Stranger...!!

Rear wheel of my eight year old vehicle was teasing me; it was the same expression which I got from an open cage when the bird inside it flew away to its freedom. The air in the tube was gone and I was facing a flat tyre. There was not enough strength left in me, after almost eleven hours spending in office doing nothing productive for myself, to heave it to some mechanic.

Few minutes I stood there staring the part of tyre lying on the ground making wrinkles like shape, cursing myself for not checking the air pressure, even after people pointed towards it on the road. Total capriciousness. I commanded my legs to move, they obliged without questioning.

Enjoying, or can be pronounced suffering, a ride on an over populous BMTC bus of a over populous country, I was few lanes away from my over rented apartment, thinking that I was over thinking of the population and the rent, both were indirectly related though, through the economics concept of demand and supply if the article in The Hindu was correct, so am I in this regard.

Another article came to mind, which was titled something like ‘street animals’, when I saw a devil’s ride in front of me covering half the lane with his enormous body, it was almost a size of mini truck, with two sword like horns he was having a capacity of crushing anything which comes in its way. The imagination of a broken rib or two, dried liquid in my brain, a fear rushed through my spine and my legs went almost at halt realizing that any more step will take me to a distance which cannot be counted as a safe one.

Something touched my arms and grabbed three of fingers of mine in his small little palm. A small child carrying a bag of almost his weight, in a white shirt and navy blue shorts, a water bottle hanging from his neck, staring towards the bull without blinking. I was able to sense his fear more accurately as it was analogous with my own. I didn’t notice him earlier; maybe he was standing there long enough to take that step of grabbing a hand of some stranger like me, he started walking parallel to me and the bull, making my body as a shield between the bull and him, keeping his eye continuously on the bull and fist tight on my fingers.

Divinity only knows from where I got that strength of walking beside that giant, but for definite it was a emotion of responsibility for that small kid, which won the confrontation against my fright. Slow and steady us past the bull. The boy who was just reaching my thigh height was still intent on the bull. For my surprise the bull was not at all bothered of us or any other being. It was busy probing for some eatables in the heap of garbage beside the fence. We past the avenue, and as soon as he realized that he was out of any threat, he left my hand but still walking alongside me. He never glanced up to see my face, he never was concerned to look the fear in my eye earlier or the confidence later, he just trusted me and I could feel it from the grip of his fist.

Few steps later he turned to other lane, more or less hopping, his bag moving up and down with him, and disappeared, leaving me behind thinking of the incidence, which had turned a frightened person into a hero. I don’t know what that emotion was but for sure if it was not him I would have never passed through that lane with that bull standing there; I for that instant was someone else, stranger.

A para from the book !!

I looked at the table which was just
behind me. Definitely there was something which was worth that much
attraction: a girl, covering herself with a nice brown shawl with some
stars as its border, hair tied beautifully in the shape of a butterfly. I
wonder why only one guy was staring her. There should be a long line of
boys for her. Although I was unable to see her face as she was facing the
other side, still one could say looking her from back that she must be
extremely beautiful. All my regrets for that man (who was sitting in
front of me) flew away and I was myself regretting why I didn’t see her
earlier. Anyway, better late than not looking her at all! Like that fellow I
also started waiting for her to turn so that we (I and that fellow) could
have a look of her angel like face. But in a few minutes I came to know
that not only me and that fellow but most of the male gender sitting over
there was waiting for her to turn. Most of the waiters were having a
close look on that table so that they could get a chance of going nearer to
her. This made me believe that whoever she was must be great looking. I
just waited there, as no one was interested looking what anyone like me
was doing there, all were interested in only beauty (that doesn’t mean I
am ugly). But as usual a horn distracted me from even seeing her. It was
from the bus stop (or I can say from bus itself).

I turned and saw headlights of the bus were shining, this was
indication that it was ready to move. At that point of time (or first time)
that bus seemed more important than the girl. Normally girls are always
priority, specially the beautiful ones. So without even turning back to her
I ran towards the bus stop. I was about to cross the door, someone just
came in front of me and caught hold of my hands. I was almost banged
on him. It took around one or two seconds to come back to normal state.
I looked above (his height was greater than six feet). I was not able to
see anything except his four feet wide body. First thing that came to my
mind was that he was definitely her boyfriend or her husband or in the
worst condition her brother. This time I didn’t have even space to run
away from a black eye. Still I had to react as early as possible. I was able
to imagine myself on that bus stop fighting with those elephant size
mosquitoes and struggling with dogs for some space to sleep beside the
dustbin. ‘Noooo…’ I shouted in my mind. And concentrated all my
energy into my 180 grams tongue just to say a single word to that
monster (in fact all boys who are brothers of beautiful girls are monsters,
that too most dangerous) “What?” This was the only word that came out
of my mouth and its volume was so low that it might have crossed the
hearing limit of 20 decibels. But I guess that his ten centimeters diameter
ears caught some of the sound waves that came out from my four
centimeters diameter mouth. He left my arm and shouted, “Money”. I
don’t know if there was a question mark or not but I was definitely not
expecting this. ‘I had just seen her, that too from back. I didn’t even see
her face and you charge for that?’ I thought. ‘It’s plain injustice. I will
go to the consumer court’ I added, in my mind.
I thought I could just sacrifice my left eye but cannot give money
just for looking her back (back means her shawl and her beautiful hairs).
But before I could tell him about consumer court he put his hand in front
of me and said “55 rupees.” “Not much.” I thought. “How much to see
the face?” I asked him directly as I had around hundred rupees extra. But
instead of giving answer he became a bit confused and started searching
for someone. Suddenly the same waiter appeared and said mechanically,
“One sandwich and an apple juice; 55 Rupees.” And same way like he
appeared, he disappeared. That monster was still staring at me. I got the
point ‘how can I forget to pay?’ I asked myself and took out the money
and kept it on his dish like hand. He shifted aside making some space for
me. I came out and started moving (in fact running) towards the bus. I
heard someone asking, “Whose face you wanted to see?” but I ignored and came forward.

P.S. Form The book - What the Hell !!...Is this a love story?? 

 

Mumbai Shirdi Aurangabad

I left for Mumbai on Thursday, there are lots of travel options for Mumbai from Bangalore, so it was no issue to book a ticket, just few clicks on redbus.com and a printout of the ticket was in my hands. It was National Travels bus. Sharp 7 in the evening their pickup bus came to madiwala and the journey started. In an hour we were at the main office of the National travels there a black colored shining multi-xl bus was waiting for us. I got in, seat number 31, a packet of chips and a packed bottle of drinking water was already waiting for me and within twenty minutes all seats were occupied. With a small jerk the bus started, two small ac windows started blowing chilled air on me and both the screens started playing movie Housefull2, total fun. I was going to Mumbai to meet my parents, they were there for next week, and for me it was easy to travel to Mumbai rather than going to my hometown which adds extra 2000 kilometers to be traveled. Bus stopped at some dhaba cum restaurant for dinner and after that the next stop was only in the morning for breakfast. I reached my destination, Mumbai, around 1:15 in the afternoon.

Plan was to spend Friday in Mumbai, Saturday in Pune with friends and travel back to Bangalore on Sunday. But who says a plan is always a success. My mother, on Friday, wished to visit Shirdi and I was like, why not? And next moment I was busy booking tickets. It was Neeta travels bus which cost five hundred per head; I booked three for the same night. Sharp 10 it left Mumbai, another movie ‘full and final’, a time pass movie. Saturday morning 5 we were in Shirdi and we were in front of a gang of agents surrounding us asking for hotels and lodges. We booked one for two hours as we were not planning to stay back. In an hour we were ready to visit the holy temple of lord Sai. Paths are very confusing if one is first time visitor. But security guards are helpful. No camera, mobile phones are allowed, so better keep it at the hotel. While taking puja materials beware of the costs, they can rip your pockets off. If they say take a costly flower garland as you will put in the idol from your own hands, forget it, the priest in the temple will not even touch the flowers to the idol, he will just swing in the air and give you back. There is no separate queue for ladies, but of course there are different routes to the main temple, so better stick together if you are in a group. One wrong diversion and you will end up in a completely different queue, then without mobile phones, you might end up meeting back only in the hotel room. It took around two hours in the queue, though people said, it was off season. After a small glimpse of few minutes we were thrown out of the temple by those security guards.

After a heavy breakfast in a nearby restaurant we were ready to travel back to Mumbai, but then we thought of visiting some nearby places as there was full day left. 

Aurangabad came to my mind, I have visited once with my friends, ellora caves, bibi ka makbara also called mini Tajmahal and Daultabad fort will be nice places to visit. After inquiry we came to know that there are frequent busses from Shirdi to Aurangabad, but as I was with family so thought of booking a cab which might be more comfortable. 1700 was told by the agent, they will show the places and take us back to shirdi. For 115 kilometers, it was reasonable. Meanwhile a gentleman came to me after listening to my inquiry session. They were too three in number and were headed to Aurangabad. So we booked an innova, which costs 2200, but after bargain we settled for 2000, and dived 1000 between us. Now we were total six in number. It took around two and a half hours and we were in front of mini Tajmahal, it is almost a copy of Tajmahal, but smaller in size. The cab driver also took us to sleeping Hanuman Temple and Ghaneshwar, which is one of the twelve Jyotirlings of Lord Shiva. As a custom, all the gents should remove their shirts and materials made of leather, before entering in the main temple. The priest said it is because we believe that to meet the Lord; we should at least behave like his Ganas. After this we headed to Daulatabad fort, but when we saw the height of it, we decided to skip it as it might take few hours and also will be very tiring, same impression was with other three also, so we left it and after having lunch just outside the main gate of Ellora caves, we entered the caves. They charge ten rupees ticket per head. Private vehicles are allowed inside and also can take you up to the caves. In total there are 36 caves, separated in groups of five or six. It can be very tiring if you wish to visit all by walking. So if you have come in public transport, better hire an auto, they charge fifty rupees per head and will take you to all the parts of caves. If you are really interested in history of the caves, hiring a guide will be a good idea, otherwise a general description is written in caves itself. If you wish to see each and every cave, it might take around 3 to 4 hours, cameras and handy cams are allowed and you can capture all the beauty of the location. The caves get closed by 5:30 in the evening, so one has to plan accordingly, as we were not able to visit the end caves due to lack of time. 

An amazing, exiting, but bit tiring trip has come to an end and we all headed back to Shirdi. I had already booked bus tickets to Mumbai at ten, and it was still 8:30 So we went to a separate campus where we can get special Ladu which is called the main prasad and also visited the museum which has a collection of items related to Sai baba.      

After a heavy dinner and a tiring journey booking a sleeper bus ticket was worth. We just slept as soon as we got into the bus. Five in the morning we were in Mumbai, back to home.

It was already Sunday and my visit to Pune was canceled already and it was time for me travel back to Bangalore, I had booked National travels Bus at two in the afternoon. Like earlier a packet of chips and drinking water was waiting for me and again I was at seat number 31, coincidence. This time three continuous movies, ‘once upon time in Mumbai’, ‘dil to bachcha hai ji’ and at last ‘Rowdy Rathore’. Sleeping in a semi sleeper seat is a pain, but somehow we all managed, we mean me and my co passengers. Finally at eight in the morning I was back to Bangalore, back to the point where I started, well we all know earth is round.   

profile of THE GIRL !!

Mom was more eager than me to see her future daughter-in-law. And why not after all, the girl was suggested by one of her dearest friend, one of the aunties which I have known since I started speaking the word ‘aunty’.

‘Can you do it fast?’ she asked, showing all her eagerness to have a glimpse of the girl. I was sure that aunty might have built an image of some princess, well I cannot blame her for this too, after all she is playing a part of advertiser.

‘patience patience’ I told her with a smile, as I was using just a dual core processor machine, that too with a plug in Tata photon, trying to open world’s busiest website called Facebook. If you are not aware of this site, I guess, I finally met my Stone Age ancestors.

Finally I was in front of the light blue screen, my mother, peeking into it from behind. I entered The name, in the rectangle area of the search box, which my mother gave me and was a descent one, but as some great poet and philosopher had said ‘what is there in a name’ so I am avoiding the name of both, the philosopher and the girl.

Pressed enter and a list of profiles popped out. I turned to my mother with an expression of interrogation. She was already busy with the phone dialing to the same aunty for more details so that we can shortlist the correct girl from the given list.

‘She is wearing a black top in her profile picture, some hard rock café in the background and had studied in St. Xavier College’ she said still on phone asking for some other specifications.  Hard Rock Café, St Xavier College, sounds real interesting. I have spent almost two years roaming around St. Xavier, best part is their uniform, minis and all, and I know all this because I had many friends studying there, in case your eyebrows are going up.

‘I got it’ as soon as I saw a profile matching with the specifications and next moment my mother was in charge of the laptop.

Observations

Profile picture was cool; she was posing as if for an ad shoot. I liked it.

‘Photos’ section was blocked for ones who were not in her friend list, except few clicks here and there which were sober enough for a hippy, again, I liked it.

‘About me’ section was not completely hidden, I could find a quote which said something like ‘attitude is in my blood, you mess with my attitude, you mess with me, period’ well I liked it.

‘Interests’ well this was the best part, it was completely open. I don’t remember all but I will list the top two, don’t mind if you still live in black and white world, they were, smoking hukka and enjoying vodka shots. Well what to say, may be I will also get a chance to take a puff, so I liked it.

My mother, after each section gave different expressions, which, in sequence, were something like ‘God see her dress’ ‘is this snap taken in some bar?’ ‘Oh my God’ and after the last one, well she didn’t speak anything so I can say ‘speechless of shock’ she turned and without even looking at me started towards the kitchen. I was left there laughing.

After controlling my laugh, I turned towards kitchen and shouted, ‘I liked the girl’ and I heard a sound, I guess something fell off from my mother’s hands.

A small stint from my Book !!

I glanced around inside the bus. It was not at all crowded; in fact many of the seats were empty. She took a seat, capturing the window and having no other option I sat beside her. Mostly people were enjoying sleeping, which made me think of sitting somewhere else and avoid falling on her (I know it feels stupid). I looked outside the window (of course the window on the other side). There were few lights shining in the dark like someone had put candles here and there to kill the darkness. Cool breeze was passing through the windows. I felt a kind of peace in the environment. Bus was moving smoothly on the highway, making me wish this journey never ended and I just kept enjoying it forever. I saw her sitting quiet (rare and also dangerous) looking outside the window, with her hands folded. She just opened her folded hands and shut the window. ‘Damn! The only unpleasant thing at this point of time was the girl’ I thought. ‘What is the problem with that window now?’ I shouted at her and please note that this was in my mind of course (anyone who is having a single gram of brain should not dare to talk a girl like this, specially a beautiful one, then how could I, who is having a bulk of 1200 grams of brain?) “Do you want the window to be opened?” she said which seemed to be a reply but now I was sure that I was not at all audible when I talked in my mind.

I tried a lot to say ‘yes of course, and dare you close it again’ but her eyes which were looking at me expecting a ‘no’ from me were too beautiful to be neglected. Now I realized why always my friends do for the girls the things they don’t like to do, and I used to make fun of them, poor fellows. “I guess you want it open.” she said and turned towards the window to open it (just a guess, maybe she was using the same trick, I used removing my bag in front of those constables). But there was no time to think much and it was time to stop her.

“No it’s ok, even I was feeling bit cold.” I said and immediately she turned straight showing an ultimate piece of smile (in my language, a trap). ‘Great dude, great; why don’t you put off your jacket and give it to her, if it’s that much cold as you said, idiot., What if a boy would have shut that window and smiled?’ Someone shouted so loud as if he was sitting right inside my ears. I looked around, there were people sleeping, eating, reading, talking, but no one who might have shouted. I neglected the voice and turned straight.

P.S. Form The book - What the Hell !!...Is this a love story??  

Published Writer !!!

Yes, you read it write, oops right, see its so much in the air….i mean writing is in air (well I am sure many would agree with me in replacing ‘love’ by ‘writing’) and that writing is in BOOK...

Something from the book
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It was 7:15 in the morning when I was born, my mom says that I was the only boy born on the day, which was also a national holiday, in that particular hospital, and others were either girls or something else…if your are banging your head to know how it is related to my writings, then keep banging, it is no where related to that. I just stated this cause this was the only noticeable thing about me. After that the count became so huge that I stopped noticing.  

I am a born writer, no really, not that I snatched the pen from nurse and started writing the reports by myself, I would have done that but she was too far for my tiny little hands to reach there. Then came the best part, primary education, which helped me gain an expertise in creating stories and then penning them down, I had written around thirteen thousand seven hundred eighty nine sick leave applications giving different reasons in each of them. That’s a different case that most of my friends were denied leave because principal said the reasons were not practical. (Now I know why I am writing a fiction)

But then no knowledge gets wasted, the most impractical reasons are the best reason people fell in love, here I was in my collage, writing love letters for all my friends and friends of friends. I was so famous that almost every girl came to me, just to ask if the letter she received was my creation or the senders. The only time I said it was mine, when I gave it to my girl and the best part is, it got rejected, she said, you write this far all, big deal…

I joined an Indian multinational company and you thought a writer is always unemployed, huh? Well sometimes yes, when there are more people and less work in software industry you tend to be at a place called ‘bench’. That was 2008, the time of recession, three months, when people around me were writing their resumes, I was writing a story… 
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So here it is....grab a copy now, well i insist.... :)

http://www.hummingwords.in/book-love-story.aspx

http://www.infibeam.com/Books/what-hell-love-story-vineet-nag/9789381560099.html?utm_term=what+the+hell+is+this+a+love+story_1_1

http://www.bookadda.com/books/hell-love-story-vineet-nag-9381560099-9789381560099

http://www.uread.com/book/hellis-this-a-love-story/9789381560099