Why does your face keep haunting me?

Why does your face keep haunting me?!
It's been decades since we called it quits and break apart from each other.
The hurt, bruises and dejection..is it not enough?
You were forgotten for a long time and you choose to appear again!
Why does your voice need to whisper in my ears?
I dunno what has become of you..
Then, why, why and why?
Can't you just get out and live your life?
Why do I need to be remembered of the times spent together?
Yet, I am not longing for you.
You are not part of my life anymore.
Does it mean something?
Are you thinking of me, right now?
Don't think about me!
We've seen enough things together and we don't deserve to go through the same again and again.
It's no longer cute.
I am shouting loud and clear, I have moved on.
Now, will you disappear coz I loathe to hurt you.

As I Turn One Year Old (er)

The birthday came and went as it left many sweet-cum-wonderful memories along the way. It was a birthday to remember as I turned one year old (er) and it's been after aeons that June 24, Monday was such an enjoyable trip where I relished and enjoyed every second, minutes on the birthday. I feel like a one year old who is celebrating his first birth (day).
It's been longish time since I had so much fun for the birthday and the post header, As I Turn One Year Old (er) describe the budday celebration to the hilt. I woke up to a call from a good friend and former colleague at work, Sheetal, who was oblivious of the fact that I was born on this beautiful Monday. We caught up after a very long time and I told her bout my happy wala budday. What I got in return for the budday was something totally awesome and fab and I'm still relishing the amazing surprise for the day.

Google wished me many happy returns of the day:)

I mean, when I woke up, I had no idea that the budday will turn out to be totally awesome and will add zing to my entire existence. It was a day and budday to die for her. Sheetal, together with another friend, Suzanne, ordered a Brownie cake adorned with syrup and a cute-si candle. It simply made my along with the pics clicked from my HTC One X. It was totally awesome and I felt like a kid who was enjoying the day. A small act of kindness can spark thousand lights in a beautiful heart:)
It is not everyday that wonderful surprises spring its way in my life and it's after ages that my birthday was a memorable one and am eternally grateful to the wonderful gals. It was a b'day special treat and one should learn to be grateful to life and people. Life is a roller-coaster ride and brownie coated with syrup. The wonderful budday gently reminded me that we were born so as to make wonderful things happen and spread happiness around our existence as well as to enjoy and live every moment in life as if it's the last day on earth. Let's weave magic and make our life sugar coated with unblemished happiness and joy.
There were quite a few wishes on my facebook profile page and this time, I choose to innovate by tagging Mr and Miss everybody as a way of thanking them for remembering the birthday. Earlier, I used to make it a point to reply to every other person who wished me and this time, I tagged friends who wished me in order to spread happiness in their wondrous lives. On my other blog, somebody asked me, what are the plans for this year's celebration.
Well, we all abhor growing up in age and, as the header suggest, I prefer to call it the act of turning One year old (er) and I believe there is no point in  setting unachievable targets to be met during the year that will soon elapse. I have decided to go with the flow in life and let myself be guided and carried away with things that shall unfurl itself. This is the beauty of life. Having said that, there are certain achievable targets like I am planning to either move to Dubai and/or relocate to either Mumbai or Delhi to pursue my career in journalism. Fair na? For a birthday wish and I am confident that it will happen slowly but swiftly. Of course, making a difference into people's lives and the budday was also a day to spare a thought to the victims of the Uttarakhand flood and may God give the afflicted persons strength to overcome their difficulties.
Till then, ta-ta and have lotsa fun. By the way, Dad budday coming in two hours and thirty minutes and wish that the jolly fellow is very happy.

Lost and Found

She was haggling with the shop owner over a pair of shoes for her three-year-old song. "You people are looting customers in Mumbai. I will not pay you 1000 bucks for this pair of shoes and I cannot shed out more than 600 rupees."
Standing outside the entrance of the shop, he was smoking a cigarette and overheard the voice of a familiar women haggling inside the shop. He racked his brain, trying to think where he heard this voice who has the habit of stomping her foot and arguing with people. As he turned to cast a glance, he received a blot from the blue. "It was her. Oh! God! I am seeing her after six years and we broke up in the same city. She has a son," he was crest fallen.
He turned his gaze and walked away as fast as he could for fear of being recognized by her. He didn't want her to see him and come up to him to say hi. He disappeared among the crowd at Crawford Market.

Ugly Face of Capitalism

A small prayer and good wishes to the people of Uttarakhand who lost their family members and their belongings as well as those who were rendered homeless during the flash floods. It's horrifying to see the images on NDTV where people were stranded and left fending for themselves in the cold on the top of mountains without food and water. The beautiful state of Uttarakand do not deserve such a treatment and my heart goes out to this wonderful place and the residents.
I laud the role of the Indian Army& Air Force who fought relentlessly day and night to save lives. The jawans risked their lives and jumped from helicopters to save people left stranded on the hills. It's commendable and evoke respect at the face of human tragedy. We can only be proud of the Indian Army Officers. It makes me Proud To Be An Indian.
Let's hope that there is respite from the rains and that the authorities are able to save everybody before the angry and furious cloud strike again. One should also pray that no more lives are lost.
Many will argue that it is a natural calamity but one is tempted to ask whether we have not violated the sanctity of land and earth. This is the ugly face of capitalism where clearances were given to construct buildings near rivers and that too, in low-lying areas. Why no consideration was given to ecology and greenery? We are amassing wealth by constructing sky-rocketed buildings and we call it business. Raking crores at the cost of the environment and sacrificing human lives! When are we going to learn our lessons?!
Let's pray for the homeless and innocent people who lost lives and loved ones.
It is not easy to lose parents, children and siblings.
It is tragic that nature is taking its toll on us.
Till we learn our lessons.
Spread love and humanity.
V

7x7x7x7 Writing Prompt

This post is in response to the writing prompt designed by the wonderful and prolific blogger Corinne Rodrigues, 7x7x7x7. Here it is and it's actually very simple:

1. Grab the 7th book from your bookshelf.
2. Open it up to page 7.
3. Pinpoint the 7th sentence on the page.
4. Begin a poem/a piece of prose that begins with that sentence
5. Limit it in length to 7 lines/7 sentences.                            

Actually, I have quite a story to tell about the Writing Prompt: The 7th book I grabbed is The Power of Now and as I flipped through Page 7, the chapter almost ended on the second sentence. I moved up the second-storeyed of my famous Book shelf and picked Midnight's Children by one of my famous author, Salman Rushdie.

...trapped between belief and disbelief, and this was only a charade after all--- (The line belongs to Rushdie and not mine)

Here I go:
We are quick do believe and disown our self-claimed truth or charade;
Don't they say, the human mind is fickle;
We are led to make believe it's the holy truth as long as it suits us;
How quick are we to challenge, revise and redirect our self-claimed truth of life?
Why not? As long as it serves our self-interest:
How many times, God must be sitting in discomfort seeing the tupsy-turvy actions of his creation;
Yet, we lead a fake life and existence!

I wish to thank Corinne who is taking a superb initiative to encourage creative writing and in that way, we think freely in a creative space. Food for thought, isn't it, Corinne?

<div align="center"><a href="http://writetribe.com/" title="Write Tribe Prompt"><img src="http://i1329.photobucket.com/albums/w547/CorinneRodrigues/1ab08054-d1b0-4ee2-8118-68b706e96b1a_zps34523e06.jpg" alt="Write Tribe Prompt" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

100 and above Words on Wednesday

"Where is the diary," he frantically asked her.
She is bemused and looked at him, "I mean, how the fuck I would know and I just reached after braving a hard day at work, the rains and the mammoth crowd in the local train. You spend the whole day lazing at home and you should have looked for it."
He is infuriated at her growing irritation and lack of emphathy. He shouted, 'I mean, like fuck, I was just scribbling in the diary and it just disappeared. I have started to believe that there are ghosts in the room."
She walked away towards the hall and switched on the TV. A Tv programme on forgetfulness was being aired on NDTV and some words explained by the psychologist caught her fancy. He came inside the TV room and opened his laptog bag to search for the diary. After an unsuccessful search, he slinked on the couch to drink a glass of water. She smiled at him and asked, "Have you obtained your diary?" He looked around, wearing a tired look and shoot out, "Nahin yaar."
She laughed hysterically, "Baby, the diary is in your hand."
Both started laughing loudly and hugged each other.

100 Words & Beyond Post

The Guitarist and the Muse

He strummed his guitar on the busy streets in the fast-paced moving city. The on-lookers are always fascinated by his long hair and weird looking salt-and-peppy beard as they stopped not to listen to the guitar but to gush at his facial expression. He thought of himself as star and crowd puller who are swayed by his music. During the night, he composed a new song, 'Music to the ears. Come people and let's jam.' In the early morning, he drove to the busy city junction and start singing loudly as the crowd jeered at first but slowly waned away in horde. He started singing louder, engulfed by the passion and he felt a touch on his back. He was stopped in his track and was enraged to see two khaki-clad cops. "Sir, your game is over. Only, two dogs are watching you and we invite to sing for us in the police station. The busy street is suffering from noise pollution as the sky-rocketed flats are shaken by your thunder." He looked around at the deserted street. As he is escorted in the police van, an old man shouts from the window of his house, "Take this asshole away as he disturbs my sleep everyday. Guys, make sure that he entertains your boring police station forever and ever."

Day of the average no-gooder, out-of-work media bloke

Thirty-something media professional wake up late, growing unkempt and itchy beard. He is on a sabbatical and misses the morning moors and chirping of birds. You become lethargic to the hilt when you suddenly find yourself out of job. You are worried about the future and loathes on, 'what if I never find myself a job or not able to achieve my dreams.' No dude! It's makes no point to  freak out for no fucking reason. Life has its ups and downs. It is not even a downer but a sabbatical. It's not even getting stucked up but rather a phase-cum-break from the slogging era where you worked like hell.
Right now, I'm not working. I mean, I left two jobs back-to-back coz of the lack of fulfilment and I am busy looking around for opportunities. Nopes! I am not unhappy since it makes sense to be on a break but the only hitch is the money is not flowing. There is no need to hit high-voltage drama and go on an emotional rampage. Yeah! I wake up at 11 and surf news channels, read newspapers online, read books and write poems and blogs. I feel so happy that finally, I am getting the ME time, which was scarce at one point. Luxury has thrust itself upon me and grabbing it with both hands to do my own stuffs. It is an enjoyable perk of not feeling any sort of work pressure, running amok to meet deadlines and going on for days sporting the un-shaved look and chilling. I know that once I bag the new job which will not be hard to get, I will not be able to afford the time I am enjoying now. It's like the sinful pleasure of a mental and emotional masturbation.
Any professional meeting! Nah! Not really! I am cherishing the moments I have christened moods and moments, not the condom, you pervert mind.  I have the habit of jotting things to do on my diary and work or no work, this is thing that I can't do without. One does get lazy and it's been long I haven't written anything on the perso diary or some job applications needs to be done. I have this bad habit of postponing things for later and this bad habit characteristic of a schmuck need to be pulled down.
The average day is spent, blogging as well as reading and commenting on other blogs. I check my mails, amidst coffee cup in the morning, and try reading Times of India, Guardian and watching NDTV or Headlines Today to catch the latest buzz. The evening is spent reading book and I just started Patrick French's India and again the evening news plus working on my novel that I just started. Of course, chatting with friends on G-chat is the icing on the cake. Guess, need to devise alternate ways to make the day more productive.
The night normally end around 3 or 4 a.m in the morning where I struggle to find peaceful sleep which is becoming a distant reality these days. Till then, bye bye.
Alvida, phir milenge

Tragic life, Berserk world and horrifying tale

What's the world we are living turning into? This question often popped to my mind and it got validated when I heard the 'alleged suicide' of the wonderful, cute, sweet and talented Jiah Khan of the 'Nishabd' fame. If that was not enough fodder for thought, all major TV channels in India carried the horrifying reports of parents who confined their own beautiful daughter in a room for four years. I mean, what kind of parents does that to their own daughter? Are they really humans or deserve to be called human beings in the first place?
We are living in a crazy world, driven by neck-breaking competition where we set sky-rocketed ambitions, objectives and expectations. There is nothing wrong with that and it's legitimate to nurture big dreams to seek fulfillment. It is tragic when somebody as beautiful and talented as Jiah Khan who impressed everyone with her dream debut and charged up performance opposite Amitabh Bachchan had to end in this way. It makes the heart sad when dreams die so young and in the embryo. It is natural ask whether our generation cannot cope with stress and battling life as well as complex love relationship. Why is it that we crack up so easily in life? Is there a beautiful life after death? What goes into our mind and how we fail to face the grim realities of life?

How come someone who had everything going for her, fueled with a dream debut opposite Amitabh Bachchan and acting with superstars like Amir Khan and Akshay Kumar took such extreme and drastic steps? It is very rare for a young girl to bag a huge project opposite Amitabh Bachchan and holding her might by matching the histrionics of the superstar step-by-step in a movie classified as meaningful cinema is no child play. Then, why?  Have we become so exposed to emotional vulnerability as human beings?

These are questions that I may not get a clear and concise answer to. They may remain completely shrouded in mystery. Life in itself is complex and can be described as a smoke screen. However, we should not judge the likes of Jiah Khan who may have undergone emotional, personal and professional trauma. The human mind is fickle and it is so easy to judge somebody. But, it is also a fact that we are not Jiah Khan, Viveka Babajee, Nafisa Joseph, Divya Bharti, Manmohan Desai, Kunal Singh, or, for that matter, Guru Dutt and we don't know what they faced in life or what they went through. It is sad when I see so many people condemning Jiah and it sucks coz they don't know what she has gone through and certainly, they are not living her life. It is sad to say that a trend has been observed in the film or modelling industry where quite a few suicides took place. It is a worrying trend because it doesn't happen just in the film or fashion industry. In every single profession, such kind of tragedy happen and perhaps, the youth should have a stronger in-built support system in terms of family and friends. The strong support network should be able to note the signs and pouts of depression in a person. What about a film industry launching a support system to counsel members of the fraternity and young, talented people who are struggling to gain a presence in the world of films or fashion? It's not just the red carpet or glamor that matters but talent and human lives. May Jiah Khan find peace in her last and final journey of life and she will be remembered.
I was horrified in the morning when I switched on Headlines Today where a young,educated and pretty girl was jailed in her own house in Bangalore for four years by her own parents in the most abject and inhuman conditions. What is worse is that the parents have kept her naked and only a white sheet was draped on her body. It was not just shocking, horrified but simply unacceptable. What have we turned into? Even, the aggressive tiger sacrifices its own life to protect its cubs! I mean, what right do these parents have to do such a heinous act to their own child? Does the mother who carried the young daughter in the womb has no heart? I mean, this world is so fucked up and I am horrified to see such tales of violence. We had the Arushi Talwar case and the young Preeti Rathi who died yesterday after somebody threw acid on her at Bandra station. The guy is still absconding and what make matters worse is that the railway police did not really helped the victim.
Do we have the right to call ourselves human beings and animals are far better than us. We are living in crazy times where stress is taking its toll on us where we do not feign to kill the 'self' and we are subjected to violence by human beings like us. What has the world has got itself into? These are questions and can anybody provide an answer to the life we've gotten ourselves into.