Ae Zindagi... Thoda dheeme chal, thoda jeene de !

Jab main chota tha, shayad duniya bahut badi hua karti thi…
Mujhe yaad hai mere ghar se school tak ka woh raasta,
Kya kya nahi tha wahan,
Chaat ke thele, Jalebi ki dukaan,
Barf ke gole, sab kuch…

Ab wahan, mobile shop, video parlour hain,
Phir bhi sab soona hai,
Shayad ab duniya simat si rahi hai...

Jab main chota tha shayad shaamein bahut lambi hua karti thi…
Main haath mein patang ki dor liye ghanto udaya karta tha,
Woh lambi cycle race, woh bachpan ke khel,
Woh har shaam thakk kar choor ho jana…

Ab shaam nahi hoti, Din dalta hai aur sidhe raat ho jaati hai,
Shayad waqt simat sa raha hai…

Jab main chota tha shayad dosti bahut gehri hua karti thi…
Din bhar woh hujoom banaakar khelna,
Woh doston ke ghar ka khana,
Woh ladkiyon ki baatein, woh saath mein rona…

Ab bhi kai dost hain par dosti jaane kahan hai,
Jab bhi traffic signal par milte hain, “Hi” ho jaati hai,
Aur apne apne raaste chal dete hain,
Holi, Diwali, New Year par SMS aa jaate hain,
Shayad ab rishte badal rahe hain…

Jab main chota tha khel bhi ajeeb hua karte the…
Chhupan-chhupai, langdi-taang, tippi-tippi-top,
Aur ab internet , office se fursat hi nahi milti,
Shayad zindagi badal rahi hai…

Zindagi ka sabse bada sach yahi hai,
Jo aksar kabristan ke baahar board par likha hota hai:
Manzil to yahin thi bas zindagi guzar gayi meri yahan aate aate…

Zindagi ka lamha bahut chota sa hai…
Kal ki koi buniyaad nahi hai aur aane wala kal sirf sapno mein hai...

Ab bachh gaye iss pal mein,
Tamannao se bhari iss zindagi mein hum sirf bhaag rahe hain...

Yaar, thoda raftaar dheeme karo...
Aur iss zindagi ko jiyo… khoob jiyo mere yaar.

Land of Lungi

Traveling in a snow-white amby (Ambassador)
With my driver and his name is Thambi
Said he was a recent Gelf returnee
Gave me soda glass of brandy
Welcome to the Land of Lungi
Everybody here call it God's own country
 

Appam stew and meen curry
You better taste I know you like it simply
Got stuck in a jam in Delhi
I was sad because I no maalum Hindi
The cars on the road are so crazy
I turned to Police and said SIR JI...
I come from the Land of Lungi 

Goes well with a Khadi sanjee
Everybody here drive like Mungee...
Road is good but traffic here, Excuse Me!
 

Met a man in a bar in Dubai
Thick mustache having Beef fry
Said his T-shirt was Lacoste
Big gold chain and mitsubishi
He said, he come from the Land of Lungi
Everybody here call it God's own country
 

Double stitch and call it Kailee
Wear it white with starch call it dhoti
I come from the Land of Lungi
 

Women sweet Men are very hairy
Lift the cloth show-off your one good knee
You become very very sexy
Welcome to the Land of Lungi
 

Kappa Beef, Fish Molee
Weather is hot and food is spicy
Better taste I know you like it simply

Dedicated all my mallu friends. Also to mishtu's boss! :P

By your side...

Come, stay, lie here 

in my arms,
Have reasons, none, to fear 

in my charms,
Calm down my dear....

I will always be there - standing, holding, loving..
by your side....
 

Shhh.., quiet! Hear now my songs

Let your thoughts sway, fly, in the sky above
breaking the bonds that hurt your love...

I will always be there - standing, holding, loving..
by your side....
 

Wish, hope, dream again with me 

by your side

Aboard our love's plane 

across the sky
through the starlit lanes

Blossom your wings
and fly...

I will always be there - standing, holding, loving..
by your side....

कुछ ख्वाब चुराकर लाया हूँ

कुछ ख्वाब चुराकर लाया हूँ
नींद तुम्हारी आँखों से
मैं आज चुराकर लाया हूँ
गीत मिलन के भूल गयी तुम
प्रीत हमारी भूल गयी तुम
उन सपनों को भूल चुके
मैं अहसास चुराकर लाया हूँ
कुछ ख्वाब चुराकर लाया हूँ

मुझसे क्या थी भूल हुई
कहाँ हवा प्रतिकूल हुई
जिन फूलों की खातिर तुम
जिन गलियों की खातिर तुम
रोज़ सवेरे जग जाती थी
उसी गली से, उसी फूल की
तेरी खातिर मैं भंवरा बन
महक चुराकर लाया हूँ

तेरी आँखों की गहराई
तेरे बिन है ये तन्हाई
इन् पलकों में आज मिलन की
मैं आस छुपकर लाया हूँ
तेरी खातिर दुनिया भर की
ख़ुशी चुराकर लाया हूँ
सच कहता हूँ मैं खुद के सपने
और तुम्हारे ख्वाब चुराकर लाया हूँ

अपने जीवन भर की खुसियाँ
अपने गम और अपने आंसू
और सभी जो मेरे अपने
उन सबको भूल आज
मैं पास तुम्हारे आया हूँ
तेरे दुःख और तेरे आंसू
तेरे सपने, तेरी दुनिया
उन सबको दिल से अपनाने
मैं पास तुम्हारे आया हूँ

भूल चुकी तुम जिन रिश्तों को
उन रिश्तों को फिर से महकने
फिर से वो अहसास जगाने

वही पुराना अंदाज़ में मैं आज

कुछ ख्वाब चुराकर लाया हूँ!

What a trip, man!

This is not the 1st time i am visiting Kerala. This beautiful journey didn't start today when I boarded the aircraft. I would say it rather started the last time when i left Cochin. I had never traveled in a propeller aircraft, such a smooth experience, like never before.
This time, i wasn't thrilled like last time but the aircraft which took me to Cochin from Bangalore made it memorable. Since then, i m feeling perfect! I was traveling by Jet Airways with pilot Krishna Mahadeva and co-pilot Rohit in a propeller type aircraft yet again. What a smooth journey! I could never forget the pilot crew as i had never seen anybody driving that good. I could remember my rival Dylan and Bob from Need for Speed! They picked up such a speed at the Bangalore runway, even while taxi-ing! Smooth touch down as well, but the memorable part was the journey. I have never seen Indian pilots taking such a steep turn confidently, which was towards the side I was seated. I got a lovely view of the earth surface, a breath-taking moment. Right in the middle of the air, pilots stopped the engine, with no atmospheric turbulence, we were gliding down, what a feel again! Addressing of the passengers was very polite and informal by the pilot crew at all instances.
I got a gift set on scratching a card and got a lady watch at the airport terminal.
Let me now introduce you to Mr. Mani aka Manikuttan, my chauffeur. He took me to one of the finest resorts to have a filling meals which was typical keralite(i could make out by the way rice was cooked). Village kind of ethnic ambiance was the key point to be noted there. After ambiance, the micro-climate inside the resort made me more hungry! After heavy lunch, I took some time to relax in an easy-chair and then lied down on a swing. Swinging gently and cool breeze kissing me. I felt like building such a house and spending all my life there. Mani then said,"Sir, its time to leave. You already got 2 phone calls from the place where you have to go-MES Ponnani. Slept all the way in the car and reached the customer site where my business partner and his service engineer had also come. Conducted a site survey and advised about the network setup for the site and devices to be used. Spent major part of the day working at the site giving my customer an excellent wireless coverage!
Mani now suggested that Guruvayur is just 30 mins away from where we were. I, at once, asked him to drive me to Guruvayur. This was my 1st time to Guruvayur. He helped me with a fine accommodation where I could sleep with less comfort as I had to wake up early to see and meet the Almighty-Krishna. So, checked-in, had a nice dinner and dozed with no further delay as I had lots of appointments the next day as well.
Got up at 3am, reached the temple at 4am to see a huge crowd. That day was auspicious, people were pouring in from all across southern India and from other parts as well. Unbelievably, I did "japam" of gayathri mantra and "hare krishna" till i got a lovely view of the almighty, which was for about 3 hrs. Lord was so small, so dark inside a tunnel kind of arrangement. I could only see his golden crown HE had worn. Then on the way back, had a nice breakfast and started for Cochin. Unfortunately this time, we didn't cross that resort else I would have become lazy for the rest of the day! It was Milad-un-Nabi on that day so we could see small school kids singing songs, doing roadshow, dancing. It was a treat again as we passed by.
Reached Cochin, addressed few of our business partners located there in the cruel, hot sun! Then, got my back moving towards the airport. I reached well before time. Heard songs, ate some crap to while away time. I will not mention what else I did there to kill time. ;) Again, enjoyed a lovely low-altitude flight back to Bangalore and the drive from airport to home was like a smooth drink passing via my throat. It seemed much soothing as I was dead tired working and traveling all day in the sun. Reached home, threw my bag, changed clothes and jumped onto the bed!

Curtain falls!

Kamalalayam

My grandmother, like everybody's grandmother , was an old woman. She had been old and wrinkled for the twenty two years that I had known her. People said that she had once been young and pretty. My grandfather and my grandmother's anniversary photo was hung above the mantelpiece in the drawing-room. He flaunted a nicely cropped hair and a loose-fitting clothes. The wrinkles on his face, especially his forehead made him look atleast a hundred years old. He doesn't look like a person who would have a wife or children. He looks as if he
could only have lots and lots of grandchildren. She often told me of the games she used to play as a child. That seemed quite absurd and undignified on her part as i treated it like fables of the Prophets she used to tell me.

She had always been short and slim. Her face was a crisscross of wrinkles running from everywhere to everywhere. No, i was certain she had always been as i had known her. Old, so terribly old that she could not have grown older, and had stayed at the same age for twenty two years. She could never have been pretty; but she was always beautiful. She worked like an ant in the house in stainless sarees with one hand holding a utensil and the other telling the beads of her rosary. Her silver locks were scattered untidily over her pale, puckered face, and her lips constantly moved in inaudible prayer. Yes, she was beautiful. She was like the winter landscape in the mountains, an expanse of white serenity breathing peace and contentment.

My grandmother and I were good friends. My parents left me with her when they were busy with their own not-so-busy schedule. She used to wake me up in the morning and get me ready for school. She said her morning prayer in a monotonous sing-song while she bathed and dressed me in the hope that I would listen and get to know it by heart. I listened because I loved her voice but never bothered to learn it. Then she used to fetch my school bag in which she already cleaned and arranged my books and checked the level of ink in my pen. After a breakfast of a thick, stale chapatti with a little butter and sugar spread on it with a glass of milk, we walked till the bus stop. She carried several stale chapatties with her for the street dogs.

My grandmother always came with me till the bus stop because it was attached to a temple. In the afternoon, before I arrived, she used to sit and wait for me in the bus stop reading the scriptures. When I arrived and she finished, we would walk back together. This time the street dogs ould meet us at the temple door. They used to follow us to our home growling and fighting each other for the chapatties we threw to them.

When my parents could comfortably settle in a bigger, better apartment, that was a turning point in our friendship. Although we shared the same room, my grandmother no longer came to bus stop with me. There were no dogs in the streets and she took to feeding sparrows in the balcony of our new house.

As the years rolled by we saw less of each other. For some time she continued to wake me up and get me ready for school. When I came back she would ask me what the teacher had taught me. I would tell her English words and little things of westen science and learning, the law of gravity, Archimedes' principle, the world being round, etc. This made her unhappy. She could not help me with my lessons. She did not believe in the things they taught at the English school and was distressed that there was no teaching about God and the scriptures. She rarely talked to me after that.

When I went up to University, I was sent to hostel to live on my own. The common link of friendship was snapped. My grandmother accepted her seclusion with resignation. She rarely left the kitchen to talk to anyone. From sunrise to sunset she spent time in kitchen preparing something or the other and reciting prayers. Only in the afternoon she relaxed for a while to feed the sparrows. While she sat in the verandah breaking the bread into little bits, hundreds of little birds collected round her creating a veritable bedlam of chipings. Some came and perched on her legs, others on her shoulders. Some sat on her head. She smiled but never shoo'd them away. It used to be the happiest half-hour of the day for her.

When I decided to shift to a different place for work, I was sure my grandmother would be upset. I would be away, and at her age one could never tell. But my grandmother could. She was not even sentimental. She came to leave me at the railway station but did not talk or show any emotion. Her lips moved in prayer, her mind was lost in prayer. Her fingers were busy telling the beads of her rosary. Silently she kissed my forehead, and when I left I cherished the moist imprint as perhaps the last sign of physical contact between us.

But that was not so. After four years I came back home and met her at the station. She did not look a day older. She still had no time for words, and while she clasped me in her arms I could hear her reciting her prayer. Even on the first day of my arrival, her happiest moments were with her sparrows whom she fed longer and with frivolous rebukes.

In the evening, a change came over her. She did not pray. She collected the women of the neighbourhood, went for rounds of our block and sat in a park for som chit-chat. We had to persuade her t avoid over-straining. That was the 1st time since I had known her that she did not pray.

The next morning she was taken ill. It was a mild fever and the doctor told us that it would go. But my grandmother thought differently. She told us that her end was near. She said that, since only a few hours before the close of the last chapter of her life she omitted to pray, she was not going to waste any more time talking to us. We protested. But she ignored our protests. She lay peacefully in bed praying and telling her beads. Even before we could suspect, her lips stopped moving and the rosary fell from her lifeless fingers. A peaceful pallor spread on her face and we knew that she was dead.

We lifted her off the bed and as is customary, laid her on the ground and covered her with red shroud. After a few hours of mourning we left her alone to make arrangements for her funeral.

In the evening, we went to her room with a crude stretcher to take her to be cremated. The sun was setting and had lit her room and verandah with a blaze of golden light. We stopped half-way. All over the verandah and in her room right up to where she lay dead and stiff wrapped in the red shroud, thousands of sparrows sat scattered on the floor. There was no chirping. We felt sorry for the birds and my mother fetched some bread for them. She broke it into little crumbs, the way my grandmother used to, and threw it to them. The sparrows took no notice of the bread. When we carried my grandmother's corpse off, they flew away quietly.

Next morning the sweeper swept the bread crumbs into the dust bin.

I ll miss you badly! :'(

Luv u... {:-*)

Do u think I've told u
Tat "I love you" enuf?

Have i let u knw without u
Lyf wud be extremely tuff?

U r everything tat gives me
Tat 1 reason 2 live.

N all i have 4 u in return
My heart n soul i give

U r all tat makes me happy
N u r all tat makes me smile

U show me u 'd do anything
N go tat extra mile

I love u more than u cud knw
U r my 1 true love

Our hearts they beat d same beat
Our hands fit like a glove

U shield d rain n stop d pain
N keep me safe frm harm

Thr is no place i 'd rather be
Than held tightly in ur arms

I love u more than yesterday
N i think its time i told

U r d 1 i want 4eva
D 1 i 'll always hold!