a trip to ...

I wake up at 4 in the morning .(generally i wake up a couple of hours later) I got a train to catch . Yeah my eyes are sleepy because i slept late , as i was not sure if I would be leaving till late in the evening . At around 9 my friend had confirmed . so it was then that i started packing my bag (trying to make it minimalistic so that we don't have to carry the burden through out . anyways back to the morning , i was ready to leave for the trip with people i had never met and to place i had never heard . i get out of the house with a small bag containing my wardrobe and necessities for the days to come (how many i am not sure) . now out on the roads at quarter past five , the roads are as empty i had ever seen . Am i going to get a bus here?? As if the almighty told my sixth sense that the answer is no . So i will be making a luxurious start to my trip driving all the way to railway station in a taxi and handing over a hari patti . anything to reach the station in time and join the troupe . well one thing nice about traveling in the morning is that you get to see Kolkata like you want to see it during the day while standing and sweating profusely in a bus hold up in a traffic jam. So finally i reach the station about around 6 in the morning . The train black diamond express,will leave at 6.20 . so need to find them fast . well I pace down the platform in a sort of wild goose chase . don't know anyone except my friend and how am i supposed to know the other people as they are the relatives of my friend who arrived from Gujarat a couple of days ago, it was then the first time my friend had met them . Since it was group of 10 so it was easy to spot . on meeting them it came to my knowledge that the tickets we had were not confirmed . So for the first time(there are many firsts waiting to happen in this trip) i got into the general compartment of a train to reserve the seats for this BIG group of ours. though i have traveled in general compartment but then we being young don't quite care about getting a seat . since there were a couple of elderly people and a whole lots of luggage (i was asked to bring less luggage and now i understood why cause they already had 4 suitcase and a couple of handbags but thankfully they were not very heavy) . We managed to get 6 seats so there was a decent level of comfort . it was a passenger train so only seats and no berths me and my friend were roaming around the train just so that we don't get bored . anyways one good news that came to me was that we had to spend 5 hours in the train . another piece of information was that we were to get down at dhanbad . once a couple of hours passed the rush kept shedding and after we crossed Burdwan , there was enough space for all of us to sit comfortably and a couple of stoppages the compartments were so empty that everyone could sleep if they wanted to . anyways finally dhanbad arrives. We got down at the station and were greeted by someone I don't know who (actually i figured out that i might not know many things on this trip cause these people were from interiors of Gujarat and thus spoke the language spoken in kutch district , so even though i understand Gujarati it was difficult to follow what they were saying.) . He escorted us to the vehicle that was to carry us through the trip . we were 10 people with a 10 years old child and to our utter shock we were to travel in a bolero . well though there were a couple of girls nearing anorexia but still it was too small a car for a group of 10 1/2 . anyways we just hopped on somehow (i cant explain how but it was so stuffy it seemed we were trying to establish a record for most people that can be accommodated in that car . ) anyways our first stop was not far off where we were to have our lunch . so we got down and had what could be called proper Gujarati food (more sweet less spice) . then we moved back to the car and tried to figure out how we can adjust within the car as we had to travel in it for the next 3 days (at least as per the plan at that point of time ) . so things were sorted out and we moved ahead towards a place called pawa puri . the place was supposed pretty far off as we were scheduled to reach that place around 7.30 even though we left dhanbad around 1 pm . but what was in the future was still to be seen . after a couple of hours of bumping my head sitting on the roof of the back seat on the so called highways of jharkand . we stopped at a place for refreshment s and then got to sit in the front seat . i had a feeling that we were traveling in the wring lane while in the back seat . but when i came to the front seat i came to know the way the vehicles move on the highways there . where the other states repair their highways once a year there is jharkhand and bihar who dont have a highways as of yet . even though the work has been in progress for almost a decade the work is not complete .there are two broad lanes alright but seldom do they operate together . mostly the vehicles of both directions share the same lane. The other lane seems almost complete but may be is not opened so that the project never ends . I need not be a rocket scientist to understand why the project is kept pending over a long period of time . after all everyone knows how politicians are in these states . anyways the worst thing was that whatever road we had was really bumpy . moreover our driver was the eight wonder of the world , who didn't understand why speed breakers are made . it seemed that they made him go even faster . well it had to take the toll on the car and finally near dusk we had a flat tyre and that brat went off to the nearby garage to get the tyre repaired and the job of changing the tyre was left to us . (i mean i never seen a driver like him and never wish to see anyone like him future either) . well the royal highness came back from the so called garage with the news that we have to travel some distance without a spare tyre as it couldn't be fixed at these small settlements near the highway. and oh yeah on more thing that brat took the keys so we were changing the tyres in the dark without the indicators on , with the bypassing trucks not missing us by much of a distance . well as we proceeded further we come to know something that was going to bother us for the next couple of days. the driver didnt even know the route to the places we were going . well somehow we managed to reach the place after having asked the route to many a people . the curious thing was how these people estimated the distance or what a mile or kilometer meant to them . i mean we ask this guy about how much further we need to go , he say about 27 km . then we move about a couple of KM ahead and we ask someone how far it is and he say 45 km . I mean how is that possible . well as we figured out it was basically a range it was at least 27 km and at most 45km . with all this quizzing around it took us a hell lot of time to reach pawa puri . finally one thing that was good was that there was a huge dharamshala of Jainism followers there and these people i was accompanying were jains . so we got easy lodging and came to believe that finally we get some comfort . well the wish was short lived not cause it came true but because it went to the trash bin , when we found that we wont get any food at that time of the day , 9 pm . so we had to order the chaiwallah for a dozen cup of tea to drink with the thepalaas they had brought for an emergency like this . well as we dosed of in the night we came to realise that life can cruel some times . this time around this message was delivered to us by the fearsome messenger of nature , mosquitoes . wow there was some population of them out there . we had too wake up early in the morning but i don't think we needed to worry about that as we were not gonna get any sleep at the first place . well what a first day to the trip . well lets see what was to come as we wake up on 17th may 2007, the 2nd day of our trip .

words of wisdom

the most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. i mean, life is tough. it takes up a lot of your time. what do you get at the end of it? a death.what's that , a bonus?!I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first , get it out of the way.Then you go live in an old age home. you get kicked out for being to healthy , go collect your pension, then , when you start to work , yu get a gold watch on your first day.you work forty years till you are young enough to enjoy your retirement. you drink alcohol, you party,and you get ready for high school .you go to primary school, you become a kid , you play , you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back , you spend your last 9 months floating with luxuries like central heating, spa,room service on tap, then you finish off as an orgasm!!

perplexed

i move ahead with dreams in my heart . i follow the path from where i get positive vibes . didnt ever fear getting lost rather felt i will find myself as i would try to get lost in the depth . i believed in myself and was ready to back myself up . but just like a bolt out of blue comes the age of reason and shifts my focus to the reasons . couldn't work to the standards i set for myself . i find myself at an unforeseen junction of unknown paths and my lost self doesn't feel the vibes coming . my whole existence is based on the way my faith is . i work on my instincts . i don't try to find a reason for every thing i do . all reasons have kept on accumulating up in my brain and my heart and all these believes that i have accumulated throughout my existence give me the answers to all the questions with a logic i find hard to defy . but all my self asks from me is trust and loyalty . but as soon as i stop communicating to myself , i don't hear a call from within me calling me back , instead it lets me realize that the methodology i use to live my life will leave me dazed without the support of self . now i am perplexed . trying to establish the connection . it is just like the relation we have with others , a strong bond is easier to break than to make .
" whispering words of wisdom - Let It Be " . with so many shades to it , life is beautiful :)

a visit to greetings card shop

I recently went to a greetings shop with my parents to buy a card for some relatives wedding . As usual there were all those glittering items on display begging to be gifted to someone , also there were these huge cards more than half my height . There is so much that we can spend on just to show our affection towards someone we known for quite sometime or will like to know in future . in midst of it all seemed to be a misfit a rack of simple designed cards on nonglossy paper with no flowery words in it . On the top of the rack was written "CRY CARDS" . A note on the rack said that a part of the sales from these cards are given to CRY , which is an organisation taking care of children . On the wall nest to this rack i found a poster bringing to notice the helpage organisation , which takes care of elderly people isolated in this world .
This really stikes me a lot . Many times in various discussions I have heard a point being raised viz. India has a demographic advantage with more than 60% of the population being of international working age group i.e. above 16 and below 60 . however looking at the existance of oraganisations such as cry and helpage , I seriously doubt where we really have any such advantage . Its just incomprehensible that a 65% working population can not support a 35% dependent population .

Hallelujah

merry christmas to ya all . the day is a celebration of the birth of the son of god . but i consider it as the birth of power . what drives us to achieve something in life is the faith in ourselves . God has instilled a part of his in all of us and the more we believe in ourselves the more we believe in him and the more power we get to achieve what we want to achieve . We dont know where we should we head . many are in search of the meaning of life . we never know what to do but he knows what he wants us to do . so our duty is to do what our inner god tells us to do in the form of our conscience , instincts , sixth sense etc. believe in yourself and extend yourself to the world . accept whatever you face in this world .It is what he feels is necessary to prepare you for the job at hand . there is nothing such as a perfect life , especially in materialistic terms . a perfect life is where you are able to accomplish the job that god has assigned to you . so unquestioningly do what you feel you shoud be doing . if you are being pushed to do something that you dont feel is right and yet you cant do anything about it , consider it is a retification made by god in his plans , and face the situation like that is what you want to do the most . believe in yourself , there is a power within .

when you are down

Often some insane people like me find themselves in a position when nothing seems to be going in my way and there is no sense of direction . just turn out to be a looser from all directions . but now i know that when in such situations i should focus my mind on working hard to ensure that i dont have to face such a situation .
when down the obstacles seem to be too big , but if i take the courage to overcome them when i am trying to get up then i am sure that they will never be able to troubl me ever again .
Being down is the best gift life can give , it make me connect wth myself . i gives a new zeal to life .it gives a chance to start from scratch .
it makes me realise that how life teaches .

Childrens day

hum bhi agar bacche hote,
naam hamaraa hota dabloo , babloo
khaane ko milte ladoo....

http://www.cry.org/resources/videos/cry_film2.wmv

today is 14 nov. , a day that meant a lot till about six years ago . it was great to have a few liberties in school with free periods and teachers getting involved in having fun . in fact I can even recall a couple of years when they staged some shows in the school about how we behaved in the class . we used to laugh and feel awkward on realizing how they knew about all our mischiefs . how much we used to wait for that one day full of fun . it was our day just like our birthdays . but today suddenly realized that it was children's day when i opened the paper today as there was an ad of some function that was being held . childhood is a great thing to celebrate . it is on of the longest occasion of our lives where we have fun and spread happiness to others .
I just wish that more children would actually be able to enjoy the pleasures of childhood . everyone who feels the same should try and make a conscious effort to see that the anti-child labour law reaches its goal .

shubh dipawali

happy diwali

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Book Of Love

came across this lovely song

The book of love is long and boring
No one can lift the damn thing
It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing
But I
I love it when you read to me
And you
You can read me anything
The book of love has music in it
In fact that's where music comes from
Some of it is just transcendental
Some of it is just really dumb
But I
I love it when you sing to me
And you
You can sing me anything
The book of love is long and boring
And written very long ago
It's full of flowers and heart-shaped boxes
And things we're all too young to know
But I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
And I
I love it when you give me things
And you
You ought to give me wedding rings
You ought to give me wedding rings