The metamorphosis of Samosa to "Samosa paw"

In Rourkela,the missionary schools flaunt their majestic buildings amidst graveyards.My school (boys school) is entouraged by two girls school.There used to be a graveyard infront of my school and the crowd puller to the graveyard was the "Samosa wala stall".It served some of the best "Samosas with chutney" that my taste buds have ever tasted.We used to hang out in the graveyard,sit on top of one of the coffins,enjoy the samosa and the beauties of the neighborhood girl schools added some extra spice to the chutney!!!Such was the craze of the samosas that people from far off schools also used to visit the stall.It was like the mecca for all school going teenagers.The strategic location(read the girl schools and graveyard) of the stall fetched great business for the stall owner.Not to mention,the taste of samosas shot off exponentially when it used to rain.
After spending 4 years of engineering in momos,half fry and parantha with butter,I am currently in a place where bread seems to be the staple diet!!!I get the same samosa now at thrice the price at which I used to get in school(can't blame inflation for that as it hasn't shooted 3 times....).I get the same samosa in a battered state engraved in two sides of a "paw".(compare with a dead boy covered up in a coffin....poor little samosa!!!)They call it samosa paw.The nomenclature is very simple.If you replace samosa with vada(huh...we call it aluchop in orissa.....in hamirpur we used to call it alu bonda...),it gets chritened to "vada paw".Replace vada by jalebi in a paw,you get "jalebi paw".Replace jalebi with pakodis,you get "bhajji paw".

Now I realise aptness of the punchline of SAIL..."Resources are limited but creativity is unlimited".

These samosa paws are no match for my samosa chutney of st pauls.Amidst all those noisy honking,pollution and pests resembling population of the biggest metro,the taste is hard to decipher!!!

Miss those peaceful graveyards...those lovely school days..those unrivalled "Samosas"......

Elusive Participles!!!

Despite attending some of the finest ICSE schools,I've never been good at the English language.We all are aware of the well known apothegm "A little knowledge is dangerous".I've been through many embarrassing situations because of the lack of mastery on the language.

In school,we had a beautiful lady named "Natasha" who used to teach us English.She was just out of college and had that "girlish charm" that usually can be seen only among teens.It was a grammar class and she was teaching us tenses.I was a "nut" in my school days and even now many of my friends think of me in that way.I always used to confuse between the different participles of lie and lay.As she said in her usual "as sweet as honey" tone, "Children, lie has got 3 forms: present,past and past participle.They are lie,lay,lain".Unfortunately,God has bestowed on me an extremely "curious" mind which makes me immensely restless.I raised my hand and asked,"Miss,what are the various forms of lay?"She retorted back,"it's lay,laid and laid".Not very pleased with my reply,she asked me to frame some sentences using the the various forms of lay.I stormed my brain and came up with the following answers:
*I lay on the bed.
*I got laid yesterday night.

After replying,I gave miss a " dirty smile" which i normally do when I confidently answer something.Listening to my answer,she got furious.Her "creamy" faced turned "RED".I was in 9th standard and she was some 7 odd years older than me.She frowned,"Idiot,are you aware what crap you are speaking".I was dumb-founded and had no clue where I had gone wrong.She rushed to me and BANG................I received the SLAP of my life!I could feel the marks left by her soft fingers.She was blushing........I still had no clue.She then left the classroom.Henceforth,I was made to stand on the last bench in all her classes.

It was only when I joined engineering college and started watching movies like "American Pie,Euro trip,road trip et al" that I understood I was a real moron to say to a young lady...."Miss.I got laid yesterday night".That was really embarrassing!!!

PS:Though the backdrop of the post is true,the characters and situation are fictional.

Greeting cards---Things of yore??

It's really appalling to see greeting cards getting morphed into e-cards.It would be a cliche to
mention that emotions and feelings borne by greeting cards can never be substituted by e-cards.

During my school days,i used to compete with my friends in buying greeting cards.I used to ask for more pocket money from my dad and would buy the most fanciful cards available in the market.I would give the most fanciful greeting card to my school teacher whom i liked the most and the worst card to the one who slapped me for maximum no of times.The fondness to a teacher was a function of two variables,one was the number of punishments that you get(inverse
relationship)and the second was the leniency in giving marks in exams.(direct relationship).

Similarly my best friend would get the most eye-caching card and i would gift my foes some of the ugliest cards available in the market.Every year I would buy a special musical greeting card for my school principal.

As I grew up,joined engineering college,I never bothered about sending any cards to my friends(Who remembers school teachers???).Orkut scraps became the order of the day.4 years just zoomed away.Now,in job life,you just look at the by-gone era with awe.Really school days are the most innocent days of your life.College days are the most exciting years of your life.Job life encapsulates the most "facetious" years of your life.People call it "professionalism","diplomacy".I call it "bull sh**".Pretend more.Work less.

Though greeting cards costs you a few bucks(particularly those pretty archies stuff!),but shelling out a few bucks for your dearest pals is worth it!