January 29 2008 , Tuesday

I have a lot of work to do, but I think I’ll have to write first. Its not that I have something really interesting to tell but it’s a way of relaxing and beginning afresh..
Anyways I tried seriously very hard to read the book ‘My Little Boat’ but sorry to say I am not up to such a bold narrative attempt. This is for the writer Mariam Karim. Few drawbacks in your book…


1. You haven’t etched out the characters in your book neatly. The writer is neither writing fiction nor is it non-fiction. I think she tries to discover herself in nasreen and mehzabeen(the two main characters of the novel…). I personally feel the writer is a person trapped somewhere in between these two characters…...the prose is simply wonderful but the story line is weak. A brave and probably a successful attempt but it is something that fails to allure a reader like me because either we are not used to such things or we are too naïve to comprehend what she tries to tell us.

2. I have read three fourth of the book hoping to be gripped by the story but it fails here again.

3. Its way beyond confusing… I wont put it as "a brave narrative attempt "as writer says but honestly speaking Mariam was so confused while writing the book that she reached no where. At times the story and characters are so strong that they lead the writer to the climax… writer has to follow the flow and the end product becomes a novel for both writers and readers… for even the writer only partly knows about the fate of the characters when they started with the novel….. A strong story line and carefully carved out characters define the novel... Both of them truly missing in this case.

4. The only good things about the book are the prose, title (very inviting I must say…) and the cover page…

5. I hope the writer matures to a sophisticated and long accepted / appreciated way of story telling by her next novel…. Good luck for that….:-)


And ya let me start with my work…… lots to do... bye. Catch you later…

Adieu Appu Ghar …………

Suddenly I am reminded of those warm summer evenings; we were supposed to put on our best sports shoes, our hairs would be tied in a tight pony tail and we wore loose cotton trousers and a T-shirt. We would then drive our old Maruti 800 to Appu Ghar, pragti maidan.

The entire ride was bliss. With sparkling eyes we would read the road side hoardings… hoping to read Appu Ghar after the next turn. Nothing in this world could take away that smile, it was plastered literally… .

We would then wait near the popcorn seller with our mom, while Dad queued up at the ticket counter. The queue was the longest I have known and we would wait and wait and wait, practicing high jumps and trying to have a glimpse of the other side… we would read faces of other kid’s trying to decipher their experience closely monitoring dad’s progress as he slowly made his way to the ticket counter.

When we finally entered their would be no stopping us. It always started with bhoot bangle, followed by car race, udhan khatola, My fair Lady, Columbus…….The Ice cream vendor, Maggi at Nescafe outlet…..

Tired , dirty, messy, dragged by our parents, always trying to run back, licking good old choco bar we would slowly make our way to the exit gates.. only to be stopped by the people selling air bubbles solution , parachute, areoplanes and other knick knacks…

As I grew up, I almost forgot about this old summer vacation ritual of ours, But recently when I heard that Appu Ghar is closing Down I was disappointed……Some Experiences are closest to your heart, some of them you relive thousand of times in your memory, Some of them define what you are and some of them eventually become you…I know even if its closing down no one can take away the experience from me.. But to invest emotions in the physical forms comes naturally to humans…. I also know that my trips to the state of the art sophisticated amusement parks in years to come will always fall several notches below those warm June evenings……Bye Bye Appu Ghar… you’ll always live in my memory. And I know I sound like an idiot………

Sunday Again

Hi it’s yet another Sunday, but not as refreshing as the last one. I don’t want to go to the office… I mean its not that I am not good at what I do.. In fact I am very good but then I am very lazy too... Week days means getting up early, catching bus to office, doing blah blah… traffic jams in the evening , bumpy ride ,coming back very late and going to bed early because you have to get up early next day in spite of the fact that your unfinished novel just started getting interested. Any ways hope I’ll get used to all this… I don’t want to be a cribber…. But of all days Monday I hate the most….. . This weekend was a mediocre one. 80% of my time I spent curled up in my quilt. So nothing much to tell.. ….Bye

Food Frenzy!!!!!!!!!!!

What Vir Sanghvi is to brunch NDTV Metro (Delhi) is to the news channels!! They have taken it upon themselves to guide the ignorant lot like us as to what can we put into our mouths and what not. Yesterday while surfing channels I happened to hit NDTV Metro, name of the show food frenzy, Place Kashmir house, Chanakyapuri Delhi. This guy our host was talking to the head cook, discussing menu... it was fine one dosen't anyways expect much these days.

After the commercial break there were a group of 4 people sitting around a table, two of them were self acclaimed food critics, there was this third guy whose only qualification was that he belonged to J&K and there was this big mouthed girl even she didn't knew why was she invited.... anyways the menu consisted of 3 non vegetarian delicacies and a vegetarian dish... served in steel bowls with boiled rice. Ya bowl!!(badi vali katori...) . They started eating... their aim was to discuss and eat simultaneously... and I don't know why NDTV thinks this is Hot!!!
Anyways this guy our host and one of the food critics did most of the talking...
and yes with the other food critic, who was not that talkative but somehow seemed to be enjoying the attention. The J&K guy was comfortably left out of focus after introduction, but this girl i mean boss she was very hungry... and poor girl, she was sitting between these food critics and camera was placed at such an angle that she was always in focus.....
But obviously it was not a big deal for her , i mean to be in a show that's aired on a national TV....The amount of rice she put into her mouth without exaggerating doubled the size of her left cheek. She took 3 servings of rice while the poor guys had to discuss food as well and were not yet done with the first one.
She ate non stop for the next 10 minutes before the host finally for courtesy sake asked her a question. Oops!! She had no clue... what they were discussing... or what the question was....??? Finally after finishing her mouthful she started comparing the creamy flavor of the Butter Chicken and the tangy kashmiri dish... she absolutely made no sense and the moment last word was out of her mouth a big spoonful was into it???? I mean somebody please tell me what was all this...........

Another lazy yet refreshing Sunday

Hmmm…! It’s, Sunday, 13 January 2008, Lohri Day, the Delhi’s winters have calmed down a bit. Though it’s still chilly but we are all waiting for the warm February and the spring breeze…..


I got up much after the birds stopped chirping… at about 10am and decided to take blogging seriously…..after a hot cup of adhrak wali chai began my day with a movie on HBO Three Wishes… a very mediocre film and something I’ll forget in a week’s time. This was followed by nth re run of FRIENDS 2.5 hours end to end on Zee Café, I mean there were days when I used to laugh my wits out at the slightest indication of the fact that chandeller is about to twist his face but that was then… I have had my share of friends, and I’ll always remember those days lovingly….. Hostel, friends and F.R.I.E.N.D.S…..

I did usual stuff followed by an unusual chit chat with a very old school friend, she had come to my place… and we guys were discussing (like grown ups!!!) the various investment schemes available in the market, mutual funds and the usual tax saving chit chat everyone is having these days…..


Now, we the people, Barkha Dutta has been my favorite since childhood…. But somehow I miss all her discussions these days, I missed this Sunday’s show too, could catch just the last 5 minutes of the discussion…. And guess what they were discussing about us, bloggers ,. I heard someone saying that bloggers are giving serious completion to the writers. I know this hardly matters but Barkha was all thumbs up!!! And decided to start her blog by the end of the show…… 


Went for a long walk by EOD, it was really chilly but I enjoyed every step I took. People had already started celebrating Lohri… fires were seen outside almost every home down the street. People were smiling, their faces shinning in the warm glow, kids running around the fire, grown ups sitting on the garden chairs , mothers warning their little ones to be cautious….. Some dhol wallas played the bhangra tunes around the corner, and as I passed by I realized how much I love all this… we’ll start the Lohri celebrations in a few minutes so bye until we meet next time……..

January 14 2008

Hi, its 14, January, Monday first day of the week. I am in office bored, trapped, lost and dreaming. I dream of the days which were real once…. But I took them for granted. I dream to become a free person again, to go back to my college days where I could bunk lectures for endless rounds of coffee at the nearest Nescafe outlet, or when I could simply walk back to my hostel room, fight with friends as to who’ll make Tea??? And search for anything edible left in the long forgotten book shelves….. Snuggle in my quilt and enjoy the chatting session……
Those days were real bliss, I mean I know their was always shortage of money.. We wanted to buy the whole world and were perpetually in debt, but then now that I have enough to spend there is hardly anything I can spend it on…….
This message is for the entire student community. Guys enjoy your days to the fullest….. Nothing out here is worth the pleasure and bliss that you enjoy…Keep Bunking!!!! :-)