Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Hmmmm....
2 years since the last post!
I have so much to say but there is a point in life where you just cant say anymore. Everything looks ... so.....so.....so.... you see .... I am out of it.... cant do it anymore.....
The battle is on with life and I have no clue what I am fighting for ..... yet!
And someone says there is no battle. You have to be at peace with yourself.
voices voices voices.....
Not out yet... I want to Hibernate ..... Discover .... Feel .... Shut Up!
Cya on the dark side!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Down and out!
It goes.........
Mama, take this badge off of me
I can't use it anymore.
It's gettin' dark, too dark to see
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Mama, put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore.
That long black cloud is comin' down
I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door.
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
---Bob Dylan
Colour Me Kubrick!
I'm not the man you think I am...
I'm not that kind of guy ...
beneath this sleek exterior
there's less than meets the eye.....
I'm just what you've been looking for....
your wildest dream come true....
I'm not the man you think I am....
But I'm the man for you....
I'm on important business...
I'm late for my premiere...
I'm doing you a favor
Just by being here..................
Surely you can buy a drink!
for someone so renowned....!
I'm not the man you think I am
but I'm the man you've found........
I'm burning with indifference
I'm sleeping with desire.....
I'm selling snow to Eskimos.....
I'm preaching to the choir.....
My past is catching up to me
my chips are coming due..........
I'm not the man you think I am
But I'm the man for you..................................................................................
Peace Out!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Mumbai!
Where people fight for almost anything.
Where competition reaches new highs everyday...where careers are made or broken in a second....where people gain or loose crores in a minute...where no one just stops....where you find a traffic jam even at 11 in the night!
Its 9 PM, there is no use playing with the code any more. It wont work now.
Wrap stuff up, pick up my bag and its exit time.
Pity the other guy who is still trying his luck with the code.
Open the office exit door and from the cool,calm quietness inside the office enter the world of honks and beeps of the outer world.
Grab a bite from the bakery shop and move on to reach home. Man sure is far away!
Feel like talking to someone, but I am a bore...I shouldnt make anyone else's life sadder!
Search for a funny message and send it to a few folks. Wish for a reply...but hey everyone's busy...dont really even wanna reply actually....dont knw wat I want to be more precise!
I wish I could say 'Beam me up Scottie' and I would be home thanks to the transporter of the Star ship enterprise.HONK!!! Back to reality.
Its 9.30, the road is packed with vehicles. Its all dug -up, cars come in from all the possible directions that geometry has to offer. Rickshaws,thousands and thousnds of rickshaws. Its like the road has been infested with these 3 wheelers. Then there are these Red Big Buses of BEST. People just hanging out of them. Hanging on for dear life. What am I doing here again?
I should be in the US checking out the white chicks...HONK!...back to reality!
Jeez its 9.30, where do all these people come from?
You try to stop these 3 wheelers to give you a ride to the station, but they just dont stop.
Its like 'dude...buzz off...i dont wanna go there!'
There are so many people out on the street. I really dont need to be out here! I can be driving in the Freeways of the US!!! (Ya nw u knw wat happens next...HONK!!!)
Mind really isnt thinking much and you just stare at people.
They all want to reach home.
Some are talking...some are running...couple holding hands and walking....yea i wish i cud hold someone's hand rtnw..i see the hotel where the TCS girl was murdered...all for the sake of love??..why kill dude...why kill ...am glad that I dont have this misery to deal with rtnw...but I am human!...strike back to reality again....search for a God-damn rick!
Damn competition to get a rick as well...
Alas my divine angel has pity on me and I get my ride till the station.
I swear I will never miss the company bus again but then again it was the 4th time in the week that i was swearing the same thing.
The station is packed too and trains are running spot on time. People still hanging out from them at this time of the hour.
I travel 1st class and I am really glad if I manage to get a space where I can manage to get both my hands up and catch the railings above!...I can expect that at this time ...its 10.45.
The ride is about 25 minutes, but it can drain out 20 litres of whatever from you!
Just glad that I am moving towards home...
People just keep moving in Mumbai. They all want to succeed. Everyone wants to succeed.
Any point and any hour people just dont quit here. Thats what I love about it.
I love the pain...i love the strangeness and I love the coldness...
I love the comfort...i love the closeness and I love the warmth that this city gives....
I love my Mumbai!
Monday, December 03, 2007
The spiritual Awakening? - the funnier side
I realized soon that it was because I had to attend the nature’s call. Oh God! It was so refreshing, never felt so light!
All the thoughts vanished and it was only my cozy warm bed that I was thinking about then!
I breathe in and I breathe out, simply amazing isn’t it?
I go back to sleep, and then suddenly I get up with this feeling in my heart!
Is my soul restless? Is the spirit within trying to tell me anything? I keep quiet and I try to listen. A sound surely came from within and it went like…BURRP!....
Man the masala chicken that dad made sure was tasty and spicy. Shouldn’t have eaten so much though! My soul sure is restless. Hmmmm..chicken!
Anyways, have some milk and water and back to my world of paradise. I am at peace again with the world. Everything is calm and quiet .The bed is so cozy.
I enter again the blissful world of peace. Then into it again, I think I hear some noise coming from within, something eerie, something not very friendly to the ear. I know I am a sleep but I can still hear these noises. What could it possibly be?
Is this noise trying to deliver a message to me in some way? I try to focus on it. It was the worse that could be imagined. To my own horror, I had discovered what those noises exactly meant. It was me snoring. Worse than the way Kumbhukaran snored in the Ramayana. No wonder everyone closes my room’s door everytime I go to sleep!
My soul surely is restless and noisy now as well!
I accept the above fact and move on to face life again with all humility.
I close my eyes again and enter the …yea rite…the blissful world!
Some more time into it and I jump up again..
Has my soul finally awakened now?
The alarm was ringing for the third time and my dad was trying to figure out a way to shut it. The alarm sound creates nothing but chaos.
I surely did have my experience of SPIRITUAL AWAKENING!
I am a live…I am alive!
Breathe in and Breathe out….
Peace!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Keep Quiet
The second choice is to keep quiet and you will know who really you are. This is very simple. It is not going to take you time; in fact time does not appear. There is nothing outside that can help you, you have just to keep quiet - that's all - and you will know then you are eternal. You are Eternal Existence itself.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Keep the faith!
Have you cried out to God for help with some crisis in your life?... Did you get help? .....When we get the help and assistance, we assume all is well in the heavens. We think, “Yahoo! Miracles really do happen!”
However, when we don’t get the answer or the help, we often conclude that there is no God.
We seem to have rolled it all up into a belief that if we visualise what we want or demand that the gods assist us in the manner we choose, then we’ll get whatever we want. What a spoiled bunch we are!.....
Positive visualisation and faith are intertwined..... You really can’t have one without the other. You cannot empower your visualisations without faith. Kind of a ‘duhhh’ statement.... Faith is not sitting around doing nothing while demanding miracles from the gods to come save you.... If you’ve made choices that have put you into a bad place, don’t yell at the gods to bail you out..... Don’t just sit there doing nothing while expecting the heavens to fix it all for you..... It’s not their job..... It’s your job.
Faith is trusting that if you work hard at finding solutions to your problems while following the Golden Rule, then things will turn out for the best. It’s believing that the gods will help you find or cultivate the solutions you need.
The Golden Rule, karma, - what comes around goes around, cause and effect - exists. If you make bad choices, bad things will happen. If you hurt people, people will hurt you. If you’re living a negative lifestyle, then cry out for the gods to come save you from your misery, you’re not likely to get any help. It’s your life, your problems. Learn, grow, heal, move forward.
You can tell your God you’re sorry for your part in creating the problem and that you’re ready to change it. Then prove it, by changing it. Your God will show itself somewhere along the way. Have faith and keep working.
Let’s assume it’s one of those times in life where you were happily going along doing your good deeds, having a positive attitude, and some nightmare blew up in your face anyway. What is your immediate response when that happens?
Do you claim there is no God and that all of your positive thoughts and deeds were of no use Do you lose faith that your God will guide you through the event? Or, do you hold strong to your God and to your positive beliefs? Do you roll up your sleeves and get to work on finding solutions? Do you even find ways to continue seeing the beauty in life while overcoming the adversity?
Negative people who don’t have much faith in themselves, in life, or in God tend to use life’ adversities as proof that they’re correct for being so pessimistic. While people who are upbeat and positive, having faith in them selves, in life, tend to use adversities to collect evidence that everything really does turn out for the best in the long run. Whether we believe in God or not doesn’t affect whether or not there is some form of God.
I can’t even say for sure that believing in God will inspire that entity to like you or help you. All I know is that when we have faith that things will get better, they usually do. When we believe things won’t get better, they don’t.
Do miracles happen? Absolutely! They happen to all kinds of people all the time. They happen regardless of religion, gender or financial position. By definition, they have a magical unexplainable mystery element that’s integral to how it came to be. Whatever that force is that causes such things to happen, it is awe inspiring.
Can you force miracles to happen by demanding them or by blackmailing your God with the underlying belief system that if your miracle isn’t delivered then you’re going to turn your back on your God? Definitely not. You can coax them by recognising them when they happen no matter how little they might be and by being thankful to whatever force you attribute them to. “Thank you for your divine intervention, whoever you are"
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Aloneness!
Deep down there is an abyss... undefinable emptiness. You start merging into that. It creates fear. You become frightened.
You want to rush towards the other. The other helps you to remain out. When there is nobody you are simply left with your emptiness.
Nobody wants to be alone. The greatest fear in the world is to be left alone. People do a thousand and one things just not to be left alone. You imitate your neighbours so you are just like them.
You lose your individuality, you lose your uniqueness, you just become imitators, because otherwise, you will be left alone.
To be alone is really the greatest miracle. That means now you don't belong to any church or organisation, you don't belong to any theology or ideology — socialist, communist, Hindu, Christian, Jain, Buddhist — you don't belong, you simply are.
And you have learnt how to love your indefinable, ineffable reality. You have come to know how to be with yourself.
A man who loves his aloneness is capable of love, and a man who feels loneliness is incapable of love. A man who is happy with himself is full of love, flowing.
He does not need anybody's love, hence he can give. When you are in need how can you give? You are a beggar. And when you can give, much love comes towards you.
It is a natural response. The first lesson of love is to learn how to be alone. Try it, to have the feel. Just
sit alone sometimes. That's what meditation is all about — just sitting alone, doing nothing.
If you start feeling lonely then there is something missing in your being, then you have not been able yet to understand who you are.
Then go deeper into this loneliness until you come to a layer when suddenly loneliness transforms itself into aloneness. Loneliness is the negative aspect of aloneness.
If you go deeper into it one moment is bound to come when suddenly you will start feeling the positive aspect of it. Because both aspects are always together.
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Excerpted from The Discipline of Transcendence, courtesy Osho International
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Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Let Go...
Life in essence is like an unobstructed, unrestrained, uncontrolled flow of a river. Life flows at its own pace and the ultimate source of all our pain and sufferings is our tendency to cling to and obstruct the flow. Life stagnates, relationships are broken, possessions are lost; all because we refused to let go when we were actually required to let things take their own course.
Why do we cling? We cling because change scares us; we cling because we are afraid to face the unknown, to face challenges; we cling because we feel secure if the stalemateness is maintained; we cling because we refuse to believe that life can never be static; because we refuse to accept the transience of everything; we believe that everything is in our hands. We do not have enough faith in life and that higher force which is omnipotent and omnipresent. In the chaos of existence, we have lost touch with our higher self. Most of us lead a life which is similar to that of a child who is lost in a crowd, separated from his guardians. He has nobody to place his faith on. He is afraid, insecure, suspicious about everyone and everything.
We live under the false illusion of having everything under our control. The spirit of getting things done becomes a problem when we continue to cling on even after we have exhorted all our efforts. We are overwhelmed by a sense of despair and disillusion when things move beyond our control. It is at this stage we need to learn to let go. Several times relationships are broken just because we tried too hard to make them work. We didn't give the breathing space they required to grow. We didn't let go and let them take their own course.
Once all the efforts are made towards achieving a goal, we must learn to let go and let life take the best course. It might or might not be of one's choice, but if we have faith, we will realise that it inevitably is the best course. We need to believe that forces above us are far better equipped to make judgments for us. We must learn to have faith in their judgment. Letting go, however, does not mean turning into a fatalist. One cannot sit idle in life and expect life to take care of itself. Karma, the fulfilment of one's duties is the ultimate objective of all human existence and if we fail to fulfill our duties towards life, life inevitably fails us.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Human Humility
Hinduism sometimes seems to suggest that unhappiness is inevitable. The Gita says the world is "the abode of sorrow" and describes the world as "a wild and terrible forest" and a "prison". However, there is so much beauty for which we should give thanks for.
I feel part of something infinitely large. This is a comforting experience because it puts my ego in place, silences my self-importance, yet does not tell me i am of no importance. There is so much which is closer to home that we should give thanks for — family, friends, and of course food, the achievements of science and technology, too. There is the gift of life itself, without which we could not enjoy all that has been given to us.
But life is not always enjoyable and God does not necessarily comfort us in bad times. There are times when we suffer apparently through no fault of our own and we can't understand how a God who should be comforting us is inflicting such suffering on us. There are also times when we are convinced that God can't possibly want to have anything to do with us, the times when we are thoroughly ashamed of ourselves.
Perhaps the answer to the riddle of unhappiness lies in the unfashionable virtue of humility, but a balanced humility, which represses self-esteem without falling into the miserable state of self hatred that is responsible for so much depression these days. Humility teaches that we can never fully understand the ways of God, that he never gives us certainty.
We can never have the comfort of certainty about the ways of God, nor precise answers to the question "Why is this happening?" But we can have deep within us faith to see us through times when there doesn't seem anything to be grateful for. If we have the faith to believe all things shall be well even when at the time they are far from well we will find that religion does work, that God does not desert us.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Cool dude ... yea rite!
Its Sunday again.... and i am up by 8!..damn sundays
Gotta exam!....another MOCK CAT...another day where I go write a exam and perform pathetically....IIM dream fading away....
I wished I had studied more during the week and specially yesterday....
NAhh... me too lazy!
Anyways, i drive dwn till the exam with only my icard and a HB pencil. I always borrow the sharpener and rubber...
Walk down the classroom and take the usual last bench!
This nice cute lookin chic comes in.
Class room is kindof full but always the back benches are mostly empty.
She cmes der and sits in the bench next to me...
Looks at me and smiles...
I give a controlled smile...:D...
She waves her hand towards me... i look...she makes an indication of something writing...
"Oh the poor babes didnt get a pencil... she needs a pencil..."
But there is a slight problem...I got only one pencil...
I act cool and look at her like things are under control...
I break my one pencil into two and move to give her the pointed part and ask for a sharpner from the dude sitting in front of me....
Wow hw cool right?!....
Well...had i paid more attention I should have realised that she was actually trying to indicate that she needed a sharpener and on mre close observation found that she had atleast 4 pencils wid her!...
I started talkin to the guy in frnt of me as if I knew him since childhood!...thanks fr the sharpener dude!
The girl was in a guffaw!...Didnt look at her but threw my side glance I could see white teeth shining!!!
I ROCK!
Peace!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Desperate Hearts...desperate hearts...its Amazing!!
sure tells a story....
I kept the right ones out
And let the wrong ones in
Had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sins
There were times in my life
When I was goin' insane
Tryin' to walk through
The pain
When I lost my grip
And I hit the floor
Yeah,I thought I could leave but couldn't get out the door
I was so sick and tired
Of livin' a lie
I was wishin that I
Would die
It's Amazing
With the blink of an eye you finally see the light
It's Amazing
When the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright
It's Amazing
And I'm sayin' a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight
That one last shot's a Permanent Vacation
And how high can you fly with broken wings?
Life's a journey not a destination
And I just can't tell just what tomorrow brings
You have to learn to crawl
Before you learn to walk
But I just couldn't listen to all that righteous talk, oh yeah
I was out on the street,
Just tryin' to survive
Scratchin' to stay
Alive
Desperate hearts, desperate hearts
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Happy?
What makes u happy...
If I was a millionaire, I would be happy!
If I had a beautiful sexy girl friend, I would be happy!
If I had the perfect body, I would be happy!
If only someone would understand me will I be happy!
If I get a great college,great job I would be happy!
So one day, I pass out from the best college,have a gr8 body,find someone who is beautiful and sexy. And yea, I am a millionaire!
I am supposed to be happy then rite!
I got what I wanted! ... I am happy...i am happy....
hell shit I am happy...I want more!.... There are people who got more than me!....
I wanna be better!....what I have now is nothing....there is so much more out there to grab!
Why settle for good, when u can have much better rite?!
Hey I am not sounding happy am I?
When will I be happy now?!
The gyaan starts now....
Well...
To be happy...the 'I' factor never comes.
Life is bigger. Life is bigger than you!( yes i knw the wrds are frm... REM losing my religion song)
The only time when anyone was happy was till when she/he was a year old.
Have you seen that smile on a child's face.
Its pure, its innocent, it is free,it has no pretence, it just expresses how that baby feels at that point of time.
It was so simple to get that smile, why all u did was make a funny face, that made the child 'happy' and it gave out the purest outcome of being happy...the smile!
He is happy,he is content,he needs nothing more.
So what am I getting at?...AM i the one who is gonna tell u how to be happy??....
I am no sage,i am no guru, I have not been to the himalayas... and I dont proclaim that I know the secret of happiness!
I am the regular normal pycho 22 year old guy who has just seen life from his point of view and guess who feels a lot more than others.
Yea I do feel... and I am pathetic at expressing it!...
So am 'I' happy...the answer is Nahh...not a chance!
The reason is that I am a human being!
We all are!...hence we all are not happy...
Saw this movie of Will Smith called Pursuit of Happiness....Its such a true story about everyones life....
No matter what you do...no matter how hard u try.... at some point of time you cant be happy...
Its such a weird thing....we have a million reasons to be happy in life and yet we remain sad for the fewest and the weirdest of all the reasons.
Well all I want to say is... the more u make ur life complex the more tough it becomes to be at peace with urself....the tougher it gets to be happy.
We humans have this urge,we have the greed...all we think is about ourselves...All we do is expect...
We expect from everyone...and therein lies the heart of all the misery.
Humans are endowed with so many emotions.
We are not capable of handling so many emotions....Life certainly would have been easier had we not had any emotions...
Am not saying that we shud not have any ambitions...that we shudnt aim high in life...
We shud be fierce...we shud compete...we shud try all our best....only thing is remain sane at the end of it... To be able to understand life even when u have reached where u wanted to be!
More than half of the people dont even have a clue what their destination is....
The best way to be happy is to forget about yourself.
Never think just only about yourself.
You are connected with so many other things...
Have u ever felt that joy when u helped someone...and the gratitude and the feeling of thankfulness the person gives u...the blessing that he showers on u........
the feeling that someone smiled becoz of u.... thats happiness!
To make someone at peace...to make his/her life more easier...to know the person is doing better because of u...that feeling...that inner nice calm soothing feeling is happiness.
Not to expect a thing back!...now this is the difficult part....and still remain happy is a very difficult thing to achieve....
It would be one heck of an achievement for someone to come up to this level...
I have been trying and have been failing miserably....
How can anyone not expect...how can anyone not feel!
Feelings and emotions is what is the cause!
Well I havent reached any conclusion even though i conclude this....Its an ongoing battle!
I am game for it!
Peace!
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Backup....
Trust me it saves ur ass!
It saved mine
It just takes some extra time... but having a back up is a very good idea!!
Not just your code, always have a back up in life too coz shit happens!
Peace!
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Life... unpredicatable
Cannot wait to reach home and have mom's hot and fresh meal and dad's super salad.
Was sitting next to Manish. He had returned after a decent diwali break of 10 days from Pune and was seeing him at the end of the day today.
Looked a bit lost and after the initial crappy talk we always have, he just came up about his friend in Pune.
Said his friend had lost his entire family the day after Diwali. His mom,dad,brother, granny and grandpa were all in that car on which the entire tanker had collapsed. All had died on the spot.
Everything was quiete when he said that. Had a big gulping feeling and asked about who that guy was.
Manish went on about that guy for 10 minutes. Said he is a real nice dude , who had an amazing family.
His dad was really great. A bussinessman who spent and loved his son like crazy.
Had got him bikes,mobiles and computer ..anything he wanted. Always come down from Deljhi to visit him.
And now everything was like gone.
THe entire family had come down to Pune to celebrate Diwali with their son.
The next day they were to go Meerut. THey were going to the station when while overtaking a tanker and when they were parallel to it and at high speed, the tankers tyre gave way and the entire tanker fell on their car flat.
It sounded real horrific and I said it sounded a bit too incredible to be actually true.
But as fate would have it, that was what had actually happened. At that very instant of time, no sooner , no later did the tyre had to give way, the tanker had to collapse and on their very car.
I did not know Manish's friend but his entirely family was wiped out in an instant.
The previuos day they were laughing and enjoying and now its all bloody.
I did not know that person, yet I felt the deepest for that guy at that moment.
What can you say to a person like that now . That everything will be fine?... What can be fine now? That I understand how ou feel? Can anyone really understand what and how he feels.
A person who had been pampered and whom life had treated so well is suddenly left gasping for life.
I was just thinking, that how can life change so disasterously for a person.
I asked Manish where he was now and whats he doing.
I was really wondering whats keeping him alive.
For me, I live for my family. My whole existence , my whole purpose in my life is my family. If God forbid, such a creepy thing ever happens, I really dont know what would be the point of my existence.
He said that he was in Delhi and his girlfriend had flown down from Banglore to be with him.
I thanked God that he had a person left to care about him. Guess that girl must be his only source of inspiration or maybe not, but he had someone to be with, atleast for a while.
Life can be so extremely unpredictable. All of this what happened has actually appened to a person. His dad, his mom , his brother. God. How can anyone be so cruel.
It just makes you feel powerless. Makes you feel how much you love and care for your family.
Made me feel like going and telling my folks how much they all mean to me and I would rather die than anything else happen to them.
Its something you cant plan, cant be prepared for. The entire bus ride to the station was a heav load. But at the end of it, you cant control life.
Maybe there is something really special in store for that person to live and enjoy life for.
Hard to imagine but life is unpredicatable... Live every moment of it and I know it sounds real filmy and cliched but tell your family and show your folks that you love them and they mean the entire world to you!...
Peace!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
The RAIT Experience -prt1
Hmmm...
Its the monsoon time, the results are out and pay time for us for getting decent marks in the HSC.
Yea we gotta go through those rounds at the VJTI for an admission into the "EEnngiineeeering".
Dads all over are real proud. Our son will be an engineer now. We'll do good. He will go to America then and then we will get so many offers from beautiful rich girls for my son's marriage. Ahh! A engineer.
Yea sure dad, I will brighten your name! Then suddenly Aamir Khan's pops in front and starts singing that creepy song of his in which he goes..... Papa kehte hai.... u know what.....
"Hmmm...Agnels Comp/IT or RAIT -Comps/IT....",dad goes .Thinking which is a better option.
"RAIT! RAIT! RAIT! RAIT!", i go along in my mind. No chance in hell am I going to spend 4 years in a JAIL!"
Had heard so much about RAIT since JC that this was the place I wanted to be!
I say with a very serious look," Dad, I think RAIT looks like a better option. For one its real close to the house. It has a very good infrastructure specially the computer labs and I heard has a good staff.I will be good there "
"Yea. But Agnels will keep you in control".
"Dad I am 18!, i know whats good and whats bad. In Agnels its going to be them telling me what to do, how to behave (how to shit as well i thought). It will not be good for my personal development dad. Besides you are the one who wanted me to be more independent. RAIT i think should be good.". Man did I say some heavy things or what!
"Ok.Ok. So RAIT comps should we take it now!"
Hell yea baby!...Take it take it....
"Yea. Its the best choice of all the alternatives we have got dad. We should take it I guess."
Paid the fees , had a nice lunch in a nice resturant with dad and was coming home with a feeling as if we have just won a war and returning home. RAIT baby, RAIT!!
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Mumbai Lifeline
The indicator is set to 7:39...There is a hush, there is a honk and people start gathering in all from all sides. Wonder where all of them were 10 seconds back. It was as if the Pied piper played his tune and all the rats came crawling out.
Well I am one of those rats!
Dressed in an impressive rich full sleeve Park Avenue blue shirt , some nice comfy trousers and those typical office goers black leathered bag with a clean shave,hair gelled and combed, smelling all musky with the cologne, I get prepared with all the other similar looking rats as me, to board what is called the lifeline of mumbai.
Trust me everyone in that first class department looks the same with the dress code being formal and yet rats is the word that best comes to my mind to describe them.
Crawling down from the stairs, the sides and from wherever my vision could go does everyone come out.
The train approaches and I say my usual prayer. People set their body position as athletes do when they are sprinting for the 100 m race. Tighten their belts , roll the sleeves,blow their noses(dunno wat for though!). The first class compartment approaches.
I peacefully board when the train is at a decent pace with just some thuds and bangs and some polite curses and stares.
Like hungry wolves people swarm in looking for food ,oops a seat i guess, and then like a dejected wet hen settle for the best available space for standing.
Well it would be appropriate to say they look for the available place to stand rather than for a seat which would be like water in the desert.
I scamper through and reach my best spot of the train, under the fan and where there is support for the back.
Roll my bag forward as if a woman protecting her breasts from hungry beasts but its all done for better manevauring around and not letting your bag go away from you when another gush of rats come in from the next station.
The air ventilation is pretty decent at this spot. Hey its the First Class!
With a feel in my pockets for my mobile and wallet once in with everthing set, my head phones on, the train honks and the journey begins.
You try to look around but really cannot see much except for the people hanging along in front of you.
If you look at the scene from a distant it looks like a kindergarden class being punished with its hands up for some reason.
Just pray everyday that none of the people who board my compartment do not forget to put on their deo's or watever that smells good. I sure dont ,for them and myself and expect the same from them!
The crowd is a mix of all age groups. But one thing among them apart from the dress code that is common is that all of them are pretty well off. Yet everyone chooses this means of transport to travel to their destinations.
Its funny to look at people who couldnt help but fall asleep. Its even funnier when they have no control over their heads. Its like crazy hand banging. With rock goin on in ur headphones its the funniest.
The train moves on from station to station. The minor stations pass by drawing in major crowds(rats!). The major station is on its way. Two stations previous to its coming, people start piling on the exitway. Kurla is the word.Sends a chill down the spine whenever I hear its name.Its like the entire universe wants to get down at this station. And be sure that you are not the one who doesnt want to get down at this station and you are not standing on the way. If you are on the way you surely will get out of the train with how much ever you resist! You will fly baby!
I had never thought I would ever be writing so much and that too on a topic like a train. But there is something into this. Some thing in this way of travelling that you experience. Not a experience everyone should experience but yeah surely a weird one!
Its the best way a person can reach his/her destination. Pollution free and traffic free.
Just wished the government would really do something about the manner in which people travel.
Hey we are not rats here that we deserve to travel like this. We are the major working force of the city and the country. We all can afford to take our vehicles till our destination, but be thankful we dont else what hell shall break loose on the road, God alone can help. Its a good thing that the government has made this means of transportation but atleast see through it that people travel like normal human beings.
Give the citizens a more respectable way of travelling cheap and fast. Else our country will surely loose out on the youth and the best brains to a more advanced and luxurious countries like the US or UK.
Please then dont say that we have been influenced by the west and dont give a damn about our country.
Peace!