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  • Loud Quiet Loud

    This weekend was a good weekend… I managed to spend a lot of time with myself… was at Abhi’s place, but still I did not see him almost the entire day… was kinda locked inside his room and kept thinking, taking a few pictures, or being just there… and then almost killed myself laughing while watching a TV Program…

    It was nice… specially after being followed by a party at Strawberry Moons, a club on the Regent Street… Abhishek, me and one of his friends from Manderin were there at the club till like 0200 hrs… it was fun… might write about that sometime too…

    As of now… I guess some pictures to cheer a usual dull Monday up should be a good idea 😀 Have a great week ahead everyone…

    God Bless !!!

    This is me Laughing my guts out while watching the finals of Great Indian Laughter Challenge… Kapil Sharma was amazing with his Shamsher Singh and Lalaji Acts…

    And this is some more of ME 🙂 have fun !!! Oh and thats a real mustache 😀 I was being clicked for my portfolio 😀 by Abhi !!!



    Thanks Abhi for letting me be ME.. in silence in alone in company.. thanks Bhai…

  • Those Were The Best Days of My Life… so far 🙂

    The first memories of being on stage go back to class V or VI when I was a part of the dance team which performed on Boney M’s Its a Holiday… This was my first ever english tape as well.. Boney M’s 18 greatest hits and I still love those tracks…

    Remember practicing during the not so important classes and enjoying it… Vicky was my partner in that song, however I wanted some other girl to dance with me 🙂 but then, li’il I could do about it… Nice white shirt and the black trousers… I am sure I kept that dress for a while before I moved on…

    and then a lot of years of stage-o-fobia…

    Until one day, when I was in class IX… I had to climb up the stage to fill in for a few people who ditched us in the Independence Day functions… my first stand up comedy stunt 🙂 it went pretty well for the lifelessness I felt in my legs and the dryness in my throat in those 10 minutes…

    Another few years of stage silence, before it was broken in the form of Mughal’e’Aazam in my first year of college… PGDAV was no great college, but the kind of friends I earned there, the life that I lived there is something that no other place could have given me… I loved those 3 years of my life…

    I still remember that the entire team had practiced on my terrace for a day and by the time we had finished the entire play was changed… We laughed our asses out because of the changes that were made during the entire day… Ankur Wahal had written and directed the play and he was flawless with his work… Today he is a brilliant Corporate Lawyer and no one is going to believe that he once used to rock the stage with his amazing performances…

    His entry in the play on that yellow tricycle… mine with that 8 inch sword and the loose pyjamas… Tushar as the Kaneez… Karan Bindal, our 6 foot tall Laila… and Ankur.. the short Majnu….

    The play was a super hit second year in a row, and that 800 strong audience enjoyed it as much as we did who were on the stage at that time… Ankur and Taru had hosted that year’s Aaghaz…

    I was a part of the Cultural Committee now, and in my second year.. we were looking for people who would join the group… This is when I dragged the freshers Nimisha Bhagat, Sandy, Vandana etc into the group… Ankush joined, Gaurav Marwaha joined, Meghna Jain came in… along with a few others and we had a brilliant team of people doing everything they could… This is the year when I got an award for winning the maximum number of prizes in an academic year too.. 18 prizes I won in various individual and team competitions in Delhi University that year… MY year of glory…

    Ankur did not host Aaghaz that year… I followed his footsteps and was responsible for managing the show for about 7 hours and with me was Virat Vikram Juneja… and both of us created a riot… I loved it… it was the kind of feeling that nothing else can even come closer too… NOTHING…

    Third year of college… Cultural Society at its best… The dance team from my college won almost every single competition that they participated in.. Gaurav Marwaha and Ankush were leading the pack here… Ankush focusing on the dance team, which needless to say, had some of the most brilliant dancers I have met till date…Gaurav worked his sweat out to get the sponserships and managed more than we expected… he did work too hard… and I managed the theatre part along with Meghana and a few others… Ankur, Patrick, Nimisha etc were our western music champions.. this is the time when our Rock Band Nakshatra also revived itself… Some ex students came back to play with us too… the green room below the stage in DAV always used to have something or the other happening…

    This is the year when Kapil Sharma who used to be a DAV student sometime also came back to college and taught me and other most of what I know and remember today about Theater and stage… Getting out of home at 0700 hrs and coming back at 1700 hrs.. even later.. and spending most our time reading scripts, discussing plays, acts and learning and talking was a life well lived… I both smile and cry at times for those times… I still remember the song from Chupke Chupke we used to sing… the one with Amitabh and Dharmendra… we used to rock !!!

    Aaghaz again was my baby this year with me on the stage for about 6 hours and with Virat again… A repeat of the last year… Laughter, comedy, fun and the feeling of being on the top of the world… the only difference being that this year we did the show in Army Auditorium, Dhaula Kuan… what an evening it was… bad throat by the end of the day but smiles that would not stop for days to come.. because every time you entered college you would have some eyes who would recognise you… some people would even come up to you and tell you how good you were….Even Ashish bhai, our canteen wala guy said to me one day… Arre tu to wohi hai na Stage wala !!! I just smiled and said haan woi hoon…. 😀

    The making of posters, the winning and loosing competitions, the bunking classes, the professors refusing to even know you at the end of the year when you requested for attendance, the understanding and the misunderstandings, the certificates, the sitting on stage stairs and singing or talking or just being, walking up to the srinivas puri market to have tea and keep sitting on the stools there for hours, Out of the Gate, across the Road down the street was our favorite spot… during the festivals, the entire cultural society dancing together in jam sessions… I don’t really remember seasons changing for some reason… every day of the year was as bright and sunny as we thought it should be or wanted it to be…

    I moved out of college… thankfullly was in Delhi itself… Jamia Millia Islamia… and not too far away from DAV… though the classes were many, but I still used to go to DAV at times… meeting people in person was the only way to keep in touch.. that is when we did not really rely on Text messages and Mobile Phones or emails to keep in touch… so a typical routine used to be… I would finish my classes in Jamia, rush to DAV, find someone in the green room… talk for a while or wait for classes to finish and then come back home together…

    For some reason the team back in DAV did not find anyone to host the show, and they asked me to do it… I was not sure if I could because I was already out of college but they insisted and I agreed… I wanted Virat to do it with me again, but he was not ready… after a lot of begging and requesting he agreed… and Prashant and Virat did it again in FICCI this time… third year in a row I was there… could not have loved it more… my professors who used to look so serious all around the year laughing off their seats, the people who i did not know responding to every line that i said on the stage… it was a dream… a dream i lived… my then principle Bhatia Sir, who had taught me mathematics in the second and third year also came upto me and said, Inko tujhse achcha koi aur nai milega 🙂

    By the end of next year, things settled down… I was now looking at how am I going to earn a living… Nimisha was busy with her studies, Meghna wanted to do her post grad in NID, Virat started assisting his dad and his work in Faridabad, everyone from the dance team got busy somewhere or the other, Ankur was already doing his LLB… We all moved and Time too….

    Its like I lived a life in those few years and lfe that no more there…. but I know that something has not died inside me… its still there… Thank you God Uncle for letting me live and not just exist !!! You are the best !!!

  • Open Book…

    What a way to start a day… BLOGTHINGS…

    Got in my RSS reader a link to find out what my name means 🙂 And I did…

    here is what comes up… Most of it is bang on… some I would like to believe… and a few.. umm.. not too sure of…

    “You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people.
    Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people’s problems.
    Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest.

    You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You’re always up to something.
    You have a ton of energy, and most people can’t handle you. You’re very intense.
    You definitely are a handful, and you’re likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

    You are usually the best at everything … you strive for perfection.
    You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
    You have the classic “Type A” personality.

    You are the total package – suave, sexy, smart, and strong.
    You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know.
    You don’t always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don’t have as much going for them as you do.

    You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.
    Success comes rather easily for you… especially in business and academia.
    Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You’re a strong person.

    You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
    You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
    You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

    You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless – and you have a lot of questions about life.
    You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You’re most comfortable when you’re far away from home.
    You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

    You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous.
    You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things.
    Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times.

    You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row.
    You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace.
    People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality.

    You are very charming… dangerously so. You have the potential to break a lot of hearts.
    You know how what you want, how to get it, and that you will get it.
    You have the power to rule the world. Let’s hope you’re a benevolent dictator!

    You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you.
    You never give up, and you will succeed… even if it takes you a hundred tries.
    You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice.“

    Care to find out more about yourself too? click HERE…

  • Some of Many….

    I was tagged and the tag was to pick up my best picture( the one that I have taken or liked) on my blog…

    and being the still taker I am, its hard to choose one out of many pictures… so what do I do?

    I go to bighugelabs, and make a small tile of some of the pictures I like… so here it is… some of many that I like… rather love…

    1. Nani.., 2. No Matter What, 3. When you Turn, Smile…, 4. Eyes Speak…, 5. Smiles…., 6. Silent Smile…, 7. Smile…, 8. Papa…, 9. All Smiles…, 10. Yaari Dosti, 11. Babbaji…, 12. Happy SinGh, 13. With flowers in my hand, i feel like a man…., 14. AmMa…., 15. Excited….

  • White Falling…

    Its snowing outside right now…. not too heavy but i can see the soft cotton falling on the road and the cars and all over…

    beautiful…

    I was waiting for this to happen 🙂

    I just told a friend a dream I had sometime back… and right now its seems that I am in a dream myself… well minus the laptops, and people and the cars, and the roads and the buildings outside 🙂

  • The Best Christmas EVER !!!

    I wanted to go to Rome… see a bit of Italy… bit I guess I was too lazy plus it was Christmas and I was told that getting around on the 25th would be an issue… nothing would be open, nothing would be moving so it might not be a good idea to be outside… Plus the costs of traveling around this time were kinda high so I dropped the idea… and waited for something to happen…

    The Plan B was take the road to Paris… Neha is there… she could have helped plan it, and the move on to Brussels, where Ravi is… and come back… but again… Visa required me to go to London and get the visa… did not have the time to do that… plus for some reason, Paris did not really sound like the most exciting thing I could do… had reasons… anyway…

    So Abhishek calls one day and says that he has the week of Christmas off, and what could we do? I said… lets go to Glasgow or did he say that? Don’t remember exactly, but the plan was made and he took care of the coach bookings from London to Glasgow and back… We were not sure of where we could stay rather would stay, because staying with James’ (Abhishek’s boss) parents was an option, but we were not sure… about a week before we were to travel.. he talked to James and we knew that we were staying at his parents’ place on the 24th…

    So the plan was now… Reach Glasgow on the 24th morning… rent a car, roam around… see places… stay over in Balloch with James’s parents and move up north on 25th morning to come back to Glasgow by 26th evening and take the coach back to London that night… perrfect… it took some effort to find a place to stay on the 25th night, but I managed to find a decent place called the Hotel Ballachulish near Fort William towards the west coast of Scotland…

    The Saturday before I was leaving I asked Soumitro if he wanted to join too, he and his wife were keen on joining and got their bookings done too, and were to join us in Glasgow on the 25th morning…

    Reaching Glasgow was ok… we took the Megabus, which is really mega… a double decker bus packed to capacity… I think there were many people going to Glasgow and thats why there were two double deckers going to Glasgow that night…

    Slept most of the my way through.. woke up in Glasgow around 0730 hrs… finding a bus to the airport was a no brainer, bus number 500 from the Buchanan Bus stand will take you to the Glasgow airport in about 20 minutes and its a 10 minute service… so we reach the airport, collect the papers of the car from the airport, freshen up and take the car 🙂 this is where the NICE part starts… it was a nice navy blue VolksWagon Polo… I think a 1600 cc some 100 odd bhp car which it felt like by the sound of it, and I just got too happy when I heard the music system.. it was bloody goooood… I knew it would have a CD player and had cut a cd for the trip like always, and it turned out to be the best thing…

    James had given us his SATNAV, which made driving around very very very easy… so I knew in how many yards I had to take a turn and Julie, or Chammo like we called her kept speaking all the time about which roundabout, which exit, when is the left turn, when is the right etc etc all the time… It was a li’il strange to start with, but I got used to her speaking alright in a while…

    Reached Mr. and Mrs. Campbell’s house in about 30 minutes only to meet two of the most loving and charming people I have met in the UK so far rather why only UK, in a very long time… I guess parents are always nice and warm EVERYWHERE in the world…

    It was nice house, with a breathtaking view in the front..

    The lights far away are from Glasgow… this is the view from the front of the house 🙂

    The Garam Masala finds its way to a Scottish Kitchen… nice 🙂

    We had breakfast and then after a while we left to explore the area on our own… Abhishek had been to Lomond Shores, and thats where we went too… walking around the area and kept clicking… Sun Uncle seemed to be having a good mood and came out of hiding too for a couple of hours before it got dark around 1500 hrs or so…

    A lovely couple at Lomond Shores.. very gentle very kind 🙂

    That ship is the largest paddle boat in the UK, now used as a restaurant…Lomond Shores

    Flying around Lomond Shores 🙂

    Abhishek, the guy to make most of our trip happen… Thanks Bro 🙂

    There is no fun growing up, if I cannot be a kid at times…

    and I cannot make my friends act like kids too 🙂

    Pictures, walking and talking, and we were back home by 1630 odd hours after a small drive up into the country on roads away from the main roads… it was nice… worth every second we spent… and having the car seemed like the best thing we did on this trip…

    The evening greeting through my rear view mirror… a shot thats a must on every drive that I go on 🙂

    The evening was spent at home, talking to them, hearing them tell stories, and more talking followed by some dinner and more talking… Finally call it a day around 2300 hrs… Oh and I had asked them to get us Santa Caps… they could not find them in the market but got us some very very nice Christmas Hats instead 🙂

    Pictures at home 🙂 My Best Christmas Eve… It was nice to really be with a family on the most important day of the year… something I will not forget ever…


    Also had some white wine, and could not help but remember the new year’s eve at Deepak’s place in Chennai two years ago when I just took a sip from the glass and could not take another… this Christmas eve, however I had to finish that glass of wine… Did not want to do anything that would look rude… Afterall they had been so very nice to me and Abhishek… so managed it somehow 🙂

    This decorative piece is over 30 years old… and stills finds a place on the Christmas tree every year, like many old pieces 🙂 lovely…

    Soumitro called me @ 0630 hrs in the morning the next day and told me that he had reached Glasgow and there was NOTHING open.. no buses, no shops… this was expected, however I was hoping that the bus service to the airport would be on…nope it was not.. so as planned I was to pick them up and then drive up north… Got up, got ready… had some amazing breakfast and rushed to the airport to pick them up.. they had managed to take a taxi and reach the airport…

    Picked them up from a near empty airport.. could not believe that International Airports could look like that.. I did not see more than 30 people at the entire airport that morning.. including the four of us…

    And our drive to Fort William started… I decided to go via OBAN to Fort William instead of the direct way and enjoy the drive… so we kept stopping where we felt like and parking was allowed and kept breathing in the place…

    I see this in the night, and I might not just sleep… It was spooky enough to be around something like that in the middle of nowhere 🙂

    I could not have asked for more… A lovely car to drive, just the right kind of music with amazing quality, wonderful roads and breathtaking views… Just how I like it… this is what takes me away from everything and I reach my Solace.. the state which I love and a lot of other things stop mattering or bothering me…

    This is a Pier at Loch Lomond… a place called Luss…

    Below is the Route that I took… Oban was our first major pit stop, needless to say everything except one pub was closed here too… and we had not managed any food or coffee in the entire day so far… however there was food in the car and we did have some food in the car.. it was like Picnic… total funn…

    [googlemaps https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=Glasgow&daddr=Oban,+UK&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=29.440076,82.265625&ie=UTF8&om=1&s=AARTsJoV21UeBGkXcZhZa6rdQVL6vTxRCQ&ll=56.15414,-4.864955&spn=1.070819,2.334595&z=8&output=embed” frameborder=”0″ height=”350″ scrolling=”no” width=”425″>
    View Larger Map

    View Larger Map

    Chicks always have attitude, be in India or UK… a Sea Gull at Oban…

    So from Oban we moved to Ballachulish and reached there in about an hour only to reach the BEST hotel that I have stayed so far… beautiful place, very well kept and had that typical Age to it… loved it…

    Hotel Ballachulish for your viewing pleasure 🙂 and thats Loch Lenhe in the front…

    Had tea, just relaxed, went out for a walk, came back when it started raining… Abhishek’s hat was stolen by wind and he had run a good 100 mtrs before he could manage his hands back on it 😀 that episode was fun for sure…

    The bridge between Loch Lenhe and Loch Leven… Saw the water flowing towards Loch Leven and then back in a matter of hours while at the hotel… I guess high tides and low tides doing it.. Loch Lenhe is connected to the sea..

    The evening was spend in the lounge over a few drinks, dinner followed by some live music… Live music is always nice, irrespective of you understanding the lyrics or not…

    An Old Piano at the hotel… Missed my keyboard and did try to remember a few tunes… managed to play some too 🙂 not too well though 🙂

    The hotel decided for some reason to not charge us for the dinner, call it a Christmas Gift from them, and that saved us about 40 pounds each… that was a lovely gesture from the Manager on duty there… Thank you Ma’am !!!

    Stills from the Hotel

    Went off to sleep only at 0100 hrs and woke up around 0800… got ready and checked out of the hotel around 1100 hrs.. not before taking a walk and a few pictures outside and even managing to slipping on the stairs with wet leaves on them and hurting my back 🙂 I saved the camera though, and I am happy for it 😛

    Somewhere next to Loch Lomond… I think its the largest lake in Scotland

    The Route today was Ballachulish to Fort William to Glasgow… It kept raining the entire day on 26th, though that did not stop me from going inside this place called Inverlochy Castle and take a few pictures.. there were only a few walls standing there now, but it was beautiful nevertheless…

    Inverlochy Castle

    Drove back to Glasgow via a different route that day..

    Stopped at a few places and reached well in time for the bus…

    Somewhere on our way towards Glasgow…

    Decided to kill some time and saw “I am Legend” in Cineworld in Glasgow.., don’t ask me about the movie.. its ridiculous… waste of time !!! this is when I was not well and started feeling the fever…

    Abhishek managed to find a vending machine and got us some hot chocolate when most of the shops around we already closed for the day and that really helped beat the cold before we took the bus and got back to London…

    I drove for about 300 miles in these two days and I could not have asked for more… Loved every second of it, rather should say every mile of it… Its pretty obvious from the picture isn’t it?

    🙂

  • Insecure somewhere…

    So the Devil Wears Prada… well thats what I just learnt in the last hour and a half…

    I start in a job…

    I like it..

    I work hard…

    Did I mention I had people I loved and People who loved me?

    So back to working hard…

    and very hard…

    And one day I tell someone that my personal life is hanging by the thread, and what I am told is, “Congratulations, you are doing great at work!!!”

    And what next?

    Well… the day you think you have lost your personal life, congratulations, its time for a promotion…
    So I keep doing great at work…

    Oh, yes and there are people I love and people who love me… but then what do I do… work needs attention… I just CAN’T do anything about it… doesn’t matter if that attention to work means no attention to the people who now are not getting any time… but I just CAN’t Do anything…

    so I move on.. they move on…

    and one harsh reality and I am back to normal… back to the people I love and people who love are back…

    But then, that was the movie… It was a movie that was supposed to end with happiness all around…

    I guess I am just insecure about myself, that because I treat work as something that pays my rent and is a necessary evil and having said that I still manage to do pretty well there (God Bless) and put in a lot of soul in it… but at the same time have something else that I have a larger part of my heart in… I might grow up to be an insignificant person for people who today love me and want to stand by me, but will probably move too ahead and away from me while they were working their way higher up the ladder…

    I don’t want a day in my life when the trade-offs become too big to handle….

    Or maybe I should not be watching movies alone 🙂 they make me think..

    or maybe I should take a nap… its been almost 24 hours that I have not slept…

    Good Morning Life… Good to know you more !!!

  • Happy SWEET New Year….

    Whats the best way to start a new year in firang land?

    Well… don’t think about it much…

    the best way to start a new year in Firang Land is to have ā¤ĻāĨ‡ā¤¸āĨ€ ā¤˜āĨ€ ā¤•āĨ‡ ā¤ŽāĨ‹ā¤¤āĨ€ā¤šāĨ‚ā¤° ā¤•āĨ‡ ā¤˛ā¤ĄāĨā¤ĄāĨ‚ from ā¤•ā¤¨āĨā¤ĩā¤žā¤°āĨā¤œāĨ€ in ā¤šā¤žā¤‚ā¤Ļā¤¨āĨ€ ā¤šāĨŒā¤•, ā¤ĒāĨā¤°ā¤žā¤¨āĨ€ ā¤Ļā¤ŋā¤˛āĨā¤˛āĨ€

    Yes..I just had two from the kg pack that I have to enjoy in the coming days…

    Thank you Amit for this… The new year could not get better than this… thanks bro…

  • One Flew…

    “I don’t know what freedom is about…”

    I kept repeating this line to myself for atleast 5 minutes before I started writing this…

    Is freedom, the freedom to speak?
    or to act?
    or to think?

    or to think and speak?

    or to think and act?

    or to have the liberty to speak and act the way we want?

    or to just be calm about whats happening?


    Or is it about getting away from everything once in a while, spend a couple of days in silence with yourself and then get back to this noisy world where freedom is just a word…

    Wondering what triggered this thought? I am wondering too !!!

    Was Randle McMurphy ( Jack Nicolson as we know him) wrong in doing what he did?

    Should the Chief have left him like he was after the lobotomy operations?

    Or did the chief do the right thing before he escaped?

    It takes guts to make a movie like “One Flew Over Cuckoo’s Nest” and I must admit that it did bring me closer to a lot of questions I would like to get answers for sometime in my life…

    If you have not seen the movie yet, see it… Don’t read about it on IMDB or Wiki… you would know what happened in the end… Get a CD or a DVD… watch this movie… its brilliant… I should use a better word, but I can’t think of any right now…

    If you have read this post, do make an honest attempt to watch the movie… and tell me what you think !!!

    One of the nicest things that has happened to me on this UK trip is movies like Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump etc… thanks Lalit for the lovely idea… I owe you one…

  • CTRL Zee

    Do heartburns make you sweat?

    Why the hell and I sweating like I am in hell tonight?

    Will try to sleep with some fever, a fukked up throat, and some shattered dreams tonight, if at all I can manage some sleep…

    I thought its the quilt… its away…

    The room heating… its off…

    and I am still like I am in hell… I think I should open the damn window !!!

    Do I sound angry? Yes I am!!! On/With/For/Because of Does not matter… it never did !!! To feel better, all it takes is a good sleep, the alarm with one of your favorite songs (which I changed to, a while back) and hoping that tomorrow there is some sunshine!!!

    God Uncle, you better be on my side, for I need you !!!

    Amen !!!

    p.s. Sorry if you feel like something to say about this and find the comments disabled… I had to write this and this page is all I got…

    On second thoughts… I don’t want to stop anyone from saying what they want… This is a public page… I gotta write about what I feel… Anyone can write about what they feel about what I feel 🙂 I think I am feeling better after I wrote all that random stuff above… nice !!!