I am not worthy Dada!

As the off spinner took a catch of his own ball, an era came to end for Indian cricket. Whatever you might call him, Sourav Ganguly, Dada, Prince of Calcutta; he has as many names as facets to his personality. He according to me is the most flamboyant cricketers, ever to play for the sport.

 Whatever the critics had to say about him, he was the most successful captain India produced and was a magician when it came to batting on the off side. His cover drives has and will always bring a smile to my face. He was in the face and spoke his mind, never took things lying down and strongly believed that “if you throw a brick at me, I will throw a house.”

 He took over as captain at a time when controversies marred Indian cricket and changed it completely. He was the one who showed confidence in the youngsters who started their careers under him and became great match winners for India in the time to come. From Sehwag to Yuvraaj, and from Zaheer to Harbhajan were all groomed under him and have been the biggest force for team India in recent past.

 He had an eye for talent and a shrewd cricketing mind. He was a task master and believed in giving it back to his detractors. When he was not in the best of forms and everyone said that he should be dropped from the team, he said, “I haven't scored runs for many innings but I know I'll get over it. I need to play matches and get runs. I have to work on getting my form back and I won't get it back by sitting at home.” Typical Dada!

 The Blue Huddle was invented by him, he brought the team together, no offence to anyone but before him becoming the captain it felt like the Indian team was a team of serious men, after him it became a team of spirited and world achieving young boys. I think it was a change for the better.

 I get goose bumps when I think back about him taking his shirt off and waving it over his head and that too at Lords of all the places. Wining the Border Gavaskar trophy in 2001 in India and then retaining it in 2003 while visiting down under and so many away test victories in almost all the countries overseas, reaching the world cup finals in 2003 are a few of his achievements. The biggest achievement was the change of attitude he brought about in the team.

 I just wish him all the very best for the future, it bought me so much pleasure to know that he will be taking up the job of a cricket commentator, and will be making his debut during the Ashes this month. I might just tune in to hear him speak about the aussies and the brits.

I will miss you sorely Dada. Have a great life ahead god bless you.

All for One

All for One

All went wrong; everything that was going according to the set strategies was now going awry. The Pakistanis had started bombarding again in full force. Our men had been in command through out the battle, but a minor soldier of the enemy was proving to be a major hurdle. Kill him and the victory was ours. Hidden away in the woods, victory could be seen, but who will conquer her was the big question.

Hope was completely on Joginder now. He was new to this territory, but has come to fore magnificently. He saw around him and saw that one of Jawans who was leading the attack a few minutes ago was down; badly wounded he was looking for some rest, which he would not get soon.

With his sub ordinate down, it was up to Joginder now to take on the enemy. This was his first major assignment but he looked like he was a veteran. Due to his adaptability his Commander had given him the final task of finishing off the Pakistani. There had been some casualties in the last ten minutes. And the time was for desperate measures.

A light breeze was flowing over the grounds making it a perfect weather for a mid summer outing. You could smell the tension in the air. The evening sky was darkening by the minute and the animals around them were waiting in the bushes ready to pounce on the losers. Joginder could hear the sound of the river flowing some 200 yards away. Listening to the river he remembered the stream in his village, how he used to swim in the river, free from all the worries. Life was so simple back then.

Joginder was from a small village in Haryana and was from the lower rung of the society. Growing up was a struggle due to his father’s meager wages. He wanted to do something big in life, wanted to achieve what his father always wished for. He was never too good in studies, nor was he interested in it, so he never bothered himself with the academics. But he dreamt big, and believed that you don’t have to have an educational degree to achieve something in life. All you need is hard work and of course luck.

When he told his father, Shri Om Prakash Sharma, what he wanted to do with his life, his father was very furious. He was never too happy with Joginder’s educational efforts and always had a short temper, which is very common with people who need money but don’t have it. His Paan shop was not able to make him enough money even to feed his family of 4 sons and a wife, let alone the desire to have some luxuries.

Om Prakash was a very simple man, he did whatever he could for his family, and he never complained about his life, poor but happy, uneducated yet a principled man. But at the same time he wanted something better for his children. He wanted them to become bada aadmis. And according to him, you can become bada only if you have an educational backing. Look at him, he did not study, and he was not a big man, he was an aam aadmi.

Well, Om Prakash was about to be proved wrong, by his own son. But when Joginder told his father that he wanted to serve the country, Om Prakash lost his fuse and said that he will not allow him to waste his life. He said, that he thought that his son was a dud in studies but today he was acting as if he had no brains at all. This field was not for small and poor people, poor people only die here, while the rich take all the medals, fame and money. They use the bodies of their juniors as steps towards fame.

But Joginder knew his calling. So with whatever resources he had, he trained himself and had a supporter in his younger cousin Narender. Joginder excelled in almost everything in his academy. He was appreciated by his trainers and was the star cadet of his school. But nothing he did was enough for Om Prakash.

Finally, the big day arrived and he was called to serve his country. This time Om Prakash too realized that his son could do something worthwhile and he too wished him all the best when he left for the front.

Suddenly, Joginder saw that his commander was running towards him. He too started walking towards his senior. He saw that even though his last few plans to finish the enemy had failed, his commander was looking as cool as a polar bear. He told Joginder that he had done a fabulous job so far, and he did not care whatever happened now. He said that, by getting this far proved that they were great at whatever they were doing.

It all boiled down to this moment, one stroke of genius and they would become heroes. Their names will be engraved in history books and they will become icons and idols for youngsters. All the fame he thought about growing up, all the money that he could never even dream about, would be theirs.

But even if they lost, it would not be that bad. No one gave them a chance to begin with. It was a young platoon of inexperienced soldiers; no one ever dreamt that they would get this close to victory. Most thought that they will be wiped out before the 5th day of the war ended, but they were still going strong on the 15th day of the war, and had as much a chance to win, if not more, as the enemy.

So the commander told Joginder to free his mind from all the tension and all the nerves. Just do the basics rightly, no need to treat this moment as special, it would only be special if they succeeded, otherwise it is just another day, just another not so special day.

With this Mahendra turned and started walking towards his position. His story was not much different from Joginder. His father Pan Singh, who was a lower division clerk in a company, had to struggle to meet every need of his family. Pan Singh stayed away from home to work in his company and Mahendra had to do his studies away from home. There he excelled in all physical activities and it was no surprise to his parents when he said that he wanted to work for his motherland.

Mahendra’s rise was astonishing; he had jetted his way to the top and had become the Commander of his platoon which had many people senior to him, in age as well as in experience. But his fore sighted ness and his ability to hold his juniors together made him a clear choice for the post of a leader.

The plan was simple in construction but really complex in application. In all there were thirteen men left with the army. And only two Pakistani soldiers remained. Even if we could just kill one of them we would seal the win.

INSAS (Indian National Small Arms System) 5.56mmx45 mm LMG, the machine guns used by the Indian Army, had the disability to fire at the will of the soldier. When started it only stops after a round is completed. Accordingly, we had ammunition for only attempt six times. But it could all be over with one perfect attack.

The commander chalked out six positions from where we could control the enemy. While taking these positions they will try to finish off the Pakistani. If after the six attacks we were not able to kill him but have at least two soldiers, alive we could capture the pakis and seal the win.

It was up to Joginder to see to it that the mission was carried out without any hiccups. The enemy had to kill all the thirteen soldiers to win the battle; there was no other way for survival.

All set to roll, Joginder directed one of the Jawans to take place for the first attack. He gave him the order to step out and told his partner to give him cover. They were hiding at the very edge of the cliff, and Joginder in his edginess gave a false signal, and one of the soldiers read who saw Joginder ran out of his hideout, suddenly Joginder panicked and waved again to tell him to get back inside. Due to this confusion, he lost balance and fell in the valley.

There was a bit of a panic at such a bad omen. They had not even attacked once and one of their soldiers was dead. The death toll continued, and it took a few seconds to regain calmness. Joginder knew that this was completely his fault. But he knew that he had to keep on moving.

He again gave the go ahead and this time the task was completed with perfection. Two soldiers got out of their hideouts while another soldier gave them cover, and they reached the decided spot without harm. The paki shot at them but missed them by a mile. Now Joginder too gained a lot of confidence and started thinking that this could be done.

Now Joginder ordered a larger number of people to attack the Pakistanis. By doing so he took the risk of exposing his men to the enemy, but he thought that by looking at a larger group, the Pakistanis will get scared and try something foolish and will be easier to destroy. So when he ordered his men to attack, he found that the paki soldier took his bait and left his hiding position and attacked the Indian soldiers head on.

Looking at this several Jawans left their places and started shooting at the lone paki soldier while his sub ordinate was hiding in the bushes. Rat-a-tat-ta-ta-tat. There was a cloud of dust that surrounded the area for some fifteen seconds. When the dust settled the scene was not what the Indians wanted to see.

Six of their men had been killed in the blind firing between the two sides. While the enemy soldier still held his ground and was gaining confidence by the second.

Joginder felt fear for the first time; he knew that now the odds were somewhat against him. The Pakistani soldier had now continued to destroy the Indian plans. But Joginder knew that he had to fight till the last breath in his body. The enemy was in a way better position then the Indian army but they had to move on and they had to try to bring him down.

Mahendra made some last minute changes in the plans and changed the position of one of his men. The strategy was to try and bring the paki out of his hiding by creating an opportunity for him to destroy the Indian army in one shot. But this time they will be ready and get him before he comes to know what hit him.

This was crunch situation and Joginder knew that he had to do what was required from him. So he went with the plan and ordered 4 of his men to go in from front and ordered the injured soldier to keep a look out for the paki soldier and hit him the moment he gets his first glimpse.

Taking his Devi’s name Joginder gave the nod and the four soldiers jumped out of their hideout and started shooting at a spot some 50 yards away from the paki hideout. The Pakistani soldier thought that the Indian soldiers had miscalculated his hiding place and were targeting the wrong area. So he too ran out from the dugout and before he could even fire from his gun, Shreesanth grabbed him from behind and by this India won the World Cup by five runs and 3 balls to spare.

Hyderabad Again

Hyderabad Again

After so many months of making and canceling then again making and again canceling plans, I finally came to Hyderabad on the 7th of February, 2008. I had been told many times, that I will be going to the city of pearls and was supposed to leave on the 23rd of January with Naresh, but later I was told that the plan has been cancelled and that I will be going later with Nagesh and Hiren. I was really disappointed as I and Naresh had made many plans about our trip to the city. But all the planning went in vain as he went without me and I was left to do some work which was taking forever to get over. I was really frustrated and the frustration increased when I came know that I was the only boy left in the office, as all the others had gone on some audit or the other.

So, when I reached here it was a relief, and I was really looking forward to the whole trip as it promised to be a good learning experience and also great fun. We reached here on Thursday and were greeted by Naresh and Praful when we went to the client’s office. First three days went quickly as there was not much work, we used this time to surf the net and talking (and also saw a movie called Apocalypto on Thursday night in our hotel room and another named Sunday on Friday night in PVR), while doing the small amount of work that we had.

[We had lunch at Taj Tristar everyday, dinner on Thursday at Paradise, Friday at the Movie Multiplex when we went to watch a movie. On Saturday Naresh and Praful left for Mumbai and that night we had dinner in our hotel.]

Sunday was a real fun day. We had planned to go on tour around the city and had made extensive plans. And surprisingly everything went according to the plan, which is a rarity going by my recent record.

I slept late on Saturday as I was watching a movie in my room. The movie was too slow and later the DVD stopped working. So the waking went in vain. But I was not to sad about the whole thing as the movie was a very slow law drama and I to be honest I was a bit relieved when it got stuck. Not that anyone was forcing me to watch the movie in the first place but I don’t know why but I sometimes get this weird urge to do weird things and this was one of them, watching boring movies and testing till when can you last.

So the Sunday started on a sleepy note. But India’s match against Australia made me get up early (at around 8.45). Then we had a filling breakfast and were on our way to our sightseeing (at around 11.30).

The sun was shining brightly even in the month of February and it was a perfect day for a drive around town. We started our day on a religious note and first went to Birla Mandir.

It was a very beautiful temple situated on a hill on the shore of the man made lake Hussain Sagar. When we reached the top of the temple, we saw a bird’s eye view of the nawabi city and also a breath taking view of the lake. It was really nice to be there, but the temple was about to close for the morning and we had to leave.

This reminds me that it was a very good day for us in a very weird sense. We went every where at the right time. I mean that we were very lucky to get to all the places at the nick of time. If we would have been a bit late to the temple we would not have got the darshans which is a very bad omen.

But this was not a day for bad luck, this was our lucky day. Next we planned to go to a theme park called Snow world. When we came out of the temple our driver told us that the tickets for the park would be available near the temple and there we can also come to know at what time the theme show will start. We were fortunate to have a driver like Tony, who knew all the ways around and also knew when to go where so that we enjoyed the place most.

So we next went to Birla Science Museum, which was just 5 minuets away from the temple.

There we purchased the tickets and came to know that the next show will be at 2 pm. So we had a good hour to spend before leaving. So we killed some time by roaming inside the museum and saw the some amazing things, like a machine which shows sound waves, a hologram showing mirror and many such scientific things.

We left for Snow World after an hour and reached there after a 15 minutes drive. There were other attractions there, like Monsoon Forest, Kart Cave, Dashing Cars and other stuff. We went into the building and were given jackets and gum-boots so that we could keep ourselves warm from the cold temperatures inside the snow world.

The place included a room made to resemble a snow hill. The temperatures were maintained at -5o C, and when we talked warm air came out of our mouths which looked as if we were having hookas. I completely loved it in the beginning, but later it got too cold and I was just waiting to get out.

Everything was time barred inside, snow fall from 2:20 to 2:25, Snow dancing from 2:25 to 2:45, everyone danced and as there was snow around them, it was called snow dancing, beat that

We came out after the stipulated 1 hour given to us, and while leaving we went to one of those jyotish walas who tell our fortune when a parrot picks out a card from a stack of cards lay in front of him. Hiren wanted to know about his future and so I too accompanied him when he went to the jyotish.

It turned out to be a fun thing. Hiren went first and after we gave the jyotish twenty rupees as dakshina the parrot, named Rajesh, picked the card with the picture of Goddess Savitri with a note resembling a news paper cutting. Hiren was told that he spends more money then he earns, which Hiren confirmed was just the opposite of what he actually does. Next the jyotish said that Hiren’s Shani got over in the previous month and now his good time will start. He said many general things that may be applicable to most of the normal people in India. He also said that Hiren will keep on studying till he is willing to study, that he will have to stay away from home for work, he should not enter into a partnership with total of three partners and that his work life will be great.

Next it was my turn, I placed my dakshina and waited for the parrot, named Rajesh, to pick out my fortune card. He picked out a card with the picture of Goddess Lakshmi. As soon as the card came out the jyotish hid the note with the picture and started saying that there is no fortune for this card and that it is a very auspicious card and he will tell me my fortune by looking at my birth chart which will cost me a further one hundred and fifty rupees. Very cheeky! But I refused to do this and told him to just give me my regular future forecast. But he insisted that I should at least pay sixty one rupees to know my fortune, wow he came down from one fifty to sixty in record time. But Nagesh refused to do this and the jyotish, poor guy that he was, told me to show my hand.

Next we went to have our lunch. And from there we planned to go to Salarjung Museum near Charminar. It was already 3:30 pm by the time we ate our lunch and when we left our driver said that the we would not be able to get in the museum as the close time is at 5 pm and we they stop selling tickets at least an hour before that. So Nagesh said that then lets go to Charminar instead and spend some time there.

But I suggested that we should at least go to the museum as it was on the way to Charminar and see if we are able to get inside, if not we will go somewhere else. But as I mentioned earlier, this was not a day on which anything went against our planning. So when we reached the museum at around 4:10 pm we got the tickets and saw that the museum stops selling tickets at 4:15 pm. I was very happy and so were Nagesh and Hiren. We went inside and straight away went to see the main attraction of Salarjung, the statue of ‘Veiled Rebecca’.

I had seen the lady before on my last trip to the city, and had fallen in love with her, and I fell in love all over again. Hiren and Nagesh too liked the statue.

Later we went to the western painting section and scanned through the founder’s gallery and the Chinese and Japanese sections. Then we went to see the clock which is made from 259 moving parts and is one of the major crowd puller of the museum. I found the clock silly, as I did the last time. A horde of people, gather in front of the clock every hour, when it gongs out the time. Most number of people comes at noon as it is when the clock gongs for a full twelve times. It was down right silly.

Well, however silly it was we too sat and saw the clock gong five times. The museum closed down and we headed towards Charminar. I was not too excited about see the monument as I did not like it the last time around.


Nagesh too said that they did not want to spend too much time under the minars. So we just saw the building while driving around it and went straight to Golkonda fort.

Here again our good luck was ahead of us.

The last time that I have come to the fort, I had found out that a special light and sound show takes place in the evening at 7 pm. So I thought that this time around also it will be at 7. But when we got down at the gate of the fort we came to know that the show starts at 6.30 pm during the months from October to February, and for the rest of the year it is scheduled at 7 pm, as during these months days are shorter and the show takes place after the sun sets.

So riding high on our luck, we bought the tickets and went inside the fort and walked to the area where the show takes place.

I had no idea what the show will be all about and started making weird pictures in my mind about what would happen. From the viewing area we could see the whole fort and there was a high platform from which we were told we would get a better view.

We went to the platform which was full with people, I saw that there were some chairs still unoccupied on the last row, and when I went there I saw that all but four chairs were empty. Lucky again, we all sat there and watched the show. The fort was looking awesome from where we sat.

The show told the history of the fort, and started with a gazal sung by Jagjit Singh, his soothing voice praising the fort. Later a narrative started, in which Amitabh Bacchan’s voice told the story of the fort, its history, the bloody battles the fort has seen, the kind hearted and art loving poet king, of Sant Ramdas who was kept as a prisoner in fort, the love story of the king’s son with a local dancer and the final fall of the fort during the Mughal Empire. Amitabh narrated the story amazingly and the lights focused the areas where the story was relating to. Multi coloured lights illuminated and dimmed as the story progressed.

The fort looked even more beautiful with the wonderful lights falling from different angles. The sound system was top class and the light system amazing.

We were asked not to use flash cameras during the show, as this would disturb others who were watching the show, but we are Indians and we do what we are asked not to do, so everyone went click crazy and the person who was operating the sound and light systems had to make an announcement again while the show was going on, almost scolding at the people who were taking pictures.

When the show ended we got out of the fort and later went to the hotel straight away as all were too tired to go elsewhere for dinner and ordered dinner in our room, which only constituted of deserts, yummmmmmmy! A perfect end to a perfect day.

Mumbai Locals.

I am one of the millions who travel by local train everyday. It is the lifeline of the city. Even if it is shut for a few hours, the city goes haywire. As the culture is such that people live far from their work places, most of them depend on public transport and a majority of them use the trains.

I too am completely depended on the trains when I have to go to my office. But I must tell you that it is not an easy task. Traveling in the train is one of the worst experiences one can have in their lives. Well, of course, trains are the lifeline of Mumbai and all and that they make travel fast and easy, but all said and done, the traveling experience is a nightmare.

I have to go to Churchgate everyday from Kandivli. I take a train from Kandivli to Borivli, which gets converted into a Churchgate train. Only this way do I stand a chance to get a seat in the train, and that too is not always a surety. If I try to get in directly from Kandivli, getting a seat is just impossible; also getting space to keep your feet is no mean feat.

I totally believe in Karma, and I am always inclined to think that people who travel by the Mumbai local trains must have committed some serious sins in their previous lives. People cry out in pain when someone stamps on their feet or hits them on their faces with an elbow or crush them to the walls. As there is no space to move and people in their desperation try to hold on to anything, cling to the gates and sit on the train rooftops and hang on the windows.

I think it is high time that the government took some concrete steps in making the daily journey less of a pain and more of an enjoyable experience.

Matheran Escapades

Well like most of my trips, the trip to Matheran was also a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Though I love Mumbai, it is always a pleasure to leave it for a couple of days and go somewhere quite and just laze around. So here was Matheran, quite, lazy and beautiful. For those who don’t know, the unique thing about Matheran is that no automobiles are allowed inside it, and that makes it completely pollution free and easy on the lungs.

What, started out with a party of six people, actually turned out to be a trip for two. As one by one four of my friends backed out for various reasons like college, meetings, presentations and some unknown happenings, it was left to me and Nikheel to decide whether we would continue to go on with the program or not. But like true explorers we decided that come what may, we will follow our hearts and go on this trip as planned before.

So on October 8, 2007 Saturday, we left Nikheel’s place at 5:45 AM and set out for Andheri Station to catch our train to Dadar, from where we were to catch a train to Neral scheduled at 7:03 AM. We got to Neral at around 8:40 AM and then took a share cab to Matheran which left us at the gates at 9:15 AM. From there we walked the two kilometers stretch to Matheran. The way was very beautiful and the view around us was totally amazing. The hill of Matheran was covered with little yellow flowers which made it look very wonderful. We saw a number of hotels and resorts but finally settled into Richie Rich Resort.

We checked in at around 11:30 AM and tired of walking for almost two and half hours rested for a while, had some break fast and then went out for some sight seeing. We went to the Khandala point, some snaps were clicked and then we came to the garden in Matheran market, there was a statue of some guy who must have been an important person to have his statue inside such a big park. So we thought if he was an important person in his time, he should meet today’s important people, so we clicked some snaps with his statue too, may his soul rest in peace (at least now that the pix are clicked).

From there we went to a shop to buy some things randomly, Nikheel bought a back massager thingy and I shopped for some wall hangings (which as my papa described looked like “bhootanis”). Nikheel also got an arm-band made of beads. So now we headed back to our hotel and went straight to lunch. Now I can write a whole chapter on the food that was served to us there. It was so brilliant that we ate like hogs (as usual) and then cursed later as we were so full that we were not even able to inhale properly (loved those puris and that fruit custard, god bless the cook.)

Well as I said that we were too full to even inhale some air, we went straight to our room and dumped ourselves on the bed, tried watching some TV but were soon had our hundred winks. Fresh from our naps we headed again to some sight seeing and left our hotel at around 4 PM.

We decided to go to the lake, and took to our way towards the same. A weird experience happened on the way to the lake, while we were walking we came to a patch in the forest where there was no one near us. Suddenly we saw that two monkeys were sitting on the path alongside. On closer observation by Mr. Nikheel we came to know that they were female monkeys, Mr. Nikheel made some comment about them. Out of nowhere there came a male monkey, he was looking furious and started scratching at Nikheel’s bag. We thought that he must be looking for some food in the bag (another thing that Matheran is famous for is the thefts done by these monkeys, they take away food, bags, shoes, and about anything that they can lift), and when I tried to scare the monkey off (by making sounds that actually a monkey should make) the monkey made a roar and attacked Nikheel’s bag with more animosity (well he will show animosity as it is an animal).

Well it was a moment to call some desperate action, so I decided that I will kick in the air towards the monkey and that will scare him away (this trick is the one I always successfully accomplish when I am on my bike and some stupid dogs start chasing me). But just as I was about to do my ‘kick and scare’ routine, I just glanced to the left of where we were standing and saw that there were at least ten to fifteen other monkeys staring at what was happening between us and the male monkey. This scared the shit out of me and made me and Nikheel to take me steps backwards and then we started walking a bit quicker but kept looking behind just in case the monkeys were chasing us, thank god, they weren’t.

Well after a close shave with the monkeys we headed towards the lake, still a bit jumpy, we saw that there were quite a few people at the lake and were a bit relieved to see some animals of our own species. We hanged around the lake for some time, looking at some people try to play the game where a pyramid of glass is to be broken by throwing a ball at them thrice. From some fifteen people no one was able to break the whole pyramid and that meant that the game stall keeper was having a great day at his office.

We then decided to head towards the echo point and took the selected path. The road was muddy, red and steep. We reached the point at last, the first thing that we saw was that the place had a mochi (a cobbler, translation needed for some of my friends) who was stitching a guys slippers, the guy’s friends were making fun of him and were telling him to do his thing quickly, I too was amused and was saying what a loser that guy was.

God makes us learn lessons in his own special ways. So for teaching me that one should not laugh at others problems he chose a very special way. Suddenly the strap in my chappals gave away and broke. Well I must tell you that the feeling was not nice. It was a mixture of feeling dumb and embarrassment. Not letting embarrassment getting in our way, I went around with my broken footwear and started blowing whistles to get back some echo.

We got my chappals stitched from the same mochi and then continued on our way back to the hotel. When we got back to the market we shopped for some snacks and Pepsi. Went back to our hotel and at around 8 PM went out again for dinner. When we went out we came to know that the hotel has organised a magic show for us. We went for a stroll in the market and then came back for the magic show.

The show was outstanding. The magician had to perform in front of a small crowd of about 12 people and from a distance of some 10 feet. Yet we could not catch his tricks and were amazed at his skills.

After the show was the turn of another round of delicious food served by the hotel (I again pray that god bless the cook). Well after the dinner we went to the room. Went back out for the last walk outside, came back to the hotel to find that there was a disco working in the hotel for the guests, we went there knowing what to expect and got what we expected, so came back as quickly as possible. Slept after some TV surfing and had a great sleep.

In the morning we had our breakfast and the checked out of the hotel wit a desire to come back as soon as time permits. We went hunting for some fudge and jellies. We went in all to three different shops, from the first we got chikkis (something made from groundnut and jaggery). From the second we got some jellies. Fudge was not at all nice at any of these places, so we decided not to have any. In the third shop at the end of the market Nikheel bought some more jellies and we left for the path towards the gates of Matheran.

Nikheel told me to take out the camera and shoot some snaps. I told him that how will I take out the camera when I never put in the camera. He said that he gave the camera to me when we were in the shop. I said that he never gave me the camera. Arguing we started checking our luggage and we found that the camera was missing.

Well all the happiness from the trip started to elude us and we were dumb struck for a good part of the next two minutes. Nikheel said that he must have left the camera at the second shop where we bought jellies when we were putting the jellies in our bags and he had kept the camera on the counter. We went all the way back to the shop and asked the shop keeper if he had seen the camera. He denied it completely and we said that we were sure that we have left the camera at his counter and that he better give us our camera. He continuously denied that he had the camera and started opening all the drawers and cases he had to show us that he did not have the camera. We asked him what the police number was and he said he did not know what the number was.

This made us clear the doubt in our minds that he was the one who was hiding the camera. So we said that we were going to the police station to complain the loss of our camera. The shop keeper smartly showed us the directions to get to the police station and said that he was not afraid of the police as he was innocent.

We decided that going to the police will not help us in any way so we thought of going to the first shop. There too we were unable to find the camera. How will we find it there when it was lying with the thieves at the second store, we thought. So we went back to the second store to try our luck one more time. But it was of no use as the shopkeeper continued to deny that he had it. So we gave him Nikheel’s cell number and asked him to give us a call if he found out about the camera. The smart guy said that if he found the camera he would deliver it to Nikheel’s place. Yeah right, we thought.

I must say that the walk back was the longest walk ever. I asked Nikheel if he thought that the camera was at the third store he said he was sure it was left at the second store. But I continued praying that the camera was in the third store. I prayed to god that please let us find the camera otherwise the whole trip will only remembered for the lost camera and not for all the fun that we had there.

When we came near the third shop which as I mentioned was at the end of the market we saw that the lady shop keeper was roaming outside her shop in a tense manner. When we went near her and asked whether we left something with her, she said that yes she had something in a black case and was trying to find who left it at her shop.

Flowers began to bloom, waterfalls were falling in full force and India had won the Cricket World Cup (I know it sounds filmy but this is how I was feeling at that moment). We were so happy that we could have watched Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi for a whole day without a frown on our faces. God is great and he proved it again by helping us find the camera. When all hope was lost, he showed that sometimes, we tend to look for the solutions of our problems from some distant place, when the solution is right next to us.

When we came to know that the camera was missing we were 2 steps away from the third shop. But instead of going to the shop directly we went all the way to the second and the first shop. It was such a good example that we always try to complicate things by striving for solutions that are far and difficult to achieve, when the answer to our questions are within us and all we need to do is to have belief in ourselves and try to see what is obvious rather that letting our imaginations go haywire.

With that we went towards the exit. I wanted to sit on a horse so we hired two horses to take us to the exit. My horse was named Rock and Nikheel’s horse was Chirag. So came to the end of our trip to Matheran. With a prayer to return soon we went outside the gates and hired a cab back to the station.

Hyderabad Diaries 1

Been in Hyderabad for a week. Made some progress in the audit front. Roamed around Hyderabad a lot, mostly on foot. After the night we arrived in Hyderabad, the next day we went to office and met our clients. They seemed nice and enthusiastic about completing the audit as soon as possible. But as the week progressed the audit progress depressed.

On Tuesday it was Shivangi’s birthday. In the evening we went on a long walk in search of Hussain Sagar Lake front. We walked for atleast 5 to 6 km. We found the back of the lake and could see across the lake where we could see many lights and shops and restaurants. We walked besides the lake on the road curved across the lake. The road we walked on was called the Necklace Road. It was beautiful, but nowhere close to the Queen’s Necklace back home. I apologise for mentioning it in the same paragraph as the Necklace Road. We could not find even a single restaurant on the road. We started walking at around 8.15 p.m. and continued walking till the clock struck the hour of 10 p.m. Then we decided to take a rickshaw and go back to Begumpet and eat at any of the restaurants that we came across the previous day.

We came to know about the practice of the rickshaw walas in Hyderabad where after 11 in the night (or at whatever time they find a Bakra like us) they charge 1.5 times the metered fare. So we came back to Bagumpet, unaware that we were just half a km away from Food Court a place famous for having many food stalls. But that’s our luck. We came back and went to Bowl ‘o China, a Chinese restaurant at Begumpet. But it was full and the steward asked us to wait for atleast 15 minutes. As we were very hungry we left that place and again went to Pizza Hut. We came back to the guest room and I read a bit before sleeping

On Wednesday it was Richa’s birthday. She told me that a guy from Hyderabad was coming to see her on Friday.

On that day too we had little work. We left around 7.30. Went to the guesthouse changed and then went to Hyderabad Central. Which is a big mall in Begumpet, where we roamed around doing some window-shopping. From the formal section to the casual section and we even went to the kids section as Nitesh wanted to buy something for his nephew. But eventually we did not buy anything and went down to eat. Where we did buy many things.

After 2 days in Pizza Hut we went to Copper Chimney, and it was absolutely amazing. The food was really good and the décor very classy. We came back to the guest room and I read a bit before sleeping continuing with my nightly ritual.

On Thursday there was none of my friend’s birthday. And after another boring day in the office in we directly went to Prasad’s Inox, which is taunted to be the biggest screen multiplex in South India. The place was on Necklace Road. The place was not like any multiplex in Mumbai, as the multiplexes in Mumbai are fun and hip. But it has a cool mirror maze thing in it. This maze was what we thought must have been what it was named, a maze. But it turned out to be more than a maze; it was a space travel thing where we had to find our way thorough the mirror maze. Then suddenly an alien came out and asked us to go in a room. Where we could see many stars. It was very beautiful, the he asked us to close our eyes till he counted three, we did as he asked and when he counted to three and asked us to open our eyes the whole room had changed and the dark room with stars was turned into a yellow light filled room with mirrors all over the place in which we could see our images and the light made it looks serene.

Now the maze was completely into darkness. And only some scary looking alien doll was illuminated in red light to make it look scary. But actually it made it look silly. Then suddenly out of nowhere a dark cloak wearing alien came in front of us, and I admit that I was scared. He asked us to leave his space as soon as possible, we readily obliged. Then when we were near the exit door, the noise in the background was announcing that we are leaving the space for planet earth. The suddenly the same alien came running from behind shouting which scared the shit out of me and made me jump. When realized that it was just that sill alien man I shouted at him for scaring me. He growled at me and I told him, “apni galli mein kutta bhi sher hota hai shaane.” Suddenly I remembered I was in his galli and quickly left the room.

We left the multiplex and walked all the way to Hussain Nagar, passing the Birla Temple, Lumbini Park and NTR Gardens on our way. We had dinner at a place called Spice Kings, again after searching for a restaurant for some 40 minutes. I don’t know whats with restaurants and Hyderabad. You don’t find one for 3 km and then find 5 in front of each other. Went back at around 11.30 p.m. and after some ritual reading slept soundly on my nightmarish bed.

Friday was as bit boring as any other day, which turned eventful in the evening at around 7 p.m. when Neha called me with the news that Richa had agreed to get married to the guy who was supposed to come see her. I told Neha that it was supposed to be on Friday, that’s when she asked me that what did I think was the day. I talked to Richa for some 10 seconds but then suddenly the connection was lost. Then when I left office I called her to congratulated her

And after office we did not go anywhere but went straight to the guesthouse and ordered food from, yes you have guessed it, Pizza Hut. Watched some TV and then after some reading went to sleep.

Hyderabad Reds

The past few days have been so full of weird things tha it is difficult for me to stop myself from writing a summary about the happenings.

It al began on Monday the 9th of July 2007. I was supposed to go to Hyderabad for an audit in Advanta India Limited. I was really excited as it was an audit after a long time and I was really bored and was desperately looking for some work.

Secondly it was the first time I was sitting in an aeroplane and I was totally excited. The whole experience was mind blowing. Though it would have been better if my senior had let me sit on the window seat. But lets begin from the beginning.

I entered the airport, checked my luggage in, got my tickets, got myself frisked by a frail looking security guard, got in the waiting lounge, visited an airport toilet for the very first time, called papa, then Prachi and then tried calling Richa but could not get through to her.

At 6 a.m. we checked in, got in an airport bus, took 4 minutes in that thing to travel some 100 meters. And then I entered an aircraft for the first time in my life. It was so exciting that I almost missed the hot air hostess. Well almost I was excited but I was still Aditya. She so sweetly told me how nice it was to have me aboard. It almost made my day. But then I heard her saying the same thing to a 40 something uncle looking like he had ran all the way from Sakinaka to get on the plane.

We sat on our seats, my being the 25 E, which if you have forgotten was the one next to the window seat. It took us some 20 minutes to move, and another 25 minutes to fly off the ground. Till then the airhostess and another heavily gelled haired steward showed us a funny little drill about how to put on our seat belts, an oxygen mask and how in case of an emergency take out a safety jacket from under our seats and wear it and pull the strings. Informative. But boring.

We moved for some 5 times during the latter 25 minutes of my stay in the plane. Then I saw that an Indigo Airlines plane was in front of us. Which was waiting to be on what I came to know was the runway. I saw it taking off and was amazed at how it gathered speed so quickly and flew away until I could not see it. Then we moved for the sixth time on to the runway and this time we did not stop. We gathered speed and the engines started making a hell lot of noise. In what I thought might have been 12 to 15 seconds we were air borne, as I felt a knot in my stomach.

Within 5 seconds we were hovering over Juhu beach. A distance, that takes atleast 30 minutes by road, from the airport. To the left we went and I saw a bird’s eye view of the city I love. It was looking absolutely breath taking. Mumbai was cloudy that day otherwise it would have been even better.

The hostess came with another aunty type hostess with the food trolley. First the gelled steward gave us some fresh lime soda bottles and then the hostess gave us some snacks of which only the pastry was nice. Suddenly I looked outside the window again, we were flying above a thick carpet of clouds. Could not see even a speck of ground. The sky that was looking all cloudy some 5 minutes ago was clear blue and the sun was about to set, throwing its slanting evening rays at us. The whole setting was so perfect, a beautiful view, and a pastry in my mouth. I was the happiest man on earth at that time. It made me suddenly so peaceful that I almost could not hear what was happening around me. I almost forgot that I was also part unhappy about going to Hyderabad, as I was not expected to return back to Mumbai for the next 2 weeks.

The whole setting will remain with me till I am burned to ashes. The clear dark blue skies, a carpet of thick gray clouds and golden slanting sun rays. The sky was getting darker by the minute and as we started descending some 30 minutes later it had become very dark. When we pierced the clouds, I saw the city of Hyderabad sparkling with lights that reminded me of the Happydent White Chewing Gum ad. Mauskuralay Jagmagalay!

We touched down at the NT Rama Rao Airport at 8.05 p.m. and then entered a dingy airport bus. Collected my luggage and then went in the company’s car to the company guest house situated at 401, Krishe Gardens, Begumpet. Soon I called papa and told him of my safe arrival in the Naawabi city.

The guesthouse was in a very posh society where we never saw more than 4 people together, it was empty all the time, the room was really nice, but the bed and especially the pillows were a nightmare. I took a shower and left the fill our stomachs. We walked almost 2 km in search of some Hayderabadi restaurant. But we only saw the places we see in Mumbai. Finally we settled in at Pizza Hut and ate our meals.

Came back to the room at around 11.05 p.m. Saw Seinfeld after the first break was over. Went to bed at around 11.35 p.m. Read a bit and then slept at about 12.15 a.m. Well that how my first interaction with an aeroplane went and I gave my first greeting to Hyderabad!