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I am sitting in front of my PC and wondering what to write.  It’s not like I have a shortage of posts to write but what to write on is becoming the difficulty with the hands not making the effort it should.

Somehow today feels to be the day when I break this drought.  The year has been a mixed bag for me.  The first six months were spend thinking about “what” “why” and “what now” and the next six months were about “Oh Shit”, “I did not see this coming”, “I need to get out of this” and yes a lot of praying something that I have not done for ages I believe :)

At the same time, I had experiences that amaze me.  People can be so unpredictable.  It’s like the reality of the life I had never experienced.  Strange how life can make you see a whole new world out there.

I am standing at a crossroad wondering which path to take.  I don’t think in life it matters where you are unless one stops trying on what they want with their life.  Choices can be really tough at times and I seem to making a habit of landing in such situations, may be in a way preparing myself to become a crisis manager.

I am on my way to become an Uncle to two more kids, one coming this year and another in next year.  The last time I did a count of my nieces/nephews they were more than 10 and more seem to be on the way.  Phew!!

This blog would be completing 3 years on 16th Dec.  Never thought I would have such a long stint but enjoyed every bit of it.  Still remember my first post, it was fun.

Keep watching this space for more to come…

Childhood

Dressed in ragged pants and torn shirt, Sheru found himself a place in the shade along the fences of the park. He took out a cloth from his bag and hidden it was zunka bhakar.

As he had the bite of his lunch, he watched the children playing cricket, football and running around in the park. Seeing them reminded him of his childhood days when his heart yearned to play with them but all he could do was see them play as he served tea and washed the cups from the tea stall across the road of the park.

He stared into the park searching for his own image when he felt a tap on his shoulder of another man across the fences who said “Are you going to sit here all day or going to do some work too?”

He got up and put the remaining food covered under the cloth back into his bag and started walking off the park. As he looked back, he knew that the only thing he would never have was a childhood to call his own.

Fate

“I don’t have the change” was Vasu’s reply when the taxi driver asked him for an exact two rupee change.

The driver searched through his pocket and then counted his pennies but he did not had the exact change.  “I don’t have the exact change but here is a lottery ticket of the same price, if you want you can keep it and try your luck said the driver as an unfazed Vasu looked on.

Already late to catch his train back home, he took the lottery in hand, had a look at it and then kept it folded in his wallet.  He walked towards the railway station carrying his suitcase with him.  The lottery ticket had the winning amount of Rs one crore and the result was to be declared three days later.

It was in the middle of the night when Vasu reached his place, traveling through an auto rickshaw.  “How much?” Vasu asked the driver for the fare as he got down.  “It would be forty two rupees” he said.  He took out his wallet and handed him four notes of 10 rupees.  He started searching his wallet for the pennies and then his pockets but could not find any.  “I don’t have the two rupee” he told the driver hoping that he would let that go.  The driver stared at him and said “Sahab, check properly, even a two rupee makes a difference in our life” the driver remarked.  “I don’t’ have any.  I could have brought the change if the shops were open, but its not.  Where should I bring an exact change in the middle of the night?” Vasu flared up.  The driver still did not change his stand.

Standing outside his building, he remembered about the lottery ticket and took it out from his wallet.  “Here is a lottery ticket of the same amount, you can take it and then sell it to someone else or you can try your luck with it” said Vasu handing over the ticket and waiting for the driver to take it.  The driver took the ticket in his hand, looked over it and then said “Kya sahab aap bhi….” made a face and then started his engine and took off.

A couple of days later in the morning when Vasu woke up and took the paper to read.  The headline read “Beggar becomes a Millionaire”.  It made him think about the lottery ticket that he gave to the auto driver and wondered if it was the same lottery ticket.

The news report said that the beggar found the lottery ticket in his begging bowl and decided to keep it to “try out his luck”.  He could not stop thanking the unknown stranger who changed his life by putting the lottery ticket in his bowl.

The Parody of Funeral

A few years back, I got a call at home from an ex-colleague informing me about another colleague’s father passing away.  Just a few days back, I had spoken to him when he called me up asking about my blood type.  I was not sure what to do and took the cell phone in my hand.  I was thinking of calling him up but then it struck me what was I going to say to him?

I was at loss of words on what I should say to him?  I finally decided against calling him up and planned to pay a visit to his house with the help of common colleagues.  That did not happen and I was not able to offer my condolences to him (given that we were working in different locations) and I was not sure what I was going to say to him even if we did met or spoke.

This holds true even for today, where I don’t know how to react to the news of passing away of people I know.  Most of the times, I have just kept quite; just made my presence felt and offered support when required.  My problem is that I cannot fake sympathy or tell someone that it happens when the pain of the death of someone close passing away always brings sorrow and cannot be smoothened with words.  All I can do is offer support so that they can get back to their lives.

What amuses me though that an event like a funeral can also end up a place full of mockery!!

I remember this one time, when a family had lost their bread winner and they were going with the process of “Antim Sanskar” (The final rituals followed), when a man to whom the deceased owed money started telling others about it.  By evening the deceased’s family came to know about it and the man even approached them the next day.  I can understand the man worried about getting his money back but couldn’t he have waited for a few days before giving another shock to the family.  Dealing with death itself can be hard at times and to hear such things on the same day can be brutal.

The strangest thing happened when my aunt passed away.  The feast for the Theravi (the thirteenth day after the funeral) was served and I ended up sharing a table with a bunch of strangers.  The food was served and everybody began eating when an old villager complained about the salt in the food.  I was amused by his reaction.  I stared at him for a minute or two which he noticed.  Later his neighbor told him about the relation that I shared with the one who passed away.

Had it been any another occasion, I would not have mind them at all but it happened on a time when a funeral had taken place and that they were having a feast because of it.  I guess it did not help him to know that someone belonging to the deceased family heard it.  I do wonder if following such a tradition is worth it.  Where the people invited sometimes have scant regard for the nature of the event.

Around a year back, I attended a funeral of an elderly.  This time round I observed a few interacting and taking updates from each other.  This of course did not happen in front of the deceased family but then there was a laughter which was loud enough that everyone heard it.  Have people forget their manners on how to behave?

I wonder if a Do’s and Don’t list should be issued so that such people know how to behave at funerals.  Have seen people who made their presence felt not to offer their condolences but because they “had to” due to the societal obligations.

"Unless one is a victim,
they never know what the other goes through"

P.S.:  This post had been lying in the cold storage for more than a year.  I wrote it, discarded it and then it came back to haunt me, time and again.  So I decided to exorcize it by posting it.


On a different note, Shas has awarded me with the Blogger Buddy Award.  Thanks buddy :)

Conserve, Recycle & Discover —Environment

When I read about this contest at BlogAdda in partnership with Pringoo; I knew I had to write on this one. There is a very good reason for which one would have to get to the bottom of the post.

Global warming is taking place and the temperatures is soaring all over the world. Yet very little has been done to address this issue as the countries fail to unite in this challenge against global warming. I guess in the future we might come together; till that happens everyone of us has to find a way to do their bit for the environment. Here are my two cents on it:

Conserve

There are two most important things that a man of today cannot live without. One is electricity and the other is water.

There are so many places in India where power cuts and load shedding are the norm due to shortage of power supply. Life almost comes to a standstill when certain activities cannot be carried out thanks to the power cuts. Hence conserving electricity is of utmost importance. One can do that by making sure that lights, fans, etc. are used only in the room required. Make sure that when a computer is idle; switch off the monitor or put it in a standby mode. Switch to CFL bulbs instead of the ordinary incandescent light bulbs.

If you are wondering how saving power is equivalent to saving the environment, it’s because electricity is generated through a variety of raw materials like coal, gas & nuclear and even includes a small percentage of alternative resources of energy which is then send out through the electrical lines depending on the cities, state’s requirement as storing electricity is an expensive proposition.

So when you start saving electricity the demand of usage of the electrical units comes down and the same saved units can be used to send in places which face power cuts/load shedding thereby leading to less production of raw materials used to generate the same amount of electricity.

Water shortage is another grim reality that is staring at our faces. Make sure that one keeps the tap running only when in use. Also replace the leaking/faulty taps as they waste water. “Boond Boond Se Sagar Banta Hain” (Every drop of water makes the ocean swell). If possible introduce rain water harvesting methods in your buildings, societies as they help to store rain water and use it for various purposes.

Also make sure that one does not uses plastic bag when outside as they are not easy to recycle and takes around 300 years to degrade.

Recycle

One of the ways papers can be reused is to collect the pamphlets, papers, printouts which are printed only on the one side and blank on the other side. One can make a notepad out of it to scribble, maintain a to-do list or any another uses. I have done this and have a stack of my journals made out of this.

There are times when we gave away our old stuff which can still be use to scrap dealers. Instead of doing that; one can use the Freecycle network where items in working conditions are passed on to other users for free who needs them thereby resulting in recycling.

If you are one of the creative minds; you can use the items/objects not in use to create something unique or could simply pass it on to children as an activity exercise to build something out of it.

Discover

E-Recycle: We need to setup centers for safe disposal and recycle of electronic waste as they sometimes contain lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and flame retardants. The number of electronic waste keeps going up as newer technology comes in place and the user chooses to dispose off their old electronics gadgets and not recycle them which are harmful to the environment. Setting up such centers would address these issues.

P.S. The reason for writing this post is because of my friend who lived in a load shedding area; asked us people living in the suburbs of Bombay to make sure that we don’t waste and instead save electricity as they have to face the brunt of it. Hope she is happy with what I have wrote :)

BTW, Dreamygal decided to shower this blog with two more awards, please check out the award section for that.

Mourning

Sitting in the waiting room outside the OT of the hospital; Viren was wondering “Why Adi?” he was going to leave for the US in couple of days.  He did not deserve to end up in an accident like this.  He looked up towards the ceiling and kept praying for his well-being while Keval and Sanket took care of formalities.  For Viren Adi meant a lot more than just a friend they were like brothers.  They grew up together and shared a closed bond.

 
After some time the doctor came out of the OT room and announced “Sorry we could not save him, he had lost lot of blood”  Hearing those words came as a shock to Viren even as Keval and Sanket moved into the room to have a glimpse of their friend’s body.  Viren slowly followed them behind.

“I am not going to cry.  I am not going to cry” he kept saying to himself as he tried to get control of himself and clenched his left fist with all the strength he got.  When he came across Adi’s body lying motionless on the stretcher, he went out of breath; tears filled up his eyes and overflowed across his cheeks.  He could not hold it any longer and cried his heart out.

“You cannot do this do to me.  You cannot die” Viren kept saying as he shook Adi’s body.  Keval and Sanket who watched him mourn got hold of him and took him away.

That night he couldn’t sleep; all he could see was Adi’s laying on his lap, looking at him as blood oozed out of his head.  “Somebody help” he yelled.  “Everything is going to be okay” he said trying to comfort him.  Adi seem to say something but he could not hear.  Viren lowered his head and heard him saying “Tell Mom & Dad that I love them”.  For a moment he could not believed it.  “Nothing is going to happen to you.  You listen to me, nothing is going to happen to you” and all Adi could do was smile….

Tagged With Awards #2

Last week was a pleasant surprise when DreamyGal & Choco decided to shower this blog with awards. That only tells that people are not getting bored coming out here and visit this place :)

So here I am conducting an awards ceremony and hope the awardees turn to give their speech and collect their awards. First let me layout the rules first:

1) Thank the person who gave you this award. (Thank you Dreamy Gal & Choco)

2) Share 7 things about yourself/you find beautiful.

3) Pass the award along to 5-10 bloggers (changed the numbers) who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!

4) Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award

Tagged

I am going to do a mishmash of what I find beautiful and telling something about myself. Here it goes:

I. I am ambidextrous; do the opposite of what Sachin Tendulkar does.

II. I find early mornings and nights beautiful coz one can truly enjoy their surroundings which is quiet and less chaotic compare to the hustle bustle during the day.

III. I am not known for watching romantic movies; still some of my favorites are romantic songs. Strange ha?

IV. Find beauty in the power of words, one can use it to make it sound powerful, heart rendering, raising spirits of the soul and in the end they are just words without emotions.

V. I played a prank on a guy on Valentine's day in office (years back) and he still doesn't know if the card he received was from an admirer or a prank :)

VI. I have a fascination for antiques, old items, history and monuments.

VII. This blog was a result of curiosity and I am happy that I explored it.

 Circle of Friends Award

The award for the Circle of Friends goes to (drums beating):

Rakesh, Sunil, Choco, IHM, Winnie the Poohi, Shwetz, Rashmi, Deepali, Rohini, Blunt Edges, Grayquill, Shas, Uncommon Sense and Dreamy Gal.

he Beautiful Blogger Award

The award for the Beautiful Blogger goes to (drums beating):

Shas, Grayquill, Choco, Shwetz and Sunil (he has changed his blog into a photo blog, do check it out)

he Versatile Blogger Award

The award for the Versatile Blogger goes to (drums beating):

Rakesh, Uncommon Sense, Dreamy Gal and Indian Pundit

The Mind Blowing Blog Award 

The Mind Blowing Award goes to (drums beating):

Winnie the Poohi and Dreamy Gal (these are the only two blogs that comes to my mind when I think of the above award)

PS: Wont be able to follow the last rule. Its good to see people deciding to follow this blog by becoming a Bhakt of this blog. A big thank you followed by a hug :)

It's Complicated

I have a question that has been lingering over my mind for quite some time.  I am not sure if I would be able to put it in the right words, but a man gotta try, right?

Do you think that there should be any kind of restrictions on married couples when they go out with their friend of the opposite sex? or to put it more aptly would you have a problem with your wife/husband going out with an opposite sex friend for outings like movie, party, etc. more than once?  Does that amounts to infidelity even though the relationship between them is of “friends”?

I may sound naïve when I put that out, but I do believe most of the people don’t know how to handle these issues.  In a way I am trying to find an answer and a solution too perhaps…

My friend hangs out at times with a married friend of his for movies or simply hanging out.  I asked my friend if her husband knows and he replied in affirmative and I kind of find that weird.  I think anyone would find it suspicious if their partner starts going out with someone else.  I even asked the friend in question if he would be okay with such an arrangement with his future wife and he said no.

 
I can understand the part where one goes out for some work/meeting after long time but when they go out to “enjoy”, do the meaning changes? or is it because we look it in a way that is considered as “immoral”?

 
What are your thoughts on this and how a spouse could handle it in a better way? Would like to hear about it.

 

PS:  On a completely different note, I got a Cherry on Top award from Dreamygal which came as a pleasant surprise :)

Accident: #3

I almost ended up confirming my ticket to hell, which only got cancelled at the last moment with a bit of luck and a presence of mind.

I woke up in the middle of the night when the city was still sleeping and getting ready to report for an early morning shift.  The clock ticked by even as I waited to receive a missed call on my cell that would indicate that the pick up has arrived but it did not happen.  So after some time, I called up the transport supervisor who told me that the car had already left but he would call me back again to confirm it.

I decided to go down and stand on the road just in case the car was yet to arrive.  I got a call saying that the car has already reached but I could not see it, the roads were empty and there was no sound of the engine running that would indicate its presence.  It was only when I turned around and had a look at the car parked a few meters away from me that I realized that the pick up had indeed arrived with the driver sleeping inside the car.

I knocked on the window, which woke up the driver and then I got into front seat of the Indica which seemed a little shorter as the head touched the roof of the car.  I asked the driver if he could drive and he replied affirmatively.  He took his own time before he turned the ignition key and we were ready to go.  Everything was going fine until the driver took a U-turn.

I observed that the car had picked up the speed and then saw in front of us a tempo parked on the road which was small enough for two vehicles to pass through without slowing down.  The speed of the car refused to come down even as the distance between the car and the tempo was getting shorter.  I raised my voice at the driver who had fallen asleep behind the wheels.  My voice brought him back to his senses as he saw what lied ahead.  By then it was too late….

The car ended up hitting the tempo on the corner instead of a head on collision as the driver took a turn and hit the brakes.  The good thing was that I was alive and kicking and not much damage was caused.  This would not have been possible if the lower back door of the tempo which was open and down (covering the open space below it) which the car ended up hitting.  I would have  probably left this world as the level of the tempo stood at crushing my head if there was any impact minus the open lower back door.

On reaching office, the driver asked me not to report the matter, but I had little choice over there.  When others in office came to know about what happened, it was like a skeletons tumbling out of the closet. It seemed that they too had witnessed incidents of drivers falling asleep but it was never that fatal.

What happened the next day was something out of the blue.  I had again called up the transport supervisor who told me that pick-up should be arriving, only later to be called again and told that I would have to come by my own.  As I stood on the road, I saw the same driver waiting for me this time driving a bigger car like Tata Sumo.  It’s anybody’s guess on why the supervisor lied.  Needless to say I hopped on, and this time the driver was fully awake.

P.S.  I don’t blame the drivers for not getting enough sleep and ending up in accidents as they sometimes end up working 12-13hrs with the day/night difference not accounted for.  It’s for the people who handle them need to take care that they don’t end up jeopardizing the lives of other people, but who has the time to look at that.  If a driver did ended up in an accident they would simply shift him to some other place or would make sure that he doesn’t do the pick-up/drop for the same people.  It’s only in extreme cases, would they remove him.

I raised this issue with the management when feedback was being asked for transport improvement, but I only received an individually marked email from my superior appreciating my concern for raising the point.  One can guess what happened after that.

Read the comments from the previous post to the “accident” point and I must say that many people seem to read it wrong.  I did get injured but it was while riding a cycle as a kid.  I hope this clarifies it :).  The above incident is the closet that I have ever got to death.

Tagged: Seven Random Things

The breezy wind in the air brought a tag which landed on my lap send by Rohini. I have to write seven random things and am wondering where to start and what to write. After scratching my head for a long time I decided to write about instances right from birth to now except for the last one.

Here are the seven random things about me:

I When I was born, I was the only boy to be born in the hospital that day and when I was growing up, I was told by the sisterhood clan that I was adopted (that I almost believed) which I later came to know was not the case.

II I had my first crush when I was in fourth grade to a girl two years older than me, it was only later that I realized I had a crush on her. I just kept staring at her foolishly when I saw her for the first time.

III The only time honesty paid when I went to my Hindi teacher and told her that I had received more marks in the answer paper than it accounted for. She then told me to consider it was a “reward” for I have been honest enough to come forward and tell her.

IV During the first day of college, I went and sat next to second year students, made friends. It was only later that I came to know that I was sitting in the wrong class and moved to the right one, before the lecture began.

V I happened to mimicked the managers during one of the shifts as part of the celebrations carried out. The news spread like fire and the managers whom I mimicked asked me for a repeat performance. One of them actually took place in one of the rooms where the manager was conducting interviews and the other in the department with a larger audience. One should have seen the look on my face.

VI As of now I have been involved in three accidents involving cycle, bike and car. Strangely I have ended up getting badly hurt in the cycle accident. In fact I carry the scars. The cause of the accident: Over speeding and failure of brake :)

VII I like to keep in touch with people. I make it a point to stay in touch with them; with whom I share a zeal for life. I don’t understand people staying out of touch with whom they share their happier times. I can never do that. I need people around me.

The tag can be picked by anyone who think they are up for it, are you?

To Do List

I am not sure what I would do without a to-do list. Apparently I started using it when all kinds of deadlines were looming over my head. Now I cannot see my life without it. A workaholic life is pretty chaotic without it. So here I am sharing my to do list which I intend to complete:

• Getting a Tattoo (Two actually, one of the tiger that you see and another of the ying yang)

• Grow Long Hair (I would have done it earlier, but I have been warned that if I ever do it my long locks would be chopped off, still I am taking the risk)

• Keeping Beard for a year (I am pretty lazy when it comes to shaving; God only knows how I drag myself to get a shave.)

• Stop Giving Advice (I realize that most of the times people just want you to listen and don't really want to know what they should do. Still its a habit and I give it only when I think its important)

• Learning Guitar (Its been almost 6 years that I just dreamed about learning it and never came close to it. Call it a workaholic’s hazard, tend to pay little attention to life outside work. The close I came to play is an Air Guitar)

• Travel to Cambodia (I am interested in seeing those ancient temples of Angkor Wat and learn about the history. Hope to visit the place by next year)

P.S.: So do you have any to do list to share? BTW moved the Human Psyche series to the Freedom blog. It took quite a time to post the third one. Hope you like what you read.

One Night Stand

“I am leaving now. Take care”. She said and left as Vinay saw her go away. He was trying to recover from what had just happened. The sheets partially covered his naked body as he sat on the bed.

It was one of those days when Vinay was partying with his friends when he saw her sitting alone at one of the corners of the bar, having a drink by herself. He was mesmerized by her pretty cute face. He left his friends behind and sat next to the girl; ordered the same drink she was having.

They started talking, one thing led to another and then he found himself making love to her. They often meet and ended up wounding in the bed.

Today happened to be their sixth meeting. Soon after their act reached the climax, the girl looked at Vinay and told him “I think its time we stop seeing each other”. “Why was I not good enough?” He said jokingly. “I am serious. I am going to get married in three weeks and we need to stop seeing each other from now onwards”

“Marriage. You are getting married? When were you planning to tell me?” He asked. “Now” she replied. “What about us?” “There was never an ‘us’. You and I both know why we were in this” she said as she got up and started getting dressed.

“You mean, you never had any feelings for me?” he asked her as she combed her hair in front of the mirror. She looked at him and said “No never though I had a wonderful time with you” with a smile on her face.

She kissed him on his lips for the last time and said “I am leaving now. Take care” and left. Vinay sat on the bed dejected. The only thing he was left with was the feeling of being used…

Darna Zaroori Hain

I have been part of many ghost story telling groups. I loved the group for telling stories that were mostly true and about places that one knew.

My first such group happen to be the family as a kid. It was in the native place where all the children would gather and sit around the entrance of the cowshed in the dark and a cousin or sister would narrate the stories which sometimes were from books. If the story was not scary the surrounding certainly was. The native house is built in the mountains secluded where there are no neighbors nearby and sometimes the silence can be deafening.

Imagine what would happen if one has wake up in the middle of the night and has to pay a visit to the toilet which was built a few paces away from the house with a torch in hand to show the way.

The second group included building friends where we even went ahead and tried calling the spirits through the Ouija board which did not worked out sadly. I came across the third group when I started working. The stories rocked and they were of places that I knew.

We would switch off all the lights except the one where we formed a circle and used to tell stories to each other. I too told a few. One of the incidents that I recall is that after having the ghost story session, we all left for the canteen except for one girl who decided to stay back alone in the night. Sometime later we saw her running towards us; she seemed to have got scared staying alone. The men’s loo was supposed to be haunted, but I never saw anything when I was alone.

The fourth group formed when I ended up working on weekend’s night. One particular incident though had me in splits.

There were four of us from one process and two other (a guy and girl) from another who were seated away from us. They did the shifts for a long time before ours started. The girl’s workstation was next to the window and we had heard talks about her seeing someone outside window. She would never stay back alone even if the colleague went for a loo break.

The four of us started talking about ghost stories and then roped in the guy from the other process too, while the girl was at her workstation. He had a lot of personal experiences in this area. We called the girl to join too which she did later on. After sometime as the story telling came to a halt, the girl went back to her workstation. She was about to sit when the lights over her workstation flickered for a moment. The lights in the department would remain switched off except for the area where we worked was kept on (we kind of liked this arrangement instead of having all the lights switched on).

After that she ran like hell screaming “MUMMY” as we watched her coming towards us. We all were laughing while droplets of tears came out of her eyes. A sight I still remember!!

Somehow I feel that I have imbibed the principle of “Darna Mana Hain” though I do feel that one in a while “Darna Zaroori Hain”. What do you think?

P.S. The post was not sponsored by RGV, I won’t mind if he showed me the money. Thought this post would be apt after trying my hand at a horror fiction. The horror movies of today’s time suck big time.

Khauf

Charu went inside her room and felt different. She looked around but everything looked the same. She turned off the lights and lay down on the bed. Her eyes were wide open, the heart beat getting faster. She did not felt right. She looked around the room again. She had a feeling that there was someone watching her.

She would keep getting up in the middle of the night to check if there was someone around. She felt the room getting cold as she covered her body with the sheets. A minute or two later she heard a noise coming from the room. The noise kept happening in intervals which got her attention. She switched on the lights to see where the noise was coming from but could not find it. She went back to sleep as the noise died down.

She turned to her right and could see the curtains blowing away to the fan’s wind. She could see the graveyard and the cross signs through her window which stood opposite to her building. She quickly changed her position as weird thoughts started coming to her mind.

She felt asleep and when she opened her eyes again, she could see thin light emanating from outside. She got up to take a look and there was a candle burning in her living room. Sweat had started forming over her temple as she stood in her room wondering what to do next.

She gathered her courage and saying Lord Ganesha’s name moved towards the living room. The candle lit brightly as Charu approached it and found no one was there in the living room. She turned around and saw an image in white clothes with a candle in hand approach her. Seeing the sight she started screaming.

“What happened, are you all right” the image asked but she kept on screaming. The image got hold of her hand when the lights came on. She looked at the image to find her husband Vishal standing in front of her. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to be at the office” “I was not feeling well. So I came back, I knew you were sleeping so I did not call. I had the house keys with me. Are you alright?” He asked with a concern. “Yes, I am. You got me shit scared” was her reply.

As Charu followed her husband into the bedroom, she promised herself that never ever again she would watch a horror movie alone and that too late night…

Friends

 

As one moves into the work life, one realizes that the only true friends that they made were back in school and college.  In the work life, there are very few people who become your best buddies and most often than not they are give and take relationships where people find solace when they have common topic to talk about.  Chances are that once you move out of the organization, the friendship comes to an end unless kept alive.

What are the odds of five guys becoming close friends in a 250+ employees working in a single department in a 24/7 environment and that too for different process.  The chances are very rare but it happened and I was one of them.

How did it happen, I don’t have a clue but I assume it has something to do with us bumping in now and then and then going out as a group.  It started that way, one thing for sure and has continued since then.  Even though we moved in different directions the friendship still remains strong.

So let me tell a few things about them:

Friend #!:  He is the funny bone of the gang and the one who pulled the Threat SMS on me.

Friend #2:  He is sarcasm at its best and practical.  He chooses to play an underdog which baffles me.

Friend #3:  If one hears someone talking about you, one can easily predict where it came from.  He is also the one who would not commit until the last moment but still say yes.

Friend #4:  He handles everything so calmly which surprises me.  Because of him, I  wore a kurta pyajama on a traditional day something that I had never done in my entire life.  He also guided me to be at ease while dancing (I thought I had two left feet) and now I do an air guitar too.

Friend #5:  This would be me.  I am the event organizer, party planner, etc.  These days I only plan and let others handle it

P.S:  If you are wondering what prompted this post, well one of my buddies asked me the question on how we all came together and the only thing I could think of is "I have no idea......"

Writer's Block

The writer filled up the pen with the ink and took out the blank journal in front of him. He looked at the yellow pages, as he kept his hand holding the pen over it so as to fill the pages with the its ink all over it.

The hand instead of moving remained steady as if there was a conflict on what to write. The hand moved several times but the pen failed to make contact with the paper.

Finally, the pen was kept aside and the pages remained untouched as today did not seem the day to strike a conversation between the pen and the paper.

Khamosh Raat

 

Dark clouds had taken over the city hiding the full moon view.  Rohan hit the steering wheel with his palm as he got irritated over the slow moving traffic.

He switched on the radio and was telling another driver not to move his car between spaces.  The strumming of the guitar got his attention.  “Aur durr kahe roshan huya ek cherha…” brought her image in front of him.  As he listened to the song, he found himself serenading Juhi with the same song. They had been together since college days and he would often strum his guitar singing the same song every time Juhi made a request.

 
Blaring of the horns brought him back in the present.  He moved his car further and switched off the radio as he looked up at the sky.  The thundering had got louder and lighting kept flashing every now and then.

She was looking at her marriage and honeymoon photos when her favorite song was being played on the radio.  It brought back past memories alive which made Juhi tingle.

 
Four months had passed since their separation, still she had not forgotten him.  Her eyes had filled up with tears while droplets of rain start pouring down heavily outside.

Love

 

“I won’t be able to make it” Vikram said.  “Why not?” she asked.  “The flights are all booked and I will now have to book flight for tomorrow.  I’ll give you a call on when I will be arriving.  Love you” he said disconnecting the phone.

Avani got disheartened hearing the news as she kept the phone down.  She was making plans of spending the evening in a romantic candle light dinner.  Knowing that he won’t be around left her sad.

It was seven in the evening when the doorbell rang.  On opening the door she found the delivery boy standing with a bouquet of flowers with an envelope attached to it.  The bouquet was full of carnations and colorful daisy flowers which were her favourite.  She took the envelope in her hand which was addressed to her.  She opened it and found a letter which she began reading.

Dear Avani,

I remember the day when I first met you.  You had me mesmerized with your pretty face.  You were not sure of me, if I was the one, as you kept asking all the questions.  While I watched myself falling for you every time you spoke.  I kept praying; for you to say yes and when you did I considered myself the luckiest man in the world.

The morning starts with you waking me up when I don’t want to.  I miss you at work when the load gets heavy, cannot wait to be with you.  You scold me when you catch me picking up my nose.  Make me cry when you force me to watch ‘saas-bahu’ serials instead of cricket match.  Going shopping makes you so happy but leaves my feet sore.  When you speak I listen and when I speak, you doze off.  You taught me cooking so I could work on holidays in the kitchen while you take the day off.  You cook so better, but don’t talk about it in front of Mom please.

Watching you sleeping beside me, I pinch myself to make sure this is not a dream.  Your eyes reflect your innocence and your smile makes me nuts.  I love holding your hand in mine as we stroll across the beach.  Have silly fights and then making up to each other.  I love your innocence and the goodness that lies in your heart.   My world is empty without you. My heart beats for you.  I love you and want you to know that “You Complete Me”

Yours Loving Husband,

Vikram

Reading the letter, her face expression changed from curious, amused to breaking in a smile.  “He knew. He knew” is what she could think of as she picked up the phone and dialed the number.  “You knew” she said before he could say anything. “Let’s talk later. I am busy right now” he said and disconnected the phone leaving Avani in a confused state.

Before she could react, the doorbell rang and as she opened the door she saw Vikram standing at the door.  Seeing her amused look he said “You were saying” She got the wind of what was going on “You knew and you still pretended” as she hit his chest with her fist and he embraced her into his arms bringing her closer to him.  “How could I have forget?” he said as they looked at each other and she kissed him.

“You better change or we will be late” he said.  “Late for what” she asked. “Dinner.  I have made reservations at Orchid. One more thing; Happy Wedding Anniversary Wife”  “Happy Wedding Anniversary Husband” as they locked their lips for one more time.

P.S.: This turned out to be a pretty long one.  Wishing everyone a Valentine's day and hope they cherish the love they receive.  Spread the message of love :)

Darkness

 

It was Roshan’s first day to the work. As he bid goodbye to his parents, his mother asked him if he had everything he needed. He replied in affirmative and left. Walking down the stairs he could sense the excitement and nervousness in the same breath. Having his companion with him gave him confidence.

As he walked down the streets carefully, he could hear the plonking of the horns, buses & cars passing by and people talking on cell phones, to each other and then out of nowhere he got a push across his shoulder. He fell down, losing his companion not realizing what had happened.

All he could see was darkness which had been his reality since birth. He started moving his hands to find his companion, when a few people gathered around, helped him get up. One of them came forward and said “Here is your walking stick. Are you all right?” Finding his companion in his hands gave him a big relief and he thanked them.
 

Taking his steps forward, he remembered the poem “Koshish karne waalon ki kabhi haar nahi hoti”, repeating the lines in his mind as he went on his way to work with his companion showing the way.

Agni Pariksha

 

I have been trying to find a good rational explanation for ages and the ones that were made did not make any sense to me.

Do you agree that in Ramayana, Rama was right in putting Sita through Agni Pariksha to prove her chastity after defeating Ravana? Couldn’t he trust his wife’s words that she protected herself from getting harmed from Ravana?

 

Though I am aware of the various explanations that have been put forward like the Sita kidnapped by Ravana was an “image of Sita” and not her and when she passed through the burning flame, the ‘real’ Sita returned.  Also that it was necessary for Sita to pass through the Agni Pariksha to prove her purity.

I don’t quite agree with it coz when it’s taken in context with the common man. Does it mean that a man who does not trust his wife can make her go through a test to prove her faithfulness?  I know the times were different but the issue of trust is interpreted differently not they way I think most of will do.

On top of that, after clearing the “Agni Pariksha” and going back to Ayodha, she is again send on a second exile when a common man says that he is not great enough like Lord Rama to accept his wife who had lived in another man’s house.

There are various interpretations of the decision taken by Rama to send Sita on exile.  One of them is that he took the decision as a king and not as a husband.  What I fail to understand is why no attempt was made to make the public understand about the purity of Sita and that she was not unchaste as it was made out to be?  Does it not send the message across that if a man thinks that his wife is unchaste he can throw her out of the house especially without proving whether it was indeed the case?

Remember the public opinion is not always right.  If it’s the king duty to look after his people then it’s also his duty to remove any misconceptions that arose within the public.

 

If one looks from Sita’s point of view, she ended up losing her husband and paid for the crime of abduction by Ravana.  It’s no surprise that she took refuge in Dharti mata when Rama came to take her back to Ayodha in case fingers were pointed at her again…

P.S.:  If anyone has better explanation, I am all ears.

College Crush

He looked at the invite and was not sure whether he would go or not.  He wondered if she would be there too. It was five years since graduation and still Janak remembered her.

Seems like yesterday when he saw her in the third year of college in one of the classes he attended. She was seated one bench ahead and asking her neighbor who was roll no. 21 and it did came as a surprise to him when he heard her saying his roll no.  He never got to ask why as he would often catch a glimpse of her like once in a blue moon day.

He never realized when he had fallen for her.  He would often attend classes for her but she was never around.  He did found out her name but never got the opportunity to talk to her.  Time passed and the day of graduation was getting near.

Then one day as Janak collected his hall ticket from the administrative office and turned around, he saw her.  She was standing at the door, with the rays of sun falling on her making her look just perfect.  His heart beat got faster and hands went cold.  Not knowing what to do, he gave her a big smile and she too smiled back.  He just stood there as the distance between them narrowed down.

That was the last time he had seen her. As he came out of the memory lane, he had made up his mind.  He decided to go for the college reunion in the hope of meeting her again and this time taking a step forward.

The Kerala That I Know

Whenever people talk about places to travel and ask me about places to see in Kerala. I just say one thing, if you are interested in seeing temples (around Mangalore & nearby) than I can be of help to you or better ask someone else.

Most of the temples actually fall in Karnataka. Ideally my native place should have been in Karnataka but my native place ended up in Kerala because of state boundaries. I used to get mixed up a lot when traveling not knowing if I was in Kerala or Karnataka.

I have too heard about the beautiful looking backwaters, but sadly the only time I see them is in videos or in TV and often wondered why I have not been there?

Since childhood the only places that I have been to in my native place apart from paying a visit to the relative’s house (which means eating a lot of chicken) was temples. I have been to the beaches twice, the first time it being closer to the relative’s house, can’t really recall the waters, but it was a virgin beach with no one but us, a bunch of kids. The second time was a recent one which has a sad reason attached to it. Let me tell you about the Kerala that I know.

The place where Dad built a house is actually a secluded one (we have no neighbors nearby) and a road had to be built out of the mountains to reach there by car. The open space in front of the house is a big one, where I as a kid played cricket with my cousins.

Standing on the end of the open space, one could see the farms below, the water tank and on the other side the plantations and the old house at a distance which was the place in which Dad grew up.

There were three dogs guarding the house. An Alsatian, Pomeranian (which was a first to be seen in a village) and an Indian breed. The Alsatian was the favorite one and named Julie after the hit movie Julie. The funny part is that even today I don’t know the gender of the dog. All the three of them passed away years back and I believe there are two new dogs who have replaced them.

The cowshed was one of the favorite spots where we as kids used to sit outside on the entrance and listen to ghost stories told by my cousin and sister in the night. We used to get scared while going down to the old house in the dark as the only light source would be that of a torch.

I remember a very funny incident regarding the farm where I, my cousin and sister found ourselves cornered by two frogs on both ends of the only path in between the farms which was covered with water. I still remember the noise it made and the bubble that used to appear and disappear under its face. Man, we were out of our wits!!

I have an uncle who actually used to act as a guide to the group of kids every year when we came and would show us the place around. It was nothing less than a trek around the mountains and had actually came across a big ghost tree, where it was said that ghosts used to live and that it was forbidden to point fingers towards it. I also came across some perfect small holes made in mountains which my uncle said were evidence that the Pandavas had stayed there.

We would also go on a hunt for cashew nuts which used to grow in abundance. Bring the plucked ones home and roasted it. It used to be quite a feast.

The Kerala that I know is filled up with stories about ghosts, black magic and gods. Heard many stories about them from Mom which fascinates me even today. In fact, there are many stories about my Mom’s place. The house where she lived was said to be more than 100 years old. It was only recently that it was tore down and a larger house replaced it. The unusual part is that when my cousin took a snap of the house as a remembrance it came all black minus the house.

I have even witnessed the Bhuta Kola. For those who don’t know it’s the calling of the spirits who is worshiped with the Gods. During the Bhuta, the person impersonating the spirit would get possessed, drink blood from a live chicken and answers your queries.

I even had the privilege of witnessing the Kathakali dance form at the Katil temple where we had reached late night and the entry to the temple was found closed.

The roads of Kerala are something that I enjoy a lot. If you are traveling in the state run buses, don’t forget to remember God for a safe journey. I always felt like I was driving in a formula one course where the turns and slopes were steeper. Often one will find that yours is the only car that is plying on the roads when traveling in the interiors. I hope they stay like that forever.

The temple that got my attention was the Madhur temple, not much as the temple but the roads which could have easily scared anyone. The slopes were so steep that one mistake and the vehicle would find itself at the bottom. The better known temples are Dharamastala, Subramaniuam and Katil. I don’t know remember the names of other temples.

There were days when I enjoyed being a Bombayite, but the place has undergone a major change with everyone carrying a cell phone and Mangalore getting hip. Telling that I am from Bombay does not evoke the same response as it was years back.

The strangest thing I find is seeing my childhood pics, my family photos at a relative’s house which I never visited more than once. One of the relative’s houses I visited left me dazed with cupboards full of awards and trophies. I had never seen a sight like that. The relative was an accomplished footballer and cricketer. On my second visit, the person was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and I felt anger inside me when I heard his son-in-law talked about giving those trophies and awards as junk and only retaining the big ones once he passed away. Some people just don’t know how to appreciate individual efforts!!

I do find myself in a language barrier as I grew up speaking Hindi, have no clue how that happened. No wonder my command over the native language is not very polished. I don’t know Kannada & Malayalam (though I do understand few) which more or less helps to travel around places in Kerala & Karnataka too.

Kerala reminds me of memories which I have cherished most as a child. Those were some days!!

P.S. I was suppose to publish this post long back but better late than never.