Welcome to the TajIt's beautiful...it's white...it could have easily modelled for Ujala or surf excel...err sorry for ruining it for the romantics;and like they say, the Taj is poetry on marble. Shah Jahan or his architect, perhaps understood this truth I guess; If you want to make a statement; make it in white! :D I had always heard about the Taj as a kid and thinking that it is one of the few things that put us Indians on the global map added to the excitement. So when we first moved to Delhi when I was in th fourth std., one of the first things I asked my father was that if he'd take me to the Taj. Being the doting dad that he is, he took me not just once but twice. But then.....! The first time that I went there, it was a real cold winter day, I was yet to adjust to that kind of cold and my mother had promptly wrapped me up in layers of warm clothes leaving just enough space to breathe and watch where I stepped! So much for seeing the Taj. I thought it was too much of a disturbance. God knows I could have easily passed for a sheep if only that fluffy sweater wasn't pink! I didn't feel very special about the much anticipated visit to the Taj; my mind was pre-occupied. I chose to blame it on the cold winter. So my father decided to take me during the summer hols...uh-oh! Now cut to a hot summer day in Agra...scorching heat and add to it the fact we had driven all the way from Delhi stopping on the way at Mathura...er temple is not the best place to hang out for a kid. I was not one of those kids who'd take well to driving any day either, let alone on a hot summer day. So finally I landed in Agra. When I stepped out of the vehicle I could hardly feel my feet beneath me and had this funny feeling in my stomach. I mistook it for excitement! Yikes! And began the long tumultuous walk towards the monument. The uneasy feeling grew with every step that I took. We had my aunt's family that was visiting us for the summer. My cousins and sister were all happy and well, but I somehow couldn't join them. We finally reached the Taj. And after visiting the enclosure on the top, we started to move towards the steps that lead downstairs to the graves. Now I started really fretting! The crowd was nothing like I had ever seen in my entire lifetime, and the way it disappeared down the stairs somehow convinced me that it was either a whirlpool down there or some kind of a monster sitting in the dark gobbling up people! Very hesitantly I began to climb down the stairs (in fact, I did not want to go, but I was swept away by the crowd). In minutes I could no longer see my mother and father, they were probably down there already, but I couldn't have thought of that in the state of mind that I was in. Add to it all that congestion that would make Chennai's Renganathan street look like heaven! And the horrible smell of travel wiery souls who did not care for a bath on a hot day...one more step down and I could breathe no more...I knew it; the monster'd got me good!...Run!!!!...I turned and with almost superhuman strength ran against the crowd on to the top of the stairs, the sudden burst of air and that relief trigerred a reaction so unexpected that it even left me gaping at what I had done...I retched! eeeeessssshhhh!...You read it...I retched...puked...threw up...call it whatever you want! And not just anywhere....in the Taj! Great balls of fire...Couldn't I pick a better place (the yamuna behind the monument could have been an ideal place!) The crowd didn't seem to bother, they just continued to move on...the man who stood on top with the lathi glowered down on me...'Kiske saath aayi ho' You don't talk to scared little girls like that man!...But all I could mumble out was a feeble whimpering 'Mummy!' He said in a voice that could have had me wailing right there had I not been too scared to do it, 'Go get her'. I nodded and fled from the scene and got outside under the sun to one corner of the corridor; where my uncle caught hold of me 'Where have you been' and noticing my face 'Have you been crying?' eeek! Wrong statement! And all that pent up emotions exploded right there...'Maaaaaaaammmmyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....Maaaaa-aaa-aa-aaamyyyyy!!!!!' My helpless uncle walked the wailing nuisance that I had become straight to my mom and once she managed to calm me down back in the car, she asked me how I got lost. I very innocently narrated the whole account and said 'That lathiwala asked me to get you...come we'll go back'...but that sentence was drowned in the loud roars of laughter from everyone else in the vehicle...'You did WHAT in the Taj?????' I couldn't believe I had become the butt of ridicule...I turned, buried my face in my mother's lap and continued with my wailing...'Maaaaaaa-aaaaa-aaaaaa-mmmmyyyyyyy!!!!!!' Anyway, thinking of it later in my life only made me laugh uncontrollably!...And half the people I told this incident to didn't believe me!...So much for the monument all Lovers worship! (I am not someone who is very much at ease with the matters of the heart...too tricky, guess that's why I simply didn't fit in that kind of a shrine!)
  Edi darling!
 Home away from home...that's what this place became for me for the past one year....Of all cities I have been to I haven't found one grand, dwarfing arresting city like Edinburgh...the architecture is more traditional than modern; you won't find the slick sky scrapers, you'll find those tall strong pillars, the sky line adorned with bronzes set atop buildings, and a fantastic castle sitting pretty on a dormant volcano that dominates the entire city. Fairly good population, comfortable size, lovely summer...laid back life...I couldn't ask for more! If you happen to visit this city, suggest you take a train...the first sight of the city centre when the train pulls into the station is not somehting you'd forget in a hurry... The city played host to the g8 summit same time last year and the otherwise shopper's paradise Princes Street was the scene of protests and marches...Edi residents all got a piece of that; including myself :D In set is a tiny pic taken during one such protest marches (Neither me nor the rest of the city ever had seen a crowd this massive!)
Here goes nothing!Tagged! so...here I go! Desired Celebrity mmmmm....I like this question :D Now I am finding it hard to mention one...so the first one that comes to my mind...Val 'Oooooh' Kilmer! Oh Mi Gawd!!! I saw this Top Gun movie years back; my sister was ga ga on Mr Tom short Cruise...And then I saw this guy in the movie called ice man; what can I say...it was crush at first sight! That attitude, that hair...those eyes...those...ahem...alright I'll cut it. I've drooled over him in Doors, Tombstone, Batman forever (sad movie...just watched for this eye candy!), the saint...aiyo this list won't ever end! P.S: he is one of my fav. actors of all time...not just a stunner; he's an amazing actor! P.S.S: he looks this stunner no more...what you can see now would be an aging overweight Kilmer...of late I swoon over Mark Philippousis, Arjun Rampal, Scheva, Heath Ledger
I am a tad bit too passionate about music...and I have forever wanted to go to a live concert...where my kinda music plays...the amazing guitar!!!! (actually I want to learn this one someday!)...I almost came close to fulfilling this wish twice, once when a god called Roger Waters was in B'lore; I had my final sem exams (who cares!) ..but my dad managed to drag me back to college! The next time I almost booked for the Mark Knopfler concert a year back; but then I was sent to UK! sob sob!..One day i'll go to such a concert...may be Santana this time and scream my lungs out! A place I would want to visit.... Am a history buff... and nothing excites me more than the Egyptian civilization; something that stood the test of time. Any given day if I was granted a boon to grow wings and fly away somewhere I like...I'd land straight on the Giza under the hot sun :) [er...that might hurt...but what the heck!] P.S: A small guest house on the way to Walparai comes a close second...I love that place!...Maldives, the lower himlayas, Spain, Greece would be next on the queue
Random Favourites Redder of the last arc!...it doesn't get redder than this...Paint it red baby!!! I am head over heels in love with this colour...strong, passionate, bold, dangerous, dark and sensuous; I simply can't get enough of this colour :)
I was tagged by... And the Oscar goes to....ta ra ra rat ta ta...KK!
Alright...now whom do I tag...yaawwwwn...who's on that grudge list???!...Whom do I have to settle scores with???...Yaawwnn...okie, sleepy now; I'll deal with'em later; after all 'Revenge is a dish best served cold' ;) And who'd know that better than a scorpio???!
One and a halfWait...I had written this long back when I was in B'lore and forgotten about it...and today I find this hiding among my drafts :) Read on now... Bangaloreans are familiar with this term; one and a half...altaaf!!! Well this is not about that show on Radio City. This is just one of those funny encounters on a busy morning. Me and my friend, are as usual late for the office. It's a dull monday morning, but that hardly makes any difference for us. We have missed our bus and the next trips start late in the afternoon. We might not exactly move mountains back there in the office, but then turning in half a day late...er...a tad bit too much to digest. We decide to take an auto to out office. It so happens that we have to go all the way to electronics city and no 'normal' autowala would take us there for the 'normal' charge! The rest of the rendezvous.... Me(stopping the auto): Electronics city jaana hai Autowala(thinks for a while): haa ji my friend and myselg board the auto My friend (whispers to me): I am surprised...he did not ask one and a half! A.W(after 10 minutes in a busy signal): Madam, 20 Rupees extra de do! m.f (whispers hastily to me): Did he hear me???! Me (to the A.W): yeh ab bata rahe ho...tabhi batana tha na? m.f: abhi bhi kuch nahi bigda (almost jumps out of the rick..one hasty soul!) me: (to my friend)wait, we're late. (to the autowala) tikh hai. jayiye, dekhi jayegi after this the auto moves on, we are engrossed in our own conversation. sometime later, my friend notices the fare on the auto meter and almost shrieks! m.f: Yeh kya? itni jaldi 30 rupees, yaha tak aane ke to 20 lagte hain a.w: madam itna hi lagta hai me: hum roz jaate hain, hume pata hai (yeah yeah, we travel every day on this route, and like we can afford it, by a rick!...BTW, it was the first time!) my friend is still mumbling something. I am tired and we start talking again. finally after about half an hour, we reach our office. i ask the autowala to stop outside our gate. me: By god, it's 130!!! m.f: See! it takes 70 normally. What did I tell you? me: Aapka meter to tikh hai a.w: Yeh all right. one and half do! m.f: That's it, I've had enough! aapka auto already one and half hi dikha raha hai!!!! a.w: madam paisa de do. mujhe hindi nahi maaloom! me: !!!!!!!!!!!!...to abhi tak kaun si bhasha bol rahe the? a.w: hindi nahi maaloom (hindi suddenly changes to broken format). paisa do me: Acha. fine. Abhi mudo, Electronics city ke entrance pe traffic police khadi hai. They'll translate for you. Aur woh batayenge tujhe kitne paise dene hain. m.f: haa, tab tak hum auto se nahi utarne wale (holds adamantly to the iron rod on the side as if she suspected he would drag her out!). a.w: kya madam? tikh hai 130 de do me: 70 se zyada ek kaudi nahi! m.f: haa. tab tak yahi baitenge, hum dono ko aur koi kaam nahi hai. (how true!...but one should not be this honest!) ya to 70 lo, ya phir entrance pe jao, waha police baat karenge a.w: Subah subah kya madam. me(handing out a 100 note): Paise lo aur baat khatham. a.w(understanding that there's no other way he could get rid of us): ha 80 leta hoo, magar change nahi me: change mein leke deti hoo, go to that shop a.w: ruko, mere paas 10 hai chelega? me: 80 loge to baaki 10 ayega? a.w: kya madam itni badi office aur 10 rupay ke liye me (gritting my teeth, we know how much they pay us!!!): woh sab rehne do, agar mein 10 kam deti to tum lete? m.f: ha haa....waise bhi they dont pay us! (lady, one more confession and I can kill myself!) a.w: tikh hai ruko fishes out another 10 rupee note and leaves. we are glad that we won a battle and weren't robbed of our money and walk away into our office ... to do, well, nothing, and get paid almost nothing in return!
Rockin''You see I loooove music!...'Western' music only you see' Hmmm...western music, the one they play in those old Clint Eastwood movies huh...I wondered. I asked 'So what kind of 'western' music do you like?' 'Oh...rock...you see; metallica, Lincoln Park...' 'You mean Linkin Park...' 'Yeah yeah...same one.And Bryan Adams' 'Oh!...that's lovely, you like Metallica, Linkin Park and then Biryani...oops Bryan Adams?' 'Yessss!' 'And you don't like...what's her name...aah, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez...?' 'Oh....they're the best!' I knew I was close to a heart attack, but I wanted to see how far this conversation could go...so.. 'What wbout, Ashley simpson?' 'Who?....oh that blonde girl...she's good, got a bright future' 'Um...in 'rock' you mean?' (hesitantly)'Yeah...' Alright, I've heard everything now...Why put up a show that you are a 'rock' fan and put up that phoney 'passion' for music?...especially 'rock' music :) Ask my mother about rock and pat she'd reply...'those rock stars i say...they're either bald (even women!!!!)....or they got hair longer than my daughter!...and they always seem like they've been electrocuted by the guitar they're playing!...or are screaming their lungs out!!!'... And then there was this friend of mine...you ask him what music he likes...he snaps back...'Beyonce!...just the eye candy...spare me the music' :D Now that's honesty! P.S: I've got nothing against 'rock' :D I like basalt, granite, sandstone among others :)
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