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.   :-)