The last class

Today was the last we sang again
with the chorus with the hearts
we sang for sunshine, and for rains.
for the world, for the love
for that peace and hope remains.

then we stopped for a while
an invisible drop rolled from her eyes
and her voice lifted its weight
said it all, to us without wait.

we stood in the silence
the silence yelled at our pretense
such a heartless we were
letting her go like thus

and then her face glowed again
her mouth enriched the smile
her eyes began
the smile sincere than efforts she made
and sweeter than the cake she baked

may be she just loves to give
so shall she find lot others
who will need

is anything we'll miss,
may be her energy
her scoldings
her smile
a little love
and a bit of life!!!

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.

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..

The Great India

Last saturday our group (snehnidhi) organized a collage competition for the street kids at Herman day care centre at, Shivaji Nagar station. "Mera Bharat Mahaan" was the obvious choice for the target. Ani and Poo organized all the show with Amit being the main logistics person right from scissor to gum. I should say that children were more than enthusiastic. They looked professional in their true sense, picking up the best of the pictures reflecting their interests in various things. Like one guy was after pulsar big time, one wanted all cricket starts to be on the board inluding Steve waugh and I'd to control another who seemed fanatic about the movies :) Girls were more sincere and creative. Poo group came out to be the best because they had selected best of the images covering most of the aspects of our country. Our group was the first to finish but out of sheer enthu had included a bunch of foreigner in depicting the great heritages of India. After a long time, I got to participate in such kind of event. This wasn't all...we got to see one more hidden talent of the girls there. Candle making...The picture says it all.
Overall it was a fun day and the bright one with all the smils on those faces.

A World of Silence

After a long wishful thinking and considerable efforts, finally I was able to time myself for vipasana. When I heard about it for the first time, I was simply fascinated by the idea of spending 10 full days in a perfect silence and the experience of something beyond mind by keeping aside the language. The manifestation of the fact that the world around us is nothing but a creation of our own language and that it exists nowhere but only in our minds. It's like for a fish, getting an experience of water outside the water.

Anyway, I better tell you how it went. After an initial struggle I became in harmony with the daily routine there. The place was perfect. Nature was at its best. I even saw a brown rabbit in the vicinity of campus playing fearlessly. There were people from all over the places but non-existing for me. I even couldn't ask my roommate whether he wanted the lights on at night or not. When on the 10th day we broke our silence, there're hardly words coming out of everyone's mouth and we literally stood there laughing at each other. We laughed like mad remembering all the occasions when we wanted desparately to tell something to each other but had to avoid. One thing more I thoroughly enjoyed was the simplest of the food served to us, may be because it was served in limited amount and more 'coz there was nothing else to do while eating.

Coming to learnings, there were a lot. Its like getting a glimpse of the balance while learning to ride a bicycle for the first time. You cann't communicate it except reflecting it through your confidence of having a control and experiencing something you didn't know exist for you earlier. Those who wants a sincere break in life and believe in a world beyond mind, definitely a place to go...

Memorable Moments

I have experienced it at times, and these are some of my memorable moments of life. The moments when the mind stops playing havoc and dances in tune with the heart. The moments where the rationale of things are gone, and all that left is a zest to do the things and the submission to its course. The moments when the thoughts stop, and the spirits begin. The moments when the existence of self ceases and the experience with the life conceives. This is what I term as love and the energy that goes with the life. Here are some of those moments from my treasure of memories that you may cherish...

- To listen to my favorite song in the FM while waking up in the morning.
- To have a ginger tea with samosas on a rainy day.
- To get a head massage from my sis at the cost of her scoldings.
- To wake up and realize it is still possible to sleep a couple of hours
when I was having exams in the Morning.
- To start studying just couple of nights before exams hoping to get passing
marks and getting unexpected results.
- To pass a while with my best friends when time is not permitting us to do
so.
- To see an old friend again and to feel that the things didn't change.
- To see both sun and moon together and clouds in between them just next to
my plane window.
- To look at an evening with all its beautiful colors on a sea beach.
- To find mails by the hundreds after returning from a vacation.
- To say something that doesn't mean anything at the moment and later on
discover a special meaning to that.
- To hear a song that makes me remember someone special.
- To know that a 50%(from my side) crush can turn into 51%.
- To wait for audience to stop applauding so that I can continue my talk.
- To take 3 semester exams of MBA in a row without any preparations
beforehand.
- To see the expressions of the prometric centre incharge when he looked at
my scea result card.
- To watch one of the old movies (Anand, Golmal, Bawarchi..) and recall how
innocently I used to get inspired from them in my childhood.
- A close conversation with a good friend while taking a stroll, while
sipping a coeffee.
....the list goes on.

Those who happen to read this, I'll be glad to know some of yours...

Malgudi Days

Sunday I watched Hyd Blues 2. A good movie worth your time and money, if you liked p1. I also happened to read some of the short stories from Malgudi Days. The astrologer, The pickpocketer, Lawre Karzen Statue, and The postman all depicting life and bringing out the emotions so beautifully that you feel a part of it. This also reminds me of the old time, when we used to wake up till night (9 pm) just to watch these serials. Nukad, Ye jo hai jindgi, Hum Log, Malgudi Days, Vyomkesh Bakshi, Mr Yogi, Mungeri Lal....were some of my favourite serials, which I never could afford to miss even during my exams. The craze for saturday movie was altogether different in those days and we used to make guess the whole week for the movie. And if it's anyone of Amitabh's, it was a jackpot. Some of you might remember that in old election days, during couting phase they used to show movies late night and in between used to announce the results. That time was best. Mr. and Mrs 55, Sahab biwi aur Gulam, Shaukeen are some of moviesI remember seeing in that time. And the sunday serials. The whole day full of play and serials from 8.30 (He-Man) till 5.30(Spider-Man) and followed by a movie was the best holiday time I think I used to have. I still have fun watching good movies. I don't know why, but that time it was a different fun.

Coeffee Talks

After satsang, Anl and Sandy and me decided to make a coeffee stop @ Italia. Nice spot, in the middle of University Avenue with most of the crowd from Standford, typically a serendipity place of hollywood movies where Harry and Sally usually meet. Nothing like this happened to us, but the cappuccino was good. While we're sipping our coeffee, sandy started doing calculation of their business profits. And then our attention went to this cute, little baby who was busy picking up coeffee bags from the counter nearby, making a welcoming interrupt at the tables and offering it graciously to others. There was a complaining sign in his innocent eyes when sandy refused to take it. It was a guilt no one could afford to live with. So the packet was on our table the next moment. I was sure, if it was me I would have got a finger or a slap with those f* words. Just because I don't reflect the same innocence in my actions; or may be they cann't figure out the meaning behind it. For a child, it's always an excuse 'coz he doesn't have a meaning for his actions in our contexts and that's what we call innocence. Anway I am one among those and I like it.
Life doesn't need to mean something. All it needs is to be.

Pleasure and Pain

Wondering in the dusk hour
should I go or grapes are sour
all prepared still scared

I want this to happen for a long time
the thought is alluring me like an old wine
so here I am standing in front of the room
finally decided to make my move

slooooooooooowly I open the door
and walk in without making a row
no one there, besides me and she
I put on some music to ease the situation
and take out my sweater in anticipation..

I know it's time now,
We start off slow
Feeling good We pick up speed
Our bodies move in perfect symmetry
My temperature rising,
My heart begins to beat rapidly
My pulse starts to race
Feeling lightheaded
My muscles burn

There’s no stopping now.

Sweat glistening on my aching body
Steady motion of my limbs
Deep breaths
carry on till the music last
or better till the body blasts

Finally finished, a deep sigh.
Motionless, Eyes closed.
Exhausted, Satisfied.

I abolish the signs,
drops of me lying on her
we both stand in silence
I put on my sweater.
Without uttering a word
I walk out of the room

- A close encounter of pleasure and pain. This was when I went to run on 'The Treadmill' in Mansion Groove Gym. BTW I like the way you think :)

My first day...

We were already 5 minutes late. The class was full packed. No chair left without a butt. Caught before the crime was the first thought that crossed my mind. Nevertheless spirits were high and so I entered with pride and marched towards one of the front corners. As soon as I put cappuccino on the table by my side, I felt a sense of belonging, an urge to be there.

Those who are still wondering, this was my first day at CSU Hayward school for an MBA program. And yes, it was unofficial. But now when I am there, let me share wht did I experience. The very first thing I liked was the intellectual smile shining behind the gray beard of Prof. Camateros, Spyros. By now you should guess that the crowd was a bit disappointing. No cross-legs..no...u know. His comments were humorous yet threathening to the extent of spice in the vegetable. In a matter of minute, I was sitting just in front of him preparing myself for the unwanted roll-call, which went smooth by. Now the teaching part. Linear Programming techniques - Simplex, Graphics, Algebra, and he was going thru them one by one..invalidating them against his favoritee Excel. He took a simple practical problem and demonstrated the various techniques to arrive at the optimal solution. Hey wait, this was something I had done in my 9th standard..the graphics...the maths. Only thing they didn't tell me was why the hack I am doing it. Now I know, that was most important of all. The CONTEXT. The applicability of the technology. And that's what the education system here seem to be good at. At times the over-explanation of seemingly simple steps seemed to make mockery of my so called intellect, but most his straightforward, humor and expertise made the somewhat boring lecture like a breeze. Overall the joy of attending the class was more than the learnings I got. It was like dream come true trailer. Thanks to Anl for giving me this opportunity. May his carpool grow more and more.

Babyish Thrill

Not before the dusk settles,
while walking along the shore,
I watch how the life battles.
Four diminutive birds in quest of their meals,
with a constant pattern of advance and retreat,
marching their feet like a happy child,
dancing in tune with the tides.
how blissful the life is,
if I see it from their eyes.

Spirits of life as eyewitnessed in Halfmoon bay by me and binod, on 18 September 2004.

Alum Rock

One more hike plan. Had to fight a little bit in wee hours to get up myself and wake up Anl. But it was worth considering the fact that no place can beat CA weather and that too at dawn hours. It is such a beautiful place. Walking on the edge of river among the deers and birds was refreshing. We made our way on a 0.9 vs 9 miles hiking trail. The view from the top was marvellous and trying shortcuts was fun....and not to forgot the slidings anl had on those shortcuts. The best part was to decide which way to go whenever we encountered any junction. The coming back was a bit boring party 'coz we were parting away from it and mainly 'coz I could not find any alums there :)

Walking adventure

There is no pedestrian walk or cross signals at the expressway parting my home from the office. It is like a river without a bridge for me to cross. Guys, believe me India is much better in this case. You can walk in any damn place in your own way ofcourse @ your own risk. First day I took a ride in Imrn boat (by all means I can call it a cruise) and at night managed to cross it like the bowfinger guy. Tell you what, I didn't believe it was fun when I was watching him in the movie and for sure till I was on the other side of the road waiting for 'Action' to begin. Anyway second day...not again. Waited @ crossing for almost 15 minutes. I was like praying to 'The unknown' atleast for emptying the river meanwhile he makes the bridge. But I guess it was heard only by the clouds raining more and more cars -(...may be another -X effect of murphy's law. Ok enough, cann't wait anymore. Better call a cab or will ask sumi to give me the ride. I turned back...and there was this pretty girl walking down the street. I waited to see how will she manage to cross. But she didn't cross it @all, rather walked along the edge till the far end crossing where there was a pedestrian walk. With much dare, I was after her. She might have felt koi gunda peecche laga hai 'coz she fastened her pace. And that scared me a lot 'coz she could have called the cop. Those who are thinking I am back on my single track mind, better know that she was a chennaiese. Poo can explain well wht does that mean.
"What is life, if not full of adventure,
in daily routine we live, like a machine!
What is future, if we stick to the past,
its like living the past repeated with new cast!"

Got a call from Amtbh. That means a tennis break. Check out the space for more later.

Musical Meet

This was the musical meet once we had at my place in pune. Shenoj 'The guitaar guru' and Sarng 'The Singer'. I really miss the fun and ofcourse my dates with guitaar.

Pune - The city with heart

It turned out to be a hillarious joke at our t-talk. We were mentioning about the beautiful birds we saw during our singhgarh treks. Su asked the best place to do bird watching. And we guys gave her a big smile as if we were asked to tell a good movie of BB. A told it was FC, whereas I was insisting on MG road. Su was puzzled at first but joined us soon in our laughters. Single track, KK(capital)-that's how she calls us. Any guess for title KK? Mr. rightguess is eligible for the title at his own risk.

SA gave a call today evening when we were trying to square with our SCEA studies. "Dinner kahan karna hai?". He stays at Pashaan. So the obvious choice was Chaitanya at FC road - Sasta,Sundar aur Tikao (that's wht its Parathas and Patiala lassi are for the stomach). The girl on the other table in front of me was giving me smile at every other pass which I was dutifully returning back with interest. How do you know that guys are getting old & bored, when they talk about cars and bikes while taking an evening walking on FC road, and I know SA and Amtbh definitely are. Hope they encounter this blog, warna mai takla jaroor ho jaoonga in the cause of serving truth.