Fags.....Cigarette......Bayinsi....Dhala Bayinsi......Smoke

Smoking....Oh! it would surely make me appear cool...in my otherwise nonentity status....that’s what I had thought as I had dragged on my first puff.  I had seen the other cool guys from school chewing tobacco and even boozing and they sure were deemed cool and the girls too were attracted to them. Me, I was the inconspicuous guy..the quintessential looser, who was average in studies but lacked in sports and extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities for me, meant loaning another novel from the school library and reading it. Oh!! How much I wanted to emulate the success of these other chaps at school. I mean who wouldn't mind a girl or two in your arms during lunch breaks...lolz....Teenage is the age when I guess we try extra hard to appear cool...and this is the same trap I fell into....

I still remember that day or night I should say. We were returning from Mr. Dinakar's tuition at Tulsipur in a cold wintry evening when I was in class 10 and was all of 16 years old. I had a friend from SCB Medical School, named Chandra and both of us had been debating about the pros and cons of fags for over a month. Although we knew that the cons weighed more than the pro's we still headed for the pro...i.e. the decision to take a fag in our own hands. I guess, both of us had already made the decision in our minds. So that evening both of us were hardly paying attention in the tuition classes. We were just waiting for the clock to strike 8:30 PM...so that we could run out. Run we did...and Chandra took 5 bucks from me to purchase two fags and we headed to the secluded Indoor Stadium area. Without further ado, we lighted our fags and after the initial bout of coughing, tried out different styles of holding the fags...and blowing out the smoke....Satisfied that we had scaled the Mount Everest and were the two latest studs of our batches in our respective schools we returned home..... Maybe I was the nice guy, I don't know what…..but I refrained from smoking again...or may be with the paltry pocket money I got, I thought it wiser to spend on novels....Nevertheless my good boy behavior did not last for long. College came and with it came more peer pressure along with the freedom. Left, right and Center, everyone was smoking.....and that was too much to see. After all I had grown up now and I was in college and surely a fag or two won't do much bad to me. On the contrary a cigg in my hand would make it easier for me to jump from boyhood to manhood..... That’s what I thought....So soon enough, I picked back up the cool stick or "Bayinsi" or "Dhala Bayinsi" as it was called then as a code word. (Bayinsi stands for flute and Dhala stands for White).

It’s been 15 years since I first had a fag and it has stood by me through thick and thin. I have been through ups and downs of life and my fag has given me the company....Starting off with Wills Filter Navy Cut and progressing to Classic Regular/Marlboro, my brands have grown along with my status in life......But now everyone seems to be ganging up against the both of us, i.e me and my fag and trying to persuade me to stop sucking on it. Then, some dumbass scientist discovered Cancer and second hand smoke and ruined all the fun. Damn!! I don't want to leave my fags.....I mean why does the only thing which gives me instant happiness have to be so bad. But now I know, it’s not going to be easy to leave the habit. It’s now ingrained inside me, my body will revolt if I leave my fag. Like a spurned lover, my fag will cause my body to revolt against me..... I will feel ill and nauseated.....I will become fatter as I will crave for more food......But now I have decided to curb my habit.....But just that my lover understands, I am not going to entirely ditch her. I will smoke, but within limits....and only on occasions.....Let’s see if this World No Tobacco Day....I can kick off my fag.........

Encouragement and Its Wonders

This is a story from the times of World War II.

Two men, both seriously wounded in the battle fields of Normandy, occupied the same hospital room. The first man had broken his spine while Para-dropping from a plane over the battle field that would paralyze him for the rest of his life, while the second man had many grievous wounds caused by shrapnel’s. The second man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the rooms only window claimed the man to his new room partner, the first man. The first man had to spend all his time flat on his back due to his spinal injury. The men struck a friendship and talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. This motivated him to concentrate on recovering and gaining control of his paralyzed body.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a military band parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved to the bed where his erstwhile friend slept. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Summoning all his willpower and strength he slowly, painfully, propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real beautiful world outside that his friend used to describe. To his utter amazement, he found that he faced a blank wall. When the doctors and the nurses saw him moving, they declared it a miracle of sorts. But the man appeared distraught and sad. The man finally asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to lie and described such wonderful things outside this window

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Moral: A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success

Hospitals and Fantasies

Before you begin..lemme confess this is an A rated story...so read on at your own discretion..... :)

Hospitals and Fantasies.....might sound strange but to me they sound perfectly normal...lolz.....Hospitals scare the shit out of me.... I had my fair share of Hospital visits during my 20 something years of life.....but never for myself.....no wait..i had been once for a surgery as a kid...but thats another blog post....I had had many visits to the hospital, courtesy ailing grandparents and cousins of the extended family producing babies at the rate which was scary.....but that was all... I had never myself slept on a hospital bed....nor had I been checked upon by a doctor ever...apart from Dad...My Dad was the marvel of the family....the only doctor among 5 other siblings all of whom turned out to be engineers.... Dad being a marvel...meant he was the family Dentist/Obstetrician/Surgeon/Pathologist/Neuro Surgeon/Dermatologist/Psychiatrist/Urologist/Oncologist/Gastroentrologist.....but primarily a Dentist. He was the all in all doctor for the whole family.....while teeth were his forte, he could dish out advice for any ailment under the sun...from cures to pimples for cousins in line for marriage to aunties having stomachaches to be confirmed later as yet another case of pregnancy.....lolz

Last year, I moved to Chennai and after the relative gorging on Chicken the favorite non-veg of north India, I got a chance to gorge myself on sea food in South India. Gorge I did....a little too much I guess.... I suffered from a viral/bacterial/fungal infection (Doctors couldn’t pinpoint it)....which soon threatened to become life threatening....When fevers of 105.....did not subside for 3 days.....I had to be admitted to a Hospital.....Hospital!!! I got the heebi jeebies when I learnt from wifey that she was taking me there......I was too weak to say no and became unconscious....I woke up when the damn doctor stabbed my arm with a syringe.....Damn you doctors and damn your weapons of choice...the bloody syringes.....I mean the soldiers and come to think of it even the terrorists are better off death masters....they have impressive weaponry to boast off and you can at least see your death approaching with AK 47’s, Beretta’s, Bazooka’s, Grenades, Rocket Launchers....but doctors with their tiny syringes...Nah!! Never!!! Not!!!

I had to be there for over 7 days.....but the damn syringes, the bloody blood/platelet transfusion and the colorless IV fluids did start to take effect and my fever subsided.....Hospitals are  places of miracles and their halls are frequented by Gods who snatch life from the jaws of death everyday.....but nevertheless they also form the background for many a child's fantasy.....Yeah! U heard me right....erotic fantasy.....lolz......Don't fret and start passing judgements on me.....I mean come'on where else do you get to see girls....wearing short skirts in India....and especially in a more conservative place like Orissa......Thank God...Dad was a doctor and that meant I got more opportunities to go to hospitals....lolz.....But in my case the hospital being in Chennai.....none of the nurses were the pretty girls I had been dreaming off....Of course....my libido was working fine...for God's sake....I was unwel...but my loins still stirred ;-) but alas!!!! my fantasies of frolicking with nurses was going to remain a fantasy...lolz...

PS: The day wifey reads this line...she's gonna kill me.....because when I myself had started thinking about heavens and the apsaras and angels...she was the one who stood beside me steadfastly, took care of me and brought me back on my feet.....

Do post your comments over here....if you like the post :)

Mistake Worth Doing!!!

There were two childhood buddies who went through school and college together and even joined the army together. War broke out and they were fighting in the same unit. One night they were ambushed. Bullets were flying all over and out of the darkness came a voice, "Harry, please come and help me." Harry immediately recognized the voice of his childhood buddy, Bill. He asked the captain if he could go. The captain said, "No, I can't let you go, I am already short-handed and I cannot afford to lose one more person. Besides, the way Bill sounds he is not going to make it." Harry kept quiet. The voice came again, "Harry, please come and help me." Harry sat quietly because the captain had refused earlier. Again and again the voice came. Harry couldn't contain himself any longer and told the captain, "Captain, this is my childhood buddy. I have to go and help him." The captain reluctantly let him go. Harry crawled through the darkness and dragged Bill back into the trench. They found that Bill was dead. The captain got angry and shouted at Harry, "Didn't I tell you he was not going to make it? He is dead, you could have been killed and I could have lost a hand. That was a mistake." Harry replied, "Captain, I did the right thing. When I reached Bill he was still alive and his last words were 'Harry, I knew you would come."'

MORAL:

Good relationships are hard to find and once developed should be nurtured.

One Year @ Chennai and CTS

Today I completed one full year at CTS (Cognizant Technology Solutions) in Chennai. Gosh!! Time flies. It just seems like yesterday when I had boarded the early morning flight after bidding good bye to Delhi NCR.

Chennai and CTS have been a mixed bag for me over the last year. It has been good for me on the professional front while a tad bad on the personal front for me.

The goods being....

• Started working on one of the latest versions of Oracle WCI.
• Worked with one of the top 4 companies in India and one of the fastest growing companies of the world.
• Got instant recognition from client and colleagues for the efforts I put in.
• Learned a lot about my nemesis, BEA Publisher (PS... I am still shit scared of it).
• Got to eat a lot of sea-food.
• Getting time to indulge in my passion of reading novels (Having spent over 8000 bucks on novels last year).

The not so good things being....

• Lost all my friends at Delhi,NCR.
• Missed looking at the hot girls of NCR.
• Fell horribly ill and had to be hospitalized for over a week in Chennai.
• Able to catch one movie a month instead of the four every month in NCR.
• Miss going to a good Pub/Bar with wifey here at Chennai.
• Missing the chilly winters and sleeping under 3 blankets with socks on

Six each for good and not so good........not bad...seem to balance each other out :)

Emotional Words of Mahi....!!!

Emotional Words of Mahi....!!!

Sleepless Nights, gray hairs with the same faded beard....It was a bunch of youngsters given to me along with a God.....Everyone mastered their skill but I was alone failing every time.....

But when Sachin walked back into the pavilion with his face down I was upset.....I quickly padded up. The whole team was looking at me and Gary alone backed my decision to move up.

I was not even able to run but the only thing that flashed on my mind was Sachin's childish face looking at the entire crowd, "Oh Sorry it was my mistake to leave the ground soon" Will anyone like God to put his face down in front of his own crowd? Yes, I can't allow that to happen.....


I controlled my pain and decided to go....Finally we had the last laugh with a cry........

Good Riddance

Osama Bin Laden....the alleged mastermind of 9-11 and mass murderer of thousands has finally been taken to task. Taken to task, is too light a sentence to describe the events. He has been shot dead by none other than soldier's from his sworn nemesis, USA.

I had been nonchalantly playing Farmville on Facebook, when I got a whiff of the news when my good friend Prem, posted the news that Osama has been hunted down. I immediately turned on the TV and got hooked to the news channels. I stayed back for an hour at home listening to President Barack Obama's speech. Damn!!! office beckoned and I reluctantly had to turn off the idiot box to come to office.

Later in the evening, I remembered my grandfather and his words echoed in my head. He had been there when Hitler was found dead in his bunker. When the news papers reported about Hitler's death, people in India too had felt a sense of relief. Though the overwhelming majority of India had a soft corner for Hitler as a man and not his Nazi party and the tactics they applied. The soft corner was simply because he was the man who had the guts to kick the butts of the mighty British Empire and Indians nurtured the thought that irrespective of who wins the great war, England will be too weak to hold on to India post the war and Indians would definitely win their independence.

My grand father used to say that immediately post Hitler's death the news papers were filled with conspiracy theories about Hitler doing a Houdini and escaping into thin air and thereby the trail the Allied forces had been following  turned cold. Nevertheless, let Hitler be gone, the day these days belongs to Osama Bin Laden. I could feel the sense of happiness by grandfather would have felt when Hitler died.

I would say good riddance.

Incidental Hitler is alleged to have died somewhere on first week of May (30 - April - 1945 or 1- May - 1945) and so did Bin Laden (2 - May - 2011).

A Brilliant Conversation

Read this one from forwarded mails from a friend of mine, and wish to share with u all. maybe it will enlighten ur day :D

An Atheist Professor of Philosophy was speaking to his Class on the problem Science has with GOD, the ALMIGHTY. He asked one of his new Christian students to stand and...


Professor : You are a Christian, aren't you, son?
Student : Yes, sir..
Professor : So, you believe in GOD?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Professor : Is GOD good?
Student : Sure.
Professor : Is GOD ALL - POWERFUL?
Student : Yes.
Professor : My Brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?


(Student was silent)


Professor : You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is GOD Good?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Is Satan good?
Student : No.
Professor : Where does Satan come from?
Student : From...GOD.. .
Professor : That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this World?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Professor : So who created evil?


(Student did not answer)


Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor : So, who created them?


(Student had no answer)


Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe the World around you. Tell me, son...have you ever seen GOD?
Student : No, sir.
Professor : Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?
Student : No, sir.
Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Professor : Yet you still believe in HIM?
Student : Yes.
Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my Faith.
Professor : Yes, Faith. And that is the problem Science has.


Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?
Professor : Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as Cold?
Professor : Yes.
Student : No, sir. There isn't...


(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events)


Student : Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat, a Little Heat or No Heat. But we don't have anything called Cold. We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as Cold.
Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat. We cannot Measure Cold. Heat is Energy. Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it.


(There was pin-drop dilence in the Lecture Theatre)


Student : What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?
Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?


Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the Absence of Something. You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light... But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called Darkness, isn't it? In reality, Darkness isn't. If it is, you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?


Professor : So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student : Sir, my point is, your Philosophical Premise is flawed.
Professor : Flawed? Can you explain how?


Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality. You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD. You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought. It uses Electricity and
Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing.
Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the Absence of it Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved from a Monkey?


Professor : If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?


(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the
argument was going)


Student : Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and Cannot even prove that this Process is an On-Going Endeavor, Are you not teaching your Opinion, sir? Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?


(The Class was in uproar)


Student : Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?


(The Class broke out into laughter)


Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?... No one appears to have done so. So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have No Brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?


(The Room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable)


Professor : I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.
Student : That is it sir...Exactly!

The Link between Man & GOD is FAITH.
That is all that Keeps Things Alive and Moving.

Just to let you know, I googled this story and found that the student was none other than greatest brain of 20 the Century...........ALBERT EINSTEIN.