The truth

One of the values kids are taught at a young age is to tell the truth. The same was with my family. My mom was very strict about me and my sister telling truth. She used to say, “No matter what you have done, always tell the truth. It is much easier and it’s always, always the better option.”

In my childhood I was naughty kid. I used to get into trouble every day. As I started growing up, it continued, but the naughty turned into something else when I saw kids at my school wear new clothes, buy new things.

Every time I used to see my friend buy new things I wanted it. It wasn’t like I was obsessed about it, but I wanted it. What I dint know at that time is that there was one thing that would grow into an obsession.

It was the year 2000 and computer games had just made its way into my small hometown of Coorg, Madikeri. Everybody was playing. Kids, adults, you name it they were playing it. I so, so, so wanted to play them as everyone in our school was describing how amazing it was.

I had just passed out my junior high and entered my high school. My dad had given me 20 bucks on passing the exams. I took the money and ran to the cyber café to play the games with my friends.

I dint know squat about computer games. My friends cheated and played with my money for 2 hours, leaving me bitterly angry and unsatisfied. I said to myself, ‘I will play games all by myself without anybody’s help’, and that’s what I exactly did. The feeling I used to get when I played the games was amazing. Just like the feeling I used to get when i drank juice made from Kissan squashes; 100% real and amazing.

I was addicted and spent all the money I had on the computer games. Times were not as expensive as it is now. I used to get 5 bucks every week as pocket money, lesser sometimes. As we had our own shop, every time I used to ask my dad for more money, he used to say “When you have everything here, what do you need money for? If you want something I will buy it for you.”

I couldn’t stand it. I wanted to play computer games and that was it. My dad wasn’t so rich that he’d buy me a computer, so I thought of a plan. Every time I was home after school my dad used to make me sit in the shop and go for a coffee break for 10 minutes. I hated sitting at the shop, but I did it anyway because I wanted my dad to rest.

One day as I was sitting, minding the shop, my eyes fell on the cash register. I saw the money my dad had made the whole day. There were a couple of 20’s, 50’s and a lot of 10’s. I saw how my friends looked at me when I played the games. I was good, not just good, I was goooood. We competed in car races and I always own. I wanted to maintain that winning streak and so I took two 10 rupee notes from the register.

As soon as I had the money in my hand I started panicking. I thought, ‘Will I get caught?’, ‘What if dad comes to know about the missing money?’, ‘What would happen if I get caught?’ A hundred questions crossed my mind. I was sweating and put the money back. I saw my dad come in. He saw me, smiled and said to go play outside. I went.

The thought never left me. My mind said ‘You could have just taken the money and left, dad wouldn’t know!’ I said to myself ‘No I can’t do it. It would be stealing and then if he asks me, I’d have to lie. I don’t wanna do that.’ There was no voice for some time, but as the evening progressed the thought never left my mind.

I met my friends next week and as I hadn’t played the games for a week, I was sloppy. I lost all games and I was angry at myself. I said to myself “Enough is enough, I am a winner and that’s what I will be.”

I went to my dad and said “I want money to play computer games!”

He said “You play a lot of games thousif; no you can’t have more money. Your grades will go down, sit and study rather than playing games".

I was pissed. I was so pissed that I when my dad went for his break that day, I took two 20 rupees notes without a guilty conscience. I went and played games without a worry in the world.

My dad didn’t suspect a thing, so I started taking money every day. What started with 40 bucks soon grew 50, 60 and more. Whatever I dint spend on the computer games I used to save up.

After 3 years I had collected a lot of money. Yes, 3 years; 3 freaking years. I would have continued if it wasn’t for my sister.

One of the saddest things in my life was my sister’s death. That event led to everyone in our house become zombies for weeks. I used to fight with my sister a lot and when she passed away I blamed myself for not asking sorry. Remembering her I used to cry on my mother’s shoulder and howl with pain, asking my sister to forgive me. It was normal childhood fights, but the pain of not getting to ask sorry was real and hurt every day.

As I was crying one day, I remembered what I had been doing for the past 3 years. I felt ashamed and I wanted to say it to my parents. But my ego dint let me. I was very afraid thinking what my dad would say, but the guilt was eating me out. I stopped taking the money, but I had the money I had saved. I may have had like 10,000 bucks with me. I wanted to put it all back, but my dad would ask ‘Where did all the money come from?’ and I would have no answer.

I wanted to say the truth and now I couldn’t. I was in agony. I felt like I was on fire, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

One day I fought with my mom. It was a bitter fight. She was crying and I was still angry. Suddenly I saw the picture of my sister on the table and I felt pain. I thought how I used to fight with her and now I had done the same with my mother. An inner voice told me ‘See thousif, you can’t ask sorry for the bad times you had with your sister, but you can set things right by asking sorry with your mother and telling her the truth’

I remembered what my mom used to say ‘Say the truth, no matter what.’ I went to where my mom was silently sobbing. I saw her, went near her, held her hand and let her to my bedroom. I sat down and said “I am really sorry mom” She stopped crying and saw me. I said how sorry I was for being such an arrogant child, and that I was sorry for all the bad things I had done in my life. She said that I wasn’t a bad kid, only a little stubborn sometimes but that was ok. I dint listen to her. I had taken a decision and I would abide to it.

I started talking about my sister and said how sorry I was for fighting with her and how sorry I was for fighting with my mom. I started crying, i was hysterical, like I couldn’t stop myself. It was 10 in the night and listening to my crying my dad silently came from the shop and stood near the door. I started crying, asking sorry and cried some more. My dad came near me and seeing him I just broke down. I wanted to confess and finally I thought it was now or never and I did it.

I said how I had started taking money and how I spent it on computer games and how I had saved some of it. I took a long time to confess and when I had finally finished my dad said only one thing “I knew.”

I looked at him and he hugged me and said “I knew about it, but I wanted you to stop it by yourself.” “You took a long time to stop, saved up a lot of money, but you did it.” he said smiling. I blurted out a laugh and looked at my mom. She came forward and hugged me and said smilingly “I knew too” I looked at her and tears flowed again. “Don’t cry” she said “I know you lied to us, but you taking initiating and confessing you did something wrong and admitting it is a huge thing.” I heard her say this and cried some more.

“Stop crying my child” my mother said hugging me tighter “You took a big step and see now we know you will never do it” she added.

I looked into her eyes and knew that I had cleansed my sins through the tears I cried. My parents rather than being angry were happy that I had realised my mistake. Both my parents got up from my bed and my dad took my chin into his hands and said smilingly “If you ever need money just ask thousif, everything me and your mother earn is for you itself. It always has been.”

That moment was real for me. More real than anything I had experienced in my life, ever. I learnt that whatever happens in life my parents will always be there for me. It made me feel so good to tell the truth. It made me and my parents grow stronger as a family and since then I haven’t taken a single rupee without asking.

That day I learnt that truth no matter how hurtful it is, is always a beautiful thing to say. I learnt that the real thing to have is a family that trusts you, no matter what you have done. It made me feel that saying the truth will always be better than telling lies. It’s your family that counts, the trust they have in you that counts. Lie never mattered and never will. I had their trust and from that day till now I have honoured that trust, always will.

This post has been written for 'The Kissan 100% Real Blogger Contest' on Indiblogger.in.

The daily office ride..

Each morning I enjoy my ride to office. Not because I ride my favorite bike to get there, but because I pass by boss’s house. I try to wave him a hi and see that I reach office before him. A little bit of buttering up and being on time always helps if I miss deadlines and all. So the morning of 22^nd July wasn’t any different, or so I thought.

It was raining. What do you expect in July otherwise? I was just hoping it’d stop for one hour till I reach office and just as I finished that prayer I saw, it had indeed stopped raining. I thanked the lord and started riding my bike.

As usual my boss was waiting outside for his car to pick him up. I saw him and gave him the most awesome smile I could muster. 32 teeth, no 30 actually 2 actually have fallen out, do not ask how. Seeing my smile he returned it with a sly smile of his and as I was passing by him I dint notice the one thing which I should have noticed at any cost- A big, deep, muddy, dirty water puddle.

Splash!! And my boss’s pant was soaked from top to bottom. I let out an agonized cry from my throat involuntarily. My brain kept saying, ‘you are screwed Thousif, you are screwed’. I left my bike and ran to inspect the damage, and I said, almost screamed ‘what sir, why were you standing outside?’

He was taken aback, instead of apologizing I was asking stupid questions. I continued ‘You should have stayed inside, the rains have made this road a mess, you should have been careful’

Instead of taking the blame I was blaming my boss itself. I think he was thinking, first order of business, sack Thousif raza for unprofessional conduct.

I continued ‘but do you know sir who is to blame for this mess?’’

He looked at me quizzically. ‘The government sir, the bloody government; Look at all these potholed roads. If they had done their work properly, you wouldn’t have suffered this way’

‘But you have eyes to see right?’ He asked ‘you could have avoided it’.

‘Yes sir I could have, but if I rode my bike a little along to the side, I would have fallen into that ditch. I could have died; do you want me to die sir?’ I asked and pointed towards the ditch which was so deep that even light couldn’t penetrate it.

‘Hmph’ he grunted and went inside his house.

Without invitation I went inside his home. Looking at me he started yelling ‘I had a very important meeting today and look what has happened’ he pointed to his filthy pant ‘and I have a raging headache now’ he added.

He went inside his room and started looking at the clothes searching for the ones which he thought were clean.

‘Sir, ma’am is not at home?’ I asked

‘She has gone out on a holiday, and by the why are you inside my house?’ he asked

‘To help you sir, to help you’ I replied

I continued ‘Sir, you search for the pant you want. I’ll make you a tea which will reduce your headache’ I said and bolted to the kitchen before he could say anything.

The one thing I am good at is making tea, I’ve got rave reviews for my tea making skills because that is the only thing I know to make without screwing up. I made the tea and it was ready within 10 minutes, so was my boss.

‘Here sir, a hot cup of tea just for you’ I said

‘No I don’t need all this, I am getting late’ he said

‘Sir, the traffic would be a nightmare now and if you go in your car you’ll never reach. Just sit down and drink this tea, I’ll take you in my bike’ I ordered, kind off.

He thought for a moment and then sat down and drank the tea. He took the first sip and a smile lit up his face, quickly he finished it completely.

I quickly ran back to my bike, cleaned it a little and asked him to take his seat and took him to the office through the shortcut which I usually take to reach office. He was surprised to reach the office earlier than expected.

He got down and went to the conference room where the meeting was held. Usually being the one late for every meeting, everyone was surprised to find him this early.

He came out of the meeting and came straight to me and said, ‘I should be angry with you but I won’t be. One is because of that tea and second is because of your presence of mind I reached office early. From next time drive carefully ok’.

I said ‘Sir, I guess it’s better if I do it again. Get you all dirty by spraying muddy water on you’.

‘Why?’ he asked taken aback.

‘Because that way I’ll get to spend more time with you and show you how capable I really am’ I said beaming. He just smiled and left.

Another day another disaster averted. I smiled widely and walked back to my cabin, thanking the stars and obviously- my tea making skills.

This post was written for the Indiblogger contest ‘Sets you on fire’

Disclaimer: All images have been taken from google. I have no right over any of them.

How i made mission impossible POSSIBLE

I have been a big fan of Mission Impossible movies. The Movies, the soundtrack, the concepts all have been awesome from the first movie. Ok, I do agree they have lost their charm a little. But, you can’t argue that they are the coolest movie franchise to ever come out.

When I got to know about the 4^th installment in the series and saw the trailer which had Cruise climbing Burj, I was awe-struck. I wanted to see it First-day-first-show. But fate and life always has other plans. I work from monday morning till Friday night. Yes, it’s not a day that I work; I work the whole week with no breaks in between. I cannot do anything in these 5 days and I thought, ‘Shit, I can’t watch the movie on the first day’ and till I tried to get tickets on Saturday, and to my dismay, every one of them was sold out.

There were some tickets available in theaters where the sound would be shit, and also as they were too far away from where I stay, i dint wanna go. Also, I had to travel back to my hometown at 5pm and would be only returning Monday morning for another hectic week ahead, so I admitted I’d have to give it a miss. I was sad as I wouldn’t be able to catch the movie, but then came the phone call.

It was my friend Madan, The guy who I hate the most. He bullied me through school, made out with a girl whom I had a crush on and made my life hell through high school. He called me (He always finds my number, no matter how many times I change it, believe me it’s a mystery) and this is how the conversation went:

Madan: Did you get tickets for MI:4?

Me: NO…

Madan: Oh sad man, guess what!! I got two tickets, me and my girlfriend are going.. :D

Me: and why did you call me?

‘To rub it in your face’ he said and cut the call. Yes there are some persons who are that mean. Believe me.

My other friend Naveen came into my room and saw my sad face and said, ‘it happens man, cheer up. It’s my brother’s b’day today so come let’s go do some shopping’. I said I didn’t wanna go, but he dint listen. Finally after pleading and making sad faces and everything that he could do to make me agree, I finally did. But guess where he took me?.. Come on guess…

YES, to the same freaking mall where Madan and his girlfriend would see the movie which I wanted to see so badly.

I saw Madan waiting there inside the hall, waiting for his girlfriend. I couldn’t stand it, if life wasn’t fair I was about to make it fair and I thought of an idea.

I saw the ticket master talking with his buddies and I tried sliding in without being noticed. They are not stupid so they obviously saw what I was doing and as I was about to slide through, they held me and asked: ‘Ticket please..’

I looked from here to there, but couldn’t find Madan, ‘damn it’, I thought and suspicion rose in the face of the ticket collector. He said raising his voice ‘Sir if you have the ticket please give it to me and move, there are others waiting in the line too’. I was trying to search Madan through the crowd that was inside the theater lounge but still couldn’t find him. I said to him ‘wait, I’ll get them to you in a minute’. He raised his voice and said ‘It’s now or never, give the tickets if you have or move out’. Listening to all this commotion, couple of police officers who were nearby came and said gruffly ‘Boy, you either present the tickets or get out of line’. I saw the face of the police officer and I knew this was getting out of hand.

I finally had to admit defeat, the plan I had in my mind wouldn’t even see the light of the day and as I was beginning to back out I saw him and yelled ‘Hey Madan…’ Surprised, he automatically called my name ‘Thousif??’. I told the ticket collector, he is my friend and ran inside, they all followed.

I started hatching my plan

Me: ‘What yaar Madan, just because I fought with you, you took the tickets and ran inside, what kind of a friend are you??’

Madan: 'But…'

Me: (cutting him off) ‘What but, ok baba I am sorry ok, don’t act like a stranger now, it happens sometimes, now give my ticket to these people and lets go inside the theater’

Madan: (In shock) WHAT??

(his face was exactly like this :P)

Me: ‘Why are you so shocked dude?’ I put my hand in his shirt pocket and pulled out the tickets quickly peeking at the serial numbers and said to the ticket collector, ‘See 10000673, that’s the number right?, here it is, you can take it on my behalf’ I showed it to the cops and gave the ticket to the collector guy which he took and went cursing me under his breath.

Madan dint know what the hell was going on, and as all of it happened in less than 10 seconds he was dumbstruck. He looked at me, held my collar and started yelling at me.

I yelled back: ‘Saale, all through the high school you made my life hell and now you wanna see my favourite movie without me?, That won’t be possible because today I am your girlfriend pretty boy’ I said and gave him a wink.

He was just about to punch me, when he saw his girlfriend on the entrance having a scuffle with the ticket collector arguing that her tickets are with her boyfriend.

Leaving me he ran to her girlfriend and she started arguing with him straight away, yelling ‘You don’t care about me’, ‘You are an !@#@!$@$’ More than the movie I was sure I would enjoy this scene the most.

Finally he left consoling his girlfriend and I got to see my fav movie, without getting punched in my face and absolutely FREE. Payback is a bitch :P :D Yeah!

This post was written for the Indiblogger contest 'Sets you on fire'

Disclaimer: All images have been taken from Google. I have no right over any of them.

My magic 2 hour clock to break the cursed Hymn

120 minutes, that was what was offered on the table. ‘Go on take it’ said a voice inside me. As much excited I was to pick up those minutes, I was also scared. I thought how useful these could be and at the same time I also thought, being the lazy guy I am what would happen if I turned them into another lazy memory…..

No you won’t! said my heart, and I believed it. And when I picked up those 120 minutes, I imagined what they could offer to me and amazing would be the understatement to what I could do with those 2 hours. This is how I would spend my 2 extra hours in a week…

Day 1: Monday

Everybody thinks life starts on a Sunday, but life really starts on a Monday. Many people like me hate to get up in the mornings. Standing in queue for the bathroom in a PG hostel where I live, just to take a hurried bath so that I can reach office on time, or 15 minutes late as the records show. Yes that’s my start of every Monday.

Day goes by and evening approaches, in all my work, youtube addiction and messaging that someone special, I forget to have any time for myself. I want to, ‘but there is no time’. It’s like a hymn that my lips have learnt to say without my knowledge. There at that particular moment I realize what I have in my pocket. My 2 hours. My extra 120 minutes where I can do anything I want.

An invisible alarm starts up for my 120 minutes and the world stops. It’s just like in the matrix training sequence, where they can pause time. Whatever happens in life doesn’t bother me, because those 120 minutes are mine.

I start by doing my most favorite activity in the world- Writing.

Even though I am a copywriter I barely get time to write what I truly love- Poetry. It’s not like I am a big shot at it or anything, hell I don’t even follow the rules sometimes. But poetry is one way through which I have lived through many of my emotions. Be it my first breakup or how much I hate war. Poetry has always helped me to express what I feel in a much better way.

Tell me i love you with so much depth

That the ocean itself, screams out looking at your's.

Tell me i love you with so much strength

That the hurricane falls down on its knees, weeping out of its glory.

Tell me i love you with so much intensity

That even the raging forest fire turns itself to dust, in shame.

Tell me i love you with so much love

That love itself may find its true worth today.

This is of my favorite poems.. and inspired by this i wanna write something like this.

Trust I this world, because it gives me hope with each sunrise.

Trust I every person I see, because I see a smile waiting to breakout in everyone of them

Trust I this time, because I know it will come, where I see all I hope coming true

The only problem is just placing that trust on myself, to believe.

I know it’s nothing much, hell maybe others will think its complete crap, but I don’t care. It’s my life and the way I see it, anything that makes me happy as long it’s not illegal, is good enough for me :).

And suddenly that alarm goes off, saying my time is up.. That’s how I would spend every Monday of mine. A poem to start my week, which would make me believe that anything is possible. That world can be a place where I can do what I love, no one to hold me back, not even my own lazy self :).

Day 2: Tuesday

Same ordeal follows, but I am so happy with what happened yesterday I cannot wait to start up my 2 hour clock which allows me to do all the things I love.

Tuesday is a day filled with just as much work, presentations and all those things. But it is also special because it’s an unofficial lucky day in our family.

According to my mom, everything from a fridge, TV, to a washing machine that we have bought for our home was on a Tuesday.

Following this tradition, I am going to shop. With the small salary that I have, all of it goes into expenses. After that whatever gets saved, I cannot spend it coz of that hymn again.. ‘there is no time’. So Tuesday’s I am going to shop. Online shopping is easier and will get things delivered right at my doorsteps. So from a water bottle to my fav pair of jeans, I am going to shop for everything that I need and window shopping for all the things that I want. I want to shop online, because nobody makes a sour face when you go out of the store without buying, so… :P.

Day 3: Wednesday

I want to write again. As much as I love writing poetry, I love writing stories. I have written 3 short stories still now. They are not awesome or anything, but I like them.

So starting that magic 2 hour clock I am going to start writing again.

You may not believe me, but I have at least 17 stories in my mind which I would love to get on paper. I know the start, I know the climax and I know how every one of them is going to end. So why am I not starting… again.. the hymn ‘there is no time’ comes back. “OK, all right, you are just plain old lazy” you might say but just picturize this.

Travel for 1.30 hour every morning in the bus to reach office within 9:30 (if my boss is reading this, I try sir, I really try :P). Stay there for almost 10 in the night to reach back home by 11.30. I just don’t have the energy to be creative enough to write. So Wednesday’s I am going to assign to writing again, because I want to get published.

I know I have the ability to write stories which people would care about, even if they don’t turn out to be bestsellers. I know I have that within me and with these 2 hours I am going to complete that. I am going to write all the 17 stories, currently stored in ‘D:\THOUSIF\BRAIN\ SECTOR 37\ Stories to be turned into novel’ and try to get them published.

Day 4: Thursday

As soon as you step out of college and get into a job, you dedicate yourself into it in such a way that you forget some things. In my case, it was my friends.

Yes, I am a horrible person; I can say that by the dirty looks that you are giving to me. Trust me, not a day goes by where I don’t remember them. Everyone has done something special for me and I remember them every day, just not able to pick up that phone and call them.

Work does stress me out, where a brief might come any minute and I have to run into a meeting. So starting my mystical 2 hour clock, every Thursday I am going to call every one of my friend even if it’s for 5 mins and let them know that I care about them.

I have always believed in the value of friendship and with this vow, I am going to keep the promise made. No matter what happens, these 2 hours are dedicated to my friends.

Day 5: Friday

I start this day with a smile because I know tonight is going to be the start of the weekend. I am going to start the 2 hours and I am going to plan what I am going to do in the weekend. Every week the same thing happens, either I plan too late or I just do things in such a hurry that nothing satisfies me. I have to read the novels I rent on the bus, I don’t even have time to just sit back and relax to read a book. So I am going to sit down on Friday, switch on to my fav internet station and plan out the things to be done for the weekend.

Day 6: Saturday

My fav day, because I can get up in the morning anytime I want as it’s a holiday. Yayyyyy :P. Still I don’t understand one thing about holidays. As soon as you get up, the day goes so fast and turns into night in a blink, even if you are doing absolutely nothing.

Here’s an example of how that happens: Get up at 11, bathe, breakfast, till then it’s time for lunch, I watch a lil TV its already four and till I plan to do anything its 10 o clock.

So the Saturday that is going to come I am going to work on what I planned on Friday and I want to do something that I have not done for a long time (Read: Almost never)

I live in Bangalore, so on Saturday I want to hop on the first bus and reach Madikeri, my hometown where my parents live. The ride is almost 7 hours and till I reach it’ll almost be evening. I just want to reach home take a bath and activate those 2 hours and within these 2 hours I want to cook with my mom.

I want to do it because, my mom has been very lonely after my sister passed away 2 years ago. I haven’t been able to give her proper time because of my studies, projects, and work. I want to be with her to talk to her and know everything happened in that week, and I want to cook because I want my mom to know that I care for the things she loves. She loves cooking but because I live so far away she has lost her interest in it. She feels there’s no one to cook for. I want to reinstate her confidence and show her that I care about her and I care about her cooking, and I want to be there for her to see her smile while we are having dinner. I want to use those 2 hours for that, to see her smile.

Day 7: Sunday

Another holiday, I am home and I can wake up to the sweetest alarm I’ve heard in a long time. My mom yelling my name asking me to wake up and take a shower :P. I have missed that alarm for 3 years now. The thing about mothers is that, you only get to know their true value after you are on your own.

So I want to listen to her voice calling my name and then go down and hug her and say good morning and devote the day to the most important person in my life, my dad.

Being in his shop all day for the past 27 years my dad has done a lot. He has worked day and night, even on Sunday’s, to give me a good life. I want to be there for him and help him with the shop. Activating my 2 hours, I want to help him more in the shop to give him that 2 extra hours of sleep which he has lost for the past 27 years. I would savour every minute of it and I would love to see the fresh look in his eyes when he wakes up again.

As evening comes, I would say goodbye to them and catch a bus back to Bangalore to start my week again, but this time I would have the magical and very very useful clock of 2 extra hours in my pocket. The 2 hours which would let me do all the things that I love and care about.

All this would be possible with the 2 extra hours I’d get from Surf Excel Matic where I can turn the hymn ‘…but there is no time’ to ‘ …but I have 2 extra hours’. The 2 hours that I get, I am going to spend making a lot of memories and I know that I’d love each minute of it.

This post was written for the Indiblogger competition ‘If you had two extra hours in a day, how would you spend it?’

I want to thank Indiblogger and Surf Excel Matic for giving me a platform to express what I felt. I had a lovely time writing this post; it would not have been possible if not for them. Thank you.

Disclaimer: All images have been taken from google. I have no right over any of them.

The brand new Bangalore kid – part 3

If you are thinking when did part 2 come out… well it will come out… but in the last post one of my fav bloggers suruchi *hugs and kisses her* ;) asked me to talk about a particular incident so I am writing about it now. This incident happened after the incidents which I wanted to reveal earlier, so now part 3…. Now put your finger on your lips (sexily ;)) and read :).

Life experience #43 : Getting thrown into a river(or was it a stream… anybody know the difference? ;)) …40ft deep and feeling awesome :D

To start with I have to tell you, I was always a kid who was his parents fav and they protected me more than how angry birds protected their eggs :P… it was always school and home, college and home. I dint mingle with frenz much and always used to be home more than outside. And I don’t blame them, my mom loves me a lot and she dint want anything to happen to me, so she always insisted to come back home early.

In all these I lost out on many moments. When my frenz used to call me to someplace suddenly, I was always skeptical. Should I go? Shouldn't i? What would mom think, I was such a momma’s boy! :P, anyways coming back to the issue, I never hung out much with frenz, I wanted to but just dint wanna upset my mom too.

But coming to Bangalore, WOW, as I have said I have done a ton of things, and one among them is being thrown into that river.

Arpit and suruchi get angry and say: ‘Ab story shuru kare gab hi, ya sirf back story bolta rahega?, we know u were kind of a wuss :P and u became bolder after coming to bang, start with the near death experience all ready!!’

Ok suruchi ok :P he he. I can imagine her smile and it looks beautiful, (I donno about arpit, coz I don’t imagine him like that ;). Still his smile is cute too, I’ve heard a couple of girls say , don’t ask who arpit :P, it’s a secret).

So back to the story, Chavan is a magician, I donno how is does it. One moment he is suffering with a 104 degree typhoid fever, next moment he is saying: ‘Pack your bags we are going to Goa’ :P… he is so eccentric and lively and I love that fact about him, this time though it was the trip to a nearby place called Dubare forest :) (its famous for elephants)

(Actual Dubare Images :))

Being in kodagu all my life, I still hadn’t visited a lot of places. So for Dussera he said he is going out with his frenz and asked me to come along. I was being lazy again, but he insisted and next thing I know I am in madikeri (my hometown :D) sleeping in the room chavan and his friend rented. Let me now introduce the 3 very interesting frenz of chavan(and mine too :D)

Chandan (this guy is the definition of cool)

Amit Vikram (He the funnest person I have known, when drunk :P)

Mr silent good hearted person (Actually I forgot his name :P, sorry yaar :P)

So all these guys including me and chavan were in madikeri. Chandan is a guy with multiple pluses. He is good with cracking jokes, can hold onto to his liquor like a rock, and knows to make awesome cocktails too. So that day in the room we all sat down and he started preparing cocktails for everyone. I looked at him in awe as he concocted a potion with… hold your horses… Mango ‘Slice’(yes the juice). Nimbooz :P, Teachers brandy, lil lime and Salt on the edges of the glass ;)

I donno what it’s called, but all the guys who drank it, loved it. What started as just one glass turned to 2, 3, almost 4. (They stopped because the salt ran out :P). I was seeing them enjoy and I really wanted to steal a glass and taste it, just dint, couldn’t,( maybe I will cross that barrier one day too :)). But as I saw them enjoy, the same feeling came as the last time. Happy, content, and free (without being drunk ;)) and I loved it.

Amit is THE guy when it comes to laugh. At one time I asked him ‘dude how do you laugh?’ He started and that was the end of it … ha ha ha my god, it was so funny … Its like a combination of Ravan+The joker of batman and its LOUD :d.. We laughed and laughed and Chavan was like, ‘Oh stop you’re gonna make me throw up :P’. Honestly at that moment I saw and felt what I had been missing all these years. Hanging around frenz is fun, drunk frenz is even more fun :P. I have never had so much fun as I had here IN MY LIFE and it was just getting started.

Night grew, we went out outside where everyone was enjoying the festival of dusshera by dancing in front of the temple idols. These guys danced like crazy, I wanted to join in but had the camera in my hand, so I went my back to the room and till I dumped and came back, I saw everyone was exhausted. Still it dint dampen our spirit to roam around in the night.

Actually the thing is, in Madikeri the night is awesome on Dusshera, because the whole city is lighted up and devotees build huge creations of god and demons to tell the story through mock models, which are huge, usually taking up almost 3 to 4 tractors. There are 10 temples who make these models and prizes are distributed for best 3, people finish up celebrating dussera in Mysore and leave to Madikeri for the night, it’s so popular.

We too wanted to see what each temple had done, but Amit vikram was so exhausted and dizzy from the dancing, that we saw him puking at the side of the road … and it was funny. The way he was swaying from side to side, the way he almost got his butt beaten by a cop, while he was sitting on the road, and even after puking multiple times was full of energy to roam the whole city :P.

It was FUN, just being there, it was so fun. Chavan looked at his condition and said ‘Lets go back we are in no position to roam the city with this heavy head feeling, and we’d probably get our asses whooped with Mr crazy Amit here acting as Kistu Mukherjee every 2 mins’. So we saw the intelligence in his decision and went back and crashed on our beds.

To be continued…

(I know you all are boo hoo, where is the real story you cunning fox :P… but the post has grown long, I’ll post the rest soon, till then I hope you had fun reading it. I will post soon promise, see I promised and came back right? ;), so I will be back soon :))

Till then. Take care. I love you all. Happy Diwali BTW :)

Love to each and every one of my reader, I love you all, hope you guys have a grand diwali, be safe and have tons of fun ok :). Love you

A message of love

I am so lazy guys nai? sometimes I am so lazy that I myself am surprised ke MY GOD, how lazy can i be...

EVIL M: is par awards bante hain America may... * laziest kamina award* char pade huwe hai tv ke upar... gadha..

(Rolls eyes) hmm to what I was saying ke… I had been reading one of my old posts...

EVIL M: Ahaha (Enter old 70's style saas blaming bahu voice) karam jali ke karname to dekho... dusroon ke blog nahi padta... khud ke blog post bar bar padte rehta hai... stupid..

Haan dey galiyan de... pura haq hai tujhe...

EVIL M: galiyan nahi... bum pay char laat padegi na... tabhi.. tabhi pata chalega tujhe... kaash arpit or suruchi kahin ass pass hote... itne lagwata tujhe... itne lagwate na... hmph

EVIL M naraz hai... kya aap log bhi naraz ho? (Gum naam hai koi song plays in the background because of all the sanaata as people are nowhere to be found) mere khayal say ho...

The reason for the blog post is solely you guys... every one of you reader out there... I read the Bangalore kid post... and I read the comments and I felt so good... reading all your comments it made me smile so much...

Yes I am busy... yes I don’t have time to even pee sometimes...

EVIL M: Kuch chahiye kya... not peeing problem solve karne ke liye? jaise ki... he he *evil laugh*... diaper mangwadun adult wale.. size 'S' :P ha ha ha... I am laughing so much..

EVIL nai sudharega... I have no time... but I so wanna write. I did some amazing things ... and amazing things happened to me... like I was caught by the police one time and also where I was thrown into a 40 feet deep water hole even when I said to a guy that I donno swimming... and those incidents are true... unlike the other fancy ones i mention sometimes... and I so wanna write... but am not able to find time.. I will write... I am making a promise now... that I will write about all those times... :)

Any way this is just a update to tell you.. I miss you guys and yeah I am alive... I miss all you guys who read my blog and love me so much... I love you all for coming here.. reading whatever I put out (EVIL M: which is mostly crap :P) and loving me so much..

It felt really great to read those comments... I read them at least 10 times ... so guys thank you so much... you guys always make me smile with your comments... :)

I will be back soon... promise :)... this time real promise... not the promise tooth paste wala promise... (Is that toothpaste even in production rgt now ?:P)

LOVE U :)

The Brand New Bangalore Kid

Somewhere in a far off village in India, where the power comes once a week and internet connection only lasts for 10-15 minutes. There are 2 girls speaking to each other about a unique phenomenon.

Girl 1: (Whispering) I heard he is coming back.

Girl 2: Are you sure?. I thought it was a myth. He has been silent for so many months I highly doubt that he is even alive!

Girl 1: He always comes back from the dead don’t you know?!... He is the only reason I even have an internet connection in this god forsaken village. His blog posts are like the breath of fresh air. It livens me up from inside. They are… my way of life…

Girl 2: (Getting jealous): Yeah it is, but he is my way of life too, his writings, makes me laugh so much. I sometimes fantasize about him when I am with my boyfriend.. God.. His writings are so cool and amazing… I wonder how he is in person!!

Girl 1: I hear he is amazing, so hot, and handsome. The only sad part is he has been away for so long that I miss him so much, SO MUCH…..(breaks down in tears)

Girl 2: Don’t cry, he will be back… for the love of all his readers (secretly points towards self). He has to be back…

For your reference EVIL M is my EVIL MIND(EVIL M: Hell Yeah :P)

The sound of farting come from a far of background, as the laziest person in earth gets up from his sleep. BRRRRRRRRR..

EVIL M: (Are taliyaan to maro… Evil M is back :P) What the F is this Thousif, every morning? Every morning… sheesh

Me: Kya karoon yaar… acidity hai…

EVIL M: That’s what happens when you eat outside always, not eating on proper time, hmph I am fed up of your stomach and its rear exhaust.. Sheesh. Anyway.. what is the plan for today, besides going for work?

Me: Have to write a blog post.

EVIL M: DON’T YOU F**ING KID ME MAN, DON’T YOU F***ING DARE!!!!.

Me: Wo wo wo, whats up with all the rage?,

Evil M: do you even know when u visited your ‘soul space’ haan? Do u?

Me: What?? It has been like 2 months?!!

Evil M: 2 months… 2 freaking months… do u have any respect for yourself!!! Sheesh… Even FU seems like praise… god you are so lazy

Me: Hey, I wasn’t lazy ok, I work every day!!!

Evil M: Everybody works ok!!!, look at remya… that girl is so passionate about her life and blog, look at suruchi… my god that woman… she has a child, a husband to take care of and she teaches too!!, and she updates regularly.. What the hell is wrong with u, itna bhi to kaam nahi hai na?

Me: yes man, I feel bad

Evil M: You should be ashamed, people love you so much, those 2 girls in that far off village, quarrel with their boyfriends every day, fantasizing about you, unke liye to blog likh…

Me: hmph you are rgt…. I should write, and I will write a blog post rgt now…

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Me: Oh shit yaar, bathroom jaana padega!!! Kal likhta hoon

EVIL M: !!#!%&&*$*$*%#&% wait!! Did I just praise him? That Ass****.

Hey guys hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. (Dodges shoes thrown by, Arpit, Arpitha, Charu, Suruchi, Akki, and some other loyal followers) arey, marte kyun ho yaar!!! Aa gaya na!!

Arpit: (In blind Rage) Haramzade!!!, ab aaya hai ab??…2 mahino ke baad!!

ME: Arey arpit chill yaar, itna kyun gussa ho raha hai?

Arpit: Gussa na hun to kya karoon, kahaan hai meri gifts, kahaan hai mere awards? Is saal ke RAZA awards ko kya huwa?

Me: Wo funding may thoda problem ho gaya yaar, aur u know… Acidity problem!!!

Arpit: !#!$%#@^!^^%&

EVIL M: @#%$!#@%!#^!^

Thousif’s mother comes from the kitchen..

Mom: “Ya mere Allah, THOUSIF!!!, how much more will you swear in this beautiful house of mine, and make it dirty than a filthy pig sty.. What is wrong with you and that stupid friend of your’s….”

Arpit runs outs my house like his ass is on fire… there’s even some smoke like thing left behind… *maybe he farted*

ANYYYYYYYYYYHOOOOOOOOOOO… getting back to the issue… I am back yes I am, so let me tell you what I have been upto :)

I am now a trainee copywriter at Rediffsuion-Wunderman… and the job is amazing here…

First time I am all on my own in life, from making food to cleaning toilets and it has never been so eventful before, so many experiences. SO MANY and my god, it’s barely been a month… I thought I will feel alone in this lonely city, where everyone just runs after money and fame. I thought it dint have a soul at all, people would be self-centered. But I got a BIG sucker punch to my stomach.. This city is actually beautiful. It has its own personality, and it’s amazing.

Let me tell you how, first week out, I went to see Transformers 3 with some frenz of chavan(my roommate) the film was amazing (my first 3D film :D) and then we went to a pub.. I dint drink though!!

Evil M: Daddy’s lil girl he is toh, doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, I donno why he even lives his life…

ME: I live for the beauty of life ok, life is not all about boozing and smoking!!!

EVIL M: yeah rgt…. Anyways… please continue your gun gyaan :P

ME: I don’t need your approval..

EVIL M: !~!@$%!#%$^^^

Mom : THOUSIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT DID I SAY ABT THE LANGUAGE???!!!

EVIL M: Muhuhahahahaha

Evil to evil he rahega… anyways I went with them to the pub…

EVIL M: and they raped him…. Ha ha ha

ME: WTFF (i.e. what the f**ing F), that’s not what happened….

EVIL M: (sings in a 1950’s tune) Ram teri ganga maili ho gayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Ho gayeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :P

ME: oh my god, you are a nightmare… F*** U…

Evil M: (eerie static sound…..)

Thank god he is silent, so anyway we went to the pub, the guys ordered drinks, and when I said no to free booze…

Arpit: (jumps up from his bed) FREE BOOZE!!! OH MY GOD!!! Did someone say free booze… kahaan, where, tell me now!!!

ME: Arpit ji calm down… it’s here in Bangalore, and it wasn’t all free..

Arpit: (Inflates down like a sad balloon. purrrrrrrrrrrrrr :P)

So I said I don’t drink, and they respected me for it, they never forced even for second, except saying it tastes good, and making me feel like I was missing something good, at some points I wanted to try, but I have made a promise to someone, that I will not take any drugs of any sorts. So I wanted to keep that promise :). Not that I have drug abuse problems :P. just promised :)

EVIL M: that’s what all the drug abusers say :P

(Gives a stinky eye to EVIL M) But what followed in this session was, I felt the guys open up and talk about so many things.. The party which started with a PG rating soared onto XXX :P and what not… I have never laughed so much, I was so happy to be around… The feeling was so amazing, and I wasn’t even drunk :P

They kept asking me, am I enjoying myself?, you are not feeling bored? And were so caring, I loved the attention and at the same time saw them enjoying themselves, it was one of the best things I have ever been a part off…

I remember a joke from the night..

Chavan: how will you go back home man? What if the policeman catches you and asks you to walkin a straight line?

Sunil(one of the frenz): I’ll walk… I am good at walking on straight lines…(he sounded so drunk)

Chavan: (looking at others) This guys is so drunk, he will yell at the policeman saying… “Damn you man, first draw a straight line and then tell me to walk on it, drawing a crooked line and asking me to walk straight…what the hell is wrong with you, are you drunk?” :P

To top it off we went for a walk at 1 in the night and sat in front of Croma electronic store (no I am not getting paid to say that :P) and I just took a look at the city.. The guys were still laughing remembering some instances and I laughed with them.. I felt like I was always a part of their lives, and sitting there I felt like I am part of the city too… That day was amazing… it will always be in my memory, that when you are with Frenz nothing matters, and they became my frenz so quickly… In just a matter of hours I felt this instant connection with all four of them, I was so amazed, I loved it… it was so simple yet so very special, that just talking for a couple of hours could lead to something that is sooooo good. It made me see Bangalore, its culture, its people in a whole new way, and I loved it.

We are meeting again this weekend, and going to another pub, hope it is the same as last time, I know it will be :).

Well that just me giving an update… I have many more stories for you guys….

EVIL M: … from getting molested, to how he was ruthlessly beaten up with a slipper by a monkey… to letting out a loud fart in a very important business meeting… it’ll all come… don’t worry…

Well as EVIL M said… there are some things worth sharing… till then :) I love you all… have a very beautiful day ahead :)…..take care I have missed you all.. yes including those 2 girls :)… :).

P.S: A very special thank you for these people who would have kicked my ass, if I hadn’t wrote again and made me write these… Arpitha, Arpit, Suruchi, Anwesa, Viddhi, Remya, Saru(thank you for a very sweet email (*points fingers at other instructing a ‘see and learn gesture’:P*) and a couple other who’s names I forgot :P…. you guys are very special in my life… Thank you. Muaaaaaaaah (Dodges slippers thrown by you-know who ;)) bye guys :) :) love you….