Life After Death - A story!!!

There is an interesting concept started by ZB, one of my favourite bloggers, - The Short Story Competition...well I volunteered to write one one the plot given by him...in short, isse kehte hai kulhadi pe jump marna...but I enjoyed writing it...I don't know how good or bad it is, but the challenge was indeed worth taking...this post took me the longest time to complete - 5+2 hours approx...and the final product is - ahem - upto you all to judge...According to me, ZB has narrated plot in a better way than my story, but well, I am learning :)

Caution: It is a very long post...so please bear with me this time...

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“Ma, will I also marry a wonderful man like dad?” Priya asks her mother.

“Yes Princess, you will also meet your Prince once you are old enough…now go to sleep, you have to go to school tomorrow na…”

“Ma, where is papa, I have not seen him the whole of this week…when is he going to come home? I want to buy new books…”

“Beta, he will be back tonight…he is waiting for you to go to sleep so that he can hide your surprise gift somewhere…”

I give her a big hug and went off to sleep…

Jyothi always sleeps besides Priya…days and years passes by and she starts growing up…and realizes that dad hardly ever cames home…and Jyothi’s sleepless nights turns into their sleepless nights…her life stories takes place of the fairytales…

On the very same night of their marriage, father came inside the room drunk…he never wanted to marry Jyothi as he was in love with Rajni…Rajni was a sex-worker…she was using him for his money, but father could never see through her…father was forced into this marriage by family thinking that he would change soon after the marriage, but things did not go that way…initial period of marriage, father came home regularly so that the family people would stop bothering him…but this was a golden period for mother…she was sure that she would win her husband’s love soon enough…she had a reason to believe so…she was pregnant…

The luck was not on her side…Priya’s grandparents died in a road accident…father was free now…he was blinded by Rajni’s love so much that he went to see her immediately after the funeral…Jyothi didn’t know where he had gone, but found out soon enough as father started staying out for three – four days in a row…This was the beginning of Jyothi’s sleepless nights…but she still had one hope, Priya growing up each day inside her womb…Her birth didn’t change things for mother, but her love for father and hope that he would come back to her kept her going…

Priya grows up into a beauty just like her mother…her father has even stopped giving financial support to them, so Priya has start working at a very early age…she gets a job in the customer-care department of Airtel…days pass by…Priya is not at all happy with her present job…she loathes it very much, as she has to tackle the always complaining customers, Shekhar – the boss with his cheesiest comments, people around who keep talking about their families, vacations, dinners, outings…Priya hates all this, but her mother’s face keeps her going…Radhika is sitting next to Priya, and discussing about buying a gift for her father as it is his birthday the next day…Priya is already very irritated when her monitor flashes:

Token number 23 – Mr. Arun Kumar – 9892345111 – Platinum Customer – Average Billing Rs. 3,500 approx.

“Oh this is not the time to handle a privilege customer”, Priya thought.

But, too late…Arun walks to the counter where his token number is called for and he sees Priya…If love at first sight exists, then this is it…She is a breathe-taking beauty, Arun thinks…he somehow manages to strike a conversation with her… “Oh she smells so good”… but Priya does not show any interest and solves his problem at the earliest so that Arun leaves…So he does, but his heart stays with Priya…Arun cannot take her out of his mind…he keeps visualizing those deep eyes, her musical voice, her gestures, her face, everything about her and decides to visit the store again the next day…this continues for few days and Priya starts liking it all against her will…Arun is the tall-dark-handsome guy Priya dreamt of as a child…She start looking for all the information about Arun - his address, his birth date, his work profile from the customer database, but when he comes in front of her, she avoids him…Tired of playing this customer-service provider games, Arun asks Priya out and she refuses…

Arun is broken…he feels very hurt and decides to stay away from Priya…few days passes by and Arun is nowhere to be seen in the store…Priya by now realizes that she is Missing Arun and her urge to see him once, at least once becomes so strong that she visits his office to see him…he is stumped upon seeing her, but recovers fast…

“Why don’t you come to office anymore?”

Priya is surprised by the authority in her own voice, but still manages to keep a straight face…Arun tells Priya that he has fallen for her and wishes to spend the entire life with her…

The only man Priya had even known in her 19 years of life was her father, so she had developed hatred towards all the males…her boss helped her further to confirm her beliefs…her heart wants to be with Arun, but mind stops her… “This man will also leave you alone and go away behind some other lady like your father did to your mother”…Priya storms out of his office without uttering a single word…

Arun is once again devastated…He doesn’t know whether Priya likes him or not…why did she leave without saying anything…and why did she come back at the first place…it’s all very confusing for him…Arun decides to meet Priya the next day to apologize for the whole thing…He visits her the next day and invites her for lunch…

Arun forgets what he is here for after seeing Priya and brings out the topic of his liking towards her again…Priya too cannot control her feelings for Arun, talks to him properly for the first time…she doesn’t know what to say, she has never spoken with any man before…but somehow Arun’s presence makes her feel comfortable…Priya starts talking about herself and slowly everything that was buried inside her comes out…She for the first time wants to trust this man, but can’t bring herself to do so…

Priya and Arun starts meeting everyday…Priya tells Arun that she is not ready for a relationship…Arun is happy by being friends with her because at least he is close to her now…but it soon starts getting complicated for Arun…Priya is a mystery to him…she is sometimes playing in his arms, sometimes pushes him away without any reason; she promises to spend the day with him, but leaves in one hour…Arun is craving to be with her for the life, but Priya doesn’t let him come near her at all…For Priya, it is all happening very suddenly…she is not able believe that someone can make her fall in love with him…she is scared to lose him like her mother lost her father…the moment she feels Arun over-powering her, she leaves from there…

Few months pass by like this and Arun can’t wait to be with Priya forever…decides to tell this to Priya that their relationship cannot go on like this…she either has to say that she loves him or she has to forget him forever…He meets Priya the next day and she says that she doesn’t love him…Arun is heart-broken…he starts crying in front of Priya…Priya’s heart is crying out for him too, she wants to hug him, melt in his arms, kiss him, feel him, but she remembers her mother’s pain…if she refuses Arun right now, she will lose him forever and he is the Man she loves…Priya accepts his proposal, but clarifies that she is not sure about her feelings…She also wants to trust Arun, but her father…

Priya starts smiling…her mother is happy to see her happy for the first time in years…that night, they are talking about fairytales when her father enters…He breaks the news that he is leaving this city with Rajni and he has put the house for sale…He storms out leaving his wife unconscious on the floor…Priya doesn’t know what to do, to run behind her father to murder him or to look after her mother…She calls up Arun and tells him about her mother’s condition…he rushes to her house and they take her to the hospital…the doctor confirms that she has suffered from a minor heart-attack due to a sudden shock…Priya breaks down completely in Arun’s arms…she so hates her father for doing this to her, her mother, depriving them of love, of security, of everything…She hates her mother for living with this man and spoiling her life and Priya’s life…

Her mother gets discharged from the hospital after 3 days…things have changed for them now…her mother spends most of her time staring at the door with the hope that her husband will come back to her…they will be one happy family…Priya cannot see her mother in this state and decides to send her away to her sister’s place…

Priya has been offered a promotion on the condition that she has to move her base to Bangalore…She discusses this out with Arun, and Arun decides to move with her to the Bangalore as well. He convinces his Dad about going for a master degree in Journalism at Bangalore and shifts in his house there, while Priya applies for the working women Hostel…

Those days spent in Bangalore bring them really close…Arun takes Priya to his house in Bangalore…It is a lovely house, with a garden area, a swing at the balcony, greenery all around, the kind of house she has been dreaming of…Inside Arun’s room, he pulls her close and they kiss, the deep passionate kiss…she wants to feel him inside her…he undresses her slowly, stroking each part of her body, kissing her neck, her shoulder, her breasts, her navel…they make love…the feeling is beyond all the emotions ever felt by Priya and she breaks down…she admits that she loves him and cannot love any other man in her entire life…he promises to never ever leave her… Priya, for the first time in her life, feels complete…

Priya becomes more and more involved in her work and Arun…Arun is suddenly losing weight and falling sick more frequently…Priya forces Arun to go for a complete body check up…Arun is diagnosed with Hepatitis and admitted into a hospital immediately…his concern is Priya, so he makes her take the tests as well…Priya’s reports are normal…Arun is deteriorating day by day…Priya calls his parents to Bangalore…the Doctor informs them that Arun has slipped into coma…Priya cannot decide whether to curse god for doing this to her or pray to him to cure Arun…Two whole days go with Arun in coma…The third day, the Doctor informs that Arun is no more…Priya looks at his parents…they both are unconsolable beyond words…Priya arranges for the funeral…she goes back to the hostel…she is not able to come to terms with Arun’s loss…She looks at her bed, she sees herself in Arun’s arms…she closes her eyes, she remembers him kising her…she opens her eyes, she realises that Arun is dead…she cannot bear his loss…she cannot live without him…he is calling her, she has to go to him and meet him, hug him, kiss him, feel him…she opens her drawer and finds it, she takes it in her hand…a smile touches her lips – Here I come Arun…a hot liquid slides on her bare hands, soaking her sleves…she moves towards her bed and lies down, smile still playing on her lips…

If this is dying then why do we want to live? Why are we scared of death? Death is so beautiful, It has Arun…she runs into his arms…he embraces her too, but she doesn’t feel the love she always felt in his arms…something is wrong with him – she tries to look at him, but he turns his face in the other direction…she tries to look at him, ans sees that tears are rolling down his cheeks…

“Arun, ain’t you happy to see me?”

“I am, Priya, but happy at what cost?”

“I don’t understand Arun. Didn’t we promise eachother that we would always be together? You will never leave me? We are together now. Even death cannot do us apart. Arun, I am here for you, I cannot live without you there. Each and everything reminds me of you. My world is so beautiful with you around. Take this place for instnce. I am sure it is looking so pure because we are together. Where are we by the way? We are dead right?”

“I am dead Priya, not you. You have to decide whether you want to go ahead on the death-road or go back to our parents who need you?”

Priya cannot believe whatever is happening. Is this the same Arun who couldn’t live without her? Does death change one so much?

“Arun, this place is so beautiful. Can’t we stay here? I don’t want to go back in the world which has departed us. I am scared of dying again, because so what if I do not meet you the next time I die? No Arun, I want to be here with you.”

“But Priya, is it only about us? I had to die because I did not have any choice, but what about you? Why did you end your life Priya? Didn’t you once think about your mother who is alive only for you? Her husband left her, for which you punished me for so long. And now you have done the same thing like your father. You have left your mother and come here, mother who was with you and supported you when you did not have anybody around you. And look at my parents Priya, they have lost me, but they still had you. And you left them too? I came to Bangalore not to persuade the course that I promised my dad, but to be with you. And now that I am dead, I feel guilty of lying to him. So I want you to go back and fulfill all his dreams for me.”

“Arun, I need you. And I cannot be with you if I go back.”

“If I promise you Priya that I will be with you all the time then? Would you like to go back?”

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Priya opens her eyes, she is lying alone…She doesn’t know how did she reach here, because she was definitely talking to Arun, and Arun promised her that he would be with her always…she looks for him, there he is…she smiles at him and he smiles back…the nurse enters in and checks her eyes and informs her that she is lucky to have survived…

"Not everyone is as lucky as you Priya…”

“Thank you Arun for being there.”

The nurse is surprised at priya’s statement and asks her whom is she talking to. From the Corner, Arun winks at her and keeps his finger on his lips telling her not to tell this to anyone. Priya winks back…The nurse rushes out and returns with the Doctor minutes later, followed closely by Arun’s parents. Priya is not able to keep a straight face in front of them…the moment she looks at Arun, she starts laughing…Priya is dischaged from the hospital but she has been declared mentally unfit…she tries to convince them that Arun is indeed around, but they do not believe her, and advice Arun’s parents to start the treatment for her metal illness…

Priya’s life slowly starts coming back to normal…Arun is still with her, but she hides his identity…this is decided between them that she would tell anybody of his existance in her life...it is their secret…as the smile returns on her face, she receives a call from her Aunt that her mother has got another heart-attack…Priya rushes back from Bangalore to see her mother…by the time she reachhes there, Jyothi is dead…Priya is alone again…one of the purposes for which Arun sent her down is over…two more to go – Arun’s dream and his parents…

A hand rests on Priya’s shoulder gently…Priya’s grim turns into a smile…

"Thank you for coming Arun, I was looking for you…Mother is so lucky, she just died…now she will be able to be with you all the time…Promise me you will take care of her….please give her so much love that she deserved all her life…"

"I promise you Priya, I will love her more than I have ever loved you once we are united."

"Thank you Arun. Will ma come to see me like you do?"

"No Priya, your mother has gone on. She has chosen to go ahead on death path to meet her higher-self. Her fate will be decided there. As for me, you need me more than my higher-self needs me."

Arun’s parents decide to adopt Priya as their daughter…It is Priya’s wish to persuade journalism…she joins the University of Columbia for a nine month course in Masters of Arts in Journalism…She comes back to India after completing her course and soon enough gets a job in one of the leading channels as a reporter…her first ever on-air show as a reporter…she is very nervous…A hand rests on her shoulder…Priya touches it and say – Thank you Arun...

The Nehatrix Award :)

An award at last!!!

Guys, i am on cloud 9...after a very long time I have been honoured by my fellow blogger and a very good friend Shrikant...Oh I don't know how to thank him enough...I am weak at my knees already...God has been very kind...First I was blessed with a beautiful niece and now this..(sob, sob, sob - tears of joy...)

But I had to go through a great deal for achieving this honour...first, I had to write one post dedicating to this friend, and present him an award as a bribe (I hope the another candidate who also won the award has already started looking for another award for me, it doesn't come free boss..)...that very own Vellagiri was one of the reasons I won this...and the second reason was

Yes, i was tortured to the core so that I don't accept this award, but no, I didn't give up...and thus this Bellatrix had to give up...Guess who presented me this Award?

Oh yes, the very own Bellatrix...oh I am so so so very happy...and finally i am revealing this great honour in front of all my fellow bloggers...

I would like to thank and dedicate this award to my family, my niece (as she is one of the reasons I got this..), my friends, my neighbours, my enemies, the dog whom I bit when he provoked me, the chickens I have eaten so far, the swine flu virus that got destroyed after entering my body, Anand the rainmaker for completing the name Nehatrix by giving me a new surname Blogstrange and last but not the least Shrikant for honouring me with this award...

This blog world has a tradition of passing on the awards...well I would like to pass on this award to....................hell, no-one...only I deserve it and there can only be one Nehatrix...Trust me, I am very much privileged..

All the images posted above were also sent to me by Shrikant for this particular post...:)


PS: Thank you for reading this guys. I will be back with a sensible post soon...

It's a Girl :)))))))

And it's happy time...my bhabhi delivered a baby girl just now...yay yay...I am so very happy...there are people who call me aunty post marriage just to annoy me (though I don't look like one at all from any angle)...but today I am feeling so very happy and proud to say that I have become an aunt of a cute little angel...I will post the photographs soon...cheers to all.

My mum is too excited...as she is the 1st daughter born in the family after me...rest all have sons...and like me, she is also born on a tuesday...so naturally, my mother is getting very emotional about the whole thing...thank god, she is not planning to name her Neha!

PS: Well, I had started this post with the ASHES - England won it and I am happy for that too, but this news was way too good to be missed out and shared with another post..:))

Vellagiri...

This post is dedicated to couple of “Special” friends of mine…they are obsessed with cracking stupid jokes and pass on the buck to me…their jokes revolve around fruits, sarabhai characters (especially that of Dushyant), superheroes etc. all and they claim that I crack them…I should get a pat on my back first of all for tolerating this…and above all, these allegations are thrown at me on their blog, so I thought why not to give them a dose of their own medicine? Thus this post…

One of my very good friends, who prefers to call himself as “Hedonist” (oh, so very conceited) has even given me a name, an exclusive name for my love for “Harry Potter”…lemme first tell you the origin of it…there are few community sites have certain application, which are fun…one of such applications was “which harry potter negative character are you?” and my result came to Bellatrix Lestange…since then, he has named me Nehatrix…(actually, I love this one, as she is one of my favourite characters of HP ;) )…ok, moving on now, I mentioned something about stupid jokes on fruits tight? The joke goes like this:

Other than being fruits, what is common between an Apple and an Orange?

Think think...

They are both not banana!!!

And the killer one (according to him, sigh)

Its 1975… Spiderman, Superman and Batman decide to take a break from crime fighting and go on a world tour. Superman kindly allows the other 2 to hitch a ride with him (or may be u can say on him… but that sounds so… so… you know what I mean) While passing over India… suddenly all of them fall down.. DEAD… WHY??

Cuz in 1975, Gabbar Singh said, “Aadmi teen aur goli chhe... bahut na-insaafi hai” Dichkyaon… Dichkyaon… Dichkyaon (fired 3 shots in the air)

Teeno marr gaye... ha ha ha ha ha ha

Yeah, I know you all pity me…but this is what I go through at least once in a week…and kinda made myself used to these PJs…but he is not the only one…there are other conceited people around me, who love themselves so much that they have their own pictures all around them (some even admit to have kissed their own picture)…ok I will stop here, or will surely be murdered soon and this post will remain my last one…


I present this mug as a special award to the person whom I have dedicated most of the part of this post - the Hedonist..


There is another person who deserves this great honour, and he is Mr. NR...I am sure you all are Surprised and stumped by this one, well contact him, and thou shall know..

Cheers to all… :)))

PS: The title is vellagiri, because I don't have any work to do today, so I am doing nothing as such, that's why this stupid post!!

The Confession Tag and ABC Tag!!!

Well, when I suffer from blogger's block, I take up the pending tags..I am sure you will understand what I mean ZB :) No funny pictures here, just few answers and confessions about myself..

I have been tagged by Nazish Rahman..and it is quite an interesting tag...lots of confessions I must say..

The rules are…

RULE 1
You can only say Guilty or Innocent.
RULE 2
You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks!
RULE 3
Copy and paste this into your notes , delete my answers, type in your answers and tag 20 of your friends to answer this.

Asked someone to marry you? Guilty

Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Innocent

Danced on a table in a bar? Innocent

Ever told a lie? Guilty

Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back? Innocent

Kissed a picture? Guilty

Slept in until 5 PM? Guilty

Fallen asleep at work/school? Guilty

Held a snake? Innocent.

Been suspended from school? Guilty

Worked at a fast food restaurant? Innocent

Stolen from a store? Innocent

Been fired from a job? Innocent

Done something you regret? Guilty

Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Innocent

Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Innocent

Kissed in the rain? Guilty

Sat on a roof top? Guilty

Kissed someone you shouldn’t? Innocent

Sang in the shower? Guilty.

Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Guilty

Shaved your head? Guilty

Had a boxing membership? Innocent.

Made a girlfriend cry? Innocent

Been in a band? Guilty

Shot a gun? Innocent

Donated Blood? Innocent

Eaten alligator meat? Innocent

Eaten cheesecake? Guilty

Still love someone you shouldn’t? Innocent

Have/had a tattoo? Guilty

Liked someone, but will never tell who? Innocent

Been too honest? Guilty

Ruined a surprise? Guilty

Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn’t walk afterwards? Guilty.

Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty

Dressed in a woman’s clothes (if you’re a guy) or man’s clothes (if you’re a girl)? Guilty.

Joined a pageant? Innocent

Been told that you’re handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty

Had communication with your ex? Guilty

Got totally drunk on the night before exam? Guilty

Got totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty

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The second Tag is from Dr. Chandana Shekar..The rules for this one are..

1)Link the person who tagged you.

2) Post the rules on your blog.

3) Share the ABCs of you.

4) Tag 3 people at the end of your post by linking to them.

5) Let the 3 people know of the tag by leaving them comments.

6) Do not tag the original ‘tagger’.

Here I go,

A – Available/Single? - Married - everything else ends there..

B – Best friend? - Nitin (I call him Tintin)

C – Cake or Pie? - Cake

D – Drink of choice? - Beer

E – Essential item you use every day? - Clothes

F – Favorite colour? - Black

G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? - Gummy bears

H – Hometown? - Umbergaon

I – Indulgence? - Tea, Rice, music, reading, writing, sleeping, cell, laptop, talking, travelling etc. etc.

J – January or February? - January

K – Kids & their names? - No idea about it so far..

L – Life is incomplete without? - everything I love :)

M – Marriage date? - 2nd December 2004

N – Number of siblings? - One

O – Oranges or Apples? - Apples

P – Phobias/Fears? - Cockroaches

Q – Quote for today? - You can't change a man unless he is in diapers !!!

R – Reason to smile? - the quote mentioned above..

S – Season? - none

T – Tag 3 People? - Check my Post Script :)

U – Unknown fact about me? - Well, let it be a mystery..

V – Vegetable you don't like? - All healthy vegetables I don't like..

W – Worst habit? - I am way too honest about things..

X – X-rays you've had? When I went for the medical check up for ABN AMRO

Y – Your favorite food? - Pizza..

Z – Zodiac sign? - A typical Sagittarius!!

PS: I tag nobody in particular...whoever passes by and feels like taking any of these tags, then please feel free to do so..

Let's Dance!!!

PS: I already have joined the fan club of this Rockstar Dancer..and I don't want any competition :P

Is it Making or Breaking??

My profession gives me opportunity to come across so many different kinds of people...Apart from Doctors, we (as in lawyers) get the opportunity to bring smile on one's face by solving or safeguarding one's interest. But is it so always? ok let me share one particular incident with you:

Initial days of starting of my own practice, we (my partner and I) accepted all possible types of work that came our way which included typing out a forty page draft as well..because, we wanted to establish our practice and for that we needed money, and well beggars can't be choosers..so rightly we did. Our first Real Case came our way in the third month of the practice. One lady called me up for consultation. She insisted that we discuss the matter over the phone, so we did. She was into her marriage for last nine years..She wanted to divorce her husband - the reason she gave me was that she could not get along well with her in laws and other family members and her husband did nothing to help her out of the situation where she had to bear the taunting and tantrums from her in laws. She further stated that she wanted maintenance from her husband and custody of her 7 year old son.

Probably our aim was not to take up the family matters practice, or our values and learnings which always told us not to break a relationship were not letting us to go ahead with what our client wanted us to do, we requested her to come and meet us once with her husband so that we could resolve the matter on one-to-one. But, she refused to do so. She wanted us to call up her husband and inform him about her decision. We were still reluctant about taking up this particular assignment but still decided to give it a try..So I called him up and informed him about the divorce..he sounded very sad and requested me if I could meet him once and discuss the whole matter..

He came to our office to meet us...He came across as a very simple and humble person and he even turned out to be one..I wont go into the details, but he told us that he really loved his wife and son, and he understands that his parents are giving a tough time to his wife, and he has tried all possible means to make both of them understand about the situation, but nobody is ready to adjust. He even said that he could have moved out of that house, but he cannot afford a new house due to his financial instability..

There was a lady on one side who wanted a peaceful life of her own as she was not happy there, and on the other side, her husband whose only fault was that he had a nagging parents and not enough money to buy a house for his wife..

We couldn't decide whether we could have helped out the lady to make a new life or we could have broken the house of that guy..We didn't take up the case in the end nor tried to find out what happened in the end..A friend said that we were fools to let go of a client as this is our job and we can't be emotional about it or we will never come up and succeed...Our point was that we couldn't break a family due to helplessness of one person..

We lost a client, that is all right, but we couldn't have seen pain on that man's face...call it foolish, call it unwise or call it emotional, we were satisfied and didn't regret it even once till we got our first real client in the seventh Month..

Boredom turning into Nostalgia..

Since yesterday, I have been having a body-ache and sore throat...so I decided to take a leave from office..well, this job was quite simple, as I am the boss :)...and now I am alright and getting very bored..so thought to pass my boredom to you guys as well with this random post..I just feel like writing right now, not about any specific topic, person or place, but just about anything that will cross my mind while writing this...aah, kya timing hai...my school friend just called me..and like any other normal bhule-bisre dost, (long-lost friends) we started talking about good old days...she is married and settled in pune..she is very much worried about her family, especially her 3 year old son because of the swine flu spread there..(I do not have it...at least that's what my doc claims..)..they all live behind mask these days, literally..

Anyway, we started talking about our childhood days spent in Umbergaon, school days, our all possible kind of excuses that we came up with for not doing our homework, our crushes etc. etc. She told me that she recently made a trip to Umbergaon,..and she shared a picture of that place with me for this post..the beautiful sunset at the beach..

Isn't it awesome? I love it, as it brings back so many memories I had on this beach playing almost all the evenings as my home was five minutes away...for me, playing games on the beach meant cricket..my neighbour and best friend Jay taught me to play cricket as we were the youngest in our area..so he never used to have any company to play this game, thus he made me believe that there is no better game than this and hide-n-seek etc., only kids play..well, as a kid, I never used to like to be called a kid, so learning the game of cricket was the only option left..I used to bat first always, for five minutes..then Jay used to convince me that it was his turn now and his batting lasted more than half an hour...but, as he always put it - only kids complain - so I always bowled without complaining much..and today when I think about those days, I wish I could get that innocence back...

Umbergaon is famous for one thing - the Ramayan by Mr. Ramanand Sagar was shot there..all the sets, bridges, mahels, mountains, weapons made of carboard, statues made of plaster of paris etc. all were already there or made there...some of them still exist..it was good fun watching those shootings..I remember most of the scenes that I had seen, but there were couple of incidences I would like to mention..the Hanuman (played by Darasingh) flying scene happened on a khat (a light weight bed made of wood)...4 people used to lift the khat and run with Darasingh lying on top of it...and then thanks to the camera and visual effects, we all saw him flying...but only those four lifting him and running realized what it took to make Hanuman fly..there was another very funny incident...Sita - Played by the actress Dipika - after playing a scene, took a break to smoke...the moment she lit a cigarette, the village people couldn't see the Goddess they worship smoking, and they started yelling "arre ye dekho, Seeta Mata cigarette pi rahi hai"..Poor lady could not even smoke as people started yelling after her out of shock and anger.

That's my Umbergaon for you, or rather, just a sneak peek of the beautiful town...

The King of S@rew Ups..

Dad came to pick me up from the jail...dude, it was so embarrassing for me, I couldn't muster the courage to look at him...I have always been known by all my friends, near and dear ones as "the King of S@rew ups", but this was a bit too much even for me to handle...I silently moved out of the police station with dad and he drove me home and went to work without uttering a single word..I went inside straight to my room as I didn't want to be disturbed...but ma is ma, she came running behind me weeping, very much worried about me as I had spent 4 whole days in the jail (thank goodness, at least someone supports me!!), and started caressing me which irritated me at this moment...I was anyways feeling tired as I hadn't slept properly in the jail, so I told ma to leave my room for now so that I could sleep...how I reached jail, well that's an interesting story which confirms the title I have been given by people around me..before that, a little bit of a background about Ahem me..

I was never a naughty child, but you can call me one of the most unfortunates ones, who never does any mischief but always gets the scolding...for instance, my elder brother Aakash was very mischievous, always upto something, but the one to be blamed and punished for his actions was me, because I, Rahul was always at the wrong place at the wrong time..so even if the whole world gets away with say breaking the rule, I will be an exception in this case, the one to be punished for breaking it...ok, let me cut the crap as I am sure that you all must have understood what a "panauti" (unlucky) I was..

Aakash is almost 4 years elder to me, so that means he he has experienced my age earlier than me, thank you very much...when we were growing up, (again, I do not understand why people say that "we were growing up"..boss you keep growing up till you die), anyways, let me say, during my earlier childhood days, I was taught by Aakash not to tell anything to ma about his activities..and I always looked upto Aakash for everything as he was very popular, loved by dad, favourite student of most of the teachers, leader of his gang of boys, so in short a perfect role model for a duffer, not at all cool guy like me..so I always listened to whatever Aakash ever said to me..even if it involved slapping a guy elder to me..see I told you, I was a duffer..

Once I was in college, I started thinking on my own and decided to have my own good life - my first mistake you can call it...dad put me in the same college as Aakash so that he could keep an eye on me, humph..this was the reason I started doing things opposite to what Aakash used to suggest...now that he was mature enough, he stopped bullying me and started taking good care of me like a perfect elder bro...again, Aakash proved that he is the best, very well..I started disliking the whole thing and a kinda became rebellious just to go against Aakash and have my own identity wala crap...after spending few days in college, I realized that Aakash was popular here as well, but he even had few enemies, there were few people who didn't like him...so that group suited me the most...but it was a task to be a part of it, as they knew that I was the brother of that Aakash factor, but soon enough they found out that I hated Aakash more than them and I was a perfect bali ka bakra (scapegoat) for them, and I was finally a part of the group where Aakash had no say..

Since it was the last year for Aakash in college, he was relatively very busy to actually keep an eye on me personally, but he had many jasoos (detective) in and out of the college, so he found out about my new friends...once or twice he tried to confront me, but now I had become smart enough (huh) to escape such things...Now even Aakash was realizing that he had started getting on to me, so he stopped bothering me much thinking that I now knew what was good and bad for me...how very wrong he was..which he soon enough found out..

Though I was the youngest in that group, I was never neglected there, so for the 1st time in my life, I felt good about something..there was nobody dominating like dad in that group, nor anybody tried to show his superiority..so for me, these bunch of duffers were more than a family now...we hung out together, bullied people (it was my turn now), and slowly I didn't even realise when I got into regular fagging and boozing, late night partying which involved eve teasing most of the time...all these cool things when I was not even an adult gave me an edge over Aakash, I used to get a kick out of it which cannot be expressed in words..Aakash tried all possible means to make me see the reality, but failed majorly..by now I was way too deep into the sh!thole that it was now very difficult to come out of it...Aakash left the college (not his jasoos) at the end of his last year and went abroad for further studies to add another feather to his cap..

I was now a free horse (or an ass)..I didn't have anybody around me, monitoring me constantly..I started getting bad to worse, boozing even during day time, playing loud music while rash driving etc. etc... The great Aakash knew what was happening with me at the college thanks to his damn contacts..he used to call me and explain whatever I was doing would put me in a trouble, but I was blinded by my hatred towards him, so I always used to let him blabber and keep quiet and not follow anything he said...my 12th board I just managed to clear all the papers and my group-mates also somehow completed their graduation by appearing for papers in installments...I had lost all respect in family, adopted this wild look of long unkempt hair, beaded beard (yeah), skull pendant chain, bracelets etc..

It was a celebration of my 18th which put me in the worst trouble of my life...as usual, I left my place to go to a pub to get fultu talli (totally drunk) which I did..there I tried dope for the first time...it felt ecstatic...I was on cloud nine...my head, my whole body felt so much lighter that I would have even hugged Aakash if he was around right now...but all this was too much for me for the first time, so i passed out soon...after that I faintly remember someone patting my back or hitting hard I don't know exactly, but it hurt a lot once I was conscious..and yeah in the jail...I freaked out because I didn't remember anything at all - how I reached here, what did I do, nothing at all...upon my consciousness, the inspector called me to ask a few questions about myself...by that time they had already informed my family, they had found dad's number on my mobile phone...I asked him about the reason of my arrest, so the inspector got really pissed and shouted at me saying that I had raped a girl, or rather, she was gang-raped and I was one of the rapists found along with other culprits at the place of this incident...I tried and tried and tried to explain them that I didn't rape anybody as I had passed out and didn't remember anything of that day's event...I won't tell you all how my days were in jail, but the girl was traumatized and was recovering at the hospital...Though my heart was crying out for her, but I was getting angry at her as well as I was not the party to that horrible crime...on the 4th day, she finally became conscious and strong enough to recognize the culprits and clearing me off the rape charge...and I went home...

I am thinking about Aakash how much he stopped me from being friends to those rapists, but I was such an idiot not to listen to him...I don't understand how to face him now...I want to apologize to him, but how will I do that...I am feeling so ashamed to call him...and my phone rings...it says Aak-ass calling...I make a mental note to change the name as soon as I finish this call..