Bangalore – Page 4 – Helmet Pinched

Insomnia; amongst other problems.

I’ve been wondering for the past hour or so now, about why it is that I’m awake. I saw a nice movie, it got over late and I know its Saturday night, but the thing is; Ratheesh who is here with me hit the bed and began snoring 40 minutes back. He took approximately 12 minutes to go into deep slumber. Well, thats something I really envy a lot of people for – Sleep. Sneha sleeps so peacefully, no worries, she looks so fresh when she wakes up. I’ve been telling myself that I’ve been sleeping enough, but I know that I’ve been doing a shitty job at giving myself some rest. Rest for my brain and heart which do not stop thinking and working. I’m worried about myself.

Anyway, last week went as expected… fruitless, pointless, jobless and yes overall it was another week I’d forget. Like the week never happened. I took a day off on Friday and decided to spend some time with my cousin. I adore him and the way he takes things so easily. Guess its just the beginning and he’s going to have to deal with a lot of shit. Shit thats coming his way fast and with a lot of thunder. Well, good that he has me around to help him out *winks* so yeah, we spent the entire day playing games and talking. We decided to watch a movie and he picked up the most disgraceful movie ever made – Alien Vs Hunter. Hell yeah! there’s a movie with that name, go check it up. Trust me, its nothing less than utter crap. It was nearly as good as you and me wearing masks and running around pretending to be aliens. We decided to cut the crap and get back to gaming. After this I went off to meet Ratheesh and Avi for dinner. It was Ratheesh’s birthday on the 28th and I got wet in the rain on my way back. Bangalore rocks – rains whenever I feel sad *winks again*

Ratheesh returned with me and I’m happy that I’m not alone over the weekend. He’s a chirpy fellow who keeps talking and never lets me roam onto nostalgic, burnt patches of my thoughts which would just make me sad. I went and picked up Deepak from forum (I have no clue why!) I guess I should have asked him to take a rick or something; he isn’t a chick you see. Well, maybe next time. So, I picked him up and we watched a mallu movie together. Together, technically, yes. Deepak dozed off on the bed midway. Ordered some shitty food, watched some more movies, Ratheesh made some weirdish, tea-ish kinda thing which we drank and then we hit the roads again! Roamed around in forum, dropped Deepak home, had dinner and came back home. We then watched a mallu movie which totally rocked and I’m currently in a malluish mood full of mallu thoughts (No! I know what you’re thinking and no, its not porn!) well a lot of thoughts and emotions in me that make me a mallu seemed to resurface and I like it. I also realized my long lost love for Karnatic music. I actually like it a lot, the way they sing and express complex mallu words and syllables.

Thats it then and I was supposed to sleep an hour ago, but I still can’t sleep. I roamed around on orkut for a while, got bored and thought of writing in. I’m still not sleepy, so some music maybe and then eventually; I hope my tired eyes give way to a few hours of rest. The music that I listen to like an OCD patient are – Rabbi Shergil – Kitni der tak, Atif Aslam – Meri Kahani, KK – Aasman ke and Teri yaadein – Love story. I know! I need to do something about my unending want for love and romance. I feel stupid sometimes about the way I feel about these songs. A lot of people seem to float around me and these songs make me happy. Crazy shit, I must sleep now. Another day in paradise comes to end.

-Anup

Drizzle me back!

Rain This might sound like another one of my posts dedicated to my love for this city – Bangalore and Yes! It sure is. I love this city very much. I thought I had stopped wanting to be here or sometimes I ended up thinking that the others who bitched about this place were right. God Bangalore traffic, the people, the food, the crowd, the expensive place that it is and it went on. Most people crossed usual limits of hatred when describing their time here in Bangalore. I wouldn’t want to sound like an insensitive bastard who doesn’t under their feelings, but seriously; is this place that bad?

I mean, common, whats wrong? Traffic? You’ve got FM, you’ve got music, you’ve got people, you’ve got such a lot of things to do when you’re stuck in traffic. What else? Its crowded? I actually feel more secure because of all the people I find around me. And moreover, it is unsafe, they say. Tell me, where is it safe these days anyway? Its unfair to curse the city for stupid reasons like traffic, unfriendly people and overcrowded malls. If you don’t like the malls because its crowded; don’t go! If you don’t like the people, don’t talk. I really can’t loathe the masses enough; those who curse this city for no reason. Hey you! Yes, you… I despise you.

When I look at this city, I see my future here. I look at the roads and I see that they’re working on it. The traffic, ahh, its chaotic, I throw a tantrum whenever I feel like it, but thats when the FM comes into picture and I seem to forget the pain! Now, I’m sure a lot of people aren’t patient, but trust me, you just need to give yourself in. The more you struggle, the more you end up frustrating yourself. I’ve learned that its better to give in than struggle in this god forsaken world. People don’t know love anymore, so why would you try? Just let yourself go and let time fly by! Things will happen as they are supposed to. You and I cannot alter time or the proceedings it carries with itself. All we can do is swim along or against its waves, but then, it’ll decide who wins and who drowns!

Must stop myself from ranting so much. Anyway, the deal is, its drizzling, here in Bangalore and when it drizzles, I just fall in love with the world around me. The roads, the green leaves dripping droplets of heavenly tears, the wet puppies vigorously shaking themselves off of all the mud and water they’ve just played in. The people getting wet and still managing to smile! Finally, me. I love the rains so so much! Especially when its just drizzling, when its just perfect, when it isn’t a downpour, when it seems like its evening for 3 days in a row. The whole weather and the breeze make me happy. I love the nostalgia that grips me after that and luckily, all the moments I have thought of up to now have been “those golden moments” I’ve managed to keep myself away from feeling bad for myself or anyone else and I must say that I’ve been very successful at it. I’m sure its going to get hotter in Bangalore soon and then we’d probably have non-stop rain for days… after June that is. So, there’ll come this day where I’d really want to sing “Rain rain go away, come again another day!” but till that day comes, I’m just going to wait for it to rain more and I’m going to enjoy this drizzle of hope!

Other news; 94.3 FM rocks. I love all the RJ’s there, Pavithra, Anjaan, Prithvi, Pallavi, Shilpa and so on! My family has moved out of our old place… again! Yes, *sigh* Thats like the n’th house that we’re shifting to in over 3 years. Works good. The ambiance within HP still seems to own me. The monkeys are now scared of me; I guess. I scared one of their alfa males off recently and it was fun! I rammed my car into a pillar today and I’ve marked it like a man from one of the olden Zulu tribes. Its covered with blood stains from all the pounding that I give it. I love this song by Atif Aslam – Meri Kahani. Fucking nostalgic; but I feel he rocks. I’m going to educate myself more, finally. Its Holi celebrations tomorrow and I’d probably be alone. I don’t care. Yeah, thats it.

-Anup

Bangalore traffic – An Irony.

I somehow dislike the current shift I’m working in. For some, its a dream shift; 2 PM to 11PM. This means, you can sleep on time and wake up late. I’d really prefer the morning shift, you know? It lets me do a couple of things I like doing, like take a long shower early in the morning right under the shower – cold water falling on me. It kind of helps me a lot. It wakes me up, forces my brain to start thinking and makes me shiver a bit. I like the cold feeling. Its weird, they say, but then thats what I like. Once thats done, I get into my car at around 5:30 and race down Nice Road, which leads straight to my office. I touch a whooping 140kmph and it makes me feel good. Let the glasses down and feel the cold wind against my face, listen to music and zoom down. Then, the walk from the car park to my desk is extremely refreshing. Catch up some hot breakfast and tea and settle down for another cliche-filled day!

As of now, its kind of complicated – I have to bear up with the wrath of the sea of vehicles at 2 in the afternoon when I’m sleepy. But the irony here is, I don’t mind that either. Usually, people get annoyed and they put their vehicles into all kind of funny positions on a small road. People just can’t make up their mind. Assume that you’re going south and there is traffic thats moving from your opposite end. You can SEE the huge trucks coming at you and trust me, you can see it very clearly. Even after this, you’d find uncles and aunties and youngsters and kids push their vehicles; of all sizes mind you, to a new level of stupidity. They’d make rows and rows, they’d overtake when they shouldn’t, they’d travel over footpaths and bump into pedestrians and start a word fight, you’d find them falling into holes and ditches and man, I find it all funny and it makes me giggle. I manage to find a truck and I stick to it till it takes me to my destination. I’ve noticed, the more you try to go ahead, the more you end up being late. Just hang on and you’ll reach there eventually.

What peps me up is the fact that I can listen to the radio throughout – 94.3 FM, whatte fun! The station for the fatafat generation. I’m not sure why, but I like that station a lot. They seem to play all the songs I like and I love the RJ’s there. Most of all, I love the way they include Kannada into English and Hindi. That way, I can relate to the words and thus, slowly teach myself some Kannada. Now, since I’m very sure that this is going to be the city which I’d base myself in, I’d like to learn some Kannada. On rare occasions though, they play songs from “Jodha Akbar” and that kinda ticks me off. For those few occasions I have a CD full of my favourite English tracks; well, so overall, I like the music filled alone time I get in my car. I think a lot, mostly about stuff that I shouldn’t think of, but then, I’m cracked up a bit, so those thoughts aren’t going to go off easy. I forgive myself for it, cause what I felt wasn’t small. The good thing here is that I also think about things that are really important to me right now. Uhm, maybe like educating myself some more? and of course, questions like, what next? Friends? Family? My car? My house? Music?! Loads of things. I get a solid 45 minutes to an hour to think hard. And how do I forget about Shamraajpeth Charles and Nammu Rajni saaru! Two charecters I love a lot from Radio one 94.3 FM!

So, you mean you don’t get enough time at home? Well, no, I don’t. My home schedule is kind of restricted to a few things because of which I don’t get a lot of time to think. Most importantly, I spend very little time at home if I don’t have a movie to watch or a game to play. I end up going to my aunts place where I’d talk with her and my cousins. The kiddo (my cousin brother) is someone I like a lot. Mostly because he reminds me of the way I was. That kind of scares me actually and I hope that he finds the right way, instead of the highway; no worries though, he’d find me there! From what he’s told me all his Class Xth exams have been good, if not awesome. I’m sure he’ll do well. So, yes, I talk to the kids, talk to my Aunt, who is just like mom, but an extremely interesting conversationalist. Someone to whome you can talk and feel like an adult and a kid at the same time. Someone who wouldn’t let you win just cause you’re a kid. Someone who’d argue and fight for small things and at the same time make you feel important. Overall, I feel very happy when I’m there. I come home to play, sleep, TV and clothes. Ohh, and how do I forget – my cars there. I’ve got parking which is very important when you’re in Bangalore.

I met an old friend over the weekend and I’m very happy about meeting her. She thought I was a “stupid” little boy lost in love and referred to me as “stupid” a million times. It did not annoy me though. It just made me feel that I’m ok! So, yeah, I spoke to her and another friend of mine for some time on the phone and I am extremely pleased to announce that either he’s very good with voices or I’m an influential person; but after 3 years of absence, he still seemed to know who I was as soon as I spoke the first word! Man, was I happy! I guess I’ll meet him soon and maybe we’ll have an oldies get together of sorts. It’d be good.

Well, thats it for the weekend and my love for a radio station. The baseline here is, however much people say that Bangalore is falling down the hole, I still love this place and hey, I don’t mind the traffic! The ones who loathe this place might as well just take their asses and LEAVE!

-Anup