Tag: India

Mumbai Diaries – Part 3(The One where they Meet)

Few hours before…

“BC, is that my station?”

Nauman tried to decode what Gaurav might have said.

While he was trying to make sense of it all, his eyes set upon a set of eyes even more restless than his. He kind of wished her eyes would rest on him, but ofcourse this was real life, so nothing of that sort happened.

Nauman stood thinking of all the pickup lines as he had mugged up during his desperation days. But he kind of knew that pickup lines won’t be necessary on this girl, not in a ‘him like a casanova and its going to be easy’ kind of a way, but in a way where being genuine would easily work.

He approached her making as concerned face as possible.

“You look lost.”

“Can you tell me which train number will go to Churchgate?” she asked.

“What? Trains don’t have numbers here…”

“Ofcourse they have, how else they will distinguish one from the another?”

“Well that’s true, but…..wait a minute….are you travelling in a local for the first time?”

She nodded embarrassingly.

“Can you help here? Just tell me the train number…I will find out the rest”

“Ohh, enough with the train number. You will need to wait on Platform 3, the Churchgate train leaves from there. This is platform 1.
And you see that train going…that is leaving for Churchgate. So you have solid 20 mins before another one comes.”

“Okay” she said feeling a little relieved.

 “So, first time huh? Did you move to Mumbai yesterday?” he asked hoping to use these 20 minutes effectively.

“Nah, I have been born and brought up in Mumbai only.”

 “Huh…weird”

“Nothing weird, have you seen the rush here.” she explained her predicament.

 “So why now?”

“Just a bet to get a gift.”

 “Care to explain?”

“I will get a new phone if I get a selfie with the Churchgate station.”

 “What kind of competition is this?”

Before she could answer, they were interrupted by a sea of passengers trying to get on the train. They moved to a more central spot on the platform.

 “Do you live here? Weren’t you waiting for that train?” she inquired.

“Ohh, actually I am waiting for my friend, who will be coming shortly here. He just got victimized to the passenger love and couldn’t de-board.”

 “Ohh that’s scary.”

“So please board the ladies coach only. And which reminds me that you should install ‘m-indicator’ into your phone.”

 “Give me your number, I will text you the link to download the cracked version.”

She gave her number with a wry smile and proceeded to uninstall ‘m-indicator’ from her phone.

 “You know once I was on the beach and drew a heart on the sand with my name on it…and the next I know is 7 boy’s names written inside the heart. Please don’t be one of those boys.”
Image Courtesy: Google Images

“No I am not, I am Nauman, by the way”

 “Ooh, I already like your name. Nauman, as in Roadies wala Nauman?”

“Yeah”

 “My name is Jaya, by the way. I should leave now. And yeah don’t forget to text the link, you don’t want me to be lost in Mumbai”.

“Sure”

 They parted ways. He saw the confused girl bumping into people, asking for directions to her train.

…Back to Present

“Did you call her yet?” Nauman asked Atush.

After being flustered in the laser tag game, they were back to the pub, enjoying last few moments of their weekend.

“No dude, let me get home atleast. I have tomorrow’s go live to look for. I have my boss hanging on me like a clingy girlfriend already.”

“Oho, so we have a triangle here.”

“I can bet I will receive a message in next 10 mins regarding his concern over the developed code.”

Everyone looked at Atush’s screen. A notification sound did came, but it was on Gaurav’s phone.

“Shit, its my sister. I have got to buy a new phone now.”

To be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.

 

Mumbai Diaries – Part 2(The One with the lasertag match)

“Where’s our beer? The service here is crap” asked Nauman.
“Just like the bus service here. Man, would you believe that it took me 2 hours to cover the stretch of 8 kms. In my city, it would take me 20 mins and a cigarette break only”, chuckled Karan.
“You want to talk about traffic??? I was nearly fried, stuck between two BEST buses.” cried Atush.
“You could have used your AC” said Gaurav.
“Remember what we did last time we were drunk?” replied an angry Atush.
“Oh yeah, we left the car and AC running on the highway with windows open.” chuckled Gaurav and started laughing hysterically, but had to immediately stop as Atush started to pick up the fork in anger. “Nature’s call bro, can’t avoid!”
“The battery got so damaged that my father said if I use AC again, he will hack my account and will post a #supportJNU status to teach me a lesson.”
“Oooo that’s cruel.” everyone tried to suppress their laughter.
“Abe let’s change the topic. You won’t believe what happened at the station…” said Nauman.
“I thought, it will be more of a change.” interjected Karan.
“But this is interesting…”
“Yaar, its Mumbai, these things keep happening.”

Image Coutesy: Google Images

“Yeah, let’s leave up the redundant traffic talks and tell me with the show of hands, who is up for a game of Lasertag” said an enthused Atush raising his hand expecting a string of high fives from all parts of the table.

“Dude, no way I am going back in there”, said Gaurav explaining everyone’s dropped shoulders.
“Don’t you remember the carnage we conceded last time?” said Nauman
“Get over it man, we lost it big time. That girl single handedly beat our team” added Karan
“And that is why we should go and get our self-respect back.”
“Man, people find romances in weird places these days”, said Karan understanding the situation now.
“Ohh, our man has got a soft spot for the young lady” exclaimed Karan.
“Its not like that, I just love competition and yeah she is now one.”
“Then we have got to go and get our man his girl” everyone roared.

They had this new energy inside coming, injected by the things shown in the movies. When its time to impress a competition, everything falls into place and nothing can get you down. That was the scene when they entered the arena, ready to crush anyone fighting against them.

20 mins later(outside the lasertag arena)

Everyone returned with dropped shoulders, lowered to a new level.
“Well there is 200 bucks and a girl I would never see again” said Atush.
“Chill out man! You did come second. Thank God she was in my team.” said Karan.
“I think she was cheating” concluded Atush.
“Excuse me?”
They looked back with shocking eyes. It was the girl that had beat Atush and his team.
They still stared at her like the star troopers looked at a Jedi before getting cut in half.
“Did you really think you could win by making such a dumb strategy? Who leaves the base undefended?”
“I thought…. I would!” said Atush stuttering. Although scared, he was really impressed by the passion with which she was talking about the game. “Damn! You are so cool”, he imagined himself saying.
After completing the virtual nuptials, he finally muttered, “What are you doing outside your arena. Go depress some souls.”
This time she hesitated.
“Oh I came here to give these. These are congratulatory coupons given to the players who are just a little short of my high-score. It gives you some special privileges.” She said winking.
“I will beat your score someday. I will…”
“Huh! In hundred years!” she cut him off.
“The expression is ‘In a thousand years’!” corrected Atush.
“Well that explains why you being such a girl.”

She turned to leave and shouted in anger “There is a number mentioned in the back! Call it if you have any doubts.”
The three of them were in disarray, as they didn’t get what just happened here. They were astounded with the intensity that this girl shouted at Atush. They looked at a supposedly embarrassed Atush, but he looked serene and yet playful in his expression. He gave a wicked smile.
“So, her name is Akriti.”

 

To Be Continued…

 

Click Here for the next part.

 

 

 

Mumbai Diaries – Epilogue (The One with the Closure)

He came back to her, bruised and exhausted. She wondered this can’t be real…it wasn’t, but it felt so real.
He could see the pain and love in her eyes, but there was something missing beyond his comprehension. There were no tears. He asked “How have you been”. She hugged him, a hug firm but hesitating one, a tender one yet corruptible.
The distance between them had put them in a position where both were trying to understand each other, just looking at each other, words not required between them, they never were necessary. She thought could this be the reason for putting distance between them. Could something so beautiful once, be destroyed by a mere words; or the lack of it?

Suddenly the pain seemingly felt physical, she thought about the unspoken dreams that she had dared to imagine, the dream of a life adulterated by no one; the only life she could imagine since their meeting 3 years ago. Fighting the world seemed like a formality, when they joined forces.

Image Courtesy: Google Images
 “Does it have to be so hard? Doesn’t this pain makes you realize that what we have is real and its a mistake to go apart?” he asked again.
 “The pain not only makes it real, but reminds that it is not meant to be” she replied.

That hit him hard.

 “Shouldn’t you be happy that what was not meant to be is not happening and you got rid of it.”

“I wish things were that simple.”

 He went numb.

She spoke, “What we had was not love”

 “We had love. But unfortunately love is not enough these days. Maturity is required as well.”

She chuckled “Maturity! Isn’t it an overtly used term these days. Blaming everything on it. When it comes to adventure and shenanigans, everyone seeks immaturity, but otherwise maturity is required. I am beginning to think that immaturity was what kept us together, in fact led us towards each other…”.

 “What?” he cut her off.

“Yeah! How else would you explain us. We are so different from each other. Our interests don’t match. We are like two sides of coin, never destined to meet each other. On some level, we should have known that this day was bound to come.”

 “Well, if you put it like that, it sure seems the explanation. But it seemed easy that time and looked like our difference somehow were connecting us.”

“Well, that was our infatuated mind taking over maturity.”

 “I understand now” he sighed, dropping his shoulders. “But how are you okay going forward with this?”

“I think I am being mature now”, she smiled. He smiled back.

 “But tell me this, how do I get closure?”

“Ha, never the one to shy away from the technical terms.”

 “How else to prove I am different!”

“Closure is nothing but accepting that there is no ‘us’ anymore and being brave enough to imbibe that.”

“Like being happy for you and future?”

“No you fool, you don’t have to feel anything for me anymore…be as apathetic as you can. If you care, you are only hurting yourself.”

“It will be the toughest thing to do…”

“Me too”

“Who would have thought not caring would be this tough….”

“It is tough when you have promised ‘Thousand years’ to each other”, she tried to joke, but the gazing intensity of him melted anything that was calm inside her.

“Yeah, a thousand years” his words carried something venomous that even shook the nothingness in her.

Suddenly she felt lighter. The cloudy dust that had shrouded everything seemed to be clearing out and she could sense this from within. The heaviness that his remembrance brought was felt no more and she could un-shackle herself easily.

Atlast she woke up with a smile. After an array of dreamless nights, she leveraged the all important lesson that would catapult her towards an ordeal free world.
She can be herself again, completed after a long time.

This dream had done the job much better than her own consciousness could ever do.

“Thanks for ‘the thousand years’ and I am coming back”, she mumbled as she smiled her way back to sleep.

 

Airlift-Uplifted


Airlift – a movie with a heroic attempts by an Indian- Kuwaiti businessman to evacuate 1.75 lakhs Indian from Kuwait via Jordan.
First of all, commendable job by Akshay Kumar and Raja Menon, for bringing into highlight, one of the best and largest evacuation effort by a country.
The story starts with a racist joke “How do you fit 20 Iraqis in a telephone booth?” showing Ranjeet(Akshay Kumar), imbibed in Kuwaiti colours.
We don’t get to see more colours of his character as soon enough, the Iraqi forces invade Kuwait and render the inhabitants homeless. In these tough times, Ranjeet finds himself on a crossroad, as he has to decide between his responsibility towards family or towards the people who are dependent on him. The moment of decision has been shown very subtly and simply.
Ranjeet realizes that he is more Indian than he gives himself credit for, as he takes on camp preparation for the dependents and tries to find ways of evacuation.
Nimrat impresses yet again in her portrayal of strong wife. Though cynical of Ranjeet’s actions initially, but she comes on board later as she realizes that Ranjeet is not going to leave anyone behind.
Purab Kohli, playing Ibrahim stands out in the crowd full of Indians in the camp. His cool and calm portrayal yet again shows his immense talent in bringing justice to any role he is trusted with.
The screenplay is balanced with apt focus on the internal struggle of Ranjeet and Amrita(Nimrat) while focusing mostly on the issue at hand.
Some scenes have been portrayed so well, they will get you emotional. A applaud-worthy effort, ending in a clichéd slow-motion waving of Indian flag, but that still works. J
We would have loved it more if it was based more on real life characters. Though we see some names like “Mathunny Matthews” and “Vedi” in credits, but they could have been portrayed in the movie itself. But, I won’t take credit away from Akshay, as this was a brave and flawless effort from his side.
In an era, where directors really shy away from making movies on historic events, due to fear of backlash from intolerant India, this is definitely a good start. We hope to see more of it.
I would definitely advise you to watch once and revive this genre of movies.
Image credit: Google Images

Mumbai Diaries – Part 1(The One with the Introduction)

Its a friday evening. 4 friends(Atush, Gaurav, Nauman, Karan) were talking in their Andheri office about how they never went on a trip, where there would be only friends, booze and carelessness. One of them, say Gaurav gave the idea ‘Lets go for a trip tomorrow to Alibaug by ferry. Everyone seemed excited, everyone looked onboard until Atush explained the plan, ‘So, I have heard that one has to take ferry at Churchgate at 7.30 AM as its very busy there.
Atush started to calculate loudly, ‘7.30 means, we will have to reach the place by 6.30, which means I will have to start from 4.30 in the morning, for which I will have to wake up at 2.30 to prepare myself, for which I have to leave office by 12.30 today.
Then they all looked at the clock, it was 11.30.
‘If I start now, I will make it to the ferry at 6.30’, Atush said.
Everyone’s face saddened. ‘Dude, leave it please’ Gaurav said dropping his shoulders.
‘Lets plan for a Sports Bar then’, Nauman advised.
‘Yeah’ everyone cheered.

 

That was life in Mumbai, where the most plausible hangout place, ironically was the office itself. But these guys were going to learn it the hard way.

So the next morning, Atush started by his car very early, infact earlier than everybody as he wanted to surprise his friends that he is not a late comer everytime. Gaurav and Nauman lived in the same area, so they were coming together via the very famous and reliable local trains. Karan had to come by bus as he lived in central line and the destination was in western line, so it didn’t make a lot of sense to take local and change it again. Gaurav & Nauman reached local train station at dadar and the intricate and intertwined queue was nearly the length of train itself. Gaurav & Nauman went for different lines, for obvious reasons. After fighting off the counter-guy for ‘change’, Gaurav comes off victorious and now they move to the platforms.

Karan starts from his home to the nearest bus-stop. Just as he is about to reach the stop, he sees his bus leaving. Karan runs a little, but in vain. He comes back to the stop cursing his luck about the bus timings. He looks at his watch, there is still a lot of time. Little does he know that Mumbai traffic makes you pay for every missed bus.

Atush starts his engine along with the music playing. He still is superexcited about the virtual get-together of the 4 Mumbai friends.
Well that is Mumbai, where meeting of a complete group is so rare that once a group accomplishes a full-show, it is quickly dubbed as a reunion.
Atush still is smelling like his deo and revs up his engine to full speed from his home. His excitement takes a full U-turn as he joins the auto and car lines crawling up at 20 kmhr. His mind quickly goes into calculation of 20km at 20kmph mode.

Image Coutesy: Google Images

Gaurav & Nauman are very close by their station. The train nearly stops at their station and just when they are happily stepping down on the platform, they are greeted by a rush of Virar heading commute, which is nothing less than the Kumbh visitors, ready to kill just for the sake of touching their destination. Nauman somehow makes it to the platform feeling violated, when he realizes Gaurav hasn’t yet made it yet. He shouts for Gaurav, hearing his faint voice amongst the shouts of ‘Pude station! Malad(Please don’t forget to add the irritating tone as well)!’.He tries to make out what Gaurav is shouting, he hears ‘BC….. is that my station?’. He thinks hard but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to him, so he decides to wait at the station for Gaurav.
As he turns around disappointed and kicking dust, he sees a girl who is nervously eyeing him. He smiles as the train leaves the station. He had no intentions of reaching to the Sports Bar now.

To Be Continued…

Click Here for the next part.

 

Allah(ke)abad!

Allahabad, a city that every country deserves, but not the one it may need right now. While Allahabad is an excellent city per se, but has been clouded by some very unfortunate mishappenings. The wrath of bhaiyas of Allahabad still enounces on my mind even when I am 356 kms away from it. How a city welcomes a guest greatly defines a city. Allahabad welcomed me with dahi-jalebi and introduced me to the ever-tasty bun-omelette, which even after four years of continuous eating remains a favourite day-starting breakfast.

WHAT I WOULD MISS!
The discussions over bun-omelette and tea in the morning as well as evening. The serenity of Saraswati ghat was one I would crave a lot. Some destinations leave an everlasting footprints in your minds; Saraswati ghat is one such place. The people of Allahabad are also very versatile in giving opinions(reminds me of Gorakhpur, but Allahabad is a tad violent :p). If you are even a little interested in politics, this is a place to be. You never know, you may get acquainted by a future minister of state. Giving opinion boldly, come what may, is in the blood of an east UP person and Allahabad kinds of leads in that trait.
Being in the center of independence fight, gave this city a gift of great historic significance. The Azad Park commemorates Chandrashekhar Azad’s martyrdom. While the Sangam area and Naini bridge adds to the aesthetics of the place.

WHAT I WOULDN’T MISS!
Ofcourse the young successors of Indian politics, the student leaders…the most feared species in whole of Allahabad. Want people to concede to your demands, call the species; want to take revenge from someone who wasn’t giving you a pass on the road, call the species; don’t want to study today, call the species in havoc mode; want to get even with the professor for his tyrant ways, call them. From the innocuous thelawalas to the helpless VCs, they assert their authority everywhere.
Being crammed in the auto-rickshaws comes next in the list. You are living in the city, your girlfriend has called you to meet at this great restaurant, you did your hair, applied gel, worked on it for God knows how long, put on your best set of clothes and go to makeshift auto-stand feeling great about your life when suddenly an auto comes at the station, with the conductor yelling ‘tation-tation’ (in case you missed, its station with a silent ‘s’), you enter the auto and two sweat drenched aunties block the exit to the auto. You are thinking it’s just 10 minutes away, but the auto-wala will stop at the place where the scorching sun shines the most and make you pay for all the past life sins. He will wait for more unlucky souls, until his auto looks like a scene where we are attempting the Guinness Book of World Record for cramming the most persons in an auto.
Another interesting thing is that Allahabadis have adopted this system, they don’t mind sharing that seat with three more broad-assed individuals. Even if he gets one of his buttocks in place, he won’t complain.
But overall, Allahabad invites you and takes care of you if you adapt the city well, that’s an assurity I can give, being a former resident of this city. But still, do take care :p

A brand named India!

Its year 2030…and I just came across an e-article about Uttarakhand floods. Man! That was a real disaster. While researching around this article, I also realized that 2012-13 was a year filled with utter humiliation for Indian chauvinists. Newspapers crowded with news that could easily force your smiling curves inverted.
The dilapidating state of country was perspicuous in economic, social and humanitarian sense. My memory is fading and so it’s hard to remember how the shaking boat survived the drowning, but one thing’s I can bet on, we sure were close to reaching a deadlock where the scenario could have been described by even bad and ominous adjectives.
The political setup of India, both centre and state administration was seeing the lowest that it can be. I don’t know how we got through that horrendous phase where hopelessness, lawlessness and scrutiny of sincerity prevailed. Inconsiderate governance, apathetic politicians, slackly decisions, foraying into personal lives were just some gifts presented to citizens by our so-called ‘public servants’. The prevailing conditions were far cry from the promises of the incumbents.
The highlights of those times included falling rupee, the division of telangana, the national surveillance program, uncountable mid-day meal laxities, the disastrous National Food Bill among another national issues. In the local section the violence related with reservations, the suspension of SDM Durga Shakti Nagpal made the news constantly. Do you know, in UP, around 50 IAS officers are transferred every month. And this trend has been followed up for more than a decade now.
                Anyways these weren’t the only issues of let-down…these were following a long list of scams namely Coalgate, Commonwealth games, 2G auction, Chopper gate scams were just some major ones.
                Those were the times when utter helplessness and frustration marked over any discussions regarding India’s scenario. Patriotism was seriously taking lot of hits. I had seen the real patriotic souls on the verge of giving up on the country. The spark that enthused them was slowly fading followed by more impuissance. The times were so dark that leaving India looked eminent and substantial to a quality living. But as you can observe things are better now. The frustrated sense is no more acting now. The inevitable phase that no democracy has ever dodged was handled efficiently by our now developed India (of 2030). A new India rose from near ashes, with the efforts from bureaucrats, politicians and common man. Perhaps finding the right tuning to work with each other was the key.

 

Nature’s Wrath Yatra

11 days and more than thousand feared dead since the Uttarakhand disaster occurred and still rescue operations are at run. One cannot even begin to explain the trauma and suffering the people there have gone through. Showing its fury, nature struck to suddenly stamp out hundreds in the name of maintaining balance. There’s no fighting the nature’s wrath.
 
As the attitude of a person during glee and glum day tells a lot about his character; similarly a country’s character is quite aptly observed during calamities and certainly my opinion this time is towards the positive side. The way the pilgrims have been helped and comforted by various-not-less-than-God-like Indian army personal directly and by relief funds’ accumulators indirectly has been too overwhelming to describe, especially when the early monsoon has been a constant opposition to the rescue operations. It has foiled many such efforts and the short windows it has provided in its absence weren’t of much help either.  
It makes me think how it’s kind of ironic that people believe that God is taking care of them and is watching over them; but here people are at unease, to say the least, due to a ritual that is supposed to keep God contented. Then I heard about a village close to Kedarnath that is determined to help victims by offering them food and shelter till their reserves end. Such vicarious compassion shown by villagers is truly shows the high spirited and giving nature that Indians have been historically known for. Then there is heroic Indian army best illustrating this quality. They have been on a constant alert to ensure the relief operations do not lax. Around 19000 pilgrims have already been evacuated and Uttarakhand government has promised to complete the evacuation within 72 hours.
 
Believe it or not, I believe, Uttarakhand calamity had brought Indians a little closer; the stories sharing the grief and pain of losing or being separated by the loved ones, the apathy by some poor souls, the helplessness mixed with fear….thanks to media for acquainting us with the condition about the stranded pilgrims and Indian Army for their hospitality shown to the rescued in their camps after saving them from the stranded lands, thanks to all the individuals who contributed to relief funds(especially CRPF and BSF jawans for cutting in from their salary)….this disaster has taught us a genuine lesson about humanity……hope we all keep that flame of humanity burning!!!

And let’s pray for those stuck in inaccessible areas that Indian Army reaches them soon!

 

Jai Hind!!!

Bummer!


A girl was arrested on Sunday, for commenting against the bandh observed in Mumbai. Her statement was “People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a ‘bandh’ for that.”
Are we living in anarchy? How ridiculous can Maharashtra government get, acting crazy in the wake of Thackeray’s loss. The matter just doesn’t closes here; a friend of hers who liked the comment was also arrested and though they got bailed out in few hours after apologizing, this incident reflects about the methodology of working of the police department in Mumbai. Till I wrote this article, the PD didn’t took any notice of the girl’s uncle condition whose office was ransacked after this incident by a Shiv Sena mob whose major pastime is taking voluntary measures at slightest of provocation. Well done Shiv Sena for yet again proving that nothing can get past you unharmed.
                Some rumours speculate that police deliberately arrested the girls to protect them from getting matter worse. If that’s the case, then congrats to PD for devising a new way to control things around. It’s like buying ten pairs of defective jeans to cut the cost of buying one branded one or getting a plastic helmet for a steel one. A temporary solution can’t waver their adamence.
The suit filed against them was hurting religious sentiments. Seriously??? I am sorry but I don’t see her statement anyway near touching a religious sentiment let alone hurting them. You arrest this individual over a social networking comment and you don’t pay heed to the violence put up by the Shiv Sena workers; this is your discernment. This is the height of illogical judgement.
                Isn’t it written quite clearly in the Constitution of INDIA that every citizen has the right to Freedom of Speech? What do we have to do to exercise our rights without being hampered by a political party whose leader was known to change his political ideologies to suit the mood of the day. Our leaders especially the Shiv Sainiks have such low tolerance that using them to organise riots and bandhs is a walk in the park.
                If the conditions are to be improved, it has to start from this virtual core, the leaders needs to inculcate some tolerance towards religious, emotional and critical remarks. A sound mind, healthy thought process and ability to take criticism (tolerance) are the biggest quality of a leader and we need to see those in our present leaders. I respect Bal Thackeray as a political leader (may his soul rest in peace) and I know his party were bummed by his loss but burning houses and ransacking shops isn’t the solution. Its time to stay calm and build a Mumbai that everyone wants to live in.

Life at Kota!

Well, Kota is one of the few places that I got an opportunity to visit and it certainly is a place that blew my mind away effortlessly with its energy, aura and the way of living. And believe me I am not alone who felt that way.

The students who studied at Kota share a special bond among themselves that reminds them of the golden days they spent at the temple of study. The city is like a honey to the ants for coaching institutes, a way of unstoppable profits to the residents and a treat for the overcharging shopkeepers. But still life can never be more fun…if you have been in Kota once. The streets filled by the students, the air containing the freshness of youth, the institutes bearing tonnes of expectations from the parents are just some of the highlights why it stays not only in the brains but in the hearts. Seriously, if you are a youth and want some flavour in your life, then Kota is the place to go.

      Not exquisitely a place for tourists, but a resident or a student who has there been for long, knows how to use the place for fun…and I know for sure, my fellow students know it pretty well. Be it spending the evening after the exam for a game, be it watching movies, be it strolling the mall, checking the ‘flavours’ at newly opened outlets or any activity that I haven’t tried (I would love to know some more), there is something for almost everyone; nerds, foodies, jazzy, nonchalant, romeos (and ofcourse female romeos), rowdies; everyone finds his/her‘s. The fun never ceases and you’ll never feel enervated even if it has been a long, hard day.

            It’s like if you have cherished your life at some point, you must have visited Kota at some stage of your well-planned life. It may be an overstatement but there is a lot of feelings and time gone in writing this article and I enjoyed it as if I was reliving my Kota days again. Every day stood out from the previous day in fun, academic learning, girls etc.

            Enter the city at first and you think ‘How am I going to survive in this unknown city’ and after few weeks, it accepts you like a fat kid accepts a candy from a stranger. At this time your mentality is like ‘Dude, I am never leaving this place’. From being cynical at first, then slowly imbibing and catching up, you become one of the many individuals struck by its cordial hospitality and taken gradually into its welcoming arms. You melt away in the arms like you have been craving for this warmth for all your life.

            The favorite pastime of a Kotan resident is the movies at the cyber-cafes which are sprouted at every nook and corner of the city for the ‘good’ of students. Trust me, there are movies and movies in every folder of every computer of the café. You can go for a never ending spree of great movies one by one and still end up with entirely new collection at another café.

Talking about the highlights; there is a breakfast of fresh ‘pohas’ or ‘jalebies’ to give your morning a brisk start. Sometimes, for a change, tea with ‘pakora’ does the same magic. Since, I had my classes in the noon, so I had the luxury of cherishing these delights even more leisurely.

Then there is the new attraction, the mall. The new outlets included some fancy restaurants, MacD, Fun cinemas and a large space for celebrating specific festivities. Remembering the photo-sessions we used to execute with our hostelmates from time to time makes me nostalgic.

Playing cricket at the roof, flying the kites with hundreds of accomplices at Basant Panchami, visit to parks, really cherishing the holidays are some of the things in my experience that really stands out.  

And yes it was Kota, which among lack of topics, inspired me to write and continue my blog.

            I am thankful that I got a shot at being a denizen of the city and I would be really glad to know if I inspired someone to try the same.