Heartfelt....

To be a part of a group of friends is really wonderful. It’s humbling to be a part of 2 groups of great friends, as in my case. In the previous blog, I'd mentioned about a very close bonding among 8-10 of us friends, especially during the final semester of our engineering. I am also part of another group of friends for the past four-and-a-half years...A group of friends who have been and are my soul-mates, from whom I have never hidden & cannot ever hide anything, no secrets between us…Jealous?? Read on...:-))).

This group just happened. Sajjina, Surekha, Swapna, Sujatha, Deepti, Poonam & I struck up a bond right from the first day of college.I knew saji from my junior college days, she & I were both in 'Computers' & since we stay nearby we stuck together from the first day-both in class as well as for traveling. Saji knew swapna because they were in the same class in XI & XII and that is how I came to know swapna. Surekha & swapna used to travel together in the train, both were in 'IT'; thus I met Surekha.

We used to travel to college & back home together. Then sujatha n deepti also joined us in the train travel. We met poonam through swapna & surekha since she also was in IT. Swapna was more forthcoming during conversations in the initial days & surekha was the quieter one. And later on came a time when only surekha & I would talk & the others simply had to listen, especially in the train...I haven't named the blog "Chatterbox" for nothing, you see ;-)The train travel was the cause and our bonding, an effect. We used to have lunch together, talk a lot about anything & everything under the sun and soon became inseparably close. We could understand what was on the other's mind by simply looking at the person... There have been loads of memorable times. In fact, every moment of our togetherness was & still is, memorable & unforgettable. We had (still have) silly fights between 2 or 3 of us, which would be solved by the rest; enjoyed spiced-up gossip thanks to sujatha ;-); bird-watched, courtesy deeps, swap n me :-); gone after silly pussies to please saji…
We have cheered during the dance performances by Surekha, Swapna, Poo and Suja. I remember how much fun we had during the dance make-up sessions too (wot say, gals), my excitement after their dances as I ran backstage to give them a hug:-)…
Swapna, Surekha, Deepti are the only people who have had the privilege of watching me dance or rather, unko ‘bardaasht’ karna pada, hai na?? ;-))
Great memories, indeed…
We loved to dress up on sari days & stop to get a photo of all of us together on the way to college.
We have also had those intense moments when the tears flowed nonstop for reasons best known to us.

Swapna, surekha, sujatha, deepti & niranchala had come to my place after chechi’s (saji’s sister) marriage. They were home only for a few hours but we’d a great time. We went through all the photographs, beginning with my parents’ marriage, then my brother’s n my childhood photos, my brother’s thread ceremony pics and then our college sari day photos. We chatted away to glory & enjoyed every moment of it :-).
We have had 3 get-togethers at surekha’s place. My goodness, what commotion we created in the house!!! We watched TV, saw a movie (alaipayuthe – the tamil original of saathiya) ate great food, sang, played carom & talked. The second time we went there to see her nephew arjun (ajju). Cho chweet :-))…
We also had a meet at swapna’s house. What a wonderful place! There is so much of quiet, greenery & serenity – lovely surroundings. And then, we had awesome food, clicked photos and there was some girl-talk, as usual;-)
There was a meet-up at sujatha’ place at vashi. We really enjoyed that time and especially as there was no one in the house besides us. We cooked, played, watched TV and chit- chatted.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the get-together at poonam’s place.

We have gossiped so much, talked endlessly when in pain & found relief & solace. Traveling by train to & from college was a joy because we could be together. Walking to & from Nerul station was lovely only because of each other’s company. We have had get-togethers, went for movies together after every semester, chatted for hours on the phone…God, how I miss those great times!!!

We had a very difficult time keeping our emotions in check on the day of the farewell (1st April, 2006). As we left from college after the party/dinner and walked to Nerul station in silence, reminiscing the old times, the unsettling thought that we wouldn’t meet each other everyday struck us hard. We cried hard on the way to, and at the station and continued till we were seated in the train. Then, slowly, and with a lot of difficulty, we consoled each other, smiled and promised to ourselves that no matter where we were we’d always be there for each other, anytime – day or night. And I’m proud to say that it is so.
Of course I miss them all, especially saji because I used to spend the whole day with her. But I can’t do anything about it except continuing to keep in touch with her. Same is the case with swapna, sujatha, deepti & poonam. Swapna's not in Mumbai but we always feel her presence, she's right here, with us, just as in college...Of course we miss her but all we can do is meet her when she comes down to Mumbai (she's come only once after starting her job)...
We did meet at vashi when swapna was here in December ’06. We discussed everything that had happened here after she left & she told us of her experiences at Bangalore. We then had lunch, ate ice creams & golas & clicked pics on surekha’s magnificent, new digicam.
After engineering, we all had to go separate ways. It was so depressing and disheartening to be away from friends who you have been meeting for every day for the past 4 years. I couldn’t be with saji with whom I’d spent almost every moment of the 4 years of engineering, be it at college, in the train or at classes. Swapna went to Bangalore for her job. I still remember how badly I was shaking (because of crying) while typing a good-bye message for her. Fortunately, Surekha & I meet daily as we are in the same office and, let me tell you, the feeling is wonderful – to have someone who knows you inside out be there with you in the midst of a sea of unknown people, is, to say the least, great.

Today, we all mail each other from our offices. We write about 3 mails per person per day & send it to all 7 of us. It feels so nice, seems like college-just the way we used to tell each other everything that happened on a particular day in our class, today we mail each other about anything & everything happening in our lives, no matter how major or trivial the stuff maybe.
It's very difficult to put forth one's feelings for someone in a few words. The most eminent of writers would fail such a test. I have tried to translate into words what I have felt during 4.5 years of my life. Believe me, there’s no way I can do justice to my feelings this way but I derive immense pleasure and contentment when I do it this way. It feels great to look back at those times & go through all those emotions once again.

God has blessed me in a big way with such true friends that I probably can never thank Him enough. And, thank you, each one of you, for being a part of my life, my existence. Heartfelt thanks, guys…Love u all:-))

a lil senti...but very happy...

Well,am a lil senti/emotional.The reason - 1 of my best frnds(Mahesh,wrks in B'lore) calld a lil while back.He was missing Mumbai(& all of us,ofcourse).Aft spking to him,I went over all those really 1derful moments that v had shared in the span of a few months.What cudnt happen in 3+ yrs happened in 1 day :-))

It all strtd with our first meet at Centre One(CO)[Vashi] on 2nd Jan,2006.It was the first day of our final semester & v wer left early.Most of my class left for home & I was staying back in college waiting for my IT frnds.At that moment,I got an unxpected call-rajesh called me asking if I'd go to CO "jus like tht".I agreed & tht was a turning point in my life.I met Rajesh,Roops,Adi,Nitya & Savita at CO,chit-chatted n thn Nitya,Savi left for home.What followed was,for the remaining 4 of us,the most marvellous time of our lives.We decided on one thing while leaving - we'd hv more such outings.And we did.

CO became our regular hangout.Whenever we left early frm col,we wer there.Our usual group includes aarti,adi,gita,krishna,mahesh,rajesh,roops n me besides nitya,arundhati n smtyms rohan.Talking,bitching,pulling legs we did evrything:-)

Then came the cricket matches in February & inspite of it being the final yr,we were there to watch all matches.Post-match,we used to either go to CO or a movie or simply chat away at a local juice centre.March saw all of us bonding very closely.

After the exams in June,it was time to say bye to sm grp members-raj who's pursuing higher studies;Krishna moved to pune,aarti,dhati joined b'cone in july n adi went for training to pollachi.When adi came back,it was time for Mahesh to leave for B'lore.

Mahesh & Raj came for vacatn during Diwali.We saw "DON" n njoyd Roops' treat at night(she'd got thru to TCS):-)).Then came Dec-roops went to Bhubaneshwar for (2 mnths)training but we had loads to look forward to.We met up 5 tyms in a span of 7 days when raj n mahesh came down in dec.24th at vashi,25th at adi's place,27th & 29th at bandra,30th at VT.All these days r memorable but the 2 bandra & the Gateway(VT) meets were awsm;the images r stil in fresh in my mind and am sure all my frnds wud agree.
We were all a lil too senti at tht tym(dec)-thinking of how much fun v'd had together & a lil apprehensive of what life has in store for us,what v'd do when v cudnt meet up like this.Aarti,adi,mahesh n I used to chat late into the night almost evry night (of tht week in dec) on the phone discussing & cherishing the precious moments of our togetherness as also convincing each other tht no matter what,v'd stay in touch even if v cudnt meet each other regularly.
Krishna,Gita,Roops dint feature in the last para(I'm sorry guys) but trust me,they r very much a part of this 1drful bonding;only they cudnt make it durin all the outings in dec.

No matter what or how much I write,words cannot express the true depth of my feelings.I truly treasure these frnds n hv no words to thank them for being a part of my life.Still,thank u,guys.N most of all,raj,u dnt knw how much tht 1 call of urs changed things for me.Thank u so much..:-)

The distance betn us frnds,the thot of separation,the fear of losing touch with thm all put to one side,the happiness & pride of having such frnds exceeds all these feelings by a ratio of one to infinity :-)))

“Power”less Mumbai :-(

There’s severe dearth of power (of more than 5700 MW) in Maharashtra now.
Much has been written about the power cuts in newspapers on an almost daily basis.
Now, it’s my turn to add to that “much” :-)). How else can I give vent to my feeling of frustration?

The average Mumbaikar was completely new to the concept of a power cut/load shedding until almost 2 years back. He had only heard of such a happening in some remote, interior villages but never expected that he would be bearing the brunt of a power crisis in, of all places, Mumbai. But suddenly, there was a shortfall of power as a result of which, the Govt. announced, there would be load shedding all over the state. (But I am confining myself to writing only about the situation in Mumbai and Thane.)

The suburbs in Mumbai reeling under the power cut are Mulund, Bhandup & KanjurMarg. The load shedding duration here is of 4 hours on an average. The whole of Thane district (including Navi Mumbai) also suffers from this pain. Dombivli n surroundings have a 7-hour power cut. (Note that this area has been suffering the maximum and not just for the past 2 years, but for the past 6 years. I have friends and relatives staying there, you know. )

The figures stated above don’t tell the whole story. That is just the “scheduled” duration of load shedding. Quite a number of times, there are unscheduled power cuts of varied durations too.

This was just to give everyone some background info, especially to the people staying in Mumbai city (BSES supplies power here) and those who use power supplied by Reliance Energy because they don’t suffer from this power-cut “demon” as of today.

Why is it that only some areas of Greater Mumbai are being made to suffer?
Our Govt. always has the best of excuses ready. MSEDC (Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company), that is responsible for supplying power to these areas is the one that’s suffering from the shortfall, it seems :-((

There’s no definite idea or plan of how to overcome the shortage either. According to local/national dailies, the govt. plans to buy more power (and thereby loot the unassuming and unquestioning consumer more) but there’s going to be no respite or even a reduction on the power cut front (Mumbai Mirror, 14th Feb.).

Various articles about the misuse of electricity (in spite of the crisis in the state) have been published. All govt. establishments in the areas mentioned above, especially Bhandup (which houses the local MSEDC office) continue to get uninterrupted power supply even when the areas surrounding them are drowned in darkness.
We often say or hear that India is a democracy. As far as my limited knowledge tells me,

“A democracy is supposed to be a govt. of, by and for the people”, isn’t it?
Then why is it that we are made to suffer, sweat and pay while all the babus enjoy in their air-conditioned offices and homes?
Lights and fans being left switched on in govt. offices have become common “breaking news” now-a-days. But there is something more than this that is more alarming. It is the public apathy that is of much more concern.
Besides sitting at home and complaining, what measures do we (including me :-)) take or have taken to address our problem(s)? Whenever we gather at a public place or some of us get together, we discuss this, lament a little about it till we are bored and later, of course, forget it. Public memory is indeed short-lived and the govt. simply takes advantage of this :-)

But Govt. apathy is not new to us. The least we can do to help ourselves is take steps towards minimizing wastage and/ or misuse of electricity.
The bright lights illuminating the various malls all over the city can definitely be reduced or even switched off, at least in broad daylight. The neon advertising boards all over the city need to be removed first. (They can advertise on normal signboards, yaar!)
They not only waste electricity but have also harmed the (already diminishing) greenery in the city in great amounts. These are just a few examples of how to save large quantities of power.

Also, we must get our own houses in order.
Ensure that you don’t leave the lights, fans, TV, computers etc “ON” when they are not in use.
Do not use lights during the day, unless absolutely necessary.
Use low-watt bulbs and tubes.
Spread the message to others.

Remember that conservation of electricity will only help us and the generations to follow live a better life. Else, it won’t be long before we all are drowned in a sea of darkness, quite literally ;-)

I am NOT preaching or lecturing anyone or writing an essay, for that matter :-) But what started off as just a blog turned out to be this long article. Sorry to bore u, guys! But this is the best place for me to voice my thoughts and I’m doing just that.