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