Ergo Sum... (Aakash)

Flashback! Delhi, sometime in February circa 2006. Anxious faces, blue blazers, crisp white shirts, and a multitude of multihued ties. In front of a room across a sunlit corridor, one man awaits his turn. A signalling nod asks him to proceed. And then, Knock knock!

Good morning sirs.

Good morning, please take a
seat.

Thank you sir!

So Vyom, tell us something about yourself.

And here the sound fades away… and so does the light.

Cut to present. A flickering computer screen (not yet LCD), a black keyboard, a blog awaiting a long due introduction and fidgety fingers unsure of what keys to hit.

In the background the age old soundtrack of one of the vintage VIP ads (the suitcase and not the underwear) starts playing, Kal bhi aaj bhi, aaj bhi kal bhi…

Good morning / afternoon / evening (depending on the time when you end up reading this) Ladies and Gentlemen. Let me have the pleasure of introducing myself to this camaraderie.

As you would have figured by now, I am Vyom, and I exist in this realm as Aakash (which means the same as Vyom, and happens to be my nick for friends, who haven’t started calling me names :p). Currently I work in an FMCG at one of the most over-hyped suburbs in India, Gurgaon.

I am a sensualist. I love anything that appeals to the senses; reading, writing, cuisines, coffees, music, films, exploring new places, as well as psyches of people -known or unknown… et cetera et cetera.

Rest I am still trying to figure out, I hope in this journey together you will help me fit the remaining pieces in this ever evolving jigsaw.

I started with ladies and gentlemen. I am ending this piece with, looking forward to you Friends! And this doesn’t mean that I have started considering you un-ladylike, or un-gentlemanly.

Adios Amigos!

Trivia: F.R.I.E.N.D.S. happens to be one of the Author’s favorite TV Shows.
Trivia 2: Phew!

Favorite Childhood Memory

Now this is again really tough, but i'll try.

Okay picture this. There is curfew declared in this town on the foothills of Uttaranchal, so the school closes post lunch break. Instead of returning home 3 boys, decide to scale the hill behind the school. Thus in their Bata shoes and lead-heavy school bags, they start their ascent. An hour and a half later, they are on the top, the school lies like a small picture below, while the entire town is a centre-fold of a travel magazine with the river a silver ribbon sashaying around in a gentle curve. Enraptured they look, one of them picks up a sharp stone and marks the initials of all three on a gnarled tree trunk, and just below it they lodge that wedge shaped stone. Sun slowly continues on its sink, and its almost dark when they reach home. The parents have come to know about the school getting closed early through the other children in the neighborhood, so even before they could narrate the joy of what they had been upto, a few ears are twisted red.

Today I am not sure if those initials still remain, or whether the stone will be there or had it been dislodged by some other kids who decided one day to conquer the hills.

That is having said enough.