7.30 AM - Woke up. Packed my bags. Checked out.

It was a bit weird for me that I did not talk to anyone for two hours after waking up. Its more weird when you can't talk in your mother language all throughout the day, except when some family member calls you up.

9.30 AM - Took an auto-rickshaw from Nampally to NMDC, Masab Tank. My novice attempts at bargaining were only good for saving 20 bucks as I had to pay a hundred bucks to get there. I feel ripped off.

Oh! Who am I kidding! I am ripped off!

5.00 AM - The Bengali family in my compartment just promoted themselves to the top of my most-annoying-people-to-share-a-journey-with list.

Firstly, I hate waking up at 5 in the morning. Secondly, I hate waking up to the sound of shrieking kids. Both happened. It was like my worst nightmare.

The parents wanted to switch off the light so as not to disturb the other sane people who were sleeping. Their son wanted to keep the lights on, for no perceptible reason on earth.
Maybe that is just what kids do. I remember being a very considerate kid myself. Just ask my parents. (ta
da!)

So there was a period of 15 minutes when the lights came on and went off for more than a zillion times in an unprecedented fashion, before the parent had to accept defeat to the incessant enthusiasm of the kid. Good Morning, world. (Add sleepy emoticon here)

8.00 AM - I'm at the side upper berth, and the lady below me (not figuratively, please!) in the side lower berth, doesn't appear to be an early riser. Well, that is acceptable. But it is 8 already - well past what you can define as 'early'. Its late afternoon for the people around me as they are already discussing about lunch. I haven't even had any breakfast. And the lady looks nowhere near to waking up as she lies in deep slumber (or fake slumber, as I greatly suspect). The shrieking kid should relocate himself nearer to her - and be of some help to humanity.

Unknown - Checked into Hotel Royal Grand. Big words, small hotel. But when decent prices are what you're looking for, this isn't a bad option. At 700 rupees, I got myself a small room, with an attached bathroom, tv, fridge, cupboard and a clean bed. But there weren't any windows. So I had to leave the bathroom door open... which isn't very pleasant, trust me.

11.57 AM - I looked through the window at my parents standing in the rain. They could have moved under the shed, a bit further away from my window. They could not even see me through the one-way window from outside.

But they just stood there, getting drenched in the rain. And for the first time before this journey, I felt sad to leave them.

I never shared a very verbal relationship with my parents. I never had to say, "love you mom, dad" or "miss you" when they received the message in simpler words or actions.

I called them up, and asked them not to get drenched in the rain. So they moved to the nearest shed. I could still see them. They still couldn't.

And suddenly the train jerked alive, and began to move, away from my parents standing under the shed, who were still staring at my direction.

And soon, I couldn't see them any more.

5 weeks. And so it begins.

I always believed that I was a free bird. That I had no bounds. That I could move away anywhere I wanted to, at the slightest of opportunity, without ever looking back.

But my parents were my strongest links. I am home, where my parents are.

 3:28 A.M

After a 30hr sleepless ordeal behind editing my newly built tech blog TechnoZilla , I finally get to sit back, relax, and watch the visitors count start to rise once again.

A thought enters my mind.

Is this worth it?

All this time and energy, that I'm spending behind this tech-blog - is it going to be worth it? I don't have an answer. All I know for sure, is that time will tell.

Suddenly, I remember you - my very own Sarcasti-Nation. And an overwhelming feeling of happiness suddenly... should I say... overwhelms me!

Of course, there is always the embarrassment inside me of not having posted anything for about 9-10 cat lives (Sorry kitties). But I come back. I sign into that old mail id of me once again - blah.blah.with.me@gmail.com - now flooded with post notifications of fellow bloggers I used to follow.

I log into my blogger account.

The skull-head of my dumb alter-ego Xeno smiles back at me. Why do you smile? Always?

Each post has now become, a bookmark or a short label to a memory - each post reminded me of a different memory. Those were times of my life I will never forget. And I'll never forget it not because they were good memories only. They were actually a few good memories hidden amidst a lot of bad memories. But whats weird is that it still makes me smile. Its not even a smile. I'm somewhere in the middle of beaming and grinning right now.

3:42 AM

Its getting late now. I should get some sleep.
But before that, I'll just quickly walk past the deserted corridor of all these memories once again. I'll come back again some day, maybe to add something more.

I think I'm allergic to the dust of my memories. I'll quickly rub my eyes with the sleeve of my shirt so that the water building up inside my eyes doesn't ruin my vision.

Julian Mantle is back. And this time, he is hell bent on spoiling the life of another man  - Jonathan.