Ek semester to guzariye Gujarat mein- 1

It’s really surprising that even though day by day nothing changes, when you stop at times and look back, a lot of difference is found.

This happened to me when today’s date made me realize that I had set my foot in this state exactly one month ago to spend away 40% of 2016. It really feels like I have been living here since God knows when. It was a remarkable experience living here where they have completely different ways, food (Sigh), people and routine. Also I had to live with someone I had not talked much with during college. But fortunately, we clicked and it has been good ever since.

They say those who both laugh together and cry together share great bonds. Same has been the case with us. We have survived together a drastic change in our routine: Having meals we never imagined having, having dinner when it’s still daylight outside, not allowed to have anything after that, starving most of the times because not able to find the food that we liked, living in an office room, trying to talk to most people in sign language, witness the worst driving skills we had seen ever, being stared at all the time like aliens, finding NO mobile network in the jungle we live so being able to get only 30% of what everyone tells us on the phone, eating paani puri in dinner :O incessant rains the entire time, also witnessed getting back to our room after a long, tiring day and on opening it, seeing people happily sleeping on our beds :O and also people who always talk and never eat, people being interested in the minute-by-minute activities we do, where we go, with whom and why and when and yada yada yada yada :D :O

So we have cried a lot together and at the same time tried to laugh it off, mock on our misery.
There is a separate list of ordeals we face happily in our company.
To be honest, internship like it’s going is nothing like what I had imagined, or wanted.

Having said all that, I would call off this month. It was a good one.

It was only due to the internship that I could have a father-daughter long train ride trip. Plus we saw a new town together. I really cannot remember if there was ever such a time before. Just the two of us.

It was quite scary when he left me there and went away. I was scared. Very nervous.  But that had to end soon. With the passage of time, I started liking the place. I always loathed life in big cities and preferred less crowded places having beauty in its pristine form. This is a beautiful place to live in.

Over time as we tried to understand the ways and system of this place, we have also transformed the office room into our ‘home’, started illegally keeping equipment that would prevent starvation, made few ‘addas’  - places to go in accordance with different moods and wants, learned few Garba moves as well :P There’s a lot of greenery,  a lot less pollution. Beautiful singing by roommate at night makes me sleep good (and jealous)

We are learning to manage things on our own as we are completely alien to this place and  it is pretty exciting that right now, we are neither at home, nor at college.
Thankfully, we have also been successful in finding the EXACT location where we get the blessing called ‘mobile network’. Moving even a centimeter from this spot makes it vanish away. It’s sad to tell those of you who have ever called me in this last month that I really understood just half of what you said :D
We have made friends with pretty interesting people and so we are getting fluent in Gujarati. We are even thinking we could get our own secret language to talk to each other in once we get back to college.  :D
We have discussed a variety of interesting topics at night and also had interesting pieces of conversations with our third colleague who, by the way lives in his own magnificent room and gets shahi paneer in his hostel which has no restrictions of any kind and has his fan-following of ‘dedicated lovers’ in the plant.

Getting friends over, going there, getting here, we have also had our share of 2 small trips till now. They have been such a relief from routine. I hate routine. 

But most of all
The last month has been special because I got above these (trivial, but true and haunting) fears I always had

• ·         The fear of getting into water.

Being born at the coastal region and seeing the sea since I was born I shouldn’t have had it. But I had it anyway. It was when we got to Diu and my friends took each of my hand and we rode the waves together, that the ‘water monster’ shrunk.

• ·         The fear of touching a scooty

I can ride the bicycle well. But there was a big phobia of driving. But then one of them made me drive one which was so scary in the beginning that I had my heart in my mouth. The level of trust was dangerous – with him risking his life and sitting behind me while I was learning. Dangerous because it was almost certain that I would fly our vehicle straight into the water along which we were driving. Luckily it glided gracefully (and very slowly :P ) on the empty road.

I DROVE A HONDA ACTIVA. YAYY!

Sir ghooming gol gol

• ·         The fear of crowded places

This does not mean I would want to go to a crowded location anyway. Recently I had to face a very crowded situation which tickles every time I think of it. People from all directions and half a foot window – what they all want. It was something I was saved from till now by the grace of my lovely friends and family. It was terrifying and hilarious at the same time that I made my way through that like nemo, and successfully did my job and that too- in record time (exceeding my partner’s expectations)
In the end I thought .. Hmmm.. Crowd doesn’t eat you. So I can think of going again if need comes. I’m not saying I’ll go. But I can think of going :P

• ·         The fear of dogs

Well this is not entirely eliminated. But having lots of biodiversity living in my hostel, I at least don’t freak out completely but calmly move along (With heart beat reaching 200)

• ·         In lesser detail, the fear of losing (not 'winning and losing’ losing but ‘letting go’ losing) and the fear of baring the emotions out to anyone.

Dear Internship Devta, keep blessing us with such nice days all throughout our stay here and remove the next set of fears please.
Staying so far away from everyone also made me appreciate my friends even more. I really miss them at times, and every day different situations remind me of each one of them. Really looking forward for 6 more months together.
Will come back with next monthly report of the project ‘Ek semester toh guzaariye Gujarat mein’
Jai Shri Krishna

New nazaara from new hostel window

Caves Part 2

Junagadh ke saathi

Scarecrow

Sunsaan nagar, anjaan dagar

Into the caves

Khaana milne ki khushiiiiiiiii

The Love of Stories ❤

In primary school, I had a teacher who used to tell us moral stories every week. And we all used to listen with awe and excitement. 
Even before that, there was a set of some 5-6 stories that my father used to tell me and brother repeatedly when it was our ‘good day’ before we slept. With all the expressions and sounds and liveliness; those stories sure made his kids either open their WIDE with excitement, or cringe, or cry or be happy. All those stories had little things which he wanted us to learn so he told us those stories over and over again. Whether it was to tell us that good habits will take us a long way in life and bad ones will destroy us, or that we should trust our parents and never hide anything from them, all the stories are etched in my mind completely as they were; word by word to be told to other kids :D   
I’m sure most of us were fond of either listening to stories or storytelling back in the days.

When we grew up however, the frequency got lesser and lesser. But then in 2012, I started following Neelesh Misra on radio and was back to ‘a-story-a-day’.

A couple of weeks ago, me and a friend started listening to his show, “Qisson ka Kona” On Saavn. We have been religiously listening to a story together every day right before we sleep. It has been a wonderful experience. Some days the stories let the tears flow, some days they leave a big smile on the face, and some days, they are just unexpected and leave us surprised and thinking throughout the day. (Don’t judge a story by its title! :P) It’s very common that we end up discussing our thoughts about the stories and the characters.
A lot of times we can relate to them.

The beauty of the entire thing is that: The stories he tells are quite simple, yet very thoughtful. They are not too far-fetched or too impossible. But, they are the things which keep happening with everyone now and then. When we think about it, we meet a hidden corner in ourselves… waiting to expose itself by a stimulus like this. Moreover, we also end up sharing similar things with each other which we never thought we would tell anyone.

In the end, either the sweetness of the story calms us after the ending “Bingggg!” Or they put our thoughts on fire and after that, calms us up. Either way we feel relaxed slipping into the world of dreams, away from our daily routine for some time!

Over this time,

I have found bedtime stories back along with an ocean of secrets, and the strings of our bond have grown stronger: with stories, as well as with each other. :D

In fact, that's what we all will become one day- Stories! :) Or in the evergreen Kishore Kumar's style: "Ek din bik jaaega maati ke mol, Jag mein reh jaenge pyaare tere bol"

Some days, I realize I was cycle waali chiraiyya, 
while on others we reminisce over paper boats, 
or feel sorry about hakim sahab ke chori hue joote, 
or cry our eyes out over the Pashmina tragedy, 
or we cry happy tears when Bangla No. 8 is blessed with children's laughter, 
or I point out to him that he appears to be boss wali beghum's husband, 
or wonder how effortless was making naye dost while falling off the bus, 
or wait eagerly for the reply of the lady who went from Guwahati to Dibrugarh, 
or think how a thing as trivial as a nakhoon would make a girl realize what she wanted from her life and what she didn't.
And on other days, we simply smile at the sweetness of the suicide note, 
or well up because of the innocence of poor Dibiya.
We are loving the stories more and more with each passing day :D

Now if you people excuse us it’s the time to choose today’s story J

Tada :D

Dream, dream - what do you mean?

After a long time, I welcome you to the blog still finding a name :P

I’m done with three-fourth of my college and back to the mountains for the monsoon :D Man! These days are passing slowly and lovely. It’s like a dream stay for a month.- Watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Gorging on food, sleeping, reading, and writing something different after newly acquiring taste for Shayari :D

The thing I’m writing about today is what haunted me three days back. So let’s begin:

I am at home. Happily enjoying my afternoon nap. La lalala. When suddenly out of nowhere, one person appears.
“What the hell is he doing in my dream?” I thought. If, out of all the people in the world, I know 100, then he would be probably the 98^th person I would expect to see during my REM.

He is a very nice person and a good friend of mine BUT someone who is unexpected to be seen like this. My classmate from 5^th class was fine, Dora the Explorer is also acceptable, maybe even Narendra Modi would do. NOT HIM. Again: He is a close friend, the kind where you want to break each other’s bones all the time, but NOT HIM.

So we are in my dream and we’re in our college and I have car keys in my hand. I hear the Dean of my college say to us, “Go there carefully and call me when you reach there”.

The next scene I remember is me driving on a beautiful road. Both of us are enjoying the journey so much that it’s evident from our eyes sparkling with excitement of traveling to a new place. Good Road-Trip songs are playing loud and we stop to have some food at a roadside Dhaba.

That’s when I woke up. Confused at what happened just now and surprised that my dream catcher couldn't capture this nightmare. Weird. But it was over. I thought so :P

The dream continued when I finally slept at night. This time we were at my town. And I was searching for the person. I was calling out his name loud!

Too bad, what happened as the dream progressed was that my shouting was not limited to the dream and that I actually started shouting while sleeping. I woke up at 1am in the middle of the process of calling his name loudly.

My mother, who was sleeping beside me also woke up from the noise and started staring. Now I had to explain to her why I was shouting the name of a random person while sleeping. AWKWARD.

Good question. No answer.

This was too much. I took my phone and texted him “WHAT ARE YOU DOING PARESHANIFY-ING ME AT THIS TIME IN MY SLEEP? !@#$%”, and sunao-ed him everything.

Then the beautiful thing happened:

He remembered, and pointed out that exactly 1 year ago at this time on this day we were together in a train going somewhere :O

Oh Wow! Mood swinging. :D I suddenly started laughing. 
My little brain is very good at remembering trivial things, I know. But it’s strange that it periodically recollects memories when I haven’t thought about the journey or that time after that.

Getting this kind of dream one year after something happened amused me and made me remember everything good about that trip, How good the time was, how indifferent we were about each other and how we explored an entirely new place together.

And now, having known the reason for dream-invasion, I happily slipped into sleep again.

Needless to say, the dream continued once again, where I was shaping his teeth with a chisel ... and I kept smiling throughout my sleep (probably) Like this :D

How I passed my Tax exam..

Let us start by learning a new word - 

Before starting.. you must be wondering what's so unusual about passing an exam that it is being written about? People do it every semester.. all the time! Why all this fuss? What's the big deal?

Good question!

Well, It's saturday, I am free, and there is 10am powercut in my college so I don't know what else to do XD

Once more before starting. Have a good look at this picture. These are my seniors- Gobby Sir and Dobby Sir- our heroes of the day. Notice them carefully for 5 seconds.

Okay. That's a lot. I think we should start our story now.

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With burning eyes, when I woke up on Thursday evening was when I realized that the time had come- I can't escape any more now. It was time! Time for what? We'll know as we go on with the story.

This semester I had become more than indifferent towards a triplet of subjects. One of which is the dreadful - Tax Planning and Management. I had never cared about the poor subject and skipped nearly all classes towards the end of the semester.

It was dinner time. I was sweating. With intuition of flunking the exam next day, I summoned bits of courage from here and there and marched over to the NKC like a brave soldier (read: trembling kitten).

It was 10pm And I had finally seen the syllabus, which looked so tiny and I was dreading every minute of studying it. So I did my best to complete my syllabus by taking big-eyed selfies. (First I thought of putting them here, but the eyes were horribly BIG)

That's when our heroes come into picture. Recall what were they doing in the picture? Of course they were studying! 

But what were they studying? Their exam is on Monday! Good people should not study for exam 3 days in advance :P 

These farishtas were studying FBM-321 - Tax Planning and Management!

What? Whyy? Both of them have already cleared the course last year?  I had never seen them studying so sincerely. They were more worried that I should write something tomorrow than I was.. which was bad... And I felt.. bad.

That's when our word -of-the-day comes:

Up went my startled eyes as if at some trick of thaumaturgy

My lovely seniors taught me for sometime, what they taught in the short duration came in my exam! :D

Such nicey-nessss :') Happiness tears flowing. I could feel their pain of first studying their part patiently. and explaining it all to me, that too very patiently. Not getting irritated when I could not understand things at the first time and not angry-ing when I stopped listening intermittently. They did a really nice job of stuffing a bunch of things in my tiny head in a limited time. Bravo! 

(There were a couple of more heroes who gave me NOTES) :D

I nervously looked at the question paper with one eye opened .. and I was chanting Thank you with most of the questions I attempted in the paper. God bless them with straight A's and peri peri chicken :D _/\_

So, how I cleared my exam was nothing less than a miracle. It was enjoyable. It was team effort. 

This was the nicest thing done to me in months.

Sadly, I'll miss being taken care of, like family after Dobby, Gobby, Bobby, Robby and Tobby go away :(

Blah blah blah... Other than this, my past week has been very normal other than the fact that:

• I had cooked spicy paneer
• I had the BEST authentic Bihari chicken cooked by my friends, Bobby Sir and Dobby sir.
• Torn my phone cover into pieces (after which my phone looks miserably naked and laachaar),
• I have had a minor heartbreak
• Finally shared my prized collection of Puraane  Taraane. (because sharing is caring :P)
• Made world record for consuming the largest quantity of Glucon-D in 10 days
• And evaporated slowly to the cruel Delhi Summer.

 Will come back with more blabber after exams. I plan to do A LOTTTTT till June 15 :D Tada!

PS:  Dear FBM 321,

Nahi, hum mein koi anban nahi hai

Lekin ab vo mann nahi hai

Main khud ko suljha rahi hun

Tumhe le kar koi uljhan nahi hai :P

You are not too bad, but seriously not my type :O

Things we can learn from a baby :D

This is a human baby.
It normally makes incomprehensible sounds and leaks a lot.
However, it is an encyclopedia of happiness which we can look into when we feel low.
So here's a list  of all the good things we can learn from babies:




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• Everything I like is my birth right and I shall have it:

Oh they like what they see. 
They like it a lot. Isn’t it absolutely fabulous? 
 If they want something, they will make the skies burst until it is given to them.

• Hop, drop, and get right back up:

In the process of learning to walk, a child bumps into nearly everything and falls down. Every time he does so, there is a bigger smile and sweeter laughter on its face than the previous fall. But does he stop trying? NO! he gets right back up and enjoys it.

• The world is mine to be explored:

A child sees the world with such curious eyes. Always amazed by anything in the mighty world he sees. When the child starts crawling, dare you stop him from going anywhere within the range of its sight. Take him up, put him in bed, you will be shown how unstoppable the little monster is.

-"Wow .. this looks like an interesting coin … let me put this in my mouth and try to eat it because that’s what I am supposed to do."
-"Whoa… the big adults call it ‘fire’. Let me know more about it by putting my hand inside it. OUCH!"
-"Ooooh. That’s a wire… What does it do? Maybe I would know if I just go over there and eat it. Yikes. Mommy is not letting me go there. I definitely should."
-"Hey! That’s a pretty dress my mother absolutely loves. I’m sure it will look much better if I draw clouds on it with her new lipstick.. Masterpiece. :D"
-"My sister has the loveliest long hair. You know what will be fun? Holding her hair and hanging through it. Whee!! "

• Leave me and my G.I Joe alone 

You might be a very important person to him. But when he's doing something he wants to, the thing is the recipient of all his attention. He is completely indulged in whatever he does.
He lives completely in the present. Me and my toy. Nothing else matters... till I get bored of it and want something new! ;D

• I don't need a reason to be happy 
  

Babies are so nice. They are a bucket full of joy but their smile is not very expensive. For them, happiness is in everything: the bath temperature being just right, their mommy making weird faces to make them laugh, munching on a very sweet fruit, watching crows caw :P

They don't need a big reason to be happy.

• I just live without fears

He's so happy because he's living his life and he doesn't think about it.

You must have seen a sleeping baby. He sleeps WITHOUT a single stray thought. Just before sleeping. a baby has no worries, no thoughts. Unlike adults, who in most cases are thinking of a deadline to meet, a target to reach and so on. The little ones have the BEST sleep, with an empty mind. Far from the complexities and perplexities of life (which in some cases are entirely self made)

•  Results don't matter to me

        He doesn't pay much attention to the result of the things he does, whatever comes to his mind, he just indulges into it with all his energy. Nor does he ever think much about the chances of failure, about the shame the failure might bring, or about being perfect in that act. 
Does success shoot up his mind ?? 
Does failure bring any disheartening to him?? 
No!
 He just loves doing and experimenting things, irrespective of the futuristic outcome it will bring, that's why you could feel a real joy always on every child face in whatever things they do ! Adults work the day on a comfortable chair under ac and they easily feel tired after few hours... But a child plays throughout the days, do a gazillion things...but still he is always seen energetic... Isn't it strange?

• I love unconditionally, I have no preconceptions

You are as good to him as the other guy is, who is as good as the other girl is. He loves everyone equally, whatever be you religion or community (as long as you keep feeding him with candies)

They know the universal language of love. Love all equally. :)

         If a child likes you, he loves you completely.  His unconditional smile brings love and smile to everyone around him.... He has no clue about what "ego" is. Children are pure.. That's why they are called "little Gods"

 If he trusts someone, he trusts with full faith. 
Every time someone lifts him up in the air he is sure that he will catch him the very next moment. 
Everyday, he goes to school he has full faith that he will be taken back to his home even though he may have no idea where he actually lives. His complete faith in individuals brings great sense of responsibility among most of the person connected with him. Doesn't it seeme magical ??

• I have a very short memory, I forget and forgive easily

           








A child is so nice compared to the less nice real world around him. Adults (mother/father/relatives) being tense and stressed because of the different diverse daily challenges they face, sometimes behave irritably, and are harsh or rude to their children. 
A child is too innocent to do something intentionally wrong but still they are misbehaved sometimes. Adults generally regret and feel bad about their mistake once they are okay...
But the child has been blessed with a natural short memory to easily forget and forgive people around it, the very next moment adults do something nice to them (bring some chocolates) and the child  gives the relationship a second chance.... Isn't it beautiful ??

• I express myself freely, Truth is my only Language

 

A child can be seen as a huge treasure of all emotions. Whatever he feels is completely shown on his face. Can you stop a child from crying or laughing or loving someone, if he wants to? If something makes them feel better, they just express it and felt better afterwards. They don't suppress their feelings like we adults sometimes do and lose some of our precious people only being unable to express how we actually feel... Isn't it a foolish loss ??

• I love to share!

A child doesn't have any understanding for personal belongingness of things, They identify things usually in 3rd person : Dana's dress, Dana's food. They don't say my dress, my doll until they are taught to do so. Before that happens, he gives and he shares from the heart.









He usually considers more about people's happiness than materialistic attachments... When he gives freely, he gains even more. Already knowing from our childhood that happiness is in caring, still we generally hesitate to share... Isn't it ironic ??

• I am always imaginative and dream big, impossible doesn't exist for me

Limitations,
boundaries,
unbelievable, 
impossibilities: 
These words don't have any occupancy in the dictionary of a child. Look at a child! He is always planning and ready for a new adventure, sometimes he succeeds in his adventure, sometimes he fails, but he continues dreaming, full of positivism
We all have dreamed of big things for us when we use to be little. But dealing with the challenges of life,  we feel loss of hope and stop believing in our dreams. 
So, go out looking for a child and ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, reminding you of your childhood saying to you "Don't limit yourself. you can go as far as your mind lets you. Remember: What you believe is what you can achieve.  Aren't you feeling more hopeful ??