Thursday, November 30, 2006

I wish...

When I was a small little boy,
I seem to know only one word, why,
Why Sun rises in the east,
Why on festivals, we have feast,
Why children have to go to school,
Why summer is hot, why winter is cool,
Where people go when they die,
why birds fly & I can not fly,
Why food tastes good when it is hot,
Question on which no one will spare a thought,
But children are so innocent, so sweet,
They have logics which we can't beat,
That is why I want to be a child again,
So that my thoughts can be wild again,
I can run on the grass & catch the moon,
But we grow old, so soon, so soon,

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Selfish...am I?

Who am I…. What am I… I am tired of my self… completely tired… I don’t know what I want… or may be I never knew that… why I always try to be good…. Why I always try to keep every one…... why I cant let go… go and do what you want.. out of my life… I want to be alone… always… I m tired of people….. and hypocrisy… why I run from loneliness… when no body has any thing to offer to me…. In fact, do I have anything to offer… other than my silly talks….. useless laughter… shit pjs…. And loads of immature senti stuff… I don’t even know what people think of me…. May be a joker… who never has pain… no desires…. no ambitions…. Nothing…. Just laughs, in hope that world will laugh with him… world does but they forget as soon as he gets out of sight… no one cares about me… no one, the way I want…. no one cares for my feelings, emotions…. Everyone is busy with his/her life… infact why anyone should worry about me…. But then why I cant stop worrying about others… why why why why…. Why I cant be selfish… why I cant start thinking abt myself, MY feelings, MY life, MY desires, MY dreams, MY happiness…. WHY… WHY… WHY… WHY

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Death of a Soldier…

I knew he was dying and I knew he knows that too. But both of us had no time to think about that. With his stomach ripped apart by a shell, if there was any chance of him surviving, I had to keep him talking, keep him awake.

People think that soldiers are men of few words but they don’t realize how much words mean to them. To them, who don’t know which word would be their last or which word would end their world.

Similar feelings were going back and forth in my mind when I had to use my words, not bullets, for a life, for saving a life. Sitting in a trench, waiting for help, I was wondering, will I be alive to keep Jai alive for some time? But I had to over come the fear. I had to save him. I must.

“Hey Jai, you there?”, I said cheerfully.
“Yup”, He said with a smile.
I knew he was remembering chat sessions we used to have when we used to go to our homes during training.
“How you doing buddy?”, I asked.
“Not great dude, do I need mention why?”, he said glancing downwards.
My heart leaped !

I knew Jai for four years now, from the day we met when I reached the army camp and in these four years we have come as close as brothers. We know each other’s secrets. He knows how mad I was about a girl till she slapped me. I know how much he loves his fiancé Smriti, his childhood love. I felt like crying but I couldn’t. I can’t. Tears are not for us who fight so that no one in their country has to shed a tear.

He mumbled something.
“What did you say?”, I asked.
“Tell Smriti that I was involved with some other girl near army camp”, he said.
“What, Why?”
“That is the only way she will forget me though she may not forgive me”, he said helplessly.
“Oye, don’t talk like that. You are going no where and you are not going to die, understood”, I abnomished him.
He smiled in a way that made me shiver even though we were sitting in a jungle of fire.

“That won’t help Viju. I am going to die and what I can think of now is her. Please tell her as I told you”, He said.
“Cut this crap because I am going to tell this to her, but on the day of you marriage, not now. So she won’t complain to me that I didn’t give her one last chance to stay away from such a, such a Casanova like you”
He smiled again. Genuine trademark Jai style which makes everyone look at him once again, at least.
He closed his eyes. Something collided with earth with a loud bang nearby. I trembled but he looked calm. I could think of pain he was going through. Not the pain of knowing that he is dying, but the pain of leaving Smriti all alone in this world, again. Her parent had died in an accident and what she was left with was Jai.

“Hey Jai, you remember when my mother came surprisingly to our room once, how we managed to hide all those cigarettes butts by throwing them in flush. I still regret throwing that pack of cigarette, I hadn’t even opened it”, I said grudgingly.
“That day was fun”, he said, trying to be talkative but with great pain.
“Yes, yes, those were the great days”, I said, “You know, I have decided to quit smoking once the war is over”.
“Fifty seventh time you have said this in last few years”.
I laughed, “I know you have a good memory but you need not show it off every now and then on such a petty thing. Anyway, you remember this, this time I will certainly quit”.
“And you know, I am thinking of settling down in life, finally. Enough is enough. How long I will have to sleep with you and in fact even you won’t be there after few months once you get married”.
“Dear, you know so many girls, set one for me. I swear, this time I am serious. You can tell her that I will follow her like no one would. Please, please, please say that you will do this for me”.

He nodded. He looked better.

“And you know, I had already made plans for my marriage. Simple marriage, two children and both of them will go to english medium co-education schools. And one thing certainly I am going to tell them, stay away from Jai uncle’s children.”
“Then why are you not staying away from me”.
“Because, because… Tough question, let me think” I said laughing.
“Because you are my life”, I laughed loudly.

He tried to laugh but could not.
He closed his eyes again. He was becoming too weak due to heavy loss of blood. I had wrapped my muffler around his waist but that was not of much help to him.

“Hey Jai”, I said.
No response.
“Hey Jai”, I said loudly and shook him. Still there was no response. I got worried. I checked his heart beats. He was still alive but was ready to break free at any moment.
“Jai, are you listening to me”, I shouted.
He moved a bit.
“Please Jai, be there for some time and help will come”, I pleaded, “You have to. For me, for Smriti and for your children”.
I felt like fear of loosing him was taking its toll on me.
He didn’t buzz. I shook him again. No response again. I put my ears once again against his chest and I felt like dead.
No sound, no movement, just silence of death.
He was dead. My best friend had left this cruel world. He too will become a photo in a photo frame. May be some meddle will be awarded to his parents.

I felt numb, and I cried.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

After all, I am a salesman

It wasn’t a long journey, hardly two hours and forty five minutes. But the problem with these small journeys are such, that you do not get to watch landscapes, cows grazing, men working in fields or live examples of omnipresent scarcity of toilets in India, especially when the journey is between two decently populated cities. What you end up seeing are, people running on four wheelers, three wheelers, two wheelers and it makes me feel that wheel indeed is humankind’s best invention. Then there is the crowd, smoke, noise and the rest.

But at the moment my biggest concern was not the scenic beauties, it was the train which was going to take me to the other city. Irony…… wheels again.

I usually do everything in a planned way. At times my friends say that I should not have been in sales, rather I should have been in the army. But that would have been a disaster for a person like me. I can not live with same bunch of 20-30 faces each and every day for years. That’s why I came into the sales.

So, it was one of those urgent meetings with a client which made me come to station in a hurry.

People were overflowing from everywhere onto the station. I always imagine an Ariel view of the crowd around a train and it reminds me of ants trying to carry a dead cockroach. And as it always happens, cockroach does move, but the other way round, carrying the ants.

When I entered the platform, the train was already there and I had to run to get in as it had every possibility of chugging any given moment. But surprisingly my train was not crowded and I settled on to a seat. Since I had nothing interesting to see outside, I started inspecting the inside.

I always try to analyze faces to guess what might be going in their minds. So, first of all I took a cursory glance to have an overview and immediately muttered a curse. As always, no girl was around!

I have made it a point that either I will start from girls or old ones. But alas!!! Till date none of my journeys have provided me the good fortune of sharing my destiny with girls. So, I looked at the person sitting in front of me. He was in his fifties, long jawed face with a decent look. In his younger days, he wouldn’t have had a problem getting around with girls. Nothing about girls, okay!!! I said to myself.

He was reading an English news paper and since I generally read the same, I knew that the page he was on had no news of substance, but only has pictures of enough substance. Men will be men. In fact at times when I curse old people for their interests in such things, I wonder what will happen to someone like me when I will be old. But I was in no mood of SWOT analysis right now and immediately started thinking of asking the news paper so that instead of imagining, I can see what was printed today.

“Ticket”
“What?”
“Ticket”
“Oh”

Now I realized, I was so deep in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice when the ticket collector came and asked for the ticket.

“Sure, sure”, I said.

I stood up and took my hand to my trousers back pocket and my jaw dropped. My hand directly touched my hips without any interference or protest from my purse. I touched above my pocket twice more as if hoping that purse would reappear from no where. But no, it wasn’t there and it wasn’t going to appear either.

I frantically started checking each of my pockets, but it wasn’t there. I always put my purse in my back pocket, always, more so a habit. In the mean time, the ticket collector was looking at me smiling as if he has caught his prey for the day.

“Ticket mister !”
“Yes sir, I am trying to find it. I put it in my purse but it’s not in my pocket now. I guess someone picked my pocket.”
“O mister, don’t start your false cry. Show me the ticket or come with me and I will arrange for you a longer journey. And I won’t even ask a ticket for that.” He said glancing towards everyone and laughed at his sentence as if he had cracked the joke of this century. I frowned.

However, no one seemed to be interested in the conversation and he diverted his attention again towards me.

“No ticket?”
“No sir!”
“OK, come with me”
“Please sir, I took the ticket. I really did, and put it in my purse but someone took my purse.” I pleaded.
“This is an everyday story. I have been working for last thirty years checking tickets (As if he had been a royal king of some state) and see people like you every day, trying to fool me, haan. I will show you what I will do now.”
“Come with me”

I knew I stand no chance so I went along with him to the end of the coach. He stopped there, took out a cheap bidi and lit it.

“So…tell me what shall I do?”
“Please sir, I am not that kind of person, I really took the ticket.”
“Nice story, but that is the past and the fact is that you don’t have ticket and I have caught you and am in no mood to let you go. I am a responsible officer of Indian Railways.” He said dramatizing every word with thick smoke coming out of his mouth and nostrils.

I think I saw something come out of his ears too!

“So!” he said.
“Please sir, let me go. I don’t know what to do. I was just going to the next station. In fact I am going there for the first time and even don’t know anyone there. I don’t know how I am going to survive and come back. Please sir, leave me.”
“Though you don’t look to me as a culprit but I can not put Railways into a loss. You see if I keep on leaving every one then how will trains are going to run in this country.” He had experienced a lot from his 30 years of service about how to module the voice to have the best effect.

“Sir, give me a chance”
“Okay Okay, you are of my son’s age, so, let’s have it straight, give me Rs.200 and I will let you go.”
Rs.200!!! My mouth remained open for some time.
“Sir, I don’t have any money, my purse is lost”
“But you must be having some money else where.”
“No sir, I keep all my money in my purse”
“I don’t know when this young generation is going to have some intelligence in their heads. You should have kept some money some where else also. Wouldn’t it help you in a situation like this?” He was getting irritated.
“Sir, I will surely keep that in my mind next time. You have opened my eyes. I regret meeting you, I mean in such circumstances, because it is great to listen to some of your advices like that. ”
He appeared to soften a bit and said, “You don’t have anything? Just check your other pockets.”

I felt like now he was pleading to me. I checked all my pockets and found one ten rupee note and three rupees in change. He looked at me as if he was looking at a stray dog and said sarcastically, “Just thirteen rupees and you are going to a new city all alone. Oh God! Give them some wisdom.” He looked up. But then in a very soothing voice, he said philosophically, “But as I told you earlier, you are of my son’s age and I can’t treat you as I treat others. So I will let you go.” And simultaneously he took the thirteen rupees out of my stretched hand.

“Thank God that I met you. Had it been some one else, you might have very well be in jail. Though this will not even get me a lunch but you see, I can’t put Railways in to losses.” He took the last puff of the bidi, exhaled a cloud of smoke, threw the stub and went on.

Train was slowing down and within minutes, it was crawling along the platform. I put my hand bag on my shoulders, and jumped out though the train was still moving. I came out of the station, took my purse out from my bag and pulled out a fifty rupee note to my familiar paanwala, “One packet, Gold Flake Kings”.

He gave me the packet. I took out one cigarette, lit it and had a deep puff.

“Traveling without ticket is fun, especially when you have no one to time pass with.” I thought admiring myself; after all, I am a salesman.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Love

a day will come when she will understand what i meant for her,
i had only one wish in life that we can always be together,
but now things have gone in a way which makes me so confused,
i wanted to get along with circumstances but my heart refused,
i never wanted to let her go through pain ever in her life,
but i have made her loving me as walking on the edge of a knife,
but you know, moemnt comes moment goes, someone comes someone goes,
some good as her, some bad as me and you have to chose between those,
she says i was laughing though my heart was weeping for her,
but i know, everyday, unwantedly,i m closing all the doors forever,
i dont know how would i live my life, how would i overcome this pain,
but one thing for sure i know, i would never love anyone again.

Yaad

Bahut yaad aai hai mujhe apne gaanv ki,
Ghar ke pichhwade wale ambuwa ke chhanv ki,

Chimniyon ke dhuein ke beech,
Chhaparo se uthati bheeni bheeni mahak ki,
Bijali ke pankhon ke neeche,
Purwaiya ki hanak ki,
Room heater se garm kamre mein baithe,
Chaupal ke alaav ki,
Bahut yaad aai hai mujhe apne gaanv ki,

Talab ke kinare wali bagiya se,
Amroodon ke churane ki,
Nadi mein utrate hue,
Door tak chale jane ki,
Shahsr mein motaron ke po po ke beech
Munder ke kauwo ke kaanv kaanv ki,
Bahut yaad aai hai mujhe apne gaanv ki,

Makai ki roti ke sang,
Sarso ke saag ki,
Haari beemari mein,
Gaanv bhar ke bhagambhaag ki,
Daudti hui is jindagi mein,
Us shaanti aur tharaav ki,
Bahut yaad aai hai mujhe apne gaanv ki,

Dadi ki dular ki,
Baba ki manuhaar ki,
Chhote chhote jhagdon mein upaje,
Gaanv walon ke pyaar ki,
Hawai jahaj mein udate samay,
Bailgaadi ke us hilaav ki,
Bahut yaad aai hai mujhe apne gaanv ki,

Mineral water peete hue,
Kuyein ke meethe pani ki,
Chulhe par roti pakati,
dadi aur nani ki,
computer par game khelte samay,
gilli dande ke daanv ki,
Bahut yaad aai hai mujhe apne gaanv ki,
Ghar ke pichhwade wale ambuwa ke chhanv ki,