I am showcasing the writer in me!!!

ஆசை

2011-02-25T07:47:00.001-08:00

கதைச் சொல்ல ஆசைதான்

கதை தொடுக்கவும் ஆசைதான்

படித்தப்பின் எல்லோரும் பாராட்ட ஆசைதான்

பாராட்டியவர் பிறர்க்கு எடுத்துரைக்க ஆசைதான்

மைகொண்டு சகாப்தம் படைக்க ஆசை

புத்தகத்துள் பதிவு செய்ய மிக்க ஆசை

விழாவிற்கும் மாலைக்கும் ஆசைதான்

பணத்திற்கும் பெருமைக்கும் ஆசையோ ஆசைதான்

இதுவும் ஆசை அதுவும் ஆசை

இந்த கற்பனையும் நிறைவேற ஆசைதான்

இந்த கற்பனைக்குமுன் அந்த ஆசைகளுக்குமுன்

ஒருவரியேனும் எழுத ஆசைதான்

அவளைவிட அழகு

2011-02-16T07:15:00.001-08:00

அழகியப் பிறை சந்திரன் போன்ற முகமும்
கருங்காக்கையின் நிறம் கொண்ட தேகமும்
மெல்லிய சதங்கை ஒலி குரலோடு
எந்நேரமும் எப்பொழுதும் எல்லோராலும் கையிரக்கப்படாது
கொஞ்சல்களையும் முத்தங்களையும் வாங்கிக்கொண்டு
உன் அதிகாரத்தை காட்டி வந்தாய் நீ
உன் திமிரை அடக்கவும்
உன் கோட்டையை ஜெயிக்கவும் இதோ
வந்துவிட்டாள் அழகிய அழகி - ஐபோன் 4.0

Silent Tear

2010-12-30T21:42:00.001-08:00

I want to say good bye, to have a

Walk around the green lawns, remember

All the sweet memories and see

Those friendly faces going by,

Want to step back, and run fast

Through the corridors of time, and yet

Stand there alone, like a grain in sand

Little fish in a big pond, I want to

Never feel the pain, or have the energy drain

Yet here I am, turning back with a silent tear

துலைவில் ஒரு...?

2010-04-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

ஒரு கணம் தொண்டை அடைத்தது
ஓவென்று அழவேண்டுமாய் இருந்ததே
என்ன ஒரு வாழ்க்கை?
முடிவில்லா துன்பமாய்
ஒட்டுமொத்த உலகமே திரண்டு வந்து
சதி திட்டம் தீட்டியதோ?
என்றும் குமுறி குமுறி சோர்ந்த பின்
இருளினும் வெளிச்சமாய்
வெள்ளத்தினுள் படகாய்
ஒளிமயமான சூரியன், அதோ அங்கு தூரத்தில்
கனவா இல்லை நினைவா என்று புலப்படாத சொர்க்கத்தில்
ஓடோடியது, பிடிக்க முடியாமல் புரிய முடியாமல் தவிக்கிறேன்
நிகழும் மாறுவது எப்பொழுது?

இப்படியும் சில

2010-03-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

கிளையில் உட்கார்ந்து காகம் சொல்லிற்று

"நானும் நன்றாக பாடுவேன்"

அங்கிருந்த இரண்டு குயிலை பார்த்து

"ஆஹா என்ன ராகம், ஓஹோ என்ன தாளம்"

என்று அவையும் தலை அசைத்தன

குயிலின் குரலை காகம் அறியுமோ?

காகத்தின் கரைச்சலை குயில் தான் அறியுமோ?

இதற்கும் அதற்கும் நடுவே தான்

கூட்டமாக கூடும் ஆட்டு மந்தைகளும்

அழகு கழுதைகளும்

இதையெல்லாம் கேட்டுக்கொண்டு

பட்டும் படாமலும் தொட்டும் தொடாமலும்

வளர்ந்து நிற்கும் மரம்போல் நால்வர்

ஒரு துளி படம்

2010-03-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

ரகசிய கனவுகளின் காலம்
அழகிய ஆர்ப்பாட்டங்களை ரசிக்கும் பருவம்
குளிர் இரவில் எச்சில் முத்தங்கள்
பிடித்தும் பிடிக்காத இன்ப உணர்வுகள்
அர்த்த ஜாம தூக்கம் பிடிக்காமல்
ஜன்னலுடன் விரல் விளையாட்டு
பேசியும் பேசாமலும் ஆரி போன கோப்பைகள்
கோபம் தபம் சண்டைகளும் பூசல்களும்
ஒரு துளி கண்ணீர் விழுவதற்குள்
மனக்கணில் படமாக ஓடிற்று
தனியே படுக்கையில் ஒரு கடைசி மூச்சுக்காற்று
நிசப்தம் மறுபடியும் நிலவியது

பெய்யுமுன்

2010-03-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

வெப்பத்தை குறைத்து
தாகத்தை தணித்து
ஒவ்வொரு அணுவிலும் கலந்து
எங்கெங்கிலும் ஊடுருவி
குளிர்ந்து, காற்றை அடக்கி
நிசப்தத்தை பரப்பி
விடாபிடியாக,
பெய்து ஓயும் மழை முன்னே
கிளம்பியது மண்வாசனை

காதல்

2010-02-26T07:06:00.001-08:00

நித்தம் வழியும் நெற்றி துளி நீர்
சூரியனின் வெப்ப கோடுகளுடன் தரையில்
செங்கல் சுமந்து காய்ந்து போன தேகம்
சோர்ந்த நிலையில் ஒரு மரத்தடியில்
கேப்பாங்கூழையும் பச்சை மிளகாயையும்
ஏந்திய ஒரு காரிகை கருவிழியாள்
உதட்டில் ஒரு புன்சிரிப்பு
மனதில் ஒரு புளங்ககிதம்
அந்த நிமிடத்தில் ஒன்று கூடிய
அந்த உணர்ச்சி பறிமாற்றத்தை
ஒரு அம்பிகவதியும் அமராவதியும் மிஞ்சிவிடமுடியாது

உதாரணம்

2010-02-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

வாடாத மலரும் குத்தாத முள்ளும்
பேயாத மழையும் வெளுக்காத வெய்யிலும்
சுடாத நெருப்பும் அணையாத வெளிச்சமும்
இயற்கை அல்லவே! அது போலத்தான்
துஞ்சிய விழிகளும், தவிக்காத மனமும்
உன்னை மறந்த நெஞ்சமும்
உன் அன்பற்று வாழும் வாழ்க்கையும்
இதற்கு மேலும் சொல்வேன்,
காகிதத்தில் இடமில்லை,
பேனாவில் மையில்லை
முடிவில்லா ஆசைக்கு வரையறையும் இல்லை

இரவு

2010-02-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

இருக்க மாட்டாமல் இரவோடு கலந்து சென்ற
குளிர் நிலவும் கோடை பனியும்
உள்ளத்து உணர்வை தான் தணிக்குமோ
பிறந்த குழந்தையினும் மென்மையாய்
உறங்குகிறாய் நீ
தவிபெனும் அறியமாட்டாயோ

The Cost of a Wandering Mind

2009-03-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

“If you think carefully, I am fully aware of the deep sense of foreboding that something bad is going to happen” , I tell myself over and over again. I clutch the steering harder than ever. “Exit 53 1 mile” the sign loomed large in front of me. Not that I noticed it, going at 70 mph. A Toyoto RAV4 just passed me , leaving my Acura shaking. I glance down and realized that I have dropped to 50 mph during my revere. I pressed down on the accelerator, why I hate to put the car on cruise control is beyond me. I join the sea of red lights that was zooming past me. Just then the entire herd slowed down. Cursing the audi who braked in front of me, I slide on to the lane on my right and zoom past. The butterfly in my stomach has not died down just yet. Why am I feeling like this? I wonder, zooming past a large sign “Food Exit Mc Donalds Dennys Subway”. I wonder if I should stop and take a bite before I get going again.

<>

Red and blue lights swarm around. I quickly sit up in my seat Stiff. I lick my lips and glance back through my back window. Indeed , the cruiser at my back was blaring the siren and had its lights switched on. I slowed down considerably and hold my breath hoping the cruiser would drive past me. The lights were blinding and the sound incessant.

I pull over to my right on to the shoulder, roll down my window and put both of my hands on the steering wheel, and hope for a miracle.

There is this small voice inside my mind that snickers and says “I warned you!!"

Kids - I love them

2007-12-26T17:01:00.000-08:00

I am not good with kids. Trust me when I say it. I have this amazing ability to make even the brightest of babies cry but my simple “baby talk” gestures. At a naming ceremony of my sister’s baby, I was proud that I had become the new aunt. The Proud peacock (yeah, that’s me) strutted around the room gleaming with joy. It was customary time for me to say the baby name in his ears three times.

I went near his ear and called out softly “Rahul”. You won’t believe me when I say that he looked up at me with a fiery gaze and let out this loud cry, bawling his heart out. I didn’t know whether it was my face, or the call or my stance. Tears were freely flowing by his cheeks. My sister quickly came and scooped him in her hands and shushed him. With his face, hanging over her shoulders, Rahul looked at me with mockery which only I could feel. My face had gone red with embarrassment and the laughter in the room was still ringing in my ears. Well you should know that I did complete calling his name amidst the ruckus that he created every time I went near him.

This other time, one of my aunts invited for her grand daughter’s naming ceremony. When the ritualistic time came, I told my aunt that I had a bad cold and that the baby could catch it. As I passed by the crib, I am sure the girl gave me thumbs down sign and put out her tongue mocking me. Well you could say I am imagining things, but only I know what I went through.

There was this, “bring your child to work” day organized by my company. My colleague’s 8 year old son had come along to meet us before heading out for lunch. I had this big project meeting planned and had my papers strewn all over the desk. Just as Jitin came in he waved a big hi to me and smiled. I thought my rotten lady luck is not smiling on me today and went ahead talking to him. Just as he was about to leave, he flipped through this big yellow binder that I had kept for reading out the report at the meeting. When he started to leave, I ran after him asking for the binder.

“Darling, could you please give it to me? Aunty has this big meeting coming up!” (Don’t even talk about the ways I talk to a kid)

“No!”, he crossed the binder across his chest. That can’t be good isn’t it?

“Darling please, take this marker instead, you can draw pictures on my whiteboard. I will show you how to draw a big bird??!” (Oh boy, talk about negotiating skills I learnt)

“No” he said looking squarely in my eye.

“Jitin beta, give aunty the file, you are a good boy right?” Janvi stepped in much to my relief.

“No, No No” he shouted running off with the file.

“Jitin, come back” I shouted back trying to catch up with the boy. I was very close to blowing my top. My lady luck would be very happy seeing my situation.

Janvi who shouted after Jitin, gave a stern warning. He stopped and came back. Janvi gave him a pat on the back and plucked that file from his hands and gave it to me. Jitin started to cry and shouted “I hate you!” as he was dragged towards the door. Janvi mouthed a sorry as she went. I could only give a weak smile. My jinx continues!!

Raj stepped in to my cubicle and said “Hey lady, I am having a birthday party for my two year old daughter this saturday. I would be very happy if you could come.” Just then, thunder clapped outside and it started to rain. Talk about bad omen. Three cubicles away someone shouted in to the phone,

You dare not come!!”

“You know what Raj, I am going to be out of station. Sorry yaar, probably I can meet her later some day.” From my boss’s cubicle I could hear a sentence “Never gonna happen”.

Did I say I am not good with kids?

When u

2007-11-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

Inspiration

2007-11-01T05:16:00.000-07:00

“Why has it been a long time since you wrote?” asked Rahul. With one leg crossed over another and leaning over the cubicle wall, hands over the wall, free to do whatever they want. Typical Rahul stance, when he wants to have a deep conversation.

“‘cuse me?” I said, looking up at him. He has this wavy black hair that always bounces in a rhythmic way. He was not the most handsome of persons I knew, but still, there was a real captivating beauty in his eyes.

“I, asked you” He said looking in to my eyes, “Why has it been a long time since you wrote? Was that a toughie, dear?”

“Well…” I let out a sigh, “hmmm, I seem to be having some sort of creative block, which needs a spark. Nothing ever interesting happens around me that inspires me to write.

“Bull, I don’t buy that reason from you. When was the last time you stood up from that stupid chair you have been sitting for the last 4 hours, 30 mins, 24 seconds?” he said as if he had stood there with a stop watch in his hand.

“Oh no you don’t, I am not playing the game. I have got lots of work to do now, so buzz off and ponder your thoughts some where else”

“Come on you big monotonous dodo, lets go for a smoke. Let me explain to you how to sift through normality to find real diamonds of inspiration” he said. There was a bright twinkle in his eye.

“I don’t smoke.” I continued the furious typing which had been interrupted earlier by this question. He looked at me for a fraction of a second.

“Yeah yeah, you never do all the blessed things on earth. Just come” he said doing a windows + L and practically dragging me out.

“There, is a guy talking on the phone. What do you make of him” he asked me. I was lost in my own coding world, which was rather rudely shut off by his enthusiasm.

“Huh, I see that he is talking to someone!!!???” I said with a tinge of irritation.

“Ofcourse he is talking to someone, you only see what you want to see. I see that he is conspiring to throw this computer world in to a tizzy but releasing a dangerous virus using the company’s system by the night.” He said, as a matter of fact.

“What? How? Who! Huh???” I stopped dead on my track and looked at him. Then realization dawned on my face. “Whatever!” I walked off to one of the benches under the tree.

“Come on! Play along…” Lighting a match to his ciggy. I watched his deft fingers holding the cigarette lithely as he puffed away. I wondered why his lips weren’t black like others from smoking.

“Alright, after coding for hours for a virus, he is now talking to a bidder to sell off his creation. That’s why he is talking.”

“Great, Go ahead”, he said, leaning on the tree, crossed legged.

“And when he goes inside, he would do a round of testing, and released it in a small IM server to see if it does its work. As he prepares for, he accidently sends the virus to his Client’s server, where it downs tons and tons of production data.”

“and… and..” I started to rant on and on. He stood there listening to my story and watching me speak. His eyes dart to between my eyes to study the excitement in my face.

“Ok! Time out. I got to go and work. There you go. A good story. Start writing and send me the first draft. Lets go!” he said.

“Wha… hey come back. I haven’t finished it yet. There is this great twist in the story…” I shouted, as I ran after him.

“Yes I know that this will turn out to be an 18 part series with all known and unknown twists and turns and that you have enough creativity to keep the audience spell bound. I knew you would see through it and get an inspiration. That’s what I told you. You only see what you want to see.” He gave me his golden smile with a twinkle in his eyes.

I smiled which eventually turned in to a foolish grin.

7:42

2007-03-20T07:25:00.001-07:00

7:42

1

In the dullness of the surrounding, one or two comps blink with a rapid rush of keys. The mood is perfectly sober. It looks like it has been devoid of earthly feelings. Still, there is the sound of people working feverishly at their comps. If I listen carefully, there are a few chit chats going on. In one corner of my mind, a timer has started counting the time elapsed until next transport. I have come to the point, where I have all browsed. There are 10 windows, of work, of mails, chats and of more work. There is a growing restlessness that leads me to believe I don’t want to go home and I hate the travel. But there is this heart that longs for the warmth of my cozy bed in the dark room. Suddenly my mind fills with the thoughts of work that needs to be done in the next 15 min before I can take a break from the perfectly crazy world. There is a sudden rumination of thoughts about being in the Barbados, with the sun sand and the beach. I mentally make a note to visit that place at least once in my life time. This thought is promptly filed under places to see. Once again my hand involuntarily switches between more windows, aimlessly waiting for the timer to expire. At this point I get up, take a look around to see a fresh life. The eerie light of the tube light surrounds me in this dim world, where I keep loosing track of my time, life and my breath. The alarm goes off in my brain. A distant mobile, rings. I do CTRL, ALT DEL and walk with a losing stride. The only thought in my mind right now is Sleep!

2

Sun is already attacking me with its fierce rays. I look at the time. 7.10 am. My bus is due at 7.40. I run through my chores and head out to the bus stand. Just as I reach, the bus is seen as a distant square with smoke. I look at my watch. 7.42 AM. It strikes me that I had completed my work at exactly 7.42 pm last night missing the 7.20 and waiting endlessly for the 8.20 bus. My face perspires with sweat and despair. I frustratedly look at the crowded MTC is snaking it way in to the crowd. Damn 7.42!!

3

I am shaken by the coincidence of the time. It is noon. I create a task in my mind to catch the 7.20 bus today. I need to break the jinx. The work is getting piled up in a corner. I never look up from my computer. The energy of the people around me swells and ebbs as I sit unnerved by the happenings around me. I look up at the clock at my desk. 6.50 pm. Good, I think I will make it today. I take my first coffee break for the day. I head out to the smoking zone to do some passive nicotine inhaling. My spirits lift up. As I come back to close down, my OC pings me. Greetings and blah blah.. My code is not working. We keep discussing. We end up deciding tomorrow will be the best time to work on it. Relieved for a moment, realisation hits me. I look up. 7.42 pm! Damn!!

4

I notice that a dangerous pattern has evolved. Disaster at 7.42! I print a huge sign saying; I am hit with 7.42 syndrome and hang it outside my cubicle. People think I am crazy. I decide I need to break the jinx very badly. 1.34 pm. I write "the devil sits here" on my white board with an arrow towards my chair. I walk up to my pm and ask off for rest of the day. I start from office. I decided that I will hit the beach. I take the bus and go in to blissful sleep. With a start, I wake up to see the conductor staring at my face. "Dude you have reached the last bus stop.".. Time 2.47 pm. I panic and get off. I enquire around and find out the next bus to my place is at 3.15 pm. I walk around the bus stop, peering at random shops like a zombie. I get on to my bus and start home. I go in to blissful sleep again. This time I wake up in front of my office. Damn. I get down and enter. Time is 5.26 pm. I start coding again, but sleep overcomes. I am snoring away on my keyboard. A distant mobile rings. I wake up..7.42 pm!

5

I highlight the words by red marker on my signboard which says 7.42 syndrome. My pm sees my face and gives me the rest of the week off. I get out of office, dutifully catch an auto home. I pack my bag and walk to the railway station. After the 5th train has passed, I decide to board the local to egmore. Time 12.01 pm. I have my lunch. I buy an available ticket to a station I never knew existed. I buy a murder mystery novel from a trolley and settle down in one of those numerous steel chairs. The call comes through for my train. I look at the board, verify the platform, locate the train and my seat. I continue reading my book. An announcement comes over the speaker.” All trains have been cancelled due to bad weather. 7.42 am will be the tentative...." I faint. Last thing on my mind is the time 7.42 am.

6

My parents look at my face. "There is nothing wrong with you.. But you were unconscious for 12 hours. They didn’t know what to do.. It was as if you slipped in to coma." The syndrome I tell them. They look at my face blankly. I tell them I am jinxed. They say nothing wrong with me. I slip in to unconsciousness. I wake up to the smell of menthol. I seriously contemplate running away to Barbados. I think where I have heard about that place. An alarm goes off. I look over to find the clock at 7.42 pm. I scream full throated. The nurse comes around with an injection.

7

“He used to have a signboard which said "7.42 syndrome" we never knew why. Poor chap. Look at him sitting in that room. Looking so normal, yet so crazy that, they had to admit him to a mental asylum. Sigh!! Hmm lets go. Hey look, time is 7.42 pm. strange coincidence. Wonder why that drives him nuts…..”

-End-

The Memory of the apple pie

2007-03-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

"Could you please pass the pie?
With sugar sprinkled apple coat,
It's not so much trouble, right?
Could you please pass the pie?"

Raspberry bushes grow underneath
The big apple tree,
In the meadows, as i sat, I asked,
"Could you please pass the pie?"

A flowery cloth spread on the grass,
With sandwiches and juices to go,
With a little sunshine, a little wind, i said
"Could you please pass the pie?"

The look he gave, was electrifying,
The hand so soft, as he passed the pie,
The first of many wonderful memories,
Came rushing back at me, as i said,
"For the umpteenth time,
Are you gonna pass the pie or not?"

Two minute heaven

2007-03-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Morning when I get up, I spend exactly two minutes, to catch up on my “extra” sleep before my mom shouts at me. That’s heaven.

I wake up, give a warm hug, two minutes, my mom sends me off to get ready for office. That’s heaven

A quick hi to dad and get in to daily chores. Amidst the cacophony of morning business, I spend two minutes, cutting any veggies, gossiping with mom. Heaven

After a bath, run to office, a quick flying kiss to parents and off I go. Heaven

In the bus stand, I spend two minutes, smiling at known faces. Catch up a word, before the bus comes. Heaven

Come to office , a smile and a good morning at the security inspector. Heaven

One fave song in radio half heard on the way to building. Heaven

Enter cubicle, warm wishes to project mates. Two minutes heaven

Another two minutes reading to junk mail from closest friends. Stupid conversations. Heaven

Taking break from busy work. Lying back in the chair staring at the ceiling thinking of nothing. Heaven

Lunch. Two minutes spent scolding friends to come to lunch table on time. Heaven

Back to work, two minutes that I get pulling my project mates leg. Heaven

Two minutes spent on more stupid mails.. Heavenly

Two minutes spent on the way back to bus, listening to fave song. Heaven

Two minutes spent looking outside the window, admiring nature on the way home. Heaven

Enter home, quick wave to all.. two minutes.. heaven

Family dinner, two minutes spent on describing a “bad” day gone by. Heaven

Two minutes, spent haggling over the remote with father, settling down to watch a soap.. Heaven

Two minutes, quick good night kisses, back to bed. Heaven

Two minutes, last minute stupid smses from friends.. Bringing a smile – Priceless!

Dueling with Life

2007-03-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

You would have obviously wondered about life at some point of time in your …Life.. Well.. I have too. Let me not turn this in to an autobiography. It’s just that I am really frustrated with it and awed by it. I perceive life as a human with its own emotion and mind that constantly fights with us, in a duel. Yes you heard me right.. a duel, the kind of sport, where people fight with swords?? Get the picture? Well.. We are constantly in some fight of the other and you know what? There is no end to this fight. Ofcourse, the only end, is death, but lets not get in to those morbid details now. Its all about the duel. There is nothing fair about this fight. Life often fights back in various forms, perceiving every advantage it has. We on the other hand have one sword, body, mind and heart. That’s it. Ofcourse, Life plays cruel tricks on us, like vanishing in to thin air, sometimes substituting our sword with a blunt one or taking draconian shapes and form to scare the bejesus out of us. One moment, life stops fighting and holds up the truce flag. That’s when you think you have won the fight and take a nap. The joke is on you, because that is when it comes up with ever cruel plan of cutting your throat when you sleep. Most people are built for handling this kind of pressure. But some can’t face the music and surrender. Me? Well.. I am fighting still fighting.. Life gives me blow after blow shaking the daylights out of me, but I bounce back. At least I know I will.. The duel continues, until death. The funny thing here is when life is dead, you are dead. So is the fight! So you fight life, not kill it. In the end, it doesn’t matter who wins, all that matters, is that you survived!!

Engeyo Ketta kadhai - tamil

2006-11-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

One more from me

Vaazhkai Chakkaram

2006-11-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

Please forgive me if there are any mistakes.

Traffic, Chennai Roads and one hell of a biker

2006-11-23T16:42:00.000-08:00

Ahh, yes. I have arrived at my destination one piece, without any mortal wound to either me or my bike or to any one else on the road. Ok, Make it anyTHING on the road!...Phew… I love Chennai bikers. This article is an outcome of personal survival guide on Chennai road and ways (not) to tackle traffic.

See, it all depends on a single cardinal rule which has two steps.

1. See free space

2. Conquer

It’s that simple. Have you wondered how foreigners find incredibly awed at the sight of our chaotic traffic and gape at our em.. err… genius traveling skills? Well here is the answer. How to implement this rule?? Simple, when you are riding, you see a free space ahead of you in ANY of the directions, you conquer it. If you even think for a split second as to go through with your decision, WHAM, your free space doesn’t remain anymore. Any more speculation on it and trying to regain it back is plain stupidity. You go back to step 1 and then continue. Well, it’s incredible because, every other living human being on a bike in Chennai knows this. So when another one sees an empty space in front of you, he is going to assume, you know the rule. If you wasted the split timing, he implements it. There are some reservations you need to take care, before you go through. Like a Sumo in the side of the free space, means a BIG NO-NO unless you are this extremely agile rider. Because his rule is “Create free space, Conquer”… so.. Most probably you would end being err.. not on the road. The bus, you have to know that this bad boy doesn’t need to bother with such low beings such as a bike rider. Rest is up to you man! Amen!! .. The next bad boy is the Lorry. He is death trap unto himself. What you probably want to do is that, check out what goods he is carrying. If it is truck load of stones, he probably wouldn’t leave the median side and wouldn’t go fast, if it is carrying anything light, or if it is a metro tanker, please pullover!!! Listen to your favourite FM channel for sometime and then resume. By the time you start, he would be somewhere in Somalia. Then, cometh the ranks of indigos, accents and fords. These boys think they own the road. So you might probably want to play a cat and mouse game, because there are likely not to leave even a single free space in front of you. Then these are succeeded by santros, wagon Rs and indicas. These boys closely follow the above ranks, in an effort to play cat and mouse among them. Again, judgment call boss!! Not to be left out are the scooty peps, TVS 50s, bajaj waves, pleasure… whatever you see in pink, violet and baby blue. Trust me; these are far more dangerous than Metro water tankers. For once you would NOT be seeing the road when they are around. Second, you are likely to be caught up in flying duppattas, hair, handbags and what nots flying about around them. And lastly, they don’t follow the cardinal rule of bikers. So… what do I say now?..

Finally, apart from all these, are the dare devils. Their rule is “see nothing, conquer everything”.. They can have ,speed breakers, pot holes, bumps, cars, busses, trucks, eighteen wheelers, Mars explorers stoppin them, but they still wouldn’t in all probability stop. Let me say, please stay away from them. You might want to drop to 20 and ponder on the meaning of life..

All said and done, we all know that Traffic, Chennai Roads and a biker, make an awesome combination.

Happy riding everyone…

Let me end on a note celebrating riders.

"Happiness is finding that there's another gear left"

- quote from some biker's zone on the web

Castles in Air

2006-11-22T13:40:00.000-08:00

I was once a king, of the dreary jungle

I would trot along the forbidden path

Destiny was my middle name

Fear I had not known, I the king

Upon the river bank came this tiny bird

Whose beak was smaller than my nail!

In it I saw this little twig wedged,

To build its own castles in air

All year long I watched the bird

Carrying twigs, worms and what not,

I had long forgotten my aim in the jungle

To sit here and relearn the wasted

It flew all over my land, bringing

Treasures and food unto it humble nest

I felt myself growing very small

Never did the bird say die

As I watched and watched the spectacle

The bird grew in my mind

Its quest seemed bigger than my life

The purpose larger than eternity, even still

Its knows, one day all this won’t remain,

Yet it didn’t stop the castles in air,

I got up after this magnanimous vision

I was once a king, now only a man

The light in me awakening,

I would still trot along the forbidden path

Now I know what I must do.

Daniel and I

2006-11-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

Daniel, take the little bubble,
Let out the air in the ocean,
Pull out a few more from the sea
We are in love, Yes we are

Daniel, sift the pebbles by colour
Red, blue and army green
Paint them all pink, put it back to gather
We are in love, Yes we are

Daniel, collect all the stars,
Shining brightly in night sky
Make me a diamond necklace
We are in love, Yes we are

Daniel, reach in, gather my thoughts
Of varied shapes and sizes,
Stick them on to a book of love,
We are in love, Yes we are

(Inspired by Scar borough fair by SnG)

To really love a woman

2006-11-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

“Hey, I am Rahul… Buy me a pizza”..

“Oh!! Smart alec, you are using THE stupidest line ever, on me?? Why don’t you just ask ‘care to have coffee with me’. That should do”

“You are stupid.. ok ‘Care to have Coffee with me sometime ??”

“Now you are talking!! Sure…”

*********

To really love a woman, to understand her..

You got to know here deep inside,

Hear every thought, see every dream,

Give her wings when she wants to fly,

And when you find yourself lying helpless

In her arms..

You know you really love a woman

You love a woman, tell her that She’s really wanted,

You love a woman, tell her that She’s the one,

She needs somebody to tell her its going to last forever,

So tell me ever really .. really, really ever loved a woman
*********

“Hello there! My dear husband. Don’t you look all smart..”

“Hello! My Dear wife.. you look ravishing.. come here..”….

“Naaaa.. Before that, Do you love me”

“Ofcourse I don’t, I just married you for the money, you dumb girl”

“Oh really?? I married you becos I though you loved me!! Sniff sniff!!”

“Do you love me??”

“Ofcourse I don’t hubby deariee….”

*********

To really love a woman, let her hold ya,

Till you know how she needs to be touched

You gotta breathe her, Really taste her..

Till you can feel her in your blood

When you can see your unborn children

In her eyes..
You know you really love a woman

You love a woman, tell her that She’s really wanted,

You love a woman, tell her that She’s the one,

She needs somebody to tell her its going to last forever,

So tell me ever really .. really, really ever loved a woman

*********

“Do you know it pains?? It pains.. It really does…”

“I know.. I know.. having a kid isn’t all that easy.. I told you”

“I am gonna have a baby and you are saying this.. Shut up you Dumb Crab”

“Alright Alright!! It is gonna be alrite.. She will be just fine.. looking like you.. just wait and see”

“Huh.. how do you know it’s a ‘she’??”

“I know.. *grin*”

“Do you love me?”

“Ofcourse I don’t, didn’t I say I married you for money” *grin again*

*********

You gotta give her something, hold her tight,

With little tenderness and treat her right,

She’ll be there for you.. Taking good care of you

You really gotta love your woman..

And when you find yourself lying helpless

In her arms..

You know you really love a woman

*********

“Mr.Rahul, I am sorry. I could only save her. I am really sorry”

“…”

“She gave me a message..”

“…”

“Her words were ‘I love you smart alec, If you marry anybody after I die, I am gonna kill you’.. Am sorry Rahul.. Here is your daughter”

*crying*

“You know, I really did love you mother”

*********

You love a woman, tell her that She’s really wanted,

You love a woman, tell her that She’s the one,

She needs somebody to tell her that you’ll always be together

So tell me have you ever really ..

Really, really ever loved a woman

*********

Song : Bryan Adams - You really love a woman

The Humans, They ridicule

2006-11-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

Sitting on the stair

With a cube in her hand

A touch of green and a splash of blue

Looking in to, deep inside

Finding an answer to many a cry

“Lookie there” says the passerby

“Nice sphere you got there girl”

“But this aint round” she cried

He didn’t listen, for he didn’t stop.

He didn’t stop; for he ran far

The blue changed to pink

Shape grotesque not a cube

It was all dark inside, She

Could neither see nor fathom

But she still saw it as cube blue.

The constant rub of her hand

Made the change; still many

Who passed by had a pat on it

Was is her shape or was it others’s

Clue wasn’t there. Everybody

Had a simple part to play

She still maintains her story

That’s the way she tells

We might never know

For we can never compare,

Ours with hers, it’s different, as for her

She still saw it as cube blue.

The recognition

2006-10-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

“Pritam, can I see you in the conference room for sometime??” Rahul my Project manager asked me. “Sure Rahul, give me a minute” I said, wondering what could be so important. There was an involuntary shudder. I always thought going to the conference was getting bad news. I locked my comp and proceeded to the conference room with a notepad and pen.

“You have been doing some amazing work I heard” said Rahul as I sat down. Now I was pleasantly surprised.

“Well…, Thank you, Rahul.” I stammered.

“I also heard that you are staying late these days?? I should add here that I know you are under tremendous pressure. But that doesn’t justify anything”

I gave a what-do-I-do stare.

“You should plan your work and leave on time. I know that you live with your family. Don’t you think you should be spending more time with them than your computer??” he asked.

“Yes, I think so… But the…” I started…

“No buts..You are planning and leaving early from now on, Pritam. This is for your own good. Ok?? Keep up the good work.” Rahul stood up after saying this.

I mentally noted that I should leave at 8.20 that day.

A week later, Rahul passed by my cubicle and said “Good, you are leaving early these days… great” and gave a thumbs up sign.

Friday evening as I started to leave, a mail popped up.

“Congratulations SPOT award winners…”

I eagerly opened to see if there was my name in the list. Sadly there wasn’t. As I was about to close the mail, a sentence caught my attention

“Jim – ABC project

He totally deserves this spot award for his dedication and hardwork he has shown in this project. ………

..

..

..

Also the effort he put in after office hours is greatly appreciated..”

The time was 8.15 pm. I opened my DART and started a task “AB357434 – Coding PCD”… and continued in to the night.

A Goodbye Note

2006-10-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish I could upturn the ocean

To see what is beneath the calm rough sea

Then again I think I don’t want to go deep

To meet the secrets those lie hidden below

Now that you are going west, I bundle up

Not that I want to pour out to you and I don’t

Why open a useless box that you just can’t close

Keep the lid down, with the storm encased

Old beauty fades away, new pain surfaces

Funny how the pain keeps on adding

Let it not be my monologue, I pretend

Wanting to keep my mouth shut for reasons

Fish hooks are tantalizingly dangerous,

You were just the worm, lifes’ the line

Wonder who is on the other end, pulling,

Wish I could bribe him to let the worm go

In here, this emptiness that’s reassuring that

Everything will be alright, yet its emptiness talking you know

Irony of life, something that is not there

Will set your moods on a right swing

Listen I might keep going on, and on

On this endless conversation that is,

Lifes’ like that, is the endless truth derived

For I understood “Life is; Like that”

Maiden Voyage

2006-10-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Starship Wanderer

"Man overboard, I repeat, Man Overboard ", the sailor shouted in to the phone. Alarm sounded all over the ship. The captain shouted "Man overboard, Cut off all engines, I repeat, Cut off all engines..".

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

"Sir, Unknown ship entering the zone. Do I warn them?"
"They would know what they are doing I hope. I want this to be a calm night. Identify the ship and let them know, just in case"
"Aye, Aye Sir!"
In to the mike..
"This is Fort Lauderdale, Please identify yourself "
"Roger that Fort Lauderdale, This is Starship wanderer. Passenger cruise. 100 people onboard"
"Roger, Starship. You are now entering ... "

Unknown Air force base, Peurto rico

"Usted ve esa nave?" (Do you see that ship?)
"esperanza de i ellos sé sí lo que él está haciendo." (Yes I do. I hope they know what they are doing)

Starship Wanderer

"Where did he go? ", the captain was frantically shouting looking down at the rough sea.
"Sir, I don't know, he was here. We threw him a lifebuoy. We have sent two people down the life boat."

The lights went off. The entire ship blacked out. Screams were heard all over the ship.

"What the hell is happening ?? " The captain wore a shocking face.

All of a sudden the ship started to move. The captain saw a huge swirl right in front of him. The ship inched towards the swirl.

"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!" the captain shouted in to the phone that was no longer working.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

"Sir, The starship wanderer is off the radar sir. I am scared that they got caught in the zone. "

"Nonsense Lt, these things happen all the time. These big party ships shut off for moonlight candle light dinners. Don't jump the gun sunny"

"Mayda............................. Ma....................Day"..

Both of them exchange glances.

"Starship are you there?.. Starship, This is Fort Lauderdale are you there.... "

PS: for those who haven't figured it out, its about a ship near the bermuda triangle..

The confession

2006-10-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

The silence among us was deafening even amidst the uproar of a bustling coffee house. "What makes a man kill another man??" asked Sujatha, the philosopher.

All of a sudden the tremors occur. These sustain from a minute to hours. I feel as if a storm is raging inside my brain as if my head would explode. The sensation besieges me.

"Maybe the adrenaline rush” suggested Mani. "Rush, my foot. You go to a theme park for adrenaline rush. Not kill somebody "Sujatha's voice boomed; s little loudly.

Sometimes the tremors are so bad that my hands and legs start to shake. I feel like my eyes will fall out of the socket. I see everything in dim colours.

"Some people are depressed maniacs. Nobody can help them. Some say it’s because of depression. Then again I can’t agree that people kill just because their brain was assembled wrongly" quipped Lizzy, throwing a faraway glance at the fifth table. "I think they like to see people die” Sujatha again. She started rotating a straw in her hand.

My hands close on anything that is near by. It starts to shake violently. My thoughts get clouded. The temperature of my body goes down. Eerily one part of my brain remains relatively calm during all this. The mood builds up. That's when it happens

"You know it’s just that. They love to see people die. Yeah.. They love to see people die..........." The silence was deafening.

The knife was on the table. We had just finished the birthday cake. I closed my eyes. My body was convulsing. My hand closed on the knife.

"Dude.. You ok. You don't seem very well? Hello... anybody home.. Dude...??"

Before I could react to the distant voice my hand with the knife flew. Sujatha was sitting right next to me. The knife punctured her heart. She looked at me with those what-have-you-done eyes. I was no longer me. The silence was deafening. My brain cleared. Blood was oozing out. Then came, a scream.... I vaguely remember a calm feeling in my head. I heard Sujatha's voice saying "What makes a man kill another man??". I blacked out.

Mumblings of a delusional mind

2006-10-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Get me a steel knife, the one that is razor sharp,
I need to murder my ego, the one that flies very high.

Dark forces surround me, looming like thick spider web;
Rays of good hope don’t fall, for I have blocked it with my hands.

I scream my head out, day in day out, doesn’t make any sense,
No sound comes out, for my inner voice is dead for long.

Jumping in to a big circle I ran and ran straight,
Searching for the elusive corner, what a fool I have been.

Greater struggle was won over by my greatest fear,
Strangely I know not any fear or anything that it conquered.

Images of a delusional mind don’t follow a path to glory,
I don’t know if I am delusional or if I am glorified

Sadly the point of my steel knife was to kill my ego,
Disillusioned that I am, I don’t know if I need a knife…..

Sights at the beach

2006-10-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Day at the beach pelting a stone,
Stoning the shrub in a mindless activity,
Activities undone in my house uptown,
Uptown group babble useful gibberish.

Forlorn wanderer running on the sand,
Sand of yellowy grain against the sea,
Sea of turbulent waves, crashing the shore,
Shores dotted with lazy benchers.

Paddling a boat, two or four,
Four legged shacks serving chilled water,
Water on the porch that stood by the ocean,
Ocean full of fish that swam the deep sea.

Decisions

2006-09-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

The exam i wrote

2006-09-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well.. i did write my MS exam. It was horrible than a blood bath..

Well its like this..You know you are all grown up when it is..

-> no more writing pages after pages of your life history..

->no more writing the question again in the answer paper.

->No more mugging up "important" answers from the book and feel happy if you get the same..

->no more question like

"explain this in detail (12 marks)"

"List 10 points on this (10 marks)"

"Explain with block diagram (12 marks)"

Where did i go wrong??? (boohoohooo ... i am sobbing!! )

Four subjects..

Datawarehousing - My god.. there is only on concept written for 245 pages.. I should truly believe the guy who wrote is a genius. Its a wonder how he turned a 10 line subject in to a looooooong story.. i fell asleep reading the introduction at 11.30 in the night.. yes i didnt wake up..

exam time - Yeah i wrote something of this and that i read in between my sporadic sleep and got the hell out of the exam hall in 45 minutes.

Network programming - here is a brilliant subject with every practical use. Program networks and sockets in C on Unix systems. Simple.. Yeah right.. go jump.. i know C's hello world program and until 4 days before i was like unix???? what????

exam time - I looked over the paper and was relieved that i wasnt asked to write any program. It was amazing considering the fact that i had to read from two virtually two HUGE pillows. Final question was "write a program/pseudo code". Thank god for small blessings.. i wrote
1.start
2.open socket
3. write data
4. close socket
5. stop

Object oriented analysis and design - It had 16 chapters (front and back!!! I guess only F.R.I.E.N.D.S fans will understand this joke!! ) of theory.. oh boy oh boy.. hmm considering that i bought this book spending 425 rs, i had to read.. i "browsed" it successfully... (not bad re! you are getting better by the day)

exam time - I thought i was taking engineering drawing all over again.. what???? 5 diagrams quesiton and 1 teeny tiny theory question... sigh.. ok.. i was confident.. it should not be that difficult for me the artist!! (ok now dont blow your horn will ya??)

Internetworking tech - ok.. how difficult is internet gonna be.. come on.. i browse everyday.. the only problem is the syllabus was thinking on the lines on multimedia communications.. and blah blah blah.. full book..(yeah i bought that too).. the page nos to read were like 1, 13,45-67, 78,79(3/4 page) and so on.. so like a smart kid i took out a notepad(yes.. the ones with paper which you write with pen??) and took NOTES!! my god.. i did that the last time .........??!! ??!!??!!??!! .....well er... yea.. ahh forget it..

exam time - what is a protocol??? "huh"... i have never been flabbergasted by the question paper in my 4 years of my BE study... horrible.. 15 marks out of syllabus (i hear ppl telling me.. you are PG student! Nothing is out of syllabus..) well you know who had the last laugh?? the ppl who didnt even know what book was in the syllabus..

well that was the end of my glorious 1st semester.. so much for my enthusiam... Next exam... Open book compre.. i am thinking.. what heck.. i still have two months time..

PS : If you

1 . laughed reading this and nodded along a couple of time.. ha!! caught you.. send me a mail on your experiences..

2. Didnt understand a single word but still liked it.. yes send me a mail

3. Didnt understand and didnt like it?? sorry buster.. you are working way too hard

4. read only this PS... i suggest you close this window, cause you are not reading a Novel!!

Autobiography of a Pincushion

2006-08-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

“Don’t look at me like that.. I wasn’t born this way. They made me like this. Yeah sure.. I am colourful, I am soft and all.. but look what they made me for.. Pins?? Sheesh.. come on.. shouldn’t I have a bigger purpose in life. I don’t do anything you know.. oh yeah other than taking pins on my head. They eat my head… It pains too.. But hell I am made for it.. and I guess I should be ready to take it.. Had I been given an option I would have wanted to be a stapler. His job is so kewl man.. Clips everything in way.. He can undo his actions too.. soo cool.. These pins talk among themselves.. and I don’t even have a place at their level. My friends, the Gem clips are more considerate towards me although we just share workspace.. ok chal I got to run.. there comes another pin…

OUCH!!”

PS : Please dont try and find an inner meaning.. It doesnt have any!! :)

The Lonely Lass

2006-08-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

The rhyming format is ABCDDCBA

The Pot Roast

2006-08-11T09:44:00.000-07:00

The boat

2006-08-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Fly My Dandelion

2006-08-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Fallen Warrior

2006-08-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Things to write about

2006-08-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Picking up a paper to write;
Of Ghosts and hocus pocus,
Of scary monsters with two ugly heads,
Of blood sucking vampires,

Maybe a thing of two of love,
Of couples apart and near,
Of children loving and hating parents,
Of feelings, emotions and attraction

Case files of a murder mystery,
Of crooks, robbers and conmen;
Of conniving double crossers,
Of silhouetted silent killers,

Reels of real life incidents,
Of coffees, meetings and breakfast woes,
Of war with computers,
Of trips down memory lanes

Abstract form of arty literature,
Of pensive moods and sober,
Of stark joyous cloudy thoughts,
Of meaningful insights of the mind,

Penned down a mixture of all,
Of all things said above,
Of putting it in words or letters
Of all about writing an article.

The doggone days

2006-08-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

These are doggone days,
Amalgamation of crucified people;
No matter where the sun raises..
The drudgery is not lost in the warmth.

These are doggone days,
Melted butter and stale coffees;
Drugged by cigarettes,
Worse by constant blimps of CRTs.

These are doggone days,
Parched seats sat in by sloppy sloths;
Where the shoes are not walked,
Yes the picture is bleak, worst; blind.

These are doggone days,
No happy note this is;
Sloths are happy for what it is worth,
Yes so am I, it will be doggone days.

Adage

2006-08-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

Hear ye! you all good people
the one who lives by the sword, dies by it
Wisdom of old age retold
The gunned outlaws seldom die by the gun
or its only natural that you don't
live to see the proverb in action

Procrastinators will be punished
probably punishments are procrastinated too.

Good triumphs over evil, once is it??
Evil triumphs good so many times
Now tell me who is the winner?

Penny wise pound foolish
Penny now, pound later, heck
live life now my knight

Don't bring the horse before the cart
yes, but think if you really need it
in the first place.

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy,
That is right, also makes him richer by the dollar

Proverbs and quotes are mere wordings
coined by perpetual blow horns
Of course it had a meaning,
Long long ago, when they lived and bred
New age factors needs a new dimension..
Yes.. a blow horn in the making

Bold Effrontery

2006-08-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

It is aptly described as a Bold Effrontery. The weighted head of a person, who knew what he was doing and did it perfectly. Rahul didn't care if the company thought less of him. All he wanted was a job that would fit HIS profile. A dynamic company that would suit his needs. He was least bothered about money. It was all about his skills and the shrewd process methodologies he had cultivated over years of hard and smart work.

"Could you tell me something about you Mr.Rahul?" asked the panelist.

"Hmm.. Well you could look at my resume and get to know the details of my employment and my interests. But what I am actually going to tell you is hard truth which you might like or not. I am a player. I do shrewd business but I don't do anything out of the ethics circle. I make stuff happen and I stick for my principles.."

The interview went on for three hours on various aspects of work, business, processes and working procedures.

"Well.. It was nice knowing you Mr.Rahul. You will hear from us in two days. Thanks a lot for your time." the panelist said as he stood up and gathered the papers.

"You know what? I am not going to take that answer from you guys. You would have already formed an opinion about me. All you would do is sit in this very same room after I have left; decide on the very same things you have in your mind now and for not more than 10 minutes. Therefore I am going to give you ten minutes to precisely do that Gentlemen. I know about the company and I am sure I can improve the business of the company by 33% in the next quarter. My time is precious for me. I will be waiting outside."

Exactly ten minutes later one of the panelist met rahul in the Lobby.

"Here is your offer letter Mr.Rahul. I am sure the remunerations would be just perfect for you. I am going to put a note about the interview in your file and I expect you to live up to your words. Welcome aboard. You have a team meeting with the Delivery managers in exactly 20 minutes. All the best!"

Vector Difference

2006-08-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

Just as I entered the plane, the crowd cheered. I am now one of them. I was sucked in to their world; their vector. I was pink and they were blue. It doesn't matter they say. You will be blue soon. They all had clear liquids. I didn't. You will get one soon they said. I stayed on in the vector. I wasn't too happy of the arrangement. But life is that. I lived on the vector. I become blue. Vectorians don't do anything out of the blue literally. Flock mentality they say. Everybody is happy. I wasn't still. I had to get out. I came out of the border till I no longer belonged in the vector. Probably they began to see it. I pushed myself off the edge before they could chuck me out. I am an entity again. I create my own planes. I wont call it a vector. Everybody is welcome. Do you care join??

Eyes don't lie

2006-06-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

“Look at my eyes and tell me you don’t love me and that you will never ever spend your lifetime with me.. “ I asked him . “I can’t.. don’t make me do this.. try and understand..” he said with teary eyes. “Why should I be the good person.. I wont understand.. I hate you.” I mumbled as tears streamed down my cheeks. We held our ring fingers together. The air was silent. “Say you don’t need me..” I said. I had stopped crying. “Sorry Doll, I am a coward. I must go” he walked away thrusting a piece of paper in my hands.
“Baby! Please keep those blue eyes closed, lest I should change my mind….”

The beginning from the end

2006-06-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

I dialed the number. I heard the ring go through. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to him. I slammed the receiver down. Damn. I took my magazine and started flipping through it. Suddenly I got a call. “hello…” I said in to the phone.

“Hi, RT. You called me now? Why did ya cut the call?” Rahul asked me.
Damn.. double damn. I forgot he had a caller ID on his landline.

“hmm.. nothing.. Just.. wanted to talk to you.. But didn’t know if it would be a good time.. that’s all” I said, practically stammering in my words.

“Well I am free, if you wanna talk. Why don’t we go to Mocha? Just hang out” Rahul asked me. It took my by surprise.

“Ok.. pick me up at seven? Bye..” A smile spread on my face.

I and Rahul were married for almost three years. The first year of our marriage was like a dream. All the love, affection and fun we had slowly gave way for our career and our life style. Rahul went abroad to Germany for a project assignment for 6 months. When he came back they sent me to Middle east. For the next 1 we were alone and our marriage happened through phone calls and mails and yahoo messenger.

We were arguing on the messenger about how one should quit and join the other. Suddenly both of us said that we needed a break from each other. It was that simple.
One month later we filed for divorce by mutual consent. We were just stuck in our ways. Our correspondence dropped after divorce. It’s been one year now since my divorce. I was posted for good in Chennai as a project manager.

Rahul called me one day out of the blue and we talked for almost 4 hours. I realized at that point that there was a dying out connection, waiting to be revived. I was suddenly thrown in to a whirlwind of emotions. I wanted to talk to him.

We were sitting there at Mocha with our coffees that no longer interested us. We didn’t speak anything for along time.

“RT, I have to be straight with you. I want you back in my life. What we did was so stupid. Come on.. We could have made it work... We still can” Rahul spoke to my eyes. It had welled up with tears.

“I know Rahul. I want the same.. But if it doesn’t work out one more time I cant handle it. It’s not about marriage.. It is about you and me and …. being together.. sharing. I want to assure myself that that will happen.”

“I know.. That’s what I have also been thinking.. I promise.. We can do it. Move in with me. Let us not be married. Let us just live together. Let us find ourselves. I think it will give some time to think about us. Please think about it.”

Rahul dropped me back at my place. As I watched him go, a heavy feeling lifted of my heart. It was clear. I knew what to do. I decided that I will call him first thing tomorrow.

The Midnight Murder - 9

2006-06-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

The next day morning Leela came to meet Rahul. ‘Hi there, all done. You are free to go.’

‘Oh my GOD. What happened to your face. Are you alright? ’ asked Rahul with much concern seeing her plastered and bruised face.

Leela filled him with the details of how they caught Swetha trying to sell the documents to the bald headed guy.

‘Ok, for the big question. What really happened that night?’ asked Rahul.

Leela sat down on the sofa next to him and started off. ‘Swetha confessed to the whole story. This is what happened. Would it have been one month that you told Silax that you would quit if they don’t allow the research to continue your way?’.

‘Yeah around the time..’

‘So what they had planned was, to recruit Swetha and put her in your team. If you didn’t quit, it was good. If you did, they would make Swetha also join the same company with you, to learn the secrets. It was illegal and Swetha knew this. After joining Silicon you had made amazing progress so much that the initial research and design documents were important to Silax. So they had instructed Swetha to get the documents. The only blooper was that, Swetha was put in a different team in Silicon and she couldn’t get anywhere near the FLEXI documents. So she roped in Abhinav who worked for the Crash Testing Team, to help her with this. She had told him that she wanted to do some research on FLEXI to help her career or something to that effect. The reason she said for convincing Abhinav isn’t clear. She keeps going back in her words.
On the terrace that day, Abhinav came early with the key, and when she came he unlocked the door to the building. While coming back up he overheard Swetha talking to someone regarding the documents on her phone. When he met her, he confronted her of the real purpose. As Abhinav and Swetha started talking, she told him the truth and asked him to help her. He went furious and said he would report the matter to Silicon. She had pleaded with him and promised him money, but Abhinav was adamant. So she decided to use force and grabbed at Abhinav to get the document. He was taken aback at the ambush and fell back. As he got up and started to run, Swetha caught up with him. In the ensued fight, she pushed him and Abhinav fell on the pool side. The documents Abhinav had with him fell in to the water and she rushed down to retrieve it, but the access to the pool was locked. So instead of getting those, she figured that Abhinav might have a hard or copy of the document. As she rummaged through Abhinav’s cubicle and she found a second copy of the document. She decided that, the body would probably be found and the case might be closed as suicide. So she resumed her normal work at Silicon. On the second day after your staged arrest, Swetha went out to handover the documents.’

‘So after that only, as you said, you guys caught her at the restaurant’ Rahul said.

‘Yeah. Sadly none of these things can be tracked back to Silax to indict them. So we just have to charge Swetha with murder.’

‘I can’t believe any of this…’ Rahul sighed shaking his head. ‘Anyway, now everything is over. We can get back to OUR business.’ He said as he winked at Leela.

‘Oh yeah right!!’ said Leela, taking the Cue.

‘In that case, Leela, Will you marry me?’ Rahul asked as he knelt down before her.
Leela started laughing uncontrollably. ‘You aren’t going that far with me buddy. But how about we start all over again? Would like to go out with me some time?? Say for Coffee??’

‘Love to honey’ Rahul smiled as they walked away from the house.

***END***

After all it is just a date

2006-06-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hey you know what,
You are just a snob,
You don’t wanna do nething,
And expect me to do the job?

If only you say hi,
I might come and talk to you
Try and take the first step,
I will do the rest for you

If only you give me a hint,
That you do like me,
You will never know,
I will ask you out, wait and see

Movie, coffee or lunch,
You try and decide,
Don’t thereafter complain,
Advantage was on my side

Don’t be so naive,
Come on mate,
It is nothing serious,
After all it is just a date.

The Midnight Murder - 8

2006-06-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

‘We have bugged the suspect’s Vehicle. Also we have men posted to follow the suspect. As soon as the suspect hands over the documents we will make the arrest. The interesting part of all this is that, whom we know as being an Ex-Silax employee, had actually worked for only one week in Silax before moving on the Silicon. But the company claimed that the suspect had been working in Korea for 4 years before.’ Leela said.

‘I know, it was strange, suddenly they brought in this person and said that the person was going to work in my project since the person had experience and so on.’

‘Well yeah, we traced the employment to Korea and found a dead end. So that is why we figured that they had hired a professional Kite. It’s for your own safety that you stay in this house. We are expecting them to strike within two days. So until that we want you to stay out of circulation. Please help us out. You have all the facilities here. Just think it as a vacation. Now I must leave. Take care.’ Leela said as she climbed in to the car. The car sped away leaving Rahul and two officers behind. Rahul forgot to ask one question to Leela. What was Abhinav doing in all this mess???
One whole day had passed and the suspect didn’t lead them anywhere. On the second day, Leela and Jeromy drove to silicon. After talking with the officers, Leela said, ‘Hmm, Just Let me know of the situation time and again’. Just as she was about to drive, a biker had come out of silicon. The beeper they had to track the suspect’s vehicle, started to move. Leela and Jeromy started to follow the biker. Since they had the tracker, they fell back in traffic so as to not raise any suspicions. After an hour’s drive, the biker came to stop at a restaurant.
Swetha removed her helmet, got off the bike. She had this weird feeling that somebody was following her, but since the traffic was heavy she couldn’t identify anything strange. She took out the package containing the design for FLEXI from her back pack and walked into the restaurant.
Leela saw Swetha going inside. ‘Jeromy, get the camera’ ‘You two stay put’ she said pointing to the other two officer who were watching her in Silcon ‘If she tries to get to her bike, stop her. We are going inside. If there is any trouble we will buzz you.’ Leela and Jeromy started towards the entrance.
‘Hi’ Swetha said as she waved to a bald guy near the window. ‘Sorry, the traffic was a damper. So where is the dough? I have got what you wanted here. I will be submitting my resignation within few days. I am thru with working.’
‘Yeah it will be credited to your account now and after you get the confirmation you can give me the design.’ They drank in silence for 15 minutes before her cell rang. She took the call outside and came back. ‘My bank tells me I got the amount credited. You better not be playing with me, ‘cos I know how to get to you.’ So saying she handed over the package to him. He examined all the contents. ‘Ok will give these to my boss. Will let you know in a days time. It better be worth it.’
Jeromy was shooting the whole thing with his camera from the concierge’s desk. ‘You take the back, just so you don’t let them slip. I will watch here. As soon as she begins to leave I will take her.. Go.. Go ..’. As Jeromy slipped out, Swetha got the movement from the corner of her eye and got up. She quickly moved towards the exit. Leela ran behind her. Swetha also broke in to a run as she went down the stairs. ‘Stop or I will shoot.’ Leela shouted. As Swetha got downt he stairs, she tripped over the carpet and fell. Leela immediately pounced on her. Swetha grabbed her wrist and punched Leela in the face. Blood started oozing and the gun went flying. Leela caught her by the leg as she started to get up. Leela pulled Swetha down and punch her back in the face. Jeromy came running behind calling the other officers on his walkie. Just as Leela and Swetha were wrestling, Jeromy pointed the gun. Leela gave one punch firmly on her jaw and went to get her gun. By this time the other officers had come.
‘I had handcuffed a guy to a chair inside. Take him in. I will take care of her.’ Leela came back and handcuffed Swetha. ‘You shouldn’t have made it this difficult sweetheart.’ Leela said as she led her out to the car. Jeromy brought the package which was handed out to the bald guy. It was a Xerox copy of the documents found on crime scene.

The Midnight Murder - 7

2006-06-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

Leela, Rahul, Jeromy and others came to a lonely house outside the City. ‘Leela.. where the hell are you taking me. Why don’t you try and understand that I didn’t kill anybody. I thought you are bright. But you are plain Dumb. You can’t see the facts straight’ Rahul poured his heart out.

‘Are you done with your lecture or is it still coming? I haven’t arrested you. It was just a drama. This is not a warrant. See? It’s all just plain papers. It was arranged Rahul. I knew you didn’t kill Abhinav. But whoever did or arranged the circumstances for it, is on the loose and we had to catch them in action.’

Rahul was relieved to hear that. His face brightened. He asked ‘What? Arranged the circumstance? I didn’t get you?’

‘See it’s like this. Abhinav fell from the terrace, his head hit the pool and he died. The circumstance is that, whoever was with him, pushed him or made him stand so close that he tripped and fell. Finger prints from Abhinav’s watch matched to our suspect. We had the suspect’s garbage analysed and found several finger prints that matched. But this alone will not implicate the suspect to the murder if at all there was one. For all we know they could have just held hands. The Abhinav was reported to have collected the key to the entertainment building earlier that day. My guess is, Abhinav went up to the terrace, locked the door behind him and waited for the suspect to join. It was then you went in search of the person running or walking and saw the doors to the pool were closed. Then as you went back, the suspect might have joined Abhinav. So the second time you would have actually caught the suspect walking to the pool had you followed.’

‘Hmm.. It makes sense’

‘Yeah. So once both of them were in the terrace, there might have been some scuffle and Abhinav must have tripped or been pushed from the terrace. The suspect might have been scared, must have locked the building and would have run…. You are an Ex-Silax employee aren’t you? We figured that Silax had flown a Kite inside Silicon because of FLEXI and all this might be to get the FLEXI documents. Once they get those, they could start the project from where you left off and that why they would still be in the race.’

‘So then you mean there are people in my project who were spying for Silax. Oh my god.. my project..’

‘Relax.. They weren’t in your project but in another project closely related. Do you remember who all came with you when you came from Silax to Silicon?’

‘Yeah, there is me, Shankar, Elango but those two have gone to US and the last.. is..OH MY GOD!!! It’s … It’s…’

‘Yeah yeah.. I know. We never know who our enemies are. Do we? Anyway, this drama is to catch the Kite in action. We figured that, as soon as we arrest you in connection with the murder, the Kite will handover the FLEXI documents to Silax’s inside man. That’s when we want to catch suspect. Even if we can’t implicate the suspect in the murder we can at least charge for violating confidentiality and spying.’

‘How are you going to do that?’ asked Rahul awed by the detailed plan laid out by Leela.

‘We have bugged the suspect’s Vehicle. Also we have men posted to follow the suspect. As soon as the suspect hands over the documents we will make the arrest. The interesting part of all this is that, whom we know as being an Ex-Silax employee, had actually worked for only one week in Silax before moving on the Silicon. But the company claimed that the suspect had been working in Korea for 4 years before.’ Leela said.

‘I know, it was strange, suddenly they brought in this person and said that the person was going to work in my project since the person had experience and so on.’

‘Well yeah, we traced the employment to Korea and found a dead end. So that is why we figured that they had hired a professional Kite. It’s for your own safety that you stay in this house. We are expecting them to strike within two days. So until that we want you to stay out of circulation. Please help us out. You have all the facilities here. Just think it as a vacation. Now I must leave. Take care.’ Leela said as she climbed in to the car. The car sped away leaving Rahul and two officers behind. Rahul forgot to ask one question to Leela. What was Abhinav doing in all this mess???

The Midnight Murder - 6

2006-06-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

Leela was at her desk checking the internet. She had typed in “Silax Incorporated” in the google search engine. The website returned with a gazillion results on the name. Silax was also a large semiconductor company head quartered in Korea. This company had established base in the city cut in to a large share of Silicon’s revenue. It was recently in the news that Silax and Silicon had fierce fight over the contract for design and manufacture of Processor for a Major Computer company. Market watchers termed it as an unprecedented clash, and said that with competition in place, monopoly of business would not be there, thereby providing better quality products. Silicon emerged as the winner, which left a sore spot for Silax. Also, quite interestingly the name Rahul Jayesh was associated with Silax team of research scientists. A few calls later Leela confirmed herself that Rahul actually worked for 3 years as an research assistant before moving over to Silicon to head a high profile project.
The next search that she did was for corporate spies. They are otherwise called as "competitive intelligence professionals". These people border on legality in the business that they do. They are hired by large corporate to do their dirty work. These people are otherwise called Kites. According to one website it was said that

"A kite is somebody who is essentially expendable, somebody who is flown out there, and if it hits the fan, the controller can cut the string, deny knowledge and let the kite fly off on its own,"

One point was clear, with the FLEXI documents of Silicon on the victim, and with Ex-Silax employees working with Silicon the possibility of Corporate spying was evident. Also since a murder has happened, it was clear that the case cannot be pinned on the corporate which worked with the Kites to obtain business secrets.

‘Hello, This is Leela Ravi from the Central Bureau of Investigations. I am currently investigating a murder case in which one of your Ex-employees is a suspect. I would like to get some details regarding him. Could you tell how may I go about collecting it?.’ Leela was quiet save for an occasional ‘hmm’s and ‘Ahan’s.
‘Ok that’s much better. Be sure to send the document. Yeah I owe you one. Thanks.’

The interesting piece of revelation that the HR had revealed off the record seemed alarming to the case. She had stated that Rahul worked on a project that involved designing some new chip. He had a break thorough in the design. There had been some commotion with the higher management regarding the project and he had quit the company overnight. He had also taken some others who worked with him from the company. As a group they were hired immediately by Silicon and the grapevine had it that Silax is negotiating for his return to continue the working with them. Her theory on the corporate spy was becoming more and more probable. But would Rahul be a kite. Would he dare to jeopardize his career for something like this? Questions remained unanswered.
It was 10 Am and silicon was busting with activities. The HR had requested not to create publicity by coming in official uniform and had requested them to play it down. Leela, Jeromy and couple of other officers were outside Silicon. ‘Come on Jeromy lets go. You have the warrant right? Ok Move.’ Her heart was beating faster. She didn’t want to do this, but it was her duty to protect and serve and that’s precisely what she wanted to do, even if it meant sacrificing something special. They were outside Rahul’s building now. She dialed his number.

‘Rahul, Leela here. Can you come outside the building please? It’s extremely important.’ She said. ‘Sure dear, you don’t give me a notice do you? I will be out’ he was his cheerful self.
As Rahul came outside, she went to him and said in a low voice ‘Mr.Rahul Jayesh you are under arrest for murder of Mr. Abhinav Das gupta. You have the right to a lawyer. Anything you say will be used against in the court of law. Please come with me’

‘Are you crazy’ he shouted. How can you arrest me?. I am a witness for God sakes. I didn’t Kill Abhinav. You guys are crazy. I am NOT coming with you.’

‘Rahul don’t make this any difficult for me and please don’t create a scene. If you co operate we will deal with this smoothly. Otherwise you will have to be taken down by force and don’t push me to do it.’
Leela’s eyes were stern and hard. Rahul was confused and also he was terribly scared. ‘Leela you are out of your mind if you think I murdered him. Please try to understand. I didn’t kill him. I cannot hurt a fly. I was the one who came to you remember don’t do this. This will ruin my life.’ Rahul had resorted to pleading.
She was determined. She and Jeromy caught him by the arms and walked him towards the exit. ‘Just shut up and listen to me. I know what to do. If you don’t come with me this instant I am going to put you down for resisting an arrest. Don’t make this harder on you. You have brains right. Figure it out.’ Rahul was lead out of the company. Employees had gathered to witness this drama. Swetha was dumbstruck to learn that of all people Rahul had been arrested for the murder.

The Midnight Murder - 5

2006-05-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

It was night 10.00. Leela and Jeromy parked the car in the visitor’s area and walked to towards the entertainment building. They had obtained special permission to check out the buildings at night. Leela was urged to call Rahul and let him know that she was here, but restrained herself from doing so. They presently came to Rahul’s building. It was huge by width but had only the ground floor and first floor. The building where the murder happened was right next to the building on the backside. They walked towards the pool alongside the bordering wall of the campus. The pool was still, with the light reflected from the moon. The night was eerily still except for a few croaks of the frogs.
‘We are here. From what the examiners told us, we have established that the body’s fall trajectory comes from up there’ said Jeromy pointing to the building’s terrace.
‘Yeah. Here take this key. I will be in front of Rahul’s building. You go up to the terrace. Have your cell phone switched on. When I say ok, you walk ahead. Got it?’
Jeromy unlocked the glass doors and started up the terrace. Leela was wondering if she was headed down the right direction in the case. Seized by an idea, Leela dialed Rahul’s number ‘Hi sport, are you at work.. Oh great.. Just come outside your building for a sec will ya. Yeah I am here. Come.’ She cut the call. Rahul emerged beaming ‘How come you are here at 10? Couldn’t resist seeing me eh?’
‘Ah pulllezz.. am here on official business, were you here when you saw the person the other day?’ she asked.
‘Yeah a little to the left, this is it. Why??’ he asked. ‘Hold on. Jeromy, Right now.. walk cautiously.. towards the front. Keep your phone on.. yeah walk in front now..Rahul look in front just about there.. perfect.. stand still’
‘Oh oh.. There he is or rather.. Is that a shadow I am seeing? Oh’ Rahul’s face fell. ‘Jeromy, that’s enough you can come down now. I was wondering of the same thing. The light on the pool side comes from the building corner but that patway is lit by the light directly above... So whoever you saw, it was a shadow running in front of the light on the top. But as they passed to the front of the pool the corner light couldn’t form a shadow. I guess that when you saw the person, vanish. But we aren’t sure of the second time. I have a theory but can’t tell you at the moment. Ok I have got to go. See ya.’ Leela said as she started to walk towards the exit.
Just then Swetha came out. ‘Hey Rahul what are you doing outside’ She asked. ‘Nothing.. I was just um… just taking in a breath of fresh air. How is your team coping with out Abhinav?’
‘Aw that’s nothing. That guy was a jerk anyway. Listen, did the police tell you anything about the case? Saw you talking to that Lady Officer the other day…what’s her name?’
‘Ms. Ravi, Leela Ravi. Nothing.. You know the police they don’t tell you anything. Hey I have some work, catch you later han? Bye’ Rahul walked inside. He had this weird feeling that Silicon wasn’t safe anymore.
Leela was at her desk. She was visibly excited. ‘Ma’am, you called me?’
‘Yes Jeromy, we have got a break. What I want you to do is get me a list of employees who have worked closer with the victim is the last 2 weeks or so. Just let in on your inside man and probe on the company grapevine a little. We are sure to find out with whom Abhinav interacted a lot. If my guess is right, then all we need to do is lay a trap to catch the culprit with Hook, line and sinker.

The midnight murder - 4

2006-05-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

‘Ah! One of my favourite subjects. Would you like some coffee’ Rahul asked as he got a cup from the vending machine. They moved to a corner table in the cafeteria.

‘FLEXI is a nickname for chip I am designing. You have seen a computer chip right? It is all solid and cramped up. Solid state devices are always bordering on space constraints. Hence we end up with bulky electronic devices. So what we wanted to do was do away with these solids. What do you think is the next best option?’

‘Err ..Liquids??’

‘My god you are so brilliant. Would you like to join our research group??’ he asked laughing. Leela could clearly see the passion in his eyes. This was one man who thoroughly enjoyed his work.

‘So we had designed a circuit that would use viscous liquid embedded in high density membranes. Imagine something like water in a hose pipe. Can you possibly perceive the endless possibility?? Laptops as thin as wall paint, Mobile the size of your business card. We haven’t even fully explored the usages of such a chip. Now do you agree that this is the next best invention to the wheel?’

‘Yes, I can understand. We found old version of the design documents of FLEXI. Would it be possible to sabotage the invention with it?’ asked Leela assimilating the facts of the case as the motive came in to the picture.

‘It could be devastating. That was one of the main reasons I came to you to tell you about that incident. We have done research starting from the properties of the materials used. So a design document in any version is dangerous’ Rahul shuddered at revelation of a rival company stealing company secrets, more so his prized research. Leela was so totally involved that she didn’t realize that Rahul was looking at her. She caught his eye and blushed lightly.

‘Oh my .. look at the time. I need to rush now. I have a long work list to attend to. Will catch you later ok! B’bye’ he said as he got up to leave. ‘Yeah. See ya’ she said as she walked out of Silicon with new thoughts in her mind.

Two days had gone by since Leela learnt about FLEXI. This investigation moved at a snail pace, given the company’s reluctance to part with private information of employees. Also there was large amount of data collection involved which ranged from collecting attendance data, Register entries, Vehicle movements and security check entries. Jeromy came in and handed over a sheaf of papers. Jeromy was Inspector in charge of the case assisting Leela in her investigation.

‘Ma’am here is the list you asked for. There are around 50 people who had accessed that building that day. Of course this cant be exhaustive as movement of people is not accurately noted. I would run a check on those recorded to see if anything out of the ordinary comes up.’

‘Thanks Jeromy. One thing that’s bothering me is, why was the victim on the roof that night and that too with a bunch of top secret papers in hand’

‘Yeah I was thinking of that too. One thing is that, I noticed the large halogen lamps place on the building top. It’s very powerful and there is one on the way to the pool’

‘Oh yeah I want it checked out. Why not we try it today night? Anyway we aren’t going anywhere with this paper work.’ said Leela decidedly trying to get some facts straight.

The Midnight Murder - 3

2006-05-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

As the clock edged towards 3, Rahul felt it was necessary for a change in his appearance. He went home quickly showered and changed in to a crisp cotton shirt, blue jeans and jelled hair. Admiring himself in the mirror he thought he had the chance. ‘Come on Rahul, you aren’t going on a date. She is a police officer for God sakes’ he smiled as he went out. Leela’s office was minimally furnished with only the essentials. She was seated in the middle of the desk, with lots of papers and with glasses perched on her nope tip.
“Am I interrupting something important?’ asked Rahul as he entered the office. ‘Actually? Yes!. But I do keep my word Mr.Jayesh. Come on in and let us get to the brass tacks. What did you see at the night of the murder?’ he was amazed and a little disappointed at her indifference. ‘Well as I came out of my building…’ Rahul narrated the incident. He was finally relieved to get it out of his system. ‘Thank you, for the valuable information, Mr.Jayesh. Is that all you wanted to talk about?’ asked Leela. ‘Umm.. Yeah. That is all I guess’ blurted Rahul.
‘Thank you for your time. I think that you would have more important work to attend to right?’
‘Yes I will leave now’. He took a paper of the post it bundle and wrote his cell phone number on it, ‘This is my number. Please feel free to call me, regarding this incident that is’ He smiled ever so sweetly.
‘Thanks, but I have your number. I am handling a murder case Mr.Jayesh. I cover all my bases. Good day’ she started looking at the papers again. Rahul was speechless. He slowly moved out of the room, aware that her eyes followed his movement. He didn’t know whether he was attracted to her audacity or her authoritative approach. But there was something alright.
‘Is this Rahul?’ the voice came on sharply as he answered his phone,’ Yes, Who is this?’. He looked at his clock. It showed 6.00am. There was two solid hours before he would get up. ‘Hi, this is Leela? Leela ravi. I need to talk to you now.’ There was a new found freshness in him. ‘Now? Come on. I do accept that you run the show here, but waking people at 6.00am aint fair ma’am’ he toyed. ‘You may be right. Be at your office by 7! I will meet you there. Bye.’ The line went dead. Rahul was wondering what emergency shook him out of bed so early.
Silicon was back to its eerie self again at morning 7.00Am. ‘Hello Mr.Jay not an early bird, Are we? Bad! No worm for you’ she was smiling looking at his condition. “Yeah right, try working till 1.00 Am and getting threatened by a lady to come to office by 7. This is cruel I say.’
‘I worked till 3Am Jay. It’s my profession as is yours. Now lets get started shall we?’ He was getting a little uncomfortable. ‘I checked you out. I don’t think you could have murdered that guy.’ She said as a matter of fact. “You did what??? You think I murdered somebody.. What the hell do you think?’ Rahul was shouting on top of his voice. He couldn’t believe that the police had actually incriminated him with a murder. Him of all the people. ‘Calm down Rahul. It’s my job. I have to suspect everybody. You came to my office and gave me a vital piece of evidence. I had to check you and the evidence out to see your credibility. You have a strong alibi. Now calm down will you. It’s normal procedure’. Rahul fell silent. All he needed now was rational thinking and composure. He realized that he was the keeper of a vital piece of information which could make or break the case. ‘Ok fine. Now tell me what I can do to help?’ he asked. ‘First thing, watch your back. We suspect that the murder might be related to FLEXI. You are one of THE most important persons for FLEXI. Don’t talk about your nightly date to anybody on or off the campus. The slightest trouble could put the case in jeopardy. Second, I would require all information I can get about FLEXI, as much as your confidentiality agreement would let you’.

The Midnight Murder - 2

2006-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Silicon Semiconductors Ltd is a large private semiconductor company. The company is known for its breakthrough performance in chip designing. The company also boasts of conglomeration of the best brains in the world. It has been widely acknowledged that Silicon is the only core semiconductor industry in India that can match to its competitors in US and other countries in the rat race. In here, leading scientists are involved in creating mind boggling circuits that constantly push on the limits of technology.
Rahul Jayesh is a scientist at Silicon working on a top priority research. The nature of his research is such that, he is given all access priority to successfully bring a chip that would be the next best invention to the wheel.
Swetha popped in to his cubicle “Did you see the corpse? My God.. I couldn’t eat anything yesterday. He is Abhinav from CT group. He had been with Silicon only for one year I guess. The top management is rattled. Those papers contained top secret designs for FLEXI. Although the version of those docs were old, nevertheless they could have proved disastrous for the company. What has the world come to? Sigh!!” She was out of sight. Rahul was convinced that whatever he saw had relation to the murder. He decided to do a little snooping on his own to get to the bottom of this, even if it meant sacrificing some of his work.
The Major papers were hushed up and most of them didn’t run the story, except for one sleazy editorial which said that there had been a safety mishap in a leading Semiconductor company in the city. Rahul put down the paper and as he was chatting up with the security gaurd, he learnt that the case was handled by one of the Top notch criminal investigator one Ms. Leela ravi. Leela was known to be ruthless and hard-hitting. She had been put in the most uncompromising situations still been able to come out with flying colours. She was nick named the silent killer by most of her counterparts.
“Hi, This is Rahul Jayesh. I would like to meet you and talk about some things which concern me about silicon.” Leela promptly picked up the signal and said “Ok lets meet at my office at 5.00 Pm today Mr.Jayesh. You better not be wasting my time”; There was something very dangerous about her voice. He liked her approach and was wondering if he made a fool of himself by calling her. Rahul recapped the incidents of the previous night and mentally convinced himself that he would also be a part of the investigation.

The Midnight Murder - 1

2006-05-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

It was just after midnight. The campus was eerily silent. I hated such kind of atmosphere. The usual bustle and activity had vanished. Two lonesome bikes stood against the wall, collecting as much dust as possible in days. I saw a figure running towards pool. It was strange seeing someone running at that hour. I walked along the path it went. What was I expecting to find?? A ghost? As I turned around the corner, I lost sight of the person. That part of the building contained only glass doors and a magnificent pool with cascading waterfalls. The pool was glittering in the moodlight. I tried the glass doors, but all were shut for the night. My heart started beating faster. Was all that late night working taking a toll on my body? That was all I could take. I went back switched off the comp and walked towards the taxi area. My eye again got sight of the a person running towards the pool. I was sure I wasn’t dreaming then. I decided to follow, but then the whistle for the taxi blew right away. I put it out of my mind and ran to the taxi.
8.00am. As I stepped in to my building, I saw people running towards the pool. My curiosity got the better of me and I also headed there with the group. Just as I could grab some space to see the going ons, I felt as if somebody shook the daylights out of me. Lying there near the pool, was a guy, face full of blood dripping in to the water. There were papers strewn all over the place. The police arrived and we were immediately shooed out of the place. It was then that I realized that he might be the one who was running last night. I didn’t know if I should reveal this particular piece of information to anyone.
Work just didn’t happen for the rest of the day. My mind was occupied by the event of the previous night. Murder?? Suicide? Who was the person running? Or was I dreaming. I had no fact to support. It is just the statement of an overworked engineer Vs truth.
“Employees are advised not to talk about the incident to any outside party or individuals. We sincerely hope to resolve all confusions at the earliest. We require you support at this hour. Please refrain from having conversations, discussions about the incident to any party employee or otherwise. Please bear in mind that the name of the company is in your hands.”
The email was short and crisp. It drove the intended message home. The air had a panicky feeling and everybody had a feeling that the safety of the employees was at stake. I had enough for the day. I went home to get some much needed shut eye.

Coupla short stories i wrote... all are 54 words only

2006-05-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

1.

Good/Bad

On my nightly Stroll, I tripped over a fiber cable, fell flat. Cursing every other entity, I switched on my Mob to look at the cable. Just one foot away was a gaping hole. I would have definitely taken a nasty fall. Sometimes bad things happen to prevent Worse things from happening to you.

2.
The hero

A:You are my idol, you are my hero
B: Have you ever tried what I do?
A: No.. but I cant, we can’t do what heroes do… don’t you understand?
B: what if I say you are my hero??
A: But but….
5 years
B: you are my hero
A: I am, ain’t I??

3.

Mosquito philosophy

Ok here is the gyan. You bite me I can't bite you back. But I can kill you.. Is that fair? A kill for a Bite.. Hmm life is interesting. When you don’t bite, you die, you don’t you starve and… die. You have a fair chance of surviving too. A thought to ponder.

4.

The mind of a biker

“Yeah.. wooohoo..” Bike did 80-90-100… I was racing down the road, breaking my record 110.. 115… 120.. I was flying. A lorry came a little too fast behind. 80-70-60… just as I slowed, the wind draft hit me. Lost control and crashed. “ Oh Great now I have to wait for 3 more months”

Memories...

2006-05-09T13:52:00.000-07:00

2003..

“You sure you don’t want these stuff??” My mom asked as I watched her clean the house. The trunk contained my old note book, my exam paper, a ragged doll , sea shells, a tattered pink ribbon, some pins, half eaten rubber, a match box with no sticks and a sticker. I really didn’t remember all these and it didn’t matter to me at all. I was listening to some songs in my disc man when mom called. “Naw… what would I do with these anyway.. Throw them.” “Ok fine if that’s what you want!” my mom sighed. It was just another spring cleaning task.

2064..

“Amma* come here.. Do you recognize this trunk?” my son asked me. I was curious. I vaguely remembered it. The lock was broken and inside I found an old note book with scrawny handwriting( mine when I was studying my ABC in 1st std), my exam paper (the day I got 100 in my 4 std English paper for which I got V.V.Good from Mrs.Kalaimani), a ragged doll (with whom I used to sleep till my 6th std), sea shells (collected on the shores of Kanyakumari), a tattered pink ribbon( with which my mom used to plait my hair), some pins (stolen from dads chest of drawer), half eaten rubber ( after playing umpteen pen rubber games), a match box with no sticks (for the tom and jerry cartoon on the back) and a sticker (with the photo of G.I joe after my brother lost to me in a carom board game). Tears streamed down my cheeks. I silently thanked my mom for saving all these precious little things for more than 70 years. Suddenly my heart felt so light. I felt connected to my past. Just then my granddaughter came in and asked “Paatti* Paatti, do you have a box in which I could put my pebbles collections? I have ten of them now.” with utmost pride I smiled “You know what sweetheart; I have just the trunk in my mind. Come let’s see what we can do with it.”

Navarasa - Heroism - 3

2006-04-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Navarasa - Surprise - 2

2006-04-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Navarasa - Happiness - 1

2006-04-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

A Few things on my mind...

2006-04-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

The prayer i say

2006-04-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Beyond the Blue Eyes

2006-04-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Rescue SOS

2006-04-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

“Rescue, Mt.Cinders now.” John shouted as he ran towards the chopper. Jack, Josh and me got up from the chairs and started out with our gears. “ Heads…” I said as jack tossed the coin. “Yesss” I shouted, enjoying that fact that I would be going the snake today.
We all worked for the Broward county, Fire and Rescue department. Mt.Cinders sitting on the border of the county is well known for its eight hair pin bends, of which four are highly dangerous. These hair pin bends were common cause of accidents. The search and rescue team comprised of four guys. One of the guys piloted the chopper, one operated the winch and the rope (the snake), one on the snake rescued the victims and the other gave directions to the pilot and the winch. John was our pilot for the day; Jack gave directions, me on the snake and Jim at the Winch. Usually Jim and I toss coins to see who goes down the snake for each rescue; it was my turn that day.
A car with three people had gone over the second of the hair pin bends and we were called for rescue. The chopper took off and we headed towards the accident area. “There they are… 20 feet west, now..” Jack shouted. The John perfectly maneuvered the aircraft over the people. A lady and two kids were perched precariously on the mountain. I strapped myself to snake and started my way down. Jack had to give precise directions to the pilot so that the craft doesn’t go too near to the mountain face or too far away. Also the chopper had to be perfectly still, so that the person going down the snake doesn’t swing. If that happens, he is sure to hit the face of the mountain; and at that force it could mean only one thing; Death! “5 feet north..” Jack hollered just as I reached the spot where a lady and the boy were standing. I unhooked myself, strapped the belt on the lady and gave thumbs up sign. The winch started rolling and she was hauled up. As the snake rolled up Jack continuously gave notice as to how many feet the snake is from the chopper for Jim to operate the winch. “20 feet away…; 10 feet…; 5 feet…. in to the chopper. Victim one rescued. Snake moving down… Rescue Begin Victim 2….”
Just as the snake came down for the second time, I strapped the boy on to it and they hauled up to safety. Of the three people, one boy had fallen on a smaller, unstable rock with only 1 feet foothold. The wind from the rotor blades was pushing stones and pebbles on to the boy and that hampered our rescue further. As we neared him, the chopper jerked a little and I was swung in to the rock. Luckily, I pushed myself away from the stone with my leg and steadied myself. As I neared the boy he just jumped on to me. I clasped the safety belt around him and to me. The momentum with which he jumped caused us to rotate with the snake wildly. The boy slipped in and out of consciousness as we rotated out of control, beneath chopper. As we neared the chopper, the spinning reduced a little but still we were in motion. Without us stopping, they could never bring us in. With one leg inside and the other dangling, Jim tossed me a second rope which served as a counter to stop the spin. As soon as we stopped they pulled us in and the chopper took off towards the county.
It was just another day in the Life of a rescuer. Every time we get that dreaded call, we put our lives on the line, literally. At the end of the day, when we see the happiness of the people whom we rescued, it makes all our efforts worth it.

He is Eternal

2006-04-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Raj, Rahul, Rachit and me were waiting outside the emergency room. Raman had just been admitted to the hospital with severe head injuries. Raman met with an accident when traveling from his work. A tanker had lost control and rammed him from the side. The bike he was riding wobbled and then wheeled to the left when he was thrown out. His head had hit the pavement and the bike had come crashing on him. From the last dialed number on his cell phone, people on the road had called Rahul. He in turn had called all of us. We are a close knit gang; some related by college, and some by work. I was the only girl in the gang. I must tell you that you need special skills to survive in an all guys group and tolerate their nonsense. Then again, these are the best friends of mine on earth whom I could trust with my eyes closed. Nobody was crying. Everybody was in a state of shock. It was only the day before that we were chatting about all stupid things under the sun at our usual hangout, not CCD but local chai shop near the main road. I couldn’t stand the mounting silence. I quietly slipped out and went to offer bribe to Mr.God. I promised him a thousand things to bring back my Raman alive and kicking. As I entered the hospital, one look on rahul’s face told me that something happened. He came and hugged me. One tear drop from his eyes trickled on my neck. Raman passed away. “Hello mister… are you listening.. I just talked to you right? Can’t you do such a small favour for me?”… My mind was screaming at HIM for his inactiveness. All the life in me just drained out. I suddenly found out that I couldn’t cry. The Silence was maddening.
I came home and switched on my PC. My mind was singing the last song Raman was strumming on his guitar at his place. I had promised him a collection of my favorite songs for his birthday. We had planned to play a fantastic trick on the gang. We needed to have that “little talk” about his love interest. He should have been alive. I could feel his presence all over me. A new post in Blogger.com was blank in my screen. My mind was still playing back all the scenes I had with Raman.
***************************************
Hi Raman,
How is it up there? Good?? Wish you were here dude. I have that CD you asked me. You know what?? She really loves you man. She told me today. Silly girl she is. Well… I know you are alive. I know now that you can help me with everything since you have got “special powers”. I love you dude. Miss you. I will talk to you tomorrow.
Chow
***************************************

I was smiling. Raman is not dead. He is alive. He will be for as long as I live…

Men will always be men

2006-03-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

My husband, Rahul’s cousin was getting married. We had planned to shop for dresses for ourselves and a gift for him. It was a pleasant Saturday evening when we headed out for the Saree shop. “Please honey, don’t take much time na? I hate waiting” said Rahul. Men will always be men. I think it’s the stigma attached with selecting a saree than the whole procedure. I had a bluish green coloured, double sided 4 inch border saree in mind. To my surprise the shopkeeper found the right one. Rahul was happy; then again the same in a Reddish yellow was also awesome. But then he insisted that I look fabulous in blue. So I took it. It was time to pick up the accessories; we entered a pearls and Gems shop. As I took out the saree, the lady brought out various collections of jewellery in blue Metal, blue pearl and blue Stone. It was so difficult to decide, since I already had a collection in blue pearl I thought I will go in for the blue metal. But my saree had the golden tinge and this had silver. Do not mix metals, so goes the mantra. Finally after ½ hour of debate, rahul practically grabbed the Stone collection and pushed me out of the shop. Only then I realized that I had to buy blue bindi and hair clip. As we hopped from one platform shop to another in search of the round shaped, less gold more blue (bluish green) bindi, rahul lost his patience midway. “You are getting the next available pack in blue and that’s it” He said. How can he be so heartless? After all, people are primarily going to look at face right? “Honey, you go have a coke, I will come in ten minute” I said. Men will always be men. 5 minutes later I found the right one and a clip to go with it. My god Shoes!!! I forgot them completely. I rushed to the shoe shop to buy a Bluish Jodhpuri sandal( I cant wear leather with saree… come on!). After the ten minutes, the extended ten minutes and more extended 10 minutes, rahul came in search of me just as I was haggling with a handbag seller over a blue embellished bag. “Do you want to look like a Blue glob? This is too much.. I cant stand anymore blue thingy on you man!”. Men… They don’t have any sense of fashion at all. As rahul walked on, I bought the bag (50 rs less ofcourse!! My haggling skills paid off). “Ok fine no more blue on me. Now let’s get you a blue shirt!”. So saying, I dragged him to a Shirting Showroom. He walked in took a bottle green shirt and an ink blue shirt, tried both on, liked the green and bought it. We had spent less than 5 minutes when we walked out of the showroom. Men…...

We had just come back from the wedding. As I entered the house, Rahul pulled me and said “God! How can you look so gorgeous in this attire? I never imagined you would look like this. The time we spent shopping was worth after all. I just couldn’t take me eyes off you. Love you soo much honey!!” I just smiled. After all … Men will always be Men!

PS : - I didnt write this to hurt the sentiments of anybody. All incidents are purely fictional. :)

To Dear Daddy

2006-03-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

The Crtique - The quotation book

2006-02-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

Do you know that you sometimes hear these inner voices that speak out to you about things that you want to do? well my inner voice is not inside; actually its outside. It is my very own quotation book. The book was presented to me when I was in 11th STD by my Dad. He said it will improve my knowledge. It did alright; actually it did more than that. Let me explain.

My 12th STD exams results were supposed to come. I was anxiously waiting. As I rummaged through my rack to find my hall ticket I chanced upon the book. I opened a random page and guess what it said?

“Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
Charles Caleb Colton (1780 - 1832)”

I might be the wisest; all it takes is a fool to ruin my results. I was more tensed than ever. I tossed the quotation book in anger.

It was 3rd year of the engineering. I needed to write an article for my department magazine. That was when I remembered that I had a quotation book. I searched for it for over an hour and finally managed to find it. Again I opened a random page and the quotes I got?

“Advice to writers: Sometimes you just have to stop writing. Even before you begin.
Stanislaw J. Lec (1909 - 1966), "Unkempt Thoughts"

I was wondering if God was against me. Every time I start to do something this quotation book comes and ruins everything for me. I gave up writing the article and sent a Crossword puzzle instead.

2 Years later I joined a Big MNC. As I was getting ready for my training session, I was desperately searching for the book on “Object oriented concepts” when I chanced upon this quotation book. I wanted to test its acidity. I opened random page to find this…

“Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive, nor yet the greatest of all; but great cleverness and much learning, if they be accompanied by a bad training, are a much greater misfortune.
Plato (427 BC - 347 BC)”

That was the point which made me think. Probably it was my inner voice. Now I am awaiting a misfortune anytime.

2 more years later I was getting married. I was cleaning up my room to pack, when I saw this book again. Curiosity got the better of me and I opened a random page.

“Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing; a confusion of the real with the ideal never goes unpunished.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)”

The book had lived up to its name. I packed it in along with my other important stuff. I was punished alright… I got married!!!!!

“Life teaches us many important things in the most obscure ways. We always choose to ignore. Those who listen to it end up in hell.
- My Quotation (22-2-2006) ”

Marketing Strategies - From a 10 year old

2006-02-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

I was sitting in Besant Nagar beach at 8.30 PM in the night with the waves Crashing at my feet. Date 14th Feb. The beach was full of couples… One industrious lad saw this as an opportunity to boost his “Channa” trade.. He came up to me and said “Akka* will you buy channa?”, “No ma, you can go”. “If only you had not come alone…” He said smiling at me and went off. Somebody was trying to tell me something? He then went to a couple. “Akka please buy channa from me? Valentines day special akka… made lovingly with my own hands”. I could see that Guy was getting irritated, intruding in to his private moment. The girl was smiling. “Anna* you have come to the lovely beach with lovely lady (smiling)… what’s more special than eating Channa with cool breeze all over? Please buy anna only 2 Rs”. I couldn’t suppress my smile. It was Creativity at its best. The girl blushed, the guy smiled… Two rupees changed hands. I called him. “Can you give me channa? I will buy for four rupees. But there is one condition…” “Sure… what do you want akka?”. “Just sit with me for 10 mins and talk, will you?” I said. The next ten minutes of pure innocent talk about his trade and his life left me speechless. Taking all the difficulties that life is dishing out to him and still going from couple to couple (Strictly couples because its difficult to persuade other people.. His trade secret it seems… He swore me to secrecy! J) selling Channa for 2 Rs with a smiling face, life according to him, can’t be anymore happier.

*Akka - Sister
*Anna - Brother

Whose marriage is it anyway?

2006-02-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

If you are 25, Single (not looking) girl, happily employed in an MNC and you happen to go to a wedding of your Mom’s second cousin’s daughter, you can proudly proclaim that you have the greatest courage in the world. As soon as you enter, there will be that Red saree aunty who goes like “Ah aren’t you so and so’s daughter… Great… what are you up to… That MNC na? My sister’s son is there do you know him? ...”by the time you finish sheepishly smiling at her, you would be sure that you are done for the day. Then that great uncle from US of A who landed there in some 1980’s, doing GOD knows what, would start off in English (with slightish American accent) about his personal experiences. You would now be the center of attraction since this sweet Uncle has the booming voice that makes even the Musicians playing in the background turn.
Now would be the time to get the perfect excuse to meet the couple. You would typically walk up to the dias, greet them and quietly leave when the same Aunty in red saree would pull you for a family photo. Now let me tell you that I don’t dislike the idea of posing, but it becomes highly uncomfortable when 100 eyes are looking at you. Just as you think you are not cut out for this, your Mom’s second cousin would walk up to you and say “ see she got married… when are you getting married? Do you have anybody in mind?? (wink wink) tell me na, I will talk to your mom”. Then you would go through the ritual of “Yes Aunty”, “No aunty”, “Hehehehe” “Yeah Yeah”… At this point in suggest you to really get going if you want to survive the onslaught. But the same Red saree aunt would come with a guy (25, single(not looking) guy, happily employed in an MNC),”This is meera aunty’s son. Just keep talking you two..”. Poor souls( u and him) would look at each other and smile and start off with “So which platform are you working on?” and continue to “Really, I have done certification on that..”, “Yeah those markets aren’t still utilized..”…
After a Lottttttaaa talking to really Lotssssssssss of people… You would TYPICALLY come out of the wedding feeling exhausted of the whole hungama… The next time you promise your mom to go to her “Brother-in-law’s sister’s third son’s marriage” sit down a bit and think whether its worth all the trouble.

In the Night Cab

2006-01-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

Mind your...Er.... what????

Front Seat :
“You keep the phone down na”
“No you first”
“No no no… you only”
“What re I cant keep it… how can I hang up on YOU?”
“Ok 1 2 3 …”
“You also didn’t keep it na…..” ( Giggling…)

Next Seat:
“He is soo bossy da … Keeps on irritating me”
“How can I help it? He is my PL na?”
“I was on the verge of cryin..”(Sniff Sniff)
“No sorry, I am going to Escalate…”
“Let me see”
“Oh he?? Thats quite another creature… Poor you”

Window seat:
“Mom I can take of myself…”(Loudly…)
“Ok now stop that will you…”
“You think I am a kid??.....”(Angrily)
“No ma I cant do that”
“Hello, you there??? Stupid phone connection”

Back Seat:
“So you have boy friend han”(sadly)
“Oh really that’s good news”
“This is your phone number right?”
“Just in case you miss the bus I can give you a lift that’s why”(Sheepishly)
“You can call me jhonny, that how close friends call me”(He he he)
“What else… your voice is so sweet on the phone”
“How about coffee at 6.00 pm Café Coffee day isphani center?”
“That no problem I have a bike you know…”

Me:
“Oh brother, Enough!!!! Guys.. get a grip… Do I need to listen to all your personal crap??
Cant you just switch off your DAMN cell phones so that I can travel peacefully in the cab??”
(Sigh………….Thinking to myself!!)

From backseat again:
“Excuse me a sec”(in to the phone)
“Driver could you switch off the radio, its disturbing me….”

I Hate Dec 31st

2006-01-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

So what is the much hype about a new year, a new beginning blah blah blah? It’s just another day, another year of your life gone without a trace of coming back. It was 11.30PM and my phone was incessantly ringing with Happy New year messages!! Thank God for the Jammed networks, otherwise I would have thrown my mobile in to the gutter. I was getting frustrated by the whole melee created by this crossing over. Why is the world rejoicing? For an old year gone by? All moments lost by a new year. I was awake till 11.45 not because I wanted to see the ringing of the year, but because of my insomnia. My mobile beeped off again. I switched it off… put it in my cupboard, locked it and threw the key under my pillow. As it was nearing 11.50, I drifted off in to a trance. Just as I was about to get some shut eye, my family woke up, shouted happy New Year and started a party with music and cake. I know they won’t bother me, ‘cos they know I hate new years. These mindless people are celebrating as if the worst is over and that, come Jan 1st everything will be good. It’s just another day. Why can’t these people understand that? People will be people! They will never understand. It’s happening since time immemorial. I finally understood that it’s not New Year they are celebrating, but just another chance to freak out in the name of something, forget all the stupid things they did, and come up with a good excuse to do it again!!
Cos it’s a whole NEW YEAR.

Tamizh Kavithai

2005-12-26T10:19:00.000-08:00

Twist of four lives

2005-12-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

You will never know the ways in which you life will be twisted around with a simple love story. The story is about my best friend Patricia and her friend Josh and… wait… his friend Kane.
Pat called me one day and said “Hey you girl, guess what I am in love!” she declared as if she had bought a new dress. “Pat you are ok right? I mean what the hell is wrong with you” this was my reaction. Quite understandable given the circumstance that Pat hates falling in love. I and she had argued over it so long that I told her only a miracle could make her understand the true meaning. I guess a miracle it is. “Honey you do realize how much time me and Josh spend with each other, don’t you. It hit me yesterday as I told him how much I enjoy being with him. It’s just that simple. I love him. But it ain’t so simple enough to tell him. What do I do girl?” pat was desperate. “Give it some time sweety, am sure you will figure things out” that was all I managed to say because I was very much surprised by her confession. After I finished talking with pat, I needed a break.
When I took a walk to Jefferson’s park near my place, guess whom I ran in to, yep Josh. Something told me things weren’t right. “Hey you, how is it going? I was just about to come and meet you. I need to talk to you about something… care for some coffee?” Two confessions in one day, my mind was racing. If josh also had the same idea as pat my work was very easy. “Am in love… Doll” Josh spoke. I smiled. “This may come as a surprise or a shock to you but, I don’t have any other friend who would take it lightly. Pat, I couldn’t trust her with this information.” I was confused. What the hell is he talking about???. “Who is the lucky girl?” I quizzed. “Doll, it’s not a girl! Please don’t freak out. I don’t need that right now!” Oh my God, I thought… The first thing that came to my mind was pat. She doesn’t deserve this. Knowing that the guy whom you love, loves some other girl is bad enough, but this? no! This was when my intellectual mind interrupted to tell me not to say anything stupid and get the hell out of that place. “Josh its normal and it takes great courage for you to do this. I suggest you sleep on it to know what is what. BTW who is the hmmm…err.. person?”. “It’s Kane dear! Thanks for understanding me. I never imagined you to be this supportive. I was scared to death. Now I am not. Thanks a million” he gave a peck on my cheek and walked off. My mind refused to speak up. How I was going to explain this to pat or to… KANE… My God Kane.. I forgot all about him. Kane was my cousin. My life came to a stand still. I didn’t know how I was going to come out of it.
Just as I was coming back to my place, lady luck seemed to move ahead with full vengeance. Kane was waiting for me on the porch. “Honey we need to talk” said Kane. My third confession for the day?, My intuition blared alarm bells all over the place . “Yes dear what’s bothering you?” I said with a serious face. “Pat is what is bothering me. I think I am falling for her. The other day I saw her at your place and I felt like I had thousand butterflies in my stomach. Isn’t that what love is all about?” He was earnestly looking at my face for confirmation. I was too stunned to speak. God shouldn’t be so cruel to play a game of this magnitude in my life. I said “Kane you know what I am not feeling all that good. Can we speak in the evening say five’ish? Stop by my place again will ya?” I didn’t even wait for his reply and ran inside. What was I going to do with all these confessions? I am going to break not one but three hearts. Somehow I found all this weirdly funny, still….
I rang up Pat and Josh and asked them to meet me at my place at 5. I told them I had something very important to tell them.
The clock struck five and all three smiled at each other and grinned at me. I started saying “Guys, I have something to confess…..”

What do you wanna say??

2005-12-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

Ok what do I want to say through this post??? Actually nothing!
Have you ever imagined how people around you exactly manage to put that “oh so Ridiculous” Rhetorical questions?? It gets me on my nerves when I hear those…
Give below are those infamous questions and not so give-able answers.

****During lunch in the FC****
“Did you come to eat lunch??”
‘Duh!!! I came to sing Opera at exactly 12.00pm!’

****While reviewing your code****
“How could someone write such a stupid logic?”
‘It is possible, if someone reviewing is just as stupid’

****Again in FC at 4.30 PM****
“Hey, how come I always see you in the FC?”
‘You dumb wit, if you come to my Cubicle, you find me there also ALWAYS’,

****Project Mails****
“PFA the document you need to review. Take your own time to analyse it properly. It’s important.
Can you finish it in another 2 hours?”
‘Do I have a choice buster??’

****At home****
“Good that you have come home early today. So how many days are you gonna keep this up, han?”
‘Probably never if you continue questioning me like this....’

****Your neighbour gets in to you car and says****
“Could you please drop me on your way to office?”
‘Now that you have got in, can you pay for my petrol??’

****Someone seeing you with a cigarette****
“Oh! You do smoke. Don’t you??”
‘Oh, I don’t... It’s just that I learnt this really cool trick where I can make this grayish air appear with my mouth’

And the number one dumbest question comes from your own wife/husband!!!

“Do you love me?”
…………….

The Haunted House

2005-11-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Visit the Bertha Mansion - http://viswatheartist.blogspot.com/2004/05/house.html

Bertha Mansion was as much haunted as you can imagine. There had been numerous stories revolving around it that you would wonder, if you would want to even walk past it. Abby wasn’t afraid of anything. He was a treasure seeker. He worked for the department of Art and Archeology, Princeton University. He had learnt that a valuable black diamond, the family heirloom of the Bertha clan was hidden in the secret chambers of the mansion. For months together, Abby poured over the documents of the house, trying to figure the pathways, rooms, corridors, closets and possible hidden entrances to the heirloom. On a fine September Sunday afternoon abby entered the haunted mansion in search of his treasure. He had marked five places in the plan of the house where there was the possibility of hidden treasure. It seemed as though lady luck was favoring him full time. Abby, upon entering the master bedroom, headed straight for the walk-in closet. The closet was empty, save for a few empty cartons. Abby started cleaning it out when he struck pay dirt. As he lifted a box, the floor board under him, came a little bit loose, revealing a hole. He ripped the floor board apart and was staring at a small black box. Save for his torch light, there was not even a bit of light in the closet. He opened the box and a small paper scroll fell. He opened the scroll and inside it was written.

He then examined the black box. As he continued to dust it, he hit a button and the box opened at the bottom to reveal a black shiny object. As he showed his torch on it, the black object gleamed in light. Abby was ecstatic. He never imagined he would get the treasure he came to seek, so easily. Just about that time, the torch went out. He thrust the scroll and the object in to the box and turned around, as the closet door was closing on him. Panicking he pushed the door with all his might, but couldn’t succeed. Suddenly his hands started burning and he dropped the box. Last thing he could remember was a sharp pain in his neck and all went black.
It was four days later, that Sheriff John Mc.Knell, found the highly decomposing body of Prof. Abraham Sinclair in supine position in the master bedroom. Autopsy reports showed that, Abby was bitten by a poisonous black widow spider. The Doctors argued that, the bite of a black widow however poisonous was not enough to kill a human. The death of Prof. Sinclair was a mystery and the story was passed on for generations. After that incident nobody dared to go near the Bertha Mansion. Even now this brilliant piece of architecture stands magnificently amidst peaceful surroundings, presenting itself as a curious piece of study for any stranger who dared to study about it.

I love him and that is all there is to it!!

2005-11-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

Dear Diary,
It was love at first sight. He looked so handsome. I just couldn’t take my eyes off him. My dad was totally against him. My mom was scared that I would run away with him. No amount of coaxing or cajoling could get them to agree. I wanted him in my life and that was that. One day I just brought him home. My dad was angry but still gave him the curious eye. I could tell he was a bit impressed after he saw him. Mom was a different story. Seeing him in real, she couldn’t fathom the damage that might fall upon her family. Mom was worried about what the neighbors would say about me and him. They would not accept us in to the society. Still I didn’t care. After a lot of consideration, my dad said ok. I was overjoyed. Immediately I dashed off to introduce him to my friends. All the guys were jealous and all the gals went GAGA over him. That moment I realized, dear diary, what a great gift I had got. Thanks lord for finding me such an angel.

Good night.

PS:- PFA his picture attached!! Hope you too like him...
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INK it -Strange but true...

2005-11-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

It is almost 8.00 PM. I am in my cubicle coding furiously to notice that it is raining outside. Just then there is a power glitch and the lights go out. I get up from my seat saving the enormous code I have written and walk up to the window. Suddenly I feel a sharp jab in my chest. I am sweating profusely. I try to open my mouth and shout for help but nothing comes out. My eyes close in on me and I am blacking out. I then feel very light. I am able to get up now, but I feel as light as a feather. My body lies on the ground near the cabin but am floating. I move outside through the window. I can sense that the rain is falling but I couldn’t feel it. Then I see myself transformed in to a small girl with an umbrella. Now I can feel the cold rain washing my body! I can sense that I am getting wet. A shiver runs up my spine. There is somebody in the distance calling out to me. I see an outstretched hand. Suddenly I am back in the building. I press my hand against the window still seeing the little girl. Then I pass out again. Moments late,r which was like eons, a voice said "Are you alright??" I get up feeling a little woozy. I couldn’t comprehend what is happening to me, though everything is still fresh in my memory. Then I see that a little girl is playing with her umbrella outside in the rain. In the window I notice a palm print. The strangest thing is that I have a circular scar on my palm, even that is visible in the print. Here I am narrating this experience! is there anyone out there to believe me??

My Dear MSN Messenger

2005-11-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

It was the first time I came in to contact with the little green window, innocently showing the contacts online. I was thrilled! It was the first time since I came to this company, that I have been introduced to this software. All the while being in secured network I have been living like a saint. Now with my status showing online, I caught many an attention of my online friends and started chatting right away. I forgot my new project, my team mates, and my mails. It was an awesome experience. I could chat, send and receive files actually control the other person’s desktop. Gradually MSN became the greatest part of my life. The games played by changing status, later on graduated to playing with changing the notes in the new Microsoft Communicator. There wasn’t a second in my project life without the Messenger, be it birthdays, casual hellos, big ugly fights, after fight patch ups, latest movie updates, project updates, party timings, meeting venues, you name it was there on MSN. The greatest use to the messenger was that 5 of my friends, in 3 different DCs would be chatting as if we were hanging out together. Everything revolved around Microsoft’s Invention. It was around this time that destiny decided to play a cruel trick on me. My PL told me "Hey congrats, you are getting moved to a new project!" I was happy, a big chance to prove myself in a new environment. As I decided to spread this good news to my "Online Buddies" (note: - mails moved in to oblivion except for those hapless souls in secured network!?).Only then it struck me to ask about my new account. My PL just smiled and said "Secured Network". That was it, the big blow to my eventful project life. Nothing he said after that about my new project went in to my head. It was already reeling and accessing the damage. I was devastated. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. The D-Day came when I had to bid Adieu to my life on MSN. I blew a final kiss to my electronic companion and moved out with a tear strained face. As for my life in secured network!you could always guess!
A hapless soul!!

Dedicated to Marc Anthony

2005-10-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

***********************************************For the 15th time I was listening to "I want to spend my lifetime loving you..." theme song from Mask of Zorro. It was awesome! I couldn’t explain the feelings that it created in my heart. Just then Rahul popped out of nowhere into my cubicle. "Hey dude, listen to this!" I said, putting the head phone on his head. His eyes brightened, a smile danced on his lips. It was clearly visible that he was enjoying as much as I was. Suddenly he kneeled down and sang "I wanna spend my life time loving you..." on top of his voice. The entire floor stood up to watch this spectacle. "Dumbo don’t embarrass me. Shut up and get up" I said. He was still kneeling and in all earnest was singing the song, full throat. I momentarily forgot about all the people and said "Tell me you are joking! Are you not? Tell me dumbo..." He just smiled. The floor under me suddenly caved. I felt as if I was floating in air. My cubicle mate just then shouted "He is asking you to marry him stupid girl! Just say yes!" I was speechless. We didn’t take our eyes of each other. Then I just lowered my eyes once, looked at him and lowered it again. Not even air moved. The smile on rahul’s face slowly turned in to a grin. The whole floor burst out clapping and whistling... The last thing I remember when I was walking down the corridor was Marc Anthony singing
"I want to spend my lifetime loving youIf that is all in life I ever doI will want nothing else to see me throughIf I can spend my lifetime loving you "
***********************************************
Rahul was kneeling down having the page from her diary in front of her grave."
RIP
Mrs. Rahul
1983 - 2073"
"Dad lets go!" said Rahul Jr. touching his father. Only then he realized that, that was the last time Rahul ever kneeled for anybody.

INK It - Celebrating...

2005-10-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

At 3...

You skip, you play
Your innocence knows no bounds
You talk you sleep, darling angel
You are the best, from Thee.

At 12...

You giggle, you laugh
Your shyness knows no bounds
You dress up you enact, darling angel
You are the best, from Thee.

At 18...

You dream, you have passion
Your love knows no bounds
You smile you are sensuous, darling angel
You are the best, from Thee.

At 25...

You work, you play
Your energy knows no bounds
You care you bear the world, darling angel
You are the best, from Thee.

Sorry!

2005-10-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Should have never looked in to your eyes!
Lovely eyes, full of love and care

Shouldn’t have tasted your smile,
The fiery passion they gave

Never should have lusted
In the warmth of your shoulders

Never should have died
Every moment our hands touched

Never should have cried
For the happiness you showered

Never should have walked
"The Path" with you

Sorry Love! For letting go;
Never Should I have fallen in love with you

pool game or life?

2005-10-05T21:18:00.000-07:00

Cue ball is you, have you ever thought,
A pool game portrays lot about life

Top ball it is, to move you forward
Some back you up, you emerge as the winner

Stop ball it is, to make you stay
The work gets done, but you will not play

Sometimes all it needs, is a little spin
As always in life, the right direction

Focus of life differs all the time
From the ball, stick, solid or stripe

Is it a game or is it life?
You decide, ‘cos you alone play

Ink it :- The dream...

2005-09-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

"I was walking through the field. Black field! Not dark but black as if someone had wantedly painted everything black. The grass, the sand, the rain... everything was black. I felt as if I don’t have any sense of colours. I looked down and saw that I was also black in colour. Where ever I saw, I could see only black images, even the distant mountains and the clouds. It was as if I was transported to devil’s dark side. I started walking. The black grass grew around me... it grew taller with each step I took. The mountains also seemed to grow. I felt as if I am going to diminish to a peck. Then I saw it, the white flash of lightening. I felt thrilled. The first different shade since in came in to this strange land. The white lightening struck again and again, lightening up the black skies. Time stood still. The grass stopped growing. The black clouds were clearing......."
"Congrats rahul! You now have new of pair of eyes. The operation has been a success. You just need to take rest for two days, and then you will be able to see the world for the very first time!!"

My Kid Sister

2005-08-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

"Akka, how will blue colour be?" asked my 10 yr old sister. Due to some genetic problem, she was born blind. Even then, she is the apple of all our eyes. Dad and mom always favour her. I don’t mind it. In fact, I adore her. She is the most pampered kid of all. I was surprised at her question. I didn’t know what to say. "Why do you ask Sweetie?", I asked her, not knowing how to explain ‘blue colour’. "No, akka, those people were saying in POGO". It was her favourite channel, though she never could see it. She loved hearing the voices and could pinpoint every character. I thought deeply. I took her hand and opened the fridge door. "This is how blue is! it’s cool" I said. She seems to understand. A big smile came on her face. "Akka akka akka, what is red colour?" She was obviously excited about the prospect of learning colours. I brought a lit candle and held her hand close to it. "Ouch!" she said, feeling the heat. "This is red colour." I was proud that I could teach my kid sister all these. She wasn’t about to give up. "Akka, green colour, akka?" she went on eagerly. I thought for a while. Then I went outside and got the small money plant pot. I let her fingers touch the plant and said, "This is green colour, sweetie pie." She became more enthusiastic. Never in her 10 yrs of childhood, have I seen such a smile, such happiness in her face! "Akka, what is yellow?" She kept on going. Now I was really stumped. I could not let my sister down. I had to show her yellow colour. Then I remembered. I went in to the kitchen and brought turmeric power. I let her smell it and touch it. She understood what I was trying to explain. Suddenly, she stopped smiling. She looked at my face, and asked with all innocence "Akka, how do I look?" I was stunned. Words refused to come out of my mouth. Tears started down my cheek. "Sweety you look just like this". So saying I brought her hands to my face. With all sincerity, she explored my face. My eyes, ears, nose. She then touched hers and suddenly she brightened up. "Akka, I do look like you, don’t I?? I know it. I do, I do, I do" She planted a kiss and ran off to Mom. My kid sister!

The appreciation

2005-08-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

It happened in the third year of my college. We were at a personality development workshop. The whole class was divided in to 8 groups. Each group was to discuss among ourselves and then prepare a speech for five minutes. It was to dispense the fear of stage fright. My group consisted of the three most unruly girls ? and a meek looking guy. I was wondering, where this guy was for the past 3 years. I never knew a guy existed, until he was put in my group. There we sat discussing what each would be talking about and the guy never opened his mouth. I sat down after the speech with a roaring applause! naturally I thought! Then the guy from my group came. He went on to the stage and that was that. He could barely get any words out of his mouth. He was struggling, nothing went right. Finally at the end of one minute, the guy ran like the wind out of the room. Everybody was laughing. I felt sorry for him. I thought it was my mistake that he hadn’t talked well, since he was in my group and I had to help him out. The anchor announced that there would be a second round of presentation, and the person who shows the greatest improvement would get a chocolate. I decided one way or other I am going to make that guy get it. During lunch break, I pulled my very surprised group mate from the hallway. I should probably tell you about his state of mind, finding a big burly girl next to him but!never mind. Anyways, we spent the next half an hour, going through his presentation and the mistakes he made. I should say, he was a very intelligent guy, but very shy. Yeah we skipped lunch, but it was worth it I must say.
The second round of presentation went off with a blast, with my group mate also performing excellently. Everybody was astounded at his turn around. I was a proud peacock!! ? The anchor announced the winner. It was my guy of course. With the whole class cheering him, he went to the podium. The anchor asked him "What made you improve so much from the first time to the second time?? He didn’t bat an eyelid. "That girl there helped me to achieve this" he said, pointing to me. I was spellbound. Everyone stood up and started clapping. I didn’t know what to do. I was shaking all through. The guy just walked royally, amidst the cheering and applause, came to me, gave me the chocolate, and said one word which I will never forget in my entire life! "Thanks"!

To My Dearest...

2005-06-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

"Mom is the dinner ready?! I came in asking. I was so tired after working 14 hrs straight in office. The bus ride had left me completely shaken. "Oh God! My back!! I groaned. My dad came around and started rubbing my back. It felt so good. By this time mom had already set the table. I hardly had enough strength to go. Mom was asking a thousand questions about my day and all. I kept mum all through my dinner. All my energy had drained already off. After dinner I just plopped on the bed. Mom came in ½ hr after me. She was looking at me with those "my poor baby! eyes. I closed my eyes, exhaustion overtook sleep and I wasn’t about to get any. I forced my self to dream of something, nothing! "How was your day??!, "Looks like you are very tired?! "Lots of work in office?! Mom was talking to me. I didn’t hear half the things she said. "Mom I am very tired. Let’s talk tomorrow ok??!. "Ok sweetie?.. ". She was silent for a sec. "You know what happened today?..!. She started off. "Mom Please!! I shouted. That was all? A few minutes later I was asleep. I didn’t know when, mom fell asleep. I got up around 2 pm because of the mosquitoes. My throat was so parched that I went and had a sip of water. Just as I was about to sleep I noticed something in the faint glow of the night lamp. My mom’s face had a trickle of tear drop. I immediately understood. It pained my heart to see that my mom had cried because of me. I just wanted to wake her, hold her and tell her that I am sorry for all I had done. I couldn’t sleep after that. First thing in the morning, when my mom woke up, I gave her the biggest kiss of my life. She was pleasantly surprised. "What happened to you? "She asked me, gently smiling. "Am Sorry mom, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that yesterday night. Something had gotten in to me. Please forgive me will ya?! I pleaded? I didn’t even have the courage to look at her. "You dumbo, I forgot that yesterday night itself. I know how tired you were. I just didn’t realize that. Don’t worry about silly things and get ready for office.! She ruffled my hair and went off. I couldn’t move. I was awed by the affection and love she showered on me. I had failed to notice it before and had taken it for granted. It was a costly lesson, the cost? one drop of my mom’s and many of mine.