Women I would like to think about...

With 95% (Well the remaining 5% is reserved for Karan Johar and Co.) of male thinking about women all the time I was thinking who would be the women that I would like think about... So here comes the chart of top five women I would like to think about:
5.Fizz: Did I hear a who, well she is the character in Tarun Tejpal's 'Alchemy of Desire' cannot help but think about her, she is right now taking up almost 12% of my braind space, a very individualistic, independent and opinionated woman. Well, might not be as big as Scarlett O'hara but definitely more believable than her...
4. Priyanka Gandhi: Has been trying a lot to know her for a long time. She was a long time crush but then Aishwarya out lasted her and then there was Alicia Silverstone and so on... but now that she is making all the right noises I would definitely like to know her.
3. Megan Fox: You have seen her on the maxim cover and then she blew you off with her performance in Transformer, with tattoos all over her body, I would definitely like to know her, rather closely
2. Suu Kyi: Of course with the power that she has and the respect that she gets from her followers and the conviction she has shown in the cause that she believes in I would be definitely thinking about her
1. Jhumpa Lahiri: Never thought she was this hot untill I saw a picture of her, with tht bod and a brain to die for I don't find anyone better than her to top the list

Language Portability

There is a problem that we all, by that I mean the people from East, face when we come to a more refined and accent-deprived Delhi it is called language portability. So for someone from my part of the woods there is no difference between, say Leave and Live and we use them very liberally. Similarly when we say Jade we actually mean ‘Z’ and ‘sss’ and ‘sshhh’ have got similar pronunciation.

The aforementioned are few basic mistakes that we make apart from more gross ones where we make a sentence sound completely different from what we intended to. For example when we say: Leave and let Leave, we mean the famous dialogue ‘Live and let Live’.

We don’t stop there we have peculiar sense of Hindi too. In oriya we don’t have a gender defined grammar, so we usually end up mixing it in Hindi too. So we have a ‘ka’ at a place where ‘ki’ would have been appropriate and vice versa. And while we speak we simply change their genders, thereby making things that we want to convey doubly difficult for people around us to understand. But then we have some evolved set among us who would take the charge of explaining the understood parts in their own understanding of Hindi and I pray for the souls of the hapless ones who have to bear the brunt.

So people who have been thru this rough ride of jee / Zee and sss / sshh please bear with us and we definitely would make you pick our accent very soon.

Let Them Be...

Sometime its really difficult to make choices and with people being so very judgemental all around us, we get into a doubly difficult situation. Getting into a relationship, staying in a relationship, continuing one or even thinking about moving out of one has so many more elements involved in it than the two most important people (The ones who complete it).

So you never know whether the smiling couple coming out of the theatre or sitting next to you are actually smiling in their relationship. And when these couples take the decision of moving out of the relationship which is hitting rock bottom, tongues start wagging and fingers pointed. I don’t understand why can’t we let these two grieving / otherwise souls on their own. And what right have we earned for ourselves to pass any kind of judgement against them.
Please let these people stay in peace, nobody wants to kill a relationship, it dies on its own and if we don’t know the whole truth then we shouldn’t speculate one.

The first rain of the season...

Delhi is very mercurial, and when I say that I mean both people and weather. You see tempers flying and People not shying away from a fight, and when it comes to weather you see the extremities quite clearly. The summer this year has been no different, it has been a hot oven for the last few days. But then God was in a lighter mood yesterday and that’s why he tried to give us a discount from the deadly heat by opening up the sky for us.

Okay after all those here, there and everywhere lines were just to show the philosophical side of me, I would rather put it in straight words, it rained yesterday. Thank God.
I was to meet Tamo in the evening and therefore was waiting for an auto outside the office. And it started raining. I am the kind of person who love to have a fair share of getting-wet-in-the-rain moments every year and this being the first rain of the year I didn’t want to miss the chance.

Rain brings with it the fresh fragrance of the earth and the sweet music of the nature; the pitter-patter of rain drops on the window panes, the metallic tone of the drops hitting the tin roof or the simple gushing of the wind, everything is so musical.

Rain is always nostalgic; it brings back a lot of memories, some sweet some not so sweet ones. The naughtiness of the childhood days, the football matches with friends, samosa and chai in the adda, dance on the terrace to the beat of rain, holding her hand, bike rides, teenage romance, Shubha Mudgal’s Abb Ke Saawan, paper boat races, garam jalebis, hot pakoras, giving your umbrella to the prettiest girl in the school and reaching home completely drenched, playing in the mud or simply listening to the sweet music of falling water. Rain was so much more than just getting drenched.

Rain has always been associated with romance, and romance it is that the rain brings with it. Bollywood always has a soft corner towards rain, let it be the romantic pyaar hua ikraar hua or sensuous tip tip barsa paani. They have always been a part of bollywood. There was a time when a movie was incomplete without their share of rain dance. Rain was metaphored for every emotion may it be happiness or sorrow. May it be love or betryal, rain is wonderful, rain is blissful.

Life has become hectic and somewhere, we have alienated ourselves from the pleasure of indulging in the rain. Here’s to falling in love with rain all over again...

Somethings Do not Change

Back in the 12th, asking a girl out for a movie was a big deal.. Since the advent of puberty, your voice had already started to crack.. It cracked even more when you had to ask that cute girl out for a movie.. Now this is 1999 I am talking about.. It wasnt easy to get the girl u like to go out with you then,..... to be honest, its still difficult..

So you knew this cute girl, long hair, lovely eyes you could lose yourself in, got dimples everytime she smiled.. So if you wanted to ask her out for a movie, the conversation with her would go something like this -
"umm.. did you watch that movie - Dil Se?"
Note that SRK was her favourite actor, so it made sense to mention his movie, even though you thought the movie was a dud and you better spend the evening watching Undertaker wrestle Bam-bam-Bigalo..
"not yet"
"oh.. would you.. I mean.. like to"(the voice cracks up here) "I mean.. watch it with me..er.. this Sunday.."
She suddenly realises that hes asking her out.. she turns on her girlie radar, which essentially means shes gonna act full bhavkhao..
"umm.. I dont know.. My dad wont allow..you know.. alone.."

Somethings will not change...

You wanna ask, how can we be alone if we are together.. But you dont..
"Oh.. but we are not going alone..Your friends are coming too" An obvious lie.. But good thinking nevertheless..
"Who all?"
Think of names.. names..
"Shweta, and Rajesh.. and Anshul and..." You name 5-6 names that you know are her friends.."thats good, I think I can ask my dad then.."
Whoopieee...

What follows next is trying to convince the 6 friends of her(whose names you mentioned) to come with you.. You lure them with free popcorn (kamine kahin ke) and they finally agree.

Then comes the booking of tickets.. Note that this is the time when there was no online booking.. So you had to stand in a long queue to get the advance booking.. You manage to get 8 tickets.. You take great care to ensure that two out of them are corner seats..

"Uncle corner seats diya na?"
"Haan yaar.." You hear him telling the next in line - "Aaj-kal bacche bhi corner seat maangte hain" hehehe..

Finally Sunday arrives.. You get up early(which you rarely do), take a bath(which you at times don't), apply half a bottle of perfume and reach the theatre.. She comes on time, but with her Dad in tow. Her dad drives his Maruti 800(we had only Maruti and Fiat back then) in through the theatre parking and almost runs you down.. Now these dads are the villainous types.. The problem is they had been teenagers once and know exactly what dirty things go on in the scum brain of the testosterone driven monster who asked his daughter out.. Her dad steps out of the door of the car and slams it.. These dad types work as managers in a MNC usually, and wear a tie to work, but when it comes to meeting his daughters male friend, he wears the unshaven look and polo neck t-shirt, to look cool..."Pappa, he's my friend"
You look at pretty her, then look at her Dad.. And you wonder, how could someone like him make something this beautiful..
"Hello"
"Hello sir.."
Women enjoy this.. They want you to meet their dads.. Its their way of saying - "See, this man is my favourite person in the world, and if you can stand up to him, only then you have a chance with me.."

Somethings will not change...

You enter the hall, you make sure that you get the corner seats for yourself..You buy enough popcorn for her friends to be occupied... The lights dim.. Vicco Vajradanti ad plays.. The movie starts.. SRK starts jumping on a train.. Chal Chaiyaan Chaiyaan.. You are least interested in the song or in the movie for that matter.. You are interested in the cute girl sitting next to you.. You want to hold her hand.. no, not hold, just touch initially..

Clouds of nervousness loom over you, your palms become sweaty.. you wipe them on the thigh your jeans.. then all of a sudden, in a moment of gutsy drive, you touch her hand..

She pulls it back, almost like a reflex, then looks at you with wide eyes and a smile playing on her lips.. like she's amused, and she didnt expect you to do something like that.. Even in that dark hall, her eyes twinkle..

Somethings will not change...

The movie ends, you saw the movie only in bits and pieces, still it will be one of the best remembered movies of your life.. You start walking out of the dimly lit hall into the dimly lit parking.. When all her friends have left, she stands on her toes to reach your ear and whispers "thank you"..

It will be ages before you understand the meaning...

Its 2009 and a lotta things have changed.. There are no single theatres now, Maruti has stopped manufacturing 800, popcorn is costlier than what was the ticket those days, even SRK sometimes comes up with meaningful cinema, but one thing hasn't changed, its still damn difficult to ask her out..

"Wanna..er.. watch a movie on Sunday?"
"Lemme see if I am free"
There she goes again..
"Oh com'n"
"He he.. okay, which one?"
"How does it matter? hahaha"
It takes her a full two minutes to understand the joke behind that one...
She lands 4-5 playful punches, out of which two hurt..

Anyway, the movie starts.. Now that you are 25, you think it must get easier for you.. But it doesnt!..

You still get all nervous, your palms become sweaty.. It is still needs a lotta planning to put your arm across her shoulder.. You touch her hand.. this time she doesnt pull it away.. But she still gives that amused-mischievous look...Like after all these years she still doesnt expect you to hold her hand..

Somethings do not change...

The movie ends and the credits start rolling. You leave the hall with her.. You two walk through the huge driveway, sparsely crowded at this time of the night.. She walks closer to you than she normally does.. She holds your hand.. Theres something amazing bout that touch.. It seems to say that she trusts you and has complete faith in you... And it says that she knows you will keep her happy..

Her touch makes you feel strong.. responsible.. pure.. loved.. all at the same time.. as she walks close to you, holding your arm, she rests her head on your shoulder.. And you have the world..

"Thank you"... is all you can whisper in her ear..She looks at you...smiles.. her eyes swell up with love... a drop finds its way to her cheek..

Somethings do not change...

A Vella Day in the office

A vella day in the office. This morning when I woke up, I thought theres a lot to do, so I came office a bit early, finished my 10:30, and then on I am left with nothing else to do…

Ankur, Nitant and Me, the trio is completely vella. Wanted to do something productive but then I realized I am in office so being productive is not an option. Nitant and me have joined the ‘Ankur ki le li’ gang, the only motto of this gang is to take Ankur's trip on every single chance. We have been sincere in our effort so far.

One thing about not working is feel like there is no work, and that is no fun. The best fun as Anuj had mentioned in his blog is, when you have loads to do and still don’t do anything. It gives a sense of supreme power. That reminds me of something that I was thinking for a long time, what is the best job in the whole world. That must be watching other people working for you and you need not do a single thing. You just order and they place it right infront of you. That makes me think of Aladin, did ever work. I mean other than chasing Princess Jasmine, fighting the odd villains and roaming on the QALEEN the carpet did ever do anything and if he did he must be crazy. Which guy would like to work when he has a genie to do everything at the snap of fingers. Wow! What a life that must be.

Sometimes when I think, and that happens rarely, I think of superpowers. I mean in movie, some unassuming guy gets some superpower and becomes a neighbourhood superhero, I wonder why can’t a spider bite me into a superhero, or a scientist make a batman, a radioactive ray turn me into a hulk. I would love to be more responsible and of course powerful.

Being a Jumper would definitely help, I hope u all are aware of jumpers (not the wearable one’s), these are the guys who can go to anyplace the wish to by just thinking about it. What life!

I asked Ankur what super power he wants, he wanted an X-ray vision, and guys must understand the reason. Saurabh wanted to travel into the past. Nitant as usual couldn’t comprehend the question: I asked “What superpower you want to be”. He replied “US of A”, I don’t blame him, he is suffering from ABCD: Acute Brain Cell Deficiency. Poor chap, but as Aamir Uncle said “Every child is special”….

Move on...

The question keeps coming to me. It was always there, but more so now. I don’t know whether I have been able to provide right answer or not. Cause I know that the question still lies there and I need to face it every single morning. I have woke up and the first thing that comes to my mind is the question.
It’s a rat race and we have named it life and the way of living. We have accepted everything that we see and believe that whatever is happening is all a part of life and they need to go that way. Dreams have been confined to sojourn of lonely mind in deep sleeps only. Are we happy with ourself? Is the face in the mirror the same that I want to see? Am I smiling coz I need to or coz I have to? Is every action of mine is a reaction or synchronised? Monotony, pressure, demands and aspirations have taken the front seat and all that mattered for living, love, happiness, friends and friendship have all been nicely pushed under the carpet. I think I have had enough of all these and now the time has come to wake up, probably move on...

Not All Good Deeds have Good Consequences

Every time we pass through those heavy traffic signals, we definitely find some street kids asking for money. Some give them money, some don’t. I don’t. I am sure all of us have there own logics. I sure do have my own. I came across this thing while working for an NGO in Noida that worked for Slum Kids. I just wanted to write this to make people aware that not all the right deeds have right consequences.

The kids that we used to teach were of age 3 – 12 years old. In the weekends we used to organize classes as all of us were working, with off on weekends. So we used to teach this bunch of 13 odd students. While interacting with them we came to know that a few of them are street beggars. Although they don’t want to beg, but their parents force them to do so to have an extra source of income. So at the time when they should be learning they are made to earn on the street. And for those who think that begging is the safest thing in the world then I would like to correct them that this is not the reality, on the street you are left all alone and there are goons who would steal money from these kids and beat them up. There are elder beggars who bully these small kids. They are also subjected to physical harassments. Begging is a very easy way of earning money and these professional beggars have found out that kids are most suited for this kind of roles and that’s where the exploitation starts from. And every time we give money we are actually strengthening the belief of those heartless people who make these kids beg.

So the next time you say no to a street kid while begging, you are doing more good than bad…

Fun At Work!!!

Its been long time since I wrote something interesting, not only that it has been really boring. So I thought to write something interesting and for that I thought of putting on my creative hat on but it didn’t fit, so I am back to my non-sense self.
Well let’s talk about my office, they have these clubs kinda thing that we used to have in our colleges where they do all sort of things, quizzes, competitions, festivities, etc. So this week they are celebrating the women’s day and for that they have this competition where you have to choose the most inspiring women in the office.
I was about to vote when I realised that there are so many women and they inspire me so much in so many different ways that I really got confused and decided not to vote. I mean I have this girl in the office, so hot looking that she inspires me to come to office everyday. Then there are girls in my bay who inspire me to work, you have girls in other bays who inspire me to take break from the work and then there are others who make me leave the office... with so many inspiring personalities around I was in a soup over the decision for the most Inspiring one of them all...

Who Am I?

I took this self administered personality test that helps you understand know who you are, what would have happened to me, I mean I would have never know who I am. These tests are as good as they are bad, I mean they are good only if they are able to tell you what you want to hear. If they tell things like you are cheesy little pervert you would down right reject the test, but if the same one tells you that you are the Prince Charming then even I would say that this is the best TEST EVER. So I took this MBTI test and the results showed that I am a promoter, don’t know what that mean, but I am a Promoter and of course it says a lot of nice things and I am damn sure that I must be a promoter, gotta start promoting something right away.

Rafa All the Way...

It was wonderful Australian Open final. In all true sense it was clashes of the titans and this one didn’t disappoint. It had all the ingredients of a pot-boiling finale and it was definitely a lot better than that. But I am not here writing about the match, cause if you are reading this article so carefully then you must be a tennis fan and no tennis fan worth his salt would have missed the Sunday clash. So this is about the player who I think have changed the way tennis is played, Rafael Nadal, the 22 year old Spaniard.
The way he plays he reminds me of Michael Chang, the indefatigable energy boosting Chang from US. Who else would have the energy and stamina to play two four hour plus games within 24 hours. He played an everlasting 5 setter with Verdasco and then the 4 hour Sunday finale clash. The first Spaniard to win the Australian Open. A title which he wears very casually on his levelled-head. Would he be able to match the Rod Laver record of winning all the Grand Slams in a single year? That time will say but right now everything’s falling in place for Rafa.
He started as the king of Clay, then Wimbledon happened and Grass was conquered and now in Australia the Hard Court has surrendered, what remains is the US open. And I hope that Rafa would definitely make it big there too.
It was a very teary fair at the prize ceremony, where Federer was all teary post the loss. It was certainly a big match and I definitely loved what I saw that day, a great match played by two of the greatest players of today’s time. Roger Federer is probably one of the greatest players that the game has seen but for the time being Rafa seems to getting into the psyche of Federer, who does not know how to exorcise the ghost...
So until then its Rafa all the way....

Virtual - Reality

Its been a long time since I wrote and that’s actually nt feeling right. Something new on my side too. I got myself registered on facebook. Thinking about the irony of life I at times think about people like me who add people sitting next to them on their social networking list. I mean what the F, u r sitting rite next to this person. Everyday u gotta meet and still u want to make that person virtual. I mean the need to make every real thing virtual is a hep thing. It started with mails going electronic. U have ur profile and customized self on nets, ala ur social network profiles and pix. We spend more time infront of PCs than we see a human face. I think machine are quickly replacing human sentiments and human are soon becoming mechanical… visit a chat site and u mi8 end up hearing something like: aaargh!!!, lol, ha ha haha. Where are the real human emotions, even these have been mechanized. I know even I am part of this bloody race that calls itself tech-savvy and I also think the day of machines ruling the world is not far.

I pray for those days when Green meant nature and not Green Card, when Fresh meant fresh air and not a cup of coffee, when song meant chirping of birds and not tuning into the ipod, when chatting meant having adda with friends and few cups of tea, samosa and not logging into g-talk, when games meant late evenings in the playground and not x-box or play stations, when a quarrel meant fighting with ur friends and not ignoring them on social sites. The Gold Old days…

Half Century

Hey I made the glorious Half Century(50 blogs and still not out) and its of course some achievement for me. By my standard i never thought that I could ever go beyond 3 -4 blogs, but then I must say that these are really addictive stuffs and keeps me busy at times when I have nothing to do.
Thank you all for reading this blog... okay there are two people reading this blog. Me and you, but still I have to write this.
There would be more....

The Coffee Break...

On cold winter evenings everyone loves to have a cup of coffee, and what better way to have it than with friends. So this Thursday, we (Richa, Nitant, Ankur, Anshuman and myself) were thru with work by 6-30 pm (which is early by all our standards) and thought to go out for coffee. This time for a change we were quick to choose the place of visit, it was to be La Café at Crown Plaza. My only reservations for such places come from the low decibel levels that you have to maintain, which means to be someone unlike me. But democracy, it gives you the freedom of expression but curtails the magnitude of implication (wow, must think seriously about writing stuffs). So then we went for the coffee thingy.
We probably were the youngest lot out there. There was this hep lookin aunty and uncle in a corner. There was this really beautiful girl, wearing an off white salwar with some guy, we later found out they were for a match-fixing (as in, shaadi.com) thingy. They had there family sitting nearby discussing other things, while these two were left to discuss there life. What the F, I mean how can a boy and a girl discuss there life on a coffee table with the clattering of spoon from the adjacent table and blabbering of we-like people from the other. Moreover, everytime the girl looked towards the table occupied by the family, she had a few on lookers, giving those suggestive smile to her. Okay I wont go into it anymore.

The waiter set the menu infront of us and we all tried to find something that fitted our budget and tummy without burning a big hole in our wallets. We ordered some snacks. The best was that of Anshuman as that had complimentary breads and we all had it to our fill. Richa, Ankur and Myself had ordered some pasteries and Nitant had asked for Fillet with French fries.

Nitant was behaving very classy, I mean everytime we laughed (read, behaved cheaply) he was there to ‘shoo’ us down. But then our enthu was too much for him to handle and he too joined us. By the time the coffee party was over, the hotel management must have taken note of each one of us and asked the guards not to let us in the next time. Post that we got some pasteries and cakes. Then we returned home. It was a good break.

I wish that couple get some more quality time to spend with each other before they decide to get married, I mean if they at all do. The aunty needed a serious makeover. Okay I shdnt be the one to comment on ppl, but hey I have a blog and I can, so wat the heck, I will.

Man Vs Woman!!!

I was there standing next to a close friend of mine while he was getting the thrashing of his life, no not from his boss, rather from his girlfriend. The reason; same old he forgot their first gift anniversary, I mean ‘gimme a break’. That’s when this thing came to my mind that how things are so easy for guys to forget and how easy it is for a girl to remember every single thing. ‘You remember the colour of my shades when we first met’, I mean how am I gonna remember, when I doubt if I remember the day when we met.

We guys have this different kinda brain from girls. I mean everything is so very compartmentalized in the head. I mean each compartment dedicated to a single thought. If you are thinking about girls it will be the ladies compartment. Movies will be movie compartment and Sports, well, that’s a special one but still it has a separate compartment of its own. And girls, well they have these barb wire thing. Everything twisted twirled and wound around like a lump of wool. Everything is connected to one another.

So when your girl friend/wife would be asking you “How do I look today”, she is very well deciding the menu for the dinner on the basis of your reply. Shopping is a very good example, we need a pair of jeans, we would go to Levi’s pick one for ourself and return. A girl: well she will buy a pair of stilettos, a matching top and pair of earrings to go with the pair of jeans which she will invariably buy at the end. I mean why the confusion girl, you want something go get it.

The smartest woman I know was Eve, she made Adam look beyond apples, I mean who the hell gonna waste times on apple when you have such a beautiful (cannot say if she was beautiful or not but she was one secured girl, she never had competition) girl infront of you. And since then men have never looked back at apples and women have stopped being smart.

I know I am sounding like an MCP with all these sexist remarks, but frankly I have all the respect for women. This blog is written in lighter vain, so please keep it to that only.

More than just a game of Cricket!!!

Cricket, someone said is religion in India. Probably its more. So on 15th Dec when India walked into the field to bat on the 5th day of the first test against England, the whole India was praying for a victory. It was not just another test victory. India needed something to lift its spirit. Post Mumbai terrorist situation, probably every Indian needed a common cause to celebrate. The joy that would bring smile on the face of a street kid and the man in a merc. A cause that is of national celebration. Then what else can it be other than cricket. An imposing total of 387 on the final day. Very unlikely and that too at a venue which doesnot hold too many winning memories for India.

So when Viru went blitzkrieg, before falling, last evening a candle of hope was lighted. This morning, however, India started on a wrong foot. Dravid and Gambhir went in quick succession. Laxman played well before departing. As always it seemed that India is looking down the barrel. A promise well made but not delivered. But that’s when the most bankable player of the country rose to the occasion, Sachin Tendulkar. He alongwith Yuvraj Singh (84 not out) got India the victory. So when Sachin moved from 99 to 103 with the boundary that also brought India the victory, every cheer in the crowd, every eye watching the match on the TV, must have felt proud. Proud of being an Indian. Proud to do be an achiever against all odds. Above all, it was a victory that says: Spirit still runs deep, in every Indian vein.

Probably cricket could do so cause, every average Indian who can hold a bat thinks himself good enough to be a master of the game. And every shot from the bat and every ball bowled carries the aspiration of every single cricket crazy Indian. So when the 11 men in blue (rather, white) walk into the field, we relate to each one of them. We see our dreams through there actions. So every loss is criticized and every win rejoiced.

Thank you team India for giving us a reason to smile, in these trying times.

Roadies is Back... What a relief to the TV Boredom

Beat your boredom watch Roadies. Its been a habit since the start of roadies that I look forward to this time of the year. Not that it is the only thing that makes me do so, but then of course it is one of those shows that I like so much that I have been watching it for last five years and can literally remember each and every Roady. The meaness of the characters and the group dynamism. I mean the reality show thing is taken to an altogether new heights. I know I am going over the board but I can’t help it.

So the show is back and I am more than happy about it. I am certainly gonna be the most ardent follower as always. Although this weekend I am gonna miss it as I would be going for Monika and Sudhanshu’s wedding. Its moving down under.

But whatever it is my weekends gonna be slightly less boring than the usual.
So this is to the Roadies Down Under!!!

...and there was blood: The Mumbai Attack

Every countries’ worst fear, breach of its security, putting the public in serious threat of life: a National Security situation and that was exactly what we saw, when Mumbai was attacked by a handful of terrorists. As they took, Nariman Building, Obeori, Trident and Taj hostage and sprayed bullets across the city killing 184 people and leaving more than 200 injured, India experienced its most horrifying terrorist attacks on 26th Nov '08, that lasted over 59 hours. Some of the brightest police officers of Mumbai police force and NSG reached martyrdom while trying to rescue the innocents.
It was the worst thing that could have happened to any democracy. The Govt definitely has failed and as we heard a greatly perturbed Shobha De on the national television we could hear the voice of many Mumbaikars, who were highly disturbed and interrupted. For once the city that never stops was brought to a halt. For once the indefatigable spirit of Mumbai was not the talk of the town, something has definitely made the people think, enough is enough. Politicians acted late and there was a lot of Faux Pas in everything that they did and they say. So when Dr. Manmohan Singh came on National TV to make an inspiring speech to the nation that needed it the most, all he could do was sound mechanical and politically correct. Shivraj Patil, Home Minister, must have been used to making speeches that go into the “Don’ts” of good speech book. I mean he did it when there was attacks in Delhi, Gujrat and now in Mumbai. So when the Politicians were caught on the wrong foot, the saving grace were the men in uniform. The army took up the charge to rescue the hostages and clear the city of the terrorists.

Richa SMSed the other day saying that Sabina Sehgal (Good Food Guide fame) passed away and she had been one of those who followed her columns regularly, she was of course very hurt and disturbed. I understood one thing that the attack was not on Mumbai alone but on every single Indian, telling us that it can strike us anywhere anytime. Tomorrow celebrities/politticians would carry a candle march to some strategic point in the city, say some non sense praising the valiant effort of our soldiers and making themselves and their party heard more than anything else, and the next day we all would go back to our daily routine. And then, are we gonna wait for another blast to rock us, wake us up from our sleeps. Probably the time has come for us to stand up to the terrorists, counter the same. They have the audacity to break into our homes and sabotage it. We burn a few candles, make a few sound bytes and then go back home. Why can't we have our own Munich, our own Mumbai. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”, is what Mahatma Gandhi said but I think at times its an eye for an eye that helps to save the whole world from being blind.

’84, ’93, ’08 – three major dates of dark history of terror attacks in India. The faults lies in us, we never took our politicians to task. They were never made accountable. Ain’t we at fault too.
At the same time I think all the politicians should understand that terrorism is a matter of national security and should not be politicized. We are not done in by terrorists but our very own politicians and those cowards who call them our leaders.
It will take time to find the real culprit but right all the fingers are pointing across the border and this is time to be a bit more stern and leave the cross border friendship for some other time.
Let’s pray for the souls of those departed and show our gratitude towards the people who restored the peace. And hope that this time we stand up to the dark hands behind this inhuman act and for a change take the attack to the other side. We were always been disappointed and hurt but this is the time to be more, to make the angst grow into something bigger and something that would be definitive.

So let’s get together to make a difference, coz we are the difference.

One More wicket falls!!!

It was Praneesh’s wedding, I had already missed his engagement and missing his wedding would mean that I would be crucified. So I took a bus from Bikaner House to Jaipur.The bus reached Jaipur around 5 pm, ths sun was setting down behind the hills. The whole scene was picture perfect. As the Sun’s rays outlined the hills, the silhouette of Amber fort was as if somebody has carved the outlines of the fort with golden ink. The setting Sun made the whole surrounding so very romantic, something that cannot be captured in any camera, it can only be felt. It was a wonderful trip to Jaipur, and the icing on the cake was the scenic beauty of the silhouetted Amber fort on the top of the hills.
I reached Praneesh’s place at around 8 pm and then got a bit of scolding from Didi and Praneesh for being late. Then I had my dinner, must say I had the best of vegetarian dishes and the sweets were really out of this world. I mean I really loved them like anything. I gorged on the food and by the time I was over I needed a crane to carry me. Next day was to begin early and that’s why we decided to sleep early. Though the India Vs England cricket match kept us awake till the end but as soon as the match got over we decided to call it a day. The next day we got ready to leave early but then as always the deadline happened to be the same old Indian Stretchable Time and we neednot stretch ourselves. Yogesh reached at 10 am. I had some company. I mean earlier also there were people around but then you cannot be comfortable with new acquaintances, so Yogesh saved me from the situation. We left for Alwar(Bride’s hometown). It was another beautiful car drive to Alwar, with hills and forest on either sides. We also chanced upon a couple of Barasinghas on our way.
We reached Alwar by 5 pm, the baraat left at 9 pm and the phera got over at 2 am, I am rushing thru these details coz I think most of us know what happens in between. Okay now for the inquisitive one’s specially the Bajaj kind, there were girls and of course beautiful ones. The Sali sahiba was really beautiful and being an air hostess she definitely was hot. The ususal chhed chhad, and all those stuffs made the wedding even more interesting. So as we returned to Jaipur, Yogesh said right before dozing off “It was great”, he meant the wedding. I couldn’t agree more.

Seeing a friend getting married, losing his freedom and still smiling is something that I think not many of us can do. I mean who else can smile at the face of a storm.

All said and done, I am sure Aarti and Praneesh are going to make a wonderful couple and I pray for their blissfully wedded life. God bless both of you…

The Good Old Days...

Today morning a new idea struck me. Just think how cool it was during those tension free childhood days. I mean those cuteness and innocence that can never be traded for anything else in life. I always dream of going back to those days, when home assignment used to be the biggest tension in life.

I miss those mornings when I used to have breakfast while baba used to go through the morning newspaper. When evening hour cricket matches used to be on the topmost priority on the to do list.

When every rainy seasons meant making boats and seeing them sail with the stream of rain water.

Those days of innocence when nothing used to be purer than your thought. The world was such a beautiful place to be. When my pet used to be my best friend, when those innocent crushes used to be love stories. When friends meant life. When holidays meant meeting cousins and relatives.

Now when I sit infront of my PC and write these lines, I miss those days, I really do. How I wish they were back....