I will be back to bug you!

Just about an hour and I will be heading towards Singapore, again for studies. Or should I say, towards one more semester with the same strange feeling of leaving India and my own people.

The post is dedicated to some special lives in India, who all together make my life so lovely. Ah, sometimes irritating too. Apart from my buddies - Shana, Bro buddies-my first company friends-Ms. S P Jain (Who is my everything in Mumbai!), my frock buddy N and other mischievous school buddies, I have some other lives- I call them lives.

The balcony garden and my big couch on which I sleep keeping my legs hanging from the hand-rests. My comfort zones. Oh I should not forget my bed- The very same bed- since twenty four years it makes me feel home and I must say the bed was actually made for my grand father when he was a kid!

Those birds. As I had mentioned earlier, exactly one floor above our flat, a zoologist Uncle stays and he has all kinds of birds in the balcony (with larger than life cages I say, cages are not actually cages!) which is exactly above our balcony. These birds chirp through out the day and keeps my garden alive. In fact an African parrot he has, mimics everything he listens to which includes door bell sound and Gayatri Mantra!!! 

My blanket. Even though there is practically no need of a blanket in Singapore.I just miss the feel. Mom says I get addicted to things so fast- and then an expert advise- It is not good! Who cares! :D

My books, I don't know how many total numbers of cupboards full of books we have. Both at old home and new home. I definitely miss all of them, the smell of those pages. Some books with my grand parents hand writings and covers. Some from my child hood and some from mom's collection. 

My oven. I baked a lot of things this time. Suddenly I have started developing interest in baking and the result was- a bread loaf, carrot cakes, chocolate-oat pudding and other baked dishes. Of course I cooked all sweet dishes using honey and less, very less sugar. I am going to miss my baking experiments for sure.

Ideas and things whom I call my life are just flowing through my mind but it is difficult to express them in one post. May be this longest stay at home after three years of leaving home for my career, made me happy and fresh even though it was full of ups and downs. 

People like me might say, ' Don't stay at home so long that your soul refuses to go back to work!' I would say, 'Can anybody judge the 'long stay' at home? No stay can be long!!'

To my folks, Frock buddy N, Shana, Bro buddies, Ms. SP Jain- 'I miss you' is of no use, just like 'Be in touch', We are soul mates and so..

'I will be back again to bug you!'

Love you India, I shall be proud of you, I shall love you even more accepting your flaws.

Twists and Turns!-2012

I am a kind of magnate for unwanted or unpredictable twists and turns in my life. Apart from falling down on roads I have this special characteristic and so when nothing happens my friends always ask me, "Teri life mein kuch excitement nahi aya na bahot time se?!" It makes me keep mum as I always feel after the statement something weird is bound to happen. It happens too.

If I recollect things from last year I am sure I will be able to write a dozen of blog posts! The year was smooth yet with lots of twists and turns. Something like roller coaster ride in the Universal studio or a ride on the express highway built on a hill! Really.

A month or two in thinking about my higher studies, applying for the course, patiently waiting for the link to show my status of application and above all spending time with my Mumbai friends who are not actually in Mumbai. Two in Delhi and other two in Mumbai but in the world of studies and vendor visits. I rest my case- Oh no, we still glue together!

Some changes came in my thought processes. I completely conquered the fear of staying apart or staying in a foreign country and loosing my buddies one by one. As I write after six months of landing in Singapore, I feel we have come closer by several steps than ever. I must say I feel grown up and have matured with time too. Silly, my friend don't think so but no, I think I agree with myself! (Narcissism?)

I learnt about different categories of friends. Best friends, Good friends, Farcical friends and friends to move on and forget about. All categories enriched me with strength and patience, so my patience level has grown from minus one to one! :D

My life took a very big turn when I had to resign to pursue my studies. My first ever company- I said Good bye to. Activities related to such an act led me to understand my team mates better, my company better and above all some farcical friends even more better. I spent a hell lot of time with my buddies before leaving Mumbai. I was pampered enough by my mom dad in whatever time I could get to spend with them.

In Singapore, apart from falling sick and falling on the road, I was afraid and then thrilled to leave the student's life again. How to save money to how to enjoy in a foreign country, how to make new friends. Some realizations took place- I am quite a prankster! I have become choosy about friends! Even when I chose a friend and the friend doesn't respond to I don't mind- I move on. May be moving on and enjoying was the thing I learnt the best in the last year.

A thrilling ride of these twists and turns were a big dose of adrenaline. With the hope of getting such rides in this year, with a little bit of stability in my life,

A toast to such twists and turns, the best ever characteristic of my life!

A place of childhood(s)

I revisited not only mine but even my dad's childhood. My hometown Jamnagar. Though I have never lived in this 'Chhoti Kashi' (due to numbers of temples it has!), the place is quite boring, I still feel there is a string attached to me. The moment we enter Jamnagar, I feel a strange sense of familiarity, care and affection. Most of known shopkeepers to doctors know my dad by name, yeah my grand father was one of the most famous doctor of his time in the whole region.Even after twenty years of his demise people still come to meet us and share stories of his talent,ethics and value.

Dad and my buas never fail to mention their stories knitted in the city and the huge house of childhood, in which my bua stays now. Jamnagar is equal to my family home, the huge 'deli' with huge garden, parking space, store rooms and  a compound to play. Not only it has stories from my dad's childhood but even mine. The fair I used to visit every vacation and of course the circus! I could notice the circus still performs there! Childhood photos of papa, buas and of course mine are actually a bonus for me! I keep on recollecting things- Though the house is re-designed five years ago, I can connect to almost everything. I still remember the huge library hall and in which cupboard which kinds of books are there. Books which shaped me during holidays. The wooden stair case on which I still dance to make sound- subconsciously! The garden and the courtyard where I used to play for hours in summer vacations.

The town hall just opposite to the house is now a modern building surrounded by gardens now, 'delis' and an old 'bhutiya' haveli. Papa says the huge haveli has thousand 'varasdars' now and no one cares. I used to build stories about the haveli in my childhood which seems like a bundle of jokes now.

Sometimes I think, the city and our home both are connected to me in a strange way. I feel amazingly comfortable there though I have never lived in Jamnagar. Even super market to ice cream parlous  hospitals to temples. May be my grand father and then my dad is so much attached to them that the relation extends up to my heart. People mentioning about my grand father's charity treatment and ethics have a sense of respect,love and care for my family even though not me, my brother or my mom was involved.

Somethings are not worth explaining. For me, my brother and my mom.

We feel connected, always.

And I have no words for my Mumbai trip!

No India trip can take shape without a Mumbai trip. Though it was a very short (For a city like Mumbai) for me I could do *somethings* I had thought of. Oh yeah I had a tiny Mumbai trip this time when I am in India!

The Mumbai Morning on the railway platform was obviously excited as I met my bro buddy after six months and of then the fun filled ride started off. My short office visit made me nostalgic and met all those people who loved me, cared for me and supported me when I was working  jumping there. Though it was not possible to meet every one for a longer period of time, as I was messing up with my hundred jobs to be done in the awesome city, I know many many buddies out there is cursing me for not meeting up properly.

The reception of my Cubicle partner Z was an awesome inter cultural experience with some charismatic and some comic personalities around me. My friend Shana of course made an extra effort to take a day off on 24th on his 'Happy wala birthday' which ended up in two trips to Star Bucks, The Dabang- 2 and a roller coaster auto rickshaw ride.Somethings never ever change and one of them is my love for Mumbai and Mumbaikars. Ah, and of course our chit chats full of leg pulling sessions.

The quick hug from my dream city (again a dream!), costly auto rickshaw rides with my best buddies, functions full of chirps and of course the very homely feeling which was absolutely absent in Singapore except visits to her place.

Every night I wanted to stop the clock and rewind it again to the first day of the trip. I craved to be with my friends again and again every day and I still do. I love the speed of the city, the way it adapts to needs of every stranger- be it a pair of Pav vada or a pair of stylish shoes. The city offers everything to every one here.

Sometimes it feels rude when I say I love Mumbai more than Ahmedabad now, may be becuase my small town is no more the small one and suddenly I have lost the connection. The only place makes me super warm in Ahmedabad is my sweet home and in Mumbai, well even the super polluted air-slums make me high. There is no point in comparison though and I digress.

Christmas charols all around in the city and those coffee-lunch sessions with my buddies, the awesome comfort of my friend's amazing home in the only huge township in Mumbai made it the best ever tiny trip.

With lots of tears in the end when I started for Ahmedabad again.

I have no words to express more than this!

The voice

As I type in the comfort of my home, on my favorite couch with no caffeine in my hand I can feel the wave spreading in my mind. A wave soothing and relaxing me, my mind, my body and the soul.

I agree it is not the effect of my stay at home. In fact I was disturbed in a subconscious way I say. There was no single prominent reason for the little bit shocking state of mind, but still I suffered the little pain.In the morning I avoided talking to any one much and of course my dad again questioned if there was anything which made me worried.Obviously my answer was 'No'. I wanted something which I did not know. No, it did not hurt me or gave me pain, I was just a little bit hassled.

Suddenly a voice called me. I know this voice so much. It is a mirror sometimes, if I sound happy the voice increases it thousand times. If I sound low, it tries  to console and give solutions. If I crib it scolds me such that I will back to my original self.

The voice I heard for some twenty minutes. I was almost floating on the wave in my home, with a feel which adored me, pampered me. I interacted with the voice.The disturbance disappeared and while working after some time of the whole 'voice session', I realized,

Not every one is blessed with the voice. I am.

The voice of my best of best buddy!