A story... perhaps

“The city’s now full of tall apartment and office buildings. Am really glad there aren’t any really close to our apartment”, said Mehak as she sat next to her bedroom window overlooking a large portion of the city. It was the view she had seen changing constantly over the last six years or so that she had been working in Hyderabad. The view earlier was of a narrow road, adjacent to KBR park, with small independent houses and open rocky spaces - a quiet peaceful neighbourhood and close to work. Now the scene looked entirely different. Tall buildings had replaced every third house and taller hoardings blocked the nice view that she had had of the park. Not that she complained too much, because now she had a 20 x 40 feet view of a hunky model. The road was a lot wider now, but the traffic had increased more than proportionally. Every morning and evening saw loads of cars and company buses lined up in rows – bumper to bumper. Many of the new or very-very-late-for-meeting employees honked in vain to get the traffic moving. The others, for whom this was a part of their morning routine, were engaged in listening to music, tapping the fingers on the steering wheel. Patience is a virtue they had learnt on their way to office.

Every Sunday Mehak could afford a lazy afternoon, with a short siesta after an assorted sort of meal. Neither she nor her roommate could boast of excellent culinary skills. So the days they spent at home, too lazy to venture out in the scorching Hyderabad summer, they managed with anything edible they could find in their refrigerator. They were actually pretty used to mixing and matching snacks and fruits and ready-to-make food items to make a pretty satisfactory meal. After years of doing that, they even referred to a few of these meals by names and missed their “usual” food, on week long vacations home.

She longed for a long holiday now. The monotony of work was getting to her. She glanced across the room at her roommate sitting at their coffee table – a recent addition to their furniture – reading a book. Priya was half way through The Fountainhead. Every few seconds, she picked up a cookie from the box on the table, without taking her eyes of the book. The only time Priya looked up was to utter an “Oops sorry!” on dropping a few crumbs on the floor. Not that either of them cared! Mehak took this as an opportunity to open a conversation. She tried diverting Priya’s attention away from that pile of philosophical drama.

“Don’t you think the weather is amazing outside?”

“A-huh…”, was all she could get from her in reply - not even a glance. Mehak never understood how a book could keep Priya occupied for hours at a stretch. She was always fidgety after half an hour at a place, and longed to do something exciting or atleast something different. And books were something she turned to when she was out of ideas to pass time. She had read the first page of The Fountainhead four times before moving on to reading the summary of the book online.

It was 4.30 in the evening and the weather outside was awesome. It was cloudy and cool in April – a rare relief during the Deccan summer and she wanted to make the most of it. She had to go out and she was determined to take Priya with her.

She knew she couldn’t ask Priya to come out for an aimless evening walk, to watch the sun set and to enjoy a slow pace of life while others are rushing past. (They are probably on their way to do something as unimportant, but still!) Her earlier efforts at such things had never got her a positive in reply.

“Isn’t this the kurta you bought last month?” she decided to venture.
“Hmm”
“Is it cotton?”
“No”
“Ohhh!”
“Why?” She looked up.
“Nah I had a feeling it shrank”
“Why? Is it tight?” Priya was effectively distracted.
“Well, a little, but you can manage with a dupatta.”

The book was on the table now.

Mehak continued, “See it is not your fault. The entire system is to blame. You’re loaded with work all week and you’re only left with a weekend for other activities. And ofcourse after all the work, you need rest also.”
“U-huh…”
“Well why do you think most working people are overweight? It is the system. No room for exercise.”

By now she had pushed the cookie box away, turning the opening of the box away from her. She glanced out of the window.

“The weather’s nice na!” she said.
“Ya, I feel like going for a walk.”
“Let’s!”

Priya left to her room, and Mehak smiled as her put on her running shoes.

They began their stroll around KBR. The 40+ers were huffing and puffing alongside in a desperate attempt to ward off prosperity-ailments. Children were running around unaware that the future may turn them into software employees by default in their twenties and rich sick fitness freaks in their forties. Everybody was walking with the crowd. Walking in another direction wouldn’t be too easy anyway, with so many people cruising along the narrow path.

After a couple of rounds, they stopped by to have a mint drink at the drinks stall - the only place in Hyderabad where you’d find a variety of unusual but extremely refreshing “health” drinks. They had planned to go for another round before catching an early dinner. But it was pretty dark already, mainly because of the clouds hanging overhead. They could see flashes of lightning every once in a while and hear the distant rumble of thunder. Priya was a little apprehensive of starting off on another round. There was no way they’d escape dry if they were midway through the walk when the – definite - shower begins.

It was only 5.40 and they were on their way back home. Mehak had no intention of getting back and spending the rest of the evening next to her window. They were almost close to home now. One more right turn and she’d have to make Priya turn back to get to some place else and that was next to impossible. It was now or never. So she tried again.

“Let’s go for an ice-cream.”
“In this weather?”
“C’mon it’ll be fun!”

Priya considered her options. The ice-cream parlor was on the way home, and it was about to rain sometime soon. So it wouldn’t be that bad an idea to stop over, especially if they could avoid getting drenched. And a wait at an ice-cream parlor until the rain stopped would not be that bad. They walked in and seated themselves next to the window, just as it began to pour. It was meant to be a very wet day! Mehak with an extremely pleased look on her faced said, “Mine was a good idea na!” Priya nodded. And smiled!

Choosing an ice-cream wasn’t that tough. They both knew a couple of minutes into the plan, what they wanted to have. A little through their ice-creams, they had decided what all they’re going to order. Today, they were meant to have an ice-cream dinner. The downpour didn’t seem anywhere close to stopping. The storm was only getting worse. The girls didn’t mind - they had a good variety to pick from and a decent paycheck to afford such feasts.

They had finished two rounds of ice-cream and they decided to share one for the third round. It was a full-fledged storm outside. They could hear the wind howling, the heavy drops lashing against the windowpanes and the yellow sunshade outside the shop rattling loudly. Outside their window the traffic had come to a standstill. All the cars honked - their wipers at work and their headlights making the raindrops visible.

“Am glad am not in one of those” Mehak said pointing to the cars. They were done with their dinner. Priya was longing for her book again. It is a totally different experience to read a book next to a window separating her world of fiction from the real stormy world. After a few minutes of looking at the stagnant traffic, they were searching for another pastime. The shop was pretty crowded. Outside the entrance bikes were lined and the holiday-workaholics stood under the sunshade in rain-drenched formals, which their windcheaters failed to protect.

The inside of the shop was pretty full too. They were lucky enough to have come early and found one of the tables at the two-tabled shop free. The floor was all wet and murky by now, with dripping clothes and bags, and mud-caked soles still doing their bit. The chatter in the tiny room and the sound of the storm made it impossible to be audible at the regular decibels.

“It’s getting cold!!” said Priya
“I feel like eating hot pakodas”
“Hehe… now I feel like having them as well!”
“Yeah yum pakodas - onion”
“I want aloo”
“Okay onion and aloo, with sauce. And a hot steaming cup of coffee…”
“Whoa what’s that noise?”
“Maybe the sky is falling”
“Very funny!”
“Or maybe the building is collapsing!”
“Hehehe”

By then they noticed that the people in the shop were looking outside, and the people outside were out of their cars and looking up. The metallic creaking still continued. People began to leave the shop. “To look at whatever it is that’s happening”, they thought. Some outside were shouting, and most inside were confused. More people walked out. “People are so curious even in the rain!” exclaimed Priya.

It was still raining heavily. The people in the cars outside left the cars to move away. But the panic on their faces wasn’t visible from inside. There were still a few people left in the shop, when somebody came to the door and shouted, “Get out quick! The billboard’s falling!”

Everybody began to rush out, all at once - some leaving everything behind and a few others clutching their bags, coats and keys. They also followed. The shopkeeper tried hard to get all the bills cleared before people left. The entrance was jammed with people moving out and the odd one trying to get in to collect some “prized possession” he forgot. There was all the shoving, the stamping of feet, and the verbal abuses. Under most such circumstances the girls would have chosen to move back and wait for path to clear. But this time they couldn’t because the panic was visible.

***

Back in her apartment, Mehak lay on her bed. She looked out of the window and saw the park in the distance. Closer to her she saw the hoarding, lying in pieces on the ground. And under it lay the yellow roof.

Of black cats and lucky pens!

Whenever someone’s asked me if am superstitious, my instant reply has been “Not in the least!” Imagine walking back 7 steps every time a black cat crossed my path (which was pretty often because there was one in my hostel), or handling a mirror with extra extra care to avoid 7 years of back luck. For that matter if I were superstitious I would have sent at least a thousand forwards to hundreds of friends in bunches of tens or twenties, depending on the requirement! Or if superstitions were true I would have bred grasshoppers at home, worn clothes inside out, and let birds shit on my head back in college.

Some of them are pretty interesting. When the great plague swept Europe, and sufferers began sneezing violently, the Pope ordered people to bless the sneezer. And that’s when the “God Bless You” when someone sneezes began.

It is also surprising to note that a lot of people still follow some of these superstitions. For instance most airlines don’t have a row number 13! The number of serials beginning with ‘K’, the number of people with ‘aa’s and ‘ss’s in their names and ‘H’rithik Roshan’s son ‘H’rehaan, all bear testament to the growing number of believers. I sometimes wonder if I should try something of this sort to boost my chances of atleast winning a lucky draw. I’ve tried a couple of combinations of pens and pencils to score better in my AIMCATs. But no such luck! :(

There’s just one thing that gets me to believe in something superstitious. And that’s when India’s playing cricket. I get the feeling that what I do somehow affects the game. And that varies from game to game. For example, today all was peaceful when I was sitting before the TV in my usual chair, my feet up on a stool. And then whenever I got up for some work, down went the wickets. First it was Sehwag, then Pathan and finally Tendulkar. That’s when I felt really bad for the Indian team because I wasn’t doing enough for them and went back to my corner. It’s a different story that I got bored after a while and got up to write this blog. And now India is 145/5. Not too bad. But maybe not as good as it could have been huh? ;)

Fashion fiasco

I really miss those good old days when I got to wear lovely little frocks and skirts and run around and play. The white frock with red polka dots, the layered denim skirt, the blue frilly frock (my 4th yr b'day dress :) ), ohh and how can I forget, the "Sridevi" style dress (with a sleeve on only one side and the other side had just two thin straps - one blue and the other red) were a few of my favourites. Those were the days when my clothes were very pretty, thanks to my mommy's choice!
Then I grew a little older and began watching TV. Specifically - bollywood movies. Speaking of which the first movie I sat through in the theatre was Mithunda's "Disco dancer" :D As I was saying, those days (by which I mean the 90s) bollywood was my only source of information on style. You can imagine! And with the kind of clothes I bought and the ones I got from my equally (sometimes worse) fashion impaired relatives, I had a collection that you possibly cannot imagine. There were frocks with wierd jackets, with golden buttons; flairy, lacy skirts; tapering, tight jeans; stretchy tights (why?!); bell-bottoms; bell-sleeves; tops with shoulder pads ( :D ) and the works. One thing I was proud of then was that my wardrobe had dresses of all possible colours!!
I remember having always wanted a nice lacy frock (the kind Madhuri Dixit used to wear) then. The only time I got to wear one of those was during a play in which I was a fairy. Even then my school captain refused to let me wear one which looked pretty sexy (with an asymmetric cut and all that), so I had to settle for a pretty boring cream-coloured dress. I also remember having gone out to play on a hot summer afternoon in black tights, black full-sleeved top, and shorts and a sleeveless top over that. I still haven't the faintest idea why!
It wasn't just the clothes, I had a awful lot of awful accessories. Huge earrings and fat chains with beads, and shells, and made of (i think camel) bone, and imitation gold ones. What was worse was that I used to wear some of these with jeans along with a bindi (which my mom used to insist I wear). Ohh I also had a Princess Diana hair-cut once which was a total disaster :) There was also a time when I was crazy about huge black digital watches. Although I don't disapprove of that as much as I do of the others. Thankfully I don't have too much to complain about the footwear I had. But I remember trying to walk in heels (1 inch high) when I was around 6-7, and I twisted my ankle with each step. That was when I decided that heels were going to be a part of my life much much later.
Aaah those days! I don't know if it was me or if it was just a really bad time for fashion. I'd like to believe that it was the latter. But sometimes am glad I did such crazy stuff. It makes a good laugh to look at old photographs now :)

Diwali

It is just past diwali... and the silence in the air seems suddenly unusual. The last few days Hyderabad - and am sure most of India - seemed quite different. The days leading to diwali saw roads lined with rows of makeshift stores for fireworks, pavements piled with heaps of marigolds, storefronts decorated with thermocol diyas, buildings covered in lights, overcrowded shops and packed parking places.

With age old potholes, MCH's regular digging sprees and fly-overs (forever) under-construction, going around the city was already frustrating. Added to that were stores and bandis, and hordes of shoppers cramming the already narrow roads. To get to some place decently close, I preferred walking to inching through the insane traffic. Travelling could also be dangerous. One rocket flew over one lane of traffic to hit the divider and then over the other lane. And since nobody was hurt I must admit the I secretly enjoyed seeing that.

Forget about shopping for pleasure during this time of the year. It could turn out to be a pretty tiresome affair beginning with getting to the shop, finding a space for parking, picking out clothes (which may have to be done from the heap of already rejected clothes), waiting for an empty trial room and finally awaiting your turn to bill your stuff. The last part could be especially painful, when the pretty lady before you is explained (sometimes more than once) all the benefits of the store membership card by the guy behind the counter. It reached heights when the man was teaching the lady the right way to count her change!!!

Apart from the pujas, family get-togethers, and cracker-bursting, most people look forward to this festival for the new clothes, sweets, gifts and ofcourse the holidays. But for me none of this was any cause of excitement. I personally found the loud crackers, far too loud to enjoy and I always dreaded little kids bursting them out on the street along which I had to walk. So I wasn't really expecting to enjoy this day.

Morning went by with the usual formalities of wishing people. The rest of the day, I stayed at home listening to the sounds of crakers bursting. It reminded me of those times when you got to hear crackers bursting in the middle of the night, during the presentation ceremony of a cricket match in which India bagged a major victory. Today it was celebration time once again.

Even the rain in the evening couldn't dampen the spirits of the people. After a ride through the city, with everything decorated with lights and flowers and diyas, I could feel the celebration in the air, though I was not really a part of it. Although am sure most people today hardly follow tradition to celebrate the victory of good over evil, am glad the reason has something to do with happiness. People are willing to spend thousands on fireworks that barely last a few seconds. But to see them shoot up and brighten the night sky is totally worth the money. The light, the colours, the sound, the glitter of jewellery, the good food are all signs of celebration of life. And its amazing! Somehow I feel that its not the celebration of something but the joy of celebration itself that motivates people.

In the end I know all the smoke may not turn out to be too pleasant for the next few days. But lets hope even that works for the best against dengue and chikungunya :)

An Ideal Working Day

An ideal working day for me would begin with waking up whenever I want to. Then going to office and having a nice breakfast with friends. Finding new mails in my inbox (and not junk mails pls). Oh I almost forgot - my boss should be on leave or he should be soooo busy he has no time for me.
Then I'll start coding after figuring out the logical way to do it easily. After which there should no compilation errors, no run-time errors, and perfect output. Once this is done, I should have the rest of the day to go play TT or read a book in the lobby. I leave by 4. And the next day should be a Saturday :)
This ofcourse is just an ideal working day. An ideal day would be with no work at all, my friends free, a vehicle at my disposal and loads of money to spend.

Night Out!

Last night all I could do was stay up and think about the blog my friend suggested that I create. Initially I wasn't sure if I'd have enough to write or if it'd make as much sense as to interest a third person. But then who cares? I decided (impulsive as most of my decisions are) that I'd definitely start one today.
I stayed up thinking of a topic most of the night. I came up with "A e-Penny for My Thoughts" modified it to "A Pen for My Thoughts". It sounded really good in my head and I was really pleased with my creativity. This was around 3.40 am. I was soooo excited that I actually woke my friend up and told him the title. It was when I said it out loud that I realized how crappy it was. I finally gave up on the title and went on to thinking about posts.
4.30 am and still not sleepy. It surprised me that excitement about a blog could keep ME awake. Actually thinking back, it has always been wierd things (and by wierd I also mean unimportant things), that have kept me up. Like writing poetry before a physics test (note - poetry not studying) or sketching something or cleaning the room. It was just as I was about to doze off that I realized that it wasn't the blog but a huge mug of Kaapi Nirvana that had kept me up! :)