Forever 31

They say when the time is right, it is!


There is no one or nothing in this world that can take you away from your life’s path! Your true destiny, your mission!

And my calling came recently; and I have decided to finally pursue the one thing I am good at. Telling stories!

NO! I am not joining the Indian army (though I wish I could), or giving up my worldly possessions and attaining sainthood (though my dad would love it) or getting married (I know all my relatives would be happy). I am going to take part in a novel writing competition and I am sure not too many would be happy.

This maybe my only hope of ever getting started on something new and exciting, a world of fantasy and hope and the hopefully my dream of becoming famous one day.

I am taking part in an extreme competition called NANOWRIMO and it will take place in June. The motive of the competiton is for writers to write novels beginning at 12.01 a.m, on 1st June 2012 and they have time until 11.59 p.m, 30th June 2012 to finish 50,000 words in all.

Here’s an excerpt from my forthcoming novel. Fingers crossed!!

Three dates in one day!

And one would think at least one of them was good. How can one have a strike out with three supposedly “perfectly-matched” guys?


Bacholer # 1


Tall, handsome, very presentable, good hold of English, erudite and most importantly loaded! (Mum and dad’s first level of screening criteria would be a perfect 10 on 10, except the well read part, that one was mine.) I had spoken to him over the phone for the thirteenth time (I’m not superstitious and to prove that he was the one I wanted to meet him right away) this morning and within the short period of time that I had known him, he had charmed my pant off, if not literally, at least I would do it in a heartbeat if he ever asked me to.


We met for breakfast, in a cafe close to my place called “hole in the wall”. It was my favourite and most vitally close to my house and served the most scrumptious English breakfast. He walked into the cafe with long steps and as he approached me with the click-clacks of his custom made wooden soled, suede shoes; a soft grey blazer and matching trousers and a polo neck black t-shirt, my heart skipped two beats!


This is it!


Michael Jackson’s sound track was already playing on my mental sound system. (Annie are you ok, are you ok, are you ok Annie?)


“Annie??” he asked. His voice was deep.


“Hmmmmm,” I purred like a Persian cat whose belly was being scratched. My heart knew it. He was the one.


“Hello, Are you Ananya Nayak?....Excuse me, miss dream gurrrrrl..”


As I snapped out of the wonderful trance I was in. “..aa..hem...sorry...yes..yeH...please have a seat, and you must be Santhosh?”


“Yes, thank you, Kahan Khoi hui thi (where were you lost)?


I wanted to say, in a land far, far darling away where I would be lying in your lap and you would be feeding me grapes all day. But I just ended up babbling something about not having enough sleep last night.


Our conversation was flowed into the ocean of intellect, we lost track of time and long before I knew it, it was 2.p.m. and though I honestly did not want to budge from the seat next to him I realised if I did not get my ass down to Cypress, in the next 20 minutes I would have to listen to an earful form Seema auntie. It was time for bachelor #2.

wHAt A gUy!!!

This is dedicated to that one guy, who is from that rare breed of “I-wish-he-was-my-HUSBAND-category”

More often than not I only hear girls complain, and bicker, and loathe their so called boyfriends, husbands, life partners, fiancé’s, or whatever you call your guys.

Very rarely have I heard someone say I have the best-est (excuse my grammar) guy in the www (whole wide world).

So what I’m about to say is actually documentation, verbatim of a friend who recently told me about this so called wonderful partner of hers.

“....so my husband is the best-est thing that could ever happen to me. I know, I know, you must be shocked!! I was the one in college who used to say I wouldn’t get married coz there is no such thing as love; well believe it or not he changed me for the better. I was this kinda gal who didn’t care too much about anybody, wasn’t close to her family, didn’t have a purpose or goal in life, had lost in the quest for love and had just been thrashed out badly. My life changed with what you call that one special someone. Just thinking about him sends shivers down my spine. Think about it. How many of us truly have the courage to go after someone who has rejected you more than thrice for a commitment? How many of us think that tomorrow will be a better day, how many of us remain contented with only that one guy that our parents chose, that we would gladly adjust to? About 90% of the crowd who has had severe experiences or at least all those who aren’t allowed to fall in love! Funny how today it is I who is talking about things like love, and commitment, and dependency.

               Yes, I still am that independent, ambitious, slightly eccentric idiot that I always used to be, and surprisingly I can just be all that and more with him. What can I say now? He helped me change myself for the better. Can you believe it? ME getting a change and makeover?? 8 years ago I’d have laughed at it myself, but not today. I feel like a polished diamond today with better looking hair, and a positive outlook of all my features. You remember na, how mum used to keep nagging about how big my tummy is and how she used to say that my bottom is like two basket balls’s stuck to my spine? Well he doesn’t care and in fact loves it. He stood by me through all my good times and bad, in all my sicknesses and trauma’s. He took me apart and put me back together in a nicer way. Just talking about him feels like a million dollars. His smile, his hug, his wit and charm, and his love! Simply out of this world. Even when we lived apart for more than 2 years and in that period of madness when I got pushed off the cliff of sanity I dragged him down with me, and on the fall down all I did was curse him, and pester him, and clobbered him with my words and deeds, even so all he did was listen patiently and when the right time came held on to me tighter than ever and became my safety net never once allowing me to crash. How can I explain Pavi that simple pure love that I feel for him? I blush like a baby every time I think or talk about him. You know he did last time? We were travelling by an auto and I was freezing in the cold and burning with a fever, and he was smoking a cigarette and I was shivering and he saw me and said “screw the cigarette, you are more important I love you” and held me in his arms trying to protect me from the cold.

               You know I can ramble on and on for pages about him and may be you will end up with the world’s longest blog post but what can I say, when you find someone like him, never let him go J”

And I do wish you guys the very best of luck J

Thank you tEaM :)

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

-John Wooden

To wake up early in the morning, get the kettle (electric) boiling, put a tea bag and some powdered milk in it, and gulp it down before it can blend fully, then have off pat to switch the heater on and thank your stars that it’s a super-fast heater, only to be cursing technology and the salesman at the store you bought it from; that the 5 minute quick heater didn’t even heat the water enough to get the shivers of the cold Bengaluru morning out of your system. Then pull out a semi-ironed shirt or kurta out depending on your gender (Please don’t treat me as a stereotype here, I’m only stating facts), toast a slice of bread (which when Murphy’s law is applied, come out more brown than the temperature states) and then curse the same salesman who sold you the heater; also curse yourself a little, all the while heatedly asking yourself; ‘what were you thinking?’ when you went in for the offer, ‘buy a water heater, get 2% off on a toaster’. Then you grab your bag and hope your employee ID is still there in it after you just shoved it in there the previous evening in frustration when you had to leave the office 4 hours after your normal working time. Then forget to change your slippers from those rubber bathroom ones to the formal one’s and be relieved that you spent about 300 bucks extra for the extra stylish ones, so you don’t have to go back home and change them. Then you hustle to the main road to get and AUTO, and then the usual haggling, combating, cursing, and then you finally find that one good person who is willing to take you for only ’10 rupees extra’.

PHEW.........

Sounds like the morning drama of 90% of all employees in the office right?

So what why am I describing the morning scene of probably every single employee?

Coz for me the same routine day in and day out is worth every bit of the cursing, the skirmishing, the strain, the sheer annoyance, and the even more frustrated cursing!

The only thing I look forward to every gruelling second of that painful 45 minutes is the pEoPLe I’m looking forward to working within the organisation.

It’s called TeAm

And this space is a salute to the people in my team who despite everything else motivate me to get up in the morning and cross all hurdles to walk into the glass doors of the organization swipe my ID card and make it on time. Its the dedication, the effort and the motivation that is silently embedded in the “Hi’s and Hello’s”, the “kya haal chaal, kaise ho?”, in the ever ready “I will help you out, even if I’m busy with my work and I’m trying to meet a deadline” and many more things that they would do to get the job done.

I always had the perception that a great team is formed by a great leader, this perception had blossomed out of the very little worldly wisdom that I possessed.

Fortunately for me a, my world turned upside down when I was faced with the realities, as my wise friend keeps mumbling this all the bloody time, ‘you got to get the experience!!!!’

Any who, moving away from that slight deviation; in these 4 months that I worked I have learnt the importance of TEAM. My favourite story I love to brag around is how I got into a council in the organisation.

So it was like any other day when I being more inclined to extra-curricular activities decided to nominate myself for a council in what is called the EFCS council. Having joined the team only about a month ago I wasn’t too convinced that my existence in the organisation would even count.

So in the 24 hours that were allowed for canvassing I did little to get off my cosy chair and move about. The biggest fear I had was ‘How on earth are people going to cast their votes if they don’t know me’.

Then D day arrived and votes were cast and, the counts were carried out. Surprisingly as a new comer I was not only supported by my team but also along with all the (ragging in all humour), but there was a constant follow up on the events. I had my doubts about the elections (apologies to my team).

On the day of the results, I realised that a bunch of 80 odd people got me all the votes required to not get into one but both the councils that I had nominated for!

So now I’m writing this post to say “I Stand with my head held high, and I’m proud to say that my TEAM really rocks!!!”

Dedicated to the SUMMIT, OPICS, & my fellow MT’s. God Bless you all :)