In my previous post, someone commented that life is one round and one round only!!! Upon reading this, I had a realization of the same fact that we all take for granted. We feel, at least I did, that we are here to stay yet we are on a journey and this life is a just one of the paths we travel, with me as always The Lost Traveller! (you can skip to Chapter 4 if you'd like)
Vivek was a young boy looking around the busy streets of Madras where to one side was a large board that read "Thumbs Up - Taste the Thunder". In in adolescent years, he had just learned some English language words and in doing the same he could barely make sense of the slogan. But at least he put the whole thing together and fell prey to the ruthless marketing. The scorching heat wasnt helping and young and naieve Vivek stuck his thumb high up in the air so as to signal to the rain Gods - let your heart lose, pour down and relieve us of this heat. It was March 2016 and we were there for our Sister's Wedding. Now, I still remember this girl from when she would request her homework to be completed and then a few years later wondered which university to attend and then finally as every university graduate stood at the cross roads of "what to do with my life" and one final time (at least academically) she requested me to write her grad-school essay. With that flashback, I was finding it more and more difficult to bear the immense levels of heat and slowly but steadily each layer was clothing was definitely coming off - I had suddenly developed a new found appreciation for lungis and their apt usage in Southern India.
Chapter 1: Getting There
I was making vLogs all along my trip to India, while transiting through Istanbul, Turkey. Now Turkey has a unique proposition for people like me. Now for all of you who know me personally know that I am Bald and to my amusement, there were a large population of men at the Airport terminal were bald as though they had traveled from far and wide to attend the National Bald Convention 2016 however, the only peculiar thing about them all (aside from them being bald) was the fact that all of them seemed to have obtained fresh transplants (hair that is). I was genuinely intrigued and did speak to a few such recipients of fresh hair (while they basked in their manly glory - with new hair) to learn that Istanbul is where the world goes to get Hair Transplants - reliable, cheap and effective (yes - we Indians are cheap and these are the three pillars we use to describe every product/thing - just not people - reliable Indian people dont exist, cheap people are everywhere and effectiveness haha, thats all what we will say about that). But leaving the place where East meets West with glorious spices and mouth watering food, I landed promptly in Delhi. Delhi never ceases to amaze me - I mean every time you go to this place, everything has changed yet nothing has changed - its almost like a confused host that doesnt remember how it treated you last time so shows you every peculiar part of its home each time you visit them. In my case - I was struggling to connect to the Internet. Now to connect to WiFi in the International Arrivals Terminal of IGI Airport in Delhi, one must enter a local Indian telephone number to an online authentication form - which then sends a token (as a text) to your local Indian number that must be entered to get onto the WiFi. I fail to understand how a nation that boasts the largest technology companies couldnt figure this out that International Arrivals terminal will most definitely have passengers arriving from over seas who will most likely not have a local number - so how must one utilize the wonderful Wifi Service. After a few hours of being lonely, I gave up and boarded my flight to Chennai
Chapter 2: Chennai
Chennai is amazing - this was my first trip to Chennai. Me being a bit light skinned goes a long way in getting stuff done. I am almost royalty here for 1) I am Punjabi and 2) I am light skinned and 3) because I am Punjabi and 4) because lets face it I am Punjabi. My friend Vivek was late per usual - after having seen all that there was to see at the airport (which included a washroom, frantic passengers and a few puzzled employees of various airlines) I was almost at the end of the patience when Vivek arrived with an entourage. The entourage was rather large where we stood outside the airport trying to figure out how do we fit my luggage and me and the 9 other individuals into the one car that there was. Now we all know Vivek is over zealous at time (all the time) and doesnt think stuff through and such was the case this time as well - and I am not joking when I say this. We had one of the guys sit on top of the car - cuz the legal limit of torturing human beings was crossed and people just couldn't stay inside the car - so we improvised and had a passenger on top of it. I managed to take the seat next to the driver (to not have to share my seat with any one). We finally arrived at the Hotel we were going to stay at for the next few days to take a deep breath and realize only that - The mayhem finally begins now.
Chapter 3: Chennai 2
South Indian weddings have a stark difference from North Indian weddings. I mean truth be told, Punjabi weddings are not really a Wedding - they are a moment to show the family's wealth, stature and everything else. Women arrive wearing almost every piece of jewelry they own (even that borrowed from women not going to a wedding that day) while men arrive clueless per usual crowded around a bar where all you can hear is "Whiskey Soda" or "Peg Patiala". Children are all over the place - where half way through the festivities Men dont know they have wives and families dont remember how many children they came with - I mean it is chaotic but a ton of fun with all the dances and food. Somewhere in all of this and a Daler Mehendi dancing on the stage there is small event that is the actual wedding. Now in South India such isnt the case, the Wedding ceremonies are actual proper Wedding ceremonies, where the primary objective for the congregation is to actually get married and observe the wedding ceremony (which is hours and hours at hand). To my brain, this was a little difficult to handle so every so often - I would wander about to get coconut water from the coconut (these are in abundance here). If you had to find me anywhere during the wedding chances were high that either I was either by the Coconut Hawker or by the AC - It truly was very hot. All that I could recall from my time in Chennai were two things, 1) Coconut water is an amazing thirst quencher and 2) How weird I felt giving away our Sister, apart from all fun and jokes, it truly brought life to the thought "life is one round only" so love freely, live freely and enjoy each moment cuz life is one round and one round only!
Chapter 4: Today
We have spent countless hours reminiscing about times we could have done something different, yet have not done anything about it differently. I was at a convocation a few days ago and I read a quote on the program handout "Everything is impossible - Until you start to do it". I loved those words where it truly reflected the dilemmas of my life where everything that seemed impossible was eventually conquered - you just need a little bit of courage and faith - the rest is as they say is "History". So seize the moment - give someone the time they are yearning for, smile with that special someone you love, call a friend you havent been in touch with, be weird, be crazy, be your own self, because my friend life is one round and one round only. Give everything you do, your best, dont be afraid to take leaps of faith, dont be disappointed by small failures - focus on the big wins. Plans are great for the corporate world but be spontaneous - this will fuel your heart and life with immense energy. But most of all - be happy, find that happy medium that keeps driving you forward but also keeps you aligned with the person that you are.
Chapter 5: The End
______
The Lost Traveler
Vivek was a young boy looking around the busy streets of Madras where to one side was a large board that read "Thumbs Up - Taste the Thunder". In in adolescent years, he had just learned some English language words and in doing the same he could barely make sense of the slogan. But at least he put the whole thing together and fell prey to the ruthless marketing. The scorching heat wasnt helping and young and naieve Vivek stuck his thumb high up in the air so as to signal to the rain Gods - let your heart lose, pour down and relieve us of this heat. It was March 2016 and we were there for our Sister's Wedding. Now, I still remember this girl from when she would request her homework to be completed and then a few years later wondered which university to attend and then finally as every university graduate stood at the cross roads of "what to do with my life" and one final time (at least academically) she requested me to write her grad-school essay. With that flashback, I was finding it more and more difficult to bear the immense levels of heat and slowly but steadily each layer was clothing was definitely coming off - I had suddenly developed a new found appreciation for lungis and their apt usage in Southern India.
Chapter 1: Getting There
I was making vLogs all along my trip to India, while transiting through Istanbul, Turkey. Now Turkey has a unique proposition for people like me. Now for all of you who know me personally know that I am Bald and to my amusement, there were a large population of men at the Airport terminal were bald as though they had traveled from far and wide to attend the National Bald Convention 2016 however, the only peculiar thing about them all (aside from them being bald) was the fact that all of them seemed to have obtained fresh transplants (hair that is). I was genuinely intrigued and did speak to a few such recipients of fresh hair (while they basked in their manly glory - with new hair) to learn that Istanbul is where the world goes to get Hair Transplants - reliable, cheap and effective (yes - we Indians are cheap and these are the three pillars we use to describe every product/thing - just not people - reliable Indian people dont exist, cheap people are everywhere and effectiveness haha, thats all what we will say about that). But leaving the place where East meets West with glorious spices and mouth watering food, I landed promptly in Delhi. Delhi never ceases to amaze me - I mean every time you go to this place, everything has changed yet nothing has changed - its almost like a confused host that doesnt remember how it treated you last time so shows you every peculiar part of its home each time you visit them. In my case - I was struggling to connect to the Internet. Now to connect to WiFi in the International Arrivals Terminal of IGI Airport in Delhi, one must enter a local Indian telephone number to an online authentication form - which then sends a token (as a text) to your local Indian number that must be entered to get onto the WiFi. I fail to understand how a nation that boasts the largest technology companies couldnt figure this out that International Arrivals terminal will most definitely have passengers arriving from over seas who will most likely not have a local number - so how must one utilize the wonderful Wifi Service. After a few hours of being lonely, I gave up and boarded my flight to Chennai
Chapter 2: Chennai
Chennai is amazing - this was my first trip to Chennai. Me being a bit light skinned goes a long way in getting stuff done. I am almost royalty here for 1) I am Punjabi and 2) I am light skinned and 3) because I am Punjabi and 4) because lets face it I am Punjabi. My friend Vivek was late per usual - after having seen all that there was to see at the airport (which included a washroom, frantic passengers and a few puzzled employees of various airlines) I was almost at the end of the patience when Vivek arrived with an entourage. The entourage was rather large where we stood outside the airport trying to figure out how do we fit my luggage and me and the 9 other individuals into the one car that there was. Now we all know Vivek is over zealous at time (all the time) and doesnt think stuff through and such was the case this time as well - and I am not joking when I say this. We had one of the guys sit on top of the car - cuz the legal limit of torturing human beings was crossed and people just couldn't stay inside the car - so we improvised and had a passenger on top of it. I managed to take the seat next to the driver (to not have to share my seat with any one). We finally arrived at the Hotel we were going to stay at for the next few days to take a deep breath and realize only that - The mayhem finally begins now.
Chapter 3: Chennai 2
South Indian weddings have a stark difference from North Indian weddings. I mean truth be told, Punjabi weddings are not really a Wedding - they are a moment to show the family's wealth, stature and everything else. Women arrive wearing almost every piece of jewelry they own (even that borrowed from women not going to a wedding that day) while men arrive clueless per usual crowded around a bar where all you can hear is "Whiskey Soda" or "Peg Patiala". Children are all over the place - where half way through the festivities Men dont know they have wives and families dont remember how many children they came with - I mean it is chaotic but a ton of fun with all the dances and food. Somewhere in all of this and a Daler Mehendi dancing on the stage there is small event that is the actual wedding. Now in South India such isnt the case, the Wedding ceremonies are actual proper Wedding ceremonies, where the primary objective for the congregation is to actually get married and observe the wedding ceremony (which is hours and hours at hand). To my brain, this was a little difficult to handle so every so often - I would wander about to get coconut water from the coconut (these are in abundance here). If you had to find me anywhere during the wedding chances were high that either I was either by the Coconut Hawker or by the AC - It truly was very hot. All that I could recall from my time in Chennai were two things, 1) Coconut water is an amazing thirst quencher and 2) How weird I felt giving away our Sister, apart from all fun and jokes, it truly brought life to the thought "life is one round only" so love freely, live freely and enjoy each moment cuz life is one round and one round only!
Chapter 4: Today
We have spent countless hours reminiscing about times we could have done something different, yet have not done anything about it differently. I was at a convocation a few days ago and I read a quote on the program handout "Everything is impossible - Until you start to do it". I loved those words where it truly reflected the dilemmas of my life where everything that seemed impossible was eventually conquered - you just need a little bit of courage and faith - the rest is as they say is "History". So seize the moment - give someone the time they are yearning for, smile with that special someone you love, call a friend you havent been in touch with, be weird, be crazy, be your own self, because my friend life is one round and one round only. Give everything you do, your best, dont be afraid to take leaps of faith, dont be disappointed by small failures - focus on the big wins. Plans are great for the corporate world but be spontaneous - this will fuel your heart and life with immense energy. But most of all - be happy, find that happy medium that keeps driving you forward but also keeps you aligned with the person that you are.
Chapter 5: The End
______
The Lost Traveler
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