Na Badhleo Kobita Badhbo Aaj

To what could have been a story  very fond,
To what has become a tale, too predictable.

To what could have been a rock bond,
To what has become person, too vulnerable.

Same old
Same old
People too cold.
Souls, too sold
To instant relief, to new found perfection,
Glitz, glamour,
Profits on roll.

To what could have been the 5th anniversary ,
Is just another 31st January.

Not All Wars Are At Battlefield

You wake up early, not that it’s a new thing, given your early morning shifts.

You finish work and come back to the apparent Bangalore ‘home’, pack your bags because you’re going to your actual home today, its Christmas after all. 

So your packing is done. Time: 3:00pm, train time: 5:00 (Yes we are train people, the non-privileged- non-quota Janta). Choice between cab and bus? Cab and bus? Mental calculations about the money that could be saved in bus and eventual better spending of the same on gifts for family. But time in hand, only 2hrs and Hello Bangalore traffic.

Easy decision made. Ola Share Ahoy! Thank you demonetization, cash in hand 600bucks. Olashare fare to the station 300. Anyway, happily you leave for home.  

Here comes the Ola person who picks you up and takes the complete opposite direction to what you should actually go. Ask why? It’s noon time madam, not much business. So he will go opposite for a distance of 1.5hrs, drop the other person and then drop you to Majestic.

So you get down in 5mins, and pay him full as per rule. Cash in hand 300, time in hand 1.5hrs.

You have tears in your eyes now. Your one roommate is at office, the other one with her boyfriend and other one visiting her boyfriend. People you can ask for help, NONE. Admirers you can ask for help, many, but you won’t.  Suddenly all those lectures of the roommate saying it is nice and important to have someone in life you can depend on, at times of need, even if you won’t, start to seem true.

You finally see an Auto bhaiya. Money demanded 350, you have, 300. You plead and plead and plead, look teary eyed. He finally agreed after a lot of dialogues in Kannada that you don’t understand. Now you suddenly feel the need to call home and realize, Battery charge, 3%.

The Auto bhaiya takes you from this route which you are not aware of and all the post afternoon Friday jam suddenly starts pouring in. Your 3% battery slowly becomes 2% and there are constant calls from the brother and mother about whereabouts, you cannot even share the state and worry them. You don’t even know if the route is correct. Your battery won’t allow you to check maps, you don’t know if you will reach in time. You keep on asking “aur kitna time bhaiya” and you start crying silently. And again, all those lectures of the roommate saying it is nice and important to have someone in life you can depend on, at times of need, even if you won’t, start to seem true.

The Auto bhaiya sees from the rear mirror probably and suddenly his whining about the 50 bucks ends. He says “don’t worry meedam, train at 5, pohocha dega”. You smile a little but the traffic seems impossible to go beyond. Anyway, you reach Majestic at 4:55pm sharp, thank the Auto bhaiya, get your big suitcase down at the first gate, beside platform no2. And train to Solapur? Platform no. 4, opposite platform. Good Lord. Time now? 3minutes to train and call from home stops, phone is dead. All those lectures of the roommate saying it is nice and important to have someone in life you can depend on, at times of need, even if you won’t, start to seem true again.

You see a coolie checking you out, you ask him only, with the ultimate bechari  state and he demands 80 bucks. You collect all the 10s in your wallets and together they are 50. You plead and he agrees, He agrees! He runs and you run after him. This Jab We Met stunt in real life is not as fun. The train starts to move, the coolie throws your luggage in and you get in! Breathe, find your seat! You are thirsty, you are hungry, you are tired. You remember the roommate say it is nice and important to have someone in life you can depend on, at times of need, even if you won’t. This situation would have been different if you had the/any special someone dropping you/ seeing you off/ checking on you/ being with you/ at least listening to your frustration.

Eventually you find your seat, put your phone to charge and inform home.  Collect all the one rupee and two rupees coins to buy a bottle of water. Hunger can wait, thirst cannot. And thus you spend the last money left on water, spend the night hungry to reach home next morning, to your people.

And when you took the first sip of water that night in the train, even though knowing your next 12 hours would be without food, you prove the roommate wrong, your roommate was wrong after all.

And for all those who think I breathe drama, yes I do. 

Shob Choritro Kalponik

 Ekti meye k chintam. Last to last year ei sheet kal, more specifically, thik ek shomoy e onek conversations hoy taar shathe. Ami tokhon shoddo dumped, Piya tokhon shoddo where-are-we state e, r shobai e tokhon benched. Thik shei shomoy e dekha hoy amar taar shathe. Ujjol rong, sharp naak r chokhe ek odbhut confidence. Ei chhilo amar kachhe Nondini'r first impression. First and forever impression sheta jodio.

Nondini, amar khub kachher bondhu'r khub kachher manush ebong premika shei shomoy. Ek ebong ekmatro karon jaar jonno Accenture er forever neglected and de-scoped office er baire jawar kotha bhabtei pere uthchhilona amar bondhu, tana du maash bench er por o. Jara ei byapare janenna, TCS r Accenture holo Unitech building er conjoined twins. Shey jai hok, ei sheeter maashe, post lunch roddur khetam jokhon shobai, tokhon e Kolkata'r forever lyadh office hours theke shomoy ber kore ashto Nondini basically prem ta korte, phowara pare and us being the shameless people that we are, used to take away most of their time shit talking.

Tokhon amar besh baje haal, kotha beroto na mukh diye r onek weight lose korechhilam(thank God for bench period). Constant state of gloom and vulnerability te companion chhilo Piya j proti lunch hour e nijer praktan r taar shombhabbo new interest k ghure berate dekhto oi same campus e (yes Accenture TCS bonds are epic). Tokhon Nondini diner por din amader bojhato, of love, of life, of loving and living, of giving and taking only what is yours. Ei Rajput meyeti aste aste shobar khub priyo hoye uthlo. Amar bondhu had this sense of pride and happiness r hoyto kothao na kothao amar kachhe ora ideal hoye uthlo. Etotai ideal j Goa te mod kheye ek jon onnojoner phone na dhorleo next morning everything would be fine. Etotai ideal j barite baba'r shathe over a small comment of 'o otoi bhalo hole TCS e pelona keno' would fuel a war. Etotai ideal j diner por din dekha na howar por o when one selects bondhur biye over one meet, cities away, the other one understands.

Tarpor du bochhor por shei same January maash e, aaj, Nondini'r biye holo. Happily. Patro notun keu, Manager. Shesh gyaan?
And some day in future when you are in a far better state, with far better people, you'll thank the day when you lost what you thought you couldn't live without

And thus ends one more love story where noone will be blamed, ever!

Ecospace At Such Night : Check

Mandate!

The mandatory year end post:

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’ve never done before?

Jumped into a river

Slept on a hill top under the open sky

Watched a Tamil movie (Rojonokanto) in Karnataka         

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions and will you make more for next year?

Nothing kept, nothing made.

             

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Uhmm…

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No

          

5. What countries did you visit?

Here comes the bezzati!

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?

Home

               

7. What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory?

The days the world got too shameless

               

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Clearing PIP. Truly!

           

9. What was your biggest failure?

MDM has been my long time failure apparently

               

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Hello Thyroid!

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Saari for the entire clan of Aunts :D

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Really?

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Behavior I don’t know. Actions, well, Boss!

14. Where did most of your money go?

Tickets

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

It was a Blah year

16. What song/album will always remind you of 2016?

Tumi onno karo shonge bedho ghor

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

1. Happier or sadder? Happier

2. Thinner or fatter? Same

3. Richer or pooper? Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Studies

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Whining

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Dancing Bollywood, drinking 5star and eating mach bhaat ^_^

21. Who did you spend most of the time on the phone with?

Maa

22. Did you fall in love in 2016?

No

23. How many one night stands in this last year?

:/

24. What was your favorite TV programme?

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No

26. What was the best book(s) you read?

All that I read was Cursed Child.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Aluma Doluma

28. What did you want and get?

Pujo leaves

29, What did you want and did not get?

Onsite               

30. What were your favorite films?

Praktan

Doctor Strange

Dangal

31. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

Went home!

   

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Denmark.

33. What would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?

Don’t care and dress up anyway

               

34. What kept you sane?

Pep talks

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

None

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

Demonetization

37. Who did you miss?

Home

            

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Narmada and Anju

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016?

This too shall pass

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?

Zinda hoon yaar, kaafi hain

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