FLYING HOPES

You Live Within Me.......

2009-02-06T01:19:00.000-08:00

The world has declared you dead,But I don't believe...

With me, within me, you still live!!

It has been almost one year....

still I can feel you, smell and hear!!

I had created you, you are my part!

I don't believe that you can ever depart....
In every single day,you are always there..

In all my acts,and in my prayer...

I can't see or talk to you,

But I always care....

More than my daughter You were-My beloved little friend!

It was great fun!growing together-hand-in-hand!

I am desprate to see you just for once!

Will you agree? Will I get a chance??

Will you come? Will it be possible?

May be in the dreams!!!May be in the real??

The smart brains advise me--
I should not reason the Death!
But isn't it obvious
With the fractured faith?

Whom should I blame?
whose fault should I claim?
The position of stars??
Or the lines on the palms??

It is very tough!
But I have to try...
It is ridiculous to laugh..
When I want to cry..

I have to live in the name of-
"Life has to go on!!"
so living the deadly life,
with each new Dawn!

You are not dead..
Still living within me!
in your Maa!
who else can it be??

...Maa

**********************

Dear Friends,

I am recieving your comments ... they are very emotional, personal.. they touched my heart so I am keeping them there in my heart.. not publishing them.. Thanks for all the support and care..

THANK YOU!

A Visual Treat!! :)

2008-09-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!
It has been 15 long months for this blog to get a new post...
I thought that eventually this blog will die, but I was wrong....few days back it gasped again with Ekta's comment!
So this treat is for Ekta and You all dear friends!

Enjoy the brush work by a young girl--- :)

And her crayon work----

a black Peacock by her- :)

Now have a look at two rangloies by young girl with the help of her mother :)

with love

Rachana..

Kids in the pool....

2007-05-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today my daughter and I both were excited! She wanted to show me that she can swim….for last three years I was trying that she should learn swimming but she was so scared…like mother like daughter!
I don’t know swimming and for this matter I didn’t want her to be like me! But for her refusal to learn I gave up…..

This year she had been at her cousin’s place for few days. All her cousins used to go to the pool there …...she was the only one to be at the pool side watching them…she decided that she won’t allow her cousins to have fun without her! She decided to learn so she did!

She came back to me and I wanted to see her swim!
I enjoyed one hour at the pool….and this is what I saw there…....

Kids were there in the swimming pool,
Learning to swim with the “float” tool!

Blue, yellow, green and red,
Beautiful costumes with various shades!

Four, five, six….eight ,ten years old,
Some were shy, others were bold!

Some were energetic, others were lazy,
Some were dull, others were crazy!

Tiny pretty princess, sweet and cute!
That chirpy little girl, refused to be mute!!

The sweet little boy, worried and crying,
The trainer came shouting, “why you not trying?

Come on kid! Relax, be cool!
Don’t hide there, don’t make me fool!!”

Time and again, comes his turn!
Boy O boy! He was so scared to learn!!

“Few days later you will win!”
The trainer encouraged him, holding his chin!

All in all joy was beaming,
Kids were happy with playful swimming!

Like ducks or turtles or fishes do!
These “aquatic kids” can swim too!!
---------

One thing I would like to add that some parents just force their kids to learn. I was sad to see little kids in tears while their parents scolding them…they should give some time to the kids..let them enjoy to learn……

Live and ticking!!!

2007-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

All of you have been kind enough to drop here every now and then…and asking for me :) thank you !!
Well, I was here only…..
…Not that I forgot to write in English , it is just that I am enjoying more in Hindi…( mujhe bhee kuchch kahana hai) ….
** If you can read Hindi, please do visit there..I promise I won’t disappoint you. :)

…Not that I have nothing to share with you.. it is just that expressions are not coming out in a neat blog post….

….My little friend ( I fondly call her so!) Ketki is completing one year of her blog tomorrow. Though she didn’t write much as she was in her “tough 12th" standard….I hope to read more from her in the coming year….I love her way of “expression”. She has written a nice post on happiness a few days back….

I am very happy for Abhay kumar... his book “ River Valley to Silicon Valley” ( story of three generations of an Indian family ) has released on 2nd may ….. I had read this book and I liked it very much ..My coment on his book is- --“ A true Indian story told in a very honest, humble and innocent way without any drama.”

I am wishing all the best to both of my friends…..

MIGHTY OCEAN

2006-12-26T01:12:00.003-08:00

Oh! Mighty ocean what happened to your mood?
Why you have become so much rude?
We know your powers, and so we pray,
You need not show that in such a horrible way!
Just in a moment you wiped away lives,
There were children, husbands and wives!
There were cows, dogs and cats,
The master lost all, his possession and pets!
You cheated the fishermen, who depended on you,
Now where they will go? They don’t have a clue!
You can do that again, that is a fact,
But please try to give us little time to react!

(** written on 30th dec 04 )
After two years, the sufferers of tsunami are still struggling to find pace of their lives....May God help them to win their fight with life.....

AN OLD FORWARD

2006-12-06T02:38:00.000-08:00

* In case none of your friend has sent these lessons in logic, read on and smile!!

If your father is a poor man,
it is your fate but,
if your father-in-law is a poor man,
it is your stupidity.

Practice makes perfect,
But nobody's perfect,
so why practice?

If it's true that we are here to help others,
then what exactly are the others here for?

Since light travels faster than sound,
people appear bright until you hear them speak.

How come "abbreviated" is such a long word?

Money is not everything.
There's Mastercard & Visa.

One should love animals,
They are so tasty.

Behind every successful man, there is a woman
And behind every unsuccessful man, there are two.

Every man should marry.
After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

The wise never marry
and when they marry they become otherwise.

Success is a relative term.
It brings so many relatives.

Never put off the work till tomorrow
what you can put off today.

"Your future depends on your dreams"
So go to sleep

There should be a better way to start a day,
Than waking up every morning.

"Hard work never killed anybody"
But why take the risk.

"Work fascinates me",
I can look at it for hours.

God made relatives,
Thank God we can choose our friends.

The more you learn,
the more you know,
The more you know,
the more you forget
The more you forget,
the less you know,
So.. why learn.

A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk, I have a work station
what more can I say........

2006-10-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

COLOURED LIFE !!!

I was sitting idle..... doing nothing....No, not that I had nothing to do ! In fact I had a fantastic reason for not doing anything...'too much work ........don't know where to start from?'
I tried to talk to my daughter, but at times children play adults! she simply ignored me. She was busy with her drawing...all the crayons, colour tubes and brushes were there on the floor..... Different colours pulled some strings in my mind.....I tried to relate those colours to the events of my life..........

Blue--- Colour of the universe!
To be here as the wisest creation of God in the form of human being.

White-- Honesty and sincerity!
- To live life peacefully with best of my ability.

Red--- Moments of anguish and anxiety!
- Making mistakes and then regreting them.

Pink--- Health!
- No major health problem for the family(*touchwood*).

Yellow--Satisfaction!
- Be able to be happy with life's little pleasures....believing in my own ability and work.

Green-- Pride and Richness!
- To be able to *create* two wonderful daughters!

Gray-- Failures!
- Moments of trying hard and not getting desired results.

Saffron--Courage!
- I think I am not a coward, some fighting spirit is there in me.

Then there will be a complete 'BLACK-OUT' when death will be meeting me, making my life whole!! Till then I am enjoying these different shades of life.....

2006-10-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Again.......

Just few days ago I talked about blogs and blogging and now velu nair extended another question paper to me! So this time doing it for him.....

1. Are you happy / satisfied with your blog, with its content and look?
A With my write ups I want the reader to think and smile a bit, nothing else.....so with my content I think I am quite happy!! and with my limited knowledge of technical aspects of blogs, I can manage only this much! ...so I think I am satisfied...

2. Does your family know about your blog?
A.Ofcourse yes! though initially my younger daughter was unhappy as me and my elder daughter used to talk about blogs and she felt alien..but now she askes me " any thing new at your blog ?".....

3. Do you feel embarrassed to let your friends know about your blog or you just consider it as a private thing?
A. Not at all..I don't write any thing which can make me embarrassed....I don't consider it as a private thing..

4. Did blogs cause positive changes in your thoughts?
A. I don't think that blogs caused any change in me or so...perhaps I need to ask to my family and friends if they see any change in me!!

5. Do you only open the blogs of those who comment on your blog or you love to go and discover more by yourself?
A. I do open the blogs of those who comment on my blog , but I comment there only for the post and not for the blogger..so I find it difficult to comment on reciprocal basis..Yes I read many many blogs!!

6. What does visitors counter mean to you? Do you care about putting it in your blog?
A.1570 hits, that is a small number in 8 months of blogging I know...... but with my modest educational and social background, I have done a decent job!!

7. Did you try to imagine your fellow bloggers and give them real pictures?
A. No I don't imagine their appearance....

8. Admit. Do you think there is a real benefit for blogging?
A. Well, I am confused!!

9. Do you think that bloggers society is isolated from real world or interacts with events?
A. I think the bloggers society is very much a part of real world!

10. Does criticism annoy you or do you feel it’s a normal thing?
A. Depends...........

11. Do you fear some political blogs and avoid them?
A. Yes..

12. Did you get shocked by the arrest of some bloggers?
A. I missed that news....If it did happen, it's sad...

13. Did you think about what will happen to your blog after you die?
A. Hmmmmmmm very interesting question......My soul will feel good if one day I would see my grandchildren (and may be some kids of my fellow bloggers!!)flipping through some of my posts. wow !! what a great thought!!!!

14. What do you like to hear? What’s the song you might like to put a link to in your blog?
A. I would love to hear sssooooo many hindi songs......one of them would be "allah ke bande-----" by kailash kher.

Thanks velu.......I enjoyed answering the questions...

2006-10-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

A Call For Bapuji
(written on 03-10-02)

Bapuji, Why you have arrived that much before?
Today we need you even more.
Politicians are concerned with only the vote,
Police and criminals are sailing in same boat.
No voice is reaching up to the leaders,
Laws are special for rich,money-makers!
Ministers are busy with their starched dresses,
Can't you see the stunned Indian faces ?
Bureaucrats are lying,
Hopes are flying,
Poor are crying,
Farmers are dying.
Common Indian man is left alone,
Nothing else but he is following your “Moun”.
Oh! Bapu! What else you want to know ?
Come! Please guide us where to go ?
Your own nation is in great pain,
If it is possible, come back again.

2006-09-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

QUESTION PAPER !!?!!

It has been quite a few years for me to write any exam..Nabeel has put up some interesting questions on his blog..I tried to attempt them..let us see how do I fare....
1• What according to you, is a blog?
A. Blogs are peoples' "silent shout".I have written more on blogs in my post "Blogs".

2• How did you come to know about blogging?
A. Accidently!!!..It's quite interesting...while googling for some thing, I reached to varun singh's blog where he had written about 'suicide' of an IIT student, I had written a poem on that issue so I dropped that, on his blog as annonymous comment..next day he mentioned it on his blog and said that it is sad that people don't mention their names with such nice write ups..so I meseged him that I had written that poem and mailed him few more poems of mine, he appreciated those and insisted that I should write a blog so that I can share my views with more people..he helped me all the way to have my blog! Thanks to him for the encouragement! It happened 6 months back....now I am trying hard to come out of blogs !!!

3• How far it has changed your perception?
A. 'Not much! just a little'.

4• Are you true to yourself while blogging ?
A. I try to be true to myself. At times I express my views quite aggressively in my post,but in real life ,I am not like that!

5• Any blog? you wish to be the author of ? and why?
A.No! because I can't be someone else! I am happy with my modest way of writing..

6• What it has preached you?
A.There are many intelligent people around!!

7• Two of your fav. Blogs? And why?
A.Two are v. less to name! there are so many of my favourite blogs for so many reasons!

8• One of your fav. Post by a fellow blogger?
A. "FESTIVE FRENZY" by velu nair. And many more by other's...

9• One of your fav. Post by yourself?
A."Oh! My Lord!"( my letter to God).

10• A blog which inspired you?
A. "Lies,Damned Lies and Blogs"(by varun singh) and "Ideas and Universe" (by Abhay kumar).

11• Any Blog friends ! who are they? and why?
A. yes quite a few blog friends..why?? what do you mean by that??

12• If provided opportunity would you like to meet a fellow blogger? Who? and why?
A.Hmmm I may like to meet,I may not ......let the opportunity come!!

13• name a blogger, who comments regularly in each post of yours?
1A.No one has comented on each one of my posts. Yes I do have regular readers,but they are non-commenters.( well ,I like to believe so!).

14• A blog, where you comment regularly?
A.quite a few...

15• How does it feel to be called as a blogger?
A.Not bad!!!
-----
You have seen my answer sheet, so how much do I score sir/madam ???

2006-09-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

MYSELF and THE OTHER "ME"

In one of her posts, Fiza has written this--
"We all have two minds- one which speaks favouring the situation and the other speaks the truth and a bit philosophical too..."

It happens with me all the time..some part of me wants to do some thing and the other part wants some thing other------

I want to learn and do so many things in life.... but 'the other me' is just happy to be dumb, wants to pass on the 'growth' to my daughters and watch them grow!

When I see little kids on the road with no clothes I feel the guilt of having so many clothes.....but the 'the other me' wants all different clothes for all diffrent occasions!

When I see or hear about malnutrition of poor kids,I feel the guilt of having all sort of eatables in the kitchen ,some of which I haven't used for months.....but 'the other me' wants to eat all the tasty food!

I want to celebrate festivals with the underprivilegd people to make them feel good atleast for one day....but 'the other me' wants to celebrate every festival ignoring sufferings of others!

so the struggle continues........fighting with each other both "myself" and "me" are living in the same body and life is going on like this.......

Do you have 'the other yourself' in You??

2006-09-18T01:49:00.000-07:00

Fifteen minutes with her........
As I entered the city bus, a teenager girl smiled at me and offered the seat near her "yanha baith jaaiye (sit here)",she said....She was one among the group of teenagers, going to their college..some boys some girls....some girls wearing veil/burakha while others were in white salwar kurta...they were all having fun with exchange of witty coments.....
within a couple of minutes we exchanged few general questions and answers..I asked her whether wearing a veil is compulsory for girls....she told that wearing the veil is not complusory in their college,it is more of a family concern..in some families a girl can't go out side home, after a certain age, without wearing the veil..but her mother is not that much strict, her father is no more and so her mother has to go to work...
I asked her,if she likes to wear a veil or not...she replied that "I don't mind wearing it,because it is just an outfit and in any case it can't change the inner me, who is free!!!! aur fir shaadi ke baad to pahanana hi padataa hai!"
She told me that although wearing a veil is not compulsory in their college but girls are not allowed to talk to boys at all...they can't talk to thier classmates(boys)......and can't exchange any study material with them.......she laughed and said how ridiculous all this is,,but this is the way it is.......eveyday some boys commute in the same bus as we girls and we do talk and there is nothing wrong in doing so......
her destination was near...she stood up from her seat and arranged the dupatta neatly on her head......we waved at each other ,bidding a good bye .....
I was thinking about her and about the other smart girls who were draped in veils, all the beauty was peeping out of thier two glittering eyes.......to be progressive one need not necessarily be rebellious!!!!!
Those young girls were BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL...bold with their thoughts and beautiful with their feminity...though their bodies were covered as much as possible...........

2006-09-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

TRIBUTE......

A blast.....30 people dead...200 injured......many of them were children....

Perhaps The Worst......

Act by human being-- to kill innocent people..

Place to choose for crime---graveyard...near a mosque....

Time for killings----prayer time...

Age group on target------children....

----------

The bitter truth is we are living (we have to..) with all this around us...

May young souls rest in peace..

Few lines for them---

"BALAK" (CHILD)

'Maa ki khushiyo ka pal balak,
usake sapano ka kal balak,
maa ke jeevan ka bal balak,
usaki mushkil ka hal balak.'

"Na sukh jane,na dukh jane,
jhooth na jane sachcha hai!
galati karta,shiksha pata,
paka nahi, abhi kachcha hai!
befikra hai wo,bekhauf bhi hai,
na kapati hai na luchcha hai!
kuchch natkhat hai kuchch bhola bhi,
wo bada nahi abhi bachcha hai!!!!"

2006-09-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

WORD POWER

“You can do it.”, “It happens…don’t worry…everything will be alright”, “Sab thik ho jayega.”, “Lagey raho” ,and so on….
All these phrases are not mere words, they reflect some energy and enthusiasm if said by the right person at the right time. I believe that our regular small worries are also more or less related to the “said” or “unsaid” words by our family, friend, boss or colleague.
These words have so much power that even kids get affected by them. They make a huge impact on them too..
I would like to share this incident… Once my little daughter fell down while playing and had scratches on both of her knees.
She came crying to me.. I did the needful and as it was one of those regular stuff which happens to kids..I was back to my work.
She came to me again (still crying) and said “aap bolo ye thik ho jayega.” (“you have to say that it will be alright”)..I was surprised that more than anything else she wanted to hear those words from me!! She needed words from me with the ointment!!
One more incident- My daughter gets ‘good’ in her maths notebook quite frequently but she is desperate to get it in her history notebook. Her history teacher is reluctant to use that word, so one ‘good’ in history notebook gives her more pleasure than several of them in maths..
It happens to us adults too..as in my case.. I get appreciation for my cooking almost everyday from my father in law who is kind enough to say “ achcha khana banaya hai”.
But those words give me more pleasure when my husband says so…once in a blue moon!
(Don’t get it wrong!! I do cook well everyday!)

And thanks to the kind words of kind people (whom I know only by their words!), I am at ‘blogs’, well and writing!!

So ‘words’ can make us happy or sad, they can encourage us to do well in our lives!! We have plenty of examples when we hear from successful people that some ‘words’ from some people changed their lives for ever!

But at times our mind is occupied with prejudice and it refuses to think otherwise..that time words don’t impress us much…even wise quotes have no impact ..here are some examples (with due respect to ‘quote’ writers)….

“God is everywhere, He can see all,He has all the powers.”
*Then what he is doing when the innocent people are being killed brutally all over the world? *

“Create an idealized image of yourself and try to resemble it.”
*But ideal things are not suppose to be achieved by human beings!*

“Practice what you preach.”
*Preachers do nothing..they only practice to preach.*

“You are as old as you think!”
*This phrase is used only by 40 something people!*

“Money is not everything.”
*Ask the son whose mother died of illness because he had no money to afford a specialist doctor for her.*

"Reality bites!"
* And honesty beats!!*
---- ---- ----- ---

Enough of my words…now it’s your turn!!!

I do write in Hindi here--
www.rachanabajaj.wordpress.com

2006-08-28T01:07:00.000-07:00

OH! MY LORD!
(My letter to God)

Hello,
Everything is not fine here in India and I know that some thing is wrong at your end too.
What happened to you?? Why you suddenly started drinking milk, appeared on some wall (in Surat) and made sea water sweet.
What’s the need for you to do all that ? Do you fear about people losing faith in you? I don’t think that this should be the cause of worry for you. Trust me,there are not much Indians who don’t believe in some divine power even if they pretend the other way round. We have enough scriptures and temples to believe that you are there!
These days people are offering ‘mukuts’ worth lakhs of rupees and building temples for you spending crores of rupees even when other people are dying of hunger and not having any homes whatsoever…..
Is that not enough to show faith in you? What more do you want??
I think this is high time for you to show some real magic.
Let me tell you what to do……..
¬ Let us drop a few bucks in the homes of farmers who are suppose to die (comitting suicides) in coming days..
¬ Fill with grains, the empty tins of the poor parents whose kids are supposed to die of hunger…….
¬ What’s the point in appearing on some wall? By doing this you are making a havoc of already miserable lives of people. Let us appear on the wall of parliament, those people there have fear of nothing at all on earth. On seeing you there, perhaps they will do some good!!
¬ And stop drinking milk, which is silly thing to do for a person of your stature!!
I want to tell a few more things but I will let you know after seeing your response to this………
I hope you will do me a favour!
If you don’t want to respond me personally, open a blog and pour your heart out there!!!

Bless me.

2006-08-21T04:13:00.000-07:00

LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE……

I came across a beautiful story few days back. I would like to share it with all of you…..
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”
“It was great, dad”,
“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked,
“Oh yeah!” said the son.
“So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches our front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants to serve us and they serve others. We buy our food but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us – they have friends to protect them.”
With this the boy’s father was speechless.
Then his son added, “Thanks, dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

2006-08-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

CELEBRATION..

COME ON INDIA!!

Show the courage to stand by the truth,
Don't be shaken at your roots.
Dare to realise your own dream,
Have your share of the cream.
Come on! let us have a fight,
For your own fundamental right.
Don't let politicians to make us fool,
Let us tell them how they should rule.
Try to understand Dr.Kalam's vision,
Let us help him in his mission.
Shut up terrorists' whisper for ever,
Let my India grow and prosper.....

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL OF YOU .

2006-08-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

FUNNY WAYS OF HAVING FUN…..

We live in the country where we have many poor little kids working in terrible conditions to share the responsibilities of the family and we have this ‘rich and famous” youth who have yet to grow up……

One fine day three (twenty- something) friends decided to meet our PM while they were passing by from the road near PM’s residence…they wanted to talk about a few things…just for fun..They almost gate crashed for it……
Don’t complain…. They are crazy ‘innocent’ kids…. don’t know the value of time of our PM!!

Few days ago an ‘innocent’ youth decided to have small party with friend with some white powder….another ‘innocent’ youth and his few friends got involved into all this… one fellow died….another came back after almost touching death…..as always the mystery of these kind of ' innocent' acts will never be solved….

An innocent young lady did some ‘innocent’act at her friend’s (male) birthday party…
But she could not tolerate the ‘innocent’ act of her friend in return..so she went to public with all the videos to prove her ‘innocence………’
Some real “nonsense-innocence” is going on in our country..
We may see more and more of all this because today's kids are growing with fantacies of "Harry Potter"..they don't get to read the stories like "Idgah" in which little Hamid buys a "chimta" for her grandma "( so she won't have to burn her fingers any more while making chapaties ) rather than buying toy for himslf.............so they can learn to be sensible in atleast some matters...............

2006-07-31T03:57:00.000-07:00

IN SEARCH OF LIFE……

Rushing people
Fast pace
Shopping malls
Few old chawls
Shiny cars
Hotels and bars
Divided castes
Frequent blasts
Slum areas
Posh areas
Channel on the gate
Kennel for the pet
Attractive exterior
Rich interior
Egos, ambitions
Passion, fashions
Busy days
Clocked schedules
Even 'fun' is for sale
In the ‘fares’
No spare time
But who cares?
A helping maid
Sleeping pills on the bed!
Not mine, nor yours
Perhaps every body’s case
We all are running
with this madness!!
Television and computer
Two “people” around
Those are the ones
Who make the sound!
Closed windows
And closed doors
Knock- knock- knock
Any LIFE is there??
A deadly SILENCE appears!!!!!

(FLASH BACK…)

Chirping birds
Cawing crows
Morning walks
Evening talks
Stories of grandma
Care of grandpa
Everyday meetings
Nothing-to-do sittings
No hobby class
Always free
To time pass!
Lots of games
Lots of choices
Lots of arguments
Lots of noise!
Lots of clay
Cousins to play!
Patient dad
And strict mom!
Few schools
With dedicated teachers
The priceless fun
Of learning with nature!
No competition
No frustration
Lots of tolerance
And the affection!
No one was resistant
To give and to share
Lots of love and
Lots of care!
Once “LIFE” lived there
LIFE lived there!!!!

2006-07-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

LIVE AND EXCLUSIVE!!!
( *Till The Viewer Is Dead* )

In the late seventies when one of my cousins visited Mumbai, he was the first one from our family to have a glimpse of TV. When he came back we all were crazy and excited to know his experience which he explained with great enthusiasm!
Then in 82 TV came to our home and I still have fresh memories of Kapil Dev lifting the World Cup.
We saw Ravi Shastri taking a round of the cricket ground in an expensive car (‘Audy’) with his teammates in Australia.
We witnessed funeral of Late Mrs. Indira gandhi..
Many such moments are still stored in my mind.
But these days we have full live coverage of each and everything!
Recently we had seen the survival of ‘prince of well(s)’
.Some time ago we had live chat with another ‘Prince and his fiancée’ just after their engagement as if the event was one of its kind in the world.
Then one old middle aged lover professor and his 22 year old ‘lady love’ are enjoying all the media attention by being ‘live and exclusive’ on various news channels.
The lady love has a hearty laugh before answering any question with the expression of “you fool people……..”.
At times such live and exclusive coverage ridicules the sensitive issues like that of ‘gudiya’s (she was pregnant and was in dilemma about choosing from her husband who
came back after being missing for the past few years and the present one with whom she was living.)
Some of these “live and exclusive” telecasts are aired on so much channels for some much time until the viewer becomes deadly bored……….

2006-07-20T02:22:00.000-07:00

FREE ? AM I ??

I just started to breathe
and they closed the window on air..
I just started to see
and they put a blindfold on my eyes..
I just started to hear
and they banned the source of sound..
I just started to speak
and they want me to be quiet..

I am not allowed to be my own
to speak, to hear or to see
and they say I am free!!!

Will I be given a chance to listen?
a chance to tell?
Or I have to go back to my shell??

2006-07-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

WE CAN…….

We can always recover without having pill,
But we can not recover without having will.
We can always perform well without one arm,
But we can not perform well without having charm.
We can always meet the goal without one foot,
But we can not meet the goal without knowing route…
We can always be literate without good looks,
But we can not be literate without reading books.
We can always be happy without much wealth,
But we can not be happy without good health………

2006-07-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

Aatankwadiyon ke liye ek sandesh

Chalo chalein nav yug ki oar
Mana tumme rosh bahut hai, nai khoon ka josh bahut hai.
Gusse ko ab chchodo bhi tum, lakshyon ko ab modo bhi tum.
Thamo nav jeevan ki dor.
Chalo….
Mana, tumne bahut hai khoya, kshamta se kuch kam hi paaya.
Chchoota jo,wo sab paa loge, sahi raah par agar chaloge.
Dekho aayi nai bhor,
Chalo…
Kitne kashton ko tum sahte? Khud ko hi tum chchalte rahte.
Kyun jillat ka jeevan jeete? Andheron me tum kyun rahte.
Dekho ab sooraj ki oar.
Chalo..
Ham jaise, tum bhi aye ho, tum bhi manu ke hi jaye ho.
Ham jaise adhikar tumhare, tum ho ham sabke hi pyare.
Bandh karo yuddhon ka shor,
Chalo..
Manavta ki sakh ko dekho, khud ke andar zhank ke dekho.
Dushta vicharon ko tum tyaago, galti ki to maafi maango.
Kyun darte? Jaise ho chor,
Chalo…
Zagdon se kya haasil hoga? Manav ka hi khoon bahega.
Ma ke sheesh ko aab mat zhukao, shakti ko mat vyarth gavao.
Sahi disha me lagao jor,
Chalo…

2006-07-11T02:11:00.000-07:00

DUVIDHA

Lakhon baate hai kahane ki,
kisako chchodu ,kya kah daalu..
sabki apni hai museebate,
kisaki sun lu, kisko taalu....
har koi dukh se peedit hai,
kis kis ke dukh ko mai paalu....
sabki hi baate sun lungi,
pahale mai kuchch apani sun lu!!!

2006-07-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

BAARISH
( RAINS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN SLUMS)

“Paani ko usane kuch aise hai jana,
aakhon ka aansu aur tan ka paseena.”

Jo mein dekh paati, tumhe bhi bataun,
Sapano se alag kuch hakikat sunaun.
Kehene ko who hai hamare hi jaisa
Agar koi fark hai, to who hai bas paisa.
Barish to uspar kahar banake aati,
Badhien toote se ghar ko bahati..
Asahay sa who kuch kar na pata
Kapada aur bartan sab paani le jata
Ankhein unaki kabhi so na paati,
Rotiyan jab unake sapano me aati.
Uasake bacche bhi apani kismat se ladte,
Apani aayu se pehle hi bechare badhte……
Jab badhein nahi thi, to sukha pada tha
Tab bhi aur ab bhi, who bhuka khada tha.
Har mausam mein usaki yahi hai kahani,
Paani si behati usaki jindagani.

2006-07-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

FIGHT...........

Life has her own ways, and I have mine,
She drags me to dark, but I will shine!!

She wants me to be a puppet- deaf and dumb,
But as always I refuse to succumb!!

As per her rules, she wants me to live,
At time she cheats, that’s what I believe!!

With my plans, she likes to play game,
When I fail she doesn’t take the blame!!

I will win or will it be she?
I have to wait, I have to see!!

From dawn to dusk,
From dusk to dawn,
My fight will be on,
The fight will be on…….

2006-06-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

MY FATHER WAS A FARMER TOO..............
“Oh! Again!!” I mumbled after reading the front page story about suicide of five farmers..
“Why do you feel so bad after reading about suicide of farmers??” my daughter asked.
“Because my father was a farmer too, I know how much they love their fields and cows and bullocks” I replied.
She brought a paper cutting from my file and showed it to me with a smile. Some lines in the article read as-
‘It is easy to bring a boy out of a village but very difficult to bring the village out of the boy.’
“Very true”, I said.
Memories of our fields came to my mind..
I was not born and brought up in a village, neither my father was a full time farmer. In fact he was a renowned lawyer and was famous for his excellent drafting of a case and argument. Many times he was advised by his colleagues and seniors to practice in the High Court but he stayed back at his native place for his passion of farming. Every day after returning from the court he used to go to our farm (10 miles away from home) and spent two three hours there. He used to bring a bag full of fresh vegetables. On weekends we kids used to accompany him, he was very keen to show us that how hard a farmer works to give us grains.
In different seasons at the time of sugarcane or groundnuts or corn or green grams picnics were arranged for the whole family. The most fascinating part for us kids was the adventure to cross a small river and then walk a mile to reach our field. It was fun to play with village kids with calves all around..
I miss that all…
When time permits I still go there but there is hardly any water in the river and there are no smiling faces of the villagers.
Does a nation’s development costs this much?? Poor farmers of villages have no where to go at all??
** We never get tired of saying that we are a nation of villages. We are proud of our villages,that’s why when a highly honored foreign guest visits India, we exhibit a “completely designed” village for him.**

2006-06-23T02:30:00.000-07:00

RHYME TIME

MP govt decided to change the Nursery rhymes because they feel they are western..
Sidin has written about it and gave some new poems..
I want to share this poem with you which I put there as a comment..
"chubby chicks------" goes like this--
"Casual dress and blue turban,
Lost words so keeps mum.
An economist and humble man,
By default he is in political lane.
"-----'s" pet,
who is that??
PM,PM, PM..

2006-06-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

Bus to Pakistan
*(Today a new bus is started from Punchch to siyalkot)

“Buses are crossing bridges and fence,
people are happy but terrorists are tense.
In Kashmir peace is in air,
the game is political,, still it is fair.”

2006-06-14T04:13:00.000-07:00

BOSSISM

Sometimes it is wise to be calm and quiet,
Its useless to argue,because the boss is always right.
Sometimes it is wise to be deaf and dumb,
Silence is the gugaly which gets the boss plumbed.
It may be very usefull whatever you propose ,
But being a boss , he has a right to appose.
You know all the facts and you may be correct,
Boss knows less ,but he has to react.
Boss never likes the ifs and the buts,
To please him anyway, you ought to have guts.
If co-ordination is good working is a fun,
If clashes are there,no work can be done .
Results are important for you and your boss,
It always affects the basic and the gross….

2006-06-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

BHASHA

“Tark aur vitark ki bhasha samzane ke liye aap jaroor apana dimag lagaiye,
magar sanvednaye samzane ke liye to ek achcha sa dil hi chahiye.”

“Bhasha nahi janane ka to aadami bas bahana banata hai,
bhasha janate hue bhi aadami ,aadami ko kam hi samaz pata hai.”

“Hamare shabd to abhivyakti ki ek koshish bhar hote hai,
num ankhe aur haatho ke sparsh hi asal me bolate hai.”

“Shabdkosh se shabd khoj kar, shabd piroye vaakya banaya,
koshish saari vyarth hi gayi,jo kahana tha kah naa paya.
Jab gyaani se puchcha maine,usane muzako ye samzaya,
Shabd to hote hai bas mithya, kaun,kise, kab samaz hai paaya?”

“Klisht aur alankrit bhasha ke shabdo se ahankaar ki bu si aati hai,
bhavo ki sahajta aur saralta kanhi pichche rah jati hai.”

“Koi bhi ho bhasha , bhav par saral ho,
shabd ho madhur ki jaise ho amrut,
naa ho katu ki jaise garal ho,
koi bhi ho bahsha bhav par saral ho.”

2006-05-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

REMEMBRANCE

Oh my friend!Where are you?

Eyes are dry,I can not weep,
It can not come out sorrow is deep.
To express my pain words are few.
Oh---
Search is over,in and out,
I will hear,if you can shout.
My heart is torn only you can sew.
Oh----
In this world nothing impresses me,
The lock is useless,without the key.
I can’t get freshness with the morning dew.
Oh-----
Have you gone to the mother earth?
Or you have secured the paradise birth?After you,this world is new.
Oh-----
A true friend can never depart,
God listens the prayer from the heart.
I am waiting in a long queue.
Oh-------

(* dedicated to my late father)

2006-05-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

RESPECT SHOULD BE EARNED…….
In the name of social justice “castes” are again doing the rounds. I did not know about the castes of many of my friends and neighbours.I got to know about some of the people of backward classes. I failed to understand that by what measures theses people are backwards?
Yes there are enough poor people who need better education and other facilities, but castes have nothing to do with it.
I heard views of many people on TV channels [Both pro and anti reservation]
There were some people from backward castes who served for high profile jobs but none of them seems to be happy. They were talking about discrimination but if such thing was there how they came this far???
It has been 50 years and we have yet to listen from people that they are happy with reservations. None of them come up and say “we are uplifted and now feeling leveled with the upper caste people”
Then why do these reservations exist??
I have heard some voices of young students who belong to the backward castes and are against reservations..all the applauds for them!!”
"Respect should be earned and not should be demanded”
Once I won a scholarship in school on merit basis. My father did not allow me to apply for it..not that my father was a king of some state or something like that (in fact he was from a middle class Brahmin family and had to earn himself to complete his higher education.) but he said there are poor students who really need this money..Although I was sad at that time but it was a great lesson for me for my future life..
I mean to say that if the so called “creamy layer” decides to compete with general class and let the benefit go to the poor people,, society will respect them..
We the people of India (from both upper and lower castes) need to work together for social justice..
Do these politicians represent us (the aam junta)?? Technically yes but otherwise they don’t..
Take a look at their honesty and integrity—One report on a TV channel shows that these people declared before Election commission that they don’t own a single car…
The list includes---
Rahul Gandhi
Sachin Pilot
Naveen Jindal-------
------------------------------

2006-05-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

MY FAVOURITE LINES

**Trying to get strength from within….talking to myself……..

“If I can’t help myself, nobody else can!!”

“God must be very busy in solving so many people’s so many problems, so I try to solve my problems myself!!”

“I can’t go beyond my destiny but I try to improve myself and my surroundings so I can live happily with my destiny!!”

“I should be brave enough that I should not wait for the favor of fortune!!”

“I can’t live my life with a time table because then I won’t find any spare time to be creative!!”

“If I try there is a chance of success, but if I don’t there is the surety of failure!!”

“I continue to fail, that is the only way I know to learn!!”

“More than time, I need the desire to do things. If I desire, there is always enough time to do them!!”

“To do things very smartly, I often end up doing nothing!!!”

“After graduating from Indian education system, I learnt that actually there was not much to learn so I took the admission in the “Institute of Life” where circumstances are the teachers!!”

“I am scared of success because it takes too much of human body and soul!!”

“The people, whom I hate to love, are the people whom I love to hate!!!”

“In the name of “being good” I should not loose the opportunity to be honest!!”

“Human being is the best creation of God and probably the worst too!!!”

“Joy of success is good but joy of its process is even better!!!”

“Real life is tough so God has given us the facility to dream!!”

“Mode of death is decided by god, but I can always choose the mode of life!!”

“Life is game which ends in a draw, no one is pure looser and no one is pure winner!!”

“Death is the memento I will receive after conquering my life!!”

2006-05-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

Only truth of life………
This is my third post on death in a row,, I am sorry but that’s the kind of mindset I am in.. I tried to think different things but I can’t so I decided to write and let the things come out of my mind for once.
Only truth of life is death,, isn’t it ??
With the 13 days rituals after death of my cousin every one else will be back to their lives but life will be tough for a retired father who has lost his only son. He has to deal with ---
-the expressive face of his son, who will be smiling at him from nicely framed photo, hanging in the drawing room with a garland…
-the queries of his little grand-daughter
-the lifeless mother (his own wife)..
-the young daughter-in-law who is expecting her second child and living life with a vacuum….
This all reminded me the trauma of my family between Dec 96 to May 98 (17 months).there were three deaths. My brother-in-law(jijaji), my grandma and my father.
They died of three very different deaths.
In Dec 96 my brother-in-law died. He had met with an accident in 93 and was in coma for three and half years. My didi struggled in that phase with her two little kids, going from one hospital to another and having life in bits… in Indore ,Mumbai,Nagpur and…….Doctors advised her to forget about the brain dead husband and go on with her life, but it was not easy at all as he was helpless but his eyes were full of life and lungs were still breathing.
After 15 days my grandma died. Her’s was a natural death, as no one lives forever. She had lived her life to the fullest. At the age of 92, she was in full conscious till her last breath. Every son, daughter-in-law, daughter and many grand children were there with her. In the cold of Dec she wanted to take her last breath on the floor, Geeta shlokas were being read and she nodded in yes when asked if she could hear the chants. She took her last breath with ‘OM’.
Then one and half years later my father died. He had a heart failure and died of a peaceful and silent death with no screams at all (my mother who was just a few feet away couldn’t listen anything) while offering his daily puja…loosing him was too much for us..
Life is a mystery. We plan our life and work hard but it all makes of 95% of success, the other 5% is our fate which is the deciding factor. It can spoil other 95% if not in our favour.
Time moves on shamelessly and we have to move too, to cope up with it!!!

2006-05-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

WHY THIS HAPPENS??

Why God becomes so cruel at times?
I was about to type a poem on mother as tomorrow is mother’s day..
My phone buzzed. my husband was there on the other side. he informed me that he had to postpone his arrival at home..as my cousin brother met with an accident in Goa while on the official tour..he is no more…just last Sunday we all were there for the wedding of my another cousin...we had good time there..and ohhhhhhh death is so uncertain…just 30 year old having 2 year old lit girl and v young beautiful wife…he was the only son of my maternal uncle..
He died miles away from his home..the family has to wait long 24 hours to receive his dead body…
Don’t know what else there to say..feeling completely numb.
“Death certifies that once there was a life”

LIFE
Life is good, life is bad,
Sometimes pleasant, sometimes sad.
Sometimes smooth,sometimes rough,
Sometimes easy,sometimes tough.
Life is a dream and a reality,
Life is full of all cruelty……

2006-05-05T18:30:00.001-07:00

PAINFUL DIVERSITY

We have elite class of students from reputed institutions (who get all the attention) and we have general class of students from other pvt or govt colleges (who end up with nowhere to go).general class of youth has no use of their degrees,they have to just look smart,can speak English so they can serve well to the elite class in shoping malls,multiplexes and coffee cafes!! Or can be good market representative of two wheeler / mobile / insurance company!!

We have “mitti se jude log” and “kisan ke bete” as politicians with five star life style and we have poor village farmers who are ending their lives for few thousand rupees!!

I think “some part of India is shining extraordinarily bright because the remaining part is quite dark!!!”

Two main pillars of our society(farmers and students) are in frustration,, committing suicides..I want to share this(poem ??) views / thoughts / expression or just lines..

Deaths of students

Students are committing suicides; it’s a national shame,
They should be brave,not should be tame.
They all are smart,intelligent and bright,
Why they are giving-up before any fight?
What is the pain ,they are trying to hide?
What is causing them to commit suicide?
Why they choose to be on their own?
Among so much crowd,why they feel alone?
These are the questions,needed to be answered,
Whatever are the problems,needed to be conquered
They should be taught,rules of life game!
They can still be winners,without money and fame!!
They should be made at ease!! So they can share,
They are India’s future,should be handled with care!!
To save their lives,we all should try,
We just can’t afford to let them die!!!

2006-04-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

AMAZING “GARGOTI” !!!

GARGOTI is the mineral museum located in Sinnar near Nasik.Gargoti is a Marathi word which means flint stone. There they have marvelous zeolites.
Few years back when I came to Nasik and heard about it,I was not much interested to visit there, I thought this must be the place for researchers or geologists to visit.
Once we were on that way so decided to check it out. Again I thought to sit outside and let my husband go in, because Rs 100 ticket was too much for me to see some kind of stones!!
Finally though reluctantly I got in and was completely awestruck as entered there. I could not believe that those kind of amazing stones can be there under the so boring rocks!! Blue, green, pink and various shades of zeolites are just awesome! There arrangement (patterns) in the rock is unbelieveable!!
Since then I have visited the museum many times.It made us think that how beautiful rocks are from within!
Nasik is a holy city(in every 12 years “kumbh mela” occurs here).People do visit here as its near to shirdi .One should visit “gargoti”too.I believe nothing can be holier than the mother earth herself!!

There web site is www.gargoti.com, www.superbminerals.com

2006-04-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Charchaye
Har chchoti badi baat par charchao ka daur hai,
Vivad ka hal kuchch nahi,charchaye sirmaur hai..
Charcha karne wale khud ko visheshagya maanate hai,
Aam aadami ko ve in baato se unbhigya maanate hai..
Aam aadami ko nirnayo me shaamil karana aaj sabse badi jaroorat hai,
Kyunki usaka gyan ,visheshagyo ki tarah kitaabi nahi, jindagi ki hakeekat hai….

2006-04-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

BLASTS AND MORE BLASTS
Ayodhya, Banaras ,Shrinagar and Delhi…… And in Iraq everyday..
No matter where this happens,, humanity always suffers…
I had written this just after the London blasts…

“LONDON BLASTS”

Date was seven, time was nine,
The place was famous “London life line”.
There were blasts in the London tubes,
Human bodies were there in the flesh cubes.
All of a sudden, humanity was in pain,
The deadly terrorists have done it again.
All was there-cry and shout,
The lady decided to check it out.
The lady was fearless, curious and keen,
Passionate about her job, the journalist queen.
There was the furious masked man,
Here was the curious lady with pen.
Man shouted aloud “Go! Go! Run away!”
The lady roared back-
“I won’t run, come what may!”
“You will loose your life, have some fear”
The lady replied, “I don’t care.
Put off your mask, come on man!
Let me see if you are human.
Don’t you have sister and brother?
Don’t you have wife and mother?”
“I have them all, as you do,
Brother and sister and children too”
“Then tell me why you chose to take gun?
What is the point in this useless run?”
He answered the lady-
“Fight is between front and rear,
Hate is there between rich and poor.
Two kind of human, both want to rule,
For their fight, religion is the tool.
You don’t understand religion and so you fall,
That’s the time you get crime’s call.
When you don’t care for the basic human needs,
Then you are involved in such heinous deeds.
Listen to me, don’t make the chase,
I have lots of work and time is less
Now be here lady, if you want to die,
No one is here to listen you cry”
Now the lady knew it’s the time to pack,
Stunned and amazed the lady was back!!!!!!!!

2006-04-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

FUTURE NEWS

7 APRIL 2025
HEADLINES—

1. The Education Minister declares that the “quota seats” in IITs and IIMs will be increased upto 80% ..
2. Two professors from IIM and two from IIT quit their jobs....
3. So and so Ministers admits that he was solely responsible for the SCAM And doesn’t want to appeal further..
4. Our PM asks America ,not to interfere in other country’s matters, otherwise India will impose a ban on different Indian aids to America…
5. Pakistani chief declares that entire Kashmir is the part India and Pakistan has nothing to do with Kashmir…
6. There is an increase in demand of Indian toys in China...
7. France and Russia are willing to buy the latest missiles from India..
8. Maharashtra became the first “FARMER LESS” state with the suicide of the last farmer today.. suicides continued from year 2006…

2006-04-07T03:03:00.000-07:00

Shiksha

Shiksha ka arth ab nahi hai “gyan ki khoj”,
Bachche ke liye shiksha hai usake baste ka boz..
Wo log tay karte hai ,hamare bachche kya padhe aur kya nahi,
Jinhe khud nahi pata kya galat hai aur kya sahi..
Nahi hai "unhe" pichchade logo ko padhana,
kyunki nirksharata hai "unake" liye woto ka khajana..
“unaki” shikshaneetiyo se hame hi ladana hai,
kyunki “unake” bachcho ko to videsho me padhana hai.
*Jo apane apano ke hi nahi hote, wo kya kisi ka bhala karenge,
sahath salo me jo nahi kiya wo ab kar denge???

2006-04-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

SISTER ZOE

She has completed 75 years today, but no signs of old age whatsoever. She is fit and fine and very enthusiastic. She is native of England, living in Nasik for last 5 years, a trained nurse, a social worker and a good friend of mine. She is passionate about India and knows everything from politics to cricket to social problems.....
She is fond of learning different languages. She can speak English, Spanish, French, German, Marathi and some more. We met in an informal class of Sanskrit. There I used to help her in translating Sanskrit words into English. The passion of learning Sanskrit brought us very close. She loves to read “Bhagwad Geeta” ,,,not because it is a religious book but because of the importance of "karma" given in it..
She knows about moves of “Sonia Gandhi”,Dr Kalam and Our PM..
She likes Amir khan and Dimple..
She admires Rahul Dravid and she likes pace and aggression of Shoaib Akhtar.....
Her favorite movies are DCH,Swades, RDB and want to see Being Cyrus..
At times I feel amazed that in this short span of time how much she learnt about India!!
She always reject my point that “we have problems because of huge population”.. She believes that “You have plenty of resources, you people just don’t care about yourself.. everywhere there is mismanagement.”
In spite of some anguish about pollution and garbage she always tells me “I want to die in India and want to born here to live my next life”
But people like her never die,, they continue to live in the hearts of their friends for ever…….

2006-04-03T01:42:00.000-07:00

CELEBRITY OBSESSION
Few days ago my friend was suffering with acute pain in her elbow.
She had to see her doctor.. Her doctor informed that it was “Tennis Elbow”.
She jumped “oh the same!! Which the great Sachin Tendulkar had!!!!
Her whole family was feeling sort of proud that she had “the most celebrated illness”…

2006-03-30T23:23:00.000-08:00

ADMISSION DENIED

Yesterday I heard shocking news “Tinu didn’t get admission in (so called good) school”. He was failed in the interview so they rejected him..
Tinu is three year old lovely son of my friend. He is very talkative; full of questions. He loves to talk a lot; anyone who can keep a distance and doesn’t try to hold him can easily talk with him. He can identify colours, animals, alphabets, numbers and all the things, which a three year old should know. He was waiting for last 6 months or so for his turn to go to school..
His parents were quite confident that he will be through with interview. But he could not…his only crime was that he cried in front of interviewers..
What else one should expect from a 3 year old when he had waited for 1 hour for his turn and then was pushed in the room alone (his parents not allowed to accompany him), where 6 unknown eyes were staring at him and shooting questions at him!!!
Probably the neck tied and starched sareeid educationist interviewers can know what makes them to torture such small kids. They argue that they can’t admit everybody but they can’t interview the little ones either. They must adopt some other methods (may be a lucky draw) to choose the kids..
All the requests from his parents to give him a second chance as his elder brother also studies in the same school …were in vain..
The wonderful little kid had to face his first failure in our cruel education system..

2006-03-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

RESERVATIONS

I am personally against the policy of reservation. If at all reservation is the way to uplift certain section of our society, it should be given on some terms and conditions. May be like theses---

1. Only one generation (one person) should get the benefit of reservation.
2. He has to pay some tax for the welfare of his own community.
3. One person should get the benefit only once (In education or in service).
4. The obvious one.. Two chidren norm.

2006-03-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

LIFE UNDER THE FLYOVER..

Unfortunately my house is located near a flyover. I can see the “life under the flyover” quite closely.
Many poorest of poor families come there, stay and leave. Generally A family has 3 to 4 half naked children aged between 1 to 10 years. Many times my heart comes to my mouth on seeing the crying kids with bread in hand and their mother beating them..
I can never forget one scene in my life. It was raining heavily that day. I saw a teenager mom struggling to handle her new born baby with her 5/6 year old little sister. She was looking helpless with tears in her eyes. I felt for her but didn’t reacted.(Probably too much of all this made me rigid.)
I came back to my home, I was restless. I decided to help her. Next morning I went there but to no avail, she had left the place. I could not find her.
“What happened to the young mom and her sibling?” “Did she manage to save the life of new born?”
“What made me to ignore her at that moment?”
All these questions haunt me time and again! I regret that I missed the time to help her..
To be able to give birth to a child is a wonderful gift from God to females but in her case, for me, it was only a curse!
Development of a child in womb and it’s birth are complicated biological processes and yet they are so easy. There must be so many teenager girls (under flyovers, in slums, and at railway stations) who would become mothers with unnoticed rape cases..
It is said that females are gifted for motherhood. I would rather say “men are gifted more” here because they are physically strong and they can easily walk away with their momentary pleasure,, pushing the helpless female into unwanted responsibility of motherhood …..

2006-03-21T23:34:00.000-08:00

BLOGS
I was wondering, what are Blogs all about?
I found that they are people’s SILENT SHOUT!!
Some laugh aloud, some scream with pain,
Emotions come out straight from their brain.
Young ones put up their personal issues,
You can find them sobbing without using tissues.
They can be boring, they can be nice,
But the language is always with added spice.
The rules of language can be put on the rack,
For writers like me, this is icing on the cake.
Whatever the subjects you feel to share.
Sports, politics, business all can be there,
The fight with friend, argument with boss,
The joys of win and sorrows of loss.
Blog reading can be good when you are alone,
You can get some expressions as your very own!!!

I am an infant to this blog world, just one month old. One day I was searching for some page on google and landed on someone’s blog. I found it interesting to read that page and then got to know about many other blogs. I was fascinated with the world of words and it was amazing and very easy to put my views on the article by commenting on it. In this way the writer and the reader can communicate on one to one basis.
In my opinion to express the views and to share the knowledge are two basic qualities of man kind and probably reasons for evolution of human being. As Indians have many different cultures, to have opinion on each and everything is also a part of our culture. Our social setup is such that we need communication badly. We are not mould to live a lonely life, we like people to listen us and we love to listen to the people. I think blogs (where mostly employed and highly qualified persons express their views)are the advanced version of the chats of every nook and corner of every town, city or village where unemployed youth discuss various issues like politics, social, sports etc.
The best thing is there are not any criteria to be a blogger.No body is answerable to anybody. And what more on earth can any body ask for? Every person wants to be master of his own and blogs provides exactly that..

2006-03-15T03:48:00.000-08:00

Innocent brains and cute logics!!

Kids have their own logics for doing or nor not doing things. Often they stump their parents by curious queries and their comments..
Once when my lit niece was coming from her school after receiving her results, her mom asked her that why she didn’t write one answer even when she knew it. She told that she deliberately did this as this time she wanted her friend to be first in the class so her mom will be happy and her friend will not get her mom’s dant(“Ek baar use bhi to first aane do usaki mummy bhi to har bar use dantati hai)..

My daughter coloured the picture of brinjal with orange crayon! I asked her doesn’t she know that the color of brinjal is violet? She told,,she v much knows that but she doesn’t like the violet colour at all so she will not be using it any day!!!..

Recently my daughter was chosen for a drawing compt. from her school. As she was chosen for 2nd level, she had to compete with students ¾ year elder to her. I decided to take her there so she can get some exposure and can learn from other student’s work. There she gave me real embarrassing moments with all her kiddy stuff…
As she came out of the hall after finishing her drawing I asked her “whose drawing u liked the most?”
She declared “mine only”!!
She had to draw a blind beggar with a child holding his hand. She drew the figures v nicely, but she draw the man with nice check shirt and brown pant and the girl holding his hand was in beautiful frock and combed hair… the reason she gave was..“I don’t like the man with patched clothes and girl with dirty frock!!”

There was an exhibition of student’s paintings that had done nicely and won some prizes in that compt.On seeing one picture she commented “ohh v bad drawing!! the ladies in the picture are v fat!!” the painting had won 2nd prize..
Then after seeing a modern art kind of painting, she declared “kuchc samaz hi nahi raha hai kya banaya hai?”
We left the place with all the applauds for my daughter’s drawing and her comments!!!

Every day at the bedtime kids (almost every) have all the questions of world for their moms..One such conv bet me(M) and my daughter(D)—
D:why papa need to go to office everyday?
M:to bring money!
D:don't we bring money from ATM???
m:-------.......
D: Mamma when I will grow up my didi will become younger naa?? then she will call me didi!!
M:No, it’s not possible.. She born before you so you have to call her didi always..
D: That’s not fair at all.. then why didn’t you chose me as your first child???
M:mmmmmmmmm mamma is not god to know everything,,,plsss ab so jaoo!!!

2006-03-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

THE GREAT INDIAN FAMILY

Until the date they are other’s possession
She is some one’s daughter, He is someone’s son.
With their marriage they begin new life,
They have new identity of Husband and Wife.
“I, ME, MYSELF” have to pushed away,
“WE, OUR, OURS” have to find their way.
In all contrast they have to match,
Differences have to be filled with patch.
They argue, they fight silence is rare,
But all is done with love and care.
They laugh; they cry do all in share.
After some time they make pretty good pair.
As the time passes they are three then four,
Then they decide on “NOW NO MORE!”
Kids are burdened with parent’s expectations,
Every day they get some “PREACHY SESSIONS”.
He earns, he rules, fulfils financial needs,
She is quite involved in social deeds.
They just can’t avoid some social obligations,
Even if they end up in financial troubles.
Children are now grown up, they begin to react,
They want to be their own that is the fact.
That is family set up with fixed process,
Without win or loss, they just finish the race.
Some live happily, some have miserable lives,
In all the cases Indian Family survives!!!!

2006-03-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

GENERATION GAP

I was on my way back to Nasik in a train. At one station an old couple with two heavy bags entered the coach. The man was crying like a child,, his pocket was cut and he had lost some hard earned money and some imp papers. We were struggling to find the words to console such an old man. Only consolation was coming from his old wife—“It happens, be calm, it’s not new to us, we will overcome” etc.After a few minutes the old man gathered his composure and begun to concentrate on his prayers.. The lady was also pretty calm with serene emotions on her face.(probably thinking of her grandchildren)..

At next station a young couple entered the coach, looking smart and well to do. After few moments they opened their Tiffin and ate something. Not a single word was exchanged between them! Their eyes were at exactly opposite windows.Suddenely mobile of young man buzzed. He talked for a while and then uttered some words to his wife. Wife got furious and hot arguments were exchanged. The matter was financial as the word “Rs. 15000” was repeated so many times. The man was at the receiving end (may be due to the fact that were at a public. place!).The lady continued..

In the time of crisis, the behavior of two generations was totally contrast—
The old couple had all the peace of the world at their end,, but the peace between the young couple was in bits and pieces!!!!

2006-03-08T00:10:00.000-08:00

REMARKABLE RESILIENCE.

There are a few successful women, whom the nation admires and there are hundreds of Indian women who deserve the appreciation on at least the ‘Women’s day’.
Here is the story of Lata bai (a bartan wali), whom I know since last sixteen years. At the age of fifteen she was married to a coolie. At the age of nineteen, she was mother of two and then her husband went mad, probably due to excessive drinking. Some time later her husband committed suicide. At that time she was four months pregnant (for a third child). At this young age and having such a terrible time, she stood firmly on her feet. She was being forced to remarry but she strongly opposed that and even refused to go to her father’s house. She worked very hard and despite being uneducated, she sent her daughter and sons to school. She is still working very hard and doing quite well. Now she owns a little house too. I admire her for her courage.
She may not be having a high profile success, but she is and should be a proud woman. Happy Women’s Day to all the Lata baies of India…
I have to mention her. The milk woman ( I don’t know her personally). I used to see her everyday on her bicycle with two big cans either side of bicycle, wearing a sari, eversmiling..Now for few months she rides on a two-wheeler… I am glad to see her success..

THE WOMAN
Boy or a girl, both are human,
What man can do, so can a woman!
Please don’t pull her back, let her fly,
She will be there, up in the sky!
Let us be her free from all the fears,
Encourage her when she is in tears!
She cooks, she cares, she plays sports too
Wonderful on earth, she can be so in space too!
She is successful in service, as she is in business,
She is as good as man, not one bit less!
She is a daughter, a wife, and a mother,
Can you imagine a world without her??

2006-03-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

“JUGAD” (A method of finishing any task by slightly deviating from the norms)

I read this word in TOI ( 1/03 “The story behind---“ on pg 16 ) . I was so happy that at least something from my native place is going national / international level, as this word (although it is much more than just a word) is commonly used there and all over MP.
It may sound ridiculous but anything as small as the no. plates on vehicles starting with “MP” makes me feel good!
Back to the point.. In India we need to do JUGAD at times. As stated in the article the launch of rocket was possible due to some jugads. A common man has many day today problems such as gas cylinder, surprisingly high elect. bill, renewing license and so many. It’s not easy to overcome these problems without the help of any jugadi.These jugadies have all the solutions for all such problems. In factories also we find such jugadies who can sort out any manufact.related problems even if they don’t own high profile degrees.
There are so many such Hindi words which are having their own place and there are no words in English which can replace them.
One day my brother was playing badminton in his society’s ground with his fellow residents. He and his opponent had an argument on one point so he said “ tappa (I don’t know eng word for this) line ke andar gira tha.” The opponent gave a smile and asked “Kanha ke ho bhai?------- ohhhh wanha ka to mai bhi hu “tappa”shabd sunate hi mai samaz gaya tha!”

My husband had a boss who had great sense of humour.His first encounter with the boss was like this—
“How many mark sheets do you have for a four year course?”
“4 sir.”

“I am having 8 for the same course! That’s why I am your boss.”

He was v keen on floating new Hindi words among his sophisticated colleagues. One such word was “saltana” (the way to finish the task v quickly with using all sort of means). The word had such an impact that within few months the south Indian big boss who struggled to speak Hindi started using “salta do”!!!

(This post is in the honour of all Uttar and Madhya bharatiya bloggers.)

2006-03-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

Weather channel?

We are having flood of channels on television. My friend told me that some one may turn up with 24/7 weather channel one day. I never enjoyed watching the weather report and temp of various cities (besides only that India looks pleasantly green in those pictures).Probably it is the only platform for channels to launch their new news readers. Why at all should we pay the attention to things as changing as weather? What if the temp of the city is 35 and not 30 degree? Everything will be as regular as it has to be!.
Are we weather conscious people? Here are some examples of Indian life style and weather-
1. In my town (and most others too) max of marriages are held in hot summer days of April and May when there is water and electricity problems are on high. The sole reason to choose that time is that every son and daughter (whose kids will be having school holidays) can attend the grand family gathering. And then every daughter and daughter in law has to wear the heaviest of jewelry and heaviest of sari! Then the groom has to wear safari suit and tie because that’s the only life time chance to wear that for him!(In most cases now a days he owns a small shop or may be owns a coaching institute).

2. In most areas schools open on 1 st of July ,that is the rainy season, many little kids have their first exposure to world without their mummy being around..

3. In rainy season only, with bad roads delayed trains and flooding rivers many brothers and sister make it a point to meet each other for auspicious occasion of “Raksha Bandhan”.

4. Finally we have this “weather at will” in Hindi movies. There is mild rain when the boy meets the girl first time and then there is storm when they depart!!

2006-03-02T01:19:00.000-08:00

A small question

Who is more powerful?
A man who needs the help of Hundreds of people and animals to survive?
A man who struggles to justify his own actions?

OR

The man who dictate his terms from virtually nowhere on the earth?

OR

The man who has the courage to shout in front of the world that he is the king in his own rights?

2006-02-27T01:17:00.000-08:00

A GREAT NATION INDIA!

The president of US is coming to India and all the news papers are full of praise and positive thoughts about our nation. I am feeling good as a common Indian. We are multiskilled and multi lingual people. An average educated middle class (I have to say that) Indian knows (speaks or understands) at least four languages (Hindi, English, his mother tongue and the lang of the state where he works).An manager in IT compney, who lives in Metro when visits to his small village, doesn’t hesitate to do the house hold chores which he used to do as a kid. And so on..
Let me share this with you—

Land of Gods and land of saints,
Land of years-old monuments.
Different Cultures, languages and religions,
Different caste, costumes in different regions.
Skilled people and large population
All is there in our own nation.
We should take this all as a boon,
We have to make our own fortune.
We are the people with beautiful mind,
Why Indians should be left behind?
Poverty, unemployment and some despair,
Filth, dirt and polluted air.
We are living with some flaws,
Ignorance to problem is the main cause.
Government should be pushed to work for us,
They have to deliver without making fuss.
Some responsibilities we have to bear,
If we people don’t, then who will care??

2006-02-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

SHUT UP MIND! Let me enjoy.

Those words stuck to my mind when I heard them a few days back.
Recently there was a silver jubilee celebration of “Art of Living” in Banglore.That was the celebration of oneness of human kind. People from all over the world were gathered there and they shared their views. The most beautiful speech came from a person from Saudi Arabia. The speech was like this—
“I am Hashim. But it doesn’t matter now.
I am from Saudi Arabia. It also doesn’t matter now.
For two days I am asking this question to myself –“Why I am here?”
I have got two answers, the first one is “I don’t know” and the second more important one is “I don’t want to know”.
Shut up mind! Let me enjoy. We don’t need to find reasons to love each other.”

How true he was! In the materialistic race of need and greed we are loosing out on love and tolerance. Most of the time our mind rules our heart. There is so much within me which is trying to come out through this blog but my mind obstructing it with all sort of worries. I uttered those words to my mind. I will listen to my heart.
Here are my views on humanity, in the Indian context.
Humanity
Our names may be Salim, Shyam, or the Francis,
Our Gods may be Allah, Ram or the Jesus,
We may be Mrarathis, Kashmiries or the Goans,
But one thing is common, that we all are humans.
God never made the human with grade,
All of us own only one heart and one head.
The blood in our body is only the red,
Most important things are bread, clothes and shed.
We have big giants to fight, population and poverty,
We have man made problems and natural calamity.
To overcome all that we should live with integrity,
We should follow one religion, which is humanity.

2006-02-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

FEEDBACK
Within few hours my friend was back with her report. She is a good task finisher like M S Dhoni!! The first thing she had to say “forget about the blogs; come back in your humble, honest world. Don’t mess with the mess”.
I believe she must have visited many blogs, as she is a comparisoner! (as we Indians are –“uski sari, meri sari se jyada safed kaise?”)
She continued-“blogs are all about decorative language and manipulative words. There has to be many –err…., grrrr.., blah……, ah…., cool, etc. and I bet you can’t use them ever!”
(She is right!)
“And then there are some childish and some intellectual blogs. You choose the middle path always. You know one has to be extremists, with thoughts and expressions, to fetch the readers!”
(Again she is right.)
“Last but not least, there are no colours in your blog and I doubt there will be any as you prefer black and white! Then you don’t have the long blue colored list at the right hand side and some colored names from where one can directly jump to other blog!! I don’t think there is any chance for you. That is all I have to say now it’s up to you.”

At last she is done with her report. I have to trust her. She speaks only the truth. She is not the one who looses the opportunity to be honest in the name of being good.
I thought my blog HOPES FLEW AWAY for ever. I was as silent as death. To get some life I turned up to this small poem of mine-
IT HAPPENS
It happens in our lives when our plans fail, our thought process derails.
We have to adjust with anguish and disgust.
We feel all is lost, but we can’t die.
We have to believe that we are still alive.
Our brain is bullied and heart is torn,
But that’s the only chance we get to RE BORN!!
We need to bear this temporary pain,
We should be courageous to live once again!!!

2006-02-21T23:53:00.000-08:00

In Search of Readers

Blogs are of no use without readers. I know patience is the key, but I am getting impatient with my patience too. The cute, little naughty zero with comments irritates me! I thought to seek help from family and friends. Family turned me down coz everybody is reluctant to communicate on net, they still believe in old fashioned! Telephone communication. I turned to my friend (who doesn’t know abt blogs). She asked what will be there to read.
Now that’s what even I don’t know (if everything is planned in advance, where’s the chance to be spontaneous) I told her there will be some thing to read for sure but there will be strictly nothing about the following subjects(at least for some time.)
1. Movie Reviews: a. If I liked the movie, paisa vasool!!! It will be wise to move on with life.
B.If I didn’t like the movie ,I must have wasted money on it so will not waste time too!!
C.There is many enthusiastic reviewers are on blog!

2.Indian economy: We have got two v good economist on v good posts(PM AND FM).It will be foolish of me to say anything,, and by the way I don’t know anything about economics!!
3. Anything related to Hollywood: I am terrible with that ,,all I know are few names
(Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and few female names, but I can’t spell that correctly!!)
4. And anything related to Saurav Ganguly will not be there because it may invite flood of unwanted comments!!

2006-02-18T00:31:00.000-08:00

ART OF LIVING

I believe "The less privileged people live their life more happily than the privileged ones".This true stoy confirms
my belief. Iwould like to share this story with you..

Some time ago I happened to visit a Ganesh temple in a village. The temple is situated near a big lake, so poor little boys happily earn some rupees by washing cars and taxies of visitors. A boy came and asked to clean our car to which we agreed. As he was cleaning the car, I just asked him whether he goes to school. He quickly answered that he goes to school and work only on Saturdays and Sundays. As I asked a few more questions, I got to know that he and his brother were orphans and lived with their grandma. He looked happy to talk about him self. After a few minutes I asked him how his mother died, and he innocently said that he didn’t know about it as he was not born at that time!! I was shell shocked and got numb by his answer. A 9/10 year boy who goes to school doesn’t know that how he came to this world? He was just happy to his life as it is! After some minutes I gathered my wits and handed him Rs. 20.I told him that Rs 10 was for his work and Rs.10 as gift from me as he studies. By that time his friend came, they had a hearty laugh and ran away for another car!!
What a celebration of life!!

2006-02-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER.

15 of Feb was her b’day. I want to dedicate this poem to the little one..

SONG OF A LITTLE GIRL

I am a little tiny girl,
Bright and fresh like a pearl.
I want to sing a beautiful song,
But sister says the lyric is wrong.
I like to watch the cartoon show,
But papa wants the news in a row.
Sometimes study is just enough,
But to convince mummy is very tough.
With my friend I have friendly fight,
But teacher says to be calm and quiet.
I want to do a swinging dance,
But who will give me a mere chance?
This I should do and that I should not,
Can I do once what I want!
I would like to be very frank,
I just don’t like grade and rank.
I am ready to study hard,
But I hate the report card.
I love to play the whole day,
It may be doll, ball or clay.
To growing old is no more fun,
I want to be always little one!

May God Bless You.
Rachana

As birthdays have something to do with age, I have some 0bservations for the question “How old are you?”

At the age of
1)1 to 10
Only parents are eligible to answer that!

2)11 to 15
The age is written all over you body!

3)16 to 20
You are not available for the world to comment on it!

4)21 to 25
You will be more than eager to announce that at every given opportunity!
5)26 to 30
Many would be eager to know, but nobody would dare to ask you!

6)31 to 35
No one is interested in you age..

7)35 and above
Stop counting! It’s useless to count further..

All the observations are based on normal physical growth. There can be 2 exceptions
1) People with damaged luck can look older than their age.
2) Some special creation of God (Parents for that matter, keeping in mind that once I was a biology student..) can look young for ever..

2006-02-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce myself-

Hi,I am rachana.I can think, react, read, write, laugh, cry, walk, talk, see, smell, hear,taste, feel and what not!
I can do that all with the ability to stand up,every time I fall!!
My age,occupation,location,etc are not worth for anybody for anything in the Net World.
I am a good human being,certified by family,friends,neighbours,society and will be certified soon by blogger commmunity (hopefully!).
Fascinated by the world of words(blogs), so I am here.