Aamsotto, a fiction

"Autumn has arrived. 'Pujo-Pujo Elo', is how people describe it out there. No doubt, it's truly the city of joy. Once the intellectual and cultural capital of India, Kolkata still has an attractive old-world charm. Durga puja in Kolkata is simply out of the world. There’s unique euphoria and people can almost smell it in the air. The only thing we can say about Durga puja out there is, 'Crazy Kolkata'.

Long holidays... and it’s not only limited to schools and colleges. Even offices across West Bengal remain closed for at least a week. Jubilation all around. Everyone is in the mood of festivity and joy. The puja celebration is simply amazing. It’s a very significant socio-cultural event. Kolkata puja is all about the streets and the backstreets. The entire city celebrates. Even the deadliest corners and congested alleys are illuminated with lights. Every nook and corner of the city remains overcrowded during the 4 days of puja celebration. To control the traffic, bamboo barricades are built to create effective walkways. This is the time of the year when the City of Joy truly lives up to its name. Lights, food, music... so colorful! Not to forget the puja bell sound ‘Ting Ting’, the long sankha sound 'Poooooooooo ...', drums and dhunuchi dance.

People come out on the streets in the evening, with their best attires to experience the carnival. Several pandals are built in localities, neighbourhoods and in housing complexes where the goddess Durga is installed and worshipped. The pandals are decorated very beautifully with host of lights and designs. People usually come out in groups, with friends and families. They do ‘pandal hopping’ throughout the nights and enjoy themselves. Restaurants and food stalls stay open and cater to visitors throughout the nights. The young, old, men, women and children together celebrate this festival with great enthusiasm. Wearing new clothes is a must to grace the occasion. Perfect time for the youngsters to hang out with friends. 

The food stalls do some real solid business during the puja days. Varieties of eateries all over the place. But the Jalebis, chicken cutlets, egg rolls and mutton chops are simply out of the world. Instant happiness with the very first bite. Food stalls remain open till late in the nights. People are found to be standing in the queue in almost every stall."

              "Life has changed so much over the years. But every time I come to this place I feel as if time has simply stopped, and I go back to my school days...” said Shantanu. He was settled in Bangalore with his family, working for a software company. He met his childhood friends after a long time... almost fifteen years. Well, it was Shantanu who planned and coordinated with all to make this get-together a success.

Shantanu, Shuvham, Indrajit and Jiten grew up together in the same colony, popularly known as ‘Natun Para’. The place is still known by the same name. Shuvham was settled in US and Jiten in Germany. Indrajit has established himself as a renowned businessman in the locality. He was the guy who was in touch with most of their schoolmates, particularly the ones from Natun Para.  

It was afternoon and all the friends were having a great time on the terrace. Shuvham lit up a cigarette and was smoking it while slurping his tea. He took a few long drags and passed it on to Shantanu. 

"Devika should've come by now", commented Shuvham. This grabbed everyone’s attention. Well, Devika Dutta was also their schoolmate, same batch. But somehow the guys lost touch with her. She was settled in US along with her husband and two kids. 

"Why are you looking so serious?" asked Indrajit to Shantanu. 

"Of course he would be serious. After all, he’s Devika’s first boyfriend..." Jiten commented. 

A smile appeared on Shantanu’s face, "What dudes, what topic have you brought in?"

Actually, Shantanu had proposed Devika when they were in their ninth grade in school. Devika had accepted, and they had dated for almost a year. Later they had some kind of fight, followed by their breakup. Shantanu had been quite serious about her. It had taken him quite some time to console himself, and then he had come back to life again. In their twelfth grade, Devika was dating Jiten. Shuvham and Devika studied in the same Engineering College in Pune. During that time, Shuvham had regularly updated his old buddies about Devika. Whenever Shuvham had visited Natun Para, his friends would discuss about Devika with him.

"What Shantanu dada, are you still serious about 'Aam Sotto'?" Commented someone. The terrace jolted with their laughter. From the very first semester, Devika was popularly known as 'Aam Sotto' in her college. There was an interesting story how such a tag name got attached to her. Just after a few weeks of their fresher’s party, Devika went to college wearing a beautiful, brand new skin tight T-shirt. On the front it was printed, 'Tasty Mangoes'. From that day, she was popularly known her as 'Aam Sotto' in the campus.

Shuvham started talking about her…  just the way he used to do earlier, to refresh their memories, may be. 

"She was one of the most attractive lady in the college, quite popular among the boys. She made a boyfriend towards the end of our first semester. The guy was in his eighth  semester. After passing out of college, he showed up a few times. Later in her sixth semester, she made a new boyfriend. After we passed out, I lost touch with Devika."

"So, did she marry the same boyfriend from college?" asked Indrajit, curiosity was increasing.

"No yaar, she married someone else. Once I got to know that she’s also in US, I sent her a Facebook friend request to her. To my surprise she accepted it immediately." Proudness appeared on Shuvham’s face. 

"Have you met her in US?"

"No bondhu. She lives thousands of kilometers  away."

"Shantanu dude, you still look serious. Hoechhe ta ki?"

"Looks like, he's missing his good old days with Aam Sotto. After all, he was her first boyfriend,' Jiten uttered, just to pull Shantanu's legs.

Shantanu was pretending not to listen. There was a silence for a while. And then Shantanu reacted, "We were just friends, guys."

The conversation continued for more than a couple of hours. The friends almost completed a pack of cigarettes and three cups of tea per head on the terrace. Apart from Devika, they also discussed on several other topics... about their families, kids, work, politics, sports, and what not! 

"Shantanu Da, Bhog is ready..." a small boy shouted below. The guys were having ‘Sutta’ session at Shantanu’s house. It was Navami. Everyone was simply waiting for the Puja Khichuri. They missed it for so long! The menu itself was mouth-watering for them. Khichuri prepared with ghee, crispy Begun bhaja, Sweet and savoury typical Bengali tomato chutney. 

Bhog was being served in Natun para. It was crowded. The aroma of bhog Khichuri was mesmerizing. And then all of a sudden the guys encountered Devika.

"Aree! Shantanu, Shuvham, Indrajit, Jiten. How are you guys? I'm seeing you after so long!"

Everyone was happy. They talked about themselves, about other friends, batch mates, even about Natun Para. Devika introduced her husband, Bapi and her kids to her childhood friends. Both her kids looked quite playful. The elder one was eleven years old and the younger one was six. Devika had maintained herself well. She still had the body of a dancer, lithe and beautiful.

Everyone ate together. After such sumptuous lunch the guys wanted to have a fag. 

"Cigarette ta chole to Bapi dada?" asked Shantanu.

"Are ki bolchen!. Nischoy! Chalun. Kothai jachchen?"

"Aei to pichon dike"

Devika eyed her husband, "You all guys are just the same!" The guys went at the backyard. Bapi seemed to be quite friendly. They smoked together, spent some good time.

"Are Rustam, where are you going? Eat you bhog first." Indrajit said to Rustam as he was passing by. Rustam was the idol maker. He’s an artist. He’s designing and creating new versions of Maa Durga since last 3 decades. He’s quite well known in the locality for his talent. Every year, the pandal organizers think of new themes while constructing pandals to win prizes. Pandal artists work day and night to make unbelievable gigantic idols of Maa Durga in various shapes and situations. 

Next day was Dashami. Once again it was the time for this wonderful festival to conclude. But yes, with a new hope for the next year.

The article was first printed in souvenir 2018, Srishti Cultural Association, DLF Westend Heights, Bangalore.

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Delhi - The Cleanest City

Last week I was in Delhi. I met my friend Ramesh there after many years. We both did our Engineering from the same college. Ramesh is settled in Delhi ever since we passed out of college. Well, I visited the city after almost 15 years. It’s a wonderful feeling every time we are in the world’s cleanest city. There was a time when Delhi was considered to be one of the most polluted city. This happened due to its rapid unplanned growth and industrialisation. The number of petrol and diesel cars increased exponentially over the years. Gradually, the condition became very severe, it was turning quite uninhabitable. There are several reasons for the environmental degradation of Delhi. Lack of adequate policies to control pollution, lack of political will, unplanned industrial growth, use of outdated technology, inefficient waste disposal, and many others. 

People in Delhi started to wear pollution masks most of the time, many used to wear while sleeping as well. After repeated warnings by WHO, and various other Environment communities across the world, the Government intervened. They took some strict actions. It started to shut down some factories which didn’t follow the expected environment regulation. But then due to lack of support from local people it was very difficult for the government to deal with the situation. Things usually turned worst during the festival of Diwali. It is a very auspicious occasion in India, and it has always been the festival of light. But in the early 20th century with the emergence of the powerful cracker industry, bursting crackers became popular. Gradually over the years it penetrated deep into the system. It became so emotional that people couldn’t think of celebrating Diwali without bursting crackers. There are numerous factories which produces crackers and they don’t follow and norms or regulation. Several harmful chemicals are released during the burning of crackers. The oxides and dioxides of sulphur and nitrogen are released. These chemicals get exposed to their skin, eyes, lungs and increase toxic levels in the body. 

There was a time when pollution level in Delhi was 50 times more than the WHO guideline level for safe air. Post Diwali morning it used to become 50 times more. Delhites were living on a time bomb, completely ignorant. Industries were still growing rapidly, people still burst crackers even though it was banned. But 5 years ago something happened that shocked the entire world. It was a usual post Diwali morning in Delhi. Everyone wore safely musk. And then some tragedy happened that completely changed the dimension of the city. More than 100 thousand people died on the same day due to suffocation and other breathing problems. All the new born babies who appeared on this world on that particular day, couldn’t survive. Several senior citizens died. 

After that tragic incident which is considered to be black day for our Environment, people in Delhi realized the impact of the alarming situation. Government took extreme and strict measures. They shut down all the industries which were not following the pollution guidelines. Schools and offices remained closed for almost a month. People started planting trees all over the cities. Entire Delhi took up the responsibility to clean up the mess of the past. Ecology has become one of their main philosophy. Gradually over the years Eco efficiency has become the most important thing for the city. It wouldn't have been possible without the support from the local people. It all began with the grassroots level of involvement, planting trees, watering them. Delhi residents are encouraged to cleanup, go green, and create a climate that features better air quality, eco efficiency, bio diversity and an abundant quantity of clean natural resources.

A huge investment was done to replace the traditional and outdated transport system. Government banned all petrol and diesel cars. Delhi is the first city in the entire world to become completely fossil free, not only in transportation, but also on power generation. All the vehicles, including the Metro run on electricity these days. Delhi was an opportunity for all the ecofriendly scientists to experiment their research. It came up as a blessing. Delhi became the first city to use wireless electricity, that too completely free. Yes, finally Nikola Tesla's dream to provide free energy to the world has come into reality after almost 100 years. 

The entire NCR is connected via Hyperloop, a high-speed ground travel system which is the world’s fastest mode of transport in today's world, almost 1000 km per hour. Meant to be intercity transport to connect multiple cities using Hyperloop, but Delhi is the first city to implement it with such large scale within the city. Now, people in Delhi can reach from any place to any other part of the city within just 5 minutes. Hyperloop capsules are completely solar powered.

To know more about Hyperloop do watch this video.

The streets of Delhi looks fantastic these days due to local contribution to make the locality clean and sustainable. Delhi is considered to be the cleanest city of the world. Last year it won the Green Capital award. It is the first city in the entire world to become completely fossil free. Several automatic cooling systems are deployed across the city which runs on solar and other renewable energy to reduce the city temperature during summer. Since electric transmission has gone completely wireless, all the electric poles and wiring are removed. Big trees were planted both sides of the road. More than 50% of the cars and trucks have gone driver-less. Number of road accidents has decreased significantly. Many parts of Delhi look like mini forest with plantation all over. Delhites have an impression of living in an exotic village with all modern facilities and infrastructure. The city is spreading rapidly at a phenomenon rate. But the growth is now very well controlled and planned. Many MNCs have come up in the city in the last few years. Foreign investors are investing heavily in the Eco friendly city. 

It was Diwali night. Coincidentally it was also the 5th memorial of the tragic incident. The particular day has been internationally recognised as Human Environment Day. Everyone was together, celebrating Diwali with family and friends. We could see Eco friendly Diya Balloons lighted up the sky. These are fully biodegradable and safe and simple to use. 

People were also enjoying fire in the sky laser displays with bursting sound in a controlled manner, thanks to the various sound simulation techniques evolved over the years.

Many companies are coming up with innovative ideas of celebrating smokeless, noiseless and Eco friendly Diwali. It’s a huge market, and every year we get to see some new creativity. It was such a pleasure to be in such a great city, particularly during Diwali.

PC: Google Images

This post is a work of fiction written for Indiblogger’s #CelebratingSuper campaign in association with Vodafone.

Homeland

Raju was born and grew up in a small village in India. He was good at studies from the beginning. Just like others Raju also loved his village a lot. It was his world, his homeland. The neighbouring villages often fight with each other on small issues. Everyone took pride and was ready to die for their motherland. Sometimes there were minor conflicts within the village as well, but those could easily be neglected. But when there was any fight with any other village the entire people would become united. Everyone forget their internal ego, the unnecessary small issues and fight together for their homeland. Raju grew up in such environment. In fact, he witnessed many such fights.

Raju studied at the only school in the village till 8th grade. Actually those days there was no option for the students after 8th grade. Based on the school teacher’s recommendation Raju’s father admitted him at a school in the nearby town. It was for the first time Raju had been to any town, even though it was just 70 km from their village. He studied hard and soon everyone at school started recognizing his talents. Gradually, Raju noticed some major changes. Life was quite different in the village. In the town life seemed to be busy. There were many schools and colleges. Everyone took pride for their institutes. In case of any conflict entire school/college would become united. Raju noticed that religious differences was more in the town. And whenever the prestige of the town was at stake, everyone would get emotional. People were ready to die for their homeland. 

Days passed by. Raju did very well in his higher secondary exams. He took admission at an engineering college in the city. Life was different there. People were more broadminded. Raju noticed that people usually don’t interfere with other’s life, everyone was busy with their own. Most of the issues were created by politicians. Issues based on religion, language, or race were more prominent. Time had really just flown by. Raju graduated. He then lived in many different cities of India, switched jobs. In all the cities life was more or less the same. Even though languages differ, but people are the same, emotional, sentimental. Politicians play the actual game. People take pride on their respective states. They wish and often demand to get preference in their respective regions. When critical situation would arise, people get very sentimental and ready to die of their region, their homeland. Also, all are patriotic towards their country.

Few years later Raju went to the US to pursue master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering.

Raju had lived a good life in the US. He studied hard. He always wanted to travel to the space. Life was different in the US. Clean and broad roads, excellent transportation systems, people seemed to be more educated and liberal. But then human beings are same everywhere, their basic nature remains the same. There also the politicians play the real game. People want to be superior to others. Everybody love to get preference. There also people are very patriotic for their motherland. Raju met many people who actually belong from rival countries, but he noticed them staying together, eat together, and they would laugh together. Sometimes Raju was confused, but then he would simply smile. 

After the master’s, Raju completed his PHD. He worked with NASA as a senior scientist. After several months of training finally it was time for him to fulfil his dream, to travel to the space. He travelled with two other astronauts. The space shuttle took them and cargo into the low Earth orbit. The mission was to do some maintenance activity at the space station. 

Raju was floating in space. He looked at the Earth below. It looked stunningly beautiful as sunlight reflected off of the oceans. Raju was mesmerised. He kept looking at the Earth, and was lost in nostalgia. 

He remembered his small village where he grew up. He recalled how people used to fight on small issues, smiling. He remembered the town where he did the later part of his schooling. He recalled all the cities and countries he lived. He wondered how people are so emotional about their respective homelands. He wondered how over the years the countries were formed, how the politicians play their tricks, how people fight in the name of religion or language or face. Everything felt so meaningless to him. Raju kept looking at the Earth, his home. Now, he understood the true meaning of homeland.

Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

A Little Further

'I can't see the things that make true happiness, I must be blind 

Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry 

Happiness I cannot feel and love to me is so unreal 

And so as you hear these words telling you now of my state 

I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it's too late'

Paranoid, by Black Sabbath, was playing out loud. The room was entirely dark, with the pungent smell of grass. Rajat was holding his freshly rolled ecstasy with one hand and his half-filled icy glass of scotch, with the other. He was half laying on the bed, softly banging his head, synchronizing with the metallic rhythm. Something quite unusual was going on with him for the last couple of weeks. He wasn’t able to concentrate on his work. Without any damn reason, he had stopped going to office. Sajid, his roommate, was not at home. He had some issues with his girlfriend and went to his native place to sort out things.  

Rajat had never behaved like that earlier. He was completely bored and frustrated with his monotonous life. He had no ambition and no meaning, either. He didn’t go to work since last 3 days and never even bothered to inform to his colleagues. He had simply switched off his mobile and had confined himself within his room. He didn’t even had a single step outside the house for the last 48 hours. He had been drinking and adoring his drags, non-stop. He didn’t have any clue what he wanted from his life and was quite pissed off, with such a vague life. 

The drags had always pleased him, both in his desperate as well as in his fun days.  He remembered Lisa, a Norwegian gypsy. He met her at a Goa beach few years ago. The couple of days he had spent with her, had a deep impact on him. He could never permanently delete her from his brain’s hard disk and her thoughts frequently occupied his mind. But since last few days, things had gone a little out of control for him. He was missing Lisa a lot. He connected with her so well, even she never had any ambition and lived a meaningless life. But she was very happy, she always felt blessed for her life and was extremely down to earth. She was little weird though, with her spooky tattoos all over her shoulder. Rajat had never met anyone like her, earlier. She was a highly spirited person and Rajat had always felt the positive energy, around her. The moments he had spent with Lisa, was the best in his life. He had shared almost a life time with her, in just a couple of days. She was genuinely honest, friendly and yes, also extremely hot. Well, Rajat had lost his virginity to her.

Lisa had traveled almost half of the world and she really enjoyed her nomadic life. Rajat constantly tried to find her over the internet for the last couple of years. But unfortunately, she didn't seem to have any online presence. One time, she said to him that no matter in which part of the world she might be, but every Christmas she would always visit her Grandma, who lived in a Norwegian village. She also said that during winter the entire village used to be covered with snow. She shared with him, her Christmas joy and how they used to play Santa Claus. Rajat was desperate to meet her. He called his friend Suresh, who was working in Germany. He asked Suresh, to help him out with the visa thing. Rajat didn’t mention anything about Lisa to him, though. 'Don’t worry, your visa will be processed within a week, but I’m really sorry that I will not be able to go to Norway with you. I’ve certain different plans that time,' Suresh said to Rajat.

Rajat applied for his visa and also had sent an email to his manager, mentioning he wasn’t well and would join office after 3 to 4 weeks. It was his first Europe trip and the moment he landed in Frankfurt, Rajat was highly impressed with the city. Located on the river Main, Frankfurt is the financial capital of continental Europe and the transportation center of Germany. The city is highly diverse and the most cosmopolitan in Germany, with the highest percentage of foreigners. Rajat had met his friend Suresh after a long time. They enjoyed some wonderful time together. In next few days, Suresh was about to fly to India, for his vacation. But before that, he took his friend for the city ride. Frankfurt got some of the tallest skyscrapers of Europe. They went to Romer square and had visited several museums. Rajat’s short stay in Germany was fun and he utterly rejoiced it. But then, city life, tall buildings and sophisticated money hungry people, never fascinated him. During his entire stay in Frankfurt, his heart seemed to be somewhere in Norway. He desperately wanted to meet Lisa. The same day when Suresh flew to India, Rajat boarded his flight to Norway.

Oslo is one of the largest capitals in the world by area. Most of this is forest, making it a city pretty close to nature. Rajat had experienced the mesmerizing snowfall and felt contented. He stayed a couple of days in the city and visited some of nearby villages. He traveled mostly by train and was fascinated to experience the winter wonderland. He felt, as if he was in a dreamland. Something positive had sparked within him. Somehow his distracted mind seemed to be back on track. He felt blessed for his life and wanted to live the fullest of it. The view outside the train window was simply out of the world. It looked completely white all around and all the forests were entirely covered under a thick blanket of snow. Rajat had no idea where he would find Lisa out there. She had told him that her Grandma used to live in a village about 40-50 KM from Oslo. He remembered that Lisa lived in Trondheim, another beautiful city, 500 KM away from Oslo.

As Christmas was approaching, all the places were getting colorful and livelier. Rajat already asked many people about Lisa, without any luck though. He shifted from his city hotel to a small motel in a village. The Christmas Eve was totally euphoric. It was freezing, but all the inhabitants were outside. Rajat felt entirely misfit in that environment, but he didn’t hesitate to greet random people and wished them, merry Christmas. Well, he also asked everyone about Lisa. Some people found him little weird, to have come all the way from India to look for a gypsy, without any address. Rajat stayed in the fairy tale land, for almost a week and it was time for him to return. He had his flight from Oslo to Frankfurt and then, from Frankfurt to Bangalore, the same day. While he was on his way to Oslo, he constantly looked outside the train window. He was disappointed not to find Lisa. But then, he never expected that to happen and just tried his luck, for a miracle. 

After returning, it took him a couple of days to come back from his dream. Rajat had captured his Norway memories through his lens and felt happy, every time he looked into those photographs. He was a completely changed man after his Norway visit. He started to value his life more and was waiting for the New Year Eve. His friends had planned for their old hostel mates reunion. Every one, including Rajat looked forward to that. Ultimately after a long gap, Rajat went to his workplace. His colleagues were delighted to see him and even his manager seemed to be happy. Rajat had brought adequate amount of Norwegian chocolates and his cubicle was jam-packed with his colleagues.

Well, sometimes we just need to go a little further to get closer and to fall in love with our own life, yet again.

Image courtesy: google images

This post is written for Indiblogger’s "Go further to get closer" contest, in association with British Airways

The Insusceptible

Everyone looks so happy and people are talking to each other in groups. It’s such a luxurious hotel and also so close to the beach. Well, Goa always fascinate tourists and people at the balcony could hear the soothing sea sounds. Dr Surekha Gupta is talking to some Europeans at the moment. Well, she’s a very renowned Indian scientist and a couple of years ago, she was hired by the world's largest Ayurvedic medicine & food manufacturing company. Presently she is working as the head of their R&D unit. She is also quite well known in abroad and even though the western world still doesn't believe much in the power of Ayurveda, but Dr Surekha always tries her best to spread her Ayurvedic knowledge world across. The world’s biggest conference on medicines and organic food products went very well. Most of the world's top companies in the concerned sector, participated in the two days conference. Aha! they have chosen such an exotic location for the conference and the participants must be wondering if it could have continued for few more days. But tomorrow morning everyone will just leave after their breakfast.

Most of them already had their dinner and they are now simply gossiping and enjoying their drink. I wonder if those are organic drinks? But the way people are talking, it doesn't seems like that. Some of the guest wants to go to the beach, but Dr. Surekha is very tired and asks them to carry on. She then goes inside her room and prepares for some sleep. It's already midnight and the breeze is so magnificent. These guys are enjoying some wonderful time out there at the beach. All of a sudden they hear some unusual kind of sound and they could also see a small ball of fire up above the sky and in no time it touches the sea. It's no longer visible now, perhaps it went deep inside the sea. The guys are simply wondering and starring each other’s faces.

Someone asks "What the hell was that?"

Another guy replies "Might be a falling star"

"Falling star, are you nuts?"

They gossip for few more minutes and it’s already started to get little chill and they decide to go inside the hotel. 

After her shower, Dr Surekha is ready to go to sleep and switched off the lights. The big window is open and she's loving the cool breezes and the relaxing sea sounds. All of a sudden she hears something. Well, she could also see some sparks of light near the window. The sound and the sparks are becoming more horrific and Dr. Surekha immediately jumps out of her bed and screams “What the hell is that?” She’s about to go outside her room and then suddenly she notices something on the wall. It seems someone is projecting something on the wall and she reads “Please don’t panic Dr. Surekha, we are not here to harm you. We just came to know every details about your innovative immune product. It seems your product is the best immunity product the world has ever produced. We want to know about the ingredients, formula and the detailed manufacturing procedure of it"

Dr. Surekha totally loses her mind and simply asks "What is this? Who are U guys? Why I can’t see you people"

Again she hears some kind of un-tuned radio noise and also notices a glitter. It seems someone is trying to communicate with her. She thinks "Could it be ghosts or spirits? That’s crap, I shouldn’t think in that angle"

Again she's reading some texts on the wall "Dr. Surekha, we really don’t have much time to explain much. We don’t know how you will react and really don’t want to panic you. Believe it or not, but we came all the way from future, from the year 2093. The chemical food and medicines have taken over the entire world out there. The immune system of human beings is deteriorating day by day and particularly for children, the situation is much more pathetic. More than 50% of the kids couldn’t survive beyond 10 years. Well, it starts with simple cough and cold and then it gets chronic. Within a few years they start to suffer from severe asthma, pneumonia, anemia, tuberculosis, bronchiolitis and cancer, as well. We are on a mission to take the exact formula and about all the ingredient details of your Chyawanprash and our scientists would try to reproduce it."

Dr. Surekha is totally speechless and simply asks "But how I can give it to you guys? It’s in my laptop"

Again she reads some projections on the wall "Just keep your laptop on the bed"

She does exactly the same and immediately notices a bright light flashing on her bed. She reads yet another text on the wall "Thanks a lot Dr. Surekha, we’re done and we will have to leave now. We wish you a great life and take care"

Just like a thunder and with those typical cosmic sounds, something moved like a flash through the window. Dr Surekha is simply looking outside and could see a blurred vision of the sea. All of a sudden she notices a bright ball of light at the surface of the sea and it’s moving upwards now. Within no time, it already moved up in the sky and looks like a star now. She's continuously starring at that mysterious thing and in a few seconds it completely lost to her view. Dr Surekha is in a state of shock and is thinking "Was it a dream? No, it can’t be simply a dream. I just hope the future of our kids, I mean the future kids, OMG! 2093! was that damn incident real? Whatever, I just wish for their healthy and secure future"

Image courtesy: google images



This post is written for Indiblogger’s "An Immune India" contest, in association with Dabur Chyawanprash. But unfortunately couldn't submit my entry before the closing time.

Dabur Chyawanprash helps us in fighting against germs, viruses and helps protect against infections, making us free to take on the outdoors, unhygienic surroundings, weather changes, pollution etc.  It is prepared according to ancient Ayurvedic recipes. It includes 49 components, including gold and silver, herbs, honey, amla, pearls, minerals, fruits, etc. Since the immune system of children is still developing, they have much lower immunity and hence are more vulnerable to falling ill, as compared to adults. Chyawanprash, If used consistently, normalizes metabolic processes in the body, enhances immunity and improves digestion.

                                      Since ancient times, it is called the balm of immortality in India.

                                  

Via Pune

Shrini is waiting at the airport along with one of his colleagues, Mr. Sushil. Well, they both work for a software company in Bangalore and are about to fly to Mumbai to attend some client meeting. As Shrini is from technical team and Sushil is from the business team, they doesn't know each other quite well and interacted  only on few occasions. It's been an hour they checked in and their flight is already delayed by couple of hours. The monsoon is in its extreme form and it seems rain God is much more interested in Mumbai this time. Functioning of most of the flights to Mumbai have been affected.  It’s quite irritating to wait like that and on top of that, all of a sudden the airline authorities is making a bizarre kind of announcement now. Oh! shit, what the hell? Due to bad weather their flight will land at Pune airport instead of Mumbai. They haven't clarified anything about the accommodation of the passengers yet and only announced about the departure from Pune to Mumbai, the next morning.  Shrini looks terribly confused and is starring at Sushil. But why Sushil looks so happy? In fact he’s smiling at the moment. 

Shrini asks Sushil "Should we ask our Travel Desk guys to cancel our tickets and book a different one?"

Sushil replies with a smile "It’s OK dude. Actually the announcement came as a blessing for me. Well, I’m from Pune and my parents stay out there along with my sister. Our house is also quite near to the airport and we can stay the night out there and can fly to Mumbai tomorrow morning"

It seems Shrini doesn't know what to say, also he doesn't have any other option either and says "That would be cool and I hope your parents wouldn’t mind our surprise visit?"

Sushil replies "What are you saying dude? Everyone will just love to meet you"

They reached Pune by 7:50 PM. It’s raining cats and dogs out here. Sushil’s house is just few minutes drive from the airport. Wow! They got such an wonderful house. Sushil’s parents look so happy to meet his son. His father is a retired army officer and looks like a true gentleman. They are enjoying a wonderful gossip and Sushil’s mom serves them very yummy and tempting "garmagaram pakodas", along with hot cups of tea. Sushil’s only sister Shruti, is doing her PHD in Micro Biology and it seems, Shruti’s friend Anindita is also staying with them since almost a year. Well, they both are very close friends since their college days and Anindita is also doing her PHD in the same subject. Both the girls went to attend some function at their institute and will return home only by 11 PM. Sushil wants to have dinner together and he's very eager to meet his childhood friend in their neighborhood. Shrini wants to have some rest and Sushil’s  father takes him to the guestroom and asks him to rest out there. After changing his cloths, he's now simply sitting on the bed. He’s little uncomfortable in an unknown house and is looking all around the room. His eyes pauses at a nearby wardrobe which is half open. He could see some books and goes nearby to have a closer look at them. Wow! She’s got a good collection of novels. He could also see a photo album and it seems, he’s more interested in it now. As he opens the album, the first random photograph he looks, started to accelerate his heartbeats a little. He’s losing his mind and it’s saying loud and clear "She looks like Anni, his school mate since their nursery days" He could also remember her real name, Anindita Chatterjee.

Shrini is very curious now and is looking at other photographs inquisitively. She looks so different from her childhood days. Is she really Anni? And then, he finds his own school day photographs on the album, including a couple of his single photos as well, taken at their final school picnic day. Instantly Shrini is losing all his control and the goose bumps started to erupt all over his body. His heart seems to be little heavier and even his eyes started to get kind of moist. Some of his school day images flashing randomly deep inside his mind. He could also see Anni’s childhood photographs and is really excited about how she would react once she enters the house, possibly in another hour. He's extremely happy, but very confused. One question is disturbing him a lot, why the hell she kept his photographs on her album and that too in a serial order? It's been so long, almost 10 to 12 years and they didn't have any sort of contact after they left school. Also he couldn’t find any of his guy schoolmate’s photographs out there on the album.

Shrini could recollect his school day memories and especially about Anni.  Well, she used to be a cute looking girl and had limited interaction with the guys. He could remember how his friends used to tease him about Anni. Many believed that Anni had a soft corner for him, but then there was nothing official about that. Shrini could also remember one picnic incident where her friends pulled her legs, while they were enjoying their meals along with some mouth watering fish curry. They teased her as "Dear Anni, you should forget fish and start to eat Sambar, as in future you would have to eat sambar regularly"

Well, Shrini’s actual name is Srinivasa Narayanaswamy and unlike him, both his parents used to be typical South Indian. All of a sudden Shrini could hear some sound at the main door and he's puts the album back inside the wardrobe. Well, the girls already arrived and Shrini could hear Sushil’s voice, as he's calling and asking him to come to the hall. Shrini goes to the hall and could see the ladies. As Sushil introduces him to his sister Shruti, Anni is terribly confused and continues to stare at him. Now Shruti is introducing him to Anindita. Shrini says "You look quite similar to one of my school mate and her name is also Anindita, but we used to call her Anni" 

Anni's mouth is wide open and she starts to scream "OMG!" she covers her mouth with both her hands. She is trying hard to hide her excitement and after a while she says "Shrini, it’s you. Never thought we would meet again. So how you doing?"

Shruti is also very excited and comments "Wow!  So you are Shrini. What a pleasant surprise. I have heard so much about you from Anindita, right from my college days"

Shrini is feeling little shy at the moment, but he’s extremely delighted to know that even Shruti also knows about him. Well, they chatted for some time and then had their dinner. After dinner, Sushil went to sleep and Shrini, Shruti and Anni continued to gossip. After about an hour Shruti also went to sleep. But Shrini and Anni continued to chat and in fact, they gossiped the entire night. They really cherished their school day memories that night and then early morning after breakfast, Shrini and Sushil left for the airport.

Few days later, after returning to Bangalore, Shrini starts to call Anni quite regularly and use to talk for hours. He thinks about Anni all the time and also likes to chat with her during the office hours as well. Sometimes, when she doesn't reply to his texts for a long time, he becomes little anxious and kind of depress. He wants to be somehow connected with Anni all the time, but sometimes also feel little shy about his frequent phone calls. Well, Shrini have no idea what's going on inside Anni's head? He feels little embarrass about it sometimes and even though it's quite painful for him, but he doesn't call her for a couple of days on such occasions. But then after few days of silence, Shrini usually receives a call from Anni and  she would say "What's up Shrini? You didn't call since so many days" After talking for few minutes, Anni usually use to interrupt and say "Shrini, now you please call me back. My balance is very low and I haven't received this month's stipend yet"

Shrini even use to visit Pune almost every month and whenever Anni asks him about the purpose of his visit, he always say that it’s official. They came quite close to each other and it seems they even understand each other very well. They both enjoy each other's company so much. Even though, they have a very friendly kind of relation, but Shrini considers her much more than a friend. Anni is such a beautiful looking girl and Shrini is so shy and confused. He thinks that Anni consider him only as a good friend and nothing more than that.

But then, one evening Shrini takes her to a mesmerizing candle light dinner. It’s such a romantic place and the calm and melodious violin music at the background is making the environment so charmingly pleasant. Anni is feeling little uncomfortable and asks "Shrini, what kind of place is this?"

After a few sips of wine, Shrini puts a tiny gift-wrapped box on the table. He’s little nervous and says to her "Well Anni, I don’t know how to say? I also don’t know how you would react? I want to gift you something"

Anni is very curious and approaches her hand towards the box. As she touches the box, Shrini holds her arm soft and calmly. Anni looks into his face and they both are starring at each other’s eyes. Anni asks "What happened Shrini? You sound so different tonight"

Shrini replies "Accept this gift only if.. Only if..."

"Only what Shrini?"

Shrini builds his confidence and says "I will be the happiest man on this planet, if I could be able to marry you"

Anni is going kind of crazy and says "What? What are you saying?"

Shrini replies "Yes Anni, I don’t know what to say? But I’m very much in love with you and want to stay with you for my entire life. Will you marry me?"

Anni calmly grasps the box and as soon as she opens it, she’s delighted to see a beautiful ring inside. She starts to laugh and what the hell? She is laughing much louder now, but unable to hide her emotions, as her eyes already filled with water. She holds his arm tightly and replies "I'm so happy to accept this gift from you Shrini"

Image courtesy: google images

This post is written for Indiblogger’s "Platinum Day of Love" contest, in association with Platinum Guild International.


                                            "Platinum, precious metal for those treasured moments"

The Survival Expedition

Planet Earth is in serious danger and the astronomers all over the world already sensed it almost a decade ago. According to their estimation, our Earth would collide with an enormous unknown planet, which is several times larger in size and mass, as compared to Earth. All the major space research agencies from across the globe including NASA, ISRO and space organizations from European Union, Israel, China, Japan etc, are working together with full coordination for the survival of the human race. Time is simply running out, as the giant monster is rapidly approaching towards Earth. According to the experts we only have a couple of decades more before the earth would vanish in a second, just like that "BANG"

The astronomers have identified some kind of a savior planet which is about 2 light years away from Earth and they named it “Condo” The scientists firmly believe Condo to be a fertile ground and the humans could possibly survive out there. Already trillions of dollars have already been spent on the savior project and the budget is just endless. Since last decade several expedition were attempted to Condo and they found traces of living beings out there. Human expedition was never attempted before and we are the first to explore Condo. Well, we have been chosen by planet Earth to head exploration into Condo and at present we are simply travelling into space, no idea since how long? We completely lost track of time. Well, time seems to be constant if one moves with almost the speed of light. Also on the way we passed through some black holes and in fact, we traveled much faster than light on such occasions.

Wow! as per the signals, very soon we would land on Condo. I’m so much excited to explore an unknown planet and feel fortunate enough, as the condition out there is pretty much similar to mother Earth. Condo is much brighter and could possibly be within the habitable zone. Oh! I could see the mountains, the seas and the giant waterfalls.  It looks so similar to mother Earth. Even though we are quite exhausted, but pretty much thrilled to finally have a look at Condo.

According to the plan, all of us would have to land at different locations and I was always curious to explore the mountains, the terrains and the rivers. Temperature is quite cold out here and the surrounding is so exotic. The feeling is much more different as compared to all those training sessions, I went through since last several years. I could see some beautiful animals nearby, oh! They look quite friendly. I'm  feeling as if, I’m exploring the most beautiful part of our Earth. I just wish if the entire human race could come and settle out here. But Condo is much smaller and I really don’t have any idea how the authorities are planning for the massive Earth evacuation. 

We were told that the oxygen level would be much lower in Condo and I just removed my mask to experiment. Oh! shit, I couldn’t breathe properly even for a minute. Well, the scientists would have to work out about the oxygen thing. Aha! The birds are so colorful and they have got a wide variety of species out here. Also the butterflies are so colorful and much bigger in size. 

I can’t believe that I’m just walking through a frozen lake. Holy shit! It’s a dreamland. Oh! Condo you’re so amazing. One good thing for planet Earth is that there’s no such powerful and furious species, like the dragons and the dinosaurs in Condo. Everything out here is so fascinating and colorful. But the major challenge for us would be the distance. Its 2 light years from Earth and to bring maximum number of human beings to Condo would be the major challenge. But whatever, it would be so wonderful to start a new civilization in a different and such a fascinating planet. 

I also explored through the stunning and giant caves, but unfortunately couldn't find any special species other than some birds. The gravitational forces at Condo is pretty much similar as compared to mother Earth. There are so many colorful trees all around.

But I still hope that the monstrous planet will not collide with our Earth and the entire living beings would simply continue to survive. Anyways, it would be a wonderful blessing if we could gradually start a new human civilization out here in Condo. How lovely that would be to have two human planets?

Image courtesy: google images


This post is written for Indiblogger’s "I am Explorer!" contest, in association with Tata Safari

                                                         This post won Runners-up for the contest

Flashbacks Turned 18 Today

It’s feels so awesome to be part of such a huge army of metalheads all around. Well, I’m right there in the middle of the crowd and never in my life, I ever expected to be part of Wacken Open Air. Well, it’s the greatest and the biggest metal festival on this planet. It occurs every year in a place named Wacken, in northern Germany. It attracts all kinds of metal music fans, such as fans of black metal, death metal, power metal, thrash metal, Gothic metal, folk metal, and even hard rock from across the globe. Aha! the tickets are usually sold out just within a few weeks, once  they are made available. I've no idea how I managed to get the ticket, but I'm enjoying like hell. 

The melodious metallic sounds just mesmerizing my brain and the crowd simply going crazy at the moment. But shit! What happened? The sound gone completely mute and there’s some sort of darkness out here. For a moment I thought there’s a power failure, but how that could be possible in Waken Open Air? Also where  the hell the entire crowd disappeared all of a sudden? Oh! I could even hear Jia’s voice "Papa, Papa stop it now, you had enough of music, now it’s time for me to do some shopping" Aha! I came back to reality and it’s always a pleasure to see Jia's smiling face. Time fly so fast, it seems as if only a few weeks have passed since Jia arrived into this world. My goodness, it's 2030 now and just look at her, I really can't believe that she's so grown up. I could still remember that I started to blog just a couple of months before we celebrated Jia's first birthday and the below photograph was taken by my friend Sidhartha on that memorable day.

In fact, today my blog "Flashbacks" turned exactly 18 and it was in 14th of September 2012, when I published my first post in Flashbacks. All throughout my life I was not very much obsessed with those electronic/mechanical devices and gadgets. During our days when the market was so much crazy for mobile phones and tablets, I always waited for the prices to have come down and it usually used to come down drastically, like our Rupee depreciated in the year 2013. I feel so happy and proud that our Rupee is almost equivalent to US dollar now days. Well, technology is still evolving with the same kind of pace and even now days also I follow the same strategy. It’s only a couple of years ago that I had installed the high definition Virtual Reality package in one of our rooms. I think I should have waited a little more, as the prices came down exceptionally there after. 

I asked "But Jia, where you would like to go for shopping today?"

Jia replied "Papa, let’s try out eBay"

Well, eBay started in the year 1995, as an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses used to buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. Throughout the years, eBay came up with so many new innovations and at present they are into full fledged virtual reality shopping business. They have their business spread across the globe and specially out here in India, they have penetrated deep into the market and giving a hard time to all other virtual reality, as well as other ecommerce competitors.

I asked Jia "Where's mommy? You can shop with her, as I’ve some work to do"

Jia almost screamed "No Papa, mom is over the phone, let’s go shopping now"

Well we have installed the virtual reality kit with dual port, so at the same time 2 people can travel into the virtual world. I scrolled the remote and changed the mode to shopping. Oh! The ladies already installed so many shopping apps and it took me a while before I could find eBay. As soon as I selected eBay, all of a sudden we are inside a massive and glamorous shopping mall. Oh! this virtual reality came as a blessing for men like me, as we don't have to physically visit the boring malls now days. Jia tried out a hell lot of dresses and as usual, she's very confused with which one to select. The good thing with virtual shopping is that, one need not require to go into the trial rooms, every time he/she want to try out a new dress. OMG! I still remember how I used to wait outside the trial room for hours, as my wife used to go inside with almost 5 to 6 different piece of dresses. Now it's so simple, as the monitor displays exactly how one would look like with his/her new dress. Well, the accuracy is almost 99% and computer scientists are working hard to improve it further. 

We strolled through each and every corner of the mall, but it's so giant and one could simply go on shopping the whole day long. In the mean time I also purchased some household items and a couple of bed sheets. Well, I hope Anjali would love them. It seems Jia is little confused with the budget and the products she's looking for. She explained her requirement to one of the executive out there and then just like a magic, all of a sudden she took us to a totally different new outlet. At least Jia looks happier now, it seems she would get her stuffs out here.

Finally after 2 hours of casual yet rigorous shopping, Jia could only select a couple of tops and she doesn't look very satisfied. She said that she would physically visit one of the malls over the weekend along with her mom. Oh! even such high tech virtual reality programming also couldn't steal away the real shopping fun out of the ladies.




This post is written for Indiblogger’s "The future of shopping" contest in association with eBay