Random Expressions

Never really largely used this space as an online diary, but today I just felt like penning a few things about the day; or rather, felt like talking, so instead of being with a friend, or on YM, here I am blabbering some inane nonsensical mundane stuff; writing this online, hence please excuse the typos or spellings.

Before proceeding, another thought just erupted - I used to keep a diary many years back; the habit just petered out on its own with age; even recall ‘ordering’ my sister to do the needful when I joined hostel, so that I could come back and read about all that I missed. Well, let me not get into more memories, lest you run away- though, to think of this, the visitors seem to have dwindled here, if the comment box is anything to go by.

The sitemeter however has a different story to tell; and a rather pornographic one at that! Desperation is fine, but what can one say of people who scour the internet for ‘karva chauth breastfeeding’ ( hello, is that a new way of breaking fast, kya?), ‘diya mirza cleavage queen’ (splutter- what! That light thud you heard was Mallika Shehrawat fainting in disgust), ‘photos of Vijayata Pandit’ ( you need to update yourself buddy, and fast!), ‘photos of nude actresses in sarees’ (decide what you want, nude or saree), ’sms messages on karwa chauth’ (get real my friend, and a bit creative also - living in UK is no excuse), ‘trailer of Veer Zaara‘ (huh, dude, watch the whole film na when it comes on Sony this month), ‘deep navel show’ (wanna swim there or what?) ‘Priya Rajvansh style dialogue delivery’ (is there a ’style’ in being a piece of wood? Well, if you are planning to be an actor, forget it now itself!) ‘apartment or homes in mannat lands end’ (has SRK turned into real estate now?) ‘kimi katkar nipples’ (like another friend above, press ‘refresh’ on your life’s explorer) ‘bollywood nude nipples’ (speechless) and so on - but the best ever is reserved for some fellow searching for ‘Pooja Bhatt balls’!

Anyways, let’s leave these desperados aside. With this list now up, I can roll the red carpet for some more such pieces of intelligence coming my way in the next few days. Wonder what they feel after seeing the bulk of text on this site?

Now, if you have stayed till this point, and also wondered on the post’s title, let me explain - it has been raining heavily non-stop since yesterday. Though I doubt it would be anywhere close to Mumbai’s records ever, still it was strong enough for flights to be diverted - or rather, returned back. My boss was supposed to come today, his Indian Airlines flight was not allowed to land- Jet Airways (which comes some half-hour before IC) could land - and he was originally to come by that, but couldn’t as his Mumbai-Delhi sector flight got delayed. Sheer luck - good or bad is from whichever perspective you see it from.

Just for records, the post-heading comes from an awesome classical number by Lata Mangeshkar, composed by her talented but woefully underrated brother for a non-film album. I am not into classical music, don’t even understand it, but Lataji’s vocal gymnasts are jaw-dropping even from a layman’s point of view.

Nepal Telecom does not deliver bills - so everytime it’s a tedious trudge to Jwalakhel to get them; payments can be made at various banks as well, but then you have to know the amount first, so the various counters are pretty useless (you can get the bill amount of SMS, but I have forgotten the number).

Anyways, lest the phone get disconnected rudely during boss’s visit (it happened last time; I overshot my designated credit limit on it - yes they have that on post-paid accounts as well), and since the amount was due anyways, I hoodwinked procrastination, and went to pay. Plus, the overcast sky, the rains, the coolness, the mist wrapped mountains were incentive enough to step out.

All taxis in Kathmandu are equipped with a stereo system - it’s a different story about some of their quality, often making Udit Narayan sound like Usha Uthup with a bad throat (err, bad analogy, she always sings with a sore throat it seems!).

But this guy seemed to be more in-the-groove, and in more ways than one. The music was distinctly soothing, and when the male voice came on, I was all ears. Mohammad Rafi was crooning ‘Hum to chale pardes‘ - it is a kind of song that leaps out the speakers, punches your solar plexus and plants a rock solid lump in your throat. I looked out - we were passing the wide road in front of Singha Darbar (where the ministries are housed) and had stopped at the T-junction red light (to turn right towards Kathmandu’s twin city Lalitpur), the rain was slanting down, a fresh gust of wind rattled against the panes, an unusual silence descended heavily, the mountains looked converging - and yes, the eyes were wet, the lump was there - chhoota apna desh hum pardesi ho gaye ho…

Only a person away from his home or country can understand this song best!

Here FM regularly play old Hindi film songs; so once the last strains of Rafi’s breathtaking ‘Rama Ho‘ alaap ended, I was expecting the RJ’s voice. To my surprise, Lata Mangeshkar came on with ‘Dafli waale‘ - a slight hope just came up: could by any chance this taxi-walah be listening to Sargam’s soundtrack? It seemed to, unless this was some sort of ‘Ek Hi Film Se’ programme on radio. It was not. The next song was Rafi’s ‘Mujhe mat roko mujhe gaane do‘ followed by Lata-Rafi’s ‘Koyal boli duniya doli’. Sargam was indeed one fine score by L-P - almost coming at the end of their golden phase, before they jumped to the ‘South’ bracket, where the difference between them and Bappi Lahiri was only that of ‘pots’ and ‘pans’ - ie, LP created noise with Indian instruments, Bappi manufactured cacophony on his electronic stuff.

Plus, for a film based on a mute girl’s life there were enough female songs (thank God for our Bollywood makers regularity to ‘dream’, even if they are out sync with the larger life ’sequence’)

I sincerely wished for first time I be stuck in a jam, so that I could savor Laxmikant Pyarelal’s melodies.

Anyways, at NTC’s office’s ‘Billing Counter’ I came to know the bill had not been ‘generated’. Fair enough. Since I had come this far, I thought of in anycase paying ’some advance’. At the payment counter, the lady informed me I owe them Rs 11861 - must have been my eyeballs that bulged out and dropped there in shock, for immediately she started to look down at the floor. But that couldn’t be, ‘coz I was pretty sure that my eyes were pretty much there staring - and no, she had not miraculously converted into some snake or such, though to me, the sting was no less!

I demanded a few clarifications - last month the bill amount was similar, could she be mistaking that; faster than Houdini could do any of his tricks, I pulled out the receipts. No, no, she explained patiently, your current month’s bill amount has been added.

Strange, very strange indeed! The billing counter that distributes bill says it’s not generated, but the payment counter informs it has been - I guess, they know their priorities correct - after all taking the moolah matters over just giving off a statement to a customer!

So be it- I paid and came out. There was still time for boss’s plane to arrive (which eventually didn’t - just in case you jumped from the first paragraph to this one in the hope of making some sensible comment without reading the bulk in-between), I decided to eat at Nanglo’s outlet next to NTC’s office. I like their food. But honestly, can they please change their mushroom pizza’s name to something for inviting than ‘Fungi Pizza!’

I had barely stepped out after eating, and was about to open my umbrella, when this large tempo (ok ok, tempos are always large, as large as they can be), whizzed by, skidding over the gargantuan puddle, and drowning me in a titanic wave of muddy water!

Cussing and shouting, I crossed the road, took a taxi home and waited for the non-arrival of my boss. Once it was confirmed that the plane would not come today ever (in any case, Indian pilots don’t fly Nepal’s mountainous sector during late/evening/dark hours- that is why all Indian flights are during daytime), I finished off pending work, mails and a couple of phone calls.

Generally, it’s dark by six these days; today, it was dark grey by five! I stepped out for a cup of hot tea at a nearby cafeteria. Anything that I ordered seemed to ‘have gotten over just now’; with no mood to cook, I was thinking of a heavy tea-cum-dinner.

The evening ended with some more music; it is nearly eleven now, feeling sleepy - and yes, it is still raining outside.

Technorati : Diary, Jaya Prada, Kathmandu, Lata Mangeshkar, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Nepal, Sargam
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2005 at 11:15 pm and is filed under Humor, Kathmandu Kissas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.