Can we really change

When was the last time you felt that feeling of absolute hatred?

In the past couple of months, I've experienced it and let me tell you its not really a pleasant feeling. Surely not, when someone has gone through what i have been through. 16 dreadful days of my life bereaved me of my dad, my guiding force, my everything. I was in a zombie like condition, just trying to go through the motions. Such times like I've realized are phenomenally transformational. Like you can imagine the responsibilities increase multi fold and life suddenly starts seeming like one long struggle. No shelter can ever be as secure as one a father provides. Enough said!

Coming back to why I brought up this topic, never until now had I actually faced corruption or rather should I say been affected by it. I approached the BBMP authorities for my dad's death certificate and was told it would cost a certain amount for 5 initial true copies for which I paid the stipulated amount. On the day they asked me to come back to collect them, i applied for 10 more additional copies costing Rs.10/copy. I was asked for Rs.220 instead of the Rs.100. At the moment I didn't understand the calculation and paid the amount I was demanded for. They'd asked me to come back half an hour later to collect the additional copies. I walked away and set out for another task that I'd planned for the day, thinking all through only about this incident. Quickly i finished that and went back to BBMP and saw that my additional copies had been ready. In normal situation I might've taken the copies and walked away, this time i did not. I asked the question that was irking me all through.

Me: Madam, prati copy gu eppatteradu rupaayigala? (does each copy cost Rs.22?)

Her: Ehehe.. first copyGe maatra Rs.50, mikkidakke Rs.10 per copy( First one costing Rs.50 and the subsequent one Rs.10 per copy)

Me: Matte, Rs.220 yaake?(Then, why charge Rs.220)

Her: Eheehe... adu adu(The expression when you can't say anything)

All of this while the notice board clearly mentioned that they shouldn't charge more than Rs.10 per additional true copy. The audacity of her that she actually said, please take back the change and that too, grinning drove me nuts. The gravity of the situation somehow gave me the patience, and completely disgusted I departed from the place. 

Such insensitivity and yet we don't do anything or just turn a blind indifferent eye towards what is happening around us. I was speaking to my aunt and she told me that my uncle had to pay a bribe to get our file moving for getting a succession certificate done at the local Tashildar's office, it just rubbed in badly and I don't think I'll ever be indifferent again.

At the Freedom Park, Bangalore

While the mood of the whole nation seems to be brewing up against corruption, it was imperative to know what and why do people of India want 'JAN-LOKPAL', which I managed to do today by visiting the freedom park, the epicenter of the crusade against corruption.

Even though this is not really enough for me to say If I really want 'JAN-LOKPAL' or not, I'm surely, awakened towards the rampant illness that's besieged us. 

CORRUPTION!!!

Maybe Bakwaas but not untrue

अर्र्ज़ किया है.....

वोल्वो, मत आना मेरे  पीछे  यूह  चुप  चुप  के, साए  की  तरह!
डर लगता है, जी घबराता है , डर लगता है, जी घबराता है!

लगने लगता है की, कही ये मेरा दिल तो नहीं,
जो आज कल साथ में नहीं रहता मेरे!

बस इतना याद रखना, की तुम किसी के अमानात को साथ ला रहे हो अपने,
जिसके पास दिल पड़ा है गिरवी अपना!

वोल्वो, मत आना मेरे  पीछे  यूह  चुप  चुप  के, साए  की  तरह!

डर लगता है, जी घबराता है , डर लगता है, जी घबराता है!

(Inspired by the volvo buses that comes menacingly close to the motorists on the roads of Bangalore)

Summer of 2011

Its the last day of April, or just as i realize its May day. And for a while its been crawling on my mind how the summer has been this year. 

We've had some amazing turn of events and the biggest one of them all is we've won the World cup. And thanks to that I've been spared of writing about it how the Indian team always fails to live up to the expectations. But then, thanks to our Men in Blue, from 2nd of April, 2011, they've raised the bar of expectations for themselves.

Every world cup there is a new thing that we find is being talked about. While in the previous editions it was something within the game, this world cup I'll always remember for the way I watched it. "Tweeting" !!!

I had never imagined I would be commentating live on the state of a match with a person sitting thousands of miles away. This was something we always did during the post-mortem of the match. The howling, screaming and shouting of course was very integral of the match watching experience, but emoting in 140 characters is something I'm now pretty warmed up to. This has completely changed the way I while my time with cricket now. Atleast I don't feel guilty of not doing anything during a match. Not that I can remember what it used to be like to watch 5 days of it.

Hmm, so back to the 'summer'. Though it might have appeared in a lot of my recent posts/rants/ramblings I'm still very much hung-over with it. I now own a Royal Enfield. Man I can't get over it :). I'm so thrilled about this new relationship.

And on a personal note, I've taken a real liking to running. It all started during my ten day stint at Pune. The apartment where the guest house was situated was bloody brilliant. It had so much space that running was a joy there. All the years spent in the gym sure has given me mass enough to make running a challenging endeavor. Just like how working out can be a vent to the mundaneness of life, running gives me the satisfaction. And by the way I have a marathon coming up! I'm running yet again with team EY.

I'm counting this summer to open up a lot of avenues for me and of course everyone of you.  Until then, stay sunny!!! 

Two-Wheeler chronicles

Whats that one amazing possession at an age of 19-20 yrs? For kids of these days it those flashy gizmo's, your apple iPhone, iTouch, you touch and what not !!! I know I'm sounding old, just making it sound so ;). Not very long ago for us it used to be graduation from a bicycle to a two wheeler. Looking back at the first time I ever rode on a two wheeler which was a TVS 50 brought by a painter while on work at our house. That day i remember riding like a prince with the air gently caressing my face, with all daughters of my neighborhood aunties overlooking. I must have been 4th or 5th, but that was when I felt the essence of growing up.

Sis started early on the 'Enfield-Explorer'

My dad was a proud owner of a suave looking Enfield explorer since 1985 which he had until 2003, and apart from sitting on it when dad used to ferry all the four of us around and fantasy riding it, naming it 'Sanjuna' hadn't done much with it. This was until 7th standard, when i had this fetish to sit on it sans the key and push the bike around. Thanks to Bangalore's roads, burnt a lot of calories pushing it back up to balance it on the road downwards. Then one day dad forgot the key and that day it happened. I pushed it around like always and then suddenly saw the ignition key. And the rest like you can imagine, i kick started and set the explorer in motion on the first gear, and it remained in first gear that day to be honest. That was the moment which turned the schoolboy into a dreamy youth.


Next three years of our stay in Dandeli gave me some of the amazing memories that I could only dream of in Bangalore. An accessibility to the jungles anytime i wished, a town with no traffic police and fewer main roads, could i ask for anything else?? It was time to zoom. 49.5 cc seemed awesome in those days. Soon, it was time for us to shift back to Bangalore and the city that is made us realize we'd suddenly grown up now to be too big for the explorer that once ferried four of us. What a bike it was! I think for the India then, which was more into Bajaj Chetak, this bike was an affordable option. And then one fine day as i grew older, so did it and just like that, it was gone.


Talking about Bajaj Chetak, during 12th my uncle's scooter came to me because he moved out of the country. Cant recollect the no. of times I've made it lie down on the road when there was no fuel and then that one quick kick start to get it going. "Welcome to college days"", I'd said to myself and before i could realize, the passion of possessing a bike again, proved too much pressure for my dad to withstand. That was when he got me a TVS Victor. Nothing beats the freedom you have with a bike at your disposal. Freedom and all by the way is secondary. More important then were the reasons like the daily trips to the dhaba, national park or the coffee shop around the corner. OK, alright! I agree the most important of all was to impress the girls. Can't remember how many firsts it was with my Victor.


While I am usually not very emotional, somehow the feeling was a little confusing. No feeling of loss though, while signing the handover forms, I was blank. All i could muster asking the new buyer was, "Can i take her for a last ride"?


Thinking about it, isn't it actually like breaking up with somebody for no reason? Only, make sure you have a reason as good as mine.

Royal Enfield!!!