The King of all Weekends

Day 1 :
Woke up late as usual. Then went to pick Ma at the airport. Was super excited that she was visiting. Brought her to campus, called my friends over, started intros. Then took her on the Campus tour. Although she didn't complain, she came back and was damn tired.
Guilty as charged ! You can't take a 51 yr old on a mini trek without warning.
Took her to HN in the evening. And then called it a day.

Day 2 :
I hardly slept. Amidst meetings and assignments, I woke up at 330 am, and the both of us left for Dadar. Here it is in Timeline :
5 am -> Sealink
5.15 am -> Siddhivinayak Temple
5.30 am - 6 -> Aarti there
6.30 am -> Mahalaxmi Temple
7.15 am -> Marine Drive & Churchgate
7.30 am -> Fast Local to Andheri
8.30 am -> Chole Bhatura breakfast in the mess
Then we came back to my room and dozed off for a while. We were invited for lunch with some family friends in Santacruz. It was a walk down memory lane, as both familes recollected their stories young parents with little children and how we had all grown up. Awesome lunch followed.
Saturday was done.

Day 3 :
Even before I was awake, Ma had come back from the girls' hostel where she was put up, and started cleaning my room. Mothers will be mothers. Then I gave her a taste of mess food which she liked, like everyone does the first time.
Then we went to HN, where she and a friend of mine went and bought my sister one of those bags that the girls keep carrying around everyday, while I went and got my father a Tshirt.

Then evening came. I went for the Graffiti on T shirts thing that the juniors had planned to kick off the Farewell party, an hour later with my T shirt almost run out of real estate. I headed.
Then came the most difficult part of the day. Picked up her stuff and went to leave Ma at the airport. I had a whale of a time and I'm hoping she did too.

The fun hadn't ended though, came back to have an awesomely awesome farewell party. Tears (not mine), Crazy dancing (definitely me), Videos and lots of other things will remain etched in my memory for a long time to come.

PS: I'm going home soon.

Been here, seen that

In my last one and a half years here in Bombay, I have been through the 26/11 terror attacks, Swine Flu, a near miss cyclone, a couple of horrible movies and the traffic that we hear so much about.

Experiences always educate you. Fear, Courage, Doubt, Trust, Stupidity , Shrewdness. All with fine lines between each other.
I have made great friends, I have also earned my share of criticism.
I have been tactful, I have also been very childish.
I have seen people come together to pray. I have seen people wait together to beat up someone.
I have embraced chaos during trying times. I have experienced serenity in the peace.
I have always tried to be encouraging. I make it a point to be straightforward.
I practise, thus I preach.

Like a friend of mine once told me, " It will always be good eventually. Always. "
Its all about living it up.

Love thy Neighbour

Great news. My neighbour has converted his L'Oreal pre placement interview. So now we will heading to Pune together. Always good to have a known face in an unknown land.

Watched three good new releases -
1. State of Play
2. The Great Raid
3. 500 days of Summer
Now Summer is one movie that most of us will relate to.

Otherwise life is pretty much mundane. Eating out everyday, sleeping for 14 hrs a day. Not doing anything physical. Blogging(now there's something useful).

The weather here is getting super. The mist is really thick in the campus these days and my weird sleep timings help me take full pleasure of the early mornings.
Am I looking forward to moving to Pune ?
Dunno. I have to though. Obviously the purpose of life is to move forward. But there will be a part of me, that will be left behind here. No sadness though.

A Seaside Cinema

After waking up at 3pm, one would think his day most of his day was wasted. But not for me, my day was just getting started.

So after having some biscuits, I caught a bus and made off to Bandra Reclamation to watch two documentaries on Climate Change that were being screened at an open air cinema next to the Arabian Sea. Since I wanted to save some money, I travelled by bus till the destination, resulting in a ten minute delay. So by the time I got there, the first documentary HOME had already started.

The Setting

The Screen on the Reclamation Promenade was chilly and beneath the stars, behind the screen was the Reclamation highway, to the audience's right was the sea and behind us was the spectacular Bandra-Worli Sealink.

The Movies



Home - A movie which shows some scintillating landscapes and scenes. The powerful narrative talks about we have raped our planet. Hats off to Yann Arthus Bertrand.



The Age of Stupid - One movie I thought will never be publicly screened in India. Jumped at the chance. A brilliant movie made by Franny Armstrong. Pete Posthlewaite plays the Archivist in 2050 who asks the all important question - " Why didn't we stop Climate Change when we had the chance ? ". It strings together 6 different stories including India's very own Jeh Wadia's GoAir.

If you get a chance to watch either movie, make sure you grab the oppurtunity.

Thanks to the Celebrate Bandra Festival for giving me this superb experience.

Designer Mug

Designed by yours Truly

Close Shave

It happened at around 7 pm this evening. 2 friends and I were travelling by the famed auto rickshaw on the Western Express Highway.

Out of nowhere, on the flyover that leads to Bandra, the front tyre breaks off leaving the metallic wheel to bounce and this sent the auto cartwheeling upwards. It seemed suspended like that for 2 seconds before it came back down, and the auto driver somehow managed to steer it to the side of the road. Luckily for all of us, there were no speeding vehicles behind us.

Now for the good news, none of us got hurt. I was sitting in front of the meter, so got a whack on the jaw, but nothing else. Close Shave for sure.

Disappointed

Its been a disappointing evening. First the book fair at Bandra turned out to be a damp squib. Looked for some very rare stuff, but couldn't find anything.But the rockbottom prices were amazing though. Picked up something by Ian Rankin, just because I had gone that far

The second disappointment was the Leonids. Waited for the Meteor shower till around 3AM, but despite a sparkling clear sky couldn't see anything move. Spotted a few new constellations though.

It gets harder

I know I'm getting old, but this in insane. I have been finding it increasing difficult to study for an exam. So I face an uphill task now. I have a mid term tomorrow. So you can probably understand my state of mind now.

I will be writing what will hopefully be the last exams of my life, so thats gonna be something I will be looking forward to see the end of. Funnily, most of my creative surges and urges come during those late hours spending mugging from books during the exams. So in a very weird way, they are not too bad for me also.

I think I might even miss the tension of the exams, not that I ever had too much tension, but nevertheless, the blithe of being a student will certainly be missed.

The weather here in Bombay is super by the way, cloudy and pleasant. The mist suspended over the pond makes me smile everytime I look at it. NITIE will be surely be missed. But I have a new city to look forward to, and miles to go before I sleep...

At long last

Yes ! This is a shout out to all those horror movie lovers. Finally a movie called "Paranormal Activity" has just made me sit up and take notice. Thanks to Anirudh for suggesting, so now I'm going to suggest this to you.

Caveat : Do not watch it alone.

Screw IMdb. Screw what the reviews have to say. Watch it and you won't be disappointed.

What else did I do today ? Same old sunday routine. Wake up late. Disappointing Lunch. Two movies in a row. Laundry in between. I have actually discovered that doing my own laundry saves me around Rs.300 a month and whats more my clothes smell better. Went out for dinner with the Mad Scientist. Then it was HORROR MOVIE TIME.

Now its back to same old weekdays, not like they make a difference at NITIE, but nevertheless, they are weekdays. I have "some" classes to attend atleast.

PS: The fan is still possessed. Now I believe it is all the more true after watching PA

Sunday Morning 03:17 hrs

So it is done I guess. Have 35 days left in Bombay, after which I will leave for Home, and when I return for my winter project, it will be with L'Oreal in Pune.

And thats where life is taking me for the next few years. So I plan to soak up as much of this amazing city as I can in the time I have left. Someone told me today that the texture of my writing is changing, that it feels older. I am getting older, not a good sign.

Do I just write or am I what you would call a "writer" ? Many years ago, people would relate to what I wrote, and tell me about how they were going through the same damn thing, and we would laugh about it. Good times.

Now I've become so thoroughly psychotic and weird, that hardly anyone I know would relate to me, but still I manage to hang on to a few friends that I have and fewer readers that are kind enough to visit my humble blog. By the way, for all those of you who feel like total screw ups and colossal failures in life, there is something I'd like to say. I recently read that " a man who has friends cannot be a failure ". I totally concur, obviously if he has even one single friend, he atleast has kindness in him and that will be his light at the end of the tunnel. Everything happens for a reason, that kindness also will help in some way or the other. You'll see. Anyway, I just wanted to say this, not that I'm feeling like a screw up or anything, for anyone who knows me and my narcisstic ways, you will know I don't operate like that.

I'm always conflicted, whether to believe if our path has been pre-written or whether it is a matter of choice and consequence. Cause and Effect as Men of Science would say. But I have no regrets, all the choices I've made, every mistake I've made have lead to the path I'm on right now. I'm sure everyone of you must think the same. Yes, now I have you dear reader, you relate to me now. And let me cast a little spell on you, everytime you think of pre written paths, cause and effect or no regrets, I , Aditya Narayanan will immediately come to your mind.

My fan has been possessed by some demonic spirit and is creaking way too much. I cleaned it a few days ago, cause and effect you think ?!

No, thats just me wondering how I'm ever going to fall asleep.