the first...

It’s 28^th Jan 2016, I think I have not been that late for wishing everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I don’t believe the year is old enough (abhi toh saal jawaan hai).  I know I am rusty and I feel like the old librarian trying to find the book which she knew she had stacked somewhere in the labyrinths of shelves. Anyhow, for the lack of any creative spurts and the disinterest of doing the homework (yeah, you read it right.. HOMEWORK!) hear me ramble, if you please.

I had a decent year I would say and “decent” only cause I had pretty high ups and low lows, so they kind of cancel out and settle somewhere in the middle. I was lucky enough to camp in couple of relatives places and friends. A failed birthday surprised in Texas, a risky interstate drive to Nebaraska and being rewarded by the heavenly view, magical Disneyland , not a snowy Christmas, cold and chilly new York with someone warm to hold on to (wink wink). I have loved my trips and tedious long flights. And believe it or not I have loved staying with my aunts and uncles. I know I had stated contrary on some posts about my relatives but that’s what a foreign land does to you. You yearn for that familiarity and you try to find it anywhere even if it means going to a dingy Indian market and hearing gujus talk (no offence :P)

the 800km drive to 6,225 ft.. Lake tahoe.

the magic wand!

I might elaborate on my trips if memory, mood and enthusiasm stays, but let me describe the first snow/ blizzard of my entire three and twenty years. (I have lived that long!) The blizzard is not magical if that’s what you were looking for. There is snow in your eyes, ears, mouth, pockets (warning, do not try this at home) but the bunch of us the three wise monkeys went to experience the blizzard inspired by the overflowing photos of people in snow (amateurs!) and didn’t put any photos up.(laziness) but oh! What a feeling when you step out with the cold winds and falling snow and freezing hands. After an entire day of snowing and blizzarding when all had ended it was surreal. There was inches of whiteness all over untouched, sparkling in sunlight, icicles hanging from rooftops. Claiming to be a veteran of the snow (certainly more experienced with it than most of my tropical friends) but somehow this felt more intimate, more real. To think of, its nothing but white its simple but yet so breath-takingly beautiful, of course before we ran all over it and made it look like a crumbled paper. It felt like natures unused sketching papers just lieing around waiting to be inked.

It all sounds very romantic for now, but wait till you have to see that for the next three months and the white snow doesn’t stay white anymore! (what a delusion!)

white wonder! (my backyard)

I could have gone on but I guess I have spoken long enough for now. 

dream???

oh god.. this is going to take some time......and shit happens

the usual boringness of the vacation had engulfed me. The sudden absence of a constant adrenaline of exams made things as void as it could be. Life seemed pretty purposeless. And all one could do is stare into all types of electronic screens possible. I was mid way of watching the Independence day for the nth time when..

Buzz. Buzz.. eh! Another call. I had enough! Damn it! Another wrong no!

Buzz buzz.. the cell rang again and this time it was pure static.. in rage i switched off the cell. The static had been troubling me for a long time. But i was too lazy to go to the service centre.

Switching off the cell i continued my limbo into the movie. Buzz buzz... the screen was blinking again. How the f**K! With obvious irritation i picked up the phone seeing digits just continuously appearing on the screen. On picking up there was a huge static and the sound was all i could here. All went blank except the sound.

Scene outside: at that very moment all world had gone still. Every person possible had received a similar call and been send into a semiconscious state. The world was asleep except for a continuous buzzzzzzzz.. omnipresent. Not one was spared.

Waking up i find myself sitting on a branch of a very ancient tree(when did i learn to climb trees?!).. a pig with wings flew above me. What.. the..!! surely i must be dreaming. .. the next thing i know i was in a room paneled with mirrors. And all i could see was myself reflected 100 times over.. a variety of images came flashing some childhood some totally unrelated and some of so stark a reality that it was like waking up from a dream. All i could see were uv lights around illuminating and glowing MRI like machines and then again those weird dreams.

The scene: pods filled with fluid were kept with blacklight illuminating the floating bodies. Quire jellylike figures moving around the floor with a noticeable head like formation and creating tentacles for movement. They communicated with high pitched sounds. Like crackling signals.

Aliens to each other: what a boring science project! All you had to do is make them listen our voice! (crackles)

Yeah! Silly humans! Thinking they have made a scratch on the infinite universe.. buyeahhh! In their faces! (laughs)

It’s time.. we have to take the best samples and be off. We have stayed long enough as it is!

Shah! And i thought we did have a longer IV!

The protagonist:  why is it so cold suddenly? Oh shit! I fell asleep on the floor!  And then i had this splitting headache. So went off to get some saridon and coffee. And to my surprise the moon and the sun were together in the sky.. or was it ???  

The alien: pssstt.. i didn’t return of the specimens! (laughing) i have got a HUMAN pet!! 

sunday was perrrrfect!!!

on the occasion of good friday, one of barney's very own 3 day theory of why had jesus waited for 3 days to resurrect ... no offence intended whats so ever to any group, religion or individual! watch away.. :)

Patriotism or foolishness?????

This is an anecdote which i recently heard from a friend who has been pushed into a fix after this little incident...

Intro: a small fight starts between father and child on the usage of a sim from a certain company..

Father: you still using THAT sim?!! (contempt)

Child: dad! That's got the cheapest message and call scheme ..why should i throw it away?!!!

Father: haven’t i told you! Its a Pakistani company!

Child: (shocked) gosh.. dad... how many....(silent laughter)

Father: what! You want to pay money to the Pakistanis!! Support their companies while the Indian ones struggle!

Child: cmon! Who on earth told you that! So.. what if it is...(fumbles with words..speechless)

Father: this generation! Don’t have any patriotic feeling... i did rather give more money to the Indian ones than giving a single paise to the Pakistanis.. ! !  (nerve pumping)

Child: (jaws drop) (thinks: what the.....! )

Do you call this patriotism or foolishness? In the age of globalisation and talks about oneness in world people still struggle to obviate border differences...few instances when parents make you fell grown-up...

Story of NOODLES !!!

I am sure everyone has heard the” two minute magi noodles” ad.... magi changed the course of instant home- made food... you can call it survival food! Many working people, students, trekkers, would go hungry if it haven't been for that fateful day when magi was launched into the market...

suddenly while eating magi today, an age old question popped in.. how was magi invented ,in a more refined way of calling it is instant noodles...  well as curious it got me i googled it to find out that it was invented in Japan and is actual derivative of the original noodles.....  as this whole magi and noodles thing had got me really interested i did a bit more digging into it......

But i couldn’t find the inventing story behind noodles! As a child i had asked my grand dad about the invention of my favorite food.... and he swiftly threaded a story, and till date i haven't been able to come up with a alternative story to prove him wrong! Well so here’s the story he narrated..

Many many 1000s of years ago, a magnificent Chinese warship was sailing the sea with the best Chinese cook was set to work for a grand dinner for his highness, the king of china.....

He was hard at it, preparing all the traditional Chinese food , and he was making a chunk of fermented dough, it’s a very a exhausting work... but he at last finished and kept it aside while he washed himself and took some time off.. . when he returned he had completely forgotten about the fermenting dough... later on when realised that the dough had got so fermented that it had rolled itself into thin thread like thing and was all over the table on which it was kept ( i know you would have a shocked expression, but hey, its a kids story! bereft of all logic!) in a panic he hurriedly made some sauce with herbs and served it to the king.... to his shocked happiness the king liked it so much that he called up the cook and asked him what was the new dish called.... the cook named it chow mein after his eldest son.... and so that's how chow mein was made (granddad concluded, giving me a triumphant smile to my aghast face)

And this story still sticks to me cause unfortunately i have failed to come with an alternative... who knows it might even be true!