The 77second Story

Its been more than a week and I hadn't written anything on my blog. I was wondering where my next blog post would come from( not having the net connection at home doesn't help), well the answer was a 77 second signal near Lakshminarayan Theatre. I saw a small kid reading a piece of paper, it reminded me of one of the incidents when I was in the sixth grade.
Our school teachers always encouraged us to participate in elocution competitions. I got selected through a preliminary round, ( how the hell did I get selected?) despite having no experience of public speaking. I got a speech written by a senior friend of mine on a piece of small paper. I carried it every where I went, and made sure I remember every word of it.
The elocution competitions were always well attended at our school.The auditorium is set up for the competition. Almost the entire school is watching. The biggest challenge was to always speak what you had prepared,if you forget your speech or get stuck, the audience are sure to give you a tough time speaking.
The morning of the competition I walked to the auditorium, the audience had already assembled (even though I knew that the numbers are  high, the size of the audience gave me goose bumps). A senior of mine walked up to me "How is your preparation?"
"I don't know about the preparation, but the crowd is huge"
"Well, that means that the applause will be really loud!"
Those words changed something in me, because I wasn't nervous anymore, to be honest my speech sounded like mugged up crap, but the applause was good. That particular incident, changed the extremely shy Shahid to the Shahid you people know today.

With the choice of our words we can change the lives of people, so it is very necessary that we use our words judiciously and carefully.

 I don't think that particular interaction wouldn't have been longer than 77 seconds itself. This is one lesson which I learned years later today during those 77 seconds.....

Footnotes:

Image courtesy: commons.wikimedia.org 

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

He woke up to another dreadful day. There was nothing wrong actually; the sun had risen over the horizon with its trademark golden glow, the sky was a beautiful blue, the birds of the spring were singing and there was an occasional cool breeze blowing too. They say the weather plays a major role in setting the mood for the day. Sameer, a nine year old, was an example of cognitive dissonance. The spring weather always clashed with his final exams, despite the beautiful weather he felt dreadful.

His mother woke him up with the usual thud on his back. Sameer walked to the wash basin rubbing his back, the pain wasn't painful anymore, but it was disturbing. Sameer was very short for a 9 year old; he had to be picked up to reach his tooth brush. He used to take his own time to brush his teeth, but now his mother had taken control.

“Press your teeth together” she commanded. She brushed his teeth, moving the brush over every corner of his mouth. Sameer loved the flavour of his toothpaste, he always wanted to swallow it but he was scared that his mother might slap him for that and so never tried it. His early morning was full of such rigors. Sameer always imagined himself dying while taking a bath or while eating breakfast which he was supposed to but didn't like or maybe because of going to the school. He did not know what dying was; he had seen it on TV. Those who die do not have to go to school and so he came to the conclusion that he will die. But today was a dreadful day, so he will not die today.

“Sameer, go and get your book and start studying”

He walked to his room; he stole a glance at the mirror. He was short and darkand had bunny teeth (he remembers his dad talking about something called braces), his hair was neatly turned towards the right, and to top it off he had a huge pair of glasses mounted on his nose. He was very different to the taller and fair Rachit, his neighbour and class mate.

“Sameer... your book?”

He rushed to his bag and looked for his English class work book. Beads of sweat started flowing from his head when he couldn’t find it. He went through the books again and again and he started sweating profusely. This would only make his bad day worse. Every day the sound of the horn of the school bus was frowned upon by Sameer but today, the school horn meant an escape. He tied his shoe laces and ran towards the door with his bag. The bag was heavy, but his fear was heavier.  His feet moved faster than they ever had.

His bus was waiting outside his society gates. He jumped into his bus, and tripped over the last step of the stairs. His knee was bruised. The bus warden, caught hold of him.

“How many times should I be telling you kids not to run in the bus?” she said sternly.

She grabbed Sameer by his shoulder and pulled him up. She saw his knee; it was bruised badly and was bleeding too. She took out the first aid box from the top, and poured an antiseptic over the bruise. She rubbed off the blood and tied a bandage roll on his knee. She pats him on the back

“Sameer, you don’t start behaving like other boys” she said in a soft tone. Sameer was in pain, but he did not want to show it. There was day when he cried in the class and the entire class was calling him a girl because he was crying. He dragged his leg slowly towards the seat he was supposed to sit on. He always wanted to sit near the window, but the big boys had the seats reserved for themselves. Sameer was for once tempted to sit on one of those seats but he was terrified of the big boys and continued walking towards the last row in the bus. He saw Rachit sitting there. He was holding Sameer’s book.

“You have my book?” he asked

“Yes I have your book; my class work was not complete so I took yours”

“But...but I wanted it, to study” he stammered.

“Ok, I have one answer to study, I will study that and then I will give it to you”

“Please give it to me now, I have to study, otherwise my mother will beat me”

Rachit giggled “then do one thing, you have heard that song of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?”

Teenage Mutant Ninja was a cartoon series, where four mutant turtles were the lead characters. Sameer loved watching them, he liked Raphael because he could fight better than others

“Yes, I know the song”

“You know; when I hear that song, and then I can learn faster, so sing it while I study”

“How can you study when the song is on, my father says that we cannot study with the TV on”

“That's for you dumbo, I can study like that, so start singing”

Sameer started singing loudly “teenage mutant ninja turtles....teenage mutant ninja turtles”

“You need to sing faster, otherwise we will reach school”

Sameer became louder and faster. The bus warden heard that and whacked him on the side of his head. The kids in the bus broke into laughter; Sameer tried laughing sheepishly to hide his embarrassment. Rachit gave Sameer his book, while still laughing. Sameer took the book from him and walked hurriedly towards his seat. His knee hurt, but he wanted to hide so he rushed towards his seat. He covered his face with the book, hiding his tears from everyone. He kept wiping his tears but they never stopped.

The bus reached the school on time. Sameer got down the bus the last and dragged himself to his class. The teacher started assembling them for the morning assembly when she noticed the bandage on Sameer’s knee.

“Are you ok?” she asked

Sameer was only breathing heavily, he wanted to say that it hurt; he had gone through a lot of trauma since morning. No words left Sameer’s mouth. The teacher asked Sameer to stay in the class which he did. His tears kept rolling, his knee was hurting and he hadn’t studied either. The test was going to start in a few minutes after the assembly. His mother was very peculiar about Sameer scoring well. Last night his parents had gone to Sameer’s grandparent’s house. They left Sameer with a cousin of his, his cousin was supposed to teach him, but she slept and Sameer spent most of his time watching cartoons.

The assembly was over and the entire class started walking back to the class. The class teacher walked in with the test questions. The class took a couple of minutes to settle down, after which the teacher started distributing the test questions. There was pin drop silence in the class and Sameer had nothing to write in the answer sheet. He tried reading the questions again and again, trying to remember what the answers where but he couldn’t. Sameer looked around him and everyone, even Rachit, was busy writing. Sameer pressed his teeth together, focussed on a question and started saying in a slow tone “Teenage mutant ninja turtles.... Teenage mutant ninja turtles....” His tone and volume kept increasing, he closed his eyes, and became even more louder “Teenage mutant ninja turtles....”, Sameer clenched his teeth and the volume increased even more Teenage mutant ninja turtles....”. Sameer was the centre of attention of the class now. His voice started choking but he kept saying  “Teenage mutant ninja turtles....”. When he realized the entire class was watching he pressed his face on the table, and kept shouting “Teenage mutant ninja turtles....”, slowly his voice faded and so did the light for Sameer.

The day was dreadful, he woke up today for his daily rigors, he broke his knee, was beaten by his bus warden and now the test. He did not die, that’s why the day was dreadful.

Footnotes:

Image courtesy : http://ouradopt.com/

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8 years and counting

8 years ago, at around 11 20 am, the stillness in air around the parliament was house was disturbed by a couple of massive blasts. A few gunned men rammed in to the vehicle of the then vice president Krishan Kant and opened fire. They had come with the intention of blowing up the parliament. That obviously did not happen, but it hurt the pride of the worlds largest democracy. Fingers were pointed on Pakistan and various other organisations, the relations between the two countries soured and it blew hot and cold after that,as it has been happening for years now.

The martyrs were honored by medals, after all they gave their lives for people who were the leaders of this country. Their families could live their lives proudly, their close one had done something for the country. But strange things happen. Things were forgotten, so much, that a lot of people don't know that the relatives returned the medals as an act of protest. They were protesting for the fact that the hanging of the guilty Afzal Guru, was delayed for the fact that he had lodged a mercy petition at the presidents office.

This issue has been cold in the eyes of the media, and the nation. Today, our politicians are busy creating a state for themselves rather than to spare a moment to acknowledge the efforts of the brave soldiers. If I have my stats in place, only 11 ministers paid their homage to the brave soldiers. Yes, they are wrong, but does anyone raise a voice against it?. We are more busy watching the highlights of the T20 game we just missed last night.

Our leaders can only be as efficient as we want them to be. Lets do something about it, I don't know what but we need to take it in our own hands

Image courtesy: http://newsx.com


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Why my blog is not about the URL.....

I  have always been asked about the url of my blog, which is pain of my life. Well, the story about the url is really embarrassing and stupid. All I can explain is this, when I wanted to start a blog, I wanted to write about all the aspects of the life which are painful. I guess that explains one part of the blog, but why PAIN OF MY LIFE?.....( my jiju had even suggested me to change it to PAIN OF MY A** once)...well for that part of the story, you will have to wait....but hey I am going to tell you something really interesting. It is one of the posts which just proves that there is more good than bad around me ( telling me that my url needs to be changed!!!).

I used to work at a call center called EXL. I worked there for over a year, every day at work I interacted with a lot of customers and colleagues. The thing is, I always saw a very different picture all the time. A lot of them were sad, but there was a lot of courage in those stories I heard. I might have forgotten the stories but not their moral.

 But there is one person I met, I will never forget him, for his zeal for life. He doesn't work at EXL, he is an owner of a cafe called VOHUMAN CAFE. It is on the same lane as Jehangir Hospital in Pune. This cafe is all about the cheese omelette's, bun maska,cutting chai and a lot of food, but another reason why people go there is the old parsi guy at the counter. For all the punekars who haven't been there, have your breakfast or food and walk up to the counter and ask him to share a joke. His face will light up and when you leave the cafe, you will leave with a mischievous smile (that explains the kind of jokes he cracks, doesn't it?). During my EXL days I was a regular visitor there. The breakfast was always filled with laughs,and a lot of good food.

A lot of marketing gurus make fundas for their businesses, I guess this one should be right at the top i.e make your customers smile!!!!!!!.....

Well this brings me to the last leg of this post....I was told recently by a friend that if we have 10-12 hearty laughs a day we will lead a healthier life. So lets all make a report card for ourselves, find yourself reasons to laugh around 10-12 times a day.....

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Stay Strong........

I remember when I was small, my dad and mom used to tell me stories about so many heroes who survived against all odds. I never liked those heroes. They couldn't fly, they couldn't beat up 100 people, they never saved the world!!!. My parents heroes were simple poor people who have made a name for themselves, I never understood why it was a big deal?.............

Today things are different, my heroes are different, if I talk about the perseverance of  Chris Gardner, in the same breath I talk about the grit if Oprah. If there is a life which I would want any one to emulate then I talk about Randy Pausch. None of them can fly, they cannot beat up 100 people either, but in a unique way, each of them save the world.

But I am not talking about heroes, but what lesson each of them teach. Mr Chris Gardner, despite being one of the richest persons in the world, he still does whatever he can for the underprivileged, the same can be told about Oprah. While Mr Randy Pausch, has told the world that you can die because of a disease( as severe as  Pancreatic Cancer), or you can live everyday to fight it.

The message they gave was to stay strong 

 Grit and Determination, alone can help you climb the pinnacle of success.

I personally, believe in this and try my best to follow it. I believe that there is an invisible form of energy which exists and acts as a barrier between you and success. This barrier can only be broken by Grit and Determination. I know I am going a little off topic here but I am sure somewhere down the line, these qualities I mentioned, played an important role in my college magazine Sourabh winning the first prize in the Pune University. It had competition from more than 100 colleges all over Pune, so I think it is a good achievement.

I know, for sure, that a strong person always succeeds in life. I am trying to be one, and I hope all of you people will also give it a chance. It is a slow burner, but a sure shot one!!!.

PS: I am sorry I went a little off circuit for a few days because I have joined Accenture and I am just finding my feet there. 

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A question to be asked?

If life is living for the moment then I am guilty of living it. This road might be the best way to live life but every thought, every belief in life is a fallacy. These thoughts, ideas and philosophies are mere ways of preventing us from derailing. We all work for a particular end; we live our life thinking that when we go off the stage, there will be a huge applause. We think that our audience would appreciate the fact that we have achieved so much and spend our entire life for it, but again I tend to believe that even this is a fallacy, a myth.

I had read a short story by E.M Forester called "The other side of the Hedge". It talks about a road where the entire humanity walks on keeping a count of the number of steps on a pedometer. The count on the pedometer is what we live by, completely ignoring the green hedge adjoining the road. When the author crosses the hedge, he realizes that nothing of his real world things worked on this side of the hedge, especially the pedometer. I will not tell you the entire story, but I will definitely give you the download link for the book The Celestial Omnibus. It is a collection of short stories by E.M Forester. "The other side of the Hedge” is the second story in this book, do read and it and tell me if you like it.

Getting back to the topic of this post, our lives have been filled up with myths and philosophies passed on to us by our forefathers. We tend to find solace in these philosophies and ideas, but we forget to ask ourselves questions. Even if we ask ourselves questions we don’t try and find the answers. Why have we never asked ourselves why do we believe in these philosophies of life, why do we believe in the myth of our life being a stage with the world watching?. These questions kept popping in my mind and mind you, these are important questions, but the most important question of all is

Do we really want to know?

   

Aren’t we scared that the truth might create an imbalance in our lives, what if the truth is not something we believe in?, will we be able to cope with the answers....

A call from Heaven....

NO, I am not writing anything similar to the call from god in Chetan Bhagats One Night at the Call Center.  The call I am talking about is the one so many of us take everyday. It is life changing, or rather life threatening. I am talking about all of us talking on the phone while driving. It is really really dangerous( the number of really's doesn't signify how dangerous it is).

Today, I accompanied my brother for his driving license test. Well it really isn't a test but a huge sham, which may be shows that Indian government has implement stringent rules, but the fact remains is that we can get a driving license by merely driving in the first gear on a straight road. The inspector saw around 68 people( thats my brothers number..there were more people waiting) driving and granted all of them a license. There were people who were hardly comfortable driving their scooters, a lady had her feet on the ground all the time while driving!!, How the hell would he clear her. Just by merely handling a lot of applications and clearing all of them soon doesn't mean that work is efficient. It just tells that you don't care.

Now getting back to the call, well after the test my brother was asked to watch a video along with many others, the video was all about the safety rules and regulations.They emphasized the fact that we should not talk on the phone while driving, not even with our hands free on, because it divides your attention, and like the TATA DOCOMO advert. says that life can change in seconds, we must know that a second of diverted attention is life threatening.

Now this brings me to the question, why do we need to take a call when we are driving?

Lets look at the various possibilities

Your boss is calling!!

Park your vehicle aside and then explain him that you are driving and will get back to him as soon as you get a nice place to park your vehicle. That also helps if you have screwed up on some assignment he gave

Your mom and dad calling

I am sure you can say the same that you are driving, doesn't need much effort there

Your Gf/Bf is calling

If you haven't messed up on something, DON'T TAKE THE CALL, and if you haven't still DON'T TAKE THE CALL. and in case this leads to a break up, guys give me your G.F's( or ex I must say) number, I promise I will take care of her

Your wife or husband is calling

You don't take their calls anyways,and even if you do, I don't think you even care to listen, safest of all calls , no worries here ( :-p)

We need to remember that there is always an alternative and we have to take the safer one, we can miss a call but a few seconds wouldn't change much if you wait to pick it up, but if you do pick it up while driving it could be devastating for everyone.

I will leave you all with a question and a picture I clicked at the RTO

Whose call are you taking?

Ray Ban Baba-3

The third installment of  Ray Ban Baba is here, I am sure now you will know who this story is about

I was smiling from ear to ear. Now I did not want to leave the hospital. Rashi was sitting with her back towards me, but I knew that even she would have a smile on her face. I ate the food and to be honest I don’t remember how it tasted, when you feel good about something, everything around you is good.

It was around 4 in the evening and it was the time for the patients, who could, to have a walk and move around a little bit. Rashi helped her grandpa to stand up. He sat on his wheel chair with Rashi’s support. He pulled open his drawer and took out a pair of glasses from it. They did not look like the one worn by people who have had a cataract operation. It was more stylish and was a design which was once popular in the early 70s.

He asked Rashi to push his wheelchair towards me.

“You are new here” he asked.

“Yes I am” I said, but he did not pick it. He pushed his neck towards me, urging me to talk a little louder and I repeated a little louder. He came closer to me and added in a soft but naughty voice

“I hope Rashi did not trouble you a lot, she gets angry quickly”. He waved his hand to Rashi, signaling her to push him away.

I had met a lot of people, a lot of people had peculiar habits and Rashi’s grandpa was definitely one of them. I don’t think he could see much through the glasses, but he wore a warm smile, he couldn’t talk much but what he talked was sweet. He had a certain charm and pride on his face, the one you have after you have lived a satisfied life. There was immense respect for him in everyone’s eyes. I had decided to stay back on my bed. It was just the first day, though it felt like I had been here forever but already he was the best part of my day. He was the first one to enquire about me, and well the fact that he still has a penchant for life at a stage when he adds to his age everyday was unbelievable.

to be continued


To read RayBan Baba 1 click here
and to read Ray Ban Baba 2 click here

GUESS WHO'S BACK?

Friends, I am sure you remember a few weeks back, I had carried out a sting operation on Chandni ( to see the sting click here). Well, the sting worked and she had something important to say, so I present to you Chandni Bahl( once again...and btw I am not a gr8 fan of censorship, but I like commenting, so the comments in the red are mine)






I wanted to respond to the sting operation by my friends on this blog..With the intention of giving me a spark to write ..i would not be exaggerating if i say that it lit a fire..!! Thank you shahid this was very thoughtful of you and It was a wonderful surprise!(I did not add that, it really was her) And you too sumedha.. after all you broke the surprise..!(What was more surprising is that she kept it a surprise) A special thanks to Rakesh for putting up "the invitation". That was a great way of showing how much he appreciates the poem..I went through the comments and i had a word for all those who commented...I must thank Devika, runnerfrog,Anya,Deependra,Shilpa, Jeevan, man in  painting and Seema. Old monk and Vishwanath, both had extra sweet words for my poem. I am really happy that all of you took some time out to put in a word for me.Though At this point I would not like to say anything about me starting to write all over again as i do not wish to make any more fake promises to myself or anyone else.. but all i can say is very soon you will see my blog..!  


Thanks again


Chandni....

THE REFLECTION- 55 fiction

55 fiction refers to a story or an incident narrated in 55 words

He was used to working late in the night; people said he talked to himself.

His life was all about work, love never found any space.

One day he met a girl, made friends and took her home.

He saw himself in the mirror, for one moment it was him another moment her.

Due to the current work scenario, there are a lot of instances of mental breakdown. One kind of mental breakdown is Multiple personality Disorder.We must learn to live a life outside our cubicles, this was an attempt to spread that message.
 I was inspired by the movie Fight Club ( *ing Brad Pitt), this is my take on it. 

Ray Ban Baba-2

“Excuse me, do you realize this boy has been fooling you?”

“ohh..umm”I stammered, “he charges me for delivering the medicines, if that’s what you are talking about”

“He is much smarter than that, He has billed you more than the MRP price for your medicines, on all your medicines”

“How much extra has he charged me?” I asked, not knowing what I should be doing about it

“At least 100 rupees. If you have a lot of money to give away, then, do what you want”

“100 rupees!”I tried to act cheated  “ What did you get by cheating me? You know that is why India will never progress, everyone here is a cheat, except for this lady here” The boy let loose a giggle and there was thin smile on the girls face

“It’s ok, If you don’t care then you don’t have to act” She said turning her back towards me

“I wasn’t acting,” I said trying to get up, only to be reminded that I was tied up by a saline.

“let me decide that” she said and sat near her grandpa, trying to keep herself busy with a book.

I called the boy, he walked towards me sheepishly.

“Who asked you to laugh?”

“Kya sir, you don’t know how to get angry also”

“Accha, and what about overcharging me?, had you not gone to her, I wouldn’t have known”

“What do I do sir!, the cashier at the pharmacy does these things, I don’t know about it at all”

“Ok, do me a favor, call the pharmacist here, and let me talk to him”

The boy went and called the pharmacist. The pharmacist apologized and also sent my one hundred and thirty five rupees back.

“Here you go” I handed them over to the boy

“Why me sir?”

“Had you not done the mistake of showing that lady” I pointed towards the girl “  I wouldn’t have got them back, so keep it , but make good use of it”

“Ha,sir, I will give them to my mother now only, thank you sir”

I smiled to him, and he left the hospital with a spring in his step. This was the first time, I smiled in this hospital, and like always, one smiles only when we see someone else smile or make them smile.

The specialty of the hospital was its food. The look, the feel and the taste of the food makes you realize that you are sick, maybe it’s a part of the hospital strategy to make sure that their patients stay an additional day. My food was curd with rice, and both the curd and rice was cold. It seems that the cook forgot to add a little of salt to the food. I put the plate aside and went back to staring at the roof.

The fragrance of hot Dal and rice distracted me. The pharmacy boy was holding a plate of rice and dal.

“Is this for me?” I asked

“Yes,” he said with a mischievous smile

“And who gave it”

He winked , put the plate on the small table near my bed and left. He returned swiftly and said

“She said to tell you that her name is Rashi” and left again.

I was smiling from ear to ear. Now I did not want to leave the hospital. Rashi was sitting with her back towards me, but I knew that even she would have a smile on her face. I ate the food and to be honest I don’t remember how it tasted, when you feel good about something, everything around you is good.

To read the first part click here

Ray Ban Baba-1

This is one of the short stories I am still writing. Though it is not complete I thought it would be good if I upload it as and when I write it, one of you might actually drop in with some idea !!

When I first came to Pune, I was full of enthusiasm and excitement about all the things I would do there and guess what was the first considerable thing I saw here? , the roof of a semi-private ward at the hospital!. I was diagnosed with typhoid, a disease which catches hold of you when you don’t pay attention to what and where you are eating. Like I always believe, everything happens in this world because the universe conspires to, so now I know who I have to blame for my condition.

The first thing you would want to know in a semi-private ward is who the other inmates where. Well my semi-private ward had four beds, and only one other bed was occupied. At the first night (I was rushed to the hospital at mid night) I was in no condition to notice anything about this place. All I remember about the night was a few conversations between the nurses which were in some alien language and so I did not care, all I did was sleep.

The first thing I saw in the morning was some doctor reading my medical reports. I don’t know when they took the blood out of me but he said that I would need a week long rest in the hospital. He specified on the word hospital (that’s where he gets his bread and butter; he is bound to emphasize on the word). So my so called journey towards a celebration called life did not start in a very nice manner (that’s what I thought at that time) but I have to be optimistic about it. I mean this is the city which is going to give me my career.

“Mr. Sameer, is there somebody with you who could get your medicines?” a nurse asked interrupting my thoughts

“No, I am on my own. If you could send somebody to get my medicines .I will pay for it”

“O.K”

The nurse walked away.  A few minutes later, a young kid walked in with a plastic bag in hand

“Saheb, these are your medicines” and he handed over the bill. I stretched towards the drawer near my bed and pulled out my wallet, paid the bill with an extra five bucks the kid charged me for his efforts.

That was followed by a few hours of roof staring till the start of the visiting hours. I knew there was another patient there, so I guess there would be some people coming to meet him, probably that was the only way I would be able to see a non hospital face.

I was right about that; a man of medium height, thick moustache and extremely large belly walked in with his wife and daughter.  My bed was diagonally opposite to the other occupied bed and we were separated by a veil which they usually use in the hospitals. They moved the veil slowly so that they could place the chairs around the bed. The patient in that bed was a very old man. He was very skinny with his skin sagging from every part of his body, his cheeks where sucked in and he did not seem to have teeth.  The hospital robe was too big for him. He barely managed to hold the trouser on his waist.

Like all Indian families, this one had brought a lot of the old man’s favorite food items. Since the old guy was on his last stretch, the family does everything to keep him happy and well their antics put me to sleep.

A small poke woke me up; it was the nurse changing the needles. I rubbed my eyes, trying to see what has changed in the past few minutes; I raised the pillow and put it in between the wall and my back for some support. The old guy was still lying down and his granddaughter was giving her company.

“I have seen bad days, but nothing like this” I told myself. The boredom of lying down in the hospital was putting me to sleep every second minute and well I always felt as if I had slept for hours and when my eyes searched for the clock, it moved by a few minutes only.

The kid who had bought my medicines yesterday walked in, and gave a packet of medicines to the granddaughter. She went through the bill, something upset her and she started gesturing wildly. She thumped the bill in the boy’s palm, and she walked towards my bed agitatedly. I was surprised, I really couldn’t think of what could have happened.


to read the second part clickhere

Distance- A poem By Chandni Bahl

I have caught someone on a sting camera, not exactly but am posting a poem written by a good friend of mine, Chandni. Chandni is a writer and it seems she hasn't written anything in a long long time! So I decided why not give her the spark,and lets see where she goes from here.She doesnt know about this so this will be a surprise and thats why I said I have caught her in a sting operation.
Here is a poem by her, so friends tell her what you think about it












Distance Between 2 people

To realize the importance of someone
And know how much you love them

Not being able to see them everyday and
Missing the smallest things about them

Thinking about them every hour
Hoping that the time would fly

Crossing out 'blue' days on the calendar
Writing LONG letters as the days pass by

watching the moon for hours hoping they are doin the same
Every moment Wishing that- This DISTANCE never existed..

Conversations at a Poker Table

Being an ardent fan of Online poker, I spend a lot of time playing poker. The advantage of online poker is that you meet a lot of people, from different cultures, living different lives altogether. The fact that there is tension in the society can be sensed in some of these conversations. It shows that being a Muslim is not easy and neither being a Christian or Jew in Pakistan any easy thing. I came along one such conversation, which bordered on me being a Muslim, Indian and so on and ended on poker skills
I had fun, hope u will have fun reading it. The guy I talked to is Joshua Williams

Joshua Williams: ur gonna loose shahid

Shahid Mukadam: its ok

Joshua Williams: dont u watch the news?

Shahid Mukadam: winning is not everything

Shahid Mukadam: wats in the news

Joshua Williams: terrorist always loose

Shahid Mukadam: lol

Shahid Mukadam: i come from the land of gandhi

Joshua Williams: bs

Shahid Mukadam: someone who has taught me

Shahid Mukadam: to respect evryone i meet

Joshua Williams: lmao

Joshua Williams: and blow them the f u c k up?

Shahid Mukadam: i pity someone who doesnt even know gandhi

Joshua Williams: lmao

Joshua Williams: i know who he is

Joshua Williams: in america they educate us

Shahid Mukadam: we indians are much more educated than you

Shahid Mukadam: even take ur jobs

Joshua Williams: lmfao

Joshua Williams: ur indian ?

Joshua Williams: no my friend

Shahid Mukadam: ask barrack obama about it

Shahid Mukadam: lol

Shahid Mukadam: poor americans

Shahid Mukadam: well george w bush fooled all of u into believing tht u r under attack

Shahid Mukadam: cant sympathise with u more

Joshua Williams: lolz ok my friend indians are scared of everything

Shahid Mukadam: tell me who are americans

Shahid Mukadam: u come from different places

Shahid Mukadam: u aint even a real american

Shahid Mukadam: no culture of ur own

Shahid Mukadam: all borrowed

Joshua Williams: lmfao

Joshua Williams: ur ignorance amazes me

Shahid Mukadam: ha

Shahid Mukadam: urs also

Shahid Mukadam: coz when i keep sayin i am from the land of gandhi

Shahid Mukadam: u ask if i am indian

Shahid Mukadam: lol

Shahid Mukadam: and u say they educate u

Shahid Mukadam: a bigger lol

Joshua Williams: lolz

Joshua Williams: everyone is from a different place

Joshua Williams: no one originated in one place except for ?

Shahid Mukadam: indians

Joshua Williams: do you know?

Shahid Mukadam: meesoppotamians

Shahid Mukadam: and greek

Joshua Williams: jews

Shahid Mukadam: our harrappa civilization and the mesopotamian civilization are the oldest

Shahid Mukadam: jews

Shahid Mukadam: /

Shahid Mukadam: i beg to differ bro

Shahid Mukadam: the real jews who are in the arab peninsula

Shahid Mukadam: most of them have turned to christianity or islam

Shahid Mukadam: u jews

Shahid Mukadam: are converted ones

Shahid Mukadam: ask ur history teacher

Shahid Mukadam: lol

Joshua Williams: lolz u might be right about that im not a jew though

Shahid Mukadam: see and regarding the thing u initially referred me to as a terrorist

Shahid Mukadam: i would really like to educate u on onething

Joshua Williams: u can try

Shahid Mukadam: the current terrorist attacks happening by so called muslims

Shahid Mukadam: is by a certain sect of arabs

Shahid Mukadam: who happen to be muslims

Joshua Williams: but i will always stereotype its a natural instinct

Shahid Mukadam: so there is a diff

Shahid Mukadam: good for yu

Joshua Williams: dont act like ur different

Shahid Mukadam: it will only show what ur intellect level is

Shahid Mukadam: i have studied enough about religions to stereotype anyone

Joshua Williams: not rascist my friend just looking out for me

Shahid Mukadam: i dont call christians terrorist coz hitler was one of them

Joshua Williams: lmao

Joshua Williams: hitler

Joshua Williams: he was not a christian

Joshua Williams: he claimed to be one

Shahid Mukadam: lol

Joshua Williams: theres a difference bud

Shahid Mukadam: thts precisely wat i told u

Shahid Mukadam: the terrorists claim to be muslims

Shahid Mukadam: see lemme tell ya something

Shahid Mukadam: u americans only know a few things

Shahid Mukadam: u are told only what certain leaders at the top want u to kow

Joshua Williams: the thing is i stereotype germans too

Joshua Williams: i stereo type my president

Shahid Mukadam: finding an easy way out of this conversation

Shahid Mukadam: ?

Shahid Mukadam: i will let you have it

Joshua Williams: lolz

Joshua Williams: not quite

Joshua Williams: i was making a point

Shahid Mukadam: i dont think its a worthy point...cant expect someone who stereotypes everything to think straight

Joshua Williams: now that ive talked to u though i know ur far from what i said earlier but i will still stereotype the next person who looks like a terrorist including kkk members

Joshua Williams: and so on

Joshua Williams: but it looks like americans are good at poker

Joshua Williams: lolz

Shahid Mukadam: i wasnt paying attention

Joshua Williams: looks like this is the end

Shahid Mukadam: maybe

Joshua Williams: ur a smart guy

Joshua Williams: very intelligent

Shahid Mukadam: come on where did ur stereotyping go

Joshua Williams: so again im sorry for the name calling

Joshua Williams: lolz

Shahid Mukadam: u supposed to say tht indians are  intelligent

55- Fiction- Separate Ways

This is my first attempt at 55-fiction. I was highly inspired after reading a few of them, this kind of writing is here to stay, So well this is me jumping into the bandwagon

It was like every other holiday, mom and dad packed their bags.

 Mom was loud as usual, and Dad never cared to listen. 

We went to the airport and scanned the luggage. 

They never kissed, never said Good Bye, not a word shared . 

My mom held my hand and they walked separate ways.

Innocent or Guilty,..... lets play tag

                This ones a funny tag. I was tagged by Shilpa

TAG 1 : Innocent… or Guilty?

RULE 1- You can only say Guilty or Innocent.
RULE 2- You are not allowed to explain anything unless someone messages you and asks!
RULE 3- Copy and paste this into your notes, delete my answers, type in your answers and tag to your friends to answer this.



Asked someone to marry you? Innocent
Ever kissed someone of the same sex? Guilty
Danced on a table in a bar? Innocent
Ever told a lie? Guilty
Had feelings for someone whom you can’t have back? Guilty
Kissed a picture? Guilty
Slept in until 5 PM? Guilty 
Fallen asleep at work/school? Guilty
Held a snake? Innocent
Been suspended from school? Innocent
Worked at a fast food restaurant? Innocent
Stolen from a store? Guilty
Been fired from a job? Innocent
Done something you regret? Guilty
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Guilty
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Innocent
Kissed in the rain? Innocent
Sat on a roof top? Guilty
Kissed someone you shouldn’t? Guilty
Sang in the shower? Guilty
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? Innocent
Shaved your head? Innocent
Had a boxing membership? Innocent
Made a girlfriend cry? Guilty
Been in a band? Innocent
Shot a gun? Guilty
Donated Blood? Guilty
Eaten alligator meat? Innocent
Eaten cheesecake? Guilty
Still love someone you shouldn’t? Guilty
Have/had a tattoo? Innocent
Liked someone, but will never tell who? Guilty
Been too honest? Guilty
Ruined a surprise? Guilty
Ate in a restaurant and got really bloated that you couldn’t walk afterwards? Guilty
Erased someone in your friends list? Guilty
Dressed in a woman’s clothes (if you’re a guy) or man’s clothes (if you’re a girl)? Guilty
Joined a pageant? Innocent
Been told that you’re handsome or beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said? Guilty
Had communication with your ex? Guilty
Got totally drunk on the night before exam? Innocent
Got totally angry that you cried so hard? Guilty

Guilty for just 26/42….

TAG 2 : How DUMB are you?

The more [x]’ s the “dumber” you are.

[] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were talking
[] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were NOT talking
[x] You have ran into a glass/screen door
[x] You have jumped out of a moving vehicle
[x] You have thought of something funny while walking by yourself
[x] Laughed, then watched people give you weird looks
[] You have run into a tree/bush.
[] You know that it IS possible to lick your elbow
[] You have tried to lick your elbow… a few times
[x] You never knew that the Alphabet and Twinkle Twinkle Little star have the same rhythm.
[x] You just tried to sing them.

So far: 6

[x] You have tripped on your shoelace and fallen.
[] You have choked on your own spit .
[] You have seen the Matrix and still don’t get it.
[] You’ve never seen the Matrix.
[] You type only with two fingers.
[x] You have accidentally caught something on fire.
[] You tried to drink out of a straw, but it went into your nose/eyes.
[x] You have caught yourself drooling.
[] You have fallen asleep in class and fell outta your chair

So far: 9

[x] Sometimes you just stop thinking (most of the time I wont think about anything).
[x] You are telling a story and forget what you were talking about.
[] People often shake their heads and walk away from you.
[] You are often told to use your “inside voice”.
[] You use your fingers to do simple math.
[x] You have eaten a bug.
[] You are taking this test when you should be doing something more important.
[x] You have put your clothes on backwards or inside out, and didn’t realize it.
[x] You’ve looked all over for something and realized it was in your hand.
[x] You have ran around naked in your house.

So far: 15

[] You repost bulletins because you are scared that what they say will happen to you if you didn’t.
[] You break a lot of things.
[] Your friends know not to use big words around you.
[] You tilt your head when you’re confused.
[] You have fallen out of your chair before.
[x] When you’re lying in bed, you try to find pictures in the texture of the ceiling or wall.
[] The word “ummmmm” is used many times a day.

TOTAL: 16

Even I am (16/37)*100 = 43.24% DUMB !

AND NOW TIME FOR TAGGING MY FIRENDS (intentional), Rakesh, Seema,Deependra,Jon, eshwarri,

Keep tagging your friends and the fun part begins when we ask questions about the guilty things, so tagg it around and have fun