Monday, January 7, 2013

POOR BHAI - carved till he shaved !


              This post is a part of Shave or Crave initiative by Gillette , powered by Blogadda 

                                     That’s my Bhai !








 Name : Hardik Kotak

Age: 31

Height : 6’1

Weight: 110 kg.

Color : dark whitish!

Interests: music, traveling , movies and playing with kids!

But, kids love playing with him ? not so much!








As you can gauge form this stat's that he pretty much looks like The Hulk , and so he dose!

If his height and weight were not enough to intimidate any one, he also wore a stubble 365 days!

365 days ? ya he never clean shaved  , only trimmed , eeewwwww , I know!

But this hulk kind of personality created havoc among kids in our society , every time he would see kids playing ,he would walk up to share pleasantries  and in response they would all scatter screaming murder!

This was the story with all the kids , he was the official GABBAR of the Kotak family . Mothers used his name liberally to keep their kids in line! POOR BHAI! No matter what he tried doing , he could never get the kids to like him.


Soon he got married and after 4 years was blessed with a lovely little boy! Bhabi was at her moms for post natal care and was only back with my nephew after five months! I remember Bhia was counting day’s to be with his son!


The D day came and we welcomed my nephew home . But what followed was not so pleasant. Ever time bhai went near him , he would cry helplessly ! This was rather unusual for a kid who was quite social otherwise. POOR BHAI! Mom suggested that he stay away from his son and let him get used to the new environment and maybe he would slowly well up to him too !


The following day was bhai’s scrutiny with the I.T. guys , so he  thought it would be a good idea to shave to look more like a business tycoon and less like a tax evading goon! The day went fine and was cleared of all charges . As he got home and was watching over his son ( at a distance mind you) he realized that his son was making eye contact and it didn’t result in screaming fits but in a pleasant smile! He mustered some courage and picked up his son from the cot! And what followed could only be described as magic ! My nephew couldn’t stop giggling while my brother held him. It was almost as if my brother was his best friend from the afterlife!  He was is haven!  That’s when it hit him that his stubble that he thought made him look all macho , actually made him look like a beast to the children!


My Bhai had to CRAVE  to play with his own son until he SHAVED !


That stubble never came back . He got popular with the kids and soon stared coaching the boys cricket team of Sulochana co-operative housing society! He was a happy man !


(p.s. I personally miss the stubble , it came in handy every time my palm itched , it was perfect scratching surface i say :-P )


 Shave or Crave movement in association with Blog Adda - The biggest community of Indian bloggers.






Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Great Indian Wedding Toys!




Weddings  in the late 80’s and the early 90’s were a blast for the kids.
Back in the days a peculiar toy vendor was parked outside every Shadi hall .He had all sorts of goodies that excited my little self beyond imagination. The toys were special as you couldn’t source them from your regular toy shops but were only sold at these Venus. They were simpler times when The Hamleys was an alien world and games of hide and seek were far more captivating than your Angry Birds genre today.
One would find toys like :a snake made out of cane , that  flexed up to two feet and came with stinger at the end, (my mum never bout me this one , she was always  worried id poke someone in the eye with it), a kaleidoscopes made out of broken bangles ,a black rectangle projectors with 5 negatives (mainly of iconic places of India).

One of my other favorite was a magical trick paper that came with a glass window in the center, and every time I folded it ,a new picture appeared in the window(i dont know how). It had beautiful pop art pictures of the Taj Mahal  and The Bengal tiger. 

These toys didn’t cost a fortune .Hence  the parents didn’t mind the little treat, as it kept the kids busy and they could happily focus on socializing !  The best part about all these toys was , they were  proudly made in INDIA .

Cut to 2012 ,
The toy vendors are nowhere in sight , they are replaced by posh valet services. Whatever vendors that are still left in smaller wedding Venus , sell cheap imports from china, whose unboxing time and the time it takes to fall apart is pretty much the same . Not to mention the toxic colors and the choking hazards that come free with it.

 I wish I could source the toys form back in the days . would love to see my son enjoy them as much as I did .Any of you reading my post know what I m talking about holler back at me , Also if you know a place where I can find these toys, let me know.  Will be ready to gate crash that wedding any day!


(p.s. did try and source pictures for my post but looks like Google doesn’t  have a clue what i am talking about )