Phone-call

Richa had been moving around the house. She was tensed and worried. But more than that, she was angry on him. Couldn’t he spare few minutes to make a call? Why wouldn’t he just call her and say that he is alright. That would bring peace to her and she will sleep calmly. May be she should not call tonight. He will feel this odd and will call her tomorrow morning to apologize.

She was firm for her decision but her impatient heart was still struggling. Finally the brain lost the war and her hand reached the telephone. She picked the receiver and pressed the buttons.

Her 10 year old son, Amrit was watching her mother and knew the usual routine. He knew that she would go on speaking and shouting and complaining. She would only stop after she would have cursed him for marrying her and spoiling her life. Complaining about Amrit and his lack in studies. She would then complain about neighbours and the inflation. At last she would again scold him for not calling her and making her worry about his well-being.

This had been going on for almost three years now, everyday without fail. She would wait for his call and then call him and fight with him.

He went to the kitchen and brought a glass of water for her. He knew she would soon keep the receiver and will feel thirsty.

Today again there will be no reply from the other end.

Friendship and Love

Richa had been calmly reading in the library. The exams were still far away so she was the only one to give company to the librarian. Soon, even he left her to go for a tea break.

Raj came in and sat in the bench beside her. “I knew I would find you here only. You are becoming a better book worm with every passing day.”

“What happened?” asked richa, still reading from the books.

“Why can’t be a guy and a girl just be friends?” The librarian would have thrown him out for the high decibel sound he had made, had he been there.

“Ankita proposed me. You know that I am concentrating on my career and don’t want to get in a commitment and distract my attention. I explained her that and asked her to be my friend. How hard is that to understand?”

Richa blankly turned the next page of the book without paying much attention.

“She said that either she will be my girlfriend or else we would never talk again in life. Is she proposing me or threatening me? Why didn’t she bring a gun along with her then? I asked her to wait for some time till I achieve my goals.”

He looked at her, she was still deep in her books.

“We both have been friends for last 12 years but never fell in love. We remained friends and the best ones. Why can’t she or everyone be like that? Why is it necessary to get into a commitment? If you really love the person then just wait for that person to achieve his goals. He will surely come back for such a kind of love.”

A short pause, she was not responding.

“You tell me. Is it really that hard to understand?”

Richa lifted her head and looked straight in his eyes.

“Well, I understood that.” She smiled and left.

White Rose

Raj was in a good mood today. There was nothing special but he was feeling happy. He went for the morning walk and met almost all of the people he liked. The nature was being gentle and a calm humid breeze was blowing. When you feel good, it seems everything around works in your favour.

He stayed in the park for some while. It was not his regular schedule. He had lived his life with full discipline. Everything was done in a proper sequence and except Sundays you would not be able to discriminate others days in his daily life. Kids used to be at home and the office used to be closed which made all the difference. He never had big dreams and was satisfied with whatever he had. A small house, a beautiful caring wife and three lovely children. What else could someone dream of?

Just then a football hit his head. Ahh, it was a plastic ball not a real one. A four year kid was playing along with her mother. He was mesmerized by his innocence and the excitement the kid showed for the ball. He for the first time was regretting that his children grew up so fast. He stayed there for some time watching kids and other elders. Life seemed different today.

He stood and started walking to way back home. Just then he saw white roses. A road-side vendor had just taken out a bunch of full grown white roses and displayed it on the front. It was not his favourite, he liked red much more than any other color. But white rose had a much special meaning in his life. Memories flashed and he was there in his twenties. It was Valentine day and they were taking a stroll after the coaching classes. Today she was looking very pretty in her light blue suit with white dupatta. She stopped to pay her regards in the lord krishna’s temple. He ran to the nearby florist and asked for a red rose. It was shear bad luck that the number of romeos had grown so much that they bought out even the yellow roses. He knew that he would never get courage again so proposed her with the white rose.

It has been long since he gifted her one. He had been busy with his job and she with the kids. He didn’t remember the last time he said the magical three words to her. He bought the rose and rushed home.

On the way back he tried a lot to come up with some romantic words but a common person can only steal the ideas from the movies. He just went to her, gave the rose and said “you still look so beautiful.”

The woman in her eighties took the rose with trembling hands. Her wrinkled face lit up and blushed like a newly married girl. “White roses, they have been my favourite.” She paused.

“But who are you?”

Interview

The room was silent and calm and the only sound being produced was by the ticking of the small alarm clock. Raj laid on the bed all depressed and dejected. It was his 7^th interview rejection. Being one of the best programmers of the college, everyone had great expectations from him. Yet he was lying there without a job when 80% of the college had got placed. He never thought that all his hard-work would fail just because he was shy and lacked in communication skills. Making out till the last round of all the companies, he was rejected by the HR team. He had been trying very hard, conversing all the time in English but it was not yet sufficient. Every dream job had already rejected him and this was almost his last on-campus opportunity to get a job of his capability. He had been preparing all for the HR round from past few weeks.

The coordinator came to announce the result and his name was not there for the HR round. This time he missed to qualify the technical one.

Shouts and hustle coming from outside the room were signaling that the results were out. Few more can now relax and enjoy the rest of their college life. He hated everyone who had the placement for he knew, he deserved more than any of them. The door swung open and in came Ishant. He tried but faked a smile for him as he knew the reason for his shining face. He had not opened the mail to see the total number of people selected but he didn't even care nor did he ask. Ishant kept in-front of him the packet of sweets. He wished to throw them away. He was so jealous of him and cursed him to bring sweets in the flick of time just after the announcement of results. He tore a small bit of sweets and stretched his lips even more.

“Take more. Finally, the bro got placed.”

“Yeah, congratulations to you.”

“Oye! Idiot. I am already placed, it’s you who got the placement.”

He rushed to the laptop screen and clicked on the new mail flashing on the screen. There was his name on the top.

Kagaz pe kalam

कह  तो  नहीं  सकूंगा , तुझसे  दिल  की  बात  मैं ,

चलो  कागज़  पे  कलम  चला  देता  हूँ ,

चिठ्ठी  नहीं , धड़कनें  उधार  भेजीं  हैं  तुझको ,

जवाब  भी   दे  दे , कब  से  इंतज़ार  में  बैठा  हूँ ।

A girl

Merry, cheerful and the naughty me,

I love playing in the sun,

As the night approaches by,

I am left along with none.

A girl is what my identity says,

Its just appearance I would add,

The heart beats the similar way,

It’s not the brain they can brag.

I like having tea at roadside,

Accompanying me is a friend,

Can’t roam around alone at night,

They say I cannot defend.

Indecency is not my clothes you see,

I just want some peace of mind,

I don’t accuse you of crime but,

How long will you remain blind?

If I tell how it’s like to be a girl,

There is a lot to say but,

The sorrow may weaken your heart,

I prefer to keep my mouth shut.

I didn’t shout till now because,

I was just the next door girl,

The things are going to change now,

My world has been on a swirl.

A walk along the home one evening,

Some groceries and a lot of leers,

I hurried to the path ahead,

To save something that was dear.

The four of them got hold of me,

Wolves were having the foal,

They looted as long they wished,

They only spared my soul.

I cried but in vain it went,

The news spread like a dictum,

The society is behaving as such,

I am the culprit not the victim.

They prayed for me, cried for me,

It was just starting of the doom,

Everyone said to kill the child,

I had in my womb.

Can’t protect our pride or honour,

It’s for all of them not some,

Don’t worry girls my son will be,

The man we desire them to become.

Unki shararat

उनकी  अदाओं  पे  मर  गए , उनकी  शरारत  पे  मर  गए ,
कुछ  न  कहा  उन्होंने , उनकी  नज़ाकत  पे  मर  गए ,
क़त्ल  हो  जाता  तो  कातिल  तो  कह  देते ,
मुस्कान  पे  कभी , तो  कभी  निगाहों  से  मर  गए ।


Unki adaon pe mar gaye, unki shararat pe mar gaye,
Kuch na kaha unhone, unki nazakat pe mar gaye,
Katl ho jaata to katil to keh dete,
Muskan pe kabhi to kabhi nigahon se mar gaye...

Thats when I realized

Today I complete the third month of my college life. It’s been total fun till now. Making friends, a lot of them, roaming around the city and above all having total freedom are all so wonderful. 

Yesterday was one of the most memorable days of the college. The whole afternoon was spent in celebrating the birthday party of one of the batch mates. We went to Adventure Park and had lots of fun with rides and games and a lot of clicks. The afternoon was so filled with fun and frolic that we even forgot to have our lunch.

We came back at evening by 5 pm. I was too tired to do anything so went and had a good nap of two hours. It feels good to sleep at any time of day and you can stay awake longer at nights.

8 o’clock, about whole of the college could be seen at mess or roaming around it. The number of people standing outside is much more than the number of people sitting inside which clearly says just one thing, one need to eat outside today.

I along with my friend Raj went out to try the restaurant nearby. The food was great and a vegetarian like me hardly finds food with a good taste. The day had been super awesome till now and only thing that could be better than this was a SRK movie. The latest had released two days ago so we bought two tickets for it and luckily got it in the heavy bookings for the last show. After spending an hour, window shopping at the mall we were able to spend the gap of idleness.

The movie had SRK so it couldn't have a flaw. I just loved it. It was too late to go back to the hostel so we planned to spend the night at his flat. This was going to be my fourth night out which was more than expected with just the beginning of the college. His 2 bhk flat was nearby and made me envy him so much. Many of my friends opted for living in flat/PG instead of hostel. I always preferred staying at a flat but my parent felt me to keep at hostel. I have spent a gala time at 3 of my friend’s flat and every time I get so jealous of them.

His flat was well furnished unlike my other friends and the thing I liked the most was that he had both the fridge and a TV. We took out two bottles of beer from it and had a little chat. The chat went from normal college talks to our childhood tales and our old friends. We kept on talking and suddenly he realized that it has been sunrise. Another night had been spent sleepless so I just asked him to drop me to hostel on his bike so I could get atleast a good 8 hour sleep, missing all my classes.

Its 2 p.m and I am awake now. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I could see people looking at me with not a good sight and I knew that they were jealous of my coolness. I got ready and went out to meet my gang of Raj, Rahul & Amrit. While waiting for them I overheard some of my colleagues.

They were saying me to be characterless. I could not understand why. My friends and I, were all doing the same things but only I was the only one made the character less in all of them.

That’s when I realized that I was a girl.

Rone do mujhe

दिल टूटा है फिर से मेरा,
घोंसले में था साँप का बसेरा,
हाथ आगे  बढाकर, खुद गिर गए,
मत रोको अब, रोने दो मुझे।

दोस्ती भी की , निभायी भी है,
ग़मों का खज़ाना , पाया भी है,
बताऊँ भी तो अब मैं किसे,
मत रोको अब, रोने दो मुझे।

मेहनत है की , कामयाबी को चूमा,
गिरकर मैं निराशा में झूमा ,
गलती थी मेरी, पता है मुझे,
मत रोको अब, रोने दो मुझे।

टूटूंगा कब मैं, इसकी आजमाइस है,
भावनाओं की मेरी, देखो नुमाइश है,
सुनाएंगे मेरी तबाही के किस्से,
मत रोको अब, रोने दो मुझे।

 हारूंगा एक दिन, अभी समय बाकी है,
ठंडा है खून, पर बहाव बाकी है,
इतनी आसानी से नही दूँगा जान मैं तुझे,
मत रोको अब, रोने दो मुझे।

उम्मीद की किरण लौट कर आयी है,
नया है सवेरा, मिटी तन्हाई है,
लम्बा इंतज़ार था, इस ख़ुशी का मुझे,
मत रोको अब, रोने दो मुझे।

Interesting Life, like Movies

Every single one of us wishes to be the romeo, success tycoon and the tough guy shown in the movies. But even after our sincere efforts hardly any of us live like them. What’s the major difference?

The guy in the movies is one of the two categories.

1. Rich brat who irrespective of whether he is having a decent enjoyable life or a spoiled one, is gonna get into family business or anything gr8 because he doesn’t need to care about the future. For ex- every second bollywood movie.
2. A totally spoiled kid. The parents after trying hard have lost faith in him. But due to an accident or a girl in the life or by self acknowledgement, gains maturity and then follows his passion irrespective of the feelings of his family.  For ex- The rest of the movies left in above category.

But what about the common Indian guy? A common person here is not very rich and everyone wishes to get a job before his dad retires so he can bring food at home. How are we supposed to enjoy life with this? Like the youngsters in the movies we can’t just run out and ignore studies. Following our passion without caring about the family is not the scenario here. To be successful we need to work very hard to be able to set a great carrier. In that working hard period can we make our life that much interesting? It’s just a myth that we can’t. So what do we need to do to make it as interesting as in the movies?

•  Don’t work on Sundays. Sundays are only to meet old friends, go to a new place or have a party even without occasion. Work harder on the rest of the days.
• Get out of social networking sites. They are just making you more dull and boring. The real adventure and thrill can only be faced when your body works along with your brains.
• Make small clubs and be a dedicated member of it. Biker clubs going on long drives, cricket club playing every weekend mornings, drama club, book lovers club or even a geek club. Join anything of your choice but also go to the regular meetings.
• Help someone in need atleast once a week. It doesn’t mean giving pen to a co-student in the class. Some in real need like orphans, beggars, elders, lost people or someone emotionally broke (but not ditched).
• Make a call or meet someone you have not been in contact with in a long time, every week.
• Propose somebody and be loved or rather get heart-broken but still do it.
• Go to a new restaurant, place and movies at least once every month. Try new genre of movies, order for new dishes from different cuisines and go to exotic places.
• Jumping from an airplane on someone’s back is thrilling but learning to do them alone is even better. Learn basics of as many of them as you can. Do two adventure sports without any support before you turn 30.
• Have friendship or a small conversation with a random stranger every week.
• Remember one thing every moment of your life. Money is indeed very important for your survival today but it is not the most important one. Find out, what are the things that are more important for you than money.

This is a list of some of things which when implemented will surely turn out your common simple life into a most exciting one.