Nature calls…

Part 1 – The agony

After six days of heavy work on the field, Sam got a chance to party on Saturday night. He had a few beers and some pizzas until three in the morning. Due to the excessive eating and drinking, he had to break up from his sleep, due to nature’s call; a call he could not avoid or postpone, at eight in the morning, which was midnight by his standards.

When he woke up, he woke up with a very sharp pain in his abdomen. Six days of sleeplessness and excessive partying the previous night didn’t help. Sam woke up when he was half asleep. He wanted to stay half asleep because being half awake is enough to attend nature’s call and being half asleep would help him to get back to that “fully asleep” or knocked-out-cold-yet-again state soon.

He went to the bathroom door and to his horror he found that it was already occupied. “Who the hell it could be?” he thought. Then he suddenly remembered that there was a girl sharing the other bedroom in his house. Sam did not like Claire as she was a bit bitchy about everything. For a long time Claire wanted to get back on Sam for whatever he had done to her in the past.

“Hey.. Its me, Sam.. how are you?” He asked standing in front of the toilet door.

He waited for a minute and there was no reply. Then he realized that he had asked a dumb question. He waited for moment but the pressure on his abdomen was getting worse.

Sam was sure that he would be embarrassed if he asked for help but he had to, only to avoid bigger embarrassment. And he knew it. He gathered all his courage and said “Hey, it is a kind of an emergency here. Can you please come out quickly?”

“Ok, that’s fine” she said.

Sam felt a bit relieved that Claire was not playing any games on him during absolute emergency.

Five minutes went by. Staying half awake became dangerous. He had to concentrate and put in all the efforts to stay clean.

Ten minutes went by. The door was still locked. The shower was still on. Now, Sam had to hold his lower abdomen tightly to ease some pressure.

“Hey, are you not coming out? I said it is an emergency” he shouted and banged on the door twice.

The sound of water from the shower stopped. Sam felt a bit relieved.

“Of what kind?” she asked.

“What?”

“I mean the emergency. Of what kind?” she asked again.

“That bitch” he thought. Sam wanted to force the door open. Or shout at her. But, that required some effort and energy. Diverting his energy on to something else would be disastrous. So, he started thinking of ways to get himself to safety.

A few options came up. Some of them are 1) Call 911 2) Call the cab and go to his friend’s house. But, were they awake, and what if the toilet there was occupied as well? And 3) Use the kitchen sink. But, that was not wise. Atleast he was sane enough to discard the third option.

So he took the phone and dialed for the taxi. Form his experience, he knew that the taxi would cost four pounds. After calling for the taxi, he went to his wardrobe and started pulling out all the coins he had. He had about a hundred twenty pence coins. He took them out and started building a building out of the twenty pence coins, by placing one on top of the other.

Now, Sam could not stand straight. He found by accident that by bending fifteen degrees, the pressure on the abdomen was minimal.

Five more minutes went by. Now, even thinking became difficult. Sam felt that it took so much amount of energy to think. He had no faith in god, but started praying. Two incidents within twelve hours was too much to take.

While coming out of the party the precious night, after gulping a few beers, he had an urge to use the restroom. Due to excessive amount of fluid that went into his system, and due to the fact that it was winter, the urge was all of a sudden and was sharp. He was standing in the middle of the city with no public toilets nearby and no shops open except the pubs and the night clubs.

He hurried into the same pub from which he came out only a couple of minutes back.

“Five pounds sir” the bouncer said

“What?”

“Five pounds for entry after 2 AM sir” he said politely

“But I just came out from here”

“That’s ok sir, but you are going in now. We don’t charge for coming out of the pub” he said and winked

“Will this be the most expensive urination experience in the world ?” Sam thought for a moment, but every minute became precious and he had the money. He paid for it and rushed to the restroom. When he came out, his face was fresh and clear. He felt like he was reborn.

Now, Sam was standing in front of the restroom in his house, almost dead six hours after he was reborn, with five pounds in his hand but still could not use the toilet. What a shame!

He was counting his minutes, but now minutes became seconds. And then he came to a point that disaster was looming any moment. He dragged himself to the main hall, which is equidistant from the toilet and the main door. Sam kept his cab option open as well.

Then he heard a click; a click that he was dying to hear. When she came out of the toilet, he stood straight just to show her that his emergency was not as critical as she would have thought. Sam ensured that he didn’t breathe for thirty seconds until she crossed him. When she went into her room and locked, he started running towards the toilet.

All the creatures in the world, except the humans, do not have this problem nor do they pay for excretion. We, humans, in the name of civilization, have enforced rules on ourselves which leads to such emergencies.

All the other animals pee anywhere they wanted to. Aquatic species don’t have to worry about it though. Elephants pee about five liters on the streets and yet it never declares an emergency. But humans pee less than a liter but we had to follow strict rules.

“It does not make any sense for me” Sam thought while in the toilet. Humans are the most intellectual creatures in this planet and yet, we cannot do certain things at certain times even though it is an absolute emergency.

Isn’t that a shame?

Home coming part 2 – The train journey

“Wake up you lazy bones” my mother shouted at me.

“We still have three more hours to go” I said while sleeping.

“We are not taking a flight from here. It takes one and a half hours to reach the train station” she shouted.

“Oh yeah” I said with frustration and opened my eyes for the first time that day.

I have been sleeping for more than twelve hours a day for the last four days, yet I felt that I was not feeling mentally fresh. Something inside was bugging me for sometime as I struggled to find that bugging bug.

We started an hour later. Then we took a bus which took another hour in the traffic. One hour in the bus went like a day. I was kicked out of the seat once by a lady, I had to give up my seat for an old man once and I was standing with my neck bent for about fifty minutes. Why are the bus in Chennai so damn short? I would prefer an open top bus, but none of them were running in Chennai.

Finally, we reached the train station one hour and five minutes before schedule. Normally one has to spend five and a half hours in the train to reach Bangalore from Chennai. But, today, we had to spend six hours and thirty five minutes in the train!

As soon as I took my seat, I looked up to find a plug and a switch. What luck! I never knew that Indian railways have this facility. So, I immediately opened my laptop, plugged it in and started watching Friends from episode 141. When I reached episode 145 and Perambur (which is five kilometers from the Chennai central railway station), I got bored with Friends. Then I tried reading a book and got bored again. Finally, I started listening to some songs in my iPod. After thirty minutes, I got bored again.

“What next?” I thought. At that time, I started smelling food. To kill time, I ordered four cutlets and started eating. My thoughts started drifting from food to cricket and then to football.

After a few minutes, I started thinking about my college and Dubai. Strangely, I started missing Dubai as I was never fond of this place as long as I was there.

When I landed in Dubai, four and a half months back, I was a bit nervous. But then that nervousness was gone quickly due to conscious efforts that I took. Whatever happened in the college, how much ever assignments and exams I had, I always ensured that I ate three times a day, on time, slept as early as possible and slept for eight hours a day. It helped me to concentrate well in the class all the time. So, I never had to open my books at home, even on the exam eve. I still slept at a healthy rate of eight hours per day during the exams. I even found time to jog for half an hour every day!

I have never had so much clarity in my mind about what I was doing in my lifetime before. The first term in SP Jain was brilliant. There was no doubt that we were absolutely hammered and severely cramped for time, yet I pulled off eight hours of sleep without compromising on my studies. By far, I was at my best. No question about that.

But, by the time I completed my course in Dubai, I was not the same person I was during the start of the program. I started compromising on my breakfasts as I started sleeping late, and skipped my jogs a few times. Hence, I started losing my concentration in class.

At the end of the second term, I felt like I had lost something that I had for a long time. Classes suddenly seemed boring, waking up in the morning became a pain, sleeping early in the night became even more painful, and eating thrice a day never happened. What did I gain in losing so much? Nothing; absolutely nothing. The level of concentration and confidence that I usually had started depreciating. As Austin Powers said in one of his movies, I somehow lost my mojo and I need to do something to get it back! My mojo is absolute concentration and confidence. And both are tightly interlinked for me. If I lose one, I lose the other.

Then my thoughts came back to the train. We were half way through and so are the cutlets. Two of them were over and two to go. It started to get dark outside. When I took the first bite on the third cutlet, I started thinking about the root cause for my situation. What did I do to lose concentration on whatever I was doing? It felt weird to me. It could be due to sleeping late, or skipping breakfast, or boring subjects or a combination of all or it could be something that I haven’t figured out yet.

I knew that I need to do something to get myself back on track. Then I had a look at my plate. The cutlets were all gone now. It was totally dark outside when I started to think about my immediate future. I felt that life in Singapore was staring at me, straight on my face.

But, from the window of the train, I was staring at darkness to find some light.

A bug to be crushed

“Switch on that mosquito repellent” I shouted at my friend when I entered home after a tired day.

“It is 6 PM now and those little insects will invade soon. Close the door and the windows” I ordered, like an army commander.

What can these insects do? They need food, and somehow they like the taste of blood. Human blood. That is how they are created and that is how they are destined to live. But, we humans only allow those creatures to live, that would co-operate with us.

So, what do we do about the non co-operative species?

Lions and tigers – put them in zoo; snakes – kill them whenever they appear; mosquitoes and other bugs– simple… use your hands and crush them!

Everything is human centric for humans. We have the ultimate power to do whatever we want to do and in the process, we let the other species die. Ruthlessly.

We humans go one step further and try to defy nature in the name of science and engineering. We build big aircrafts that defy gravity and fly for hours. We suck water and oil from deep down. We burn coal and oil for our convenience.

But, Mother Nature is watching us. Somewhere from above. She sends out a signal every now and then so that human beings could behave.

The climate change is a perfect example. We suck a lot of resources from nature and pollute it as well. Thinking what the nature can do? The 2004 south Asian tsunami is one small example of what little things the nature can do to punish us. The more we move away from the laws of nature, the more we suffer.

We treat bugs like bugs because they do not co-operate. But, when we go one step further and do not co-operate with nature, it treats us like bugs!

But, what will you do when some humans are treated like a-bug-to-be-crushed by other humans?

Serendipity

“Ouch!!!!” I cried when I fell down with a big thud. Both my legs were weighing twice the weight it should weigh. That made it difficult for me to get up. Every time I tried to get up, I fell badly. After four attempts, I was lying there, flat on my back, looking up at the sky, not knowing how to get up.

Loud party music was played nearby and the people around me were trying to dance to the beats. Some people did fall during the process, but they were back on their feet soon after. I was the only guy out there who couldn’t stand on my own feet!

The pain in the legs was unbearable and the fact that I had to get up quickly as people were cruising at twenty miles per hour around me was scary. Then, it started snowing.

“Oh my god! What am I going to do now?” I thought. Crawling to shelter was one option, but that would look weird. Wouldn’t it?

Then I started cursing myself for wearing those heavy boots and getting into the center of the ice rink on a cold winter night. I had no experience of ice skating, but still I wanted to try and so paid twenty pounds to get in there and fell awkwardly four times. That’s five pounds per fall!

I tried to remove my skies, but it wouldn’t come off. Or I didn’t know how to remove them. But, I had to remove them to lighten the load on my legs so that I could stand up. I was stuck there totally helpless.

“Are you a beginner” said someone above me.

I looked up and I saw a gorgeous girl in her teens wearing a bright red scarf around her neck. She smiled at me and offered her hands. I grabbed it and tried to get up. I got up, still holding her hands. Tightly. I was still in the danger of falling one more time. The blades in my stakes were so sharp and the ice so icy that I was unable to stand.

“I need something to hold on” I said. “Otherwise I would fall again” still holding her hand for support.

She smiled at me. “You can continue holding on to my hands if you are scared”

“Gee! Thanks!” I said and smiled sheepishly.

“I am not a professional, but this is my third class. So I think I am better than you are with the skates”

“Okay, now slowly push your left leg and move forward” she said.

I just did that, but pushed my leg a bit too much and was about to fall again. Scared to death, I squeezed her hand tightly.

“Easy!” she said. I forced a smile on my lips.

“Listen, this is easy. But you have to believe me. Hold my hands and do exactly what I do” She said, looking straight into my eyes.

At that point of time, paying twenty pounds and falling on the ice rink four times seemed well worth. “Twenty pounds is not a big money” I thought. Well, lots of other thoughts were going on in my mind at that time. Normally people in Newcastle have thrown rubbish at me and abused me several times. This was the first time, a gorgeous girl in the middle of the ice rink on a bitterly cold winter night was actually trying to help me.

She took me around half the circle. I realized that I can skate. With some assistance only though. All the way, she was holding my hands, gently and helped me learn.

But, I didn’t learn anything. I was only looking at her beautiful blue eyes. She was giving some instructions on how to skate. But, none of them went into my head.

After half a round of skating, “Try to implement this technique. You will be fine” she said and smiled.

I stood there, catching the wall at the edge of the rink so that I won’t fall again. She stood there for a moment. I was like a statue. I didn’t know what to do next.

“Good bye!” she said, waived her hand and joined her friends.

I looked around, still under the state of bliss. None of the things that I saw was getting processed in my brain. The feeling was great. I could never put words to precisely describe that feeling. I looked around, once again. A couple of my friends were in the fourth class. One was skating like a Mickey mouse and the other like a robot. I laughed at them for a moment.

Only then I realized that I didn’t even thank the girl for helping me out. I started searching for her. Actually the real reason for searching her was not to thank her but to ask her out for coffee.

“Damn! Why didn’t I do that before, when she was with me?” With the limited mobility, I found it too difficult to locate her in the rink. I searched and searched. But I couldn’t find her. She just disappeared.

“Am I the dumbest person around? What an opportunity to make friends with her, and probably more!” I thought as more snow fell on my face.

I missed to get to know her. What an idiot… looser I am? But those moments, the skate for half a round, the soothing words from her, were priceless.

Someday somewhere I read in a book that Columbus discovered America by shear serendipity. But, the discovery of this strange feeling inside me, for an unknown girl who was kind enough to help me… is that, by any chance, serendipity?

Or is the feeling of love and affection a serendipity? Maybe someday, Adam and Eve should testify.

Mistakes are all mine!

Twelve runs to win off one over. The bowler started running in. I was immensely concentrating to put bat on ball. The first ball was on length and moved away a bit. I swung my bat 360 degrees. No use. The ball went straight to the keeper. I removed one of my sweaters and gave it to the umpire. I was feeling hot inside even though it was minus one degree on a cold dark winter evening in London.

The bowler started running in for the second ball. Again, the ball was on length and moved away. I braced myself for a backfoot heave over covers and was about to swing my bat.

“Are you coming or not?” shouted my friend. I lost concentration momentarily and edged the ball to the wicketkeeper.

I was disappointed to have got out the way I got out. But, when I came back to where my team was standing, guys were apologetic.

“Well played “ and “Tough luck” were the comments from them. After nodding to them, I found Krishna staring at me. I was sure that he was angry with me, by looking at his expression.

Two minutes and four more balls later, we lost the game. The team was disappointed but Krishna was still angry. After a few seconds, reality stuck me. Common sense started prevailing. Krishna had to catch a flight to go to Newcastle. I looked at my watch. It was four thirty in the evening. The flight was at five thirty.

“I am sorry dude, I didn’t realize that it is very late now. I think we can still catch the plane if we give it a try” I said.

He spoke nothing.

We reached home in a couple of minutes. All the way I was trying to call all the cab companies I knew. It was a Sunday and not many cabs were running around. We were forced to take the Bus to the airport. The journey took twenty five minutes. I spoke a lot in those twenty five minutes. He didn’t speak a word. All the way I was optimistic about us reaching the airport on time.

“British Airways are generally late from Heathrow. I am sure you will catch the flight” I said.

He gave a cold stare. I stayed quiet for a while.

“Is it not very cold out there” I asked, mainly to break the silence.

No response, again. “God! What am I going to do to make him speak?”

Krishna generally cannot control his anger. I have been a victim many times and have been smacked for all the mistakes I did in the past. Like this one. But today, he was very quiet and that was very scary for me.

When we got out of the bus, I pulled his bag and started running towards the check in desk like a mad man, pushing everyone who would come my way.

“Five thirty BA 1336 Newcastle flight please” I said to the check in agent. Krishna was walking slowly towards the check in counter. The check in lady pointed her finger towards a giant clock above her head. It said “Five forty five”

“Damn!” I said and looked back. Krishna was still walking towards me, hands on his pocket, as casual as ever.

“Oh my god!” I whispered. I was certain that I was going to be killed.

“The flight has departed” I told him, in a weak tone.

“I know that already. Saw it in the board there” he said pointing to the giant screen above.

We started walking towards the bus station after changing his ticket to the first flight the next morning.

“This is massive” I said, after boarding the bus.

“What is massive?”

“Generally you would pull my hair and smack me for small crimes I do. But this one is massive. You missed the flight and yet you are calm”

He nodded and didn’t speak.

“Why are you silent today ?” I asked.

“To start with…” he stared.

“I believed you. I believed you that you would take me to the airport on time” he said, in a calm voice.

I frowned.

“…and that was my mistake” he continued.

I looked at him apologetically.

"Do you hate me for what i just did" I asked

He looked at me and said “How can I ever hate you ... when the mistakes are all mine?”

Home coming

“One last push… come on!”, I encouraged myself to get out of my bed in the morning. It took a Herculean effort to stretch my arm and switch the alarm off. This was the last day’s class in term 2 of 6 in the college. The thought of waking up to my convenience for about three weeks from now on was blissful. Someone who was absolutely hammered for four months with four sessions a day, four assignments a day, two tests a day, four hours of sleep a day and one decent meal a day could not ask for more!

I have been living away from my house for more than four years and I have returned home on short vacation more than ten times during this period. But, this time, going back home is more emotional for more than one reason.

I have missed being at home more than ever. I missed my close friend’s dad’s funeral. He was very dear to me as he was one of the very few in the world, who truly believed in my ability and encouraged me on many occasions. Missing his funeral was too hard for me to take. What is the point in doing MBA when I could not even be there when my friend needed me the most? How cruel can I ever get? Life moved on… but… all the time I could not wait to meet him.

My sister delivered a beautiful baby boy a couple of days after I landed in Dubai. He is four months old now, playing happily day and night. What is the point in missing all the magic moments of life and sitting here frantically reading books and attending classes? What am I doing? I haven’t even seen the baby yet. It has been four months now. What a shame!

I missed my friend’s engagement. I wish him luck, but I missed the event and all the fun. I just can’t wait to pull his leg, I just can’t wait to hug my friends, especially my mom. I miss all my fun conversations with her as much as anything else. Those conversations late in the night were special. Nothing in the world could ever substitute it.

I am now sitting here, on my bed, thinking what I could possibly do in the next two weeks before saying goodbye to Dubai. When I looked at my desk, I saw a huge pile of books. Those reminded me that I have some work to do before I leave. A few presentations, reports and exams left. “One last push!” I told myself again, to see through the last few pressure filled days.

“Pressure? What pressure? When home-coming is looming large :-)” I thought. I have never appreciated home coming, like I do now, in my life… ever!

Chasing perfection

“I have never bowled a perfect spell” Said Glenn McGrath, one of the greatest fast bowlers of all times. “The closest I came to perfection was the game against New Zealand in which I bowled almost all the balls in the same exact area I wanted to!” he added.

If you ask Michael Atherton, he would always say that Glenn McGrath is the perfect bowler he had ever faced, but Glenn swears that he had never bowled a perfect spell to Michael.

So, why do humans chase perfection? For some, it gives enormous satisfaction and are ready to put in huge amount of work day and night to reach there.

But, the truth is none of them reaches absolute perfection all the time. Even Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run scorer and the man with most number of ODI hundreds by far, has loads of ducks in ODI cricket!

Even the planet earth is not perfect. It was almost a second late, last year, in going around the sun, and that is its only job all year!

Look at your wrist watch. It wouldn’t show perfect time at any given time. It would atleast be fast or slow by a few milli seconds. But, you still wear it. A watch that is not functioning shows perfect time, to the millionth of a second, twice a day. Have you ever considered wearing a wrist watch that is not running? Why would you prefer a wrist watch that is imperfect all the time while you have one that is perfectly perfect twice a day? The answer is simple. We don’t need perfection. It is okay, to be a little imperfect, all the time.

Just be who you are and never chase perfection, for the sake of chasing it. You are still loved by people for being who you are.

Life is simple!

Starbucks and me!

I stood there motionless with a five dhiram note in my hand and tears in my eyes. The aroma from the shop was enticing. Afterall, it is one of the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world. The aroma made me cry. I couldn’t stop crying when I saw people throw money at the counter for a cup of ‘fancy’ coffee.

I wanted coffee. I love starbucks. I wanted coffee from starbucks. All I could spend was five dhirams. And all they could offer for five dhirams is… nothing.

So I stood there, wondering about a few incidents that happened to me exactly one year back.

“Keep the change as tip” I said offering a five pound note for a two pound coffee and I never even bothered the empty my cup. I drink it 90% and throw the rest into the bin.

I never even thought, even in the wildest of my dreams, that one day I would stand in front of starbucks only to stare at the coffee makers and the coffee buyers around me.

I was told that MBA is only a transformational process in our thinking and attitude. I realized that it not only applies to the subjects thought in the class, but also to life in general. Nothing is constant and nothing can be taken for granted.

I waited for a few minutes in front of the shop for this realization to sink into my mind that “When you have bucks to back you up, starbucks is a real star and when the bucks suck on you, starbucks is a sucker!”

I hate starbucks. Atleast for now.

The death

The entire corridor was stinking. The elevators were stinking even more. It took me to the second floor with a screeching noise all along as elevator looked like a death trap for me. Two guys dressed in whites were carrying a person on a stretcher in the same elevator. So, there was this person trying to avoid death by taking a ride in the deathtrap. As soon as the elevator opened in the second floor, the smell of all medicines used in the hospital hit my nostrils. The stench had “Welcome to Government general hospital, Chennai!” written all over it.

I turned left to the ward I wanted to visit. Patients were waiting for the duty doctor in big queues. The corridor was filled with people who were ill, and people who accompanied them. It clearly looked like the infrastructure was not enough as the patient nurse ratio was more than thirty to one.

I went to ward 13 to see my dad’s friend who was in the hospital after a surgery. He was recovering well after the surgery and was about to be discharged.

The next bed had a new patient. He looked very ill and was on oxygen. A huge oxygen cylinder was kept next to his bed.

“Good morning uncle!” I said “how are you now?”

“I am fine son. Thanks!”

I couldn’t control myself from asking this question. “The place is full of medicine smell and is full of people like a market. How are you coping up?” I asked with a frustrated face.

“Well! I am not feeling that anymore. Got used to it!”

While I was chatting with him about a few things, the person in the next bed started breathing heavily. There was no one to attend him. No nurse could be seen in the vicinity. No doctor could be seen in the entire floor. I started running from the ward. I was running for help. All I could do was to run for help. I was looking for anyone dressed in white.

I couldn’t find anyone. I came back running to his bed to check on him. His breathing got worse. I ran back out again. Finally I found a ward boy smoking bedi near the end of the corridor.

I waved towards him while running. I was gasping for breath. I couldn’t talk for a moment. I didn’t talk, but pulled him by his hand and took him towards the patient’s bed.

The level of breathing was coming down. I knew for sure that he was dying. I pointed my finger at him to the ward boy. He threw his bedi in one corner and checked on the oxygen cylinder. It was empty.

He ran away from the bed the same way I did. He came back after a minute empty handed.

“There are no more cylinders here and this one is empty” he said, wiping the sweat off this forehead.

“What? Do something” I screamed, on top of my voice.

Everyone looked at me. I stared at the ward boy. He was helpless. There was no one in the entire floor who could help him; no one who could help the patient from dying.

The ward boy tried to prolong the supply of oxygen a bit by shaking the cylinder as much as he can.

Then suddenly the patient took a deep breath. Then the breathing stopped.

He died. He just died. Right in front of my eyes.

I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything to stop it. What could I do? The ward boy was still shaking the cylinder. I asked him to stop it and asked him to look out for a doctor nearby.

I went around to see the patient’s name from the chart attached to his bed.

It read “Kumaran, age 8 years”

I held the chart and stood there still. Someone had just died there; someone who did nothing wrong to deserve this kind of a death, and I couldn’t even come to terms with what I just saw.

Where were the duty doctors? Where were the nurses? I wondered

The hospital could say a thousand reasons for his death. Non availability of oxygen cylinder could be the silliest.

Whatever the reason might have been... he should have lived.

The proposal

She was sitting opposite to me. Charming as always. She skillfully used her fork and knife to cut the tender pieces of chicken in front of her. After cutting a small piece, she picked it up with her fork on the left hand and took it towards her mouth, and gracefully munched it. She then took a sip of red wine, which was as red as her lips.

I was not looking at my food. For once, the chicken didn’t interest me. But the gorgeous girl did. I was looking at her and was cutting the plate with my knife rather than cutting the chicken.

I didn’t know her much, but something in her pulled me towards her. It could be her charisma or elegance or whatever. She was sitting between her father and another guy in the twenties. He was filthy rich and was looking like he was controlling everything around there.

“They are going to get engaged”, my friend told me pointing her and the guy sitting next to her.

I looked at him once again. He looked arrogant to me. “Why do good looking girls fall for such an idiot?” I thought. I can definitely be a better choice than this person. On any given day.

“I should beat this person, whatever happens!” I told myself.

He stood up. He took his wine glass and made a sound with this knife to make an announcement.

“Hi all, I have a news for you. We are getting married” He said pointing towards her. He was full of joy and pulled her by her side and locked his lips with hers for a few seconds.

She pulled out of the lock, still with fork and knife in hand, looked a bit surprised, a bit confused, a bit amused, and a bit joyous. No one could really say what was going through in her mind. Just like any other girl!

She stood like a statue, trying to rollback her tears. She then looked at me, with a sorry look and stormed out of the room.

I ran behind her all the way to a big tree in front of her house. She sat there on a wooden bench.

“Don’t marry him” were my first words to her, still trying to catch my breath.

She looked up, even more confused than before and asked “Why?”

I thought about what I wanted to say for a second and said these stupid words “Because there are better choices”

“What? Are you nuts?” she asked

“Well, I am not asking you to marry me. All I am asking you is… not to marry him!” I said

“What? This is crazy. Why would you say that?”

I waited for a while so that she could face me. I saw her ever glowing eyes. If there was a big moment in my life, this was it. I took a deep breath and finally said this one little sentence.

“Because….I have fallen for you!”

Birthday celebrations in Dubai hostel

“Its time to clean up your fridge” claimed a mail from his roommates. “Anything is welcome, as long as it is stale” it mentioned.

It was close to midnight. Every room in the hostel was busy. Every one, for once, decided to close their books and open their refrigerator to look out for leftover food stuff. Everyone knows that anything that was not stale was strictly not accepted.

I was sitting in the kitchen table and was deeply disappointed that my fridge was already clean. Thinking whether we should borrow something from the next room’s fridge, I was sipping my cup of coffee. People started gathering in the corridor, with a pack of ‘presents’ for the birthday boy.

At the stroke of midnight, the crowd roared “Happy birthday” and everyone frantically emptied their pack of presents on the birthday boy’s head. “Yuk!” he exclaimed, but more and more presents literally poured in.

At the end of it, everyone, in unison, started singing the birthday song for the birthday boy. A large chocolate truffle cake came out of nowhere, with a lighted candle in the middle of it.

As soon as the birthday boy blew the candle off, all the cream in the cake were spread across his face. Like putting a chocolate spread on bread. For the first time that day, the birthday boy got something that is not stale! And for the first time, he did look sweet!!

By now, the birthday boy was covered from head to toe with yellow dal cooked two days back, left over curry from the nearby restaurant blended with camel milk and a chocolate cream topping on it! Happy birthday song went on for a few more minutes in the corridor as everyone showed the willingness celebrate big time with the birthday boy.

Everyone was awake to wish him at the right moment; everyone wished him, hugged him, kicked him, and applied cake on his face and what not? Quite a party it was. The birthday celebrations had become a tradition in the SP Jain Dubai hostel as the level of celebration is ever increasing from one birthday to the next.

These kinds of celebrations show that no matter how busy we are with the exams, no matter what time of the day or night it is, we, boys and girls in the hostel, are there for each other’s happiness and sadness and love each other the way we did on this particular birthday night.

At the end of the celebrations, we realized that another birthday was coming up in a couple of days.

“Start preserving your ‘presents’ from now” I shouted. “And on the next birthday, bring it on guys!”

I have my reasons…

After applying for a huge loan to fund my education, after taking a leave without pay for a year, I was standing in the HR room to see if I can get any money to support myself until I complete my education.

Loan from provident fund seemed to be a nice idea. I had more than two hundred thousand rupees in the account and I thought it would be enough to fund my living expenses for a year. Any other source for money was more expensive.

So, I waited for ten minutes in front of my HR cabin and when I got a chance to go in..

“Hi Santha, I need a loan.” I declared.

“I don’t have cash” she said, and laughed aloud. The entire HR cabin watched us for a minute.

“Oh!, but I am asking for a loan from my PF account”

“Ok..” She said and typed furiously for a few minutes.

“You need a valid reason to get a loan from PF account” she declared, still looking at the computer.

“I have a solid reason” I said

“And what is that?” she asked after looking up at me.

“I need money”

License to think

Radio in the tea shop was roaring a semi old song, with a couple of mid sized very old speakers that are older than fifty percent of the population in India. Men were flocking around the counter to taste the watery sweety “national drink” in a sticky glass for a nominal rate. Bicycles were parked in front of the shop which made the rush hour traffic slow down. Cars were honking hard to get the pedestrians, parked vehicles and animals move. Driving a car in such streets is never an easy task. There were people all around; there were animals all around and there was women drivers to negotiate with as well. Motor bike drivers are mad as they tend to come in the way all of a sudden.

Even though, it is difficult to drive a car in India, many people aspire to drive one. That was exactly why I found myself in the middle of a chaotic street as early as ten in the morning. I had to be on time to apply for my learner’s license. The RTO of my area chose the most congested, chaotic place in town to setup his office.

I woke up at 9:45 for an appointment at 10. When I woke up, I had two options, either to go to the RTO straight from the bed or brush my teeth, have coffee and go there fifteen minutes late. I chose to be on time. So, I was standing there, with a rubber slipper, a naturally worn out shorts, an un-ironed dirty white T-shirt and with my hair flying all around. I was running all the way to just to be there on time. When I went there three minutes before time, I saw a big queue in front of the RTO building. The queue almost circled the 1500 square meter office once. I went inside and told the peon that I had an appointment to apply for a learner’s license. He pointed the back end of the queue and asked me to stand there.

“I have an appointment at ten” I said.

“Yes” he said. “I know that, all the others have one too”

“Gosh” I said to myself. This office was printing appointments like pamphlets and was giving it to everyone. Slowly, I walked past all the people in the queue to the end. I stood there for thirty minutes. Literally in the middle of the street, starving for a cup of coffee, looking for some shade, wanting to talk to someone. But, nothing happened. The queue moved eight inches in the first 30 minutes. That’s about one inch every four minutes.

After giving a 10 AM appointment for about a hundred people, the RTO checked into work by around 10:45 AM. Typical.

“These guys are ought to be sacked” the person in front of me in the queue remarked about the late arrival of the RTO.

“And shot” I said.

He turned back and looked at me head to toe. Twice. And then turned back.

I was getting bored with not doing anything for nearly an hour.

“Why are you applying for a license?” I asked the same person standing in front of me.

He turned back and said “Well… My manager has a car and is looking for a driver, and I think I will fit in for that post”

“Oh! That’s good then” I said.

“why are you applying for a license?” he asked.

“Well.. “ I started

“Are you planning to drive a travels’ vehicle?” he asked, without giving me time to answer the previous question.

“Travels vehicle??” I thought for a moment. This guy actually thinks that I was there standing in the queue for an hour so as to ultimately seek a job as a cab driver in a travels company.

“I think you should go for yellow board badge as well” He said.

“What is that?” I wanted to ask. But, he jumped in faster and said “ This will enable you to drive throughout India” he said with a serious tone.

“Oh my god! Will he ever let me talk?” I thought.

“Have you already found a job?” He asked

Before I could answer this question, he continued “My manager has another car. Can I ask him?”

I looked at myself. I was wearing a bathroom slipper, a good for nothing shorts and good for cleaning T-Shirt. “No wonder” I thought.

“Yes please. That will be of great help” I said.

“So, are you also applying for the national permit license” I asked.

“No. For that, one has to pass tenth standard” he said sounding as though tenth standard is something really big.

“Good” I thought. At least I look like a tenth standard pass for his eyes.

After two hours of crawling, I applied for my license. On my way back, I was thinking about my conversation with this unknown person. He knew nothing about me. He had no idea that I was working in the UK for more than three years with one of the best airlines in the world. He just looked at me like a normal human being and even offered me whatever help he can.

I felt that this is one of a very few occasions the almighty stepped in to remind me that whoever I am, or whatever I do, at the end of the day, I am just another human being in the planet. Superior to none and inferior to none.

The ultimate realization is that “I am not the best person around. At the same time, no one is better than me”

The ice man – Part 2

After my first ever flight, which was nearly life threatening; I found a house and got settled in Newcastle. After a few weeks, it was time for some adventure. We decided to go on a day trip to the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. From Newcastle, Edinburgh is fairly close. It is just one and a half hour journey by train.

When I was a child, after watching a few movies shot in Europe, I was always obsessed with train journeys there. It was damn very cold, it was damn very dark, the streets were damn very deserted when we stepped out of our house at quarter to five in the morning. Taxis were as prompt as my hunger for food. In the early morning, it only took three minutes and five pounds for the taxi to reach the train station.

The train station had a big door with dimensions like our ancient temples. When I saw the door, I thought “Do they lock the railway station every night? Like us locking a house at night”. It looked so funny to me, but I learnt that I was actually right. They do lock the railway station at night.

We were early and we had nothing to do. So, I roamed around inside the railway station and checked out a few shops with five pounds in hand. I wanted to figure out what I can purchase with that. When I finished my window shopping exercise I found that five pounds can fetch a steam iron box, or a plate of vegetable biriyani or one cup of Costa coffee. I was even more perplexed. How can the value of a plate of biriyani and a steam iron be valued the same or one cup of coffee against one brand new Philips iron box? “What kind of a place is this? How can I effectively spend my five pounds?” At that time, I never had a clue.

Every single day in that city was an experience for me. Only the day before, in the streets of Newcastle, I couldn’t help but stare at a couple whose lips were locked for three minutes and their hands moving everywhere. I was starting at them for three minutes. At the end of the three minutes, the girl threw half full cup of hot coffee at me. Then I learnt that I shouldn’t stare at people whose lips were locked or at people whose hands were going places. As soon as I leant that lesson and turned back, I saw another couple who were in a deadly deadlock. But, this time both were men. I wanted to puke. But I controlled myself from a fifth pound fine for littering the streets of Newcastle.

As usual, I got lost into my thoughts ranging from A to Z. Those include “will I ever see two women in a deadlock on the streets or may be a group?” In case you are wondering what sort of a person I am, hey! I am Gopal, I am disgusting and I stare at men who lock their lips with other men around.

The train came to the platform on the dot. All my thoughts vanished into thin air. As soon as I entered the train, I felt elated. Wow! What a cabin? It was absolutely magnificent. The train only had four compartments, but it had a pantry and a seat-to-seat service. I couldn’t ask for more.

One and a half hours went by in a jiff. Edinburgh was as magnificent as Edinburgh should be. One of the guys in the Edinburgh station asked us “Where are you coming from?” and we said “Newcastle”. We spoke for a minute. In that minute, he was abusing English people 60 times. Yes, once every second. At the end of the sixty seconds, our vocabulary doubled.

“So, why do you hate English?” I asked.

“We hate English because they are English” was the reply.

“Fair enough” I said and left the station.

After a tiring day in Edinburgh, it was time for me to take the return train. As soon as I entered the train, I dozed off. Only when the examiner came over, I realized that I boarded the wrong train. Well, the train still was travelling to Newcastle, but I was booked in the next train. I had no clue what to do. I asked the examiner about my options. The only option was that I had to pay full fare ticket which was about 20 pounds.

“Twenty pounds is not too much of money” I thought and paid for the full fare ticket. As soon as the transaction was over I heard a huge voice from behind me.

“You can’t do this to them” a girl shouted at the ticket guy. I turned back and saw a furious middle aged woman. I was perplexed for a minute. I had no idea what was going on. The lady had a heated conversation with the ticket examiner and stormed towards me. I started getting scared as I had no idea what this leady was up to.

“Take this money” she said, handing over a twenty pound note.

“What for?” I asked.

“You have a ticket already, don’t you? He just can’t be so strict with you over this matter”

“But I boarded the wrong train, and I think I should pay for it” and tried to hand the money back to her.

“Are you from India?”

“Yes, from Madras in south India”

“You know what, I have stayed in Madras for two years and I was looked after quite well there. You are one of the best hosts I have ever seen. Now, you much take this money” She threatened.

I was dumbstruck for a while. I saw a furious lady who wanted to give me money because someone somewhere was nice to her. Should I accept the money? Or should I not? If I don’t, I was in a danger of being slapped by her. Would anyone in the world get slapped for not accepting money, ever? I don’t want to be the first person in the world and create a record. Solely for this reason, I accepted the money and thanked her.

“You are a very nice person” I said.

“Not as nice as you people are” she said and left the compartment in a fury.

I had to pinch myself several times to come to terms with reality. Only twenty four hours back, I was attacked with a half a cup of hot coffee and now someone furiously threatened me to help me out. “What kind of a place is this?” I stood there, in the middle of the compartment with a twenty pound note on my hand. Queen’s face up and smiling at me. I felt like the entire world was smiling at me. Then I placed the money in my pocket and sat back in my seat.

Another hour in the train. Then came Newcastle. We stepped out of the train really tired and sick and tired. We crossed the road and waited in the bus stop. As soon as the bus came, I went in first and asked for tickets from the driver using the same twenty pound note. The driver looked at it for a second and threw it back right on my face and shouted at me to get down.

“Well, what is happening around me?” I wondered. Only when I stepped down from the bus, we realized that the money was a Scottish pound and a few people in England who hate Scots, because they are Scots, don’t accept Scottish pounds.

“What a day? I couldn’t comprehend how much I have learnt in just one day”. Well, I didn’t learn anything. I was just confused more than anyone else in the world in a single day.

I started to walk towards my house. I knew it would take less than half an hour and so I felt like I could do it, leaving all others who were with me. From the train station, I barely walked a few meters when a limousine came and stopped very close to me for signal. The windows came down. Three girls from inside, who are too drunk to count two and two, were looking at me like an exhibit. They then looked at each other, gave a strange signal and suddenly removed their shirts. My eyes widened. My eyes widened because none of them was wearing anything underneath. Nothing whatsoever. I had a dilemma. Where should I look? Should I look at them or should I just ignore. If I ignore, will I be branded as a gay? I had no idea. I was thinking very hard. I had to do something. I had to do something really fast. All the time I was thinking, my eyes were fixed in one location. They were jumping inside the limousine and started abusing me. Then god saved me. The signal went off. The limousine moved. But my eyes were fixed in the same position for one more minute.

It was a big cultural shock for me. Does this happen frequently? If yes, what should I do in such circumstances? Should I ignore? Or should I pay them some money? Or whatever. I had no idea.

When I discussed this strange event with my client the next day, I was told that those girls were racially abusing me. “Is removing your shirt with nothing under a way to abuse?” “But, why were they degrading themselves to abuse me?”, but then I thought that was a nice way of showing things. Err... I mean, showing one’s displeasure towards something, rather than throwing half a cup of hot coffee.

If I call myself an ‘Ice man’ for surviving in a flight for a day, what should I call myself for surviving this particular day?

There was a girl, who threatened to help me and there was another who was sweet to abuse me.

But, again, at the end of the day, I was as solid as an ‘ice-man’.

Row boat experience

When I was watching the Olympic rowing finals, I thought rowing is quite simple and all one has to do is to dip that stick in water and push it hard. When I rowed for the first time, all my perceptions about rowing changed. I started appreciating the work the participants of that final have put day in and day out to reach the heights they have reached.

My first rowing experience is probably the funniest ever. I, along with four other guys, set out to explore the beauty of mountains and lakes in a place called “The lake district” in United Kingdom. The thought of getting into a row boat was thrilling though no one had a clue about how to operate the boat. Every one of us was quite confident that rowing that boat is as simple as eating a piece of cake.

“Do you need life jackets?” the guy in the counter asked. “Life jackets?” I thought sensing fear for the first time. “Why would I need a life jacket? Is rowing a boat life threatening? If yes, of all the places in the world, why am I here? “Were a few questions that came to my mind. And the fear was written all over my face. When I looked around to see the guys, no one was feeling the heat. It was just me panicking.

“Can anyone of you swim?” I asked and I got an instantaneous answer from everyone. No one can swim. So am I. Well, if everyone can give it a try, why can’t I? So, I decided to jump into the boat.

After tightly tying the life jacket around my chest and waist and triple knotted it, I jumped into the boat reassuring myself that life boat would save us if we had problems. My heart sank when the boat wobbled badly as one of the guys jumped into the boat like jumping from a cliff. In the process, I dipped my hand in freezing water and then I started jumping around. The boat owner had to calm us down and ensured that all five of us got in.

We were on our own when the boat owner untied the knot and pushed the boat forward. “All the best guys. Come back in one piece!” he said and winked at us. It looked like a wicked wink from a horror-movie-villain.

The first five minutes were exiting. Cameras came out, lots of solo pictures were taken and infact some of us tried to change our seats which is probably the worst thing to do on a boat. The boat almost capsized when we attempted this seat change. Common sense prevailed when all of us realized that going back to the shore alive is more important that posing like a hero for the camera.

After the photo enthusiasm subsided, we took that stick and started rowing. Four guys were rowing and I was watching from the front of the boat facing them. All four were rowing independently. There was absolutely no team work whatsoever. Four of them wanted the boat to move in different directions. So the boat stayed still for sometime and then started moving in the direction of the wind.

We were given a map of the lake and it clearly indicated where we should start and finish. We started from the right place but we were not moving in the direction we were supposed to move. After all, how can you expect wind to blow in right direction when four dumb fellows cant row the boat in unison. When the wind picked up, it was unbearable for me to sit on the boat. I was trying to cover my entire body with something made of wool. As the temperature was close to zero, my entire body was shivering like it was stuck in an earthquake.



After a few minutes of chit chat inside the boat, we realized that no life boats were around as the wind carried us in a completely wrong direction. We had no options at that time. We didn’t know how to control the boat; we didn’t know when the wind would stop; we couldn’t swim and all we could do was pray for help. No help arrived. All four started rowing. No, all four attempted rowing again. All four in different directions. Again, the resultant was nil; again, the boat was controlled entirely by the blustery wind blowing across the lake.

After half an hour of intensive rowing, the wind took us close to the bank in the other side of the lake. And then the wind stopped. All four guys continued rowing. But, the boat was not moving at all. Rowing got intense. But, no effect. After a bit of struggle and after one hour of prayer, help arrived.

A group of people was holidaying in that side of the lake. A tall lean guy picked up a few meters of rope from his house and threw it towards us and pulled us to safety. He then tied the boat with the same rope and said “I have been watching you guys for quite sometime. What were you trying to do there? “Pointing to the lake, in heavy Scottish accent.

“Well… we were trying to control the boat, but we couldn’t” I said.

“Have you ever tried rowing before?”

“Well, we have watched it on television, but er.. we haven’t tried rowing before” I said, feeling a bit ashamed.

He burst out into laughter and called his entire group from inside the house. The entire group of started laughing when they came to know about our stupid adventure.



Like most of the Scottish people, they were very kind and offered us tea and biscuits. And thought us how to row. That is exactly when we learnt that rowing is complex and it requires a lot of co-ordination and energy.

After a short chat with our new friends, we got into our boat again. They pushed the boat off the shore and said “Alright guys, now, get back to your destination in one piece”

Biting the dust

"Shut up" I cried on top of my voice, which was barely heard by the person half feet to my left. All sorts of things were happening around me. Eight big sized pioneer speakers amplifying everything a man in a guitar, a man with a couple of sticks and a big fat man with cruel voice were doing. Showing no mercy whatsoever. The big fat man was accompanied by another fat man and a fat lady to shout along with him. I saw big focus lights, glittering stage, mouth-watering girls, guys with water-in-mouth after them, and elder people all around with big fat parcels in hand. The focus lights increased the temperature of the room to abnormal proportions that I wanted to rip my shirt off and use it to tie the mouth of the big fat guy with the mike. A big queue, starting from the stage, gathered as I was waiting impatiently, like a cat waiting for its milk, with that big parcel five hundred meters from the head of the queue.

So, what is the fuss all about? If you haven’t guessed it yet, its just that my friend was getting married.

"What?" my friend shouted from within four millimetres of the ear drum. The word went in for a total internal reflection within my brain for a few seconds. I wanted to say "Shut up" again but decided not to. And so I decided to shut up!

After an hour of creeping like a snail, I reached where I wanted to reach. Not the dining area, but the reception stage.

"Congratulations" I said and gently shook her hands "You have made the right choice by marrying my friend"

"Ah!.. well.." she said with her eyebrow raised. "I don’t know about that, but this guy is after cricket all the time. You are the one who always play with him. Don’t you?"

I was taken aback for a moment. "Can you advise him?" she continued.

I swallowed, blinked and lowered my shoulders and said "Yes, I will" in a low tone and looked at Vijay, who looked as apologetic as a prisoner who was about to be hanged.

She collected the parcel from my hand and gently smiled at me. Then she moved her eyeballs towards Vijay signalling me to convey her message to him. I walked past her, and gently hugged Vijay.

"All the best Vijay" I whispered in his ears "Both for your marriage and for your life thereafter. See you after sixty years"

"Hey, come tomorrow for my marriage" he said half looking at me and half looking at another set of people with full of fake smile for the cameras. He was heading towards his death-trap!

It was half three in the morning when I found Vijay with nine tenth of his eyes closed sitting in front of fire, waiting to get married and go to bed...err..for some rest. Deprived of sleep, deprived of electric fan, and soon to be deprived of freedom, he sat there sweating all over his body. A small piece of dirt resulting from the fire rose up in the air. It went high, started descending right over his head and gently came down and settled on his lower lips and chin, and stuck there due to excessive sweating.

"Another one bites the dust. Even in literal sense" I thought.

The subway syndrome

In some parts of Chennai, crossing the road is as difficult as climbing Mount Everest in winter without a winter jacket. All sorts of obstacles such as cycle, bike, Mercedes, Maruthi, MTC bus, stray dogs, and buffalos travel in all directions around you. One has to scan 360 degrees to ensure that none of the demons is in the way while crossing. Road signals do not encourage pedestrians to cross the road, by setting a few seconds for this activity. Crossing the road in developed countries such as UK is a piece of cake. It is as easy as sleeping on a cosy couch in an air conditioned room. Crossing the road in Chennai is like sleeping in a room with four starved lions. One has to be very careful all the time. Otherwise the demon comes and bites you when least expected. From any direction.

So, what is the remedy? The government came up with two solutions to tackle this problem. The subways and the foot bridges. Both of them can be seen in many parts of the city. The basic difference between these two 'road-crossing' helpers is that foot bridges are above ground while the subways are underground.

Almost all the subways give part time vendors perfect place to sell their articles and full time spitters to spit thoroughly chewed pan dissolved in saliva all over the place. At times, it looks like a modern art on the wall they spit at. In the night time, it presents the perfect place for crimes. Even though vendors take 25% for the place to sell their goods and spitters take another 25% of the place to spit stinky red juice, the subways are run-away hits in almost all places. The foot bridges, which hardly host any vendors, are a huge failure. Since less number of humans uses the foot bridges, the red-art along the wall is also less.

A prime example for a fully activated subway is the one opposite to the central railway station. It is always full of activities. Traffic in Haddows road and Nungambakkam high road are as heavy as the road near central railway station. But, the foot bridges over haddows road and Nungambakkam high road are ignored. One can find people risking their life by running along the road rather than using the foot bridge. Both foot bridges and subways are built for the same purpose. One is unhealthy, unsafe and congested but it is a huge hit. So, why is this subway a massive hit even though it has its drawbacks?

In both the cases, people have to climb up a few steps and climb down a few steps. The energy spent in both the cases are roughly the same. But the major difference between the two is that in a subway, one has to go down first and then climb up. People, in general think only about the immediate activity. They fail to get the wholistic picture in mind. In this case, it is simple that the person who climbs down the stairs has to climb up to reach the same level. But, the 'climbing up' part is never in his mind initially. This, I call it as 'Subway syndrome'. People like to do the easier things first while not worrying about its consequences. When this theory is applied to foot bridges, people think that climbing up the stairs is a tedious task. But the same person is ready to climb up after climbing down the stairs in a subway though!

The subway syndrome is not just applied to the subways alone. It can be applied to many day to day activities. Some businesses have used this syndrome to increase their profits and sales. All the credit card companies / financial institutions have taken advantage. Using a credit card to pay for a bill is the easier bit and repaying the money is the tougher bit. The credit card company clearly knows that people don’t think about repaying at the time of purchase. These financial companies are very good in showing the people the way to climb down the subway steps and stand on their throat while climbing up.

The modern way of doing business follows this flow. Carrots are initially thrown at the bunny. Attracted and lured by the carrots, the bunnies come running without thinking of any other consequence. Only when the bunny gets the carrot, it realises that it has fallen into a trap.

But, only the bunnies affected by the 'Subway syndrome' fall for it.

Ignorance

The general elections are coming up. All parties are devising their strategies to acquire as many votes as possible. The parties are talking about seat sharing in all states. Banners, slogans and election songs are under preparation. While the political parties are working overtime, the common people are only hoping and praying that a good government would form in the centre.

"No politician is genuine. All of them are after money and power", a software engineer said. Though his concern is genuine and is shared by many people, it is important to assess why politics is in such a state now.

We blame that the men in power and men who want to be in power are ignorant and selfish. True. But, they are just one among us. They are just representative of the people from each constituency. Let us asses what we do every day. We jump signal while coming to office to save time. We do not respect most of the traffic rules. Most of us do not wear helmet even though it is declared mandatory by the government. Most of us still smoke on roads and in public places even though smoking in public is banned. Because we are confident that we can escape when caught, by bribing. We still throw rubbish wherever possible. We don’t respect queues and always try to evade it to save time. Some of us don’t even have a voter ID card and some of us don’t even think about voting.

These are clear signs of ignorance and selfish behaviour and it is exhibited by most of the people. Politicians are one of us and it is natural that they exhibit this behaviour. But, it does not mean that the political system is correct.

When India was fighting for independence, people wanted independence, leaders wanted independence and there was a harmony between them. They were not selfish. They were not ignorant. So, they were successful.

We are all waiting for a positive change for a long time now. But, the mistake we do is that we are expecting the change to happen at the top of the tree. We expect the politicians to become good guys overnight. This is wrong. The change should happen at the grass root levels. This means, we should change. We should be more responsible and considerate towards others and respect the laws. As Barack Obama said, “Change can happen” and it can happen right here.

The beach

The sun started to show its head out deep from the Bay of Bengal on a typical summer morning. Early morning on a summer day is always pleasant. The air is filled with a bit of moisture which absorbs and reflects the bright red light from the early morning sun. The atmosphere around the beach stays clean with minimal pollution from human activities.

It was just another weekend summer morning in a private beach in south India. The sun, which is bright, glowing and read, had just come out of the sea yet another time. Early morning joggers were sweating on the beach where the sand just touches the water. Some joggers were serious about their work while some middle aged men were munching the peanuts brought from the on-the-go vendors and were just loitering around, enjoying the early morning atmosphere. Invariably, most of the middle aged men were wearing a white half trouser, a dirty canvas and an undersized T-shirt which exposes a pot shaped belly that they have grown after years and years of munching the peanuts. And other food stuff.

The air was filled with a mild breeze flowing from land to sea. A small group of people were playing volleyball with a half torn net and a fluorescent ball. Another group of young kids were playing full fledged cricket. The pitch was very close to sea. So, it looked like half the cricket ground was sand and the other half was water. But, who bothers? The kids were enjoying the game as much as adults enjoy orgasm.

Passing through the sand side of the cricket field, Sowmya bent down and picked up the tennis ball with which the young kids were playing cricket. She was wearing an expensive blue saree, which strikingly matches with the colour of the sky. Not only that, the saree was even more strikingly matching with the colour of her blouse, her bangles in one hand, her wrist watch in the other, her sandals, and her bindi. The lipstick on her was shiny as it was reflecting the sun. The shininess on her lips grew more on the center then at the edges. She had let her hair free and so it was dancing to the tunes of the mild breeze. Four strands of hair swinging around her right cheek almost gave her a tickling sensation.

She picket up the ball and threw it up in the air with an exaggerated jump. Non athletes, especially girls, exaggerate all sporting related activities. With a lot of pride and humility. She looked around. Everyone was on a sporting outfit while she was dressed like a cabin crew on a private jet. The saree she was wearing was not a normal saree. Or atleast the way she was wearing the saree was not normal. Most parts of her nicely toned abs were exposed. Not all the parts were exposed but this exposure was enough to stir up people. The thongs of her sleeveless blouse were carrying some crazy designs. As the thongs were not broad, her bra, which is as blue as her blouse, sneaked out a little.

As she was standing with her arms folded, a hand from behind pulled her aside across the cricket pitch towards the offside. Er.. the seaside of the ground. She yelled out an exaggerated scream with joy when she looked at the person holding her hands now. Rahul is a young business man in his late twenties. He was wearing a nice suit made for big meetings. The pair looked like they had come directly from an important family gathering.

Sowmya and Rahul were facing each other. She was facing the beach. The sun, which was now fully out from underneath the sea but still bright red, was facing her. The lipstick was even more glowing. Another bunch of hair started flying in the air, towards Rahul. He caught them gently and tried to place it back from where it originated. In the process, his hands gently brushed her cheek. It gave her a tickling effect. She blushed. And closed her eyes. Faced down. And blushed. This time it was more exaggerated. Her shiny white teeth were exposed for the first time. The redness of the lipstick and the whiteness of the teeth were like an art made from heaven.

After a few seconds of blushing, she gently pushed him using both her hands. He took a step backwards. There was a big splash as he stepped on the frothy water from the sea. The water from the sea was advancing. Rahul was still moving backwards. Another splash. This time it was bigger. The pants, upto his ankle, went into water. He looked down to see his Lee Copper shoes. She let out an artificial laughter bending her head back. In a couple of seconds, she came back to the normal state, raised her left eyebrow with a smile. Her eyes were full of joy that she was with someone whom she liked.

Water that splashed on his shoes retracted to the sea. He looked down. The shoes were as shiny as a mirror. He looked up with a slightly angled head, with a childish, innocent face and said “You spoiled my shoes”

Sowmya folded her hands and said “I know. Get a new one” with a faked stern look on her face. Like a manager trying to impose her authority on her subordinates.

Having spoken her first words in a long time, and that too a punch line, she started laughing aloud. To control the laughter, she tried to close her mouth with both her hands. Like the Miss Universe does when the results are announced.

The tail end of the saree started flying in the air as the wind grew a bit stronger. That was exactly when he noticed her beautifully toned abs for the first time that morning. Exhausted with her laughter, she took the hands from her lips, moved to her left facing the sun directly. That was when he noticed her cleavage right through her saree for the first time that morning. He was speechless. He should be. He has just seen one of the greatest work of art.

A group of joggers crossed them. Another splash. His shoes were submerged in water again. She started laughing again. One hand shielding her lips and the other pointing his shoes. The nail polish was revealed for the first time. And if perfectly matched with the colour of her bangles!. It never occurred to him that he should move out to avoid another splash.

Instead, he bent down, gathered some water using both his hands and threw it towards her face. He missed the target by a few inches. But, it her on her chest and water splashed out in all directions. He bent down again, took some more water and aimed at her breast this time. Bingo! It hit the target. He wanted to point his fingers at her and have a fun filled laugh. But he could not. She was staring at him, hands on her hip, head slightly tilted, lips sucked in a bit. He was not looking at any of those. The only place his eyes were fixed was her breasts. The cleavage was more prominent now. The saree was sticking to her skin completely thereby exposing the true shape of her flesh inside.

His eyes were not moving at all. He was in a state of elation. He started to breathe heavily. It took some effort for him to breathe as all his energy was diverted to his eyes. Sowmya didn’t notice what Rahul was noticing. She jumped at him and punched his chest gently with her fist. No reaction. He was lost in his world. She punched him again and hugged him with her head resting on his chest and with her arms completely wrapping around his body. No reaction again. She felt his chest expanding and contracting violently. With a broad smile, she looked up at him straight on his eyes. She sensed joy in his eyes. She released him from her hug, took a step back. She was still wet.

She was not entirely sure about what was going on. With a sweet smile, she asked “What?” and her right hand came forward. Her bangles made a sweet sound when she moved her hand. He was now blatantly scanning her body. He had to answer to her question. Lots of things were going on in his mind. The devil inside him wanted to have her right there. But, he was about to get caught for staring at her private parts. He had to say something to escape form embarrassment. The time was running out. He finally spoke but the CPU in his brain was occupied with one hundred percent lust.

When he spoke, he said “You have a nice body”. He regretted as soon as he spoke. He froze for a moment as he was nervous about what could happen next. He surely does not want to blow this relationship up due to silly reasons.

She again placed her hands on her hips, gave a bossy look, then bit her lower lips and said “You guys are always obsessed with physical feelings rather than emotional feelings, don’t you?”

“Do I fall under that you-guys category?” he asked. Brilliant. A question to tackle a question. So far so good.

“You sure do!” She said and smiled. After all, lust is a part of life.

“How can I prove you wrong?”.

“OK. I give you one chance” She said and blushed after catching the tip of her saree which was flying in the wind. “What is the colour of my eye?” she asked and quickly turned back

Rahul took a deep breath to come back to his normal breathing cycle. When he started speaking, his voice was suddenly matured with a little bit of emotional element in it. “Let me tell you this. You have the most beautiful eyes in the world” and paused for a second and said “ They are as black as your hair, but it changes to blue when you look up, it became orange when you were looking at me against the sun right now and it always speaks the true language of love” and felt so elated like he had just given a successful speech in London school of business.

She took her time and slowly turned back. Her eyes became orange again. A bunch of hair started flying around all over her face. Her mouth was half open and her eyes were moist. Rahul took a step forward and moved close to her. At this point, her breathing changed suddenly. She started breathing heavily. Her breasts were moving up and down like a see-saw during every breathing cycle.

He came even close to her and adjusted her hair and tried to put it back. But his efforts were useless as the same set of hairs were flying around again within seconds. He gently hugged her and asked “Am I right?”



She rested her head on his shoulders and hugged him tightly with her arms around his neck and said “Honey, I love you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me”

Rahul smiled loudly and said “I know” after gently stroking her hair while hugging.

The tennis ball, with which the kids were playing, flew past them. A couple of kids ran between them to fetch it. Sowmya tried to avoid them and took a step towards her left. As she was wearing a saree, she lost her balance. She was about to fall. Rahul noticed it. With impulsive reflex, he caught her by her hands and pulled her straight with one hand on her hips. Their eyes were staring each other yet again within a very close range. After fetching the ball and throwing it back to the wicket keeper, the kids came over to apologize. But with no response. This was not the time for any intrusion. Their eyes were talking to each other. Their minds were completely occupied. After a couple of attempts, the kids left them alone and started playing again.

Suddenly, Sowmya came back to reality. Her breathing became normal. Her eyes were anxious. Her face became nervous. She developed sweat on her forehead. She wanted to say something. When she spoke “Honey, you are the best guy I have ever met. I cant tell you how much I like you” and she took a step back and said “Will you marry me ?” . She was still anxious as she waited for a response. Every second seemed like an eternity for her.

Rahul was on top of the world. His smile confirmed that. Also, he noticed that she was nervous and was stammering badly in the last sentence. He smiled gently at her and said “Why would you do something like that?” savoring his moment. He then placed his hands on his hip, bit his lower lip, tilted his head and gave a bossy look so as to imitate her in every bit.

Sowmya looked at his gimmicks and wanted to punch him yet again. Instead, she found herself saying “I want to live the rest of my life with you. I want to have kids with you and see them becoming as spoilt as you are”

“Fair point” he said pointing his forefinger at her. He smiled, then looked down and blushed for the fist time that day. He was so happy that he got what he wanted. A lovely woman in every quality. He then asked “Will you be with me during difficult times and in times of need?”

“Yes”

“Will you take good care of the kids so that they are not as spoilt as I am?” He said and raised his eyebrow.

“Certainly” she said and folded her arms. She could sense that he was setting her up for something.

“Will you serve me coffee on my bed every morning?”

“Yes” she said , tilted her head, put her hands on her hips and started giving a bossy look.

“Finally” he said with his arms stretched.

“Will you be topless when you serve coffee?”

Eugenics

Eugenics was an international scientific, political and moral ideology and movement which was at its height in first half of the 20th century and was largely abandoned with the end of World War II. The movement often pursued pseudoscientific notions of racial supremacy and purity.

Eugenic was not confined to any one country or culture, but was practised around the world and was promoted by governments, and influential individuals and institutions. Its advocates regarded it as a social philosophy for the improvement of human hereditary traits through the promotion of higher reproduction of certain people and traits, and the reduction of reproduction of certain people and traits. Today it is widely regarded as a brutal movement which inflicted massive human rights violations on millions of people. The "interventions" advocated and practised by eugenicists involved prominently the identification and classification of individuals and their families, including the poor, mentally ill, blind, 'promiscuous women', homosexuals and entire "racial" groups——such as the Roma and Jews——as "degenerate" or "unfit"; the segregation or institutionalisation of such individuals and groups, their sterilization, their "euthanasia", and in the worst case of Nazi Germany, their mass extermination

Eugenics in Germany

Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler was infamous for eugenics programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of racial hygiene. Among other activities, the Nazis performed extensive experimentation on live human beings to test their genetic theories, ranging from simple measurement of physical characteristics to complex measurements of the internal organ systems. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi regime forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousands of people whom they viewed as mentally and physically unfit, an estimated 400,000 between 1934 and 1937. The scale of the Nazi program prompted one American eugenics advocate to seek an expansion of their program, with one complaining that "the Germans are beating us at our own game". The Nazis went further, however, killing tens of thousands of the institutionalized disabled through compulsory "euthanasia" programs.

They also implemented a number of positive eugenics policies, giving awards to Aryan women who had large numbers of children and encouraged a service in which "racially pure" single women could deliver illegitimate children

Eugenics in USA

In the USA, eugenic supporters included Theodore Roosevelt, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association and the National Research Council. Research was funded by distinguished philanthropies and carried out at prestigious universities. It was taught in college and high school classrooms as well

Eugenics was supported by Woodrow Wilson, and, in 1907, helped to make Indiana the first of more than thirty states to adopt legislation aimed at compulsory sterilization of certain individuals.

However, no clear proof for an inferior gene is ever produced by the scientists. But the entire world believed that such genes existed. Media and the government helped people stay under the state of fear with all the scary unverified information. It was alleged that FDR once quoted that Jesus would have supported Eugenics if he were alive.

Today, Eugenics was dropped. After all no one can sustain an allegation for a long period of time. But, there is a similarity between Eugenics and global warming. The global warming does not have any concrete proof. The climate change, increase in temperature due to human activities are mere predictions by the scientists. None of them is proven. And the entire world believes that global warming is the scariest thing in the world. The government, philanthropists, celebrities and media engage in endless campaign. But, will they succeed? If yes, for how long? The answer is anyone's guess.