What a day!

The guy I invited for our guest lecture (he’s a journalist) sent me an sms saying that he will be coming. Boy-oh-boy! I was really happy. It turned out that he was ill and that’s why he didn’t pick up my call. Whew! And I thought he was pissed off at me. The lecture was attended by very few people although I had informed most of them. All’s well that ends well. Students who interested in Advertizing paid no attention in the class. After the attendance was taken and an hour or so had passed by, I suggested that only journalism fans should stay back and the others should leave. Thankfully, Sir agreed. Only a four or five serious journalism students remained to clear their doubts. We debated on a lot of issues like, should we have reservation, should there be censorship on the Media etc. Time just flew by and soon it was 5.30 PM. Sir as well as the students felt that they had learnt new things from each other. Sir is also planning to take a series of lectures for us and train us in Feature Article writing. Ain’t that cool???

Since my lecture got over late, I couldn’t mail the article on time. I just sent it to my BOSS. Hope he doesn’t call and yell at me.

P.S--I'm eating boiled veggies now. It's yummy!

Goooooooood Mornin!!! AAAchooooooo (ouch,I just sneezed!)

I didn't get good sleep last night. My bro (oh yes,I have one. He's elder to me) came back home at 3 AM. He switched on the AC and kept the fan on for some time. Result -- My sneeze and neck pain. I woke up at 7 AM. I'm not really tired...just feelin lazy. I gotta go and cover a Volleyball match (District level) today at 9.30 AM. Shit!!! I'm going to be late again! I hope today that media person I was supposed to buzz attends the phone. If not, I'll have to simply cancel the lecture. Anyway, I don't think I myself would have been able to attend coz I have to write some articles. Chalo, I'd better leave for the match. Will update tonight!

Ciao!

I'm tired. Too tired to type and update. So I'll keep this short. Detailed news tomorrow. Bad news is that the Media Person I invited tomorrow in't picking up my call. I'll try tomorrow...hope he comes for the lecture. Now I need to go and take a shower. I did quite a lot of travelling today.

Good news is that I went to a restaurant and ate food all alone! I would have never dared to try that earlier. Thank you Robin Sharma! My hands used to shake even when I thought about venturing to an unfamiliar place alone. But today I covered two stories alone. I'm really happy. Today Sweetu called up (for a change) and we spoke a little. He was asking about my granny. Well, she's still not OK. So pray for her,guys.

I rang up Sudha. She's in the train now and will be attending lectures from Thursday. Hurray!!! She had gone to her native place to attend a pooja.

Man,I guess I've written down most of things I did. Jeez, what the hell I'm doing here? I need to begin writing articles...three for my college newspaper and two for the newspaper I work for. If I fool around here for too much time, both the Eds will yell.

I'm getting really late...gotta go. I have to cover a kinda function. It's on spriritualism and meditation (huh? huh? huh?). I don't know anything about it...I haven't even prepared myself. Nor have I had a bath as yet. And it's at 10.30 AM. Damn! Please God help me!!!

I hate it when the photographer reaches before me coz then he calls me up and waits for me. Arghh! I think I should be on my way to the function. But I have this feeling it will start late coz some actress is coming. And don't we all know how actresses are late??? After that I have to cover one more thing. Will speak, sorry, post about that later. Good thing we don't have lectures today...I have to write the articles and send them today itself. Everyone,pray that I get through this ordeal. Bye!

Highly interesting and amusing day. (By the way, I'm eating sugarcane now...one more thing I love).

For starters our lecture that was to be held at 2PM got delayed by one and a half hours. Our teach was busy with some work. When she came she had some news for us. Firstly, she told us that one organization was planning to start a body that would keep our government in check (Fat chance, I thought). So these people want to elect a Mayor, who would be a student. Our college (I'm not going to reveal the name!) is the Zonal Host. People who apply for the post will be eliminated on the basis of personal interviews and debates. Our teach wants to form a committe that will organize the event, debate and do some research work for the debate. I wasn't interested at all...but then at the end of the lecture she appointed me the Head of the committe (Aw shucks! I'm embarrassed..aww please stop clapping...LOL).

I was supposed to arrange for a Guest Lecture (since I'm on that committe) the day after tomorrow at 2PM. Unfortunately, the guy who was supposed to come was busy and he cancelled the date. I decided to arrange for another lecture and called up one of my Mom's friends. He gave me a list of several numbers (people from Media) and asked to fix up a date with one of them. The first two people I called up were busy this week. So I called the next guy on the list. But then he turned out to be someone else on the list. And so it went on. I called up for Mr. X and he turned out to be Mr. Y! My Mom's friend had mixed up the numbers by mistake. I had to keep apologising. Later on, I had a good laugh with my parents.

Finally, I managed to set up a date with a media person. Thank God, he's ready to come. I'm now looking forward to hearing his lecture. Our coordinater ought to be happy that the lecture wasn't cancelled.

Anyway, that's all for now folks!

Some people are addicted to alcohol, some to drugs...but I'm addicted to cashew nuts!!! I can even finish a half kg packet of nuts. Mom always says I'll get a tummy ache if I eat too many, but who cares???

I've just had a bath. I'm ready to leave for college. We have a lecture of Organizational Behaviour. Later on I'll be going to a place which has the potential of having a story. Let's see if things work out.

Ciao!

School picnics are more of fun than educational, said a headline in today’s newspaper. That triggered off memories of my school picnics. Once, we were taken to the Airport to see how planes land and take off. Another time we were taken to cola factories to understand how the drinks were made. All the trips we were taken to were pure fun for fun. I’m sure none of us understood the object of our picnic. Where ever we were taken, we used to be given drinks and snacks; and for us kids, that was all that really mattered.

Once we were taken to the Hanging Gardens. I was curious about how the place got it’s name, but no one could satisfy my curiosity. When we visited one branch of Shoppers Stop, we were given free (promotional) caps. We never realized that we were just acting as marketing tools for them. I’m getting very nostalgic....all because of one newspaper article.

Anyway, I have 2 PM lecture today, so I need not hurry up much. I can also eat my lunch peacefully. I always read a book while eating and mostly the book has to be about eating. So I usually read Enid Blyton's Famous Five, Five Find-Outers and Dog, Malory Towers or Adventure series. All these books contain lots of talk about food!

K, in my earlier post I was talking about how I backed out of the movie. One of my friends said that it wasn't fair I had to back outta the movie. OK, guys LISTEN UP (as our C.R would say)!!! I'm no saint-sadhu. I wasn't really interested in watchin the film...I prefer Hollywood big time. So nobody has to feel guilty about anythin, I'll see the movie with Sudha (very good friend of mine) after she returns from her native place.

People who watched the movie that day, please comment and tell me whether you liked Dhoom 2 or not.

My Diwali vacations....forgot to tell you guys about it....here goes...

For the first time in my life I actually enjoyed my Diwali vacations. One major reason for my happiness, was a trip to a place called Lonar, which is in Buldhana district.. One of my uncle’s, (I have numerous) wanted to make a documentary film about a lake in Lonar, so a few relatives and I accompanied him. I got the proud designation of ‘Assistant to Director’.

Lonar is a two hour drive from Aurangabad. We started off at 5.45 AM on Friday, 27th October and reached Aurangabad at around 8 PM. Driving in the night is a big no-no. We left for Lonar the very next morning.

Now let me tell you what is so great about Lonar and why my uncle wanted to make a documentary film on it. Lonar lake is a crater lake – it was formed because a meteor crashed on the earth 50,00 years ago. Wow! When the meteor was falling, a piece of it flew off and hit the earth about 2 kilometers away. The place it fell formed a depression and thus the now called ‘Ganesh lake’ came into existence.

Lonar lake is 2 kilometers wide 700 meters deep. So imagine how big the meteor must have been! Well, we went a little way down the rocky and grassy slopes of the crater lake and took a few shots. My work as an assistant was unfortunately very limited. The only work I was given was to lug around the tripod and some other camera equipment.

At one place there were roughly made steps leading down to the lake. Going down was no big deal. I hopped, skipped and jumped like a goat and reached there in 20 minutes. Close to the lake are banana plantations and woods. I walked through the woods marvelling at nature’s bounty. There was even a spring flowing merrily through. It’s clean and cold water was simply delicious. Near the lake were the remains of a few temples. They were dilapidated and half filled with water.

The water of the lake is high in salinity. This is why no fish or other living thing can exist in it. Earlier, people used to use the salt to make papads. Our guide told us that if we put a polythene bag in the lake, it would get disintegrated. Too many chemicals in the lake for my liking. The colour of the water looks blue-green because of the algae that lies in it. NASA has visited the lake and conducted some experiments. They reckon that the algae in the lake could be utilized to make medicines worth millions of dollars.

We walked near the edge of the lake searching for various rocks. My Uncle kept telling me the names of the rocks, but I can’t remember them now. If I do name some and get them wrong...my Ed will kill me as well as Geology teachers and students. So mums the word!

It was getting late, so we decided to go back. I huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf while going up to the rim of the crater. What a long climb it seemed! Especially after eating like a pig during lunch time!

On our way back to Mumbai, we planned to see Ajanta and Ellora caves. Unfortunately, we had no time to do that. So we came back home via the expressway. That was real fun. I got back home at 1 AM, happy and excited. One of the best trips of my life!

I’m feelin great coz I woke up at 6.30 AM and exercised. I’m becoming fatter and fatter and I’m worried about it. Earlier I was happy because that meant would spot calling me “skinny”, “thinny”, “mosquito” and “stick”. But then, I’m getting waaaay too fat and that isn’t a very good sign.

As you know from earlier posts, my diet is excellent. I hate fried stuff and chocolates anyway, so it’s not because of food. My mom tells me that my metabolic rate has slowed down a lot. But how and why?????? Somebody, answer me!!!

If anybody can give me a reason why I’m suddenly turning from a mosquito into a elephant, then please do tell me.

I’ll tell you what happened yesterday. We had a 3 hour lecture at 8 AM, but it was cut short because something went wrong with the computer (the Prof. was showing us a PPT presentation). We all rejoiced that our three hour lecture was cut down to a mere 1 hour. What fun!

That was when me and 11 others of us decided to see the latest Bollywood flick, Dhoom2. I called up a theatre and did advanced booking. But when we reached the place, the guy at the counter (rudely) informed us that we were supposed to have collected the tickets 45 minutes before the show started. What the heck, we are no supermen and women to fly all the way to the theatre in 15 minutes!

We all got damn pissed off. Then I went to book tickets for the next show. Unfortunately, they had only 11 seats in a row. The twelfth seat was quite far away. I backed out of the movie then so that the others could enjoy well. I pushed off quickly without telling the others. Only my friend Sweetu (real name Vaibhav), knew about it. I felt a little bad about missing the movie with my friends...but I had no choice.

I went to see my granny. She’s not at all well. If she’s not careful, ulceration can take place. My mom and little sister (cousin) Swati was there. Later on, my Mom and I went to her house. You see my granny has her own flat, and my Uncle and Aunt have another quite close by. There I met my Aunt and little brother (Sudip). Me and the kids played Ludo and Snakes and Ladders. Had a great time. Mom and reached home at 8 PM precisely. I quickly had my dinner (coz I always have it before 8) and then watched a movie. I saw “Kate and Leopold”, a Meg Ryan starrer. Tired out (I climbed lots of steps), I slept like a log the entire night.

Bad news...my granny is ill. So my mom and I will be going down to see her tomorrow. She's a diabetic. Right now her sugar's pretty high, plus she says the medicines are not suiting her. Too many side effects.

Some good news. I called my BOSS and he spoke really nicely. Plus I got permission to do a story on Monday. Some more bad news. The event that I was going to cover on Monday has been postponed to Tuesday, which is my DEADLINE Day (D-Day). So I'll have to write the article in a jiffy and mail it just as quick.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!

Playin Cupid........

My friend Vikas Bhadra (he's totally lovestruck) has a message for his beloved...

Dear __________,


Far away you are.....

You still reside in my heart

and speak through my mind

You belong to someone else

but you are very much mine.

For in my world you are solitary

If no solitary, then I am the one beside you.

Winning your heart, is not my cup of tea

For I have already earned it.

And it remains for the eyes of your lover to see

That he belongs not to you but someplace else

Where he can be happier

And I can survive sans the pain

Which has been flickering like a lamp since you have abstained.

I hope his beloved sees this poem and realizes the depth of his love for her.

I had a rather frustrating day today. I forgot that we had a lecture at 8.45 AM. As a result, I had to hurry up and get dressed. And that means NO BATH!!!! Yeah, it's true. I haven't had a bathe as yet...damn, I must be stinkin sky high! Anyways, it so turned out that our lecture got cancelled and another teach took her subject at 11.00 AM. We had a long wait for two hours.

The entire class was planning to bunk the lecture...but alas! Our dear C.R and L.R said they would stay back and speak to our teach and convince her to let us bunk. What madness!!! It only resulted in us siting for the lecture, feeling sorry for ourselves.

The good news is that today I finally got to know my team members. We were supposed to form a group of ten people to shoot a dcumentary film. Well, I hope our Prof. won't say no to the 12 people in our group. Let's see...

Laughter is best medicine...so laugh, guys, laugh!

A young second generation Indian in the US was asked by his mother to explain the significance of "Diwali" to his younger brother, this is how he went about it.. .

" So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him.But, like, his step-mom, or something, was kind of a bitch, and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some national forest or something...Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so.. he decided to get his wife and his bro along...you know...so that they could all chill out together. But Dude, the forest was reeeeal scary shit... really man... they had monkeys and devils and shit like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked ass with darts and bows and arrows... so it was fine. But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe (Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man , and also his bro, Laxman,pissed... And you don't piss this son-of-a-gun cuz, he just kicks ass and like... all the gods were with him... So anyways,you don't mess with gods. So, Ram, and his bro get an army of monkeys...Dude,don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys... just go along with me, ok...So, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's ass in his own hood. Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest..and anyways...it gets kinda boring,you know...no TV or malls or shit like that. So,they decided to hitch a ride back home... and when the people realize that our dude, his bro and the wife are back home... they thought, well, you know, at least they deserve something nice... and they didn't have any bars or clubs in those days...so they couldn't take them out for a drink,so they,like,decided to smoke and shit...and since they also had some lamps, they lit the lamps also... so it was pretty cooool...you know with all those fireworks... Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks... and you know,what, dude, that was the very first, no kidding.., that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks... you know, like the 4th of July stuff, but just, more cooler and stuff, youknow. And, so dude, that was how,like, this festival started."

It's 4.25 PM now. I'm sitting in a cyber cafe with a splitting headache. All because of the photography lecture we had today. The Professor was a total babe (accordin to the guys), but she under estimated us (accordin to the entire class). I mean, hell, we all know what a "view finder" is! Anyways, she taught us very slowly and meticulously that I got bored. And yet, the others were zapped. Or, maybe they were all feeling sleepy.

Ah! The AC here is making me feel a little better. Our first lecture was good (Understanding Cinema). Today we discussed symbolism in Bollywood films and critical appreciation. Thankfully, we'll be starting Hollywood films tomorrow. I know somethin about that at least!

I still havn't gotten any stories for tomorrow... I'm supposed to report to my BOSS (zikes!). Have to think of something or he'll fire me!!!

I gotta leave for college now. Did I mention I'm also studyin? Guess not. Anyways, I managed to get up early today (6 AM), but I was so tired that I lay in bed till 7 AM. Today we have a lecture in photography. I'm looking forward to that. Damn, there's my Mom yelling at me to hurry up and get ready. Gotta go!!! Blogs are so addictive...feel like posting all day.

Heck, I think she's gonna kill me........ I'd better rush!

WIll definitely update tonight.

My Dad always buys me a lot of books, knowing fully well that reading it my favourite hobby. But I was disappointed the day he got me “The Monk who sold his Ferrari”. It was that preachy kind of book. I hate all these self-help books. So, I cribbed about it and decided I would read it the last. After reading all the other books my Dad had bought for me, I began reading it.

The very first line of the book was intriguing. I just couldn’t help reading further. Soon, I was hooked and I simply could not put the book down. I began reading the book at around nine in the night, and finished at one in the morning. This was because I had to reread some parts...they were so interesting.

Now I’ll come to the most important part- what the hell does the book contain... The book consists of certain techniques that turn a tired, old and ill man into a radiant guy with youthful looks. No, I’m not kidding, it’s true! Whenever I read such motivating books, I go on a diet immediately and begin vigorous exercises. Alas and alack! They last only for a few days. With great gusto I begin my new diet, only to get bored and forget about them. The problem with me (and most people) is that I’m too lazy. My friend Sweetu truly said, “Motivation comes from within, not from other factors.” I understood this better through the book. It also tells you how to improve your will power and confidence levels.

The language of the book is very simple and since it’s in a story format, it doesn’t sound preachy. Without heralding about my new diet (I usually tend to do this), I began a new regime. It started off with butter milk, salads, fruits and drinking lots of water. I used to hate buttermilk, fruits and never would drink much water. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. And how true this is. Just a week after my change of diet, my aunt exclaimed, “Oh, you’ve put on weight and you are glowing! What have you done to yourself? ” This was the reaction I got from my friends, their families and some teachers. Needless to say, I was happy.

Now I eat a very balanced diet consisting of fats, carbohydrates etc. I thank my stars that my Dad got me this book. If he hadn’t, I would still be eating junk food and would have remained thin as a rake life long. I have also discovered mental powers, I never knew existed. I can’t believe I’m the same lazy person. Everything seems to have changed. And if I can do it, so can you! So what are you waiting for??? Go ahead, buy the book and reform your life!

And no, I'm not getting paid for promoting his book. Whatever I've written (I'm so sleepy that I hope it makes sense) is the truth.

'Night!

Sigh! I'm really sleepy now. Will update the blog regularly..and that is a PROMISE. I really will stick to my word this time...hopefully! Actually, my attitude has changed a lot since I read the book "The Monk Who Sold his Ferrai" by "Robin Sharma". People who want to seriously reform their lives ought to read it. Damn! Mosquitoes are gettin in...must close the window!!!!

I'll just create one new post and then go to sleep.