Back to winning ways after long!

It’s been a long time since I last wrote, and it’s the viral attack doing the rounds in Calcutta that’s to blame!

One boon during this period of bane was that I got to watch a lot of Olympics events which, with my normal schedule wouldn’t have been possible.

4 medals at the Olympics — our biggest haul till date and also the biggest Indian contingent! More than the number of medals what pleases me more, is the strength of the Indian contingent this year. There have been so many events to look forward to which had Indian participation. Maybe we weren’t good enough to storm the finals and get medals but we were good enough to have qualified at the Olympic level!

If we have a Mary Kom fighting it out in the boxing ring, we also have a Tintu Luka in the 800 m semi-finals of athletics, Sahana Kumari for high jump, Renjith Maheshwary for triple jump, and add in a few more for shot put, discus throw, rowing, tennis, badminton, shooting, archery, hockey to name  a few!

It’s good to see a cricket-crazy nation go crazy for other games too! Today, we see players like Parupalli Kashyap, Vijay Kumar, Devendro Singh, MC Mary Kom, Krishna Poonia make the headlines. Normally, we have to scrounge through the sports pages to even find their mention!

Along with the spectacular and stellar performances on one hand, we’ve had to see major upsets too. The tennis contingent, hockey team, Deepika Kumari - led archery team, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar, and Abhinav Bindra. The names itself recall those dreams of victories that have been shattered!

But we’ll take it all in true sportsman spirit and applaud the efforts of the Indian Olympic contingent for having managed to qualify at the world level and keep India’s flag flying high! Let’s hope we end 2012 Olympics on an even higher note and prepare for a bigger and better show at the Rio Olympics!

Till then, back to London!

In Love... With Life.

I was in love with life.

Until...

All those small moments shared,

All those little secrets told,

All those great mysteries unfolded,

We were there for one other unrivalled.

Tagging along, always found by my side,

Today, when I turn, I see none beside.

A twinkle here, a smile there,

Would make my day, no matter where.

You were my solace, you were my charm,

You turned out to be the one who caused me harm.

Little did I know, how it would end,

You twirled my life around a hair-pin bend.

You decided to make things bad,

You decided to ignore me,

You thought you could turn the table around,

You thought you were the one who'd survive,

But I am the one who did.

I am glad you were there,

And I am sad you aren't now.

But one thing is for sure,

I am in love... With life... Again.

This piece of work is dedicated to one of my dearest friends and a far amazing person than me! Not because she was "was in love with life. Until..." But because she is "in love... With life... Again."!

Love you loads! :)

Umm, seriously?!

How many times a day do I feel like uttering this expression! Sometimes out of disgust, sometimes awe and sometimes just for the pure fun of saying it!

You're travelling by bus and the crowd seems to be getting thicker and worse every minute. The heat becomes unbearable and you can feel the sweat trickling down your back, when the person sitting in front of you, takes out one of those gaudy plastic coloured, easily available on the roadside, hand fan and starts fanning himself!

When you see a middle-aged man, walking down the street with an umbrella which exhibits all possible colours of the rainbow and so much more!

When you're carefully walking along the footpath of a puddle - filled - street keen to avoid the muddy water as much as possible, and a car races by with such high speed that you're kind of sprayed with that water from head to toe! Of course after 'Umm seriously?!' a lot of other words would follow! Some not fit to be mentioned here!

When you see a woman sashaying around with a handbag or purse, which either coincidentally or deliberately, is the exact same shade as her dress!

When we get on to a bus and buy the ticket for XYZ stop and the bus then drops you in the middle of nowhere and the conductor says keep walking to your left, you'll reach the place. And lo behold after 10 minutes of walking you reach the designated spot! Mind you the bus route wasn't wrong. Just the timing was! Because at 6 in the morning apparently Calcutta buses create their own routes! Who would understand this irritation better than my comrade in arms, Nidhi!

And when out of the blue, one day, the bus drops you at the right spot! Like this morning!

Also when you a girl, wearing two different shades of neon colours on her nails! One hand green, one yellow! Yikes! Wish I had taken a snap for you people!

The best for the last - whenever I tell someone I blog, their first question is, is it on Facebook? Seriously. It's not on Facebook. Another one - what is a blog? And the minute they know what it is, they want to what my blog is all about. Listen, I am not a salesperson who's going to describe my blog like a newly launched product! If you're interested, check out the blog! My writing speaks for itself! My readers can assure you of that! ;) Can't you guys?

Longing Along…

Surrounded by people, yet feeling all alone

How lucky I’d have been to be getting all their love,

They cheer for him, they jeer at me,

All because he has the means, I have the needs.

Walking along the beach, the waves lapping at my feet,

The wind whipping through my hair, their jibes roaring through me.

Silence was what I sought; maybe I wasn’t destined for that too.

I was never given a chance, a chance he never even had to ask for.

I proved them wrong; I stood on my feet,

They pulled the carpet from beneath me,

They pulled me down again.

Today I stare out at the sea,

I see the waves coming towards me,

I let them take me down with them,

And there’s finally silence all around me.

Numb, and quiet, I remember God,

And I promise to Him I’ll come out strong.

Bowing to you all!

5000 page views! I still find it hard to believe!

Random Awkwardness!

Ever come across those moments when awkwardness takes over all else?

• Remember those teeny-weeny moments when you are sitting with someone and the chair squeaks and squeals with every movement of yours and you are at a loss at whether to continue speaking, or wait for the chair to stop!

• Often it happens that during the morning rush hours, passengers start shouting the choicest expletives at the bus-driver for driving so slow and when the driver starts driving rashly the same passengers are the first ones to hold on to their seats as if their life was at stake!

• When you suddenly have a hymn or a bhajan or some popular movie track playing aloud in an otherwise quiet room and the source of that sound is a cell-phone! Invariably, the owners of such phones seem to be taking the most time to answer their calls!

• Imagine the scene :

You are engrossed in work.

So is your friend.

Suddenly the friend starts mumbling something and you keep responding only to realize later that the person wasn't even talking to you, just thinking aloud!

Share your awkward moments here! After all we all definitely have some! ;)

P.S. : Priyanka, it's turned out to be good, hasn't it? ;)

P.P.S : Vikash, you might just get a treat after I cross 5000 page views with this post! Yes, I said "might"! :P

P.P.P.S : For all those who don't know who Priyanka and Vikash are — these two are among the crazy lot of friends I have at work! And they both rock!

And yes, there are no more Post-scripts to read! Another awkward moment? Or maybe not?

Oh Nature!

And here comes the second lot of pictures clicked by me on the weekend away! I am in love with them, unabashedly and I hope you fall for them too!

Two to tango!

Wish we had such pictures in our bio books!

Near yet far...

And we all fall down!

Perched atop.

Colour combo!

Like them ..?

Skies in full glory!

A weekend away from the city, friends all around, serene Mother Nature and a camera at hand...
The results are here for you to see!

Reaching out to the horizon.

Doesn't it look like a painting?

The Three Musketeers...

Colours getting hazy!

Playing peek-a-boo!

Liked it?

More to follow soon! :)

Rain, rain, come again!

I was waiting for my Dad to pick me up. It had started drizzling. A heavy bag on back, rumbling stomach, tired after a long day's work, I parked myself under the shade of a nearby well-known hotel's portico.

Knowing that Dad would take time, I started fidgeting with my cell. Taking out my earplugs, I started disentangling them (They always get entangled!). A sudden gush of wind, throwing droplets of water all over me, made me look up! The drizzle had now turned into a downpour. People had flocked around me by then. Some were talking among themselves, some on the phone.

I wish someone had taken my pic! ;)

It dawned on me that the city which had been boiling in the past two weeks was finally getting a wash of relief! To hell with the phone! Shoving it out of my gaze, I stood looking at the small droplets of water being blessed on us by Him. I could feel my lips curving upwards! As if in agreement, lightning jolted in the sky, thunder startled everyone around!

The next few minutes no thought crossed my mind, no messages had to be answered, no calls to attend… Just the wind blowing my hair around, the water splashing on me in and out, the coolness tingling my wet skin, eyes sparkling at every streak of light in the sky, claps of thunder sounding like music!

Just a Calcuttan enjoying the first showers!

And then Dad came. The phone came out and this post was born!

They leave you speechless!

The other day while surfing through the channels, a dance reality show on television, Dance India Dance Li'l Masters caught my eye. (And breath!) Two kids maybe around 10 or 12 years of age were all set to dance. The anchor asked them what dance style they were going to perform? The smaller one among the two promptly replied 'Robotics'! The next question thrown at the boy was which song. For a few seconds he was quiet and then he turned towards his mentor sitting with the rest of the dancers and asked very cutely 'which song was it?!' The studio audience, judges and other participants were all in splits and understandably so! But if anyone wrote off the boy at that moment, it would be wrong. Because when he did perform, he performed so brilliantly, you'd have been rendered speechless! The boy did know what he was doing!

Another incident on the same line happened on Masterchef Junior. A 12 year old girl, Isabella, was preparing tzatziki sauce with her lamb pie. Ok if you're still not shocked a small wake up call - a 12 year old girl was preparing pie which by the way turned out to be good! What was I doing when I was 12? Umm I was in class 6 and was fantasizing myself in Hogwarts and loving the pair of Nancy and Ned! Both of which I still do! *Grinning sheepishly*

Getting back to the point where she was making the sauce. One of the judges came and asked her what she was preparing and the girl told him, self-confessing that she couldn't pronounce tzatziki properly! And my first reaction was 'She can’t pronounce it but she can cook it! Unbelievable!'

All these kids reality shows which have once again resurfaced to the television foray both national and international, revealing the immense talent and vast potential which kids have are loved by one and all. The passion they show towards their work and the dedication which drips from every action is way beyond their years!

The kids today have an amazing platform to display their skills at such an early age and I hope these shows do justice to them.

Good luck and best wishes to all the talented kiddies from an ardent, awed and inspired fan! :)