teddysdreamland's blog

HERE’S WISHING ALL YOU FABULOUS ILANDERS

A GREAT GREAT 2009…

MAY THE LORD SHOWER YOU WITH ENDLESS JOY….

MAY YOU ENJOY THE BEST OF HEALTH AND PROSPERITY…

IN 2009 AND ALL THE YEARS TO COME…

TED…

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE:

Kung Fu Panda. I am an animation movie buff. And now I am waiting for Madagascar II.

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

The Gods and Godmen of India

3.FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?

Table Tennis if I can consider that a board game.

4.FAVOURITE MAGAZINE?

I do follow a few.. but for now let us keep to Harvard Biz Review, Men's Health, National Geographic.

5. FAVOURITE SMELLS?

Smell of Mum's cooking.. oh! that divine smell of paruppu, pappadam, theeyal, koottu, slurrrppp.. followed closely by my girl's cooking.. her bisi bele baath and masaala dosa is out of the world.. by now u must know that I love my food.. hehehe..

6. FAVOURITE SOUND?

Flute in full flow.. the guitar, especially the bass strumming.. I still feel excited when I hear the guitar piece in "Money for nothing"..

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

You are waiting for a sumptuous meal (at somebody's house or in a restaurant) and suddenly your gastro duodenal system starts playing pranks on you.. and there is no crapper around..

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING THAT YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP?

If it is a weekday especially monday then.. "why cant we have 3 day weekends?" and if it is a weekend then.. "hope the days are 48 hours long!!!"..

9.FAVOURITE FAST FOOD JOINT?

That small Golgappa stall (we used to call those Gupchup in Rourkela) in front of college.. when we used to get 7 Gupchups and a paapdi for Re 1.

10.FUTURE CHILD's NAME?

ApitaKuchalaambaal… hehehe..

11. IF HAD LOTS OF MONEY .

How much is lots? It means different things for different people If I was the underprivileged that would mean a sumptuous meal.. If I were the obscenely privileged then probably I would buy myself an exotic island somewhere in the tropical belt.. but I am neither… so my thoughts would center around getting a secure future for me and my family and look for avenues to an early retirement

12. DO YOU DRIVE FAST?

No.. I like to enjoy my drive and the nature around.. it is again like enjoying good food for me.. you savor it.. you don't devour it.. if you have driven in New Hampshire, Maine or Vermont during fall.. you would understand what I am saying..

13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL ?

No such weird fetish.. hahahaha..

14.-STORMS-COOL OR SCARY ?

Cool if during night.. I luv it as I cuddle up under a cozy blanket… and I hate it during the day.. as the gloomy atmosphere makes me feel lousy… but never scary..

15. MY CAR

Used to have a Honda Civic.. but haven't had one since moving to Singapore.. the public transport is so good here that I never felt like having one..

16.FAVOURITE DRINK

Pomegranate juice.. supposed to have a lot of gud healthy stuff in it..

17.IF I HAD THE TIME .

And the money.. then I would like to spend the whole time lying in a hammock under the shade of a tree and gaze at green fields and snow covered mountains far away.. I am done with this corporate rat race and of being one up always.. in all this I have now realized that I have not paused enough to enjoy mother nature..

18. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI?

Yeah I do.. how does that matter anyway..

19. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

Tough ask.. and those who know me would know why? hahahha

20. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.

Rourkela, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Baroda, Bangalore, Mysore, Mavelikara, Jodhpur, Mumbai, Delhi, Boston, Framingham, Burlington, Northborough, New York, Allentown, Singapore, Geneva, Zurich, Wellington

** Any place where I have stayed more than 2 weeks has qualified.

21. FAVOURITE SPORT ?

Cricket of course..  followed by tennis (both versions).. and golf..

22.WHAT’S UNDER MY BED?

Never bothered to check..

23. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS AGAIN?

Me of course.. but with a loving elder sister who will help me with all my homework J..

24.MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL-

Very much a morning person.. during evenings I like to have my dinner early and would like to hit the sack as early as possible.. VT can vouch for that..

25. FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX?

At home with family.. or at the cricket club with my buddies..

26. OVER-EASY OR SUNNY-SIDE UP?

None

27. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOUR?-

Butter scotch

28. DREAM DATE

It doesn't exist anymore.. PK Madhavan shattered that after telling me the heart-breaking story.. but let me add it has nothing to do with PKM himself... J .. PKM if you happen to read this.. I am sure you will be chuckling.. J

29. VEG OR NON-VEG

Veg

30. DO U SLEEP IN THE BUFF?

During college/hostel days yes.. that was nirvana.. not anymore.. J

31. HOW MUCH DID YOU SPEND ON THIS ?

If it is time.. then around 15 mins..

32. DID YOU HAVE FUN ?

Sounds like a market survey questionnaire suddenly.. what was the author's intention here??

33. DO YOU THINK IT’S THE LAST QUESTION?

Yeah of course if it is in context of this Tag as I don't see anymore after Q#33.. unless u have some more in invisible ink J..

I now TAG PK Madhavan & VT…

I wrote this during my college days in B’lore, when, sometimes living alone in a hostel, away from your loved ones, was extremely difficult. I stubmled upon this piece while rummaging through some old stuff. Hope you all like it.

When I heard the “Taare Zameen Pe” song I remembered this piece.

Thak gaya hoon zindagi ki is daud se,

Teri aanchal ki chaaon do na maa.

Tarasta hoon mein teri mamta ke liye,

Zara haathon se sar ko sahlaao na maa.

Ab hansi bhi nahi aati hai mujhko,

Zara hanske mujhe bhi hansaao na maa.

Bohot ho gayi akele mey siskiyaan lena,

God mey bharke dhaadhas bandhaao na maa.

Bhookha pyaasa is kaal kothri mey akela pada,

Chaandni tale apne haathon se khilaao na maa.

Sardi se maara sikudkar thar-tharaata hoon jab,

Baahon mey leke mujhe puchkaaro na maa.

Jee bhar gaya hai ab tagaaful se,           tagaaful - neglect

Aake palkon pe apne bithaao na maa.

Mein ab akela aur nahin rahna chaahta,

Mere saath tum bhi aa jao na maa.

- TED

I have fought with her the most, but then I love her the most as well. Isn’t mother a beautiful and intriguing relationship? This is dedicated to all those who are staying away from your mothers and yearn for her.

Raju  :   "Abey Panda.. Rasgullaa"!   (Hey Panda.. "Rasgullaa")

Panda  :  "Muh mey hai be"! (I have them in my mouth)

Rourkela had always been a cosmopolitan town; pardon me for using this word more in a national sense than international. Probably you wont associate cosmopolitanism with an Indian town, it has always been more of a "city" term. But Rourkela like most steel townships in the country, always had a mix of Indians from all walks of life and all parts of the nation. We definitely had the diversity if not the population to match any other big city.

A gang of 5 students,consisting of a mallu, a bihari, an oriya, an assamse and a bong, met after school. As usual they were planning the program for the rest of the evening. Those days we had a lot of time after school and homework. The TV bug hadn't yet become the widespread malady that it is today. You spent your time with real friends and not TV characters.

The preferred mode of transport used to be Avon, Hercules or Atlas. Some of you might be wondering what they are. Well, they were the top brand bicycles, the pride possession of most of my genre. The rendezvous for the evening was decided to be Madras Canteen, situated at the cusp of Sector-16 and Sector-17, made famous by its delicious idlis and dosas. I am not sure whether this small hotel (that's what we used to call a restaurant) still exists. Somebody from Rourkela can confirm. Soon five bicycles flew towards the destination at full steam.

Their vehicles safely parked, the boys entered "the hotel" and took seat at the front table, the one next to the cashier's corner. They ordered the usual stuff, Masaala Dosa and Chutney. That was all they could afford with the meager pocket money that they managed to eek out of their parents.

These food places always had a glass cabinet, next to the cashier, which served both as a display corner as well as the storage area for sweets and confectioneries. The sliding glass door at the back side was the only access to the cabinet. The gang was seated right next to the glass door of the cabinet, with Panda closest to it.

Rourkela, for all that I can remember, was always plagued by "load shedding". For those unfamiliar to this term, it meant that sections of the township would have no electricity during different parts of the day. Late nights were the most preferred time slot, but sometimes, some sections may get affected during evenings as well. That evening the lights went off at Madras Canteen. Pitch darkness.

Raju, suddenly realized the humongous opportunity at hand. The whole cabinet of sweets was at our mercy with nobody to see, as it took at least five to six minutes for the petromax to be activated.

That was when I heard Raju's hoarse, camouflaged but stern directive to Panda (the one mentioned at the beginning of the post).

Later, on our way back (having paid only for the Masala dosas), Panda narrated how he had managed to devour at least 10 rasgullas, in the 5 minutes, before the pertromax spread its light around.

Though the rest didn't get to taste any rasgullaas, there still was an overall sense of achievement and satisfaction.

The moral of the story - Great minds think alike and at the same time as well.

What do you say?

…TED

Reading VT’s latest blog reminded me of this incident.

The Rex movie theater on Brigade road in Bangalore. A bunch of college lads rush through the gates, eager to occupy their seats. I was one among them. It doesn't take us much time to settle down, after the usual yelling (at the top of our lungs), for the fans to be switched on.

We lean back with chips and drinks all in place, ready to have a great time. A bunch of girls suddenly appears on Tuhin's radar. Soon the rest of us are also tuned into the same frequency as Tuhin. The Mt Carmel angels move into their seats, a couple of rows in front of us. Surprise! Surprise! There is Priya, the girl our own Vicky was courting or pataofying.

How could we let Vicky miss such an opportunity? So one of us walks down immediately to negotiate with this guy who occupied the seat next to the girls. The idea was to let Vicky sit there and then somehow manage to get Priya to sit next to him. Don't ask me the logic behind all this; at that age we are damn sure that such moves always work.

However it was not to be as easy as we thought. The guy just wont heed to our appeals and adamantly refused to move from that seat, even though we were offering him a better seat, couple of rows back. He just wont budge, in fact by now he was gripping the seats with all his might, just in case we yanked him out. For him, this was probably the culmination of years of tapasya (penance) and missed chances; he had finally got to sit next to the cool babes from Mt. Carmel, that too, at a movie. He wouldn’t have swapped that seat even for a balcony position. Commenting from a neutral standpoint today, he was absolutely right (what say VT?). But at that moment Vicky's interest was paramount to us.

Soon the negotiation entered a heated phase with the poor guy getting a few whacks and a flurry of choice words which I rather not mention here, to maintain the decorum of this blog. Real hooligans you may think; blame it on the guy who wrote "Everything is fair in love and war". In such situations we could not be remorseful of our actions. There are certain unwritten code of conduct that apply in male friendship, which only guys can understand. A friend in need is a friend in deed; isn't that what another great person averred about friendship? So then, Vicky needed our help very much, period.

As the battle ensued, we didn't notice that Priya, realizing the real reason for all the hullabaloo, had quietly slipped out of the pack and got herself out of the building and probably to a much saner environment. By the time we came to know about it, the damage was done. Little did we realize that there was more awaiting us outside. After Priya left, we were no more interested in pushing our case with the guy, so we left him alone and moved back to our seats.

Just around interval, Venky, who had been to one of his innumerable toilet breaks (we never figured out how a human being could piss so much), came rushing back. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost in the toilet. A pale and trembling Venky informed us that the guy whom we had manhandled, was waiting outside with few burly guys, all set to do unto us what we did to him. "Do unto your neighbors what you want them to do unto you" another great saying which we had forgotten about before our act. "Vinaasha kaale vipreeta buddhi",  right?

So with danger lurking right outside the theater doors, what do you think we did?

– TED

Yaaron ke liye to sau khoon bhi muaaf.. that used to be the attitude..

Kal raat chaandni thi gum,

Maine sab se poocha, hua kya.

Ungliyaan uthi mere yaar par,

Shikaayat hua husn-e-dildaar ka.

Karta kya chaand bhi tera muqaabla,

Chupna hi usne bajaa samjha,

Na samjha kisi ne teri maasumiyat magar,

Tujhe hi sabne dushman be-wajah samjha.

Chaand kya cheez hai, suraj bhi dhundla pad jaaye,

Bas ek baar agar tum hans kar pardaa uthaa dey.

Kaise samjha-oon is ahal-e-mehafil ko lekin,

Ab tum hi mujhe apna koi misaal bataa dey.

…TED

Soz-e-aaftaab (sun's heat) mein jhulase tan ko,

Jab choo jaaye baad-e-nasiim (breeze),

To samjho tujhe meri yaad aayi.

Zamaane ke thokar se magmuum (hurt/sad),

Jab ho kisi hum-saaya (neighbor) ka ehsaas,

To samjho tujhe meri yaad aayi.

Bhari palkon se tapakte tapakte,

Jab achaanak aansoon tham jaaye,

To samjho tujhe meri yaad aayi.

Do-pehar ki dhoop se ho pareshaan (troubled),

Jab be-waqt (untimely) saawan (rain) laaye sukoon (comfort),

To samjho tujhe meri yaad aayi.

Ruumaani hokar nashe man se,

Jab choomogi takiye ko sharmaa kar,

To samjho tujhe meri yaad aayi.

— TED

There are times when you don't find words

To express what you are going through.

People cross your path, things happen,

But you move on, oblivious of everything.

Friends, I am going through such a phase!

I might have met some of you without a greeting,

Visited your dwelling and said nothing,

Sat with you for hours without a conversation,

Promised you something and didn't keep my word.

Please forgive me, for I know not what is happening!

I want to write but the words won't come,

I want to express but the feelings won't emerge,

I don't know whether its my circumstances to blame,

Or is it me myself who is creating this cocoon.

I don't have a clue what the reason is!

**********************************************************************

Kar liya hoon khaamoshi ko is tarah akhtiyaar,

Dil bhi ab dhadke hain yaaro bin aawaaz.

Chehera sangmarmari, us par phisalta paani,

Zulf ghaneri, us mein khila hua tabassum,

Absaar nasheeley, maano chasm-e-mayaguun, (intoxicating eyes)

Kasam us jism badamast ki,

Woh sar se paanv talak thi, bas Qayaamat hi Qayaamat.

Honth dabaey huey the daanton tale,

Ungliyaan bhi dupatte mein the uljhey huey,

Tehalti to jaise baad-e-sabaa mein ithlaati daali,         

Kasam un shokh adaaon ki,

Woh sar se paanv talak thi, bas Sharaarat hi Sharaarat

Phir na jaane kab yeh dil mera, kaafir ho gayaa,

Mere bas se nikal kar, uske paas bas gayaa,

Dil ko kosoon ya khush-kismati manaoon, yeh na jaan paaya

Kasam us dil fareb samaa ki,

Woh sar se paanv talak thi, bas Mohabbat hi Mohabbat.

                                    .TED

Is tarha mere yaaro,

Humein bhi pyaar ho gaya,

Aadmi the hum bhi kaam ke,

Pal bhar mey bekaar ho gaya

Kyaa karoon aisa dard-e-nasha chaa gaya,

Na chaahkar bhi zubaan pe ek aah aa gaya,

Hoton pe hansi lekar chupaaya jis fasaane ko,

Nazron se umadta sailaab woh bayaan kar gaya.

Jaa, mat baat kar zaalim tu humse,

Tujhe kya pata hai khaamoshi ka sila,

Yeh humse poocho jisne is dil mey,

Dafnaaye hain laakhon hasratein chup chaap.

Kehti thi hum par jaan-o-tan karegi fanaa,

Pyaar mey sarabor ek zindagi ka bhi tha waada,

Is tarha phir rukhsat hui woh zindagi se humaari,

Ke chalakte nazron ka bhi na humse poocha sabab.

Lut ta hai yeh sapnon ka kaafila har din,

Phir roz sajaata hoon ek armaano ka kaarwaan,

Tum na sahi, lekin dastak de hi jaata hai is dar koi,

Lootney ke bahaane, phir woh koi luteraa hi sahi.

                                                                       - - - TED
Na poocho ab is dard ka sabab mujhse doston,
Aaj bhi khaamoshi ke siva koi jawaab nahin mere paas.