Then, Now & Thereafter !!

Then

"Who's had those stale parathas again ?" announced Radio, and we burst into laughter in a room where someone had just farted.

"Man, I'll miss you guys" was the mutual statement we all shared.

Tears, half curved smiles, expressionless faces, filled up the whole arena of the final year hostel. Damn, Four years of life passed as fuel smoked out at the shores. I walked back to my room, wrapped my camera to put it back and I got lost.

29th August'11....

Four Years Back on the same lane......

"Alarm clocks to wake up ?" who needed them, this was supposed to be the first day in an engineering college, "Engineering" to be precise of whose dreams were filled like mashed potatoes in parathas, here we were, joining together for a journey which was supposed to be of professional education , supposed to end on a happy ending four years down the line.

"Hey, I am XYZ, OJEE rank 00000" were the first line of geeky introducers.

"Hi, I am XYZ from PQR state" were the first line of normal introducers.

"Arey yaar, Hello. So pure taiyaar ? " were the first line of the ultramost normal introducers.

We laid onto our uniforms, a typical blue blazer, and looked into the mirrors.

"Not bad for an Engineer !!" thought of the day.

Walking in groups, and standing tall for the buses to arrive, while few were still stuck finding it hard on the ties. Life had moved on, for bigger & better things. 

One Year down the line, things had changed, People were now pointed pointers. There were 9 pointers, 8 pointers, the evergreen 7 pointers and the coolest of all, 6 & below pointers, coz that was the standard by which we lived now. Fun was maximum at 6 and minimum at 9.

While some had started taking the smoke in, some had developed the taste for sour grapes , and some had just started to accompany them. There were perceptions, relationships and the ever happening weather changes of being a girlfriend - boyfriend thing, That had hooted in like the most super happening thing !!

It happened through the second, the third and arrived the fourth. By now, these 800 odd about to be Engineers of the future, were less of it than they were a family now. From bunking classes together, to standing for the whole year's prestige and the umpteen Cricket / Football matches on the fields, not just the friendlies, but along many friendly fires and white flags in friendly wars, we did not realised, that we shared was not just friendship , but a hardcore relationship.

Arrived days , when we got selected to be paid off after college, but the days were passing by too.

They started in months, lessened to days, and soon to one day, when the whole lot appeared for the last paper of their graduation and broke their nibs on the last sheets.

"Papa Kehte hai beta naam karega", probably kiya !!

The Shiver stuck me, and here I was back to the present.

"Move on, Idhar hi rahega kya ? " here was Ching again, so eager to get back home.

"I wish I could", was all I could whisper to myself.

The Bonds had to split , the tears had to come rolling out, and the promises of "We'll meet again" were again here. We felt bad when our seniors said that, today we felt how bad it really felt.

Now

In a house, where my windows are always open as used to be the doors in hostels. The Air keeps coming in, with the heat of Chennai and the cool breeze of it in the evening.

I wish , they were friends, who popped in every hour of the day. Friends, who had to be sometimes said, "Abe ja, thoda padh bhi le " , "Abe kitna hawa dega saale ".

Miles away from each other, miles from our homes, miles from our wickets and bats, miles from the drumsticks and guitars, but stand tall our memories of the land we cruised through fun.

A Trip planned to meet in December, who knows how much of it may come true.

We've started rocking on the rocking chairs, planning our future, cutting out on our expenses, thinking of the best gifts for our parents, relatives, girlfriend etc etc....

Thereafter

Dreams , which never end. Dreams of delivering speeches in the boardroom, to standup tall as an icon in the family, a BMW at a cozy villa, an Ultimate figured partner and a highly aspired salary.

Strange is life, stranger than fiction, harder in the eyes of reality.

Probably true, "Tum kya lekar aye the, Kya lekar jaoge"

Dream today, ahead and everafter, for the memories which I hold, I have many in those pages, where I flip any moment, I flip a dream.

From racing into the IPL Listing, to designing the fastest machine, to the best antivirus, to the best actor/actress, to the national dance competitions, I've it all in those pages.

Few've started, Few are somewhere around, and those in queue, will boom later !!

Out of emotions or just some quick fingers on the keyboard, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. , This is for You !!

Dream Girl and Hail her !!

Through the blurry vision in green meadows, I saw a girl with her hair rising high to the zephyr across the smooth greenery. Nothing had struck me better as this did. I starred at her like a crow, and yes, all she managed to pass on, was a smile, out of surprise or probably to let go my stare. I paced my steps across the turf, to reach out to her and hold her tight in my arms. By this time, even I don't know how she turn around to me, and was expecting me around , hanging her hands out to reach me. And yes, I almost reached her hand, when she disappeared like a lost leave on the streets.

"Wake up you dumbass, you'll be late again to work", cried out my brother, kicking my ass at a nominal enough speed to shake me out of fantasy. I checked my watch and it said, I deserved it. With few moments that I had to ponder, I sat down on a chair in the other room looking out through the window to the terrifying sunshine of Chennai. Lost in the miles of my dream was I again, and here I was, trying my best to go back to my moment of glory.

Bright and fresh, I reached out to the esteemed daily, and here I was stuck to its contents yet again. In the dreams of my life, where I always neared the princess across the meadows, the forts and heaven, here was a girl, on the streets , in tore pieces of coverings and in a depressed state of mind. The clock was ticking over and so I thought to sit down over it on the weekend. It seems a different day altogether when you already have something running on your mind, while I passed across the hustling streets and boarded along the sweaty crowd, I had a thought running in my mind. Every lady I saw on the way, I visualised the threads she was stitched to in society. Damn yes, for the first time in my life probably, I was thinking this way, probably for the first time I was thinking for someone I never knew, never grew with, never talked with. Had one question, boomeranging my mind, Am I the only one concerned or is this just one of those mornings ?

India 2020, a dreamland where all the aspirations are living by, where all the dreams are resting to hay. About which , every minister lays back on his seat in air conditioned chamber to claim,  "We'll be on the top by then, let us do our work".

I ask today "We'll top on how many lists by then ?"

To name the assured ones from now, Corruption, Crime and Poverty.

Back to where I was roaming about, concerned about the existence of genders on the same grade and same state. Last two weeks of my life have been quite happening and impacting, coz from listening to demands of marriage of a friend's sister to viewing a terrific show on television, all of them asked one thing with a question mark in bold,  ? , loud and clear.

"Is all this nation headed today, is for money, power and credentials on the global trade ?"

None can deny, coz it is headed for that only, its not headed for peace in its own fields , coz the fields are getting snapped by the nuclear deals and the hi-tech infrastructure where the worsts of incidents have happened. From introducing the cheap concept of call girls to the upgraded version of escorts, I see today, Women are catching the eye as a material of entertainment, leaving her degraded of her abilities , coz she's the one who holds the shores of the society. A form of human , who has resisted tons & tons of unjust which has prevailed since ages on her. From the rural lands where people have been accused to be illiterate for the incidents, the avalanche has drifted into the urban lands with much impact, all credit to the literate mind for this.

People say "Shit happens" and they let go things, but what if shit sits on the roads daily. And to be honest, it really does on the sheets of our dailies when every morning the corners read Rapes,Honour Killing,Female Foeticide,Tortures of Dowry,Sex Abuse & the continual use of women as a form of entertainment and a platform to launch all retarded things.

India's most heritage inherited land is the land of most sick things happening to women, Rajasthan, I wish the heritage of yours existed for real in your minds when in the eras of highness, women were roses which never withered away.

Dowry, sick of the retards who still encash women to be married in their families, and a food for thought to the ones who approve it, Kings in history did it because it was a event to be celebrated with exchange of lucratives, not a game of filling up their treasury. 

Honour Killing, Sex Abuse, Domestic Violence have lived all through the years, at some point it was Sati, today its rose a point, when its worser than that. It almost like living through the pyres and the fire of Sati.

Rapes, are stuffed into papers as much as potatoes in Indian dishes, they are in , everywhere.

Sick of the plans and programmes of the government, where a clear proofed sting operation in Rajasthan lies in the court yet to put ban on Doctors involved in foeticides.

In one word, the Y-Gen says "Fuck'em".

From the tunes from what I have gained past my twenty odd years, Women have been everything in a man's life for every good reasons, and genuine ones. Mothers, Best Friends, Best Listeners, Best Philosophers and Best Inspirations, Women O Women, I owe you my hat.

Hats Off !!

I ll hail you forever !!

Presence Appreciated, thanks to Eve that found Adam !!

And there chemistry found us !!

And you are hereby, my dream forever !!

Dreams & Aspirations - Typically Indian !!

In the land where the Legends wrote history and the history made them the rulers of the golden pages of the present, India has been a land where people made it through nothing to everything. Ambani, a merely known surname when born to a nothing to do family , has the world on his feet today. Anil Aggarwal, another such personality who had to bite the dust and cross over the limits to passby the shores where nothing awaited him except success. Not just these "A" lettered people, but many who wrote the script of their lives on their own will and mantras. Life, never had a full stop for them and what it always had were commas, which kept getting added to their achievements, figures and the never ending following.
Today, I stand by those achievements and I too typically feel, passion is what must have rode them through this journey, for life is never a smooth x=y plot on a graph, its always something which has had spikes prefixed by nature and postfixed by human. I stand by reading these achievements and these names piffled out by my friends.   The same urge and the same desires that a youngster typically dreams about in each corner of this nation, our nation is one where we breathe dreams. Not me, not just my platoon of college, but the whole 60% youth population of India who are the high tides on the walls of the world's future. Few choose, fight and falter, while few script, fight and alter.
                           Meant to change and meant to bring the pieces together, not just me , a just earning IT guy in Chennai believes that there are enough reasons to dream and achieve, but the whole setup, inspires you to become an aspirant of what may become the reason to live your life for this nation. Craziness to achieve, the desires to back plan after plan , and the will to go nuts about anything and everything. Life won't stop and it should never, but the dreams shouldn't either, for you are the reason it exists !!

Not everyone is lucky to make the numbers count for real,

Few who believe that these are not just numbers which got discovered,

But figures which made the whole world go round & around,

So why not you today,

That the future blooms and You're the one found !!

In Love, For time or Forever ?

Flipping the pages of an old diary where I wrote thousands of words for my first one sided love, and now over to flipping the memories of those countless moments where life’s struck me, if she’s the one, life’s demanded so much out of me.  For a time resided, where life was all about being brought up, gain knowledge till graduation & enter the world of being an employee. Now is a time, where it has gone so choosy, people want to live it the way they like, take challenges to the shores of extreme, and choose what they really want to be & have in life.

Taking over from the philosophical aspects of what everyone has lived through & experienced, walking down the lanes of the Y-Gen streets have been something worthy to live around. A platform of experiments from which everyone has picked up their own choices and left down some for others to choose, the setup has been a praiseworthy. Not long back in history, when SRK was the only man alive on earth who knew how to tickle the laughter of romance, & today down in the 21^st century of time, it’s a time when every teen is a Romeo / Juliet by themselves.

Time travels, and who on earth says it stays, but If I look on these streets of present where being in Love is more like a stock investment which fluctuates truly better than the real stocks do in the market, I think if this is really it. If this is all we started for, if this is all we live today for, where Love is more like a nail which around the magnet. For I do not hold any privileged decree to approve, but sometimes its disappointing when I have to end up saying a friend in relationship , “ Are you in this seriously or is just a breeze?”

For all the life that’s left with you to breathe in, be a sport in life for the things you need to , and for things when it matters you for love, success & dreams, never just let it go scribbled on the rough sheets of your canvassed life as people back in time had not much to do with, but had plenty to live with.

“ If you loved being with it for once,

And wanted it forever,

Better burn your fuel,

For the love may not last forever”

Fresh on the shores of being independent, and true on the passion of being dependent,
Life is up here again in search of the reality than falling over for mirages.

The War Within !!

15th August 1947, was the day when India took a free breath in the world which was fighting to demonstrate power & domination. Be it the United States of America (USA) or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the wait was over and the huge masses kept fighting themselves for the ball to arrive in their court. It took years, sacrifices and destruction of huge property for them to realize , the world was not left about gaining power anymore, but it needed them to come together & promote the peace in it.

India, which was drooling for good things to come by, wasn’t yet aware of the time to come, & it had to resist even harder when Pakistan launched attack in the war of 1960’s. India did not knew what she was even fighting for, to protect its people or to protect its just earned presence on the globe. Years passed on, the political wars , the scams , the hard done things continued to rain in, though there came many who built the nation for once & forever, but the sting of negativity remained in the system. People had criticized the ruling Englishmen for “Divide & Rule” policy, but the division was done already. The Sections had already been classed, people had a different vision for different classes of people & that was when, the mistake had piled on for the worse in future. The losses kept on piling , the carnage at Rajiv Gandhi’s speech, the scathe at Mumbai Blast in ’91 and the ever on going duel between India & Pakistan.

Present day, 25th March ’12, when India has launched herself miles into the era of development, she still has those scratchy nails on her back. While Pakistan continues to occupy a tidy part of J&K, and the US continues to dominate & react inadvertently on our decisions, India is headed to another war springing with time badly, the Maoists. The War within has held upon the Nation’s nerves badly and this is what I am upto this time.

It was just a normal Sunday morning in the boiling heat of Chennai, as I slapped over the pages of The Times of India on a note to find something interesting and involving in it when I had my eyes on a scintillating headline.

“Italians abducted by Maoists in anger against the Government”, said the Headlines which had an innocent looking White man in the pictures along his wife.

The Man, a resident of Italy, who was in India since a long time, as a tourism manager for a tourism & hospitality firm had been abducted by the Maoists on nothing less than a normal day in his life. The Statements released by the Government were sick and rather very amusing.

“We are trying our best, but the man should not have clicked pictures of the tribe”, had aired out a minister in his typical tone.

“Bad, this is really going nowhere. None is looking properly into it, they all seem lost in retailing their budget for the year so that they have plenty to gulp in”, as said by an Inspector.

Where to go, whom to trust, where there are people who don't expect Khokhas in return to do our work?

Corrupt they are, and they breathe an air of it. For there's no shadow that beats down its own marker, but there are reasons if fought for , We, the People of India have to plenty to get answered to.

The tremors are in our own land, We need to bury and end this up.

Why Am I writing this?

It’s simple, I feel I’ve grown up enough in this land to raise my voice against what has been going wrong consistently in this part of the world.

Are law and order just for name in our Nation?

Is the Defense rather just a name than being a team in existence?

They talk big, they pass out matters saying, “We don’t have people in our nation who want to come up and take responsibility”.

And I ask today, “If We really don’t, then would you keep doing this to us?”

A Nation where every morning you’ll find people at tea stalls rowing over political arguments of this nation, where every journey in a train has a compartment where there is a huge clash of opinions if India-Pakistan Division was right & if the reservation exist.

The Part missing out of everyone’s mind, the War which is burning the nation internally, the Maoists , ULFA & other forces, who are just living free & destructing everything within. The War is on, and its within, if there are eyes on this..

Go, do something about it !! If you seek youth, show us the right path.

This will work only when its a mix of those hands who ve seen everything, and those who are ready to do everything.

I ll do what is in my hands, but if you ought to be a reader of this, then voice your concern so that it’s heard.

“For this Nation has seen little of prosperity and more of agony”

The Reserved and the Unreserved..the eternal battle within

Long back when there was a lost India facing its doom, when even on being one enormous presence on the globe, it was hardly getting its recognition. India was in a lost world, facing the worst of its time, the country was a combination of broken states under different ruling kingdoms - the Royal Mughals, the Englishmen , the Dutch, the Portuguese & many others. While these Kingdoms kept fighting for power in their times, the commons had a huge cold topic settled in their brains. People were cast into classes of recognition, they were provided with a status rank and were treated as per it. The World moved on, but ours stayed the same. Time favoured India and arrived a man with the golden brain - Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, & in few years of his presence in the battle of freedom, India never looked the same again. A line which seemed impossible to be thought of earlier, was now at its feet and India was breathing fresh air of freedom without any restrictions for the first time. Thoug the nation had fought its doom & came victorious, but the battle was yet to be won within, where religionlism & casteism had backfired. In came Mr. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and he made serious amends to the mentality of the masses, he strived in a revolution which raised the thinking of people. Though the move paid rich dividends, but as had happened earlier, the impact did not left a mark on the whole. Years passed by, India kept enriching her presence in the world, the world within calmed down a bit , the masses were happy with her doing good. The war within kept rolling and unrolling, people got divided in sections of General (GE) , Other Backward Classes (OBC), Minorities, Scheduled Castes (SC) & Scheduled Tribes (ST) with certain numerical percentages reserved for them everywhere. The numbers which seemed a respite at first, had ignited a spark, and it was then when India lost her individuality and got bifurcated into several streams of life. Lots happened in between, the mishaps, the reconsiderations, the unexpected wraths, but they stood together against everything. The numbers thus, were infact the boundaries built in between them. And today, when the Nation is nearing its 54th  year of Independence, I just have a feeling that more than the Government needs to, People need to think over if they need these numbers for their presence, coz now is the time when after diminishing these numbers , India can really come up as one giant superpower where her people are standing are right behind her & working as one, instead of being mere percentage numbers in society. Though at the moment, this remains a thought, the execution & amendments remain open to the mango people.

Lets go India, lets march ahead now..!!

Hours that changed a life

"Walkin away from the shadows,

of my own,

i see things happening now,

in everyway wrong,

they seem all useless,

and people all morons,

coz i've just seen the reality,

 and the happiness seems all gone...

It seems as if,

i was wrong to dream,

and it feels now,

i just want to scream,

the does not even come up,

as easily it used to be,

and i feel now,

i v lost something won, 

i do not see any way out of dis,

i just do not know how to make it,

its gone so different with thes few hours moved on .."

Going Across the Limits where the world says "ITS OVER"

 They say its over if you say NO, and its all back alive, if you really want it to be so.True to the utmost level,things in our lives are just a creation of our perception about them.The way we think about things, the way we look after them & of course, the way we react to them.Its the stimuli that really matters, perhaps its not something which is always predictable.There are moments when we realize our real potential and straightaway lash onto them.Its something which is a typical response of a being.Of course,its none but HUMANS.We lash onto things which we find beneficial for us, we run away from things which are of no use.This is something to which everyone has to accede.Everytime things around get messy, they seem grotesque & take hell of a stride into our lives & make it even more miserable.There are instances at the same time where we think its over, we cannot give it anymore & so, we just step behind without even judging for once if it is really so.Things for sure do not change overnight, but its the efforts and the dedication towards anything,a person really wants to achieve.It is all the same as the famous quote says that "Rome was not built in a day" & that's the bare truth.We cannot achieve anything in just a wink, it takes in something to give out something that really matters.Things have changed in this world, people have become smarter.They know exactly what to do and how to do even before it matters.They have many permutations and combinations to make it to their dreams but just a few of them make it through, some of them give it up half way while some give it up saying it was just a try,to make it across their dreams.They try acting complaisant about their faults but why,does it really matters to people around.What really matters is what you do with your own life, screw it up or just tighten it from everyside & make sure that there's no seepage through it & all the sediments are there when you open it up a day.There are perhaps many stalwarts who have done it in the past & there are still many more on the cards who will make it someday.They don't like being noticed,they do not want people's ovation coz to them, what matters is just their complacency.
            There's no words like "IMPOSSIBLE" in the dictionary of achievers coz they make them possible everytime.There's nothing flimsy in their dreams, there's nothing hollow in what they achieve & that's the reason only why, they make it to the other end of the horizon.And as far as things which we see happening around in this world, it is quite gray.The atrocities in this world have become worse.Now, even they exist in myriad shades but its the ones who really perceive it well & make it to the other side where happiness,joy & manifold of theirs exist.And to me, its only them who make the world a place to live and breathe with a will to feel that "AAL iz WELL ".I ll like to conclude my thoughts with just a quote of my own.              

              "Look into the mirror & see what it reflects,

                Sneak into your heart & find what it beats for,

                 Stare at the night sky & challenge the stars,

                Challenge them that you'll be one of them on the earth,

                And, you ll be the one,

                Who makes it to the other side of the horizon, 

                The horizon which has been left unconquered,

             And everything will be yours,

           Your Life,Your Love & Your Dreams"