” I dont know why I love her like I do
All the changes you put me through
Take my money, my cigarettes
I havent seen the worst of it yet
I wanna know that youll tell me
I love to stay” *

Kickstart lungs is the name of the condition you develop when a single hunk of two stroke machinery wont start. Life comes telescoping down the funnel spigot of fate’s drain and you are more than overwhelmed by the end. Buried, snowed under the absence of further possibilities. If it happens to you in a delhi summer, you get wet with sweat and your breath imitates a pair of leaky cloth bellows. Malviya nagar girls, mostly fair - the ones with heels on their chappals are distinctly uncool while the ones in flat chappals are mod. Things you can’t notice then but remember later.

Beer cans in my bag, the girl at the end of the road waiting. Market boys offer to push while making suggestions that i slug a beer there itself to replenish loss of body fluids - dosent get too far. Call the Coyote who tells me to tilt and kick. This after an hours attempts have run me argound like a beached whale. Thinking things like, ‘ah, milady will take care of the shambles the bike has made me, I get on and ride the thing (Stranger, they call it!)finally; hoping the breeze will dry my shirt out.

“I dont know why you treat me so bad
Think of all the things we could have had
Love is an ocean that I cant forget
My sweet sixteen I would never regret” *

Get from station to station like, to find milady engrossed in a movie. For some (obvious to yez-riders!!!) reason i don’t bother to ask which one it was. Hang around and face the cold wave moving from her face glued to the monitor towards me. I take it into the kitchen and get the beers and act like the leftover vegetables from yesterday’s weekly market.

“I dont know why I love you like I do
All the troubles you put me through
Sixteen candles there on my wall
And here am I the biggest fool of them all” *

After setting the poor girl up, can any man affect a cool and suave attitude when on the way the yezdi took an hour to start? I give up and offer this lil bit of advise:

Avoid dates when yr bike wouldn’t start along the way.
Maybe it’s the hand of fate, maybe it’s your clutch plates, in any case its a loosing fight that all of us who know what it feels like smile at the memories of the pain and understand that to own a y-bike is to take on a personal cross that you bear much to the cynosure of all around but the vital connection with the bike. I swear, its a rare yezdi owner who will leave the bike behind and continue.

“I wanna know that youll tell me
I love to stay
Take me to the river and drop me in the water
Dip me in the river, drop me in the water
Washing me down, washing me down.” *

After the long fight trying to start the bike, you get like Hemmingway’s Old Man and the Sea and you no longer want to leave behind what nearly killed you because even this has become part of you and your lifestory and regardless of the ugly bits of the experience, what ever it is- it is yours. It’s like a connection or a bond with something - anything, which takes you to the limits of yourself or depths and stays with you through it all. Can’t explain it too much, it all sounds ‘fishy.’ In case of Yezdis, I just call it the Union Mechanica. A mystical union between man and machine.

Peace and twin-pipe rule,
- arunesh
* Take me to the River (song lyrics) - Talking Heads (which i am fixiated by because adrian bellew plays this excrutiating solo in the studio version which reminds me of the sound made by a running seizure the yezdi happens)

This article first printed at http://yezdidiaries.blogspot.com/2008/06/kickstart-lungs-is-name-of-condition.html

Test Cricket

Let’s travel back to the glorious 1970s. Joel Garner, one-fourth of the fearsome West Indian pace battery is hurling the ‘cherry’ in full throttle to the Little Master, Sunil Gavaskar, on a deadly Barbados pitch. The result - Sunny went backfoot, and hit an impeccable cover drive for a boundary. The shot was met with a vociferous applause from the Barbados spectators and the West Indian players alike. Can we see this kind of behaviors in the shortest form of the game today? The answer is a resounding ‘no’. Test cricket was, is and will remain the pinnacle of cricket. It brings out the real character of the player. Old timers still say test cricket is what separates the men from the boys.

Test cricket is all about technique, skill and uncertainties, which sadly 20-20 cannot emulate. While much as been written about 20-20 cricket as the ‘new kid on the block’, the truth is far from what is being projected. Sure 20-20 is glamorous; more action packed than a Bruce Lee or a Tarantino flick, and is loaded with more cash and bling you can ever imagine. But does it have the soul, the essence of the longest version of the game? No, 20-20 is what I call the Bollywoodization of cricket with less of cricket and more of SRK or Mrs. Shetty.

Hashmi with Cheerleaders in T-20 Cricket

Personally speaking, I still prefer test match cricket. Think of the Ashes, or the India-Australia series, or the India-South Africa series, or the Basil D’ Olivera trophy. Can 20-20 come anywhere closer to the excitement generated by test cricket? Never in a million years. While test cricket is about tradition and grace, 20-20 is all ‘wham bam, thank you maam’. The IPL for one is destroying cricket in multiple ways and we see no end to this madness. Modi and his band of robbers are doing what they do best - destroying cricket and making millions. The auction for players in the IPL resembles the auction for slaves in the Roman Empire. And it isn’t just the auction! The cheerleaders, inept commentary and ‘expert opinions’ will make a true cricket lover switch off the TV in disgust. Move over soaps - the IPL is here and will give you a run for your money in disgustingly low standards (or lack thereof!) of television programming.

Where will you come across “DLF Maximums” for an over-boundary or Lalit Modi’s images every 30 secs? Nowhere! Yes, the IPL has changed cricket, its dynamics, but for the worst. True connoisseurs of cricket still consider test cricket to the ultimate form of the game. The IPL will continue to make millions and who knows we will have new teams like Meerut Marauders or Darjeeling Dynamos or Kochi Killers, all competing for ineptness and meaningless matches. Look what 20-20 has done to players like Binga, Freddie, or Bondie. They have retired from test cricket to ‘prolong’ their careers on other ‘versions’ of the game.

Long live test cricket. May the legacies of Bradman, Hobbs, or Hutton rule over the mediocre 20-20 ‘thought leaders’. After all, a Mozart symphony is always superior to a ghetto hip-hop number.

The pearly rays of the sun played on my eye lids and woke me up to a fine morning. It took only few steps towards the window pane to see and feel the difference. The air smelled earthy and the dry and drooping plants were now boasting of their new found youth. It was coming of the age; but yes in the reverse order.

Adjoining the plants were their new neighbors, slick, curly, twirling bougainvillea and spring weeds. They almost looked up to the tall trees, wishing to grow as tall someday. They gyrated with the smooth wind, letting their leafs dance to its tune;  like Cinderella with her prince charming.

The beetles with their polka dresses had come out too. The preying mantis had stopped praying as God had answered their adjuration. There was plenty around to have and see.

I could see from a far the Bee-Queen summoning her army of lecherous male bees, who were willing to die to have their chance. She was making the plans for their new hive. I could almost hear her say, ‘Sparta! Today we dine in our hive’. The eave dropping dropped only when I heard their spy swarming over me, keeping a watch on my gleaning eyes. I smiled anxiously and got the point. There was no need to fight with my stingy ‘la surveillante’. And while, the wind took the bee away, my eyes were booked by the over all verdure. It was green and beautiful all around.

Hammad

The sunshine doesn’t bother you on spring mornings. It pampers you. As flowers begin to blossom, so does your mood. As you walk on the lively grass, the surroundings become kaleidoscopic. Undoubtedly, mornings of this season breathe vibrancy.

Ankit

Can you hear the little sapling nudging its tiny head out of the ground to get the first glimpse of the season changing? The enchantment of spring inundates my senses with new life, with the new hope of new beginnings. The freshly minted sunshine thaws out the edges of despair and I am once again ensnared in the gossamer web of life.

Romila

Welcome Spring to my window sill,
To brighten my greens with colorful preens,
Don’t you know you are awaited?
For my greens long to smile, bloom and dance in the wind!
Early morning, I open my windows to beautiful vistas of open green meadows: fresh, dewy, gentle and soothing. Interspersed by colorful beds of tulips and roses, red, white, pink, yellow…, it is truly a sight to cherish! I venture out into this captivating beauty to touch the blooms, feel the breeze, watch the fluttering butterflies, listen to the humming birds, and treasure and capture this moment forever in my mind’s eye!

Raji

I step out of my house and take a deep breath. It is a fine spring morning, with flowers abloom, the sun bright and the fresh smell of jasmine. Rays of sunlight shimmer through the dew drops that slide down the blades of the lush green grass.

Priya

The colour is green and the English say it’s Autumn..
They say the king of seasons; I say it’s close to my heart.
They say harvest, I say, transition, change and freshness.
The birds are flitting and the flowers show off
The morning dew over the fresh new leaves has to give me a new found high.
Is it freezing there? No baby, it’s the Spring outside.

Palash

Spring Morning: Arise and Awaken Your Emotions
The advent of spring brings with it profuse colors and arouses a myriad of emotion.
Spring mornings, joyful and pleasant, are filled with hustle-bustle and commotion.
From the able-bodied young to the young-at-heart elderly, everyone wants to immerse themselves in the splendor of spring.
Be it meditating in the balcony or strolling in the park, spring is no wonder called the season of blooming.

Vidya

Spring Morning
A warm, yellow radiance gushes into the room and embraces every object within its reach as soon as the curtains are drawn. Twittering vibrance fills the ears and multi-colored blossoms greet the eyes. The earth has cast away its morose wintry blanket and welcomed the season of revival and happiness with open arms. The sense of luxury and plenitude in the air fills every heart….

Debolena

Spring Morning Greenery

“Some are destined to succeed, some are determined to succeed !” - H. H. Swami Tejomayananda

I and some of you should believe on the latter one. Fortitude to minimize gaps in what we want to achieve thinking about a larger picture in mind is what it is required today. I have learnt about energy within and I also know that energy is neither negative nor positive. Our own personalization of events and the thoughts coming in and out determines the character of the energy.

Do not complain- Can you start practicing this for a week. Take this habit to work, family and other interpersonal relationships. Swami Vivekananda has said once, and the central idea of Bhagwad Gita is “to work incessantly”. I was watching this video where Nick without his arms or limbs trying to recreate a pack of school girls and at the end of his speech he tell everybody how to stand up “on his own”. In one of the lines he also mentions, “It matters how you finish, and you gonna finish strong.” You know it is true.

We have a purpose in life and that purpose has been predetermined already. It is different case if you realize your true purpose today or tomorrow. The crux should be, perform – failed? Perform again- failed -do it again.

I know a new golfer (at least his twitter account) defines him somehow. I also know how passionate he is about this sport. I have never played this game, but what I come to know from him, largely is that a golfer tries to focus on ‘that great shot’ and keeps improving. He will never remember the bad shots. He will recreate the good pull he made at that moment and better it. Same with life, people are busy really busy. Can we recollect that great conversation we made today, or a nice sale or for that matter that great meeting with one? If you start looking for it, you will be surprised that there are more in store.

Unattached and zero-expectations from life. Possible or not possible? Try a little charity without expecting something. Vivekananda has said, be cheated million times and never ask a question. Can we give selflessly without expecting gratitude? Rather we should be grateful that we have an opportunity to practice charity somehow.

Please see this Video..Thank you

I wake

I roll

I clean my pipes

I clean your panels

We roll out

as per plan

I leave you

(maybe out in the rain)

You rust and chew my butt

I leave you again

You decide you dont like my plans

I pick her up

You chew me up again

I give up

Either of you will call me again

Maybe I need another plan.

I roll

I plan and pet your panels at the same time

I polish your panels

open communication channels

I paint your pipes -

weekend attention thing types

etcetera,…

We roll again;

She dosen’t.

When not in office, I think…

Who would have opposed Rupali from switching on the fan?

Who would have distracted the team with killers?

Who would have connived with Priya to annoy Shalini?

Who would have given people a chance to crack gay jokes?

Who else would have laughed at what Arunesh said?

Who would have told Deb B that winters are still a month away?

Whom would Palash mentor?

Who would mentor Asif? (vested interests involved)

Who will gossip with Ranjit in Punjabi?

Who would persuade Vidya, Raji and Hammad to HOB? (Beware Saurav and Maheswaran.. u dirty minds.. there are more things common between them than just the gender.. both are new joinees)

Who would discuss winter vacation plans with Mayank?

Who would eat up Swapna’s lunch ? Oh no, many people are fighting for that!!

I am coming tomorrow.

It’s hard to find solace when your idols are cracking up. In my view, that’s exactly whats happening for many Indians who admired Tharoor.

The headline news across Indian media channels on 8th Sep, ’09 had one thing to talk about as breaking news – about India’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s ‘eviction’ order to the country’s two top politicians, Shashi Tharoor and S.M Krishna. They were allegedly ordered to vacate the 5-star suites they are occupying in Delhi for over 3 months. The media report stated that both the politicians have been occupying the suites for over 3 months.

Shashi Tharoor, who has been using Twitter to engage in dialogues with a staggering number of followers, found himself flooded with countless tweets. His followers wanted his views on the report.

Despite my admiration for Tharoor as an intelligent thinker, writer, and leader, it came as a real dampener to read how he dismissed the issue as a ‘non story.’ His rationale is that he did not spend the taxpayer’s money or use any government privilege.

When the Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh is advocating austerity day after day, this act of ostentation, whether its Tharoor’s pocket money or property money, is insulting. Pritish Nandy rightly stated on Twitter that the issue is not where the money came from but why the act of ostentation took place.

Next, Tharoor’s excuse of not staying in Kerala House, on Twitter, was that it lacks two things – a gym and privacy.

You don’t really need to stay in a five star hotel suite just to get a good gym facility, do you?

About privacy, I feel outraged that someone like Tharoor lied. It’s a very private, exclusive space for celebrities and political leaders at Kerala House. The accommodation is truly king-size luxury at little or no price at all for the elite circle that stays there. The state’s most popular Ministers, actors, and celebrities enjoy their privacy there. It’s like living in royal grandeur and splendid isolation.

That’s what makes Tharoor’s statement such a blatant lie. The fact that he lied is what angers those who follow him with respect. Sure, politicians insult our intelligence all the time with the most creative excuses, its no big deal, really.

Maybe we would have respected Shashi Tharoor if he had been honest about the whole deal. Of course, no politician is perfect in any country but from Tharoor, we made the mistake of expecting a little more. We saw his entry into politics as a better chance to believe in the political high class once again, based on a mistaken belief that perhaps good, intelligent leaders are back. What we’ve got is suave lies, and that is not fair.

Like a consolation prize of sorts, Tharoor stated that he visits Kerala House to meet and talk with people. Maybe someone needs to remind him the only people in Kerala House are celebrities and Ministers. To meet people, Tharoor needs to step out of his 5 star suite with its gym and privacy facilities and visit his constituency for a change. There are a lot of people out there who are living in an unenviable state of austerity. Maybe Tharoor the suave politician needs to step out of his fancy political suit to recognize this fact.

A minute ago a white coloured government van appeared and some officials reprimanded children who looked like beggars standing near the corner of the street, what they said was unknown to me.

Location: K.G Marg (opp British Council) near a Juice Stall

Beggar one: Ab kya hoga (what will happen now)

Beggar two: Jo hoga dekha jayega (Let time decide our fate)

The Minister for Social Welfare, Law and Justice Department has vowed to make Delhi free from beggars by 2010. Keeping the Commonwealth games in mind, Delhi has to be a world class city and that is only possible after the eradication of these blots of the society. Two mobile courts now have been pressed into action to catch person found begging and citizens are also encouraged to help courts catch and rehabilitate them. Under the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, the mobile courts heralded by a judge can punish serial offenders’ and/or up to 10 years imprisonment in one of the three remand rooms. Punishment to young children can be relaxed (they will be sent to juvenile homes or rehab), quotes a senior government official.

Twelve Vans are already at work in Delhi - to catch the beggars. After the catch, the destitutes are sent to about a dozen odd beggar homes- its capacity- 2200. Roughly there are about 60,000 beggars inside Delhi and around a quarter of them are less than 18 years of age. For Ankit it is hard to believe a beggar free city, ” not possible.” It should be noted that the Delhi government had started a DIAL 1098 save a child beggar programme for the citizens, but the veracity of the helpline is yet to be ascertained. Apart from a traditional practice in India, begging today is an organized industry which prefers to remain underground. True that some of the poor souls are naturally disfigured but others have the ability to cash-in-sympathy. A beggar in Delhi makes about 100 -200 INR per day whereas, more than what an unskilled laborer earns. “Catching the beggars on the eve of Commenwealth games is not the solution, driving poverty is.” Piyush says.

India is home to more than 1.01 million. The Social Welfare department promises to make Delhi - a beggar free by 2010, it still lacks a comprehensive scheme of sorts for their betterment. Priya says, “It is an industry, an organized one. I would like to see them selling stuffs on the roads.” Most of the beggars in Delhi come from the lowest strata of the society. Here education, literacy and health becomes a non-essential requirement and surviving with a hungry stomach becomes a little more important than kitaabi baatein (bookish read non-practical stuffs). According to reliable statistics 90% of beggars in Delhi are from our own self proclaimed BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh).

Some NGO’s are working towards betterment of these poor souls but a cohesive plan need to be laid out. Rony believes that the beggars should start selling government made products. What about utilizing this huge manpower into a government sponsored self help employment schemes or even better turn them on to the list of unskilled laborers?

Arunesh gets sarcastic, “I have never thought about them.” True, all of us have never consciously thought about beggars we come across almost everyday. I get moved sometimes, when I see an aged man or a greying woman seeking alms. I wonder, where will the mobile vans take them away or for that matter put them?

“Iss desh ko rakhna mere bachchon sambhaal ke.” You must have heard this song playing on radio or TV on August 15, October 2 or January 26. The patriotic song from the film Jagriti was sung by Mohd. Rafi. However, many people across the border hear this song playing on August 14.

A Rare Message to Pakistani Youth-1957

Somebody in Pakistan also sailed the same kashti to safety from the same toofaan. He also had kids, who were being appealed to. The only difference being that they were being told to rescue the mulq, not the desh. The lyrics and the music are exactly the same. While technically the Pakistani boat reached the shores before the Indian one, this composition is originally Indian. A Pakistani got, as Pritam would say, ‘inspired.’ It must be a time zone issue.

Wait a minute. Am I sounding like bashing a Pakistani? NO. I love the country and its people. With due respect to my national anthem, I declare that I enjoy the Pakistani national anthem more than Jana Gana Mana. However, I have no respect for people who project a stolen piece of work as their own – irrespective of their nationality.

By the way, there is another song “Sabarmati ke sant tune kar diya kamal”. That one became “Aye QaideAzam tera ahsaan hai ahsaan”. This was still creative, considering only the music was copied and Gandhi was replaced with Jinnah. The height of plagiarism, however, was in the video. In the Indian version, a handicapped student is singing the song. The disability of the Pakistani director is visible in his inability to think of something different.

Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

The waiting of over a year culminated in my being able to get tickets for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince tonight - the first day it was released. The hours were difficult to pass and the day seemed to stretch unnaturally, keeping me away from one of the few things I am passionate about. Needless to say, when the movie started, I was all ready to stand up and hoot and clap. But I stopped soon enough. Did they say this movie was based on JK Rowling’s book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince??? Ok, I agree, some of the characters were taken from the book but not the story. Being the generous person I am, I will agree to accept that the screenplay was loosely inspired by a dream the writers might have had after reading JK Rowling’s book.

The parts that make the book intriguing, the crucial aspects that all tie up together to form the last book, the experiences that made the Half Blood Prince who he was, everything was foregone to make a story that was full of computer gimmicks for children.

Don’t they realise that most of the audience would be of people who have read the book and have pictured the story in their minds and want to see how their own vision would be translated on screen? Let me give you a small example without giving away the story for those who haven’t read the book - a quiet Christmas at The Burrow was turned into a fight for one’s very life as half the Death Eaters turned up and burned the house down!!!! Why? How did that help the story except to showcase the prowess of the graphics team?

OK I get it now - the movie should have been called Harry Potter and the Half Trained Geeks - an advertisement on how far Britain has come when it comes to animation. It isn’t as though Daniel Radcliffe has finally taken acting classes and breaks into an expression at least in an odd scene here and there. So it couldn’t be about Harry Potter.

In short, I am appalled and amazed that JK Rowling would give her blessings to this movie and not take them to court. I want to. But then, I suppose, she doesn’t want her next book to be Harry Potter and the Half Paid Bills.