"बचपन के बीते दिन" - अमित गुप्ता

मेरे जुलाई रुपी खिड़की से जब बारिश के घर की ओर देखा, पलक झपकते ही बचपन के दिन याद आ गए| 80 और 90 के दशकों में हमे इन्टरनेट की नज़र नहीं लगी थी; और ना ही कंप्यूटर की उतनी आवश्यकता हुआ करती थी, हाँ सिखने की चाह थी, मगर ज़िन्दगी हमारी खेलने-कूदने में और दोस्तों के साथ वक़्त बिताने में गुज़रा करती थी| किसी सड़क के किनारे बैठकर दोस्तों के साथ चाय पीना, गंगा के किनारे बैठकर किताब पढ़ना, पूरे दिन क्रिकेट खेलकर घर जाकर पिताजी से डांट सुनना, और बारिश में भीगकर कीचड़ में फुटबॉल खेलना|
उन दिनों इश्क़ का भी अपना अलग मज़ा हुआ करता था - स्कूल या कॉलेज में कोई लड़की पसंद आ जाए, तो दिल में एक खलबली सी मची रेहती थी; कि उससे कैसे अपने दिल की बात की जाए, दोस्ती कैसे की जाए - कभी दोस्तों से पैगाम भेजना तो कभी उसकी कॉपी में एक छोटा सा नोट छोड़ना, और कभी-कभी हिम्मत जुटाके उसके रूबरू होकर अपने दिल की बात कहना; शुकर है उन दिनों फेसबुक नहीं था - उस खलबली में, उस बेचैनी में जो मज़ा था वो फेसबुक पर कहाँ|
और कभी अगर घर के लैंडलाइन पे किसी लड़की का फ़ोन आ जाए, और पिताजी ने फ़ोन उठा लिया - तो शामत एक नए रूप में आपके सामने खड़ी हो जाती थी; हाँ मोबाइल फ़ोन नहीं था पर उसके ना होने का कोई दुःख भी नहीं था| उस वक़्त लोग एक दुसरे से रूबरू मिलते थे जब एक दुसरे को देखना चाहते थे - मोबाइल पर ना तस्वीरें भेजने का साधन था और ना ही स्काइप पर विडियो कालिंग करने का - अब भला किसी इंसान के साथ गंगा किनारे बैठकर बात करने में जो आनंद है, वो विडियो कॉल में कहाँ|
जब कभी किसी दोस्त का जन्मदिन होता था, तो सारे दोस्त उसके यहाँ हल्ला बोल देते थे, और पार्टी चाय के दूकान पर या फिर किसी छोटे केक के दूकान में होती थी, कैफ़े-कॉफ़ी-डे और मधुशाला का चलन नहीं था; उस चाय-बिस्कुट और केक में जो आनंद था वो आज दो-सौ रूपये के कॉफ़ी में या फिर ब्लैक-लेबल के लार्ज पेग में भी नहीं होता|

अक्सर अपने दौड़-भाग भरी ज़िन्दगी से नज़रें बचाके, जी लेता हूँ आज भी उन सुनहरे दिनों को - वहां से वापस लौटने का मन तो नहीं होता, पर हाँ उस ख़याल में मेरी सबसे अज़ीज़ साँसे ज़रूर बसती हैं| कोशिश येही रहती है कि वो बचपन के दिन मेरी ज़िन्दगी से, मेरी यादों से कहीं ओझल ना हो जाएँ, इसलिए घूम आता हूँ उन गलियों में आज भी मौका निकालके; आखिर इसी को तो जीना केहते हैं|

Open Letter to Air India: A Disgrace to the Country.

26^th Sept 2014: AI022 – Delhi to Kolkata – delayed for 2 hours than its scheduled departure.

TOI Report – 20^th Sept 2014 – Air India officials danced as a flight ‘waited for 3 hours’ to take off.

(Full story)

TOI Report – 7^th Aug 2014 – Narrow escape for passengers of Air India flight.

(Full Story)

TOI Report – 2^nd Aug 2014 - Air India plane’s tyre bursts while landing in Kozhikode.

(Full Story)

If I put up all the news updates from Google on Air India, the draft for this open letter would be complete, and the best part is no editing shall be required too, as one can barely edit facts – just like for an accountant its impossible to modify the P&L or the Balance Sheet of a loss making company, and especially one that has a burden of debt hanging as wind chimes on its flight windows.

When my father flew for the first time, he flew Air India and he said, this airline will take us places on the world map – this is our own airline. It was some thirty years back. Least did he know that Air India today has announced free air tickets to its 24,000 employees, even after an expected loss of Rs 3,900 crore this financial year with a heavy debt on its shoulders of Rs 35,000 crore. But then who cares for burdens when your employees get free tickets. While your top officers such as functional directors and joint managing directors are shamelessly entitled to get 24 free tickets each year, deputy general managers and above get 20. The not so funny part is; you guys call it a company policy named, 'Passage Entitlement-Vacation Travel'. I’m yet to find the right word to describe my feeling – a huge shame shall be an understatement of that very understatement.

I have been travelling both on domestic and international circuit for about ten years now, and for the first time in my life I thought to fly Air India, God knows what curse fell upon me at that moment when I made this choice. There are still places on this planet where one wants to reach on time, and that place is called home; especially when your mother is sitting by the window waiting for her son who is coming to see her after one long year. His father left early from office so that he can have dinner with his son, he has his stories crafted – yes the ones he always tells on the dinner table. The younger sister is waiting for her gifts that his brother will be getting for her. But I am very sure that you and your staff can’t feel such emotions of human bonding. And to tell you the truth I am not a bit surprised that you are a loss making company.

When my flight AI022 got delayed by thirty minutes, I and other co-passengers were angry, but somehow we didn’t react – I must say we appreciate challenges that an airline experiences sometimes. And so we all were waiting in the ever beautiful and huge Terminal 3 – New Delhi. Just when the time came for the gates to open, there was a confident announcement – “We apologize, but AI022 will now depart at 21.30 instead of 20.45.” Now what do we do with your apology, lay eggs, make omelets and sell at the airport, or do you suggest we play hide and seek in the airport with fellow passengers? Feel free to give me a shout if you have any other ideas – on how to utilize a passengers wasted time. When a few passengers walked up to the announcement desk to complain, they were simply given an email ID, “Yeh email id hai, yahan par aap feedback de sakte hain. Mujhe kuch nahi pata, flight 21.30 baje hi chalegi (This is the email ID for feedbacks, please email your complaints here. I don’t know nothing, the flight will take-off at 21.30 only).

Well I have been in the Service Industry for more than ten years now, and this was the most perfect way to speak to a frustrated customer, I found. Whoever says courtesy and politeness is what keeps a service industry alive in the market; but then, you are already dead and buried. And nothing you can do now that will bring your life back – neither tax payers’ money which is your ventilator nor government funds which also comes from us.

Now let’s get back to AI022. Well we didn’t take off at 21.30, that actually was the boarding time and your boarding procedures are so speedy and swift – that it took about forty-five minutes to complete the boarding. While entering the plane, when I was greeted by the Air-Hostess, I couldn’t stop myself by saying, “A couple of more hours and you would have said, Good Morning.” Well I was taken aback by the audacity of your staff, “After landing Sir.”

Well then, “Make sure you get me my early morning coffee, and I like it black.”

So we took off at 22.10, actually that was the time I was to land in Calcutta to be home on time for dinner. So now we took off, no water served to passengers who were waiting for more than two hours, no juice served – no refreshment. So no guilt in your hearts that passengers waited for so long, you could have at least served some water, forget about juice, which I know you can’t afford, as you have reserved that money for free tickets for your employees. Just then your Captain walked into the economy class and started speaking to a gentleman (he must be in his 50’s, and beside him was wife in the window seat.)

“Sir, why are you travelling in economy, that’s just not done? I am flying the plane and you will sit in economy. No, No" – he said in his hinglish accent. "Please come to the business class.”

And then both of them got up from their seat and parked themselves into business class. Well I would like to ask you something, “Who gives the right to a Captain to upgrade someone just like that?” I don’t know who that man was, some bureaucrat or some corrupt government official – or whoever, I don’t care. He paid the same amount as I did, I waited as much as he did, or may be more, and others too in the plane. Why this hypocrisy? Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, the food you serve; they serve better food in road-side dhabas. Try it some time, you will have to come out of your big car though, but I am sure you will attain value for money, which you have been incapable of providing, for I don’t know how many flying miles.

Now when we landed, I missed seeing that air-hostess, as I was in a mood to have coffee. But then I thought it would affect your P&L and your Balance Sheet; you are already running into huge losses and debts – consider that a gift from a passenger who for sure had a sukhadmay yatra (pleasant flight). I have written to all the Hindi and English dictionaries to change the meanings of sukhadmay and pleasant. It should be at par with its real meaning, don’t you think!

Air India – do us countrymen a favor, remove the word India from your company name. We Indians don’t like our country’s name to be used with such disgraceful demeanor and shameful act of providence.

Unlike You

Truly Indian

Amit Gupta

The Nameless Grave

Amidst realism and shadow I stood wearing an ordinary face, inconspicuous but rebellious. I had left home in search of illumination, my grave was lying breathless, the flowers on it looked stale, the soil had turned grey being tired of carrying the color red, the trees had turned black being burdened of the color green, there was nothing around me that had life, nothing that breathed anything other than the truth; the truth of the dead and the buried.

I looked at my grave only to find, my name was erased, I kept rubbing the stone to find some trace of my name that was once inscribed on my grave, but apart from the last alphabet of my last name, there was nothing to be found - "E". I sat down on the ground feeling like a stranger in my own house, more like a guest. I was unaware for how long has been my name erased from the grave-plate! And for how long I have been a stranger and a guest in my own house? Just when my mind began contemplating some questions and their truthful answers about myself and my identity, about my life that has gone-by, and the number of years I have spent in this dark den; I heard some sounds coming from the nearby park located near the graveyard. I paid attention and found it was none other than one of my own written verses which was being recited by a young male voice. A moment of ecstasy ran through my heart, but before this moment could build to a permanent state of happiness in my mind my nameless grave took over the entire space in my mind, heart and eyes, and therefore turned me into a blind soul towards contentment and joy. This being the perks of being a famous poet after more than seventy years of my death.

I decided to take my rebellious legs to the park and hear my verses more clearly. Upon reaching the park, I found that a huge picture of mine was kept for display, decorated with flowers and scented candles, and a huge gathering was listening to this young man's recital of this dead poet's verses which I wrote some eighty years ago.

I stood there inconspicuous and rebellious amidst realism and shadow wearing an ordinary face. For I am yet to know which is my house - that nameless unattended grave where there are dry flowers or these people who are celebrating my birth anniversary with fresh flowers and scented candles in a park? 

Two Friends - Success & Failure

Failure- A word we all hate and don't even want to think about it in the weirdest of our dreams. When failure even thinks of knocking at our doors, we leave our respective houses and go and hide somewhere. And trust you me, that's the easiest thing to do when the fear of failure comes, but then some don't like to live that way. Some hate the feeling, some accept it, some fight it, while some conquer it.

Once or more than once in our lives we have been scared of failure - while in school/college we are afraid of failing in that one subject we are not good at [I know the only subject that is playing in your mind is Math’s], while studying to get higher education we are afraid of failing to make it to the best MBA/Medical/Engineering etc. college, someone who wants to be an Actor is afraid of failing in that important audition, while being interviewed for a job we are afraid of failing to get the job, while at work we are afraid of failing in that important project - which if fails - we might not get that promotion we think we deserve or we might lose our job, while in love we are afraid of failing to make it last forever and the list goes on. 

Sometimes we fail to even speak to ourselves, we hide in the market of self-pride, where we sell things we are good at, and always ignore the worst parts of our reality. We continue to successfully lead our lives that way in the name of living – if only ignoring your true self be called as Life, as a whole.

Failure provides frustration, disappointment, de-motivation, pain and all kinds of negative human emotions one can think of. But then Failure never leaves us in spite of having so much of negative impact on human beings. Is it right to say that it's an integral part of being successful?

We all just want to be Successful, Period!!
I wish Success could have been that easy, and maybe we could find the meaning of Success in a dictionary or maybe we could find a formula to be always successfull, but it doesn't happen that way. Some call it an accident that very few can survive, while I believe, "Success is to be friends with Failure.”

How you would like to make Failure as your friend, depends on how you perceive it – the choice is yours – it always was!

New Year but Same Old Society

…..And its again that time of the year when people are thinking to set their goals for Year 2013, while some would have already done that. Some might be still busy making resolutions; while some would have already broken the new resolutions being made on the 1st Jan 2013. Isn’t it funny, we wait for the year to end to make a resolution, and what happens eventually, we break it- unknowingly and knowingly- most of the times! So what’s the point of making them anyway! If you want to do something or change something in you, every single moment of the day is ideal to do so.


I often think, why do we have to name it resolutions, goals, targets, etc; can’t we simply say, “I will have to do it from this very moment, PERIOD.”

And often I see, our resolutions (or whatever we name it) is only for ourselves- Oh…How selfish we have become! How many times do we decide to do something for others? Say for example: Donating clothes in the New Year, buying some food for beggars, go to an orphanage with some toys & books for the needy children, or lets say, doing something very special for your Parents (who brought you to this world and made you who you are today), to name a few; and there are many more things that can be done.

Have you ever thought of treating the office boys who work in your office pantry, who serve you tea and coffee and who wash your cups and glasses?

Have you ever thought to buy a chocolate for your barber, tailor who make you look great, or atleast presentable?

Have you considered buying a nice meal for your maid or a gift, maybe, who makes your home look like as it is and who cooks food for you and your family?

Why can’t you buy pencils, pens, story books, pastel colors etc. for the poor children of your neighborhood?

There are millions of small things that you can do for people around you, and, it doesn’t cost you a fortune. It won’t even cost 1/10th of your Marks & Spencer dress that you brought to wear on the New Year Eve, or it may not be as expensive as your Armani Suit or not even thousands of Rs that you spent on Jack Daniels for your friends to drink on the 31st Dec night; and then after drinking your friends often create a chaos in the neighborhood-jumping and playing loud music like hooligans. If you spent a tiny bit of that money on buying milk for poor children, they will grow healthier.

I feel ashamed of the society I live in, a society full of hypocrites and egotists who only live to show-off their money, cars, big houses and what not. I may not be millionaire, but if this is how they conduct themselves in their so called filthy society, then I am happy being an ordinary man with an empty bank account, but with quite a bit of savings of feelings in my heart. I see men who don’t fear God, as they have painted their faces with evil, with the kind of things happening in today’s world: rape, murder, killings and what not. Humanity is dead in this ugly world, making it uglier than one can imagine. Its true that SATAN has to live for GOODNESS to prevail, but then, that doesn’t imply that evil takes over man and his surroundings and jeopardizes those aspects of the society that it was built for. Where is your respect gone for fellow human beings? If you don't consider yourself one, at least, treat the one in front of you as human; don't forget- whatever you do, you have to repay everything right in this very world.

I pray to Thee that man be able to clear “consciousness of his”, as that is the only way left to make this beautiful world truly beautiful and worth being proud of.

The Unknown Lake

I was once sitting at the side of a beautiful lake; with birds singing melodiously – the atmosphere was just perfect for my very first day at this unknown place, where I decided to spend my vacation. I surrendered myself to this new evening that fell on my lap unexpectedly – I was overjoyed. Lost in my own wilderness, I thought to myself, I should spend the rest of the evening sitting here – listening to the birds singing in harmony; just then I realized that the unknown lake, who stays with these birds here, might not want a stranger in her house, that too uninvited. I got up to leave, suddenly I heard a different sound altogether – it was a new song and a new bird singing, I looked around to find out where the sound was coming from, but I couldn’t find the bird.

I looked at the unknown lake and was about to bid her adieu, just when the bird with that different voice flew from a far away nest – she was a woodpecker. She sang more harmoniously now, seemed she was carrying a message from the unknown lake, asking me to stay back in her house, I was ecstatic. She flew right ahead of me, leading me to an old porcupine tree, situated right in front of the center of the lake –it looked like my new haven. I sat there humbly and now all the birds started singing together in harmony, seemed it was a new symphony created by God of Nature; the sun was about to set, the sky was wearing a blue colored dress decorated with orange colored jewelry and the last rays of the sun were making the unknown lake look like the road to heaven. I sat there quietly witnessing a magical saga of nature.

Darkness was slowly stepping forward; the unknown lake quietly embraced it, now her beauty looked magnificent; one-by-one, the birds stopped singing; their children were waiting for them in their nests, all of them flew back to their nests –it was time for their supper. I thought now I was all alone in the house of the unknown lake, but, the woodpecker was still singing: “I am alone, I am alone, I stay with the lake –my only companion, Together we stay –her quietness and my voice, I am alone for her – my only companion and I am alone.”

I sat there until darkness came to an end, only to realize, it was a dream.

First Day of School and Today's Everyday

Opposite my house in Calcutta was a school and in my room was a window through which I used to see the school life once upon a time -- during the times when I was in college and used to miss those beautiful days and wanted to go back to my school life. Somehow,one day, I closed that window. Why? I am still to find an answer.

Today I saw some small children while looking outside my bed-side window going to school, seemed it was the first day of their school. Some were smiling, while some were talking to each other; some looked sad, while some were crying.

With this sight, memories of my first day of going to school rushed towards my heart, seemed they were tired of waiting to come to my present days of life.

I remember how I was excited and nervous to go inside the school gate, but somehow, I was crying (don't know why though) and I repeatedly told my Mother-- take me home, I don't want to go to school. She kept on telling me, don't cry, you ain't going away from me forever, I am right here, waiting for you outside the school gate. And then when the day got over, I came running out of the school gate and my Mother embraced me.

When I look into my today's life, its like that first day of school everyday, the only difference is I don't cry, may be I have grown too old for that. 

Here I am today, leading life everyday like the first day of school- excited, nervous and passionate - enthusiastic to face a new day, a new beginning and to face new challenges.

As much as I wish to go back to my school life

for it sounds like a dream,

today

I don't go to School

but

I go to Life,

everyday

I step inside the Life's gate

where

new challenges and beginnings await

where 

excitement, nervousness and passion await,

for I embrace them

with enthusiasm.

Amit Gupta.

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Aliya

It was Aliya's 18th Birthday and she had always dreamt of meeting the man of her dreams on this very special day.

A big birthday bash was thrown by her parents and all her friends gathered. Gifts, flowers, chocolates and wishes were flowing from all corners of the room. Still she seemed looking for that very special gift, yes, the man of her dreams.

Suddenly she saw a very handsome man walking down the hallway, he looked familiar.

He had no gifts in his hands nor any flowers, he walked towards her with a smile and wished her. He first took her hand and kissed it and then he kissed her tender lips and walked away in a silent gesture leaving Aliya amazed. Her eyes lit up and they had a strange beauty in them.

The whole evening they both caught glimpse of each other, the evening passed with silent gesture of words and emotions. Dinner was over and she bid Good-Bye to all her friends and now she was impatiently looking for that man. Suddenly he tapped her shoulder and whispered in her ears, "I am waiting for you on the terrace where the Moon is lit fully tonight to shower its blessings on us".

She quickly ran up to her parents room and wished them Good Night and then she ran up to the terrace to live the moment she had been waiting for.

She was breathless when she reached the terrace, the guy took her in his arms, he was breathless too. He hugged her tight and kissed her passionately. 

The moon was witnessing two strangers who met for the first time in reality but seemed they were passionate lovers from their last lives.

He slowly took off her evening gown, his hands were on her breasts, caressing them and then kissing them.He kissed her all over- her neck, ears, eyes,thighs. They both lied down on the floor. O she felt like in some other world.

The moon also lost its breath by now, the clouds came and took the moon in his arms, leaving the passionate lovers alone.  

She started kissing him, she took off his silky white shirt and started kissing him all over. They both were in each others arms, breathless but alive. Aliya was feeling a strange sensation she had never felt before, sensation of being in a man's arms, breathing in the warmth of his body,she was feeling out of the world. 

While Aliya had always dreamt of this moment, but she never had dreamt that even the Rain Gods will bless her on this very night. 

They kissed each other passionately. They made love till dawn, seemed it was the last day of their lives and they would never meet again.The Rain Gods blessed them all night, seemed even it was the last day it was raining too.

She was sleeping wrapped in her man's arms and suddenly something shook her up, her mistress woke her up, yelling at her that she hasn't cleaned the house yet. She hurriedly got up and rushed to the living room. This was the place she dreamt where her 18th birthday was being celebrated.

The mistress's daughter walked in with her fiancee, he looked familiar, yes, he was the same man she dreamt making love last night.

She looked at the calendar and it was her birthday, her 18th birthday, the moment she turned back she saw the man smiling at her. He suddenly started walking towards her wearing the same smile he wore last evening.

Aliya's heart beats were losing control in a strange manner, the man came close to her and before he could say anything to her, she fainted.

Friday Evenings

So what’s the first thing that comes in your mind knowing that Friday has come, more so, the Friday evenings?

Make plans for the weekend, how to kick off the weekend by having a rocking Friday evening or lets say a weekend getaway, that’s something that also starts mostly on a Friday evening.

Now I do know, some of you work till late and Friday evenings are mostly spent on calls, meetings or making a boring presentation. I can understand how terrible you feel about that. And I also know that when you have to attend a party or a get-together on a Friday evening, you have to do a lot of planning and change your entire day’s schedule, painful indeed.

And then there will always be some people who would leave early and bid you ‘Bye’ in a very teasing manner, as their weekend has started, whereas your day hasn’t ended yet, forget about the so called weekend.

I hope I didn’t touch a wrong chord there. Ok, enough of sadness, lets move on, remember it’s a Friday.

For the other category who get free early in the evening, can do a variety of things- catch up with a friend over a cup of coffee, watch a newly released movie, go to a pub or disc, call up a few friends over to your place for a get-together, spend some time with books and there are many more things to do.

Shall we call these people the lucky ones as their weekend kicks-off before Saturday begins. I know the lucky ones are smiling now, looking down on the unlucky ones.

Stop smiling folks, nothing is permanent. You never know when you will have to work late on Fridays and then you know what follows next! So stop looking down and look ahead to the wonderful "Friday Evening" moment and enjoy it while you have it.

The question however is, do people who get free early on a Friday evening enjoy more as compared to the ones who work till late?

Well I wish I had a perfect answer to that, but then it completely depends on how you enjoy Life and its moments, be it a Monday evening or a Friday.

So while I go and make a peg of Single Malt for myself to celebrate this moment, you have a great"Friday Evening". We shall meet on the other side of the weekend.

Here’s raising a toast to Life and the ever famous “TGIF”.

आम आदमी

कल राह पर चलते वक़्त 

एक बुज़ुर्ग आदमी पर नज़र पड़ी 

भेष भूसा से वो एक आम आदमी लग रहे थे 

वो एक सरकारी दफ्तर के आगे खड़े हुए 

परेशान नज़रों से उसे घुर रहे थे ।

मैंने जाकर पुछा, की क्या बात है 

उन्होंने कहा, बेटा

समझ नहीं आ रहा है अन्दर जाऊं या नहीं ।

जेब में सिर्फ १०० रूपये मात्र हैं 

तिन दिन में इन्होने मेरे सारे पैसे ले लिए 

एक छोटा सा काम करने के लिए 

यह सोच रहा हूँ की 

अगर मैंने यह १०० रूपये भी दे दिए

तो रात की रोटी कैसे जुटेगी ।

मेरी बीवी पिछले हफ्ते गुज़र गयी 

अगर मैं भी उसके साथ ही मर जाता 

तो उसका मृत्यु-प्रमाणपत्र लेने के लिए 

मुझे इन लोगों के हाथों रोज़ मरना तो ना पड़ता  ॥

Frustration

What’s the first thing that comes in your mind with the word-Frustration? Do you feel angry, dejected, demoralized or all of them?


No, you won’t find the meaning of Frustration in a dictionary, just like Success you have to achieve it to know what exactly is Success, similarly for Frustration you have to feel it before you can know the exact meaning of it.

I often wonder, is frustration a state of mind which comes out when triggered due to circumstances that we tend to avoid or feel sad about. Another interesting fact that amuses me is, you may be frustrated due to something that happened in your childhood or lets say in a meeting that you had with your boss a day before or an ongoing event that has been following you like a shadow from your past, walks alongside you in your present and even scares to keep following you in your future.

I wish I could simply call it an expression of intense anger, may be I would have to read a few psychology books to get an answer to that. Lets then park this for the time being.

So when do we feel frustrated? If your answer is, always, then there is something seriously wrong in either you or your surrounding environment. So lets leave these category of people. (If you agree with me on this point, raise your hands).

So for those of you who feel frustrated sometimes, when is it that you get this great feeling called Frustration?

I am sure there are innumerable instances, lets see how many of them we can capture.

During our childhood all of us used to get frustrated with a subject called History (counting out the exceptions ofcourse).
[Or]
The Girl/Boy you had a soft spot for, always ignored you.
[Or]
Not having enough pocket money during your College Days.
[Or]
Not being able to crack your first Interview.
[Or]
Having arguments with your Boss on a regular basis.
[Or]
Not having got that promotion that you thought you always deserved.
[Or]
Having a painful relationship with your partner. (Hope I didn’t touch a wrong chord there!). Can we call this one of the biggest forms of frustration? Feel free if you would like to do so.
[Or]
Not able to fulfill your dreams & aspirations and chasing them tirelessly. (This, for one, is surely the most lethal frustration that I have known).

And there are millions of instances like these.

So what do we generally do when we fall under a frustrating situation?

Talk out loud about it to everyone around you (the most common way of showing your frustration), keep quiet and live with it (don’t know how many of us do that), try not to think about it (its easier said than done), try to work it out to make it non-frustrating (we are talking about the doers here), let it pass with a smile (now you need some character to do that), keep your patience levels high and wait for the right time to turn things your way (patience is not easily available, mind you) or just walk out of the situation ignoring it completely (ignorance is bliss as we know, for some people atleast). There could be many more things that one can do while being in this feeling, depends on an individual’s perspective towards Life.

We all go through this feeling everyday while living our lives, how we deal with it is something that makes or breaks us.

The choice as always is Yours.

O Santa

With Christmas round the corner

I look for Santa

for him to spread happiness

to spread love

I look for him to bless me

bless me with a heart

to forgive enemies

to remember long lost friends

to seek forgiveness from friends

who are angry with me

I look for him to bless me

bless me with love

to remember that moment

when I first fell in love

I look for him to bless me

bless me with that smile

I can spread among humanity

bless me with that smile

which never leaves me

While I was searching for him in desperation

I heard a voice whispering in my ears

I am Santa

I reside within you every moment

in moments of happiness

during times of pain and agony

during hours of loneliness

during days of sadness

I walk with you tirelessly

without my shadow coming in your way

I am Santa, I am You.

Dream and Do

While I sit back and think about my childhood, I visualise those lovely moments of friendship, playing, singing, living life to the fullest and above all, my dreams. And then suddenly my thought shifts to my so called today’s life- dreams, meetings, conference calls, emails, presentations, credit card bills, phone and internet bills, household expenses, and the list is endless.

When you grow up as a child, you have some dreams of your own and in some cases you have to fulfil the dreams of your parents. More often than not your dreams shape up as per the circumstances around you.

Some give up their dreams to the circumstances and live with it their whole lives with a guilt and one day they die with their dreams buried alongside them. Somehow they spend their entire lives without realising the fact that dreaming is not enough, you have to be a doer.

The other category is of those who keep fighting with their circumstances to fulfil their dreams, some do achieve them one day while some don’t, whether they fulfil it or not completely depends on an individual. At-least this category of dreamers don’t die with a guilt, a sense of satisfaction is buried alongside them when they die as they at-least tried to achieve what they dreamt of.

There is another category of dreamers, you can call them the achievers. No matter what these people don’t sit back unless they get to their dreams. Or shall we say these are species who convert their dreams into a vision. They are passionate about what they do, obsessed with their dream and needless to say they stand out in the crowd of non-doers. Also it’s not necessary that they are super intelligent human beings, they are ordinary people with extraordinary self belief. This particular category of people die with pride buried alongside them, pride of achieving of what they dreamt of.

I don’t wish to share any examples, I would leave that to you to recall the names of those great people.

"Dreams should make you uncomfortable, it should itch your brain, make your heart restless, transform your spirit into a fighter, make your days tireless & nights sleepless and make your breath unstoppable."

On that note I leave you to “Dream and Do”.

O Calcutta..

It was June 5th 2004 when I left Calcutta physically in search of a better career and came to Delhi. I never imagined that I will survive being away from the place where I was born, the place where I learnt how to fall while trying to take my first step as a child and then started walking. I have been walking since then tirelessly.

I wish I had a perfect answer on whether I have successfully survived these 7 odd years being away from my birth place.

The local trains crowded with people, the debates over Cricket on topics like whether Gavaskar was the best Batsman India ever had or who is a better player Saurav Ganguly or Sachin Tendulkar; arguments on who is a better playing football club- Mohun Bagan or East Bengal; heated debates on who will be the next Football World-Cup Champion- Brasil or Argentina; small groups of daily passengers playing cards; the hawkers selling lemon candies,peanuts and many more eatables; the book worms reading novels in that noisy train journey; some reading Anandabazar Patrika (the famous Bengali newspaper that comes in almost every Bengali house in Calcutta); students debating about the political scenario in Calcutta and their future; the Baul's singing Baul gaan (Bengali Folk) in some compartment's. 

Roads filled with private buses, mini buses and their conductors shouting Sealdah, Moulali, Burrabazaar, Esplanade, Park Street, Howrah etc. The Govt buses driving fearlessly faster than the private and mini buses. 

Hand Rickshaws which take you in the narrowest of streets in Calcutta in places like Chandni, Burrabazaar etc.

The Tram that gives you a sense of steadiness and the sweet sound of the Bell when a tram stop comes gives you goose bumps.

The Yellow Ambassador- the local taxi in Calcutta gives you a royal feeling due to its sofa like seats and the  fearless driving of the taxi drivers who know the streets of Calcutta in and out.

Streets of Esplanade (also known as Dharmatala) that are always crowded with hawkers all around the street, people- shopping, eating, walking towards Park Street or Chandni etc. The Metro Cinema, Lighthouse,Roxy, Regal  where fates of Movies are decided.

College Streets flooded with Students who go there to buy all kinds of books starting from academics to novels- both old and new. The famous Coffee House in College Street opposite the Presidency College is always flooded with Presidency College students & alumni members and also students of other colleges nearby. All kinds of discussions takes place in the Coffee House starting from Politics, Sports, Movies, Art & Literature.

The Lake Gardens where you would see boys and girls walking hand-in-hand alongside the lake or sitting beside the lake romancing, talking about their future, dreams and life.

The famous Victoria Memorial where you would see tons of foreign tourists visiting everyday. The Eden Gardens which is one of the best grounds in the World stands tall at the heart of Esplanade. When a match is hosted at The Eden Gardens with more than a 100,000 plus seating capacity with passionate cricket fans supporting India shows the spirit of the people of Calcutta and the flood lights that lit up the entire Esplanade area- it is absolutely out of the world.

The Kalighat temple where people come from all parts of the Country to worship Maa Kali.

The Street food without which Calcutta won't be Calcutta- eggrolls, puchka (gol-gappas), aloo-kabli (a spicy chaat made up of potatoes), mughlai paratha (a dish made up of egg and mutton in it served with a dish of potatoes), fish fry, aloo chop, piyaji, mutton and chicken cutlet, singhara, dim-er devil (a chop made up of egg), chowmein, jhalmuri are some of the most loved eatables when it comes to street food.

You cannot think of Calcutta without Rosogolla, Mishti Doi, Sandesh & Chena Pais. The City is famous for its sweets and I can proudly say the World loves it.

The Fish markets crowded with people at any hour of the day selling all kinds of fish starting from Hilsa/Ilish, Bhetki, Rou, Pomfret, Singi- to name a few and then the sea food items like Prawns, Crab and Lobsters.

The noise of the City makes you feel at home, the evening adda brings together friends making you feel alive and refreshed, Rabindra Sangeet in the morning in most of the houses makes you feel you are at the cultural capital of India.

The quietness of the east banks of Hooghly River makes you feel at peace and at serenity.

I have been physically away from the City of Joy but the City of Joy has never been away from my heart.

Happiness

For quite a long time I wanted to write something about happiness, I thought may be I would be able to write it better if I am happy, but then it was coming to me for a nanosecond and then it used to  return to its original destination. So I gave up the idea and thought let me make a start and see if I reach the end with or without being happy.

Don’t we sometimes think that where does happiness reside, within us, in our environment or some place else? I am still to find an answer to that, the closest I have got is it resides within us and it’s a mere state of mind and nothing else.

So when do we feel happy?

Let’s take a few examples, we are happy when we get our salaries, gifts, promotions, appreciations at work, crack a good business deal, a pleasant surprise and the list goes on. So what happens when some of these things happen to us, our state of mind changes, it leaves the earlier state it was in and a new state of mind takes over.

No, it isn't surprising that our state of mind isn’t constant, given the fact nothing is permanent and change is the only constant on which this universe is surviving. So at a particular moment if our state of mind is joyful, the other moment it can be sad and another moment we may be angry on something. Is our mind also working on the same law of universe, “Change is the only constant”!

Shall we then say Happiness is momentary?

Now come on, Google won’t give you an answer to this question nor you can find the meaning of it in any dictionary, you will have to find an answer yourself.

Sometimes I do think, why does happiness needs to be so hyped up, if you smile all day, doesn’t that mean you are happy in any circumstances. I have seen people who never look unhappy or tensed, they are always smiling and they always look calm and composed. Not that they don’t have problems or anything (who doesn’t have problems), its just that they choose to remain happy, come what may. Shall we then say they have been successful in taming their state of mind and make it work against the “Change is the only constant” law?

Try and recall the last time you were very happy and how long did it last, I am sure it didn’t last forever, or do you remember the last time you were sad and it lasted forever.

I wish I could conclude the meaning of “Happiness” for you, and so, I leave that to you.

Drinks and Nothing Else

Well, I know some of you don’t drink or don’t like the idea of drinking or think it a waste of money or think that its not good for health.

That’s OK.

You are not the only one, there are a lot of exceptions just like you, who think, “What does one get by drinking”?

Not that I have a perfect answer to that question, or shall I say there is much more to life other than finding perfect answers to things that give you pleasure, such as drinking in this case.

It all starts at the age of 18 or sometimes 16, depends on the environment you have been brought up into and ofcourse your friends. Generally it starts with Beer as when your friends tell you to drink, you say no, I don’t drink or mostly we would say,if dad comes to know I am gone, etc. they would tell you, “beer isn’t alcohol, it contains a very minimal percentage of alcohol”. And then what, more often than not, you start.

Yes, you take the first sip of alcohol, or let’s say the first sip of minimal percentage of alcohol better known as Beer.

At first the beer tastes bitter but then with time it becomes smooth and pleasurable. Drinking beer today is far more economical than driving a car as its cheaper than petrol prices in India. For those of you who drive a car and drink beer as well, I am sure you enjoy buying that one bottle of beer more than buying petrol. For all of you who agree with me, lets raise a toast to that. CHEERS!!

And comes the time when you want to drink something more stronger, the so called hard drinks in literal terms. Whiskey, Rum & Vodka become your new friends.

When you are in college, you don’t have enough pocket money left after spending money on your girlfriend/s & movies, you tend to pick up a bottle of Royal Stag, Royal Challenge or McDowells when you plan to drink Whiskey as it comes at a pretty handy price. Let me try and recall, the first time I bought a 750ml bottle of Royal Stag when I was in college, I had spend around Rs. 200. 

And when you plan to drink Rum the best is Old Monk, as they say, cheap and best. Although now there is Old Monk Gold Reserve which is a refined version of Old Monk and tastes far better.

After college when you start working and earn some money, slowly your taste changes. You move to Blenders Pride, Signature, Teachers or 100 Pipers. And starts the arguments with friends on which of these 4 to buy, the first three have somewhat a similar taste whereas 100 Pipers is a lot smoother than the first three.

Vodka tastes better with juices and cold-drinks. Romanov & Smirnoff are two good brands that are available in the market. Some like to have Vodka in the James Bond style, “Shaken & not Stirred”, whereas some just like Vodka shots, it does hit you hard, not as good as tequila shots though. 

A time comes when your taste changes with age and you want to drink less but high quality alcohol. If you are a Whiskey lover, I know what you are thinking of, let me take a guess, you may be thinking of Single Malt. Single Malt is expensive and it does damage your pocket quite a bit, but then, nothing beats the taste of having Single Malt. Another interesting fact to it is you don’t have to drink those 6-8 pegs that you normally drink (or let’s take an average of 4-5 pegs), Single malt has a very high purity level and the quality of the alcohol is far better than the blended whiskey, if you drink 2-3 pegs you would feel as high as you feel after having 5-6 pegs of blended whisky, or may be better. This is one of the reasons you pay more for a  Glenfiddich, Glen Drummond, Balvenie, Kilchoman, Highland Park, Glen Ord, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Springbank, and Tamdhu. These are some of the best available Single Malt Whiskies in the World.

For Single Malt, the older it gets the better it tastes, and now after developing that taste for purity and class, you step up the drinking ladder by making collections of Single Malt Whiskey starting from 8 years old to 25 years old.

So whether its the weekend or its winters or its raining out there or its too hot or its festival time or its celebration time or its a sad moment, drink to prosperity and happiness.

DRINK FOR PLEASURE AND DON'T DRINK TO GET DRUNK..... CHEERS!!

10 reasons to hate facebook

1. If you don’t like crowded places, facebook is not a place for you. You will find all kind of people in it, just like when you travel in a metro/ tube/bus/train you tend to bump into all categories of people, people who are weird, ugly, interesting characters, beautiful people and all other categories you want to categorize people into. But unlike a metro or tube where you would not talk to a stranger unnecessarily, on facebook you may receive a friend request or a poke from someone you don’t know at all. And to add on that you can get messages from strangers as well asking what you do and where are you from etc. Facebook was never for you.

2. Places- facebook offers a functionality which tells the exact location of where you are at a given point of time, this implies that you don’t have any privacy. Be rest assured to face questions and remarks from your friends when you are at a particular place and you didn’t want them to know about it. Especially when you are in a relationship and want a hideout, may God bless you.


3. People talk just about everything on facebook, starting from what are they eating, where they are, movie reviews, political views, expert comments on sports,social issues or any other matter that you can think of as a debatable topic. One thing that is scarce on facebook is the respect of others views and thoughts. If you like expressing your views freely, facebook isn’t the place for you.


4. If you are an amateur photographer, writer, painter, musician etc. or even an artist who believes in constant learning and growing and also appreciating others creations, facebook isn’t the place for you. You will find great artists who only believe in their own creation and think that others don’t have creative abilities. I don’t know if you will be surprised to hear, as a matter of fact, all these great artists achieve their so called greatness by mutual admiration (I leave it to you to define the mutual admirers group).These great artists don't believe in the fact that Art is never perfect. Oh yes, feedback is something you will never have to ask for on facebook (it comes free of cost and against your will).


5. If you have a bad argument with any of your friends, barely it will happen when you will get to know the issue direct from your friend’s mouth (surely there will be your best friends who will always come to you and tell you if they felt bad about anything you said to them, and for such friends it doesn’t matter if they are on facebook or not), you can expect to read that friend’s status message directing at you. If you like direct conversations, facebook is not for you.


6. If you are in a relationship and you accept a friend request from the opposite sex, you will face questions from your partner, needless to say questions often lead to arguments. If you believe even if you are in a relationship you still have your own life, and can still make friends then facebook shouldn’t be in your browser history as the last logged in page.


7. If you are there to make friends, be in touch with your school friends or old childhood friends or have a nice social life, you are mistaken, mostly people use facebook to prove their point, publicize their skills, showcase their creativity. Basically it has to do with gaining attention and show-offs. If you are not an attention seeker, sorry you won’t feel too happy being on facebook.


8. If you don’t like being part of online communities created by your friends or acquaintances and wouldn’t want to see unnecessary updates that keep popping up every minute, facebook isn’t the place for you.


9. If you are a private and reserved person and don’t want people to interfere in your personal life, facebook may very well destroy your private and personal life.


10. If you want your email account to be secure and safe, facebook isn’t for you.