Punctuated life ......

Can you imagine a world without punctuations? Say for instance, if suddenly we decided not to use punctuation from this moment on. How would our life look like ….

Bosses would be happy with staffs working their arse off. Parents would be delighted with their kids giving all the time to their study since they will be studying, studying and studying. But would it really be such a rosy picture. Think of it buddy ...... think hard ….

For the couples who would be making love as I write this… They will never stop, nor even slow down (remember a comma (,) is a punctuation as well). God help them who are really driving it hard … I can’t even imagine the scene (well not truly, I infact can ...)

Rita and Mita would go on with their usual chit chat. Can you think of what all they would be gossiping when they would run out on all the juicy stuff.

Michael would have just hit the soccer ball (just wanted to be explicit), would he be tired? Give him a break he needs water atleast …..

Sam has just entered the office. Alas! He will never return home and his oh! So faithful wife would never cease to wait for him (she can’t even get into an extra marital affair)

The operas would be unending, the concerts would run dry, there would be no vacations and no breaks, there would be too much pleasures leading to pain …

And God save the place which has been just hit by the terrorists ……..

Everything in life has its meaning and importance. Nothing that has been found or discovered is meaningless or not-apt. Within the abysmal there is something that is right. Punctuations are important in our life in the same manner that constant energy source and work is ……. We all need a break whether from work or from pleasure ….

So all you guys who have slogged your arse off this whole week have a gr8 weekend …. and for my sluggish lazy buddies ... it's time to wake up and get going .... happy weekend to you as well ..... chow ...

The freaking 13 ........

Call it superstition, disbelief (or rather strong belief) ludicrous thinking or anything…… but the number 13 freaks me out ……. Am I scared of demons, hell no! but I am scared of the number 13 … everything around the number is inauspicious to me …. spells omen and black magic at the back of my empty brain and brings ill-luck where there exists none … And most of the times all things that go wrong seems to go wrong only when I am around 13 ….

As much as I try to run away from the number it seems to come back and haunt me. And more often than not I put the blame squarely on 13 … the only real, unsympathetic and destructive enemy that I have ….. Today was another 13 in my life. All 13s are generally bad but today it was damn pathetic …

Umpteen mistakes on the presentation that I was working on ….. silly, ridiculous and I as much as I kept rectifying them, it seemed never to cease .. every time I took a print out (so called final print) and checked it (for the final time) and there I go …. Why didn’t I see it the last time was all I could think off …

Mama (my mom) got sick out of the blue and countless call back home didn’t seem to bring her colours black … Was it becoz 13 is black … Nah! people fall sick all the time … yes true but out of blue? I think it is a conspiracy …. a cursed controversy against me and I am simply not able to reverse it …..

Well the movie that I planned got cancelled … the customary Friday drink got cancelled ….. was sitting late in office (can u believe it, late in office on a Friday evening) and the day overall was generally bad …… co-incidentally now I remember I even wore a black shirt to work today ….

I can’t seem to avoid the number …. everytime I look at the watch it’s the 13th minute …. I log on to my comp and eureka it is the 13th minute ….. I get out of my house and bingo it is the 13th minute and as I come back for a peaceful nice little Friday night, I enter the house on the 13th minute ……

Will it ever stop stalking me …… or will I live to see 14 jump out of 12

And I wonder ...

Dark grey sky … far-far away

melancholic moon, hiding .... shying away

and I wonder …..

far off in the blue

a search for life with memory

a little rain and some pain ......

peaking … growing ….. dying away

somethings never change;and I wonder ….

Sun … sunny sun; and

bright moon filling the sky

rains and grass ….

smilling green peaks

hands in hands as we walked

a little tight; close by;

promising, looking ahead as we stood ...

Will those days ever come back; and I wonder

Do I know you ....

Half a mile sometimes, someplace

I walk along or runaway

thousands feet follow me

anywhere and everywhere ……

Unknown and unrecognized

some look like me

some look like him; as I see them

anywhere and everywhere ……

Do you feel the same that I do

lonely and unknown in those known ways ….

people like me but so unlike

anywhere and everywhere ……

Four meals a day?

Mired in black wooden box
unfitting shoes laces ….. unfastened and untangled
coloured, stationed, patience unhidden ……
black inhibited smile
sharp focus unaltered demeanor ……
with a shoe brush tucked in a corner.

Greasy little palmed fingers
blackish clothing dirty riddance …
borrowed smile with promising eyes ….
tool box and a multi errand
howling ears …… eviscerated bowl
three quarters a meal a penny can roll.

I see him running in your house
calling him names for delayed chores ….
his mother calls on the weekend
you listen on the other line … with some vengeance
he serves you day and night ….. faithful and diligence
and a prayer ….. thanking for food and pittance.

Matter of convinience

In the new arrival section of a book store that I visited recently, I saw compilations of Shakespear and Elliot. The authors' sections also had similar volumes. In the Jane Austen's section I found five books written by her costing HK $ 80 a piece and then there was a compilation of all the five novels costing HK $ 299. Needless to say one would buy a compilation rather than those individual books.

I distinctly remember the hundreds of book stalls in college street in Calcutta that I frequently used to visit during my university days. I used to pick up books randomly. My decision used to be based on the impression that I bought from the cover. Authors mattered only when I wanted to read one written by them. And on most of the occassions .... all that mattered was what I felt about the book by what was written at the back cover. I am not as voracious a reader as I used to be ....... but I haven't changed the impression of picking up a book when I happen to visit a store.

What makes a book ...... It's not only what's printed inside. To me the cover, the pictures ..... the author's dedication, his/ her introduction, the preface .... the back cover .... the copyright inscriptions, the publisher's trademark ....... all contributes to an experience that's called a book. And thorugh many emotions that a book carries itself to the end, I live a different life, till such time that the book's last page is turned over. The next book is always a new life ... a new experience. Ofcourse compilations are matters of convinience. Ofcourse it's a modern day thing. Ofcourse it reduces the cost of printing and hence makes books more affordable. Ofcourse ...... Ofcourse .....

Indian Govt! fails to honour

What's the price tag for a farmer's life. Well if he has committed suicide he is worth Rs. 10,000 ($250). That's all that his life is worth for. And what the value of the cheque of Rs. 10,000. Well none because Indian Govt. has no money left to even pay a paltry Rs. 10,000/-.

26 yrs old Vandana Shende's husband had committed suicide in utter disgust and shame for a life and society which could not provide four meals a day to his family. She got a cheque from the Govt. of the above value as price for the life of her husband. And the cheque bounced - the Govt. of India's cheque drawn out of Prime Minister's relief fund bounced.

I am becoming religious. Only God can help us now.

Wah Taj!

Frenzied voting and surreal persuasion. Vote for Taj. Well we have finally managed to regain the status of “The Seven Wonders of the world”.

Guys we have all contributed to the one particular cause. We ensured Taj gets it rightful place. Well it did. Its finally in the list ……….

The new seven wonders of the world are now:
Taj Mahal , India
The Great Wall of China
Petra, Jordan
Christ the Redeemer (statue), Brazil
Machu Picchu, Peru
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Colosseum, Italy
Pyramid of Giza, Eqypt (Declared an honorary candidate)

Faceless .........

She stood by the mirror looking at herself. She touched her face. She looked beautiful. Her face radiated under the fluorescent glow of the mechanical light. Her eyes inhibited no fear, perhaps because the fear was lost in the realms of so many human emotions that there were no fears. Her eyes looked beautiful beyond those realms …… for human emotions cannot touch a vacuum. Vacuum is sanctimonious; they are not to be touched. She lifted her face slowly without any effort like it was a leaf borne out of the wind …. moving from place to place with the alacrity of a vicious current.

She was lost in her books for so long she didn’t remember. She did not remember the time today. Time didn’t matter. She had kept her receiver down. She hadn’t heard the phone ring today. She owned her ….. she owned it atleast for today. That’s all that she had hoped to earn and it was hers. Nobody could take it away ……. No body simply could……….

It was evening when she finally got up. The sun had gone down and the brightness of the moon had yet not struck. There was still light in the air against the sluggish moving cloud. Vagabond. She thought of them as stupid just like herself. They had no direction. No sense but still they were moving. They had no purpose. Ridiculous she thought. How can something exists without their being; without knowing their own existence, their own purpose. The thought seemed to tire her for no necessary reasons. Reason, for they were not sufficient, they never were. As she moved to wash her face she looked herself in the mirror again. She saw somebody else. She had seen somebody else before as well. She looked closely as if she was reading a manuscript and was trying to fathom out the abyss. She didn’t look herself. She didn’t know how she looked. She had never known since the day that someone had looked in her eyes. She didn’t remember his face. She didn’t remember his existence ….. she remembered his eyes. There were no feeling today for she had lost all sense of feeling that there could be.

She looked at herself again. She found malice and unsightliness. She couldn’t bare to look at herself anymore for it was not her that she saw. She faintly remembered. The phone had not rung today. Nobody came …. There was no demand, the demand of hers for some means of living. Nobody had touched her today but she could still feel ……. all those touches which were like screaming howls of ugly pigeons being brutalized, being tortured for nothing but for the material means of existence ……………. She hurried to take a bath

Adieu boss ...

The following is the mail written to my ex-boss on his last day in office ......
___________________________________________________________________
Dear Satish,

Today being the last day for you in the organisation, I write this with a heavy heart of not seeing u again (in office) when I am back in Mumbai.

I sincerely hope and wish you do very well in all that you strive to do in future. I hope to see all your dreams come true.

I haven't told you enough but I should have, of you having been a great boss. I have enjoyed working with you for a number of reasons and above all of them for the sheer matter of fact that u r one of the nicest human being I have known and also for the sheer independence and support that you have provided me with over the last 18 months.

On my part I know I have been difficult at times and my sincere apologies for all the times when I have caused pain.

The greatest thing about you Satish, is you have taught me to survive. I remember when I had joined newly I was completely at loss of what was happening all around. I found you over the time non-pretentitious and letting me gain the foothold on my own. U don't realise how much that has influenced my professional life. I will always be grateful to you for that. (Your constant stress on "you should stand on your own two feet" still reverberates and is an inspiration).

I remember fondly of all my constant phrasing of "Satish, I need to speak to you for 10 minutes" and all the crap that I had to say for the next hour and half and how you listened with patience without judgement. I am grateful for giving me your time and being there when ever I wanted to speak to you.

And then there were several things that you did (and I am sure you wouldn't have even noticed that) which has made me learn all about team spirit, working professionally, to be precise and objective in work and always strive for excellence and not settle with mediocrity. Your constant endeavor to change the comments, the style of presentations etc had first taken a little resistance from me for its necessity and obscurity but I soon realised how important those suggestions were and I have tried to incorporate all of them in any further work that I did.

I will miss you Satish both as a colleague and as a person. It has been a roller coaster learning ride with you and this time I will say both personally and professionally and today when I look back I have enjoyed every moment and bit of it. THANK YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING.

With warm regards to you and your family
Alok

PS: Pls stay in touch .....u hv my personal no. and my personal e-mail id is alok.jha28@gmail.com

___________________________________________________________________
The following is what he wrote as his farewell message ....


Hi
It is exactly 6 years 7 months today that I started my journey with this phenomenal team, and as I use this email ID one last time I’m filled with reminiscence, of pride, of gratitude and of unadulterated affection.

In many ways these years have been more than exciting for me. I became part of a large family, I made friends with some incredibly warm people, been a close witness to exemplary leadership, and seen an organization grow from half a floor in BKC to this juggernaut.

I would like to use this melancholic moment to thank each one of you remarkable people who have partnered, supported and endeared me through this journey. It is difficult to name any individuals because when you work with such an invigorating team you don’t just remember people, you remember moments.

Its tough parting ways but all good things in life do come to an end. It is with a very heavy heart that I say Goodbye. I thank you again for being such wonderful people to share my work life with, and I move on with a lot of respect for all of you and a lot of friends for life, and would be honoured to stay in touch.

Best Regards
Satishwar