"Almost Single" !!!

Sometimes the title would indicate what the content is about, although we wonder how the very few words could summarise something so big. I hope that the above statement would be agreed by most of the people.Perhaps it would be correct with a wild guess, but for how many of us does it click? I suppose that the title of this post might indicate that it is related to me in some way or the other. Till now I have blogged on various subjects...from cycle rickshaws to my travel experiences in chennai,movies,boredom,etc.This time i wanted to write about something different and the moment i laid my eyes on this book i decided that my next post would be about it.

I found this book lying in my friend's rack when I was prying around [the usual ;)]. The cover page was a bit unusual for a book by an Indian author. I have read various chick lit's from all over the world and I was very much surprised to find one from our very own country. The Washington post had declared the book this way - "cheeky new writing breaks shackles". I ran home so that I could begin reading it, somehow I forgot the famous proverb-appearances are deceptive. Well the book wasn’t just cheeky, it was too cheeky.

The lead - Aisha Bhatia is twenty-nine years old and is single, though she is ready to mingle she seems to be very unlucky when it comes to finding her perfect man. Self-actualized people are independent of the good opinion of others. But this female is far more than independent which is a disturbing factor. She works as a guest relations manager at a hotel in New Delhi and is quoted to be an ardent traveller. Yes she is an ardent traveller to the night clubs, pubs and bars of the city. She tolerates her job which requires her to wear a sari everyday which she casually drapes over a jean which is the after effects of a hangover. She hates her boss who is a big time jerk who shuttles between his wife and his girlfriend a.k.a his sister in law(Seriously!!). Aisha bonds really well with her friends, a gang which is an embodiment of friendship comprising of a gay couple-Ric n nic, a divorcee- Anushka and a very hip girl - Misha who is constantly ends up with the wrong man. The hero of course is an NRI who is a perfect package - handsome, ultra rich and loves the leading lady.Like every other chick lit the hero is a guy who is really very rich and the leading lady an ordinary girl next door (sort of) person. 

The book comprises of experiences of all these people which are in the bollywood meets Sophie kinsella style or rather Hollywood meets Advaita Kala..Whatever!!! Aisha who is supposed to be an intelligent and independent woman fails in terms of morales..She is found to be constantly boozing and doing things which could probably be possible but unacceptable. Though such characters might be found in some or many parts of the Indian capital it isn’t acceptable when it is related to Indian women in general.

Although the author tries to be original, globalization has made us to read the chick lit's from the west and the context is found to be more than just similar. There is a very thin line distinguishing the content from that of the popular chicklit's .

Aisha meets Karan in a most embarrassing situation and somehow makes her way into his heart. Various other incidents help the leading couple to get closer and circumstances separate them. The book ends with Aisha getting down at Bhopal from a running train in the middle of the night (déjà vu anybody ??) and catches a flight to Mumbai to meet the man of her dreams and they unite finally.

The book takes desperation to a new level which is supposed to seem real but unfortunately fails. The champagne brunches, gay soirees and the dilemmas of hip young girls (not so young by the way) on the lookout for love and matrimony would work really well in the west but it is too soon to render Indian people this way. The parts of the book like the panditji(dude),a bossy house owner,the stupid boss,the bollywood moment-karva chauth..etc.that are named to be funny are highly pathetic (am still in search of the person who has called the book as the one with a wacky sense of humour).

The only good thing about the book is the depiction of friendship between the lead characters: the only non perturbing part of the book. The author is sensible enough not to tamper it any way, which was the only factor that kept me going till the end. A single afternoon is enough to read the book which was like watching the desi version of the Friends TV show or the inbetweeners or the recent blockbuster how I met your mother. Sadly the new breed of Indian women who are trying to draw a balance between their cosmopolitan life and an orthodox society are exhibited in a very bad way.

"Almost single " by Advaita kala - a book to read when there is no other go and you are stuck up with it !!

'The individual woman is required a thousand times a day to choose either to accept her appointed role and thereby rescue her good disposition out of the wreckage of her self-respect, or else follow an independent line of behaviour and rescue her self-respect out of the wreckage of her good disposition’. I dedicate this post to that special friend of mine - Tiyasha Sinha who has inspired me by being a representation of independency, whose constant encouragement has helped me in continuing this wonderful hobby/passion of mine !!!

Tucking it away in a scrapbook...

         People seem to get nostalgic about a lot of things they weren't so crazy about the first time around.Thinking back i realize that it has been more than an year since i visited this part of my life the part that has always been something i relish.

         Funny that i always manage to fall sick in the last week of december almost every year,time was passing like a hand waving from a train i wanted to be on which is perhaps why time is called to be slicky.Well now i dont want to elaborate on the part of me being sick nor is this post supposed to be about time..

        This day is the end of the year 2011 and the reason for nostalgia is that around same time three years back i discovered my passion towards blogging.xReading the first blog of mine brought lot of memories..the first one being the reason as to why i started blogging...thinking about it now now brings smile on my lips. Hats off to the sweet lady who was responsible for helping me add another feather to my cap...
        Going through my first blog i somehow connected with the old me..well now this post isnt going to be 'a christmas carol part 2'. But i just wonder how it would be like if each one of us attain a similar experience..maybe things would seem to be different after that..

        The person who i was three years back seems to be vaguely familiar to me now..she has written about her passion towards writing and about satisfaction.Comparing her with the person who iam now i discovered that the passion hasnt wuthered off yet and makes me feel that there is still a faint chance for me to kindle that flame..I have always been a reader,that too an ardent one.I have read at every stage of my life and i still continue to pursue it and yet i cannot pretend that the reading i have done in my adult years matches the impact on my soul that the reading i did as a child provided.

        With the new year on it's way and constant prodding from few friends of mine i decided to pursue this auxillary activity which makes me feel so good.There would be many instances which would declare that times would change,people change,something new would happen to us every moment. But the things that wouldnt change would be dreams and our aspiraions and the intentions which would never prevent us from chasing it...

         I would dedicate this post to people who have been there to remind me and help me out to be the person who iam now and also to the people who havent been there for me or the ones who have not been able to walk with me entirely because of which i was able to do things by myself...With this new hope i plan to end this post of mine which is the way i have spent waiting for the clock to tick it's way to the arrival of the year 2012 !!!!!!!

What is it that makes me get on this thing?

After a gap of 92 days am back with another post..This is about something which i had experienced in my stay at Noida which was a temporary one..
Noida is a place which is a lot different from our very own Chennai..not only the food we eat, people are different from that of Chennai but it's also the mode of transportation that is different..People mostly travel by the metro train which is both fast to commute and cheap...the metro train is preferred over the buses ( which appears in such a way that the pamphlet in the Asian paints ad can be replaced by pictures of these buses) and the second most preference is given to the cycle rickshaws.Aahh!!! the very thought of these rickshaws makes my stomach quiver..
A ride in these rickshaws would make people drop the idea of mounting a roller coaster..the thrill obtained is indescribable ( it's something that should be felt)..So am here with my experiences of traveling by the cycle rickshaw,something which is very ordinary but memorable..
So it was a weekend and myself and two of my friends were on a shopping spree..after going through the nook and corner of the atta market and having a proper dinner (which happened in rare occasions) we decided to get back home or rather the guest house..Now one thing which i have to mention is that finding a rickshaw is highly difficult as the process involves the task called "bargaining"..so after ten minutes of bargaining we finally mounted onto a rickshaw..
The journey begun slowly and we were busy chatting about the wonderful evening which we had..initially we were very much engrossed in the conversation that we had failed to notice that the driver of the rickshaw was Michael Schumacher's brother..he was so quick that he started overtaking the cars on the road.. At the course of time he lost track of the fact that three people were sitting at the back of his seat and he went into such a state that he became deaf to my friend's wailing and he paid no attention to my 'bhaiya sambhalke' (careful bro)...Now cycle rickshaws in Noida were mostly in a pathetic state..The driver turns left , the rickshaw would turn right and we lost the count of the number of such jerks produced..the speed was unimaginable and shuddery and all that i could hear was my heart thumping..The situation went out of control and all that we could do was pray that we would reach the guest house safely..

One thing that should be accepted is that these men are experts in handling the wagon..after 25 scary minutes we finally got down at the guest house paying 30 bucks for the ride..Now i must say that the ride was one of the most freakiest i had ever experienced in my life..something i had grown out of, but never recovered from.

A new journey..a new destination...

Responsibilities are nothing but social force that binds us to the courses of action demanded..one such force kept me away from writing a blog but then am back with another post ending the sabbatical...

As i was busy travelling day and night which is my daily routine i kept thinking as to what to write about and one day as i was pondering i got the answer.. Now my daily travel routine includes stampede of various degrees,getting almost dismantled like Vicky of 'Small Wonder', improving my probability capabilities as to who would be the next one to get down so that i could get a seat..sometimes i get lucky but at times i dont..i keep meeting new kinds of people in the bus, but everyday is a new struggle..a new journey..Okay then let me stop the rantings about my pitiable bus journey..that isnt what i'm intended to write..

This thing happend a few days back..It was 7.45 am and as i was listening to Shreya Gosal's voice(in bahara)and gazing outside the window of the bus i suddenly noticed something interesting out of the corner of my eye, yes it was really captivating.The thing i saw made me speechless..there were three children maybe 10 or 12years of age and they were conversing insign language..yes sign language and they were special children who were deaf and dumb i suppose. They were so much engrossed in their conversation and they appeared very happy. They were confined to their own world and they had put on their best behaviour without bothering anybody.

Now this was really surprising because those children seemed to be very happy although they have major drawbacks and all that we do is complain and brood that things arent the way we want it to be.We normal human beings forget our manners at times and are filled with characteristic traits such as jealousy,anger, self conceitedness and what not..you name any sour quality and everyone of us would have surely experienced that at one point or the other..
Why is it that people can accept others the way they are and find ways to make things better and lead a merrier life..People even forget to smile or acknowledge someone and the worst part is that it becomes an unintentional activity..Humour is forgotten and people get subjected to something called stress which is nothing but a bogus..

I think it's time for us to wake up and lead life the way it has to be lead like spending time with our loved ones, stop making comparisons or brood about something that doent exist. Why dont we take things easier?? why dont we jus let go off things that arent necessary?? I would say that everything is upto us and the answer lies within us..I would like to end this post with the song from the popular series of the 70's that Ron Howard used to sing about 'Happiness'

"Goodbye grey sky, hello blue,

cause nothing can hold me when I hold you.
Feels so right it can't be wrong,

Rockin' and rollin' all week long"

Lets just make a difference making things around us more merrier and lively !!!!!!!

Mission articulation

Today being "World EARTH day" i just thought of writing about few things which is happening around us and things which need to be brought to focus..

As we all know,summer's in and so is the scroching heat.The thing which am going to write about happened on one summer morning(approximately two weeks back). It was at around 7.30am in the morning and i had just returned home from my morning walk.Absent mindedly i picked up my landline to ring up my dad,the blank response provided to me by my telephone made me realise that our telephone connection was out of order(and it wasnt new to me)..

Cursing the telephone department(they hadnt paid much attention to our complaint) i headed to the kitchen to drink water and after few minutes i had realised that something wasnt right. The burner in the kitchen was on but the flame wasnt. I was astonished to know that the gas cylinder's life span had ended.Bringing this to the notice of my mom,we decided to change the cylinder. After struggling for 20 odd minutes i was finally successful in turning on the new cylinder,only in vain.

With the satisfaction of having fixed it i began reading the news paper and after few minutes i just started getting odd sounds,like that of the engine of an airplane and it was from the kitchen. I was baffled when i came ot know that the cylinder was a faulty one and the person from the gas agency didnt provide a satisfiable answer to our ailment and the response was frustrating. What would a family eat when there isnt the avilability of fire to cook the food ,early in the morning??

Unknowing that the worst part was yet to come i switched on the tv. It was around 8.45am and withing a span of five minutes the most deadliest of everything occured - the power shutdown.It was the shutdown for the monthly maintenance(that's what they have named it) and it was the most unexpected one because it had occured for the second consecutive week.

This is quite common in most of the places, but such an incident is disturbingly provocative. We were put in a worst state which the people of the stone-age wouldnt have experienced. I felt as though i was living in the era which occured before the flinstones. We were practically deprived of food,electricity and the power to communicate with the outside world.

For us it was manageable due to the presence of mobile phones to contact people,vechicles to drift to places where the power existed but it's hard to think about the plight of people who down own such contraptions.

We have neared the mid of 2010 and 2020 isnt far away. With such an irresponsible resource handling we lag an ecological approach to the management of these resources. We have the inertia of past habits, unsustainable habits.The gas agencies still stick on to the age old cylinders which are not women friendly ( a woman is the one who's at home most of the time-using it).The electricity board shutting down power every now and then in the name of power consumption or what-so-ever.In countries like China(our counter part) the power cut had previously occured on september 2009 but arent they moving towards worthwhile achievements which are the result of many little things done in a single direction and not to leave out the telephone department which is busy developing 3g services or whatever when most of the wired connections are at stake!! How on earth would India develop in such conditions?????

Something must be done to kindle the resource which we havent harvested in the minds of the people.We do not allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value and that resource is nothing but "AWARENESS"!!! ( i guess it's time to call Captain Planet)

SUBLIME PARTS OF LIFE...

I wonder why some of life's best moments always occur at the end of something..It isnt only at my case but i suppose every one would have come across such instances.One such thing and the most memorable one is my college industrial visit (sort of actually ;) ) or rather the final year tour..It was one of the best moments of life with all the fun and frolic and i really should thank my friends who made it happen and we had the time of our lives..

DAY 1: It all started on march 3rd at 3pm in the noon when we boarded the train..it was just as usual the just four of us in a compartment and the train having started we began laying zoom(our fav musical game) and it was as splendid as ever and gave the same effect as playing in the class during the boring lectures lol [:P]. So the game continued till 7pm and then after dinner(which was equivalently enjoyable) we started our game of cards with the rest of our classmates and it turned out to be really hilarious ( me being really bad at playing cards) we winded up the game after playing it for an hour or so and then the night ended(deliberately) after long hours of chatting..but then we had to wake up at 2 in the morning and after getting down at Ernakulam(Kerala) we boarded a bus to munnar..boy oh boy finally we were able to sleep for a while and after getting down at Munnar and boarding at the restaurant we started for the munnar trip. the place was similar to Otcamund with all the dams,lake and tea estates and we ended visiting all the places..

Here comes the best part of the trip - 'CAMP FIRE' it was indeed better than the previous one with all the dancing and jumping around..little tornado created her effect with her fantabulous dance performance and the day ended with hoopla and we somehow managed to squeeze into that single bed to get our forty winks properly..

DAY 2: The next day we started off to Vega Land,the most exciting place in Kerala and after three hours of bus travel(and dancing ) we reached vegaland.The first ride was a very normal one..Caterpillar -the ride for kids but we did make to it after the long queue(the place was flocked with school and college students) after finishing it we got to the next ride.I guess it the ride of vegaland,it was terrible experience and the ride was as deadly as it's name-Monster's mix(or something like that)..had Newton seen that ride he would have written another theory for the gravitational force coz the people were taken in all kinds of axes-x,y,z,a,b,c..bla bla in mid air.The worst and best part of Vegaland was that every deadly ride lasted for 10 solid minutes(PHEW!!) and after that some sort of a ride we made it to windmill(a breezy one) and then we stormed into water world-the hub of water rides.

So we made it to most of the rides-the snake ride,pendulum,family ride,water splash and then we headed to the wave pool and after having the time of our lives there we managed to complete the other rides like the pressure cooker one(that's what i named it ;)),ranger(it took us upside down three times for 30secs) the musical one and having completed all the rides we headed towards the exit..

I would like to quote this 'A happy childhood can't be cured. Mine'll hang around my neck like a rainbow, that's all, instead of a noose'

DAY 3: It was the third day of the trip and we still had energy stored in for more fun and excitement and with the same notion we made it to Atrampalli Falls..nature was at it's best with the rocks and little streams of water forming the falls it was a beautiful sight.After spending time in the falls we started off to our next destination - Cherai Beach. It was a typically an Arabian sea beach with all the rocks and the water a bit darker than the one in our city(Chennai). The breeze was mesmerising and after spending time in the beach we ended that day's trip and headed back to our rooms.

DAY 4 : Time played it's tricks. All of a sudden it was the last day of our trip and we decided to make the most out of it.So our first destination of Chotanikara Temple(2hrs from Aluva) and after the wonderful darshan and lunch we headed straight to the ferry. We had booked it for three hours and the boat started sailing slowly.We got to see the Chinese fishing,some dolphins(can never forget your doubt Sand :) ) and few of the ships in the harbour we went to an archaeological museum which preserved all he belongings of the Rajas' of Kerala during the Dutch peroid.The next place was Synagog-the ancient Dutch church and crossing the Jew streets we reached the completed pur ferry journey and reached the Ernakulam city.

This was another memorable part of the trip as we(only the four of us) got to see a beautiful sight.A mall situated at the marine drive. Though it wasnt like the malls of our city it really was better than the streets which resembled the ones in T-nagar.After shooting hell lotta pics we headed to the train realising that the trip had come to an end."We do not remember days; we remember moments."

These four days were one of the best moments of my life. It was sad that the trip had come to an end very quickly although it had begun slowly.We ended up having fun forgetting all the sour moments of life making beautiful memories which will always be etched in my mind forever.To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.

I should thank my three best friends for making my college life a mellifluous ballad. Maybe i wouldnt have told this fact to them or maybe i am not that much of an expressive person but this is my token of affection and gratitude for them...

So i dedicate this blog especially for them..for those three beautiful people who will always be special to me no matter what.."It is singular how soon we lose the impression of what ceases to be constantly before us. A year impairs, a luster obliterates. There is little distinct left without an effort of memory, then indeed the lights are rekindled for a moment"

The Road trip...

'Adventurer' - he that goes out to meet whatever
may come.. Well, that is what we all do in the world one way or another and with this very thought i started off with my friend on the most 'unpredictable' path-yes the roads' of our very own chennai city.

Now driving as such is sort of a tedious job(wear the helmet,follow the rules bla bla) and driving on the roads of chennai is like the high board swimming pool-- after days of looking up at it you finally climb up the wet steps to the platform and when it's too far forward it was too late for retreat and finally you end up diving..

There are two kinds of adventurers : those who go truly hoping to find adventure and those who go secretly hoping they won't.I belong to the second category but things

occur on the contrary..

As we all know every person (atleast most of them)

gets the chance to drive after obtaining the

driving license homologated by the government
and that is the most hilarious part(how on earth

do they relate driving an eight path to driving in the
traffic) we have no idea about all those stuff and
we jus end up being happy for obtaining that
small card..

People travel to wonder at the height of the
mountains..at the huge waves of the seas.. at the
long course of the rivers...at the circular motion
of the stars bla bla bla but myself and my
friend(who doesnt know to drive) started off to
reach our destination hoping that we would do it
on time which ofcourse seemed to be the
mission impossible..

A great person once said "Vision is not enough,

it must be combined with venture. It is not

enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs" considering the literal meaning of the saying would be apt for our share-auto drivers who follow the policy 'where there is a will there is a way' (where there is space there is a share auto) they are considered to be "THE MOST" draconian people on the road..the very presence of them marks the sight of turbulence a havoc due to their jittery movements..following them would be like

setting out into an unknown country we would

endup facing many a danger..
After crossing such a barrier me and

my friend were stalked by those famous nihilarians

none but the road side romeos..

the very sight of them would make us feel as though watching a femina miss india(err mr.india in this case ;) ) on the road..they hoot,shout,drive rashly(shooting for Dhoom3 maybe) high degree of hooliganish behaviour.Added to that would be the bikers who treat their vehicles to be a chevrolet or a toyota with three to four people(an entire family i suppose) on the bike creating a nettling experience..
The next stop in the daymare was the
cyale walas..my oh my they consider their
bicycles to be a Yamaha FZ or a Hayabusa or whatsoever(sheesh!!) they never budge and try their level best to plunge into the tiniest space and seize their opportunity as much as possible..the best part however is when they portray a motogp sort off show..schmucks cap-a-pie..
The speculation doesnt end here the so called people with the license never follow the road rules even at the

traffic signal(which doesnt properly function though) and we get scorned at if we follow the road rules and stuff..we are given only one moment sparkling like a star in our hand and we should make the most of it before the spark dies out..
Finally on reaching the destination i ended up with claustrophobia unlike my friend who experienced thorough enjoyment..her need for adventure being satisfied but then she deserves
appreciation..purely for not understanding my
way of driving [;)]