If you are a regular to this blog, then chances are that you might have stumbled upon a couple of blogs on the lifeline of Mumbai- The good ol' local trains!!! And it still continues to amaze this regular-turned-irregular blogger!!!
Wednesday morning's 9:56 slow local starting from Dombivli had a visitor. He hopped in, rather, was helped inside the compartment in which I had set my foot in about 10 minutes early. This was a blind man who, like me, was on his way to work. On the contrary, his work had already begun. He had a begging bowl in his hand. And what is so 'amazing' about a blind beggar in a local train. Of course, that's not something new! Not at all, if you happen to miss the 'guide' who was helping the blindman across the compartment -- a healthy street mongrel!!!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Hypocrites of the Highest Order!!!
Reporting Times?
Me: 1030-1040
Him: 11 or later
‘Breaks’ between work?
Me: Interacting with other colleagues, so as to take my eyes of the computer. A little break of 10 minutes after every hour. This helps in refreshing my mind and body (especially THE back).
Him: Work in between the breaks. Orkut through the day. Go over to other colleagues/friends and chat with them. The occasional work helps in refreshing lazy bones.
Work?
Me: Finish off my work in the allotted time or faster.
Him: Outsources work to other TM and colleagues who are at the same level.
But, who gets the firing/blame?
Me (and my teammates): Yes!
Him: Nope, sticking around with the ‘higher hands’ helps! How can the one who fires get fired himself?
Finally, the Punishment?
Me (and my teammates): An explanation, a threat for an increase in workload. (In one colleague’s case, the threatening turned to reality).
Him: …ahem…
I believe you've got to encounter such characters at least once in your lifetime. They do teach you a few lessons, and the most important of them being, "Do not always 'follow the leader'"!!!!
Me: 1030-1040
Him: 11 or later
‘Breaks’ between work?
Me: Interacting with other colleagues, so as to take my eyes of the computer. A little break of 10 minutes after every hour. This helps in refreshing my mind and body (especially THE back).
Him: Work in between the breaks. Orkut through the day. Go over to other colleagues/friends and chat with them. The occasional work helps in refreshing lazy bones.
Work?
Me: Finish off my work in the allotted time or faster.
Him: Outsources work to other TM and colleagues who are at the same level.
But, who gets the firing/blame?
Me (and my teammates): Yes!
Him: Nope, sticking around with the ‘higher hands’ helps! How can the one who fires get fired himself?
Finally, the Punishment?
Me (and my teammates): An explanation, a threat for an increase in workload. (In one colleague’s case, the threatening turned to reality).
Him: …ahem…
I believe you've got to encounter such characters at least once in your lifetime. They do teach you a few lessons, and the most important of them being, "Do not always 'follow the leader'"!!!!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Do we need words to express this feeling???
The ball stayed in the air for only about 2 seconds! But that was enough to send a billion minds into an imaginative world where they could see men-in-green celebrating with pumped fists and villainous smiles! For those two brief seconds, the hearts of the same billion, watching ESPN, didn’t just skip a beat, it almost stopped functioning. Then good old Ravi Shastri shouted “Sreesaaaaanth… takes it. India win!!!” No one cared what Shastri said next as the nation erupted even as Misbah sank to his knees ruing the only blunder he committed in the match! I need not describe what happened next for by now the scenes of wild celebrations would be etched forever in mind of a nation that was formerly dwelling on the glory that was 24 years old!
Those who never understood and never even cared to bother about the simple basic rules of cricket became ‘experts’ overnight. Almost everyone did a pre and post match analysis! Few would argue that in India, these ‘experts’ were available aplenty. But so far-reaching was the impact of ICC World T20, that some of the fairer gender that had hated the game from the bottom of their hearts (still don’t know what that phrase means) left from work early just to see the finals, in which their heroes eventually did not disappoint! Those who never knew how Yuvraj Singh looked like, now knew who Misbah-ul-Haq and Stuart Broad were!
It will take some doing for me to forget a few defining moments for India in the T20 World Cup! This is purely my opinion!
1. Misbah's mistake, Sreesanth’s catch: The simple, yet pressure-filled catch by Sreesanth after a scoop/paddle-that-went-wrong by Misbah-ul-Haq will now be played over and over again by the television channels, every time India prepares for a World Cup campaign. Not easy to forget this as the dugout ran out to join the Indian team celebrating for the first time as T20 World Champions.
2. Yuvraj’s Onslaught: Flintoff’s mistake. Broad pays the price. Provoked by Flintoff and with revenge on his mind, there was no stopping Yuvi as he murdered Stuart Board for six consecutive maximums in an over! Not to forget, Yuvi was hammered for five sixes in his over by Masscarenhas only about a week and half back. First over deep midwicket and out of the stadium, second a flick over square leg, third over long off, fourth an upper cut (his favourite of the lot) over deep point, fifth and sixth over deep midwicket!
3. The Bowl Out: The first ever time that I saw a bowl out and what a game to witness it! India-Pakistan. Misbah runs himself out in the last ball and we have a tie. So, what next? A bowl-out to decide the winner. Five bowlers each from the opposition will bowl one delivery each on the stumps at the batsman’s end minus a batsman! Indian’s practice and Pakistan’s ignorance about the rule was on display as Sehwag, Harbhajan and Uthappa hit the stumps and four of Pakistan’s prominent bowlers missed! India continued their 100% win record against their arch-rivals in World Cups!
4. Sreesanth’s War-dance: India’s victory against the Aussies in the semis may not have been possible had Hayden and Symonds continued to stay till the end! Sreesanth, wild as always, sent Hayden’s timber cart-wheeling! But the sight to behold was Sreesanth’s war-dance-like celebration running right close to Hayden and slapping the pitch with both his hands before giving Hayden a farewell in the way that only he can do!
5. Out-fielding South Africa: I never thought I’ll see a day when the Indians will outfield the South Africans! The South Africans dropped a couple of sitters! And the Indians meanwhile fielded as if their lives depended on it! Karthik took a blinder, Rohit Sharma hit the stumps when it mattered and clearly, brilliant fielding and clever bowling meant that the Indians not only defeated the hosts, but also knocked them out of the tournament! What’s new with South Africa anyways?
So excited was I after the Indian victory, that I went out and bought all the English papers next morning! So, here are the headlines from a few prominent dailies:
The Times of India
Headline: WE ARE THE WORLD
Intro line/Subhead: Pakistunned. India Win See-Saw Battle In Last Over
Hindustan Times
H/L: Top of the World (with one whole page pic of the team huddle)
The Indian Express
H/L: Young blood in a billion hearts
The Asian Age
H/L: INDIA IS WORLD POWER
DNA
H/L: WE WON
I/L: Through guts and grit, Dhoni’s Demons bring home the first T20 World Cup
The Free Press Journal
H/L: DESTINY’S CHILDREN
I/L: Men in Blue demonstrate great self-belief, confidence, passion and a never-say-die attitude
Mid Day
H/L: Abhi khushi Tabhi glum (with two contrasting images of the current victorious Indian team and the team that sat sulking in West Indies after being knocked out of the World Cup)
Mumbai Mirror
No front page matter about the WC, but the headline with a whole page pic on page 23 read ‘WINDIA’.
And what is my opinion on the young guns, who have stood up and are begging the selectors to take notice? A few should be picked immediately! But those calling for the Big Three’s heads should think more than twice! This was Twenty20! In ODIs and Test Matches, not all these youngsters will fit the bill without proper guidance from The Three! They are experienced enough to know when their time has finally arrived for them to either join their family or join the commentary team!
As of now, it’s time to just sit back and cherish the feeling! A feeling that does not often visit the Indian sporting arena! A feeling that we would never want to part with! A feeling that left me speechless and yet let me shout “Yes! Yes!” A feeling that made me proud to be an Indian!
Those who never understood and never even cared to bother about the simple basic rules of cricket became ‘experts’ overnight. Almost everyone did a pre and post match analysis! Few would argue that in India, these ‘experts’ were available aplenty. But so far-reaching was the impact of ICC World T20, that some of the fairer gender that had hated the game from the bottom of their hearts (still don’t know what that phrase means) left from work early just to see the finals, in which their heroes eventually did not disappoint! Those who never knew how Yuvraj Singh looked like, now knew who Misbah-ul-Haq and Stuart Broad were!
It will take some doing for me to forget a few defining moments for India in the T20 World Cup! This is purely my opinion!
1. Misbah's mistake, Sreesanth’s catch: The simple, yet pressure-filled catch by Sreesanth after a scoop/paddle-that-went-wrong by Misbah-ul-Haq will now be played over and over again by the television channels, every time India prepares for a World Cup campaign. Not easy to forget this as the dugout ran out to join the Indian team celebrating for the first time as T20 World Champions.
2. Yuvraj’s Onslaught: Flintoff’s mistake. Broad pays the price. Provoked by Flintoff and with revenge on his mind, there was no stopping Yuvi as he murdered Stuart Board for six consecutive maximums in an over! Not to forget, Yuvi was hammered for five sixes in his over by Masscarenhas only about a week and half back. First over deep midwicket and out of the stadium, second a flick over square leg, third over long off, fourth an upper cut (his favourite of the lot) over deep point, fifth and sixth over deep midwicket!
3. The Bowl Out: The first ever time that I saw a bowl out and what a game to witness it! India-Pakistan. Misbah runs himself out in the last ball and we have a tie. So, what next? A bowl-out to decide the winner. Five bowlers each from the opposition will bowl one delivery each on the stumps at the batsman’s end minus a batsman! Indian’s practice and Pakistan’s ignorance about the rule was on display as Sehwag, Harbhajan and Uthappa hit the stumps and four of Pakistan’s prominent bowlers missed! India continued their 100% win record against their arch-rivals in World Cups!
4. Sreesanth’s War-dance: India’s victory against the Aussies in the semis may not have been possible had Hayden and Symonds continued to stay till the end! Sreesanth, wild as always, sent Hayden’s timber cart-wheeling! But the sight to behold was Sreesanth’s war-dance-like celebration running right close to Hayden and slapping the pitch with both his hands before giving Hayden a farewell in the way that only he can do!
5. Out-fielding South Africa: I never thought I’ll see a day when the Indians will outfield the South Africans! The South Africans dropped a couple of sitters! And the Indians meanwhile fielded as if their lives depended on it! Karthik took a blinder, Rohit Sharma hit the stumps when it mattered and clearly, brilliant fielding and clever bowling meant that the Indians not only defeated the hosts, but also knocked them out of the tournament! What’s new with South Africa anyways?
So excited was I after the Indian victory, that I went out and bought all the English papers next morning! So, here are the headlines from a few prominent dailies:
The Times of India
Headline: WE ARE THE WORLD
Intro line/Subhead: Pakistunned. India Win See-Saw Battle In Last Over
Hindustan Times
H/L: Top of the World (with one whole page pic of the team huddle)
The Indian Express
H/L: Young blood in a billion hearts
The Asian Age
H/L: INDIA IS WORLD POWER
DNA
H/L: WE WON
I/L: Through guts and grit, Dhoni’s Demons bring home the first T20 World Cup
The Free Press Journal
H/L: DESTINY’S CHILDREN
I/L: Men in Blue demonstrate great self-belief, confidence, passion and a never-say-die attitude
Mid Day
H/L: Abhi khushi Tabhi glum (with two contrasting images of the current victorious Indian team and the team that sat sulking in West Indies after being knocked out of the World Cup)
Mumbai Mirror
No front page matter about the WC, but the headline with a whole page pic on page 23 read ‘WINDIA’.
And what is my opinion on the young guns, who have stood up and are begging the selectors to take notice? A few should be picked immediately! But those calling for the Big Three’s heads should think more than twice! This was Twenty20! In ODIs and Test Matches, not all these youngsters will fit the bill without proper guidance from The Three! They are experienced enough to know when their time has finally arrived for them to either join their family or join the commentary team!
As of now, it’s time to just sit back and cherish the feeling! A feeling that does not often visit the Indian sporting arena! A feeling that we would never want to part with! A feeling that left me speechless and yet let me shout “Yes! Yes!” A feeling that made me proud to be an Indian!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
23 and how!!!
“So, how did your day go?” – a cliched question immediately after a birthday! I got these a-plenty! But for once, I was ready to reply to this cliché! Naah, not one of those sarci replies I usually end up giving, but an honest one!
To start with, it turned out to be a three-day long birth’day’! The actual day happened to be a Tuesday. But I was planning to go out with family, and maybe even, treat them in advance, on the Sunday before my bday! Abychayan (my bro) and Nisychechi (his wife) will be in Pune on Tuesday and hence, an early celebration will do no harm (Yea right! Who wouldn’t mind long celebrations?) But the plans remained just that—plans! Pappa wasn’t keeping too well and hence, we had to cancel the much awaited treat at KFC! And with me not going for my usual Sunday ICPF meet, the day… evening rather, was turning out to be rather dull! Bro and chechi went out for some shopping! And my net connection was still down. So dull was the feeling that I went for a little nap at 615 in the evening! Woke up at 7 having nothing much to do, but watch the T20 match! No, India wasn’t playing! They had already lost to the Kiwis by 10 runs! So, there you have it! What a waste of a Sunday evening! Or so I thought it was!
Lisammama (my aunt) and Siji (her daughter and my cousin) came over! I love to irritate Siji for any and every little thing she does and does not do! Then, a call from a good friend! The evening suddenly seemed to have taken wings! While on the call, Julia (my cute little 3 year old niece) walks in with her parents and Jestin (my nephew) with his mom! I am still on the phone, with my house all of a sudden abuzz with noises from the kids! Abychayan and chechi comes back from their bit of shopping! I am still completely unaware of the hidden agenda behind everyone turning up all of a sudden. Didn’t seem new to me! This ‘gathering’ has happened way too many times earlier! It was only when Lisammama spilled the beans that it struck me why chechi had carried the Monginis bag as she had walked in! It struck me then the reason for the sudden invasion of all my cousins! To cut a long story short, chechi, the conspirator-in-chief and Abychayan, the co-conspirator, had set it all up when they went out for shopping, calling my cousins to come over!
Turned out to be one lovely family get-together! Of course, the Dutch chocolate cake was as yummy as it looked, if not more! The ‘2’ melted and ‘3’ had broken down by the time I cut the cake (talking about the candles)! But it was the cake that mattered! Then, there was chicken lollypop too! According to chechi, my bday “will be incomplete without chicken”! Bang on! A little jig, by the ‘baccha party’ (Julia, Siji, Jibi and Jestin) and yours truly, later, the surprise party was over! A first ever for me and how I loved it! So, thank you Abychayan and chechi! Love you guys!
Monday—the smell of actual birthDAY being just round the corner, is something irresistible! At times, I wish this day would never end! At certain other times, I want it to pass asap! Wishes started flowing in from late night on Monday from some sweet friends, who admitted staying awake at 12 would be a tough ask and hence, wished me about half an hour in advance!
Tuesday—calls right on from midnight (or a little earlier)! The bday song welcomed 18th of September on the first call from a friend, who thought she missed out my bday on the 16th (had informed her about the happenings on Sunday). Then the calls flooded in! And messages too, from those frustrated they couldn’t get through as their call was on “waiting”! I picked up the calls with a “thank you very much” even before the wish came through! I was really touched at the frequency of the calls I received on the midnight of the 18th of September! Especially at the efforts made by some friends to continue trying and call back despite having to “wait” for their turn! Another sweet friend, who I know sleeps by 11, woke up at 12, barely managing to open her eyes! Tried my number! Couldn’t get through! Woke up again 10 minutes later to give me a call, which I eventually did receive!
Never have I received so many calls at midnight for my birthday! The usual culprits (read BJ, Merw) were finding it tough to get through! But they waited and did call! I was on seventh heaven even before the sun had risen! The calls continued till 130! I wouldn’t dare to complain for sleeping late! It was only then that I realized that I needed to make a call that was the most important of all! A call to my loving Father up above! To my Saviour Jesus Christ! If it wasn’t for His grace, if it wasn’t for His loving kindness, if it wasn’t for His goodness, I wouldn’t have been seeing this night (one of my earliest posts is one of the reasons)! I thanked my Abba Father and bid the midnight goodbye to be woken up by more calls in the morning!
I still had to make a choice of whether or not to go to office! Eventually decided, it’s better to go rather than to lie on a birthday about the ‘reason’ for me bunking! So off I went towards office with more calls accompanying me all along the way! Decided to make the most out of my ‘visit’ to the office. Made sure everyone from our department wished me! Had to ‘bribe’ them all with a 5Star of course! But doesn’t matter! 23rd Bday was a “birthday of many wishes and a few surprises”! If I thought what happened on the 16th was my last surprise for some years to come! I was in for another little surprise! My friends from office bought a cake and made me cut it while during the break! Another sweet little surprise that I’d remember for some time to come and would take some doing for me to forget!
And as the birthday drew to a close, calls kept coming! And of course, there were plenty of scraps too!
Edited on 20th Sep: And just when I thought the storm had calmed down, my two lovely friends from Bangalore, whom I had never met, Feni and Deepa, decided to give me another surprise (Jeez!! I'm using this word for the nth time now)! Saw a beautiful card lying on the tea-table! Checked the name! Yup! All the way from Bangalore through courier!
Updated on 26th: Actually, this update was long overdue. On the 22nd to be precise! Got a gift from a friend (who passed it through another friend) whom I’ve never really interacted in person! As I check the wonderfully designed pack, it read, “check out the 23 reasons that makes you special”. I open the packet with some curiosity (as is the case with everyone who opens a bday gift)! First thing I see is a stuffed toy! A monkey/teddy with a specs (Chechi told me later that it was self-made). Next, I get a handful of chocolates in a mug with a cartoon of a little baby with the number ‘1’ next to it! And I was still wondering what the 23 reasons were when I look into the packet and finds quite a handful of cards! Self-made cartoons! This was made by the friend herself with cartoons of little Blessen (she considers me a kid although I am a good 2 years elder to her) on the front and the ‘reason’ inside! The cartoons resembled the reasons! And guess what? There were 23 of such cards all made by that sweet friend herself! She later told me that it took her about 2 weeks to make all that! As was expected, I was on cloud nine or maybe even above that! Could never have imagined someone investing this much time for my birthday! So, thank you so very much Pooja aka Kichoo! Will treasure that for a long long time!
Indeed one of my best birthdays ever! Made very special by the people I mentioned above! So, thank you guys! I love you all! May my Lord Jesus bless you all in abundance!
PS: This might just seem a little dull/boring to those reading! But I couldn’t help but mention everyone who made my birthday special!
To start with, it turned out to be a three-day long birth’day’! The actual day happened to be a Tuesday. But I was planning to go out with family, and maybe even, treat them in advance, on the Sunday before my bday! Abychayan (my bro) and Nisychechi (his wife) will be in Pune on Tuesday and hence, an early celebration will do no harm (Yea right! Who wouldn’t mind long celebrations?) But the plans remained just that—plans! Pappa wasn’t keeping too well and hence, we had to cancel the much awaited treat at KFC! And with me not going for my usual Sunday ICPF meet, the day… evening rather, was turning out to be rather dull! Bro and chechi went out for some shopping! And my net connection was still down. So dull was the feeling that I went for a little nap at 615 in the evening! Woke up at 7 having nothing much to do, but watch the T20 match! No, India wasn’t playing! They had already lost to the Kiwis by 10 runs! So, there you have it! What a waste of a Sunday evening! Or so I thought it was!
Lisammama (my aunt) and Siji (her daughter and my cousin) came over! I love to irritate Siji for any and every little thing she does and does not do! Then, a call from a good friend! The evening suddenly seemed to have taken wings! While on the call, Julia (my cute little 3 year old niece) walks in with her parents and Jestin (my nephew) with his mom! I am still on the phone, with my house all of a sudden abuzz with noises from the kids! Abychayan and chechi comes back from their bit of shopping! I am still completely unaware of the hidden agenda behind everyone turning up all of a sudden. Didn’t seem new to me! This ‘gathering’ has happened way too many times earlier! It was only when Lisammama spilled the beans that it struck me why chechi had carried the Monginis bag as she had walked in! It struck me then the reason for the sudden invasion of all my cousins! To cut a long story short, chechi, the conspirator-in-chief and Abychayan, the co-conspirator, had set it all up when they went out for shopping, calling my cousins to come over!
Turned out to be one lovely family get-together! Of course, the Dutch chocolate cake was as yummy as it looked, if not more! The ‘2’ melted and ‘3’ had broken down by the time I cut the cake (talking about the candles)! But it was the cake that mattered! Then, there was chicken lollypop too! According to chechi, my bday “will be incomplete without chicken”! Bang on! A little jig, by the ‘baccha party’ (Julia, Siji, Jibi and Jestin) and yours truly, later, the surprise party was over! A first ever for me and how I loved it! So, thank you Abychayan and chechi! Love you guys!
Monday—the smell of actual birthDAY being just round the corner, is something irresistible! At times, I wish this day would never end! At certain other times, I want it to pass asap! Wishes started flowing in from late night on Monday from some sweet friends, who admitted staying awake at 12 would be a tough ask and hence, wished me about half an hour in advance!
Tuesday—calls right on from midnight (or a little earlier)! The bday song welcomed 18th of September on the first call from a friend, who thought she missed out my bday on the 16th (had informed her about the happenings on Sunday). Then the calls flooded in! And messages too, from those frustrated they couldn’t get through as their call was on “waiting”! I picked up the calls with a “thank you very much” even before the wish came through! I was really touched at the frequency of the calls I received on the midnight of the 18th of September! Especially at the efforts made by some friends to continue trying and call back despite having to “wait” for their turn! Another sweet friend, who I know sleeps by 11, woke up at 12, barely managing to open her eyes! Tried my number! Couldn’t get through! Woke up again 10 minutes later to give me a call, which I eventually did receive!
Never have I received so many calls at midnight for my birthday! The usual culprits (read BJ, Merw) were finding it tough to get through! But they waited and did call! I was on seventh heaven even before the sun had risen! The calls continued till 130! I wouldn’t dare to complain for sleeping late! It was only then that I realized that I needed to make a call that was the most important of all! A call to my loving Father up above! To my Saviour Jesus Christ! If it wasn’t for His grace, if it wasn’t for His loving kindness, if it wasn’t for His goodness, I wouldn’t have been seeing this night (one of my earliest posts is one of the reasons)! I thanked my Abba Father and bid the midnight goodbye to be woken up by more calls in the morning!
I still had to make a choice of whether or not to go to office! Eventually decided, it’s better to go rather than to lie on a birthday about the ‘reason’ for me bunking! So off I went towards office with more calls accompanying me all along the way! Decided to make the most out of my ‘visit’ to the office. Made sure everyone from our department wished me! Had to ‘bribe’ them all with a 5Star of course! But doesn’t matter! 23rd Bday was a “birthday of many wishes and a few surprises”! If I thought what happened on the 16th was my last surprise for some years to come! I was in for another little surprise! My friends from office bought a cake and made me cut it while during the break! Another sweet little surprise that I’d remember for some time to come and would take some doing for me to forget!
And as the birthday drew to a close, calls kept coming! And of course, there were plenty of scraps too!
Edited on 20th Sep: And just when I thought the storm had calmed down, my two lovely friends from Bangalore, whom I had never met, Feni and Deepa, decided to give me another surprise (Jeez!! I'm using this word for the nth time now)! Saw a beautiful card lying on the tea-table! Checked the name! Yup! All the way from Bangalore through courier!
Updated on 26th: Actually, this update was long overdue. On the 22nd to be precise! Got a gift from a friend (who passed it through another friend) whom I’ve never really interacted in person! As I check the wonderfully designed pack, it read, “check out the 23 reasons that makes you special”. I open the packet with some curiosity (as is the case with everyone who opens a bday gift)! First thing I see is a stuffed toy! A monkey/teddy with a specs (Chechi told me later that it was self-made). Next, I get a handful of chocolates in a mug with a cartoon of a little baby with the number ‘1’ next to it! And I was still wondering what the 23 reasons were when I look into the packet and finds quite a handful of cards! Self-made cartoons! This was made by the friend herself with cartoons of little Blessen (she considers me a kid although I am a good 2 years elder to her) on the front and the ‘reason’ inside! The cartoons resembled the reasons! And guess what? There were 23 of such cards all made by that sweet friend herself! She later told me that it took her about 2 weeks to make all that! As was expected, I was on cloud nine or maybe even above that! Could never have imagined someone investing this much time for my birthday! So, thank you so very much Pooja aka Kichoo! Will treasure that for a long long time!
Indeed one of my best birthdays ever! Made very special by the people I mentioned above! So, thank you guys! I love you all! May my Lord Jesus bless you all in abundance!
PS: This might just seem a little dull/boring to those reading! But I couldn’t help but mention everyone who made my birthday special!
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
My New Relationship!!!
I don’t know how this relationship will work out! But if it works out as well as my last one, then I will consider it successful! Honestly, I was very skeptical before starting out on this new and latest journey in life and hence, I had to take my brother’s opinion! He, surprisingly, gave me the nod, and thus, the green signal.
It hurts a lot to ditch and call off my old relationship! But I knew I had to take that harsh call sometime soon and be rude to my ex! I had to be selfish. But I think my effort to be patient with her and stay with her as much as I did must be appreciated. But she just was not ready to cooperate and it almost seemed to me as if she wanted to move away from me! Yes, she was rude to me! Or at least she seemed to be!
Well, as they say, everything happens for the good! My new love is nice! Real nice! She’s good looking! She is colourful! She can sing well! I have just started speaking to her, but I know this relation will last long, unless some smarty tries to snatch her away from me! But I ain’t gonna let my new Nokia 5200 go, but have kept my 3315 with me to show it to my grandchildren! It was after all their grandpa's first cell-phone and trusted lieutenant for three years!
It hurts a lot to ditch and call off my old relationship! But I knew I had to take that harsh call sometime soon and be rude to my ex! I had to be selfish. But I think my effort to be patient with her and stay with her as much as I did must be appreciated. But she just was not ready to cooperate and it almost seemed to me as if she wanted to move away from me! Yes, she was rude to me! Or at least she seemed to be!
Well, as they say, everything happens for the good! My new love is nice! Real nice! She’s good looking! She is colourful! She can sing well! I have just started speaking to her, but I know this relation will last long, unless some smarty tries to snatch her away from me! But I ain’t gonna let my new Nokia 5200 go, but have kept my 3315 with me to show it to my grandchildren! It was after all their grandpa's first cell-phone and trusted lieutenant for three years!
Monday, August 06, 2007
My opinions on... (Part 2)
Sanjay Dutt’s sentence
Seems so filmy! No, not the sentence and its many post-mortems, but the fact that the longest running trial had to end with the sentence to Sanjay Dutt.
My opinion about this won’t be too different from the opinion of the majority! Or at least that’s what I think. Judge Kode’s judgment seems very much fair to me. The guilty, no matter who you are, should not go unpunished in the eyes of the law! If I read the papers right, the punishment for the crime committed under the Arms Act can be anywhere between five to nine years of RI. So, six for Sanju seems harsh, yet reasonable under law!
But, and this is a big but, I am not too sure if I’d agree with the statement, “Law is fair to all.” Because if it was, then Sanjay Dutt would have had a few high profile politicians as his inmates in prison! Am talking about those who were found guilty by the Srikrishna Commission Report for inciting the 1992-93 riots! Check these numbers: People killed during the 92-93 riots: more than 900; People killed by the blasts: about 250! They do tell a story. I am not justifying the blasts by any means, for it was one cowardly act by a bunch of losers who cared not a bit for innocent lives! But if law was fair in bringing those involved, directly or indirectly, in the blasts to justice, then why can’t the same law of the same land put those politicians behind bars! The fact of the matter is the current government is scared. Scared that arrests of these big-wigs might well lead to a burning Mumbai! And the previous government, because its own were going to be on trial, accused the inquiry commission’s report as “politically motivated”!
And to be honest, even I am scared! All I can say is, Bad Luck Munnabhai!
My opinion about this won’t be too different from the opinion of the majority! Or at least that’s what I think. Judge Kode’s judgment seems very much fair to me. The guilty, no matter who you are, should not go unpunished in the eyes of the law! If I read the papers right, the punishment for the crime committed under the Arms Act can be anywhere between five to nine years of RI. So, six for Sanju seems harsh, yet reasonable under law!
But, and this is a big but, I am not too sure if I’d agree with the statement, “Law is fair to all.” Because if it was, then Sanjay Dutt would have had a few high profile politicians as his inmates in prison! Am talking about those who were found guilty by the Srikrishna Commission Report for inciting the 1992-93 riots! Check these numbers: People killed during the 92-93 riots: more than 900; People killed by the blasts: about 250! They do tell a story. I am not justifying the blasts by any means, for it was one cowardly act by a bunch of losers who cared not a bit for innocent lives! But if law was fair in bringing those involved, directly or indirectly, in the blasts to justice, then why can’t the same law of the same land put those politicians behind bars! The fact of the matter is the current government is scared. Scared that arrests of these big-wigs might well lead to a burning Mumbai! And the previous government, because its own were going to be on trial, accused the inquiry commission’s report as “politically motivated”!
And to be honest, even I am scared! All I can say is, Bad Luck Munnabhai!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
My opinions on… (Part I)
Pratibha Patil becoming the President
A women becoming the first citizen of the country was long overdue and the fact that it came 60 years after independence kinda makes it a little too late. However, I do feel India deserved a better ‘First Woman President.’
Sonia Gandhi has once again showed how shrewd a politician she can be! Two instances come to mind! One, when she appointed Manmohan Singh, a man with impeccable character, ahead of her as the Prime Minister! Two, when she resigned as the MP and contested to win by a huge margin again, after she was accused of holding an office of profit! And now, when the Left was clearly against any of the earlier names doing rounds (Arjun Singh, Karan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, Sushil Kumar Shinde etc), she came out with a real googly, stumping the opposition and garnering the support of the Left and other allies by bringing out with a woman candidate, who till that point of time, was never even heard of by commoners like me!
The then-incumbent President Abdul Kalam deserved another go, despite accusations that he was soft on certain issues. He was rightly called the “People’s President”! Truly, no other president was as accessible or as friendly as Kalam! And this statement is not just from what was seen from news clips. But from a personal experience of a close friend!
Never did India have any Presidential-nominee with a tarnished image! Not until Patil came into the fray. Pratibha Patil may not have anything to do with the controversies, but the fact is that these establishments in question were in her name and it’s a touch difficult to believe that she didn’t know much about it! And even if she genuinely did not, then she should have! But the blame-game is over and done with. Just turned out to be another point for opposition to lurk on! Unfortunately for them though, it didn’t bring any fruitful returns as Patil had it easy, with even some of the opposition’s ‘very own’ disowning Shekawat.
So, does a woman President mean better times for the fairer sex in India? I doubt! But, it’s way too early to comment on that as the President usually turns out to be a rubber stamp of the government! And the way this presidential election was politicized, chances are even higher that we might just see another of Government’s rubber stamps at Prakash Vir Shastri Avenue (formerly, North Avenue). But, let’s give Patil a fair chance! She’s got about 60 months! I hope she proves me wrong and I will be surprised, pleasantly so, if indeed she does!
PS: Don't get me wrong. If given an authority to vote during Presidential elections, I would have picked Pratibha Patil! But no points for guessing who I'd have voted for if Kalam was also contesting!
The Third Day... Two Years Back!!!
Our two days of ‘fun’, if one can call it that, was over! Now, as the trains had started working to some extent, the ‘family’, as it was called then, was taking its leave— one person or a small group at a time.
In our two days, we had all fallen in love with this great city! I had always loved Mumbai, but my experience/s on 26th and 27th July, 2005 made it special for me! The group of 10 made the most out of getting stuck at South Mumbai, as elsewhere, rains were playing havoc. I saw Mumbai by night and soaked in drizzling rain and the yellowish light made it just so spectacular. For two nights, bus stops and Sterling steps were our over-head roofs that doubled up as our resting houses! Day time, we were back to our good ol’ Xavier’s catching up on lost sleep inside the Foyer.
But now, as Mumbai crawled back to normalcy, the group trickled down to just the two of us! Biprorshee and Blessen! One from Kalyan, the other from Thakurli. We were more than one and a half hours of train ride away from home. In simple words, we were more than 50 kilometers away from our folks! Both of us were really tired! We had gotten tired of staring at the white ceiling of our foyer! We had gotten tired of warming the Foyer benches stretching out our stinky legs to another bench, resting our head to the back-rest! We had gotten tired of eating the food at Mess!
Frequent trips to the majestic Victoria Terminus (now CST) gave us disappointing news! “No trains beyond Thane until further notice” was what we got to hear time and over again! Both of just came back and did what we could do best—“wait and watch!” It was more than 2 days back that I had last seen my the ‘Brave New India’ poster that was stuck to my bedroom. It was more than two days back that I had worn my blue shirt with dark-cream trousers. It was more than two days back that I had last seen my mummy and pappa! Ditto with Bipro for most of these things!
This is when my stomach suddenly started reacting, maybe to the drenched and soaked Pav Bhaji I ate at Cannon! But the loo at Xavier’s beckoned me every once in a while! And trust me, it wasn’t a very pleasing thing to happen! Make no mistake about it, the Xavier’s loo is clean and tidy, but a loo is after all that—a LOO! I had gotten tired of my stinky socks and shoes that I had been wearing for two days! I borrowed Bipro’s floaters to make my trips to the Loo!
In the meanwhile, the time that we were there, we had befriended this SYJC guy, Joel, who was from Dombivli! All the members of the then family had reached home, safe but not so dry! That was about the only positive news we were getting! We again went to VT and there, people were giving us different ideas on how to reach our homes! We weren’t convinced! We came back! I was tired! And weak! Drained and drenched and stinky too! And so was little Bipro! The time was way past 2 on our third day!
I got up and went over to Bipro. “Bipro, we gotta get out of here man!”
“How Blessen? Where to?”
“I don’t know, but I just can’t stay here for one more night!”
“Dude, I think it’s much safer to stay back than venture out and getting stuck at no mans land!” Bipro was making sense. But…..
“The trains are going till Thane! I don’t know, but in this condition, I don’t want to stay here. I have one of my Pastoruncle at Vikhroli. I am sure you can join me and we can stay over there for the night!”
“That’s fine. Even I have my friend at Matunga. I can drop in at his place. But are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yea man! I don’t want to be here for another night!”
“Well, ok then!” Bipro agreed reluctantly!
And we called our concerned people at Vikhroli and Matunga and told them they’ll be having an extra guest for dinner tonight!
I made my, what I thought was, my final visit to the loo. We packed our bags, the contents of which were wet and ‘stenchy’! We ourselves smelt like dead fishes I am sure! But we had lost a good percentage of our sense of smell! Our PoA (plan of action) involved first heading towards Gayathri’s PG and hand her Nokia charger back. So, off we went! Bipro turned in another direction for a smoke and told me to carry on and he’ll be there in sometime! So, I went ahead and called Gayathri downstairs! And as we both were talking, Bipro came over with a worried look on his face!
“What happened?” I asked him.
“That guy, Joel. I just met him on the way. Well, he’s alone! He doesn’t have any friends with him! And as he came to know that we are leaving, he was about to cry. He doesn’t even have a single paisa with him! I gave him about 15 rupees that I had with me!” Bipro said in a dejected tone.
“Where is he now?” I asked Bipro.
“I don’t know. He will be going back to college I guess.”
“Well, in that case. He’s coming with me! And if he’s not ready for that, then we ain’t going anywhere. We are staying put! Lets go back to college and ask him.”
So, we were back again at the place where it all began! Joel wasn’t there. So it gave me time for one more visit to the loo! As I came back, I saw Joel sitting with Bipro. I told him about my offer. He readily agreed and seemed happier at seeing us back in college! I called up pastor uncle again. Praisy, his daughter, also my friend, picked up! She said it won’t be a problem at all to bring in my friend!
So, with a sigh of relief, all of us headed towards the station. Gayathri gave us company till the station! We crossed the subway, but it dawned onto us that we might have to wait for one more day to see our folks back home!
It was nearing 4! And as we were about to get closer to the entrance, my ears went wide open when I heard the word ‘Kalyan’ getting announced through the microphone! Both, Bipro and I, hurried up the stairs from the subway and to the station! The writings on the indicator were blocked by a pillar in between! Both of us ran side ways saying, “wait a minute, waaaaaait a minute”! And to our utter disbelief, we saw what we wanted to see! In red was written, “3:51 K” (Indicating, the train will leave at 3:51 PM to Kalyan). We didn’t know how to react! “Yahoooooooooooo! Wohooooooooooo!! We jumped hugging each other! We did not care if people around us termed us as “whackos”! We were definitely whacked out then! Even Gayathri gave us her blank expression!
We wasted no time and hopped into the train! I fell in love with Mumbai’s local train again! I smiled at my co-passengers! Bipro and I, even got seats! Surprising, because it was only the second train to leave out of VT after the deluge! I guess people who were stuck, were yet to be informed! Joel stood by the footboard! He came in for a brief while and with a little smile on his face, I saw him giving Bipro some money back, saying “thanks”! Bipro smiled back! My stomach now was behaving quite alright!
We had updated our “family” about the latest! A few of them called back to check on us! Matunga passed! Bipro sat still in his seat! No ways was he going to get off now! Vikhroli passed! I stayed put too! Prince and Praisy will have to wait for me some other day when I will at least be better dressed!
It took us around 3 hours to reach home! I got off at Dombivli as the train wasn’t going to stop at Thakurli! Joel got off with me! We walked back home!
There was no electricity as I reached home! But it didn’t matter! My cell rang. Birporshee! “Yea Bipro?”
“Yesssssssssssss! Home Sweet Home!!!”
In our two days, we had all fallen in love with this great city! I had always loved Mumbai, but my experience/s on 26th and 27th July, 2005 made it special for me! The group of 10 made the most out of getting stuck at South Mumbai, as elsewhere, rains were playing havoc. I saw Mumbai by night and soaked in drizzling rain and the yellowish light made it just so spectacular. For two nights, bus stops and Sterling steps were our over-head roofs that doubled up as our resting houses! Day time, we were back to our good ol’ Xavier’s catching up on lost sleep inside the Foyer.
But now, as Mumbai crawled back to normalcy, the group trickled down to just the two of us! Biprorshee and Blessen! One from Kalyan, the other from Thakurli. We were more than one and a half hours of train ride away from home. In simple words, we were more than 50 kilometers away from our folks! Both of us were really tired! We had gotten tired of staring at the white ceiling of our foyer! We had gotten tired of warming the Foyer benches stretching out our stinky legs to another bench, resting our head to the back-rest! We had gotten tired of eating the food at Mess!
Frequent trips to the majestic Victoria Terminus (now CST) gave us disappointing news! “No trains beyond Thane until further notice” was what we got to hear time and over again! Both of just came back and did what we could do best—“wait and watch!” It was more than 2 days back that I had last seen my the ‘Brave New India’ poster that was stuck to my bedroom. It was more than two days back that I had worn my blue shirt with dark-cream trousers. It was more than two days back that I had last seen my mummy and pappa! Ditto with Bipro for most of these things!
This is when my stomach suddenly started reacting, maybe to the drenched and soaked Pav Bhaji I ate at Cannon! But the loo at Xavier’s beckoned me every once in a while! And trust me, it wasn’t a very pleasing thing to happen! Make no mistake about it, the Xavier’s loo is clean and tidy, but a loo is after all that—a LOO! I had gotten tired of my stinky socks and shoes that I had been wearing for two days! I borrowed Bipro’s floaters to make my trips to the Loo!
In the meanwhile, the time that we were there, we had befriended this SYJC guy, Joel, who was from Dombivli! All the members of the then family had reached home, safe but not so dry! That was about the only positive news we were getting! We again went to VT and there, people were giving us different ideas on how to reach our homes! We weren’t convinced! We came back! I was tired! And weak! Drained and drenched and stinky too! And so was little Bipro! The time was way past 2 on our third day!
I got up and went over to Bipro. “Bipro, we gotta get out of here man!”
“How Blessen? Where to?”
“I don’t know, but I just can’t stay here for one more night!”
“Dude, I think it’s much safer to stay back than venture out and getting stuck at no mans land!” Bipro was making sense. But…..
“The trains are going till Thane! I don’t know, but in this condition, I don’t want to stay here. I have one of my Pastoruncle at Vikhroli. I am sure you can join me and we can stay over there for the night!”
“That’s fine. Even I have my friend at Matunga. I can drop in at his place. But are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yea man! I don’t want to be here for another night!”
“Well, ok then!” Bipro agreed reluctantly!
And we called our concerned people at Vikhroli and Matunga and told them they’ll be having an extra guest for dinner tonight!
I made my, what I thought was, my final visit to the loo. We packed our bags, the contents of which were wet and ‘stenchy’! We ourselves smelt like dead fishes I am sure! But we had lost a good percentage of our sense of smell! Our PoA (plan of action) involved first heading towards Gayathri’s PG and hand her Nokia charger back. So, off we went! Bipro turned in another direction for a smoke and told me to carry on and he’ll be there in sometime! So, I went ahead and called Gayathri downstairs! And as we both were talking, Bipro came over with a worried look on his face!
“What happened?” I asked him.
“That guy, Joel. I just met him on the way. Well, he’s alone! He doesn’t have any friends with him! And as he came to know that we are leaving, he was about to cry. He doesn’t even have a single paisa with him! I gave him about 15 rupees that I had with me!” Bipro said in a dejected tone.
“Where is he now?” I asked Bipro.
“I don’t know. He will be going back to college I guess.”
“Well, in that case. He’s coming with me! And if he’s not ready for that, then we ain’t going anywhere. We are staying put! Lets go back to college and ask him.”
So, we were back again at the place where it all began! Joel wasn’t there. So it gave me time for one more visit to the loo! As I came back, I saw Joel sitting with Bipro. I told him about my offer. He readily agreed and seemed happier at seeing us back in college! I called up pastor uncle again. Praisy, his daughter, also my friend, picked up! She said it won’t be a problem at all to bring in my friend!
So, with a sigh of relief, all of us headed towards the station. Gayathri gave us company till the station! We crossed the subway, but it dawned onto us that we might have to wait for one more day to see our folks back home!
It was nearing 4! And as we were about to get closer to the entrance, my ears went wide open when I heard the word ‘Kalyan’ getting announced through the microphone! Both, Bipro and I, hurried up the stairs from the subway and to the station! The writings on the indicator were blocked by a pillar in between! Both of us ran side ways saying, “wait a minute, waaaaaait a minute”! And to our utter disbelief, we saw what we wanted to see! In red was written, “3:51 K” (Indicating, the train will leave at 3:51 PM to Kalyan). We didn’t know how to react! “Yahoooooooooooo! Wohooooooooooo!! We jumped hugging each other! We did not care if people around us termed us as “whackos”! We were definitely whacked out then! Even Gayathri gave us her blank expression!
We wasted no time and hopped into the train! I fell in love with Mumbai’s local train again! I smiled at my co-passengers! Bipro and I, even got seats! Surprising, because it was only the second train to leave out of VT after the deluge! I guess people who were stuck, were yet to be informed! Joel stood by the footboard! He came in for a brief while and with a little smile on his face, I saw him giving Bipro some money back, saying “thanks”! Bipro smiled back! My stomach now was behaving quite alright!
We had updated our “family” about the latest! A few of them called back to check on us! Matunga passed! Bipro sat still in his seat! No ways was he going to get off now! Vikhroli passed! I stayed put too! Prince and Praisy will have to wait for me some other day when I will at least be better dressed!
It took us around 3 hours to reach home! I got off at Dombivli as the train wasn’t going to stop at Thakurli! Joel got off with me! We walked back home!
There was no electricity as I reached home! But it didn’t matter! My cell rang. Birporshee! “Yea Bipro?”
“Yesssssssssssss! Home Sweet Home!!!”
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Return of the blogger!!!
“This blog will not be functioning for sometime due to the unavailability of the blogger for the coming days.” I had intended to publish this and take a break from blogging! But then it dawned to me that I’d have to put his up every once in a while as I am a disgrace to the phrase— ‘regular blogger’. And then the reason for unavailability is pure sluggishness and so, I have no right to put that up!
Many, I believe, paid a visit to my blog expecting another one of those drama-cum-suspense written blog about anything and everything, but they all got bored by “Yes, I loved her!!!” And I am now getting bored by regular cries of “Blessen, update your blog!” (Unbelievable, but true! People love reading my nonsense)!
So, what all have happened since I posted about my love life?
1. To begin with, I am still with my love and may not forsake her for a couple of months at least! And if you are a late-comer to my blog, then realisation will dawn only after you read my last post.
2. I have completed a year after getting into the ‘earning class’ category.
3. I have grown my French beard again (only the second time in my life), but will soon be off again!
4. My back continues to trouble me, but Jesus, my Saviour is in control of that.
5. I was told that I’d have a chance to go to Australia sometime in November-December for six to seven months as part of the onsite team for the third phase of a project I worked last. I am not sure about this, for all you know, I might be selling coconuts at Dhobi Talao then! Why coconuts at Dhobi Talao? That’s a random statement! You guys should have known me by now!
6. Many of my friends have gone off from Mumbai either for further studies or through transfers!
7. I finally have a passport after all the fuss with the police! (This deserves another post)
8. And, I am still a mallu!!!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Yes, I Loved Her!!!
“I’ll be your friend till the last leaf falls,” she declares every once in a while as I look at her with hopeful, yet sorry eyes!
She became a part of my life sometime around in July 2004, when I was in my third year doing my History majors in Xavier’s. Very rarely has she not been with me ever since. She is easily the one whom I’ve heard the most from and also with whom I’ve spoken the most. I doubt if my mom has interacted with me as much as she has!
Everyone keeps telling me she is one of the most dependable around! Who would know it better than me! I use the word dependable cause I can’t find a better word in the English vocabulary. She has been through the best and worst of the times. She has heard my cribbing! She has helped me in consoling others. She has seen me cry. She has heard me laugh out loud! She has seen me jump for joy. She has seen me fall. She has seen me getting royally bored, be it at some boring lectures or at my workplace! She gave me company when I was pulling someone’s leg! She brought a lot of joy to my life and also passed on my joy to a lot of my dear friends.
She was with me when I became a graduate. She was with me when I completed my journalism. She was with me when I became a journalist! She was with me when I changed companies! She was with me through the disaster of July 26th, 2005, when I got stuck in college/town for two and half days! She got drenched in the rain too! She made sure I informed my folks back home how I was and where I was!
But I must admit, I’ve hurt her a lot. Many a time, I’ve taken her for granted. Yet, she never left me! Once in a while, albeit very rarely, she gave me the cold shoulder and just wouldn’t let me talk or wouldn’t talk to me either! I shifted my loyalty when she refused to cooperate. But then, my new ‘loyalty’ ditched me after just a month! But she was ever willing to accept me back and now we are back!
She isn’t too well now! She won’t let me talk for too long and she doesn’t talk much either unless she is constantly kept ‘in observation’! I am afraid I am losing her!
I loved her and I still do and I hate to be rude but I need to look for better options! I know she won’t survive and be with me forever and I can’t stay committed to her! I got to think about my own future and for my own good! I got to be selfish and look for a better piece to replace my good old Nokia 3315.
She became a part of my life sometime around in July 2004, when I was in my third year doing my History majors in Xavier’s. Very rarely has she not been with me ever since. She is easily the one whom I’ve heard the most from and also with whom I’ve spoken the most. I doubt if my mom has interacted with me as much as she has!
Everyone keeps telling me she is one of the most dependable around! Who would know it better than me! I use the word dependable cause I can’t find a better word in the English vocabulary. She has been through the best and worst of the times. She has heard my cribbing! She has helped me in consoling others. She has seen me cry. She has heard me laugh out loud! She has seen me jump for joy. She has seen me fall. She has seen me getting royally bored, be it at some boring lectures or at my workplace! She gave me company when I was pulling someone’s leg! She brought a lot of joy to my life and also passed on my joy to a lot of my dear friends.
She was with me when I became a graduate. She was with me when I completed my journalism. She was with me when I became a journalist! She was with me when I changed companies! She was with me through the disaster of July 26th, 2005, when I got stuck in college/town for two and half days! She got drenched in the rain too! She made sure I informed my folks back home how I was and where I was!
But I must admit, I’ve hurt her a lot. Many a time, I’ve taken her for granted. Yet, she never left me! Once in a while, albeit very rarely, she gave me the cold shoulder and just wouldn’t let me talk or wouldn’t talk to me either! I shifted my loyalty when she refused to cooperate. But then, my new ‘loyalty’ ditched me after just a month! But she was ever willing to accept me back and now we are back!
She isn’t too well now! She won’t let me talk for too long and she doesn’t talk much either unless she is constantly kept ‘in observation’! I am afraid I am losing her!
I loved her and I still do and I hate to be rude but I need to look for better options! I know she won’t survive and be with me forever and I can’t stay committed to her! I got to think about my own future and for my own good! I got to be selfish and look for a better piece to replace my good old Nokia 3315.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Phir Aayega India!!!
Got this wonderful forward from a dear friend!!! Really says a lot!!! I think this was a true Indian fan!!!
Daily we are receiving countless mails, showing pictures of Indian cricketers as barber, milkman, coolie, cook, butcher etc etc. Just answer these questions before we go ahead…
1. We go to temples, make lots of wishes to god, some of them come true, some don’t…will you start burning effigies of gods and goddess.. If god can fall short of our expectations…they are just human beings!!!!!!!
2. India is still a developing nation; most of us come from average middle class families. Tell me if tomorrow..microsoft,google or sun comes to you and offer you ten times what infy is paying. What will u do????Every one of us is striving for more money..these cricketers are not the family members of TATA n Birlas…like us they do have every right to make money. They do so bcuz they have the stuff. Like we are here in a software company bcuz we are gud enough for it.
3. India ranked no.6 prior to start of wc-2007…!!!!!!!!!!if a no 6 team can so easily win the wc….guys n gals…be ready all of u r going to onsite tomorrow..as a PM/GPM/SPM or who knows Nandan might nominate us as the next ceo of ITL tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. How many among us are IITians or have come even from top 10 engg colleges of India…(????)but be honest haan…you must have taken all these exams n entrance..after class 12th but u didn’t succeed!!!rite as simple as that!!accept ur failure!!!what ur parents did…they started mourning over the dummies kept as your dead bodies..or they also burned your effigies..did ur mother stop giving you food or father stopped giving u pocket money!!!!haan..they backed you..always supported you paid heavy donations and fee to let you complete ur engg and beared all your other expenses till u got the right job!!!!!!these cricketers are our fellow Indians our very own blood…they are going through a rough patch of time so instead of backing them up we are abusing them..
5. Your mom n dad calls u late in the night ur still at ur office..they say ..son ..go n have ur dinner..work hard..do your best….when u will get salary hikes..promotion..or remember your college days…dad calls u..son why r u getting less marks in every subject…YOUR REPLIES::::::::::"oh common…dad,mom u don’t understand..it really tough,only I can understand bla bla ….guys….same is the agony of these cricketers…no one can understand how it feels to be in the middle..n burdened with expectations of a billion ppl….shame on us we hardly live up to expectations of merely two persons(our parents!!!!)!!!!
6. We produce false certificates,claims to get posted at our desired locations..or if not we will run away to our hometown..on a leave…saying "I am feeling homesick"!!! Remember Sachin…wc-1999 his father died in India…while he was in England he came n rushed back to support and play for his team n country!!!!!!how many of us can even think of this !!! Now ppl are covering his face on the posters with lipstick. Hell ppl mourn over their lost love life. Sachin lost his father.
7. Lastly it’s the mistake made by ourselves that we don’t consider a game..just as a game…its we the ppl of India who made these cricketers dummy gods..simply fanatic..thank god fans in Zimbabwe,Canada and Netherlands are not like us or imagine what they would have done to their teams if expecting them to win world cup!!!Try to live up within the spirit of the game…take a game like the way it should be.
8. Frnz…this is a tough time for our cricketers and their families..stand beside em’ support them they badly need it..they are already upset don’t add up to their agony n pain..
N lets get together n say…HOO-HAA INDIA…..PHIR "AAYEGA" INDIA!!!!!!!!!
Hope this makes sense to at least some of you..
So please stop forwarding those nonsense mails/jokes on them…
CRICKET is only an entertainment for us…but its LIFE for them…
They always wish more than us to "WIN".
Daily we are receiving countless mails, showing pictures of Indian cricketers as barber, milkman, coolie, cook, butcher etc etc. Just answer these questions before we go ahead…
1. We go to temples, make lots of wishes to god, some of them come true, some don’t…will you start burning effigies of gods and goddess.. If god can fall short of our expectations…they are just human beings!!!!!!!
2. India is still a developing nation; most of us come from average middle class families. Tell me if tomorrow..microsoft,google or sun comes to you and offer you ten times what infy is paying. What will u do????Every one of us is striving for more money..these cricketers are not the family members of TATA n Birlas…like us they do have every right to make money. They do so bcuz they have the stuff. Like we are here in a software company bcuz we are gud enough for it.
3. India ranked no.6 prior to start of wc-2007…!!!!!!!!!!if a no 6 team can so easily win the wc….guys n gals…be ready all of u r going to onsite tomorrow..as a PM/GPM/SPM or who knows Nandan might nominate us as the next ceo of ITL tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. How many among us are IITians or have come even from top 10 engg colleges of India…(????)but be honest haan…you must have taken all these exams n entrance..after class 12th but u didn’t succeed!!!rite as simple as that!!accept ur failure!!!what ur parents did…they started mourning over the dummies kept as your dead bodies..or they also burned your effigies..did ur mother stop giving you food or father stopped giving u pocket money!!!!haan..they backed you..always supported you paid heavy donations and fee to let you complete ur engg and beared all your other expenses till u got the right job!!!!!!these cricketers are our fellow Indians our very own blood…they are going through a rough patch of time so instead of backing them up we are abusing them..
5. Your mom n dad calls u late in the night ur still at ur office..they say ..son ..go n have ur dinner..work hard..do your best….when u will get salary hikes..promotion..or remember your college days…dad calls u..son why r u getting less marks in every subject…YOUR REPLIES::::::::::"oh common…dad,mom u don’t understand..it really tough,only I can understand bla bla ….guys….same is the agony of these cricketers…no one can understand how it feels to be in the middle..n burdened with expectations of a billion ppl….shame on us we hardly live up to expectations of merely two persons(our parents!!!!)!!!!
6. We produce false certificates,claims to get posted at our desired locations..or if not we will run away to our hometown..on a leave…saying "I am feeling homesick"!!! Remember Sachin…wc-1999 his father died in India…while he was in England he came n rushed back to support and play for his team n country!!!!!!how many of us can even think of this !!! Now ppl are covering his face on the posters with lipstick. Hell ppl mourn over their lost love life. Sachin lost his father.
7. Lastly it’s the mistake made by ourselves that we don’t consider a game..just as a game…its we the ppl of India who made these cricketers dummy gods..simply fanatic..thank god fans in Zimbabwe,Canada and Netherlands are not like us or imagine what they would have done to their teams if expecting them to win world cup!!!Try to live up within the spirit of the game…take a game like the way it should be.
8. Frnz…this is a tough time for our cricketers and their families..stand beside em’ support them they badly need it..they are already upset don’t add up to their agony n pain..
N lets get together n say…HOO-HAA INDIA…..PHIR "AAYEGA" INDIA!!!!!!!!!
Hope this makes sense to at least some of you..
So please stop forwarding those nonsense mails/jokes on them…
CRICKET is only an entertainment for us…but its LIFE for them…
They always wish more than us to "WIN".
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Thank You Greg!!!
Dear Greg,
We owe much to your shrewdness for the help you gave in re-changing the face of India cricket. So, here goes a list of things that we need to be thankful to you for.
Thank you Greg for:
1. forcing India to learn the term ‘Process’, without really making them understand what it really meant. Not just the common masses, but the Indian team itself may not know what it was supposed to be!
2. making cricket in our country more exciting than it already was by your ‘leaked’ emails and smses to a few of our favourite journalists.
3. almost ending the career of the best ever skipper India has ever had.
4. making us realize that every defeat was a ‘learning curve’
5. persisting with underperforming players (read Suresh Raina) averaging just about 15 odd in the last few games and destroying the confidence of players who deserved better (read Mohd Kaif)! By giving such people more chances, he was moulding them to become better. Anyway, those who were performing better didn’t need that opportunity!
6. helping us realize that if you have an injury to the middle finger, then it heals faster when it’s left standing as the other fingers are bent.
7. giving Indian cricket fans the best ever performance in a world cup after what the team had done in 1979!
8. giving Indian cricket back the old tag it had throughout the 1990s – ‘consistently inconsistent’! During John Wright’s reign of four years, we got bored by the single term— ‘consistent’!
9. defining roles for individual team members, but not for the team as a whole!
10. introducing the concept of diversity in unity in the Indian team. 'Divide and rule' still can work wonders!!!
11. giving us action-packed and thrilling press conferences.
12. helping us realize the importance of team-spirit by watching our opponents play as a unit and defeating us convincingly and consistently.
13. killing the champion bowler in Irfan Pathan by forcing him to come at one-down. It improved his batting skills and opened the way for other bowlers to enter the team.
14. enlightening us on an important management lesson that ‘sucking up’ can take you places. That explains how you retained certain players despite a string of terrible performance.
15. lots of other things that I really am not able to remember now.
We really are grateful for all that thou hast done for Indian cricket and for taking Indian cricket to a new level altogether! We wish you a nice farewell and have a nice trip back home to Australia! I am sure they all missed you! Hope you enjoyed the Indian hospitality.
Thanking you.
Regards,
A sincere Indian Cricket Fan.
We owe much to your shrewdness for the help you gave in re-changing the face of India cricket. So, here goes a list of things that we need to be thankful to you for.
Thank you Greg for:
1. forcing India to learn the term ‘Process’, without really making them understand what it really meant. Not just the common masses, but the Indian team itself may not know what it was supposed to be!
2. making cricket in our country more exciting than it already was by your ‘leaked’ emails and smses to a few of our favourite journalists.
3. almost ending the career of the best ever skipper India has ever had.
4. making us realize that every defeat was a ‘learning curve’
5. persisting with underperforming players (read Suresh Raina) averaging just about 15 odd in the last few games and destroying the confidence of players who deserved better (read Mohd Kaif)! By giving such people more chances, he was moulding them to become better. Anyway, those who were performing better didn’t need that opportunity!
6. helping us realize that if you have an injury to the middle finger, then it heals faster when it’s left standing as the other fingers are bent.
7. giving Indian cricket fans the best ever performance in a world cup after what the team had done in 1979!
8. giving Indian cricket back the old tag it had throughout the 1990s – ‘consistently inconsistent’! During John Wright’s reign of four years, we got bored by the single term— ‘consistent’!
9. defining roles for individual team members, but not for the team as a whole!
10. introducing the concept of diversity in unity in the Indian team. 'Divide and rule' still can work wonders!!!
11. giving us action-packed and thrilling press conferences.
12. helping us realize the importance of team-spirit by watching our opponents play as a unit and defeating us convincingly and consistently.
13. killing the champion bowler in Irfan Pathan by forcing him to come at one-down. It improved his batting skills and opened the way for other bowlers to enter the team.
14. enlightening us on an important management lesson that ‘sucking up’ can take you places. That explains how you retained certain players despite a string of terrible performance.
15. lots of other things that I really am not able to remember now.
We really are grateful for all that thou hast done for Indian cricket and for taking Indian cricket to a new level altogether! We wish you a nice farewell and have a nice trip back home to Australia! I am sure they all missed you! Hope you enjoyed the Indian hospitality.
Thanking you.
Regards,
A sincere Indian Cricket Fan.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The 'Other Side' of being Blessen!!!
“Someone told me that a few years back, you were arrogant. Is it true?” A friend messaged me a couple of days ago. It got me thinking! Who was I arrogant against? Only when I realized who that ‘someone’ was did I know why he would have said so.
The first time he had seen me was at a camp, when we played basketball! And in that game, I was getting on my opponents nerves and this guy happened to be in that team!
People know me as a calm and cool customer, someone who never gets angry! But those that have seen me play any game on the ground would know that I am diametrically opposite to what I am otherwise! But fortunately, only a few have had that ‘privilege’! I get extremely aggressive and argumentative. If I see something unfair happening, then I raise my decibels to a not-so-desired level! I play to win. Period. I am a very bad loser. That explains why I’ve cried a few times after ending up on the losing side. But I do believe I am a good winner!
My friends hate me when I am playing cricket (or any other sport), but only if I happen to be in their opponent’s team! The first time Carlo and Anish played against me was when we played some friendly matches and called it Mallus versus Non-mallus. Anish happened to say something when I was bowling and immediately I burst out with some really rash and harsh words! And every time I took a wicket, I had aggression and anger written all over my face. I batted with venom that day! I don’t know what got into me but Carlo and Anish were not amused and they made that clear later on! Even I was embarrassed after it all!
I wasn’t going to change though! Because I am quite sure the same two loved it when they played for the team I skippered, in a box cricket tournament in college. In a game, I got quite angry with the umpires and used some choicest words. Well, not exactly! Because I would rather die than use abusive words. And me being me, there’s no question of me picking up a physical fight either! So, these were just in the form of ‘rude’ (for want of a better term) words! “Dude, you need better glasses,”, “They’ve paid you or something,” “Try umpiring in a game of marbles”—just examples of an array of words I used on the umpires!
Maybe I have taken inspiration from Sourav Ganguly! Maybe I am just over-passionate about winning! But on a sports field, I might never change, even if it is just a friendly game! Maybe that is why God never made me a sportsman!!! He didn’t want people to hate me!!! If my first meeting with all my friends was on a sports field, I wonder if they would ever have wanted to meet me! I guess I am arrogant after all, but only when I am playing something on a sports ground!
The first time he had seen me was at a camp, when we played basketball! And in that game, I was getting on my opponents nerves and this guy happened to be in that team!
People know me as a calm and cool customer, someone who never gets angry! But those that have seen me play any game on the ground would know that I am diametrically opposite to what I am otherwise! But fortunately, only a few have had that ‘privilege’! I get extremely aggressive and argumentative. If I see something unfair happening, then I raise my decibels to a not-so-desired level! I play to win. Period. I am a very bad loser. That explains why I’ve cried a few times after ending up on the losing side. But I do believe I am a good winner!
My friends hate me when I am playing cricket (or any other sport), but only if I happen to be in their opponent’s team! The first time Carlo and Anish played against me was when we played some friendly matches and called it Mallus versus Non-mallus. Anish happened to say something when I was bowling and immediately I burst out with some really rash and harsh words! And every time I took a wicket, I had aggression and anger written all over my face. I batted with venom that day! I don’t know what got into me but Carlo and Anish were not amused and they made that clear later on! Even I was embarrassed after it all!
I wasn’t going to change though! Because I am quite sure the same two loved it when they played for the team I skippered, in a box cricket tournament in college. In a game, I got quite angry with the umpires and used some choicest words. Well, not exactly! Because I would rather die than use abusive words. And me being me, there’s no question of me picking up a physical fight either! So, these were just in the form of ‘rude’ (for want of a better term) words! “Dude, you need better glasses,”, “They’ve paid you or something,” “Try umpiring in a game of marbles”—just examples of an array of words I used on the umpires!
Maybe I have taken inspiration from Sourav Ganguly! Maybe I am just over-passionate about winning! But on a sports field, I might never change, even if it is just a friendly game! Maybe that is why God never made me a sportsman!!! He didn’t want people to hate me!!! If my first meeting with all my friends was on a sports field, I wonder if they would ever have wanted to meet me! I guess I am arrogant after all, but only when I am playing something on a sports ground!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The Story of Mumbaikar
As the young politician unwrapped the pack and showed it to the crowd, I turned around and sat down, not wanting anyone to see me. A year has passed and I still don’t know why I did that, but there sure was a tear or two in my eyes then. Or maybe, my eyes were just moist. Maybe I was exhausted. Maybe I was just relieved that it indeed was all over. Maybe I was overjoyed! Maybe it was all of the above!
About a year or so back, inside one of the large classrooms of XIC, Milind Deora released the magazine ‘Mumbaikar’, a project undertaken by the journalism students of XIC. Now, each student was supposed to interview and write a feature on someone who stands out as a mumbaikar. So, out went all the wannabe journos hunting for prominent and not-so-prominent mumbaikars, who best describes (or described) the city. We weren’t just supposed to hunt for mumbaikars, whom we were to interview, but also for mumbaikars who were willing to pay and thus, advertise for a student project. The second somehow seemed tougher than the former task!
More than a month into the project and there were no signs of any money for the ‘soon to be released’ magazine. I roamed around the city trying to find a willing mind or two who’d be ready to ‘donate’ their hard earned shilling for a magazine that would be read by only a couple of hundred people, about 50 of these 100 would be the developers of the magazine themselves! Found none! Either they were already ‘taken’ by a few early-birds from our class or they weren’t interested. Finally, I found a ‘saviour’ in the form of an uncle from church, who readily agreed.
The mumbaikar I interviewed was Adrian D’souza, the Indian hockey goalkeeper. I wrote my article and thought a major worry of mine was over. But, little did I know that the headache had just begun. The layout and production team was supposed to take up the responsibility of designing pages. I was in production and unofficially, the leader of the team! Although certain guidelines were given about the way in which the pages are supposed to be designed, it seemed very few were in the mood to follow them. One of our tutors for the project, who also taught us pagemaker, told me that 90% of these pages would have to remade or redesigned! But the most unfortunate part of this whole mess was we were way past the date of release and some people were yet to find a mumbaikar! On the hind sight, we did have a lot of money and sponsors aplenty. But the possibility of these cheques being returned back to the advertiser seemed possible, as bringing out the mag seemed just a distant dream! The mag would have seemed like a mini-version of yellow pages!
Finally, after a lot of pushing and prodding, the class found just about enough so-called ‘mumbaikars’! Interviewed them. Wrote articles—some of them just for the heck of writing! But then, the tougher part started. Designing them on Pagemaker. I had initially thought this would be easiest part since everyone by now, was supposed to be well-versed with designing. But wasn’t to be!
Pages now had to be designed again and redesigned and again designed. And the pain started when we were to create a dummy for the mag to know where to adjust the huge amount of ads and how to place the articles. It took Pooja, Mayura, Sami, Priyanka, Gayathri and me one whole evening (and a night) to sort out the dummy correctly and yet, there had to be some compromises. This now meant, that the layout and production team, comprising of two mallus, had to redo the entire designing again—about 44 articles and 80 odd pages!
Bijoy and I made the computer lab on the 2nd floor our home from thereon. Romeo, the in charge there, became a family member. Life for us between lectures revolved around Mumbaikar, the supposed-to-be-already-released magazine, shuttling between the lec halls, computer lab and a little grab at Pav Bhaji from the canteen! But every time we got into a good rhythm and speed, a new complication arose. A lot of ‘minor adjustments’ had to be made at many places to fit in articles in a page! And after all the articles were fitted in, it was not turn to make the centrespread, index page and the editorial. The editorial and the centrespread took me an entire day at home to finish. As if that was a big thing, designing just the index page took me another day! Seemed like a simple index page with not much creativity needed. But then, two pages were to be filled with ‘non-creativity’!
Finally after all the designing was done, it was time to take the final soft copy to the printer. I had already made a couple of visits to the printer and had finalized the costing, the type of paper and the cover page paper. The printer had his eyebrows raised when I told him with confidence that we were ready to pay the amount he estimated!
The day I took the final copy was action-packed too! It was the day of our final editing for radio production module. Reached the studio a little late cause of a minor mishap but with a major back pain. I could hardly move about. But I had to rush back (to the computer lab of course)with Bijoy and do some final ‘touch ups’. Poor Bijoy had to be pulled back for another one of our modules (News Broadcast). He had to clean the studios!
So, I headed for the printer and there was a powerpoint presentation I had to make in another half an hour for the Public Speaking module. Had to go to Byculla and come back within half an hour!!! But off I went! Reached back to the lec hall about 15 minutes late, but thankfully, much before my presentation was to start!
The planning for the release took very little time and our Chief Guest, who had to be a high profile person, was also decided and agreed upon! South Mumbai MP—the young Milind Deora! Caterers and food was also decided and I was to take up the presentation on the ‘Story of Mumbaikar’!
And a few more phone calls from the printer later, Ida, our XIC office secretary, called us to the office. “The magazines have arrived!” Our joy couldn’t be controlled. And off we ran to the room where the mags were stored. I told a couple of my friends about the arrival, as I ran upstairs. Ida took only four of us inside the room and told us to lock the room. Those couple of friends were not amongst the four! They came up, just stood outside as the doors shut on them and went back angry! Ida opened the packet and the magazines looked awesome and remarkably professional. Everything looked so perfect and original! Right from the cover page picture, for which Rishi took pains to get the right shot of the Queens Necklace, to the photographs in the articles.
About a year or so back, inside one of the large classrooms of XIC, Milind Deora released the magazine ‘Mumbaikar’, a project undertaken by the journalism students of XIC. Now, each student was supposed to interview and write a feature on someone who stands out as a mumbaikar. So, out went all the wannabe journos hunting for prominent and not-so-prominent mumbaikars, who best describes (or described) the city. We weren’t just supposed to hunt for mumbaikars, whom we were to interview, but also for mumbaikars who were willing to pay and thus, advertise for a student project. The second somehow seemed tougher than the former task!
More than a month into the project and there were no signs of any money for the ‘soon to be released’ magazine. I roamed around the city trying to find a willing mind or two who’d be ready to ‘donate’ their hard earned shilling for a magazine that would be read by only a couple of hundred people, about 50 of these 100 would be the developers of the magazine themselves! Found none! Either they were already ‘taken’ by a few early-birds from our class or they weren’t interested. Finally, I found a ‘saviour’ in the form of an uncle from church, who readily agreed.
The mumbaikar I interviewed was Adrian D’souza, the Indian hockey goalkeeper. I wrote my article and thought a major worry of mine was over. But, little did I know that the headache had just begun. The layout and production team was supposed to take up the responsibility of designing pages. I was in production and unofficially, the leader of the team! Although certain guidelines were given about the way in which the pages are supposed to be designed, it seemed very few were in the mood to follow them. One of our tutors for the project, who also taught us pagemaker, told me that 90% of these pages would have to remade or redesigned! But the most unfortunate part of this whole mess was we were way past the date of release and some people were yet to find a mumbaikar! On the hind sight, we did have a lot of money and sponsors aplenty. But the possibility of these cheques being returned back to the advertiser seemed possible, as bringing out the mag seemed just a distant dream! The mag would have seemed like a mini-version of yellow pages!
Finally, after a lot of pushing and prodding, the class found just about enough so-called ‘mumbaikars’! Interviewed them. Wrote articles—some of them just for the heck of writing! But then, the tougher part started. Designing them on Pagemaker. I had initially thought this would be easiest part since everyone by now, was supposed to be well-versed with designing. But wasn’t to be!
Pages now had to be designed again and redesigned and again designed. And the pain started when we were to create a dummy for the mag to know where to adjust the huge amount of ads and how to place the articles. It took Pooja, Mayura, Sami, Priyanka, Gayathri and me one whole evening (and a night) to sort out the dummy correctly and yet, there had to be some compromises. This now meant, that the layout and production team, comprising of two mallus, had to redo the entire designing again—about 44 articles and 80 odd pages!
Bijoy and I made the computer lab on the 2nd floor our home from thereon. Romeo, the in charge there, became a family member. Life for us between lectures revolved around Mumbaikar, the supposed-to-be-already-released magazine, shuttling between the lec halls, computer lab and a little grab at Pav Bhaji from the canteen! But every time we got into a good rhythm and speed, a new complication arose. A lot of ‘minor adjustments’ had to be made at many places to fit in articles in a page! And after all the articles were fitted in, it was not turn to make the centrespread, index page and the editorial. The editorial and the centrespread took me an entire day at home to finish. As if that was a big thing, designing just the index page took me another day! Seemed like a simple index page with not much creativity needed. But then, two pages were to be filled with ‘non-creativity’!
Finally after all the designing was done, it was time to take the final soft copy to the printer. I had already made a couple of visits to the printer and had finalized the costing, the type of paper and the cover page paper. The printer had his eyebrows raised when I told him with confidence that we were ready to pay the amount he estimated!
The day I took the final copy was action-packed too! It was the day of our final editing for radio production module. Reached the studio a little late cause of a minor mishap but with a major back pain. I could hardly move about. But I had to rush back (to the computer lab of course)with Bijoy and do some final ‘touch ups’. Poor Bijoy had to be pulled back for another one of our modules (News Broadcast). He had to clean the studios!
So, I headed for the printer and there was a powerpoint presentation I had to make in another half an hour for the Public Speaking module. Had to go to Byculla and come back within half an hour!!! But off I went! Reached back to the lec hall about 15 minutes late, but thankfully, much before my presentation was to start!
The planning for the release took very little time and our Chief Guest, who had to be a high profile person, was also decided and agreed upon! South Mumbai MP—the young Milind Deora! Caterers and food was also decided and I was to take up the presentation on the ‘Story of Mumbaikar’!
And a few more phone calls from the printer later, Ida, our XIC office secretary, called us to the office. “The magazines have arrived!” Our joy couldn’t be controlled. And off we ran to the room where the mags were stored. I told a couple of my friends about the arrival, as I ran upstairs. Ida took only four of us inside the room and told us to lock the room. Those couple of friends were not amongst the four! They came up, just stood outside as the doors shut on them and went back angry! Ida opened the packet and the magazines looked awesome and remarkably professional. Everything looked so perfect and original! Right from the cover page picture, for which Rishi took pains to get the right shot of the Queens Necklace, to the photographs in the articles.
Somehow, I had something else in mind! I went back and apologized to the two friends but I realized it will take much more than that to get them out of the ‘insult’ they suffered. The words spoken were little, but it conveyed a lot! The mag was to be released in two days and the last thing I needed was two of my good friends getting angry. That put me off and I told my other friends I ain’t coming for the release. I walked off the college without attending the last lecture. Next day was a holiday and I hadn’t at all prepared for the presentation I was to make for the release. A friend called up and I told her I wasn’t coming! “Don’t be stupid ok? If anyone deserves to come, it’s just you!” I don’t know what made me so upset. Maybe I was just drained out! But then, I knew I couldn’t possibly avoid not going for the release of a magazine that I would dare to call my very own!
And all dressed up, I was in college much before the release. Some last minute rehearsals of my presentation and a few more adjustments here and there. Bijoy, Priyanka and Rachita did a good job coordinating the programmes for the release. Perhaps, the least I worked for the project was on the day of the release! But, even the release was done professionally! Not everyone from the class felt like being a part of the project and hence, came for the release with little or no interest. A few others were missing. But I cared a damn! This was a day that I should be proud of!
As Milind Deora unwrapped the covers to release the magazine, there were shouts from around the room! He held the magazine high and showed it to the audience. The clapping continued. I was standing next to the PC. Found it hard to hold back my emotions! The entire class could see me and so, I just sat down hiding myself behind the table and with my eyes wet, I covered my mouth! Bijoy sat down asking what’s wrong! I just shook my head unable to utter a word in the English vocabulary!
My presentation—‘The Story of Mumbaikar’—was well received! It was complete with a lot of humour and yet, the ‘story’ was conveyed with an ‘Amen’ in the end! “I dare say this, the batch next year will try to come out with something better, but this (a pause as I held up the copy) will still be THE BEST,” I said as my sign-off line!
Mumbaikar brought out the best of all emotions within me. Frustration, anger, depression (kinda), discouragement, sadness, ecstasy and finally, a great joy and relief. I lauged. I cried. I spoke harshly against my very own. I held my head and finally, I punched the air in delight! Mumbaikar would never have come out if it wasn’t for a few names I mentioned above and especially, Bijoy! I had the same thing to say what Bijoy said, while heaving a huge sigh, during his vote of thanks, “It’s over!” I indeed was glad it was all over! It’s been a year since this magazine has come out, but everytime I look back, I still feel like patting myself on my back for a job very well done!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Out!!!
A post about the World Cup missing from a cricket freak… So, finally, here it is…
Woolmer murdered! Pakistan out! Records tumbling almost every second day. This had to be THE most happening cricket world cup ever! Yet, for some weird reason, this World Cup didn’t give any birth of excitement inside me. Almost every Indian is an eternal optimist when it comes to India at the World Cup. So, I joined the million others in ranking India as one of the favourites to bring home the cup.
But now I am just sad and disappointed. Just like the million others are! Not just because India showed their worst ever performance after 1979, but also because of the way a few Indian legends will bid adieu to the World Cup. It is indeed sad to see Sachin, Sourav, Rahul and Kumble go out to such a sad self-inflicted farewell.
Indians still had hopes of making it to the round of Super 8, despite the first loss. Memories of a slow start during the 2003 World Cup came back. But that team was different. They believed in being like Phoenix—rising from the ashes! This team was hit by the huge roadblock tried on them by a coach with his weird and ‘out of the box’ ideas. He called it the ‘process’. Every defeat (and there were many at that) was termed as a ‘learning experience’ for the youngsters. I am really sorry Mr. Process, but your two years of experimentation with the process cost us dear, broke our hearts and almost ruined the career of a best ever left-hander India has ever produced.
Post mortems will flow out in the media and a few questions will be raised and be left unanswered. Fingers will be pointed. ‘Dravid’s captaincy desired more’, ‘the process failed’, ‘Sachin should retire’, so on and so forth. What’s the point? We can only watch a worthy winner lift the trophy a month from now.
Woolmer murdered! Pakistan out! Records tumbling almost every second day. This had to be THE most happening cricket world cup ever! Yet, for some weird reason, this World Cup didn’t give any birth of excitement inside me. Almost every Indian is an eternal optimist when it comes to India at the World Cup. So, I joined the million others in ranking India as one of the favourites to bring home the cup.
But now I am just sad and disappointed. Just like the million others are! Not just because India showed their worst ever performance after 1979, but also because of the way a few Indian legends will bid adieu to the World Cup. It is indeed sad to see Sachin, Sourav, Rahul and Kumble go out to such a sad self-inflicted farewell.
Indians still had hopes of making it to the round of Super 8, despite the first loss. Memories of a slow start during the 2003 World Cup came back. But that team was different. They believed in being like Phoenix—rising from the ashes! This team was hit by the huge roadblock tried on them by a coach with his weird and ‘out of the box’ ideas. He called it the ‘process’. Every defeat (and there were many at that) was termed as a ‘learning experience’ for the youngsters. I am really sorry Mr. Process, but your two years of experimentation with the process cost us dear, broke our hearts and almost ruined the career of a best ever left-hander India has ever produced.
Post mortems will flow out in the media and a few questions will be raised and be left unanswered. Fingers will be pointed. ‘Dravid’s captaincy desired more’, ‘the process failed’, ‘Sachin should retire’, so on and so forth. What’s the point? We can only watch a worthy winner lift the trophy a month from now.
But then, all will be forgotten when India heads for the Twenty20 World Cup next year in South Africa. That will trigger a fresh ray of hope and prayers, but the team will have a new foreigner (read coach) on board and possibly a new leader too.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The Hand that pushed me in!!!
Any regular traveler in and around Mumbai wouldn’t need a second-hand description about the traveling ‘adventures’ that a Mumbaikar goes through every day. Pushing, pulling, squeezing your way past a thousand bodies trying to do the same is like daily chores. Add one more to this list of activities—‘Hanging on for dear life.’ For relatively new travelers, this term is apt, as this would be their last and only choice during peak hours. For the others, who seem to be hanging on to keep their souls breathing, it’s their way of having fun, also perhaps, a way to impress a few from the fairer gender in every passing station.
I don’t fall under the category of a new traveler. But, and this is a big ‘But’, my idea of fun does not include acting like a super-hero in a vehicle that takes about 2,000 lives in Mumbai every year. A couple of times I have had to hang on to the pole by the door the reason for which was mentioned in the first paragraph of this post—it was my only available choice to reach college on time.
Now, I fall under the category of ‘working class’. This means I have to get off and on the trains at stations where the word ‘crowd’ would seem an understatement. Come to Dadar and you will know why! Getting off at Dadar isn’t tough for me for I go along with the flow of the hundred others in front of and behind me. But getting on to the train, I always think twice before trying to leap (literally) in!
So, here I was at Dadar waiting for a Dadar-starting heading towards Titwala. For someone from Dombivli, getting inside a train, while it is nowhere near its halting point, is a piece of cake. Or so I thought it was! This one came at a fair speed. There were a few hanging by the door wanting to get off. I looked at one door. Found it unmanned. And jumped in grabbing the pole. Well, almost! I did grab the pole, but the jump wasn’t good enough to reach the footboard. I had completely misjudged the speed of the lifeline! I was ‘hanging on for dear life’! My hands gripping the pole hard, my feet suspended between the train and the platform. A red and black costume and I would have looked like a junior Spiderman! Those three to four seconds seemed to last an eternity. I have heard the phrase, ‘heart in the mouth’ a lot of times. I was experiencing it now! Suddenly I felt a strong hand pushing me making me swing inside using the pole in a typical Spidermanesque way! On my way to catch the seat, I looked back and those behind me were still running behind the train. I had no clue who pushed me in, for the people who came in behind me came a good 4-5 seconds later!
Sitting by the window seat that I managed to grab, I was still shivering at what just happened. Or what was about to happen!
The drama didn’t end there. The train became so jam packed that people who were inside wanting to get off at Dadar couldn’t get out even after the train had stopped and restarted on its way back! These were the ‘new-comers’! In an attempt to get off at the next station, Matunga, a couple of ladies from that group fell off from the train on the platform. I watched in horror as the train stopped again! The ladies survived! Phew! I let out a sigh of relief and a big one at that. That could have been me at Dadar about 5 minutes ago!
All I can surely say is I didn’t use any super-hero-like power to swing myself into the train. And I did feel a Hand pushing me in. It was the Hand of God!
I don’t fall under the category of a new traveler. But, and this is a big ‘But’, my idea of fun does not include acting like a super-hero in a vehicle that takes about 2,000 lives in Mumbai every year. A couple of times I have had to hang on to the pole by the door the reason for which was mentioned in the first paragraph of this post—it was my only available choice to reach college on time.
Now, I fall under the category of ‘working class’. This means I have to get off and on the trains at stations where the word ‘crowd’ would seem an understatement. Come to Dadar and you will know why! Getting off at Dadar isn’t tough for me for I go along with the flow of the hundred others in front of and behind me. But getting on to the train, I always think twice before trying to leap (literally) in!
So, here I was at Dadar waiting for a Dadar-starting heading towards Titwala. For someone from Dombivli, getting inside a train, while it is nowhere near its halting point, is a piece of cake. Or so I thought it was! This one came at a fair speed. There were a few hanging by the door wanting to get off. I looked at one door. Found it unmanned. And jumped in grabbing the pole. Well, almost! I did grab the pole, but the jump wasn’t good enough to reach the footboard. I had completely misjudged the speed of the lifeline! I was ‘hanging on for dear life’! My hands gripping the pole hard, my feet suspended between the train and the platform. A red and black costume and I would have looked like a junior Spiderman! Those three to four seconds seemed to last an eternity. I have heard the phrase, ‘heart in the mouth’ a lot of times. I was experiencing it now! Suddenly I felt a strong hand pushing me making me swing inside using the pole in a typical Spidermanesque way! On my way to catch the seat, I looked back and those behind me were still running behind the train. I had no clue who pushed me in, for the people who came in behind me came a good 4-5 seconds later!
Sitting by the window seat that I managed to grab, I was still shivering at what just happened. Or what was about to happen!
The drama didn’t end there. The train became so jam packed that people who were inside wanting to get off at Dadar couldn’t get out even after the train had stopped and restarted on its way back! These were the ‘new-comers’! In an attempt to get off at the next station, Matunga, a couple of ladies from that group fell off from the train on the platform. I watched in horror as the train stopped again! The ladies survived! Phew! I let out a sigh of relief and a big one at that. That could have been me at Dadar about 5 minutes ago!
All I can surely say is I didn’t use any super-hero-like power to swing myself into the train. And I did feel a Hand pushing me in. It was the Hand of God!
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Win or Lose... It was a special feeling!!!
It is not always you feel special about something you achieved. It is almost never that you feel special about something that you were NOT able to achieve. I have been fortunate to be a recipient of both these scenarios. Those who know me well wouldn’t be surprised when I say these have come at a sports field. But, they will be surprised when I say it happened at a badminton court—to be more specific, the court at my beloved St. Xavier’s College.
My second year of junior college. I was an absolute disgrace what one call ‘textbook badminton’! So, here I was playing the selection tournament. I went past my first two rounds with relative ease. My semi-final match was pre-poned leaving me under-prepared and over-dressed for the game. I actually was looking like an executive, dressed in formal clothes, coming straight out of a high-level meeting looking for a break from work. I borrowed a racket from a friend and started off my match with Nikhil, my opponent! If anyone was looking out-of-place in that court, it was me, with my formals minus any footwear for I had removed my floaters before the match.
Half-way through the match, I was already looking down the barrel hardly able to breath. My friends Merwyn and Anish had joined in, cheering for me! Nikhil made me run around the court. Most of his shots were directed towards the baseline, something that I was totally unaccustomed to as I was more an ‘at-the-net’ player. Nikhil clearly had the upper-hand, leading 12-3 in a race to 21 points. I shook my head looking at Merw and Anish, struggling to get even the words “I can’t” out of my 32! Breathing heavily, I desperately looked around for a miracle and lease of life in me out of somewhere. I wanted water. I needed air to breath! An oxygen mask would have been welcome. After losing one more point, I just sat on the court trying to gather some breath. The word, “God” came out repeatedly at every breath I took. My arms were shivering. The score-line read 14-5 tilting towards Nikhil. Not a long match for someone reading the scoreboard for the first time. But each one of the points had marathon rallies. My shots to Nikhil kept coming back at me. And after coming to terms with Nikhil’s strategy, even I had found answers to his baseline shots. My shirt was drenched. I cared a damn if I was stinking! My eyebrows were heavy and sweat pouring out in front of my eyes was making sure I didn’t get a proper view of my opponent. “Quitting” while on a sporting field is not in my dictionary. I gathered myself all over again. Took a deep breath. Waited. And waited. And wiped off the sweat from my brow. And served. And that new lease of life was pumped in. I start hitting the shuttle well. It was time to give Nikhil back a taste of his own medicine. It was time to make him run around the court. I made him play to my strengths. His shots stopped going towards the baseline, rather came just where I wanted it. Now, Nikhil was getting worn out. The score-line: 19-12. Still in his favour. But, I knew I was peaking and I couldn’t let it go from here, every now and then opening my mouth wide to let in some air! A couple of smashes and drops later, I was breathing down his neck. But Nikhil still had it in him to win a point to reach match point! 20-18. I broke his serve. And came back to win a couple more points. Scores tied. 20 all! The match extends to a game of 23! Huffing and puffing, both of us look at each other. Wiping our sweat, catching our breath. It’s like a boxing match. Round one to Nikhil. Round two to Blessen. Round three will decide who will be the finalist! We both are so dead tired that we can hardly get that occasional ‘Yes!” from our sets of sixteen. We restart our game. A smash, a drop and a mistake by Nikhil later, I was walking towards Merwyn not knowing what to say, where I am or what to do next. I had just done the improbable! Down and out about 20 minutes ago, I was now a recipient of a well-deserved ovation by the crowd for fighting through my condition and not just coming out of it, but coming out of it victorious. I was so lost after the victory that I forgot to shake hands with Nikhil, who also deserved the ovation he got. Nikhil’s fitness let him down, my resilience got me through! It was a special feeling!
My second year in Senior College. I was one of the pre-tournament favourites to reach the semis! I’ve hardly had any match practice. But I was confident to overcome my first round opponent, whom we nicknamed ‘Elvis’ for his side-locks! The match was totally tilted in my favour right from the start. I had quite a few supporters. Carlo, Anish, Bijoy, Jasmine, Fiona and Rahul—all rooting for me! The court was more crowded than usual! I was leading 9-3 in a race to reach 21. I was just getting back in the grove finding my old touch that I had lost because of a temporary lay-off! Elvis was playing good, but not good enough! But then, a moment of what-one-can-call ‘over-excitement’ came in. In one of the points, Elvis plays a decent smash away towards my right. Standing at the left side of the court, I dive full length parallel to the ground and manages to reach the shuttle before it touches the ground. The shuttle sails over to the other side of the net towards Elvis, who was surprised to see feather-laden coming back towards him. The crowd lets out a huge ‘Wooh’! Elvis keeps his nerves and plays a drop. I have just regrouped after my dive and am only on my knees when the shuttle is dropping on my side of the court closer to the net a few yards away from me. I go for another dive using the force of my knees and still, manage to get the shuttle across. The spectators, now, are shouting! Elvis keeps his nerves and plays it to the baseline. But getting back up from my second dive, I knew not all is right! I struggle to hit the return at the baseline. I avoid jumping and smashing and instead, just play a safe return. Elvis pounces on the high shuttle and smashes it in front of me. I can hardly move, let alone think of another dive to return the smash. I lose the point. The crowd still applauds and shouts at the circus I just did on the court.
But from thereon, I can hardly stretch or run. All I can do is walk and hit those returns close to me. Elvis smells his chance and grabs the opportunity. He plays all over the court. I limp all over the court. Fiona, a sportswoman herself, comes to the court and asks me to try some stretching. She fears I have pulled a hamstring! Friends standing by ask me to quit. I just shake my hand and tell them I am ok. I wasn’t! I was grimacing in pain! “Hang in there, blessy!” I kept telling myself. Friends around me are concerned about my health. They keep asking me to leave the game midway! But I am of the adamant kinds! And I continue. Playing with pain all the way! At match point, Elvis hits one beyond my reach. I watch the shuttle thudding the ground in horror. Elvis won the game. I lost! And perhaps, an end to my short badminton career too! I limp off the playing area. But I could hear the crowd applauding and still shouting! I saw a couple of them standing up from the temporary seats to applaud. They came forward and shook my hands. “That point (where I dived twice) was worth recording, dude! Great fight!” one of them exclaimed, with a little salute! I limp to the washroom. Bijoy gives me a little smile on the way! I smile back. I am disappointed at losing, but I know I had given it my all! Elvis might have won the game, but, (this might sound like a self-promotional sentence), I won the crowd there!!! I left the court feeling proud of myself with a few still smiling at me! It was a special feeling!!!
My second year of junior college. I was an absolute disgrace what one call ‘textbook badminton’! So, here I was playing the selection tournament. I went past my first two rounds with relative ease. My semi-final match was pre-poned leaving me under-prepared and over-dressed for the game. I actually was looking like an executive, dressed in formal clothes, coming straight out of a high-level meeting looking for a break from work. I borrowed a racket from a friend and started off my match with Nikhil, my opponent! If anyone was looking out-of-place in that court, it was me, with my formals minus any footwear for I had removed my floaters before the match.
Half-way through the match, I was already looking down the barrel hardly able to breath. My friends Merwyn and Anish had joined in, cheering for me! Nikhil made me run around the court. Most of his shots were directed towards the baseline, something that I was totally unaccustomed to as I was more an ‘at-the-net’ player. Nikhil clearly had the upper-hand, leading 12-3 in a race to 21 points. I shook my head looking at Merw and Anish, struggling to get even the words “I can’t” out of my 32! Breathing heavily, I desperately looked around for a miracle and lease of life in me out of somewhere. I wanted water. I needed air to breath! An oxygen mask would have been welcome. After losing one more point, I just sat on the court trying to gather some breath. The word, “God” came out repeatedly at every breath I took. My arms were shivering. The score-line read 14-5 tilting towards Nikhil. Not a long match for someone reading the scoreboard for the first time. But each one of the points had marathon rallies. My shots to Nikhil kept coming back at me. And after coming to terms with Nikhil’s strategy, even I had found answers to his baseline shots. My shirt was drenched. I cared a damn if I was stinking! My eyebrows were heavy and sweat pouring out in front of my eyes was making sure I didn’t get a proper view of my opponent. “Quitting” while on a sporting field is not in my dictionary. I gathered myself all over again. Took a deep breath. Waited. And waited. And wiped off the sweat from my brow. And served. And that new lease of life was pumped in. I start hitting the shuttle well. It was time to give Nikhil back a taste of his own medicine. It was time to make him run around the court. I made him play to my strengths. His shots stopped going towards the baseline, rather came just where I wanted it. Now, Nikhil was getting worn out. The score-line: 19-12. Still in his favour. But, I knew I was peaking and I couldn’t let it go from here, every now and then opening my mouth wide to let in some air! A couple of smashes and drops later, I was breathing down his neck. But Nikhil still had it in him to win a point to reach match point! 20-18. I broke his serve. And came back to win a couple more points. Scores tied. 20 all! The match extends to a game of 23! Huffing and puffing, both of us look at each other. Wiping our sweat, catching our breath. It’s like a boxing match. Round one to Nikhil. Round two to Blessen. Round three will decide who will be the finalist! We both are so dead tired that we can hardly get that occasional ‘Yes!” from our sets of sixteen. We restart our game. A smash, a drop and a mistake by Nikhil later, I was walking towards Merwyn not knowing what to say, where I am or what to do next. I had just done the improbable! Down and out about 20 minutes ago, I was now a recipient of a well-deserved ovation by the crowd for fighting through my condition and not just coming out of it, but coming out of it victorious. I was so lost after the victory that I forgot to shake hands with Nikhil, who also deserved the ovation he got. Nikhil’s fitness let him down, my resilience got me through! It was a special feeling!
My second year in Senior College. I was one of the pre-tournament favourites to reach the semis! I’ve hardly had any match practice. But I was confident to overcome my first round opponent, whom we nicknamed ‘Elvis’ for his side-locks! The match was totally tilted in my favour right from the start. I had quite a few supporters. Carlo, Anish, Bijoy, Jasmine, Fiona and Rahul—all rooting for me! The court was more crowded than usual! I was leading 9-3 in a race to reach 21. I was just getting back in the grove finding my old touch that I had lost because of a temporary lay-off! Elvis was playing good, but not good enough! But then, a moment of what-one-can-call ‘over-excitement’ came in. In one of the points, Elvis plays a decent smash away towards my right. Standing at the left side of the court, I dive full length parallel to the ground and manages to reach the shuttle before it touches the ground. The shuttle sails over to the other side of the net towards Elvis, who was surprised to see feather-laden coming back towards him. The crowd lets out a huge ‘Wooh’! Elvis keeps his nerves and plays a drop. I have just regrouped after my dive and am only on my knees when the shuttle is dropping on my side of the court closer to the net a few yards away from me. I go for another dive using the force of my knees and still, manage to get the shuttle across. The spectators, now, are shouting! Elvis keeps his nerves and plays it to the baseline. But getting back up from my second dive, I knew not all is right! I struggle to hit the return at the baseline. I avoid jumping and smashing and instead, just play a safe return. Elvis pounces on the high shuttle and smashes it in front of me. I can hardly move, let alone think of another dive to return the smash. I lose the point. The crowd still applauds and shouts at the circus I just did on the court.
But from thereon, I can hardly stretch or run. All I can do is walk and hit those returns close to me. Elvis smells his chance and grabs the opportunity. He plays all over the court. I limp all over the court. Fiona, a sportswoman herself, comes to the court and asks me to try some stretching. She fears I have pulled a hamstring! Friends standing by ask me to quit. I just shake my hand and tell them I am ok. I wasn’t! I was grimacing in pain! “Hang in there, blessy!” I kept telling myself. Friends around me are concerned about my health. They keep asking me to leave the game midway! But I am of the adamant kinds! And I continue. Playing with pain all the way! At match point, Elvis hits one beyond my reach. I watch the shuttle thudding the ground in horror. Elvis won the game. I lost! And perhaps, an end to my short badminton career too! I limp off the playing area. But I could hear the crowd applauding and still shouting! I saw a couple of them standing up from the temporary seats to applaud. They came forward and shook my hands. “That point (where I dived twice) was worth recording, dude! Great fight!” one of them exclaimed, with a little salute! I limp to the washroom. Bijoy gives me a little smile on the way! I smile back. I am disappointed at losing, but I know I had given it my all! Elvis might have won the game, but, (this might sound like a self-promotional sentence), I won the crowd there!!! I left the court feeling proud of myself with a few still smiling at me! It was a special feeling!!!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Limbless to Limitless!!!
“From a life without limbs to a life without limits”- Thus read the entry pass for the programme that featured Nick Vujicic. Few around the world have already heard this name. Many among this few have had a positive impact because of Nick’s words!
A few months ago, I had received a forward from a dear friend, where Nick shares his testimony. Ever since, I have had this desire within me to see the miracle, that is Nick, in person or at least hear him speak. My prayers were answered as my brother called me up early on a Saturday morning to tell me that Nick is in town and he will be speaking that evening next to Wilson’s. I called up Deepak, a good friend and one of the organizers of the meeting, to book two entry-passes (free, of course) for my brother and me.
Nick is a motivational speaker. But as Nick makes his entry, the crowd of 700 stands up to give a well-deserved ovation for this warrior of Christ. There is a wave of sympathy flowing across that BVB auditorium. The reason—as is evident from the lines on the entry pass, this speaker from down under was born without limbs (a body minus hands or legs). This wave, however, doesn’t last too long! One would expect a person with a disability as that of Nick to be soft-spoken. All the initial assumptions are laid to rest and Nick starts off by shouting Hallelujah to God! The glow and happiness on Nick’s face is worth a thousand pictures!
“I was angry with God for creating me this way,” said Nick about the initial phases of realization about his disability. He complained constantly and at one stage, almost thought of ending his life! He kept asking God to give him hands and legs and thus, let him lead a normal life. But then, he stumbled upon John Chapter 9, where Jesus was asked by a few in the crowd the reason for a blind man’s situation. Jesus answered, “He was born this way so that the glory of God can be revealed through him.” Nick got his answer. God had said “No” to Nick’s request. But Nick knew it was for the better! For God had seen a purpose behind his condition. Nick quit complaining from thereon and gave his life for Jesus Christ. Little would this handsome guy have known that not only his life but lives of those around him would undergo a dramatic change as well. Nick now saw a purpose behind his life. He stopped dwelling on his problems for he knew that his God was mightier than all his problems. Nick completed his Bachelors degree and now aims higher!
The gathering was just awe-struck by what Nick offered them that Saturday evening. It was a whole package of happiness and hope. Every third sentence from Nick called for applause. The applause, however, was for his Saviour, who had changed his life! Nick says that if God had given him arms and legs when he had cried out, he might never have been a motivational speaker. He might never have been able to pull in the crowd that he can today! True... very true... It was because of Nick's condition and the gift God gave him to remain happy in that condition that made him such a darling to all.
A few months ago, I had received a forward from a dear friend, where Nick shares his testimony. Ever since, I have had this desire within me to see the miracle, that is Nick, in person or at least hear him speak. My prayers were answered as my brother called me up early on a Saturday morning to tell me that Nick is in town and he will be speaking that evening next to Wilson’s. I called up Deepak, a good friend and one of the organizers of the meeting, to book two entry-passes (free, of course) for my brother and me.
Nick is a motivational speaker. But as Nick makes his entry, the crowd of 700 stands up to give a well-deserved ovation for this warrior of Christ. There is a wave of sympathy flowing across that BVB auditorium. The reason—as is evident from the lines on the entry pass, this speaker from down under was born without limbs (a body minus hands or legs). This wave, however, doesn’t last too long! One would expect a person with a disability as that of Nick to be soft-spoken. All the initial assumptions are laid to rest and Nick starts off by shouting Hallelujah to God! The glow and happiness on Nick’s face is worth a thousand pictures!
“I was angry with God for creating me this way,” said Nick about the initial phases of realization about his disability. He complained constantly and at one stage, almost thought of ending his life! He kept asking God to give him hands and legs and thus, let him lead a normal life. But then, he stumbled upon John Chapter 9, where Jesus was asked by a few in the crowd the reason for a blind man’s situation. Jesus answered, “He was born this way so that the glory of God can be revealed through him.” Nick got his answer. God had said “No” to Nick’s request. But Nick knew it was for the better! For God had seen a purpose behind his condition. Nick quit complaining from thereon and gave his life for Jesus Christ. Little would this handsome guy have known that not only his life but lives of those around him would undergo a dramatic change as well. Nick now saw a purpose behind his life. He stopped dwelling on his problems for he knew that his God was mightier than all his problems. Nick completed his Bachelors degree and now aims higher!
The gathering was just awe-struck by what Nick offered them that Saturday evening. It was a whole package of happiness and hope. Every third sentence from Nick called for applause. The applause, however, was for his Saviour, who had changed his life! Nick says that if God had given him arms and legs when he had cried out, he might never have been a motivational speaker. He might never have been able to pull in the crowd that he can today! True... very true... It was because of Nick's condition and the gift God gave him to remain happy in that condition that made him such a darling to all.
Nick loves freaking people out and sees the positive side to everything in life! He remembers the time when he freaked out a little kid after the latter thought the former was an alien!
He remembers how he freaks people out on the beach, by suddenly sprouting of the water like a strange amphibian!
He remembers the time when a huge wave crashed against him as he was swimming to throw him completely off guard and deep inside the water. Nick had drowned, or so thought his friends around him. But Nick was holding his breath deep inside the waters waiting for the waves to pass! And as waves calmed down, Nick emerged out of water to get back to swimming! "Waves crashing against your lives shall pass!" Nick declares.
There is no fakeness in this Aussie’s happiness. The joy of the Lord is reflected all over his face and body language. Nick knows that his sufferings are nothing when compared to what his Saviour suffered for him on the cross, leaving all the pleasures of heaven behind!
Nick then calls on to the crowd, describing to them what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross of calvary. Some youth teary-eyed, some others smiling, as they called Jesus Christ in their lives. Their lives will never be the same again.
Next up, Nick prays for the sick. And immediately, the results are there to be seen as a beautiful young lady from the front walks on to the stage. She had fallen off the stairs just half an hour before the programme and could barely move her arms. She came forward and hugged Nick, moving her arms, unable to talk fluently as the joy just engulfed her!
Not a single person who came to the auditorium that day left disappointed. They came to see a person without limbs. They went back seeing a person without limits!
I dedicated the 50th post of this blog to Nick Vujicic, who definitely has changed my outlook towards life! Considering that I it took me more than three months to post my 5oth, despite already having some stock of other posts, shows the impact Nick has had in me!
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