A night to remember!!

31st December 2009.Evening 8.25PM.
A perfect night for partying and merriment for all.A night of frenzy and alcohol for some.A night for candle light dinner with a loved one for few.....
Still some people are left out in the above count.Guess who?
Yes,few unfortunate people like us who are prisoned indoors due to heavy downpour happening all over Bangalore!!Right.The city where pubs and restaurants have very long back announced for new year eve parties and DJs ,is literally in shackles tonight.Its been raining cats and dogs since 5 o'clock in the evening here!!
And here I am,making a fool of myself ,sitting far far away from my family and my beloved,penning down my miseries after having cancelled a plan of going out with my friends.
Really Bangalore can bring you surprises!It helps you understand the meaning of the common phrase "expected the unexpected".Just like ,few days back ,when almost the whole nation was shivering in the chilly month of December ,Bangaloreans were seeing the ferocity of the sun!And today after a great bright and sunny day,hell broke in the form of rains here.
The evening when I should have swayed and grooved to the music of the DJ with friends or when I should have just walked towards the sea in the moonlight at the beach holding hands with him....or when I should have just spent my evening enjoying a long drive and dinner with my family....I am sitting here bound by the four walls of my room,with a sad face,repenting of the boring new year eve anybody would have imagined!
This post is a result of depression and frustration as any sane being would surely have understood by now.Thus ,unlike my previous posts this may not be interesting(I hope they were!!) enough.This is just a reflection of what I am feeling at this hour.But whatever it is this really helped me in spending some more dull moments of this eve.....
Ohh!!Cross your fingers,yeah its true!!!Oh dear, to my utmost joy,the rain is ceasing....and yes,the night is still not over.I can still hope for a wonderful dinner with my friends and of course a good night's sleep.
Great is God's power I believe.He can make you smile even after a long period of suffering...
So here I take this smiling moment to thank the Almighty for making the year 2009 a great year for me....for helping me overcome whatever hindrances,frights and unhappiness that crossed my way and also for providing me the strength to stand for myself wherever needed.
I hope He blesses me enough for the coming year too so that I can help myself,my friends and my near and dear ones to experience a wonderful year ahead!!

Live your Life!!

Okay,I'm not here to preach anybody about living your life,as the title would suggest,only that I wanted to share a trifling yet crucial fact about life which most of us fail to notice.
The day I watched 2012 , made me ponder about this.
Would our fate really lead to such a catastrophe?
And,if so,what should be our plan of action be to encounter the situation when it strikes humanity?
No,I am not referring to how to avoid it,its about how we prepare ourselves to face it.Since then I have been thinking of what all can be done in this short span of two more years so that I can be satisfied with life and thus become ready for the debacle.But alas!Too much thinking can do you no good and I was left with nothing but a question mark...which lead me to assumption number one:Since we can't predict the unknown,better deal with what's known.We know our past and our present.It would be a fool's idea to reform the past which leaves us with only one option,improve your present!
And assumption(but its a fact) number two:Satisfaction comes from within,also, when and how a person can be satisfied varies from person to person.But God forbid,if such a mishap really happens in another two years,we have to reduce our benchmark of satisfaction ,that is do a curve fitting (As Wikipedia cites,Curve fitting is the process of constructing a curve, or mathematical function, that has the best fit to a series of data points, possibly subject to constraints).
Keeping the above assumptions in mind, I decided to splurge myself into all things that would make me and my family happy without thinking twice!!I decided that I would rather spend a whole day shopping at Commercial Street(didn't I mention its my favourite past time?)than sulking about what happened the other day at work or how some people manage to outsmart you when you are obviously the smarter one.I made myself promise that I would indulge myself with all that I crave for (examples being ice creams,chicken and pani puris) without thinking about how many extra calories I must have gained after having those.And even visit my parents whenever I felt homesick without worrying about flight fares!!
Yes these things might seem very trivial to some but to me that's what makes me happy and since happiness leads to satisfaction,viola!!!We have met our goal!!
Truly speaking ask your heart what you yearn for,go for it,forget about what pains you secretly possess,seek happiness in smallest of ways and definitely you will be satisfied !!Don't get me wrong,that was a mere suggestion and any opposing ideas will be surely entertained and appreciated.

An untimely visitor

A visitor or a "Mehmaan" as known in India, is considered equal to God in Indian culture ,irrespective of the fact whether he is welcome or not. But what would you say if one fine day, Sri Hanuman visits your insignificant abode? One may feel greatly blessed unless the Hanuman belongs to Mother Earth rather than the heaven or wherever Gods live, that is ,unless he is none other than our own ancestor ,the monkey of the trees.
This unlucky (my mind still can't decide whether it was actually lucky) incident happened one calm Sunday morning. As usual a hectic week had just got over and my roomies and I were finally able to sleep till 11 am that morning. After having the morning cup of coffee we settled at having a brunch, unable to make up our minds whether its appropriate to have breakfast or lunch at 12.30 noon. I, secretly wanting to try out some new recipe, declared that a sumptuous meal will be ready in sometime. Unlike expected, all agreed in unison. Perhaps the coffee was not strong enough to pull them out of the slumber. Good, I thought. No disturbance then.
I was ready with my bhindi, dal and rice in an hour. Yes I know that’s not anything new ,but I had to adjust since I had failed to gather the required raw materials for the dish I had dreamt of preparing. I called out to my roomies to help me in serving.
Soon Sayantani and I started laying the plates and serving. We happily chatted about anything and everything under the sky while we served in the kitchen. Suddenly a tail attracted my attention. I scolded myself silently for day dreaming and rejoined the spicy gossip once again. Another movement of something or somebody distracted me once again and I looked back. Oh my god!!!! There he was. Sitting in a relaxed manner with anything but amiable looks in his eyes….there was a huge monkey at the kitchen door.
We were stoned by the suddenness and the reality of the situation. To the contrary, the giant animal looked defiantly at us and the food. There was no way for us to get out of the kitchen. The kitchen entrance was in strict guard by his highness himself. We were in peril. As he shone his pearly whites at us, our bodies decided to try for the door even though our minds knew the rare possibility of getting to it. We took a step forward. Mr Monkey grew cautious and turned towards us. We stopped. He looked at the bowl full of bhindi in my hands. I dropped it on the kitchen counter. This proved to be a clever trap. The monkey proceeded towards the bowl and taking advantage of the situation we two moved out of the kitchen and ran inside our rooms.
Some stunned moments of silence passed as we waited patiently for him to leave our kitchen. Then he came out of the kitchen like a gallant soldier just having won a battle for his country, with only a boiled potato in his hands!!!! He had left all other dishes untouched and only the potato had seemed edible to him(So much to my effort .. huh!!!). Anyway, I was hugely relieved that my entire toil and accomplishment of cooking a brunch was not wasted.
Finally he went of our house through the balcony happy with his fruit of labour, the potato.
Thus ended our “monkey business” and after a long round of discussion about the encounter we just had, and we finally settled down for our lunch.

An unusual Diwali

There was a time when Diwali among kids in our family was synonymous with crackers, new dresses and home made gourmet delicacies. Preparations would begin a week earlier soon after the memories of Durga Puja would start fading away from our minds. My sister and me, finding a good reason to bunk studies, would start shopping for dresses and crackers and soon would be joined by super enthusiastic cousins thus doubling the fun!! The festive atmosphere brought along with it a feeling of closeness and belonging in our family and Diwali eve was celebrated with much pomp, show and merriment.
This year, I expected Diwali to be a demure one. Yes of course, since I was more than a 1000 Kilometres away from my home but also to add to my woes, I had just come back from a long holiday in my hometown, which had duly resulted in tons of work piling up. But as usual, all these didn’t prove to be a stimulus strong enough to make me work in the Diwali weekend. Instead, I was over enthused to celebrate Diwali in a gaudy way.
To make it a success, I called up my friends to plan. But, believe it or not, my cricket loving friends had planned to watch the T20 Champions League match live on Diwali eve!!! By default I was included (the tickets were already bought too) and then there was no “ctrl+Z” to the plan allowed here!!! One can definitely imagine my miserable state knowing how much I hated Cricket and the fact that I knew so little about any other player other than India’s top favourite ones who are better known for their endorsements. Thus unable to restructure any part of the plan, I joined the merry group on Diwali eve, to watch the live match at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.
The crowd inside the stadium was enormous and soon after verifying that the teams playing were Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Dare Devils, I made myself comfortable at my seat. To our convenience, the seats were close to the ground and we could get a clear view of the players. Slowly as the game progressed, the surrounding became livelier with people cheering continuously and fireworks emerging from every side of the stadium roof illuminating the sky on completion of an over. Even though I couldn’t catch up on every detail of the match, I cheered with my friends on every six or four. Our voices had become hoarse with shouting. Soon I was immersed in a merriment I had never imagined myself to be in. It was really a feast to the eyes watching the colourful crowd, the well coordinated and beautiful cheerleaders, and the amazing panorama of the zillion sparks sent up to the sky by the fireworks. Really the spectacle was worth in a Diwali night!!
The night ended with Bangalore Royal Challengers winning over Delhi Dare Devils which increased the mirth and gaiety of the crowd. More fireworks engulfed the sky and trumpets were blown as people madly enjoyed the win. After we returned home overtly exhausted and happy, I felt really grateful to my friends and owed this awesome and breathtaking Diwali celebration to them who despite my repeated nagging had the patience to bear with me and cajole me into spending the Diwali eve this “unusual” way.

Rendezvous with Ma Durga

This post is not related to my stay in Bangalore, neither is about any significant incident in my life.It only wishes to enlighten some of you who are unaware of the ever hyped Durga Puja which is the most awaited festival for the Bengalis all over the world.

Bengali's Durga Puja is tantamount to Christmas for the Christians.It is a time of the year when relations are reignited,friendship is reinvented and long forgotten birth places are revisited.Each year this precious four days of the Pujas are eagerly awaited.Bengalis all over the world specially those who are oppurtune enough to stay in Pashchim Bangla(West Bengal) start making preparations about 2 months before,to have a gala time with friends and relatives during the Pujas.One can see numerous puja pandals being set up in various parts of the state (and also elsewhere across the nation,though the numbers there are few compared to our Bangla) with men working day and night puffing and panting to create an unique edifice for the Goddess.The clothing and fashion industry tries to make the maximum profit during this time of the year since buying new dresses for friends and family is a ritual during the Pujas.
The scene in a standard bengali home is even more interesting.Aroma of delicacies made with coconut and jaggery prepared by ma and mashis linger in the homes enriching the “Pujo” atmosphere.Houses are neatly decorated and illuminated with lights and soon relatives start pouring in one by one.They are greeted with much pomp and show and showered with gifts already bought about a month ago.There's a smile in every face and a beat in every step.....
After the welcoming of Goddess Durga and her children(Lakshmi,Saraswati,Ganesh and Kartik) on day of "Shashti",the melodious beats from the “dhakis” on the early morning of "Saptami" is the harbringer of the real pujas.People clad in brand new dresses bought only for this occasion gather in front of pandals or mandirs to watch the priest perform the aarti of the Goddess.A very important custom mainly followed by all on "Ashtami" is the "pushpanjali".It is the act of showering of flowers to the Goddess as one prays to Her for success and opulance in life.Only after this,the fast kept by people on "Ashtami" is broken by eating the prasad which mainly comprises of fruits and sweets.
Nights during the pujas are most enjoyed. Loudspeakers roar with the latest Bollywood songs or in rare cases one can hear holy bengali songs being played in the pandals.Everyone dressed in their best throng the illuminated pandals to offer prayers to the Goddess.The roads leading to pandals are canopied with brilliant lights and are laden with stalls selling mouthwatering jalebis,samosas and chicken rolls.Balloon sellers make the place even more colourful with their wares displayed in full bloom.Merry go rounds and other games are set up to entertain children.The roads are over crowded with pandal hoppers and there's hustle and bustle every where.
The last day of the Pujas or the "Dashami" is the time when everyone calms down and a more sober show reigns.There's a sadness in every soul that "Maa Durga" will be gone for another 365 days leaving them with the same monotonous life that will soon begin once the pujas are over.Soon after few religious rituals and aarti ,the idol of the Goddess and her children are submerged in any nearby pond or lake as an act of "Bissarjan" and people with heavy hearts start chanting "asche bochhor abar hobe" meaning next year we are going to celebrate once again with the same enthusiasm and devotion.The puja may be considered over but the spirit of a true bengali is undying.Now its time to wish "Subho Bijaya" to one and all...a time to visit our elders and touch their feet and get their "Ashirvaad"...a time to unite with all friends and relatives again to celebrate the end of Pujas and share the happy memories of the four puja days.Its called "Bijaya Dashami".
Describing Durga Puja without the mention of the numerous delicacies prepared will be an offence.Various fish items are a gourmet’s delight during the pujas .Kachoris with different stuffings served with a wide variety of home made sweets and kheer are the favourite ones.Chicken and mutton curries reign supreme during “Nabami” after a strict vegetarian meal on “Ashtami” ,the most auspicious day of the Pujas.
Thus the Durga Puja ends after four days of hefty fun and frolic and with a bereaved heart and exhausted body one forcefully returns back to his normal lacklustre and hackneyed life. The Bengali's wait for the next Durga Puja thus begins again.....

Children of God

I was worried that my birthday this year was going to be as boring and uneventful as it proved to be the previous two years but to my utter good luck it seemed to be not.

The reason was Soumen who had decided to visit me on the same week. As it was a golden opportunity for me to enjoy in my own birthday(which was rare due to various reasons),I decided to make most of it.

So,after partying the previous night,I woke up on my birthday with a wide smile on my face.I had already made ample plans for the day,the first being visiting a temple, followed by a sumptuous lunch at 6 Ballygunge Place(my favourite Bengali cuisine restaurant) and then a movie at Inox.

Soumen came to pick me up at 9 in the morning.I was more enthusiastic than ever and was already decked up by then in my brand new birthday dress.Thus we headed for the temple.

It was a Shiva temple that we visited, located in the heart of the city, and was well known for its austerity and its power to make dreams come true.

The entrance leads to the gates from where we needed to get our shoes racked before entering the main podium. As we awaited our turn there in the queue to submit our shoes, my eyes fell on a little boy. He was about 6 years old, had a pretty face and appeared to be from the North. The reason why I observed him was, though he seemed to be from a good educated family background, he was washing utensils in the sink nearby the place where we stood. He worked very intently, cleaning and washing each of the crockery with utmost care and discipline. I was amazed at the sight and I genuinely felt intrigued by him.I went forward and asked his name. He looked at me, at first with awe and then his eyes crinkled as he smiled and said “Veer”. But to my amazement,he continued to say …”Naam Veer hain,par admi veer nahi hain”(Translation:Though my name is Veer, meaning brave, I am not at all brave)!!!I was stupefied at such an intelligent remark from a 6 year old kid. I then asked him where he was from.He said he hailed from Uttaranchal. He smartly asked me where I came from. Hearing of Calcutta, he seemed very happy and asked how far Calcutta was from Delhi..I said, it was quite far, and he continued in his sweet voice about his place and how far it was from Delhi. He was chirpy young intelligent boy, very innocent and had a pure heart. I came to know from him that he never studied and was working in a restaurant nearby since last year. After sharing few more insignificant facts from his life, he gave me a smile and hopped away cheerfully.

This small tryst had really touched me, and as I prayed to God, I thought about the plight of thousands of other kids who have the same story as Veer. Child labour still was well rooted in India. Even in a progressive city like Bangalore, its presence was striking. I felt helpless unable to do anything for them. I was ashamed at myself for being such a fool chasing the materialistic happiness all my life....When children like Veer went to bed at night hungry and tired after a hard day’s work, the so called “educated” people like us cribbed about petty things like not getting the choice of pizza at the restaurant or not able to make it to the first show in a movie or about a bad haircut...

It was high time we woke up and realized that there were far more important things in our lives than just wasting our time in running behind ephemeral pleasures and leading lives of hedonistic delights.

Heaven on earth

It was an utterly chilly morning at 5 ,complying to the usual Bangalore weather.After 3 phone calls and 2 alarm rings ,I decided to wake up.The worst part was,it was a Sunday.

Yeah,we were to go for a trip to Nandi Hills.On bikes.Fine for me....but getting up at 5 on a Sunday morning???Impossible was the word I had uttered earlier.Disgusting was the word I felt then.

A trip was being planned for a long time but without any concrete ideas.I was the one most excited.Soumen,Deepanjan(Soumen and my college friend),and his two oher room mates were the ones to go.At last after much arguement and debating we opted to go to Nandi Hills and as suggested by Soumen it was to be a bike ride(which I well understood why... reason being his new bike!)

So I finally got ready and after sipping a steaming hot cup of tea,rushed down where Soumen and others were waiting for me.As I stepped out of my house,I felt the cold wind against my skin..God,it was midnight;or rather it seemed to me.It was totally dark and brisk chilly winds biting through our bodies made it worse.I suggested starting a bit late...but in vain.Nobody seemed to notice the ghastly condition of the weather.Instead they said the weather suited the bike journey!!!

And thus started our first trip after coming to Bangalore.

As our bikes gathered speed,I geared up for a rough day ahead.But the moment we were on the highway,my senses immersed in a sea of beauty.The road was so perfect ,with trees lining up both its sides and shiny mirages created in it, and the rising sun seen in the horizon nearly took my breath away.Everything was so pure,so natural...nature was entirely at its best.

As our bikes zoomed through the twisted road,I was deeply taken aback at nature's abundance.Beautiful yellow flowers garlanded the sidewalks and I could soon see the looming silhouette of the hills ahead.

We made our way through the road leading to the point from where one needed to walk to reach at the top of the hill.We parked the bikes,and admired the nature around.It was almost 7.

Having a small breakfast of cakes,chips and tea,we headed for the hill top.The weather still was chilly enough and fog descended upon us like a canopy.Up there,it was prettier...

After taking a large doze of nature's heavenly aroma,we decided to return back.It was becoming sunnier and the fog was swept away swiftly.We left the place at about 10.

The way back was fun as well.We stopped at completely strange places to have tea and snacks.Everyone joked about how I had reacted earlier that morning.

It was truly a great trip and I still cherish every moment of it.As well said by the great poet Wordsworth....

"I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils....."

Flash Back

The other day ,while I waited for my bus at my stop,ready to face another hectic (probability of it not being a hectic one was minuscule) day at office,something happened that almost distracted me for the whole day.
I was tapping my toes to the music that swam into my ears through my ipod, my mind raced through a whooshing memory path starting from my home in Durgapur,my first day at office,my mom trying to hide her tears as she left me in Bhubaneshwar and even about my to-do tasks at office.Suddenly a cacophony of giggles and gossips made my mind come to a screeching halt.
They were a group of young guys from college,(my bus stop is in front of a engineering college)who seemed to have bunked their morning class.As they enjoyed the cool breeze outside and discussed about their feat of bunking the class of some well known strict professor,I failed to keep myself from staring at them.They appeared to me as a bundle of joy... few frivolous,indecisive minds free from the stress,responsibility and corruption of professional world.I felt so very jealous of them.
I suddenly wanted to go back to those golden years again !!I started craving for the days when I could just keep on reading a novel lying on my hostel bed without having to think twice....I was awefully taken aback by the tremendous change in my life that had swept in after I joined my job!Why was I here wasting my life...was the question I kept asking myself again and again....
The whole day after that was like a flash back to me.On every free moment, my mind would again race back to my college days.I thought about all the sweet and bitter memories of those days.....even the bitter ones brought a smile in my lips....
I thought about my "ragging period",when we were asked by our seniors to go to college in two pigtails with oil in our hair and with a tricolor dressing style....
I reminisced about our cultural fest "Recstacy" where we enjoyed to our limits till 1 AM at night without thinking about the consequences ....
I remembered how Soumen and I used to spend all evenings after college together just sitting or roaming about in our favourite "City Centre" sipping coffee and talking....
All of these and many others really made me feel alone and depressed even in the hustle and bustle of professional Bangalore life.My heart ached to get back those days.My mind wanted to run away from here.Every thing seemed so irrelevant,so insignificant to the huge loss which I had just realized...that I had lost the best days of my life and I knew I would never ever be able to relive those days even if I sacrificed everything in my life...
Somehow tears overcame me,I rushed to the restroom.....I washed my face,drank a glass of water.Something reminded me of the old saying that whatever God does,he does it for our good.That made me feel emotionally stronger and I decided to return to face the shackles of the harsh reality pledging to try to make it less harsh from then!!

A gem....

I was pretty satisfied with the project I was put in ,not because it was a development project where I could learn a lot but mostly because of my fellow team mates with whom I started interacting there.They were a group of young talented people,not sticking their eyes on to the computers all day and were quite jovial and friendly.They preferred gossiping at tea breaks about some interesting thing at work or some daily soap that was aired the last night ,to sitting in the library trying to gain some more knowledge like a true professional!
There was this particular tall,sweet looking girl in the same group,just a year senior to me,who was assigned as my mentor.She was the one I had to take work from and report to her once I was done.To be honest ,I was a bit skeptical about this in the beginning.The reason was pretty obvious.She was utterly sincere,very intelligent and was a perfectionist in her work.On the other hand I was this college passout who had no idea about professional work,not at all sincere and over and above, had a severe lack of confidence.I thought I was screwed big time!!!
All the above notions were lifted like a purdah once I got to interact with her more closely.Her confidence,her obesession to deliver any work perfectly and her humility petrified me.I was stunned at times just by looking at her approaching any complex work item she was asked to work on.It was liked a smooth process.Analysis,design and then coding was her usual procedure on tackling a problem and each of these she accomplished with sheer finesse.This nature of her reflected in her daily activities too.She was a devoted follower of the great Sai Baba and worked voluntarily in many institutions(set up in his honor) helping the less piviledged ones.She was a beautiful person.
Whenever I faced any problem in my work ,I would rush to her.She asked me to sort it out myself.Mostly I couldn't even after trying ten times over,but at other rare times I would find a really silly mistake I made and we both would laugh together.This grew in me the confidence which I lacked then.Slowly I grew so fond of her and her ways that I felt I was trying to copy her in some ways.May be I really did .
We were in the same cubicle and our seats were adjacent.All day besides working we both enjoyed joking about silly incidents and some really funny guys at office....she was my friend and guide at the same time..
Soon she was leaving India.Yep,she cracked the GRE with an awesome good score and was going to NCSU in few months time.I felt heart broken.So much was left to learn from her..so much was still left to share,so much was left to blossom the friendhship which had just started budding....
I decided to make most out of the time left with me.As she gave me KT(knowledge tranfer),I would genuinely study her ways to deal with things,her naturally confident approach towards problems and her awestrucking humility which never seemed to attenuate even a bit inspite of her soaring success in every field.
Then the day arrived,her last day in office.We gave her a warm farewell and wished her luck.I was not able to express my feelings about how I felt in words to her ...so I decided to put them in ink.I gifted her with a small Ganesha that would bless her in all her future endeavours and a diary where I penned down some gratitude I owed her.
Thus she went miles away from us leaving me with a dull feeling of losing a real friend ,a teacher , a guide and a gem whom I would never ever forget in my life....Hope she continues to be just the same girl whom I knew for that short but precious span of my life.

Friends in need....

2230 HRS ,a lonely street .....few stranded dogs yelling their hearts out as if something's seriously troubling them...whatever few shops in the locality had shut down already....absolute darkness prevailed ....5people,2 girls 3 boys,arrive at the doorstep of a house.No,this is not really the first scene of a upcoming thriller movie niether is a preface from a Jeffrey Archer novel.....this is a fact from my life @ Bangalore which still haunts me ....I had landed up in a paying guest accomodation the week I came to Bangalore and since then had continuosly cribbed about its lack of ....err....almost everything!!!The lack of cleanliness,the lack of hot water ,the lack of good food(ohhhh...I so missed ma's fish curry that time),over and above ,the lack of a home....My friends (Vipul,Anupam and Ritesh) and Soumen tried searching for any rented house or an apartment near to office that may meet the "deficiencies" mentioned above.My PG roomie was also interested in moving with me(she also was genuinly pissed off with that PG )...So even we joined in the search...Mrs Reddy seemed pretty nice lady at first sight.At Rs 8500 as rent amount and an initial deposit of Rs 50000 which we said we'll pay the day we move in,we settled with Mrs Reddy,our "to-be" landlady,to rent a 2BHK of her huge house.We decided to move in by the end of that month.Still 15 more days at the PG?Horrible....We soon came to realize that those 15 days were worse that we could have ever imagined.Mrs Reddy repetitively called us and asked for that deposit money that too in cash....she threatened us that she will give that flat to somebody else if didn't pay immediately.Both of us were new to Bangalore and obviously hadn't made so much savings to pay her immediately.To add to our misery,we had already given notice to the PG owner about vacating by month end.Thus,we were left with two only two options:1.to search of another place(God,save us from the ordeal again!!) and 2.To pay the hefty sum(that seemed better to me).....We opted to seek advice instead.Soumen said he'll arrange for the amount.Ritesh and Anupam asked to confront the landlady.Vipul wanted a more peaceful settlement.My roomie had guts and brain I suppose to agree to Ritesh and Anupam....I being the meeker one,wanted some less risky way.....but bravery won over cowardice !!We had to do it that very day,that very night at 2230hrs....Then 5 of us(my roomie,me,R.. ,A ... and V..) rushed through the deserted streets of Munnekolala,the almost underdeveloped locality where we lived,to Mrs Reddy's house.Ritesh knew Telegu(the language Mrs Reddy spoke) and started to reason with her regarding her insane demand.She listened at first but later her arrogance seemed to overcome her and she started abusing us .Her son chipped in few slangs.This infuriated my brave friends and they lost patience.No more sweet talks were exchanged,instead only heated conversations filled in the hollow of the night and echoed down the street...I was terrified.My legs wanted to run away from this horrifying situation...but my mind was filled with pride for my friends and that provided me the strength to still be with them....Suddenly my roomie mouthed something rude to her out of sheer disgust and that was when Mrs Reddy's anger crossed its limit and she said "You guys don't know me and my family,we can hire people to kill you guys"...the anger was real in her eyes.That very dialogue petrified us,even R...,A... and V.... were silenced.I think this thwarted their anger and they understood our plight.We decided to stop at that point.We left the place by paying some amount to her (which she said she deserved since she didn't give that flat to someone else in those 3 days).Whatever happened that day left a bitter mark in the memories of Bangalore ,but had left me with an obvious truth..that is,I had got some real friends who can help me out in any situation and be by my side whenever I needed......

Sep 07..The month I arrived in Bangalore :)

I assume,I am thrilled to have started mine own blog spot after all these years of hesitation and lazying :P......
I wish to put my daily saga in Bangalore in black and white in this blog,which I can well warn in advance may or may not be a colorful read for all!!!! Hereby I take the pleasure to start the odessey......
I've been in Bangalore for almost 2yrs(will become 2yrs on 9/09/2009).My job brought me here....yes,I am now a fully "confirmed" associate of the Tata Consultancy Services,having joined the same on 11th of July 2007(* Interesting fact:My birthday falls on exactly the same date i.e,11th of July).After having completed a wonderful (let me take time later to throw light on its wonder ..... :-))2 months of ILP(Initial Learning Programme ,which is a compulsory training for all TCS joinees) in Bhubneshwar ,I came to Bangalore with 3 other college friends.With excitement being predominant ,I failed to notice what life has for me in store in Bangalore.I was too excited about my new job, the so-called "hep n happening" Bangalore life... and the happiest part of my brain knew I was in the same city as my boyfriend(somehow,I fail to understand why I dislike this word,but yes my "Boyfriend" also worked in Bangalore then ).....!!!
Nights at Bangalore in Sep 07 was not entirely comforting for me as the days usually were because they brought in enormously the memories of my nearest ones who were actually the farthest ....my ma,my sis,my baba.....who were still in my hometown Durgapur......
Yet,when I woke up the next day....the mellow warmth of the morning sun seemed to melt away the little lump of sadness, which had appeared as every other night and had secured its place in a corner of my mind......
Thus,before any other thought overcomes me,I decide to kick start another day in Bangalore with energy,enthusiasm and liveliness !!!!