The City Beautiful is unique in its own ways. The city dwellers sometime feel the city is bland because it lacks a lot of things the metros have. It is peaceful, quiet, calm and all those things that make it just the right place for old people. Chandigarh does not have much to offer for us youngsters. But there is a certain charm attached to this city and that is what makes it exclusive. I hate to love this city.
Here are a few things exclusively found in The City Beautiful —
1) You see huge roundabouts after every 1000 meters stretch.
2) A traffic jam is a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence (mostly around Diwali ).
3) There is a tavern in every corner of every sector.
4) If you get lost in Chandigarh, God help you with the metros.
5) ‘Geriroute‘ is like FC Road and North Main in Pune, Kamla Nagar and Khan Market in Delhi, etc. You will find the coolest cars and the hottest crowd.
6) The city’s so damn small, whenever you’re out when you’re not supposed to be, you will definitely run into your neighbor or a friend of Dad’s. #Facepalm
7) Sukhna Lake is equivalent to the Marine Drive for us Chandigarhians.
8) There are precisely five good cafes here, we are bored of going there but we still go there because they guarantee a good evening. I am not talking of the CCD’s or Barista’s, those places suck big time.
9) Nobody knows what a cop is. Everybody knows who a ‘Mama’ is.
10) No matter what the number of BMWs and Audis is on the roads, an open jeep will make the heads turn.
11) Sorry, Jiggs Kalra. Pal Dhaba is just light-years ahead of you.
12) Stu-C and the Sector 15 Tibetan food market is a broke student’s best friend.
13) Dear Malls, till the time you don’t hire someone to bomb Sector 17, you just won’t flourish here. Sincerely, Avid Shoppers.
We have talked about this before and we will continue to do so because we are no where close to finding a solution to this problem. Why can’t the law of this country take an effective step against the rapists? Why time and again the Indian women are reminded that they can never be safe on streets? Few months back all of us were talking about the 15 year-old who was raped in Delhi region and the police in the national country blamed the girl inviting the rapists.
Before we could completely forget about this outrageous and shocking incident the news channels were already buzzing with the Guwahati incident. Where do girls get raped by a 30 men mob and a media person records the incident? Most of the accused are still absconding, is this another case of cry out loud and then forget it?
These are the incidents that don’t make us feel proud to be Indians, no other country treats their women like this except maybe Saudi Arabia. Another astounding on the news was from a Uttar Pradesh village.The panchyat outlawed love marriages and cell-phones.It also banned women under 40 from going out unescorted, what kind of insane justice is this? I think the only way for women to be safe is to not be born here.Way to go Punjab and Haryana (Sarcasm) for having the highest female foeticide cases.
The new anthem for this country seems to be “No woman, no cry” which is disgusting. Instead of evolving as a strong nation we are going backwards, the Uttar Pradesh village incident is a clear prove. For how long can the women live in the fear of being molested and think a million before venturing out after 9pm?
Letting go- How do I define these two words? They are easier said than done. In our lives we might have to let go a lot of things, people, desires and dreams. The hardest part of anything we do is letting go, when these words cross paths with you, you know its time to forget everything, you know its the end. Its always better that we never end up being on the letting go end.
These thoughts may sound pensive, but life isn’t all hunky dory, we do come across situations when all hope is lost and there is no way we can elucidate, the only solution we have is-letting go. Most of us are clueless when we have to let go something, when we have to stop being the part of something, someone, a dream or whatever it is.
I am not sure how you let go something, everyone probably has their own ways of doing that. I luckily never needed to do the letting go bit in my life. I have got what I want and am sure in future too I will get what I want. You might think I am an over-confident, over-achieving soul patronizing people. Its absolutely not true, I nearly have no achievement to my credit when it comes to bigger things in life and I am not over-confident either. Its just I learnt to believe in myself, believe in what I do, believe in people around me. I learnt to see success in small things, find achievement in every little thing I do. That probably formed bigger steps and the letting go end never came.
Letting go has two aspects to it forgiving and forgetting. If you learn the rules of two f’s life becomes easy. The forgetting happens when you want to disassociate yourself from some past happening that didn’t leave you happy and the forgiving is something we all should learn, not everyone around us is perfect. We are prone to mistakes and repeating those mistakes, its not easy to forgive someone or even yourself for a mistake. But we need to do that, not forgiving just makes us resentful and sulky.
The moment the two f’s come easily to us we learn to let go things. I don’t say you have to let go every single thing its always better to avoid a situation that might lead you to let go. When despair engulfs you and you have no solution, absolutely no solution that is when you take the harsh decision. I hope you never really have to put yourself through this.
I can’t bargain, not at all, not with the auto-wallah, the rickshaw wallah neither while I am street shopping. I am not good at it but does it matter? I am scorned upon due to this fact, people treat me like I am an invalid when it comes to bargaining. How can one bargain? I am never going to figure out the answer to that one question.
I always end up paying double the amount of money when I am traveling alone. When I am not alone, my friends bully the poor auto-wallah to slash the prices till he agrees. I am just a mere spectator when these deals are discussed, standing like a child awestruck with the bargaining skills of the friends. Unfortunately we don’t have meter autos in Chandigarh.
When it comes to shopping, specially street shopping I either buy it or just let it be, bargaining is not just my cup of tea. I love shopping, like anyone else from planet Venus but I didn’t acquire the requisite skills for shopping. I definitely can’t bargain and I have an entire collection of clothes that I never saw again after purchasing. Those are signs of a bad shopper.
The best bargaining I ever did was with a traffic cop on the new year’s eve. He caught me for skipping a signal, I pleaded, begged, made innocent puppy faces and after half an hour of all that he let me go. It felt glorious, I was ecstatic. I saved my driving a license and 300 bucks. Apart from that I have never really bargained.
Its not that I have not tried at all, I do try but to no avail. I have this uncanny incapability of bargaining. What’s funnier is when people around me tell me its not a good thing. Does it really matter if I can bargain or not? Won’t change the world for me. So people around me stop pestering me about it.
Getting a passport and driving license is colossal task in this country. Both documents are important but the procedure is highly confusing. You never know what documents you require especially if you refer to their online sites. You will end up carrying the wrong ones and getting your application rejected. I got my license last year, the document collection from my end took a month. There were so many of them and don’t even ask about the passport. Before I bore you to death with document gathering woes I will proceed to a few guidelines you should follow to acquire these two documents
1) We were taught in school to maintain an arm’s distance while in a queue and the moment we left school we forgot that simple rule. People are literally over each other while in queues. Dude, your turn will come, don’t push, touch or stand to close the person next to you. No one wants to know how much you sweated out or what brand of deodrant you used. Don’t forget the general etiquette right after leaving school.
2) Take along anything that can be your identity or address proof, you never know what might be of use. The passport site mentioned I needed only my previous passport but when I got there I was asked to present multiple other proofs. So be fully geared up with everything.
3) Make sure you look good, we end up having our worst pictures on the driving license and passport and regret looking that way for another decade.
4) Be polite, no matter how the official at the other end of the desk is talking, delaying your task, just be nice. That will probably mean you get your job faster.
5) If the official says break the page from the center, s/he probably means tear it, you have to be smart to understand the instructions.
6) Get your car fueled, you might have to make a trip back and if you live in Delhi or Mumbai or a larger city your day will be ruined. A day when you could have done something constructive will be waste.
7) Patience is the key, wait in the queues you won’t have to go back there for the next ten years that is incase you don’t lose either of the documents.
If you have something else to add, do share, it would be great to know what everyone thinks of these procedures.
I am neck deep in exams and survival in these times is hard, my fellow engineers in making will agree. Its the time when most of us are found running around the nerds looking for notes to study, sleeplessly studying every night, alright not exactly sleeplessly, sleep deprived, clueless, trying to figure out how leaky bucket fits in data communications. The leaky bucket sounds more like a problem for Harry Potter to solve with his super cool wand, well until you actually read about it. Read about it only if you have nothing to do or if you are appearing in the exam with me this Tuesday.
I have found amazing ways to relax when I am sick of trying to figure out things like the algorithm mentioned above. One of course is ranting here on the blog, my archives are an alibi to the fact that I write maximum in exam months. The second is music, nothing new about it, but I wanted to share some specific songs that have gotten into my system and refuse to budge. Here is the list, hope you enjoy the songs as well.
1) I don’t want to talk about it- Rod Stewart:
Rod is known for his raspy voice, this particular song came out in 1975 for his album Atlantic crossing. Its about a person who has got their heart broken and has been left alone. Despite that fact they love the person who loved them, it is a sad song. I sort of like the version with Amy Belle more. If you can please send me the download link for that. Other songs to by Rod Stewart you should listen to are First Cut is the deepest, Maggie May, Da Ya Think I’m sexy and You wear it well.
2) A thousand kisses deep- Leonard Cohen
I got hooked on to this song just a few days back, I had the entire Leonard Cohen collection in my playlist but never paid much attention to it. There is something enchanting about his voice. This particular song has amazing lyrics with deep meaning. My favorite lines are:
“And maybe I had miles to drive,
And promises to keep:
You ditch it all to stay alive,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.”
Then the paradox in the lines:
“You win a while, and then it’s done
Your little winning streak.
And summoned now to deal
With your invincible defeat,
You live your life as if it’s real,
A Thousand Kisses Deep.”
At certain point you win but then comes a point when that comes to an end and you dissatisfied but you are blinded by love and still live your life a thousand kisses deep. The song is generally about falling in love and the odds in that love. Other songs to listen by Leonard Cohen are Hallelujah, Who by Fire, Waiting for the miracle and The stranger song.
3) Right before my eyes-Cage The Elephant
I discovered cage the elephant sometime back and love most of their songs, I have no idea what the song means. So as long as its good to hear I will keep listening. Listen to Flow, Shake me down, Rubber Ball and Always something as well.
4) I want to break free-Queen:
The video of this sing is so cool, I like singing this too, to the horror of people around me. The song is about breaking free from the person he was in love with.
“I want to break free
I want to break free from your lies
You’re so self satisfied, I don’t need you
I’ve got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free”
He is desperate and is sick of that person and there is nothing else he wants to do apart from breaking free.
5) The difference- Matchbox Twenty
Again a song about love lost, looks like I am a sucker for songs like this and I just realized that. A sad song a little long nearly 8 minutes but one of the best songs by matchbox twenty. When this song ends that is at four minutes there is some other song in the track which is not at all linked to The difference and so you don’t really need to bother to listen to the entire 8 minutes.
6) Smoke on water- Deep Purple
Its about Deep Purple singing about its recording the hotel they were staying at burnt down. Awesome song I love the line ” Smoke on the water, Fire in the sky” Other songs to listen to by Deep Purple are Highway Star and Child in Time.
7) Born in USA- Bruce Springsteen:
This song may not be seen as a patriotic song by most. It tells what America is like, love it or leave it. It was written in 1984 and generally is interpreted as a song for the Vietnam war. Another great by Bruce is I’m on fire, it has been sung with great emotion in his voice, its passionate and worth listening to.
8) To Darkness- Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling
Please tell me where I can download this song from, I have searched but just can’t find it, always have to go to youtube to listen to it. This song was a part of the 2009 Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling album which was embarked on cultural exchange with traditional Rajasthani musicians Dharohar Project, involving some unlikely collaborations and gigs together in Delhi.The opening of To The Darkness explodes into a tantric swell of banjos and duelling sitars, as Marcus’ gravelly roar is overwhelmed by yelping, hollering, shrieks of Punjabi pleasure. I fall in love with this sing whenever I listen to it. All songs of this album are good, have you still haven’t heard them…go to youtube right now.
This was my list of songs I enjoy and you might like as well, enjoy your weekend with these amazing tracks while I will enjoy them while I am still figuring out the leaky bucket.
PS: I have the passes to this lit fest happening here courtesy my mom, I won’t be able to attend all sessions because of exams but will go to a few. My next blog post will be about that although might be a little delayed.
I write this piece as a tribute to the blast victims in the world, those who lost their lives and those who witnessed the heinous terrorist attacks. The few seconds that changed their lives just because they were in the wrong place or should I say some cruel soul devised, planned the mass murder, the murder of humanity. There is a terrorist attack nearly everyday in some corner of the world, it is condemned but I have a question. When will it stop? Haven’t we had enough?
The young, the old all scurried for shelter.
Ran from here to there helter skelter.
They had no inkling what was to come their way,
when they left home.
It shook every bone inside them,
no one knew what had happened for the first few moments.
Until they saw blood being shed,
the blast had changed the entire tableau in a jiffy.
The convivial market place had collapsed,
they saw it crumble in front of their eyes.
The mother screamed in search of her three year old,
the old father looked for someone who could
help in rushing his twenty year old son to a hospital.
There was a havoc, all over,
everyone needed help,
a stranger assisted another stranger to help the lady who had lost a limb.
What had happened?
The feeling was just not sinking, they were all hapless,
all they wanted was a safe place to hide.
They were caught in a horrendous terrorist blast,
the terrible criminals had targeted them,
they could not have imagined in their wildest dreams
to be the victims of a bomb blast.
Few lost their organs, few their lives,
few their loved ones and
those lucky ones who survived were scarred for the rest of their lives,
Here I am almost alone at home on a weekday, reading a book, listening to some music and talking to an old friend, a very old friend of mine. He is fifteen years older than me and was a part of my childhood and definitely remembers everything more clearly than I do. Whenever I talk to him or anyone who was a part of those days, they bring back an ocean of memories of the long gone buoyant childhood, where my major concern was how to learn riding a bicycle.
I lived at my grandmother’s place for the first six years of my life, in a joint family surrounded by a million neighbors who came over every evening to play silly meaningless games. It was fun, I vaguely remember climbing a litchi tree and playing a game that involved kings, queens and their kingdoms, it was so dainty or jumping over the wall to play cricket at the neighbors place.
Yeah cricket is one thing I miss playing, I am a pathetic player but it was fun I haven’t played the game in a long time. The first time we played Mario, Dave and Alaadin on a friend’s computer and competed with each other was so amazing.
The summers were spent being lazy and spending time with cousins. Another reminiscence is of long baths in the garden during the hot summer evenings and watering the plants using little buckets me and my brother had. I still remember the tiny red bucket I had. We used to have a mango tree in our front yard and my uncle used to make us sit in the kitchen and we relished mangoes gloriously without worrying how fattening they are, smearing the fruit all over ourselves. That tree was uprooted in a storm.
I read all the fairy tales and my first Enid Blytons and fantasized having a famous five or five find outer’s kind of gang and actually thought of looking for criminals. Unfortunately it didn’t work out.
I pity the kids today they are too surrounded by technology to enjoy these small yet beautiful things. Probably I too became a part of them after a certain point of time when the evenings were spent watching TV with my brother and fighting over who’d get the remote.
Here’s a cheer to our days of innocence, the childhood days. We will miss them always, no matter how perfect our lives are.
I was apprehensive to write a blog but now I am glad I decided to write for following reasons:
1) Ever since I started blogging, I began seeing things differently, every situation has become like a story that can be told. I look at everything more deeply, look for the funny, profound, silly, meaningful angle of every moment in life. It has helped me see the beauty of life, realize how good it is. A trip with friends, a holiday with family, a day in the class are all now stories that can be told.
2) Blogging has forced me to think longer and harder about all the thoughts that race through my brain. If I want to clearly communicate something to other people then I have to clarify it for myself first.
3) It gives me sense of achievement, every new comment I get, the visitors graph that going up gets me high. I love getting appreciated for my blog (who doesn’t?). There is a feeling of accomplishing something after every single post that is published.
4) It has brought me closer to a lot of people, build a network in the blogging fraternity, know people, their thoughts, express myself. It has helped me have an opinion on a lot of things. It has introduced me to a lot of other new blogs. I can actually sit all day long reading and commenting on blogs.
5) With every post I get to know my shortcomings as a writer, I learn how to add elements to stories, how to make them interesting. I have learnt a lot but have even more to learn. Although I love being appreciated but I always appreciate criticism too. Criticism improves my writing style.
6) It helps me express myself better, tell the world what I think. I am kind of person who doesn’t speak much and can express myself better with my writing and that’s exactly where blogging helps me- to express myself. It has taught me how to communicate with people around me.
I might have started without a reason but now I have more than one reason to continue, a blogger forever. Everyone has a story within, that needs to be told. I started telling mine. Did you?
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