Day 161/366

The three of us were just bored and looking for a good time. (Don't get excited for the wrong reasons, perverted reader!) We shared a chocolate ice cream sitting under a tree and tried to come up with a workable plan of action. What we had thought of was brilliant. Except for the fact that it seemed impossible to implement. That's the case with a lot of things in life, isn't it? My learning: Theory < Practical.

Somehow, we managed to make our little plan happen. We were elated! Our plan was accomplished and it had begun to rain. (No, creating rain was not the plan. It was a secondary occurrence.) Rain, as we discovered, was the best way to run away and hide in a lane only lit by streetlights to do what we were doing. It was thrilling! The risk of doing something wrong always gives me this rush knowing that I could be caught at any point of time. And we used that little dimly lit narrow lane to it's full capacity! I don't know what it was - the rain or the excitement of this adventure taking place; but I was just a really happy person for those 30 minutes or so that seemed to pass by slowly and beautifully. 


We jumped a few puddles, struggling to keep our bags under the umbrella. The clothes were already too drenched to worry about. Also, let's face it, the three of us were bigger than your average 21-year-old (especially the tall boy among us!) to fit under one tiny umbrella. A brainwave struck at the same time as the lightning hit the dark skies. And we found ourselves walking to a tapri to have gorom cha. It was possibly the two most brilliant cups of tea I have consumed in my life.


There was something in the glow of the chaiwalla's lamp that warmed something inside of me. It was something that I wanted to let go of by accepting it. I realized it after dropping my friends to a taxi stand and putting on my earphones and heading home. Neil Young's Cortez the Killer was working it's magic on me. I was blissed out by the whole evening. It felt great to realize that somewhere, I know who I am. I am a person who can enjoy simple things in life like getting wet in the rain. More importantly, my love for this city was reignited. Up until recently, I was really averse to returning to Calcutta. But there's something about the monsoons and this place that keeps pulling me back to it. And however random a group the three of us might have formed, I'm really glad that it was them who made this experience possible. Here's to more crazy adventures in the Calcutta rains! :)

Day 156/366

There used to be a charm about this place. In fact, that was the case with every place I've stayed at for even the shortest period of time - something characteristic about it that I fell in love with.

In Bangalore, I can pinpoint Corner House's Hot Chocolate Fudge (HCF) that is like a food orgasm for me. Or maybe the quiet lanes & bylanes of Sadashivnagar, where I usually stay. Calcutta has a whole bunch of things - the ferry rides, the singhadas and cha at little tapris on every corner, the winter fog, the sweet sound of the peoples' language. In Rishi Valley, it was everything about the place and more so, the kind of people one could talk to on the most random topics around. Pune was a place of two extremes - it was either too chilled out (house parties/'chilling scenes' & gigs at High Spirits every Friday) or endless hours on campus, which became like a second home.

What I'm getting at is that the charm of places tend to fade with time. OR it gets reinforced very strongly if you return to a place and fall in love with it (again?). I've not had the privilege of experiencing the latter. Yet.

School isn't the same without my friends and teachers even though the hills haven't changed. I no longer have a house in Pune to go back to, making it a less familiar city in my mind. Calcutta, I've realized, can only be truly enjoyed in the winter. (Though I'm secretly hoping that the oncoming monsoons will make me change my mind on that.) Bangalore is a city I'd love to explore more though it alienates me often enough.

Despite all these ups and downs, I'm glad that I left my base and went to see the world outside my sheltered living. I've moved around enough to be in a position where I don't know which place I can really call 'home'.  But I'm quite sure I'm better off than a lot of people who have always been stuck in the same place mingling with the same people and talking about the same thing. They're caught up in the same bloody routine day in day out. I'm just glad I've broken out of that rut. And now, possibly the greatest adventure of my life awaits me. And I can't wait to get started & find my place in the world!

Day 125/366

It stood there in all it's glory. The magnificent castle of my dreams. We got into the carriage guarded by the knights in shining armor who fought the big green trolls that we encountered on the gravel path to the castle. They were the biggest things I had ever seen in my entire life. And it's not like I'd seen much considering I was only twelve.

The castle was where I would work, one little part of the entire clockwork that made it work as a whole. The day the nanny was poisoned, they sent out for someone to fill in her void immediately. Naughty little Juan, the prince, had to be kept in check. Everyone knew that he watched the trolls from between the grills in his room's window. To him, his cardboard sword could slaughter the troll that took his dear father away from him. Everyone in the castle worked towards stopping him from entering the trolls' lair.

They say I was the chosen nanny because of the blue sea of truth the queen saw in my eye. But I will never know for certain if there is any truth to this rumor for the queen was assassinated by the time I grew up and wrote this story down.

Juan was eight with ruffled up brown hair. When I was taken to his room to be introduced, he looked me up and down and I raised my brow hoping for approval for the little child. He must have been missing his old nanny lots for he came and hugged me tightly on seeing my nervous smile. An instant liking was taken to the plaits in my hair, which he decided was fun to rip apart. And thus began the story of Juan and Alexis, the greatest adventure of my life.


(This was a dream I had. Or something on the lines of whatever I remembered in the morning. It's been a recurrent dream recently and if there is any story in it which may be revealed in dreams in my future, I will write it down and psychoanalyze it.)

Day 27/366

My adventure to seek out the dragons,

Ended before it began.

My Mum told me that I'd be killed

If I ever entered their land.

The land far, far away,

Towards the core of the earth,

Where fire breeds in pockets,

The warmth, their elixir.

All I wanted was a pet with wings,

A bird would not suffice.

I wanted a creature that could breathe fire,

And start a bonfire every night.

But a child's dream is hardly ever realized,
There's no dragon or dinosaur for you.
If only I could meet my fairy godmother,
She'd work me up a dragon or two.