The Christmas Invite and the Plum Cake

Well, my wife didn't buy me a Lamborghini, yet, I am writing just one more post.

We were just siting and watching some boring TV program, and could here a distant noise. After a few minutes, we could tell that there were some children singing songs, beating the drums, and knocking on all doors. They are very loud, louder than we were used to, but we wondered what the children were up to. After some time, there was silence. We heard the footsteps, the hustle-bustle and the murmurs. We know they were coming towards our door. It obviously was something nice, we hoped.

The bell rang, and my wife opened the door. And that was the view. They started singing, beating the drums again, and shouting.

The little Santa offered a bag of gifts, and we took 3 chocolates. And then they invited us for the Christmas celebrations which would happen the next day. Here are some photos from the event.

It was red all around. Kids and their parents, all in red. And there were 2 Santa Claus(s). There was some dancing, singing and some more.

We got plum cakes as well, which the wife was craving for so many days now. And she was really excited when the kids invited us to the party. She was, actually, in her mind, hoping that they will distribute Plum Cakes after the party. She just randomly makes a wish, and wishes for the wish to be fulfilled that very moment, just like magic. If she doesn't get what she wants at that moment, she doesn't want it again the next moment. I really can't express how it works for her, but she is like a wishing(not washing) machine. And most of the wishes don't come out from her mouth. I am supposed to read her mind. The only thing I could try is keep playing the guessing game. Believe me, it's not as easy as a multiple choice question with 4 options. It might well be a question, which has either no options, or has millions of them.

But now, since she got her plum cake, I can take some rest, and breath normally, until she wakes up in the morning. 

The New Year Post

Ah!! this time I am late. Damn!! There were quite a few reasons. But, finally, this had to come.

Image source: Wikimedia commons

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you. :)

Not much happened when the year changed for me. I was at home, sitting idle, watching the TV. Everyone else at home was asleep. I was the only one at home, waiting for the new year. The date changed with no big bang. After that, I switched of the rooms lights, and got busy with the movie. At about half-past midnight, my phone rang.

"An unknown number". Must be someone from college, I thought. Without concentrating much on the caller, my eyes still focused on the TV, I answered the call while I lowered down the volume.

A girl answered.

She: "Hi, Happy New Year".... Come down, I am waiting for you.

She sounded very very familiar, and I almost instantaneously recognized her. She was Radhika, a friend from school. We weren't really great friends, and we probably hadn't talked for more than 10 years now. I wished her back, still trying to confirm if it was her.

Me: Hey, A very very Happy New Year to you. But, why are you here at this time?
She: Come down. I am shivering outside. We are going somewhere.

This was a mistake, I thought. It can never be her. Even if it were her, she wouldn't be here waiting for me in-front of my house. I got up from the chair, walked towards the window and looked down. I could see the shadow of a car below in the dark. I could also see a girl inside the car, although it was just her silhouette.

Me: Ummm. Wait. It's a mistake. Who is this by the way?
She: Come on. Be a sport. Let's go now. I am shivering.

Still confused, I thought of going down and getting a better view of the woman waiting inside the car. And then I heard a big loud horn. Startled, I almost trembled and closed my eyes.

The TV was still playing that movie, and I was on my chair. I had dozed off.

I never knew anyone called Radhika. Huh.... Just to be sure, I looked down from the window. The roads were empty, and even the car. This time, the street lights helped me look inside the car.

I wished if she were a bit more patient and not honked so loud.

Dreams. Our minds can be so imaginative. I am sure, if she wouldn't have honked, I would have celebrated the next year in my dreams as well. A whole year of thoughts, within a span of a few hours. That would have been fun.

Friends... Forever

What's a Friendship without fights? What's a Friendship without arguments? What's a Friendship without compromises?

Friends are supposed to understand what you don't say. Friends are supposed to advise when you are off the track. Friends are supposed to keep quite when you are mad. Friends are supposed to be there for you, all the time, no matter how busy they are.

But things change with time. You might not be in contact with your best pal from your childhood. You might have forgotten the name of your best friend in school. And the best friend from college, well, you might just call him up a few times in a year, perhaps on his birthday, or the new year.

Nobody has a single best friend. At-least, I don't have one. They kept changing, all the time, from the childhood days, to school, then college, and now at workplace. The concept of a "Best Friend" is a little flawed for me, at-least I feel so. I believe that, at a given moment, a person can have a pool of good friends, and it becomes almost impossible for one, to chose the best among them.

It might sound as if, today, on the occasion of "Friendship Day", I am trying to make all my friends happy. Well, in a way, Yes. I thank all of them who have considered me as a "Friend", but, also, those who have considered me as their "Best Friend" at some point of time.

I think I can list down a few friends who have been in my pool of good friends.

1. My Sisters (Mausumi, Sushmita): Well, obviously, they have to be among them. Had the best of times when we were children at home.
2. Hara Prasad Sahoo: He was one of the first who I met in Stewart School, and we were perhaps best friends till Class 4
3. Santrupta Mishra: We quickly became best friends in Class 4 and stayed Best Friends till 10th.
4. Shyam Bedback: In college, most of the times, we were seen with each other. Does that mean we were best friends? Perhaps.
5. Samiran Rautray, Ritesh Parida, Ashutosh Bag, Sidharth Gourav Nayak, Kapidhwaja Pratap Narayan Singh (Hope I spelled is correctly): Bet friends in the first year of engineering. Ragging was so fun in the first year. The whole year, we all sort of stayed together all the time.
6. Rishabh Kalra, Saurabh Shukla, Vivek Bhagbole: In addition to the first year friends, the pool kept getting bigger and bigger, and by the time it was my last year in engineering, the boundaries "Circles" of good friends started melting away.
7. Kunal Kishore Malviya, Vijay Kumar, Vivek Dwivedi, Rwitam Mitra, Sagar Mohane, Vinay Suri, Vishal Jain: All of them started to break the boundaries.
8. Nitin Chhabra, Gaurav Paul, Shakul Jugran, Sandesh Kothare, Rahul Jain: Well, those were the close group of friends with whom I spent most of my time in the initial days in Bangalore.
9. A few more which don't really fall into that chronological order: Amit Chahar, Vidushi Goyal, Rwitam Mitra, Debasis Biswal, Rajesh Jena, Santhosh Joshua, Padmaja Dash, Shantanu Singh, Vandana Toshniwal

And the list goes on and on and on.  I just can't really put every friends' names down here. Actually, it's a little unfair on my part, if I have left out anyone. But, I could, very clearly see the pattern emerging. The pool of good friends becomes bigger and bigger with your age. And, thus, the concept of having a "Best Friend" is diluted once you are exposed to such a large number of good friends. Sometimes, you can't make up your mind and pick a better friend among a two. At times, you will have to make a few compromises. It has frequently happened to me, that 2 from those friends would call you up and ask you to catch up for a movie. And now, you have to make a choice. When you make a choice, it's definitely hard for you, and it is perhaps hurts the other guy who you ignored. I also, feel the same, when such things happen to me. But then, everything is forgiven and forgotten soon, and then, the next weekend, you get to go with the other friend. And everyone seems to be happy now.

Ah!!! Ok, fine, Let's end this day here. By the way, A very Happy Friendship Day to all my friends, and I hope that I am always there in your "Circles" as a good friend. Don't ever think that I have stopped being a Friend of yours. Even if I don't call you often, even if I don't wish you on your birthdays, even if I have forgotten your last names. I still think about you all when I rest my mind. I still have dreamed about a few. It's just that Life has taken a toll on me, and that I have many many more friends to talk to, and keep my circle growing.

Thanks all, again, for being a FRIEND. Happy Friendship Day.

By the way: Did you notice? That list contains only 3 girl friends, apart from my sisters. I want to make as many girl friends as the boy friends I have. So, anyone interested on growing their pool of friends, please contact me.

No words for this

Courtesy: http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/photogallery.php?gallId=901

Valentine's Day checklist

Image Link (Wikipedia)

Ahem...14th Feb 2011, It's s big day. But unfortunately, it's a Monday. Damn it!!!!! 2 hours of traffic and 8 hours at work doesn't help. There are so many things to be done. I have a checklist of the things. Here they are...

• Take bath in the morning: This is the most important thing to be done tomorrow. To keep myself fresh throughout the day. I have got a new bottle of perfume, half of which will be emptied tomorrow morning.
• Get dressed: No one likes his/her partner to be dressed the usual way. It has to be different. Still thinking about what to wear tomorrow. I will use my wrist-watch tomorrow after a long long time.
• Message and Call her: Well, to start off, since it's a Monday tomorrow, you have to do this to make her feel special. Never forget this.
• Buy a rose and a card: Another day of the year (besides her birthday) when you should not even think of not getting her these. I am not a flower guy, but I think, for me, a card(big big) one will do the trick.
• Buy a gift: This is a must. It doesn't have to be pricey or big, but you have to get her a gift when you meet her for the first time on this day. If she is nice, she will understand your situation on a Monday, but not getting her a gift is a risk which you should avoid under any circumstances. You can live without a job, you will always find another one, but loosing a girl on the V-Day, it's terrible, considering the fact that nobody else would be free tomorrow.
• Book a table at a costly restaurant: If your girl-friend is a vegan, you will have a difficult time to find a nice decent place. You should have planned for this well before the V-Day. All the restaurants will be reserved for the day. So, plan accordingly. Another cheaper offer, which might just pamper your girl-friend even more, is to cook for her. She will definitely like it, for sure.
• Coffee at a costly coffee bar: Home made food for dinner is so so romantic for girls. But, your best efforts at making the best coffee yourself, is so so unromantic. Take her to CCD or Barista or any of those coffee bars, just don't care if the coffee costs you more than Rs. 200. You have been doing so well till now, and you don't want to spoil the treat. 
• A sweet good night SMS: Send a sweet and romantic SMS after the coffee, and bid her good night.
• A romantic song to end the day: That's the cherry on the cake. But, be well prepared. If you choose the wrong song, you will have to answer millions of questions on your choice of song. :D
• The LAST and the most IMPORTANT THING on my list: To find a Valentine. I know it's already late, but then, there's always a hope. This is my checklist for tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day to all. Enjoy the day. If anyone is free for tomorrow, let me know, and I will follow and tick off my checklist for you. :D

Twenty 10 >>>>>> Twenty 11

 

YEAR

A few minutes... All those tweets and facebook status updates will become a thing of the past. 2011 is already knocking. I can hear people bursting crackers outside. My phone is already busy beeping. And there's a lot of noise outside. There's one guy, who pinged me exactly at 12:00, to wish me. His message read: "HNY". And somebody is sending me an e-greeting and forcing me view it right away. Mom and Dad called us on my sister's phone from upstairs to wish us both a Happy New Year. I can see so many people online on Gtalk and Facebook, just like I me, everyone changing their status messages to wish the world. Wow, That's a great beginning, I guess.

Had I been in Bangalore when the calendars changed, the atmosphere would have been completely different. At-least, it would have been far more noisier than here in Bhubaneswar, though I can hear a few people outside, wishing the world, at their loudest. I would have been among friends. We would also have celebrated yesterday in office. But, being at home, on such occasions is quite a different experience, among the people you have know since you were born.

Remembering the past 2010, it wasn't actually long for me. Oh, And if I remember correctly, I was in Bhubaneswar 3 years back, celebrating my new year in a similar fashion. I guess, that was in, 2008, Jan 1st. For the 2009, 1st Jan, I was in Chennai. For 2010, I was in Bangalore. Hmmm, That's strange, seems, like my next new year is designed to be celebrated in Chennai again. :(

Well, let's not think anything about the future yet. It's party time, enjoy, have fun, get ready to start afresh and be happy. Wish you all, a very very Happy New Year, and may all your wishes be fulfilled.

Talking about resolutions, Ummm..... I don't have one. If anyone of you already has one, believe me, it never works!!!! So, go ahead, and have a blast. And since it's a holiday(for most of us), I will enjoy even more. By the way, I am on leave till 12th of January, 2011. YIPEEEE!!!!!

Finally, Vacations!!!

I wish it were college days again, where after every 6 months, we were allowed to go on vacations for a whole month. I wish it were college days again, where I could bunk some days. I have been pretty busy with office work, all this time. I am tired now. And finally the holidays have come. I will not be going to office from today till next year, a 18 day-long vacation.

A few days away from work, not even a month, and everything will be back to normal. Its been a very very long time that I have blogged about anything. Well, yet another year has gone by, and it didn't really seem like a year. For this New Year, I will be at home, away from office. But, the very beginning of the next year would be very very hectic.

I am 27 years old now. That means, that I have only around 50 more years to go(best estimate). All these 27 years had been fun. Well, it was a mixed bag actually, but most of it was fun and enjoyable.

I won this time Kunal, by a big big margin. :) Ok, you might be churning out better quality content, but that doesn't matter. :D

Right now, I have 3 laptops in-front of me. One is switched-off, one is sleeping, and the other is getting ready to be packed up and fly with me. YAY!!! Holidays.......


Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Properous New Year.
(Just in case I don't find time to post while I am enjoying at the beach)

2010 : Happy New Year

New Year was good. Celebrations went on as planned. But I missed "3 Idiots" show, thanks to Bangalore's unpredictable weather. As soon as I stepped out in the open, it started pouring heavily. The roads were flooded with water. And the auto-walas, as usual, turned down all my requests to take me to the theatre where my friends were waiting.

And in office,  I had to make a call. An interview, can you believe it? On 31st Dec, at 5:00 pm. Crap...

At night, Sinha, Vishal, Kunal and me assembled at my room, and we had a small party. That was all. :) :)