For Fame

Obscurity and Fame are like twin sisters.You can't tell them apart.Really.I have had my brush with fame.

On a bright, cold sunday afternoon i was walking through knee deep snow to reach my office.The cold always turns on my sinus and the resultant cold led me down to starbucks for a nice, hot coffee.The mood i would say is thoughtful.Don't ask me what,since the idea still eludes me.Anyway, my fate led me till walmart.I drifted from aisle to aisle, with the hot coffee still in my hands.Most of the shoppers had left by then and the store looked deserted.At the corner was a forlorn looking dustbin.I dropped the cup with the dregs into the sorry-bin.My hand froze in mid-air as i heard a collective gasp.Ever felt a sigh knocking the air out of your lungs? It was then, i observed that the sorry-bin was'nt for garbage.It was for charity going towards the army or something like that.I looked up and saw the cold, metallic glare of the camera fixing me with its single eye, focussed on me.

Needless to say, what happened next.Ever swam against a rising tide?Not advisable.The papers ripped me apart.The news humiliated me! The only thing that rode with me was the fact that i was dreaming.Yeah,i know you guessed it upfront.

Plane sailing

It was unfortunate.Singularly unfortunate. Out of the 300 plus passengers, he was the only victim of the airplane mishap.He took the red eye on a late monday evening. Destiny dictated the terms, as the plane began its routine journey towards distant shores.The pilot and the victim were both jackasses.Each with a penchant for outwitting the other with some outrageous, near-idiotic "practical" ones.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Raj Malhotra.Your pilot for tonight's flight",announced the measured tone. In response, muted mumblings made in to the cockpit.
"Under ordinary circumstances, i would have asked you to sit back and relax for the next couple of hours.However".He chuckled at the attentive silence that followed.
"If you glance to your sides, you might catch a glimpse of the engines.Unlucky as it might seem, we have run into problems with 3 of them". Rabble..rabble..rabble.

Now, in the passenger list, was the renowned Vikram sood.As was his nature, to act pseud, fueled by his recent literary accomplishments.Currently, he stood up with a calm, assuring, pretentious smile. The rabble rested for a while. He could already visualize the next day headlines. The mystic trance was broken by random hiccups around him.Happy with the effect, he cleared his throat and launched into a song.That's it. Crowd grew insane and rained blows and kicks.

Moving

Things change.You just have to get used to change.Am moving to the moon. It is much more peaceful there.No traffic or terrorism.Hopefully, they would have wireless on the mexican spaceship.Expect some pics.

Oh Brother, where are thou?

"I lost my brother in Kumbh's Mela"
He burst out laughing, stopped mid-way , probably at the expression on my face.
"Are you serious?"
I looked away.The topic always hits a sore point in my heart.I walked away with sun or something like that hitting my back.I swear that i heard a distant snigger but i kept walking.Soulless pricks.

It was about 18 years that i had lost my brother at the wretched mela.I had read stories about how sita and gita, ram and shyam got seperated at the awful mela.The whole theme of kumbh mela seems to be a twin seperator.I never bring up this topic with my parents.One time i did, they got real worried.

Very often, now and then, when i wash my face and look in the mirror, i swear i catch a glimpse of him in me

War imagery

The wind stood still.Atleast, it appeared to be. In a war, you would think, there would be good guys and the bad guys.If you look at this, you would say,"Ain't it obvious?". The white guys are the good ones.And, dark ones are the baddies? But, Son, don't be too hasty in handing out a judgement.Currently, the forces rallied against each other.Gauging, waiting. Far below them, millions watched with eyes dried, and a hope they would remain that way.Suddenly, with a force only known to nature, they rode against each other.The fair riding on the wings of wind clashed into the sedentary dark.For a second, it looked like the dark was dispelled.Only to be followed by the deafening thunder and roaring rain.

Very well then...

If SRK would have heard it, he would have tilted his head at a small angle. A few simple nods of the head, slight intake of breath, "Agar tum sache dil se kuch mango[not the fruit]", eyes upwards and fingers following suit, "tum yeh jaan loge ki kahin us jahan mein ek aisa shaks hain ju sunta hain".Phew! The point is a few days ago, a few of you had heard me realize the narrow spectrum of my social circle?. And, lo, yesterday night i was at a meeting with diversity being the buzz word.The weird configuration of the room restricted free conversation flow.Nevertheless, i managed to get to know a few people from different fields.Now, i know some one from anthropology, plant pathology and a few african-american non-engineers.

It is choice not fate that controls our destiny. I think this was a line from prabhat's signature.Read this article forwarded by guru.Similar lines.Very good read.But, since you guys are avid readers anyway, you would have probably read it :?