Ripples of my Reflections

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Author: Keirthana (Page 48 of 66)

Memories from Madhapur || Places-1

February 12, 2012 / / 10 Comments

Pre-Script: The series about Hyderabad starting with this post should have ideally been named “Memories from Hyderabad” but I liked “Memories from Madhapur” better and Madhapur is where everything started for me. 🙂 This is sort of just an intro post to the series.

This series of post is dedicated to the city that is Hyderabad. A city that turned from a nightmare to an eye-opener for me. Long back, I remember my blogger buddy, Sumitra asking me to write more about Hyderabad and I feel now is the time for it.

Image Source: http://www.mapsofindia.com

I must give a disclaimer to all of you that I am not much of a roaming person and hence I cannot give extensive travel experiences giving exhaustive descriptions about the city, but I am going to give it from my life’s perspective. A perspective which will tell you how the city grew upon a person who didn’t want to enter it in the first place and now she will be more than happy to live her rest of her life in that city (Sadly, as I grew fond of the city, situations made sure that I have to take measures to move out. Murphy’s law!). Also, I am going to write about whatever I know about the city and experts please correct me if I am wrong and add to it if I missed anything, which I am sure I am bound to. Now that the disclaimer is over and I am in the safe zone, here is Hyderabad through my eyes.

When I first stepped out of the Charminar Express at Nampally Station, all I had in my eyes and heart was fear. I did not know enough Telugu to manage. I knew Hindi but had lost touch of it long back. So, with a few recollected Hindi words and no arranged place of accommodation, I set out to start my life at Hyderabad.

With the help of a kind friend, I soon found out my office where I was supposed to report and after a lot of hassles, I settled in the company guest house to wait until some of my friends to arrive to report at Hyderabad. My company guest house was in the outskirts and the locality was known as Lambadi Tanda or at least that’s what was on the address given to me. Even the auto drivers looked at me weirdly when I wanted a ride to Lambadi Tanda. The word felt like a swear word on my tongue. Surely enough, all the other places felt weird-Kothaguda, Kondapur, Madhapur, Panjagutta, Lakdikapool(I had trouble pronouncing this;For a while I was calling it Ladki ka pool 😉 ) and the like.

With more friends arriving and finding a hostel in Madhapur, I settled in. That was when I fell in love with the place. Madhapur is by far the best place to live in if you want a reasonably affordable hostel with good facilities and your office is in Hi-Tech city. You can get almost everything within walk-able reach. The place was suitable in every way for a corporate’s life. If you prefer living in houses and not hostels, that would be a slight disadvantage. This is because houses with 1 single room that is just as big as Harry Potter’s cupboard, with a kitchen and washroom of the same size will cost you 8000 rupees per month. For a decent flat, you might want to make your budget, a 5 digit number. The best option of accommodation for people who want a cheaper yet comfortable place is a hostel or sharing a 3 BHK with 5 other friends.

Another area which is similar to Madhapur in life style and other aspects is Kondapur. The same rules of accommodation apply here too. Jubilee hills, Banjara Hills are areas where you can hit a higher note of living standards and prices too sky-rocket at the same rate. As for the nature of these localities, Banjara hills is a quieter residential area while the others always bustle with crowds until late night. The fashion showrooms in the Jubilee hills locality are awesome with a wide collection range. However, if you are a typical street shopper, you need to catch the bus to Koti or Ameerpet where after a day’s shopping you will feel you still have not managed to quench your shopping thirst.

With this, I pause. People who live in Hyderabad, please do chip in, in the comments section, about your first places in Hyderabad. And readers, I need your support for continuing this series. So, please let me know your thoughts.

Until later 🙂

P.S: I wanted to cover to the sight-seeing places too in this post, but the length of the post went beyond bearable limits. So I had to postpone the tourist spots for the sequel.

Here is to you..

February 6, 2012 / / 16 Comments

I have been awarded The Versatile blogger by Smita. For a moment I was literally like :-O. No amount of words could explain my expression. My mind caught up a few minutes later and started its jubilant celebration. So after excessive appropriate amounts of grinning, jumping on the bed, running around the room and punching the air, here I am to thank the lovely girl who gave it to me and to pass it on to other versatile bloggers.

Thanks a ton Smita,

Your award has made my day! Having been in a low tide, nothing has managed to cheer me up for a while now. You achieved it with this award. There are not enough words to convey how much this means to me. Being the first award and all 🙂 So I am just ending it up with a thank you.

Now let me get to work with the rules that come with this award:

  • Nominate 15 Fellow Bloggers.
  • Inform the Bloggers of their nomination.
  • Share 7 random things about yourself.
  • Thank the Blogger who nominated you.
  • Add the Versatile Blog Award picture to your blog post.

Here are the nominations and the explanations (I have done it slightly off the track). Dear bloggers, if you have received this award already, you can pass it on to 1 other blogger who would have to follow the entire process and keep the chain going.

Sumitra: Simple and subtle, yet Sumi manages to reach my heart with every post of hers. She is a role-model figure for me in blogger world. I am really happy to award her the versatile blogger award.

Khushboo Wadhwani: More popularly known as Paanipuri Lover, this girl has kept me awestruck many a times with her posts brimming with energy.

Atrocious Scribblings: As atrocious as his scribblings may be, this guy gives me a feeling that he is one of the few sane-minded guys out there. I don’t know what makes me say it, but that’s what I think of him.

DIGS: This dragon colors not only her life purple, but all her buddies’ lives too. 🙂 Daring is the word that comes to my mind when I think of her.

PeeVee: Priyanka is one of the bloggers whose archives I will dig again and again and read every single post with the same thrill when I read them the first time. Though she has been awarded already with this award, I want to do justice to the award by giving it to her.

Spaceman Spiff: Again, the same goes to Spaceman. She had already been given the award by a few bloggers. Yet, if I miss out Spaceman, it would be doing the award a great injustice. Spaceman Spiff is the blogger who made me realize what blogging actually means.

Vinati: Mirage as she is, she often comes up with short posts that keep me pondering for a while.I have tried reading between her lines and have come up with beautiful interpretations of my own apart from what is read generally. Shortly to say, Vi makes me think 🙂

Kalpak: I seriously contemplated skipping Kalpak for this award 😛 The reason is he rocks in humor and hence every post of his will overflow with his humor sense. But having read a few serious posts of him here and there, I know what an awesome blogger he is. I request him to accept this award 😛

Nags: Nags’ posts have always been a pleasant read for me. I learnt what a Vignette is from her and I should say she writes the most awesome Vignettes. I wish she could write more often.

Vijitha: Vijitha’s blog is like the book that I want to read forever. Her blog talks to me in a way that no other blog does. I wish she too could write more often.

I wanted to end it with 10 bloggers since the blogs to which I am an audience are limited due to my limited time and resolution not to over-indulge, but I thought of a different way. As for the last 5 people, they are no longer regular bloggers. Once agile, they have gone their own paths and have not written anything much recently. I am exempting them from having to follow the rules of this award, but they can do the process if they wish. They are  the first of a few bloggers I ever read. I remember awaiting their posts so eagerly amidst final-year project, reviews and exams. I cannot wish more that they find the time, energy and motivation to write again and more.

Ashwin: He still posts interesting things in his life. I have been a silent admirer of his posts all my college days. Thinking back, I do not know why I never commented on his blog though I loved every one of his posts.

Siddharth: Incessantly insane guy that he is, he started blogging just to make use of his excessive free time. He called himself an amateur blogger, but no one could hardly believe it. Right from the first post to the last one he wrote, he simply rocked. His about-me page is the most creative self-intro I have ever seen. He was an instant hit for he had a knack for hitting up on controversial topics and write on them as if he owned them. He robbed the sleep of many Sachin fans with his “Sachin is God and I am an Atheist” claim. Simply to say, I have never read another blog like his.

Poorni: Poorni’s blog is a private one that is a version 2.0 of her diary. She is an awesome writer and I have read one particular post of her more than 5 times. I wish she could write a public blog for the talent she has, but everyone has their own choices, don’t they? 😉

Abinaya: None plays so well with the words as Abi does. One of the few who made me think beyond simple narration.

Vineeth: I owe Vineeth a big one since I chanced upon Spaceman Spiff’s blog through his. And that was the beginning of a new opening. His unabridged version of life gives you a colorful cocktail of this and that.

As for the 7 random things about me:

1. I wish I would become a worthy writer.

2. I have a tendency of over-indulgence which over the years, I have reduced a bit but I still have a long way to go.

3. I love puppies but I refuse to go near them since they scare my wits out of me.

4. I see God in helping hands than in decorated temples.

5. I have a very different interpretation of worldly things which is hard to put in words.

6. I love appreciation.

7. I am a person whom many misunderstand, underestimate, overestimate. Only a few get me for what I am and accept me as such.

Until later 🙂

P.S: Since Sumitra suggested that I write more of Hyderabad, I am thinking of writing a short series about Hyderabad life which will cover a little of the vast city based on how I know it. What do you think about it? Will you be interested?

The st(r)ained mind

January 25, 2012 / / 10 Comments

P.S: I am in a very bleh phase now and hence I apologize in advance for a crappy abstract post. But do go ahead and read it. 😉

There is not a soul around. None to share. None to laugh with. The only sound that reverberates in the solitary room is the sound of the fan going round and round, doing its boring job and keeping to itself. Somehow the memories have faded away. The people have drifted apart. The few who stayed are too busy to bother. I have always needed time with myself but now I doubt if there is too much time with myself and myself alone.

Everything seems bitter and then I console myself with shallow words. Episodes and episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S seem to be the only comfort and the much-needed distraction. Sleep comes and goes irrespective of time, as it pleases but it does not do its job. Meaningless dreams fill my sleep, me tossing and turning, doing anything but resting. The light is always on for the fear of getting lost in the dark loneliness otherwise. The idiot box stays on for most of the time though there is none to watch it. The people inside it seem to be more of a companion than the real ones. But being the virtual ones that they are, they stay for a while and then move on to mind their affairs. It seems like I have retracted myself in an innermost circle where none is there. The occasional visitors to the circle don’t seem to be doing a good job in providing me company.

I read, read and then read some more. Getting lost in a different world, as if somehow that will help me forget the world I am actually in. Sometimes I think that I am pathetic and sometimes I think I am recuperating. Sometimes I think the situation is hopeless but I know the hope has not yet died and that it never will. I know this will take some more time to pass on. I also know that I will survive one way or the other, because I am a survivor. Have always been one. I will have my highs and lows. I will even hit rock bottom. But I will never fail to try to get up from rock bottom and swim up.

The mist will lift. The light will come. Until then, I am not going to give up. I will have my share of things that will give my life a better turn. I just have to wait away the time.

Until later 🙂

P.S: I am off to home. Yay! Will be back in a week to stalk your blogs. Until then, please remember me, will ya?

Dream Chronicles

January 16, 2012 / / 8 Comments

Dreams have always managed to astonish me. The way our subconscious concocts stuff spinning around things that we think about a lot, the stuff we worry about, the stuff we  wonder about. But beyond all these, the times our dreams turn out to be one of those stories which we have never thought about at any point of life or even imagined to happen. As for me, I have had a lot of such dreams. They come in all shades of colors. True incidents, Fantasies that I love, Worries that make my life a mess and so on. All of them put together and a fine grand cocktail appears out of it.

Most of us would have had one particular dream over and over again. It might have changed with various phases of our life. For me, up until college, it was a dream about me going to the exam, but not knowing any of the answers, panicking and when the exam time is almost over, all the answers swoosh into my head and I scribble frantically on my answer sheet, only to find the invigilator grabbing it from me because the time is up. I have wondered if that dream kept recurring maybe because that was my worst fear in my subconscious mind. But, I never knew for sure. I was a very fast writer and a pretty sincere kid until school and hence I never had to face this situation in life. Then why did this dream torment me? I have no idea. And it faded off during my college days.

Sometimes I have dreams which while I am dreaming would be of utmost clarity and I would be able to see every detail in my dream world, but once my alarm does it’s job and I wake up, all I would remember is that I had a dream and that it was very transparent in detail, but I would not be able to recollect what was it all about. Actually Spaceman Spiff’s dream post got me thinking about dreams. But unlike her, I have never had a pattern or regularity, for which the exam-waala dream is the only exception. My dreams just come and go as they please. If I am hell-bent on worrying about something, my dream will not necessarily be about that. The converse, when I am excited about something, the probability scale tilts towards the higher side, that I will dream about some random stuff than actually dreaming about my happiness.

Where does our subconscious get its inane ability to put incidents of different inks together to make a multi-colored story? Why do I dream about losing an ink pen when I do not even own one now? Why don’t I dream about making it to Bangalore, when that’s what I have thought about all day? I have often found Dumbledore’s famous quote, “For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let him swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud.” intriguing. And till date, I have not found a true explanation that will clear the mist around my dreams. Do you have any answers? Do you have dreams that you don’t have a clue about when you wake up?

Until later 🙂

My encouter with the inevitable

January 4, 2012 / / 10 Comments

I stood there, lost in the awesomeness of the sunset. I had retreated to my favorite spot on the terrace to sulk over the endless problems that seem to find their way to me effortlessly. Why has 2011 been a year that I cannot understand? Why did it seem that the year has taught me a lot yet I am glad that it ended? Why do the familiar rays of hope arise when I think of 2012, when nothing has changed? I am still waiting for things to fall into place, holding my breath and pretending that life will pass on and one fine morning, everything will be like I wanted it to be. But, why does the hope arise in my heart from time to time? I thought of curbing the hope that arises and creates disappointment when the hope does not turn into reality. I decided not to believe in a tomorrow. If it comes, that’s good! Else, I will at least be spared of the disappointment. After all, hope didn’t seem to be a good decision to my problems. And with that decision, I continued to stare at the sunset.

Image Courtesy: http://scienceblogs.com

The setting sun glowed under the dark covers of clouds and I couldn’t help but stare at it. It hurt my eyes to keep staring like that and my eyes watered, but I didn’t move my eyes from the scene. It was too beautiful. Slowly as the sun set fully, I was engulfed in the darkness around me and once again my mind started searching for answers, with undivided concentration. From where I stood, people on the roads below seemed like scurrying ants and the sight made me wonder how busy the city is even after dusk. Moms hurrying to their homes to make the dinner in time for their families, Dads hurrying to their awaiting families so that they can spend more time with their kids, Children hurrying back home after school in the hope of getting some play time, Auto-drivers dashing to and fro to earn enough wages for their next day’s life, Street-vendors looking for some last-minute business before they close their shops and head home and so on. What enables them to go through the tiring routine throughout the day and look forward to another day? What makes them believe in a better tomorrow?

Suddenly a blazing light flashed across and I looked up at the sky. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I watched in awe as the scene unfolded. A bob of light that started at a point started growing bigger and bigger until its radiance was so strong that I could no longer decide where it started and where it ended. From the very centre of the radiance, a figure slowly walked towards me and as it came nearer I found that it was none but me. But I am here on the terrace! How can I be in two places at the same time? The glowing me smiled and said “You can be anywhere you want to be”. “Hey! Wait a minute. You can read my thoughts?” was my shocked reply and “Can’t I? After all I am you.” was the smug reply.

Me: So you are saying that this is happening inside my head?

Glowing-me: Only if you want it to be.

Me: What the hell? Too much Harry Potter and this is the aftermath of it.

(Glowing-me smirks)

Me: What are you smirking at?

Glowing-me: I am astonished by how naĂŻve you are. You can believe a book which spins stories about people flying on brooms, and carrying sticks around cursing others, splitting your soul into 7 and keeping it in 7 places, you secretly hope that there is a Hogwarts and you will get your letter soon, but you cannot believe in yourself.

Me: (Taking offense) Hey! Who told you that I do not believe in myself?

Glowing-me: Stop trying to be defensive. Who do you think I am? I am you. If you do not believe in me, then you don’t believe in yourself.

Me: Arggh! This is all so confusing. What do you want? Why did you come?

Glowing-me: I came because you called me.

Me: What??? When did I ever call you?This is getting weirder by the passing second. Can you please stop being so annoying and tell me who you are and why you came?

Glowing-me: Since you are too dumb to realize that we both are the same and that you indeed called me, let me explain. I am you and I came to make you realize that you just took the stupidest decision of your life.

Me: That’s outrageous. What decision? How dare you appear out of nowhere and call my decisions stupid?

Glowing-me: Didn’t you just take the stupidest decision of your life that you will curb the hope that arises everyday, to prevent disappointments? Didn’t you just decide to stop believing in a tomorrow? Didn’t you just decide to live in a no-man’s space until things fall into place by themselves?

Me: Huh! Yeah I did, but how can you say that they are stupid? I have my own justifications and reasons.

Glowing-me: You answered this question too, a few minutes back. Didn’t you wonder how all those people believe in a tomorrow and doing their routine? Didn’t you just think how they manage to look forward to another day in spite of a crappy day?

Me: (This is getting scary.. I better be careful in my replies) Yee..aa..h! I did. So what?

Glowing-me: Put things together, you dumb-head! They fit. Hope is the only thing that keeps us alive. Without hope, you are as good as dead. If you so not believe in a tomorrow, why should you live? You can as well jump off this roof and die. Why do you think that old man in that corner of the road still returns to the same spot every day? It is in the hope that someone would be kind enough to give alms to him the next day and he might be able to make a meal out of it. Why do you think that woman over there opens her snack shop every day, leaving her sick child at home? It is in the hope that the next day, business would be better and she would be able to make enough money to buy medicines for her child. Do you think you have the biggest problem of all? Do you think your life sucks the most? If you do, you are the dumbest person ever born. Why do you think you still manage to go through a very draining day and yet manage to cheer up the next day? Because deep down, you have that hope the next day will be better and might bring some good news that you want to hear. And if you decide to curb that hope and stop believing in a tomorrow, then I would say, kill yourself now. There is no place for people without hope in the living world.

Thus Having blasted me, the glowing figure of mine turned around and started walking back towards the center of the radiating circle. I stood as a rock, too shocked even to move. Was she right? Am I being stupid to stop believing just because a few things happened which I didn’t want to and a few things I wanted to happen didn’t happen. I looked up and saw the glowing figure slowly starting to disappear. I called out frantically, “Hey! Are you really me? Is this happening inside my head?” I heard a voice coming out from the receding glow “Only if you want it to be”. I stood there for a very long time. Not moving. The truth dawned on me like a glorious sunrise and I knew. The truth was bitter but I knew that I had been wrong in my decisions. After what seemed like thousands of years, I found my peace with the truth. I decided to believe. I decided to keep the hope burning in me. It felt right.  I yelled out into the space “Hey! I am sorry to have been a fool before. I believe now!” I got no answer, but I was pretty sure that I heard a smile within myself.

This post is a result of me trying to find my inner peace. Around the end of 2011, I had become upset even for the smallest of things going wrong. I was continuously restless, thinking if it was even worth living. 2011 had taught a lot to me, but still somehow the things I want to happen more than my life, never seemed to be happening. That had made me feel all lost, depressed, confused and mourning at the year-end. Then again, I found my peace in 2012’s birth. With 2012, the hope I almost killed was re-born. Things have not yet fallen into place, but maybe this year, everything will become fine. Maybe. Maybe not. But that will not stop me from hoping or believing. Without hope, we are nothing. Believe in a tomorrow. Have a blast out of 2012!

Image Courtesy: wikimedia.org

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

Now, definitely too much Harry Potter! 😛 Right?

Until later 🙂

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