Born to Run

It's official. I have exactly 5 weekends before I head back home. I have probably ended up doing just about half the things I had set out to do once I stepped out on Dilli soil. I probably need to come back here sometime so that I can finish off all the places I wanted to go to!

I don't think any piece of writing will do justice to the varied experiences I've had in Delhi. When people told me that life was going to be different for me once I was living here on my own, I just brushed their warnings aside and was determined to plunge into the experience and get the most out of it. I'm a strong believer in the human spirit and even though I was given countless warnings about how I have to be CAREFUL in this city, I was determined to focus on the good around me. I haven't had any bad experiences here barring the one time I was standing on the main road waiting for a friend to pick me up and 3-4 cars slowed down (with 'uncles' in them) and the drivers' offering to give me ride. Even that's pretty mild if you think about it..

I think I've managed to do quite a bit with my 4 months here. One just never seems to be satisfied with what we've seen though. I'll go into the details of where I've been in Delhi some other time. Right now, I just feel like the clock is ticking and I'm running a race against time.

I'm heading off to Agra tomorrow morning and Mumbai a couple of weeks later. Any one have any ideas about places I can go to in the 3 free weekends I have before I leave?

Your time starts now :D

Blowing In The Wind

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, n how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, n how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before theyre forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, n how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, n how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before its washed to the sea?
Yes, n how many years can some people exist
Before theyre allowed to be free?
Yes, n how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesnt see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

-Bob Dylan

It's been a while

I've been sitting in front of the computer for what seems like forever & then it struck me how I hadn't written here for a while. I wish I could blame it on the enormous workload but that would be far from the truth.

It's been a while since I could put my feelings down on my paper.

It's been a while since I've been able to think coherently about what the future has in store for me.

To quote the words of the original song by Staind -

"Why must I feel this way?
Just make this go away
Just one more peaceful day!
It's been a while since I could look at myself straight
It's been a while since I said I'm sorry."

It's been a while.

The Real Thing

A trip into Old Delhi is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It'll tear to shreds the most stubborn of curtains that had painstakingly been drawn in front of your eyes. A couple of hours here will probably leave you in a state of wonder at the sheer grit and determination of human beings. It'll make you sorry for ever having felt sorry for yourself.

The industrious nature of people here has to be seen to be believed. We were driven back to the Red Fort by a cycle rickshaw driver with a clubbed foot. These people are struggling day in and day out for a glimpse of a life that you and I take for granted.

The history of this place is phenomenal. We had lunch in Karim's which first opened in the early 1900s and still runs to this day with the help of the fifth generation. You could probably buy anything you could possibly imagine in these shops. Eat possibly everything under the sun; including chicken feet, goat brain curry, goat heads and list goes on.

I thought it was going to be gory sights at the butcher shops that would make me lose my appetite (I'm contemplating becoming a vegetarian now!). But it was the stark divide between the rich and poor which really got to me. For example, on one side of the road you'll see the majestic Red Fort with its manicured lawns and just across it; you have glimpses of the sheer poverty afflicting a startling majority in this country. Like a friend of mine put it, "I guess some things never change".

The fact is plain and simple - there is something terribly wrong with the world. It's only right that we take a leaf from the lives of our friends in Old Delhi. We have to change things, foremost, by accepting that we may not see the results come through in our lifetime and therefore, that cannot be our excuse to stop trying.

It's A Small World After All

By now, some of you may have noticed that most of my posts have song titles for headings. I'm a big one for theme songs and relating songs to real life experiences and sometimes even people. Most songs have a memory attached to it and it's a 'feel-good' strategy that I've developed over the years. There's usually a song that'll get me out of a crappy mood!

This is the song that rang through my head today as I was sitting (yes,sitting for a change!) on the bus on my way back home. I was indulging in my usual pass-the-time activity i.e. watching the world go by when I actually saw a familiar face in the bus going in the opposite direction! Granted, I was never really pals with the guy back in college but it was a familiar face nonetheless.

And like most other mundane things in life, it got me thinking :P Who would've thought that the chances of meeting or even seeing a familiar face in this big city that I temporarily call 'home' would be so high? As it turns out, pretty high indeed because this isn't the first time it's happened since I got here. I'd almost forgotten about the time I was introduced to a person with the word 'Kodialbail' on his name-tag and we ended up having a lot of common friends from back home! Or the time I was in Khan Market during my first few weeks in Delhi and I see an old junior from school while we were both waiting for those mouth-watering kabab rolls at Khan Chacha's (damn, I'm hungry). And what about the time I was introduced to a girl who was attending a conference at IHC and the only thought running through my head at the time was how much she reminded me of a junior from college? Surprise..surprise..they turned out to be cousins!

So I've come to one conclusion..if you have your roots in Kerala, have been brought up in Manipal, studied in Vellore (please note..all these places have a floating population) and have a mother who doesn't have a problem communicating even if the other person doesn't speak the same language (I'm not kidding, she once had a full fledged conversion with my uncle's Spanish housekeeper), the chances of you meeting people you know, people who know people you know or even people your parents know is VERY high. I can try saying that these kind of chance meetings will not surprise me from now onwards but that would be a lie. I have a strong feeling that I'll still get goosebumps, be embarassed for a few seconds and suddenly find myself at a loss for words.

Hehe..but it's a nice feeling :) To think that it's a small world after all...

More Than a Feeling

I'm one of those people who is a sucker for happy endings. I believe all things happen for a reason. Good or bad. And call me crazy, but I believe that if you really truly wish for something to happen, it will. Eventually. Sometimes it takes its own sweet time to happen and at other times, things just appear when you want them to!

You might be wondering what got me started along this train of thought. I finally got down to reading 'The Alchemist' today. It's one of those books which I've heard people talking about but never got down to reading because I was turned off by the idea of reading a remotely philosophical book. I'm a stubborn person with weird ideas stuck in my head every once in a while..I know ;)

Surprise Surprise! The book made me think about my own life and the world around me. When was the last time I truly listened to my heart and followed my dreams? Do I pay attention to the omens strewn along life's path? Would I even notice them if they had a placard held up with my name in BOLD letters written across it?

Hmmm..no comment.

For the time-being, I think I'm going to have to be content knowing that I'm not the only one in the world who feels this way. The sadist in me actually feels comforted by that fact :P I shall continue to try and make a wish on a shooting star (somehow with the pollution in Delhi, I doubt that's going to happen any time soon!) and do everything in my power to make my dreams come true. After all, everyone is entitled to their own happy ending :D

Who Knew

The last post kind of inspired me to make a last attempt at contacting a very old friend of mine. And as luck would have it, I managed to get through to him and a meeting was fixed! Now let me fill you in on the blank spaces...

This is a guy who I last met when I was 7. He was my 'chaddi' buddy in the true sense of the word ;) Back then, we shared a back wall and all it took to get him to jump over the wall was to start filling the water in the paddle pool and scream his name out loud. Within minutes, there would be two kids splashing about in the pool as if there was not a care in the world! We were a team back then. Almost like a package deal :P He's the person who gave me the nickname that all my close friends call me to this day! I remember bits and pieces of our school bus trips together. Me running back to pick up things that he had left behind, he standing up for me when I got into trouble, both of us dealing with small-time bullies together, me bullying people who bullied him....

And there we were, more than 15 years later, attempting to make a new beginning. Laughs turned into snorts when we realized that we both still diligently pick any trace of capsicum from our food..Conversation flowed..opinions were exchanged, lists of top ten favourites were listed..we had a lot to catch up on!

What I found weird was that even after all the years that have passed, we still had some vague sort of connection. Numerous attempts to get in touch earlier had failed for some reason or the other. But what was nice, was the fact that it had worked out this time :)

It's a refreshing change to meet someone after so long and for them to accept you unconditionally. For them to probably have more faith in you than you might have in yourself and vice versa. It’s not everyday that you come across friends like this and for that, RB, I only have you to thank :)