A Bowl of Elusive

Indira Niwas, as I have iterated earlier also, was a mystical place. The fact that none of the people who lived there knew who the place actually belonged to, should tell you how legendary the house was. And crazy stuff happened there as well. I have earlier described the story of how Mirza found several fire extinguishers when he got back from his shift. This is about another interesting incident that happened there. Maybe a few weeks before the fire extinguisher incident, on a day when Mirza didn’t have to work, he’d invited Kritika to Indira Niwas during the day, when most of the others were either at the college or at work. Kritika was his girlfriend of two years and ever since they’d gotten separate training schedules, they had been meeting less and were struggling to keep the spark alive. So when Mirza called Kritika and told her that he’d have the place to himself on Wednesday, she quickly agreed to bunk classes and meet him. It had been a while since they fooled arou...

Eclairs - The Pavilion, ITC Maurya, New Delhi The mere fact that I'm writing about this should tell you how passionate I am about my food. I order in a lot. Like a lot. And I've been doing that for the last 11 years. So my relationship with food delivery is a long standing one and of course, I have a type when it comes to food delivery places. Now, what I look for in my meals and subsequently in my food delivery experience may differ from occasion to occasion , from day to day, depending on the following things - how hungry I am, what I'm craving for and what time of the month it is. You see, I'm a big guy, like literally, I am around 6' 2" tall and I weigh nearly 100 kilograms. So naturally, I have a really healthy appetite. So quantity is a big factor for me. Most of my disappointments with food delivery joints arises from the fact that they have a pathetic portion size. I don't mind paying more than average if the serving size and the quality of...

Mirza joined college in the summer of '08. As is usual for freshers, he soon found friends, other misfits and rebels like him. Praveer was one of those friends. Tall, lanky and sometimes awkward, Praveer was a talkative and charismatic young man. And he got along well with Mirza. Praveer and Mirza later ended up as roommates at Indira Niwas, but this story was from a time before that. Male bonding can be interesting to encounter, especially because guys are usually so uniquely messed up in the heads and mingle in such funny patterns. The first year of college was all about finding their footing for Praveer & Mirza. It was a time for their individual personalities to clash and gel with those of their classmates and their seniors, who by the way were no less interesting than our protagonists. Meet Himanshu, Vivek Pratap, Arshad & Deepak, the seniors inhabiting 4 adjacent rooms in the boy's hostel. They were sassy and intimidating, and eventually became role mo...

I think a month has passed since I last posted. I have been busy. Had to travel a lot in the past few weeks. But its all good. So the other day, my phone finally died. It had been a faithful companion for over two years. I knew its time was close so there wasn't much grief. I went online to find me a new companion. I chose the OnePlus One. In fact, I am posting from my phone right now. It feels quite wholesome. You know how negative I can get at times. So I was quite skeptical at first about this device. But the amazing specs won me over. Anyways I think I will come back with a review soon. For now, I just wanna let you all know that I am alive and kicking. Ciao!!

Before the utter anonymity of adulthood settled in, were those six wonderful years I spent at St. Joseph’s Convent Higher Secondary School, Sambalpur. The school that became a part of who I am today. The school that helped me discover myself. I joined SJC in 2001. Class 7C. It was a whole different world inside the school premises. The mediocrity of the town it is situated in has absolutely no effect on the culture & class of this school. I was overwhelmed for maybe a second, after which I knew this was where I belonged. I wasn't a great student, as far as grades were concerned, but I was sharp and an extrovert. I excelled in the subjects that I liked, English in particular. And that always kept me in teachers’ radar. And I was a major attention junkie. So, I soon found myself performing on stage on every possible occasion. And that, I feel is the greatest gift that SJC gave me. From a nervous self-doubting 11-year old to a confident optimistic 17-year old, ...