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Normally i never remember my dreams. But this time was different.

I am sitting in a bus stop type of place.
It’s dark.
and I am the only one around.
I hear some voices, female voices. Voices in distress.
I see two gundas taking two girls by force up a stair.
The girls are resisting. But the gundas are musclebound.
I step in, with a iron rod lying nearby.
“Stop it”, I say.
They ignore me.
The rod in my hand crashes on one of the gunda’s back.
He groans. “maa@#$#@#…teri..#$@#$”, he cries.
I am ready for more if the other one tries anything. But he is a little dazed.
And then the girl says to me, “Mind your own business, go away”, with an angry tone.
I say, “Fuck it….” drop the rod, which tan tana tans across the floor, turn around and go.

Next scene is: I am on the roof of the 2 floor building. And I can see the 2 men talking, about me, just outside the entrance.
In fact they are out of their daze and want to take revenge, and beat me up. They are waiting at the entrance for me to come out. Their eyes are on the door.
I look around….there is a electric pole about a metre from the building. I jump from the roof to the pole. Slide down silently. When I am around one floor down..I see some loose wires hanging. From the pole onto the wires, and a swing towards one of the guys. I land heavily with a kick on that guy’s head.

And then i wake up.

Kamathipura is famous for another thing. It’s chor markets. Fridays and sundays, morning 4am to 7am, in an alley called “ded gali”, or 1 1/2 alley, is held the shoe market. Brands like NIKE, REEBOK, ADDIDAS, WOODLAND and others, any model less than 800 bucks. My sneakers are in pretty good shape, so I caught on my sleep while my roomies went and brought back a great deal. I’ll go there on a friday, as there is also an electronics bazaar on fridays. I need a floater, but that can wait for the rains.

Then went for some shopping to HUMA mall. Had the new flavors from kwality icecreams, with funky and alcoholic names. But the vendor says it does not have alcohol, just flavors.

And i am just back from go karting. It had never occured to me to try it. The closest i had got to the track was 5 years back, when fresh in mumbai, i heard about a movie shoot at the track. Back then celebreties were still godlike (for me) and when aishwarya rai had deigned to come, i had no option but to go. Part of a mob standing outside the tracks, patiently taking in the numerous retakes of a song. When the shot was ‘cut’, aish walked towards her dressing van. And the mob broke the lines. The few security personnel could’nt do anything. We ran towards the van. With numerous emotions flooding on aish’s face, most of them synonyms of fear, she looked even more beautiful. She was about to reach the van’s door when we reached her. Nobody did anything, she had such a presence. Everyone stood around making a circle with her in the center. No one said anything, for a moment. Then the security guards came back with backup. Aish lifted her hand and waved. And everybody waved back.The security whisked her into the van. And that was that.

5 years later had a even higher high on the same tracks. When i first sat at the wheel it did’nt take much time to get confident. And even before 1/4 of a lap i was speeding. And when the first sharp turn came, I took a left (or some such thing), on a clockwise track. Bang, into the tyres. The first thought was “fuck..is the kart alright, i don’t want to pay for damages”….but then i saw no hanging pieces, and the “pit man” came running. With a warning of doing it coolly, flagged me off, metaphorically. The rest of the laps were sheer fun, though i could not reach my full potential because of the “bang” scene in the back of my head. But go karting sure kicks any drinks ass, in the highness quotient.

Future plans, deep and i are spliting costs on a skateboard. And a BMX bike.

While my body is headed towards middle age,
i am headed towards teenage americana.

With due respects to musicians and old people, and particulary to musicians, I would like to say something. When your vocal chords get tired better stay at home. Well age is in the mind, but after a certain extent it effects our body too. Can’t he hear himself and doesn’t he respect music and his audience. And the accompanying singer was really bad, was making so many mistakes. And the even older anchor who was reciting antique shayari and sardaar jokes. My friend tells me he made the same jokes at a show in Goregaon too.

When someone is strugling at learning a art, i appreciate it. But someone who has made it to a perfection, to the top, i think should make a graceful exit, before starting to croak. Sing at your home, beside lonely riverbanks.

Some quotes, (paraphrased)…

“now i am singing such and such song…from the film, directed by my friend the great director, who unfortunately is no more, for the hero, …sorry i forget the heroine’s name.”

“In those days……..heee-haaaw, but nowadays blaah - blaah….”

“and this was composed by the great music director, who has left us long ago, and penned by the great lyricist of west bengal”

“and now let me sing a benGOli song about coffee houses, where the elite of all benGOL came to drink tea….oops coffee”