Some family came to see me….
after all my parents want me to get married… the father and the brother of my may be to be came to meet ma parents and me..

I am asked a simmple question..

beta would you like to get married?
no, i like myself to be treated as someone who is willing to get married.. and then when everything finalises i elope with the person i choose for myself… for some reason that does not workout.. and i have to come back home to be displayed in front of another family…

do you know how to cook…
yup…. though that is not really appreciated by the ppl who eat what i cook…

do you know how to sing…
yes… i was one of the finalists in the African Idol….

what are your hobbies…
listening to music…cooking… and other ghar ke kaam…

and they say to my folks… hamein ye ladka pasand hai….

isn’t this wat most of the girls who get treated as objects when someone or the other comes to see them, would like to happen to a guy… why not for a change the guy is displayed at his place.. and someone asks him if he knows how to cook.. and if he can wash clothes.. and if he knows how to use the sewing machine… i am sure lotsa gurls out there would like to see this happening… unfortunately this is something not really happening !!!!

coming back to what is going on at my place….

beta is ladki ne MCA kiya hai.. and she is working in some MNC…..
beta us ladki ke papa kisi school mein princi hai… ladki ke baare mein abhi kuch pata nai hai….

this is getting really scary now… do i have to decide if i want to spend the rest of my life on this planet in one day… that one day when i would meet the gurl my folks probably would think is the best for me… actually they will not take any call before i decide what i really want to go ahead for.. but still the first level of filtering is being done by them…

i am thinking about the kinda gurl i would like to spend my life with.. reealy thinking now.. and also thinking about what kinda gurl can manage to spend her life with me…. oh boy !!! some brain needs to go into this…

i am shit scared… what is going to happen in the next few months and how i am going to live through it… upar wala jaanta hai !!!!

This is a mix of two fotos.. the one with the zen was clicked about an year and half ago.. when me, aro and Narang had gone to attend Jai’s wedding in D’doon…

incidently i was wearing the same clothes… and aro had the same t-shirt… we were standing on the exact same location.. in the middle of the Rajaji National Park…

some nostalgic moments these were !!!! missed you narang here 🙁

Radha in her full glory at Mama’s place !!!! Ain’t she an absolute beauty 🙂

Nazar na laga dena 😉

my net connection was down.. this post was supposed to be published on April 30, at 0000 hrs… par ka karen.. netwa nai na chal raha hai abhi.. baad mein postwa karenge… starting in english.. and then turned to hinglish… looks like ending up like a PJ… ehehhee… but i enjoyed writing it… lets see how many ppl enjoy reading it too 🙂

What a day this turned out to be… from not having my boss in the office.. to one very very important meeting not happening…to me attending the entire class of PM… to sending atleast 25 sms’ to Bharti and Anshu… to meeting Ajay and Alok… to dropping Waquar and Saba on the train *they were going on their honeymoon*

Ab samachaar vistaar se….

aaj subah hamare sootron se pata chala ke prashant ki boss office nai aa rahi hai… cycle-o-logically aisa hota hai ke boss office mein na ho to employee ko achcha achcha lagta hai.. prashant, jo ki noida ke niwasi hain unhe bhi aisa hi laga…. generally general feeling hoti hai !!!!
phir kuch vishwasniya sootron ne bataya ke ek zarorri cabinet meeting jisme ek aham faisla liya jaana thaa wo nahi ho rahi hai… is baat ko lekar kaafi vidhayako mein asantosh ki sthiti paida ho gayi hai.. shayad ab ye meeting somvaar ko ho 🙂

ab agli khabar… gaurtalab hai ke… office se late hone ke bawajood.. prashant ghar gaye.. khana khaya aur phir apni class mein pahuch gaye… wo bhi time se.. aisa kabhi nai hua hai… par aaj hua… ye prashant ne kaise kiya… iski exclusive story dekhiye aaj raat 11:30 par theek sasur bhi kabhi damaad the ke 6th repeat telecast ke baad 🙂

aayie ab aapko le chalte hain sms ki duniya mein.. ek aisa aavishkaar… jiska istemaal karke aap kabhi bhi kahin bhi kisi ko bhi 3-4 line ka sandesh bhej sakte hain… aaj noida ke prashant babu ne “limca book of world records in india only” mein aane ki koshish karte hue karib 25 sms bhej diye… apni do doston ko… anshu aur bharti…anshu unke school ke zamane ki bahut pyaari si dost hain.. aur bharti building banane ka kaam kaise karte hain wo seekh rahi hain…. wo bhi lagta hai kuch dino mein achchi dost ban jayengi… prashant babu ka ek exclusive interview aap pad sakte hain hamare akhbaar… “rozana wahi kabaaad”.. oops khabar ke agle hafte ke weekly edition mein…

*Breaking news* abhi abhi pata chala hai… ke prashant ne sms karte karte apne seedhe haath ke angoothe mein chot kha li hai… lagta hai wo ab kaafi dino tak sms nahi kar payenge.. par india cricket team ke physio unke saath hain… unka ilaaj karne ke liye… waise bhi unko koi aur achcha kaam to hai nai…

Karib 3 saal ya shayad 2 saal baad aaj ajay chopra aur alok gupta ki mulakaat prashant bhardwaj se ST Microelectronics ke noida office ke bahar hui… ye teeno dost ek doosre se milkar kaafi khush dikh rahe the… wahan se teeno radha ke saath Cafe Mocha mein gaye jahan par ajay bhai menu card se khud ki hawa karte rahe kyonki unko garmi lag rahi thi.. aur alok, aur prashant ke saath Mocha Shake ka anand bhi uthate rahe.. wahan se un logon ne lavanya naam ke ek dhabe ki taraf prasthaan kiya.. jahan par unhone masta khane ke saath live ghazals ka bhi maza liya….

ab din ki aakhri khabar…. Waquar aur unki patni Saba aaj raat ko Raanikhet express se Pithoragarh ki taraf rawana ho gaye… Prashant babu khud radha ke saath unhe purani dilli railway station chorne gaye the… waquar ki shaadi 27march ko unke hi gaon mein jo banaras ke paas hai bade dhoom dhaam se hui.. aur aaj se unke pehle honeymoon ki shuruwaat bhi ho gayi… aayiye hum sun dua karen ke unki is shaadi se hamare naujawano ko pyaar, ikraar, izhaar, intezaar, wagerah wagerah karne ki seekh mile.. hamari shubhkamnayen waquar bhai ke saath hain…

aur ab mausam ka haal…dilli mein dopahar ko garmi hogi.. aur shaam ko mausam achcha rahega….jahan burf giregi wahan thodi si thund hogi.. aur barish jahan hogi wahan par boondein girne ki sambhavna hai…

hamare news channel… roz wahi kabaad.. oops again… roz wahi khabar par khabron ka silsila zaari rahega… dekhte rahiye….

One of the fotos I like to like… the contrast between what is there in the front of the car and what i see in the rear view mirror….

Solid plain rocks vs. Mountains full of trees….

for some reason I have always been facinated by what i see in the rear view mirror of my car.. and i use that not only to see who is approaching me but also to find more about them… how ppl look in extreme heat.. and what are they doing when its a cool morning breeze splashing their faces… or when they are stuck in a traffic jam… there are so many shades of life that this rear view mirror shows me everyday… everytime i look into it… sometimes empty roads.. sometimes ppl rushing like mad…. sometimes strong sun… and sometimes (like today) RAIN *it was very beautiful today while coming back from office by the way*

Do i see some part of my life in this foto… i think i do…

Me and my Babe… somewhere between Chamba and Dhanaulti 🙂

Was talking to a friend of mine… about the movie theatres in Delhi and NCR and reminded myself of the first ever movie I saw at Priya’s… Call it an embarassing moment or a innocent mistake of a young boy 🙂 whatever… this is how it happened…

Once upon a time.. ok 1996 to be precise, a young boy named Prashant went to see a movie at a movie theatre called Priya in Delhi… when he reached there he promptly went to the ticket counter and bought two tickets for the balcony, one for himself.. and the other one for his friend who tagged along with him for the movie… the movie he wanted to see was “Desperado” Antonia Banderas and the ummmmmmm Salma Hyke…. So he enters the hall with his friend and takes the great centre seats from where the movie exp of that action movie would be great !!!The movie did not start on time.. however there were a few movie trailers of various movies and then this loooooooooong trailer of a movie called “Miracle on the 24th Street”…. this trailer looked like a movie itself, and when it did not finish for about 45 odd minutes, and Prashant really got restless looking at the santa and the young kids on the screen when he was expecting Antonio Banderas to kill the bad men with his gun.. he finally decided to talk to the person sitting on the next seat…. he asked the guy… “Sir ji, what movie is this?”, the man sadly replied, “I have no idea, I came here to watch Desperado!!!” and Prashant was back on his seat.. looking at that sweet movie about christmas…. finally the movie got over in about 90 odd minutes.. and when he came out of the hall.. he found out that Priya was playing both the movies though at different times.. and by mishtake he had bought the tickets of the show when they were showing the Miracle movie….

those were the days… when we used to move around on scooters without licenses.. and always had only enough mooolah in our pockets to bribe the policewalas if they catch us…
those were the days when college gurls were really attractive, specially coz they could wear whatever they want.. even when they went to their classes…
those were the days when we got punished for not standing in a straight line during the morning prayers in our school…
those were the days when we used to plant small bombs in the school toilets around diwali….
those were the days when we used to talk to our juniors as if we owned the school…
those were the days when we used to steal sodium out of the chemistry lab and put in the water sink to see it explode…
those were the days when we used to sneak into the commerce section as soon as our classes were over…
those were the days when we used to stand outside the class in the entier period coz we were late for the class…
those were the days when we used to reach home in the afternoon and sleeep till evenings….
those were the days when we used to stand on our bus stands in the mornings and check out gurls from other schools…

those were the days that still make me feel nostalgic and want me to go back to them…. missing you life !!!!

9998 : This is what i see on my car’s dashboard tonight… just 2 kms short of a 10K mark in about 6 months…. there is a lot that has happened in these last few months…

1) I feel i have matured personally and professionally; Saying this because I feel more calm and composed these days to myself…

2) I feel bad (at times) not to have friends who are around me all that time… after I left hughes.. i could never feel comfortable around any new ppl except very few. Neha is one of them… though she is off to paris for a looooooooong time; Pawan is another…. though we talk quite often.. the sad part being we have not met yet… I have not managed to get along well with a lot of ppl in the Office on the personal front… i do not like being in the corporate at times… and i feel the primary reason is that the kinda of sporty competition that I have lived in Hughes is nowhere to be seen here…. everyone is only about making sure that the other does not get any credit for what they do… every wants to score points as and when possible… and in any way possible…

3) i still love my car from the core of my heart… looking at her, her fotos… makes me soooooooooo happy…. i have the wallpaper of the car on my desktop.. and trust me she is just awesome….

4) I am seriously getting inclined towards photography… its good that i did not rush into buying a camera and have decided to do my homework before I get into a huge investment.. which can be anything between 40-60K

5) Ma and Pa are getting serious about getting me married… and having a daughter for themselves.. i think they cannot take me anymore… hehehehehe.. they have given up and seriously want someone else to come up and take care of me and handle me:) i at times think how things would change after we have two kids in this house… one me and the other meri BIWI

life is interesting and boring at the same time !!!! funny yet quite…. hectic yet calm… lively yet lazy !!!!

might be continued…..

I have not been able to sleep tonight…. too excited to think about getting to drive for a long distance… and mosquitos as well.. hehehe… so i get up at 0130 hrs after going off to sleep at 2300 hrs yesterday to fight some of these small but irritating creatures… someone temme what role do they play in the entire food cycle !!! i am missing neha right now… for a couple of reasons… One there are chances that if she was here in india.. she would have joined me on this trip.. which would have been jussssssssst wonderful… and two she can tell me about the mosquitoes…
ok coming back to the trip thingie…. Aro is still in the office and there is no cab that can drop him around NOIDA till like 0630 hrs… banking on our manager Amit to drop him to NOIDA !!!! now when would he leave office… lets see… I really wanted to start early so that we could beat the early morning traffic and reach Rishikesh as early as possible… around 1000 hrs is when I think we would be able to reach if we leave around 0500 hrs…. Lets see when do i leave and when i reach there… the idea is to drive up in the mountains for another 100 kms before we stop.. spend the night there and then come back to rishikesh on sunday morning to do some rafting and stuff…
but then u never know… once me and aro meet.. we might just change the plan of where we are going 🙂 might go to chandigarh as well… or is Jim Corbett a good idea?… lets see…

bai bai for now… the next i think i would write on would be monday….. till then this is your host and buddy Prashant signing off !!!! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂

I never thought ke main sher bhi likh sakta hoon !!!! But then what the heck… Writer to sabke ander hota hai 🙂
to sahibaan meherbaan kadardaan paandaan peekdaan meri jaan kabristaaan… arz kiya hai :

Kuch is tarah chalte rahe andheri raat mein hum,
ke manzil ka pata nahi aur chalna chor nahi sakte…

Doooooooo Try This At Home !!! 🙂

A ten year-old Jewish boy was failing math. His parents tried everything
from tutors to hypnosis; but to no avail. Finally, at the insistence of a
family friend, they decided to enrol their son in a private Catholic school.
After the first day, the boy’s parents were surprised when he walked in
after school with a stern, focused and very determined expression on his
face. He went straight past them, right to his room and quietly closed the
door.For nearly two hours he toiled away in his room with math books strewn
about his desk and the surrounding floor. He emerged long enough to eat, and
after quickly cleaning his plate, went straight back to his room, closed the
door and worked feverishly at his studies until bedtime. This pattern of
behaviour continued until it was time for the first quarter’s report card.
The boy walked in with it unopened, laid it on the dinner table, and went
straight to his room. Cautiously, his mother opened it and, to her
amazement, she saw a large red ‘A’ under the subject of Math. Overjoyed, she
and her husband rushed into their son’s room, thrilled at his remarkable
progress.
“Was it the nuns that did it?” the father asked.
The boy shook his head and said, “No.”
“Was it the one-to-one tutoring? The peer-mentoring?”
“No.”
“The textbooks? The teachers? The curriculum?”
“No”, said the son.
“On that first day, when I walked in the front door and saw that guy nailed
to the Plus Sign, I KNEW they meant business!”

Have been thinking of writing for a few days now.. but just could not get started… the feeling has to come from within to come out with words.. here is what is happening to me in the last few days…
friday april 08….. martina had to come from goa and i was supposed to pick her up from the station…
*flashback*
neha wrote an email saying that some friend of hers was starting on a world tour and india was her first destination…. i was to take care of her when she reaches delhi… and plan her trip around here… martina called from goa on the 6th and told me that she was taking a train that leaves goa at 0500 hrs and reaches delhi at 1700 hrs the next day.. this is where the conversation ended… and i could not find out which train she was taking… finally she called me on the 7th and told me the train number… now i knew which train she was coming in… i still did not know how i will recognise her and how she would know me…

*back to the present in history*
she called me after getting out of the station.. and we met….. i was prepared to use all the accent i learnt in my call centre exp.. roll all the “r”s and let her know thati could speak english well as well 🙂 anyway it was a comfortable introduction.. and we could talk easily… we still had to figure out where she is going to stay… so we moved out of the station… ate raj kachauri at Comesum… and i had a tough time explaining to her what all was there in the dish 🙂 forgot what half of the ingredients are refered to as in angrezi… anyway… from there to Humayun’s tomb.. and found out that she was not really interested in forts or castles.. but was very keen in having a look the city.. get to know india from inside.. and not from a tourist point of view….

over the next two days… we talked about india, its culture.. differences in india and germany… how thoughts differ in the two countries… we talked about the gita, Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, Pushkar, Ganga, Mahabharata, Pandavas and a lot of other things…we went around the city.. went to dilli haat, india gate, upsc chaat wala, sunday book market at darya ganj, a friend’s reception, metro rail, CP, eatopia, noida etc etc…. and the best part.. she spent two nights at a friend’s place in def col… he and his wife really took care of her, and she was very happy to be there…

sunday evening.. she went to jaipur and would be back to delhi on friday night… so that we can go to rishikesh for river rafting on saturday morning !!! There were a lot of small small things that I have missed out on.. but i guess i would be able to speak about them instead of putting them in printed words…

This burthday was different too… this time i was wondering about the amazing difference in what she was going at an age of 20 and where I was at 26 years…brought me a thoughts of wondering about what all i have done in the past all years of my existance.. and what i really want to do… where do i really want to go… what is it that i am aiming for in my life… there are a lot of questions that are hitting me from everywhere.. and i am trying to figure out how to move ahead on my way to these answers…

10-04-05 0907 hrs :

So the budday night starts with a call… i pick it up..and its from a “private number”… well.. who can it be… and its my dearest friend… Neha…. she was calling from her Lab in Paris…. we talked for a while… and then kept the phone down…. i think i got two messages during time time…. and even Aro called… i for some reasons never have felt that my birthday is a special day.. but then so many ppl calling me, wishing me… make it so very special for me…. Neha, Bhoomi, Vinod Mama, Danu Dimple, have called me so far… and i have messages from Raina, Nidhi, Adi, Aro, Bindu ma’am, Batra Bawla, Pawan, Dinesh Chacha and my cousins there, Sudip, Priya Rajpal…. and ofcourse.. my cousins Ashu, and Puneet are here with me… When I was talking to neha in the night… they were putting a candle on the cake they brought for me… after I do not know how many years i cut a burthday cake.. it was very sweet of them 🙂 And mom dad are here to gimme all the wishes I need to have a life better and happier…will write more !!!! there is a lot to happen 🙂

1900 hrs…
Waquar called… Neha’s dad called… Batra Called.. Neeraj called… Aro called… ruchi called… Maya didi called…… i am feeling important today… I also got a bouquet in the morning today.. lotsa roses.. and i do not know who sent it across… secret admirers.. or some friends who forgot to tell his/her name to the flowerist… welll… time will tell… still sometime to go before the day ends and i complete 26 years of my existence on this planet earth… lets see how the next few hours go by 🙂

God bless me !!!!

Tareekh : 5-April’05
Jagah : Cafe Coffee Day
Waqt : Raat ke 9:30 Baje

Me and Tushar had dinner outside yesterday… and then we went for a walk in sector-18…. went to the cafe coffee day in Centre Stage Mall and that is where this discussion started… though Tushar did not do much other then nodding his head and agreeing to me for most of the points but still I feel it was a good conversation…

ME : Yaar, I want to get a part-time job in McDonalds. No no.. not really McDonalds but a cafe like Barista or Cafe Coffee Day.

Toosh : Good idea… but then we do not have that kinda coffee bars where you would be respected as a professional and ppl would like to get into conversations with you. Not like what we see in TV serials on Star or Zee Cafe where you have a coffee bar and ppl come there, meet friends, and talk over coffee or muffins or donuts and the owner of the cafe or for that matter someone who works there is also a part of your conversations and your friend list….

*and this is where the talkative devil in me came to life, and I started speaking about what i felt and Toosh kud only say hmm or nod his head*

Me : Very true… I can only stand over the counter and serve.. nothing else… but then there is another thought that comes to my mind… why don’t we have new friends being made in such cafes… or for that matter.. how many times do you remember yourself approaching a group or an individual to talk just like that… now, why does that happen…. here is what i feel why that happens :
1) Most guys are looking for women with whom they end up in a dark corner of a street with or in bed with… and not really looking around for friends…
2) Most women know that they are being looked at and approached only to be treated as sex objects.. and definitely do not like to be approached by strangers…
3) The genuine guys also get treated as some road side onlookers who are only looking around for girlfriends.
4) I have not seen a gal ever approaching a guy, probably because she will be treated as a despo or something…
*This is where I stopped*

*afterthoughts*
This is something that happens or does not happen out on the streets, in the malls, in the cafes, in restaurants… as Tushar said rightly that we have so much fear of rejection in our minds that we do not even smile when we have an eye contact with ppl while walking driving… we carry our expressionless face just perfectly during all those moments which otherwise would help us break the ice !!!

I feel that once we start feeling that what we do not have to start off with any relationship whether short or long term thinking that we have to achieve something out of it.. but take it as something that carries on.. something that does not endup in bed or in a car… something that is for your mind and for yourself as a person…

There are a lot of things that I am thinking at the same time right now.. from why don’t we have good thought provoking conversations to making new friends and new places to why don’t we approch people without the fear of being rejected….and i think i have mixed up some of the many thoughts that came to me…

might be continued…
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Aseem, Me and Jassi (L to R) @ Barista in Ansals Plaza…