The world is an expensive place

Cycling has always been my passion ever since I learnt how to balance myself on 2 wheels. The feel of air brushing my hair and face has always given me an adrenaline rush.

Though I started cycling when I was quite young, serious cycling began only when I was in class 12. That was the time when I was doing approx 16 kms daily. Pointless to say that I loved cycling for so long very much and in turn it kept me quite healthy and fit.

But since then my life has changed a lot and cycling had since then become something of yesteryears.

It was only after a friend suggested a few days back that it would be a good idea to get a cycle to have some physical activity (which for software engineers have become quite a rare commodity) that I realised that it was also a good time for me to relive my passions and ofcourse reduce some of the flab that has gathered somewhere in the centre of my body. So along with my friend, we planned to get a cycle within the next 2 3 days.

I was always of the notion that cycling as a hobby would be cheap. I mean how much can a cycle cost you? Maybe 5 to 6 k. At least that was what we were thinking till the time we entered the first shop to get the cycle. After visits to atleast 5 to 6 cycle shops throughout the city we had come to know one thing. The world indeed is an expensive place now and no way cycling is a cheap hobby.

I was shocked to see a cycle for 2.2 lakhs (INR). I mean, wouldn't buying a bike be a cheaper option. But the fact remains that demand is the mother of supply. I am pretty sure the companies are producing all these high end cycles because some place some where some one is buying them. I wonder if for these people, cycling is just a passion/hobby. As far as I am concerned I assume salary ought to conform with the laws of supply and demand and for me my salary in no way was conforming to these laws.

Anyways I guess till the time I find a cycle that suits my wallet, I just need to keep my passions and tummy just to myself.

Trip to Kolkata

Seriously it has been a long time since I have penned down any of my experience in the last few months. Not that I didn’t feel like writing, but my busy schedule didn’t allow me to write anything worth reading and more so worth writing.
While flying from Bangalore had a lot of things in mind, specially the thought of meeting a girl who was a prospective bride for me. A girl whom I have never seen my entire life, a girl whose name even I didn’t knew (in fact I came to know about her name only after meeting her…. So much for arranged marriage… hehe!!). For me it was an experience worth remembering all my life. The nervousness of meeting her family and specially her is something that brings an embarrassed smile to my face even today. For me I guess now I can understand the way girls would feel when so many people from groom’s family test her some basic questions being – ‘maa tomar naam ki (what’s your name dear)?; ‘tumi ki ki ranna korte paaro (what all can you cook)’? and the winner of course is ‘Tumi gaan korte paaro (Do you know how to sing)?’, as if everybody needs a Lata Mangeshkar in their house. Hehe!! I had sweat all over my face answering just one of the question asked by her family.
Anyways all that is history now. I am not sure what uparwaala has in store for me (specially about how far that girl’s and my future is concerned), but I sure wish her all the best. Now don’t take me wrong, I am not an emotional fool who is saying all the best just to take an emotional wave of sympathy from all you werewolves. I am saying all the best because she had her university exam the next day. Hehe!! Ya Ya.. I know definitely nice timing to meet up a girl.
As for me, I didn’t get much time to interact with the girl, but for whatever limited time, I got to know her, thought she was quite nice and friendly. Maybe in the coming days if I get the opportunity, I might get in touch with her.
That’s pretty much all about her.
This time had the opportunity to meet up with some old friends and family friends. Was in quite a shock as to how much things have changed and am pretty pleased with the way everything has turned out.
Met up with a friend, almost the one you can call a chaddi waala saathi. And ya forgot to mention, that I saw him in his own marriage.
Seriously, sometimes I do feel if we really have grown up so much.
Apart from all these nostalgic meetings with friends and family, had one day to visit Gangasagar. Was quite an uneventful trip but was quite satisfying.
Oops!! Time to go.. Soup being serviced now in Rajdhani Express. But before signing off, promise you all that I would be a bit more frequent in posting my blogs.

Cyaö!!

Pangs of despised love

Plato, once said "At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet". Very true, but isn't the opposite truer still? "At the loss of love anyone can become a poet".
Let me start from where we all start -- School. Who can forget their first crush in school? At least I can't. Well nothing can match the first crush. So naïve, so immature, so unsophisticated and yet so charming. The way we boys secretly used to swoon over some girl in the class and yet the girl seemed to be so unperturbed by even the presence of that boy in her surrounding. Who can forget the goose bumps whenever she came close or the day when the teacher used to make us sit beside that special girl. Then came the days when we were punished by the teacher for not doing the homework or dirty handwriting. After the punishment who could face the embarrassment to show their face to the class let alone their crushes? Things would go on and suddenly someday the almighty would shower all his blessings on you and you feel that nothing could go wrong. So with prayers in your lips, you do tell your sweet heart that she is the one for you and that you would do anything for her. She would look into your eyes as if she wanted to say yes and then she would ………… run to the teacher and ……………………………………………
……………………………………………… …………………… BANG!! AHHH!!! BANG!!
Sorry ma'am… I will never do it again… THAP!! SLAP!! ………………………………………………Here you get the first pang of your despised love.How do we get over it? Very simple. Tell your parents that you are not feeling well.. Some stomach ache or something!! Keep away from the school for 2 3 days and hope that lightening strikes the school and everybody loose their short term memory. But as usual! God wouldn’t help. No lightening.. Nothing. Not even a drop of rain. You go to school and everybody laughs at you and you try your best to kill yourself (by stopping to breathe and all). Days pass by and things go an as usual and suddenly you need to change school.
You know that this might be the last day when you see your sweetheart but this time around you don’t have that courage to even say to her -- ADIEUS.
High school Algebra - Physics - Chemistry --- Surely Love can not be more difficult than that. Finding love was easy in High school. Find the best looking girl and dream. What if??
What if - She was with me instead of that idiot, what if - she too is in love with me………… You give her the benefit of doubt that since you didn’t have the courage to propose her she too would be facing the same problem. Gradually its time for competetive exams and your parents blame you for not concentrating hard enough in your studies. How are they supposed to understand the burden of the undisclosed Love that you are carrying in your heart. You don’t know if you two are destiny or just floating around in breeze. Two years pass and you did nothing
other than dream. But at least you did not feel the pang of despised love.
But eventually its………
Time for college. You have waited so long for this. People say college is the best time of your life. When else are your parents going to spend several thousands a year just for you to go to a strange town and get drunk every night? But suddenly one night you come to know that your high school sweetheart is seeing someone in the college she is in. Welcome the second pang. You couldn’t stop thinking of the girl. You drink ..drink ..drink
until you drop and start cursing. Eventually you come to the conclusion that she was not worth it and now (in college) you will have a fresh beginning -- A fresh love.There's a girl in college you think is THE ONE. A girl so simple yet so beautiful, so important to you.. She is the one you have ever hoped for.
1st year - You start talking to her. Get to know her a little bit. You are her friend now but how can you tell her that you don’t just want to be her friend, you love her. But you are too shy and you don’t know why.
2nd year - It’s a batch party and everyone's in the dance floor. You ask her to dance with you. She acknowledges you. You want to tell her how much you love her but instead the only thing that comes out of your mouth is - 'The party is awesome'.
3rd year - Same as 2nd year, the only difference being that the girl now will have a boy friend (obviously who you think is an idiot).
4th year - You need to get a job. You and your friends talk about the market, retrenchments, how things are slowing down. So few jobs and so many applicants. As companies trickle doen for campusing and you still in the docks, love is the last thing in your mind. Who is there to love anyways?
You make a decision now, No more love business.
But then again meeting with her was your fate, becoming her friend your choice and falling in love was beyond your control.This time you wont make the same mistake and you would tell her that you don’t just want to be her friend but something more. But she would already be in love with someone else.
Now you really wonder which hurts the most: saying something and wishing you had not, or saying nothing , and wishing you had. You try to remove her from your head but it's amazing how someone can break your heart, but you still love them with all the little pieces. It does really take a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone -- but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.
But you don’t cry for yesterday,instead you make your way through this ordinary world cause you know deep down there would be someone who would be the balm for the pangs of your despised love.