The Guy in the Glass

Something interesting I came across, first a few years back and again quite recently.

When you get what you want in the struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what the guy has to say.

For it isn't your mother, or your father,
Whose judgement on you must pass,
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest
For he's with you clean to the end;
And you've passed your most dangerous and difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you are a wonderful guy,
But the guy in the glass says you are a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

You may fool the whole world
Down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass;
But the final reward will be heart aches and tears
If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

A trip down memory lane: Kasauli

You don't always need a sea for a change. Sometimes, 77 kilometres is more than enough.

Far away from chokehold of commercialised Shimla lies the quaint little town of Kasauli. Tucked away in a quiet hill of Himachal Pradesh and hidden and protected from vicious tourists and business minded gentry, this less known hill-station has all it takes for anyone to have an unadulterated experience of pure beauty. At 6,000 feet, adorned with tall and slender pine trees and the perennial burst of wild and ornamental flowers, Kasauli sure drugs the visitor with its scenic beauty and cooler climes. Lack of commercialization, and the fact that you can't buy land, seems to have no correlation with the eating joints here and perhaps this is what makes this place so stunning.

Kasauli is easily accessible by both road and rail. The nearest airport is at Chandigarh. Situated at a distance of around 325 km from New Delhi, the hill resort can be easily reached by hiring a bus or a taxi, from the inter-state bus terminals (ISBT). Buses, taxis and coaches are ready for hire from Chandigarh and Kalka as Kasauli lies en route to Shimla and the upper Himalayas. But I would suggest taking the toy train from Kalka, which is a one of it's kind experience when you travel with the hills and rich flora as companions and steep gorges as adversaries. These trains run in sync with the Kalka Mail that arrives at Kalka early morning each day. For Kasauli, you would have to get down at Dharmpur.

The town, that turned into a convalescent home for British nationals when they stemmed the growth of the ever-increasing hold of the Gurkhas in 1814, can easily cure writers, shutterbags, nature-lovers and birdwatchers of all their fastidious ailments and still leave them gasping for more. It's no surprise that the famous Indian author, Khushwant Singh often takes refuge in Kasauli whenever he wants his creative juices to get flowing.

Kasauli is far from being your archetypal hill station (although you still have Tibetians selling their wares!). It is small and can be traversed almost entirely on foot. It has a central area encompassed by two major roads- Upper Mall and Lower Mall. The Lower Mall has the bus stand and some shops, a photo studio and a departmental store. As you go higher up, a labyrinthine intersection of narrow roads takes you to the Upper Mall or to the children's park, Sanatorium and further on to the TV tower unfurling a couple of trekkable roads going further beyond. The Upper Mall - which is closer to the urban definition of a mall - is a small by-lane studded with stones with an amalgamation of small sweets shops, toy shops, a couple of shoe shops and the only barber shop of Kasauli.

Places to visit are few and far between in a place like Kasauli that is still nestled in the days of yore. Of greenery. Of peace. And most notably, of less concrete. At the juncture of the two Malls lies the "Church of England", a nineteenth century church built for the soldiers of the British garrison. At the end of the Upper Mall, sitting atop the Gilbert Hill, is Gilbert House, built as home to the first Brigadier of Kasauli. The bungalow today, hosts the current Brigadier. And according to lore, Gilbert's ghost is still 'seen' venturing out in the premises. Also named after Gilbert is the Gilbert trail, one of the numerous treks fraught with danger at every step and at every climb or descent. The odd hornet's sting or a wild plant's prick is bearable when weighed against the unmitigated beauty one witnesses on every bend. On it's way up the Upper Mall also lies the 120 year old Kasauli club, a sprawling complex with facilities to satiate any socialite. About 4 km from the Mall lies the Monkey/Manki point, an Air Force base that is known more for being home to notorious monkeys. Visitors are thus thoroughly frisked and not allowed to carry anything, and for more reasons than one! As you tread upon the direction the masses have taken, you will see a colourful temple perched on the top of a steep hill. However, it's your call whether you want to take the precipitous climb or not. Not far from Kasauli is the famous Lawrence School, Sanawar, one of the most famous boarding schools of the country.

Such a beautiful place, Kasauli's exquisiteness lies in its laid back nature. Look anywhere; shoot from any angle; or take any road through the whispering pines on both sides, the place has a naturally reassuring ambiance that, in a way -- I sure stumbled upon this feeling -- permeates into the skin and balms the soul.

P.S. : The credit for the first picture(and in fact, for the entire trip goes to Arjit Arora who will soon be here to revel in his day of glory!)

Bluh and Bluh-bluhing..

Warning: This is strictly a creation of the author's twisted brain. Get yourself something better to do. This work of randomness wouldn't do you any good!

This is not how I am..
I have become comfortably numb..

Yeh! I seem to have, atleast.
Days are passing by like greased lightning, each one teaching me a lesson here or there. Its so random/arbit/variable/faltu(I could give you more of that, but blah, forget it!), sometimes you just want to sit alone for a long time and stare at the sky and at others you just want to go running barefoot on the green grass with the wind brushing against your hair like you were a Usain Bolt!( Yeah, bad example/analogy/whatever!).
Anyway, now, I realise, understand, learn, walk and grow.. although I'm still difficult to understand for most people around, including my best friends and sometimes even me. Guess, complexity is directly proportional to height! See, I'm sure you wouldn't get it, just in case you were reading with interest.

Berbatov's FINALLY arrived at Old Trafford! I've started liking Friends, more so on a certain someone's insistence. BUT, "How I met your mother" is still BETTER! ACDC and Metallica have come up with new singles. Dream Theater has me hooked on right now and I've got so many new books to read, but sadly, not a minute to spare. And, finally I'll be going for a rock show in sometime. Yay! Just as an after thought, mid-sems are coming up too, in a week or so. Blah!

So take a look at me now,
well there's just an empty space..
(I like to be dramatic at times! :D)

Hmm. Dead groggy, with my eyeballs ready to pop out any moment like that weird woman's, who comes on every alternate episode of Ripley's Believe or not( btw how on earth does she do it??), its hard to keep typing. But, for the sake of my 'dear' blog, I'll go on bluh bluhing..

I guess life comes with a truckload of 'baggages'. I'm glad to have some of mine too.. although, I do prefer to call them friends. Old friends, new friends all the same, the only ones who can be felt in your numbness.

Anshuman/Daadhi/Bawa/etc.. Weird, saint-like, with fluctuating opinions and interests. THE "Advisor", yet the one who needs advise from me(can you believe that?). Umm, the guy's sitting in Karnataka. Sad. Why?? Period.

Aditya/Adi/Red-head(for a brief period of time!).. Weirder, another one of my kind. Difficult to understand yet, the 'bravest' of 'em all!

Yogeesh/Bhalu/Yogi.. Ok, this guy is biggg, in every sense of the word. Despite being a pea-brain he does manage to be a BIG brother!

Arjit/Jit/Jitpot/S*it pot?etc.. Another big brother( Why do I feel like a kid suddenly?). Car-freak. Really hardworking and a big big foodie and most importantly, my doubles partner. Stop listening to Flobots, and I could actually consider recommending you to a few girls! If only you read my blog, Git!

Abhay/Kaul/Call-boy.. Freak! Yeah, freak! Bigtime hog, steals everyone's food while they're looking the other way and can't stop advising you on, well, "some" matters! Wickedly fun person to be friends with. My phone booth and wallet in times of need and greed! My

Suraj/Joseph/Susti/JosPee.. a lazy, good-for-nothing moron. Ok, he's good at quizzing, a little bit of football and a little bit of coding and stuff. Other than that, he's totally useless. Just keeps asking for his four-hundred bucks all the time! Vasuli is his profession.

Rahul/Mallu/Malvinder.. Ok, this guys is like candy, yeah, sweet candy. Too good to survive in this world. Mad at me as of now, but I know he'll be the first one to put his hand up for me. Period.


The other bags being Naman, Attika, Niki, Chak, RA, Chintu, Jinky, Rohilla, Manisha.

I'm sorry, I'm just way too much in need of some good sleep right now.

Adios!

A November to Remember

As the days wore on, drearily like a funeral song
And the stars stared down and took so long to be gone
Clutching onto a memory he wanted to live it again
Walking on a path never walked, he wondered if it was but a feign

As the scenes rushed past his eyes
Fearing the worst, doubts clouded his mind
Followed by haunted shadows on the stairway
He walked,
With sullen eyes, still warding off all thoughts of drifting away

Will this life get any better?
Was there ever going to be a more memorable November?
Was there an end to this treacherous phase?
Will he finally get all that he craves?

Those were times the sun dawned just too late
Those were days the birds were just too muted
Those were hours that passed like greased lightning
Those were seconds so poetic with baited breath he waited

A thousand blinks later, a phoenix he rose
To see the southern sky yet again
With those scenes in his mind safely tucked away
A rainbow shines forth and a presence tells him to stay

Gazing through the window at the world outside
A belief so firm, into his mind it arrived
There was something that was his forever
It was nothing but that beautiful November

There was always going to be another November to remember!

PS- These are not the lyrics to my favourite song as you might believe ( at least my friends did!). Incidentally, I versified it myself.