BLUE!

Based on a true story. Ask Balaji Selvam for other details.

            The human mind easily finds the ocean so attractive. The blue waves in the early morning, the moist sea breeze and the sand. We dug our feet into the sand and ran towards the sea. We gave all our bags to Monish and the rest of us ran towards the ocean. I found it difficult to run with my slippers, so I threw them near the Banyan tree. I saw Monish carefully balancing all our bags in one branch. One or more of the five bags fell down at a time. He let them as such and joined me as we jogged briskly towards the blue. Before us was a race between Mani, Lalith and Raghav. Raghav was beating them hands down but Lalith and Mani were laughing at his pants which were fine to the sane world. But we guys find fun at almost everything. We slowly joined Mani and Lalith.

                          The weather was perfect for some soccer, our new craze. We were passing the ball to each other and found it tough to run in the beach sand. Time passed so fast that we hardly noticed a few others around us. They too were playing soccer. I guess, like our case, the Euros must have triggered their craze. They were average; I guessed we could beat them in a soccer match.

                        As luck would have it, they proposed for a match, to which we duly agreed. The game went on well, we were good and suddenly I saw the clouds turn grey. The team which we were playing against looked petrified, I saw genuine fear in their eyes; they were staring at the banyan tree as we stared at them and looked among ourselves. We checked what made them look so scared, we found nothing. Mani was very confused, he wanted to continue the match as we were winning and we seldom are in such a position at half time. The rest of us were walking towards our bags for water. Mani said he’ll ask them to continue the match.

“Heyyy” I heard Mani shout and walked towards him. I saw the guys run. They were literally running; we didn’t know the reason. We did not want to, as we assumed that they were afraid of losing against us. I and Mani hi-fived and walked towards the others. They were relaxing against the banyan tree.

“Strange isn’t it?” ragav asked.

“Whatts so strange?” I asked.

“Those guys” Monish said pointing farthest away at the other team , “ wonder why they are still running, something is odd”

“Yes but why are they still running?” Lalith asked.

               We took our respective bags  as we had decided to bring separate refreshments. I sipped my water bottle thinking about the number of calories which I would have burnt during the game.

“OHHH MY GODDD” shrieked Ragav as he threw a blue bag in the middle of us. He walked away from it.

“ What’s in it, you okay? Who brought this??” Lalith asked.

“Donttt. Let’s leave “ Ragav looked terrible.

I did not obey his orders and examined the bag myself.

“OOHH MY HOLY GODDD” I exclaimed. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I HAD NEVER SEEN SO MUCH MONEY IN MY LIFE! Five bundles of cash, each might be five lakhs or more. Every single note was a thousand rupee note. I opened the cover for all to see.

“OOHH MY GODD”  they all screamed together.

“Now what do we do with it??” Lalith asked.

“We take it” I said.

“Nooo” Ragav protested “This doesn’t belong to us, we leave it right here” he said

“Are you crazy? This is bumper man, we gotta leave soon, come on let’s take it” I said to everyone.

“Is this got anything to do with the guys running away?” Monish asked. Nobody had an answer. Mani nodded. Ragav threw the bag away from us.

“Whoever wants to take this, take but I’m not taking this money, it does not belong to us” Ragav stressed his point.

“Look here, I did not steal it. This is lottery I’m taking it” I said.

“Okay then, we’ll reach a consensus” Mani proposed. I looked around and confirmed that nobody was watching our argument here. At that time, there were only a few couples going about their usual work at the beach.

“I’m okay with anything” Mani said, “What about you?” he asked Monish.

“Yeah, same here” Monish said.

Ragav tried to convince Lalith as his say was decisive. I did not want to miss this opportunity. I was eagerly waiting for lalith’s word. I hugged the blue bag and lied on the sand. I saw Lalith coming. I wanted to take it no matter what he said. I was thinking ways to convince him as the others were quite rigid in their decision. I saw indecision in his eyes. He came smilingly and he sat beside me. I was waiting for him to speak.

 He hesitantly shook me and said “Bike repair dude, can you drop me at college?”.

Whaaattttttttttttttttt??? I analysed my surroundings and found my morning coffee waiting at the side.

THE BUSBY WAY

February 6, 1958. A day etched in every Man Utd fan's mind and imagination. An all conquering team set to win the historic treble fought cold and snow and a tough away fixture against Yugoslovia's Red Star Belgrade side  and managed a 3-3 draw. They landed at the Munich airport for refueling. Hopes were high after finally qualifying for the semi finals of the European cup. Hope is a traitor. A slush of snow at the Munich runway caused a bad take -off  which resulted in a tragic accident. At that stage in the premier league, the so called "Busby babes" were on a eleven game unbeaten streak  and were six points behind leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers with fourteen games to go. A group of young and fearless footballers attempting to achieve the rather impossible were stopped by nature. Few of the most precious gems in football were lost, some were scarred and injured which made them unfit to put on the soccer shoes anymore. The chants of "MANU-RE... MANU-RE"  began at the away fixtures mocking the Munich disaster victims as fertlisers for the paddy fields of Munich.

Man united never really recovered from it, but they managed to win the league in four years time. The chants still continued and so did " the Busby way" of football at Old Trafford. The galleries of the stadium continued to witness the dreams of numerous young and unproven talents produce masterclass and carve a niche for themselves at the walls of Old Trafford.  That is why it is called the Theatre of Dreams. Years passed by and we were still the anti-incumbents. The Reds of Liverpool had a golden era of two decades. There were the "glorious" Blackburn Rovers and the often threatening Leeds. A Scottish man, a former toolmaker and Aberdeen coach was introduced at the helm of affairs at Man united. He slowly established himself and earned the faith of the people who called for his head after the initial failures. Then came the year 1992. An excellent breed of British footballers with the right desire and ability came up through the ranks at Old Trafford. Fondly called as the 'Class of 92' by the faithful; David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville etc began the golden era. The boys needed someone to look up to, someone who could free them of their "school boy obedience" and inject some creativity and fearlessness in their young minds, and the Gaffer looked up to a certain Eric Cantona, the bad boy of  football stating mildly. He could have been a negative influence on the kids, they could have simply fallen apart then but the Scot had faith in his lads and more importantly understood the need for a little eccentricity! The kids loved him and he loved them back, the gaffer looked from the stands,  smiled and nodded at the brilliance on show.

Liverpool were knocked off their perch permanently and Cantona  knocked a few within and outside the fields. 'All geniuses are a little weird', understood Fergie. The cries of "OOh aaH Cantona" never died in his absence. I guess that is what separates Sir Alex Ferguson from the rest. If you could remember the likes of Ronaldinho and Mario Balotelli were shown the door at Barca and Inter by Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho respectively. Sir Alex had more patience with his lads, he understood the different geniuses; Roy Keane was one among them. He handed him the captain's armband, the year of 1999. It was time to announce the world that the Busby babes were not manure for the Paddy fields of Munich but were sown as seeds in the sands of time. It was time to realize the dream, the Historic treble loomed large and what stood in front of us were a team from Munich and time. Four minutes remaining and 1-o down when David Beckham stood to take a corner. The fearless United keeper Peter Schmeichel left his goal post and jogged to the bayern area to leave the crowd in the penalty box bewildered. A weak shot from Giggs was deflected to goal by Sheringham.  "Why did the gaffer buy Sheringham, why Solsjkaer??" they needed to be answered right? Yes they were that night, Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer, the baby faced striker from Norway scored the winning goal in extra time to silence the critics. Now that was a goal worth more than 50 million pounds. Sir Alex Ferguson, the toolmaker, the ageless Scot achieved what Sir Matt Busby set to achieve. We play the Busby way then and now and forever. At United we have our values and we have our morales. We the fans, were labelled "Glory hunters" by the rest. But the truth is that we were , are and forever will be the anti-incumbents. We fail, we suffer but still we love United. Our reign was always questioned, we were never  invincible, we saw off Liverpool and then came the challenge from the Gunners and the Blues. We tamed them and then rose the Catalunia. The neighbours got richer and noisier.

Sir Alex Ferguson is a fighter, we trust in him unlike clubs who change managers like half time jerseys. He will probably not rest until he has conquered those challenges. He will but dream, as another new chapter unfolds in the club's history. The class of '92 will reincarnate anew, the Holy Trinity will continue to bless their dreams and Sir Matt Busby will watch over again as the boys turn into men. " Can United score??, YES THEY HAVE" will again be said by awestruck commentators. KEEP THAT TROPHY SHINING HOLDERS, WE ARE COMING!!

PICTURE THIS..

                      Our life is a small house with just one window and no doors in it. The heart is the window which is often covered by curtains of joy or sorrow or the so called “cool” or the fancy “I don’t care what you are” curtains. How much ever spacious our home might be, we always live near the window to see who is checking us out, we paint the exteriors and look to present our house well (well, I mean your monthly parlour visit, fancy clothes, hair styles, perfumes). We forget to buy new things for the insides of our home and also to dispose our garbage (meant our negative thoughts, come out of the toilet thing!!) When people get closer to our home (life), they check out on the cool exteriors, and come straight to the window. They don’t see the real us but the mere reflection of what they want us to be. KNOCK KNOCK!! And the poor heart opens up with love and now it is time you show your home to the person. The first thing you do when a person enters the house, you shut the window! And after that you people would have fun, fight, make urgghh …. Blah.. blah… blah and live in the house for a while happily. Once inside the house with the windows closed, nobody cares about the exteriors, all they want is the SPACE inside the house(still life). How much space you can afford in your home (life again) to them is what that will make them share the house longer with you.

                            So must we design our house? Either you build “the perfect home” which I guess is bit tough or you are better at having a transparent window and take off the curtain. Now people will see what you are and what you want to be and other things ( interests, skills, hobbies ETC). To have your window transparent, you need to have a clean home too. I mean no habits or practises that would give the person (at the window) the “eewwwww” kinda' moments. A little cleanliness and some class is all people expect once they enter your home. I bet you that nobody is going to check out on your exteriors once they have entered your home. Also one more thing, give them the keys(freedom) so that they can enter and leave whenever they want to. Like they might visit on their friends, night outs etc. If one has the trust , this would not be a problem. And always remember to take care of the person in your home. Cheers.

THANKS FOR READING MATE!

LIFE IS LIKE THAT!!!

                     I guess this is why all women call this the best time of their lives; the day when you are where you always wanted to be. The first time you are going to be his. Yes today morning was my wedding. I am waiting for my prince to melt my heart again. Oops, he is my husband now . Some things will be tough getting used to. Top of the list will be touching his feet reverently without laughing while he tries to pull a prank or two. Meet me Mrs Veena Sukhinder.  I have had my make -up and with my heavy clothes I am here waiting in the bed and where on earth is he now? Men are like that, they want you always and when you offer yourself to them on a palate, they’ll get nervous. But I don’t think my prince, oops again, he is my husband I forget, I don’t  that he is a nervous guy. He is Mr Lazy in every little thing save his air force duty. Oh yes, I am the girl who beat you all. My hubby is an air-force pilot. That’s the pride that I have in being his wife. I don’t mind losing my identity, my surname or myself for being his wife. I love him and tonight’s the start of the journey with him. He drives everything well; bikes, planes etc. I guess I am ready for the long journey with him.  I am hearing his footsteps in the corridor, my God he is near. I am nervous now. I sank my head between my knees; I do that whenever I am nervous. Last time I did that was when I was waiting for my semester results. I am thinking of unromantic things before the most amazing night I am going to have or has it already begun? I felt a touch I guess.

“Am I late madam?” I heard his voice, hubbbbbyyyy you’re here, I thought.

“ You can never be on time” I feigned anger.

“ Well today is special I guess, so I was getting prepared you know?” I couldn’t help but smile. He pressed my wrists. I guess I blushed too much. He held the part of my cheek that protruded out of my knee-tent.

I guess I need to practise more. He won. It is time to lose me. I lifted my head, I guess he saw the love in my eyes, I felt the same passion in his touch.

“I love you Mrs Veena” he said, I know this is his abracadabra when I am angry.

“No” I said “ just Mrs Sukhinder”. I couldn’t pretend more. I hugged him tight and rested in the place where I could hear his heart chant my name. Time passed like tortoise and I loved every passing second or must I say that I lived in every passing second. If this is how my future is to be, I must say “THANK YOU GOD”. Tears slipped and I had wet his shirt before I knew. He held my face in his right hand and flicked those tears with his finger. “baby I never thought that I would break my promise on the first day” he flashed a smile.

“You know how to win me don’t you?” I said to him wiping my tears and going back to his chest “these are happy tears honey”. He simply said a “Hmmm”, when he says that it means that he is in a mood to listen and do things for me. I see a chance to go for it now. “Will you do whatever I ask from you now hubby” I asked him. He put my head on the pillow and stroked my hair off my forehead.

“Yes I will” he said and planted a gentle kiss on my forehead.

This is it, go for it, my heart told. “Sukhi, you have promised me, I want to wear your uniform now, pleeeaaaaase” He fell for the trap, this was one thing I always wanted to do but this patriotic officer never allowed me to wear it.

“Hey cheater” he said “this is cheating”  and he rose in a moment and began backing off towards the cupboard to save his uniform.

 “You promised this, your wife’s first wish!” I guess the word wife worked wonders and I hope it always does. In a minute I was wearing his WHITE Mig 21 fighter pilot uniform. I kissed his name plate on the shirt. He was mine, wherever he might be.  

“Happy now?” he asked.

“Soooooooo happy “ I said and hugged him tightly.

“ Now it is my turn” he said advancing towards me and held my face.

“Yes whatever you wish for” I said “ and please don't be late” I closed my eyes and I thought that this was the time I was always dreaming of, to be in his arms day in and day out, to breathe his breath and make his fragrance my perfume. I heard a knock. I FORGOT MILK!  Aunty told that so many times. He was already attending to the door. I saw aunty crying and asking him not to do something.  He was adamant against her wish. He turned back with a pale face and it finally dawned on me, every officer’s wife’s worst nightmare.

  

               He gave me a briefing but I only heard the words “I have to go”. He did not even turn back to see me, this deserves a fight, my heart told. I was weeping. I wanted to cry badly so I hid my face between my knees and started to sob. I felt an all familiar touch again. I looked at who it was with my eyes. IT WAS HIM. My joy was unbound; I hugged him tightly and cried loudly.

“ You did not even turn back to see me” I punched his chest “ don’t touch me, go away” I pushed him back.

There was no emotion in his eyes, he was so cold.

“MY SHIRT Veena” he said and it finally dawned on me.

I guess life is like that, little love and lot of longing. See you prince, oops husband; fight well for your country now and your wife will live and wait to fight with you another day, my heart bade farewell.

    

      THANKS FOR READING BUDDY!!

Blanket and roses. P.S: With some love ...

I do really know why my boss called me here. A so called 'performance analysis' meeting which is an invitation for lay-offs. My heart is in my mouth, so is Archie's , Kelvin's , Jon's and others in their respective mouths. We all feel that Archie, with only her name in common with the greeting card company is the next one to go. But she's been cosying with the boss Daniel to get me out of here. I regret calling Daniel 'motor mouth' because he may be signing my dismissal in a few hours. I am forced to think about Michelle. She came out to live with me and i am going to be sacked, stop paying bills and stay at home and watch her cry. B.S man, this sucks and in he comes 'motor mouth' aka Daniel, my boss. Whatever happens i love you Michelle, still my girl friend and will be my wife if all goes well and Archie the bitch goes out of Archie the greeting card retail.

                                                    Oh boy, here  it goes, " Hello my colleagues, we all know the rise of the pop up and fancy cards in the market, with the decline of the meaningful cards we are forced to change our strategy and increase the fancy cards production, so it is inevitable" motor mouth said and clasped his hands, I could bet  he looked at me menacingly. This is it Michelle baby, i am going home. My thoughts were interrupted with the second part of his speech. "Before going for lay-offs, it is my duty to retain the best talent among you, so two people will be selected from your group for permanency" i saw a chance, one is definitely Archie, the competition is for the other spot. "To do that i ask you all to write for a romantic greeting card, 'the lover boy tries to woo his girl' is the theme of the card and you will start after your break, so see you" he said and left straight away. Archie followed straight to his cabin and her job is secure. I feel devastated. I saw my colleagues cursing Archie.
                                       
                                          "Hello Michelle, it is me here" i used my break effectively. "Yes honey, wassup?" she said. "Honey umm most probably i am coming home soon"
" Oh that is sweet, i will make marshmallows, we'll watch a movie, waiting to cuddle with you , can you come soon, pleeaaasseee" she said at 2000 words per minute and blew a few kisses.
"Michelle baby, i guess i am getting sacked" that came at 50 words per minute from me.
"Whoaa, motor mouth did that?" she asked, she knew my office people and their nicknames.
"Yes dear and he gives me theme to write at last before sacking which is 'the lover boy tries to woo his girl' "
"that is cool, you do that often Jim baby" she said
"Dont kid baby, it is over i guess, my dream of writing for the best cards, it is over"
"baby dont give up, you woo me like how easily you blow a candle" she assured "you can write about this".
I couldn't help but laugh " Like what was the thing i bought for our home lately, a single blanket and few roses for you, is that romantic?" i was skeptical.
" Yeaahhhhh you are the most romantic boyfriend ever, just imagining us cuddle at night in a single blanket gives me goosebumps in the day" i could imagine her leaning on the wall and miss me, she is like that, ever loving and always optimistic.
" You want me to write about blanket and roses, that is the best i can think baby"
"Then do that and dont forget baby, this is for us"
"I will do my best honey"
"I meant the blanket , it is for me, don't think about motor mouth and Archie when you write, focus baby"
 I laughed and the phone was cut, no sensors here, just timers. Prepaid calls run out sooner than a wink.

                                                  I thought a poem, people finished their lunches and trickled  in. Time was getting over.

I scribbled something that came to my mind, for you Michelle, hopefully Mrs. Michelle Jim Sandlers soon.

 "My sweetheart, I wish I were the velvet sky 'cause my eyes are never enough to marvel at your beauty , I want those million stars above , the thick clouds as blanket and the lonely sea to bathe with only YOU   

My dearest baby, God makes flowers blossom when I sleep because when I am awake he knows that I will not let him steal your fragrance, that brightest rose is red because she blushed once when you walked past her". i finished mine.

 I felt a touch on my shoulder. Oops motor mouth! he took my slip.

"Friends i guess i have decided the two people for recommendations" He sensed an anticipation, once he built up enough "The first person is Archie" , we all know that  i thought "and the next person has so far been the first name for lay off but this piece I cant let it go anywhere, I see this as a best seller " he said breaking the chain of abusive thoughts that i had directed at him. Actually he was waving my slip which meant "This was the best Jim, it is you, Congratulations". He held my hand and congratulated me.

"Thank you Michelle" i said , oops " Daniel sir" i corrected 

P.S Description about Jim's and Michelle's appearances were avoided because of a small belief that true love never looks at the face but at the heart.

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR TIME, FRIEND.

Elitism, the new form of untouchability...

                             Hello to my limited reader friends, with so much to talk about Indians and the issues we face, why is this guy talking about a nonsense term that i do not even understand? Tell me how many of you think that way. Anyways what do you think is elitism? My view is that elitist is that person who thinks he is superior than his group and he therefore abandons them and searches for his own like minded people. This might not sound as a big issue but allow me first to illustrate.
                                              Let us take an example of a person X from a small village. The person X let us assume has got a good score and hence finds a cool college like SSN, so what he does is he studies more harder, enjoys a bit, dates occasionally and visits his native village rarely. Everything appears cool till now, but now is his first "are you an elite" test? How do you treat your own people after some fame and money. Mr X is sure to get a job, a cool one at that and his lifestyle is bound to change. New car, apple phone, a six digit salary and that is where the good part ends. Now Mr X's mentality will change, a posh bungalow at ECR and a foreign tour with his wife and family but the last time he visited his native was when he was in college. Another Indian would have lost his roots, sadly.
                                              Where do you think this problem arises from? I guess it is the way we treat Mr X, both before and after the transformation. The truth is that when Mr X was in college we were the elites but after his transformation he is showing off his elitism. The problem is in our mindset. We always want to associate with people who are cool. Walk in a gang of five, crack jokes at  those nerds, tease those village guys in college  etc  So subconsciously Mr X develops a silent hatred for his background because of which he had to face so much heckle in college.  IS THIS A SIN? If you ask me, "Yes is is" i would say.

                                             This guy Mr X should have been a role model for his village, he would have helped his village in some way. This mindset transfers to our other issues as well. Ex We allow politicians to beg for votes on the basis of caste and community and when they win , it is their turn to show off. We vote as though we do charity, very little and all for the wrong people. This mindset is a slow poison and i believe must be eradicated totally.
                                           
                                                  

BRICS, the new world order?

The recently ended BRICS council meet in New Delhi gathered much media attention, but basically what is BRICS? And what are the opportunities it presents to India? My thoughts on that.

                                 Basically BRICS is an acronym which denotes the economic bloc of five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and the newly joined South Africa. The common point of all these countries is that they are on a new verge of economic development. Although we can win debates by placing Russia and China in the already developed category, their presence adds muscle to the bloc. Now let us do a SWOT analysis on BRICS and its benefits for India.

Strengths: If you remember India's foreign policy, the first point that must come to mind is non-alignment. But over the past few years we have indeed aligned ourselves with many Blocs . So to counter that we align us with every possible Bloc so as to gain the support and friendship of every possible country. Thus BRICS allows us to strengthen bonds with a forum that has over quarter of the world's land area and more than 40% of the world population. Russia our eternal ally has been left in the lurch for some time because of India's inclination towards the US, so this is an ideal forum through which we can strengthen trade ties with them. Moreover bringing our "bully" neighbor China to the talk table as an equal with more support on our side is a big plus. Creating an alternate trade forum which is free from the EU influence is fundamental.


Weaknesses: The BRICS is still in a nascent stage, to facilitate trade relations, any economic forum must have a common currency like the euro, we DO NOT have that. The BRICS nations do not have common ideologies. Russia and China voted in one side and the others voted against in the recent UN resolutions against Syria and Sri Lanka. Another talking point is that the US dollar is still used in the trade transaction. The South Africa with a population of 40 million is not in the same league as the rest. It brings less to the table.


Opportunities:  Foremost one is to develop trade relations with China and hence counter balance the Sino-pak threat. With Russia and China being the largest world economies , India now has a chance to interact with the biggies as equals. A possible UNSC seat is also on the cards. Setting up stock exchange is local currencies is a big boost. Increase in trade to 500 m$ as promised will also be a major bonus. An opportunity to counter the Israel-US influence. Rise of BRICS will ensure the rise in stature of Asia as a superpower after the devastation in japan.


Threats: Will increase Chinese influence in Indian markets. US might get alarmed at the possible inclination of India towards Russia and other countries. America is still every BRICS member's highest trade partner. Succumbing to BRICS politics might lead to India losing its individual say in regional and world issues.

                     Thus, BRICS we see has a lot of promise but to make it a reality a lot of hard work is necessary. Goldman-sauchs predicted that the BRICS will overpower the G7 economically by 2050, now that's a goal worth working for.