my own space to ponder :)

2011-08-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

I WAS THE GOLDEN BIRD....an ode to freedom

When I flew out back then....it was midnight.

I remember it like yesterday....but

days have passed and seasons changed.

By now....

that cage would be rusty and drained.... in the blood and hatred of a father’s heart....

and tears drenching a mother’s path.

A few bars would have worn out,

after seeing the passion in flaming saffron....and serenity of the waving green.

Seeing the avid glint in those eyes,

of that kid running after a loose end kite.

By now....

weeds would have outgrown its height,

as the cage waits for me there....hanging on a creaky nail.

By now....

the tiny water cup would have become dry and pale,

as the cage waits for me there....hanging on a creaky nail.

By now....I am sure....

the cage is old and tired and alone and weak,

so I can fly on without its shadow giving me creeps.

I won’t fly that way ever....that goes unsaid yet it’s a known belief.

but

it’s not my will, nor my way....

it’s the will of this wind....which is in the same direction again.

I know the cage waits for me there....hanging on that creaky nail.

Its door ajar....

for me to fly in and be slaved once again.

So before I get back to the same place....

I bow my head in remembrance of my first flight as a free bird,

lest someone saves me on my way....

I salute to the zeal and the gripping energy of that August day,

and I sing to the memory of a million dreams that soared with my flight,

when I flew out on an August midnight.

2011-08-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

The wind has spikes of frozen thoughts, my wings are pierced and torn apart.

There’s a sandstorm for sure .... somewhere nearby,

coz I can feel those specks in my eye.

All I wanted was to fly,

over this very stream....from my cocoon it was a place of dreams.

As the flowing water glittered in the sun, and the daisies swayed in the wind....

I thought I'll be able to go beyond, and see the palace they talked about.

They said that was where lived the king, and I could go when I got my wings.

It was last night....I was in my cocoon,

waiting eagerly.

Waiting for my wings to break that cage,

waiting to spread them and fly away,

waiting to join the high fliers in the faraway skies.

But nobody told me about the storm,

or the dust or the fog or the setting sun,

about tides in the water that was actually not warm.

and when you cross all this, about the soldiers in the palace,

the walls or the wells or their mighty guns.

The wind has spikes of frozen thoughts, my wings are pierced and torn apart.

So I’ll stop and stitch the wounds myself, coz when I came out....

I was alone, all by myself....

I cant turn back, cant lose, cant run,

I’ll wait till the first light of tommorow’s sun.

And the king can wait....

he’ll wait for dawn, standing by the window sill,

For the butterfly caught in a storm, by her own will.

2011-01-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

The worst part is that it remains....and will remain forever....

you cry, you shout, you explain, you want it to change....

but whatever you say won't be enough....

coz you know that the fault is yours....the flaw lies within.

You have been loosing every chance and u lost it yet again

What hurts most is not the scared self....

but the tear in someone's eye....the way you made that heart cry....

for how long can it go on....fighting and hoping for some peace of mind.

All you do is cringe at every sob, and promise that it wont happen ever.

How you wish to remove all those flaws, and be the perfect one....

have the most special heart....win it's faith, it's trust....to win it all.

2010-12-22T01:15:00.000-08:00

Magic is when colours blend into one....

drip in, swirl around, seep within and spread along....

bewitching an entranced mind, embracing a lost heart.

It comes on soft feet, tiptoeing its way to secretly cling....

mounts up to reach every vein, till it’s visible....

glistening and bright....in the form of a smug smile.

And the clinging thought is then free to stream....

to rush, to run and find a place on some abandoned land,

on a paper being allured by ink....or a life that should not sink.

Magic is when those colours crystallize behind my words....

Magic is when I write.

2010-12-22T00:55:00.001-08:00

MY GIFT TO MYSELF

At twilight, in bluish black of the sky....

She caught herself scared

and she wondered why!!

Why did her soul race....

through streets and forests and spiral lanes?

Why, at the most graceful hour of her day....

was the spirit slowly fading away?

Why was this amazing colour....

becoming hazy and turning all grey?

Standing right there....gazing into her pensive eyes,

why does the sand clock which had always been....

suddenly appear so damn alive?

The sand is trickling at a very fast pace....

Why does she see every tiny speck.??

The quivery concave above....the rising dune below,

and there’s this urgent want to stop the flow.

She can tilt the clock right now....

maybe stop the time somehow....

and feel all free to let her fears seep in.

But after having done that....

will the twilight also stay??

The colours are done with tricks and the play....

night oozed in, for some it’s glossy...for some it’s grim.

The sand is gushing down again....

And before the awaited radiance of dawn,

she knows she’ll have a million moments....

to crib, and cry, and wait, and be torn.

But there’s one moment among those millions,

that will rekindle the magic of her life....

will give a reason strong enough to suffice.

A moment so full of risks and frights....

brimming up with elegance and lights,

hopes and wants, urges and dreams....

that it sweeps over the entire lot,

in a single, positive and confident thought.

Finally she grabbed the instant right in time,

And realised the sand will forever flow....

Just like these days that come and go

You can tilt the clock, or break open the glass,

It’s still your life....got nothing to do with the mass.

Just when the first light hit her last tear....

she caught herself escaping all fears,

and found no greys lurking nearby

At dawn, in the violet, and blue, and the orange sky.

2010-10-02T03:12:00.000-07:00

Sweet Nothings......In the sound of silence!!!!

With the radiance sublime, an aura divine....

underneath those stars with their glittering grins,

and above a lake adorned with flowery brims....

there’s an impeccable bridge, all covered in dew,

That’s the path which brings me to you.

I am in a world very different from yours,

My side of the bridge has a beautiful shore.

I dream of walking here beside you,

On this white sand, all calm and cool....

listening to the ocean so flawlessly blue.

I can feel the silence whispering to me,

“He’s perfect, he’s the best, he’s genuine....

You have won the quest”.

I listen, I smile and you take my hand,

looking at you, I know you understand.

I don’t have words for those questions in your eyes,

or any reasons for being so apart. All I know....

is that you drew me back, and let me hide deep in your heart.

I wish....I could kiss away all those years,

when I let you go for the sake of my fears.

Can you listen to my heart’s music?

It beats every time you show that love me.

I want to touch your soul and make you see....

that your girl is here, and forever will be.

I am all yours, and I feel all free.

Your passion, your care....your sorrows and despair

your honesty, your fight....the way your eyes light.

Your words, your patience....those sweet nothings

in the magical sound of silence. I love it all in every hue,

never let me go....I am in love with you.

2010-06-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

I don’t want chocolates and toys she said....

This is for all the proud mothers of beautiful daughters around the world. This is for the ladies who wanted to protect their girls more than their lives. This is for that desire in the heart of women to polish the replica of their soul like diamonds. And this is for the moms, who, at this moment, are trying to cajole their girls to sleep with the help of stories, but are having a hard time solving their numerous doubts. What answers do you have when your daughter does not understand the antediluvian stories of devils, and angels, and princes, and demons? Do you sit and wonder or do you come up with another story when she wants to see the clear picture of paradise and Satan? Do you have real life examples to cite for her to make her believe in the things you want to tell her? Do you have an explanation to the question “why do people become bad?” “Where do fairies live?” “Is God stronger than Satan?”....and the queries go on endlessly.

I think you should concoct a fairy tale for each and every one of her doubts. You should paint her imaginations with a verisimilitude of radiant colours. Because once she grows up, she’ll have this huge world filled with fanatics, zealots, jingoists and bigots to taint those colours with reality. Realities which hit hard again and again and hurt the fragile heart. Realities which are thrust into the innocent mind. And realities which crush the happy soul.

“A 45 year old man raped a one year old girl in Amritsar.”

As soon as she listens to news like this, all her thoughts will be clear. A girl for whom the devil, and Satan, Ravana and the fiend were difficult things to understand will finally know that she has been living in their world all this while. Henceforth she will fear the garden which she thought was Eden. From now on she won’t trust a single stranger on the face of the earth. Today and for all the days of her life, she will be immured by her fears.

What should be done with men like these? Do they have the right to be classified as men? How can we even think of filing a case against cynical rapists like them? They should be killed straight away....as soon as they are caught. I agree that every case should be solved in an orderly fashion. But then law and order are made for human beings and not for misanthropic demons in the form of men. What is the point of wasting time over such criminals? Is there any use of a report, a court case and uncountable dates? By the time he is punished, the girl’s parents are already dead. If our mythologies justified the killing of demons then and there, why do we spare these belligerent beings? I am not talking about those cases where the authorities do not have a clear idea about the crime. I am talking about the open and shut cases, about the criminals caught red handed.

The thought of a year old girl being raped gives goose bumps to the toughest hearts. Such a heinous and egregious deed deserves a single punishment. Such a person has no damn right to stand in the court of law. He should be hanged to death right away, without any second thoughts. This is a small change that the law structure of our country demands. If we let these people move freely, then nobody will ever think twice before committing such a crime. And all we will do is sit in our drawing rooms safely locked up, watch the headlines which shall feature a few more rape cases and pray to God to keep us safe. Living with a dread of this level, is simply not worth it. So here’s what the girl wants from the Lord.....

I don’t want chocolates and toys she said....

Just take the man whose hands are all red....

I feel safe in paradise and I want to stay with you....

Punish him for his sins, I was killed....kill my murderer too.

I don’t need candies and cookies so sweet,

Just go to my dad and touch his feet....

Help him to be strong and fight till the end,

Tell him to win and break the trend.

2010-06-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

ALWAYS....

For the past two weeks I have been enjoying the privilege of an air conditioned office from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, uninterrupted internet connection, a perfect desktop, unlimited coffee supply just twenty steps away and minimal work in hand. What say....doesn’t this manifest the setup for a perfect writing opportunity??

Yes it does....this makes up a superb surrounding for a writer inside an engineer. But the question is...what did I write since I joined this company for my summer training as an “electronic engineer”?? Absolutely nothing. Reason?? Maybe all that made me happy about this place was the fact that it helped me avoid Delhi’s heat throughout the day. My mind was blocked and all I could do was to stare at a blank word document. Phewwww....this is surely not what I want to talk about here. But you know what...it is usually in the scenarios that make you feel completely bored and lugubriously out of place where you get that idea which clicks and helps you to finally sit down and clatter the keyboard. (And great people have said...if you want to understand what a piece of writing wants to convey, you should always be aware of the writer’s state of mind ;))

So it was on one of those completely free days at work when I was trying to kill time and decided to visit the office library. It is a small room with a few desktops, a few chairs and a reading table, lots of magazines and a librarian. As I entered this place the first thing that caught my attention was surely not the lot of amazing reading stuff on the racks or the dapper looking handsome guy sitting in the corner. The person who held my eyes, my steps, my mind and my thoughts for more than a minute was a girl sitting right at the centre of a small crowded room and praying.

She was a Muslim girl two or three years older than me. Having taken a small space for herself, sitting on her prayer rug, she was praying. Completely engrossed in her verses, she was oblivious to the movements around her and the people staring. (No....I am not here to blabber about Islam, or the prayers, or caste, or the latest facebook scandal!!!! Absolutely not. So you are free to read on.)

The girl simply amazed me. She gave rise to a lot of unanswered questions within me and I was stunned for a few seconds. And the thoughts of those few seconds are as follows.

It had been weeks or maybe months since I had prayed or even thought about God. And this lady had that flame and that belief which helped her take out time to remember her creator while working in a multinational corporation, where she was loaded with substantial amount of work....an excuse that people like me easily take to eschew away from prayers.

“Am I an atheist?? “, I asked myself.

Obviously I am not. I believe whole heartedly in the existence of god, in the power of the Elysium, in one hand that is the pivot of all the energies of this world and I believe in the soul. I believe in all this but I don’t and I can’t conceive the necessity and the requirements of a prayer. I am not a follower of the theory that folding your hands and enchanting a few religious words on some selected days can increase your proximity with Him. When I pray during festivals, I pray because that particular day is meant for prayers and everybody is doing it. When I pray before a result, I pray because it seems the right thing to do. Sometimes when I suddenly start praying every morning for about a week, I pray because of the superstitions within me that “not praying” is “not good”. And when I pray at home, I pray because of my mother’s speech.

The only times when I actually feel the presence of the immortal deity is when I am all alone thinking of nothing at all and suddenly God comes into my thoughts and I know I am connected. When I achieve my desired goals and thank God for it, I know He is listening. When I utter a random thought and it materialises, I know He is watching. I know He is there when I don’t have to limit the durations of my conversation with him to a few minutes every day.

So where is the need of a prayer? This does not mean that those who believe in the power of prayers are not right. The most subjective thing that was ever made by the creator is the belief in Him. Those who pray with a dedicated heart and soul, get the radiance from their prayer which helps them to grow, elevate, enlighten, heal and survive.

For me, God resides in every soul. The Earth has a million souls. Thus it makes talking to God quite an easy thing to do. And somehow I don’t count my every hour pleas to Him regarding trivial issues of my life as prayers. They are just like talks to a friend so close, that you have a right to ask him all that you want. ;)

2010-03-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

If you don’t like me the way I am,

Go to hell; I don’t give a damn.

I believe in making my own ways....

I am not concerned with what Uncle Sam says.

You are free to call me a wishful thinker,

I’ll show you my fantasies were meant to twinkle.

You live like machines operated by somebody else,

I prefer living like the broaching jewels.

When will you cease this futile fuss?

Stop drifting with the “mob-rush”....

When will you walk out of the tyrant’s rule?

Or do you want to end up looking like a fool?

Life, is meant to be a montage of myriad dreams,

No matter you are grizzly, or in your teens....

Go out and be what you want to be,

Forget Uncle Sam; He does not have the key.

I can’t wither and crinkle like this,

I don’t believe in queries prior to a wish....

I don’t care if it’s a mistake and I fall,

I will never be just another brick in that wall.

RESPECT LOVE

2010-03-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Love

Devine, ubiquitous

Inspiring, enchanting, promising

Exquisite, fun, vivid, genuine

Binding, abiding, idolizing

Innate, immutable

Respect

P.S: This form of poetry is called diamante style. It is a 7 line poem that forms the shape of a diamond. It goes as follows:-

Line 1: Noun or subject
Line 2: Two Adjectives
Line 3: Three -ing words
Line 4: Four words about the subject
Line 5: Three -ing words (about the synonym of the subject)
Line 6: Two adjectives (about the synonym of the subject)
Line 7: Synonym/antonym for the subject

(the diamond shape is not visible in this post....arrange it and you'll find out)

For me, love and respect are undoubtedly synonyms. the What do you think??

2010-03-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

AROHA....

Does selfless love exist??

Trust me; this is one of the most absurd questions I have ever heard. Look at it this way....by questioning the existence of selfless love; all we are doing is fencing over the probable existence of selfish love. And once the word “selfish” is attached to the word “love”, it no longer continues to be a part of this universe. Love has simply not been designed to be selfish. As soon as we start classifying love into true, false, selfless, honest, good and evil, the very essence of this feeling which is so perfect and sublime gets blended with the numerous assortments of the materialistic world and is lost forever.

Yes, selfless love exists. Thankfully, as long as humans exist, the desire to love and be loved will exist. And if love exists, it has got to be selfless or else it is not love at all. It’s easy to say, “I love you”. The actual baffle manifests when you have to tell “yourself” that you love a particular person.

Love is the feeling of joy, the experience of freedom, your special propensity for people close to you, the demand for care, the divine emotion that makes you say that “love is life”. A hell lot of people out there are confused between the feeling of love and control, love and the assurance of being right. Things like expectations, control, demands, suppressions, fear, pain, hurt and insecurity are not associated with love. If you are in love, you don’t seek benefits or expect recognition; you don’t demand attention or be manipulative; you don’t check whether the person is worth your love or not. Nobody teaches you how to fall in love. It’s there; stored within you by default. There’s no place for doubts and ego in love.

So keep a watch. Coz if you think you are in love with your girlfriend and walk with her just because it makes you feel vainglorious to be seen with a girl so sexy and beautiful, the thing between the two of you is anything but love. If you love your dad only for that ATM card, you are an accomplished jackass. If you are with your boyfriend, for the sake of those beautiful gifts, do yourself a favour and call off the relationship; it’s fake. If you don’t have a shoulder to cry on when that is all that you want, go start searching for friends who love you.

Keep going. Love and be loved. Just be yourself.

2010-03-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

It’s not just money....

I got up this morning and I felt so free....

Last night I thought that the world was scarred,

the things they said seemed so real to me.

Nobody’s wrong; all of us flow with the lee.

In spite of the phrase that has all of us tagged,

I got up this morning and I felt so free.

“Be rich or die trying” is the phrase for me and thee

but it’s not just money that needs to be bagged.

The things they said seemed so real to me.

With the hope of earning a pal over a cup of tea

and the desire of fulfilling the dreams I once had

I got up this morning and I felt so free

Try being rich with honour and love, you see....

money will definitely be there if you want it so bad.

The things they said seemed so real to me

Initially I feared that gold was the only key.

Later I realised; there are a many other richer things to be had.

I got up this morning and I felt so free,

the things they said seemed so real to me.

P.S.:- this is a form of poetry called VILLANELLE

A Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa.

The first and the third lines in the first stanza are repeated in alternating order throughout the poem, and appear together in the last two lines.

2010-03-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hey!!!! I am RegIONALISm

I don’t remember the time when I was born,

I have always been there,

in every element and every form.

Some of you want me, and others hate me for what I am.

It was one of your own creations that gave birth to me,

you call my mother “region”; you fight for her every season.

Extend her name, and you’ll find me; I am –

“Regionalism”.

I have been puissant and vernal since eternity....

Trust me, I wanna go but you have made staying my duty.

I was deliberately sent to every place on land,

including the one I was trying to eschew from.

I was assaying to shun away at least your colleges,

But you dragged me there too; now I am immured in cages.

You took my name to sabotage nations,

I was the reason behind dilapidated creations.

A short time back when you were fighting again....

At the crest of the hotlist, I found my name.

“Telangana – Telangana”, I heard you shout....

To wish that you’d stop someday was a hope in vain.

The Tamil, the Marathis, the ULAFAs and the saints....

The riots have been in lights for yore it seems.

They claim to be the sons of their soils,

That’s the only reason for all these turmoil.

Recently I met my latest crush,

He’s named Sachin; the hero India’s favourite game.

He voiced a line I was yearning to hear,

And my heart missed a beat when he said the same.

“Mumbai belongs to all Indians”, he said

Raj Thackery was blown off and I was flared.

My crushes keep changing now and then,

Ambani then Shahrukh and now its Sachin.

Anyone who has the guts to go against me,

is on my love list; my heart is so easy to win.

When will you understand a simple thing....

You are all Indians; the children of the same soil.

Cease the belligerence that you proudly nurture,

kill me today and you will have an excellent future.

Don’t allow people to influence you with their parochial toils,

take my pithy advice; just spread your wings.

2010-03-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

It’s not always true....(apply your own brains)!!!!

It took a lot of speeches, numerous fasts, howling Britishers, panegyric followers, hotshot journalists and a Bapu to make Indians realise the importance of non-violence, truth and love. This was 63 years ago. 4 years back, Mr. Raj Kumar Santoshi got an idea that made his protagonist the most talked about character in India. All he needed was a movie that was a boffo at the box office, an illustrious Munna Bhai and some publicity to make people talk about the same antediluvian reforms so lucratively renamed as “gandhigiri”.

A lot of questions come up at this point. How is it possible for a group of people to enter a theatre with a set of ideals and come out with a completely different set? Are we so easy to influence? How was it possible for people who did not believe in all that Gandhi preached to send “get well soon” cards to their enemies after the movie “Lagey raho...”? Just because some “Munna Bhai” said it was right? Why was it so difficult for us to understand the same things when a man in flesh and blood went all round the country trying to make people understand what he was saying?

Whatever be the case....Indians today are divided into a section of the population for whom Gandhinian path is the right one to follow, and a section that opposes that idea. All of us are distinguished individuals with our own thoughts and opinions. We don’t need to follow a particular course. None of us will be called demons if we don’t want to trust what Bapu said.

The world today is very different from what it was back then. We need to change our track with the change of situation. If we start going in for gandhigiri today, we’ll surely be screwed up like hell in a few situations. What if you are not done with your project on the deadline and you tell your ferocious boss the truth that you have been partying hard for the last two weeks and not working at all? What if you tell your girlfriend the immaculate truth that you were with her friend last night? Man....don’t even think of trying that.

I am sure you will slap back the person who hits you no matter who is right. If you are a famous person and somebody does not charge you for a bus ticket if you don’t have money, you will surely not have the intentions to give the money when you have it. We live in a world that is not suitable for things that we don’t believe in. We have gotto do things that seem right at a particular place.

So there’s no need to make a fuss of the fact you a die-hard fan of Gandhi and a friend of yours is not. Do what you think is right. And there is no hard and fast rule that decides what is black and what’s white.

2010-03-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

Value for many....

What comes into your mind when we mention the term “technovating” with respect to any particular nation? If you get the image of high quality computer systems, wireless advancements and numerous other technological advancements then you are close to the answer but you are not completely right. A country can be referred to as technovating only if it has the capability to make all the advancements in the field of science available to each and every citizen of the country. A nation may be rich, advanced and hi-tech, but if more than half of its population does not know what’s happening around them coz they are unable to visualise these innovations within their budget peripherals, then we cannot classify that nation as technovating.

So does our country fulfil these norms?

Of course it does. Since the past few years, India has been striving hard to accomplish the need of value for money together with value for many. This is undoubtedly an arduous innovating challenge for the nation. Value for many implies the need to work for the segment of the population that lies below the poverty line. This connotes the necessity of ultra low costs and exquisite afford-ability.

In India, the most visible example with this regards is our very own Tata Nano. This car, commonly referred to as the people’s car, is the child of the legendary Ratan Tata, who came up with the innovation of these wheels only with the view of having a vehicle that can be parked in every garage of the country,( a car that can also been seen in homes that don’t have garages). Tata has also unveiled its recent product called the Swach, which is the cheapest water purifying system that does not require running water, power or boiling. So this one will be available in every rural household.

While the value for money is the professional strategy of every business, the value for many is the desire of a few. The real challenge is to bring the two of them together.

Instead of discussing the unique identification code, (the most talked about technological advancement in the country, that surely has helped India climb up one more step on the ladder of countries that are technovating), we shall pay attention on mobile phones...(now plz shut your phone off for a few seconds and read what’s written). India has come up to a stage where the mobile phone cluster has successfully dominated the initial cigarette smoke that was regarded as public enemy 1. ~~No doubt this has its own disadvantages, but this is no place to discuss those.~~ One of the major contributions in taking mobile phone to its summit is that of our visionary leader Dhirubhai Ambani. This great man had dreamt of bringing the cost of phone calls down to that of a post card so as to make the advantages of telephony affordable by each and every India. So here we are in an era in which you need a mobile phone to search for your vegetable vendor, for SMS text messages to inform your friend next door about your recent hairstyle, for a calculator, a watch, and a calendar. Reliance is a trailblazer that has pioneered some groundbreaking innovations that include free messages, free phones and free calls.

Other than these, India has also worked on cost effective health care by reducing the cost of the cataract surgery, hepatitis B and the artificial foot by substantial amounts. We have also got efficacious cost cuttings in the case of laptops and other such electronic goods.

Thus India is out on a journey of value for money with many and is setting an example for others to follow.

2010-03-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

BEHIND THE SCREENS!!!!

The era in which television shows came into the limelight, was in the actual sense an era of savant and realistic people. Back then we knew that shows on T.V. are meant to be unreal. They are just characters who are playing there parts onscreen and it’s not necessary that they resemble their roles. If someone would have told the directors and producers back then that the audience shall be interested in watching black and white silhouettes of people sleeping after a long day of disputes and empty talks, they would easily have laughed the idea off.

But today we live in an epoch where people are stuck in front of their television sets waiting to watch other people live their lives. Reality T.V. shows are going on increasing in number. You call a group of famous people to live in a lugubrious house for two months, and it is a boffo on box office. You sit with a set of questions and hurl it on the player with the promise of money, and people shall skip dinner to watch you do that. You set a panel of blabbering judges before guys and girls who want to be singers, and the show becomes the most sensational thing of the age.

Are we seriously this naive? Do we really believe in what is shown to us? All we see is just what the editors of the show want us to see. The reality is long lost somewhere behind the curtains. Don’t we already have a lot of issues in life that we’ll waste time in watching people solve their conundrums on screen? Why should I be concerned if Bakhtiar is fighting with his wife in a madhouse? The stories shown to us are just stories within stories; not even an ounce of truth lies there. Don’t tell me you actually vouched for the marriage of Rakhi Sawant.

Now if for some time we leave the reality shows to their own fate and try flicking through the channels, what do we see? You stop at a news channel and you hear an ebullient reporter talking about the racial differentiation that Shilpa Shetty had to face in big brother. You go to the next channel and find them interviewing the winner of Indian Idol. Finally you are frustrated and switch the idiot box off. THAT’S INTELLIGENCE.

Every time it happens that after a certain period of time when the audience get bored watching the same people do the same things every day, the TRP of the show declines. As soon as you plan on quitting that show, a news channel informs you of the latest hot development in the show and you go back. The unreality of reality T.V. shows, is not only harmful for the people watching it, but also defamatory for people participating in it.

So come of that world that neither real nor fantasy. It is only a calamity. Watch shows that help you in some way. Stop cribbing about the love triangle of people who are paid to waste your time. Stop listening to news that’s talking about the sex scandal of a famous personality while terrorists are tearing your country apart. Get yourself a life.

2010-03-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

ASK YOURSELVES....

Hockey is a game. (I know there’s nothing new in this sentence, all of us know this) What I am trying to point out is that it is not at all a shame. A game does not convert into a shame unless its players stop playing it. As long as Indian hockey has got people who are spirited enough to keep going on the field, the game will sustain.

A bad loss does not mean that it is the end. We are nobody to rate hockey as a shame. All we saw was that India was the biggest loser. Did we ask why? Did we consider the fact that when all the participants of world cup were busy in high level practices, the Indians were fighting for a coach and a team? It’s high time that we stop cursing the players and shut up.

When hockey for all other nations went a few levels higher than what it was, we were still stuck at the same point when we had bagged the golden world cup home. Now the hockey that is being played is international for the country that claims it to its national game. The fault is not concentrated on a particular point. It is distributed, and distributed evenly. A number of best hockey teams in the world are sponsored by social native groups that have the slogan “give for the game”. The team has to keep aside all ego clashes and start playing for the country. The coaches have to start teaching the game in such a way so that the maximum potential of the players can be oozed out. The venal politicians need to eschew away from the game and do their own jobs.

If a little work is done on our team, we shall be able to get back our lost fame. All of us know it. There’s nothing new in what I am trying to say....

2010-03-05T07:20:00.000-08:00

LOST IN REALITY!!!!

It is a lust to wander,

A lust to be the only one,

A lust to brood and ponder,

A lust to stare at the setting sun.

I was dazed by your beatific smile,

Wish I had taken less than a while....

You were just purlicue away,

Why didn’t I ask you to stay?

You said I live in my dreams....

I was a lot happier there it seems,

You were gone like an errant breeze...

And I am still here, waiting to freeze.

Your words keep recurring like plangent bells,

Deep within me your memory dwells...

I have been wandering for what seems like yore,

Ever since you said, you don’t want me anymore.

Here I am on this humungous plain,

Yanked out of my dreams, I feel insane.

I was out in the search of clarity,

But now I find myself lost in the world of reality.

It was a lust to wander,

A lust to be the only one,

A lust to brood and ponder,

A lust to stare at the setting sun.

2010-03-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

YES IT DOES....

This one will go direct...as in very direct. No hocus-pocus, no grandiosity and no rhetoric...coz when I came across the question “Does size really matter?” I said YES. A straight yes, no second thoughts. It obviously matters. We have been growing up with this attitude, we see it, know it and now we are acknowledging it.

Your size matters, not because your boyfriend will dump you if your waistline exceeds the desired limit, neither coz you will find your girlfriend with another guy if your physique does not meet her expectations. It matters for a reason that is a lot simpler and provable. It matters because-

One: obesity leads to diseases. And two: you feel good when you look good.

That’s it. No big deal. We all know very well that corpulence makes you more prone to illness. Then why not keep a check on that size. Most of us out there are not Kareena Kapoors or Aamir Khans right? So we cannot keep switching from zero size to normal in just a matter of days. So it’s important for all of us to keep it cool and healthy. (And it obviously feels good when you get a compliment!!!!)

But is that the only size that matters. Well there are a lot more. For me, the size of my share of chocolate matters, for all of us the size of the country’s population matters, the size of Kashmir matters, the size of our prime ministers turban matters, the size of your latest gadget matters, the size of the business empire distributed between brothers, the size of your syllabus, size of my article and most importantly the size of our family matters. It matters when you go live with your grandparents or you meet you fully fledged family during some festival. It does matter deep within when your two year old cousin pricks your nose in the morning to wake you up instead of your mother shouting. It matters when your aunts put in all their efforts to convince you to marry their favourite girl/guy. It matters like hell when you come drunk late at night with your brother and find your grandfather waiting for the whole story with details.... All of this matters even if you live in a small and compact nuclear family in a metro with the entire society counting the advantages of living separately. It matters coz deep within you love being surrounded by your people, being in the midst of a crowd that will never allow you to feel lonely. Phewwww....this can go on...

It MATTERS!!!!

P.S. - I never thought I could write this much on this one....kudos to me ;)

my own space to ponder :)

2010-01-29T03:38:00.000-08:00

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN....

Three years back my brother got a call from Harvard Business School....

My reaction: "woaaaa, cool man...good work" :)

But this was only till the time I started getting the "when-will-you-do-something-good" stares and taunts from my relatives, my ancestors, my cat and my neighbours as well....phewwww....why was I being dragged into this? Yes he did a great job....fine. I was jubilant, excited, ecstatic, and extremelllly glad. He had reached his destination and I hoped I'd reach mine someday....but I don't know when will these so called relatives and neighbours (with overweening concern about something that is completely out of their range of worry) get over the antediluvian brother-sister competition thing. Aaaarrghh!!!!

Thanks to the benevolent heavens though....my mom and dad have antithetic views with respect to this crap. And my brother----he is a bountiful Samaritan, always there to get me out of such hitches. Anyways.... I am not here to crib about my brother's credentials (interesting topic though ;)...will be dealt with later!!!!).

So now, that I have successfully barfed out my grudges for some people and given you a brief overview of my family and talked about everything that is not related to this topic....lemme begin.

I am actually here to talk about "The ELEPHANT & the DRAGON". (Ok...Ok...For all those who are too informed and updated about the things going on around the globe: - this is not about the famous book that deals with how-india-and-china-the-two-upcoming-powers-are-reshaping-the-world, written by some award winning journalist... [??....sorry I don’t remember the name]). So please don't jump to conclusions, sit still and read on.

Here’s a tale of “what- happened- when” the elephant met the dragon....

It goes like this....other than being a Samaritan brother, an ideal son, an intelligent geek (eeeewwwww!!!!) and of course a "I-fall-in-love-everyday" kinda guy, my bro is cute as well(yes I can say he's cute as I am sure he'll never read this!!). He's not cute coz he’s there to fulfil half of my wishes and give me all that I want ; he's cute coz he can’t resist telling me everything about each girl he meets (and likes!!) on a particular day.

Harvard was a big thing, a huge step and a long separation. Hails to g-talk and facebook, we were in contact just ten days after he was gone. I had heard of catastrophes ruining the world in three days....now, I was seeing one. Go on, have a look, this one’s worth watching.

"G-talk conversation - Ten days after he left DAY 1"

9:45pm me: hey bhai

all set?

Abhi: yeps

Everything gud....actually super good!!

Reached today...got a room...got registerd...

All set

Me: stop beating around the bush bro

come to the point....wats up, wats new??

Abhi: was waiting for you to ask...

U won't believe...she's awesome...a goddess...out of this world

She’s wowwww....she’s beautiful...

Me: zzzzzzzzzzzzz....wake me up when u r done with blabbering ok...

I am hearing this for the zillionth time dude.... :(

Abhi: ok ok....don't get irritated...listen

Met her on the flight...she was seated beside me.

Me: oooooooo

Abhi: yeah....and she's lovely.

Me: hmm....did u talk?

Abhi: yessss...

She’s at Harvard too...same department....yipee

Is a Chinese....has a few relatives in India.

Her name’s Paige Wang...

Me: hahhahehehhehe.....rofl

since when did you start liking those fair Chinese chicks with straight ironed hair??

Abhi: trust me....she's too good.

gotta go now..bbye

10:00pm me: bye

all ears for the next goddess in row ;)

DAY 2

I got an offline message from his side....and this was a bang.

10:30pm Abhi: hey sis

Met Paige again today....

guess wat....we are working on a project together :)

cya later....bye

Yes this was a bang....a big bang. My brother, talking about the same gal two days in a row....surprisingggg. It's not that he goes on to like just anybody, it happens sometimes, but when it does, it never continues for two days. Never mind, let's see what happens next.. my own space to ponder :)

2010-01-29T03:30:00.000-08:00

WHAT HAPPENED WHEN.... (part II)

DAY 3

.

[nothing special....normal talks....]

.

DAY 10

.

[“Paige-less” talks continue...but something is wrong for sure]

.

MONTH 1

6pm me: is something wrong with you??

Abhi: no..why?

Me: sure??

[ I knew this was coming..I could sense it]

Abhi: dere’s something I have to tell you..

Me: shoot..

Abhi: I am in love..

Me: @##??!!!**&##@

Abhi: it’s Paige...

MONTH 6

[the final announcement]

3pm Me:where have you been you dumbass..??

and when will you get a no. for urself..m I not allowed to call you?

Abhi:hey sis..

calm down volcano head....i have got newssss

Me:which girl now...or shud I ask which country: P

Abhi: aahh...get serious girl.

I proposed her....

Me: her??

Abhi: paige...how can u forget?

Me: whaaaaaaaat....??

u have to be kidding...

Abhi: :)

Me: u r serious....

OMG

wowwwww

details....i want details

.

.

.

.

.

.

Now if a go for the convesation page, this thing will go on for a forever. So forget that. I'll tell you what happened.

My dear brother fell in love with Paige Wang..(haaaaaaahaahahaha..woww..I mean what?....is that true?). Ok I got hold on myself. Paige is a pretty girl from China, she loves India, and she is getting married to an Indian guy.

The first time he told me about her, I was sure that she is just another girl. But this was a different case. He was seriously serious for her. All his talks circumscribed to the same point...no matter what, it was she, she and she. Always. After having spent almost a month sitting beside her in class, he realised that he had finally met the girl he wanted... (must say.. a trophy for him). Before that they had been spending more than half of the day with each other. He had discussed all damn boring things with her... indian history, contacts with china, his family, her family, etc etc.

When I asked for details, I was expecting something succinct..not a huge 2hr description. My brothers never ending verbiage took hours on end. He had proposed her in some church with flowers and blah...blah...blah...blah. I will spare you from reading the superfluous description.

He visited China during falls next year, and I got the rapturous declaration that he was accepted by her family (cheers!!!!). After completing the course, both of them came home. Mom was shocked, balled over and floored....but she was not appalled. She took the news very calmly....completely opposite to what we had anticipated. Dad was cool as always. (And I was planning to go shopping). Everything was perfect.

India China China India.... “Two countries, accounting for over one-third of world's population, have, after centuries of colonialism and stagnation, been reintegrated into the global economy. With a bang.” Very true. But when I came across this topic this is what hit my mind....

“When the dragon and the elephant met....THEY FELL IN LOVE”

2010-01-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

DREAMS AND MASCARA....

We can be brunette or fair and sometimes dusky or blonde,

We have got lots to share and loads to flaunt.

Be it in boardroom attires or an evening gown,

There’s an audacious girl heading towards the winning crown.

Meet us—the ubiquitous gang of girls,

We are not immured by ostentatious diamonds and pearls.

A group that fiercely opposes moochers,

And can send you to jail if you are a looter.

They say gals have a lot hidden behind those mascara eyes,

Dude, we call them ambitions or dreams, to touch the sky.

They prefer giving fragile and flimsy chores to these manicured hands,

I say we can conjure skyscrapers out of destroyed lands.

We are often called woolgatherers and stargazers.

But believe me; our pipe dreams help us be astute like lasers,

Coz once we boomerang out of our thoughts,

We start work and undo all knots.

Sometimes we love gossip and hate soccer,

We can be garrulous as well as groovy public talkers.

At times we hate gossip and become die-hard fans of soccer,

Or you may find us amongst lot of excited movie watchers.

We aspire, we inspire, we desire, we acquire.

We learn, we earn, we yearn and we never turn.

With felicity, audacity, agility and peculiarity,

Our confidence gives us a lot of virtuosity.

Our power has helped us reach the refulgent horizon,

Our enticing exuberance spreads like sweet poison.

We are the gang of girls,

We are not immured by diamonds and pearls.

2010-01-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

IN SEARCH OF NOWHERE.... (Went on an enthralling journey last night)

I sometimes go to sleep,

with the fear that I shall sweep,

into the same swampy lake,

of thoughts that keep me awake.

My mind has wandered away like this,

many times into doom or bliss.

But today it is lost like never before,

I look at the clock, its quarter past four.

I know somebody is waiting for me,

I had promised to meet him at three.

But I won't be able to go today,

"I'm sorry", this is all I can say.

Please remember that you'll always be,

the centre of my universe.

For now, my soul is not with me,

you can be angry....you are free to curse.

Walking on this nameless street,

I wonder what could it be....

that I have been searching for all day.

A left or a right....which one's the correct way.

A twist, a turn, a corner and a lane....

well....is this the way I came??

A phase, a vein, a gush of blood and a maze....

did I just escape a very piercing gaze??

It's already dark...but I'm not afraid,

is this really me or someone else....?

By now I know you might have gone....

I'll meet you tomorrow for sure, at dawn.

I need to rush back home...

I am all tired and worn.

But where shall I get a cab,

I'm so bad at directions....I need a map.

What if I never find the right key....?

What if I never am what I wanna be??

It was this fatal thought that made me cringe....

feels like I am falling and I don’t have a hinge.

All of a sudden I woke up with a start,

I am glad I escaped before the bitter part.

Here, there and everywhere,

I now know this was the everlasting search of nowhere.

2009-11-30T08:26:00.001-08:00

FLY AWAY

Make a move and

Open all the gates.

Veil away yours fears, to

Enlighten your fate. Go

Rekindle those desires to

Shimmer like the fire.

Adhere to your wishes....

Nurture your dreams....

Dare to say – “I wanna gleam”

Search, peek, peep and seek for more,

Hues all around are waiting to be explored.

Approach, reproach, go out when you get bored.

Keep working for all that should be yours.

Express yourself in your own way....

Risk everything to feel that ray....

Spread your wings wide, and fly away. JJ

PS: This form of poetry is called ACROSTIC i.e., a poem in which certain letters of the lines, usually the first letters, form a word or message relating to the subject

The above piece makes the phrase "MOVERS AND SHAKERS"

2009-11-29T03:25:00.000-08:00

NEVER GONE....

It is a Thursday....
an year has passed....
but it seems like yesterday....
when she was asked....

"How do feel now, that you have survived?"

The question remained unanswered then....
and so, will it forever remain....
coz how does one feel being alive....
after having lost the most precious person of your life....

She is standing at that very place....
and they are discussing the same stories again.

They are always there in the blabbering race...
she smiles and wonders in vain.

Will they ever stop and think....
how could all this happen in just a wink....
with just one last look at Taj's dome....
she turns around to go home....

She hopes she'll not have the same dreams....
it was just yesterday it seems..
but a year has passed since that day....
this is a new Thursday..

2009-11-06T02:31:00.000-08:00

RADIANCE....

It’s very dark....

and I am all alone.

I look around..

but there's nobody known.

It’s been raining hard for a while,

wish the downpour would stop now.

Was it a tear that rolled down my cheek?

Or a raindrop that tumbled down the peak?

I am walking along....

but where should I go.

every turn I take....

has a new way to show.

But this time when I turn around....

I find a shimmering pillar of dazzling lights....

Pure, sublime and effulgent it awaits....

Emerging from the impervious heights.

It is opulent with all my dreams....

I know this from the splendorous glow.

I can see that it's moving away....

I take a step but I am afraid I’ll sway.

Can somebody help me cross this barrier....?

And guide me to this awesome place....?

To be there is all I wish....

Coz this search took a very long race.

I know it's only my soul....

that can take me where I wanna go.

I’ll tell you what happiness is....

when I reach the place I earnestly miss.

2009-11-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

WITHOUT YOU....

She saw him working throughout the day,

With the setting moon and the rising sun.

She knew he was transformed in every way,

But was she happy to know that she had won?

For thirty long years of their marriage,

She had been chanting a single prayer,

To have in him a genial husband,

Who’d give her family the required care.

The prayer has been finally answered,

At the cost of a very precious pearl.

There only son lies in the coffin,

Taken away by the wars of the world.

He has taken this loss as a severe retribution,

A punishment from the inevitable heavens,

To a drunkard on the wrong road with many aberrations,

And had to face his son’s expropriation.

Drinking is not his habit any more,

But he does not speak like he did before.

Earlier she had to wait for him to return from gambling,

Now she yearns to see him enter the house smiling and rambling.

For him this was the only way,

To pay for that immutable past,

He wishes that time would sway,

And he’d go back to retrieve all that was lost.

She is standing by the weeping door,

Afraid to cross this moaning threshold.

There is a girl in impeccable white,

Who was to be his son’s wife.

The girl has not shed a single tear,

All she wants is to be there,

In the house of the guy she loved so much,

His memories are all she can feel and touch.

Her presence in the house is taken as curse

An anathema that’s socially unacceptable.

As long as she has his mother’s love in her purse

She will not consider her position debatable.

So she is the mother and the wife,

taking care of the people who were her son’s life

Her soul is stifling within, immured by the heart wrenching pain

that she is trying to hide....but all in vain.

She can see her child, dressed in his beloved uniform,

telling her with the same placating smile

“I miss you mom, I wish I could have taken you to the prom,

But they need you more....go help them cross the dangerous Nile.”

2009-10-23T01:50:00.000-07:00

“COZ THEY NEED HELP....”

“Our eyes met for a split second, and I found myself staring pointedly at him. The next minute, he was running towards my car. His pleading eyes were full of hope. ‘A hope’—that maybe I am the person who can help him start his day by purchasing at least one flower from the heavy basket that he was trying to sell. It was a Monday morning, 10:00 am, the busiest time at traffic signals in Mumbai, and hence the most lucrative for the street vendors. Finally he was there beside my window, trying to cajole me with all the words and phrases, he had been taught for this business. I bought a bunch and paid him a few extra bucks. Without a word of thanks or a second glance he turned away towards the next car.

He was a kid. He would have been around 10 or 11 years of age, but I could see numerous worries etched across his face. Worries, that were graver than those of a 40 year old. Careworn, pale, tired and hungry, he was running from one car to another. At some places he met very kind and gentle people, and at others, he encountered shrewish women and dracoline men, who could not afford to spare a second out of their busy schedules to open their windows and listen to the child’s request. All they did was to shoo him off with a wave of their hands. But he was not affected. He seemed to be hackneyed in facing such situations and tried his level best to eschew away from such people. Finally, the signal turned green and I had to move on. As I turned to have a last glimpse of the child, I found him standing on the footpath, his eyes fixed on the traffic signal, waiting for the next time it would turn red.

I knew.....I knew deep within that the boy was not doing this kind of work out of his own free will. Nobody would like to waste the most fruitful years of one’s life selling flowers at a traffic signal. Undoubtedly, the boy was a victim of child labour. He was nothing more than an assiduous stooge working at the behest of his master. Half or more than half of what he earned would obviously go to the person who was making him do this work. In spite of knowing all this, all I could do was repent, and feel sad that there was nothing I could do for the boy and pray for his future that was already dead.”

Narrated by: Miss XYZ, fashion designer, Mumbai

“It was a surreal sound, a kind of mixture of somebody laughing and crying at the same time. The effect was enough to touch the deepest chords of one’s heart and give Goosebumps. It was five in the evening and I was at the basement of my twenty storied office building. On following the sound, I reached the backyard and found myself viewing the most heart wrenching scene I had ever come across in 40 years of my life.

Sitting before me was a boy, about 14 years of age— pale, depressed, crying and handicapped. He had an icetritious face and he was leaning on a stick to help support his body with just one leg. He did not notice me as I moved towards him. He was continuously gazing at a group of children playing cricket a few yards away. They were all happy and I could feel their exuberant laughter being converted into tears in the boy’s eyes. All these children were slum dwellers. They used to play there every day and were usually shunned away by the guards.

On reaching him I could not find words to address him. I patted his shoulder instead. He turned around. I saw nothing but Weltschmerz and fear in his bloodshot eyes. He stared at me for a few seconds and then turned back.

“Hello”, I said.

He did not turn around.

“Do you live here”?

There was no response again.

As I was standing there struggling for some suitable thing to say, another small boy ran up to me and said, “Don’t get angry sahib. My brother is deaf. He is unable to hear you”.

A chill ran through my spine. “How did this happen?” I asked.

After hesitating for a few seconds he said, “Both of us worked together in a chemical factory. It was a cracker making firm. A year ago, he met an accident there and since then he has been the same. He is not able to work anymore.”

With these words, he ran back to join his friends, ebullient and cheerful. I stood there, wondering what kind of life did they live. How was it possible for them to stay happy and satisfied? Why was nobody doing anything for them? Why was their life a million times different from other children of their own age? Why were they left behind when the country was advancing towards development?

I had to go. I could not bear watching the miserable scene anymore. On my way back home, I remembered that I had to buy crackers for my son.”

Narrated by:

Mr. ABC, Bank Manager, Delhi.

“Sitting beside the window in an extremely boring class, I was trying my level best to keep myself awake. After having re-read all the messages in my inbox, along with those of my friends phone who was busy taking down notes (I could not understand how!!), and having forwarded a few of those to some other friends, and having read a few pages of my novel, I was still left with half an hour of that never ending two hour lecture. Coz I had no other option left, I started looking outside the window. Unlike every day, my attention was drawn to a particular direction and I found myself wide awake.

Our college building is under construction. That day, the workers had shifted to the side of the building where our class is situated. Some of them were busy painting the wall, while others were cutting marbles. The sight that made me bright awake was this—a lady worker was sitting in one corner doing nothing. She had a child hanging behind her back and she was continuously gazing inside the class window, oblivious to all the hustle and bustle going around her, as if she was not concerned, as if nobody could bring her out of her beautiful dream. Dreaming—that’s what she was doing.... dreaming about her child’s future, dreaming that one day her child would get the privilege to sit in a class like this, dreaming that her dreams would come true. You can ask that how do I know what she was thinking. Well....I knew, anyone would have known, just the look in her eye was enough to make everything crystal clear.

But suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, a man was standing beside her and shouting. He was telling her to get back to work and leave her child somewhere. He used all kinds of slangs on the poor lady who returned back to work without a word. I knew that all her dreams were shattered in just one go, she was now aware of her child’s future which would be a copy of her’s.

My class had finally ended, the teacher was already gone and everyone was moving out. It felt like I had just been pulled out of a trance. I had to go for the next class, I moved on.....”

Narrated by:

Me, a 3^nd year engineering student.

After having read all these narrations, I am sure you have understood what I am trying to talk about. Yes, it’s “child labour”. I want you to sit for a few moments and review the above stories. Don’t you feel there’s something wrong with them? Let me explain.

Why was it that a high profile fashion designer from Mumbai could do nothing for a small boy selling flowers on the street? All she could do was pity him, pay some extra money, pray for him, and then forget him.

Why the rich bank manager from Delhi did not even consider helping those boys? How could he even think about buying crackers for his son when he had seen the truth behind their manufacture?

And why did an engineering student prefer going back to her classes though she was so deeply affected by the lady’s condition?

Now consider this—“what would you have done if you were facing any of the above situations?”

We are all aware of the answer. In today’s world where about 30% of the children population is facing child labour, all we do is apathetically discuss the various acts of the constitution and laws of the court which declare child labour illegal, and then go back to our houses and do nothing.

Why can’t we do anything? We have been given the privilege of getting a good education, and we can easily use it to eradicate the most disgusting social mishap. It’s true that paying some money to these children and thinking that we have fulfilled our responsibility is always perfunctory, but that way we are only helping in the boom of this ever growing brutal industry. I know that you are thinking what have I done for this cause? Well.... I have not done anything big till now other than promising myself that I will never burn crackers (I did that when I was nine) and working a bit for a small NGO in my college. But I know I will do something big in future, and that’s confirmed.

If each one of us starts doing whatever can be done in our parts, will it not be enough? Yes it will be enough, more than enough for the victims. So the next time you go to the theatre to watch a movie like “Slum dog Millionaire”, promise yourself that you will improve the life of at least one “Jamaal” or “Salim” out there, and swear that you will live up to that promise.

2009-10-23T01:47:00.000-07:00

FINDING HOPE!!!!

Sitting beside a railway track,

All he could do, was to look back...

With a gloomy face,

And eyes fixed in a gaze,

He turned around to find himself in a maze.

He knew that he would never be able to cope up,

There was no ray of hope to help him look up.

He could see himself stuck,

In a place that was devoid of luck....

Memories of the last week,

Could only make him weep.

Being unable to find any way,

He started recalling each day....

The week had just begun,

But he could not see the sun.

He was on his seat,

Already feeling the heat.

“Gentlemen have patience,

We promise everything will soon make sense.”

Thus the proud employees of the past,

Could not find anywhere to go at last....

Once the “employees of Satyam” by the grace of god,

Were now nothing but victims of a fraud.

Tuesday came, but in vain....

Coz there was no news, of any use.

It was Wednesday,

or call it doomsday....

“Sorry gentlemen, as you all know,

Our company has got a blow.”

On Thursday he was not required for any job,

So he went to the bank to meet Bob.

He was no longer the friendly manager who used to come home,

All he was doing was inquiring about the loan.

Friday his son asked for his half yearly fees,

And his heart was broken, piece by piece.

The week has now come to an end,

But no good message has been send.

He wants to give up his life on this railway track,

As he cannot find any other way back.....

But this time when he turned around,

A gate out of the maze had been found.

It felt like another life,

When he could see his son and his wife....

Waiting for him at the door,

He knew they did not want anything more

They were his source of inspiration,

Giving him the courage to take firm decisions.

Now he was sure he would be able to cope,

Coz he had finally found the ray of hope.