A whole new world....

A month down in the U.S of A, the land of dreams as they say. The only song that comes to my mind when i try to summarize my 1st few days here would be "Bitter sweet symphony....That's life"...I landed in New York and lugged 4 super heavy suitcases into a taxi who's driver refused to help out ..after an almost broken finger, really sore arms and jet lagged mind i finally met a friend.. The way you feel when you're walking down an unknown path and see a familiar face is truly priceless. 'Chicken over rice' on road side stands felt just like 'vada pavs' in Mumbai.. Times square in all its glory, the Empire State building standing tall, long walk to the Brooklyn bridge, the statue of liberty shimmering in the afternoon sun and numerous round in all the subway trains all felt like an adventure trip. Just the way Alice would wander off into her dreamworld maybe.
                    Many have told me that you eventually do fall in love with New York if you stay there long enough. 2days have given me a fair idea about why they told me that. I reached Indianapolis the next day and as I stepped out of the airport and for the 1st time i realized i wasn't home anymore. It felt as if i was still back in India..some distant place maybe on vacation maybe.. but somewhere i knew i wasn't goin home for a long time. That this blue room was my home for some time to come now..(My room is painted with the darkest blue you could find ..i have no clue why anyone would do that..)

A month and many many experiences later i have somehow come to love this small town. If you own and can drive a car you can possibly take a trip across bloomington in about 15 mins but if you don't have a car and you need salt in your food and just realize you have none left in the closet its a painful 20 mins walk to the nearest shop..and i have to admit it i have had my fare share of these walks by now..The 1st few days i must have walked enough to complete a mini marathon i think. I walked to the stores. back from the stores. walked to get food ..money.. chairs ...beds... just walked and walked. Stood for 10 mins at a traffic light wondering why the sign wouldn't turn to "walk" before figuring out there was a button you need to press so that it could change...went for a 20 min walk got lost and reached home an hour later...Slipped and fell on the road. tore my only pair of grey trousers and got bruised..Applied as much sunscreen on my face as i would have used on my full body back in India and still got tanned...spent as much on buying a guitar as people have spent on getting an iphone..been stumped at the punctuality of the bus service..Played badminton, volleyball with some fantastic people...finally had some domestic friends...learned to play 'flip the cup' ..cooked with my roomy while youtube played all old hindi songs that only my dad used to listen to..got addicted to coffee...and learned to enjoy some really small things in life that otherwise would just get done in seconds.. In short the past one month has been crazy..hectic..ridiculously expensive (200 rs = 4$ for a coffee..r you kidding me!!!), living on pizza and all the possible things you could create if you put bread and cheese together..but its been fun. It a side of life that i have never known would become a part of me someday. Seen a different world. Seen people who know exactly what they want in life and wondered how i would get to that point and then at some point wondered if i really did want to be there.

But this part of my life's has just begun here.. Its an adventure...its a lotta work ...and sometimes it gets scary and sometimes it gets a little lonely...but none the less its a different chapter in my book. Something that's so new that i can't even imagine what tomorrow would look like.. but i know i want to be there... to feel it..

PS: I was feeling really blue one day and had gone to get stuff at walmart when i saw this ridiculously expensive book that i bought just cause i loved what was written on its cover.  The pic taken is the cover of this same book and it reads "The only requirement of having a dream is believing in it. - Molly Barker"

Friends Forever

And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25
I keep thinking times will never change
Keep on thinking things will always be the same
But when we leave this year we won't be coming back
No more hanging out cause we're on a different track
And if you got something that you need to say
You better say it right now cause you don't have another day
Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound
And I keep thinking of that night in June
I didn't know much of love
But it came too soon
And there was me and you
And then we got real blue
Stay at home talking on the telephone
And we would get so excited and we'd get so scared
Laughing at ourselves thinking life's not fair
And this is how it feels

As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
From whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever

So if we get the big jobs
And we make the big money
When we look back now
Will our jokes still be funny?
Will we still remember everything we learned in school?
Still be trying to break every single rule
Will little brainy Bobby be the stockbroker man?
Can Heather find a job that won't interfere with her tan?
I keep, keep thinking that it's not goodbye
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly
And this is how it feels

 As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
From whatever
We will still be
Friends Forever

So many people walk in and out of our lives every single day. I once read somewhere that everyone who walks into your life is there for a reason.They fulfill the task , the reason, that they had come for and leave. They may not leave long lasting footprints on your life but somewhere something changes. No matter how small or how finite.  
This thought for all of them who have came and are lost somewhere in my mind and for all who came and decide to stay(Lucky me).
 I have been of of the lucky few who ended up having a huge group of friends when i was in college. Though college was fun, i hardly think I knew how important they were to meet until we all were out of college and there was just  no time to meet. I don't know how we have kept it together as yet but we meet often enough to be just as up to date with each others lives as we were in college.The gossip still goes on and jokes still are extremely funny.We all have much more money in our pockets now and our expenditures have gone way way up. Vodka replaces the coke and branded clothes the off the road linking road shopping, rickshaws and buses are replaced by cars and bikes... but what remains the same is the crazy name calling (vakola bombshell , scratchy, weedly , pappy, ava, dabs, daddy,chameeto,shrimp...), the inclusion of us who suck at it  in the sports being played, the times when we sill have to sit down on the road cause we have ended up having  laughter fit over something silly said to someone or about someone....  the list goes on and all of this is so much a part of me now. What these people got to my life is life itself. I dont think i knew what friends were before i met these people. I love all of them so much . No matter where in the world i maybe. There will never be a group of people in my life i will love as much as i love these guys.None i could live with so easily and none i can forgive any faster no mater what they do.

Next came the huge big bad world of work and all the formal relationships that come along with it  and just when i thought i will never meet any friends here i met a few more. Some religiously crazy, some that never grew up, some that loved to dance ..one gal that i met for a few months and i know will stay in my life forever(and if she ever reads this i am sure she will comment 'How cheesy'...), one friend who is the craziest senior i have ever met :P ..Days went by listening to film stories and gossips. The only reason i think i dint find the corporate world so cruel was because of these people. And now that yet another chapter is about to begin i have two more friends in my life who have lit up my world. Chating till two bout hottest film stars and sobbing bout incomplete assignments. We just have built a world of our own.

These people who have walked into my life have not just left their footprints in my life but covered me completely ..immersed me in their light. They have made me see things in a way i would i refused to agree existed in the 1st place. Their company provides a place where i cant resist being me no matter how hard i try . They make me who i am. Cant thank them enough for just being here with me.

PS: Pic taken at pre new year bash while strolling on the beach.

The bus ride home..

Every morning while having my daily bowl of cereal i try to find myself among the 30+ pages of political potpourri delivered at my doorstep. Following which everyday after spending 10 merciless hours spent in front of the computer at about 7 pm in the evening i take my bus home .Everyday i just close my eyes and wish i could fall asleep for those 2 slow hours that i take to get home. Today i decided differently. I opened my window wide open and decided to keep my eyes open the entire journey. Plugged my music on and thus began a different journey.As everyday i passed the place that has this factory that makes spices. tucked into some narrow corner of the road. I have tried this before but never found out where exactly its located but the smell is just so intense..and the crazy tumble began and the questions just randomly popped into my head. Do people who live around that factory smell like these spices all the time. They must be ..they spend their lives surrounded by it.I almost smirked at the thought of entering a conference with 'garam masala ' deodrant on me..
I looked up and saw a high rise that had a certain floor who had its wall removed. It just had a parfait and no walls.. Looked spooky wonder why would anybody need such an apartment. Note to self: A mystery to be solved later.Passed the oh so familiar bridge next and with that came the 1st glimpse of clear sky. With no hoardings to obstruct my view and the summer light still holding up.Something felt so wrong with the sky...So many clouds today on supposedly bright summer evening .My music switched to linking park it went on "and the clouds above moved closer looking so dissatisfied..." .'how did my music player know what happening' was all i wondered. Well scene changed and i passed the IIT's..Do you really think that that's the place where legends are born?? well no mood for debates today.. Next the lake came to my view.. so beautiful with the sunlight just about there..Its changed and i have noticed long after winter.It has its signs to welcome the summer..Weeds and possibly Hyacinth's growing on its surface almost covered all the edges like its drawing up its blanket against the cool night breeze.

Do you know sometimes you listen to a particular song and it just surges through your blood..Makes you want to let down your hair..let the wind blow..go running on a beach.. and feel so surreal..No matter how cheesy corny and stupid it may sound.. i know i do feel like that.. and for today it was 'Crazy by Aerosmith'..That song just gets me high.. Breeze next to the lake..Bus moving without traffic and the song playing so loudly i culdn't hear anything else.. Its was a dream sequence...Only difference i discovered it on a just everyday ordinary evening ..on just another everyday bus ride with just another song playing on my everyday music player.. :)

I reached home fresher than i ever have in the past 18 months of my everyday journey on this very same road for 5 days of every week.

I let my hair down and walked home today..with Crazy on Repeat...

Footnote: Pic taken from my bus window at the risk of being called crazy by all those who were traveling along and staring at me.