A Clockwork Borange

Out of sheer boredom,

I scribble down this poem.

People might not find it good,

But write definitely, I would.

Suffocation is gripping me,

I really don't want to just let it be.

When I really started thinking,

About scribbling down something,

The first two lines came in rhyme,

Had to keep the rest so, lest it be a crime.

Thinking of a title, I came across 'borange',

The only word that rhymes with orange.

My initial choice was just use 'Clockwork',

Which then I thought, alone, couldn't work.

Now I stop writing this poem,

And go back,to the same old boredom.

The Train of Thoughts

The Train of Thoughts

Today morning, I entered the MMTS train to reach office without taking the ticket- and I thought...

I haven't taken the ticket, I feel guilty. But how could it be my fault? I stood in the unusual queue at the station for a long while and the train suddenly came to the platform. I had no choice but to run and catch the train. It normally stops at the station only for 30 seconds or so. One I got in though, the train didn't move from the station for the next 5-10 minutes. I couldn't go back and take the ticket too. What if the train leaves without me? I couldn't go by bus as there is an RTC strike going on from yesterday. No buses are running. The reason why there was a long queue at the station was the strike itself. People who normally would go to their work destinations had thronged the railway station. The common-man's other choice that was autorickshaws were no help as the drivers had decided to take advantage of the situation and charge double and triple the normal rates, albeit getting many times the passengers that the normally get. Yesterday, I had to shell out Rs. 150 in the morning and 120 in the evening to get to my office and back- that too, sharing the auto with other passengers. I wouldn't have had to spend so much, if not for my boss who really wanted to 'meet me' to let me know of two measly corrections (big in his view point). He could have let me know about them in hundred different ways, I could have worked from home in peace, but no, he couldn't do away without meeting me and making my whole day go bad. I spent Rs 270 on transport yesterday instead of the normal 25. Yes, it is a big deal for me, and I am really pissed off! 
I haven't taken the ticket today. It is just a matter of five rupees. What if a ticket checker comes today and asks for ticket? In my jean pocket, I have a folded ticket to the place, dated two days back. Should I take the ticket out and change the date from 05 to 07? If the checker comes, will he/she detect it? Maybe I should just flash the ticket and put it back in my pocket. Maybe they would not look at the date section. But, what if I was caught? Of course they would ask me to pay the fine. The maximum fine for ticket-less travel in MMTS is Rs 250 or so. They would probably ask that much. But I don't have that much in my purse, I just have a 100, plus the 10 I wanted to get the ticket earlier. No, I wouldn't pay the fine. Why should I? It's not my fault that I couldn't take the ticket. It was because of the long queue. I reached the station at my normal commute time. I couldn't have foreseen such a long queue; not in my dreams, never in a small station like Sitaphalmandi. At first, I had thought that the tatkal reservation counter which was on the other side of the station had been shifted here. No, it wasn't. It was people like me who wanted to get to their offices and other places. People who relied on public transport. People who didn't have or couldn't afford private vehicles; not people who roams around in a fancy cars alone all over places seeing pedestrians and public transport as shit. I love public transport. Some people just don't appreciate them. They say that the big buses are crowding the streets. Easy for them to say. Imagine instead of a bus with 50 people, there were 50 motorcycles in the streets, or 50 cars with single passenger. There was a guy coming selling buttermilk in the train. I got one with the ten rupee note that was meant to be for the train ticket. I hadn't taken the ticket. Will the checker come and ask for ticket? I am not going to pay any fine for it. Maybe I can explain what happened and the checker might forgive me. Of course there should be others in this train without ticket. Would the checker forgive everyone? No, the checker should uphold the rule and make a collection, right? It's good revenue for the railways, right? But it's really not fair that I should be caught and fined for not taking a 5 rupee ticket. After all, whenever the ticket counter people had no change of coins to give me, I had forgone it. Those coins should count somewhere, right? Maybe I can argue like that and the checker will be convinced. I can offer to pay the normal ticket charge of Rs 5, or even maybe Rs 10, which makes a 100% extra charge. That's reasonable, right? 250 is definitely exorbitant. What if my argument is rejected? What if I am fined after all? What would they do when I refuse to pay the fine? Maybe they will take me to the railway police. No, even if they take me, I am not going to pay the fine. Maybe they will take me to court. In the court, maybe I can argue my point that it wasn't my fault that I didn't purchase the ticket. Whose fault was it then? It was probably the system's fault. Maybe I can argue the case showing the troubles the public face due to this strike. Maybe the case will become famous and I will be declared as the champion of the public. What if I am jailed? Ha, I will be jailed for the sake of five rupees. I should tell the court that you have detained me for the sake for just five rupees. I should tell the judge that my crime is not paying the fine of 250 rupees, my actual crime is worth 5 rupees. Is it worth the courts time and money to pursue a case worth Rs 5? They might spare me as a common man struggling with the strike. They might just leave me alone. At any cost, I won't pay the fine. 

No one came to check the ticket. I read two chapters of the novel I had with me, got down when Lakdikapool station came, and went to my office. 

The Fly

The Fly

A fly came, 
Perched itself on the glass-window pane.
Observe the fly, I thought, 
Read its movements.
Make the fly my
Next blog entry, I should.
Find the profound in the tiny, and
Then, just then, 
It flew away. 

Issues and Non Issues

British Pathe and the Selfie Video

British Pathe and the Selfie Video

So, last night I was just sitting in front of my computer wondering what to do as I was not sleepy and was not in the mood to watch a movie. Suddenly I remembered something that i read online about some thousands of historical videos being added on to Youtube by British Pathe. So, decided to check it out and found something amazing. But first off, for those of you who don't know about what British Pathe is, let me tell you.

British Pathe or Pathe News (as it was called earlier) was a producer of newsreels, documentaries, and cinemagazines from 1910 to 1970 and is now  "considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world. " Recently they have uploaded their vast collection of over 85,000 historical newsreel videos of all types and subjects on to Youtube for free access to the people all over the world. 

I was really happy to go through the collection that they had and i watched some selected video's (mainly whatever i could find on India), but what really astonished me was a video called 'Self Portrait' which was dated 1952. In the video one gets to see people going into small cubicles and taking self portraits of themselves using a specially designed mirror-lens and remote button camera apparatus. The video is accompanied by one of the funniest commentaries you can ever have. The poses and the faces that the modern selfie'sts have made trend can all be seen in this amazing video too. One thing that can be noted from this is that even though years, culture, technology, fashion, and everything around us has changed, human nature hasn't, not one bit!

People, do check out British Pathe, it is amazing! 

Finding Food, Finding Happiness

Finding Food, Finding Happiness

Ok, so I planned to start writing by giving the date and time and all that. But then, i can't remember what the date or day is... Wait, someone was telling me about going to church tomorrow. So it should be a Saturday. (I really don't remember the days or dates these days because of joblessness. It's only when you have a time table to follow in your life, like when you have a job or when you study, that it matters- otherwise, it is just day and night, day and night.) While typing this i found out that the date and time is given in the down-right corner of the computer, it is 9 August 2014, 11.46 PM. 

Today was generally a happy day for me. Had nice food in the morning and afternoon, painted two bottles. One angry birds themed and then my favourite, Micheal Jackson in the famous slanting position on a Johnny Walker Limited Edition bottle (Thank You Vanesh for giving me the opportunity). I was all-excited and happy happy and was almost dancing around the place. Then suddenly i started feeling sad. It was that general depression that hits you (in this case, me) once in a while. 

After when Rohith cam we decided to go to his place. He wanted to get some curry from the numerous curry points at Sitaphalmandi, cook rice at home, and eat. We almost stopped near a place and I told him, I need something good today (not that rice and curry aren't good, but i wanted something special). After some deliberation and discussion and phone calls during the bike ride to his home we decided to fix up on Alhamdulillah Hotel, Nampally (Thanks to Zomato for showing the way). Using the help of Drive application and Rohith's drive skills we finally found the place, hidden inside the numerous lanes and bylanes near Nampally Station. I have been here before, 4 years ago or so, but had forgotten the way.

We ordered 2 Rumali Rotis, 1 Sheekh Kebab, 1 Talawa Ghosh, and a plate of Beef Biriyani. The food was super good, super spicy (Spicy for me maybe because i kept eating more chilly which was in the Talawa). I wanted to take a photo of the dishes but then the hunger was so intense that I didn't. Rohith said the same thing too, later. The waiter who was standing near us was a cheerful, loud guy and he was trying to have a conversation with the Yemeni couple sitting in the next bench. Their conversation without language barriers (and little help was there from translator guy) invoked laughter from everyone sitting around. "No English, No English, Hindi Hindi". This one time the waiter, with great effort, asked "Kaunsi country, country?" and the Yemeni guy shook his hand and said "Achcha, achcha!" Thanks to the translator that problem was solved soon. 

So, back to the point. We have the food there, paid the bill (Rohith did, 270 or 280 or something) and we got out. We got meeta paan (sweet paan) from the same complex. It really was one of the best meeta paans i ever had. With all that happiness we started coming back to the flat on the bike. 

We hadn't been at a distance of half a kilometer too and i saw a board, and told Rohith, "Turn Turn, Sulaimani Sulaimani." He stopped and turned as if there was an emergency, asked me What Sulaimani? What is it? Then came my famous movie dialogue response- "Oro Sulaimaniyilum orithiri mohabbath venam mone," (In each Sulaimani there should be a pinch of love too) Remember? i asked him. He said "Ustad Hotel, yeah yeah!!!" So, there was this sulaimani (special, black tea) stall nearby and we went there. I ordered mint tea and he ordered lemon tea. The young guy there two mint leaves in a paper cup and the poured the tea concoction from the flask. For the lemon tea he squeezed lemon syrup, already mixed, which was in a bottle, and then the tea. 

After all, that good food we had and that amazing meeta paan, this tea knocked out everything! Hands down it was the best i ever had! Rohith agrees with me too i guess. Otherwise he wouldn't have asked the guy till what time the stall will be open and when he said till 4 AM he looked happy. Also, he told me that he should make it a point to remember the way. When we were leaving, the guy at the stall reminded us that the stall is open from 7 pm till 4 am. I made a note of every landmark nearby in my mind, on the way back. Will never forget.

The point of all this is that, good food always makes me happy, and great food, on top of the world! Like, right now! 

The Diet Plan

The Diet Plan

Time: 10.30 ish PM

Date: 4 June 2014, which was day before yesterday

Location: My Bedroom

Occasion: Power cut, and the laptop battery died out

“How unfair! Those ****ing KSEB ppl!” As I would do every time the power goes off, I cursed the electricity board yet another (countless + one) time without fail, and crept on to the bed, frustrated. Ok, calm down, it might come in a few minutes. I took a deep breath. Think for a while. Think Think Think. What to do tomorrow? Where all to go tomorrow? (The passport-birth-certificate fiasco is eating my head these days) Which all movies do I watch tomorrow? What do I eat tomorrow? Ha, food! Got a topic to think on. Thinking about what would be for breakfast, I touched my little potbelly. Suddenly, I thought of the number shown on the weighing machine last day. Fifteen kilograms past my target! How, when would I achieve it? The futile attempts of diet and jogging for the last few years flashed through my mind. No, no. Past is past. What was futile was futile. I should be determined now. I should. I should reduce at least 10 kg in this month. What to do about it. Working out, jogging, daily basketball all wouldn’t work out. I wouldn’t continue after 2-3 days. So, I decided I have no option than to control my food. Learn to take just little of what your mother makes. Do not fall in the temptation of taste. Have food only when you are absolutely hungry. I was determined.

The next morning came. I woke up late. I was still determined. After reading newspapers and brushing my teeth, I asked, “What’s there?” Oh, it’s chakkappuzhukku (a jackfruit based dish, English doesn’t matter, it’s super-tasty!). I should take very little. I took two spoons of puzhukku and dried-prawn chutney. It was heaven! Was watching something in the laptop while eating. When the plate almost got empty, I was having a struggle in my mind. Should I? Shouldn’t I? Should I not? Why mother why? Why do you make good food? At last I convinced myself I am having breakfast and lunch together and settled for two more spoonfuls. Evening, I kept my word regarding taking less with the rice that was cooked, but then couldn’t resist emptying the plate in which the puzhukku was kept. So, day 1 determination, epic fail!

Today morning. I was determined, again. I shouldn’t fail. I can do it. The jackfruit temptation is over. Control, control. I had to go to Mukkam in the morning itself. I left after realizing that it was chapathi for breakfast and decided I should hold off hunger until I am back. I can do that. I left. At Mukkam, after I finished my first task of the day and was waiting for a travel agent office to open, i felt really hungry. I thought of the chapathis at home. It would be an hour anyway before I got home. I walked around for a while. I couldn’t resist. I went and had an egg puff and strong tea from restaurant (slowly, slowly, savouring every bit of it). Mia Culpa, Mia Culpa. I promised myself I would eat only two chapathis at home since I had the egg puff.

I came back. Sat along with Akhil to watch Modern Family while having breakfast. I had taken three chapathis, not two. I knew that I would need one more. That’s enough for me. I am determined. I had just taken half of an egg from the egg roast curry, for dietary reasons. The three got over. I am stopping. No, no, don’t tempt me. Don’t, you tasty food, don’t! I ended up having another one, and another one, and another one, and a half. There, I stopped (The last chapathi had been taken by Akhil). I must confess that I took the other half of the egg too. So, six and half chapathis, one egg, one egg puff, one tea, one black tea- my dietary breakfast of today. Late lunch wasn’t so different either (rice, sambar, dried prawns chutney, cherupayar-how could I resist?).

I know it’s just long blabber about food. But you know, it’s the story of my life. It’s 9 PM now. I am going to have dinner (This is my last non-diet dinner, I should eat well and prepare). I am determined now. I will control my food, I will be on a diet, starting tomorrow morning, again… 

It’s the story of my life.