The City of Love

Surreal, it was
so beautiful..
when you met me in the woods

I looked at you
you looked at me
and took home as much as we could

since that day
been looking for ya
come to me.. whereever you are...

In the night, sun shines
when I think of you
It's morning time
                                                                                     in the evening too..

The Street Musicians serenaded the audience.
She went ahead and dropped a cent in the hat. She did not smile.
"Madamoiselle", the guitar guy called out.
She turned back.
"Merci", he said and smiled.
She thought she needed to talk to them.
"Do you speak English?", she asked.
"A bit", he replied.
"How about you?", she asked the guy who had sung the song.
"I just sung the entire song in English", he replied.
"You know your song sucks", the girl said.
The guys laughed.
"What sense do the lyrics make? In the night, sun shines When I think of you It's morning time in the evening too..", the girl pointed out.
"Pourquoi amie?", asked one of them.
"Why?", the other translated.
"You cannot go against nature, even if you think about the one you love. It can never be morning in the night, nor can sun shine instead of the moonlight", she replied.
"When in love, everything is possible", the singer replied.
Looking at the crowd, the musicians started playing again. The girl stood next to them and saw them play the instruments passionately.
The lead singer began, as the guitarist dedicated each and every chord to the lady, the other guitarist wooed the audience.

"And I saw her walking
walking...
It was her shadow that
she left behind..

The people started talking
talking...
The path began to
unwind...

Her grace, her charm
and her smile
The way she held me in her eyes
for a while..

"Naa nanaaa naanaa", the audience joined.

The girl wondered if they sang for her. She wasn't very sure.
"Y'all only sing about girls, and your love for them?“ she asked.
"What else is more beautiful in the world, lady? “asked the guitarist in a French accent.
His sight pierced deep into her eyes. She couldn't reciprocate for long. She turned away.
"Why don't you sing something about France, Paris, it's history?“ asked the girl."We have been doing it, mademoiselle", the singer replied.
"Where?", she asked

They started another song..

"I saw a pretty woman
To the bar she went
And as she came out and saw me standing
She put me a cent

I held her as I
Played the strings
She wouldn't stay near,
She had her wings

She flew around and came to me
I saw the love in her that she saw in me
We looked at each other, and looked above
She denied it all, but she was in love

In a wondrous place
Stood a city of romance
Her mind would trace
All the steps of the dance

That she wanted to
Dance with the guy
Which she couldn't do
When she looked into his eyes

She acted crazy I had no clue
I played for the lady
My favorite tune
We looked at each other, and looked above
She denied it all, but she was in love

In a moment to Cherish
A moment of Chance
She comes and asks me
Sing to me of France

She acted crazy I had no clue
I played for the lady
My favorite tune
We looked at each other, and looked above
She denied it all, but she was in love

The audience again joined the musicians.
By now, the girl knew, they were singing for her.
"What's your name", the guitarist asked, as he continued playing the chords.
"Georgia", she replied
"Pretty you", he added.
She blushed and added "yours?"
"Noah", he replied and asked "Dance with me, will you?"
She smiled. She hadn't smiled in a while.
"What is your favorite song?“ asked the singer guy.
"I like what you are singing. Go on", Georgia said.
"This is the city of love, lady. We sing of love, speak of love, and dance in love", said the Noah.
"You speak good English", complimented Georgia.
"It's the language of love that makes you understand what I say", said Noah and twirled her around as she took a few turns and came back to him.
The audience applauded.
It was a serendipitous evening and she fell in love, in the city of love, with the city and the people.
“Everything is possible in love”, it resonated in her mind, as she hummed the tune she'd danced on.

Weekend Plans: Abbr. :)

The weekend is here!
And I got a great plan for the weekend too!
But this plan reminds of something crazy we did in school.

We had full forms for certain words and places, crazy ones at that, like :

I.D.I.O.T : I Do Ishq Only Tumse
The school romances had this indirect way of saying how committed you were.

F.R.A.N.C.E : Friendship Remains And Never Can End
Every Frienship's day card had this thing on it.

H.O.L.L.A.N.D: Hope Our Love Lasts And Never Dies.
Kinda sounded Cool then.
The committed people would say
"What re, you still call her IDIOT? We are on HOLLAND now!"

I.T.A.L.Y.:I Trust And Love You.
A more matured way of experssion, because post attraction and love,
back then we thought the next step was Trust! (I think it still is)

C.H.I.N.A.:Come Here.. I Need Affection.
Some "Tere naam" styled lovers used this! It was really funny then!

C.A.N.A.D.A.:Cute And Naughty Action That Developed Into Attraction
This was really cute! And it spoke about crushes.

K.O.R.E.A.:Keep Optimistic Regardless Of Every Adversity.
The sisterly advices amongst girlfriends! KOREA!

M.A.N.I.L.A.: May All Nights Inspire Love Always.
I never knew Manila, until this abbrevation.Now I know everything! ;)

***

But coming back to where I started - Weekend plans!

Please Allow Romance In School :)

This was my favorite one!

Did I speak about my weekend plans? I think I did :D :D


PS: It's Valentine's day weekend!

Curry Leaves

"So, what did you have for breakfast today?", my mom started the conversation with her patent question.

"Bread and butter", I replied.

"What? Everyday you eat the same thing?", she repeated the same statement that she's been repeating since 20 days.

"I don't have a choice, Amma", I complained.

"So, what did you eat for lunch?", she began again.

"Salad. Some brocolli and carrots - boiled", I replied.

"And what are you going to prepare for dinner", she asked.

"Haven't decided", I replied, grudgingly.

"Why don't you prepare some nice khichdi and kadhi?", she suggested, "It's easy and takes less time too", she started acting all mother-y.

"Yeah. Looks that simple huh?", I asked, wanting her to know that the curd in Germany is so unlike kadhi types.

But she went on telling me the entire recipe, even though she knew that I was good at it. And then after some talking she added

"Neeche se kadhi patta tod la, kadhi me daal, to add flavour (Get some curry leaves from the parking area at the ground floor)", she said simply, without a thought.


"What?", I asked, surprised.

"Neeche se kadhi pata tod la, badhiya taste aa jayega. (Get some Curry leaves, from the ground floor, it'll add some real good taste)", she added as a matter-of-fact-ly.

"Amma?", I wondered whether she knew that I was in Germany, where curry leaf plant is not planted in the area around the parking lot of the building, like it happens in India, rather they do not grow it anywhere around the civilization, so that the maids, while coming for work ,would carry a big bunch for their madams.

"Memsaab, ye lijiye kadhi pata (Madam, Curry leaves for you)", our maid would say proudly.

"Arre waah Sita bai. Aaj itne taaze kadhi patte kaha se mile? (Wow, Sita Bai. Where did you get such fresh leaves from)", my mom would ask.

"Arre wo Mujumdar madam ke ghar se tod ke laai hu (Got them from Mrs.Mujumdar's place)", she'd say in style, doing a big favour.

Recollecting all these things, I found my self laughing uncontrollably.

"Momma", I asked, wondering whether she was still on the line.

Yeah, she was, laughing uncontrollably too.

That's how we've always prepared curries. As far as I remember, we've never bought curry leaves from the market, ever.

We have our very own plant, in the parking lot!

Alas, I couldn't add flavour to the kadhi I made that day.

How I miss home! :(

So, had fun?

It was a very very tiring weekend. After coming back from Hamburg (more on that later), I logged on to the good old gtalk and found myself giving reports to a few people who pinged me.

And the questions were very very simple. As simple as

"So, had fun? Hmmm"

After a few moments of nice nice talking to another friend of mine, he asked
"Having fun, huh!"

Yeah, and like that wasn't enough, i had another desi ping asking me something that I dreaded the most

"Aur, Mazaa kiya ya nahi"

Arre baba, what is your idea of fun, when it is suffixed with all the 'mmms' and 'huhs' and those sarcastic tones?

And then, to a very senior friend, I replied, in the same tone

"By God, itna mazaa kiya naa, puchhiye mat"

"Mummy ko pata hai?", she asked.

"Haan, main sab mummy ko bata ke karti hu", I replied.

"Teri mom toh badi cool hai yaar", she added.

She must be really jealous of me, I am sure.

So what is it?

When you are away from home, in a foreign land, you get all the rights to break free, booze, roam around with white men, sing songs the bollywood style, wear skimpy clothes and dance in a pub, drive crazy cars and let your hair lose in literal sense??

No, I did not do anything of the above. Because that is not my idea of fun. Call me boring, or not-so-funny or whatever.

I just did some real boring stuff! Like, I saw 1/3rds of Germany, interacted with some very interesting people, tasted exquisite beer, played in the snow, walked in the rain, hitch hiked in Hamburg, watched the soccer craze, boarded the Eurobahn like 33 times, sung and danced with a street musician in Hamburg, saw the colors of the pastures change from green to brown to white and then back to brown, spent hours figuring out why doesn't sun shine here, despite the sky being so clear, understanding the difference between snow and flakes.

I spent time alone, introspecting, listened to some great music, finally saw 'Before Sunrise', read 4 books in 20 days (haven't done it in 10 years), saw the prostitute's culture in Germany as it is a legal business.

I connected with a few friends over FB, whom i've always wanted to talk to, shopped for family and friends, planned for Paris trip and finally became more regular at blogging.

It was actually boring, normal standards, per se, But I had fun.

So what does fun look like to you, junta?

Are you really having fun? Tell me!

Coz I am! ;)
 
  

Happy Birthday Dude

Yeah, finally I write about him. It's his birthday today and he deserves a post on my blog. I have written about everything, everyone, but him.

I wish you a very happy birthday. May the good God bless you and give all the success and as many hit films as you want..:)

Curious heads, here I am wishing, Abhishek Bachchan a very Happy Birthday!

C'mon, Join me!! :)

People still ask me why I like him so much. The only reason which I think is worth telling is that, his eyes always speak the state of his heart. He emotes really well. There are numerous other reasons too. But I think, this one tops the list. I am totally smitten by him! :D

So here are the top 5s:

Top 5 fav movies starring AB Jr. :
1. Guru
2. Dostana
3. Sarkar
4. Paa
5. Dhoom


Top 5 songs:
1. Rehna tu, hai jaise tu - Delhi-6
2. Ye hawayein,zulfon me teri guum ho jaaye - Bas itna sa khwab hai
3. Kabhi neem neem kabhi shehad shehad - Yuva
4. Jaane kyu, dil jaanta hai, tu hai toh I'll be all right -  Dostana
5. Aisa Lagta hai - Refugee


Top 5 looks:
1. Jhoom BarabarJhoom
2. Bluffmaster
3. Dostana
4. Sarkar
5. Paa

This one's the coolest song ever, picturised on AB jr. So here's a dedication from me to AB jr, on his birthday :)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyTUWd2V2LE

(come to me bhool jaaye sara jahaan
come to me hum banale apni nayi jagah) - 2

listen up girl

ek main aur ek tu hai aur hawa mein jaadu hai
aarzoo bekabu hai samjho saare baat baaki
waqt ka kya bharosa banke paani beh jaaye
kal agar na mil paaye reh na jaaye baat baaki
right here right now hain khushi ka samaa
wind your body one time
right here right now hum hai is pal jaha
wind your body two time
bhool jaao muskurao reh na jaaye baat baaki

 

Happy wala birthday dude... :)

PS: Yeah.. can't help it! <3

"Shahrukh Khan Merra Bhaai Hey"

Weekend was fun. I'd been to Köln. Köln has a beautiful Dom which is thousands of years old, it has a very interesting Chocolate museum and the city looks very beautiful with the Rhein flowing through it.

While we were at the museum compound, we stopped at a church to see a wedding troupe click pictures. We were blabbering in Hindi, when suddenly a smart, tall, white man, came upto us and asked,

"Aap Hindustani hey", in a typical American accent.

We couldn't understand for a while what was happening. He was speaking Hindi!!

"Merry ek tasveehr kheech sakte hey?", he asked.

"Jee Bilkul", I said, startled.

"Yeh marry Eshwarya Raai hey", he said and hugged a lady standing beside him, as he posed for the photograph.

"Wow", I said.

"Aur aap? Shahrukh Khan?", I asked.

"Nay Nay. Shahrukh Khan toh Merra Bhaai Hey", he said proudly.

At this point I couldn't stop my laughter.

"Aap se milke bohot khushi hui", I said, as I showed him the pic that I'd clicked.

"Mujhko bhi", he replied, looking at the pic and smiling back.

"Ek tasveer ho jaaye saath me", I asked.

"Zaroor", he obliged.

"Aapka naam kya hai", I asked.

"Sikandra", he said and then added "Angrezi me Alexander".

I was surprised and I really started to like the eloquence with which he spoke Hindi.

"Aur aapka naam", I asked his girlfriend.

"Vrinda", she replied.

"As in Vrindavan", Sikandra added.

I was very very impressed.

"Aap kaha ke rehne waale hai? Aur itni achhi Hindi?", asked a colleague of mine.

"Main Holland me paida hua aur Surinam me rehta hu, lekin merra dil Hindustani hey", he replied. "Aap Surinam jaante hey?", he asked.

"Surinam?", we all wondered. "Nahi", we replied.

"It's a South American country and most of the people there are Indians", replied Vrinda.

So we knew the reason behind the eloquence. But still it was very endearing!

"Köln mein market kaha hai?", my colleague danced on the chance.

"Tere paas Köln ka map hey? Naksha?", he asked, effortlessly using 'Naksha' instead of 'Map'.

"Hai na". replied my colleague.

"Badiya. Toh fir tu seeda chalay ja aur fir right ko mood ja", he said. I loved it when he said 'tu, tera'.

"Tujhe bohot log dekhegi", he was getting a bit of his Hindi wrong here but it was wonderful nonetheless.

"Ok, great", we all said in chorus.

We shook hands and left the place as the wedding troupe disbursed too. Sikandra and Vrinda also got lost in the crowd.

We laughed heartily and kept on repeating "Shahrukh Khan merra Bhai Hey"..

It was a great experience. Long live Sikandra and long live Shahrukh Khan. I think some people know India more because of SRK than anything else.

BTW, I happened to lend 8 GB bollywood songs to a colleague of mine, here in LP Germany, only because his wife is crazy about Bollywood and Shahrukh khan.

I don't believe this is the second post on SRK that I've written on my blog!

But kya karein, Aisa Bhi Hota hai! 

PS: Some People would know why I didn't ask Sikandra whether he considered himself Abhishek Bachchan, when he said, Vrinda was his Aishwarya Rai!!  :P

Close up "Fire-Freeze" Contest

This is my entry to Close Up "Fire-Freeze" contest at Indiblogger. The votings begin from today, i.e. 1st Feb 2011.

What is your story? Have you ever had a magical moment when you felt two strongly opposite emotions? Love/Hate? Elation/Sadness? Anger/Aympathy? The desire to move forward yet run away at the same time?...

Post it on your blog and submit your entry at Indiblogger.

And if you like mine, vote it here --> Replaced @Indiblogger!

***

Replaced

She stood outside the Arrival area looking at the flight timings. The flight was delayed by two hours.

She sat on one of the trolleys. She had not taken a ticket to enter the waiting area.

"Wait till I come back." His voice suddenly disrupted her thoughts.

She almost thought he was around. She looked intently at a couple who seemed to be meeting after a long time.

She recollected the way he smiled, crookedly. She smiled as she sketched his face.

"I have no choice but to wait", she'd say.

He'd kiss her.

She relived the moments, felt a strange void. She felt a jitter as her thoughts started flowing.

"What's wrong with you? Why don't you answer my calls?“ she'd ask.

"What is your problem, Maya? Either I don't understand, or you don't", he'd shout back on the phone.

"You have no time to talk to me“, she’d cry.

"I have time for nothing. You know that", he'd make his point.

She wiped her tears, as she thought about the times when they fought.

She got up again to have a look at the flight status. She came back and sat where she was sitting, having realized that there were still 40 minutes over an hour for the flight to arrive.

"Marry me", he'd proposed her, when they were travelling in the metro.

She thought, it was the most unromantic thing he would have ever done.

She didn't know what to say.

"Are you crazy?", she asked.

"No", he said looking into her eyes.

"What? Stop that!", she said, blood rushing through her body and showing on her cheeks.

She felt his touch on her face. She could feel him caress her hair. Every memory of the past seemed alive.

"Yes or no?", he came closer to her and asked.

"No", she whispered back.

"Yes or no", he kissed her on her neck. She pushed him back.

"Madam", called out a security personnel.

She gathered herself when the security guard interrupted her thoughts and asked her to take a seat inside. She got up from where she was sitting. She strolled around looking at the people, noticing their expressions.

"When will you come back", she asked.

"I have no idea, sweetheart", he replied, packing his bags.

"I hate you", she said.

"And I love you", he replied.

"Marry me", she proposed.

He looked at her, smiled and exclaimed, „Women!!"

She smiled thinking about how silly she acted at times.

"Will you come back?", she asked in doubt.

"Why are you so insecure? Don't be afraid of anything. You are my girl. Be brave", he said

"I am scared of...“, she started.

"Ssshhhh", he comforted her, as she started crying.

"But do come back", she wept.

"I will. But promise me that you'll be brave", he asked for a commitment.

She nodded.

Her mind filled with lots of noises, voices from everywhere. The horns, the chatter, and the phone ring..

She found herself re-living a conversation.

"Maya", said a voice.

"Ya", she replied, half asleep.

"He's dead", said the voice on the other end

She woke up startled.

"Alok? What?", she went speechless.

"Maya..", the voice from the other end called out. The man on the other end laughed,
"Maya, it's me Alok. Relax."

"Don't ever do that to me", she yelled and hung up.

'Face your fears, Maya. I will see you on Sunday.' He messaged.

She re-read the message- Smiled.

After a moment she felt nothing. She had been wanting to cry. Cry out loud, with no consolations.

But she felt nothing.

She approached the arrival area. She found a few familiar faces. She put in great efforts to smile back to the people.

She tied her hair back, looked at the flight status again. The flight had arrived. She stood there with a few people she knew. It was a dull Sunday.

For a moment, fear gripped her. She almost cried. She ignored the people who stood beside her for support.

"You are my girl, be brave." It rung in her head again and again.

She was shivering. She smiled at a known face she saw from distance. Then she saw him come, wrapped in the national flag, with fellow soldiers marching, dignifying the martyr.

She smiled. She felt strong, even though her worst fears had come true.

“Be brave”, she heard it again and again.

It was a closure. The thin line of facing her fears was finally crossed. She no more had fear of losing him. She had replaced Fear with Courage.