Goodbye Noughties

Okay…I admit that the headline is copied from our DNA’s special issues. But I kinda liked it. Today we are going to bid adieu to the 2000-09 decade. This decade will always be very special to me as I spend my teens, my young adult days. I passed my SSC, HSC, I graduated, post-gradated and started working in this one decade! Phew…too many things have happened in these ten years and here’s a year-wise lowdown of them all.

2000: The year when Hritik Roshan became popular thanks to Kaho Na Pyaar Hai and we got a new actor to have a crush on. This year was the last year of my school, so the whole year was spent in filling scrapbooks, performing at the last annual days and sports says and clicking photographs with classmates and teachers. Then there were of course the scary board exams that were fast approaching and the cut throat competition to stand first in school. The year was the ‘innocentest’ in this decade.

2001: Time to finish school and join Junior College. Board exams went on peacefully, without much copying and cheating and now time was to decide what stream to join. As a bright student the obvious choice was science. And also because of the fact that I liked the subject, the only hitch being Maths and Physics- but just because of Biology and Chemistry I decided to take up science. Results were out and I missed a place in the Fergusson College by 0.2%. But then aamcha Modern College was not a bad choice. The feeling of entering a college was a bit eerie for me as I used to watch too many films and colleges were portrayed very wrongly in the 1990s chaap movies. But slowly I got accustomed to the setup and started enjoying my life.

2002: A very normal year for a Junior-Collegiate. Lectures, practicals, katta, jokes, PJs- we did it all. I missed (again) a seat to the ‘scholar batch’ of my college and had to satisfy being in the F division (the second best division). This is the year when I realized my love for foreign languages as I had taken up German as a second language.

2003: I can never forget my 12th std board exams- they can be described in a word- bad! My Maths paper was very bad as I had joined a class where they didn’t teach anything! This was the year when I aspired being an architect and had appeared for all entrance exams in Pune. But after giving it a thought, changed my liking to Biotechnology. So after this decision, I landed back in Modern College doing my BSc. The year was fun as I participated in college plays and other activities. I made new friends and started liking the ‘other side’ of college.

2004: The second year of my senior college. This year is special to me because I met Amey. He was in my class in the first year too, but amongst the 200 students I had hardly noticed him. We became Chemistry practical partners and we so hated it. We used to argue with each other and hate being with each other. The year just flew away with some interesting moments such as our annual gathering where I danced and surprised all and our trip to Mahabaleshwar.

2005: The year was last year in college- which is always a senti one. The thought of leaving the college and friends always makes you shudder. This year for the first time we went for an overnight trip to Amboli- a very beautiful place in Konkan and had a great time. Of course, we hated that it was a Botany tour and we had to collect plant samples, even on the beach! The college, the parking lot, all the places we used to hang out, all the college festivals- I miss them all.

2006: Exams again….so boring. Passed, graduated, stood first. (Shabash :) now was the time to choose a profession- learning German further or joining mass communication. But when I became one of the University of Pune’s 30 short listed I decided to give it a shot. The year was full of the separation pain- my 3 magicals years in Modern doing BSc with fab friends were over- and I kinda didn’t like the Ranade (my mass comm. Dept was popularly known as Ranade Institute) setup. But the year went in making the student’s paper- Vritta Vidya, doing an internship in Maharashtra Herald and making merry with new friends from all over India. This year I went to Goa at a friends place and got a chance to ring in the New Year partying all night long.

2007: The year of growing up. We had the Bangalore trip- a very beautiful city and we visited Mysore- another beautiful city. This year I joined the Japanese classes and met a crazy bunch of people who became very good friends of mine. The Japanese song contest, which we won and our various expeditions around Pune were the highlights.

2008: The year if many things. The judaai ka gam with my Japanese friends. My not-so-good MA farewell party and campus selection in 2 companies! The excitement of doing a job in Mumbai and staying all alone and the sadness of leaving family and friends behind! They year I changed 2 places in Mumbai and learnt life’s lessons and enjoyed working in DNA.

2009: The year of changes and boredom. This year gave me a chance to meet celebrities- from Dev Anand to Leander Paes to Minissha Lamba. I went to some posh hotels- JW Marriot, Hyatt, Taj, Trident, ITC...I loved my job only at these times! ;) I stayed in the oh-so-posh area of Bandra and enjoyed jogging with stars- Nagma, Farhan Akhtar and so on (I saw them when I went to jog...thought I should clarify ;).
There was a stable period due to recession… hope that 2010 brings a lot more happiness and peace in everyone’s and my life. Hope some of my wishes are realized.

Time to say Goodbye Noughties and wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010. Ciao.

Hostel-life

I always wanted to know how it feels staying in a hostel- and mind you, its one rollercoaster of an emotion! I have currently (yesterday) shifted to a hostel in Prabhadevi from the cozy flat in Bandra.

The hostel is no doubt very neat and clean, the Catholic institutes generally are. But the discipline and the punctuality are freakingly freaking! The other day, when I went to get admission to the hostel, the sister incharge handed me a paper full of instructions. Believe it or not, at every place in the hostel premises, there are small boards full of instructions. Eg: Near the bathroom- Do not wash your jeans here. Girls, if found washing will be fined.

We get dinner from 8pm to 9pm and breakfast from 7am to 8.15am (even on Saturday and Sunday!). There are different types of rooms- namely, the hostel rooms and the guest house rooms. Thankfully, I am staying at the guest house which has better privacy, space and 24*7 electricity supply (the girls in the hostel have to charge their mobiles in another common room!).

Yesterday, being the first day of my hostel life, gave me Goosebumps. But it wasn’t that bad as I had imagined. I will take some more time adjusting to the new surroundings and write a blog later on the same!

Deutsch it is....

Guten Tag! Wie geht es ihnen? Für lange habe ich kein blogpost geschrieben. So, hier ich komme!

Confused? Or thinking that I have become mad? The latter is more possible. ;)

But I haven’t gone mad (unfortunately :P). Anyways, I have just brushed up my German after two and a half years and joined the B1 Level course at the Max Mueller Bhavan. And you know what; it feels great being a student again.

The best thing about being a student (despite the fact being that I have paid my fees from my salary…no parents’ participation) is the fresh smell of books. The colourful cover page and interesting caricatures inside it, make me feel as if I am in school again.

In college, I would keep on cribbing about the long and boring lectures. But here the class being of four hour duration is not boring at all! The way we introduced ourselves to each other on the first day was very unique. First of all, we had to speak in German, compulsory and then we had to find out five commonalities between us and the other people and introduce based on these facts.

But a thing I dread being a student again are the exams! And we have not only one but three exams. But studying, group discussions, working together again after a long time will surely help. I miss my school and college days and this is a unique chance for me to get them back, what if only for a couple of months.

Tschüs then guys! Auf wiedersehen. (FYI: Babye ;)

(Not really) Love Story 2001

She was 16 and he was 17. As a Marathi song goes, “Solava varees dhokyacha…”, same was the situation with the girl. She dreamt that her prince on a white horse will come and take her away. So did the guy dream of his Dream Girl.

One fine day, they finally saw each other. At the first sight she liked him and he fell in love with her. He knew it was love but she was apprehensive. She found him cute but didn’t know whether this was called love. They often crossed paths with each other- at shops, bus stops, Ganpati celebrations and Dahi Handi utsavs, but didn’t have the guts to speak with each other.

One day, they got introduced to each other through common friends. Their first meeting was very filmy. They met in a bus that was due to leave in 10 minutes. The bus was packed and there were many people around. They shook hands with great nervousness and discomfort. They sat but said nothing.

Later, he tried to meet her or go to her home to visit by finding any possible bahanas. Sometimes, with friends to wish Happy Diwali, sometimes he visited her college ‘just like that’ and sometimes to collect some stuff for his sister. Then there were telephonic conversations, even when he went to his home that was far away from here, where he stayed with his uncle and aunt.

Common friends were more than happy to organise trips and make them meet, as he wished to meet her every now and then. But by now, she had become a little sceptical of his motives and started avoiding him. But he was determined to ask her out…

One fine day, he sent a note to her through a friend saying, “I am going back to my hometown and I will really miss you. Will you be my best friend?” she didn’t reply and saw that he had left his email id in the note. Many days passed by and she thought that she should mail him as a long time had passed. They started conversing through mails now and he tried to give her hints that he loved her. But she was not interested.

He sent her a mail… “I ---- you.” She understood what he meant and called him. She fired him for being insensitive and taking the wrong meaning of their friendship. It all ended that day. He left the city and went to his hometown down south.

After five long years, when they had almost forgotten their teen love, they met again. This time, they spoke to each other and became friends. She had a boyfriend and he had a girlfriend. He had come out of her love. Both laughed when they remembered their funny meetings at bhaaji markets and bus stops. They met at his hometown, when she went there as a tourist and did sight seeing together.

They now keep in touch through mails and phone calls. So much change in a relationship after so many years. Time is truly, the real healer.

(This story is entirely based on facts and real incidents. The characters are real and are living entities :)

Puneri lingo

You must have read about the Western lingo that college and school kids are adapting in their day to day language, but do you know anything about the Puneri lingo. If no, worry not, mi aahe na (Im always there). Some of these have been invented by me and my Madern (pronunciation for my college Modern College) friends.

So let’s start with the basic terminologies of a typical college going Puneri kid.

Katta- A place, generally in or around the college, where (idle) students sit and discuss either intellectual shit or gossip with each other. A cup of tea is an essential part of the katta. A tree nearby is also a must-have.

Eg. Lets go to the katta and chat.

Bha Po (acronym for bhavana pohochlya)- This literally means emotions received. If a friend of yours is giving you a very senti talk, to make him shut up you just need to say Bha Po mitra, aata gap bas.

Eg. Kiti badbad kartos BhaPo zala majha. (How much do you blabber. Now keep quiet, I understood what you said.)

ABCD- This is an adults’ acronym (children under 18 don’t read this ;). The full form is Aga Baee Chaddi Distey. This is generally used for the low waist jeans wearing firang or wannabe firang crowds.

Eg. Hey someone tell that girl ‘ABCD’.

Tappe takne- If you like a guy or a girl…you obviously check her/him out when he/she is around. That’s called tappe takne. Eg. Rahul la Smita avadte, to tichyawar kiti tappe takto. (Rahul likes Smita, I guess, coz he keeps on checking her out.)

Mitra and boss- Mitra or boss are used to address any and every other person. It could be your chaiwala or your rickshaw wala also.

Eg. E mitra/ boss, jara lavkar chal na ushir hotoy. (Boss, please hurry, I’m getting late.)

Mama- this terminology is fast catching up in other cities too. Mama refers to a police wala. Traffic police are the main victims of this phrase.

Eg. E tikde mama aahe, ikdunach U turn maruyat. (Hey, there’s a policeman there, lets take a U-turn from here itself.)

Bird watching- hahaha…this term reminds me of college. Whenever we would get bored, we would stand in the corridors checking out guys (there were very few worth checking out in my college though) and say lets go bird watching!

Eg. Chayla, aaj ekhi pakshi chhan navta. Bird watching madhe majaa nahi aali. (There wasn’t a single good looking guy around. No fun in bird watching.)

Fishing- Bird watching is checking out guys, so fishing is checking out girls!

Vaalit/ ghaanit takne- This being ignored by a person or a group. If someone doesn’t talk to you purposely (many a times this is done as a prank), you can safely say, “Mala vaalit/ ghaanit ka taklay tumhi?” (Why are you’ll ignoring me?)

Mandaa- In Marathi, manda means a dunce. Mandaa is actually a name, but we call dunce girls Mandaa.

Eg. Ti agdi Mandaa aahe. Tila kahich kalat nahi. (She is a dunce. She doesn’t understand anything.)

Haldi kunku- This comes from an incident that happened in my college. As you’ll know, haldi and kum kum are yellow and red in colour, respectively. Two girls Sakhu and Paru (names changed without any request) in my class had wore a yellow and red dress respectively, and they were like, “We are haldi-kunku.” We couldn’t help but fall down laughing at the dehati joke.

Khadki Dapodi- No offence to people staying in these areas, but if someone wears a gaudy outfit or accessories they are called ‘Khadki-Dapodi’.

Eg. Kiti Khadki Dapodi dress aahe ticha. (Her dress is so gaudy.)

So these are some of the great Puneri terminologies. Start using them today itself. Chala aata, kadekadene ghari ja. I will be adding new terms, as and when invented or discovered ;).

Some additions made by my dear friend Avinash Sadaphule:

TTMM - Tujhe Tu Majhe Me or Tu Tera Main Mera: which means you must contribute for whatever you ate or bought...going dutch...in short

SPDP- Shev Puri Dahi Puri

Saheee/ Ek /Kalla / Takatak/ Jabbari - Damn good

Padik- Doing Nothing/wasting time having nothing to do

Vaeet- means bad, but used as good (opposite)..eg: kai vaaeeet picchar hota to..meaning it was an awesome movie!

Dada/ Baapmanus -some1 great (often used sarcastically)

chavva/ chavvi - BF/GF

Family and friends rock!

Hey friends…I know I have become very lazy and haven’t written a blog for a very long time now. But nothing very great happened in my life in the last month, except a few great moments.

Great moment no1: My parents’ 26^th anniversary

This was much anticipated (from the last year…when they celebrated their 25^th anniversary), but we couldn’t celebrate it as I lost my granddad. But this year, I thought of having a small celebration inviting only close friends. I had already gifted my parents a microwave oven :). The celebrations took place on August 9 (the anniversary was on July 30). My mother looked gorgeous in a navwari sadi and my dad wore a normal shirt pant (you know how dads are). They both looked really good together. We had a yadnya puja, which was like marrying them again with all the rituals including the saptapadi (its like saat pheras, but only the bride walks on the seven mounds of rice and her groom holds her hand) and they also exchanged garlands. The highlight of the evening was the ukhanas (husband’s name taken in a poetic form…gosh these translations!) taken by my aai and her friends. The traditional Brahmin food consisting of lip smacking puran poli, katachi aamti and aloochi bhaji was also a hit!

Great moment no2: Ganesh Chaturthi

After many years, I got to see the bringing of Lord Ganesha and participated in the aarti. Our Avachat family Ganpati is brought and worshipped at my eldest uncle’s place in Dombivali. And believe it or not, our Ganpati resides in our house for 21 days! The visarjan happens after 21 days. Long time I must say in the era of didh diwasacha Ganpati (Ganpati which is worshipped for one and a half days). The miravnuk (procession) of my uncle’s society’s Ganpati was really very nice. It had all the traditional elements including dhol-tashe, lezim and human pyramids. The most interesting thing was the food and the modaks- lots of them! I had a great time with my brother Viraj, my mother, friend Joanna and my two cute nieces- Varada and Anushree. We played games together, went to see other Ganpatis of the area and for a long drive too. Majja aali!

Great moment no3: Sleepover with friends, movie with my mom

After a long time I got a 4 day holiday…a long enough time duration to catch up with family and friends. I met my Japanese friends and had a great time with them over a cuppa of chai at the Ranade Institute, my alma mater. Next up was a sleepover at my friend Pradnya’s place. She is getting married next month, so we all wanted to revive the old moments of meeting and staying at each other’s places before she got married. She had made pav bhaji for us and we tried to help her! We yapped in the loudest possible noise level and laughed loudly for no reason, like the way we used to do earlier. We exchanged gifts, talked and gossiped till late and also had a pillow fight. How much I miss those days.

Next up was a Yoville moment with my bro. I spent a considerable amount of time playing Yoville on Facebook with my bro. we threw soap balloons on each other, told jokes, I even kissed him to embarrass him on Yoville. He also flirted with other girls online, that too, for the first time and in front of me! Uski yeh majaal ;).

On Saturday, I saw Kaminey with friends. We had a great time (as usual) with each other. Sunday, was my favourite day as I saw a movie with my mom after ages- a very nice Marathi film called Rita. We enjoyed a lot.

Every moment of my trip was memorable. Looking forward to many such pleasant moments in my life.

Thank you all- my family and friends. :)

Its tee time :)

Hi guys,

U can now shop for some cool tees on the following link. It has a collection selected by me from their website. Happy shopping!

http://www.inkfruit.com/mysales.php?location=10204

The star shines on DNA

My moment of fame with the tennis star Leander Paes. He had come to our office as a guest sports editor. We shook hands with him. It was great fun....he is really handsome! :) :) :)

Trek to Malavli…

I love the rains…but not in the cities where the rainwater gets mixed with garbage and muck! That’s why I wanted to venture out in the nature to celebrate monsoons. My idea of a day in the rains is going to a picturesque place- may be a hill or a forest and enjoying the cool breeze with a group of crazy friends and chatting over a hot cup of tea :) .

That’s why I decided to visit Malavli, Lohgad for that matter. Malavli is a place near Lonavla. The two forts- Lohgad and Visapur are situated here. Lohgad is a comparatively easy fort to climb but is really far from Malavli station. After two weeks of persuasion, 8 of my friends agreed to join me. Two of us came from Mumbai and the others from Pune. The walk to the fort is always the most interesting part of the trip.

With beautiful waterfalls on the way, what else can you ask for? But it is a pity to see people ruining the nature’s beauty by throwing garbage around and drinking alcohol in the waterfall and misbehaving. Anyways, we ignored all these facts, and walked past the waterfalls in the rain, teasing and pulling each others’ leg. All my friends- Rohit, Rohan, Sanket, Parag, Supriya, Rujuta, Amey and Joanna are crazy souls.

After a long and tiring walk, we decided to have lunch at a small tapri which had a hilarious name- Nature’s Miracle or something! It took those guys 2 hours to prepare anda curry for us! And we had to wait there calculating the time left with us for climbing the fort and reaching the station on time to catch the local train. We discussed history of the forts and assigned one of us as the raja and others as the mavlas and senapatis. The raja assigned constituencies to his sena. I got the Mumbai constituency (Bandra to be specific ;). After the stupid discussion, the food came and we hogged on it.



The climb to the fort was easy and we reached in half an hour. The view from the top was breathtaking. There was a lot of fog and nothing could be seen from the top. There was wind flowing in great speed plus the rains and the visibility was very less. We couldn’t see anything ahead of us and were actually freezing. We couldn’t wait there for more than 20 minutes and had to leave.

We climbed down and had a cup of tea- our saviour from the cold. The walk to the station was very unwelcome as we wanted to remain there and continue enjoying the beautiful sceneries.

We reached the station and with a heavy heart bid au revoir to our friends. That was a day to remember.

Back to school…

‘Those were the best days of my life…’ goes a Bryan Adams song. And this exactly what I felt when we had our school reunion on 5^th of July. It was like reinventing the good old school days.

All this happened thanks to my good friend Rajeev, who with the help of other good friends organised the whole plan. I could only help in the brainstorming sessions, contacting people and making charts, as I was here in Mumbai.

We got the school hall after my friends persuaded the principal for it. They had to convince her for more than an hour! And on the D-Day another sister came to ‘supervise’ ‘what we are doing’ and gave us instructions like don’t paste the charts on the walls etc etc. we somehow managed to get rid of her ;)

We all were looking forward to this day and were nervous that very few people may turn up. But on the D-day 60 people attended the function, making all the organisers happy. All were in for a surprise as the gang had collected school photographs from all possible school friends and made a movie out of it called ‘Flashback’. It was indeed very nostalgic watching the movie and the moments we all had shared together.

The coolest part of the reunion was meeting friends after years and being surprised when some friends turned up with their wives and when we came to know some girl-friends have become proud mothers! Some friends had gained weight (including me) and some were ‘jaise the’. The first words from any friend I met… “Kitni moti ho gayi hai!”

Even though we all met after many years, the rapport we shared was still the same. Everybody remembered each others’ school pet names and were called by the same name! Chats about trips and picnics we had, whom we would tease with whom were- were the highlights of the day.

We played games like musical chairs, bombing the city and dumb charades to revive the annual days and Christmas celebrations in the school. People were even cheating, as they would in school. Then there was this embarrassing ramp walk for the must wanted (?) crown of Miss Stella Maris and Mr Stella Maris. The girls had to judge the guys and vice versa. The guys obviously had loads of fun judging the ‘new-found’ beauties and showed their appreciation in form of claps, cheers and whistles!

The photo sessions were never ending as all wanted to capture these memories in a frame. It seemed that posing with all possible friends was everyone’s only aim! The day ended too soon for all of us. Everyone enjoyed every bit of the day and went home happily with the memories of the day.

Now, we are planning for a 2012 reunion and wondering whether 100% people will come with their spouses! ;) Three cheers to our school days…hip hip hurray!

June- a rocking month!

June is my favourite month. Any guesses why? Coz it’s my ‘birth-month’ :). But this month I had more than one reason to celebrate. I have listed them in four parts, as follows:

Reason to celebrate no. 1: House warming

I found myself a chic pseudo- 2BHK flat (coz 1 room is locked by the owner) on the Hill Road, Bandra. (I can see those envious eyes ;). Courtesy my friend’s distant relative, we got the flat at quite a reasonable rent, after a lot of house hunting (see blog titled ‘House hunting Blues’ to know more). The place has it all- fridge, TV, washing machine, microwave, etc etc… and is damn close to Banstand and Hill Road shopping market. (Don’t be shocked if I add that we have shopped only once on Hill Road and never been to Bandstand since we started staying there!).

Reason to celebrate no. 2: Launch of the hotel ‘Imperial Palace’ in Goregaon

Being a journalist, sometimes these perks help brightening your spirits. Me and my friend-cum-colleague had gone to this hotel launch in Goregaon (we had to pay toll to enter this particular area). The hotel is located in the outskirts of the Goregaon suburb and I could never imagine that there could be so much greenery in this city until I saw the view from this hotel’s 9^th floor. The Imperial Palace was inaugurated by the CM Ashok Chavan and IT minister Gurudas Kamath and other few politicians. The speeches got over in 30mins flat which was very surprising. We then strolled around the hotel seeing the imperial and common suites with great views and even greater prices!

The place was slightly overdone with lot of gold and chandeliers. Getting through the food was a problem as there was a 100-yard long line for it! The best part was the celebs. We spotted Minissha Lamba when we were touring the place and immediately went to her and clicked a pic with her saying, “One photo pls ma’am. We’re your fans!” That was our ‘wannabe moment’. After that we spotted other tinny weeny stars from the silver as well as TV screens. All in all, it was a fun day.

Reason to celebrate no. 3: My birthday!

Its been a week since my birthday now, but I cant just get over it. Thanks to my boss, I got a chance to go home and celebrate my buddey. Lot of surprises were in store for me: first one being my parents and bro cutting a cake for me- they have done it before when I was small, but I hadn’t expected it at this grown up stage. Second, my dad actually gave me a gift- a card and a personal diary. This doesn’t mean that he hasn’t ever gifted me, but not such senti stuff. Third, my friend Joanna gifted me a Shin Chan diary (my fave cartoon) with wishes from all my good friends. Lot of efforts went in compiling it. Fourth, my boyfriend Amey gifted me nice and sleek Fastrack watch. I wanted to buy one for a long time and had decided to buy on my birthday. But he bought it for me and completely surprised me. Love him :). Fifth, I met all my friends and we had a blast while having dinner. Not to mention, another cake too :). Sixth, wishes poured in the form of calls and SMS and some from really unexpected people.

Thanks all for making my birthday, a day to remember.

Reason to celebrate no. 4: Durg-Nagpur trip

My roommate, Samali got married in Kolkata and we had originally planned to attend the wedding and explore the city where my darling Sourav Ganguly stays. But unfortunately, due to lack of holidays we had to settle for the reception in Nagpur. But the smart kudis we are (we means the other roommate and myself), we thought why not visit another friend- Shruti who stays in Durg, just 4 hours from Nagpur.

The train journey was very disappointing and as I am not used to travelling far distances by train, it was a little hectic for me. We boarded the Jnaneshwari Express on 26^th night and had a seat fiasco. Three people claimed our seat and then the TC came and solved all the problems, finally! We reached Durg the next day at 2pm. Shruti took us to Bhilai in her car and we drove through the ‘empty’ streets as the Mumbaikars would call them, coz there was hardly any traffic. We met her fiancé Aditya in his newly opened restaurant Dwarika and had awesome food there. I drove a bike- Activa :) after so many days!

From the steel city we reached the orange city in 4 hours flat. We were welcomed by the rains in Nagpur. The city is pleasant and very ‘non- crowded’ with great British buildings all over. There are many government offices and even a Legislative Assembly in this second capital of Maharashtra.

In sometime, Samali’s make up artist arrived and started applying layers of make up on her flawless face. Then she got dressed up in a maroon sari with lot of gold jewellery to accompany the embellishments on the sari. She looked good but her husband, Biswajyoty, whom we fondly call Basu couldn’t help laughing. We went to the 3-star Tuli Hotel with the bride and groom. As the guests hadn’t arrived yet, we took some photographs in funny poses all over the hotel (this proves that we are born crazy!). The reception was well attended and we couldn’t help smiling when Samali and Basu had to force a smile when unknown uncles and aunties came to congratulate them. One of the unknown aunty actually kissed Sam on her forehead- funny! We were given the job of ‘gift girls’- to collect gifts which the couple received.

The returning journey was rather hectic. People kept on blabbering and switching the lights on and off.

But all in all, it was a fun trip. The three days just flew away giving me fond memories for life.

Fun @ Esselworld :)

I went to Esselworld many days back, on Sunday, May 31 to be precise. After many days I had a fun outing with friends. And then I got stuck up with work, that's why this late blog.

The Esselwrold trip was courtesy the free passes I received from a PR company (being a journalist has its own unique advantages), a total of 6. I didn't know that convincing people to come to Esselworld would be tough! After an unimaginably long convincing, the final 6 (including me)were shortlisted- Joanna, Shivani, Rohit, Ajay, Ram and me :)

We took a ferry from Gorai Khaadi (creek), which was called 'Wetlantic' and which played FM songs! The one which we loved the most was 'Julie....' as we echoed the chorus together.

The day could be summed up in one word- 'inline'. We waited for over 30minutes in a line for each ride. The ride lasted only for 2-3 minutes but we had to stand in the lone for over an hour in some cases.

The rides were incredible- my favourites being Rock-n-Roll and Rollercoaster. We also had a great time in the 'Rain Dance' from which I caught a cold and still have it! All of us guys were crazy and did mad stuff like taking pictures outside the Ice Skating house- which had cool graphiti pics on it and also in the 'not so'Horror Hotel and on rides too!

I tried my hand singing at the karaoke and sang the hit song from the movie Hare Krishna Hare Ram called 'Dum maro dum'.

The day was really lovely. While returning home, we again had to wait in a line for over one and a half hours and the ferry that took us back was dead slow. But we loved it! :)

Why do we have to grow up?

Last night, I was going through my old college albums- and flashes of memories came to my mind. The college katta, picnics, the so-called study tours, the sleepovers… and unknowingly, tears rolled down my eyes. I so miss those days! Sometimes, I wonder why do we have to grow up? Can’t we remain school kids or teenagers? The only fear in our mind at that age was about exams and project. We didn’t have to face the ‘real big bad world’.

When travelling by trains, I see these small kids going to their native places with their uncles, aunties or grandmas, grandpas and I relive the moments when my granddad would pick up my brother and me from Pune and we would travel in an ASIAD bus to Mumbai. We would irritate people near us by making funny noises, arguing with each other. The bicycle rides, eating kulfi, ice creams and golas, and going sightseeing with grandparents…I miss it all.

From those memories I suddenly moved on to my college days- the three golden years of bachelors’ college. I did my BSc from Modern College in Pune and just loved the three years I spent there. I would go ala Bryan Adams and say, ‘Those were the best days of my life!’ The boring and interesting college lectures….in the boring ones we would usually doze off or play tic tac toe type games. We at Modern College would pass our time in the breaks by eating the dabbas we would get from home. Sitting near the college corridors, checking out some cute guys (there were hardly any in my college), completing journals…I miss it all.

College trips, actually study tours was one of the annual events we would look forward to. Wearing the best attire in our wardrobes we all would reach before time at college only on these special occasions. Our favourite activities while travelling- playing antakshari or even dancing on the tunes of ‘Kajra re’! Going to study tours with no intention of studying was a common feature of us Modernites.

Another annual event that we would look forward to was our annual gathering. The practice routine for dance performances and plays would start a month in advance but the ‘actual’ practice would start only a week in advance. Couples would make the most of this leisure time to spend time together. Ours was the only college in which we had individual gatherings for each class! And the best class performance would be awarded. The whole classroom would come decked up in traditional attire as we would have one of the ‘days’ on this special occasion.

I so miss my college and my friends….the sleepovers, the treks we took together….all the fun seems to be ruined in this worthless ‘job’ era. I wish I had a time machine which would take me half a dozen years back to relive those moments again….