Dilli meri jaan

The capital of India is never prettier but in the months of November-February, the time when winter reigns, the time when fog and mist cover the sun, the time when chilly winds tend to bite your skin off, the time when small bonfires have people gathered around them making small conversation, the time when pyaaz ki pakaudi aur chai takes a new meaning. Add to it the world class and unusually empty roads if you are out in the freezing night, and you have got an unbeatable combo.

Ever since I did my schooling from Delhi, the city has been close to my heart even though I managed to come back to it only 8 years later for my first post-MBA job. Some good friends made over the time I was there add to the charm that the city possesses for me. Every time I get to visit Delhi (in the not too long duration of eight months that I have been away from the city), it is yet another episode, yet another addendum to the love affair.

The visit this time was to participate in the wedding celebrations of Kushagra, one of those ex-colleagues whose friendship was and is a cherished one. Married on the 11th in Jamshedpur, Kushagra and Anugya had kept a reception for friends and family on the 14th in Delhi. Although Kushagra had informed us of the event about a month ago, there was no clear or recent information on when and where was the event supposed to take place. Obviously not expecting an invitation card, it was still a little awkward to land up at some place on a whim only to realize that the event had actually been planned for some very close family and we were, after all, uninvited.

As we (Nishith, Himadri and myself) had almost decided to give the reception a miss and I had cursed my luck enough, though clearly half heartedly for landing in Delhi without any purpose, we suddenly got SMS messages from Kushagra which was, true to his character, barely 4 hours in advance. The tone of the message was awesome to boot suggesting as though there may have been some ambiguity on our front as far as our attendance at the event was concerned.

To cut a long story short, we did attend the reception and it was absolutely spot on, with the newly weds looking terrific in their synchronized ensembles. Anugya was looking particularly graceful and Kushagra was the image of a good boy, what with uncharacteristically well kept hair, to quote an instance.

I was accompanied to the Delhi trip this time by Priya as apart from the reception, there were some other family engagements in the city as well, which also went off pretty nicely although not without a good dose of situational humor associated with the same. The only regret I had was that the two day trip seemed too small to meet all friends, go to all places I wanted to visit and most importantly, have all the street food that I wanted to have.

As I took the metro to reach New Delhi station to catch the train back (yeah, I took the train both ways, air travel is way too expensive nowadays), I could but only marvel at the growth that this city has had over the last few years. Looking at the reservation charts to check where they had allotted my RAC seat, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself upgraded to the 2nd tier. Happy ending, what!

The Settlement exercise

In one of the most trivial and pointless exercises, some half a dozen of MBA grads from IIM Kozhikode's Class of 2006 came to the conclusion that a whopping 58% of the batch is now married and an equally staggering 8% has had one or more kids. The exercise was carried out in the serene environment provided by Ravi's lovely home and occasion was one of the big ones for Ravi and Deepti, the lovely couple's second wedding anniversary.

Yesterday being a holiday on account of Eid, I had spent the entire day lazing around and watching movies and flopping on the bed and watching some more movies and flopping some more on the bed. As I was about to see the long, weary day to an uneventful end, I received a call from Ravi to come to his house ASAP. Not given any reasons for this call and given such a short notice, I would have imagined something ominous but for the tone of Ravi's voice.

As I reached Ravi's place, I could hear the cheerful sounds from his flat and Priya (in Mumbai to resign from her job, as she put it) waving from the balcony. Already having sensed some kind of gathering of batch mates, the only surprise was the occasion. All the usual suspects were there and then some. The evening started out like all others, a little awkwardly at first with people asking each other about their jobs and work and similar stuff. Soon enough, the mood grew into a more relaxed one as the drinks came out and amidst the cheery toasts, the junta started getting nostalgic and got into talking about the campus. The same old jokes and the same old events got discussed yet again but like every other time, did not fail to bring smiles to each one of our faces.

It was in the middle of this nostalgic session that the discussion veered towards marriage and kids (some of the gathering being a little more than active on the matrimonial landscape definitely helped). Name after name was exclaimed upon as it was either proclaimed as having already tied the nuptial knot or gone a step further. Within hardly any time, all this led to the batch list coming out of Rohit's laptop and all of us going literally name by name. Some of the names had already started sounding unfamiliar and that is a shame really, considering that it has only been two and a half years since we passed out of campus.

For all the names that we collectively had a clue on, we updated their status as Married, Married with kids, or Engaged. People who did not fall in any of these categories were listed as Looking :-). While some people (especially Rohit who will probably mail the analysis to the batch, just for fun) were careful about putting people in categories where they did not have any clue on the actual turn of events, some others (including me) believed in the old adage of "Guilty till proven otherwise".

I am sure that the end result of the exercise set many people thinking, some thinking on why it hasn't happened with them yet, some thanking/blaming their stars for being blessed/cursed, while there were others who took the high point and thought dispassionately about it all. Whatever be the case, the "Settlement Exercise" had everyone enthralled till it was time for dinner and subsequent cake cutting and celebrations.

Cheers to Ravi and Deepti (not sure if I have spelt it right, two e's or an i?)!
Guys, wish you a very happy anniversary once again!

Not this time!

From whatever I have been hearing from people I have invariably been discussing the last few days' events with, I think that Mr. Joshi has hit the nail on the head with the following: