from Barista to CCD !

Saturday afternoon around 4 pm, I found myself a corner sofa in barista, and settled down comfortably, I had the entire evening to myself, no agenda, my last day in pune, had to catch the Sunday morning Volvo to mumbai. As I sat down, I surveyed the crowd, it was a typical barista crowd, jeans n tees, n ipods n cells, shoulder bags strewn lazily, giggles, cigarettes….i smiled to myself, the present generation is having a ball, the world belongs to them…

And then I noticed her, some distance away from me, she was alone, facing me. A crisp crystal white lucknavi chiken kurta, her curly shoulder length hair, tied back neatly. Dark blue denim with this kurta made her look so petite. Couldn’t guess how tall she was as she was sitting, but seemed the average height of 5-4 give n take an inch maybe! A complexion that stood between dusky and fair I shud say. Flawless skin, a cute and short nose, and large eyes. Her eyes attracted me to her within a flash. They danced! Yes…. She had dancing eyes. The movements her eyelashes, her eye balls, and her eyebrows made, while she talked on her cell, or even as she ordered her coffee, would send even the strong hearted into a tizzy! And she had something that I would die for… a sweet little cleft in her chin!

As I observed her, she looked at me, just that fleeting, unassuming kind of a look, and instantly took her eyes away. They didn’t dance this time, but I did notice the tiniest of sparks in them. Ohhh maybe it was just my imagination, cos I found her so attractive, maybe that’s why I was already seeing sparks and all. Honestly I cudnt keep my eyes off her, her first impression had made a lovely impact somewhere deep inside my heart.

Its always impossible to guess the age of a woman, the confusion increases if the lady is pretty, and she certainly was! Could she be in her late twenties or very early thirties? As I already went into a day dreaming mode, of me and her enjoying our third coffee…….our eyes met once again, this time for just a wee bit lingering moment more… and I just felt the dance had begun. Oh god, this time the spark was unmistakable! And then during the next half an hour or so, there were more occasions when our eyes said a ‘hello’ to each other! Things were getting interesting, the lingering, fleeting glances had now turned into a gentle gaze of a longer duration. I cud see her giving me a fairly long stare, and there was a half smile attached. I cud see she was waiting for someone, as she repeatedly looked at her watch. Within 45 mins of my arrival, I already had made an eye pal!!! Something like a net pal!!!

Finally I decided to display some courage! I walked up to her and introduced myself. “I am meghana” she said in her soft and sweet voice. “well I am not meeting anyone here, and noticed that you are sitting alone too, would you care to join me for a coffee please?” She thought for a while, her dancing eyes steady on mine, and took a long time before saying…” actually I am waiting for someone!”

flop show once again….i said to myself! “ ohh that’s ok then… nice meeting you meghana, how about….” “on second thoughts anand” she interrupted me….” Would you mind if we shift venue to Café Coffee Day? I would love to have a coffee with you…” before I could even respond with a eager YES, she did something coool! She switched off her cell, flashed me a smile, and said “ lets go!”

in conversation with God!

This incident occurred very recently, just less than a month back. On a slightly warm, yet comfortable night, I lay awake, twisting and turning in my bed, unable to sleep. As I watched out of the window, the full moon slowly rose up, arriving in style to provide company to the twinkling stars that shone as brightly as ever. I also noticed, it was just past midnight. One of those rare nights, when sleep seemed to elude me for no specific reason. As I looked by my side, I could see aarti sleep peacefully, as rohan stirred just a bit at the far end of the bed.

I got up from my bed, came down to the kitchen, and made myself a huge mug of coffee, black of course. And then went up again, this time right up to the terrace, to relax in the armchair that we always kept in the terrace. I often loved to spend an hour or two in silent solitude, here on the terrace. As I gently immersed myself in the chair, and let the strong flavor of coffee permeate my senses, I started to gaze at the clear, starry sky, being in awe of the creator. Just as I was slowly getting lost in my own thoughts, I felt a whiff of cold air brush past me, shaking me off my thoughts instantly. Wondering how this chilled breeze appeared out of nowhere, I looked around, and was stunned to find a silvery blue sphere, of the size of a soccer ball, rest very gently on the parapet, to my right. I simply refused to believe what I was witnessing, and even pinched myself, to see whether I was awake. This was some thing bizarre… really really crazy….. A soft blue glow emanating out of this spherical shape.

And before I could stretch my mind any further, regarding the origin of this blue ball, I heard a crystal clear voice, a bassy voice say…”hello anand, how are you?” further bewildered at the ball now speaking to me, my pulse was racing like a formula 1 Ferrari, and my palms sweated badly, still, I gathered courage, and stammered back, “who is this? I mean who, or what are you?” “I am GOD” came back a very assured voice. “God???? Are you really HIM? I mean can I today speak to you? My mind has been clogged for years with so many things….confusing thoughts always. I see a golden chance to sort them out with you today. Dear God, may we have a chat?”


“Sure anand you may ask whatever you wish, I know you do have some pertinent questions since many years now, I will try my best to satisfy you…” “Dear God, thanks for agreeing to talk to me, what a heavenly privilege this is. May I ask you…..” this time the blue sphere interrupted me with a sharp and firm “shoot anand!”

Me: well…let me come to the point, why did you create us? Whats your motive?
GOD: anand, first of all, understand one thing that I am nature. To me creation comes naturally. This entire universe was created to provide a channel to assist these billions of souls floating around, and carry them towards liberation.

Me: I knew you would say this. Now are YOU in control of what you created? Are you happy?
GOD: I am nature anand, to me, theres nothing like happiness or sadness, all these emotions are for you humans. As far as being In control, once again, YES, since I created everything, I am very much in control of things.

Me: if you are in control, then don’t you see the atrocities, violence, terrorism, killings etc?
GOD: anand, I created you all, gave you brains, you ppl laid out laws for urselves, u all became civilized. And now some of you are turning uncivilized, behaving worse than animals, and turning everything topsy turvy, then why blame me for this?

Me: hmmmm, but cant you do something when innocents suffer?
GOD: its not my job anand. I have set some rules. “do good, and good will come back to you” ---- “ as you sow, so will you reap”--- and so on. Now its upto mankind to follow rules. You guys break rules, so you all suffer, and then run after me… that’s not fair anand!

Me: now that you have seen the way mankind is making a mess of a beautiful creation, do you regret what you did?
GOD: again, to regret, is not for me, but yes, things are turning bad, and the way you all have been exploiting the natural resources, and literally raping mother earth, the end is near, let me tell you that.

Me: so once everything ends, what will you do?
GOD: ur questions are strange anand. Well well….. I don’t have to do anything. For me, I don’t sit here and watch things happening on the earth. And do you know? Earth is just a tiny spec in this universe, now do you have an answer to your question?

Me: wow!!! You mean there are other civilizations spread all over the universe? Just like us? Something that we call as aliens?
GOD: ofcourse! There are many such areas in this infinite universe that contain life. More on them some other day.

Me: that’s interesting, cant u shed some more light on life elsewhere
GOD: I will tell you something. Remember cindy’s “fenku contest”? where you all got into a creative mode, and came out with such a huge variety of fenku posts? Me being nature, I am always in a state of creativity, and hence have a large vriety of life spread across the universe. Each civilization, different than the other.

Me: OH MY GOD! I mean hey GOD… this is mind blowing, even to think of such a possibility. Ok tell me something, what is all this? I mean what are these souls actually? Where did you find them in the first place? You have some stock or what? A stock of 10 billion souls, and then you create 10 billion humans, a body for each soul. Something like that? Havnt been able to figure out this increase in population correspond to similar increase in number of souls. Got what I mean?
GOD: hmmm you do think a lot anand. Well let me clarify. Each soul is not matter, its just energy, a blob of energy you can say, very volatile and unstable. By giving it a human form, and then by making the human form polish this soul with the help of good karma, I try to calm the blob of volatile energy. So that one day, it attains stability, uplifts itself to a higher level of energy, and unites with me. Something that you all call as NIRVANA! So now imagine billions of blobs of energy, all over the earth, constantly evolving, elevating, and slowly liberating themselves, as they keep on getting into one human body after the other….over a period of years. Getting it?


Me: yes, I am sort of getting the concept slowly….so what are we then? Even we are pieces of energy, and not matter really?
GOD: bingo, you got it finally, you are almost there anand!

Me: ………………. Let me get one more coffee, I need to charge my mind which is still in a confused state, would you like a coffee?
GOD: no thanks, but you can have one, and now I will tell you where all this energy came from

Me: wowwwwwww wait, I will be back in 2 mins

Saying so, I went back to the kitchen, very excited, made another large mug of coffee, and hurried back to the terrace…………..and HE was gone! I tried to search for HIM, but HE was nowhere to be seen. The most important part, which would have explained the origin, and the basic reason for creation, also went with HIM. Maybe someday, I will meet HIM again. And the secret will be out…..

a breakfast to remember!

The yercaud express from Chennai, gently came to a halt at this tiny, non descript hamlet called sankaridurg, at 6.00 am sharp. Sankaridurg is located between salem and erode. And I disembarked with my paraphernalia, a collection of some instruments to be demonstrated at the nearby india cement plant. The moment I set foot on the platform this earthen fragrance of sankaridurg, overwhelmed me, rarely I have felt so fresh, so early in the morning!!!

It was a gentle, warm morning, the sun was already up, and jubiliant, first playing hide n seek with the well spread out fluffy white clouds, and then continuing its game with the palm leaves, as the caring rays descended on mother earth, to bring us the heavenly radiance! From the railway station, we headed straight for the guest house, of india cements, they had sent us a princely and majestic our very old desi ambassador.

Very soon, we were trundling along the curved 6 km path, towards the cement factory, passing thatched houses, swaying palms, and a few locals busy with their early morning chores, some of them just lazing around, something that they seemed to have been doing since ages. Sankaridurg is derived from the sankari mountain, which mutely stands guard on one extreme of the village, it also houses an old fort, hence the name “durg”! what fascinated me was a story that from the fort there Is a secret tunnel all the way upto mysore. How about exploring the tunnel, and maybe having a tube railway from erode to mysore? My mind continued to play around with such thoughts, and we soon reached the guest house.

We were welcomed by an attendant, and also some golden silence, to add to it, some pleasant sounding chirping from a few birds. Nature was so refreshing! After a relaxed hot water bath, we finally descended to the canteen, where a heavenly treat awaited us.

Within seconds of us taking our seats, a hefty guy dressed in the traditional knee length tucked-up lungi, and a flashing smile, came with a huge plate containing a couple of snow white ultra fluffy idlis, a bowl of steaming upma, laced lavishly with cashew pieces, 2 varieties of chutneys, and a bowl of hot sambaar! Also served was some mullagapudi, or powder chutney, with oil ofcourse. The idlis were awesome, at their softest best, and the steamy fermented aroma ticking the nose no ends, one of the best idlis I have ever had. I know aarti will make her usual faces the moment I mention soft idlis, more on that some other day. The upma was absolutely well done, delicious to taste, full of tomatoes, cashews, cubes of carrot, and contained urad dal fried to a perfect brown!

While we were about to finish the first helping, the same rotund gentleman served us a fairly big sized wada, fresh out of the frying pan, I could even feel the oil sizzle on the outer surface! The vada was at its crunchiest best, with a right proportion of coarsely grated fresh coconut, half ground pepper, and curry leaves. And next came the gastronomic delight. A plain dosa, soft in the centre, and brown and crisp on the periphery. Sambar was heavenly, full of drumsticks and raddish slices, which I relish a lot.

When I tell people about south Indian food, esp such quality meals and breakfasts at certain locations, a general reaction often is, “ whats the big deal” its just idli and dosa na….” what we had this morning was far far better, it was a heavenly serving of one of the finest cuisines in the world! This was not “just” idli n dosa, this was food, as served to the Gods! This breakfast was something which will stay with me for years! Do you know something? I am eager to get back to this canteen for lunch today, I expect another sublime experience!

i dont know why but after finishing the breakfast, my mind went to last nite, at the chenai railway station, to this youngish policewoman, at the "may i help you?" counter....... cute expressive eyes, a flashing million dollar smile, and dusky comlexion....after eschanging a few glances, for a brief period, we locked eyes........thats all......:)

my daughter Sunakshi.... an everlasting bond!

The Sunakshi that I have known - first of all, this human being is not like everyone else, she is beyond the ordinary, she is far ahead of being just extra ordinary, she is a phenomenon! I met her or rather came across her profile on a blogging site, where I have been a regular blogger. She had written a couple of poems, and as I read them, I realized that this person was different. Her thoughts were ahead of the kind of thoughts that we all normal folks have, her poetry, her eloquence, her brutal honesty, her words had a huge impact on me, somewhere deep inside me, there was a churning. And then I noticed that she was just 18! How could an 18 year old express so profoundly? I said to myself, and remember posting my comments on her verses. And contrary to expectations, she replied. And that’s how we got introduced! Subsequently I requested her to read my posts, and she became an instant fan of my writings, she remains my biggest fan and my inspiration till date!

We then got to know each other and soon a common thread began to slowly but surely bind us together. This thread was the thread of friendship. As days passed by this thread became a rope, we soon formed a bond, a bond that does not know to break! This absolute gem of a person is now my daughter, a daughter I have always wanted, always cherished, always dreamt of! Nothing on this earth can be compared to the satisfaction I feel, when she calls me “papa”!

Sunakshi has a heart of gold, and this golden heart has one emotion in abundance, which is love! At times I feel, she has enough love to move mountains, she really has, I am serious! I do feel enriched, ever since I met her, God has been kind and generous when he was distributing love, he must have liked her a lot too, as he filled her heart with endless love. And it reflects in her voice, in her verses, in her words, her actions, and her very self! She emanates love like no one else! In these turbulent times, her love will prove to be a beacon, wherever she goes, calming and soothing the turmoil in her way….

Her wisdom leaves me stunned to the core, I just go speechless when we discuss or interact on various topics. I always wonder when does she get time to comprehend, understand, accept, and then express such noble thoughts of wisdom, she is just 19 today! I always feel, and I am saying this for the first time - give her an atheist, and sunakshi will turn him/her into a believer in two hours flat, that’s the power of her thoughts. Every single thought of hers is backed by completely unwavering conviction, and rock solid justification. To be honest I have always found it tough to win an argument with her, and I am so proud of it!

We both believe in the law of karma and the concept of rebirth completely, so we always have rejuvenating discussions, whenever we talk or chat. Sunakshi is fun to be with, loves life like anyone else of her age, yet remains very different from others. I always tell her that she has an objective to realize, on this earth, and her presence on this planet has a definite reason for being so! She understands what I mean.

It gave me so much happiness to meet her, for the very first time, in Jan this year, when I traveled all the way to Punjab! I actually spend 2 days at her place, met her parents and family. It was a bit unusual initially, but her parents knew of me, and we all were comfortable very soon. In fact her mother had moist eyes, when she said that their daughter had found so much of happiness after meeting me! If all goes well, she might spend this diwali with us, at pune!

Needless to say, the most lovable person I have ever known, and there wont be anyone else like her, not even close to her. She would like me to write about her weak points too, but I know she hasn’t any! At times she does sound weak and vulnerable, and at such times, I do miss being in Chandigarh, a lot. From pune I cant do much for my darling daughter, but she has the courage too, to fight against every odd and every challenge that life throws at her!

She has an awesome presence, absolutely one-in-a-billion! Her personality has shades… shades of love, warmth, care, affection, and a huge touch of glamour too! One of the few people who can make her eyes dance, half of her poetry oozes out of her expressive and magical eyes!

I have always always wanted to have a daughter, and I can go on and on, and probably write pages, on her, and yet I know I will feel I haven’t written enough, cos she is like that! My hearts carries infinite love and affection for this lovely daughter of mine, god bless her with the best of things in life, today, tomorrow, and for ever!

dont give me that look sheel...

“Sheel dear…lets take a break today!” I said to sheetal over the phone. And sheetal wondered why was I calling her sheel. “is romance in the air anand?” she asked, and I could imagine that mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she said this. “Come on sheel, lets make plans for the engagement, coming up next month!”


“Wow! So what does mr romantic suggest for the day? I am just getting ready for the office….”“Good, I called at the right time then…listen, a few hrs at the lakeside, at our usual spot, then lunch at copper coin, shopping comes next, want to buy a few things for u, and then maybe a movie, ‘betaab’ has just released, and am keen on seeing this tomboy called amrita singh. What say?”

“hmmm sounds interesting, see you at your place in half an hour, ok?”

“done! Come faaast okk?” That’s how the day had begun for us. Sheetal was my life, nothing less, and nothing else.

Later on, we did go to the lakeside, took our place at the same place where we had spent endless hours till now, a weather beaten, rustic, wooden bench, under a sprawling and massive gulmohar tree. Sheel looked resplendent in that peacock blue plain silk kurta, and a light blue denim jeans. Venus had been kind to her, she was endowed with everything that a woman could have asked for. And she didn’t use an iota of makeup, yet managed to look stunning every time, her curly golden brown hair tied loosely with a clip, she knew I liked it that way.

As she sat next to me on that bench, on that sunny, yet cold January morning, she rested her head on my right shoulder, and had closed her eyes. I was busy watching a few strands of her hair flutter over her head, occasionally smoothening them with my left hand. There was a gentle breeze blowing away, and the golden sun was extravagantly warm over mother earth today, trying to beat the winter chill, its rays playing hide n seek with us through the gulmohar leaves. The lake waters were calm, and shimmered and glistened once in a while, a lone duck paddled along merrily, exploring the expanses of its vast little world!



“What kind of engagement ceremony should we have sheel? Lavish, traditional, a small affair….”

“aaaaanand…this isn’t romance dear, I thought you are in a different mood, calling me sheel” she giggled, “lets leave it to the elders na….”

“hey sheel, planning the engagement is called systematic romance, you know that?”

“get lost! Go and pick all the flowers that you see on the lakeside, including the wild ones, and make me a garland…jaao jaldi!”

“whaaaat? A garland??? You will look like someone from Polynesia, pretty woman!”

“ohhhh how do you know what a Polynesian woman looks like? Come on go!” saying this she almost pushed me…

memories… they are like smileys, constantly bobbing up and down in our mind, and bouncing against the walls of our heart, aren’t they sheel? Resurrecting every incident as if it happened just a few minutes back, rejuvenating and nourishing our lives no ends….Now now…don’t give me that look sheel! I know I have to get a fresh garland, have been putting up one on your photo frame every single day! Since last 24 infinite years…

the mynah speaks!

I have my bath around 7.30 to 8, every morning, and leave for office at 8.40 am! Bathing time is also a time to hum a couple of kishore kumar numbers, that too quite loudly! At times the gentleman who lives one floor above, counters my songs with his own stock of some lilting mohd rafi numbers, and thus we enjoy a kind of jugalbandi, often meeting later, in the elevators, complementing each others singing ability! The construction of our building is such that a beam passes just outside our bathroom window, either to lend strength or to enhance the aesthetics, whatever! And perched on this beam, every single morning, is a mynah! Merrily chirping away in her dozen different voices, looking around absorbing the sunshine, and also at times looking down upon us humans, busy scurrying to work, on the new D.P road that can be seen six stories below!

This morning was different, as I sang “zindagi ke safar mein… guzar jaate hain jo maqaam….” I heard its usual pitter patter! I opened the louvres slightly, and looked at it! The plume strutting up, giving it that nonchalant attitude, it merrily sang away, as if proving a point that it was no less, when it came to strumming its vocal chords! I wished I could talk to the mynah, ever since I was a kid, I have always wanted to talk to the birds & animals. If just once, we could get to know what they speak to each other and what they feel about us and so on, wouldn’t it be amaaaazing? Just as I had this thought, the mynah looked back and said to me “hi guy!”

Me: (dumbfounded…!) er…hi! Did you just say that “hi”?
Mynah: of course, who else it was?
Me: wowww! This is unbelievable, magical! Am I day dreaming??
Mynah: you normally are, but now you aren’t, I am really talking to you! Sometimes the God IS kind, to you…..humans!
Me: you got attitude! For your tiny size…er…whats your name?
Mynah: we don’t have names sir! Don’t we all look alike?
Me: yes you do!
Mynah: then how would names differentiate us?
Me: I didn’t get that ( confused )
Mynah: listen, if khushi, manisha, chithra, keeran, and renu looked exactly the same, would it help if they all had these different names? You wont be able to identify them by names, would you?
Me: well…. You do make sense…
Mynah: I know that, we are created to make sense
Me: wow! What self esteem mynah…..hey! would that be miss or mister mynah? Since you don’t have names…..
Mynah: god help you annandji! Now though we all are identical, didn’t you notice those extra curves on me? Don’t tell me you don’t notice curves!!
Me: of course I do, I mean your curves are noticeable too….so miss mynah, how are you?
Mynah: we normally don’t ask such questions when we greet each other. We birds are always fine. God has created us to be happy, and that’s what we are always, happy!
Me: thats nice to hear, the same God has created us too, yet, most of us, or all of us take turns at feeling happy, miserable, frustrated, sad, blissful, angry, resentful, lonely and what not…
Mynah: you humans are materialistic, selfish and have spoiled things for yourselves, we birds feel sorry for you sometimes.
Me: do you really? Do you talk about us?
Mynah: why should we? We have better things to do mister!
Me: and why isn’t there unhappiness etc in your world mynah?
Mynah: simple, we follow the rules of happy living. And that too without a single scripture or book or sermons or saints or temples or religion or rites or rituals! You guys have all the resources at your disposal, and yet you do not know what is peace and harmony. We laugh to see that some of you are paying money to learn the “art of living”!
Me: well…er… what do I say…er…
Mynah: you don’t have anything to say yaar, you are a writer and yet fumbling for words? Do you know why? Because what I just said is the truth!
Me: describe a typical day in your life mynah
Mynah; I spend a couple of hours, enjoying the sunshine, while my partner loves to fly around. He is also looking for a place now, to make a new home for us, the present one is dilapidated. We will plan another set of babies soon, the first set lives near the next building. We all gather for food, and eat together. Afternoons are spent resting in trees, and then flying around in the evening, before we come home at dusk, and then sleep.
Me: wow that’s so nice! Hey, tell me something, do you flirt?
Mynah: flirt? What is that?
Me: …………. Forget it, I know you all wont, you all look alike and think alike, so……anyways, nice talking to you mynah. It was good to know about your lifestyle, I have to leave, getting late for office.
Mynah: nice meeting you too, and yes….you sing well! Bye
Me: thanks, and bye!

unforgettable, and forgetful patildada!

mr anand p patil remains one of the most happy go lucky and amusing characters i have come across. and most of his amusement stemmed from his single quality or feature. 'patil dada' as he was affectionately known, was absent minded. my senior in IPCL, Baroda, by at least 15 years, no one could beat him when it came to forgetting things. and its not that he had a bad memory, he just was lost in himself all the time. ghulam ali's ghazal 'apni dhun mein rehta hoon....' was written for patil dada it seems.....though except for the first line, rest of the ghazal had nothing to do with patil dada.

even at work, if he was talking to you, and if someone else came up to him, most of the times, he would forget you midway thru the conversation, and carry on with this new person.....we have laughed and laughed at this one special style of his!

once he and his wife were going to baroda city, on 'unka bajaj', baroda being about 8 kms away from IPCL township. as they left the township maingate, he saw a friend, at the bus stop, waiting for the company bus. the friend waved, and patil dada stopped. his wife got down. both these guys exchanged a few pleasantaries, and patil dada said a good bye and zoomed on his bajaj, his wife left behind, red faced at the bus stop. by the time people realized, and began to shout, dada had zoomed into quite some distance. of course, when he came to the next speed breaker, he realized his wife was missing, as the scooter jumped more than usual. and he himself told this story to everyone next day, in the workshop.

and this was the not the only time his wife suffered. once this lovely couple had gone shopping in raopura area of baroda. a long straight stretch of road lined with shops on both sides. as they both walked along, mrs patil entered a shop to see some clothes, assuming, dada would follow her. dada was in his own world, and walked almost half a kilometre further. when he saw a garment shop, he turned to his wife to ask her whether they should check this shop, and realized of her absence. poor fellow then walked back, once more to find an angry wifey.

and i have been a witness to this incident, happened in our workshop, in IPCL. dada attended a job with a couple of technicians, and came back to the workshop, and lit his cigarette. he was then talking to someone, at the same time he opened his locker, to keep his note pad there. meanwhile there was a call for him. so he kept the cigarette, and the note pad inside the locker, closed it shut, and attended the call. it was some thing urgent, so he just left the workshop in a hurry. after a few minutes, a tiny whiff of smoke appeared from the small ventilators of the locker, and then someone rushed to him in the plant to get his keys and the locker was opened to extinguish the cigarette.

his 'bhoolne ki bimaari' was legendary! now patil dada has taken VRS, i am no more in touch with him, and i hope he remembers me whenever we meet....

so much intolerance?

is it correct what i feel? that we indians demonstrate, protest, comment, criticise,interfere, or express more than neccessary? or is it that there ample opportunities now, with the expansion of media in general, and the variety of platforms, and channels available for such expression.

for instance, if you dont like something, you can either send sms to a tv channel or an internet site, or maybe write on the dozens of blogsites available. one can even call the tv channels, send mass mails, or simply come out on the streets.

looking at the size of such demonstrations, i always feel that we have more time for such things, thats why we are so visible.
the other day we had surinder amarnath on a tv channel to discuss cricket! someone who was hardly known for his game, and was known more because he was mohinder's brother. but here too people were calling from long distance, and asking him silly questions, like why isnt sehwag being dropped from the team.
whenever i see demonstrations on the streets in any part of india, on any subject, i wonder about one thing that who are these people demonstrating?

frankly i have never been a part of a demonstration. and when i ask my friends or relatives, even they havent been in any. then who are these people who are willing to come out on the streets in dozens or hundreds, whatever be the issue. and the saddest part is a demonstration against richard gere or amitabh for acting in nishabd, draws out 10 times more people than a demonstration to implement harsher laws against rape! this is the irony. now people have started to blame amitabh for romancing a younger actress in 'cheeni kum' poor guy, he is getting richer with every movie, while his bashers are losing steam over nothing.

contrary to what happens in india, a demonstration for a national issue draws out mammoth crowds in japan, usa etc. here farmers have to brought in trucks in delhi, to show that a rally was a success.


we need to bring down our sugar levels, and be less hyper active. or else a day will come, when someone will burn a neighbour's effigy for playing the tv too loud, a couple of channels will cover this event live, and half the nation will be watching it, sending thousands of sms later, to take sides!!!

we drank the whole night!

my youngest uncle had a long stint at mumbai port trust. 3 yrs back, on ganesh visarjan day, as his younger daughter was preparing pav bhaji, he was watching, next to her, in the kitchen, and without any warning at all, just collapsed and died on the spot. massive heart failure.

my uncle was a great person, always used to have a bagful of incidents to regale us completely whenever we visited our ancestral home in kalyan. what i am narrating here is one such masterpiece, a true incident happened at his office. maybe un believable for a few, but i remember my uncle insisting this actually happened.

people celebrate new year, and his office colleagues were no exception. on 1st or 2nd jan, there was always a discussion in the office, as to how everyone celebrated the new year, people talking about their celebrations, parties etc.

there was a new recruit in his office, a very shy, docile, village bumpkin kind of creature, innocence personified!
when he came to office on 1st january, he also wished a new year to everyone, and then naturally , they all asked him how did he celebrate the advent of the new year.

not to be left behind, in describing his party, he said, with lots of pride on his face. " we were 4 friends, gathered at my place. we got 1 bottle of beer, and 2 crates of soda. aur saari raat pee rahe the.... maaza aa gaya"!!!

mumbaikars, and locals, both are great!!

i tend to laugh a lot everytime i hear this joke. and the first time i heard it, i was in splits literally. there was this simpleton guy, from a village near pune, who happened to visit mumbai for the first time. he had absolutely no idea what mumbai, and its fast life had to offer. once in mumbai he had to travel from andheri to matunga road, and decided to take the local train.

his very first ever experience. he got into a churchgate local alright, but it was a fast local. once inside, he enquired with fellow passengers, as the train skipped parle. they told him it was a fast train, and either he shud get down and change at bandra, to a slower train or there was one more option. some smart mumbaikars told him that the train always slows down at matunga road, and he cud get down from a running train, it was safe. or else if it doesnt slow down, he can always get down at dadar and return back, it was just the next station.

not sure what to do, he continued the journey. now as the local rolled into matunga it became quite slow. so the co- pasengers, asked him to jump down, and also cautioned him to run along with the train, that too in the direction which the train was travelling, and not stop suddenly or else he cud fall. this guy jumped from the train, when it was slow, and started to run parallel, and close to the train. the train caught speed, and he kept on running. the next compartment appeared besides him, and those passengers thought he was trying to catch this local at matunga, so 2 guys just leaned out and gently pulled him back into the train. hehehe, he was back inside!! within seconds!! now what do you call that?

ellapan krishna!

Ellappan krishna was a character. He is a character still, but now he lives in jayanagar in bangalore, and I havent met him since 1992, it has been really long. And yes - I feel as if it all happened just yesterday. Krishna was the first one to not only greet me, when I landed in Kuwait on 26th jan 1987, but also was the first one to befriend me in the flat where I was the only gujju, while all others were from tamilnadu. Our friendship developed for two reasons. First is, he was good at hindi, which the others sort of detested. And second, which I learnt later, because of his slightly whimsical behaviour, he was not very much welcome in their group.

With me he was very nice. Later on, as I got to know him slowly, I realized that he was basically a very helpful person, but misunderstood probably in his own group. Whatever, his appearance was short in height, dark, with twinkling eyes, short hair, and always a beaming smile on his face. He would always greet me in the mornings with a “hello mr anand how are you?” I later told him that he was older than me and should address me as plain anand, and drop the mister!

He claimed to cook every dish in 5 minutes, was known as a 5 minute guy. During my five years in Kuwait, theres not a single recipe that he made, was really really palatable. Half cooked vegetables, burnt eggs, bizarre sambar, I can go on and on with my list…. But everytime he used to put lots of efforts, and made us eat too. And we never had a choice to refuse. We used to go to a restaurant, the whole group of 9 guys, esp on new year eve. The agenda was fixed, dinner at ceasars restaurant, in fahaheel area, a place very close to the major oil refineries in Kuwait, that’s where I worked. On being asked to suggest a dish of his choice, to be ordered, Krishna was quick to say that he would prefer “chicken with boneless!!!” I was stunned, almost about to faint. But Krishna was nonchalant, he never bothered to learn the right way of saying things.

Once, a few days before leaving for India, Krishna was busy shopping, one night he came back with 10 blouse pieces. He called them “blouse bits” when I asked him why not buy sarees for his wife? Why these blouse bits? His reply stumped me. He said “all saarees in Kuwait are imported from India. Seondly if I give saarees to my wife she wont be able to find matching blouse bits there, and she will blame me for my choice of the saaree colors. In addition, half my vacation will be wasted in shopping for blouse bits. This is easier. Give her these bits, and then give her money, and she will gladly buy the matching saarees. Problem solved. See how practical I am mr anand?” I never had answers to his statements, they always bowled me over.

One such purchase surprised me, he came home with a pair of skates. “ I am sending skates for my daughter pallavi.” I said pallavi was just 18 months, its still time before she can use skates. His reply was a Yorker once again. “ see mr anand, my wife has a tough time when she goes out with pallavi, pallavi doesn’t like to walk and wants to be carried in arms by her mother all the time. So heres a solution, now she can wear the skates, and my wife can just pull her on wheels, makes easy for her too, and pallavi can enjoy too” we tried telling him that pallavi’s feet will fly in all directions once she puts on these skates, but Krishna was in no mood to listen.

One more memory of his, when he wanted to make home made wine. He got a bottle of sparkling grape juice, added a spoon of yeast, put the cork back, and kept the bottle in one corner. At around 2 a.m while we were fast asleep, and probably dreaming too, there was a huge popping sound. We all jumped in our beds, I shared a room with Krishna, we cudnt understand what had happened. Switched on the lights to find the cork had gone off due to heavy pressure build up cos of the yeast, and all the juice foamed out of the bottle. That was Krishna. Didn’t accept defeat. “tomorrow I will try again, with a different method”

He was there at the airport in sept 1992, when I said a final goodbye to Kuwait. As I gave him a hug , I could see his moist eyes. Later on he did 5 more years before settling down in blore. So far I haven’t been able to keep in touch with him. Hopefully, someday I will be in jayanagar, to try one of his 5 minute dish!

unfair stings!

every other day we have sting operations, exposing politicians, corrupt men, catching indulging actors, and so on. latest in the line are the selectors. such sting operations are popular with the masses, provide lots of "breaking" news to media channels, but in the long run, does society benefit from all sting operations? is the media aware that a line needs to be drawn somewhere? is it fair and just to peep into someone's house, if that someone is a public figure in someway, and then catch whatever u can, on camera, and beam it across the nation for people to see? is there an objective behind every sting operation?

lets say a senior media guy is married, and having an affair, will it be right for some one to bring his love making out in the open? this scenario is not impossible if lines are not drawn now. do all the top media bosses approve of such sting operations? do such kind of covert operations fall into the news category? catching someone unawares, is that supposed to be news? maybe the shakti kapoor, and bangaru laxman stings were right in a way, as they exposed the evil prevailing in society, and cud have prevented a few more shakti kapoors and bangarus from happening. but the latest one where conversations between selectors was brought out in the open...... was that fair too? wont it create further divisions in the indian cricket, plunging it to another low? isnt their something like honoring someone's privacy? or are we now going to say that all is fair in love, war, and stings? any view points from my blogger friends?

adult kids!

this has happened real. my sister-in-law's son is in class 6. recently, a boy from his class told another girl from the same class " tumhare pet me mera bachha hai ". not realising the impact of the statement, yet smelling something terribly wrong, the girl started to cry.
the teacher came to know, and was stunned, to say the least. she reported this to the principal, and next day, parents of both the kids were summoned. and they were explained the effects of allowing un restricted viewing of teleserials and movies to kids, without thinking of the after effects. a very small incident, but teaches us a lot.

we as a society are going down the drain very fast as far eroding of moral values is concerned. since both the parents work in most of the cases, and grandparents are not welcome in more and more homes, kids are left to themselves.

and thanks to ekta kapoor, and the likes, we have an ample dose of all nonsense in the daily soaps. add to it, our films that are bent on teaching the society, new lows in morality. and we have a huge problem on our hand. our younger generation is getting astray, in thoughts and in deeds.

here is an example, a lady in baroda started a sanskar camp during vacations. here she would teach prayers, scriptures, ramayana and mahabharata to kids. adding some value in her own way...... i was not surprised when only 3 participants registered. and a local tv channel carried out auditions for acting/dancing last week in baroda, and winners were promised modelling assignments in mumbai. and hundreds of kids gatecrashed, and it was chaos everywhere, and the programe had to be canceled on that day. in both cases, the age group was 6 to 10. the message is clear, we all know what the parents want their kids to do!!!

a greedy materialistic attitude, unscrupolous politicians, irresponsible parents, a publicity crazy media, and the general social fabric of the country, all are pointing towards a disaster in waiting. i just hope something positive happens!

wishing luck to the younger generation of this country!

russian rhapsody!

as the cab approached the pasternak avenue, i wondered how natassia wud look, the last time we had met was when we both were just out of college, on our first blind date. now after a full 15 years, a natassia in her early thirties.... mmmm i was getting some naughty ideas slowly.

her cottage was at the end of pasternak avenue, just before the tram junction of irkutsk, a suburb in st petersburg. this was my first visit to this lovely russian city, it had a lot of history to offer. communist history.

the bell chimed a german melody .... i guess it was lorelei... i didnt hv to wait for long. natassia opened the door, and had me breathless. 5 feet 8 inches tall, a chiselled body that would make michael angelo do away with his tools, shoulder length hair, thad had a light crimson sheen, and the frangrance of wild orchid shampoo made its presence felt on this early december evening. her face gleamed as she kissed me lightly on my cheeks, and welcomed me inside, led me rather.
she was wearing a satin black full length gown, and had tightened the belt just enough to show off her divine figure, with her icy blue eyes adding a bit of intrigue to the small bonfire that lit the room. her sensuous body gracefully moving in all the right directions, my heart beats accelerated just a bit as she was back with 2 goblets and a bottle of chateau noveau 1959, a wine she knew i liked.
we talked a lot late into the evening as the wine started to show on her face, full lips that would put angelina jolie to shame, and high cheek bones that enshrined russian regal lineage. yes, she always claimed to have royal ancestors, and i never debated that.

yes. . . as she sat next to me, very close. . . close enuff for me to smell her body, she didnt forget to let her black satin gown to slide off, revealing a sheer sculpted body, and shifting my heartbeats into the next gear.
i didnt even realise when i bent down to kiss her ankle, lick her creamy skin, and move up her calves, gently kissing and licking at the same time. as i moved up slowly, i cudnt help but biting into her soft thighs, letting out a few gasps from her, breaking the silence, and setting the fire to crackle more.
i realised for the first time that passion had an effect on inanimate objects too, the fire in the corner of the room was sizzling with fury now, as if competing with our passion, and providing us with the impetus, for a long drawn out night.
by now i was at her soft belly, and was all over her, a slow frenzy starting to have a steady but sure grip on us both.

as she started to bite my neck, i held her thin waist and slowly....gently rubbed my face against her breasts, feeling a milky .....sweet smell......adding a few more beats to my already thumping heart.
natassia had full breasts, well cupped, her nipples taut, inviting me for more.....and more i had......kissing and sucking her breasts, her gasps were turning more frequent now, our bodies slowly getting entwined like 2 long lost creepers....mmmmm!!

i then moved further up to kiss her hard on the lips, a bout of agressive frenzy letting out a stifled cry from her. as i began to explore her mouth, i realised she was over me... and we indulged in a slow and warm french kiss, i wanted this to last loooong....real long... as my tongue took up the most cherished job....of exploring her mouth, moving my tongue slowly over her teeth, feeling them, playing with her tongue, slowly the sucking frequency increasing, and so were the heart beats, they raced away to a rapid dhak dhak

the blood pressure was increasing, yes it really was,..... as our hands explored each others' bodies, the tongues refused to cool down.
we must have been kissing for an hour............that was pretty long........still being able to sustain the tempo, both of us, and enjoying it thoroughly.............finally the saliva started to drop out, and she indicated she wanted to say something, but i refused and pressed on hard, natassia tried to push me away and i realised she was eager to speak to me, as i reluctantly took my mouth away.....and asked her with gasped breath what it was.........and she said..................saare jahaan se achha..........oh my god.......the loud alarm of my nokia playing saare jahaan se achha........woke me up, breaking off the dream of the century. . . .. . . . and making me realise that i had an early morning flight to catch to bangalore..........an important meeting ahead......it was 4 30 am.

finally as our plane took off at 6 30 am from mumbai, with great efforts i let natassia slip of my mind, concentrating on other important activities lined up for the day........

babubhai kabootar and the BJP hawks!!!

babubhai katara recently brought shame to dahod, gujarat, and the BJP, and not neccessarily in that order. a member of parliament, a person who forms the part of government of india. someone who was elected by the people of dahod to represent them in the loksabha. yes, he too took a pledge to abide by, and respect the constitution of india. but he changed his mind, and decided to enter into a racket to ferry people to greener pastures like canada, UK, new zealand. and ferry people on his wife and his son's passport. it is now revealed that he made 12 such trips. assuming he made rs 8 lacs per person he must have made a lot of money. babubhai katara doesnt have any moral values, and i am sure he is brought up the wrong way, and i also wish that he, and his likes not only go to hell, but rot in hell too.

what was more disturbing was not a single bjp leader openly condemned his actions, or came out on the media against babubhai. the party did suspend him but that was the least they could have done. had it been something to do with sonia gandhi's italian origin, advani, uma bharti, rajnath singh, sushma swaraj, venkaiah naidu, arun jaitly, would have scrambled to hog space on various TV channels, and news papers, and would have endlessly ranted against sonia, and how she was a threat to the security of this country.

what was further disturbing that the people of dahod who elected katara were also silent, none of them felt cheated enough to come out on the streets. these same people dont think for a second before coming out on the streets against richard gere and shilpa shetty. at times i fail to understand whats happening to the indian mindset. there should have been enormous protests against all those involved in human traficking, so that others get a lesson.

our pride is hurt only if mandira bedi wears a saaree depicting an indian flag. a babubhai bringing much more shame to the same indian flag doesnt bother us at all.