(Hoyto) Sesh Chithi

Awjana’r bhire tomay hotath chena,

Awbishasher modhhe ektu jyano bhorsha!

Bhabini konodin o, pabo tomay;

Tobuo jyano chilo alpo Asha!  

Ayto din to purotai chilo Virtual;

Prothom sakhhate’r jonne chilam tai uthkontha,

Tumi bhable ami Impatient?

Arre na! Ami boli ki; eta akta odbhut sensation!  

Amader aytto aytto kwatha kothae hariye gyalo aj?

Tomar korena ichhey; Duto kotha bolar?

Aj likhei fellam chhithi ta,

Tumi porbe ki na; tao janina!

Ebar hoyto bhabbe ami “Attention freak”.

Ami boli ki; parlam na ar chapteAyto kotha nijer bhitor! 

Sudhu aktai proshno roye gyalo.Kyano kore dile awchena?

Gone with time

It has been a really long day for Anita. Usually her days are this long. She wakes up at 5 o’clock to make breakfast for her family, getting her toddlers ready for school and dropping them off on her way to the office. Her office is a long way from the city center; it is a 90 minutes drive for her one way to office without traffic. It has been 6 months she has been following this routine after she separated with her husband.

Today has been no exception; except she had more presentations, more clients to attend and her boss threatened to fire her because of no fault of hers. She was tired and desperately wanted to be at home, with her kids. She glanced at her watch; it was 6 in the evening. She had one more meeting to attend and some more paper work to do for this evening.

“Miss Malhotra!” someone called from behind. Anita wasn't expecting anyone at this hour. Her next meeting would begin in ten minutes and she was busy with some last minute preparations. She spun around, it was Mr. .. err.. who’s this? She had no idea who he was. The man was in his early 20s, tall, athletic build and a tattoo peeped from the side of his collar. Understanding Anita’s discomfort, the man spoke.

“Good evening Miss Malhotra! I am Mr. Rajiv Datta, one of the new interns.”

“Yeah! Okay. So, how can I help you?” Anita responded.

“Mr. Dawan has send me to inform you that there has been some last minute changes in the plan, and he wants to see you.” Datta said.

Anita’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Last minute changes!’ Anita thought ‘What sort? Was she fired?’ without any word she got up and gestured Datta to take her to Mr. Dhawan. She was having many random thoughts.

“He wants to speak to you alone” Datta finally broke the silence, Anita realized they had already reached Dhawan’s office.

“Thank you Rajiv!” Anita exclaimed and knocked on the perfectly frosted glass door.

“Come in!”

“You wanted to see me Sir?” Anita spoke gathering all her courage.

“Ah! Well, yes Miss Malhotra. Please have a seat” Dhawan said slowly.

Anita knew something was wrong. She was sweating inside, still she managed to smile.

“Miss Malhotra! I am sorry for this last minute inconvenience. You must have been preparing for your meeting.”

“That is no problem sir!”

“There is another meeting within half an hour. The clients have arrived; they are in the waiting lounge. There has been a special request from their behalf. They want you to preside the meeting.”

“I don’t understand Sir! Me? I don’t know anything about this project.” Anita blurted out.

“Miss. Malhotra, I understand your concern and worry but we cannot let them down. I will brief you about the project now; you will have to do this!” Dhawan said calmly.

Anita couldn’t understand how to react. She had not expected this. She kept staring at her boss in disbelief. Mr. Dawan handed her some confidential files and explained the project in a brief, he showed her some presentations in a jiffy. Anita was not too sure about how this would go. She was completely unprepared. She excused herself from Mr. Dhawan’s office, came back to her chamber. The meeting was scheduled to start within ten minutes. She blankly stared at her computer screen, then to the beautiful photo frame beside it. That photograph was taken five years back on her second marriage anniversary. This photograph brought back many memories and special moments; she always kept it on her desk. She missed those old days.

She took a deep breath, collected all the essential files, switched off her cell phone and proceeded towards the conference room. It was time and she had to overcome this challenge. She had been overcoming so many challenges and she convinced herself that this too will pass.

She was standing in front of the opaque glass door. She could vaguely see her team mates through it. She touched the cold knob to make her way in. The knob felt like a cold sword, cutting through her senses. She took another deep breath and pushed the door.

The conference room was full. Everyone was waiting for her.

“Good Evening everyone..!” she stopped right at the middle of the sentence. She was blankly looking at the person right in front of her. It was a known face she was seeing after almost a decade. She stopped her thoughts before they could wander off. She finished her introduction quickly “I am Miss. Anita Malhotra, the Senior Marketing Executive of Ryod and Jones Inc. and I would be your host for the evening. I think we'll begin now. First I'd like to welcome you all” with a sincere smile. Turning at those she didn't knew she continued, “I know most of you, but there are a few unfamiliar faces, would you please introduce yourselves?”

She settled down. The other delegates continued with their introductions. She was lost in her own thoughts, deep down the memory lane. She looked up as the person in front of her introduced himself.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen. I am Mr. Anurag Rastogi, Managing Director of Sunforma Inc.”

Anurag looked at Anita and smiled. She now understood what this special request was about. Anita felt a pinch as the memories started gushing in.

I

|| 17 years ago, In one such gloomy summer afternoons Anita sat at a cool corner of her favorite restaurant. She was a regular there and the staffs knew here well, they gave her a glass of cold coffee and left her with the menu to decide. They knew that she wouldn't order anything else till Anurag arrives, and that he would be inevitably late. After around 30 minutes, Anurag rushed in, sat down in front of Anita, grasped a breath and went on to explain what had happened. This was his usual; he always had some story to back him. Anita didn't mind, she loved to wait, she loved him. Anita and Anurag had been knowing each other for years now, but their friendship started lately.

 They loved spending time together.

Anita had some special plans for that day. Anurag was possibly completely unaware of it. He continued with his explanations when suddenly Anita held his hand and slowly but distinctly said “I Love you”. Anurag wasn't surprised, he knew this. He looked into her eyes, they spoke a thousand words. Anurag leaned forward, held her face, smiled and whispered “I know. I love you too.” Anita was very happy.

They ordered their favorite dishes and wine to celebrate.

They went to Anurag’s place from there, turned on their favourite movie. Anita sat on the couch and Anurag lay down beside her. She was running her fingers through his hair, caressing him and gently stroking his cheeks. They didn’t speak but their silence did. Anurag hugged her gently but firmly. They cuddled and loved. Anurag broke the silence after a while.

“I want you to know something Anu.” he said, “There was a girl in my life, Smriti, a good friend of mine. It has been years we have not spoken, but I want you to know that I loved her. There were some misunderstandings and she stopped talking, she completely broke our friendship.” Anu was listening in silence. He continued “I love you but you must know that she holds a special place in my heart.”

“Do you still love her?” Anita finally spoke.

“Yes! And it will take some time to forget her. Will you give me that time?”Anurag said.

Anita looked into his eyes, she could see his pain, she was sad but she loved him. “Yes, I am sure you will soon get over it”

Days passed by, they were happy together. They didn’t speak of Smriti for days. Anita hoped that the love of her life gets over his past soon, she couldn’t bear his pain and she wanted him to be completely hers. Anurag didn’t want his friends to know about their relationship because he was still stuck with his past, so he introduced Anita as her best friend. Anita didn’t mind. She loved him. With every passing day she waited and hoped that things would finally work out. ||

Anita felt a warm touch on her hand; it brought her back to the present. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she completely forgot about the meeting, she had no idea what was being discussed. She somehow managed to say something relevant and let the next speaker speak. She looked at Anurag and slowly went back to her thoughts.

II

||Kruti was Anurag’s classmate and a good friend. They lived closed to each other so they used to hangout frequently, Kruti used to come over to Anurag’s place almost every other day. Anurag didn’t take Anita’s calls at those times, occasionally he received to let her know he was busy and that he couldn’t talk. She didn’t complain at first but as this became a regular she started to feel bad. She started to realize that he was taking her for granted. This thought disturbed her, made her sad. She could feel a distance growing, they started fighting. She didn’t want to lose him.

One day, Anurag called her up. He was drunk. He told her “You know what? I am finally getting over Smriti.” Anita didn’t say anything, he continued “but, I think I love Kruti.” He told her what was in his heart. Anita absorbed the harsh truth in silence. She feared this day would come. She finally said “That is okay baby. Tell her everything. You will feel better, don’t keep your feelings contained. That will hurt.” They hung up.

Anita sat by her hostel window, staring at the lily pool outside blankly. She was upset, terribly broke.

She cried her heart out. She lit a cigarette, closed the lights and sat in silence.

She woke up when the harsh sunlight fell on her face, the head hurt. She couldn’t remember when exactly she fell asleep. She checked her phone, there were some missed calls, all of them from Anurag.

She called back. “Hello!”

“Hi! Good morning” Anurag’s sleepy voice came floating

“Good morning! You okay now?”

“I am fine. Hey! What happened last night? I don’t remember anything.” said Anurag with genuine concern.

“You don’t remember anything? Umm… well… you said you love Kruti”

“Whaaaat?” exclaimed Anurag. Anita wasn’t sure whether the surprise was for real or not.

“Yes! Don’t be surprised. I have been telling you this many times. Good that you realized finally. Go and tell her.” Anita said with pain and concern.

They hung up. Anita kept on thinking about their small conversation, she realized that all these years she had been waiting unnecessarily. He was never with her. First it was Smriti and now Kruti. She decided to move on with her life and never ever think of Anurag again.

She broke up with him. Anurag sounded upset with her decision. He was furious; he exclaimed “Now, when finally I decided to be with you, you are breaking up. This is ridiculous!” Anita didn’t want to give any second thought to her decision because she knew very well what was going to happen. She was upset too, but that was her final decision.

After that day, they hardly spoke. Months passed. Both were busy with their life. Anita now was with another guy. Three years had passed.

Nothing lasts forever, neither did this relationship. ||

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Anita came back to her senses with the beeping sound on her phone. She glanced at her cell phone. There was a new message from some private number. She opened it.

Kiske bare mein soch rahe ho? Meeting bhi to attend karo!  ;)

(About whom are you thinking? Concentrate on the meeting too!  ;) )

The message has been undersigned as Anurag.

Anita looked at his face once and then texted him back “Meet me after the meeting!”

III

One day, they had accidently met. Call it co-incidence or destiny it was their old favourite restaurant. This sudden meeting brought back endless memories. They chatted for a long time of old days. They decided to meet the next day after office.

The next day, Anita was quite exited. She had missed him all these years. Anurag picked her up from office and offered her a drink. They decided to go to his place. As they entered the house, Anita could feel all the old memories. Every nook and corner of the house spoke to her. They missed her too. They sat down in the living room in silence. They were reliving those moments. None of them spoke.

Anurag brought the drinks. They laughed and giggled like old times. They were watching their old favourite movie. They forgot all the differences for some time, enjoying every bit to time.

It was getting late. Anita had to leave. They wished each other good bye and promising to meet again, and then they hugged. That hug was special. None of them wanted to end that moment, they simple closed their eyes and hugged. They looked into each other’s eyes, slowly closed them and kissed. They didn’t know for how long but they kissed. They started weeping with mixed feeling. Anurag said “I missed you. I missed you so much”. Anita’s throat was dry out of anxiety; she feared to fall in love again but didn’t want this moment to pass by. She whispered “I missed you too.”

That was the last time they met. Anita had been transferred to a different city. They spoke rarely. Anurag was also busy with his business and work and couldn’t spare time. Soon all contact between them broke. ||

And now, after so many years they meet again here, in this conference room. The discussion was almost over and Anita had no clue about it. All delegates thanked each other and proceeded to the banquet lounge, there was a small party.

“Hey! Anita, how have you been? Long time” Anurag exclaimed as he came near her in the banquet hall.

“Hello! Anurag, it has been ages. I am fine, what ‘bout you?” Anita asked with genuine concern.

“Same old work. Still a bachelor! You?”

Anita laughed, “Yeah? Good for you! Am pretty occupied with work and my children. I am a single mother.”

“I am sorry? What happened?” he exclaimed.

“Separated! Oh! It’s a long story” Anita sighed.

“You know what? I knew about this. I wanted to talk to you, that’s why I requested you to be in this meeting” Anurag admitted, he then kneeled down holding Anita’s hand and added “You have always been there for me, I never understood that. Sometimes we have been chasing each other and sometimes running away all our life. I say, we have run enough. There is only one question I would like to ask you.”

He reached out for something in his pocket. He pulled out a ring and bringing it in front of her asked:

“Will you marry me? Please?”

Haters gonna hate!

Haters, haters everywhere! Haven’t you seen or felt them around your work place, in your class, among your neighbors or in that group of pretending-to-be friends?  Whatever you do, be prepared to be hated. All of them wish you all the success in your life but no one wants you to go ahead of them - hard, bitter irony of life.

Dont's:   

•  Do not grow that misconception that there is a way you could stop them from being jerks, because it was never your fault. On the contrary understand that whatever you are doing or you have already done is worth doing and those people around are simply jealous that you did it while they couldn’t. Under such situations these people opt the easiest way to demoralize you by spreading hate words about you.
•    Don’t Fear. 

 Do's:

•    Stand strong and Do what you feel is right.

           How to locate such a jerk?

Oh! It is not an easy task. They are all around you, pretending to be your friends or well wishers. You need to be a great observer, remember how Benedict Cumberbatch  used to observe everybody? You need to be Sherlockian to find such people around you. Or, there is another way out. Learn on the go. Experience the hate, identify them and from that understanding be alert. You might identify some others.

     What to do once you locate one?

“Ctrl + a” à “del”

So, the bottom line is:

Some things you will understand if you stay in a hostel!

1)      Coffee is your best friend! Followed by late night maggi. :P

2)      Every night you plan to sleep at 10.30pm, you end up yawning till 5pm or even better: you don’t sleep at all ;)

3)      Gossips do not end. Starting from unrealistic crazy theories to philosophical ideas, do you really miss anything?? You realize that it has been hours you have been trying to figure out “How did the egg not break even after it fell on a concrete surface?” only when the sun rises!  (BTW, One of  the probably answers is “The egg was lucky!” :P ) :D

4)      You tend to wake up late (and why not?  you probably slept at 6am). So, morning classes are your worst enemies!

5)      Sometimes you are so late that you wake up to realize that you just missed biriyani for lunch (Oops! Now that is some loss dear! #youknowwhatimean)

6)      Egg is something that you end up eating 4 times a day ( 2 in the evening as omlette  or ‘poch’, 1 for dinner as curry and 1 as sneak peak late night post dinner look out in the mess)

7)      You are always in a hurry to return when you go out with your friends in the evening because almost every hostel has an “in” time and a “remarkable” superintendent!

8)      Music, T.V Series and Facebook becomes your all time partners.

9)      Parties do not end! You just don’t need a reason to celebrate as long your friends are there.

10)   You dump all your clothes in a laundry bag all week long just find yourself in a horrific mess in the week-end :P

11)   Things that fall under the bed are considered lost! The mystery of the entire universe lies beneath your bed, so there is no space for the monster :P ;)

12)   You are the only one who knows what is where in your room so you completely shudder at the thought of your mother barging in some day to re-arrange everything! You are clueless for days after that but you always find a way back. :P

College days!

After a gap of almost two years, here I am back with my story. :)

As I look back at the last 5 years of my life, I am starting to contemplate about so many things. There has been infinite numbers of changes in me and the world around me. As I was experiencing a flash back I decided to write it down.

I still remember the first day I arrived to my college. I had come with my parents and my aunt. It was drizzling lightly; it took us some time to find out my hostel. As we entered the hostel we met Ankita and her parents. We knew each other through a common friend but we met for the first time. She was chubby and childish. We decided to share rooms. In the first year, three students were supposed to share rooms. So, here were we all set to arrange our room. The hostel was new, earlier freshers used to stay in the same hostel as the seniors. The room was clean, painted in a light yellow color, white floor tiles, three sets of furniture, a bed, table and a cupboard; one window at the end of the room. Ankita and I took the two beds by the window. We set up our luggages, settled down and waited for our third room-mate to arrive. Then came in Rupa with her parents. She looked like a very calm person, a bit of an introvert, spoke very less. So, here we were, three girls from three different towns destined to start a new life together. Who knew we three would become so good friends five years down the lane.

After some hours, our parents left, and that was the first time I was away from home alone.
The idea of being alone and away from home scared me at first but the sense of independence gave me goosebumps. I had no idea what fate had in store for me.

Seniors came to visit us in our hostel that day. They seemed very friendly and supportive, guided us with the basic things needed. The next day, we had an orientation program where we met with some other classmates, who were localites and hence didn’t opt for hostel. Soon the classes started. We were a bunch of twenty one people. On the first day, in almost every class we had to introduce ourselves and had to explain why we took up Architecture. Frankly I had no answer except “to build my dream house”!! This was how the journey started. From that day till the last, it has been a hell of a journey. Ten semesters, intermediate mid semester exams, design submissions, dreaded jurys, scary deadlines, sleepless nights before submissions, college tours, class politics, hated professors, lasting friendships, emotional turmoil, late night gossips and hostel parties, strolling in the campus every evening, long gossips in the “Boxing Ring”, romances and break ups, “Bawalis”, troubles and nuisances caused by us (wherever there is trouble, Sayan and I are invariably involved! -_- :P ), open air evening parties in the “boxing ring” or in the “Lords ground”, Rebeca nights, and so many other things would describe this journey. It is simply impossible to write everything down.

I have learned some remarkable lessons in these years; some of them being “Never expect from people!”, “People wear masks, you can see their true color only when they don’t need you anymore”, “Real friends are rarer than dodos”, “Trust almost no one, because when it breaks it hurts a hell lot”, “If no one hates you, be sure you are doing nothing great in life. People start gossiping and spreading rumours out of envy!”, blah, blah, blah!

I have seen and met so many types of people that if I start writing about them it might become a book one day named “Types of People you may just meet”. Not going into those details (maybe I will just write the book some day! ;) ) but after five years what I really feel is that had I not taken up this college and this department I would have missed so many things in life. How many departments allow you to have three official college trips in five years? Not many I think. Those trips were the best days of my college life definitely followed by the internship days (first 6 months of the final year). The second year, third year and fourth year students were allowed to go in these tours. The tour was organized by the third years’, we were accompanied by some faculties. These were educational in the true sense for some days while for the rest of the time it was all about fun and games, at the same time teaching us something more important like sharing, understanding each other, adjusting to situations and places. We went to Rajasthan & Agra for our first tour; Hyderabad, Hampi and Goa for your second tour; and Lucknow, Delhi and Nainital for our last tour.
Our tours in short: Packed schedule, all day journey, sharing food (The food secs really did some great bargaining every year, but Rupamita you were really great! :P ), waking up early in the morning, bullshit till late night, parties and treats, and the most striking event of all: the campfire night! Some days they were! I miss them.

The last six months have been the most horrifying days, a complete nightmare. But again, how can I forget goodness comes coated with dirt and stink; Roses always comes with thorns, don’t they?  So, as a whole it has been a memorable journey and thumbs up to B.E College, and my friends Rupa, Anky, Binds, Rups and Sayan for making it so. J

Humpi and goa....2 best places i hav ever visited

It has been quite a long time that i came back frm my colg trip...but then i had to go to my uncle's place....thn directly back to colg and its daily routine...couldnt get tym for writing down my experiences...
Very honestly, ths colg trip has been my best trip till date...
The locations were amazing with so much history behind them...



CHAPTER 1
Humpi was a such a place....It is a ruined city in karnataka, excavations are still on...each year they excavate some or the structure...
It felt so great to b a part of it, even though it was just for 1.5 days...
The two most refreshing part of humpi trip was a visit to d bank of the tungabhadra river and to d sunset point.
The water of tungabhadra was cold and rejuvinating.... :)

CHAPTER 2
Goa is heaven.....
I am so deeply in love wid so many things of goa...
goanese music, cathedrals, sea food, beaches, roads, carnivals, our youth hostel with its private beach and last but not the least
the sea.....
Oh dear!! it was so much fun....
We visited the churches of old goa....special mention- Basilica of bom jesus and the se cathedral....
then our trip to dolphin point where we were lucky enuf to see many dolphins... loved the experience
aftr that we went to calangute beach.... i really wanted to do the water sports....but sadly we didnt hav so much time...
still we were in water for almost 2 hours... played with the waves, this was a completely new and lovely experience for me...
Before leaving the beach we had done tattoos (temporary though :P)... :) :D
apart from all these there was more...but i really dnt knw hw to pen dwn so much.... :(
i will stop here and instead i would like to share some memories....


CHAPTER 3


HUMPI...

TUNGABHADRA MEMORIES... :)

GOA...
                                                                           

Insomnic

Its 5:10 am... still awake.... seems lyk insomnia has got in my blood...
Was busy wid my 5th sem exams for a while...jus got over wid it a few hours ago....
Dat sounds great...isnt it??? Well hell NO!!!
Assignments still pending!!
Tried a lot to do it...but man!! am so dead tired..... (What else can b d condition of a person who jus took a 12 hours exam??? ) Ya..u heard it right..12 hours!!!
Interestingly inspite of being soooooo tired, am not even a bit sleepy.. :(



She jaihok...ato hottogol er modhheo akta excitement ache..... December is here!!
and wid december comes our departmental tour!! The most awaited event of the year... :)
Eta na khub sotti kotha je "Tym flies"!! Its sooo strange.... Mone hochhe ei to last year er tour ta holo.... :)
Ki kore je Akta bochor kete galo.... Bujhtei parlam na....



Ebar next post ta tour theke phirei korbo.... Sharing my experience, pics and emotions..... :)