Walk in the park

Have you ever been stuck in a traffic jam? I don't know about other cities, but I am sure that everyone in Mumbai must have experienced this at some point or the other in their life.

The traffic snarls have become a part of our daily life. Think of it as a big rapacious monster which feeds on your precious time. You can feel its presence when you step out of your home but you never know where or when it will strike. Just the thought of the deadly encounter sends chills down everyone’s spine.

Sometimes you successfully avoid the monster; you feel happy, relieved but still wary of the fact that you can’t delay the inevitable. You know that it is out there, hungry as ever, waiting to pounce when you least expect it.

You feel helpless when it catches you by the throat and sucks the life out of you. Nothing can be done except praying for mercy and trying to survive the ordeal somehow. There are some who try to defy the odds and slay the beast. These are the valiant knights on their powerful horses’ (the bike) and the soldiers on their three legged donkey (the auto rick). They dodge the monster with their nimble movement but all they end up doing is fuel his rage and make everyone’s life even more miserable.

Do you think that the bikes and the auto ricks are the major reason for the choc-a-block traffic woes? Okay, we also have cars which keep on increasing exponentially and there is always the problem of pot holes, construction etc, but there is one segment which we intentionally tend to ignore; we know that they make the problem much worse but we choose to turn a blind eye towards them. They are the “innocent” pedestrians.

Sure, traffic jams are caused due to vehicles, but the people who walk on the street don’t exactly help anyone’s cause. They move around as if they own the road, absolutely oblivious to their surroundings, be it a park or the middle of a busy intersection. Their only objective is to reach their destination, which is the other side of the road. It’s always the drives fault if an accident occurs; the pedestrians are always the innocent souls.

I would like to narrate an incident that occurred the other day; I was on my way to work on an auto rick and was about to reach the train station. The road was straight and clear, there were people waiting on the sidewalk to cross the road but no one was in the middle of the street. Out of nowhere, a middle aged woman jumps in front of the vehicle; the rick driver hit the brakes violently. The lady just raised her arm and made a stop sign as if she stopped the vehicle using her superpower, just like NEO stops the bullets coming towards him in the Matrix. It was absolutely ridiculous, she could have waited for the traffic to ease up and then cross the road but no. I guess she was just standing there, waiting for my rick to approach and thinking, on your marks, get set and GO!

Have you guys come across people like this? I am not sure why people behave this way, all I can say is we should be aware of the risks we pose to ourselves and others while walking on the street. Life is precious; don’t throw it away by being so stupid.

My Valentine

I lose track of time when we are together,
life is great and we like each other.

I can't hear anything other than your sound;
The world is a different place when you are around.

There is nothing better than your voice;
You make me deaf to the outside noise.

We are always together, sitting close to each other.
People look at us with envy, but we can't help this frenzy.

I was devastated when you didn’t wake up the other day,
I rushed to get the USB cable without any delay.

Electricity surged through your body, as I connected you to your guardian.
You came back to life with a flash of light; I smiled thinking of myself as a magician.

I anxiously waited for some time since I wanted you to fully recover.
I was pleased to know that our relationship was not over.

We were back together after the lull;
I rejoiced as you announced "Battery Full".

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus

"Men are from Mars and women are from Venus" she said when I narrated this incident to a friend during a long conversation that we were having. I wonder how many times this line has been used since 1992 when John Gray's book got published.

This was about a months back, I was at the airport, waiting for my brother's flight to land (at least the place looked like an airport this time around. Last I saw this place, it looked more like a train station). I was expecting the place to be crowded and chaotic like always but to my surprise it was well organized. Lots of seating and ample space for people to look through the glass wall and stare at the people inside.

Spare a thought for the innocent people who are traveling though. On their way out, they encounter thousand eyes following their every move. I wonder how this makes the people feel, enter the passage which leads to the exit after endless security checks, and they find a million people waiting outside, staring at them through the looking glass so to speak. But I guess this gives them a rush, searching for their loved ones in the sea of people and hoping to find a familiar face.

It was very late in the night and the temperature was just right. If only I had a blanket and a comfy bed (would have been weird though, if that had happened then I would have been the subject of the stares). I decided to take a walk and see what other people were doing to pass their time since I had nothing better to do and I didn't want to dose off. It didn't occur to me to carry my book along for some odd reason.

So there I was, walking aimlessly accompanied only by the riffs and rolls of heavy metal. During my midnight stroll, I was moving around the waiting area, looking for something interesting, and I needed a place to sit as I was tired from all the walking I had done. Finally, I did notice something interesting and I took a seat opposite a lady.

The lady was sitting on the bench with a small cute looking dog, don't know what kind though since I am not really a dog person (Doesn't really make a difference to me though, at lease I called it cute). Not far from her, I noticed a small girl looking amazed by the creature in front of her. She was holding her father's hand, too afraid to let go or get closer to it and at the same time startled by odd looking thing in front of her. She was jumping up and down with excitement, making cuddly noises. After a while, the kid was taken away by her father who couldn't stop staring at the dog even on her way back.

Sometime later, two little boys entered the frame holding hands. They looked like brothers, the elder one calling the shots and making the younger one follow him. They noticed the dog and were equally surprised by the specimen. The younger kid found the dogs presence intimidating but he didn't back down. He started to make his presence felt by screaming at the dog, he wanted to make his presence felt but was hesitant since the dog as as big was him. With enough encouragement from his brother, he stepped forward to slay the beast so to say. The moment he got closer, the dog gave a snarl out of reflex. The little guy was stunned, but stood his ground. He retreated slowly and walked away.

Later on, the little guy was back, but this time he just came to take a look at the angry beast which defeated him from a safe distance. I decided to get up and resume my walk as the flight had landed and people had started to come out from the exit gate. I found an empty corner and started looking through just like everyone else still wondering about the little boy and girl.

The thing that struck me the most was the difference in behavior between the two. The girl thought that the dog was cute and cuddly but was too afraid to get close to it. The boy, full of courage, wanted to give the dog a whack, though he was unsuccessful in his attempt. This kind of sums up how different Men and Women are, on the one hand we have Women who are characterized by love and affection and on the other hand we have Men who are, well, turned on by violence.

It's amazing how we were all created, the differences are so distinct and so well planned. These characteristics are all embedded within all of us at our genes and they are reflected even at such a young age. This is really how it was all meant to be and little things like this make you appreciate the uniqueness of every individual. Well then, guess even I have to say this, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.

The fast lane

I was in my train when another train was passing by on the other side. I wanted to capture the moving object on camera. Luckily I had my phone in my hand and I was able to click on time. This is what I got.

Window seat

This picture was taken when I was on my way to work. The train stopped at a station and when I looked out of the window, this is what I saw. The view looked interesting so I took my phone out and captured it.

Great start to the weekend.

It was a regular Friday evening. I was at work when I got a call from home. My grandmother told me that she received a call from the police station and they want me to come there on Saturday morning for something related to my passport.

I was wondering why they were calling me again because my police verification was already completed. I even check the status online and it said: “Passport has been granted and is expected to be dispatched by 06-09-2008. Subject to all documents being in order”. So I thought they needed some more documents or information.

Actually, I had planned to visit my old college with a friend on Saturday morning at around 10 am. After I got to know about the passport thing, I called my friend and rescheduled the time to 12pm assuming that that work will get over soon. Little did I know that there was a lot in store for me.
Saturday morning, I reached the police station at 10:00 am. I spoke to the official over there and he asked me to get 2 witnesses with me. I told him that my police verification was already over but he said that this is a regular procedure. The next thing I did was called my friend and cancelled the college visit.

At around 12:30, I returned to the police station with 2 of my neighbors. They signed a couple of papers and left, I was asked to wait. After about 30 minutes, the guy over there said that they are really busy with some other work and asked me to come at 6:00 pm. I was not in a position to argue with them, so I agreed.
In the evening, I went there again. When I reached the police station there was a long queue and I had to wait for an hour for my turn. I showed them my receipt and they were not able to find my form. They checked the register and told me that my form had already been sent to the passport office. I was like then why the hell did you guys call me here?

So there I was, sitting at the police station wondering what is going on. Then they asked me my home phone number. After a lot of searching, they pulled out a form which had the same number and guess what? It was my brother’s form.
The procedure has changed since the time he applied for his passport and they needed some information for their record. I told them that my brother has gone to the US for studying. They took a statement from me with all the details they needed. It hardly took 5 minutes. All this trouble for such a small piece of work!

When I came back home it was 8pm. An entire day wasted, and I was left think how all this could have been avoided. The reasons behind this entire episode were many - my grandparents, who assumed that the call was for me, the police officials who made me go through all this for nothing, our names (mine and my brother's) which are so long and confusing, and finally me, for going through all without knowing the exact reason.

In the end, I had to accept it as a bad day and move on.

Everybody was kung fu fighting

Kung fu has always fascinated me. I am a big follower of the kung-fu/martial arts documentaries shown on National Geographic and Discovery Channel. But I am not going to talk about them here. This post is about the latest Dreamworks animation creation - Kung Fu Panda.

Since the time I first saw its trailer, I decided that I won’t miss this movie for anything. So, the plan was made and I called up my friends to watch it with me. The show was scheduled to start at 10:35 am (Odd timing, but that was the only one available) and all my friends were cursing me for forcing them to get up early on a Sunday morning.
The Mumbai rain didn't show us any mercy but it couldn't dampen our spirits. We fought through it and made it on time for the movie (well, at least some of us did :P). After the movie got over, my friends told me that the movie was totally worth all the efforts we put in.

The tag line of the movie is - Prepare for awesomeness, and awesome it was. The concept of the movie is so unique: kung fu with animated animals. It had everything from authentic kung fu action to hilarious dialogues to the fight between good and evil. There wasn’t a single moment during the entire duration of the movie that I stopped laughing. The company of my friends made the experience even better.
The story revolves around a big fat panda named Po who is a big kung fu fan. It shows us the journey which the panda undertakes to fulfill his kung fu obsession. It’s like a dream come true for Po when he is chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy. He studies alongside his idols, the legendary Furious Five -- Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey -- under their guru, Master Shifu. Every character is created with perfection and there isn’t a single character in the story which is unwanted. All the characters have a role to play.

The action sequences in the movie are absolutely incredible. The best part about the movie is that everything is believable because it is animation. All said and done, this movie is an absolute must watch for everyone. Don’t miss it!