Immobile life

10..9..8..7..6

Cutting through the late night traffic in Mumbai on my sweet pulsar I saw last few seconds of the traffic light being green before it turned red

"I can make it, c'mon" I said under my breath

5..4..3..2..1

"Should I stop?"

"No I think I should move on"

"Oh shit, the car from other side has already started moving, SOS, apply breaks, quick quick quick"

"Why the F*** is my bike wobbling?"

"Oh shit,I have fallen down, why the hell ME, why  me GOD?"

And there I was,down and out besides my bike right in the middle of the road under the Ghatkopar(E) flyover . Trying to act as if it was a minor accident, I got up instantly and tried  to lift my bike up, in an instant, everything around me seemed hazy, an excruciating pain shot up through my left shoulder, I felt it, and the bones seemed a bit out of shape and I knew I have a broken collar bone. A few good Samaritans pulled the bike up and asked me to sit near a pole, I started with a step and fumbled, and knew, that my ankle doesn't seem alright.

I decided to give shocks to my family in installments rather than at one go, so Shock 1) I called up my dad and told him that I have taken a fall, come and pick me up. Shock 2) When he came I told him, I may have a broken shoulder. Shock 3) When we reached hospital, the X-ray showed I have a broken leg as well.

However destiny reserved its biggest shocks for me, Shock 1) When in a casual tone the doctor told me, I need to undergo my first ever surgery for ankle repair and I ll have stay in hospital  for a week.

With drop of water dripping on your head and your hands and legs tied, this form of Chinese torture is considered to be the worst, but I beg to differ. I say, put a normal, agile and active person in hospital in immobile condition, and thats the worst torture. And when you are admitted into the hospital just a day before the semi final match of India-Pakistan, and the hospital doesn't even have TV, it becomes a living hell. So here I was, lying straight on a hospital bed with a broken left hand and a broken right leg. My daily routine started off at 4 am when the staff woke me up to take a bath(which I could never take due to my extreme immobility), then the same staff would ask me to sleep again, amidst their loud shouting and conversation. At 8 am, they used to serve Bread butter(Hardly any butter visible) and tomato soup(all I could see was red water). Followed by this, I was allowed a few visitors. Visitors quite understandably had only one query, how did this happen. Initially, I explained everything out of my pain and enthusiasm and agony of being immobile. But after a day or two it became a monotonous  routine. Every middle aged visitor had only one conclusion, Bikes kill, which was never encouraging.That one week was so boring, that i still remember the pattern of a patch on the wall above and ceiling fan.

Coming home after a week to home with a heavily laden plastered leg and an extremely delicate shoulder, I was showered with all the home made delicacies. Visitors who missed out cribbing about bike travel at hospital, came to meet me at home to finally crib about it. Almost everyone either brought a bouquet or fruits, fed up with gifts which I couldn't use I had to tell my friends to bring something like chocolates which only "I alone" can enjoy. However, in absence of wheel chair, I was left to the mercy of my poor revolving chair(which became my mode of transport for a lot of weeks to come!). With only one leg and one hand active, even my daily chores were very difficult for me to handle by myself. Occasionally, I would move my shoulder out of habit in sleep and I would get up shouting in pain.

Finally after two weeks, doctor removed my stitches(I have talked about pain so much, that it would look petty if I talk about the pain of removing stitches) and advised me to take physiotherapy sessions. Two weeks after experiencing excruciating pain of a broken bone, I experienced the next level of pain. Day after day, the physiotherapist went on tearing into my leg, a movement by even a few degrees gave me jitters(This went on for Eight more weeks). While my leg was being tortured, my shoulder was quietly recovering and after four weeks, it became more mobile and less painful, which came as a relief, because now, some of my daily chores were now managed by myself.

Any one who has fractured bone will ask only one question to the doctor, "How much time will the bone take to heal?" and the answer would be six weeks. I counted each day and each week for six weeks. And away I went to the doctor the day I completed 6 weeks. He advised more physiotherapy, and destiny gave me shock  2) The doctor prescribed a walker to me and I was expecting to walk straight away on my two legs the moment my accident turned 6 weeks old. The walker was to be used for 4 weeks!.

After gaining enough confidence of using the walker, I decided to join my office back. I was glad to see my office desk back, though I had never thought I would miss it, but 8 weeks of absence from office and immobility made me realize that there are things more boring than office. All my team members swarmed my desk inquiring about my health. I was pampered to no end by my team mates. The watchman at the access gate asked me to get a special card made, Surprised at his suggestion I asked him why, and he pointed at  the walker, indicating my disability, while I was talking to the watchman, a girl asked me if she could fetch an auto for me, and I realized what a disabled person goes through, he/she doesn't need help, they need acceptance, that they can manage things on their own, We try to help them on pettiest of things, trying to be good. I  denied the offer and thanked the girl for her offer(which under normal circumstances I would never reject!).

And now I am writing this blog on a day when I have finally started walking normally with a stick(quite normal considering what I had gone through over last 11 weeks). This accident has virtually taken 12 weeks of my life, but these 12 weeks have been memorable for me. But these are some memories I would never like to re-encounter!

PS- God forbid if you are in such a situation, never reject a girls offer, because this offer may offend your ego now, but it will always boost your love. Don't let ego kill love!

Women-The reason for our existence

Alright, I know, I have written so many blogs on the female variant of the species Homo-sapiens that I can claim expertise in it. However this time, its different(please don't consider this as just another marketing gimmick!).

8th March of every year is celebrated as International Womens day across the globe. I would not dwell into its history as it doesn't hold as much significance as the day itself. Many may consider it as a western world's just another reason for celebration. I would not disagree either, after all, all countries are not blessed with so many holidays as India is. However I would still like to see it from India's perspective.

India has always been a country where women have held a special place. Amongst the 330 million odd Indian gods, the Goddesses hold a special place. Be it Durga or Parvati or Kali. All of them are revered by the faithfuls, Not to mention that up in the heavens too, the decisions and policies of Gods are often believed to be driven by wives of Gods i.e Goddesses. Coming back to the mortal world, Kerala, God's own country is proud to be a matriarchal society(quite rightly God's own country). What that means is, women are the leader of the family, its the husband which goes to his wife's home after marriage, that was quite long ago,not anymore it seems. Coming closer in history, the Indian independence movement was driven by powerful females like Sarojni Naidu amongst others. After Independence, the most powerful Prime minister India ever had was a woman, Indira Gandhi. Her daughter-in-law controls the current political scenario quite adeptly. Indian women are going places, be it Indira Nooyi(pepsico's CEO) or Late Kalpana Chawla(astronaut).

Of the shining Indian women movement, a few things stuck me.......

"Whats your name dear?" someone asked her
"Mehek" she replied, rolling her tongue out
"How old are you? and who do you stay with?"
"I am 4, no 5 no 4.5, I stay with my uncle, My parents have gone to meet God. But my uncle is taking good care of me. He gives me ice-cream everyday. And he plays a game with me everyday after coming home" she said, confused what else to say
 "What game?" he curiously asked
"He removes my clothes, and then he removes his clothes, then we lie together on bed. He does something to me and I feel a tickling sensation between my legs. Its so much fun" She said with all the excitement in her voice
"WHAT??????" he said.

The so called uncle was arrested by the man himself who was asking these questions to the little girl perched up on a bench in a park all alone. The man is an IPS officer, and the uncle, a successful man who took advantage of this orphan girl.

Little girls are not always the target and common man is always not the accused.

A girl in Banda district was inhumanely raped by the MLA from SP. Worse still, the police made a blooper by disclosing the girls identity and arresting her for theft instead. The girl has threatened to become a dacoit if she doesn't get justice(as if phoolan devi was not enough). If you think, this is a one off case. A NCP MLA from jalgaon is accused of a similar crime against  a girl on the pretext of giving her job. And if even this is not sufficient, a cop attached to a police station in Mumbai committed suicide, reason, he was accused in a rape case and had been absconding. If the lawmakers and law protectors indulge in crime against women, who will safeguard them?

And if people think, rape is the only crime that can happen, think again. An Indian diplomat attached to Indian embassy in UK was accused of domestic violence. Cases of dowry harassment and female infanticide are taken in pride by the Indian society. Everybody and anybody who has stared at a woman, tried to seek any attention out of a woman in any form is an accused for sexual harassment. Everyday when a girl leaves her home, she anticipates and expects that she will be stared at in public, she will be suppressed in office. Unfortunately and shamefully for us, the women have accepted it as a part of their life.

For a nation which recites Durga chalisa with ease. Takes pride in Indira Gandhi and Kalpana chawla. For the set of politicians who pass the bill Women reservation on one hand, and are accused of rape on other hand, its shameful and pitiful.

If we can get rid of the 'Sati' system efficiently, then why not these crimes?

A man is not a man because he can control a lady, he is a man if he can protect a lady. And if we can't protect women, the reason why we exist on this earth, then we cant protect our existence either.

Signing off-
Abhishek
A proud  pro-feminist

Till Death do us apart

 I have never been in any relationship whatsoever, or to put it in a better way, no girl has found me good enough to be in a relationship, however, their are a few things in life which are better enjoyed from a ring side view. It may be a  fight between two people, a wrestling match or a guy proposing a girl. Yes you heard me right, it is always enthralling to watch a guy propose a girl with "true love", big promises and the heart breaks that follow when the promises are not met or when the people don't want the promises to be met. I have come across some of the cases during my not so long lifetime of 23 years. So lets chronicle them.

Case-I:

Day of Proposal-
"I Love You", the boy says, slowly steadily yet nervously.....
"Yippeee, You idiot, you took so much time to say this, I Love You too ,duffer", The girl replies and hugs the guy tightly.
"Thank you, I ll love you for ages to come, not even death can torn us apart", the boy says and hugs her back even more tightly.....

A month later.....


"You know you are a jerk", the girl says it aloud to him
"I know", the boy says with overflowing sarcasm
"I can't stay with a possessive fool like you"
"Not that i want to continue with a bi**h like you"

The ages and reincarnation which the boy spoke of, lasted only for a month. This kind of love can be associated with high school where love has a fickle existence.

CASE-II


The day of proposal


"I.....I....I just wanted to tell you that....I... I....love you", the boy says putting in all his heart and overcoming nervousness
"Ok, I was kinda expecting it, but do you think we will click?", the girl says with a expression of corporate czar about to sign a big business deal.
"We will give it our best shot, I just wanna stay with you, I am unable to think beyond you, I ll flunk in my exams if you say a no now", the boys says switching to desperate measures to save the deal.
"Alright, I think I like you as well, we can give it a shot", she says with an authoritative tone only comparable to the US president signing on a go ahead for a nuke deal.

One year later.......


"You don't love me anymore,all the time you speak only of Java, can't you speak love, like you used to?", the girl says with wet eyes
"Oh dear, I am so sorry, this work is getting on my nerves, but I ll surely spend more time with you hence forth", the boy says, knowing very well, how tough it would be and trying to sound as convincing as possible.

One more year later........


"I can't stay with you any more, You are not making my life easy by calling up everyday while I am at work", the boy says in a "no option left" tone.
"But you said you can't think beyond me and would not be able to stay without me" she says in a tone which will even persuade god to weep
"And you said, lets see if we click, which as I see it, we don't, so lets end it before I hurt you any further"

The case is of a college couple who are unable to continue the affair like they did in college due to the added responsibilities of life. Its not a case of fickle existence of love, but its a case of giving precedence to life than love.

CASE-III


"I hate you, I hate you" she said in a tone which only girls can describe......
 "I am sorry dear, but you know that college can be so demanding", he said, trying every possible way to convince her.
"aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" She gave out a loud screech
"Ohhh c'mon you never shout like that,what happened, Hello, Hello, Aarti you there? Hello?"


"Now that was unreasonable, she hanged up on me? and she switched her phone off? she has never done this, Only god can convince her now" Sunny thought .

Little did he know, that it was not unreasonable, it was rather unfathomable. While talking to sunny, Aarti met with an accident which left her  paralyzed. Her world became immobile and his world, was shattered to the last possible piece.

Seeing Aarti Makwana at Summers job in 2006, Sunny pawar had fallen in love with her. Things were all rosy for him as Aarti too, reciprocated the love. He never promised to love her till eternity or reincarnations, all he wanted was to love her as long as he could. One terrible day in December 2007 Aarti met with an accident which left her paralyzed on the right side . Sunny could not bring himself to continue with his education, although he never considered himself to be a true lover, he could not see someone he loved lying on bed waiting for help. He took a sabbatical from his education and started tending to Aarti along with her mother. Crying occasionally when Aarti could not recognize who he was or when Aarti was in pain, all she could do was make incomprehensible noises, he kept up his spirit and love, Spending almost 12 hours a day at her home, feeding her, singing for her and making her sleep. His effort of 2.5 years started to reap benefits. Aarti had gained 15 kgs since her accident, which was a good sign. Doctors had declared that for them to remove the clot causing the paralysis, Aarti has to start responding to commands. To everyone's surprise, she started doing so pretty soon. Seeing all this, Sunny  joined back his college to complete his education. But as they say, fate always has the last laugh,just when things started looking good, Aarti was diagnosed with pneumonia resulting in high fever, she died within 2 days of being diagnosed in June 2010 due to her already fragile condition.


When people proclaim their love for ages to come, I don't doubt their intentions, but its all about will, how many of them are willing to love for ages to come? True love is not about words, but actions and Sunny sets the example of true love. I did not write this blog to comment on his gestures, because his gestures speak for themselves, I wrote this blog for people to know the extent love can reach. And when i say love, it would include everyone you ever loved, your family, your girlfriend, your pet. He never proclaimed to stay with her till death does them apart, but it was ultimately death which had to set them apart. If this is not love, then there is no love. For many, Life is all about love, but for him , his love was his life. My condolences for Aarti and my tribute to Sunny's true love.

                                      Love Lives on.........


PS- This story was covered by Mumbai mirror in december 2007 and june 2010(on Aarti's death). Following is the coverage by a news channel prior to Aarti's death.

The Great Indian Language Divide

"Language is the biggest barrier to human progress because language is an encyclopedia of ignorance. Old perceptions are frozen into language and force us to look at the world in an old fashioned way."
-Edward de Bono, Famous Maltese physician,originator of term Lateral thinking and author of best seller Six thinking hats

 During the second semester of my engineering degree, we had a subject(which we never accounted for) called communication skills. Though this was a subject which one could clear with relative ease(when compared with mother of all horrors, Mechanics), I took time to mug up one answer, "Barriers to effective communication". One of barrier which holds true in the Indian context ,is Language.

I wrote a few blogs in the past one year which showed how a constant bias is being developed against speakers of one language(Hindi) by others(namely tamil and marathi). What I saw is what I wrote. But what is the reason for such a huge prejudice and bias? The rivalry of Indian languages goes back a long way in our very old history.

 1000-1500AD: The Arrival of Muslim rulers in India

  The Islamic era of India is something we owe a lot of current tourism revenue to(read Taj mahal). But one thing which this era gave us was our official language. Surprised? Yes, Official language of India, Hindi was not in existence before the Muslim rulers came to India. We had Brij bhasha, Maithili amongst others, but not the khari boli dialect. The Muslim rulers who arrived in India spoke persian and arabic. To gain ground among the locals, the rulers adapted ,and with mixture of persian and brij bhasha came the khari boli(Urdu/Hindi). The father of this khari boli movement was Amir Khusro, famous poet of 12th century, who had mastered brij bhasha along with his own native persian language. Following prose gives us a fair idea of his mastery of the two languages,

zihaal-e-miskeen mukon taghaful (Persian)
doraaye nainaan banaye batyaan (Brij)

The development of the khari boli went on for a long time and not surprisingly, it is still under development(more on that later)

The British Era:-


The Britishers, taking a cue from the previous Islamic rulers, made Urdu the official and national language of communication in India. Almost all the literates of the North Indian belt could read, write and comprehend Urdu, so not surprisingly Urdu was made our national language. What the Britishers did not account for, was that a language could be associated with religion. After the 1857 rebellion, the Hindus started distinguishing themselves by calling the language they speak as Hindi. The very same language, developed by Amir khusro et al, written in devnagri script. This was the first seed sowed for the communal tensions which were to develop between two religions which had so far lived in peace. In response to this, Sir sayyed laid the foundation for the now prestigious Aligarh Muslim university, focussing on educating the Muslims in Urdu, as a counter response to this,  the foundation for Benaras Hindu university was laid. The offensive and counter offensive went on till the year 1900, which was a significant year in the history of languages in India. That year, Hindi and Urdu were accorded the equal status. Two dialects of the khari boli, which when spoken colloquially had no difference, were given a status of two official national languages. The Hindus rejoiced, finally they had an equal standing with a "foreign language imposed upon them". What they did not realize was ,the language they were rejoicing for, was given to them by the very same foreign rulers. From that year, the supporters of Hindi, to make it distinct from Urdu, increasingly 'sanskritized' the language, while, Urdu was constantly drawing from persian. And this is what I meant when I said, the Khari boli is still evolving, because even till today, the languages are getting influenced. When the demands for the creation of Pakistan was raised, Gandhi, Nehru amongst others, propoganded the language Hindustani(the khari boli, Hindi/urdu) and even assingned the famous Hindi and Urdu author Munshi Premchand to compile his work in this common language. They wanted Hindustani to be the official language, which could be written interchangeably in Nastaliq(script of Urdu) and Devnagri. But it was too late, to save the language, and to save the unity.

Post Independence: 
The very same congress, which proclaimed India to be a secular country(which fortunately it still is), and propoganded the use of Hindustani, made Hindi the official language of India(not national), along with English as a defacto official language till 1965. Every effort was made, to increase the reach of Hindi to everyone, sometimes by words and sometimes by force. The Hindi, which liberally used words from persian language, was being 'sanskritized' at a faster rate. Meanwhile, our neighbors left no stone unturned to make Urdu increasingly 'persianized'. Hindi and Urdu which were like conjoined twins a century before, looked like non-identical twins now.

Anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu:
Apparently, Urdu wasn't the only nemesis for Hindi, bigger nemesis for propoganda of Hindi was the dravidian states in south India. Anti Hindi sentiment in Tamil nadu goes back to 1936, when the then congress govt led by our first governer general C rajgopalachari, made Hindi a compulsory subject across all schools in Tamil Nadu. This came as a bolt from blue to Tamilians. They were forced to learn a language which was a polar opposite of the language they spoke. They felt no need of introducing a new language, when just tamil was enough for administration. Instead of addressing their concerns, the chief minister of Madras, used brute force to quell the agitation. But the agitation did not die down and the Congress govt resigned in 1939. After Independence, Congress decided to make Hindi a National language, which would mean all the communication hence forth would be in Hindi to all states. It was only after the threat of secession by the Dravidian states that it was decided to keep Hindi and english(defacto) the official language and not National language, while a scheduled list of 22 national languages would be maintained. English would be the defacto official language only till 1965, but all attempts in the year 1965 to remove english as the official language were quashed by massive protests by DMK and their landslide victory in the state polls(Trivia-Congress has never managed to come back in power since). This prompted Indira Gandhi to make English defacto official language indefinitely. Agreed, their was a hint of linguistic chauvanism in the protests in Tamil Nadu, but the use of force to impose Hindi only increased the Anti-Hindi sentiment in the state. Though the Anti-Hindi protests led to English being made a permanant official language, which is now the source of the Service Industry boom in India.

Current Scenario-
The linguistic chauvanism has reached heights never seen before. The Anti-Hindi sentiment is gaining momentum in Maharashtra and West bengal is not far behind. Their will be no dearth of parties like Shiv-Sena, MNS and DMK for a long time to come 


The country which feels proud of being a land where language changes every mile, is suffereing due to the very same reason. The Hindi language which was envisioned to be a uniting factor for all Indians has instead ended up dividing the nation.One solution to this can be going back to the colonial ways by completely adopting english. But for a problem as old as a millenium, I am no one to offer a solution. I only believe in what is said by Abhishek bacchan in one of the ads for a telecom operator,

                         "Language needs no words"

The phases in life of boys-With girls II

Almost a year after writing the first part of this blog, I am here with the much awaited sequel( pardon me if it sounds like a line lifted off from one of the movie promo). In case people are reading this without reading the first part, Please stop right here and go read the first part. Ok I know you still did not read the first part, so all those lazy bones like me, I would give a quick recap of what happened in the first part.

I spoke about how guys behave at various stages of life with girls. Right from hating them( The school days) to using them( The dark college days). In all these stages, guys share "love me, hate me, but can't ignore me" type relationship with girls. But after all this, boys come to office, and here starts a new adventure.

Phase VI-Bachelor at work 

Before starting of with this phase and before you start to relate it with youself, I am assuming that there 'are' girls in office(sorry mechanical civil and govt job guys, no donuts for you). I also assume that you are not a workaholic.So lets move on.....

It was the night before my first day at work, when I was very excited. I was excited about having my induction at a 5 star. But more than the place, I was excited about the crowd that was to pour in the next day. If the word going around was to be believed, for this batch the company had hired lots of 'chics'. Dressed in the best possible clothes I had(read-First Impression is the last impression), and a mind full of anticipation I entered the hall. Immediately my eye-brain coordination got down to work, my eyes started to scan for vacant seats near any hot chic seated in the hall. After a lot of hardwork, I managed to get a seat next to a chic.

   "Hi, I am Abhishek", I said ,extending my hand for a shake
   "Oh, Hi I am Anjana", she said,taking my hand shaking it.
   "So you from which college? I am from LT by the way, heard of it?", After I said this all in a single breath, I cursed myself, how can I just behave like just another wannabe?
    "I am from VESIT, and yes, I have indeed heard of your college, I stay right next to it" , she said , half gigling half smiling.
    "Oh thats nice, So you have any friend with whom you have come?" I said, anticipating an acquantaince with one more hot chic.
    "Yeah, My BF is also here today, his name is nishant, you must be knowing him".
    "one down" I said to myself referring to a chic being out of list, for the moment ofcourse
    "Hey abhishek, meet nishant"

Seeing that guy made me realize one thing, If guys like Nishant were to remain around, I will be having no girl around me for a long time to come at my work place. When I say long time, a perfect parameter for this is the fact that its been 10 months at work and I still am yet to find a 'chic' who is 'single'. During my entire course of 10 months, I met many Anjanas and almost everytime I met their Nishants. Even the girls, a notch or two below the Anjanas I met, had a Nishant for them. This gave me the inspiration for the sequel that I am writing. This phase of boys is of eternal search.

Tired of either being a nerd at college or a casanova, the guys come into their work life, expecting to find the right girl. A girl who is independent and earning(aah, thats important as well, chances of your wallet getting empty on an outing become less). A girl who would stay around for some time and would understand your need of spending time at work. A girl who herself would be so busy the whole day, she won't get time to get possesive about you. However the biggest twist in a guys life here is, that most of the girls come into office with their hearts truly committed.They don't miss an opportunity to proclaim their commitment to the world, in every gesture, they smell of commitment. They can't stop going gaga over their guys, which makes you feel more envious every passing moment.Those 'good' girls who are fortunately not committed are so immersed into work or career or family or friendship with you(The "just friend" types rememeber?), that chances are, she will surely not fall for you. Whether or not a guy admits it, he invariably joins the long list of waiting guys, the so called waiting list of guys. This list reduces at every break up of a girl. The girls, whose guys are not in the same organization start to feel the heat and here comes in the cracks, which are amplified by none other than the waiting guys.

 The wait list here is indeed analogous to the one for railway reservation. Those who get a reservation travel the distance, those who don't, have to catch the next train. If you could't do anything serious in college, you lost it, its too late to board the bus now. Those who are committed , won't get committed to you, unless of course you do something la "My best friends wedding". Those who are not, chances are, they may not get committed to you. This is one of the saddest and mostly lonely part in a 'single' guy's life. At work, their will always exist a lucky minority of Nishants and an unlucky of majority of people like me. The only hope left for us, is our parents. Only they can "arrange" for a reservation now.Mom and dad, you are my only saviour.......

The next part will take a few years in the making(c'mon I am only 23, it will be sometime before my parents can arrange for a reservation). But I do promise to come up with the next part.   

Phase VII-Married at work,Horrors of working in same office as spouse.

A land of thieves ,beggars and snake charmers.

Cursing the Mumbai university I boarded the BEST bus from university campus and sat down on one of the seats. I did not notice an American girl sitting next to me. She politely asked me if i could speak english, to which i nodded. She had been having problems comprehending what a lady was asking her in hindi. I was very glad to help, more than the 'atithi devo bhava' thing, it was the cuteness factor of the girl which did me in. Not a man to miss chances I striked a conversation with her, asking her about her city and country and about her pupose of visit to India. She turned out to be an urban planner and surprisingly she had done extensive research on this country. Amused, I probed her further to check if she had the stereotypical image of India like every other westerner has. It turned out, she did have the 'slum image' of India, courtesy 'Shantaram' and "Slumdog Millionare". I started with the "Namastey London" dialouge. I proclaimed India has more people speaking english than the US and UK put together. I went on 30 mins and told her every postive thing about India which I could recollect. I told her to visit bangalore to see the real 'Intelligent' India. She seemed totally convinced with my arguments. She said this,as a departing note

"It seems I need to correct my friend who thinks of India as a land of thieves ,beggars and snake charmers".

 "You better do" I replied with a faint smile.


 I was patting my own back for a job well done. At least one American got her facts corrected due to my efforts.  But, was the correction correct? Aren't we actually a land of thieves and beggars? Some observations in past one year has put me in self-doubt. Whether what she thought of us was correct?


 Unlike New Delhi, road infrastructure is pathetic in Mumbai. To travel from Eastern suburbs to the Western suburbs is a big pain. When the actual distance on the map is just 4 kms, one has to take a detour of 10 kms to reach the same place. To solve this issue the state government in 2004 decided to make an elevated link road from one suburb to another. Such was the marvel of the plan, that it was featured in NatGeo's Megacity series. The deadline set for this was 2007.
 Current status-50% complete.
 Revised deadline-dec 2011
 Original cost of Project-Rs 100 cr
 Revised cost -Rs 300 cr

 The reason? The same old Indian problem, Slums. Relocation of slums for the project was stuck in the high court, until state govt. used one of the old laws to forcibily move them. Their demand? they wanted a 450 sq. feet home instead of the 300 sq feet home being provided to them. The ground reality is that these people are currently staying in less than 100 sq feet shanty. How ironic it is, when these people even dare to keep such demands.

  It is said , making a home in the city of Mumbai is a dream achieved by a lucky few, I say, it is achieved by those acting smartly.Modus operandi is very simple. To make a house in mumbai, all you need is an investment of Rs 10000 and lots of patience. Make a shanty on one of the govt land and wait till govt plans a project on that land. Now you are a citizen of the city and cannot be just thrown away for a 'petty' project. The govt promises to rehabilitate you to a "better place" to live in. If you are a bit ambitious and daring, you challange the govt and demand for a bigger place to live in. It won't make any difference to you because the govt will be using the tax payers money to move you to a "better place", so why not try your luck in bargain. Till the time you get a "better place" to live in , you easily use the open spaces for daily chores like washing and bathing among other things, the govt will take care of the cleaning from the tax payers money. You can also freely watch your favorite TV program , all you have to do is put a plug into the wire going to one of the "permanent home" nearby your acquired home and get the electicity for free of cost, so what if the poor tax payer is footing your bill without him knowing the good deed he is commiting.

One can be easily mistaken, if they think that people who are "poor" tarnish the image of this nation. When the CWG OC can purchase $89 toilet paper rolls and rent a treadmill at Rs 100000, all again from tax payers money, then it is grossly unfair to give all the credit of discrediting the tax payers to "poor" people alone. It is also heart warming to see that the CWG OC, politicians and the "poor" people have a lot of competition from the corporate world. When a certain famous contruction company supposedly quotes an escalated cost of Rs 1600 cr for a sea link made just at Rs 600 cr, it is unfair to leave them out.


 So this is the story of the great Indian stealing circus. I really hope, the girl whom I supposedly corrected, is not cursing me, seeing the state of the CWG and the IPL expose.

I think its time to coin a new statement for the social status of India

"The rich gets richer, the poor gets richer, and the middle class gets poorer"




       

Love for Friend,friend for love.........

           First Sunday of every August is celebrated as World Friendship day, and here it is, the first Sunday of august. The site in any gathering of friends tomorrow will be similar. Friends will be tying friendship bands to each other, sobbing, hugging and laughing aloud together. Although some may say that friendship doesn’t need one particular day to be celebrated, it is something which should be celebrated every day and every moment, true, but none of these arguments can take out the enthusiasm out of that one day, where we find more reasons than one to celebrate the togetherness.

          I have always been blessed with great friends wherever I have been (including the kinds who screw you at every given opportunity in sight). But I have shared a very strange relation with one friend. A relation, which I find it hard to describe in words.

         “I love you for this abhi”. She had said when I had resolved her issue with a common friend who had turned a jilted lover. That was a start of this strange relationship. She is a year older to me and one of the most chilled out girl I ever met. Although amazingly beautiful, I always saw a great fun buddy in her. It was not these lines that changed it all, it was the way she poured her heart out to me when she wanted to get rid of the mess. I came to know her better and knew that there was more to her than just being a fun buddy. I developed a feeling, which I knew was not love, because I had been in love and knew this was not love, but still this feeling kept dragging me towards her. We had a lot in common and shared same ideas about a lot of things and we often joked that we would make a great couple if we get married. Every time such a discussion happened, my heart raced and I found asking myself about this strange bond and attraction that I have for her. And deep down in my heart I knew we would make an amazing couple and knew that we would be happy together, but the feelings which lead to this conclusion were simply unclear to me.

        “Abhi” she said in a soft but a very disappointed voice
        “what?” I said, alarmed at how a usually cheerful girl was so dull
        “That guy screwed up my life, he really played out a jilted lover’s role” she said referring to the common friend who was smitten by her. “He called up my place and told all bullshit about me to my parents , although they didn’t trust him, but this has lead to hastening of marriage proposals and as a matter of fact I am being married off to a guy 8 yrs older to me living and working in a small city”.

       “What!!!!!!!!!” I repeated the same statement again with much more intensity than last time. “that damned guy is 8 yrs older to you dear, and for god’s sake you are an MBA, and he works and lives in a small city and I am pretty sure that his salary might be only half as yours”. I said, trying to sound as rational as I could.

      “I can’t do anything now, my parents are hell bent, and you know they really liked you……” she said laughing and crying at the same time.

     “Then I’ ll marry you” I said in ‘I-mean-it’ tone

      “Too late, you will take 4 more years to marry me and my parents just want it right away “



            After she hung up, I could not draw any sleep, I did not know why I said that I ll marry her, was it actually love? Was this the way love felt like? I closed my eyes and left everything that was running in my mind. I wanted to feel lighter, free from all the thoughts. I felt afloat in the nothingness and then it struck me.

           All my confusion in the last few cleared in that one moment. Was it love? Yes it was. Was it friendship? Yes it was. She was a friend for love. It was not a lover’s love, it was a love you have for a person you always want to see happy even if you have to take the world on. When I said I will marry you, I said that because I was unable to see her pain, I could not see her life getting ruined and I knew, I may not love her like a lover does, but I could keep her happy. The feeling which I could not decipher in months was clear to me now. It was love indeed, and she was the friend I loved, beyond myself and beyond anything. And she was a friend indeed.


                She will be married in a few months and all I still hope and pray for  is that she finds some happiness in the disaster which awaits her.

                                Love you my friend