Hello Sidepillow

My dear dear pilllow,
My dearest sidepilow,
I wish to reveal what I feel about you

thanks for being there for me when nobody else was and for being here for me when nobody else is. thanks for being with me in my darkest, loneliest and scariest hours for the last twenty three damn years. i have committed much sin (ahem) to you i have vented much anger on you. i have defiled you in so many ways and so many times on inebriated nights of which i can recall only through the stains on you. i have hugged you and cried so often in my forlorn hours of damnation and the deepest pain. You know it all. And yet, despite everything, "thou hast patience and didst bear for my name's sake, and hast not grown weary". thanks for being my grandmother, my mother, my sister, my girlfriend, my wife and my daughter for all these years. this is the most emotional i have been in a long time and i owe it all to you.

Thank You for everything.

My life as a pillion

Yes. I am a pillion. One can find me at the back seat of the bike because Im not aware how to ride the monster. They say you need to handle it properly and it will take care of you. But till date I have not been able to interpret what they try to mean by 'properly'. If it is loosely, yes Ive tried that and met with accidents. If it is with style, yes Ive done that too(only while taking a pic). But why is it so that I am one of the very few people of my age who is yet to know what properly is like?
That could be because I haven't tried , or maybe because I didnt get the opportunity at the exact moment. As a kid, whenever I saw the advertisement 'Buland Bharat ki Buland Tasvir" I used to think that it as a big joke. A marketing gimmick (I didnt know the word gimmick then, I used to think in my native language and with all the new words that MBA has helped me to add to my dictionary, I guess gimmick suit the purpose). How is it possible that every other person in the country possesses a ride. So again, as a kid I never sat on a parked bike trying to make it fly. I didn't even get nearer to a scooter except in a traffic signal. Whenever I was required to go anywhere,  it was either the public transports of a hired cab.
As I grew up, none of my friends also possessed a bike and I never thought that there was anything weird in it. Or in other words, a motorbike have had always been a distant, alien, mechanical monster for me. But things change and it took a drastic turn when I came to Goa Institute of Management with the purpose of completing my post graduation. And here I belong to the minority of the people who doesn't know how to behave with the monster 'properly'. But I made friends and they always help me to go places. And that is when my life started as a pillion.
Now, it is in my nature, that whatever I do I do it really well. Be it some professional task, or be it personal. And so I soon turned out to be the best pillion ever (In case you are not a sexist).
I sit at the back of the rider. I carry his bags. I dont mind when he does not slow near a bumper (even if it hurts my arse a lot). I dont talk much (Obviously I dont want to distract the rider). And of course I am loyal (you give me a ride once, Ill always come back to you whenever I require something).
So I am proud to be a pillion, I love being one, and Ill continue to be a pillion till the time I properly interpret the word 'proper'

War of the Witties

Its been some 2 months as a PGP2 at Goa Institute of Management, and as it seems that I am the only dumb person in the entire campus. Ill rather stay locked in my room or listen to some stupid song than going to the canteen and meddle with people. Such a waste! A degree in Management helps one learn how to waste idle time as yet project that you are damn busy. And it is apparent from the numerous weird groups that has been set up in facebook that recently there has been an outburst in the Management students all across the country. Well, when Mark Zuckerberg came up with the noble idea of groups in the social networking site, I wonder what he had in his mind. Social groups historically was an attribute of the high or low strata of the society. Sophisticated, well groomed people generally used to clutter together and apparently used to laugh at each others' stupid jokes in the high society groups. While poor people in rugged clothes and a toothpick between their teeth used to plot some revenge against their oppressor in the other extreme. There used to be a certain set of criteria to be a part of any group. To be among the royals, one was required to project an image of success , and to be among the ruggeds all one was supposed to do was curse and lose temper. So historically the middle class people were always deprived of the experience of being in a typical social group. In such a scenario, zuckerberg gave everybody an opportunity. And the best thing about this new concept is that one need not have any marking feature. Some stupid moderator or user of one group randomly adds you and you are supposed to leave the group if you dont like it. The irony, one could make you join some group with a single click, but when you plan to leave it you always would get a warning like 'Are you sure you want to leave the group 'MAIN CHUTIYA HOON'?' Obviously you damn program ! So coming back to our topic, i.e the management program a GIM, somehow a stupid person like me who prefers to sleep and smoke the entire day feels jealous of all the witty people out there. How can it be that they get to come up with such amazing ideas whenever someone loses a key or a RFID.

Oh my gawd !! You are so funny man. And you are apparently so smart that you described what a RFID is! Give me a break, on our campus, it is alright to forget your pants but not your RFID. So that effort you took up was not necessary. And a treat , an absolute necessity when you draft a mail like this. Dont overlook the subject line. Awwww F*** ! You just made my heart skip a beat.
But its been an year and we are used to these things. A light tap on the delete button at one corner of my laptop generally helps to overcome when I face these mails. So we planned to come up with something new. It is relevant to mention over here that the theme of our business fest this year has been 'Innovation'. And I should have known that this thing was coming.Whenever anyone plans to go to panjim and the news is made public, all one gets to hear is a list of orders from KFC and Dominos. Though nobody really means it, but putting up a comment is facebook seems necessary. Even if the person leaving for panjim is your next door neighbor, still the preferred channel of communication seems to be Facebook ! Weird !

Neway, I dont complain. And maybe because I am not that fond of pizza/KFC, or maybe because I am too aged to find the humor in these mails and posts, they dont really appeal to me. But seriously man, you are so funny. Ha ha ha ! Im panting for breath. And I guess this post will help you get laid tonight. Ohkay , Ill grab a coffee !

Decide first

In this very world there are multiple places where you get to learn real stuffs outside the classroom. One of such many places in a B-school.
When a boy or a girl in their mid-twenties start from his or her home with a bag full of emotions he expects to return with the same bag filled with fulfilled expectations. In most of the cases, Yes, he does. But the few months and years that he/she spends in a B-Skul turns out to be completely different than what he had expected. He gets exposure to multiple faces and facets of multiple events. He makes friends (or at least tries to), but fails miserably. This might sound weird to many who expresses his/her MBA days as some of the best days that he/she has spent. But conditions do apply. You gotta be bad and opportunistic, else the system will teach you to be that way. Yeah its good to be opportunistic in today's world, but the question that arises is 'where do you draw the line?'. Do you play the opportunistic game with your friends? With your family? The line gets thinner with every passing moment. You fail to make out what is ethical(also known to be stupid), and what is not(thats the opposite of stupid i.e. smart).
So there is a constant trade off between being smart and being ethical. Its a tough decision to take. Sometimes it fades out that particular purpose of getting into a B-Skul. You fail to decide whether you are here to learn or to cope up with the particular smartness that prevails in the environment. Nevertheless thats a learning too

Its been days ... real long .. and though he came across a lot of interesting things to scriblle upon , he didnt get the zeal to do that. So he planned to narrate what the day was like. It was just another day at Goa Institute of Management. Starting from breakfast in the morning , to the tea in the evening. He climbed back to his room and was googling (google is a verb in case u are not aware) when some viral advertisement got his attention. A simple 2 inch * 1.5 inch advertisement promoting the famous movie Rang De Basanti. He immediately called out for the same and a batchmate was eager to help him out. The movie changed his day.
"Sarfaroshi ki tamanna, ab hamare dil mein hain.. Dekhna hain zor kitna bazu-en qatil mein hain" ... a simple line that is not too easy to say if u are an Indian. It lights that vigour , the patriotism. India won her freedom from the british rule some 54 years back. And a script by Bismil Azimabadi still gives us goosebumps. Are we being deprived of anything even today ? Are we still in shackles ? Or is it just a stimulus similar to that of alcohol ?

Today we live in a world full of opportunities. Oppotunities makes us dream.... better, bigger , higher. But due to a lot of problems or rather some obstacles, our dreams live in wonderlands. We aspire to rise, we aspire to shine, sometimes we fight for it and most of the other times we are either forced or we prefer to give up. According to newton's second law of motion .. or should I call that an universal law ... "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". So in this particular discussion action being to let go our dreams, we get a reaction very commonly known as the piling o frustration.
Let us take up some examples,
1. The first example should always focus in the area of career. GIM is a place where we have a lot of students who missed out on IIMs, XLRIs NITIE, MDI .. and other top ranked colleges. But that never extinguishes the dream . Similarly everybody in their job field either fails to register to the place he dreamt of or the very same job dusnt meet his or her expectations. This obviously results in frustration.
2. Ill take up the second example from personal lives. Be it with family , or lovers (this being the most common), people make sacrifices. Each and every sacrifice kills a dream.

In such a state of mind when one is made to listen to an inspiring speech... it plays the hair-raiser.
It is not alcohol .. it is similar to a crowd beating up a pickpocket with no intentions of making him learn a lesson.
Its not a drug .. its a form of venting out the frustration in store.
Its unfair to deny that it is also an effect of the genes , the patriotism in our blood. But can we chalk out the slice patriotism has in the entire pie ?
Can it be denied that the song "luka chhupi" brings tear to our eyes when we are away from our mother ? Does a song not have a much greater effect when it is in sync with our emotions ? When we cant turn our face to any of these .. why deny the fact that we are in chains ?

At times we find it difficult to explain our actions .. but as Oogway in Kung Fu Panda has mentioned, " There are no accidents ", our each and evry action also have some cause.

Well, this article is entirely a work of the mind of a dreamer and has no practical validity. So i would like to end with the very script that this article is based upon... read on ...

Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil mein hai

aye watan Karta nahin kyun doosra kuch baat-cheet
Dekhta hun main jise woh chup teri mehfil mein hai
Aye shaheed-e-mulk-o-millat main tere oopar nisaar
Ab teri himmat ka charcha ghair ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Waqt aanay dey bata denge tujhe aye aasman
Hum abhi se kya batayen kya hamare dil mein hai
Khainch kar layee hai sab ko qatl hone ki ummeed
Aashiqon ka aaj jumghat koocha-e-qaatil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
Aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
Khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
Sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
Aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe kafan
Jaan hatheli par liye lo barh chale hain ye qadam
Zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai

Yuun khadaa maqtal mein qaatil kah rahaa hai baar baar
Kya tamannaa-e-shahaadat bhi kisee ke dil mein hai
Dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inqilaab
Hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aaj
Duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai

Wo jism bhi kya jism hai jismein na ho khoon-e-junoon
Toofaanon se kya lade jo kashti-e-saahil mein hai
Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai.
Dekhna hai zor kitna baazuay qaatil mein hai.

~Bismil Azimabadi

Friends ...

In our lifetime we may come come across a number of friends. For some the 'number' could be a huge one, for some it could be of some smaller value, for some it could be 'zero'. But when people claim "I've no friends", i doubt the statement. According to the English dictionary, friend is an ally, a booster, an acquaintance, but most important of all, a friend is someone who stands by us in ups and downs of our life. Now, the question that crawls in here is 'What do we mean by ups and downs'? Well, the answer is simple. These are certain phases in life that we don't desire. Even the Ups? Yes, even those. When I think of myself as a child I never wanted to study. But the competition was tough. My parents wanted me to rise and shine. So there i sat down with my books turning a blind eye to everything bright and beautiful, anything that I actually wanted to be. So that was the down, and when I managed to score a ton, that was the up. But did I really desire of this so called 'Up'. No I didn't. I had friends, I remember their names and faces, I am in touch with a number of them. I grew older. Lost in touch with most of my childhood friends. They moved on towards their goal and I towards mine. Then passed with time like a rough dash of wind the high school, the college. The number of friends in the social networking database kept increasing. But there were a few more, the closest of the friends who do not feature in the so called friend-list. The school days were good enough, but it wouldn't had been so if the time, the environment had not been beside me. I still remember the first day of my school. I walked in scared, astonished, and i knew "This is not the place I wish to be in". My school had no problem with any of my complains. She embraced me with open arms and soon I was friends with my school. She stood by me during every Ups and Downs, in every good and bad. I hated my books, but no sooner I took them up as my closest friends. Do we ever wonder how does a history graduate manages to survive? Because that person manages to love history. The things I have spoken about this far are friends by choice. But what about a person who doesn't have a choice. Think of a cripple. He took up the stick as his friend. Think of Stephen Hawkings. He also made a friend for himself. Think of a person who hates his government, his job, his partners. In spite of hating all of them, they stay with him during his ups and downs. So according to the dictionary meaning, everything he hates might be termed as his friends. Someone said it correctly, "Kaid huye thhe hum, kaid se yaari ho gayi re"

Against the world ... Against the way ...

"Its in my genes", said the boy as the measuring tape around his waist read 37". So when he said 'genes', that goes back to the days when his forefathers were famous for having a huge pot belly. At that time, the bulge along the equatorial line of the brahmins were a symbol of prosperity and respect. But time changes and so does the ongoing beliefs. The thing that failed to change is the 'gene' that this boy has in him. No matter how hard he tries but the bulge keeps coming back. Let us rewind a few years. This boy was a very thin chap as a kid. But as he started to grow he started gaining extra pounds and at the age of 17 he weighted over a quintal (Yeah! You read that right). It was a real embarrassment when he was named 'the quintal kid'. So he planned to lose. He started off with regular visits to a gymnasium and within a few months he was delighted as the hard work started paying off. At 21 he had lost over 30 kilos and he thought to himself "This would do" ;). But soon the 'genes' revolted and as he entered the physically dormant phase of 'concentrate on your career', the 'genes' executed an outburst of anger. The needle on the weighing machine started ticking again while the jeans and trousers started undergoing 'material strength test' when they were clipped across his belly.
Now, the boy has two options --
1. He could revisit the gymnasium
2. He could keep a check on his diet
But both the options has a negative.
After witnessing the Anna Hazare hunger strike, the boy is sure that no mass revolt should be neglected and nothing should be done to suppress the revolt. So if the boy goes for the gym,it would be against the revolt of millions of genes and that would be highly against the rules of this world. Again, according to his mother, dieting (over emphasized form of keeping a check on meals) is not the answer to obesity. It is not the way. Here stands the confused boy, scratching his head, trying to find the answer... Which way would it be ? .... Against the world or Against the way ??