Of moments, meetings and conversations with strangers during a journey!!

hmmmm..............
after months of work and fun in some distant land, guess its now time to rock my homeland. for the uninitiated, i am talking of Kolkata, my hometown (?). Yeah!! dats where i am r8 now...........
but then its not the euphoria of having touched down at my teen year city, dat's making me r8; its the journey dat brought me to Kolkata all the way from Pune, dat has compelled me to write an account on it. its regular, its mundane..... i mean there is nothing ineterst8ing about it except that its perhaps true for every other individual who travels long distances with complete strangers for company.
I started my journey, on the 19th of November evening aboard the Azad Hind Express, the journey slated to take around 34 hrs now. Long time, and i was all alone there, surrounded by strangers. What does one do? Had packed in a few books to give me company but was soon through with them, rushed through two editions of "India Today", the Monday print of "Times of India".... still boredom refused to grant me a moment of peace. As for my companions, notable where 3 or should i say 4. U see, I was accompanied by a couple with their 10 month old son, and a pretty lady, who happened to be a student at Pune. While a lil bit of chitchat was going on now and then, a proper conversation simply didn't seem to be the order of the day. While, the couple efectively had each other and their kid for their company, me and dat lady were left completely to our own devices to wage our individual war against boredom. it was a losing war, as we both realised as time flew by, plain ignorance of each other started giving way to shy smiles... an acknowledgment of a perfect understanding of the other person's state of mind. Still, brings one those smiles on my face, those very memories.
As time was flying by, suddenly i realised that only a few more, and the lady would be arriving at her destination. And thus, I prodded in the dark, after much consideration,(and I dare say after some calculation too), to engage this beautiful lady into a conversation. My prod was in the right direction, and thus ensued the most enjoyable hours of the journey. The couple too joined in with their anecdotes,as the discussion was going on about our college days.............. what to do, and essentially wot not to do...... ;)
Finally, with the parting moment coming close, I mustered the courage to ask for her number, to which she complied............... I wonder, whether I'll call her or for dat matter ever try to contact her in the future. But I did learn one thing from this journey....... the battle of boredom can seldom be fought alone...... u always need someone for company..... always.
and its such chance meetings, certain conversations with strangers, dat make long journeys too can be enjoyable!!
Looking forward to a similar return journey, in another few days time!!

A time to make friends!!

Hmmm............................
Well am writing after a long time here. Almost a year i dare say, may be even more. Much has happened since then. Let's first try and sort things out for that! Ummm............ went off to Mumbai, been there for 2.5 months, fell head over heels in love with that city, but had to come back to Pune, got stuck here, lost my best friend to Mumbai (got transferred there you see), and then spent some really lonely months in Pune, or rather evenings and sometimes weekends. And then......................
And then "Orkut" happened.
God!! Had signed up for that sometime in the last week of September, 2005 but never really payed much attention to it. After all, I didn't really need to spend a life on the net. Nor did i really have the time for that! But, back in May 2005, I was too bored to really bother about "Orkut addiction"or should we phrase it as metamorphosing into something now termed as "Orkutaholic". Scary??
Don't worry!! That's the truth for just about 75% of all members who are in the 15-25 age group. Is it bad? YES. Is it good? again a YES!!
The trick with orkut has always been to use it effectively. Use it to connectto your old friends, stay i touch with friends who are staying far apart, form coomunitites, and get desired information and help wherever you are. Back in May when i was spending lonely evenings at the company guesthouse, I started to use orkut, as a mean to fight my boredom. I joined communities like a mad man. Found one, which was meant for people from community residing in Pune. I was already a member, was moderately active, but i had a mission. I wanted some sort of activity in my life. A life outside my office. And thus i set about at this task with a gusto and enthusiasm I've rarely displayed. End result: I have a circle of friends, whose root lie in Orkut, but is no longer dependent on it!! So close is the circle, I perhaps wpould find it hard to leave Pune, and move to some other city. Boy!! What would you call it??
Amazing?? YES!! Hard to believe?? Well I am not going to give you any options on that, better believe it!! But, in the bargain, I became a Orkutaholic!! LOL!!
A person, who was hardly a netizen, would now be found orkutting for 6-8 hrs a day!! Now, dat's a change!!
And now I have been off it for nearly 4 days now. Have things changed for me much?? Nopes. Orkut has served its purpose. It has given me the kind of friends I wanted. And now its upto me to hold on to them. The latest being someone, whose very existence I would have treated with disdain. But know that i've come across this person, I am a bit nervy to say the least!!
A person, who thinks just about the way you do, is hard may be rare to find..... but I've found one. And guess will call it a day soon at Orkut!! Or will I??
So long then!! Adios!!

Friend or Foe??

Have you ever felt after meeting someone, that this person is the perfect friend you were looking for. It's like without saying a single word, you know what the other is thinking about, what they might say, or feel. i know some people are mind readers, but what i am talking about is something two way, something you end up doing without even thinking. I always believed that such relationships whatever they may be called are not possible. But i was wrong. About a month ago, I met such a person. She was someone different, and believe it or not, things are just like i have been describing. We know out of instinct what the other might think, like, and god knows what not. And funnily we are always right about each other. It is actually a rare occasion when the judgement seems a little of the mark.

Yet in this beautiful friendship, something seems to be amiss. Funnily enough we often end up quarrelling. While for most of the part it is inconsequential and we have a good laugh out of it. Sometimes it gets serious. A little bit too serious. I wonder why is it so?

What underlying force is driving the wedge between us? What is it that is preventing things to be a bliss? Or is this the precursor to something? Now that is something to worry about. I mean, this can indicate towards too many things. Something extremely good, or something too dreadful to even think about. I shudder at the very thought of the later part. Why can't we foresee our future relationship status with someone? I wonder! It would be so convenient to know if someone is going to end up being your "friend or foe". But then - 'The show must go on'.

note: taken from my old blog, which i am unable to access anymore - dated 27/10/2005

A little on the lighter side!!

Right, hi there

well i think my last few were a bit on the heavy side of life. so i think i would write today about something else. haven't yet figured out what, but let's see. the truth is i started out with certain thoughts and all that in my mind. however, i cant seem to figure out what. funny isn't it. honestly, i cant say much abt that. anywyz right now i was supposed to be working on some project that i was assigned at part of my ongoing training at the software compnay that i had joined recently. being a total non-computer guy, i had no idea what i was letting myself into. one day into the training, and i was like, what is this all about. they were teaching us 'C', something that we were taught in the first year of our engineering course. now it would have made some difference had the stuff at college taught us something. unfortunately for me, i was all at sea. anywyz right me and some frnds of mine are chilling out, on the net and plan to do so till the security guard throws us out, or something like that. really at this juncture of life all of us are really confused as to what to we really want to do. i mean fresh out of college, a new city, a different environment to work in, everything is new in and around us now. i wonder whether this would be good or bad for us. but till then we all have only one take on life - Enjoy till you can, simply chill out when you need to and don't make things to complicated for the mind to handle. till then, here's to "livin' la vida loca". Live it up as united breweries would say.

ciao

sumit

note: taken from my old blog, which i am unable to access anymore!! - dated: 03/10/2006

What should I be proud of??

Who are you?A rhetorical question. To the world we are Indians, and to the Indians we classify ourselves as Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali etc. etc. But this is not why we should be proud of being an Indian.Am I meant to be proud to be an Indian, when for every Gandhi, there exists a hundred Graham Staines. Sorry, not me. I wish, I was proud to be an Indian because, the tradition, the culture that we have been imbibed with since we were toddlers, are what the world is waking upto now. This is what the so called "developed country" citizens are seeking. Yet, as Indians where do we stand. How much of the values that our ancestors have painstakingly passed on to us, is reatined by us. we try and ape the west. Yet, being Indian is my identity. This why a foreigner would recognize me. When a fellow countryman asks me where I am from, I am at a loss to answer. Should I say that I am a Bengali, or that I am someone from Kolkata, Sikkim, Jaipur, Patna or Mumbai? You see I have imbibed the culture of so many places within me. I may not have succeded completely, but then....So again who am I?I am at the end of the day, proud to be me, just teh way you know me, An Indian, A bengali at heart, and god knows what in my mental state. Watch out. I am confused as to my identity. So what am I supposed to be proud of.

P.S.: Right now I cant think of anything else. stay tuned. the show shall go on.

note: taken from my old blog, which i am unable to access anymore!! - dated: 01/10/2006

Just a thought!!

"Life is not a two way road,

People we meet, come and go.

Never spend your time pondering over the past,

You might just be doing away with happiness that could last. "

When i first saw that saying, i was a little confused, why i dunno. I mean, what could a person have been thinking when he/she wrote that. That was quite a few years back. Now, after having spent 22 yrs on planet earth, I think can feel what the writer must have been thinking.Fate is friend you can never trust on. In situations like that you are your only true friend. You may think that, life has something or rather someone wonderful in store fro and in this hope you keep meeting everyone with renewed enthusiasm and vigour. Every day, every moment that you may be breathing. But is it worth the trouble? I can't say. I still believe at the end of the tunnel there has to be light. Though I am yet to see any such light at the end of my own personal tunnels.The perrenial question that would arise in your mind is - what is the tunnel all about? Well from my own thoughts, the tunnel is our personal world of troubles. True you might have "someone" around to help you out. But, again the questions are - why are they present over there? why do they want to help you? Probably you would love them for what they are doing or have done. But, why? why? why? The biggest factor here is our expectations - personal and social. Our social setup doesn't allow us to think independently. It only allows you to think, expect, do, commit and everything that can possibly take place in the world according to their rules. But are the rules justified? Who knows, may be they are. May they aren't. But, who will question them?In my own experience I have seen people who rumble and grumble against the so called unjust practices of our society. Yet if you ask them to step out and speak up, Trust me they won't. Speaking about myself. I think I have finally started to at least pen them down (figuratitively). It is in this context that the above said lines come into importance . Observe them, probably you will feel it. The truth is, no matter who the person next to you is, what matters is the fact that you have to travel on the road least travelled - your life entirely on your own. You have to learn your own lessons. You have to learn to adapt and adjust yourself to the "rules of society" and live by it. Don't even think of breaking away. You will be subjected to eternal condemnation. If you are ready to live with that sort of a surrounding be my guest. I would personally prefer, rather than changing the rules, I would rather silently modify them and try and live life on my own terms. I have been trying that. I have had my share of failures and success. But then aren't "Failures are the pillars of success". Only it hurts if you are at the receiving end. So over to you all and your compromising decisions (if you are making one that is........)