3 short stories

Been super long since I put something down here, partly because ever since my breakup last year, i have found it easier to express my feelings through poems.. maybe there is some truth behind the college canteen owners advice to Ranbir kapoor in Rockstar. Thankfully, I no longer care about my ex, even though he is now not only in the same city as me but also the same organisation. Imagine the irony in that! Anyways moving to better topics, let me just keep this simple since I really don't have an agenda behind this post apart from making my presence felt :P So three short stories

a) I yelled at my the guy who provides me with my cooking gas cylinders today. They guy came to replace my cylinder without me inviting him. he insisted on replacing the thing after suggesting it would last only a day. Later when i was trying to cook, it simply would not light up. I immediately called up the gas wala to yell at him for giving me an empty cylinder.  after making sure i calmed down he asked me what was going on. I said its not lighting and i can smell gas too.. what kind of a cylinder have you given me, to which he replied, Madam aapka lighter kharaab hua hain(your lighter is not working) :)

b) I've subscribed to this poet called MerlinS, don't ask me why. Half of his poems are about heartbreak and justifying his role in every poem he jots down. I wonder if he has so many relationships maybe there is something wrong with him.

c) I was talking to meditative girl (iiftians will know who I mean) and went if i dont finish this today my RM will kick my ass n imitated being picked by the collar of my shirt and getting kicked to her and she looks  at me with big brown eyes and goes really???:P:D

There i have cmpltd 3 stories nw... see you later 

Pani Puri!

A boring friday morning, tending towards afternoon actually and I am settled in a conference room with my new team. Im trying my best to look as busy as I can meddling around on my Desktop and hoping nobody realises that what I am really doing is thinking about my previous office and all the friends I left behind there. The new team is a good mix of new people hired from all over literally so we have people from andhra, chennai, delhi, haryana, rajasthan and of course, maharashtra(yours truly). Suddenly a stray sentence from the technical people's group catches my attention. the lady goes "hum toh nahi bolte yahaan ki pani puri wahaan se acchi nahin hain.. Kitne gande ho". To which the Andhra guy goes "but the pani puri from andhra is brilliant. There are all flavours of water there. Here there is only one". And it makes me think about the golgappas of delhi, pani puri of mumbai and probably the south and the puchhkas of Kolkata. These are the three variants I have tried and though the essence remains the same the flavours vary drastically across the country with Kolkata making a sour, spicy liquid, Delhi with its sweet 'imli' and suji(semolina) puri variation and Mumbai of course with the ragda and the mint/pudina chutney or sometimes pulses but definitely not boiled potatoes as with the other two places. And then I remember how passionate each region's people are about their version of this simple dish. And its fun to see the love for their own cuisine and culture. But at the same time one wonders how is this mixture of so many different people, each thinking they are better than the other surviving as a country? Why not just accept differences and enjoy the change than be caught up in a senseless "what my ancestors have been doing is the only right thing to do and I will not evolve" attitude? This thought always leaves me confused about my fellow countrymen( is countrywomen valid?). Lets just hope that at the end of it we are a more stable team than the easily disoluble pani puri.

What's in a name?

Well I was going through a friends blog actually and it revolved around a magazine run in their organsisation named horizon. And it got me thinking, whats the obsession Indians have with names? Do they really think naming something after a specific god, flower, tree, place is gonna guarantee the character/shop/book/restaurant will just automatically imbibe the qualities of that thing? I have come across so many magazines titled horizon or the indian version of it(Kshitij, which incidentally is the origin of my name too and makes me feel like Im on cloud 9) that I think its become cliche now. Where has the originality gone? Why not come up with something more in sync with your organisation or school than the normal done and expected thing. Its almost as if people are so desperate to belong and so blinded by faith and religion that they will do anything just to court success(or what they think will bring them success). Its not about the name or extending this the rings you wear but what you do and how you act because for every Sachin Tendulkar, there are a million other Sachins who are absolutely hopeless at the game and for every Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, there are a million other Mohammads who are peaceful human beings. Also note the ultimate irony, Mohammad was also the name of the prophet who gave millions of followers a new religion and belief. So whats the point, be creative, be rational thinking human beings, be DIFFERENT!!!

Life's simple

A toddler learning to walk,
Talking to explain its wants.
Going to school to learn
Learning to try and make a mark.
Fighting to find an identity
finding an identity to fit
Fitting in to gain company
Finding company to belong.
Belonging to share mutual thoughts
Thinking to evolve
Evolving to find a meaning -
Meaning to change the world.

Born in different places-
looking for the same things,
Life's simple, just be strong!

Stalker Alert!!!

Well if theres one thing my life is, its eventful. I honestly need to write a book soon. Here's the latest scoop. I have a stalker. I am not joking about this. This dude who is some 6ft odd and broad shouldered typical beefed up north indian guy, who if you didnt know better you'd mistake for Khalli's bodyguard, is always around when I dont need him. Ok he's not that bad looking but his activities are such that they negate all his good looks. He's always present wherever I am . Its hard to shake him of. If RAW needs someone he's your man.

Here's the fun part, I have never spoken to him, been introduced to him or even been part of the same team as him. SO I guess he just spotted me one day at work and since then whenever I enter office, go for lunch or leave, he's there. And he's beginning to scare me because I thought ignoring him will do the trick. He'd go away and leave me alone. But it does'nt. It's reached a stage where the moment I'm on my office lane I start praying to God that I don't see him today. Unfortunately, I always do.

So I informed all my friends and colleagues here and was advised I can get a mental harassment case launched against him. And I decided my plan of action started looking at the policies etc. But as I said my life is anything but uneventful. The day I was completely set on taking up the issue on a serious note, we had a open house and the SBU head knows the guy because apparently he's writing a book and is some kind of really smart thing. There went my plans for action. Now I cant do anything till I have concrete proof about it. The guy comes and takes a round of my seating area for no apparent reason, just walks past my cubicle in the basement and then goes straight out the door and up the stairs to his place on the ground floor or wherever and I cant do a thing. Well hope he's the intellectual types and won't harm me but just in case something goes wrong I want to leave a record with as many people as I possibly can. So people, don't let him get away with it. I dont even know the guy's full name.

Mumbai

There were three blasts in mumbai today between 6:30 and 7. Office hours crowded places max damage . I seriously do not know what people wanyt to achieve with this. As days go by i begin to lose faith in humanity. But I feel for my people back home. They have been beaten and battered so many times. I love them. I know they will survive this like everything else before. You realise the importance and value of your place only when your not there. Sitting in Noida I wish i was back home where I belong. And I also realise how insignificant things liek a break up are cant afford to cry over stupid people who dont value you when you have so many ones who love you back home and who are in trouble. I seriously have not experienced such a feeling of helplessness or homesickness in my life. nor have i experienced such difficulty in expressing myself. One goes in shock on getting such news. You are not only worried about the safety of your own people but also you want to reach out to the people who's relatives or near ones have been harmed and soothe them, tell them you will be fine. but can you really tell them they will be fine? or are we hypocrites in saying that. All I know for sure is Mumbai is a strong city, the people there are the most formidable I have seen in the country and they will pull through this united and well as always. they will rise again and we will see why mumbai is mumbai and no other city compares to it. though now i have a feeling i sound like one of the politicians my reason for saying this is not because I wish to throw words of inspiration at anyone but because I know what the people there are all about and and what they are capable of. I love mumbai and its people and my thoughts are totally with you at this moment. wish I was there too.

random thought

and days will turn into a week, a week into two, a month will go by and then another... soon it will be a year..... and you will slowly fade and become a sliver of a memory.....all one has to do is be strong and disciplined at the start..... i will not lose my self respect for you.