The stone

The stone unwashed and unkempt almost tries to become a diamond but stops midway between gasps of terrified breaths, terrified of the horror of remaining just an ordinary stone, carrying on the baggages of the moss that has grown upon him, obviously encouraged by his inability to refuse to play host when he should have been shaking them off, of his inability to refure a gratitude with that of further bonhomie and silently dragging the cares that has been laid without a care for his concern,his hapiness and his joys especially in face of the other stones who have been born diamonds, without the tremendous pressure of trying to become so despite the ordinariness of their origin, to profoundly reflect , not the world that they are grown in but the world they want to grow up into, albeit, nay despite the stickiness of mundaneness that calls out its cries , so piercing and so discordant, painfull yet unignorable, a magnetic pull in the direction the stone wants to go, with its own logic that is a remainnant from some big black space where he doesnt want to fall again.
It just wants a sparkle

The marriage market..

One day as me and Pradeep were just talkin on some random subjects ..He came across with this weird view as to why do girls remain unmarried beyond a certain age and more importantly why is it so important in terms of girls...i mean no one asks a man that why is he unmarried as long as he is financially and socially secure.

The answers to both these questions were what took most of our time. Infact pradeep had carried out a survey of a matrimonial site which had ads for girls above 30. And he found this common characteristic in almost all girls of this set...

a. Almost all of them were ugly- This is a view I agree with. An ugly girl is difficult to love and even more difficult to marry. I care two hoots about "beauty" of heart ...only for the reason that its very difficult to see. Skin deep beauty is convinient option. The only sad part is that as girls grow older they grow uglier and an intelligent girl is one who gets married young when age is supporting her.

b. Earning but not much- Almost all these girls were earning but were far below having a "career". This I really dont think is a criterion for their spinsterhood . But maybe their unwillingness to put the existent "career" on hold for marriage is the reason. Plus the fact that they are earning insufficiently compared to others who are better placed than them.

c. Feminist- Almost all profiles had very proud announcements . Nothing bad in that. But the fact of the matter is that no man wants to get stuck with an egoistic girl. He would rather marrry a meeker alternative. Many agressive and gung-ho females might disagree with that..citing examples of their husbands who are sensitive and caring and loving and yet have married them. That is true but I feel that there is a role reversal here. The husband is in fact the wife and vice versa..not a stable arrangement but as long as it lasts the wife is having fun.
We will leave such exceptions out.
Man as a rule are not interested in how great a girl is in acads or career...When choosing a wife they see her as a mother to their kids and a partner to themselves. An alpha female is a complete turnoff in both these regards..

Now we come to the question as to why do women need to be married..that too arranged.

The reason I feel is true only of India which had had around 2000 years of hit and misses to come to this arrangement. The sub reasons for this is as follows..

1. Marriage is a viable institution as it keeps men under control . The corollary is that if men are subdued the society gets the creative inputs to grow and survive.

2. If left to love, lots of people would get rejected. This is so because it is often seen that practical, marriageable persons are less romantic and the romantic ones are too irresponsible for starting a family. So if left to romance , the marriage might not be a stable one. Its as if there are two doors in series. One is romance..the other is marriage. A person with key to the first door lacks the second key. ..while a person with key to marriage door cant get to it because he lacks the key to the romance door.

3. Women are not useless but they have their limited uses. They are like worker ants ..extremely good at what they know and totally clueless about choices. Men on other hand are sex maniacs at marriageable age. They are guided more by testesterone than cerebrum at their prime. Left to choose a life partner for a stable marriage..both would commit mistakes(in majority of cases) . That is a destructive path and leads to much wastege in society like marital fights, childrens issues, courts, law and messy divorces. To prevent such losses to society moderation is required. Even at the cost of love...

We may not agree ethically with a lot of things followed in India about marriages,but I remain convinced that it still remains the most "workable" of the ideas. It is "wrong", reeks of "feudal mentality"..and "degenerates women" ..fine....but it has WORKED. It has managed to fulfill the basic aim of society ..which is to survive sustainably.We can challenge all of it ,inspired by the great American dream..but Its my personal expierance that a nation of 200 years can teach a lot to others ..but it cant teach survibability. Simply because it doesnt have the "expierance"....

Some day

Someday I will worry about life..some day,not today!
Someday I will be all sensitive and get hurt..not today !
Some day I will rue life as I see it..no not today...
Someday I will see more trash than quality...no no not today
Someday I will not be happy with the sunrise...
Someday I will sit and add the plusses and minus the minnusses..
Someday I will say "life is a pain"..
Some day , some day I will do all of that and shed tears at lost causes..
Maybe some day..but not today..for I am busy
Busy with today , come back some day later and
just maybe I will do all of that ..someday

===Piyush

Someday..

Steroetypes..an apology

I , of , late have started thinking differently about so called "stereotypes". Every day I hear how so and so is not the stereotypical Professor or Student or Mother or Aunty or father...! I hear how so and so thinking is so stereotypical..How stereotypes destroy relationships...!!

I do know about others but my expierance about this word is far from the hate almost everyone feels for it. I do not think "stereotype" is a bad word. It is a limiting word ..dividing men and women into neat sets and classifications ..sometimes even conditioning human thinking..but no...its not a dirty word. Its a word that has logic and experience behind it. Scratch the surface of most relationships, human beings and ideas and you will find a stereotype. Even those who strongly seem to defy "stereotyping" are at the base exactly stereotypical.

As we grow older we realize a lot of things that we were foolish about. As I have grown and thought and yes..seen a lot of things...I have somehow come to the conclusion that I owe an apology to this "word". I am sorry that I misunderstood you and your relevence in our lives and society. I apology for the disdain I had treated you...I apology for the rashness of my youth in not realizing your importance.
Now maybe I am wiser..maybe I am not , but I shall never ever underestimate you..

Some things on Radio

If you are in mumbai you cant miss the FM ..neither do u want to miss them. They are pretty much fun. I was listening to fm and just strolling around ...two programmes that ran back to back kind of got me thinking in two different ways..

Programme no 1 was a talk show about "if you can forgive your partner for infidelity ...?'. It was a busy show. People calling from all over. There were opinions galore. Some ppl felt that women forgive more than men..that if you are an independent woman you will never forgive...There was this woman who called up and said that she was on verge of a "drifting" affair when her hubby talked to her and forgave her...! To tell u the truth the best part of listening to all these shows is the fact that how women can talk crap so charmingly....! Its so very difficult for a woman to talk honestly ..I wonder if they get orgasmic just hearing their own voice..! 

Then one guy called up. Sudhanshu or sum name like that..He said some thing that was so genuine that I admired the clarity of thought this guy had..He said thus...

'There is no forgiveness without forgetfull ness. You cant say that you forgave someone but u cant forget it. If you cant forget that means that it will crop up sumtime or the other. Secondly no one forgives infidelity..they compromise with it . Once there is infidelity there is a crack that that can never be filled..its better that you go separate ways rather than "forgive and forget"...'

Putting myself in a man's or women's shoes..I was actually asking myself ..Wud i be able ever to forgive an infidelity? Honestly ..I wouldnt...Neither would any man or woman. I feel being "sensitive" or "metrosexual" has nothing to do with it. Being suave is just a better package for covering up the pain and hurt inside. Logically we should forgive and forget ..but men/women are not "logical" beings. Their feelings and prejudices rule over logic...To try to fit our raw emotions into the politically correct logic is something that i feel should be avoided..much as the way you shouldnt cut the body to fit the coffin..

Programme 2.

This programme had an irritating RJ , mallika singh, talking about how she was "totally..u kno TOTALLY..into having an idol in her life". She wanted to know from listeners their idols. And she was "totally ..u kno TOTALLY" irritating to say the least. I had a feeling that she was chewing every word she spoke and kind of being "cool" ....I hear this kind of language from teens but hearing it on radio kind of made it more horrible. I couldnt bear it for more than 7 mins...especially when a woman calls up and also tries this same .."TOTALLY ..u kno..Totally COOL " talk. Why are women like that? Why why? Its so depressing....

 

Raigad- Trek

Technically raigad is not a trek but a easy climb. But for lack of better words...it will be called a trek.

Pradeep and me decided that we need to do sumthing over the weekend...Pradeep is a Phd scholar at iit and hence naturally busy with his duties and all. ...I am caught up with fewer things. But we decided we must do this. 

Plan banaya..consulted a few guys like vivek who had done it before. 

Booked an ST ticket for three to a base village called Pachad(the third one was for AD ..and the idiot ditched us last minute). Tickey 138 rupees each , bus is Borivali-Shandoshi ..leaves kurla at 11 ..in night. Me and pradeep hop in to local and get there by 1030..kill time. Bus arrives at 1130.

5 hrs ride to Pachad...and boy is it cold. 

en route at mahad we get down for a break and the bus rushes ahead..Pradeep is running behind it as our bags are still on it. I try to be cool but i am panickin. We run behind till we dont see the bus..gaya! 

thankfully around the corner the bus is filling in air ..I am impresed by the workshop they have at mahad. For a taluka level bus stop its awesome..basic repairs ..axle checks ..oil change ..etc. but amazing because despite the level of the village stop ..it appears sophisticated. We roam around and take a look at the workshop...I am impressed. Pradeep is pretty struck too...he enlightens me on the "wealth of Nations" by adam smith..and how such complexity can be found in such a basic place. I am doubly impressed..i gotta read that book. (I had read part of it in 10th ..but i guess with my huge expierance it wud make better sense now)...anyway within half an hour we are on our way to Pachad. We ask the conductor to wake us up..its actually cold and we just have our towels to wrap around our heads. The climb to pachad takes an eternity and we get down infront of a concrete structure in pachad....

We decide its too dark(i think its around 4)...We see come benches inside and rest our bums ...and then the rest of our bodies. Weird noises around. Anyway sleep is wat we need. We sleep peacefully and get up at around 530...! As light filters in we realise that our bedmates were bats ...(to tell u the truth i did not find them bad at all...pretty sociable creatures)

Wash and brush(with bottle water) ..tea at "Deshmukh Hotel"..and we are on way to Raigad.Its a 2Km climb (nice road) to the base where you have the option to either go by the ropeway or the climb path. We took the climb...

It was a well tread path..with proper steps(I think totalling around 1400 steps)..Anyway we were so early that we were before the "taak" and "lime juice" vendors. The climb was pretty nice and we took in a lot of pics.

Reached top at around 8...

Beautiful sight.

I will not bore you with sights of raigad.Its a  very well preserved fort. 

The best part was the Tak Mak Tok..basically a cliff where prisoners were thrown off to their death. Pradeep was pretty impressed by the name and kept on Tak takaoing..mak Makaoing the entire way. It was a great sight. I felt bad for the prisoners..

Anyway we ended up by using the ropeway to come down. Nice exp...

At the base as we came out a six seater was waiting for Mahad..We hopped in. 25 bucks each to MAHAD...It was a rough ride but I dont know why both of us felt real drowsy...and kept on nodding off. 

We reach MAHAD at around 1..look for a nice place for lunch. No such luck or no such hotel. So we opt for  a shady touristy hotel. 

The waiter is an angry old man. He growls at us ..We ask him to get the menu..he again growls. Walks off with a snigger..! Wat the f..! I am pissed off. Pradeep says we really have no option. We look around and see that the menu is actually written on the signboard itself.

We call Angry old man and ask him to get 6 chapatis ..and a dal. Again he growls and goes on serving the others . We are ready to move..

Then a young guy comes to take our order..We repeat the same. Ordering in a chaas each. Angry old man growls from far. We call him for some water and to clean the table..growl growl.

Another order for chicken handi follows..

15 mins later it arrives. Dal is sweety ..but ok . Chapatis are good.Chicken is struggling to be edible. And its gravy looks like it had an oil bath.We fish out chicken(fish out chicken ..ha ha )...And pradeep comments that how can some one screw up a chicken dish...? but hunger allows us to be generous. 

End of lunch ..its 145 rupees. I hand over 200 to the young boy. ..Angry old man returns with the change. Hands me the change (there is a 50 rupee note and a 5 rupee coin). He is longingly lookin at the change as he is handing over. Stands near us sumtime after handing it. Pradeep whispers .."he is lookin for a tip"...

I am really angry now. Tip for wat? the growl or refusing to serve water ..or not cleaning the table?...I smile and put all the money back into my wallet. I am sorry but i enjoy such instant karmas..i m not the "forget and forgive variety"...

Bus is ready for thane when we get back ....We hop in..

Same journey back..Stop at PEN for some sharbat and cucumbers ..and back in thaane by 6 (i think so..my watch had stopped on raigad itself )..Local to Kanjur marg..

But Pradeep isnt interested in goin back. He is buyin a suit. So we raid huma adlabs . I am really not looking the "suit" type with my cargoes and sweaty t-shirt and red eyes..neither is pradeep. But pradeep is convinced that the salesman will let him in..I kno him,I had come earlier...!

Anyway we go in. The guard wants to check our bags..We let him. Swaety towels and polythene bags with eatables greet him..he gives a disgusted look..

To cut a long story short ..We select a very nice suit (its 40% discount) and it fits pradeep like a glove. I really like the color..greay striped and looks more expensive than it really is. Good Choice.

I convince Pradeep that its a life changing decission and I need a treat. We head to food factory. 

I promise that I will pay for coffee later(cafe cofee day is full so the promise is carried forward)..

Took an auto back home and landed on my doorstep in one peice...

Nice and time bound trek. 

Trek to harishchandragad

The reason i am writing this down is so that incase i want to get to harishchandragad again I have a reference. 

Me and vivek started on a friday afternoon. We took the local to Kalyan got down at the local station for ST to Khube. The bus station(ST) is right across the local station so it was just hoppin across. 

The bus we took was for NAGAR(the route is Ahmednagar Route) . Starts around 5ish. Met the conductor with an attitude . But overall reached Khubi at around 8. Searched for a guest house(look at us ..8 o clock in night and searching for a place to sleep in a unknown village). Found one. Owner was in underpants and a nice panch with a cap(you have to be well dressed in hotel industry). There was a hint of flesh at the place where his naada had slipped off the underwear to reveal around 10% of his bum..(but since we really are not into all this we will ignore the details). Anyway got a room for 200 bucks per night. Atleast the room had a western toilet cum bathroom so we had nuthing to complain.

Went out at night to search for dinner..Found a hotel at the thaap..had bajre ki rotis and dal. AWESOME ..more so when i had skipped the lunch. 

Got up at 445 next day. walked to the theka for tea(i have to have tea in the morning ...kind of addicted)....rushed back to attack the loo. ;)

We started off from Khubi at around 6..towards Khireshwar..there is a kacchha track off the highway itself right down from khubi.

One hour walk(including ample time wastage at the temple and photo ops). Reach Khireswar at 715 ...and then the eternal wait for Pohe begins. We ordered the pohe at 715 and it comes at 750...anyway the quantity is large . We overeat.

Start climb at 8...and the overeaten poha gets me all upset. We climb climb climb..reach Tolar khind and rest..then climb climb ..(all around you have chalk marks guiding you...I will take this oppurtunity to thank those guys who did it..thanks a ton guys). Reach a rock patch..then climb..climb climb. Reach the temple in 2.5 hrs(not baaad). Congratulate ourselves .

Roam around the temple, take a dip at kedarling(I am pretty touchy about dirty water..so vivek had to take a dip and convince me..even after that i found a dead frog floating in the "holy waters") waters freezing..and I froze my b@$$ off . But refreshing ..very refreshing. All the tiredness just vanished and we were ready for Taramati Peak...

Climbed the peak in 45 minutes. (i need to do something about my stamina..its going down exponentially). Took pics..!Me and vivek have a heated argument on wat to do..he wants to do ballekilla ..I am stuck to Kankan Kada. I win(More so when no one knows the route to Ballekilla) . We get down after lunch at the peak.

Follow groups to Konkan Kada. Almost had a heart attack looking at this peice of work. It is PHEW!!. Guys reading this...please go and see this placeKONKAN KADA...you will never forget the first sight. Spent time moving back and forth on the ridge..Enjoy the view. Vivek takes "panoramic " pics..I regret not buying a better camera.

Return back to the caves. Beg all the camping groups for a place to sleep...shooed off by two groups accepted by the third who offer us khichdi at night for dinner. Vivek refuses ..I am seduced by the warm smell..I dig in, vivek also does reluctantly. The group offers us a smoke and a peg..We both refuse. I am no dharamatma but i am qweasy about drinking on a trek(that too near a temple..sorry ..not my thing) ..Smokin is a no no even without the trek. Anyway night passes with fleeting memories of hearing marathi film songs and fire crackiling outside. 

Next morning 445 get up brush and freshen up. Vivek is stuck on Ballekilla..I am like "lets first get a confirmation about the route..only then. More so when the hill is covered with forest. Getting lost in western ghats is not my exact idea of fun"...We ask ask and ask,but no one knows the route.

So we decide to trek back . One half hours later we are back in khubi. Vivek has poha for breakfast at a hut (orders in an omelette and makes a fuss about drinkin an extra lemonade I ordered..wat the hell). My memories of the last Poha makes me refuse the same. 

We trek back assuming we will be back in an hour in Khubi.

Then we got lost

That is the worse insult we could have suffered. Imagine doing a great trek to a unknown place and getting lost on the known route. 

The sun is overhead and me and vivek are having fun going up and down running around in circles. Exchanging gyan about directions..And wondering why the faar faar hill looks like a bactrian camels hump. We are actually kind of crazy..just imagine...you are lost and then exchanging gyaan about the situation on the world climate change . We deserve to get lost.

But the best part is that we are not blamin each other. I have seen it happen in other groups but we are not one of them...we enjoy even getting lost lol!In fact we saw some ravines we missed out on the way to khireswar.

Anyway..we decide to keep the bactrian camel hump hill in our sight and trek straight..hit Khube after going through two kms of a patch where we were incessently irritated by flies buzzing around. Actually when i saw vivek flailin his arms around..i thought he was trying to do some coolin down exercises..later i realized he was shooing away flies.We finally get back after roaming for 3 hrs.

Reach Khubi and take a ST to Kalyan. No place to sit. Stand for 3 hrs more . Reach kalyan and get back to civilisation.

Was welcomed by the news of a freinds son's birth . Celebrated by eating  my way thru Subway ...

Next day is work day.Back to school..err IIT

People who smile...

there are some people you come across in your life those keep on smiling. While I am all for cheerfull disposition I hate to see meaningless smiles.
I mean how the hell does one keep on smiling without any rhyme or reason. ..? Thats what surprises me. The best part of the fact is that I have seen that the most useless of people have this perpetual smile.
Unemployed, without income, totally without skills or knowledge and absolutely not a care in the world..these are the people who smile the most. The kind of smile a rickshawwala gives in small towns ..or the kind of smiles guys gossipin on roads give..the kind thats given by villagers when they see a big car pulling up.
I sometimes feel ..what the fuck are you happy about?How can you be so happy wasting your life and yet enjoying it? How can ignorance be so blissfull?

Dont get me wrong, i am not against smiling...but the reason for a smile is as important as smiling itself. I for example see nothing great in smiling at trouble of others..yet its technically a smile.

Indiscriminate smiling is what I am against.

The worst thing you can do in a normal day..

Ever faced with the situation in which you are sleepy at around six in evening..? And you succumb..then you get up at 10 in night...?
whole night before you and you are fresh as daisy....

Yucky

Its seriously the most sick "normal" feeling because of three things..

1. You are groggy and fresh at the same time..

2. everyone is sleeping and you cant share your "day" with anyone else..

3. You know the next day is going to be hell because you will sleep late tonight..and get up groggy next morning for work...and you also know how the next day is going to turn up...

Whats worse than sleeping at 6...sleeping at 4 in afternoon and getting up at 8 or 10...its seriously the worst thing you can do to yourself.

No wonder maa used to tell me that one should never sleep during "godhuli"...godhuli means basically cow-dust..the time when cows return home...
Sometimes its better to listen to maa....

Living a lie...

How many people amoungst us live a lie?....Even if you are the first to shout "not me" ....its not really true.
Very few amongst us live life as they feel like. While a majority of us go about acting an act. We act act act and then act some more.
Our emotions are dependent on our profit motives. For example we tolerate insults from our bosses because we get paid by him...while we shower the same on our juniors just because we think its the right act....There are people who act as if they adore their wife while they detest them there are people who wud rather kill their brothers but open their arms for him...There are lovers who make the right number of sighs and swoons but walk away in times of need...There are sons who are sons till the pension of dad lasts...
We act getttin angry, we act pleased , we act happy..We act so much that when we want to return to our true emotions it becomes difficult. Its very confusing when one realises that in the trade-off this "act" can be avoided. It can be avoided if we stop yeilding to subtle "peer pressure"...