…Clueless

September 9th, 2008 : The day You left us. Without any warning. Struggled to keep you alive for 4 days. You had other plans. I don’t remember myself crying so bitterly, ever. Rest in Peace. Love you.

This is from Michael Jackson’s Will You Be There :

But They Told Me
A Man Should Be Faithful
And Walk When Not Able
And Fight Till The End
But I’m Only Human

And human HE was.

God closed all the doors for Gaurav today and called him up there, so that he could make Him laugh and dance too. He passed away, dunno when, dunno how. Just got the news an hour back.

God answered my question in a way but I’m not so thrilled. This totally sucks.

I know I look downright ugly here!! But what the fuck!!!

It was clicked by myself on 10th afternoon. Garima a.k.a. Golu, my sister put this little Koala (I think that’s what it is) on my shoulder and asked me to click a pic. Its funny!!

The food at my place is just not upto the mark. Its inedible. I’m sick of eating bad food everyday. Save me God…. save me!!

Either my Dad knows God or he simply has some supernatural powers of his own.

A few days before my college started, I went with my Dad for shopping. Dad let me loose and I was allowed to pick anything… no stipulations, no conditions whatsoever. But then it came “down” to my jeans. As usual, I wanted to buy my fav Low Rise jeans in different colours. But dad insisted that I buy some “decent” style. After a lot of arguing, I bought a low rise and another low rise that gave the look of a regular fit jeans.

Now my Dad really liked the impersonator but disliked the true, pure, original low rise jeans. I wore it to college on the first day and just when I was about to enter my house, my Jeans was fatally attacked by mud and water :(. It managed to survive but there were some bruises. The next day I wore it again to college where it was attacked by a sticky chewing gum. Again… it managed to survive but the place where the chewing gum st(r)uck has lost a little colour.

Now maybe Dad asked God to “kill” my low rise jeans so that it ends up as a duster in the house or he justs possesses some cool supernatural powers of his own. Either way, my jeans and I are in deep shit. God… I mean… Mom save us !!

Now just like… just like that… I thought that since it was a Monday tomorrow, it would be August 1st. I know its stupid but thats the way it is!!

I would’ve gone to college thinking it is the first day making a complete fool of myself. Thanks Dad !

I’m back…
I was away… away… sitting in a luxurious resort in the Lesser Himalayas (I think). I was in Himachal Pradesh. If I had it my way, I would’ve gone to Kashmir. Par chalo… Himachal Pradesh ain’t that bad.

Since I reside in Chandigarh, its not much of a hassle. I packed my bags at around 1 PM last Thursday and by 1.30 PM we were off. Kalka was jam packed with traffic as usual. I wanted to eat those tasty Kulfis but the frggin traffic…

Monkeys welcomed us into HP and begged for food. But this time, the HP govt. had installed big hoardings urging people not to feed the monkeys. Initially, we had planned that we would stay at Jabli that day. But we found that KK Trams was closed. We moved on. We stopped at Dharampur.

I was like….WTF… Dharampur is no more the old Dharampur. Cafe Coffee Day… oh yes… we stopped at CCD and munched on some delicious pasteries. Just adjacent to CCD is Hot Millions and then there is Golfer’s. I was particularly surprised to see Golfer’s there: “Golfer’s - Dhaba & Inn“. They have the usual foodstuff plus rooms. And they have Khanna’s fav Sheesha’s. Yes Hookas in the mountains. We resumed our journey after filling our tummies.

Our ultimate destination was Fagu. Actually, Galleu. Galleu is a village ahead of Kufri. As I have stated before, the initial plan was to stay a day at Jabli and then move to Fagu the next day. But we didn’t stop at Jabli. We stopped at a very fancy resort called The Destination at Kandaghat. The resort looked sexy… huge lawns, cordial staff. The rooms sucked though!! So we skipped that resort too and moved further. It was already evening. But we kept moving. My cousin is very particular about the places he stays. So he did not want to stay at any sidey resort. We moved on and now there was no natural light. We were nearing Shimla and it was already around 9 PM. We were hungry and had no hotel bookings. Yes, you can call us over-adventurous. Shimla was dead. Yes dead. There was no one in sight. Cars were parked on the road. We went inside Shimla and asked a couple of cops for directions. The fuckin bastards were tunn…. I mean drunk. So we ignored them. Even the so-called sidey lodges had no vacant rooms.

Now we were forced to move on. We moved to Galleu and started the ascent towards Snow King Retreat (formerly Star Resort). This resort is is right on top of a hill and you have to drive up a dirty path to reach it. Fortunately, they had rooms. Just three and that too only for two nights. In any case, we were to come to this resort. So two days or three days didn’t matter. We booked the rooms and then ate the leftovers (it was 3 AM!!!).

Another group from Delhi comprising of some 70 people was also there and those bastards had booked all the log huts, cottages and villas. Our room was a duplex room. A double bed downstairs and two bed upstairs - all in one room!!!! The upper portion of the room had a seperate toilet too.

The next morning we woke up late. The breakfast as usual was a buffet. The delhi group (MMC - Mauj Masti Club) had some nice looking babes and all of them were ready. We were the only ones who had just brushed their teeth and had hurried down for breakfast. I was the last one to enter the dining room. I was wearing a 3/4 and a normal white shirt. As soon as I entered, everybody started staring at me. Dunno why!!! The girls, the aunties… everyone. I sat down and some girls started passing smiles. I was like…. OK… this resort is really cool (hope you guys got what I wanted to say)!!

The great thing about Galleu is that it rains there everyday. We were going towards a Temple (had to walk 400 steps!!!) when it started to drizzle. As soon as we were beginning our downward journey, it started to rain. I came down slowly, clicking some pictures on the way.

We reached our resort. The weather had suddenly turned cold. We stepped inside our car and went towards Chini Bangla in Kufri. I ate some garam garam pakodas and chhalis (bhutta) there. The combination of rain, chilly weather and hot eatables was perfect. We came back to our resort. By that time, I was down….!! I felt uncomfortable and jumped into the quilt and ordered a Tandoori Chicken (yummy!!!!!!!!!!!) for myself. After that, I went with my sister and cousin for mountain biking. We biked downhill, all alone in the evening. The only people roaming the mountains were some cows and us. It was a lot of fun…. biking downhill in the potato farms without applying brakes… awesome!!!

Another strange thing happened that night. While we were in the restaurant, there was another newly-wed couple from Punjab. The girl was a stunner. Again, like in the morning, I was the last one to enter. As soon as I entered, the girl started staring at me and she kept turning back and looking at me. Everytime she looked back, she smiled.

The next day, we had to check-out. So we packed our bags again and decided to head off to Tattapani. When I went to the car, I saw that newly-wed girl. She stopped just in front of me. She stared hard and smiled again. Tharki aunty!!! On the way, we stopped at the Naldehra Golf Course (the highest golf course in the world) and pissed on the hills!! We reached Tattapani and the weather was awesome. I had already been to Tattapani before and this time the HP govt. had constructed a massive concrete bridge over the Sutlej and we did not have to cross over to Tattapni on the old rickety steel bridge. We reached the resort which was no more a resort. Floods has destroyed the HP govt.’s resort and the other resort adjoining it housed some foreigners (hippies!!!). Tattapani is famous for its sulphur springs. The most amazing thing is that boiling hot water and icy water flow together. The Sutlej river flows with icy water. Now the interesting thing is that when you dig the river basin with your feet, within two seconds, boiling water will start flowing. Its like a layer of ice and underneath it resides fire. Even though the river water was icy cold our feet were inside boiling hot water while we stood inside the river. Remarkable, isn’t it??!!

We stayed there for 3 hours or so and then rode back to Naldehra and stayed at The Woodstock Resort for the night. The next day, we started our return journey to Chandigarh. We stopped at Dharampur again and then finally reached Chandigarh in the evening.

Some things I noticed this time :

1. A Barog by-pass has been constructed. It starts from Kumarhatti. Now you don’t need to first climb up to Barog and then go down to Solan. Solan can be reached directly.
2. Even after visiting Fagu for the fourth time, I am still not bored of the place.
3. Tattapani is more exciting without resorts… looks like a village now.
4. There were less monkeys on the highway.
5. Sexy babes make a trip all the more enjoyable.
6. The trip was fucking cool…………………

Pics coming soon.

Have we lost our basic values? Well they’re not even moral values but basic manners.

I went to my friends house the other day and I was shocked to learn
that the guy does not even posses the basic manners. His housemaid
forgot to bring me a glass of water I had asked her to. The guy went
crazy and started shouting at her. He abused her and threatened to fire
her. I was stunned for a moment. Who the hell talks like that? I agree
she’s the “servant” of the house but it does not give my friend the
right to shout at her. She is his mother’s age. He calls her by her
name. It not only shows that the person has no respect for elders but
also reflects badly on his family and puts a question mark on his
upbringing.

From the start, I was given strict orders by my father to address the
domestic helpers in a respectful manner. I was forbidden to talk rudely
to them or even shout at them. My father said that he emplyed them and
small kids like myself had no right to disrespect or order the servants
who were all elder to me. I have always addressed them as XXX Ji, YYY aunty etc. but never called them by their name. It looks cheap…

Now when I look at people my age, shouting at their servants and
threatening to fire them, I just feel like giving them a piece of my
mind.

Its strange. When they don’t like talking rudely to their own parents
or somebody abusing or threatening them, why the hell do they speak in
such a derogatory manner with the domestic help??

Lack of manners or of basic moral values?? Beats me!

• Cross-posted at TMP

Thank you for being there.

You were the only one who did not shout at me for not getting a good rank in AIEEE when I know you were very disappointed.
I’ll make it up to you… that’s a promise!

I have never seen a better parent, a better father. Although you are 40 years elder to me, yet you completely understand me. For me the term generation gap has no meaning at all. You are a friend, a father. You are GOD!!

Love you!

My sister cleared a very important test today. She fulfilled the promise she had made to my Late Uncle and to herself. She faced many hurdles, experienced countless sleepless nights, shed a lot of tears but finally succeeded in realising her dream.

But she isn’t happy. Neither am I.

But why?

Her best friend - Amit. Its because of him today that she actually made it through. Sadly he failed. Had he not gone out of his way to help her today in the morning, when it seemed like she wouldn’t make it, she would’ve still been crying and howling. But she’s still crying. The whole family is happy and proud of her achievement. Even though she is happy with her achievement but her friend’s failure has hurt her a lot more. She doesn’t find any joy in achieving something without the person who actually made it all possible. Although even God played a big role too but I feel God sent Amit as his angel today to rescue Garima.

The guy is probably shattered though not jealous, that I’m sure. He’s not picking up the phone. Maybe he’s crying, maybe his parents are unhappy, maybe he just wants to be alone for sometime…

Its been a long time since I felt sad. My sister came and told me about her success but I didn’t congratulate her. I asked her if Amit made it through too. Her red, moist eyes gave me the answer I wanted.

We just celebrated her success. Even though my stomach is full and I could vomit any second, why is it that I feel so sad and empty inside?