Wonder Years

This year, my eldest sister, who is eight years older than I am, will soon reach a significant milestone in her life. She gets highly infuriated when I mention her age, and like any good brother, I respect that and do not mention her age. This year, I celebrated my 42nd birthday.

You've probably heard the phrase "third time's the charm," which explains my parents' quest for perfection and why they stopped trying when I was born. If you ever ask my sisters, they will grudgingly admit to kneeling down with their arms outstretched, praying for 'me.' This explains the immense love my sisters showered on me as a child.

To quote a few examples, my eldest sister once role-played a scene from a Hindi movie and left me at the doorstep of the neighboring building. There were also a couple of accidental drops and the time she 'accidentally' snipped off my eyebrow while giving me a haircut. I'm not saying these were attempts to get rid of me, just a series of sheer coincidences that point to that train of thought.

Being the only boy was like being an only child since I was way younger than my sisters. However, I was included in some of their games and got to play several important leading roles, like the detective dog in Famous Five, the beggar child, and a lamp post. I also played the part of the errand boy and a walking Uber for their friends when they had parties.

Mind you, on a few occasions, I have repaid the stoic spiritual sacrifice of my sisters. For instance, I ensured fame for my eldest sister by dressing up as Mary Lou Retton and performing a flawless somersault in front of her friends. I also selflessly allowed my other sister, the one who is not light-years older than I am, to read my college classic literature books. She was so grateful that she gave me her limited stock of bendy straws and blank cassettes. I deny any mention of a barter system involved.

I also splurged my hard-earned shady sticker business money on a delicious Chinese meal and monster chips, which were highly appreciated, consumed with delight, and then spewed moments later. I was appalled and tried to extort a refund, as she did not care to hold it down until it was digested. The fact that she was seriously ill was irrelevant at that time.

Over the years, my relationship with my sisters has improved considerably; I say this with conviction as I am still alive. My eldest sister, who is still 26.3 years old on Mars, has become wiser and more spiritual, and my other sister has become a multi-skilled, meticulous, talented mother. I, for one, will always be a reminder that God does have a sense of humor.

How Could She ?

My life was beautiful; it was perfect in every way possible. I felt invincible, proud, secure, and blessed. A few moons ago, I experienced the most brutal, unimaginable, shocking event in my life. I felt my heart shred and liquefy instantly into a sea of oblivion. My brain convulsed and froze; my thoughts were an aposiopesis of the purest form, a series of disjointed feelings and words relegated into the limbo of lost words.

I lay motionless, trying to fathom why and how this could have happened.

I couldn't believe that she could do this to me. Were my feelings not considered? Did she not know how I felt? "How could she?" were the three words that kept ringing in my head. She knew how I felt, she knew everything, and still, she went ahead and did that dastardly deed.

Once she started, she couldn't stop, and before she knew it, she had gotten in too deep to make any amends. I could see her guilt-ridden face masking her surreptitious smile. She could have stopped to think about it, but she didn't. With conscious callousness and obduration, she forged ahead, one bite at a time, until it was over. She relished every bit of it and looked unapologetic.

She made a perfunctory attempt to apologize, but it oozed insincerity and apathy.

I was livid and incredibly hurt, but I loved her too much to hold a grudge. I have forgiven her, but the question I will always have is... How could she eat my biryani?

KOLAD Kracker

It was an old house with a thatched roof, the door was ajar. I walked in and saw a blue and gold light emit from the floor below. I looked for the door to the basement but I couldn’t find it. I leaned against the bookshelf and the wall began to move the light got brighter and brighter….I could hear Stereo Hearts play in the background it kept getting louder, that when I was jolted back to reality….it was 6am… my alarm was ringing. I hit snooze and tried to go back to the dream, but I couldn't.

I got up packed my bag and then went for a shower. I made sure I didn’t miss anything this time. I usually forget something on each trip. I was all packed and ready to leave. Dan, Anaika and Raj (female) were meeting me at Bandra station. I was super excited as Kolad was famous for its adventure sports.

I met the Charlie’s angels at Bandra and we went to Hersche and picked up some stuff to eat. We were all set and headed to Panvel. People believe that I am programmed to get lost; I believe that I let people experience new places whenever they come with me.

So one hour into the drive, we were miles away from where we should have been a place between Thane and Kalyan. I don’t believe in asking for directions as I am programmed to find my way, or so I think, I have started to doubt my instincts based on the last couple of trips. So we made the most of it and circled the area twice and finally called one of the guys for help.

In the meantime we had a little photo shoot in the car and then got to know that our guide (Deepak) spotted us, pulled up besides us, gesticulated wildly for a few minutes, trying to get our attention, but we were too busy smiling for the camera. He finally gave up and called us and we followed him.

Kolad is far, very far that’s about the best representation I can give you on where it’s situated, for more information go to google.com. So we drove through every possible road you could take to reach Kolad, we didn’t want to let the other roads feel left out.

Some roads required some more attention than the rest, so Kalpana spent some quality time with them, going back and forth a couple of times. After driving for almost 6hours straight through unchartered lands and breaking every rule you could possibly imagine, like reversing for over a kilometer on the express way, we finally reached ‘Pooja Farms’.

The road to ‘Pooja Farms’ is straight with two left turns, however I am guessing ‘Pooja’ didn’t want any Tom, Dick or Harry to visit her farm, so she kept the signage very low-key and discreet. It was slightly bigger than an A4 size sheet with ‘Pooja Farms’ printed in Bright red. I was not expecting the Las Vegas lights or neon indicators, just a bigger Board not hidden by leaves.

Don’t get fooled by the distance indicated on the boards, 20kms is more like 30kms. After a couple of minutes we finally saw a Big Sign ‘Pooja Farms’.

Our excitement seeing ‘Pooja’, I’m referring to the place, was as exuberant as if not more than a shipwrecked crew finding land. The place was nice 2 lovely studio huts on the banks of a lake. We changed, freshened up and clicked snaps like there was no tomorrow.

After a nice lunch most guys took a short nap and then we regrouped in one Hut for the evening. We had music, fine company, and a lot of sing along sessions. Post dinner the party was still on, everyone was in high spirits and for most the spirits were high in them.

The events of the evening were hazy for few and one even saw a red helicopter circle our camp. The morning put everything into perspective. All were sober, some a little dizzy, but all was good. After another photo shoot, we had breakfast and headed back to Bombay.

Since we had taken every possible route to reach this place I had a fair idea about the way back. So we left ‘Pooja’ with some fond memories and we were on our way. The drive back was smooth and winding roads were just amazing, however the twists and turns proved a little too much to manage for some.

Anaika, who is prone to sharing her meals with mother earth or in some, occasions even a vehicle, wanted to give something back to Kolad, decided to share her breakfast with mother earth, Gurdeep not wanting to be outdone did it not once but twice. After a very generous offering, we decided to leave, however one car got a flat, after a quick pit stop, and we were back on track. We stopped for ‘Chai’ and were making good time.

18kms Panvel, (take a right), so I did… I guess Kalpana and Kushal thought right meant ignore, go straight. Well they were heading to some God forsaken place and finally decided to turn back when they saw the next Toll booth. We headed to Vashi Inorbit as Dan was about to spring a leak. We made it in time and my car seats were saved.

After 45mins the two missing cars arrived and we said our goodbyes and headed home.
Another memorable trip came to a close, I didn’t get the time to go kayaking or do some adventurous stuff, but it was nice. All you really need is food, a beautiful backdrop and some great company and you can party and have a great time anywhere.