split must we?

we are getting divided
yet again
the splits are for loss
or, can't reckon, gain

one fasted silently
during the big partition
other abstined upto death
for another division

more want the markers
new borders to be drawn
more want clearly divided
a mornig from the same dawn

"this not your land
that not our land
you and us in the same hall
we both just can't stand!!

"you unaware of history
we were seperate once
perfect is the logic
we should slice hence

"sure it will pain a little
where the limb will break off
lust, not time, will heal
when we alone will show off"

he's feeling cold and likes it

- dad...
   - hmmm?
- am feeling cold
   - first time?
- yeah... i think first time since i was born
   - hmmm. me too since i became dad
- i've seen rains, lots of it. those cities were wet

   - those water were not good

- ya... i got rusted here here and down there too

   - and the paint...

- is that can empty? next sunday its' my heart's turn

   - ok

- dad... i like this cold. and this sun. i like the mornings here

   - and i push you through those mornings not lettin' you enjoy a lot of it

- na... i don't mind it. thats a good highway there. i love it at 72. am as smooth as on 50. ain't i?

   - yup!

- why there was no cold there?

   - geography. proximity to sea. so it was humid.

- and more watery. that day my wheels were half under water!

   - were you scared?

- yeah... a bit. but felt good when all water drained out of that secret hole!

   - a hole at the underside of silencer... some great mind worked it.

   this cold will grow by mid december.

- you like it?

   - of course... missed it for last three years. my body couldn’t adjust to this cold in the beginning.

- was it cold in Bhopal?

   - yes it was. beautifully cold and then a nice soothing sun. me and Bony bhaiyya ate all the fresh green peas aunty bought when we were leaving for college. then she would buy more for sabzi or pulao.

- dad, we are doing 90.

   - any problem with the rear rubber?

- na... the tarmac grip is good on this highway.

   - you sound grunty these days.

- am fine. daily 20 kms and that too mostly on 70+. we’ll get myself checked again. traffic is bad in the city.

   - it’s not regulated that’s why. again it’s relative. mumbai’s was regulated, still painful. too many vehicles. kolkata was worse with a bit more short tempered and impatient drivers. here it’s free flow, as if everyone owns the road and the turns and rotaries and dividers.

- sometimes we look fools stopping on signals, you wearing helmet. so, which one you say was/is better?

   - highway, anywhere. they are all same. cities are different. adaptation is difficult. you can’t boast your driving skills here in udaipur if you were a traffic cutter in mumbai. the road sense and behaviour is totally different.

- and the truckers on the highway?

   - you’ve seen them. as i always say, they are the best drivers. they drive very sensibly and in discipline. you ask for side they’ll give it. they know in which lane they should be. they are helpless only with the mass of the machine they drive. trucks are so heavy and so difficult to control and we morons jumping in front of them and then blaming those poor drivers for the mishap.

   now look at these cows. having their share of land on this road.

- here. we’ve reached. chalo dad, bye. have a good day at office.

   - you made friends with Bibek’s bull?

- yep!

   - good. we’ll go on a long ride together. bye!

why ride 'not slow'?

you've written 'ride safe not slow'... defend it!
well, safety first.
and the other half? thats something dangerous and contradicting the first half
no its' not. coz' still, safety is first
but...
yes, you can be fast and safe together. you'll be stupid if you always ride slow or fast or only safe. you should be riding smart and sensible.
but why not slow?
the world is not small. its un-imaginably huge. you can't see part of it in your whole lifetime even if you have a flying machine. so forget about biking.
and then when you are on your bike as a biker and not a commuter, you are with your machine to travel the world. you enjoy the road and the street and explore something new every time you tread on it. you watch and feel the scenics, surroundings, people, other vehicles, their passengers, an overtaking biker, a cursing tempowalla, a cautious truck driver, a honking car, cows, their dung, potholes, tarmac, bridges, speed, wind... lots so many things! how can you own all that experience riding slow in your small life?
but you'll rather concentrate only on road when you are riding fast! you can't pay attention to the surroundings?
not asking you to do 80+ kmph when i say 'not slow'. you just have to be 'not slow' enough to witness as much as possible in your small ride span. you have to think and really feel that there's still a lot more ahead and you have to see that. you have to believe that what lies ahead is definitely better than what you are seeing now.
... you have to tell the tale of what you visited atleast to yourself and you should never be short of tales, so you have to move... and move 'not slow'!
and why should i see more of this world?
simple... because this world is awesome!
and what you haven't seen yet is more awesome?
you bet! go ride :)

who won?

look... it is perfectly logical that eventually a handful of terrorists will surely be brought under control either by capture or by kill by any anti-terrorist force. it was to happen when their ammunitions were exhausted. so an arrest of one and killing of rest few is not an impact. impact was what they made. killed hundreds and damaged millions. they did what they came for.
pardon me, but i am not too proud of our police/military force on 26/11. they just got passing marks and the government escaped with grace marks.
here we din't fought. yes, we saved a few lives but otherwise we let the actions happen. we were defensive. we waited for our turn and thought of it after they had taken theirs. just a handful against a big force! victory and fight was there, on the peak of Kargil. there was the pride. there were martyrs.
we were not prepared in mumbai. not long ago did the '06 blasts happened. we didn't did our homework. we didn't learned our lessons.
we can still be under attack anytime. who knows? can anyone even predict let alone declare? are we safe? and how longer our country will be the favourite soft target? where are the tough guys? seems useless to say or question anymore. we have to live like this. let the world flow and we too floating on it like a dry leaf. sometimes stuck against rocks, sometimes in rapids, sometimes hit by a stone some boy has thrown.
that force was not at fault. they followed orders. the system which ordered was malicious.
we will have a contingent of cops at a single square to catch hold of vehicles without helmet or seat-belts but too few or none to stop two terrorists at a huge railway station. these will be carrying sophisticated speed guns to catch a speeding vehicle but not enough advanced ammunition to stop terrorists roaming on our streets and in our hotels!
we don't have power and are at the receiving end, so we care. and those who have the might... who cares?

wake up gaurav!

... and what could be better for gaurav than getting what he wished since his childhood. a home close to a railway line! then the best thing... morning 7 am train waking him up with its loud horn, then, when he snoozes, another one at 7:15 pushing him off the bed for a fine morning. the fresh mind then starts running alongside the tracks and the thumping of wheels continues as the tea brews.
hmmm... lovely morning these days. just a few hours left for yet another one. after the hours of sleep which will seem to have passed in just a few minutes.
its winter. when days are short. but this meteorological fact is more of a theory in job-o-logical fact. the day starts at the same hours of clock and ends with the same shows on TV. let the stars and planets do their job; we have to do ours.
so lets sleep light sleep tight for a great and good night :)

media exaggerates

now the subject is not at all new. we all know it... even the media guys. they exaggerate, obviously just to create sensation irrespective of the truth percentage in their deliveries.
very recently this happened. my brother and other about 90 of his fellow armymen created a rampage and damage at a medical college hostel few kms from Indore city. reason: one of their collegues was beaten and held up whole night in a hostel room by medical students.
in the words of my brother, they went on bikes, 2-3 were carrying sticks, hostel was evacuated and not a single student was hurt. they broke glass windows, furniture. of course media was there.
words of media: "रक्षक बने भक्षक (saviours became eaters)", "they threatened medical students of their life", "they were carrying guns and fired in air!!", "they hurt police"
my brother: guns... hehe, outside academy... hehe... in civil area... haahaahaa!!! sure we would be punished but the fake media reports have made the matter worse and action against us could be serious. why media does this? why should we trust it?
and same is what i feel and ask myself again and again: why and when should we trust media? why is there no control on them? why can't they just put and show real plain facts? why they still shamelessly ask a man sitting outside his devastated house how he feels now? where can one find real sense and reality in news?
i trust them even less now

confession

i confess... with no regret to whomsoever it hurts...
i love my bike more and like it more and it is close to me more than many of my friends!
yes! :)

jigsaw @ natgeo

a really good time-killer

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/jigsaw-puzzles

one selfish Vishal

its the buzz, hmmm, bang, noise and what not pre and post release and how could i just mention the name and not talk about it. all talking about Kaminey... you know what Vishal Bharadwaj is?

i think he is one man the film-maker-musician-singer who is a selfish creator... like someone writing a song for himself and singing to himself, painting a canvas and adorning his own room with it, no problem if someone else hears or looks

i think he makes movies, definitely and obviously, not for commercial gain or not for all else to watch and praise him rather he does it for his own expression and self satisfaction and to check how good he is at it. exception: he is selfless only in case of children. he makes movies for children. despite knowing that the gentry doesn't accepts such movies whole-heartedly and they don't HIT!

he thinks of some idea or looks at an idea and says 'let me try creating or building something around this and let me see how it looks'. and he does that.

he is a childhood friend. he gave me to sing jungle jungle and aaya aaya chhenu waali jhunnu ka baba and agar magar dole naiyya then he kept me dancing on chappa chappa charkha chale and giving me goosebumps with chhod aaye hum wo galiyaan and omkaara and now making me scream Dhan tenaan tena nenaan.

how many have seen Blue Umbrella and pankaj kapoor in it? there are no words for the act and the script. saif as an actor will only be remembered as langda tyaagi thanks to Vishal. and yes... the great intense Maqbool and the real Makdee

he creates all this in his playtime and he enjoys it. oblivious to how the dabba-daftar (box-office) responds. doesn't matters to him if his work is given an A certificate. the makings of his movies seems like a picnic where the camera is occasionally toggled between on/off rec mode. its all fun for him!

this guy and his works are just awesome. must see all

read or TV

i don't switch on my TV unless i have completed reading newspaper or a magazine and reading is the first thing i do in morning or after i reach home.
i also know that once i start watching TV, i won't be able to switch it off and resume reading again
so exactly what do i prefer? reading or TV?? hmm...!???

f not s

for all those who think that pronouncing 'f' instead of 's' is an Vishal Bharadwaj innovation in Kaminey...
There's this good friend of mine, my junior in college who use to talk like that. and more... he pronounces 'v' in place of 'r' too!
beat it! faahid waf too good
whatevev, itf fun fpeaking that way :) unleff one doefn't exaggvatef veplafing whatfoevev lettev with any othev.
fo what waiting? tvy thif onfe hehe :p

shift again

It happened just three posts back!!!
either the time flies like anything (it does) or one of my company's mission mentions the word 'shuffle' or me is too slow in posting (which is the actual reason)
will be moving to Debari, our new central sales office about 16kms from Udaipur.
when? as per orders 'with immediate effect' that means the next working day. but me buying some time... lets see :)

come wind come rain

one funny dialogue from movie 'Bhool Bhulaiyya' "itna susu tum laate kahaan se ho?"
i ask myself these days daily morning between 9 to 10... "where do you bring all this sweat from?"
its hot and humid here in kolkata... and i enter office dripping the same as i do when i come out after my bath. wet, soaked shirt turns into different colour!
and its not only me... in queue, in metro, in lift, almost all are ditto. it feels as if me is moving in some viscous mix of stench and sweat!
then sometimes, it feels heaven with a slightest breeze of air... metro approaching, door opening, people moving, a bus crossing, lift descending, the fan oooohhh!
end this... send some wind send some rain, will do it myself... come wind come rain, we need you

and now i...

now i am woken up not by my phone alarm but by her voice
now i walk among the morning hustle of my breakfast and lunch preparation
now i see someone in prayers to god in other room
now i smell insence sticks burning and fragrance all around me
now i get delicious breakfast when i am dressed up and ready
now i dont lock up my flat behind me
now i honk and wave back to two hands as i move out on my ride
now i carry a lunch box to office
now i have my lunch on time
now i try to finish off my work on time
now i am more than eager to go back 'home'
now i don't worry where and what will i eat tonight
now i see four eyes in balcony and window as i look up to my flat
now i ring the bell and the door opens
now i see smiling faces and feel wait in the air
now i relax among the hustle of dinner
now i take a walk after my meal
now i don't think of 'office next day' at home
now i wait for another great morning as i go to bed
now i have my mom, dad and my wife making my home

Dejavu

Dunno exactly whether this is called dejavu or something else... Never really even tried to find out but this feeling for few seconds that 'this' what's going on i've seen before... this happens atleast twice a day... Is it normal? Sometimes for about 20 seconds!

my way of starting the year

26.12.08 5.00 am @ Bhopal

29.12.08 Morning: still @ home Bhopal

29.12.08 Afternoon: cancelled return ticket to Mumbai

30.12.08 6.00 am: on train to Ujjain/ plan to stay till 1st morning ;)

30.12.08 Afternoon: lunch @ naniji's home

30.12.08 5.30 pm: met my to-be :) / received "the" call :(

31.12.08 1.15 am: on train to Bhopal

31.12.08 3.00 pm: on train to Delhi

01.01.09 0000 hrs: in taxi in traffic in cold Delhi

01.01.09 6.15 am: in flight to Kolkata

01.01.09 10.30 am: joined as Associate Manager Marketing (East) Hindustan Zinc Ltd., Kolkata

02.01.09 6.15 pm: tasted the famed momo

03.01.09 till date: searching for accomodation for my to-be family

Happy New Year buddies :)