With New Year’s Eve just a couple of days away the inevitable question EVERYONE asks is “What plans?”

And so when I finally managed to catch up with dewdrop she inevitably popped the question.

Following is an edited version of our conversation….. (What??? No. I have not edited out the naughty bits. What??? NO! I have not kept any naughty bits!! What do you mean what happened to the naughty bits? There were NO naughty bits! Please!! What do you mean then why have I edited it? You want me to post the entire three-hour conversation or what? Hey!!! Three hours is not that long! Anyways I did say that we were catching up! Hey!!I was working through out. Truly! What do you mean you don’t believe me?!!…Oh hush!! Read!)

dewdrop : so what plans for the new years? unless u want to go into the whole what do u think i shud be celebrating thing!
me: he he! not made any plans. i really don't want to party this year. what abt you?
dewdrop : hmmm..nothing planned yet…have some friends in town and we might just get together
me: hmmm. tame new yr celebration?
dewdrop : yup pretty much. partied too much this summer...no mood for wild parties now
me: last yr was a such a mess for me
dewdrop : hmm y?
me: spent a bomb and it was disaster. so this time am gonna take it easy
dewdrop : really?
me: yeah. travelled all the way to pune
dewdrop : wow
me: got passes for one of those biggie expensive dos
dewdrop : cool
me: (when i say passes i mean tickets... where i spend a bomb)
dewdrop : ohh
me: anyways...
me: managed to leave work only arnd 6:30 pm on the 31st. reached pune only around 10:30 (and that coz the driver was driving like a maniac). we dressed up and reached the party at around 11:15ish
me: we headed straight for the bar
dewdrop : :) so far so good
dewdrop : if u reached the bar
me: so we get our first round of drinks
me: then the hungry ones want to eat food before it gets over (the place was f***ing crowded)
me: so we go towards the buffet tables
me: and whaddya know...
me: most of the food's already over
me: we eat whatever we can. drunk ppl around spill food and drinks all over.
me: can't blame them. too bluddy crowded
me: by then its 12 am (after some confusion. nobody’s watch showed the same time)
me: so happy new yr happens!
me: we hug
me: we wish each other
me: we step on each others toes (as we attempt to dance)
me: at 12:30 we decide to head back to the bar
me: we're thinking ‘the party has begun'!!!
me: and whaddya know... booze at bar finished
me: so no more drinking
dewdrop : awwwwwwww
dewdrop : man that sux!
me: so in the spirit of new yr we say... what the heck
me: we shall dance and get high
me: and we dance
me: for exactly 5 mins
me: and everything goes dark and music goes off
me: and whaddya know...
dewdrop : eh?
me: there's been a raid or something
me: can't have no music after 1 am
me: so what do we do?
dewdrop : oh man
me: we hang around for an hour... waiting for some thing to happen
me: and whaddya know...
me: nothing happens!!!!
me: so we head back home
dewdrop : ufff
me: the whole place is bluddy jammed
me: some 20000 ppl trying to leave (plus minus some thousand)
dewdrop : lol
me: i am driving my friend's car (coz the heel on her boots(which btw are hurting like HELL) make it difficult for her to drive
me: so i am driving an unfamiliar car in that jam not having driven at all in the past one yr .
dewdrop : k
me: luckily we reach home in one piece (actually two pieces coz we were in 2 cars)
me: get home
me: and we play DUMB CHARADES!!!
me: yipeee
dewdrop : cool
dewdrop : i love charades
me: i think that is what this whole bluddy year has been
me: dumb
me: and full of charades
dewdrop : : )
me: don't get me wrong. i love dumb charades too!!! but to pay a couple of 1000 bux to go play dumb charades in pune... that i don't like!!

(SILENCE REIGNS…. I remember someone telling me once that there is no greater bore than the person who actually answers to questions like “How are you?” or “What’s up?”.)

me: please don't hate me.

I can’t write anymore.
My blog has been witness to several posts begun and unfinished. It is not as if I wrote brilliantly before. I was never a prolific writer. I never had a way with words that seems to be intrinsic to all fellow blog-writers. What I did have was an ability to find small incidents about my life funny. And those small incidents became my posts. Inane posts about inane incidents. It wasn’t much but at least it was never an effort to write. And now I can’t write anymore. I am at a loss for words. At a loss for things to write about. But mostly, am at a loss for laughter.
I can’t laugh anymore.

The question actually is
“How many white hair strands should a person have to be able to understand the answer?”

It must have started as a small fire but it was spreading rapidly. When T & I reached the spot it was already licking the sky. We watched from a distance as the fire engulfed the houses in the slum hungrily, one by one. The cool ocean breeze and the rising flames writhed together in a mesmerising dance of frenzy. As the fire grew, fed by the wind, it became greedier, now swallowing two huts at a time. I watched, my skin burning in the heat of the flames that I could feel two hundred metres away. I could not hear anybody screaming or crying. In fact I could not hear any sound at all. Just a deafening silence and the sound of burning wood. I wondered whether anybody was hurt. I worried about the unknown people who lived in the huts that were burning down. And yet, I stood rooted in my safe spot, next to the car two hundred metres away. Perhaps the fire was not an accident, I thought. Perhaps it was not someone’s bidi stub that had caused the fire. Perhaps it was the work of some builder who wanted that area evacuated. Bastard! I abused him vehemently, uncaring whether such a person existed or if he was at all responsible. T nudged me then and said that it was time to leave. We got into the car and drove away. The wind from the rolled down window felt cold on my scorching skin. Maybe I should have done something to help, I thought, suddenly ashamed.

The next day the incident became just a tiny article hidden in a page that went unnoticed by most.

Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yipeeeeeeeeeee!

Ooooh, Ma, Oooh Pa
Must the show go on?
Ooooh, Pa. Take me home
Ooooh, Ma. Let me go

There must be some mistake
I didnt mean to let them
Take away my soul.
Am I too old, is it too late?

Ooooh, Ma, Ooooh Pa,
Where has the feeling gone?
Ooooh, Ma, Ooooh Pa,
Will I remember the songs?
The show must go on.

~ Waters, The Show Must Go On