Today...I was 16 again

today...was off to some place around noon, coming back my eyes landed up on 3 kids...clad in yellow shirt, Greg shorts....with a bottle of water around the neck,...they had SMHS logo on it.... 

They were just out from school...my school...it was a sign that I had to pay a visit....contemplated fr a few seconds...turned my bike around...and there I was inside the school lobby...

Asked fr few teachers, went up, thru those corridors, saw Anette Mme sitting across the room, the minute she saw me, she had a big smile on her face!!! With a very very warm welcome she greeted me....we started talking about everything....

so many things to talk abt so many topics started coming up, then arrived Shiela Mme, and Ucchil Mme and suddenly Chintamani sir, it was glorious! They all remm. Me!! I was proud....

We walked towards the staff room, met Sunanda Mme, slowly Bela Mme came out there...we chatted abt. the good old days, the mischief, the punishments the wodden foot-ruler whacks on the back...

I Asked abt all the professors/teachers and they asked me abt all of my batchmates....

They clearly remm. Some of them, and some they drew a blank on, some they were curious to know what they were upto....over all they said they really are always happy to see us all, or even one of us..... I guess it reminds them of their good old times too....

Showed them the whatsapp grp. Shared some good old memories of mine with them, shared some little whereabouts of those who I knew at the moment....

Having spent that 1-1.5 hrs at school was magical....

walking down the memory lane...where suddenly u feel tall when I looked at the benches and desks...but very very small when I looked at the teachers and got the flash backs of those days....

Lots has changed, lots have left....and then again, lots is still the same, where ever it was, however it was, its still there......depends what u are looking for.... :-)

Most who taught us, have left the school, but some r still there...

when i was there...i wasnt alone...all of my batchmates were with me...i lived a moment 15-18 yrs, ago...and it was awesome...not 'coz i was awesome back then...it was 'coz all my friends were awesome and they kept poppin in my head one after the other everytime i looked around a corridoor, 

everytime i took the stairs to go to a diff. floor, everytime i peeked into an ongoing class there was one of them...tagging me, one of them chasing me running with me..........

my heart was filled with joy and gratitude am sure yours will too if u decide to stop by our temple of knowledge, our alma-mater....
.....

Ladakpankaa...go pehla pyaar....vo likhna haathon par H + __ ;)
Vo khidki she jhaankna, 
Pohochna school mein hamensha late...
Vo kehna patel sirka -get out from the class - kaakraaach!!

Vo bahar jaake hamensha kehna - Sala apna school hi Hai kharab
Vo jaake canteen se vadapaav uthana 
Vo Karna tiffin box share

Vo dil mein sochna, karke much dikha de
Vo Karna planning roj nai year

Vo exam me baad bhatakte char jaana, amboli se nahi, veera desai se yaar
Aisaa yaadon ka mausam chala....
Bhulta hi nahi dil ye mera....

Puraani jeans....aur guitar....apne school kids vo imarat....aur sare dost - yaar......

my beach is sick, its bleeding and coughing plastic... please reduce refuse, please reuse...

In my younger days i remm. going to Juhu beach was a wonderful outing...going to a farsan store on JP Road - kadambari and picking up samosas on the way with my parents, standing in the little space between the front seat and the handle of my fathers scooter, reaching the beach, taking walks, sitting and making sand castles - more like sand caves with my foot covered in sand and then gently taking it out - eating the samosas and sometimes even masala chana bought from the local vendor...those days we didn't have a camera, but the memories are engraved in my mind, say the name Juhu beach and the picture is painted right away form me in front of me and  infact i am in the picture myself....don't need too much effort
I'm afraid this image that i have been blessed with, will it be available for the younger generating growing up in this city today? will they be able to remove the impression of long endless stretches of rubbish occupying the stretch of the entire beach here's a few shots..

 every now and then there's these dreadful days on the entire stretch of the beach between versova all the way through khar - where you will not see the sand literally....its an entire  vast spread of man-made waste and refuse...not natural but man made....its a painful sight.

 on my run today i saw all kinds of stuff lying around - toys, bags, bottles, wrappers, used condoms, broken pieces of furniture, glass pieces, utensils, belts, clothes, shoes, car tires, mattress, wallets, ladies bags, backpacks, coconuts, garlands, idols, tons and tons of plastic bags, i mean you name it and it was there...lying in the open butchering the beauty and serenity of the beach....

The refuse problem of this city is not new, and i may not be completely wrong when i say that the BMC is not doing a great job of managing the waste.
At the same time i do strongly feel that the citizens also aren't really dong an impressive job of remmebering the civic duties of living in a cimmunity!!
If the source of waste - us - get mindful of what and how much do we really need to put into that waste bin and what can actually be reused in one form or the other, and also remm. to dispose the waste appropriately - not in open "Nalas"/ out of the window - into the sewer gutters directly, i think at least some of the dump that goes straight into the Arabian sea will be reduced. In fact the BMC waste trucks go to dumping grounds designated for that sole purpose, nothing enters the Arabian- at least officially - so its safe to assume that the waste is actually coming in from the streets via various "Nalas" that open up into the sea, or whatever we dump in the name of religious rituals or sheer laziness to walk to the nearest bin and dump it there.

More details on Mumbai's waste management problem can be found on google in abundance, below are a couple of links i looked up:
http://www.mumbaimania.in/2008/08/mumbais-waste-disposal-problems.html

http://www.burhanifoundationindia.org/newsletters/Vol6_Issue12.pdf

you know you are a biker when....

1. The best of ideas come when u r on. two wheels

 

 

2. You remm. The best decisions u took were while riding

 

 

3. You look for riding distances/scenic routes for far away places, even for those that take 2 days and a night in train...

 

 

4. You are on the road while driving and go..."hmmm sweet curves, I wish I had my bike wid me right now"

 

 

5. You find yourself philosophical while u are riding...

 

 

6. U sing to yourself aloud(sometimes really loud) in the helmet and think u should seriously try fr "Indian Idol"

 

 

7. Sweat = Air conditioning to be

 

 

8. U don't really remm. The milage your bike gives u, but u always know when it's time to tank up - well this one's sorta for the Bullet riders, ok maybe it's jst me, but I think there r more like me somewhere out there ;)

 

 

9. The words "gear up" "re-group" "pit-stop" etc. Suddenly flash memories of your long ride in your eyes.

 

 

10. U always...always see the toll plaza and think Daiumn! I could've saved XX.XX today if I had my bike! Or even better have a tingling feeling thinking about the money u saved!!! 

 

 

11. U look at a Royal Enfield and start figuring things out abt it already...LB?AVL?UCI?Indore?Delhi?

 

 

12. U can stare at a "rotate 360" flash UI image of any motorcycle for a Loooooooong time and still wanna look for images of the same bike...

 

 

13. You drop everything u r doing n listen when someone says the word "Machismo"....

 

 

14. Chrome is charismatic. Period.

 

 

15. U see a Towing vehicle n worry where u parked even if it's a different city that you are in.

 

 

16. You see your fav. Model on a towing vehicle and say "you bastards, better handle her with care!"

 

 

17. Dirt/mud gives character or shine shows love, always a dilemma.

 

 

18. You often use throttle instead of the horn...jst 'coz...

 

 

19. You feel more empowered cruising along, compared to the guy in VW stuck in traffic.

 

 

20. You feel richer with even if it's just the fuel money in your pocket.

 

 

21. It's never too hot, too cold or too wet to ride

 

 

22. If u fall, u getup quickly to see hw badly is "she" hurt!

 

 

23. Bungee cord to you is the same as stethoscope to docs, measure tape to a carpenter, and you have atleast 101 uses for Bungee.

 

 

24. U are now used to pedestrians, stuck rich driver driven luxary car owners, auto/taxi drivers giving u "the look"

 

Some thoughts of inspiration....

Doosro KO daraya hoga, kabhi dar KO Dara Ke dekho
Aansu bahaye honge tumne, kabhi dukh KO rula kae dekho

Thak to bahot lete hoege , kabhi thakan to hara kar dekho

Mayus to bahot hue ho, ab naummedi KO lathad Ke dekho
Nadiya Tairke paar to nikle hoege kabhi samundar KO dubo Ke dekho

Dhup mein sar jhukaya jaroor hoga, kabhi Suraj se aankh mila kar dekho

Aag Su jhulse to jaroor hoge, kabhi tapish KO jala Ke dekho...

Parbaton par sair bahot ki hogi, kabhi chattano se bullet takra Ke dekho...

School of ROK

My temple of strength...

Nostalgia, emotions, warmth, glimpses of past life, smell of the soil, feel of the building stone walls, those trivial memories that have been engraved in your head, the spots where you struggled and worked hard for hrs. the places where you shared a good laugh, offices where you waited patiently for the manager to call you in so you could ask for an on campus job, the harshness of Texas sun...everything from the most tiresome experience to the most thrilling days of life...I thought I've become a seasoned individual and cannot easily feel emotions of pensiveness and my eyes stopped being moist...oh boy was i wrong...

Maple Sq #231 windows

so when i tried to put down some words about this topic i find myself typing a few and then going backspace on a few other words...retrying again and then deleting the while thing.....ever been so excited that you don't know what to type but you want to type it all - yeah that's me right now

Yes,,,,i visited my grad school with my family. The tour started with of course the HQ - 401 S. Oak Street famously known as maple square...yes, this rickety wooden building still stands high and is still the hub of Indian kids with dreams of making it big...

showing them the same spot where 901 S. Oak street once stood and now is the KC Hall dorms....the place looks totally fresh and so new and nice...something that came up after I moved out of the school.

Aramark cafeteria sitting

walking through the business building, coming out on the Health center side, walking in front of the University Center, entering the E.H. Hereford UC and his ever welcoming, scalp-shining bust, Aramark cafe - JB got us food form here for free, still remm. the grilled onions with cheese and tater totts sandwich

Copy center...Ex

the place of copy center that existed once upon a time - never purchased a simple book - all copy-rights violated by deal own Shah brothers not just for themselves, for the whole group of guys - moving along...

the post office - remm. sending birthday greetings to loved ones from here...walk a little ahead and the automatic double doors open up for you - upfront is the Woolf Hall to your left is the little publication house..

remm. Shorthorn? of course you do...hat usually was the source of your cabinet protectors isnt it? - oh ya and we did occasionally read them as well :P 

moving along... upfront is the mecca of communications - Ransom Hall - at any point in the day you shall find at least 3 Indian boys and girls either walking towards it, or away form it with a headset with microphone in hands - one and only free source to say hello to family members 7 seas apart... heard of things like Yahoo messenger voice chat? PC2phone.com ? well those were the days before skype/ viber and the likes were invented...but guess what the Ransom hall is not converted into some other departmental building...sorry boys...go get your own laptops now!!?

The Ransom Hall

right in front of Ransom hall goes a small alley besides the Preston Hall that brings you to a water fountain which to me has become a symbol of brotherhood and friendship....it will always be

the fountain...

this spot that i talk about is a fountain with the green oxidized spouts and a nice background of brown and blue all around...just amazing

then further to your left comes the central library...walk into this place and you know what library means to a student over 8 floors of books of various topics, an ocean of knowledge, something that i feel i could've & should've made a little more use of....

next we walk over to the other side of the campus via the over bridge, the racing cars below still invigorate the same thrill, same excitement for me, felt like i was atop a race track...upfront is the place where we graduated, Texas Hall building. 

further ahead is the Architecture building with another very nice fountain and a beautiful lawn - speak of creativity and that's imbibed in this place in each and every corner...

straight ahead to this building across the street is the newly renovated and the massiver Recreation center - it was massive before it was renovated...now its massiver!!!

then comes forest Glen #49 (read Baniya residence) - this is a place where there was once a Desi dance party, rather a pool party held, Sukhbir, Remo, Bon jovi and the likes were heard loud and clear for a few blocks away - the AC unit for the neighbors on the floor below fell off the roof ----that was the last party in that apartment...

moving along we walk all the way to the Nedderman Hall - the name still scares me but now that i have overcome the coursework i think i am ok with it....this is the engineering building where all my classes were held - RSN, DSP, Wireless communications damn...scary but today being in this building sitting on the same chair today I was very comfortable - didn't have any assignments to complete or exam to prepare for....the basement library, the other labs, classrooms all the very same...

parents noticed that there were plug points on the floor - for laptops etc. they were impressed! i remm. so was i when i had first seen it :)

and thus concluded the tour....while i was showing around my university proudly to my family, my tone my enthusiasm and the experiences were constantly getting refreshed in my head....had visited almost evey building for a job, only to come back with a denial and hopelessness...bad grades in the fall of 2002, depleting $ the account, and no sign of a decent job etc. you try to find one reason to feel low about, you shall quiver out multiple.... that hopelessness gave strength (weird but true) to go back another building the next day,,,,

looking up in the sky in those days was basically asking - really!? you're really trying this!? ok...bring it on...still do...

Bring it on... :)

not much of a change eh!

most buildings are the same, the grounds are as is, benches, desks, trees, the air still has same scent of old times the one thing i missed was my buddies...everything was special but could have been brilliant if i had you all with me...some other day maybe.. :)

I still remm. distinctly because of hard times, and bad economy and every other dirth in those days, it was easy to have a grudge in our heart for the struggle each one of us was being put through....felt unfortunate even, cursed the university at times during the night, remm. that one - G? :)

all said and done, wherever i am, whoever i become, whatever i do, and the way I think of life quite a bit is because of these years of my life,
Am sure each one of us have a place that does what UTA has done for me, for some its the place they grew up, for some the primary school they went to, it's an amazing feeling to go visit the place once again, try it if you haven't so far...

and until next time...

......thank you...for everything....especially the tough times....

Ant and dove....

Have u ever heard this story?
Would u rather be an ant? Or a dove??

Something's in life happen so unexpectedly that you feel flabbergasted by it, some incidents make your day, some ruin it, some build up who you become....

Since the recent past few years, year after year I've seen major changes in the people around me, friends, family everything is ever changing....I at times feel am inside a time capsule and time is honestly running on boost mode for everyone, its feels like one of those street lights where u stop, look at the cars besides you, just nod in acknowledgement and then push the pedal to move on....except my car isn't going at the same speed and am able to notice the pace at which people are just running towards the destination....

Today I had taken my dads car for a doctors appointment, (usually I take then bike) got done with the appointment and was walking towards the car, as I walked close to it, I saw that a 70+ yrs. Old lady, weak, frail, was trying to stop an auto. Her unstable had was hardly visible to the fast and furious black and yellow auto drivers,....it is 33 deg. Temperatures in Bombay and certainly not a pleasant time of the yr to wait hopelessly fr an auto....

I asked her "maaji, where is it that you want to go? She said "bank, opposite side on sv road"
I said come here's my car will drop you off.
She said " but beta, where r u headed to?"

I said doesn't matter, I will go home but will drop you off to your destination.

Lucky fr me it was a few block around the corner and wasn't a big deal, but am sure if she had said byculla I wouldn't have hesitated today.....It was an impulsive decision to help her and as some smartass had once said "Ke baar Jo Maine commitment...." U know the rest... ;)

Now maaji and me start talking, here's how it went:
Maaji: beta please tell me where r u headed and I will get off before, don't want to be a hassle fr you
Me: maaji, no hassle I live close by, will drop you off and move onto my home, no problem at all!
Maaji: god bless you son! I just want to make sure I am not troubling you, I have learn to live in as much I get, don't want to pile on...
Me: its fine, am sure you have a long day ahead, this is just a small gesture...
Maaji: we are all humans and we should help each other as much as we can, if anything life has thought me, no one is big or small, no one has anything more that the other, its like the ant and dove story!
Have u heard that one?

Me: yes, I think i remm. That one!

Once there was an ant and a dove, a hunter was pointing his shooting gun at the dove, the ant saw this, dove was unaware...the ant rushes as fast as she could to climb up the hunters leg and just before the hunter is abt to pull the trigger bites the hunter on his leg,.... Hunter misses his shot
Dove hears this and flies away...

A few days later, ant gets thirsty, she walks by a small puddle of water, she's sipping her self some life and just then a school boy jumps into the puddle, this flows the ant into it and the ant starts to drown....the same dove was right there and sees this...he nows not what to do...
He flies off, grabs a leaf from a nearby tree and drops it into the puddle near the ant...then ant grabs onto it and climbs up

Neither the ant or the dove know this till date that they have saved each others life...they continued to live their life and help out whenever they saw a situation...

With this story and a few other small talks, we parted our ways, I dropped her off to the bank, she blessed me, said I was the the first one in her life to help her out like this,... I had a smile on my face and I said good day maaji!

Opportunity to help is right next to you, you just need to look,
Bring a smile to someone's face, and make life better for someone else someday
..it takes way far lesser than you think....

So....

Have you heard the ant and dove story?
Would you rather be an ant or a dove?

Truth is, doesn't matter if u can fly the world,
or your pace is so slow that you think you can never catch up,....

If you have a heart that wishes to help,...
You can do it...just keep your eyes mind and heart open!