Bhonda Memories

Yesterday, when I was rushing back home, I bumped into a delicatessen, the oily Bhajji blended with the mint chutney, tantalized my olfactive senses. I had no time to spare so had to advance. But as I continued rushing, I pondered my mind to recollect when was the last time I had a Bhajji or my favorite Alu Bhonda. During my school days, my grandmom made alu bhonda for my birthday every year. In the name of assisting her, I used to gulp few alu balls. Though I was not able to recollect when I had those alu balls, the delicious tastes lingers in my mouth even now as I recall.


Looking back now, I miss those days. I didn't know what pizza or burger was, had near heard of appetizer or starter or desserts, never used the word “course”, it was just first round sambhar, second round rasam and third round curd rice. Not that I have stopped eating my authentic food. 80% of my meal is still authentic, but slowly the percentage is decreasing.

In this programmed world, I have adapted to the routine. But, When I smelt the Bhajji, I had a strange feeling. A feeling similar to the moments I recollect with friends in college/school. Though I am in contact with them, there is a something that I miss. May be my room, the hostel or the whole atmosphere. A shallow pain.

Envisage of the decade

It was merely the end of the previous decade I was struggling hard to understand what was Y2K problem. Today I am at my cubicle, nonchalantly checking out google maps to find out a couple of good restaurants in the Cunningham street. This decade which molded me from school kid to a college brat, college brat to a devoted employee, minor to a major and nonetheless, major to a married, had been a whirlpool yet holding a special place in my heart in sorts of events, places and people. As I look around , I am overwhelmed by the evolution that has happened swiftly and silently.

Some of the remarkable evolutions and initiations of the decade:

I remember my uncle having a cell phone, which resembled a TV remote control with an antenna. I have bragged about it in school, as it was seldom seen that time. But now from youngster to oldster, from house wives to business men, from cobbler to president, everyone has a mobile. Numerous service providers, numerous handsets, CDMA, GSM, Blackberry, O2, Dual Sim, flip, slid, twist, GPRS, 3G and more.

The audio tapes have become an antique. First CD and DVD players took over, then came the iPod.

Workstations are replaced by laptops. These small notebooks is our world now. Its a style statement more than a necessity.

Anything and Everything is online now. I have to make a special mention of “google”,without which our life (esp. mine)would be like living in darkness. Zillion web sites orkut, facebook, gmail, ebay, bookmyshow, dictionary, blogger, wikipedia, matrimony, twitter etc etc.. leading to depletion of IPv4 address. Browsing, Checking mails, updates, tweets, scraps and chatting has become part of our routine.

Media Should I call it a Satan or an Angel? We are engulfed by the television. The number of TV Channels has increased 3 folds compared to the start of the decade. We devote higher priorities to the outrageous “Mega-Serials” than for our loved ones. We prefer to be a jackass in the reality shows than being a dignified human being. We have also identified the dancer, singer, entertainer, bride and even solved family problems on air.

Furthermore is the News Channels, one hand they marched for jessica lal on the other exaggerated a tweet by Shashi Taroor.



Shopping meant haggling with the shopkeeper for a mere 5 rupees in the past decade. Now its a walk in to the mall, choose a brand, customize the design, swipe the card and worry about the bill later.

100's of actors, 1000's of movies, Million's spent on it, and watch it in a clean, small, expensive Multiplex akka the “adda”.

I have never heard the word “Resort” before. It was either lodge or the hotel. Whether its honeymoon, party, wedding, or outing, we all end up in a resort.

All the Spa I knew as a kid was an oil bath. As I assume these spas are gimmicky of the age old oil bath.

Thanks to the Low cost flights which has helped me travel to and forth office and home and making me feel at home.

How can evil stay behind. Millions of bombs had been blasted. Immense wounded and dead. The ease of life has eased terrorism.

I am not sure how I should conclude. Just hoping that end of the next decade, I would write a blog about end of terrorism and end of social evils.

Wish You all a Happy New Year and a New decade.

It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas

Yesterday, I was thinking back my days as kid. I remembered few of my interpretations and ideas.

1. When I watched TV I thought people became small, and got into the television box. Many times I wondered how they got in and left without being seen.

2. When I watched movies in theaters, I was fascinated by the way the actors changed the dresses frequently. Suddenly in pink, red, green etc... I was thinking they wore dresses one above the other and just pulled off one by one.

3. In my fourth/fifth class, when word problems were taught, I made an interpretation like this:
a. 1 cup of rice takes 20 mins to cook
b. So, 1 rice should take very very less time. But when is boiled 1 rice in my small petty vessels, it never cooked. :(

4. I forgot to add this so updating: In school, remember we used to have poems and there will be questions about author. So for a long time i had been thinking that "About the author" at the end of the poetry is written by the author itself. So in my diary I have written few about myself. ;)

These are few of them. But there were thousands of such interpretations and ideas. They are really stupid and ignorant but surely brought a smile when I think back now. The adage is indeed very true: “It takes a wonderful brain and exquisite senses to produce a few stupid ideas”.

Post few of your stupid interpretations and lets all smile :)