AB and GK

It is funny how liquor brings out the writer in me! I may miss a few words, err a few spellings in my exalted state...but the clarity of thought and the emotional content is unquestionable. This goes out for my newly wedded brother and his wife.

I do not easily contend to cliches so 'match made in heaven' goes out of the window. In fact, the Discovery channel would do a better job in describing their relationship(the way i see it!) than would any sappy melodrama. GC would contest that TLC(Travel and Living Channel) encapsulates their essence, but that is for another day. For this lifetime atleast, the airport is as good a stage for the opening scene as was the Empire State Building in Sleepless In Seattle finale. Being punctual be damned; this story may never have seen the light of day if they were. And yes, I essayed the role of the silent driver...unaware of what the universe conspires...happy to play his part. I know i know...inevitably i return to the cliches...can't help it though, i am a hopeless romantic!

Where do i begin to tell you of all the times i was educated!! From acquiring a nose for fragrances to a keen eye for the 'in-thing', to the tidbits of information about food....educated i was,yes...sometimes from the master, more often from the second-in-command. I wonder if i have turned into someone of significant worth as being as tagged as the protege?? Their greatest triumph was not in the department of fashion, food or fragrance; it was the time they dragged me out of my darkest hour. Thank you.

Cut to the last few days of November. A hectic couple of weeks prior to the Big Day! To multitask 11 hrs of work and college applications and preps for the wedding...to have the final say in any decision remotely associated with it....to make things-to-remember notes everyday...and to drive 800 kms in 8 days....i would not trade it for season tickets at Stamford Bridge...plain and simple.


to be continued...

“That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower... I will grieve not, rather find strength in the memory that remains behind.”


I find it difficult to imagine my childhood without this great beacon of light, unassuming, unassertive...always there in the darkest of nights or brightest of days, guiding us in deep waters. Simple in her ways, she was a loving mother, always doting on her kids and grandkids.

I can still remember those years as a kid, when our afterschool home was at grandma’s, the discipline she instilled in us, the little bits of wisdom she passed on, the time she made my brother, her eldest grandson, join taekwondo classes when everyone else was against it, the times she used to make me aloo-parathas when i would fuss over dal-roti.

There was a magic in her touch, a sunshine in her smile, there was love in every thing she did to make our lives worthwhile.

.......

1.Pissed off a great friend.
2.A good friend's wedding proposal broke off.
3.Mom sends senti msgs to her pissed-off son.
4.Relative diagnosed wid cancer.
5.Challenging history at work...may not last long.
6.Big match tommorrow.
7.Another week....another place...gurgaon...i pray for change!

Its a brand new day!!

So finally my workplace is where i once wanted it to be...Gurgaon. Am excited to a certain extent..yes...but the original reason is no longer.

Nevertheless, it is a welcome sight...a farcry from the residential-plot-for-an-office somewhere in the lonely lanes of an industrial area in Noida, the massive corporate building itself makes you feel you're doing somethin worthwhile...not to mention catching a glimpse of the superstars of our profession...men, whose legendary exploits are spoken of in pure awe by us commoners! And for the cherry on the cake, there are people...yes people...dressed like us...of the same age...shiny happy people...working in the same building!!

Finally it feels i'm starting somewhere on that great corporate ladder...

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

my immortal..

...trying hard to hold myself together just for the sake of appearances; i'm too reticent to breakdown in public...but it would take not more than a gust of air to push me over the edge.

The voice makes me sigh, the thoughts make my head spin in slow agony. Am i really so evil that hell seems to have begun early, while i'm still alive??...or perhaps i'm alive only in name, there isn't anything i want to live to fight for...


PS. Fab trip to Goa...but lets just save the happiness for another post...

The Day that wasn't meant to be...

So i return to write again after a long time, now without apologies for the irregularity...its easy for me to realise i write only when compelled or moved by somethin deeply (emotionally, for the most part..). However, if that be my argument, then i contradict myself coz what has transpired in the past two months has been that one big event that has left an indelible void in my existence.

It isn't easy, i'm not fine, i'm not ok....heck, i won't be...ever...i don't think i'm capable. Its just that decisions have been made...how they affect me is irrelevant. There is no angst i wish to express...there is grief, entirely my own...i'l hav to live with that.

i write this post midnight, but then someone pointed out that it isn't the same time everywhere...let us then stay in the day that was/is..

it was meant to be special...it was meant to be celebrated...it had been prepared for many months in advance...a performance...a reminiscence...a serenade...

...guess i'l be on my own humming some sad song while my guitar gently weeps...

I like to pretend that evrythin is alright...coz wen everybody else thinks ur fine,u forget for a while that ur not..

time for some Blues...

To give a background of events i'm gonna talk bout, we go back to 28 Apr, Champions League semifinal, Barcelona Vs Chelsea at the Nou Camp which ended 0-0.

And it is imperative that i post this before the second leg of the semi, coz honestly, i think it would be nothing short of a miracle if we survive the Barca onslaught once again, hence, i'm currently in a slightly better position to handle the criticism.

So the night ended level for the stylish B and not-so-beautiful C, which disappointed football fans across clubs n countries, except perhaps the Blues. Legends of the game and managers went on record to say that they were appalled by the quality of football(the lack of it, rather) they witnessed in that match. Barca players groaned that they weren't two teams on the pitch that night....n so on...

Now for my opinion...and i'm glad i've found support in one non-Chelsea football lover..
*Barca have scored at every game played at Nou Camp this season, until Chelsea
*they have scored 100 goals in 34 matches in Primera Liga, this season
*they have scored 29 goals in 10 matches in Champions League, this year

so i would like to point out, very humbly, that the team which scores almost 3 goals per game on average, wasn't allowed a single goal against Chelsea.

Barca currently are the most fearsome attack in the game, they make the best of teams look like a bunch of schoolkids....goalscoring is for fun and its not bout will they or won't they score....its about how many can they possibly score....winning against them is not by playing beautiful football, its by not letting them play beautiful....it is folly to think anyone can match them. It is likely that we head to our doom tomorrow night, but atleast we made the second leg of some consequence! Remember Bayern?? 4-0 in d first leg...no chance of return.

We have to admit that Chelsea played to stop them, they played to shake the Barca tempo, they played to shackle Messi n Henry....they played it smart!! NOT NEGATIVE. It was a tactic that the 'great team' was unable to break. Period.

Football is not all about playin stylish n scoring aplenty, if that were the case, we would be switching club support every year, depending on who's peaking then. The game does not necessarily require the 'Joga Bonito' all the time...sometimes it simply has to be played with intelligence.



"All warfare is based on deception. If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight and if not: split and re-evaluate"....The Art Of War