Annual Report – 2011

Looking back on 2011

जनुअरी में हेरोयिन के साथ फोटो खिंचवाई,

फेब्रुअरी में शादी की पहली अन्नीवेरसारी मनाई,

मार्च में बनी नन्ही पारूल की मासी,

अप्रैल में पति बन गए पुणे से बंगलोर वासी,

मई में किया थीसिस गाइड को रज़ामंद,

जून में हो गई ग़लती से बाथरूम में बंद,

जुलाई में नौकरी से रिश्ता तोड़ा,

अगस्त में माँ-बाप का घर छोड़ा,

सितम्बर में एम. ई. की परीक्षा किया पास,

अक्टूबर में बंगलोर दर्शन किए ससुर-सास,

नवम्बर में फेमिना ने छापा मेरा नाम,

दिसम्बर में किया नॉवेल समालोचना का काम,

ये था हिसाब ऑफ़ मेरा बीता हुआ साल,

आप सब का २०१२ हो मस्त, स्वस्थ और खुशहाल

Book Review: Haunted

So after announcing my comeback, I again took a break!! Sigh!! Lazy and busy life!

When my dear blogger-friend Roshmi suggested my name to read/blog-review an Indian author Douglas Misquita‘s debut action-thriller novel “Haunted”, I was excited. It was to be my first “review on request” post! Douglas contacted me and I received the book promptly to read and review. So here it goes…

My Random Thoughts 2.0

As my readers may remember, I have moved to Bangalore or Bengaluru. It has been 3 months now. I haven’t started working yet and in-laws are here since two months…new place, new life, new routines were responsible for the blogging break. So, here are some random updates, thoughts and comments from the last three months of my blogging break. Hence the title… a new “My Random Thoughts” BREAK KE BAAD

# My M.E. results were declared at last…scored 73.5% aggregate. Yeyyyy!!!

Naanu Vaapas Bandhe

or I AM BACK as they say in English. The blog post title is in Kannada (with help from a tweep)…but more on the language and my experience with it later. So I am back from a self-imposed blogging break – entirely out of laziness and shock of new life But ek blogging break to banta hai in all these years of blogging right? It has been more than 3 months since my last post!! Phew! Shame on me! But then, what could be a better occasion to make a comeback other than Diwali?

May millions of lamps illuminate your life
with endless joy, prosperity, good health and peace forever
Wishing you and your family a very
“HAPPY DIWALI”

I know nobody missed me in this blogosphere. In fact my comeback got delayed day after day because of this reason also. No one mentioned my absence or rather that of my regular comments, no one asked about my whereabouts / well-being and I did not get any motivation to resume blogging, reading and commenting as usual Sigh! Out of comment space, out of mind…

More updates to follow in next post!!

And will be attacking your blogs with comments soon. Really scared to open the Google reader!!

It All Ends Here

No, not the Harry Potter series [which would make a very sad post if I start writing about my feelings when this phenomenon..this era..the magic is coming to an end ]

What is coming to an end, hopefully, is my tryst with studies. In spite of my insincerity and lack of concentration, I have managed to come a long way on this path (credit to my sister, my intelligence, memory and luck. Here are some memories from each step of the long ladder I have climbed till now :-

Mere Piya Gaye Swedoon

हेलो,हिन्दुस्तान का होमटून

हेलो,मैं स्विदून से बोल रहा हूँ

मैं अपनी बीवी रीमादेवी से बात करना

चाहता हूँ

मेरे पिया, हो मेरे पिया गये स्विदून

किया है वहाँ से टेलीफून

तुम्हारी याद सताती है,

जिया में आग लगाती है

हम छोड़ के हिन्दुस्तान,बहुत पछ्ताये

बहुत पछ्ताये

हुई भूल जो तुम को साथ ना लेकर आए

हम स्विदून की गलियों में,

और तुम हो होमटून

तुम्हारी याद सताती है,

जिया में आग लगाती है

मेरी नींद भी खो गयी टाइम डिफरेन्स के मारे

टाइम डिफरेन्स के मारे

मैं अधमुई सी हो गई चिंता के मारे

तुम बिन साजन,

सूनी सूनी बीत रही है जुलाई और जून

तुम्हारी याद सताती है,

जिया में आग लगाती है

अजी तुमसे बिछड़के हो गये हम सन्यासी

हम सन्यासी

खा लेते हैं जो मिल जाए

घास फूस बासी

अजी फीका फीका खा के कर रहे गुज़ारा

भूल गये जीरा मिर्ची लहसून

तुम्हारी याद सताती है,

जिया में आग लगाती है

अजी बड़ा अजीब देश है ये कैसा

ये कैसा

रात के ग्यारह बजे लगता है

दिन जैसा

अजी धूप से है परेशान

शाम लगे फोरनून

तुम्हारी याद सताती है,

जिया में आग लगाती है

मेरे पिया, हो मेरे पिया गये स्विदून

किया है वहाँ से टेलीफून

तुम्हारी याद सताती है,

जिया में आग लगाती है

My version of the famous song. D has gone abroad to Sweden and Netherlands for three weeks which has made the poet in me rise from slumber. The original song – click “Mere Piya Gaye Rangoon” and click here for lyrics and meaning.

“Bullet”ined

This post was destined to be a movie review post but due to bad Internet connection, laziness, busy life and travel it got delayed and more delayed till it has now become a casual bulleted post giving my readers some random updates instead of a post having paragraphs. Sigh!! Such is the influence of Twitter. But then brevity is the soul of wit! But this is not a funny post either. Sigh!

A Night’s Tale

So it has been one week since I arrived in Bangalore. Been busy cleaning and setting up new home, buying furniture (which, by the way, is way costlier than that in Pune), buying drinkable water , fighting rust problem (which was not there in Pune), roaming around in wonderful weather (way too much traffic than that in Pune), watching movies, meeting relatives and trying to stay connected with world through TATA PHOTON whose signal is simply horrible at the area we live. I had thought I would clear all blogging backlog – reading, commenting, replying to comments – but this damn connection! D’s office is close from here so we chose this area to live. But who would have guessed such an incident will occur with me one night!!!

Trip to Digha: Finale

Continued from here.

After lunch and a little afternoon shut-eye, we decided to go sightseeing around Digha. Our first destination was the Science Center established by the National Council of Science Museums at New Digha. The Centre offers a variety of mechanisms to make science an enjoyable learning experience. There is a biology section with few animals, a physics section, a planetarium which holds evening shows and a park. Had fun time exploring all the mechanisms.

Trip to Digha Part 2

Continued from here.

9th Dec 2010: It had got dark by the time we reached Digha station; all because we had missed the first train and got delayed by three hours. Digha is the most popular sea beach and tourist spot in West Bengal. It is known as “Brighton of the East”.  Digha station looked quite new and clean. I guess to promote tourism, WBTDC has spruced up the place. Also there are 4-5 trains from Kolkata to Digha!

Trip to Digha Part 1

Continued from here

Just like a scene from a Bollywood film, the last bogie of the train chugged away just as we reached the correct platform.

DISASTER!!

The in-laws had never ever missed a train in all these years!! Even my parents had never missed one. In fact my father’s greatest fear and a recurring nightmare is that he is unable to catch a train! MIL was visibly upset. All the ticket money down the drain!!  Thankfully there was another train to Digha at 2 pm. (There are four trains to that place!! )

The Race Against Time

Time: 11.05 am

Place: Railway Station

The taxi driver asked “the new side or the old side?” The father replied “the old side”. After alighting, they saw the  train information  display and realized their mistake. They started running towards the new side of the station; the men leading and the women panting behind them. Even the arthritic mother was running!!

Bangalore Calling

No…this post is not about  the book.

This post is about the end of an era. Of life in Pune…perhaps forever.