Friends…
Met these two young boys on a sunny afternoon in Panipat… Was at the Devi Mandir in Panipat, taking a few pictures when they came up to me to check what was I upto! Decided to take a picture of them too!
One of my very very dear friends J, is SINGLE, and is looking for a valentine’s day date! He mentioned that to me in the morning today and I vouched to put this issue up somewhere… my best somewhere happens to be Chai ki Dukaan!
The guy is very smart, good looking, soft spoken, a brilliant photographer and an entrepreneur with a smile worth millions and a heart of Gold! and Single! and available!
If you know someone in Bangalore, who would like to go out on a blind date, please do leave a note here! I hope my friend is reading the post and the comments!
and I connect with him after quite a few years of no conversations!!!
I have to say that it has to be one of the best things that have happened to me this year!
And this when I was talking about him regularly to another very close friend of mine!!! I guess while I was talking about him, time and space was making him look for me! Makes my belief in the fact that there are no coincidences, a lot more stronger!!!
I feel that the best thing about connecting with childhood friends is that there is no judging happening… it’s absolutely easy to accept that friend the way (s)he is, mostly because you tend to remember all that you can from the yesteryears, and what that person is “now” is of little importance… you tend to rely mostly on the years when you have grown together instead of being close friends because of you liking something about the person! There is a lot that I have to write about the times Sandy and I used to be a two member gang, but sometime later! I am smiling non-stop right now thinking about my good ol’ school days right now!!!
Sandeep, if you are reading this! Thank you bro! I can’t tell you how happy I am!
I can count my good friends on my fingers, and my friends, well, maybe twice on my fingers… anyone else, and no offence please, is someone that I know or someone who knows me through Chai ki Dukaan, or my flickr page, or through someone I know through chai ki dukaan or my flickr page, or through someone who I know through someone… but com’on!!! friends? its takes something to be called a friend or to be a friend! is it not? or I am just plain stupid?
For me 1 incident, or a couple of them between two people do not make or break friends… its takes time! and something more than the verbal or written or visual to be a friend of someone… a connection that makes you open up and share, and it HAS to be two way!
and I see on blogs and comments and other places, sentences like I love you all, thank you friends, and all that… I find it crazy!
On second thoughts, what is a different word for friend? Are there more words like it which can be used? Is it offensive to admit that you do not treat someone as a friend, but just as someone you know? I personally feel its ok, I would know my place and space and if I don’t I should…
Maybe I am just going crazy! well! never mind!
Decided that there should be more than 1 winner, so picked up 3 instead… and here are the results !!!!
Congratulations Teekhi Mirchi, Subbu and Geet…
So now the three of you can choose a picture each from the Holland post, and write to me at prashantbhardwaj[at]gmail[dot]com with the picture details, and the address you’d like me to ship the photograph to !!!
Thanks people for participating 🙂 and apologies to those whose names did not come up in the draw this time! come up with ideas to have your names in the winner’s list and we will do something similar in June 🙂
With the music of Gulal, there is one more song that has been added to the list of my favorites… the ones where you need atleast space for 3 people, have a gamcha in your neck, your lower lip between your teeth, and dance like there is no tomorrow 🙂
राणाजी म्हारे गुस्से में आये, आइसो बल खाए,
अगिया बरसाए, घबराए म्हारो चैन
जैसे दूर देस के टावर में घुस जाये एरोप्लेन
जैसे सरेआम इराक में जाकर बस गए अंकल सैम
Actually two songs 🙂 the other one is
बीड़ा दूजी थाली का लगे बड़ा मसालेदार
मन बोले चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक चक मक चक मक
खाई तो मचल गई रे ओ कजरारी नार
मन बोले चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक चक मक चक मक
The simplicity in lyrics and music is something that bowls me over EVERY single time with such songs… Thank you Rekha Bhardwaj for rendering it in a way that it touches the heart!
Thanks Geet for the post on Gulal… Good music and some very strong lyrics! I am looking forward to the movie as well…
Oh and talking about the title… here is the last video from my trip to Minneapolis… the gang enjoying with Billo Rani !
The best part is that Papa also likes this song a lot and there is no time when he listens to this song and we do not put it on a repeat 🙂
Another random thought, I need to prepare a list of songs for my bachelor party, whenever that happens 😀
If you are not able to see the embedded video, click here to see it on youtube.
You might also want to see some photographs of these guys HERE.
But don’t take my word for it… watch the movie… It would still show you a “few” glimpses of the beautiful walled city !
Oh, and apologies for a bad video quality of the embedded video.. it was the darker corner of the room where we guys were sitting and chatting… If the above video does not work for you, here is the link for YouTube.
I had aimed for a good weekend, and I hit the bull’s eye if not anything else 🙂
So Friday night i took the bus to Minneapolis and reached around midnight…
Happy Valentine’s day had started 🙂
On Saturday all we could do was hit on the dartboard instead of some hot girls around, because it was kind of snowing and very cold…
But the sky opened up, and it was bright outside… Pritam was excited about the shoot I had promised him of his new car !
No, not the one above… its the one below 🙂 The one above was just parked where we were shooting…
What yummy tires his SUV has… Tires and the lights are the first thing that I like to notice in any vehicle and if they are not attractive, I am usually not going to give the car a second look… and Pritam’s Nissan is a nice mean beast !!!
We went around driving for a sunset point and reached the Medicine Lake instead… Realized that this was our chance to drive on ICE and without much deliberation took the car on the lake as well… Now this was some crazy experience… driving on the frozen lake….
Waiting till sunset there and then headed back home…. The evening saw some lovely Indian music with an overdose of Delhi 6 numbers, specially Gainda Phool and ended with a lot of RD Burman music… not to mention the repeat of Umrao Jaan songs over and over again… so finally slept around 0300 hrs after finishing the conversation quote for the night…
The next morning… 0830 hrs and some hot ginger tea thanks to Deepak woke me and the rest of the gang up !!!!
Suman still did not want to get up and he just got up and went into a different room to catch up on his sleep 🙂
While the rest of the gang was getting ready, I took a few pictures of the customary roses to mark the Valentine’s day celebrations 🙂
The day was sunny and nicely warm !
So we decided to go out for a short drive around Minneapolis…
and saw the frozen waterfall @ the Minnehaha park…
The stairs that would take you to the bottom of the fall were closed and that saved us some time… so me and Pritam decided to take Golu, Lakhan and Sapna to the Medicine Frozen lake….
This time around, there were more people on the lake, and ICE fishing was at its full swing…
Lakhan got adventurous and decided to take some rest on his makeshift ICE bed…
The rest of the people were more intelligent, and had small cabins which they we spending time in…
And then we tried another game… sit on the pillow push ! but this did not work well… either our subject (Pritam in this case) was too heavy for the pillow to slide on ice, or the ice was not that frictionless… anyway, before we came out of the lake, we decided to do some wheelies and Pritam did take some nice complete turns in the car… very very interesting… i am sure they would have looked more interesting from outside !!!
With not much time left, we then rushed to Perkins to have lunch… i love Perkins by the way… the Granny Omlette (without any meat) and the Pancakes with honey are the best combo !!! mmmmmmmmmmm….
With just about 30 minutes left for my bus, we rushed to the downtown stand…
Took the bus at 1530 hrs from Minneapolis and was back home around 2200 hrs….
And did I mention that during these two days, we managed to take some crazy interesting portraits too !!! enjoy 🙂
Like I had said in my earlier post… Had a very refreshing weekend… Frozen lake, Frozen Waterfall, Umrao Jaan, Ginger Tea, Crazy Face Making Photo Session, Hunt for a Pineapple Cake, were just some of the few things that happened, not to mention the non stop talking !!!
I was talking to Tunna a few days back she told me about something that she was thinking about… memories associated with long lost friends and they coming back with something that happens today… She even wrote something and sent it to me and wanted me to write about it…
I am sure it must have happened with all of us….some things, some incidences…trigger our thoughts for someone…. The life seems to be moving fine….we all busy with chasing our dreams…but in midst of this madness how come thoughts of someone find its way… I was sharing these thoughts with one of my collegues…and the reply came..” are u unhappy” And i realised i have made the mistake of sharing my precious feelings with some idiot..i dnt have to be sad to be missing… I thnk ppl still dont realise someone can be missed with a smile…some moments wen run thru…jus leaves u wth smile.,..and only smile… this one is for all ( ths all is not the large…actually very few) my dear friends i have not been able to speak in a long time….i miss the time spend,.,..wth time i value u even more…
__________________________
I feel good friends are like old letters that over a period of time might hide under a pile of books or other things, but when you are cleaning up your mess, you are bound to reach that letter again, read it, sit back and relax, and think about the great times you two had together… even make an attempt to find out where they are and get in touch with them again… distances, times, circumstances suddenly do not matter in such cases….
Good friends are also like the songs that you once loved and could listen over and over and over again, and then with time you moved on to listening some new numbers, new singers, etc, and suddenly that song plays back on the radio and you are reminded of how much you have loved, and missed that song too… just that you might not have realised it… and you just get back home and find the music you ‘love’ to love…
There are people I associate with, who have been fantastic friends and probably they are today as well, but with time we lost touch… I am not sure where they are, what are they upto, and in some cases I am in touch with them as well,
And all this while I make new memories everyday…
Some of the people and my memories that have some space in one of the other corner of my head and heart …
The walks with Nimisha and Taru, to bus stands other than our college stand so that we could miss the bus and spend more time talking and walking together,
Me and Nimisha going to Taru’s place one morning and singing together throughout and even on our way back,
A holi riot at Abhay’s place when we took out buckets of water from his bathroom and socked everyone wet in the room (God only knows how his mattresses and other stuff would have dried; must have taken ages; the entire house was a water hole),
Me and Kapil bhai walking and discussing our scripts and singing Sa Re Ga Ma from Chupke chupke ( apparently we two used to sing it very well),
My IIIrd standard fight with Sandeep when I had beaten him black and blue in the school bus and over years we turning to best pals EVER ( every evening we were sure to spend atleast 2 hours walking around the entire sector and talking whatever nonsense)
The ice cream after getting off the school bus and dividing the payments between Sandeep, Neeraj and Me… the bugger Aakash never used to pay…
The duplicate film roll that we bought from a shop on our Xth standard farewell and the messed up pictures that we go from it.. Neeraj you ass, I had asked you to buy the roll the previous day
Working with Meghna in the street plays and spending so much time talking about everything under the sun
Taking Himanshu’s bike for the interview at Spectramind.. the poor guy waiting for me till like 10 in the night in his college only because my interview formalities had not finished
Narang always telling me that I was making a mistake when I was going around with Shikha in Hughes
Adi, Me, Aro, Anmol, KB, Narang singing, “Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo…” before we used to start our shifts 😀 and anmol’s typical my name is arthurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, and me Aro and Narang adding the “teri maaaaaaaaaa kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” in the same tone 😀
Loads and loads of conversations with Aro and Tushar in the last 5 years !!!
Haircut Trips to Ganga Shopping complex with Tushar…
Ankur calling the Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri at Diskit 😀 and that too in a video and his dialogue about the stuck vehicles on our way to Pangong… Aaj to Phencho dekh kar hi jayenge !!! and that Saale firangi, this in India, yahan everything has a jugaad 😀
And how can I forget the Up-32 at Khardungla 🙂
Strange enough, I do not remember much about Ahlcon and those two years that I spent in that school, except the fact that I really liked and respected my physics teacher, Mrs. Archana Deepak!!!
There are million memories more… Can write a book about them 🙂 there are some sad ones too, and even though I remember them, I choose to not talk about them here… no point !!! life is happy !!
Have a happy weekend !!! God Bless 🙂
Calvin grew up?
What would he be like?
I can think of some similarities between him and Ross (from Friends)… Actually a lot !!!
Or maybe its Ross who might have been like Calvin when he was young !!!
Or is it just the love for Dinosaurs that makes them similar… I don’t really know !
Went to a picnic last weekend with a friend and his wife…
Looking at the number of leaves all around, I can only image how pretty this place would have been in Fall !!! And I am sure its going to look very very beautiful when there is snow all around !!! I am waiting for a decent snow fall to go there again !
Enjoy the pictures !
I think closeness between two individuals is not really a function of how many happy moments you share, but in reality, a function of how many times you were sad and you went to the other person to seek solace !!!
Now what is important here is that..
1. You should not try to resolve something that someone is sharing with you !!! More often than not, they just want to get it out of their system (I think I know why a lot of people write anonymous hidden blogs, because the blog would just listen and not really try to resolve; is that a reason why I still love my car like crazy even after 4 years? I guess yes ! because she listens to me !)
2 If you are with the person, make sure that the other person is sitting comfortably, and not on a uncomfortable barista chair, or a awkward bench…. try to go for a walk while you hear that person out…
3 Stay quiet but keep looking at him/her… a gentle pat on the back, or holding the hand will only help the entire situation
4 DO NOT try to be FUNNY… most people cannot appreciate humor when they are sad !!! but will cry very quickly just after they have laughed their ass out !
5 Over a medium like phone… keep acknowledging that you are hearing and please do hear and not just do the hmms every now and then…
6 Over a medium like chat, read what they are writing and do not really try to resolve unless asked for help and the usual pointers when someone needs help are when they ask a question… at this time too, they are probably looking for an assurance and comfort… so give it to them..
7 Play the devils advocate once they are done speaking
8 Get funny when they are tired of speaking
9 If you were walking, see if you could walk them to their favorite ice cream parlor, or drive them to a nice coffee house, or just to a park !
10 If on the phone or chatting, try and send them an email or a e-card which they can see once the conversation is over !!
I am sure we all know how to take care of people who are close to us, however being humans we gotta remind ourselves of what is right and what is not, at times !!!
And most of the time, people know how to resolve their own issues, we just help them by being around while they are making their lives better !!!
Another super weekend came to an end yesterday… probably the last in the series of weekends!!!
Let’s talk about the last two days right now though 🙂
1. Friday evening shopped for some curtain cloth with parents…
2. Friday early evening drove to Priya and had a small DFC get together… and i managed a peg of my favourite Absolut Peppar…. i love that flavour and the taste of it…
3. Managed to get Aro and Subbu at the party too…
4. It had rained nice and cool by the time we left, and then I drove to Gurgaon with them to meet Shaji and his super son Shawn!!!
5. We were on our way to Shaji’s place when Mon called and told me that I had to come to Dublin (the disc of Maurya Sheraton)
6. I stopped Shaji and told him that I had to go… Dropped Aro and Subbu in Dwarka and drove quickly to Dublin…
7. So between meeting the DFC gang once and then meeting them again, I had already driven like 60 odd kms…
8. Dublin is the worst disc I have ever been to… The DJ was dead, and the sound pathetic… I was missing my two outings to the Orange Room with friends and how we came out all exhausted after dancing for hours together… Dublin did not even make me feel like dancing… Highly unrecommeded folks!!!!
9. The good thing was meeting a few friends again…. that made up for most of the loss of good music though…
10. Quick drive back to Dwarka… actually pretty fast (took li’il over 10 minutes between Dhaula Kuan and Dwarka sector-9) saw a little bit of Varekai, and then called it a day…
11. Woke up darn late… and tried to watch a few movies but did not really watch anything…
12. Finally moved out around 4ish and went to ASK, where I gave them the cheque of Rs. 10000. (I will give the rest of the money as soon as I have it) Discussed with Dr. Khan about various issues that we as bloggers can target talking about… something might come up on Chai ki Dukaan too in near future…
13. Time to move to Shaji’s place now… We reached and realised that he was not home and his phone was not reachable either… so we decided to move back to Dwarka… but stopped in between when Shaji called and said that he was coming back!!! While waiting, I managed some hot chocolate fudge at Nirula’s…. I think I like the last weekend’s create your sundae better…
14. Shaji wanted to see Varekai too… So me and Aro drove back to Dwarka from Gurgaon and came back with the CD… Varekai went on till midnight, and by that time one of my friends also finished her work at office!!!
15. Picked her up, and drove back home after dropping her home… The ice cream walas at India Gate had already packed, but it was nice to see at least 200 people around the place at 0100 hours in the night when we drove past…
16. Sunday started very late…. A friend called me and said that he hates me because whenever he goes to his girlfriend’s desk, she has a window of the Chai Ki Dukaan in front of her 🙂
17. Went out shopping with Bindiya… got myself two stunning Kurta’s!!! And a nicey frame for the wall… pretty neat stuff!!! I had posted a picture of Bindiya on flickr sometime back and decided to get it printed and framed and give it to her!!! It was awesome to see the shocked look on her face when she opened the packet!!!! Its nice to do certain things which you are least expected to do 🙂
18. By the time I came back, Aro and Subbu were home already… Had called Subbu to meet pa… Later, picked up Tushar, Went to the market, got a whole bunch of VCDs of which I kept a few….Arobindo, the bugger bought the entire collection of Calvin and Hobbes too :'( what an ASS he is !!! I don’t like him for it…
19. Dropped Tushar back, went to the Tshop… and had a few teas… Subbu was not too happy
with the milk in the Darjeeling Tea, and Aro was not happy that I ordered ice tea for him… So I had the Fresh Lime Masala and some Peach Ice Tea…
20. The Day ended with the movie “Strangers”… Surprisingly I had not heard about this movie ever before and it turned out to be one of the best I have seen with incredible performances by Kay Kay Menon and Jimmy Shergil… I am not going to spoil the movie for you by telling what it’s about, but it’s a MUST watch if you have not seen it yet!!!
And Monday started as usual 🙂 it’s already 4 and I don’t know how the entire day passed by… I have been busy I guess 🙂
Nice!