विक्रम एक सॉफ्टवेयर कंपनी में काम करता था। जितनी बड़ी वो कंपनी थी उससे कहीं ऊचे उसके ख्वाब थे। और कहीं न कहीं अपने ख्वाबो को पूरा करने के प्रेशर में वो टेंशन में रहता था। परन्तु उसका स्वभाव दुसरो को अपना दुखड़ा सुनाने वालो जैसा नहीं था। बल्कि वो मुश्किल को सहजता और द्रढ़ता के साथ संभालता था।

परन्तु आज वो बहुत दुखी था। आज एक बिज़नेस डील उसके हाथ आते आते निकल गयी। ये डील उसकी लाइफ पलट देती। वो विदेश की यात्रा भी कर पाता जो की उसका बचपन से सपना था।

'हर कुत्ते का बुरा दिन आता है ' ऐसा आपने नहीं सुना होगा क्यूंकि किसी ने  शायद ही कहीं कहा हो इस आर्टिकल के अलावा। खैर, इस कहानी में अभी विक्रम के बुरे दिन चलते है। आदमी कितना भी सेहेंशिये क्यों न हो , एक न एक समय वो कमज़ोर ज़रूर पड़ता है। ये  वास्तविकता है,  'मर्द को दर्द नहीं होता' सिर्फ अमिताभ जी की फिल्मो में ही हो सकता है। वास्तविक जीवन से इस डायलाग का कोई भी संभन्ध नहीं है। जीवन में मर्द को दर्द भी होता है और आसूं भी निकलते है।

इसीलिए जब भी विक्रम मायूस होता था , वो अपने घर के पास वाली टापरी में जाके शांति के साथ चाय पीता था। वो टपरी चालाने वाले उसके दददू के उम्र के व्यक्ति थे  इसलिए वो उनको दददू तथा उनकी टापरी को 'दददू की टपरी' बुलाता था जबकि उस दूकान का नाम 'श्याम टी स्टॉल ' था। श्याम दददू के बेटे का नाम था जो की कभी कभार टपरी में आया करता था।

उनकी टापरी की चाय विक्रम को सारे दुखो से दूर कर देती थी।  एक अलग सा सुकून था उस जगह में। और क्यूंकि विक्रम वह कई दफा आता रहता था तो उनके बीच में एक घनिष्ट सी बन चुकी थी। दददू विक्रम की कहानी बखूबी जानते थे वो विक्रम दददू  की। विक्रम उनको अपने दादा जी जैसा मानता था। एक बार उनकी अचानक से तबियत ख़राब हो गयी थी , तब इलाज के पैसे विक्रम ने ही दिए थे।

आज भी विक्रम उसी टापरी जाता है। आखरी बार वो २ हफ्ते पहले आया था वहां। मायूस विक्रम टापरी में पोहोचता है।

'दददू एक कप चाय देना ', वो धीमी आवाज़ में कहता है।

उसके सामने चाय आ जाती है। वो उत्साहित होक चाय अपने हाथो में लेता हे वो ऊपर देखता है। ऊपर देखते ही उसकी ख़ुशी थोड़ी कमतर हो जाती है। उसके सामने श्याम खड़ा रहता है। वो उससे पूछता हे की दददू कहा है।

'उनकी पिछले हफ्ते हार्ट अटैक से डेथ हो गयी '

ये जवाब सुनते ही विक्रम के पैरो टेल ज़मीन खिसक जाती है। उसे समझ नहीं आता की ऐसा कैसे हो सकता है। उसकी सारी  सुध जैसे घास चरने चली गयी हो, इस प्रकार वो अचंभित बैठा रहता है। फिर थोड़ी देर बाद वो बिना चाय पिए , चाय के पैसे देके वहा से चला जाता है।

“Bhai, kal tu college ja raha he?”

“Nhi!”

“Chal me bhi nhi jayunga fir”

Felt nostalgic, a little? I sure did.

And this brings me to the first thing you cannot do when you start working, which are such implusive emotional decisions. If you disagree, then remember the number of times you have taken an unplanned leave on a Monday?!

Due to such and many more small yet significant things, I miss the college days and I am sure a lot of you feel the same. After all, those were the days when you could take emotional decisions freely, bunk the classes without hesitation and had a group of friends called your gang who always stuck around through all your highs and lows.

However, now, after you have started working in a company, the table has turned. Performance ratings and appraisals have wiped off emotions and caged in ‘aaj kuch tufaani karte hai’ moments which were in plenty during the college days.

Now, the most tufaani moment is to get that trouser fit in, after compressing that next-to-pregnant-belly, a little, and to leave the office at 6 pm on Friday.

Also, you spend every single day thinking about making more money and using the same to find happiness, which was free back in the college days.

A lot of other changes have come as well, like back then, when you couldn’t afford a McD meal on your own, sadly now, when you can, you don’t have friends to share it with!

Also, in college, when a cup of chai with friends was enough to make our day. Now, even a team party at a lavish 5-star hotel doesn’t give that sort of satisfaction.

Honestly, no matter how many friends you make in your professional life, the place in your heart that your college buddies have can never be replaced (unless one of them went on to be your gf and then ex-gf) because, ‘Aur bhosdike, kaisa he?!’ is more pleasant to the ears than ‘Hey, how are you?!’ (unless coming from a total stranger)

At the end, am pretty sure you too had one hell of a ride this year. A lot of changes would have come, new promises made, few broken, people were left behind, certain life changing decisions would have been taken. 

In fact, a couple of your friends would have even gotten married. But all this while, even if you were not the best version of yourself. Maybe, you couldn’t commit to what you promised at the start of this year. Or perhaps, your office life is totally a lost case, believe this and just remember your college day. Maybe, it won’t fix the current situation you are in, but it would definitely break the stress and lighten the tension, which in most cases is enough to get going.

People say it is tough to connect with people at your workplace to the level of friendship as you had in your college. An intense friendship that would stay for years to come and wouldn't die even when you switch jobs. It is hard they say and is true to a great degree.

Reason being, once you start to earn, priorities kick in. You have loans to clear, send home some share of your income, make your neighbors jealous and then there are your personal expenditures and plans to deal with, too. So all this needs proper plan and money. And we all know about our crave for getting richer with every passing day. And for the same, we need to consistently work hard.

All this is possible when you focus on the right thing which definitely doesn't leave enough time for making deeper bonds with your colleagues. So, I hope you get the idea here why people say what they say!

But what if, you connect with a few of them in that span of time. Irrespective of everything that restricts you from being friends, a bond does build up. And most importantly, you start to feel it. And this feeling increases manifolds when you get to hear that few of your friends would be drifting apart. That they will be joining another company. In short, they won’t be there with you.

At that moment you realize how much you are going to miss them. And how big of a void their leaving will create in your life. Because absence of somebody tells you a lot about them and their importance in your life. And vice-versa.

So, how to deal with such a situation?

The best way to come out of this bad sulking feeling of being left out is to avoid getting too emotional as much as possible. A fine thought has to be established at the back of the mind that people (read: friends) here, at your workplace, have different agendas.

Eventually, you all will be working at different cities with less hopes of a chai-biscuit hangout or anything of that sort. So, try not to take things to heart. It is all right if your favorite people won’t be there to create more memories in and out of the office. Also, this world is small enough for you to catch a bus and pay them a visit. Or, ask them to do the same. Thus, relax. Be happy.

I remember that big playground which was common for every sport whatsoever. From cricket, football to piddu and even an out of the blue cycle race were held on the same ground. Sometimes, all at the same time. There was no scarcity of players in those days. Call for one and get 3 more players for free. Even, everyone was a Sachin, Messi and Osain Bolt in their own way. And, almost everyone had their pet field name. Mine was Michael Clark.

I still wonder why that guy named me Clark because I was an all-rounder who was capable enough to perform in both batting and bowling. On the contrary, Michael Clark is more of a batsman. I guess, that guy who named me wasn’t aware about Cricket that much. Anyway, I was elated to get a name to the least because there were ample of others who weren’t nick named yet. But, today I realize that it is difficult to build a reputation of your own than to acquire somebody else’s. I was naïve back then and such big things were far fletched for me to contemplate about.

I remember that football-cum-run-behind-a-ball-game that had no rules on the field. The only time people used to stop when the ball had crossed the goal post making a goal or no goal, whatsoever. I and my friends were crazy back then. We watched cricket but loved playing football more. For us, Ronaldo was the only player of football in the whole world. Everyone wanted to be ‘Ronaldo.’ However, majority ended up getting sardonic remarks, like, ‘Bada aaya Ronaldo banne chala he’ and many more.

Now, the time has changed drastically. Fields have turned into beautiful enclaves. We have grown up both physically and intellectually too. Everyone is busy with their life doing some or the other thing. Everyone is running to win a race, but not in the field. But, in spite of all these things, one thing that still persists is the sportsmanship. I can’t testify for others but even today if someone would ask to get up in the morning to play any sports (except basketball), I would be the first one to reach the field. And, I’m happy to retain that love for sports till date in my life.

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                                  Bhai ka pyaar

                                  Dheere chala le miya

Huff! It was 25^th of July when I penned down something for my blog. And, trust me, between that day and today, I didn’t feel much of a gap as I couldn’t manage enough time for it. With that being said, it doesn’t mean I didn’t miss this place and its readers; of course, I did miss everything!

So, finally today, I made up my mind to scribble something up. Initially, like it always happens, I was nil with what to write, literally! Then, I thought maybe I should go with some topics of relationship. See the irony, I’m single, but I love giving love-tips to people who ask or don’t ask for it.

Anyway, I kept shifting from 1 topic to another in the same category but didn’t feel the urge to pen down anything whatsoever. So, I finally decided to go with the flow and started writing whatever came to my mind. Aila! You are still reading it. Seems like, it is not that bad.*Pat on the back*

After a while, the clock showed 5pm and it was my tea time. I wished somebody would come with a cup of tea and Parle-G to offer me, but such wishes hardly come true, especially when you have committed a sin in the past.

It was 10 years ago (omg! I’ve aged) when out of the blue I asked my mom with an endearing smile on my face to teach me to make tea! Such an innocent kid I was, who was totally unaware of the tough times he would be facing ahead because he just learned to make tea. Had somebody penned down “Things not to do as a child”, the current scenario would have been different. Then, aunties from the colony wouldn’t be enjoying a cup of my tasty tea every time they have found me at home!

Anyway, I don’t regret it to that degree as I’ve written, as it has helped me survive many times. Especially, when I have had come back after playing a game or cricket or soccer and found that nobody was there at home. At that time, it was my skill (if you call it so) of making tea and finding out the biscuit successfully from ample of containers that helped me survive the post-match stress.

By the way, talking of stress and biscuit, then Parle-G has always been a life saver for me. And, not just for me, but for a lot of people as well, I suppose! If you are stressed for something, just sit back with a cup of tea and some Parle-G. Dip the biscuit in the tea, take it out and put it in the mouth to savor it before it breaks to leave a stain on your clothes. Eventually, you will be relaxed and stress free all the way through!

I wonder why people get drugs for feeling better! May be, they are not aware about the awesome combination of tea and Parle-G. Too bad, they waste a lot of money; instead they could just be fine by putting up Rs 10 for a cup of cut-chai and a packet of Parle-G.

P.S: I hope Parle reads this post and offer me ample of money out of sheer love, which I wouldn’t deny taking! :D

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                           ARVIND KEJRIWAL AND ME

                           MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD

                       

I found these belongings of my childhood days while cleaning up my room this Diwali. It brought back reminiscences of the past. Plus, I also understood that it isn’t that bad to frequently clean up your room. Sorry ‘dust’ but you got to find some other residence now. :D

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                           CRUSH CRUSHED
                           SCREWED-UP