The Threat SMS

Last month, around 9 in the night, I was working on the PC when I received a Threat SMS on my cell phone which was lying besides the monitor, the message read something like this: 

 

Excuse me, Don?t dare to call up on this number,
Or else u would have to face sever consequence from police
And I will finish you off 

 

The first thought that came to my mind that someone was playing a prank with me, as the message came from an unidentified number thinking that one of my friends had changed his number and this is their way of letting me know about it. I did not bother to call up the person; instead I decided to send a message asking the person’s name. One or two hours had passed since replying the message. I got a second message from the same number, this time saying: 

 

Stop all this nonsense

 

For a moment, the thought came to my mind that may be it’s a girl who is getting irritated because of some loser sending messages continuously and she might have accidentally send the message to the wrong number which would be mine in this case (the thought of a guy being behind this did not came coz in such cases they would prefer to call and swear expletives or the message cannot be expected to be so polite if this was a genuine case). I still had my doubts though…. Giving the benefit of doubt and still thinking that someone was pulling a fast one on me, I decided to send a second message asking them what their name was and they probably send the message to the wrong number. Again there was no reply soon. I was staying up late night playing a newly downloaded game on my cell phone when I got the third message from the same number which went like this:

 

What is Mobile?

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  Neeche neeche kya dekha raha hain
Hath main kya kabutar pakda hain

 

It was 1:30 in the night when I got this message; I was now 100% sure that one of my friends has to be behind all this. I know two people who stay up late and even narrowed it to one as he worked in the evening shift and is also known for changing numbers frequently. I decided to call but I did not know what was coming for me next. The voice said “Hello”. I did not say anything for a moment as it did not sounded like any of my friends. “Who is this” I asked. 

 

“I have been getting a lot of abusive messages from you for the past two days. I am warning you to stop all this” the voice sounded like someone who was older than me and sounded disturbed. That made me take the call seriously and I explained the person how I thought that someone was playing a prank on me by sending the “Threat SMS”. He again told me to stop sending the messages and asked me whether this is a good time to call anyone? I once again explained him how I had just received a message from your mobile and asked if whether he was sure that the number sending him the messages was from my mobile number. He spelled out my number and I told him how that is simply not possible. I asked him his name and he said “Rajiv Jain”. 

 

I gave my memory a push to recall. I did not know anybody by that name. “Why do you want my name” the voice said with fear that could be felt in his voice. He told me that he would call up the next day in the morning to talk about it. I kept the phone down saying thanks. By the time I kept the phone down, my sister was standing outside my room listening to the whole conversation. I told her and Mom what had taken place right from the start. 

 

My sister started grilling me “Try to remember, you haven’t uploaded your number to any sites” She went to say how foolish I was to call up the number something that she does not even when she receives a message saying Happy Birthday from an unidentified number. I went back to my room thinking about what just happened, how something like this could be possible. When it comes to gizmos and gadgets, I know a lot of stuff especially on how it can be misused. So I was pretty sure that it was not the case here. Either the other person is lying or there is something else going on here.

 

As I was asleep, I told myself there is nothing to be worried about and there was this gut feeling that things are not like they seem to be. My instinct has been right on many occasions and I decided to go with it. The next day I was expecting a call from the person in the morning, which did not happen. I had donned my detective cap by then and decided to investigate the matter. 

 

My first task was to find out which network did the cell number belonged to which was easy all thanks to the internet. I came to know the number belonged to a new cell network operator launched recently. That helped me narrow down to one of the suspects behind this mystery. I decided to call that friend of mine and inquire whether he has got a new number; coz I remember very well of him telling about changing to the new network as it was giving away a free umbrella for every subscription. He denied it and asked me what made me that question. I went about telling him about the incident right from the scratch as it was narrated before. 

 

My friend asked me you did not get afraid by such message? I said what is there to fear; after all I have not done anything wrong. He told me maybe someone might have pulled a prank on me and asked me how does one complain about it. The only thought that came to mind was complaining to the cell operator about such an incident taking place. Soon the topic changed and I realized that my friend’s voice was different. He had just woken up and was not keeping up well thanks to the cold and fever but was feeling better. I was in my room reading the paper in the afternoon when the thought of the person not contacting came to me. Minutes later, I got the fourth message from the same number saying:

 

Hello don’t give miss call

 

I did not even bother to reply thinking that if he is indeed getting so much troubled, he would call me up. I was sure that if I came to know that it was someone I know then he is gone, dead, and kaput. Sometime later the phone rang; it was from the same number. I picked up the call and this time the voice sounded different. The person on the other side kept threatening me saying that I am sending him messages with expletives, giving him miss calls and that if I did not stop, it won’t be good for me. I tried to pacify the person saying to cool down and listen to me first before he starts abusing me. He still kept threatening me saying that he has connections with the underworld and the police. That just did it. 

 

I stopped being nice and told him how I have also connections and tried to reason with him why I would try to send him messages when for the past couple of days I have not send it to anyone? I told him he was trying to make a fool out of me by saying abusive messages were being sent from my mobile. I told him that is not possible and that if he is so dead sure I’ll file a complaint with the police and then see what happens.

 

He was still not done, telling me that he would file a complaint. I again asked for his name, this time he told me it was “Rajiv Mehta” and again try to make him understand that why would I do such a thing in the first place? Soon his tone changed he kept asking me “Pechana nahi kya” the voice on the other side said. “Pechana nahi kya” the voice said again. This time I actually took notice of the voice and I said “Ma****” and yes it was him. I made sure I gave him an earful. 

 

It was the same suspect whom I had called in the morning. He wondered how I came to know which network the number belonged. I came to know that I was not the first one but the second victim. The first one happens to be one of his girlfriends; who just refuses to talk with him when she came to know that it was all a prank. The next thing I know, I was being asked for some mushy messages so as to cool her down. 

 

Thanks to his cold and fever his voice sounded very different than it normally is. That’s why I could not nail him the other day.  

 

P.S. I am waiting to meet him so that I can beat the shit out of him for pulling such a crap. BTW, my friend did not get that umbrella as he brought the new number through a friend under a different scheme.

The Day Bombay Flood

I was in the morning shift that day, deep into my work and no time to look here and there. Unaware of what was going on. Every time I popped my head up, I would see one of the managers, supervisor or someone else looking out of the wall-sized windows. I turned to look outside and it was raining.

The clock ticked three and there was no sign of anyone telling the morning shift to leave. Few people from the evening shift turned up; still there was no sign of leaving the place.

I was running out of patience, so when I saw my superior walking towards me. I got hold of him and asked him about leaving for the day. He took me to his superior asking if I could be released. “If he thinks he can manage, then let him go” was how he replied. I wondered why he would say that but I was going to find that out soon.

I was happy to leave the place and had given my usual Colgate smile to my friends who saw me standing at the lift door and telling them that I was leaving for the day. What I did not know was how soon the expression on my face was going to change.

As I got out of the lift on the ground floor, and walked towards the main entrance, I could see water gushing in and half of the building space disappear in it. I stood there for a moment and looking amusingly as the water was been thrown forcibly back on the main road from the nallah (drain) that stood besides our office building.

As I stood there contemplating my next action, I found two other colleagues of mine who were also wondering what to do now. Soon the three of us decided that we will go out through the second entrance which had the road connected to the main road which happened to be the only way out.

The water level was relatively low on the road but as we got on the main road, it kept on increasing and reached up to my waist height. That reminded me of someone telling in the office that two people had ventured out but came back as the water level had submerged their bodies with the exception of their heads.

The water had so much force that it was dragging people with it; human chains were formed for safe passage of people from one side to the another. Even the cars that were left on the road were moving with the current of the water.

We kept moving ahead only to find that there was a drain kept open in the middle of the road which was acting like a whirlpool, somehow we manage to keep hold of ourselves and overcome it. Once that hurdle was clear, the water level kept receding low and we kept walking towards the railway station which was at a good distance.

My colleagues made a call to their families through a local PCO as the cell phone networks were jammed and informed that they were safe and coming home. I on the other hand did not call up my family thinking that I had just a 10 minute distance to reach my house.

Once we reached the station we bid goodbye to each other. Normally, I used to catch a bus to reach my place which was not there today, thanks to the rains. There were auto rickshaws parked on the side of the road but none agreed to take me to the destination, so I ended up walking to my home.

By the time I reached home it was already 5:30 on the clock. In normal circumstances it does not take more than 15-20 mins to reach home and back to work by the bus, but it almost took more than an hour to reach home.

The rest of the morning shift stayed back till the next morning. To pass time they played antakshari and then they were back to work as there was nothing else left to do. There was hardly any food left in the cafeteria as nobody saw this coming.

I reported to work the next morning only to hear that people (the morning shift which decided to stay back) who come from far away places decided to walk all the way to their homes in case they don’t get a lift in between. The transportation system was still down but a few vehicles were plying on the road.

News channels kept flashing the news of people stuck in their cars, buses and how they were being rescued provided food and shelter by strangers and then they were people who lost their lives to this day. Stories were being told by colleagues about animal carcass flowing down and conditions in their area.

What is pathetic to see that even today the disaster management that was formed to tackle such situations is nothing but an utter failure where if it rains heavily, places still get flooded and every time we keep hearing the beaten line “This time we are well-prepared and equipped to handle such situations”.

Tales of A Tall Guy

 



Everyone has high expectations from the tall guy as he walks on the streets people keep looking up to him, which makes him happy from inside.

He is always susceptible to head injuries especially when he is getting down from the BEST buses (of which he got hit many times) and also while entering & exiting his building premises. The tall guy can also hurt himself when he enters houses with lower ceilings and the fan is going in circles and has to make sure that he does not raise his hands.

The tall guy is very easy to find when the meeting point is in crowded places. All one has to do is look up and there he is standing tall. He also has no difficulty in finding people in such crowds. The tall guy is smiling now.

The world is not kind to him as he has to struggle with his day to day routines be it with chairs which are shorter than his knee length, has to cramp his legs when in the backseat of cars and also been used as a height measuring scale for others.

Come rain or shine, the weather always plays tyrant with him. The sun rays often find its way to fall on him making him sweat, while others stand behind as if he is a big tree providing shade. During the rains, no matter what the tall guy carries to protect himself from the rains, he always finds his pants wet. Being tall helped him during the day when Bombay was flooded; the water was up to his waist height!!

The tall guy struggles to find a girl who is taller as he is. All he could see is pretty faces in small sizes :( Finds hard to maintain relationships with them as they keep looking up to him and he keeps looking down causing a sprain in his neck. Should he carry a small stool with him when he goes on the date next time? He is wondering what couple would they resemble when he gets married, the Amitabh-Jaya or Abhishek-Aishwarya?

People keep asking the tall guy about his secrets of him being so tall. All he would say is that it is in his genes :)

He would always find people trying to bring him down to their levels when he visits the hair saloon and has to lower himself in the chair. He even finds people trying to reach his level when they try to keep their arm on his shoulders.

He has a hard time finding variety for his shoes as getting shoes of his size are not available everywhere.

The tall guy always stands out, be it a group photo, meeting or get together. Even his attempts to hide himself to take a small nap or work on the small drawing etched on his notepad fails miserably. At times he finds others trying to hide behind his back but he has nowhere to go :(

Even the bed in which he sleeps is small, his feet keeps dangling out.....
 

Anne Frank

I happened to have finished reading the book “The Dairy of A Young Girl” by Anne Frank a week back. What fascinated me about the book was how remarkably well and wittily she has put her thoughts into her dairy which gives us an insight into her transition from a girl to women and life in the “Secret Annexe”.

Her thought clarity at such a young age (she was thirteen when she started writing in her dairy) astounds me. One could only imagine how successful she would have been had she been alive. She wanted to become a writer after war and there is no doubt that she would have been a successful one!!

She expresses herself so beautifully about what she was going through herself and the constant fear they lived in. I loved the way she indulges on the self criticism and writing about herself like an outsider.

It is real sad that the way her life ended in a Nazi concentration camp. In an ironical twist of fate, her wish came true which she had penned in her dairy: “I want to go on living even after my death”.

Here is YouTube video of Otto Frank (her father) talking about the book:

Do read it, in case you haven’t.

P.S.: In case you don’t know, Anne Frank was the daughter of Otto Frank whose family went into hiding with another family during the World War to protect them from the Holocaust that was taking place against the Jews. The only survivor was Otto Frank who then decided to publish her dairy which went on to sell in many countries and translated for the same

Dev D in Everyone of US

I watched the movie a month back, the Anurag Kashyap’s version of Devdas and it kind of intrigued me in many ways. This also happens to be the first time that I liked a movie based on the famous Devdas character on whom numerous movies have been made.

I could never understand the fascination of the movie industry with Devdas who only annoyed me as he was the only one who was responsible for pushing away his love and then making himself suffer in pain and still when love came in the form of Chanda he choose to make himself suffer over love.

Watching Dev D, I observed something in Devdas that we would often find in ourselves but we may not realize. Though the suffering here was of his own making but there are times when we find ourselves in pain when life’s plan does not goes accordingly with our plan.

How does one react if the love of their life with whom they planned to spend rest of the life left them for someone else, an unexpected twist of fate that leaves you scarred mentally/emotionally and times when things did not went your way when you were expecting it highly?

It’s hard to hold back emotions during these times and act sensibly. How should one overcome the trauma that one is going through inside while on the surface everything seems fine?

As Dev D goes into his drinking binge and drugs, one could see how he shows no signs of overcoming his heart ache. Pain can give one such a high that soon one finds comfort in them and one does not want it to be over with.

I guess we all have our such moments (may be not to such an extent) where we wont let the pain go away and choose to move on. Dev D represents that.

P.S: I liked the way the movie ended with Dev D moving on with Chanda...

I happened to have mention Paro by mistake, Thanks Adisha for clearing it out :)

My Interpretation of GOD

“People break down into two groups:

When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them.

Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance, I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear.

Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope.

See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky?”

— Mel Gibson in the movie Signs

When somebody shows blind faith in GOD, it really makes me wonder from where he/she had so much belief when they have not even see him.

Growing up, I was one of the early ones who found himself praying and doing “aarti” every morning before going to school. I guess for me it was a kind of a friendship where I talked to GOD and he listened and I hoped that he will be there when I need him.

Life changed and I wondered why GOD whom I considered my friend choose to do nothing. I stopped talking to him but that did not mean that I did not visited his place, my family did not know about our fight.

I would find myself intrigued looking at the faces of people around me who seemed so lost in his devotion during aarti in temple. I wondered what makes them different when we were listening to the same aarti.

I was done with my days of doing the “aarti” and was of the opinion that one does not need GOD if they are going after what they needed and work for it. After all the only reason we pray to him so that he could take care of us. If we are able to take care of ourselves then do we need him?

During this “phase” I tried to understand the origin of GOD. I came to the conclusion of one possibility that GOD could be man-made so that we could believe in a higher form of life that would take care of us and protect us when we need him. The books of GOD written by ancient men who were great novel writers and knew how to keep their readers interested for ages.

I believe GOD represents the “hope” that we look for when we lose ourselves to the circumstances/situations of our lives.

Believing in him gives us the courage that we can overcome this “difficult phase”. The truth is when we believe in GOD, we actually believe in ourselves which gives us the strength to face the “difficult situation” before us.

In a way GOD is inside every one of us waiting to be discovered when our trials put us to test.

P.S.: This post was on my mind for a very long time, the right words never came in and just a few days back, I found myself flowing with everything right that I needed to complete this.

One Day I Decided To Quit

One day I decided to quit...

I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality... I wanted to quit my life.

I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me. "Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?" "Yes", I replied.

When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor.

Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.

But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.

"In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. "I would not quit." He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.

Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant... But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots.

Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."

He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots."

"I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. " Don't compare yourself to others .." He said. " The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern ... Yet, they both make the forest beautiful."

Your time will come, " God said to me. " You will rise high! " How high should I rise?" I asked.

How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can? " I questioned.

" Yes. " He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can. "

I left the forest and bring back this story.

I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.

He will never give up on you.

Never regret a day in your life.

Good days give you happiness

Bad days give you experiences;

Both are essential for life.

P.S.: Came across this forward e-mail and I guess this was meant for me!! if you remember about the God communicating with me post :)

Call Me Yogi Baba please

Now onwards, I am going to add Baba against my name and also hold pravachans to guide the misguided souls (Doesn't matter how lost I myself will be).

I got this idea from one of my friends as he said "bas kar re baba" as I went on to give my divine advice. My sister always keeps on saying that when she tells me something I should just listen and not to tell what to do. It has become a habit of mine, to tell others what they should and don't if I think they are doing something that could jeopardize them.

Don't ask me how I got into the habit, but then with a mind like mine it is hard to ignore :P

On the other hand I think I would do better than other "babas" in giving gyaan straight from the real life than from the mythological epics. I think it would be good a way to earn an alternative income in these times of recession.

May be in the next 5 years or may be soon, I could too buy myself a bungalow in either Juhu or Bandra. So, please the readers of this blog and my future followers :D if you think you need any advice/decisions to be made, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Don't forget to make a small donation so that this struggling baba could make his mark and hold his pravachans. I am in need of sponsors to finance them, in return I will act as counselor for their employees and promote their products among my followers.

Tho Bhakt Jano take a deep breath and let it out slowly, do it 2 to 3 times and you will feel the difference.

See, I can be the new Cyber age Yogi Baba reaching my bhakts through their computers.

Insensitivity of the Society

As we were walking down the road and talking, I said something and turned around to find that she was not next to me. I looked behind and saw her running and beating a man with gray hair with her umbrella. The man did not even complain and went ahead.

I asked her what was that all about. She said he deliberately made a physical contact. Almost every women could relate to this kind of "touching" everyday as they make their way to schools, colleges, work or even to a place nearby.

When the recent Mangalore attacks happened, she was in fury. I could seeing her blood boiling up and am sure she would have loved to kick their @!#$%. I often told her that she should join a "Nari Mukti Morcha Andalon" but most of the times I tell her to let it go. Something she won't!!

I know it is not easy but then it is a kind of Fight or Flight situation, you have to decide how you are going to handle it when it happens. The best way is to confront them, most of them don't actually expect a reaction and that is what boost these sinners. Better attract the attention of the crowd and give them a nice thrashing.

I remember the first time when I came across such incident. Walking with Amma as teenager towards my home. A girl probably of my age with her Mom were coming from the opposite direction. I then saw a guy coming from behind them and moving his hand over the girl. I was taken aback as I had never seen such thing happening before. The Mom and the girl hardly reacted as he passed.

If it is not the touching then it is the staring. People do check out each other but what is not welcome when it remains eyed for a long time. Even school going kids do that. I was surprised when I saw a school going boy standing near the seat reserved for women in the bus and staring at them intently. If you do find someone doing that ask them what their problem is. It is a wrong mentality in our society that we let people stare and don't confront them.

This reminds me of one the MTV Bakra's episode years back, where they showed a girl being harassed by a roadside romeo at a bus stop. What was disheartening to see that no one (read male) intervened even when she asked for help from the people standing beside her. Only one women stood up and tried to stop that romeo. She was telling her brother (who had a good built) to stop the man but her brother choose to stood there and do nothing.

I don't know if you remember this, but way back in 2002 when a minor mentally challenged girl got raped in the Mumbai local train in the presence of five men, out of which one was a reporter whose account as an eyewitness was on the front page. They did nothing and watched as a drunken got into his act and then got off the train. The question that came to my mind was why they did not stopped him.

When I first read the story the one thing that came to my mind was the man carrying a weapon? or he was of a good built that prevented them from stopping him? I was angry at them for not standing up when I saw the picture of the accused who was nothing but a thin frame man who could have been stopped. It was really a shame for men specially. I am not sure how they were and are able to sleep in the night.

This is our society built on insenstitivity, though we prefer to add the term "fear" to to display our inability to act. We forget that the women who is being eve-teased is a mother, wife, sister and daughter of someone.

What would you do if someone did this to a women in your family?

Hope the next time, if you see a women being harassed by roadside romeos, you know what would be the right thing to do...

Is God Communicating with Me?

That is the thought that comes to my mind when I find coming across something that I was thinking about.

Often it has happened that a thought pops up in my head and the next moment I see ads/banners/read text or hear something that would be related to it. Funnily, it does makes a point. I am not sure how it happens but it does.

Today, the same thing happened. I had this thought in my mind all day long and in the evening as I went through the papers again, I found this article which used the same words that were in my mind.

I am reminded of the incident when I was watching the movie "Yes Boss" with my family where Shahrukh's mom makes an appearance in the climax scene. At that very moment I blurted out "How did his Mom knew where they were?" and the very next moment Ashok Saraf appears on the screen and tells "I brought here her, I knew this question would be asked".

We often question about God existence and its presence. We never see him because we are so lost in our world that even if help arrives at the door, we don't open it as the door bell ringing is shunted by our trouble thoughts.

I guess God communicates in our way when we question or ponder over something. The only thing you have to do is notice it.

Dedicated to Mothers around the world

Ever wondered that there is someone who takes care of you, makes sure you have everything what you need when you leave the house and makes you eat your breakfast even when you are getting late.

Yes, you are right I am talking about your Mother. One who does all the work while her work always goes unnoticed. We are so busy in living our lives that we tend to forget the force behind us that makes our life easier.

I often wondered what makes them to work so selflessly and drives them to do it all their life. Donning the role of a wife, mother and a working women. She takes care of everything, but at the end of the day what makes her sleep so peacefully and get up the next morning and go about doing her work. We as children never thought of what she did and that she did it for us. The cheesy line that we often use is she is supposed to do that. Never do we thank her for the love and support she gives us when we need her.

It all comes to one thing. The emotional attachment that she develops for us when we take shape in her womb. Her eyes are filled with tears of joy when she first holds us when we come out in the world to be loved, nurtured and raise by her. She always forgives us when we accept our mistakes, is there to support us when we need it the most in our trying times. Never makes us feel alone when she is around. She has always been a giver and never expects anything in return.

If there is anything that we need to do is thank her for loving us so much, giving us a good life, teaching us the values of life. Give her a big hug to let her know that we love her and we are there for here. God gifted us with mothers to take care of us. Sometime this mothers too are in the need for love and care.

This blog is dedicated to all the mothers in the world who represents the spirit of undying love for their children.