Its strange and insightful at times when a computer generated random password that you use several times a day starts with "why"
Well reminds me to be inquisitive at all times for sure.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A reminder to question
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Dal roti and conversation
Great fun to catch up with an old roomie after several years - 7 to be precise...
He cancels his weekend trip with family, invites me for lunch on an hours notice and we get talking like in the old days...
Some excellent jain lunch done the 2.5 hours feel like mere minutes and he insists that i reschedule my flight and calls the airline too...
Alas its not always possible. We say our goodbyes but as we part he drives me to the airport himself promising to return my rental car at a later time...
I'm touched old pal...
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
2 BB
thats Before Blogger (or at least before it was aquired by google)
it was the age when posts could not be written on e-devices on flights.
did i not write - well absolutely did - on several picture post cards.
i gave them to the wife after my trips - i believe she has lost them now :) with Blogger they are at least safe until google decides to delete them or some random hacker messes it up ;)
it was the age when posts could not be written on e-devices on flights.
did i not write - well absolutely did - on several picture post cards.
i gave them to the wife after my trips - i believe she has lost them now :) with Blogger they are at least safe until google decides to delete them or some random hacker messes it up ;)
Monday, April 18, 2011
The offer
Summer 1997
Somewhere in the western ghats. 4 hours walk from the nearest motorable road.
We are a group of 6 boys camped overnight at a lone temple on a hillside.
Early the next morning we have an unexpected visitor. A bearded man from the neighbouring village. He is inviting us to some celebration in the village that night. He offers us mutton, unlimited local alcohol and "bam bam" which from his actions is something you smoke and then go into a trance !!!!
Well - there were a few disappointed souls in the group when we decided to pass up the offer and continue our trek instead...
biryani and thanda
this weekend an old friend came over with biryani. and he likes thums up with it - so we went to get it.
friend : One thums up 1.5l please. chilled.
Shopkeeper: OK
friend (touching the bottle): are yeh thanda nahi hai.
Shopkeeper (with the straightest face) : yeh to thums up hai. thanda matlab coca cola.
!!!!
friend : One thums up 1.5l please. chilled.
Shopkeeper: OK
friend (touching the bottle): are yeh thanda nahi hai.
Shopkeeper (with the straightest face) : yeh to thums up hai. thanda matlab coca cola.
!!!!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
वह बचपन की यादें
As i made the famous Nescafe shake for the wife and me - i remembered the many many hot summers from childhood with wet curtains - improvised tents and tons of nescafe shake :)
and all the other memories - वह कागज़ की कश्ती - वह बारिश का पानी.
do i want it all back - na...
i'm happy with the present, looking forward to the future - the past is a good memory from time to time thats all...
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Scorpions
The Big city nights post reminds me of scorpions.
Dec 2009 - at this resort in the middle of the hills a few kms inland of kanyakumari.
i am sleeping with my 2.5 yr old son in a nice clean room on a newly made bed. at about 3a.m my son stirs a little so i move too - just then i feel this excrutiating pain in my right ear lobe - its so bad that i literally jump out of bed with a scream and hit the light switch - for a few seconds i am convinced i saw a scorpion - we take off every sheet and search everywhere but cant find one - i cant locate a local to discuss with either but the ear is red - painful and swelling and i am miles from the nearest medical facility. i do the only thing i can think of - stay awake for the next 2-3 hours and look for signs of poisoning or allergic reactions - thankfully theres none but i still cant find the scorpion - its almost like i dreamt it up.
next morning my son is playing inside the room and he goes to pick up this wrapper of baby wipes lying under the bed. for the 2nd time in just a few hours i jump up like i've been bitten - its the only place i havnt checked - under that wrapper - i get there just as he lifts it - in time to see the scorpion and get the son away.
that afternoon at the reception another guy staying in the neighbouring cottage is complaining that he couldnt sleep in the night due to the howling wind and is unhappy with the resort - so i show him my ear and narrate my story - he checked out within the next 30 minutes - i stayed for another 2 nights...
Dec 2009 - at this resort in the middle of the hills a few kms inland of kanyakumari.
i am sleeping with my 2.5 yr old son in a nice clean room on a newly made bed. at about 3a.m my son stirs a little so i move too - just then i feel this excrutiating pain in my right ear lobe - its so bad that i literally jump out of bed with a scream and hit the light switch - for a few seconds i am convinced i saw a scorpion - we take off every sheet and search everywhere but cant find one - i cant locate a local to discuss with either but the ear is red - painful and swelling and i am miles from the nearest medical facility. i do the only thing i can think of - stay awake for the next 2-3 hours and look for signs of poisoning or allergic reactions - thankfully theres none but i still cant find the scorpion - its almost like i dreamt it up.
next morning my son is playing inside the room and he goes to pick up this wrapper of baby wipes lying under the bed. for the 2nd time in just a few hours i jump up like i've been bitten - its the only place i havnt checked - under that wrapper - i get there just as he lifts it - in time to see the scorpion and get the son away.
that afternoon at the reception another guy staying in the neighbouring cottage is complaining that he couldnt sleep in the night due to the howling wind and is unhappy with the resort - so i show him my ear and narrate my story - he checked out within the next 30 minutes - i stayed for another 2 nights...
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
big city nights
The Tokyo Hilton 23rd floor - sometime in the middle of the night.
i sit by the window and stare into the night time Tokyo skyline - the minutes go by.
every few minutes you hear an ambulance scream past sirens blazing.
you feel like a tiny spec in a vast universe -
i still maintain the Tokyo Hilton top floors are among the most depressing places i've stayed in.
not depressing enough to feel suicidal - but enough to increase the mini bar consumption :)
i sit by the window and stare into the night time Tokyo skyline - the minutes go by.
every few minutes you hear an ambulance scream past sirens blazing.
you feel like a tiny spec in a vast universe -
i still maintain the Tokyo Hilton top floors are among the most depressing places i've stayed in.
not depressing enough to feel suicidal - but enough to increase the mini bar consumption :)
Monday, April 11, 2011
The water, the twilight and the moon
As i lay on my back in the pool this evening i experienced this rare feeling of calm and serenity.
It was twilight, there was a beautiful half moon in the cloudless sky and the kites were returning home gliding at their majestic best.
But all good things come to an end - some quite quickly too...
Very soon they found me - the big fat black ugly blood sucking mosquitoes. Discretion being the better part of valor i beat a rather hasty retreat :)
As i lay on my back in the pool this evening i experienced this rare feeling of calm and serenity.
It was twilight, there was a beautiful half moon in the cloudless sky and the kites were returning home gliding at their majestic best.
But all good things come to an end - some quite quickly too...
Very soon they found me - the big fat black ugly blood sucking mosquitoes. Discretion being the better part of valor i beat a rather hasty retreat :)
Sunday, April 10, 2011
A twinkle in their eyes
Story is from a train 9-10 years ago - place called Yadgir - 2nd sleeper.
travelling unreserved (for a short journey) is this 30 something man and his 9 year old son. This little boy has this easy mannerism - beautiful smile and a keen mind. In no time he is a darling of the crowd and he seems to be enjoying it too - theres a twinkle in his eyes - wait something strange about them - what?
His father then tells us the story about how this only son of his was diagnosed with cancer of the brain and eye - that his one eye had to be surgically removed and replaced with an artificial one - that he spent months in a faraway hospital in Mumbai and spent days every month travelling to make it there. How he had to neglect his booming business to take the child from doctor to doctor and chemo to chemo. but both father and child had this serene air about them and not once did either of them complain. the few of us who were complaining about the heat and the dust just shut up and stared. i remember the evening in vivid detail so many years later - hope the family is doing fine... and hope that i can stop complaining and keep smiling like they could...
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