Journey of a dark kid to become a green parent

Journey of a dark kid to become a green parent

Changes are so obvious in one’s personality when you consider various phases of life from birth to death. If I look back in my life, I certainly can see lot of changes in me too.

I was very influenced by my dad before high school. His body language, his ideologies, his restrictions towards money and wealth, his fears, his sense of humor, his love for family and friends, the level of trust he had gained from people, the level of trust he had on the society, his patience, his way of bringing up kids etc etc etc. (If I tell more on my dad, I become emotional and I won’t be able to talk anything but my dad in this blog. I will stop now.). So I was going to become my dad. People started calling me with his name. I was worried.

I got a chance to work on it, when our parents decided to live in our village to look after their business and left us back in Mysore to continue education.  Changes started more evident from my high school days. That’s when I started reading outside my academics. I was curious about outside world. Am still curious now. I started meeting more and more strangers. Few became very good friends of mine on the way. I started reading novels, business/leaders, politics/politicians, sports, entertainment, and economy and so on. I wanted to gain as much knowledge as possible to create my way of life. I wanted to explore my life in my own way. I was trying hard to find definitions myself on each shades of life. I was desperately trying to come out of my dad’s influence.

But on the other side, without my knowledge, my mom’s influence on religious beliefs and customs had taken over me like a virus. I was hanging between self gained ideologies and mom’s gifted religious beliefs. That was a terrible time. More I tried to distance myself from gods, the more fear used to occupy me. I was totally lost in the war of thoughts and I was helpless. I was fully accustomed to creeds, confessions, fear and beliefs. Like others, I too had a list of good and bad based on society’s mindset. This had created a strong concrete fence around me. The knowledge and ideologies I was gaining from reading books was helpless. I was lacking will power. I was inferior. That was the state of me till 2010.

I lost my job in 2010, moved with my friends in Bangalore, went through a terrible break up with my girl friend. I was jobless, hurt, and sober, less confident, bankrupt and dependant on my friends for few months. On top of it, the beliefs on gods started filling more fear. I was coming to a conclusion that only god/s can save me. I started visiting all types of temples every day. I was trusting more on gods and gradually losing confident on my capabilities. I was waiting for a miracle to happen. I was frustrated and pathetic.

I knew time had come to act on it. I started to question myself. I started analyzing people who are in same path as mine. Many are doing good but rest are still struggling in spite of their strong beliefs towards gods and in spite of doing so called good things. So these beliefs on religion and gods didn’t make sense to me for the first time. But I was not strong enough to leave my 25years of beliefs in one day and start new life from very next day. I was jobless too. I didn’t want to take risks at all. What if I am wrong? Fear again.

So I charted a plan of 2-3 years, to gradually to come out of beliefs on religion. But I had to choose someone to follow. I chose Basavanna’s ideologies and chose Nature as my god. Both of them are obvious choices for me for two strong reasons.

1. Basavanna was an Indian philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer who was lived in Karnataka, India between 1134–1196. He fought against the practice of the caste system, which discriminated against people based on their birth, gender and other rituals in Hinduism. He spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachanaas. Basavanna used Ishtalinga, an image of the Śiva Liṅga, to eradicate untouchability, to establish equality among all human beings and as a means to attain spiritual enlightenment. He created a model Parliament called the Anubhava Mantapa, which not only gave equal representation to men and women but also had representatives from different socio-economic backgrounds.
2. Choosing Nature as my god was more logical. I always wanted a god you can see, touch, feel, talk to and who is actually taking care of all living beings in the universe. So I made a pact with Nature. I take care of you and you take care of me. Win-win agreement. I started using bi-cycle, very limited usage of plastics, payment made to organizations of environmentalists. If I need to say in one sentence, I was becoming more environment friendly. I considered myself a profound child of nature which anyway is so true and we all are.

It worked. By 2012, I declared myself as free man from earlier beliefs on religion and gods. I was free from beliefs on good and bad. I was more confident; less worried and had more clarity on life than ever. I started going to places where life was taking and started doing things I desired to do. No restrictions at all. All I had to do is, I should take care that my acts won’t hurt Mother Nature any way or I should have a workaround to compensate her loss. I kept as simple as possible. For example, if I buy a car, I need to make sure of its limited usage and plant more trees. It was that simple to me. And I made sure that certain percentage of my savings being spent on charity and community works. This cleared any left around guilt feeling in me.

I appeared to be slowly developing a strong bonding with nature. My parents adopted two saplings planted by our land developer in front our house. After I got job in Mysore (my home town) and started living with my parents, brother and wife, I developed a comfortable attachment with those two plants. I enjoyed looking them growing. We planted two more saplings but of different kind, in front of our house. I adopted new plants and became their caretaker. I protected them from animals and summer sun, made sure they get watered daily in summer, and nurtured with natural fertilizer in timely manner.  This followed for 2 years. I felt proud and was happy to see their growth. Now both of them have grown considerably. I felt like am a parent to both of them. I talk to them, share all moments with them. Now they no longer need my care anymore. I can only sit back and watch their growth like a proud parent. They are now taking care of us with shades and good air. I started enjoying their company. They are my first kids.

With no more expectation from them, I didn’t know what else to do. I was becoming lazy. So I decided to plant and adopt more trees. Now am a proud parent for 15 trees which are at different growth levels and many flower plants around our home.

Being jobless for few months in 2010 is best thing happened to me till date. My journey as green parent will continue…

With Love,

RD

IT Family 2.0 - A Play

 IT FAMILY 2.0

                                             

CHARACTERS
WIFE
HUSBAND
SON
DAUGHTER
FIRST HUSBAND/DOG



[A beautiful house. A good-looking WIFE cleaning her beautiful living room.  
The front door opens and HUSBAND enters.]

[Battameez dil battameez dil]

HUSBAND: Hi, Honey!  I’m home!

WIFE: Who are you?  What are you doing in my house?!

HUSBAND: I’m your new husband baby.  Where should I put my coat?

[He tries to hug WIFE, but she backs away from him terrified.]

WIFE: Don’t touch me!  I’ll scream!  I’ll call the police!

HUSBAND: Cool Down Babby..! Aren’t you going to ask how my day was?

WIFE: [Evanyaako Bittogo Thara Kaantha illa.. Swalpa divert maadona] 
How … how was your day?

HUSBAND: It was awful!  Just like every other day!  Same old boring job, boss, life, Wife. And then, on the way home, suddenly it hit to me—why come home to the same old boring wife and house and kids and dog when I could try something new?

WIFE: But … I already have a husband.

HUSBAND: Eurekaaa! I have an idea! He can have my wife.  Where does he work?

WIFE: He’s an IT engineer.

HUSBAND: Perfect!  I love technology!  All those little gadgets and stuff!  It’ll be great!

WIFE: Look, I’m … I’m sorry your life is so boring.  My life is boring too.  But you can’t just walk in here and expect us to—

HUSBAND: Oh!  I almost forgot! Look Here! I brought you flowers!

[He shows a bouquet of flowers from his coat.]

WIFE: You brought me flowers?

HUSBAND: They’re orchids—a symbol of rare beauty and eternal love—my love for you.

WIFE: My … my husband hasn’t brought me flowers in almost fifteen years.

HUSBAND: I wrote you a song too.

WIFE: A song?

HUSBAND: [Tum hi ho song from Ashiqui2 movie]

WIFE: That’s beautiful.  You … you really wrote that?

HUSBAND: Only for you.

[Pause.  She considers this.]


WIFE: Do you pee in the shower?

HUSBAND: Never.

WIFE: Snore?

HUSBAND: I don’t think so.

WIFE: Any history of baldness in your family?

HUSBAND: On the contrary.  We’re very hairy.

WIFE: Anniversary in Ooty or Goa?

HUSBAND:  Both.

WIFE: Watch Cricket or do me in the kitchen?

HUSBAND: Do you really have to ask?

[He moves closer to kiss her]

WIFE: Easy, Tiger.  You’ll have to win the kids over first.  Children! [Enter SON and DAUGHTER.] Children, meet your new father.

HUSBAND: Hi, kids.

SON: You’re not my father!  You’re a fake!  An imposter!

WIFE: Heyyyyyy!

HUSBAND: Honey please! Let me handle it! Do you like Cricket?

SON: Sure.

HUSBAND: I’ll take you to the Big Game.

SON: The Big Game?!  No way! [He embraces HUSBAND.] I love you, Dad!

DAUGHTER: What about me?  I hate Cricket.

HUSBAND: Do you like shopping?

DAUGHTER: Duh.

HUSBAND: Here—knock yourself out.

[He hands her a hundred rupee bill.]

DAUGHTER: A hundred rupee bill?!  You’re the greatest!

WIFE: Go play in your room, kids.  Your father and I need some time alone.

DAUGHTER: Sure thing, Mom.

SON: See ya later, Dad.

WIFE: Let me call my husband and ask him  to come home. [Tick Tick Tick]
Helloooo!

FIRST HUSBAND: Hi Darling, what are you doing Darling?

WIFE: I’m dying..!

FIRST HUSBAND: Don't die dear!  how can I live without you?

WIFE: You fool! I am dying my hair..

FIRST HUSBAND: Bloody English Language!

WIFE: Can you come home ASAP?

FIRST HUSBAND: Will be home in a minute!

[Car speeding sound]

FIRST HUSBAND: Hi, Honey!  I’m … 

[A sad but funny song for original husband entry]

what’s going on here?!  Who are you man?!

HUSBAND: Who are you by the way?

FIRST HUSBAND: I’m calling the police!

WIFE: Wait!  Give me the house key.

FIRST HUSBAND: What?

WIFE: Your key.  Hand it over.

FIRST HUSBAND: I don’t understand.

WIFE: He’s replacing you.

FIRST HUSBAND: Replacing me?

WIFE: That’s right.  He’s in—you’re out.

FIRST HUSBAND: But why?!


WIFE: He brought me flowers!  When’s the last time you brought me flowers?!

FIRST HUSBAND: I—

WIFE: Exactly.  Now stop stuttering and hand over the key.

FIRST HUSBAND: But … what about the kids?!  You can’t take the kids away from me!  
Kids! 




[Enter SON and DAUGHTER.] You don’t want me to go—do you kids?

SON: He’s taking me to the Big Game.

FIRST HUSBAND: I’ll take you!

SON: Too late.  You had your chance.

FIRST HUSBAND: But—

DAUGHTER: Sorry.  It’s nothing personal.

WIFE: [Her hand outstretched] The key.

FIRST HUSBAND: But I don’t want to go!  Please, I’ll … I’ll do anything!  Just let me stay!  
I won’t bother you!  I’ll stay out of the way!  I’ll … I’ll be another kid!  Or the family dog!

SON: I’ve always wanted a dog!
Please?!  Can I keep him?!  Can I?!

WIFE: I don’t know.  What do you think, Honey?

HUSBAND: Wellll, I don't know either!

SON: I’ll take care of him!  I promise! 
[To FIRST HUSBAND/DOG.] Come here, boy!  Sit!  Roll over!  Play dead!  Good boy!

FIRST HUSBAND/DOG: Woof!  Woof!


[The whole scene is just a bad dream for First Husband. Wife who listned to his scream, wakes him up. He then realize what he seen was just a dream and realize how much he is ignoring his family because of his hectic work.]

FIRST HUSBAND: Its a dream! Oh My God! Its just a bloody dream! I will never ingnore you my darling, kids and family for my work! 
Oh my god! I will never do that again!

[The play ends]

With Love,
RD

An year passed like Usain Bolt!

First monsoon shower of words from Pooja!
 

Chinnaa..

It’s been a year since we got engaged !! Days passed so soon, just in a blink of eye !!  I can still feel and remember the day when u came home with a blue shirt and running nose :P . I can still remember that smile , when u saw me !! J . The day when we passed more than 2 hours sharing things , I cursing time that went so fast ! .   The night at Chitravana when u eagerly want to know my answer !   

 The first day when I entered your home in Bangalore, I was so nervous my heart was pounding ! My mind was saying not to go, but my heart was dying to stay with you for more time, so I followed my heart  and to mention I can’t forget the taste of Mixed Dosa which u fed me !!

 How can I forget the wonderful day when I stayed back at your place ! I was waiting for a single word from you “ Stay back “ finally you said it !! I was on Cloud 9 !! J I could hear my heart beat when I slept beside you !! I dint expect but it came like a monsoon wind the first Kiss , I still get goose bumps when I think about it !!

 The day when you went on your Knees , I was flying high ! The way you decorated with flowers it was magical. !! The pretty gifts showed me how much you love me ! The silver jewelry is the reflection of  your love !  The ear ring which you wearing is the symbol of our love ! ! Ahh.I was a Pari on that day,  I can’t never forget that day !!

 I felt bad when are marriage dates were fixed, because of long gap  from Jan to Sep 9 months ;) !!  Your love and affection turned tat 9 long months to very short period !! You made me an angel in your life which am proud of ! You made my life as Heaven on Earth . J I am blessed with your Love, Care and Affection. Each and every day which I spent with you in Jaynagar Home I can never forget in my entire life !!  Those days made us so close and I got a chance to know what a wonderful person you are ! Your love, your natgat, the way you tease me has made my life so romantic. ! I am truly blessed to get a Wonderful Husband like you !

Finally my dream come true when u knot me with your Love ! Wow what a wonderful day it was !!! The day when I officially entered your home ;) was amazing, I felt so loved..:) I am truly blessed to get all love and affection from Amma and Appa.. ! J You have made my life so wonderful which I can’t express through words ! I could have said this to you in personnel but sharing with you in words make me feel wonderful

 Still there are no words to share  my love to you sweetheart ! Thanks for everything baby !! I am very much blessed to have you in my Life.. J

 Love u !!!

 

Pooja 

Memory Lane

Memory Lane

 When my mom gave birth to me,

 she was nowhere to see

When I was crying in the school yard,

she was crying in the labor ward 

When she was learning to crawl,

 I was learning to walk

We were just a mile away

but we never got to talk 

All these years when I was dreaming for my gal,

she was craving for her guy

It was the pain of waiting,

I never wanted to buy 

When I saw her for the first time,

her smile was a sweet lime

On watching her, my eyes felt -

blinking is such a crime 

When we started to date,

I always knew she was my soulmate

When she is around,

my heart beats with wild rate

 

So many months have gone,

it is her smile I never hate

Her smile is a curve,

that can set everything straight.

She showered her love,

like a monsoon rain

They are just endless journeys

down the memory lane.

 

                                        With Love,

                                        Rahul Dayalu

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

"Hey Maga, why did you miss your friend XXX's wedding reception?" once a guy asked me. I just told him "I had other priority work and first of all he is not my friend." He was confused because i knew XXX for some time, i had gone out with him along with other people for movies, coffee shop, tea breaks and even travelled from Bangalore to Mysore quite a few times. He thought i was being rude. No i was not. I was just trying to make a clear distinction between whom i consider my friends and whom i just consider known people.

We have clear definitions for relationships like brother, sister, parents and even for lovers. But how do you define a friendship? How do you consider a person is your buddy? I believe definition changes in each individual. For me i don't decide whether a person is my friend or not, based on how close am to that person or how many times i have spent time with that person. Its very natural to think like that. If you are a vegetarian, do you consider eating every plant, leaves, fruits and vegetables. In case you are a non-vegetarian, do you consider tasting flesh of every animal species in this world. The same way you cannot consider every person you meet or every person you become close as your friend.

You always meet people or spend time with them for a purpose. There has to be an intention. Sometimes you might not be aware of your own intentions. But there will always be one. There is nothing wrong in that. People always come and go in your life. When i was not in facebook, many people asked why am not in this new social network world. Because i never needed one. I was always in touch with my friends (whom i really consider are my friends) by phone or meeting them personally. Now i have around 300 contacts in my FB account. Should i consider all of them as my friends. If not, why should i bother about whats happening in their lives whom i don't consider as my fiends. Why are we getting so obsessed with this fake friendships. Can you easily express what is in your heart to all of them? OR Would all of them listen to you and clearly understand what you are saying? The answer has to be NO. Because most of them are not your friends. You just know them. You both have just crossed the same path couple of times.

There is nothing like part time friends, short term friends. Friendship is always of life time. There are no adjectives like good friends, better friends and best friends. Friendship is beyond grammar. It is always beyond expectations, sorries,thanks and wishes and gifts. Friendship is a ship to sail on not to get sunk in life. Please don't make yourself fool by taking each person you know as your friend. You need to accept this fact and later this fact will avoid you going through pain or disappointments. They pick you up when you are down, and give you the energy to go on and believe in yourself. Through good times and bad, tears and laughter. A friend will always be there for you.

So since when i started making this distinction? The answer is since very long time. My parent left us (me and my brother) in Mysore to achieve their business interests. They had left a huge emotional gap  then to fill up and i was desperately searching for someone to fill that gap. I tried letting many people in, but ultimately only friends were able to perfectly do that job. They turned my tears of sorrow into tears of laughter. They taught me how to enjoy both success and failures in life. I started finding my own definition for friendship. I started taking out those people who were polluting the definition of friendship. I made three groups of people in my life. 1 - Family, 2 - Friends and 3 - People i know. Each group has their own priority. It is up to to you and sometimes based on the circumstances the priority changes. This lucidity has avoided so many complications in my life. This purport of friendship has made my life very easy.

I have heard, seen and experienced fascinating stories about friends.

There were two friends XXX and YYY. XXX was dating YYY's sister and it continued for more than 2 years without YYY's knowledge. Initially XXX thought he was betraying his friend. XXX was such a stupid, he never had guts to tell the truth to YYY. After two years YYY's sister broke up with XXX. XXX realised that some day if YYY comes to know the story, YYY's sister might twist the story accordingly and that ultimately would end his friendship with YYY. So with all the panic, he went to YYY and told him the whole story. The reaction was unexpected. To his surprise YYY started laughing about the story and told XXX that "if you are dating my sister then that is the best can ever happen in her life". He trusted his friend completely and to my surprise more than his sister.

In another instance, two friends fell in LOVE and they both knew it is not possible to get marry and stay together their whole life. They had clear picture about their family commitments and sentiments. So they just wanted to enjoy those moments of love. In few months, the guy got engaged and that was his personal decision. His friend who was in Love with him went through such a pain and agony in the process, but still she never blamed him. She always wanted best in his life. She even attended his engagement and wedding with full moon smile on her face. They promised each other to be friends all their remaining life.

Me and my friend aparted after our 12th class and we chose to perceive further education in different cities. We both were not in touch for more than 6 years for various reasons. Later one fine day he remembered me and came to my city with full confidence of finding me again. By that time i had changed several rented houses. Am sure he was not able to talk to any of our common contacts. But he chose the hardest path. He chose to find my old house betting on his little memories. The house where i used to stay when we were studying in same college. He found our old house and got the contact number of my Dad and then he came home to see me. I was not at home. He told my Dad that he would come again next day and left. When i came home, my dad told me about him but he dint tell me his name. He had forgotten his name. I was so happy and excited even though i dint know who the person was. Because the way my friend found me itself enthralled me. I dint step out of my house till he came to see me again. I cannot express those joyous moments when i found out who he was. Our friendship grew beyond limits after that and the rest is history now.

But why am i telling all these stories now. Why the hell we need to know definition of friendship. Why the need for this distinction. Because the stories i told are happened between friends and they are all APPY APPY type. I have seen many cases where a person has misunderstood people i knew as his friends. He was blinded by gifts and closeness. He was dumb folded towards their selfish acts and wasted his precious years of life and lost his charm and respect in his family and friends circle. I realised those misunderstood friendship was his weakness. His actions changes, he shivers and blabbers in front of them and flow of words becomes difficulty for him. He loses his cool and those so called friends easily takes over him. Unfortunately they knew that he is going through this and they never helped him to get over it. Friends never does that. They always want best to happen in his life even at the cost of their friendship.

So lets not generalise the meaning of friendship and lets not fool ourselves and suffer in our lives. God bless you all!

With Love,
Rahul

 

"Quarter Percent Club"

"Quarter Percent Club"..
                            .

'Practice before you Preach' After reading this blog, you may ask me "Are you practicing this by the way?" The answer is "Yes". I have been following this for a while now and i didn't find much difficulty while doing so. Now i have more clarity, so the blog.

Sometime back, when I saw a mail from HR asking to help security personnel who are working in our organisation for providing better education for their children, I thought how many would actually participate in this. I have seen people talking closely to security people and we were not sure how many of them would have actually come forward to help their cause. I was on an onsite assignment. I contributed some part of my salary and the response I got from my Manager and HR proved that not many have extended their help. So I started thinking what is the problem with people who have more than enough to live a comfortable life but still so much reluctant to give away very little part of their own. If I tell this to people, they will ask "How do you define comfortable life?" "How do you know you have more than enough in your life?". Those are very valid questions. Even I don't have answers for that.

Let me tell you a story. We met a farmer who lives in village about 70 miles away from Bangalore.

We had heard about him couple of times in Radio and print media. He is an expert in organic farming. We spoke to him and got an appointment to meet him. We had some kind of perception about him. We reached his farm and one man who was working outside the farm gate greeted us and let us in. The same man who greeted us outside came to us and introduced himself. I was shocked to know he is the same man whom we wanted to meet. He took us to show  his farm and happily told his life experience. How he got into this profession. And he said he is leading very comfortable life with small earning from farming because he is less dependent on labors and spent only on the things which are most needed for him. I doubted and i asked him more questions.

I wanted to know his priorities in life. So he told his daily routines, what they eat, what they wear, their earnings, their spending and his family. It seemed very true. In spite of that he has opened an free hostel for people who are eager to learn organic farming. He provides food, stay and education. I saw one girl who is in her early 20s from North India settled with this old man. She met him in a meeting and got inspired, packed her things and left her home and started living with him after her graduation. Now both are working on a documentary on the process of organic farming.

I am telling you this story because when a farmer who is earning very minimal has courage and eager to do something good for our society, then why not us? What is pulling us back? When a person like Mr. Kalayanasundaram who worked as a librarian can spend all of his earnings to help the needy and worked as a server in a hotel to meet his own needs, why can't we who is earning in lakhs think so much before contributing little of ours back to the society? The main reason for this is we are less organised. We don't know exactly how much we should contribute and how much we can spend on social cause. We really not sure what exactly is our responsibility. 

Why are we like this? Are we so blind and can't see any route to come out of this Chakravyuh of selfish life? Has darkness of our own needs have covered us completely? Why are we so eager to spend on gifts, parties etc on those who are already leading more privileged life, but think hundred times before spending on social causes?

So i started thinking how much can we offer help to the needy. I started with one percent of what we have. This includes time , money, love, care, knowledge and so on. But if i tell the same to people to do so. Then many of them might think the percentage is bit higher. After putting more thoughts into this, i could not come below 0.25%.

Lets start with Money. If I consider a person is earning 10000 Rs a month. So 0.25 percent of his/her earning comes to 25 Rs a month and 300 Rs a year. That is a pretty small but effective share when more and more people join hands together. But if you see here, you are sharing only 0.25 percent of what you are earning. Remaining 99.75% i.e., in this example 9975 Rs will be spent on your personal need. Can't we offer such a little share of our earning to the needy?

Coming to the time, 0.25% of 365 days comes to 21.9 hours. No body can say they can't take out less than a day from their time every year. It is less than the average time we spend in temples. It is much less than of time we spend watching TV, being active on social sites like Facebook or chatting on Whatsapp.

I have seen people telling me that they find it difficult to pass time in holidays. But never consider utilizing time this way.

As love and care cannot be weighed or calculated, i can say if we are showering so much of care and love on our family and friends. Can't we share little bit with people who are not so privileged to have one.

Can't we use more environmental friendly transportation in 0.25 percent of our total travel. Use non-plastic and more re-cycled things. Can't we spend little time to make sure that all electric appliances are switched off and unplugged when they are not in use.

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Can't we share 0.25 percent of our knowledge to those who can't offered to learn.

 

I say, we certainly can, but won't do. Why? This is sheer negligence towards causes in society. Many of us have not experienced the real joy of giving. Many of us have not seen happy faces at receiving end. When i sent mail to few of my good

friends couple of years back asking for them to lend monetary help for people who suffered in floods, i got overwhelming response. Within no time money started flowing into my bank account. From that money we offered a house to the needy through a trusted organisation in Mysore. The response was very surprising and inspiring. Since then i had always brought my friends under one platform but with more organised way this time. Not just helping others, but having fun while doing so.

This is just a initiative. This will take shape accordingly with your active or passive participation, your kind and valuable suggestions and guidance. I have created a Facebook account with our club name. Kindly join us if you are really interested and committed.

With Love,

RD

London Eye...

London Eye...

Me and Raki had never thought that we would have such a blast new year eve party in our life, that too in a city like London. I atleast had hardly imagined myself coming out of my college with a graduation cap on my skull. Well it happened when i decided to spend my long Christmas-New Year leave in London even though i had other plans to go around country side of England and Scotland to see raw celebrations of biggest festival season of the year. That was my second visit to London. I had travelled once before to make my presence at my niece's birthday party. This time i chose to travel in the day time as i missed beautiful landscapes between Glasgow and London when i travelled last time. But for me the first two hours of my journey was exciting and later it all looked same to me. Vast grass fields and bald mountains dint impress me much. A small smile used to arrive on my face whenever i saw couple of cattle and sheep wandering inside wooden fencing of those fields as if they owned those lands.

I reached Victoria station bit earlier than expected. Probably the train staff were in hurry to go there home on Christmas Eve. As usual i went to the underground London Tube station with a tube map in my pocket. I got into Victoria line and then took Jubilee line at Green park and travelled till Finchley Road. Then came Dakota Metropolitan line and took me to Harrow-on-the-hill station. Its just 10 mins walk from the station to my sister's place. And i loved walking on the pavements of London. My cousin sister and her husband were waiting for me near a mall and took me to an Indian Chit-Chat shop, as i had missed my lunch on the travel. I need to mention about how few areas in London have been asianized. Harrow-on-the-hill is one

of them. We spend next two days in shopping, restaurants and spent an evening in Greenwich park. Greenwich clock is located on a small hill surrounded by a vast green field. I was not disappointed even though i had enormous curiosity to see zero degree longitude line. I was keenly waiting to stand on that line which is also called prime meridian line.

As it was getting hard to pass time at my sister's place, i decided to meet Aravind who stayed in East Ham. We had couple of drinks in a pub near Tower Hill. Then we went West Ham to meet his friends. We had dinner together at Spice Inn restaurant where we get unlimited meals at around six pounds. And we got to see few Indian chicks too. Coincidentally one of the hotel staff was my class mate in college.

Then went to Horsham on Thursday i.e., 29-Dec-2011 to meet Raki and Co. There were few Kannada guys working along with him in the same project. I got along very well with them at our first meet. All of us had dinner at Raganna's place. Raki and me are so much starving for talks, our conversation went on till 3 AM in the morning. We had plans of hitting the tennis court in the morning. But by the time we got up, people were having lunch. Raki and Anand planned for a small trip to Briton. Its one of the busiest cities in England and i loved the place very much. Not because it is a gay city, but it has pebble beach, Briton Pier and Hard Rock cafes. Just think about how you would feel if you walk on the pebble shore holding your girl's  hand and breaching the hard breeze which was neatly blended with moisture and humid. That too under the grand lighting of Briton Pier. Unfortunately i was with two guys in a gay city. The temperature was too low after evening and we were drenched in rain later. There are no words to cheer when we saw our guys waiting in Horsham with Bottles of a Scotch. Then started our Raganna's dance. My god man! it came as a very good surprise to me. I never expected a guy like Raganna would do such acts. After few more drinks, he was uncontrollable. Since i gave him very good company, he never cared for others. Raki was only guy who didn't dance and he was busy in shooting. That craziness stopped just after two in the midnight. Not to mention, most of us had hangover the next morning.

The video Raki took of the last night party was an instant hit and the video gave us much confidence to carry the same amount of enthusiasm and energy  to the London.   All of us left Horsham in the evening of new year eve with bottles full of liquor and bag full of snacks. The National Rail took us through Ockley, Box Hill & Westhumble,  Leatherhead, Ashtead, Epsom, Sutton and finally reached London Victoria station at 6:30 in the evening. Few of us already had few drinks in the train and never to mention our Victory was totally out of order and his craziness went to peak when we saw enormous wave of crowd in the city. We even dint spare London Police. We sang Hindi songs and made them dance. That's the beauty of western world. People are very sportive. We wandered in the streets of London for a while and settled on Victoria Embarnment at around 7:30. Westminster, St Jame's Park, Queen Elizabeth II conference centre looked wonderful in the night. Crowd started pouring in and by 8:30 the street was jam packed.

Vicky had found some white company and he was totally involved in that business and in return of his entertainment to them, they threw few drinks on him. Raki and Ananda went to see around and got struck in the crowd. Aravind (our beloved child) and his girl friend Peeyush are supposed to join us. But they came and disappeared in the crowd. May be he needed much more privacy. May be he din't like the way our guys were staring on his girl friend:) Our Ravichandran was busy shooting chicks and was trying different angles to analyze their assets. So only me and Raganna left who had nothing much to do. So we finished our drinks and started looking at others drinks. 

The kick of alcohol had already started its chemical reaction inside our body and was pounding the doors of our brains. Raganna was the first one to open the door and the effect was visible in his dance. I also joined him after a while and it went wild later. Crowd made way in middle and made a circle kinda arrangement for our dance. That was enough for Raganna to showcase his variety of steps. His snake and veena moves were super hit. Victory also joined us after some time and those were damn good moves with a women. Later few other also joined trying to steal the show, but crowd wanted Raganna. It was more like a flash dance. People loved it. DJ had started playing best songs form his list. I heard he was from BBC Radio and he was an Indo-Briton. So we heard couple of Indian songs too. Kolveri and Chammak Challo songs made people crazy.

Count down for the new year started at 11:59. Clock bell started ringing at exactly 12:00. Euphoria was unbelievable. Fireworks at London Eye brought heaven to the Earth. JOY was seen everywhere. People were wishing each other by hugging and kissing. A bright welcome to the new year with lot of hope, loads of prosperity and tons of happiness. The environment was electrifying and i thoroughly enjoyed the moment. I just closed my eyes and thanked god for giving this opportunity to celebrate new year with my friends in London. Raganna shed few tears and i had to shed few from my eyes to console him. After a while crowd started disappearing and we just followed them. We were hungry and exhausted. On top of that we had to control Ragannna and Ananda. Drunken people were still singing and dancing on the streets. We grabbed few burgers when we reached Victoria station and the celebration became history when we hit the train back to Horsham.

I must say that was the best new year celebration so far in my life and i will definitely carry those memories till the end  of my journey. This blog is just a way to thank my friends Raki, Raganna, Ananda, Victory and Ravichandran.

With Love,
RD