Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Hats off to a Very Very Special Win - courtesy Very Very Special Laxman


 

 
Sitting on an armchair, 40 years later, when another Indian from another era wins a test match for India, we will celebrate the win just as we did today. Giving high-fives and celebrating every thing Indian about the victory. Yet when the euphoria goes down, the mind will travel back in time to another day when another mortal saved the day. The memory won't remember the runs he made, but the class he show-cased and the joy of having the privilege of watching it live.

For under the toughest conditions, he answers every challenge that is thrown at him not with a sledge-hammer but with a painter's brush. Watching him bat is poetry in making. The ball like words dance of his blade in divine rhythm. He does not play cricket. But he is an artist performing on a stage. A regal performance befit only for the kings, yet it is on display for public viewing. Batting in fourth innings is tough. Ask the other ten who were in the team. Australia was like an angry dragon. Every breath smelled of the fire within. The short-ball was their occasional fire-ball whose frequency increased as the innings progressed. They were determined and disciplined. The Indian chase started like the Chemistry practicals - effervescence of CO2 (virendra sehwag) which soon died out as during the practicals. Then the grind that a test match is began.

When he came out with India 5 down which soon became 8 down, it looked another golden opportunity lost for India except for the lone hope. The hope, that if anyone can save India against the marauding Aussies, it was him and that was a big honor which hardly any batsman can boast of in this world. Australians on their part knew their adversary very well not to lower their guard. After all he had bugged them more than any other had done before. (They call him the bugger.) Yet when you look up to see him play his shot, you don't see the past. You don't see the 167 or the 281. But only the natural order of the things. That the delivered ball had a destiny and when it hit the sweet spot of the bat it was on its way to achieve its destiny. Where is our hero in this natural order of things? Well he is there, neither to smack the ball nor to dominate the bowler. He is there to help the ball achieve its destiny. He is only the Guide.

No opposition would get intimidated by his demeanor on or off the field. The silken grace, the elegance all point towards a monk-like personality. Yet this demeanor becomes an unintended deception for the opposition. Beneath the lazy elegance lies the most disciplined warrior. A warrior hardened by the many wars he has fought, the pain he suffered (was unceremoniously dropped from ODI squad) hiding everything behind his smile. A fierce warrior, who holds his ground when the ground beneath him shakes. The opposition never gave an inch, but he drove the ball like he is driving on a 6-lane expressway.

He still misses out on lot of people's all-time best eleven even though he has saved or won test matches for India against the best in the world. But he shrugs-off it just as he would to a well-directed bouncer. After all, the Indian top-5 boasts of the bests that cricket can offer to the world. You have a butcher, who rips through bowling attacks tearing them and their plans to shreds, the wall who stone-walls everything right at his toes and the little master who is the un-official God of Cricket. Yet with all these Gods in, for his class, his big smile and his tenacity, he still remains Very Very Special. Hats off to Laxman!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Games FB Addicts Play



When I first tried out Facebook (dont remember when), the invitations and pokes overwhelmed me and I soon got tired of them. So then I just went back to the only SNS (social networking site) which was popular in India - Orkut. But thats beside the point of this post. Recently, in Jan I again revived my dead account, and now am addicted to it. Again this is not what this post is all about. :). Having observed most of my friends on it, my mind went about classifying the various traits of other fb addicts... And this is what the post is all about :) But before going further few warnings –
  • The post is very long so beware
  • Have a lump of jaggery with you as the post may leave a bitter taster in your mouth.
  • If reading a game you think I wrote it based on your behavior, rest assured you are not alone doing that as there are others too having similar trait probably differing in its degree and lot of us play multiple games at the same time – the multi-taskers! :P
So let the games begin -

1. The Guy Gangs Game
This is one of the games that most guys play within their group. In this game, there will be one innocent protagonist, who gives a very innocent status. This status may be completely innocent or at most it may have one innocent loophole. The next important character in this game is the Devil. He would be there waiting for this chance alone and the moment this innocent status gets posted, a sarcastic comment follows. This will be followed by a like on his comment, then a hot reply, another comment and pitched war between these guys start putting all their past, present and future dirty linen on the FB domain. The game usually ends, when the protagonist accepts defeat or deletes this post. But beware deleting may produce a child post on the devil's post which would take the war to the next level.
Although gals are never far-behind in this game, but they cannot match the low-blows that happen here. It does get real dirty here. But guys are guys. They have seen worse happening to them, caused by these same devils and yet they remain each other's best buddies.

 
2. The Status Game
The game is very simple. Just ensure you post a minimum of one status every hour. This includes the sleeping time as well. The status is not important here. Only the posting is important. It is said that career is not everything, and people need to take time to smell the flowers. Well this tribe of fb addicts believes in taking this adage one step further. Truly, they are one step above most other people in the ladder of spirituality! :P. But the game doesn't end here. The guy/gal will have some dedicated set of followers who find time to comment or like it. The beauty of this game is that it never ends even if the followers get tired of it.

 
3. The Calendar Game
This tribe is here to help the other addicts. They are the Good Samaritans here. They ensure that other addicts know what time of the day it is with good morning, zzzz, had a heavy lunch kind of messages.. They also give the day it is. For example, if as an addict you forget what day it is, just see their status - it will go like 2 days to Friday, Monday morning blues, and its weekend. The only catch here, sometime you may not be able to differentiate Saturdays and Sundays. They can take this as feedback in improving their humanitarian work.

 
4. The Motivation Game
This is another form of good Samaritans here. They are the enlightened souls who would post new quotes, wisdom statements, a song to listen every day, importance of friends, relationships... get the drift. Reading this will give you enough motivation to face all problems in life. The alternative to this would be to pick up a self-help book from a bookstore which is down-right boring. Again they are here to help people see the light! :) The light is too bright for you too see any shadows till far-far away.

 
5. The Game of Intrigue
This is mostly played by guys. I don't know why but this tribe has an uncanny ability to bewilder most of the mortal world. They leave you thinking, wondering, but even if you ask for an explanation, you get another intriguing comment. And you leave it at that as now you don't want to be seen as fool twice by other addicts at large. But for each tribe there are followers who simply like them even if they don't understand. Intriguing followers!

 
6. The Knowledge Game
This game is again mostly played by guys. The objective of this game is to post very useful links related to topics such as global warming, whether the world will face double-dip recession, the latest gadgets, or on the international events. They are the people for whom tons of academicians work publishing articles in journals, writing papers, etc. Their posts can give you sleepless nights if you try to read those articles unless you share the same genes ;)

 
7. The Ideology Game
This is one of the most dangerous games. Their numbers are less at this moment. But their posts sprout the ideologies they believe in and in which they fanatically follow. Their will be followers too but most likely they may not be fanatic. The goal of this game is to convert the moderate followers into fanatics. The ideology can take many forms. It can be your organization, your work, in some case religion too. The Techie game can be considered as a subset of this game where the fb user posts statuses based on passion for a technology.

 
8. The Followers Game
This game has no protagonists. The followers of most tribes fall in this category. You can easily identify them, by seeing their comments littered over most of your friend's post. They just like things and comment. Their comments are also short two words comments like - "nice one", "good one" ,"ROFL","LOL","cool" as if they are in a hurry. But they are the poor souls, the sheep who are confused of what facebook is all about. So they go about liking and commenting on most things that published on facebook. Spare a thought for them...

 
9. The Enjoy-Simple-Things Game
This is a tribe for whom we can learn how to appreciate life. They will have statuses like "Enjoying home made daal-khichdi" or "Shopped for groceries, bought food, cooked it and now afternoon siesta", "Listening to blaring music and working today (Saturday)". By posting it on facebook, they are showing the way to live life appreciating little things which other mortals forget about it.

 
10. The Fun Game
This tribe are very serious about being on facebook. They seriously want to have fun on facebook. So they will use their wit to produce some really funny-liners, or comments etc. They will have lengthy discussions on facebook with apparently no theme in the entire discussion. Sometime the statuses are posted so as to start having fun. The discussion in all cases veer towards some topic that is not even remotely related to the status. When you read such statuses, beware of reading the comments. It may be injurious to your mental health.

 
11. The Smiling-Photo Game
Another simple game! You just have to take a snap yourself in as many ways as possible. It doesn't matter if you are alone or with other people who as well will be having a wider grin. The only catch is you need to be smiling always. The main idea is to ensure that people remember your smile disregarding everything else in the picture. I am one already signed up for this game so I recommend everyone to follow ;)

 
12. The Shared-Video Game
Believe the simplest game of all. You just share a video that was shared by someone else and thats it. You don't even have to watch it. The guy who has posted liked it and he would at least be your friend or your friend's friend. The logic goes something like this - You like you friend's choices and your friend will also like his friend's choices, which obviously means you like your friend's friend's choices. So there you go. And you share. This is to share fun so that more people like it, more people will smile after seeing that and thus what you have done is spreading smiles, which is a not a very bad thing to do.

13. The Aww-so-Cute Game
This is mostly played by gals and these gal's guy friends. The objective is to have as many awww, so cute comments and likes as possible. Mostly the subject here will be a video with a small kid, a teddy bear, teddy bear playing with kid (oops vice versa), crying kid, laughing kid, mom 'n' kid, a sad love story, a beautiful love story, etc. The main aim is to enhance the cuteness/awwness of the video, pic by having as many likes/comments possible.

 
Apart from this there are other games which most of you know which create known tribes such as the mafias, the farmers, people who check their day's future with numerous fortune-tellers( obviously one will be true and for the few unlucky ones none will be true so they will go to more fortune-tellers :D), finding the best friends based on likes and comments (the first game I talked about – the devil became the innocent guy's best friends J) , finding love story of their life from rom-coms and dreaming about it, finding most matching girl/boy-friends. And then there are some stray sheep, fuel-tank, goat, etc. and which will leave you scratching your head thinking about what to do with it. But the best happened recently when I saw a message in fb that 72% of your friends are farmers an you can be one too. Was just wondering, if so many wanted to be farmers, why are they on facebook?

 
PS: I see lot of daggers coming out, if you are still reading – you can use those in the comment section ;) Btw - no hard feelings - just plain thoughts :)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Heart – A Tyrant


After a loooooooooong time, somehow my mind stirred and brought out something from its stables something better than rubbish ramblings….A note of thanks to all the people who did push me to write something during my hibernation….


The Heart – A Tyrant

Dodging and darting around
Through life's uncertainties
He was going head-on
Challenging life as it came on

Yes he was going fast
As fast as he dreamt of going
He was proud of that for
Very few lived their dream

Yes he enjoyed the challenge
And his sucesses
Yet sometimes his heart cried,
Dampening his soaring spirits

He ignored, yet it haunted him
For the heart remained
Always in agony, Always in pain
Howling all night till it slept

Finding a mate thought he
Would appease his heart
Another howl and a secret tear later
He dropped the idea

The hollowness rang louder
Like a virus multiplying
And spreading the pain
Until he decided to listen

Yes the heart was saying something
A whisper was enough
For he became sad and afraid
Like everyone like him

The heart needed change
A new horse to ride
A new dream to chase
A new spark to begin a new fire

Fire that burns till eternity
Fire that consumes his self
A relentless fire
Burning him and his heart to ashes

To be the ashes was his heart's wish
For only through the ashes,
The Phoenix can rise and fly
The last flight to the Creator

As for him, his challenges
His enjoyment has to go
To sow the seeds of
Still undreamt dreams

For a new spark will ignite
A new un-thought passion
A passion he never had
A passion that would consume him

For a life later, the world
May forget his name
May forget all his deeds
But remember they will
His passion and his
Soaring Phoenix!

 
PS: Found a very convenient way to post today  - Directly from MS-Word 2007! Thumbs up to Microsoft! :)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Magic

Another long poem - only the second one though;)

With the football fever on, just can't miss out writing on it. But this time central theme is shared with another topic. So hold your breath and read on to find out which topic shares the centre stage with football.

The Magic

There in the dug-out he waited
For his chance to play
On the world's biggest stage
In front of the millions

Today he wanted to play
Not for the crowds
But for his childhood love
A thousand miles away

To honor the promise
Their childhood hearts had made
For that was the last time
They saw each other

And he was sure today
That she will be watching
Just like she used to
Before that fateful day

Waiting for his run with  the ball
Enduring the rain and the sun
Only to see him dribble the ball
For this spark started their love

The coach barked - You are on
He jogged on the pitch knowing
A magic he will weave for whenever
She watched, the magic was on

The ball touched his feet
Snuggling around his feet
Like a dog snuggling around its master
Moving around him in circles

Playing with the defender he was
Yet waiting like a hunter he was
For the time was not yet right
And the magic happens only once

Then the moment came, the magic started
The defense frozen in shock
Like a breeze he went through
With ball leading its master

Looking up he saw
The only man still unfazed
But today was his day
His magic will beat him today

And he unleashed his pet
The ball rose moving away
Then curved and dipped
Leaving the unfazed stunned

And he knew it, she knew it
The magic had never scored
For though it produced the spark
It always doused the fire - their love...


 

There it is. This blog has been moving into unchartered waters for some time now. So do throw up some light on the way with your feedback. :)

On a different note, the upsets on Spain and Germany and a listless England, the world cup would miss out the attacking talent these teams have and a whole lot of goals. Hope they tighten their games and we have a great rounds of football ahead!


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

55 Fiction ~ 5 Micro-short stories!!

55 Fiction - Fitting a story within 55 words. Call it the micro-short story which you can fit in twitter's 140 character limit if you use the the chat language. But would not advise to do so ;) . So the blog turning a new leaf here with my first attempt at short stories.. ;)



A journey cut short…


He boarded the bus and saw a girl covered in scarf waving at him. As usual he could not remember her. The girl was still waving. He was still clueless. So he gave a smile and moved towards her. The waving became frantic. He broadened his smile. The conductor shouted – “Ladies only bus, Sir”


************************************************************************************************************


We, the people


Looking across the street, he saw a nervous group of people – all looking up. This was Mumbai and he was a cop. So approaching the crowd, he saw dimly-lit place with a screen. Moving closer he caught the glimpse of the screen – It said - To win, India need 2 runs in 2 balls.


************************************************************************************************************


The Hunter


He felt hungrier today which made him come here. Right he was. For in front of him a little ahead he saw the little creature moving. He swam towards the kill, and caught it between his teeth. Suddenly, his body was lifted up and the last thing he heard was – Mom, I got another one.


************************************************************************************************************


The Six


1 run to win. Yes he will hit the winning runs with her looking. Her darling kitten which he hated was also looking from the balcony. He had decided this will be six and nothing less. The heavy tennis ball came and he smashed it out of the colony right into her darling kitten’s face.


************************************************************************************************************


World Cup Final


The world-cup final. The tournament had gone well. But people will remember him for what he does today. But nothing was happening. Both teams were playing safe. Tackle by the man who has won the golden boot before the final. This was his moment. Slowly from his back pocket, he pulled out the Red card.
************************************************************************************************************
 
PS: With the rains coming, at least one story should have had rain as a theme. Anyways, will take it up next time :)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The beautiful game!

With the football fever on, so thought of putting some thoughts into words....



The national anthem
The whistle
The passes
Running with the ball

The defense
The tackle
The foul and
The faking of the foul


The yellow card
The red card
The adamant referee
And the innocent players

The crowd
Jeering
And cheering
For every move made

The off-side trap
The free kick
The wall
The ball kissing the cross-bar

The shot saved
The goal-kick
Nervous defense
Fending off the swarming attackers


The corner
The header
The top-corner
And the goal

The ecstasy
The celebration
The shaken opposition
And the roaring crowd


The extra-time
The substitution
An all-out attempt
For the elusive goal


The hope
The despair
The frustration
Of a missed chance


The goal-keeper's smile
For a lucky break he got
The shouting coach
And finally an own goal

The brilliant footwork
The mistake
The lost chance
And finally the penalty kicks

Each shot scored
Each shot blocked
Becomes a nail driven
Into each others heart


The nervous team
The million hopes
This is it
The world stage


The striker
The kick
The goal-keeper's dive
And the goal


That was luck
Detractors would say
But only he and the goal-keeper know
It was - the beautiful game....

 
 
Rooting for Brazil as every time - love the way they make the game beautiful to watch.... :)

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Minutes of the Meeting!!!


The unwavering light
The hum of the machine
The tapping of the keyboard
I stare at the screen unblinking

The frightening number of unread mails
Increasing the to-do items
The mind subdued by the routine
Let out a silent groan

The heart caged in the peaceful dullness
Lets out a prisoner's howl
The dictator mind silencing
The heart's unprofessional approach

Yet in this battle of the mind and heart
The soul and the work suffers
Increasing the inactivity as the battle rages
The precious ticks of clock pass by

O' cold-hearted manager
Why productivity chart interests you so much?
The chart show only the remnant scars of the battle
The causes of which only the soul knows.

The eyes register a pop-up
Another one of the old dull routines of the mind
That the heart has ceased to register
It is the daily status meeting reminder

The mind now roars out flashing the SOS sign
Flag of truce fluttered high and mighty
The heart acceded to the truce
Beating harder pumping blood to the mind

Gashes and slashes start appearing
To-Do items bear the brunt
A billion neurons firing simultaneously
Yet the list has been left idle far too long

The meeting begins
Unknown of the battle waged
The tip of iceberg my nervous hello betrays
Status turning red yet still amber

The manager wanted a green
But amber is still fine for the day
The soul was saved for the day
Allowed to live another day

Another day of unwavering light
Another day of hum of machine
Another day of tapping of keyboard
For the battle rages on and on...

This was scribbled during a hour and a half meeting where self was seen as frantically seen scribbling every word discussed. Fortunately nobody asked self to send the minutes of the meeting! :)

PS: I  got an eureka moment after 3 hour struggle to add a Subscribe button on the blog so that people can get an email alert. No wonder the eureka moment sent me to a blissful state of exile from blogging.

P.PS: This is a beginner's attempt at poetry so suggestions are welcome. :)

P.P.PS: I am unconvinced of the title of the poem. I was planning to put it under "Why should all poems have a title?"  meme but didn't see it fitting in completely!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Its awards galore!

1 award each from Meghana and Raji whoa!

am honestly floored and am kinda basking in its glory ;)

The first one's is the Honest Scrap award  from none other than Meghana
http://megzone.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/honesty-honours/

A big thank you to you!!!!


 Rules to accept the award:
  1. Thank the person giving you this award
  2. Copy the award to your blog.
  3. place a link to their blog
  4. Name 7 tidbits people don’t know about you from reading your blog.
  5. Nominate 10 Bloggers.
  6. Place a link to those Blogger.
  7. Leave a comment letting those Bloggers know about the award.
Here are 7 tidbits that people might not know about me from my posts
  1. Sleep - I love sleeping. A champion when it comes to sleep.
  2. Languages - Bad at languages. With the exception of English which is can be considered as passable, the rest gets the mix of all the languages that I know so far ;)
  3. Movies - am not a movie buff. But make it a point to watch all the movies that my friends recommend. ;)
  4. Poems - Would to love to compose more poems instead of the drab emails that I compose day-in and ay-out.  Hope this blog sees more of poems soon!
  5. Deadlines - Somehow I love deadlines. Not that I would be dancing with deadlines round the corner. Love the tense atmosphere just before the deadline when achieving it comes in question.
  6. Inquisitive - Love poking my head into things that are completely useless to me. The curosity of knowing how things work or what circumstances caused a particular event always gets me. Thats where all the political news come from.
  7. Technology - passionate about technology. But not very keen on gadgets. I would go with  a gadget only if I have a requirement. So the gadgets that I have may not be the latest nor the best. It may only be just right.
Second is the Happy Blogger's award from the master of Shape Poetry - The Princess - Raji
http://destinychildosheen.blogspot.com/2010/02/of-random-rambling-and-awards.html



Rules to accept the award:


  1. Link to the person who gave it to you
  2. List 10 things that make you happy
  3. Pass it on to 10 happy bloggers
  4. Notify the nominees about this Happy Award.
10 things that make me happy -

  1. A good deep sleep - You have to be happy to be the true champion
  2. Sports - am always game for it
  3. Books - love reading new things all the time
  4. Blogs
  5. Friends - friends anytime :)
  6. Teaching - Even when I have to give a small KT, I would be delighted ;)
  7. Taking people's cases - although am not very good at it but do give a try with some friends (Read Himanshu :P)
  8. Poking around - finding new ways of looking at things
  9. Twilights - Sunrise, sunset and the clear blue skies :)
  10. Good old hindi songs - espescially when I am coming back from work
 
Whew! Now I pass on the Honesty award and the Happy Blogger award to the following bloggers.

  1. Himanshu - http://himanshukoshe.wordpress.com/ - At par with the best when it comes to movie reviews. A thumbs-up from him brings the movie to my must-watch list.
  2. Arun - http://arun-bohemianwanderer.blogspot.com/ - Watch out his comic stripes. He can make the dead laugh if they can see ;)
  3. Sudhakar - http://idlivadasambar.wordpress.com/  - Home to some delicious breakfast here of a different kind ;)
  4. Saurabh Nair -  http://nairsaurabh.blogspot.com/ - Quizzes, Finance and business new - the place to be.
  5. Nethra - http://otioseopinions.blogspot.com/ - For a dose of fiction
  6. Farida Rizwan - http://www.chaptersfrommylife.blogspot.com/ - A story of surviving cancer
  7. Subups - http://subups.blogspot.com/ - The bike rider riding in God's own country
  8. Ajit - http://proclamationofsoul.blogspot.com/ Although he won't like this, but he is an honest blogger.
  9. Merlin - http://www.merlinfrancanto.com/ - Photography - this is the place
  10. Gary - http://somephilosophywilldonoharm.blogspot.com/ - Do blog more dude!
Happy Blogging!!!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Star Award Winners!

Megz - The poet, shayar, the music reviewer, the book reviewer and the master of BeeJays has awarded me the Star Award. This is my first award! Danke Megz!!!! I am floored!



Rules of Accepting the Award: Pass the award to those in your blog roll.
So here are my blog-rolled friends to whom I present the Award

  1. Vikram Nandwani
  2. Sowmini
  3. Shilpa Garg
  4. Sree
  5. Sourabh
  6. Narayani
  7. Pallav
  8. Raji
  9. Edrea
  10. Revs
  11. Gary
  12. Abhishek
  13. Nero
  14. Ajit
  15. Tavish
  16. Sreeram
Congrats to you all! Your blogs have made my day on countless occasions. So cheer on!
Keep Blogging! :)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Lets go to war!!

Courtesy:http://whitewhaletheatre.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/nuke-war-h0011.jpg

 
Day 1
The recent terrorist attack on Pune coupled with the outrage felt across India, the Indian government declares a limited offensive against Pakistan

 
  • to protect India's sovereignity against the terrorists based in Pakistan
  • to dismantle the terror infrastructure across the border
  • to ensure its citizens are safe and do not have to fear the terrorists

Majority of India supported it. India calls up Obama and tells US to stay away from it as the issue is between India & Pakistan and the situation deals with the right of India's sovereignty, just as US sovereignty was attacked during the 9/11 attack.
Suddenly Pakistan wakes up from lazy confidence that India will not attack it and Pakistani PM Zilani with a brave front declares - let India attack and we will show them what Pakistan is.
Meanwhile the maulas of Pakistan calls all the people in the name of Islam to unite and fight against Hindu India. Zilani calls up Obama for his support against India. Obama says US is committed to maintain peace across the globe. China declares India as the aggressor and it declares it will protect Pakistan against any Indian aggression.

 
Europe declares the issue can be resolved with talks and India should not go to war. A hurried meeting of UN Security Council is held and the permanent members of the Security Council declare India cannot go to war with Pakistan.
The Pentagon simulates the different war scenarios between the two countries and declares all different scenario point out towards a nuclear war. The whole world is tensed. 

 
Day 2
The Indian army fires the first shot across the border and shells start getting exchanged on the border. World Bank threatens India that it will stop its aid for various projects. Indian army starts advancing in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan now moves its soldiers from its western front in Afghanistan towards its Indian border.

Day 5
The US army now without the backing of Pakistan army feels itself insecure. Now the war has a direct impact on US interests and it wants to avoid any conflict in this region. It threatens India with punitive action; India does not pull back its soldiers.
China with its string of Pearls against India deploys its nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean and declares of its intention if India does not pull-back immediately. US ask India to exercise caution
.

 
Day 15
US put its own vessel targeting India. It announces that it is to prevent India attacking Karachi through the seas. Meanwhile, India's lone friend Russia threatens US of any aggression against India would result in Russia coming in.

At the home front, the prospect of bloody war, cause the Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) to flee the country tanking the sensex over a 500 points till the trading was suspended. The market loses confidence on India story and a frenetic selling starts happening. Fearing a short of essential food-items, the cost of vegetables and grains shoot through the roof.

 
Day 25
Expecting further deterioration of supplies, the traders started holding stock to sell at a higher rate. Government intervenes and RBI releases money from its coffers. This in turn increased inflation. With millions going towards war-effort, the other businesses will start feeling the pinch.. The economy would be impacted.
The Pakistani army general discusses a possible nuclear attack on India, if US and China does not make India retreat. Pakistani PM is under immense pressure to deploy a nuclear bomb from the Maulas for whom a nuclear bomb deter India from its advances It sends out an SOS to US and China about its intentions....

  • During the course of the 25 days - the following things also occurs
  • On TV, debates raged of the possible pros and cons of war with Government fiercely defending its decision. In the international community, India stood isolated on its stand with a possible Russia supporting it. Indian army was fast advancing through the PoK region.
  • International community voices concerns over and over against India
  • A thousand more jihadis are born seeing the war to defeat India
  • The neighbours get nervous. Any nuclear strike will impact millions across the sub-continent including the neighbouring countries.
  • Initial euphoria of the war will pass away and people will want to get over with the war soon so that they resume their normal lives.
  • India will become permanently hyphenated with Pakistan.
  • India will remain in the world's eyes the aggressor, even though India would have suffered colossal loss including the lives lost during the pre-war time
  • Pakistan will receive billions of aid while India will only get sanctions.
  • Taliban on the other hand will get a reprieve and they would re-group after the war and come at US stronger.
  • The Pakistan civil society will become completely anti-India and army will be back in power.


 
Other scenario

 

  • China will start attacking India, opening up a second front. US though reluctant will join China to thwart a nuclear war. Russia and Europe may come in, to ensure the stability of region is maintained.


 
Even if India captures the PoK region, a huge re-building effort will be needed. Needless to say India will have to woo back the investors and it will be some time before the pre-war era comes back. Terrorism will not end. In fact a new fresh would be formed between the two countries which can invoke thousand more jihads. Eventually this is what the terrorists want we would be playing directly into their hands.

 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above scenario can get worse or even better. The point is war is not an easy thing. It definitely will put the nation back and the probability that terror will cease to exist is zilch as terrorism does not always originate from Pakistan. There host of other places it can come. Looking at all this, it never justifies going to war. However, talks help. Not in the short run though, but definitely in the long run.

 
The terrorists are throwing the gauntlet at us. We can improve our internal security to an extent we can prevent such dastardly attacks. Meanwhile a continuous dialogue, will weaken the terrorist claim - that India is against Pakistan or even Islam. Probably India improving trade and helping it to grow economically may have better impacts as the number of people signing up for jihad will at least reduce seeing the economic prosperity. India cannot grow alone. It has a shared history with Pakistan and probably will have to ensure Pakistan shares the destiny it wants to have for itself.

 
PS: The scenario that has been played out is similar to the one that happened during the 1971 war. See References. Also the impact on economy wasn't substantial during the previous wars, yet India is now more than ever before integrated with global economy and the perception of businesses do matter.

 
References



  1. Time magazine coverage of 1971 war - http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,878970,00.html

Monday, February 15, 2010

My First Love!!!


There she was. I had known her ever since I can remember. Most part of my childhood was spent with her. When I was with her, my mind would just go on and explore her coutless little features. When I was not with her, I would be recounting the time spent with her. My friends were also mad about her. They had also fallen for her. And so have a million others. She had her rules. Yet the rules always produced different ways of approaching her. What's on her mind even the greatest observers could not tell. To everyone, she showed a different feature and everyday we would try to decipher this new feature. My friends told me she can never be mine as so many others felt the same too. Yet my child-like enthusiasm blinded what my rational mind tried to tell me. Love is blind; I learnt much later. So true like a man in love, I tried to meet her, tried to impress her with my skills, tried to learn the zillion expressions she had so that for one moment I can find what her mind thinks. I courted her day and night for when she was with me, I felt alive. I felt this is the greatest moment in my life. I lived in this esctatic state for years. I met her daily to feel her, to make myself live another day. However, as in every Hindi movie, you always have a villian.

Here it was studies. I tried first to manage both. In the beginning I was successful. As the years piled on, I was seeing more of studies and less and less of her. I was thinking about her, whenever I could find time for she was always there, waiting for me to come and meet her. Slowly and steadily, the daily meet was reduced to weekly meets, and then the meets disappeared. Still I was able to look at her, adored her intricacies that I had fantasized for so long. I could look at her continuously sometimes secretely sometimes openly.

As I was getting used to this, then came another villain which is so non-Bollywood. This was Work. Now I had to leave my city and had to go away from her. For months I could not see her. Sometimes during a year, I would get a chance to meet her for a while and phoosh! She would vanish, citing some or the other reason. As seeing her became rarer and meeting still rarer, my hopes started diminishing. These days, I can only read about her what my friends say. Sometimes I can see her online updates or descriptions of her from some new fool. So I wait these days, hoping against hope for a miracle....

So thats my story of Valentine day. Ending this on a quote by some guy like me -

"You can never forget your first love"
PS: Guess who she is. A hint - she shares her name with a type of insect
Wishing you all

Happy Valentine's day

At least in U.S. people would have just woken up to it. :)
This is my offering on Carnival of Love hosted by Megz.

Updated on 18th Feb:
She is the game of cricket.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

What if

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 7; the seventh edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

What if we found out that humans themselves are aliens and does not belong to earth...

Image courtesy: http://swimbert.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/guru.jpg
This profound but intriguing thought came to none other than this guy who sits in almost a meditation inside a jungle (concrete jungle that is) looking absently at a 14" screen ahead of him. Suddenly he lifts up his head from the meditation causing screen, looking disturb. The years of twidling on an article having projections that resemble perfectly shaped ancient stones, but built of a material that is considered ages ahead of the stone-age has never disturbed his meditation. He also has a servant, though which helps him go through the screen. It is the humanly created incarnation of Lord Ganesha's faithful mouse. Despite all this, he was disturbed today. Disturbed for the first time after years of meditation in front of hi screen His disciples, sensing something wrong with the constant muttering of a four letter word, tried slowly to open a conversation with the Master. The Master considered speech an anomaly and he only communicated his ideas through the projections containing article. But today it was different - Finally disciples saw after ages the red, sunk in eyes of their master who in as many time as they can remembered had never lifted his gaze towards them. It was like Lord Shiva's third eye has opened..

Disciple(D) - What is it Master?


Master(M) - Where do you think you are from?

D - I am from this planet called earth where a million screens blink, and there are thousands twidling of ancient stones, where words are not read, but only written on the screen, where masters like you guide the humble servants in their search for meaning of life.



M - Where is your father from?

D - from the same land - where a million screens blink, and there are thousands twidling of ancient stones, where words are not read, but only written on the screen, where masters like you guide the humble servants in their search for meaning of life.



M - And your father's father?

D - from the same land - where a million screens blink, and there are thousands twidling of ancient stones, where words are not read, but only written on the screen, where masters like you guide the humble servants in their search for meaning of life.

M - and his father


D - from the same land..



M - so where does this all begin?

D - I don't understand. um.. is there something wrong master?



M - (now smiling) are you sure, your father's father and his father's and all his ancestors are from this land.

D – Yes



M - How do you know?

D - Well - Otherwise, how would they come?



M - (slowly lifting his index finger like people wearing white-coat while one around him would be screaming and a guy looking like a person who is in war looks tenatively at this white-coat guy)...

D - from outside



M - yes.

D - how could they?



M - can they not?

D - yes. But that does not change anything, does it?



M - Think about it.

D - I don't understand



M - Do you believe in GOD?

D - Yes



M - What shape do you picture Him, when you think of him?

D - Form would be like us, and face would be enlightened.



M - But if something comes from outside, would it be something like us?

D - of course not.



M - Then what about all the religions

D - religions will remain the same..



M - and GOD?

D - well GOD still exist but not in the way they are picturised by us.



M - so now you are saying that the GOD is an alien?

D - if we have come from outside, then GOD would also come from outside.



M - what would happen to religion?

D - they would be come invalid



M - you sure?

D - the concept of GOD changes, so religions would also be affected.



M - so do the religions depend on the kind of GOD they are following?

D - the tenets of religions contains principles and these prinicples for all religion remain the same..



M - so then the religion, you or me follows still remain the same?

D - It should. What we consider as GOD is a possibly an creation of ours only.



M - Then why are people fighting over religion? (looks back to the screen - the disciple is left in thought.)



Master suddenly looks up from the screen



M - so then does GOD become irrelevant?

D - yeah, whatever the case may be, the principles are important. We can relegate GOD to second position.



M - then why do people believe in GOD?

D - so that in extraordinary circumstances, when we feel alone, we need something that would help us in overcoming a challenging situation. We feel that something from outside, a super-human being can help us out of it.



M - but some people doesn't look towards Gods. They look somewhere else.

D - They believe in themselves. They don't feel the external assistance is needed.



M - Isn't the two beliefs lead to the same solution? Believing in our ownselves or believing in some super-human being whose existence is not confirmed to achieve the same task - of overcoming our challenges?

D - yes



M - so practically can I say, there is no GOD? saying this the master got back to his meditation and never looked up....

PS: I am not an atheist. Its only some of the questions that come to my mind that got published. I had earlier published the same ideas but in a very different way in my company's blog. So all my friends there will relate to it and will possibly bear with me :). I also got this idea from arecent news that a scientist thought we did not come from aliens.


The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.