Chetan Bhagat - An Indian to be proud of

Well despite his best of efforts, Al Pacino couldn't pocket the most coveted "5 Diamond Award" thanks to the Ocean's 13, but my favorite author did it again and I feel honored to present him the "5 Diamond Award" (just in theory of course)

I just don't understand, how can this author give 5 good books in a row. From his debut "Five Point Someone" to his "Revolution 2020" in '11. But he has done it. 5 books so far and all 5 feel good to read, give a sense of greatness (kindof) once i get past the last page and close the cover of the book (pretty good cover designs, on all 5 of them).

I was in college when i started reading his books. With the limited money, i could only borrow the "Five Point Someone". Same goes for the "One Night @ the Call Center". Amazing love stories in both of them.

I was in my final year when i bought "The 3Mistakes of My Life", a cheaper second hand version from  a road side vendor (i had a generous pocket money flow, thanks to my final year project :P ).

2 states cost Rs.95 if i'm right, and that was as soon as i finished my college and was waiting for my call letter. I bought 3 copies. 1 as a gift, 1 for myself and 1 to lend (anyways ended up lending them both, and haven't got em back yet :/ ) (planning to buy another one for my shelf :( )

Revolutions 2020 cost me Rs.140 (started working so i can easily afford it now :D ). Bought 2, 1 for myself, 1 as a gift. (Trust me, it does feel good when u gift someone with a nice book such as this one, especially when u gift it already and later find out it was not a wrong choice for a gift)

I know this blog does not talk much about the author, but i had to give such a vague lead story for this punch line that follows this dot. "To my future generations, I can proudly say that I saw this author grow, that i was there when he published his first book and he didn't disappoint me in his successive books".

Yes, I do feel proud to say that i grew up along with Chetan (the writer, not the person himself, he's elder) and he was my inspiration, to write (i mean, this blog) and to my courage to express whats on my mind in an (almost) witty, non-offensive way. I would like to say this again, "Chetan Bhagat is an Indian to be proud of".

And i must admit this, i fell in love with the lead girl characters from all his books, within the first few lines that describe them as a person, but in this book, (apart from falling in love with Aarti) i respect Gopal (never felt so much respect for a character in a book).

P.S.:- I think its good that they have included the new symbol for Rupee on the back cover for the book's price. Don't know if the author had his hand in this, or it was mandatory to use it, but i appreciate the thought to include it, given the ideas expressed in the book. (i know, i notice a lot, another potential advantage of reading, Chetan Bhagat :P )

People i wud like to have a coffee with

With the 4 other people of our 5 member gang (boy do i miss dat)

With the 31 other people from my Pune Training Batch (who gave me wht i missed in college, a good time)

A soldier from the Indian Army (had the chance to talk with and army man once, not over coffee though. He was a good man, a proud one for that matter)

A pilot from the Indian Air Force

A Sailor from the Indian Navy

Joel Osteen (he preaches life and its practicality)

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (a beautiful mind)

Dr. Irai Anbu IAS (one of my role models growing up)

Anchor Gopinath (the one person i know, who really understands his "freedom of speech")

Periyardasan (the expertise in his field and the way he's expressing it, mesmerizing)

Bastian Babu (such profound thoughts and a very practical man)

A. R. Rahman (if photography changed my view of the world through my eyes, i'm sure one coffee with him will change the way i listen to the world through my ears :) )

Hans Zimmer (the only person who can give me peaceful sleep (his music) after a bad day at office, which is, well, quite often :P )

Enya (guess she's the only woman on this list (if dats her real name), except if the soldier, sailor and pilot are all men :P )
(hopefully, the pilot wud be a girl, i wud luv to sit and chat with a woman pilot from the IAF :) )

Sachin Tendulkar (a man who knows how to learn, knows how to teach. And i wud like to learn that frm him)

Barack Obama (the one person i see, as the definition of "change")

Rajinikanth (I have one question for him, just one :) )

Jim Carry (a man who wud fall, fight, cry, even die, just to make us laugh)

Al Pacino (the one and only Godfather. Still going strong)

Hugo Weaving (the second reason for my lov for English as a language, first being The Bible :) )

Gautham Vasudev Menon (the only movie director that made this list??)

Vincent Versace (understanding natural light, he changed my view of the world through my lens, the whole perspective)

Micheal Jordan (definitely need a photograph, standing beside him :P )

William Henry Gates (who wouldn't)

Larry Page & Sergey Brin (ditto :D )

Mark Zuckerberg (well, after watching social network, if not a coffee, couple beers will do  :P )

The Bucket-List (when I was 22)

1. To find one more perfect girl and fall in love with her (don't even try to guess who the first one was, and its definitely not my mom, don't take me for a sentimental BS'er :P )
2. To have my photograph featured in any one of the world's top 10 photography magazines (preferably on the cover or the middle page..)
3. To have one of my photographs of my city hanging in any of the city's top cafes' "wall of fame"
4. To write a book. (yeah exactly like him, even if i'm not gonna get so famous :P )
5. To have tasted all that is edible in this world. (process already started actually, must get there soon)
6. To wear my favorite pair of jeans again (its a size 28, as if dats ever gonna happen.. :/ )
7. To fly.
8. To drive through the streets of Barcelona.
9. To spend a month on the Fiji islands. (without my cell phone)
10. To die of a heart attack. (i don't have the looks already, whtever i currently have, won't survive a cancer or even an accident :D )

The Ex-Friends

There are relations, relatives, the blood relations and the non-blood relations. The non-blood relations, i really don't understand this whole concept. I mean, why do they stick around? what keeps this relations going? is it love? just love cannot keep any relationship intact, I mean, come on. Is it trust along with the love? Are they in debt? I just don't understand the working of this "non-blood" relationships.

Let the questions be. Lets not try and answer them. If life can be beautiful with the questions, y search for the answers. :)

Well, above all the faith, love and all those invisible elements that keep the non-blood relations intact, sometimes they tend to take an EX in front of them. An Ex-Relationship, Ex-Wife, Ex-BF/GF, an Ex-Father-In-Law, Ex-Mother-In-Law, but we never see an Ex-Father, Ex-Mother or any Ex's in our blood relations (even though they might forget us faster :P)

Still there is one relationship that never takes an Ex before its label. One non-blood relationship. One relationship that sticks around and never even thinks of parting ways. I mean, to part is never an option in this relationship. If u're in it once u're in it for life. Not a curse but a blessing.

No matter how much we fight and misunderstand each other, no matter how much we talk or we don't talk, this relationship is always there between us. I personally, have had a lot of misunderstandings with people, becoz of the way i talk whats in my mind (its jus becoz of the way i say it, not becoz whts in it :P). Still when the other person hears my name somewhere, he/she will say, "I have a friend who goes by that name".

Yes, friends, they never take an EX as their prefix. There is no Ex-Freind anywhere. Parting our ways is not an option when it comes to friendship. No matter how less we talk, no matter how far we're apart, when we hear the name, when we hear the voice, we recognize it. We forget ourselves, our position, our stature and go back to those days when we were together.

We cry, we have a heavy heart, when a friend would leave us to be in a different city, different country, even when we know he/she is always reachable. Why, its pointless, what makes this relationship so strong, what keeps this relationship going. A 3 month friend gets hugs and tears when he has to leave for his hometown after his training. A 7 year friend is still remembered everyday, even though its been more than a month since he left us. Why? like i said, we don't need answers when questions can give us a purpose and keep us smiling.

No matter how much i write, i cannot make justice to this particular relationship. Just go out and be friends with people, u will always be surprised with what they give for u in return. Lets live a life filled with friends not regrets. Freindship, its always in there, always with us, no matter how far or how high we reach in life. Friends for once, friends forever.

Few days back my friend told me on call "I still miss that fun we had in our training days, and i'll always miss it buddy". Two days back, my another friend told me "hey, we'll always need friends". That's when i felt, i just had to write :)

The beautiful Girl from the bus next to mine

There is this fall-side of being a photographer. U can admire a lot, notice the unnoticed, make the most negligible sights in everyday life look beautiful in your photograph. But somethings u can only admire from a distance. U can never get to own them. Try sunrise, sunset, a butterfly, a full moon, a droplet and a beautiful Girl from the bus next to you.

There are these moments in life dat take ur breath away. I witnessed such a moment today morning. I was in my usual mode of transport on my usual route. But today something unusual happened. Lucky i was there to have witnessed it.

There was this bus coming from the opposite, a big tour bus, probably with tourists from other countries. I was just watching the bus, its interiors, the ambience inside this bus was damn good. Then came the 4 window (or 5th or maybe even 6th.. i'm not sure.. i don't care) crossed my eyes and there was this girl sitting there. Her face so clear and calm, just flashed in front of my eyes for a couple seconds.

That perfect free falling hair. Those perfect eyes. Ofcourse she had her make-up on, i mean who doesn't nowadays. In a normal white Tee. Wow. Totally made my day. In my office today, nobody could give me a hard time. I was happy all day. The man who holds her hands is so blessed, he gets to have a great day, everyday. All he has to do is wake up and look at that calmness in her face.

I mean, I saw her face once and it's gonna mess my head for a really long time :P

She's probably from a European country but she looked Indian, dark hair. I'll probably never get to see her again. Well, like i said its just one of those moments and they never fade away.

The 'L' word

Does it exist? What gives this word such power to control two minds? To walk out of a family just to be with your loved one? How do u go from 'hating each other totally' to 'head over heels in LUV'. Yeah thats the L word, Luv.

Some love their profession, their parents, their pets (yuck) but lets cut the crap. This love i wanna explain here is the love that brings two people together as a result of mutual attraction, either physically or mentally. Yes, i said 'cut the crap', u first get attracted and only then u fall in love (like the way we fall for the new mobile phone in store)

Ghosts serve a purpose, to scare people. But who does it really scare? people who are afraid of it. U wake up around midnight and see a chair in front of u, someone is sitting on the chair but u see only a shadow. You can do two (or more) things, one, to pull your blanket over ur face and call God for help or two, u can switch the light on to show yourself and others dat its just the shirt and jeans u have dropped on the chair just before u got to bed.

Showing yourself scared and showing yourself not scared, either way u accept ghosts before this world. If u're scared, obviously u accept ghosts. If u're not scared, here's the funny part, u're trying to prove that ghosts doesn't exist. Well to disprove something, means to accept the idea of it (here, lets say a ghost, not love :P)

Why am i telling this pointless 'scary' story over here? I'm just trying to say, either u believe or u don't believe. If u believe, it exists. If u don't, well u don't wanna accept it, doesn't mean it don't exist. Luv, as we perceive it, is a beautiful "feeling". How do we measure feelings? simple, we just don't. When we start to measure, we lose the whole point of "feeling" and the relationship crumbles (yes it does, but lets not go into dat right away :P)

I'm just searching for words to describe luv, well u just can't. Its all about belief, trust and faith. When u wanna describe something happening to you (but then the word was not there at the moment) u give a name to it, like fever. When u wanted to hide the word "attraction" from others (coz u think it sounds cheap) u name it LUV. However the perception of luv differs between people, cultures and countries.

Yeah, i'm just blabbering stuff like i'm drunk. Well, can u describe sunrise to a blind man? U just put before him, pointers which he can fetch and make a picture out of it. Now, when he sees sunrise (if he gets to see it) he's always gonna be surprised. I'm just giving such pointers here, when u're gonna experience it, u'll always be surprised. :)

Now in my country we got "arranged marriage" and along with it comes the (pointless) clash between 'Luv before marriage' and 'Luv after marriage' (luv before marriage is just not accepted here for God knows why). Hell, its love, its a feeling, feel it when u find it. Marriage is just a bond, a form of insurance. Its just a part of life. Luv is not part of life, luv IS life. Marriage could be the completion of a successful luv, or the beginning of a budding new luv. But its always gonna be LUV.

Finally, u don't have to believe in Santa Claus to get ur Christmas gifts, u're gonna get it anyway. Likewise, if u don't wanna believe it, then don't. But someway or the other u accumulate LUV in u. You just perceive it in a different fashion. U put a name to it, label it, GF, BF, Lover, Fiance, Would be, Husband, Wife, nevermind, its always gonna feel the same, its always gonna be luv.

Luv, the best gift u can ever offer to a fellow human being (even if its not the 'i wanna marry u' type of luv). Well, describe it however u want, Luv does exist and sooner or later its gonna find you. When it does, just respect it and embrace it.

P.S.:- Yes India, i'm talkin about the luv that comes after marriage as well, wouldn't want the young people to 'accidentally' read this and fall blindly into a quicksand now would we :P

The Teenage after 19

Let me state an obvious fact. Nobody likes a teenager, nobody. Doesn't mean they're hated by all. But nobody likes them.

Imagine u accidentally fall from a bicycle, in view of "our society", at 6 u're so cute and determined to learn cycling, at 60 poor u, strong at heart but weak in ur body, at 16??? "these teenagers are just irritating". Yeah thats right we've all heard these words in our teenage atleast once. There are only a handful of people who would pick us up and dust our back for us.

But i'm not gonna talk about all that. I wanna talk about my present phase. At 22, i'm living the teenage after 19. From 20-29 (a boy will probably get married by 29, so for girls let it be from 20-26) we live the 2nd phase of teenage. The phase which runs to the boy who fell from his bicycle, picks him up and says "next time try to be careful" instead of slapping him.

Its worse than the first phase. In the same scenario, at 16 u're known as irritating, but at 26??? u're drunk. Doesn't matter how much self control u've had growing up, coz u didn't wanna be called a drunkard, "society" labels u DRUNK. If something got stuck in ur throat and u start coughing?? u must be a chain smoker and u deserve it. Doesn't matter how much u hate smoke and cigarettes, u'l be labelled a smoker.

A boy and a girl are casually sitting in a coffee shop, talking about their bosses who are giving them a hard time at work. Every pair of eyes that pass by them thinks they're lovers and gossips on them. For all we know, the boy could be her own cousin, the girl could be 2 or 3years elder to him or worst case the girl or the boy could be homosexuals. Why do u "have to" comment on them.

I agree to the fact that some of us behave indecent in public, but not all of us are drunkards, smokers or lovers. We're just people, part of ur society, trying to get through a difficult phase in our life where nobody else accepts us, just bcoz they cannot think like we do, coz their minds got slow and narrow once they got to their 30's.

We have the freedom of speech and the freedom of thoughts, doesn't mean we've to abuse our rights. Hell we can even jump from our terrace but how many of us do that?? So, my dear "society" before passing a comment on someone (especially who is in this 2nd-teenage phase) lets just wait and think for a minute "what if we were in their place".

And its time for the punch "to understand and accept a person, who's in their 20's is possible only by another person from the same age group". Speaking of understanding and accepting, i'm 22 and i'm single. My dear fellow girls at 20's, please make a note :D