It seems like another life now!

It all started as adjustments with life(style!), learning to share, managing resources ( both time and money), self discipline, burning the midnight oil for exams, lot of temper flying, and unwanted matrons moving around the corridors like zombies. Those mid night hunger strokes followed by coffee breaks - which on many occasions turned into prolonged chat sessions, ending abruptly when someone suddenly would remember and move away saying “ I have to study!”.

Yes I am talking about hostel, a place where an individual learns to live like a social being. One might often be coming out of the cozy comfort of home and entering a new world of strangers. However, the moments spent in hostel are irreplaceable and unforgettable- Everybody cannot have the luxury of hostel life !

But why am I missing my hostel life today suddenly ? Maybe, because of my dearest friend whom I just talked to...Friends - Yes, another most cherished gift that everyone receives from hostel life ! 

I got the opportunity to have a taste of hostel life after school. When I was just another teenager having unlimited dreams, ‘everything is possible’ attitude, loads of friends, no responsibilities, unlimited quest for fun and my college life was just beginning. Life was almost a party then, which I can appreciate better now - with all these responsibilities.

I still remember how deeply worried I was about the fact of sharing my BOX ( hostel room of 3*3m which fitted all the rats and brats to live together in harmony) with a room mate from Kerala (different culture altogether for a North Indian like me ). But I was relaxed very soon as I was greeted by her in a very friendly way, of course she was also a fresher much like me. In fact, we even had a gala time with seniors,  chatting and Drinking coffee (GOSH! Yes it happens in girls hostels too) and planning some mischief. Don’t know from where we used to get all that energy to babble all night! (maybe from the “not so healthy” MESS FOOD!)  and this made to us come in Pressure Cookers hit list too. [Hostel Secret No.1: Our hostel warden, ‘PC-Pressure Cooker’ as she was nicknamed by seniors, because of the extra pressure she applied on the alphabet ‘s’ while pronouncing every word, in a typical Malayalam accent, which would produce an extremely irritating hissing sound in our ears.]

Something famous that I heard about my hostel (especially from my Gujju friends) was that the Bollywood actress Parveen Babi used to live in our hostel. In fact, she escaped from the hostel, and subsequently become an actress in Mumbai. So, as soon as I entered the hostel I could spot many aspiring Bollywood and Tollywood (South-Indian film industry)actresses. But considering the weight of a few, and the height of others, the chances looked meek to me ( of course, they would disagree! ).

The hostel rules were strict, the doors would close at a time when night would just begin for other youngsters in the city- sometimes as early as we finished college and reached the hostel. Still we managed to fool the Pressure Cooker a number of times[ Hostel Secret No.2: We still managed to take numerous night outs to attend cultural fests and birthday treats with our non-hosteler friends]. 

I guess I've already written enough, and at last I would say that I had an Awesomely Amazing and Wickedly Remember-able time at St. Xavier's Hostel.

Token of love

Does it happen for a reason that we meet good people by chance...yes it happened once again! Today I went to a mall near our place and you all know when it is a weekend, wives don't prefer to cook. Since we had a light breakfast we were really hungry by lunch, and so decided to have a quick bite at PAUL -  yes its the same world famous bakery  which recently completed its 120 years. Of course, I am not bragging Paul here...its all about its staff. Since I was tired of shopping I asked my hubby to order his meal first, so that I could get some time to decide. That was all to save some efforts as you guys can understand I am in France and not everybody speaks English here but lucky chap he got an English speaking french girl who helped him select his meal. So it was all done for me, I walked confidently and approached the same girl and then it all began!

Though I pretended if I was not aware of her skills and tried to influence her and some of the french men around with my little french. And guess what - she asked me are you with the same guy from India? Of course I said yes and told her that he is my husband and then she started - Oh Mademoiselle I love India...I love Indians ...I am a big fan of Bollywood ...what would you like to have tell me tell me...I was surprised to notice her English skills as I don't hear it often in Paris and of course there was a feeling of pride as I was treated like a queen among all the french. And all this is very important for me as not every person in service industry in France is as polite and affectionate as she was. After taking my order she gave me few muffins from her side, that was her token of love we carried along before saying goodbye to her!

Music @ Montmarte

 

Paris often surprises you with what it has to offer. Was walking back from Montmarte last Sunday and heard some melodious Arabic music. This is a pic from the live band performance!

दिल्ली O दिल्ली .............

दिल्ली ओ दिल्ली
तू शहर है दिलवालों का और शायद हर आने जाने वालो का
पर क्या किसी ने तेरा दिल देखा है
देखा है किसी ने तुझे रंग बदलते हुए
ज्यादा करीब से तो  नहीं, पर हाँ मैंने देखा है
और फिर तुझे समझने के लिए दूर रहना जरूरी है!

वोह दिन आज भी याद है मुझे
जब तू और भी जवान थी
एक छोटे बच्चे की तरह तेरी दुनिया भी आसान थी
वो खाली  खाली सड़के थी
वो छोटे रास्ते, लम्बी लम्बी बातें थी!

फिर चन्द्रमा सी तू बढती गयी,
हर कोई अब दूर रहता है
हर त्यौहार अब अकेला होता है
कोई करे भी तोह क्या, रस्ते है ही इतने लम्बे!

लेकिन आज भी तेरा दिल धड़कता है
हर वो सर्दी की सुबह आज भी वैसी है
आज भी वो  नए साल का कोहरा तुझे सताता है
तुझे गर्मी मैं आज भी उतना ही पसीना आता है
और बरसात मैं तू आज भी उतनी ही खूबसूरत लगती है!

दिल्ली ओ दिल्ली
लोग कहते है तू शहर है दिलवालों का
मैं कहती हूँ - तू ही दिल है हम शहरवालो का!

Are we losing it?

Today one of my Parisian friends asked me that he wants to visit India and a random thought hit me - what would he see in India ? Not that there is not much to see in India but of course the question is are we making sufficient efforts to preserve what we have? I agree that is equally important to build infrastructures like airports and malls, however, anybody who is traveling from a developed world would prefer seeing the real soul of India - our religion and spirituality (of course not just in yoga), festivals, food and clothing, art, dance and music (beyond Bollywood), and our cities beyond those brick and mortar malls!

It doesn't matter where we grew up, in Delhi or in Bangalore, but we grew up hearing and sharing stories about our culture and heritage.It doesn't matter where we live and what language we speak, we need to share our culture with the world. Its just that terrorism and corruption are taking so much space of our intellectual and personal life that we are almost forgetting other aspects that should also be important to us.

If every body understand in terms of growth and GDP then why not to do it their way? Why not generate jobs from rich heritage too?  An Indian friend who is doing her Masters in heritage and culture preservation says that she doesn't want to go back to India because their is not much scope of such expertise in our country. In fact her reason to be in Paris is that there is a dearth of such courses in India. I wonder- why shouldn't we be gearing up to preserve what we have - our heritage, culture and those beautiful shades of Chandni Chowk in New Delhi, Walled City in Ahmadabad, Old streets of Kolkata or the Royal palaces of Mysore and many more such in almost every corner of India - there are such small treasures hidden everywhere in India.

Why shouldn't the entire world experience our country, and in the process, fall in love with it - probably this will be a way we can come out of the "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Peepli Live" cliche often used for India!

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everybody...I was not too keen on writing blogs but then I realized that its a better way to express my thoughts here rather than any other social networking site, and of course there was always a constant push from my tech savvy hubby to join the blogger. So, I am here finally!

Though my website is there to introduce me and of course Facebook says a lot everyday...I will just write a few lines -

I asked the stars to move slow, 

        so that I can see them shine and glow!

Forget about the sun, forget about the moon, 

to be accepted they have to run!

I am a free bird who wants to spread her feather,

  to enjoy the ride as I will explore the sky!