Thursday, January 22, 2015

Becoming the Great Indian Litterbug

Right from the day I was born, my folks took to the self-assigned task of deciding on what should I grow up to be. Considering the fact that I have an extensive family, quite a number of exemplars qualified as options from amongst my list of 112 relatives. So now the decision was whether it should be a doctor like my Uncle, an engineer like one of my elder cousins, an investment banker like my grandfather’s sister’s son or a scientist, artist, lawyer or something like someone particular in that list. Midst of all the confusion and discussion in which I had no say per se, I stuck to the only possible option I had – Observation. Now multiple visits were paid to my house by the kinfolks listed by my parents as prototypes for my future self. So using my actively growing grey matter, I started taking note of the traits of each of these prototypes. Despite all the torturous cheek squeezing and chirpy giggly sounds that were a pain to my ear drums, I tried hard to maintain my unbiased take on making my selection. After the rigorous phase of observation and contemplation of each one’s actions, I struck on a prudent idea. I decided to become something what all these ideal exemplars had in common which was littering. Doctor Uncle used to chew paan and paint the bland white walls of the house in bright red. The scientist was in the habit of chewing gum and sticking them here and there in the house almost giving the walls a polka-dotted print without shelling out any moolah to the paint and texture companies. The artist cousin went scribbling and sketching around the house with her sheets and the rough drafts were thrown right out of the window on the street. I wondered what those containers called bins in the house were for. They tossed away so much outside the house, that they appeared to me as philanthropists. So I decided on becoming the Great Indian Litterbug. The best part was that I did not even need to await the process of growing up to become one. I started then and there by coughing out phlegm right on my Aunt’s face. At the age of four, I was taken on my first official visit to a historical monument. The squiggling and doodling on the ancient sandstone walls seemed like a major effort by the Great Indian Litterbug to add his artistic tinge to the this marvel of the past. The sprawling surroundings of the monument were spotted here and there with plastic bottles and empty packets of wafers and biscuits as if the titbits were an offering from the modern junk culinary to the ancestors buried in the tombs beneath the monument.  Finally leaving the place, I found a group of these litterbugs urinating on the walls of this monument and could not fail to acknowledge the superlative degree of greatness they had achieved.


Tuesday, January 13, 2015

En route Bangalore!


This write-up could not have come at a better time than this. In fact I landed in Bangalore today itself after a long and tiring train journey from Delhi. I have to make arrangements for my temporary move to this city for work. I will be stationed here for around six months and I need to build my temporary hide-out since I cannot live out of a suitcase for such a long duration. While in Delhi, I had conducted ample research on obtaining my necessities for my Bangalore stay. In the process, I came across http://bangalore.quikr.com/ - Quickr’s Bangalore community with a vision of catering to the buying and selling needs of the Bangaloreans in the most convenient way. The range of products they offer for transactions is simply amazing. With around 13 categories and 170 sub-categories of products, they have almost anything and everything to suit one’s necessities as well as luxuries. Hence I decided on using http://bangalore.quikr.com/ for making my arrangements for the Bangalore stay. The first step towards this was looking for a property on rent. I wanted a 1BHK for myself, as near to my work-place as possible. They had numerous options listed in the given range of my budget. There were categories of unfurnished, semi-furnished and fully furnished rooms. Finally I zeroed in on a property around 5 kilometres from my work-place which was finalised through the newly launched feature of this online classifieds - Quikr Nxt. Using this feature, I was able to negotiate and finalise the deal via chat with the seller on the chat window of the website. Next, I wanted a mode of transport to commute to work and courtesy the sluggish traffic conditions in the city, I was advised by one of my colleagues to opt for a two-wheeler to move around the city. Under the category of scooters, I found a couple of options suiting my budget. I will be finalising the purchase within the next two days, once I have settled my luggage at the newly acquired accommodation.
The avid shopper that I am, the diversity of products on this website leaves me spoilt for choice. Next queued on my list is a television. Since I have no acquaintances in the city currently, I plan to rely on the idiot box to keep me company. Also I have my eye on the community and events section of the website. I would not want to waste my weekends in this vivacious city, sitting idle. The exhibitions, music and dance festivals and theatre events would serve as the perfect way to meet new people, socialise and learn all the more about the new city. At the end of it, my sheer motive is to imbibe as much of the city spirit as possible and  http://bangalore.quikr.com/ just made it simpler for me.