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Shoe story

You know those nightmare one has of going to school without shoes? And then in the assembly you realise that you are standing in just your white socks or bare feet and everyone around is either staring or making fun of you.  Well today was one such day when that dream kind of came true. I had this laced up formal pure black leather shoe with leather sole which I had purchased a decade or so back. They at that time were the most comfortable formal shoe I had ever worn. So even when the leather sole gave away I got it resoled with a rubber sole. The shoes were honorably retired from active duty and transferred from Lucknow and stored away in my cupboard in Jammu.  So after all those years I thought I would take the treasured shoes out and wear them to college for everyone to admire. I left early in the morning and had stopped on the way to Rajouri from Jammu at a water front near Nowshera. Went down to the river to admire the view, with the mist, the pine trees, the gurgling water and al
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Trials & tribulations of boiling an egg!

Finally managed to make my own breakfast today of boiled eggs, peanut butter sandwich and coffee after much trial and tribulations.  The tough part being the evasive electricity and that being my only way to cook (on a electric heater) or make coffee (in an electric kettle). I started the boiling the eggs day before at 6pm and finally managed to boil them by 11pm! I had infact forgotten all about them through the multiple power shut downs during the course of evening. Was reminded about them by the incessant banging of the eggs on the steel utensil once the water had fully boiled.  Bottom line being I am totally dependent upon electricity. Will have to make arrangements for a gas connection and an inverter if I have to stay long. Aisae kaise chalega! Danced a mini jig after the successful completion of breakfast in the morning today. Even an inane task like this seems like such a Herculean effort over here!
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The one who almost got away...

So I have this record which I am rather fond of. I have never lost a friend, as in I am not talking about death, but never lost contact. I have tracked down people who had settled abroad, had changed their surnames and that too before Facebook and Google, after a gap of around 2 decades. There was hardly anyone I couldn't track, and I did track down quite a few and the rest I never lost sight of. Except one. The irony of that was she was in my hometown, so technically she should have been the easiest to track. But I never could. She wasn't there on any social media. The hospital where we both had worked had shut down. We had no common acquaintance. Our one common friend was now semi-hostile. Plus with my bad memory for names I could not recollect of anyone else who had worked in the hospital. In short I had no leads to follow on, so was practically screwed! But I never gave up hope.  I used to regularly scan the social media platforms in case she turns up somewhere, but with no
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Storm in a teacup

Had a first hand experience of "breaking news" in the department at GMC today.  Some media person with a microphone and a guy holding a cell phone recording the event broke into the dental department today.  They caught hold of an attendant named Zia not wearing a mask and asked him where his mask was. He not knowing who the guys were asked where is your mask? When they revealed their identity Zia pushed them out of the OPD and locked the doors.  Then all hell broke loose! Incidentally the Principal was in our department getting his dental treatment done at that time. So it was all the more absurd and more of a real life drama.
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Dream within a dream

I woke up at around 3am, fully awake, not the drowsy awake kind. I couldn't figure out why. I was neither cold nor under any pain or discomfort. Finally managed to drift back into sleep after an hour or so. That's when I saw this lucide dream. "We were in the botanical/science institute in Jammu, but in my dream it was in Lucknow, on a Sunday. Walking towards the main building there were pretty weird kind of plants and I was telling Jai about the fruits of one of them. Ayush wanted her pics clicked near the statues places at the entrance of the closed building. There was an another person with us but I can't remember who.  I started walking back when I saw there was some cultural program going on in the baradari like open structure in the lawns. As I approached it to check it out I could see a couple of yound women turning and looking towards me and talking. On coming closer I saw it was Vandana who was giving me a sheepish smile. I was so surprised to see her! The fir
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Cacti cauldron

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Started my cacti collection in Jammu too. Had got the one in the beer mug along with me in the plane and a few cuttings of the one in green Buddha and now they are multiplying.  For some reason cactus have bad press, people only have bad things to say about the poor thing. But for some reason they resonate with me, I seem to understand them, or maybe they are just too easy to grow. Have to get another Buddha, maybe a brown or a black one. They should be in odd numbers. Hinduism as it is has a fascination for odd numbers.
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The return of the native...

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 I am back. Back to the room where I was back in 1974! Took me around 46-47 years to complete the full circle before coming back to where it all started from. I am in a state of limbo. Jobless. And almost penniless. But I am at peace with myself. Secure and relatively stable. Ah! The travesties and uncertainties of life. My agyatvas, my hibernation.  Amongst all this gave a presentation on history taking in a CDE organised by KGMU too. This pic is just to remind me later on in my life of these times. A speaker without a college to represent. Like a vagabond or a freelancer.  The song "Sochna hai kya, jo hona hai hoga, janae kya hoga Rama re, janae kya hoga humara re?" is what all my life is about now.
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