Maggi memories

Maggi is a Nestlé brand of instant soups, stocks, bouillon cubes, ketchups, sauces, seasonings and instant noodles. The original company came into existence in 1872 in Switzerland, when Julius Maggi took over his father's mill. ... Source: Wikipedia

"Maggi is the second best thing to have ever happened to a bachelor " -- I announced among a room full of Master Degree students. The effect was dramatic. People looked up from their computer monitors and some turned around in their swivel chairs. I don't recollect the topic of the discussion any more. Was it maggi or was it bachelorhood? But I sure as hell was proud of my observation linking these two sweet realities in my life then. Anyway, the natural question followed :

So what is the first? Is it a four letter word? Does it start with "F" ?

Unfortunately, I could not quite answer that day as it came from a girl ...

"No, it's more subtle than that " -- was all I could manage. But then that is another story so let's return to maggi now.

My earliest memory of Maggi is quite dark indeed. I was 9 or 10 years old. There was this promotional offer going on those days. You have to post a certain number of empty maggi packets and answer a few quiz questions to win gifts and prizes. I tried once and actually received some board game and a badge that read "Maggi Club member". Naturally, I showed that off to friends and earned my position of pride among them. Now all of them could not afford a maggi or write a few lines in English. One among them made me an offer : he would collect empty maggi packets (from garbage bins, I later found out) and I'll do the rest. The prize would be shared by us. When the gift finally arrived this time, I was already pissed off by this guy's constant nagging nature. Or... I realize now, greed got the better of me. I actually denied him his share by repeatedly lying to him that the gift never arrived. Thus began my journey with maggi.

However, maggi is also associated with a lot of beautiful ever lasting memories in my life. Most happened during my stay in hostel. We took snacks break every hour during our night long study sessions. Most of the time it was Maggi that saw us through. Once, someone tried some desi ghee with maggi hoping to add some spice to the recipe. But the result was disastrous.

Caution: NEVER EVER try maggi with ghee !!!

I would like to end with another word of caution. It's for girls living alone...

In the movie "Ek haseena thi", Saif Ali Khan actually guessed Urmila Matondkar's single status watching her buy 17 packets of Maggi. (Ya to aap akeli rehti hai nahi to aap ke bahot sare bacche hai... ) . Urmila actually ends up killing Saif at the end of the movie...

The road to papahood...

It started one December morning. The sheer excitement even pronounced by the chill that tickled and teased deep down inside the blanket. My wife got up early. She had just taken a test more scary than your first board exams... and the results were due in 5 minutes.
I lay frozen in bed. The lingering bubbles of sleep being pricked away by the unforgiving signals from the brain. After what seemed like an eternity, I heard her calling out for me, her voice uncomfortably neutral. I turned towards her, our eyes met, and that was it...the journey had begun !!!
37 weeks later, it was my turn to wait for a result. Only this time, I was spared the torture of being all alone as I was surrounded by family. The medical staff had taken her into the operation theatre where she would be anaesthetised and would undergo a lower uterine caesarian section surgery. The baby would be pulled out of her mother's womb any moment now. A boy? A girl? It didn't matter to me... I so wanted to see her again....
Minutes passed as I found myself pretending to be the epitome of "courage under pressure" (that is how Hemingway defined "grace") . Then suddenly I heard someone calling out my name and the surrounding just erupted. I climbed two floors up the stairs to the O.T and somewhat symbolically took one giant step in life... I was the father of a baby girl !!

But hey... I was not thinking of writing all this. I was about to tell you how miserable I felt at the last bit of freedom being confiscated from me. About the zillion calculations I did in my mind over those 9 months. And how the same me fought tears when the little one had a fever just 4 days into her life and the doctors said they would make a puncture in her spine and draw fluid in a syringe. They wouldn't allow anyone near her and I had to watch her from behind a glass partition till the nurses would mercilessly pull down the curtains !
Having gone through all this, it really feels good to hold her in my arms now. I selfishly have the privilege to call her "Steffi" even though people around me find it hard to digest :) .
And do you know what my wife said to me when I met her again in the recovery room...
She said "We did it !!"
"We sure did !!" -- I replied

My own Idiot story

It occured to me last night... The story of "3 idiots" , in many ways, could be my own !
Towards the beginning of college we had a group of three. Saumyadip & Purnendu (all names and incidents real) being my best friends then in a world of alien, bookish classmates and bragging professors. It must have been a very strong bond as we still remain in touch after almost 12 years , that too, being in three different parts of the world and in entirely different professions. Though, I would probably not gate crash a marriage party to steal the bride or travel to Ladakh to meet up my friends (sorry guys!!! ). Saumya, who is currently doing his research on some weird complicated subject in Finland could easily step in to Rancho's (Ryan in 5 point someone) shoes. He had the knack to influence people, had his own pre conceived ideas on changing the world and was the most talented among us. I could write pages about him, but let's hold that till he receives a nobel in physics.

Puru was literally an idiot! He did stuff with his life which you could easily compare to jumping from a 3rd floor terrace. He even has a sister ! Well... if I had to save his life by marrying her, I wouldn't think twice :) .

He also has a gem of a heart and that was reason enough for me to love him.

None of us had a girl friend, though Puru and I managed to nail down the girls we aimed at then. (It took us years and the same dedication towards our career could have seen us in better positions now) Saumya, it seemed would have a cake walk with the girl he aimed at, but then, even Bangladesh beats Australia sometimes...

Unlike Raju, Puru did have a 7th floor apartment which remained empty for most parts of the day. The terrace was the perfect place to have a pint of beer or inexpensive rum and cola in the after noon of a rainy day. It was too great an attraction to break away from the dull physics lectures and none of us were monks in any way.

It was Saumya who had the courage to follow his dreams, even if it means staying thousands of miles away from home, where the sun shines for only 6 months in a year. He did try to motivate us in his own way but reality is not a movie and we could not muster enough courage to follow our heart's desires...

That said, I don't repent a bit when I think of the good times we had together. And, I really hope we would meet up in a terrace someday, just the three of us...