It was a game of fools ,
Full of leather ,Willow and wool,
Wars fought with Passion
Swords wielded , urns fashioned….
Winners gave a smile that stretched over a mile
Hearts enraptured , hands clapping with joy
The second best looked on while the flashes came,
Thinking of threats , the road back home, flames of fury and hours of shame…
The trails of Insults , recriminations and blame..
Diplomacy taunts , corruptions and scams..
Folly to the failed , fame to the Champs…
Many a war being fought for pride,
Many a times the public taken for a ride..
It was a game of fools…
But fool that I am , I live for the game..
Parched for action , moments of valour , pride and fame…
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Chakravyuh...
She was her daddy’s little princess. She would have to only think of something and her dad would get it for her. As with all of dad’s little princesses , she wanted to get married to a prince charming who would sweep her off her feet…
And sweep her off her feet he did. She was a person who always believed that she would go in for a love marriage , but Abhi was first introduced to her through a faded portrait with the marriage broker.But even then she became captivated by that tall , dark and handsome stranger.
The horoscopes were compared , their families met and before she could blink her eyes her destiny was tied with Abhi’s and their lives became one.
What started out as an arranged marriage slowly developed into a beautiful union of two hearts.. Days passed and months flew by. Before she could even realize it , she had been married to Abhi for three years. She could not help but remember how she used to tease her married friends about not having time for her. But then it was no wonder that her friends didn’t have time for her if their husbands were even one tenth of Abhi…
Abhi had become her love , life , buddy and everything else in these three years. They were inseparable and Abhi even took her with him wherever he was working . She was not for the nomadic life but soon came to prefer the constant change of location to Abhi’s absence..
Life went on..They were living in dehradun then. They had been married for seven years now and were expecting an addition to their family. She wanted a girl but Abhi wanted a boy who would grow up and take up the profession that all the menfolk from his family had followed… Every day brought forth elation and new discoveries with them and life was beautiful. In fact she believed that she was the luckiest woman in the earth.
Those were idyllic days . They would wake up in the morning and spend the entire day preparing themselves for the arrival of their little one. One fine day when they were yet again debating between blue and pink for painting the room for the little one , Abhi’s pager beeped. He read through the message urgently and as if he couldn’t believe it reread it again . His brows furrowed for a long minute and when she was about to voice her concern , the sunny smile that he was so famous for came back . He jocularly said that she could have her way and paint the little one’s room pink . He had got some urgent work and had to rush North. He would be gone only for two days and would be back before she could even notice that he was gone. He also asked her not to have the baby until he came back. She smiled as the due date was a fortnight away. He packed his bag pretty quickly , gave her a tight hug and walked away towards his duty.
It had been three days after Abhi had left and there had been no contact from his end. She was worried. The baby was giving her a tough time and it was the first time in seven years that she was feeling this worried. Abhi did not usually contact her when was away on assignments but this one time she was feeling uneasy. Its the pregnancy hormones she thought.She went to the kitchen and boiled a glass of milk. She had just finished the glass and was about to go back to bed when the phone rang.
Tringg… Tringgg….
Hello….
Hello Am i speaking with Mrs. Ranawat
Yes this is Uttara speaking
Ma’am this is Captain Sanjay speaking. I am so sorry to break the news to you in this manner but Major Abhimanyu Ranawat was killed in action early today morning..Ma’am i know you are shocked but please be strong . Abhi was ambushed and surrounded by enemies when he was in the thick of the action He managed to eliminate eight of the militants but unfortunately could not come out alive..
The ground gave away beneath her feet. She couldn’t breathe. She felt as if she was stuck in a dark abyss with no way out.. She just wanted time to rewind go back to that last moment with Abhi..
The voice over the phone beckoned her,
Ma’am are you there..
Yes I am.. This is a joke isn’t it. Abhi asked to play a prank and scare the wits out of me right… Common Fess up.. If you remember Brigadier Ranawat is Abhi’s father and he would have been the first to give me such a news. Come now Captain you can tell Abhi that his prank worked and I was scared. I know he’s standing next to you. Please ask him to come on the line..
The voice over the other end broke..
Ma’am How I wish that was the case … Abhi sir was my mentor ma’am and I saw him fall down to the enemy bullets right in front of my eyes..
She screamed .. No you are lying … I know you are lying I want to talk to my father-in-law. Enough of these pranks. Please give the phone to Abhi or atleast my father-in-law.
The voice at the other end shred her heart to bits..
Ma’am Arjun sir does not know. He was not here when the action happened . He is fighting with his command at Dras. We have sent a message to his regiment at Dras and we hope he would be here for Abhi Sir’s last rites
Ma’am dheeraj rakhiye… if not for you then for junior… Main aapse milne aa raha hoon ma’am . I will be escorting Abhi sir for one last time from Kargil to Dehradun.
The phone dropped from her hands and she started shivering. What could she do . How would she go on with life. Her Abhi was not here. She had been cross with him last week and had asked him to get out of her sight but he was gone now .. gone permanently.
She was numb . She did not cry when she say Abhi’s corpse. She did not cry when her father-in-law broke down at the death of his favorite son. She did not cry at the hospital when she gave birth to the little boy Abhi had wanted.
She swept her grief aside to bring her son up the way Abhi had wanted , the way Abhi would have brought him up had he lived.
Years had passed … her son grew up into the mould of his father. He was the center of attention wherever he went… and she was the happiest person after her father-in-law when Parikshit decided to join the armed forces…
A shout for Maa made her stop reminiscing about those years spent with Abhi and the days after his death. She turned back and waited for her son to walk up to her. Captain Parikshit Ranawat she thought , son of celebrated param vir charka Major Abhimanyu Ranawat and grandson of Brigadier Arjun ranawat. The boy had a reputation he had to live up to and he had kept up his father’s and grandfather’s reputation .
he walked up to her and said ” Maa ! Chalein…” and as she accepted his arm and started walking towards their car she saw him turn back and wink at Colonel Sanjay’s daughter. Somehow she knew he was going to approach her soon and egg her on to approach Sanjay for his marriage with Akshaya. She smiled to herself and waited while her son keyed in the ignition and opened the door for her.
She was about to close the door , when she heard Abhi’s voice in her ear : ” Thanks Uttara.. Thanks for bringing him up the way I wanted. Thanks for being strong for him … I am so proud of him.. and eternally grateful to you for moulding him into what he is .. Thanks darling and I love you “.. She closed the door and mouthed slowly ” Love you too Abhi .. love you too”
PS : The thought for this story came when I read the Mahabharata and was wondering about the dynamics of Uttara’s relationship with Abhimanyu.. What I have presented here is what I perceived of their connection and what could have happened after Abhimanyu was killed in the Chakravyuh. I have set in the late 90’s as I am too bad with writing historical stuff :)
And sweep her off her feet he did. She was a person who always believed that she would go in for a love marriage , but Abhi was first introduced to her through a faded portrait with the marriage broker.But even then she became captivated by that tall , dark and handsome stranger.
The horoscopes were compared , their families met and before she could blink her eyes her destiny was tied with Abhi’s and their lives became one.
What started out as an arranged marriage slowly developed into a beautiful union of two hearts.. Days passed and months flew by. Before she could even realize it , she had been married to Abhi for three years. She could not help but remember how she used to tease her married friends about not having time for her. But then it was no wonder that her friends didn’t have time for her if their husbands were even one tenth of Abhi…
Abhi had become her love , life , buddy and everything else in these three years. They were inseparable and Abhi even took her with him wherever he was working . She was not for the nomadic life but soon came to prefer the constant change of location to Abhi’s absence..
Life went on..They were living in dehradun then. They had been married for seven years now and were expecting an addition to their family. She wanted a girl but Abhi wanted a boy who would grow up and take up the profession that all the menfolk from his family had followed… Every day brought forth elation and new discoveries with them and life was beautiful. In fact she believed that she was the luckiest woman in the earth.
Those were idyllic days . They would wake up in the morning and spend the entire day preparing themselves for the arrival of their little one. One fine day when they were yet again debating between blue and pink for painting the room for the little one , Abhi’s pager beeped. He read through the message urgently and as if he couldn’t believe it reread it again . His brows furrowed for a long minute and when she was about to voice her concern , the sunny smile that he was so famous for came back . He jocularly said that she could have her way and paint the little one’s room pink . He had got some urgent work and had to rush North. He would be gone only for two days and would be back before she could even notice that he was gone. He also asked her not to have the baby until he came back. She smiled as the due date was a fortnight away. He packed his bag pretty quickly , gave her a tight hug and walked away towards his duty.
It had been three days after Abhi had left and there had been no contact from his end. She was worried. The baby was giving her a tough time and it was the first time in seven years that she was feeling this worried. Abhi did not usually contact her when was away on assignments but this one time she was feeling uneasy. Its the pregnancy hormones she thought.She went to the kitchen and boiled a glass of milk. She had just finished the glass and was about to go back to bed when the phone rang.
Tringg… Tringgg….
Hello….
Hello Am i speaking with Mrs. Ranawat
Yes this is Uttara speaking
Ma’am this is Captain Sanjay speaking. I am so sorry to break the news to you in this manner but Major Abhimanyu Ranawat was killed in action early today morning..Ma’am i know you are shocked but please be strong . Abhi was ambushed and surrounded by enemies when he was in the thick of the action He managed to eliminate eight of the militants but unfortunately could not come out alive..
The ground gave away beneath her feet. She couldn’t breathe. She felt as if she was stuck in a dark abyss with no way out.. She just wanted time to rewind go back to that last moment with Abhi..
The voice over the phone beckoned her,
Ma’am are you there..
Yes I am.. This is a joke isn’t it. Abhi asked to play a prank and scare the wits out of me right… Common Fess up.. If you remember Brigadier Ranawat is Abhi’s father and he would have been the first to give me such a news. Come now Captain you can tell Abhi that his prank worked and I was scared. I know he’s standing next to you. Please ask him to come on the line..
The voice over the other end broke..
Ma’am How I wish that was the case … Abhi sir was my mentor ma’am and I saw him fall down to the enemy bullets right in front of my eyes..
She screamed .. No you are lying … I know you are lying I want to talk to my father-in-law. Enough of these pranks. Please give the phone to Abhi or atleast my father-in-law.
The voice at the other end shred her heart to bits..
Ma’am Arjun sir does not know. He was not here when the action happened . He is fighting with his command at Dras. We have sent a message to his regiment at Dras and we hope he would be here for Abhi Sir’s last rites
Ma’am dheeraj rakhiye… if not for you then for junior… Main aapse milne aa raha hoon ma’am . I will be escorting Abhi sir for one last time from Kargil to Dehradun.
The phone dropped from her hands and she started shivering. What could she do . How would she go on with life. Her Abhi was not here. She had been cross with him last week and had asked him to get out of her sight but he was gone now .. gone permanently.
She was numb . She did not cry when she say Abhi’s corpse. She did not cry when her father-in-law broke down at the death of his favorite son. She did not cry at the hospital when she gave birth to the little boy Abhi had wanted.
She swept her grief aside to bring her son up the way Abhi had wanted , the way Abhi would have brought him up had he lived.
Years had passed … her son grew up into the mould of his father. He was the center of attention wherever he went… and she was the happiest person after her father-in-law when Parikshit decided to join the armed forces…
A shout for Maa made her stop reminiscing about those years spent with Abhi and the days after his death. She turned back and waited for her son to walk up to her. Captain Parikshit Ranawat she thought , son of celebrated param vir charka Major Abhimanyu Ranawat and grandson of Brigadier Arjun ranawat. The boy had a reputation he had to live up to and he had kept up his father’s and grandfather’s reputation .
he walked up to her and said ” Maa ! Chalein…” and as she accepted his arm and started walking towards their car she saw him turn back and wink at Colonel Sanjay’s daughter. Somehow she knew he was going to approach her soon and egg her on to approach Sanjay for his marriage with Akshaya. She smiled to herself and waited while her son keyed in the ignition and opened the door for her.
She was about to close the door , when she heard Abhi’s voice in her ear : ” Thanks Uttara.. Thanks for bringing him up the way I wanted. Thanks for being strong for him … I am so proud of him.. and eternally grateful to you for moulding him into what he is .. Thanks darling and I love you “.. She closed the door and mouthed slowly ” Love you too Abhi .. love you too”
PS : The thought for this story came when I read the Mahabharata and was wondering about the dynamics of Uttara’s relationship with Abhimanyu.. What I have presented here is what I perceived of their connection and what could have happened after Abhimanyu was killed in the Chakravyuh. I have set in the late 90’s as I am too bad with writing historical stuff :)
Sunday, November 21, 2010
That Mad Bengali Babu
I was in my seventh standard then . I came home one day from school to hear a cassette playing in our music system and fell in love with that magical voice. The voice belonged to man called Kishore Kumar Ganguly who would epitomize the word madness for me. Be it a tragic philosophical song , fun and nakhra filled numbers or soft romantic melodies Kishore da became the identity of hindi melodies for me. Of course I progressed on to Mukesh and Rafi later on and came to love their voices equally well , it is always a Kishore da song I hum when I have the mood to sing. That doesn't make Rafi , Mukesh and Manna Dey saab any less singers but somehow I've never gotten over my preference of Kishore songs from that Era.
So on the wee hours of Monday morning when listening to the extremely mellifluous aanewaala pal jaane waala hai from Golmaal I just new that I had to pen down my thoughts on Kishore da.
Here are some of my favourite Kishore numbers. If I were to catalog all my Kishore Favourites , it would take me at least a month to nail down a list
1. Kora Kagaz Tha
2.Mere Saamnewaali
3.Tere Mere Milan Ki yeh Raina
4. Jeevan se Bhari Teri Aankhen
5. O Maajhi re
6. Bhool Gaya Sab Kuch
7. Meri Bheegi Bheegi si
8. Humein Tumse Pyar Kitna
9. Mere Dil mein aaj kya hai
10. Kabhi Kabhi
11. Mere Naina Sawan Badho
12. Rhimjin Gire Saawan
13. Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam
14. Zindagi ek safar hai suhana
15. Khilte hain gul yahaan
16. Ruk jaana nahi
17. Ek ladki bheegi baagi si
18. Yeh Waada Raha
19.Gaata rahe mera dil
20.Koi humdum na raha
So on the wee hours of Monday morning when listening to the extremely mellifluous aanewaala pal jaane waala hai from Golmaal I just new that I had to pen down my thoughts on Kishore da.
Here are some of my favourite Kishore numbers. If I were to catalog all my Kishore Favourites , it would take me at least a month to nail down a list
1. Kora Kagaz Tha
2.Mere Saamnewaali
3.Tere Mere Milan Ki yeh Raina
4. Jeevan se Bhari Teri Aankhen
5. O Maajhi re
6. Bhool Gaya Sab Kuch
7. Meri Bheegi Bheegi si
8. Humein Tumse Pyar Kitna
9. Mere Dil mein aaj kya hai
10. Kabhi Kabhi
11. Mere Naina Sawan Badho
12. Rhimjin Gire Saawan
13. Yeh Raatein Yeh Mausam
14. Zindagi ek safar hai suhana
15. Khilte hain gul yahaan
16. Ruk jaana nahi
17. Ek ladki bheegi baagi si
18. Yeh Waada Raha
19.Gaata rahe mera dil
20.Koi humdum na raha
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Life , Love and Everything else
I was in the cafeteria today evening when I couldn't help but overhear a lovely lady comment on her four year old's ambition to become the Miss World . "There we go !" I thought. How many of us have passed through a similar phase where we wanted to become Engine Drivers, Cops , teachers , Cricketers . Some of us even wanted to become the next Sachin , Lata Mangeshkar and may be the President of our country one day.
Those were the times weren't they ? When we had no idea of what it took to be a teacher or a President. We could dream to our heart's content , unfettered by the reality of life . When did we stop dreaming and start cribbing? May be it was when we realised that life is a perpetual struggle but we did not have the tenacity to fight for our dream , May be we lost our path while we gave life to our loved one's dream : of parents wanting a successful engineer son / daughter , who followed the set conventions , May be we were afraid of getting ridiculed . There can be so many reasons for giving our dreams up but what matters is : Are we still happy without that particular dream to follow ?
I've seen people who did an engineering course just because their parents wanted them to. They spent their entire four years of UG cribbing about the syllabus , the institution and the unfair nature of life etc etc. It generally does not improve when they start their careers , they wake up only to start yearning for the day to end , sleepwalk through the day when at work , come back switch on the idiot box and gaze stupidly into it. These people are mood killers , something akin to the dementors of the Harry Potter series : Get too close to them and some of that depression may rub onto you.
There is the other extreme , those who are lucky / have the guts to follow their dream and struggle to succeed in their endeavour , ready to face all challenges / roadblocks , no matter how difficult or tough they are. These people are the busy bees . They can never rest until they achieve their dreams. Whenever they are ridiculed , they take that as an encouragement to succeed and in the end manage to reach the nearest summit point , if not the peak.
There is another category to which some people fall into . They may have given up their dream to take up some one else's but they accept the reality of that and learn to enjoy what they are doing . They may not have their one supreme dream as their vocation , but given a chance , they may slake their desire by doing some minute things which may resemble what they wanted to do. These people are realists and they make the best out of what life throws at them.
We may love to be someone and do something and life may give us something different . How we cope up with makes us what we will become. We can be mood killers ,walking through life but not living it or we can be realists taking life as it comes , living it to the fullest even if its not the one we wanted.
Some of us may be the lucky busy bees who enjoy what we do which is what we want. For others its a simple option . We can accept life's compromise and proceed further or crib through our lives , getting depressed and affecting others. So if not a busy bee , become a realist.
Those were the times weren't they ? When we had no idea of what it took to be a teacher or a President. We could dream to our heart's content , unfettered by the reality of life . When did we stop dreaming and start cribbing? May be it was when we realised that life is a perpetual struggle but we did not have the tenacity to fight for our dream , May be we lost our path while we gave life to our loved one's dream : of parents wanting a successful engineer son / daughter , who followed the set conventions , May be we were afraid of getting ridiculed . There can be so many reasons for giving our dreams up but what matters is : Are we still happy without that particular dream to follow ?
I've seen people who did an engineering course just because their parents wanted them to. They spent their entire four years of UG cribbing about the syllabus , the institution and the unfair nature of life etc etc. It generally does not improve when they start their careers , they wake up only to start yearning for the day to end , sleepwalk through the day when at work , come back switch on the idiot box and gaze stupidly into it. These people are mood killers , something akin to the dementors of the Harry Potter series : Get too close to them and some of that depression may rub onto you.
There is the other extreme , those who are lucky / have the guts to follow their dream and struggle to succeed in their endeavour , ready to face all challenges / roadblocks , no matter how difficult or tough they are. These people are the busy bees . They can never rest until they achieve their dreams. Whenever they are ridiculed , they take that as an encouragement to succeed and in the end manage to reach the nearest summit point , if not the peak.
There is another category to which some people fall into . They may have given up their dream to take up some one else's but they accept the reality of that and learn to enjoy what they are doing . They may not have their one supreme dream as their vocation , but given a chance , they may slake their desire by doing some minute things which may resemble what they wanted to do. These people are realists and they make the best out of what life throws at them.
We may love to be someone and do something and life may give us something different . How we cope up with makes us what we will become. We can be mood killers ,walking through life but not living it or we can be realists taking life as it comes , living it to the fullest even if its not the one we wanted.
Some of us may be the lucky busy bees who enjoy what we do which is what we want. For others its a simple option . We can accept life's compromise and proceed further or crib through our lives , getting depressed and affecting others. So if not a busy bee , become a realist.
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