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.

Silhouette (Switchblade)

Sorrrry for not putting this up earlier…. Hope I’ve made it in time before the topic ends….

When the time had come to vote for the current topic I was furiously voting for ‘Introduce your best friend to us’ coz I have one dear friend whom I was dying to introduce to you guys. His name is Gagan and he’s perhaps the best friend I ever had…Since my choice of topic wasn’t chosen, I think I’ll bend the topic a bit and post a pic of Gags n Me :)

Short background on my friendship with ‘Gags’…we studied together from LKG uptil the 3rd in India…then I left for Bahrain to continue my studies and after I got back to do my engineering we happened to land up in the same college…Now we’re part of the same church and conduct bible studies together. A lot of people think we’re brothers coz we think alike…laugh at the same jokes…and quite often its only the both of us who understand each other while the rest of the world thinks we’re off our rocker! We’re planning on starting a 2-piece band and naming ourselves GnR…to heck with Guns & Roses!

Now for my favorite pic (this is just one of the many favorites I have)…its one of Gags and Me when we were on our trek to Ticona Fort near Pune way back in November 2005.





I know you can’t see much but that’s taken from the inside of a small cave. That's me on the left of the picture…Gagan like silhouettes :)

Cheers Gags!!
Friends are friends forever if the Lord is their God...

Lifetime Investment (Suchi)

What I am writing here is something that has been on my mind for a while now. This post means no offence to any person on BUF and should be solely treated as my observation and feelings.

When we hear the term ‘investment’, things that come to our mind are mutual funds, flexi bonds, insurance, LIC, ICICI, HDFC, Franklin Templeton and the list is endless now-a-days. Do we ever think in terms of investing in our relationships and friendships so that they reap long term returns as well. Invest in people who always have been standing by us. No matter how sour our between people they continue to invest in their relationship so that they can still be secure emotionally as well. Investments are nothing but fall back plans and I have invested in one such relationship.

We have many photographs together but this one is very close to my heart.

Many of you may have seen this picture in the past also but possible are not aware that we were having one of our worst fights, cold wars, series of misunderstandings and friendship lull during this time. I was also down with cold and fever on this day.

Nobody who looks at this photo would know all this as we do not show it. Of course our photographer Rajiv was aware of it. :)

Ishi and I are absolute different people with very different behavioural patterns, situation handling skills except outlook towards life and people. We seldom disagree on many things in life but we have similar approach towards our relationships. We may not invest so much in mutual funds and bonds but we do not believe in the school of thought which preaches to be practical and detached in friendships. We may be emotional fools to believe in people and expect from them and sit and cry later but yet we do not stop investing in friendships and relationships.

BUF is a place for meeting new friends and forging friendships. Let’s not forget the fact that this is about “between US friends” and not just few of us! For those who are reading this post, I urge you to know the creator/ admin of BUF, Ishita, as a sensitive and intelligent person, instead of stereo typing her. Give her, her due credit for the concept, activities, hours put in, keeping this place full of life and non-political. Have any of us ever received a harsh, rude and insulting email/ comment from her. Then why is she getting it back??? Terms you may think you used in jest also play on her mind. You joke may not be her idea of it! And what do I say to those who claim to know her and be her friend that they did not even know before a volcanic eruption what has been hurting her and why has she been upset for so long. For those who seem confused about special days in her life…her birthday is coming up on June 20, anniversary on 5th July and Vedant’s Birthday on 18th July. These are busy times for her and times in which she feels happy and excited. Pity that has not been the case of late.

Criticism is welcome but follow it up with a suggestion. The slogan is cliché but hey how many of us have actually contributed towards the slogan competition??? Don’t make it so late that one day this space loses her completely.

I really don’t care what you perceive me as but I would not take people walk over Ishi.

Well that just sums up two topics – my favourite picture and talking about my best friend.

Blog Update - Topics, B'days & Announcements (Ishita)

3rd June, 2007 (Sunday) is the last day for the current topic(s) and the new topic(s) starting 4th June, 2007 (Monday) is,

Fav childhood memory

Introduce/Talk about your best friend

You can do either one or both. Last date for the above topics is 17th June, 2007 (Sunday).

Lots of birthday's in June :-) ... almost like a birthday month here at BUF!

Wishing the birthday girls and boy all the best and loads of happiness, success and everything they could wish for!!!

Amy (8th June) - She's a special person indeed who reaches out to everyone around her. With her infectious smile and spontaniety, she warms the hearts of all of us. Hope you have a fabulous b'day :)

Loon gal (13th June) - New to BUF but an old friend to many here. Also popularly known as "cheesy" of "cheesy termite" fame. Friendly, jovial, vivacious...she livens up the shoutbox :). Happy Birthday :)

Jitendra (14th June) - Now away for a while travelling across continents. Popular coz of his *ahem* looks :P and corny shayeri! But having known him for a while now, I have to say he's someone who can make good conversation and knows just how to make you break into a smile:) ... have a rockkingg b'day :)

BUFer of the Week - We want to thank some of you who have been active in the blog making it a truly FUN place to be. Every week we will pick one of you (among the most active bloggers here) as the face of the week and you get the chance to put up a post on any topic you want to blog about (besides the topic(s) of the week). This week the special BUFer is "Southpaw (Rajbir)" .. Thank you:) and here's wishing you continue making BUF ROCK!

Some last minute reminders for everyone,

1. Please send a reply to mails sent out to you all - be it personal or a common mail. A line or two will suffice. For instance, the response to the mail asking for a new slogan for BUF was very disappointing.

2. New BUFer's please read the rules before posting.

3. Those who've missed sending in your birthdays/anniv dates, please send them in asap.

4. If you have any personal updates to share with fellow BUFers, please send an email to us and we will include it in our weekly updates.

That's all ppl...Happy Blogging!

A Picture Speaks A Thousand Words...

Hi Dearie Friends,

Sorry... I am so late with the post... I was so so busy with my new job until i hardly had time to go online to even check my emails.....not to say blogging....or even chit chat with my friends online... I miss blogging so much..

Anyway... back to topic... "Why this pic is important to me"

I actually have loads of pics which are all equally important to me, but i gotta chose to put only 1 up here... Now.. i ended up with 3 pics..... HaHa.. Hope u dun mind...

So here goes.......

I love this "I Love You" Bear! This Bear was given to me by my bf last year during Valentines' Day. Although it is just a "Free Gift" when he bought me a necklace, but i love it loads.

This pair of lovey dovey bear is so cute. When I pull them apart, they will make a sound like this, "Muaaccckkk... I love you! I love you!" and then it will stick together again.. ^o^


This is a picture of me & my boyfriend was taken inside our car last year. Yup! First Pic Taken in the Car. It took us quite some time to take a proper & nice pic of ourselves in the car..

We started taking the pic when there was still sunlight (Around 6pm++), we stopped taking pics around 7pm++ when the sky was turning dark & we could hardly get a nice pic at all.. The above one was the best we have taken. Nice??




This is my lunch. Packed by my Dear (aka DarDar) before he headed off to work. ^o^

Sometimes, he surprises me with little things like tat :) Although it's just a plain & simple hand made sandwich, it means different to me. I was so reluctant to eat the sandwich at first.. HaHa... But in the end, it ended up in my tummy after tat..



Enjoy your weekend, everyone!!
(((BIG HUG)))

N Finally... :o) (Rich)

Heyy! :o)

I'm Richa, for most bloggers - richunderconstruction, but react more instantly to the name Rich. (Tho you'll get an equally favorable acknowledgement to the word "rikshaw" as it sounds very similar ;o) )

I ve been on blogger since...Jan '06 and have been relatively active and definitely passive in spurts. I'm a fashion designer by degree and on a massive job HUNT. All the jobs around me seem to be unsuitable to my attributes or too good to apply to ;o) An avid reader, love music, sing for the high my voice gives me, addicted to coffee and chocolate and totally enthususiastic towards experimenting cocktails!

I am recognised easily by tags of confused, hardworking, moody and dependable. I can be extremely random and make perfect sense, yes, at the same time.

A total Libran by the standards of Linda Goodman, I define indecision. I stay balanced, that is to say, I live in extremes(of everything!) - talking, sleeping, eating and even work too hard, or exist in my world of lethargy... But I guess, thats the way my system functions! I'm generally determined, and stubborn when I don't agree. ;o)

I'm a harsh judge of myself, but can never see anyone else in black/white. I live in a world of coloured grey shades and can ALWAYS find a reason to justify peoples actions/reactions.

I think too much and breakdown easily. Too emotional or too withdrawn.

When I am myself, I am entirely myself. :o)

This image defines my strongest passion - Bombay :o)

Attraction or repulsion.

Poverty, slums, and smells.

Speed, lights and motion.

Silences in noise.

Noises in Silence.

Power of a place, defined by its people.

Into, an Existence or Life?

Heh all here comes Jaan ki sweetheart....

Heh all here comes Jaan ki sweetheart ready to stealth everyones heart.....First of all iam so happy i have been invited to this site....It feels good to be "between friends"..... Ok ok getting on with the topic....

Ya first let me intro myself......... Hello all iam Seema... A rolly polly fatso but definetely beautiful lady... he he he... Hmmm...My friends tell me i sing...hmmm hmmm...ok ok...Well iam a single mom...Got a 10 yr old sweetheart...Abhishek...He is one of the reasons why iam alive today.....Another reason is a small hope that someday i will get the love of my life and lead a peaceful and happy life that i dream about.

Just to add one more details about me...My bday is 10th of may.....

Thats too much about me. Ok i dedicate this blog to what i love the most...Fashion....Iam gonna add pics of the gowns which i dream one day i will be able to wear.....

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"Fashion Fashion Fashion everywhere"