Hyperbole

This post is a bit late. I have been meaning to write it ever since I visited the state but just didn't get about doing so. There is something about that state and it's people. From the minute you get on the train from Delhi the vibrancy, positivity and buoyancy of the co-passengers hits you. Specially when you compare it with the somewhat sullen and slightly malnourished variety you come across in trains traveling to the Hindi heartland. Or the serious, silent, subdued and very disciplined kind you come across down South. Even for a train starting at 11pm there was so much energy and positive vibrations that you can't help but get affected by it. Everyone is helping everyone and food is being passed all around, even if you have met for the first time. The degree of hospitality one comes across is pretty amazing specially when you have been an inspector/examiner since long, are pretty cynical and have been numbed by the usual pretense of welcome you see everywhere. How ...

Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for ...

One on the laptop and the other engrossed in a vernacular newspaper. Bengali couple with a 5 year old boy on the side berth. A guy working in DHL on the top berth and staying in Gomti Nagar like me. A lady two young boys on the other upper berth. Cross section of Indian middle class. I do have a lot of spare time at hand in this train journey. Now I am hungry. Oops! The pic is upside down.....

I need some sleep You can't go on like this I try counting sheep But there's one I always miss Everyone says, I am getting down to low Everyone says, you just gotta let it go... I need some sleep Time to put the old horse down I am in too deep And the wheels keep spinning round Everyone says, I am getting down to low Everyone says, you just gotta let it go...

I wonder how I am perceived as an external examiner. I feel that I am pretty relentless and go after the poor guys with a hammer amd tong. Today I wasn't even the senior most but I just took charge and went for it in IDS Bareilly. I am incisive, I am wicked and I am the worst when I start asking questions in hindi. You can really let it roll in that language. I don't believe in free lunches. If you are going to get your Masters you will have to earn it. A few tears and a certain amount of personal humiliation is the price is you gotta pay. I am mean!

The other day I was thinking about this city and one fact struck me, and that is till date I haven't come across anyone from Delhi Delhi. That means someone whose past generations have been in Delhi for forevet. I am not talking about going back to 6th BC or anything but even a century will suffice. Khushwant Singh's father must be the earliest settler I know. From what I remember he had some role in construction of Lutyen's Delhi. That must be somewhere in 1930s. All the people I know have come here from some where else. Punjabis forming a major chunk and almost everyone's forefathers were from Pakistan. The way they say it is as if it's some kind of an achievement or something to boast about. Trust a Delhite to turn the most inane of things into something to brag about. Seeing how many times the city has been pillaged, ransacked and it's whole male population decimated the chances are that the oldest specimen would be some poor muslim in the by lanes of O...

Things I learnt on an auto ride in Delhi: - How to fleece the travelers and how much to charge from people at different times. And how to make all those passengers thank you for various reasons at the end of the ride. - How Railway stations are ruled by Taxi drivers and they lay down the rules. And how and where to get back at them - How foreigners used to be golden hens but now are sharper and savorier. So how to tackle them. Trick is to learn a few key words of english - How autos in Delhi have to be driven by the owners themselves. They used to be for 6.2 lakhs before! - How to smuggle auto chassis from NOIDA and sell it in black market in Delhi. An auto costs 1.6 lakhs plus 10 grands for interiors. - How to get humongous tips for getting passengers to the hotel of your choice - How to spot couples making out in autos and what advice to give them. - How to make special deliveries for romancing pairs where the guy will pay him in advance for dropping the girl home. - H...