Bangalore tring tring

Let me begin...

tak tak tak tak .... fan in the international airport

keeeek kik .. chik.... keeeek kik .. chik .... printer

madam, nimge coolie beka? (madam, do you want a coolie?) .... to a foreign lady

guys meticulously lifting off the luggage on conveyor belt before it reaches the owners (coz the conveyor belt cant hold more than 10 baggages)

ellinda bartiddira sir? (where are you coming from?) ... guy in the stamping desk asking me (he knows flight is from London)

enu customs declare maadake ilva? (nothing to declare in customs?) (as if i would do) ... customs officer & he just gazes my luggage & leaves.. others were going through baggage screenings again.. !

stinking smell ... just outside the door of the airport

jumping signals ... the driver was nephew of schumi

BANG !! an unseen hump... oh... my suitcase... !

a warm welcome ... at home

good home made food ... after 5 months

ETV serials ... same character in 4 roles in 3 serials (1 as duplicate) ... serial names..?

chocs distribution ... should i have got more?

oh bandya.. en tande..? (oh, you came? what did you get?) .... padosans

nim magange maduve maadtira? (i wont translate this) ... padosans again (asking my parents)...!

this is just the beginning... more to come on my way....! work, life, friends...... c u folks... !

3Bs Trip

Epilogue

The 2.5 hr journey back to London was nostalgic. We spoke to Soms for around 45 mins, from the time we left till she reached her place. Then, me & Jay were summarizing the snaps and talking many things and finally reached Victoria coach station at 10 PM. Again, we had to hurry from the coach station to tube station, as on sundays, tube frequencies are less at night and they generally close down by 11 PM. Coach station gu namgu aagode illa !

Yep, reached home sweet home by 11:15 where dinner was ready prepared by my roomies. Had it and crashed to complete my lost sleep.

Overall, this trip was a fantastic one, and to me the most fastest decided trip and a hurried trip (hurry in terms of catching transports). Sometimes think that too much planning doesn't work ;)

...!!!...

3Bs Trip - Part 2

5:30 AM the alarm buzzes and for the first time in my history of weekends, I woke up at that unearthly hour. I woke up Soms too, as it was decided previous night that she would prepare dosas for us for breakfast. By the time we all got ready, it was already close to 7. And, Anita & Shashi had just begun to prepare masala for the dosa. In the meanwhile, I called up a cab and told him to take us to Parkway station at 7:10. Potatoes weren't put for the masala, but still we managed to grab some dosas with half done palya. All in all, we were in a hurry, and the cab driver had already come & waited for 10 mins. we 3 jumped into the cab to go to train station. Luckily, he confirmed we were to go to Parkway station, and suddenly Jay's bell rang and told him to take us to Temple Meads station !

7:38 we arrived at the station and hurriedly bought the tickets and ran like never before to catch the train. Ooph ! we made it ! We were in the train at 7:40 and the train started moving ! Guess for us, stations and running go hand in hand !

It was a 11 minute ride to Bath Spa, and by the time we came to normal, we were off the train. We went enquiring on the place the tour was supposed to start and reached there well before time for the first time :). Our half day tour began sharply at 9 and our tour guide was humourous and fun filled. On way to Stonehenge, he showed the estates of Lord Bath and mentioned that he had a wife and 80+ 'wifelets' and was looking forward to make it a century.

We reached Stonehenge, where lied few pieces of heavy stones mysteriously in an unorderly fashion, supposed to be built in 3000 B.C. ! The radio operated guided tour was mentioning about the several myths and facts associated with this place. It also said that there were more than 700 varieties of small plants which grew on the stones. And being in this place, we got some kind of feeling that we came back in time machine to the age when this was built. And a lot of questions ringing in the mind - who built this, why was this built, what was this used for, how did they get the stones, etc etc ! I'm still searching for the answers. The snap of it, - you all might have seen it in the windows desktop display properties, but here's it again for you..

From there, we proceeded to Lacock National Trust Village. This wonderful village consists of properties which date from 13th and 18th centuries. It was once a prosperous woollen town, but now it seems like a village trapped in time. As we entered the village, we felt as if we were stepping back into history. There was a beautiful flower show organized as well. The Abbey and the house below were also used in the filming of the first two Harry Potter movies.

It also became the town of Meriton in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Have a look at the street, if you have seen this movie, recollect.

This village also has the oldest pub in England, established in 1391.

From here, we went back to Bath and reached the place by 1 PM. To our surprise, there was an Indian cuisine (Jamuna restaurant) right in front of the stop and we had our lunch there. We then went to Roman Baths.

The Roman Baths is supposed to be the most preserved building of Roman empire in UK. They claim to have the best architecture, but when compared to Indian architecure, its nothing. There were 2 baths - main bath and the sacred spring. Of interest was the sacred spring, where hot air bubbles were coming out of water and this was considered to be a holy bath during medeival period.

The radio guide tour mentioned that only preists were allowed into the sacred spring and common man had to go to the other one. And one interesting thing was that, if a person lost anything, he would write it down on a stone or metal and throw it in the bath asking the water God (Aqueus Sulias) to punish the culprit. We also saw those metal pieces and wondered how people lived during that time ! As the tour proceeded, we also got to know that the so called preists were predicting futures also by killing a goat and examining the lever of it. What a crap we thought, as In India also people still sacrifice a goat or any animal. (Whereever it is, its the goat - bakra). How does it differ in any way to the Indian civilization ? And so many crappy mythologies that we couldn't take more of it ! Thats where instantaniously, 3 terms came by us:

Roman civilization - kantri civilization, by Jay

Priest - kuri cutter, by me

We are Romans, coz we are Roaming, by Soms !

After highly dissatisfied with the Roman civilization, we came out of the bath & went to a place where they served water coming from the sacred spring. The taste was yuck, but the lady who served was too pretty ;)

We then went around the small town, saw the Abbey and gardens and left for Bristol at 6 PM. We reached Bristol pretty fast, and as we hadn't covered any part of Bristol, asked Soms to take us to some place which made us feel like we were in Bristol. Hurriedly, she took us to the centre of city where a fountain was the main attraction (unfortunately, it was turned off). Then again, we had a gala time running back to the coach station to catch the 7:20 PM bus back to London. We still made it and were there just 5 mins prior to departure ! We bid our final adieus and boarded the bus.

3Bs Trip - Part 1

You might still be wondering as to what are the 3Bs I'm mentioning. Its Birmingham, Bristol & Bath. The 's' is for Stonehenge.

Well, we reached Digbeth coach station, Birmingham well before the said arrival time, at 11 AM, where we thought Sowmya (henceforth Soms) would be too loaded with food stuffs that she couldn't even shake hands with us. Phew ! All our assumptions were turned down by her as she had got only one small mini bag for herself! Our starvation continued.

Soms had already enquired about going to Balaji temple of Birmingham and we religiously followed the way shown by her. We reached the temple close to mid noon, where it was mediumly drizzling. The temple was located in a serene landscape, far from sky rising buildings and crowded markets. Ganesh and Subramanya temples on either side and the main Balaji temple in centre. No brits around, all devout devotees around, the same rush to see Gods, nobody speaking in English, the temple architecture, ambience, chanting of 'Govinda Govinda' and the Stotras, prasad distributed, laddus, all made me feel that I was actually in India. I felt desis behave more properly in temples abroad rather than at home place.

We came out of the temple and went near the main entrance of the temple just to avoid the rains when suddenly we saw someone carrying a food plate. We enquired people over there and got to know that food was being served in the nearby tent. Sigh ! What a releif for hungry guys ! We went there and had the prasad food - authentic payasa, sambhar-rice, cabbage sabji and pappadum.. what more we wanted ! After having the sumptuous lunch, we were so tired that we couldn't even walk properly. Well, but had to.. We came back to the bus stop and caught a bus to city centre.

We alighted at the city centre, but the rain didn't seem to stop. We were just hanging around the City council, museum, open restaurants, when we came across a funny event being conducted by BBC - simulated beach ball. We took part in that, represented Birmingham and beleive me, it was too much fun ! Didn't mind getting drenched in the rain, for it was too interesting. Then we came back near the water body and took a snap of the city council. Here's what we got to see..

Then went around here and there, and made sure that we reached the coach station before 6:30 PM. We didn't want another round of exercise for the day ! But, the bus got delayed and we only started at 7:10 from Birmingham to Bristol. All along the journey had great laughs and we reached Bristol by 9:30 PM. Took a cab to Soms place where another round of delicious dinner was awaiting us, made by her house mates Amogh & Thiru. Belted it and then me and Soms went for a walk to receive her another set of friends - Anita and Shashi. And after long discussions about plans for the next day, decided that we are getting up early and leaving for Bath at 7 AM, as the only train available was at 7:40 ! By the time we slept, it was already 12:30 !

Good night for now.. More in Part 2. Watch out this space tomorrow !

3Bs Trip

Prologue

Friday 17th Aug, 6:00 PM

Jay calls me and asks about the weekend plan. The plan which we were planning from past 1 week. The trip to Bristol. And as I was completely flooded with work, I still hadn't booked the tickets. Then finally, took out some time from work, worked out the plan, booked one way tickets from London to Birmingham(8:30 AM) and Bristol to London(7:20 PM), called up MadMaxTours, enquired about the tours which they had and booked a half day tour to Stonehenge and Laccock National Heritage village starting from Bath for Sunday(8:45 AM). All these in a span of 35 mins. Then left for home at 7:15 PM after completing the remaining work.

Friday 17th Aug, 9:00 PM

Sowmya (the unseen girl of my previous blog) calls me and asks to book return tickets for her from Bristol to Birmingham. Then suddenly I too remembered that we have to get back to Bristol the next day from Birmingham. So did return bookings for all of us, packed up things and went off to sleep at 12:00. A 6 hour sleep during the weekend is considered to be bad i guess, but couldn't help.

Saturday 18th Aug, 8:24 AM

"Kyu aaj kal neend kam khwab zyaada hai, lagta khuda ka koi"

Dont worry, this is my ringtone and I picked it up before it continued. It was Jay.

Jay: Dude, where are you?

Me: I'm at the station.

Jay: Ok.

Me: Victoria tube station.

Jay: wwaatt?? dude.. come fast ! We will miss the bus!

Me: Ok.. I'm doing my morning exercise after a long time. I'll be there soon.

Finally reached Victoria coach station at 8:29 AM. Boarded the bus and just fell off on the seat. It was cold and I was sweating ! Guess for us, Victoria coach station is not the right place to catch the bus.

More in next blog. Take a break..

The importance of a 'seeti'

Yes, you heard it right. The importance of a seeti, or whistle to be precise. Oops.. dont get me wrong, I'm not talking about the seeti you blow when you see a girl. Neither I'm talking about the seeti when you remember a song (as in DTPH), nor the seeti when you shiver, nor when its used to call someone, nor the seeti you blow when your team wins, nor virtually anything you blow out of your lips. The seeti I'm talking about is beyond your imagination !

Actually, before I get to the point of which kind of seeti I'm going to tell, let me brief you about the seeti. As described in wiki, a seeti is a Persian woodwind instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. And there exists many kind of seetis - police, sports, train, steam, bird, industrial etc. My seeti of importance lies with the steam.

Making some sense..? Yes, this seeti is so very used daily that hardly we fail to recognize the importance of this. Pressure cooker ka seeti. Beleive me, without this, nothing would get cooked properly. Its such a tiny thing, but carries with it a lot of significance. Isn't it?

And in London, where cookers are not used at all, imagine the plight of desi guys who have got a cooker from India, depends on it for everything and suddenly one day, they discover that the seeti is lost (Due to misplacement, or cleaning, or whatever. The seeti is no longer available).

But thanks, there is something called a microwave. But, it can never be the substitute for a cooker.

This blog is based on a true story of guys of 322 Perth Road.

No matter

no matter..


where you come from
what you do
what you eat
what you say
what grades you get
what positions you take
what achievements you make
what responsibilities you hold
how many friends you have
how many trips you do
how many games you play
how many blogs you write
how many awards you win
how many acclamations you get
who you love
who you hate
who you like to talk to
who you would like to be with
how much you earn
how much you spend

it is YOU who came to this world
empty handed
and will also leave
empty handed

Unseen girl

an unseen girl

to be received by me and my accomplice

she waves at the arrival

and we are at the departure

thanks to technology and colour of calls

we finally got to meet each other

for the punishment of long waiting

we made her treat at burger king

we get to know she has a sentiment issue

so we gifted her a tissue

we started our london darshan

buckingham & green park in action

we continued on our nataraja service

getting directed on map basis

we reached the westminster area

which is the heart of london centra

showed them the abbey and walked down the bridge

below which passes the thames mori

we were now on other side of thames

where many cartoons played their games

for one she got so scared

she would remember it forever as A-grade

took a pic with london eye on her hand

the photographer was truely manned

then went to charring cross with a bang

to meet at london bridge another huge gang

showed her the bridges - london and tower

where tourism has based their power

amidst the huge rush & the jam

we finally reached east ham

the tube was burning

but she kept on saying

I'm so excited

Oh man.. I'm so damn excited !

after the vada sambar

the 7 of us were still sober

we wanted to have a beat

afterall it was JK's leaving treat

the next day all geared up for going

oh no.. ! not another round of waiting

in between, we three went to holme's museum gallery

didn't buy much, but only for orkut gallery

we were still waiting in the sunshine

we were totally 3+3+3 = nine

we planned for Madame Tussads

but ended up in pizza hut

looking at the que we decided

its not worth going ahead

after a lots of wheres & whichs

finally decided upon Greenwich

we reached Greenwich, not too bad

a small hill which made us tired

atop the hill they hardly knew

london city was at the best from this view

stood, posed, took photos along the GMT line

hardly we remembered about the 7 PM deadline

as soon as she realised she would miss the bus

she put all the onus on us

thru out the journey from greenwich to victoria

we were like - you will miss it, you WILL miss it

but once in victoria and at 6:45 PM

we were like - you have to get it, you HAVE TO get it

we did some jogging and running

and entered coach station happily jumping

with 5 more mins to ring the bell

we thought we reached safe well

the seen girl just left

without inviting us to the party to be held

we were like - hmmm.. okie.. no worries

but finally got to know each other

dont know again when we will meet

but on that day, there will surely be a treat

Goodbye..

Hiding from somewhere, walking slowly
dont know which direction which time
you went forward than me on the way
but you were just here just now
didn't hear anything, since when was this grudge
how did you say goodbye

In between you passed away
it was my life till yesterday
take those arms, and cold shadows
I too told goodbye
goodbye goodbye my direction goodbye
my breath says goodbye
goodbye goodbye, now what to tell
when you have told goodbye

Listen you innocent, why just ignored, today you go away
your eyes will only find us everywhere
nights like these, while rolling on bed, you will remember us
and after losing, if didn't want to say, why you told goodbye
goodbye let someone ask, what did you think and told goodbye
goodbye goodbye, now what to tell
when you have told goodbye

My heart was burnt, still heart told
wish you were there today with me, all directions would have been flower garden
unhappy with you, i'm angry, heart is in trouble
didnt even think or listen, why did you say goodbye
goodbye let someone ask, what did you think and told goodbye
goodbye goodbye, now what to tell
when you have told goodbye

why thought and told goodbye

give those arms, and cold shadows
I too told goodbye.

Goodbyes are painful.
In rememberance of a month. Dedicated to AAru.

(Translate the above to Hindi, or Click here)