Reading it wrong

The starting was simple

He was reading a page now and a page then

When there was free time, it was always there

He din't understand all but he was sure he was going to read it again

Spending time with it became a daily affair

The chapters were humble

Each giving him a new outlook

He went with the flow

Enjoying both happiness and grief of the book

Greeting every new turn with a happy hello

But then there was this rumble

The episodes became slow

The thrill was low and the depth was more
It made his impatience grow
His brain was clouded and feelings were sore

He took the gamble

He could not contain it any longer

He wanted the pages to turn fast
That nothing would be lost and things would be stronger
Desperate to get to the excitement of past

----------
There was a lot of fear

He was here, she was there

The things between them were never really clear
The book ended because they could not persevere

The Indore Incident

Reshared from FB:

This happened while I was coming from Indore to Hyd on a Jet Konnect flight. The flight was completely full, with a marriage party, a bunch of IPS trainees and some random other people like me on it. The Airhostess was a Punju, strong looking, teacher types.

The marriage party was apparently travelling for the first time in flight. They were very noisy and moving all around the flight immediatly after the take off. The airhostess, irritated, was trying hard to calm them. She lost her cool after a while and started scolding an elderly man in the group, pointing out that there were other passengers who also paid and needed their peace of mind.

There was one guy in the group who took extra offense with the airhostess. He kept pressing the "call stewardess" button above the seat and started asking for water, permission to roam around and permission to go piss. It was as if she was the teacher of a school struck with a bunch of naughty boys. She wanted to scold them, at the same time, had to comply with her fake smile duties as an airhostess.

Since this was an budget flight, the food was being sold on a trolley. Also, this being an ATR , there was no microwave/heater and hence no coffee/tea. The Punju lugged the food trolley and these people insisted on chai. They were positively agitated when she said there was no tea. It was as if she was denying them chai on purpose.Then they asked for a sandwitch. She said it was Rs150 for a veg sandwitch and Rs 200 for a non veg sandwitch. Shocked, they again looked as if the bloated prices were a ploy by the airhostess to keep them from eating.

As soon as she left, our group hero went for his cabin luggage and took out a huge bag, containing lots of chips packets and buiscuit packets amonst other things. He openly shared all the food with his group and started walking down the aisle saying."1 packet, Just 100 ruppees. Khareedoge?". There was wide spread laughter in the flight. Everyone was enjoying the show.The airhostess came running down to him. She was totally helpless. She then ran towards the headmaster(pilot) and came out of the cockpit after a while, came to them and said "Abhi captain tak pahunch gayi baat. Meine complaint kardiya".A few moments later, there was this annoucement from the captain saying they were expecting heavy turbulence and that all people should wear their seatbelts and stay put. Since it was official sounding, every body went back to their seats.

Ofcourse, there was no turbulence. What could have been an even more eventful journey was cut short by that wily pilot. But still, it was my best flight journey ever. Go Indori's.

My first rage attempt

Neutral Gear

He was in love with his new cool bike. This bike, he thought had everything. Amazing power, great torque, unparalleled stability, 6 gears , spot on disc breaks and so on. Above all, it had the looks to even make a lean guy like him look good.The only problem he felt was with the neutral gear.He used to achieve awesome speeds on the bike. He felt as if the other vehicles on the road were stationary when on it. Lightning was the nickname he gave it.

Inspite of all its awesomeness, he always thought about the neutral gear. True, the gears changed ever so smoothly on his lightest touch., but getting on neutral gear was always tricky. It was somewhere between the 1rst and 2nd gear and always needed that perfect touch to get it into neutral. At signals and intersections, he used the clutch and first gear instead. But damn, he so badly wanted to master the neutral. So badly wanted to see the green neutral light on the bike display glow.

And then one day he was again on his godly ride. Whizzing past vehicles without care. But as is usual with the Indian traffic, there came a bunch of buffaloes on the road. He stopped, for he was experienced enough to know the whims and fancies of the animals made them unpredictable.One of the buffaloes, a young one, caught his eye, and even it just kept staring at him. There was something about those eyes which caught his attention and even he stood transfixed momentarily. Beyond them was a speeding truck, demanding the animals to move by showing of its sheer size. The solitary buffalo , quick in its senses moved aside. Coming back to the moment, he observes the speeding truck coming out of nowhere. He knows he has to move , but somehow the bike doesn't budge. A second before the inevitable end, his eye catches the bike display. The green light is on. He finally figures out the neutral gear.

Song of a regretful heart

If you are reading this, I urge you to read without stop or start

For this is the song of a regretful heart

First of all, to write this verse, I do not have the right

For trying to redeem, I should not even be in your sight.

Even if I sing this sad tune and shout my voice hoarse,

I don’t think It will convey the tiniest bit of my remorse.

On that fateful night, on the way there were warning bells,

My mind stopped processing, mistaking mere banter for all wrong signals.

With a remorseful sigh,I took an ugly bend,

And forever I feel lost a fabulous friend

Hopefully one day, after we put between us enough miles,

On your face there won’t be any anger or hurt, but bucketful of smiles

I know you will become big and conquer the mighty and the rest,

I’ve known you since long and wish you all the best

If u still feel bad, banish me and hate me, for what I did was totally wrong

It’s a sad but the right way to end this regretful heart song.

-- Anupam Chakilam

Death of Cities

No, this is not about the whole traffic congestion, abuse of resources, water problem..basically problems caused due to ultra over population in big cities. This post is about the death of cities identity.

I happened to chance upon this article from outlook which was moderate in its approach and this absolute shocker frm CNR Rao. Both these articles got me thinking. Having spent my childhood in Hyderabad, college days in Chennai, the few working days till now in Bangalore and Pune, I feel I'm fairly qualified to comment on the state of these cities.

It is obviously an undisputed fact that the cities I've spent time in are growing , and mostly for the good. But they are also fast loosing their charm. Each city is looking more and more like a clone of the other. The individuality of each city , the charm that they have been famous for are fast being forgotten or lost.

It was in my second year I think when I went to visit good friends Sundar's house near Chitrakulam in Mylapore. The whole place reminded me of scenes from some period movie. There were age old agraharam houses , two ancient Vishnu temples , and temple Elephants on the street!! The maruti car parked on the narrow street looked soo out of place. Forgot the British raj built buildings and corridors. I felt this place deserved the tag of heritage area more than anything else.

Another place that immediately comes to mind is Laad bazaar , one of the four annexes of Charminar. The place hasn't changed in breadth or businesses done in more than 200 years, except for the fact that the road is always jammed with traffic. I've always felt the four roads leading to Charminar need to be cordoned off, atleast for buses. It has the potential to be something like Taj Mahal, but is right now no better than most of the slums in old city.

Although I havent explored Banglores or Pune streets to know enough about their respective heritage , Im sure they have enough and more to preserve. The glass facades and KFC's are all good , but they get damn boring after a point of time. Im really happy about each cities rise , but I do want to feel proud of how people before felt proud of their cities. Hyd as the Nawabi place, Chennai as best place for well preserved temples, Bangalore as the beautiful city and Pune as pensioners paradise.

Phew, a blog after really long. Need to keep this alive by posting atleast once a quarter.

P.S:1) Sundaram, you live in an amazing place with all modernity.
2) I'm not sure what the present situation is in Laad bazaar. My memory of that place is from about 10 years ago.

Hitchhikers Guide To Hitchhiking

Recession has affected a lot of things in my life , but there is one positive aspect of it which I need to appreciate. It has made people more sympathetic to poor lift takers like me. I used to take lifts during my intern time at Hyd and now to go to my office. And man, is there a differance!!

Anyways, Hitchhking a.k.a lift taking.The most obvious reason why you would Hitchhike is due to lack of decent affordable transport, or like in my case , you are just a born prudent cheapo who hates giving the auto guys 30 bucks for the minimum distance. Here are some more reasons why you should give lift a try.

• Savings: on petrol, pollution and the whole Go Green thing.
• Contacts: You can start a conversation with them . And you never know. He could be a big shot in that next door posh company in ur Sez into which you've always tried getting into but felt they would not even allow you from their backdoor cafetaria entrance. And he gave you a lift implies he is in a benevolent mood. Take its the refferal I say.
• Timepass:Quite a few lift givers are expansive talkers, boring at that. But still, the poor guy is giving you a lift dude. Acknowledging them by atleast nodding your head is minimum courtsey.
• More timepass:You can meet a good open minded person of the opposite sex, making for atleast an addition in that fast shrinking single girls/boys list of yours. How you take it from here and form further scope entirely depends on you.( Ok, even this almost never happens)
  

Here are a few things i found helped me get faster and easier lifts.

• Dress properly. A sincere attires helps.
• Show of your office tag. This is the only time outside office that I show my office tag, so that the person knows I am new age Indias corporate slave dog .I mean, a harmless liftable person.
• Try taking lift at junctions or road bends or speed breakers or wherever vehicles go slower than pedestrians. People almost never stop for you if they are already going at high speeds.
• Taking lift near temples. About 50% of the people somehow slow down when they pass a temple, giving a silent prayer hoping the client will be more reasonable this time around atleast. Although that never happens, it presents an oppurtunity for us lift pouncers to lift that much tired left hand with thumbsup for the lift call. They will most certainly give a lift, assuming they are doing a good samiritan deed. Nice dumbos they r.
• Avoid cars. they almost never give lift. And even if they do , it will b some call centers cab returning from work and hoping to make a quick buck out of you. Bikers are soo much better.

Ah, felt nice blogging after long:)