...Yeh local sabhi sthaanakon par rukegi!!

I did the trip from Dadar to Kalyan (and back) a couple of days ago. Honestly, NOTHING else could have motivated me more than that to write this!!

Local train travelers have a completely different lifestyle. Their existence totally hovers around the railway timetable – the further away you stay, the more it grips onto you!! Now since Junior college, I have always had friends who’d travel from far off lands everyday – heard their tales about the fascinatingly overcrowded 9:15 morning local, how they almost got thrown out, how they bumped into an old friend on the station and I’d go, “Damn why don’t I ever have the pleasure of such a conversation!!” But then I’ve had my school, junior college, graduation college, my workplace and my B-School, all within a radius of a kilometer from my home (can you believe the luck!!) So I had to steal my few trips on the 5 crore ki gaadi whenever I could and believe me, the sense of pride and independence it gave me back then, wasn’t even funny!! This was just reinforced on my trip to Nagpur. First I traveled to Nagpur ALONE, then my little cousins asked me with complete admiration – you travel by locals in Bombay?!!! On my casual yes, they elevated me to an almost superhero status!!

If you observe, you can broadly classify the local junta into 3 categories.
First there are the Frequent Fliers. These are the ones that have train friends, set timings – everyday users basically. They know precisely which side the nth station comes (followed by an explanation why – like you care!) The women in this category are monsters – nudge them and you’d wish you were dead. Very adeptly, they peel vegetables and read and sing songs as if they were at home. They storm and jostle you for the 4th seat like it is their birthright – they own that train, period.

Then there are Irregulars like me – gladly not as emotional as the first kind. They don’t get so personal when it comes to shoving you around and understand your plight when you do! They just make peace with the discomfort – especially when the weather adds some special effects to the experience like charring sunlight or streams of rain pouring in through open windows and doors. That’s when you realize what God meant when he said I want you even smell like a human being.

And the last is my favourite – Novices. Now these are the rats who have absolutely NO clue whether they are heading north or south. They gape hungrily at the train route charts by the door and pray with eyes open (can’t afford to close them!) with an expression like they are getting a root canal, that they get this over and done with asap!! You just can’t miss catching them go white in the face when they see the sea of humanity pours in at Dadar or Andheri – ‘Yup! We’re definitely going to die!’

However clichéd it might sound, but the locals are undoubtedly the circulatory system of the city. The Mumbai City Railway network caters to 6.3 million commuters everyday. It has the highest passenger density in the World, ahead of even Tokyo (the only other ones I’ve had the pleasure of using) and Seoul. Almost half of the total daily passengers using the entire Indian Railway System are from Mumbai Suburban Railway system alone (sea of humanity – told you!) When the recent bomb blasts along the Western Suburban line shook up the city, I know none of us wanted to hear the words “spirit of Mumbai city” again for a year!! We helped each other regardless of caste and creed and thankfully there was no spill over of violence later. But here, I applaud the authorities at Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd (MRVC Ltd) and the Ministry of Railways for working non-stop all night long and restoring upto 90% of the damaged tracks – all back in full use by dawn. Like a regular day, each one, man or woman stepped out and ran the platforms to catch their blessed local to work next morning. If the principle motive of terrorism is to instill fear – not happening here dude!! That’s the damn spirit we were talking bout!!

So these trains will keep zipping across the stretch of the city no matter what, as Mumbaiikars sing bhajans and haggle for clips and kerchiefs in there. I’m sure whoever said life is a journey might have had the local train routine sometime in his life!!

Adios!

A Letter to my Friends

It took me 23 years, a B-School and 16 complete samples to understand that friendship is undoubtedly the most complex relationship between people – may or may not be of the same sex (in fact it’s worse if it’s the latter!!)

I wouldn’t want to compare the last two years of my life to any from before. School – well there were bigger issues like homework and growing up there. College – that is always the chiller gang that never meant serious business!! I’m not an engineer so all we did was nothing all day and still went to bed peacefully every night! (Boy!! Those were the days!!!) The B-School was the one that changed my perspective about life and the way I will live it henceforth. The fact that I have no time to breathe today gives me comfort; makes me feel useful. I think it becomes a tendency with our lot – to look so busy and wired up even if you are just going to get photocopies... it just becomes our fixed expression I guess!!

And here is where I found love, pain, support and rock-solid friendship – ALL on that one table of our cafeteria! Where a day began with a cup of chai, poha (with chutney) and gossip and ended with how many submissions due over the week – where lunch hour was WAR, survival of the fittest, fastest and strongest – where making a dinner or clubbing plan was equivalent to making a business plan to enter the steel industry – where managing egos taught us the biggest lessons an HR prof couldn’t in his lifetime – where ip messenger was oxygen and CS and NFS were fuel for survival...

The video was where I started to truly reminisce – a collage of all our happiest (and most candid) moments. And I realised just how much I loved my two years here. Not only for the acads, but also for the gamut of people I met. Being a part of a rather enthusiastic bunch, we were always the noisiest, most boisterous lot. Now I understand what made us this way. We are good – really good each one of us - at what ever we do, in our special way – we aren’t the ones that stay quiet. And this became that silent competition under all the friendship – not one-upmanship mind you – but a quiet upward push that brought out the best in each one of us every step along the way. And I really want to thank each one of you for that – for that push and for the prop up every time it was needed.

I’ve not been a good kid – I’ve been upto some serious mess and managed to ruin some wonderful relationships of mine with my very own hands. I’ll always regret it. If you observe, it always takes double the effort to repair than to make! (five times I’ll say!!) This gave me life’s biggest lessons – ‘impulsive’ is always an adjective for ‘idiot’ – NOTHING else can follow that word!! So be careful the next time you open your mouth – once it’s out, it can’t be reversed.

I also wanted to say sorry – for each time I seemed impossible to understand and even worse, control. And more importantly I’m sorry for each time I built up that mountain on your head called expectations and not lived upto it. It was hard to understand the high pitch emotions that ran through this lot (I’m sure you all will agree); I was just another cause and victim!! So after all the cold undercurrents, fights, arguments, sarcasm... I’m calling it PEACE!! Bury that goddamn hatchet – you’ll have better things to worry about like deadlines and targets!!

I said goodbye to some of my closest pals today – who’ve been as close as family – I have no idea when I’ll see them next. It’s a strange feeling – I tried telling myself I didn’t even know they existed two years ago (didn’t work!!) I can’t believe you are going... that’s all I could get myself to say!

Before I get senti again, here’s wishing you all the very best! Whichever part of India you are (Dubai for our exported goods!!), they’ll always be a bunch of guys somewhere in this country who’ll be watching after you (I say this for all of us!!)

Do your best and have a good life!! So until we meet again...

My guyssss

We fight, we argue, we rag, we tease,
We gather around a table everyday and food doesn't last for 5 mins,
We eat, drink and celebrate everyday,
And ofcourse we are piled up....
Thts my gang!!

luhvv u guys!! 

In 3rd person

After a whirlwind 7 months, for the first time, today I got a chance to sit back and wonder the whys and hows of life here. I will not call it ‘stopping to smell the flowers’; people do that when they go off on their well-deserved sabbaticals after years of slogging. I have barely sown my seeds now, the plants need to grow, then there will be flowers and then comes the question of when I should sit and smell them!!

What solely inspired me to write this was, when I sat back to look at myself, exactly 7 months ago. Indeed, a very amusing picture. It may not be a very long time for many, but for me (and probably for many similar souls like mine), it might seem like a past life.

I basically took a 3rd person look at myself that day when I ran up the daunting 2 floors of granite. I could actually hear the poor thing’s heart pound as she stepped into a B-school for the first time. Of course with my penchant of always, mind you always walking into an appointment 5 minutes late, I had already had my bit of adventure on the way. An old taxiwallah I just couldn’t yell at, a rattling cab that would’ve fallen apart had I sneezed, my patience and blood pressure had hit the ceiling at 8:00am itself. I zoomed up the stairs of what was to become my entire life for the next two years.
Uncomfortable, partly because of the awkward formal wear, partly because the anxiety that was killing me. Shivering, partly because of the full-blast air-conditioner, partly because of the nervousness. Clad in a spanking new blazer, with very little or absolutely no clue of what was laid out for me in the future, I exchanged uncomfortable half-smiles with every other blazer-bearer. Some seemed so surprisingly confident to me, I wondered what a nervous little rattle like me doing in a place like this. To make matters worse, the well-experienced polished seniors put up such a stiff corporate demeanour. Watching these High-Efficiency Business Machines, I instantly got plugged into the Inferiority Complex mode. Quite frankly, it was like blow in the face and I couldn’t help but wonder, was I in the wrong place? By the end of the first day of my Foundation Fortnight, I was so sure I was!!

It took me a while to sink my roots into the ground. It took me a little longer to get used to the sweet-smile-on-the-face kind of culture. I was so used to speaking my mind and calling something crap when it ought to be; this was a big step. The semi-artificial friendliness and "corporate culture" also took a while to sink in.
But 2 months down, and the ones like me floated out like cork-balls.

Well now I need not worry too much. I guess I’ve found my place under that skylight.

Me Under The Microscope

I love the concept of blogging. It’s a great way to pour out your heart onto a paper (rather computer screen). Well! I never knew this when I started writing. But it turned out to be much more transperant than I thought it was. As more and more of my friends read what I scribbled, I realised they had finally found a secret passageway into my head. Well! After being tagged by Bugs, it’s probably high time I do it intentionally.
So here’s Namrata Kale, in 20 short sentences.....

--- People call me by various names.... Namya, Namu, Namy, Nams, Kale.... (my names at home are much more articulate though)

--- I am fed up of being described as “that TALL female!!” It seems like it was a crime I had too much Bournvita and I cycled a bit more in my growing age!

--- I take my own sweet time to break the ice with a person; which explains why people generally have the notion that I have an attitude or am just plain and simple arrogant. Gimme a break yaa... let me finish analyzing YOU first!!

--- I simply love to talk..... more precisely chat!! People who have passed the initial Acid Analysis Test (Read: my friends) will vouch for this. (So will the length of this piece!)

--- 80% of my being is wrapped around my friends..... 20% is equally divided among the following: my laptop, my cellphone, my diary.

--- I am a complete caffeine-addict. That one cup of coffee/tea literally switches on my brains (whenever required). Without that, donot expect brilliant ideas.

--- I do not have the gene in my gene pool that lets a person sit in one place for more than 15 minutes. It is a disease. I don’t know the clinical name. You can call it Hyper-energectima perhaps!! Of course, this condition prevails only when I am outside the house. The minute I cross the threshold of my home, I am the biggest slob that walked the planet!!

--- I am one stubborn a**. If I stick onto something, I can harp on it for the rest of my life. This also explains why I walk into class exactly 5 minutes late everyday. Some people never ever change!!

--- I am a workaholic – some call me insane, some call me a maniac, but that comes part and parcel with the stubborn a** syndrome!

--- I have a new found love – food. I seem to be hungry all the time these days. My mom has tried to stuff food into me all my life. So when I say this, she’d probably heave a sigh of relief; I guess I’m covering up for the last 22 years!

--- I am sinfully organized. If I get a well-deserved break on a Sunday, I just might celebrate this little vacation by cleaning my cupboard!

--- I want to, at least once in my life, see the Mona Lisa. I have always wondered, She’s just smiling damn it.....what’s the big fuss about??

--- I cannot stand guys who believe in their hearts and minds that they are reincarnations of Adonis. The tight T-shirts, the cigarette sticking out of the mouth, the “I-am-too-hot” look in the eyes..... Come on, not everyone can pull it off!!

--- Like Bugs, I cannot stand squeaky ultra-cute girls. This is also why I have spent a good portion of my life in the company of boys and tomboys (and I’m glad I fall under the second category). They are genuine, extremely dependable and very, very fuss-free.

--- I love to sketch, but never ask me to replicate the same sketch. Somehow.... I can never do it!!!

--- There are two things that I love in a guy – the way he carries himself off and his eyes. The former defines his character, the latter shows his innocence.

--- Dancing lives in my RBCs (blood for the scientifically uninitiated). Nothing cures better than losing myself on the dancefloor. Most people think I’m drunk when they see me there!!

--- I’ve always wondered why siblings are never supposed to get along. The old Marathi saying defines my relationship with my brother – enemies of a past life strategically take birth in the same house!! He hates me, and I hate him, but I would kill anyone who’d say a word against him!!

--- I make it a point to take out time to wonder about the Whys and Hows of life. Believe me when you sit back and let your mind wander, you seem to notice many more things in the world around you!

--- I have always wondered why nice guys come in such ridiculously small packages. (I guess I should’ve shared my Bournvita secret a little earlier!!)

To sum it all up in short, I’ll just say this,
I’m looking for a T-shirt that says: Crazy, and goddamn proud of it!!
(Funny how come no one’s made those yet!!)

Namy.

P.S.: Im going to tag Ramit and Rajesh...

Out with it fellas!! 20 sentences about urself!!

Its Probably Me

I happened to bump into a blog a few days back. I don’t quite remember the author’s name but he seemed to be huge fan of Sting. He’d written about him and especially mentioned his hit song ‘It’s probably me’. The way he described the feelings that this song generated in him, I was shocked. He had described what I felt word-for-word when I heard it too. It is so fascinating to see how music works on the human psyche, how a tune and a few rhyming lines can bind the sensibilities of so many people across the globe.

I first heard this song on a friend’s disc. Not deciphering a single word Sting mumbled, I was lost as to why my two buddies made such a big fuss about the song. “You have to hear it, you have to hear it”, they went on and on all day. When I was done, they went, “liked it? It’s awesome na??” I just nodded in agreement. The next thing I did was to get my hands on the lyrics. ‘There probably must be something there!’ I wondered. And there it was; the thing that makes this song timeless (besides Eric Clapton’s fabulous guitaring). As I read on, I was more and more gripped by the words on that page. How simply and casually these words conveyed such a powerful emotion.
It spoke about a man who would be there by your side no matter what; a man who doesn’t call himself your husband, lover, brother, father or any other specific. His love has no name, no religion, no sex; he just calls himself your friend; he could be anyone. He is will not ask you how, when or why you did something; whether it was right or wrong; he will never condition, judge or demand.
He will just be there; your pillar, your rock, your friend.

Unquestionable. Unconditional. Unending. That’s how love should be.

I now hear this song atleast once everyday. If you haven’t heard it yet, I suggest you should. Of course, download the lyrics while you’re at it; it makes a world of a difference. Long live Sting!!!

Chao!!

The Classic Mumbai Monsoon

I was on my way home last evening. With pedestrians running for dear life lest they miss their “6:45 Borivali Local”, vendors shouting out their last price and fat aunties bargaining to the last rupee, Dadar was the place where the entire world seemed to have come to that evening. As my blessed BEST bus tried to crawl its way out of this mess, little drops began to pitter-patter on the battered old window I was sitting against. The crowded street suddenly shrank to the sides as every person ran for a shed to keep him from getting wet. I am pretty sure each one of them secretly wanted to grab this opportunity to enjoy the cool breeze that this gentle shower had brought with it. I would call it the “2-minute pleasure” that could smoothen out the roughest of days. But here, we never seem to have the time to stop.

Living in the city, we seldom get the chance to notice the true drama of nature. For that, Mumbaiites have to take leaves (real or fake ones), stuff their families into Sumos and Safaris, and rush off to the nearest hill stations. There is no such thing as lush green slopes, mountains with little tufts of clouds, trickling water falls and rivulets and the mucky ‘kachchi sadaks’. These are absolutely vague concepts for our so-called concrete jungles. But Nature doesn’t totally deprive us of her beauty. At this time of the year, even our darkest greys get patched with all the possible shades of green. We may not have fresh water frogs, but little crawlies start surfacing from every hole in the ground. And even though every square inch is covered with concrete, the smell of ‘geeli mitti’ after the first shower is impossible to miss.

And then a unique celebration begins. In true desi-style, bhuttawalahs and chai-stalls start mushrooming out of every nook and corner. The regular party animals cuddle up into their beds or make the local coffee shop their favourite hangout. The romantics hook up at the beaches, sea-faces and Marine Drive. And in the classroom, even the most interesting professor seems to be singing a lullaby. Every morning begins with a drowsy mist over the grey skyline foretelling a rainy day ahead and the whole place is like it is covered with a dreamy blanket. Besides that of course there are the trenches and open manholes and the traffic and the smelly stuffy trains and the mosquitoes and …… but I think we can live with that!!

So come June, roll up your pants and bring out those umbrellas coz’ Mumbai city, the monsoons are on their way!!!