An uneasy truce

Remember the times when we as kids used to fight, a fight in which we used to give our all clawing away with our puny paws thinking you were just one knockout punch away from ending the bout when the fight used to be imperceptibly stopped by an over anxious teacher or parent. You very invariably made part of a begrudging handshake or a hug during which you pressed so hard hoping to show the other who was the boss. Even though the things ended amicably according to the ‘pokey nosed’ teacher or parent wit both engaging parties claiming moral victory most bystander somehow knew the real fight was just around the corner with this just being the lull before the real storm. One couldn’t help but come off with the same feeling as one watched the events unfold over the scene of Indian cricket earlier this week. As Greg Chappell (GC) and Saurav Ganguly (SG) squabbled like two schoolboys both claiming to be aggrieved parties in a war of egos that threatened to blow away the future of an already struggling Indian cricket team. I shall no be discussing the lead up to the turn of events as enough has been said and written about it already. However it would hurt to mention that this excess of media insight into the discussions of a dressing room is what had led to this scenario in the first place. The media was used a weapon of choice by both sides to gain new allies (read Harbhajan Singh and other team members and other former cricketers) and that eventually led to a showdown in this week’s BCCI’s review meeting. Now for a mute spectator and passionate Indian cricket follower and well wisher this was a highly anticipated event as it would decide the direction in which Indian cricket would be going because in the view of the evidence on display one of parties would be right and the other one wrong. It was more a question of deliberating who was right and who was wrong thus doing away with the wrong party. Therefore what eventually prevailed with the BCCI mediating on an uneasy truce between GC and SG saying that said the Board asked the coach and captain to work mutually and maintain a working relationship. The board added that after discussions with the two both agreed to do for the betterment of the game in India. Personally this was the worse thing that could have happened in the light of the situation. I personally was hoping that Ganguly would be sacked in the light of his recent record and lack of ability to maintain discipline asked by GC and either Sehwag or Dravid be appointed in his place. I would have even swallowed the other scenario in which GC was sacked and another search begun for a replacement coach so that SG and the new coach could begin afresh. But what happened was something that had not been imagined in my worst of nightmares with a compromise situation being worked out between the two parties. It is very hard to imagine that they ever will be able to work in a comfortable equation with each other considering the accusations they leveled against each other recently. Also considering their egos (and remember we are talking superstar egos here) they probably will never forgive each other for what has just happened. I can almost imagine the two wanting to jump for joy after the next big Indian victory and rushing towards each other. Then suddenly in the wake of a rush of bad memories their joy will be blocked out as they will just utter a few congratulatory notes and end with a civil handshake instead of a more spur of the moment joyous hug. And I as a bystander know that the real fight is probably just around the corner and this is just the lull before the real storm.

Reactive prose

Awritee the sequel to Reactive prose has finally arrived. So all those who have been waited with bated breath (I can almost imagine a chorus of ‘yeah right’) read on, and those who haven’t you can read on too because it just lends credence to the theory that sequels are never quite good as the original thing :)

A: it’s been an odd sorta day
B: I wish it were a holiday
A: but then I wish that all the time
B: if I could drown myself in wine
A: wine doesn’t solve any problems but so doesn’t milk
B: and she looked lovely in silk
(after this line I laughed so hard that I almost fell off my chair and so any lines hereon don’t have any kinda accountability to its composer)
A: how is that ever supposed to make sense
B: y is it making u tense
A: this doesn’t look half as good as the first time
A: mebbe coz u r coming up with the 2nd line
(Even though that was outta turn I just couldn’t miss out on adding that, but anyways the gentleman that I am I let B have the last word)
B: oh u are so divine (???????????)

For those of you unfamiliar with this style of post it happens to be another line by line reproduction of a chat session I had with a friend of mine recently as we tried to engage in some poetic ‘jugalbandi’ with yours truly playing ‘A’ this time.

Coffee tales

I guess it would a little easier to follow the piece of fiction if you go through this previous post modeled on similar lines.

Harry: Hey I didn’t know you worked here.
Sally: Just a part time thing could do with some extra cash.
Harry: We all could :).
Sally: By the way thnx for holding up the elevator for me the other day I owe you one.
Harry: That’s good coz I seem to owe everyone else one nowadays. Sorry bad joke.
Sally: Anyways what can I get you today?
Harry: I cud do with 2 strong coffees.
Sally: Gosh 2 coffees, some heck of a party you must have been at last night.
Harry: Oh no excuse me for being presumptuous you just seemed like a coffee person.
Sally: And why did you presume I would have coffee with you?
Harry: Hmm let’s see I am single guy looking for love. I love to cook and I don’t mind cleaning up. Anything else you wanna know?
Sally: Yup just one thing, do you want some bagels with your coffee coz I can never have my coffee on an empty stomach.

Bag the tag (updated now)

Jeez there’s too much tagging goodwill flowing my way (its getting unbearable now), this time I get tagged by Sagnik in his latest post. The mission was to pen a 55 word short story chain so here’s my shot at it.

One upraised thumb and a few Harley skid marks later
Where are you headed?
Wherever the road takes me
What a co incidence that’s precisely where I was heading

And thus they were hitched. As they say it always starts innocently enough :)

And as I wind up this post I am reminded of my mommy's pearls of wisdom about sharing every good thing in life. So here it goes Pointy (that makes you 2 down on the tags bit), Khizzy (revenge is indeed sweet), Janani, m(treadsoftlyupon) and Totti (even though it feels as if you have vowed not to type onto your blog window anymore) you just got tagged. Enjoy.............

I guess I was meant to write up only one story but I cant let go of this one that just formed up inside my head tentatively titled 'Flying to the moon and back........lighter'

Wife: Do you really love me?
Husband: What a thing to ask after 10 years of our marriage? (well dodged soldier)
Wife: What would you do for me?
Husband: If I could I would take you to the moon (and kick you out of my spaceship)

OUCH!!!! THE END

It's been a hard day's night

It's been a hard day's night, and I been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night, I should be sleeping like a log
by The Beatles

No other title suits this picture more appropriately as Freddie and Vaughan catch a cat nap on the morning after the historic day on which they clinched the Ashes.

Reactive prose

A: As I stand alone
B: waiting to come undone
A: I see the world in chains
B: Wondering if its worth all the pains
A: I see light
B: Even though it aint so bright
A: It must be a dream
B: Whatever it mebbe its a chance to redeem
A: I take my first step into the "lake" blanketed by darkness
B: My soul hurts in the cold starkness
A: Oh angel- where are thy
B: I am around you, take my wings and fly

That happens to be a line by line reproduction of a chat session I had with a friend of mine recently as we tried to engage in some poetic ‘jugalbandi’ with yours truly playing ‘B’. The person concerned insisted that her lines were better but I did manage to eke out a benefit of doubt statement from her because I was the one who was supposed to come up with the 2nd line all the time (which generally includes all the rhyming words) as she enjoyed a tad extra creative freedom (. So I guess there’s a sequel coming up sometime soon.

These are a few of my fav things

I have recently fallen victim to some cross border shelling, some warm friendly and welcome one if I may add :). I have seen quite a few people getting tagged on their blogs (in fact I didnt even know what getting tagged stood for) and have always wondered how they can ever make for interesting reading so I wasn’t looking forward to myself doing the honors. However as was doing my round up of blogs I noticed my name was put up on a tag list by Khizzy. I ruefully spent the day planning to feign ignorance of that tagging bit but I kept thinking of all those times when I would visit the above mentioned blog and see my name up on the tag list and feel all guilty…….so what the hell I’ll do the list.

5 years ago:Happily ensconced at my 2nd year undergrad college life playing the regular guy doing your regular things.

1 year ago: Enjoying my 2nd coming as a student pursuing further studies in States.

5 songs I know all the words to:
Pehla Nasha
Another day in paradise
Kal Ho Na Ho
And a five gazillion other numbers too

5 Snacks I enjoy:Some people eat to live and some live to eat and I sincerely believe the former really don’t even deserve to live……in short keep the good food coming

5 Things I'd do w/ $100 million dollars:
Fix up a ride home with a thousand odd bucks and decide upon the rest from the comforts of the best home in the best city of the best country in the world.

5 places I would run away to:
Home (wait if I put both mine and Aishwarya Rai’s does it count as 2?)
Anyplace which has a coastline
Kashmir
Guess I’ll stick with 3 (that ‘running’ business got me all tired I guess)

5 things I would never wear:Being a Govinda fan takes out so many things from this list :), leather pants and makeup mebbe (up for anything else as long as its picked up from the men’s section )

5 favorite tv shows:
KBC
South Park
Late night with Conan O Brien
FRIENDS
The Wonder years

5 greatest joys: There are so many that I feel I would be undermining so many if I even try and trim the list to five

5 favorite toys:One’s life is the greatest toy we all have and its up to all of us to keep nurture it

Phew there I thought I was never getting done with that list, and as I said I am sure it didn’t make for interesting reading for any of you I bet coz I am just your regular guy whom you might just meet any day at your local store (make sure you tell me how much you love me and my blogs if you happen to be a cute looking female :) )
Guess this tagging bit wouldn’t be complete if I don’t tag 5 other people so as much as I hated doing this myself here my list of five Totti, Pointy, Broken Verses, Swathi and Susu. I have done my time and its upto you guys to do yours (evil grin). For ppl who did (or did not) make that list I have nothing against you, you were just the first five that came to mind.

The Search

Flying high like a bird
Reaching out for horizons undiscovered
Encompassing the wild spirit within
Emerging free of the shackles of my wicked life
Dwelling into the unknown confines of my soul
Omnipresent is a search for what probably lurks within
Myopic as it maybe I kinda know what I seek

This was essentially an experiement with a style of a poem where the first word of every line adds up to form the underlying theme. I couldn't add the rider initially as my net had kinda given up on me but from I am able to gather from user comments most of you probably were quick to latch onto it.

Wallow in thy pity

For all those people brought up on a staple diet of unadulterated mush mostly in the form of Yash Chopra styled movies where they told you with an echo laced voiceover fading to eternity ‘Someone somewhere is made for you’ and that its just a matter of time before you found the perfect one I just have a word of caution. Sometimes life doesn’t act all that fair and the prefect one has already found a perfect boyfriend / girlfriend and you will end up with a perfect heartbreak following a perfect fight. So for all of you who might be surprised at that startling revelation just have a backup plan in case those movies were a truckload of lies.

Hmmm the dude seems really sad today, looks like he just had heartbreak or something. Well as much as I like you guys and would love your vote of sympathy it’s not quite the case (not in the recent past at least). This subject came about after listening for the nth time trying to overcome a similar situation as I acted as the eternal shoulder to cry on. You probably don’t know what to do in such situations as you begin to clear the wax out and whip out your best pair of ears. Most guys in such situations come up with some very predictable pieces of advice which is mostly like ‘Seriously she wasn’t good enough for you’ or ‘hey cool lets celebrate with a bunch of beers’ or ‘I guess its finally time to go for that long delayed trip to that strip joint’. So after pearls of wisdoms are carefully considered and a bunch of misdeeds later the guy re emerges back into this big bad world plus a newly acquired ‘Devdas’ like beard. This newly acquired pitiable state manages to grab to some more attention and more intelligent advice spiraling the poor guy into a vicious cycle all fueled by a desire to wallow in self pity. This is a phenomenon I have observed time and time again with many guy friends of mine which forces me to think whether the females too like to wallow in such oceans of pity when faced with similar heartbreaks and what their reaction is to overcome such times in life when life takes cheap shots at you. Darn it’s getting really late now mebbe I shall add user comments and reactions as part of this blog later.