Floating Stars

Deserted flyover. Gray-white fog till the end of my sight. Black moon-less night. Black Sky. Chilly breeze. Temperature of 7.7 degrees. And to top it all, orange road lights floating in mid air.
This is how I saw Delhi. Yes, my Delhi at 1 am in the morning. The theme tune of 'Bluffmaster' still ringing in my ears, I was sitting at the front seat of the Hyundai which my pa was driving. After attending a wedding of one of pa's friends, we planned to watch a movie at the well know PVR Naraina. While discussing this plan with one of my friends via sms, the factors that it was 24th of December, Saturday night, Christmas eve etc etc were directing us to the fact that we wont get any tickets. But well, where there are fog lights, there is a way...so we managed to get three tickets for our family.
The movie got over soon, unlike many of the Indian movies and there was no crying involved. And I walked out of the hall, happily smoking in the foggy night..err..well I wasn't smoking SMOKING...I was just blowing air...It indeed was really chilly and my body hair could literally break the glass (for those of you who seem to find this altered sentence familiar, I deliberately changed a word !!) Anyways, it was one of the most beautiful nights I've ever seen. As we started off, clouds of fogs came running into the windscreen. The orange-yellow road lights lit like clusters of stars lay burning, suspended in mid air. And the most fascinating thing was that this was the only thing visible for meters ahead! No cycles. No trucks. No cars. Nothing. Just us..gliding away into the mist.
Who says we go to heaven after death. I just experienced it...alive!
This, my friends, is the most beautiful night of Delhi!

The Itch..withougt a Hitch!!

WARNING:THIS WRITE-UP MAY NOT BE APPLEALING TO SOME STRATA OF PEOPLE, SPECIALLY THE ONES WITH WEAK STOMACHS!!

Well, now that I have given the warning above, I can freely write whatever I want to. Apparently, thats what most Indian movies do. Anyways, Indian movies is a topic I am never ever going to discuss on my blog atleast an if I ever discuss it...it shall be to ridicule them...pure insults!!
Now itching by the dictionary definition says - An irresistable desire to scratch. Very true indeed...and why not..after all its what the dic says(ps:from now on dictionary will be referred to as dic, people with corrupt minds may think whatever they want to!). Human behavior has defintely evolved over generations and itching is a topic which interests and amazes me a lot. Itching can surely happen at lots of places in the human body but only some of them are worth the fun...be it for writing or as a treat(?) to the eyes. Being an engineering student, I've always been taught to categorise and divide information that I am supposed to discuss...so here are the 'strategic' sites of Itching and their varied human responses:

1) Nose: Now this is one of my favourites. Itching in nose may arise due to entangling of nostril hair(this is generally with people blessed with an extraordinary growth of hair at odd places, and I am one of the blessed!), a pair of insects looking of a dark and eerie and place to make out, or just a desire to remove out the muck in the nose(when the muck starts losing moisture, its volume decreases as a result the hair in which it is stuck get pulled creating the itch! I like being scientifically precise in most my discussions! We shall give due respect to the muck by calling it Pixie).
The human brain is a volcano of creativity, oozing out of everywhere. Ergo, we see people doing interesting things. The very civilized ones make their way into the nearby washroom or use a hankerchief. On the other hand, the desperate ones will use the easiest technique. The will use the multipurpose weapon - The Finger. Dig it in, baby!! This infact, reminds me of the Whirlpool advertisement which goes - Oopar niche, aagey pichey, up and down, round and round! Bingo!! Pixie out of the cave, giving way to a satisfied grin.

2) The Groin: One of the most scratched areas! There are two causes for itching in this area: The elastic line of the clothing humans wear(?) to protect their private parts from various external or internal influences (or in one word-underwear) and active Sudoriferous glands(or sweat glands...well, cant do anyting about it!) For the followers of Joey, the second one is 'the most' crucial issue!
The Fingers again play a significant role in this too. Some of them cover their groin with a bag or a newspaper, slip their hand in and go SCRATCH SCRATCH...While others use Itchguard.

3) The Butt-line: Before discussing the causes, I want to make a comment about the after affect of the response. This brings the most...please see...THE MOST satisfying smile on a person's face. Trust me, if you've ever had an itch 'there', you would know! The cause is just one, dryness, so I personally keep a box of White Petrolem Jelly only for this purpose. No dryness=No itch!
The multipurpose weapon jumps in again. Diving into the hyperbolic cavity like a sharp katana blade, it...scratches...and scratches...and yeah...yes...yess....SCRATCHES...!!! AAAAHHHHH... divine relief...!!!

Well, there are other good places to describe like the armpits and the earlobes but I, like all people, have favourites.
So...
Ah, really sorry...my multipurpose weapon was in use bringing the most satisfied smile on my face!!!

When..??

Sitting through the darkness, still,
Waiting for life to pass,
Watching the shadows move,
What is it that I want to ask?

Failures surrounding me all around,
Nearing deep into the past,
Often breaking the confidence,
Am I too slow to be fast?

When is it that light will tresspass,
The evergrowing path of mistakes?
When is it that I will be aware,
Of the time one success takes?

Sweating out all as work,
Bleeding more than I can,
I still dont see the faint glint,
What is this, man!

When will I glow with brightness?
When will things go right?
Well, all I know for now is,
That it wont happen without the inner light!

The Chauvinist..male obviously

Time:8.20 pm...but considering the accuracy of The Indian S(tretchable)tandard Time...I would rather not comment on the exact time...aahh well...does it matter..!!

Place:Stinky computer room, Sharavati Hostel...the reason for it being stinky is that the proud users of the computers here get so involved in changing their hairstyle while reading the letters by their sweethearts ( i hope thats what they are doing, coz most of them give a shy smile out of the blue..!!), that they forget that circulation of air is very important for the health of the computers..and the users. PS: I dont know about the others but I have farted quite a few times right here !!

Right, moving on..the main reason I am writing this post is a mild form of male chauvinism that i experienced today. It was around 3.35 pm when my poor little tummy suddenly started growling. It was hunger for sure. So I lifted up my ass, threw a ten ruppee note in my pocket and walked out to spot for a plate of maggi noodles. Right there was this dude standing...i believe he was either an Mtech or an MSc chap. Alongside was a female...supposedly his batch mate. They were talkin something about their project. Though, I dont have a habit of listening to others' conversations, it becomes a little difficult to ignore when people are screaming at about 100 decibles at a distance of 2 feet from your basiliar membrane (for those of you who dont know what the last two words mean, trust me you wont lose anything if u took it as the ear!)

So, out of the 23 odd sentences the couple spoke...27.6 were spoken by the dude and -4.6 by the dudette. The reasons being : The dude had a habit of cutting the lady in the middle of the second word of her sentence, repeating what she had said in a higher volume, and finishing it off half way (that accounts for the 0.6!) He literally snatched words out of the lady's mouth, fed himself with them...and puked them all over her face creating an utter mess! I mean come on man, if u had to puke, let it be yours..!!

Well, so those five minutes were kinda painful. But the inner me was waiting to do a few things which I obviously had to control myself from doing...

1) Take the dude by the collar, give him a nice punch in the eye and say the golden words...F^&% O#$!!

2) Owing to my height which is just about 5 feet, and owing to his, which must've been around 6 feet...all I wanted to do was to get in the head down bull position and ram my head against his "area". That, atleast, would shut him up, orally, for some time and, sexually, forever !!

3) Burn up the lady's hair coz they were troubling my nostrils..!!

Aaah, but damn the maggi which arrived just in time for me to kick off from that place. All I could do was to curse the maggi in my hand for being so bloody hot..!!

Ending the whole thing on a serious note, I found this lovely poem on the net...ps: I am not a feminist but this poem was too good not to be put up:

WOMAN

That woman is a success who loves lifeand lives it to the fullest;

Who has discovered and shared the strengths and talents that are uniquely her own;

Who puts her best into each task and leaves each situation better than she found it;

Who seeks and findsthat which is beautiful in all people and things;

Whose heart is full of love and warm with compassion;

Who has found joy in living and peace with herself.

-Barbara J Burrow

Essence of Life

Its 11.30 in the night. I look outside my window. It has been raining for quite some time now. Its all dark and wet outside, and something inside me compels me to believe that somewhere inside me is a child crying out of desperation to free herself. Maybe its because of the fact that life being so much like a meandering river with no obstacles coming by that despite how much effort one puts in to make the water agitate, it becomes calm after a handful of seconds. And it continues to flow with the same serenity as it was earlier.
The background noises fade into a disturbing hum to which my mind has stopped responding. Brain is feeling really lethargic like a proud snail perched up on a slimy pebble near the beach, with small tiny waves hitting the pebble from time to time. A shiver runs down my spine as a sudden wave of cold moist breeze hits my face through the window. The noise of raindrops falling on the ground fills up the air. The chaotic disturbances in the wave patterns on the stagnant water accumulated in the puddle outside astonishes me. Life isn’t always that predictable. Though, one might feel that he can foresee what’s coming up, it rarely happens that way. Its all in the mind I say. I have an exam the day after tomorrow and I still am unsure of my preparation. The thought that I can visualize myself sitting in the examination hall and struggling to get the answer of a question scares me, I know that I still cant tell what’s the “Day” is going to be like.
At times we perceive what we want to perceive and at times its just coz of the people around us want us to perceive. Have we ever stopped for a moment in our busy lives and wondered how it would be like if we just wanted to do the things we do for satisfaction, and not because we are a part of the rat-race around? Well, what I am saying is all very idealistic, but yet we do have moments in life when we just want to leave everything aside and be with ourselves, just ourselves! And that is the time when we actually realize that the things we are doing now contribute minimal in our lives. As once somebody has said, that if I am what I am coz you are what u are, then I am what I am and you are what you are…but if it’s the other way round, then nobody knows himself. The essence of the above statement lies in the fact that how much time one spends being himself. We wear masks in our lives, smiling ones, laughing ones, angry ones…even when we are not in that emotional state. But when have we just been ourselves? Taken off that mask and thrown in away, to face the world when its “looking” into your “face” ? I bet most of us fear that, and that’s pretty normal, but way off from a ‘satisfying normal’ ! Stripping off ourselves from all kinds of worldly fears, be it fear of failure, be it fear of losing someone you love or be it the fear of getting lost in the crowd. Opening the doors to let thoughts and ideas flow in along with dangers and confusions. But that’s what life is all about, right?. A young energetic river with rapids and eddies, not a lazy snail on a pebble. A bright green grasshopper popping in and out of the grass, not a hippo idling its time in a grubby pond. It’s a journey on a roller coaster, letting down your hair, feeling the wind across your face….its an adventure and that too with extreme risks. But one realizes that when he looks outside the window!

The Drop

A huge dark could thundering,
Overhead, I see,
Filling up the space with its roar,
Shaking the inner me.

From the grasp of the big one,
A tiny drop squeezes out,
Elated and joyous,
Excitement filling in throughout.

So it starts its journey,
Falling aimlessly through the sky,
Shivering with ignorance,
Wishing its family a goodbye.

But it carries on,
Increasing its pace every inch,
Trying to meet its goal,
The victory it wants to clinch.

Alas, it reaches,
To where it had been predestined,
The earth was what it had once craved for,
With mud, it intertwined.

With or without effort,
It has received its gift,
To belong where it belongs,
Evading the drift.

Me

An open window,
Thoughts pouring in,
Blossoming into ideas,
Making brain a hot kiln.

Floating truth,
Suspended view,
Seeping freshness,
Everything looks anew.

Hazy horizon,
Target is a silhouette,
Aimlessly gliding,
Perfecting the imperfect.

Alas,
The settled dust blows,
Reality revealed,
As the mind flows.

There lies the target,
A mirror I see,
Staring back,
The reality is me!

tHE mORNING!!

Well, this pleasant experience of mine started today morning, early morning to be precise. It was the second day of our exams getting over and we(me and a couple of my friends, my roommate and neighbour) had just returned from the movie ‘Flight Plan” at around 12.30 on Sunday, December 04, 2005. Rejuvenating ourselves, we thought of staying up all night coz my roommate had to leave at 5.20 am for her train to Delhi (departure:6.20 am) from Chennai Central. So, according to the ‘plan’, we started watching another movie on my comp, Momento. Lying down on the bed, we started. But there were a couple of little facts that we failed to consider.

1) My dear roommate, one of the early risers, had always seen the day from the other side (the one common to IITians only during desperate exam times)
2) My room neighbour had this extraordinary ability to start snoring the moment she hit the bed

So, basically, one hour into the movie, and I was the only one staring into the comp. Strangely, I had no idea why I was nowhere close to sleepy. But on the request of my roommate, I crashed off. The last thing I knew was that my roomie had put about 3 alarms to wake her up at 4.00 am. Period.

The next sound I heard was the banging at my door from my neighbour who woke both of us up at 4.56 am. Hang on a minute! 4.56 am?? Who am I…Where am I…(I am always disoriented after a nap!) Not a very good time to ask these questions….I shake my roomie up. We stare at each other in an emotion pretty indescribable. Again a couple of reasons,

1) We were woken up by a person whom we least expected to be woken up, coz as I had mentioned earlier, she rocked when it came to crashing.
2) My roomie, who could get up by the sound of the whiff of a blade 10 kms from her, didn’t get up even after setting 3 alarms…alarming..!!!

Anyways, we continued to stare till we realized that we had actually crashed as if we had passed out (ps: it was just a guess, I still haven’t taken a shot!) And then, all the normal things continued.

At 5.27 am, we bid her a goodbye and came back to our rooms. Now what? For the past few days, I’ve actually discovered a really nice friendship blossoming…and mind it..its true friendship and not ‘love’ or ‘crush’ or blah blah blah…as many people might have already started calling it. And I’ve been waking this friend of mind every morning (he is also a bit lousy in getting up!) Today, he has his busy routine of exercises starting at 6.00 am, and I knew he would really not expect me to get up and wake him up that early. So, I had this brainwave of not sleeping for some more time, and give him a pleasant surprise right in the morning…and pleasant it was, really pleasant!
So, its 6.14 now…and I am thinking…Should I go for a jog?

Happiness...

How many times in a day does your heart pounce with true happiness? How many times do we genuinely giggle? How many times do we stand in the open drizzle and look up at the drops falling into our eyes? Hmm…shockingly, very less!!
Strangely, I’ve experienced a lot of these things…in fact I experience it every now and then. My friends out here call me a bubbly and energetic person, who is always full of enthusiasm and zeal. But at times I wonder what is it that keeps me going? Is it the weather…is it the nature…is it my group of friends? And every time I do this analysis, there is only one thing that comes to my mind…it’s a mixture of everything, to be frank…it’s the smallest things we overlook most of the time.
A warm hug of a close friend, long half an hour daily chats on the phone with a person you see and spend time with everyday, an affectionate pat on the back from a buddy, an open hearted laughter on the silliest jokes ever cracked, a rub on the arms when nights get cold, getting completely drenched from head to toe in the rain, observing the cuddled up puppies outside the hostel entrance, sitting at the beach and staring at the waves hitting the shore, eating an ice-cream during the shivering weather….

Ever wondered what real joy is? Where is lives? When it comes? I say, that life has its own subtle ways of giving joy…some we notice and others we don’t. But invariably they are all there around us. The ones who notice them, live, others just exist!