i ignored the stares and walked past the wooden benches on either side, to the front of the shop ..
'anna, tea .. strong-a .. sarkarai vendam' ..
the shop guy nodded his head ..
'sugar-a ma??' ('are u diabetic?')
'illa'
'pinne?' ('then why do u not want sugar?')
'tea la sugar pidikadhu'
the three customers of the shop along with the tea vendor stared at me like i was crazy ..
i took a tamil newspaper that seemed like it had seen better days (found out later that it was dated 2 months older) and sat on one side of the wooden bench that was unoccupied .. the three cutomers sitting on the other bench were still staring at me ..
a gal coming to a road side tea-shop in a village was a rarity in india .. esp, one in a thick long sleeved t-shirt with a hoodie on an extremely hot day was even rarer ..
the tea-anna gave me my glass cup of sugar-less tea and asked me if i wanted anything to eat with it .. when i declined with a nod of my head, he left me to go back to his position in front of the milk-boiler .. ignoring the stares, i sipped my bitter tea and scanned the two months old news of coimbatore .. someone killed his wife and her secret lover and surrendered at the police station .. s'one else crashed his expensive car into a motorcyclist and the motorcyclist died on the spot .. so he compnesates the dead guy's family with money .. i wondered if money could jus compensate everything like that .. seems it did, atleast in this case ..
there was a column where the author gives solutions to various beauty queries .. 'ladies section', it said .. and then there was this sports section in the last page of the newspaper where Railways team beat some bank team in volleyball .. so, they still played Volleyball .. it brought back memories of my childhoood when my uncle took us to these annual national level volleyball tournaments .. it alwayz started after 8 or 9 PM and went on till wee hours .. dnt remember why but i used to love those games .. and i used to make up random favourites rite before the games started and stuck to it loyally even if the team was losing .. i never knew any of the teams/members and i still dnt .. but they were gud memories, those days ..
i looked up from the paper to notice that the guys were still staring at me, even though some kinda conversation was going on .. one guy was short n stocky .. the other two seemed lanky and tall .. all of them were dark brown in color .. should have been in their late 40s, early 50's ...
seeing me look up in their direction, the shorty nodded at me and asked "ooruku pudusa?" (r u new around hre?)
"illa"
"how come i have never seen you arnd before .. r u visiting s'one in this village?"
"no"
seeming a li'l impatient with my one word answers that werent giving him any lead, he gave his comrades a look and asked the tea-anna, "how come i have never seen her in these parts bfr .. have u seen her before? whoz family is she visiting?"
tea-anna gives me this questioning look and nods his head at the Shorty ..
"my grandparents lived hre" - i tell in general looking at the flames heating the boiler ..
"apadiya .. yaaru?"
i tel my grandad's name and they nod their heads in recognition .. they tel the usual that everyone tels s'one they hardly know and hadnt seen in ages .. that i have grown up and they hardly recognize me ..
"amma appa soukyama?"
"hmm"
just then a round lady arnd 50's comes there with a question mark on her face .. Shorty's wife, seems ...
Shorty asks her if she recognizes me .. her question mark widens and she scrutinizes my face more closely ..
Mr.A's granddaughter, Shorty tels ... she exclaims at the top of her voice on how much i have grown up and how different i look now ..
probably she remembers me in my shorts, tshirt and bata chappals with hair cropped short .. the way i looked when i was 10 or 11 .. i didnt go back there to that village after that much .. i used to not like going there as a kid ..
my grandparents were extremely fond of me .. another thing in life that i didnt realize i should have cherished until it was a li'l too late .. another regret that i have to live with, for the rest of my life .. i had my share of the hearts that i broke .. jus like i had my share of my heart getting broken ..

"so u came hre alone?" - Shorty's wife widens the question mark on her face ..
i nod ..
"why? how long are you here? will u be staying at ur granpa's place?"
my tea glass is empty .. i get up to leave ..
"yes .. i will be staying here for some time ... will c u arnd"
i hear them chattering on, as i walk away .. i know i will be the source of gossip in the tiny village for weeks to come ..

 - To be continued ..

i stood quietly in the corner of the train closer to the door, as alwayz with my ipod headphones plugged securely in both the ears, shutting out the hustle and bustle of the morning rush hour .. i was feelin sleepy .. n my laptop n handbag were weighing me down .. as i struggled with the bags, i kept a lookout for the stations neverthless .. i knew there were still three more stops to go ..

as the train stopped n the doors opened, i craned my neck to get a glimpse of the passengers getting in .. there they were - the lady and her li'l kid .. she turned arnd to look in my direction and i didnt have enuf time to turn my gaze away from them .. t'was too late and she already knew i had been staring .. i tried to cover that up my making a show of pushing a lock of hair behind me ears and adjusting my specs .. she suddenly smiled .. a smile of recognition .. i dnt knw why that made me happy .. but it did .. smiled back at her and moved aside to give her more space to stand .. but by then s'one gave her their seat as she was holding a li'l kid .. as the lady was settling down in the seat, the kid leaned over and pulled my ID tag that hung arnd my neck .. she remembered me too .. she had been playing with that tag yday whn they sat next to me ..

they get down in the stop before mine .. the lady searched for me with her eyes .. and i was looking at them from where i stood caz i knew they wre gettin down n i wanted to see them before they left .. the contented look on the lady's face, or the carefree kid's happy innocent smile, or the duo together - dunno wat made me feel so nice inside .. but it did .. she shouted a 'bye .. see u tmw' to me .. i waved back ..

i got down at my station and slowly walked towards office .. made my customary stop at the coffee place .. they didnt ask me wat i wanted .. 'm a regular .. paid for the hot choc n came out .. the old man in the fruit shop across, from where i used to buy orange juice long back waved me to go across and handed me a bag of fresh fruits that he had been slicing .. i felt guilty for having switched to hot choc from orange juice .. smiled n thanked him in my broken chinese ..

the day already felt like it was one of those days i'll look back and feel gud about :)

Well .. have u guys heard of anyone changing their retirement plans jus caz their company issued a brand new id card ('m told to stress this - WITH A TAG) two months before the planned retirement ??!!! no??? never??? wel, plz hear it now .. from a totally flabbergasted and distressed daughter .. who all the while has been thinking her parents wre gonna visit her in coupla months n stay on for a bit with her ..

so, yes, an id card 'with a tag' killed my plans of more than a few months !! itz possible .. trust me .. 'm rite there, rite now .. sighhhh !! my dad n his loyalty to his company s'times jus crosses over to an xtreme .. n talk bot irony !! 'm already feeling like itz time for me to retire !!! *rolling eyes* i knw !!

when u r standing at the top of a flight of stairs and ur dad's at the bottom with his hands outstretched, thinkin u'll run down the stairs and into his hands .. n u, with the unshakable trust that dad'll be there to catch you safely, jus jump frm the top step and tumble down all the way into dad's hands, with a broken head .. that, my frenz, is wat faith is all about ..
even though there were times whn appa wasnt able to stop me from falling, like the above, he was alwayz there to comfort and console me and set things right, no matter how much i screwed up .. missing appa and amma ..and Pongal at home ...
Happy Pongal folks :) May this Pongal bring lot of happiness and prosperity your way ...

i sat on the park bench and looked at the clear blue sky and the fading lines of the mountains .. he came and sat nxt to me on the bench silently .. v didnt talk .. v jus sat thr for a long time staring at the far away mountain peaks .. n far away it was .. as far away as the time v first met - me n him .. it wasnt as dreamy as these moutains though .. it was so vry ordinary, u wudnt even give it a second thought had it not happened to u .. it happened to me, so i did give it a thought .. n some mre ..

i tried to drive as fast as possible in the impossible traffic .. i had overslept and was terribly late to work .. n that being the first day in the new proj .. n that too as a team lead !! i couldnt help feeling a li'l gud inside at the thought of the 'team lead' part .. thr will be ppl reporting to me .. glowing inside, i swerved into the office building and did not realize until the security guard gave a piece of the choicest words he knew, that i had entered thro the gates marked 'Exit' .. apologising n mumbling an xcuse that it was my first day in that building, i made a vain attempt at a smile despite his glaring eyes ..

i swiped my ID and pushed the door .. the door didnt budge .. i tried again .. no change .. the door jus glared at me with challenging eyes .. i looked all over the place for some friendly face .. none .. finally had to go over to the reception and explain my predicament and had to sign a dozen papers before the helpful receptionist gave me a temporary card that worked the doors with a charm .. i ran into the lift n crashed into the only guy who was in thr .. n i wud never forget the look he gave that day till my last breath .. i apologised a million times but his look still said that he knew i crashed into him caz he was handsome .. he actually was !! .. but that was not y i crashed into him .. t'was honest clumsiness and the hurry to get into the lift before itz doors closed shut .. ahh wel .. let him think wat he wants .. i wudnt even probably meet him ever again and he nywayz wudnt recognize even of v did .. so then , that safely put behind, i slowly realized i hadnt pressed the button for my floor .. he was looking at me .. and i felt really embarassed .. he got off at the third floor and i got off too .. i ducked into my rather huge handbag and made a big show of searching for s'thing and came up with my mobile that was almost dying with no charge .. the guy was looking at me still .. so i jus cald mom and started talkin random stuff .. i have to give it to her, my mom's a real sport .. shez the best .. once i made sure the guy had left the vicinity, i decided lift wasnt lucky for me that day n took the stairs ..

after some frantic searching i finally found the PM's room and t'was empty .. i sat on a chair in thr n waited for a gud half hr bfr he made his appearance, looking all fresh n rested .. i caught a glimpse of myself in the glass door n cursed under my breath .. i must ve atleast washed my sweaty face in the time i sat waiting for him .. nywayz, he smiles and introduces himself n says he's pleased to meet me .. n then he directs me to the HR who then directs me to my work station .. a nice cozy workstation that is closed in three sides and a tiny entrance on one side .. it felt vry nice even though it looked like a rat hole, for the only reason that i didnt ve to share it with anyone , unlike the other workstations wre there were four in each .. nywayz, t'was a challenge for jus me to fit into that small gap of a workstation , so letz not even think bot sharing it .. another awesome thing bot it was, i had to share my landline phone only with one other person who sat on the other side of the partition .. or so i thought .. i became more the wiser in a few days whn i realized that the lady that i shared the phone with was a HR and used the phone frm 9 AM to 6.15 PM which is when she calls it a day ..

nywayz, the next shocking piece of news for the day came jus a few minutes after i settled into my new place .. and that was in the form of the handsome face that i had crashed into jus a few mintues back .. the guy sits rite next to me .. n i ve to get used to the naked look of contempt as i was gonna work in that proj for atleast the next ten months .. n i already knew i didnt like him .. handsome or nt .. n he made it clear jus with that look of his, that the feeling was perfectly reciprocated .. gud .. gr8 start .. i was already loving it .. jus count on my luck .. it has never failed me .. i HATED it and was home sick for my old team and workstation ..

i woke up with a heavy and pained heart and made it to the kitchen lookin as miserable as i felt .. my roomie, being the soft and sweet thing that she was, made some coffee for me and said everything 'll b fine .. bless her .. i downed the coffee and rushed to my room .. i was goin to be late again .. as usual .. in all this hurry, i burned one of my fav dupattas while ironing .. that was the last straw .. i jus got into some informal clothing and drove like a maniac to office .. n then my boss tells me i need to go for a meeting asap .. i rush to the meeting room and stop rite at the entrance .. everyone in the meeting room had white hair, if at all .. n then the guy who was heading the meeting throws me that impatient look and i go in meekly n take an empty seat .. n much to my embarassment, he looks at me and says, "Please ask some seniors in your team to join the meeting too .. itz a vry important meeting and i was informed that the team lead was goin to join from your team" .. i inform him 'm the team lead .. u can imagine the rest ..

later that day, i overheard him telling my boss he hadnt expected a kid to be the team lead .. especailly one that looks like a scarecrow in jeans and t-shirt on a weekday .. n i was vry much gratified when my PM told him that i had cleared all the interviews with top scores and that i came with strong recommendations from my previous PMs and HR .. with a smug look i turn to go to my place whn i notice The Guy glaring at me accusingly for evesdropping .. i make a vain attempt at acting like i didnt know why he was glaring and beat a hasty retreat to my rat hole safely without crashing into him ..

n thats how it all started and thats how life went on for a few weeks .. sigh .. s'times life loses all the spice n sugar when it is filled with too much of both .. huh ,nywayz, y'knw wat i mean ..

n then he came !!!!!! a new addition to my team .. hw could s'one be so handsome and yet so unaffected by it .. and he was goin to report to me !!! haaaa !! finally something nice happening !! or so i thought !! yet again !! thr r s'things i never seem to learn no matter how many times i get beaten up !! so i welcome this guy with open arms n heart (okie okie .. i'll stop) .. wel, so i welcome him happily .. n whn i learn v r same year passout, needless to say, i was doin a dappan kuthu in my heart .. only until i learnt he n The Guy were close frenz !!!

i turned n looked at the still handsome face in the fading light .. my heart still flutters jus looking at him .. after all these years .. curse this heart that jus cannot change .. he musta felt my stare , he turned to me n smiled that smile of his .. i jus stared at him .. he smiled .. smiles .. guess will alwayz smile .. no matter wat .. my heart was heavy .. it couldnt smile like him .. so i jus stare .. i didnt ve a handsome (it shud b cute , rite?!! ah wel .. watever) smile like him .. mine's so ladden with conflicting emotions .. itz not easy n warm like his .. y cant i smile like that? ve i ever smiled like that? even once? i dunno .. not like it matters to u .. it does to me though .. all the small things too matter to me now .. guess thats wat age does to u ..

t'was late .. i sat working , not realizing that the floor was almost empty .. i hadnt moved from my seat from morning .. some issues got escalated and i had a bad meeting with my manager early in the morning .. n so i had to turn in a lot of work n within a short time too .. i was so engrossed in my work that i didnt realize when he came and stood next to me .. dunno how long he waited .. i was jolted to the real world by his frantic coughing .. his look clearly said 'wre u really concentrating in work or wre u sleeping with ur eyes glued to the monitor' .. i was too tired to argue n jus stared back with a question mark all over my face .. not sure wat triggered it, maybe he saw the weariness n felt sorry for me .. he suddenly gave this amazing smile that lit up my tiny li'l rat hole .. my heart started hammering so loudly n i felt like it echoed in the empty office floor .. i almost got knocked down from my chair when he asked me to the cafe for maggie noodles .. i wasnt so sure if i wanted to go with him when the handsome teamie came up behind n told me i need to ve atleast one meal a day .. the look in the Guy's face started showing irritation n i suddenly lost my temper .. the day had been horrible as it is and i didnt want to put up with high n mighty ppl .. the smile of a moment ago forgotten, i jus refused the offer n turned my back to 'em n started typing some junk code frantically .. they left ..

after about 30 minutes i felt my eyes closing n decided to grab a coffee from the pantry .. washed my face, had a coffee n brought along one mre to my seat .. didnt notice the brown parcel initially but suddenly it showed itself with all itz glory n the smile that was forgotten came back with all itz sunlight .. i opened the brown cover to find a sandwich .. i shouted a random 'Thanks' directed at the nxt cabin .. didnt get a response but that didnt change the mood .. a song on the lips , a smile on the face ..

i dropped my walking stick with a clatter .. but bfr i could rise, he got up .. he held both, the walkin stick and my hand and v just sat thr, njoying the slight cool breeze and the view .. n it was getting dark slowly .. n silvery, evn more slowly, with the generous moon splashing itz light all over .. i guess i finally felt peace .. i had finally come to terms with life ..

we didnt speak to each other much .. he alwayz looked at me with that contemptous look .. and i alwayz looked at him with enemity .. but as it happened, caz of the cute guy in my team, v ended up having food or coffee together every once in a while .. he seemed to be a worser workaholic than me n so i found him almost all the time at his seat .. n then he went on vacation to his home town .. n thats whn i realized i actually missed him ..


got pulled back to the reality by a thump on the head by a football .. i looked at it irritably n glared at the figure that had kicked the ball .. a face with an apologetic smile plastered on it stared back at me .. i wud ve liked to be in the old lady's shoes for some more time n weaved some more stories .. now that , thats over, i glared at the guy who spoilt it all ..


okie so lemme introduce myself .. time i did nywayz :) .. i am A .. i had come to the park today to get some fresh air and finish a novel .. i didnt get to do that though .. my mind started wandering, making itz own story when i saw the old couple .. n thats the story above .. i dunno the real story of their lives .. but i do ve a silly mind that can be satisfied with itz own version of everything and everyone .. n i felt satisfied .. they looked so happy and content .. n s'how that was all that mattered at that moment .. i got up with a light heart n a skip in my step .. they looked up whn i got off my bench .. i greeted 'em n tore myself away from the happy scene bfr me n headed towards my apt .. i had to get back to my story now .. the real one this time .. after all, at the end of our days, we all have our tales .. n i ve to make my mine ... :)

a close fren (CF) had sms'd today after a short gap of me bein incommunicado ..

CF : hey gurl !! blah blah ...
me : helllooooooo thr .. me's fine .. blah blah ..
CF : so wat u been upto?? any plans of goin to india??
me : yep .. planning to go for coupla weeks .. begging boss char for leave .. :)
CF : wowww .. sooper ..whn goin?? gimme dates .. v shud catch up .. 'm plannin to come arnd May ..
me : i meant like nxt weekend lurvvv ... nxt yr May is like some time far away in the future .. i wud
       ve made four five trips home by then ..lol .. v sure can catch up :P:P
CF : i hate u is all i want to say to u rite now .. over n out !!!
me : lol .. luv ya tooo .. tc .. OnO .. ;)

got another sms in the middle of all this .. frm bro .. he gets in touch after a week of absconding frm mom .. n hence no cal/sms/mail to me .. as mom wud try to get him to cal her thro me ..
      Bro : balance back to base .. broke .. donation plz .. luv u sis .. tc
and he got his salary on the 1st .. and i get mine on the 8th of each month !!!!

PS : btw, this said Close Fren (CF) resides in the Aussie land ..

PSS : yayyy .. home sweet home , nxt weekend ..
hey ,  'coupla ppl who read my blog n live in chennai/cbe/tpr' , me wud b arnd for two weeks exactly .. buzz bfr nxt friday on my num or on mom's num after that .. :)

Everyone, including my ever patient mom, got irate with me after hearing umpteen times my gushing about the last weeks trek experience. So i resorted to the only other option available in hand, to blog about it. And here goes ...

To start off, I had been on a trek to the Himalayas (Hamptah Pass) - yes , u heard rite - last week and from the moment I got back, I haven't been able to think of anything else but the trek .. the lovely landscape, chilly mountains, the absolutely awesome gang, the heavy backpacks, soggy clothes, the snow, rain, water, rocks .. green, white, red everywhere ..

How I miss waking up in the tent each morning, frozen with cold .. brushing at the streams .. the hot tasteless chai outside the kitchen tent that was like heaven .. the dhal-chawal dinners of 15 hungry, cold n tired souls crammed into the dining tent with a bleak torch that made everything in the vessels look yumm .. the customary sip of vodka or rum in the nites rite outta the bottle that gets passed around in circles .. the desperate hunt in the backpacks each day to find some dry, warm piece of cloth .. the unpaved grounds of the mountains that remind u of the olden days Robbie rides to office in OMR road ..

And best n the most missed of all this, the 14 ppl i spent that one week with .. who wud have known that i can miss folks whom i had no clue existed just a few days back !! Miss u guys !! each person was unique in his/her own way .. and best part was, inspite of the differences, v jus felt rite together as a group ..

so, there was Pavan, our Organizer , to whom v owe this trek. Thanks pavan ... if not for u, i wudnt ve had such a memorable trek .. a serious, very responsible n caring person, our pavan was .. i jus hope his fren tamal joins for his next trek bcoz pavan had tears in his eyes when he said he missed his fren .. tamal, whoever u r, make it to pavan's nxt trek :) n make sure this guy has some fun n is not alwayz a busy body, running around all over the place worried bot organizing things wel ..

n then there was Vignesh (the only person I had known before the trek) , henceforth to be referred to as 'scientu anna' .. scientu is a quiet, calm, caring person .. but he transforms into a tarzan the moment he sees any of his fellow trekkers in trouble .. then he starts prancing frm rock to rock , trying to save the soul in need .. like the time he decided Vish was in trouble and he had to save him and so he jumped rite over an edge and was dangling for dear life .. :P

then there was Harsha, my tent mate .. wat can i say !! each morning whn i wake up, i peep outta my quilt half expecting to c her in her sleepin bag in the tent .. miss u lady!! the first time i spoke to her, i knew i got a fren .. each day started with her n me brushing n washin our face with ice cold water in the streams .. and the last person to wish me gn was her during the entire trek ..

then Arun .. he's the youngest in our gang .. like a kid bro to everyone .. he's so full of energy and enthusiasm, u cannot help but get infected with a li'l of that, whnever u are around him .. arun, 'll surely send u the song list, u really need a lot of mending in that front .. ur list sucks!! big time !! :P:P btw, did u do that facial?? n did it help?? :P:P lol and henceforth, this guy will be referred to as 'the baniyan guy', as s'one addressed him during the trek (dnt blame me re, u lived up to it..) .. and oh yeah , he tried to murder me twice during the trek !!! GRRRR !!! twice that i know of, atleast !!

next person wud be Prasanna .. wat, oh wat, can i say bot this guy .. i dnt ve words to express the spirit and energry this guy has in him .. with him around, u dnt ve time for anything else but to laugh .. he's such a sport (and the Donkey in all the games ..he he) .. Prasanna, all thanks to u , v all had a lovely time in Chatru .. i dnt remember the last time i laughed so much, with no care bot anything .. that nite's games of Bluff and Donkey wre the best i ve ever played .. :) u rock prasanna !!

then there was Raja (henceforth , Doc S @ Doc Senior) .. he was the quietest of the lot and the most mature .. most of the second and third day, he accompanied me thro my slow progress towards the base camp and he was one of the first frenz i made so easily without even realizing it .. thanks doc .. doc is a storehouse of brains .. i was ashamed of myself whn he talked bot linux and some IT stuff .. even though he's professionally a doc, he knws far more than i ever did/wud bot IT .. hats off !! and yeah, doc, u owe some of those gud pics of u , to the not-so-bad photographer me, like the one in ur FB :P:P n me read that book u suggested , luv'd it :)

comin next is our other doc Sudhakar (henceforth, doc J , for Doc Junior) .. he likes to kick start things n then disappear :P doc J is a fun guy n maintains balance in the gang by being talkative n is vry interesting to listen to .. btw, frm now on, u r my route map for gud Eat-outs in singapore .. :) i was vry touched whn on the last day bfr i left, he came to me n said i was like a younger sis to him .. thanks doc :) that was vry nice of ya .. really ..

then thr was Pilot (@ sushanth) .. pilot seems, on the front, a quiet n soft guy .. but as u get to know him, u realize that he's jus the opposite .. he's tough, adventourous n fun-loving n a very very caring guy .. n he seemed to ve impressed everyone in the gang, some more and some others, more so :P and his tales frm his army days r a treasure .. njoyed that day's breakfast-time tales Pilot .. a lot .. :) wud luv to listen to more , all of us wud ..

Vishravars .. first thing bot him anyone would notice is his name .. he's as unique as his name .. he has a lot of talents .. havin never been a scholarly, outstanding student myself, vish is like the enemy guy everyone wud show as example to folks like me .. ha ha .. he's a nice chap awrite, once u get to know him though .. soft n quiet , not jus on the front but actually is .. has a gud sense of humour too, that me n harsh discovered on the journey back to manali .. poor Vish though, his Tale of Woes in this trek wre never ending .. hope ur leg has healed Vish !!

And Sam .. wat do i say about u sam?? sam was the guy with all branded stuff in our gang :P all 'Foreeeen' brands .. smiles all the time .. half the time, u dnt know if he's thr .. that quiet he is .. n he was one of the better trekkers in our gang, alwayz s'wre in the front of the chain .. btw, Sam, i need to return cash i borrowed frm u for Alu Tikki in Manali :P i remember the gifts i owe u too ..

next was Marie .. i just cannot stop admiring the lady .. she can gel wel in any group and with anyone, under any circumstances .. n u dnt need to ask her for help, whn in need, she'll b rite thr by ur side .. n she was , without second thoughts, the best trekker in our group .. n also, the most travelled .. 'm jealous of u Marie :)

and then Sara .. the other person i admired a lot, though not for the trekkin this time (even though shez among the better trekkers) but for the gr8 job shez doin .. gr8 goin Sara !! three cheerz !! n i hope u get to c all ur frenz this time whn u go home .. and get to spend quality time with ur family too .. keep me posted bot it all after ur return :)

n then there was Mohan .. this guy has a gr8 sense of humour .. i think i had the least number of conversations with mohan outta the 14 .. :P he was alwayz trekking either in the front or he was the last .. lol .. n he was a sport, ever ready for fun .. maybe v'll get to converse mre in the next trek mohan :)

and the last member who joined the gang in manali was our Gikki .. to tel bot gikki, i wud need to write a book, not a paragraph in a blog .. 'm amazed at her levels of energy .. i was literally dragging myself (with Pilot saying he can see the tent with my every two steps + a stop, God knows , if t'was his figment of imagination or he was as exhausted as us n was hallucinating) on the day of crossing the Hamptah pass .. that too in day lite .. and this lady crosses the Pass in the dark and says shez not even cold .. i hear her rapidly talkin away in her usual decibels whn she arrived and i was hunched half dead nxt to the stove in the kitchen tent, too weak to breathe properly .. wat determination n energy n wat a voice !! btw, Gikki, trust me, loads of ppl wre praying for ur safe arrival at the camp that day n breathed in relief only after hearing ur voice !!

so that was bot the gang .. WAIT .. n then there was me :P .. ahh .. not much to tel bot me .. except that maybe i ditched my backpack halfway to the mules and watched on as everyone trudged along with the load on their backs .. n bfr 'the baniyan boy' pounces in to let knw the world like he did in FB that inspite of not carrying the load, i still ended up spraining my leg .. otherwise, not much to tel i guess .. i was happy .. vry happy .. n had an awesome time with all these wonderful ppl .. amen !!

so thats bot Part-1 .. 'll try to post a part-2 with the trek details s'time soon ..

my chair in office is very special .. as in, v r very attracted to each other, me and the chair i mean .. for a lot of our own very gud reasons .. bfr i launch into the indepths of those xtremely justifiable reasons, i must tel u bot my chair and how v got acquainted ...

so, we shifted to this new office building one n half months back and on the first day in the new office, i was late .. one of the last to arrive .. n much to my righteous indignation, everyone had a chair but moi (no !! i wont tel u which company i work for) .. and so urs truly's first job on the first day in the new office was, Chair hunting .. i know .. so i went arnd the 31st floor, ignoring the awesome view it offered of the lovely city outside with iron determination, looking for unsuspicious victims whose chair i can steal .. as u mite expect on such sad occasions, there wre none .. so i ended up finding an orphaned chair in a dark desolute corner , lookin as miserable as i felt .. now, if u want me to get into specifics on the looks n likes of this orphan, wel, i must tel u first off that the poor chair was no looker .. the fact that it was ditched by everyone other than me n that too only caz i ddint ve any other choice, did nothing to improve itz mental n physical state .. when u blotch a white chalk with Royal blue Chelpark ink (ahh .. i miss those Chelpark days !!) and then dip the same chalk in water for a while n dry it in the open top floor/terrace of ur apartment at noon for like 3 or 4 hrs, u get a weird faded blue color ... wel, the chair was in exactly that color .. brought back so many nostalgic memories ...

so the moment i saw it thr, all lonely n lost, i knew this was it .. t'was like the chair was jus waiting for me to find it .. find it, i did !! hah !! Victory !!so i drag my find all the way from one end of the floor to the other end, ignoring all the smirks n sympathy from ppl all over .. i didnt realize the exact reason for the smirks until s'one pointed out to me that i got my mate in the chair .. t'was as noisy as me !!! now THAT touched a nerve and i resolved to break a few bits off that guy's chair that nite after everyone has left for the day .. which wudnt b impossible given the fact that 'm generally one of the last to leave office (no .. dnt even get me started on it .. 'm not ready to talk bot my team or my proj .. no .. dnt!! somethings r better left alone .. 'm warning u !!) .. and i tel u i ve not the slightest clue bot how the guy's chair mysteriously started shedding screws n bolts until one day it jus breathed itz last .. (hey u !! dnt look at me like that .. i had nothing - NOTHING - to do with it)

so comin back to my chair .. my faded chelpark royal blue chair became my identity in office .. it stood out from the rest of the boring bright n new furniture .. no one wanted my chair .. i had it all to myself .. infact when i say no one wanted it, i mean NO ONE wanted .. there was this guy who once came to meet the guy who sits nxt to me .. n i was standing some feet away , busy in a cal .. and this guy took one look at my chair n said he preferred to stand, when offered my chair !!! The nerve !! *indignant look*!!

wel .. 'm tired now .. so tataa to y'all .. God bless me n my chair !!

i stand there, looking at the plane take off ... i wonder if u are thinking of me .. because i am .. thinkin of u, that is ... of us .. of what could have been .. of wht is .. i shake myself out of the reverie to discover 'm the only one standing in the Departures lounge and wonder how long i was lost to the world .. i slowly turn around and not wanting to go back to the empty house, decide to catch up with someone .. anyone .. i look thro my Contacts and not finding anyone i feel like meeting, decide to go grab a coffee some place nywayz .. i hire a cab and blurt out to the driver - "****, **** Please" .. and then realize i jus gave him my office address ..


i walk into the office to find it empty .. saturday evening .. what did i expect .. 'm blessed with a seat next to the window in the 31st floor with an absolutely awesome view of the busiest and richest part of the city ... i pull my chair closer to the window .. the coffee was soothing .. the same vending machine coffee i usually scorned .. i look at the city below.. into the nite .. into my life ..

i traced a single bright blue spec out of the millions of tiny specs of numerous colors lighting up the city's nite life .. the blue was all i could see .. then that faded too and it was nothingness ..

the shrill ring of a phone somewre in the floor brought me back to reality .. i looked at the time .. it was five past two .. i must be going home .. but i didnt want to .. i sat there , millions of thoughts running thro my head, nothing registering ..

i was lost .. there i was, one minute, at the highest cliff of happiness .. n the next, s'one gives me a painful kick in the butt and i start falling into the tumults of water crashing into the sharp rocks below .. the cliff, the gushing waves with their milk white froth, the sharp rocks, the soft eroded corners of the cliff's visible bottom, the slight drizzle in the soft sun with the lovely bright rainbow .... looks gud as long as you are on the top of the cliff .. not when u tumult ur way to envelope them .. that is a new story all together .. the silly mind doesnt think of all this when it takes the risk of goin out to the very edge ..

it is a giddy feeling to look at the busy streets of a posh city from such a height .. does He feel this way, watching over his creations, i wonder .. he should soon be bored .. i was .. i turned back to my monitor ... typed a mail to s'one that i didnt send .. i was tired .. physically .. mentally .. i shut down the machine and got up .. i looked at the dark lonely cubicles .. only mine was lit .. i put off the lights and stepped onto the elevator .. the security guy smiled .. i waved at him absently and walked towards the train station .. i looked at the slowly fading moon and searched for the rising sun .. it was not dark anymre though the sun wasnt out .. i looked at the streets decorated colourfully for some festival that was still a month and half away .. wondered y i couldnt feel the happiness in the air .. no , i dnt have any regrets .. i jus have questions  .. and a lot of hurt ; a heavy aching heart .. and no, 'm not crying .. 'm done with THAT atleast .. and hre, i stop .. Amen !!

there was this kid i met in a bday party i recently went to .. i ve seen kids who cry all the time or wudnt let anyone other than the mom/dad hold him/her or wud jus stare at u like you are Cruella Deville and give nasty looks whenever the parent is not looking n smile sweetly when the parent does .. but then 'm digressing .. so there was this kid who was giving me smiles from her mom's lap .. encouraged, i put formward my hands to lift her frm the mom's lap .. mom gives this grateful smile .. n the kid doesnt resist .. so i assumed the kid wanted to be held .. i was jus a teeny min early in the assumption caz the whole room was suddenly silenced by the screaming kid ... hastily i dump the kid back in mom's lap n Boy !! did i jus hear a pin drop??!!! y allow me to lift her in the first place?? n then bring the house down crying bloddy mudder?!!! *sigh* .. kids r weird .. and scheming !! and i wnt b offended if u arent surprised when i tel u, i was the first person to take leave frm the hosts that day ..

standing in my kitchen, lookin at the dark house in the 10th floor of the building parallel to mine, i was reminded of that nite long long ago .. i had come home feelin all depressed n lonely after a tough day at work n decided to ve some steaming filter coffee- indian style (which is one thing that has never failed to raise up spirits till date) .. i stood at the window lookin into void with the coffee spreading a feel-gud aroma all arnd me .. it musta been arnd 2 AM and as is normal, not one house in the vicinity had a light on .. t'was all peace n quiet ..

suddenly, the darkness was shattered by bright light from across the building n there she was, standing in her kitchen, one very sweet old lady (proper short n round like gran) .. after that day, i started noticing that she was arnd most nights in my timings (which my mom alwayz describes in one word - Crazy :P) .. it became a habit then on .. the moment i enter the house, i check if therez a light on in her kitchen .. it meant the world to me .. if her kitchen was dark, i felt deserted .. n i wait for her, like a puppy waiting for his master whoz at school .. she felt like family .. she helped me drive away the lonliness of the big house ..

i ve never seen her anywre other than that kitchen .. i wudnt b able to recognize her if she stood rite in front of me , caz our buildings had quite some distance between 'em and my eyez arent all that sharp (blame it on age) .. but she was like the gaurdian angel that i was so dependent on , to drive away all my home sickness n loneliness .. and she has never let me down .. until , today, that is ..

she has moved out .. dunno wre she shifted to or if the family thatz gonna shift in nxt to that house will have a nice granny char like her ... n 'm sure she wud never knw that i miss her .. she made a big difference to my days n 'm eternally grateful to her for being thr, in her own way .. miss u granny !! may God bless you ..