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May 30, 2011

Birthmarks.

2nd April 2011.
It was an EPIC day in my life and for another prominent reason, in every Indian’s life too!

Yes, the D-day was here. All our inputs since 29th of March had to pay off that day.
It was “Reminiscence”, the Alumni Meet in our college.
And we friends had put up a stall for the public. For the college it was a stall, but for us, it was a challenge and a chance to prove ourselves. It was a business. For most of us, it was our 1st time on field. We were still learning the ropes. And though we talked about being okay with not earning much, but all of us, somewhere in the corner of our hearts, were praying hard to make it BIGG.
Summer had just knocked, so our stall served “Barf ke gole”, 3 aerated drinks and Jaljeera. A lil' mixture of innovation and a snappy stall name- "Thand Rakh" had got us all resolute towards the idea. And to top it all, we had fought with the organisers to let us get a tattoo artist too. :D

On the other hand, it was the final day of World Cup 2011
India had made it till there and no Indian even dreamt of defeat now.
So yeah, it was an important day for ALL of us.
*Hopes were high, nervousness too.*


The time before 2nd went in arranging the raw materials, tasting and finalizing the flavours, fighting each other’s different opinions (I know working with a team is not a bed of roses, but working with 15 classmates, altogether different thoughts AND choices, is definitely a tougher task.) But we did it. And, well! :)
The first drink was a mixture of Fruit Cola and Ice cream Soda. It gained brown color and I still wonder how a friend came up with its name-“Mock Champagne”, but it was perfect!
Second one was Blue Lagoon (Just selected cuz of its colour which supported Team India already and we immediately named it “Bleed Blue”! :D) and third was Ice Cream Soda (Since florescent pink in colour, we wanted to name it “Pink Panther” or “Trip to Paris” initially but at the end, the same friends suggested “Pink Fantasy” and we all had thumbs up for it.) :D


 These drinks were aerated. So for a little change we also included Jaljeera on our cards.
The main attraction that day was tattoo. It was India’s final match against Sri Lanka and everybody wanted tri colours on their skin.
Tattoo guy was a spectacular artist and was too fast with his brush. And a lil’ more to some of our expectations, the tattoo idea was an outrageous hit.


We earned, that much that we nullified our investment money and then gained profits too. :D But, we earned a lot more things.
We were praised, appreciated, admired- and all the adjectives that go with it- not only by our batch mates, but by our seniors, super seniors and teachers. We made friends, came to know more seniors and the vice versa. Networking is important! ;)
The day revived the sparks inside us and the feeling was just W-O-W!!  Full of vigour and confidence, and love, respect and mutual understanding towards each other, we then danced and celebrated. 
The feeling at the end of the day matched to Jay-Z, when once he remarked, “I’m not a businessman.  I’m a business, man!” :P


My teammates. Tattoos on faces and names on sleeves. Excitement amazingly captured. :D
In all, an awesome click!



The tattoo mania:  :D :D 


After a year of our school life, we felt that passion for work and that joy of winning, simply because we had found a purpose. Got me thinking and call it a ‘Happy-Realization’ if you wish so, but actually I realized we’ve become lazy in college just because we don’t have goals (or targets or purpose or directions or even pushy teachers). Goals that make us forget everything-from differences to tiredness, from hunger to the Final match-and make us get our lives in it.
Seems a simple thought, but the planning and then the execution is the real test.

Anyway, sorry for marching to a different drumbeat but this was an important happy realization to share. :)

The dusk reminded us about the Finals and we all rushed to our homes. Yes, WE WON!
What a feeling it was!!! What a moment it was!!!
No adjective can describe it.
Happiness and pride were definitely the prominent ones.
The players on the field had teary eyes too and they ran to hug each other. Later, we saw them carrying Sachin Tendulkar on shoulders.
I too had dedicated this cup to him but after the match ended, I so wished that Mahendra Singh Dhoni should have been carried on shoulders. He was the man behind the victory. Of course, the team too. But a leader creates the base of it.

 We had won the cup after 28 years and have scripted a splendid chapter in the books of history.


Me and my family then rushed to the M.G. Road. 
The scene there was _____ (Can’t find the perfect word, I guess a new one should be created!)
The victory had got the crowd into a frenzy.
Every.small.atom.there.was.full.of.ecstasy.
People were dancing without even thinking a bit, playing loud music and Dhol, pulling off their shirts, roaring all kind of patriotism slogans, standing on their car roofs, yelling "Vande Mataram" and what not!!!
The best scene was to see anybody hugging anybody! :D :P
Gosh, the energy was outta control n was sooo positive!! :D
Seriously yaar, Cricket unites India like hell!
I too made a smart move and carried the 2nd drink, Bleed Blue’s hand-painted poster and flaunted it with pride on roads. ;) :D


For all the hard work you had put in, for all the matches you won and for conquering the world for a day- Salutes Team India! :)

We really owe that evening’s every joyful bit to the Men in Blue!
And for all the happiness, smiles, tears of joy and vitality you gifted to the Indians, thanks a tonne! :)

These two events- the happening of “Thand Rakh” and winning the World Cup after two decades are so much fresh and crisp still in our memories, that it doesn’t feel like it’s almost been two months to this date. I can still jot down the most minute detail of that day. But that would be too much for this day! :P So let it be.


What I actually want to say is, these two events were such BIG ones and have left such raging feelings and imprints on my mind that these seem to be everlasting and unforgettable.
They have surfaced as nothing, but BIRTHMARKS. 

May 17, 2011

Journey, Nostalgia and Courtesy.


Yeah, home is super boring in a vacation. No college, no friends, no classes, no hang-outs!
And IF you don't join any classes, don't have cousins around, don't have loads of random relatives to collect the family gossip from and have lots of household chores to be done, you are in trouble! ;)
Plus, if your cable and internet bills were not paid by your dad because you were over-using them, you're helpless! :P 

So, I was waiting eagerly for going to Nanaji's place, Karanja. The date arrived and, though, we were going for just 6 days ('coz of my brother's classes), we were all very excited! :D
BTW, I'm writing this from Karanja only.
Karanja is not a happening place at all. No places to visit, no good restaurants and no theaters even! :/ It's a real small town. 
But the things that drag me here are no less- First of all, my family here; calmness of the place; winds; starry nights; our big home (Awesome place to play Hide and Seek! :D) and the garden where we play with mud- first, make cakes out of it, then get dirty and then play with the forceful pipe water!! Aah! This is one of the most amazing times... :D
 More than this, it's my Mum's stories that bring me here. Stories of her childhood, of her playing with her pet cows and buffaloes :o :P, of her washing and cleaning them and then riding them!!, and stories of her farms and fresh vegetables that roar out her nostalgia every time she starts speaking about them!
I admit, I've heard them over a thousand times now, but somewhere, I am so much attached to them that I love listening to them over and over...
And as we entered Karanja, she chuckled like a 5 year old with joy, and stories, and showed us places where she did this and that! 
I silently wondered about the last time I saw her chuckling like this and it reminded me of the day when dad, mum n I were watching TV and a small documentary of a village was going on… And then we saw here repeat her stories and her special smiles again!
   
We did reach safely. But we had some amusing experiences on our journey. We left Indore by bus for Mhow, from where we had to board our train.
We traveled by a local bus. Actually made Kunal, my bro, travel by it! He so didn't want to and we so stuck to this idea of getting him this experience! :P
Then there were no autorikshaws there so we had to hire a thelawala for carrying the luggage from the depot to the station! Haha, fun again! :D
In train, we had two seats in one compartment and two in another. So, we requested a couple to adjust with our seats so that we all four could be in one compartment. They must be in their late 40s and seemed from a fine family. The lady was such a ruthless and a fussy one. She knew no kind way of talking and was shouting like a maniac. Her husband at least had ears for our problem. She was not ready to listen to a word even. Anyway, dad tried convincing them. But, all went in vain. Alright, you don't want to adjust, ok, but I don't know what made her continuously shout. Dad told them kindly that we are moving to another compartment but she didn't stop. Uhh! For a second, I wanted to laugh! 
We started moving our luggage and the man started abusing!! :O
I understand that they were not interested and comfortable in exchanging seats but I don't understand why the hell he was abusing! We didn't utter a single offensive word and dad was super-duper polite while requesting and also while they said a no and even when the bad language came in the air.. Dad even asked for forgiveness twice or thrice. Uhhhh!!
OMG! Whatever happened to manners? To courtesy?
And to simple display off humanity?
Learnt a bigg lesson, thank you God!

Sometimes, we forget some real common kind gestures. This lil' incidence got me closer to displaying them off in future!

And now, while sitting in the passage and jotting all the feelings down, i feel so light!
BTW, the laptop's battery's gonna crash in a while, it's windy, clouds are signaling rain and I'm being called for the dhoklas! :D

P.S.- You're all welcomed to Karanja and to some dhoklas too! ;)