Yeh hai Bombay meri jaan!

Chaats....pani puri....bhel puri...paapri chaat...Chinese dosa, sandwich....smells still waft through, filling my senses! The familiar smells in Crawford market...un galiyon mein chalna...doing window shopping on Fashion street...then going to 'khau galli' near Churchgate...Goin all the way to Fountain to buy books (mostly bargaining) and that too in the searing heat of Mumbai! Those were the best days of my life!!!
So it was but natural that I would have also read 'Maximum City' by Suketu Mehta (I guess every proud Mumbaiikar has read it!) ...I drank in that book...'coz i am so familiar wid every nook n cranny...evry galli...of apunka Bombay (i still hate the name Mumbai)!! Anyways..each time I visit Bombay, nostalgia overtakes my soul and stirs me! There's certainly some pull from this amazing city - no other city (amongst the 5 cities that I've lived in) has pulled my heart's strings and chords so much!! I still feel envious of my frnds who r a part of this little island, pushes me a li'l bit more to get engulfed in its populace!
This city was the first to give me MY OWN IDENTITY!! A diffident child that i was - this land gave me confidence to hold my head high amongst the millions who travel to this city every day....I became independent thanks to this city! 'A Bombayiite will remain one forever' - i do believe this maxim thoroughly now!! 'Coz being in Delhi - has still not changed the Bombayiite in me...and no Thackeray can ever dare to change that!

A roller coaster ride in an amusement park called LIFE!!

I've never ever in my whole life ever gone to an amusement park. I was forever scared of heights, depths, water...and most importantly since childhood, i've always had a FEAR OF FALLING!!! At all times, I've been a 'safe-playing' person...and yet all the disasters happened wid me - the worst injuries happened to me (thankfully not to my frnds - who probably were more risk taking and more adventurous than me!). Whenever anything bad happened - i would start crying and was made fun of by my uncles who actually got a bucket to fill my tears...Yet everytime i fell - i learnt something new. Everytime there was a crisis - i learnt to handle myself! My first being when my grandfather passed away (when i was in sixth) - I cried n cried and believe it or not - i visualised myself and then my parents dying in a few years (i used to count on my little fingers the number of years i'd hve to pass out frm school...)...I was this insecure about life...Then it felt wat it was to sit on a roller coaster in Essel World/a Veegaland etc....Little was i to know that death was not the only thing i'd hv to learn to battle out with - there was more in God's list of 'experiences' tat i was supposed to have...heartbreaks, my first crush, my first kiss, first love, college, studies and probably more to come... I even kept this 'Imagine the worst' policy to buffer me frm disaster - but God turned even cleverer - he twisted and turned everything that came my way - he confused me all the time - if i proposed - God disposed! The moment I got a comfort zone for myself - he made sure I am displaced yet again! I hv lived in 5 cities now (Mumbai, Coimbatore, Kottayam, Bangalore n now Delhi!). Again I am wary - its 2 years here - after this where, what! I have this unique way of dealing wid my surroundings (cities) which probably gets me adjusted 2 whichever place I go to...Thanks to God...now I have stopped looking for stability...love...dreams...watever i wanted in my life! I just flow wid life and God's plans and dont dare swim against the tide...become kinda laidback - say "God has his plans for me". Dont know whether this happens wid everyone...yet...my whole life revolves around "TO BE OR NOT TO BE"...wat about u guys? Huh, wasnt reading this a roller coaster ride for u all...am sure it was...:)

Second love et al....

Hmm...i was damn jittery when i got to know I AM IN LOVE yet again! I actually began 2 think whether I'd hit gold again. They say: Once bitten is twice shy! Probably i am going thru one of thos phases: Should I/not...This was quite inevitable - After my first breakup, I had become unusually high-strung! I was becoming way too lonely...was living a miserable single life and wid no ray of light in the 'dark clouds' of my life, I was searching for HOPE. Perhaps I was turning pessimistic too. All day and night i simply prayed to God to take me away somewhere...i even tried wat the 'others' do when depressed - i attempted suicide! My life was going to the drains/dogs/and wat not...Lonely in Bangalore - i sought solace in my buddies who were there for me throughout in Bangalore...I took 2 partying whenever possible...(beer, vodka et al) - not that i became an addict. But just to defeat Life/God and the person who 'broke' my heart! I was taking vengeance with everyone/anyone who spoke against me (my parents too were not spared). After a lot of coaxing frm Dad, I decided to move to Delhi (for good)...i dedicated my entire time to work....(literally 24x7)...anyways, i decided to start life afresh! My best time in my career was the Mumbai Project...a 20-day project which changed my ENTIRE life...Soon after i met a buddy who accepted me for wat i was (whole n soul!)...Later i realised I was fast falling in LOVE...but as usual 'the second love bit' felt a li'l bit jinxed! Watever it was - he made me realise that I was actually in luv etc....i never took it seriously for fears that i might lose this frndshp...Its 4 months for our relationship on April 10th. I dont regret this 'relationship' even one bit as this isnt like the 'other' relationship which didnt even work...At times, i do think the pain of this relationship might leave scars...yet strangely enough, I feel happiness and positive energy flowing through me as though I am on another cosmos/planet, whenever I think of him...There's this one thing i learnt frm another frnd - "Every relationship doesnt come with a life-time guarantee tag..." So live life as it comes and most of all - dont lose the ppl who love/cherish u more than u love/cherish them..they maybe the ones who might stick by u all ur life!! So....SECOND LOVE is not all that bad, eh!