Tum Mile...

It is a lonely night in the city of Edinburgh. Gasping and coughing, I am about to go off to sleep..

But I am unable to sleep for one reason or the other. I think I could browse my cellphone for some songs and play them for a while..

I am seeing the list and one songs strikes the chord immediately..

Its Tum Mile, the title song of the movie of the same name, sung by Neeraj Shreedhar..

My mind goes back by 1 year 4 months and a few days..

I had just finished my DBT exam and was coming back from exam centre to home. Paper was fabulous. Immediately after the paper, I called up my then best Friend Kranthi. She had been my motivation for writing these exams. After the call, I started the music player on cellphone and first song I played was Tum Mile..

Bus was running fast and I started thinking. Somehow every word of the song reminded me of Kranthi. How quickly we became friends, how she took care of me and how with her charm, she had taken me out of depression I had come to Bangalore with. I was in the bus and the entire last 6 months were flashing back in front of my eyes..

As friends, we had discussed many things. She also suggested some ways to find better jobs.

To be honest, I have interacted with quite a few girls and I have seen very few selfless girls like Kranthi. She is someone who would literally sacrifice her life for people she consider her own..

While I was thinking all this, I realised that I was wearing a brown chequered shirt. It is the one in which I had asked for her advice in choosing. She was the first one to point out that I wear oversized shirts. And yes indeed, my shirts were indeed oversized. Looking at the shirt brings a smile on my face..

The song was continuing in the background and my thinking, well they say mind thinks faster than speed of light. I don’t know about others, but in these things, mine definitely works fast..

The song ended. But it had given a stimulus for the remaining journey. Remember Bangalore is a big city and coming all the way from banashankari to kundalahalli is a herculean task which takes minimum two hours..(Sorry for my nasty habit of getting into details..)

I was thinking of all the occurrences in the past and a question popped into my mind. The ‘D’ question for every guy. Am I in love? Has the cupid struck me?

My heart wanted to say yes and my head, ‘a big no’. I thought of her. Poor girl dint even know what all I was thinking about sitting in the bus..
As usual I practised restraint. For many of you guys, it would be hard to believe that I can also be patient at times.

What happened later also needs to blogged but that’s not the purpose of this blog..

This is about the song Tum Mile and the reminiscences associated with it..

And yes, still the every word of the song reminds me of her

Dedicating to my sweetheart..

A walk down the memory lane..

It is a typical Banglore evening today. Three of us have just returned after having dinner. And Harshal is humming a song. The song happens to be “ae mere hamsafar” from movie Qayamat se Qayamat tak. I switch on the laptop and immediately plug my headphones to listen to the song. I must say, this is one of the sweetest songs I have heard.

FLASHBACK. There was a time when I used to hate this song. That was way back when I was in my BE. This happens to be Shwetta’s most favourite song. She used to sing it quite often, that too in pretty sick way :). I used to call her “Miss nightingale” for that :)...

Last year of my engineering was one of the most memorable years in my life. Asif, Shwetta and I gelled with each other like anything. Our chemistry was just fantastic to say the least.We used to go all the way to Katraj for our BE project.

All the places which I had never visited before like Smokin’ Joe’s, Monafood became our regular joints, in no time. Trip to Sinhagad was the epitome of all. We both (Asif and I) dragged her all the way to the top with Asif being the motivator-in-charge.

Right from loitering on MG road to lying to Dhamangaonkar Sir about the progress of project, we did everything. There were very few days when we were not together. Fewer when not one of us hurled abuses at Mr. Gosavi. :)

Even then I was pretty freak. Luckily enough, I found another freako in Asif. That is precisely what made us both walk all the way from Swarget to Katraj. What followed was rising frustration of shwetta and then her melodramatic walkout from the place :). Of course when she cooled down and returned, Asif and I burst into laughter.

Those were beautiful days. They passed on like whiff of breeze. We three have hardly met together after our college, barring a few exceptions. But the bonding still continues. And it will continue, forever.

Mumbai @ 3.35 am

It is 3.35 am. As I am writing this, 90% of the city of dreams is totally drowned in dreams...

So was I, 5 minutes back. But thanks to my friend’s habit of talking in the sleep (:)), I got up and am not able to sleep now.

The window of the hall is open and I am sitting by it. This is a new shape of Mumbai which I am seeing right now. I am liking it.

The sky is looking more resplendent than anyone can ever imagine. This is the first time I am appreciating beauty of sky which is not star-lit. The trees in our building are creating a perfect contrast in the backdrop of the sky. Everything else has come to a standstill. It is just picturesque.

It is last day of March. And heat has already started taking its toll on Mumbaikars. However, sitting here, at this moment, heat and humidity are conspicuous by absence. I am loving it.

If at all there is any kind of sound in the surroundings, it is that of long distance trains.

This is not the first time I have woken up so early or not able to sleep till so late. However this is the first time I am writing blog at this wee hour and also indulging a bit in reflection.

The very fact that I am enjoying it is telling me that the coming day has already given me a glimpse of how much splendid it is going to be....

Life is Beautiful...

There are some books worth keeping on revisiting. I believe, “The monk who sold his Ferrari” is one of them.

The day before, I just glanced through the first few pages of it. And, like I expected, it was refreshingly splendid. I went through my favorite chapter “The miraculous transformation of Julion Mantle”, and I realized that, if there was something missing in my life for a while now, the solution is right here. Well, I was aware of it all the time but had not been implementing.

If you are wondering as to what exactly I am talking about, then the point is simple – get your happiness out of little things. Cherish every little moment you live..

I consider myself as a happy-go-lucky guy. I generally don’t need reason to be happy. But, for almost 3 months now, I have cocooned myself for one reason or the other. So, to a certain extent, I was missing myself.

Today seems to be an amazing day. I went to have a cup of tea. The tea was as delicious as ever. It is just that I did not realize it for last 3 months..

I went to the garden. I saw a cuckoo dancing on the lush green lawn. It was a beautiful watch to say the least.

I kept on walking. I saw the oldies pulling each others’ leg. The smile on their faces was infectious..

And then comes this little girl. There is some kind of excitement on her face. She has found something new and she is running towards her dad to show it to him. The innocence on her face reminds me again that life is beautiful..

There is a group of this college going girls. They are teasing each other in their code language. I have no reason whatsoever to be happy about it but still it automatically brings a smile on my face. And the moment tells me I am on my way to rediscover myself..

There is this group of kids who are trying to drive away the flock of crows. The joy they get out of it is evident from their delighted faces.

And my quest for happiness ends right here.

Happiness was always in abundance in the surroundings. It was my cocooning myself that did not let me enjoy the moment. But here I am, back on the track and as hopeful and optimistic as ever.

Cherishing the rediscovered happiness, I decide to gift myself with another cup of tea. And the tapriwala doesn’t disappoint me either.

I am having my second cup of tea (or should I say cup of life?). And it suddenly reminds me of one of my most favorite dialogues of Morgan Freeman, which I am quoting below. I keep on wondering if “Freeman” implies the Free Man..

“I feel I am so excited that I can’t sit still or bear a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel - A free man, at the start of a long journey, whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope to make it across the borders. I hope to meet my friend, shake hands with him. I hope, pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope…I hope… ”

Dream Dreams..

The boring lecture got over. I was present only for 1 hour out of the 3 hour lecture. Thanks to sir who allowed us to walk-in, in the break. But even that one hour was like a stretched boring Bollywood movie..

Never mind, the best part was that I got attendance :).

After having lunch I left for home along with Venky. My eyelids were too heavy then. And then I started thinking about this special gift to all of us called eyes..

When eyes are closed, our mind is free to imagine whatever it wants. It can wander in the dreamland of the unknown, impossible things. I think this is a special arrangement made for us so that we can just switch off from the reality.

When our eyes are open, the awareness of the real world around just kills our imagination. The so called rational thinking is just defined to do that. Every great thing we could imagine is surrounded by the realms of the fact that we are right here, right now in this dreadful real world. Every beautiful thing we could imagine is just killed by these facts in our lives..

I did, indeed close my eyes thinking about this. And continued thinking further. There is this interesting habit I have developed. Whenever I close my eyes, I try to envisage something great happening to me. It could be absolutely anything. It can vary from “Lady Luck” showering its blessings upon me :) to my having great time with buddies at scenic places around the world.

This dreaming automatically brings smile on my face (I guess so otherwise that smile could also be in the dream itself :)). This is something positive I look forward to every day.

“Sud, wake up man, it’s Mulund”, I heard Venky saying.

Another dream had just ended... possibly, for me to dream something even more resplendent in the future..

Source of Inspiration...

Tea has become my poison now. Having tea twice in the morning has become a must for me.

The tea I get out here at “tapri” is just amazing. The tapri happens to be very near to my place. However, the area is crowded by a whole lot of shops and vendors. It has become my habit to observe the things en-route to tapri.

There is a lady vegetable seller nearby whom I have been observing for quite some time now.

Every day morning, when I go for my second cuppa I see her reading the newspaper. She does that so religiously that I am simply awe-inspired by her desire to be up-to-date.

Here is this lady, who I am sure doesn’t really have great educational background. She is still trying to make the most of the time and whatever little opportunities she gets. Here am I, who is lucky to have got resources to have education and yet not a wee bit motivated to get the best out of it, compared to her.

Inspiration should never be taken from the historical personalities and legends. Inspiration, in my opinion should be taken from the people in your day-to-day life.

There is one thing I am thankful for, to this lady. For months now, I have nurtured a dream - A dream of doing something for this society at some point of time in life. To be very honest, I am not sure when I would be starting that. However, I would love to teach such people - Maybe, by being a part of an NGO.

This lady has fortified that dream. And I am sure, unlike many of my dreams, this dream won’t remain just a dream.

A perfect date

I just happened to watch the movie “Notebook” some time back. It is supposedly one of the best love stories made in Hollywood.

I liked the movie. However more than anything else in that movie, I liked the cinematography in the beginning. And there is a reason I can relate to it. It resembles with my idea of a perfect date [:)]

So here it goes – My idea of a perfect date

It has to be a complete evening. I should be rowing with her in a beautiful lake. There would not be anyone around. I love evening hues beyond doubt. However it is her twilight-lit face that would be captivating me. Her hair should be shining in the twilight. Her smile would make me forget everything else in this world and just be with her. Then we would start playing with water. There should not be too much of talking, though naughtiness would be highly appreciated [:)]. I should feel like the evening should never end.

The twilight would soon start fading. It would soon be dark. Then we should come out and go for a long walk. When the moon comes up fully, I would be reciting her quotes of one of the most beautiful songs ever

“I wish I could fall, on a night like this
Into your loving arms, for a moonlight kiss”

The experience would be evanescent, but the memories would be etched on my heart, forever...