moments of truth....
Saturday 25 September 2010
Impatient worshiper
As eventful as it could get....this Thursday I too was there as a minuscule human being in that long endless queue. Present there in an all Indian religious devotee outfit, with an early shower and rain dripping over my shoulders, I waited patiently for my turn to move along with the queue.
With everyone besides me chanting Lord's bhajans and eagerly looking at the LCD for the pooja to begin, it was quite a sight of religious devotion in India. I too was occasionally joining the crowd to please my dear Mom as she was the reason I was there even after being an atheist. To be true...it was also because I had to do so occasionally to avoid her angry eyes that for most of the time stay focused on me, whenever I visit a temple with her ;-)
Anyways...moving at a snail's pace with the queue..I was sure I was up for a long day. A lot of my fellow devotees realizing the same, had already started availing the coffee & tea stalls facilities to make their wait time a little more bearable.
After some 2 hours I was finally somewhere close to the Lord's final abode. I must say I was really impressed with the queue management system of the temple...it made me speculate if some MBA like me could have been involved in this optimization of the restricted space and the devotee's willingness to wait ;-D
The temple was awesome...with gold glittering everywhere. I could not but stop and think as to how rich the Lord was. The beautiful temple building...its tall features...color contrasts...rich history and heritage. It was a breathtaking experience in terms of Indian history and its culture. It got me wondering on the sad irony..that through the ages while the deity is constantly becoming more and more magnanimous and splendid his worshipers continue to be more and more poor,deprived and unhappy.
Awwwwwhh...it sure hurt...an elbow dug into my stomach. Did the Lord get angry at me for thinking like this....No...it was a fellow devotee who in his attempt to rush past me lost his balance and ended up hurting me.
While recovering the blow of the pain...I asked him what was the rush..isn't he supposed to wait even at a place of his pilgrimage. He gave me a peculiar look. I wanted to abuse and hit him but then there was my mom next to me, so I just ignored him and then to my surprise when I looked around I found...that there was already a lot of pushing and shoving happening around.
I just sticked to my queue with my mom and now when I looked at the Lord..I felt I saw him smiling and saying...'Don't be surprised son....Look a little closely....do you see devotees or, consumers waiting in a long queue to get a share of the price they paid for coming so far? '
Tuesday 1 June 2010
Room no. 119
When Pankaj Udhas sang this ghazal, probably he meant to highlight the effect of the presence and persona of the beloved damsel in the eyes of her lover.
I share the same feelings as Pankaj Udhas for these words.....and probably on the grounds of love too....but it’s still slightly different, for the ‘damsel' here is 'my dear roomie' and the love is more brotherly than anything else.
I first met my roomie after 2 days of staying together at room 119. This can probably happen only with guys that they can live under the same roof yet not know the other person for days!! Even during mess hours, something or, the other used to make sure that we didn't meet each other personally. Finally…we met courtesy our beloved neighbor 'D Mehra' and now 1 year at XL....he is my closest buddy.
I have never seen anyone in my life who is so simple, pure and emotional at heart. I never imagined that a guy could cry for me, seriously!! It’s amazingly sweet how he cares for me as a friend and yet fights with me on small-small things.
@Dewan: I really loved our all 'bakar'sessions', 'Altaf Raza songs' and 'tu-tu main-main' and I know ‘Meet Chandresh Kacchy’ will be jealous but still I love you man!!!
Probably the only nice thing that XL brought in my life are the friends that I got here....Meet (1+i), Gadimaaaaaa, Sumedhaaaa, KDRRrrrrrrr, Annnaaaaaa, Divya, Kunal & Dewan. I really cherish knowing them all. It’s always nice to have people around who really care for you...thankfully I have been blessed with more than a couple:-D
Room 119 @XL is the one which brought me close to a lot of people mentioned above. It’s undoubtedly a very special room in TFEMR for a lot of reasons. But the reason it is for me is, that it's the only room in the TFEMR which stays fit in its small space with the smell of the mess food lingering around and yet gifted with a heart and a soul that reaches out to everyone who has ever been blended in the XL mystique and culture.
A lot of us sometimes miss acknowledging the small things in our lives coz we feel it’s obvious that we value them. I do not want to make the same mistake as others.
I really want to thank Room 119, Meet, Meeti, Kshitij, Garima, Soumya, Kunal, Divya & Dewan for being a part of my life @XL. I love you all!! Thanks for being my friends :-)
Thursday 8 April 2010
Probably insane....or, not?
Saturday 13 March 2010
Amazingly disgusting.....!
Thursday 28 May 2009
KDRrrr...rrrrrr
I looked around,
but there was nothing unusual in sight,
it was a normal day,
and everything seemed all right.
but what choked me to death,
was a smell that was stuffed with fright,
or, was it the devil himself,
against me in his worst disguise?
It was a usual working day at office, the time after lunch. People were just settling in at their workplaces. Lots of cup of coffees were being poured from the coffee machine. Friendly banters and jokes were on among people. Everything seemed just like a normal working day. But it was suppose to become a little different.
Probably people, who have worked in IT, would know that we sit in a big hall with each of us having our own big spaces but no walls. So we can see each others faces, talk aloud and even share jokes and work stuff.
So this fateful day, suddenly my boss rose from his cubicle which is like 3 cubicles away from mine and opened his windows and the guys sitting next to my boss cubicle immediately followed the suit. Next I saw that my boss and my colleagues next to him are laughing and opening all the windows. In just next 1 min. I realized the reason and virtually ran to open the windows next to my seat. In just few minutes almost everyone in the hall was running to open all the windows and the doors.
By all the holy mother, the foulest smell on the earth was let loose on us. The round of laughs followed as the blame game started to identify who the devil was. But the laugh just kept getting louder and the smell started to recede, courtesy to the open windows and doors.
In a span of 10 minutes a serious working environment was reduced to a laughing stock. Could anyone imagine that a foul smell could create so much commotion and confusion?
The conclusion of the story….whether Swiss or, Indian it doesn't matter…farting is common and its awful. But no matter how foul the smell is, at the end of it all you remember are the hilarious jokes, indefinite accusations to everyone around and a belly full of laughter.
Friday 22 May 2009
Own House
The association of the emotional aspect of a house to an individual is both amazing and strange at the same time. I would call it a really fascinating aspect of the human evolution. And what makes this even more universal is its equivocal acceptance across different cultures.
Probably it could be due to the inherited characteristics from our ancestors. The house could symbolize stability and protection to the male and the reason for a female to be attracted to him. The moment the male becomes strong enough to break away and start an independent existence for him the house is the first thing that gives him his identity. This could have been the case for years for our ancestors. But things changed with the development of the civilized society model. But the traits inherited are still not lost, they just lie dormant.
Even now the need for an own house is the considered the basic necessity of life. Most people spend their entire existence in pursuing their dream of owning a house. The dream that is pursued with all vigor, energy, enthusiasm, pain and sacrifice. The efforts and the pain are both enjoyed. This is bizarre but I have seen numerous people who feel proud to have gone through this choice of pursuit. How something that is just a wall around some empty space can infuse so much life into a living soul is worth the admiration!
In my most recent conversation, with a dear friend who is also a proud house owner, I realized that the house is probably not a non living entity. It is a chronicle of the struggle of the family that lived under its roof, a family that shared its joy and happiness, growing up of their kids, their grievance and compassion in sorrow, the memory of their existence, etc…etc. It could be just a house for someone who looks at it from outside but for that family it is their identity, their life.
And just by looking at the face of my friend while he was talking about his house, I realized that in the end it is really worth all that pain and struggle. Probably much more worth than that struggle!
Friday 8 May 2009
Swiss Hockey and ME
Swiss indoor hockey came to me as a pleasant surprise. And honestly speaking I had not even heard about the game before.
It all started from a friendly chat on an internal chat channel at work. One of my Swiss colleagues asked me to join in for a game of Swiss hockey as they were falling short of guys. He said it was similar to field hockey and that I would get a feel of it once I played. So I pitched in. The game was to be of an hour during the lunch time. My colleague was to bring for me a spare hockey while I needed to bring my usual sports wear.
So the next day, we all met for a game of Swiss hockey. The field size was of a half soccer field, with 2 small goals at extreme ends like that of an Ice hockey. There were markings on the field with blue and yellow. But the hockey sticks were really light and different from a field hockey. The ball was light too with porous markings for air to pass.
I was quickly explained the rules and we were divided in teams of 4 each. The whistle sounded and we started playing. The first surd was of 20 minutes and god it was hard! It was like continuously running on a field with a stick and a ball. The moment you stop the ball was lost and in every possibility a likely goal! It came to me as an even bigger challenge as I was still not comfortable with the stick. I had a tough time to decide which one was better for me a left hand one or, a right one. Unlike field hockey, the stick in Swiss hockey is more about feel. You can't choose a stick on just you being a right or, a left handed guy.
So after an exhausting first surd, I finally got a little clearer about my stick comfort. And then the second surd was a bit better. I scored 2 goals and ran more vigorous. But nevertheless I was tired like hell! I guess I was never so tired in a game than this.
Finally we came to the third surd. It was fun by now. The game started to excite me. Though tired but the enthusiasm kind of grew! And then the final whistle blew. We won all the 3 surds. And I scored some good goals! But the lesson was a hard learned one. The key areas to work- speed, stamina and shots.
And I really look forward to try some more hands at it this Wednesday! ;-)