Nice guys finish last...

जीवन के इस मोड़ पर, इक बात तो हम जान चुके हैं,

बाकी लोग ना माने लेकिन, हम तो यह मान चुके हैं

चहु ओर जो देखूं, दिखत हैं सब सुबालक हताश

It is safe to assume that nice guys indeed finish last

कछुए-खरगोश की कहानी में थोड़े lies हैं

Updated story में loser तो बेचारा tortoise है

कहानी में twist ना होता तो गाडी चलाते super fast

क्यूंकि भैय्या, nice guys always finish last

पता नहीं क्यूँ, लेकिन सब गलत ज्ञान का वितरण होता है

मेहनत का फल taste में आजकल कड़वा होता है

projects copy कर, तनिक और किया होता timepass

क्यूंकि भैय्या, nice guys always finish last

यह विचार कर, ना जाने कितने हैं जागे

की लंगूरों के हाथ प्रभु, अंगूर कैसे लागे,

हमने बोला ओ भगवन, यह कैसा है न्याय,

पहले मालूम होता, तो बुराई को हम करते high five

बस, अब तो बिलकुल नाही होवत है बर्दाश्त

हम अब पूछत हैं, nice guys काहे finish last?

भगवन बोले , अरे मंदाबुद्दी बालक!

कलयुग में करत हो, सतयुग की वकालत

यह तो कलयुग की रीत है,

अच्छाई पर बुराई की जीत है,

लो धरो, 'Gita for dummies' का latest kalyug version,

नित - पाठ कर दूर करलो any confusion,

यदि समझ ना आये तो आ जाना मेरी class,

क्यूंकि अरे पार्थ!, nice guys always finish last.

Sunday Morning musings

As I lay in bed, half asleep, trying hard to catch back the dream that just flew by, I heard a faint mellifluous voice. It was a feminine voice saying words I had heard a long time back - "नमश्कार, रंगोली में आपका स्वागत है" ( The श in नमश्कार, very deliberate) 'Sunday morning!' screamed some brain cell, waking up a few more 'reluctant to wake' brain cells. People from the 'Uni-channel generation' know what a Uni-channel is and what a 'Sunday Morning' (SM) is. It is a special day that evokes feelings and memories that lie so deeply entrenched in the brain that people might forget everything, but not the Sunday mornings and the DD schedules. I cannot remember any modern day sitcom as distinctly and vividly as the SM sitcoms. The rangolis, mahabharatas, ramayanas, jungle books, duck tales, talespins....the list goes on and on. The one day, when morning ablutions would be squeezed in during the commercial breaks. The one day, when animated serials were rationed like essential goods, the one day when watching TV was not a vice, but a virtue indeed. The one day, when watching TV was enforced by the folks in the hopes of imparting some moral values. As my mind started to relapse into a bygone era, a faint Asha Bhonsle melody stopped the relapse. She sang "आगे भी जाने न तू, पीछे भी जाने न तू, जो भी है बस येही एक पल है....." Well played universe, very well played. The Sunday Morning was over....infact a long time back.

(Beautiful Lyrics)

Book++

I have always been enamored by history and reading Indian Summer felt like watching a Bollywood adaptation of Indian History. "इस में थोड़ी कॉमेडी है, tragedy भी है, एक्शन है, रोमांस भी है, और थोड़ी history भी है" A little tolerant Indian society and we would have had a blockbuster!

Jokes apart, I found the book really interesting. The book tracks the lives of Gandhi, Nehru, Mountbatten and Jinnah against the backdrop of Indian Independence, Pakistan's creation and the Partition holocaust. The author spends significant time on Edwina Mountbatten and her role in Nehru's life. The controversial photo on the cover page in the later editions probably reflect the marketing team's effort to popularize the book by focusing on the Nehru-Edwina angle. This, I felt was rather unfortunate as the book offers very interesting insights, events and incidences that did not get enough attention. Like the incident at 2nd Round Table conference, that brought Jinnah out of his retirement, or Nehru's skirmishes with unruly crowds, or Patel's use of "साम, दाम, दंड, भेद" approach to integrate princely states into the Indian Republic. The task of integration was probably as important as achieving independence itself and I don't think many people appreciate this enough. The author has done rigorous research and some facts might be a little uncomfortable for some of us to handle. Like Gandhi's emergence in congress might have resulted in a bitter Jinnah which might have led to Pakistan, or the horrific partition killings. We all take pride in the fact that today India is way ahead of Pakistan, in spite of being born together, but we forget that India was fortunate to have Nehru's vision for 17 years after independence. Pakistan had just 1 year of an ailing Jinnah. Jinnah, for all his shortcomings was a top lawyer during those times and the book points that Motilal Nehru - Jinnah combination could have given Indian Independence much earlier than 1947, had it not been for Gandhi's entry into the political scene. Gandhi's emergence pushed both Motilal and Jinnah into sidelines and Gandhi's idealistic form of Indian independence might have delayed India's independence. The after-effects of the events, actions or even words of these people are felt even today and would be felt for many centuries to come. Such is the impact of these men!

History, that we are taught is one sided. People are completely 'white' or completely 'black'. The truth, in most cases is always in shades of grey.

Decade finito

Amidst all the new year celebrations, an important event seems to have been overlooked.( Yeah, I count 1-10 as one decade and not 0-9, my blog, my rules) Its a new decade too. The previous decade has ended. Maybe, its a moment to take a stock of this journey. Where was I at the start of this decade? I think this was the first complete decade that I remember from the beginning to the end.

The single biggest change that has been influential in almost everyone's life i believe would be in the field of technology. Who would have imagined in 2000 that mobile video chatting would be common in 2010? Can anyone forget those 56kbps lines, the screeching sounds of the dialup modem, trying so very hard to establish contact with the digital world so that one could check emails. The ever so long wait for the images to download as each big fat pixel barely managing itself to squeeze itself out of the anorexic telephone line. The ever so reliable floppy disks. The dreaded 'Error reading drive' messages that made even the holiest amongst us mutter out a few curses. The omnipresent big red 'coin' STD boxes that were the 'stationery mobile phones'. Now, they are replaced by the young, sleek ones. Like senile old men, they stand alone reminiscing about the good old days, while looking down upon their younger versions. And the mother of all changes, the Internet. We have all become 'wired in'...everyones choosing the blue pill. No takers for the red pill i guess. Oh Neo!, where art thou? Maybe I should 'Google' him

Global warming, doomsday, nuclear war, terrorism....whilst everything else looks bleak, the only space that looks promising is Technology. It has been one crazy decade and as the new one begins, indications are that it should be one helluva one too! Happy new decade to the chosen few who found the above crap interesting enough to read up until here!