Its quite an irony how some of the most important things and specifications in the world are a direct aftermerth of the most insignificant events.....well everyone knows the specifications of the modern day transportation is derived from the width of a horses ass that the Roman charriots were built on....i can give numerous such examples to proove my point ...this leads to a conclusion that apparently nothing in this world is insignificant......wht made me ponder at this point is a recent meeting we had with our supervisors in the US. He apparently wanted to build a team in a domain that the whole company and probably later the whole industry might want to emulate.....the paradigms set were very straight forwrd .....and it was us who would have to strive to make it a reality..
None of us take our work lightly (period)...but the continuous hype and the unwanted tech jargon associated with the team that is being built sometimes makes us wonder if its all gonna be just heat with no light comming out of it.....slowly but surely we did realise that the materialisation of the team was insignificant for us and hence we gave the least thought and priority for its formation........we were expected to build the fondation for what is supposed to be a mighty castle made of stone....and wht we are building is the foundation for a roadside temporary shelter......compared to the requirement of the original task our efforts are infact insignificant...but it is for that very reason that i believe that....the formation of this team would be inevitable....not only that it would be such a success that sooner or later it would be a standard....and we would have been the poineers of it.......little does the world realise how insignificant we the poineers consider this task to be.......!!!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The WEDDING...!!!
Statutory Warning - The story is not a fiction and any character resemblance in real life is purely intentional. The shadow of sarcasm used is purely imaginary ( thanks to the fake ipl player) and no harm is intended to anyone. In any case i do apologies if it goes against the sentiments of any of the readers .
Its a widely known fact that the best way to experience India is to travel along the length and breadth of the country in the mode of transport we all lovingly call The Indian Railways. Apparently some foreigner must have run out of cash to have to endure the gruesome experience of experiencing India this way. Be that as it may for most of us Indians, its not just another means of transportation but a way of life (If I might say so). Whatever be the destination every journey made in the train always has some story to tell. Ours began from the place we call Pune Junction. We were to travel to Bhopal to attend our colleagues’s ( its not a typo FYI) wedding. Yes 2 of our colleagues. And yes it was their marriage. A moment comes, but rarely in the life of a person when one is to attend a wedding from Groom’s as well as the Brides side and we were fortunate enuf to be blessed with it.
Our train was to depart at quarter to six and we were still waiting for one of our friends to join in (there were 5 of us and apparently only 4 had made to the stationary train). But as our dearest Dr.Murphy ( I don’t know if he really is a doctor but adding a doctor to the name gives more authenticity and the dude must be pretty smart to say whatever he said…anyways) so as our Dr. Murphy once said “ If anything can go wrong, it probably will go wrong” and this was just the beginning. Our 5th compatriot had lost her way (yes ..it was a she..!!) and was gallivanting around the station instead of just walking in to the train that was standing right in front of her eyes. And as luck would have she went straight into the hands of the TT( not literally….but u get the point..) who wudnt let her go unless she produces the ticket. The ticket she didn’t have and the same ticket that was in my bag, back in the train while I was on my way to find this lost soul. She was smart enough to ensure that the TT does not let her go no matter what and from that moment it was pretty evident that a verbal duel would be required to save the day. Much to my disappointment not much of that was required and a simple request did the trick. Its funny what amount of change can be brought in a person just by showing some humility fake or other-wise. And thus began our journey to BHOPAL.
Well I should have introduced us (the fantastic 5) much earlier but as they say better late than never. Well as you have guessed by now (…duh!) that on of them is a girl and in this story she is named Miss Clueless ( its my story and I have the right to give the names as well). This is me Mr Sarcasm/Screw-Up (actually I prefer the name – The heart break kid but that’s too much of a cliché and a bit too damn long..). There were 2more players here, one named Mr. Gentle Giant(GG), and the other Mr. Sloth for obvious reasons. Mr.Sloth was the only married man amongst us and his wife Mrs Coolhead S ( S standing for the husbands name as is tradition in India.) They were quite an unusual pair and many a times I did wonder how they got along. But the fact remains that they got along pretty well.
After all the hustle and tussle at the station the train finally left the station for its destination. Now it was time for us to prove it to the TT that we were indeed destined to travel in this very train seated exactly where we were. How is this done? Simple, just show the ticket. Well here unfolds drama part 2. Since we had booked the ticket online one of us supposedly had to show proof of identification while producing the tickets. Upon insistence from Mr S our Mr GG was all set to produce the piece of paper that would prove the confirmation of his existence. To everyone’s surprise ( Horror..!! is the right word here but it wud be a little exaggeration…) our GG’s name was not there in the ticket at all. Of all the 5 of us that were to travel, he was the only one who did not have his name in the ticket and yet was the first to show the proof that will prove us guilty of ticket-less travel and that too upon the insistence from Mr S. ( Apparently Mr. S had cancelled the wrong tickets a couple days ago…..and u were wondering why we call him Mr S……well now u know)….We all tried to act super cool and composed and thought that the hypothetical chill thus crated will eventually freeze him(the TT) from fining us. And as usual Mr S’s ( in case u r still wondering. its Mr Sloth) Plans were in ruins….we had to pay a hefty fine and had to verbally console each other saying that shit happens….but deep down inside we knew that we worked really hard to make this shit happen. ( If only GG had not shown the id card all wud have gone well…). Once we came back to our senses, accepting our defeat and stupidity in not being able to screw up the situation any further we resumed our journey.
The remaining part of the journey was more or less eventless ( and we thank god for that…cas the kind of events that were happening to us, we were determined to keep further ones from happening)….we just gambled our way to sleep with a touch of dumb-charade being our lullaby. I was almost about to close my eyes when our dear Miss Clueless suddenly came to senses and wanted to talk…..and we did talk for precisely three thousand six hundred seconds…..what did we talk abt…well that’s for us to know and for u to keep wondering. And thus we finally we reached BHOPAL..!!
It is sometimes said that India is such a vast country that it not only exists in large geographical proportions but also in multiple eras ( confused.!!..well that was the intention as well..) Here one can see two centuries living parallely in complete harmony. We have the 21st century technology co existing with the 19th century ideology and much more. This was the thought that came to my mind when we walked out of the station. We had a quite a long wait and hence I had a lot of time to stand and stare at ppl. The dressing especially of the younger generation was a neither ancient nor modern. It was a mix. Not an amalgamation of styles ( as the style gurus might put it ..) but rather a confused mixture of Halloween costumes…..( pretty much like Lindsey Lohan a couple of years a go…and by the was she is HOT..!). It was a very clean station( was pleasantly surprising. I must admit…) and out side there was this huge hoarding of a Former Indian movie star who will always remain a former Indian movie star…( Its said his single hand weighs 2.5 Kgs…I wonder if anybody was actually eccentric enuf to measure them)…this dude was posing with all his grace and style for an undergarment advertisement….(apparently in a country of 1 billion you can never run short of undies…) Our wait in the excruciating heat finally came to an end when we were finally picked up and dropped at a hotel where we were to stay put so that we don’t bring the whole city down…
After having our fill of a very tasty and complimentary breakfast we all retired back to our rooms to have some rest…..at least so I thought. It did not take long for the whole gang to assemble in our room (well there were 2 rooms…1 for ladies and 1 for gentlemen…or atleast so I thought again..). Miss Clueless was all geared by to do salsa…( apparently in Indian wedding there is a lot of dancing involved and she was planning on doing salsa… and she had learnt quite a few step by taking classes on weekends)…..so we had our round of salsa lessons for an hour where she tried to show the moves she had learnt and me as usual trying to show-off what I can do….and thus the afternoon was spent dancing….for once I was relaxed as I got to dance….but her(Miss Clueless) enthusiasm was admirable……and the remaining 3 ppl…well there were sitting and staring at the chaos that was unfolding in front of them.
Lunch was to be served at the Grooms place, and it was a long journey ( long not distance wise but relative time wise…..u see if u stand on a super heated stove one second feels like an hour….) The groom was all happy and jovial quite unaware of the trap that was being set for him ( his wedding). He seemed all set to take the “plunge” to the life of a married man (poor soul had no clue what was happening…like a chicken who was abt to be fried at KFC). We met all his family and friends. One of them in particular, was trying too hard to impress his presence by threatening the groom of revealing his nick names and wht not…well the attempts were quite pathetic and annoying even by my standards( my standards are pretty low and he had gone lower)….i wanted to tell him that our groom ( fondly known as Mr Bluffmaster) was ready to get married…and if that didn’t scare him( the groom) no amount of blackmail would.
Since we spent the afternoon with the Groom the evening slot was booked for the Bride. The ceremony that takes place at the brides place on the penultimate eve of the wedding is called “Sangeet - Sandhya”( meaning – musical eve). The function is dedicated to the bride and is conducted by her family to remind her how much they love her(or at least that’s wht I think)….The Sangeet was to begin at 6pm IST but it began at standard Indian Time that is 8.30pm…which is almost on time. Mean while the 3 guys from our group went for a small walk down the road. During some random discussion Mr S revealed a secret about himself….well he claimed that he is not in the habit of sleeping in the afternoon.( In our office he is a Lion….and mind u we do not call him that for his courage….not that he does not have courage…well he did marry so that shows a lot of courage….we call him Lion for a different reason…..Lions are known for sleeping almost 20-22 hrs a day and when they are not sleeping they are eating…..so now u get the picture)…well when we challenged him on his claim..he had a very simple and more or less true explanation….well according to him there is something about the ambience of our office that puts him to sleep…and I do agree to that…he is not the only one infected by that ambience….anyways back to the story….And so the Sangeet began at 8 30pm.
As usual I forgot to introduce the Bride. Well I wud call her Miss Talented ( Now its Mrs Talented). We call her that cas for starters she is a very talented person and secondly whatever she does she does really well…which is the first point again but in different words….It was not just her the whole family and friends(including us) of the Bride were very talented in the realm of music and dance something I consider my forte( apparently I am the only one who thinks so..but someday the world will know….anyways). There were various dance numbers and songs from different members of the family and a lot of crying was involved (crying is a very important part of almost all Indian functions especially the weddings). When it comes to celebration we were second to none either. We did our salsa that we( myself and Miss Clueless) had so rigorously practiced and stare-d ( the remaining three). Then there were general dance numbers ..like in open dance floors….I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of Mr.S and GG ….they quite literally rocked the floor …though I am quite sure they had no clue what they were doing….but the effort was commendable. And thus ended the penultimate day of the wedding…..
The D – DAY - Bluffmaster Weds the Talented ( almost a movie title)….
The wedding was to take place in 3 stages – Stage 1 – the engagement, Stage 2 – The reception and Stage 3 – the marriage.
The IST for first stage of the wedding was 12.30pm and it started more or less on time at around 2pm( we Indians are very punctual ppl and so we have 2 different time zones – the Indian Standard Time (IST) and the Standard Indian Time(SIT) the STI runs 2hrs behind IST. Anything on paper refers to IST but on ground its always SIT). So the groom was all dressed up and ready to engage(or to get engaged)….the bride was glittering and looking stunning a complete contrast to her expressions that reflected humility and shyness( sorry cudnt think of a better word)…..this was the simplest of the function. It didn’t take too long either. After the rings were exchanged and pictures clicked it was time for lunch…4pm to be precise.
The second stage was to start at 8pm also known as the “Baraat” – it’s a procession where the groom sits in a mare and arrives at the mandap where the marriage is to be solemnized. And as usual it was 9pm and we were still decorating the groom. The Mare-Guy (the handler of the horse) was constantly herding all of us. He (rather his horse) had another wedding to attend at 9pm and the procession had not started as yet. Sometimes I was wondering who was more important the groom or the horse as it turned for the baraat, more often than not it’s the horse. We quickly whisked the groom out of his room to the place where the all important stallion was stationed. ( u might have notices that I had suddenly changed the sex of the animal as I started with a mare and am continuing with a horse…that is cas symbolically it has to be a mare but for more practical reasons its usually a horse). We some how got our groom to sit on this 4 legged VIP and the precession began. Now this is another place where one can do any movement and call it dance and get away with it. If u want to see hands, legs and body move in random directions ( sometimes in rather impossible ways) and completely out of sync with the music….just see a Baraat. This one was not that bad for two reasons…1st we the one’s dancing and second people were moving in tune to the music most of the time. Somehow trotting and dancing we finally reached the destination where the reception was arranged. The most exiting part was the exchange of the garlands. When the bride came to put garland on the groom we lifted him 4 feet off the floor so that she cudnt reach him( and to teach her who was boss) but we grossly underestimated the power packed bodyguards that were following the bride, she went up higher in air and put the garland on our unsuspecting groom showing him right form the beginning that who is going to be the boss in the marriage and whose side will always be higher.
Now starts the most boring part of any marriage aka the reception. Firstly u will be photographed more than a million times. U will have to say hi and pretend to know people even though you might have never seen them and probably will never see them again. And u will have to smile no matter what for the complete duration so much so that ur face will refuse to give any other expression. After 4 gruesome hours of standing and posing with each and everyone in the universe when the reception finally got over the couple were taken for an exclusive photo session…..as if there wernt enuf photos taken already.
The third Stage of the marriage was to start at 1.00 am. And since we had some time to kill we reverted back to what we think we do best – Salsa. Mr and Mrs S tried their hand at the dance for the first time as a couple and I must say they were very impressive as beginners. Now that the bride and groom had had their photo session, we thought it was our turn and the cameras started clicking. Finally when the camera got bored of seeing the same faces over and over again it gave up and so did we. We still had some time to kill so Mr and Mrs S went for a quick nap (well the nap was quick …it was the waking up part that took them 6 hours) and go did our GG. Miss Clueless decided to give the bride some company and on my part I thought the groom also cud do with some Pj’s.
By 2.00 am the groom was all set and ready to finally enter the ritual that will culminate the marriage ceremony and that will officially make him give up his bachelorhood and give the bride her masters. Well almost…..but before he could loose his bachelorhood he had to loose his shoes which were to be stolen by the brides sisters to be later returned to him once a hefty bribe has been paid to them. And yes despite our cunning plans…they did steal the shoes..(not exactly steal but snatch it from our hands…..and I swear they cud have snatched it from the hands of a grizzly too if the situation demanded)
The remaining ceremony was surprisingly long with lots of pundits reciting various mantras and occasionally arguing with each other about the order of proceedings. Well their chanting and arguments had the same tone and most of us did not know which was which. Lets hope they chanted more than they argued (i guess in this case only God knew what happened). In any case He (our dear God Almighty) might have been pretty happy that the match that he had made was now formally being accepted (irrespective of the chaos that was taking place to make it happen). Once the ceremonies over and the hefty bribe paid the shoes were returned (it seemed that the Brides sisters weren’t very good at negotiating as our groom had the last laugh….i missed all of this due to a very urgent personal emergency…..earlier that night I had 2 glasses of water followed by 2 glasses of tea at around 4am…and so I was.. u know where ..!! )
The couple then goes to the bride’s mother to seek her blessing and she on her part tells her daughter on how to behave in the new house aka Sasuraal. And now begins the ceremony call Bidai where the girl formally leaves her house and goes to her In-laws. And what follows is a crying fest. As I had mentioned earlier, our bride was also very talented in the art of crying profusely. Well there were bucket full of tears everywhere with many relatives joining in. Apparently if all the tears were to be collected from all the weddings all over India, I seriously believe there wud never be any water shortage in this country. And that was the Culmination of the ceremonies and the wedding was officially over. Congratulations to the couple…!!!!!!
We somehow managed a couple of rooms for the day as our train was in the evening and we slept (or atleast tried to sleep) during the day with occasional visits to u know where…!! Courtesy the previous days eating or the lack of it. Our train was scheduled to arrive at 5.00pm IST and it arrived on time at 7.00pm. We boarded the train and managed to find our places without much complication. The tickets were shown and seats exchanged so that the 5 of us sat in the same compartment. We were joined by two more ppl we had met at the wedding and as the case was while going we gambled out way to sleep.
The connecting train to Pune was to leave Mumbai at 8.10am and we weren’t sure if we wud reach on time to catch the train. But thanks to Indian railways we managed to squeeze just in the nick of time to board the other train. Phew that was close…!! Mean while our dear little Miss Clueless used the power of her cranium to somehow arrange for a friend to pick her up at the Mumbai station and drive her back to Pune. Apparently she had her contingency ready and preferred to go by it rather that come with the remaining 4 of us on the train…I guess she had had enuf of us…and just for the record her plans to reach b4 the train didn’t work out either……but somehow we all managed to reach back in one piece…..phew…..and that’s THE END..!!
Its a widely known fact that the best way to experience India is to travel along the length and breadth of the country in the mode of transport we all lovingly call The Indian Railways. Apparently some foreigner must have run out of cash to have to endure the gruesome experience of experiencing India this way. Be that as it may for most of us Indians, its not just another means of transportation but a way of life (If I might say so). Whatever be the destination every journey made in the train always has some story to tell. Ours began from the place we call Pune Junction. We were to travel to Bhopal to attend our colleagues’s ( its not a typo FYI) wedding. Yes 2 of our colleagues. And yes it was their marriage. A moment comes, but rarely in the life of a person when one is to attend a wedding from Groom’s as well as the Brides side and we were fortunate enuf to be blessed with it.
Our train was to depart at quarter to six and we were still waiting for one of our friends to join in (there were 5 of us and apparently only 4 had made to the stationary train). But as our dearest Dr.Murphy ( I don’t know if he really is a doctor but adding a doctor to the name gives more authenticity and the dude must be pretty smart to say whatever he said…anyways) so as our Dr. Murphy once said “ If anything can go wrong, it probably will go wrong” and this was just the beginning. Our 5th compatriot had lost her way (yes ..it was a she..!!) and was gallivanting around the station instead of just walking in to the train that was standing right in front of her eyes. And as luck would have she went straight into the hands of the TT( not literally….but u get the point..) who wudnt let her go unless she produces the ticket. The ticket she didn’t have and the same ticket that was in my bag, back in the train while I was on my way to find this lost soul. She was smart enough to ensure that the TT does not let her go no matter what and from that moment it was pretty evident that a verbal duel would be required to save the day. Much to my disappointment not much of that was required and a simple request did the trick. Its funny what amount of change can be brought in a person just by showing some humility fake or other-wise. And thus began our journey to BHOPAL.
Well I should have introduced us (the fantastic 5) much earlier but as they say better late than never. Well as you have guessed by now (…duh!) that on of them is a girl and in this story she is named Miss Clueless ( its my story and I have the right to give the names as well). This is me Mr Sarcasm/Screw-Up (actually I prefer the name – The heart break kid but that’s too much of a cliché and a bit too damn long..). There were 2more players here, one named Mr. Gentle Giant(GG), and the other Mr. Sloth for obvious reasons. Mr.Sloth was the only married man amongst us and his wife Mrs Coolhead S ( S standing for the husbands name as is tradition in India.) They were quite an unusual pair and many a times I did wonder how they got along. But the fact remains that they got along pretty well.
After all the hustle and tussle at the station the train finally left the station for its destination. Now it was time for us to prove it to the TT that we were indeed destined to travel in this very train seated exactly where we were. How is this done? Simple, just show the ticket. Well here unfolds drama part 2. Since we had booked the ticket online one of us supposedly had to show proof of identification while producing the tickets. Upon insistence from Mr S our Mr GG was all set to produce the piece of paper that would prove the confirmation of his existence. To everyone’s surprise ( Horror..!! is the right word here but it wud be a little exaggeration…) our GG’s name was not there in the ticket at all. Of all the 5 of us that were to travel, he was the only one who did not have his name in the ticket and yet was the first to show the proof that will prove us guilty of ticket-less travel and that too upon the insistence from Mr S. ( Apparently Mr. S had cancelled the wrong tickets a couple days ago…..and u were wondering why we call him Mr S……well now u know)….We all tried to act super cool and composed and thought that the hypothetical chill thus crated will eventually freeze him(the TT) from fining us. And as usual Mr S’s ( in case u r still wondering. its Mr Sloth) Plans were in ruins….we had to pay a hefty fine and had to verbally console each other saying that shit happens….but deep down inside we knew that we worked really hard to make this shit happen. ( If only GG had not shown the id card all wud have gone well…). Once we came back to our senses, accepting our defeat and stupidity in not being able to screw up the situation any further we resumed our journey.
The remaining part of the journey was more or less eventless ( and we thank god for that…cas the kind of events that were happening to us, we were determined to keep further ones from happening)….we just gambled our way to sleep with a touch of dumb-charade being our lullaby. I was almost about to close my eyes when our dear Miss Clueless suddenly came to senses and wanted to talk…..and we did talk for precisely three thousand six hundred seconds…..what did we talk abt…well that’s for us to know and for u to keep wondering. And thus we finally we reached BHOPAL..!!
It is sometimes said that India is such a vast country that it not only exists in large geographical proportions but also in multiple eras ( confused.!!..well that was the intention as well..) Here one can see two centuries living parallely in complete harmony. We have the 21st century technology co existing with the 19th century ideology and much more. This was the thought that came to my mind when we walked out of the station. We had a quite a long wait and hence I had a lot of time to stand and stare at ppl. The dressing especially of the younger generation was a neither ancient nor modern. It was a mix. Not an amalgamation of styles ( as the style gurus might put it ..) but rather a confused mixture of Halloween costumes…..( pretty much like Lindsey Lohan a couple of years a go…and by the was she is HOT..!). It was a very clean station( was pleasantly surprising. I must admit…) and out side there was this huge hoarding of a Former Indian movie star who will always remain a former Indian movie star…( Its said his single hand weighs 2.5 Kgs…I wonder if anybody was actually eccentric enuf to measure them)…this dude was posing with all his grace and style for an undergarment advertisement….(apparently in a country of 1 billion you can never run short of undies…) Our wait in the excruciating heat finally came to an end when we were finally picked up and dropped at a hotel where we were to stay put so that we don’t bring the whole city down…
After having our fill of a very tasty and complimentary breakfast we all retired back to our rooms to have some rest…..at least so I thought. It did not take long for the whole gang to assemble in our room (well there were 2 rooms…1 for ladies and 1 for gentlemen…or atleast so I thought again..). Miss Clueless was all geared by to do salsa…( apparently in Indian wedding there is a lot of dancing involved and she was planning on doing salsa… and she had learnt quite a few step by taking classes on weekends)…..so we had our round of salsa lessons for an hour where she tried to show the moves she had learnt and me as usual trying to show-off what I can do….and thus the afternoon was spent dancing….for once I was relaxed as I got to dance….but her(Miss Clueless) enthusiasm was admirable……and the remaining 3 ppl…well there were sitting and staring at the chaos that was unfolding in front of them.
Lunch was to be served at the Grooms place, and it was a long journey ( long not distance wise but relative time wise…..u see if u stand on a super heated stove one second feels like an hour….) The groom was all happy and jovial quite unaware of the trap that was being set for him ( his wedding). He seemed all set to take the “plunge” to the life of a married man (poor soul had no clue what was happening…like a chicken who was abt to be fried at KFC). We met all his family and friends. One of them in particular, was trying too hard to impress his presence by threatening the groom of revealing his nick names and wht not…well the attempts were quite pathetic and annoying even by my standards( my standards are pretty low and he had gone lower)….i wanted to tell him that our groom ( fondly known as Mr Bluffmaster) was ready to get married…and if that didn’t scare him( the groom) no amount of blackmail would.
Since we spent the afternoon with the Groom the evening slot was booked for the Bride. The ceremony that takes place at the brides place on the penultimate eve of the wedding is called “Sangeet - Sandhya”( meaning – musical eve). The function is dedicated to the bride and is conducted by her family to remind her how much they love her(or at least that’s wht I think)….The Sangeet was to begin at 6pm IST but it began at standard Indian Time that is 8.30pm…which is almost on time. Mean while the 3 guys from our group went for a small walk down the road. During some random discussion Mr S revealed a secret about himself….well he claimed that he is not in the habit of sleeping in the afternoon.( In our office he is a Lion….and mind u we do not call him that for his courage….not that he does not have courage…well he did marry so that shows a lot of courage….we call him Lion for a different reason…..Lions are known for sleeping almost 20-22 hrs a day and when they are not sleeping they are eating…..so now u get the picture)…well when we challenged him on his claim..he had a very simple and more or less true explanation….well according to him there is something about the ambience of our office that puts him to sleep…and I do agree to that…he is not the only one infected by that ambience….anyways back to the story….And so the Sangeet began at 8 30pm.
As usual I forgot to introduce the Bride. Well I wud call her Miss Talented ( Now its Mrs Talented). We call her that cas for starters she is a very talented person and secondly whatever she does she does really well…which is the first point again but in different words….It was not just her the whole family and friends(including us) of the Bride were very talented in the realm of music and dance something I consider my forte( apparently I am the only one who thinks so..but someday the world will know….anyways). There were various dance numbers and songs from different members of the family and a lot of crying was involved (crying is a very important part of almost all Indian functions especially the weddings). When it comes to celebration we were second to none either. We did our salsa that we( myself and Miss Clueless) had so rigorously practiced and stare-d ( the remaining three). Then there were general dance numbers ..like in open dance floors….I was very impressed by the enthusiasm of Mr.S and GG ….they quite literally rocked the floor …though I am quite sure they had no clue what they were doing….but the effort was commendable. And thus ended the penultimate day of the wedding…..
The D – DAY - Bluffmaster Weds the Talented ( almost a movie title)….
The wedding was to take place in 3 stages – Stage 1 – the engagement, Stage 2 – The reception and Stage 3 – the marriage.
The IST for first stage of the wedding was 12.30pm and it started more or less on time at around 2pm( we Indians are very punctual ppl and so we have 2 different time zones – the Indian Standard Time (IST) and the Standard Indian Time(SIT) the STI runs 2hrs behind IST. Anything on paper refers to IST but on ground its always SIT). So the groom was all dressed up and ready to engage(or to get engaged)….the bride was glittering and looking stunning a complete contrast to her expressions that reflected humility and shyness( sorry cudnt think of a better word)…..this was the simplest of the function. It didn’t take too long either. After the rings were exchanged and pictures clicked it was time for lunch…4pm to be precise.
The second stage was to start at 8pm also known as the “Baraat” – it’s a procession where the groom sits in a mare and arrives at the mandap where the marriage is to be solemnized. And as usual it was 9pm and we were still decorating the groom. The Mare-Guy (the handler of the horse) was constantly herding all of us. He (rather his horse) had another wedding to attend at 9pm and the procession had not started as yet. Sometimes I was wondering who was more important the groom or the horse as it turned for the baraat, more often than not it’s the horse. We quickly whisked the groom out of his room to the place where the all important stallion was stationed. ( u might have notices that I had suddenly changed the sex of the animal as I started with a mare and am continuing with a horse…that is cas symbolically it has to be a mare but for more practical reasons its usually a horse). We some how got our groom to sit on this 4 legged VIP and the precession began. Now this is another place where one can do any movement and call it dance and get away with it. If u want to see hands, legs and body move in random directions ( sometimes in rather impossible ways) and completely out of sync with the music….just see a Baraat. This one was not that bad for two reasons…1st we the one’s dancing and second people were moving in tune to the music most of the time. Somehow trotting and dancing we finally reached the destination where the reception was arranged. The most exiting part was the exchange of the garlands. When the bride came to put garland on the groom we lifted him 4 feet off the floor so that she cudnt reach him( and to teach her who was boss) but we grossly underestimated the power packed bodyguards that were following the bride, she went up higher in air and put the garland on our unsuspecting groom showing him right form the beginning that who is going to be the boss in the marriage and whose side will always be higher.
Now starts the most boring part of any marriage aka the reception. Firstly u will be photographed more than a million times. U will have to say hi and pretend to know people even though you might have never seen them and probably will never see them again. And u will have to smile no matter what for the complete duration so much so that ur face will refuse to give any other expression. After 4 gruesome hours of standing and posing with each and everyone in the universe when the reception finally got over the couple were taken for an exclusive photo session…..as if there wernt enuf photos taken already.
The third Stage of the marriage was to start at 1.00 am. And since we had some time to kill we reverted back to what we think we do best – Salsa. Mr and Mrs S tried their hand at the dance for the first time as a couple and I must say they were very impressive as beginners. Now that the bride and groom had had their photo session, we thought it was our turn and the cameras started clicking. Finally when the camera got bored of seeing the same faces over and over again it gave up and so did we. We still had some time to kill so Mr and Mrs S went for a quick nap (well the nap was quick …it was the waking up part that took them 6 hours) and go did our GG. Miss Clueless decided to give the bride some company and on my part I thought the groom also cud do with some Pj’s.
By 2.00 am the groom was all set and ready to finally enter the ritual that will culminate the marriage ceremony and that will officially make him give up his bachelorhood and give the bride her masters. Well almost…..but before he could loose his bachelorhood he had to loose his shoes which were to be stolen by the brides sisters to be later returned to him once a hefty bribe has been paid to them. And yes despite our cunning plans…they did steal the shoes..(not exactly steal but snatch it from our hands…..and I swear they cud have snatched it from the hands of a grizzly too if the situation demanded)
The remaining ceremony was surprisingly long with lots of pundits reciting various mantras and occasionally arguing with each other about the order of proceedings. Well their chanting and arguments had the same tone and most of us did not know which was which. Lets hope they chanted more than they argued (i guess in this case only God knew what happened). In any case He (our dear God Almighty) might have been pretty happy that the match that he had made was now formally being accepted (irrespective of the chaos that was taking place to make it happen). Once the ceremonies over and the hefty bribe paid the shoes were returned (it seemed that the Brides sisters weren’t very good at negotiating as our groom had the last laugh….i missed all of this due to a very urgent personal emergency…..earlier that night I had 2 glasses of water followed by 2 glasses of tea at around 4am…and so I was.. u know where ..!! )
The couple then goes to the bride’s mother to seek her blessing and she on her part tells her daughter on how to behave in the new house aka Sasuraal. And now begins the ceremony call Bidai where the girl formally leaves her house and goes to her In-laws. And what follows is a crying fest. As I had mentioned earlier, our bride was also very talented in the art of crying profusely. Well there were bucket full of tears everywhere with many relatives joining in. Apparently if all the tears were to be collected from all the weddings all over India, I seriously believe there wud never be any water shortage in this country. And that was the Culmination of the ceremonies and the wedding was officially over. Congratulations to the couple…!!!!!!
We somehow managed a couple of rooms for the day as our train was in the evening and we slept (or atleast tried to sleep) during the day with occasional visits to u know where…!! Courtesy the previous days eating or the lack of it. Our train was scheduled to arrive at 5.00pm IST and it arrived on time at 7.00pm. We boarded the train and managed to find our places without much complication. The tickets were shown and seats exchanged so that the 5 of us sat in the same compartment. We were joined by two more ppl we had met at the wedding and as the case was while going we gambled out way to sleep.
The connecting train to Pune was to leave Mumbai at 8.10am and we weren’t sure if we wud reach on time to catch the train. But thanks to Indian railways we managed to squeeze just in the nick of time to board the other train. Phew that was close…!! Mean while our dear little Miss Clueless used the power of her cranium to somehow arrange for a friend to pick her up at the Mumbai station and drive her back to Pune. Apparently she had her contingency ready and preferred to go by it rather that come with the remaining 4 of us on the train…I guess she had had enuf of us…and just for the record her plans to reach b4 the train didn’t work out either……but somehow we all managed to reach back in one piece…..phew…..and that’s THE END..!!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
A TRIBUTE....to a friend and companion...
Adi was just 40 days old when we first brought him to our house. A small velvety doll; he was. He was the 1st of 36 pups born in a kennel in Coimbatore and hence his name Adil. He was also the 1st and the most loved pet I have had so far. He was a pure bred Labrador Retriever and came with a long list of pedigree. Dark black in colour; the 1st look at him will make u fall in love with him. That was what it was for all of us – love at the very first sight. I still remember the day we got him to our house. It was almost night by the time we reached home. He was sleeping in my lap all the while. As soon as we reached home, I placed him on the sofa so that all could get a look at him and the 1st thing he did was to pee on the sofa. That was 9 yrs ago but seems just like yesterday.
Life could not have been the same without him, I am sure. We all had our moments with him. He grew up with us and gave us numerous memories along the way. Be it happy-time or sad-time he was always there for all of us, to cheer us and to bring back the smile in us. The most eventful were the years when he was growing up. How he used to stand near the door and squeal so that we let him out to pee. How after doing something naughty we ran and hid under the bed. How we used to chase cats inside the house. How he wud get scared when it thundered or during diwali when we burst crackers. How he hid himself when we knew that the vet was coming. The long evening walks we used to take. The times when he ran away from the house when we left the gate open, and then my chasing him around trying to catch him. The barking competition he used to have with the road side dogs at night are all still afresh in our memories.
We never quite realized when from the cute and cuddly puppy he grew up to be a strong and handsome dog. I still remember taking him to the various shows and winning various prizes. And then finally he settled down as a regular house pet. He was a baby hand-raised by all of us. He had and amazing personality and very short temper. He would get upset at the slightest of things and then u will have to sit with him and feed him directly with ur hands else he wont eat. The worst times were the monsoon when the thunder showers would send jitters through his body and he would rush into the house and hide under the bed. He was also an expert Gardner. He had a knack of rearranging the garden every now and then, so had to finally give up on having a garden. I cannot remember a time without him. The house was always buzzing with energy when he was around.
The last few years were really strained between us. I saw him only once or twice a year when I went home for holidays. No matter how little time I had during my vacations I always made it a point to spend at least 2 days with him. Lately my parents moved out of the house as well to stay elsewhere and Adi was left back alone in the house. Many a times I felt really sorry for him and my inability to do anything for him. Gradually he became lonely and sad and finally on the 30th of October 2008 (yesterday), he passed away. His demise has left a void in our hearts. He was the glue that held us together and now he is no more. I do not even feel like going back to the house where he is not there anymore. May be God saw what a wonderful pet he was and took him as his pet……may your Soul Rest In Peace Adi…….u will always remain alive in our hearts till the day we join u…….
Sunday, August 3, 2008
SALSA n CCD
What will you rather prefer? A date with someone special, in a quiet place with lots to eat, drink and gossip or An evening with a special friend where you end up doing something totally crazy in front of strangers just for the heck of it. I would most definitely choose the latter as it has more fun, adventure and is more childish. What made me ponder on this question was an incident that happened to me this week end and this is how it goes……
It was a rather cloudy Saturday evening and I was relaxing on my favorite bean bag with a cup-o-coffee. A dear friend of mine calls me up and tells me that she is sitting at CCD for some official work and if I wanted to, I could join her for a cup-o-coffee. Its bit hard to put in words the personality of this friend of mine, but I shall try my best. Her actual name means a ‘shining jewel ‘(to some extent it quantifies her as well) we call her “now” (that’s her nick name). She thinks it’s difficult to decipher her (quite contrary to reality but I prefer her to be like that) and coming to the matter of looks, she thinks she is ‘pretty presentable’ (I don’t have anymore comments on that ;-)). Oh ya and both of us are totally crazy about music and dance..
We were sitting on the first floor of CCD, talking when it happened. In the jukebox they played the song from the latest bollywood flick……” Kabhi Kabhi Aditi zindagi mein youn hi koi apna lagta hai……..” I was dancing in my mind and am pretty sure she was too. I looked into her eyes and at that instant knew she wanted to dance. There was a little bit of space behind the table we were sitting. It took me sometime to convince her to dance here but as fate might have it by the time she agreed….the song ended…. God has this habit of teasing us and that’s what I love abt him.
Anyways after a couple of minutes I went to the counter and asked the waiter to play the same song again. To my delight he agreed. In a couple of minutes the song was on again. She did not expect this but am sure was happy that the song did come on again. Now I asked her for a dance and though hesitantly she agreed. As soon as we took to the floor all I could hear was her heart beat and all I could see were here eyes. Rest everything dissolved. Then we started dancing. We did it for some 30 sec and then went back to our seats. Fortunately no one paid much attention. Though relieved, I was a bit disappointed that no one noticed. But as I said God has a funny way of teasing his creation…..
After a couple of minutes, a waiter came to us said that they would like us to do the dance once again. This time though they made a formal announcement about the same. This time we danced till the song ended and we did get a shower of applause. What we did not know was that our whole performance was video- taped and photographed. As a token of love the ppl at CCD presented us with a photo-frame. But I had got more that what I had bargained for. From a lousy Saturday evening to a really memorable moment that was the gift I got.
Some times, as I said earlier God has a funny way of telling people that he cares. Its we, who fail to see the message. The most beautiful part of the whole experience was that it was spontaneous, nothing was planned and there were no expectations. So all I have to say is “ Go out do something crazy….and let God show u how much he cares…..Trust me You Wont be disappointed….” What say “Now” ( I can already see u smiling. Hope u cud have given the same smile for the pic we took)….
It was a rather cloudy Saturday evening and I was relaxing on my favorite bean bag with a cup-o-coffee. A dear friend of mine calls me up and tells me that she is sitting at CCD for some official work and if I wanted to, I could join her for a cup-o-coffee. Its bit hard to put in words the personality of this friend of mine, but I shall try my best. Her actual name means a ‘shining jewel ‘(to some extent it quantifies her as well) we call her “now” (that’s her nick name). She thinks it’s difficult to decipher her (quite contrary to reality but I prefer her to be like that) and coming to the matter of looks, she thinks she is ‘pretty presentable’ (I don’t have anymore comments on that ;-)). Oh ya and both of us are totally crazy about music and dance..
We were sitting on the first floor of CCD, talking when it happened. In the jukebox they played the song from the latest bollywood flick……” Kabhi Kabhi Aditi zindagi mein youn hi koi apna lagta hai……..” I was dancing in my mind and am pretty sure she was too. I looked into her eyes and at that instant knew she wanted to dance. There was a little bit of space behind the table we were sitting. It took me sometime to convince her to dance here but as fate might have it by the time she agreed….the song ended…. God has this habit of teasing us and that’s what I love abt him.
Anyways after a couple of minutes I went to the counter and asked the waiter to play the same song again. To my delight he agreed. In a couple of minutes the song was on again. She did not expect this but am sure was happy that the song did come on again. Now I asked her for a dance and though hesitantly she agreed. As soon as we took to the floor all I could hear was her heart beat and all I could see were here eyes. Rest everything dissolved. Then we started dancing. We did it for some 30 sec and then went back to our seats. Fortunately no one paid much attention. Though relieved, I was a bit disappointed that no one noticed. But as I said God has a funny way of teasing his creation…..
After a couple of minutes, a waiter came to us said that they would like us to do the dance once again. This time though they made a formal announcement about the same. This time we danced till the song ended and we did get a shower of applause. What we did not know was that our whole performance was video- taped and photographed. As a token of love the ppl at CCD presented us with a photo-frame. But I had got more that what I had bargained for. From a lousy Saturday evening to a really memorable moment that was the gift I got.
Some times, as I said earlier God has a funny way of telling people that he cares. Its we, who fail to see the message. The most beautiful part of the whole experience was that it was spontaneous, nothing was planned and there were no expectations. So all I have to say is “ Go out do something crazy….and let God show u how much he cares…..Trust me You Wont be disappointed….” What say “Now” ( I can already see u smiling. Hope u cud have given the same smile for the pic we took)….
Thursday, July 24, 2008
A Movie Misinterpreted......Dont u think...?
I was watching the movie “The Da Vinci Code” yesterday and something in that movie got me transfixed (if I might say so). Ironically it wasn’t the Holy Grail or the blood line of Jesus (I have seen the movie many times over in the past so that wasn’t a surprise.) I was trying to decide whom to side with. On one side we have Sir Robert Langdon, Sophie Neveu Saint-Clair (I hope I got the spelling right) and Sir Leigh Teabing, trying to unravel the secret of the Holy Grail to the world so that people do not live in the clouded realm of pseudo-spirituality that the church was trying to superimpose. And on the other hand were the Priory of Sion and the Church (Bishop Manuel Aringarosa) trying to protect the secret of the churches power on Earth.
The Comparison might seem quite contrary to the story line. As in the movie it is obvious that Robert Langdon and Leigh Teabing were definitely not on the same side and so is the case with the Priory and the Church. Be that as it may, there is a bigger cause that seems to bind and unwind these four and hence has been the reason behind my classification.
This cause is not very difficult to spot either. One group wanted to reveal this secret and the other wanted to conceal it.
The beauty in this reason is that, while the cause of one seems to be just but its consequences are devastating ,where as, the cause of the other cannot be justified but its consequences happen to be a necessity. Confused…??? Let me explain –
Revealing the secret to the world might seem to be the right thing to do, as the people deserve to know the truth behind their religion and the God they worship. On the other hand revealing this secret would send the world we know it today into chaos. If people come to know the divinity of their deity was a cover-up, it would devastate their faith and belief. And a man who has no belief has no hope and there is nothing more dangerous than a man without any hope. If one such person is so dangerous, imagine a whole nation of them (Christianity to this day still remains a religion with the maximum following).
Covering up the whole thing might not be a just way of doing things; but then, it shall help in maintaining the stability and entropy of the system. Wasn’t this the very reason that this lie was made up in the first place, so that people could stop fighting are unite under one banner namely – Christianity(The greatest good, is the good, for the greatest numbers).
It is believed that many have been murdered in order to protect this secret. But was it really worth the lives? Would it have really made a difference if the secret was revealed? It quite hard to answer that question in a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but if we go by the history of human civilization I think it would not have made a difference. Equal number of people would have still died, either due to the fight between the Pegans and the Christians or by the anarchy that this might have caused. I believe it’s in the human nature to fight. It is this trait that was kept us this high in the evolutionary ladder.
So who do u think is justified? It is like a never ending riddle. Like an equation whose conclusions and assumption are the same. No amount of mathematical jugglery can either prove it or disprove it…….After all it’s just another Hollywood movie……or is it ?
The Comparison might seem quite contrary to the story line. As in the movie it is obvious that Robert Langdon and Leigh Teabing were definitely not on the same side and so is the case with the Priory and the Church. Be that as it may, there is a bigger cause that seems to bind and unwind these four and hence has been the reason behind my classification.
This cause is not very difficult to spot either. One group wanted to reveal this secret and the other wanted to conceal it.
The beauty in this reason is that, while the cause of one seems to be just but its consequences are devastating ,where as, the cause of the other cannot be justified but its consequences happen to be a necessity. Confused…??? Let me explain –
Revealing the secret to the world might seem to be the right thing to do, as the people deserve to know the truth behind their religion and the God they worship. On the other hand revealing this secret would send the world we know it today into chaos. If people come to know the divinity of their deity was a cover-up, it would devastate their faith and belief. And a man who has no belief has no hope and there is nothing more dangerous than a man without any hope. If one such person is so dangerous, imagine a whole nation of them (Christianity to this day still remains a religion with the maximum following).
Covering up the whole thing might not be a just way of doing things; but then, it shall help in maintaining the stability and entropy of the system. Wasn’t this the very reason that this lie was made up in the first place, so that people could stop fighting are unite under one banner namely – Christianity(The greatest good, is the good, for the greatest numbers).
It is believed that many have been murdered in order to protect this secret. But was it really worth the lives? Would it have really made a difference if the secret was revealed? It quite hard to answer that question in a definite ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but if we go by the history of human civilization I think it would not have made a difference. Equal number of people would have still died, either due to the fight between the Pegans and the Christians or by the anarchy that this might have caused. I believe it’s in the human nature to fight. It is this trait that was kept us this high in the evolutionary ladder.
So who do u think is justified? It is like a never ending riddle. Like an equation whose conclusions and assumption are the same. No amount of mathematical jugglery can either prove it or disprove it…….After all it’s just another Hollywood movie……or is it ?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Happy By Chance…!!!
The only fact to which both religion and science will concur is that fundamentally we are all the made of the same particles. To be more precise we are all made of nothingness. No wonder we all feel the void in our lives. Be that as it may, I have always wondered and am sure most of you must have also wondered about a very intriguing question. Who the hell are we? Why do we feel the way we feel? If all is the same then why is everything so different? Many a scholar would give an answer saying that it’s all about perspective. But I call that answer as their so called “intellectual escapism”. It’s not about perspective but it has more to do with chance than what we initially perceived.
There are more than a hundred thousand galaxies in this universe (if in fact this is a universe…..I do believe in the concept of multiverse). Each galaxy has billions of stars and each star may have billions of planets. To sum the whole up we can say the number of planets in this universe is itself ten to the power of hundred. Of all these planets, why did life choose to make its mark on Earth? (Let’s assume there is no extraterrestrial life…well till at least we have tangible evidence for the same). Scientist’s have a more philosophical answer to this and that is…..It was just a matter of chance. We are here because there were more that a hundred thousand coincidences that happened simultaneously. Might seem strange but it’s very true. Earth having the right temperature, the right distance from the sun, sun being the right kind of star, Jupiter being the big brother that it is are just a few of the examples. To sum it all up, we are here by chance.
Why do we feel the way we feel? Though our bodies are made of the same chemicals we have different thoughts. Though we live in various conditions we all have the same range of emotions. Every one seems to be so similar that they are totally different. Many people give the credit of this anomaly to the process we call ‘Evolution’. We are what we are because that’s how we evolved. And how did this evolution take place…..just by chance. Again the credit goes to a multitude of coincidences. This seems to be true even in the day to day scenario. A less talented or qualified person gets more recognition than a more deserving candidate just because he was at the right place at the right time. And how was he at the right place at the right time?....just by chance.
What makes people happy? Many (not all) would agree that money would makes one happy. Imagine if Robinson Crusoe would have been a happy man if had a hundred million dollars when we was stranded in an island for 20 yrs instead of a friend. I don’t think so. Money makes one happy only when it has the power to buy. So does power make one happy? Politicians are supposed to be the most powerful people around and the never seem to be happy. That’s why politics is always associated with the word ‘dirty’ and not with the word ‘happy’. So does sex make one happy? Hard to say, porn stars aren’t the happiest bunch around. Does knowledge makes one happy? Nerds aren’t the merry making type either. But yes, a right combination of all the above factors does help a person be happy. And how do those who are happy have this right combination of paraphernalia. ….yup u guessed it right….just by chance.
I do believe in one fact though. If one man can do it so can anyone else. So if you know someone who is really happy, be rest assured that you too can be the same…..its just a matter of chance……so don’t get into that shell of yours at the first sight of danger…..do what u must and leave the rest to Mr. chance and from what I shave seen, he can work miracles. So for once ……just be happy by chance…..
There are more than a hundred thousand galaxies in this universe (if in fact this is a universe…..I do believe in the concept of multiverse). Each galaxy has billions of stars and each star may have billions of planets. To sum the whole up we can say the number of planets in this universe is itself ten to the power of hundred. Of all these planets, why did life choose to make its mark on Earth? (Let’s assume there is no extraterrestrial life…well till at least we have tangible evidence for the same). Scientist’s have a more philosophical answer to this and that is…..It was just a matter of chance. We are here because there were more that a hundred thousand coincidences that happened simultaneously. Might seem strange but it’s very true. Earth having the right temperature, the right distance from the sun, sun being the right kind of star, Jupiter being the big brother that it is are just a few of the examples. To sum it all up, we are here by chance.
Why do we feel the way we feel? Though our bodies are made of the same chemicals we have different thoughts. Though we live in various conditions we all have the same range of emotions. Every one seems to be so similar that they are totally different. Many people give the credit of this anomaly to the process we call ‘Evolution’. We are what we are because that’s how we evolved. And how did this evolution take place…..just by chance. Again the credit goes to a multitude of coincidences. This seems to be true even in the day to day scenario. A less talented or qualified person gets more recognition than a more deserving candidate just because he was at the right place at the right time. And how was he at the right place at the right time?....just by chance.
What makes people happy? Many (not all) would agree that money would makes one happy. Imagine if Robinson Crusoe would have been a happy man if had a hundred million dollars when we was stranded in an island for 20 yrs instead of a friend. I don’t think so. Money makes one happy only when it has the power to buy. So does power make one happy? Politicians are supposed to be the most powerful people around and the never seem to be happy. That’s why politics is always associated with the word ‘dirty’ and not with the word ‘happy’. So does sex make one happy? Hard to say, porn stars aren’t the happiest bunch around. Does knowledge makes one happy? Nerds aren’t the merry making type either. But yes, a right combination of all the above factors does help a person be happy. And how do those who are happy have this right combination of paraphernalia. ….yup u guessed it right….just by chance.
I do believe in one fact though. If one man can do it so can anyone else. So if you know someone who is really happy, be rest assured that you too can be the same…..its just a matter of chance……so don’t get into that shell of yours at the first sight of danger…..do what u must and leave the rest to Mr. chance and from what I shave seen, he can work miracles. So for once ……just be happy by chance…..
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The One day Reporter.....
After seeing the movie “Page 3”, I always thought that crime reporting was a very interesting field, though I never imagined myself; being one of them. But I guess providence had better plans for me. I had gone to Delhi recently for giving a couple of interviews as well as meeting a couple of friends. One of my friends was (and is still) a crime reporter with a national daily there. I just wanted to have a casual meeting with her since I had not met her for a couple of years. Initially I thought we would meet over a cup of coffee and chat for a while and then go our separate ways. Fortunately for me, my interviews got over sooner than expected and so we decided to meet in the morning itself.
We were just getting along with a casual conversation when she had a call regarding a hit and run case. She, being a crime reporter had to leave and I not being one didn’t want her to go. She finally came up with the solution and invited me to come along with her for that day. I, on my part volunteered to be her driver. More importantly I did want to know what and how the crime reporting world works and why did she chose this field as her career.
Basically the day of the crime reporter starts with a phone call, either from the police control room or from a colleague who informs them about a fresh incident. Then comes the running around part where the reporter finds the crime scene, meets the affected and the not so affected people, takes the photographs and creates the draft for the story. This is if the reporter is having a good day. On a normal or a bad day there are multiple crimes at various locations. I believe a reporter uses the ‘traveling salesman algorithm’ in their lives more than anyone else. The have to go to different police stations, different villages and slums and that too all at peak traffic hours to meet all kinds of people right from the commissioner of police to the road side Romeo. Their desk day at the office starts after 7pm when they go to their office, consolidate their stories, prepare the reports and submit it to the editor. After all this running around they would be lucky if their story gets published and luckier if they get the byline (i.e., their name printed at the end of the story).
So we started my first and so far the only day as a crime reporter. I was initially a bit disappointed when we came to know that the hit and run story was not true. But we later came to realize that the location information supplied was incorrect. Just when we thought all was going well (at peak hours in Delhi traffic) we got a call regarding a custodial death of a caddie who was arrested for a chain-snatching incident.
Regular crime stories are not too hard as the cops provide most of the details to the reporters and the reporters just have to do the back-end and field research. A custodial death is a different ball game altogether. Here most often the cops are at fault and hence do not co-operate at all. Not only that they do not co-operate the also try to mislead the reporters.
So now we had two stories to cover, multiple police stations to barge in and out of and that too at different locations in Delhi. My day was getting better and better. The hit and run case was cake walk. We found the bus which was the culprit, the bike which was the victim and the story of their romance from the SHO (station head officer). With the love story securely stored in our cameras we headed for the more sensational of the two cases.
As mentioned earlier this being a custodial death case we were (actually she was) pretty sure the cops would not be of any assistance. We short-listed 3 different police stations from where we planned to drain out the information. I did not have any prior experience dealing with cops and that too when we were to interrogate them and not the vise versa. She decided to train me by showing how it is done in one of the stations. I was astonished to see how well behaved these cops act while dealing with reporters. I was introduced as the assistant reporter. The comfort with which the cops treated us really made me feel at home in a place, whose thought gives nightmares to people. I was introduced to a long list of officers and their subordinates. Some of them even claimed that they knew me and were aware that I had joined the news paper daily very recently, though in reality I haven’t been to Delhi in 15 years and was definitely not a reporter. All we could gather from the half hour discussion there was the name of a village.
We split up for the next round of enquiry as we had to cover 2 police stations and we did not have much time. I dropped her at the first and went on to the second one. Fortunately the SHO was on leave and the person in charge was a lady. I introduced myself as a reporter and as if out of instinct said “hello DiDi aap kaise ho”. As soon as she heard the word “didi” she felt very happy and started an animated but very casual conversation. I had to very careful here because if blew my cover I would be in really deep shit (phew..I feel like a spy already). To my surprise she did not get the slightest clue about me ( this I came to know much later through my friend). Anyways I had to really make up a lot of stuff but all I could find was a name. My friend on the other end had fared much better (of course.. she was a pro..) and she also found some details about this boy.
Our next destination was the village where this guy lived. I was dumb-struck to see that, this village (yup it was an old fashioned village) was located in the heart of the city. We found a couple of street rowdies (the self appointed bhai types..) whom we asked for directions. I was scared to talk to them initially. My friend passed a sarcastic comment that if we had to fight them, she would take on two of them and I just need to find my way through one. Going by her proportions, I knew she could take on two of them with easy. Anyways such a confrontation was not required because these guys fled as soon as used the word “police” while asking direction (..phew…).
Somehow we managed to locate this boy’s house. Almost the whole village was assembled there. We went and introduced ourselves ( actually she did…I was too confused to do anything). As soon as they heard who we were the mother of the boy thought I was the main reporter and she fell to my feet and started crying. I never felt so helpless in my entire life. I did not know what to say to this lady or to anyone assembled there who were staring at us as we were their only ray of hope. I felt ashamed of my helplessness. We asked them a few questions and got the picture of the boy. They all had the same story to tell that their kid was innocent and the cops should be punished and we should help them get justice. As the time we spent with those people grew longer the crowd started becoming hostile. The people started shouting slogans against the police. This was the time my friend told me that we should be leaving as we did not want to be the reason behind a riot.
Since we had both the stories now we went back to a coffee shop. The same shop from where my journey as a reporter began and ended. Though it was a big day for me, my part got over here. Now she had to go to office and convert the drafts to story.
I was to leave Delhi early morning the next day. I was sitting in my berth and reading the newspaper. To my pleasant surprise I found the news story printed in the 2nd page itself. Though my friend got the story printed she did not get the byline. As I was reading the story the scenes from what happened yesterday passed through my mind as a movie and then I thought of the movie ‘Page 3’ and knew how Konkana Sen would have felt on her first day as a crime reporter. All I could think of was that sometimes…..Sometimes Reel life and Real life are not that different………
We were just getting along with a casual conversation when she had a call regarding a hit and run case. She, being a crime reporter had to leave and I not being one didn’t want her to go. She finally came up with the solution and invited me to come along with her for that day. I, on my part volunteered to be her driver. More importantly I did want to know what and how the crime reporting world works and why did she chose this field as her career.
Basically the day of the crime reporter starts with a phone call, either from the police control room or from a colleague who informs them about a fresh incident. Then comes the running around part where the reporter finds the crime scene, meets the affected and the not so affected people, takes the photographs and creates the draft for the story. This is if the reporter is having a good day. On a normal or a bad day there are multiple crimes at various locations. I believe a reporter uses the ‘traveling salesman algorithm’ in their lives more than anyone else. The have to go to different police stations, different villages and slums and that too all at peak traffic hours to meet all kinds of people right from the commissioner of police to the road side Romeo. Their desk day at the office starts after 7pm when they go to their office, consolidate their stories, prepare the reports and submit it to the editor. After all this running around they would be lucky if their story gets published and luckier if they get the byline (i.e., their name printed at the end of the story).
So we started my first and so far the only day as a crime reporter. I was initially a bit disappointed when we came to know that the hit and run story was not true. But we later came to realize that the location information supplied was incorrect. Just when we thought all was going well (at peak hours in Delhi traffic) we got a call regarding a custodial death of a caddie who was arrested for a chain-snatching incident.
Regular crime stories are not too hard as the cops provide most of the details to the reporters and the reporters just have to do the back-end and field research. A custodial death is a different ball game altogether. Here most often the cops are at fault and hence do not co-operate at all. Not only that they do not co-operate the also try to mislead the reporters.
So now we had two stories to cover, multiple police stations to barge in and out of and that too at different locations in Delhi. My day was getting better and better. The hit and run case was cake walk. We found the bus which was the culprit, the bike which was the victim and the story of their romance from the SHO (station head officer). With the love story securely stored in our cameras we headed for the more sensational of the two cases.
As mentioned earlier this being a custodial death case we were (actually she was) pretty sure the cops would not be of any assistance. We short-listed 3 different police stations from where we planned to drain out the information. I did not have any prior experience dealing with cops and that too when we were to interrogate them and not the vise versa. She decided to train me by showing how it is done in one of the stations. I was astonished to see how well behaved these cops act while dealing with reporters. I was introduced as the assistant reporter. The comfort with which the cops treated us really made me feel at home in a place, whose thought gives nightmares to people. I was introduced to a long list of officers and their subordinates. Some of them even claimed that they knew me and were aware that I had joined the news paper daily very recently, though in reality I haven’t been to Delhi in 15 years and was definitely not a reporter. All we could gather from the half hour discussion there was the name of a village.
We split up for the next round of enquiry as we had to cover 2 police stations and we did not have much time. I dropped her at the first and went on to the second one. Fortunately the SHO was on leave and the person in charge was a lady. I introduced myself as a reporter and as if out of instinct said “hello DiDi aap kaise ho”. As soon as she heard the word “didi” she felt very happy and started an animated but very casual conversation. I had to very careful here because if blew my cover I would be in really deep shit (phew..I feel like a spy already). To my surprise she did not get the slightest clue about me ( this I came to know much later through my friend). Anyways I had to really make up a lot of stuff but all I could find was a name. My friend on the other end had fared much better (of course.. she was a pro..) and she also found some details about this boy.
Our next destination was the village where this guy lived. I was dumb-struck to see that, this village (yup it was an old fashioned village) was located in the heart of the city. We found a couple of street rowdies (the self appointed bhai types..) whom we asked for directions. I was scared to talk to them initially. My friend passed a sarcastic comment that if we had to fight them, she would take on two of them and I just need to find my way through one. Going by her proportions, I knew she could take on two of them with easy. Anyways such a confrontation was not required because these guys fled as soon as used the word “police” while asking direction (..phew…).
Somehow we managed to locate this boy’s house. Almost the whole village was assembled there. We went and introduced ourselves ( actually she did…I was too confused to do anything). As soon as they heard who we were the mother of the boy thought I was the main reporter and she fell to my feet and started crying. I never felt so helpless in my entire life. I did not know what to say to this lady or to anyone assembled there who were staring at us as we were their only ray of hope. I felt ashamed of my helplessness. We asked them a few questions and got the picture of the boy. They all had the same story to tell that their kid was innocent and the cops should be punished and we should help them get justice. As the time we spent with those people grew longer the crowd started becoming hostile. The people started shouting slogans against the police. This was the time my friend told me that we should be leaving as we did not want to be the reason behind a riot.
Since we had both the stories now we went back to a coffee shop. The same shop from where my journey as a reporter began and ended. Though it was a big day for me, my part got over here. Now she had to go to office and convert the drafts to story.
I was to leave Delhi early morning the next day. I was sitting in my berth and reading the newspaper. To my pleasant surprise I found the news story printed in the 2nd page itself. Though my friend got the story printed she did not get the byline. As I was reading the story the scenes from what happened yesterday passed through my mind as a movie and then I thought of the movie ‘Page 3’ and knew how Konkana Sen would have felt on her first day as a crime reporter. All I could think of was that sometimes…..Sometimes Reel life and Real life are not that different………
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