Its burning out.

A lit cigarette and An era of life are analogous. It lasts till its burns. Enjoy the pleasure or the regret of smoking it till it lasts. Always keep at the back of your mind that its gonna get over soon and once its over wait for the time to light up a new cigarette.

There is this amazing similarity between life and salsa.

There is this amazing similarity between life and salsa.
The guy gives important directions. Directions are implicit, chivalrous, very prompt and keeping in mind the large picture of a good dance.
The girl receives the message and follows. Her grace, passion, beauty and movements determine how good the dance was.

Thousand Splendid Sons

Thousand Splendid Sons signifies the golden age of Afghanistan. After having read Khaled Hossenis 2 books I am in love with that age of Afghanistan, with the GOOD brave men who stood by TRUE principles and fought the darkness that followed and most of all I am absolutely awe struck by Afghan women. Life cannot be more wretched, brutal and full of lust. I get shivers thinking of a world in which stoning to death, cutting of boobs, tounges and rape are the most obvious punishments of freedom of speech, thought or action. For a moment I wanna be selfish, close my eyes, feel at peace thinking about beautiful India and thank God for my mom, sisters and women friends for whom freedom is a way of life.

Now getting back to the book, by Khaled Hosseni and how it played with me, read on because its quite a co-incidence. I bought this book when I was in Mumbai. Thankfully I bought the original copy from crossword and paid my dues, my conscience would have snake bit me otherwise.

I would read the book whenever I got free time in that busy 24 day vacation and was reading the book on my Rajdhani trip to Kolkata. I was on the 68 th page. THIS PAGE MAKES A BRIEF MENTION ABOUT KOLKATA AND I READ IT EXACTLY WHEN THE TRAIN WAS APPROACHING THE KOLKATA RAILWAY STATION. I smile to myself at the co-incidence and soon forget about it. The next 2 days in Kolkata are really gruesome for me and my family. We go on a hell of a trip, enduring countless points of no returns, braving stampedes, boat sinking which could have happened so easily in a place where 12 lakh (1.2 million) human beings are trying to travel on the SAME day via mediocre infrastructure. The fact that we came out so well of the intense suffering will remain with us for the rest of our lives. I had not realised that the book was playing with me then, neither have you am sure.I kept reading the book on and off through the trip and decided to continue reading it on my flight back from Mumbai. First half of the trip went well. My flight had a halt in Frankfurt, Germany. I reached the boarding point at Frankfurt around 10 minutes in time and decided to read on. Boarding started and I was still reading. I READ PAGE NUMBER 156 AND THE BOOK MAKES A BRIEF MENTION ABOUT FRANFURT, GERMANY.

Some co-incidence, the book talks about Kolkata when I am in kolkata and about Frankfurt Germany when I am there.

I get into the flight and the flight has a left engine failure. Thankfully it was caught berfore we flew, else I wouldnt be writing ;-). We sit in the flight for 4 hours waiting for it to be fixed after which the technicians give up and the flight is cancelled. We get an alternate flight to Chicago after 2 more hours. And the connecting flight has another technical flaw. It has one crucial nut missing and it takes another 2 hours to fix it. The 24 hour journey becomes a 40 hour one.The fact that the book is about intense suffering and it gives me a hint twice before I get into trouble baffled me. I finished the book by the end of the trip to Dallas, hoping that I do not read Dallas, TX in it :-)

I am the best !?.---

Yet again I am at the top of the world, yet again I feel unbeatable
I am the king, I am the best, I rule...
Yet again I promise myself I will make this feeling last
I will not doubt myself again...
lifes not reel, its real
there is more beyond "The End"
Even I was ecstatic like Will Smith was when he got the job in "The pursuit of happiness"
Then I joined office the next day and life continued. ;-)
I realise that its very important to celebrate "The Ends" in life.
Enjoy every bit of the HIGH...
drink, dance, play, hug, kiss, smoke...

This ones for the dreams.

The stage was set that day. Top 2 of the 18 league teams move on to division 1. Our last game of the season, was a must win to stay in contention for the 2nd spot. If we lost, the season was over for us. The target was 197 and my team on 126/7 when I walked out to bat. Abdullah bhai who was already on the crease then was the only hope to carry us through. When I walked in he said, "Lets try our best and leave the rest to Him".
It was just by chance that I was there. The main wicket keeper walked out of the club following an altercation. Yes, Paki teams follow similar patterns everywhere. ;-) Asif bhai turned to me. Having had a bad first half off the season I was in no mood for playing but I understood how important it was for the team so there I was. I kept decently well that morning and hoped my job was done there. I didnt want to bat and hoped the other batters would finish it.
I nodded to what Abdullah bhai had to say. "I will be there with you till the end" is what I told him. Also the comment passed by the older keeper (who many think had come to watch us loose and watch me keep and bat badly) when I went in to bat had disgusted (read woken me up) me. When I went in to bat he said "Ankoor 4-6 marna hawa mein marna" which I thought was a silly reverse strategy to try an bog me down. This got me even more determined to win.
As I faced the first over I told myself. Okay so 70 runs to win... 7 wickets down. This ones for the dreams. Abdullah bhai was batting beautifully. He and I gave a stand of 38 runs after which he played on and got bowled. He was completely dejected. Before leaving he told me, "Ankoor pressure mein na aana, Kamal bhai can also bat a bit. Try your best". 32 runs to get, 2 wickets in hand and the last man could not bat for peanuts. Kamal bhai and I decided to finish it. Amidst lots of pressure and sledging we showed a lot of determination to not only come close to the target but also achieve it. The whole team jumped and danced in joy. Like Asif bhai correctly pointed. When we sit on our couches at night today all of us will proudly smile for a positive end to a tough season.
Yes that one was really for the dreams! An amazing co-incidence is the stark similarity of this match to my older blog "Cricket to me" which starts with 70 runs to win... 7 wickets down. Do blogs come true? Well, I should write more often then!

Some day

One fine morning, while I am still lazying around in bed, the phone will ring and i will hate the sudden barging in on my privacy... but then when the ringer shows its you... my body will be ripped apart by a customary shiver... within the space of those few rings, the laziness will fade away and I will wake wide up due to the alertness it takes in going back and forth on whether I should pick your call right now or call back in the best of my moods. I will pick the call and say a grodgy "hello" to send across the message that I am sleepy and so might not be at my humorous best. But that will soon go into the background when you start to speak. Ankoor, the time that we spent in Bangalore does mean a lot to me, i treasure your friendship and miss you sometimes. And yess, it was perfectly ok to open up the way you did... it isnt foolish and and it doesnt hurt always...After I hang-up the ever so dried out tears will start flowing... I will be happy...

looking at earth from the window of an aeroplane

sachu says "look at the city from the window of an aeroplane and imagine it to be a PCB (Printed Circuit board), the roads being the conductive pathways and we being the electrons moving along these pathways. Think about it, electricity moves from point A to point B which is the essence of a PCB (Printed Circuit Board). Likewise we moving around forms the essence of LIFE. In other words the world is a large PCB we are the electrons. "
Sachu is an electronics engg and so this thought can be categorised as "he has lost it. his work is getting to him"

END OF BLOG.

JUST KIDDING. I liked this thought instantly. So this time when I was flying down from Boston I tried seeing the earth as a PCB. and then I started thinking: -
If I were a painter I could look at earth as a painting which came out so well that its life like
If I were a finance guy I could look at 2 cities as financial institutions and the people traveling from one place to another can be compared to the flow of money
If I were a writer I could look at earth as a book, all of us part of a big story.

i think i should have named this blog "professional poetry from the window of an aeroplane" ;-)