Stupidity

I have done my share of stupid things in my lifetime. Some I am sure I have pushed to some far corner of my brain, just so that I do not embarass myself as my brain does some TV sitcom kinda reruns at some idle moment. Some stupid things I have done, have been a result of me not being thorough and fortunately did have happy endings with some amusement & laughter to boot. Here are a list of the top 3 and they all have to do with travel.

3. Had booked a return bus ticket for Krishnan, Pradeep & me from Madurai (friend's wedding) to Bangalore for 10 PM on 27th Dec. We landed there on 27th Dec, finished with the wedding formalities by 2.30 PM and were on our way back to YMCA where we were put up. Krishnan (must have had a premonition) decides to check with the travel company on the way, on where to board the bus. We then find that the ticket issued is for Bangalore-Chennai. Given that the handwriting was gibberish, my failure to check on the fine print makes this stupid on my part. We ended up breaking our journey into 2 and taking buses with lesser comforts. It ranks no. 3 only because there were no return tickets available anyways to Bangalore and we would have had to do what we did finally. Krishnan's premonition though saved us time, headaches & money.

2. Krishnan, Pradeep & I are sitting at the Bangalore Cantonment Station for a weekend trip to chennai. I had booked the ticket supposedly for the 11 PM train or so. We were sitting on a bench and we notice a family running to catch a train which just came in. Pradeep remarks- 'Why can't people come early to catch a train they know is going to arrive at a certain time'. Krishnan & I add to that & we share a good laugh. Then Krishnan asks me the train number & we realize that the train in front of us is the train we are supposed to board. In the end we end up running & just about manage to catch the train. No harm done. But ranked no. 2 for failure to read simple english on a simple ticket.

1. I had booked an online rail ticket to Salem from Bangalore. The evening I was supposed to leave, I get my bag, lock my room and just when I am to board my auto to the station, see the ticket & realize that the departure time is 6 AM & not 6 PM. I end up travelling on a crowded bus, standing non-stop for 4 hrs to Salem. This ranks no. 1 purely for the discomfort I faced due to my stupidity.

I do want to thank God, that all these incidents ended well with little or no discomfort. Having chilled out friends who reflect your attitude of 'Okay. Shit happens. Now what?' also helps. I am hoping I have learnt my lesson from all these incidents though.

Sachin

This is not a poem exactly. Its my attempt at Rap. And I must say that it isn't all that bad. In fact I think that its got influences of Rap, Ballad & Poems in it. I wrote it for a friend of mine from B-School, in 2001 I think. His name is Sachin Mehta. Yep! That's him & his wife Ankita in the pic. He's 6ft 5 inches, tall, thin, handsome, smart & a typical Delhi Punj attitude. I have picked on instances in college like rushing to college, Sachin's election as class Rep, dancing at parties, his birthday party, his unique basketball playing style of standing under the basket etc. He's a nice simple guy and somebody who kinda looks out for the whole group. I had fun writing this one. Its light hearted. Don't think I will write another one like this again though.

You know brother, first day I saw him,
I couldn't touch his damn shin.
No short man, tall & lanky,
Was no relation to our man Shanky.
Come morning come, I go damn, damn, damn,
Our tall lanking man and me scram, scram, scram.
Clever little class, want no responsibility, ya
Made him CR- fine print on his forehead- oh yeah!
A fine leader, got many assignments postponed.
End of class- 'Announcements' you hear baritoned.
Lets shake some leg, atleast one, I say,
Never see a man shake them all that way.
This man bro', and I mean trust me on this one bro',
Can make that black sportin jordan crow.
Party time, B'day time, bake a cake, man, bake a cake.
Trust me bro', the cake, from his ass he did scrape.
So here ends his story, no ballad and no funky
Sure! You wish, he was gay & kinky.
But no ordinary man bro', this guy is going places.
Its left to you and me, the storytellers to pick his traces.
So next time bro', in harlem, when we meet.
Lets remember, this good ol' legend and drink him neat.

Ella!

Kids can say & do the darnest things with innocence carved on their faces. Sometimes they can drive you nuts. But more often than not, they warm your heart. Last Friday I had gone to help out at a fund rasing campaign for a choir group travelling to Shillong. Towards the end as I was saying my byes to people who were leaving. I saw little Ella, all of 6 yrs I think and a darling of a girl (I had first met her, her parents Ashwin, Samantha & her sister Petra by chance on her birthday about a month earlier). I asked her to come over, which to my surprise she did. I gave her a hug & she coyly looked at me thereafter. I launched into a fictional sob story about how no girl ever liked me and all and I told that she was the cutest thing I had seen in a long time and I really liked her. I said a few other things & I planted a goodbye kiss on her cheek as her parents were about to leave. She came out of my arms, while I was sitting there on the stairs, she looked me with such innocence & love in her eyes & planted a kiss on my cheek in turn. For the life of me I must say I was so touched by the gesture. What amazed me was that this girl at such an young age could be sensitive to other people and the willingness to reach out & express it with such unrestrained innocence was beautiful. At that moment I realized that she had made my day and realized what true beauty is. I said a prayer for her that night. That she will love and be loved every day for the rest of her life. For a related article click here.