'BLOW' by 'BLOW'

5 Serial blasts in prime locations in Delhi. DAMN!!

Now the tone of lament in the last statement is not just this author expressing his despair at the repeated and seemingly unavoidable acts of fanaticism we are being subject to, but it is also because the author feels a tinge of jealousy creeping in.
Yes, thats right, i am jealous of the people living in the 'BLAST' affected cities. Consider this, living in pune i sort of like to think that i am living in one of the best/biggest/hippest cities in India. But now, after BANGy (pun intended), AH!medabad (again intended), Jaipur and Delhi (couldnt play around with those :( )...believe it or not we Puneites are feeling left out.
It seems to be like a status certification of sorts for cities.What better recognition can you have that you live in a very happening city, than series of blasts engineered by fanatics who claim to be killing their own people in the name of their own God? And in that city what if you live near a place that has witnessed the 'tragedy'! You gotta be counting your lucky stars! (i guess you must be seeing them stars clear enough considering the blast is still ringing in your ears!)I mean i can almost hear a Bangalorean realty broker on the phone saying "Saab ekdum mast area hain Saab, do mahine pehle hi blast hua tha, ekdum market area hain, sab cheez paas mein hain".
Yeah, yeah i know, the righteous ones among you are all, "You wouldnt be saying that if it was you getting you head blown off...." but thats my point exactly. How long can we brood, and fret,and live in fear and be 'alert for unidentified objects lying around public places?' Should one stop living out of the fear of dying? This thing is happening so often that it is as mundane as an AAJ TAK reporter saying "AAJ TAK ka sansani khez khulasa"...
The apathy shown by the government is apalling, 50 people dying in the capital of the country, and the authorities can only say "We suspect that Indian Mujahideen, the hard line faction of SIMI is behind this"....oh yeah right!! You suspect!?? Dude, they sent you an email TELLING YOU THAT...so what else have you got?...zilch..nada..nothing. The blasts are no doubt losing their impact and the shock element. Everytime a bomb went off it evoked an AH! of pity and horror...well, now its  an OH...of cognition and the next time....a YAWN...of "yeah yeah, whats new". After all "tolerance is a great virtue", isn't it?

I made it to a magazine cover!

'Colour' contrast

Holi - the festival of colours. Like all children holi was my favorite festival of the year as a child. I vividly remember those innocent days. We were not allowed to play with water as kids :( (something which i always revolted against). One packet of 'gulal' and maybe another of my favorite colour (back then mind you!) yellow, was all that i had to make it last the day. When i see the photos that my parents took of us after we were smeared in color, it brings a smile to my face and i cant help but laugh at the smallest kid (me) of the bunch. The intent look in those eyes, the nonchalant way in which he stood with the others who were 5-6 years his senior, he always believed he could hold his own amongst them. A look at his dishevelled state, showed clearly that it was a losing battle. The other guys always used to snatch my color and use it on me! he he he....those were the days eh? This was the beginning of a journey, i dont remember now, but i must've wondered back then, "How cool it will be to grow old!, nobody will forbid me from playing holi with water colors, nobody will snatch my color, hell i'll even let a coupla kids have it good from me if i feel like it!" I couldnt wait to get older!!

Things were going great, last year was by far the best holi i ever celebrated. It was the final year of college and there was no question that this being the last time (for all practical purposes) we were to celebrate together, it would be one helluva blast. And for sure it was! colours, mud, CLOTHES, and few other consumables (yeah right!!) which i cant mention here, were flying all around. It was a sight to see! It was sheer madness, and my pals from college will vouch that the frenzy and the insanity was out of this world. In fact it is impossible to describe the scenes out here without inviting the wrath of the narcotics department, if you know what i mean!

Well back to reality, the beautiful past is just that, it's past...history. Now fast forward to my holi circa 2008. I was oncall and i wouldve had to rush to office on a short notice anytime during the day. I said to myself, i have to be a professional out here and forgave my holi cravings and decided to stay indoors waiting for the inevitable call. I guessed in any case, nothing can top the celebrations of last year. I vowed not to play holi this year.

Well as luck would have it i did have to get to office, and stay there till 8pm. And guess what, it started raining cats and dogs about the same time i was gonna leave office. An hours wait for the rain to stop proved futile and i couldnt believe my rotten luck ( which i have lovingly been calling 'kutte ki kismat' lately), i mean since when did it start raining in may!!...and like this!!?? It all seemed a lost cause, i had no clue what to do...could i put up in the office for the night? Just then i dont know why...the childhood picture flashed in front of my eyes, the little child, the forlorn look, he wanted to play with water didnt he?...that was one reason why he thought it would be fun to be a grown up....

Well, atleast one of those incentives came true, a 20 mins ride on the bike to home, soaked in rain, and shivering with every splash of water, i kept muttering "Happy Holi" to myself for all of the 20 mins. Sure is cool to be growing up...isnt it?

A big THANKS to those who understand

Recently i was in another one of my contemplative moods, brooding over some silly incident with a friend of mine, when i thought....

"If only men (and women...oh yes!) worked like walkie-talkies!"...as in, if men were unable to speak whilst being spoken to, half the quarrels and fights of the world wouldnt have occured. I guess Pride, Jealousy, Prejudice, Arrogance...all these human traits that are so deeply ingrained in any human...just prevent man from calmly listening to someone else's point of view before hammering his own point home.

Why do we have this inate desire to prove ourselves right!?....I have been in contact with such people in my life that at times i felt it impossible to explain a situation to them. These people are so deeply absorbed by the quicksand of pride that they just fail to accept that they may be wrong!!...but then what makes me so sure that i was right in the first place!?...maybe i am no better myself...heck, i AM no better.

All i know is it is good to have friends that you dont have to explain yourself to, they understand, they hang around for you to explain, and even if you dont, they forgive...i am lucky i have a few of those...

CRITICAL EXCEPTION: Infinite loop

After a long time i decided to post an article in here. I decided to keep it short and sweet...but heartfelt...

Step 1. Why did our father work hard at his job?
...so that he could give us the best education money can buy

Step 2. Why did we want the best education money can buy?
...so that we do well and get good grades in school

Step 3. Why did we strive hard to get good grades in school?
...so that we can get into a good college

Step 4. Why did we want to get into a good college?
...so that we can get a good job in a good company

Step 5. Why did we want to get into a good company with a good job?
...so that we can get our kids the best education money can buy

Step 6. repeat from step 1.