Mid-Night Mishap !!

    Its that part of the year when we make resolutions but people like me do not. Why?, because my resolution for the past 10 years did not come true and its an apologetic ‘ I’ll make a girlfriend !’, but could never make it. I am so bored with making the same resolution every year that New Year seems to be nothing more than a change of calendar and since the past few years even that has stopped, all thanks to technological advancement.

 Mishaps happen on cold Delhi nights and one happened with me two days back. ( No !, you wrong shit-head, I am still as pure as Ganga in the upper reaches of Himalyas). But yes, men are menace !, On-road or On-Line. The second type covers themselves up behind a nice profile and are out there to trouble somebody else’s sister, wife or girlfriend. The irony being that you don’t know that you have committed a crime till you are informed. I mean how does one know if somebody is not friends with one’s own sister and that silly is your friend. In my own defence, “It was late in the night, I was home and in the control of a lot of cofee, when I saw the same red light blink as the time when i became friends with that model. But now that the model has deactivated her account somebody from the fairer sex had to be roped and hence began my requests to whosoever I had any connection with. Besides that,being Un-friended (the word is catch up !) by a Girl has a lasting impact on your psyche, leaving a void in  Friend List which can be filled by as many girls as you can(there is no too-much for good things !).  This notification was from a DU girl who had understood what meant to say in an update and put a LIKE. That sprang me into action and I sent a request as I always do which are mostly unaccepted. But it does not end at that, this time it got even more embarrassing (but I am unmoved !) when the recipient turned out to b a friend’s Sister & reverted back addressing me as ‘Bro’ and expressing her inability to accept my request. Not to be marginalized in this favourite blinder of Indian Women, I grabbed the opportunity of being brothers with her saying that A Bro’s Sis is always a Sis (though, with a heavy heart !) and is mathematical corollary of ‘Parallel Theorem of Friendship’(where a friends friend is not only mutual friend, is actually a friend !) and a destroyer of an ancient vow of not being brothers with any pretty girl/woman.

   The fact that the friend camouflaged here turned out to be a friend in deed as he had said good and nice about my writing which this secret sibling of mine did not forget to mention . This kind of event is new for me as most of the times my friends label me as someone who makes unnecessary noise (read blogs !). Though, I love the way world has become a small place and you can reach anybody from the comfort of your quilt but not like this. Sorry Bro !, you said good and nice about me but I would take it as adversity reaching everywhere I want to go and before I reach, guess adversity has GPS enabled device and is tracking me, one step before I take it.

  Trumped in my own game as I was, one of the thoughts that came to my mind was to type with the left hand only. And why not, the night was ruined!  and I was very sure that she might pull a hand out of the laptop and tie a Rakhi on my right hand. All kind of depressing thoughts started coming to my mind and I started cursing Indian women. One of them was about their seeing things in Black and White only though they wear all variety of colours with panache but when it comes to realationships, it fades into B&W. They see only in Black & White, leaving all other shades of Wheatish (meant literally only !) . Its like they view it through the prism of suspicion and every guy who is not your boyfriend is a brother material. This prism can be deemed racist with the boyfriend material being Tall ,Fair & Hunk and ignorant of the fact that the original saying prescribes Tall,Dark & Handsome. The fairly-tale world of women makes them live in this illusion that they can find this guy and he will dig for them as well as if she is the only girl. So what are we left with as an eligible and sensible qualification (e.g. Tall,Dark & Handsome), may be ‘any two of the three’ and two only is fairly good enough to qualify most of us and the rest be damned (I don’t care !).

 We had a little more conversation where she praised my work and I reverted with all the impressions of a would be writer. I found a sister and this also happens on cold Delhi mid-nights when you are home and have a lot to do but you don’t feel like. The city has and winters have been in news for wrong, it gave me huge satisfaction that the coffee kept me from not acting like a jerk. HNY :-)

Being Stereotypical Yet Unpredictable !!

   It feels so nice when close friends point out my over-enthusiastic activity on the social network and the gradually compressing social life. A part of me identifies with their concern and an even larger part , says " Baah !!". The fact that most of the world does not understand what I want to say is a big drag. And their understanding what I have not said, even bigger. So why do I or anybody else who are out there, being on their own, feel like making a port call by throwing anchors. The fact is and still remains that every ship would like to be assured of the existence of safe anchors or that it has company, no matter how high seas it has been or the number of storms survived . The reminders act as an anchor and the sail at the same time, keeping me from crossing the horizon into high seas and showing direction as well . But theses chains do not seem to be strong enough to stop me and probably rusted because of its presence since times immemorial.Moreover,this ship has sailed into unknown and unfriendly waters and i see many regretting my courses but still wishing me luck, now that i have sailed. I might be referring things in my life which i see from my frame of reference and i am supposed to do justice to my point of view. The other side of the story could be different, entirely different !. Could be that i did not move at all and the world moved or both of us moved in opposite direction. But one thing stands true in all observation, the differences and distance has increased.

  But then its like a cautious kid in love with its kite not letting it traverse into the unknown sky and thus is conservative in loosening up the string. And why not ! 'No Strings Attached' is only a fad and is doomed to crash. One might have a flight of freedom but after a while you shall and you will crash. Crash you will,because there are social conventions, the rules which have been agreed upon to be followed and more importantly imposed. Though it doesn't mind spreading its arms and flexing its muscles every time you want to do something, there is some social law or the other that you might be breaking. Though innumerable, these laws can be summarized  into 'Follow the conventions and be Conservative & Orthodox' . These conventions and rituals act as signposts for our blindfolded eyes,providing a narrow and safe journey to our destinations. The other option is taking the cross country track, which might be surprisingly short if you trail the diagonal or you might get struck on this off-road adventure. The reason for not many opting for the option is that they think, its meant for the big boyz toyz  and they are fine with running the marathon. Losing in the Marathon is such a face saver that it keeps us from participating in races. So what if we lost, its a marathon where everybody loses and since somebody has to win,somebody wins and we don't care !.What they do miss-out is that the off-road format is democratic as it favours the men than the machine. Evolution of society has led to formation of rules and conventions which always favour the faster on the highway but do the un-conventional and the next thing you know is that their 4*4 is struck in mud. So while you want to control the kite so bad it wants to break apart even bad and live a no strings attached relationship with you, no matter how short it is and what it is destined to. The threat of braking apart becomes stronger in this weather when the wind starts picking up, threatening to tear away the kite if  its not allowed to fly freely. The kite looks strong and uncontrollable as long as an end is still with a handler. Probably the best way is to let it have its flight uninterrupted in a limited area. The over-cautious care and hence the thought to bring it down from heights (OR high !...whichever you like), is not required. It learnt to brave the winds and ride on them, its inbuilt in his design.

  But why do some of us ( and that refers to the one and only me! ),take up this course against the tide. Probably because 'Opposites Attract' theory help in attracting the opposites (both literally and figuratively) as the Fish-catch is more against the flow. A strange attraction is associated with the things which are not commonplace. The things which we do not understand the types which are branded mysterious,artistic or just different from the way it should be. Actin exactly opposite the way you should makes you so desirable. But it does not stop at that, you go a step ahead and shatter it to bring in the element, pretending to be out of out of the box and unconventional yet in control of the situation, knowing exactly what you are doing.

 Before you  find it 'gibberish' as my updates and rubbish it under the carpet, let me tell you the above philosophy is in practice and preached in marketing echelons as 'Social Media Marketing'.(its another thing their content is far superior but yes,the concept is the same. !). So while our society always had this addictive social behavior, its Social Network adaptation has been compared and branded blasphemous. The government is trying to rein in out-pour on social network ,but the bigger problem is  'how to book Bengali's for doing 'Adda' ( its a 'Sit n Talk' !, in practice much before Cafe Coffee day was even born ) or for that matter the punjabi love for bragging. And mobilizing an opinion requires improvising. Improvising, the easiest way to get better than the original with no danger of being rejected summarily. An even more successful is impersonation where you just copy and paste somebody elses thoughts or work and acting as the middlemen, thereby making the highest percentage of profits. The whole FDI/Telecom Pricing debate is about this, the right of the middleman to make unhealthy profit or the messenger underplaying the message. Impersonation is something which keeps our system going where we need suitable candidates and not competent ones to run the system. The impersonators run the system, don't do it in studies and you are doomed because the 'definables' are already defined and you are not supposed to deviate from it . Don't wear fake brands and you don't make an impression as 'making a second impression' happens only in quotes and most of the time we end up ridiculing and embarrassing ourselves in public while attempting it. The argument in favour being 'Why be youself when you can be somebody else and somebody can be anybody !'. The intelligent ones or the geniuses be damned,who wants them !. They are injurious to the health of system, a sleepercell of rebellion, a spanner in the moving wheel , the ones who would recommend  major changes and destabilize the current arrangement. instability to the system. 

Man is a social animal who has lately started living in the zoo called 'Social Network' and needs to mark its territory consistently and sometimes encroach into others as well and accept it or not, every LIKE you put or share you hit is a manifestation of this animal instinct. The animal instinct should be given way to express itself from time to time, be it economy or social behaviour or else it leads to stagflation. Economics and Social Behaviour agree more , 'activity is what counts, some will gain for you some will lose but do not try and regulate things artificially,this will most likely create a bubble which will burst someday. Taking about burst, your mind may if I make it any longer. So before it does, cool it of by venting all you have in you head, and I know you have, everybody has !! Happy Expressng :-)

  

The Loud Chants of a Silent Prayer !!

   Life has been monotonous and celebrations have taken a back seat, sometimes all you care for is that tomorrow is a holiday and you don’t have to attend college without knowing what it is all about. It could be an occasion of celebration and you are not invited and you are no more the guy who invites himself. And this is when the forwarded messages start making sense. I got one which told me it’s ‘Happy B’day Gurunanak Dev Ji’. I always had faith in Sikhism & Guru Nanak Dev Ji, but nothing bolsters that faith more than a guy in need. Thus, I said a silent prayer and wrote this blog which I believe reaches someone who would grant me my wish. In between being busy to get some work, I have stopped paying my allegiance to God but throughout our stay in Amritsar, I visited the Golden Temple to pay my allegiance. Gods, like Women need to be consistently reminded of your allegiance & my trips served both purposes, multiple Gods and all the women who unfailingly were pretty and could have given any model a run for their money had they cut on their dairy rich punjabi diet. But how could one do that with the presence of an array of eateries could have been another reason, where the elixir of life was served in the form of Pranthas, Chaats,Lassi & everything else that the Punjabi culture has bestowed upon us. Though non-vegetarian, the juicy Chicken Tandoori had more elixir of life than anything else. Alright, my tongue is tasting northwards and I know it’s a crime to write appetizing blogs which might leave you craving and hungry.

  Coming back to the flashback as a method to highlight the present, this is for shifting away your attention and stealthily hiding the gift knowing petty well that you will find it. It’s said that today if somebody asks with a clean heart, he gets whatever he wants. So this is my greeting with devotion, kindly do listen to them, it might not be music to your ears but I took some sweet time in the composition, prayers are prayers even if said silently gifts are gifts and it does not matter whether the sender wants to remain anonymous or the receiver finds it nice. So where was I ?, taking a flight to the Sikhly populated Amritsar and my body following it in the Shan-E-Punjab Express, boarding the semi-punjabi Delhi and reaching the first floor house surrounded by by lush green fields and coloured in pink( If you thought I am Gay, you should have read ET y’day !) . The character of city was a combination of sweet and aggressive as they make it sound in our Bollywood movies but then towards the extremes of our country there is bound to be a regional identity taking shape of Sense of Superiority and things we find so loving and romantic, true in all the four directions. The city would be bathed in lighting and a grand Langer would be organized belittling even the big fat Punjabi wedding. It was like a grand cake for Babaji, as the Hindus love to call him and everybody was invited and accommodated irrespective being a follower of the faith. So no question of being shy or being invited or the formality of cutting the ice before getting a piece of cake. The ‘Langer’ is always free and I will keep coming for the ‘Prasad’ for ages to come.

      Tapppp !, that’s the sound that would have been generated if my friend would have slapped my head in a friendly manner yet making sure that I understand ‘Life is in the present and you need to get on with rather than living in illusion’. In reaction to the imaginary hit, ‘Aaaah....you  !@$%^&   ’ goes my imaginary reaction cum curse. But I do hear you my friend, even though you have stopped saying it and understand your concern. Sky would not fall if I leave this one incomplete because sometimes you do not reach conclusion and some ‘CoolDeep Thoughts’ be rested for the better. Plus one ‘Skyfall’ has been heard to have rave reviews and is consistently moving up the charts even without making a point or making out in it. Thus, I am optimist that even this one can , keeping my fingers crossed and hands wide open for whatever is coming for me and my Inbox tells me it’s a 5000 pound Gorilla of the management world, and I want to be its breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner or the unhealthy ‘whatever’. Please Babaji do some magic and let it feed on me . :-)

After Reading the Compensation Details, CoolDeep Thinks : The 5000 pound Gorilla turned out to be juster another monkey who is not willing to part with its peanuts forget about the Bananas :-(

Nodding in Disagreement !!

Spoiler-Alert : This is long & will stimulate the same feelings as the last time !

The recent post of Chetan Bhagat on Twitter (you can follow me at @OpineDifferent, i don’t mind :D) prescribes that girls and boys in a relationship should focus more on building themselves than making their lovers happy. Like many, FPS was the first novel non-text book i read and had a lasting impact on me. I am basically a Rastogi and sometimes try to be a Rancho or Hari depending upon how much room the situation provides me. So, the Hari in me wants to ask how does one build themselves if they lack on the physical parameter. (Wish ! Supplements and steroids helped Dark & Handsome men grow taller).And what advice do you have for those who like taller women and the its a love triangle with the women in love with their high heels. (The pervert in you likes it when they take them off though you like them wearing it, and I am still talking about the high heels !). It seems like the chief protagonist, who unfailingly have different names of Lord Krishna have started to preach “Do your work and do not worry about the results”, all of them at once. However, what made the books sell is that the characters were pursuant and conspirators. This made him a ‘Role Model’ for younger generation, in a society which has no dearth of role models and even Rahul Gandhi is one of them. Chetan was for the masses but has now adopted this intellectual-phobia, orphaning the masses. He stoked & caressed the rebel in you, and has now suddenly dumped him for being politically and motivationally correct.

Chetan’s recent preaching’s resonates in the belief of a hypothetical very pretty girl’s mother, “Life is to express yourself and not to impress others” (and I don’t care who uttered them first time !) but that pretty girl or for that matter any pretty girl is not impressed by expressing. Sorry Chetan, Sorry Hypothetical Auntiji , I listened to you because I thought those are the things that would help me impress her and impressing is all that all I intend, because I know how it ends.

 Chetan is like the engine of a passenger train whom a large section of the society boards and enjoys the journey, the journey of a crowded compartment, stopping at every station as if taking stock of how the people are doing and reassuring them “ All izzz Well...All izzz Well”. But little did they know someday he would become fascinated by the majestic Rajdhani Express parked in the yard and being an iconic passenger train engine he could lay claim to the right to drive the classy travellers to their destinations. And these people think they got the fairy queen at the price of Rajdhani. But then that means shunting the passenger trains coaches without notice, not even reducing the speed, perfect recipe for a collision and casualties. But before that happens and if ever that happens, the clairvoyant in me has seen it beforehand and pulled the alarm and passengers get down from that train at the next station. There is another train called ‘CoolDeep Thoughts’ which would take you wherever you want, without any fare!.

   This is a nation of a million mutinies ( daily !) and every act of an individual is triggered by circumstances and thus be respected for his/her  endeavours rather than laughed at. After all, those are stories that Chetan told, in a manner that everyone could read it. Then,’Why this Kolaveri Di !’ ,its like he has eaten a heavy Sunday Brunch and is stubborn to eat the lunch as well. I have not read his “What Young India Wants” but I know petty well what it does, not to leapfrog into middle age by prescriptions like these and live their life. What it aspires is to wear  worn out jeans, torn out at places, teamed up with T-Shirts and at times wear a Kurta or Kurti which hides those symbols of being a rebel. Rebel or Decent, its one choice and should better be respected.

      Its neither their fault nor their job to correct the wrongs. I mean they should focus on their priorities first and its only natural that most of the times its the girl or boy they love or the mathematically more inclusive, have a crush on (you can deny !) .The 50000 foot high ideals and thoughts( CoolDeep Thoughts being one of them :p)  can happen later when a winner in their personal lives would go ahead and help make a better society. 

   Further he goes about telling us to say ‘Thank You!’ (and chicken out !) to those who treat you badly . Saying ‘Thank You!’ is such a good manner but not meaning is so bad, Cold Blooded Bad!. According to him we should be all ears and go back and make changes and sell ourselves in another market. The crime of the current user being that it went on to give a feedback and thus we should act like an arrogant monopolistic manufacturer and snatch the good from her/him. In my opinion, we should thank them for making us realize how short we are on expectations (and sometimes height as well !).My little unemployable knowledge of management tells me that sales of goods is irrespective of the quality and marketing plays a major role. Thus, rather than going for unending R&D, we better take the feedbacks kindly and make the changes ( I am also trying to make blogs comprehendible and realize that by now I have lost you but believe me I am trying !).

Rather than meeting expectations and go change yourself why not stick to what we are good at and someday that person might understand. It’s like sealing all other borders when you are engaged in a confrontation at one. But what about nations like India who are surrounded by sceptical neighbours and has porous borders and tense one as well .Shall we go back into war preparation mode, cutting all channels of communication or engage and address the bone of contention. The whole idea of going back to the drawing board and making a masterpiece is a manifestation of Deservance ( There is no such word like most of my theories). But, a fundamental knowledge of Statistics tells us that Deservance is only relative and hence not everyone can deserve, even if all of them strive to. Also lives are meant to be lived and not strived, some of us might have desires which are not in sync with what we deserve and it does not matter because we do not base our desires on them.

People keep a latch on the proverbial door to their inner self while keeping the door open and that’s your chance, be flexible and get through the gap rather go shopping for a huge hammer and break it open. That would be like devaluing your currency by trading with many partners, importing all the best things in life so much so that the purchasing power goes for a tailspin. I mean what one would do with the built up themselves when the one person you want to showcase yourself is not watching.

PS : India’s Most Confused writer regrets using a well meant, noble intended motivating lines for vilifying  India’s Most Loved Writer and as an atonement would chant all his books loud and would very soon bring this viewpoint to the notice of Chetan. 

Of Rama, Sita & Raavana !!

  Deepawali is not yet over and Cool-Deep seems to have run out of oil. It is true, because its being put to task till midnight and a little long after that.I should not be writing this or for that matter anything because of some other priorities but then that would mean being opportunist. Even the proverbial ink is refusing to flow. The phrase 'Put your money where the mouth is' suits traders and I am an investor ( having taken up Investment Banking, I get the right to Boast ! ) and would rather stay invested and take up a stand or the more practical be the 'Stand-By' than shy away. Though the probability of succeeding is as low as Kejriwal winning an election (I wish & pray to be proven wrong !), still i want to give it a try, who knows the now so miffed and rightly so 'Lady Luck' might choose to smile at me someday. Voters and readers are most of the time under fascination and charmed by the writer/politician where the 'slash' is increasingly being slashed away and giving space to an 'and'. However, a honest writer or politician should always speak their mind. And thus i am heating up the controversial yet staple for every household in this country, the Rama-Sita-Raavana story. Since there should be something special on Deepawali, I am not doing it the traditional way and this might even end up as a culinary disaster or poison for which I might be sentenced to gallows, once again proverbial one. And before it runs out of steam and I lose your attention, I am placing the cooker back on fire. The pressure is going to be high enough and might even blow away my already tarnished reputation, so be kind and forgiving.

  Ever since you were a kid, your mother keeps building up this illusion that you are either Rama or Krishna. The pleasant coincidences of your birthday bumping up with Dussera, Diwali or Chhath Puja. The last one does not builds up the illusion and thus like every obscure mathematician trying to prove something that does not exist we ignore it by assuming the value is close to infinity and thus can single handedly tilt the balance in your favour and thus be saved for future. The belief keeps getting stronger every year and this year it has reached the heights with  Dussera choosing to be on my birthday and Diwali on my youngest cousin's.   Seems like auspices are saluting you like the parade and gun-salute when you were born, and made you cry and that explains the crying baby that I am, coiled to the inside fearing every stranger is out there to befriend and then hurt my feelings. But an actor that I am, I can wash my face, put some lotion and you get back the tough guy.And thus the doubling up of celebration is probably being halved like the mathematical paradox and better be left to economists from top universities who have in the past taken up studies like these. Miss-Leading indicators make me believe that I am either Rama or Krishna but as its turns out every time, I am the Raavana. But this is not out of choice, whenever you meet a 'Sita' after she attained adult franchisee, chances are that she has already made her choice two years before about whom to stamp her approval upon ( As they say, catch em young ! ) . I seriously think that that this is an act of war against the male population of this country and the culprits be brought to the books. Never Mind, this crime goes unchecked and whatever you do to check it brands you 'Raavan'. Its highly likely that she realizes her mistake of falling for Raavana at some point of time ,and goessobbing, deep inside the mother earth , closing the way to her heart for Rama and Raavana as well. So even if the story folds out exactly opposite, its Sita who has to bear the loss. One of the men has to die, again a proverbial one at that, but then character assassination is as good as real life. Given the Drama that lives has become ever since Shakespeare saw from that angle and wrote so that all of us could, and for those who still could not, there is Omkara. 

  In modern age Ramayana, showing near you everywhere,Sita always makes the game-changer mistake of going for the Raavana ( A difft. name for the epic bringing Sita to the fore would have been more apt !). Ignoring the Bow-Breaking Bravery act of Rama she chooses the Back-bending man with Bulging Biceps and this probably is her revenge for the unfair treatment met out in the original version. Bulging Biceps is not easy, you have to take care of the right posture and then comes the difficult part of exerting force and so is Braking Bows, you have to first sense the center where exerting the force would break it.Why is it so that some people break a bow and its done, I mean there are other things as well which should be taken into account. After all , a girl is not a trophy to be won in a sporting event. Fine with whosoever Sita, Radha or for that matter she chooses in her 'Swayamvar' or the Bride's Choice, the constitution of India gives me the right to equal opportunity and I am not fine with it being snatched away. Forget Constitution, its manipulation rests with the likes of Sibal and our Ex-law minister, lets take a leaf out of the Government which generates ministries to out of nowhere to save the alliance and the government. Why not make an arrangement for ever lasting peace and love.A place right below Boyfriend and just above 'Best Friend' called the 'Stand-By' can be generated so that no lover is ridiculed year after year till eternity.  Its like credit rating for loans, once rejected it haunts you everywhere and nobody loans you a heart. Having understood the tricks of the game and failed as well but still possessing the desire to be seen as a 'Player' and thus unwillingly you jump into the arena to be seen as someone who has Sportsman Spirit. But deep within you are retired and have a secret obsession with being branded the 'Most Eligible Bachelor' for the longest stint with the belief that not getting married or committed will make you as desirable as Salman, and then sliding into oblivion.

    But, never mind its all written and every script looks the same.Thus, you have the girl with the wrong guy (without fail !) and a pursuant who because of his endeavor is branded Raavana. This guy takes up to the tried and tested formula of Raavana which interestingly and not laid emphasis upon, was also practiced by Rama. He absorbs himself into meditative acts to please Lord Shiva ( to bless his writing ! ). If you really desire to achieve something like a stubborn kid, the whole world and the heavens above conspire against you, to not have it and thus the tricking of a kid by god. Both Rama & Raavana worshiped to please the Goddess who has many forms and has cast a spell on the whole world but she would bless Rama a victory, and Ravanna a defeat that would be orchestrated in every little village of the country not to mention the big cities where they burn him heartlessly and in a grand manner . And his fault ?, a crush on someone ( Love does not happen in Kalyuga ! & I would love to be proved wrong !) .

  Why is my opinion or this opinion important or relevant in any manner, I'll leave that to the readers (whom I force feed by writing sympathizing traps to read ;) ). The religious mythological controversy continues with every party making it a point to cash upon it and I am doing the same. Having taken a dig  at Kejaiwal & Congress, how could have BJP stayed off this high voltage controversy ( At least i think so !).I just read that Sushma Swaraj has take the comment on Radha in the movie 'Student of the Year' to score political points. Does she realize that 'Radha' is the characteriztion of every girl who can dance so well and has a tendency to lead the flirty Kanha, thus in these circumstances what would Kanha or anybody do, show some guts, dare her for a dance and its highly likely that she would show traits of being  a woman and act shy and thus you win. I am sure this is what they wanted to portray and besides Kanha being naughty, can say whatever he wants, why are self-appointed sentinels of religion taking offence.

  Every attempt at looking into the matter from a different angle has been suppressed like 'Three Hundred Ramayanas : Five Examples & Three thoughts on Translation' by A.K.Ramanujan and thus generates even more doubts. Diwali celebrates the victory of Good over Evil, what kind of good is it going to do to the society if we keep censoring opinions and feelings.The other half of the story is never heard and a Laxman Rekha is drawn which nobody dares to cross and everybody is threatened not to cross. I tried to make an attempt which would not go down well with many and would borrow a line from a poetry written originally in hindi  "If ever I cross the Laxman Rekha, Consider me Rama....Consider me Rama !!". And if you thought that the writer should take a crash course course in mannerism and have offended you in any manner, accept my apologies and believe me am trying only to express myself and it be taken in the same vigor   

  This one is a 'Stop Gap Arrangement', which is also the title of my next blog and like almost every stop gap arrangement ends up, might fall with its 'face first' injuring your teeth and mine would be more painful with the braces. Don't know which one is me, but yes the crush is pure as it can be. Everyone viewpoint counts and should be registered and passed to coming generations,even Rama sent Laxman to learn from a dying Raavana but we did not hear much of it.This was based on pure imagination (which seems to be gone now and hence The End !) and has nothing to do with my religious inclinations or beliefs. :-)

Figuring it Out !!

     A picture speaks a thousand words and thus you can imagine how many would be there in a movie. Now let your estimates go crazy and you get the figure associated with a real time moving picture that life is. Figuring out the keywords of this passage through time would require some meditative analysis and reasoning with yourself. A little casual approach, and it directs you to one of the innumerable wrong options. Life is one of those subjective type questions with step marking and blind guesses will make you take horrible wrong turns. Probably there is no right option as more than the options its the reasoning to arrive that matters, every option leads to a conclusion, sometimes so random that when you look back, your own decisions don't make sense. And those are the whole bunch of ingredients to cook recipes beyond the purview of my fiddling mindset and an abdominal torture for the one who eats(reads). Life has been an experiment and blogs are a figment of my mind, so lets see how 'Figure It Out !!' turns out to be.

   Everyone has a very clear picture as to what they want to do in life, and invariably its becoming 'Somebody'. Without knowing why and where this might lead us to, we keep on travelling and reach milestones like the' Six Figure' salary, that 'Perfect Shape' ( more so in the other person as its a pain to make one ), Arranged Marriage/Love Marriage, BJP/Congess or the simple yet tricky 'how to grow facial hair', mistaking them for Destinations. The human (man) fixation with the perfect figure is to sound 'SEXY' when put in words. The worst of it all, is the case of the 'Eluding Percentiles' which if you miss by a whisker can make you a reptile and life moves at a snails pace, crawling a lifetime to take that single step which now becomes a journey. Thus we get tired because the milestones might give you the mental comfort of having come a long way but the hot sun above does not give a damn about it. And thus you begin once again with your journey to 'Figure it Out'.

  Most of the times we are chasing somebody else's dreams and thus do not care to see what we are following and where it might lead us to. Dreams become a nightmare with the 'Sense of Honor' replacing the 'Sense of Humor' and thereby making you look arrogant. Those complex numbers would not give you any clue and keep you eluded and thus you make random guesses to 'Figure It Out'.

    Having completed 25 years with four seasons each, makes it a century of seasons faced, but I am yet to form my strategy to score and how much is too much.  Just because you are batting first doesn't mean you surmount a total as huge as Mt. Everest ( read Mt. Kukas or Kolli Hills, whichever you found tougher). Sounds too deep and high at the same time?, it does to me as well but I am sure its a momentary feeling like the one which kept you fixated for a while when a certain someone did not wish on your birthday and would probably do very soon. By now, I should have figured out my life, the path I want to take and the destination I want to reach and probably have found a companion in the process. But, here I am, travelling in two boats (always !) with my mind fixated on the Cruise that I missed and the places that I could not see. Boats are not meant for discovery of new lands but can't deny that I am chasing the dream with my eyes open. The likelihood of a strong wave torpedoing my little boat is huge but I still want to pursue what is forbidden.

    And that can explain how a 'Chatterati' is slowly turning into a man of few words, a lot of updates and a dozen blogs (accurately). You need a place to vent your anger and nothing can beat a combination where you don't have to see the listeners (readers) in pain. The ideas are always there but you don't know how to give it a structure and that's the kind of stuff we need to figure out. That explains the prison of innovation and the gallows of creativity I have built. Blogs are one more way of expressing yourself to impress others, qualifying as one the 10 most annoying social network disasters and everyone knows where you live but they have mercy on you. But being a self confessed crap-writer has its own benefits, you garner sympathy even when you say this is going to be bad and people read to find 'how bad', 'did he dig his own  grave ,even deeper ? (It will be fun to watch him fall down etc )'.

    The constant irritant of 'Where am I going?' that your mind poses at you, makes you contemplate a course correction half-way through the journey. The reassuring 'Its never too late' makes us contemplate the likelihood of a possible strong wave that would throw you on the right course. Keeping your fingers crossed and eluding that publish button like the girl who would give you encouraging signals but never be your date. After driving long you wish that there is a dead end so that you stop this journey without a destination in mind. All the hopeless thoughts of 'Figuring it out' are just not taking up a shape and leading to a  never ending highway and I feel like being in the middle of  a sea, hanging to a log. Just about when you were going to give up and close your eyes (to sleep) so that you don't have to see the tragic end, a little red light starts glowing at a distance in the Facebook sea. The light is of a rescue boat, Notification that I am now friends with a Super Hot Model and Struggling Actress. The combination of those two in a girl's career makes her game for pampering and nothing beats a piece of poetry. By now you must be thinking 'How on earth did that happen ?', I'll narrate the whole story. The 'Social Network' provides an easy go for the ego and you can send requests to random girls you don't know without having to face the embarrassment of being ridiculed in public (never ever do that with the ones you know !). 

  Strange as it may sound, all those figuring thoughts are gone and have given way to fascination. I'll leave all those worries for 'Destiny', she knows best. , I would follow wherever she leads me, after all this is what makes life exciting and full of surprises. All of a sudden, everything is right in front of me and I know exactly what is going to keep me occupied for the coming months. With a little editing you can pass off your confusions as poetry or better edit the old ones you have been hiding because that certain someone does not care to listen and your friends are allergic to literature (I'll showcase them very soon by tricking them and you as well! ) . I certainly have figured out that that writing is going to be the one thing I am going to focus on (on purpose),and why not?, there haven't been a girl who went unimpressed. For that to happen, my readers should be able to figure out what I want to say, believe me I am working on that and a little encouragement from your side would take me the distance . ♥.♥

Days of Navratras & Dandiya Nights !!

  The ten day long festival of Durga Puja  marks a special status in my scheme of things. With a hint of fog , a season full of festivities slips into your world taking advantage of the musical sound generated by rain drops hitting the roof of garage. Though it could be strictly because of the geographical reasons, the hint of fog in the morning and the coolness of air gave the festival a hint of mystery and thus divinity .Suddenly you have  Diwali, Christmas , New Year Eve and the most important of them all your 'Happy Birthday' sitting in your drawing room, uninvited but a pleasant surprise you always wanted . You do your best to entertain them by an unending series of tea and pakodas. But then its your fault to have not seen the signs when its been raining and even the hideous Peacock residing in the bushes behind Amber-B,came out dancing in the rain, marking the beginning of winter in Trichy. 

   Weather apart, Durga Puja accords a very high importance in the lives of  the people in the eastern and western parts of our country, not to mention the residents of Hindi-heartland who have a habit of inviting themselves in every celebration and occasion. Having lived in all the three of them, and being away from all in  the festival is like home-sickness multiplied by three.  Yes, they organize the 'Dandiya Night' here and I would certainly go, but it cannot match the enthusiasm it used to generate at home. Everybody's  in the Hindi-heartland is busy migrating to some well lit street in one of those metros, but deep inside all of us miss the familiarity of those 'Galli's' which we called home. The narrowness of  those roads created near chaos like situation during festivals due to lack of public amenities and infrastructure, threw the already crawling traffic out of gear. The place could be labeled  happening in the sense that even petty non events made the politically opined public go into critic mode, but strangely nobody seemed to complain during pujas.

     The sleeping small city woke up from its slumber into celebration mode ,everyone including those self appointed collectors of  'Non-Government Machinery', the 'Revenue Officers' of the 'Protectors' became a part of the preparations. The ones who used to collect protection money by force and fear, would seek charity for a change. The money would go in making  different kinds of 'Pandals' and there used to be an unsaid rivalry to make the best pandal. On the tenth day, the marginalised District Collector would judge one of them as the best decorated pandal and even award a prize. Being a small town boy, you cherish all those little things in life like waiting for every holiday and the 'Fair' that came along and meant the world for the 8 year old you. Durga Puja had a greater call as it called for a bigger holiday, half of them declared by mutual understanding between the kids. The day began with waking up early and plucking flowers from others gardens if the darkness provided and if not manning the flowers in your garden. The belief of rendering the freshest and highest number of flowers to please the goddess would make sure that this exercise happened every day.Securing the flowers meant contributing to the cause, and we kids could do our little by doing it.ho . A practicing religious family meant more than fetching flowers, it required getting up early in the morning and watching the special series on Durga Puja on DD. A linguistically pre-occupied nation gulped down the series in Bengali and I am sure if they show it during the waking hours there will be fodder for linguistic wars..  And that explains the few sentences I speak in between, beyond which the language fails me.

   We watched the series acting like kids absorbed in the 'bhakti', so that the elders would let us be, all day long and then in the evening all wishes in the 'Fair' would come true.   And this would become the reason for taking up fasts as well , the other more important and obvious ones being the propensity of being offered sweets and not having to study . But little did I know that my sin is petty compared to the gourmet meal that Punjabi's indulge into during fasts,which virtually includes everything tasty. Everyone has their own way of courting god and each is equally perfect. When we were very young, father would read the Durga-Saptsati story to us and we liked it, which kid would not. Being accorded such priestly status would draw us kids also to take up reading the Durga-Shaptsati very early, though in installments compared to the single stretch reading that father would do .The little that we could take away from it was not to ever invite the ire of a women, which would be redefined later and gain a new dimension in the context of the Raas-lila by Lord Krishna.

   Shifting to Gujrat introduced me to new festivals like 'Ganapati Puja' which was celebrated at a grand scale. The change in the way they celebrated Durga Puja and called it Navratri instead,was just not acceptable, dancing in circles revolving on ones foot was not cool and only a means of  bringing dizziness. All I wanted was the 'Fair' and the daal to be cooked the normal way. Its the larger things in life that we can cope up with and adapt,the smaller ones are prone to sensitivities. Having ruined my festival all i cared is that they should leave the 'Daal' alone and not mess up with it,  which now tasted like a culinary disaster for someone from the Hindi-heartland. I was told that the 'Dandiya-Raas', as the dancing around in circles was called, was a form of dancing which eptomising the fight between Mahisasura and Goddess, and this could be precisely the reason for some strikes landing on your head. Why on earth a kid who had been brought up on overdose of emphasis on becoming a good boy, take up to being 'Mahisasura' ,aware of the fact that there were  too many pretending to be , there was no incentive to be one.

  Hormonal changes took care of the abnormal dislike of Dandiya, catalyzed by SRK movies and the girls who started looking pretty. Thus what seemed to be being 'Mahisasura', now appeared to be 'Krishna' and every girl, a Gopi. The one chance to dance with every girl in the town without even having to ask and getting turned down, appeared to be the one wish you wanted for those fasts, and fast or no fast it was granted during Navratras . It was the Indian way of meeting an imperishable source of dates which could keep you excited and interested in the next day. 'Dandiya' kept pace with the developments and became 'Disco Dandiya' ,an amalgamation of sacredness and sensitivity. 

    The new makes way for the old and catches your fancy without fail. Shifting gears from the 'Practicing Priest' style to the 'Dandiya Dancer' was so good. However,writing a blog about an activity enjoyed best by being out there  it like hitting the reverse gear straight from number 5. It did skid and has left a very bad imprint on the road of blogging. The situation could have been worse had it been in print , which could have been like being hit by the dandiya sticks of all those innumerable girls in 'Backless Cholis' , flaunting their tattos and men falling over each other to burn me for lack of a model 'Raavan'. Did u say it would still have been nice ( think again !), trust me butterfly tattoo or dragon ,its always wise not to invite the ire of a woman.   :-)

The Comeback KiD !!

           All those who thought that I was one of those 'One-Day Wonders' and have fallen past the edge of the cliff into oblivion, this is to announce my comeback. Yes, I was dropped but here I am, back in the larger format of the game which they think is as good as retirement. Contemplated and even tried being the commentator, but its tough sitting on the edge and watch the action, I would rather be a coach, but even that would have to wait. Cutting the crap and coming straight to the matters of that 'Cap n Jersey' which most of the times is the 'Million Dollars, Billion Dreamt- Blue Team India' one. Blue  is cool but once it goes to somebody else it makes you cry tears of blood and it’s not a good feeling as the 'Bleed Blue' campaign is misunderstood to be. 
  
   One of the many oddities that unite us as a country is our ability to forget the opener who played a crucial knock n hammered hard the already softened ball & submitted bowlers. ‘Cometh the Hour...Cometh....The Middle Order’, picture perfect when all the photographers bring out their cameras. Lights, Camera ...The Glamorous Presentation Ceremony, Champagne flowing in every direction making u look like the Knight in Shining Armour. Clapping in a corner, stands the epitome of perfection knowing petty well that a conspiracy is being hatched to bid him farewell.  At the end of the game all we remember is only the ‘Man of the Match’, who cares about the ones who laid the foundation. He might act as the wall but deep inside there are cracks that he cannot hide for long. He looks around to find a quiet corner to cry out loud because the next morning, once again the gentleman act has to be performed.

     All this did not happen over a night and on a fateful evening when the night watchman went on strike and refused to rotate it thereafter. All your life you might have played with the spirit of the game, running hard, taking quick singles, even if the probability of the batsman on the other end scoring a run is totally dependent on the bowler being predictable and you are faced with this 'Night-Watch' who would just not rotate the strike. The flashy hitters seem to have forcibly taken over from the purists of the game.  Either running has gone out of fashion or everyone is trying to keep you off the strike.  Hence on display is a very good example of the individual sport hijacking team sport in its own game .Making  you look like a drag on the run-rate, so much so that even the 'Night-Watchman' gains the confidence to act like a Pro and might even  end up giving you a few tips about how to connect the ball. Destiny-The Selector tries all to drop you in the name of rest, but you cannot rest people for long without an appropriate excuse. Thus they try one of the many tactics borrowed from military to cricket i.e. control the dominant one by teaming him up with someone who won’t stand for long. Thus send a batsman so low in the order that even if he stands the test of time, won’t be able to score much.

     But then its the temperament which takes you the distance and not the power behind the strokes and thats why we had a Rahul Dravid & Sachin Tendulkar. The weight and size of the ball would make it implicit that it would carry to the 'Hungry Hyena' formation ,waiting eagerly for the tiger to fall. The tiger who had provided them with a steady supply of hunt. So, I would borrow a few gentlemanly response from these legends and frustrate those who thought bowling negative line is much more smarter than a Yorker . And why stop at .22 pound cricket ball, the football needs to be put into the goalpost and I am going do that with the ‘Head of  a Player’ act. When the going gets tougher the tougher doesn’t go hiding and takes things head on. This is a header into the goalpost which has a goalkeeper, coz I don’t think its a feat to score without one. Those who think this is a castle in the air, I can hear the croud cheering me up. If you thought that it did not connect, replace cricket with life and it would make sense to you. Down but not out yet, I might give in someday, but not today. There is still some game left in me and I am going to stay till the end, no matter what’s the outcome :-))

Of Rugged Denim & White Tee....!!

    Only a few objects have stood the test of time as Denim has.And while 'The evolution of Denim' has been in line with men and some women as well ,who are now a different breed altogether .Its denim which had to bear the cuts & flinching in the name of styling . So while being Sober & Gentlemanly has not gone out of fashion,the good old trousers are now targeted at a very niche shelf of the closet.  Denim has its own history but still celebrates our times like nobody else ,as  rugged and worn-out as it may be,it gets better with time.Interestingly,Blues are a turn on when it comes to denim.So while the forms (design) vary,' Blue' is the sacred color of Denim religion.Though the wearer might have a hidden agenda of differentiating thyself in unearthing that 'So Simple YET So Different' piece from the busy lanes of Fashion Street or Sarojani Nagar.Denim, 'The Great Social Equalizer' hugs every body without caring for the social,gender,economic or the age divide. 

  The colour 'Blue' as an adjective signifies calm and peace , as a noun it indicates turbulence and depression, nevertheless 'Blue' seems to be the mood of the moment.It is also poles apart from the general social behavior of accepting things the way they are.Blue Denim is the new Khaki of all those who want to break apart from the 'Chalta Hai' attitude. While, a denim wearer cannot be blindly associated with 'can-do' attitude, it certainly is associated with the restless youth who are fed up with the way things are .Denim is an uprising by the common man against the elite, the working class against the corrupt system.Its the a manifestation of the struggles in our everyday life and never giving up.

   'The White Tee', a poor cousin of 'Blue Denim' has also made its mark though a colourless one. A priceless  possession and probably the only thing without which your wardrobe cannot be deemed complete. Prince charming to the poor paper boy,white tee looks equally good on both. One of the many reasons to wear one is to portray yourself as humble and trustworthy. And being trustworthy is never going to be out of fashion.The enormity of designs,fits and fabrics makes it one of the most versatile male garment which can someday threaten the hegemony of ladies tops which are miles ahead when it comes to provide variety.  

  The journey of the white tee has been a little comfortable and the arrival,celebrated.Made by the fabric and colour of choice for ages, the white tee or shirt becomes an ideal choice be it party or playground.Its as if, the tee has a personality which matches up to the occasion.Like, an actor moving from one skin to the other,it goes along with denim or khakis with equal elan .Once in a white tee,one feels like himself and this is irrespective of what number he or she is . Being elegant and high maintenance associates the white tee or shirt with class as the common man does not find the time and luxury to maintain it.  

 Together they form the formidable combination that everyone aspires to be,durable and clean of any stains.So, the next time you see this combination, try pick one as soon as possible.Its a revolution of the attire against the imposing dress code.Its like liberalization of the clothes from the shackles of the the mediocrity.Denim & White Tee are now happily married to each other and cool looks is a family tradition .It is in line with the  men being made,rough on the edges,soft at heart , metro-sexual in their approach. Long live 'Denim', the unsung hero of modern times. :-)

Making the First Move....A Little Late !

   Hitting the iron when its hot and hitting the hot girl ,are different ball games.The first one requires a straight forward method while the second requires a little more finesse as exhibited by wrist work when batting. Many a bats-MEN have been enticed into offering a shot to those 'Spinning Ones' who make you go round about them.  See the ball but don't hit it .I know its tempting but wait till the moment when the keeper and slip fielders become relaxed and then cheekily playing your stroke. Its been a foolproof strategy, the catch lies in the fielder leaving it to the destiny of wicket-keeper’s gloves and this is your little window of opportunity, when you must jump inside stealthily and sweep the heart away.Though it might sound stealing and not gentlemanly sport in any way,knowingly and unknowingly we use similar strategy in our lives where sometimes the purpose of a blog might just be an indicator to a previous one.Now, that i have directed you to what you might have missed, concentrate on this one, the Archives are not going anywhere.

   Taking a bold step up and meeting the ball at its pitch,is an audacious act and might compel the bowler to bowl negative line and the bats-MEN would not like that to happen. Many legends and a good friend of mine used to leave the bowl when its beyond your reach and thus invited the bowler to bowl up. Its a different matter that my friend used to get clean bowled in the process, most of the times. In the process you might lose a few precious deliveries but see the bigger picture here. For those of you who might think cricket is too T-20 and leaves no scope for mind games,let me tell you its still 120 deliveries.

 If I may digress from digression and come back to where I began. To hit or not depends on the how well you read the ball and it does not matter whether you MOVE (footwork) or not if you have the knack to connect it right. Nevertheless, the significance of 'Making a Move' cannot be dismissed for a lad like me who is debuting. Different strokes for different people and I will go the Dravid way. Its honourable to score a freind in the process than being declared a JERK !!

Bring Out Your Red's

   Its 'Festember' time once again, and thoughts, of going back to the same road which you always dreaded to be full of Heart-Breaks,  knock at your head. I believe that is clue enough to hint and thus to hit at what is amiss( A Miss !) in life. Having taken enough lessons from the romantic movies that I lately have started borrowing , I am going to add some zing in my life by  some colouring and that too in red( not to mention the OtheR thing which has filled my life again with a re-MARKed in red ). The situation should normally push me towards a gloomy secluded corner of library, where I am found by default .And thus, I am going to throw some light on me this time and that too the spotlight as they use in those 'Choreography Nights'. In sync with my philosophy of taking an easy and fun filled approach during  testing times( youu don’t want to look like someone who tried and still failed ), I am going to take a week off and go back to slate and find out why the drawing in process is  going haywire. Having done that many times and failed an equal number of times, I would take the safer option of colouring it, and that too with red. Anything coloured is bound to be more appealing than the bland sketches and some red would make it a masterpiece (Or a cheap imitation ! ), guess that qualifies as being smart :-)

   I think that, by now you might have discovered that from where the rotting smell is coming from. And thus I would go to the root of the problem and shave off that beard which I thought looked macho, foolishly forgetting that it’s the car that is central to the purchaser’s mind and not the colour. But, what if you want to position yourself like the American Dream ‘Black Ford Model-T’ OR (OR, not again ! ) our princely and unfailingly white Ambassadors from bygone era, only a little trendy and yes, in red. Yes, it makes a huge difference and that’s the reason why McD and other big brands go for red. If McD is so desirable because of the red, painting myself red, won’t be a foolish idea ( at least I think so ! ).

   The kind of colours that men and women have traditionally chosen for themselves has always been in tune with what they want to portray themselves as. This proposition certainly discounts the ones who wear shiny ones and aspire to become a fish ,and a ‘Hilsa’ at that, pricey, classy and tasty as well. The clarity of male logic makes us fill our wardrobes with shades of blues (denim Always!) and whites, but women certainly don’t seem to appreciate that. A recent experiment establishes that women choose pinkish things in life. So, while you thought that it’s the muscles that they go for, it’s your being in the pinkest of health ( That’s literary logic,though living in Pink City-Jaipur for the best years of your life might not have helped ! ). The male belief of ‘peach not being a colour, and a fruit’, leaves us with red, the colour of love and choice. 

   By now, you might have also sensed a burning smell, and where is it coming from. I guess am not wired right and thus the frequent fireworks in my circuit (which I put on display as if its celebrations of Diwali or New Year ! ) .The few of all those  surviving active grey cells are now daydreaming about the evening to follow. At the same time another signal is being transmitted, probably from that part of the human brain where fear resides,that red might alert the prey about the camouflage I am putting on,as there are many who do it on a a regular basis and I am a novice here.

    The game is on,wish I hunt one down and pray to be the prey tonight.Yes, I believe miracles do happen even if you have wishes which cancel each other and the second one being the preferred one here( it saves you from making the awkward and risky first move.......also the subject of my next blog ). :-)

Arrival of The Second Fiddle !

The unassuming 'Second Fiddle' has declared his arrival and it applies to the 'hers' as well. For matters of simplicity and being courteous towards women, I would hereafter make this piece gender biased. The argument for the same is based on the preferential treatment of women and hence the omission here. So much for scoring brownie points, lets get back to the proposition we were considering.’Second Fiddle', the guy who does not take the lead in any work but ends up completing it and did not aspire to achieve something very significant or serious in life, has never had it any better. Always being the one who improvised, has now chosen to be assertive. And voicing or lending an ear to this opinion are millions of Indians. Not only has he got social acceptance but his life is now being celebrated as well. Thus, its no surprise that the chief protagonists in India's most loved writer's (Chetan Bhagat) novels were individuals who lacked the drive to go the distance and were comfortable being the pillion rider. While the driver had the skills and took all the pains to steer in the crowded and narrow lanes of life, our pillion rider had the high position and that is not only because the seats are designed so. And when they arrive at the party, the pillion rider gets down first to make his presence felt, while our heartthrob rider makes a guest appearance of sorts as he had to take the pain of parking the bike. By now you must be thinking that this piece has also skid away on flattery road, hold that thought as I am about to make my point.

  It is more than coincidence that the movies which represented the same shift in social acceptance became trend setters and I mean more than the hair do. Be it RDB, Dil Chahta Hai or Zindagi Naa Milegi Doobara. The pattern continues into the breath n blood of the country where a SRK & Dhoni take up the captain-ship and the likes of Sachin & Aamir, steer the ship. A country which used to Hero-worship the heroes and leave the rest to the vagaries of nature and the mercy of Darwin's Theory, has learnt to give greater significance to otherwise boring lives of millions. And it makes a good sale as well when you are catering to the bottom of the pyramid. The ever increasing financial prowess of the country has only acted as a catalyst in paradigm shift. A changing socio-economic scenario has been the facilitator, where being greedy is no more gross and aspirations have moved past 'Roti-Kapda-Makaan'. This has given people the luxury to experiment and the aspirations of living life their own way or making your way the highway.

   There is a mysterious attractiveness in being simple; being everybody's admiration and nobody's dream, and this is what makes our second fiddle so desirable. The common man is tired of the living meaningless superfluous lives, chasing one dream, all of them, all at a time. Always running at a very fast pace and reaching nowhere, and thus he finds solace in the simplicity of these second fiddles who unfailingly succeed in the end and which is as far from reality as the hero-worshiping ones. But then these seem to be true for the most part and that draws our attention. This might explain the present era of too many superstars.

   It also makes for a good climax when the unassuming and deemed to fail , makes it. The second fiddle is also aware of its gaining prowess and the ability to topple the ruling elite and is probably planning a silent revolution. This might sound as socialist ,having been undermined for times immemorial ,the second fiddle now wants to break apart (as you might have felt, had this been written on paper !).

   I am a might have fiddled with an idea which should have been expressed better but then I thought it better to practice what I digress !.Nevertheless, being the second fiddle has become fashionable and he is here to stay for quite some time. :-)

Making it Personal !

 Try recalling the last time you held grudges against someone who happened to be a beneficiary of something you were vying for.There is high probability that the time was in recent past.No matter what our values are and how rational we might pretend to be,we do not mind hitting them where it hurts. The recipient of this uncalled for 'violent hatred' which suits best to vent your anger in written form, can be anybody ranging from the not so nerd looking guy who made it to your dream college while you kept wondering whether the paper was of Greek language, seeing the omnipresence of symbols from the language. A little more evil could be the guy who not only made it to the college but also stole away your crush. But, most of the times the offence can be imaginary and the recipient 'innocent in all the charges leveled'. But no logic can be a counter-logic that "it was supposed to be a free world & the accused, hands in glove with with the system has trespassed on somebody else's dreams ", and as we all know "trespassers would be prosecuted". And thus, we take it upon ourselves to punish the intruders.

  A vigilant mind keeps looking for opportunities to 'beat them in your own game', given they fall for the trap. The optimist in them or the opportunist as you would believe them to be, would fall for the trap and thus a very good chance for you score it even. Irrespective of  the fact that the addition of  scores of  two quantities of  different systems  into one unit is mathematically unacceptable.'Irrelevant' even in your user friendly 'Tally' or 'Excel',if you want it to be more professional. But who considers maths or mathematical softwares when the mind is enjoying seductive pleasures in deriving unbalanced equations, heavily in our favor. In an attempt to prove our competence we sum up everything available on Our Hand Side equal to the one thing we considered worthy and which unfortunately ended up Their Hand Side.

   This secret desire to prove ourselves leads us to challenge 'geeks and nerds' for friendly cricket matches or 
 any other such thing where they are believed to fail. Playing victim as love to,the result of the game could be to our surprise but it still gives great satisfaction that we tried to make it even. Not only that it gives one more opportunity to hatch an even more sinister conspiracy and finally beat them in the next round of this never finishing tournament of 'us against them'. Probably this fight is as natural as the ones in the Food Chain and gives the world a reason to get up every morning and get going, mine is to win the next game and the next and the one that follows. 

 The feelings seem exaggerated in the light of the analogy and the writer be spared being branded a psychopath.  :-)

Single Digit Scores !

 'Low Scorer' has been a demeaning phrase for me as by now i have accepted it as the two words that describe me, and this is the only answer that i have ready for those word games where a guy like me who loves to make complex sentences fails miserably. These scores assume greater significance when the sums threaten not to add up to the magical number of 40, the ubiquitous pass marks. 

  The ranking system also does no good by creating an unnecessary confusion in the minds of students by the system where the highest scorer is ranked in inverse order of their scoring. Many of us figure it very late in our lives and by then get settled in our ways of low scoring. On bouncing wickets and for wide off the syllabus papers, there are likely to be single digit scores. Like in cricket, this kind of paper gives you the room to play your shots and invitingly so, with fielders manning the hitting areas. Thus, most are caught unawares.

 The whole idea of a game or exam is to provide a platform for the geniuses to excel and the averages to play strokes of geniuses and survive. However, in this scenario the probability of a genius failing is higher than the diligent who would outshine them without fail. The contest shifts from 'between the teams' and 'among the examines' to 'both the teams against the curator' & examines taking upon the role of refugees trying to cross the LAC-'Line of Attention Control', which could have been precisely the reason to set such a paper.

The CGPA system helps you become the academically worthless but mystical 'Five Point Someone' and thus a very risky stock promising high returns. Every time you get those grades and score, the wily fox in you plans a coup against the system because the CGPA system and the wickets in the subcontinent give you ample opportunity to score heavily in other papers and home series and still be bag the' highest scorer of the year'. What we gain out of it is even more phenomenal as in the MGS (Mental Grading System), a comeback is is always rated higher than being consistent. The society attaches heroic status to those who make a comeback as somewhere they get attached to the same players and secretly wish the same players to come back and simultaneously crying hoarse that youngsters are not given chance. And, its been very generous one at that, it celebrates one's fight out of the mess discounting the fact that they landed themselves and are should be equally condemned for it.

    In the tryst with pass marks, these people are bound to gain a lot of confidence ( excluding me, I had enough of it and it has started rotting my confidence !) by looking like out of the pack and having distinct advantage over others in testing times .It makes a good story and that is precisely the reason why i in my little way is utilizing it. It is like one of those misleading financial ratios and proportions where if you do not consider the base , you do not get the exact idea. So, while you are pushed to the edge and might have a fall as well, the fatal approach is dubbed as martyrdom and if not so at-least your fall is celebrated as the few moments when a man got wings. Thus, the single digit scorer scores many brownie points and loses pointers.

  I do not know how much you will grade this , most probably in single digit and rightly so as I deviated in all directions and did not reach any conclusion after making more than one 'Fresh Start'. But then it can be a very good exhibition of how one can misses the trophy for the spirit of the game & many a single digit scorer endeavours for the same, besides there are the likes of me who would let go the one in hand and beat around the bush. Not to mention the birds would fly every time as I believe your minds would have taken long back. But there is always a supplementary to establish your lost credentials and i assure of it in my next blog.

Keep Believing. :-)

Spectator's View of Love Sport !!

LOVE is probably the most    ...............   . Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word. Poets and writers across cultures have described love as an ‘Elixir of Life’ on one extreme to a ‘Drug’ on the other. Complicated & Addictive are the other adjectives associated with it. So many parallels have been drawn that the world around us seem to be made of 3-D boxes of love, separated from each other and this is what we assumed love would never do.( Spoiler Alert....the blogger has a unique distinction in drawing parallels as they always have a stream of points to refer....rather than drawing one yourself, which is tough given that  you are supposed to draw it straight and the ruler is snatched to keep it original). It seems, God has been on a holiday or probably he has turned a blind eye or worse colluded with a few of his favourite subjects to help them grab more space which is legitimated by the laws of destiny while there are others who live in cramped dwellings. The glittery and shining world of love which was carved for the destined, engulfing the surroundings to an extent that the whole literally world is painted red with some shades of black whose intensity depends upon the failure of the writer in matters of love. This manifestation is forced upon the real world as well and those who do not see eye to eye and everything in Red are deemed frustrated.

 These parallels have largely been drawn by those who had success or could not play till the end. Little has been said by those who have seen this mega sporting event from the spectators stand. Interestingly, all the spectator stand are also named after these legends of the game as Romeo-Juliet,  Soni-Mahiwal and Radha-Kishan and the spectators also love fashion themselves as one of them and thus downgrading their own Love Rating.  Its been the latter half of the last type which has created the most trouble for the aspiring debutant. These players neither fail nor retire.  Like a game, the trophy is for the taking and the best players keeps on participating in events across places and seasons for various tournaments. They keep on being selected as a Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni, but the purists of the game just have to go or act as second fiddle as Rahul Dravid. So while a helicopter shot might catch your fancy, the gracious ‘ straight from the middle of the bat’  goes unnoticed.  Excuse me for putting some of your favourite players out of the limelight and making an X-ray of their game and making it public as well.

  So much for a Saturday morning, two more parallels added to the confusing plethora of synonyms of love, what i intend to say in this piece is that love is like any other achievable things in life where there is an eligibility criteria, a cut-off, a ranking order and coaching as well. Thus, there is always an answer to every way is though subjective but objectively pre-defined. So while some of the selected nerds and geeks succumb to the pressure, the rejects might just go on to make history. Like me, the highest number belongs to none of these categories. Unlike any other selection test most of us are deemed ineligible and thereby making the selection procedure an exercise of elimination .The social circumstances and conditioning of our minds make too many guys/gals chasing too few ‘Desirables’, not to mention this is done keeping the other gender in mind and some of the times the selection is in conformance to social norms. Thus, while the ‘Desirables’ are over-worked ( and they love it !), the demand is not met for the rest of them and its because of our self-devised  licence-permit system. The cut-off can be some of the times ridiculously high, higher than 5’ 4”, so high that you think that its set on purpose just to keep you out, no matter the seats will not filled and there is historical evidence to prove this point. 

  The analogy being drawn gets better when we consider the ranking order of the qualified candidates where a SRK or a Katrina would always top your list even though you know they are unavailable.Still when they do a ramp walk, generally they extend it a bit longer than the ramp and straight into your heart. While all they had to do was walk graciously, one step at a time, we do not notice the person who might have ran a race to reach us, flowers & chocolates in hand and a hand written heartfelt letter. So, while there are some lips we can read and minds we can decode, the loud voices of some are deemed noises inconsiderate of  the person’s endeavour of trying a hand at ‘Rock’, only to impress you and ready to look like a complete idiot and knowingly so. The descending order of ranking is also faultily counselled with it being a constant process and based on accidental coincidence or put in better words serendipity. Thus we ‘Settle With’, if its a long term proposition of the proposal or ‘Settle For’ the shorter version. 

  The aptitude for such a test becomes irrelevant when we consider the two new set of cases : 
Case 1 : The weight of your wallet is very high & 

Case 2 : Some of the things are always cool and thus be copied or better borrowed as it is e.g. Ray-Ban, Converse etc.

 Thus, it can be said that love is ‘conditioned’ mostly and not ‘happens’ as it is generally believed to be. Though there are exceptions and i celebrate them every ‘Valentine’s Day’, someday  i would certainly like to break out and become an exception myself if the general rule does not change for the better.