Hey it's my Birthday

On my birthday eve, Archana suggested for a walk and we ended up at a café hogging a lot of food. While I was busy eating, she got out the gift from her bag and handed it to me. She gifted me Conversation with Friends, a book she bought in Delhi. 

She read me three of her favourite poems, wrote two letters as a birthday gift. Grateful for having people around me to celebrate my birthday, I called it a day and dozed off. Nikita woke me up with her signature wishes. "Happy birthday. Have a great time. Do something awesome!." Thanks Nikita, you always push me to be at my best. 

Harry called up early to wish me and spend few minutes talking. Thoughtful. I loved it. He suggested me to spend some time reflecting on 'birthday' and '27th birthday.'

Azhar dressed up well on my birthday, celebrating it and wished me. 

Feeling special about the day but, also in the humdrum of courses, I walked into the meeting room. I was glad for a while that people do not know about my birthday. Usha walked in and greeted me loud making others know about my birthday. Wished by everyone, I became the birthday boy in the class. 

Ayushi was at her best, telling "Today it's his birthday," to all whom she met. 

Shreya, Evangeline aunt, Smoothies, Swathi, Swati, Pooja, Sruthi, Amu, Venkatesh, G, PSVB, Sunny, Vickas, Faddy, Sachin, Shaik, Satwik, Azhar, Shankar, Dyu, Sneha, Karan shared their wishes. 

Ayushi hosted a party inviting me, Archana, Ashok, Prateek & Tirang at her place. We ate lots of food. Danced till we were sweating. We went out for a walk to drop Tirang at his place. Listening to music, walking on the deserted streets, we were enjoying the night. We called it a day on 12.30. Technically the next day. 

Akhila gifted me "I'm not  here to  Give Speech and some face masks. Harry gifted me 'Comfort Crisis' book, Elsa gifted me, 'The Reluctant Mother' Grateful for all the blessings, love and wishes.

 

Birthday Experiment- Remind the loved ones about the birthday

Till the time I was in Hyderabad, I celebrated my birthday in different ways. In 2018, I hitchhiked to Bidar the whole day and spent the evening at Gurudwara. 

In 2019, I moved to Rajasthan and stayed inactive on social media through out wondering if anyone cared to know my whereabouts. A lot of people indeed cared. A lot of loved ones made an effort to call on my birthday even though we didn't stay in touch for an year. And also, in the same year, I got a chance to celebrate my birthday with the children who showered their love with warmth greetings. 

In 2020, after a long time, I stayed at home for my birthday. For once, I celebrated it in sober manner. 

In 2021, I'm thinking of reminding all my friends about my birthday, not to be self-centered but it's good to break the silence we've been maintaining for a long time. 

As I hid my birthday on social media, half of my friends didn't bother to remember and wish. I'm grateful for everyone who remember and who do not remember as well. 

Recently one of my friend called up, just to make sure she remembers my birthday right as she remembers the birth month but not sure of date.

Seeing other friend sharing gratitude on her birthday, I realized my birthday has been skipped from a lot of my friends' memory. (One more way to tell myself that people love me but, their memory keeps failing.)

Talking to other friend, he shared how he decided to call up his friends on his birthday, just to remind them about the 'important day'. It's good to have good time na. No matter who reminds them about the special day. 

So lads, November is my birth month. Don't bother if you do not remember the date. Will share it soon.  

Who doesn't love gifts! A decade ago, I shared a wish list with my bestie. Best friends are best friends for a reason. She gifted me all the books I asked for. 

This time, I'm putting efforts to share it with everyone because, I believe in asking. 

Here's the wish list for my birthday:

https://www.amazon.in/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/7LTxRLG?ref_=wl_share

And here's the postal address:

Abhinay Renny 

c/o Azim Premji Foundation

Airport Terminal, 2nd Street

Siddarth Nagar

Jaipur 

Rajasthan 302017

Note: I love hand written letters and post cards :)

Soliloquies- Writing, a lonely journey

 For months, I feared to touch my draft hearing to a voice that I may not be good at working now. Indeeed I was terrible at beginning. I just stared at the screen. Putting up with the silence, I began to correct the words that had spelling mistakes removing the red underlines in the word. Continuing to pace, I told myself to spend time. Just spend time with it. As I spend time, I got frustrated. Knowing that my frustration emotion is about struggling to move forward in the story, I remained silent. I knew where my emotions were coming from. I didn't try to narrate myself another story on my frustrating emotions. I was there, staring at the screen and flowing words. I continued editing  a bit by bit, word by word. Working on three chapters, I feel good about coming so far. I realised it's about being patient. Patient with the progress. 

Happy writing. 

Movie- Jai BHIM

This kind of stories need to come out. Through Harry's blog I got interested to watch this movie. Jai BHIM is a story of tribal woman fighting the system to get the justice. This movie is based out a real story and it has the elements that take us to reflect our past and the brutalities we're committing to fellow humans in the name of caste. I wonder if Telugu cinema can come up with stories that revolve around oppression and caste discrimination. 

Jaipur Journals- Handi & Hustle

 Sneha, Dyu are in town. Three of us went out in search of good food. Three of us are big time Biryani fans. As our standards in appreciating the non-veg is very high, we were critical in choosing the food joints. Handi was the final selected one, as it boasted about it's Handi on Google. 

Retrospecting our life at Sirohi, we relished on Bajra Roti and Laal Maans. Ended the meal with not-so-bad lassi. 

Leaving them at the station, I walked down the roads of Jaipur. Jaipur is a scenic city. I'm happy that  I live here which doesn't have much buzz but has it's own aura. 

Spent some time watching Elizabeth's statue and hopping onto the E-Rickshaws I reached home munching too much of Banaras Paan available at Gandhinagar Jaipur. 

Graphic Musings- Different Tools

 Without anyone saying anything, I caught myself a lot of times before I sketched on the painted canvas. The canvas is already painted, how do I write, I told myself. Finally I pushed myself to sketch and sketched on the big canvas. 

Stories on Wheels-- Stories, Cinema & Social Media

On a cold november night, I was walking from Jawahar Kala Kendr to home. 10KM away, I decided not to rely on cab. I wished to take an auto, public transport but, looks like the world has listened to my wish and made all the autos and public transport go in every lane but, not in my road. Why don't I take the help, I thought and began to raise the thumb and ask for the help. Hitchhike to home! 

Hitchhiking in Rajasthan? is it as easy as I get in my place, I thought.  I realized I’m being judgmental about the places and the whole point is to just wait, rather than expecting something out of it.  

All these thoughts didn’t change any probability of what I get. But I walked and walked and there was this one Scorpio. Path decide. And there was this long fair sharp featured handsome man in a dark green shirt, blue jeans. Trying to get into the car.  

So I met Omar adham Khan. I didn’t expect to hitchhike. I was waiting, and I waited, and waited, and waited and I thought we liked it. 

Can you give me lift? I asked.  "Left?" he repeated. 

I repeated LIFT. "Aajao," he waved his hand. I got onto his car, a dark green spacious Scorpio. 

As I just got into the car, a bike rider stopped by asking for directions. "You tell,"  he looked at me. "I don't know the place." I asserted.  

"Are you not from this place?" he enquired. "No, I'm from Hyderabad. I'm new to this place." I answered him. 

 

Looking at him. I thought he’s a traveler and yes, he is. He traveled from Delhi to goa. Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh. Basically every part of India in his car with all his camera gear.   Discussing works, I shared mine, he shared his.  "I'm a  cinematographer man behind the camera."  I do commissioned work, most of the time. 

Discussing the way he approaches his work and the role of social media. He shared his insight on how putting our creative work can be helpful. "There can be people who can relate. It's always to put it out there rather than not sharing it." 

And on that note, we thought we’ll stay connected through Instagram. Thanks Omar for the ride and the conversation. 

Soliloquies- Fog in the mind

Not clear of what's happening with me, I dialed a friend to share my random thoughts. 

My friend mentioned, "You need to know where the emotions are coming from? The emotions created fog in my mind where I couldn't see anything clearly. I had no clarity, couldn't prioritize things. The moment I could realise where the emotions are coming from, I was one step ahead, clearing out the fog."

I could relate easily. Time to clear out the fog that's blurring my clarity. 

Artist Date- Amer Fort

 I decided to walk out and spend a day in the city of Jaipur. I woke up early, had my breakfast but, I was not willing myself to go out and explore the city. "Renny, you need to do this." I pushed myself and got out carrying the basics, along with the laptop. (What if I feel like working on my draft?)

As I came out, I looked for food joints. I ordered Aloo paratha and chole. Along with it, I was offered Raita as well. I started my tour with sumptuous and heavy brunch. I took out an auto. These days, I'm being comfortable to travel in public transport rather than cabs. During the long ride, I dozed off for few minutes. As I got dropped at Amer, I could hardly see the crowd on the streets. I was wishing that I don't get to see any crowd at the fort as well. Unlucky me, there was a lot of crowd everywhere as I trekked towards the fort. Located amidst the mountain surrounded by valley and water. The huge fort spreads across a lot of distance. I got the ticket and walked into the fort. 

I never took a guide in any of my explorations. I like to explore by myself. However, this huge fort seemed complex as I wandered alone. There were a lot of mahals and palaces.

inside the fort.  

Strolled across Sheesh Mahal and other palaces. I could spot a lot of Hamams, bath places as well. It was written that there were a lot of bath and latrines stored with a lot of hot and cold water. Royal utilities. 

I spent a lot of time walking around. Before exiting, I got into this book shop which had a good collection of books on Step Wells and some hard bound classics.  Didn't feel like coming out but, I came out and had a lot of lemonades. 

                                     

                                                

Awaiting for an hour in front of the palace, I could catch a public bus. Central Park, I requested. Off to the green park. 

No sooner I walked into the park then, I slept on the grass watching the sky. Spent a lovely evening at the park watching out the trees. As it turned dark, I crossed the road and entered nearby cafe, 

Tapri Central. A cozy place to spend the evenings. Ordered Cheese Vadapav, Imandaar Kichdi and enjoyed it talking to friends through phone. Loved the rooftop. Would love to visit the place again. 

                      

                                                                                                                          

I realized that I could spend more qualitative time with myself next time. This time, I was distracting myself with phone. I was anxious for no reason. Time to ease out and be comfortable with my company. 

Music- Taare Ginn Explained

 https://theindoencers.wordpress.com/2020/07/16/taare-ginn-tune-diving-extra-edition/

For the first time, I'm reading a musical article. It seem to be too complicated to understand. Will take time to read and understand it better. 

Jaipur Journals- In dialogue with Azhar

When Azhar and I meet, we always try to create something. Out of that urge, we sat and interviewed each other. We also recorded the whole interview. It was fun to talk about writing, reading, books and thoughts. 

 

Jaipur Journals-

These little kids, Nikita, Meera and the other girl walk into the school parting in their own ways. One to meet her friend, other to join her playmates and the last in her own thoughts.