THE new tattered book...!:(

Soon after Chetan Bhagat’s new book was out, the only thing we (me and my sis) wanted was a copy of his new and much awaited (we did await, even if you didn’t ;)) novel ‘Two States’. A visit to oberon mall (the hip shopping mall in kochi!) was a perfect idea to grab a copy. And that’s exactly what my sis did, and once she was home I could sense excitement all over her. With her usual dhaan te taan style she picks up the book from her bag. With extra animated gestures we rush to our room to have a team analysis of the book (meanwhile in the background I could hear my amma say, “What’s wrong with these girls?”) Ignoring all that, we got on with our business. The next important question was who will read it first! I knew very well I didn’t have any chance of winning it over, coz it was she who had bought it. So obviously she had the first hand on it. But it’s not fun when you give up that easily, so for no reasonable reason I went on arguing. And as expected amma came into picture, “what’s going on here? Started off again?”(With a handful of scolding she leaves the room) We looked at each other for a few seconds and burst out laughing for no reason at all (this is how we are, you can call us mad ;)) so it was decided, its she who will read it first and I agreed (puppy eyes).But I guess my sis knows my evil ways so she hid the book in her so called secret locker! Whose keys are open property (evil laugh). Soon my sis was off for a shower, and I couldn’t resist the devil in me…lol.
The summary looked interesting, and I couldn’t resist reading. A few pages were read and I knew I had the time to finish off two chapters (thanks to sis’s endless shower)
As expected it was full of drama and masala as in chetan’s other books. I was completely engrossed in it, when suddenly the landline rings up and my amma calls up,”anuuuuuu!”
Grrr …who is it to disturb me now? I walk up irritated to pick up the phone. ‘Hello’ (a bit dismayed) the person at the other end responds ‘hey it’s me minu!’ For a second I thought it was my sis calling from the bathroom, but thank god I came back to senses at the right time. ‘oh…minu para…whats it yaar?’ And a few minutes of chit chat and I was back.
But what do I find …..’poppy’ lying on the bed and nibbling at the pages of the book. A few tit bits of paper strewn on the bed and a big fresh piece hanging out of ‘poppy’s ’ drooling mouth! I was shocked, didn’t know what to do and screamed ‘ayoooooooo!’ at this amma rushes in, she sees all this and exclaims ‘daivame…am fed up of this dog!’ I felt like bashing ‘poppy’, but her puppy cute eyes and naughty ‘hi - fi’ like gestures made my heart melt and all I could do was shout at her. She was scared and left the room without a complaint. (Poppy knew a she had done a mistake, and it was better for her to leave!)
All this drama was audible to my sis and she screeches at the top of her voice from the wash room, “what the hell annuuuu…I had told you not to take the book ….who told you to leave it hear…I want my new book back…bla …bla...bla…” I very well knew it was my end! I somehow gathered the bits and started mending it with my cello type. It was more of a game of scrabble now. Thank god, I was back after a few minutes and ‘poppy’ could chew only a couple of the last pages! Imagine if I was late, I am damn sure ‘poppy’ would have eaten up the whole book then…uff…!
Mending a tattered book is not an easy job, but somehow managed to stick up the pieces. Soon my sis comes into picture, a dirty scowl adorned her face and she looked scary! She snatches the book from me…and yells “wow…super…I can read everything ….great…thanks anu!”(Taunt and anger, spilling at every word). I made up a puppy face, but it didn’t work! The pages were almost done …only a few holes here and there and I am sure we are clever enough to fill them up! Chetan’s last few pages are meant for ‘happy endings’ but I don’t think reading this one would be so!:((you know why..rite?!)

A journey enjoyed...

I have often felt that I have wandered far off places, and my surroundings are yet to be explored. And so I along with my friends decided to discover the true colours of Kochi.
It was election in our college so soon after casting our valuable votes; we set off to our destination …FORT KOCHI! I have been there many times, but when it comes to traveling with your classmates its real fun! And the trip surely was one of the best I ever had in my life. After a lot of discussion and arguments we (8) came to a conclusion, that boat ride would make it all the more fun…moreover it was cheap and speedy. The thought of a boat ride for jus Rs.2/- was more than enough for us to say ‘WOW’. And as expected with happy and cheerful faces we boarded our small yet comfortable boat with a around another 50 – 60 passengers. We were the only students on the boat, and I must say we were a noisy lot…and so we got all the necessary and unnecessary attention!

Thirty minutes of ride, and we were done. But our actual destination was another 20 minutes walk away, but when you are with friends ‘no road is too long!’ Fort kochi is a hub for big hotels and restaurants, though our pockets didn’t allow us to have a sneak peek at the same…we managed to click a few pictures outside the royal hotels ;)

As we neared the beach, we could feel the cool breeze from the sea. A bunch of hawkers were ready to lure us with colorful pearls and sea shells. But we were more interested to see the Chinese nets catch fresh pray. Huge, ancient nets are still a part of fort Kochi, reminding us the past engineering marvel. Vivid varieties of fish were caught and sold afresh; gelly fish was a star among us and our cameras couldn’t stop blinking at them.

The fishes were pretty, but something prettier roared at us, with its enormous volume yet spectacularly beautiful profile …the Arabian Sea! I must tell you the view was spellbinding. Though the sun was at its peak, the sea pecked our cheeks with cool and refreshing breeze. We walked along the new concrete pavement, enjoying the blue ocean on our right and lush green trees on the left. Renovations have made our sea look even better; a few rest places have been constructed along the walkway…so that you can sit back and enjoy the lovely sea allowing all your senses to relax.

No matter how lovely the sea was, we couldn’t stop our snarling stomachs to grumble for food!
And so our next mission was to find a neat hotel which could fit in our budget, and after a lots of roaming we managed to get in a reasonable looking restaurant …the place was homely, yet we were not prepared our homely meals …so decided to keep it light and ordered for some chicken rolls, puffs, cutlets and cool drinks. Our ‘halky pet pooja’was quite delicious and we were charged again.

Fort kochi is adorned with antique and handicrafts shops…yet you’ll find a dwindling customer population for the same…the sole buyers being, foreigners. We were happy window shopping and clicking the antiques at our reach! A lovely cute little park awaited us with numerous kids playing happily along the see-saw and the swing. We helped ourselves with a scoop of ice cream each and enjoyed being kids riding the rides with our little friends.

After all the fun and frolic, it was time to bid our dear fort kochi goodbye , we didn’t have heavy hearts though …because we knew we would meet her soon !:)