Sunday, December 28, 2014
Thursday, December 25, 2014
A lost opportunity
Will you shave or not? The
question asked to most of the men. I am the one who personally believes men
should be well groomed and have a clean shaven face. Since old times, men are
considered the one who are the one who are not interested in grooming and all.
In fact in many communities the moustache and beard are the symbol of being
manly. But now-a- days things are different. Men are also interested in
grooming and other like activities. But still many are criticized for keeping
stubble on their face. I have the opinion that men are very lazing to do all
these activities. It is not like all men love a stubble and unshaved face, but
we are lazy enough to avoid this. It’s so time consuming.
I will like to share my personal
experience regarding my stubble look. Like
all other men I am also among the one who is prepared and ready with a well
groomed and clean shaved face for special events which are known well in
advance. But like all others, I land into trouble when an unexpected special
event arises out of nowhere. I remember
it was just before my 21st birthday I missed an opportunity to go on
a birthday date (Yes, a birthday date. I date on your birthday is a birthday
date) with my crush. I had a habit of not shaving my beard (out of my laziness)
for many days and keeping a bristled face. Just before my birthday I realized I
needed to shave my beard. But then my inner voice said, “Dear, why are you in
such a hurry? You can groom yourself tomorrow morning. Anyhow, the snaps will
be taken tomorrow evening when the cake will be cut. No one will notice it till
then.” And then I set aside the thought.
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| image source- internet |
It was on the evening before my
birthday, I got a message from my crush, Rashmi, - ‘Hey can you come along with
me at XY Book Stores?’
How could I have said NO?
So I replied – ‘When?’
Rashmi – Right now! I’ll explain
you everything once you arrive.’
Me – ‘Will be there in 10
minutes.’
I took my bike and headed towards
XY stores. I didn’t mind to meet her in a stubble look. (Who knew that she will
mind?) I reached XY Book stores on time. She was already there. She told that
she was leaving for Delhi tomorrow and wanted to carry something to read along
with her in the train. After purchasing
the books, she wished me a happy birthday in advance (So she had not forgotten
my birthday). I told her how unhappy I
was that she will not be there at my birthday.
Suddenly a thought came to my
mind. I told her I could take her out for the treat today itself.
I said, “Hey Rashmi lets go
somewhere I celebrate my birthday in advance!”
She said, “Actually Vasant, I had
the same thought in my mind before you arrived. But…”
I asked, “But what?”
Rashmi, “Let it be now”
I was like what the hell! Why not
now? What’s the problem?
But I asked in a polite manner,
“What happened?”
Being a very close friend she had
a habit of being very frank to me. She almost shouted at me, “Look at you
Vasant!!! Looks like you have just come out of jail and haven’t shaved up your
face for ages”
There was no time for me to go
home and come back as it was already late. Noticing my disappointed face she
said, “Dear, it’s a punishment for you. Hope you next time keep yourself well
groomed every time. A lesson to you a day before your birthday that in future,
whenever you ask a girl for a sudden date, you won’t land into trouble.”
Before leaving, she said, “Wish
you a happy birthday in advance dear. Enjoy your day tomorrow and keep in mind
the lesson you learnt. Bye”
She left and I sat there like a
dumb guy who lost an opportunity to take his crush on a date just because of an
untrimmed face.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
A trip to remember - Sinhagad !!!
A trip to remember
Khuub Jamega Rang, Jab milenge teen yaar... (There is no
Bagpiper involved here). There are times when you just plan and plan and plan.
Very few of them get executed. About 4-5 days ago, I called Anup A.k.a Ak, from
Mumbai asking him to come to Pune so that we could roam around Pune. I was off
to Pune for a change after my CMA final exams. Another friend of us Pankaj aka
Pk (no resemblance with the movie Pk) was already out there for his studies.
Meeting your friends
in a new city is always fun. And in our case, it was me who knew nothing about
Pune; Pankaj who was there for his studies but was equally new to Pune and Anup
from Mumbai who always shook his head saying, “I don’t understand a dam thing about
Pune”.
Even after all of this, we decided to go to Sinhagad. We
decided to meet at Swargate, a place from where we could board the bus to
Sinhagad. Anup had to take a bus from
Mumbai at 6 AM. I messaged him, ‘Are you sure you are going to wake up so
early?’
To this he directly sent a screenshot of his alarm set at 5
AM. I was still not sure whether he will make it or not. The chilling winter
was one reason and second but obvious his laziness.
On the day, I woke up just to check whether he had boarded
the bus or not. To my surprise he was on his way on time. It was going to be a
three hour journey for him. The temperature in Pune had dropped well below 9°celcius.
Swargate was more than an hour journey by bus for me and for Pankaj it was a
half hour distance. Accordingly I left. Being from a city (Aurangabad) which
has nothing called public transport, a city like Pune tests your patience while
you wait for a bus. After a long wait I boarded the bus. Meanwhile Anup had
already reached. Soon I reached the decided place. Meeting a friend after a
long time from another city in some another city gave us a feel from the movie
‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’. And why not, all of us were strangers to this place
and arrived at the meeting point from our respective places. Soon Pankaj also
arrived.
We headed to the bus stop from where we could get a bus to
Sinhagad. We were already late and after enquiring, we came to know that was
bus will take more time to arrive. Then we decided to go by a six-seater or
Tumtum or Dugdugi as it is popularly called. Anup’s head
kept hitting the roof of the vehicle and I made fun of it throughout our
journey. On the way, we saw the Khadakwasla Dam. And then we headed to our destination, Sinhagad.
As we reached there, we were
hungry. While looking for where to have our lunch, a board caught our attention.
The name was, ‘Aaplya Balucha Dhaba’. We decided to have lunch there. The view
from there was awesome.
Well I am not endorsing the dhaba, but I really liked
the way they interacted with us. It was a practical example of how customer
relationships should be managed. We ordered Dahi(curd which
comes in a pot) and Pithla Bhakri
which is very popular out there.
After the delicious lunch, we headed to the
fort.
While on any fort, one is always surprised that how such a
huge fort must have been constructed hundreds of years ago. Same was the point
of our discussion.
The respect towards Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his
empire gets doubled as one discusses the various events from the life of
Shivaji Maharaj. Especially in Maharashtra, Sinhagad has a special place in
history because of the sacrifice made by Tanaji Malusare. We were awestruck
when we saw the cliff from where he climbed up the fort.
There is also a house of
Lokmany Tilak who resided there. Mahatma Gandhi and Lokmany Tilak met there
once during the independence struggle.
Even though it was 3 PM, there was considerable amount of fog
because of which we were unable to see Rajgad, Torna and Purandar forts which
are visible from there.
On our return journey, we decided to go down by a vehicle as
we were in a hurry. The jeep service drops the passengers. There was a group of
college girls in the jeep. Me and Anup sat beside the driver. Pankaj,
fortunately or unfortunately had to sit in the last row with the girls. (I
think no more explanation is need why I used ‘fortunately or unfortunately’).
Later we again took a Tumtum(Dugdugi) to Swargate. On our way, our tumtum’s engine
stopped. The reasons not know to the driver either. We literally pushed it away from the road to clear the traffic behind us. After endless efforts it
started. And this way we completed our one day trip to Sinhagad.
To all my friends reading this, we missed you all the whole
day. Hope someday we arrange something similar to a new place.
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