The need

Not a want to travel,
but the need to be a journey.
stories of which
would be told
for years to come
creating myth
of the nomad heart that
exists in time,
NOW.






Image: Caspar David Friedrich - Wanderer above the sea of fog

500 ka note

Realised today,

A rs 500 note cannot buy you a double egg omelette.
A rs 500 note cannot pay your auto-rickshaw fair.

Sometimes if you stop and think, the only places where a rs 500 note is accepted are the places which have nothing to give us. All the important things in life are either free or F'in cheap.

Someday

The cubicle has bars
with a lock on the dream
I sit in the center
looking at the screen

He calls me up
to give me the news
I did good, I did well
certifying my work
i get some more dirt
that shines on my desk
I did good, I did well

But one day.
Someday
When he would call
I won't respond
With no looking back
I will be gone
I will be gone.



She is beautiful
She is lovely
She was the one there
when I was lonely

She turns to the side
to talk
and make plans
I nod my head
and go to sleep
dreaming to strive
for a plan less death
after similar life.

But one day.
Someday.
when she plans tomorrow
I won't nod my head
And with no looking back
I will be gone
I will be gone.



I have to earn
coz this is my turn
for the family, for friend
for everyone that spent

They ask for love
with responsibilities
in their turf
They tie me up,
for being a friend
for being a son
for being someone
who has no where to run

But one day.
Someday.
When they seek me up
There won't be no one
With no looking back
I would have run.
I will be gone



I know I can
I believe I will
There is something that
stops me still

I get scared
because I have to choose
There is little to gain
a lot to lose.
I plan to escape
with every night
But morning is the same
mockingly bright

But one day.
Some day.
I would be scared no more
And that day I wont talk
With no looking back
I will be gone
I will be gone

Long gone.

Into the wild: A journey within

Day:
I plan, ponder, imagine
A life away
from the city lights
from the blind races

Dark:
I touch, I feel
Listen, run, hide, steal
I strive and live
Travel far and wide
corners of the globe
shout from the sky
Come back content
to die

With dawn:
my mind, my heart, my soul
the confusions ride
I get all lost
when i look inside


Image: Gustave Doré - Harpies

Singapore, Hongkong and the mutton biryani

Now now now... what do we have here? Finally am I going to write a blog on my first phoren trip? I have been wanting to do that, I really do. But somehow, the cosmos didn't want me to. Why else, and how else would you be able to explain my laptop, which was working just fine when I went off to Singapore, had conked off by the time i returned. I mean, how can that happen. A brand new laptop, at that. It took me a week to get it repaired. And by the time it was up and running (I mean working, not literally running.. dumbo!!!), my whole enthusiasm about sharing the story with the world had gone. You have all seen the pictures. You know almost all of the story. Still, if you want to know, here it is.

Singapore - Had fun. Old friends. Night clubs. Good food. a cosmopoliton place in truest sense.
Hongkong - WOW!!! Amazingly delicious and weird food and streets. Sky scrapers. Beautiful skyline. The great Buddha. A place on a must-visit-twice list.

Now for the meaty part of the blog.
All the travelling, photography, theatre etc etc etc... I hadn't got a chance to cook for some time now. Well, the cooking to keep yourself alive? Yeah that did happen. But nothing new. Nothing at the end of which you pat your back and say, well done!! This weekend was different. S said, "lets cook this saturday", and I said yes. S said "Mutton Biryani". I said yes. And that was the time when the idea was conceived. The result of which we all saw on saturday the 13th of June 2009.

Saturday the 13th of June 2009, started as a very normal day. Woke up. toiled around, doing nothing for a while. had last night's litties (oh!! yes, I made litties friday night. Biharis, you can go all hmmm and yummm over it. I really don't mind) for breakfast.

Went to the closest mutton shop, and after looking like a fool, when I actually said that one leg of the lamb looked older than the other, we got 750 grams of nice tender meat. Got all the ingredients needed for the recipe which my alter ego had noted down beautifully on a piece of paper. Came back home full of enthusiasm for what was going to come next...

...CHOP. Chop the onions. Chop the chillies. Chop coriander leaves. Chop mint leaves. chop... chop... chop... Chop and then grate raw papaya (which in my case wasn't raw enough, but it worked just fine). Chop ginger and make a paste. Just chop... chop... chop. chop and grate and chop and ...

I wish I could really describe the feel and the sensation I had while mixing the meat in the spices and oil. When curd, oil and other spices make the chunks slip through your fingers. The feeling that a child would have had, when he first plays in the fresh rain water mud. Or maybe the feeling when you move your fingers in the long and silky tresses of your love. The different aromas arising from the mix and increasing in strength as you move your hand inside it. And if this was not enough, you taste the marinade to check if its right. Wish I could find a better word than the cliched "orgasm" to describe it. But I guess there's really nothing.

Cooked rice till half done. Left the marinade for 4 - 5 hours in the fridge. It was all mechanical after that... UNTIL.. the last part came. Layers of meat, rice, spices and herbs, rice and spices were arranged, covered with the lid and sealed with dough. Next was the most difficult part of the whole process. We had to leave it on the stove for the next 40-45 minutes without touching it, without even looking at how the flavour seeps from one layer to another and then back, bringing into shape and color and flavor of one of the marvels of a human kitchen. After just a few minutes the aroma from the pan starts coming, making your wait even harder. Thank god!!! I had Hitchcock to give me company while the biryani cooked.

But as I say, even gods fail sometimes. Hitchcock is only human. I went and uncovered the pan after 30 minutes, only to find that the biryani wasn't done. Have you ever regretted anything in your life? I hadn't till this moment. Sealed it again and left for another 20 minutes. And this time when I removed the lid, We weren't disappointed. The Biryani was done. Done to perfection.

Sir Jack Daniels on rocks, Mutton Biryani, us and Hitchcock. Can you really ask for anything more than this on a saturday night?

Had heard someone say, you really are not a good cook, till you have cooked biryani. I am patting my back, right now. :)

Bliss

(Finally found a pic for this place. Went to singapore and Hongkong and looked for pics, but nothing fit. Finally, I found the pic in my own kitchen)


For the people who know me:

I AM GOING THROUGH A PHASE OF DIET CONTROL.

If you weren't shocked by the above statement, dude, you really are far far away from your ultimate enlightenment. For you oh-so-eager-to-unravel-the-neeraj-mystery people, I have one thing to tell you. Here's your first lesson.

I LOVE FOOD. There is something alluring, something naughty, something enticing about food. Something that calls you and asks you to just devour every bit that is there on the plate. What is more exciting than eating food is knowing the story behind it (Ofcourse, there is a story). Every morsel of the food, tells you something. It talks about the skill, the excitement, the passion of the person who created it. Mixing different flavors together, different colors together, adding some of their own ideas, innovations, experiments, a chef creates magic.And that magic is experienced in your mouth.

In 'Cheeni kam' Amitabh says, cooking is an art, every other art caters to just one sense of your body, but cooking it caters to three. I couldn't have agreed any more. A masterpiece gastronomical art has to look delicious, the aroma should be intoxicating and when it touches the tip of the tongue, it should create a plethora of feelings run through your mind.

Now the question is, why do I love food? A few days back, I was actually trying to think about it, and I could not pick any one reason for this. Everytime I think of it, a different reason comes to my mind. A good preparation is sometimes a mystery. I love taking the first bite and trying to figure out what exactly is the reason for the way it tastes. I love food because its the only place where I have seen two very contrasting flavors mix so well and create something unique. I mean had I not tasted it, I wouldn't have known about the chocolate with chilli in it. Evolution of food tells you more about history than anything in this world. And food never lies. It tells you about the culture of a place and how it evolved with time. Its the real symbol of the so talked about globalisation in this world. Food, has calmed me down sometimes, when at others it has gotten me excited and ready to do anything. It has left me dumbfound at one instant, and has been my company over the best of conversations that I have ever had at others.

Food is like a religion, and the more you explore the more you understand it. Its one science which has continuously worked towards global harmony and personal bliss. If I wanted to encapture all that I feel about this wonderful bliss that has been provided to us, I guess I'll have to summarise all that my life stands for, has ever stood for and is ever going to stand for.

As, for my beginning sentence of this blog. I am not on a diet control for any known reasons. Its just that I am preparing myself. Preparing myself for the days to come, when I would need my tum the most, when I should be able to take even a nuclear blast inside if need be. And I guess I'll be ready for the experience, the experiments and the fun.

A wise man(woman) once said, "The way to every man's heart goes through his stomach". Mine, you can touch the soul. Ciao'.

Past 2 weeks III (The calling)

This story is about the saturday that went past. But this time, before I start telling about why, what and how of this saturday, here's an insight into why these 2 weeks. Well, these 2 weeks reminded me of the carefree, crazy, on the move kind of person that I always thought I was. This somehow got suppressed as soon as I came to bangalore. Now, I can give you umpteen number of reasons, from my odd hours in office to not knowing many people here, living alone to not able to find people like me around... but I guess the biggest problem was always me. I never took any initiative in this regard. But the last 2 weeks (11th to 26th) reminded me so much of all that I was. Started with a trek to a journey to gurgaon and dehradun and this weekend, well this was another wonderful and satisfying experience.

This saturday started with plans to meet a friend, which changed from her coming to my place for dinner to we going out on a long drive to, actually, her getting stuck somewhere and not able to make it. Called 2 more people, one was in hyderabad and other had made plans. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out, what went wrong and how? Breaking my head over the casualties of planning something in advance (Somehow this has never worked for me, whenever I have made plans they have just gone for a toss). Sitting in my room, while I was whining about my life infront of some people in the virtual world, it struck me. A kind of epiphany. A calling that I was trying to ignore till now. The purpose of my life. The push and pull of the forces, beyond comprehension of the us mere mortals.

And it was then, that I decided... I should take an evening walk.

Now there was nothing special about this walk, if not the fact that it was a loooooooooooongggggg walk. I mean, that is, if you consider 13 kms in a day, long (from here on, this would be known as my city trek, or in short CT... sounds more hep and happening). So, my CT started as a very casual stroll on the road, going towards the outer ring road. Now people who have visited my place, know that even touching outer ring road from my place is quite a distance and usually, people take evening strolls of this length. I would have returned after reaching there, or rather I should have, but something inside told me to just keep going. The traffic, the pollution of the 7 pm road, the noise somehow started seeming very inviting. And I walked. It was very late when suddenly i realised that I had already covered quite a distance (around 5.5 - 6 kms, yeah yeah... I get lost in my thoughts). So I decided, why not have some ghar ka khana at my aunt's place who lives another km or so from there. I call her, make arrangements and have a nice fulfilling dinner (more importantly, ghar ka khana... or rather ghar ka khana, cooked by someone else).

Spending about an hour at her place, now I had to get back. If I was in any sane mind that time, I would have simply taken an auto rickshaw back. But alas!!! I had another epiphany. Another calling. Another push and pull from the forces. And I decided to continue my CT. Walking back was even more fun. The roads were getting empty (empty by indian standards), and a few cars which were visible seemed to be in big hurry to reach somewhere. My only companions were the trucks laden with steel rods, building stones and cement bags. But they too were too fast for me. And as it happens to most of the people when they are alone walking at 10:30pm at night on a dark road with puddles formed by a recent rain shower, when eyes of the dogs shine bright blue and yellow, and their cries resonate in the sky, when almost every sane person is safe inside there comfortable homes, and every one else who is outside looks like someone ready to pounce on you and mug you, I started to sing and dance. Ok dance wasn't really a dance... just a few gesture of hands. But sing, i did. Loud. Old beautiful songs of Mukesh and Kishore and Rafi. In my coarse and not so beautiful voice.

And then I reached home. nearly 13 kms of total walk with dinner in between. I was tired, satisfied, satiated, and happy. :)

Past 2 weeks II (Gurgaon, Dehradun trip)

Gurgaon
What do you write about a place which was your home for more than a year. A place which you have seen in and out. A place where even after 8-9 months, you still remember the pot holes, the speed breakers, the trees (or the lack of it). My trip to Gurgaon was the same.

Gurgaon still feels like home. Even after living away from it for almost the same duration that i lived in it. Every face around me felt so close and so familiar, it was as if i never did leave. Days in gurgaon were marked with meeting people, jumping from one place to another, spending time with old friends and colleagues. In the process Met a lot of friends. Wanted to meet a lot more.

Spent an afternoon in chandni chowk, and was amazed by the sheer life in those narrow streets, the aroma of fresh street food being prepared, the eagerness in the eyes of every person there, and still a very laid back, rested atmosphere. It still amazes me, how when i lived in NCR i actually never went to this heaven of a place. Next time for sure, I am taking out a complete day atleast for this place. The life in chandni chowk calls for a week. I hope I can do that someday. Till then, lets see.
Missed going to my favourite 2 places in all delhi. DilliHaat and India gate. But as they say, there's always a next time. This time I was making a stopover in Gurgaon. Next time I ll go to delhi as a tourist, something that I have always wanted to do, but never could. And enjoy the sheer brilliance of the so called "dilwaalon ka sheher".

Dehradun
All in all it was less of dehradun and more about the engagement of the friend that i went for. A fun filled ceremony that started the day i reached there and was still on till i left.

For the first time I listened to some beautiful Garhwali songs and was amused by the lyrics, the music and how people just sway to this music. You should see the garhwalis dance if you want to see fun. These ageless people start moving there limbs and hips at the first sound of music. In the process I learned few steps too, and let me tell you these are easy but at the same time very warm and inviting. I could see a parallel between the Garhwali and the chhota nagpuri dance thats the form from where I belong. I guess these were evolved to make everyone in the family just join and dance at the rhythm, so that no one is left out. No wonder we as a country are so fond of music and dance. It has been with us for centuries, and I hope this remains for several more centuries to come.

I wish I could never leave these amazing places. But alas!!! every journey comes to an end, only to give way to the next. I can only wish the train of journeys never end, and I keep moving from one place to another. From one home to another. From one friend to another, never really leaving anyone, anything or any place behind. They are all the reasons for what I am and who I am. After all, a man is just a summary of his experiences. :)