Blog 5102: An update

This pic!


This pic symbolizes exactly what I described in the post http://sunnyblogs.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-4801-dream-on.html

Thanks Sandy... got it from your comment on Kadir's status on Facebook!

Blog 5101: A normal day in the life of Suite-16

5.58 pm
Cell phone shows "Shailu Calling".
Shailu:"Sunny, tu office mein hai?"
Me: "Yups... ssup?"
Shailu: "Oh good, IRCTC ki site khol".

Sunny, though, is busy playing Pathwords on Facebook.

Me: "Haan yaar... (while I make another pathword)... khol raha hoon... umm... ek sec"
1.43 mins left on this game.
I realise it wasn't going so well.
Game kaata.

Flashback.
Abhinav Somani is getting married this Tuesday.
The first of the inhabitants of Suite-16 to get married.
:-)
I'm unable to go coz of a misalignment of the planets in the Solar System.
Shailu decided on Thursday that he's going.
Booked tickets.
Azad Hind Express for today, Saturday, on waiting list.
Spicejet for Tuesday morning confirmed.

Shailu: "Ghar pe power cut hai. Site dekh ke bata ki meri ticket ka kya status hai".
I open IRCTC's website.
Shail gives me his login, password.
Says the train is for 6.25 pm.
Its 6 pm right now.
We're cool, Honeybunny.
We're cool.

He basically wants to ensure that he's still on the waiting list so that he can cancel his ticket.
But...
There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
Site shows a change in ticket status.
Ticket confirmed, seat reserved.
Shail: "Oh!"
Shail: "Toh... should I go?!"
Adi from next room:"Ticket confirm?! Toh jaaa!"
Shail:"O teri... !"

First hiccup.
The e-ticket hasnt been printed yet.

25 mins.
To pack bags.
To print ticket.
To reach station.
To catch train.

Divide and conquer.
Adi goes to cyber cafe to print ticket.
Shail packs.
But...
There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip.
Power cuts everywhere.
Cyber cafe has no power.

I try calling Railway station to see if they allow passengers without printed ticket and just with valid ID card.
Its ringing.
No response.

6.10.
15 mins to go if the train's on time.
They're headed to the station on Adi's bike.
But...
There's many a slip...
Second hiccup.
Adi's bike has a UP registration number.
Traffic policeman stops them.
Asks for papers.
They dont have the papers on the spot.

Ragda+makhhan.
"Jaaane do sir"
"Train hai sir"
"Mere do bemaar bachhe hain us train mein sir"
Policeman: ?! ?!
"Zindagi aur maut ka sawaal hai sir. Jaane do. Upar waala aapka bhala karega"
The works.

The policeman tells them to submit the license and PUC papers and come back from the station with NOC to retrieve them.

Meanwhile, I narrate the story so far to Dot Lal on gchat.
Dot lal:Wanna bet?
Me: I think he's screwed
Dot lal: I think so too.
Me: We need to find someone who's willing to bet he ain't screwed.
Dot lal: That would be Shailu

6.25
I desist from calling Shail or Adi.
I expected them to be on the bike frantically trying to reach the station.

6.30.
Phone says "Shailu calling"
I fear for the worst.
Me: "Kya hua finally?!"
Shail: TRAIN MEIN HOON!"
And he tells me the whole story about printing the ticket and the traffic police guy.
Screw clothes, he also packed Shantaram and his lappy.

The only thing left now...
Shail: Ab yeh Spicejet cancel karna hai
:-)

Blog 4802: What's the Good Word?!

I've had an itch for a long time.
And I've decided its about time I scratched in public.

There's this word I've been trying to recollect for ages.
I knew it a few years ago.
Then Kgp happened.
As I started making space for Kgp lingo and other affiliated words, this particular word, along with lots of others, eloped from my memory.
Then one day, I came across a situation that illustrated this word and tried hard to recollect it.
Kuppa.
No search results found.

Just like all guys who've been after some girl who doesnt reciprocate, or appreciate, or understand, or (oh-fcuk) recognise, their feelings, I came to the conclusion that I was trying too hard.
I was giving this word more attention than I was getting from it.
I decided to take it easy.
Slowly.
To lay back.
The word will recognise how much I've craved it and it'll come to me.

Like many of the girls in the stories referred to above, it never did.

But time heals all wounds.
'Out of sight, out of mind.'
I got busy in other words.
Like anyhoo.
Life rolled along and I went with the flow.
Anyhoo.

Until yesterday.
Apro da's status message yesterday brought the past crashing back to haunt my present.
I realise I haven't told you much about the word yet.
So here goes.
His status message yesterday read: I dont want to jinx it... so I wont say that the weather is darned good.
This is an art.
This thing... where you say something while professing to not say it.

"I dont want to upset you and so I wont talk about what a fcukin bitch you are."
"I dont want to remind you of that incident where you embarassed yourself before the whole school that spring day, 7th March 2001, in junior high... so I wont talk about it"
You get the drift.
There's a word that describes this... (lemme repeat)... this saying something while professing to not say it.

The thing is, I can't recollect this word.
So here's a plea for search-and-rescue.
Do search for this word and rescue me from this itch.
And just in case you thought I was referring to some other itch/scratching in the beginning...

... I really want you to look for this word and so I will not talk about how crappy your thinking is.
:-P

Blog 4801: Dream On

Disclaimer: The title of this post is copyrighted by Dot Lal and Gol J. Anyhoo. :-P

My dreams have taken on an entirely new dimension.
And I aint referring to the stoopid dreams that all people worth more than 1 million USD, half of those worth less than 1 million USD, the Corrs and our precious Barack Obama talk about in every alternate sentence.
I'm referring to dreams in their primitive sense - those that occur when we're well asleep.

Circa yesterday night: Me in Shailu's room.
I'd shifted home yesterday from Aundh to Kondhwa, btw.
Thats another story in itself.
Anyhoo.

So yesterday night at Shailu's room.
1 am
We decided we're going to the gym tomorrow morning.
7 am - we're to get up.
7.30 am - we're to be in the gym.
9 am - we're to get out of the gym.
To use one of the grooviest corporate cliches, "that sounded like a plan".

1.45 am
I set the alarm for 7 am.
After a brief round of negotiations involving Shailu, me and my cell phone, the alarm is reset to 7.30 am.
We pay homage to the plan with a "tempo se".

7.30 am today morning.
Alarm rings.
I look at the alarm and put it on snooze.
Pay close attention to the conversation that happens next.
Partly coz it never happened - it was in my dream.
Partly coz it'll show how friggin devious the dreams production unit of my brain is.

Me: Shailu uth... gym ka samay ho gaya hai.
Shailu: Yaar Sunny... late ho gaya hai. Ab fayda nahin hai.
Me: Hain? 7.30 hi to decide kiye the.
Shailu: Bad decision tha yaar... ab late ho gaya hai... bheed ho gayi hogi ab tak.
Me: hain? bheed? 7.30 am?

The plot has thickened.
Notice that I'm still the good guy - I'm still pushing in favour of going to the gym.
And since my mind prolly didnt want to put the whole thing squarely on Shailu, it brought in the mysterious third element.

Mysterious third guy with a stubble and sweat cap on: Yeah. Too late. Aur ab to saare night shift ke call center employees ke aana ka samay ho gaya hai. That place will be full of this crowd now.
Me: Ohh
Mysterious third guy with a stubble and sweat cap on: Yeah... just not worth it.
Me: Ohh
Me: Kaata... I'll go sleep again.

*halo*
Its my mind that conjured up the night shift returning employee reason.
Its also my mind that made sure that I'm the goody innocently-trusting-and-finally-betrayed hero and the rest are the ones using these excuses.

Yeah, I'm Jack's total lack of committment to gymming.

I finally woke at 10 am - and I sincerely believed that the conversation above had happened.
I bathed, got dressed, got down the building and into the cab and only then realised - that third guy couldn't have been.
And this ain't a one-off incident.
If I get a phone call while I'm asleep, I usually decline it or let it ring out.
Blimey, but I then end up having a mental conversation with the caller right down to the final bbye.
Its just happened so often with my mom.
She calls back later and protests that I decline her calls and dont call back.
I say thats not possible coz I distinctly remember talking to her.
And then I tell her what we talked about.
And she says she's sure I've gone mad.

One of these days, she's going to ask me if I'm stoned.
And I think I'll prolly say, "Haven't we talked about this already"
:-P