JOY OF WRITING

Just a usual day ( this usual day is every second day nowadays !), when I was searching for a profession that would be soothing to my extra weird and crooked nerves at COB ( Close of Business ). This activity was inspired from an act in a P.G Wodehouse book. Writing is something that has always been gentle to the nerves if not pleasing enough all the time. The times when my writing does not please me is not a great time though, but it happens to all - leading to the greatest writer's blogs ever. Not that I consider myself in the writers’ league but the bads are always contagious I guess ( grandmother’s wisdom of not exposing kids to the bads cannot be all wrong )!! So I started digging into google results for “Tips for web writers/ travel writers”. One of the noted travel writers says that ‘ if you have never travelled out of your country, forget about becoming a travel writer ‘. I am not sure if he has been to India :P.
Sorry for being so critical about this point of view, but India is so diverse in terms of culture, language, foodonomics, occupational hazards, success, struggle, beauty, geography that I feel one can become a travel writer without having stepped out of India. Too much to inspire writers to form a new literary sector !!


Just back from my date with Meghalaya, I cannot stop smiling. Someone definitely quoted it right “ Travelling is like flirting with life”. Its always a ‘I would love to stay but have to leave situation’ !! Meghalaya has beautiful people, inspiring flora, a kingfisher ( Company in India known for producing beer for the masses) lounge with comfy couches with the view of the city - it was called Cloud #9, the cleanest village in Asia as per BBC survey - MAWLYNNONG, a living tree-roots bridge, sacred forests, a traditional dress called jaison, great Chinese food, breathtaking views of the Bangladesh plains, optimally used bamboo, waterfalls with funky rocks, a route to a village that made me feel like Alice in Wonderland, even more beautiful Khasi people. I think this fling with Meghalaya did a lot to me, would love to stay there for a year and see more. Even as an 11 year old, I always wanted to go to Meghalaya, the colored political map of India always had Meghalaya filled in with a beautiful green; and indeed all you see is green colour before landing from the aircraft. I am definitely going back for more!!

Apart from the 3 universal inspirations- travelling, music and food; its always people who give me a kick to write ( literally they help me sit down with my lappy/ iPhone / whatever other mode is available to access my google docs and continue !!! ). I just love to pen down what a meeting does to my oddly graphed thought procedure for a while!! If I were a photographer, I would click just people I think.

quote : Life is a buffet, no ala-carte please!!!
I am not sure how many of you would agree with this!!


Note: Alcohol leads to confusion; I am hoping that quitting it would lead to some focus that I so so need !

Delhi daredevils vs a cynical Mumbai Indian !!!!

Just bumped into an iconic figure from Mumbai who had so much to say about Delhi and very little to say about Mumbai.
Good publicity, bad publicity it's in any case publicity!! I am not sad about the fact that her mom never taught her
Something I have grown up with- ' Betta if you cannot say something nice, do not say anything '; the sad part was that she did
not have one nice thing to say about saaddee dilli!!! May be it was the heat getting onto her, see I just gave her the benefit of doubt
and favorite delhi phrase 'chalta hain' echoed !!!

The only reason why she continued the conversation with me aah well, coz I am not a punjabi!!!
Cmon Mumbai, u cud've done better !!!

So they have 13 oops 16 crosswords being published in Mumbai !!
Where she comes from, people there are voracious readers.
Even the punjabis in Mumbai / Pune / chandigarh are mellow and nice!!!

Delhi people are pompous, all prudes
All that the punjabis know is, how to show off their wealth!!!
Only JMC is a nice college in Delhi University, rest have stinky bathrooms
and people with stinky attitude!!!!

MY TAKE

I beg to differ, we love Mumbai for solving crosswords on the beach and Delhi for
everything else.
Please stop hating Delhi punjabis as we are all punjabi by nature!!
You might not find voracious readers but definitely avid readers in Delhi.

Let's not convert these sentiments into those of an INDO- PAK world cup match.....

Weekend long……..ing

As much as I thank GTALK , FB, BBM for letting us all stay connected throughout, this can make us feel disconnected with oneself at times. Maybe it just happens to a few odd ones like me who are in a relationship with thyself!!

So the awesomeness due to which I wanted to post about my much awaited getaway and the long weekend, was the printer machine at work. Just fired a print out of my itinerary and the air tickets- I go to the printer room and see 10 others like mine from makemytrip to yatra to IRCTC. It just felt awesome and I have to quote:

“Cheers to the jobs that pay for the air tickets” ( am sure this must be going on in the mind of 100 others at my workplace )

THE DILLI - NRI

I have been meeting many Mumbaikars off late who say things like - we do not understand Delhi people, Delhi professionals and the attitude of people in Delhi towards people they do not know.

Professionalism is a loaded word so I am not sure what they mean by Delhi professionals!! I think this problem they have with the attitude problem of Dilliwalaas deserves another post.

But there was something else that struck me that came out of a DILLI-NRI; born and brought up in Delhi and settled in Seattle. My mom met this DILLI-NRI amongst the many people in her 6 month long vacation ( escape from our madness :P ) to the US. So here goes there conversation:

Ma – “So whats the one thing that you miss about India the most?”

NRI UNCLE – “ Well, I miss littering around the most; Nobody does it here and we do not do it either.”

Ma – “ Then its good that you came here and got the training right; coz the literacy rate of India is growing and very soon you wont be littering in India coz nobody else would be littering around!! Only the people deprived of education are the ones who end up littering these days; I am not sure if they enjoy it.”

Oh boy I love my Mom so much. What a Kodak moment this must have been !!

Something I ponder about in my daily DELHI METRO rides:

Littering is a punishable offense ( that is what is announced all the time ) but there are hardly any dustbins in the vicinity of the station.

Foodstalgic ??...wish everyone had the choice

Dilli metro is undoubtedly the best thing to have happened to Delhi. I am just never too far from my favorite places in the world.

I would like to deeply thank the govt. and Mr. E. Shreedharan for making it so easy for us dilliwalaas to take the walk of our life. But I have a question that how can they take legal action on someone throwing waste at a dilli metro station when they have no dustbins outside and inside the stations ??

You don't have to think 10 times while craving a janpath walk, standing wid a coffee at d'pauls CP with a choco roll from Wenger's CP in another hand.
It brings me back to my idealism phase !!
Well that's what nostalgia, foodstalgia in my case, does to most people....

It's literally refreshing to go back to one of your old college haunts after an era has passed.
Wish my grandfather could do the same and go back to his boating club at Yamuna where he used to hang out over there 50 years back for his share of bakar ( cannot traslate this to English, but ya would be close to " hearing yourself out with some great company "). Just imagine the awesomeness we could have saved for him...

Urging all dilliwalaas chasing euphoria:

There is no other city in the world where the residents would have sooo many mixed feelings after reading just the word DEL on a flight schedule....

Let's recycle, let's question, let's exercise our right to live in a clean and green Delhi

Let's keep chasing the euphoria with our head, let's be aware, preserve the old and adapt the new in our own sweet style. It does not matter which country you are sitting in, you will remain the DELHITE and would visit Delhi sometime after all....

to all the godesses in delhi

I salute to all the godesses in delhi who never get hurt, were entrepreneaurs @ 21, know exactly what they want and dont hold a grudge against anybody.....muuaahh

Latest therapy to get a virtual map on getting lost in delhi:
Have a cheesecake at: whipped GK2 :-)

WE JUST LOVE DELHI :)

You know you are from Delhi when..

Living in the most posh colonies, you get to hear, "Aloo, Bhindi Pyaaz, Tamatar le loo"... And you hear women asking the vegetable vendor "Bhaiyaa dhaniya hari mirchi nahi diya!" [Even with Half a kilo Carrot]

You have seen your relative or family member bribing a policeman at-least once.

In the 90's you have been to India Gate at children's park

Mocha, CCD, Barista, Hookah, 24x7 are like your favorite hangouts.

You speak or hear the word "setting" or "jugad" at-least once a day.

Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Lotus Temple are just for tourist. You havent been to more than two of these.

Young or Old, You have played street football and street cricket in the rains and have ended up breaking some glass. :P

Library is virtually non-existent unless you go to British council or Max Mueller Bhavan.

Deepavali means every house is illuminated to such an extent that you wonder if its a competition of illumination and cracker bursting is so continuous that it is difficult to imagine one moment of silence on Diwali.

You've had a ride on the cycle rickshaw - have haggled over the price but pity the rickshaw wallas' condition.

You glare at people who call Gol-Guppa's- Pani Puri!
And you always ask the vendor "Bhaiya yeh Gol-Guppe Aate ki hai ya Sooji ke?"

You've had school cancelled due to cold, summer vacations postponed due to heat

You've hit 120 kmph at Nelson Mandela Marg.
And after crossing it, you might end up saying FEEL AA GAYE". OR, You have raced up the DND and taken the U turn back.

You have been to a wedding in a Mehrauli farmhouse

You have taken the 10 rupee Call Center cab/ Qualis from anywhere to Gurgaon/Noida.

Almost every Delhiite understands Punjabi to an extent. May he belong to any region? PUNJABI unites everyone :P

You call the waiter in the restaurant "boss" & tack on "yaar"/ "bhai" to almost every sentence.

Bape Da Dhaba or Kake Da hotel has got better butter chicken than Taj. :P You've at least tried it once! And you just might see a BMW, a Porsche OR a Peugeot parked outside it!

You use the word and have described practically every other person on the planet as "Vella".

You often see Middle Aged Aunties wearing Gucci shades and holding LV bags having Gol-Gappas in GK (Near Prince Pan) or Bhelpuri in South Ex along with Diet Coke !

You have been to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

When everyone from the Auto Driver, Vegetable Vendor, Grocery Store guy, Watch-man, Salesperson to just any 'guy' is referred to here as 'Bhaiya'

You refer to East Delhi as Jamuna ke Us Paar.

You refer to AIIMS as Medical.

You dont buy tickets for a music concert or cricket match, but try to take the help of your friend's Dad, who happens to be the PA to the under secretary of the deputy secretary of the chief secretary of the Minister of State for Khadi.

You overtake everyone from the wrong side and stare into his/her eyes while doing so.

Most of you have at least two cars;

You know that a farmhouse has nothing to do with cattle or farming.

You used "contacts" (jugad) for everything, from getting movie tickets to restaurant bookings to playschool admissions.

You have had Anda parantha outside Vikram hotel and Bun Omelet at Dhaula Kuan at least once!

When Aunties go to drop their kids to the Bus-Stop in a Night Gown with a Duppatta.

When you think EVERY South Indian comes from 'Madras'. No Offense.

You feel, If I indicate which way I am going to turn my vehicle, it is an information security leak.

When the only time you went to the Chidiya Ghar (Zoo) was on a school picnic.

One of your favorite yummiest ice-creams was "ORANGE - BAR"

You have been stuck in 'Nariana' due to the traffic for over 4 hours! 'Phew!

When you feel lucky enough to have around 10 LOCAL FM STATIONS! Woho.!

When DESPITE all the goods and bads.
You still Love Delhi. =]


And you want more.