The affidavit

I've been pestering Dad for almost an year for buying digital camera. I'm fed up with the conventional camera and with the whole lengthy process of it.I'm lazy in the first place to take the reel to the photo studio. O.k just in case I hand over the photos to the studio ...I hate frantically waiting for the photos to get developed...and finally when these photos arrive...they don't come as I expect(sigh!). This happened everytime-- with my birthday photos, party snaps with friends, photos of family holidaying, the college fresher's day etc etc. You either find me closing my eyes in half of them...or I am still setting my hair or dress being unaware that the photo has been already clicked 2 minutes ago...or give a crooked smile that scares anybody's guts off !So kudos for this revolutionary digital camera--which has refined photo shooting and made this task much more enjoyable. I can delete bad snaps and choose the ones I like.!

I've been convincing dad that my neighbour has it, my friend Priyanka has it, my cousin Souj has it , so why can't I own one? You get the point there right. From past 1 year I failed miserably to persuade him. What not have I tried?? Blackmailed him, tried coaxing him up, buttering up, stopped eating food for a day to put up strike and done pretending to be a good girl in front of him. He has so much grit and determination that he has refused to give in or give up. And so am I ok....neither will I admit defeat so soon.I still am not letting my father be victorious...that battle is yet to be conquered.

And I've devised a final fool-proof plan which is bound to succeed. The affidavit...yes official one. You see the 'Govt. of India' seal there? It is fully original. Here was my plan...not just one of it...but 2 of them..plan A and if it fails plan B.

Plan A-- Here's the rough master idea for you folks--

Take a blank sheet -->Go to dad-->Ask for autograph(Dad's a big sucker for fame...yaps off as if he's a big celeb.So he's bound to fall for this one!!) --> Rest is all in this geniou's hands...edit it as I want....add any number of complicated clauses and fabricate it to suit my needs. (Give a thumbs up to me!!)

Plan B -- My back up plan--

Tare off the affidavit --> Flip it into the trash bin --> Fall on dad's feet --> yell, cry, weep make a hella noise!!

But guys plan A succeeded fortunately(yaay!!). Rest was all history! Dad went berserk. Finally he calmed down. He finally agreed to buy a digi-cam soon!!.. but on a mutual agreement. Dad wanted to add a new clause in the affidaavit that I should get 80 + % in my 3rd year 2nd semister exams. Well, they are anyway to be conducted in next April. So my dad might as well forget about the whole episode by then and on the contrary I am to get my digi-cam just in 2 - 4 days!! yippie!! So I thought there's no harm in signing the agreement.

Finally I got my sister to sign it as an eye-witness to this. So, folks 14th November is a big day for me. In case my Dad fails to keep his word ,I along with the help of my sister, with the proof of the affidavit, have a full-fledged official right to sentence him to jail. Just joking!! ...it won't go that far. Umm..hopefully.He won't leave much of a choice to me if he fails to purchase one.

Will post if I did really purchase one or not. Bye folks!!

Lip-smacking delights!!

I’ve got refined tastes for food. I am ready to commit any sin in the world in exchange for these lip-smacking delights!!

C for Chocolate

A chunk of fudgy chocolate delight…yummy!

With the pervasive aroma of roasted cocoa beans and the tempting sight of irrestibly rich dark-brown color, I transcend into an altogether heavenly world..!

I savor the taste of melting goodness on my tongue and treasure the sugary sweetness on my taste buds. The soft chocolate moulds tickle my senses. When I feast on a chocolate bar, music seems tangible and vivid images erupt into a wild dance! The world seems to disappear into a momentary oblivion. It evokes fervent fantasies in the deepest of my hearts. My time and space go out of sync with the rest of the universe. A bite of chocolate sinfully inflicts me with inexplicable pleasure and euphoria!

Do not dare to disturb me when I am feasting on a chocolate bar!!!

T for tea

Its snack-o-time!!

This beverage gives me the ever-essential kick and bouts of active jolts for my senses. With just 1 cup of this frizzy hot drink, I get recharged for the task ahead!
This power drink reloads me with activeness and energy required to burn the midnight oil for exams and I keep gulping down oceans and oceans of it. I feel drowsy, restless and withdrawn from the surroundings, with lack of interest and initiative, if I skip tea in the evening snacks-time. And if there’s a pack of crispy biscuits to complement this steaming beverage, there’s nothing more blissful in this world!

I am kind of addicted to this mind stimulant! Someone help me!!
M for mutter paneer masala

I can’t resist salivating at the very sight of this Punjabi dish!!
(Even right now I am going bonkers by seeing this picture above. I am off to pester mom to make it soon!!)

Chunks of diced fresh paneer cubes fried to a golden tinge, studded with garden-fresh green peas marinated in spicy gravy along with crisp kulchas, stir up a tangy tingling sensation in my mouth and I am left bemused. Cottage cheese dumplings impart a unique taste. I munch down to my heart's content and seem to demand more and more till it appeases my hunger pangs!

I am ready to surrender myself and do anything in this world for this treat!! Now you know my week point :)


P for pani puri

I seem not to be content with how many ever gol-gappe I guzzle down! It is such a delicious snack to be eaten during evenings with friends.

I’ve gained over-the-years expertise in gorging down larger-than-my-mouth-sized gappas without spilling even a drop of masala pani down. And the pani-puri walla selling on the cart on pavements might get tired hatching the gappa, stuffing it with spicy fillings and simmering it in masala pani and in no time I seem to gulp them down! I really don’t understand my friends when they complain that pani puri is too spicy and hot for their taste buds and is very cumbersome to eat. They have tough time swallowing the gappas and make a mess by spilling everything.

Ready for gol-gappe contest with me?

Oh, all this talk about food is making me hungry!!

The witty reply

It was history class. I was in 4th at that time. My history teacher was very intimidating. Her piercing stern spectacled eyes would command fear. I would dread her class and wait for the bell to ring.

The lesson was on Indus valley civilization and how people back then used to lead their lives.There was a picture of a man bathing in 'The great bath', mohenjadaro. The picture was quite revealing and that ancient man was scantily clad in clothes. We students found it very funny and tried to suppress giggles. But no one dared to laugh out loud due to fear of the teacher. The teacher sensing indisciplined giggles got hot-tempered.

Teacher : What's it? Who's it lauging? Don't you all remove clothes and bath every morning? (more laughther from us)

Teacher:(screeching at the crest of her voice): Sshh!!...What's so funny here? You all will be sent out right now!! I want pin-drop silence now!

We tried to hide our faces behind books. My classmate Vikram was the only bold student who spoke out in defiance. He gave a sharp reply which I haven't forgotten even now.

Vikram: True ma'm we all bath every morning... but we don't have our pictures printed in the text book this way!

To this my teacher didn't have any answer. She was staring at him tongue-tied and flabbergasted. No body dared to back answer her anytime. But Vikram was very intelligent and bold. Eventually she chuckled at the joke and seeing this, our laughter got fueled up and finally the whole class for the first time in the dreadful history period, along with the teacher, were all laughing.

Arun Bhaiyya

It was the day of Raksha Bandhan. All my friends were excitedly couriering rakhis to brothers farway. I didn't have any brothers. I was silently watching them...thinking about him...thinking about the Shatabdi express..thinking about why we lost contact now...thinking of his voice calling me choti...thinking of the train music which was ringing in my ears.These memories were stiffling me and I was carried down the memory lane to that day........

His last words are still reverberating in my ears. It was on the running train, my station was about to come. It was time for good-bye's. I did'nt want the journey to end.Not now...not ever. I wished I could travel for eons with him as if my only destination was the end of the universe itself.

I was on the train back to my place from Bangalore. It was a sultry summer and the afternoon siesta was engulfing me. I was drowsily staring into nothingness outside the window and stiffling yawns, when he walked into train at Bangalore station. Tall, handsome and nice physique...thats what I noticed the first time. His wife was waiting outside bidding good-bye.



I started reading Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I don't talk to strangers usually. I was immersed in the fast-paced plot of the book when he started introducing himself and broke the ice.I was startled.


Him: Hi! I am Arun. I work in Navy as a navigator.
Me: Eh..hi!..umm...I am Aparna, finished 12th.
Him: That book you are reading (pointing the novel) ..I've already read it.It's a nice one.
Me: Ya, I feel the same too. Have you watched the movie ' The da vinci code' ? Its by the same author.
Him: Did'nt watch the movie but I read the book. Angels is much better.
Me: Where are you from?
Him: Basically from punjab.But I and my wife stay now in Bangalore. Recently I got a job in navy at Vizag. I came to Blore for holidays.I am rarely at Blore nowadays. I miss my wife.



I've seen his wife. She was very pretty.Later he told me that she is from Hyderabad. He told his love story of how he met his wife in the same train a year back, exchanged numbers, talked frequently late into the night, fell in love and eventually married by eloping. Neither of their parents were happy as they married against their wishes so they came to Bangalore far from their wrath.

Listening to this I said--
Me: Your love story is like the movie ' Kabhi kushi kabie gham'.
Him: Haha.. life's a movie isn't it? I found my wife last year in the same train. And I found a friend like you now in the same train. Thanks to Shatabdi express!


After some time we started playing ' Numero Uno' .Its a card game. I expalined to him the game.He did'nt catch it at at the start but gradually he beat me and won all the games.We talked a lot all during the journey.He showed his photo album of his marriage. We exchanged a great deal about our lives. It was a fun to talk to him.I told him that I finished 12th and now I am looking for admission into a college.He helped me in giving some contact numbers to medical colleges at Bangalore.It seems he knew the administrator of the college.We exchanged numbers. I wrote down his number on the front page of Angels and demons.



It was 9.00 A.M on the next day and my station was about to come.His station was Vizag which would arrive at afternoon.He came till the door to see me off. The train was moving slowly..everything was in slow motion..the music of the train receeding, the hooting siren, the vendors at the station...but all I could listen was only to him.I was mesmerised and kind of moved by his golden words.He was advising me to study well,that I should do well in academics and make my parents proud and that I should never hurt them and pay them back for every little thing they did by fairing well in career.I nodded enthusiastically and hung on to his every word. They were our last words together...they were words of enlightement.



We were in contact for a few months after that by phone. I told him I didn't have any brothers and always hoped I had one.He was more than glad to make me his sister.I would call him Arun bhaiyya. And he would call me choti.


My mischeivous sister tore off the first page of Angels and demons and I lost his number.I later changed my phone number so there's no way he can contact me now.








But I still remember the train journey and his words. Whenever I feel bored of studying, his words ring in my ears and I get reminded to study well. Ever since then I always look for him in the train whenever I go to Bangalore. You never know...god plans interesting ways to meet friends and special ones.

The other side of me

If you ask me who I am, I would say that I am a lifelong student. I may not be perfect, but I am always eager to learn something new, or from my past mistakes. There’s so much to gain from life. I remind myself to keep all my senses open, to know something new every single moment and what’s more wonderful than to have a reliable sixth sense or gut intuition which you can trust, to guide you the right path!

My dad gets transfers often. The new posting could be anywhere in the country..north, south, east or west .I have lived in five different cities and attended 7 different schools and 2 different colleges. I have a feeling we are nomads living in a mobile van. I always felt like a displaced person. I was the new kid on the block- an outsider, creating barrier to make friends. It was a very disruptive life. Each time I would start making friends it was time to say goodbye. Somehow this made me tough from inside, for good, that I have encountered various people, each with their own peculiar personalities. This made me independent. I don’t wait for anyone and don’t expect help from anyone. I am versatile—modern with a touch of conventionality. I can be garrulous or taciturn, rebellious or obedient, innocent or clever, confident or doubtful, brave or timid, simple or intricate. I am a blend of diverging personas. I really could not figure out who I am or what I am yet. I discover something new about myself as I live on, and constantly amaze myself with my potential, which eventually surfaces out, and about which I knew never existed in me.

I love my thoughts, my ideas, my abilities, my strenghts, my weaknesses, my personality, my mentality, my soul, my life and everything else which makes me, 'me '. I always dot an ''i '' or write the word ''me'' or sign my name with a heart...filled with a sense of pride, reverence, love and self-respect for myself.

Words are my forte. I can play with the English language and manipulate the opposite person to give in and say something by which I can have an advantage over him. I treat English language with veneration. The one commendable job the Britains did by ruling over us was to pass on the English legacy to us. I am so communicative and expressive in it. Not even my mother tongue makes me so comfortable. In all those new schools when I had to reach out my classmates and teachers, only English would come to my rescue. It was a bridge between us.

I’ve always found solace with books, novels, magazines and comics. I came to know a lot from them. Even back in school I used to look forward for the library period and I bet all my classmates in the number of books borrowed. I loved the literature class back in school. Our English teacher was very inspirational and she had complete command over English. It was she, who instilled the seed of love for prose, poetry and creative writing. If I were not studying pharmacy today, my choice would be, to become a column writer for newspapers.. or hopefully even a newspaper editor.


My English teacher once said that at the age of 21, one would be living the happiest moments of life. I am waiting to become 21 and wish my age would freeze then and there. I wish I had the power of turning back the time and rewinding the magic of 21 even after I cross it.



I might be only 19 but its like I've already lived a 30. I have witnessed so much in such a short span of my life...different people..different mentalities..different culture..different language..everything divergent and totally contrasting the previous place. I have traveled a lot and seen all there is to see in India...umm…atleast a major part of it. I agree that India holds a lot of beauty and tourist delights that it would take a lifetime to completely enjoy it. But nevertheless you can say I've 'been there, 'done that'.

If you asked me to define life, I would be at a total loss of words. I could say ‘it is a span of time and a series of experiences between life and death’…but on second thoughts ..isn’t life much more than that? The more you live the more enigmatic life becomes. And this enigma itself is the beauty of life. I think no one ever, however great one is, can define life in its ‘real’ sense, because no body has lived truly and to the fullest to provide a suitable definition to life. That’s because a lifespan of 100 years is very short to truly 'live'.


A 100 years is just a speck of grain in the hourglass to truly behold the beauties of earth. I would like to go on a world tour someday. Meeting different people and customs has become an inevitable part of my life though I welcomed it or not and now it has become my passion. I used to despise making new friends. I used to be shy trying to pretend I enjoyed being a loner. But now I have changed a lot. I am hungry of meeting new friends. As I come across someone new, it might take me time to melt away the emptiness in conversations, break the ice and delabel him as a ‘stranger’ but once that happens I am very talkative and it is very hard to zip my mouth. There is no stopping me when it comes to gossiping on the topic of books, music and movies—my 3 lifelines.

I am so used to new places that my stay in the place I live currently is making me suffocate and I can’t wait to get out of here and discover a new city. I am getting bored out of life here. Its like I am sleepwalking through my life. Its like I’ve already lived my life and living the same day again and again with nothing exciting or eventful happening. I am adventurous by heart but till now there came no chance along—no bungee jumping, no paragliding, no trekking, no camping and of that sorts. My time has gone out of sync with that of the world. I am still waiting for that one chance to prove myself and to show others and... even to myself who I really am.

My dad said he is expecting a transfer next year. I hope all these moments until next year melt off and in no time I get transcended to a new place and make new friends!