Monday, March 7, 2011

A DAYS NOT(ICE) ENOUGH






I am not that great at writing stories that are entirely fictitious, here is my 1st try. Please give your criticism as comments so that I can improve. Here goes.
This is the monologue of a father Vikram to his 8 month daughter Maaya.



Maaya I miss you so much. You have changed me so much over these days and I thank you for having made me the person I am now. It’s so different and beautiful. I never thought this can be something that could change with me. I still remember fighting with Varsha over your name. It all seems to have happened just now.



It’s amazing that despite being so close to you, I still miss you. I feel that you are holding my finger with your entire hand. You want to know a secret? I have always hated kids. Till I saw you in a sonogram, that was my opinion about kids. Because I always thought that they were a huge responsibility. Also they were always screaming and in constant need for attention. And I frankly felt they were a pain. But the day I saw you in the sonogram holding Varsha’s hands, all of those fears went off in an instant. All we saw was one small spot moving. And I knew at that moment, that something this gorgeous could never be a pain and was worth anything in this world. And I mean ANYTHING.



You know what? I first met Varsha during my 1st year in college. She was wearing a white dress stained with coffee all over. She did not look astoundingly beautiful or anything. But she was something special I knew it that instant. It was not love at first sight, at least not for her. Finally after a week I saw her again. I saw her again in the canteen she was with her friends. I came with my friend. Her name was Shalini. I was with her because that was the start of the college and she was the only one I knew as she was from my school. And she was from ECE department. I asked her who that girl was and she said she had seen her in her class. After a week or something I came to know that her name was varsha. And to my luck she was Shalini’s best friend.



I still remember how I first spoke to her. It was near our college ground Shalini and varsha were walking and I waved from the other side. She signaled that she was leaving in train. At that moment some instinct made me say that I was coming as well. I had a class in the afternoon and it was a practical session. I bunked it and left with them. I said hi to Varsha. That was the first time I spoke to her. Then while in train I found out that we have very few things common. OK just two and that was that we both hate chocolates. Shalini got down at her stop. I and varsha were still traveling and she got down in my stop (WOW was my minds voice)she stayed like 10 minutes away from my place. And so it began, we became good friends and then great friends.



We started going to places, like if she wanted to get something from the mart or something like that she would call me since I was nearby her house. I used to walk her to her house every day from the station. And on purpose we started taking the long route. My parents already liked her a lot and so did her parents like me. And by the final year we became really close to each other. There was one day when she was sitting in the station alone and crying because she had failed in one of her semester exams. I came late because I was waiting for a chance to play table tennis but ever got the chance. I went up to her and sat down near her and said “you know you look damn good when you cry”. She lifted her head. I said okay “maybe I was wrong” and smiled. She then wiped her tears and spoke to me and we were speaking everything under the sun. Then we saw the time it was 11 o clocks. She checked her mobile and saw 26 missed calls and 21 new messages. No wonder we dint see any train for a long time now. She called up her parents and informed that she was late because she had fainted etc. Then we decided to take a bus and right when we were about to start there was a train. Thank god the last train was late She said that I made her really happy and thanked me. I walked with her to her house and then reached home.



Things were going great between us and already people had started teasing us. Actually I was feeling happy about that. One day I said I had met with an accident and I was in bed in my house. She came running and found the house locked. There was a note and it was written “IF IT’S VARSHA COME UPSTAIRS, ANYONE ELSE ALSO COME UPSTAIRS”. She came up running and opened the door and saw a dark room just one small burning lamp. There was a note below the lamp which said “go to the next room”. Then she went to the next room and found room full of balloons and all of them were heart shaped balloons. There were so many balloons that when she opened the door all of them came pouring out. She kept calling to my mobile this whole time but I did not pick it up. Then finally she saw a not stuck on the window saying “OPEN THE NEXT DOOR” and then when she opened that door then to her surprise she found a vanilla cake surrounded by candles alone in which it was written “WANNA GIVE “US” A TRY”. She was standing still there. I was on the other side of the door waiting for her to turn but she never did. I could see the side of her face glowing with the candle light. I thought she was looking down and messaging me. But she was wiping her eyes and turned and was shocked to find me standing there. She came close to me and whispered in my ears something that drove me crazy. I was so shocked to hear that. She said “BEFORE I SAY ANYTHING, I JUST WANNA SAY THAT YOUR ZIP IS OPEN”. Then she held my hand and dragged me near to her and said “YES I WOULD LOVE TO TORTURE YOU FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE”. The rest is history. It was hard getting out parents’ consent since I was a topper and she had difficulty in clearing her exams which eventually she did with a lot of help. After a long wait our parents accepted and we were MARRIED.



We both agreed that we did not want babies earlier so we decided to push that a bit towards the future. We were living our life to the fullest and were so much in love. After a year or so varsha was pregnant. We both were so happy that she was pregnant and we were going to have a baby. We were so happy and the whole world’s happiness was inside our heart. Then we decided not to invite one of our friends and she said that we should invite despite the cold war. After a while of argument I said, “OK HONEY, YOU WIN BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO INVITE HIM” She agreed and left to invite him. She said she would take the car. She left in the car while I waved her bye through the window.



Little did I know that it was the last time I would be seeing her. After half an hour of her departure I got a call from an anonymous number. When I answered it a lady’s voice spoke, “Sir is this Vikram?”
“Yes I am Vikram speaking, who is this?”
“Sir this is Dr.Shekar from AM hospital, your wife has met with an accident and we would like you to come over immediately”
“Is she ok? IS SHE OK?"



"sir she is fine please get over here as soon as possible"
My face was sweating and my hands were shivering. I dint have a clue what to do just as face is wet with tears now. I started in my bike and went there really fast but it was too late. She was gone. Varsha was history. Now I am seeing the cradle and I am speaking to just the pillows, the cradle is as empty as my life. Because you were still in her and she was still pregnant. Though I am left alone I still have your memories to live with. Love you a lot and I miss you a lot Maaya.



Tuesday, March 1, 2011

HUM-(an)-ILIATION

Ok for once I am going to try writing a light post. Since many people (only2) had asked me to. And because of those people, you (the ones who are reading this) are going to have to bear with my sarcasm. That’s the way this whole post is going to be. So without any further "blah" here goes the post.
As the title goes it’s about humiliation. And adding a “man” there would be like pointing to a country and saying it is one. But sometimes you just need to be reminded, that only humans have the concept of humiliation, just like we constantly need to be reminded that Canada is a country.
Humiliation is just something that people feel when they do something and/ or something someone else does to them and/or something awkward may happen. So that’s the definition by me, as though I taught you all a class. That’s why people prefer being kids, because they don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed or any synonym of that. In simple words, for kids its
“All game and no shame”
No don’t look at me I just am making this up. Not that we can run around without caring for what embarrassment we went through, but there is a plan of action for everything. So to clear it up, it’s just a part of our life, and for some, life is a part of everyday humiliation. Well, some teachers are there right? Whom students make fun of, and by fun, I mean all the time. So these people fall under the second category. Moving on to the important part, I will help you understand the concept of humiliation, how to avoid it and also how to escape the situation if humiliated.
So going into the topic, I am going to divide this into DO’s and DON’T’s,
DO’s
· Act as though nothing ever happened and it’s just another day at “office” and walk on and say “hey man whats up” then you should look at his face. The humanity.
· Act fast and come up with a smart one liner which will make the people around you laugh more. Like the classic, when you fall down say you were searching for a one rupee coin.
· If it’s a lot against one which is obviously you, and if you happen to know their insults you could use them as a threaten but remember never tell it. Just start with it because this is not your first humiliation and definitely not going to be your last.
· Mock yourself before they start mocking you. The logic is if it’s a self damage, it’s as small as an elf damage.
· Or better than all of the above, do see to it that you don’t fall into such a situation.

DON’T’s
· If you get humiliated or into an awkward position in a work place or a similar environment, don’t EVER look around you and see who saw you. Because that will give a long lasting impression of U being a humiliated person. Of course most people in engineering would have learned this by the easy or the hard way.
· Don’t “think” of the consequences as in what might happen later on because of a humiliation now, just keep moving. Most people never think otherwise so why strain for this.
· Don’t speak if you know that you can never manage to get out of an awkward situation. Because if you speak well, that’s fine you can easily get out of a situation. But if you think you are speaking smart and go blabber like a politician, then you are done for and a goner.
· Don’t fake a phone call at such situations to escape because usually people who end up in this situation are the people who have bad luck swarming around them waiting to attack. So if you decide to pick up a fake phone call and someone calls you it will be something worse than the situation you previously were. It will be like,
“Yeah dude temme ssup, what plans to.. (ringtone)whats ma name, no no no no sheeela sheela ki jawaani ….(\ringtone)..”
· Don’t follow any of these if you are a 1st bencher or a “rules” person.
· And most importantly don’t forget to comment for this else I would be humiliated.
And my top 5 humiliations ever would be

5. Was walking on the road with a friend in a crowded street. And by the end of a street there was a couple looking at me as though i had committed a crime. Then i realised that my friend was nowhere to be found and i had been talkin to strangers for almost 5 minutes.

4. My broadband plan was changed from 2mbps to 256 kbps which is basically a sad download speed. I called up the service provider and started blasting them, after a good 10 minutes the female said, sir you had given a plan change request day before yesterday. The culprit was my dad. It was his plan.

3. This was way back in school days, i used to play cricket and it was my first inter school match. They told me to stand in fine leg. I said ok and stood. Only two or three balls came near me which i picked and threw. I got so bored that i started dancing for macorina song. After a good 5 overs they yelled at me "DOT YOU KNOW WHAT FINE LEG IS? YOU ARE STANDING IN MID ON. YOU CAN DANCE BUT THIS YOU DONT KNOW?"

2. I had told in one of the classes in school that another teacher would be taking the class and the same to the person whom i had told would be taking the class. My good luck they both caught me in cafeteria and since then i was called a cheater.

1. I dont know how funny or stupid this would be but one of my friends had a good laugh for three days after this incident. We were in Dominos pizza and had placed our order and we were talking to each other. Then the guy called out my name and i extended my hand to get the order. 2 girls from behind came and took the boxes and went. I stood there standing like a pathetic loser. The girls laughed till they left my vision area. And worst, the guy said "sir i your order will be ready in a few minutes please wait." OH MAN!!


All these were written out of own personal experience and that’s how I know so much about all this. So this indicates the “self damage” part of the story. And I mean all of these I have personally gone through, including the mobile incident. So take care and be as less humiliated as possible. CHEERS!!