platform 3, 6th june afternoon, kharghar rly stn.

It was a rainy, windy, and a wet afternoon, I had just finished my visits to a couple of clients in taloja MIDC, and my colleague dropped me at kharghar stn, from where I planned to reach vile parle, via vadala. At 4 pm, it was all quiet on the platform no 3, I made myself comfortable on the bench, and looked around to see barely 30 odd passengers, lazily waiting for the next local from panvel.

2 stray dogs, one brown in color, and another 3 legged friend of his, a black one, lolled around, anxiously trying to swap at a lone fly that seemed to disturb their tranquility. I enjoyed watching them, as they both took turns trying to bite in the air, as the fly dodged their mouths and managed to escape everytime. Smart fly, I said to myself! Just then, out of nowhere, came a blue colored polythene bag, one of those thin and flimsy ones, floating gently, along with the breeze, and landed quite close to where the dogs were.

The brown dog was up in a jiffy, pounced on the empty bag, and instantly started to play with it. Soon blacky joined too, hobbling on 3 legs, yet was every bit active, trying to tear at the bag. In no time they had the bag into 2 pieces, each one having his own toy to play around. For the next 5 minutes the dogs merrily played with the piece of plastic, acting as if it was a prey, trying to further tear it off into more pieces, but found it difficult to do so. After another few moments, they seemed to get bored of this lightweight toy, and just gave up playing with those 2 pieces, and stopped as abruptly as they had started.

Dogs get bored of things as fast as us humans, I said to myself…. Just then, on platform no 2, a local gently rolled in, from CST, going towards panvel. As if on cue, there was another fresh gust of wind, lifting one of the plastic pieces, the piece went up, floated around for a few moments, and gently landed on the tracks, a few meters from the approaching train. Both the dogs got up in a flash, on an instinct, and jumped onto the tracks, after the torn bag.

The driver of the local must have noticed this, dogs jumping in front of his train, he sounded the loud horn, but he was late. Both dogs came under the train, and within seconds the train halted for its usual 24 second or so halt. And then a gut wrenching howling suddenly filled the air. Both dogs wailed like mad, it was unbearable to listen to those desperate, and helpless howls, painfully long. I rushed to near the train, as so did the other passengers, helplessly looking a each other, knowing there was no way the canines could be saved now.

And the horrifying wails grew louder and louder, and it seemed as if time had stopped still, people looked helpless and sad, I was shocked beyond words, I had never heard such soul shatteting wailing from 2 dying animals, it was simply impossible to bear. Within seconds, two playful animals were dying the most terrifying and painful death, and we all were mute spectators. I felt miserable….this was unfair! Just then, the train started, and for the next few seconds, the wailing increased to a very high pitch, and then subsided as suddenly as it had begun.

As the train left kharghar stn, once again, there was complete silence, the mangled bodies of those 2 dogs lying in tatters, all red. I felt a lump in my stomach, and for the first time in my life I said something nasty to GOD, for being so so so cruel. I knew it was of no use.

Strange were the ways of nature, that kills a dog in such bizarre manner, and then we humans silently call it a dog’s death.

inkie proposes, air hostess disposes!

I frowned as the counter staff at the kingfisher check in counter handed me my boarding card, with 19B as my seat number! I hated these seats in the middle, one got so cramped, esp when both the adjacent passengers were on the heavier side! “ the flight is full sir…..we are sorry we cant offer you a window, or an aisle seat” said the girl in red, with a not-so-plastic smile!

I entered the aircraft, thinking of being trapped in the middle, imagining two heavy guys on both sides, how was I going to pass my entire two hours, from pune to Chennai…. And I was zapped as I neared my seat! 19A was occupied by a dazzling lady! I quickly assessed her, in a few seconds really! She was quite tall, with a smooth dusky complexion, extra permed curly hair, she preferred to keep them loose, bobbing around her shoulders. She wore blue denim jeans, and the tight black cotton shirt, highlighted her shapely form quite well! A wide jaw, and high cheek bones completed the sculpted face. She gave me briefest of stares, with her sleepy eyes, but what attracted me was her full lips, they were awesome, giving me enough ideas to work upon. I went weak in my left knee, as I carefully observed this stunning co-passenger. I felt her sleepy eyes had dreams in them, it was a matter of matching my dreams with hers, and 2 hours of flying time was enough for me!

And God had been kind, as I had another gorgeous surprise at 19C! another young woman, in her late twenties probably, she wore a light purple salwar kameez. A dark purple yoke sort of added a gentle glow to her radiant face. Wheatish complexion, an oval face, bright and friendly eyes, her smile began with her eyes smiling first! Shoulder length hair tied in a neat pony tail! How did she know I loved lipgloss? Cos that was the only make up she seemed to have. What I noticed in her was she was well built, and had a great body! As she gave way to me, to approach my seat, I could sense her well toned legs thru the tight salwaar, she would be a force to reckon with in bed, I said to myself, just a fleeting thought! Finally my right knee felt weak too!

As I gently lowered myself into my seat, I was floored by the fragrance coming from both sides. I thanked my stars and all other celestial objects in the sky! What does one do in a “jackpot” kind of situation like this? I asked myself…. Should I break the ice left & right, or should I for sometime enjoy and relish the icing on both sides of the cake? One thing was certain, I planned to make most of this once in a lifetime opportunity. I felt I was the chosen one to have a koena mitra on my left, and a raima sen on my right!

The jeans clad goddess on my left took out a novel by James Michener. Just as I was about to initiate a conversation, I noticed the airhostess walking towards our side, looking at me, a bit concerned. What was this….was this red riding hood jealous or what? She stopped as she neared us, and asked me “ sir, theres a lady in 3B, who isn’t feeling well, and would like to be seated with other ladies if possible. Would you mind exchanging seats with her please? There too it’s a centre seat” my romantic world came crashing down in seconds. How could I say a no to that? I could sense koena and raima smiling, on both sides!

As the kingfisher airbus took off, I found myself sandwiched between two guys, the only respite was they were lean, both of them.

How would you feel if you order a mutton biriyani, and when it arrives, you find the mutton pieces missing? I felt worse than that!

pink chaddi pvt ltd!

This post is fictitious, a lighter take on the recent happenings in our country. I do not mean any offence/disrespect to any individual, group, caste, community, or religion.

While returning from the recently concluded chemtech exhibition in Mumbai, where we had a booth, I shared a coolcab with a middle aged gentleman, from dadar to pune. A few minutes into the journey, and we got talking.

Me: hello, I am annand
He: hello annandjee, I am kewal. Kewal chaddiramani….oops chandiramani! Sorry…(laughing) ever since I started this business venture, I blurt out this surname!

Me: what business venture?
He: well, I started a firm called pink chaddi pvt ltd!

Me: (wide eyed) what? pink chaddi???? Ofcourse I can understand pvt ltd, because chaddi is something private and one has limited numbers too. Ha ha ha!
He: you got sense of humorous, annandbhai

Me: you mean humour, oh yeah, I love to have extra laughs all the time!. But why this crazy name?
He: well, the name suits the crazier things happening in India, doesn’t it? And personally, I also enjoy seeing the lighter side of life. When I saw that these womens’ group collecting pink chaddis, I sensed a business opportunity. So now I manufacture demo grade pink chaddis at my mfg unit. A no frill chaddi….(winks!)

Me: do you see this business flourishing kewaljee?
He: flourishing? Its booming already! Bar girls association of Mumbai wants to buy a large number, with black bands (to protest), they are planning a huge morcha on the secretariat in Mumbai soon, and they want to use flags made out of these chaddis, novel idea na?

Me: wow! I don’t belive this…
He: some afghan womens organization has also ordered, they want to demonstrate against the Taliban, for bringing out demeaning laws against women in that country. Further I also plan to export to sri lanka, Nepal, burma, and Singapore. You can log onto pinkchaddi.com for more info about us.

Me: why Singapore? That is a liberal country
He: hahaha yes it is, well… for Singapore, those women are keen as they want to wear it as a status symbol, and flaunt them openly sometimes! Some of them are so liberal, that they could be using a chaddi for the first time…he he he!

Me: wowowow…since I am into sales & marketing, are you planning some ad campaigns?
He: ofcourse, things are happening on that front too, you will see our ads soon, with a punchline: “pink chaddi, tode mardon ki haddi!” don’t look for a pun here annand bhai…ha ha ha!!

Me: you seem know the business well kewaljee
He: yes one has to, if I have to excel, I have also registered 3 names with the motion pictures association. I know once my chaddis become popular, someone will want to produce a movie, and then I want royalty on the names too.

Me: am curious to know the names kewaljee
He: 3 names! “chaddi mein hulchul”, “chameli ki chaddi”, and “senapati chaddi mein bhaaga”

Me: ha ha ha! Hats off to you sir, this is unbelievable and hilarious!
He: I have ambitious plans annandbhai, I want my name on BSE, and NASDAQ one day! You just wait and I will make it happen!

Me: I believe you kewaljee, anything can happen in a chaddi, especially if its pink!
He: ha ha ha, hey anandbhai, how about a stop at the food mall, we are approaching one.

Me: of course! I have an annual contract with the food mall , lets take a break.

Brida! will you be mine.....?

as the sun gently went down, lowering itself languidly over the horizon, bidding farewell to the rustle and bustle of the earth, sliding into the deep chism, to rest its sizzling molten form for the next 12 hours or so, she came towards me, tiptoed rather, to sizzle up the otherwise cold and chilly night!

she wore the saree which i had got her from my last trip to kolkata, a crisp cotton, lavish fabric, jet black in color, with an inch of bright saffron border, i remember deciding on that particular saree, the very second the sales girl had shown it to me. so much so that it brought a half smile on her face, she probably had never come across a customer who decided on a saree so fast!

i cudnt believe my eyes as i saw my jaan, a deliberate and lazy sway in her walk, she loved to drape the saree just to expose the upper half of her navel, i always asked how she managed such clinical and precise exposure, and her reply everytime was, " theres a lot more i can manage my prince, you just wait....."! a sleeveless blouse accentuated her milky white skin, her bare shoulders inviting me, slowly preparing me to lure into submission.

as i smiled at her, gazing at her endearingly graceful feline form, a million stars exploded in my mind, ecstacy had begun to set in, what a night it was going to be, i thought to myself. as i rested myself on the edge of the bed, my head against the pillows, she came and stood besides me, pressing her tummy gently against my face, i could smell the wild lavender fragrance, soaps are a boon to mankind arent they?as i rubbed my nose against her creamy flesh, she began to tickle my eyes and ears, with one end of the saree, i just let it be, goose bumps had taken control of my body now. my mind and heart had slowly began to immerse in a wild process of intoxication.

soon i held her hand, and wrested away the saree end, holding it tight, and she at once swirled away, gliding away from me, in a few neat circles, reaching the other end of the room, before i could realise, the saree had come off, lying lazily on the floor now.

she stood there, resting against the wall, her naughty gaze throwing an invitation at me. i slowly made my way towards her, and gently lifted her in my arms, and with careful steps, so as not to let her slip, i walked back to my bed, the moment i lowered her on the bed, she wrapped herself around me, forcing me down...

"brida!" i said, into her ears, i could feel her earlobes had turned warm, and could also feel her breath shift a gear higher...."brida....will you be mine?"

"i have no time for words dear", she cooed into me.......

i saw the moon from the window, a radiant smile on its face, signalling us to unite, the night was ours......

the night was ours....

a cool, sensuous night
The moon played hide and seek with a few clouds
As they bobbed around like cotton balls
The stars smiled bright
The beach was calm
A sea so peaceful,
and tranquil pristine air, laden with love
Gentle waves lapped the shores
Serenely caressing our feet as they went back
As if inviting us to the sea
She sat next to me, wearing a crimson gown
Our bare shoulders brushing each other
The soothing breeze making her hair flow Against my face, rapturously tingling me
I watched her eyes,One moment they seemed intoxicated with innocence
And the very next, a naked naughtiness in them
I nudged closer to her And kissed her ears…
“Welcome onto me” I said… she came… unabridged…
an electrifying ecstacy seemed to explode
as she rubbed her nose against mine
the moon came out in anticipation
the stars fervently twinkled in an applause
clouds waved in unison…
a huge effervescent wave, rose high,
splashing against us drenching us in passion
and zinggggg went the strings of our hearts….
the night was ours….! .

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…..