EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP !!!!!

The other day, on my way back home, in the bus, I had these 2 boys talking quite avidly about their current life. I could not help overhearing as they were not allowing me to have a nap, and mind you, taking a nap in the bus is fun...  you sometimes even miss your stand in the process. But anyways, their conversation started with the ordinary talks of college, studies, parents……. And then, their RELATIONSHIP STATUS !!

While one was cribbing about his possessive girlfriend, the other was doing just what we Indians are good at, giving advice. From possessive nature to irritating habits, he had a whole script prepared!!

Listening to him, I wondered what was so peculiar about these relationships that engage you so much, so much so that you start preaching about it in a bus loaded with passengers. I wondered if his girlfriend would also be complaining about him to her some friend somewhere. After all, how can I imagine a girl not indulging in gossip… especially when I’m witnessing a boy doing it so passionately? I don’t know if there was a series of coincidences or what, that I had been witnessing such OPEN HOUSE RELATIONSHIP DIALOGUES for the past week or so !! After all, why would a boy, just turned 19, SINGLE, would be peppered with this stuff, when he’s not at all interested. Maybe I will get an answer to this when I also find that SOMEONE…. :)

Getting back to the torture… one thing I realize is that nowadays, the term ”RELATIONSHIP” is so casually & widely used. I always thought of it as a long word, not just because of its meaning, but also because of its spelling!!

I remember some of the younger boys  in my school flaunting their BANDI in front of their friends, and at the end of the day, it was for all to see, on FACEBOOK. This site is the “JEENE KA MAQSAD” nowadays, and I have lost some of the interest in this MAQSAD over time. But still, when I do log in once in a while, I can’t help seeing “SENTI STATUS UPDATES, PICTURES, STORIES” flogging the “LATEST NEWS SECTION.” That’s one reason I never put serious status updates, I already see a lot of them. Sometime back, while I took an off from college, I decided to log into facebook since I didn’t have anything much important to do. This is what dominated the LATESTNEWS….

LOGIN @ 11.45A.M. 

–                                                                                                                                                                         XYZ girl changed her relationship status from “SINGLE”  to “IN A RELATIONSHIP”!

LOG IN @ 7.00 P.M.

 –

That XYZ girl changed her relationship status from “IN A RELATIONSHIP” to “COMPLICATED” !

LOG IN @ 10.30 P.M. 

–

XYZ girl changed her relationship status from “COMPLICATED “ to “SINGLE” !

What was to follow was a series of updates about how selfish & indifferent boys were… I mean are..

Since that day, I never have logged in more than once a day, on most occasions I don’t have the time, college assignments have taken care of that.

Without hurting anyone’s feelings, I will clearly say that I find public bashing of relationships in the open quite amusing, & sometimes irritating. That’s what propelled me to put up a status as follows some time back:

“BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP IS ABOUT COMMITTING TO IT & NOT NECESSARILY UPDATING ABOUT IT "

About 20 – 25 people liked it, some even questioning if I  was also committed now!!

People who know me are aware that almost every time, I try to look at the funny perspective of things. For those who don’t know me well, well I’m telling you now…

I just feel that if you are in a relationship, you should value it & tender it, & if you are single, don’t worry, you will find that someone soon. And till you find that someone, be committed to the people you love & enjoy the person within you.

I am not a LOVE GURU or anywhere close to that, just a MAASOOM, NOT YET IN A RELATIONSHIP 19 yr old boy.

For all those still in search of that special human… I quote these lines from a song, which is my favorite these days…..

“KEHTE HAIN KHUDA NE ISS JAHAAN ME SABHI KE LIYE
                    KISI NAA KISI KO HAI BANAAYA HAR KISI KE LIYE....."

With love & laughs…..     

                                                                                                                                                                                  PUNEET BAJAJ @:_P

THAT DAY IS FINALLY HERE.......

As I pen this down, my mind is gripped with mixed feelings. They say life can change in a moment, well, even if you get a sneak peak into that moment beforehand, it still falls heavy when it arrives. First love is always first love, & before I include any girl in this bracket, undoubtedly, cricket was my first crush, my first love. 

And it will be only fair to say that if cricket is my love, RAHUL SHARAD DRAVID…. You  were clearly the cupid for me. I was mesmerized by this game because I was mesmerized by you

Today, the first thing I did upon waking up was to turn on the T.V. I never thought I would be so eager to watch a news channel first thing in the morning. But the occasion was different today, THE WALL was about to bid adieu today.  

I had a slight apprehension of it a day before, when I saw the man on T.V. saying….
“I announce my retirement from international and domestic cricket.” For a moment, everything else was forgotten. I could have easily expressed my feelings through a status, a DRAVID profile picture or even a tweet, my words were supposedly not short enough. I fondly remember the days when I woke up early in the mornings at 6, or watched the whole day of a test match, if Rahul Dravid was batting. 

2004, January, India V/s Australia, 2^nd test, Adeliade. At the end of DAY 3, Dravid was not out on 199*, I instructed my father to wake up as early as possible the next day, for I did not want to miss his double century, & I still remember the sweet words from my father when I was in the bed at 5.45 am, “BETA, TERE DRAVID KI DOUBLE CENTURY HO GAYI !!”. Down the years, my fondness for this legend only grew & it became evident to the ones around me. Playing defence after defence while playing with friends prompted them to call me DRAVID, sometimes even sarcastically, but deep down my heart, I always liked being called so. When the IPL began, the first match, Brendon McCullum smashed 158* against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Dravid’s team, & RCB was all out for 82.

My class mates teased me when we were talking about our favourite teams in the IPL, & I said RCB, without a thought. After that first match IPL 1, my friends even laughed at me more for being a RCB supporter. But that was nothing for me.

The most expressive moment I can recall is that of 2008, October,  when DRAVID was going through a lean patch. I was in Class X, had a Maths exam coming up. It was a Sunday afternoon, the 4^th test between India & Australia at Nagpur, 2^nd innings. I was glued to Neo Cricket just because he was batting, but not that he was scoring heavily then, infact as I said above, he was not in the best of form. He fought hard for 30 odd balls for 5 runs, but I was okay as long as he was there, I was happily solving questions from my Maths book. Then he got out for 5….. 1 minute later, the TV was switched off. I was no longer interested in studying, I threw everything my hand could grab at, some of my pens really bore the brunt of my anger. 

The next series against England, 2^nd test match, Mohali. The first thing I  did after coming back home from school was to turn on the TV & check the score. He had failed in the 1^st test as well, but on that Friday, when I tuned on the TV, my eyes lit up. Dravid  was 50*. I watched every ball till he got his century the next day, a big one- 136. 

Likewise, there are innumerable experiences where a good performance form him made my dull day the best day of my life. There were also moments when his failure on the field overpowered my happiness through the day. His ouster from the ODI team in 2007, recall in 2009, out again, & back again in 2011. My mood went through the extremes. My IPL royalty shifted from Bangalore to Rajasthan Royals when he was signed by RR.

Its difficult to imagine that I won’t see anymore of him now. The word RETIREMENT  has finally arrived. But, I am happy for the man. He is currently he oldest international payer to be playing cricket, at the age of 39 years. Not many managed to go that distance. He did. Though I still have some excerpts of him to witness in IPL 5, but that is just a consolation. I feel, the ending could have been a bit more sweeter, but life has his own ways. In the end, I am happy for him, he can finally spend the time with his loved ones, there was nothing much he could still achieve.

BUT DEAR RAHUL DRAVID, for me, cricket will never be the same as before. When next time India play a test match, & the first wicket falls, it will be hard to digest the fact that you won’t be coming out to bat. I doubt if  I will glue to the TV sets to watch an entire day of test cricket again. The no. 3 position will be different now. 9 MARCH’2012 will be a date to remember.

To sum up, I would use your own words to express myself as well……… "I leave with sadness but also with pride."