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Watching PM Modi on TV boast about the historical feat he has achieved with demonisation had me feeling déjà vu yesterday. Of course the first reaction was a half smirk-laugh that maybe we have reserved only for the most repulsive moments; moments which disgust you to a certain level of discomfort when you wish you could wash and clean your mind somehow the way you do your body. But what followed that was déjà vu. If you watch late night American talk shows like me, or in this case, if you watch news at all, you would've seen a certain Trump conference where he boasts about the how good the Muslim Ban 1 has been implemented and how everything is going so smooth at the airports. And because I had seen that clip so many times on so many shows, you can guess how I felt watching that part of PM Modi's speech on TV. The more you see of these two lately, the more it looks like they are picking ideas and habits from each other. People outside of India even call PM Modi ...

From Google The sun climbs up quite early here For it has no mountains to mount, no buildings to shine through not even trees to filter from The wind comes charging with might making a scandal with land breaking it apart into tiny pieces,  carrying it along, changing its face The rain comes too, sometimes, seldom, does it quench the thirst a thirst of thousands of years, a thirst that remains, much before it has gone Nothing lives long here; nothing, of colour can walk and retain that beauty for long unless you are a cacti and have thorns it's as simple as you dry, you die and get born You will find spirits here though, spirits of old age; the ones who survive, along with the crawlers of the sand, the ones who know the place and call it their own land

Pool There is a swimming pool where I stay I haven't seen anybody swim in it or play There is no water there inside of it, only dust and more dust and a mattress or two Those mattresses, I don't know how they came to be Maybe they were under pressure, wanted to be free There's clearly a pair of denim there, and a cluster of leaves maybe, finding clothes in the pool, is not of their pet peeves 'Their' you ask, who is 'their'? obviously the 'others', love, isn't it clear? The others, who stay at the same place I do, maybe for them, it's totally cool to let it stew Anyway, not unlike the pool, the fence is a bit rusting, but I don't see why it won't do with a little dusting Maybe it's time, the pool would use a hand or four, to shine it up, and let the water soar

Have you lived in the country, brother Dew you go forth and try it sometime The days break early there,  with the fresh dew glistening atop You can find some ponds still clean, where the sun makes the water gleam The alleyways feel soft and spongy,  like a kneaded dough in brown The nights show you what black is, and you can catch the  tiniest tinkles in the sky And when it rains, oh, and when it rains there is only wonder in your eyes Colors How the colours come out of those boring things and how everything comes so alive You hear the songs of the birds and quiet happiness of your friends in the farm You smell the heavens on earth,  and feel your heart sing along The life is simple there, dear brother and the afternoons are long You will want to sit under a tree, once in a while and introspect on this life Who knows, you might become a poet even and move there with your wife

Dear Princess Listen This world is unequal it is divided into two And that, you must know --- --- --- If I tell you that a birdie, can fly much better than we You can say, sure yes daddy, but can it run faster than me? And if I say you’re small, like a ball of softest wool and the sky is much more higher, that can measure any tool That the unicorn is much whiter, than anything ever made for it lives in wonder wonderland, unlike anything ever made You can accept those things, and still be happy my dear  for they only are a wonder, and you have nothing to fear But if I say ever, that you cannot just fly or cannot just go out there, because you’re too shy And if I say ever, that your dreams are too big, that the world is too scary, too ‘real’ for a girl That you cannot build your own way, like a boy might make his own Or that person that you so much like to, but can never be your joy Then you tell me, oh dear da...

This is a new year. Not very new in strictest technical terms, but new in terms of my blog. A happy new year to all of you. I have been absent from this space for quite a long time; so long that sometimes I even thought that my 'phase' of blogging is over and that I am done with it. But thankfully it wasn't and isn't. And while I was still skeptical about this whole thing, I did never think of, and would probably never will, think of or have the courage to close it down. I cannot do that, it has too many good memories associated with it. Having said that, I will still not make promises to whoever stumbles upon here, that I will keep the updates coming on comparatively regular intervals from now on. I can't make any promises about this; I know better of it. Instead, in this post, I am going to just thank you all who still remember this blog and sometimes come to see if there is anything new cooking about. To thank you for being part of this journey and ...

Okay, here is the thing; I am not a hero. I never was, nor am I now. And I don't think I can be one in the future. My father once said how all your good deeds cease to mean anything once you do a terribly bad thing. 'What is the difference between a bad and a terrible thing, father?' I had asked. 'That depends,' he had said, 'on what you consider a bad thing and what you don't.' I never understood that remark of his. Surely, I thought, bad things are bad for everyone; that bad things were considered bad universally, that was the deal, correct? Turned out it wasn't. Not always were bad things considered bad. Not in every case were guilt a visible emotion in the guilty. But when I understood this, my father was not around; neither was my mother. Both had departed in their sleep on the same day some years ago. And I was left alone to comprehend the terribleness of my deed; a deed that had wiped all my good ones, if there were any before it. ...

She stared at the keyboard and the blinking cursor on the screen in turns. The blank page seemed intimidating; too vast to fill. The keys looked like strange tools, each separate; not part of the whole. - - - Next day, she stared at the tip of the pen and the lone dot on paper it had made.

Today is a full month since I left my home and my home. It is a strange place that I am in. Different yet not so different. I don't know what it is to be like outside your home. I didn't know. I still don't. I am learning homesickness; it is all coming very slow is what I feel. I am not sad like how people are when they leave home for the first time. I am in fact very happy; I am staying in my aunt's home. It feels just like my home, almost. I feel strange sometimes though. It feels like I would roll my always-ready bag to the ariport in a couple of days and go back home. And carry some tales with me about the vacation I had. I use 'home' to refer to my country too, in some of these sentences; specially my city, Delhi. I am in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia right now. I boarded a plane for the first time in my memory, that night. I say 'in my memory' because it wasn't technically the first time but rather practically the first time. After all, when y...

        Dear brothers and sisters, As you all know, there was a shooting incident in France last week in which around a dozen people were killed by armed men said to be 'avenging' the prophet(PBUH) of Islam. It was a horrible act. I am not going to be talking about what happened and whose fault it was. What I want to address you with is the issue that is happening today and continuously. Even as many people start to move on to the next big news, the terror, feelings of anger and hatred hasn't exactly died down. The effects of these feelings can be seen through any of the numerous incidents of assault and voilence that have happened throughout France and elsewhere. Even at places where such things are not happening, loosely all over the world, many people have a fear of and repulsion towards Islam rooted even deeper, more so now, inside their hearts.

It has been a good year, 2014. Not great, not average, just good. And I grew a lot as a person. I did better than last year on most fronts, but some were still left screaming for mercy and progress. I learned a lot at work, I read many good books, I met people and interacted and laughed with them and became more confident. At the same time, I became fat and failed miserably in keeping up with online courses and writing. I made a post in January about Resolutions and Wishes for 2014, and let us just say, the plane didn't stay up long ... and crashed, voilently, into a Saharan desert type of a jungle and the pilot was eaten by a crocodile when he found water after wandering for three days in scorching jungle heat and being bitten twice by a non-poisonous and once by a poisonous snake on the butt.

The fat family sat at the table having their burgers and drinks and donuts.  The incongruous boy of ten sat separately. His table lay sparkling empty, obviously.  He looked not at his masters (stuffing themselves), but he was ready, should they call. He was hopeful. But they ate and left, leaving him to scamper behind. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P.S: This is not really a fiction. It is based entirely on my own witness. So much for child labour laws.

Hello people. Happy New Year. Let's begin. Yeah, just like that. I am not going to think of a perfect start to the first post of 2014 here. I am not going to give any background or a reason about why or why-don't I believe in resolutions. I guess it doesn't make much of a difference when you are eating butter day and night and thinking back to your keeping a healthy mind  resolution, which rooted on your 'healthy mind leads to a healthy body' belief. So yeah, let's move ahead. Yeah ;)

'Hey champion, hungry? Want something?', asked Andrew's dad, crouching down in that busy corridor. He nodded without saying 'Cheetos and Twinkies'. ‘Okay, don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back in a jiffy.’ Five minutes later, out of the courtroom herself, his mom dragged him to the car and he could only say, ‘But mommy… daddy… ’ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P.S: This was an out of the blue idea and I would love to know how did you find it? Do leave a comment ;) P.P.S: I missed writing fiction. 

Let me tell you my story in relation to friends. When I was 7 perhaps, I was admitted to a new school, in 2nd standard. There, among other things, which included marvelling at the size of the building and playground and discovering that I could buy an amazing hot samosa and a hotter bread-pakoda, both in all of ₹5, happened something quite  remarkable . I learned a new term, Best Friends . I didn't know exactly what kind of friends were called best friends,  but from what I did get, I was pretty much enchanted by the idea. That day, I saw a boy tell another how his best friend  from the class was on a vacation abroad and was going to bring him a gift from there. Later that day, I saw two boys, whom somebody maybe referred as the best friends , walking around during recess or maybe after the school ended, hands on each other's shoulders, chatting excitedly, like they were having the best time in the world. So, I assumed that perhaps best friends ...

Is it a new love the one you feel A new excitement, a sweet pain a reason to trust someone again - Or is it just an illusion of your memories, your past

Sometimes, even the tiniest of things can make you happy. Things like waking up early morning and watching the sun rise, going on a walk all by yourself or with a friend you haven't met in a while, watching a baby cackle with joy, being out in the first rain after a long summer or smelling something which instantly brings back some of your most treasured memories. It could be thousands of things, all different and diverse and sometimes quite magically, the same. They fill you up with joy, makes your heart pump a little more blood, and your lungs a little more oxygen. You feel elated and refreshed and confident. It makes you feel like you've always been so happy because in that instant you forget all the problems, tensions and difficulties you might have in your life and you just enjoy and live in the moment. View from inside the mosque. Something like this happened with me today and I was so happy that I didn't want it to go away before I captured it in somet...

Although I am not a very resolutionary (yes thank you, I know that's not a word) person I wanted to do a resolutions as well as a wishlist post this time anyway. And since it's too much work making two posts and more work for you reading I decided to do them together.  And even though most people find many things to be happy about the departing year, looking through the time-glass, I didn't find anything worth giving a toast. 2012, as I  realise, has been the most boring, vexing and basically  the most pathetically idle year of my life. I never ever had more sensation of precious.. precious time being wasted before. The year sucked. Actually I sucked the whole year, and bad. Still, if I were to look for good things about this year, I do find some good moments scattered here and there. And most of them include my friends, and discovering how awesome friendship is. The other moments include meeting new people and reading some very good books. And writing of-c...

An invitation has been sent For the lords to descend On moon, to witness the plight Of men for ever so slight T'see, the rain of their roof T'see, their floor with a kloof * T'see, the dark of their night T'see, the lamp refuse to ignite

Yesterday, I came around a post by Aaekay , one of my fellow bloggers where she had answered a little  questionnaire which she found on Me 's (another fellow blogger) blog, who in turn had found it on a really nice blog about .... well, life.  The original post on the blog reads  '50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind' . Now since, I can totally use some clearing up tips for my mind right now, I couldn't wait at answering those questions myself. So, let's get on with them. - - - - -  ***  - - - - - 1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?   21. I think it would be a great age to stay on forever for me. 2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?   How can you know if you never try. 3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?   Because life is a balanced scale of dreams and reality.