Of the many pieces of papers that I found while emptying our old house was a memo that Nitin Dhingra had given me when we were preparing for a stage show that we 'New Hires' staged when we first joined TI. It was a list of who was in charge of what during the program. Nitin himself was the overall leader by virtue of being the first person to volunteer for the post. The memo read something like this. In italics are the comments I am adding now.

1. Overall Leader: Nitin Dhingra, Sumeet Kulkarni
Sumeet Kulkarni! Our own Sumeet! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this. I didn't know him then, now that I know him so well, it seems unthinkable that he volunteered!
2. Compare: Gaurav Thereja
He did a god job of it, one must admit.
3. Skit: Tanmay, Prerna
Tonmoy was the director by common choice, he also appeared in one brief role (one scene no dialogues) so did I! Prerna was probably the only female character, so I suppose she could be called the heroine!
4. Poem: Vikas
I missed it somehow, I don't remember where I was. I later heard it was quite good.
5. Invitations: Vasudha
6. Memetos: Gautam, Raman
I can't place these guys.
7. PA System, Lighting: Somsundar
This, inspite of my attempts to correct the spelling of my name umpteen times, all of which Nitin shrugged off with a 'what's in a name' smile on his face!
8. Dinner: Gaurav Arora


I was surprised Lokesh and Aarti's dance was not mentioned. That was one of the biggest successes of the event.

Packing

Ultimately we decided to shift today itself. We reached the decision by 10:30 in the morning (15 minutes after i woke up). The next two hours were spent in retrieving all our belongings from all possible corners of the house and putting them into the bags and suitcases. We thought we would run out of bags to carry things, there was so much of junk to carry, until I discovered one
extra bag!

Turning the house upside down has its advantages. For one, you get to find all sorts of things which you least expected. Some old possessions which you had long ago given up as dead and gone. Some things which you never knew that you had. Some old papers that reminded you of some incidents of the past. And money. Discovering money that you didn't think you had is the most thrilling of all. It doesn't happen all that many times to me though. I do occasionally find one or two ten buck notes from pockets of shirts kept away for laundry. My friend Anant is an expert in this matter. He generally keeps on finding five hundred buck notes from here and there, now and then! The max I have gone up to was when my mother found a hundred rupees note from the pocket of a jeans, all washed and dried up!!

I didn't discover any money today, except for a single 50 paise coin. I did find one unexpected bag inside an expected one. One handkerchief and a pair of socks, which I had given up all hopes for. One brand new Reynolds Jetter pen, still packed in the original cover. And lots and lots of paper. I have this habit of not junking paper when I should. As a result I keep on finding old papers representing old times that I love going through again!

"In every man's heart, there is a faraway place. Where he can leave the grind
and chatter of the city far behind. Where time is measured in sunsets, not
deadlines. Where the sweetest music is the steady thumping beat of his iron
horse. Where the only thing that changes for days is your state of mind.
You won't find this place on any map, chart or tourist guide. Because the only
destination in this journey is the horizon. And the only real way to get there
is on the Thunderbird, the new thoroughbred cruiser from Royal Enfield.
....The new Royal Enfield Thunderbird. Get on and get away."

The call came at around 6:15PM. "Sir, do you want us to fit a guard in front?"
On the affirmative reply, "What time will you come to take it away, sir?" Half
an hour later was decided on mutual consent.
I went to the showroom with Tonmoy, on his Pulsar. Before entering, we could see
the 'purplish blue' beauty waiting outside, all ready for me to get on and get
away. There were a couple of forms to fill, information to go back to the
manufacturers in Chennai. A couple of signatures here and there. A helmet for
800 odd bucks to match with the machine. Then he took the key and we came out to
inspect the bike.
He showed me how to fiddle around with the controls...headlights, dimmer, horn,
indicators, choke, fuel tap and the lot. He showed me the tool kit which came
free with the bike, the firstaid kit, the battery. Then he handed over the key
to me. It was mine. With a couple of friendly instructions from the shop owner,
we parted on amicable terms, Tonmoy on his Pulsar, plunging into the city
traffic with utter contempt, and me on my new Royal Enfield Thunderbird, with a
slight tremor in my heart, but mind soaring on cloud nine.

It's a full twenty hours since I activated the commenting system for my blog, and
yet not a single comment so far! What may be the reason for this seemingly utter
disregard of my creative talents?

Possibility 1: No one likes me.
Possibility 2: No one likes my blog.
Possibility 3: No one could send comments because of some problem in backBlog.
Possibility 4: Some evil hacker considers me to be his utter enemy, and removed
all comments from my blog.
Possibility 5: Some evil god changed the minds of everyone who wanted to post
comments!
Possibility 6: Some demonic forces are conspiring against me and prevents my
server from showing the comments, when I try to see them.
Possibility 7: There is a bug in the HTTProtocol, which prevents comments from
being posted in my blog.
Possibility 8: No one knows about my blog.

Being intelligent as I am, I of course know which is the right answer! No sweat,
I will put things right very soon.
Evil hacker, here I come!!!

Commenting system in place, and working!

Hopefully, now I will find more enthusiasm to update frequently!

I signed up at backBlog.

I have put the necessary links at the necessary places, and changed the necessary settings, but the commenting system doesn't seem to be working yet.

Hopefully this test message will appear with proper links and all.