Happy 2011 Everyone!

The last post of this year! There were moments when I came to this site and went away without posting anything - sometimes I didn't have anything to say, sometimes I didn't have words to say what I wanted to say. Then there were times when I wanted to blog about a lot of things but just couldn't find time to do it. I may write about some of these pending things in the coming days but some thoughts are lost forever. That's okay. Regrets is the last thing that I want to keep with me on the threshold of the new year.

So, I am taking this moment to throw away all the bad things that I have accumulated this year - anger, pain, grief - and I am packing up all the good things that the year has given to me - love, affection, satisfaction, laughter, peace and happiness.

Normally, I would have said "Happy 2011 to you and all your loved ones". But I will modify it this year, and hopefully, for all the years to come. That's because I read an article by Mr. Raghu Raman - The Things That Soldiers Do yesterday. So here goes,

I wish all of you and all your loved ones a Happy 2011. I pray that all our soldiers remain safe and sound this year and beyond!

Bye Bye 2010, Hello 2011!

अर्ज किया है......
न मिलता गम तो बदबदीके अफ़साने कहा जाते
अगर दुनिया चमन होती तो विराने कहा जाते

(फोर्वार्देद)

I think the new Nano ad is cute. But I wonder why all the Nanos that I have seen so far on roads are of a horrid yellow shade. Perhaps, Ratan Tata has taken a page out of Henry Ford's book and said 'You can Have Any Color as Long as It's Yellow' :-)

Just 2 days back I was returning from a client meeting. The car got stuck in the traffic at one point and I craned my neck to find out the reason. Turned out there was a wedding in progress somewhere down the lane and the baraatis had blocked part of the road. Soon after, I was treated to the hilarious sight of men and women dressed in their fineries dancing to some Bollywood song - right in the street. A few feet away stood a decorated chariot. It contained the bride and groom who were looking very sheepish and were trying their best to smile. But they were aware that on their very wedding day they had, through no fault of theirs, received lots of curses as wedding gifts from the occupants of all the cars that were stuck in the traffic!

As our car threaded its way forward, I had a strange thought. In all probability, I will never see this couple again in my life. But by a strange quirk of fate, I was part of one of the most memorable days of their lives. And so were hundreds of others who were on that stretch of the road at that time of that day.

The car neared our office and a funeral procession came in sight. Here we go, I said. In India, sighting a wedding procession is considered a bad omen but sighting a funeral procession is considered a good one. Don't ask me why. Sounds rather counter-intuitive, doesn't it? I have never been able to figure it out either. Maybe it has got something to do with the concept of Maaya and Moksha.

I wondered how the rest of my day was going to be, now that I had encountered both, good and bad omens, in one go. :-)

3 more days to go and this decade will be over just like that! Has the life increased its pace these days or is it just an illusion?

This year-end too, like all past year-ends, I am hoping that, in the new year, I will somehow find time to learn a new language or a new cuisine, listen to more music, laugh more, read more and do things that I love to do.

But year-end, unlike all past year-ends,there is an extra awareness about death. Nothing morbid about it, just a consciousness that there are a lot of things that I need to do before death catches up with me and unless I go about it in a determined way, I will not get them done.

As if to further cement my resolution, I came across 2 couplets about the same:

जिन्दगीके दाम इतने गिर गये, कुछ गम नही
मौतकी गिरती हुई किमतसे घबराता हू मै
-- नीरज जैन

क्या भरोसा है जिन्दगीका
आदमी बुलबुला है पानीका

What more can I say?

अर्ज किया है......
दीमक लगी लुगातसे खफ़ा होके एक दिन
मफ़्हुमकी तलाशमे अल्फ़ाझ जायेंगे

(Forwarded)

लुगात - Dictionary
मफ़्हुम - Meaning

I ate my first "Ice Gola" last weekend! I am not kidding you. When I was a kid, mom had given strict instructions of not venturing within 5 miles of the vendor selling the stuff outside the school. My brother and I were warned that the Gola might contain parasites and germs which would then grow inside our stomachs. And though I agree that the ice and syrup might not have been made from clean water, I feel sorry for my brother and I because we swallowed the idea of an alien monster bursting out of our stomachs - hook, line and sinker!

The "Ice Gola" vendor in the mall, however, had a board saying that both ice and syrup were made from mineral water. I hoped that the board was telling the truth and went for it. I can't say that I have become a fan but it sure was fun to bite into the crunchy ice and slurp on the syrup (strawberry in my case!).

I must confess though that when I chanced upon the channel showing "Alien Resurrection" last night, the alien baby being born did bring forth visions of the "Ice Gola" vendor outside our school :-)

One more Indian city has got added to my "1000 places to visit before you die" - Patna. The reason for the same is Sunday evening episode of "Highway On My Plate" (NDTV Good Times). I seriously want to find out what this dish called "लिट्टी" is all about. There was one gentleman in the roadside eatery that Mayur and Rocky went to. He told them that he was going to Guahati from Gwalior when he heard about this place and dish. He got off the train and came to the hotel to sample the dish. Hats off to the chap!

Well, talking of food, I like Rachel Allen's new program on food "Home Cooking". Oh, and the Grand Finale of "Masterchef India" would have been great if they could have done away with all that emotional stuff and Katerina's "Sheela ki Jawani". Why, oh why, do we bring Bollywood in everything that we do?