Let's bring back the pen and paper

When was the last time you scribbled something on a piece of paper , let alone write a full document or letter for instance ? Signatures on official documents or on credit card receipts won't cont . I am sure only a handful of hands out there rising in affirmative to such a question . But not too long ago hand written paper was a dominant mode of communication . That was abut a couple of decades back , before the invasion of digital media into our private space . I use the word ' invasion' to emphasize on the rapid shift from pen and paper as the primary means of expression and communication to a strategically placed set of buttons with letters printed on them - the QWERTY keypad or keyboard as we know today .

Don't get me wrong here . I am all for the revolution that digital media has brought in our lives . In fact , without this very revolution , I would not have been able to be writing these words at this very moment with an intention of reaching out to a wide-spread audience out there . It's the convenience of electronics , far reach of the internet and the free platform that all forms of social media provides that has enabled people from across all spheres of life to share their opinions , irrespective of tone and nature .

But do you miss that feeling of your fingers grazing through a sheet of paper while your pen races down it to put your thoughts into words ? Don't you miss the feeling of seeing how artistically you would have stretched the loop in the tail of a G or that long strike you made on the letter 'T ? Even the blotted spots of ink and the strokes of correction had a charm of their own . The personal touch , you can say , that's amiss today . There was a time when one was known by how neat , artistic or messy was their handwriting .

via Google Images

Well , we had proper handwriting classes in our school back in the day . I am not even sure such a thing is taught in today's schools and even if it is ,whether there is much stress on it on part of the teachers or parents . Why would they,  knowing that even primary school students are expected to submit printed assignments now. When everything can be copied , pasted and edited , one can have the luxury of ignorance and being correct eventually anyway. A young mind could do without that luxury . Rather a little bit of hardship in the form of actual 'writing' would go a long way in imprinting the fact that not every wrong doing can be undone ; you have to bear the consequences of your actions

We tend to remember better what we write on paper rather than what we type on a computer or smartphone. In fact , there has been some research on this and it has been proven that traditional way of note-taking yields more benefits than the same done on a computer.

Why would you deprive your child of such an essential habit ?

But yes there are still some of us who enjoy the pleasure , even though occasionally , of putting pen to paper to jot down few lines of random thought or may be even keep a journal . Love letters and greeting cards – how can we forget them?!! The amount of intimacy that a hand-written note brings to a relationship is unparalleled compared to a WhatsApp message or an SMS . But in the rapidly changing dynamics of the dating world and relationships in general , hand -written letters or cards is very much a thing of the past and almost tagged as 'old school romance'.

I picked up a pen myself a few days ago after a long time ; longer than I could remember when was the last time . And surprisingly I did not recognize my own hand-writing and at same time had a tinge of sadness to have noticed the deterioration in  it. To be honest , my handwriting was not that great in the first place but it was still pleasing to the eyes to say the least , something which I could not say of it any longer. But I am not one to shy off from a battle . I kept on writing , scribbling words , random thoughts , mostly out of context . I wrote until my wrist started to ache a little , reminding me of the rustiness that had settled in . As they say , you never forget how to ride a bicycle , the same would be applicable for writing too. Once you survive the initial bumps , the road is one to content and joy.

So why don't you try for yourself . Pick up a pen or even a pencil for that matter and grab a piece of paper . Write a page on whatever is going on in your mind at this very moment . Write about anything and stop not until you fill up an entire page and then some more which I am sure you would be willing to. Let's bring back the pen and paper , at least some of it , enough to salvage the pride and relive the romance .

What we see may not be what it is !!

Let's talk about something that talks about everything - the media itself . The word media is a plural form of the word medium and it represents all sorts of tools to disburse information to the masses . Having gotten this out of the way , let's get to business . What was the last thing you subjected yourself to on any form of media ? There is a high possibility that it was on social media , the most powerful tool of information creation as well as distribution of our times . But still what was the news ? Was it some instance of  violence happening in some part of the country or how some politician has yet again abused his/her power to create mass hysteria ? When was the last time you read about something really positive and full of hope of a better future ; may be a new drug in the making or a new innovation that would solve the pressing problems of the society ? I bet , it was quite a while ago.

It's not like good things are not happening around you . There are definitely people working to make the world  a better place . There are noble initiatives being undertaken , acts of courage and selflessness being carried out and new discoveries and inventions happening . But who bothers ?

The thing is , this sort of information that ignites hope and fulfillment does not excite the human mind the way fear and anger does . You are most likely to discuss something that causes some sort of displeasure in you. It's the primitive nature of mankind to prioritize something that seems to threaten their existence rather than something that might conserve it . And almost all the media houses are catering to this primitive instinct .

via Google Image Search

There is a huge bias that has crept into the world of media over the years . Each and every news channel have their sworn allegiance to some political party or the other . Things were not the same during my growing up years . I still remember the topic for one of my school debates was 'The effects of media on the modern world' and all the participants talked about was whether or how the modern society has  benefited from the media more or less .  But as the times changed , people in power became more aware of the potential of this tool to not just reach out but even manipulate the general populace to form an opinion of their own interest . Even the social media is not bereft of this bias . There are people paid to handle Facebook accounts and Twitter handles just to forward and spread their party's agenda . Mind it , all these happen in the name of information and awareness.

So what to believe and what not to ? This is something that we need to answer ourselves . No one can make us believe something if we do not want to .  I have always believed that the world is not all black and white. There is no all-good or all-bad . There is always a lot happening on the other side of the coin, the side which is not being shown to us.

Mostly the public is neutral to any kind of bias , unless we are subscribed to some agenda ourselves, . So for the larger group , it would be in the best interest of our own sanity and peace of mind to question every bit of information that we are being bombarded  with over the news channels or social media . Take everything with a pinch of salt and understand before you react . Read more books on diverse topics and broaden your horizon of thinking.


"Knowledge is power. Information is power. The secreting or hoarding of knowledge or information may be an act of tyranny camouflaged as humility."    -   Robin Morgan

Book review : The Sialkot Saga

Courtesy : Google Images

I recently finished reading up , the Sialkot Saga ,  the latest book by Ashwin Sanghi .  Here's my review of the book.

The story revolves around the lives of two male protagonists , Arvind and Arbaaz . Both having their own ways and sense of business , start from humble beginnings to become two of the richest and most powerful people in India . Its a story of how their lives are  entwined owing to personal and business rivalries and how the political and economic scenario of India across several decades affect their decisions and actions .

While the narrative is interesting , there is an element of predictability as most of the events seem to have been portrayed in countless Bollywood movies . A young Muslim slum dweller starts from the streets of Mumbai to become the right hand man of the most powerful don of Mumbai eventually replacing the latter and earning a position of power in politics . A young Marwari boy starts on his own with unique ideas of money-making which do not border on the ethical and conventional to manipulating the share market and investment sector , amassing a great fortune in the process . It all sounds familiar but nevertheless interesting with adequate amount of drama .With Bollywood , underworld and politics thrown in the mix , it definitely packs a punch .

Like all other Ashwin Sanghi stories , this one too has a connection to ancient Indian history which is narrated in parallel to the main storyline , eventually merging into a single conclusion . The story brings into account powerful Indian rulers of different times starting right from Emperor Ashoka to Maharaja Ranjit Singh .  In the main plot , each decade is marked with significant events that changed the lives and mindset of the people of India .

Positives :

1) The crisp narrative leading the reader through several decades of events without suffering from unnecessary dragging .
2) Detailed explanations of the functioning of stocks , shares and investments with well placed actual references which makes the financial heroics of the protagonists realistic .
3) Major events in modern Indian history and politics have been very well crafted into the storyline.

Negatives :

1) Lack of any major twists or revelations . Predictable turn of events .
2) A lukewarm ending to an otherwise action packed story .


Overall , The Sialkot Saga is a heady mix of potent ingredients but might end up leaving the reader wanting for that missing element .

The bits and bytes of being an IT engineer in India...

Yeah, I am an engineer...more so an IT engineer. One of those million faces in the bandwagon that started rolling somewhere in the early 90's and has now become a major face of |India's economic growth. There is no denying the fact that the Indian IT industry is a major contributor to the country's GDP as well as its reputation for skilled workforce in the international arena.

But once we go down deeper, brushing aside the statistics and numbers, there we find a much humble, if not sorry, picture of an individual spending his entire youth , writing away lines and lines of code and then re-writing most of it  . Yes, the IT engineer himself. He is no superhero but someone super-humanly over-working and multi-tasking (read : slogging for hours , juggling between code, spread-sheets, tools and of course yes, Google, to meet the deadly deadlines). Yet unlike the doctors or even his engineering brethren from other fields like civil or mechanical, the society does not have the slightest clue of what he actually does, leave alone having any regards for his efforts. Even his family members spend pensive hours at night wondering what sort of lawful work extend to such unearthly hours when most of their neighbors are either sleeping or weeping over the latest episode of the popular TV soap  !!

But this guy was once a dreamer.  Armed with a geeky attitude towards life and the picture of a Matrix-like world, he had set out to create something brilliant that would save humanity someday. Slowly and slowly he had equipped himself with the various languages understood by the computers. Be it C, Java , Python or Oracle, there was no stopping him. He felt himself to be just a step away from becoming the next Tony Stark alias The Iron Man !!

And then something happened. Something seemingly exciting at first but supposedly sure to disappoint later happened...he got a JOB !! And overnight , the dreamer posed to change the world with he strokes of his keyboard finds himself encapsulated in the abstract world of a cubicle.  There he learns the norms and rules of this new world and by the time he comes to his own, the passionate dreamer morphs into a deadline-chasing machine. His dreams squandered and ideas under-rated, the guy gets programmed to perform the same tasks, day after day and then getting assigned some other task, perform it day after day. 

And among all these, the fear of being labelled an under-performer looms all the time. There are also frequent rumors of downsizing going around in the office canteen. So he postpones his plans for the weekend to the next weekend , only to postpone them again to the next. He loses track of  important dates like birthdays and anniverseries and gives family functions a miss. He slogs and slogs harder to get those few extra bucks to sustain a decent livelihood. After all, the society still knows he is an ENGINEER !!

Just in case...

How many times have you wondered what if you had gone up and asked somebody about what had been boggling your mind all the time ? Most of the times you have let it pass only to realise your mistake later or further wonder !!

The world we live in is moving fast . So fast that even the surest of meetings get cancelled due to a a few seconds of negligence. We have evolved to realize the saying more than anything  else that 'Change is the only constant'.  In this rampantly changing picture we try to fit ourselves in and while we ponder over the chance of having an opportunity, somebody else is already walking out with it.

Be it about asking out that attractive friend of your cousin whom you see at a party or asking your boss for an extended vacation, it's all about asking the right questions at the right time.  Even if it is the slightest of chances, may be just 1 out of 100, yet you never know. That once percent of chance might be written in your name and waiting to be just grabbed.

That innocent looking hook with a dot under it, yeah the question mark, is a more of a friend than a bothersome companion and hence definitely not someone to be ignored. So let not those question bubbles popping in your sea of thoughts die a death of hopelessness. Rather give those questions a chance, a chance to come out and serve their purpose - to check for all those what-ifs and may-bes and create opportunities if exist. So the next time let not a question die its untimely and undeserved death. Reach out...and ASK, just in case there is a chance !!

Press F5!!

Being a techie is not easy...take my word on that. You kind of get addicted to all those shortcut keys you press millions of times throughout the day. And if the case is like mine....sitting before the office computer for 12 hours or more everyday , then you are bound to think like if you could get some of those shortcut keys working in your real life. Did I just mention life ?? Yeah!! if you do have one (pun intended). 

Think how easy life would have been if all you needed to do to reach office every morning was to just Ctrl X + Ctrl V yourself , from your home to your desk ????? Tempting isn't it ? Many a fight could have been avoided if we could just Ctrl Z our actions and words.Having a tough time collecting your groceries from the neighborhood store ? Ctrl A to your rescue...pick up all those packets at one go man!! What if you could just keep pressing Ctrl S throughout the day and save all those money you see coming in and going out of your account !! And pressing Windows key + L could have just locked them behind safety vaults.

But there's one shortcut key that excites me more than anything else. It's the utterly functional function key F5 , the Refresh button. Many a soul out there would have loved to start their lives afresh. What if we could just just stop worrying about cleaning up the mess and tackling those problems and could just start it from scratch. A clean slate, a life full of fresh energy and the ultimate sense of newness would be awaiting after the page reloads successfully.

Well, all said and done, just as we are rapidly moving towards a world of cyborgs, use of such keys and buttons for our day to day activities don't seem too much of an unreal fantasy. Till then, may be being more humane and less of a machine is not a bad idea at all. Life would have lost much of its meaning without the hardships and hassles. That explains the sense of triumph on reaching office on time , having fought your way out of the traffic. Picking up the grocery with seemingly several hands would still give you the sense of superhero-like strength and the endless number crunching to save your hard-earned money at the end of the month would keep on giving you the feel of being a genius. May be we can still keep our heads above the water until somebody presses down Alt + F4 !!

Lettered Locks

SSAPDROW

Nah! You are not looking at the name of any exotic bird species but what could be one of those seemingly meaningless  products of ingenious thinking that we call passwords. And what I did was to just twist and turn the letters of the word PASSWORD itself. Genius, aren't I?

Its needless to say, the amount of passwords that we got to create and remember of late gives us more of a sense of insecurity and paranoia then safety and security. "Keeping a single password for all your accounts is NOT SAFE"- says the golden rule of Internet security . And with the bombardment of online accounts at every step of today's world, we are supposed to regularly come up with innovative word jumbles that we believe won't be detected or guessed by someone else. Hats off to our creativity and most importantly our memory that is able to register these anti-dictionary creations of literature! Yet there are a substantial number who write down their passwords in their diaries,cellphones, etc. The latter case is more like hanging the key of your locker high above on a tree and assuming no one will be able to get there. Those people just refuse to realise that the tree itself might fall down some day!!

Whether you have been a victim of password theft or hacking you are bound to be really conscious about your passwords and if you aren't then you could be the very next one in the line with an emptied bank balance or a Facebook profile shouting aloud profanities. Yes, that's what we have turned into - A bunch of suspicious and paranoid individuals. But then, that's the price we pay for the ease and speed of Internet.

I am a Guerrilla Warrior...er..Blogger!!

They operate secretly, hide behind bushes and in ruins and end up in sewage tanks and underground drains walking over the shit of others and even smearing some of it on their faces (read: art of deception) and most importantly take on mightier oppositions. Very good!! Full marks to you for guessing (claps). Yes, I am talking about guerrilla warriors. I know ages of cinema has clarified your definition of a guerrilla. But have you ever heard about a guerrilla blogger? No? Then here’s a very, very confidential document that I am going to leak out right here, right now. If you are reading this consider yourself lucky ‘cause not many would lay their hands (rather eyes) over this, trust me. Delighted? Excited already? Okay, now calm down a bit and concentrate. Here’s something that would require some wrestling with your grey cells. Great secrets don’t reveal themselves that easily.

GUERRILLA BLOGGER IDENTIFICATION MANUAL:

Mode of operation: SECRECY!! That’s all it’s all about. You know that you know a potential guerrilla blogger the moment you realise you never knew about him/her. There is a slim chance you have ever heard an explosion (read: a blog-post) that they carried out with tireless efforts and dedication. And if you ever did, maybe it was you needed to refill your ammo (ideas you know) or it was just a mere case of straying into unknown territory (the guerrilla blogs of course)

N.B: The ‘you’ in the above point doesn’t refer to the civilians (non-bloggers).

Methods of offence: Now this is the part that is really going to help you to catch sight the elusive Guerrilla Blogger. Come on, concentrate a little more. I know it’s too much technical but can’t help you see.

1) They will carry out bold offensives. Now no one gets bowled over by these bold missions. But they simply carry out such missions (write posts that is, dumbo) that civilians don’t dare to, in a planned, clinical manner.

2) They will jump in to counter-fire (reply to comments) almost immediately. They just can’t afford to wait for further enemy movements which is too minimal in their case. Civilians must be secured first and if they can make one or two civilians to reach safe-zones (click “follow” or “Like”) then its party-time for a guerrilla blogger.

3) Once in a while, they will creep into high-sensitivity zones (those popular blogs) and shoot an well-directed bullet (comment).They are in constant look-out for those zones and keep track of their activity ( for tracking they use the much-effective Follow gadget)

Who they are up against: The Big Daddies and Mommas of Blogistan.

What do they fight for: Mainly, they fight to protect the territories called Interest and Talent. But it’s often a much vulnerable territory called Self-pride that gets attacked.

Arms ‘n’ ammunition: Self-mutating ‘Idea’ rifles, ‘Hope’ Bombs and ‘Spirit’ amours.

Accessories: Internet connection, computer

Costume: Doesn’t matter. They keep changing their appearance (templates, layout, and widgets) in the name of improvisation.

Great!! You have done well to finish the entire manual without being subjected to any poison-gas attack or a long-distance sniper shot(claps again). So you might be thinking how I know these Top Secret details and why am I giving it out. Well, well, I am very much like SRK in Don2 when he hands over that CD to the cops. Oh yes! You are right again (Now seriously, you owe me a treat on that).

I am a Guerrilla Blogger!!! (Background music plays as I take off the mask….dhan taa naaan).

Have you come across one of them? Or are you one yourself?

A smile from the past - II

Read part I here: A smile from the past

Sneha reached the designated location at around 5:15 and on her way had already cooked up an excuse for being that bit late in case Madhav questioned her. She had been to that particular Cafe Coffee Day joint in City Center, Salt Lake quite a few times with her colleagues in the past three months and knew quite well that it wasn’t the ideal kind of location for a date, which the proposed meeting seemed to be. She had decided on a much casual look and was dressed up in a full-sleeved purple T shirt and a pair of blue jeans. As she was taking the steps towards the restaurant, she tried hard to remember any Madhav Ranjan she had met in the past. There was none.

Madhav Ranjan was seated in the open area of the Cafe Coffee Day joint well before 5 pm. Over the years he had learnt the value of being on time, in fact before time if possible and had thus made it into a habit. Madhav was pointing out something on his phone to his assistant James when he saw a young lady approaching the table with a puzzled look.

“Hello. You must be Sneha”, James said as both the men stood up and smiled at her.

“Ah yes. But Madhav…”, Sneha responded.

“I am James, Mr.Madhav’s personal assistant. Here’s my boss”,

Sneha looked at the other man. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties and his face looked strikingly familiar but she couldn’t remember having met him before at all. “So there’s going to be a third person carrying out the conversation? Great!”, Sneha thought and had almost pronounced the last word aloud when Madhav extended his hand. They shook hands and Madhav signalled James to leave.Sneha saw that before leaving James took out a stack of small paper chits and put it down on the table along with a pen. “Oh so that’s how it’s going to be. Pretty cool”, Sneha thought,  quite pleasantly amused at the idea.

Madhav moved forward, pulled a chair and gestured Sneha to take a seat. “So Mr. Madhav Ranjan, what’s your story?”, Sneha started with the one single question that was hovering her mind for the last six hours. Madhav smiled and pulled out a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket and gave it to her. Sneha opened it and started reading.

“Hello Sneha,
I know this entire thing must be appearing quite strange to you and I am really sorry for causing you any sort of discomfort…”

Sneha stopped and looked up at Madhav. She could see a faint touch of nervousness on the man’s face and said, “No no, it’s fine. In fact the uniqueness of the occasion has really got me in. Besides, I hope you understand the little bit uneasiness regarding the way the meeting was set up. And yes, you really look familiar. I hope this note of yours explains that part”

Madhav gave a wide grin and nodded. Sneha smiled back and once again started reading the note.

 “….But trust me, you can’t imagine how happy I am to once again see the person who had left such a deep impression on my life…”

“Deep impression? Me?”, Sneha said to Madhav in much amazement. Madhav gave a brief nod and gestured her to keep reading.Meanwhile, two cups of Cappuccino were ordered.

“… I know you can’t make sense of what I said just now. Let me help you out Sneha. Let me take you 5 years back in Delhi. It was a hot summer morning and we were in the same taxi headed towards Cannaught Place. You got down near Karol Bagh but not before helping me out to make a life-changing decision. I could speak back then and was working on my laptop. Remember anything?”

That was all he had written in the note but was enough to give Sneha’s memory the required jolt. She could see the day clearly in her mind. A man dressed in formals was frantically typing something on his laptop and received calls in between. He looked very much nervous and was sweating profusely. She had enquired the man if everything was okay. He looked at her for a while and then turned his laptop to make the screen face her. “Just look at this. I have designed this web-site for a company. It was all ready two days back when the idea for a new feature dawned on me”, the man seemed desperate as he moved his finger over the screen and clicked on links in between. “See this tab here. If you click on it an entire new window opens up that gives a virtual tour of the company’s achievements with an animated mascot guiding the viewers”, the man showed Sneha how it worked and kept on clicking on tabs and links.

“It looks good. But why do you look so bothered?”, Sneha had asked the man back then.

“Bothered? I am scared!! I have worked on this project for months. But now I fear they might not approve it. I briefed them about the new feature over the phone. But it seems like they prefer the conventional ways. I know this design is unique and really want this to be on the site. I am undecided whether to keep it and present it to them or change the codes again right now”.

Sneha had replied, “Okay. See, I don’t know much about these technical stuffs. But if you really believe in your idea then keep faith in yourself. Go ahead with this design. Take a chance”. The man kept staring blankly at her for some time and then went back to working. While she was getting off, the man wrote his name and number on a piece of paper and gave it to her asking her to call her if she knew of any web-development work. Sneha remembered telling him that she had left her cell-phone at home.

Now five years later, that very man was sitting right before her but no longer able to speak. “Yeah, I do remember it now. So how did you end up losing your voice? And how was that incident so remarkable for you?”, Sneha still had questions to be answered. She saw that Madhav was already writing on one of those chits. He handed over the chit to her in a while. It read:

“Take a chance- those words of yours gave me the much needed impetus. I presented that very design you saw in the car and it was accepted well by the board members. They not only approved the design and paid me handsomely but in fact signed me on for maintenance and support of their site….”

Sneha looked up at Madhav , gave a warm smile and continued reading.

“…One year later, my life took a disastrous turn. I met with an accident while getting down from the train and ended up hurting my throat badly. I lost my voice. As I had to make a lot of presentations in my job I couldn’t keep up with it and had to leave. I felt depressed. I thought about starting my own small venture with the money I got from the medical insurance but couldn’t gather the courage to do so. Once again, your words inspired me. I took a chance and started my web-development firm in Mumbai and in four years it has grown into a renowned company. Now you know how you changed my life. And I have waited all these years just to say thanks to you“

Sneha had a wide grin on her face when she finished reading the note. “Wow, that’s such a surprise. I don’t know what to say. By the way, how did you get my number?”

 Madhav handed her another note.

“Suddenly one day, I saw your face on one of the Facebook friend suggestions. We had a mutual friend, Anjali Thakur. I wrote to her about this entire thing and asked for your number. I got to know that you are in Kolkata at present and so when I had to come here for work I made up my mind to meet you up“

“Well, well so that’s what this is all about”, Sneha sighed, “I am really glad that you found me. It feels great to know how the small things that we do in our day-to-day life might end up leaving an impression on someone’s life. Amazing indeed”.

Over the next few minutes, Madhav and Sneha shared their life's experiences with each other through notes, hand gestures and a lot of pleasant expressions. Sneha talked and Madhav listened. He passed on notes and she read them.

Sneha left for home at around 8 pm. Madhav had a flight back to Mumbai in an hour. While parting, they exchanged a promise to remain in touch in the future. “I have saved your number now Madhav. So no guessing games next time.” Sneha said to Madhav and they both broke into a laughter. Little did they know that in those moments they were writing the prologue of a lifelong story,the seeds of which were planted in destiny's womb, five years back.

When Sneha reached her flat, she immediately ran towards her cupboard. “The number”, Sneha remembered “I did keep all those visiting cards and all in my diary those days” She found the old diary and looked for the piece of paper Madhav had given her. She found it in between the pages. Sneha checked the number. It had been the same all those years.

Just then her eyes fell on a small cardboard box. The box contained pastel colours. Sneha noticed that the bottle containing brown colour had turned over and somehow the colour had leaked, leaving brown-coloured marks on few of the cloths kept near the box. The colour-box was a gift that her closest friend Sunaina had given her on the last day of school as Sneha was quite a painter back then and it had the following words written over it, quite ironically:

“For my best friend Sneha, the most careless girl I have ever known”.

Sneha smiled instead of freaking out at this revelation. It was the same smile that was with her ever since she bade Madhav goodbye. The smile now had an added pleasure of another past remembrance and at the same time, the embarrassment of realising her fault in shouting at the dhobi in the morning.

Sneha knew that her smile would last for quite some time now. It was a smile that had flown in from the past and settled on her lips.
                                                                          

A smile from the past

Google image search

It was just another Sunday morning for Sneha. The last one week had given her no respite from work stress and incessant rains just didn’t help her moods. Yes, Sneha didn’t like the rains. Neither did she like being drenched, messing up her frizzy hair nor did she ever find anything romantic about the first showers of monsoon. But the sun god had really made it sure that it was his very day. It was a bright Sunday morning and Sneha was enjoying her cup of coffee standing by her bedroom window when her cell phone beeped.

“HIi Sneha. How are you??” ,read the SMS.

The sender was unknown. Could it be any of her colleagues? Well, she almost had all of their numbers. So could it be a male admirer?  Even though her striking persona hidden under layers of casual flair turned a few heads on the street, yet she couldn’t remember anyone with whom she had interacted enough to give out her name and number of late.

“I am fine. Who’s this?”, Sneha replied back to that unknown sender.

She waited for a few minutes but there was no response from the other end. Just then the doorbell rang.”The dhobi”, she thought and ran to open the door. She left the phone on her bed.

The next few moments, Sneha was busy arguing with the middle-aged dhobi over a certain white shirt. “What did you do to this? There wasn’t this stain when I gave it to you”, she shrieked pointing at the little brown spot at the bottom end of the white cotton shirt.

“Memsaab, trust me, it was there when you gave it for washing. I tried hard but the stain is so stubborn. Won’t go”, the poor man tried hard to convince her.

“Oh please, now you don’t tell me it was I who did this to my favorite white shirt. You people are useless. Can’t do a single thing with sincerity. Go. I will wash it myself”

“Okay memsaab. Thirty rupees it is”, said the dhobi in quite an unperturbed manner, probably used to seeing his customers flying into a feat of rage for reasons they are themselves responsible for. He belongs to that class of the society which has no apparent right to question but to bear the burden of others’ faults along with the one big fault of their own-being poor.

Sneha paid him the money and closed the door. She kept the stack of neatly ironed clothes on the table in the living room and tossed the white shirt on top of the washing machine. “I will wash it in the afternoon”, she thought and moved towards her bedroom.

Sneha looked outside through her bedroom window." The city appears much quieter today",she felt. It had been almost 3 months since Sneha moved to Kolkata and had bought a flat there. Her career graph had seen a steep progress over the past two years and there was not much that she could complain about. She had followed her dream of working in the advertising world and her chosen path had pampered her with well-deserved returns. She stayed all by herself but was too busy to ever feel lonely. Since college, Sneha never had a boyfriend though she went on those one-off dates but nothing ever materialized into anything serious.  

Sneha checked her phone. There was a message from that unknown number again.

“Well, I know it’s a bit awkward. But I have to talk to you. I am Madhav. You will surely recognize me if you see me. Can we meet?”

“WHAT? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t doubt your intentions”  -Sneha replied back to that stranger, who now she knew from the name, was a MAN, the treacherous, lustful and much dreaded species.

There was no reply from the other end for quite a while and then Sneha’s phone beeped again.

“See, it’s no use giving you a call as I can’t speak because of a medical condition. But it’s really important to meet you. I will be waiting for you at CCD, City Center, Salt Lake at 5pm today. Take a chance”

The last three words rang a bell in Sneha’s head. “So the guy is dumb? Still he wants to meet me? Well, he says that I know him too. At least for curiosity’s sake, if not for anything else, should I take a chance?”, Sneha’s mind was full of such thoughts and her gaze fixed on her mobile’s screen. Ruining a much awaited Sunday by meeting a total jerk was the last thing she wanted.

Her hesitant thumb moved on the QWERTY keypad of her phone as she typed the two letters-

“Ok”

“Great. Ask for Madhav Ranjan at the counter”- was the immediate reply.

Sneha looked at the time display on her phone. It showed 11:25 AM

TO BE CONTINUED…

A passing glance

I was on my way to the market and after getting off from the auto was taking a walk towards the shops that I was supposed to visit in order to buy the required stuffs. As usual, the streets were flocked by people of all ages. From a distance I could see a young girl who appeared to be of my age coming from the opposite direction. I won’t claim her to be extremely pretty or something out of this world but would say she was decent enough for an average guy like me to take notice. (And yeah, we guys do take notice of every random girl that comes our way). She walked passed by me and our eyes met for a while. A fraction of a second it was and then she looked down which is the norm in these parts of the world. I kept walking and never looked back and neither did she for sure.

Now, any young man, generally and preferably single and not accompanied by a girlfriend or wife (who would be otherwise threatening to burst his eyeballs for staring at another woman) can identify with this situation and it’s not like what I described above happened for just once. Really I can’t keep count of the number of times there has been these fraction-of-a-second eye contacts. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe in love at first sight. That’s one of the crappiest things to have been ever coined by the romantics. It’s plain uncomplicated attraction that can happen at the first sight with a possibility of leading to love or a relationship in the future. And for that to happen, the girl has to be a friend of your friend, a colleague or simply an acquaintance with whom there are possibilities of future interactions (read: second, third, fourth…..and nth ‘sights’)

But what about these kind of situations as mentioned in the beginning? What about the ones that you meet at the bus stops, ticket counters, bank queues or shopping malls? Now you can’t really stop someone who is just passing by you saying “Hey listen, I just got dazzled by your enchanting looks and would you mind letting me decide over a cup of coffee if its love or just mere attraction?”. Okay, this might work and is quite a pick-up line considering it would really take some courage for someone to do such an act and with girls having their notions of shining armor clad princes, it might just hit the right note. But then there is every chance that you might get labeled as a stalker (the paranoid ones might even immediately move their hands into the purse to draw out those pepper sprays or an umbrella, the quintessential Weapon of Male Destruction) when actually you never knew if she existed until that very moment, leave alone stalking!

But do girls really like being approached in that manner? I guess in 90% of the cases they would get uncomfortable if not scared, being approached by a total stranger, no matter how modulated is your voice or even if you are the poor man’s Tom Cruise. If not verbal, her immediate facial expressions would just mean two words -“Get lost!!”. Though you might stumble upon the rare kind who would jump around with joy at being approached like that and might even end up treating you with all bills paid. But generally, those are not the ones you fall for. Just to get to the other side of the perception,. I even once went to the extent of asking a female friend of mine about what I should do in such a situation. She blatantly replied, “Nothing! Just move ahead and carry on with whatever you are doing”. Her reply further confirmed my notions.

So, I continue to see those beautiful creatures on the road, stare at their assets for a mili-second or so with a faint hope of being stared back (which they actually do in the most discreet manner and a guy would never notice her doing that) and then just walk ahead. Our male kind has been already in the news over the years for all the wrong reasons and with the ever-growing number of feminists all the time raring to go at our throats, I would rather prefer to ‘be a nice guy and not get the girl’. But then, that would be a loss on the other side of the table too!!

Please don't delete my blog Kapil Ji

Now that Kapil Sabil Ji (yes, can’t miss that Ji lest he gets offended) wants to regulate all the traffic on the social media following some ‘objectionable’ updates about Manmohan Ji and Sonia Ji and other G’s (2G and CWG included). So , in case Sibal Ji really has his way with this and as he demands that content should be monitored manually and screened even before they are published, let’s have a look how the scenario might turn out to be.

Fabio has been assigned to review consent on Facebook and Tutu on Twitter of a particular number of users. There is also one Gugu for Google+ in the same room with them. As per requirements, all of these Content Monitors have great cyber crime records to their names and hence no one can recognize 'objectionable' content  better than these guys. Read along…

Fabio: Hi Tutu. Wassup man? You look lost!

Tutu: (just breaking a yawn half-way) Fabio yaar. I just hate waking up so early. If it were not a Govt job I wouldn’t have given a damn. But you know how my girlfriend’s parents are vying for one sarkari naukri wala.

Fabio: Ahh another of those stories…let's get to work dude. Morning shift starts at 5:30. Its already 5:45. We will be screwed if someone posts an OC!!

Tutu: OC meant Officers’ Choice to me a few days back.Now its Objectionable Content. Sigh….Okay!!

(both log in to their softwares specially designed to view posts coming in from the set of users they are assigned to, Fabio on Facebook and Tutu on Twitter. Meanwhile Gugu enters and sits at his desk)

Gugu: Hii guys, busy already? Huh.  I have a perfect Govt. job you see. Get paid for just sitting at a desk.

Tutu:Oh yeah,you keep forgetting that’s why you get paid less

Gugu: Who cares! (Logs in and after a few moments of clicking he plugs in his I-pod's earphones and dozes off)

Fabio: Ohh shit!! I told you. While you were lamenting this guy from Delhi posted a pic. Looks like its Doctor saab dancing with Madam Ji. You think it’s allowed?

Tutu: Hell No, look at their clothes. Doctor saab has a six pack and Madam Ji is dressed in a scorching red gown with a leg-slit. High risk content. Remove it now!!

Fabio: Done already. Phew!! Wonder if someday we might have a PM who really has a six pack.

Tutu:(chuckles) Guess Arnold Schwarzenegger had one when  he became the Governor of California. Hey look at this.This girl just shared a pic showing Baba Ramdev proposing Rakhi Sawant !!

Fabio: Don’t dare touch it. We have special instructions from Digvijay Sir to in fact to promote such content. It’s a Promotable Content

Tutu: One more PC after Personal Computers, Priyanka Chopra and P Chid…

Gugu breaks out into a thunderous laughter suddenly, prompting Fabio and Tutu to jump in their seats

Fabio: You scared us man!!

Gugu: Dude, dude….you can’t miss this joke that my girlfriend SMSed me just now. A one word joke! Can you believe it?!!

Tutu: What is it?

Gugu: Ha ha…she says ‘busy?” Ha ha Ha ha Ho Ho (He clutches his tummy and goes around the room stamping his feet as if it were the joke of the century)

Fabio: Frustrated guy!! Let’s get back to work Tutu

Tutu: Yeah Yeah

(Gugu gives a disgusted look at his two colleagues,scratches his beard and  settles back in his seat, putting in the earphones once again)

Fabio: Getting lots of posts in support of Anna’s movement. Too many of them!

Tutu: Run a search with the name Anna Hazare and delete them all. The bosses are already furious over his support for slaps and comments drawing claps.

Fabio: That one did rhyme well (grins)

Meanwhile, Gugu got busy for a while when he saw a post saying “The govt. can’t curb the freedom of social media”. He waited to see if it got any comments and then deleted it and went back to playing air-guitar

Tutu: Damn, now what about these celebrities? How can I delete the tweet of an Amitabh Bachchan ??

Fabio: Dude, Twitter guy can’t avoid celebrity shit !! Just check for their past record with the bosses. If they are in the latter’s good books then call up the bosses for guidance or else delete the post and in place of it display the message ‘Awaiting approval”. Neither the celebrities nor the bosses would get offended in that way

Tutu: Great! Seems like you have read the rule-book quite well (grins)

Fabio: Of course, finally I have a job other than checking out the profiles of girls.So, got to be this bit sincere man.

Just then Tutu receives an SMS from his friend Bogo who is reviewing a chunk of the blogs on Blogger. It read::

       “We are screwed here man. These bloggers are posting frantically and that too long ones. Till I start guessing if its an OC, 10 other such posts come up. The Wordpress guy has already gone to visit an eye specialist and mine are red as tomatoes”

Tutu forwards the SMS to Fabio and Gugu and they all share blank looks at each other... 

Image courtesy:Satish Acharya

I am scared....really scared as I type this post though I have tried to be as much respectful to the great leaders as possible. May be I won't be able to see my dear blog the very next day as it might be pulled up for Objectionable Content and deleted!!

Do we really need this? 

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God in your pockets

There was this man called Ramakant who managed his livelihood by begging at the temple gates. He was in his middle age and though he was a carpenter in his younger days, he could not do well in his business as most of his time was spent in attending religious festivals. His wife died of severe jaundice while he was singing paeans to God at the temple. He didn’t have the money to buy medicines for her nor did he make any serious attempt to collect the required amount. Instead, he kept on praying and wishing his wife would get cured by God’s blessings.

Whatever money he could get after selling his house and belongings, he spent all of that in his wife’s funeral and feeding the priests. He was grief-stricken at his wife’s demise but all he believed was that he could do nothing about it as it was God’s will. He decided o spend the rest of his life in God’s service and beg for a living. Money was always an evil for him…..something which diverts one from the path of holiness.

Well, not everyone is a Ramakant. There are people who believe in God, pray regularly and yet earn handsomely. For its money that pulls one out of bad times. Money is not only the source of well-being and health but the means to make things happen. Prayers alone won’t suffice. Hence, it won’t be too wrong to say that if God is present among us, then this existence is in the form of money.

It’s not about being an atheist or a firm believer of God and religion. It’s about being well aware of the fact that money is not something one can do without. We are long done with the barter system and everything today comes for a price. Yes, even holiness comes for a price. You won’t find a single god-man today who isn’t living a life of reasonable comfort and hasn’t amassed a sizeable amount of unaccounted wealth. No doubt, the money might have been channelized through donations and could be very well used for the benefit of the devotees. Yet, you can’t deny that if money were of no importance there wouldn’t have been donations in the first place. None of these so-called holy men and their trusts/organisations could have moved a pebble without substantial monetary help. Baba Ramdev’s sprawling  Patanjali Yogpeeth ashram and Sathya Sai Baba’s gold treasure, discovered after his death, speak volumes about how even God’s tasks need money to be carried out.You can't be holy with a hole in your pocket!!

Regarding money being the root cause of all evils, didn’t we fight wars simply on the basis of religions in the past?? And it’s mostly the ones not having a single penny to buy food who tread onto the path of crime. If abundance of wealth can lead to abuse, absence of it is of no use at all.

So I would rather toil hard and acquire sufficient money to fulfil my needs and also save for the future rather than sitting in a corner, blaming God for not being fair or even be ‘pious’ enough to marvel at his wonderful design that left me all screwed up.

If work is considered to be worship, then the God you please through this worship is MONEY…..the God in your pockets!!

kirwanhsa.com

30 Days!!

Yup,that's the age of my blog. Pro Pulse has completed a month  and you must be so much in love with my blog (wishful thinking) if you are reading this post right now as its nothing but a report of sorts of the first month of blogging.I just felt my blog deserved a post on completion of one month and so here I am with some blabber.

The experience of being into serious blogging has been outstanding. In the past 30 days, I have written 12 posts, two of which featured in Blogadda.com's Spicy Saturday picks and having 900 page views as of now (without tracking my own views). I also attended a blog party at Andy David's blog which was a novel and exciting experience (a beautiful poem, Essence of love created out of contributions from 27 different bloggers from all across the globe, including me).Made some new blogger friends too thereby.

The response? Well, I would say it's very difficult to make the larger chunk of my friends who are not bloggers, .read my posts and especially to COMMENT.. But still, I have managed to grab a few eyeballs (some rolling ones too) and a nice share of generous appreciation.

Don't know for sure if I can continue writing so frequently a month from now, when I join my job. But yes, will definitely make a sincere effort to sneak in a few posts at regular intervals..

Season of love.....Blanket-love!!

Its 7:30 in the morning. I can feel the sun’s rays coming through the ventilator and falling right over my face. Yeah, it’s quite bright out there and as I struggle to open my eyes, I remember I have an important task to be completed today. I need to wake up immediately. But NO. I end up snuggling in my blanket trying to catch a few more winks of sleep!!!

cliparstoday.com

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Yes, the winter is very much here and every one of us has a tough time getting up in the morning. It needs a great deal of motivation and will power to defeat the temptations of a warm and cosy bed and walk out towards the bathroom. Well, if you are one of those kinds who sleep with all the warm clothes on, then you are saved from this. In fact, I have tried this trick quite a few times during exam days in December when I had to get up as early as possible for those last-minute preparations. But as you would agree, it’s not much comfortable to sleep all stuffed up in jackets and socks and caps (I guess it would be safe to mention that this post is not meant for those living in the poles or heading towards the Everest to have a picnic up there. For all the other lesser mortals this post is all yours)

So no doubt your blanket becomes the most loyal and lovable companion of yours  during these days. The moment you come back from work and finish up your chores slipping into the comfort of a warm blanket is the most preferred activity, to leave it only to answer a doorbell or to attend nature’s call.  And trust me; even the most possessive of couples can’t compete with this kind of attachment. 

Team up your blanket love with some hot coffee and freshly baked snacks and you are in for a treat. Switch on the TV or plug in your i-pod or grab hold of a book and even Devil won’t dare to disturb your romance. And why would Devil be bothered any way? Laziness was a vice when I last heard about it..

As I wind up this post, I can feel my blanket hugging me more tightly. Hmmm….I won’t mind this little bit of possessiveness for the next two months or so at least.


Happy winter!!