Hello again, my fellow countrymen! Countrywomen also. Ranga is back!

First, dear readers, let me put my humble offering of jasmine-scented thanks at your feet. The response to my first blog was so enthusiastic that I cried tears of pure joy! And so, a big thank you, dear readers. You see, I had started this blog just to upload the doodle notepad pages of all our great editors and anchors that I had purloined during the PM’s Editors’ Meet (New readers may kindly read my first blog “Arnab’s Doodles” to get the background story of who I am and what I was saying). But now I am thinking, why not use this blog as a means of telling you a little bit about my life’s happenings also? This way you will see a doodle as well as get to know your friend Ranga too.

So let me begin, dear readers.

In short, the New Year has started off terribly!

First, home: Our storeroom caught fire last night. Oh, it was terrible! You see, I had hidden all my precious collection of doodles inside an old Bittoo exercise notebook in a drawer chest. Yes! I thought no one would discover them that way. And before we knew it, the damn chest was in flames. Thankfully, Bittoo and the doodles were saved in the end. But unfortunately some of the pages were burnt a little from all sides, like the doodle that I am posting today.

And then, the office: Our new boss at I&B, Mr Manish Tewari, is a very strict man. The New Year jollifications had hardly subsided when he called me and Sharma and Kharbanda into his office. “Please go and cover the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the new bypass at the DND Expressway”, he said curtly. “It should make the evening news if you hurry.”

That was that. In the bitter cold, the three of us lugged all our gear to DND Expressway. When we reached the site, what do we find? There was not a soul there, not even a stray dog. No shamiana, no loud-speakers, no chairs, nothing. Dear readers, there wasn’t even the foundation stone we had come to film!

Anyway, we waited for full three hours but no minister or his crowd came. In the end, Sharma and I foraged for some loose bricks from here and there and constructed a make-shift foundation stone plaque kind of thing. We used the spare lungi I always keep in the car as an improvised inauguration curtain. Needless to mention, we took a very very long shot of this contraption, this so-called foundation stone, and then overlaid it on a crowd gathering for a Rahul Gandhi rally. You might have seen the brief clip in last night’s DD News. No?

So, dear readers, such have been the first few days of this miserably cold new year. I am almost cheered up now! Just the right moment then to upload the next doodle. This one is by the Nation’s Princess, Ms Sagarika Ghose. She is wonderful, is she not? Dresses so smartly and speaks so quickly. And, dear readers, as her doodle illustrates, she has a steady hand too.

I hope this upload was to your liking. My wife, your aunty Vaijanthi, has already contacted her darzi with the blouse designs. These ladies, I tell you! Always eagle-eyed and trying to out-do each other in the latest ladies-wear fashion and knick-knack. I hope Ms Ghose wouldn’t mind.

So long, dear readers, till my next post. Stay on the right side and don’t forget to brush your teeth.

This article first appeared in newslaundry on Jan. 12, 2013.