Eid Mubarak

Here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous Eid Mubarak. It marks the culmination of Ramadan after our Muslim brethren undergo the rigorous fasting period of 40 days, deprived of water, food and avoiding toxic stuffs such as cigarette and alcohol. My Eid wish: All human beings, irrespective of their religious beliefs, share love, mutual respect and brotherhood for each other. I really believe that no man or women should hate each other on basis of religion and we can achieve national unity. Perhaps I'm an utopian but I think that we can learn from each other's religious belief and on what better day to wish for unity: Eid. We have so much to learn from each other's culture and after Eid, comes Ganesh Chaturthi. There are places in India where Hindu fast for Ramadan and muslim keep fast for Gamesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja. Well, it's admirable and what better example of understanding and mutual respect. It evokes the respect of an atheist like me who never believed in any form of God or religious dogma, for that matter.
On Eid, I hit the kitchen for the first time after a hiatus of four years, the time I was a student in Pune and Mumbai. Err! Mumbai not really coz I was in the hostel and there is now way I could have turned my tiny room facing Marine Drive into a mini kitchen. I know that I am pretty messed up but my degree of insanity didn't dashed with the breeze at my sea-facing window. After all, my room was also facing the Telang's girl hostel at Mumbai. I dint wanna to throw the food prepared towards the hot chicks, saying baby have it:).
Back to the kitchen: Yes, Sepo has inspired me to cook,owing to her blog post on Kashmiri dishes.I chose the simplest and easiest Roganjosh (Red Mutton). I must admit that I didn't bought the most important ingredients to make the dish and had to do with whatever I had in mom's dearest kitchen. Well, the result was not fab but decent. Pointer: I mixed up mutton and chicken masala and I think that this experimentation saved my Roganjosh. The taste turned out to be nice and I enjoyed my dinner to the full. Yes Sneha Bhat alias Sepo, it turned out to be tasty and thanks for driving me to the kitchen. Next time, I promise to come up with a proper Roganjosh. It do feel nice to prepare something in the kitchen and who says a guy's place is not in the kitchen sometimes. It's better than sex at times.
It feels nice to see your off day falling on a public holiday as you are not sitting in the office and cribbing to yourself as to how you would enjoy the day off at home. Well, I thank my stars for that. I lazed around at home,sending Eid Mubarak sms to an ex-flame, trying to read PG Wodehouse, blogging and watching Amitabh Bachchan in Main Azaad Hoon. It's a thinking movie about life and the value-system we believe in. Wonder when ever will we realise that we will 'free' ourselves as human beings!
That's how an out-of-the-ordinary day ends. There are certain stuffs that I was able to do while others were left unattended much to my dismay. Then why complain? One cannot have everything in the world and as they say it's a dog day. The eyes lids are battling and time to hit the bed, baby if I don't wanna staring at ma computer at work, all sleepy morrow.
Love N Peace

Happyyy Independence Day...Bharat Mata ki Jai

Today, India celebrates its 65th anniversary and its 66th Independence Day. One night, August 15, 1947 we were granted freedom from the shackles of the British rule. We were oppressed by the British power and as we set to attain an Economic Growth of 7 per cent in 2012, it seems that we are set to become of the mightiest economic power in the world.
Men and Women laid their lives and shed blood that the present generation and future generation can breathe free and that freedom of speech is ensured. Today, there are several challenges that India faces and first and foremost is to combat corruption and ensure that no poor man or women is discriminated against. Secondly, is our combat against terrorism which is a source of constant worry for us. Thirdly, and perhaps the most important one and in which I strongly believe is the divide between rural and urban India. For a country that aims to become the super economic power, we cannot afford to neglect rural areas and there is a need to empower the poor. The solution is: Education, education and education. There is a dire need to give them resources that is at par with big cities and this will lead to their economic empowerment. Let's all join hands to combat poverty through this tool called education.
What does freedom means for me as a young Indian? It means a lot and it's the sacrifice made by my forefathers so that I can breathe freely. I am at Indian at root and there is nothing on earth that can make me forget where I can truly belong, no matter where I am in this world. Whenever, I see an Indian shines be it the cricket world champion and our heroes at the Olympic game, it gives me immense pride. Whenever I hear the national anthem, Jnana Gana Mana..tears roll down my cheek and remind me how fortunate I am to have Indian root.
Who says Indians want to leave the country and settle somewhere else? Even if I am not in India, I want to come back and serve the country. Today, many Indians settled abroad or the generation that were born in the country where their forefathers and parents have settled want to come back to their true and original motherland. It is a country rich in legacy and vibrant. Gals and guyzz, we are not called the biggest democracy for nothing.
There is something that I didnt know and I thought of sharing with you. It educated me on our power as a vibrant nation and I hope it educate you also.
No one, I may add, travels thousands of miles to conquer a poor country. Statistics published by contemporary international scholars are proof for sceptics. In 1750, seven years before the fateful battle of Plassey, India had 24.5% of World Manufacturing Output while United Kingdom had only 1.9%. In other words, one in every four goods on the world market was manufactured in India. By 1900, India had been left with only 1.7% of World Manufacturing Output and Britain had risen to 18.5%. The western industrial revolution was in its incipient stages in the 18th century, but even in this regard India slipped from 7 to 1 in per capita industrialisation in that period, while Britain vaulted from 10 to 100. Between 1900 and 1947 India's economic growth was an annual average of 1%.
This shows that India was not a poor country when it was under colonial power but the Britishers used the theory of rule and divide. They used Indian labour and took them to countries such as Fiji, Trinidad and Mauritius and made them work for peanuts. The Indians have settled in these countries but many have forgotten their roots as well but some have upheld their culture and the Indian dignity.
Long Live the Republic of India
Jai Hind
Happyy Independence Day

Proud To Be An Indian

Love calculator (2)

It was the start of the chilling winter. He was struck by the bullet which pierced his chest. No, he is not the soldier caught in the middle of the Indo-Pak war. He first saw her at his best friend's engagement and he was struck by her long and beautiful black hair, her killer looks and intense eyes as she strutted towards the 'mandap' accompanying the bride. As she upped her gaze, she sports a smile towards him. This sent a jittery down his spine as he found the lamest of excuse to say Hi. After the marriage vow of their best friends, they exchanged numbers and e-mails promising to keep in touch with each other. What looked like an innocent crush turned out to be restlessness and the act of falling in love.
This is a familiar scene from the novel called life, isn't it? So many of us will identify with the nameless characters asserting copyright on them and shouting, "That's my story." Well, think again. Love is an oxymoron. Or shall I say, when the bug bites you, there is no chance to think twice about it as you get swayed away by the L-world. No love calculation or logical and rational reasoning of the mind maketh your brain immune by the 'fantastic feeling' of being in love. You shall wake up with a smile that adorns your otherwise dull facial expression. You jump as she sends you an sms or drop a hi on your g-chat. You feel like dancing to the very thought of being love. At first sight, one can't be sure whether it's love or a kinda passing feeling but one is unwilling to chuck out the feeling of being a demi greek God.
The average homo-sapien is the most irrational human being when it comes to emotional quotient. This claim has been supported by economists in the world.We do irrational things when in love coz the mind is fickle and knows no logic. Touche! Love knows no logic as we are accused of thinking from the heart and not from the brain. Ahem! Ahem! But, if there was no heart, would the brain fucking exist?! The answer is a big No..na na na. Moving on from the process of a simple-si crush to the second level from falling love and moving up the third level sorrow. It prod us to ask whether we are ready to walk the tried-and-tested method of sorrow..we've been there and done that. Despite our heart broke into zillions pieces and promising that we neva gonna fall in this crap called love, it just fucking happen. As they say, S H I T happens! True, it does. We wish for the happiness to stay forever and we fool ourselves in believing that we shall not face rejection. We may refuse the see the stark reality facing us in the start coz we dunno want our happiness to be snatched away. We shall not face the reality of rejection.
The meaning of love is also expectations. How many times have we looked at our cellphones expecting an sms or wishing that she calls at the wee hours in the morning! We stay awake throughout the night but..bah! disappointment creeps in. Her number doesn't even flash in our miss call log! We soo want to send a miss call but some inner voice discourages us. Sometimes,we just get carried away by numbness and send a miss call which shall get no response. Our logic fails us or the love calculator has simply gone kaput. Our heart is no google and we shall get no answer by googling. Does she care for me or she just doesn't? So many questions left unanswered. Do I make a fucking difference to her life? We try to reason with ourselves that we gotta move on. Screw the love-shove ka feeling only to go back to the stage of falling in love and sitting on our computer waiting for her to pinge on FB chat. We just wanna throw the lap top and the cellphone away in a fit of rage as we pour alcohol to drown our sorrow and pen a poem. Then, we realize that we cannot force someone to love us back It is a philosophy of believing in something and it's called free love. We cannot expect someone to love us back but should that deter us from loving?! It shouldn't deter us from falling in love since I never took permission to fall in love with Uuuu. It's the most beautiful feeling and I gonna enjoy every moment of falling in love with you. I also know that some day I will move on but I shall cherish the beautiful and magical moments of life.
Tragedy strikes when I love you and you are in love with someone. The most dramatic aspect unfurls when you are oblivious of my feeling for you. I feel trapped in love. Tell me: How long can I fight with myself? My heart tells me to fall in love with you and my brain tells me to avoid since I am the one who will lose my self through sleepless nights and sorrow. I mulled over the futility of falling in love with you and examine the pros and cons of the beautiful feeling called love coz I know that you may not be permanent in my life.Finally, my love calculator comes into play. It takes long to realize that I gonna let you go coz it's in our better interests. Still, I don't wanna hurt your feelings coz you are so dear to me. Still, is it love or its the case of mistaken identity? Some term it the change in hormones and not love..honestly, I dunno.
At times, I feel that I should tell you as what lies in my heart but then love calculator tells me not to after weighing the pros and cons of love. Love is such a confusing calculation. Zillion questions races to my mind which turns into a volcano. Sometimes, I feel that if it is destined to happen between us it will happen but if it won't it just won't happen.. There shall be no conditions laid in love. It's just love. Period! Like they say, when love happens it just happens and no love calculator or logic comes into play as one get carried away by the storm. If it doesn't, it just doesn't happen as one must be prepared to face the rough weather. Keep the faith coz the heart knows no logic. If the person has to go, she has to go and you gotta move. After all, the love calculator may not resist to love but there is no denying, it has its importance. Love is a malfunction of the brain.

Why does it happen?
Cupid strikes as you loses your sanity to the oldest feeling..
It's called love.
The mere thought of her brings a smile to my face.
All of a sudden, all my fears vanish.
Why do I need to fall prey to love?
Don't they know that love may hurt and destroy me as well?
As much as it is the world most powerful feeling,
it is the biggest destroyer of peaceful existence.
It is the storm that passeth and bring a massive revolution.
A devil can become a saint.
A saint may become a devil.
Such is the power of love.
It's the biggest tragedy on earth.

An ode to friendship

Friends are the siblings we never had.
A reason to celebrate our being into existence.
They are the ones that bring a smile to our faces.
They become the parents and sustain us on our way to heaven.
Friends are the oxygen that maketh us breath.
True friends doesn't come for a season,
They come for a reason and a lifetime coz they are not part-time frenzzz.
As I pour myself a glass of whisky, I fondly remember the wonderful moments spent together, dear friend.
Our friendship is what matter the most,
the rest is reduced to nought.
Who cares about the whole world when we have frenzz that matters?!
Friendship is like the polished diamond.
It has neither resale value nor a price tag.
It is just the most beautiful and priceless thing in the world.
True, it is an investment.
Then, if you invest in something as priceless as friendship,
Why do you wanna let it go?
It is beyond life and death.
Till death do us apart.
Happy Friendship Day.