47: ye tera ghar... ye mera ghar

Just read an article about some lady who went into Shabarimala temple and touched the idol...

So many people have stood against her and are outrageously filling court cases against her.

Why? Because, any lady in the age of 10-50 isn’t allowed to enter the premises of that temple. There are many Aiyappa temples elsewhere in the country wherein everyone (read everyone) is allowed to go and worship. I am quite surprised as to why they have singled out Shabarimala temple for that reason? Some say there is some long followed tradition behind it, some say it as their duty to respect the ritual that is followed for ages, and some are equally clueless as to why this is accepted on the face of it, etc.

Also heard is ‘dev Prashnam’ in the same connection, which is prescribed by tantriks through which it is possible to read deity’s mind at shabarimala in order to find out if some wrong doing is done....!!!! Reading God’s mind... now that is something...!!! Wow....

God is no longer an omnipresent force I feel..!!!! It feels like he is one amongst us... People fighting for him for some lady encroached upon his private property and they all feel that he has taken it to heart since he never likes any woman in his property.... a dialogue echoes in my mind...‘Tune mere ghar me kadam kaise rakha, teri itni himmat...???’

I am just wondering what’s next....

There is already land legally in the name of Prabhu Shri Ramchandra at Ayodhya... and guess what he fought a battle for 17 long years to finally get that small piece of land... it feels as if God was so helpless that he had to actually go through the famous Indian judicial system to acquire this feat!!!

I feel that, the day is not far when the God would be summoned to be present in the court room in order to give statement for his stand....

Its people who make a God out of an ordinary human being and its people who make an ordinary human being out of a God...

Tedhi hai par kya kare...public hai...

43: First Day of Diwali...I am running mom....

I still wonder where the time has gone. Circa 1990s...6 pm back from school and I had all the time in the world to do my stupid pranks with my building friends... we were a bunch of pranksters who would bully the bozo losers. Diwali would actually start for us 10 days in advance... with buying new clothes, to bursting small revolver band crackers, to making mud forts (killa in Marathi) Diwali was much more than simply sweets and relatives!!!

I still remember it was so much fun to actually go about each house and collect funds in order to buy warriors and Shivaji statue from the market for our beloved fort. And more fun it was to actually protect our fort from getting damaged by pranksters of our neighbouring buildings...

A day prior to Diwali we would have a small get together to decide what time we would be heading for fire crackers next morning... and the whole night would go in anticipation of what fun we were gonna have the next morning!!!

First Diwali morning would be one of its kinds...getting out of bed at 5 am was never so easy than on this day (because I could hardly sleep on the previous night). Making my bro to get out of bed was the toughest part though. We had a small ritual in our family in which I had to give tel-maalish (oil-champi) and utna scrub (a fragrant powder scrub) to my brother on the first day of Diwali (I don’t know the mythical story behind this ...but most of maharashtrians and south Indians have this ritual) and thereafter he will have his bath and then later I used to get same oil champi and scrub thing done to me by my mother (U see... I was a cranky person wanting to do everything that my brother did...lolz...). Now the big issue was till the time my brother doesn’t get his things done I cannot have my bath and get ready and go down to play with my friends...so almost every year on first diwali morning I used to fight with my bro to make him to move around doing his chores quickly.

Bursting crackers is the most awesome memory that I attach with my old Diwali days... we used to have a big municipal corporation tank right opposite our building and that would mean that several of the municipal water pipes (the big black ones –one in which we can easily crawl and go...) were lying unused just outside that tank and in front of our building. These pipes were part of our ammunitions. Have u ever tried bursting a sutli bomb in such a pipe?? (You aren’t that lucky  ... I Know... giving you the devilish smile...) But it used to sound like an alien attack on the Earth (take it from me... been there done that...)... the whole area would shiver like anything...!!! And yes separating each single cracker ladi (single stick of cracker from cracker necklace-TajMahal cracker...) was the most important task since that would ensure that we could burst the limited stock of crackers for a looonnng time..!!!!

Thereafter the barood-laden hands were straight directed to the washbasin by mom once back home for the Diwali Breakfast (in Marathi we call it Faral...). Chakli, Besan Laddoo, Chivda, shankarpali, Karanji, sev ...wow... no other breakfast in any world cuisine can beat that... and with this the end of breakfast would mark the second round of fun with friends...The Mandir(temple) time!!! We used to head for Ganesh temple that my town had...one could easily see the whole of the town youngsters bustling in and around that area...many new contacts would take place ... many new hearts would start beating and many new stories would begin at this time of Diwali in and around the temple area... For us children... it was all sheer amusement..!!!

With all the appointments dutifully followed in the morning, noon time was time for heavy lunch after which Goddess Sleep would descend on my eyes... Laxmi-poojan would follow with lots of prestigious fire cracker bursting.... the 10,000 necklace and similar kinds of big fire crackers...were regulars in the evening!!! Such was the golden period when I used to look forward to the first day of Diwali...

Circa 2010, there are children all around and 21 days vacation too ... but no forts in sight instead we have children hooked on their video games and cyber world.... I have oil and utna at home but bro isn’t in the country...Miss you bro... Friends are scattered all over the country and abroad too ...with facebook and gtalk the source of bonding between each one of us...temple area is no longer frequented by youngsters what with most of them preferring cyber dating sources today!! Getting up at 5 am is pain today... what with most of the office work carries on way past midnight everyday... Chakli, Besan Laddoo, Chivda, shankarpali, Karanji, sev everything is still there but calorie conscious self isn’t ready anymore to bask in their goodness...Laxmi-pooja is still there... but guess we are more running behind earning wealth than earning Laxmi these days... When Goddess laxmi showers her blessings, one should feel the utter peace and serenity in one’s life ... but that picture is far from true... All we are concerned about is putting away cash for our new home, new car, new holiday home... but amidst all of this the question which bothers me is  where has the time gone? Why aren’t we putting time into our lives?

And I am not blaming anyone with this but just doing a self retrospection...as to where my time has gone?

My mom keeps asking-“Diwali is approaching... I need to clean house, maid isn’t that helping... you will chip in na...” and pat comes my reply... “Mom I have deliverable this weekend... I am still not done with UAT (i e. QA in software lingo)...I am not coming home before 10 today...” Once back home, I have bills to pay ... mails to reply too...SMSes to reply to, studying for GMAT... looking after MBA application requirements... thinking about the next day in office ... doing the monitoring work for the systems that run during the night...and I don’t know how it strikes 1 in the night...I see around and everything is so quiet... everyone has slept... night has fallen to sleep with a hope to see a better first Diwali morning...& I feel the guilt in me... that I am not putting away time for my own life.. For my people...but rather all I am doing is putting away money and more money and doing everything possible in order to stack away more money...

There was a time when we used to personally meet friends and say “Happy Diwali” and now we just prefer to set our Facebook status to wish everyone... All because we don’t have time to call up or meet every dear friend of ours..!!! I feel guilty I feel helpless because I don’t have time...

Because I am running for money...I am running for good life... I am running for better designation ... I am running for more stability in life... when all I am aiming for is right in front of me... with steady cash flow... good loving family... spacious home to stay...and an already stable life I can say that yes I am leading a good life, but the satisfaction has disappeared... the peace is gone!! All I am getting is wealth not Laxmi’s blessings...anymore.

First day of Diwali:-

Mom: “C’mon have your breakfast... it’s already 10 am now...what are you doing?”

Me: “Wait a minute mom... I am running...”



(pics for representational purpose only... )

26: Short Story: The home-coming

She forgot her cousin’s b’day…she didn’t realize that it was Saturday and hence no school work…she didn’t understand a word on television even though it was airing her fav series…& she didn’t realize that it was almost 6 in the evening and she was  still sitting idly on the couch, watching television  since morning 11…

Where was she???

What the hell was wrong with her..??? Was she slowly turning into a big jumbo nerd or bozo..???? Or was it that, she was simply not in herself..??? But why??? Maybe because, he was returning back after almost 3 months!!!  What crappy reason is this, she thought. Crappy - to the extent that it scared the hell outta her…Was he the reason?

Why then sitting in front of TV, all she could think of was him??? And about the whole lot of things and conversations that had happened between them...she must be super jerk for sure, she concluded.

She quickly got up and went for the shower with the hope that, it will clear out the clutter that’s on in her mind. Changing into her evening gear, she thought of having some fun time with her dogs but seemed nobody was interested, what with her dogs already tired and not in mood to play around.

Deep down inside she was not at ease… something inside was hurting, pulling her down. She was all worried for him and his safe travel. She desperately hoped that everything goes perfectly fine with him, that he remains untouched from any worries and problems. She was even secretly praying to Lord that “let him be fine, let him be in good shape, let him have all the joys in life”. For once, she was eagerly waiting for the night to come - when he was supposed to come to her place.

His presence had some magnetic aura that simply pulled her towards him every time. She loved talking to him, loved listening to him. She liked the twinkle in his eye when he said anything funny and smiled like a million bucks!!! She loved a slight wrinkle that would appear every time he would frown at her. She always thought that there was something in her that was so much like him…and she could also find traces of her in him… For an orphan like Gracie, Albert was all she had!!!

The very thought of his comeback was so pleasing her that she got far removed from reality and lost in her past life that they had together. For Albert, she was his source of light, which would enlighten his path towards happiness and survival; she was the only reason why he was still alive after massive accident in his 4o’s.  While for her, Albert meant Family, Belonging, and her only Relation!  Roger tried hard to pacify her and make her concentrate on pleasant things but nothing seemed to work on her troubled psyche.

 Work had brought her to Milan 3 months back but their parting was painful for both. She was worried for him, since it was his first ever trip from far away land to Milan. She never meant to desert him this way, but he convinced her that they shall remain in touch and would visit each other. With a heavy heart she had moved out of his house and settled in Milan. But, now the day had come she was eagerly waiting for, 2 days later there was wedding!!!

She was thrilled and worried both at the same time. He was to travel 18 hours by flight to reach her. The very thought of flight journey made her uncomfortable. All ill thoughts about his flight journey would clog her mind and she would fight hard to unclog it and concentrate on her daily chores. This kept happening the whole day!!!

 Finally clock struck 10 in the night and there stood Albert at the doorstep waiting eagerly to hug her. Seeing Albert, Gracie ran at once and hugged him tight… his fragile body warmed with her love!! Roger too joined them and Gracie at once announced …. “Now my family is complete!!! With my grandpa by my side, Roger, now you can ask me out officially!!!”

(you can view this on : http://verne10.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/short-story-the-home-coming/)

14: India Shining...

Am I proud to be Indian??? YES I AM !!!

Why? For I was born here?

Or for all the achievements by people like A R Rehman, Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Kalpan Chawla, Saina Nehwal, Ambani Brothers, Vishwanathan Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Freida Pinto and  by organizations like  Force India team, IPL League???

Or because, amongst all the economies that got affected during the global meltdown in 2008-2009, one economy which made the quickest recovery is Indian Economy???

Or because Indians today are far reached in each field you may name , then be it Technology, Astronomy, Metals like Steel, Showbiz, Medical sector, Economy and number of economists that it boasts off, Travel and Tourism -with one of the wonders of world hailing from our motherland, Entrepreneurs, Startups,  Fashion Industry, Our jump till Oscars, Sports???

 NO… but because this land taught me what courtesy means! What help means! What gratitude means! And above all, what being a human means!!! It’s this country that taught me to bow in respect, to feel gratitude in return of help, to appreciate every appreciable thing, to show and practice courtesy and yes, it also equipped me with the power of forgiveness!!!

Like any other country, yes, we too have demons that we are fighting against, we to have problems like Poverty, Corruption, Terrorism to deal with. But, we are making concrete efforts. A country becomes outstanding not by proclaiming itself but by actions towards betterment. We may take time in process but we Indians comprising of almost 1 Billion odd people is huge force that can change the course of the world!!!

Each country has achievements to boast off, but what I am more proud of is the culture & traditions of my motherland, which taught me to be righteous and true in whatever I do in my life. A recent article published in Evening standard further goes to strengthen my belief...







Three cheers to India and its People...!!!!