Moonlight and Valentino

लोगों की नादानी पर हँसी आती है ,
जब वोह अजीब सी बातें करते हैं,
चाँदनी मेरे पास बैठे चमक रही है,
और आसमान पर एक गोले को चाँद समझ रहे हैं........

Logon ki naadani paar hansi aati hai
jab woh ajeeb si baatein karte hain
Chandni mere paas baithe chamak rahi hai
Aur aasaman par ek gole ko chaand samajh rahe hain.....


They can unscrew the stars,

roll up the sky,
and put it on a truck...
Without her this world means nothing to me........

They can turn off the sunlight I so love -
and do you you know why I love it?
Because the sun illuminates her so beautifully.
They can take away everything:
furniture, houses, sand, wind,
frogs,ripe watermelons, evenings,
May, June, July,
basil, bees, the sea...

P.S: Pics taken by me in Rhode Island.
English quote taken from Roberto Benigni's Tiger and the Snow.
Hindi quote? Guess who wrote it :-)

Play Vs Rewind

Sanjeev slowly hung up the phone and contemplated the conversation he had just had.

The voice on the other end had been distorted by some electronic scrambling device, gravelly and rough, but most of all, urgent. The man had sworn Sanjeev to secrecy with information that was on a strictly need-to-know basis. And right now, only Sanjeev needed to know.

It was a mission of the utmost importance he had been charged with, and from the tone of the voice, Sanjeev knew: failure was not an option. Though Sanjeev had only been working at this office for only a month, he understood how serious this man was. The man needed his help.

He got up from his place and walked out into the garden outside his office. He contemplated what he was about to do and wondered the consequences should he go with what had been discussed on phone. It was in a way of speaking a miniscule help, but he was not sure if it would be looked upon with as an act of respect or disgust. Sanjeev had to decide before the morning of the next day when the task would be completed and implemented on the day after.

As he walked into the room next day he seemed to be cynosure of all eyes. He walked into another room to wash his face. He looked into the mirror and wondered to himself why he was doing this. He remembered that what he was doing had a purpose, an aim and a meaning than what he had been doing in all these years. It was not an earth shattering contribution, but yes it was going to be soul satisfying.

After he finished it, he walked to his home. He lied to his mom that he had finished dinner outside, went to his bedroom and stared at the oscillating fan. Just like the fan his mind was wandering about their happy times together in the past and wondered why it had to go wrong all of a sudden. They say ignorance is bliss….maybe it was not. Wish everyone could get a second chance in life.

He saw it the next day evening and was happy with it. Only he could have done it with so much passion and emotion because no one else could have understood it better than him. In a way he felt happy and sad at the same time. His parents and relatives would be shocked, he could become devoid of friends…but that was maybe the tip of the iceberg.

In the evening he saw himself on TV appearing in the latest ad with his hands on the shoulder of his elder brother Surendra.

Surendra: "I have AIDS. I got it because I had unprotected sex once and hence today I stand to lose my life. Don't let it happen to you. Practice safe sex."

Sanjeev: "AIDS doesn't appear by touching or talking to someone. This is my brother and he is suffering from AIDS and we are close the same way as before. Please don't ignore them as they need our help. Help spread the awareness for AIDS."

His parents were yet to know this bitter truth and they would learn it today. Sanjeev discovered it only a month before. He convinced his brother to appear in the AIDS awareness program he was entrusted to shoot by his Boss in his ad agency and together they decided to spread the awareness.

As he walked past his office, he saw a young man cleaning a window pane of a shopping complex. He wished that some mistakes in life could be cleaned just as simply as that. Alas……

As you like it - Friday

Sanjeev slowly hung up the phone and contemplated the conversation he had just had.

The voice on the other end seemed to have been distorted as if it was talked through some electronic scrambling device, gravelly and rough, but most of all, urgent. The man had almost pleaded Sanjeev to maintain secrecy with the information. And right now, only Sanjeev needed to know.

It was a mission of the utmost importance he had been charged with, and from the tone of the voice, Sanjeev knew: failure was not an option. Though he had only been working in this office for only one month, he understood how serious this man was. The man needed his help.

The only question that did bother him was....why him? Why not someone else? Or as the voice on the other end of phone seemed to implicitly remind him...was he the CHOSEN one? It was terrifying and exciting. Sanjeev could feel butterflies in his stomach. If he could indeed complete this task successfully, then BOOM....he could pull the biggest coup ever. Now now....he told himself not to hurry. Think...think.

He packed his bag and rushed towards his Pulsar 150cc. As he wore his compulsory-to-wear helmet, he felt like Darth Vader of Star Wars. Damn these helmets. As he raced to 60 kmph towards his house at Adayar, he wondered what could be the implications in his personal life should he carry out this mission? It was not as easy for an outsider...but yes...maybe he could do it. It was a difficult choice indeed but Sanjeev had got to make it.

He parked his bike and tiptoed into his house. He made sure that his parents were asleep. Maybe they were used to him arriving at odd hours. Perhaps today it was going to prove advantageous. His mom would often ask why all the people in Indian IT industry arrived late at home. She would often pull his leg about how she would see IT people sleeping in their company bus in the early morning. She did not complete much formal education and even she knew that IT people in India don’t do any serious earth shattering work.

He entered his house with the spare key. With the alacrity of a cat he opened the Godrej safe in the hall and made sure it didn’t make any deafening creaking sound and wake everyone up. He knew exactly what he was searching for and his hands automatically moved to that shelf. Bingo! There it was. His hands stumbled on the prize. He felt like shouting at the top of his voice, but curbed his enthusiasm. He thrust it into his pocket and walked back to his pulsar. Damn. If his father asks then he would have to lie about the whole thing. Well, he did not have much choice left.

He kick started the pulsar and arrived at the location as promised. His hands trembled as he dialed the number on his telephone.

"Hello" the same distorted but nosy voice.

"Hi. It’s me....Sanjeev."

"Sanjeev….so soon?"

"It’s done."

"Oh Gosh! Are you serious?"

"Yes Sir. I am having it right now in my hands."

"Sanjeev....you have no idea what a great help you have done. It feels to me like a dream."

"Oh come on Mr. Ishimara. It was nothing. I did what I could do."

"Oh no Sanjeev. You underestimate your achievement. You have no idea how much my Indian girlfriend pestered me to get the opening show tickets of Rajnikanth’s SIVAJI and how desperately I searched for them. I couldn’t ask anyone here because I was not sure how they would take up the whole issue of their Japanese client going out with an Indian girl. Now thanks to you, I will be able to fulfill her small wish."

"It’s all right Mr. Ishimara. I am waiting at the reception of your hotel. Please come and receive it."

Now…he wondered how was he going to compensate his dad who was a die-hard Rajni fan....

P.S: I wrote this one immediately as soon as I saw the premise. Even though Karthik has written something similar to it, I didn't have the heart to abandon it. :-)

P.S1: I figured another story with the same premise. Will post it on Tuesday. :-)

As you like it

Sanjeev slowly hung up the phone and contemplated the conversation he had just had.

The voice on the other end seemed to have been distorted as if it was talked through some electronic scrambling device, gravelly and rough, but most of all, urgent. The man had almost pleaded Sanjeev to maintain secrecy with the information. And right now, only Sanjeev needed to know.

It was a mission of the utmost importance he had been charged with, and from the tone of the voice, Sanjeev knew: failure was not an option. Though he had only been working in this office for only one month, he understood how serious this man was. The man needed his help.

The above plot was given as a part of writing competition in my company. We were asked to take the plot further from this point.
Now...lets see how many of you can take it further...and how. Post your version in the comments section.
I will publish my version of this plot on Friday :-)

The Known Stranger

Wives are born naggers. I don't know about the rest of the clan, but mine for sure is one supreme nagger. I guess she has an extra terrestrial sensor which notifies her whenever I am comfortable, lazy and am doing something as important as watching news or reading newspaper. We have most of our fights in the mornings because she would ask me to get something from the shop when I would be updating myself with the happenings around the world and I would yell back in return. But I don't tell this thing to everyone because the ending is always the same. She wins.

It was just another day when she asked (read nagged) me to buy vegetables. Now how can a person go to the market when Sachin is playing our favorite straight drive showing MRF logo to the TV? These guys play well on one day (that too against Bermuda) and that is the day when my wife chooses to send me to the market. I ignore her once, twice and thrice. Thats it. She comes to the hall and starts to hit me for boundaries and sixes with the accounts starting from our first day of marriage. Now now....I cant stand being reminded about the day when I was sentenced to prison. Maybe my luck was limited to see Sachin play in highlights.

Cursing her I put on my Kurta which gets stuck on my bald head. Damn. I was in a hurry. I rushed to the market so that I can at least be back by the end of the slog overs and see Dhoni play. If my rotten luck continues I will have to be content seeing Munaf bat for the last 5 overs. I bought whatever vegetables that were available for the price quoted. One sabjiwala was commenting that Sachin had completed his century and that just added to my excitement. I started to run towards my apartment when it happened.

"Sharmaji...stop. Don't run so fast. Just wait for me" said that slightly bald headed guy. I had a hard time placing that face in my memory.

"Seems Mrs Sharma sent you on an assignment eh? Missed the match eh?" he said this and started to laugh hysterically at his own joke. I was bemused and wondered who the hell was this guy. Some dupe? Thug? Insurance agent?

"Yeah. Cant help it. She loves sending me to shopping when India bats well." as I said this he started to laugh even more harder.

Two school girls who crossed us giggled seeing us talk together. Well...seems Axe did work after all.

"Know what? Previous week my wife went to market...and guess what? It was a bandh." he said and started to laugh. I don;t know what was funny in it.

"Sharmaji...Look at the price of tomatoes. 20 Rs per kilo. At one point of time they were 3 Rs a kilo. Don't know what is going on in this country."

"Simple. The government increased its price so that people don't hit them with that." I said. Bad joke.

But a gentleman with a cigarette in the pan shop did find it funny and started to smile. Now what was that smile for?

"So how is your elder son doing in New Jersey? Did you and Bhabhi book your tickets for the summer vacation?" he asked. How the hell did he know all this?

"Well...we are still thinking over it" I replied with the best lie I could come up with.

"Oh...and I saw the photo of your daughters son. He is really adorable." Damn...who is this guy and what is he up to?"

I started to walk faster as I wanted to get rid of him. But he walked in pace with me and was crushing my hopes. Why the hell is he even with me? Who the hell is this guy?

"Sharmaji...tell me one thing. Don't you think that we look alike?"

As he said this....it struck me. Oh My God! It could not be possible. I remember seeing it in the movie The Beautiful Mind and wondered if it was all reel and not real. But now as I saw this man I realized that indeed this could be possible. Otherwise how could you explain him looking like me when I was young? How could he know my name? Why would he follow me to my apartment? Why did people smile at me when I walked past them?

Oh My god!!!! I had Schizophrenia. I was hallucinating. It all seemed so blurry and confusing. I stopped at the steps and looked perplexed. He came down and said "What happened Sharmaji? You ok?" and smiled. The same villainous smile. He came forward, grabbed my hand and took me to my apartment and said "Its ok Sharmaji. The heat is on. I think you should get an AC just as your son suggested. You are indeed stressed out." He said, walked past me, climbed the stairs and opened the apartment above mine which had the name board which said "Mr Raman." I realized seeing the name and not the person who is my apartment neighbor for the past 4 months.

As he closed his apartment door, he stopped, smiled and said "And Sharmaji...the next time you go out to the market, do remember to wear your Kurta straight and not on the other side."

P.S: May appear exaggerated, but really how many people living in apartments know their neighbors very well? :-(