Scribbles
The art of Con
Being a bachelor gives me the liberty and freedom to keep the call bell to my residence, switched off. Having a house in the ground floor, that serves a lot of purposes in Bengaluru. I don’t have to wake up to salesmen practicing their marketing skills and failing miserably. I can dodge the wannabe watchman who dons his uniform only when he decides its time to collect his monthly dues. The other benefit it gives me is an exemption from managing to politely reject all the donation seekers that drop by. Then again, for being so smart, sometimes you do pay a small price and end up opening the door to them. This is one such instance.
I was engrossed in my morning rituals, no, I shall not bore you with the details of it, when I heard someone press the call bell and realise it was switched off. For some reason, I decided to open the door. And there he was, a typical Sikh/Punjabi with a not so long beard and the turban. He wouldn’t have been much older than me, maybe early to mid thirties at max. I either did not catch his name, or he didn’t give it to me. With my memory, I am betting on the latter. He gave me a card featuring an image of Guru Nanak, saying they were holding a Holi celebration near Ulsoor Lake, at some ground, and that they would be involved in charity. Then he switched on. Addressing me as a brother, he told me that I should not keep many friends as they hold me back from progress. I should not share my ideas with people as it would hamper its execution. He asked me what time I woke up, and to my reply of 8.30, he told me I should be waking up by 6-6.30 and that all plans that I do in the nights tend to fail. He asked if I was in service and I said yes. He said I had three-line on my forehead and asked me if I had noticed it. I said yes. He told me I only benefitted from the two lines and the third was elusive to me. He said whatever I earned so far was only due to my perseverance and hard work and the benefits of my luck were yet to fructify. He told me it wasn’t my luck that was helping me so far but a family member’s. He said that would change soon and taking a piece of paper, wrote 27/05/2017 on it. He said that would be a big day for me. He further wrote three letters P.H.M and underlining the letter P, asked if I knew what they were. I nodded a no. He said they were what awaited me after the said date. Writing another letter S, he asked me if I had someone whose name started with the letter and circled it. I again nodded no. He asked if I had any friends with the said letters. I said no. He said I would soon be meeting them and things would be great. Then asking me to hold his pen, he tore a small piece of the paper, wrote something on it such that I could not see it and curling it into a ball, asked me to hold it. Then he asked me to think of a winged bird. I said parrot. He asked me if I choose it or he made me choose it. I told it could be either. He then asked me to choose a number between 25 to 29. I choose 27. He again told me that I could have chosen any of the other four choices but I choose 27. Then he asked me to open the curled up paper. He had written P and 27. He then said the P.H.M stood for prosperity, happiness and money!
He asked me for my name. I told him. He told me to always give full names. I did. He gave me another piece of paper which had a list of names and asked me to include mine. I did. They also contained amounts against each name. He asked me how much I wanted to contribute. I simply handed him the paper and pen back saying I will see when I come there. He told me I should not let them go back empty-handed. I stuck to my I will see when I come there point. He said I was disrespecting them by not giving anything. I told him he was disrespecting me by not accepting that I would do the needful when I came there. He conceded and left.
If someone really wants to collect money for a good cause, why resort to tricks. Why not be straight forward about it. Unfortunately for him, I knew exactly where he was headed with his chatter. He blew his trick, the moment he went overboard on not being able to collect anything.
Let me explain how he did it. The initial chatter was simply testing waters and gaining confidence. Deep down every person always feels they haven’t been lucky enough and things have been holding them back. You simply need to hear it from someone and you will be all wrapped up in it.
When I told him I woke up at 8.30, I was lying. If he was a good one, he should have caught it, coz, I actually paused, as if considering my answer, before giving it to him. Then again, he needed to be bold to actually accuse me of lying. From there, the part about waking up early and not working in the night was simply an educated guess.
The bit about my luck changing was setting the premise for the trick. The date 27 was simply a suggestion to my mind, further enhanced by the clever inclusion of it being a great day for me. The underlined letter P and asking me to hold the pen was the second part. What this exercise ensured was that when I was asked to choose a flying bird, even though the first thought that came to my mind was crow, I didn’t choose it as it is associated with negativity. The next thought was pigeon. I skipped it coz I didn’t know what he was upto and I didn’t want him to succeed whatever it was. I picked parrot. It didn’t matter which I choose coz it would have started with the letter P due to the suggestions he had already fed me. I couldn’t have thought of a crane or an eagle.
When he asked me to choose a number between 25 to 29, he didn’t bother to clarify I could choose 25 or 29. He had said between remember. So there were only three logical choices. 27,28 & 29. Not only did he emphasise on 27 before, but it is also the median of the set he gave me and any normal person who isn’t really thinking would choose it without thinking twice. He later added 25 and 29 to the list of choices giving me the feeling I had more choices than I actually did.
There was a second part which I didn’t mention in the story above, since it did not get there with me. The list of amounts written included 2,000/3,500/1,000 and so on. The lowest amount was 500. If i did decide to contribute that would have become my psychological threshold and would have ensured I at least gave 500, provided I had the means. If i didn’t I would have still given a 100. I wouldn’t have dared to give a 10 or 20.
How do I know this? Well, if you watch serials like the Mentalist or White Collar, you would too. 😉
He might have been running an actual celebration for all I know. But to come to the other part of the town for collection certainly raises questions and I would certainly not travel just for a meal. Again, he had no receipt book or an actual invite with details. In any case, he certainly had one wasted trick to go back home to.
The year that was – 2015
Some good natured soul, shared a wonderful message about new year resolutions, and that got me thinking about a lot of things. Amongst them, I realised it had been a while since I blogged. Apparently, my last blog post dates somewhere in april 2015. *On the bright side, I still have a great memory, **laughs** * So, I thought my first item on the to-do list for the new year would be to write more. What better way to dust your fingers than to revisit the bygone. *turns out it isn’t very easy if you haven’t done anything noteworthy. you have to dig deep into your imaginative skills to polish the little things that you did into shiny trophies.*
I started writing for Oneframestories. It is a innovative idea where, a picture is posted every week and you can write a story based on the same within 99 words. So every week, we have one frame and a dozen different stories based on it. As much as it was my new year resolution to write every week *coz you know how lazy I can get and that I haven’t really been doing much of creative writing of late* I have missed a lot of frames, some due to work deadlines and the tiredness that came along, and some others due to lethargy and frames that didn’t evoke much in my imagination. Till date I have managed to make 36 frames out of the total published 73 frames. I started with Frame 18, so excluding the first seventeen, I have made 36 out of 56 frames. Not bad, I guess 😀 (Read all my frames here)
As a kid, annual reports meant craft and rocket materials. They made excellent rockets that lasted way longer, were sturdier and had excellent projectiles! *Its been a while since I made them, must pick one of those duplicates and make some, for old times sakes* Neat reports and numbers were always a favourite. Soon I realised, I could be a part of them in two ways. One, as the promoter who signed them as the owner or two, as a Chartered, who signed them as the Company’s auditor. And that was one of the reasons why I picked to become a CA. To accomplish it both together, feels like a feather on the cap! *It is a different matter that being a promoter of a listed entity or its auditor is still a distant dream*
Sometimes I feel, all my dreams have come true already and that I don’t have many aspirations left on my wish-list. *Then I kick myself, and wake up from the dream :D*
Seventeen month ago, when I started practice, I told myself I didn’t need an office space and that I would consider getting one when I had picked on a few clients and got a grip over the area I would mostly be around. *Having clients around Electronic city and having an office at Whitefield or vice versa, would have sounded foolish* November, a year into practice,I was finally setting up my office. It was not a planned deal, which goes to show, what is meant to happen shall happen whether or not you plan for it. I was on a work visit back home and happened to deliver a talk to some of my father’s customers. In the chance encounter, one of them walked up to me and told me they had a commercial space that was lying vacant for sometime since they wanted a known person. I was given the address and asked to take a look at it. One thing led to another and I ended up taking it.
I now train articles! Yes, it was just last year that I had written about finishing my articles and here I am already training others under me. I won’t deny that there is some excitement attached to it. Then again, there is definitely the added responsibility to not only teach them but get your work done from them in the time and manner required.
The advantage of vertical integrating in any field is that you already know what is expected and that enables you to save time. It was a wonderful experience to be on the other side of where I was just a while back. *you know you are doing something right when you type a lot of stuff and then delete it because you cannot talk about it :D. This year has been a lot about such things, so I think I should wrap this up short and sweet*
The travel during the year was mostly work related. I got to go to Andhra Pradesh during peak summer. My nature of work enabled me to a VIP visit to Simhachalam, a entry via the front door and walking right through all the barricades like it was a local temple in your area, was really an experience. The flip-side to the scorching heat was that I finally got to belt on authentic Andhra meals! Lunch was my favourite part of the daily routine. *thinks about the food and drools* The other highlight of the trip was the nursery corridor on the vizag-rajmundhri route. The nurseries ran into acres of land with all variety of plants ranging from a week old to a dozen years old! Apparently the plants are exported all over the world from there. Such simple folks the owners were. Each nursery owner owned atleast 10-20 acres of land on the highway. They get free water and electricity all through the year, thanks to the amazing canal system in place since the British raj. Yes, there was this Viceroy Walter Churchill, who managed to get it done. It is said, when he passed away, a delegation from that place actually visited London to pay their last respects to him on behalf of the entire village. You might not get to see many Gods’ pictures or idols across the village, but idols of the Viceroy, you will see in plenty. They worship him. And why not, he has literally made their life by providing the means of elixir; water.
*I have stretched this for months now and it is beginning to feel old. As much as the financial year is yet to end, I do not intend to use that card and shall consider this as a delayed but nevertheless a post to begin the year with. Hopefully, I will write more. If not, I will find something to blame :D*
Bengaluru musings – Flying in a blue dream!
*Ah! A star before the story even begins! Not cool! Not cool! I know! But kya kare, I tried getting to the point directly, but realized, I could do no better than write a line or two. Why? Because, it’s been so long since I last scribbled three months back. Again, that was a post that began another three months back. **You might be thinking why is this fellow giving a crazy stat about his laziness? I do it for two reasons, one; to remind myself, how lazy I have been and two; After that long break, I am just warming up!!** *
About a year into Bangalore, yes, it was still Bangalore back then, I thought of starting this series to jot down little things I came across in my everyday life, giving me insights and probably making me a begin to feel a part of the city. But it didn’t take off and the post lay in the drafts, catching its fair share of dust for three long years plus a couple of months, until I found time to dust it off and rekindle it again.
March, 2011 – I came down to Bangalore to live a dream, working in a BIG4! In doing that, I embarked on a lot of new journeys simultaneously, taking baby steps across them all. Among other things, I was staying away from my family for the first time in my life. out all by myself in a new place. I was working as the face of an elite organisation, in a field I had no prior knowledge of. That meant, I had the scope for a very huge learning curve, which in turn meant a lot of stories to talk about.
26 March, 2015 – Four years later, 21 days later, as I walked into a mall for a little grocery shopping, I realized, even after having traveled across the length and breadth of the city covering over 60-70% of the major areas, *no, you can’t ask me if I have traveled to an x area and judge my stats based on it :P* this city still felt like a stranger. That is when I remembered, about this old post, I had once thought of writing, about this new muse in the form a city. I won’t deny that the post is very disoriented, but, I didn’t want to disturb the essence of the original thoughts in it, if any 😉
Now that I have bored you with enough jigsaw pieces and having cleared the entangled thoughts in my mind through you, lemme kick-start the series with a little story – Flying in a blue dream.
Diagonally across my house, there is small grocery store, and each day, I see this old man, probably in his late fifties or early sixties, wearing a dhoti, a gandhi cap and a navy blue jacket, sit outside the shop. Most days, he would be seated on a chair, but on days when the shop was closed, or even otherwise, he was found squatting on the floor. I have seen him sleeping there too. Every time I cross by, he waves, and I wave back. We have not had a real conversation so far and I don’t even know his name. In a city where you don’t know your neighbor, things like this, go on show that deep down the core, we are all social. Maybe some day, in the near future, I will find time to spark a conversation with him, and probably get a picture too…
Flakey breakfast!
It’s very interesting how our mind works, how it randomly links up routine daily events with random past memories. For instance, this morning as I was picking some veggies, my mind wandered to think about the biggest challenge faced by a veggie, while in a foreign country.
In a lot of countries, the concept of vegetarian is very alien. I didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until I arrived at the breakfast table at a fine restaurant in London. A glance at the table told me, everybody present at the table were non-vegetarians, which meant I had to figure out what is what by myself. I went to the waitress who took my jacket and bag for me, and asked her which of the items were vegetarian. It was a buffet breakfast with a lot of names I was hearing for the first time in my life, and I didn’t want to risk. She took me around explaining what is what, letting me decide if its veggie or not, and that is when I realized she didn’t really understand the concept of vegetarian. I was left with the option of baked beans, bread, puffs (with a classy english name), corn flakes, fruit juice and a fruit for the day. For the next one week, each day, I had a bowl of flakes, bread and baked beans, washed down with a glass of fruit juice. Being a south indian, I was used to a dosa/idly type breakfast for my entire life and suddenly, I felt crippled with bread and flakes. If only I had thought of guptaji’s nashta recipes then, I would have had a variety of items to choose from.
As I was watching their video, this story was the first thought that stuck me. And then as I watched the remote wala nasta recipe, I couldn’t help but remember the biggest war as a kid, sibling fight over possession of the remote! Having an elder brother who had different interests from mine meant the one with the remote got to watch his pick while the other sulked in a corner and ended up watching the show grudgingly. It would have been an easy task to simply coax mother into preparing something yummy and the tv would have been forgotten, just like that.
These little video clips have pictured little incidents that happen in every household, coupled with a simple flaky recipe to wrap up and that brings back a lot of memories. The subtle humor in them helps shreds some baggage. For the sheer gratitude towards bringing back some memories and adding a little laughter today, I wouldn’t mind being invited over for nashta at Guptajis’ and be served any of those recipes with a twist, well, as long as it is veggie. You know what I mean 😉
Now that you have come so far, take some time to enjoy some of their videos on Facebook or YouTube
Here is a little suspense filled introduction 😉
Refilled with ink…
Pic credit: http://www.gdipl.com/
We humans have this unique quality called moving on, where we do this thing called pausing to keep in touch, until something jolts us, making us re-visit the budgeted map.
2015, has been, touch-wood, pretty interesting so far. I got back writing regularly and as an icing on the cake, I seem to be blogging regularly as well. So what about this change?
Somewhere in the middle of 2014 (Read: The year that was – 2014), I don’t remember the date, *no, I wasn’t able to find it readily, and no, I am not going to work on it to arrive at it, I choose laziness* I read about an initiative called one frame stories (Read: One frame stories) where one had to write short stories in 99 words or less. For the next few days, I tried to conjure short stories, but could come up with nothing and like always I invoked laziness and it didn’t fail me.
It is said, to become a CA you have to make a lot of sacrifices. Not wanting to change the old adage, I decided I would reduce writing gradually. By the time I was in the middle of the course, my blog had completed its metamorphosis into Kumbhakaran. True to his name, he woke at those scheduled intervals and went back to his sleep again. Somewhere in between those cycles, I had become a CA and suddenly has some time on my hands. So I decided to reverse engineer Mr.Kumbhakaran to his former self.
One of the factors that added to it was that one frame stories started popping up on my radar at regular intervals. An artist gets inspiration by seeing another art work, like ways, a writer finds inspiration from reading others writings, and that’s exactly what happened to me. I also wanted to be a part of the new initiative which was not so new anymore. I read all about it, the hows and the whens. It was about one story every week, and that seemed a good discipline for my requirements.
If only things were so easy. Thanks to twitter, the imagination came met a signal every 140 characters and the traffic was replication blore. I couldn’t come up with anything for the first frame. One week passed by. This was somewhere in late December of 2014. I knew if this continued, I would lose my writing skills, or whatever little I possessed. So come 2015, I decided I would dutifully submit a frame every week, thereby keeping in touch with words and kick-starting my imagination regularly.
All good things come to an end. So did this one. One day, there was buzz about a coffee table book, the next there was a change in the frame day, a week later, there was no announcement on the publishing, and the week after that, there was no publishing too.
In spite of the abrupt disappearance, it had given me the much-needed rejuvenation. I felt the pen was refilled with ink, good to go for the foreseeable future.
P.S. I still check their page everyday in the hope that they decided to return again. Even if they don’t, I shall always look up to the initiative.
Now that you have come so far, do take some time to watch the video below by housing.com. The music is catchy.
Together, we can…
We all have those moments when spent time with the ones we love – our family or our closest friends and it gave us the strength and motivation needed to go on and achieve something, or simply keep going. Here is a story that is on similar note, but a little different in itself, my write-up on #together for Housing.com
Year ends are never easy for a somebody who is into the Audit & Assurance services. The stock takes, cash counts & audits can take a toll. Add to it the different locations spread across the city, and travelling becomes your biggest nightmare! And you if you are somewhat good in what you do, your demand spikes. As a result, client place more or less replaces your home, weekends go on a much deserved long break without notice of return, your family starts thinking you don’t have time for them anymore, and the best of all, it takes a big toll on your health.
Staying in a hotel, while on deadline assignments, has two big advantages, one being you don’t have to travel back and forth each day and being somebody who is used to travelling 100+ kms every day, trust me, there is no adjective that will describe my feeling. The second is that you get to sleep more, well relatively at least 😀 Now for the bad news; with advantages come disadvantages. The time saved from waiting at the traffic now gets converted into additional work time. When you were travelling up and down, there used to be the thought in the back of the mind that you needed to get home, sleep and come back again. Now your bed being a mere five minutes walk away, you are forced to work more! Then there is the rich food! Food from star hotels are tasty, but, for the first few days only. With lack of sleep, they start to mess with your digestion and your health literally goes for a toss!
It was the season of IPL matches and by the time I got back to the room, even the highlights of the match that is telecast after the panel discussion, after the second match is over, would have ended. Our body can take only so much, and there is limit to everything. Soon, one by one started falling prey to sickness. Like they say, the last one falls the hardest, I woke up one morning and realized it was my turn. The ground beneath me was doing a disco dance, my stomach decided it wanted an overhaul forgetting there wasn’t anything left in it to overhaul. As I walked down to the breakfast table, my colleagues noticed I was knocked. By the time they finished eating, I had decided I need some rest and could not take it anymore. Being the super empathetic team, they readily agreed. I still remember one of my seniors telling me, “Dude, you take some rest, we need you.”
It is wonderful what an hour’s sleep can do to a sleep deprived soul. The world felt saner again. But the task was far from done. In a place where you get only junk food as takeaways and the hotel provided rich food that you are sure, if consumed will make you fall back, it is hard to rejuvenate from meandering sickness. I decided fruit bowl would be my course of meal for the day. Come lunch time, while the team went back to the rich food, I went to the cafeteria for a fruit bowl and a glass of juice. As I was waiting for my order, the manager from client side came to have his lunch. He asked if he could join me for lunch and I agreed. He asked me what I ordered and on being told, insisted on sharing his food with me. He had banana curry, rice and sambhar. I felt like I was having food made by my mom. Apparently he was in a hurry and had to attend a hearing. It gave me an excuse to hog in hurry without looking ravenous. I don’t if it was luck or simply a reward for my dedication. Whatever it was, it ensured the black morning was behind me and the rest of the audit went by uneventful, well at least for me 😉
Sometimes you find a family away from home. New relationships are forged during testing times. Maybe some turn brittle later, but I have been lucky to have found some wonderful people to work with, without whom, I probably wouldn’t have been where I now am. In the run up to closure, there was a time when all of us were jittery and lacking energy. But the team spirit was such that, we bought a big pack of Glucon-D and shared a drink every hour or so 😀 This is just one of the many little incidents that formed a part of my rich three-year experience that goes to show, together, we can! (Read: It is time to fly…)
P.S. Yes, we were a crazy bunch of people to work like that. We are professionals.
Now that you have come so far, do take some time to watch the video below. The music is catchy.
It is time to fly…
“The eagle pushed its fledgling out of the nest. It dropped a few feet, spread its wings and started flying.”
It formed an introduction to a favorite Tom & Jerry show or another favorite cartoon. We grew up watching such scenes as a part of our cartoon entertainment. Back then, Tom & Jerry were the subjects of attention and we paid little attention to other subjects forming a part of the bigger picture.
As I grew up, I started seeing the world with my own views and become architect of dreams that no longer included the master planner parent. I learnt, the fledgling didn’t need a nudge to start flying. There would be rearing to go, the moment they find out they have the ability to fly. Here is my #StartANewLife write up for housing.com
For as long as I remember, I have always been fascinated by numbers, not the technical math types, but the financial types. Having a father who is also a CA and investor, ensured there were a lot of annual reports dropping by every year, and the neat presentation furthered the cause. As a kid, they made excellent material for rockets! The sturdy papers ensured the rockets traveled farther and lasted longer. But as I grew up, I realized I could also become a part of those reports. I could either be the entrepreneur and sign as an owner, or I could become a CA and sign as an auditor. I didn’t know it was the Directors who signed the reports then. If I did, maybe I would have thought of another route 😉 Just saying.
For a kid being so interested in becoming a CA, I didn’t know the whole procedure to become one, until I actually enrolled for the course. Nevertheless, I soon learnt of the Big4 and my target was to become a part of one. Being from a small town, Big4 was something of an unapproachable big thing. I was told they were very selective about their recruitment and it spanned for weeks depending on the number of candidates. And then again, the result was not guaranteed. Did I want to risk it? I could have joined under my father and easily gotten through my articleship. But, I had decided it would be the Big4. I made it.
Big4 meant I had to move to a new place, away from home, alone. At home, a tiring day after college would have meant eat hot food that is ready and then sleep. But here, there were times when after a 18-20 hour shift at work, I would come home, prepare food, wash clothes, and eat dinner at wee hours in the mornings. At home, weekends meant lazing in front of the Tv and enjoying the Sunday special made by mom. But here, for months at stretch, there was no weekends. It was just another day at work. It was a new dimension that not only molded me as a professional through the vast experience, but also helped me become independent.
Fast forward three years and a final exam later, I was a qualified Chartered. I could have joined my father. My firm was ready to hire me. The industry would have definitely absorbed me somewhere or the other. I would have had a 7 figure package. There would have been no real worry until my parents decided to get me married 😀
Pic credit: http://www.erikeverywhere.com/
No. I was never a fan of employment, and no amount of money could have gotten me to slog for somebody else. I always wanted to become my own boss, which in my field meant starting my own practice. I was told, starting immediately was not wise. Work for a couple of years, gain some experience, earn some money and then start. Big city makes building your brand difficult. You are still a kid, people will not take you seriously. So on and so forth.
My funda was simple. If you had faith in yourself and God, you will succeed. It might take some time, it might be difficult, but it will definitely happen. So I moved back to Bangalore, and have started a new life chasing dreams. The dream of being a part of an annual report maybe far, but the journey has already begun. It is time to fly…
Now that you have come so far, do take some time to watch the video below. The music is catchy.
The year that was – 2014
Isn’t it a little too late to be talking about 2014 when we are already into the third month of the new year? I don’t think so. Here is why:
– Better late than never. Instead of keeping it as a draft in my mind, I might as well store it in my blog and save some space.
– I am a finance person. FY 2014 is not yet over, so technically, I am writing early and not late.
– I am finance person. Every entity under Companies Bill, 2013 has six months from the end of its financial year to finalize it reports. So even if we were to say its 2014 and not 2014-15, I have six months from December, ie. June 30th would be my deadline and am well within it.
– If you are still looking for more reason, you have something seriously wrong about you that expects you to find reasons behind the timing of a post rather the post in itself. Might I suggest some help?
Let’s be honest here. I have no fixed agenda and shall be blabbering to consume the next few minutes of your life. If you have something urgent to attend, you should consider taking care of it. There is nothing here that will turn your life. You can come back later too.
Well, if you are as jobless as I was when I wrote this, then let’s spend some time together and try to pretend you care about my past year.
A.C.A : The year 2014 hold a significance in my life mainly because I finally got a degree. Yes, until then I was only a PU graduate and a college drop out pursuing something they called CA. That meant filling the column of educational qualification was somewhat debatable. Anyway, I cleared the last set of papers and can now brag that I am a CA. *It’s a different point that people either ask me which year or which college when I tell them that and I have to clarify I have qualified. And no, I stopped giving people gyaan about how we do not have a college and things like that.*
Adieu to Deloitte, Blore: Having finished my CA meant I had completed my articleship with Deloitte. As much as I knew the end was coming, the way the journey ended was somewhat unexpected. I left behind certain desires unfulfilled. That was not how I had anticipated walking away, but sometimes life just makes you take certain paths with no alternatives. The years at the firm was filled with rich experience not just professionally, but personally as well. When I came down to blore in 2011, I only knew I wanted to be a part of Big4. Three years later, I had a lot more.
A new venture: For about half a decade, the concentration was only on finishing the course. Now that the course was completed, suddenly there was lot of new avenues to explore. It wasn’t hard to arrive at the decision of practice since it was always the goal, maybe not immediately, but definitely in the short-term. So I became another start-up in the ocean trying to stay afloat.
A new ride: The old bike at home was getting old. I could do with a new ride. moreover, experience with old bikes and blore was enough for once. And wala, I got a new bike.
Then there were other trivial things like India lost, India won. I left Bangalore and returned to Bengaluru. I could go on, but there is only so much tolerance limit each one of us has, so I shall put brakes and get to wrapping it up. And like the sun, it set and the year was over, just like that.
“I was at the mountain. And I was at the valley. And I was at the desert. And I was at the river-bed.
I was washed. And I was dry. And I was dirty. And I was clean.
I walked an ocean. And I walked a river. And I walked the thorns. And I walked the plains.
I walked alone. And I walked together.
And I will do it again…”
One Frame Stories
It is said a new year has to be started with a resolution.I know they are usually made only to be broken, but this one I am hopeful shall become a habit soon.
I used to love writing. Yes, in the past tense, because soon I found out fitting it with my work and study was something of a challenge. To make amends, I decided on writing something at regular. Co-incidentally I had been wanting to write for oneframestories which publishes a new frame each week. What better way to bring life to the resolution than a compulsive weekly submission.
This post is a compilation of my take on the frames starting from January, 2015.
I am not proud of them all, but there are some that I like, and others that have kept me writing.
If I have inspired you to start writing for OFS, please visit oneframestories.com
If the inspiration isn’t that strong, there is the comments section below. Feel free to spam it 😛
Frame 73 : Lost Glory
“So this week’s theme is farmers’ suicide.”
“Why do you have to be such a spoilsport, dad? The crop looks so rich and beautiful.”
“Managing to get a healthy crop is only one of the concerns. When managing to recover the cost can itself be challenging, marketing it for a good price is more worrisome.”
“Instead of funding thousands of crores on consumer discounts, if someone funded agriculture, wouldn’t we have gotten back to our farming glory?”
“The ex-farmer turned IIM grad just got his next startup idea.”
Frame 72 : God is kind
I watched the stranger come, order, eat and leave in a jiffy. He seemed in such a hurry that he not only skipped change but also left back his bag in the process.
“God is kind”, I said.
“No sir! If I keep what is not mine, it will find a way to leave me one way or another.
By the time I could process the enormity of his goodness, he was already off, saying, “Please don’t leave, I will be right back. I know you are still hungry!”
Now I had to find another way to help him.
Frame 71 – fictional reality
“Oh that… It was our wedding day.”
“Wow! Tell me more…”
“Aren’t you supposed to be writing that story of yours?”
“Please ma, I will write this one!”
“Very well… I had the setup all planned and ready. As soon as he came, I pretended to have something in my eye and asked him to blow it out…. snap! We had our image…”
“Really?”
“Tell me once its published.”
“Thank you for having my back out there. Might have been a little hard to wiggle out of that one!”
“You couldn’t have done anything about that. Having her in my life placed her under the cross-hairs.”
“So you read my file..”
“I had time to kill while recovery walked like a snail..”
“Why are you telling this to me?”
“Your performance was being effected by your guilt. More importantly, she wasn’t your responsibility, they are mine.”
“They?”
“Yes!”
Frame 69 – The closed portal
“But I don’t have a passport to travel abroad”, she had countered.
“There are many portals to the station. The right pole your folks use to dry nets at your premise opens up to one”, the catlike woman had said before disappearing.
“Why on earth would you run into a pole?”
“Daydreaming about one of your fantasy books again, were you?”
Frame 68 – A chance encounter“Would it feature my facial traits?”
“No. I was hoping to do it with my words.”
“What if I were to give you something better instead?”
“If it makes my story interesting, I am game!”
“I am here to intercept the republic day attack!”
“You are a spy? You got to be kidding! Why would you even tell me?”
“People love fictional thrill. Your words will be left at that. My face, on the other hand could compromise my mission. Also I can spare your life!”
Frame 67 – Something like that“I can’t seem to get any vibes off him. I must be having a reader’s block.”
“Is there even such a thing?”
“I am facing one now. He could be having a writer’s block for all I know.”
“Let me make an image for the others to fictionalise.””Can you folks keep your discussion to yourselves? A man is trying to find some peace here. And, you were bluffing about the block right?””No Mr. Akthar, I wasn’t.”
“You can call me Farhan. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr…?
“Mildwave!”
Frame 66 – Deja vuIt was that bright afternoon that they had parted ways. How long ago, he wasn’t sure anymore. He had made peace with it; but the realm of dreams were beyond his control. She visited him occasionally. They rarely spoke, but he felt they were happy. His mornings would later be groggy and he would wonder when had she gotten a tattoo done. Maybe she had now. It wasn’t strange, he could always talk to her without being present.
“Did you see those birds in flight? I know what my tattoo design is going to be!”
“Come again?”
Frame 65 – It isn’t permanentShe was simply happy to be blissfully free, not really concerned about my timings. She knew I would be there sooner or later.
“The website had too much traffic. We needed the filing to happen, like yesterday. The client would lose…. erm, Sorry, I got delayed!”
“Its ok. But do you ever wonder where your life is headed?”
“You see that tree there? Its barren now. It isnt permanent.”
“And here I was just wondering, why I can’t stay angry with you.”
Frame 63 – Empty spacesThat tired but triumphant walk, reminded me of myself. I no longer had the stamina. I was rusty and hadn’t played for years. These days, I clicked pictures. The blues were mesmerizing, the subject was spot on. It was a perfect image.
I cast a lazy glance at the frame that hung on the wall, and went back to finalizing the consolidated financials.
Frame 62 – Extended Vacation“Can we please invite him over this year?”
“Why doesn’t he stay longer?”
“Is his vacations as small as ours?”
“Stop pestering and look! Or you will miss the view! We can’t stay back for long, its already late.”
“This should make him happy. Hopefully Bappa will change our fortunes too”, I thought, as I picked the unbroken idol from the debri carrier that had just arrived from the beach side.
Frame 61 – Hide and seekAs she watched the teenage couple walk by, she couldn’t help but smile at the memory of how she had met him around that very intersection. She could hear giggles now. She grinned at the thought of new age hide and seek.
Frame 60 – Flying in blue dreams
Ricky’s owner had woken up to see his house being one mother earth. Life had come back to square one. And yet, here he was sleeping as peacefully as ever.
I walked up, hoping to find out his secret, waking myself in the process.
The scene was mesmerising. As I made the image, I could bet I caught Ricky smirking.
Frame 53 – Reflecting upon
She blinked, and there it was, the image she was supposed to see. An old framed canvas with two distinctive wears and some-more. It wasn’t the whole picture. It was simply a little detail in the grand scheme of things.
And it struck her. Deadlines were no different. Her tomorrows were going to be so much better.
Frame 42 – Of perspectives and truth
“Was she trying to hide her face after she caught you pointing your bazooka at her? Or was it an effort to gain some respite from the heat? Don’t tell me she was wiping sweat off her brows and you timed it!”
“You can take it anyway you like for that story of yours. If you want the truth, she is a scarecrow.”
Frame 41 – Disturbing the equilibrium
For days at stretch, I stared at my canvas, wondering what I would do next. I could only see retirement staring back at me. It wasn’t until I made peace with the nightmares that I realized; I could use it to my advantage.
I used to paint with colours. I paint with light now.
And I am an inspiration to the masses.
Frame 39 – Eyes only“I have one request to make of you”, the lady said. “I know you will write about us, all I ask is, when you do so, please don’t portray us a symbol of poverty. Let us convey a little more.”
The subtle suggestion coupled with sufficient blandness, made the request sound very generic at the time. A hint of smile crossed his face as he signed off the defection report and sealed the file.
Frame 37 – Of rich. And poor
Every year on this day, he got to make a wish, that they would try and fulfil within a year, failing which he got an option to stick to the same wish or make a new one.
Watching the scene unfold in front of me, I felt like I was back at work. My firm helped corporate houses negotiate the extension of their debt commitment period, their conversion or refinance. I couldn’t ignore the stark similarities. I wondered who was poorer, as I gifted him one.
Frame 36 – Consumed
Post a scheduled meeting with death, in an afterlife conversation, the wise old one asked, “Were you tested for intelligence before being consumed?”
Frame 35 – A Lead Victim
“Yes boss! Everything is ready as planned. Wheels will be set in motion, the moment you give the go-ahead.”
“I have a few crucial agreements to make before we can execute it. The timing has to be perfect. Any miscalculation could lead it to backfire!”
The placement of the bug had served its purpose. It only took an open window in the area to get the mastermind infected on his holiday. The epidemic botched the timing.
Elsewhere, people continued sating their hunger in two minutes. Nothing had changed there.
Frame 34 – Nature’s Verdict
“House?”
“What’s it with you and these games? House, Family, Life. I want to do something new. Lemme see, we have finished hide & seek, catch, dodge-ball, jinx, and treasure hunt.”
“He loves me; He loves not; He loves me.”
“So what was the nature’s verdict finally?”
“You knew? Finally! The frame had to hang on for dear life, a good seven years for you to bother!”
“Who plays with shards of grass, like that, every single day? Yes, I knew.”
“Then you already know the answer.”
Frame 33 – Shared DreamsThe interiors weren’t as pretty. There was chaos. They were staring at defaults. Infringement would mean death of the Company. The inflows were on a drought. The bridge financed wasn’t going to last.
The waters looked inviting. She jumped. The water soothed her senses. She gave up on her dreams.
Then, she gasped for air.
She made it to the headlines next day.
The start-up had a new partner on board. Dreams could be shared.
Frame 32 – Alter Ego
“This frame is so hard. I am feeling utterly blank.”
“Come, let me show you something.”
We walked to our attic, and for the first time in my life, I found a section, I never knew existed before.
“Wow dad! These pictures are purely magical. You were a rock star!! Why didn’t you pursue it further? What went wrong? Do you still miss it? Did you have a break up? Do you miss her….”
“Isn’t your story supposed to be in less than 99 words?”
“Dad! I can never win with you, can I?”
Frame 30 – Bulb-ology“Hey kiddo, don’t trouble mommy too much, ok? Be good. I will miss you.”
“Me too!”
Later,
“Why do we have to do it?”
“So that the rest of us can survive. We get electricity only if we burn on the altar.”
“Ma, what will happen when there is nobody left to burn anymore?”
“They will dispose our colony and replace it with a new one.”
Frame 29 – A missing trophy in the shelfYet another batch of students had graduated.
The happiness and joy on their faces completely overshadowed the sadness testing their well forged bonds. The enthusiasm to kick start a professional life masked the untimely death of a care-free life.
Yet another batch of imaginative minds would lie untested.
I watched with a mixed set of emotions, for, I could never truly fathom the idea of that life. It felt ironic when I received a text from my secretary, telling me, I had not yet signed their offer letters.
Frame 28 – Taking the plunge
After watching the sun set in all its glory, they had taken a vow; if they couldn’t be together, it would be suicide.
She had lived up to her part of the vow. He would take the plunge too.
The date had been fixed to coincide with the date on which they had first met.
Tomorrow would be the day.
He was going to get married.
Frame 27 – Racing clouds“You are not supposed to race ahead of the boat.”
“But too much of uniformity isn’t natural. We can’t let them know of our intentions. Our limited resources will then not make any difference.”
Just as the five passengers on-board, came into the open, the skies opened up.
The reds and yellows had vanished. The darker blues, that donned the skies now, didn’t do much to hide the rainbow.
Nobody found anything amiss in the whole episode. Meanwhile, the new epidemic that would plague the city had been averted.
THE PORTRAIT
He walked into my studio late one night requesting for a portrait session. We fixed an appointment. I set up my equipment and said, “Say cheese!”. He replied, “meow!”
MUSING OF A MUSE
She liked the awkward silence between two stranded strangers. It fueled her thought process, helping her get through the wait and the weather, which had a mind of its own, off late. The clouds opened up before her ride arrived; the pleasant, dewy petrichor flared up her senses. Inhaling deeply, she mused about being a muse; two victims of a million fiction variants.
DATABUBBLE
A week ago, hiding behind the boulder, I aimed my super zoom and managed to capture one frame before being made.
I cannot hide from him forever. I knew it was a mistake to transgress privacy without permission. I am doomed. The rumors were true. A person, meta human as some would term, with the ability to produce data embedded bubbles. This one had my image captured within.
IN THE ABSENCE OF DARKNESS
Searching for notes, pieces of paper jotted upon, he stumbled upon an old post he had ignored over his crazed experiment. “You have always been my guiding light. In the darkest of times when life denies me light you made me believe there was hope. You taught me light was just the absence of darkness. Don’t give up. You will light up many more lives. Auf Wiedersehen”. She was alive. Somewhere. The bulb was glowing. The dry cell had been invented.
THE EXCURSION
“Look ma! This is the place they are going to take us for excursion this year. Can I please go? All my friends are going. Please ma, can I?” She didn’t have the heart to tell her kid that they could not afford it. “When is the last date to enroll?” She asked instead. “Next Friday.” “Ok, I will talk to your father about it”. “Thanks ma”, the kid chirped. Two days later, a terrorist attack rocked the place and all visits were called off. The trip had to be cancelled.
ALCATRAZ
To the outside world, this was one of the oldest light house structure around. Even though public entry was strictly restricted around the island, it didn’t raise any flags, till now that is. It all started a week ago, when a little known author published his first book of fiction; Alcatraz. Three days later, the author was found dead under mysterious circumstances. A day later, further publishing of the book was strictly prohibited and all copies in the market sold. It was the Government’s worst nightmare. A piece of fiction that was true.
CONTENT
I am happy and content being me. I don’t see a need for anything else at this point in time. My mother will be cooking my favorite dish and I always help her do it. He politely excused himself from the conversation, but not before inviting me join them for a humble but exquisite meal. I left. I didnt have words to describe those eyes of hope. I felt my experience as a journalist came to a naught. I was stumped. I posted a verbatim conversation that stole hearts.
LIBRARIES
His characters no longer surprised him. It was like he knew what was going to happen of every moment, and every scene. He had become predictable to himself. He was facing a writer’s block. As he sat there reading his favorite piece of writing, the new librarian walked up to him and said, “We will have to consider suspending your membership until all your dues are cleared”. The old librarian had been too fond of him to bother. He had found a muse in her. She was Libra. He was Aries. It was a celestial nuptial.
REUNION
The sky had a graduated orange merging with the wavy waters along the horizon. He watched as the kid enjoyed his moments with his mother. He didn’t know how long it was as he watched them indulge in happiness… The screensaver changed. This one was a picture of his family. He picked up his phone and finally made the call. He was going home to them, again.
A pair of sandal’s worth!
I am grinded. I am molded. I enter those damned machines, I would have never entered if I had it my way. I get thrown away, I get picked up and then I get stuffed in. Ah, how would you realize the suffocation I feel…
I wake up only to find myself being stared at by several pairs of eyes, ah, I don’t quite like the attention I am getting. As if that’s not enough, I am required to be tested, only to be rejected. What’s more, I am rejected only to be replaced by my water allergic counterpart. I can’t help thinking you are nuts. You people thing too high of yourself to reject us. No wonder you don’t feel the least bit of remorse doing so. Yet, I forgive you. It’s not entirely your fault. When you are given so many choices, its quite obvious for you to reject. As a matter of fact, I didn’t like you either.
I go back to lay on the selves, on display for God knows how long, waiting for my turn to be picked, waiting to care for a pair of lovely feet. Sometimes the air conditioning gets on my nerves. Summers can be a bliss, but for the power saving movement that catches the trend, they are real testing times, those. Not to mention the adverse chills during the rains, when I can’t help wondering where the power saving movement hides itself.
A blue moon later, some kind person falls in love with me, and proposes to live with me…. Err.. Proposes I be with him.. I accept it. *blushes* (Coming to think of it, I feel I was wrong when I thought the person fell in love with me. Very.)
I am very tired after the day’s journey and I lay down to sleep, only to be woken up for a fashion show. I get angry and I recent to biting whatever I can lay my teeth on. Really, its so much fun. Pity, it didn’t last long, as my once sharp teeth are now grinded down. Having no other choice, I try getting along and find its fun as well. I get adjusted to my new life. Everything goes on well until I get kidnapped.
One moment, I was lying quietly waiting, the next I find somebody coming, picks on me and walks away. I scream, Help! Help! But my owner is nowhere to be seen. You disrespectful idiot. If only you had watched upon me, like my owner used to, this would never had happened. Never!
A glance is all I get, even when I am moments away from adoring your beautiful err.. not always so beautiful legs, protecting them from the beautiful earth, and not so beautiful earthly matters. I am a slave at your pair of legs, another disrespected creature. Having me on, you feel pretty comfortable to go to any place, yeah; any, with a stress on the last part! I am the footwear. Yeah, the. Nothing less than the.
I am already missing my owner…. Now with an ‘ex’ to it.
The roller-coaster ride
Travel and work, two idiots I happened to befriend of late, never seem to leave me alone these days. They are such good friends, that I cant help spending time with them. No matter what situation I am in, they are always there for me. I am lousy, they are there. I am hungry, they are there. I am tired, they are there. I am sleepy, they are there. I am…. they are still there. I must confess I am very lucky to find such loyal friends and am very thankful to them for having happened to meet me. Otherwise God knows how wonderful a part of life I was going to be missing. Ok, that little piece you just happened to read is what I am giving as an excuse for the near disappearance from the word of blogging.
Getting back, the little subject here in consideration is a ride back home. So for those of you who are bored or already feeling the need to show me a beautiful wide angle shot of your mouth or already fallen off asleep, the whole drama here is boarding a bus, and on reaching the destination, getting down. Yeah, you were right. Your wide angle display is justified. I have this liking for writing and well, you are witnessing the result.
Range: 350-650/head.
Duration: 3-5hrs.
Purpose: To scare the daylights out of you. (erm its always a night ride so there is no daylight anyways!)
Procedure: To provide a seat in the upper berth and let things work its way.
Disclaimer: The farther at the end of the bus your seat lies, the more fun you derive!
An overnight journey aboard a bus, the best way to travel would probably be on a sleeper coach. Atleast I am one of those who prefers sleeper coaches to those sitting ones. Nothing but sleeper works for me. Not even those near sleepers with a prefix semi going ahead of them. Such a relaxed way to reach your destination and what’s more you could even get down to work in the morning.
No! Not if you take an upper berth and as a bonus, you being in the last seat. Hell! No! The drivers on the Bangalore-Udupi/Manipal/Kundapur bus, err. any of them for that matter, they are all the same; they have this strange disease where in they seem to forget the being of a 3/4th bus behind them and whats more find it to be a nascar and really take it for a ride! An urgent requirement of arrival back home coupled with a busy season, and your love for sleeper, ends you up with a lovely nest perched right at the back, where if you are kind enough to stretch a little you could be hugging the back of the bus.
You board the bus, settle down. You are still in Bangalore, everything feels good. You feel the driving is good, making a note to yourself to tell others about this particular one, how it is different form others and hey, I wonder why people run away from last seats. Its really not all that bad. The journey slowly begins, as your thoughts drift by and you are soon asleep. Bang! From blacks to blues, the next thing you know you are on a roller coaster ride, an expensive one in that. Did you just say the driver is good? Screw you! You were wrong. The ride continues with no interval. And you desperately needed one. You estimate the time of stoppage. Another bang! ‘Watch out dude!’, you shout, knowing fully well that for one thing, you wont be audible and secondly, he is on his way to finish line and nothing can stop him in his endeavor! You are tired, and every now and then you cant help falling asleep, only to be pulled out in catching yourself from falling down situation. You begin to wish there were safety belts so that you could atleast not worry about falling. Whats more your bag is have a ball of time and if you don’t bother to curtail its freedom, it will have no hesitation whatsoever in bungee jumping. Only catch being that the bungee jump is one way. Your precious laptop is in its care and it doesn’t in the least seem to have a concern about it. So you, being the more responsible of the two, takes the responsibility of taking care of the bag in addition to taking care of yourself. Every now and then it tries to take a sneak peak of what lies in the world beneath and your job is to curtail its movement. Your hands ache from clinging on, your legs ache from controlling yourself and your bag, you are jittery from lack of sleep and to add to it, being awake has made you hungry too. You try sitting so that you can find something from your bag, and no sooner you do it, you feel yourself spinning. You resist the need to eat. You resist the need to sleep. You resist the need for stillness. You resist the need for peace. You wait patiently, and yeah, as the saying goes it indeed pays off. You finally reach your destination and you are free to get down.
Conclusion: The roller-coaster ride is successfully completed.*
Remarks: You are now ready to take another ride.
*In our appreciation and as a bonus for taking part, you get a free subject to write an article upon!
New tidings…
The last I was down here, was to pen about some journey onto somewhere and the fact is that its been like some ages since that!
I am all rusty and completely out of writings way these days. The last I wrote on paper happened to be an exam paper! For the reason behind this absence, I blame TWITTER! Yeah, the very same one, probably through which you found out about this post and are reading it now, the devil which has confined my thoughts to 140 characters. My review on a read book, 140 characters. My thoughts on something, 140 characters. My experience on an outing, 140 characters. 140 characters, 140 characters, 140 characters. 140 characters was every where. Short and sweet seemed to become a etched in motto. Coming to think of it, I more often than not think it usually went to become short and complex.
Ok. Now that I am done with the blaming part, lets get down to what I came down for, which is nothing. I am only weaving words to form sentences and sentences to form paragraphs and paragraphs to form a write-up. So pardon those cut off topics, lousy start ups and whatever else. I am only scraping off the rust and painting the whole surface. You are but on looker who is very keen on witnessing the rejuvenating process. Well, if you are, so be it. Only don’t blame me later on, you have been warned well in advance.
I guess you would still remember that last day of the old year. You were probably participating in the count down at some party or standing besides some vehicle along with a bunch of others, with loud music playing or rather sleeping tightly(which actually looks a better option now) waiting for the clock to tick, twelve while I was down town looking at people dance, no I couldn’t call it that actually, well, whatever, and the next I realize there was fireworks coz it was already past twelve. shey! no countdowns, no loud cheers, no nothings. Bare beginnings. What happened to be a full solid plan in some-body’s words, which I went through, happened to be reach and return, only that. I will break even with that fella someday, so you don’t have to worry about it. The new year is already a few weeks, but since I didn’t announce it (140 characters isn’t enough announcement, I need a blogged one), I now formally announce the arrival of the new year and wish you all, well whoever is still reading, which you obviously are, a happy new year. You might have wished me personally, @replied, called waiting all the while while the damned networks were busy scrambling, or rather spent a precious rupee and sent a message which reached only the next day, but all that doesn’t count. Oh yeah, even if you sent a message with the advance wish so that you could keep up with the wished whilst remaining in your free message quota, that doesn’t hold. And since I wished you now, you are to reciprocate by commenting to this post. I believe you have some courtesy, no? We will soon see.
Team India did well to begin the year with a victory in the t20 match against SA, or was it in the last year? I keep forgetting the dates. well, never mind, years later who will be bothered about it anyway, 1st of jan or 31st of dec, both will be included in the same year. They also lost an ODI, then miraculously won one, probably coz everybody had long slept expecting a well deserved loss. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the victory, first thing in the morning. Speaking of surprises I was very much surprised to hear Sania won a set against Henin! The moment I saw her clad in white and green, I knew she wasn’t going to win it. She changed to blue, but it was already too late! nevertheless for a person who fears clearing the nets, she played fairly well, with some wonderful flukes and a heavy dose of felix felicis (liquid luck according to the fictional harry potter). Of course she probably didn’t take the correct dose for she would have otherwise won it, no?
The squad for the world cup is announced and we have some ups and downs in it. The selection committee always feels its got the best. Its the other side that we need to see. Joginder Sharma feels his omission from the team is a shocker! After what he did at the t20 WC some years back, yeah that was some years back and he still seems to be in the hangover. Shreeshanth thinks he didn’t fully believe in himself, he forgot his belief didn’t matter as long as the selection committee didn’t have faith in him! Yet, he was in good form and should have probably been picked, so that, if nothing else, we could at least use his antics to our benefit. As an afterthought we have antics veteran bhajji, so sree can as well be forgotten for now. We have some excellent horse power in the team, but pity the horse is very prone to injuries. Yuvraj believes he is in the team because of his six sixes in the t20 WC and that his experience could be of crucial usage in times of need. I must say, Mr. Yuvraj, its not a nursery rhyme that you repeat whenever you want to. By the way why is everybody still in the t20 WC? We are speaking about its longer version. Any ways, Piyush is now the times most influential person of the month! That was expected, wasn’t it?
You ride a bike? You probably do. The next time you think about going out biking, think about that stiffness of yours. If you are that blogger like me who hasn’t blogged for ages, it means you also don’t have all the exercise you need and your body is quite stiff. So think twice. I don’t mean to stop you, in fact if you are around here somewhere lil up and down of Manipal I would suggest you too to visit kudloooo (the oos for the hangover effect, not that if works of course). Around 60kms from Manipal, its a wonderful place for a stretch workshop. The climbing and descending would be enough to give you some effect of the stretch workshop. In case you feel good, which on the day you will(For the workshop announces its results only a day later. Strict rules followed compulsorily), there are a lot of mountain collapses where you can try your climbing skills. For those photographers out there, pack your heaviest of lenses, also don’t forget your tripod, for that will do you much good. See that your companions are lazy enough so that they don’t offer to carry your weight for you, else the workshop wont have the desired effect you see! I almost forgot, the main attraction of the place is a falls, so while you are there enjoy a relaxed swim or a soothing massage from the falls himself.
Ok. My exercise is done. Thank you for your patience. Will let you know if I need this session sometime again. Ciao.
Ah, wait. I titled the post new tidings, so let me pen down something for it. Lets hope the new year, which has already begun and probably already decided what it has got in store, which again probably by now is already covered with a sheet of dust, given the ultimate care we give, bring new tidings for us full of richness and harmony, happiness and joy, love and peace. Let the rotten past be dumped into the nearest municipality bin, let the wonderful today be enjoyed to its fullest and let the unknown tomorrow be full of surprises. Amen! Err.. I myself didn’t fully comprehend what those tidings were all about, so don’t bother too much about it and since you have already wasted a lot of time reading this junk, waste no more, leave!
Its a psychological disorder in the human being that as long as the end of the window isn’t in sight the reader keeps reading. I ended twice and still you haven’t called it quits. You are still following the words which means you, like me are beginning to enjoy this whole thing that doesn’t makes much sense. We must probably meet for a coffee or something so that we bore ourselves a little more and yeah, that would give me another reason to begin with this whole procedure all over again. That’s it. This is the end of the window. Over. Nothing more. Done. Close and get back to your work.
The suspect
A young boy, mostly in his teens, clad in a blue polo t-shirt and dark gray trousers, had a plastic bag in one hand, a book within it, purchased hardly a few moments ago, his hand kerchief and the key of his prized pulsar, along with it. The other hand was fumbling in search of the token which was required to get his bag back. A wallet in one pocket, cell in the other, but the token seemed to be missing. Where could it go… About thirty minutes ago he had entered the shop, and like in all shops he was required to keep all his possessions outside with the guard before going in, for which he was given a token and while leaving on producing it, he would get back his possession.
The guard, hardly a few meters away, held a constant vigil on him. There was not much of a crowd in the shop, so not many eyes were on him. Not had many noticed the thirty long minutes he had spent at the shop. Nor none bothered to know what he did all the while. A cell in his hand, going through the range of books available for selection, he took his time to select the book he wanted to buy. He narrowed it down to a single book, ‘The hungry tide’ by Amitav Ghosh. After a while of thinking on whether or not to buy the book, he finally picked it, went to the billing counter, got it billed and was about to leave when he felt he had misplaced his token. He recalled no such incidence of placing the token somewhere, or any such thing, yet he couldn’t find it now..
Looking just once more, he finally found it, gave it to the guard, got back his bag, put his stuff within it, and hung it over his back. It was another favorite possession of his, his adventure worx bag. Just as he was about to leave a thought occurred to him, something seemed to have caught his eye. He immediately turned, gave the bag back to the guard, excusing himself for the moment, before the guard could question him, went in for a few moments and returned back. From there he took his own sweet time roaming around the mall, noticing every small detail that was required to him, observing every person crossing him. Not one bothered to notice him roaming around aimlessly in the mall, a lone stranger minding his own business, after all it was usual in malls, so this was no exception.
It was long after the setting of the sun that he finally showed signs of having to leave. It was quite dark, although the insides of the mall were fully illuminated. As for the outsides, there was a busy street out there, going in its own pace, brightly illuminated by the street lights, head lights and taillights, of the various vehicles going by. He stopped by a cane juice centre, had a cold cane juice and though it wasn’t entirely anything compared to the one he had a few months ago, it was filling and that was what he wanted it to be. As he was finishing his drink, he saw a group of four pass by, and one of them seemed to be very familiar to him, why, it was certainly a person he knew. He was sure it, also the who, but couldn’t place the reason for that person’s being there. He made a mental note to enquire about it later and got back to his drink.
It was high time he started back, for there were more things to be done.. He walked back to the bus stop, which was hardly a little away from the mall, waited for a while, skipped the first bus, and when he saw the bus he wanted, got on to it. He found it a bit disappointing to know that it was almost filled up, but thankfully there was a seat for him, which he occupied, settling himself for what was to come ahead.
The first half of the journey went uneventful, of course with the rush that there was it was quite obvious. At one particular stop, the person next to him got down, and so did the three behind him. Immediately he shifted and took the seat behind to the one that he had formerly occupied.
A man sitting across his seat, was deep in slumber, one leg upon the other, and as he was just looking by, his eyes suddenly caught sight of something!! Was it what he really thought it to be? He wondered.. On inspecting it more properly, he was sure it was what he took it to be in his first glance! A five hundred rupee bundle half out of his pocket. He thought about it further. It was certainly a five hundred rupee note that he had seen, for the color was unmistakably right and he couldn’t be wrong, no way. There was a rubber band on it, which meant there was more than one. Now if it was just ten or twenty it would have been folded, but it wasn’t. Also the rubber band was quite straight which meant there was easily a minimum of a thirty to forty thousand in there. He was quite sure of it, very much certain of the facts he arrived upon.
He looked across, the fellow still seemed to be in deep slumber, quite unknown of the fact that his possession was noticed, calculated out, and in moments planned out too. There were not many people in the seats behind him which meant that the chances of anybody noticing, was next to nil, unless something very stupid was done. There was a strong breeze coming through the window, and as he let it hit his face, he thought of the plan he could put into action. It was pretty simple and straight forward, there was no doubt in it. Perfectly clean, hardly any risk but for the timing, which would be the key for the entire plan. All he had to do was get up from his seat, flick the bundle and pocket it. All done with moments to the stop already decided upon, and once he got down, there would be no trail. It would be quite late before it would be known, and he would taken the next bus back. Very simple, indeed it was!!
He kept his gaze steady on his prize, but soon enough the person seemed to wake up at a slight disturbance in the road, when he chanced to glance towards the person looking at him, but before he could actually do anything, he was back asleep. Moments later he looked back again, as the person signaled to his pocket, but funnily he didn’t seem to notice at all!
With all thoughts clear in mind, his actions decided, he calmly walked up towards the person, gave an acknowledging pat on his shoulder saying, “Be careful to conceal your money the next time, when you tend to sleep” and before he could say or do anything, walked away.
Standing by the foot board, he noticed the man, realizing what had happened, turned around, and smiled as I got down from the bus, giving just another few moments to notice him smile again…