Logging of Thoughts is BLOGGING

The Temple Guard

2011-12-08T15:26:00.000-05:00

3rd December 2011 @ 1:45 AM IST, I walked out of a room leaving behind me some empty bottles of whisky, more than a dozen glasses, cigarette butts, tangdis which were once healthy kababs but now deformed beyond recognition & a bunch of buddies, some still talking about the ways life can fuck you, some listening to them with the least interested expression and some already dozing their nights off to glory.

"Common Dude, stay back, poori raat padi he abhi to" were the last words i heard when i shut the door behind me. I had to get back home, take a shower and crash land on my bed not to be woken up ever again ( such was the degree of tiredness ). But as i started driving, the weather caught up on my imagination. It was pretty chilly outside and as the winds gushed across my face while i drove, all my tiredness moments ago seemed to be transformed to a rejuvenated self. I thought of taking the longest possible path en route home. With Mohd Rafi Saab singing "Pukarta Chala Hoon Mein" and a weather like this i drove on a road which i believed would eventually get me home. 15 mins into the drive and i felt a shudder, a thump and then suddenly as if am running on 3 wheels rather than 4. It took me a couple of minutes to realize i had a flat tyre. @2:00 am on a chilly winter night on a deserted highway road which is as dark as a black hole, the last thing one would need is a flat tyre. Damn, I should have listened to them and stayed back said my inner self.

I called up Honda road side assistance hotline number and gave them the address, "Be there in 45 mins Sir" & i hung up. I was feeling eerie, so the best thing for me to do was lock myself up in my car with my hazard lights on. I think i was beginning to fall asleep when i had a soft tap on my window glasses. I almost had a stroke, cause i wan't expecting them to be here so soon, i mean how did they come ? astrally projected or what ??? I gathered my composure, and tried to look out of the tinted window glass, i could barely see an inch. There was a moment of silence that followed only to be broken again by a soft tap, this time on the rear window pane. I rolled down the glass an inch to see who it was, a human being, a ghost or something else. I saw a short old man wrapped in a blanket knocking on the pane. "Kya Hua" i uttered ... no response, this made me squirm on my seat. What if he is a ghost out for his night walk, i was wondering, when i heard "Kya hua gaadi ko" ? Ok so this isn't some1 who just walked out of his grave, i rolled the glass down and told him about my misfortune of getting stuck there. There was this really old, frail, and short man wrapped in a grey blanket standing inches away from me. I got down from the car and told him i was waiting for the mechanics to come over.

I stood there for a couple of minutes, while he tried to figure out which was the tyre that had gone flat. On realizing its the front right one, he said "Keel ghoos gaya lagta he, yahaan hota he aksar kyunki wo bridge ka kaam chal raha he" and he pointed me towards a under construction bridge about 200 feet away. I could see a small group of people sitting there with fire lighted. OK so i wasn't the only soul here, that gave me a sigh of relief.

Kitna samay lagega ? ( How much time would it take )

Ek ghanta lagega shayad ( I believe 1 hour ) i said.

Aap kahaan rehte hain ? (Where do u stay, i asked )

Yehin mandir ke peeche ( Here just behind the temple ) and he pointed towards the temple.

As i looked i saw this small, really old and dilapidated temple and adjacent to it was a huge tree with spread out branches.

Kiska mandir he yeh ? ( Whose temple is this ) i asked ...

Hanuman ... he answered !!!

I looked at the temple from a distance and saw it didn't have any doors, or even if it had one, it was most probably not latched, as i could see a candle glowing inside. I walked towards the temple to say Hello to the Big Boss & he followed me. I wasn't scared then, but i was kinda cautious. What if this old man suddenly disappears? What if he gives out a ghostly smile & his face changes, what if he turns into a werewolf ??? I should probably stop watching too many fictious movies.

( To be continued ...... )

Asphyxiated Trust & Smothered Love

2011-06-25T08:29:00.001-04:00

" Disclaimer: This plot is not purely fictional, there are resembelance to somebody, alive & dead. Its the writer's imagination to narrate an incident that happened in the recent past "

She looked resplendent, eternal & immensely angelic in the deep maroon saree with heavy silver colored embroidery shining like a nickel under the glaring bright sun. I looked in awe and disbelief as she made her way into my home admist all the traditional ritual & fanfare. There couldn't have been a happier day in my life than the one am currently talking about. She was the gal of my dreams, and when i first glanced over her, she was in her first class of human anatomy and looked dead petrified. I knew there couldn't be a more serene and classy looking gal besides her in this entire universe. For me she was the numero uno winner of all beauty pageants to have ever been held across the world.

I must have been personally blessed by Fortuna ( the God of Luck ) to have her in my life. We kinda liked each other since the day we met and as i was dreaming all the while, the likeness grew to fondness which further was nourished into deep maddening love. Everthing was happening so fast & before i could have blinked there she, walking into my life as my legally wedded wife. There were minor hiccups trying hard not to let us be together for the rest of our lives, but again Fortuna seemed to have waved the lucky wand over my now turned in-laws who initially were apprehensive of letting their precious lil daughter live with me happily ever after.

Since that day what followed was a marital life of eternal bliss, love & trust for each other. We were probably tailor made for each other. We felt complete together but what made us realize we were actually much short of being complete was the birth of our daughter. She was her miniature mom. With 3 of the most beautiful gals by my side ( offcourse my mom being no.1 ) i felt i was the luckiest man to have ever walked on this soil.

Like every moon has a darker side to it, every lovley party has a pooper & every good thing comes to an end, i wasn't exception to that rule as well. The awesomeness of my life started to wilt slowly under incessant pouring of addictive spirit. I was slowly getting addicted to an organic compound in which a hydroxyl functional group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom, usually connected to other carbon or hydrogen atoms. I wish i had stayed away after reading such a complex term but it had a simple n uncomplicated alias to it, it was called alcohol.

My 8 PMs with my daugther playing over my lap & my wife besides me, gave way to my 8 PMs with 8 PMs. I played less with my cute lil pug and cared more for the Black Dog. I completely stopped whistling back to the cuckoos early in the morning as i was too busy being with the Kingfishers all night.

Before i could realize the deep black hole i was dipping into, probably i had already hit the crust. The lovely and joyous moments with the treasures of my life were long replaced by long hours off booze & midnight brawls. I was so very in the clutches of addiction, it was impossible for me to see what i was fast turning into. From being the apple of someone's eyes to being a constant embarassment, the journey happened too fast.

Finally the day arrived when it all had to end. It was a friday night and there was this party to attend. We ( Me & My Wife ) arrived at the party around 8 in the evening. The place was bustling with good food, old friends, dear relatives and something that pushed all the rest into the background, you would have probably guessed it right ... it was the open bar. Tequilla Shots, Rich Cocktails, Bottoms up challenges they all kept coming alarming fast. I dont remember a thing after my 11th peg of whisky coz after that it was just adding pegs to a ocean, it hardly mattered but didn't end. Dinner was served at 1 am in the morning & that's when i realized the lights of the restaurant going dim.

" Sir, the police patrol van is here and we don't have permission to stay open after midnight. So we gonna turn off the music and some lights to make sure nothing unfavourable happens " said the manager of the restaurant. If i could go back a couple of hours ago, i found him to be a nice, hospitable and jolly guy who took good care of the guests, infact i was the one who praised him lavishly for the food and the ambience. But this time around, it wasn't me. It was the organic compound with a hydroxyl group attached to it which did all the talking. I smashed a few plates, pushed aside half a dozen waiters and treated the manager with the most choicest filthy words when the lights were dimmed. Before it all could get more bloody and embarassing i recall being carried away and packed up in my car. As i was being carried away i think i heard my wife profusely apologizing the manager for my misdemeneaour and the decent guy that he was, he was pretty ok about it. Am sure he must have handled many a spoilt brats like me at the very same place, comes with a part of his job you see.

She drove me home, i could see tears rolling down her cheeks. There wasn't a word spoken till we reached our flat. As the door shut behind us and we both were left all to ourselves & then started the confrontation. If i remember correctly, she said she has had it enough since the past few years and if these embarrasments gonna continue she would walk away from my life along with our daughter. I think i gave her a blind push, she retracted back and hit the back of her head on the wall. Eventhough at that moment it hardly mattered to me when i come to think of it now, am sure that would have hurt real bad. She was in pain and to make sure i dont let the demon in me to further take a literal form, she pushed me aside and ran into the bedroom.

She was running from the same man whom she once trusted and loved. I ran after her and pushed her onto the bed. I dont remember a thing that happened next.

At 9 am in the morning. i was just told someone smothered her with a pillow and left her to die of asphyxiation. She was there, lying on the bed looking as beautiful as ever with a painful expression on her face.

An expression which said a thousand words without even uttering one. An expression of dismay and disbelief, an expression of hurt and pain, and an expression which said " I had loved you more than anything else in the world " .

As i sit her besides my once alive wife and my 4 year old daughter crying inconsolably ( she wanted to play hide n seek with her mom to which she wasn't responding ) i hear the siren slowly turning from feeble to loud n clear. Am pretty sure the someone who smothered her, was the demon inside me, and it was time for that demon to be put to the hardest of punishment by law.

A night of madness .... a fit of rage .... a barbaric act carried out without intention, had ended it all. The fact is, i was looking forward to a dark punishing life from hereon as that would probably justify my remorse.

Hate me readers for i am a devil in human skin !!!

Drink Responsibly if at all you do ...

The Great Indian Political Circus

2011-06-07T15:49:00.001-04:00

As i was locking my door to leave for office, i saw the 6 year old kid of my neighbour come sprinting out of his flat. To fetch him back, his mom stepped outside and on asking what's goin on, she smiled and replied
" Yeh bol raha he kuch nahi khaega jab tak usse hum XBOX nahi khareedwa dete ". As she pushed the kid inside who seemed to fly off with double the speed he had sprinted outside a moment earlier, i couldn't help but smile to myself.

I had a reason to do so, coz being a single guy in a flat all alone, i was just left to a handful of things of which a major time killer was John Baige's invention. And since the last 48 hours, all i saw was a highly agile sadhu blinking his eyelid every fraction of a second making detailed arrangements of his going on a fast unto death at the Ram Leela grounds in New Delhi. I thought to myself, perhaps the kid took a cue from the Baba himself.

Little did we know the Govt. Of India would do exactly the same 15 hours later as the mother of the kid just did. They too dragged Baba Ramdev out of the Ram Leela grounds & our very own Yoga Samrat went flying to Haridwar in a moments time.

With a gem of an Intention of bringing the national treasure back to where it belongs from across the seven seas, where the corrupt politicians had stashed it considering as safe haverns was something which made Baba have the company of 65000 fellow Indians. Every one present there in the Ram Leela Grounds were fasting as a mark of support and solidarity towards the able Sadhu. This peaceful agitation seemed to be building up quite well and looked like the Govt was in for a double blow ( the first one being a couple of month ago with Anna Hazare's fast raking up the entire nation ). More than anybody else it would be Baba who would have wished for a major breakthrough, but then as the age old saying goes " If wishes were horses, beggars would ride & this this case "Baba would ride".

Whilst the entire crowd were peacefully retiring into slumber after a tiring sweaty day, came marching the men in khaki along with their cane rods and tear gas shells. Butts were kicked, shells fired, backs bludgeoned and a mayhem was born. Within minutes all that were left in the ground once hustling with people were scattered foot wears, deserted bags, and some wounded supporters. Baba himself was kept busy over the pandal by running, jumping and finally leaping of the 12ft pandal onto his supporters.

On a humorous note, after all this Baba Ramdev would be singing out to Anna Hazare a song that has caught up like wildfire & why not Anna's fast some days ago came to a dignified ending. So Baba must be wondering where did he actually go wrong.

But when we talk abt BR's camapaign against corruption i feel there were some gaping cracks on the demands he made & the approach followed. All said & done there's isn't an explanation this UPA govt can give for beating up a 6 month old kid ( India TV as always showed a 6 month old toddler being hit ACCIDENTALLY in the lathi charge, the camera focussing on his cute lil ass which had turned red momentarily but sleeping peacefully in her mom's lap ).

The media channels were at it again cookin all kinda stories, political parties issuing the cliched statements in the press conferences, and the hapless mango people flipping across channels on a lazy sunday bemused.

On the brighter side though, like all deep dark clouds have a silver lining, our Baba Ramdev was found to be fit as a fiddle ... he ran across the pandal doing a 50 mtr hurdle race and finally jumped off the stage just to be carried away by his supporters.

There were bound to be repurcussions to an incident as large in magnitude as the one above. Flip across the channels and one would see the Great Indian Political Tamasha being staged with full vigour and grandeur.

Right from a journo trying to hurl his shoe on congress committee General Secreatary Mr. Janardhan Dwivedi to Mr. Digvijay Singh calling BJP nothing but a group of dancers commenting on Mrs Sushma Swaraj's moment of madness in Raj Ghats, its all happening here.

A country where a terrorist is being given Z level security with crores and crores being spent on him whereas peaceful law abiding citizens who protest against the malice of corruption are being paralysed for life ( http://news.oneindia.in/2011/06/06/baba-ramdev-s-supporter-in-icu-after-lathi-charge-aid0155.html ).

A country where 2 Fast unto Deaths by eminent personalities are being termed as black mailing the govt but the rampant corruption day in and day out are being ignored and buried under the carpet.

A country which had seen an effective Prime Minister as Dr. Lal Bahadur Shastry & someone as ineffective as Dr. Manmohan Singh.

The writing is clear on the wall, the Govt seem to be saying out loud, we will continue to scale our way to the zenith of corruption ( if you think 2G scam wasn't the peak already ) if you have the balls to stop us, go on a fast. Well even if you do & think that would deter us, then think again. We proudly call ourselves All India Corrupt Committee ... errr we mean All India Congress Commitee and having ruled this country for 60 long years, by now have amassed quite a bunchful of tear gas shells & men in uniform who without blinking an eyelid shoves the asses of people in deep slumber.

My India for sure is SHINING !!!

Deadlock for a Wedlock

2011-05-31T15:34:00.001-04:00

" Someone somehwere is made for everyone & very soon you will find yours " said my Mom when she caught me flipping across my friend's marriage album for the Nth time.

"Naah that's nothing, i was just seeing if am there in any of the pics " was my response. I tried not to give out omimous signs of desperately wanting to get into a wedlock. Actually i wasn't, i was having a helluva time as a bachelor. For instance, I could go to any late night party and not worry about coming back before 8, i could keep my bed messy and not get lectured for it, i could forget paying my electricity bills and spend a night or two as my ancestors from the stone age without loosing a tooth or two ;). Infact i could do a bunch of things which my "Happily Married" friends coudn't even dream of achieving not to mention of the couple of things that they had exclusivity to, one such is the GIF image below ;)

But again, when you are Thirty and still Flirty, its better to converge all your attention to that one particular individual you had call Wife for the rest of ur Life ( Aah that rhymed :p ). Probably i was ready to have a SOULMATE who wud eventually turn into my SOLE MATE.

But then who was wrong ??? My Mom who just said "Someone somehwere is made for everyone" or the Census that had just ended on a gloomy note declaring India having 947 Women to every 1000 Men ??? Offcourse my mom couldn't be wrong, am sure the other 53 loved being happy & GAY :p.

I had jumped into the bandwagon of the would be Grooms searching for the would be Brides and had decided till the time i meet that Someone ... Somehwhere, i was gonna meet Everyone ... Everywhere, and this is how started my tryst with my destiny.

Keep coming back to this very place to witness the few ( i already had ) & numerous ( i am gonna have ) date traps planned by my folks to help me get my Missezzzz ;)

C Ya ....

A Letter to the Prime Minister of India

2011-04-06T16:09:00.002-04:00

To,

The Prime Minister Of India,
( Via the PMO )

Respected Mr. Prime Minister,

Sincerely hope this mail finds you at the pink of your health eventhough we the citizens of this "once lovely" place called India rot in the deepest black hole of Corruption & Terrorism. We dearly want you fit & fine because more than anyone else, you are the one in a billion who actually has the power of changing things for good, so may the almighty shower with you strength & well being.

I was busy with my daily life, which was as monotonous as that of Sun or the Moon. An uncluttered drive to the office in the morning, a nicely prepared lunch in the cafeteria, uncountable coffee breaks with my friends at work, a comfortable drive home, a relishing dinner, a romantic date with the Idiot Box & crash landing peacefully on my bed is what makes my Life special.

What made me write this long and tedious mail to you is not a rush of blood or spur of the moment attributed to the doings on the Indian Media but a deep thought of where we as Indians are headed to !!! If i being an oridnary citizen can sense somthing going terribly wrong here, in no way can i believe you not being aware of the same. And if you are, then please share with us the secret of your indifferent attitude because rather than loosing sleep over, its always advisable to sit back and relax.

Am afraid but no government in the past 65 years have been as corrupt and unworthy as the current one. One would wonder how on earth did you manage to find so many extraordinary individuals & made them come under one alliance which we call UPA.

One such extraordinary gentleman, took the literal meaning of Common Wealth Games so seriously, he ended up stashing millions of dollars of common wealth into his private accounts. India's image globally was charred beyond recognition, the government ridiculed worldwide & the core ethics of INDIANS were questioned. A nation was shamed, thanks to a bunch of Politicians & Bureaucrats. The great Napoleon Bonaparte once said "Its not the mistakes that shame humanity, its the lack of actions taken to eliminate those which leaves us red faced". Robbery in broad daylight & still the culprits are at large.

More than anyone's money, it was our hard earned bucks that made its way to Swiss Bank Accounts & now the whole of the nation order you to act right. We dont want a spineless & clueless Prime Minister, we want someone who considers Lal Bahadur Shastri as his/her idol.

Inspired by Tom, even Dick decided to give corruption a new definition & boy did he succeed ??? We all know what Dick did to rape the 2G spectrum and once caught he spilled the beans on the Prime Minister's Office. We don't want to, but are hardly left with a choice not to believe even the PM was aware of the wrong doings and the misdemeanours in such a massive scale. 1.76 Lakh Crores of rupees that would have made the Indian Ex-chequer rich, made its way to the foreign bank accounts of Dick, his bureaucratic team & the so called big shot entrepreneurs of this country.

Again more than anyone's it was our hard earned money which we want to be put to effective use & its you again we do look up in hope and despair at the same time.

When millions of living citizens being cheated day in & day out, one wouldn't be surprised to know of the Dead being cheated. More so if the dead are the ones who laid their lives selflessly lil knowing the fact, the countrymen they are saving have slightest empathy or inclination towards the lives being laid. This was just proved by a herd of extraordinary men in the Adarsh Society Scam & still the people of India was awaiting Justice. Classic case of "Justice delayed is Justice denied" being played out here with immaculate regularity.

I wasn't aware of a thing called Lokpal Bill, so when the Celebrations of a World Cup win came to an abrupt halt, i was dejected. I quite didn't like the Men in Blue romancing the World Cup Trophy videos on the news channels being replaced by a frail looking senior citizen threatening to go on a fast unto death. But if a world cup win was the WANT of the hour, the issue raised by Mr, Anna "Gandhi" Hazare is the NEED of the hour.

Its a blatant crime being commited by denying the modern day Gandhi of his demands. 42 Years to pass a bill as effective and praiseworthy as the Lokpal Bill ??? And when desperate attemps are being made to speed up passing the already long delayed bill, its being termed by your govt. as premature and impulsive ?

There is always a limit to a thing, and history vouches by it, when revoultions happen, heads roll.

Desperate request from a citizen of this country would be, not to take things for granted. We love to see you in a crictek feild applauding but more than that we would love to see you using your whip on corrupt and selfish politicians, bureaucrats & entrepreneurs.

Thanking You....

Yours Sincereley.

A Dismayed Indian.

De Ghuma Ke !!!

2011-04-05T14:30:00.000-04:00

Why don't the guys block him, he is running freely ... are they crazy or something ??? I just looked at him and smiled while he looked perplexed.

Damn that's a Home Run but why isn't he running ??? to which i said "This isn't Baseball, it's Cricket" only after that he seemed to relax and laughed perhaps his lungs out. It's so much like Baseball, which made me think u guys are upto some screwed up rules perhaps of your own.

The next 15 odd minutes went in describing him what Cricket is and how its not "Just a distant cousin of Baseball ". Awesome, u guys are really psyched up about this game, hope i can play with you someday.

Well the above incident took place in Tampa, Florida when some Desis decided to wield the willows in a Tennis court for a game of Cricket that had an Amrikan Spectator with his crazy lil Pug. And yes Mr. "Cricket is a cousin of Baseball" we indeed are psyched up for this game, probably a degree more than you are, for your Super Bowls :D. So what if we dont have a Shakira or a Beyonce doing a jig at the interval of the games, we the spectators shake it so well each time a boundary is scored or a wicket taken, even Shakira wud think of sitting back and see us do it.

Finally, to a nation suffering from a dreaded but lovable disease of De Ghuma Ke, our anxious and tired souls were finally were put to RIP on 2nd April 2011. A billion hearts were ready to pop out at 10:20 PM IST when a strongly built dude hit the red leather out of the park & am sure most of them actually popped out. At 10:21 PM IST, it was official, Indians are the WORLD CHAMPIONS in the game of cricket a feat they last acheived in the Year 1983.

What followed on the Indian streets on the eventful night was pure public frenzy and maddening celebrations. Not wanting to be left behind, i too set out of my flat to experience a one in a million night. Jubilant crowds atop car tops, bus tops, bike tops were the flavour of the season. Experiencing goosebump all over, i drove at snails pace just to see a sudden crowd dispersement. The men in brown were finding it a bit too difficult to control the effect of what the Men in Blue had done an hour earlier. Hundreds of ass glowed red when showered with heavy pounding the so called "Lathis" being put to gr8 use, but then who cares. Time tells us how the Freedom fighters of yesteryears felt proud in showing the thrashing marks on their bodies during the freedom struggle and so will these crkicket lovers.

I might have been there on the roads on 14th August 1947 celebrating Independence Day in my previous birth which I don't really recall but I experienced a moment equal if not bigger when I drove across the city tonight :)

I had a premonition that something awesome was in store for the Indians. The dark clouds ( CWG Scam, 2G Scam, Adarsh Scam ) had to have a silver lining ( The WC Triumph ). For a day atleast a billion souls just enjoyed being the world leaders and not from a disgraceful sense of being ruled by eternal cheaters.

Just hope the victory bring about a lucky omen for the country called India. We are such a great bunch people that we deserve nothing but the best & am sure the dawn is not far enough when we would wake upto a new prosperous world of Unity, Integrity, Prosperiety & devoid of the rampant corruption.

Thanks 2 the Indian Cricket Team for this cherished moment bestowed upon us the memoirs of which will thrill us 4 the rest of our lives .... You guys deserve all the love, adulation & godly status right from this moment.

And as we all would love to say n do which is ... " DE GHUMA KE " to all the evil of the society. Let's bask in the glory for years to come ....

Aloha !!!

Tossing up the Sensibilities !!!

2010-12-26T01:57:00.001-05:00

"Loneliness can be murderous" or shall i say loneliness initiates actions that could result in destruction. In my case it was a total massacre of my brain cells so much so that if you find me foolish or mouthing expletives during my blog, blame it on the meager number which resisted the torture i was subjected to.

Big Boss Season 4, Rakhi ka Insaaf, Emotional Atyachaar, Big Switch, Axe Your Ex & if you still haven't lost it yet , there are more in the queue equally if not more annoying. I feel the amount of crap that our tele sets are being subjected to, would result in their mass annihilation. I mean how could one take hours and hours of bull shitting without a break ??? I heard a Weston say to a Samsung with utmost pride "Son, when we were young we got the likes of shows as Hum Log, Nukkad, Vikram Betaal, Ramayan, & Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. I am glad to be resting here in the rack than decorated in the living room and subjected to visual and sensical torture all day long."

As i had nothing to do, i breezed across the channels to see if something interesting is being aired. There was this show called "Rakhi Ka Insaaf" in progress and it dealt with a very noble concept. I mean how noble an act it is to solve other's problems. But let me remind you when its some1 like Rakhi Sawant the adjectives "Noble", "Subtle", "Dignity" are unthinkable. When we hear the word JUDGE our bollywood'ish memory gives us the visuals of a Gentleman or a Lady dressed in a Black Coat with sparkling white inner and being referred to as "MY LORD " even though most of the actors pronounce it as "MILOD " ( I still wonder why :p ) but as we aren't talking about accents here this shouldn't bother us a bit. The bottom line is a "Judge" invoked respect in our minds. Cut to the show and you see a Judge with objectionable outfits ( Necklines dipping till Mariana Trench, Skirts dying to meet the Tops ) mouthing expletives at will. The so called justice seekers try to act as cheap as possible and trust me they marvel in their respective acts. The "Äam Junta" am sure were hand picked to potray the whims and fancies of the creators of the show else how would you describe all the 100 odd shouting "Rakhi Rakhi "with their fists raised in perfect harmony & immaculate timing ? Or clapping their hands when Rakhi Sawant says something which was supposed to be awesome ? Or my personal favorite, all of a sudden u hear murmurs as if something life defining is being discussed and then all going dead silent after our very own esteemed RS shouts out loud "Khamossshhhhhhhhh" with her hand raised.

There has to be a limit to non-sense and if you are one who love crossing the limits, then you gotta be there in the show maybe as a justice seeker or an audience. I wondered why not take up cases that shook the very
"honesty & integrity" of our country in Rakhi Ka Insaaf ? Imagine Ayodhya Conflict, CWG Scam, 2G Scam or a Fodder Scam being judged by Rakhi Sawant. If not anything else the people of India would get the boo of a speedy judgement coz all it takes for RS to decide who is at fault and who not is a mere 60 minutes & that includes some ads too, so ideally we would have a verdict in less than an hour, how cool is that :D.

The other ace up the sleeve is Big Boss Season 4 where the Indian viewers are made to watch some "fucked up" celebrities snoring, farting, kissing and washing dishes on prime time. For god's sake can we rerun the classics of the 90's please that tickled our funny bones without being demeaning and insulting ?

How would one see something like an Emotional Atyachaar or a Big Boss with parents or kids ?

Talk about Television Censorship & i agree one must understand that where there is a remote in the hands of the viewer, there is a choice to be made, but does that mean Indian Censor Board would let theaters show porn movies & let the audience decide if they wanna see it or not ? Where has the concept of moral policing gone ?

I ain't a radical, but i find it absolutely hard to digest the fact that these shows are permitted to be aired at the first place coz this isn't freedom of expression rather we should call them freedom for destruction.

Now for heaven's sake can i have the remote please ??? :P

Vande Maataram !!!

2010-08-14T14:21:00.007-04:00

Place : Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad.
Time : 5:15 AM IST
Date : 5th August 2010

Cabbie: Sir Taxi ???
Me : Yes, Kondapur.
Cabbie : Ok Sir ( Starts picking up my luggages ).
Me : How much ???
Cabbie : 550 Sir, its a pretty long distance from here.
Me : ( Thinking ).... ok that's makes it 12 dollars, not bad, but i cannot agree to it in one shot, bargaining in my birth right ( Thinking )
Me : Nopes that's way too much, 400 shud be ok.
Cabbie : Nahi Sir ... Ok 475 ???
Me : Theek Hey ... where is the car parked ???
Me : ( Thinking ) Yippee ... tht's a saving of 75 Rupees rite away and am lovin it :) ... ( Thinking )

First Few Bucks i saved after my arrival
Welcome to India Mr. Mishra :)

I wouldn't have even thought of doing this bargain act of mine back there in US, not because i could take this liberty only in my own country, but just for the fact that back there, the system is so transparent. They strictly go by Meter, and the passenger gotta pay exactly what the meter reads. There is no other option left and thus it sounds so perfect and ethical. Back here in "apna desh", the first thing a cabbie does before taking his cab out for hire is make sure the meter doesn't work. There are these Pre-Paid taxis that actually are metered however for each such cab there are 10 others which doesn't. End Result : Rule is broken 10 out of every 11 rides.

This is the first instance wherein i felt " WE GOTTA CHANGE ". Trust me, i ain't no US wannabe, i hated my cousin to death who came down to holiday in India and all the while kept squabbling over the Pollution, Population & Lack of Civic Sense. Only Mineral Water quenched his thirst, kept perspiring profusely when there was no AC around & had a coke can giving in company wherever he went, not sure of the Loo though ;). Back then i was in my College and this acts of his freaked me out totally.

Now when i look back, even though i still feel he over exaggerated the whole US thing, but there are definitely some aspects that even i found, we could better here in the East.

I on my part failed badly here, i actually felt bad for not having hired a metered taxi. It's not abt hiring the metered taxi, but its about adhering to the rules that would gradually make things much better for us.

Place : Hitec City Traffic Signal
Time : 3:30 PM IST
Date : 5th August 2010

Engulfed within the Himesh-o-mania, i was waiting in the auto-rickshaw for the Traffic Signal to turn GREEN. Even-though the light was far from turning GREEN ( i mean it was not even ORANGE ) our Mr. Auto Driver ( Read Emraan Hashmi ) was already way ahead of the halt line, So much so that the rickshaw was almost kissing the bumpers & tires of the moving traffic bulleting from the opposite end. When i asked him not to hurry up to things here, he had an awesome line to say " Arrey Sir ... mujhe apni zindagi aapse zyada pyaari he, mein dekh ke chala raha hoon, aap pareshaan mat ho ". Wow, this line of his was Blunt and Relieving at the same time not being Rude at all ( Oh .. yes he did turn and give me a view of his Gutka stained 32 "RED" jewels ). As soon as the light turned GREEN, not sure how he judged it coz we were so ahead of the STOP line that i cud hardly see the signal lights anymore, he did a "Maut Ka Kuan" type acceleration ( his auto making 10 times more sound than the speed ) and swirled past pedestrians, and fellow commuters as if he had no other day. There was one instance wherein he nearly ran atop a old man crossing the road but came to a screeching stop. " Teri Maa Ki .... meri gaadi mili thi kya marne ku ??? The old mortal, lost his mind, stood there speechless for a half minute, and then moved hurriedly thanking the almighty for letting him live one more day. Florida's Driving Licence officer's words flashed across my subconscious mind " PEDESTRIANS ARE GOD " what followed is a light smile on my face. Perhaps our Mr. Hashmi caught it from the rear view of his mirror, "Chutiye Log hain Sir ... koi bhi signal nahi maanta" how ironically true :).

As i was rolling by i saw a sight that literally cracked up my funny bones, so much so that i could literally hear them rattling. I couldn't help but shoot it and sportingly enough the guy tried giving me a smile ... awesome. One thing is for sure, it takes an Indian heart free from complicatedness and smile even in such a dearth situation. Adaptability is the Key to happy living and Mr. Fold, Rolled and Stuffed knows it like no other.

Place : Regional Passport Office
Time : 1:30 PM IST
Date : 12th August 2010

My passport is on the verge of expiration and to make sure am not stuck up with a expired one i made this visit to the regional passport office to understand the procedure to get it renewed. I was perhaps 15th in the long line of people converging into the Counter No.5 which read "GENERAL INFORMATION". As i stood there for my turn, i couldn't help but notice odd people just walking down to the counter getting their work done and walking out. Initially they seemed like the office workers but later realization dawned of them being as good as us. They were not scarce in number but within 15 minutes i saw 4 of them with each spending well over 5 minutes each. There was this noble lady behind me aged around 60 who was in a hurry to pick her grandson from the school, a student who was worrying of missing his physics practicals and admist all this
"Unlined servicing " the frustration level was sharpshooting. I walked up to the counter to understand what exactly was going on there. The guy at the first of the line was pissed off like hell but was waiting for someone to initiate probably.

Me : What's going on ? Why is the line not moving ?
Counter Clerk : ( Raised Eyebrow ) Nothin i was attending another one.
Me : But he was not in the line isn't it ?
Counter Clerk : No, but i know him well.
Me : & the other 3 guys before him ?
Counter Clerk : They are from my

neighborhood.

Me : That's gr8, but please make sure u help the people standing in the line first. We all are getting late.

Counter Clerk : ( Pissed off look ) Ok i will but now its Lunch Time, so wait till i finish my Lunch.

On walking back i had to face lots of "You messed everything up" look even though i was just trying to help all in the line. I stood there for 15 more minutes and the Clerk didn't buzz an inch from his chair & neither did he attended a soul after the mini altercation with me. From his actions he clearly meant one thing ... "You mess with me and i would put all in trouble". I walked up to him, smiled and told him "I will get my queries resolved from the website, i don't have to stand here in line and make the other's suffer by this childish folly of yours".

On my way back, i thought of letting the Officer in Charge know about the incident. After describing the sequence of events to him he smiled and uttered a line which surprised me, not pleasantly though.

" Walk down and tell the clerk that OIC has sent you, he will address your issues. You don't have to stand in line for that, i will call him up on his extension "

I laughed my way back to my car, without troubling Mr. Counter Clerk a bit. On the way i glanced the queue which had grown to a much greater extent and the frustrating faces. Well with such a system, sorry but i don't see grin on their faces anytime in the near future.

Place : My Room
Time : 6:00 PM IST
Date : 14th August 2010

As i sit down here and jot my first few odd experiences after i got back from "the USA" i feel this sense of apathy & unresponsiveness is not doing us a whole of good. Probably i wouldn't have cared all the above happenings had i not had a glimpse of a an almost perfect public service system back there in the States, but when you happen to see the good, probably that's when you know what is Bad.

As i said, i am no US wannabe, and would not leave this country of mine for anything else, however we can still work on to making it a better place to live in. A place where "Civic Sense" & "Compassion" is the need of the hour !!!

With our political system being controlled by corrupt politicians in shambles and Common Wealth Games in deep shit, one often thinks, "HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH" ? The greed of acquiring public wealth into personal accounts is far more than the national pride. Had this not been the case, we wouldn't have let down our country so badly by corrupting each penny that was supposed to make the CWG games a success thus prospering INDIA. Now is the time when all the other nations are looking at us with shame and shock, our lovely land is worth much more than this.

There are other shameful and shocking incidents that rocks us hard, to name quite a few the matter of a hapless tribal gal being paraded naked as locals watched for fun, honor killings being the daily news, infant kids being thrashed with hot iron rods, all of a sudden we seem to be living in a horrific world.

References :

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/west-bengals-shame-adivasi-teen-paraded-naked-was-molested-nobody-helped-43385

http://news.oneindia.in/cj/dipin-d/2010/horror-killings-to-guard-honour-shaking-india.html

http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?page=4&id=157314&trendingnow

As we march to our 63rd Independence Day, let's each one of us do our bit. Remember the age old saying "Great changes are brought to life by small Initiations".

Compassion & Civic Sense with a sense of dignity for our motherland from each one of us can do wonders, because as the famous dialog from the movie SWADESH which goes as " We are definitely not the best country in the world, but we definitely do have the potential of being the best "

A Proud INDIAN signing off ....

!!! Vande Maataram !!!!

A Suffering Safar :(

2010-08-07T08:39:00.003-04:00

"There are these odd times when nothing goes right and to be more vocal here when i say nothing I mean, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. 2nd & 3rd of August 2010 got to be those days ill fated days.

After spending a couple of years in Tampa, Florida i was all set to FLY BACK. Hardly did i know it would have been apt to call it "CRAWL BACK".

The ball of misfortune started to roll when I paid 400 USD for the extra overweight baggage I was carrying with me, thanks to my extended stay and the emotional attachment with all my stuffs back there. I ended up carrying even the toaster just because it was gifted to me ( I mean who carries a toaster back home ??? ) but clearly i was in a mood to denounce stereotyping. On a fine day I would have paid 200 bucks for the same luggages. I handed over my debit card like it was my wife, the moron (at the airline counter) SWIPED and I standing at the opposite end WIPED (my tears). I hugged my buddies and headed towards the security check. Nothin strange happened there which meant the earlier incident was just one of those bad things to have happened (how I wish that was true).

I boarded the UNITED flight from Tampa to Chicago and waited to be airborne. The wait was a bit too long, to quantify long here, it was as long as Indian cricket fans waiting for Ajit Agarkar to play consistently good cricket for 2 back 2 back matches. And just like Ajit, United too tried my patience.

Just when they fixed their non-existent technical snags (coz we never knew what they were) it poured elephants & hippos from the heaven like there was no tomorrow. "The conditions are unfavorable for takeoff so we have to wait till the storm subsides" was what the in-flight announcement sounded like. We had already been delayed by an hour. The fact that I had to catch the Etihad flight to India was bothering me as the gap between the arrival in Chicago and departure to Abu dhabi was as slender as Naomi Campbell's waistline.

Safar'ing ;)

There is this one directly proportional relation between HOPE, PAIN & RESTLESSNESS. If you have hopes pinned on a thing you tend to get restless till you achieve it and in case you don't the pain caused is acute.

To put things into perspective here I had hoped to catch the flight to India. We reached Chicago ORD airport at 7:20 pm alighted the flight at 7:40 pm, did a Carl Lewis with 20kg weights bags & ended up missing it. There had been random occurrences of good things occurring at deplorable frequencies and this time it being meeting Preity Zinta.

We both were in the same airtrain from terminal 1 to 5. The distance was a well over 15 mins and this being a phoren land we were the only 2 desis :). Eventhough I was excited to see her, I underplayed my excitement quite well. " Hey HIiii " was the opening lines from me. She received it quite well and gave a smile ... Boy she was damn pretty. We stood there holding the poles and talked as if long lost friends. Here I had a sudden realization " my sense of humor rocked " during our short discussion of 10 mins she laughed and giggled like hell. It was a good time spent with the lady which ended when we reached the terminal 5. We shook hands and headed towards our flight carriers. She was headed towards Canada and thus walked to the Air Canada counter. I on my part walked towards an already closed Etihad counter.

They had closed and no more boardings were allowed. Here came the PAIN I was talkin about. Trust me it was immense. I badly wanted to get out of the place and there I was being asked to catch the flight next day. I had a good 24 hours before I could get into an airplane and there was no way I was gonna stay there at the airport well until I had the company of Miss Zinta, thank god she was still a Miss after that fall out with Ness Wadia. I was standing there thinking about it and deriving sadistic pleasure of she still being single after her breakup :)

I looked around and my Preity was gone. Did I just say MY ? Oh yes she was indeed mine ( rofl ). After a bit of a talkin with the airline officials they handed me a discount coupon which meant I could stay in any hotel registered in their list, paying half the price I wud have paid had I not missed the flight. Wow I was like really excited to have got that discount. Now this is a typical Desi Psychology which is "deriving self satisfaction after a good bargain".

I hopped into the free pickup van that ran forth between the Airport & the Hotel. It was a pretty decent place to stay in ( http://www.ohareinnsuites.com/ ). I was like a marathon runner who had just stepped over the finishing line. Tired like an ass, dripping wet with perspiration like a shower and loaded with 2 heavy baggages that in no way can be termed as "Cabin Baggage" just because of the mass they carried. Room # 128 was as cosy as mummy's lap, well atleast it seems like after the tiresome journey. After i checked in, all i did was order mouth watering Chinese cuisine, arranged a playlist with the choicest old Bollywood numbers and slept for 14 long hours. Life is good without a cell phone, had always heard of it but had never experienced, thanks to the sequence of events that led me to this hotel room i have had that as well.

My Room

The van that ferried me.

My messed up room view 1

My not so messed up room view 2

So after resting for almost 20 hours i started back to the airport to catch the flight. I didn't want a second discount coupon so was there on the fateful airline counter 4 hours earlier. Stood in the serpentine line as it moved at a slow pace. There were some interesting characters around those worth a mention here. There was this Mucchad (one with a big moustache) keralite with a heavy mallu accent getting pissed off with his kid for not speaking in English with his grandma, that's when her grandma knows English as good as i know Hebrew ( I DON'T KNOW A WORD OF HEBREW ). A embarrassed mother with a stroller housing a screaming kid who was hell bent on bringing the ceiling down with his screams. A newly married couple busy showing to the world their humongous LED TV that they were carrying back to India.

Finally i was called and there was this number infinite'th shock waiting for me. "Sir, we didn't receive any confirmation from United Airlines, am afraid you have to pay 137 bucks for your extra bag ". I mean how can they do this to me ??? Dude i paid 400 bucks and here are the receipts. "I understand Sir, but these are just customer receipts, not for the airline, so we cannot honor them". Give me an alternative as its absurd to pay twice for the same bag. "Contact United or Pay for the extra bag" . After some howling and growling what followed is :

"Can i have your signature here please ?" said the guy with " World's Best Airline" tag on his chest pocket. I counted 137 multiplied by 46 that makes it "some 6000+ INR" and signed on the slip with "APPROVED" written over it. I was hardly in a mood to relax and was just dying to board the flight. As i waited for the boarding to start, i scrambled on my friends FB walls, watched a couple of videos on Youtube & checked out the pics of my past, present and future girl friend.

45 minutes later i was seated on my seat numbered 16G. It was an aisle seat luckily. Let's go back a minute earlier. As i was approaching my seat i saw a pretty gal seated on seat # 16F, however once i reached mine, the guy adjacent to her sprang up from his seat, almost stamped the lady's lap and skillfully rested his fat ass on seat number 16F. That was to make sure his wife ( yes the pretty lady was his wife ) doesn't seat besides me because had it been so, perhaps i would have eloped with his wife jumping off the plane while in flight. I gave him a "ASS HOLE, YOU SUCK,GROW UP " look and settled on my seat. He on his part gave me a " DUDE, DON'T MESS WITH ME " look.

As i sunk into my cosy seat and closed my eyes to relax, it was as if 100 kids waiting for me to settle down so that they all can scream their tonsils out. I almost fell off hearing the sudden screaming. I love kids and totally adore them, but a crying kid besides you on a long journey is a definite NO. "Sir, would you like to have anything ?" inquired the pretty hostess, "Can i have some Melatonin Tablets for the Kids please ? " I wished i could have asked her but i didn't want to get bashed up by the parents who were already irritated, trying to pacify their kids. So i asked for a noise cancelling headphone and some water to drink.

That's Me

Seat No. 16H

As i put on the headphones, and played the songs that i had added to my playlist all the crying lil devils sounded like Kishore Kumars & Asha Bhosles :). Hearing the legends, helped me forget all my worries, so much so that even the delay of 2.5 hours due to an over crowded runway seemed not of much a worry except the fact that i was again wary of my flight to Hyderabad. But i instead chose to "enjoy the being and not the becoming" so submerged my sense of hearing into silken voices & melodious music of the bygone era.

A snapshot of my Playlist

The flight finally took off and within an hour i was out of Columbus's Discovery. That was a time 2 Indulge in Reminiscence of the past couple of years that helped achieving that " Perspective " I always craved 4 :). USA ROCKED big time & i had no bitter experiences with the place.

Reached Abu Dhabi just in the nick of time, did a Michael Johnson this time and was lucky enough to be able to get into the flight to Hyderabad, my final destination.

All was well after that, infact i was in for a surprise when i saw myself getting out of the customs check pocketing just 30 USD. Finally, here i am, idling on the comfortable couch penning my travel experience for my friends out there who took time of their busy schedules to go through it.

Till the time i have something interesting to share again with you guys & gals, Bon Voyage :)

Ungodly God Men

2010-05-09T17:16:00.001-04:00

" Disclaimer: This plot is not purely fictional, resembelance to anybody, alive or dead, is intended however its not a generalization. The below views are based on true facts. Names haven't been hidden to disclose identity either ;) "

SADHUs, BABAs, SWAMIs more often than nought these are synonyms for the word " CHEATERS ". I ain't hurting any religious / personal sentiments here by the aforementioned declaration but just an effort to put to facts some happenings in the past that lead to the synopsizing. However if i still did hurt any mortals, please look up and see the disclaimer.

He might have been utterly irritating at times, but i would like to borrow this one liner from Mr. Navjot S Sidhu here which goes as; quote Statistics are like mini skirts, they reveal more than they actually hide unquote.

How true, i mean there have been ample instances in the past wherein all of a sudden out of the blues, a Baba or a Swami pops out of almost nowhere, blabbers something crap seating on a podium that we already know and walks back with herds of followers and handsome offerings in the process. A few summers pass and he is into hiding, not because of the so called SAMADHI he takes for good but because he doesn't want to be kicked & punched hard by his one time followers and end up in real SAMADHI forever.

Let's peep into the past on some of the weirdest Babas to have ever walked on earth surface :

I often wonder, and pretty sure that these extraordinary creatures does indeed possess something special. After all its not easy to have people lay at your feet, wait in line to be slapped hard by you and even pay you back. All this just because they believe you can cure them with just a slap. If you were not amongst the crowd in line the below link about or so called THAPPAD BABA might make you sit up and admire him :)

( Thappad in English : Slap )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGag2lZlKlM ( Courtesy : www.youtube.com )

Imagine a prescription which reads :

Cold & Cough : 1 Thappad
Fever : 2 Thappads
Typhoid : 3 Thappads
Cancer : 100 Thappads
Lymphocercoma of Intestine ( Remember Rajesh Khanna from Anand ) : Infinite Thappads till the time the patient drops dead, well in that case his soul could bustle with pride for the fact that he fooled such a dangerous disease and died of something else ;)

If one follows the emergence of such weird Babas in India, probably he would have enough material to keep him amazed & laughing for the rest of his life. But on a more serious note, its we the people who are to blame isn't it ?

Leave aside some Babas worth of the title like Swami Ramdev, who does the so called Pravachan less and preaches the age old healthy exercise of Yoga.

The other day a swami who popped out of nowhere reached the zenith of disgrace, and ended up behind the bars . I never heard of someone by the name Swami Nithyanand operating in the southern parts of India before. Looks like he was quite famous amongst his disciples, infact to such an extent that he had sprawling ashrams in places like San Fransisco, Cape Town, & Vancouver to name a few. Loved, adored and respected by Indians and Foreigners alike he led a spiritual life. All was well in Swami's paradise, and then all of a sudden his libido went off limit and he ended up being the blue eyed boy of all the print and live media alike. Romancing 2 film actresses he was caught by Joseph-Nicephore's invention, then what followed was a series of revelations.

The Swami who called himself god's own man entrusted to the task of enlightening his disciples. Reports say he charged an hefty sum from his foreign disciples to enlighten them and at the end would also hand them over a certificate proving he received ENLIGHTENMENT. I wonder what the certificate would look like, something like " I SWAMI NITHYANAND DO HEREBY DECLARE THAT MR. XYZ HAS COMPLETED THE 6 WEEKS TRAINING ON ENLIGHTENMENT AND IS HEREBY ENLIGHTENED "

Wow thats quite a possession, and having come from a Swami of his stature who couldn't control his over excited hormones has an edge over all certificates be it a Doctor's Degree from MIT or a Business Administration degree from Harvard or IIMs.

Our very own swami used to be an esteemed visitor of one of the hottest strip clubs in San Fransisco, loved expensive outfits & perfumes and loved to travel in the swankiest fast cars, talk about detaching from the material world and giving it all to the mighty super power.

We have to give it to the Swami, after all he is also a guy who gets turned on by lust. But when you do and earn from something you tell you do, and over that you get caught for doing the exact opposite, dude that's when you are in a freaking hot soup that would melt you ass off.

We the people, the aam junta are more to be blamed in this entire rollicking career graphs of these ungodly god mens. Its we who spiral them to the zenith of glory, let them play with our innocent and foolish emotions, treat them as if they are no less than gods and when they indeed prove they are just mere mortals, we run after there lives, burn effigies, hammer with foot wears, vandalize there physical property and end up creating a mess.

On the contrary, the Swami did what he said. Read the below piece of info posted on http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/swami-made-followers-sign-sex-contract-20760.php which says :

The document reads: "Volunteer understands that the program may involve the learning and practice of ancient tantric secrets associated with male and female ecstasy, including the use of sexual energy for increased intimacy/spiritual connection, pleasure, harmony and freedom. Volunteer understands that these activities could be physically and mentally challenging, and may involve nudity, access to visual images, graphic visual depictions, and descriptions of nudity and sexual activity, close physical proximity and intimacy, verbal and written descriptions and audio sounds of a sexually oriented, and erotic nature, etc."

It also says: "By reading and signing this addendum, Volunteer irrevocably acknowledges that he/she is voluntarily giving his unconditional acceptance of such activities and discharges the Leader and the Foundation, and anyone else not specifically mentioned here but directly or indirectly involved in the organization, management or conduct of any such programs from any liability, direct or indirect, arising from such activities."

When do we get to realize, they ain't gods, they are just freaking mortals who thrive on nothing but betrayal. If we fall into the pit ourselves, we should own up our folly and try to get ourselves out and not to loiter near it anytime in the future.

On a lighter note, lets come to think of the phrase used to describe such Swamis & Babas, the dictionary calls them " GOD MEN ". I am at my wit's other end when i think of how skewed the definition of GOD MEN is.

RIP UNGODLY GOD MEN !!!

Aloha ...

A Common Man :)

Your Friendly Cabbie !!!

2010-03-06T18:14:00.205-05:00

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon & like the hundreds gone by & the hundred that would probably go by, i was doing absolutely nothing. Tabbing across Orkut, Facebook, YouTube & some other random sites i came across something that made me sit up and pen this blog down.

For someone who hasn't been talked about in this blog, probably won't find the above pic of much value. However you gotta ask the mortals who has spent a part of his / her life in this goddamn place called "Tampa" and they all will evoke the same emotion am sure, and that would be "Nostalgia".

We all software engineers spend a fraction of our lives in this place, once discovered by Mr Columbus. For some it turns out to be a lifetime experience and for some plain nightmarish. I believe truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget. How true is that, i mean you find some1 in a far of land which is hard, spend some really good moments with them that makes your stay in this foreign land which otherwise devoid of any one that you can call your own, memorable, feels terrible when they part away but remain etched in your memoirs for ever.

I have been in this place since the past 2 years and lost count on the number of good friends i have made. There were some however with whom, the journey to the airport to see them off was pretty saddening. As i turn back on the pages of my life that i spent as a cabbie, below are the lovable buggers that unknowingly made me sad by their departure.

Rohit Harish alias Ullu

Have known this guy since time immemorial and infact he was the one to receive me at the Tampa International Airport when i first immigrated here. We have spent helluva of time together and had been room mates for more than a year. I hated him when he pushed me into the toilet early in the morning so that he could sleep 4 a bit longer but loved him when he made those mouth watering delicacies. Rohit a piece of advice for u ... " we could have done with a dozen chillies less in the curry " but whatever it was he was an amazing cook. I was so overwhelmed by his cooking that i once declared " Hey Bhagwaan, mujhe Rohit jaisi biwi chahiye " well i just meant a wife who can cook as well as this guy but the listeners around took the other meaning and am being looked upon with suspicion even now. I would like to take this opportunity to make a clarification here " I seriously meant a wife who could cook as Rohit ". Seeing off this guy at the airport made me sad to the core. It was like not being with some1 i really liked and enjoyed being with. I do wish he comes back from mexico and we end up being roomies again. For all those weird thinkers flexing there cranial nerves, my above clarification still holds good :)

Tanveer Pathan alias Classical Music Lover

Meet Tanveer Pathan, lovingly called as Pathan. I met this guy a couple of months after i set foot in Tampa. If my cerebrum is right, the earliest remembrance of this guy was when he dropped into a party hosted by us uninvited & gulped down all the mutton curry we had for 30 guests, single handedly. I still kinda fall off my chair laughing when i recall how he popped in the second day also and had the last bowl of mutton which Rohit had knowingly hidden off in the most enclosed place of our kitchen. Came to know a week later how he was being starved to death by his earlier roomies when he shifted to our flat. This guy has a golden heart, and a helping hand that he always lends out to others. The only thing strange about this guy is the kind of songs he listens to day in & day out. He calls himself a lover of classical music, but trust me he tortured us big time when he made us listen to them as well. He carried his laptop with him to the potty room and played the horrible classics, am sure he was saving money from buying isabgol tablets :) He envied married guys, slept on a circular green & white pillow which looked more like a cake, got himslef nearly locked up inside a U-Haul van's luggage compartment & occupied a considerable chunk of my heart. I wish he comes back too, but with a better choice of songs this time :)

Madhura Ketkar alias Maddy

We were a all boy's gang before this blue eyed gal joined us. Well was it Blue, Green or Red ??? I don't really remember because i have heard her fooling people saying " My eyes turns to be the same color as my shirt " can u beat this lie of hers ? :) All said and done, she is one of the most lively and jolly eve i have seen in my life. I knew Madhura earlier but i came to know the real Maddy here in Tampa. We were the driving partners and have 1000 miles of flawless driving between us even though i was the faster amongst the two having beat her badly on 2 separate occasions. I miss our lunches in Ploy Thai, our milk shakes in Steak & Shake in the middle of the nite, song dedications on youtbe and dealing with a rascal together :). She left Tampa without helping me goin on a date with her hot & super sexy client but i will forgiver her for that. Even though her journey back to India wasn't a pleasant one, i wish she has the best future that she has dreamt of. Maddy come back, your old and broken Mitsubishi Mirage is shedding tears in your absence :)

Renuka alias Babes

Pretty gals are one rare species that's on the verge of extinction in 10210 Windhorst Road. Thanks to gals like her who come in as a breath of fresh air. The earliest remembrance of her was when i saw this gal walking down the office corridor counting her steps, well atleast she looked as if she was really doing it :). Didn't talk to her for a long time though as we didn't have any common friend who could have introduced her to me, or wait a sec ... there was infact a common friend however he was more of a tuition teacher to this gal who was entrusted with transferring gyan to her. Remember, only the gyan could have saved this gal during her rest of the stay in Tampa and am happy it did :). I remember my car totally occupied, when Renuka walked in and asked Maddy if she cud get a lift. No one moved, not a single soul talked, she peeped in and backed out herself. That was a pity for me ... i felt like pushing Bips out of the car and welcoming the pretty gal instead. Sorry Bips if the mercury besides u is rising but i seriously thought so :). Times passed and we became really good friends. She was one gem who freaked out on work totally, skipped lunches, deserted theaters ( I still remember she preferring work over a Saturday evening movie ), and worked till dawn. But this was just during her initial phases, once into the thick of things she rocked big time so much that she made me drive on a hilly road in a pitch dark ambiance on a speed on 75mph :) One awesome gal i have ever met and hope to be friends forever.

Cricket ain't gonna be the same again !!!

2008-11-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

The master dancing down the pitch and sky rocketting the leather so high that had it plucked the gorgeous air hostess out of the plane wouldn't have caused much of a surprise. That's what we have been seeing since the last 12 years and probably for the last time ever. The dawn that arrived way back in June 1996 has reached the dusk & am pretty sure Cricket ain't gonna be the same again for me.

For guys like me, who are in their mid to late twenties, the actual cricket started around the year 1989. It was the time when the likes of Gavaskars, Vengsarkars, Amarnaths & Shastris were fading into oblivion and our fathers were in a state we currently are in. We untill then had only heard of the heroics but didn't really visualize it, probably that made the impact less impounding. I still remember the first time i saw a live match on TV, it was the Benson & Hedges World Championship of Cricket. I was hardly 4 years old then but still remember the joy and excitement it generated in our drawing room. As Indians were thrashing the Pakis, i was riding upon my dad's shoulders and dancing along with him infront of our new Weston TV. Some things remain etched in your memory and one such incident was Ravi Shastri riding his Audi with the entire team on it after winning the Man of the Series Award for his exemplary all round display throughout the series.

Cut to the year 1989, arrived on the Indian cricket scene a wobbly haired kid who didn't look like the other lots in the team. He was the one responsible for making my Nani skip her daily Puja to see cricket. More than anything else he was an inspiration, someone who showed even kids can play with Men. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ought to be the guy responsible for doubling the cricket viewership in India. My mama was not a cricket loyalist before his debut but things changed later on. The way he fought back after being hit by a bloody delivery, the way he played his cover drives, his backfoot punches & his front foot sixes made each kid emulate him. Before his arrival kids loved to do both but later on if you were not a batsman in your gully team, you are not there in the team. This was the effect this 16teen year old had on the entire nation

Thanks again to a bespectaled studious looking guy who brought back the magic of bowling. Seeing him bowl felt like someone coming straight to the playground after his chemistry lab practicals. The long white sweater was nothing less than an apron. Anil Kumble was sheer dedication, determination & hardwork. His 6/12 against the west indians & 10 wicket haul against arch rivals pakistan ought to be one of the finest display of spin bowling. He was not a wizard in turning the ball, but i somehow feel its his 100% behind each delivery that seemed to have paid off.

Azzarudins, Manjrekars, Prabhakars & Jadejas were also at the peak of their carreers and cricket was fun to watch.

Year 1996, ought to be a glorious year in Indian cricket. It gave us two of the finest servants who would serve Indian Cricket for a decade to follow. Enter the "God of Offside " & "The Wall of Indian Cricket " onto the cricket scene in the same test match. It was Test Match number 1328 & was a memorable one. While Sourav showed his audacity en'route his Century on debut, Rahul showed his class. Eventhough he was unlucky to get out on 95 but he let the world know his arrival onto the big scene.

Indian Cricket was in safe hands which was further strengthened by the arrival of a cricketer with a very short name. My name is Laxman ... Sai Laxman ... Venkata Sai Laxman .... Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman. Well that was Laxman immitating Bond ... James Bond. Eventhough he had made his debut in the year 1996, it was year 2000 which actually brought him into limelight. He has the knick of tormenting and torturing the aussies and he has been doing it till date with utmost sincereity.

Now as we step into the year 2009, we might not see each of them for too long. With Kumble already out, Sourav playing his last match as i pen down this blog, i dont see the other 3 carrying on for long.

I had to be in india this time, coz i desperatley needed to see my favourite champ playing all his shots for one last time & i hate America for not airing Cricket matches. Sourav Ganguly is someone i admire immensely. Of the Big 5 of Indian Cricket, perhaps "Dada " is the one who received equated number of Bouquets & Brickbats. He was Inspiration & courage personified & showed us how to give it back to the opponents over the face.

If anyone fits to the example of a Phoenix then it ought to be my Dada. The way he rose from ashes to stardom again, looks like he took a cue from the mythical bird. Now as he plays his last test match i just hope he scores a ton and sign off the way he had signed in a decade back.

If Sachin stands for Flamboyance, Kumble for Dedication, Rahul for Craftness, Laxman for Elegance then Sourav for Inspiration & Courage.

For me cricket ain't gonna be the same again, and it would take only a Sourav to fill the void of Sourav which am not sure would happen.

Hats off to the loyal servants of Indian Cricket and hope the glorious legacy continues hereafter ....

Howzzzzz thatttttttttt !!!!!

A Musical Bumpy Ride !!!!

2008-07-20T12:02:00.000-04:00

It was a monday morning and i was already running late to office by atleast an hour. To make matters worse i had misplaced my bike keys the earlier night, and the only other option to have helped me reach office was to hire an auto. When i say an auto, i mean an AUTORICKSHAW. Out here in Hyderabad like in many other Indian cities, we have the luxury of commuting in an auto which would be shared by other passengers as well. To put matters bluntly, one would pay less than half of what he/she would have paid had they travelled all alone. This came as a major factor to ensure one doesn't have to cough out astronomical sums at end of the journey. But as we know when we compromise on price, we might end up not getting a great deal. That's what exactly happened on that fafeful monday morning.

I stood there underneath a huge hoarding which read "It's better to be Mr. Late than to be Late Mr." It was a public interest message hoarding put up by GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation). As i waited for the auto to pass by, i could sense a strong fragrance besides me. I turned around to see a lovely girl dressed outrageously standing besides me. It didn't take me long to figure out that she was also waiting for an auto .... a shared auto to be precise :-)

As i was thinking of it suddenly an auto screeched and stopped inches away from me. It seemed like a brand new auto decorated by garlands at the front end. I guess the driver hardly saw me, and had the pretty gal stood a couple of metres away from me, am pretty much sure that i would have been run over and probably the auto parked on me. I stared at the driver and said "Dekh ke Bhai ... Maaroge Kya ?" to which he just smiled and so did the gal. I let her board the auto first as a mark of courtesy. We were the 1st & 2nd to occupy the seats of the fateful auto. "Rashmi Joshi - Infosys" read the ID Card and i was pretty much happy because her being from Infosys meant we would be together till the tad end of the journey. The auto started and so did the crooning. "Oooooooooo Huzoooooorrrrrrr Tera Tera Tera Surooooorrrrr" played as if there was no tomorrow, i expected a soft romantic number but this song was the one i least longed to listen. Before my ear drums would have popped out i said "Thoda Volume Kam Karo Yaar" to which he slowed it down a bit. She gave a faint smile & seemed the driver felt offended.

From then on started the ordeal. The speed grew slowly and he picked up passenger from each nook and corner of the street. By the time we had reached half the distance, there were already 9 persons occupying the auto including the driver himself. The only good thing was Rashmi Joshi sitting quite close to me ;o). I didn't mind it that much because somehow even such a horrible crowd didn't seem to cramp us up, for space. As both of us seem to be enjoying each others company .... well i somehow felt she kinda liked me :-). Just when we seem to be getting into the skins of SRK & Kajol, Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jaana Sanam playing behind us, we were jolted badly and there was a crashing sound whfich followed by a Dhadaaaammmmmm !!!!! All the romance, all the smiling & all the sweet thoughts including SRK & Kajol flew rite off the auto. Even though i couldn't see SRK & Kajol falling off but all of a sudden i could see only 3 heads in front of me which earlier to the crash was 5. That meant 2 poor souls sitting at the extreme corners to the driver flew out like champagne bottle corks :-) I looked out and saw them on either side of the road. Luckily it was just a bad fall and no external injuries whatsoever, but am sure their asses would have hurt like hell. Imagine one flying out and landing straight over the boulders on their bumps !!! The things that followed, had it been captured through a camera and viewed sometime later would have surley got tonnes of laughters !!! "Teri M** Ki, Saale G*^du, Auto chala raha tha ya teri @#$%$%@"# ka @#$%$%@ chala raha tha" Swearings flying thick & fast from either end and crowd gathered all around in no time. With due consideration to the pity of my fellow commuters eventhough i found the incident quite pathetic, i was dying to control my laughter. Its hard to describe but the song that still played in the background just didn't help the cause of me staying grave. "Dheere Chalna, Dheere Chalna, Dheere Chalna" from the movie Paheli. I just didn't see the matter pacifying soon, so i was at ease trying to enjoy the situation, so did Rashmi.

As they fought like cats & dogs we laughed over the incident and conversed about oneself. After 15 to 20 minutes of high voltage melodrama that could have easily put any Sunny Deol movie to shame, things were back to normalcy and the wheels of the auto started to roll. Everything was the same except those two commuters who didn't find it a good option to bet their lives on this driver anymore. As we went ahead there was pindrop silence which was further helped by the gap between two songs that played over the radio. I could see the Infosys office nearing and Rashmi started opening her purse to pull out exact change that ought to be given to the driver for the services he offered :-) as she got off, i smiled at her and she reciprocated !!! "Do mail me at Rash.Josh@gmail.com incase you are not too loaded with work" i nodded and waved at her. I could see her catwalking into the office gate and so did the driver with eyes wide open.

"Chalein ??? Pehle se hi kaafi late ho gaya he" i uttered and he started. 30 Seconds into the last Lap & "Just move it,everybody in the party just move it ... Tauba mein pyaar karke " played loudly turning the auto into an Disc ... how i hated the RJ for playing this song because i could see the Hero cum Driver literally swaying to the music as he drove real fast. "Sahi gaana he sir, Jhakaas music he ... isse sune to paon control mein nahi rehta". I could see the joy the poor fella was having, seemed like he completely forgot the numerous slaps delivered to him a couple of minutes before. Eventhough i was praying of reaching office asap, i felt good for him. Power of music i should say.

As i got down, i gave him a smile and he was still jumping over his seat to the beats.
"Sahi Dance karte ho aap, film mein try karo :)" i said to him handing him over the fare and he seemed to be exhilarited by my comments and gave a big grin.

I walked into my office without any physical damage but that day my journey from Miyapur to Gachibowli was completely devoid of a dull moment for sure :-)

Raping the Moral Values 4 TRP

2008-06-18T15:09:00.001-04:00

This blog of mine, might project me as someone whoz against Women Empowerment, Narrow Minded, Double Standard and what not. But just the fact that i might be branded with the above mentioned adjectives, i couldn't help but pen down my thoughts which i feel i should have.

It was 7 P.M IST and i as always was flipping across the channels as usual.

As any normal guy would do, i paused on channel No:32, the top right corner logo read not because i loved the channel but just it showed more flesh than any of its counterparts.

I caught the promos of a program that was suppose to start the subsequent week entitled "MTv Splitsvilla". It was supposed to be from the same team who produced the Hit TRP raking show MTv Roadies. Roadies i felt was a show which was seriously one of its kind and came as a breathe of fresh air amongst the whole bunch of reality singing & dancing shows.

As the reels rolled my emotions underwent a gamut of expressions. It started with Excitement (as it seemed like a new kinda reality show), Amazement (as the concept was something which was sure to raise anyone's eyebrow) & finally Shame & Anger (as what i witnessed thereafter was better if left undescribed but i prefer describing it).

I am someone who believes in the saying "Women are God's best creations". I still reaffirm the fact but after witnessing this weird show, i would love to deduct these 20 odd women from that esteemed list.

Before i sound like an extremist, lemme tell u the concept of the show as thought by the so called creative directors of the show. The excerpts from the official MTv channel on the show follows :

Two dishy men. Twenty sexy ladies. One villa in gorgeous Goa. And the torrid game of love…
MTV brings you Splitsvilla, the newest, sexiest, naughtiest reality show on television. Two steaming-hot hunks get to pick and choose from 20 sizzling-hot girls based on certain 'tasks' they have to perform every episode. (Now, now. Behave!) Obviously the ladies are going to go all out to grab their attention. We mean ALL OUT.It's a dirty fight to the finish. We're going to be lucky witnesses to some unbelievable drama, treachery, sabotage, cat-fights, politics, back-stabbing, bitching and scheming. Watch the girls undergo stress, fear, exhaustion, depression. Watch them try to outdo each other with their womanly wiles (flaunt their stuff and how!) as the two lucky guys sit back and enjoy the show.

What started next would make even the most liberal person wear his thinking cap.

20 scantily dressed women being interviewed one after the other being asked the question as to what can they do to woo the boys in the villa. The answers as expected didn't vary much as each of them was just ready to do whatever the boys ask for. Yep u heard it right "Whatever the Boys asked for & they would be more than happy to oblige". What was this going on ??? I asked myself. I hated the concept but watched it just to measure the depth of insanity this show would go to & believe me it hit rock bottom.
Normally at the end of the 25 Mins show which had already showed the girls trying to woo the guys by agreeing to do just anything starting from being cosy, falling off on them, donning revealing outfits and even jumping into the pools on a slight whiff of wish from the guys. The entire sight was plain pathetic. To make the matter more demeaning for the Women Community, the so called Cool Dudes, at the end of the episode were entrusted with the power of throwing out a girl of their choice out of the villa branding her as a "Bore", "Lifeless" or "Not My Types". The girls on their part seem to look nervous, anxious and filled with jubiliation & what not just to get the nod from the guys to stay put for one more week. Just seeing this fact is so demeaning even for a guy like me, so am amazed what a girl would feel.

The guys are just Mr. Nobody, they dont possess any special quality and neither are they some kinda celebrity. They have been choosen for perhaps making the show more real as normal audience would relate to such stuffs but its just not done.

I belive the winners of this contest would win a prize money of 5 lakhs INR & a chance to host a show on MTv. But on second thoughts is this enough for someone to stoop so low ??? For these girls it is ... and this fact is disturbing.

As i watch in amazement i was reminded of the Women Empowerment Associations and several other voluntary organizations raising a hue & cry over the ad of fairness creams as those depicted the dark complexion as a vice and fair complexion as a virtue. I wonder what they are in hibernation this time, when the show being aired nationally is nothing less than Raping Women's self respect.

Again i would like to re-iterate the fact that am not against women empowerment, but if this is what our modern day women are being projected as then there's something serious which is affecting our so called generation X.

Hope i never come across this serial again, and if you do then am sure you would echo my thoughts.

Adios .....

The Bitter Truth

2008-03-29T15:15:00.000-04:00

" Disclaimer: This plot is purely fictional, resembelance to anybody, alive or dead, is purely coincidental"

Admist deep slumber i was shaken off all of a sudden by my fellow commuter, i looked at him in shock and disbelief for being so cruel to me. Perhaps judging my expression he realised that he had acted upon a bit too hyperactively in waking me off and just to pacify things, gave me a cordial smile and said "Aapka stop aa gaya sir :-)". I looked around and saw the bus which a couple of minutes ago was zooming off as if it was the last time its running on the road, standing still waiting for me to alight as soon as possible. The passengers looking at me with a tinge of anger and the conductor standing near the door holding it open for me made me feel they had to wait for a bit longer for me to get up. To save me from more embarassment i rose up my seat, collected my huge bag from the rack above and in the process nearly tripped myself on the lap of a beautiful woman sitting on the opposite seat. More than her it was her husband who helped me in regaining my balance so that i dont fall off on her wife :o), i dont think his wife would have minded much, had i landed on her lap. I stepped down the bus, smiled at the conductor who was polite enough to reciprocate. He slammed the door as i looked, hit the bus a couple of times with his stone like tough hands and said "Chal Re" which made the Bus zoom off into thin air. I could see the messages "Please Keep Distance ; Blow Horn " fading away with the Bus.

I picked up my bag, put it on my shoulders and started walking down the road. The weather was awesome as if it had rained cats & dogs the earlier night, and with cool breeze blowing it made me feel more sleepy. My Tissot told me it was 7 A.M and i was quite happy to have made it on time, coz more often that nought these busses run late. As i headed towards my Uncle's house i thought of stopping by Uma Shankar Tea Stall, this being the famous tea stall in the area. "Kaise ho bhaiya ji" asked the person sitting on the counter. He knew me pretty well as i was a frequent visitor at his shop whenever i was in that place. "Bas theek thaak" i replied. As he handed me over the Tea, i asked "Aur kaise chal raha he sab ??". "Sab bhagwaan ki kripa he" he answered. I asked him about Uncle and Aunty to which he said "Ab kaise honge bhaiya, bilkul akele pad gaye hain, koi he bhi to nahi paas mein, ek doosre ke sahaare hain bas". I nodded my head and sipped the Tea and was off the shop in a couple of minutes. As i walk towards the house which is not pretty far off, let me give you a insight of where have i come and for what so that you dont feel alieniated with the happenings hereafter. I am here to meet my Uncle & Aunty. Uncle was a Teacher who retired last Month and aunty was the perfect Home maker. They had 3 Kids comprising 2 Sons and a Daughter all of them happily married, and as destiny would have it they all were miles away from home busy in each other's lives. Now that i have reached the House lemme get to the Present Mode.

The House stood at the end of the Road, it was an independent house with a big courtyard surrounding the entire house. It was the typical kind of old big houses one comes across in not so big towns. There was a garden of pretty decent size and inorder to get into the actual house one had to span across the garden. There was a huge mango tree at the far corner of the garden and in totality all this gave the house a perfect picture.

"Ding Dong" rang the calling bell as i pressed it, waiting for someone to come out. As i stood there i felt an eerie silence brooding over the House. A couple of years ago this house used to be a hub, hustling & bustling with People, but after the migration of my cousins, it looked as dead as a House can be. I could see the transformation of the Home to a House. First the Elder Son got married and a couple of months later went to USA for an onsite assignment as they would call it in the Software Terminology. Then it was the time for the only daughter of the house and she was married off with much grandeur & fanfare. And as the last nail on the coffin would have it, the youngest of the trio also left for UK a couple of months ago after making it to a decent university to pursue his Masters.

I heard from Mummy that after this, not everything was going fine in the lives of the Old Couple and thats the reason i made it a point to visit them during my Long Leave from work. As i was thinking about all this i heard the door open silently on my back, and as i turned around i saw my aunty standing with her welcoming smile as ever. I loved when she smiled coz she had a dimple and that looked great on her. I often used to joke her saying i would marry a girl having a dimple like my aunt's. She came closed and hugged me and i could see my Uncle following suit. I wished them both and we proceeded in. I felt, both of them had lost much weight and were looking comparatively leaner. As i reached the drawing room, i saw a big family photo hanging which was taken perhaps on the day of the daughter's wedding. The house was a huge one but it looked wrecked as if most portions of it was hardly trodded upon. The look owed its existance to a quite logical reason though, how would a 10 roomed house supposed to look when its practically inhabited by two souls. I could not belive its the same house, coz earlier it was so crowded that even such a big house looked a tad small at times, but as they say time changes everything & so did it had an effect here as well.

As i was getting acclamatised to the new environ, i saw aunty busy preparing breakfast for me and Uncle helping her with tea. They were an ideal couple in true sense with uncle always coming to the aid of aunty. It felt so good seeing both of them so much in love with each other even after 35 years of their marriage. I headed towards the restroom to refresh myself and joined them back an hour later. "Tu abhi bhi itna time toilet mein rehta he" asked my aunty seeing me back. I smiled & nodded and we all sat together on the big wooden dinning table. There were 8 chairs of which 2 were being used till date and the third one coming to action today on my arrival. We discussed about a whole lot things ranging from each others health, my job, my marriage topic which i avoided quickly, and finally an extensive discussion on their three kids and what are they upto recently. "Why don't you go to USA and stay there for a couple of months with Sanjay Bhaiya" i asked. On hearing this they looked at each other and tried to avoid the question but when i refused to buzz from that query, Uncle said "Passport keliye apply kiya he, milte hi kuch plan banega", the reply seemed logical enough. After finishing my breakfast aunty asked me to take a nap as i had travelled the whole of previous night. As i lied down thinking about beautiful girl in the bus the previous night, i heard the phone ringing in the drawing room, "Long ring he, sanjay ka hoga" said uncle and both of them literally ran towards the phone. I was taken aback seeing the excitement a phone call had generated, this showed how alone they were and how dearly they missed their kids. After both of them talked for around 15 minutes with aunty doing the majority of the talking they hung up. I was not exactly feeling sleepy so i again proceeded towards the living room. Aunty on seeing me said "Sanjay calls us once every week, he is very responsible" . She was beaming with happiness as she said this, even Uncle looked revitalised as if they just had some kinda magic potion. How less parents expect when it comes to kids showing concern for them. He had hardly done his duty by calling once a week but even that seemed to make him a perfect son in view of his parents. The day passed on with both of them not failing to mention about their kids at the slighest chance. They treated me like VVIP Guest and i felt as if they were trying to live their life which had become so monotonus a bit differently.

I was ushered with all kinds of foods and desserts and finally it was time for the afternoon nap. They both proceeded towards the bed room and i sat on the sofa in the living room flipping across the newspapers. As i was going through the backdated papers, i found a big white Envelope which read "Sanjeevani Clinic". I was shocked to see it, the reason being, this clinic has a good reputation in treating patients mainly suffering from Brain Tumour. I quickly took the reports out and it didn't take me long enough to know that Aunty has been diagnosed with "Meningioma" its a kind of tumor that arises from the Meninges (the membranes covering the brain & spinal cord) and occurs mostly in Middle-aged women. I couldn't belive what i was seeing, i was sure no one would have known about this coz in that case atleast my Mama should have told me as she tells me about each and everything that used to happen within our relatives. And moreover we were a closely knit family so there was not even a bleak chance of such news getting supressed. I breezed through the reports and with the little medical knowledge i had i knew she had surpassed the initial stages and was in a pretty precarious state. To put my thoughts to confirmation i took my uncle's car and headed straight to Sanjeevani Clinic with the reports. After an extensive discussion with the Doctor, "How many days doctor?" i asked to which he replied in a grim tone "A couple of months more". The ground slipped out of my feet on hearing this. "Does she know about this" i asked again, the doctor in response to this just nodded the head indicating that both of them infact know this. As i was descending down the stairs i just could not help my cheeks getting wet thanks to the tears which rolled down swiftly. I loved my aunty and here i was told that a couple of months more and the my Aunty was going to be reffered as "WAS" instead of "IS". I was not going to let this happen at any cost, i had a plan and so i went back to the house.

It was 6 in the evening and as i entered the house i saw both deeply engrossed in gardening. "Where had you been" asked Aunty, i said was just off for a ride. I helped them in their gardening activity, infact both of them had a common passion and that was Gardening. As we 3 reached the big mango tree, aunty said "This tree is going to bear fruit in 4 Months, i will give you lots of mangoes" suddenly after saying this they both looked at each other and then aunty said again "Even if am not there, Unlce will give you the mangoes" and she started smiling and uncle looked faded and jaded. I knew what she meant but kept quiet as i was on the lookout of the correct time. We went back inside the house and sat there for the evening tea. I felt thats the time i should be bringing the topic.

"When are your passports expected?" i asked, to which my uncle said that it would take a month or so. I was off the idea that if i would be able to send them off to USA within a short span of time, then there are chances of aunty getting expert treatment and recovering soon. But a month seemed a bit far off for my plans to materialize. I could not think about any other way to initiate the topic, so i said bluntly "Does sanjay bhaiya know about this?", "About what?" said Aunty, "About your Tumor" i replied in a stern voice. I was infact angry on them for keeping such a news under secrecy & more than aunty i felt uncle was to be blamed. They both were shocked to the core on hearing this from me, what followed thereafter was aunty trying to expain me that she was fine the Doctors have the habbit of exaagerating things. She asked me to keep it a secret as well but thats the last thing i was going to do. I said am going to talk about this with all including their Kids, to which she reacted violently. That didn't have much impact on me as i knew what i was doing was right. Even Uncle seemed to appreciate my idea of going sending them off to US & getting her treated there. I assured them of their passports arriving within a week and asked them to make up their minds at the earliest. I knew quite a lot of people from the Passport Office and was confident that some bucks would change hands the passports would be issued. The next big thing remained breaking this news to the Entire family. As expected this news came as a blow to each of the family members and a gloom descended over all the near and dear ones. A week had passed and the passports were issued well on time. I was back to my workplace but was coordinating everything. As i sat there in my office trying to get the tickets booked for Uncle & Aunty, my cell phone rang "Sanjay Bhaiya- USA" was the name flashing. I picked up the call and started talking to him about the flights, schedules and everything. After everything had been discussed he said "Are you sure its Brain Tumor" i was confused on hearing this, what did he mean when he asked me this question? I had literally read out the report to him, faxed him the same and described my discussions with the Doctor at stretch, just to make him sure it was Brain Tumor. It was not the question he asked but the way he did that made me feel real bad. He meant if i am not sure its Brain Tumor and if it can be cured in India than there's no logic in coming to USA and treating her. I was red with anger but he was about 7 years elder to me, i tried to be a normal as possible. Here his mother was going to live for a month and half more and there he was in search of Logic ? How shameful on his part, and what was this for ? Just to save a few Dollars ? I felt like am in the days when movies like Avtaar, Ghar Sansaar etc were made. I finally passed him the number of the Doctor who was treating aunty but while doing this never did i thought in my wilderness that this was going to be the mistake that would cost someone her life. I got a call about a couple of hours later from the same dollar loving son and was asked to hold on and not to go ahead with booking of tickets. I didn't want to talk to him so i hung up. But i sensed something fishy so i set off for aunty's house the next day. Mummy & Papa accompanied me this time and aunty looked worser. She had become leaner and looked really sick and frail. My Mama could not hold back her tears as its was her sister going through the pain. I enquired Uncle about Sanjay Bhaiya asking me to hold on the booking to tickets, to which he said "Sanjay had a talk to the Doctor and it was decided that she can be treated here" i knew this could happen as the doctor here took it as an ego clash when he was asked if American Doctors can treat the patient better then him. As Uncle said this, he could not hold back his tears. He knew aunty was fighting a loosing Battle and he couldn't do much about it. They had splurged all their wealth on their Kid's education, and marriage and was not exactly in a position to afford the flight tickets and all other expenses entirely of his own. And moreover when the one who should be bearing the expenses was a bit hesitant there was hardly anything uncle could have done. I felt terrible, went aside and called up Shilpa Didi, aunty's only daughter so that she could talk to Sanjay Bhaiya & try to convince her. She agreed to what i was saying but at the same time wasn't that keen on being able to convince his elder brother. I was like "What the heck is going on in this so called ideal family". I mailed the youngest of them and he replied he is gonna come after his semesters. I could sense things going terribly out of hand. I could not see my aunty dying like this. I called up Sanjay Bhaiya & said i am going to bear the flight tickets and all expenses but please let me send them as soon as possible coz with each passing day the hopes are fading. He took it as an offence and created a scene "Do you think i dont care for my parents? Who are you to decide on things? Dont show me money, i have enuf of them" were some of the questions he threw at me. I would have replied to everything had aunty not stopped me. I guess she didn't want to spoil our relation and i felt she had already given up. All these things made me feel so very tied up, i couldn't even do a bit for my aunty.

Days passed, treatment continued and i was told that she was recovering. I kept a tab on her by talking to her daily, she was indeed happy that now Sanjay is calling thrice a week instead of once, Vicky the younger one had booked his tickets and arriving in another 15 days and Shilpa's Baby is growing fat and calling her "Naani" . Mama was there with Aunty all these days.

It was a Friday morning, as i was about to start for office i got a call on my Cell "Bhaskar Uncle" was the name that flashed. Just seeing the number flashing lots of thoughts spanned across my mind and so did the smiling face of Aunty. I took the call with my hands trembling "Aunty is no more" said my Papa from the other side of the line. I had suspected the same but when it actually happened, it blanked my mind. I stood there like a lamp post and all the past times with aunty played in front of me like a movie in a 70mm Theatre. I disconnected the phone and just could not control my tears. They were in no mood to stop and gushed out as if there was not another day.

I reached there the next day, was lucky enough to see Aunty for the last time, uncle was crestfallen, he just embraced me and wept like a baby. He knew we had tried as much as we can and more than that he would have been shocked by his Kid's behaviours. The only one by the side of aunty was my mother and Shilpa Didi had joined a couple of hours back. So practically none of the Children were present when she breathed her last. "Sanjay & Vicky would be reaching here in a couple of Days" said someone. It hardly mattered to me, i didn't want to see their faces again in life.

This was a perfect example of Dollar Dreams coming trumps over Blood Ties.

As i write this i am sure there might not be many Sanjay Bhaiyas or for that instance Vickys in the world at present but there are many who are miles away from there Parents.

Building a carreer, Fullfiling your dreams, Attaining Success and all are perfectly fine untill & unless the aforesaid things are within Limits. Its our Parents whom we owe our lives to, and when it comes to them, anything and everything relating to them should be the highest priorities in our lives. Its not everyday that we are gonna have them in our lives but as long as we do, why not treat them like Kings & Queens.

Now even if at some point of time Sanjay Bhaiya wins a Nobel Prize or any other Trophy for instance, in my books he would still be the most unlucky, poorest & villianous person to have ever born.

Riding through a Dreadful Night

2008-03-10T16:52:00.000-04:00

As I sit here vaguely thinking what should I be doing, a thought flashed like an omlette in a hot pan " Am I loosing out on my social contacts ??? ". I haven't received a single scrap since a couple of days, none of my friends are online on any of the messengers I have logged myself onto, not a soul around to chat with, and as if these were not enough, I am sitting here at 2:27 A.M IST in my office and thats exactly when I thought I should blog down my feelings .
Am neither a watchman nor a theif coz they really dont have such luxuries like a laptop, a blogspot id, a centrally air conditioned cubicle, and pipping hot expresso at their disposal. I was neither a supernatural entity and that left me with just one more career option which is as easy like guessing the number of days in a week.
Now that you have guessed it right lemme tell you that I work for a Production Support project. Did I hear " Whats that ??? " okie just to explain it in simple terms, normally people working in PS Projects are the ones who are responsible to work 24*7 to support a business that runs 24*7 and the reason for the business running 24*7 is to make money 24*7. I guess I have made that a tad confusing, so to simplify it further, we are the people who have a sword dangling over our heads at all time and it becomes worse to such an extent that we end up hallucinating disasters even while in deep slumber. There was a survey by some consulting firm which came out with a statement " People working in Prod Support Projects are 10 Times more prepared to take shocks than the rest " on my part I found it quite logical, what perplexed me though is how did they derive that numerical number "10".
At this very instant, I am in a shift which is referred to as "GRAVEYARD SHIFT" and I dont think there could have been any better nomenclature coz being in this shift ensures your path to GRAVEYARD is laid without much fuss. Its not that I have been in this shift for the first time but the gap of 77 days was pretty long. Now am back working in graveyard shift but just for a day. As I write this, the only thing that keeps me going is fact that I do have an off tomorrow. As is sit here I can hear more than a couple of noises very clearly, the ticking of 5 clocks simultaneously depicting 5 different time zones just on the wall behind me, a loud snoring at the far end of the floor, 100s of CPUs humming in sync, and ocassional beeps of electronic doors which meant, apart from me there are some souls still moving around. I sit there looking at my monitor and I see Batch Jobs running as if they are into a 100 Metres race, I open the messenger windows and see all my friends are either offline or idle, I refresh the orkut page to check for any new scrap arrival. Succeeding nowhere I take a more relaxing position and try to sleep, I give myself up completley and now its for the sleep to embrace me. Suddenly I hear the tone of SMS flooding my Inbox and ripping apart the silence that brooded the floor. I get up hurriedly and in the process fall off the chair only to see series of Batch Jobs abending left, right and center. There are times when you just loose your mind, I mean your brain goes on a strike and you just dont relate to the simplest of things happening around you. It was one of those days, and my friend out there in USA working with Client was able to sense it. What followed later is, he doing all the stuffs necessary and I just looking blankly at the screen. I tried helping him but my brain was just refusing to get back to work. After a couple of "No Worries" and "Soooper" by my friend everything was put back to place and we recovered from the abends.
I got up and looked around, I was slowly regaining consciousness when I sighted a big green board with sign "EMERGENCY FIRE EXIT" more than the Text it was the pictorial representation that seemed the perfect thing for me to do. It was a guy running for his life with as much energy and desperation and he was headed straight towards the door reading "EXIT" in big bold letters :-)

A Leaf Out of my Tree, A day Out of my Life ....

2008-02-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

They say something’s are just not destined to happen no matter how close we come to realizing it. I didn't have to go any further looking for such a case coz i myself was a perfect example. I was almost at the fag end of my roller coaster journey and after going through all the bone crunching fights, the spine breaking rides and the nerve wreckling situations, finally i was there standing in front of my princess. She looked so very beautiful, so very opulent and so very inviting. And like a perfect bollywood movie all things were set for a happy ending. We both ran towards each other in slow motion with some 100 odd unseen musicians churning out romantic tunes in synch trying to make our union more pleasant & more filmy and just as we were about to loose into each other's embrace ..... "Tringgggggggggg Tringgggggggggg" rang the Alarm of my mobile phone waking me up and in the process throwing away everything out of the large window besides my bed, and that everything included my princess also. I had read once and the definition of "ALARM" which goes as this ... "An alarm (French: À l'arme - "To the arms") gives an audible or visual warning of a problem or condition." In this case though i could neither sense a problem nor any condition. I hated the tune of my alarm so much that i kept it as the tune which would wake me up each morning and believe me it was superceding my expectations with each passing day. I lied there looking up at the ceiling when i saw the Fan above hardly running; i immediately looked to my right and saw the regulator reading 2. How on earth did i curse my roomie for slowing down the regulator each night once i fall asleep and as if it was not sufficient, his snoring made my nights miserable at times. I looked at the time and it was 8:15 A.M. There are times when you want something to happen last in your life and arrival of the morning was one such thing for me. I got up reluctantly and there i was being transformed from a Human Being to a robot, the things i did after that can be purely termed as Machinic. Collecting the Newspaper & Milk from the doorstep, lighting on the Gas and making the tea, brushing my teeth as the Tea takes care of its own making, sipping the Half burnt Tea and opening the Page 3 of the paper first to check out the nice appealing and revealing pics, then marching ahead into the toilet to do the other more important activities which is better if not described in detail were the things that I would do each morning as if it was a programmed sequence of algorithms running in my brain. Words would desert me in describing how much i hate cold water and particularly when it ought to be used for bathing and again they would desert me in describing my heart felt thankfulness to my immersion heater. Being a bachelor, has its share of minor worries of which getting a descent ironed outfit early in the morning, definitely ought to be one. I on my part pickup whatever come close to the definition of "Wearable" and get ready to face the big day ahead. I wished our wallets could be as big as a lady's purse so that all the accessories can be dumped in at one place, but it was not meant to be that way so the most critical thing would be to gather all the necessary accessories that would have been thrown the earlier evening to each nook and corner of my flat. Just before leaving the flat, a silent prayer before all the Gods and Goddesses who sit majestically on one of the shelf of my cupboards & my Family Photo gives me the courage to fight all odds throughout the day. As i move out of my flat, people often see me coming out in a similar fashion each day. A tap on the right thigh, then the left, then the Shirt pocket and finally a tap on my pocket on the rear side just to check if i have carried my Cell Phone, My I pod, My ID Card & my wallet. The order of the things mentioned here is the way in which my hands move with the taps as said earlier. It was a kind of routine and subconsciously resided in my mind. More often than naught I take the stairs, not because am health conscious and love exercising but because the lift often lied in a break down condition. Descending down the stairs the thought that comes exactly after a couple steps is when did i re-fuel my bike??? If its the previous evening then i sigh a breathe of relief else i have to think about getting to the nearest petrol pump without getting stranded midway and i was lucky enough to do so whenever I ran out of fuel by hook or by Choke.

As i alight on my bike i feel like a king who is about to ride his majestic horse to the Warfield, in my case though i had a Flaming Red colored Horse. I had my Play lists saved on my I pod which are named as "English Collections", "Hindi Melodies", "Pop Albums", "Devotional Music" & "Soothing Ghazals" in the order of their display. Being the morning time i prefer either going with the English ones or the Devotional numbers, both the varieties are like chalk and cheese but i always was one who loves diversities. Am not particularly a fast rider and i tend to enjoy my ride so i prefer the 40-60 kmph mark, though that speed is again liable to change as per conditions. I have a very adjusting nature, so i really don’t mind decreasing my speed to 10 kmph if & only if that’s the speed with which a pretty girl is riding and at the same time i don’t hesitate in hitting the 80-100 kmph mark if am being chased by the traffic police or the Boy Friend of the pretty girl i was just taking about for that matter :-) Most of the times I reach office precisely after 20 mins into my ride and feel like Bryan Adams as most of the times the song which plays in my I pod by the time i reach hell.. Oops i mean office is "Cloud Number 9". Actually the song is again quite a diversion because i don’t know about others but at least i don’t feel like am on Cloud Number 9 particularly when i enter the Office premises. The other thing that happens each day as i try entering the office gate is the Guard stopping me and checking my ID Card. If he had his way i think he would literally pull me out if the moving bike, make me remove my helmet and cross check my face with the picture on the ID card with the aid of a magnifying glass.

Somehow I pass the security cordon and park my bike calmly in a place which is neither too far from my workstation nor the Gate, coz i am not a great walker and whenever I do so I prefer taking the shortest path. I enter the building and the thing I wish each day is the Lift door open for me; I hate waiting for the life to descend down from 5 to G as I tend to get impatient. Once I reach my floor I head straight to the coffee machine, grab a cup and reluctantly make my way towards my hot seat. A couple of smiles, a bunch of Hiiii’s thrown at random and I am all set to start one more day at work.

I often imagine sitting over there, am I at the right place, had I done something else would that have given me more satisfaction but then I recall the days when I was incessantly working hard to become what I am now a “SOFTWARE ENGINEER” so no regrets but definitely sometime down the line I would do something different which would satisfy my creative hunger. As I think about all this I unintentionally press the F6 button and as I see my Inbox getting updated with the new mails, it fills me with dread just thinking about the ordeal I have to go through the entire day.

Humans Makes God Helpless

2008-02-23T15:21:00.000-05:00

It was a chilly winter night, i had just stepped out of the cottage where we checked in a couple of hours back. The place was heavenly, as of now it was only the look and feel which made me think so, but the explicit meaning turned out to be true very soon. I was wandering around and found for myself a comfortable log, which had laid itself comfortably about a couple of metres from the cottage. It was pitch dark all around but a glow somewhere far off down the woods illuminated the environ deemly, just enough to get a glance of objects around. I seated myself comfortably and looked at the horizon ahead of me, i could still faintly hear the music and discussions going on inside the cottage. Unintentionaly though i was diverted from the noise, because i dont exactly remember the last thing i heard sitting there. I think i heard something which diverted my senses, might be some1's foot step, hushing of the bushes, rolling of a pebble dont exactly remember but something which i felt took me off from that place to a different sphere all together not physically but mentally. I saw a shadow converging behind a huge banyaan tree which stood firm since time immemorial about a couple of feet from where i was seated. Had i been in my usual senses i wouldn't have dared to sit there once, i had the inkling of anyone being there apart from me. But since i sat there unmoved waiting for the things to unfold, i strongly belive i was transported somewhere else into a different realm. I could now see the actual being who was just a shadow a couple of moments earlier. There he walked off in front of me and he had something in him which made the ambience so serene and pious, i mean i had a different soothing feeling altogether. I watched him go by calmly, he was someone with a white silken robe. I was not able to picture his face though as the place was not blessed by enough illumination. He walked at a steady pace and stood still after traversing a fair bit of distance. He stood there looking ahead as if introspecting on something. It was time for me to get up and catch up on him, so thats what i exactly did. I went upto him and asked in a calm and nervous voice " Excuse Me !!! are you one of the tourists who have come overe here for a vacation ? " There was no word spoken to reciprocate mine and silence again brooded over the environ which was just disturbed by my voice. I stood there and repeated myself & this time a bit louder. There was a reply this time, a heavenly voice echoed through the woods which said " How are you Son ??? How have you been all this while ??? " Dont know why but these two questions seemed just enough to nullify the slight fears which i had, i felt as if i was talking to some1 i knew since ages. " I am Fine Sir, just doing great, how about you ??? " i replied, he nodded his head without looking at me and said " I am sad, very sad or should i say am worried son, am worried about all of you" saying this he slowly turned around. That was the first time i actually saw him he was a fairly tall old man with long white silken beard, his white robe which he had over him glowed majestically and it seemed the moon was outglowed hands down by the shine the man had on himself. Just the fact that he didn't have a Halo around his head hardly created a difference because the shine he had wouldn't have been enhanced to a greater extent. He looked sad, worried and i felt like he was very much perturbed by something. " Worried about us ??" i asked, " Yes, worried about all my children and you are no different" he said, hearing this i knew i was talking to GOD, in the midst of the chilly winter night, near that big log i was talking to GOD, its quite unbelieviable but i was sure he was none other than the creator of this beautiful world himself.
I had a million wishes, a million questions for him and it was just a matter of time before i was going to shoot them on him, i looked at him and saw tears rolling down his heavenly face, i was standing there seeing GOD weeping just the way we mortals do. To be true i was dumbfounded seeing the lack of godliness and glimpses of weakness in our creator. I dont know what gave me the courage to walk up to him and pat him on his shoulders, " What makes the creator of this world so sad ??? " I asked, he looked back at me and said " Religion Son, its the Religion which makes me cry" Each day i see my children vociferously praying to me in separate Churches, Temples & Mosques and the next moment they are hell bent on having each other's blood just because they have religious differences. My children can always pray to me and feel releived but whom am i supposed to pray ??? I have to fight my own battles and the toughest thing is i dont have anyone whom i can fight my battle with, i wish there was nothing like a religion tag attached to my childrens, i never even want them to pray me because thats where i feel they get the kick to fight. I being the creator would come to the rescue of my children even if i am not asked to. I was feeling like GOD now as i was the one who was supposed to hear the problems even GOD had in his life. A thought crossed my mind "How happy GOD would have been had we, his children silently admired & appreciated his creation".
I patted on his back again and said " Had you taken a day extra and put some more senses into the minds of your children, we both would have been laughing with joy now, and it wouldn't have really mattered if we had a day extra coming between Sunday & Monday to increase the count to 8 " GOD rose from his seat, smiled at me and said " There's nothing called perfect my son and i myself ain't either" but i can always take a chance to revisit my creation.

I on my part was not sure when god would take action but right there i decided a thing, the next morning i am going to rise, i wanted to be in a world devoid of religion because thats what even GOD wants us to do :-)