Books

After eons and ages,
and hundreds of pages,
of rifling through the storybooks
Of all the little dramas, played out on stages
Of good versus evil, and the war therein wages
Of kings,goblins, golems and crooks
And nature's green beauty,of rivers and brooks
These beautiful stories, they remain, haunting memories
Of a night or a noon, spent in a cocoon
With a book in my hand, I could understand
My need to escape,to a world unknown
But now that i am older,now that i've grown
The need is still there, but the time is not
I'm afraid i've let my books go rot

Sachin Tendulkar (also known as GOD)

This is probably the most amazing day in all my life. Today is the day Sachin Tendulkar( also known as GOD) made history by being the first person in the history of the game of cricket to hit 200 runs in one day internationals.
WOW!
Nothing more needs to be said. That in itself is testament to how we Indians have taken Sachin ( also known as GOD) for granted, like everything else in typical Mumbai fashion. Who else could have set the parameters for being superhuman than the one person who has time and again proven everyone else to be less than mere mortals by his sheer dint of talent and dedication to the sport that has given us life and love for more than two decades.
Sachin( also known as GOD), we love you. Period.
And we know you love us too, or else you wouldn't have showered us with your blessings in the form of so many amazing moments, so many amazing days when we have prayed to other Gods to please let Sachin ( also known as GOD, i keep saying this don't I?) play at his best.

What people really want...

The first epiphany of the new year 2010 goes like this -
After so many years, and after so many hours of doing what I do best in life(NOTHING...!) I have come to realize one very important thing. I have realized what it is that people really want from the people around them. They don't want money, they don't want a lot of claps and backslapping and what have you...All they want is to be heard!
All they want is for you to listen. All they want is for you to stop whining about your life, to stop being selfish, to stop thinking of yourself as the center of your world, and to give them that opportunity,albeit for a little while.
With this accomplished, they want to vent out their feelings, they want an outlet for their pain, they want somebody to say

"Hey there, I know what you are going through, but hang in there..things will be all right..."

And that I think is the basic premise for what is becoming one of the most catchy phrases of this new decade -

"ALL IZ WELL!"

Once you give yourself to listening, you realise that it is not all that difficult.You realise that being a friend and a companion and a good conversationalist is not all it is made out to be, all you have to do is to listen,and with your heart.
(And once you can fake that, you've got it made :) !!!)
So listen, for once. Maybe you will come across a kindred soul in need of a friend, in need of a shoulder to cry upon, or maybe you will come back with a funny anecdote to regale the rest of your friends...It can't hurt you, so what's the harm?

His hands froze as they reached the doorknob.His reluctance held him back,like a huge boulder tied to his back.Or maybe it was the weight of the bag slung over his shoulders,he couldn't decide which. A few worldly possessions were in that bag,clothes,an ipod,shoes,a camera... And yet,he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was leaving behind something. He mouthed a silent goodbye to Rover,nipping playfully at his feet.
He took a glance at the digital clock on the wall in the dark-2 AM, it said. It was time.
He turned the doorknob as silently as he could. One more step and he would begin his journey.
"Wait!", the words hit him with the force of an express train. "You forgot something", said the voice at the bedroom door he knew since before he was born. He turned back slowly and looked her in the eyes,questioningly. She crossed the short distance between them in three steps and held out a hand,dropping something shiny and silver into his hands.
"These are the house keys. You can always come back...".

"Goodbye",he said and turned before she could see the tears. And he stepped forward into the darkness.
He knew he would come back some day,but for now,his future beckoned,and he had to go...

Where there is a will, there is a way....

17 words... That was all he had in front of him at the moment. After 8 hours of hard work and countless coffees later, all he had were these 17 words.
He laughed out loud enough to scatter the pigeons on his window sill. These words would have to do. "The Last Will and Testament" was the heading for what would be the most explosive document to break his current society's spine and astonish everyone who knew about what was to come.
He had thought hard and long about it, spent countless nights wondering if it was the right thing to do.

"No, Mr W, how will you explain it to the superpower above, the one true God you believe in...? How will they ever learn? It is up to you to teach them. After that, it is up to them to apply what they have learnt. We can only hope they turn out well..."

came back these harsh words of his servant of forty years. That was enough to steel his resolve and make him sit on this computer today.

"I leave 400 million $ to charity. My sons are not my own.They belong to their vices".

"That would teach them",he hoped,nay,prayed.
As he signed the document, he could already see tomorrow's headlines,

"Millionaire leaves heirs penniless"

A smile came over his lips as he eyed the gun on his table. His last and final act would bring his sons together,at last.


--- Based on a story that could be true...

The End is near....

And so ends another year...2009! what did we see in this year that blew our hats away?
Nothing special, just the usual apathy, ignorance,indifference and even more interestingly, the same old boring routine that marks our everyday life for what it really is...an attempt to make something of ourselves that has gone horribly wrong, somewhere along the way...
As we gear up for another festive season around the corner(God, I'll miss them next year,all of them on weekends.....damn!) we do the usual introspection and come up with the usual suspects- Time and Money.There's not enough of both to last us our lifetime...
And so we end up rushing through our day, trying to save all the hours that we have saved up for what?So that we can rush some more?
And so, when this year ends, I have decided one thing.My resolution for next year is very simple. It is the end of my apathy, my ignorance of what truly matters - the time I give to myself and my family.
And so I say with full pride, the end is near... And there is going to be a new beginning. Happy New Year to everybody in advance!

He stood on the ledge overlooking the breakers and looked at the sky above.
It was a beautiful evening made even more beautiful by the fact that it was the beginning of a new life for him...
He'd been struggling for the past 3 months with a lot of things in life. And today, all that was about to change.All that suffering was about to end forever.He closed his eyes, feeling the cool breeze whip at his face.
He smiled and opened his arms wide.He could almost feel the embrace of hope that he had been carrying with him all these days.
"My first song", he thought. "All these years. All these years of hard work, and its finally here...".
As a struggling singer, he'd spent so many sleepless nights on this very ledge.Speaking to the sea.Crying his heart out when he couldn't take it anymore.
Today, his dream had come true.His first recording had just ended and the director's words rumbled loudly in his ears,"Dude, you are gonna rock this nation...".
He felt the temperature fall suddenly. The first drop of rain came rushing to his parched eyes. As he heard the faint strains of his song flow through his head, he finally felt free.This was it.His moment.

"Oye, kya kar rahai? baarish mein kyu khada hai?" asked the policeman with a mixture of suspicion that was hard to miss.
"Bheeg raha hu, sirji." He said with a smile. "Main star banne ja raha hu. Pata nahi shayad baadme kabhi aisa mauka mile na mile....."