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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Proposal -- final part

Here comes an end to my story which i spanned in 5 parts.I know i stretched it like a soap opera, but couldn't avoid doing so.If you are reading it, it means you must have red the other parts too..!!If no, please spare some moment and start from 1st part.And as always, as a writer, nothing more matters than a 'like' on facebook or a comment at my blog(critics are most welcome to take dig at it).Thanks and happy reading..!!


She spent the next half an hour minutely describing her ,what she called career aspirations,short term and long term goals.The only phases where i was part of the conversation was when i budged in 'yes', 'wonderful' and other similar adjectives.Her profound love towards her future somehow didnt interest me any furthar.I guess the reason being that i wanted it to be our future rather than hers alone.I developed a cold feet and backed out of the plan the very next minute.I felt like nausea and had a utmost feelng of puking all over.More than the 'i want to be a rich' plan, the thought of being unplanned crept in and i had a sudden feeling of insecurity.The anxiety made its 1st apprearance in
form drops of sweat over my forehead.Even the air-conditioned restuarant failed to keep my cool.Seconds after she was done with her showcase of eloquance, she asked me my plans for my career.I uttered back..plan ..what ??..I could have easily faked and framed up a story convincing enough , but the deep and never-ending gap in our thoughts made my take a plunge in the gorge and so did our relation-ship.I got up, paid my part of the bill, limped for a while before taking an auto back home.Rattled and distressed by the thoughts, i did puke later.Late in the night i got up, scribbled a 2 page long mail explaining about our situation and asking her to forget me and never to contact me again.I had no idea why i did so,but it was the 2nd time when i had asked her not to speak to me again.The hour long meeting brought an end to my non-chalant passion and undying love towards her.3 days later I headed to Chennai, when i was suppossed to join for my 1st job.

The excitement,enthusiam and charm of getting onto the 1st job lost its 'paramount' effect in the 1st few days.The rigourous sessions in computer labs where a hands on training was imparted for more than 9 hours a day was too much to consume at a go.The weekends were spent mostly in recovering out of the past 5 days trauma and preparing oneself for the another week of rigor.Before i could think whether i was heading towards a perfect career goal, the next few months of training breezed by and before i could figure out any furthar, i was posted in Noida as my base branch.We partied the night when we received our final posting as it was a welcome respite of the frenzied or rather say much organized state of affairs deep south.I re-joiced more as Noida meant i would get to see the scant population of hot chicks which were extremely rare commodities in Chennai.Before boarding the flight to Delhi , i high fived by friends and fist-pumped in air anticipating a wonderful and fun-filled life ahead, unaware of fact that she enrolled herself to Masters in medicine in a college barely 100 meters from my going to be workplace.

I assume even she was unaware of the same, as 4 months after the 'my aspirations and career' incident , neither of us would have wanted to get into the awkward incident of confronting each other.And we did avoid it for the 1st two weeks, before the nature and constellation planned for a change and did something we might have not expected even in out worst of nightmares.It took not more than a week in getting friendly with recently joined female colleagues.The 'un digestable' or rather say the oily stuff in the canteen made us venture out of office to nearby dhaba joints very ofetn.It was tuesday afternoon when Disha pinged me asking if i would go out for lunch with her.I was introduced to her in the morning status meeting barely 3 hours back.Its weird how girls in North contrary to their peers deep South never mind asking out a guy.Somehow it really turned me on.The plush offices were surrounded my numerous food joints, more specificly dhabas all aound.It was amusing to see hottest chicks of the town with the perfect-'test' of figures craving for butter chicken and dal makhni.It was way better than seeing girls smoke in Hard rock cafe.We opened a 'thanda matlab Coke' while waiting for our turn for seats at the heavilily crowded dhaba.2 sips in with the Coke, i noticed a herd of lab coat clad guys heading toward us.Noticing me checking out them, Disha told me about the infamous Medical college closeby.Seconds later i noticed her, clung on hand in hand with other doc guy.Somehow their attire made them look to come from a familiy.And the guy who had her hand in his hand looked nothing more than her protective brother.The very next moment i looked away and cursed myself for being jealous.I found it easier to avoid rather than confront her.Her gang of 6 stood behind us waiting for their turn.I tried my best getting in a fake conversation with Disha and did make a similar gesture by holding her hands.Seonds later a over inquisitive guy in her gang poked me.I almost had a panick attack, but did manage to turn around.Apparantly the guy wanted to know the duration we had been waiting for.I couldnt avoid looking straight onto her and mutter 'for quite sometime'.I turned back but patted on back soon after.It was she who came on to say a 'hi' to me.Highly embarrassed, i spoke how different she looked in the coat and i almost couldnt recognize her.It continued with another round of silence.I felt like hiding somewhere.I cut short the awkwardness by introducing her to Disha.There was obvious
exchange of smirks.She retaliated by introducing me to her gang which just had 2 female members.Thankfully my phone rang and i rushed back to my office citing it as an urgent issue.The issue actually was my cubicle mate asking me out for a fag.I desperately needed one.Before we left for home, Disha did ask me about her and found it was more than just school friends.I went to a pub straight after office and got subdued with 7 pegs of scotch all intended to prevent her thoughts to creep in.

I woke up the next morning with sever hangover and 15 missed calls on my cellphone.Out of 5 calls from office which didnt matter to me, the rest of the calls were from an unknown number.An unread message in the inbox made me realise that it was her.She got my number from a common friend of ours and wanted to have 'a talk' to clear any air of awkwardness amongst us.I fetched myself some lime-water and an aspirin.10 minutes later i called her up.She picked up the call in a go and scolded me for making her real anxious by not taking the calls the other night.I told her of the inebriated state i was in, to which she kept mum and asked me if i do booze.On hearing my confirmation , she went on after saying 'yeah, after all it your life..!!".She said she wanted to speak to me but wont be able to as she was on her way to Delhi for a friend's marriage.We said bye soon after and hung up.Something within me did activate my hormones, as i got up, had a quick bath and got ready.I was very sure what i was going to do the next.I hurried out of the house, got on my bike and zoomed on my way to delhi.

Halfway to Delhi, i gave her a call and told her that i would be in delhi too for some urgent work and we could actually have a talk if she wasnt busy.I looked up in heaven as she agreed and made a silent prayer before resuming my journey.She asked me to come to the Sahara Mall.Wary of directions, i asked people at every signal to make sure i was on the right way.I gave her a call once again on reaching the mall and she replied saying she would be there any minute.I roamed around and waited for more than an hour.I did keep sending messages and gave missed call to make sure that she realized that i was still waiting for her.The hour long wait flashed the entire story of ours right in front of my eyes.
The friendly pat on my back declared her arrival finally.She had been religiously following the gesture of patting me on my back every time she met me right from our school days.Never realized how the tom-boyish friend of mine had transformed in a lovely lady today.She was more than an hour late but barely had the guilt feel on her face.Her flawless smile, the glossy lipstick and the green eyes(I was sure she wore the lenses) made me forget my anger in less than a minute.Gosh..!! how could and how would I vent my anger at her..!!, is what I thought the next moment.I had texted her more than 15 times in the last 1 hr while waiting at the Sahara Mall in Delhi.It was my 3rd visit to the state capital and it was 7 yrs after the last time.My education and work kept me busy deep south and had it been not her would not have visited Delhi in the chilly December.But this time I was on a purpose.The motive was to finally propose her and express my deep seated desire of finally getting in with her.I knew the long distance relation-ship never works, but right now keeping everything aside, I was up for some love and commitments

Sunday, January 2, 2011

The Proposal -- part 4

. I had stitches on 3 areas all over my body and I felt pain even on moving my head.
It was a friendly voice that made me open my eyes.I wasn’t sure of what I was seeing or it was a effect of some mental trauma I suffered sometime back.Damn..it was actually her.She made her way to hospital upon hearing my news from a common friend.I had no idea that she was in the same city for her interns.The doctor within her examined me for the next 2 minutes before she sat at the edge of my bed.Her dismal face said it all.I made an unconditional apology, to which she laughed and said it didn’t matter as long as am hail and hearty.My recent pain and bandages somehow acted like a magical wand and did what my talks,apologies or calls would never had done.She caressed her fingers across my head and bid adieu with a promise of visiting again the next day.I fist pumped as she left as I sensed victory and found my battered relationship coming back on track.A couple of minutes later I sent her a text message saying “by d way u looked gorgeous”, to which she instantly replied “thanx and u too minus the bandages..:) J..The smilies said it all.It was a long time I wore a smile to sleep after a long spree of dullness and tiredness.

The next morning when I woke up I had a fresh energy oozing out of me.She turned up again after I had finished up my breakfast.I knew the accident and thereafter the sms I sent her the last day made her forget the past and forgive me, but I did not expect her to get back to me so soon.She got me the lunch packed from her home.Though 3 more people shared the hospital dormitory with me, but the only person I could see was her. We shared the same lunch box and I guess it was the 1st and finest date I had with her.Though unspoken, the silence,lit eyes and our smiles said it all.Done with the lunch, she helped me wash my hands and lay back on the bed. We giggled, laughed and smiled for the next hour with her hands in mine.Dont know how the jokes which I found sick and sucked in college, were imbibed with humor today.She ran her fingers across my hair and uttered a mute yet understandable ‘bye’ before she left to her home.My eyes followed her as she left the room.Seeing this and a smile on my face, an old man on the bed adjacent to mine asked me “Son, is she ur finacee’..? “..Take aback by the question, I smiled again, though for a second and replied, “Yes, she is..?..isn’t she beautiful”..as this the oldie said “Indeed she is and you guys make a good couple..god bless”.This blushed to an extent, and I pictured her as my would be bride when the idea of proposing her cropped in my head again.
I recovered in the next few days while she made a daily appearance at the hospital.Most of the patients around me and the medical staff knew her my fiance.I kept my fingers crossed and made an every effort to recover as early as possible.By no means I wanted to be in the hospital by the time she leaves back to her home.Her college was re-opening in a week’s time when I got discharged from the hospital.By the time a reached home, the bike was made out of bounds for me.My mom shed another round of tears and swore me never to touch the bike again before detailing me about the number of mannat’s she offered for my early recovery.I cleverly swore not to touch ‘that’ bike again.We had decided to meet the very next day I came back to home.I asked her for lunch as my mom with be daily chores then and my dad would be in office.The preceding evening I started planning again.A red rose was out of my plans now after the disastrous omen it had the last time.Infact nothing was in my bounds as I could not go out with parents at home.I made an excuse of feeling some pain and get some fresh air.At this my mum pulled the curtains and my dad stood up to get me the prescribed medicine from chemist.I realized then that am their offspring and fooling them would not be possible at this instant.With nothing at bay, I crossed my fingers and wished everything to come into place this last time. With things going my way(except the accident) in the past few weeks, I was optimistic of being nomore a bachelor by that time the next day.
I wore my Peter England shirt,Levis jeans and sprayed a quarter bottle of perfume before heading towards the cafeteria.I told my mom that I was going to a cyber café and would be back in an hour. Am sure my mother smelt the rat, but she was too busy with her household chores to further inquire about it.I walked a distance before taking an auto to the City Center.Contrary to other girls she always arrived on time and got to wait, but never made a fuss about it.I guess she did wait for a couple of minutes before I arrived.Unlike the last time, I was more casual and didn’t carry any flowers or other fancy stuff to the venue.We got ourselves on a table for two, and started the conversation.It a tedious task striking a conversation when you have a plan at the backdrop. While she started muttering something about the extreme hot weather, I was looking for an opportunity to break it and divert the topic.I cut short her and asked whats next in her life.Though she was amazed by the sudden serious query, she did reply me a well planned career path which I guess spanned for the next 5 years.Damn I was in a fix.I had never planned anything remotely related to my career so seriously till date.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Proposal -- part 3

.....7 hours later, I changed my stand, and was in a call with her again.

The call that night was more of clarifications and justifications. While I threw tantrums at her wary attitude of showing up with “we are just friends” male friend, she expressed complete innocence and asked me the reason for my not-so friendly behavior.Though I wasn’t explicit with the reason for my insane behavior, I wanted her to figure it out.God forbid..!! but it was not a Da Vinci’s cryptogram that she could’nt have figured it out.I was terribly upset with her and wanted to convey the same.I cut short her, asked her to forgive me and never call me back again.I followed this by abruptly cutting the call.Am not sure if she heard my hastily pronounced words, but she did get the message.Nature once again proved that two opposite sexes cant be just friends for long.I felt like trashing my phone, but hesitated doing so after realizing how severely it would affect my financial woes.I went to the terrace where the entire class except me re-joiced around a bon-fire, couples cuddled,chicks danced while the rest boozed.I got a drink for my self, went along the railing of the 7 th floor, looked down on the busy street,gushed down the large peg of scotch and cursed myself again for making people come down to Hyderabad for the industrial visit.

6 months after the Hyderabad incident, which had made me more serious in life, I got recruited by one of the finest IT exporter of the country.It offered me a decent package.The turn of events made me call her again.Perhaps this was a great news and she was the 1 st person after my family whom I wanted to speak at that very instance.In the past many months, she had made numerous attempts to reach me via email,SMS, calls and messenger.I remained unavailable for her most of the time.With time, my grudge at her had almost negated and I realized that I should have at least given a chance for her to talk.The placements had oozed in a fresh fervor of confidence in me. Without a slightest of doubt I called her up.It took more than a few rings for her to take the call.I guess she never anticipated me calling her.Before she could speak up a word, I broke the news and said sorry for my attitude in the last few months at the same time.Though it did not make sense, but we reconciled in the next few minutes.

The Hyderabad incident did leave some scars on our healthy relationship which ceased to be so thereafter.The frequency of calls dropped to once in a couple of months and more than being flirtious and romantic, we started being cautious and pretentious of the usage of our words and the context of our conversation.You know its time to move on when you have an awkward silence over the phone, look for topics to actually talk, say words like hmm, yeah its fine…you tell me.These are the initial signs of the people not actually interested in continuing the conversation but have to, for the very sake of not hurting the person at the end.Its amusing because people on both sides feel just the same, but fear being frank enough about it.With a mutual understanding, the calls dropped..so did the internet chats and the only time we spoke to each other in the final year was at each other’s birthday.I wasn’t sure if I would follow the trend next year too.

Finally I made my way out of the college, earned a graduate degree and had a job at hand.It was the 1st Sunday of August when after a wait for more than 2 months, I finally got the call for joining.It was a welcome respite from my neighbors’ who I guess found me an unwanted element and often inquired about my joining.Some of them went a step ahead and asked me my package and often replied to that by giving reference to some of their distant kin’s son, a product of an IIT, who’s package was a staggering 4-5 times of what I had. Relief indeed..!!..though we haven’t spoken to each other ever since I left college, I was anticipating a call from her the whole day, never knowing the fact that she did the same.I went off to sleep early with mixed emotions and some unfulfilled desires.My joining call did elate me but could not convince me enough to take the initiative and call her up that day.I laid wide awake and kept the cell phone close to me, still clung onto my expectations.It was not more than a minute when I dozed off, that my cellphone vibrated with a message.It was couple of minutes before the clock struck 12.I always believed life to be a vicious cycle.It was like I slipped back a couple of years back.It ws her who had sent me the SMS.The message wished me a happy friendship’s day and ended with ‘expected you to call me atleast on this day..”..it followed with a couple of sad smileys.I had an instant feeling of remorse and guilt.I didn’t know what to do and wasn’t sure if I should actually call her up at this time in the night.I found it safest to SMS her back.I went blank when I opened pressed the reply option to the message.I kept my phone aside, slid under the blanket ,closed my eyes and tried to sleep with a guilty heart and remorseful consciousness.Few minutes later a tear rolled from my left eye and I sobbed for some time before I finally fell asleep.

I was thinking about her again while driving my bike on my way to the city booking center for my tickets.I didn’t notice that I was full on accelerator and the speedo-meter had crossed 70kmph.Just when I breached the speed of 80kmph on my splendor, I saw a dog crossing the road unwarranted of the speeding bike.My heart skipped a beat, and I tried to push both the rear and fore brakes at the same time.While my right leg failed to react in the short span of time, my right hand did what it should have, applied the front brake with full intensity.Physics and newton’s law of motion never seemed as dreadful as it was now.At a speed of 70kmph, the sudden brake on the front brakes proved nasty and it toppled the bike all over.The last thing I felt was being punished for what I did the last night as I lost consciousness on feeling extreme pain and seeing blood all around me.I opened my eyes 3 hours later to find bruises all over my body. The doctor informed me that I was lucky enough not to suffer from any head trauma or break any of the bones. I had stitches on 3 areas all over my body and I felt pain even on moving my head.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Proposal -- part 2

Here comes the well awaited second part of the series, the 3rd part is on its way..!!

.........Screw you..!! I shouted as hard I could and joined him to see other video songs.

After several months of calls,msgs, google talk and skype, it was in December that we finally decided to meet.We both had agreed to make a mutual effort for it and travel some distance.She was pursuing her Medicals in Bangalore and I was doing my Engg in Tamil Nadu.So, Hyderabad seemed to be a closest option.I chose the place as my class had decided to pay the city a visit on the context of a Industrial Tour.I being one of many co-ordinators strongly insisted on making Hyderabad the place to visit among other places.I neatly laid out a plan, bought in my best buddies and close friends in the class and collectively voted for Hyderabad.None of them knew about my intentions until we had reached the city.She chalked some similar plans which I never got to know.We planned to meet up on the 2 nd day of my trip, as the 1 st day was scheduled completely for the visits to industries and institutes.The night before the date, I gave a thought about it.It was a big day for me,as I was going on my 1 st date ever since I attained puberty. After making and trashing several plans to make the date special for her, I finally decided to cave in and propose her.I realized how my feelings for her has multiplied ever since she made the call on the friendship’s day.She had been constantly bothering me in my dreams and thoughts and perhaps the only way to get rid of my anxieties and worries related to the future of our relationship, was to go ahead and propose her.I went off to sleep after making the decision, unaware and not anticipating about the upcoming barriers.I woke up 3 hours later with an upset stomach.Certainly..!! not the greatest of starts on the day I decided to change the course of my life and propose a girl.I had never ever proposed or thought of proposing a girl before even in my wildest dreams.Leave me, I guess my entire bunch of friends, noone in my family or the entire clan had taken such a step.I realized how this step of mine would get me a heroic figure in front of my friends. I decided not to think about how my family would react at it.I knew it would be nothing less than catastrophic, so decided to give the thought a miss.



I decided to call upon my other school friends to get any idea they may have about how to propose a girl.The guy whom I called put my call on speaker mode and what I heard was a herd of guys giving me ideas and tips about it. Most of the tips seemed to have been directly taken out from romantic Bollywood and Hollywood classics and I was sure beyond doubt that none of them have had any experience at it.The romantic movie showed taking your date to a 5 star hotel,buying a wine and proposing with the ring in it.Leave the ring,dinner or wine I couldn’t afford to enter a 5 star hotel then.It was then an idea struck me.I explaimed Eureka..!! and took an auto.I instructed the auro-wallah to halt wherever he finds a good flower shop.That seemed to be the most viable,feasible and economical option, a red rose.The auto-wallah asked me if I was going on for a date.Taken aback by the question, I gave a smirk and asked to mind his own business.After such a rude response.i wasn’t sure if would halt at any flower shop.However, the guy seemed to ingnore my smirk and did stop at the flower shop.Confused on seeing a variety of red roses, i closed my eyes and chose one of them, and hurred bakc to the auto.I waved my hand at her as I paid my auto-fare.In accordance to my rude behaviour, the auto wallah charged me 20 bucks more than what the meter showed, stating this is what the rule of land was.Had it been any other day I would have probably given a fight , but I had no intentions of screwing my mood.I stepped in the café and reached the table where she sat.Gosh..!! what was seriously wrong with me in school, as I never noticed her seriously. I said a peppy hi, and without any delay flashed the rose at her.Am sure I took off her off her feet, but the surprised and shocked reaction at her face was more than what I had expected. I consoled myself and reminded me of my firm determination for the day.



After spending hundreds of hours over phone in the last few months, the face to face conversation was more than awkward.We talked random and casual stuff, the talk completely lacked the passion and she did not have the flirtiest tone which she possessed over phone.’Hey .!! dude” I heard a male voice and saw a guy coming over to our table with cappuccinos’ and some other CCD stuff. I was about to say ‘Am sorry..!!,,do I know you” before she cut me short and made a formal introduction to him.He was her class-mate and a resident of Hyderabad . According to her version, she bumped onto him on her way to the café. I really wanted to trust her, but the jealous, possessive boyfriend within me found the version absurd enough to believe.I sat for the next hour wearing a fake smile and had nothing less to say apart from my limited vocabulary i used when i met a girk for the 1st time.I didn’t knew about my status then and somehow found the two of them too friendly to be mere classmates.She went on to say that I hadn’t changed as i still did not speak much.I wanted to reply her saying “what do you expect me to say when I come for my date and found myself stuck up on someone else’s..!! “My desire to propose her drowned themselves in the floods of sorrow deep within my heart.Much to my respite my friend called me up as they were heading for a movie and was just checking if I could make it. I stood up made a very lame excuse and left leaving my share of bill on the table, all intended to let her know of my pissed off mood.Quite obviously I thought that Shahrukh’s flick would anyday be a better choice than crucifying my heart further.Heart-broken,devastated and embarrassed, I left the café and vowed not to meet,talk or call her again.7 hours later, I changed my stand, and was in a call with her again.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Proposal -- part 1

Finally came with an idea and a story after a lull of more than 3 months.My past experiences with writing has taught that while a serious blogger does care about general observations and write-ups, a more-so common reader doesnt give a damn unless it a story cramped with love, romance and some humor.So here it is..would be publishing it in 3 parts or more as am yet to conclude the story.And yet again, it a complete work of fiction, which maynot or may have been inspired in bits from my personal past experiences with life.

The proposal -- part 1

The friendly pat on my back declared her arrival finally.She had been religiously following the gesture of patting me on my back every time she met me right from our school days.Never realized how the tom-boyish friend of mine had transformed in a lovely lady today.She was more than an hour late but barely had the guilt feel on her face.Her flawless smile, the glossy lipstick and the green eyes(I was sure she wore the lenses) made me forget my anger in less than a minute.Gosh..!! how could and how would I vent my anger at her..!!, is what I thought the next moment.I had texted her more than 15 times in the last 1 hr while waiting at the Sahara Mall in Delhi.It was my 3rd visit to the state capital and it was 7 yrs after the last time.My education and work kept me busy deep south and had it been not her would not have visited Delhi in the chilly December.But this time I was on a purpose.The motive was to finally propose her and express my deep seated desire of finally getting in with her.I knew the long distance relation-ship never works, but right now keeping everything aside, I was up for some love and commitments.


It wasn’t my maiden attempt at it.I had made 2 attempts early on in past which had failed miserably.The first time I realized how my feelings for her was when I was down with a quarter of whisky.Sitting among the herd of buddies in 2 nd year at college, it was the 1 st time I consumed alcohol.I was feeling like nausea but had no intentions of throwing up.Alcohol has a weird power of making u feel all alone even when you are sitting in a crowd.And it was she who made the 1 st entry to my lonely sub-consciousness.It was kind of weird as I had lost touch her ever since I passed my 12th Board exams and my career aspirations made me move south.The entire past ,our childhood, the school flashed before my eyes like a 70mm Eastman color movie.


My feelings for her re-surfaced on a quiet afternoon in August, after a hearing a friendly voice on the other side of phone.Yes..!! it was her.She got my number from a common friend and had called me on the 2 nd Sunday of August to wish me a Happy Friendship’s day.I said Happy what…!!.For we guys and in the year 2005, the day had no meaning at all.Yes it was meaningful for those who had in a short span of time befriended hottest assets(read girls) of the college.Its strange how a girl is considered as an asset early on by any random guy, but after a date or two when the hapless guy had to shell out the coffee,shopping and other extravagant bills, the same assets are branded as severe liabilities. She took me off my feet by calling me.I cursed myself for the 1 st few seconds of the talk for not having taken such an initiative.She went to narrate a number of stories and my part of conversation mostly included few ohs,oks and yeah..cool. She showed a mild anger at me for not being in touch for so long and asked me for an explanation.Before I could make any excuse she went on with another not so interesting story of hers.She ..no, I mean we spoke for an hour before she shrieked at the top of her voice that her balance was almost over and she would call me back later.It was hurried hour long talk and a breezy good-bye not before she asked me to promise her to call her back.Unlike other girls she didn’t ask me to call her back as she was out of balance.Lying down on my bunker-bed after the call, I buried myself with these thoughts and blankly stared at the upper bunk.I wondered what this call meant and did it mean an end to my dry and wry bachelor-hood.Before I could envisage my dreams any further, my room-mate played a Himesh reshamiya song and the speakers blared at their utmost volume.Screw you..!! I shouted as hard I could and joined him to see other video songs.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

THE SOCIAL NETWORK:

5 Years after I logged in, and created my 1st social network profile on Orkut and a few months after I changed my loyalty to Facebook, I finally thought of writing in about my experience in and out.
Wikipedia defines the term as “A social network is a social structure made up of individuals (or organizations) called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.”..Well all said about what a social network is, let me get in some details from my past, my 1st foray to Orkut, the lean phase I spent with Orkut with no value addition to my scrapbook and friends and finally the quite phase when like my most Orkut friends, I shifted to facebook literally scrapping the mystic Orkut.
It all started in my 2nd year when a girl next to me logged in www.Orkut.com in the Bio-informatics lab. For the 1st time, I noticed the site rather the girl at the 1st go. Though I did check out her later on but it was totally futile. The reason why I chose to give my 1st look at the Orkut home page was genuine enough. The interface was neat, and mostly the images of various chicks who are present in your friend list or maybe your friends friend list gave enough opportunities. Orkut proved to an instant hit and rage among the college and school goers. Having an Orkut account was the owner pride and others envy. More than that owning an Orkut account meant, you could invite others too and this made the owner the most sought after person. It sounded cheesy and one felt complex browsing sites like Rediff.com and meebo.com(for yahoo and other chat rooms) when the person sitting right behind you browsed Orkut and received scrap from any random chick he knew. Any happening like this with me, I said “Son-of a bitch, he has an Orkut account”.(obviously in my mind) and made desperate attempts to find any remote friend or acquaintance who could grace me with an invite for Orkut.
Technology spreads like wild-fire. More because the developers of the technology want to spread in that way as it means earning some quick bucks and they know for sure that any new technology on internet(except Google) which sees a high would for sure see a low after it attains its saturation point. So the motive it makes enough financial gains as possible from your product. Orkut garnered enough publicity mostly from word-of mouth and some weird stories from media which described how a guy found a girl on Orkut. The buzz around it was enough for anyone to create or look for creating an Orkut profile. The Yahoo chat rooms and groups had lost it sheen mostly because of bots infiltrating the chat rooms and guys often hanged with bots rather than real chicks on yahoo. Moreover, unlike yahoo chat rooms, the Orkut found an instant hit among girls too who found the site safe and trust-worthy enough to make a profile on it. Girls and technology are two independent entities and no where relates (exceptions do exist..!!)..Orkut in the year 2006 was void of any privacy settings. Its scrap book was public, so was the photo albums and any one write on your scrap-book unless you had takes extra care of making your scrap-book a private affair. Changing the privacy and security settings was pain in the** and most of the users were unaware of it. And still girls found it a safe horizon..!!..This made Orkut one of the most infamous hunting grounds for guys looking for girls.
My long awaited and cherished desire did not prove to be too long as a class mate or a friend asked me over SMS if I was on Orkut or not. As I wasn’t really interested in that girl, saying a No and being honest was my reply, to which she asked me my gmail ID and sent the invitation rather than replying to my SMS.Thinking of being the 1st person to be there and realizing that lots of people have already been there was my 1st reaction after I logged in for the 1st time.I realized that it more of increasing the friend count that the girl send me the invite of Orkut. She sent similar request to more than half a dozen people too. Crap..i thought…how does the count of your friend even ever matters.2 weeks down the lane I found the answer when I was busy trying to find people who I knew even remotely and scrapped people whom I met a minute back, the content of scrap being “Hey buddy…wassup man..!!”…all these efforts intended to increase my friend as well as scrap count.It was always a feeling of virtual victory when you knocked down your closed friend in terms of friend as well as scrap count.
Chat rooms became a matter of past and people found their new love in scraps. Though Orkut found it popularity mostly in South Asian and African countries, an Indian in USA used Orkut more than MySpace or Facebook (the most common social networks of USA).The About Me section of one’s profile defined how cool a person was. Using metaphors,similies,Barrons high frequency words and humorous content were the hot trends, some losers did made a mockery of themselves by really describing themselves like I am Smart,handsome, blah blah kind of stuff(in most cases it was just the opposite).As the count of friends lost it relevance, the number of testimonials one possessed defined the incandescent persona of an individual. Testimonials were more of a statement which went ga-ga about an invidual saying how smart,unique,cool the person was , the matter was to say how good a girlfriend/boyfriend one would be.Most of the testimonials were written literally at gun-point or under the pre-text of a promise of a similar reciprocation.
The period or the phase saw many heart breaks and cheers.The initial offering of Orkut which made the scrap-book public had extreme affects.Guys found their area of interest(read the girl they liked) being some other guys love-interest while girls found the guy they had crush on having all other girls except her in that guy’s friend list. Technology has it pros and cons. Talk of the cons and am forced to remind how Orkut during my college days proved to be prankster’s hay place. An unlogged account of a friend proved to be a key to may doors and people played jokes at the owner’s cost.
The final year and a year after proved to be a season of lull for Orkut in my life. Two factors contributed it. First being at home for most part of year after college with no internet connectivity and the second being strangled with a job thereafter. My interaction with Orkut limited itself to any updates like an incoming scrap or a friend request on my Gmail id.Even the updates changed it frequency to once in a blue moon. The phase saw no value addition to my scrap-book count which by this time has become a (s)crap-book for me. The friend list count dwindled as users facing similar issues preferred trying some new stuff rather than experiencing the vintage.
The Face-Book 
Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard extravaganza proved better than Orkut Büyükkökten’s official work. Facebook though have had invaded the western countries way before Orkut made its appearance, started to infiltrate in India. Though I created a profile on Facebook way back in 2008, I became an active user only on the early part of this year, when Orkut developers innovative ways came to an end. To add to my Orkutting ways, most of the times I logged in, the server of Orkut crashed pathetically further diverting me attention and time to Facebook.Further my workplace seeing Orkut doing a potential damage to its culture,banned it.however, Facebook is yet to come in company’s websense radar.This gives me an extra liberty to stay connected to the social network via FB.
However, facts to be told. As my instincts reacted for the 1st time , I still find FB a cluttered act with numerous apps all messed up in a page with people asking some help for their farm or their cows going somewhere..seriously..what crap.If I were given a task I would go on to write 101 reasons why I hated FB.However, considering the fact that how painstaking and daunting that task would be, let me innumerate a few of them.
a)A daily request to join Mafia wars or feed someone’s something in a farm freaks me out.Seriously what the f*** is Farmville and Mafia wars..and why the damn should my participation would ever make a difference.Have been very sporting right from Nursery days and sportingly accepted the fact that sports do not form a part of me and neither do I belong to the sports cult. The other day an update which is marked a News feed(how the hell it’s a news..maybe yes someone’s farm is getting scrwed maybe a news for me) popped on my facebook homepage saying
“**** found a lost little White-tailed Buck on their farm. Oh no!.. **** was tending some new sprouts when a White-tailed Buck wandered onto their farm. The buck go...” and I went into an introspection why I was even on facebook getting such stupid news feed.
b)Unlike in Orkut, I never sent a friendship request to any random chick.It was always sent to a friend, or an acquaintance in certain cases. However, there are a few people (read girls) whom I know but am not really sure of their knowledge about me(am pretty sure they must have seen me..If at all they are observative as I am), who I did extend the prospects of my priceless friendship. Yet they have never been approved. Worse still, I do get updates of these people approving other friends and I seem to be the only one who under-went the sledge-hammer. Well, this can’t be reason for hating face-book, but the reason why do is the option of taking back the friendship offer is surely missing.After being denied an approval, I would never ever want to give my request a 2nd thought.Yet facebook doesn’t give me such a liberty and in the while compromises with my very principles.
c)I truly feel like screwing the guys more than facebook, when they make a comment on every other girl’s updates, no matter how cheesy it is.Even a crappiest of pics posted by a female receives more than a dozen likes and similar count of comments explaining how gorgeous, out-of-universe she looked.On the other hand, guys with the most amazing and thrilling updates have to like his own post and if ever get comments, includes “whr did u copy it from” and “seems u have gone crazy” kind of updates.Pics posted of himself is mostly un-noticed and is seen by noone other that him or his siblings.Such a kind of gender discrimination and a female chauvinistic attitude certainly leads to FB not being ranked as my top 10 sites to browse or go for when I reach my laptop.
d)The FB apps seem to be more of a curse than an option.They create a hell lot of humor which can be phrased as more of a tumor.Example this:
I checked out an App, how my life partner’s gonna be..(i vividly remember the name but am not sure of the exact name of the app.)..The application could have extracted my details as in my month of birth, my last name and other crap from my profile(and i thought the apps were smart enough).However, it asked me to enter the details.Curious to know i did painstakingly entered the bare as details only to find the result same as the friend who checked out the app last.After cursing FB for a minute i found that so called smart FB found me of the sun-sign LIBRA(am born on 1st Nov..and a Scorpion).These idiotoc apps which though creates extreme curiosity but prove to be a mere dud r another reason my hatred towards facebook.
Despite of these endless and countless reasons i use facebook on a daily basis, not because i love if, but because Orkut sucks as of now and for the very same reason i took to IT after doing my grads in Biotechnology, and for the same reason, i go for the work daily and lastly for the same reason why i do respond to my supervisor at work, though my every inch of body feels like thrashing the crap out of him.


P.S.:It may be a bit of irony, but the blog SOCIAL NETWORK makes it way onto unscocialgaurav’s blogspot.It reminds me of basic physics which taught us the very principle of Like charges attracting the unlike charges and vice-versa. Hail the Physics..!!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

15th August: Independence Day..!!

Finally Independence Day creates a buzz among the urban denizens of the country. Contrary to some 5-6 yrs back when the day(15th August) meant nothing more than an official and school holiday, now the scenario has changed when people take a pride in endorsing the tri-colour on their vehicles,pin up the flag on their shirts and do wish each other the Happy Independence Day. All thanks to the movement(no its not Celebrate Independence Day movement..!!) started by a few email-happy people, which criticized people for wishing each other on Friendship’s day, Valentine’s day and other non-sensical western days but giving out very own Independence day a miss. Unlike last year, this year my facebook New Feed was flooded with people wishing Independence day and all updates of my friends(and acquaintances) who described how the over whelming feeling of patriotism imbibed them today. Some even wanted to India to go back to shackles so that they could do the Bhagat Singh or Azad’s kind of act and redeem freedom back to the country. Sheer patriotism I should say..!!..What was more surprising was that this year Friendship’s day which happened exactly a couple of weeks back seemed dud in comparison to the Independence day..Once again kudos to my dear netizens who created an enormous awareness and their campaign seems finally paying off.
I was really intrigued to give a thought about this day after people waked me up at 6 in the morning to wish on this day. A talk over phone for 2 minutes meant an abrupt end to my sleep. With nothing to do around, I thought how does it mattered to wish each other a happy independence day…my answer didn’t matter at all..Then does the Independence does really matter?? Yes it does..And my final question got me in real tizzy when I asked myself if am enjoying it..and my answer was..hmm..No..Don’t know..but it tends highly towards No.
Now why I think so..here are the few points:
a)In a Country where I do have rights to settle anywhere , but is forced to move out by local goons do not define independence of movement.
b)Though my company talks of ethics ,asks me to come to office even on weekends and even on Independence day..Is it the freedom are we talking about.
c)The inflation has marred the country.Despite of this millions of tonnes of food stock gets damaged due to improper storage and the Agriculture Minister says, it happens..
d)The Commonwealth Games which would be a 1st International event to be staged in the country after the 1982 Asiad, seems badly hit by corruption. Few days for the games, people are showing keen interest in doing exposes and blackening the games further rather than really trying to help it happen. Is it the freedom all about..
e)The outsourcing firms based in the country charge a hefty $200-300 per day per person from clients but pay a meager $15-16 per day to its employees. Is it what we call equality..??
f)The Maoists have inflicted a huge damage to the nation and is on the verge of India’s civil war.Yet the vote frenzy politicians create a buzz and hold dharnas when talks of using Army at them are concerned.
g)As the nations celebrates its yet another Independence Day, Kashmir burns echoing a separatist voice. Some elements of society who have an issue with peace and harmony ruling over, invoke a group of mis guided who go on violent terms. And instead of holding proper talks, the leaders make some crappy statements and continue to hold the state under siege. This is certainly not freedom atleast not for Kashmir. I am pretty sure that all the people there want is peace and have always been let down by some weak governance and the unruly , brain washed people there.

Am not a sadist who tries to conceive a negative image of things. Rather am critical of how things happen and whether it really makes sense the way it is happening.
Once again rather than sitting back and seeing the tri-colour being unfurled on national television, standing up for the next 52 seconds for National Anthem lets perceive, conceive and do something for a better tomorrow, a better India and in a real sense an Independent India.
--Jai Hind..