Explanation Guaranteed?

Okay. I admit I swore to blog at least once a month but have been inconsistent. I guess it happens with every blogger. Established or like me- amateur bloggers. Reason: Net issues.

Yeah! I mean it. It was not the usual lack of time or the “writer’s block” criteria but rather I have a lot to say but I never had the reach to the outlet.

Today what I have to say is, um… where do I start? My Mumbai miss-adventures? I think I could do a series on that! (Inspired!) Or, the realisation that things you have been running from all your life is gonna hit you in the face? Or, how I have found the need to explain myself?

I think I’ll go for the last option. "Need to explain.”

Since my move to Mumbai, I haven’t felt so lost. I love the buzz. The energy and the history on my side of the city. The heart and the Germ of the city Bombay that became Mumbai. I like being a person from Bombay rather than Mumbai coz there is a world of difference. Yes, there is a difference of attitude, perception and class! I heart SoBo. (South Bombay)

Now, what is it that I don’t  like? Well, the cost of living is a truth that is well documented. Hence, my saying that at the end of money, I have the month left isn’t a farce. I don’t cook anymore. Why? My house-mates. (Inspiration for another series!)
So, I have this quest of searching for cheap food places which please my Hyderabadi Appetite. This is of prime importance coz I’m living the life of a student. Budget cuts happen everyday! That’s no biggie. I have managed to find a few quaint place and “hole-in-the-wall” places which serve palatable food.  The issue is company.

I am a person who lives off networking. I need to meet new people so that I know that there are people of all kinds. That motivates me to do better. That’s because people are either better or worse than you are at the moment and I am ambitious enough to want to out do them.  I have friends (I think) from college. But, the whole week everyone is running around and weekends, the only time we all sleep like as if on tranquilisers. So, when the need to eat arises, I need friends in the near vicinity to accompany me. That way, great food, great company and cost cutting-achieved. I did meet a few people who lived just down the road and supposedly believed in the same idea-"Cheap food and great company on weekends save lives.” However, when I look for company, there isn’t any around. The friends from the road never show up! They take the phone number, promise to meet up, set up plans and once I land up at the place, they aren’t  there.

People, I’m not looking for dates! I just want somebody to share the bill and talk to. And that too not about which assignment is due or, which lecturer needs to relax or, such stuff. I just wanna say, "The food is good! Dude! Let’s pig out everyday!" We all need friends. I need to make new friends but the people I meet are so wound up in the tiny worlds. Sometimes, I think even the houses here have more space than the minds.  I don’t get it. Why make plans if you cannot stick to them? Why try being nice when you know you cannot be it. If people I meet are such losers, where is the passion to go wild and reckless? Where is the spirit of competition when you’re among those who are sore and bitter?

I need to find friends who help create a symbiotic nurturing of love, talent, wit and humour. Food and money is what we all as people of the rat race run after. But, hold onto the very things that makes us human and not Rats!

Rocking Hard(ly) in Mumbai!

On the 2^nd of August, one of our classmates was to perform on the famed stage of Hard Rock Café in Worli. I love anything that has to do with music and this, was a chance to be there for my class. Well, there was a party scheduled too. The whole idea was to move away from the assignments and let us all bond out of class. This was the perfect excuse.

Venue: Hard Rock Café. I realize I am mentioning this name repeatedly. That's because the impact is still very fresh. I am from Hyderabad. The only city in the world to have 2 Hard Rock Cafes or, as we usually call them, HRCs. Coming from a place that that has such strong Rock music fan base, the HRC here in Mumbai would have to have me floored. Well, apart from the enthralling performances of my fellow classmate and his band- “Beat-route”, the restaurant did surprise me.

This was the first HRC to open in India and it surely had to make its mark in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai. The whole restaurant can seat over 150 people and it was huge! The whole atmosphere was electric. Rock music is a serious business in the Hard Rock café. After all they even named themselves so.  The walls are not mere walls. They hold within its gaping holes and crevices (purposeful, of course), memorabilia that were once owned by the bigwigs like Eric Clapton, Alice Cooper, Madonna, Led Zeppelin and so on.

This also means that people who visit HRC are music fans like me who wouldn’t mind a bite or two while they listened to their favourite performances. There are 2 stages in the restaurant. Yes, for 2 simultaneous performances.Talk of a night out in Town!  I'm going there again! for sure!!

Leaving Platform No. 3

Hyderabad is my home town. A flourshing city that was once a little town where I found home. How did it come to be so?

Dad, has a job that requires him to frequently move. I was born in one town, moved all around the country. Made friends, changed schools, changed associations and such. But one thing that remained constant was my Hyderabad connect. It earlier was "my native place". You know, the indian equivalent of a vacation when every summer you go to Nanna-amma's (grandma's) place or as I, called her, Naamma. whether I was in Bangalore or Delhi or Lucknow, Hyderabad was the place to be during vacations. 

However, this little native place became, my permanent home on June 20, 2000. Dad had relocated here. After years of being all over the place, Hyderabad was now going to be the changing point in my life. 

First, I got into a school which was very different from my older schools. This was as Telugu-rooted as it could get. There were different prayers for everyday of the week and did not have a typical school prayer book. I thought I had a basic command over telugu. After all, its my mother tongue! Alas, I found myself at a loss for so many words! I did not know what kind of jokes the kids in class were cracking or what the aaya was telling me. The teachers were more like maternal figures than the typical disciplinarians. I for once found friends who made me lose my inhibitions and let me be. In earlier schools, I hade made friends but they all involuntarily had a time limit to my friendship with them. (Pre-facebook - email times!) These guys had somehow made me want to stay on longer and my wish was granted!! I completed my schooling in the 8th school I had joined. I was now going to attend Junior College here in Hyderabad. And then, my college education too!! 

I have managed to complete my schooling and college education in one city! The same city of Hyderabad. 

I now had friends from the educational institutions I studied in and, remain in contact with. I have memories of Biryani and irani chai. Now when the train pulls away form the station, the reality of me moving is getting stronger.

There are many who are away from home and are living independently. This is not what scares me but the fact that I’ll move away from everyone I have found a personal connection with over the years is going to fade away. Sure, there are opportunities to meet new people and find a new connect. I’ve always known this since I was a kid.

Now, if it were a flight out of town, it would be like a quick as taking off a band aid. And, when it's a train,  as you begin to lose network coverage, you’ll also realize that the contacts on your phone are now going to be long distance calls and you have to “take time” to contact them.

On one hand, I have been looking to further my career prospects and lead an ambitious life and on the other, I want to remain cuccooned in the lovely city of Naa Hyderabad.
Thankfully I do have a Hydie connect in Mumbai. The very friends who inspired me to start this blog! 

Casting Ouch!

Today, I had a revelation. It might be funny to you but it was a scary moment for me. I felt victimized for the first time. But then T was there with me or else I wouldn't have been the same. Ever.


 It was daytime. The office was quiet. The receptionist at the front lobby was typing away. Could be her new status update. I don't know. Through the distant room at the end of a corridor was a room. A room like no other. An old fan was hanging low from the ceiling and the only lighting was of a tube-light shining onto a fake wood table. The man behind the desk was seated in a high back chair. once he turned around to welcome me and my friend T, I got chills running down my spine. He was no ordinary mortal. he was a monster in the garb of one. His paan-stained teeth and his blood shot eyes were proof of his nocturnal ventures around town. He spoke in a flat tone showing no emotion but that of lust. He seemed to be preparing for the kill tonight. For he had found his prey very recently. The prey had innocently walked past us when we entering the lonely corridor. 


We had come to the eerie stake house in search of the glory in Bollywood. But what lies beneath is the murky underbelly of the casting couch in the supposed "training room". The man was a hungry wolf who lusted at the lissome women who became his victims of the nights. And the men who came in were made to bear witness to it all. And maybe even bear the weight of the truth.


This man made a hollow promise. A promise of glamour and stardust. But as long as you were, "Funky" and "promising".  All one had to do was sign up for it and you'd be amongst the many to be loved on screen, who's voices echoed the dark theatres when the male protagonist made his appearance. Yes, you'd be one of the many in a crowd. But this man promised a moment on the spotlight. He was sticking to his word. It would be a moment. And, moment if at all in the spotlight would be as a Junior Artist for an upcoming film. 


And he never let his eyes off of the women in front of him because then he could prey for long in hopes of infamy... I got really nervous. I never thought of myself being in the spotlight for the such leeches. Did I have to come here? And, for what? A summer gig in PR. I thought it should be easy.
Thankfully T was there with me and, I could stay away from it all and leave away into the safety of the city streets where people were busy living the honest life. (In short, we faked a call and ran!) 


Wonder how many are facing this ordeal... in all the starlight cities. The Casting Ouches!!

You're sleeeepy! Not!

Hello, Whassup? Heylos!

These days, we are connected to each other more than ever. With Facebook, twitter and such social networks, and we do exactly what the platform is for. We network.

Be it for our jobs or for good ol' nostalgia. To stay in touch who are far of or, even those who happen to be neighbours. Sure, meeting them face to face is getting uncommon, but then, we have to add them to the "social network".

My point is, what did we do before this networking. why go into the past? what do we do today? Before you ask, why bother? I'll tell ya...

I recently deavtivated my FB profile because it was too much of networking, poking,playing games and sharing midnight birthday wishes. More than I could handle. Now, I'm here on a weeknight, where my friends an family are catching up on the well deserved beauty sleep. I also want to catch up on some sleep but am not yet sleepy.

This gives me some downtime to think. What do you do when you aren't felling sleepy and have the people you talk to till wee hours in the night, fast asleep? I write, or watch TV. With the Infomercials guarantee-ing a better lifestyle at half the price, its nice to know what i'm missing out on if I, don't have that beautiful orange coloured bottle of water from the Fountain of youth!

But here I ask you again. What do you do?

J'adore Amour!

Forever thine,
Forever mine,
Forever ours.
- Beethoven

Here I am my sweet beloved,
Hoping you'd hold onto me.
Sitting beside your knee,
When will you utter,
" for you, it's everything I will be”?

The moments are a-passing,
The little heart's a-beating.
Sounding away from your reality,
All I can see is you are fleeting.
Like the moon,
my memories waning.
When will you whisper? Te dua...

Every Man Wants a Bisexual girlfriend | Community | Ora!

Every Man Wants a Bisexual girlfriend | Community | Ora!

Turn Left or… what?

Its mid march and I realize I did not post anything. Simply because i was blanked out. Now i am back after having had a long new year bash and a Valentine Wishlist being published. (That’s right-Me officially published!) Its Mid-March and I did something. I went on a vacation on my own! It was in Mumbai where I stayed over at a very generous friend’s house. Generous? 3 days of binge drinking and sitting sober. (true story!) That’s how I spent a weeklong of Me-Time! The year of the Rabbit does suit me after all! All about spending some me time especially after slogging it out in an office. In case of emergency, i was available in the office. Now, I at home. Doing absolutely nothing but getting myself together and actually figuring out what is it that I want! Do i want the bg moolah to spend on frivolous purchases or to seek out the reason for my now-finite creativity? Well, I also need to do a specialization. THe question reared its ugly head. what exactly? Advertising or PR? Communication studies or new Media Studies or your  fanatasy of Film studies where you’d end up being despised as a critic?
Confused as ever.