A Lonely Night

At a stretched lonely night,
I see the horizon loosing its sight,
to the endless rows of faded light.
Birds are gone & city is at home.
A little far away from sky,
I can hear a beetle cry.
and I wonder for those sleeping souls
resting now in peace with their awaken dreams.
they will wake up with the sunshine,
they will leave their dreams behind,
leave to chase a meaningful life,
meanings which they haven't owned,
& why they are living 'em they will never know.
Or may be I see through all this
in defense of my own meaningless life
'coz a little far away in that beetle's cry
I can hear my own plight.

My girl

Friends often ask what sort of girl you would fall for. Most of times I simply reply 'I dunno', 'coz there is no checklist of practical criteria. But then what about the wishlist. Here are some scribbled in those good moments when hope, desires, and day dreaming bugged me...

• cute looks, innocent smile, a little less in height such that she can tilt her head on shoulders of mine.
• vulnerable to trust, compassion, a free laugh, rains, a silent walk...
• demands like a child but sticks to scolding and pampering when i sound alike.
• a somewhat lost soul who haven't yet charted the big plans for life, void of worries for tomorrow, with lot of free time and willing to explore.
• not much practical for life, understands what it means to live with a 'self' defined by others, and to be alone.
• not a big spendthrift or ambitious of materialistic things 'coz one thing i've figured out that i may not be able to save enough to afford the luxuries and securites in life, yet I want to take pride in being responsible for her well being.

That's it!

Unspoken Wait

Taken from a past excerpt of the memory lane...

It was sunday. No work. No other motive to sit in office too. We were two alien in the city. Well he exactly not, because he studied at that place. And from his talks it appeared that he was nostalagic about the time that he spent there. There must be a story behind it. But we're not good enough buddies to have me the right to ask, and perhaps he too was reluctant to share on his own for the same reason. Our common objective was to kill time, and the preferred way was to sit in a dark room for 3 hours not looking, not talking, not listening to each other and still have a feeling that we achieved it together. I wonder why people always look for a company to go for a movie they really want to see, and more why in order to 'njoy someone's company they opt to go for a movie. They anyway don't seem to enjoy both of 'em together (..barring exceptional cases...). Isn't it like one of those mutually exclusive co-existing relationship....am I sounding like talking about marriages.

We didn't get the tickets. I asked him if we have other options. He seemed interested in taking me to his college. His enthusiasm met with my agreement. May be he wanted to take a walk down his memory lanes. He said he liked to be there. I wondered if he goes there often. He seems to have read my mind, or may be it doesn't matter. For once he started he kept on going,
'Coming here after a long time. This was our department. This is our canteen. We used to bunk classes and sit here. and this is the lake..we used to come here almost every evening and spent time together'

So the conversation was getting more and more on to the 'We'. I knew he's deep down in the memory lane, and would like to talk about it.

'So what happend', my pebble had started creating ripples in the rather seemingly peaceful lake.
'What, what....happened', like a red-handed caught he felt a little embarassed.
'Where is she now', my senses told me to continue, not worrying about his hesitation or my good feel factor.
'She is here in this town only, working in another company', he was opening up.
'Are you in touch. Do you meet often', I was waiting for a breakup tale to be unfolded.
'Yes, we are very good friends. Infact I asked her for the movie before coming with you. But she had some work and couldn't come', he sounded enthusiastic and feeling proud of their still going friendship.
'So do you like her?', now I was confused, wandering...eager to clear up.
'Yes, I do', he simply replied.
'And what about her', was the obvious question coming from me.
'I guess yes, I do feel so, but I am not so sure', he replied with a sounding confusion.
'Have you ever asked her' - me
'No, but..actually not' - he
'Do you feel shy to ask' - me
'No...I am very comfortable with her, and we can talk over any subject', he was again proudish about it.
'So, you are afraid of loosing your friendship, if you ask and she says no", I was feeling victorious in having reached a conclusion.
'No, it's not like that. I know that if I ask, she'll say 'Yes'. That's not the problem', his eyes were having that familiar solitude when he said that.

I was confused now, all my logical options seemed to be over with that reply. I was hesistant to ask anything further for the fear that I won't understand, and he won't feel good about having not been understood. We kept walking in silence. Ripples seems to have settled down in lake too.

'You know, i love her so much...if anytime she comes to me and asks me to marry her..that would be the happiest moment of my life. May be I am silently waiting for that moment to happen. I know if she comes to know about my feelings, she would say yes. But I need to know that she feels the same way for me, irrespective of my feelings towards her...I don't know why, but I do need to know that...", while saying this his eyes were so full that he would have leant on my shoulder only if guys were allowed to cry.

Silence resumed again in our walk and I imagine far off two girls sitting somewhere on stairs having the same talks. One of them would be her, only that she would be free to snob while uttering out those words.

Little Plant

In the heart of a seed
buried deep, so deep,
a dear little plant
lay fast asleep.
"Wake!" said the sunshine
"and creep to the light."
"Wake!" said the voice
of the raindrops bright.
The little plant heard
and it rose to see
what the wonderful
outside world might be.

- K L Brown

The bulls and bears

For those who are still 'njoying the bulls and bears of stock market like me, here is an inspirational story I came across -

Once upon a time in a village a man appeared who announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs. 10. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys went out in the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at 10 and as supply started to diminish and villagers started to stop their effort he announced that now he would buy at 20 rupees. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching moneys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to 25 and the supply of monkeys became so that it was an effort to even see a monkey let alone catch it.
The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at 50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business his assistant would now buy on behalf of the man. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers, "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at 35 and when the man comes back you can sell it to him for 50." The villagers queued up with all their saving to buy the monkeys.

After that neither there was the man nor his assistant. The only thing remaining were monkeys and monkeys :)

This is how the stock market works.

Change

sometimes you ask, sometimes you explain
you never know, when across the interview table
you will have to switch the place

one fine day starts with a locale support
By noon it becomes a conflict of jboss port
Evening is about the style and layout of the corp site
you can never tell what's the issue of the day
but one thing you can be sure of that remains the same,
the taste of wicked brownie over the coeffee talks
no matter when and how the subject of gossiping change.

so far meeting requests were for status calls and ordering sessions
today it has become all about design patterns and struts lessons
ofcourse speakers remain the same
but do you know when the topics change

one more day is gone
we are closer to fulfill another goal
be it an alpha release or an interview call
life brings every new day with a change
the spirit for life remains the same.

Scribbling

by a beautiful heart -

maeN to apna wajood Dhondati hooN
din kay is baywafa ujalay maeN
chaand ki ghumshuda si kirnooN maeN
maaN ki mamta maeN aur lori maeN
baap kay saibaan aaNgan maeN
bhai ki sher si kalai par
maeN to apna wajood dhondati hooN

mujh ko takhleeq karnay walay sun
maeN bhi takhleeq karnay wali hooN
aey zamanay tujhay khabar hi kiya
maeN hi dunia basanay wali hooN
par zamanay tujhay nahiN maloom
karb-e-takhleeq karb hai kaisa

janm lenay say pehlay hi maeN tou
apnay astitv ko gaNwati hooN
maeN agar janm lay bhi loon tab bhi
paida hotay hi dafn hoti hooN
ya to bazaar kay yeh bazaari
baich daitay haeN mujh ko biyopari
behn hooN maaN hooN ya maeN beTi hooN
phir bhi tasweer baybasi ki hooN
par zamanay tujhay khabar kiya maeN
apna astitv pana chahti hooN
zinda rehna azaab hai mujh ko
aur maeN zinda rehna chahti hooN

A day @ QS

It was a happy morning, a bit more pleasant because I got up early and my morning chores also included birds watching (of both types). I didn't think much when our MD (Haridev) asked me to see him on immediate basis even before entering the office, nor did I go deaf when he dropped the bombshell. For a moment, I thought its one of his prank.(HD, once you talk setting up an office in Pakistan, you lose the credibility). But when I was out and saw the familiar expression on Mangu's face, I knew it has happened. Not that it was new to me, but not so sudden was expected. And we both screamed in our hearts, 'Not again'. The other things that scanned my mind were the talks I had with the folks in convincing them in their decision to join the company. Anyway the announcement by VP about the decision to shut down the shop was pretty formal with nobody convinced of the reason. But how does it matter. The amazing thing was that nobody broke down.

Then the best thing happened. We gathered in a conf room to brush up some of the technologies likely to be asked in process of interviews. I was taking that session and HariDev jumps in. First it looked a bit awkward to go over all this in front of him, but everyone knows he's cool. And in the spirit of event, he himself couldn't resist for long. One mistake by me and he snatched the marker from my hand and after that there was no stopping. The passion he showed in explaining all his favouritees from the recruitment question bank to the depth, I don't think world mattered to him at the moment. Where would you find an MD of a company imparting training to all his folks to help them out in joining another ship.

I don't know what future is in store for all of us. But one thing I have seen off times and I strongly believe that if you have a trust in the leadership, half of the worries of such events are taken care even before they happen. Hats off to HD and wish best for everyone.

Privilege

I happened to eyewitness this beautiful incidence today at a local hospital in Bibwewadi.

A little boy climbs up the stairs with a limping leg, taking support on a shoulder from an old boy whose attention was down on the little boy's leg. They enter the nursing home.

Attendant(Nurse) gave a casual look at the little guy and immersed herself back to her register.

'He has met with an accident and is bleeding. May be there is a fracture too in his knee', said the old guy grabbing Nurse attention. She asked the little boy to lie on stracher and hurried to call the doctor.

'Nothing serious, there is no fracture. We'll do the dressing', said the doctor after examining the little boy.

'Do you think it will be a good idea to give a tetnus shot', asked the old boy.

'Yes, no harm in it. So how did he get into this?' asked the doctor while pressing his leg.

'He fell down from his cycle', replied the old boy with a smile.

'Oh, so you are his......' the doctor left the sentence for him to complete.

'Nothing, I just happened to see him on the way', came the sweet and short reply.

'Hmm..', nothing more the doctor did say. Dressing was done and there was now a smile on the face of little boy too. He looked much relaxed. I saw him coming out of dressing room and stand by this guy looking into his eyes.

'How much I have to pay?', asked the old guy as usual maintaining his smile.

'Its 50 Rs, but its okay', doctor said looking at him. I think there was an appreciation in her eyes.

'No, I can pay this. Let me have the privilege', saying this he took out a 100 Rs note from his purse and handed over to the attendant, took back the change, turned back to doctor, smiled, said thanks and went out holding hand of the little boy.

'Let me have the privilege', repeating this a smile spread on my face too.

Just thought of sharing it.

The house

I happened to see a house today. It was for sale. Actually not the house, but its location. And it was one of those my instant love kind. The reason - simple. Its on the side of a beautiful hill. The hill I am already in love with. There was no concrete jungle like ever other housing society in pune offering. Just the row of old decent houses. I don't know if I'll buy it, but as of now I wish to. If ever, I happen to settle somewhere sometime, it will be one of the place.

Not yet forgotten

I came across this forward which made me think of my favourite serials of my childhood time. Although I cann't recall all of them, but here are some of my favoritee...

Hum Log
The serial was shot on sets with the house of the family being only 2-3 rooms. The serial glued the whole of India. Each episode ended with Dada Muni coming and explaining the episode and actually trying to find a moral in the episode. I still remember Basesar Ram cribbing, lallu fighting with Chutki, Nanhe styling with his hairs, and Dadi maa with her lively dialogs . Amazing!!!

Yeh jo Hai Zindagi
Remember the theme song Yeh jo hai, yeh jo hai Zindagi. The serial was so famous that we use to wait for it every Friday. A fantastic way to end the week and welcome the weekend. Dialogues like 30 years ka experience and Yeh kya ho raha hai? were on everybody lips.

Potli baba ki
A childrens series ..a series of small stories with the puppets. Jhunuu wali.....Kisse aur kahaniyon ka geeton ka dabaa...

Jungle book
The chaddi pahan ke phool khila hai mogli and the jungle characters.

Neem ka ped
*ing pankaj kapoor. Beautiful title song -
"Muh ki baat sune har koi, dil ke dard ko samjhe kaun..Awajon ke baazaron me khamoshi pahchaane kaun!"

Fauji
I never loved Shahrukh Khan so much before and never after, even at the cost of disagreeing with someone special.

Choti Badi baatein
A serial on superstitions. Sulabha Deshpande is shown as superstitious and the whole family tries to prove her wrong. The way they try to prove it was hilarious.

Circus
Shahrukh Khan again. Son of a circus owner who comes back from USA and is forced to take control of a failing circus. It had Renuka Sahane playing Shahrukh's love interest. She was very young then. Her smile was beautiful then too.

Nukkad
The best and most loved serial of all times. A set of characters on a Nukkad (street) and their everyday life and experiences provided laughs and sometimes even made us cry. I think the stories were directed by Aziz Mirza and Kundan Shah. Character includes Guru, Kader Bhai, Tambi, Ganpat Hawaldar, Ghanshu Bhikari, Hari, Teacherji, and many more. The theme song was great too Bade Sehar ke ek gali mein basa hua hai Nukkad

Kahan gaye Woh Log
Late Sunday Morning drama about heroes of freedom struggle.

Mr. Yogi
Mohan Gokhale plays Mr. Yogi who comes to India in search of a bride. Om Puri plays Sutradhar who directs the story of Yogi. The story revolves around Yogi and his search for a perfect bride. The ending episode had Yogi marrying Om Puri's daughter. 13 episodes and 13 girls. Hilarious.

Mungerlilal Ke haseen Sapney
Hilarious. Raghuveer Yadav as Mungerilal who day dreams. The common thing in all his dreams was this heroine. He always dreams about her. His dream always starts with twitching of his eye.

Wagle Ki Duniya
The problems and everyday life of middle class man called Wagle. I think it was designed on R K Laxman's Common Man

Mahabharat
"Mein Samay hoon". Never has "time" been so popular. And after seeing such a wonderful making, I doubted myself why I used to see Ramayan. Better in directions, special effects and execution than Ramayan.

Malgudi Days
The serial based on stories of R K Narayan. The stories were really good. I think it had a south Indian director. The serial became interesting after Swamy joined it. The theme music changed from the slow Ta na na tana na na na to a fast paced track with Swamyyyyyyyyyyy being yelled in between. Swamy was the best and I think the first serial that dealt in growing up of a child and the story was told from the child's perspective. Girish Karnad plays Swamy's father. . I don't remember how the story ends. I still remembered Swamy acting as if he was sitting on a horse and then the horse taking off. Incredible. The name of the boy was Manjunath, right?

Indradhanush.
A science fiction serial starring Akshay Anand. Somewhere it's written the small boy in the serial was Karan Johar. It was something to do with time travel. They travel to the time of independence struggle and then travel forward to 2035 (I think again). A nice serial

Space City Sigma
Featuring Milind Soman or was he in Captain Vyom? The serial was inspired by Star Trek. The hindi made it confusing. I think it was directed by Ketan Mehta. A copy of Star Trek but that time I had no clue about start trek.

Tenali Rama
The serial was hindi, the setting was south Indian and the theme song North Indian Baale bale bale tenali rama. Although very much popular, it ended very soon.

Neev
I liked the serial very much. It was based in a hostel and they had all these different houses and the rivalry between houses. The serial use to come on Sunday afternoon. Amit Kumar sang the title song, Dharti par Suraj ki kirne….. then something something and then Neev rakhe vidyalay ki

Byomkesh Bakshi
One detective serial and me and Ajay were so obsessed with it, that inevitably we used to see it and discuss on each episode for hours even during our 10th board exams . Based on some Bengali character, it had Rajit kapoor playing the lead. The characters were lot similar to Sherlock Holmes with also a Dr. Watson.

Firdos
I liked both the villian and hero (asfraf) in this. It was shown in a different way and also presented Pakistani's view about their fight in Kashmirs.

Ulta Poolta
I was in school those days and before going to school, I use to watch TV every morning. Ulta poolta was kind of filler for DD morning programs. Jaspal bhatti's wonderful debut on television. Had a funny theme. Uuu uuu ulta poo poo poolta. Ulta ehhhhhhhhhhh poolta ehhhhhhhhhh Quite early around 7:30 in the morning. DD had just started the morning slot.

Flop Show
Jaspal Bhatti's stupid comedy. He pulled up anyone and anything. Corruption, politician everything. His real wife played reel wife too. Had his own set of actors. A complete mockery of many things and that too on the government owned channel.

Mirza Ghalib
Naseerudin Shah as Mirza Ghalib, the famous Urdu poet. Gulzar made this as a tribute to Mirza Ghalib. Gulzar also wrote a book on the poet. I was small then and didn't have a ear for poetry. So did not watch that much. I recently got the set of episodes from eknath...a trip back to memory lanes.

Bharat Ek Khoj
Based on Jawharlal Nehru's book, Discovery of India. Directed by Shyam Benegal, Roshan Shet played Jawaharlal Nehru. Good. Sometimes heavy, it traced India history from ancient time. Oz remembered the song Shrishti se pehle satya nahin tha, Asatya bhin nahin, Antariksh bhi nahin tha, Pataal bhi nahin...Chupa tha gyan kahan, kisi pata tha..." Thanks Oz

Dekh bhai Dekh
Anand Mahendru's fantastic serial. A bit of slapstick but wholesome entertainment. Shekar Suman, Farida Jalal, Naveen Nischal, and many more. Liliput was a added attraction. Remember the line by Liliput Dekh bhai dekh Sameer bhai

Surabhi
Siddharta Kak and the beautiful Renuka Shahane. The real meaning of Colgate smile is seen here. The program shoped the tradition and culture of India. It showed India like it was never seen before. Renuka Shahane was later replaced by Iravati Harshe, who also did a good job. I think it was the longest running cultural magazine on television.

Shreeman Shreemati
Rakesh Bedi, Reema Lagoo and Jatin kanakia with Archana puran Singh. A story about a married man who has a film actress as a neighbour. Mostly slapstick. Funny. Remember Dilbura uncle..