K A L E I D O S C O P E

2005-07-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

Jai Hanuman

Jhako Devi is the name of a Hanuman temple in Manali. You drive up through the curved roads and the dense trees and after a point your vehicle is not allowed. So you then walk up at least 2 kms of the steep road to have a glimpse of the orange-bodied at Jhako Devi. Once you have reached the top, you see that its a plateau. The temple is situated at the centre. One one side the way u came up. Adjacent two sides, are trees and the fourth side is an open ended side, that forms a valley, and from where you can also catch a glimpse of the snow-clad peaks of the Kanchenjunga range that glows in the sunlight.

So, we were four of us who visited this place - Dad, Mom, Amogh (my younger bro) and Yours Truly. Dad and Amogh were walking ahead and talking something. I had the camera in my hand, was fidgeting with it and walking alone. Mom was the last one to follow. Meanwhile there was this monkey that came along. Oh yeah !! Did I forget to mention about another facet of this attraction point?? You have many a number of monkeys around.

So our, Monkey Uncle comes, walking on his hind legs; he is not swinging his hands, but has neatly kept them behind his back and seems quite philosophical. He first comes to Dad and Amogh and observes them. Then he comes to me and observes me and then moves towards Mom. Now, Mom looked the most 'paavam' amongst the lot and was walking slowly and kinda in her own world. She had hey Ray-Ban on, and can you believe it, our Uncle jumped and removed her Ray-Ban and ran away. So Mom started shouting and all of us were excited. Meanwhile, a few people gathered around and we were pondering as to, how to retrieve the pair of glasses. (C'mmon they weren't after any pair of glasses...Boy!! That was a Ray-Ban!!)

Now, Uncle had not escaped after snatching the glasses. He was sitting on tree and having fun seein peopel gettin excited. And, the way he held the glasses was unbelievable. He probably knew teh worth of the Ray-Ban and was handling it with extreme care (mind you!! no pun intended!!).He made sure he was not damaging the glasses and was holding it by the side of the frame.

Meanwhile, a local came to our rescue. We explained the matter to him. To our surprise, he was not a whee bit astonished. He told, "Arre, aap chintha na karen. Woh kuch nahin karega. Channa khareedke de dijiye." Dad hurriedly bought a packet of "channa" and gave it to the man. The tre on which our Uncle was sitting, was not one that could be reached. There was quite a distance between the tree and the plateau area. So this man, the local, went to the edge of the plateau and showed the packet of "channa". We could see the facial reaction of our Uncle on the tree. He slowly climbed down, still very carefully handling the glasses, when he approached a little near, the local man, threw the packet at Uncle. Now, the most unbelievable part is, Uncle threw the Ray-Ban towards us; but he did it so tactfully, that not a scratch occurred on the frame or the glass. That was a relief !!!

We thanked the local man, and as a token of gratitude, Dad wanted to give him some money. And well, the man refused. He said, "Sahab, yeh kya? Hum paise nahin lenge. Paise se hamein koi lagaav nahin hai. Aapko pata hai, yeh jo aapka chashma le gaye, yeh bhi Hanuman ji hi honge. Bas inko aapke haathon se channe khaane the. Hum ne tho bas aapki madad ki hai. Hum yaheen ke rehnewaale hain. Hanuman ji ki kripa hai, kisi cheez ki kami nahin rakhi inhone. Bahut dhanyavaad." and he went his way. Then, before we went inside the temple, there was this lady selling "channa" who also offered to take care of our foot-wear. Apparently, she charged nothing for looking after our foot-wear.

In an era of fraudulency, where almost everyone is finding ways to make money by hook or by crook, it came as a pleasant surprise to find nice people like these. We, too assumed that, it was probably indeed Hanuman ji himself, in the form of our Uncle.

Sankar Suvan Kesari Nandan

Tej Pratap Maha Jag Bandhan

Vidyavaan Guni Athi Chathur

Ram Kaaz Karibe Ko Aathur

Sankat Katai Mittai Sab Peera

Jo Sumirai Hanumath Balbira

Jai Jai Jai Hanuman Gosai

Krupa Karahu Guru Dev Ki Nayeen

2005-06-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Om 'Rock' aay Namah!!!

Suman - she is our household maid. She does the sweeping, swabbing & washing of vessels at home.

One day she came in as usual and went to the bathroom to wash vessels. The bathroom door was closed, and I was working on the computer. I noticed she was doing something standing outside the bathroom. Curiously, I went closer and saw that she was standing and praying. I couldn't control my laughter and I asked my brother, Amogh, to go and take a look too. He too came back laughing and both of us were literally rolling on the floor laughing (quite similar to the smiley in yahoo messenger)....

Then Suman noticed that we were laughing and asked what happened.

Apparently, the story goes like this...my brother has stuck a poster of the wrestling star Rock on the bathroom door; and while doing sandhyavandhanam, he took a little while off to apply some vibhoothi, for Rock too. Apparently, Suman had mistook Rock to be some God, thanks to the application of vibhoothito him.

Om 'ROCK' aay Namah !!

2005-03-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

state of mind

have you ever felt like as though in a hollow ??

so many thoughts, so many ideas,

so much of confusion, so much of chaos...

its all there in the mind...

the music goes on...

someone jus talks his way out...

u jus do not understand the head or tail of it...

u know its happening...

but then u dont know wut ??

u feel lost...

u feel, u r falling down through

a never ending tunnel...

wid a very high velocity....

u suddenly feel isolated..

u have a choke in ur throat...

something piercing ur head from within..

something, dat makes your heart feel extremely heavy..

moments later,

u r weeping, weeping & weeping...

u dunno why...

but u jus wanna cry ur way out.....

the isolation,

the prick in ur head,

the choke in ur throat,

the heaviness of ur heart...

your tears seem the only comfort for all these...

and there u r fast asleep,

in a while, and your tears waiting to dry up......

2005-02-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

This poem is dedicated to those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for our nation.

देश के वीर सैनिकों

शहीद होकर कहाँ चले गए,

देश के वीर सैनिकों ?

पुकार रही है तुम्हें धरती,

लौटकर वापस आ जाओ ॥

आ रही है खुशबू तुम्हारी,

इस वतन की मिट्टी से ।

चीख-चीखकर कह रही है धरती,

रंगीन हुई हूँ, मैं अपने पुत्रों के लहू से ॥

बिखर चुकी है जो हवा में,

ये महक तुम्हारी है सैनिकों ।

सुनहरी आभा बनकर,

चमक रहे हो तुम वीरों ॥

सदा रहेगी अमर इस देश में,
तुम्हारी यह कुरबानी ‌‌।
नहीं भूलेंगे तुम्हें देश के वासी,
याद रखेगी तुम्हें देश की धरती ॥

शहीद होकर कहाँ चले गए,
देश के वीर सैनिकों ?
पुकार रही है तुम्हें धरती,
लौटकर वापस आ जाओ ॥

2005-02-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

Faith takes me there, Fate brings her there…

“Kashi ?? Baran aahe na?” (How are you?); she asks me softly, smilingly and innocently.
I meet her before I meet the Modak lover every Tuesday.
Six in the morning or eight at night, you will find her there….
I know her for not more than six months, but she has captured a place for herself for lifetime in my heart. She is one of those persons whom I probably can never forget.

Go to the Siddhivinayak, and you too will meet her before getting into the shrine. I am sure each one of us is protective about our footwear.

Yes, she is the one who safeguards peoples’ footwear. There are a couple of other ladies too, who do safeguard footwear, but I never felt like leaving my footwear behind with those ladies. She too is one of those affected by the poverty, but she doesn’t complain. She is happy with whatever u give her, and makes it a point to return a rupee if u give her a couple.

She is the mother of two kids and like every other mother, wants her kids to get good education too, but she doesn’t know if fate has a something else in store for her. She earns around five hundred rupees on Tuesdays, and not very much on other days. The securities of the temple sometimes interfere with her work, and she is forced to get move away from that place. Her worries take the shape of lines on her forehead, yet she manages to smile all day long.

It is very amusing to see her safeguard the footwear. She doesn’t give coupons or tokens to people. At one point of time she has more than a fifty pairs of footwear, yet she knows exactly which footwear belongs to whom. You leave back your pair with her and while u return there she has already spotted you, and is all read with your pair and a smiling face, which cannot go unnoticeable.

Speaking to her could be fun. She talks about the rains, predicts the time you might have to stand in the queue, about the buses, et al. In spite of such a crowd coming to the temple, she remembers who came in the morning and who came later during the day. She asks me, “Aaj kaay, khoop lavkar aali?” (How come you are too early today?) or “aaj sandhyakali aali, college hothen ka?” (How come you come in the evening, you had college is it?) During the rains, she takes shelter under one of those tiny box shops near the entrance, and otherwise she is on the middle of the road.

Last Tuesday I had been to the temple in the evening, and the queue for taking darshan was massive. But surprisingly, I got darshan within forty five-minutes. Thanks to her. She had told me, “Mahilyanchi line aaj khoop vadhli, Purushanchya line madhe ubha raha ek taasath hoshil.” (The ladies’ queue has gone too far. Stand in the mens’ queue, you’ll be done within an hour’s time.)

2005-01-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

This was supposedly an assignment given to me. I was given a photo of a chilli and a watch and asked to write a poetry linking the two. And this is what came to my mind....

People Who Eat Chillies Are Behind Time

People who eat chillies are behind time,

I ain't too sure, but I sure can try and ensure.

I once had a chilli between my teeth,

And immediately, I was on my feet.

I gulped water before I could finish my meal,

And that choked up the whole deal.

That is how I learnt to eat slowly and steadily,

And take my own sweet time to eat, lately!!

I once had a chilli in my hand,

A red watery burning eye it made me land.

I washed my eye and blinked my eye,

but to no avail you see.

And so I learnt to,

Always keep my hands off chilli,

And ever so often come handy!!

I once had a chilli on my nose,

Which was then sucked in by my brain.

And so I started fuming through my ears,

'nd yeah, my tongue caught a fire.

Flames of words put me into trouble,

And that is why I take my time,

To think and say, even if its just a syllable!!

So I sure have, ensured you see,

It is all because of the chilli.

Even if I wanna be timely,

I fail to do it neatly.

And so, whenever I am late,

Don't blame me,

Blame the damned chilli!!

2005-01-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

Dangerous Toy for a Little Boy

His really cool friends one summer night,
Made him see things in a different light.
They asked him to take a puff,
Said it would make him really tough.

Innocent and cheerful as a little boy,
He thought cigarette was just a toy.
So he resisted, but then amidst protest
Took one puff in humour and jest.

And his throat burned, he felt like a man,
He had burned it with his very own hand.
People warned that he should quit,
But he wanted to live, as he liked.

So the little puff became a flame,
He lost all respect and had no shame.
He had mo care for his father’s fears,
He had no value for his mother’s tears.

From cigar he graduated to alcohol and drugs.
The li’l boy became a thug.
Years have passed since he has gone away,
But his grieving mom still waits today.

Who will tell her streaming eyes,
That in a gutter her little boy lies?
But it was not drugs that killed the boy,
It was a belief that cigarette was a toy.

Those who read this sorry tale,
Must be strong, not weak and frail.
Do not burn your life for a little joy,
For cigarette is not a toy.

Avoid that first and fatal puff,
For resisting that is really tough.

2005-01-28T17:25:00.000-08:00

Oh! That tiny Little Thing

Oh! That tiny little thing!
So very delicate,
So very innocent,
Yet full of message,
Oh! That tiny little thing!

Moments of Joy,
Hoards of Happiness,
Bounties of Bliss,
Laugh, laugh and laugh until you cry;
Oh! That tiny little thing!

Stage of Sorrow,
Hours of Gloom,
Days are low & blue,
Cry, cry an cry, but ’twill never dry;
Oh! That tiny little thing!

Birth and blithe,
Death and desire,
Expression and emotion,
It carries everything.
Oh! That tiny little thing!

The crystal in the eye
That melts down on the cheek,
And away it rolls, to fall as a pearl.
So mysterious, so precious, yet so very real.
Oh! That tiny little thing!