The birthday gift

  
  This blog post has been listed in the Editor's choice on Blogjunta.com for June 2011.


The clock struck 12. I was waiting for that to happen since the last 1 hour. I wished myself, ' So finally it is the day you have been waiting since the last 3 months - June 3rd. Yes! It was Varsha's birthday.

The New Year, my birthday and birthday of  Varsha were always special for me. Often her birthday was the day for which I would set targets to turn a new leaf. 

This time the target was to lose 3 kgs by June 3^rd. Of course these would usually remain mere resolutions and I remained my usual chubby self.

I checked my watch at least a dozen times in the last 1 hour. And when it struck 12, I was relieved.  But then I had a new thought in my mind now. 

When and how do I wish her?  I can call her as she is in a different city- Pune. But then every other friend would call. So I decided I wouldn’t.

 ‘May be I should keep her waiting for my call’, my heart told me.

‘You think she even cares for that’ my brain warned me.

And yeah it was just not about the wish, it was about the gift- The photo scrapbook that contained all her best photos.  I wanted to see how she would react once she got the gift.

I thought it was awesome. I knew she would feel the same. But then she wouldn’t just admit. Like every other girl, she was afraid that I would consider a smile from her as ‘Yes! She likes me too’.

Well, I am not particularly great in understanding and predicting human (read girl) behavior. It’s just that I the snapshot of when-she-snapped- me-moment last year when I gave her the birthday gift is still fresh and clear in my mind. 

But then this is another year and we were not in the same city. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. The die-hard optimist in me was kicking and alive.

I slept at around 2 am imagining and rehearsing how the next day would be. I did not know her house address and didn’t want to ask her as that would give her a clue. I had couriered the gift and a cake to her office address. 

She would see the gift and call me all excited. I wanted to talk as if I didn’t remember her birthday. You know ‘the cool smart ass’ kinds ;)

But I wasn’t one. I was a silly billy. I woke up at 8 am the next day and the first thing I did was to check the courier status online if the gift had reached her. The delivery time was 1:00 pm. 

‘So wait till lunch time’, I told myself.

I was at work but then I was in no mood to work. The blue dart page was being refreshed every 5 minutes and my eyes looked at my mobile every 10 minutes. Ah… The wait!

It was 1 p.m. Yay! The gift would have reached her. I looked at my mobile phone again. If there was some kind of electromagnetic rays which my emotions could generate, my phone would probably search her number and call her.

But alas! This was life and not a Rajnikanth Robot movie! I went for my lunch. I ate without talking much. My colleagues found it weird that I did not utter a single word although the food was pathetic.  

Well, there was only the heart running the WAIT function  in my system. All the other parts were on a ‘CHALTA HAIN’ mode.

The wait continued post lunch. After the longest afternoon of my life, I decided that I would call her. It was 6 pm. 

Probably, the courier hadn’t reached her or maybe she was waiting for me to call as it was her birthday. I finally called her.

My heart- Happy Birthday to you, Varsha sweetheart in the background

Me: Hey

Varsha: Hi

My heart: Just a ‘hi’? Isn’t today your birthday? Get a life, Varsha.

Me: How are you? What’s up?

Varsha: Nothing much. You tell me. What are you doing?

Me: Nothing. I was very busy all day. Shit loads of work. Just got free. So thought I would  call you.

My heart: Work? His foot ! I wish I (the heart) could tell you how overworked I am in the last 18 hours

Varsha: Nice. How’s your work?

Me: Yeah it’s good.

My heart: Both of you will kill me. You dumbo! She is unmoved and you act unmoved. Why don’t you tell her how upset you are that she is so unperturbed despite you not wishing her after 16 hours of June 3^rd. Mind, please don’t interfere. Mouth, please co-ordinate.

Varsha: Cool.

Me: Happy Birthday!

My heart: Thank God! He said it at last.  I would have burst if he held it any longer.

Varsha: Thank you so much.

Me: Weren’t you expecting me to wish you the moment I called you?

My heart: Why will she? You thought she would appear out of the phone to hug you. Sudhar ja and relieve me of all these tension.

Varsha: Oh...come on.  I am ok with friends not remembering my birthday. I am no celebrity!

My heart: Celebrity? You are the mix of Angelina Jolie and Katrina Kaif for him!  But dude, why she isn’t talking anything about the gift. Did she get it at all?

Me: So how was work today?

Varsha: Oh! I didn’t go to work today.

My heart: That explains it. Why does it always happen to him?

Me: Oh.. But why? So are you going tomorrow?

My heart: The hope I say!!!

Varsha: Oh sorry! I forgot to tell you. I quit that job, left Pune and moved to Gurgaon. I will be going to work from next Monday

I didn’t know what to say.

My heart: I m broke. I won’t work for the next 2 months now. System shut down.

The idea of JALSA

If you have read my last post on 'The Walk' , then you might have chanced upon the word 'Jalsa' in the last few lines. So then let me get going about Jalsa

WTF is JALSA all about ? 

Jalsa is an acronym for Just Another Love Story Attempt. I believe Love stories ( stories rather) are getting too cliched and routine.  Also, there are more love story attempts than the actual love stories ( again I would call them stories ). 

So then I thought it might be interesting to write about them and thus Jalsa.

Why the name 'Jalsa'?

Verve! Passion! Enthusiasm! All these are words that I love but then all these are cliched.

Jalsa In Telugu stands for enjoyment, merriment and pleasure. All these are things that a guy or gal in a love story attempt would look for.

Since I was able to come up with  a cool acronym for it, I decided on Jalsa.

Aren't Love story attempts more cliched than Love stories?

There are definitely many more Love story attempts  than love stories but they are not cliched. A Jalsa story will not have a start or an end. The story will be about the just the interesting/memorable/ touching moments that usually don't get too much of attention in a regular love story.( story). 

The focus unlike in movies or books is not on whether 'he or she finally agreed'  nor is it  'they lived happily ever after'  lines. It's just about those few moments in a love story attempt.

Aren't love stories a better option?

Let me tell you that there no love stories, there are only love story attempts.  The Love story attempt is either one-sided or mutual. That's it.

WTF?  So you think there are no love stories at all ?

Nope. There are no love stories. 

Initially, the boy likes a girl, the girl doesn't - One sided love story attempt. 

Then after a while, the boy still likes the girl and the girl starts liking  the boy - Mutual love story attempt. 

Then they fall in love. And then they get married. Yeah this is the love phase.

Now there are other things like career, children, family responsibilities etc etc that take a priority. Love disappears and the only the  story remains.

Wait! Didn't you say -A Love phase? Isn't that a love story?

Hahaha. The phase is too short and temporary to be called story. So no love stories. 

Also if this is called a love story, what do you call the story that might happen with other man/woman post this story. Another love story? You may or may not. But then there are interesting moments in the next story  as well ;)

Too many stories will be boring. So I think it is a better idea to talk about those wonderful moments in between, no matter when they happen. 

Is JALSA all about unrequited love?

Jalsa stories don't have an end. So you can never say whether it was unrequited love or mutual one.  It's about those moments with a lot of emotions. It is likely that the emotionally charged moments happen in a one sided love story attempt more often than in other stories,

Are the JALSA stories about you?

I wish I had so many stories to talk about. But unfortunately I don't have them .  There is a bit of real life inspiration in these  stories. But yeah a JALSA  story as a whole is fictitious. 

I won't be able to convey these feelings effectively when I write in third person narrating a story about a Rahul or a Rohan . I believe I am good when I write in first person and the whole thing feels so real when I do that . So all Jalsa stories will be first person.

What genre do Jalsa stories belong to?
I didn't know that there was genre for these kinds of writings. These are perhaps the male equivalent of chick-lit stories. Thanks to one of my friends , I came to know that this kind of writing is called Lad lit. That's the closest genre that Jalsa stories might fall into-  Indian Lad lit :)

What's the next thing on Jalsa after 'The walk'?

If I don't get another idea or inspiration, that might be the last one too :)

I don't have a huge list of ideas ready so I'll be taking it one by one.

But I have always been fascinated by these JALSA moments . Not everyone will be writing about them. But may be there will be many who would like to see  it as a part of a story.

So then probably down the lane, when I run out of ideas/content, I would love to get in touch with these people.

If you are one  and would like to share your JALSA moment with me and then the world , you can buzz me on kidoredo@gmail.com.

The JALSA list so far

• The walk
• The birthday gift

The walk

Why do we need to get married? Can't we be 22/23/24 year olds all through our life? Oh yeah.. the human race might cease to exist.

But then she would be there always and forever for me- anytime. These were the thoughts that crossed my mind as the sweetest 25 year old on earth - Deepthi was all set to tie the knot.

It wasn't as if Deepthi (or Dee as I called her ) did not know of my feelings for her. With me being the open book that I was, there was no way that a girl like her wouldn't know about it. She knew it. I knew that she knew it.

But I was so damn sure that she would give me the  ' But then.. you are my best friend!' answer.

 With all the preparations done, Dee had quit the job. She would be here for one day. Just one more day. And then she would be off to her native place Alleppey to get married and then off to Singapore with that geeky to be husband. 

Why are the competitors of guys like me always the Geeky/NRI types? 

Dee calls him perfect husband material. Grr.. whatever that means. I really don't care. These kinds seem to be  well-settled right from the time they go to school.

Worse still, they only seem to study 24*7 and make no attempt to woo girls. And take away the blue eyed angels from guys who were born to love like yours truly. Life is unfair. 

I hated him. Added to that this guy belonged to MBA. And I absolutely detest MBA. No! Not Master of Business Administration. I am talking about Mallu Brother Association. I hated Mallu guys because Dee always believed that Mallu guys were special creatures on earth. So much that she even liked Sreesanth and thought he was a cool rock star!

My phone rang at around 9 pm that day.  It was her.

Me - ' Hello'

Dee- 'Hey.. wassup? What are you doing?'

Me- Nothing much. I am about to start from office.

Dee- I am at Ash's  place. Listen let's go for a walk tomorrow. You, me and Ash.

Me- Hmmmm

Dee - Ok. I will wake you tomorrow at 5:45 am. Bubye.

Me-Hmm..ok.

Did I just say ok? How could I? Walk with Dee was what I wanted to do . I wanted to spend some  quality time with her. But why Ass err Ash? Kebab mein haddi!

No! He was not an MBA.  He was a Tam Bram but his genuine admiration for the MBA group, and all the things that Dee liked including herself made me hate him.

Ash aka Ashwin was Dee's good friend. Not good? She keeps telling me that he is one of her  best friends. But I wonder how she has manages to have a long list of  best friends. I had lots of friends but only one  best friend ever since I joined work and it was Dee. 

I messaged her around 11:30 pm that night and told her that I was too tired to wake up in the morning. 

She messaged me back saying - 'Nothing doing. Sleep now! I will wake you up in the morning for one long  walk and breakfast with my best friends'. 

Best friends? Why plural? Best friend was good enough. 'I will not go,' I told myself. I always believed the love between Ash and me was mutual. We hated each other He was probably praying that I fell ill the next day morning. Damn! Let him and Dee go. 

Three is a crowd. Especially if the girl is Dee and the haddi is  Ash.

 It was 12:00 am then. I was very tired. But then I couldn't sleep. 

Suddenly all mosquitoes in my room seem to have come alive.

All-out was on. But then every now and then I opened my eyes feeling a mosquito. I never found any mosquito. But then why I was so  damn restless?

No! There was no exam the next day!

No! I was not going out on a date !

It was just one stupid walk with Dee. And I had made up my mind not to go. But then my heart was not allowing me to sleep.

I finally slept at around 3 am.

My cell did not have enough charge and it got switched off at 5:25 am.

And amazingly I  got up at this time and saw all this happening.

But then I did not bother to do anything. I let my phone die.

 I got up at 7 am. I switched on my cell and started charging it.

Dee had messaged me. It read ' What's this??? :(' . 

The :(  in the message told the  whole story. 

But then I would have had :(((((( expression on face had I gone for the walk. 

It wasn't as if I had a million dollar smile on my face either.  

Later in the day, she called me.

I was feeling guilty. 

But then I managed to ask her about the walk in the morning. 

"The walk never happened. Both of you are hopeless. Ash got stuck with his project till 3 am  in the office. And you? You are such an a*#@$@#. How could you switch off your phone in the morning??? '

'Ah!! I messed it up again', I said to myself. 

P.S - This is a part of my new crush project- The  JALSA series. Keep watching this space to know about JALSA!

My name is ...

There is this blogger who added me to some group on facebook the other day.  I was glad about this and thanked her. ' You are very welcome, Raghu'  she said.

I was not comfortable with this. No, it was not about what she said but there was something that sounded different and I was not too happy about this. I gave it a thought and I realized what it was. 

I often used to comment on her blog posts where my screen name is Kidoredo.  So she usually replied calling me Kido which I was used to.  Now I was uncomfortable when someone called me by my own name - Raghu.

Well, now that I have brought this topic about my name , let me go on with the whole story.

As a kid, I never liked the name ' Raghu' ( neither do I like it now.. but more on that later). It was so old fashioned even at the time when I was a kid.  My full name when I was admitted to school was K. Raghu Chaitanya and I always liked the name 'Chaitanya' more than the name 'Raghu'.

Being a devotee of a saint Raghvendra, my mom gave me the name 'Raghu'. Thanks to my Dad I was Raghu Chaitanya and not Raghavendra or Raghupathi. Ah.. how boring would those names be ! Why couldn't she christen me as Venu, Vamsi or any of those cooler names of Lord Krishna? Well, she was never a fan of Gods who practiced polygamy.

As a kid, I adored megastar Chiranjeevi/Chiru and his movies. In most of his movies, he was called Raja or Raju. Ha...my parents got the first two letters right and why 'ghu' instead of a 'ja' or 'ju'.? Raja/Raju appeared so cool.  Even heroes like Venkatesh and Nagarjuna had better names in their movies.

Raghu sounded so old fashioned and cliched even at the time when I did not know what 'cliche' meant. Added to that, Telugu family heroes like Sobhan babu  and Murali Mohan often had the name 'Raghu' in the movies those days.  'How uncool is that?' , I often wondered. The fact that I never had a 'pet name' like a Munna or a Bunny at home never helped my cause.

When I was in class 8, I decided to do something about my name. I started using K.R. Chaitanya and even Chaitan on all the labels of my books. Chaitanya to me was cool and I sooo loved the very few friends, cousins who called me by that name. 

At that time, I also went to a tuition where I shed my image of an 'Yes mam/Yes Sir'  student and instead start pulling everyone's leg including the guy who taught me. When I was in Class 9, studies became more important and I moved to a more serious tuition where there was more study.

Somehow all the K.R Chaitanya hype and hoopla fell apart and it was back to K.Raghu Chaitanya on all the labels on my books.  Good things never last long. The next 3 -4 years were as boring as they could. 'The name 'Raghu' is so synonymous with all the seriousness and boredom of the world',  I wondered.

The year 2000 and I was in IIIT. There were 3 guys with the name 'Raghu 'and 3  with the name 'Chaitanya' in our batch. Here is my chance to get rid of this name 'Raghu' I thought.  I thought of many cool names starting with R. 

'Rocky, Ricky, Rags!' I thought Ricky was the best of them and so self-christened myself by that name.

Ricky sounded so cool. Ricky was so contemporary. Ricky Ponting was also coming of age during that time. Ricky Martin wasn't doing too bad either. 'It can't get any better', I thought. It felt so good when all of the IIIT junta was calling me Ricky. 'There you go Raghu',  I said it myself.

However once I was out of IIIT into the big bad world, doing a job, the name 'Ricky' disappeared into the oblivion. I made an effort to retain the name 'Ricky', but somehow couldn't.  

And then one day  one of my blushes ( my name for a crush) said '

' Ricky is so unlike you.  The name Raghu suits you more.'  

Damn. I thought.  Am I so boring and old fashioned :P ?

And her words still echo in  my ears. Sob! Sob!

Perhaps Shakespeare was right. What's in a name? A guy called 'Raghu' would remain the same even when called by some other name :D

29 on 29th

I am almost 30. In fact the 30th year has just started.  But yeah like a teenager, I wanted to have a  ball on my birthday. On my birthday, I expect it to be my day!! The way it would be if I  had won an Oscar Award or a Nobel Prize ! 

I wish I could tell this to my Boss. I wish there was a T-shirt which screamed at my boss  ' Live and let live! Today is my birthday'.

Ironically, no one at work knew that it was my birthday. I didn't bother either. May be 3  years ago I would have let them know by wearing a flashy dress ..something so flashy that the people around me would know I am in a celebration mood. 

But for this birthday, I was in  perfect Monday morning dress - the formals that Dad made me buy the previous day. You see things change.

However the JOSH was back. Last year I was without a job and thought my birthday would be best celebrated in solitude without meeting any friends and just talking to them on phone.

This time however I had made up my mind. Friends or no friends, I am not going stay at home. I will go out and celebrate. I was so keen to celebrate that I wouldn't mind having food in restaurant with mirrors all around me  so that I wouldn't feel lonely.

This time I wanted to have a sketch of myself. I know. I know ! The receding hairline The chubby cheeks . The dark circles! The beard that promises to sport  the 'salt and pepper' look in less than a year!

Ha.. but I couldn't care less. I wanted to do something that would in the future remind me that this is what I did on my birthday in 2010. 

I reached Prasads where there was this software which would get the sketch done.  I wish there was someone who could sketch me. But that's ok. I wanted instant gratification and was in no mood at wait and explore.

I thought I would  sport an intelligent/smart ass look for the pic. I stood in front of the mirror in the loo and raised my eyebrows. Perfect ! I thought! After all, I am not that bad.

I stood in front of the computer and posed.
'Smile ! Smile ! ' the guy who operated that software kept telling me.

I didn't want to. It would ruin the intelligent look. But then I did. 

First shot ruined. It had the 'Nice guy' written all over it! Damn it. I didn't want that.

'I don't want  to Smile', I told the guy.

And slanted my head for that smart pic. It was ok. Not great.

I will better this in the next one I thought. 

'Smile! Smile! '. It was the stupid guy again.

Damn and I did smile! Third shot gone.

'Choose 1 out of these pics' the guy said.

That was a no-brainer. I chose the 2nd one.

After 5 minutes, the sketch was in my hands. 

Alas.. but it was not the look that I had rehearsed in front of the mirror in the loo.

I cut a sorry figure. I wasn't smiling. I wasn't looking smart. It was a weird sorry expression on my face. Ah.. stage fear! My expressions failed me when I needed them the most.

And so on 29th November 2010 my face was like this

I got it framed and cribbed about it to my Dad. 

' I couldn't quite get the intelligent/smart look Dad', I said.

 'Well, the picture doesn't lie my son. You cannot pretend to be someone else in a photo',  he said with a wry smile.

Enough! I thought it was time for me to go out for dinner.  My cousin Sasi and I went for dinner at Little Italy since I was craving to have something different and special on my birthday. I thoroughly enjoyed the food and thanks to Sasi, I had a few other pics on this day apart from THE ONE :P

Chalk & Cheese

She is chalk. He is cheese.  Or may be the other way around. But yeah you got the idea. Both of them are different.

She was the intelligent , fundoo types. He was the creative( so called) arty farty kinds. 

She worked on important modules and coded programs in her first 1st year of the IT job . He wondered if he really belonged to the IT industry in the first one year and coded his first program ( end to end) after nearly 2 years. 

She won awards for the superb work that she put in. He created awards like Mr Raymond and Miss Bibo to lure employees to parties and outings.

Both of them loved extra curriculars. 

She was the one who would always finish tasks in a jiffy and ask for more. He would examine things in detail and would even take hours to send out  a mail. 

She was a smart ass . Common sense was  so uncommon to him. 

She thought it was hard to put up with all different kinds of idiots in the world. He thought idiots were a different species and possessed some special skills which other didn't have.

She was in the midst of a grueling MBA programme last week. He had  quit a job and was at his bored 'vela' best in the same week. 

 And so the differences became  even more stark!

She was very busy. He was damn bored. 

Now then that was a given. 

She was totally screwed with piles of assignments heaped on her and major quizzes hitting her one after another.  He was as clueless as he could ever get buzzing all his friends online and messaging his local friends if they had the time to meet him. 

She was Red on Gtalk and explicitly  put a 'Do not Disturb' status message. He was in the brightest of greens on Gtalk,changing status messages every hour and showing off his gyan on Cricket.  

She was finding it hard to find time to fill her water bottle and hardly drank any water in the last 3 days.  He was not only bored of drinking  the same water but also eating the same food and was always critiquing the food made by his mom. 

She was worried that there were so many of her batch mates who worked harder than her. He wondered why his ex-boss worked so hard ruining his weekends and the peace of mind of his team members. 

She was worried about her grades. He was worried about his ever expanding paunch. 

She didn't have the time to worry about the cast on her hand. as she was afraid she would be left behind in her acads. He knew this was time for him to consult his endocrinologist, eye specialist and  skin specialist to get rid of the dandruff in his hair.

He has all the time in the world to think of such an idea on these differences and then put the effort to post it in his blog. She is so busy that she might not even read the blog even if he sends her the link!

Grow up? But why?

I feel good today. It is so nice when you  get to talk to a good old friend especially someone who is always ready to listen to your endless rant. So then N called me up after almost 2-3 months and then I  went on and on. After 45 minutes and 44 seconds, N realized that quite a few of her friends were buzzing her on gmail and finally put the phone down!

Phew! I told her lots of things , mostly about my job and  my career . And believe me ! What I told her was in fact a compressed version what I told AJ and other unfortunate friends who get to listen to me on a daily/weekly basis :)

After all the talk.. I felt like writing! As I am writing, I am so convinced of that fact I am an experiential writer. I need new experiences to write something .  Well nothing new in the talk that we had today but at least I felt I had a life. I tried 2-3 times in the last week to write something. But when you go to work.. do the same thing that you have been doing for the past 8 months.. there is nothing that inspires you to write about. So then, I should go about searching for a job that gives me varied experiences and the 'josh' to write!

Today my Mom was annoyed that  I was chatting on the phone endlessly. 

She was like ' He doesn't have any work and spends so much time talking on the phone. Wonder if he will ever grow up?'

Grow up? That word seriously scares me now. I mean if 'growing up' means doing some work or the other, then I don't want to grow up.  Talking to someone who understands you and listens to you is so much fun. I wouldn't ever want to give that up. No! Not even for the sweetest one.

'Sweetest one' now  reminds me of that conversation I had with my sister C  just when I got a job.

Sis: Now that you have got a job,  we will find a girl for you.

Me: Oh.. yeah!  I want a girl who will listen to me. You know someone with whom I can share all the exciting/frustrating moments I have at my work place.

Sis: Oh..come on! Forget it! You will never have any time to do all that once you are married.  My husband have never discussed work at home in the last 2 years.

Me: Hmmmm.. ok!

I wasn't convinced at all. I mean I don't think I can ever do that. This again seems to one of the  effects of 'Growing up' . You get busy ! You work more and you don' t talk!  Ah! So boring ! No thanks! I don't want to !

I have just realized that I have equated 'not talking about work' to 'not talking'.  I mean it works for me that way. Work is an important part of my life and I don't think I can stay without talking about it especially now that I am no longer a software professional.

 It is quite a coincidence that I found something similar on the net today called SPAM. Not it is not the regular computer SPAM but this one is called the Society for the Preservation of Absurdity and Madness!

I haven't read it yet but I am pretty sure that it will be kick ass stuff as I  have read some of the blogs of those who write there.

Feels good to find people who want to believe in absurdity and madness and are as fed up of the 'grow up' thing as I am.

You are growing old.. Dodo!

A couple of months ago as I was shaving my beard, there was something shinning. I moved to closer to the mirror to examine it. Soap? Foam? No.. it wasn't. I tried removing it and it stayed there. " Oh Nooooooooooooooooo" my soul screamed. It was grey facial hair ! Arghhhhhhh.. I am growing old. I let out a heavy breathe and touched my tummy. Damn it..! Nothing is going right and aging is so bloody one sided.  Huh.. I wish I was Benjamin Button! 

The other day I was watching MTV and it was the awesome 'Masakali Masakali' song. Ah... Sonam Kapoor is damn cute ya ! Watching my eyes  stuck to the Masakali babe, my Mom decided to dig into it.

Mom: Who is this girl?

Me: Sonam Kapoor

Mom: Oh...! Newcomer?

Me: Yeah, she is Anil Kapoor's daughter.

Mom: Oh! I see.

No she wasn't digging into it. She came, she saw, she left. I was the one who was lost in deep thought.

Circa 1988. I was in Class III and I was back home after watching Tezaab. Anil Kapoor was awesome in the movie. Kya hero tha yaar! ( No..No Arnold schwarzeneggeror or Sylvester Stallone I was not an English movies fan even  then) Tezaab was followed by Ram Lakhan and I thought Anil Kapoor truly rocked at that time. ( Till SRK  came along in 1992 with Dewaana). 

Haa.. wait! I won't digress and go into Bollywood now. The point is I adored Anil Kapoor back then. He now has a daughter .. and dude I find her adorable too.  That's ok. But then, it has been quite some time since those Tezaab days - a good 22 years  ago.  I was now reminded of the grey hair follicle again ! Old!!! Such an annoying 3 letter word!

My mind now went down south . I mean .. I am talking about the Film Industry! Who were the movie stars I liked in Tollywood and where are they now?

* The rest of this post is about the Telugu film industry-Tollywood from 1981-1990. Be warned*

As a kid perhaps the first 'hero' I knew was 'Sobhan Babu'.  Awwww! I know it isn't cool.. but since he was the only one whom I knew back then .. he was my favourite, first ever favorite Telugu hero. But yeah he spent most of his time in movies arguing with his wife .. (the heroine). His movies would usually have two heroines out of which one would die in the end. ( I really can't describe him as well as this blogger does).  I guess I saw him doing some dishum.. dishum and fighting a baldy bady to save his lady love and so liked him.

For those of you who are wondering if I ever liked ANR and NTR, let me tell you as a kid ( ahem ahem) I looked beyond the old 'black-white' generation. So when my mom and her sisters used to go gaga over NTR and ANR, I thought liking them would be so uncool. And so Shobhan Babu!

Shobhan Babu had passed away last year and so yeah the first one is already gone. It has indeed been a loooooong time!

1986- Simhasanam. I saw Super Star Krishna in that movie wielding the sword skillfully and was so impressed that for the next 1 month any long  metal/stick or kitchen utensil would turn into a sword into my hand. Those around me would be my enemies. And yeah our bed was the battlefield where I would defeat them. The bed because I could jump and perform feats on it without getting hurt :). Of course I would sing 'Akasam lo Oka Tara' to myself .. coz I would usually never find a cute little girl around.

Krishna's son Mahesh Babu has been wielding the gun since quite some time now. Time .. I say just flies!

Krishna was notorious for his dance steps and some of my friends in my neighbourhood used to make fun of me for being his fan.  There were all fans of his guy called Chiranjeevi who would dance like a charm and woo his lady love bashing up all the goons. Dad then took me to this movie -'State Rowdy' and boy.. wasn't Chiru ( that's what we fans call him) awesome? I was totally floored and as far as I can remember I never adored any other hero as much I adored Chiru. ( A few years later ,my hormones got active and then I would only watch the heroines !)

Of course , no Chiru  fan can ever forget his fights with the evil Amrish Puri  on the train or his super dances. Remember the Chiki Chiki Chellam ... Chiki Chiki Chellam Chiki Chiki Chiki aah!  G A N G.. GANG GANG bajao BANG BANG song from Gang Leader. ( I am again inspired by this awesome blogger's post). Chiru was truly phenomenonal!

Venkatesh came next with the super hit movie ' Bobbili Raja'. But then Divya Bharti came along and yeah I was old enough to notice her. Chiru was there much earlier and so he remained the Star for me!

Chiranjeevi has quit movies now and is trying his luck in Politics . His son Ram Charan Teja and nephew Allu Arjun are big stars in  Tollywood today. 

Hmmmmm.. Looooooooooong pause!

So then the fact that I am old is as cliched as the demand for Telangana. 

I have come a long way from the Grow up..Kiddo! days . Really???

Hmmm.. Mom & Dad seem to be thinking on the same lines and they want to DISCUSS something SERIOUS with me tonight.

NAHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!

Married! So what about you?

 It's the marriage season. There are have been so many of them happening in the last few days and a few more are lined up in the next few days. One of my friends has also sent a Shaadi Calendar with marriage dates of friends lined up till the end of 2010. Good going! Nice to see so many of my friends getting committed.

 Haa and now for that question that one can't just stop asking. I am done with it .. so what about you? I earlier thought it was only the aunties and uncles who were too bothered about guys ( and of course gals) on the wrong( their perspective)  side of 25.  But now almost all my friends who are married or committed are so worried. It's amazing that they turn into uncles and aunties in a jiffy.. at least just to ask that question.

May be it is a human tendency. My friend at ISB was telling me the other day that once someone in his batch got placed, he/she used to get very very concerned about the ones not placed. ( irrespective of whether the jobless one is concerned or not). It is a case of ' I am here  and I think everyone else should be here.'  Or may be they are trying to act funny so then let me act amused :) :) :) :)

My funda in life has been simple. As a guy, you should only marry if you have a girl friend or if you are settled in life and have nothing else to do. I do not fall under either category and so the question of marriage shouldn't ideally arise. now  But yeah the anxiety levels of my friends, neighbours and colleagues seems to  give me a reason to think about.

Anyway forget it! Kidoredo shall remain single n ready to mingle till he finds his sweetest one.  Just like my career which seems to have hit the bumpy path with pot holes like recession the other half of my life ( or whatever part) seems all set to test me :). I am ready and all set to fight it out till I get the dream job/sweetest one.

I now understand what all the girls on the wrong side of 25 go through. Hats off to each and everyone of you who is still looking for the ONE( or whatever you set out for)  in your lives. 

 P.S: Of late, I have been making an attempt to write on anything  that makes me react however minute the reaction might be. This writing is a impulsive reaction to one of those moments. So don't be surprised if announce my marriage tomorrow, get married the day after and then let out the  ' I am done with it. What about you?' expression.

Happy Birthday :)

So then another year has passed and I have turned an year older. I believe that a birthday should be a special day in the year and not just any other day in the calender. I have always made attempts to have as much fun as possible on my birthday believing that everything would go my way on my birthday.

I still remember my school days when teachers used to wonder when a usually silent and reserved student like me would talk non-stop with his neighbours and friends.
Haa.. the Birthday effect!

Last year after 26/11, my birthday was a low key affair in Mumbai. I had lunch at New Yorkers  with my  room mate and spent the rest of the birthday on a damn assignment.

This year's birthday was different. But yeah it was my choice to go this way this year. I was in no mood to go out for a dinner or lunch with anyone today.

But yeah thanks to all my friends, it has been a lovely birthday today. I was either on phone or chatting on my laptop for most of the day. It feels good when someone remembers your birthday and wishes you.  Each of their wishes was special and unique in their own way. I thought it would be fun to put down a couple of  them here.

First wish

I am still like a teenager who loves being wished at 12'0 clock on his/her birthday. It was then perhaps natural that my one of youngest cousins, a teenager was the first one who wished me at 12'0 clock.

The shortest greeting of the day 

VS: Chu

Me : hey ( this was after 2 minutes)

Well.. these nick names like 'Chu' ( can't give the full form here !!!) come when love overflows :) . This happened on gmail and this friend disappeared for the rest of the day.  Since this happened at around 12'o clock, I assume that it was a birthday greeting.

Miss Forgetful

 It was 6pm and she did not wish me till then. This despite me chatting with her for more than 15 minutes earlier in the day.

Me: hey

MsF: hey.. whatz going on

Me: voice chat?

MsF: sure , sure why not?

Voice chat started with the regular hi.. hello and 'I just got up' stuff for 5 mins

Me: so what's going on?

MsF: haan.. nothing special

Me: But it's special

MsF: What??

Me: Today is special for me

MsF: Matlab?

Pause for 30 secs

MsF: Oh.. don't tell me?

Me: hmm

MsF: Is it your birthday today ?

Me: hmm..

MsF: I am so sorry. I feel so embarassed!

Me: hmm.. ( i was feeling even more embarassed :(  )

MsF: Happy Birthday !!!

And we went on for the next half and hour !

   I went for a walk around 8 P sporting my 10k run T-shirt and shorts. I just walked a kilometer and realized that it was too cold for my comfort. It haven't seen it get this cold in Hyderabad for quite some time now. More importantly I was never dressed like this in this kind of weather. I managed to complete the walk but I guess I will catch cold in the next 24 hours. ( huch.. huch).

On my way back, I went to the temple to say hi to God Ganesh. But then it was closed.  I thought I would do all my prayers standing outside. '

'After all isn't God present everywhere' I said to myself.

'You should come in the morning and break a tender coconut for the God'.

I was startled when I heard this voice. It was a drunkard sitting outside the temple. Think of God and here is the devil. Not feeling too secure, I did a quick 'hi-bye' to God and left the place.

At the end of the day,  I realized that I  did not meet a single friend  this time on my birthday and had lunch and dinner at home. I don't remember the last time I did this. I usually eat out at least once even on weekends. It has been a different but lovely birthday nevertheless.

Albert Einsteen once said that solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature. Awww.. Does that mean that I have turned mature ? Hehe.. I would like to believe that Einsteen was kidding :)

The mirror and my mood

There is something about what I write on this mirror every morning just after I finish my bath and just before I come out of the bathroom. More often that not whatever I write on the mirror reflects my mood. If I am  in the best of the moods, my name appears there. More than an year ago, while I was working and may be even till very recently it would be the name of a girl. ( The name would keep changing of course). 

Over the last 1 month the names of some companies who were forturnate to interview me ( haha ) were on this mirror. Now I am past all that. The 3 lettered word 'job'  followed by an exclamaton reflects my mood!

A universal Donor :)

Right now, I am wearing a red and white shirt. Well, nothing too romantic about it, but then this is a shirt which I bought during the 'Friends to support' run. 'Friends to support' is a social group that helps the society by providing information about blood donors and organizing blood donation camps.

Coming back to my shirt, the message on it reads ' I am proud donor' which is ironical because of the fact that I being a diabetic, can never donate blood to anyone :(. But I still think that I am a proud donor. And what makes me think so? Well, listen to me now. I happen to fall in love ( that's what I think it is ) every other day and end up giving so much that makes me feel that I am the universal donor. Just as Aarya points out, I guess I have so much love embedded in me that a single gal would never to able to take it all. And hence I need to spread the love around to all the gals around me :)

So in order to sync the message with my 'Dil se' and 'Dil de' thoughts I turned the friends2support logo upside down and tweaked the turned version a little bit. And lo! you can see my heart there, right on my shirt proclaiming that it is the proud donor. The logo on Kumar's shirt ( to the right) is the original one. Cool!!! Isn't it? :)

Uncle!

I went to Care Banjara Hospital yesterday to submit some of my reports and met a doctor whom I hadn't met for the almost 1 year. Here is how the conversation went

Doctor: Hello

Me: Hello Sir

Doctor: Kya bhai! French beard. You have put on weight. No walking. No Diet-control.

Dad nahi hain....! Total change!

Me: (pissed off at the weight comment) Arey weight kuch hain.. I appear hefty just because of this jerkin!

Doctor: Acha.. par yeh to baahar nikal raha hain . ( he said that patting my tummy)

Huh! Not again! This is happening a bit too frequently now. It reminds me of the hair dye ad where a guy hears the word "Uncle" echoeing his ears. Just a couple of days ago, I happened to pose for my style photos in a marriage. I put one of the photos as my profile-pic in Orkut, ultra-pleased with it. ( Glam-boy dikh raha Main.. was my feeling). As expected there were a couple of scraps about the changed pic in orkut.

Hello, Abu Salem!

Hi...yeah Uncle photo kya hain! Since when did you start wearing those glasses?

I was shocked when I read those. I immediately changed the pic. Alas! I, in my best pic now look like an uncle. Uncle ! Uncle ! Uncle! The words still echo in my ears. Reflecting further on these lines, I now understand why Mom n Dad ask me if they should start searching for my better-half every other day. I do look to be in need of one. The french-beard is my only armour. It makes my chubby cheeks less obvious. Rishi Kapoor, the bollywood actor started sporting a French beard after he was 40. And I just turned 26.( By mistake, I happened to typed it as 46 a moment ago :( ). I believe that people put on French-beard when their face has nothing else to offer . There are some who put it on just to sport a "new" look. The later was my reason earlier but now the former seems to be a more appropriate reason.

Realization Aftermath: Abu Salem seems much better! He seems to occupy lesser space and didn't have the puffy face :(

Jog! Run! Yoga! Gym! What next? Ask me this question at 7:00 am in the morning and my answer would be "Arey, i'll get going from tomorrow!!"and Tomorrow has never happened till now :)

Abu Salem pic - Courtesy - www.tribuneindia.com/.../spectrum/main1.htm