Dreams: Accomplishment or a new start ?

”Beep”. She impatiently fumbled through her purse and took out her mobile. It was his message, one single word, ‘Gandhidham’. She stared at it for two minutes. She felt slightly happy, but was unsure about how to react to it. She desperately wanted to talk to him, but she knew it well that at the first possible moment he would call. This was one moment both of them had been looking forward to since past so many years.

She sat at her desk thinking about the numerous talks they had had in this regard during last two years. Especially, ever since his zone was allotted, they used to dream hopefully about a fairy tale kind of a story. Of course, it was always clear to them that once married, nothing shall come in the way of their living together. However, they wanted it to be simple with not much justification to their parents.

For them, their priorities had been very clear, almost ever since they became couple. They just wanted to be together. Their simple dream was to be able to lie next to each other while saying ‘Good night’ and to be able to wake up in each other’s arms watching each other’s innocent smile. And to ensure that this simple dream came true, they had been working hard to make ends meet. Finally, she was into a job which offered locations close enough to his probable postings. And all that they were looking forward to was his posting.

Gandhidham, his place of posting, was going to be the city where their dreams were going to be realized. It was here that they were going to start their life as ‘Them’ instead of ‘His’ and ‘Her’. Lost in these thoughts, her mind wandered to all the issues associated with this message. In her heart, she was feeling good about Gandhidham, as it offered her an easy chance of transfer. Therefore, it implied that she wouldn’t have to justify to anyone about her plans to resign from her current job in a year or two. Moreover, since the option of transfer was open, thus no one could ever blame him for the resignation.

She knew it too well that she no longer wanted to continuing working in her present organization. Gradually this desire to resign had transformed itself from the impulsive tone to that of a nagging thought, constantly barging at the inside of her head. She felt very little satisfaction in whiling away her time at office and sometimes even while at site. The sudden headache she used to have in past due to stress had been replaced by a mild but continuous headache. It was as if a bunch of flies used to attack her the moment she used to enter the office premises and these would go away only after she was back at home and had a strong cup of tea along with a heart warming talk with either her mother or him or both.

All her ideas about good work culture and delivering quality work had been changed, forcibly so. She was totally disillusioned by the system and no longer had the zeal to try changing it. She knew she was quitting early and if she stayed, may be things might get better. Moreover, in past, she herself had always argued with people who wanted to leave India for a better life that only by staying back things could be improved. But now she herself was on a similar track. However, whenever this question came up, her mind answered that she was quitting just a job but not her cause………… they will never quit their cause.

This thought led to another and she was once again lost in his thoughts. She could clearly recall the first time they had shared their dream to bring some positive change in the society. They had been so pleasantly surprised to find that individually both of them had been nurturing these plans since a long time. The fact that they both had similar opinions and plans even in this regard had only added to their bonding. That day onwards their belief grew stronger that bringing them together is a part of Bhagwaanji’s larger plan. And since then they have been making plans, minor and major, of fulfilling the task assigned to them by the Almighty. They had decided and planned that post marriage they will start some ground work for realization of their ‘big’ dream.

Thus, up till now, their aim had been to ensure that post marriage they won’t have to stay in different cities. And now it seemed that this shall happen soon, but all love and enthusiasm for her current job had started to flicker. In her heart she felt that root cause behind her disillusioned mind, behind the adjusting, ever-compromising system was to be found at more basic ground level. More so, she felt that if she has to toil, why not let it happen for a cause which leaves her feeling pleased and gratified at the end of each day. An idea had started taking shape in her mind and she was really keen on ‘Catch them young….’ philosophy.

However, the fact remained that all these ideas were too vague to be visualized and too complicated to be understood by anyone else………except him. He was her support, a pillar she could lean on in times of happiness and in times of sorrow. He emanated faith and hope and gave her the strength to go on irrespective of whatever was happening around them. And both of them knew that her resignation will not receive many favourable responses by others, definitely not right after the marriage. Thus, Gandhidham looked like their best bet; the best offer life had presented before them in this context. However, she really wanted to hear his version first, before she started formulating any opinions, after all it was he who would continue working. Moreover after her bittersweet experience of office life, she definitely didn’t want any hassles in his work, even though she knew well enough that he has always handled stress and pressure in a much better way and he shall continue to do so. Yet she hoped to hear his voice full of expectations and happiness when he would finally call her. She remembered that once he had told her that GIMB was good from his job aspect as well.

Also, her impatient, waiting mind wandered on some other tracks, bringing in front of her visuals of post marriage life. She imagined their home, she imagined herself doing the household chores, waiting for him to return home for dinner. She imagined them living together and going around places, taking walks, watching movies and many similar activities. Till now these activities were always part of a menu card with ‘Choose any two’ written in the beginning. She really looked forward to their marriage. And though, till yesterday, all she had wanted to know was where life was taking them to, now she had whole new dreams shaping up. She wondered at the irony of life, on one side it had been their dream to get his posting; now the posting itself had opened up so many different avenues for them, to set her dreaming once again.

With her heart torn between apprehension and expectation, she waited impatiently for him to call; before she could make up her mind to tell her heart to feel happy or sad; before she could decide whether it was an accomplishment of their dreams so far or whether it was going to be a new start.

Archives: For Shades

For Shades

& all those who are still dreaming of it

4th August 2003 was the day I got myself registered at NITJSR and thus began my tryst with the journey of Jamshedpur; four years of a roller coaster ride, ups & downs, some great moments as well as well as some really bad experiences…………One thing that unifies our all the students of our dear college is that whoever is going to read the opening para of this feel shall be able to identify with sentiments expressed therein……. Now after 2 years of passing out as Batch 2k3, when I look back to the period of 2003-07 what I remember the most other than the wonderful friends I met there is SHADES. When I make this statement, many of the readers might find it to be kind of a superficial, superimposed speech, but I trust a few of those who have spent time with the shades team in 212 and 222, shall be able to reciprocate this feeling.

My first encounter with SHADES was under the guidance of 2k batch, and my first reaction was of a pleasant surprise. After so many disappointments of 1st yr college life, SHADES was like a breeze of fresh air, to see and join a handful of students turning an ED room into a fine arts exhibition hall and that too with such decorations where the room itself looked like an excellent exhibit. That year for SHADES 04, a very simple theme of Fire was chosen, we had decorated the walls in shades of yellow and red and a few other simple designs were put up at the entry/exit, but the overall outcome was very pleasant……

SHADES 05 was an experience where I got a glimpse of what goes on behind the scene and how things are actually executed to make the event a success. The theme that year was ‘Village’ and it was by far the most well executed theme, beautifully done and pretty simple as well. The walls were covered in brown using a hand made paper. Special hoods were made for the windows from hay and a beautiful mandap was erected in the center of the hall, again made from hay and decorated by earthen bells and pots. However, that year I learnt most about the execution skills from 2k1 batch seniors. The only drawback that year was that for a lot of Hay work, craftsmen were hired and this was the area we decided to work on for the years to come.

SHADES 06; well it brings me a lot of sweet and sour memories. A very diverse theme was chosen which called for a lot of skilled work; however we failed on the planning aspect involved. With due support from the senior batch, 2-3 of our batch-mates took charge of room no. 212 and with whatever little time we had, we tried our best to do justice to the theme – Universe. The effect was that whole solar system was fit into the ED room along with an alien’s colony as well. And for the all achievements of SHADES’06 credit goes to the enthusiasm of few dedicated new kids on the block J, well I m referring to the then 1st yr students of 2k5 batch. Well, whatever we could manage, overall result was okay, there were a lot of short falls (major one being that we could barely keep up with the assigned time schedule I had to attend the inaugural in the same dirty clothes I had been wearing during the work since past 3-4 days :D ). Some of the important lessons our group learnt during that phase were the aspects of time and resource planning and also the importance of keeping the individuals working with one-self motivated, involved, content and also to ensure that they get their due credit and recognition.

SHADES 07, is of course the one closest to my heart, because at all previous events, we had the guidance of our seniors and also had to rely upon their decisions for everything. They were no saints and nor were we. However for us, a group of 3-4 students of 2k3, SHADES ’07 was a challenge and an opportunity at the same time. We wanted to prove ourselves and also set up an example for all the SHADES to come. Our goals were clear; however the path was not so easy. First of all a lot of planning was done to decide the right theme and also its contents. Secondly the next most important aspect was to ensure availability of folks to work as the scheduled dates were just after Holi and hence it was essential to motivate crowd enough and well in advance. Vaise don’t get me wrong, its not that the entire 1st yr & 2nd yr batch turned up to work, however 500 students are not required to make one Shades. Once we were successful in calling students into the hall for the first time, it was the environment of the hall and the assurance that their efforts shall fetch them the deserving credit and accolades which made some 25-30 of them stay back and lend their helping hand. Also, our experience of previous year had taught us a bit about managing people, about dividing them into teams, making them feel involved and responsible in their team and also making them realise that their work was important to the club and Shades. Also, one of the most important aspects was to understand the fact that these students from 1st yr and 2nd yr were also humans and they might have some personal commitments/dreams. Nothing authorized us to treat them as either robots or bonded labour. When this kind of limited autonomy was given to one and all working for Shades 07, we were flooded with more and more unique and creative ideas and more importantly with people willing to execute those ideas and turn them into reality. Thence finally all were witness to a SHADES hall which could boast of a mermaid’s colony, wrecked ship with treasure box, a crocodile, an octopus and numerous sea creatures swimming on the walls of a huge Ocean. Looking back, if I am asked to state one achievement of Shades 07 which I feel was the greatest among all, I have only one answer; all of us got ample time to dress up well for the inaugural, the room was cleaned and exhibits displayed well in advance.

Well if anyone, after reading this article on Shades, feels that may be organizing shades was done as public welfare of college only, I have some clarifications to offer. Shades is an experience that I can never forget, not only because of the laurels it brought for the club and myself in person, but also because of the experiences I had, have helped me on every front of life. I have till date given three job interviews; two while in college and one after passing out. During the HR part of all of these, I was able to give reference to my experiences of Shades and could answer in a much better way. Also, during last 6 months I have had some near Shades experiences on my job front as well. And though time and space don’t permit me to describe it all in detail, I can assert with full conviction that those four Shades have really helped me to evolve as a person.

To all those involved in preparations for Shades 09 and dreaming of making it a huge success, here are a few tips from what I have learnt so far. First of all, your batch is immaterial, what matters most (even more than the skill) is your dedication and the amount of effort you are willing to put in. Shades is a team work and no single person can make or break it, however it’s the effort of one and all combined together which counts. Making shades happen doesn’t necessarily means being involved 24 x 7 but it does mean that whatever time u spend, u do it willingly with sincerity and dedication. Junior batches are full of energy, they just need a direction and it’s the duty of the senior batches to utilize their (the junior’s) energies in the right way, also it is your chance to set up an example and give them a glimpse of what SHADES is meant to be and how they should carry the tradition forward in years to come. Last but definitely not the least, planning is of utmost importance, a well planned complicated theme can be executed in a much better fashion than even a simple unplanned one. Lastly, my best wishes to all of you and the club. May dear God help and guide you all in making Shades 09 a grand success.

With best wishes,
Kinshuk
12.09.2009

(The above article was written on request of a 2k5 junior who was having difficulty convincing junior batches for working for FACES)

Archives: Reasons

REASONS

She woke up to the sound of her alarm, it was already 6. She had planned to get up an hour earlier today; she had been postponing some tasks for too long. However, now she couldn’t gather the will to slip out of the sheets and get going. She tried closing her eyes and snatching some more minutes of the precious rarity; sleep, but failed even at this. She just lay still, staring at the ceiling, the fan and suddenly realized that it was time for payment of bills, but she was in no mood of thinking about them, then. Her eyes wandered to the walls and some patches caught her attention. She had promised herself, this year she will definitely have the house repainted, but the year was drawing to an end. Anyways she thought, and pushed all the worries out of her mind. She wanted to think about something happy; she wanted to remember her youth, her friends and…..

She could very well recall the last day they had spent together, before they separated. It was a bright sunny morning. They were sitting in their favourite spot near that lake and trying to keep their tears from falling by keeping quiet. Finally they could not hold it any longer; he had asked, “You are really keen on this. Is nothing going to change your mind?” All she could reply was, “You know everything and even my reasons” He took her hands in his. He felt so warm. They had spent the rest of the day sitting like that, holding hands as tears marked two paths on their cheeks. The next morning he had gone and even her life got back on track gradually.

She lay still in bed, and tried to recall the day she had told him about her decision. They had gone on a coffee date and she had been unusually quiet. He had asked her many times, “What’s the matter dear, what’s troubling you so” but she had yet not gathered enough courage to speak out her mind. Finally as they paid the bills, she knew, it was now or never. She had asked him to stroll a little before going home. He took her hands, she was sweating really badly. She had managed to say, “I can’t come with you.” He was shattered. He couldn’t believe what he heard. Theirs had been a ten year old relationship and now she was asking him to go alone. How could this be? They had the best understanding and even though he had feared that something of this type was coming, he had been praying for them to remain together. But, today, life was falling like a house of cards. She had finally given voice to his greatest fears, and he knew argument will not help their case. He closed his eyes for two moments, took hold of himself and then put his arms around her. He drew her in a hug and managed to say, “I understand dear, but I will always love you.” They had parted that way.

She thought about the days that had followed. Her guilt had been so high, but he had supported her. He explained to her about God’s bigger plan. He explained that living distantly wouldn’t diminish their love. He had made her understand that perhaps they could get back together later in life.

She had no desire to climb out of bed. She cherished every memory of him, loved recalling them. It calmed her. It gave her strength. She thought about the time when he had come running to her place with an envelope fluttering in his hand. “My project has been selected. Two years of hard work is beginning to repay.” He was just so happy. They had celebrated that day in their typical style; two cups of coffee, handful of matharis and soft music in background. However, this happiness had a tinge of sadness involved. This meant he would be working abroad for next five years. This implied that she would have to leave her wards, and this was a tough decision.

Three years ago, when he was just figuring out methods to improve the construction technologies, she had started this scheme called ‘Sparsh’. She had gathered a group of seven boys and girls, all issues of the fourth class employees of the neighbourhood, and had started teaching them. Education, she felt was of utmost importance. In these three years she had realized their strong and weak points very well. She was working hard towards making them self dependent, responsible citizens of the nation. She had her dreams for these children, but if she was to go away, all her hard work will have been in vain. She had actually fought with the parents of her wards so that they could study. She knew if she would go away, the girls would be married off and the boys will end up with their fathers’ jobs. It had been a tough task and she could not leave it incomplete. The best part had been that he had understood her thoughts. He didn’t pressurize her to accompany him. Instead they had decided to carry on with their paths, with the faith that they will meet again in future.

Future, she thought about, and realized that it was time to wake up finally. Her eldest ward was appearing for his first board exam today. She had to wish him luck. She got off the bed thinking about the tasks she had to finish today, the faith undeterred that one day God will reward them for their sacrifice, after all they all had their reasons.

*~~~~~***~~~~~*

The above story has been published in the college magazine (issue of 2007 Spring Semester).

Who Am I ?????

Nice title, isn't it? As I typed it, I wondered at its symmetry, 3 letters, then 2 & then 1 :) It looks good this way. I deviate from my topic so easily, I thought I would write something about myself and instead I got lost into this wonderful pattern.

So, coming back to my topic let me start from the intentions behind this post. Actually, when I finally decided that I would join this brigade of online writers, Blogger asked me to create my profile and one prominent question it asked me during the process was ‘About me……….(in not more than 1200 characters)’. Now reading this set me into deep thought and I kept wondering that how do I express my thoughts about my ownself in just 1200 characters (which includes space and full stops as well, just imagine :) That was when I thought about writing a post on myself. Of course this was followed by the thought about writing a post on him, but the truth remained that I didn’t start either of the posts.

Now the above paragraph is logically followed by a question that what impelled me to write today and that to why I started with the one about me. Actually, today has been a very happy-go-lucky day for me since morning. Some days everything seems to fall our way and such days fill our heart with a lot of happiness and joy. Today has been such a day for me and since morning I had been thinking about writing something about the simple things of life which fill us with so much happiness. But as the case is, writing a dil-se piece while in office is not so easy all the time, there are so many interruptions and breaks in between. As a result, even though I did start my piece on ‘the wonders of simple joy’, I could not proceed more than the initial few lines. However my mind was totally distracted from ‘Work’ and hence I started doing some random searches on Google.

On an impulse I searched about Jamalpur and then Jamalpur Gymkhana. (Why am I so obsessed with anything and everything connected to him, I really don’t know? But this is an OCD which I guess is incurable.) I found many articles but only two of them caught my fancy. There was one articles by someone born and brought up there and had been written with the same sense of belongingness which I feel for Lucknow. It was beautifully written and presented a picture I had never seen before. I did my best to suppress my urge to comment and congratulate the author on her wonderful composition. The second article was from a Gymkhana resident and talked about the things I have heard ‘him’ talk about so often. When I explored this second article, I realised that it was penned by a batchmate of his (who happens to be an excellent writer). Again I had an intense desire to read further, to comment, but once again I successfully suppressed this urge. And this time as I told myself that I should not do anything stupid (Read -- anything which might make ‘him’ feel uncomfortable), I thought of ways to convince my heart and during this tussle I was confronted with the ultimate question “Who am I?” (At that moment this question was meant to probe the ‘officialness’ of my relation with him, and was aimed at making my ‘mann’ understand that it is still not time when I should take such liberties.) And although this thought had presented itself in a different context, but it made me take the decision of writing this post.

So after this long introduction cum justification, let me come to the main point. The question still remains, “Who am I?” Answering this question is like looking through a Kaleidoscope, the pattern changes at every shift of angle and the answer changes at every change of context. Some 5 years back when I had to answer this question on a social networking site, I had made a précis like statement and had called myself ‘a serious not so ambitious girl, who wants to keep everyone around her happy’. This still explains a lot about me, I am still a serious person, and not at all ambitious, and I really want to keep people around me happy, but this statement presents only the good points about me. It looks like a statement where only the merits are being highlighted as if in a marketing campaign. Therefore, I think I need to delve a little deeper into this topic.

If I look at this question from the academic cum professional angle, I would say that I am a qualified engineer (as per my degree, please don’t question my knowledge, I would fail, I am sure) and am presently working in a reputed downstream OMC PSU of the country. I am independent in terms of my financial needs (though not in terms of my investment decisions :) I am living alone, in a flatlet provided by my company, in a city which is better known for its historic battleground than anything else. I look after myself as far as my material (read daily living) needs and I am one of the most prized customers of more than one mobile service providers (because I use 3 different connections for remaining connected to my family, friends and him). I spend around 10% of my monthly average salary in paying up these mobile bills.

I am living the life of an average upper-middle middle class Indian and many people will be happy to be in my place. It doesn’t mean that I am not happy with my life. I hail from a good family where my independence is valued. I have a set of few but good close friends with whom I share a lot. And to top it all, dear ‘Bhagwaanji’ has blessed me with him as a partner. (And I hope to be a part of his family soon.) The best part about my relation with him is that before we became a couple, we became best friends. That is how I had always imagined it to be. We became friends, then best friends and then we decided to carry our understanding further. And since last 6 years we have been waiting to cross the line and get the official tag of ‘us’. As is obvious from so many of my posts, he is at the centre of my world, therefore it is but natural that he gets a proper mention in the post intended at exploring the fundamental question of ‘Who am I?’ In fact, to a certain set of people my answer to this question would be simple one-liner; “I am ‘his’ girl” and this sentence will say it all :) Before we got into this relationship, I had never imagined that stating a fact of this sort would ever fill me with such immense happiness and pride, but this is what the reality is :)

I have answered the prime question in some of the worldly contexts but I am yet to state much about myself as a person. Actually, according to me, I am a simple person who gets awed by anything hi-fi. It is difficult for me to make friends easily, but once I befriend anyone, it shall take me very less time to open up my life’s book. Earlier, I was very non adjusting and non compromising types, but then life teaches its lessons and I have learnt a few of mine. Still, I tend to be short tempered esp. in matters pertaining to my office. Rather, I should say that I tend to get irritated easily and have some amount of OCD regarding keeping my things systematic and tidy (now this is a very ‘perspective issue’, hence opinion differences do occur) Many a times I tend to have a very rigid thinking and I often don’t accept changes easily, but it also depends upon the person initiating the change (Read – if he proposes ‘anything’ I take it as an oracle.) Though I like to present myself as very tough and strong and brave, but I get nervous easily and tend to crumple (internally) under stressful situations. I give way to my tears easily in front of him and never in front of others. I depend just so much on him, from the simplest decisions to advice on tackling office related problems.

I try to be honest in everything I do and to uphold the values I have been taught as a child. Sometimes I try to shun from the realities of life and question why real life is not as good as it seems in books. This reminds me that I am an avid reader, books have been my oldest friends (and b’day gifts too). I have evolved from reading fairy tales and children books to reading classics and sci-fi and presently I have developed a liking for the more realistic type of writings. Also, I like to write articles and stories and love to compel people into reading these. He is very supportive and appreciative about my prose and praise from him fuels my desire to write further. Also, I like to make creative gifts/cards/wall hangings and other such display items. (Sometimes I wonder if I do all these acts just to get some praise from my loved ones.) And though I feel very shy in displaying my written talent, I love to show off my craft work. I lovingly call my craft work ‘Junk-art’ but he teases me a lot on this, because I am usually buying some bits of this n that and with these ‘new’ items, I create ‘junk’ art :)

About my personality, I find myself to be an average looking Indian girl. As mentioned earlier, I am not a very outgoing person and am not very confident about my appearance, but he loves me the way I am and so I love myself the way I am. Last but not the least (what a useful phrase), I think a lot, I worry a lot and I love to plan a lot. I have filled just too many pages about the title issue but I am still unsure about if I have answered it sufficiently. I skipped some really important issues in between, like whether I am happy with my job, when I say I am not ambitious then what exactly is it that I am aspiring for, what do I really want from my life, what are my future plans and what more do I plan to write further. These issues are not directly related to the answer of ‘Who am I?’, but the answers to these define me as a person. But then, I guess we can never claim to have seen ALL patterns of a Kaleidoscope, life is more about living rather than answering mundane questions as WHO AM I?

Archives - Ladies Waiting Room@ NDLS Station

As I had mentioned earlier in my first post, I have been 'writing' since '98 even though I have started making my work public very recently. Now, after successful completion of my first online series, which received a very appreciative and motivating response from him and quite a positive feedback from many other people, I have come up with yet another 'series' idea.

This series by the name of 'Archives' is meant to be a collection of some good articles (by my assessment) I have wriiten in past before I started posting blogs. It is quite likely that some of you might have already read many of such articles (given my demanding nature :P), but I am one credit-hungry girl (as someone had called me in recent past) and therefore, I start this new attempt to attract attention.

PS::

#1. This series is not going to be of a continuous kind, hence its useless to anticipate its end, because I am not sure about that :P

#2. Also, the articles are being posted in totally random order, irrespective of chronography or any other possible method of classification.

So here I start.

Ladies Waiting Room @ NDLS Station

31st October, 2009; 20:00 hrs

Hi, Carrying a railway time table is often handy, particularly when one wishes to analyse one’s train’s route, delay and other travel plans. However, this is one use of an IR TT which neither the IR nor I myself had ever imagined to be making of it. The shine in my eyes and the smile on my face made a good Kodak moment, at the sight of this whole blank, ruled sheet of paper with the heading ‘NOTES’. I have been in quite a thoughtful mood since morning and ever since I boarded a bus from PNP to Delhi, a sudden, intense desire to write something surged within me. The most interesting part was that today was one of those rarest of rare occasions when piece of blank sheet of paper, in my luggage, was limited to a small spiral notebook in my purse. I imagined myself sitting in LWR@NDLS and filling sheets and sheets of it with my thoughts; every individual sentence taking 2-4 sheets to complete, due to my fondness for writing long, really long sentences. Thus my happiness is quite obvious. Vaise, I was just wondering that I have spent half of this precious page in just emphasising about my happiness and the associated justifications. Very soon, I’ll be running out of paper once again. What am I going to do then? I’ll most probably be guided by my first instinct in that case. When I had opened up this TT, I had plans of using the backside of the IR India map for the purpose of unloading my mind. I guess I’ll continue on the map once it’s over……………….

Vaise, I’ve observed, I am pretty good at making bhumikas. (What will this world be, if denied of the beautiful Hinglish we Indians speak and write?) However, (coming back to the original topic), good bhumikas don’t serve much purpose (and earn the title of being chaat) if not supported by equally good body and conclusion. (I have a very genuine comparison in my mind regarding this, a very apt upma, but lets refrain from it; it being a publicly written article in all the possible spaces of an IR TT :) Vaise, all inquisitive readers, are most welcome to ask me personally :) Another, deviation and what if statement --> What will this world be, if devoid of the highly expressive smileys?) Fine, CBOT (stands for Coming Back to Original Topic), I was talking about good bodies for good…………. [cont….. on map :)]

[cont….. from NOTES]

…...starts. Enough of bhumika done, I had been wondering ki what more to write to substantiate this use (or misuse, as some might say) of IR paper. [Hey readers, you might feel I am obsessed with IR; well all I have to say is that Yess you are right.] Moving, further, as I was writing, an aunty approached me and asked ki what I am writing, I really didn’t know how to reply. May be she was well acquainted with the ways of people my age, because immediately after the question she gave me MCQs options: (a) Story (b) Dictation via MP3 (c) Diary….. For me the right option was (d) None of the above. However, my post engineering encounter with MCQs have taught me one thing, that once B.Tech is over, (d) and (e) (all of the above) options are seldom correct. Add to it that the aunty had spoken with a very motherly smile and I was in a good mood since eve, I chose (c) which she accepted readily. We had a little chit chat and the she left for Bhusaval. Now, once she left I remembered a similar encounter I had at LWR@NDLS few months back. In that particular trip, I was thankfully carrying a badda wala note book with lots of blank sheets. I had lots of time and India had a cricket match. Outcome was that all my friends and most importantly Aks was busy and I was free. Even the LWR was comparatively crowded that day. I started writing a letter to Aks. Another aunty, sorry another girl (married and 3-4 years elder to me) was sitting one seat away from me, and to my utter dismay and horror, was busy peeping in my letter. Just imagine my plight, but it didn’t really affect me much due to my years of training in hiding my exam copy from my neighbour with the help of a pencil box, hanky, exam paper and what not. So, ultimately I was able to dodge her well (so much so, that I even mentioned her act to Aks in that letter :)

Vaise being different attracts attention for sure. Right now, there are some 9-10 ladies (and a few kids) in the waiting room, and I am enjoying the experience of having 4-5 pairs of eyes dedicated to me totally. (Actually out of the balance uninterested people, 3-4 are quite detached from everything surrounding them and 1-2 have declared me to be psycho and are ignoring me in full swing.)

There was one particular baby-kid in this waiting room, until a short while ago, whom I really wanted to mention in this unique entry. (Calling this prose an entry means, even I have accepted it to be a diary. However, before I mention the baby-kid, oh, I just remembered the correct word, toddler; so before I mention the toddler (who came back just now), I want to write about a particular grandma sitting just a seat from me. Actually the poor lady is really old and all an also happens to be suffering from pyriah. Actually she suddenly caught my attention by her sheer presence and distracted me from the baby. Okies, coming back to the toddler; he is small, cute, pretty and shaitan as all toddlers are, when the observer is in a good mood. On any different day, I might have called him small, noisy, hyper-active and ‘Dennis the menace’ types. However, one thing about this baby, I shall always praise and that is his shoes. They have little red lights, just above the sole, which twinkle as he walks…… I have a great affection towards these two particular varieties of shoes; (1) which tweet and queak when one walks (2) which display disco lights when one walks. I really want to have one such pair for myself, have actually asked Aks to get me one such pair :)

Moving further on, its 21:00 hrs now, I have been writing continuously since last one hour except for the brief chit chat with the Bhusaval aunty. And the hard fact at this moment is that I am nearing end of half map right now, also nearing the time of my train. After all, although I enjoy sitting in LWR@NDLS a lot and can spend hours at stretch out here, feeling pretty much at home, still my main motive for coming here is to get on board LKO mail, at least for today……………..

So lets start winding up. By the way, I am quite confused as to when did I end the bhumika and start the body, or to be even more precise, if I at all wrote a body; good or bad shall depend on you my dear reader and more than you, it will depend on your mood :) Chalo, signing off for now, with a sweet smile and a big sign.

Take care, have a good life.

KINSHUK DAS 31.10.2009, 21:10 p.m.