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The Delusion of Eloquence: Agley Mod pe Maut Khadi Hai, Marne ki bhi kya jaldi hai V.23

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Its a pit stop. I'm acutely aware that this year, I did not write my birthday post. Sometimes in your life, life happens. It might sound like a clickbaity line, the one that keeps you interacting with the reel/short/vid/god knows what, till its end but, life did happen to me. My sweet, my life, my annoying half who hates me sleeping in late, got diagnosed with a late stage cancer. My fingers shake while I write these words a year hence. I remember the moment and the words, as clearly as if they happened yesterday. I had previously experienced those words about 22 years ago, in a similar environment. The words then were “We’ve lost him, he’s no more”; the words last year were “The test result came back, its cancer” delivered in the same matter of fact tone by the doctor. What it leaves behind is a mental devastation that a lot of people have felt, but is really hard to explain. Its usually accompanied by a ringing in the ears, a dissociation from reality where everything is acce
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The Delusion of Eloquence: Agley Mod pe Maut Khadi Hai, Marne ki bhi kya jaldi hai V.22

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The 13th in the series, wow, 13 years of writing this year after year. It feels a little giddy. Welcome to my yearly birthday blog, which is usually not published on my birthday. This year i promise not to speak about social media, how friendships have gone away, tragedies et cetera. This year i'll try to write a little bit more about what was great. 2022 was a buffer year, a buffer between COVID and normalcy. Early on in the year COVID's omicron variant wrecked havoc. I finally caught it, the missus gave it to me, but it was an easier hit than the delta variant a year before. The after effects were not something to look down upon and I spent a week in a haze. Brain fog if you must. (Shit man, can't keep a promise. Can I?) How did I get COVID? that in itself is a nice story, It was Baba. My dear friend Mathis got married this year (congratulations to her and YC) and her nuptials were in Goa (a destination wedding you see). So, naturally baba said "Pehle 2-3 din enjoy k
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Kicking and Screaming - How we went 2600 Kms, without going crazy (or did we?)

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It started with "Ladakh chalte hain" Frankly speaking, I was highly skeptical of our ability to do this road trip. Looking back, I'm still astounded that we were able to do this. But, with each others' support and our ability to problem solve and manage expectations, Theka and I were able to pull it off. The others were just along for the ride.  It was like having a trip with 6 kids, i felt like a school teacher to a menagerie of delinquents. Some excerpts from what i said "No, we cannot stop every 5 mins for photos" "How can you be hungry already, we just ATE" "what do you mean we should look for a bathroom?" Obviously, this is an exaggeration of what transpired, but I will not let the truth stand in the way of a good story - facts be damned. I have seen that any endeavour of such a size has multiple phases, and i will try to describe how we felt them below.  What can i say, I'm a science student and we love our processes. 1. Initial
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The Delusion of Eloquence: Agley Mod pe Maut Khadi Hai, Marne ki bhi kya jaldi hai V.21

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A little bit of sadness: My grandmother turned 100, the celebration was epic, here was a human who has seen the world literally transform in front of her. We lost her in August, uncharacteristically, gone peacefully in her sleep on a balmy august morning. I knew the day was coming, as all death comes - but knowing something is about to happen doesn't lessen its load when it happens. This was my last grandparent, an entire generation of my lineage has lived and gone. Ave to the centurion, you live on. I'm writing this one a little faster than i have been doing in the past couple of years, what I've realised is that I get distracted really easily, that's why one of my favourite lines from a movie is "Your focus needs more focus" (Jackie Chan to Jaden Smith in Karate Kid). This realisation dawned upon me when the missus (feels so strange to write this) sent me an Instagram reel. That was a real trip down a rabbit hole, i realised that i had been flicking videos
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Agley Mod pe Maut Khadi Hai, Marne ki bhi kya Jaldi hai V.20

" This year, feels like my year: hopefully, much more to write when this blog comes around next time. " These are the words that i wrote on my blog last year. Seems ironic, that in such a content rich year - i created some content of my own. It was a peculiar year to say the least - unforgettable, unprecedented, amazing can all be used to describe what we went through last year. But, as this is a hedonistic pass time, started over a decade ago i shall be majorly selfish and share what caught my fancy. Gera babu: (See, another mention right at the top) So Gera Babu, i have a gripe with Facebook. They have shut down notes of Facebook and along with it my tradition of posting this on Facebook notes. It was a journey which was epic, "The Delusion of Eloquence" was my rage against the dumbing of interactions across the world and we have seen a steady decline since. But, it came to a rather fitting end, one never imagined. Sometimes it made me feel like an old guy on face
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Shot through the heart with Arrowhead

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Most of the folks who know me, usually, would also know that I love wildlife. I'm proud to tell you, dear reader, that i have taken this to the next level. In light of my impending nuptials and as is customary of friends to do. I celebrated my bachelor party at Ranthambore. Doing what I love doing - Watching Tigers. Lets be honest, COVID has destroyed much of the fun that one is supposed to have before getting married, like going to Thailand for your bachelors. So Lala called me up and said park is opening from 1st October, lets have your bachelors there. This was exactly the kind of opportunity i waiting to hear and I jumped at that opportunity. 7 months since the lockdown began, in the middle of marriage preparations, I stepped out of Delhi for the first time with dire warnings of becoming infected and falling ill ringing in my ears. Thankfully, some of my friends were there so that it seemed like a bachelors - plus Lala had planned 4 safaris for us. Co - Travelers - Ashutosh, Sw
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Wait? What!

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I once saw a story so beautifully played. It was a pain to experience but beautiful to see…it started with a joke, a rather witty one. A man asked his love, “how can something you say make me happy and sad at the same time?” she responded by saying “I’ll tell you a story and you will know.” And thus she recited: A long time ago in a place far far away There was once a theater troupe Skilled in the arts was that group They looked like tarts  Rainbow colored were their farts The subject of much envy But also revered The capabilities of these younglings were many, Sport, speech, fight, love, write, drink and make merry Some mustered crowds, others sent them packing For any need they wouldn’t be lacking “Ok, Enough with the rhyming, Why don’t you just tell me the story?” "Okay, so now that we have established that this was the “It” group. There was a girl, because there is always a girl in a story, or rather any story worth hearing. So he
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