Republic Day Special......

It was nine in the morning when my cell beeped. I squinted my eyes against the innocuous thin bar of light slipping through the folds of the curtain. Messages wishing me a happy republic day were flowing in from different corners of the country where my friends were scattered. It wasn’t until I boarded the bus and was on my way back to college that a very afflicting sight caught my eyes and made my insides churn. Two kids sitting in the middle of a field with a “lota” by their side. Earlier that morning I heard my sister talking on the phone with one of her clients about installing a jacuzzi in their new bathroom!!!! I was vexed and now there was no anchor to my disarrayed thoughts. The images flashed back into my mind. The things which I often ignore to avoid the dismaying thoughts like these which challenge my sanity are yet again hovering over. Lol....


I don’t know whether I should be proud to be an Indian, overlook what I just saw and celebrate our Republic Day as I had planned earlier today...Go out with friends in the evening, listen to some patriotic songs or......well I don't know anymore ??? Earlier this morning the messages urged me to celebrate our Republic Day glorifying India as the nation “united in its diversity.” Then why do I still find people fighting to create their own states? Why are there bomb blasts and threats all around? Why do people of different communities thirst of each other’s bloodshed when there are riots?

Should I be proud that half of my country’s population doesn’t even have a loo to attend to their nature’s call leave aside a bathroom!!!! Whereas when I turn around the scenario takes a 360 degree turn. There are people who not only have bathrooms the size of my bedroom or that poor kid’s entire house but they also have shower cubicles, bathtubs, Jacuzzis, TV and fridges!!!! Who keeps a fridge in a bathroom!!!! Some glutton he must be!!!!! I turn around again and see a small child leaning and rummaging through the garbage bin in hope of finding a morsel of food to pacify the growls of his hungered stomach. And there again I find people partying hard all night long on booze and shishas.

I know many of you would disagree and may even excoriate me for being so skeptical but how can I be proud when we still introduce ourselves as Punjabis, Marathis, Bengalis first and as an Indian later. How can I be proud when every other community demands for a country of their own and are trying to cut apart my country’s arms and limbs??? How can I be proud when I see that in this era of technological advancement we still marry off frogs in hope of rain? How can I be proud when I find that women are burnt alive by their in-laws because of dowry? How can I be proud when I find that the people whom we had chosen to represent and serve us are fighting like cats and dogs defaming the thousand years old culture of ours?

Like a mother who loves her children and forgives their misdemeanours no matter how it breaks her heart, I love my country too. Because despite its short-comings............it is MINE.

It's cold out here.......

I could not feel my hands. I didn’t know if I still had my feet. I couldn’t feel them either. As I inched my way through the thick fog enveloping the entire span of my vision I let out an audible sigh wondering when was it coming to an end. Surreptitiously I peeked through the Eskimo hood of my super Eskimo jacket to catch a glimpse of the clouds hovering over our heads promising another gloomy and sun shunned day. I am not a winter person. The cold spreads through my outer shell like slow venom, paralysing my movements and  ability of rational thinking. If brain dead due to extreme cold was possible I would’ve been its first victim!!!!! It is the coldest year since I first came to this place. Nothing about this place is moderate. Extremity is its speciality. Be it winter or summer. The summers are intolerable with almost 20 hours of power failure and winters were a curse for people like me. As I reached the classroom I could see the tip of my nose.....red nose. My cheeks felt pinned by thousands of invisible needles. I was breathing out smoke. Wow I don’t need to smoke for that now!!!!!! Not that I do.....but it felt wonderful to find smoke coming out of your nostrils like a Dragon!!!!!!I I am a Dragon according to Chinese horoscope, so I presume it suits me well and besides my smouldering personality compliments it. With the days dragging by each breath seems like a conscious effort now. The frigidness of the weather and the people around seep in surreptitiously numbing my senses. I wish to be sensible again. I crave for sensitivity like never before. Let it be warm again. Your frigidness is murderous........

What would I ask???????

Its mocking when GOD plays dice with your life. When you know that he's deliberately messing your life and laughing out there somewhere only to watch if you can make out of the pitfalls he has laid out for you. I sometimes feel like screaming my lungs out at him...throw tantrums for what he was doing with me? Or would I???Well....what if I really faced GOD someday? I often imagine and daydream about it. If I met GOD and was allowed to ask only one question....what would it be? Would I ask him why was he messing with my life??? No......wait...."What is my future like?''.....well that seems like a relevant question. Isn't it? No,that would be a little selfish on my part!!!! Ok.....what about....."When is the judgement day....the Armageddon? When will the earth end and how?" But don't I already know the answer to this....2012!!!! What would I ask ????
Well if you were to face God someday and were allowed to ask only "ONE" question.......the most important question for you in your life.......What would it be??????