FRIENDS....

Padh padh ilm kitaban da tu naam rakh liya qaazi...
(Learning through the rote of books you call yourself a scholar)

Hath vich pakad ke talvaraan tu naam rakh liya ghaazi...
(Holding the sword in your hand you call yourself a warrior)

Makke Madiney ghoom aaya tu naam rakh liya haaji...
(Having visited Mecca and Madina you call yourself a pilgrim)

Bullah tu ki haasil kitta je yaar na rakhaya raazi!
(Bullah, what have u accomplished if u haven’t remained true to your FRIEND!)

Yup! What’s the USE of all your special achievements if you don’t have anyone to share? Friends make your life worthy of living (mark these words). Friendship is the “stepping stone” for every other relationship. Father of a teenage boy is asked to befriend his son to strengthen their bonding. A newly wedded couple starts their journey by “getting to know each other”. That’s nothing but becoming friends (or should I say “Friends with benefits” :-p). That’s because of the openness it brings (sometimes irritation also J). There are no formalities, no pressure, no “protocols”. You are free to express yourself and sure that you will be listened carefully. It’s more sort of an ideal scenario we want our democracy to be in. Wait a min! So does that imply that Friendship is the only relationship which is Democratic? Hmmm….

What does friendship mean to me??? Well, have you watched “FRIENDS”? The American Sitcom? (I am a great fan of the series). Well, the series ends when 2 characters (the married couple amongst them: Chandler & Monica) are moving out to a different place (reason not important enough). Now the group can’t spend as much of the time with each other as they used to. So there won’t be enough events/drama/comic situations to make episodes. So does that happen in real life too? Like, growing apart physically makes you move away psychologically. Out of the sight, out of the mind. So this “Long distance relationship” doesn’t work in friendship too L?

Well, hold your breath, it’s wrong. If you were close to your friends, it does not affect (thoda bahut chalta hai but you are not completely cut off….n if you are cut off then…ahem ahem…samjhdaar ko ishaara kaafi hai J). And I am the most happiest to be proven wrong (being the one who is Poles apart, literally L, from my buddies).I have realized the worth of my best buddies in my life. That they are my LIFELINE. Love them all (especially the “Special” ones J). Cherish each and everyone of them.

I have been luckiest to come across some “gems” in my life. Each contributing to my “memory disk". But some have made lasting impacts. (Of course, how much these impacts last will be known in years to come. But nonetheless they have influenced my life. Mostly in positive way :-p). Each friend having his/her peculiar characteristics. People with different personality, backgrounds, views, mindset giving so many life-enriching experiences. Amazing!!! (1 of my friends once said the same thing and we laughed at him like hell J and I know they will do the same to me too...Kaminey)

On this friendship day, I promise to you my dearest friends that I will be always there for like you have been for me. Today, tomorrow and forever. Friends till death do us apart. Lifelong bond. “I do”. Do you??

Happy Friendship Day!!!

And as a true melodramatic person and a Hindi cinema fan, here is the national anthem of friendship...

:- Dedicated to my best buddies!

The dark knight rises...

Black clouds loom large,

Gods of fate armed for war.

Forces all forming a team,

Roaring, glaring, the troops march on.

Uniting their powers, gathering their might,

Ready to battle a common man’s will.

Gazing the storm that blow,

I stand as a rock refusing to bow.

Sharp claws strip the soul,

Choked, poked to break the courage I hold.

Bleeding, wounded yet cuddling each scar I get,

Undeterred spirits stand by the beliefs I set.

I won’t give up, I won’t quit,

My brave soul is ready to fight.

Captaining the ship in this red blood sea,

 I challenge you with the sword that shines.

“Behold… Behold!!!”as I say, the world stands still,

To conquer the unconquered with my mighty will.

From the dark a bright ray when passes,

Lighting the scene not even a shadow that chases,

Reborn a man, fearless and strong,

Awestruck people call, "The dark knight rises".

:- My tribute to Christopher Nolan's "BATMAN' trilogy.....

n Dedicated to my sister :-)

हाल-ए-जिंदगी... :-(

ये माहोल अब कुछ अनजाना सा लगता है,
कारवा तेरे बिन अब सुना सा लगता है...


पत्तो कि सरसराहट मे कदमो कि आहट मेहसूस करता हू ,
जब कभी आंख लगे, तुम्हारे ख्वाबो से बेचैन होता  हू...


छज्जो कि मुलाकातो मे जो लबो से शबाब पिया था,
तो अब जुदाई का जहर हलक से उतरता नही...


यादो कि किताब के हर पन्ने पे तुम्हारा नाम लिखा है,
उसे कलमा समझकर रोजाना सजदा करता हू मै...


हर सांस मे तुम्हे याद करते है, तो हिचकियो से बेजार होगे तुम 
कम्बख्त! हमे हिचकी नही आती इस बात से बेकरार है हम...


कुबूल है.....
मारे जाने के हि काबिल थे हम, तुम्हारे गुन्हेगार जो बन बैठे
पर मारने का तरीका जो अपनाया तुमने, गम उस बात का ज्यादा है...


यू बीच सफर मे अकेला छोडना था तो साथ आये हि क्यो?
दिल तोडना था,तो उसे खुशियो से गुदगुदाया हि क्यो?...


तुम साथ नही, तो बहोत अकेला हो गया हू मै,
बिन राधा, भक्तो कि भीड मे फसा शाम हू मै...


और क्या बताये हाल-ए-जिंदगी? बस यही कि....

ये माहोल अब कुछ अनजाना सा लगता है,
कारवा तेरे बिन अब सुना सा लगता है.....

N.B.:- Dedicated to Zishan Syed & Shriharsh Khedkar.... My mentors in these sorts of matters :-p

“बाप”माणूस

June चा तिसरा रविवार हा बऱ्याचश्या देशात पितृ-दिन अर्थात Father’s day म्हणून पाळला जातो. आपण मागील काही वर्षांपासून ह्याबद्दल जागरूक झालो आहोत. फ्याड म्हणा वा पाश्चात्यांचे अनुकरण. कारण काहीही असो, हा दिन आता भारतात हि मूळ धरत आहे. आणि मला ह्याचा आनंद आहे. माय-माउलीचा चहूकडे उदो-उदो होत असताना बापाला विसरून कसं चालणार?(सगळ्याच पाश्चात्य गोष्टी वाईट नसतात. :-p)

आपण भारतीय लोक “बापाला” माणूस म्हणून बघतच नाही. We want him to be like Arnold from “Terminator”. Always there to protect us but should never express emotions. आणि इथेच चुकतो आपण. आईसारखं थोड्या थोड्या गोष्टींवर तो आसवं गाळत नाही म्हणजे तो दुखावत नाही असं थोडीच आहे. त्याला रडून कसं चालणार? अख्खी जबाबदारी त्याच्यावर. कुटुंबाचा डोलारा सांभाळतो. मुळेच हादरु लागली तर वृक्ष तग धरेल काय? म्हणून तो धीरगंभीर राहतो. बालवयात वाटतं आपल्याला कि “My daddy is strongest” पण शिंग फुटू लागली कि तो क्रूरकर्मा, “पूराने खयालात”वाला वाटतो. आपल्या मते तो आपल्याला समजूनच घेत नाही. पण कधी आपण समजून घेण्याचा प्रयत्न केला काय? बघा एकदा. तुम्हाला नारळासारखा भासेल. वरून रुक्ष पण आत शहाळं असलेला.प्रत्येक बाप हा मुलांसाठी धडपडत असतो. जे त्याला मिळाले नाही ते सर्व द्यायचा प्रयत्न करत असतो. दुर्दैवाने आपल्याला जाणीव होत नाही.

माझ्या पप्पांनी शिकत असताना पैश्यांची चणचण कधी भासू दिली नाही. ते कसे उभे करतील हा विचारच डोक्यात येण्यापूर्वी पैसे मिळत. पण ते करताना त्यांना कोणत्या परिस्थितीला सामोरे जावे लागले असेल हा कधी विचारच केला नाही. Never did I put myself in his shoes. लहानपणी मला surgeryला सामोरे जावं लागलं. तेव्हाची एक ठळकपणे आठवणारी गोष्ट म्हणजे, पावसात मला खांद्यावर घेऊन दवाखान्यांच्या फेऱ्या मारणारा बाप. नंतरपण ते जवळच होते. प्रत्येक औषध, इंजेक्शन वेळेवर. सकाळी सोयाबीनचे दुध आणायला जाताना घेतलेला walk. किंवा सायंकाळी नागपूरची रहदारी बघत मारलेल्या गप्पा आणि तो ५ रु. चा मोठ्ठा फुगा.

मी सर्व विषयांवर त्यांच्याशी चर्चा करतो. आपलं मत मांडतो. आणि ते प्रत्येक गोष्ट विचारपूर्वक ऐकतात. बहुतेकदा माझी मते हि, ते ज्या पार्श्वभूमीतून आले आहे, त्यांना धक्का देणारेही असतात अन तरीही ते ऐकतात. कसलंही दडपण नाही. एक तात्पुरते उदाहरण. 1^st yrला मी केस वाढवले होते. (जनावरच दिसत होतो.) आजी पप्पांना म्हणाली कि “केस कापायला सांगितले तरी केस कापत नाही.मुलगा हाताबाहेर चालला.” पण ते seriously काहीच म्हणाले नाही. कारण ठाऊक होतं कि हाताबाहेर जाणे हे फक्त केसापुरतेच मर्यादित आहे. आपल्या मुलावर विश्वास. दिलेल्या संस्कारांवर विश्वास. आठवणी भरपूर आहेत. शब्द अपुरे आहेत.

माझे पप्पा मोठे उद्योगपती नाही, राजकीय नेते नाही, अभिनेते नाहीत. तरीपण ते महान आहेत. मोठे आहेत. त्यांचे मोठेपण त्यांच्या साध्या राहणीमानात आहेत. Never seen a man who is so humble. वडील म्हणून आदर आहेच. पण मी त्यांचा आदर करतो ते त्यांनी केलेल्या संस्कारामुळे. आणि संस्कार ह्या शब्दाचा अर्थ मला रूढार्थाने जो प्रसिद्ध आहे तसला अभिप्रेत नाही. त्यांनी मला “विचार करण्याचे” संस्कार/स्वातंत्र्य दिले. चांगलं वाईट ठरविण्याचे स्वातंत्र्य दिले. ते देताना जबाबदारीची जाणीव पण करून दिली. मी आज मोठी स्वप्ने बघण्याचे धाडस करतो त्याचे श्रेय त्यांना. मी जे काही छोटे मोठे निर्णय घेतले त्याला पूर्ण पाठबळ.

“स्वामी तिन्ही जगाचा” आईविना भिकारी आहे. पण बापाविना पण तो तेवढाच करंटा आहे. त्याच्यासाठी एक दिवस का साजरा होऊ नये? सांगू या त्यांना कि , “बाबा” रे, तू नसतास तर मी हि नसतो. शब्दशः.

Love you pappa. You are my hero!

Dedicated to my father!

Cheers!!!... to the GOD

Prologue:- Pleased with Kunti's (Pandava's mother) devotion, Lord krishna asked what blessings did she want. "Hey Madhava, keep me in pain. Keep me in agony.",came the reply. Lord smiled, "But why such wish?"."Because , its pain only that reminds me of YOU. It is the suffering that brings my hands together for your prayers.Its agony that leads me to your doorsteps. Give me this blessing O Devakinandan!"

The Thought:- Why is it so? We go to GOD when we are in despair. Rarely do we go to thank him. When I get what i longed for, its because of my hard work,my efforts. why should i thank any "non-existing phenomenon"? But when things don't go my way, i ask for HIS help. It is so unfair.(on his part, but ofcourse :-p} .I feel its because of the insecurity and uncertainity brought by the scenario. When you know, you are in deep shit coz of the mess you created, you ask for help. Or when you want something, for which you know your efforts lacked, you pray for his MIRACLE. Or when you know, the situation is tricky one and you want moral boost. No human can provide you comfort, so you search for super-human.The GOD. The Unknown.

So can we infer that we seek his intervention when we know that our efforts won't be sufficient enough? Or when we don't have 'confidence' in our efforts? This implies,i dare say, that we are not fully self-assured. If anything goes wrong, i will blame my destiny; 'HIS' wish. It takes immense courage to be an ATHEIST (No dis-respect to the believers). To blame yourself for your wrongdoings. I perceive them as people having confidence in themselves to solve their problems on their own. Few people who look after themselves and don't disturb the GOD, who already has many to take care of :-p. "Help yourself, to help GOD."

Epilogue:- By the way, this hypocrite blogger recently made a trip to Tirupati to beg "something special" for himself. I accept that i had not made sufficient efforts, but was praying for HIS miracle. It didn't. May be it was a message. 

"God helps those who help themselves". :-p

Till then GOD BLESS YOU :-)

Confessions of a FAT boy!!!

"Excuse me."

Hmmm...soft voice.A girl.I turned around."Wow!!!"..what a face... and what figure...and...and...(let it be!:-p ...full body scanned. :-p). I was blocking her way.(You know these hi-fi book stores! The space between book shelves is so small.) Our eyes met. For mini seconds though. But the look she gave was like she had seen a monster, ready to eat her.Raw.Hello?? Haven't you seen a boy who is little bigger in stature (read overall size) than you. What is so abnormal?? Ok,i accept am over weight.ok. Little extra over weight.(not even that! only belly, bum & waist are of little extra size.everything else is normal.) But that does not mean i don't have heart.

This has been the case for past few months. Everywhere you go, all eyes on you.Not because you are the "show stopper" but bcoz you can't fit into their eyes.You are too big. You are FAT. FAT!FAT!!FAT!!! The 3 letter word is the biggest abuse you can get. Those looks haunt you. The nightmares of you standing in a jam packed Colosseum like a gladiator {a fat one of course :-(}. You are loser. People cursing, throwing tomatoes, eggs, chappals at you."Yeh dharti pe bojh hai","he has no right to live","yes, kill him", "kill him","kill him","kill him"! You wake up. You are wet.... from sweat!!  Its 2:30 am. You make up your mind.Morning 5:30-jogging for at least 5 km. You put alarm for 5:00 and go back to sleep.

5:00 am..tick tick..."snooze"....5:10...tick tick..."snooze"....6:30....tick tick..."Shit man." You hurriedly wrap up morning activities and are ready in 6 min sharp. You go to the lift but its not working.ah! Trying hard to keep yourself motivated you say,"anyways if i go by stairs i will burn some extra calories.so,no issues." From 8th floor you come down to basement and off you go.You reach jogger's park. Feel happy to see fellow fat people. Mostly uncles and aunties. There are few teenage boys and girls, running, doing all sorts of exercises."Don't be discouraged yaar! tu bhi waisa tha jab tu unke umar ka tha" or "shayad athlete hoge.They need to maintain their stamina." Leave it. You successfully complete 1st round and then realize that you have to catch office bus. So you start your way back! Not a bad start huh?

In office, all you can think about is how to burn more and more calories. In between you go to internet PC and search for sites like 6packs.com, howtolosefat.com, fatburning.com. You delete your search history coz its your secret. You will surprise everyone with your toned, all-muscle body. They will be shocked and will make awkward faces? Who will make what type of face? Your day dreaming starts.You are interrupted. Its the pantry boy."saarrrr, Chaudari saab ka ladki hua. uskaa sweets".Its Kaju-katali. your favourite.But you take only one piece.Yummy...its awwwssshhuumm!...you take 2 more."arey, now i have started exercising, anyhow i am going to burn all these calories." 

Its lunch time. You take only one chapati. But your friend who has taken more than he can eat offers his rice to you." arey, kya yaar dost ke liye itna nahi karega?(why & from where in the hell dosti came up) "you started dieting or what?", "come on yaar,  you will/can eat more than this. Khaa le..."...What?? sale, its my stomach, not BLACK-HOLE where you can dump everything. But you eat it, for the sake of "friendship".You know you won't be able to control at dinner.You do some freaky calculations in your mind. You gained more than you lost.Shit. Unsuccessful day.You lost. Lost gladiator. One more  dream that will make you wet in bed...unfortunately again because of a horrifying nightmare making you sweat!!! Shit scaring!!!

In aakhon ki masti...

Nazar unchi ki to duaa ban gayi,

Nazar neechi ki to hayaa ban gayi,

Nazar tirchi ki to adaa ban gayi,

Nazar pher li to qaza ban gayi....

Those beautiful eyes. You know they are following you.Everywhere. Observing your every action, noticing your every move, ensuring you are a safe bet. Sensing that, you do many uncharacteristic things, indulge in irrelevant affairs, trying to be the one you are not . Its your examining process. Testing the intentions of the "eyes". But they are aware of this process.The master in the art . They stop following you. What was that? You were expecting continuance, at least, if not the next move. You panic, without knowing that this was actually the "next move".

Now, its your turn to follow. But you don't just follow. You seek attention. You take out every weapon from your armor, choose every possible path. You assume the hunters's role, waiting for prey to fall in your trap. But they don't respond. You are baffled.

You decide to confront, without thinking of the consequences. And when your eyes meet "the eyes", you are caught off guard. The beautiful eyes penetrate your body, scan your soul.Goosebumps! You are hypnotized. Enticed to willfully accept the "slavery". Yet, you feel "king of the world". "Shikaari khud yaha shikar ho gaya..."


The start of puppet show. The eyes tease you, mock you, hurt you,  praise you, please you. Exploiting every damn emotion.Your sole purpose ,now, is to grab attention. To make the eyes glued to you.Only. They are world to you and you will fight the world for them. There is a pleasure in the misery.Happy, satisfied and at peace.

One god forsaken day, with no fault of yours, you go out of sight. The "moist eyes" search for you, for long. You had left a lasting impact. You stretch yourself as far as possible but no use. The eyes cant do that. Subsequently, the eyes stop searching you. You are left stranded. Game over. qaza=death