A Jolly Good Time!

It’s a mini vacation of mine
I am having a jolly good time

From the house one can see beautiful scenes
It stands in the midst of greens

It’s the home of the dreams
It’s surreal by all means

I have to spot a famous deer yet
The deer can then talk about a girl it once met

Abu is the cutest boy
All day we play with many a toy

I have learnt his language
I am almost becoming his age

We have lots of fun
All day long

I will miss him I know
Once I move out of this abode

Abu and Sunil, popularly known as Shingu
The loads of masti that they do

I will remember always
Their naughty ways

Shingu loves cars and is crazy about Don (Amitabh obv!)
From Shingu to Abu, the obsession is being passed on

Sunil loves the little munchkin from his heart
The munchkin thinks he is a big star

The weather here is nice
To top it all Sanju’s food is lovely to dine

Sanju and I go out shopping
Other times I learn some cooking

We talk all day long
And watch movies and sing along

Pretty and tall is she
I wish I were like her-yes me

Vikas and Shingu work from dawn to dusk
The value of hard work I learn must

Shingu and Vikas discuss office all the time
Like it was some precious gold mine

Here it’s relaxing and fun
Sometimes I wish time would stop to run

It’s a mini vacation of mine
I am having a jolly good time!

Bombay to New York - Journey Unfolded

I was to reach the airport 3 hours before my flight. I was late already. I reached about 2 hours before. I hardly got any time to say goodbyes at the airport. I just rushed into the airport. I looked around and there was hardly anybody checking in. I was thinking to myself, ‘I must be really late for me to be seeing such a scene!’ The authorities had changed some procedures. I had to directly check in. I was praying that I wouldn’t have to pay extra for any extra luggage when my luggage was being weighed...Thankfully it was only about 1 kg more than the allowed weight. Then I went through the security and reached the gate from which my aircraft was going to depart. It was all over very quickly since I was the only one left to check in this late! What I saw at the waiting area shook me a little. The passengers were all men and not a single female passenger was to be found. I guess this is what happens when you book a flight at the last minute. You are left with little or no choice at all. But what could be done now – I was to just wait and board. After a while 2 girls one after the other, looking my age, walked in. That was a relief! An hour later, when we were standing in the queue for boarding the aircraft, another girl – A, got chatty. Both of us were going to New York. But we were going to be together only till Bahrain (first halt), because after that she was going to London and I was going to go to Paris (second halt). But both of us felt happy that at least for the long halt at Bahrain we had each other's company. Once we got inside the aircraft we even requested for seats beside each other. And the kind air hostess obliged!
We reached Bahrain before time, which only implied that we had to spend some more time at Bahrain. While we were walking out the other 2 girls whom I had seen earlier joined us. One of them was going to New York and the other was going to London. So now I was a part of 4-girl-gang going to be spending 6 hours at Bahrain! We looked around a bit and then we settled at a nice waiting lounge. There were wireless internet booths all over, at which we took turns to chat and send emails. Then we were just chit chatting. After a while we went to a lovely coffee shop, ordered some flavored coffee drinks and opened 2 big packets of theplas – an Indian delicacy! We clicked some photos of the new Jaguar XJ 2009 – o boy what a car that one is! Some more window shopping at the duty free shops and the time flied…That’s all, then I went to my departure gate to board a flight to Paris and the other three girls went to another gate to board a flight to London.Bahrain was unexpected fun :)
At the departure lounge I met a young Iranian girl who lived in Paris. She was going back home from a vacation to Iran. It was nice…for quite some time we were talking …and talking in which language but French. It was a well needed brush up on my French skills! Boarded the aircraft – it was 1 am – went off to sleep – I got 2 seats to myself :) – the guy beside me went to sit elsewhere because his TV screen was not working. I woke up to find myself witnessing a lovely Paris morning. Paris was fun. Did some shopping. Boarded the flight. The aircraft was almost full and yet no one had occupied the seat beside me. Finally someone came. As it turns out he too was going to be living in NY…! The flight was delayed because the authorities had to remove the luggage of a passenger who did not board the aircraft. That took quite some time. When that was done and the aircraft was ready to leave, the pilot announced that there was some another technical glitch that they had to sort before they took off. So that took some time. But finally the plane took off. The journey was long and boring and tiresome. I was really bored till we got talking about France, India and the US. I kept drinking orange juice throughout. The ride was a little bumpy due to some weather conditions. Rest was okay. Reached NY half an hour late. That’s all!

The D Day

Yes the day I have been dreading has arrived; finally. I am getting ready. I am just unable to decide to wear Indian or to wear something Western. What if I wear an Indian dress and they think that she is too Indian and might not be able to adjust to ‘their way of living’; What if I wear a western outfit and they think that she is already quite westernized and might not want to return to her country once she lands there...Some more what ifs…now I am going to stop thinking and just wear something I like. And voila, my dress for the damn interview is ready – a black formal skirt and a stripe shirt.
I am on my way to the consulate. I have stacks of print outs and a big fat book that I plan to read on my way. I read and then I read some more. And whilst I read I am thinking to myself that I am quite sure that the more I read the lesser questions they shall ask me. So I read some more! I arrive and the clumsy girl I am I stand in the incorrect queue for the first 10 minutes. Then someone comes and tells me the correct queue to stand in. There are 2 young girls standing ahead of me. After about 5 minutes of just waiting and not having anything to do, we three girls get chatty. As it turns out all three of us are students and we go on yapping about this and that and then about that and this!
The time seems to pass by quite well and the long queue doesn’t seem so long anymore. (So I guess it turns out that all is well that ends well because if I wouldn’t have stood in the wrong queue earlier I would not have been standing with these girls now and instead would have been getting super bored!)
After a while we move into the consulate and get certain procedures done with. And we wait for our respective turns. The wait seems quite a torture. It seems the walls are moving closer into the centre of the room and are going to squeeze us soon. We three are sitting together; silence engulfs us. I can hardly hear anything. I get the feeling that I am sitting in some kind of vacuum. We are waiting. We can see interview cabin door number 8. The interview of each visa applicant who enters this cabin lasts about 12 to 17 minutes (now this is considered a long interview!) Everyone who is going into this cabin is coming out with a ‘visa rejected’ expression and her/his passport in hand. This applies for everyone who goes into this door. We three do not want to say anything, but we are all hoping and wishing that our token number doesn’t come for this cabin. After about 25 minutes the third girl’s token number is called and her interview cabin is number 8. We three look each at other – both of us wish her luck and she goes in. I have never skipped as many heart beats in my life as I might have in those several minutes. We could see her partially; and every time the interviewer spoke and she showed her documents we almost thought the unthinkable. It’s been long and the interview is still going on. We are getting restless; the second girl is even sweating a little! We are worried because it so seems that they never really need any real reason to reject a visa application – they could just do it...- they have the power! The next minute she comes out and she smiles a big smile and shows us a thumb up…! And we are relieved – o boy! At least the jinx is broken! After a while the second girl’s token number is called out and what else but it is the cabin number 8…it is a long interview but I am confident she will come back with a ‘visa granted’ smile. And guess what - she does come out with that big smile. Now I am all alone. All I got to do now is wait and wait some more. It’s been about 40 minutes that I have been waiting and my token number has not been called out yet. I start to get a feeling that I was day dreaming and that I might have missed my number. I am almost pondering if I should go to the official desk and ask…And I hear my token number being called out and to the cabin door 3. I enter. She is a pretty looking young lady. She asks me why I want to go there. I speak for about 15 seconds. She is busy looking at the screen in front of her. She asks me which state I am going to. I answer. She smiles. She says you are going to have fun. Then she says, ‘your visa has been granted.’ That’s all. It’s over. My visa interview lasted for a minute. It was a breeze.
I walk out of the cabin and the feeling is nice. I seem to not notice anything. I do not see any tensed faces, any what-will-happen expressions, nothing at all…the room seems pretty empty to me…I walk out of the consulate; happy.

Dilli Ke Bandar / ‘Dil’hi Mein Bandar / Chandni Chowk to ‘Bumbai’ / Dilli Billiis / Dilli Ki Billis !!

DISCLAIMER: The following is subject to the Readers' Choice. If you find the content offensive, kindly excuse and move on to the next post / blog. . I mean no offence to anyone! I am only a slave of my thoughts!

Other-city-ites can never be anything but that. Irrespective of how much they say that they hate Bombay for its people/crowd/fast life/ blah blah…, they always (and it shows) secretly want to be like us, Bombayites.
I happened to meet 2 such non-Bombayites. These 2 women from Dilli made me ponder…Here are the things that non-Bombayites will do for which I just plainly abhor them.
They sure will wish to use the services of our city’s lifeline ‘local’ trains. However, when they will enter a compartment they will exclaim, “Oh My God! It is so crowded! It is so dirty! It is so hot! It is so this and it is so that!” Then they will relentlessly talk about how they ‘just drive to wherever they wish to go in Delhi’ in their posh new car(read bought, by taking a loan, to show off even though they could not afford it)(or read as the new car that came as a ‘gift’ from the daughter-in-law’s parents in son’s wedding.)
They will wear cherry red tee shirt with black formal trousers(they call them pants), carry a crimson red hold-all(they call it bag) with multiple chains on it, wear green Osho chappals(they call them bathroom slippers), and will also carry an orange jhola. Oh wait – I almost forgot – constant listening of ‘music’ will happen on the pink Ipod ‘look-a-like’ music player.
They will continuously cry and whine about the ‘Noise’ in our city, about the various people who sing/sell in the trains and what not. Of course whilst they are at it, they assure that they speak sensitively. I will even go to the extent of saying that they whisper in each other’s ears (one woman will lean towards the other woman’s ear and speak into the ear while covering her own mouth and the other woman’s ear by her hand.) And by whisper I mean that if they talk to each other, in the aforementioned manner, sitting at one side of the window of a compartment; you, who are sitting at the other side of the window, ‘cannot’ hear them at all. This is because they are ‘oh so not loud’ and they do not, in any manner, contribute to the aforementioned ‘Noise’!!!!
Mother daughter duo will incessantly exchange gossips/ happenings in the acquaintances’/ relatives’ lives with so much gusto and enthusiasm; it will make you wonder whether it really is so much fun to gossip.
They will carry 6 bags amongst 2 women( well, I do not have an issue with that) and they will put all these huge luggage bags on display on the seats(the issue part comes here)
Then, when other lady travelers will want to come and sit on the seats meant for sitting, and not meant for keeping bags; they will flick and go ‘tch tch’ and act that other lady travelers are causing them immense trouble when they(other lady travelers) insist that they(the 2 women) keep the luggage down under the seats!

P.S: Do post your comments / views /gaalis :P below...!

The Singing Sunday!

Just when I thought a Sunday is always about lazing, not taking a shower till late evening, watching reruns of reruns of F.R.I.E.N.D.S’ back to back episodes, or watching some already-seen crappy Bollywood movie yet again, the dear Life threw something, totally unexpected and full-on fun, at me, and guess what, I caught it !
It so happened that I woke up really ‘very late’ (also read as 12 00 hours) for a class at 9 00 hours on a Sunday morning at the Business School. Now you may want to ask the question, “Why could not you have slept on time (also read as 23 00 hours last night) instead of at 3 00 hours last night”. The answer to that shall be, “I was helping out a girl friend draft a 6 line email to a may-or-may-not-be-mother-in-law. This primarily took us 3 hours, since the 2 of us girls were working together on this one email. The more amount of time may be justified by the fact that we did not want the girl friend to seem too eager to her may-or-may-not-be-mother-in-law, and hence we had to be extra extra cautious of each sentence/phrase/word/letter that went into the email.”
Well, so I guess we have firmly established that I woke up late, the reasons for the same, and the fact that it was too late to go to school then. In a while, consumption of breakfast happened. Soon after, when I was contemplating whether I should read or laze or sleep some more or watch the good ol TV or do some FBing or blog, the door bell rang.

The Young Girl
As I continued to slouch on the couch, I saw the door being answered by her. 2 neighbourly kids were at the door, asking her to come and join them in the lobby to play some cute kiddy game. In the beginning, she politely begged to be excused. But kids being kids, never take no for an answer. And she was persuaded enough to go wear her sport shoes and be present in the lobby in a matter of 2 minutes.

Attain the Juggler Hands
4 small kids and one young girl (read as ‘old’ by some) decided they could try juggling tennis balls. They attempted one by one but no one was really able to juggle 2 tennis balls. So she suggested they all try slowly and first try to learn the technique. And after a while one boy got it right! And then he taught the girl, and then she taught the other kids. And then the lobby was a place of laugh riot, as the juggling made everyone yell and scream with joy and fun.

Spin-The-Top
They say while with kids be like the kids. They all got bored with so much juggling and decided they must now play another game. That is when they decided to play ‘spin the top’. All of them were amateurs at the game. They were trying hard to spin the top correctly, until when a neighbour uncle came along and taught them the real trick of the ‘spin the top’ trade! They practiced and in a matter of 10 minutes they were all were spinning the tops like professionals!

Lobby Cric-nnis (derived from Lawn Tennis and Cricket)
How would an evening full of Kids be over without inventing a new game? They did not have lawn tennis rackets and did not have a lawn. What they did have was a lobby and 2 cricket bats and tennis balls. Old style cricket is losing its charm with the kids these days, what with all the football fan following and tennis players gaining the media limelight. That is when they decided they will use the 2 cricket bats as substitutes for tennis rackets and play cric-nnis! The rules were same as those of Lawn Tennis. The pro that she is, the girl was winning. But the dear ‘Didi of the kids’ that she is she let one of the kids win. :).

Un‘adult’erated Fun
She came back home and was narrating the lovely anecdotes of the Un‘adult’erated Fun that she had had. That got me thinking that is it really that I have grown so old, that I suppress the young kid in me to just be a kid and enjoy life without the hassles that adults deal with all the time?
And that is when I decided that no longer will the little kid in me and me, live separately!
And then I sang happily !!

The Week That Was Not

Moody Monday
I am certain, its due to the Monday blues,
That I don’t seem to have any clues;

So lost I am,
Life seems such a scam;

I wish school were over soon,
Then I could even fly to the moon;

Instead I am stuck here,
Want to run and have no fear;

Tearsome Tuesday
Lost Phone
Lost money
Spent lot of money
Bad news about result unavailable(read as Fail) online

Winner Wednesday
Results out

Troublesome Thursday
Lost my dear old full of important data pendrive

Fearlsome Friday
Did not find the pendrive
Fear of losing important data on the pendrive(because I had no back up)

Sad Saturday
Attended econometrics class.
Did not understand a letter.
Depressing. Very
Then attended a talk on Human Rights. Thought provoking(will write on it in a day or two) and depressing too.

Singing Sunday
Refer next post :)

Things To Do in Life

Float in Zero-Gravity
Sky dive
Enter the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France
Swim with sharks in the ocean
Almost go to the jail/ prison
Touch a Giraffe’s ear/nose
Behave like a 7 year old kid for a day
Sleep underneath the snow
Have a lioness sit in your lap
Para Sail
Date a criminal
Sleep underneath the sand
Drive on a F1 race track
Dine with George Clooney
Eat a thing/whatever alive
Own 100(or more, but at least 100) shoes, one point in time
Sit on an elephant (not to ride)
Own a Porsche
Shoplift – for fun
Hop on to an Ostrich
Gatecrash a stranger’s wedding/reception
Fight a Bull
Own a company
Travel to at least 190 countries
Sit on a camel (not to ride)
Bathe in chocolate
Buy a company
Smoke
Go on a blind date
Meet the Real Santa Clause
Build a sand castle
Feel an earthquake
Make a snow woman
Walk the ramp/ runway
Visit the North Pole
Ice skate
Feed and swim with the Dolphins
Write/blog from ‘Away’ and ‘Beyond’

There are many more…will post more later..!! hehe

Meanwhile..you should post your TTD list here..!