The Smile

She passed by me for the second time. Coincidence?? Well could have been, but I have trained my mind to think otherwise, especially when a beautiful girl is involved. She was looking pretty in her tight jeans and cowboy check short shirt. Her hair was tied up in a bun and a pencil was carelessly tucked into it. She was wearing a pair of spectacles, which gave her look of an intellect. Her bag was hanging from one side of her shoulders, left shoulder. 'College going, probably', I thought to myself. "I think she likes me", I whispered into Manish's ear. "And what makes you think so?", he questioned.
"She looked at me and smile"
"There could be a million reasons for her to smile", he tried to reason.
"One of them could be me", i tried to justify.

Manish preferred to remain silent. Being friends for five years with me, had taught him that in cases like such, I am a die-hard fool. And this was not the first time that a girl has passed by me, but I was sure the smile was definitely for me. And to prove this, she returned. She walked towards me. And when I say me, it means 'me only'. She looked into my eyes and smiled. Thats the moment I knew I was the reason. Then she spoke in her sugar coated, honey wrapped voice "Would you mind standing up? This is a lady's seat". Manish burst out laughing. She and the rest of the passengers, just looked at him and then ignored. I stood up and took the position next to the pole. She made herself comfortable next to Manish. The bus was full, but all were seated and the only person standing was me.

Manish kept smiling all through the journey. Thankfully it wasn't long one, the journey. Neither was this love story.... Well its my story and choose to call it a love story!

Yaadein -1

Kal raat purani jeans ke jeb ko tatola
Toh ek adhoora jhumka mila,
Apne saathi ko dhoond raha tha shaayad.
Ek khushbu thi usmein, jaani pehchaani si,
Jaise koi puraani pehchaan thi.
Kucch der baithe, kucch yaadein taaza hui.
Phir rakh diya usi jeb mein,
Dobara milengey isi aash mein....

Ek Bechara Pati

The best part about friends is when you are alone they wont let you feel lonely and the worst part is when you want to be alone they wont let you be.

So this is the happy sad story of two newly wedded couple who happen to be staying together after eight months of their wedding. So when they finally settle down to start their family life, they choose this new city where they have a few friends and which they think is a very nice city to be in. Well, the city part, they were correct. Friends, well they are friends and you dont have much say about them. They choose to be good and bad and you have to accept them. So on their first weekend when they decide to spend some quality time together, they get interrupted by who else but friends. When you have one married friend in your whole bunch of bachelors and bachelorretes your wife is definitely in for some trouble, cooking food and making tea while you entertain your friends. But when your wife is also a part of the group, then you end up spending the time in the kitchen. So thats what happens with an obedient husband.... Do I have any takers?

Love You Delhi!

It's a month now and I abstained myself from writing any blog since the
day I left Delhi as I wanted to write about my Delhi experience first
and then come up with anything else. Bt somehow I couldn't stop myself
from writing some weird stuffs in between.

But now I am going to talk about Delhi. A place that has been a
spectator as well as a contributor to five most fruitful years of my
life. The first day that I landed Delhi, I had decided that I would not
like the city. Somehow, I never was in awe of the city, somehow. Though
I belonged to a small town and was light years away from the fast moving
dazzling life style of Delhi, I still found it nothing more than a
plastic doll. But the city didn't give it up on me. My first two years
in the city were in BIMTECH, where I completed my professional course in
Business Management. The next three were even more crucial ones. The one
in which I made a professional career and more importantly made friends
whom I can count for the rest of my life. The city despite all its
lacunae never complained of the indifference towards it. I wrote poems
on Lucknow, I wrote stories on Jaipur, I posted pictures of Orissa and
even went ga-ga over Mumbai and Chandigarh. But never did I say a word
about Delhi. Not because I didn't want to, but now in retrospect, I
think I took her for granted.

The winters were harsh and summers were relentless. But the city was
always warm towards me. She gave me memories which would bring a smile
on my face, a few that would roll down the cheek in the form of tears.
But memories all the same. She gave me a half baked love story, people I
can call friends and taught me lessons which make life worth living.

When night was dark, she let the moon shine a little brighter. The days
when it was warm, she let the breeze blow stronger. I let the rain drench
me, she never failed to give me shelter. I never spoke to her, she
remained silent. I shouted at her, she never replied back. I remained
aloof, she made me feel at home. Now I don't have her, but I love her.
She won't be able to know it, and still she will keep loving me as
before: Love you Delhi.

Julia Roberts: An ode to a great artiste!!!

Remember the days when pop used to be hot as hell
And Ms Roberts was an obsession of every single male,
The day when a pretty woman walked down the lane,
And Mr Gere made us all fall in love with her again....

A Tribute to an Epic!

No wonder I am a movie buff, I was born to a couple who have seen almost
all the movies released in their 20s 30s and 40s. They just lost count
when they entered 50.
Well lets not diverse from our topic. I think it was my fifth birthday,I definitely have an elephants memory,when I first saw the epic. For the first time in my life. My father had
brought the new VCR (it was a big craze then, the days when rock n roll were famous and Pop was cult!) and he wanted all of us to see the best
movie of his era, SHOLAY. As a kid I never minded all those actions and chases and Sholay had a huge clearance sale of both of them. I fell in
love with the very first train robbery scene. The horses and the bullets and ofcourse Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra. I was glued to the TV for
the next 3 and half hours. Didn't even move to have food. Sholay had some magic around it and today when I see it I still feel the same
magic, even after watching it for more than a hundred times. The best thing about Sholay is it was unabashedly Bollywoodish. Naach Gaana Drama
and Action. It had it all and in plenty. The movie stayed with me even after it was over. 35 Years and its still with me.

There are various trivia about the movie. Mr Sippy had hired a couple of stunt experts from London to help him in this movie. That the movie had
two endings, the one in which Jai doesn't die. It ran for six months before it was declared a hit: reason being the cinema halls were running
houseful but the people were silenced by the action, drama and tension in the movie, so much so that not even a single person talked. Its only
when the second visit to the theatre started that the hooting and shouting started. Amit Ji always wanted to be Mr Gabbar, well Ramu gave
him his dream role but it turned out to be a nightmare (Aag is So-low and not Sholay, sorry RGV you sucked here BIG TIME). Even Amjad Khan was
not the first choice as Gabbar, our very own Hari Bhai was first taken as Gababr. None of the characters were the first choice for the movie,
for that matter. The movie also happens to be one of the cleanest Dacoit Saga of that time, it had no rape-scene or bathing scene. I am not
trying to be voyeuristic but movies at that time used to be loaded with such scenes to cash in at the ticket counters.
The movie had some of the dialogues that were immortal. Salim-Javed made Kaalia and Sambha famous with just one dialogue. Asrani will always be remembered
as Angrezon ke zamane ka police and Mr A K Hangal (the grand old man of Bollywood) "Itna Sannata kyun hai bhai". The popularity can be gauged by
the fact that it made inane / one scene characters famous. Take for example mousi ji, Kaalia, Sambha. Ram Lal and even Jalal Agha and Helen.
Everyone has his or her own Sholay moment and I too have mine. My Sholay moment will definitely be the one in which Jai goes to mousi and asks
for Basanti's hand for Viru. By scale, popularity, music and entertainment, it will be the biggest movie that Bollywood have ever
made. 3 Idiots might have grossed 100 crores. But I don't think any movie would have a mass following and popularity, a movie where the
actors are remembered by the character they played like Sholay, a movie where the characters have made an impact on your life and you have
accepted them albeit their larger than life projection.

फिर तुम याद आई

बड़े दिनों बाद तुमसे मुलाक़ात हुई,
हाँ ख्यालों में ही सही
तुमसे मुलाक़ात हुई।

फिर आँखें कुच्छ नम होने लगी
कुच्छ यादें ताज़ा हुयी
फिर हवा भी तेरी खुशबु से महकने लगी।

मेरे काश, मेरे शायाद
मुझे तेरे संग जोड़ते रहते हैं
मैं लाख भुलाना चाहूँ तुझे
तेरी मेरी राह फिर भी मिल ही जाते हैं।

सोचूँ के बरसों बाद जब मिलेंगे हम तुम
तो कैसे मिलेंगे हम तुम
कुच्छ बीती यादें,
कुच्छ भीगी पलकें...