The Dream

After a yet another day of gruelling practice session on the football field, satisfied and at peace,  touching the turf and chanting a milli-second prayer, i make an exit towards home. With sleep earnestly trying to bind me into its grasp and muscles fatigued to the limit of breakage , I feel rather excited ,imagining myself playing alongside the legends of football Rooney,Giggs and Scholes at Old Trafford . What would it be like when Sir Alex rebuked the shit out of you when you made a mistake?Or when Giggs came upto you and said that you were amazing? These two questions ,assisted by several other similar questions always reverberated in my little head , and to find key to these questions was always my dream.

"Football is of no use,its a total waste of time," declared my mum before the University finals. I never expected her to wish me luck ,but I was happy that she knew about it;not many people understand  the obsession and addiction of football.
So, there I was , beaming with confidence and hoping to cross in a few awe-inducing balls into the box .The match ended in our favour , yes,we were the new CHAMPIONS! They say that one closed door opens another,well,i never agreed to that , and always thought that this proverb was coined by someone who dint achieve his dream ; I gained more confidence in this self made theory of mine when i got a call from a scout who had arranged to give me a trial at United. Apparently, he loved the way I played in the University tourney and thought United needed a winger like me. So , one open door led to another open door here, as we won the finals ,and I earned myself a trail at red part of Manchester!

The trials were due in three week and I was on top of the world. I was already ready to go with my surprisingly excited mum packing everything needed.'Mothers love their children more than themselves' ,well at least they got that right. Everything was set and seemed perfect ,but then that bit of imperfectness stealthily crawled in and I realized that I needed a new pair of shin guards. In a wink of the eye I left my house ,making steady marches towards the sports shop. I was bored on the way ,and fortunately my best friend phoned to congratulate me. I was trying to convey my level of excitement and crossing the road when a car with no headlights,camouflaged with the dark, unnoticed ,and accelerating like a cheetah, took me down.

I found myself in the hospital the following day , and just when the thought of the trials came to my head, the nurse dressed in white told me that I won't be able to play any sport in this life. A metal rod was fitted in each of my legs that saved my legs from being amputated. I was in a state of shock ,I felt like my life had been snatched away from me. The only thing that I loved the most was just gone. It was too much to handle,and I wondered how I would even survive.

I  work in a bank till four in the evening,hit the gym ,stop at the field and make it home in time for supper. This has been my routine for the past ten years now. The maximum connection I have with football is those 15 minutes I spend on the field watching people play(live their dream);and I think I 've forgotten how to even kick a football,but even now. We don't find the key to all our questions,and its not often that a dream is achieved,but when I shut my eyelids and put my body to rest, I dream . .I dream about Giggs   hugging me after a goal;I dream about Sir Alex teaching me new techniques . .I dream about playing football.

Home gantries home

A sample post written for a newsletter with the keyword gantries .


Dusk battles its way in;the clock srikes seven ;and we take our seats behind the huge lights.Peeping down from our home,the GANTRIES at the 'Theatre of sounds',provides  with a dazzling entertainment as we just drown in the mesmerizing ocean of varied sounds.These concerts,as the two-legged call them,are nothing less than temple like ceremonies where a few dedicated preachers paint beautifully on the canvas of silence. My wife and me consider ourselves very fortunate, as not many chipmunks in the world get a chance to experience and get hypnotized by such a worship of music.

These GANTRIES mean everything to us.From shelter to entertainment,they provide us with everything.After the concerts, we are often seen jumping into a bin through a ventilating window to have our supper. A king's meal we expect,and a king's meal we always have.The human race either cares too much for us or all the humans of the world have had their meals to satiety because the bin is always full of scarcely eaten ,and sometimes untouched eatables."They entertain us,as well as feed us.The human race is devoid of any flaws,"sermon I to my wife at the end of every supper.

One evening as we habitually took our seats ,expected to be greeted by soul appeasing sounds,we experienced tremors and such disturbing and pinching noises that even Satan wouldn't have approved.These noises came from the machines,which were earnestly endeavouring to demolish the Theatre.

Within minutes the machines,operated by humans to my wildest disbeliefs,brought down the building.Our home,the GANTRIES,was all gone with a wink of the eye;and all that was left were the rubbles that once structured a temple of music.

This demolition was nothing but another form of deforestation,which too destroyed homes of many.

This concrete deforestation reflected the cruel side of this world;and standing by the rubbles with tears running down,I said to myself ,"Everything has flaws after all!"

An hour from St. Valentine's day ...

This post is totally on a different path . It is a supposed  poem in which I take the help of an hour from the precious Valentine's day to bring out the irony lingering on this earth . Hope its worth your time :D

                                    An hour from St. Valentine's day ..

                                              'Tis 7:00!
                               
                                     Ring Ring Ring. .
                                    "Happy Valentine's day "
                                    "I love you.."

                                    "I love you too,honey ! "
                                             "you know what ...."
                                             And talk'st they thus..


                                               'Tis 7:15!
                                 
                                    The moving box of metal makes it way;
                                     halts a mile before its stop to take its fare.
                                             Unorganized and stampeadial a fair is what it creates;
                                              a zoo of "cultured" animals is precisely what it makes.
                                 
                                    The inverse experienced one finds the jungle too wild;
                                    'survival of the fittest ' is not the game of a child.
                                               Uphill a task is well achieved on entering the metal box;
                                               touching his back he realizes his wallet is lost !


                                              'Tis 7:30!
                               
                                      One red light and all the rpms drop;

                                      the two and four strokes come to a standstill stop.

                                                The two legged then use the crossing of the zebra;

                                                a coin is blackmailingly requested by the deprived mames of the Gera.

                                       30 minutes of tick-tok is his limit,
                                       "courier of pizzas" , is what with which he is knighted.
                                                 Halted he too by the red light,he takes his stop;
                                                 when a new arrival to the pack takes away his stop.

                                        Off he is thrown his bike ,and on the road;
                                        his most used leg crushed under the four wheeled Ford.                                    

                                              'Tis 7:45!

                                      Noisely-serene is the environment,
                                      with the sick and wounded stretched away to the diagnostic compartment.

                                                 The intellectuals prefixed with 'Dr.' are the preachers here;

                                                  saving the lives of humans is their prayer here.

                                      A group of blood-related people anxiously wait;
                                      outside a theatre in which operations are made.
                                                   Off switches the red light ,and out comes the preacher;
                                                    and staright he goes to the teenaged creature.

                                     Shaking his hand he makes a face;
                                     "Your father is no more" ,is what is says.
                                   

                                               'Tis 8:00!

                                    "Baby ,its eight and I need to go!I love you"
                                    "It's okay..I love too ,and happy Valentine's day again!"                                                

                                    And thus they hang up..
                                                       "The day can't get any better",thinks she.
                                                       "An hour better than heaven ",feels he.

                                  And they both sink into the percepted beautiful munificence of the past hour...
                                   

Anna Hazare -the Indian Hitler or Gandhi? REALLY?!!

Well many  .. err not many but a considerable amount of ppl call him the Hitler of modern India  and a very large number of ppl call him the Gandhi of modern India.  Well , Mr. Anna surely has done enough deeds to be qualified for both the nominations .
Not many would know ,but Mr Anna started his social work when he retired from the army ,and that was much before my birth  . And this social work included improving the conditions of his village Ralegaon siddi ,which he achieved by rejuvenating the environmental conditions in his village. And thus for this reason ,Mr.anna is a well renowned personality ,not only in the political world,but also in the environmentalists' circle .I myself first came across this man in my 9th standard's EVS textbook  (for ppl who are puzzled- in ICSE and ISC you are made to study EVS as a compulsory subject ) .
Being a jawan in the army and losing all his comrades in a war ,this man was well patriotic and conditioned by life. He has experienced the TRUE LIFE ,about which not many of us would  even like to dream . Well ,this is just what a think .
so , yeah , without much loss of time Anna made his grand entry into my list of inspiring ppl ,which included "great celeb" like Wayne Rooney ,Dave Mustaine ,Joey Jordison  .. etc. Like all other teens ,my list included all the "cool " ppl who had nothing to do with welfare but had everything to do with music and sports. The only two leaders that lingered their way in were Gandhiji and Hitler . I know that's quite contrasting, but i believe that both are brand ambassadors of complementary  abstracts. One can't have peace if no war was there and vice verse .
Anyway,  so there Anna was in my list . A completely distinguished personality , who had not more that 10% of the support he enjoys today . Though i had to mug up what all and how did he do stuff to make improve the condition of his village like afforestation ,using biogas,rain water harvesting etc.,but that mugging up made me respect him even more. I thought to myself that even a man known to none had come from nowhere making me mug up his doings to pass in my exam . This was the thing that has kept inspiring me till date.

Today Anna has the support of  80% of the country ,who hail him as the Gandhi of modern India.Chants of "i am Anna" have reached all the major streets of India.His present fight ,i.e. against corruption ,interests almost everyone in this country ,and thus Anna has transformed from a man know to few to a man unknown to few. he has made the many ,that support him, feel that system can change in this country. Though many support him blindly because of the huge lack of trust in our politicians, Anna has managed most of the citizens to raise their voice against corruption.
I've heard a lot say that his methods our "unconstitutional " ,but i'd like to ask them ,do the "elected " ppl actually follow the constitution ?I mean where else ,other than in a circus,would u find ppl throwing stuff at each other. These very elected ppl who claim to be our representatives have left no stone unturned to make a mockery of our motherland .
"he has paralysed the parliament " ,is another famous quote anonymously coined by the elected ppl . Well, either way the parliament is paralysed due to the random fits which these parliamentarians get,which causes them to shout at top of their voice and destroy everything for which the tax-payers have paid. But i don't feel his methods are wrong. I mean is fasting not the most appropriate and best to mark ur protest in a democratic country like ours ?

So ,the ppl who support him blindly ,and those who feel only Gandhiji could fast for days hail Anna as the Gandhi of modern times ;and those who are related to some political party, and also those who  don't like his methods for some reason and still believe in the elected ppl and the very constitution; they endorse him as the Hitler of India.
Well,I consider him neither Hitler nor Gandhji.For me he still remains the same Anna, about whom i read in the 9th grade;who changed his village and his now trying his heart out to change the country . .. phew too big a task  .. but I am with you Anna :D