The laziest days

I don't consider myself lazy, but I have my days when I just want to do nothing. And when something comes up that has to be attended urgently, or it's forced upon me, you should see my mood, and my tantrums.

I almost cry, but being a man, that's not an option, I bleed from within. My blood temperature rises, and I have palpitations. But then, depending on the impending task, I either drag myself up from the sofa or just ignore the calls of the moment.

Why can't I have my rest day? Without any interferences!!! Why? Why? Why?

When I am just about to crack a difficult problem, the disturbances come rolling in. Just when I am trying to concentrate, a big bang goes off somewhere. Just when I enter into deep sleep, some unknown number wants to contact me. (Now I have set up Quite Hours on my phone though, Thanks Cyanogen). Just when I want to watch my favourite show on the TV, the electricity department takes a break. And it goes on and on.

Why am I complaining? Am I the only one that goes through all this? Obviously not. But, then, some days, you really get pissed. Not that I am really that right now.

Anyway, there's still hope for me I think. The next Sunday is only 7 days away from now. And tomorrow is a holiday for me (Yay!!!! My wife is working tomorrow :D :D). I hope I have the next Sunday just as I would like it; My Laziest Day.

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.

Flower chor!! Flower chor!!

Ah!!! I thought things would have changed. It's been a long long time that I heard such tales from my Mom. Let's ponder over the background of the story.

Every Indian house does some form of Pooja, every morning, for which one of the most important ingredient is "Flowers". The flowers have to be fresh, i.e, freshly plucked. And the most important part is, the collected lot should at-least have 2 varieties of flowers (varying by color or species). The fun starts every morning. If you could fix a big camera over my colony, one could see people getting out of their houses just before the sunrise, with small bags, determined...

Their mission: Collect flowers for Pooja.

Target: Everyone else's garden.

We also have a few flowering plants inside our compound, and Mom recently noticed that everyday the number of flowers on our plants kept diminishing. And, on other days, she failed to find a single flower for our Pooja on our plants. It was obvious that someone was stealing our flowers. Although we somehow managed to get our share of flowers from other sources, Mom took up the responsibility to catch the erring neighbor and confront them, or may be teach them a lesson.

She needed a partner. And who else would be a better accomplish other than Auntie who was a close friend of Mom. She was on the ground floor, and Mom on the second floor. The plan was chalked out. Everyday, Auntie would try to wake up early in the morning, hoping that she would wake up before the THIEF reached our compound, watch the plants for a few minutes and alert Mom if she saw anything suspicious.

Everyday, Auntie and Mom used to wake up early in the morning, and kept an eye on our plants. Mom, from the terrace, and Auntie through the windows. For the first few days, the thief was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps, he made his errands too early in the morning. After a few watchful days, the thief was finally caught. They were actually two (From the same house, Husband and Wife). To be sure enough before deciding on their punishments, Mom and Auntie wanted to be check that the culprits came and assaulted our plants daily. So, they continued for a few more days, and it was established that the THIEVES actually came everyday and robbed us of our flowers.

The plan: The next time when Mom would see them getting their hands dirty, they would be washed off by a bucket of cold water from the terrace.

But, the idea was finally dropped, considering...

• The culprits were from our own colony, and we knew them.
• It was winter time and Mom felt that the punishment would be a bit harsh.
• We also used to collect our flower lot for the Pooja from our neighbors few years back when we were not the proud owners of a few flowering plants.

Let bygones be bygones

I stay in Bangalore, a thousand miles away from my home, where I spent my childhood. When my mind is blank, and I am not thinking about work or anything else, I ponder over the past. I know those days will never come back, but to even re-live those moments with memories is truly nostalgic.

Recently, there have been a series of power failures in my area. "Damn it!!! @$#%3 @##@$ @#@$". No other thoughts come to my mind when the lights go off. When it starts raining, I curse the rain gods for the untimely downpours. Everything seems to have changed now.

We used to wait for the power cuts everyday when I was a child. Just before the scheduled power cuts, everyone could be seen getting ready with their snacks, water-bottles and other paraphernalia and walk up to the terrace. Those were the days when I learnt and actually saw the Pole star, the other constellations that we read in our Geography books. We talked about a lot of other things. About animals, birds, the moon and the sky. We talked about school. I miss those conversations. And I am sure that my parents miss that too.

When I was a child, I used to love the rains. I loved getting wet. Everytime it started raining, I made it a point that I had a good excuse before walking upto my Mom, for not using my raincoat. I enjoyed those summer days when it was a routine exercise for everyone to get rid of the mosquitoes every evening by burning mosquito repellants.

We also used to go for a walk after dinner, or played badminton right after our dinner during the winters. The Saturdays and the Sundays had a host of TV programs lined up for us, and everyone had a reserved place for him/her and nobody was late. We had only 1 television set and only 1 channel.

Sundays were really fun, when each vehicle in the house, including my bicycle had their weekly bath.

And now, I let my bike collect all the dust and mud until I give it away for servicing. I curse the mud and the overflowing drains when it rains. I use All-Out/Good Night to drive away those irritating mosquitoes. Even if it's not raining, I put on my jacket, just in case. I don't even remember when was the last time I looked up into the sky. I don't play badminton anymore. I keep on switching from channel to channel and end up watching nothing at all.

Sometimes, I feel sad about all these changes. But, you know what? There's an saying for everything.

"Let bygones be bygones"

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!!!!!

My 100th post

Ok, so a milestone reached. Feels good. This was a picture clicked in Puri. I kind of like water, typical of a cancerian. I just can't resist the temptation, its too much for me. I like getting wet in the rains, love to play in water and that day also I couldn't stop myself from getting wet. What a pity, I don't know swimming and on top of that, we were in a hurry, Ashish's flight :(

Could have played a little more and may be watch the sun set. It was after a long time that I was at the beach, looking at the open seas. Away from the hustle and bustle of the city traffic, away from my laptop and work. I love the sound of the waves hitting against each other, love to watch the lone boats travelling the high seas, and the occasional noises of the vendors. It was a very pleasing experience. Wish I had a house besides the beach.

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Awesome Violin Player - Mario Bros Soundtrack

Brought back old memories. There was a time when me and my sister used to play Mario throughout the day. And get scolded by everyone. :) I was so addicted to it that I used to hear Mario collect coins by bumping his head while I was asleep. "Tring" "Tring" "Tring" over and over again.