Fuchsia

:-)

The Perfect Sunday

I met Karan yesterday after exactly one year. He's one of my closest friends from school. We drove to Khadakvasla Dam only to find it really crowded, it being a Sunday evening. So we decided to drive further up to Sinhagarh Fort. The roads weren't too great, but it was a beautiful drive with great music and awesome conversations to keep me super happy. And you thought I was frustrated with life! :D

The view from up there was to die for. I do not have pictures because we were literally walking in clouds with visibility not more than three feet. The clouds were heavy, it was raining, and it was that storm-like feeling of the recent past, but only SO MUCH BETTER! The temperature must not have been more than 15-16 degrees. So, to make the experience perfect, we had hot pakoras. :D Or call them batata and kanda bhajiya.

I also had another popular local snack. Rather, a fruit. They put masala on raw mangoes, cut them prettily, and serve them yumm. :D

The moment we started driving down, the view cleared up, and I was absolutely mesmerised! I have described it to tens of people already, but I shall do so for my own record here too. (So much for not being able to click!)
While we were driving down a steep and slippery narrow road, the view from my side was a deeeep valley, peaks in the distance, a white patch on top of the hills, and then the magical skies. It took me a while to figure what the white patch over the peaks was. It was the Khadakvasla reservoir. Wow! I SO wish I had a picture. I swear!! It was killer!!!

The drive back to the city was great too. We talked of the craziest things that happened back in school. Gosh! It has already been 6-7 years.

Got a Sub on my way back too. :D :D

On the super-pretty Khadakvasla-Sinhagarh road

The Reservoir

Windy - from the moving car

Lots and lots of people on the closest get-away from Pune city on a Sunday evening
The reservoir at Khadakvasla Dam

He's a childhood friend. Knows of the few constants in my life very well. Never need an occasion for red roses. :-)

Meet my little boy Dhaniya :-)

If I'm connected with you on Facebook, and you bother to follow people's status messages, then you might remember my status about biking through villages in rain last Monday. That was on a day when I went to a different part of the city with a classmate on his bike. It was a super brilliant ride with somebody intelligent and funny through mind-blowing greenery and colour. That day I had lunch at McD's and managed to get Sid with my Happy Meal. :D :D Now he's with me in my keychain. Muhahahaa!


Oh, and btw, I am going home for Rakhi next week. Muhahahaaaaa!!!!

Innaiku ennaku porandha naal

The schedule for the semester said that September 3^rd and 4^th will be holidays. Several weeks in advance I started talking about moving out of Pune for the two days. After much contemplation, we decided that it won’t be too good an idea to go because it is festive time here in Maharashtra and the streets are a little crazy with celebrations and frenzy.

So it was decided that 2^nd night will be a party. The only condition I laid down was that there has to be dance. The onus of deciding and planning everything else was on friends. Poor things brainstormed on minute details like mad for days. Surprises were also being planned, and I was being made to eat alone at the mess while the secret stuff was on.

What was also happening (of things I knew about) was a wardrobe makeover for yours truly. First she bought a fancy top for which she thought a Mr Chopra will be decent company in helping to decide. But turned out he didn’t know how to help women shop. So the coordinators of the event – Ridhima HI! Mehra and Swetha Bijli came to my rescue and we bought something pretty.

Then a couple of days later Ashraf and Nidhi helped me shop for a skirt which was ‘very-unlike-Richa’. But “cute” (as everything I will ever own or do in this lifetime) it was, and a 40% discount it had, so we merrily bought it.

Here comes the afternoon of 2^nd September and the notice board says that Aarbee along with three other party members were required to report in the office at 8:00 pm for an interview. So the cab will come later and we will have lesser time to funjoy. Nonetheless, finally after a LOT of continuous planning we left campus at 9:45 pm. Two cars loaded with 14 people headed to the city which was apparently choked due to rain and traffic. It took us about a very eventful one hour to reach an area called Kalyani Nagar and there we figured that things are going to be shut within minutes and we have no place to eat, drink or DANCE. Happy to me! Not even Comesum at the railway station was an option because there were drunken men all over the place anyway. And there were thullas too who would not have allowed 10 of us to be in one Tavera. Only one place had lights on at 11:30 - McDonald’s. We go and loot all that their kitchen had left in it. Not enough for all of us, but we make do. I started feeling better because I felt I was turning 13 or something, not 22. A yummm chocolate truffle cake arrived and also began a flood of phone calls. There went the routine followed by a wise decision of just coming back to campus because there was NO place to go to in this students’ city. :-/

You know who was torn between feelings of being happy that there are 14 other people trying to make her day exciting and of being sad because of the fact that one of the gods decided to steal her thunder.

So we just played blaring music in the car, sang out loud, stopped over at a dhaba to get some proper food, and were back on campus at 2:00 am. The dance HAD to be there and we were lucky to have Bappi da with us on Ranjan’s phone. So we walk-danced from the academic block to the hostels on the tunes of Yaar bina chein kahan re and so on. Akash, our techie cameraboy was playing Shashi Kapoor for the night and made sure we laughed like crazy.

After further madness and realisation that we did not have alcohol for the girls on one of the floors (automatic, natural dry day for MY floor), we just called it a day and five of us came to my room while the others went to their respective hostels and rooms. My birthday had just begun, so the surprise was waiting for me to change into pyjamas. It was a video full of wishes and love that all these guys had recorded and edited for me. Now that was something I had never been at the receiving end of. So I smiled through the 20 minutes of footage and as usual was left with no words at the end of it. And so I smiled further. =)

At 4:00 am we NEEDED sleep, so everyone went off. I don’t know when I got sleep because I started answering phones again at 7:00 am. The number of embarrassing calls was the highest this time because most people called on my Reliance phone and that phone has no numbers saved apart from those of the Pune people. So a friend calls and plays the guitar, and I am compelled to ask who it is because I had absolutely no clue about who I was talking to. Some sent some profanities free with the wishes, others just didn’t say anything.

For lunch I wanted pizza and my friends wanted embarrassment for me. So they told the Pizza Hut people that it is my happy to you and they made me stand in the centre (thankfully, not on a chair) and sang a strange happy budday song. The cutest thing there though was a small girl coming up to wish me and giving me her FiveStar. And she genuinely wanted me to have it because she barely took a bite of it when I offered it to her. Darn sweet!

Spent the entire day eating, walking and shopping in the city and came back by the 9:00 pm bus. Also, received and bought flowers. One of the bouquets that I received became a little extra special though. It had travelled a couple of kms less than 2,000 if I am not wrong. It was from a Bong in Calcutta. The one who took note of a mad request I had made on the blog last week. Super-duper happy!!!

By the time I reached my room I was too dead! Still sat and organized all the photographs that were clicked over the past 24 hours. And now writing this too.

But before ending I really need to thank the gang here without whom this day would not have been so special.

Please make way…

Aakash

Akshay

Amrah

Bijli

Booty

Debby

KD

Maria

Nidhi

Ranjan

Reitesh

Ridhima

Robin

Ruhi

Sahil

Shagun

Shahwan

Venky

Vrinda

- All sweethearts!! It doesn’t feel like I have known them for only two months. And they don’t behave as if they’ve known me for only two months. Love ‘em all!! =)

Thanking you. :P

All of us, with Priyam behind the camera

On the way back to campus.

On campus :)

During the day

Home was quiet and missed me. Even though I am having a lot of fun here, I hope to go back soon and spend more birthdays there. Love you, Ma, Pa and Bhaiya. Mmuaaah!!

On A Happy Note

Another year has come to a close, and this year I do not have my customary New Year post because I had made it on my birthday itself, and there isn't really much that I have done in the last four months for me to make a new list.
But what I do want to write about are the things that make (and have made) me happy. Firstly, I think it's time I acknowledge the camera that I own. I have not liked it since I've got it, but I can only imagine what life would have been if I didn't have it. Well, if I didn't have it, I'd have actually had a camera according my preferences, but let's just count the blessings, shall we. So, it's a Sony T100. And if there's one good thing that I can confidently say about it is its macro lens. It does a killer job...each time! Or maybe it's just that macros are my thing [:D]. Whatever said, the camera really helps me there. And thanks to that, I have managed to capture a few shots of one of my most favourite things in the world...flowers.

I have actually clicked over 2,500 pictures in under five months. Well, perhaps some of them have been absolutely random, and some I have lost forever, but I have had So Much Fun!

Adding to the happiness has been Shady. I keep mentioning him, but the mentions are usually never enough. He's been the staff that I've clung to in these difficult months, and the best part is that he's never made me feel that I'm clinging. He's a darling!

And of course, ALL the friends who have entertained me, and have been entertained by me (and this is the entertainment wala entertain, and not jhelne wala entertain).

Well, I think this is pretty much it. And I think I should keep revisiting this page, because my bad mood days should see how beautiful things are around me. :-)

Now I shall make a move. My brother's come to pseudo fight with me after a very long time. :D Tada!!