One Memorable Train Journey from Pune to Bangalore

About a year after we got married, Anjali moved to Pune. She opted for a PG Diploma course in Emergency Medicine from Symbiosis University. Few of my good college buddies, Dhiru, Diganta and Saikat were in Pune those days. I and Anjali went to Pune, looked for a PG nearby the institute. Well, there were many options in that locality. Anjali liked one of them and paid the booking amount. The duration of the course was one year, and during that period I visited Pune about four to five times. On every occasion I stayed with Dhiru and Diganta, they both shared the same house those days. It was party time whenever I visited Pune. Reunion of old friends, Anjali also joined us in the evening after her classes were over. For the first time we traveled by bus, Volvo. It was pretty comfortable, Rs 1000/- per ticket, took 15 hours to reach Pune. They dropped us somewhere on Pune-Mumbai highway in the middle of the night. From there it was another 25-30 km to my friend’s place. We took an auto. On one occasion I took a train from Bangalore to Pune. Those were the days when Air Deccan entered the market and changed the dimension of aviation industry. It immediately became the pioneer of low-cost flights in India. Even average middle class people started to fly. One day I thought to give it a try and looked in the internet. Bangalore to Pune, Rs 1000/-, exactly same that of bus fare, but it would reach Pune in just one hour and 20 minutes. Also, my friends stayed very near to Pune airport.  

Anjali’s PG course was over. It was time for her to come back to Bangalore. Once again I traveled to Pune by Air Deccan. But the return journey I booked train tickets. Anjali had hell lot of luggage. It was actually much beyond my expectation, almost 100 kg I guess. We boarded our train in the morning. It was stationed on the platform. It came all the way from Mumbai, on its way to take us to Bangalore. We had to take a coolie. I also carried as much I could. The railway platform was crowded. We found our compartment. We somehow placed the luggage. There were many people sitting at our compartment, more than the number of berths. I was already tired, out of frustration I asked, “Itne saare log kaise baith gaye yahan pe?” (How come so many people occupied the seats here?)

All the men were in their middle age, one of them was quite tough looking. Couple of them replied in chorus, “We will get down at the next station.”

Suddenly a lean man grabbed my attention. He was at the window seat opposite to us. He was handcuffed, one hand locked to the window. Both I and Anjali felt weird. I thought the guy must have done something wrong in the train and the Railway police handcuffed him. Soon our conversation started with the co-passengers. They were all policemen. The handcuffed guy was actually a thief, laptop thief. He was from a village in Karnataka. The cops were taking him to Karnataka police to progress with the case, to catch hold of the entire gang. 

"Are you guys from Railway police?" I asked.

"No. No. We are Mumbai police," they replied in chorus. Proudness on their face.

In few minutes the train slowed down, and then stopped. Three of the fellow policemen got down at the very first station from Pune to Bangalore.  They said goodbye to us. All the cops were good friends. They shook hands, wished good luck. They were speaking in Marathi, but we were able to make out everything. Suddenly the train started with a jerk. So from here the real journey starts. I, Anjali, a handcuffed thief, and three policemen.

All the three policemen were very decent. One of them looked quite rough and tough, another a little short with big belly, and the last one looked normal. They seemed to be very friendly. Soon they opened a polythene bag. There were Vada pav inside, nicely packed. Well, Vada pav is a simple vegetarian fast food dish native to the state of Maharashtra in India. It's local Indian burger stuffed with deep fried potato along with coriander, onion, spices and chutney. It is immensely popular fast food dish all throughout Maharashtra. 

They offered us their food. Out of courtesy we were a bit reluctant to accept. But it wasn’t too hard for them to convince us. They also offered a Vada pav to the thief, in fact it was an order. The offender denied. The rough and tough policeman asked him one more time. Again the thief denied. The policeman slapped him hard 2-3 times. They bad guy immediately got hold of the Vada pav and put inside his mouth. Anjali was very shocked.

"Why are you beating him? He might not be hungry," Anjali looked sad.

"Sorry, I shouldn’t have beaten him in front of you. But you have no idea about such people. They are criminals. They have no heart, no emotion. The only think they understand is the stick. We caught him red handed with three stolen laptops in Mumbai. We immediately arrested him. For the first two days he spoke only in Kannada. We were so frustrated. We then applied little dose, and pretty soon few Hindi words uttered from his mouth. We increased the dose, and few more Hindi words came out. In the next few hours as the dose kept increasing he became more and more fluent in Hindi. There is no other way to deal with such people," the policeman explained in details.

Time spent well. Interesting conversation. I asked how they catch the criminals, how they get the leads? They shared few of their stories. In between, our discussion turned to a different direction. Anjali asked their names. One of the policeman, the fat one was very proud of his surname. 

"I’m Rajput. You guys know Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, right? He’s also a Rajput," The man’s proudness showed up.

Then Anjali popped in. She was also very happy. "Yes, we are also Rajput," She said. They asked her name, and the Rajput thing continued for a while. 

"So, are you also a Rajput?" One of them asked me. I was a bit confused. 

"Yeah. Like that only, not very sure," I murmured.  

"What is your name?"

"Jahid. Jahid Akhtar," I replied.

There was a silence for a while. And then things turned back to normal. 

Time passed by. Darkness fell. Stars shinning in the sky. Evening is the best time when we travel in sleeper class. Pleasant breeze. Open sky. The typical train sound effect, so soothing.

"So what are you guys planning to do? How are you going to catch all the gang members?" I asked. 

"Tomorrow morning we need to go to Madivala Police station in Bangalore. We need to submit an application to request extension of his remand for seven more days to gather more information from him," one of the policeman answered.

"But aren’t the Bangalore police going to help you guys? You are only three policemen, and you don’t even know the locality well," I expressed my concern.

The cops looked at each other, smiled. "These interstate investigation cases are kind of complex. They help eventually, but it takes time. There are lot of formalities. For high priority cases the procedure is fast. But for normal cases it’s not that easy. Few years ago our team leader, the policeman pointed his finger towards the fat guy, tried to pull his legs. So, two-three years ago our team leader visited Bangalore for an investigation. He was at the police station for the entire day, and only the next morning his application was accepted. The major problem is that Bangalore police speak only in Kannada or English. Actually, our English is a bit poor," The policeman shared their worry.

Later the cops asked if we could help them in writing the application for them. Anjali was eager to help. They gave the content and she drafted it. They were so happy, felt pretty relaxed. After dinner, the lights were turned off. Everyone went to sleep. The windows were open. I kept looking at the dark sky.

In the morning we reached Bangalore. The policemen thanked us. They gave us their numbers. 

"If you guys come to Mumbai or Pune, and if you are in any kind of trouble, just call us," the policemen expressed their friendship. We were so happy, smiled, "Sure, that’s so nice of you."

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Revisiting Those Childhood Sundays

Unlike these days, Sundays in the early Nineties  were kind of different. It was fun day for us, we played lot of cricket at the nearby playground. Sundays were comparatively relaxing for my mother. The other days must had been tough for her as far as mornings were concerned, breakfast, lunch boxes for three kids and also for my father. On Sundays it was my father who used to wake up first in the house. He never missed Rangoli, an Indian music television series aired on DD National every Sunday morning.  The Bollywood songs played during Rangoli those days had a typical pattern. It usually started with a classic song from a Black & White movie.  My father was crazy for such songs and sometimes even loved to repeat the words after the singer, usually when there’s no one around. Every Rangoli episode included couple of Kishore Kumar melodies, and the program usually ended with a latest Bollywood super hit song. Well, I always tried not to miss the last one.

After Rangoli we had a few minutes of privacy for breakfast. Soon, our TV room started to get filled one by one, mostly by strangers and some known faces. This was the kind of situation which people who grew up in the early Nineties in small towns might have experienced. TV was still considered a luxury those days. Those were Pre Cable TV days and Doordarshan (DD) dominated the way people were entertained. Everyone just eagerly waited to watch Mahabharat  which was aired in the Sunday morning time slot. Mahabharat  is considered to be one of the longest work of its kind in the world. The epic contain about 110,000 couplets in eighteen sections. There is also a 19th section named Harivamsha. The Bhagavadgita, a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, is a part of the Mahabharata. It’s a very interesting mythological story with lot of action and thrill. Each episode ran for approximately 45 minutes and began with a title song that consisted of lyrical content and two verses from the Bhagavad Gita. The title song was sung by singer Mahendra Kapoor. The title song was followed by a narration by Indian voice artist Harish Bhimani of a personification of Time, detailing the current circumstances and highlighting the spiritual significance of the content of the episode.

As soon as Mahabharat ended we rushed to the playground. Within minutes everyone would be on the ground. We played cricket for the next three to four hours, and then returned home. After bath we used to enjoy the Sunday special sumptuous meal, and  immediately after lunch I would enter the TV room. I could remember few glimpses of the 'News for Hearing Impaired' on TV.  Immediately after the News they would telecast a regional movie with English subtitles.  I remember watching regional movies, particularly Assamese,  Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi on Sunday afternoons. Some of those were award-winning movies.  But after watching for an hour we again used to go to the playground and played cricket for another couple of hours.

When we returned home in the early hours of evening we would watch the last part of ‘The World of Sport’. It was a sports program that was aired every Sunday afternoon anchored by the legends like Anupam Gulati and Dr Narottam Puri. I had very little time to get fresh, followed by evening snacks. I had to finish my food in a hurry as I could hear the title song of ‘Vikram Aur Betaal’. It was the serial I never missed. The series contained stories from Indian mythology which were presented in an entertaining way. The concept of the program was based on Baital Pachisi, a collection of tales about the legendary King Vikramāditya and the Vaitaala, a ghost.

After ‘Vikram Aur Betaal’, just like morning once again our TV room got occupied by strangers and known faces. Everyone just waited for the Sunday evening movie. DD used to broadcast only one movie per week. Usually they used to telecast old movies but on some occasions they showed recent ones as well. Sunday evenings were like festival, celebration time, and friends and neighbors used to participate together. But as far as I remember there were very few Sunday movies which we watched from start to end. Every time the power would go off and we all went out for a gossip session. As soon as the power came back everyone rushed to the TV room once again. 

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Cofie Me

Over the last few years the world has gone crazy both with the perception as well as implementing the ‘Selfie’ idea. Based on the tremendous popularity it had won, Oxford Dictionary declared ‘selfie’ their word of the year for 2013. Their definition of selfie is, 'A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media.’  So, social media plays a major role here. Even if someone clicks his/her own picture many times, they aren't officially selfie until and unless they are posted in social media. The term is a bit confusing though, as selfie is not just a photograph that one has taken of oneself. The term is used collectively as well, like ‘group selfie with colleagues/friends, selfie with daughter, or selfie with parents.’ So, the scope of selfie is actually much broader, any kind of photograph where the culprit who dared to click the camera is also featured in it.

Apart from the usual ways of taking selfies, with smiling face covering well known monuments/buildings or institutes or with amazing Mother Nature, these days people also come up with many dare-devil, innovative and out-of-the-box ideas and take breath-taking selfies with wild animals, at higher altitudes or at challenging geographical locations. Together with the growing popularity of the selfie culture, many are also not very comfortable with it. As an example, The American Psychiatric Association has officially confirmed taking 'selfies' is a mental disorder. But that’s okay, such theories shouldn’t dishearten the regular Selfie-Folks. After all, aren’t everyone a little bit psycho in his or her own way?

" So, your Mamma received the beautiful gift you sent on her 60th Birthday. She looks real pretty in her new dress. You want to take a selfie with her, but she is thousand mils away.  

You missed your best friend’s wedding. The couple looking beautiful in their wedding costumes. You simply wish to be there to feel the moment, take a selfie with the wonderful couple. 

Your childhood buddies are having fun in Bangkok. They are taking group pictures and uploading frequently on social media. Oh! Dear, you must be wondering how lovely it would be if you are also with your friends, taking selfies together. 

So, you are a big fan of Katrina Kaif, you are already added in her fan list. How about taking a selfie with her? "

Well, it's no longer a dream. Such imaginations have actually turned into reality. Now, no distance, no barrier, no boundary, literally nothing can stop you from clicking selfies with your near and dear ones, with your favorite celebrities, with your fans. Actually it's not selfie, it is Cofie. Confused?

Recently, I came across this interesting App, it’s called Cofie. This App this is going to give a completely new dimension to the selfie thing, and will take it to the next level. You can take selfies with anyone, anywhere in the world.

Website : www.cofie.me

Playstore : https://goo.gl/knL9ic

FB : https://www.facebook.com/CofieMe

Twitter : https://twitter.com/cofie_me

Recently I took a cofie with my dear old friend Ravi Pratap Singh. He is one of the initial core Cofie team members.

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

I Wish You a Merry Christmas

I was into my first job. I joined as fresher in a software company. I was in a project with Latin American client, an international Bank. I regularly used to interact with David, a Latino guy, mostly through emails and sometimes on call. Christmas was about to come, and I wished him "Happy Christmas" in a trailing mail, where my manager was also marked. My manager was not happy with something, and took me to a conference room. He lectured me about wishing Christmas in private for almost 10 to 15 minutes. He told me not to wish "Happy Christmas" to clients, instead say "Merry Christmas". I always get confused with Happy and Merry. That moment I was quite depressed, David was a nice friendly man, I thought I simply upset him by wishing wrongly.

Later that day, I received a Thank You reply from David. It was not simply a thank you mail, but a little more. Then we had a few email conversation, one-to-one. I wrote to him that I should've wished "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Christmas". He wrote a long and friendly reply on this, which only meant that Christmas is celebration time, party time. One can wish "Happy Christmas", "Merry Christmas" or whatever, but everyone should celebrate together, party together and be happy.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas!!



Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Durga Puja in Bangalore

Durga Puja is an annual festival that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomizes the victory of Good over Evil. Durga Puja is widely celebrated across Indian, particularly in the states of Assam and West Bengal where it is a long annual holiday. Being born and brought up in Assam I can say confidently that just like the festival of Bihu, Durga puja is also secular in nature where people from all communities and walks of life participate.

In Bangalore, every year the Bengali and Assamese associations work really hard for the togetherness and warmness of Durga Puja. As far as the Assamese cultural and community welfare organizations are concerned, the Assam Association Bangalore (AAB) is quite renowned. AAB is the nodal organization which binds and unites the entire community present in Bangalore together through various social, cultural and community welfare activities and initiatives throughout the year. The association takes great pride in creating initiatives which showcases the rich, varied and proud cultural legacy and heritage of Assam and in the process create a bridge of respect, harmony and bonhomie between the people of Assam and Karnataka by drawing similarities and parallels.

Durga Puja celebration is such an extravaganza in Assam that I couldn’t avoid mentioning about it in my debut fiction novel Story of Tublu. Located for a major part in the northeast of the country, the narrative is full of anthropological details of lives of people in that part of India some of which are well-known and some less known.

An excerpt from Story of Tublu:

"Autumn has arrived and the town turned wonderful. The fragrance of jasmine and several wild blossoms drifted through the air from the rich flora all around. The weather was magnificent, and after the monsoon the tea garden looked refreshingly green and mesmeric. Maina arrived home and she looked different. She had become more beautiful and confident. In her new shoulder length haircut, she was looking more trendier than before. Tublu was delighted to see her, but he was also anxious and felt apprehensive about something.

Durga puja holidays are always the best in this part of the world. All the schools and colleges remain closed for almost a couple of weeks. The puja celebration is simply amazing. It’s a very significant socio-cultural event and people prepare puja pandals all over the town. It’s a fabulous time for everyone and particularly youngsters, to hang out with friends. People come out on the streets in the evening, wearing their best possible outfits to experience the carnival. That’s the time when young hearts usually collide, leading to some beautiful bonding."


This Autumn is going to be different. Well, I’m putting up a stall in the upcoming Durga puja fest organized by Assam Association Bangalore, where I will exhibit my debut book.

Venue:

Sir M Vishveshwaraya College Grounds Near Kemp Fort Mall,
Murugeshpalya, Old (HAL) Airport Road, Bangalore-560017

(18 - 22 October 2015)




Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life. 

Marketing Trainee Job

Life was different after I passed out of college. Completed Engineering without a job, neither scored good enough marks, and on top of that the market was going through some kind of recession. The initial couple of weeks was fine, had a great time at home. But soon life turned boring, depressing, I was anxious about the future. My dear friend, my hostel buddy Rajat used to stay a few kms from our place. Well, my parents used to live in a rented house at Ganeshguri, a place in Guwahati. Rajat’s house was in Lal Ganesh. Quite often I and Rajat used to meet in the evening near the famous Ganesh temple, smoked a couple of cigarettes, talked about our hostel days, and also talked about our uncertain future.

Later, some of my college buddies shifted to a rented house nearby Ganesh temple. They were preparing for Gate/MBA. I visited them frequently, spent hours there. Once again life turned awesome, just like the hostel days. But my friends had some plans, they were preparing hard. I was simply aimless, without any idea what to do. Being a Computer Science graduate I thought of going to Bangalore, the IT city. But some of my very close Mechanical/Chemical buddies already moved to Delhi. They called me to come. They said Delhi is a beautiful city to live. Also, there are some Top MBA Colleges in Delhi. Rajat decided to join them and booked his ticket. I was confused. Soon, some more friends decided to go to Delhi. Most of them wanted to prepare either for Gate or for MBA. I didn’t have any such plan though, I simply wanted to find a job and work. Ultimately I also booked my ticket to Delhi.

We still had couple of months time before we left for Delhi. In the meanwhile we kept looking for opportunities in Guwahati. One day we came across a Newspaper job advertisement for freshers. It was marketing trainee job. Salary was okay, good enough for us, the fatichars. Rajat was pretty much interested for the job. He wanted to do MBA and some marketing trainee exposure could be handy for him. Rajat came to my house in the morning. In his formal wear Rajat looked professional. He also had a piece of Tie with him, but he was confused whether to wear it or not. He kept it in his pocket, said he would use it according to the situation.

There were a few more candidates, waiting for their turn. Someone called me and Rajat, asked us to go inside. The interviewer looked smart.

"So you both are from same college"

We had a little bit of chit-chat, and then the interviewer asked what we want to do in life. Rajat replied that he would like to do MBA after gaining one or two years of work experience.

"In MBA you will learn only theory, but here you will learn practical, no theory, only practical,” the interviewer guy advised us. Without wasting another minute he called one of his junior and said “you guys go with him, he is your team lead. Today entire day you learn the basic field work. We will talk once you return in the evening"

I was confused, "what is field work? Is our team lead going to take us to a factory?"

Our team lead was a very friendly guy. "Today you guys simply notice how I work, just observe everything and try to understand the complexities," he briefed us.

We entered a city bus.

"Where are we going sir?" I asked.

"Don’t worry, you will get to know everything," he replied.

We got down at a familiar place and followed our team lead. All of a sudden he knocked a door. A lady, not very friendly looking one, opened the door.

"Sister, we have some wonderful home utility products. If you like we could show you and explain"

The aunty got furious, she said something rude and closed the door in anger.

I and Rajat looked at each other. We both were confused and wondered what if we encounter some known person, some of our college mates stayed at that place. Our team lead was very professional, he knocked a few more doors, but everywhere the response was more or less the same. Finally at one house the owner purchased some of the products. “No wonder, sales is the most difficult/essential part of any business. I was quite impressed with my team lead, the way he used to speak to clients, never got frustrated if someone treated him rudely.

But neither I nor Rajat was prepared for the job yet. We decided to back off. Our team lead was upset. He took us to a nearby tea stall. He lighted a cigarette and offered us as well.

“I have many friends who have done their graduations long back; BSC, BCOM, BA, some even completed their MA and are still jobless. I’m not a graduate, but I earn well enough. Initially I was ashamed of doing door to door sales, but now I got used to it. Actually, sales job is like this only,” our team lead motivated us while slurping his tea, and then he took a gentle drag on his cigarette and exhaled.

We understood each and every word he said but we were not mentally prepared for the job. We shook hands. Our team lead wished us good luck.



"After completing high school, every candidate start searching for a good college. The search continues even after completing graduation. Well, searching good colleges has always been a difficult job. Instead of seeking for colleges here and there what if we have website which help us to find a perfect college. Yes College Dunia does the same. College Dunia is a search engine that allow us to browse various colleges in different streams. College dunia is a college searching engine where one can literally find tons of colleges within few clicks. Now we don’t need to visit colleges to get its details. You can just browse college dunia and can find every information regarding colleges, exams, results and many more."


Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life. 

 

Daily Bus Pass

          It was the beginning of year 2004 when I arrived in Bangalore for the first time to start a career, to earn my bread. That was the time when market was reviving from recession, and  Even we freshers, also started to get interview calls. Bangalore is the most wonderful city to live in India, but for someone struggling to get a job, for people with limited pocket size, the city is going to give you some hard time. Everything is expensive out here, including the basic human needs Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan(Food, clothing, and shelter). Actually, I was always confused why clothing is included in the list. Of course clothing is important, one cannot roam around naked in the street. But everyone could afford to cover their body if they don’t consider fashion as part of their life. One can wear the same piece of cloth everyday, wash it before going to sleep and then wear the same in morning. What I mean to say is clothing cannot be compared to either food or place of shelter. The other two needs are far bigger. The one more thing which can be compared to food and shelter is travel.

Travelling is a pain in cities like Bangalore, with overcrowded buses, sky high auto fares. It’s a everyday struggle for people to reach office on time. Also, travelling consumes a major part of our salary. But thanks to BMTC for giving us the option of Daily/Monthly bus pass. During our job hunt days when I and my friends had to travel from one corner of Bangalore to another for attending interviews, we used to take 25 rupees Daily Bus pass, which allowed us limitless travel throughout the day.

          Soon I started to work and just like my friends, even my pocket got sizable, and turned into a little better shape. I was among the first to get promoted from bachelorhood, might be because of some personal reasons. Enjoying a bachelor life and living a married life is a totally different game altogether; one got to be responsible for the later. My wife Anjali, also struggled to start her career in Bangalore. Even though it was challenging, we lived within tight budget, but those were happy days, very memorable. We used to live in a small house, pretty close to the place where I used to stay earlier with my friends. My earlier housemate friends continued to stay at the same old house. Staying nearby had one advantage, I never missed  the weekend parties together with my buddies. Those days I was working with HP. I remember, just a couple of months after our marriage I joined a new project where I had to work during the US working hours for few months. I used to go office by 8:30 pm, worked till 5:30 in the morning and returned home by 6:30 am. 

My wife Anjali recently completed her BAMS and joined a Hospital far away from home, as a duty Doctor.  During the weekdays Anjali and I stayed together just for a couple of hours. In the morning when I returned from office, Anjali would get ready for work. She had to travel a long way, had to change three buses. We used to have breakfast together and then she would left. Well, in the morning Anjali used to take a Daily Bus Pass. After she returned in the evening I would collect the same pass from her and used it; I also had to change two buses to reach office. Sometimes she was late, but I kept waiting for her at the nearby bus stop. As soon as she stepped down the bus, I would approach her. We both would look at each other and smile; I would her ask for the bus pass and say "Bye, see you in the morning". After I reached my destination I always used to give the same Daily Bus Pass to some needy person. I usually got someone or the other at the bus stand.

A decade later

          Bangalore has changed a lot. The auto fares during my early Bangalore days can to compared to bus fare these days. Somehow both I and Anjali lost the practice of travelling by bus. Nowadays, there are plenty of luxurious but expensive buses running around the city. This weekend I had to go a long way for some work. I thought to take a bus rather than driving alone that long. I boarded a Volvo AC bus. The conductor suggested me to take a Daily Bus Pass. The guy briefed me with his calculation that I would benefit by taking the pass. Without thinking much I purchased it in 140 rupees. The guy asked very politely for my ID proof. I tried to remember when the last time I bought a pass like that. The situation managed to evoke nostalgia.

While returning I used the same pass, but this time the conductor asked for my ID proof in a slightly rude manner. He started to argue. It took me a minute to realize that I displayed him a different ID from the one I used earlier, in order to purchase the Pass. So BMTC has become quite strict these days as far as the Daily Bus Pass is concerned.



Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life. 

 

Ek Shaukeen Bangalorean Auto Driver

Yesterday I went to collect my Asus Zenfone 6 from the service center. I purchased it from Amazon some four to five months back. Right from day one I had a feeling that they sent me a defective piece. The battery drained off super fast, generating tremendous heat. The service center was pretty far from my office and the route is also quite confusing. Instead of driving I thought to take an auto. I got my phone without much wait. Except for the touch screen it seemed they replaced everything inside the phone. Well, Amazon indeed sent me a defective piece. Now my phone is working absolutely fine. 

The auto ride back to my office was pretty interesting.

"What's the time?" the auto driver asked.

"3:30 pm" I responded.

"Accha, isiliye mereko bhukh lag raha hai,"  my answer only made him realize he was  starving.

We chatted for a while and then he asked for a help. Actually he recently purchased a LED TV with the option of ten interest free installments. The dealer asked him to submit ten post dated cheques, The guy was very confused and worried to give duly signed post dated cheques without even mentioning the amount. Being a veteran EMI wala, I took the privilege to clear his doubts, and felt contented as well.

"It's a general procedure, no need to worry." I said.

The auto guy was happy but he had one more doubt. As soon as I reached my destination the guy showed me the bill, together with his confusions.

I tried to clear his doubts. In the meantime  I was pretty amused, kind of embarrassed as well. The auto guy had purchased a TV worth Rs 70,000.

"Iiitna megenga TV?" Expressing my shock was simply inevitable.

"Ab, shaukh hai, to kya karein?" smiled the auto guy. He was kind of obsessed with modern day big screen trendy TV's, build with latest technologies. The guy said he had already sold his previous TV for Rs 2000/-, which he had bought for 10,000/- just a couple of years back.

 Picture courtesy: Google Images

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life. 

My First Mobile Phone

It was the year of 2003. I just passed out of Engineering college without a job in hand. Those were the days when mobile phones were still considered a luxury. But for me it was becoming more of a necessity, particularly for the smooth processing of my job hunt. My elder brother transferred me money to get the phone. I had a few choices but I opted for Nokia 3310. Even though I was already familiar with the epic snake game which was inbuilt in all Nokia handsets those days, it was only after I had my own that I gained expertise it the game. The game was more than just time pass, it was an addiction, it was a reason for pride. I had a wonderful four years of relationship with my first mobile. It slipped from my hand many times and almost every time the battery came out. But my phone was strong enough; as soon as I reconnected the battery it came back to live instantly. During the last phase of our relationship its entire keypad turned absolutely blank and colorless, but I was so much used to my darling that I was able to text any message and was able to dial any number, without any slightest pinch of discomfort. Most of my friends already had various colorful trendy handsets by now. Well, I was also tempted for those latest sexy models and waited desperately for my phone stop working. But the wait was getting kind of never ending and ultimately one day I took the painful step and betrayed my cellular.

Over the years I had many short term relationships with various trendy models, but with my first one it was a different matter altogether. A couple of months back I ordered an exotic looking, wide screen with a high resolution camera - Asus Zenfone 6, from Amazon. I felt some negative vibrations out of it from the very first day itself . The battery drained off exponentially and the heat it generated was scary. My friends suggested to ask for a replacement. Out of laziness I delayed and by the time I realized the urgency, I learned that Amazon only give ten days window for such replacements. Without any other choice apart from visiting a service center I simply continued. Pretty soon I got used to recharge my phone three to four times a day, sometimes even more. Couple of days back the situation turned worst, my phone lied dead and no power could bring it back to life. So I went to one of the Asus service center far away from my office, they have only three in Bangalore. They kept my phone and said it would take minimum fifteen working days for the fix. 

I missed my first mobile phone and wanted to have it for the time being. The same evening I went to a shop; I couldn’t get the exact model but I’m pretty sure it is one of the cousin sisters that I have now, an old Nokia model with only the basic features of voice and text.

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

The Warmth

In those chilling winters during our early school days, as soon as the power went off in the evening, our hearts filled with delight. That was the time to relish some wonderful breaks from our studies. I remember how I, my elder brother and my little sister tried to position us inside our father’s big shawl, to feel the comfort sitting in his lap. Such happiness of warmth reignites every time  my little angel, Jia, takes pleasure to cuddle up together with me early morning, when her mom tries to wake her up to prepare her for school. Well, now I can feel the peacefulness of the warmth inside my father’s shawl, same like before; it was so relaxing. But with growing age,  I couldn’t realize how and when the space inside his shawl didn’t fit me any longer and the warmth simply got detached day by day.

The Transformation, Part-2

Few months ago I had written a post "Transformation", where I expressed how, where and when I started writing. How I dared to enter into the world of blogging and the kind of happiness I feel whenever I see any comment on my posts. How all the Leibster and Versatile awards inspired me to continue with my writing. I had also mentioned about my first novel. Actually, I published the post on the day when I sent my submission with the first 3 chapters to some of the publishing houses. Well, it was a long and pathetic wait thereafter. But then, a couple of months later some publishers started responding. A few days back I had signed the deal with LiFi, a well-known publishing house of fictions. Hopefully my first novel will get published in early next year and as promised, will be launched in February 2015, in the New Delhi World Book Fair.

I still find it weird to digest the fact that soon, officially I will become an author. I would like to thank all my friends, my blogger friends and all my blog readers, who always encourage and inspire me to write more


Something about my book:
The story begins in the late Eighties, in a small picturesque town of Assam. The story is about a small family, about Tublu and Maina. Right from his childhood, Tublu had special feelings for Maina. With time, his feelings for her only grow stronger. The novel depicts Tublu’s one sided love, how his silent crush turns into an obsession. The first half of the book is fun, about the intriguing adolescence and some college/hostel humors. Later, the story shifts gear and gets more and more mature. The novel is about friendship, love, struggle and hope. Well, it’s all about the amazing journey of life.

Wonderful Bangalore

During our initial days in Bangalore, we stayed in a place named R. T. Nagar. We stayed in an one bedroom house; I, Lami, Dhiru and Mukha. We continued to live our hostel kind of life, only that unlike earlier, we were a little serious about our careers this time. Initially, our landlord told us that he would only allow two guys to stay. We tried to convince him that we were three friends and wanted to stay together. Looking at our pathetic condition, he was easily convinced, but we didn’t dare disclose that we were actually four guys. The landlord asked us to give a copy of our photo ID cards and some other documents. Lami had to play the undercover part, as the landlord was aware of the other three of us. Well, our landlord had an annoying habit of giving us short surprise visits and on ever such occasions, Lami used to hide himself in the washroom. It was a tiny room but we stayed comfortably. Even though none of us had a job that time but still, life was cool. 

Born and brought up in Assam, I also lived for a year in Delhi and then moved to Bangalore. I was mesmerized with the Bangalore weather, initially. Well, it’s almost a decade now and the pleasing weather still fascinates me. R. T. Nagar was a wonderful place to live in, but we only stayed there for a couple of months. It was the month of March or April; we decided to visit some of our friends In Koramangala, a well-known place in Bangalore. It was quite far from our place and the only mode of transport we could think of that time, was bus. We had to change three buses. Also, we were a little confused in locating the house where our friends used to stay. It was a sunny day and we were sweating. Somehow we reached our destination and were delighted to meet our friends after a long time. Our friends were preparing lunch; we had a great time chatting with them. It was very hot that day and the ceiling fan was spinning at its maximum speed. We had our lunch by 4 pm and we ate to our fill.

After lunch, we continued to chat. A little later, someone already started to snore. All of a sudden the weather turned pleasant. The big windows were open and cool refreshing air was entering through them. One of our friends switched off the fan. Guys were sleeping, covering themselves with their blankets. It was 5 pm; I went to the balcony and was mesmerized to see the snowy white clouds, moving fast through the lower horizon. The cool breeze was very refreshing. I enjoyed a few moments in the balcony and then, I also tried to get some naps.

The Bangalore weather and the lovely clouds have always fascinated me. This year, the weather here is one of its best. The time when many parts of India was burning, including some Southern parts of India, Bangalore was covered under a thick blanket of clouds. After dinner, every time I go to our terrace for a stroll, I get mesmerized with the night sky. I just can’t stop admiring the magnificent clouds. Quite often the sky would be clear; the moon would be shinning bright and the white clouds would be moving through the lower horizon, and as usual, the cool breeze is simply wonderful. I tried to capture the drama recently and thought to share those.

One Creepy Journey

Vacation was over and it was time for Shilpa to return to her hostel. Her college lectures were supposed to start from the next day.  It was 9 pm; Shilpa’s parents went to drop her to the Bus terminal. Shilpa smiled at the elderly lady who was sitting next to her seat. She placed her luggage in the overhead bins and sat comfortably. It was a non AC bus. Well, those days, AC buses were not that common. Shilpa was happy to get the window seat as it was always her preference. She slid the window glass slightly and the sudden blast of cool air embraced her face at once. She was refreshed and looked outside the window. It was an over-night journey and Shilpa would reach the city by 6 am.

It was summer and she was in her casual jeans and t-shirt. Shilpa was enjoying the cool breeze, lost in her thoughts, trying to get some sleep. Suddenly, she sensed something unusual. She felt someone embarrassing her waist smoothly. Shilpa was very nervous and didn’t know what to do. She tried to catch hold of the unknown hand but it departed instantly.  After a few minutes Shilpa again felt someone fondling her waist. She remained still for a while, but it was getting embarrassing. She again tried to hold the hand tightly, but it escaped in no time. The lights were off and it was dark inside the bus. The lady sitting beside her was sleeping deeply. Shilpa knew it was someone from behind but she didn’t want to create any scene. She continued to bear the embarrassment for the next couple of hours and then, the bus stopped at a place for tea/snacks. The bus illuminated as the lights were switched on. People were slowly getting off the bus one by one. Shilpa stood up and looked behind. She saw two men sitting there. One of them seemed to be in his thirties and another one looked a little older. Shilpa was confused. She wasn’t sure who the culprit was.

Shilpa also went down and had tea in a tea stall. It was middle of the night. Shilpa noticed a small shop where people were buying cigarettes. She bought a chocolate for herself from there.

'Do you sell blades, brother?' Shilpa asked the shopkeeper guy.

'Yes, I’ve blades but we are not supposed to sell any sharp things during night time,' the guy replied. It took some effort but Shilpa was able to convince him and bought a packet of blade, for which she paid double the price. 

As expected, once again Shilpa felt the unknown hand embarrassing her waist. She was holding the sharp blade in his hand, still confused whether to go for the assault or not. Meanwhile, the mysterious hand grew in confidence and it was slowly moving upwards towards her breasts. Shilpa held the hand tightly with all her energy and attacked it with the sharp blade. 

“Ouch, ouch…” Shilpa was expecting sharp screaming but all she could hear was some mild and uncomfortable sounds from behind. She couldn’t hold the sick hand for long. Shilpa’s hand became wet and she could smell raw blood, but it wasn’t hers. She was prepared for another assault but the evil hand never bothered her anymore. Everything happened silently and except Shilpa and the mysterious man, no other passengers were aware of the incident.

PS: This is a true story that happened many years ago, one night, in the highways of Assam.

The Transformation

The only newspaper I used to read earlier, was ‘Times of India’.  But few years ago, my habit of reading newspaper died out. Nowadays, I prefer browsing through online latest news, rather than reading the previous day news. The newspapers were piling up at our house, entirely unread and one early morning, I simply asked the delivery guy not to throw anymore newspaper at our terrace. But one thing I must admit, the smell of the printed newspaper along with it's typical folding sound, is truly mesmeric. While reading online, whenever I liked any news article, I also enjoyed going through various comments, below it. There used to be a Agree, Disagree, Recommend and an Offensive buttons for each comment. Sometimes even I wanted to comment, but to do so one had to register with a valid email id, first. I did the same and started to comment in some interesting news articles. Sometimes I was thrilled to see my comment being liked by so many people. That was for the first time I started to write. It was fun; also there was no transparency and quite often people posted weird comments. I remember on a few occasions, my comments were among the top, most engaging, most agreed ones. Gradually I grew in confidence, but then interesting topics were very limited in Times of India.

Later when Facebook came, I was a little worried about the kind of transparency it had. Initially I was very apprehensive and refrained myself from liking and commenting. If I like anything, all my friends would come to know, how scary is that?  But some FB posts and also some comments were so interesting that I was tempted to like and to comment. Sometimes my comments were liked by some of my friends and I felt good about it. I grew in confidence and the fear was gone. I started to press the like button whenever I found anything interesting and also started to comment more frequently. Also, somehow I dared to post my own stuff on FB. A few likes and comments made me feel satisfied. I started to post more often and also joined a few FB communities, including our college group. I started posting some of our  humorous college life, hostel incidents and my friends really enjoyed those.

Gradually I became more bolder and entered into the daring world of blogging. I really enjoy writing about some of my unforgettable moments and feel utterly delighted whenever I see a comment on my post. All those Leibster and Versatile awards really inspired me to write more. I also took part in some of the blogging competitions organized by Indiblogger and had attempted to write a few short fictions. I felt glad that many people even enjoyed my fictional stories as well. I continued blogging and then one day something sparked in me. I thought of writing a book. Well, I might have overreacted to think in that way, but I started to work on a story. It was boring initially and I didn’t have any clue how my story would move forward. But I never looked back and continued to work. Guess what? I’ve completed writing my first novel and sent my submission with the first 3 chapters to some of the publishers, today. Still a lot of editing work is pending and I would really like to thank my schoolmate Arundhati Hazarika for helping me in editing my work.

It’s a simple story, about the amazing journey of life, with a little humor, love, friendship and some emotions. It’s purely a work of fiction and is not based on my blog. But readers who enjoy my posts are definitely going to love the story. I just hope some publishers would be interested in my work. It’s a wonderful experience, writing my first novel and I’m really enjoying it.  

My Cautious Father

Right from my childhood, I always observed my father to be very watchful in almost every thing. I still remember how he used to fill our entrance examination forms. Once he filled the form, he used to cross-check it couple of times. Finally, he used to call me and asked to sit with him, so that we could have verified it together again for few more times. Quite often, I used to get irritate and wondered why he’s so damn cautious? Well, sometimes even I’m also little careful on certain things and particularly for any kind of payment related stuffs. I get little cautious whenever I do any online transaction and I’m extra careful, so that I don’t end up adding one extra zero while filling the amount. 

Unlike me, my elder brother was always very sincere and intelligent, right from his childhood. He always took his own decisions and never got influenced by others. He’s now settled out in Singapore since almost 15 years. Whenever he use to visit home with his family, they usually fly from Singapore to Kolkata and then take a flight to Guwahati. While returning also they take the same route. My brother always use to book an evening flight to Kolkata. Almost the entire night they have to wait at the airport and early morning they fly back to Singapore. Usually whenever they visit home, even we also plan our holidays accordingly. Few years ago we had a similar kind of wonderful family get-together. Our holidays were already over and we returned to Bangalore. In next few days my brother, sister in law and their cute daughter were also about to return to Singapore.

"What time is your flight tomorrow?" my father asked my brother.

"In the evening at around 7:30”

"Go and bring the ticket. I want to check" father asked.

"It’s OK. Now again please don’t start all these, I’m much more responsible. Any ways, I will check it after dinner"

After dinner everyone started to gossip in the hall. My brother went inside the bedroom. He opened his suitcase and picked up the ticket. He checked their departure time and returned to the hall.

"It’s at 7:40 in the evening" he said to my parents. 

The airport in Guwahati is quite far from the city. So next day they started little early by 4:30 PM. My parents also went along with them to the airport. They reached at around 6 PM and as usual, my parents were prepared to wait out there. Well, every time my parents go to drop them, they continue to wait till they view the particular flight, as it fly up towards the sky. 

But that day something quite unusual happened. The security didn’t allow them to go inside. They said that their flight already left in the morning. Only that moment my smart brother realized that their flight was actually at 7:40 in the morning. They always use 24 hour timing format and how could he be so stupid? My brother talked with the flight authorities and there’s no way they could have refunded his money. 

"Early morning we have our flight from Kolkata to Singapore" my brother said to them.

"The last flight for today to Kolkata will depart in an hour. If you want we can book your tickets"

The price for each ticket was almost 3 times higher as compared to the one he booked earlier. But they had to go and there was no other alternative. Somehow my brother digested all those praises and appreciations from his wife, as well as from our parents for his overconfidence. I think in certain situations, it’s always better to be cautious rather than being ignorant. 

Bhaskar Recovery Bank

Today morning something very unusual happened. I received a call from an unknown person and he said he's from the legal department. According to him one of my friends Tridip, took a personal loan from axis bank few years ago and he didn't pay the entire amount and is absconding. Now, Tridip is my hostel junior and a very good friend. The legal guy said that Tridip gave my reference while applying for his loan. He asked for my address and also asked me to pay the remaining loan amount (Rs. 60,000), else I may get into trouble. I said "why the hell I should pay the amount? Tridip left Bangalore last year and joined a new company in Kolkata. At present he's in Australia and he called me just a few days back. So, I called to bash him up a bit, but what the hell? He said that he never ever took any personal loan from any bank and I thought it must be a different Tridip.

So, I called Girish, the guy from the legal department and asked for my friend's full name who took the loan. Aha! The surname didn't match with junior Tridip and the actual guy is a senior friend from our college. I was totally stunned, as there’s no way senior Tridip would have given my name as reference. As far as I know, he’s one of the wealthiest guy of our college and he’s a damn metal freak. He worked in Bangalore for several years and now he’s settled in his hometown in Assam. In Bangalore I met him on couple of occasions that too in some metal concerts. I messaged him in FB and a little later called him. He said he took a personal loan in 2002 and cleared it within next two years. He was even more surprised than me and said "Why the hell I will give your reference?" We both had a great laugh and then I called the legal guy once again and clarified everything. He said "You work for Onmobile Global Ltd right?" 

I replied "Yes, how the hell you know about that?"

He said "Why your name and also your company details are there in our database? Why anyone would give your reference for taking a loan? Now you will only have to repay the remaining loan amount"

My heart beats started to accelerate and then the guy asked "Do you know Jayashree?"

I asked "Now, who the hell is she?"

The guy replied "She is Tridip’s sister?"

I said "I have no idea about that"

Immediately after our conversation, I again called Tridip da to clarify. He said "Yes, Jayashree is my sister. Now, how she came into the picture?"

I said "I’ve no idea, but how the guy have all these information?"

Tridip da was very much confused and shocked. He even suggested me to put a police complaint. A little later I opened my FB profile and my company detail is clearly visible out there. Then I checked Tridip da’s profile, well his sister name is also there. But how the guy from the legal department managed to get my number? Later in the afternoon junior Tridip called me from Australia and asked for the legal guy’s numbers. The guy initially called me from a landline phone(080-43569991) and then he gave me his mobile number(9448559053) as well. Now Tridip works in telecom industry and he has good connection with all major operators. It’s not difficult for him to trace any number and within a few minutes he got the details. Well Girish, the guy from the legal department is using a BSNL number that is registered under the name "Bhaskar Recovery Bank" That sounded really interesting and we wanted to gather some more information and decided to have a conference call with the legal department. Tridip initiated the call using a WebEx number and asked the legal guy some basic legal questions. The guy got confused and he kept on asking the same question “Who are you?"

Tridip said that he works in cyber security department, Government of India and asked "What is your real name Girish or Bhaskar? Are you an authorized bank recovery agent? Are you a bank employee? You are using a BSNL number and I have top connection in BSNL. Say me everything or I will escalate it to very higher level" Tridip even told him about his exact location in Bangalore at that moment. The legal guy sounded very much confused and after sometime he disconnected the call. 

A little later Tridip again initiated the conference call and the guy said "Who are you sir? Please tell me your name and I will check if you have already paid you entire loan amount?" Well, that time he started to talk in Hindi instead of his manageable English.

Tridip said "Today morning you called my friend at Onmobile and you must remember my name"

The guy replied "Daily I call 100 people and how can I remember all the names?"

Tridip again asked "How many people from Onmobile you called today?"

The legal guy said "Please ask your friend to call me" and then he disconnected the call. We kept trying his number, but it was switched off for almost next 15 minutes and then we gave up. Now, I’m not sure whether I will receive any such call from the legal guy again? If anything interesting turns out then I will surely update on this.