Midnight's Children

Streaky shadows silhouetted against the moonlight,
A stark contrast to those in bright sunshine;
The dark night hides well all apparent flaws,
That the sun brings to light at daytime;

Unwanted, undesirable creatures at noon,
Amble freely in the dead of the night;
The entire world seems their oyster then,
without a chain to shackle 'em at all;

An unclear future akin to foggy nights,
With a childhood lost somewhere in time;
Their Today is full of agony and misery,
Yet they eagerly await a (better) tomorrow to come;

With hopes in their hearts and dreams in their eyes,
They aim to face all challenges like a braveheart;
But for now life is brutally tough for them,
Fuelled by the cruel darkness of the night.

"25"

A quarter of a century has passed me by,

All of it just in the blink of an eye ...

It's been a roller-coaster of a journey all the way through,

A never-ending adventure starting each day anew.

Today, I take some time out and ponder about it all,

Of transpired events in these 25 summers, winters, springs & fall.

I look at what has been achieved & what's yet to be done,

There've been a few regrets too, though I'd hoped there'd be none.

It's not just about things but people too that I've met thus far,

The people that have either left an imprint on me; or left a scar.

It's all about loving your parents & family is what they say,

With their blessings & His grace, success has always come my way.

How could I forget the friends & foes that came into my life,

Some gave me happiness, whilst others just brought me strife.

I sure have caused a few heartbreaks; and got my heart broken too

A tryst with love that I've been waiting for, is now long overdue.

Yet, I am content with the way life is moving right now,

And there's a burning desire to freeze this time somehow

I don't want to move forward so there would never be a past

The present : all i hope and wish is that, it would forever last.

Yet, I know that the future will be here all but in a few clicks,

Today I have turned 25, and tomorrow I will be twenty-six :(

As I said, it's been one helluva blink of an eye,

And an entire quarter century has just passed me by ...

Out Of Hibernation ... With IPL & IPL !!

Truth be told, I have been a bit lazy and have been putting off posting something here for quite a while now. Thought it was high time that I did post something or the blog might start feeling ignored and neglected :) So, here goes...

Well, was thinking of something suitable to write about and as it so happens, 2 things have gripped the nation this past month or so and a lot has been written about both by my fellow bloggers as well as newspapers / magazines etc. For those who may not have guessed it by now, I'm talking about IPL and well, IPL!! Confused? Don't be. I mean, of course you know about THE IPL that’s currently on in South Africa & is nearing its business end what with the semi-finals and the grand finale coming up.

 A lot of jokes were cracked when it was announced that the 'Indian' Premier League would be held, not in India, but abroad. It isn't hard to understand at all why this lucrative event was shifted rather than being cancelled or postponed. It is money that's driving the game today and nobody who's associated with the IPL (that has the backing of the cash-rich BCCI) would've liked a damp squib after the success of the league last year. And so, off the circus proceeded to the Rainbow Nation.  As for me, I really don't care whether they conduct the Indian T20 league in South Africa or Solomon Islands. So long as I'm getting my share of the entertainment... he he

Anyway, am glad to see that Delhi Daredevils have performed well in this edition thus far and have already made it to the semis. Hope the team can go one better this year and win the league rather than stumbling in the semis like last year.

Now, as for the other IPL that you may be wondering about, it's the bigger and more important circus that played out closer home – the Indian Political League. In what is the world's longest electoral process, Indian went to polls to elect its new PM for the next 5 years (hopefully!). The past one month has been entertaining to say the least, what with most major publications carrying articles day-in, day-out speculating about who will form the new government at the centre.

Delhiites voted from their respective constituencies on 7th May. For a lot of people, it was a once-in-a-five-year chance of bringing about a difference to how this country should be run (yeah, right!), for others, it was merely a holiday. Well, I know a lot of people - friends, relatives et al - who went and cast their vote and felt proud afterwards, I on the other hand, did NOT vote in case you are wondering. Ummm ... let's just say that Indian politics just brings out the cynic in me and rather than voting for someone with a history of crime, someone who can’t write his own name or someone with one foot in the grave, I simply choose to not vote. I know that some may criticize this decision of mine. As a counterpoint, I'd just phrase something here that my Mom once taught me - "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". To conclude, I feel that till the time the Indian political system remains a quagmire as it is right now and till the time that 'one-eyed' person comes along who's worth voting for, I'll be an abstainer for sure.

MBA ... Been There, Done That

It's the last day of March. And I've just given the last exam of my life as a student ...

Seems like a phase of my life has just ended. 19 long years have been spent being a student. And it all culminated today here at SIBM where I just gave (hopefully!) the last exam of my life ... Yes, I'm now an MBA - a "Manager By Accident" if you may :)

A journey that began in the kindergarten section of a school back in Delhi has ended here in Pune; at one of the premier B-schools of the country.... or has it? Guess it could also be interpreted as a harbinger of change, a sign of new beginnings, a start of a new phase of my life ....

Be that as it may, I stop and ask myself ... "Am I ready for the new & probably much bigger tests that life may have in store for me"? Well, I guess that's a tough one, but hopefully like all things have come to pass, I'm sure I'll be able to face up to the challenges of anything and everything that life comes up with.

Anyway, the immediate next stop: Home! ... Yeah Mom, I know you guys are waiting .... don't worry, it's just a matter of a few hours more ...

Oh and yeah, once I'm back, will have a month and a half to chill out and catch up with old friends (something that's long overdue), before I start as an MT (er, Management Trainee for the uninitiated) at Coca-Cola India.

To conclude this piece, here are a couple of lines from an accomplished poet ..... Divya Prakash Dubey, my batchmate and a dear friend who summed up all our thoughts about life at MBA in his poem ....

"Jab Office Mein Ghanton Padega Rukna,
Tab Sawa Ghante Ke Lectures Ki Bahut Yaad Aayegi"

(When We'll Have to Stay for Hours on End at Our Workplace,
Thats When We'll Remember & Miss These 1.15 Hour Lectures ...)

PS: for more on DP's work, check out: http://esakyunhotahai.blogspot.com/

Circle of Life ... @ SIBM

It just feels like yesterday that I joined SIBM for my MBA. And here we are today.... at the end of our spool ... bidding farewell to each other. And it's kinda ironic that it is all ending at the very place it all began: Manas Resorts.

Yeah, am talking about the venue for the freshers' party we had back in the summer of '07. And today, we had a fitting end to a 2-year stint here that was punctuated by both highs & lows; not just for me but a lot of other people, I guess. And now that life has come a full circle, I'm sitting here in front of the computer screen pondering about what all I've gained & what all I've lost these past two years.

Well, truth be told, the positives fairly match up to the negatives (at least for me!) and though I hate to admit it but yeah, will surely miss certain aspects of life here at SIBM.... both of the 1st year spent at "Kallu Mama's Kholi" in the main city and a 2nd year spent at a residential campus at the scenic Lavale countryside.

The question that now arises is not "Will I miss something when I'm outta here?" but "What will I miss?" .... ummm, well, things I'll miss the most (not necessarily in the same order!):

... the countless hours spent at NCC / Roll House with friends

... the innumerable CounterStrike sessions played on the LAN

... the night-time movies accompanied by the midnight snacks :P

... the once-in-a-lifetime [sic] & unique experience of Room # 4

... the coffee in the evenings with friends at the Coffee Shop / Zaika

... the "anytime, anyday, just-like-that" boozing sessions

... the movies at E-square / Gold Adlabs with friends

... the restaurants at FC / JM, Bat-Loi, Burger King, Zamu's et al

... the nigh-time bike rides back to Lavale with my "new" friends :)

And of course, last but not the least, won't forget some of the people I've come to know and care about these past 2 years. MBA would've been so dreary without you guys!

Oh yeah, well, before I forget (can't actually!), I'll of course be missing the presence of someone who I met in my 2nd year. Well, I so really wish in retrospect that I could've known you more & be better friends but I guess one stupid mistake changed everything, ain’t it?

Anyway, life as a show has to and does move on ... and so, as I said, here we are, the batch of 2007-09 saying "fare thee well" (with mixed emotions) to a place which, love it or hate it, I'm sure none of us can ignore ...

Flirting With The Ambiguous

The world is wrapped in a cottony blanket.
A cocoon, spun in a ghostly web so fine,
that no single thread can meet the eye,
but fades away in haste when grasped.

My love seems just like the world,
wrapped in a fog so dense that no eye can pierce it.
It fades in the distance,
full of silent, empty spaces beneath the trees.
Time is it's greatest cover and mystery it's best shield ...