Happy Birthday to me, huh?

Six girls plan religiously for a dear friend's birthday.

Cake, candles, decorations, gifts, cards, everything is taken care of. Yours truly, with other friends, work really hard in background to get all this done, without her knowledge.

You send out a mail to the whole batch saying be there sharp at 12o'clock to celebrate her birthday.

So the whole batch assembles at midnight to celebrate her birthday.

She cuts the cake, we sing "Happy Birthday to you", wish her, put cake, water, eggs, n everything that we could see in the vicinity, on her :)

Suddenly the girls take out another cake and lights candles. Me, inspite of being in the core organising committee is totally unaware of this. I innocently asks the question "Why another cake"??

Thats when i get the biggest surprise of my life. They got the other cake for celebrating my birthday. Tomorrow is the last day of our exams and we are all going to be away for six months, for our summer internships. Seven of us are going to be in four different cities. So they planned to celebrate my birthday one month before so that they all can be with me during my celebration. My constant rant that 'no one of you are going to be with me on my birthday' prompted them further to do this.

I cut the cake and the usual rituals associated with the birthday happens to me also. Get bums, get drenched in water and cake, girls decorate my room, gives me a beautiful birthday card, books and perfumes as gifts. So I had a birthday celebration one month in advance of my real birthday. I dont know what makes me more happy - the way they cared for me and surprised me or the way they planned everything without my notice.

I am gonna miss this place for the next 6 months. No matter how far i am from my home, the people surrounding me, always makes me feel special.

Mn,Pj,Sh,So,Nl & Nv, you girls rock. I will miss you people a lot.

She used to dream ...

Years ago, when she was a little girl
She used to dream.
She used to dream of beautiful places,
knight in shining armours and laughter.

As years passed by,
She continued dreaming.
But without her knowledge,
her dreams were taking new shapes.

Sometimes it took the shape of
a position, a promotion, recognition
or something very materialistic.
So fast the winds were whirling.

She went through several
heartaches and disappointments,
She survived all of them. But,
came out disillusioned.

World around her continued to
remind her that rosy pictures do exist,
but only in bollywood movies
and fairytales.

She stopped dreaming about
palaces, princes and rose gardens.
She has come to know that fairytales
were only the sadistic imagination of a cynic.

Now she just waits for the reality
to strike her, the sooner, the better.
The harder the strike,
the stronger she will be.

A virtual journey down the memory lane

I chanced upon my engineering college's image in Wikimapia, while googling for something else. I used to be a day scholar during my engineering college days. I used to travel by bus everyday from my home to my college, either in the college bus or transport buses. It used to the same route, familiar buses and drivers. Because many of the buses leave only at a particular time, it was quite an ordeal to get ready on time and catch the bus. During morning hours, there used to be so many people in the bus that you can barely put a feet down. My fellow passengers used tricks(read blows and punches) that would put many a WWF Champions into shame, to get a seat to sit. People would be exhausted by the time they reach their destinations. Nevertheless, i used to enjoy those journeys.

Reminisence does not always make you happy. The thought of being away from home for so many months and the hard fact that i won't be home for some more months made me sad. So i decided to take a journey down the memory lane, and tranversed the entire route from college to home, as i used to do in a bus. But this time, with the help of simple 'Pan up', 'Pan down', 'Pan right' and 'Pan left' buttons of Wikimapia. I saw the same buildings i used to see, bridges i used to cross, traffic junctions were we waited for the traffic lights to turn green and many of my friends' houses on the way. The only difference being, today i saw all of that by a simple movement of my mouse, sitting so many miles away from all of them. And finally, after so many turns and clicks, i reached home :)



My home is the small rectangle, right at the centre. No points for guessing though!!!

I thank Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev for their wonderful invention. You people made my day. I was so happy to be finally home, 'virtually'. They say, technology can bridge gaps and transcend boundaries. Today Wikimapia did it for me, atleast to a great extend.

Disclaimer: After reading this, if you feel that this girl is crazy, dont worry, you are not the only one feeling that way. Even i feel the same today :D