The Meeting !

Here i was, standing amidst the screeching bikes and clouds of smoke on the streets near Swargate in Pune, it seemed like a National Highway to me.

My meeting with the Persistant guys was scheduled at 10.00 am and i was rite on time.

The Regency. 6 people seated.

The presentation was good and what i always saw was 6 heads nodding in affirmation, i was partly happy and partly scared, did they get wht i was sayin, or were they just nodding so that they could get over to lunch soon after that !

Finally, the 1.5hrs of nervousness got over, it was my first corporate presentation in my lifetime and according to me it was awesome !

Next, i was lookin forward to meeting with Shuchi. !!

Flashback.

Standard Four. Travelling to school in the same bus, sharing homework and stuff. Playing in the garden and "the shoe lace incident" is all that i can recall about her. It was in the year 1992 that i had seen her last, and it was now, not exactly now, but an hour from now, that i would be seeing her again. Never had an idea how she grew up all these years. She had stayed back till class 10th in Akola while i had moved out after class four. My first meeting with her, was an accident, an accident in which i was deliberately involved, which i can never forget. I was searching for old pals on Orkut and goin down memory lane, i went too far off, i just remembered a handful of my classmates, none of which i found on orkut, but just got 4 gals with the same name.

Scrapping them about a common memorable incident, i expected if anyone wud respond.

Two days later. My joy knew no bounds. Never in my dreams i had ever imagined that i wud actually get back in touch with her.

It was then, and it was now, that i was about to meet her for the first time. Meanwhile, we did share emails and a few phone calls, but nothing beats a face to face meeting.

So here i was, entering Barista at FC Road, one of the hep places in Pune. There were just a few couples, lookin as if they were studyin, but we all know wht one does with open books on the table and one hand in another.

She did not let me wait for long, as i entered and took my seat, she followed me in. Here i was, looking at another Five Foot Someone ( more to come in this trip ). Here i was, six one, lookin down at her in gaze... and she agreed to it giggling, to the fact that, only i seemed to hav grown up, she was still the same size.

In a few mins, Barista got full with students and couples, rather student couples, so we had to leave, in search of a quite place to sit and talk.

Pizza Hut !! I liked her for this choice of place. Myself being a Pizza fan. It was the best place one could take me for a treat. So, it was before lunchtime and we expected that not much crowd should be here.

The crowd gave us about an hour to chat, after which, there was no diff between a bus stop and the pizza hut place.

This time we decided to go to her college campus. As she had described in her mails, that it was lovely, isolated and with lotsa greens. Man ! when we reached there, I told myself, this is what a college should be like.... Lotsa greens, shops for general stuff, including clothes and grocery ! What more could anyone want from a college management. Rest everything was superb. Sinhgad Institutes was THE PLACE for an education i suppose, coz until now, i just had seen IITs and IIMs and always thought that these were exceptional places. But this was yet another addition to my list.

Anyways, enuff of siteseeing, we chose a quite place and started talkin, 4 hours later, she reminded that she had to leave today for home and i needed to drop her at the station. So after getting her bags to the bus, we had a nice noisy ride to the station, where we spent another 40mins or so talking... I dont knw whether we will meet again in life. But, this first one, after such long time, will not be the last one i hope !

Meee Aalo re aalo !!

Pune !!

Le Meridian at right and a stack of autos on the left. Here i was, standing at the Pune station.

Today, I had to stay over at my friend Prashant's place for the night before moving on to Deepti's place. Now, while in the auto, i was tryin to recall my relationship with Prashant ( which was obviously straight ) but, the kinda friendship we had. But, to my astonishment, it was not much we had in common and neither we ever spend much time togther, except for cricket matches and the exploring jabalpur trips.

The last call that i made to him, it was decided that i shud give him a call when i reach BV campus. ( Bharti Vidyapeeth ). I tried to speak Marathi, to let the autowallah know that i was not a stranger in town, and neither did i ask stupid questions so that he takes me via long routes, billing me hard. Astonished at my success in duping the old guy, i uttered "thamba thamba" as we reached the spot where my friend had told to me arrive and give him a call.

Paying in cash, i let the autowallah go and went to a coin box to make a call. Ambani shud really provide GSM services to all metros, it really came to my mind, to spend that 1 Re. to give Ambani a call in heaven and let him know of my weird situation.

It happened.
It always happens with me.
Beep Beep Beep. The airtel customer you are calling has moved out of service area. Please try calling, later.

Damn, what to do now , is the only thought that could ever come into anyone's mind.

I didnt know that there were more things that were feeling hungry other than me. In my next attempt to call my friend, the darned coin phone ate my 1 Re. coin, it stuck there in its throat, denying me the privilege of making another call.

It was a college campus, 4 am, I cud not see much of life except plants and dogs.

Luckily i spotted a gang of guys, coming back from somewhere ( a booze party i guess ). I waved at them and tried to stop them. After hearing my query, them pointed me to a hotel which was a part of a private hostel and stayed open all nite till 6 am. This was bliss, i wished we had something like this in our campus or city as well. Its what every engineering guy needs during PLs and submission times.

This place was good. Carrom boards, pool and a dining table. The fragrance of Aloo Paraatha and Butter tempted me to order one for myself. After several attempts, i got him online, spoke to Prashant and told him about my location. The Paratha was good, so, a second one was mandatory.

After another paratha with my friend, i thanked the hotel guy and left with him on his bike.

The guy lived in a sexy flat. Now, how can one define a flat as sexy. Fuggeddaboutit. But it was more than an engineering guy could imagine. No piled clothes, no messed up tables and a clean bed. I finally hopped onto one of them and bid my friend good night.

Yes. I did dream. How can one not dream when in a dreamland. I had never thought i would be seeing my old friends from mumbai, one very good friend back from standard 4 and this great friend's girlfriend. Yet more to come about all this on my blog.... keep reading !!

Pune Trip : while in train

Travelling by train has never been a very exciting thing in my life. As a kid , i did like it, but since october of 2005, travelling has become a regular task. Being a middle class loner, i never got an opportunity to travel in the AC compartment, so 2nd class sleeper, with the different kind of people and the various adjustments that one has to make to give space to people, is what my whole day of the trip comprised of.

After getting up at 12.00 noon, i saw strange faces staring at me as i brushed my teeth. After gettin a "safedii ki chamkar" in my 'bateesii' , i went back to my berth, hunting for a vendor to get me some breakfast..... i wished there was google in life !

When in these compartments, one always gets a glimpse of the life people spend in the train, the life of the vendors and the pantry car employees, stayin away from family, just for a livin. I thought, how hard a life they live.

Again, after a few hours, it occured to me that if my train was late by 9 hrs , how can i reach pune on time, which was 4 am, so now the supposed time of reaching was 12.00 noon, and if i continued with this, i wud definitely miss my meeting at 10.00 in the morning.

The TT was very helpful, though i am generally afraid of consulting oldies, because always in my case, they have misguided me than providing help.
This one was kinda different, an 'abhi toh mein jawan hoon' look on his face, he was checking everyone's tickets and advised me to get down at manmad and take the following Maharashtra Express to reach Pune by 3 am the next day. This was the best and the only option i had.

Fixing the alarm on my cell, i bid good nite to the travelling mosquitoes, with no option here to scare them away, i knew it was a party for them, tonite.