One by one..!!

One by one, the casements catch;
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch.
Couch in his kennel like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog.
From her shadowy coat, the white breasts peep.

Something about the poem. Something about it that I never seem to remember words after the breast-peeping! Maybe its just a filthy mind. Or a filthier mindset. Whatever it is - this is the only part of the poem I recollect. Silver by Walter de la Mare, I'm guessing! Fourth Standard. I remember other poems from the same grade in totality, but this one has been on my mind all day today!
Why, you ask. Why not?
One by one - thats the thing that keeps me reminding of the current situation. One by one.
What, you ask. Thats none of your business.

Long Live..

Just had my complete C&H delivered to me!
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!
One of the best days *ever*!!
Long Live Amazon! :D
Oh, Calvin & Hobbes too!! :)

Roomie, Where Art Thou?: Part - II

"Joseph!" He never liked his name. It started with a 'J'. 'Jobless', 'Jobseeker', 'Jocasta' and all the words that sent a shudder down his spine usually started with the alphabet 'J'. And then there was Julianne. The light in his life. The dark light.
She was a dark light as far as he was concerned for he was too timid to shed some light on his fancy for her. And she, was too short-sighted to see the light herself. But that was fine with Good Ol' Jose. He wasn't finicky as far as his options in life were concerned. He had lowered his needs to such abysmal depths that they were met to begin with. One such need was the urge to smoke. He smoked when he was not asleep. Matt put the cigarette butt in his mouth one day while he was asleep. That, of course made him wake up. The fact that he'd been dreaming about Julie upset him, but that was soon puffed-off with Benson & Hedges. Cigarettes are better than women, he tried convincing himself.
"Yeah, Right!"
Jose, by nature, was the sequacious kind. He owed his sorry state of affairs to the people he tried to emulate. There was nothing wrong with the people he tried to follow. It was something inherent. Joseph, as it turned out, was pretty bad at following suit too.
"You're supposed to play Spade, Jose!"
"Oh! Am I?"
"And call a Spade a spade for chrissake!"
"Was that a pun?"
"No. That was just plain stupid!!"
"Relax, Kumar! Why're you getting all worked up, man?"
"Because, you're getting on my nerves!"
"You not feeling well?"
"That's it, I'm outta here. I don't intend to stay at a place where my jokes aren't appreciated. You're out of order!!"
"All That Glitters Is Not Gold, John!"
"Who the hell's John?"
"John Woo!"
"Who?"
"The movie man!"
"The movie man?"
"Yes. The famous movie maker!"
"Whatever, Whoever! I'm outta here!"
"You can't just leave in the middle of the game. That so doesn't do it!"
"Et tu, Jul(ie)?"
"What did I say? Just said you shouldn't leave in the middle of the game! Is that a bad thing to say?"
"Not a bad thing, but definitely not a tactful thing to say!"
Kumar was that way. He spoke things he didn't really mean. And he didn't always say what he meant. Not that he was unable to express himself. It was just his discretion that he be who he wasn't. Ethan Hunt. His life was Mission: Impossible. He wanted it that way because Mission: Possible, never raised enough eye-brows and wasn't a flick either! He'd never heard anyone ever say, "But that is possible!" Although he'd heard people say, "But that's impossible!" almost all his life. Impossibility always brings with it, its own charm. He'd wanted to be a charmer all his life - & he was. Chicks would dig him. Yearn for him tragically. But the real irony of life was - he getting together with someone was impossible. That was his mission in life, after all.
Of course, he finished the game that day. Won hands down. The usual. The prize money? Date-Your-Fate!
Each one had written his/her secret date on a piece of paper and kept it in a bowl. The winner got to go out on a date with someone he/she wished to go out with. Kumar hadn't mentioned a nominee. He wanted to go out with all of them. Mission: Impossible, huh? Well, not really! They did go out with him that evening. Turned out pretty good. Julie got to spend the evening with Matt, Jose with Julie, Matt with Kumar (don't read between the lines, please! They're just good buddies and Kumar is straight. So is Matt!)
On their way back, Kumar insisted they play Hindi songs on the tape - which of course was totally fine with the folks. Songs don't make a dime's difference when you're sloshed silly.
"Will someone turn this thing off!". Julie wasn't too tipsy to tell the words of the song. This song didn't have words. At least not words she could comprehend.
"Hey, this *is* good stuff, okay!"
"Totally!"
"You're impossible!"
"Watch it, Kum. Watch it!", Kumar told himself. She's drunk and so are you.
"Oh, my God! Who's driving?", he screamed as soon as reality dawned on him.
"Relax. Joe is!"
"And she tells me to relax!"
"He's a good driver, Ku!"
"And I'm gay, Jul!"
"Wow, really?"
Kumar, now stabbing himself with a mock-dagger and apparently, very furious.
"Hell, no! Phhhhhtttb!!"
And they all got to their apartment. All but Kumar. But it was okay cause he was spending the night with Matt (again, don't get any ideas, please)

Some Day This..!!

It started off like any other day. Well thats kinda misleading cause none of my days start off like the previous one. Strangely enough, my day, celestially speaking, started off with me coming back from work! Strange for people who're not accustomed to working in shifts, like I. I got back at around half past six, changed into something comfortable (am not telling what it was). Then I went online, as usual, to check on my inbox and meet friends willing to check on me. Met a few of them, as I usually do. This friend from college was online and she insisted that I show her the photos I'd taken in the marriage concluded recently. Marriage of my sister. There wasn't much in the inbox, which was kinda good cause I was feeling sleepy by then. Most of the sleep I get nowadays is artificially induced. Music soothes, propitiates and mollifies. Same goes for grass. Wary that I had to leave for work at half past 1 in the afternoon, I reset the alarm for noon. Sleep came easy. But then again, that is what grass is supposed to do to people.

The Lunatic Is On The Grass
Remembering Games, And Daisy-chains
And Laughs
Got To Keep The Lunies On The Path
- Pink Floyd, by the way.

It was nearly half past 7 by then. I don't remember what happened thereafter. Until I woke up that is. It was 11 then. Not 11 in the evening, thankfully. Couldn't get any sleep thereafter. Decided to wake up and get on with it. It was half past 1 in no time. Work was calling already.
The weather outside was Hot. (Careful attention needs to be paid at the H in the word hot). The mercury would well have been somewhere near the mid 40s. It wasn't as bad as it looked though. It was worse. The heat made the eyes dry, if that is biologically possible. And with the glasses that rest over my nose perennially, it told of quite a sorry tale.
Work was tiring as usual. Heat made it all the more so. Monkeying on a column at half past two in the afternoon is not my idea of work. Sadly, it doesn't matter what my ideas tell me - they mislead me often :). The measly lube-oil level in the ammonia refrigeration package didn't make things any better. Of course there was tea and snacks in between the two 'heated' chores. Welcome break :). There was also a itsy-bitsy beverage party, courtesy me. Am anything but a pinchpenny.
The compressor was run, eventually. The evening progressed. It usually does that every now and then. Only sometimes it catches me unawares. Heh Heh. Although I was *really* tired by now, I still had quite some work left to do. Time flies when you don't wait for it. I was, unfortunately. And then, I wasn't. So it started flying again. Of course, I was too preoccupied to notice :)
It was 10 PM already. I could see lightning and thunder through the dark glass of my office. Pitter-patter suggested the Rain Gods had had enough prayers not to answer. Of course that meant, mere mortals got drenched on their way back from work. A welcome relief from the heat nonetheless.
Its nearly quarter past 12 and I have to work morning tomorrow. Day starts at half past 4 then. :-s
Good Night!

One word is too often profaned
For me to profane it;
One feeling too falsely disdained
For thee to disdain it.

- P. B. Shelley

"Not to admire is all the art I know
(Plain truth, dear Murray, needs few flowers of speech)
To make men happy, or to keep them so"
... but had none admired,
Would Pope have sung, or Horace been inspired.

- Lord Byron

I came across this poem and have been captivated by its simplicity and that 'X' factor (cause I can't imagine what it is). Thought it would be a good idea to post it here :)
The lines are not complete and they shall be all the more incomplete if I don't mention the name of the person who's put in all the effort in penning this one down!

Ian Bowen


I no longer sit
in the glamour
of your eye;
laugh as if happy,
smile halfway sad.

No longer ride the
snow -haired charger….
unworthy to capture
lust, desire and want.
I lie armour rusty
with lanced libido lost

Wait There!

Kāsid Ke Āte Āte, Khat Ek Aur Likh Rakhūn
Main Jāntā Hoon Jo Woh Likhéngé Jawāb Mein

Kabsé Hoon Kya Batāun Jahān-é-Kharāb Mein

Tāfir Na Intezār Mein Nēnd Āye Umr Bhar
Āne Kā Ahed Kar Gayé Aayé Jo Khaab Mein

Obviously another Ghalib. In fact the "intoxicated" post is just another verse of this one. Very profound and at the same time very accessible lyrics. When I say accessible, I mean once you get the gist of it, its not very hard to imagine (this is not a Samsung, by the way) and given a good amount of ill-luck you might just relate to it. Heh Heh.

Roomie, Where Art Thou?: Part - I

Mathew Planc was an agreeable, 25 year old chap whos idea of a good time was sitting around in the house doing nothing at all! He was agreeable because he inevitably made people agree at how big a jack-ass he was. Julianne, the first of his room-mates was totally in love with him.
"That rat-bastard! What does he think of himself? He can go to hell all right!", said Julie to herself after Matt had gone into one of his 'i'll-stay-in-my-room' shells and refused to go out with her. "I'd rather go to hell Julianne! Than go out with you, really!"
Julianne Smith was a sweet girl, all of 22 - although she had the knack of make-believing she was a teen, which she had been once upon a time. She loved country music as much as she liked her assets. In fact it was greatly bemusing as to how a girl as pretty as her would end up falling head over heels for a mediocre guy like Matt. It was just there for all to see. All but Joseph.
Jose, was an old man. He'd been born old. But the good thing about his being born old was that he didn't age much. Or even if he did, his birth certificate said otherwise. And of course, his birth certificate like every other of his belongings was immaculate and spoke of the truth at all times. He was a 24 year old guy who thought he'd outgrown his age 24 years back. Good Ol' Jose, as he was affectionately called by his friends and roomies, was well-read. Being well read is a good thing if you read all the right things. A practical joke that nature had played on him. And a hilarious one at that! Of course, like every other serious book-worms, the humour eluded him perennially. He often felt the urge to feel sorry for himself. "Why me?", he'd say when it rained on him. When the sun shone on him. When the wind blew his hair - which, by the way, was a sorry sight for he didn't have a lot of shoots popping outta his scalp, which was just okay with him as long as the wind Gods didn't play foul. Of course that was at the God's discretion.
Anyway. Joseph was apparently the only person who knew Julianne and didn't realise her love for Mathew. That ignorance stemmed from the fact that he thought he was way better than him. This, like all his other thoughts, was essentially a figment of his imagination. A wild imagination like his teachers used to say. And often too.
Julie, by now, had had enough rejections. 34 and quarter to be precise. She knew, she kept a diary. Although she often misplaced it and in an apartment with snoopy guys around - Not A Good Thing To Do! Maintaining a diary is a good thing. Every good thing in life is relative, for it attracts a lot of relatives. In her case though, she didn't have many. She'd been brought up by her uncle. Thomas Smith, was a well-to-do industrialist. & he was well at doing, for his wife had passed away more than a decade ago. With death comes relative freedom. You are set free of your relatives and you have a larger degree of freedom. He didn't have kids of his own, which was just about perfect for him, for that meant he could splurge all he wanted to on himself and his mates. And after his wife's death, he sent Julianne off to a boarding school because he knew he'd cut a sorry figure if he did have to play dad to her. He wasn't averse to play. He played fore- and back. He was the talk of the town. No sane person would want to live his life of debauchery and lechery.
"I envy her uncle, really! I wish I had a life like his." James was a common friend to the three roomies. Julie had come to know him for being the most sane person around.
"It drove me insane with the kind of pleasures he's indulged in. And still does.", he confided in Matt.
"Who gives a f***!" Mathew was hardly impressed. He was, by nature, pretty fastidious. He had a keen sense of humour. Almost all his jokes had something to do with his gold-chain that adorned his scarred neck. "All that glitters is not gold, John!", he'd humour others without realising he was talking to Kumar and not John. Of course, this was the joke, but as nature would have it everyone but Matt would get it. And the laughter and gaiety could all be attributed to Matt's clumsy mannerisms, which he himself was oblivious to, much to the dismay and mirth of people around him. His gawkiness had been the prime builder in his life. It had made him as much enemies as it had befriended. James was one such chap who found his goofy mannerisms pretty cool. James was an agreeable man too. He agreed that almost everything under the sun, everything but his belongings, were cool. Although he found Matt a decent guy, he'd lately started sullying Matt's unblemished character for he'd realised his attraction for Julie and her love for Matt. The realisation had been thrust on him by Julie herself. It was strange then, that they were on a date that day - out for a movie and dinner. The date had been the offspring (or the illegitimate child) of jealousy that Julie hoped would make Matt come closer to her.
"I'm sorry the place is closed!", said the bouncer of the night-club. "But its only ten?"
"I can tell the time, sir. I can also tell when a place is closed!"
"It was your idea, you freak!", Julie blurted out as soon as they'd walked five paces. "This day was just a mistake! Mea Culpa. Should have never asked you out."
She'd said more than she'd actually spoken, for it was crystal clear to James now.
He dropped her at the apartment and left. Without a word. Silence is noisy and confusing sometimes. Specially when you have lots of things going in your head. But such is life. James' perfect day ended up being not so perfect. Even he had been a privy to Julie's diaries, but like Jose, he'd presumed it was a mere trick to throw them off-track! Now that the truth had dawned on him, it was hurting his eyes a little too much for comfort.
Julianne got back to her room, sneaked, and peaked, around Matt's room to see what he was up to. She was disappointed in her savoir-faire, but acutely impressed with her knack of knowing what Matt was up to. There wasn't much know-how needed to know what Matt was up to most of the times. He was there in his room totally marooned and oblivious to the rest of the world's happenings. His laptop was his favourite companion. He had friends he cared about. His laptop was his best friend, for it didn't demand anything in return from him. It was happy just the way it was.
"Whats the matter with you?!" he screamed, infuriated for his laptop had been acting sluggish lately.
"What do you mean? I can't go to my room now??", Julie retorted for she was unaware as to who the recipient of the bellow was.
"Mind your own beeswax for God sake!"
"Another request turned down, huh?" Julie knew where it hurt Matt the most. Well, not really most, but next to most anyway!
Matt thrust his hand out. He knew when to thrust his hand out and when to shove fingers. He quickly amended his folly and showed her his finger much to the wrath of Julie.
She walked away in mute protest. The mute protest generally lasted fifteen minutes at best. This one broke all previous records. It lasted a full thirty seconds longer than her previous. Of course that wasn't easy to figure out given the fact that her diary never contained timings of incidents (and accidents, alike). They displayed the date as a mute reminder to an otherwise hopelessly stupid day for most of her days were stupid and hopeless. Hopeless for she had given up all hope of winning Matt's attention, let alone his love. The days were merely stupid cause the adjective often swapped locations. It described her day when it ought to have described her.
"Where were you?", inquired Joseph the moment he set his eyes on Julie expecting a reply in return. He didn't get a reply. Instead he got an apologetic hand thrust at him.
"Bad Day!" he told himself. He knew Julie inside out. That was really simple for there was more to her outside than her inside!

Intoxicated..!!

Ghālib Chhuti Sharāb Par Ab Bhi Kabhi Kabhi
Pēta Hoon Róz Abr Shab-e-Māhtāb Mein

When Jack Met Emma..!! (Or Angels Don't Lie): Part - V

Jack waited there impatiently. He felt like that ripe mango hinged to the tree by its slender neck waiting to fall off or be prematurely bumped off by some sudden gush of wind or a nasty stone hurled its way by some impatient kid. The moment of truth was here. And for his sake he hoped it was 'now' not 'never'.
There she was in all her beauty and splendor. Appropriately dressed in a white gown accompanied by her father as the mellifluous wedding song was being played in the background by the band that she'd given her thumbs up to. He'd never heard of the band and given a choice, he'd excuse himself from the agony. If it hadn't been the song's charm, the band would've sound pretty bland. But then again most of the bands in contemporary world he found bland and mildly disgusting! They were the not-so-mute-reminder to the fact that even Emma had her cons, but he'd known of them before he'd popped the question 8 months ago. Funny feeling rain can bring out. He put all the onus of his going down on his knee to the romantic weather and not his bravado. But then Emma had known him for 4 years so it didn't come as a surprise to her. In fact, he'd let her entertain the idea quite a few times.
It was taking ages for her to walk down the aisle. He felt a strong urge to go and shoot the band members in cold-blood. And without second thoughts at that. They'd made the tempo of the song a tad slow. Of course tad is a relative word and Jack knew relativity better than most. Here Comes The Bride, Here Comes The Bride!
"Yeah, well she's been coming for hours now!", he said to himself, loud enough for the Best-Man to hear it. Ralph was dressed smartly in his black tux. He found marriages very boring. When he wasn't standing at the altar waiting for his to-be-wife that is. He'd been married four times and was now seeing a brunette. A beautiful brunette at that. She looked much younger than she was. First look and only an insane would say she was 32. Ralph, of course, was insane. They struck a chord right away. It was hard not to see his charm and her beauty. They looked good together. They'd stay together for how long only time would tell.
"Really?? You're The Man!!!", Ralph quipped.
"Quiet You! This is a Church for God-sake!!"
"And I've seen it from the inside more than you have, you evil minded bull!"
"Bull-Shit"
"Quiet You! This is a Church for God-sake!!"
"Ralph! I appreciate your cheering me up, but SHUT-UP!"
"Excuse Me? But I've hardly said a word!"
"Not you Father! I'm sorry"
The crowd was having a good time by now. The crowd always had a good time for crowds are supposed to be sadists in their own right.
"Do we begin, son?"
"Yes, Father! As soon as you're ready"
"Very well then"
"We gather here to bless this....."
Jack was lost in his own world. He had never imagined in his wildest of dreams that he would fall so hopelessly in love with this really strange girl. She was a decently attractive girl, nothing much to write home about though. But such are circumstances. Men fall where men ought to rise and men rise where they ought to fall. For Jack, the descent had been listless at first and then it plummeted to the unthinkable depths so fast, it made him dizzy. Thankfully for him, Emma was there to hold him just when he was about to crash to the ground.
"Heh Heh"
He realised he'd laughed out too loud. Loud enough for others to hear. Now they were looking at him funny. It was funny, really. The priest had just about managed to ask him what he'd been waiting for to hear ever since he'd popped the Q 8 months ago.
"I, Jack Nicholas, take you, Emma McDonnell, for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part."
The answer the priest had been expecting was far more serious than the 'heh heh' that he got instead.
He knew he'd goofed up and Emma would be furious, but he had to cover up. "Heh Heh, I've to actually say all that?" He tried to laugh it off. Of course that made the solemn affair all the more frivolous and trivial which didn't go down well with Emma.
"Of course, I Do!"
Emma had had enough of mockery for a day.
"Go to hell, you swine!", she blurted out as she resisted slapping him hard but failed miserably.
"She went away. Twice as fast as she'd appeared"
"No!!!! You can't run away from me! Bull-Shit!"
"Whats the matter honey? Are you all right? Bad Dream, was it?"
He startled himself and her by leaping straight to her arms.
"Yeah, was. Pretty Bad. Which is why I was wondering if I'd *really* known you for 4 years"
"How bad can it be Jack? I've been here with you all night! It can't get any worse than that, can it?"
He looked at her in the eyes and then kissed her gently.
Actions speak louder than words.

Past Revisited..!! (Or Alma Mater Revisited)

Funny thing memory is!

It can be good or bad and sometimes both simultaneously depending on how you want to remember it. And sometimes it can just be simply forgetful (not to be confused with forgettable, cause nothing here ought to be forgettable)!

I glanced at the big gate everytime I passed the impressive structure that was once my school. "This time I'll go see it from the inside!", I promised myself like I had a million times. Promises we make to ourselves are the ones that we break more often. But then Orkut Fortune did it for me. Orkut - one of those things in life that is just there for the heck of it. It serves no purpose and it's fortunes don't make much sense most of the times and when they do make sense - they're hardly accurate, but then again they're hardly supposed to make sense. There is no free lunch in the Universe. There are no free prophecies either for everything has its price. But lets not get side-tracked. Its hard not to get side-tracked, but we do our bit not to! "Promise Only What You Can Deliver!" it said. It had told that to me on occassions before this one too, but this one seemed appropriately time (and about time too!)

The day before yesterday, there was this occassion when my nephew was crying for his wishes weren't being fulfilled. So I took him for a walk. It was about 6 in the evening, but unusually dark for this time of the day. Not unusual for this place though, a little unusual for me. It was dark at this time of the day here for the sun set early here. First rays of the sunlight hit the horizon early too (about 5 O'clock)! And because he was still sobbing, I decided to take his mind off of his worries (no matter how trivial - worries are worries afterall)

"देखो बेटा, मैं यहाँ पढता था बचपन में। बहुत साल पहले।"

"Hmmm.."

I didn't take him inside then. I just promised him I'd take him there the next day. The marriage had been officially over, although a few rituals still remained but I had enough idle time at hand to do this stuff. In fact, I had nothing to do at all, barring a few chores here and there - I was officially the "Indian Idle"

I did take him inside the school yesterday in the evening at about quarter to 9. Told him a few anecdotes. Some funny and some not so funny, but he enjoyed all of them. Or atleast I hope he did.

Will share them here some other time.

Gotta go bathe now.

**corrections impending**