Living Out of a Suitcase

Its been nearly six years since I set foot outside my home in Nashik and looking at things right now I don’t think I will ever be able to get back to my home in Nashik as it used to be six years ago.

I left Nashik to pursue my engineering studies after Std XII. Mom did insist to take admission in the engineering college in Nashik itself. Not that it was bad but then the college in Pune was much better and also I had scored well in Std XII exams to get the coveted engineering seat.

In my initial years in the engineering college I used to go home as and when time permitted, many times bunking classes, planning common offs etc. But then as time passed that 5 hour journey started becoming boring. Me, who earlier didn’t mind taking any bus to Nashik started becoming picky about not only the bus but also the bus timing. To avoid the boredom experienced in the journey, night travel became the in thing. Was it all about convenience or was the start of my detachment from Nashik? I never could answer that completely. Convenience is what I labeled it but a few of my friends back in Nashik knew better than that. All of a sudden the CCD’s and the Pizza Hut’s and the newly acquired freedom of roaming the city in nights acted as a worthy kick than my nearby playground or even the building parking back in Nashik where me and my friends used to spend hours together just chatting.

After my engineering I got a job and I moved to Mysore for a period of 4 months and after that I got back to Pune. Its been nearly 3 years since I am working in Pune and the feeling of disconnectedness towards Nashik has definitely increased. But even after spending close to 6 years in Pune I cannot call Pune my home. I look at people around me and I still perceive myself to be an outsider. If, I, who hails from Maharashtra, from Nashik feels this then I cannot imagine what my brethren from outside the state might be going through. But then that is a different issue altogether.

During my engg college days I was termed the hostelite. I was recognized by my unshaven look and half asleep eyes. I also made myself conspicuous by my absence from lectures.

I thought things would change for the better when I got a job but they changed only marginally. I was told be quiet as there were families around. I was a tenant who cannot use the building amenities like the gym, swimming pool etc. I was plainly declined accommodation because I was a bachelor. At the end of the day I was not wanted.

But still I stayed on because my job was here not because I wanted to here. Now I am planning to start my family here. I am planning to buy a house here. With my pay I can afford a bit more luxury than my parents could. But when I look at the flats around me one of which I will surely buy if not today but tomorrow, I do not feel cosy at all. The flats with all the modern amenities seem to me like a hotel room where I would not want to stay forever. How then can I imagine to make a home out of this?

Living out of a suitcase will be a better option I feel. You go to a new place after every 2 years. It would be awesome, a new place, new people, new surroundings. One thing which I don’t know is how viable that can be!!!!!

Random thoughts of a demented mind..Part I (LOVE!!!)

Last Saturday I got myself a permanent tattoo on the forearm and to cap a perfect Saturday I also watched Dev D. A sexed up, modern take on the epic DEVDAS. Looking at Abhay Deol (Dev D) gulping down glass after glass after bottle after bottle of vodka first with coke (where thums up was not available) and then thums up (when coke was not available) I could not help but feel nauseated myself. And the camera work after Dev D gets up and moves where the camera is concentrated on his face but also revolves is breath-taking to say the least!!! Watching that I was trying to figure out whether somehow the same thing happens to me when I am drunk…… And as luck would have it Sunday came and me and my roommate (Sagar, he had just given his GATE 09 that day and had decided to drink to death if not to glory) got to work pretty early:)2:30pm and we ended at 6:15pm. 5 quarters of Mc Dowells between us and DEV D started building up in me…and then began a series of RANDOM THOUGHTS IN MY DEMEMNTED MIND!!!

I start with LOVE..(people remember I am drunk)..LOVE according to me is a very flexible word. By flexible I mean it can be defined in so many ways. Refer any of the LOVE IS.. forwards you receive and you will figure why I say it is flexible. Apart from being flexible according to me it is also very convenient. Yes people read my lips when I say in caps….CONVINIENT (funny how I did not mess up the spelling :)). Let me spell out what all is needed to fall in LOVE…
1)A boy
2)A girl
3)Both should stay close-by. If they stay on their own(without families)all the more simple and easy.
4)TIME

Though I have mentioned TIME on number 4 let me tell you that it is point 4 which helps you weave magic and say that you are in LOVE!!! More time more LOVE (atleast in the initial stages ;) ) So the sum total is that LOVE is a heady mix of the 4 components mentioned above. Well what about emotions. Wait….don’t brand me an emotional-less freak. Emotions are a by-product of proximity and time and a bit of compulsion nothing more and nothing less.

Here is how LOVE happens (I am forced to use the word HAPPENS here because I cannot say here is how LOVE is made, that will give the post an entirely new spin). Boy meets (or sees girl) or vice-versa. As they live close by they notice each other pretty often. As luck would have it. Oops sorry rewind. How did I miss LUCK in the components. It should be right at number 1. After all I believe that you don’t have to always run out of luck to get into trouble.
So here is the revamped list:
1)LUCK
2)A boy
3)A girl
4)Both stay close-by. If they stay on their own (without families) all the more simple and easy
5)TIME

So back to the start of the previous para. With LUCK on his side, boy notices girl, the girl also notices the boy. They stay close by so they notice each other often and then the ice breaker :) After that TIME comes into the picture and then LOVE happens and it is as if the boy and the girl are made for each other and that they were already destined to meet and marry!!!!! LOVE so flexible so convenient.. Do I hear you talking something about the grapes being too sour or something…..hell as if it matters!!!!

TAUBA TERA JALWA…TAUBA TERA PYAR…TERA EMOSTIONAL AATYACHAR!!!!! Ohh man I should not drink so much…got to go office tomorrow…wht the !@#$, its Monday already!!!!

National Language v/s Official Language

This is very interesting stuff I came across one fine day while reading the Indian constitution and I cross verified too. Am putting it up on the blog.

According to the Indian Constitution there is no concept of a NATIONAL LANGUAGE however there are OFFICIAL LANGUAGES.

Article 343 of the constitution talks about Hindi and English being the Official Language of the Union, however every State can have her own Official Language which can be same or different than that of the Union. As of now there are 22 Official Languages of India which includes Marathi too. Need I say there is nothing like a REGIONAL LANGUAGE.

And this was contrary to what I studied in school that Hindi is the national language of the country. Below is the brief of Article 343:


343. Official language of the Union.—(1) The official language of the
Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script .
The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union
shall be the international form of Indian numerals .
(2) Notwiths tanding anything in clause (1) , for a per iod of fifteen years
from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall
continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it
was being used immediately before such commencement :
Provided that the President may, dur ing the said period, by order
authorise the use of the Hindi language in addition to the English language
and of the Devanagari form of numerals in addition to the international
form of Indian numerals for any of the official purposes of the Union.
(3) Notwi ths tanding anything in thi s ar t icle, Parliament may by law
provide for the use, after the said per iod of fifteen years , of—
(a) the English language, or
(b) the Devanagari form of numerals ,
for such purposes as may be specified in the law.

Our way of LIFE

Fast asleep was I way before the midnight chimes,
For I had no promises to keep nor did I have to sing any rhymes.
If a tryst with destiny had already been made,
Then why bare were we laid?

Shooting earned us fame,
But the shoot-out after the blasts was the name of the game.
Nothing changed for us,
For our indomitable SPIRIT was our unfailing ruse!!!!

Our hotels were back up on their feet,
A nearby café was now decorated with bullet marks near the seat.
We acted tough for sometime,
Opposing the deadly slime.

But soon the frenzy will be made to die down,
The SPIRIT will be smothered into submission without a whimper or even a sound.
For this will be our way of life,
Where insecurity, malice and terror will be rife.

-Advait

(These are my musings on the last night of 2008, pessimistic I agree but only HOPE without actions is same as DAY-DREAMING)