Thursday, April 8, 2010

Get lost ! I am not marrying you...!!

The season was autumn and the heart was green! The air was humid but the smell was romantic. Yes the venue was ccd and the occasion was marriage.. marriage in ccd .. of course not,but the marriage talks ,yes. On a second thought cafe coffee day's outlets have become an ideal place for almost anything , from hangout with friends chilling over a mug of mocha to romantic dates on the couch. The pride I wore in the innovation while suggesting it to meet the girl for pre-nuptial talks was murdered brutally when on the neighboring table a groom's family was interviewing the prospective bride. People are already smart.
I wasn't anymore interested in any arranged marriage talks and neither did my dear friend ask me to accompany him. Instead, what i did was to drop him at ccd and cruise to watch the clash of the titans, an extremely sad movie which seems to have thrived on the sets of harry porter, troy and the like. I am sure the producer loved the cost effectiveness of the movie and the audience loved the exit from the movie. I can't comment on the titans who seemed to have completely utilized the two hours in mesmerizing display of public affection, but rest of the audience were depressed by the on screen titans. Coming back to the story, my friend ahh .. , he is quite a stud and his past records stand by this qualification. Switching girlfriends like electronic circuits and killing fairer sex by cupid's arrow has been his greatest assets. However the circuits collapsed and the bow and arrows were finally seized by Cupid , he was unarmed this time as a subject to pure arranged marriage.
Confident as always, he believed that the girl secretly loved him , credit to his casual talks on phone and the ramblings of the past affairs.Well, from my perspective i had already made up my mind to have my dinner without his company, although i would have loved him to cook for me .. he is a gr8 cook.However, then the purpose of his trip from delhi to pune would have been in vain . Yes, he hadn't come to meet me , after all.
Little did I know that I would recieve a call right in the middle of samosas, the only enjoyable thing for me in the movie, to come back to ccd.While driving back, another couple of "where are you, when will you reach" calls intrigued me. What happened , might be that the stud has done his magic in an hour and they have already decided to marry, I have got my Bhabhiji and he wants me to meet her. "Hats off to you my dear friend, you still have the charm".
Meeting my prospective bhabhi, yes i did , though only a formal "hi". She left and we sat in the car and the first statement was " Let's go for a long drive" . Ok, he might wanna tell me how much he liked the girl.My dear friend started off with how confused he is and ended up with what the girl had said ...."I am not marrying , at least not for next 2 years" . In between were excerpts of how she said she is missing the company of her friends for movie and a movie with him isn't happening.As if this wasn't enough, the lunch proposal was also cancelled for the next day. Well, the verdict was out ! - "Get lost, I am not marrying you".
Well it took me a long trip to lonavala in the hot afternoon to cool my friend who was in a state of shock even for next couple of days.Sadly for him, the FM was not working and the USB I had were somehow playing ghazals and songs appealing to the mood situation, yes ...sad and depressed.Almost each of his affair crossed his mind while listening to the songs and it took me a failed effort to comfort him with praises of his looks and demeanor.As if this was not enough I had to commend him on his features,come on man that proves I am a good friend, nothing else.But the first rejection that too in a ritual such as arranged marriage was hard to gulp down, even with pizza and chicken wings.With a bleeding heart he left for Delhi the following day, and yes he didn't like pune. I am doubtful if he will like anything now.... .Recent rumour is that he even resigned from his company .Now that's too much...isn't it? 
So morale of the story  --- Grow up guys , it's not our world anymore ......cheers to the independent girls of India and next time you think of the prospect of rejecting a girl, be prepared for the vice versa.
There is another of my friend, brilliant, smart and an awesome person with a beautiful love story ..... of course one sided ... but later on ...keep reading my ramblings .. that's all I have , words ..... In case you like it drop in a comment.. it will keep the word-fire burning!




Thursday, April 1, 2010

What Bihar is to India , India is to the world !

Since long, I had been harping on the relationship between Bihar and India, one as a state and other as a nation , yet very close in features and similar in perception. It has been atleast 8 years since i am brewing this coffee over India and its Vihar, yes Vihar shares the same relation with Bihar as Mumbai is to Bombay.

In ISM I could see the first glimpse of the perception soon to be a conviction ; numerous talented folks from Bihar, more than talent , the hunger for success and knowledge was striking.Indians in foreign universities are known for the same ; their hunger for knowledge, their frugal engineering means and the talent unleashed to the best.The eager for government services and the passion with which they crack it has been oustanding, similar to the numerous Phd's and Scientists pursuits abroad.

Bihar is infamous for the same qualities that India has ; corruption, lack of infrastructure,bad politics, failing systems in healthcare and education. If you wish, you can blame bihar for all the malpractices and so can you think about the whole of India.However there is a silver lining in the nimbus. The gdp of bihar is on a rise; the governance is improving and it has seen one of the highest NRB(non resident biharis) investment in real estate. The education curve's is moving well in the positive slope and the healthcare is improving though on a small scale. Same is true for India. In short, taking cue from tedindia, India is the softpower to the world and Bihar is the softpower to India.

Moving on to people; Indians are known for doing petty jobs on foreign soil and so are Biharis. Undoubtedly the most hardworking, they form a support system to the economy they work for, be it Mumbai or US.Biharis have been the hate victims in almost the same way the racist attacks against Indians have been staged abroad. They have been suffering in the same way the Indians are and yet taking every humiliation in their stride, forgiving and sometimes forgetting the wounds inflicted and yet trying to give their best to the foreign lands.

Yes, both of them have been asked to go back to their lands and there is a movement, a nexus building, where we see more professors from abroad joining Indian companies and Indian Universities, and we also see Biharis coming back to Patna and allied cities to start something new.

 Yes there is a wave of change and it definitely threatens the current equation of "Power" both at International and National levels, with India and Bihar playing the cards nicely.








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