Today I got this weird sneezing attack at 4 am… eyes started watering… weird rashes appeared…

So cutting short the medical part of it… I sneaked out of my house and went to Hinduja Hospital. There they diagnosed it as some serious allergic reaction. It was pretty bad I believe… I was given 4 different injections, through one Intra Venous injection.

Now that was a first in my life!

But seriously, it did not hurt too much… it was just that I knew that this metallic needle is in my vein and that made me all cry baby sorts. I know I know… shame on me…

Hoping that it was my first and last IV :|

This blog post is on the miserable state of auto-rickshaw drivers in Mumbai. I thought that this post would be more relevant to Delhi drivers, but today I realized that it was not so.
The unfortunate incident happened at around 7 PM when my friend Sonali and I got into a rickshaw at Linking Road in Bandra. The fare meter was up, and so the driver could not have refused to take us to our destination (Bandra Station). As soon as we sat in the rickshaw, he started swearing disgusting ‘hindi galiis’ and said that he would not go to the station as his rickshaw was not working fine. Bull shit! Then we simply told him to take us to the train station / police station. He refused and instead picked up a fight and then he had the audacity to turn into an unknown lane… which was quiet and out of the way… When asked to stop, he said ‘if you don’t want to get off, I will take you both wherever I wish to.’ This freaked us out and we called the police.
Until the police arrived, there were many people who asked what was wrong and that sort of kept the driver engaged. And his explanation to any questions (in a very polite manner) was that we were wrong and that we beat him up. HIDEOUS!
After a few spectators went, he started to drive the rickshaw again, which put me into my drama mode… and I yelled at the top of my voice and a few people on the road stopped the rickshaw and accompanied us till the cops arrived. After that he was dragged to the station and was beaten up…
Did not really want that to happen… but anything could have happened… probably something weird. It feels good to speak up. I would have totally not been able to do it without my friend Sonali.

This event in my life definitely needs to be documented! So I was planning to buy a car… a small second hand car or a low-budget new one. Instead what my parents marketed was a “DSLR which you have been yearning for a year!” I don’t know at what time of the conversation I got convinced… But I did. I think I thought to myself a bird in hand (DSLR) is better than 2 birds in the dream (DSLR and Car.)

So this Saturday my mom and I went to pick up my DSLR. It was all planned in the head… I went to the shop and I said one Canon 450D. I said it as if I wanted one cheese burger…

I got the camera.. did all the paper work… paid… and walked out of the shop. I did not feel anything… nothing at all… I thought I would be jumping with joy and would do all that jazz… but nope… nothing of that sort happened. Then we hailed a cab and I took out my cam to click a few pics. As soon as I clicked the first picture I knew what I had… and why I yearned for it for over a year.

I started seeing everything in frames and shades once again!

I clicked random stuff… crows, rats, leaves, hats, shoes… Thank god the randomness in life is back!

Thanks mom n dad for the awesome pre-diwali gift!

Someday I will be gone…

And you would definitely long…

For a minute-long conversation.

In your life, some distraction.

Someday, when I am gone…

I will think of our bond…

Which was never there.

For me or you to tear.

Someday, when you are there…

And this thought crosses your mind somewhere…

You won’t remember the color of my eye.

And a tear drop which went dry.

Someday when you are there…

And you try to find me near…

Hahahahah! Mission accomplished!

I would be gone my dear!

Yesterday night I boarded a flight from Mumbai to Delhi. My colleagues had come to help me catch a rickshaw to the airport. I was just saying goodbye to everyone… And even as I boarded the flight, the thoughts of the afternoon, of leaving my work for 10 days, of being away from the ‘scene’ were all popping up in my head. There was not enough time to even sort my thoughts… And before I knew it, I was in Delhi.

Again, there was so much to absorb. The city where I grew up as a child… Crossed India Gate, my school road, the bus-stop where I got off by mistake and had to walk for 30 minutes, the exhibition hall where I last spent some quality time with my best friend…. All roads had memories, and I will always remember them as that.

And just like that, I was home. The place I call home J Met my dog… spoke to my sister till we both dozed off… It was like a walk down the memory lane J

But had I taken a train, the transition from my ‘office life’ to ‘being back home life would have been smoother. I would have got good 16 hours to leave behind some thoughts, some conversations, some people…

I love trains for the simple reason that they give me good enough time to unwind - to read some book, to listen to some music… to watch an episode of HIMYM…

Someone was going to meet my brother and his wife in US and so I decided to send some goodies through him. So what do I call him ? He happens to be my brother's wife's real brother. So is he a cousin ? No. Am I his sister in-law ? No. Am I his sister ? No.

Funny!

But we had good fun shopping together. I bought the bag I had a crush on for very long... for my bhabhi (brother's wife.)

This was the perfect day to bunk work... But the adventurous creep inside me stepped out... After lazing around the house, watching Twilight for the 10^th time, cooking, having a hot water bath...I stepped out with a colleague of mine to get to work. The journey till Bandra was fun! It was raining heavily and was all romantic and all that jazz... We got off at Bandra to get some grubs... McDonald's was our answer. Happy meals.. happy times... only to be followed by weird times...

We walked almost a kilometer in calf-length water. Got into a rickshaw... and it had only been a few minutes when we had to halt at this signal... My colleague and me were just watching the rain when our eyes caught something bizarre... Two men were fighting with each other in knee-deep water... and were hitting each other with all their might. And within seconds 2 more guys joined them and then two more. There was no evidence of any accident / a girl fight... Would have been something more serious / absolutely frivolous... because one of them hit the other person with his helmet. A streak of red followed... and followed till his waist. Yes, his head was bleeding profusely. Still the fight did not stop and neither did the signal give us a green light.

The fight continued... more helmet punches and more of attempts of drowning the other person happened. No body on the road was bothered about the fight. No body complained to the police. Neither did I. We all did save ourselves some trouble... and when I looked back, I could see that they were getting to the pacifying mode...

Then my colleague and me took a breather as we moved away from the scene... we had a little chit-chat with our rickshaw driver... And he began narrating stories of how trivial this fight was and how he has been a part of the bigger mess. WEIRD! As if that was going to help the cause of me being disgusted.

Seeing blood just makes me zone out... I don't know how to put it in words... but lets say it just makes me feel uncomfortable to see / talk about blood. And he kept on and on and on about “the time I got hit by a police man” to “when my father hit me” to “his locality fights.”

Finally got to work.