Doodles of a crazy man!

He walked into the crowded bus stand of Bangalore. He was in his mid thirties, and looked totally out of sync with the city, which was his home just five years back. This was the first time he was coming to India after he had settled in New Jersey. "Uff...too many people here", he said to himself. He walked towards the inter-state platform, which looked empty. He approached the old ticket issuer sitting behind the counter, to check the timings of the next bus. "Excuse me, is this inter-state platform for Coimbatore?", he asked with a slight accent. "Yes", replied the ticket issuer, in a bored tone, even without lifting his head. "Are there no buses now?", he asked politely, a tone which he had learnt hard in the last five years. "There are, please wait for some time". "Okie, what time is the next bus?", obviously not happy with the reply. "Cant say, we dont know what time the buses arrive...", trying hard to control ...

Two weeks after coming here, I had been to Walmart for the first time. I had to get many things for the apartment. After some unsuccessful minutes of wandering and searching, I decided to ask someone. I went near the billing counter and asked the old lady standing there. "Excuse me, where can I get a foot rug?" She went blank for a moment and asked, "A what?" "Foot rug, which we put outside the door" "Oh, a door mat, its right there in the next aisle". I was speaking English and the only language she knew was 'American'. I picked up the cheapest foot rug available, as I anyway needed that just for three months. Then I remembered I needed a dust bin too. These people might not know what a dust bin is. There must be some other term. I thought for a while and went to the same old lady at the counter. "Hai, where can I get a trash can?" "A what?", her expression was as blank as the last time. "A Trash can, to put all ...

Downtown has become one of my favourite hangout locations over the weekends. Last saturday, I and Aravind went to the trax station and took all-day pass from a ticket vending machine. I love travelling by trax. Its full of life and I can see all kinds of people there. A young boy got his bike into the train(people call their bicycles as bikes, and they can bring it in the train. The funny thing is, they have separate places for boarding the train with their bikes!) A couple were sitting opposite to me - the girl seemed to be very angry and the boy was using all his skills to calm her. I was watching them from the reflection on the window glass ;) The girl did not relent for quite a long time, and then the boy said something for which the girl could not control her laughter. Persistence pays! An old couple sitting diagonally opposite to me were playing with the kid of a young couple sitting opposite to them. It made my belief stronger - that deep down, people are same everywhere - their...

The most frequently used sentence I have heard here is "Hey, howz it goin'?". The first day after I arrived here, I had gone in a taxi. The taxi driver had asked - "Hey howz it goin'?" For a moment, I had not realized what that "it" was - is it his taxi or my life? I dont know why the people here dont use relatively shorter phrases like "How are you?" or "How do you do?". Even strangers whom I meet on the road(though very rarely!) greet me with a "Hey, howz it goin'?". Yesterday it was heights. I met a person at the restroom, who asked me - "Hey, howz it goin'?". With so much difficulty, I controlled my laughter and said - "Fine"!

As I held her, I was ecstatic! I always had a dream of having someone like her in my life, long before I even knew about her existence. And today, we had met. Our union, though delayed, was inevitable. She was fair and slim, exactly as I had seen her in the pictures. Somehow, she seemed broad for her height, though it suited her! She was too cool, as if she was unaware of her own greatness. What attracted me most was not her gorgeous looks, but her capability. I fell madly in love with her as she started singing songs for me, which she will continue doing for a long time. She was my iPod! The romance had just begun!

Before you let your imaginations run wild, let me clarify - "First Night" here means the night on January 1st when they welcome the new year! Honestly, "First Night" seemed amusing to me too. It could have been "New Year Day", "New Year Eve Night", "Jan First", "Jan Night" or anything. Just imagine a person here talking to another - "How was your first night? Enjoyed? Had fun?" :)) December 31st started like any other saturday. I got up pretty late, had a long sleep, though my laptop was awake all night downloading the movie Rashomon. I had seen this movie more than a decade back on doordarshan. Surprisingly, I had liked this Akira Kurosawa classic. The story was a bit weird but very captivating. From the last few months, I had a strong desire to watch that movie again. I made full use of the amazing internet bandwidth here and by noon, I was watching the movie. I loved it even more this time. This saturday was turni...