let’s get a horse". We all looked surprised...Horse, what for?, asked Sid. "Yeah, so that the knight in shining armour can ride a horse, locate the missing purse and rescue his damsel in distress", said Neeta to deliver the knockout line and drill some sense into our partner.


Till date we have a field day watching an embarrassed Ravi run for cover whenever we remind him of the incident :)