The Dream

Kitni mayoosi hain in ankhon me Kitni udaasi Agar hame yeh pata hota ki chupate kaise hain Toh hum pyaar unhe karte jo yeh jaante hain ki nibhate kaise hain

We finished lunch. It was naptime of my thatha (grandpa). Naptime usually meant one thing story time. I rushed to my closet pulled out the latest Amar Chitra Katha that my dad had gotten and I ran to my thatha’s bench. We had a long bench in the drawing room and that was his resting spot. He looked at me with the usual smile on his face. He knew what I wanted. The bench could hardly fit that 6 footer man. We both lay side by side resting our heads on a couple of pillows. “So what did Bheema do till yesterday?” asked my thatha. I’d reply and hence began my introduction to the world of Ramayana, Mahabharatha and the whole set of affiliated stories. My grandpa was a great literate. He knew 14 languages and had won many a prize for literary work. He was the president of the Author’s Guild of India and our house never ran short of his guests and affiliates. He used to work as the personal secretary of Sri Rajagopalachari and a freedom fighter. His heroes were Mahathma Gandhi, Nehru, Tilak a...

"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing." "I want to know God's thoughts; the rest are details." "A person starts to live when he can live outside himself." "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." "If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about   the universe." "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep."

The answer is a simple I have a lot more to say than just summarizing everything in 140 characters or one small status message. Friendship means a lot more than that can be constricted in a space that is limited. I am glad I have friends because if I had to be a person who just had family I wouldn’t have turned out to be the person I am. I don’t know if all of it was good but I wouldn’t have known what was bad to eliminate it later either. So friends are what they are, just friends. The relationship is unique and uninhibited. It is one that rarely has a boundary. It is a relationship of seamless understanding and unlimited expectation that is always met that it sometimes baffles you when it isn’t met. It is one association that is least selfish and hence deserves a spot that is higher than most relationships. Friends end up knowing things about you that your spouse, mom, dad or siblings do not end up knowing about you. Some things can be quite disturbing and alarming but you ...

T Being a Hyderabadi in days like today has made a person pretty used to agitations that are of political nature. The intensity of the agitations has increased during the last 12 months. The demand for a separate state has reached the centre and has shaken it quite a bit. The govt.’s inability to solve this problem sees one of the most commercially developed cities in India losing its charm by the day. I am apolitical by nature. I am so apolitical that I indulge in deliberate ignorance when matters of politics, govt., power, rules, leaders, party affiliations are discussed. For a grown man like me this might be considered to be a very short sighted approach but the reality is so far the lack of knowledge has not proved to be a slight bit of hindrance in what I wanted to do or achieve. In a large city such as Hyderabad I am not alone with these sorts of convictions. With the economy opening up and the city providing haven for quite a number of International companies the inf...

“Sometimes when you reeeally reeeally want something, the Universe chooses to ignore you! :@ “ This was the status of one of my friends on facebook. This really got me thinking. Not because this is the first time I had heard something like this. On the contrary this is the exact line that seems to do a repeat telecast in my life like my own obsession of watching Friends over and over again. Yet, there is something profound about this statement. Well, we have heard something quite the opposite to be true too. “When we want something very badly, the whole universe conspires to get that to us”. These are often termed as miracles. Plenty of people have seen miracles happen in their lives. Some people have never seen miracles happen in their lives. But then, those some people never believed in miracles. Isn’t it true that when we want something really badly we keep thinking about it over and over again? The thought gives us chills, tension and eventually mild to major panic attacks. But...

Hey dude Well, hi… Not happy to see me. Oh, that’s right, you cant see me. You can just hear me. That’s bad enough. Why bad dude? Am I not supposed to like enlighten you? Really? What can you enlighten me about and also not make me feel like a complete douchebag? Introspection is not supposed to make you feel bad, dude. It should make you feel good. You realize what you’ve done and move on remembering never to do it again. I did something better actually. I forgot about it till you came up. Hmmm. Never mind, I am here to remind you of all the awful things you do and shouldn’t. Sigh…I know… So what’s been eating you up recently? Nothing. I am fine. Really? You don’t have a smile on your face, your eyebrows are crooked, there is pensiveness in the air. Waddup? Aah, here we go… Cmon, I am your inner voice. You can tell me. Sadly, I don’t even have to tell you True, but let me still ask you this. Is it the same issue? Are you feeling under this self created pressure of crea...

I’ve often held this grouse against Liverpool and Manchester United’s fans that when you tend to have a discussion with them they bring out the reference of the “glory” days of the clubs. Man U in some respects have continued their supremacy owing to the twin factors of a tenacious manager and some poor performances of their rivals. But Liverpool as long as I have followed the league have been very patchy. They throw in some brilliant unstoppable performances some times and play utterly clueless football at other times. There is no denying the glorious history of the club. They have been the club with the most number of premier league titles and a history that’s etched in stone and full of achievements. If anybody does begin giving me a lesson on the history of football where the club that I follow features very little in, one would still find an ardent listener in me, because ‘we love this game'. But to all those people who have followed the glory days of Arsenal and Liverpool,...

It’s not a why, you are not a question It’s for you, pure affection I yearned for the way you make me feel In a minute you destroy it and make me reel In my sadness I’ve found solace, your heart is just the final place A thousand steps I will ascend, and will wait at the corner bend One glimpse of you is all I ask, will hold your eye till it lasts Hear me out while I sing, words are all that I can bring