Hyperbole

The perfect journey jumped out of story books and became a real thing on 25th of February of the year Two thousand and nineteen, in other words this Monday. The cab was available at 4:45 a.m. The driver was just adjacent and knew exactly where to come. He got there at the boarding point before I could get there. He didn't speak a word. We got to the terminal well in time. I got the shortest line entering the T1 airport terminal at Delhi. The luggage drop queue was short and fast I had my boarding card and the luggage checked in within blink of an eye. Got the shortest queue of a couple of people, while the other queue appeared a mile long at the security check. Just breezed in for frisking For once my baggage wasn't opened up and enquired about at the x-ray. Got a surprise 25% discount for the take away at Starbucks! Boarding had started by the time I reached down. Was the last passenger on the bus to.the aircraft and it moved just as I got in. Was the first to b

The title may sound similar to good hair day but the similarity ends there. Eggs constitute a major part of my breakfast and they invariably a part in some form.  I follow the same routine to make them but the results can vary according to conditions still unknown to me. Some days they turn out picture perfect and then there are days like today. I made 3 today. All the 3 different and all the 3 screwed up. First one was for Alex which was both over and under cooked at the same time. Then it was for Jai which stuck to the pan despite my taking all precautions. The omelette was supposed to be fluffy but it ended up being a crossover between an omelette and a scrambled. I was last on the list and I fell back upon my "could-not-go-wrong" recipe of single half fry. It bombed. The egg stuck to the pan, the yolk was running all over the plate - different egg, different style, different pan.  Same result.  It was just not my day.

3 things defined yesterday i.e. 19th of February 2019, a Tuesday. Raman's B'day. All the three traveling from the past to the present. First was the thing about the fish. I was gifted an aquarium around 7-8 years back by Bro Joshi. It was a rather small one but as I was new to hobby it sufficed. I experimented with a lot of fish, starting from the ubiquitous gold fish and finally ended with tinfoil which are a very hardy.and dependable variety of carp. I have had carp now for over 6 years now. Yesterday the last of my first lot of tinfoil was all groggy and *grey*. It was swimming upside down in the morning and scaring the hell out of other fish plus looking super creepy. I tried to revive it by putting the antimicrobial medicine in the tank in the morning and left things to fate. Second was the thing about the car. I took the old nano after quite a while to college. There was a slight drizzle just before college and as always I was just running on time. I was a bit fast whe

The sky smoke grey The leaves sad and stale The air putrid with a tinge of smog The thin veneer of dust everywhere And then it happens... The light drizzle The night drizzle The much awaited rain And the world changes... The morning so fresh The roads so wet The trees so bright The Earth smiles yet again!

This was in August last year, so just a re-cap of something which fascinates me I finally heard the cry. The cry of a peacock early in the morning. Last year when I had started cycling there used to be this peacock who used to sit on the roof of one particular house and cry out in the mornings every day. It used to elate me a lot. This year I had been hunting for peacocks without any luck. The other day I could hear a couple of them near Malhour railway station but couldn't see them as there was a thick overgrowth all around. Today while cycling I could hear the cry and went back in search of it. It was sitting on the edge of the roof of one of the houses with its long tail hanging down like Rapunzel's tresses and in its full splendor. I do have a thing for peacocks.  They have been a part of some of my memorable moments of the past. The pet peacock of my cousin in the mountains, he was a forest officer so could wiggle around rules. The peacock would go out during day

This was an incident which happened in July last year, but it left an impact on me (plus was a learning experience of sorts) and hence is worth repeating here. Today in the morning while on my cycle run, I came across a lovely sight. I had just gone ahead of Malhour station on a cemented village road running parallel to the train tracks, the sky was overcast with a fine misty rain falling. From a distance I could see two girls on their way to the school on a small bicycle, and along side was a big dog keeping pace with them. It was a white dog with light brown patches, almost as tall as Alex and just trotting along with the girls. My heart swelled with emotions and it reminded me of Hachi as well Aslan, the lion in Narnia. A dog protecting his "family" and escorting them all the way to school. So I passed them and proceeded ahead. After a short distance the road came to an abrupt end and there was a muddy, wet dirt path ahead. I turned back to go to Malhour stati

I am in some kind of dream bonanza nowadays. Yesterday it was Everest, today it was a train journey up North. I am traveling by Shaheed express to somewhere in Punjab. Quite a lot of college staff is there along and maybe it is some kind of conference. I see the Principal of the college on an upper berth and Oral Medicine head in the same booth. We all are traveling by normal 3 tier coach with open windows and grill. I wake up in the morning and the view outside the window is amazing with a red horizon, the sun about to rise, lush green fields and sparkling water bodies zipping past. I get off at Amritsar and go for a stroll along the platform as it being a major station I expect the train to stay for awhile. I step out of the station and go up to a point from where I get a good view of the rural countryside. I slowly walk back to the train. The train has left! I look around for it frantically and then I see the station board and realise its Amritsar Cantonment railway station and

Last night I climbed up to Everest! It was literally at night when I finally managed to scale it. But I am getting ahead of myself. The dream starts midway while the four of us (Radhika, 2 middle aged, white, blonde women and myself) are midway through the trek. Though its supposed to be Nepal the scenery is pretty much like Kashmir. I guess my sub-concious being not very familiar with the topography around Everest went into default mode and switched it with the one it was familiar with. We stay a night at Sonamarg and there is an instance when the sun rays of the setting sun can be seen all golden through the snow laden branches of coniferous trees. I am trying to click its photo through my cell but am not getting a good angle. So the golden meadows thing kind of comes true. One of the American girls (the shorter and plumper one) gets all dizzy and sick so we plan to take a detour through Pahalgam and plan to get her checked there. Due to the inadvertent delay at Pahalgam hospi