Devidas

He always walked in with a smile and messed up hair

His shirt was always a size smaller for his tummy and pant an inch too long

His hands were cracked and shoes unclean but had a heart of a king

He was always eager to talk and never wished to stop

He loved his car and always shut the door a little too hard

He was always there to pick me up at the wee hours when I arrived home

He was the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave

He was also the first one to defend his beloved ‘Bhau’ and the family

He was the one we counted on and looked for, for anything and everything

He was Devidas!!!

Just this morning, when I got up to the rains and cloudy weather, mom called up and something seemed odd. She spoke about a lot of other things but seemed lost. Finally when I asked and heard her speak, my heart stopped.

Devidas is no more. Our driver for last so many years but more of a family to all of us is gone. I am so far away from home and haven’t seen him for last 2 years but still cannot stop thinking about what a great guy he was and feel the big loss and void this has caused.

May his soul rest in peace!

Pune - 12

Pune has been trending on Twitter for the last 2 days. It has to do a great deal with David Guetta. Frankly, I feel he is overrated. Anyway, it made me think of Pune and what I miss most about the place...

1. The dense traffic and driving my Kinitec or Duddu's Activa almost brusing off other bikes on the way. At the traffic signal, aligning the bike neatly in the maze of vehicles like playing a live 'Bricks' version.
2. Going to Sinhgad early morning on weekends and getting back in time to catch some awesome breakfast at Vaishali.
3. Partying at Thousand Oaks - sitting on same table every single time, next to the speaker. Amazing music, friends and great spirits!!
4. Getting up late the next day and grabbing brunch at Grubshub, Katta or Yorkshire. Laughing till it hurts and waiting till getting kicked out!!
5. Unplanned last minute late night movies at City Pride Kothrud - always regretting going there - deciding never to go again - but yet go again the next week.
E square - never finding a parking spot, always running late, getting irritated by the pony teenagers, missing 'quality' of city pride kothrud.
6. BIG BAZAAR!!! The crowd, the chaos, the discounts, the chocolate fondue, buying absolutely useless items and never regretting it.
7. Walks on the polluted, crowded road - roadside food - Mankar dosa, Kalyaan Bhel, Amrutulya Chai, Mastani House and Kopryavarche kaka pani puri.
8. Playing Baddy on the roads in the night, late night coffee, late night gossips sitting on random stairs.
9. Bus ride to every morning (well almost) to Magarpattacity. The freshness of the mornings, the urgency in the air, the crappy radio, that horrible bus driver and that grumpy girl on the next seat.
10. TEKDI!! Meeting lost friends and distant acquaintances - Subway after the climb down!
11. Being close to Konkan and so many great mountains - those weekend trips in to the wilderness.
12. The Puneri Attitude - That's the one I miss the most. The curt answers, the sharp wit, the closed shops, the simple pride of being a PUNERI!!!

I can go on to a 100 points but this would be a good bullet point to stop as we are Pune-12 :)

You can take a person out of Pune but never Pune out of a person!