Heart Over Head

"You have to come to sign for my court marriage as a witness ". She told me.

Court Marriage ...I had always thought of it as a joke and formed it as a part of many jokes.

I had never thought i will be part of one such marriage. Specially after I have successfully finished my own very well Arranged Marriage without anybody’s signature. After giving a huge thought
I gave a reply..." What’s the hurry....??"

" I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."...came the answer ...reminding me of Kareena Kapoor of jab we met..

Since I was a friend for quite some time I was close to her family as well. I could see the Gabbar Singh (as always girls father) hitting me and me acting like rajpal yadav and "the mandir ka ghanta " scene for assisting them in the so called marriage.

So I tried to reason her out.

"Who is the boy"....I could muster the courage to ask her.

She gave a puzzled and angry look..

"Not that I don’t trust you ...But aint I suppose to know ... I mean ...aaa.. I mean legally I will be signing on some document...naaa... that I know him..Wont I ...I ...I don’t know actually..." I tried to pacify and clarify..

"Dint I tell You...He is studying abroad in an beautiful country Switzerland..What a wonderful place ..You know many movies of yashraj ki shooting wahi hui thi... . .and getting some degree..."

"What degreee...?" I asked
Again she gave a puzzled and angry look..

"No I mean ...doctor ...engineer...architect......No...Not that it matters. " .. I said...wanted to but dint add that my signature will remain same for all the three professions...

"Actually I think he is doing something related to medicine ...so must be a doctor...”. She replied for a change instead of puzzled and angry look.

The way she answered made me feel like she is least interested in anything other than the boy so I avoided questions about his roots..Families..Hometowns etc...Moreover my signature wasn’t going to change for any of the above factors.

"Is he an Indian...." Again a stupid question considering my signature is independent of the nationality of the groom.

Again the angry puzzled look and no words. I assumed that yes was the answer.

"No...No I mean I haven’t seen him ....not that I have any chance..Of going to Switzerland...but still my friend is going to marry him ...I am a bit curious just that much...that’s all...”

"Ok here take his number ...xxx-xxxxxxx call him whenever u find time...but make sure that he is awake that time and don’t disturb him...” She obliged more than was asked for.

I saw the number and something told me that I have seen this number…Somewhere
Arey It was similar number to one of my best friends ...in Austrailia.. Then why is this guy saying that he is from Switzerland.....I attributed this to the craze of Bollywood and Yashraj....and left it there.

Once she left with the threat that the guy is coming next week and you have to be there at the court .

I decided to call the number assuming that at least the guy must be knowing better than the girl …what is he coming to India for… and whether he knows about the girl and the marriage.

" Hi.." I wished him.
"Hi bhaiyaa.....Can I call You bhaiyaa…Mera koi bhai nahi hai naa.." He replied . I wondered whether he wishes that to everyone or I am something special...( Obviously he was expecting my call )

But his answer made me know that he is an Indian.(yes I was still doubtful)

"Of course ......you can ...What’s your name ... What do I call you then..Where in India are you from and where did you do your education from...What is that you are doing in Switzerland.."..I asked in one breath all my questions....which of course weren’t going to affect the signature but still somehow I could imagine myself sitting in front of a 3rd degree enquiry with the bulb hanging right over head and lights right on the eye and muscular men asking me who is this person you witnessed for in his marriage...how do you know him..And how many times you assisted him in smuggling weapons...

He replied he is from rishikesh...but studied coincidentally from my school and was my junior only. Both the places names struck some chord and there on our conversation clicked. I asked him since when did he knew the girl ...

Came filmy dialogue..

"Mile hue to 10-15 din hi hue hai but aisa lagta hai...jaise janmon se jaanta hoo usee.."..

That was first time the thought crossed my mind..."Am I that old to understand their love of 15 days ..hamne to 15 din mein kissi ladki se dosti bhi nahi kee Marriage...to never even crossed my mind..."..Then came back the spirit..Key farak painda hai ...miya biwi raazi to kya karega kaazi...and of course My signature will remain the same even if its 15 years old love...But yes he was well prepared and informed about who he was talking to and knew me well and I realized the Bhaiyaa thing may not for everyone

I thought of Dosti jab kisi se ke jaaye ....To dushmano ki bhi rai lee jaaye...kyonki ek baar Dosti ki hai to nibhaani to padegi bhi... hence as a part of dosti nibhana...

I tried to reason him out ..with some statements like ...

"Whats the hurry..??" ...No effect on him...

"Why Don't you take some time...."...No effect

"Marriage is a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters in prose.. So chill out and take some time before you decide... and take my signature"….no effect

"Mom Dad ke baarey mein socho...".. No effect

"Think about your family your sisters...".. No effect

"Your life after marriage" No Effect

"Love marriage or arranged marriage "...No effect...

You could be thinking by now why was I trying so desperately...after all my signature will remain same.....Actually Yes but well again my imagination helped me create a scene where I am tied to a chair with both husband and wife hitting me with each chappals and saying " ham to bachche the par aap ko to samjhaana chahiye tha"..

But something in my mind told me that they are not bachchas and will see the light of sense. They have not yet had the chills and fever of love in full stream and they wanna settle down in 98.6 of marriage. I gave one last try...

"Good that you are marrying ...Everybody should marry. After all happiness is not the only thing..." I said.

"Why" he asked...For the first time I thought that my funny statement had evoked an effect on him...

I got the line....of Attack.

"Dude Life before marriage is the best ... In fact the moments you spend with your "to be” are the best and the most memorable moments in life...which you will never forget...and when u retire and age..And sit back in your house of dreams will remember those moments so why not expand and maximize the number of events by having the days as much as possible."

"Is it...” He asked ....phewwwww.. it was working...

"Actually Yes...These are and will be your best romantic moments ...take it from your elder brother..." I answered...For the first time in the whole conversation all the words came out directly from my heart...even the words Elder brother...

After a little more heart talk and convincing , to my surprise he agreed ....and decided that he will take time and may be go for the marriage next year ...I guess I should have used my heart than the brain...

Generally I use my heart only but guess since wherever I sign I use my mind and hence I was using my Mind only all through the conversation...

So I came out of the situation where I had sign without using my mind….

Let’s wait n watch till next year….May be families will join and My signature will not at all be required Till Then I will keep using my heart ahead of mind…

Habits...

Robin Sharma (of the monk who sold his Ferrari fame), wrote “if you follow a thing/ habit for 21 days, it becomes a necessity and you need another 21 days of determination to get out of that necessity” . Not that I am a big fan of Robin Sharma or I have followed the tips he gave, but yes it reminded me of some Miss Lucy of DDLJ...who said… “Aadatein agar jaldi badli na jaayein to wo jarooratein ban jaati hai...”

Well, I went to a hospital yesterday and saw something strange. A person lying on the bed and staring on the blank TV screen and shouting in between something incomprehensible, then again keeping quiet. The doctor told me this abnormality will continue up to 11 pm or even till 12 pm. He will get out of it soon. Don’t worry. We have about 50 similar patients sitting here and doing this. Some of them even not eating anything in dinner and some continuously asking popcorns and pepsi. I asked what the disorder is. He told me it’s “Life after IPL”.

I had a good laugh and came back from the place. I have this married friend who has a 2 yr old kid with an ability to refresh your mind. I went to his place for a tea and found the couple fighting. The fight was about who will make the dinner tonight. I was surprised as they had a pakka arrangement for alternate day of sacrifice, each helping other with dishes and cutting onions and vegetables. What’s the fight now?

It seems they had gone into that betting culture that with each supporting a different team and whoever wins the bet will enjoy the next day dinner without anything to do. NO Match No Bet ...dare I say No Dinner. They seem to have forgotten the earlier set up. May be another 21 days. Or they need to find another topic of betting. Like who will read the news on aajtak today Deepak or Vinod. What will be the colour of the sari of Tulsi...Blue or Green...?

People seem to have caught these diseases. They have left the old saas bahu sickness and picked up these. I thought its only families which are getting affected. So I went to a bachelor friend of mine. He was too depressed to even talk. I for a moment thought that he is the most affected. He is missing the matches and the drama. He said “Hell with IPL , its over and now I am free ...for full duration I watched it and enjoyed , but now I have forgotten it and want to go back to my normal life and meet my girl , but she is in no mood..” . Well, I wanted to tell him that it’s a revenge she is taking on you for not taking her out for a month but decided against it and kept quiet.

Nothing seems to have replaced IPL as of now. Families are looking for some old serials but it just doesn’t seem to fit in. Pets got a good game of jumping on every boundary or six , don’t feel like jumping on close ups of 'Mihir' or 'Baa' face being shown three times in a row without any reason . Wives who were worried in the beginning of IPL that they may loose track of the story line after one month are least bothered about the story of the serials now. Though I can tell you nothing much would have changed in these stories. It might take an IPL of 80 teams and a league of 4 matches each to let the stories of these move ahead.

Well it has its effect. You can see groups in the office/work place/home being formed based on their teams. People calling others as DD member or DC or RR or CSK. Some of them have got this habit of sending message to others “DD or RR?? "...not even mentioning in the sms the obvious part of the question which team are you with. Some shouting (presumably singing) “dhol bajane aaye hum” or “korbo ladbo jeetbo re..” on any achievement or moment of success. People have already started enquiring about marriage organizers for arranging cheerleaders in baarat or ladies sangeet. A request for a dug out for barathis will not be totally unacceptable.

Research conferences arranging opening ceremony with a bollywood star/dancer/singer/ being arranged will not be totally out of place. After each presentation some dancers dancing and cheering the public scientists. Some of them might even go to SRK or PZ for funding their presentation to start a club culture promoting science. Each bidding for the best presenter and may be a prize money for a few billions for the coveted ones.

Welcome to the World After IPL.

Coorg and Shopping !!!!!

Coorg( Madikere...) a small hill station in Karnataka. I had been there earlier as well...with THE DUDE...but this time around my family.(Parents and Wife) were accompanying me. I was more excited about the car than the place. My wife (as all the girls) was more interested in shopping than the place . My parents at least had some sympathy for the place.


First Place we went to was RAJA seat( though it was difficult to decipher why the name SEAT) .We reached right in the morning at 8.New Camera and New Car fascinated me more that the Seat . Both were put to some good use in the wonderful locations along with the family .

"You hold the mobile and the purse , I will have a look around for the shops.." ...She said. ( those who are still wondering who I am talking about...get ur brains checked up..its my wife)...

"Its a park ...You cant find a shop over here..." ...I shouted ...but she could hardly hear ...because by the time I said that ..she already had covered 100m. Sometimes I wonder how fast can she walk for a shop where she isnt going to buy anything. Yes she hardly buys anything. Its always window shopping.

But then I was left with the mobile and the purse which I kept in a bag and left for the park with my parents. Soon she also joined as there was only one shop open at the time.( out of the two).


I kept the bag on the Seat oF the Raja and clicked as many snaps...Sunrise and Mist ..Cloud...everything was there. After the general session of chit chat ...we left for the next place Abbey falls. It was about half an hr from the SEAT.Water fall is one thing which excites me more than anything. I love the sound of water falling and the splash generated. After spending about 2 hrs we reached back to madikere near the SEAT around 11 am.

"Look...he has antiques..such beautiful ones"...she said looking at a street side vendor...

"Damn..." ...again no prize for guessing whose response was that...

I will not give an account of what happened there with the vendor...for 15min...Finally vendor lost his patience and told a shop nearby for more collections . Another 15 min .And this time she for a change actually bought an antique...took us almost 30 min .(for beginners ..there are a lot of choices and bargaining that goes into this 30 min). 15 min to load that in our car( it was 2m long wooden decorative piece). Car should also not get damaged and so as the antique . All put together 1 hr 15 min without any exaggaration .I looked at my wife and then at the piece and wondered which is more antique. I was about to sit in the car to start when the call came..

" Hellooo...."....My mother in law...from chhatarpur
"Oh hello..."..I replied...expecting some formalities to be shared..
"Where is the other mobile..." She asked..

"It may be in silent mode ...or we may nt have listened...." I started clarifying...
" Nahi kisi ka phone aaya tha uske number se ...koi Raja Seat karke jagah se.." She hurried..

" .............................." was all I could manage.

" He said he will wait there for 10-15 min and then leave ..it seems she has left some bag there...with lots of things ...and mobiles..."...she dint knew It was me and not her..who had left

I disconnected the phone and jumped out of the car and ran towards the adjoining SEAT.
Security Stopped me and Asked Ticket...

"No ticket I left my bag in there." I muttered..and he allowed me..

I ran where I had left the bag ..right on the bench....Lo...There was no bag. And neither any one near the bench.

Now what . I thought I would call her(my wifes) number...It rang but nobody picked up. I called again, it was switched off this time.

" The number you are calling is switched off.."..with that my heart beat sank ..

" Has he taken out the sim...or ..battery gone.." I thought...

My all credit cards...ATM cards.. DL...PAN card..Purse...2 mobiles...everything was there in the bag...

Now how will I know him...or How will he know ...even if we see each other..
He might have given it to security... No Mother in Law told me...
"HE wont give it to security as it has many valuables and ..he dint trust anyone"
Is he the one I am seeing now...or Just my imagination..

Acting aur Amitabh ka keeda...
Let me bring a real horrified , worried and troubled expression and show everyone on the park I am the Most worried man on the earth.... CAN I PULL IT OFF...

believe me or not...

within a minute 1 person stopped me and asked

" Are You anand kumar.." ..
Anand Kumar....no I am amitabah not anand...I thought ....
"No I am Ankur"
"Oh yes...before I could pick up your phone the battery went off..."
You had left your bag and we saw the mobile and called the last dialled number saved as "mummy" and informed her.

I thanked him a hundred times and came back to the car and explained the whole story to everyone in the car.

"See my antique and shopping saved you a lot..." she said....

I couldnt reply a thing as actually she was right ...we would have been 1 hr 15 min away from that place but for her shopping.

I just kept quite and for the first time in life I thanked god for her shopping mania.

Lamhe.....Lazy Lamhe...

I had just had my food. It never tasted so good , though it was just a plain pulao and chatni stuff but the taste was unlike ever before. In the process I ate more than i had to and then I started dozing off.
Lazy Lamhe....Lazy ..Lazy lamhe..
It was just after a 2 minutes nap that she spoke something which I could decipher as 'now come on ,drop me back to my house before it gets too late I wont even get an auto'. She generaly says that you dont listen to me at all .I heard her this time quite well though. Well to be very frank I am not sure whether this is what she said or is it something like that .

No choice I had to drop her back from the restaurant to her place. It was a cold night outside and I had to pick up the bike. Thought it would be just a good drive. Well I was soon going to be proved wrong. Since it was pretty cold I had put on double trousers and two jackets. Yes it was warm since I had a packed air tight helmet as well. The drive started..

chalte ..khissak khisak ke ...lazy lamhe.

I had never felt so sleepy on a drive before. But I was constantly kept awake by some talk she was doing from the back. I only listend once when she jolted me and asked me why arent you replying to anything. I told her its just that I m feeling sleepy . When we reached her place , she brought a water bottle and I washed my face and the coldness awakened me up.

I decided to take the water bottle along with me on my way back.

It was about a kilometer I had traveelled when i first dozzed off ..
I was driving at 60 when ..
vrooooooooooooooom...a horn..keeeeeeeeeeeeee awakened me.

It was a car coming from the opposite direction just whiffed past me. I was wide awake for a second. Then thought it was a close escape I should be careful now..Well after another 5 kms...

palkein ye bhaari bhaari ye lazy lamhe,

It was a flyover, I had to take my bike BELOW that and take a RIGHT turn.Well I did take a RIGHT turn but that was not BELOW the fly over ,it was ABOVE the flyover and unfortunately there was no right turn over there and i was about to bang a railing barrier.But somehow I had slowed down on instincts and was able to put up a break and then come down from the flyover. Though its quite clear but still for the sake of positive persons let me make it very clear..I had again dozzed of for a couple of seconds ..may be more on my bike...

Yes a doze on bike is very much possible..for details of such technology contact me.

...I decided its time now for a face wash. I took out the bottle and washed my face ,had a sip as well . Then started of the journey again. Yes it was soon turning out to be a journey. The wind was pretty pleasant,..weather nice and cold and the road full empty ...Pleasant drive.Well another 5 kms.....

letaa hai bagal mein mausam, thaam le zaraa…jaam de zaraa…
ye lazy… lazy… lamhe…
ye lazy… lazy… lamhe…

Now i was driving at 70 and at full speed thinking about the scene from movie I saw that day Spider Man. Where our Tobby macguire says......"hey I am baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkk...." .I was smiling at the scene when he says 'my back.....' when I suddenly realised I also have to say the same .."Myyyy Back...".but I was safe . It was just a pit on the road. those who travel in Bangalore know a pit in indian terminology is no less that a small well used for drinking water...and I had crossed the small well at the speed of 70 and jumped on the road. There was a bit of Jhatka on the back bone. I soon realised I wasnt thinking about spider man , I was dreaming about spider man. ..Again took out the water and washed the face. Pledged not to drive so late in the night again.

Finally just managed to reach the house about 100 m from my house confident enough that I have finally made my journey without any MAJOR hiccups before one final turn. I had reached I thought . I blinked for a second , at least I Thought it was a second ..I blinked for a second. May be it was a bit longer. In front of me was an arch about a meter off ..with me on about 50 kmph . Stone arch had enough space to allow my bike but my head would have been chopped off with Helmet intact on the head. So I decided to bang the bikes tyre on the pillar of the arch. At least my head will be safe.

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnngggg....

MY EYES WIDE OPEN....I FELT DOWN. and bike on me.
morr de kamar, ke koi dil dhoond le… ( yes it was pretty bad...)

some bruices...
hothon ke kareeb manzil dhoond le…

head had hit the bike...
zulfon ke paas ikk ghar dhoond le…

Saw above a man having a tea in the night on his balcony on the nearby house.He smiled and asked in sign language whether I had enough drinks for the night or I need more. I smiled back. Thats all I could do....because I wasnt sure whether he used only sign language or he spoke as well but may be I coudlnt hear. I replied no was just sleeping...
" Why dont you get up ? Or are u so sleepy u wanna have a doze there only ..."..now I could hear him for sure...My ears are right...
dragged myself and got up..
chalte khisak khisak ke ye lazy lamhe,
Bike looked perfecly ok .I somehow reached my apartment.

Next morning I was perfectly ok but Bike had shown some serious signs of damage. Fork Bend etc...
No more Lazy lamhe...but still another song on from Lamhe...
ye lamhe, ye pal .....

hum barso yaad karenge.. ..

Pyaar....Bhavnaayo ke Saath...

Sometimes...Conversations can be very interesting. And sometimes very typical.
Thought I will pen down some of them for the interesting read. I would have loved to write the name of HE and SHE here but then avoided it to cause any insult , moreover it was so common that anybody could have fit in .He and She are supposed to be in love with each other.Here is how it goes.

Note: Conversation ke beech, within brackets jo hai, woh.. ladka apne aap se keh raha hai..

She Gives a missed call to him....and he calls her back..

She: Hello!

He: (are yaar...pata nahi aaj kya bore karegi ) Hi ...kya baat hai..?

She: kuch nahi...bas aise hi phone kiya...

He: ( Call kaha kiya?.. khali missed call to diya hai... ) oh...ok ..kya karrahi thi meri jaanu??

She: abhi abhi dinner khatam kiya...tum kya kar rahe the?

He: mera bhi abhi abhi dinner khatam hua.. ab...."Ladki Kyon Najaane Kyon"sun raha hu FM par....

She: nice song..(And then she hums a line from the song "Hum Tum")

He: ( Saala waha koi chipkali 'kich kich' kar rahi hai ya .... ) hey!!!! tumitni achchi gaati ho? mujhe pata hi nahi tha

She: *giggles*

He: Hey ek aur baar gaao na pls!

She: yaha sab so rahe hai...agar main gaaongi to sab uth jaaenge..

He: ( Correct...woh yeh samjhenge ki koi bhootni hai ... ) Come on! Please!

She: hat ...I don't sing that well

He: ( yeh to saari duniya ko pata hai... :-) ) It was really sweet. Pleasegaao na dear

She: mujhe kuch ajeeb sa lagta hai jaan

He: aisa kuch bhi nahi hai jaanu...gaao na

She: tumhi keh sakte ho...

He: ( mai? saala mere ko doosra raasta nahi hai....is liye bola ) abhi tumgaaogi ya nahi?

She: kyun pareshaan kar rahe ho?

He: Sigh! Ok

She: I don't have that great a voice

He: ( saala gadha bhi sharma jaaye teri awaaz sunke.. ) hmmmm

She: theek hai... jab itni zid kar rahe ho... sirf ek stanza gaaungi theekhai??

He: ( aur kya kya jhelna padega malum nahi.. ) Great!!!!

She: kaunsa gaana gaau ?

He: ( tum kuch bhi gaao...meri to aaj neend haraam hai.. )Hmmmm. 'Mahiya'from Awarapan?She: Nice song. But mujhe lyrics yaad nahi hai

He: ( Text book chodke tujhe aur kya pata hai bol... ) Dhoom Machale?

She: Nahi main wohi gaana gaaungi

He: ( Tum koi bhi gaana gaao....mere kaan to pakne waale hai ) Cool

(She clears her throat, hums a line and then)

She: Nahi jaan. I am feeling very shy!

He: Gaao na...pls gaao na....teri awaaz ki samundar me main doob jaanachahta hoon

She: dekho...ab tum mujhe naaraaz kar rahe ho

He: ( Maalum pada na ... phir..: ) )No no. Tum shy feel kar rahi hona....is liye... Trying to make u cool

She: Hmmm

He: please gaao na darling

She: main kal gaau?

He: ( Haaaaa...jaan bachi... Phut leta hoon... ) theek hai jaisi tumhaarimerzi

She: Hmmm

He: Good night

She: Good night

She: Sweet Dreams.. Take care...

He: Sweets dreams to u too...

After a while She calls Him (sorry...that never happens, she gives only amissed call),,,,

She: Hey..sogaye the kya?

He: ( nahi...current ka aavishkaar kar raha tha... ) nahi jaan.

She: kya kar rahe ho?

He: ( raat ko kya gili danda khelna hai... ) Match dekh raha tha

She: theek hai tum match dekho

He: ( us wakt se main kya bhajiya tal raha tha... ) Hey it's ok... puranimatch hai.

She: Did u feel bad I didn't sing?

(Since it is a tricky question, He thinks for a while)

He: (Bad ah? this was the luckiest day in my life, since you didn't sing:- ) Bad toh main nahi keh raha jaanu. But I want you to be comfortablefirst.... tumhi ne bola ki main kal gaaungi..... So, me waiting..(maine to socha tha ki aaj bachgaya....dhat teriki :-()

She sings 1 stanza from the song'Jiski aankhon me meri hi nami.....'

He: Wow. Too good!

She: jhoot....mujhe maloom hai ki meri awaaz itni achchi nahi hai

He: ( shukr hai self realization hai... :-)... ) nahi darling you really sing well.

She: nahi..mujhe maloom hai tum bas aise hi keh rahe ho

He: ( very good.. aakhir tumne pata laga hi liya..... ) Che! Che! teri voiceagar itni buri hoti to main ab tak na sun raha hota

She: Hmmmm...theek hai. good night.. ab tum bhi so jaao.

.He: ( tera gaana sunne ke baad neend kaise aayegi.. ) Good night!

She: Take care

He: You too

She: Hey....

He: ( are yaar..aaj ye nahi chodegi ,,, ) kya hai sweety? .

She: sach bataao honey..meri voice achchi hai ya nahi...

He: ( tu apni voice khud record karke sun kyon nahi leti ek baar )sachchi... Of course.

She: sirf jhoot

He: ( iski toh... agar ab mujhe sone nahi diya toh...... ) Not at all. You sing very well

She: Hmmm.... tum keh rahe ho to theek hi hoga. Good night.

He: Good Night!!

Story Making ...Art or Science !!! .

It was the night before the Semester Exam . Those who have enjoyed the Engineering will know that you don't study the whole semester ( sem) and its only in the last night that you manage to enquire about the syllabus and if possible read a few hours to just some how get 35 out of 60 as passing marks.

So it was THE night before ME (Engineering Mechanics) paper. ME was the toughest considered paper not because of the equations and the formulas but because of the Prof being The Mogambo kinda character. "Jo Khush Hua" whenever we suffered. A sadist by approach.

Myself and Rajnish Singh were slogging it out at around 10 in the night when as usual Rajnish said
"kya hai yaaaaaar...kitne topics hai...chalo we will take a break..Lets go to Lanka on CBZ.." .

That break generally meant 3 hrs ..and with ME next day I wasn't ready.

But as always he convinced me. We went for a break of 4 hrs as he was more than his usual frustrated. Came back late ..tried to finish of some important questions..and then by 6 in the morning decide to have a doze off.

To our horror we never got up . Exam at 10 and we got up at 10.

Rajnish : "Lets bunk this one sem paper. We haven't prepared much by the way." It was a bold statement I thought but gelled well with his image.

I replied "yeah we will give re-exam..What's there". Sounding pretty fearless...but deep down fearing this may screw my career here.

Rajnish : "No...Lets go yaar...at least we will get passing marks..and no sem back..". Making pretty clear that the boldness in the previous statement was pretty much empty and he too was afraid of "Back Sem" .

That word "Back Sem" was now ringing loud and clear in my head like Hindi Film Temple bells.I hadn't feared of it ever since I always knew that I can manage my passing marks anywhere in any exam. But not giving any exam.Now that was new for me.

So we reached the dept by 10 : 30 but Lo!!! we were not allowed inside the department. Nobody except the Security fellow saw us.

There in lay my opportunity. No body seeing us coming late.

"What will hapen now...?? " Rajnish Asked ..a bit worried.

I consoled him .."Dont worry ...I will tell him some story ...and then lets see."

"He wont believe yaar..." His boldness seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

I thought its my turn to show some courage. "Story making is an Art ...buddy.."

I went alone to the prof after the exam and made up a story .
"Sir yesterday we went to get some notes photocopied...on Bike and we met with an accident. Rajnish was hit badly and his leg got fractured, I was with him this morning as nobody was there to look after him and hence we could not attend the exam . So sir is it possible for you to arrange a re-exam of sorts some time when he is OK and can come here."

I continued...

" Sir,I knew the importance of the exam sir...but there was nobody...near
the place and I had to take him to the doctor and get his X ray done and take him to Hospital and be there......Our career will get effected sir..If we fail in this semester sir we had prepared so well for the exam but unfortunately couldn't come sir but sir you tell sir how could I leave him there and come here...,blablablablablaaa.." .I kept going ...thinking the more I speak the more effective it will be.

"OK FINE.....When can he come to give the exam...?? and Mind you the paper will be only of 25 marks (not even passing marks) and question will be completely different and lot tougher..So be prepared well when you come next time for exam...and if You pass in that then there will be a Viva of the same of 15 marks." He said ...surprising me a lot...as I never expected him to readily agree.But still it was tough for us. Scoring 35 out of 40 to pass .

I agreed to tell prof the date soon after consulting the doctor (Rajnish ).
We came after 20 days to give a re-exam. 20 days was good enough time to prepare.
WE WERE STRATEGICALLY PLACED in different rooms so as to avoid us cheating.

Got the question paper.

Only One question was there.
Q. Which of the Rajnish's Leg Got Fractured ?

I sat there in the exam hall thinking Only one thing ...Was Story Making ...Art or Science ??.

The Fall......and the Rise...

It started off one Tuesday evening about 11 years back when WE came out of one of the Tuition Classes from our teachers Place.

'We ' here includes my friends and classmates . Friends are the boys and When I say classmates I mean girls because in our school culture you are not supposed to be friends with them . At least you don't call them friends even if you are one.We were like India and Pakistan. You have to defeat the Pakistani at any cost .

So when We came out after a Dravidian lecture( innings of dravid 200 balls(Min's) faced and 10(problems) runs scored...) on similarity topic from our teachers Place , we were trying to relax our self , taking our vehicles out. When I looked towards to the main way , I saw one of our friends who had left the school a year ago waiting for us to come out. I was excited to meet him for one I was frustrated after the 2 hr lecture.

Back Then I used to come in one of the Luna Super..'Turrruu..." as we used to call it. It was so light frail and old that some times YOU had to carry IT rather than IT carrying YOU. 'Self Start ' and 'Kick Start' are the terms we had never heard in those days. It was always a drag start .....at least for my Turrruuu.That means you had to drag it at a real high speed to some distance manually before its engine used to start. Drag start or Dhakka Start..whatever you like you can call it.

That was about the luna , now few facts about me.I was a healthy boy.(yes i am trying to be moderate to myself here...those who know me from those days will say...A bulky fat elephant...) But then that would be other extreme and I was somewhere in between those two versions...moderate and extreme version.....I was wearing a jeans ....a black jeans...brand was Killer ...I remember it so well because it was my first jeans... ... and that was the first day I was wearing it. It was brand new .Add to that a real tight one...

Now the visualisation,(a bulky..........wearing a black killer....).sitting on the turru (light an Old...) and trying to drag start it by running along with it. Suddenly it started and I jumped onto it and sat . But somehow I lost the balance . Very Difficult to explain how I lost it ,since the light frail luna was supposed to carry a modest healthy boy easily. I fell on one side and Luna on the other side , my black killer turning dark brown with dirt .

Indian and Pakis seeing from behind.

Were They Seeing?? I wasn't sure... Any spectators.... I got up before I became a matter of shame to my Nation . Dint have the time to turn around.

Tried to make jeans look black again as quickly as possible by beating it and picked up the Turru .It happened all so fast that turru's engine was still on.Fearing it might switch off again I hurried further lest I have to run that much again...Dhakka start...Moreover I had to save the nations pride and may be ...just may be...my own pride. After all who would like to become a subject of dishonour.I was successful in my attempts .Yes I Was. I reached to my friend and wished him 'Hi' thinking he might be the only one who would have seen it. Even he dint notice it.His reaction told it. My lightening rescue act was too fast for anyone to notice.I was too good.

I was happy . I did it. What was the happiness about...Was it Meeting the old friend or.. getting out of the lecture ... Or Protection of honour of THE nation... I think it was the last. I saved myself from being a matter of entertainment.

Then...

A voice...

"Anything Happened....Are you OK ?"...Asked the first friend coming....

" What Boy....be careful..." asked the next one...

Few smiles ,giggles...and laughs from the Pakis as well.....some comments..

" Hmm that was quick....how did u do that.."

Soon my happiness went off with the whole batch coming one by one and smiling ,some laughing, commenting.The realisation came soon ...Everybody had seen it....

Later they told it wasn't me falling that made them laugh but me getting up so lightening fast that became the subject of their entertainment.I had lost it.. and some of them even remember the incident even today and ask me about the turru and some even about Killer.

A Journey To Remember

A Cold night at Delhi in the end of November. Without any warm clothes and heart beat touching 100 so as the speed of the auto also. If it misses what else can I do..on the day it was the last one and none other for the day. I had to catch it if I plan to avoid the cold and reach in time to attend the marriage.

It was a train...at 10.30 pm I had to catch , my friend Ashraf waiting at the railway station near the train. Not for me...but for the train to leave...Thats what he was waiting for. May be even hoping that I never reach there. At least he will have some sleep. After all my resrvation was in the waiting list.What's there in MEMS and MAMS? Can't that be discussed any other time?

An hour back I was on a flight. My flight to Delhi was scheduled to land at 8.15 pm, but thanks to some wonderful planning by our Indian governments in giving licenses to so many private airlines and not constructing any airports, my poor plane was hovering over the Delhi airport for one hour for the lack of parking space.

Damn I could have pressed a space bar and created many spaces on my PC but on airport...things were not beneath my fingers...

"Hope it lands in time for me to catch the train". I prayed
Seeing my praying hands asked nearby passenger."Which train are u supposed to catch and from which station ?"
I ignored the first question and flatly answered the second as nizammuddin. "
Oh Nizaamuddin. ..that's 40 min from the airport terminal..max 1hr." bang came the reply.
Nervous enough to talk further and his replies not making things easier." thanks "I said...I thought that would close the matter.
But I was wrong he came again..." Had it been New Delhi it would take u about an hr and a half but Nizammuddin that's pretty near ".

What non sense...Can't you keep quiet I thought. Now I was looking for a delete button on my keyboard which could have deleted him from my adjoining seat. But as always I dint get any. My boss used to get them whenever he was going through my draft copies. I landed at 8.45pm. Another Hr and a half to go. I thought that was easy now..but then luggage came after a lifetime ….15 min ... looked a lifetime to me then....Well anyways I still had an hr and 15 min and if the adjoining irritating person in my flight is to be believed then I still had a lot of time.

Well Ashraf took on 50 min to cover the distance I had 75 min...So decided to go for a PRE-PAID taxi counter...paid some 120 bugs...but for another lifetime…15 min…could not catch any of the taxis...They were all very busy to run off strategically avoiding me...either taking the passenger next to me or before me...but always avoiding me as if they knew I m not going to pay them a penny more than I have already paid at the counter.

But at 9.30 I managed to outsmart one of them and entered and asked him to drive like anything to enable me to reach Nizammuddin. I considered to tell my driver what John Abraham told Nana patekar about the horse powers and speed's relation to the money and all but then decided against it.

Meanwhile I came to know from Ashraf that the train is on Platform No 11 the last one. I reached at 10.20 on the station...haah...Thank god…I made it ten minutes early...gave a tip to the taxi driver for driving fast...confident enough and thanking god for listening to my prayers... Climbed up and enquired about the platform no 11 and lo... there were only 7 platforms. How come? Called Ashraf again

"Which platform did u tell...?"
"11 yaar..Last one ...and the last bogie for that matter..so make it fast" Again some one's reply not making life easier for me..

I checked the ticket and lo...the train was scheduled to depart from New delhi and not from Nizammuddin.!!!!

I stood there on Nizammuddin speechless staring at the big board over the station which read
"Welcome to Hazrat Nizammuddin Railway Station ".