The beautiful voice

Hi! Long time no see. Been writing another post about a college trip for more than a year yet unable to complete because it was having a pessimistic effect on me and it was dragging me down to move any further to write about the other things that happened afterwards. I guess procrastination and Zeigarnik effect is a lethal combination for a blogger. This recent incident I am about to describe was more powerful enough for me that it enabled me to share it after so many months of my dissonance to writing. Glad it happened. Blessed I am posting a new one after months. 

So! I started working for a US based not for profit organisation like a month ago. Work life is fine and routine started to seep in. I take local buses to reach my workplace. The evening time when I take the bus back home, it is usually crowded and you will hope that the journey ends soon. This one time when I took the bus on such occasion, I met a speech impaired women standing beside me. In crowded local buses usually the money is passed between the person next to you to get your tickets. Crowded means in the bus where you gotta grab the metal poles like a kid hanging over a monkey bars, where there is no place even for the exhaled air to move out, where people do acrobatic hanging nearby to the door and sometimes where your money gets lost in all this chaos and people forgot whose ticket they have received or who gave how much money to pass it to the bus conductor.

This person who is speech impaired fascinated me. Even though she wasn't able to do much she did put all her effort on passing on the money and tickets enthusiastically. She communicated more than all of us to help each other to get a bus ticket. The hand gestures, the sportive smile and her firm grip of not tripping over a strong thud the bus does during twists and turns. All of it, mesmerized me. She was contagious. Everyone who had a crinkle on their forehead, tiredness in their eyes, irritated in their minds were affected by her. She brought a delicate smile to all those around her. Everyone were calm, relaxed and observing her telling her thoughts out through her gestures. She was basically complaining about the crowd, people, sweat, and much more. Even though it was about nothing, it felt nice to know about it in an unusual way. 

I have seen her couple of times before but only now I got the courage to speak with her. I was super intrigued by her. At first I didn't knew how to talk to her and what if it is too creepy to approach her as a stranger in a crowded bus. Later she initiated a conversation with me. Half the time I didn't understand what she was talking about. But it looked like listening to an interesting folklore through a puppetry show. It was interesting to know how many body language cues we miss and notice only if we come across people who are impaired to talk, see and hear. She started the conversation by telling about Double Decker buses at her native. How they are so amazing with double the capacity for people to transport. I asked her about where she is from? She said Surat, Gujarat with elaborate mouth movements. Then I asked her can she hear me? using my hand gestures. She says yes by nodding her head.

I said oh that's awesome. Then we had a long pause. Because I wanted to ask her what work or career she in but afraid about what if its a sensitive question and such question might hurt her. But after multiple eager yet anxious mental questioning I braced myself to ask her. I showed her a hand gesture like typing in a computer and writing to indicate work. She tried to say but it sounded feeble gibberish for me to interpret. I gave a confused pause. She mouths back as in audit. So she does auditing as her career. It surprised me to know her impairment didn't define her self esteem to pursue such a career. I then was trying to tell her I am bad at math. She didn't understand. I tried to indicate math by gesturing counting number by fingers but it confused her even more. She jokingly gestures about texting and calling to tell me what happened to my phone, nowadays everyone has one right! 

Oh, Right! I can type a text to know what she means to tell. I make a small smack to my forehead to indicate that I didn't thought about it. Well unusual communication need unusual thinking and in return we get unusual learning. 

I took out my phone from my bag over it's squished self from people around the crowded bus and opened notes widget. I typed "I am bad at math" She gestured to disagreed by swaying her head and indicated, if you practice you will get it. How nice of her! Then, I typed "What is your name?" She typed "Nikita" I was in a daze of thinking to tell her how people misspell the names in Government documents. Before I could tell she said the same thing in gestures. Funny how coincidence works. She also said some call her Nikeeta, and some say Nikhitha, Neeekeeta, etc but rarely the right way of pronouncing her name. No matter what impairment be there, the feeling of getting our names mispronounced is too obvious and interesting to see from her expressions. She asked me by gesturing "What about your name?" I typed "Sunayana" And "Yes. People mispronounce it at most of the times"

We nodded to agreement like a Tanjore doll as a sign of silent chuckles. Then she luckily got seated as a few people started to depart to their destinations. She asked me to give her my bag to hold it for me as she got seated but I was like that's alright and courteous and stuff. But I did ended up giving her my bag because concerns happen and my arm ligaments did started to have a Nocebo effect when she told me isn't your bag heavy to hold and difficult for you to stand for a long time. She asked me where do you get down at? I told her my destination and she gave a smirk and gestured that's where even she has to get off. We were smiling for a while and then started gazing into the outside world through the momentum of the bus and it's dusty glass window panes. When our stop was about to come, she even advised me to be careful with my bag that the crowd are always in a hurry and they might tend to make you fall and all. So much consideration even my own grandparents never showered upon me. 

We got down to our stop, said our goodbyes to each other and parted our ways on the opposite sides.
One good incident has a power to move you and uplift from your past miseries. It's okay to take time to get healed and revive. For me it happened after months, because everyone has problems and issues but the depth of it takes time the further it has ingrained into our minds. Unravel yourself from such clutches as soon as possible and appreciate small things in life. I would have never anticipated to talk with a speech impaired person in a crowded bus but above all the noise we communicated.

Advice corner: If you are curious about something, do try or learn about it. Life is never disappointing, it's our mindset that we choose to live determines a happy or sad life.

And! Huge news! I am not a college student anymore. Officially entered the career world. Thus change in tagline.

Bye-Bye to my college self and hello to Adulting!

May 2017 and it's memories

My vacation holidays are over as my internship began from May onward. At first I was hesitant about the whole idea about this new experience I am about to enter. As, I have been already a part of this new intern life, it's now my routine. But let me reminisce about the happenings so far.

On the first day of my internship: I woke up, got ready and reached the place tad bit early. That's what I thought. But turns out I reached super soon. The place is situated at the third floor of an apartment. I waited for a while then went to the stairs and walked up to see the terrace. My idea was to see the vast expanse of the city through the terrace view while I was passing time away but unfortunately the place was locked with grilled gate. The silent melancholy of not being able to see what I expected. Terraces and me never work out. I have been living in a house without terrace for two decades so far. So, whenever I visit some building I love to visit their terrace. 

The grilled gate of the terrace!

But in my life whenever expected things never happen beautiful unexpected things occur. I met three little caramel coloured kittens nearby that gate. They were scared. They didn't even meowed. When I told my brother about this incident back home he made joke like "Be glad the mother of those kittens didn't attack you" Well, siblings are one terrific yet horrendous present given to us.

The amazing kitten siblings

The kittens escaped before I take second picture of them. I was just pure ecstatic that I was blessed to see such pretty kittens which almost broke up the nervousness of my first day as intern. The intern life was good and days passed by. The phases of life may change but the super slow frequency of buses in Chennai still remains the same. The wait, the crowd and finally reaching the destination alive. If you had read all my previous blogs I assume 10% of my life rantings would be about the buses. During one of my wait at the bus stop, I randomly spotted a stray dog which I photographed. I think people would have thought I am a weirdo while taking a picture of a stray dog incredibly emphasized under the striking street lights of the evening. 

The "Stray/ Stunning" Dog!

One fine morning, same situation happened when I was waiting for the bus. While everyone's faces were pondering upon their phones, vehicles and people. I basically looked up for a breathe of oxygen after a exhausting walk under the sun. To my surprise the clouds were surreal. What a spectacular view I thought! I quickly took a snap out of it. Nowadays I am not even afraid of what people might think and say. If it makes us happy and hurts none, why not pursue it? 

The luscious clouds above the urban life of Chennai

Yesterday, I got this duty of assisting admissions for my future juniors at college. It felt a bit different to go back to the place (my college) I spent 4 years of my life after 1 month gap. We invigilated, corrected the papers, clarified their queries. The part which I enjoyed the most is when I started giving my philosophical advises to those kids. Even they were receptive of it. I don't know maybe it's the vulnerability of uncertainty that came due to their admission entrance test. But I felt satisfied that the future people aren't as ignorant as the past folks. Even though I felt not being able to attend my internship for a day, I felt happy to have a chance to know the crux of the new happenings and people. 

And, today I felt like bringing my blog active again even though their hasn't been much to talk about I wanted to record and share anything even if it sounds lame to others. Sometimes it's the little things/incidents that makes up our life. I hope all of you find such little things in life that can bring happiness in your life too. Piece of advice: Notice everything. It doesn't matter if is important or the purpose is unknown but it contributes to your life someway.

I noticed to water the plants. Guess what I got after months?
These pretty flowers!

Finale of October'16

October must be one weird month. It started off very differently and ended with lots of elements of life. In my previous blog, I mentioned about how it started, now will be providing you with the details of it's climax. Till 25th October I was having a combination of study holidays and exams. I always try to study as late as possible because of my horrendous memory. I might be a victim to amnesia or I might be hallucinating about it whatsoever this method has always been working out for me. So, after 25th I was having semester holidays and Deepavali holidays. 

Oct 26, 2016: Beginning of holidays

Finally, exams got over and I wanted to relax a bit so slept for a long time and woke up late. I woke up to see too many messages in my phone. I might have slight symptoms of Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) towards messages. I tend to check all the messages without fail. It seems my department assigned my class to finish a survey about soaps and shampoos. That too 5 filled surveys in both category which means I had to sacrifice my precious day by dedicating myself to fill the survey and request other people to fill it and send it back to my class leader. Now that's what I got in the name of holiday. But, certain duties even though it is useless for us to do; we need to fulfill it and forgo our holiday spirits. I couldn't believe survey filling can consume a whole day.

Oct 27, 2016: Bus ticket booking

Second day of the holidays. I thought to myself no more work and responsibilities, lets enjoy it to the fullest. But life has it's own will to destroy our peace of mind. I got immediate another task for the day. *Poof* The so called second holiday was gone with the wind within minutes. Life can be demanding at times.

My aunt who is an elder sister to my mom came to India from U.S. to visit my grandma who resides at my native place. So, my mom also wanted to pay a visit to them. So, she asked me to accompany her to book a ticket. We walked near the bus stop and took a bus to C.M.B.T. (Chennai Moffusil Bus Terminal) in Koyembedu. It is known as the biggest bus terminal in Asia according to Internet sources.  We arrive at C.M.B.T. and walk towards the ticket booking center. Due to fast approaching Deepavali festival, Tamil Nadu government has added additional buses for the public convenience to visit their hometowns which I presume. My native is in Andhra which means an other state of India so the ticket booking booth was far away from the entrance. We walked and saw couple of help desks that has been set up temporarily, buses that is routed to different places some of which I have never heard of before, and finally we reach our booth.

The kiosk was a filthy room that was opposite to a toilet. A lady was seated inside that cubicle who provides Information and tickets regarding Andhra Pradesh Government Buses. She was seen through a hole provided in a grimy glass window secured by equally grimy metal bars. It was extremely inconvenient for my mom to converse with her to book a ticket. But eventually we booked a ticket after my mom interrogated her with lots of possible and impossible questions. We finished our ticket booking and were walking back to the entrance and suddenly my mom reminded of us being alone and hungry while she is away and wanted to buy some biscuits. She spotted a store and started interrogating that vendor about the rates and prices of the biscuits. I am a person who hates spending money unnecessarily and if I really wanted something; I do a hefty amount of thought processing before really purchasing anything. Meanwhile, my mother is completely opposite to me. She buys immediately if she wishes to buy something without giving it a thought..

Later, she was not satisfied by the choices in the store and left. I felt terrible for the guy who responded all the questions to my mom and she just left without buying anything. When I told her about her behaviour she just denied it by saying its his duty to serve customers and our choice to whether purchase or not. Most of the parents, especially my mom has a way of making flawless legit points. Then, she got reminded of something again and I was already drowsy from lack of sleep and wanted to go home as soon as possible. She forgot to book her return ticket to Chennai. We walked again to the same kiosk and went through same ticket booking process again. We finally accomplished booking our tickets and took a bus home.

I still had some more time of the day to spend meaningfully. So, I watched few episodes of Korean dramas and read a book. My advice to you all: Spend each ounce of time towards what interests you. Never spend your time on boring activities because wasted time can never be regained. At the same time stop worrying about wasting time and be grateful for what our life has to offer.

Oct 28, 2016: Mom vanishes from home

My mom kept on reminding me what to do and what not to do while she was away. She prepared extra amounts of food and told us to eat it whenever we were hungry. She took her luggage and was stating she was going. We said bye. She came again and repeated the same for a few times and we got annoyed and said just go and reach the bus stop on time. She made an on purpose faux frown and went off. My brother and I were immediately got glued to our gadgets. The day for some reason felt relaxing at first but was never ending. Usually my mom is a constant chatterbox in better terms she's a garrulous person. She never stops nagging and always find ways to express all the faults in the world with the people who are dear to her. Life usually goes a bit fast forward when she's in the house. That moment we felt what happens in her absence. Its probably nothing but something that make us to feel a bit missing without the presence of a particular thing.

Oct 29, 2016: Very important day

It's the day my brother was born and its the day the auspicious festival Deepavali was celebrated in the year 2016. Some say it is Diwali, some say it is Deepavali, but I assume most of the people like me says it's a beautiful holiday. Morning was filled with cracker sounds which I strongly detest. Many of us know it is festival of lights not sounds. My dad wanted us to be well fed while my mom was away and asked us for our breakfast choices and I said I was not hungry and he didn't even gave a thought to my opinion. I have a habit of eating less in the morning and more in the evening. But for some reason my family can't understand my body's hunger timings and ends up feeding me more or starving me more at times. Meanwhile, my brother has this amazing talent of tolerating people. He just blurted out "anything is fine".

That's how I ended up eating two large dosas, one oily poori and a bangle sized vada. Accompanied by coconut chutney, tomato chutney, sambhar and a potato side dish. I ate all those just because my dad was insistent and was watching over us finish eating all the foods he proudly bought to fulfill my hunger-less stomach. Everyone who knows me very well knows how meticulously I eat. I am well known for my eating styles and habits. I was both appreciated and criticized for my eating decisions by everyone I knew till now. Everyone are different and people just can't accept a person having a different eating pattern.

Usually the TV channels show good choice of films to watch. This time films shown were boring and repeated ones. My phone buzzed with Deepavali wishes. I was wishing them back. I got something even special on this day - The cold. I got sick and was sneezing more than the times I was breathing. We ate noodles for lunch. Anything warm can make a cold person be at ease. The warm soupy instant noodles soothed me for a while. Later, I scribbled some patterns with chalk pieces in the name of kolam on the floor. Then, I finished a series of Korean drama and it became night. We were watching discreetly at the fireworks which the tenants were bursting.

Mom arrives and starts talking about her arrival confusion. I did miss her nagging but sometimes I hope she realizes the preciousness of silence.

Oct 30, 2016: Usual routine holiday

Mom was back. My aunt gifted us with lots of goodies. We ate foreign biscuits and chocolates. Mom started her work of annoying us with her blabber. We distracted ourselves with the help of Internet. The day ended but my cold didn't.

Oct 31, 2016: Sleep deprived and lots more worse stuff

I was carefree and sleeping in the bed without any worries other than my cold. I am woken up by my mom. I saw glass shattered all over the hall, broken cupboard and a my brother with his bleeding wrists. I immediately brush my teeth, change my clothes and rush over to a medical shop. There was another customer who came prior to me and was taking her own time to decide what to purchase. So, I started looking upon all the medicines and other things arranged in the shop. She leaves and I blurt out what I need in lightning speed. The cashier/store representative got confused and I repeated each item slowly. She showed the things I needed and started tapping buttons of the keyboard to prepare the bill. I paid, took the things that I purchased and left as quickly as possible.

My mom dabbed a chunk of cotton with the antiseptic liquid and rubbed it over my brother's bruises. She made sure to advice him constantly with each rub. Then his bruises were covered with band aids. Till this moment I was clueless about what was going on. When I asked about it, My mom started crying. She cries rarely and started telling philosophy with regards to parenting. The reason was my brother missed his college bus and came home. He had an important test on that day and was ready to bunk it. This made my mom angry and to yell at him. Eventually he wanted my mom to stop talking and tried to hit the wall. Instead his arm hits the glass panel of the cupboard nearby and that explains how the hall was looking like a crime scene in the morning. My mom made an enquiry with his college faculty and made him to go to college by other buses. He was reluctant at first but agreed eventually. I was sent along with him to make sure he gets into a bus.

I came back home which was having power cut. How unpredictable life can be? Any irrelevant incident can become relevantly influential towards our life. I took headphones, my phone and headed towards the bamboo swing that is hung at the entrance of the house. I Listened to radio, passed time by swinging and waited for the current to comeback.

That's how October 2016 ended for me!

Start of October'16

October has always been a memorable month for me. I consider it as the festive month of India and it is even more memorable for me personally as my own brother was born in this month. The month when I came to know that I am no longer a single child and I needed to take care of this another human when I myself not yet done discovering about me. Being the older kid in the house has its own perks and burdens. For me I don’t remember much perks but the burdens are unforgettable. I am grateful that he gave me company to play with, to gossip with and all but sometimes I wonder how life would have been if I was a single kid or a kid with a sister. I guess we will never know.

This year’s October has been memorable for the stuff I have never done before in my life. I had attended and worked for the conference conducted by my department. I wrote two articles which got published in the department magazine and got circulated during the conference to the delegates. It’s amusing how life can turn out to be. Even though I did some amazing things, as a human I did mistakes too. I am having holidays for Dussehra which is celebrated for 10 days for the Hindu goddess Durga. I was told to come to college to collect my hall ticket on 13^th (Thursday) and I kept my alarm to ring on Wednesday. It turns out to be 12^th (Wednesday) and a holiday due to Muharram.

You can guess how funny my morning would have been today. I woke sincerely to the alarm, saw the clock and thought to myself I still have some time to get ready and wasn’t prepared enough to part my way from the comfort of the bed.  I had horrible internet connection but needed some reason to stay where I am. I read some random book about scientology and dianetics. I got drowsy because of the complicated terms the author wrote in 1951. Then, I rubbed my palms together and kept them on my face to wake myself from its warmth. I got ready and left home to catch my bus. Something felt odd today; I thought maybe it is because I left home by 8 AM instead of the usual time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as genius as my intuition and didn’t realise what was going on.

I was walking to reach my bus stop. I saw bunch of cows in the street. They were splurging on the vegetables kept in the hotel bench and few people were shooing them. What would you expect them to do when we lay cement on the place where their food grows? In another street, I saw a goat sleeping with great serenity and looking at it makes my day during the walk. I stood near the traffic signal pole, waited for it to display green light and then crossed the road. Something suspicious of this traffic signal it makes any common individual to cross the road with exemplary speed. Then I passed by another street, where the houses looks luxurious and the place is too calm to be normal. I saw a pug and made a funny face at it. It just stared back at me out of boredom I guess. That precious stare never makes me to frown. I reached the bus stop and was waiting for the bus to come. There is another dog kept as a pet in a house opposite to the bus stop I was waiting at. It kept tilting its head both sides and was adorable to look at.

The bus arrives and I got squashed by the plethora of commuters. While standing in a crowded bus you need to be expert in precise stillness and I consider it as utmost requirement for a safe journey. Also you need the patience to tolerate people, sweat, weather, sudden brakes and much more. So, after the feat of travelling in that bus, I reach my destination. I walk towards my college to be stopped by the watchmen. He says the college is not working today and I am arguing with him to prove my point that my faculty has informed my class to pick their hall tickets today. I call my teacher to prove my point but turns out I made a mistake of coming to college 24 hours earlier. I said sorry for annoying or disturbing the watchmen. I call my mom and she started yelling at me and I also added more fuel to it by arguing (justifying) with her. If I checked calendar today all this wouldn’t have happened. So, my advice to whomever reading this, even though you hate calendars or just pure lazy to give a glance at it; please check it out at least once a day. It can save you from lots of troubles.

I took a bus to reach home. Luckily my mom got tired and didn’t spoke much about what happened. I went to bed and started doing a random watercolour painting as I didn't had internet and nothing interesting to watch in the television.

I thought of drawing a dragonfly in shades of black but it looked more like a corpse of an insect. Then, I drew a simple flower nearby the dragonfly.

The dragonfly (corpse) and the flower.

Then I tried to draw blue eyes, in the process I changed my mind to convert it into blue beads, then I thought of making it into a fish pond. I showed it to my dad and he said “Awesome, is it a sky?” I started with something, ended up with something and it is viewed as totally something else. I guess my paintings are more useful for stuff like Rorschach ink blot test than artistic purpose.

The fish pond 

After doing the so-called painting, I slept for a long time and it is the Best therapy in the world. 

Later, I went out to water the plants and spotted a gorgeous black butterfly with white spots in its wings. I failed to literally catch it but was able to capture its beauty as a picture. 

The black and white spotted butterfly.

Remember, Life goes on! It is our choice to make the most out of it. Even if it gives the sweetest happiness or bitter sadness.

Happy Dussehra, Muharram and an Optimistic October!!

Festive special: Onam!

Onam is a keralite festival. It has a great mythological story behind its celebrations and some interesting activities involved. I am not a malayali but in my college every year during Onam we wear a traditional Onam saree and take loads of pictures with fellow classmates and try as much as possible to make the lecturer not to take any usual classes. So, that’s the type of celebration we have on this festive occasion.

My day began with the saree draping session. It was a white cotton saree and with simple golden border and small designs was made on it using embroidery with various shades of colourful threads. With the help of my mom and my eager enthusiasm we succeeded in the draping part until it fell apart. My mom hates to do same work twice. She was in the verge of becoming grumpy but still she carefully draped the saree again. I was happy that the activity (the art of draping a saree) which sometimes takes Indian women more than 5 minutes to forever was over for me.

Then it was time to the second challenge, the horror of walking in a saree. I am not a regular user of sarees. So, it felt like I was walking by wearing a burrito or a shawarma. I daily walk to bus stop of 1km distance and it was becoming late for me to catch the right bus on time and I had to rush. But the draped cloth was making sure I was walking as slow as possible. Like each footstep per second. But I tried to stroll as fast as I could and reached the bus stop. I didn’t get a seat in the bus I took. In normal attire itself there is a 100 possible ways to get hurt while standing in a moving bus, but to make my probability of getting hurt even more I was not wearing my usual clothes. Thankfully I managed not getting hurt with lots of cringes especially at the turns and speed bumps.

I got down from the bus and reached my college. Sarees are like headphones, both need to be adjusted often. I am a bit too conscious about revealing my body to the outer world other than myself. But turns out many girls of my age are like that when they wear saree. We check whether we look fat or anorexic? Is the folds aligned correctly? Is someone mentally judging us because we did a fashion blunder? And so on. After all this, the next challenging task for me was to reach my class which is in 5^th floor. By the time I reached 1^st floor in that saree I wore half my breakfast energy got expended.

I reached the 5^th floor and saw my classmates looking pretty and feminine in their sarees. We took some pictures of ourselves. Then, the horror started. First hour was started with Accounts subject. I absolutely hate anything with numbers and have a mild form of memory loss towards anything associated with numbers like maths, cash, time, date, etc. Only few of my classmates were present and we were half asleep when my lecturer started her accounts lullaby. Post graduation life is a serious business I guess. Whenever each student entered the class we were staring at her to see how she paired it up with the blouse, what sort of accessories she used, what make up style she did and so on. Seeing this, lecturer was staring blankly at our faces I guess she got the idea that we were super distracted. But lecturers always act like lecturers. She proceeded to teach and we proceeded to sleep.

After that we were requested to attend an event about music and dance competition in the auditorium. We all went there, saw bunch of people sitting on the stage one with mridangam, one with violin, a few with mike set up parallel to their faces. It was similar to katcheri set up. They sang devotional songs. Then the dance performance started. We discussed about their selection of songs, dance moves, their team execution and all. Then it was time for speeches and announced about the chief guest, who was an eminent carnatic singer with many accolades. She also spoke about her life, career path and passion. She later sang a few lines of the Tamil song “Kaatrinile varum geetham” as a tribute to M.S. Subbalakshmi who was also a great singer. That song and its lyrics have a way to intoxicate its listeners.

Then again went back to our classes and started taking photos. I was hungry and started to eat lemon rice my mom made for my lunch. It’s funny how people can flawlessly smile to a non-animate object like camera than to the living person next to them. It does makes sense that it captures their memories, moments and it remains with them forever as long as they wish to keep it. But it made me thinking millennial youth is spending more time with their technological buddies than the actual person being with them. So, many things around them are missed, in this process. But I was enjoying the moment to see their funny poses, their funny (horrible) singing, Funny dancing and many more which might not be the same if something I wish for happens.

Suddenly my Head of the department barges into the class and asks “where is the rest of the class?” She took attendance, a senior came and informed her something and she used a swear word (sh*t). She gave a completely out of box punishment to the people who weren’t inside the classroom. She told them to interview the teachers and students in the college who are wearing an Onam saree in terms of styling, beauty and many other ways where in reality no teacher appreciates to be asked these questions. But they did go, interviewed and accomplished to know that they need to take the interviewee’s photograph and do a Presentation on it tomorrow. I was glad I was inside the classroom and away from this unpredictable trouble.

Then, another lecturer came who always tries to make us happy. She gave bunch of good compliments to others and said I look completely different in a good way I guess. Later, another lecturer came who teaches us Organisational behaviour. She is a malayali, and we made sure we don’t let her take class. We asked her what is Onam is all about? And she gave us this broad smile which looked sarcastic in my point of view. Then, she made a Malayali girl in my class to answer that question. She mentioned they don’t celebrate Onam extravagantly. She said they do this sadhya which is a festive meal served in a banana leaf with a variety of foods served with rice, Pookalam or flower Kolams which are done using flower petals in different designs on the floor, and that’s all she knows. My lecturer gave the same sarcastic smile back at her and told us about the reason and story why they celebrate it.

The story goes on like this. There was a King named Mahabali. My classmate pronounced it back as mahabalu (means big bear in Hindi) and we laughed. That king was an asura but was good king. Asuras supposed to be the villain or the evil people. But Mahabali turned out to be a genuine king. He ruled heaven and earth. All the gods saw him as a threat and wanted to annihilate him. Mahabali has a weakness to help anyone who asks for his help. So lord Vishnu goes in the form of a Brahmin named Vamana and asks for a favour. Mahabali’s guru tells him not to agree as it feels suspicious but he agrees to help.

Vamana asks for land equal to the three paces of his feet. Vamana grew big, First footstep was all over the earth, second footstep was on all of heaven and there was still one territory left Mahabali owed Vamana. Mahabali requested Vamana to keep his third step on his head as he does not have any more land left. Vamana keeps his third feet on his head and sends Mahabali to the underworld. But due to his genuine sincerity Vamana grants his wish to visit his people for 10 days and these are the days which are celebrated as Onam. Then she correlated some organisation behaviour theories with the deities of different geographical regions and the Onam mythology story she mentioned. (For proper story use Wikipedia this is just a story which my lecturer knows)

After that, same vicious circle followed, I had to catch a bus in saree and walk as fast as possible to reach home. Surprisingly there was no scorching sun and the weather was good. But I was eager to remove the saree and wear my comfy clothes. Later I felt like cooking something but whenever I cook it never turns out well. So I saw some recipes which are quick with fewer ingredients. I got inspired and did a 2 –Ingredient dessert. I took dried bits of coconut and was hitting it with a mortar and pestle at first to get it into fine pieces. This usually works for spices but not for dried coconut pieces I guess. Like I said even though I did 3 Year Degree in Food Science I am poor at cooking but good at experimenting.

I told my mom what happened and she told me to use a blender. I have seen her giving the blender jars for repair for using it with certain ingredients and I was hesitant to use and spoil the Equipment. Life is incomplete without being able to take risks I guess. So, I blended few chunks of dried coconut pieces and added deseeded dates into it and blended again. The dessert is finished. I usually hate the sharp sweetness of dates but the coconut bits helps to adjust it. It tasted good until my mom suggested to add ghee to it which suppressed the true flavours of the coconut and dates. But still it was quick and easy dessert and my hunger was fulfilled.

The dessert - Date 'n' coconut stuff!

That’s how I celebrated Onam and Happy Onam! 

Independence day!

August 15th 1947, India's independence day! Every Indian kid is saturated with this info from childhood. The most horrifying dialogue for some or hilarious one for me is from our national pledge "All Indians are my brothers and sisters" for some reason it sounds funny for me. 

During my school days, we hope for it to be an holiday but our parents and the school people made us to attend the event relating to the independence celebrations. Irony is there is no freedom to not attend the event which celebrates our freedom. We dress up, pin the tiny tricolour paper flag to our uniform, stand in rows and columns according to the class we belong to under the beautiful scorching sunshine waiting for the chief guest to magically appear soon. During the wait there is this unexplained joy of gossiping with our peers which I guess us millennials crave a lot more than nowadays tech addicted children. 

When the chief guest finally arrives, there is this great faux cheerful vibe and epic long speeches which reminds us it is just same old  lecture in different surroundings. The flag is hoisted by the chief guest, rose petals fall on the ground, crows scream, sunlight still roasting our skins and finally the speech by chief guest ends. We get to sit on the floor to watch cultural events performed by our schoolmates. There will be dance, music, dramas and even karate. Even though teachers shush us we still cheer whenever our besties perform on the stage. That pure innocence of our childhood to cheer for our friends is nothing compared to any philosophical quote I have seen so far. 

Then after all the events gets over, its time for vote of thanks. We need to get up from our sitting cross legged for a long time and blood gushes through the legs as soon as we get up. Some get slight pains, some get up flawlessly, some struggle to get up and I get weird snapping sounds like when fingers are folded and snapped to get a relief and also I get that sensation of standing over million pins underneath my heel. After vote of thanks, the national anthem is played in the speakers. Some listen patiently, some prove their singing skills, and I lip sync to the song with an expression of a professional actress. The most favorite moment of events for a kid like me was the chocolate given after the end of the event. So, that's the routine/drill followed during independence day throughout my school days. 

This year it was different for me. 

I wore a light green kurta paired with blue jeans, orange infused with white coloured earrings and a small palm sized black sling bag. I walked towards the bus stop and if you had read my previous blogs you must be knowing the fate of mine with buses. I was about to cross the road and my precious bus went by crossing far away from me in front of my eyes. The feel of eternal waiting for another bus to come is a pitiable thing to do. Especially for a person (me) who can't sit in one place and do nothing for more than an hour. I waited for a while, bunch of school kids were beside me dressed up in white and playing and giggling with each other. I saw a person taking his dog for a walk, the dog was adorable by the way. But still however I try to distract myself from the idea of waiting for long was not working out. I started fidgeting my fingers as if I am playing some musical instrument. Thank god the wait lasted for 15 minutes and i got into a bus. It was free of crowds, I got seated, the breeze passed inside the bus and felt like a luxury. 

The bus was as slow as possible. I reached late and did this fast walking on the pathway. Suddenly when i have to cross the road, an auto stops in front of me. Inside the auto was my friend, her mom and her sister. She told me to hop on and we went straight to college. Happiness are these small gestures that makes us believe in humanity. We waved our good byes to her mom and sister and did the rhythmic speed walking to the college entrance. Already we are using our hal-sleepy, tired bodies to walk fast and the students who are in charge of the event instructing us to walk even more faster and go inside, its late. The reasonable thing is to give a tired or annoyed look but something about this friendship that made us to laugh till we reached the gate.

We split to stand towards the our respective class queues. The chief  guest arrives and good thing about my college is they make everything short and sweet. I believed that would happen until i discovered that the chief guest is a living Wikipedia in human form. She talked, talked for so long that we started talking with our peers. The speech ended, a few girls sang patriotic songs, a girl orated about independence in Hindi and vote of thanks was done. The best part was that we were also invited for alumni meet on the same day. I met with my classmates, took pictures, went to our UG department faculty, ate the complimentary breakfast and the meet was over. That's it? So, we planned of making our reunion more memorable. 

We walked, discussed where to go and were confused where to go. After a long roaming and brainstorming, we thought of going to semozhi poonga. It is this spacious green park in Chennai. So, we take an auto and reach this park. We take tickets for us and I take pictures of the place. They were walking and i was stopping by to take picture of the flora. I am a big nature admirer. Finally they sat in a place where we talk about our past, present and future plans. It was making me feel old and young at the same time. Then we walked towards the kids play area and each of us sat in swings and talked. Some went to buy something to eat and drink. Some of us thought of making a trip to somewhere outside Chennai as a group. And some were running out of time to reach their homes. I was enjoying the swing. Maybe this is how freedom feels like. It was one memorable Independence day.

Swinging with my besties!

Delhi days!

This post is based on my trip to Delhi and a series of experiences that I got. I can guarantee you it’s a very long post but it is worth a read if you want to pass some time. Happy reading! :)

In the month of May, I visited Delhi with my mom and brother. Apparently dad was a bit busy and missed out the trip. It was a combination of Interview for my college admission and a Family trip. I never thought of visiting "The Delhi" with my family. It all happened when the venue mentioned was Delhi to my Group discussion and personal interview for a master degree. At first I was not that much into it. But my family are such people who will think (preach) education is sacred than anything. In a way it might be true but not always. So, they agreed to make me attend it even though the location is 2000+ Kilometers away from where I reside. So, I guess that makes my people an extraordinary family. 

The first challenge was the ticket booking for the transport. Usually my dad takes care of all the planning for a trip but this time it was my turn/responsibility/burden. I compared airline and railway costs and came to the conclusion that railway tickets are way cheaper. Except there is a hell one must go through in order to book a railway ticket online that too for the first time. First the registration, then long wait for the account registered message, then browsing for the train going to Delhi info, then the availability of that specific train syncing with our journey dates, then the booking, then we hope the server doesn’t go 404 error, finally the booking successful email. After all this, same process in repeat for booking a train for the return journey but the trains with A/C were all booked and eventually I opted for a non-A/C train.

After successfully booked, here comes the family drama. My parents were debating that travelling in a piece of metal (train) for more than 24 hours in this horrible heat can be lethal. So, again I had to go through the agony of cancelling the return train ticket and book a flight as per their suggestion. Luckily booking a flight was quite easier and less complicated. TA-DA! The next challenge was to what to pack. As the flight ticket suggested only 15 kg baggage is allowed we were extra cautious about our luggage. Due to recent Chennai floods our weight machine got ruined. So, we had to pack as less as possible was the only solution. When I was rechecking for all the things required. I found my mom kept the print out for the cancelled train instead of the booked one. Thank god I checked.

 Day 1 (15/07/2016): The journey begins

The train departure was at 6:10 AM.  We woke up by 3 and got prepped within 3:30. I could see stars in the dark sky.  The streets were filled with silence and illuminated by yellow street lights. My dad called his auto pal and dropped us at central railway station. The station was filled with people sleeping on the floor and some people anxiously waiting to know the status of the train they will be boarded. We drank milk to fulfil our empty stomachs. Then, we waited for the Rajdhani express to arrive. The train started moving and we said our good bye to our dad who is giving a pity face that he couldn’t come along with us. Well sometimes life tests us to make hard decisions and we have to sort out which priorities are more important.

The early morning sun emerged in the sky. We spoke with the people seated beside us. They were a Mother and son who will be taking another train to Punjab after reaching Delhi. They were tired and started sleeping. Meanwhile I was watching landscapes moving past the glass window. Then I read a Magazine offered by the IRCTC named “Rail Bandhu”. Then we were super hungry as the only thing we consumed was 50ml milk we drank at the station. So, when the hospitality people were carrying food stuff and moving both ways without offering us any food it made us even hungrier. After a long wait it was our turn to receive the goodies to tummy. In the name of morning tea, they offered sachets of milk powder, tea bags/ coffee powder, biscuits, cups and flasks containing hot water. We prepped our own drink and had it along with biscuits. It was just a temporary fix for our hunger.

Then, glimpse of the outer world through the window. After a while, hunger pangs arrived again with a special new addition – The tummy roar. In my home we aren’t that punctual about eating food at right time. But when it comes to train journey somehow the stomach acts as an alarm to splurge over food as if I won’t get to eat next time. When this was going on, the smell of the breakfast made my agony worse. We lost hope because by the time they serve breakfast our own stomach can lead us to our own deaths. So, mom opened a pack of fruit bread and gave us to eat. Just that time those fellows came with our breakfast. As predicted the breakfast was served as late as possible.

We got an aluminium foil bowl containing Kesari and Upma. Then, paper pouch containing two slices of white bread accompanied by tomato ketchup and butter. My brother chose Non- veg option and he got omelette with peas instead of Kesari and Upma. We ate it like we have been invited to some kind of food fiesta. That’s how hungry we were. Satisfied the hunger but now suffered out of boredom. Unfortunately, there are only two radio stations going on and nothing much to enjoy after a while. Whenever I get bored my mom gets reminded of all the worries in the world and starts discussing about it. So, that happened and I wished the journey ended soon.

After a long tiring day, Lunch arrives. By the time my mom finished her thoughts and got tired I lost my appetite. I wanted to click the pictures of the food served but too afraid of the disapproving looks from other people. Thus forgot what I even ate at lunch. I remember getting a super salty kofta curry with rice and roti for dinner. It was so salty felt like getting yellow coloured sea water as side dish. What so ever I had lunch and a dinner and a boring journey which lasted too long.

Day 2 (16/07/2016): End of the Train journey

So, we crossed most of the India during night I guess. By morning we were nearby to Agra. We were excited to see various landscapes filled with sand dunes, grasslands, farmlands, villages, etc. We were prepping up ourselves to our arrival at Delhi. The same monotonous routine tea followed by breakfast happened. Those people who served bland food and with so much delay in schedule begged for tips before the train was reaching Delhi. I felt so bad that after paying so much amount for our tickets which includes fee for food. These people shamelessly ask for money. As if we are billionaires and running some sort of orphanage they expect us (consumers) to pay them cash without our willingness. This type of attitude towards looting the customers instead of serving them properly has to be changed. Workers need to feel grateful for having a job than feeling greedy to find ways to earn (loot) extra cash. This spoiled the day. I hope these kinds of little (or a huge) issues get abolished in order to bring back the trust in humanity.

Anyways, we finally reached Delhi! The heat is even worse than Chennai summer. At least in Chennai sweat comes here the heat waves are so different it was as if we were micro waved. The next challenge was to find a transport that can leave us at our designated hotel we booked. The whole train journey drained the energy in us we just followed the first auto guy who offered us a ride. I demanded him to put meter and he obeyed my words and asked me to pay ₹300 even before starting the auto. I was confused, and then understood he was never going to put the meter and we were exhausted but I know the value of money so I tried bargaining and made the offer to ₹250. The hotel I booked was nearby to ISKON temple.

The nightmare was when we crossed the ISKON temple but couldn’t find the hotel so far. Even the Auto guy never heard of the hotel’s name. A sudden panic sets in me. My mind played set of questions like “What if there is no such hotel? Did I book properly? What if it is some kind of scam? And so on” I did browse their website and testimonials yet too many doubts. When we spotted the hotel’s billboard I felt good. I assured myself that I am not retarded. We all entered the lobby and checked in. The great struggle was my family aren’t that familiar with Hindi and these hotel people have no idea what we are talking in English. So, first the lobbyist showed us the room and we kept our luggage but requested us to fill some forms. The room was in 1^st floor. I went down and filled the details about us and they asked me to show our Identity proof.

I went upstairs and brought our Aadhar card. The guy took it and photocopied it. Now he asked me to pay full amount before checking out. I wasn’t feeling good about paying full amount without finishing our stay so I negotiated with him to pay half the amount and pay the other half when we are checking out. He was okay with it and I had to climb the stairs again towards the room for the money and go down to the lobby to pay the negotiated amount. I informed him to arrange for 2 day tour to visit Delhi and Agra. He gave a very doubtful expression and told us he will arrange and tell to us by lunch. By the time I came up to the room. I got tired. Now, the next essential thing according to me and my brother was the Wi-Fi. I sent my brother to ask them the password for connecting to Wi-Fi. He came up and when I typed the device showed authentication error. Then we typed without caps on. It got connected. Damn why don’t they instruct properly.

Then according to the plan we should have started shopping but the body wasn’t cooperating. We were too exhausted. So, shopping plan postponed and ordered for lunch. It was dhal and roti. I am not a big fan of chapattis but the roti and dhal made were delicious. I don’t know maybe it was because we were not served on time during the train travel or because of the local ingredients used or just because we were hungry. It was delicious and fulfilling.  Then we realised we haven’t heard from the receptionist about our tour details. When I enquired they were like the tour operator has switched off his phone. I realised why the day is getting so useless.

I went online and booked for tour after my mom’s suggestion. That website is even trickier than the train booking website. It shows I am not a registered user. So, I register myself and there comes power cut. Spoof! Gone! All the efforts are gone. So, I call the toll-free number shown in the website of the tour operator. That lady has a mixture of sweet and annoyed tone. She asked me which tour to book and how many people are coming and asked me to mail me the other details. I was explaining her because of the power cut I can’t mail her but she was like then I can’t process your tour booking. Then I said okay fine I will mail the details as soon as I get the power back. My head was pounding like anything. I was frustrated. Having an interview next day and tour not yet booked which can make this trip waste of time and money. Or we could enjoy four more days of Delhi inside the hotel room itself.

The power comes back. I mailed my details and waited for the tour booked confirmation but no confirmation came from them. So, this time I tried my best with the damn registration again. My brother did the rest. Then I need to get a confirmation code by message but we later realised the phone tower was not visible. Why my patience is tested so much? So, my brother does the booking again from the start and I was standing on the bed stretched my hand as high as possible with the phone to catch the signal. I move around and waited for the message. *TING* Message received. Oh my god. Finally we booked the one day tour for Agra and Mathura, then another one day Delhi tour.

My mother and I thought of visiting the ISKON temple without wasting the day. My brother was tired and not interested so he stayed at the room. It was around 600 meter distance from the hotel room to the temple. We walked and it felt like 1 kilometre. Sometimes Google maps can be wrong (technically our body was having aversion to do any activity except eating). We reached the temple. My mom was persistent about buying flowers to offer the god. I didn't really wanted to buy it as I thought it is waste of money. Eventually I bargained and bought the jasmine garland.

We went inside the place it was totally different world. The architecture, the people, the idols, the pictures, and much more proves it. We have to remove oue slippers at a counter in return they gave us a token. And we washed our feet with tap water provided before entering the temple. We roamed inside the temple, garden, shop and finished the visit. On the way back to the hotel we had a chilled creamy lassi served in a terracotta tumbler. It tasted delicious. You will never get such creamy bliss in south Indian lassi but it has its own distinct speciality.

Later in the hotel room I was in heaven. Unlimited internet, TV channels, air-conitioning and two exciting trips ahead is something new and relaxing to experience. Somehow the day was over very soon. We ordered the same yellow dhal gravy and rotis for dinner just because we couldn't decide what to order and to avoid food poisoning. Also, the price was low. That's how the day ended.

Day 3 (17/07/2016): The interview day!

My brother stayed at the hotel room itself. I and my mom took an auto to the venue we need to reach. One must never show traits of being naive. The auto people deceive and ask for more money. I learnt my mistake of not bargaining enough to the auto man at the Delhi station itself and was not okay to get fooled and agree with their money demands. So I asked multiple auto guys until one auto person genuinely agreed to accept the wage shown in his meter. So, the venue was Indian Social Institute. As we were in a hurry to reach we didn’t had our breakfast. So we were dead hungry and reached the venue very soon. The place was surrounded by many mandhirs/ temples. Thankfully a roadside food stall was run by an old lady was near the entrance of the venue. We had idlies with chutney. Breakfast satisfied by south Indian delicacy.

The interview started and we were split into batches. The tragedy is I was in the last batch. People were looking into their Smartphones, some were talking to their new found acquaintances, some were nervous, and I was sincerely observing the auditorium’s features. Then got super bored of waiting for other batches to finish I started playing a game on my phone. Then I asked a girl who looked a bit older than me about shopping places in Delhi. Turns out she belongs to Delhi and works in Chennai. She told some places and specified the shopping significance of each place in terms of fashion, brands, quality, price and much more.

Meanwhile my turn for the group discussion came and after that I met my mom at the waiting place. We ate a sandwich and lassi for lunch. She met another aunty who gave her company and both of them wanted to visit the religious places that are nearby. I was okay with it. Again I waited for the other batches to finish their personal interview and spoke with another girl from Chennai who was nervous and hysterical about this whole personal interview concept. I tried to encourage her that it will be easy. She was being grateful towards me for supporting her even though I am just a mere acquaintance. My turn came and it turns out the personal interview part is a bit less daunting than the group interview. Finally it got over and I was waiting for my mom to return from her unexpected expedition. Suddenly the daughter of the aunt who also went along with my mom was ordering me to call my mom to return fast. I enquired why she couldn’t call her mom and she gave me an absurd reason that both her and her mom’s phone is with her. I was confused. Why her mom would give off her phone to her daughter and went out? I did call my mom and told that that lady’s daughter needs her to come back right now. They returned and we said our good bye.

We came back to the room and relaxed. I suddenly thought there is no time for shopping as only two more day are left which we will be touring the place. So we ate our lunch. We had Roti and dhal again. We hoarded it in our mouths and moved out of the hotel for shopping. As per the suggestions from the internet, Interview friend and mom newly found friend it all narrowed down to one place - Sarojini Nagar. We asked for autos but many said can’t go that far and finally one auto guy agreed. It was similar to Pondy bazaar in Chennai. Discount shops, street vendors, Mini shops, complexes, and many more depicting a shopping paradise.

We walked through the streets with the mindset of buying clothes within our budget. A useful tool to get good clothes at low price is bargaining which I was not well-versed with but I still tried wherever I could. We were dehydrated by exploring the place and drank badam milk at a stall. We roamed as much as we could but the evening was turning into night and we were people who will be inside houses before 6:30 pm. Also my brother was annoyed about us dragging him to a shopping place instead of let him take rest at the hotel. I demanded another thirst quencher after seeing a lemon soda seller.

My mom was totally against eating from platform sellers but at that time for me drinking it made sense. So, I one for me with the money I had. Later my brother tagged along and ordered one for him. The seller took a lemon squeezer and squeezed the lemon to ooze out the lemon juice into the glasses. Then he added bubbly soda liquid till the brim and stirred gently and asked us whether to add masala into it or not. I wondered what masala he would add. We said okay quickly because we were dying to drink it. He took jaljeera powder and the drink was stirred to proper mix and to pop out the excess bubbles. He finally gave and I drank it within one gulp. It was quite refreshing. We took an auto back to hotel. The traffic is more during nights compared to morning ones. We were reaching the place at snail pace. After we reached, I took the clothes I bought and tried it to know how it fits me. Then I folded and packed it into the luggage bags.

We ordered our dinner. Guess what? We thought of ordering something different. I was not okay with the change but I went along with the idea. We ordered chicken biryani. It tasted sweet. I had eaten many spicy biryanis in my life but this one I regret eating it. It was a combination of bland and sweetness. Never order non-native dish unless they are specialised in it. Also go with the gut feeling. This point well noted. After the horrible dinner we were excited for the trip next day.

Day 4 (18/07/2016): Agra fort + Taj Mahal + Mathura Krishna Temple (Trip 1)

After long haul of events finally proper trip happened. As per the name suggests, those were the places that were shown to us by the tour operator. We had to wake up and get ready early morning to catch the bus as the commute from Agra to Delhi involves 5 hours based on their website. The funny thing was even though we booked the tour the only proof was a confirmation message. We had no idea whether we are guaranteed a tour or simply the website was a hoax or something. I was hoping for good things to happen.

We were contacted by the tour operator one hour prior to our journey. I felt a rush of relief. So, we took an auto and waited at the pickup point. We waited and waited for the bus for a long time. I spotted a squirrel perched upon the wall behind us. The place was surrounded by a hospital, hotel, and some random buildings. We got bored and hungry. It was strangely good and scary waiting for something standing in the platform. Good thing was the cool fresh breeze of the early morning. The scary thing was the stares from random people as if we are waiting there to execute some kind of evil plan. Or maybe it’s just how my brain interprets their doubtful expressions.

The bus finally arrived. It was air-conditioned and our seats were at the rear end of the bus. We relaxed as we were the last people to be picked up and we were not sure about the breakfast as it was not mentioned in the itinerary. We began munching on masala puffed rice that my mom bought along with her. But the guide mentioned our first halt was towards a food place for our breakfast. I was sort of relieved that we are getting breakfast but was disappointed that food expenses were not included in the tour. So, we came out of the bus and went inside the food place to eat our breakfast.

We were deciding on what to order considering our budget. Well I ordered a plate of Idly, Mom ordered roti and dhal and brother ordered aloo paratha with curd. Apparently ordering south Indian dishes in North India is absolutely bad decision. The Circumference of the idly was not even the size of my pinky finger and the chutney was bland. I took bites from what my mom and brother ordered they were absolutely delicious. Mistake noted. Never order something that is not familiar with the place especially food.   

After finishing our breakfast we went into the bus to reach Agra. Agra was having ancient look in terms of houses, architecture, people, dressing, markets and so on. First we were shown the Agra fort. The outer wall of the fort was looking like it was painted using crimson, scarlet, burgundy and other shades of red. It had intricate designs carved into it. We were shown the gardens, halls, fountains, history and other more interesting things about the fort.  The heat was bit high. Thank god we had umbrellas.

Later we were taken to an arts and crafts emporium. We were shown how marbles were carved and the precious stones were inserted into it. We were then taken to another room for the sales of marble goods. There were statues, photo frames, mini Taj Mahals and many more fancy display items made using marble for sale. We were shown how to detect difference between fake and original marble. For some reason my mom was interested to buy a marble photo frame. I was insisting her not to purchase any heavy and useless goods for which we have to pay extra for our baggage at the airport for our return flight. But she was a bit dejected that she can’t purchase it. We were taken to next room consisting of textiles of all kinds. There were shawls, sarees, kurtas, and many more.

I was interested to buy kurtas as it will be useful for my daily wear at college. They had kurtas with chickani embroidery work in various colours. I chose a fluorescent green and maroon kurtas. It costs me more than my mom’s wish to buy the marble photo frame. She gave me an extremely sad look. I felt guilty even though I purchased something meaningful. I took her back to the marble section and bought a photo frame of palm size inscribed with semiprecious gems. She was happy instantly. They showed us other room filled with leather goods and we were not intending to buy anymore but enquired whether my brother wants anything. He just wanted the trip to get over and take rest. I wish life was as simple as my brother’s mind.

Then, we were taken to a south Indian restaurant for our lunch in Agra. We first went into buffet hall but were not okay with the foods presented. So we went upstairs for ordering food separately. My mom ordered Idly, brother ordered something but I forgot and I ordered an oothapam. My mom and brother got their food first but I didn’t get mine soon. So, I nibbled small chunks of food from their plates. I got a black charred semblance irregularly round oothapam with some powder dusted over it. I like my food to look appetising and charred black is not helping my appetite. When I took a bite of the oothapam I was amazed by its deliciousness. I ate till my heart’s content. New thought: Don’t judge a South Indian delicacy just by its colour.

We were travelling again in the bus towards the most popular destination in India - The Taj Mahal. The vehicles were halted far away at a walking distance from Taj Mahal due to pollution reasons and its effects towards the marble I guess. We had choices to reach the entrance by walk or by electric taxis or by carts pulled by horses and camels. But our tour guide insisted everyone to take an electric taxi and we followed his orders. We got our tickets from the tour guide for which he collected extra money in the bus itself. We were asked to purchase strange pair of cotton shoe covers. I was hesitant at first but everyone was purchasing and it felt odd not to get them. So I asked for set of three and purchased in a hurry. Forget peer pressure, nowadays purchases inducing pressures are increasing.

The place was wide with luscious green gardens, red walls, and bright sunlight but not to forget the great Taj Mahal. I actually didn’t anticipated anything from the place but it sort of felt like a huge marble graveyard built nearby a river. I know it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a famous monument of India. We took pictures and walked towards the main building. The time to unwrap the strange cotton shoe covers begins. That thing was similar to a headgear used by the cooking people in kitchens. It has an elastic band and an opening through which we have to insert our feet along with the shoes/sandals we were wearing. I cynical of its usage but the heat that gets radiated from the marble flooring of Taj made us to be grateful that we bought those strange cotton covers instead of walking barefoot in this scorching summer.

We went inside the Taj Mahal and walked around the two tomb stones and exited. We walked and got tired. There was a small museum nearby which consisted of paintings and some interesting things related to the place. And there was a banner stating that day was International Museum day. What a coincidence to visit the museum of an epic place on the International Museum day. We came back to the bus in which we were told the guide will be replaced by another person. We were taken to our last destination of the trip.  We reached Mathura. Mathura is a place famous for the Krishna temple. We spotted peacocks nearby the roads. We were dropped nearby to the temple and we walked towards it.

After walking the Agra fort and Taj Mahal our feet got too tired to walk anymore. But we walked for the fact that this is the last destination. To our surprise it was not a temple but a place surrounded by many temples and small shops.  We drank lassi to regain energy. We forgot to follow the tour gang and suddenly got baffled by the idea of getting lost but was assured to have the number of the bus driver. So, we left our footwear outside and roamed inside the temples and spotted our tour gang. We joined along with them and roamed some more. The temple had history of the Hindu deity Lord Krishna’s birth. It also had pictures depicting Krishna’s life and his followers. After finishing the visit to temple, we were taken to a shop to purchase Agra petha which is a famous sweet in that region. We weren’t hungry and weren’t intending to purchase the sweet so we waited outside the shop. Mathura was filled with monkeys and cows roaming here and there. We observed them during the wait. Later we boarded to the bus to return back to Delhi.

On the way back to Delhi, some old men in our bus asked the driver to stop nearby a Liquor shop. We were halted near a liquor shop for a while but the old men enquired and didn’t purchase anything from that shop. I guess people are weird. Why can’t they just buy at Delhi itself instead of prolonging other’s dinner time? Then, we were stopped at a dhabba. My mom was not a big fan of unhygienic foods so we were hesitant to leave the bus for dinner. Under certain exceptional circumstances like based on the location and time it felt okay to eat at that place itself.

We came a bit later than the others and ordered for our dinner. I ordered fried rice, brother ordered roti with curd and mom ordered curd rice. The place was running using a generator of lesser capacity so there was continuous power off and on similar to the lightning of discotheque. We got extra things like sliced onion and cucumber and pickle. The guy who gave us the bill wrote additional cost for salad and pickle. What a business strategy I thought. Giving a customer extra things along with what they ordered and adding it into bill as if we ordered.

We were tired to argue and settled the bill. We were left at the pickup point. The hotel is nearby but Mom was not okay walking the Delhi streets at night but I preferred walking than negotiating with an auto guy. So, we walked for a while and the road split into two. We were doubtful which road to walk along. Then we asked a passerby the route towards Iskcon temple and relieved by the fact we were on correct path. We reached the hotel and had a deep sleep. A day well spent.

Day 5 (19/07/2016): Delhi tour!! (Trip 2)

After roaming everything around finally we started with official Delhi tour. This tour package was also booked with the same tour operator. We were told that the tour starts by 9AM. But a call came to us that they started the tour and they want us to reach India Gate immediately. We ate our breakfast in a hurry and reached India gate by auto. Luckily we reached on time but couldn’t find the tour bus. When I called and asked they told me it is a white bus near the pond. We walked a long stretch towards opposite direction of the India Gate. Suddenly the tour guide tells me to come near the three flats near the India Gate. I was like what three flats? Where is it? And he started telling me to come to India Gate in annoyed tone. We walked back maybe even ran towards the India Gate and saw Three flags. I saw a guy looking in all the directions as if he lost a diamond.

I asked him whether he was the tour guide and he said yeah now go to the bus. What kind of irresponsible tour guide doesn’t mention change in tour timings and place a day before the tour? The dumb kind I guess. I was furious at the way he was treating us as if we are some kind of Farm animals. We took a picture of ourselves at the India Gate and hurried ourselves to the bus. We were first taken to Lotus Temple. And my temper increased because unnecessarily he made us take an auto from the hotel which was at walk able distance to lotus temple and didn’t even gave a minute for us to explore India Gate and gave us a death stare as if because we were late his life is ruined. And also our original pick up point supposed to be lotus temple. Well I clenched my teeth for a while and thought karma will take a toll on his life. Just because someone spoils your routine doesn’t mean you have to get affected by it. I took a deep breath and exhaled all the tension swirled in my mind and came to my normal self. We went inside lotus temple which was a marvellous piece of architecture. The place was surrounded by lush green garden. The inside of Lotus temple is a prayer hall which was tranquil and helped me to overcome the tensions of the day.

Then we were taken to Qutub Minar. It is the tallest brick minaret in the world. It was also surrounded by some monuments inscribed with mesmerising art. Then we were taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial. We saw the rooms where Indira Gandhi lived and died. The place was filled with the objects, clothes, pictures related to Indira Gandhi. Then we were taken to Birla mandir which is a temple and then visited rajghat which had a square platform made by granite surrounded by greenery. It’s a Memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Then, we were shown the Government and political buildings that are prominent in Delhi. We had our lunch a South Indian restaurant in Karol Bagh.

Then we were taken to Red fort which looked similar to Agra fort. Here there were numerous shops inside the entrance of the fort. Due to the guide’s negligent planning we weren’t able to see the museum of red fort as it is closed by Evening. We reached 5 minutes late. Why can’t the guide showed us the places with time restriction first? Well I guess money is the only thing that they care about not the service that is expected by the travellers. Then we were shown balaji temple and the tour ended.

We asked where we are dropped at. But he was so good at his job he told us he can’t leave us near our hotel. So, he left us near a metro station and told us to take two more trains to reach the hotel. How irresponsible of him. But he made up his mind and we had to get down at the station. I was disappointed by the slacking behaviour of the guide, locations that were shown in a hurry but I guess I shouldn’t expect much from a one day tour operators. I have only once taken a metro train in Chennai. I had no idea which train to take, which platform to stand at, at which station to switch and many more doubts as it is new for us. We asked the ticket counter personnel that which train station is nearby to lotus temple and he gave us three tokens which coasted us 180 rupees. I was embarrassed of the fact my mom told we should take an auto instead of train but I insisted it will be cheaper using a train. Turns out taking a train with many people is not cheaper than auto fare.

We showed our token to a machine and it opened its door for entry. Then we and our bags were checked by security. We were confused which platform to take. I enquired a person but he said he doesn’t know. Then we asked another person who helped us know which train to take. We boarded the train which was crowded. The evening was turning into night. I asked an uncle to tell us the station where we require taking another train. He showed a diagram on the top of the train door which indicates where the train currently is and which station it reaches next. Thank god for the non-confusing diagram. We came to the station correctly now we needed to board into our second train. The train arrived and was crowded even more than the previous one. The train moves and halted in few stops and suddenly stops with a thud for no apparent reason. A voice in from the speaker mentions that due to some technical problem the train is stopped from moving. We waited for half an hour and I was feeling bad for not listening to my mother and taking a wrong decision. The train moved finally.

At one stop a Family with a cute kid came inside the train. That kid took the empty water bottle from my bag and hit me and laughed. I was thinking can’t the day get any worse. My mom gave an annoyed look towards me. She thought I was teasing the kid and told me to stop it. I was explaining her that the water bottle is ours the kid took it out of curiosity and even hit me. Then she realised what happened and smiled at the kid. How many crazy things can happen in a day? We finally reached our stop. My mom went near a shop to buy some biscuits. We asked a guard which direction to reach iskcon temple and he showed us a direction towards left. The place was very dark outside. We trusted the directions told by the guard and walked for a while. My intuition made me think that we were walking in the wrong direction but still who am I to tell which direction is wrong I am new to this place.

We walked and walked until we reached Lotus Temple instead of Iskcon temple. The guard told us the wrong direction. Oh My God. Our backs were aching and we were tired. We still walked but reached a dead-end. I was petrified. An auto guy who was drunk asked us whether we need lift. We told no we don’t need a ride but he was persistent. Another auto guy stopped by and asked and both these two started arguing that he asked first but he is drunk. I was in a dilemma whether to take a risk by walk the long way around backwards again or to take the auto ride from a drunk driver who looks like a movie villain. At the time I couldn’t take a decision. My mom and my brother took the auto of the guy who asked us first and asked me to come and sit inside the auto. Another guy sits beside the drunken auto guy to assure us a safe ride who looks neither drunk nor trustworthy.

We rode in the auto and I was desperate to get out of stench filled auto. We told him the hotel was nearby the Isckon temple. He asked us from which place we are from. My mouth blurts out somewhere in South India. I don’t know if it was sarcastic or offensive but he asked where in South India. Before I blurt out something involuntarily I said Chennai. Viola! The auto guy started singing lungi dance song and was moving the handle in all directions. I was sure we are going to die of an epic accident due to a drunkard. We reached Iskcon temple and he halts there and says where the hotel is? We told him it will come by going further. He asked how much further if he goes the hotel comes. I utter 5 or 7 feet more. My fate was so worse. Even though he was drunk he rode exactly five feet long and asked me where the hotel is? I was feeling a mixture of annoyed, tired, scared, sleepy and a set of emotions related to misery. I somehow managed to make him go even further. When the billboard of the hotel was seen I exclaimed the hotel is there! I was ecstatic for reaching safely. My mom paid him the money he asked and we left the hell to sleep in peace.

 Day 6 (20/07/2016): Back to Chennai!

The flight was scheduled at 2 PM. We ate our breakfasts and relaxed for a while. We informed dad about our flight arrival to Chennai. We did miss him throughout the trip. We packed our bags and started over thinking whether each bag are over 15Kgs. I tried to adjust some heavy things from on luggage to another. The baggage limit for the flight was 15Kgs for each passenger. We locked the room and settle the amount we need to pay to the hotel. Asked for an auto towards domestic airport but many refused by saying they don’t have permit. I have no idea what they were talking about but I finally got an auto guy to take us to the airport.

The airport is very far I guess the journey was taking long time. Good thing we left early from the hotel. The bad thing about auto travel is that the hot air passes through us is similar to convection mode of the oven. It blasts us with hot air. We were hoping to reach the airport soon to escape from the weather’s tantrums. We reached the airport and took our Aadhar cards for verification by security. We sat in a bench and had no Idea what to do next. We were not frequent flight travellers. To tell the truth it was my third time taking a flight and second time for my mother and brother. We then roamed around the airport to know what others doing and to explore the infrastructure of the airport. Then we realised whomever having tickets can give bags to them and get inside the other end of the airport. To our surprised all the bags together came around 15Kgs. We worried about the baggage to much I guess. We entered the other side of the airport after a series of check-up. We saw shops, food court and escalators that lead to waiting hall. We waited and ate a packet of biscuits.

The flight we needed to board arrived a bit late. We walked in a queue and taken to the flight in a bus. I booked the flight with the best deal so I shouldn’t expect royal treatments. After all the series of events during the trip I learnt the perks of being non-expectant. The flight moved and we were up in the sky. The sky looked magnificent with dollops of soft cotton lookalike clouds in the serene blue backdrop. I and my mom read the magazine that was provided. Then we ate chocolates which my mom kept in the bags in Chennai itself and discovered just in the morning while packing the bags. Anyways eating sweet things at the higher altitude is surprisingly different experience I guess.

We saw marina beach and Chennai city from the flight. I got excited. The flight landed a bit late the time mentioned in the ticket but who cares as long as we are safe and sound. We came to arrival section of Chennai domestic airport. There was a metal tilted conveyor which was delivering luggage of the passengers. It was interesting to watch it’s mechanism but also we were anxiously waiting for our luggage to arrive. We took our bags and went to the exit. We waited for my dad to pick us up. He came in a car and we immediately loaded the luggage into it and sat inside. We were back to Chennai. It’s nice to go back to the place which we call home.