Down the Memory Lane - I

I wanted to have a picture of this place documented somewhere and while I was thinking where could that be, I remembered this space of mine.





There are two main reasons why I wanted this to be documented.

One, I feel an unexplainable connect to this place. It typically explains how I want to be or where I see myself because this shop is situated right on a very busy junction, in a cozy corner, but people hardly know about it.  In the same way, I want to be in a place which is bustling with all the activity, but still be invisible to the eyes of others, i.e.  Away from all the center of attraction. 

Two, I hail from a town where the only ice cream parlor from when I started eating ice creams was of Arun Ice Creams. I always loved it, especially the American and Italian Delight. 

I, unconsciously or at times consciously, make it a point to bring my friends here while I stayed near this place. Of course, people struggled to locate this place even when it was right in front of their eyes. But yes, this shop does house so many fond memories of the times spent with my friends.

I no longer stay close by this place, but still I get a little nostalgic every time I pass by this shop.

Surprised ! Impressed !!

Three days of holidays and no plans to go anywhere - that was so unlike me. Well, the circumstances demanded I stay in town. Had to do some work but in the end, all I'm doing is stay at home the whole day. I could have probably sneaked a visit to the library or that bookstore which I wanted to visit for quite a while now, but the Sun and the summer heat wasn't really helping either. Home was my cozy abode, and I just didn't feel like budging.

The day began on a very lazy note. My dad was to coming down today, so I had to go pick up him from the bus stand when he reached. But when he called up, I woke up, saw my brother sleeping beside me, very smartly woke him up and made him do the driver's job (That's how lazy I was). Dad came, we talked for a while and off he went to my aunt's place with my brother on tow and I was on my own again. Started reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, but 45 minutes into the book, I became restless. Not that the book wasn't interesting, I really needed to do something else. Switched over to watching some serials, but halfway through it started dozing off and eventually slept for another 2 hours (Mind you, I had a very nice sleep of 7 hrs the previous night). Woke up feeling hungry and had some food. 

Now, the time was around 2pm. Finally, I decide I gotta do something worthwhile and proceed on to clean my wardrobe. As I was finishing it, my brother comes over and we start watching some new Bollywood flick. It wasn't that great a movie and this time, halfway through it, my brother quits and asks me to drop him off at the bus stand as he had to get back to school. Thus, after almost an entire morning and afternoon inside the house, I take the first step out at around 5pm. I drop him and come back home only to continue off with the serials again, but the same feeling haunts.

To break free from it, I take a walk for around the area and end up seeing an amazing sunset. Well, I personally love watching sun rise and sun set, especially in the beaches. It gives me some sense of peace or happiness or whatever you can call that feeling to be.

Energetic but a little fatigued, I come home. The stomach rings its bell again. FOOD. And thus, my dear fellas, begins the best part of the day. I decide to put my culinary skills to test. As I was debating on what to try out, a friend of mine suggested Rotis. And I was all game for it. Point to be noted here, all I have ever done before with regards to Roti is put in on the pan :P Never before have I ever tried kneading the dough though I had this annoying habit of grabbing a ball of the dough while it was kneaded. So, I go ahead, mix all the ingredients, knead the dough, flatten the dough which usually should be circular. But my Rotis were anything but circular. They were triangular or square or some random polygon. I cook them over. And guess what, the Rotis actually turned out pretty well. Wonder whether it was my really amazing culinary skills or the fact that I was super hungry (I hope it is the former ;-)) that the Roti tasted soooooooo good. Must say, I was mighty surprised and impressed. 



And that's a piece of my Roti with carrot :D :D 

Mission accomplished. *Pats on the back*

Cheers to more such successful experiments,
G

Musings of a confused mind -_-

Too much of time to kill during the commute to office makes me ponder upon random topics. So one fine day, I re-bump into this one thing which has been on my mind for quite long time.


How easily our, or rather my, minds becomes prey to opinions or comments about other people and forms an opinion by itself. Whatever someone might tell you about somebody seriously impacts your mind, which thereby impacts the way you interact with them.It is not that you judge them but still, there is this small preconceived notion / opinion about them in your mind based on what you have heard.


I've personally felt this quite a few times. In some cases, even before I've actually met a person, I've a thing about them running on my mind. How? Thanks to my ears and the people I am surrounded by. More often than not, we engage in conversations where we may come across something being told about someone whom the speaker might know, but the listener(s) don't. These kind of conversations are unavoidable. However, my point here is, sometimes they do affect my mind and create this preconceived notion about those unknown people, which I feel ain't the right thing to do. See the contradiction here, my mind knows it isn't the right thing to do, but it still does go on and do it. -_-


Two specific instances which have made me ponder so much over this topic are -


Instance 1: There was this distant relation whom I have never met, but have heard quite a lot about him from my aunt, like, how he usually had his way of getting things done and how dominating he was. Listening to all this, made my mind conjure up the term dominator whenever I hear his name. And one fine day, when I finally had a chance to meet him, I found out that he was anything but a dominator. But then, even after knowing that he isn't anything like what I thought him to be, my mind still doesn't let go off its initial thoughts.



Instance 2: This is quite similar to the first one, exception being, here I've met this person and talked and felt her to be good. And then along came a good friend who just had to say she wasn't as sweet as she was the first time I talked to her. I don't quite know what made him say that, but my poor mind had already fallen prey to that comment / opinion and started its own chain of thoughts. Weird I say. Now every time I see her, I stay away because I feel guilty about my own mind and its thoughts.


I wonder if the problem is just with me or does this happen to everyone? Is there any way out of this?

To the bestest friend ever!!

It said that the way to a man's heart is thru his stomach and it was very true in my case. It all started with a packet of wonder cakes ;)

There was this one girl who always came late to class, and one fine day she sat diagonally opposite to me. It so happened that her friend was sitting next to me. So during the break time, she passed on the wonder cakes she had brought to her friend. Being the kind of the person that she is, she urged to me to take a couple of them too (to make sure that I didn't feel bad). And that was enough for me. I instantly liked her :P Okay, I know its silly, but still it felt really good. 

Initially we were just exchanging pleasanteries, no much of talking. But something about her always made me want to talk her. She was one person in the class whom I looked up to everytime I feeling low. And the classes got the over and it was time to start searching places for internships. Thats when the real thing started. Taking turns to constantly pester the internship firm for an interview and finally joining in there. I still remember both of us giving the same answer for why we wanted to join that firm. Lol! 

There was no looking back after that. Internship wouldn't have been half as fun as it was, had it not been for her. She's an all rounder, in every sense. Smart and caring and mature, way beyond her age. The one thing that attracted me to her the most was, she was a non stop chatterbox, talking all the time :P a perfect match for me (actually even better than me).
She's one person I look up to and who has always been there for me ever since I knew her.

Its been 5 years since we knew each other and she's one person who knows me in and out and I know her the same way. 

To all those after office corn n cheese sandwiches, frankies, after class lunches, movies, pizzas, pani puris, beach trips, the never ending plans for joining swimming / veena / yoga and what not, and much more things which I'll cherish forever and ever
So here's to the best thing that has ever happened in my life... Wish you a very very happy birthday pree :D :D

P.S.: I've been wanting to write this post for her last birthday, but it's only now that I've mustered enough courage to put down my thoughts to words.

P.P.S.: Her lunch of fried rice and cutlet.. Yummmm! The best I've ever had in my life ...!

This is one pic a friend of mine had for her, and guess it completely applies for me too!!

Once again wish you a very happy happy birthday pree :D Enjoy life and keep smiling :)

Loads of love,
G

A big fat yellow BULB

It all started with my craving to have one big fat dinner tonight. And you know what, I got lucky. There was this wedding reception of one my dad's colleague. Like always, I bounced at the opportunity and tagged along with my dad, having absolutely no clue about that colleague.

Before leaving, I just scanned the invite lazily to look up the venue. Only on the way to the place did it hit me that I had seen both these names somewhere in FB yesterday. So thus comes the big fat yellow Bulb No. 1, it was the wedding of my 10th standard school mate's brother.

Well, ignoring my hunger pangs, I survey the entire hall to find the schoolmate, but she was no where to be seen. And out of the blue comes an aunty asking me if I can recognise her. Phew! I had forgotten, as always. Taaaaaadaaaaaaaa comes BULB no.2. Its one of my closest friend's mom. *Bangs at the wall* Irony being, I had met her once and ate some of her yummy yummy appams.

Enough was enough. I so wanted to hog the food and leave the place asap before I get one more bulb. But fate had other plans. Being the small town that my hometown is, almost everyone knew everyone. This being the wedding of dad's colleague's son, naturally all his friends were there. So he went about introducing all his friends. He was particularly explaining about one of his friends who was engaged in charitable works and wrote some good articles for the office. Guess what, third bulb, that uncle happened to be the father of the guy who was my class topper in Class X.

Podhum da saami nu kilambiten angendhu :P

P.S.: The food was nice. Also, the 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream in the end ;)

I'm the appatucker!

Well folks, it's official, I'm a Chartered Accountant now, and what more, I'm placed. Ok, the results came almost 2 months back. Being the lazy brat that I am, I kept procrastinating this post. I better not delay it anymore, lest I forget the entire episode.

Result day. 

After having tasted failure in one group in the previous exams, this time I was ready for anything, but of course, I was nervous. So on the day of the result, I went about doing my usual chores and proceeded to the tailoring class (took this up as a hobby to keep myself occupied).

This time around, I wasn't really hopeful that I'd make it , because of that one last paper which had practically screwed my hope of clearing the exams. The moment I saw that question paper, I knew I was in for a toss. My eyes were almost brimming with tears. I didn't understand half of what had been asked in the question paper. Having written the previous exam really well and this being the last exam, I became a little over confident and lethargic. Somehow I managed to stay in the exam hall for the whole 3 hours and write whatever that came to my mind, instead of just walking off right away, though the latter option seemed the right thing to do.

Now coming back to the present, the results were due at 2 PM, but I know they'd be released around 10 or 11 AM. I started becoming more nervous by every passing minute. But since there were a lot of people around in the class, I kept engaging in conversations with them to reduce the nervousness. At around 11 30 AM, I got a call from friend. The results were out. She was like, donkey, didn't check whatsapp, you cleared with a total score of 200 (FYI, a 200 on 400 is the pass mark). I had made it through.. HURRAYYYYYY!!!! 

I called up my dad, and he was like, come home right away. And when I did come home, the look on his face said it all. He was really really happy. All I could think of was, thank god, I didn't let him down again. Still I hadn't checked out the individual scores. As expected the penultimate paper was the saviour of the day, a 65 in that had helped in reaching in the reaching in the total of 200. And in the last paper which I was so worried about, the score was 44. Not bad! 

It still felt like a dream. Here I was a qualified chartered accountant, a course which I had decided to take up 7 years ago for the mere reason that I didn't want to do engineering. Calls  kept flooding the whole day with relatives and friends congratulating me on the success and wishing luck!

Like they say, once you succeed, all stories become success stories. The same happened with me too. 

5 years of hardship, all for these 2 letters, CA. All that I can hope for now is, these words are worth the hype that surround them.

P.S.: Placement episodes, a separate post!

Ciao!!

No title

A while back, I had this orientation session for campus placements, where a speaker told this story. It was something that had me thinking. I wanted to document it then and there, but he was really fast, and there were so many other things happening around me that I couldn't write this one down. I swore not to forget the story, but it kept moving in and out of memory. When I desperately wanted to remember it, nothing would come to my mind. But sometimes, all of a sudden, I'd remember it. Today being one such lucky day, I decided to record it, before it vanishes off my mind.

One fine Sunday afternoon, A was sitting at home and watching a match (obviously, cricket) between India and Pakistan. It looked like a easy win for India. As the match was going on, B, a good friend of A, came to his home. He saw the match going on in the television, went into the kitchen, made some coffee and came over to watch the match.

Meanwhile, the game was getting worse, there were lots of wicket falls. A was getting worried and started imagining things like B was a bad omen / ill luck, because from the time he stepped into my home, Indians aren't playing well. When he glanced at B, who seemed to enjoying his coffee, he got even more pissed.

Finally it was down to 6 runs 2 balls, and at that moment, Harbhajan, who came forward to take a hit, was stumped. A was becoming paranoid and started cursing B under his breath. He decided to beat the shit out of B if India loses.

1 ball and 6 runs required. Naturally, as you would have guessed, it was sixer! India had won the match. A was jumping up and down with joy. B, on the other hand, was still calm and sipping the coffee. A had had enough. So, he questioned B, "Aren't you happy that India won the match?"
B replied, "Arey yar, ye tho last week match ka replay hi" (Translation: Hey man, this is just a replay of last week's match)

A was dumbstruck.

The story ends there. Naturally, I should have written a moral or whatever it is that got me thinking in this story, but I really am unable to put it down in words/proper coherent sentences of what's going through my mind. Some day when I really find the right words, I hope to update this post ;)

Gotta go now, Ciao!

Random Quotes #1

2015 Here I come!

As I write this post, the clock ticks close to 12 signifying the end of the year 2014. This year had so many twists, one hell of a rollercoaster ride it was! This year put some senses into my mind which, until then, was flying high in the air. And soon helped me realize that -
Life is 10% of what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it!

Moving on, I hope 2015 is better and exciting and adventurous than  2014. These are a list of things I wish to do in 2015 -
1. Mumbai! It's has been my dream for a couple of years now to go to the financial capital of the country and experience the bustling life.
2. Developing my English vocabulary
3. Scribe for blind people. I have wanted to do this for a long long time, but never got a chance, or probably didn't search enough. But this year, I resolve to write at least one scribe exam.
4. Travel solo
5. Manali trekking
6. Prepare for and crack CAT
7. Stay fit and healthy
8. Read lots of books which have been lying in my bookmark tabs for long
8. Last but not least, write more and update this blog more frequently.

Apart from these, I want roam a lot and explore different places and multiple cuisines.


So, that's it for now folks, Wish you all a Happy New Year :)

I'm Back !

Yeah, I'm back. More like back from the dead. Though I've been a regular at reading the posts of the blogs that I follow, I couldn't just bring myself to post something in my very own blog. I had always thought writing blogs were fun and simple. But only when I started one of my own, did I quite realise how wrong I was. There are so many things I feel I should be writing in my blog but when I actually sit down to write it, I'm totally at a loss of words. And of course, I have this ever persistent worry of whether people can actually relate to / understand  what I write. But then I guess I gotta give it a try. I'm not gonna lose anything by giving it a try right?! So I'll just continue to rant or post about my mostly-so-boring life.. Ummm, now tell me just brief on you on  what happened in the last two months -
First things first. I'm done with the 3 years of internship. Its over. Yayyyyy!!!!
Secondly, results. It was quite a mess. I'm at the middle of the sea now. Managed to scrape to through group 1. But in group 2, ISCA just let me down. So I've got to write group 2 again. Sigh.
And then there was the birthday. It was just like any other day.
The cousin's marriage. Was fun. Chatting, teasing, dance, music, ogling, food and what not?!
The end.
Oh yeah, I'm at home ever since the intern got over and its just killing me to sit and study all over again. But I don't have a choice right? Gotta finish it up this time.
So off you to open the books and plunge into the dream world!!!

The most awaited break

Once the exams got over, I was back into office. The vicious cycle began again. I started ranting about how office is making me tired and that I didn't have much time to fulfill my bucket list of wishes which I had made during my study holidays. 

My friend R gave a treat at Bombay Halwa House. The food there was fab, especially the cheese corn balls, gobi manchurian and their signature desert, Pan Ice cream !

I happened to go on a family trip to Pune for a week. I almost ruined the trip because of my poor health. I came back home, only to find that I had dengue. So, 5 days of hospitalization and bottles and bottles of glucose, loads of tablets, and not to mention the nerve wrecking injections. Once out of hospital, my parents insisted on me bunking office for a month to ensure that I get well

And thus began my most awaited break of the year. Wow! it has just been amazing from Day1. Nothing to do. Nothing to worry about. Peace! 

3-4 movies a day, food, some random surfing, sleeping, food, novels, short stories, roaming out with dad, gossips with mom, food. I never felt this relaxed since the day I started my internship. 

G