Happy Birthday!

I didn't hear you as I sat with my back against the painted walls of the shrine. The men played their music, different pitches intermixing, different voices creating absolute, sublime magic, their music divine. I remained numb to it all, numb to your presence, even when you perhaps called out to me constantly, asking for my love, asking for life.

The words filled my ears, echoed in my soul, yet I remained indifferent. I had to make a choice that day and I didn't know how. I always believed in Him, but my faith was already wavering. The soothing words, the smiling faces, the beautiful red roses strewn all around, they all spoke to me, all asked me to listen to your calls; I remained deaf, didn't hear anything. The void within was shallow, and it didn't allow me to hear anything, to feel anything.

I walked around looking for a sign, looking for your guidance, looking for an answer. It was all around me to see, but I remained blind, never saw anything. I saw a young woman playing with her young kids, yet I missed out on their smiles, and their laughter. I saw grown ups with their old parents, yet I missed out on the love between them. I looked past them all, and I made my choice.

Hours later as I woke up alone in the cold hospital room, I felt an acute emptiness within. It was your absence that made me realise how your presence had become inseparable from my existence. As tears flooded out, I was blinded by your thoughts, and my love for you.

You would have been four today,
To you my baby, Happy Birthday!


image ref: www.corbis.com

Mrs. Lili! Mrs. Lili! Mr. Lili! - Part I

Bohemian! Yes that's exactly how he described her to his friends the first time he saw her. Goes without saying that he was wrong, just as he almost always was with almost everything else, with an absolutely infallible consistency. She was an artist, which made it highly probable for his assumption to be correct, yet she was not a Bohemian. It was a 'Fancy Day for my Mom' competition at her daughter's school and she was dressed as a Central European gypsy.

He was the daughter's classmate and after that day always remembered Mrs. Lili as his first crush. His own mother was dressed as Cleopatra, and despite his persistent inquiries amongst his peers, he found none who had a crush on her. This left him highly disappointed with the state of things, and he felt shortchanged in life for having a mom no had had a crush on despite the Cleopatra attire. This, however, rapidly changed as soon as Mrs. Lili entered the humble school party hall dressed in her gypsy attire. He wasn't the only one found ogling at her, in fact he found her through the frozen glance of their Mathematics professor, Mr. Patel. The few men (and many boys) suddenly felt that visiting this party would certainly form the high point of this school term, while all women took affront to the stocking-less left leg on display. While the women internally debated the right length of left leg that could be displayed at a school party, men found their imaginations running wild gaping at the ample cleavage and other overflowing assets on display.

Mrs. Lili brought about a whole new revolution in their little town, the wave of change not noticed by anyone that particular evening, or even for weeks thereafter. The impact of her first public appearance was such that soon most men lost their sleep and became increasingly agitated with their dull, boring and meaningless lives. The next few weeks saw an alarming drop in males engaging in conjugally blissful activities with their partners. This, in turn, had the most unfavourable impact with a whole lot of dissatisfied and frustrated women, in desperate need of men who would show any interest in them.

Everything was absurdly odd. All the men wanted Mrs. Lili, and no one else. All the women wanted men, any men, but still found none interested in them anymore. What Mrs. Lili wanted remained unknown, but the odds against any possibility of her entertaining all the males who could participate in possibly mutually satisfying acts with her, remained dismally high. Of course no one realised this, they were all holed up in their own worlds, waiting for some reprieve.

No help came, and things got only worse in the coming few weeks.

So what do you think happens next? Do share your thoughts!

'Soni ka chawl' and other short stories...

I saw 'My Name is Khan' which has Shahrukh hamming often about how Hindus and Muslims are not different, and that there are only two types of people - good and bad. No doubt he is right.

My first story in this series also concerns Hindus and Muslims, particularly those belonging to 'Soni ki Chawl'. The story is neither necessarily true nor is it inspiring or uplifting, its just a story.

Soni is Chawl is a residential area located around the heavily industrialized Rakhial and Odhav areas of Ahmedabad. The area got its name from the 'Soni' community which apparently settled down here many years back, then the outskirts of the city. The community thrived and became prosperous. However, a few years back some Muslim families also shifted there; my story teller had no clue why they shifted into a completely Hindu background. And slowly this new migrant population grew and they pushed the Hindus out, so much so that its now a completely Muslim neighbourhood. As I mentioned earlier, this story has little meaning. Its just a tale told. My autowalla told me this story while we passed through this area, assuming me to be a pious Hindu, despite my beard and disapproving glances. There was no need, it was just a mindset revealed to me, the story was just a media.

The other story also happened on the way, and this one happened for sure. I crossed Ashmia mills and remembered my last visit to their compound. I had gone there with Nakul and our dear professor A B Patel from Nirma, the reason was to request Ashima to become the main sponsor for the dream that we lived for the entire semester - Ingenium. We did realise it too, despite the riots in February which stopped our work for a long time and scared away a few potential participants. Ashima never agreed and finally Suzlon became our event sponsor.

More stories as time goes by.