Sunday, August 30, 2009

Non-sink spitters

Ewww... I hate them, no I loathe them, whichever is more intense, actually both !!
Imagine walking on the street, a moderately crowded one and suddenly you see a spurt of red spit out of the mouth of a person about to walk past you, and a red blotch on the street where you might have kept your next step.
I have, and I am really delighted and relieved to say this, never been a casualty under these circumstances. But I fear that someday, I or the spitter might decide to increase pace of walking, then... anyways, the spitters on a locomotive, mostly on a bike scare me more because their spit might fly in an undecided direction...
Use a sink, or toilet. Spitting in a dustbin is also disgusting.
I understand there's a need to spit, once in a while but as far as I can remember, the spitters I have seen casually spit on road while walking, as if spitting was like any other activity for them. No wonder Indian roads remain defaced.
At least think of those poor who sleep beside the road at night, think of the workers who clean the road and the pavements, think of that disgusting feeling you create in every onlooker's mind.
God is watching you non-sink spitters... and I'm sure He also doesn't like this behavior. :D

P.S. - Paan is the main reason for people to spit... have sweet paan, why to have tobacco paan and spit later! Get high on other drugs or smoke it instead! :P

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Jai Mata Di

Few shops on the way to Vaishno Mata Shrine catch fire due to bursting of gas cylinder. People start chanting, "Jai Mata Di", "Jai Mata Di". In a few minutes, it downpours. The shops on fire burn down by that time but neighboring shops are saved.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Black Magic

I felt an eye-lash fall, I picked it from under my eyes, put it on my fist, made a wish, blew it away.
Few minutes later, in lab I found another eye-lash on my desk, wondered if it was a fresh eye-lash or somebody's rejected wish!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

No, thanks

"Would you have some Garlic Breadsticks?" Arjun asks Abhishek. Abhishek sees Akshay standing beside Arjun, smiling sheepishly.
"No thanks, I'm good. Can't eat anymore tonight."
"Alright, truth is, I'm full too. Anyways, good night." Arjun says and leaves.
Abhishek closes the door, sits on his desk, tears open a pack of chips and munches them.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Pencil and Pen

When in 5th class I got my first pen to write, I was quite excited.
Looking at elders writing with pen made me wonder as to why kids have to write with pencil. A pencil felt kind of inferior in front of and in comparison to a pen. When asked, my mother replied as if she had an answer already prepared, "Anything written with a pencil can be rubbed off with an eraser", and she wrote something, then rubbed it with an eraser, "but something written with a pen can't be. You're learning to write and your handwriting is neither neat, nor stable.
My first pen was a fountain pen. Filling ink in a fountain ink pen was fun, I like(d) Chinese fountain pens. The older I grew, the less I felt the need to write with a pencil, as it had been replaced with a pen. All my daily writing work was now done in pen.
I wondered why did I had to write with a fountain ink pen and not ball-point pen, to which my mother replied, "to get a better grip on your handwriting." Later I tested ball point pen and realized that she was telling the truth. I felt like I could write faster with it but couldn't get a good grip.
At present I use Cello Technotip and it works best for me. I also tried Parker ballpoint and ink pens but didn't really like them much.
After writing for ballpoint pens for some years, writing once in a while with a fountain ink pen feels good, takes me back to those days in 5th class.
Pencil didn't leave my life completely. I used it to make drawings in subjects like biology, and underline in textbooks. I started appreciating pencil since my 9th class because I had lost the luxury of erasing the contents of my writing. Ink erasers are available, yes, and I have used the 'nondust' one, but they work best on ink pen writing and I use ballpoint pens. Besides they don't erase as neatly as a pencil mark can be erased.
Now you may argue in defense of pen that it can write on skin and pencil can't, and I might argue in defense of pencil that one can write keeping pencil upside down, but that can't happen while using a pen!
Well, in conclusion, I use both the pen and the pencil and their combination provides me with a fine range of services.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The unaware

Two guys were sifting through a collection of shorts, looking at the color, feeling the material. One of them said, this one is good for me.
The other guy looks at it, feels the material, finds it stretchable, and thinks, something ain't right, looks around, only to have his gaze land on a board:
"Ladies section"

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Suicide

Suicide is a sin, so is the popular belief. We hold in contempt the idea of ending one's own life and look down upon the suicide attempters.
Talking to my friend tonight made me realize the depth of the shallowness of our beliefs. We assume that God doesn't allow one to end one's life, but how do we know for sure that it's not God himself who suggests the idea of a suicide. What if God himself induces this idea in a person's mind that he/she has to end his/her life, instead of God designing a plan of death for that person!
Its nothing wrong to end one's life if no hope is left in life. Of course there would be many who would say, where there's life there's hope, and some might only feel, whatever, or who cares! Only few who really care to put oneself in that person's position and understand that the decision to kill oneself is often not an extreme one but the only option left. It is not easy to build one's life all over again, so why not just end it instead of the slumber existence!
The only problem I have with the suicide attempters is that it is often the case that they're running away from one's responsibilities. Shouldering responsibility is never easy but if you're the only one who can do it or is supposed to do it, then you must do it. Suicide should not even be considered in such a case. Hence, for me suicide is not cowardice, running away from one's responsibilities is.
Often in computer science before deleting a node, the presence of in-links are checked and if none present, only the the node is allowed to be deleted. Same is the case with database systems where a value can be deleted only if it doesn't violate any constraints! Hence in one's life, if there's neither ambitions/dreams nor responsibilities, one can safely end one's life rather than living for no reason at all. Of course if you live and look for a reason, there are plenty of reasons to life.
So, instead of kissing death, hug life deeply and hold onto it if there's a reason to, else you may let go.

P.S. - Even Bhishma Pitamaha (in Mahabharata) committed suicide, although many won't agree on it.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I came, I saw, ...

I came, I saw, I squinted... darn, I had forgotten my specs.

I came, I saw, I screwed up. (by my dear friend Asrar)

I came, I saw and I forgot why I was there in the first place.

I came, I saw and it was beautiful.

I came, I saw and it wasn't what I was looking for.

I came, I saw and I was hypnotized.

I came, I saw, I slept.

I came, I saw, I left, I came back, I saw, it was still there.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

There is always

There is always someone who is your first love.
There is always someone whose footsteps you follow.
There is always someone whose life you impact deeply.
There is always someone who is your first, who is your last.
There is always an enemy, there is always a friend.

There is always some place you call home.

There is always a dream in a young mind.
There is always something that keeps you interested.
There is always an addiction, good or bad.

There is always some hope in despair.
There is always some love in war.

And even after life ends, there is always a last good bye,
but only for some.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

A Point

"9.5/100", he looked at his answer sheet. I failed, he thought, but how can that be.

"How much buddy?"
"9.5/100, I failed."
Curious, his friend takes a look at his answer sheet.
"Its 95/100, liar liar, ass on fire!"

He looks at his answer sheet again. The little point had disappeared.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Nature's Call

He tried to relax, get back to the dream while lying on bed but couldn't. He felt the pinch, and the more he ignored it, the more intense it grew. He turned sides but the sensation aggravated.
When he could take no more, he got up and went to pee.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Scare of Swine Flu

Today I started respecting life and dreading the thought of dying. I can now understand the fear people in Pune and in other cities live in. I was scared when I realized I might have swine flu.
It all started with a shiver. I felt it at 2 am I think. Maybe it was the sudden drop in temperature due to slight change of weather, but the thought that a shiver might be a symptom brought scary thoughts in my mind, getting admitted in a hospital, friend and family visiting me while I lay on the hospital (death, I felt so) bed. I even starting writing my will, i.e., to whom should I give passwords of which account on the internet. I realized I had to do a lot in life, my dreams crumbling to dust when I realized I would die soon. I met few of my friends whom I thought might be interested in the ideas I had in mind and the ones I have documented.
Another thought that crossed my mind was that I won't be allowed to eat in mess and I'd have to survive on biscuits and other packed food products... I would be kept in isolation during last days of my life...
I was so scared I didn't leave the bed to go for breakfast, lest I may shiver if I let go of the bedsheet I had wrapped around myself. Finally at 9:45 am I got up and did some exercise, felt good but weak. Lately I've been feeling sore in my throat.
The thought still lingers in my mind... do I have Swine Flu?
Time is too short and life too uncertain... the thought of a possibility of death scared me and still scares me. And with every news about deaths, be it of one person, concerns me deeply, for I have felt what it feels at the dawn of death.
I talked to my family and friends in Pune yesterday. Did the disease transmit through phone lines? Can it?
Would chatting on gtalk transmit the disease?

P.S. - Watching myself on deathbed suffering from Swine flu, I wondered which is more dreadful... being a victim of a terrorist attack or a deadly disease? I would go for the former one.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Birthday

My friend on her birthday last month got, what she calls, the best surprise party ever. She said she felt like a princess, and that her birthday means a lot to her. I'm sure one's birthday means a lot to everyone, because it does remind us of the day we came into existence. One's birthday also does mean a lot to one's family, friends, and maybe to some acquaintances, colleagues etc. Everyone related to the birthday person gather together to celebrate the day when the birthday person came into existence.
Now, a person, as skeptical as me would wonder, doesn't every next birthday makes a person a year older. Isn't it moving closer to death, having one year less to live?!
Birthday is all about optimism. From the age of 1, the older one gets, the broader one's life's horizons become. With every passing year, a person increments in his/her mind his/her age, he/she becomes more intelligent, mature, stronger, faster until the last days of youth, but becomes wiser with his/her every next birthday. Infancy, childhood, pre-teen, teenage, adulthood... as if with every next birthday, a person enters a new life, armed with previous experience and thrill to explore life ahead.

But certainly, birthday is the only individual festival that many celebrate. We celebrate birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi and few other famous historic figures, some mythological figures like Jesus Christ, Mohammad Prophet, Shri Krishna etc. and birthday of one's nation as well, called Independence day. Birthdays themselves give us so many holidays!

In conclusion, its birthday not bir-day, as sung by many while singing the famous birthday song. So, take a break, enjoy and have a ball on your birthday... and others... psst, don't forget to throw a great surprise party, filled with love and companionship.

P.S. - While blowing candles, why is one not supposed to speak his/her wish loud?
Because if one says it loud, others would know. :) It is supposed to be a secret.
P.S. - If I could somehow skip my birthday, i.e., jump over to the next day (a time travel thing), then would I not grow a year older, because its only on birthday that a person grows a year older, isn't it? :D Oops... forgot, it doesn't happen really... :( (people born on 29th Feb!)

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Robbed in Mafia Wars

He robbed me five times. My casino, my hotels. I robbed him five times, failed everytime. I tried his casino first, then hotel, then house. I gave up. Later, I attacked him. I won!

Friday, August 07, 2009

Post Rakhi

He checked for his courier on the day of Rakhi.
None.
Two days later he checks his courier again and finds his name among others in the list for the couriers received on the day of Rakhi.
Funny, he didn't see his name there the last time.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

The haunting

At night he is scared to go and pee after reading a horror story.
He turns up volume of music, keeps the door open, goes to pee, walks back, shuts the door behind him.
Feels like going again, too scared this time.
Finally he can't hold it anymore, opens the door and walks into dawn.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The Ant Story

"Stop harassing the ant. If it dies you'll fail in tomorrow's exam." Bhagirath warns Amit.
Amit grins broadly at Bhagirath, then looks at the limping ant trying to get away, stands up and squashes it under his shoes.
Next day, Amit fails in the exam.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

The weekend Ice-cream

A multi-millionaire returns to his hometown, finds out his parents are no more. Once passes by the ice-cream shop where his mother treated him with savings from her meagre wage, every weekend. Under the feeling of nostalgia, he went in and had his favorite ice-cream.
Perhaps a tear trickled down his cheek.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Sweet Dream Broken

He looks into her eyes. She is most beautiful. He is in love and he feels it. He holds her hands, draws himself closer, his lips about to touch hers, when he feels a sudden pinch, strong enough to wake him up. With sleepy eyes he looks at his hand and a mosquito looks back.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Black Screen

A certain computer unaware, on someone's suggestion clicks MS-DOS mode shortcut icon on the desktop of a public computer and receives a black screen with a blinking cursor. Scared, he looks around. Unable to find that certain someone, he moves to another computer.

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Mosquitoes - The sleep inhibitors

About our very dear companions from old times, mosquitoes, if there's anything that concerns me, perhaps more than being a malaria patient, is getting disturbed in my sleep.
Imagine watching a beautiful dream, and the verge of something incredible, you feel a bitter sting that pulls you away from the dream and into reality as drowsy yourself, only to discover a mosquito sucking your blood. Calling names and abusing won't help, so saving one's energy and efforts to plan and get rid of these sleep destroyers would be a better thing to do.
Mosquitoes have always been there and humans haven't been able to get rid of these vectors. Since the dawn of my life, I've noticed mosquitoes come out of their hideouts/abode during power cuts, or during late evening/night. Other times, they don't seem to exist at all. Hence, their work time coincides with our rest and sleep time. This is what makes their presence a serious problem for us.
Good Knight, All-Out etc. fail during power-cut. Tortoise, Mortein mosquito coils save the night, but their presence is more unhealthy than the former.
Mosquitoes are most vulnerable while sucking out blood or just after that when they start with a slow flight. So, be vigilant and attack, crush it. You might see your own blood flowing out from the mosquito.

P.S. - Mosquitoes are quite like vampires, only that they suck blood from anywhere, and are seldom instantly fatal.
P.S. - Would training mosquitoes to suck out human blood for blood donation camps work out?
P.S. - For each person there exists or existed one mosquito sharing the same blood. :D