Raja Hindustani

It was year 2005. We continued to enjoy the same carefree hostel life style but only after our office hours. One day my school friend Karuna called me. Well, it is always a treat to hear from old friends but the situation was more than just a delight. Karuna was doing his MBA that time and was about to come to Bangalore for his internship. It was just cool and Karuna stayed with us for almost a couple of months. I was staying with few of my college friends in an apartment and everyone had a great time with Karuna. 

Time had simply flown by and Karuna’s internship was over. He had to return to his college and was about to join work in a month’s time. We planned for a short weekend trip and decided to visit Pondicherry. Well, Pondicherry is a popular tourist destination in South India. Apart from the mesmerizing beaches the city has many colonial buildings, churches, temples, and statues which, combined with the systematic town planning and planned French style avenues, still preserve much of the colonial ambiance. As my friends had different plan so finally It was only me and Karuna for the adventure. We booked our bus tickets. Pondicherry is at a distance of around 350 km from Bangalore and it usually takes five to six hours by bus. 

We reached Pondicherry early morning. As expected we immediately glued to our beds in our hotel room. We woke up late and had some heavy breakfast. It was our first trip to the beautiful Indian French town and we didn’t know much about it. Our hotel was pretty close to a beach,  but there were rocks and only rocks all over the place. The beach looked beautiful but it was pretty dangerous as well, definitely not the kind of beach I was expecting. I just couldn’t imagine Bipasha Basu romancing with John Abraham on that rocky beach. Well, the only thing I knew about Pondicherry that time was that the entire Jism movie was shot there. I and Karuna thought to hire a taxi to explore some exotic beaches, but the taxi charges disappointed us instantly. We tried out luck here and there and then suddenly an Auto driver approached us. He sounded quite friendly and promised to take us to all the well know places in Pondicherry at a very reasonable price. 

'So, what's your name?' I asked.

'My name is Raja, but you can call me Raja Hindustani'

Raja Hindustani is a classic Bollywood movie where Aamir Khan played the role of a taxi driver. There was no doubt that our Auto driver was a huge fan of Raja Hindustani and the movie had a deep impact on him. He had also fixed a big poster of the movie on the back of his auto. So Raja Hindustani took us to Auroville beach, first. The beach is located at about 12 km of Pondicherry and is more commonly known as Sand beach or Auro beach to the local people. We were happy to encounter a lot of pretty faces out there. Auroville Beach is one of the few beaches in India where surfing is possible. The beach attracts thousands of foreign tourists every year and they generally prefer to stay at the beach shacks. There were many restaurants near the beach and we decided to chill out in one of them. One of the best things about Pondicherry is the food. You can simply go to any restaurant and you won’t be disappointed. We relished different kind of recipes and consumed gallons of ice chilled beer. 

Raja Hindustani also had food with us but he politely refused our beer offer as he had to drive. I and Karuna had a great time chatting with him. Raja Hindustani was a local boy and he worked in Mumbai for a few years as a bus conductor. He then took us to the Paradise beach. It took around half an hour to reach there. As the name suggests, it’s one of the most beautiful beaches in Pondicherry. In order to go to Paradise beach one needs to take a boat, which is the one and only choice to reach there. We stayed there for a couple of hours and it was very relaxing. The wind was pleasant and the wave sounds were too soothing. By the time we left Paradise beach it already started to get dark. We asked Raja Hindustani to drop us to a nice bar in the city. 

He then took us to a place. It was a little crowded out there; many of them looked like tourists. 

'If you have come to Pondicherry then don’t miss the dance show out here,' said Raja Hindustani. 

'We are really tired and we are in no mood to watch any dance show, now'

'It’s okay, you people will enjoy this'

We bid goodbye to Raja Hindustani and then book out tickets for the dance program. It was a bit expensive but then we were also curious about it. We gulped some more chilled liquid. Now what to say? It was a totally different kind of performance by the dancers and it was beyond our wildest imagination. Well, the next day we explored a few more places, some more dishes and in the night we boarded our bus to Bangalore.

Image courtesy: google images


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.

Lucifer House Inc, The Fool

It was an electrifying feeling when initially I entered into the world of blogging. It was a different experience; interacting with so many people through my writing. It was fun and gradually somehow I got addicted to it. It has been more than two years and during this time I came across many bloggers who write in various different topics. One day I came across a blogger named "Lucifer House Inc, The Fool". The name had simply stolen my attention. I visited the blog and tried to find out, "what so fool about this Lucifer?" Well I got my answers there.

Later, we also got connected through Facebook. Like the blogger profile, Lucifer’s Facebook profile was also quite mysterious that time. I had a serious doubt about Lucifer, The Fool’s gender. But one day my confusion was over when I came across a Facebook post where Lucifer complained about the unwanted FB friend requests. But just a few days later I came to know that my assumption was completely wrong and I felt myself a fool. 

Well, Lucifer The Fool’s real name is Karthik. He is one of the veteran bloggers and he has been blogging for the last six seven years. Karthik lives more in fantasy than reality like Peter Pan never wanted to grow up. But he had no choice but to grow up and take up mundane pursuits such as Engineering, IT and Management Consulting. In order to escape from this cruel world of boredom, he is trying to create his own Neverland through his writing. He writes on his two blogs luciferhouseinc.blogspot.com and karthikl.com. He has so far published three stories – a science fiction, a paranormal thriller and an urban fantasy in anthologies ‘Ten Shades of Life’ , ‘Sirens Spell Danger’ and ' Voices Old and New' respectively. 

Karthik believes that there's a great advantage of being fool. One of the greatest fears people have in their minds is being taken for a fool by society. This fear makes people inhibited or pretentious. According to me, the best antidote for fear is to embrace the object of fear. So if I am already 'The Fool', I don't have to fear being considered a fool and can openly speak my mind.

It was a great pleasure for me to get a review of my debut novel from Karthik. He has included my novel in the genre of books that have spawned a whole generation of Indian writers who write on simple day to day themes that everyone can relate to in a kind of language that is commonly used by majority of Indians.

"Story of Tublu tells the tale of a simple village boy who comes to the city with his father and his experiences in various aspects of life as he grows into full manhood. The story takes us across various places in India and abroad and spans over three decades, giving us a glimpse into the life, attitudes and aspirations of a typical Indian twenty first century middle class male. Being a first time author, I must credit Jahid for putting together a coherent set of events that stay together over two hundred pages. 

It is a light breezy read. I would definitely recommend this book to all fans of Indian campus romances"

To read the complete review please click the below link:

Review of Story of Tublu by Lucifer House Inc, The Fool

Story of Tublu is now available at your nearest bookstore. You can also grab your copy from:

Story of Tublu, excerpt 2

Back in the town, Tublu's father Bipin started feeling very lonely after Tublu left. The Sharmas were also feeling Tublu’s absence and the silence around them grew. Mr Sharma was occupied with his school most of the time. He was getting older and got tired very easily. 

It had been drizzling for the last couple of hours. Bipin had just entered his room after watching the evening regional news with Mr Sharma. The frequent lightning in the sky kept illuminating the dark compound. The thunder was getting more violent and monstrous. Bipin started to prepare his food and opened his bottle of whisky. He had brought half a bottle that night instead of his usual quarter bottle. After having a couple of pegs he lay on his bed, enjoying the rhythmic melody created by the falling raindrops on the tin rooftop. He switched on the radio and tuned it to FM. It was playing a Bhupen Hazarika classic and Bipin prepared his drink immediately. He

was a true Bhupen Hazarika fan. 

The mesmerizing rainy night, whisky and his loneliness, collectively, managed to evoke a sense of nostalgia in Bipin. He remembered his childhood days and his mother’s image flashed deep in his mind. Bipin was the youngest of her sons and she loved him a lot. They stayed happily in a small village on the banks of the river Brahmaputra. Bipin was quite young when, one day, both his parents died in a ferry accident. His brothers took good care of him, but after they started their own families, things turned difficult for Bipin. Gradually, he became a burden on them. 

Both his brothers had equally shared whatever property their father had left for them. Bipin was left out in the share, but he never complained. Once his brothers asked him to leave the house, he went to a different village. He had to struggle a lot to make a living but then he never gave up. With time, situation was turning little better for Bipin, and then one day, Deepa came into his life. Deepa was Bipin’s love and the only woman in his life. They cherished their life together and lived a wonderful, married life. They felt blessed when Tublu arrived in this world. They were a happy family and enjoyed the small pleasures of life. But then, destiny had a different plan for them.

Bipin remembered Deepa’s beautiful face. He opened his trunk that lay under his bed. He picked up a polythene bag from there and unfolded it. He looked at his wedding photograph. That was the only photograph of Deepa that Bipin had with him. He had always preserved it like a treasure. It was a black & white photograph and the quality of the picture had deteriorated over the years. Bipin remembered the day when he had met her for the first time. Bipin held the photograph and looked at her. Tears came streaming down his face. He was in no mood to have his dinner.

An excerpt from my debut novel, Story of Tublu. It's a contemporary fiction book, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The story has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.

Story of Tublu is now available at your nearest bookstore. You can also grab your copy from: