Whistling away to glory.......

It was the Geography class and as usual I was dozing off, being a back bencher helped. The rest of the class had already trekked over the Andes, visited the grassland of South America and were now on their way towards the Amazons. Well that was the usual thing for me and it was a mutual agreement between Mrs Banerjee and me, my Geography teacher, not to disturb me when I’m busy (dozing). My brilliance was already well known to her since she had just corrected my mid-term paper. You see that’s why it is said that like minded geniuses think alike….(myself being one). It isn’t that I’m boasting but was true. Anyways I don’t want to discuss my major accomplishments and achievements since that would mean making you feel inferior to me.

Back to my story……

Where was I……oh yes!!!……I was happily dozing when suddenly I felt or rather I experienced an acute pain at a place where till now I used to believe my shoulder blades to reside.

It was Partho my back bencher buddy pounding me. “C’mon man he is calling….” he gritted between his teeth and almost broke my shoulder. “Who is he… yaar?”

“Arrey baba he….man HE IS CALLING YOU” Partho was yelling. I had learnt in my English class that the word ‘he’ is a common noun applicable to all that is masculine in nature. Even with such a genius brain at hand I couldn’t figure out who was HE.

“Will you come or shall I…….” Partho glared at me. Now you don’t mess with someone who is 6’2 and arms equal to my thighs. So I finally decided to do what I haven’t done till now …..ever…… in a geography class. “Maam …… err excuse me Maam??......”Mrs Banerjee looked up and her shocked look can only be described as the way Red Indians must have felt when they discovered that Columbus had paid them a visit.

Maam….he is calling……I mean I need to go out…?? I stuttered

“Yes, Yes ….. please” she said “and do take your own time” she added

As soon as we were out of the class….Partho grabbed me by my hand and started running “come along….he is waiting for you”. He again…..who is this ‘he’???..... . Anyways we ran down the stairs to the ground floor, rushed towards the auditorium.

Our school auditorium may not be one of the biggest of places but can still house atleast 150 students at a single time. Well, there we were inside the auditorium and I was facing HE who was sitting with a guitar in his hand. “He is Sandeep Ghosal. He is the one who would be training our band for taking part in the annual inter-school music competition.” Partho told me proudly.

“Hey dude jus call me Sandy mann…” grinned Sandeep Ghosal and shook hands with me. Ok now he is Sandy and that’s the way he wanted me to call him …. Will keep him happy.

I looked at the instruments - guitars, tabla, keyboards, drums and other weird stuffs strewn all around the place. To the best of my knowledge, presuming I knew myself the best, music and I were as good companions as Einstein and Beethoven.

“Err…what am I doing here exactly?” I asked Partho. They definitely didn’t call me for cleaning all the mess they had made inside the auditorium……..or had they.

“The song which we are rehearsing has this……small part……which requires someone…….to whistle……and we thought…..that since you are really good at that…. maybe u can…….” Debu, another class mate of mine chipped in.

Ok……. so my friends……Debu and Partho in all these years……instead of seeing the real potentials in me (though I’m still figuring them out) could only think of one good thing, that I could whistle.

“You see…..I am kind of really busy with that Geography subject….You know that Amazon forest thing…..and……” I tried to say. Moreover I hate to say ‘no’ on anyone’s face.

“What!!!! What are you talking about !!!!” Partho shouted. I could see the vein in his neck pop out and any more shouting from him, I’m sure, they would burst. Moreover my shoulders were still hurting a bit.

“Ok…..fine if you guys insist” I said.

“Cool…..thanks a lot yaar we knew we could count on you” Partho and Debu patted (you can almost say hammered) my head. If I knew saying yes would hurt me so much, I rather would have said no.

“Ok then lets not waste any more time guys…..lets rock baby” shouted Sandy.

“Here’s your part……let’s start everyone” Sandy said and handed me a paper.

Well the rehearsal was going smoothly until it was my turn.

The conversation between Sandy and me went on like this.

Sandy: “STOP STOP…..hey man you are not catching the right octave”

Me: “what is an Octave?”

Sandy: “I mean you are not in the flow”

Me: “what is the Flow?”

Sandy: “You are not in sync dude”

Me: “what is sync?”

Sandy: “Catch the music?”

Me: “what music?”

Sandy: “listen to my guitar”

Me: “what is a……”

Sandy: “Pleeez !!!!!”

Now I can’t very well ask what is please and moreover I hate seeing grown men cry. In the entire auditorium it seemed that a cylinder of laughing gas had just got opened. My friends were already rolling on the ground clutching their stomach.

I was basking in my new found glory when I turned around and saw this girl.

She wasn’t exactly laughing. Her lips were curled into a half smile and the way she was looking at me made me feel as if I was a 3 yr old kid caught stealing a cookie. I had this sudden urge to check whether I had dressed properly.

“Everyone please be serious……come on now…..” cried sandy.

All through the rehearsals I had this feeling of turning back and looking at this girl and see if she was still looking at me. It was kind of weird considering the fact that I didn’t even know her. Why this sudden interest in her? I kept thinking of her for the rest of the day. The way she was looking at me…….and the feeling I got……I hadn’t felt anything like that ever before.

That night, after dinner as I was about to go to bed that wisdom dawned on me suddenly. I knew why I was feeling like that. Yes I knew. I knew it was love. Yes yes it had to be LOVE !!!! This was the only thing I had never experienced till now. So it must be that LOVE bug which had bitten me. I wasn’t even bothered about who she was let alone know her name.

The next day in school I declared it to my friends proudly about the entire thing and the reaction was as I had expected but no less, a dramatic one. Debu dropped the book he was reading. Nikhil rubbed his eyes then figured that it wasn’t the right gesture, so rubbed his ears.

“Who is that unfortunate one?” Partho finally asked.

“Well…..” I said sheepishly “I am not sure of her name but she stands behind me during the rehearsals” I added.

“WHAAATTT!!!” cried all my friends in unison.

“Do you know who she is???” Debu asked me.

“Her name is Sonali Ghosh and she is the lead singer for our song, in case if you haven’t figured that out yourself by now idiot. She also happens to be trained in hindustani classical as well as western music. Apart from that just for your knowledge dumbo she happens to be a topper in her class.” Added Nikhil.

“I am not bothered” was all I could say. Of course why should I be perturbed by all the mundane details such as the ones Nikhil mentioned about her. I was in love remember…..though I would like to mention that her long list of qualifications did throw me a bit off guard.

Anyways I had decided to speak to her during the rehearsals that day come what may. Entire day I kept on thinking on what was the best way to approach her. Partho and Me went over and over again on the countless possible scenarios that may arise, Nikhil and Debu giving me disapproving looks that it wouldn’t work out either ways.

“Ok guys, Good job for today…….lets pack up…..will meet tomorrow again” declared said Sandy.

While everyone started packing up and were leaving, Partho came close to me and whispered “Now is the time……now now NOW”. I saw her leaving the auditorium. I collected my bag and just dashed through the main door and ran towards her. She was walking slowly……lost in her own thoughts.

“HI !!” I said loudly.

“What!!….oh yes Hi” she said startled. As her dusky eyes dawned upon me, I got a bit nervous and was groping for words just to keep the conversation going.

“So ummnn you are part of our group right??” she asked and saved me.

“Yes I am the one who …… well…..errr….” I was thinking of the right word to describe someone who has now been certified by his friends as an all time great whistler.

“Oh yes, I know, you are the one who would do the whistling part. You are good at it. ” She said and giggled. Wow her laugh was the best thing I had ever heard; it was music to my ears.

“Yeah….” I said awkardly and smiled back.

As we strolled little further with only silence being the company, I dared to ask her “So are you free to join me for a coffee…”

And wonder of wonders she accepted. I gave myself a pat on the back. Way to go man!!!. Yippee!!!

“I love Beatles and the Scorpions too. How about you??” she asked me on the way.

Now given a chance to use my brain and I can assure you that I wouldn’t think twice before putting my whole feet in my mouth.

“Don’t know much about them….pretty tiny creatures…I don’t know what purpose they serve…..I think we should try to exterminate them from our planet” I said thoughtfully.

The tone in her voice and her eyes which reminded me that Antarctica must be a really cold place to stay she said that she remembered some important work and had to finish it off immediately. Saying that she walked off in a huff.

What??....what happened…..what wrong did I do?? I stood there bewildered.

It was only when Partho told me that Beatles and Scorpions were actually music bands that I understood what blunder I had committed. Beatles and Scorpions! What weird names! What would be next…? Crabs and Cockroaches?? There should be some law now banning weird band names.

To make the matter worse I felt every single person on this planet had come to know of my brilliance. People whom I didn’t know ever existed came up to me to ask how were the Beatles and if I had made any progress on exterminating the Scorpions. All courtesy, my friends who had done a better job than BBC and CNN could ever do.

I tried to make amends with Sonali during the next day rehearsal but it seemed that once again someone had opened the laughing gas cylinder in the auditorium. She walked away even before I could start the conversation.

My first love affair had ended even before it began. Anyways I tried consoling myself for the folly. And I knew, TIME- the greatest healer would slowly mend the wounds. The rehearsals kept going on and finally the D-Day approached, the day of the music competition.

Each team was given twenty minutes for their song. A total of eight schools had participated and we were sixth on the list to come on stage. I saw Sandy pacing up and down the green room. “Everything should go on as planned…..no mistakes…… I mean….. no mistakes” he kept on repeating tensely. I guess everyone was tensed. We could hear the crowd ranting and raving which made our situation even worse.

Our turn came and we silently trudged our way to the stage. “Ok guys your time starts now” announced the host. The first thing which happens to Nikhil is that if he is tensed he would do all the wrong things at the right time. While putting the drums into their place one of them slipped off his hands and rolled into the center of the stage. Debu helped the cause by breaking the strings of his guitar. And once again it seemed someone had opened a can of laughing gas. Someone shouted “Losers” and slowly but surely the entire crowd joined in. “LOSERS…..LOSERS” chanted the crowd.

Sonali stood there rooted to the stage not knowing how to manage the crowd. She turned back at us looking for help. In the backstage sandy had gone livid. He couldn’t help us as his coming onto the stage would mean disqualification of our school from the competition. I don’t know what happened to me but according to Nikhil afterwards I looked like a raging ball of fire, went towards Sonali and took the microphone from her.

“Ladies and gentlemen” I said.

“Huh…..what !!! ….. who???” someone shouted.

Damn, c’mon man this is not a debate for god’s sake, I thought to myself.

“Guys and gals out there” I started once again. “I know that we didn’t have a rocking start to our performance but I am sure that before we end our song, each one of you out there would be swinging to our tune. As of now it doesn’t look that we are the best but at the end of this event we might be the coolest group around.”

The crowd had stopped their ranting and had actually listened to what I spoke. Someone shouted “go on”. And that clinched it. I (quaking from head to toe) handed the mike back to her. We started our song. Through midway we knew the crowd was with us. Some guys even joined me in whistling when my bit came.

When the results were about to be announced we had hoped to bag the third prize at least. But when the third and even the second prizes were declared we understood that we had lost. We had started walking back to pack our bags, I must admit we were all pretty dejected.

The anchor announced the first prize and at first none of us heard it all clearly.

“Did he just say our name?” asked Sonali bewildered.

“Guys ….. Oh God …… its us…… we made it …… we MADE IT !!!!!” screamed Sandy.

We had expected to be somewhere in the lowly third or even fourth place but getting the first prize well …… we didn’t dream about that. Nikhil gave a war of whoop and ran to the stage and we all followed. Wow it was all like a dream and none of us wanted it to get over.

The next day it was school as usual. A lot of appreciation from our principal teachers, moreover from Mrs. Banerjee who understood that whistling was better suited to me than learning why there were basins in Africa. I guess I wasn’t that happy, cos with the competition over there wouldn’t be anymore rehearsals and so no more seeing her. I would get over this.., I reconciled myself.

Well, school got over and I was about to leave when I heard someone call my name. “No no its not her. I must be dreaming” I said thoughtfully. Again the same voice “hey stop, I wanna talk to you”. I turned back to see her waving at me. “Might be someone else she is waving” I corrected myself.

“Hi” she said. Those beautiful eyes, I was lost once again in them ….

“Hi” was all I could manage.

“It was really great the way you handled the crowd yesterday, you saved the day for us.” She said

“Hey no problem…..we were in the same team right.” I said.

So where were we…..last time we spoke?” she asked me.

“Ummn….we were…” I remembered about the Scorpions and the Beatles.

“We were going to have Coffee remember…..” She said and giggled.

“What!! Oh yes…..right” I chuckled.

“So shall we go now….??” She asked

“Sure maam….whatever you say.” I said.

And there it all began; I must say my first experience in love didn’t turn out all that bad.

All credit goes to me of course. You see, if I wasn’t dozing in that Geo class and if Partho wasn’t breaking my shoulder and if Sandy hadn’t cried during the rehearsals and if Beatles didn’t exist and if I hadn’t calmed the crowd in the competition….. I wouldn’t be actually having coffee with her.

Well I should say coffee tastes better on a hot summer noon especially if you have someone so cute like Sonali.

Y happens…..sooner or later……

Proud to be an Indian !!!!

Wanted to write heaps and heaps on 15th Aug. But I guess this pic says it all.

Wait and Watch - is that all we can do?

The smoke from the burning trains and dead bodies may have vanished into the sky......the blood littered bogies have now been thrown into the junk yard......politicians have gone back into their safe haven....

What has been our reaction to this horrific incident.........apart from massive outpouring of sympathy.....anything???

Now hear this:

One Israeli soldier taken hostage by the Hezbollah terrorist outfit......reaction......heavy and continuous bombarding of Lebanon. Over 120 civilians dead and hundreds injured.

Latest report from Reuters News Agency:

Jul. 18 - Israeli warplanes pound Lebanon, killing at least 13 people, as diplomatic efforts brought no signs of an early end to the week-old attack.

Israeli attacks have emptied the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs as residents take cover, fearing further air strikes.

In the latest attacks, Israeli warplanes pounded Lebanon killing at least 13 people, as diplomatic efforts brought no signs of an early end to the week-old assault launched in retaliation against Hizbollah attacks.



So who is correct: our patience or Israel's brazen show of armed power?

To take the side of Israeli actions, after seeing the blood soaked compartments of Mumbai local trains is easy, but is an 'eye for an eye' reaction really hold good??

Showcasing military might to snuff out jehadi groups is a part solution but it doesn’t wholly solve the perennial problem of TERROR.

Using our armed forces may aid in wiping those who glorify these acts of terror but the source would still remain.

What can be done ………. I leave it open to you ......

A short story

Here's a short story I wrote, pardon me for the errors committed as this is my first time.

Well........here it goes.......

Just another day

Chris got up in the morning and just like any other day he was late, grumbling and cursing everyone he could think of, he got off from his bed. There was so much of work to do from cleaning the house to meet the new project schedule, Jim, his manager had laid out in the previous meeting. When would he ever have peace, a word that had come to elude him, how much he longed for that.

Rushing through the daily chores Chris left for office. Living alone in the city had taught him to prioritize his work, or so he assumed. On the street as usual there was mad frenzy. He jostled among the crowd going towards the subway. Thinking to himself that if somehow if he could make it for the 9:00 AM subway express and reach on time Jim wouldn’t shout at him.

Anyways he made it to the station just to see the train leave. Shrugging to himself and cursing God he looked at the electronic screen showing the arrival time for the next train. The screen showed the next train arriving at 9:10. "Shit" he said to himself, "late once again".

Nothing to do for the next 10 minutes he looked at the people around him, scanning for known and unknown faces. Somehow spend the next ten minutes. There weren’t many people as the 9 AM train had taken the entire crowd . He looked at the other side of the subway station. Few people strolling here and there, probably late like himself, a guy going through the financial times, a couple of kids engrossed in playing the new portable gamestation and a girl standing few feet away from all of them.

Chris eyes darted back to the girl. Did he know her ? No he was sure he hadn’t ever met. But then why did he felt as if he knew her. Or did he feel like knowing her. Wearing a white top and a blue skirt and her hair falling over her shoulders she looked like one angel. Chris realised that it was ages since he had ever cared to look at himself, forget looking at someone else. His office projects had taken up all the priorities in life, until now.

Chris found himself wanting to speak to her. Was there anyway he could? How he wished he could forget all the work slated for the day and just approach her. The girl on the other side suddenly became aware of this stranger looking at her. But still he couldn’t take his eyes off her. The platform on both sides had started to fill up as the next trains were due to arrive shortly.

How chris wanted to stop the time. He was oblivious of the people around him. Was there anything he could do, maybe know her name. Just before the trains arrived he felt that the girl smiled at him or rather, he thought.

The trains had arrived and people around him rushed to get into. Chris didn’t want to, he wanted to go to the other side of the platform and meet her before she boarded her train. He was still standing on the platform when the doors of the train closed on him. How he wanted the girl to be there..... Waiting for him……. Hoping against, hope…..

The trains started to leave and in few moments they were gone. The crowd had thinned out and only a few people were there. Chris’s eyes turned back towards the other side in a desperate search for her. Was she still there?? Would she wait for him? Why would she…….she didn’t know him ? So many questions crossed his mind in a flash.

He looked the other side ………….and oh yes !!!!...........there she was, standing, looking at him. Chris smiled for the first time since morning. And now he was sure, he didn’t need to imagine , cos he could see it on her face.

She had smiled back.

The story of History's most hated man - Gospel of Judas

The news that historians have been able to piece in the story of Judas finally, had been simmering for quite sometime now. Finally NGC came out with a documentary on that. And boy! it was superb.

What impressed me was the after effects of this shocking revelation.....bcos there was hardly any. There were no scenes of marches being carried out, no riots.....looting and other forms of human animalistic behaviour. And even Vatican made no fuss about it. Though I can say that news like these hurts the very core of Christiandom.

Has Christianity as a religion suffered. Has it got weakend by this revelation? My answer to this is a firm NO. On the contrary it has grown stronger and has shown more maturity

There's a lot one can dislike about the West, but at the same time there's much more one can like about it. Conversely, there's such a lot one can love about India, and at the same time there's so much one can dislike about it.

Just imagine, if similar revelations about any Hindu deity was revealed, would we have accepted it calmly. Would fanatic groups like Bajarang Dal sit quietly. Surely not !

We were the first in terms of having a purely liberal religion. Temples in Khajuraho affirms to my point. Yet today we have let dogma take over and stultify everything.

Getting back to the Gospel…. What struck me the most as I watched the documentary was the language that was attributed to Jesus Christ:

'...You will sacrifice the man that clothes me...' Jesus is said to have told Judas. For us in India, this is a familiar language, and one can turn to our Vedas for this and so many of our mystics who deride that the physical body as an impediment after realising their self. This again points out to the fact that Jesus may have in some form come in contact with the eastern form of spirituality.

And again I will question the western historians why have they tended to IGNORE this fact, which seems very much plausible.

Which is the real tragedy.

Russell Peter

The guy is an awesome stand up commedian. From where does he get all the stuff he speaks. He is truly one of the best I have ever seen. Just take a look at this act of his.

Historic Win !!!!!!!

434 !!! chasing and winning!!! Phew !!!! That requires more than human effort. And thats what the South Africans showed on Sunday 12th of March 2006, that if there is a will to succeed and committed effort is made towards that, then we can say that every goal is achievable.

In an exhalirating dispaly of batting prowess South Africa overcame Australia's mammoth score of 434 what is now famously touted as one of the finest chases in the entire cricketing history. If it was the sheer brilliance of Pointing stroke play for Australia then Gibbs answered the same for his country through his raw power and excellent technique. It was the tremendous self-belief among the team which enabled the South africans to reach home.

At the end it was Cricket as a game which won !!!!!

And finally.......Something to ponder for the Indian cricket team ???