When guests are coming in Bachelors’ House!!

I was anyways thinking about coming back early from Gurudwara Sahib this Sunday when I got to know that we were expecting Jasdeep veer’s cousin sister and her family in Khalsa House for a short visit. So that meant we need to do some preparations for hosting the guests as are normally done in any Indian House.

I am not really sure why do we always tend to change the look of the house and ours too when somebody is visiting our house. The activities started with bringing in fruits, milk and biscuits and namkeen from the market. Now people are responsible (read as wise) enough to not to be explained that you need to bring in stuff when you have guests coming in. Apne aap hi sab samaan aa jaanda hai bazaar ton and as expected it was Ramindar veerji who did job without any hint being provided.

So started the activity of changing the bed sheets, picking up the extra newspapers from the deewan lying in the drawing room of the Khalsa House and dumping them in an invisible corner. The shoes which had been unlucky for the entire week finally found their graceful position on a shelf in shoe rack. Normally breakfast layi daal wale paranthe hi chal jaande ne, but when you have guests coming in Paneer wale paraunthe taan hone hi chahide ne! ;-) The best we treat ourselves while having lunch is by spreading newspapers beneath the plates or max by sitting on the floored mattresses in place of sitting on chataai. But today we would be having lunch on new bedsheet with table mats ;-) Though it is a different story that we had spread table mats on the mattress which was spread on the floor! :D

Also as per normal hospitality rules, when we have guests coming in we need to find glasses which are at least of same shape and size! And the cups in which tea has to be served also should be socially displayable and should be from the same family. Otherwise normally in Khalsa House we don’t mind having mango shake in coffee mugs of all different colors and shapes. So were brought four cups which all were of same shape and color from Khalsa House 3!! Wow!! ;) But for bachelor guys that also means lack of variety, pata kiddan lagge bhi kinne kidde vich chaa paani pitta si te kehda bina peete chala gaya hai! :PAlso the butter was brought in two packs, the 100g one which could easily be cut into perfect cubes and served and the normal Jumbo pack from which the sangat would eat after the guests would have left. Jadd tak chamach naal makhan nahin kaddeya tad takk savaad kithon aane ne! ;)There is a table which has been unfortunate enough to be loaded like a mule with all that doesn’t find place anywhere else in the Khalsa House. It was a lucky day for it as it was covered with red bed sheet and pinned from sides to hide from the guests, the piles of newspapers, pamphlets, unopened mails and God knows what! And to further add to the beauty of the table we had placed the only soft toy in the Khalsa House – A teddy bear which now more of resembled a galli da kutta because of the dirt on it and the way its fur now looked. But you can’t expect more than this from a Bachelor’s house!! So this had to be acceptable! :P

While all this was being done everybody was enjoying the sudden activity happening around and the fact that the house was getting cleaned on an excuse of someone coming as a guest. The drawing room’s fan has been non functional for a while and we have been too lazy to get it repaired. So we thought of escorting the guests directly to the mattresses which were laid down on the floor in the hall instead of seating them on the Dewaan in the drawing room. You can make all these arrangements to look more sophisticated, hygienic, organized but the simplicity in you is bound to show its presence when guests finally pour in! ;)

And this act was completed by Jasdeep veer when Didi, Jija ji and their kid Parmeet had finally arrived. Just after exchanging salutations Ramindar veerji requested them to be comfortable on the deewan to which Jija ji responded “Nahin andar hi bathde haan araam naal” pointing to the mattresses in the hall. To which Jasdeep veer instantly added “Naale othe pakha vi chalda hai!!” I almost burst into laughter but had to control myself as no one else had noticed it happening! :PSo finally the saga ended in couple of hours and we all could come back to our normal state from being extra civilized. Not that the people in Khalsa House live in inhumane conditions or piles of litter around, but too much of organized stuff is kind of allergic here and we finally breathed as we could now heat the vegetables and take them in the same kadayi and pans in which they were heated to directly serve them into plates instead of first transferring them into serving bowls.

Not that I was witnessing this story of arranging stuff and making sure everything is spotless clean before the guests arrive for the first time. But every time I have to part of it I am always left with questions like why do we change the living standards for those who have come from almost same houses, leaving their houses in may be even worse conditions than ours! Why do people change bed sheets, take out new clean tables mats, napkins and liquid soaps while normal Lifebouys are the ones which have been in use till now and will be back on soap shelves when guests are gone!

Though the formalities and arrangements that were made were very very minimal in comparison to what would have been made had a family been a host! But even this one was enough for a Bachelors’ house to get shuffled completely to a state which was more of somebody else’s house rather than our house! Jasprit Veerji couldn’t resist himself and had finally made a mocking statement “Mainu taan ik vaari ghar dekh ke name plate dekhni pai gayi..sahi ghar hai na!”

Farewell / Reunion

It has been not too many days since I wrote a blog about Harman Veerji when he was leaving for Gurgaon and now it is Parmeet veer heading for the same place. Though I wanted to increase the frequency of writing blogs but not in this way. In the past few weeks there has been a good increase in terms of headcount in the group but with so many members moving out of the city I am now feeling bad. The relay race which started with Sumit veer moving to US, followed by Gujinder Singh moving to Australia, and then Harmandeep shifting to Gurgaon now it is Parmeet Singh which will be followed by Hardeep Singh who will soon be flying for US.

Before Parmeet veer starts feeling that this blog was not meant for him I better start jotting about him. Had I not stayed in this house for last three months I would have probably thought that he knows to speak only one sentence “Veerji aap chai peeoge?” Like me he loves tea, not sure if he loves making it as well but my selfish part always assumed so, and has helped me enjoy his magic many times. Though being a good cook, he could not put his skills to work in Khalsa House’s kitchen. “Jithe Ramindar veer di kardchhi chaldi hove, othe hor koi taddke kiddan la sakda hai!” :D This is a complete topic in itself and I would love to write about it…Till then it would be enough to say that I really admire and love how Ramindar veer does it…and would like to see him continue doing what he has been doing till now.

After kids, I think Parmeet veer (the one in black turban) is the cutest member of Soch. He is…no, he seemed to be a complete introvert when he joined here. There is a complete story about what he felt when he came to Khalsa House for the first time. Since he himself is into writing blogs I would rather leave that to him to write a complete blog about his life’s break at Khalsa House Station.

Had Meerut been an overnight journey I am pretty sure that we would have never seen this guy here on weekends. And it is actually difficult to stay away from your sweet kid (Sidak in his case) and your family. That very well explains his being on calls almost all the time after dinner till we sleep. Am writing this blog on Saturday while he is busy searching a house in Gurgaon on Sulekha.com sitting in the next room. There are plenty of things that are going on in his mind right now…He is just too happy and too excited for his transfer. But am also sure there would be a glitch of going away from here. Not sure how Parmeet or rest of the guys feel here, but I personally feel it would be great for anybody to let their kids grow in the company of these chachus. There are a lot of things which can be seen here practically, which you can find printed in chapters of Divinity school books.

Coming back to Parmeet Singh and his journey here, I think Parmeet veer had that luck to get into the Khalsa House. He had met Kanwal veer casually on road as a stranger and it was just after a conversation that Kanwal veer welcomed him here to stay for whatever months he was supposed to stay in Hyderabad. It is just that those few months have now come to an end and it is the happy time for a family reunion.

In future I would like to see another reunion. I would like Sidak to meet all of these Chachus and know what kind of love and affection did Parmeet veer enjoy while he was here in Hyderabad. With this I recall a small gesture which I would like to pen down in my diary.

Though completely out of superstitions, you would find Khalsa House members believing in Nazar Lagna in one way. The day Ramindar veer looks ‘too’ good (though he looks good daily) Parmeet veer does his act of “kaala til lagaana” so that Ramindar veer nu nazar na lag jaye. Since we do not have Kajal here this is done with a black marker beneath the ear close to where turban ends! The first time I saw it happening live, I thought somebody is trying to leave without eating breakfast and he is being persuaded to have it by Ramindar veer, who has lot of such responsibilities in the morning. But then I got to know…this was a mark of affection which was being put by an elder brother. I wonder from now on, who will tag Ramindar veer with a ‘til’, the day he looks extra smart. I was given a feedback by someone that my blogs have an emotional touch, but I doubt if we have a person here who is not emotional. And I’ve seen Parmeet Singh getting emotional for with a thought of leaving this place, especially because of the bond he shares with Ramindar Veerji and the good time he had while Sumit veer was here.

Parmeet veer, we would like to meet Sidak. Please bring him along next time you come to meet all of us. And I have another request to make... We would like to see Sidak as a fluent speaker and a comfortable good reader in Punjabi. Please try your level best that you impart this education to him while you nurture him. You already have our Master ji in Gurgaon who got a release from here just a week before you.

I am still confused to term this as a Farewell or a reunion. It is a Farewell...Farewell to the bachelor life which he had to live while his kid and wife were away in a different city, farewell to all those lonely times which Bhabhi ji and Sidak had to spend while he was being loyal to his job here, and also farewell to the sweet times which he got to spend here in Hyderabad. But the best is the reunion happening in his family or rather union of two families, Parmeet veer's with the Soch Parivaar. Yes, we have expanded again...

Rendezvous with Harmandeep Singh

The things I could recall about Harman veerji after meeting him for the first time were:
· He had done a brilliant Ardas involving himself and others completely
· He had great knowledge in bani
· Was fond of eating! ;)

After being in touch with him for the past few months the headlines still remain the same, though news have been shuttling between main and extra pages. Though we all knew that he was looking for a change on north side but when we heard about it we were happy and sad at the same time. We would be losing a wise member for the group discussions. The first statement that everybody said was “Hun Ardas kaun karega?” Soch has it…a specialized member for each thing and it is Harman veer for the Ardas. The best about him in this aspect was to include the occasion be it happy or sad, into the last section of the Ardas. There was never a need to tell him about somebody being unwell or a happy occasion being celebrated. Suneya hai kise kise di ardas zyada suni jaandi hai…I believe he is one of them…

There’s a lot of stuff that we all have learnt from him. The last few trips with him to Bidar and Hazoor Sahib have specially been very rewarding for me. He is normally very frank and open for discussions, but sometimes the ambience makes the difference which can take conversations to boundaries which have not been explored earlier. With Harbaksh veerji also being there with us for the trip to Bidar, I was feeling like I am on a trip with two Harman veers. When there are two intellectuals talking the horizon of talks get limited to the domain of the one with less knowledge. And here I was witnessing the conversation of two veers who seemed to talking about anything and everything about principles of life, Bani’s implementation in practical scenarios and how far are we from the right track we should be on. I contributed a lot to their conversation by being silent, for I did not want to limit the domain of their conversation. :)

There are two sides of him and you need to meet both to know him completely. The confident DBA in corporate attire transforms into a complete theth punjabi with saffron keski and white Punjabi casuals ;) at his home. Feels proud to be associated to his culture and the pind diyan gallan which he narrates with great interest. And there is a depth in his voice which will entangle you in his conversations and make you believe that life is still simple and cool. Basically a very good conversationalist I think he can talk at length with anyone on any topic, condition if the person is front is receptive and worth what is being discussed about. His small eyes are enough to scold you for anything he doesn’t like happening around. Though he would wait for sometime before he starts expressing his concerns, the silent stares are enough to hint you about what to do next to keep all calm. Yes I have received some and am afraid of them. ;) Daadd gilli karna is one of his favourite hobbies and we have given him patent for this phrase and for another one…something related to birth of a question! ;)

We have been pushing him like anything for starting a new group back in Gurgaon because with coming times people might be going back to north side closer to their homes. After enjoying the company of Sangat here I don’t think there can be a Happy Weekend without being in such a sangat. And with Bhajan veerji, Gagan bhainji and now Harman veerji being there as well, I hope it won’t take much time to erect a building since pillars are already in place.

We recently had a get together dinner at his place where he addressed everybody, recollecting his memories of how he came into the group and how has he changed since then and what changes could he notice in everybody in the times that have passed by. He just connected it in such a beautiful way like there was a movie playing in front of us and it seemed like we would have a emotional climax to this one but we could avoid it with a joke cracked by Ramindar veer! ;) Ramindar veer, Thanks for that…you could limit the conversation to just heavy voices. Though he said a lot about all of us, even after provoked by Randeep veer I couldn’t muster enough of words to say something for him and rest everybody as well chose to keep quiet. So here comes this blog letting all that out which could have been said that day. It was better not said for we needed some time to digest what all had already been talked about. And sometimes silence is like saying more that could have been with words.

Finally it makes me feel that though we are letting a important element of ‘Soch’ part from us but it is like opening another branch of an organization. Even a division operator actually multiplies the count of entity...one entity into two – a dividend and a divisor. I hope and pray that the new ‘dividend’ which he starts in Gurgaon continues to flourish and blossom in the light of Sikhi while the ‘remainder’ here in Hyderabad achieves new heights with new Gursikhs like him joining and guiding us to be on the correct path of life.

Wishing and praying the best for him...May he continue to be on the right track enlightening others as he has been till now....

And I finally made it to Khalsa House

May be my english vocabulary is too weak to completely understand the meaning of ‘again’ or may be I should use another word to define something that happens in loop, over and over again. Let me make it clear..I dont love changing homes but this might be my 4th house since past 8 months!! Yes, I am shifting AGAIN… I hope my new landlord doesn't read blogs or I will have to soon search for a fifth one! ;)

Believe me it is very easy to set up a home....You do that incrementally, brining it together piece by piece. You would have never known how much of junk have you gathered together until comes that stage of piling it all up and taking it to another home. I think I am no different from others having habit of keeping junk with you, giving self assurances that it would be needed one day. But when finally you throw it one day, it would surely be needed within next one month from the date of disposal! ;)

I often hear my parents and relatives saying “Amrit nu taan ghar set karan di bahut changi practice ho gayi honi hai hun taan!” I have been shifting like anything. Though I don’t love too many changes but circumstances always play some painful but sweet games with me as far as changing homes is concerned. But I think all these years I have always met better companions with each change. Now I finally made it to the best!

There was a time when I was longing to be with the Khalsa House members, almost spending my whole weekend with them and trying to be there with them after office hours and then coming back here again early morning so that I can do path with them. Although I am still not a legal resident of the Khalsa House [A reqsuest to Ramindar veerji if he ever reads this, pls make me legal! ;) ] but have been staying here since February. I couldn’t move in earlier because of the space constraints as there wasn’t more space in the almirah’s which already seem to be overloaded. But then I am able to stay because the Khalsa House members seem to have much bigger hearts than their almirahs. Or may be I am too shameless to go away because there was no space for my belongings :P

I somehow believe that you can’t just get into Khalsa House. People are very inviting, very affectionate, very apne but at the end you need to have some extra kismat to meet them and earn their company. To tell you the truth I never stayed overnight in Khalsa House earlier, always used to go back to my home at the end of the day because somehow I felt that I don’t deserve to stay with them. They all seem to be full of purity and I could see myself as full of all other stuff nothing of which seemed to present in them. If I can recall correctly I would like to call it being in disjoint sets.

But as time passed by the magnetic charisma finally pulled me over to their end and I started finding it hard to go back home. I have been staying with them since Feb end. This house seems to be more of mine now than the one where I often go to collect my belongings. In fact I have also changed my ‘wareHouse’ in the meanwhile. So I now go to Kanwal veer’s house to get my belongings.

This blog comes at a time when there is also another place getting vacant in the Khalsa House II (Jasprit veer and Harman veer’r house). Harman veer, whose Ardas made me shiver the first time I heard it, whose knowledge in bani can spell bound anyone, whose explanation of bani and slok and the way he connects one shabad to another when he sits for some viakheya makes you a motionless stone for while. He is moving to Gurgaon for greener pastures, or I should say Career pastures, for now we all acknowledge that it couldn’t be greener than here.

So though I have been staying here at Khalsa House, I would soon be getting an opportunity to move to Khalsa House II. I am happy, speechless, but I think the stay would have been much more gaining had Harman veer been there as well. May be I am not that deserving to get it right now. Rather I should try my best to get the max out of what I am actually going to get, by getting an opp to stay with Jasprit veerji; because even that is going to be much more than my ability to absorb.

So another week to go before I finally shift again to my new house. Though this time I don’t need to pack my stuff, since I did not unpack it all last time I shifted! ;) It seems I just got 'lucky by chance' to get to stay in both the Khalsa Houses for some time and I really pray I don’t have to shift from there …Again…

The Trespassers

It had been just few days since me and Hardeep had moved into this house. We both now shared the same opinion that the house was not worth its rent: The stains on the floor which we thought would go after a thorough wash, had now proved to be permanent and shelves without almirah doors almost laughed at us for agreeing to the whooping rent which we were paying.

While cleaning the house I noticed 4-5 broom sticks and feathers on floor close to the kitchen exhaust outlet. I cleaned them on the first day but they were back next day and their number was increasing day by day. My queries were soon answered by a pigeon, who was trying to build a nest on top of the kitchen almirah. Daily she would bring these sticks which would be placed on the shelf, adding to the strength and the warmth of the nest. I wouldn’t have minded her presence but somehow I hate pigeon’s “ghutar-goo” sound. So we decided that she would have to choose a better place for her mansion and this place belonged to us. So I needed to check for the time when she was not there so that I could block her entrance to the kitchen by placing a board/stick in the exhaust opening. But to my dismay she was more regular to our home than me going to office. Morning, Evening, Night…even at 2:00 AM!! Now this was heights! And enough for me to climb on the Kitchen shelf to have a peek in the next morning and wooo…This time pigeon was not there!! BUT there were two eggs! That explained the pigeon being there day and night..Mother’s affection! :-

So soon we were five of us staying in the flat..It seemed so impartial that only me and Hardeep had to pay the rent while the rest of the three were allowed to stay for free. ;) Anyways the chicks were not yet born and pigeon mom seemed to be quiet. So we kind of agreed to that as well. But they would soon be out of their shells and we knew that PM (Pigeon Mom) would then become defensive. What would be the situation if she doesn’t allow us to enter the Kitchen? And what about the chirp-chirp and Ghutar-Goo family talks?? They might not be that particular about their privacy but I was…about peace at my home. They have to go away!

Debate time…Should we throw her nest out along with the eggs or should we let the family stay there till the kids grow up and learn to speak and fly! J We had discussed about the Pigeon encroachment with our apartment’s watchman and he arrived next day with his weapons to demolish the unauthorized construction. But now when we had seen the eggs, we could not let that happen. When asked about what would he do with the eggs, he said ‘This just keeps on happening every now and then! Inka kya hai?? Utha ke phenk do..kitni’k tension loge!! Sab ko pareshaan kar rakha hai inhone. Yahan sabhi yahi karte hain. Main abhi isko nikaal ke phenk deta hoon…Aap chinta nakko karo!” But the idea of pigeon mom without her eggs almost made me shiver. She could not spare a minute without them, what would happen to her if she suddenly discovered that the eggs and her nest are gone. “No…We will take care of this ourselves..You can leave” May be we can find a better place where we can just place the nest outside our kitchen, where pigeon mom can still foster her kids and we could maintain boundaries. I wish I had placed the nest outside that day and not worried about the cold outside or cat eating the eggs.

So we started living happily as a single family. Soon a mutual treaty was signed between pigeon mom and Hardeep and me. We didn’t mind her presence in the kitchen as long as she was quite, and she would allow us to enter the kitchen and do our chores as long as we maintain a safe distance from her nest. Without realizing I had added another regular activity in my daily calendar: Check for the presence of Pigeon Mom and if chicks were out of their shells! I used to check for the chicks daily ;-) With a naughty smile Hardeep took a promise from me to take care of the chicks when he was away and started for his home trip.

I was drinking water in the kitchen when from the corner of my eye I noticed a blood stain on the floor near the sink! And there was a body of a small chick, like it had fallen from a great height and had burst. L It lay dead there!! I was shocked to see that. As I moved closer suddenly I stepped on something and I quickly lifted my foot up…and I had stepped on my fears... :-‘( it was body of the second one! Both of the chicks were dead!! I couldn’t believe it! I was feeling like something had hit me hard! What would happen to the pigeon mom when she gets to know about this? I was not sure if cleaning the kitchen of the dead bodies was a better option or letting the pigeon mom know that chicks are dead! The news was definitely disturbing but I did not want her to wander around the window and shelf, trying in vain to search for her kids while they were lying dead in some pile of rubbish.

While I was thinking all this she suddenly arrived at the Kitchen exhaust and came and sat at the corner of the almirah top close to the dead bodies. She was watching her kids..her kids who were no longer alive. May she had seen them dead before I did, but I wanted to leave her alone. I just picked up what I needed from kitchen and walked away.

I am still not sure if I should have allowed the watchmen to destroy her nest and eggs. May be even placing her nest and eggs outside in cold exposed to an attack by cat and other animals would have been better as well. Atleast she could have cried at the loss of eggs for some days and forgotten about them. But now they were out of their shells and alive..the family had started!!

Here I am writing this blog and still feeling bad about the family which never started. While my watchmen might have killed so many families of same species by now. Why is it so easy for a person like him to kill offsprings of a bird saying ‘Inka Kya hai and chalta hai!!’ The reaction had definitely not been been the same if a decision had to be made to kill a human’s child? Because the pigeon mom can’t speak human language or rather because humans cannot hear her plea of mercy; does that give right to humans to kill her kids! I think humans need to be taught a lot!

The pigeon mom was there whole of the day. Next day I had to leave for 10 days for a home trip. Even though the pigeon mom was not there I did not have enough courage to pick up the dead bodies and clean the area. May be thinking too much about all this had moved me enough to not to see any more of it. Hardeep would be back from home before me. May be walking out of home, leaving everything as it is, can help me escape Hardeep’s questions about the pigeon mom and her family; but I will have lots of unanswered questions in my mind. I wonder who has trespassed into other’s world, we or birds…

It's time to bid Good Bye! :-(

This 31st of December is gonna be a special day...I think I will remember it forever.

No..not because this would be an end to this year, but that would be my last day in my existing orgainzation. I have resigned from Satyam and am moving on to a new role in a different organization. I had joined Satyam on '27th Dec 2004' with a group of 130 other associates who were recruited through off campus interviews from various parts of the country. I remember it very clearly..It is one of my favourite days of my life :)...I think I was the Happiest person on earth on that day! :) We were told that there would be a bond period of 2 years after we join Satyam and we will have to stick to this organization for that time. But we did not know then that there will be a more stronger bond of emotional fibers, friendship strands; laced with onsite opportunity which would be strong enough to tie me to this organization for another two years even after the bond period was over.

Most of my friends have moved out of this organization. May be there are still 10-15 left of those 130 batchmates; but I don't know the left ones very well. But I know many people here now, who are not from my batch and there are many people who know me. There is this comfort zone with all your managers and their managers that lets you feel great! I know whom to put in cc in case my work gets stuck somewhere ;) There is some extra respect that you get automatically from people around you, even when you are meeting them for the first time. There are situations when you don't need to introduce yourself to strangers and there are these times when people themselves come to meet you and take advice for issues that they are facing in their project. There are fellowmates who see your ID card and say with exclamation "Kab join kiya tha yaar!! Mera id to tumse bahut aage hai" :) Yes that does make you feel old sometimes... :D

But I still feel that it would have been harder to leave Satyam after 2 years than it is now. When you see your friends moving to greater heights with higher pay cheques... you get that feeling of moving on. After all emotions can't fill your stomach at the end of the day...But I can't imagine the feeling of handing over my Id Card to the security personnel at the end of my last day. That card has been my identity for the last four years...I think it will feel like parting with a small portion of self...parting with your corporate image that you have developed over the last few years in this company.

What about the F.R.I.E.N.D.S that won't be there in the new organization? It would take some time before you can casually ping on official messengers and say "Coffee? :)" It would take some time for you to develop enough rapport with people to let them know you would be coming late to office today and if they can manage with work till then. And who can guarantee if I can get good friends in new organization?? It would take some time for me to be enough comfortable to drag one of my colleagues to cafeteria even if he already had his lunch! It would take a lot of time to.... actually a lots of things! :(

I wish there was an option to move all of your friends with you to your new organization! We can name this concept as 'CMS - Corporate Mass Switching!' ;-) I am still not sure if I would be continuing in the same city or would I be joining in another city. Just in case I need to move from Hyderabad, that would further add to this list of "It would take a lot of time to.." Still some more days to think about all this before I actually start experiencing it..Lets see...The countdown has begun...

OMG! Its my B'day tomorrow! :)

I was sitting in Gurudwara when my cell phone buzzed. It was Ramindar veer from Soch group calling me and he had Jasprit veer in conference%2C who was speaking every alternative line in the conversation and I was totally confused for who was there on the other end! ;) It took me some time before I was confident that it was Ramindar veer...and also Jasprit veer :-D.
It was 8th Dec and it was a holiday next day for Bakreed in most of the MNCs including Oracle and Microsoft. So the Soch group which has majority of Oracle members was planning for something...atleast that is what I had thought initially...but I was soon to be proved wrong. :-O
Veere kal da ki program Hai?
Kuch khaas nahi ji...mera taan working hai kal…Satyam vich taan chhutti nahin hai
Koi na....svere milde haan kal…nitnem de paath layi..dasso je possible hai taan...
Haan Haan sure....Main aa jaunga.
Pakka aaoge na...Eh na hoye tussi aao na?
Nahin ji..Saturday vi aanda haan.....kal vi aaunga..othon hi office nikal jaunga main
Program kithe karna hai
Khalsa House vich hi...Jithe tuhanu theek lagge...Main ki kavan..Dekh lo jiven tuhanu theek lagge..Agge vi tussi hi plan karde ho :)

These many questions and specially a conference call from two veers together was enough to give me a hint that something was cooking...but may be my sense of smell isn’t that good to judge what was that! ;) These guys have always been the best in doing whatever they do...From arranging Bharbat Pheri to Nitnem Path or Kirtan at someone’s house. Why did they need me for fixing a program and why this sure shot confirmation for my presence?? After disconnecting the call I was pondering on all these doubts when suddenly I realized...next day was 9th Dec ‘My Birthday’ and I had completely forgotten about it! :-)
I had to literally beg Hardeep (my new roomie) to accompany me to Khalsa House (Soch House) as his office is exactly at the opposite corner of the city from the Khalsa House. But he had to listen to me ;) after all I was the B’day boy! :-) We reached Khalsa House at 5:30 AM. After being greeted with Fateh and birthday wishes we started with the Nitnem Path. Normal Saturday routine...Japji Sahib, Jaap Sahib, Tvaprasad Savayiye, Chaupayi Sahib and Anand Sahib. Just that we didn’t do Asa ki vaar today but recited Kirtan.
Thanks to Jasprit veer for reciting ‘Poota Mata ki Asis’

ਪੂਤਾ ਮਾਤਾ ਕੀ ਆਸੀਸ ॥
O son, this is your mother's hope and prayer,
ਨਿਮਖ ਨ ਬਿਸਰਉ ਤੁਮ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਕਉ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਸਦਾ ਭਜਹੁ ਜਗਦੀਸ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
that you may never forget the Lord, Har, Har, even for an instant. May you ever vibrate upon the Lord of the Universe. 1Pause
My mother always reads out this Shabad to me on my birthday and it felt good to listen to it again even though I was away from my home :)

After the Kirtan we had langar. Saag!!! I don’t know after how many days I was having it! and it was mouth watering..just awesome! To all the great compliments which we passed on to Jasprit veer, he just answered it with “Nahin ji..This is just begineer’s luck!!” I am pretty sure he can never do anything wrong ever....He just seems to be blessed...I don’t think I should describe him much here for it would more of resemble a holy figure on earth :) but yes I admire him and respect him a lot for his knowledge in Sikhism and the way he is out there for all of us to guide us in all things.
Back to langar: Saag, Maa di daal (Black Daal) Roti and at the end was Cake!! The surprises that I had got till then were already too much for me to handle and here was another one! Cake was the least thing I was expecting in the Khalsa House. I know it must be eggless but still...I was just surprised and speechless! :-)
I was there till noon after which I moved to office. Though I did not want much publicity of my B’day in office but it seems like everybody had vowed to give me surprises. It was 7:30 PM when I was standing in Cafeteria surrounded by a team of around 50 associates who were wishing me Happy Birthday! And the credit for the second cake and celebration goes to Vamsi Krishna Vangala, Srinivas Chaitanya and Gunti...Thanks a ton guys! :) You made my day!!
I’ve turned 26...but I don’t think I have ever celebrated such a grand Birthday! I was not thinking about any celebration...In fact I was so occupied in my normal routine that on 8th it took me some time to realize that its my Birdthay tomorrow! Never ever have so many people gathered together in early hours and prayed for me..Never ever has anybody got up for me at 2:30 AM or before to prepare langar for 15 guys. I am still not sure if Ramindar veer and Jasprit veer woke up at 2:30 or even before that to make all the arrangements. And I don’t think anybody has tried to persuade me to celebrate my birthday in office as was done this year by Vamsi! This year there seems to be a almost a rain of good people around me :) I have been lucky in terms of real good friends...I think ‘thanks’ would be an inappropriate word to use here...As Ramindar says..How can you equate the love of your younger brothers with a single word which was was gifted to us by Britishers?? And I dont have any answer for him :) That is why I have not yet replied to his scrap in orkut...and I dont think I will ever have an answer…