Bleed Blue.....alright.....But make sure u get d shade right...

A friend of mine, Auyon Acharya, had put this statement on his Facebook profile as his status update and I found it really interesting to put it up as a part of my blog. Thanks Auyon, but since you don't write but make films, I can't tag you on my blog – I put it up for you on FB as well.

So, here is the platter of food that graduated from the above mentioned recipe for thought and is spread for you to taste and give opinions.

I am a Cricket Fan, and when I didn't get to watch India's batting 'due to office '– I felt miserable. Precisely on the verge of crying that I will miss watching My Team in action. I could have chased scores online and would have been happy about it, had it been any other country playing against us, but the reason of yesterday's reaction was caused by “The India vs. Pakistan Clash”.

Ok I'm not the only crazy one. Mumbai, Delhi, B'lore, Hyderabad and many other cities were almost Bandh for the occasion of this match. Corporates shut down themselves or arranged Television screens for their employees to enjoy the match together. I finally escaped work an hour to find myself walking on curfew decreed streets and the usual traffic filled roads were eerily vacant. It suddenly felt something was really wrong, but no it was not.

The Facebook status' kept on getting updated with the latest scores and things like what's happening on field. Someone who cud just be online on FB would know the game status. By the way, with the grace of my office folks (No sarcasm intended) I got to see the last over batted by India and the whole of Pakistan's innings. I was on my toes towards the end of the match. Whoa!! that was some excitement people.

Its really hard to count how many nails were bitten, how many plates food (read samosas, pakodes & other misc starters) got washed down with the countless glasses of beers or soft drinks, how many pillows got torn, how many remote controls broken and how many other 'How Many's” during the ultimate tussle of The Indo-Pak war game.

And then India WON!!!

The happiness and joy knew no bounds. The expressions and celebrations post match are not be described in words. They fail me. It felt like Diwali in March. A realization stuck me that we are a part of the cricket crazy nation and the designation is absolutely rightful with no exaggeration in any respect. Saw the unity of crowd and its not wrong to say that cricket runs in the very veins of our bodies. It's not just a game for us, especially when it comes to Pakistan, it becomes our religion. It's either do or die.

Finally, I'm at a little peace today that we are in the finals with Sri Lanka. So, now we wait for the Ram (read India) and Ravan (read Lanka) final match in Wankhede Stadium. We pray and we cheer to encourage our team to make our country proud. It's time to bleed blue, but remember even Lankans are a shade in blue, so be clear about your shade in there.

Aur ye CUP TO HAMARA HI HAI YAAR!!! Koi Shaq.

The Accidental Friend

Sia boarded the train to her native along with her sisters as she was hell bent on reaching home for Diwali. The start of vacation season had left all three of them with no seats and tickets in waiting list. They all started their journey with a waiting list tickets and no seats. The younger ones sat on their luggages till Sia went in to speak to the TTE for negotiating about at least one seat for the GIRLS. To Sia's luck, they found exactly three seats in the otherwise full train, however, in the upper tier with some extra cost incurred to bribe the TTE. Bless their luck. They settled in their new seats, now when they had places to relax by.

Sia settled her sisters and baggage’s on their respective seats, and she herself got cozy in her seat. She started to read her favorite book 'Sons of Fortune' for the nth number of time. After some time, when she was on the verge of dozing off, she heard her sister's voice in conversation with some guy. In her sense of relief after getting seats, she had forgotten to notice people seated around them. She saw a nerdy, lanky guy with glasses on, settled on the upper berth and chatting with her sister.

Sia had always been skeptical of strangers while travelling with all stories of these unfamiliar people drugging others and looting everything. She stared at her sister and told her in coded language (they had a secret language) not to talk to the stranger. Apparently, the stranger was persistent and now that he realized that Sia was along with them, he started to notice her as well. He commented loud enough that Sia is fast reader to make her hear the remark and attract her attention. She thought, he succeeded and what now. She looked up at the guy and saw that he was staring at her. Although Sia was giving him filthy looks, he was smiling. Sia got up to go to the loo to avoid this annoying guy.

She came back to see that the guy was sitting on the lower berth opposite her and chatting merrily to both her sisters. She hated him from the start and now she had to face him for the rest of the time till he chooses to sit opposite her. He started popping questions for Sia to answer and Sia dodged them by answering in monosyllables. The guy is damn persistent, she thought. May be she can give talking to him a shot. May be talking about girly subjects would bore him and he would buzz off. She still had the choice of sleeping off if he is as annoying as he seems. She started talking to him.

The guy introduced himself as Rahul. He was pretty well spoken, nicely dressed and seemed well educated too. She thought, then why on earth is he behaving so annoyingly and trying to talk to people who are not even remotely interested in talking to him.  Still they started on a conversation and after some time it was difficult to tell that they have just met a few hours back. They were talking about almost every possible topic on this earth, starting from engineering (guy’s topic) to advertising and bitching (girl’s topic) to their respective jobs and places of postings. They apparently had close posting places, just 2 hours of drive and you are there.

Rahul and Sia talked and talked till they reached their destination the other day, with train being 13 hours late from the usual schedule (Indian railways - I tell you are never on time). Sia was aghast that she won’t reach home for Diwali. And a bigger trouble awaited at hand that they were left at an abandoned railway station at the graveyard hour. Rahul's father being in army had send a vehicle to pick him up from the station but he opted to stay back with Sia to give her company.

Sia agreed, at least a little known devil is better than unknown evils. They shared their email addresses to communicate in future and waited upon, chatting in the waiting room for the night to get over. The next morning, Rahul made sure that they all boarded the correct bus and left safely to their home town, which was another 1w hours of journey from that place. This one nice gesture of Rahul made both of them inseparable friends for life. An unprecedented waiting list train journey gave both of them real good friends for life.

Resurfacing

After a long time, I felt like writing today. I cried a lot last evening thinking about what I am doing with my life. I came to realize that I had stated to spin my life around a fancy that was never to exist for me. I have to work all my life. I can’t afford to live such a laid back life of doing nothing and simply cribbing about what’s lost.

I have stopped writing altogether – that what makes my life worthwhile – I had stopped doing it. I have written so many short stories but they are not worth the effort of publishing. I am resurfacing with a firm decision that now it’s my turn to dictate my life. I won’t take anyone’s term to rule me. I have a lot sensible people to guide my efforts to the correct path. Let’s start a new life.

New ME is to welcome the changes. I am no housewife to crib & cry and I have no future as one. So why waste myself. I love you Richa Vani. Welcome back love.

Death

Right here, front of my eyes

It died

Pain shot up through heart

All went white

Why you seem so far

So blurred, so cool?

Why can’t I touch you?

Who died?

Why did it hurt?

Did it belong?

Time is so long

It’s a healer

I’m fading

Right here, front of my eyes

I see myself fade

I saw my death awhile aback.