Nothings on a Friday afternoon...

'Akhiyon main tu bas jaa,akhiyan mein bandh karloo' (roughly translates to 'Dwell in my eyes and let me close them' - gawd translating Hindi to English sucks! ) from the movie 'Chandni' is playing on my comp right,I get lost into my world,you can see me lying carelessly in my chair now,a typical post-lunch posture.I glance around for diversion,my eyes drift to those pieces of beauty on my board-I can see myself in Edinburgh,around lakes and mountains of Scotland,there I go again!!...no I don't need to get emotional now,so I glance away,everything is boring today at work..most of my friends gone - some gone away, some did not turn up,some quit! Oh yes, I always have my company's "social mailing list" for interesting stuff,can always go there and get a good laugh or two. I open my inbox and look for funny,interesting,weird things my colleagues have to say.. one thing that holds my attention is a thread on how unhappy people are with the lunch served at the cafeteria.. happens all the time.. people are obsessed with food..the curry is not fine, the vegetables are dry, the pakoras are oily,the list goes on..I find these things damn funny..there is talk of a food committee which has been going on ever since the Big Bang happened :-) otherwise some general stuff...I need to get back to work,one last glance at picture perfect postcards from Scotland and I go back.. back to my world of business applications and plsql code..
'kismat se tum hamko mileho, kaise chodenge...yeh haaath hum na chodenge..',a melody from Pukaar(2000) of Anil Kapoor,Madhuri fame plays now. A R Rahman knows how to make filmy tunes from a carnatic raga like 'Abheri' the best!!

visuals from the misty curtains of time..

a sparkling river,a sandy beach...
a cloudy sky,a blazing sun...
a peaceful silence,a sound of music...
a short walk,a long climb...
a little hillside,a misty mountain...
a bowl of soup,a spicy curry...
a ferry boat,a sunken ship...
a small story,a big drama...
a mischievous grin,an embarassed smile....
a haunted castle,a thatched hut...
a jogger's sprint,a sniper's crawl...
a meaningless conversation,a remarkable comment...
a smile of sadness,a tear of joy...
a known stranger,an unknown friend...
a book on a couch,a drink in the pub...
a sense of tradition,a wild nonsense thing...
a large expanse of space, a wee moment in time...
a loud chat with everyone, an unspoken word with someone...
a place where everything ended, a place where everything began...

... a lot of things don't matter anymore..

Common man - only in the cartoon ?

India Inc is probably the most used word in today's media. India is happening and developing at such a rate that the world is noticing it.As a proud Indian ( you could read that as patriotic also, not in the real sense of freedom struggle patriotism though),it makes me happy. Yet,I keep questioning myself, 'Why is life a struggle for the common man even today in India ?'

The word 'Common man' penned after RKL's famous cartoon series has become an entity, unwanted by India Inc. After a month of staying away from home, my powers of observation of my surroundings has suddenly increased by a factor of 20. What was earlier just a passing glance at an overflowing corporation garbage bin,today is a point of observation. A long queue in a government office which was an expected thing yesterday and hence did not require any intellectual interference,today is a mental excersise. Many such examples and am convinced that the 'common man' of India is slowly losing his peace. His life is still a struggle.

The world's biggest democracy, the most emerging market today, yet reports people dying of starvation in Bihar,of farmers commiting suicides in Andra,of floods taking lives in Orissa,of shortage of food, lack of basic education, health,terrorist attacks in parks and gardens,the list goes on...

While the rupee is gaining strength against the dollar and software exports increasing exponentially sound promising,tomatoes at Rs 20 a kg ,meat at Rs 200+ and toor dal at Rs 50+ is definitely not a good sign of internal progress. The former shows how happy 'India's new rich' are ( are they really ?) while the latter concludes that 'Common man' still has a daily struggle to survive.Well,one thing leads to another and there can be scores of peripheral effects of basic infrastructure this country claims to its credit,some good some bad but the one thing that is certain is the difficult state of the ordinary folks of this vast country.

I'm no authority on this country's administration,but I strongly feel that what India needs today is a complete makeover of its socio-econimical structure. Human life, for starters ? We must learn to make a big deal for every life that breathes here, no we don't do that! We Indians don't value 'quality of life'. Also,death is a common occurance and it does not need so much thought is what every system here thinks. No wonder we have blasts every 6 months across the country, so many accidents, lives lost in calamities and alike, people dying of hunger, neglected medical aid,etc.
Only when we realize that life is more important, shall we then come up with systems and subsystems that will try to safeguard and preserve every one of us. Only then shall we think about farmers,teachers, doctors, etc and not just about software engineers..

I would like to see RKL's 'Common Man' as happy too...

Listening to Lata Mangeshkar now..

After a month of bollywood music deprivation, am overloading myself with Lata Mangeshkar tracks today. My music player at work was on before my email was!! Tracks so far :-
Suno sajna
Yeh dil tum bin kahee lagtaa nahin
Bahaaron mera jeeven bhi sawaaron

the last one is in a loop for probably the 5th time now, the starting piece of santoor and flute makes me wonder, is this Shiv Hari ? Reminds me of the classic 1968 'Call of the valley'...

Why does santoor feel like ripples of water ?
Why does sitar feel like a romantic moment with a stranger ?
Why does flute feel like a peaceful sleep ?

Some questions have no answers..

P.S :- If there is God on earth,he/she probably lives in the vocal chords of Lata Mangeshkar ??

Back to the grind...

life has resumed its normal course! and I have written my shortest blog today!!