Keep It Simple Silly!! :)

 ***Boy to girl: Err…I don’t really want a relationship at this point in time.

  Girl to boy (heart-broken, yet pretending to be calm): Ok. And why is that so?

  Boy to girl: See, this in one phase of our life when we can have fun, live life the way we     want to, without thinking too much. Relationships make life complicated. That’s why.

  Girl to boy: I get your point. We’ll think about a relationship later on. ***

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Most couples these days think not just twice or thrice, they think over a hundred times before they nod their head in approval when it comes to the “being in a relationship” part. So, what is playing villain in the normal lovey-dovey scene?

Five years back in time, guys used to hesitate asking a girl out. Reason: what if the girl rejects the proposal? And now, five years down the line, guys face the same perplexity, but with a minor difference. The hesitation is still there, but the apprehension, a little different. Reason: what if the girl accepts the proposal? Ironical, isn’t it?

Relationships are no longer trending. I know it does not sound a trifle cool, but then, that is how it is. The grey area between being in a relationship, and not being in one, is oft perceived to be disgusting. “Time-pass” is what the Tom, Dick and Harry would term it as. But, come to think of it, is it really only time-pass?

I beg to differ. I don’t think love should be relationship- bound. You can love someone, care for someone, miss that person, enjoy his/her company, without being a couple. No rishte ka naam, and the world and its wife think you’re doomed. But it isn’t like that. Look at the pressure every individual is facing. If you’re a student, the pressure of doing well academically is not the only thing that’ll be on your mind. Extra-curricular activities, internships, jobs and “being in the league of uber-cool peers” will consume most of your sanity.

And if you’re a professional, its worse. Moving up the ladder, elbowing other possible competitors, keeping the family happy, earning more than your batchmates, and more to make you a lunatic. Amidst all this, one does need to take out time to switch off. One needs have that “special someone”, who can be by your side, make you laugh, and comfort you; a “special someone”, who has to be more than a friend.

Relationships aren’t harmful. No they’re not. But what makes them messy is that the expectations rise at a mercurial rate. Its like, “You bloody need to take my call even if you’re on your death-bed” Was a possibility once upon a time, but not anymore. Every individual comes with his/ her own set of problems, and it’s best not to pile on one’s issues on the heads of others. Even if it’s your “significant other”. People need closeness, yet they need space. The best way to make it a win-win situation, is by drawing a line.

We have to understand that our existence is a complex saga. Relationships lead to arguments, arguments lead to fight, and they leave you with a feeling of wretchedness inside. What’s worse, when you’re in a relationship, there’s a cent percent possibility of a break-up. No relationship, no break-up. Yay! It always feels good to live in a Utopian world, and relationships CAN make your life complicated. So, just like an animated Ranbir Kapoor says, “Keep it simple silly!”

Me and My Mumbai! :)

It almost seemed as if time had boarded a jet plane and whizzed past me. A year in Mumbai now, and it feels like my wobbly toddler steps into the media industry happened just yesterday.

I was on the threshold of a four-month stint with the baap of all publications: The Times of India, and I could feel the butterflies fluttering inside my system. Apprehensive, nervous, excited; boy, I was a bundle of emotions. And TOI Bombay was my little paradise. From growing professionally, to coming to terms with the vastness of Bambai nagariya, this has been an incredible journey so far.

And the local train joyrides. Ah! I love ‘em! From going “Dadar kaunse side pe aayega?” to being on the other side of the fence, life has come a full circle. The art of elbowing out people in the race to get a footing space in the train that would be literally spilling with commuters, the rail tracks have been more than a learning curve.

And then it was all about people who mattered. Enormously talented people, who had a very light head on their shoulders! Being in their circle makes just leaves me with the feeling of fast-spreading glee! Yeah, the big fat family at TOI was more than I could’ve asked for. Internship ended, and it was yet again time for the dreadful goodbyes. Hellos are far more difficult than bye-byes. With bye-bye, there’s hope, with hellos come apprehensions. That of course, is me, looking at the world through pessimistic glares! If moving away from friends was sad, looking forward to new company was equally exciting!

It was mid-October, when I was reeling under multiple high BP causing incidents. Lost wallet, no cash in hand, no job, I was almost feeling like a refugee. And India.com happened, and along with it walked into my life, some of the most wonderful people. Life has been good ever since, all thanks to these angels in human form.

As I bring in the first anniversary of my arrival in this city, I have to thank all the people who’ve made this journey worthwhile and beautiful. And I have to admit unabashedly that I am head-over-heels in love with this city and its aura!

Déjà Vu

The cursor was blinking on her screen. The blog post begged to be completed. It had been more than a fortnight that she’d begun penning down her thoughts. They were there in her head; a nameless voice inside her, dictating words that aptly expressed her emotions. But the words got trapped within the boundaries of the head. The flow from the brain through the keyboard to the document was blocked. She read the few lines she’d managed to type; the sight filled her with rage and disbelief. It seemed as if she’d lost the power to transcribe her thoughts. “The only talent that I thought I had, has also rusted,’’ she thought aloud. Talking to herself had become a habit. She sometimes wondered if these were symptoms of her going insane, sometimes she consoled herself thinking that great people often had conversations with themselves.

Life had never seemed so mundane. Her life was no less than a farce. She switched of the laptop and looked at the time. It was five past two. She’d been burning the midnight oil, literally, yet she could see no evident progress in her blog. Writing, a one-time passion, had been mercilessly reduced to a vocab-enhancing exercise. “I wish,” she said to herself, “that the postcards of life never became blurred.” She tucked herself into her quilt, the warmth of which scarcely managed to soothe her.

She dreaded waking up every morning, not knowing what to expect from the long day that lay ahead. The trend hadn’t been great for over half a year now. A day well started would end in the most depressing manner. She’d leant to hold back her tears. But sometimes, the emotions broke out of their barriers; times, when she would weep uncontrollably, her body being rocked by her sobs. She had a lot of people who would gladly cushion her from the storms of life, but strangely, she did not feel the urge to seek comfort from them. She had become indifferent, cold, numb, selfish to a certain extent. She did not like the change in her, but then she thought, change is inevitable.

Although her character had assumed different shades, the memories refused to let her go. They haunted her; they would come gushing down on her at random moments. A word said in a meeting would remind her of someone, a conversation between two random people in the train would take her down memory lane. A photo, a moment would cause déjà vu. “There’s no escaping it.” She was talking to herself again, this time in the bus. She’d gotten used to the embarrassment of people staring at her post her monologues. “Dumb asses,” she said, this time being careful to blurt it out loud. She’d already faced wrath from a lot of people close to her heart.

The moments of recollection of thoughts would take her into a state of tranquility; they would make her question herself, the answers hard to come by. Everytime she’d be lost in the flurry of thoughts, she’d be rudely awakened by the mechanical pace of the city that she lived in. Work gave her relief, but these instances were momentary; the memories were inside her, the love the longing, the hope, all packed in her heart and mind. They were omnipresent, and however hard she tried to ignore them, suppress them, they always found their way out. She’d learnt the art of putting on a mask, and camouflaging the storm that raged within her. She’d learnt to live with the memories, for they had been interwoven with her identity. Yes, there was no escaping them!

World spell-bound, Australia whitewashed, Indians all smiles! :)

Indian sports has taken the world by storm. Be it the gold mining at the CWG, or getting our mates from down under taste a dose of their own medicine, it has been a fortnight of tasting some sweet revenge! The dazzling opening ceremony of had the world spell-bound by the immense diversity of Indian culture. If the world was bowled over by the opening ceremony, they had a few more surprises in the days to come. 96 medals and still counting, the international sporting arena has now been woken up to sit back and take notice: India has arrived.

Being the cricket frenzied nation that we are, CWG or Olympics, nothing can stop the Indian sports lover from keeping track of any ongoing cricket series. The India-Australia clash, happens to be amongst the most significant. One of the reasons for this contest to surpass the intensity of even that between the rivals who share a common border (IND Vs PAK), is that, of late, these contests have started grabbing eyeballs for all the wrong reasons. Be it abusing on field, and calling each other names, or just cheating their way through to a victory, the Australian players have always offended the Indian cricket freaks.

This test series was exceptional for a number of reasons.

1.Australia whitewashed. More significant because this has happened for the first time in nearly three decades. The last time happened was way back in 1982 against Pakistan.

2.Aussie domination ends. Post this series, the Kangaroos slipped to the 5th position. This has happened for the first time since 2003.

3.India justify their being at the top of the charts. Individual performances were the cherries on the pie.

4.The Mohali test somehow, managed to steer back attention to tests. Being the cliff hanger of a match that it was, the nail-biter, brought back the old world charm into the homes of people, who had long lost their interest in the extended version of the game.

5.Zaheer and Tendulkar at the helm of the top test bowlers and batsmen tables respectively.

6.The 216 chase was one of India’s highest run chases ever. Nerve racking too!

7.If we talk about the positives for the Indian cricket team to take back home, young lad Cheteshwar Pujara holding on his nerves was fabulous.

8.Very Very Sorted out Laxman. Injury nibbled on to him, yet the next-to-impossible victory that he earned for the team was emphatic.

9.SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR. Words fall short. If he is called the God of world cricket, well there’s enough substantial reason to justify it. 37th year of his life; 1270 test runs; mind-boggling average of 97.69. Two half centuries and a double hundred in this series also took him past the 14,000 test run mark, making him the first person to have achieved it. The Lord of the Pitch, we bow down to thee!!

And what can I say about the crowd at Bengaluru? Even the great Tendulkar couldn’t stop himself but be all praises for them. Here’s hoping that this golden run continues!

Goosebumps!

The match that went down to the wire. The warriors: Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. The result: Well, not quite to my liking.

Tight bowling by RCB, coupled with brilliant backing by the fielders, not just put Team Blue under pressure, the timely wickets put a lid on the scoring rate. Till 15 overs, things looked pretty rosy for the Red and Gold Brigade. Just then, the tables turned. Silky-haired Saurabh Tiwary and burly Bravo took it away from RCB. Clobbering the ball, the gritty batting by them ensured that they amassed a piling total that would give them a cushion to defend. The RCB campaign kick started in style with both Kallis and RD having a smooth sail with 40 in the first five overs. Unfortunately though, Kallis made his way back to the pavilion a bit too early.

RD’s innings was class and elegance personified. Divine drives, picture-perfect pulls, charismatic cuts and his trademark defense. Ah!! Treat to the eyes! He did what he always does best: anchored the innings, kept the scoreboard ticking and gave the more attacking batsmen most part of the strike. But the MI bowlers chipped in with wickets at regular intervals with Sixappa and Rossco falling cheaply. And then came the man who tried his best to turn things around. Playing the ball on merit and thrashing every delivery that had the slightest possibility to be hit, he hammered four consecutive boundaries off the 19th over by Malinga.

The last over. The equation: 13 required off 6 balls. Zaheer Khan to Kohli. Leg bye. They picked up a quick single. Zaheer Khan to Rahul Dravid.  A hit and a miss.  RD ran for his life. Hearts pounding. Kohli back on strike. Relief.  Next delivery, whacked for a boundary! 7 from 3. Heart beats pumping. Next delivery, dot ball. 7 from 2. Kohli brazened up, Zaheer fired in, wham went the timber against the leather. Four more! 3 needed off the last delivery. Intense discussions. Zaheer with the last ball. Top edged by Kohli. The ball went up almost till the heavens and then settled down comfortably in the gloves of Rayadu.  Goosebumps.

The scene: stunned silence from the RCB camp. Ecstatic cries from the Mumbai Indians. Kohli down on his knees, unable to believe that his heroics went down the drain. RD walked upto him, consoling him like a protective and concerned elder brother. MI won by 2 runs.

RCB now go into their next match, a knock out match against the Lions. With a NRR better than the Lions, all RCB needs to do is win the match to book a berth in the semi-finals.

Phew! Quite a match that was. Awe-inspiring cricket all around.  Although I would have been happy had the result been different, yet, nothing’s more satisfying than a good cricketing contest. The match had its moments. An animated Rahul Dravid with his fist punching, a mature RD with his caring gesture. More importantly, the unbeaten 71 that has gotten him back into form. And yes, the find of the match, Abu Nachim. The lanky pacer from Guwahati, who outdid Kallis in his very second delivery. I could not help but feel proud of him. 

Watching it in the comfort of my home was the best part. Discussions with dad, who tried hard to ignore the looks I gave him when RD reached his half ton. His caring hand that ruffled my hair when I was in shock after the match was over. Ah! Priceless!

The Voice Inside My Head

When you are a muddle head, the worst thing that can happen to you is being constantly reminded about the fact you chose to be oblivious of. As I walked out of my aunt's flat on to the bustling road, searching for an auto that could ferry me back to my grim PG, my eyes started wandering. ''Ah! What a glamorous car'' I thought to myself, admiring a metal-coloured beauty on four wheels that zipped past me. Just then came a crude reminder. ''Stop ogling at that thing that's far beyond your reach and get down to the business of getting yourself an auto, loser!" said that shapeless, genderless, evil squeaky little voice inside my head. Ok. I know I am a moron, or worse still, a loser. Why the hell do I need to be reminded repeatedly? And finally, when I did get the sent-straight from-God's-own-garage sort of rickshaw that I promptly plonked myself into, I could not help but grin an extra wide grin at all those who were still waiting for their's to come past! I chuckled at my childishness, then I heard it squeal again. ''Do not laugh at those unfortunate souls. Some one else may also laugh at your expense, loser!''  What humiliation! Had this been some earthling, I swear I would have slapped the shit out of that person. But unfortunately, the idiotic squeals were coming from right within me, and what made it worse was that I realized that it was right.

I live in this old fashioned flat thing that doesn't even boast of a lift. Adding to my piling woes is the painful fact that I live on the fourth floor. By the time I climb those stairs to reach my PG, I look like a coolie; and start smelling like one too! Waking up early morning and rushing back to your PG with an assignment at hand, a lecture from the bugging rikshaw walla is the last thing you would ask for. ''Pehle hi paisa nikal ke rakhne ka tha na..kitna time barbaad karte ho..'' he grumbled. Getting out of the auto, I was muttering a zillion curses under my breath, and it let out the irritatingly familiar squeal again. ''No need to curse him. You didn't waste his time; you wasted yours, moron!"Bang on again!

Struggling up the stairs, with the oh-I-am-so-out-of-breath look pasted on my face, I toppled to my PG. Just then I realized that my keys were playing hide and seek with me. ''What timing', I thought to myself. The squeal: ''Why cant you keep that jhola of yours organized? Keep finding the things that you need the least and find no traces of the stuff you need urgently, loser!'' Yeah right! Panting for breath, I just wanted to squeeze that shapeless bugging thing hoping that it would lose its voice or something, but I was helpless. I had to leave home for a ''far-off'' assignment and I was running al around the house like a kitten whose tail was on fire. I took my bath, got dressed in a jiffy, and was busy gobbling down the yummy breakfast while juggling with my phone and the food, and every time the bugger would be, '' Hurry up you idiot. You are such a lazy bum and a loser!'' I had enough of it. I am the one who is hunting for an auto, getting lectures from the idiot of a rikshaw waala, exerting myself climbing four floors opening the door, hopping around the house to be on time! I wanted to scream out, '' Technically, I am not the loser you dimwit, YOU are!!'' And I did scream. Only to wake up the peacefully (and thankfully) sleeping hyper active PG auntie of mine. That was the last thing I wanted to happen. I was dreading about being quizzed, '' Beta, kahan ja rahe ho so early-early?'' Thank Heavens, nothing of that sort happened.

The rest of the day was quiet, as in the squeal, it wasn't there quite that much, apart from the instructions and speculations like, ''Time to get off; the platform must be on the right side.'' Not that I missed it. I was gleeful that I probably didn't go wrong anywhere. Moreover, I was busy covering a story. But then, I heard her again. Two voices, or rather sounds that my ears sprung up to. One was the angry growling of my stomach, demanding for some fuel; the other, the bugger: ''You should have picked up some sort of food that you could have nibbled on your way back, you loser.'' Thank you, was the only thing that I could manage to grumble.

Back to work and I had far more voices hat I would listen to happily. And the irritating yet intellectual thing knew when to shut up. It did shut up. And for a pretty long time. ''How nice. Commotion all around yet a profound silence within. This is what I want'', I thought. But whatever said and done, I know that voice keeps me going. Talks to me when there's no one to comfort me. Consoles me, lashes out at me. But, its always there. And its always right!!!

First RCB Fan Meet-Up, Mumbai, 2010

Surprises aren’t always pleasant; sometimes they are just mind blowing. As I was gearing up for the first RCB meet-up at Colaba, I received a certain call, which made my sleepy eyes light up with excitement. That was Disha Shetty informing me about a latest addition to the list of participants: the new addition was, of course, none other than Siddhartha Mallya!! Before I could let it sink in, I found myself imagining how the meet-up would be, and most importantly, how lucky the Mumbai RCB gang is! 

I was super excited owing to a number of reasons. Firstly, this was my first meet up. Secondly, being new to Bombay, I know very few people, and hanging out with people sharing the same passion was something that I was looking forward to with bated breath. The new twist in the tale introduced by Disha sent the excitement meter ticking!! 

Celebrities are never on time is the usual assumption. But contrary to popular belief, Mallya Junior turned up way before time! As Disha and I walked up to him, introducing ourselves, we could see how happy he was to see two RCB fans in the house! Little did he know that there was a bunch of chirpy fans who would be pouring in a while. 

The meeting kick started in trademark Royal Challengers style. There was beer on the table, and Mallya Junior insisted that we sip beer as the proceedings began. Although he was a little surprised that we chose not to taste a home product, yet he was polite enough to excuse us and let us have juice instead. Then started a conversation, which we wished would never end. He shared with us his vies on player retention, who is the ideal player for the CL, who is in great shape, who’s not et all. However, what emerged to be the most interesting part of the event was all the inside-scoop he shared with us.

Going by the way he spoke, the man does have in-depth knowledge of the game, and he knows for sure, the nitty-gritty of the business he is into. The ease with he discussed the sport, chipping in with facts and figures, the fans were charmed and bowled over. With some off-the-record scoop and future plans like altering the jerseys, who-goes-in-who-faces-the-axe kind of stuff, the meet-up was refreshing! 

He posed with the fans, and when I asked him about the meet-up he said, “I am never lost for words. If today I am, it is because I am overwhelmed by the turn out. And considering the fact that this is Bombay, I have to confess that such a huge turn-out was least expected. It feels great though!” 

What followed was a stint of an awareness campaign, with the RCB fans sporting colourful stickers on their jerseys. These stickers courtesy an NGO called Corner Stone, had some thought provoking slogans printed on them. A march and a photo session leter, we were a bunch of happy youngsters. Community Managers Natasha, Nidhi and Ankit along with chief blogger Aneesh also joined us. What a awesome day it was! I not just got a chance to break away from the monotony of home-workplace-home, but also got to know some of the RCB fans in town and most of all, made a lot of new friends! If this is the way the meet-up would turn out to be, I am GAME FOR MORE!!!! :)