Friends in tow, trip to Lucknow

“Listen guys, meri shaadi hai Lucknow mein………aur tum sabko aana hai. Koi bahana nahi chalega……warna tumhari khair nahi”, said Manisha, my old school mate, inviting us in a gathering of school friends for her marriage. The threatening words said in a cute manner had the desired effect on us and resulted in five commitments on the spot. Nitin, Tulika, Partho, Nisha and I gave her our word. Others remained tentative for they were not sure how they would be placed at the time of marriage. But, Manisha was content as she knew that five confirmations weren’t too bad to start with, especially when there were still good seven months to go for the marriage.

February 11, 2011 – The day had come when we had to honour our word. We had a train to catch at 11:30 in the night. Everybody was gearing up for the journey except for one guy – Partho. Unfortunately, we had to cancel his ticket just at the eleventh hour. Though he was in Bangalore on an official tour, he tried his best to make it to Delhi in time so that he could accompany us for the marriage. But as luck would have it, he was to reach Delhi not before it was too late to think about attending the marriage. Anyways, four of us – Tulika, Nitin, Nisha and I – reached the station in time and boarded Lucknow Duronto Express. Tulika’s parents had come to see off their daughter. While bidding goodbye, Tulika’s mom told me with a touch of Bengali accent, “Ae sun......hamada Tulika ka khaayal raakhna.’’ I was itching to reply in the same amusing accent but settled with much sober and convincing words - “Ji Auntyji”.

Before we could settle in properly, a middle-aged snooty woman (co-passenger) came to join us. She was carrying scores of luggage and got them shoved, with the help of a porter, in and around our berths. Even at the cost of exaggeration, I would say that she had so many luggage that we could stuff an entire warehouse on a 50-acre land with them alone. She, unabashedly, made herself comfortable by unsettling everybody around her. Though heavily cheesed off with her (mis)conduct, we tried to keep our cool and made light of the situation by continuing our usual banter. Strangely, it didn’t go down well with the woman and she expressed her displeasure at not being welcomed well ever since she entered the coach. She straightforwardly said that she felt offended with some people (us) as they didn’t look too happy with her presence and gave her the cold shoulder. Even to this day I don’t know what whimsical thoughts drove her to say what she said. I so wanted to attend to the psycho woman and return the crap but changed my mind at the last minute. I guess my sanity prevailed over my impulse. We immediately cajoled her out of her displeasure, or else she would have ruined our mood even before the train had moved an inch from the station. The train departed from the New Delhi junction at 2330 hours sharp and we got busy in making our bed, doing our best to ignore the fretful woman all along. In the meanwhile, the train gathered speed and – much to our delight - soon the gentle movement of the coach lulled the woman to sleep. Phew!!!

We had made our respective beds but hitting the sack was far from our mind. We sat around facing each other and the ‘gup-shup’ session started in no time. By and by we graduated to discussing serious stuff. A gamut of emotions flashed before our eyes as we relived our school days, first encounter with each other, blunders, jubilations, madness etc. All four of us took turns and shared many a things that we felt about ourselves and each other. This exercise brought us even closer to each other and the bond of friendship strengthened. We happily chatted our way to glory till the wee hours. All of a sudden, our considerate selves awakened and we realized that we had a long day ahead. So, we decided to catch the much necessary forty winks before reaching Lucknow.

Day 1 – 12/2/2011

At 7 in the morning, we found ourselves waiting for our taxi outside the Lucknow station. Nisha had pulled a few strings and made arrangements for us in a cosy guest-house (in Dali Bagh) and a taxi that was to be at our beck and call for the next two days. The taxi took us to our haven. Trust me, an unknown city looks much familiar and receptive when you have a decent place to stay in and a cab at your service round the clock.

After sprucing ourselves and having our first meal of the day we left for Manisha’s place. Our dear friend had been expecting us since morning. She kept calling us to give directions, thereby making sure that we did not lose our way. Nearing her place, to our pleasant surprise, we found her waiting for us on the highway. Gosh! It took us a couple of minutes to realize that ‘the bride-to-be’ herself had come to receive us.

We got a very warm welcome at her home which, for a few seconds, made us feel like cricketing heroes who had won over the rest of the cricket-playing nations and brought the much-awaited World Cup back to India after 1983. We also happily rejoiced in the moment. What followed was usually expected of friends who meet up after a while - fun-filled discussions, leg-pulling, turning nostalgic and a lot of catching up.

After a couple of hours, we took leave from the bridal family and left for Hazratganj – better known as the Connaught Place of Lucknow. Hazratganj is a major shopping area of the city. It houses showrooms and retail stores of almost all major consumer-goods manufacturers in India. From car-dealers to jewellery stores to antiques, one can shop for almost anything at Hazratganj. The place lived up to its image and had us enchanted with its surroundings. We were enjoying ourselves thoroughly while checking out the market. Tulika and Nisha scouted for a local mehendiwala and got their hands embellished with the color of skillfully-applied henna designs. Sporting the colored hands, the girls looked every bit of bridesmaids.

As we had to attend the marriage in the evening, we thought of going back to our guest house and taking a nap before we get into action again. In the evening, I got a call from one of my close friends – Upasana aka Khargosh – who happened to be in Lucknow, her hometown, at the same time. She was to leave for Jaipur in a few days. And since both of us were not too sure about our schedule for the next day, we decided to meet up the same evening. So now, I was to meet her at Hazratganj on our way to the venue of marriage. Gearing up for the marriage, Nitin and I got ready in no time but Tulika and Nisha took longer. Girls being girls usually spend considerable period of time in decking up. And, believe me, when it comes to getting ready to attend a marriage, it takes eternity and still at the end of it they would end up feeling that they could have looked better. Ditto was the case with our very own Nisha. :-)
Looking at the silver lining, this episode made us (Nitin and me) realize how patient we are with girls. Also, it gave us enough time to sneak out of the room for a stroll and we had an interesting man-to-man discussion over the facts of life.

Finally I met Upasana at Hazratganj in the company of her friends – Garima and Saurabh. Meeting Upasana always turns out to be a memorable rendezvous. As expected, Khargosh was in her elements that day too. After settling down, post the exchange of greetings, she examined me from head to toe and said, “Yaar Negi, tu toh bilkul ande (egg) jaisa ho gaya hai. Khana kam kha aur exercise shuru kar!” Don’t know about the exercise but I have stopped eating egg altogether since that day. ;-)
We introduced our respective set of friends to each other and spent some quality time together before we set off for the marriage venue.

Manisha looked very beautiful in the bridal dress. It is quite a feeling when you see your friends getting married. We were waiting for the bridegroom and the procession in anticipation. In the meanwhile, Nisha and her obsession with camera came to the fore. Her insistence on being clicked on every occasion turned Nitin into a full-time photographer. Though feeling a bit riled up in the beginning, I brought myself around to understand and accept her love for getting photographed all the time. Nitin did a very decent job with camera and captured some great moments. Suddenly, we heard some firecrackers and boisterous voices in the street…..the baraat had arrived. Manisha and her man, Mr Som Prabh, made a very good couple together. The happiness that comes with being together was writ large on their faces. We gave our best wishes to the couple for their new innings and then submerged ourselves completely into the party mood. Nitin and I danced like hell that day. With some pretty girls joining us, the dance routine carried on a little longer than intended. Around midnight, we took leave from the couple and retired to our guest house.

Day 2 – 13/2/2011

Tired from the previous day’s activities, we woke up a bit late in the morning and had no intention to leave bed for another couple of hours at least. But Tulika wanted to see Manisha at her Bidaai ceremony. After a quick thought, we also relented and hurried to Manisha’s place.

Bidaai – This is one moment when most of the eyes are usually moist with emotions. Being thoughtful about the situation, we also played to the gallery by being uncharacteristically quite for a short while. The prized moment was when Manisha clung to her dad saying, “Papa…. (sob sob cry cry)…papaaaaaaa…(some more sob sob cry cry)….papa nahi jaana….aap logo se door nahi jaana”. I am telling you it was said with such intensity that even the strongest of characters in the world would have cried buckets that day. And I was wondering as to how the event would have unfolded if Manisha had continued with the traditional drama for a bit longer. There is every possibility that the bride’s papa would have taken it literally. Losing his cool, he would have told Manisha in no uncertain terms, “Kya baat kar rahi ho!!! Aur kaise nahi jaana tumhe….ek toh dono partiyo ka itna kharcha karwa diya hai aur ab kehti ho nahi jaana. Ye bhi koi baat hui bhala...mazaak samjha hai kya!!!” Jokes apart, with everybody’s blessings in tow the newly-wed couple left to begin a fresh chapter of their life.

With half a day still in hand (we had to return in the night), we decided to go for Lucknow darshan. Being driven around the beautiful city of Lucknow was quite an experience. Gomti Nagar, situated on the bank of river Gomti, consists of both residential and business settlements and is one of the largest and upcoming areas of Lucknow. Gomti Nagar is an organised settlement developed by Lucknow Development Authority (LDA). It is home to high-end premium residential projects, Malls, IT parks, Commercial property, SEZs, Plots, Business centers, Multiplexes, Clubs, Banks, Food courts, Entertainment centers and Finance institutions. To me, Gomti Nagar with its modern touch appeared to be the face of emerging Lucknow.

As Manisha suggested earlier in the day, we first decided to visit Bara Imaambara - a historical edifice situated on the bank of Gomti river. We hired an official guide who showed us around the historical building. We were told that the Bara Imambara was built by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula in 1784 and its designer was Kifayat-ullah who was said to be a relative of the architect of the Taj Mahal.

Looking at the marvellous architecture, all of us were wonder-struck. The main imambara consists of a large vaulted central chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-Daula. At 50 by 16 meters and over 15 meters tall, we were surprised to learn that it had no beams to support the ceiling. It is one of the largest such arched constructions in the world. There were eight surrounding chambers built to different roof heights, permitting the space above these to be reconstructed as a three-dimensional labyrinth with passages interconnecting with each other through 489 identical doorways. This part of the building is better known as ‘bhoolbhulaiyyah.’ It is possibly the only existing maze in India and came about unintentionally to support the weight of the building, constructed on marshy land. The guide, while sharing the details about the historical monument, was constantly chipping in with cheeky humour. Though the information provided by the guide was more or less correct, he was ticking us off with his I-am-smarter-than-thou attitude.

The cocky guide then showed us a blocked (tunnel) passageway which, according to legends, leads through a mile-long underground passage to a location near the Gomti river. Other passages are rumoured to lead to Faizabad (the former seat of power of the Nawabs), Allahabad and even to Delhi. They still exist but have been sealed after a period of long disuse as well as fears over the disappearance of people who had purportedly gone missing while exploring. The guide made it sound quite spooky and mysterious….huh!

Feeling a bit hungry, we left for Aminabad that has existed from the times of the Nawabs of Awadh. The market in Aminabad is a very large and congested one made up of narrow lanes and bylanes. Traffic movement is next to impossible in the interiors of the market. But this is the real beauty. We took a rikshaw ride and negotiated well through the bylanes of the market. We saw small and medium sized shops selling items of daily usage, ornaments, jewellery, fashion garments, fancy dresses, chikan kurta, chikan sarees and ladies wear, chikan mens wear, footwear and other fancy items. The market is also famous for its eateries. Many a non-vegetarian stalls, sweet shops, baker's shops and Paan shops adorned the market. We stopped over and had our lunch in the famous non-veg eatery of Aminabad known as ‘Tundey Kabab.’ After eating to our fill, Tulika and Nisha wanted to shop some chikan kurtas and sarees for their moms. So we checked out a local shop and bought some fine stuff.

After the shopping binge we called it a day. On our return to the guest house, we packed our luggage and settled the accounts with each other before having dinner. Carrying our stuff and lots of unforgettable memories, we rushed to the railway station to catch our train in time. We spent the last few hours reflecting on the two eventful days spent in the city of nawabs. While in the train, everybody in the group was ecstatic as they were going home carrying a lot of memories from luck now. Strangely enough, my happiness was mixed with a tinge of sadness. I knew not why it was so until a few moments later when I finally figured out the real reason……Although I took with me some wonderful memories from Lucknow, I HAD LEFT A PART OF ME BEHIND.

Incredible Goa!

Heard a lot from avid travelers and friends…..seen a lot in movies and travel shows….read a lot in newspapers and lifestyle magazines…..but I got to know what exactly they meant by the term ‘incredible’ only when I made a trip to one of the most amazing places on earth couple of months back. Haaaah….Paradise, thy name is GOA.

Far from the drudgery of life, Goa is the place to be for all weary souls. I realized it the moment I stepped on this beautiful place. The land of fine wines, beautiful women, exquisite beaches and warm people…..Goa has all the four going for it. I felt all refreshed just by the sight of the Konkan city from a distance.

Guys, there were several moments that touched my soul and left me enchanted with the beauty of Goa. I feel like sharing some of them with you but please excuse me if words fail me today….The very first day I was sitting on the rocky shores of North Anjuna beach. Tired from a daylong journey in train, I thought of visiting the Anjuna beach - since it was nearby our boarding house - to witness what is arguably the most amazing site in the world….SUNSET! It had a spellbinding effect on me as I sat there gazing at the horizon for over two hours. I tell you it is quite a feeling when the free air kisses the sea waves and then runs across your face. It seemed to me as if my entire existence….my soul had been purged of all the impurities. That was the moment for me….and it gave me an indelible memory.

A day later, my best buddy Partho (with a map in his hand) and I hired a bike and went on to explore the entire north Goa. Forts, beaches, palm trees, local markets, the city churches…..we visited all. Bike riding had never been so much fun until then. One thing that took me by surprise is the way local inhabitants go about their lives. They seemed to be in no hurry and looked like they are on an eternal holiday. Not one soul appeared to be going for work. Most of the people were self-employed and operate their business with a relaxed attitude. The laid-back attitude of the Konkan fellows was in stark contrast to the lifestyle of people living in metropolitan cities who can invariably be seen in a tearing hurry to go about their stuff.

The last day in Goa was full of action. Besides traveling to the interiors of the North Goa we had water sports waiting for us. Water scootering, banana-boat ride, steamer……we had a whale of a time. But the best of the lot was parasailing. For people who don’t know much about the sport, parasailing (also known as parascending) is a recreational activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle (usually a boat) while attached to a specially designed parachute, known as a parasail. The boat then drives off, carrying the parascender into the air. Considering my weight, I had doubts whether the parachute would be able to take a flight or would it just be dragged on water by the boat :-)

But it did….and boy what a flight it was. When I was watching downwards from up there, I could see the vastness of sea; the huge number of people having fun on the beach seemed to be reduced to a miniature; and the sea birds flying parallel to me appeared to be communicating to me. They looked into my direction and croaked…as if asking me how I was feeling being a part of their world. The entire experience was actually surreal.

(Guys, just as an FYI, the parachute guy called me up from Goa few days back....bahut pareshaan tha bechaara...his business has nose-dived ever since I used his parachute. For my weight, the 'used parachute' is not functioning properly now. He he he…)

Goa has a lot of things that I can endlessly talk about but I am limiting myself to mentioning only a select few as there is a paucity of time. But before signing off, I want to admit that the four days spent in Goa have been the most memorable ‘four days’ of my life. I know that in the journey of life, I will come across many more scintillating places….who knows some of them may turn out to be even better than Goa but the Goan city will always have a special corner in my heart.

Pleasures of Simple Life

Modern age brings with it many challenges to life. Metropolitan people making a living by negotiating through the fast-paced life everyday will vouch for it.

Things moving with ‘breakneck pace’ and people joining in the ‘mad race’ inconsiderately have made even the daily routine tasks a challenge. Right from waking up early in the morning till reaching home late in the night and everything that happens in-between has robbed people of their ‘me-time’.

I don’t go beyond myself as case study to understand that. To complete the mandate given by clients, we work five days (at times seven) a week. The weekdays pass by with the speed of light and weekends are consumed in doing domestic chores and running errands for stuffs that are essential to run a household. However, in the meantime, I also try to take some time out for recreational activities. But even that becomes a rarity instead of regularity in my routine tasks.

Monday mornings usually start off not only with new individual and business goals to be achieved in the running week but also with a mental make up of outdoing competitors by maintaining one-upmanship and staying ahead in the rat race. Sure I am that there are many more in the corporate fraternity who are accustomed to such perilous lifestyle. In some cases, it’s even worse.

In all this running around, we are, in a way, limiting ourselves to setting up only short term objectives and are not looking at the bigger picture. We literally have no time to sit back and take stock of things….more importantly, to take stock of our LIVES…..

Of late, I have realized that the real pleasure lies not in outdoing others but in making oneself better equipped to face the challenges of life. The trick lies in not doing complicated things even more complicatedly but going about them in a simple manner.

Look at the way country people go about their lives. They spend better part of their time and resources in doing things that are essential to life. Unlike most of us, they are not bothered or feel guilty-conscience if they do not get time to do frivolous things.

Taking a leaf out of their lives, we should also put all frivolous tasks aside and concentrate more on things that are fundamental to living a peaceful and enriching life.

Just as an aside, whatever tall claims spiritual and religious gurus make in contributing to a peaceful mind, sometimes a simple walk in a garden or reading a classic is all it takes.

Waka Waka...

While the Spanish team is still rejoicing at their maiden world cup win, I suddenly have this strong urge to quickly run through the memories FIFA 2010 has given me. As it is, never before in my life have I ever felt so involved with the game of football.

Things started developing when I observed an office colleague for over a month before the start of the World Cup. His obsession with the football game, long hours spent surfing the official website of FIFA and daily ‘gyaan’ on everything-football got me interested in the most popular game of the world. I absolutely have no idea what is it with Bengali community (yes, the colleague is a BENGALI) that they speak about football with so much of enthusiasm and passion. It is as if the visible sign of any less enthusiasm and excitement on their face will result in a doomsday.

Seeing him hooked to football world and being exposed to the incessant football trivia that he would through across did the inevitable……… the ‘madness’ rubbed off on to me as well.

I happened to watch my first full match of the 2010 edition with my football-crazy colleague only. After office hours, we were sitting in a nearby rest0-bar waiting for the game to start. My being there had little to do with the passion of the game as I was more kicked up with the idea of boozing while ‘watching’ football. The match (between Spain and Switzerland) got underway. I had chosen to root for Spain from the start. The reason was simple……I had bought a jersey couple of months back which had the name of Spanish footballer ‘Fernando Torres’ (unknown to me till then) on the back. As it was, the match turned out to be the first big upset of the tournament. Switzerland had not only taken the Spanish bull by horns but had it on all fours by the end of the game. Result card read 1-0 in favour of Switzerland. My favourite team had lost the match but the pain was more palpable on my colleague’s face.

This, however, didn’t discourage me. I saw Shakira’s promotional video ‘waka waka’ on idiot box the other day. The video did the trick. By and by, I got immersed into the game. Watching matches, checking internet and newspapers every now and then for football gyan became a regular activity.

Watching underdog teams coming good in the league and final stages was a treat whereas seeing the hot favourites fizzing out just when it mattered the most was painful. England, Brazil, Argentina and finally Germany - the four powerful contenders for the world cup trophy - left their fans stranded with copious tears and anguish.

Finally, my favourite team had its chances that they grabbed with both hands. Winning the world cup at last, Spain rules the soccer world now. Two years after winning the European title, the talented Spaniards did even better at the bigger stage by beating Netherlands by 1-0 margin.

I will remember this world cup for more reasons than one. To start with, it generated my interest in the game. The Jabulani balls for their controversial light weight and Vuvuzelas for the irritating noise are now etched out in my memory for good.

Mr Paul – the unforgettable psychic octopus – who can give a certain Mr Bejan Daruwala a run for his money as all its predictions had a cent percent success record.

With a new-found interest in the game, I am already looking forward to the Euro Cup 2012 now. The World Cup 2014 is on my radar too. Hopefully by then I will have turned into a football encyclopaedia much like my Bengali colleague. But that is still good four years away….for now, goodbye South Africa. And to all my fellow lovers of the game….let’s sing in unison for the last time.......Tsaminamina …Wooo…..ooooooo…WAKA WAKA…this time for Africa!!!

A Gathering of HEARTS!

Spending time with school friends, for me, has always been like reliving my childhood. Few weeks back, I had a dinner with some close school pals. We had planned for a get-together as we were tired of our hectic work-life and office politics. At least I was!

Since my earlier planned trip to Dalhousie got cancelled just at the eleventh hour, I was badly looking forward to the get-together with the friends for obvious reasons. And boy...what an evening it turned out to be!

Though most of us were in regular touch with each other, there was a couple of friends we were meeting straight after completing our schooling....a good six years to be very precise. So, the initial awkwardness in the air was patatable. Well...considerable lapse of time and distance do bring about changes in people. But, with friends it's a tad different. They might appear a bit formal initially when meeting after a long time but scratch a little on the surface and they would come across as their same old selves. And this is what precisely happened with us.

Soon the formality in the air was replaced by the familiar banter. All of us took turns walking down the memory lane. We had a good laugh over recalling our foolhardiness during good old school days. Next we found ourselves updating each other on career graphs, setbacks, latest crushes, trends, work-life balance and so on and so forth.

Throughout the gathering, what was heartening for me to notice was most of the friends had grown up into a sensible lot with the passage of time. Intelligence, mixed with an appropriate sense of humour, has always fascinated me. So, I enjoyed myself big time with the bunch.

When grown-ups meet, can adult jokes be left behind??? Everybody joined in the exchange of deliberate ambiguous statements. Thankfully, we had a mature and lovely girl with us who made sure that we didn't go overboard with the same.

The evening reached to the final stage where a scrumptious meal was waiting for us at Nirula's in the vicinity of Defence colony. Kadhai-Chicken, Shahi-Paneer, Malai-Kofta, Dal-makhani, Butter naan and stuff adorned our dinner table. A foodie like me couldn't have asked for more. The lip-smacking food resulted in a subdued BURP!

Ice-creams followed our supper and before leaving for home, we settled for a group photograph not knowing that it would kickstart an elaborate photo-shoot. I am sure it must have appeared to others that day as if our sole purpose behind the gathering was to get a group portfolio done.

At last, we dispersed after making sure that everybody reaches home without any hassles. Having eaten my fill, I didn't feel like riding my bike. So, after biking for a few kilometres, I gave my bike (YAMAHA FZ-16) to my friend who was riding pillion with me and had expressed his wish to ride the machine earlier in the day. I sat pillion on the scooty of my another friend who was more than happy to let me have a ride back home with her. Considering that I flirted with her a lot and embarrassed her on few occasions during the day, I was thanking my stars that she didn't kick my arse to settle scores with me. Thank you lady for the lovely ride and the kind advice regarding my love interest.

And before signing off, I would like to say a big 'THANK YOU' to all my friends (Partho, Shraddha, Nitin, Tulika, Manish, Natasha, Girdhar, Shilpa, Deepak, Shukla, Ravinder, Manisha and Ashish) for turning up for the do and making my day. You guys had been really nice to me. I am going to cherish the sweet memories for a long time...Goodbye friends and I hope you will be in the pink when we meet next time!

Enamoured By The Yamaha Machine!

More than two months have gone by since my last post. Just didn't feel propelled enough to blog about anything. But now I think I hv got sumthng which is worth a mention. Of late, nothing caught my fancy as much as my new possession (a motorbike) - Yamaha FZ 16. I bought it some 10 days back and ever since i hvnt been able to take my eyes off it. Guys, I cant tell u how excited I m. So besotted I m wid this machine that i, invariably, end up scrubbing it four times a day:-)

Unable to find enough time earlier, I got a chance today to lay my hands on my bike for d first time...n d feeling ws amazing. The roaring sound that d engine made was like music to the ears. I rode it for about two hrs...n I had a wonderful time doing that. Yuppiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee...........

Though I dont get much time to bike around, still m looking forward to many eventful rides on it. Hope I will be able to have enough time at my disposal to do that.

Life moves on...

Terrorist invasion...Mumbai attacked...the entire nation wriggled in pain. The last one month has seen it all. All this has led to resentment in people against our country's frail defence mechanism and anti-human elements in our neighbourhood. But one thing came out good of all this...revival of humanity. Life which was taken for granted earlier is being celebrated now...every day....every moment! Families reunited, neighbours and friends bonded better than ever...love bloomed in the air. As we approach the year end, Life has got a new beginning (...a new 'LIFE' we should rather say). Tragedies may come and go...Life doesn't stop. Lessons should be learnt and life be given another chance...Cheers to life!!!