T-3 (Train Travel Tale)

Couple of years back me along with my parents were travelling to Nagpur.We reached the Bhopal railway station to catch the train and realized that it has been delayed by 2 hours owing to the heavy fog in Delhi (that was in January).We were waiting  patiently when there was an announcement “Kripya dhyan de gadi no.**** apne nirdharit samay se 5 ghante deri se chal rahi hai”. Our heart sank to know that the train was 5 hours late.

One of my dad’s friend (Uncle D) in railway department was appointed there.We spoke to him if we could get reservation in some other train.He said that there is one super express train coming in another 20 min,we could board that but an additional 20 Rs/- per passenger (surcharge)would be required because our ticket was of a passenger train.

All this conversation took 10 minutes,time was flying and we just had 10 minutes to cross two platforms stand in queue,get the ticket and come back and catch the train.

Now my father is not in a healthy state to do so much physical exertion,so mum decided to go with dad’s friend and collect the ticket.

 So off she went with uncle D and we (dad and me) waited for the train.As soon as the train arrived we were in two minds to get into the train or not as mom had not returned (and she had the tickets to be upgraded from passenger to express train).We finally decided to get into the train and wait till mom returns.If she is able to return in time well and good else we will get down the train.

 And then suddenly train started moving…….what wait stop the train mom has not returned,thought I.Dad thinking arre roko meri biwi station per reh gayi 🙂

Amidst of all this confusion dad decided to get (read jump) off the train with all the luggage.

Imagine a situation train is moving slowly dad shouting lets get off the train and I shouting no dad we cant jump—All other passengers staring at us and thinking either its some movie shooting for Bhopal Doordarshan or we were crazy daddy daughter duo 🙂

Finally something clicked me and I just went and pulled the chain to stop the train (wow that rhymes:-))

 And withing seconds the train stopped.Dad got surprised and thought finally the railway heard his heart’s vocie of his wife being left behind at the station 🙂

He looked at me and said:arre train ruk gayi!!!

Me:(smiling) Yeah I know coz I pulled the chain

He:What??? (he was shell shocked and did not how to react :-))

 In no time Police force came and enquiries were made as to who pulled the chain.Everyone looked at me and I accepted it.They asked me to get down from the train .I obliged and questions were fired at me as to why I pulled the chain.I got scared and spoke some gibberish and managed to inform them that I knew Uncle D.I saw mom coming from one direction and Uncle D from other.But wait they both went together I was expecting them to come from same direction.Uncle D spoke to them and they allowed us to board the train.

 In the train:

Mom:What made you pull the chain?

Me: arre what else would I have done.You dint come back

Mom:So what you could have travelled with dad

Me:But you had the tickets

Mom:hmm

Me:But how come you came from other direction and Uncle D from other?

Mom(laughing):Arre as soon as I reached here the train started moving so I got into the compartment which was in front of me and thought I would walk through all the compartments and reach you people and uncle D went to his cabin (yeah I agree mom is smart)

Me:Oh,we dint see you in our compartment so we pulled the chain 🙂

 After some time two guards came and took us to the superintendent(S) who had a cabin booked int the train.

S:#@^%$^&

Me:Sorry Sir I dint get you

S(Loudly):#@^%$^&

Me(after realizing that it is some south indian language):Sorry Sir I do not understand  south indian languages.

S:ok,do you understand english?

Me (thinking dint I speak the above two sentences in english?still he is asking if I understand english):Yes Sir

S:So why did you pull the chain.

Me:My mom was left behind ,she could not get in ,so I pulled the chain.

S:But pulling chain is illegal

Me:Yes sir I know but the situation was such that there was no other option than to pull the chain.

S:But then its a crime and it should not be used.

Me(irritated):If it is a crime and should not be used then why has railway provided this option?

S:Oh so now you are asking ‘ME’ questions.

Me:I tried explaining you by giving answers.You did not understand ,so I thought I’ll explain it to you by asking questions.

S (with a confused look):What?

Me:Nothing Sir,forget it.

S:Ok you can go but next time dont get into the train if your mom is not able to get in.And if you do then get down before the train starts,ok?

Me:Yes Sir. (now pulling his leg) What if dad is in the train and mom is on the platform then what should I do?

S:(scratching his head) What?

Me:Nothing Sir,I’ll not repeate the mistake

S:ok

 And with this ladies and gentlemen we became the STAR (entertainer) of the day,with every other co-passenger and vendor asking us to narrate the entire story 🙂

 

They Need to Grow up….

I went to the water filter and returned back only to find my cell phone missing from my desk…I mean dint I get this smart phone 15 days back from hubby as gift and can i really afford to loose it?

Anyways panick strikes me and I run to the reception and request him to inform the securities on all 6 floor and  pantary in basement too.In the meanwhile I thought of searching in the loo but no luck to find there.I franatically run towards the filter again to recheck and then run back to the desk to check if  I might have kept it in my bag…But no, cell phone was not to be found anywhere 😦

 Meanwhile a colleague of mine found me running crazy here and there.She asked me what the issue was (may be she thought i was fired with the way i ran all around :-)),I informed her of the unfortunate incidence that took place.She looked all upset,sympathised with me and then suddenly a bulb moment for her :

 She:Hey I left my blackberry at my desk

Me:Oh run run before it disappears from your desk

She:Oh yes,you too come along,the admin team sits there we’ll inform them

Me:Ok

 So the two of us reach at her desk and luckily her blackberry was to be found at its place.We then went to the admin team (AT)

 Me:I lost my cellphone from my desk blah blah

AT:Oh is it?

They called on my number and it was ringing.

By then it was 2:30 good half an hour of loosing the cell.

 AT:Lets go to panatry all office boys are having their lunch and check with them

And so all three of us 2 AT and yours truly went there to enquire.The office guys refused to have any clue.And AT kind of threatend them to tell the truth or else there will be actions taken against them.Poor office guys were scared and I felt bad for them.

 We informed one of the HR’s too and the usual question if I suspected anyone were asked.

 HR:were any office boys there when you lost the phone

Me:yes

HR:Lets ask them

Me and AT:we already did that and they have no clues about it

HR:Was anyone else there,think may be some system admin

Me:Yes two of them were there.They were installing MySQL in one of the systems

AT:oh come then lets check with them

 We enquired (read accused) the same from system admins.They too said they had no clues and I again felt guilty as we were doubting the innocnet people.

Finally we decided to go back to my seat and check there

By then my cubicle mates returned.I asked them.One of them was clueless.The other lady ‘V’ said ‘R'(another cubicle mate) has hid it just to play a prank .Everybody sighed with relief,except me.I was furious.

 Me:How could he do that,play a prank for 1 1/2 hour and here I am troubling everyone .From admin team to system admin to HR to office boys

Where is he?I need to speak to him

V:He has already left for the day.

That was it I lost my calm and gave a lecture to no one in particular on corporate ethics and professionalism,only to realize that the cuplrit was not present then why am I shouting on innocent people 🙂

Anyways I apologized to the admin team for wasting their time and the inconvenience caused.I rather felt very embarrasing.Later when one of the office boy (OB) came to clear off the cups from our desk, he asked if i had got back my cell.I replied in affirmative feeling little awkward to which he said:

OB (with his limited knowledge of hindi):kya madam nahi milta to humara naukri jata

Me:hmm

OB:dhyan dene ka na ,mera naam kharab hota

Me:sorry bhaiya (not able to look into his eyes)

OB:(in kannada) parvailla madam.

 

And so after searching crazy for more than a hour troubling everyone and then getting embarrased I find a prank has been played.

But my concern is,was this prank justified ?Doesnt it give an impression that we cannot trust people around us.Infact R has previously also tried to flick my sodexho meal coupon (may be just playfully,not sure) but I caught him and saved my sodexho.

 What is needed is to bring in little more maturity and to leave school/college days behind.

There is a serious need to Grow Up.

 Well I have become careful and learnt my lesson and even other too have learnt theirs.

 PS:The above mentioned person is my senior which is why I was more mad ,had it be done by juniors who are fresh from college this act could be still ok though not appreciated .

 

 

 

And finally the search ended…. :-)

In the last episode of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ there was this Bengali lady from Jharkhand who said that since she is not good looking hence nobody wants to get married to her. She was so upset when she said this and had tears in her eyes 😦

Now this sentence did really touched me and I had mixed feelings of sympathies for her and anger on guys who have such thoughts. This situation which she narrated is rather close to my heart. It started sometime in second half of 2009 when my parents started looking suitable guy for me. Now the definition of a ‘suitable guy’ for them (or us) was an equally educated and financially independent guy (like me) hailing from a decent family.

When proposals started dropping in I got varied experience of different people around me. Let me narrate some of them:

Case 1.A lady calls my mother introduces herself as the prospective guy’s mother. Can you take a guess what was the next thing she told/asked my mother…. She:What is the complexion of your daughter (yes yes this was she asked) Mom:She is fair She:How much fair?? (My mum thinking how is she suppose to measure fairness) Mom:errr..hmm She:My son is very fair and we are looking for a girl who is fairer than him,you know it should be a good couple. Mom:Sorry I don’t think so we should take this proposal ahead She:Why is your daughter not fair ?? (What ,what is she thinking?)

Case 2.Another a lady calls at home,dad picks up the call and conversation goes as below:

She:My son was in XYZ company now shifted to ABC company.

Dad:Is it? Even my daughter was in XYZ company,she was campus recruited.

She:OK, let me share your daughter’s cell number with my son and let them talk. If my son is OK with it then I have no issues.

Dad:Ya sure after all they are the ones to get married

She:But let me tell you I have only one son and he is very intelligent you know so I have high expectations from the girl’s side in terms of marriage. Hope you understand.

Dad:ya I do

The guy calls me we start to interact with each other. Later I called mom and informed her that we can take this proposal ahead. Meanwhile we kept talking and that guy kind of hinted me that he likes me. They came to meet me in my hometown and the guy expressed his opinion and gave a positive response. However his mother was not convinced. She kept saying that she has only one son,very intelligent blah blah…which meant we need to give a big dowry.

My parents liked the guy and even I was fine with it. My dad later called them and his mum has this to say:

She:I dint like you daughter’s looks.

Dad:hmmm

She:Her front tooth has some problem?

 Dad:Ya she fell down and hence broken a part of it

She:I dint like that also,ask her to get it fixed and then take a photograph and send it to me. I’ll look at it and then decide.(What the f***)

Dad:But your son liked my daughter he is ready

She:Arre he is a kid,he does not understand and I am again reminding you we want a good marriage.

My views:Dear Auntyji,if your son (age:27)is still a kid why are you getting him married so early?Child marriage is a crime…Secondly dint you say if your son is ready then you are fine,now what happened?And you dint like my looks. Have you ever noticed your son’s growing weight and receding hairline. You say he is very intelligent,what does that mean?Dint we both get recruited in the same company through the same open campus? But then your son is worth a gem and I am not even worth of mud!!!

Case 3: We met this guy who was dark but smart personality. He rejected me in 5 minutes because I had pimples on my face.

Case 4:I met a guy who was dark,had very dumb personality,looked like he was in his mid 30’s dint have the courtesy to ask me what I want just went an ordered two hot coffees in the month of May 🙂 he rejected me saying I have under eye circles.

 Case 5 :(This is cherry on the cake) The guy’s dad after speaking to my parents said he would like to speak to me first before he shares my cell no.with his son. My parents agreed and that uncle called me. After initial discussion the conversation was this:

Uncle:I wanted to talk to you first coz my son gets irritated if I forward him the proposals directly without screening them (yeah and what basis would you screen them)

Me:Oh ok.

Uncle:Can you send me your some pictures in some western clothes the kind of dresses that today’s girls wear and not typical salwar suit and sarees. He does not like girls in saree and salwar suits (how about his own mother?he hates her too?And will I be allowed to wear those western dresses in front of you after marriage too?)

Me:Speechless,silence from my side not knowing how to react

Uncle:When can I expect the photographs?

I just wanted to say get lost, first learn the decency to talk to a girl of your own kids age and who might become your dil. I mean can we imagine our dads talking to us that way?I informed my parents but they asked to send some pics and for their sake I did . Later uncle again called my dad to ask for some more pics after which my dad promptly kept the phone down and ended the matter immediately. I really don’t know when would people’s mentality change.

 A guy’s parents need a smart,educated,working woman along with dowry and who is a blend of modernity and traditions. Even the so called educated guys are same (though there are exceptions).They want a wife who is similar to a TV which can be turned to different channels as per the situation. So in front of his parents she should be homely,respectable and an ideal DIL dressed up in saree or suit..In front of his friends she should be smart,witty with good sense of humor and dressed in westerns. The guy himself might not even have normal looks but then they all want Katrinas and Aishwaryas.

And thank you God for finally sending your angel on earth who is my husband now 🙂 and very much likes my broken tooth,he finds it cute 🙂

Life – A beautiful Gift!!!

 

It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth — and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up — that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had : Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

One morning in 2008 I along with my office teammates went toHoggenekalFalls(Tamil Nadu) Needless to say we had loads of fun there.To cut the long story lets come to the main point.

There is this place in the falls area where the boatman would leave you to play in the shallow waters.We were enjoying ourselves suddenly a girl (P) slipped and fell she asked me to help her get up.I lend my hand to her but somehow I too slipped.Now though water is shallow here (not even the knee level) we just could not get up as water went into our nose blocking the nasal cavity.The water seems still from above but underneath it has flowing currents.

And before we could realize both of us just went with the water flow.Both of  us not knowing to swim.I fell with my head down and she fell on her back.Somehow she got hold of my leg.The moment I felt the grip on my leg I was kind of relieved and I like a nuts started to call her name .Now stupid me dint even think that opening mouth in water will further worsen the situation plus sound will not travel in water.

The more I tried to shout more the amount of water went in making me go unconscious slowly.I soon realized I am gonna die.Suddenly a guilt striked me and I thought how would my mum react when she will get the news of my demise and how much would she cry.I really dont know what happened to me but thereafter I tried my best to save myself but failed miserably.At this point I gave all hopes and just thought “Why God why me??’ (call me selfish or whatever but I really wanted to live for the sake of my mum).Thats it after that I hardly remember anything just a faint memory of P letting go my leg and I moved with even more force and drowned………..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

After few seconds I realized I was on hard surface and could hear teammates voices.Slowly I did regain my consciousness but could not remember what happened or how was I saved.

It seems my teamates were playing and suddenly they realized that few (3-4)of us were missing.They thought we must have  been playing elsewhere or must have gone for a walk,when sudenly they saw white coloured cloth floating.As soon as they realized that it was P panic striked them.We had two females from Manilla who had accompanied us and one of them knew  swiming.She jumped into water swam and reached to where P was and grabbed hey by her waist and dragged her towards the edge from where another guy  helped to take P come out of water.As soon as she out she just murmured my name and cried loads (may she thought I am gone).It was then they realized that even I was getting drowned.

Little background:As soon as Gemma (Manila girl) pulled P,she let go my leg and this made me go forward  with double force and into deeper waters which finally made me unconscious.

Gemma had to swim into deep waters and grabbed me  and tried to swim.But  I was heavier than P and Gemma could not drag me.She somehow managed to wave her hand and call our teammates for help.She with lot of efforts brought me to the a level where water for a guy with 5’10 height would reach little above his waist level.One of my teammate Ro got into the water and waded to the point where we were and helped Gemma pull me out of the water.Let me tell you this guy Ro has some problem with his legs still ignoring that he helped me .

When I realized that I have been saved I just couldnt believe my luck I called up my mom and started crying endlessly.She obviously got scared and started crying without even knowing why was I crying :-).My manager then spoke to my family and assured them that I was fine.I was so upset and everyone tried to cheer me up.They called my friends in my PG and informed them about the incidence and also asked them to arrange dinner for me as it would get little late by the time we reach (it was saturday weekly off for the hostel mess).

I reached PG and my friends had ordered my favorite Garlic Bread from dominos to cheer me up:-)

I was informed that mum kept crying and I was asked to come home immediatley.My manager kind enough granted me the leave and for a change I did get the confirmed train reservation.As the train reached Bhopal I felt so guilty to make my mum suffer so much.I wanted to go back and did not want to meet her.When I finally got down at the station I just could not look into her eyes just hugged her and cried loads.Dad couldnt speak , his eyes were moist.

I learnt an important lesson that to enjoy the life to fullest.We are been blessed with such a beautiful life and instead of cribbing about stuff around its better if we could learn to appreciate things around us and live each moment.Life is too short and is very unexpected lets not waste it in hatred,ill feelings and cursing ,instead try and live a harmonious life with love and peace around us.

Also how meaningless are the materiaistic possession that we have.Its only the love of people around us which makes our life beautiful and gives a meaning to it.Had I died that day all the money and other stuff that I possess would be of no use to anyone so better to enjoy while one could.Make donations let that homeless child smile.Buy him a small toy or a notebook or just a packet of biscuits.Donate in old age homes let that unknown granny’s eye sparkle to see her favourite dish.Lets spend sometime with that grandpa there and let him bless us.Lets donate musical instruments to a blind school and help them to set up their own career.

I sincerely thanks all those people who gave me another chance to live.Specially P, Gemma and Ro guys you have given me a new life I’ll be forever indebted to you.

A special thanks to my PG friends who tried to pep me up and made me laugh they said, “Agar tu mar jati to kitna confusion hota ..tujhe cremate kahan karte tu to pani mein beheke Karnataka border aa jati per ideally to tu mari Tamil Nadu mein.Plus Madhya Pradesh wale bolte ki tu unke state se hai tujhe wahan cremate karna chaiye,atleats tu marne ke baad popular ho jati and national news mein aa jati” 🙂

 

Thank you God for making such wonderful people part of my life.They add colours to my life!!!

And we went trekking….

On 7th March 2008 we bunked from our office at round 4pm as we were going on a trip to Mudumali Hills(it means “First Hill”) near ooty through Accentuate Travel Club.The members of travel Club truly believe in excursions and adventures.

Me along with 4 other females (2 from Manila) and 2 guys from our team enrolled ourselves for this excursion.

We were given some instructions to be followed during the trip and the Do’s and Dont’s . Guys were requested to make this trip as a DRY DAY on account of Women’s Day( it was actually done to avoid any mishaps).We were asked not to litter plastic bags in and around the forest area. After the speech we were anxiously waiting for the shuttle that would take us to to our destination.

We had imagined our mode of communication as a luxurious 2*2 push back seats,air conditioned ,video coach etc etc.

All our rosy dreams were shattered when we saw series of 12 seater Swaraj Mazda standing proudly in a line one after the other just like military commandos.

For a moment I had a feeling that we were going on some war instead of some fun excursion.

8 hours long journey in those small buses looked painful coz of space crunch. We started the journey with usual antankshri and later everyone dozed off.

At 4 in the morning the buses took a halt. We got down and took rounds of hot tea as it was very chilly outside. The chills went down our spines making us go motionless.

Around 6AM we again halted for another tea break. By that time dawn broke ,sky was all orange,man it was such a beauty,greenery all around us ,the smell of different flora getting into us,the cool breeze that blew our hairs ,it was just so refreshing. Our entire hangover of the journey got instantly relieved and we felt that we were refreshed up to our souls. From this point we had to march towards our base camp,with our bag packs over our shoulders climbing up the hill and then going down to the camp was little tiring but then it was also a great fun for all of us.

At last we reached the base camps. There were concrete rooms and few tents were also set up (those were donated by some rich NRI).I wanted to exp. staying in tents in extreme cold but those tents were meant only for the couples (damn why dint i have a boy friend).Hence all 5 girls got into one room. The room just had a bulb of hardly 40 watt and there were no points to charge our mobiles( obviously no one can expect 5 star luxury in the place inhibited by the bisons and wild elephants).

The forest staff was really friendly and they gave us a warm welcome. They served us the most delicious breakfast of idlis, boilled eggs and hot wadas and ofcourse very special masala chai.After forcing ourselves to eat more than we could we set on to our mission. We had to climb up to the Mudumalai Hill which lies to north western side of Nilgiri Hills. It was like a huge family out for trekking and it gave me a feeling of oneness. As we started the trek was pretty flat but soon it became more and more inclined. People helped each other by holding hands and sometimes pulling each other on some higher steeps.

Gradually the initially charged up batteries in us started to discharge. We all took a halt sipped water and started of again. It was good to see people encouraging each other to climb and not to loose hope. Slowly sun started shining brightly and half the public started backing out. But our trek lead by his encouraging words instilled new energy in us and we started again. We made our path through narrow lane and by removing bushes and shrubs that came in our way. One bush that came in my way was really adamant and it refused to listen to me,as the path was very steep i could not keep balance and i skid but someone not only helped in clearing the bush but also helped me climb that notorious steep. This is the beauty of such excursions you get to meet so many people from different places ,different background all with a common aim to conquer the mudumalai hill. In the middle of trekking we realized that some people were missing,we called out loudly ,shouting our lungs out but still there were no sign of them. Panicked striked us ,we were worried also our cellphones had no network.

We had a tedious task of finding our mates in a dense forest and it looked like an herculean task.

Hence our mission to trek was put aside and we went in hunt for the lost people. We had lost hopes that we would find them.

The only way was to go back to the base camp and wait for others to return. A fun trip was suddenly vanished and we had mixed feeling of anger of not getting to the hill top and fear as we prayed that no unpleasant situation might have occurred with them.

But somehow we did find them and fortunately they all were safe. They had stayed back to click pictures and they had full quota of their fun while we all the time were scared to death (not fair)

After hours of our efforts we were on the hill top,Yes we made it,for a moment I felt that time has stopped and entire world is applauding for our victory.

That day I understood the real meaning of the phrase “fruits of labor”.I realized that nothing comes free. And sometimes in life the best comes to us through the toughest way. The only way to get over to bad times is to never-give-up-attitude and a-will-to-move-on.

The normally peaceful hill top was converted into a party and merry making place. And all us trying to get the best clicked picture of ourselves to be put in Orkut and facebook 🙂 The strong wind kept blowing and from the top the huts down in villages looked like small dots. The entire world seemed to covered under a thick green blanket.

It was refreshing moment and all of us had an feeling of self satisfaction which we dint feel in ages all together.

After spending some time there we started to climb down the hill. On our war back we met the forest ranger and got to visit his house. Few of the walls had horns and faces of dead animals which proudly said that they are mightier yet innocent than we human beings.

By the time we reached our base camps we were tired and completely worn out. The forest staff served us the mouth watering lunch,we ate so much that we could hardly move and slept like a log. We got up in the evening and few of us the most energetic once decided to visit Ooty. We hired the forest jeep and set to Ooty.

The city filled with pleasant fragrance of nilgiri trees welcomed us. Though we were tired but the aura of Ooty refreshed us.

We went to Botanical garden which houses some of the oldest trees .It has wide variety of flora and all species from plant kingdom ever know to mankind.

We also bought some home made chocolates which is a specialty of Ooty. Ooty is also famous for its spices and also saffron.

The ride back to our base camp was not easy as we have to go down the steep. It was dark and the forest jeep hardly had any lights. Also it was very old (probably as old as the forest itself) and we feared that it might break down anytime.

At night we had dinner and enjoyed the bonfire. As it was very cold the fire gave us the much needed comfort. We played antankshri later at around 1 AM we all went to sleep in our respective rooms. Though the forest staff provided us with the warm blankets,it was still so cold and we spent the entire night shivering. Early morning next day we all gathered near the last night’s bonfire and sipped the special masala chai.

After the breakfast we went to a water fall on the other side of the hill. The scene there was awesome. With greenery all over, the chirping of birds,the cool water making its way through stones and sweet smell of flowers made me realize that I was so close to nature. Each and every thing seemed to be God made handicrafts and it was just so perfect. We sat down there and surrendered ourselves to the nature. The nature has got an immense power to cure us from all mental tensions and worries.For a moment all us forgot our tensions and instantly felt relaxed and refreshed.

Later in the day we bid good bye to Mudumali hills and started our foot back to Bangalore. The two day stay there gave us enough strengths and positive energy which we would cherish for a long time to come. On our way we got to see lot of forest animals that included elephants,deer and bear. We clicked their pictures. There was also a herd of cows crossing and my friends from Manila thought that even cows were rare animals and started taking their pics 🙂 The simple reason for that is in Bangalore one would have a tough time in finding a single cow.

That day I realized that its high time we human beings should pledge to save our mother nature and preserve this planet for our future generations.

We have got it from our forefathers and its our duty to take care of our earth and pass it to the next generation,thus maintaining the heredity.

Finally I got to travel by….??

I was getting late for office but was determined to get a BMTC bus .Everyday I pledge the same and land up taking a rick.So today with all confidence and determination to catch bus I walked towards the bus stop only to realize that no buses were available 😦 Just one bus of some different route was about to start .I got into it and thought of getting down 3 stops later and catch another bus from there. I was immensly happy and proud of myself to catch a bus.

Just when I was celebrating this festive ocassion the conductor came to collect the tickets.I slid my hand in my bag to get the wallet then suddenly a mini heartache wat where is the wallet????????? I got scared I was sure conductor is gonna humiliate me…The bus halted at the first stop and smart me quickly got down from the bus (ofcourse without paying).I was panicking like a criminal running with police behind him.I sighed with relief.

Then thought of calling hubby to come to the stop and to hand me the wallet.Meanwhile I was preparing myself to hear a sweet music (read lecture) of how careless I am from him.But then suddenly I felt some thing like my wallet inside my bag.I pulled it out and then what..needless to say it was wallet.

Oh how happy I was,I saw the bus moving, shouted my lungs out to stop the bus. “Stop maadi bahiya”, running behind the bus like a moron.People who were there on the bus stop witnessing the entire scene thought I am real crazy woman to first get down from the bus then wait for the bus to go and the suddenly run behind the bus to stop it 🙂 They stared at me and I just smiled at them.

I then walked till the next stop and my watch showed me that it was 9:30.It was already late and no sign of any bus.Guess what happened next… I finally got into a rick as usual and reached office in a record time of 20 minutes. But still I managed to travel atleast till 1 stop in a bus na (somthing is better than nothing) and that to free 🙂

And I take her for granted :-(

I am the only daughter of my parents.I mean I do have two elder brothers but have always missed having a sister.I studied in a girls school where my classmates would have lunch with their younger/elders sisters in the same school and it  made me long for a sister. My mum came to know how badly I miss having a sister since then she has played multiple role of a sister,a friend,a guide and ofcourse a mother.

During my teenages I grew closer to my mum and shared all secrets with her,you know those girlie talks 🙂 Yeah I was that close to her and she gave me such comfortable zone that I could I disclose all my secrets to her 🙂 She would take it very sportingly and would explain matters to me keeping all her calm.So in a age when girls turn away from their moms and keep away secrets I was the one who would gladly speak to her and take her guidance whenever needed.

 In my family my mum has always been in a better health **anti jinx**  as compared to my dad.My dad is a heart patient .We have always seen my mom stand strong and has been our rock support.She was the one who took a decision of taking my dad to Apollo Hospitals,Chennai for heart related issues.My dad used to sleep early after taking medicines which left  mom to sit with us for our stuides and handle all our school related stuff.

 6 years back when my elder brother got married mum equally shouldered the responsibilty along with dad.At times she did more than dad as we never wanted to exert dad physically nor mentally.

Later coz of all the tensions that my mum underwent she was diagnosed with blood sugar.It was that time when I realized all these years I have never seen her fall sick.And today she is having this sugar problem.I kinda broke down but still mum stood strong and cheered us all.

 Still everyone in my family (including me) would call and ask about my dad’s health,nobody even bothers to ask how mom is probably coz she is always smiling and never let us know her ailments.Everyday when I call I would ask if dad is fine and I would hardly ask her about her health and would assume she would be fine.

 During our childhood my dad would be more worried about the health of his kids.A slight sneeze and cough from our side would worry him to no end.But somehow even he failed to check with mum’s health. He thought if she falls sick who would take care of his darling kids.My mom kept all of us above everything and ignored her health.At times when my dad would ask her to take care of her health she would laugh and say ,‘Arre mein to super strong woman hoon,mujhe kuch nahi hota’

 Last weekend conversation with my mil made me realize how for granted I take my mom.The conversation with mil went as follows:

 MIL:mummy papa se baat ho gayi?

\Me:haan

MIL:kya kar rahi thi mummy?

Me:Bas aise hi TV dekh rahi thi.

MIL:tabiyat theek hai unki

Me:oh mein to poochna hi bhool gayi 😦

MIL:hmm,papa ki tabiyat kaisi hai?

Me:Papa theek hai.

MIL:hmm,accha hai.

 

I then realized that I spoke to my mum for some 40 minutes and not even once I asked her if she is fine? How easily I ignored her .

 She is the one who always stands by my side.Be it encouraging me to do better in academics/career or how to be a better dil.She was the one who encouaged me to go forward ,be independent and make a stand of my own when I completely thought of giving up owing to the eve teasing I suffered in my hometown.She is my guiding lamp and I turn towards her whenever I need her but still I always ignore her health.

 And as I type this dad informed me she has sprained her back yet again coz of slip disc,he was very worried.This inforamtion also she dint tell me even though I spoke to her for 20 minutes.

Its heart warming to see how my dad  now takes care of his darling wife. As he is free of his responsibilties he gives all his time to his wife 🙂 Every month he visits laboratory to  get her blood  sugar level tested without fail and makes sure she takes her medicines on time.And my mum still is always busy taking care of dad’s health,yeah she’ll never change 🙂

 

They are seriously made for each other type of a couple :-)touch wood!!!I just pray to God to give her good health and long and happy life.

 For some reason the above post made me all teary eyed 😦

 

 

Food v/s Food

People in my hometown warned me of (good) food availability ever since I was to move to Bangalore.The well meaning aunties and uncles whose kids were already in Bangalore told me their kids have lost weight because of nonavailabilty of food.It made me wonder if Bangalore was some barren land or some isolated place.I was thin and they told me I am likely to loose more weight and become weak.(For all those welllwishers of mine,let me tell u in 5 years here in banaglore I have gained some 8 kgs).

I used to have breakfast and lunch in office itself and thats how I was introduced to masala
dosa.Slowly when I got bugged of eating same northindian and chineese food in office I slowlymoved to andhra mini meals.I would be honest here and accept that I couldnt take a liking to it.I then tried variety of rice viz vangi bath,bisi bele bath,puliyogare and must admit they were most yummilicously cooked.I also got to taste the rava idli and kharabath and believe me they are most tasty and healthy breakfasts.

People in north crib about how southindians eat only rice but they are not aware of the wide
variety of rice dishes that can be cooked. Similarliy people in south feel that only food that
northindians eat is wheat and potatoes..One reason may be the availabilty of a particular crop in that part and also the climatic conditions.

Every part of our country comes with its own eating habbits and trust me they all are unique in their own way.So if punjab comes with dal makhani ,makke ki roti sarson ka saag then gujarat comes with its amzaing khakra,khaman and fafra.Rajasthan has it own importance with the use of ghee and their wonderful daal baati churma is unbeatable.

MP has its very famous poha jalebi,puri and aloo ki subzi and samosas.UP’s tikki chat is the best and so is the falooda ice-cream.Bihar has this unique way of using sattoo which help in cooling body and fighting heat.Mahrashtra’s vada pav and bhakarvadi needs no mention.

West Bengal’s sweet dishes are incomparable with it sandesh and other chena sweets

Down south in karnataka the hollige is one of the best sweet dish I ever had.Their akki roti and large variety of dosas and vada are just too tempting.The kamath yatrinivas serves the best food of ragi roti and and brinjal sabzi on banana leaf.

So is andhra with huge variety of chutney and the special ground nut and roasted chana daal powder that goes into every sabzi that they cook.The use of garlic gives this especial taste to their food.

Kerela has always amazed me with their ever green banana chips and sharkarauperi.

Its just ignorance of people staying in one part of the country hence they do not appreciate food from other parts.Some people I have come across are too rigid to even taste food from other part of the country and they feel what they cook is only the best.These people are missing so much.

It is possible that a true authentic food of a particualr region may not be available in other parts but then there is google to help one learn about it.

It is one’s mental block that prevents them from trying and enjoying the dishes which are not
from their native.Every region has its own set of some favorite spices and its ok to customize the dishes using those spices as per your taste.

Its very much acceptable that one may not like a particular cross regional dish but what is wrong is not even trying it.Food is necessary for our survival and taste come secondary and it varies from one family to other leave apart the regions.

One interesting point that I observed is north indians are more inclined in making stuff
parathas with filling of all sorts of vegetables like potato,spinach,cabbage ,cauliflower,onion,mint etc.South indians also use these vegetables but with rice. So the common point is everyone gives importance to the nutrient contents of the veggies just the way they consume it is different.

Concluding my post with wishing you all Bon Appetit!!!

Note:I am a vegetarian (though I eat egg)hence have praised only veg food from all over the
country.No idea of non veg stuff.Secondly there may be some more wonderful dishes from a particular region just that I am not lucky enough to get to taste all those yet.

My love affair (Pre and post marriage and for ever and ever)!!!

The memory lane takes me 5 years back when I first came to Bangalore and met MD…
Boy it was love at first sight….My first crush,it was like dream come true.The perfect built and
sensual looks just swapped me off my feet.
I was introduced to MD through my office colleagues…
When I got to hold hands with MD my heart skipped a multiple beats..I realized I have fallen in
love but then thought it might be just an infatuation and the spark will soon go off..
Alas I was wrong.Every weekend MD’s thought would sail through my mind.I realized I was
getting more and more attached and wanted to know everything about MD.One of my colleague
told me that MD was from South India.
One fine day collecting all my courage I called my mom and informed her about my this South
Indian love affair..My mom laughed at me and thought I have gone crazy.But I was determined
and my consistent persuasion made mom and dad come to Bangalore to meet MD.
We went to Shanti Sagar to meet MD and in the mean while ordered some food.

After 15 minutes came MD…My heart went ooohh lala!!!!
I immediately jumped and hugged MD much to my parents surprise…Ignoring everything I simply
started gulping MD down my throat….Confused??? (Plz do not re-read as u have correctly read I
indeed stared eating MD) Still wondering….
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Well MD is our very own ‘Masala Dosa’. Just Few morsel of MD made me drool all over once again.

The crisp masala dosa along with kinda sweet sambhar is my all time favorite.The red chutney
on dosa is just mind blowing…To say I am a die heart fan of Masala Dosa wouldnt be wrong.

So why this post and drama?
When I was in PG (before marriage) every saturday the mess had a weekly off…needless to
say I always wanted to eat masala dosa.My friends got bugged off me as they wanted to have
authentic North Indian food atleast once a week.In office my breakfast was mostly Masala
Dosa and sometimes omelet bread or sandwich.My friends started teasing me saying that I have
become ‘Madrasi’and dat I have started loving ‘their’ food (I have no idea how liking a particular
food will make me belong to that region and even if it does why am I looked upon as if I have
done some crime.Pheww such arguments are beyond my understanding.)

6 months back when I got married my husband came to know my this love affair 🙂
He kindly obliged to my liking and made sure I am fed masala dosa atleat once a week.
He feels I am addicted to it just like a person who is addicted to drugs and depriving me on
masala dosa will result into adverse situation 🙂

And it was yesterday my weekly qouta of Masala Dosa.My stomach was all full still I insisted on
eating the dosa.Hubby thought I would leave it half eaten as I was already full and remaining
dosa will satisfy his taste buds.But he was so wrong ,I gulped down the entire dosa in a jiffy and
husbad looked at me and the plated mouth wide open 🙂

He thought I am really crazy about this dish and should blog abt it.Hence the birth of this post!!!

Is it Men,Women….no its the ‘other’ group of the socitey!!!

Imagine a guy in late 20’s along with his newly wed wife,mom and sister travelling in a second class compartment of the train.3 eunuchs come and start touching that guy with words like ‘oye chikne’.The guy obviously gets emabarrased and gives a 10 ruppee note.

They then turned towards the next guy in mid 20’s.When he refused to give any money,these
eunuchs did the unbelievable.One of them lifted his dress and everyone was shocked and
speechless.The guy turned crimson red and just could not react.The co passengers gave money to them and asked them to leave.The guy was still shocked to say anything 😦

The eunuchs have created havoc on the major traffic signals in the city,especially the Sony World Junction (people in bangalore must be knowing).Boys and men are even scared to walk to the signal which is near the bus stop and borad BMTC bus from there.

Couple of years back I had a soft corner for them and would respect them.I would feel sorry for them as the nature has given them such a cruel punishment.Back in my hometown these people would come to ask for money during festivals,when baby was born and marriages.I would gladly give them money.They would come on such auspicious occasion and shower the family members with their blessing and good wishes.It was rather heartning to see that these people themsleves cannot have their own family still bless others whole heartedly and pray for our well being.They our disowned by their own people but still they understand the importance of a family.

The eunuchs are considered as physically weak and cannot be employeed as per govt policy.Its sad to know that the society looks down at them for no fault of theirs.

But later I came to know that this has become a business with large number of people involved in it.Sometime innocent men are kidnapped, operated and turned to eunuchs.Soemtimes the illterate people with the promise of some surgery to cure their ailment also have to go undergo such situations.Worst of all is that some normal people dress up like eunuchs and then harass people for money.

Few months back the local news channel here in banaglore had telecast a rather mind boggling event..A boy of around 14 years was kidnapped and send to Andhra Pradesh where a team of doctors operated on him and changed his sex to a female.
He was sent back to bangalore where in day time he was asked to beg for money and at night to work as a call girl.When this ‘boy turned girl’ was rescued he denied to accept that he once was a boy.He was then sent to child rehabilitation centre and had sessions with physiatric to bring back his identity and his lost confidence.

The nature sometimes does cruelty but then that is beyond our control.We need to respect these people and try and give them equal rights.But what really triggers my anger is when human beings which is suppose to be most intelligent species tries to mess up with the nature’s creation for some money.These fake eunuchs are a threat to the society and some actions must be taken to eradicate them.