Recommendation?

So it was this day when my dad sent me 'A connect request' on Linkdin. (Linkedin should be awarded to get some key strokes from my dad, none of the social sites have done it so far!)

Okay, so professionally it may help me though I am quite sure I wont give his 30+ years of experience in the same field, a tough competition. I wouldn't dare to be in the exactly the same field and avoid our fights on the dining table which are theoretically won by me and sheesh, practically by him.

Digressed. So when I connected my account with his, with a shock of my friends already into his 'connections' I got a surprise from LinkedIn.

"Would you like to recommend XYZ"?

which is like, "Would you like to recommend your father?!"

I smiled. Well yeah definitely.

"He is the best best best and best father on this earth and I would not recommend him to any one as only I want to have this right to get his affection!  Okay, I should not be delusional but, only my brother and a bunch of cousins-youngest Masi can indulge into this luxury. No body else and so I don't recommend him exactly."

No, I did not post it.

Getting emotional apart from sprinkling my tears in front of my parents is not in my book! 

Awesome Amdavad!

Today is my town's Happy wala Birthday! I meant, do you celebrate the real birthday? We do!

As Mr.Wikipedia has mentioned the History of my city! I would like to give some really awesome and some disgusting facts  about my Amdavad?! Ah, Apanu Amdavad! (Our Amdavad!)

• So when you say you are one generation Amdavadi, normally people will consider you more money minded than Gujaratis of other cities in the state. Why ? We make more than a few crores every year in one or two days on Uttarayan (Kites!) and Dashahara (Fafda Jalebi)! No serious, we are crazy for seasonal goods, be it crackers, kites or Fafda Jalebi!
• Each cross road junction is blessed with one Vadapau-Dabeli stall, one Farsan stall and most probably a tapari for cutting tea and Muska bun. Yeah we love to share tea (and price), hence cutting tea only!
• Girls here are not shy and still we cover our faces with Dupattas. No choice, we cant burn our faces in the harsh sun of Amdavad in any season! So, our friends need to have awesome observation skills. Ah, they know which girls wear which duppatta?! 
• Our favourite festivals are Navaratri and Uttarayan. In Navaratri we dont sleep and just do Garba, In Uttarayn we just refuse to go downstairs even at night. Do we care about money? No! :D
• We don't cook dinner on Saturdays/Sundays generally, rather dare to wait for hours outside any restaurants in the town to let us in and enjoy the delicious food. By the way, we don't wait for weekends to have ice creams. Naturals and Baskin robins dont run better than our own Havmor, Amul, Rajasthan and Janta ice creams!
• We have the most modern bunch of Aunites who dare to flaunt jeans, skirts even at the age of forty with all those fat cells attached with the body. Ah, they also take proud when their daughters and daughter in laws wear fancy frocks and shorts with adorable figures! 
• We have disgusting traffic and parking sense. The government keeps on widening roads, we keep on parking our vehicles on the road. They keep on making laws, we keep on finding loop holes! They tried Gandhigiri once by giving roses to ones who broke traffic roles, I fear some of us might placed roses in their drawing rooms!
• We are cricket crazy people. So, generally Indian cricket team wins matches against Pakistan and Australia when they play in our city. Yeah we get sentimental about the whole winning against these two nations!
• We are one of the top cities producing cotton even after loosing many many mills, who made our city 'Manchester of India' a few decades ago. Pepe jeans to Levis, guys, you wear clothes made in this city. Ladies, better you shop sarees, kurtis and lehengas from Amdavad, I promise you will see varieties you never had in your life.
• We are proud of the river we have. A few years ago we adorably called it 'Gutter mati' and now we call the river 'Flowing Sabarmati'! Narmada blessed her, she blessed us!
• We have some of the best institutes of India including IIM, ISRO, PRL, NID and CEPT. Still we think, we don't need this degree of MBA, Its in the blood, you see! ;)
• We are bad when it comes to serving India through Army. We only give financial services.
• We are at number one position when it comes to Charted accountancy. We get the highest results in India. We have highest numbers of CAs in the nations! Now you know we are the best at money! 
• We are on cloud nine if we get any thing free of charge! M.A.F.A.T!
• We celebrated when Tata decided to bring Nano plant to us. We are proud of the pace with which Amdavad has started blooming! Mind you, Amdavad changes every month!
• You hurt us if you talk about only riots and earthquakes. We have moved on!

I know you are fed up of reading this and so May I conclude here? Why The Ahmedshah planned this city centuries ago??

He saw rabbits fighting with wild dogs to survive in this area and he knew how people from this region can fight the destiny!

"Jab kutte pe sassa aya, Tab Badshah ne sheher Basaya!"

 So, if you know old Amdavad or can decipher Gujarati ( I guess it is more global than English!), here is the song for you! A way too old song with Asrani in the lead role!

Fatima!

I got attached to this name when I was reading 'Songs of blood and swords' by Fatima Bhutto.

Her emotions touched me and never mind, the topic of our not so loved neighbor hood cracks me, still  I feel all characters in that book are very close to us. Why not, the region is an estranged part of our own soul. Fatima Bhutto's each word described her emotions for her family, her dad, her life and her country and the book which actually made me attached to the people of Pakistan, some where, may be a little bit. Each page of that book , brought me closer to the writer, Fatima. She had captivated my mind for many days after finishing the book. I realized her name also pours emotions in me, a few days before.

A young girl of my age came with a little, may be a year old baby on the bus station where I was standing clueless, in the state of being no where. I looked at her. I was feeling emotionless and disturbed.Of course I did not know why I was going to take the bus which will bring me to the only near by mall. The young girl came forward with her baby and sat beside me.

I observed the girl, she was too young for a baby, may be. With a cotton sky blue duppatta and kajal in her eyes, of course she looked like any ordinary Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi. She smiled at me which made me smile back. Okay, so over here in Singapore the whole act of smiling at a stranger is a luxurious phenomena. Suddenly her baby smiled at me too.

Two tiny blue eyes called me. The smile actually lifted my mood which was just no where in the picture. She is going to be the most beautiful girl of her age, I thought.The baby jumped on me, Just then!Her mother readily gave me the baby and I played with her for some full ten minutes. Again one more luxury. No,you can not smile at babies here, even if they appear extra cute or they themselves smile at us.

While playing I asked the young mom how old the baby is. She answered me in Hindi with Bangla accent and all political issues between our countries never worked in those fifteen minutes for sure.
The baby was trying to talk to me and she kept on jumping in my lap. I realized I did not know baby's name, and so I asked.

The mother answered, 'Fatima'.
I told 'No doubt she touches me', to myself.

Some names bring emotions back in me, irrespective of persons they belong too!

The Ultimate Gift

Some body, I don't remember who, gave me this specific movie. No I am not 'a movie on laptop buff', but the situation made me open the file and see the movie. Thank God, I did not check those reviews online which say the movie is total okay and not directed properly. Some what like 'Miya Biwi Razi, fir kya karega kazi', I loved the movie and hence the review or a tiny write up.I don't review a movie otherwise.

No I don't want to tell this story, I choose to tell about the story. The emotional touch is loud and pinch of pain is in every scene, but it does make you cry tears of realization ,tears for love. The guy and the tiny girl acts splendidly.

I must say, the hero or as I said 'the guy', has some amazing stubbornness when character wants and a smile to die for, tears to share with and a story you might want to be a part of. The girl's mom whom I find really beautiful works equally good and I feel a little bit of more she could have get from the movie. The girl, a tiny brain full of wisdom and practicality is so adorable that, on each of her sentence I can cry for.The old man along with his Secretary who drove the whole story actually plays the role in a transparent manner. A little fraction of a second and an appropriate expression is something I loved about the move.

The story about gifts of hard work, true friends, emotions , gratitude, learning and dreams. The story of about three lives who can make you cry.

I found the movie is on some novel. No I might not read the novel. Some times when you love those actors playing in such a  touchy manner that you refuse to imagine any other persons taking their places and so I might watch this movie when I feel my life is emotionless. Just to feel the pain and just to cry for the love.

I watched it several times in last two three days.

PS: I loved the guy's work here. Even a smile and tears speak a lot.

Twenty Minutes

I have a dose of those twenty minutes  quite frequently. Where I feel my heart tangles, I feel low under the pressure of my own thinking capacity. I can feel the heart sinking, crackling - cracking into hundred pieces. 

Those twenty minutes I feel sensitivity towards everything, from light to noise. What I want is what I really want in life. Fears try to capture me with sharp jaws, I feel drenched with some poisonous liquid. My head doesn't spin but it thinks more and more.

More I think I feel more. Tears roll down sometimes like they never had. A black hole starts shaping up inside me and all happiness just gets into the well and I feel I might never see them. 

I read or write or chat during these minutes, I create an amazing negative aura and people might pity me, get angry on me or be very practical and I know they all are right, but that I don't understand in those twenty minutes. I just feel like crying those mess out of the body and talk to someone who 'understands' me and delete uncertainties of life which might bring back these 'Twenty minutes'.

Either I am just a weak emotional fool or I am developing a type of disorder. Mostly the first one.Three years out of home, in hundred different atmosphere, many many different cities, away from my own people, and mess in my mind. I have only myself to blame upon? Sometimes it is not possible to keep every one in your life happy and the guilt takes you to such 'Twenty Minutes'!

Apart from the pain it involves I handle such 'Twenty minutes' pretty well, and after those twenty minutes I conveniently switch on the audio to listen to my favorite song or just doodle, scribble , blog, cook the way a normal happy Bubblegum does.

The Happy Bubblegum promises not to feel those twenty minutes again, but fails.

A 'lonely' traveler

You do not realize some really striking truths about your life, unless a point of no returns occurs. Sometimes a long distance makes you realize the worth of such moments. Situations make your choices so complex and you end up just seizing your future at one end holding a heavy heart full of memories on the other hand. This phase comes in each of our lives.

Yesterday when I was travelling through MRT, the so called local train of Singapore, I realized in my travelling in much much more crowded local trains of Mumbai, I was never ever alone. No, I was not over pampered. Okay I was pampered but it was that moment when 98% of my best buddies resigned and I was left alone with some stupid yet adorable buddies who made me much more independent than I was. I used to travel alone from Kandivali to Churchgate alone, almost every weekend, not a big deal for any Mumbaikar. The deal is to travel alone in Singapore. 'Alone in Mumbai train' and 'Alone in Singapore' train  are poles apart.

'Alone in Mumbai' is like being with known strangers. 'Alone in Singapore' is like being with unknown strangers. No smiles, No affection in eyes, No talks even on calls, No books. No rarely I saw people reading books here in the train, forget talking. I see almost all glued into their smart phones. Even a three year old kid.  In Mumbai it was sharing of food (not recommended though), sharing of smiles, let others sit on the same crowded berth, may be whole India inside the single compartment of every train. 'Apna India'!

It struck me in those two hours, back and forth journey. For full four hours I felt the difference.'Being alone' is a relative term now.

Sometimes you don't realize somethings till they are pushed into your life.

Pumpkins and Honey Bunnies!

"You are my Pumpkin Pumpkin, Hello Honey bunny?!"

Really? It is so insulting. The imagination of some one really singing the jingle for you. First of all you call me a pumpkin? Are you making fun of my fat? It takes years of efforts and a splendid genetic inheritance to achieve those many numbers of fat cells. Dont you even dare to call a Pumpkin. I have never ever tasted it and if I will, I will smash it in the Dhanshak and have it. Even kids make a joke out of Pumpkins during that scary festival.

Honey? Dude that is so cheesy! You copied my mom basically and when you called me honey, it looks like you have mixed cheese with it. No never, I also carry bloody blood sugar in my genes. Dont kill me before I get it!

Bunny? Dude I have got a perfect teeth orientation. May be better than Madhuri Dixit. I know, a little bit of exaggeration, but 'Bunny' is not at all Funny. Freakingly annoying it is! By calling me Bunny if you state my habit of eating up raw carrots stored in my fridge- well Just chuck the thought out of your mind. You might not get 'Gajar Ka Halwa' all your life just like those chocolaty momma loving heroes in Bollywood movies. No I am not talking about Ranbir Kapoor here.

"Thrash"

I got up, opened my eyes. A sense of relief, no one was calling me by the so called catchy ringtone. Which I accept has an amazing rhythm.

 A scary me or the scary dream?

I think, I should put a small note here.

Dear my future Husband,
Kindly go through all these points before you call me 'something'! :D Well I kind of like the tune so I sing it some times, but basically it doesn't relate to any of desired virtues. Hopefully :D
Thank you!!

Suggestions?

Just a month I have come back from India and I have lost my fresh state of mind. Assignments have just started pouring in our accounts and we are yet to fight the real war.There are two three days in my kitty to rejuvenate myself and what I need is a bunch of friends to feel fresh with my kinds of activities.

No I gel with all kinds of creatures on this earth. Almost. But, I have this special characteristic which allows only a few of my friends to make me feel the change, which brings back my attitude.Sad, but I am yet to feel such vibes in Singapore. I don't blame or expect things from friends over here, I don't judge them too, just that I am unable to form the bond which I feel I had/have with my friends in India. That is a failure on my side.

My kind of a freshness is some what which comes from an adrenaline rush? May be a day on the beach or a forest track? May be a play or just a day in SPA. Well, the Spa thing sounds a costly affair but wishes can touch the sky. Don't you think?

Then there are a gang of friends (rather a majority of the chunk) who enjoy going to a disc. If you talk about dance, I have found almost two three in the world who have the kind of craziness for dance like me, but when it comes to disc, it slips into drinking. I have no problems with drinks or even drunkards. I don't drink and as of now it is my decision. Neither I am to be feel ashamed nor they should. So when it comes to holidays, going to a disc, dancing in those disc lights while drinking a bottle of coke,makes me feel different, but only for two hours.

So the real question lies that what should I do. Suggest! Well I know I might end up doing something weird!! I am still open to suggestions! :D

A diary of a girl-Marriageable!

The title lowers down my blood pressure to minus level but then I remember, "Hello, you are the one who is going to write the first chapter of the diary and you are the one who will keep on writing about this till your parents cry on your Vidai"! Accepted, I have a huge mental stock of notes to write about the subject.

Parents know us better than ourselves. Problem arises when a girl who is twenty four and in a few months going to turn twenty five, does not know how to calm down. Relatives suddenly love you more than you ever had thought of, they suddenly feel you are adorable, lovely, beautiful, smart , talented and other adjectives you might like when used in a job interview. Mom starts indirect hinting about her requirements, papa agrees or disagrees pleasantly but yet, avoiding the whole discussion. The brother who is actually good for nothing in such debates irritates you by silly PJs and stupid future plans.

A phone call comes and the Uncles brings you a match for his son who is good five years old and your mom (with a heavy heart) says no, you are studying. The Uncle doesn't give up, he says,'See I have a younger son too who is jusssst two years elder to your daughter'. Wont you give up? Yeah your father burns up in the heart and your mom who is actually possessive about you will say, dont answer them like this, Wont look good.

Your friends who all have got their life partners from the same school group or their college groups, ask you impatiently if I am planning to get engaged to some one. Just because the fun I had in their functions was worth being jealous for. They want to feel the same. Agree.

I am jobless, as I am studying. I might graduate this Aug and I am sure by the time I will be either in a state of depression or engaged. What a choice.

Sometimes you have a way to achieve your dreams- Personal or professional, but then the main gate to them has some billions of locks. Sad, you are yet to find keys. You are tired. You try to just take a hibernate state outside the gate. Gulp, and you make peace with your life.

That is what I am suppose to do right now.

Alpaviram

'Alpaviram' is the faith of life, it is the hope of life.

I feel the word has a positive and a negative feel. It is up to us, how we perceive it. The symbol of 'still to achieve' or a symbol of 'Life moves on'?! My be it indicates that the life has stored something unique for you.

Life seems complicated at this point of time. You are fighting at multiple zones from the single soul. Who doesn't, but as of now I can see it is difficult. It is easier to fall in a negative black hole rather than seeing a silver line. That doesnt stop me from living. Blessed with awesome family and friends.

What when you actually have to give up on them?

Life can not be a symbol of 'Alpviram'! May be life is all about the truth of 'Alpviram!