Random Musings

I haven’t worn a night gown in ages, is the line. And it’s true, you know, very true. In fact, I haven’t worn a nightgown for as long as I can remember. But that does not matter, for this is one of the days when spelling Tuesday correctly (or not) doesn’t matter a jot.

Writing that last line makes me wonder if there are ever any days when spelling Tuesday really matters. I suppose if you draft contracts or write best-selling books it might matter, but how many of us actually do that, hm? Not many, I’m guessing. I wouldn’t mind writing a best selling book, but knowing my luck, I’m probably going to end up drafting snooze-inducing contracts. You know, it might be fun to actually write a book for children in the middle of a long and very complex contract. I mean, does anyone actually ever read those things? Unless of course it comes up for litigation, in which case the judge is going to have a ball. Ah, the thought is a funny one, is it not?

Of course, the two lawyers will probably die of apoplexy, but hey, there are too many lawyers in the world in any case.

Last evening, I was all zombied out, and riding home on my bike. I came to a red light, and while I was waiting there, I noticed an old man limp to the guy in front of me. Now, the old man, he was decently dressed, not like a beggar or someone down on his luck. The old man touched the guy on his arm and seemed to ask for something. And that guy brushed him off. So he hobbled up to me, and in polite Kannada said something to me. He saw my baffled expression and switched to English. Very politely, he says “Sir, I need eight rupees for the bus”. Normally, I would not give money, but he just seemed real, you know, not like a con-man. Yeah yeah, I know, he probably was a conman, but what the heck, it was just ten bucks (What, you expected me to ask for change??)

In any case, since this followed a rather nice weekend, I say that life is fun. Not as much fun as Roman Holiday, but fun nonetheless.

Ok, here’s the scoop on my operation. (If you don’t know why I need one, go read the older posts)

I go under the knife on the 19th of June, at Max Super Speciality Hospital in Delhi. Dr. S.K.S Marya, the head of ortho is the guy who is going to carve me open.

I should be fine in about a month and a bit. August will be the month when I start working and everything should be back on it’s peachy way.

So there you go.

Chocolates and flowers, and Paypal gift certificates can be sent to the usual addresses.

Right, before anyone gets the wrong idea, I have NOT eloped..

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

I was in Delhi this past week, doing a whole lot of nothing at all. Just bumming around, reading tons, watching T.V, you know, the usual. The days passed slowly. I had made all sorts of weekend plans, so when I went to sleep on Friday night, I was rather looking forward to Saturday.

Saturday morning. 11 AM. The door to my room swings open violently, and rebounds off the wall. My brother and sis-in-law storm in. WAKE UP, they shout! I jump up, adrenalin pumping, convinced that the world is going to end, or my laptop broke, or some such catastrophe has happened.

“What?!!”

mumble mumble, unintelligible mumble.. Jaipur, marriage, tomorrow.. mumble!

“WHAT!”

So the scoop is, our dear friend Amit had called up in the morning from Jaipur and informed my brother that he was getting married. The NEXT day! Apparently the girl finally got sick of her parents telling her about what a nasty guy he was, said a big fat STICK IT to them, and came over to his house. Where she proceeded to inform him that they were getting married the next day.

Of course, faced with an ultimatum like that, a man has no choice at all. One hasty day of arranging things later, everything was fixed. We drove down from Delhi, and dressed up nicely, and went to the venue. That was easy, since the venue was right opposite our house. Heh

And then, it was like a fairytale wedding. The gods helped, by sending lots of clouds to cool down the May heat. The Priest was better than a stand up comic. He wisecracked his way through the ceremony, and we were in splits.. And the best of the best: The LOOK on Amit’s face..

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

He had NO clue what was happening. I mean, twenty four hours ago, he was happy thinking he’s going to get married in a month or two. And now, there he was, all dressed up, mouthing the vows, and feeding the holy flames. I would pay a pretty penny to know what was going through his head.

One hilarious ceremony later, we all clapped and threw flowers. And the heavens opened up, with lovely timing.. All of us ran for the house.

So this was the first elopement that I have been a witness too. I wish the happy couple all the joy in the world. I’ve know Amit for almost 16 years, and I know he’s a great guy. It’s a frabjuos day ladies and gentlemen, simply FRABJUOS.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

Ah, where do I begin? I’ve been real busy over the past few days. Let me begin at the beginning, eh? I’ve divided it into days, for your convenience.

Regular readers know that I was going to go for the Iron Maiden concert in Bangalore. So on the 14th of March, I left college, all excited and all. The 15th was Mom’s birthday ( GO MOM!) so I was home for that, and we had a great time. Usual wandering around, eating, and talking lots kind of thing. Home was as always, wonderful.

16th March 2007

My flight to Bangalore was on the 16th, at 6:30 PM, so I caught the morning bus to Delhi, getting more excited. I land up at the airport at 1530, and am told that my flight has been delayed till 8 PM. Sigh and oh well, but not terrible yet, right? Flights get delayed and all that kinda thing. So anyway, I went up to the airport restaurant, and ate. Then I wandered around, read a book, and generally bummed around till 5:30 PM. I was trying hard to get free Wi-Fi, but was not able to ( this led to certain other events.. more on that later) Anyway, I finally decided to go check in.

At 5:35 PM I presented myself at the Air Sahara counter, and politely asked for an aisle seat. Imagine my face when the lady says politely, “Sir, this PNR has been totally cancelled.”
..
…
!!!!
WHAT??

For half a sec, I just stood there. Then, as the import of what she said began to sink in, I stammered out, “B..b..but, there must be some mistake.” Not a very snappy retort, but I was in shock! She told me to go to the reservations counter. I RAN there, through the crowded concourse, with my suitcase on my shoulder for optimum aerodynamic effect. When I reached the counter, there was one chap there asking for a ticket to Bangalore, only to be told that there were none available. My turn came, and I showed the agent my ticket, and asked what the heck was going on.

He tells me that my connecting flight from Hyderabad to Bangalore had been cancelled. Of course Air Sahara cares for it’s passengers, so they put me on the 5 PM direct flight to Bangalore. Sweet of then, no? Except that they forgot to tell me of this. Heck, I actually saw that flight take off, oblivious to the fact that I was supposed to be on it.

So I tell the guy this, and start thinking of alternative plans, along with framing a consumer complaint ( Sue their ass!) in my mind. Outwardly polite and earnest, like a little kid asking for an orange bar, in my head I was decapitating him. He tapped away on his console, and tells me that they can just about fit me on the 8:30 flight to Bangalore. He picked up the phone and called someone and explained the situation. Then he gave me a printout, and told me to hurry back to the check-in counter and speak to Geetanjali.

So back I run, huffing and puffing, and wishing I could blow the house down. I went and asked for Geetanjali, and she finally gave me my boarding pass. Phew!

Of course, after all this excitement, my (new) flight was delayed till 9:30. So I sat in the departure lounge, where finally I had a stroke of luck. Someone, somewhere had setup free Wi-Fi access. I blessed that unknown hero, and browsed the net for an hour or two, reading up on how to hack Wi-Fi networks, just to learn about it.

The flight was uneventful, and I landed at Bangalore at 12 AM. A short taxi ride later, and I was at my Uncle’s place, where I would be staying. We chatted for a while, about science, religion, philosophy and other such high-brow stuff, and then I hit the sack.

17th March, 2007

Woke up bright and early, all set for my interview with a major publishing company. I changed into my formal trousers, and headed out. On the way, I noticed yet again that Bangalore is a beautiful city. It’s the weather, y’see. It’s sunny and bright, but not hot. It makes you feel glad to be alive, and all rearing to go.

My interview was in the office building close to the Taj. I was asked to wait for a while, so I opened my laptop just to see if there was wireless access anywhere. Surprisingly, I was able to connect to the Taj’s network! I could not browse, since they had a MAC address based security setup. I knew that I could get in, but I had forgotten the command to clone a MAC address in Linux. While I was trying to figure that out, the guy I was supposed to meet came out.

The interview was rather fun. He was friendly, and obviously interested in finding about about me, and what I was all about. It was a very relaxed interview, and I liked the place. Apparently, they liked me too, cause he said that they will make me an offer. I haven’t got it yet, so I don’t know yet if I am potentially employed.

So after the interview, a quick auto ride back home to change into appropriate attire.. Black T-Shirt, and scruffy jeans. Then off to MG Road to meet the guy who had my ticket. At 1:30 PM, I had it in my hands.. A rectangle of cardboard, with a shiny hologram. My ticket! To IRON MAIDEN. I still could not believe that I was going. And I’m not even a fan

Since there was still some time left, I went to this pub called Styx, which is close by. I met up with a couple of good friends from Jaipur, and we headbanged there till 3.

And then, we left for the venue.

Arrived there to see thousands of black t-shirts streaming in. Everyone and their dog seemed to be there, and we joined the teeming hoards. Inside the main gates, we stopped to wait for some guys to catch up. As we stood there, observing, I was hailed by a familiar voice.. “Aditya?”

I looked at the guy, not recognizing him for a moment, mentally flipping through my catalogue of people I know in Bangalore. Then the penny dropped! It was Prateek Kuhad, all the way from jaipur, bunking his exams to come see the show. heh heh heh. The two of us were equally surprised to see each other, but it was fun. Haven’t met him for a long while.

At about 3:30, we were finally in! The Palace Grounds in Bangalore is like a big dusty field that had mats laid, and a big stage at one end. The stage was divided into two parts. The front bit had a couple of drum kits, guitars, mic stands and the like, for the opening acts. Behind this, there was a mysterious black cloth covering some manner of strange setup. It looked like a small mountain range covered with a black cloth..

We sat down, about 30 feet from the stage. And the, barring a brief trip to the loo, which by the way were nice clear portable toilets, and to purchase the official T-Shirt, we sat there till five thirty. The crowd kept on growing, and it was clear that if we had moved, we would have lost our places. And that would be a calamity beyond imagining, oh yes. Worse than Nuclear War, Armageddon and Ragnarok all put together. So we sat there, occasionally shifting weight to stave off cramp and pins and needles.

I was supposed to write more, and I am, but read this at least.. more very quick, I promise

This month has been a whirlwind of activity. From last month’s whole lot of doing nothing at all, this month I’ve done tons of stuff. I took part in two parliamentary debates, and did fairly decently. I got my laptop fixed, and am getting my X360 Adapter. I took my GRE and got 1440. And a whole bunch of other stuff.

Met a lot of nice people this month in the debates. People from here, there, and everywhere. We were treated very nicely by the host colleges, and we had a ball debating wacky stuff like how Indian men have smaller male appendages..

I also went to a famous guy’s house for a party, and sat in his living room for one hour, all alone. There was NO ONE there, and it was a little surreal, sitting in this guy’s house, whom you read about in the papers and all, and wondering what exactly one is doing there. And then, when the party did start, it was rather, um, quirky..

Delhi can be a crazy place sometimes.

I met some people from Pakistan, and found out that Lahore is the place to go if you like to eat meat. The descriptions were, quite literally, drool inducing. Heck, the memory of the description is drool inducing!

And after faffing around for a week, I went and took my GRE. I did not do as well as I had hoped, and only managed a 1440, but what the heck, right? Hopefully this should be enough to get me into graduate school somewhere. Who knows!

I still have no idea what I’m going to be doing once I graduate. I may be going abroad (yeah, right!), I may be working, and I may be sitting at home, unemployed, and living off the fat of the land.

2006 has been pretty eventful. From me zapping my blog, to my brother’s wedding, to all sorts of stuff that I would rather not write about here.. Let’s see if it ends with a bang!