If one is asked to demonstrate figure of speech, the statement- Anmol is dying to get married, would be a perfect example.

Anmol is 32, Engineer, MBA, vegetarian and believes that good looks can’t compensate for higher IQ. He works in a reputed multinational company, earns a handsome salary and he is a champion is playing Tetris. He is desperately looking for a partner since his last girlfriend walked out, two years back. Staying alone in a big Indian metropolis, he is eager to settle down with a right companion, in a place he could call home. Being a proactive twenty-first century tech-savvy guy, he did not leave any stone unturned to search for the right girl. He has subscribed to fourteen matrimonial sites and many marriage groups, friend-finders, dating and social networking sites. He diligently fills up each and every detail about himself in building up his profile and makes sure he looks attractive enough in the profile picture. He chooses ‘single and looking’ or ‘bachelor’ or ‘looking for dating a woman’ from the drop down menu, with a hope that it would work out someday.

He is hopeful that, one day a girl would add him to her buddy list. Then they will exchange comments on each others pictures, status messages. Then they will start exchanging private messages which would culminate to chatting. He is confident that this is just the right way to look for a partner. However, it is not n the online forums he is active in. He also keeps his eyes and ears open in real life. Everywhere he sees an attractive girl, he starts thinking about a way to befriend her. The firm he works in has plenty of well educated good-looking spinsters. However it did not take Anmol much time to discover that the maxim ‘all good ones are taken’, holds brutally true. Some of his close colleagues knew about his predicament and tried to get him introduced to selected lady colleagues. Anmol found all of them to be little too independent and progressive to his acceptance. So their relationship could never exceed beyond having coffee in the campus barista.

Nevertheless, he is not built with mettle to lose hope. So he continues trying his luck by meeting girls who would suit his expectation. His expectation is simple. The girl should be vegetarian, good looking, well educated, independent, honest, respects Indian social values and customs and should have a good stable job so that she can share the loan burdens equally. Unfortunately, he was grossly disheartened to find that a girl comprising his specifications is virtually non-existent. Most of his married friends suggested that he should not be biased towards good looks or higher education. They also suggested Anmol to leave the matter entirely to his parents, who would be a better judge to evaluate a proposal. However all the alliances his parents introduced to him was rejected as he found the girls to be backdated, unintelligent or simply repulsive.

Anmol has calculated that he has spent a little over fifteen thousand rupees in the last two years to pay the restaurant and bar bills, during the meetings and dates with various girls. After all his meetings, he became experienced than he was yesterday, but still remained a ‘single but looking for’ guy. He has met vegetarian girls who got drunk after two drinks, he has met ugly girls who photoshopped their profile pictures, he has met chauvinistic ladies who compelled to share the restaurant bill into exact equal halves to the last paisa, he has met girls who were keen on one night stand, in short- he has seen them all. It’s not that all of them were weird, there were some whom Anmol liked, but they never called back. In short either Anmol rejected the girls or got rejected by them in exceptional regularity.

So, when he saw this brief but unusual message in the inbox of one of the numerous sites he is member of, he was intrigued. The message read -

‘ Hi,

I am Maya. I am single and looking for a serious relationship. Do you think we should know each other little more? ”

Hope to get a reply soon.

Anmol was impressed. The message conveys a subtle blend of confidence with a polite attitude. She knows what she wants. He quickly checked her profile- a bespectacled smart charming looking lady, probably in her late twenties. She loves reading science fiction, enjoys cooking and traveling to Indian heritage sites. She stays alone and works as a developer for an online gaming company. He was elated.

He replied, after much deliberation and using all his past experience-

‘ Hi Maya,

It was good to see your message. Your profile is very interesting and I am attracted to know more about you. Please suggest what you feel should be the best way to do that.’

He could not sleep properly that night. This is the first time a girl has approached him proactively. Next morning, he logged in to check if there’s any reply. There wasn’t. Anmol started his day in a disconcerted note. He could not concentrate on his work and kept on checking his mailbox. His experience told him not to lose patience or show desperation. He knew many of these girls actually get offended by an act of desperation. So he refrained from writing another message, though he madly wanted to.

The reply came next evening. She said sorry for the delay and shared her instant messaging ID, as she felt chatting would be the best way to converse real-time. Over the next two weeks Anmol chatted with her, told everything about himself and literally discussed minutest personal detail with her. She reciprocated too. She stays alone in the same city of Anmol. She expressed how she had lost her parents as a kid and how she longs for the affection of the elderly. Days went by and Anmol gradually fell in love with her. He felt as if she could sense his daily emotions. He also felt that she was also fond of him but shying to progress further. He almost lost all concentration in his job. When he was not chatting with her, he was playing the test version of online 3D Tetris, shared by Maya, who was part of the development team for the game.

Three months went by. Anmol was eager to meet her, but refrained from asking her out. Then, two days before his birthday, the message came.

‘I know it’s your birthday. Let’s meet and make it a memorable day’- Maya

Anmol almost went mad with happiness. He didn’t remember how he waited for the evening to come. He booked a table with candles and flowers at the restaurant she has named.

That evening he bought a bunch of roses and a silver pendant, wore everything new and reached the restaurant. Before entering he stood out and took a deep breath. His life would probably change, once he steps in.

Then he pushed the door slowly. The interior were dimly lit. He walked while his eyes still trying to adjust and find his way forward. The smell of the roses and the blurred atmosphere made him woozy. Suddenly, all the lights in the restaurant turned on with a blinding glare. Before he could realize what happened, a bunch of people jumped out of every nook and corner of the place with a loud cheer and said…

“ Surprise from the Maya team ! Happy Birthday to you Anmol “.

It was when the music started playing; he realized they were his colleagues.

Muhabbat Phool Hai Jana,
Kaho To Phool Ban Jaoon,
Tumhari Zindagi Ka Ek,
Haseen Asool Ban Jaoon.
Suna Hai Rait Pe Chal K,
Tum Aksar Mehk Jatay Ho,
Kaho To Ab K Bar Main,
Zameen Ki Dhool Ban Jaoon.
Buhut Nayab Hotay Hain,
Jinhein Tum Apna Kehte Ho,
Ijaazat Do Ki Main Bhi,
Es Qadr Anmol Ban Jaoon . . . 0_0

Duniya Waloon ne Chahat ka mujh ko silla anmol diya
Pairoon main zanjerien dhalien hathoon main kashkool diya

itna gehra rang kahan tha raat ke mailay anchal ka
yeah kis ne ro ro ke, gagan main apna kajal ghole diya

yeah kia kum hai us ne bakhsha aik mehkta door mujhe
wo bhi hain jinko bas rangoon ka ik chamkeela khool diya

mujh se be-maya , apnoon ki aur to khatir kia kerta
jab bhi sitam ka peeka’n aya, main ne seena khol diya

beetay lamhay dehan main aa ker mujh se sawali hotay hain
tu ne kis banjer matti main man ka amrat ghol diya

ashkoon ki ujli kaliyan hoon yaan sapnoon ke kundan phool
ulfat ki meezan main mein ne jo tha sab kuch tool diya

Diwali is synonymous with gold and offering gold to someone near and dear is traditional. Here are some shops where you can buy some great gold and save some cash as well. But these offers are valid only till the end of the month.

ANMOL:  This place is having a great discount but it’s only on making charges. So go ahead and have a custom design made specially for that certain someone. Where: Anmol Jewellers, #2 & 3, Near Moti Mahal, Contact: 66925100

POPLEY AND SONS: This Diwali along with gold you can buy every girls’ best friend (diamonds) at a discount. Buy gold and get 10% in diamonds free on the total bill amount. Where: 125, Turner road, Contact: 6710000/66710000

TANISHQ: This place combines tries to combine both the above offers  by offering 10% off  on gold making charges and 5% off on diamonds. Where: Tanishq jewelry, 365 C, Giriraj Bld, Linking Road, Contact : 26495959/26511349

MINAWALA: These guys aren’t giving you a discount on making charges or diamonds but will give you 25% off on MRP of all items. But only till the 26th of this month so hurry. Where: Waterfield road, Contact: 26401032

- Rommel Albuquerque

Siddharth rightly called it a reality show. Thirteen of us – the most random group ever. When the list was  out, I was quite glad, that there was no one I knew too well in the group. It only breeds lesser politics, you know. Why were we the most random, because you perhaps would never find any two out of the group ever hang out in college, together. Maheshwar was supposed to be the most beautiful out of the three (Jhabua, Bagh, and Maheshwar itself) and, yeah it was. The place we stayed at perhaps made the stay all the more worthy, unlike, from what we heard from the others. The river ran right at the foot at the resort, and the huge rooms and the sufficient area made it what we would call home for the next two weeks.

The journey was l-o-n-g. And tiring. Day 1 left only a few awake while the rest were recuperating. We slept way after sunrise, ranting about all that we could have. After all, some of us had never quite spoken to each other in the whole of two years. What made it easy for everyone to actually enjoy their stay, was that no one had any pre-conceived notions about each other at all. We were truly random, also in a way that each one of the thirteen could entertain, hold together an audience quite on their own, with whatever randomness they had to them. 

Yes, Alcohol definitely doesn’t go without. As in this story, it begins and ends with it. Oh, we were there for a project, which quite didn’t begin with until near the end, that’s the way it always has been working, hasn’t it?  Anyway, with it being some firsts, hardly any one was tipsy. The following day brought the drama in. Two, asleep. Two of us, not drinking. He took his turn in the morning though. Sloshed. I had an entire day of entertainment, watching eight people completely knocked out. Handling them was no easy task. It was a night, everyone will remember, more in hindsight than anything else. 

Alcohol was a three night trip. The first, everyone was happy high. Conked out before any thing could actually happen. Second, sloshed, with everyone making up their mind, as it goes, never to drink again. The third, shouldn’t have happened. The last day, before everyone left. And of course, not everytime is as smooth as every other time, right? So, typically, there was just enough vodka to get people almost high, and the state wasn’t appreciated by any one. The audience, and the participants. Unecessary spoiling of what could have been an almost perfect ending to the trip. AK was a laugh riot. Where he repeated the same point over and over and over and over again. And his all-famous ‘golden drag’ at the end of the cigarette. *Cough*, we have our laughs now. Of course, he also elaborated his analysis of why-only-use-swear-words-in-English,-get-over-it-and-say-it-in-the-real-language!  

Maheshwar is quite a beautiful place. We spent most of our time by the river side. When it wasn’t all that sweltering, of course. Suprisingly the evenings were quite cool. And the place was picturesque. Swimming in the river, or just lazing at the rapid, doesn’t seem like it even happened. We’d lose all sense of the time talking around there. Whether it was 10 in the morning, or 3 in the night, day and night was no different. 

We’d spent about a week at that place when a couple of ‘others’ had come to see Maheshwar was. Turns out we didn’t quite welcome their presence. Rude of course, but everyone had just started to get used to living that way. If it was just a visit, perhaps no one would’ve lasted for more than 3 days at Maheshwar. It’s nice and all that jazz, but we were losing it towards the end. I will still say the trip was fantastic, but you know, it being a long semester, blah blah, no one had quite had a break yet, this was more like our break. Hence, NO one worked at all. 

Every group has a character. SA was our character. No offence to you, if you ever do read this. You were quite amusing, oft our source of entertainment. SA has a lot of stories to her. Hell,we should write a book, with a zillion chapters to her. I think the idea will quite be encouraged if approached, when college beins. 

Haan, anyway. Rummy (Is that how it’s spelt?) was our constant addiction throughout the trip. We had to play it. E-v-e-r-y-d-a-y.  Anyone who didn’t know how to play, or that asked us to play another game, had to either learn the game, or not interfere with us. So out of the thirteen, I think ten of us knew, including SA who learnt it on the trip, two didn’t bother with us at all. So that would leave them, roughly three to seven hours everyday in solitude. And AK who didn’t bother with any of us at all. We started at teaching SA how to play at some where around 10 in the evening. And, well, two days later, she was still asking us if a-true-series-had-a-joker? And always thrice continuously. That is pretty much the only rule in the game. And hell, even the ones who never played would assume by the end of it all, that they could play as well. She was almost always the butt of all our jokes.

SA also was, how should I put it, ignorant? Or, apparently kept herself out of ‘stuff like that’, in the period having already done her graduation. Seriously! College, or rather, school for some, is the one place, where our education began. Uh-huh education. You get the idea, right? This one late evening, slouched in the courtyard between the two rooms, the conversation got around *cough* ‘Heel inside you’. Forget it, I don’t even remember where the conversation began, or what it led to, but like always, it was a whole lotta crap. Now, ‘ heel inside you’, to a perverse mind, would get one thinking. Not her. Hell, let alone understanding perverse humour, she didn’t even get the female body itself! Some explanation of how-she-didn’t-attend-the-‘one-week’-in-school-when-‘it’-was-all-being-explained,-because-of-some-wedding-she-had-to-attend,-and-no-one-explained-it-later. Blah. Oh, she had her education the next afternoon. The rest of the group almost took it up as a responsibility to educate her. And, yes, laugh at her expense too. C’mon, every bunch of friends, has a weird dick!

Anyway, that was how our random weird trip went on. This post has no flow to it, because it’s being written over a period of time. As I remember stuff from the trip, all dropped in.

Cheers!

The sun of 21st June is no longer in the sky (in part of Bangladesh, +6GMT). All my friends, colleagues is in their home. Yes, I am talking about the night. I was at Dhanmondi Lake, Dhaka with myself. That was a terrible day for me, Really!

Around 11:30PM I went to Fahmida Apa’s (Fahmida Nobi, famous singer of our country) house where her daughter Anmol prepared her first cake. Lucky I am! At least I am lucky with my tiny luck (the past incident is forcing me write so). We lit the candle and the party began. The three musketeers party!

Thanks Anmol for the cake! At least I can see a pale smile on my face. Right now I am not smiling anymore but if I could, I’ll spare this to you. Unfortunately, I am not allowed today. The spaces between my finger is far far away from mind. I can feel my breath but something is missing inside me! I am searching for myself now.

FRI, 20.06

We recommend you try the German Pork Chops with Sage & Garlic Sauce’ in the Barbecue section and the German Pork Chops in Pepper Brandy Cream Sauce in the Sizzler section.

Where: Out Of the Blue, Union Park

Yoga Institute is conducting yoga
classes at Nalanda. Learn classical and traditional yoga in a scientific way

When: 7:30am to 8:30am

Contact: 9820817610

SAT, 21.06

Catharsis of the Soul: for BPO, KPO and other professionals and entrepreneurs. Where: Nalanda

When: 2:30pm-8pm on June 21, 10:30am-8:30pm on June 22,

Contact: 9821606488

Learn dance from Danceworx performing arts academy. Last date
for registration is June 23.

Contact: 65159994

SUN, 22.06

High on Heels has a great deal on shoes. Pick up any pair for Rs. 250. Some great kitten heels available

Where: Linking Road

Spinning classes will help you fight the fat. Where: Leena Mogre’s Specialised Gym, near KFC; Contact: 32912422

Anything but Love (English). Directed by Vikranth Pawar, it’s the story of a recently divorced couple who may still be in love with each other, five years later.

Starring: Mandira Bedi and Samir Soni

Where: St. Andrew’s Auditorium

When: June 22, 7:30pm,

Contact: 26513224, 26410926

MON, 23.06

Kreative Kids supported by National School of Drama: Production-oriented theatre workshop, from basics to performance, confidence building and unleashing talent, for children between 8-14yrs. Where: Nalanda,

When: June 23

Contact: 9820725551, 9869008230

TUE, 24.06

MET Institute of software Development and Research announces admissions for advance Diploma in Software Development. Entrance exam to be held at MET on June 29. Where: MET, Bandra Reclamation, Contact: 26440096

Add a splash of colour this rainy season with Anmol’s new collection. They’ve got a great collection of emerald earrings and more.

Where: Anmol showrooms, Turner Road

WED, 25.06

New arrivals at Drama Queen.
Check out their collection of
dresses and tops. A really nice
selection of gold clutches too.

Where: Pali Road

THU, 26.06

It’s salsa time, so get ready to groove to the best Latino music and dance the night away.

When: Thursdays

Where: Banana Bar

Elementary/intermediate art classes including memory drawing, still life,
freehand and more for children aged
11 and over.

Where: 601 West Wind, HK Bhaba Road, Bandstand

Contact: 9833196165

About 1850 photos of Shambhavi Sharma,Anmol Singh ,Sonel,Simron,Ashurosh,Nihal and others on http://mtvroadies.xaapa.com/

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Today’s Episode rocked!!! Hands down!, the best Roadie episode ever, full of excitement, rush and nail biting action. And Roadies is fair, at least for these two episodes. The last 11 Roadies have to prove themselves, and 6 would be taken abroad to Thailand. In Rannvijay’s words, “We’ll make sure only deserving roadies are taken abroad.”

Prabhjot challenged Anmol.

Vikrant challenged Nihal.

Snehashish challenged Ashutosh (fuckin’ bastard knows ashu is hurt).

Ankita challenged Shambhavi.

What the first two pairs had to do was stand on a plank in front of each other at a height and try to cut the plank of the one standing in front of him with an axe.

So, Prabhjot beat Anmol(YAY!), and got back in the game. But, the best thing that happened was that Shambhavi’s real face got exposed and now even Nihal is against him, and as Nihal had been hearing abuses all night, he came with “josh” and just cut his way into the roadies smoothly, beating Vikrant. We finally have 2 real ROADIES. Congrats everyone, waiting for the next episode. Ankita vs. Shambhavi + Snehashish vs. Ashutosh. Jo anjaam hoga, acchha hi hoga.