GoodBye @ the Station

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I wish I could have returned to say Goodbye. But I could never bring myself to do that. It was tough for me. I could not stand the idea to say good bye to her.
To separate was an amicable decision. We did not even discuss that but the so called destiny took us right there & made us part ways. It was inevitable. He dad was against our marriage, our efforts to convince him did not work. He was not ready to part ways with his beliefs. It sounds strange now but then we were firm that we would get married only if the parents agree. We both had decided this together. When her dad said no my heart had rebelled but deep within I knew it was a barren rebel abreast of any results.
She took up a new job in a different city soon after & I came to this foreign land. I had to run; run away from the past, the future & the present. I left everything behind, almost everything till I came to visit this railway station. One look at the building & tears started rolling off my eyes. The past was back to the present. The architecture of this station is exactly like the one in our city. It reminded me of the day when I saw her one last time. She did not know I was watching her leaving the city. I was scared to say good bye but from one corner of the station I watched her leave. She was in the bogey no. 7 at seat no. 31.

Now it’s a routine for me. I go to this station every Sunday. I wait for this train. I go to the person in the bogey no. 7 at seat no. 31 and say Goodbye. I wait for the train to leave & wave to the person till the train crosses the boundries of vision.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits
Image - Alston Station by Wandering Soul
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

Return

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 14; the fourteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

It's getting too much now. You would wonder how I could say this for being the one who is believed to have created the whole thing.
Let me explain you; let me try to be transparent as you say in your world.
When I made this world I had a general idea about what I wanted to do. But I had never intended it to be run as per the whims & fancies of one creature. I wanted to create a self sufficient world which would have a place for every creature I had made. Which would run on its own. Once created it would go on & on forever, uninterrupted. It would create & pro-create itself.

I had to my service, the PanchaMahaBhutas, the earth, The Fire, The water, the Wind & the Sky. I went to my laboratory & thought for a long time before starting.
First I made Trees of all kinds tiny, small, big, medium all sizes. I made many species of them. Then put them across the Earth. Now don't ask me why I chose Earth of all those billions of stars. This Tree thing was a wonderful design; I gave it leaves, flowers, fruits & then branches, trunks & stems to hold the whole structure. I also gave it roots & let it make a living. It would live & stop living. Most of all I gave it the will to go on. In your words it was like an intelligent computer program which had its own life. But I did not give them names for; they all were same to me. You gave them names & started making use of them for your benefits.
Then I made the water bodies, the ponds, the Rivers, the streams. I asked Wind to flow around & have a blast. It was calm since nobody knew when. I relieved it of its forced calmness & asked it to be on its own. That created a flow in the rivers. They all went to wherever the flow took them & the earth allowed. That created the seas.
The Earth was so happy to see all this. She had started like it. She loved it. That made me think to do more. I went back to my Lab, thought some more & then designed the creatures. I made many species of them too. I threw them all over the earth. That made a huge impact. They made my idea look so good that I became ecstatic. I felt happy about myself. I was enthused with these creatures. They gave a new meaning to my Idea. These were different designs than trees; I gave them the ability to move around. Some could even live in water. Some of them could even fly using the wind. The earth could not believe it when she saw the creatures. The world, my idea had certainly become a better place. She was now greening with pride. She came to me & gave me a Big Thank you. It made my day. With contentedness I went for a long sleep. I was exhausted with my work & needed a break.

When I was back, one day I went to my lab. I realized that there were some leftovers in my lab. I must have missed that because of my Ecstasy over my creations, my last designs. With those leftovers I made two new creatures. I thought of doing something different & gave them some more intelligence; a little more than my last design. I spent some more time on them as I had lot of energy & was full of new ideas & enthusiasm especially because of the break.
I threw them in a specially located corner of the earth. The earth was surprised to see this strange creature. She was surprised as she was not aware of its creation. She was wondering, why at all it was made. But nevertheless she let the new creatures be & accepted both of them like all others.
This is how you came into being. But now you have become a dangerous creature for all others. The earth keeps complaining about you. But even I can't stop you. My design does not allow me to do so.
I made land & you made the boundaries. I gave you emotions & you invented war. I gave you rivers & you invented dams. I made you & you discovered & re-discovered me for your own benefits. You even started differentiating your fellow creatures. Not just that, you keep discovering new ways of doing that. The list would go on & on.
No doubt, I did admire many of your doings. I had given you sound & when you discovered language, I was happy, very happy to see the interesting invention giving a new meaning to my idea. But look at it now; you started using it as a tool of differentiation.
And then Money, that most awful invention of yours. But what do I say, I created you & you created money. Do you remember, you created money to help you but now it is controlling you, your actions, your emotions & your motives?

You discovered the so called metals, gases & liquids. Then you started painful ways of hurting the earth to find more of those. Leave apart the earth; you don't even care for your fellow creatures when you do that.
While doing this all you even pushed me inside the four walls of a prayer house, your own discovery of honoring me. It’s another story that you even differentiate among those prayer houses. Many of you use that prayer like a bargain. What do you think? Am I a shopkeeper, like those in your world?
There are some in your ilk who don't even believe me, my very existence but I believe them, I love them some more. At least they don't lie to me, they don't bargain with me. They do not burden me with their life.

I am sad & unhappy with you. I am fed up with you. I am returning to my abode & leaving this earth. Do not worry about the Earth; my design is simple but robust. It would not break. You worry about yourself, your being, your very existence. You break the balance in my design & it would break you. It would wipe you out. But still the world would continue, with you or without you. That's the way I have made it, designed it.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Goodbye

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 13; the thirteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

They all were having a wonderful time. Neelisha was watching from a distance, seated idly in her chair walking through the pages of some film magazine. It didn't matter to her what was written on the pages she was turning. Her eyes were looking at the horizon. Deep within, She was contemplating about something. Her face was calm & cool but there was something going on in her mind. She seemed to be in a different world completely oblivious of the surroundings. Even the noise the group was making in the Swimming pool didn't seem to bother her. Suketu had tried to get her involved but she wanted some time with herself & he had let her be.
She had been on lots of office picnics before but this group was definitely different. It was an interesting group. Hari,Soniya, Rakesh, Meeta, Mayoor & all others each one of them were a character. That had made the group so lively. The kids were enjoying every moment of the picnic. Generally the group would not leave anybody alone & would make sure everybody gets their share of the smiles. But presently they left Neelisha alone & let her be in her own world.
Suddenly there was a big shout of somebody scolding. Which broke Nileesha's daydream or whatever. It forced her to turn her gaze towards the shout. The shout of scolding was coming from a little girl. It was a wonderful sight. The little one was standing on the chair & most of the group were sitting in front of her on ground. Some of them had not even changed their swimming costumes. It being summer time they seem to be looking for an occasion to get wet & remain wetter.
She was scolding them, screaming at them with sweet instructions. She had turned into a teacher & the group were her students.
She was saying,'Just follow my instructions & if you behave properly each one of you would get a chocolate. I don't want to hear any noise. It should be pin-drop silence.'
Then she started calling them by names. & that brought an instant smile on Neelisha's face. Those were all new names, Mayoor was now Shubh, Nadir was Shaurya, Meeta was ChunMun, Sanjay the teacher's daddy was Shrivatsa Then she started reading a story from her imaginary book. The group was only supposed to listen to the story without making any noise. & they all seemed to be enjoying it. & anyway, they needed to be silent for a while since they had already made enough noise the whole day.
Neelisha got up from her cocoon & sat with the group. The teacher went to her & made her stand, why are you so late Gauri. Now the group couldn't take it anymore. Their smiles\laughs which were held for a long time, suddenly escaped. The group burst into a lively laughter. The little angel wondered what the fuss was about. Her scolding became bigger but now, nobody would listen to her. The teacher started crying. She could not understand that the students were back from their childhood. Shubh was back to mayoor, Shaurya was back as Nadir. They all were now back to being what they were........
Sanjay went to RimZim, the teacher & consoled her. Within no time he brought his daughter to cheerful ways. She went to the other kiddos, with the group. Soon they all got immersed in their own discussion of what game to play next.

The group of biggies had become nostalgic & started discussing the good old school days. Neelisha seemed to be with them but it was so obvious from her face, she was not there. She was still looking at Rimzim, her eyes were moist. It was so clear,there was some unspoken sadness on her face. Some old wound buried deep inside her had opened up. Her face had become so palpable, one look at her & one could not have escaped the goings on. After a while Neelisha started crying & rushed to their Room. Suketu who was just watching Neelisha till then had a word with Sanjay & calmly followed her with Surin, their little son. Others couldn't understand what had happened & started wondering. Sanjay normalized their wondering,'People do not worry, take it cool, they need some time with themselves'.

He was so right. Neelisha, Suketu & their little son Surin needed some time with themselves. For, they had to calm down Neelisha, who was trying to come to terms with the past. The uncompromising past which had compelled her to do things, to make choices which she would have never made.

*****************************************************************************
It was rush hour at the Family court. Court wallahs were having a busy time. People waiting for Advocates moving around with the black blazers & the typical tie around their necks. It was summer time & really brave of them wearing those black blazers. Some of them standing outside the court building, looking for prospective clients, right below the sign board which read, "Please do not solicit customers here, it's against the ethos of the noble profession, Advocates doing so might be reported".
The courtroom was full of faces, one could observe around & make a list of different possible expressions, like those lists of smileys used in the Internet language. In the corner of the Bench Neelisha was seated huddled with her two children, accompanied by her old mother. The Judge arrived right at 11:00 AM, everybody stood up to greet the wise man, bestowed with the powers to decide the lives of other people.
Neelisha & Satish were a lovely couple, parents to cute twins. But somehow things had gone wrong. The possessiveness of satish which she used to love so much, was difficult to take now. He would not allow her to meet her parents. Even the lovely twins would not be able to meet the grandparents. It was a major bone of contention. Neelisha had made attempts to explain him but he would fail to see the point. For him, all relations had ended the day the families broke the ties. The rebel in him would not let the bygones be bygones. He would apply the same rule for his own parents too.
They would not see eye to eye. Small arguments would turn into fights & fights into uncompromising days & nights spent away from each other. It was a clash of personalities. Lately Satish had turned into an Alcoholic. Workoholic to Alcoholic, the transformation was seamless & fast.
There was nobody to blame. They had married against the wishes of both families. They had come together to give shape to their love, their long courtship & how sadly, life had taken a difficult turn, courtship culminated in a battle at court.
Presently, the judge was ready to pass on his judgement on the custody battle. Counseling had not worked for the couple,hence it was necessary to make a decision. The wise man had to make a difficult decision. He had to apply a simple rule of mathematics. 2 divided by 2 is equal to 1. But where would the two 1's go. Mathematics had no answer for that. The wise man had decided, the 1's would decide where they would go. Gauri & Surin had to make a difficult choice. It was a complex decision for the kids, so beyond their understanding, so much beyond their heart. For the courts it was a simple routine process. The counseller took the kids to a room & made an attempt to explain them what they needed to do & what was in store for them. The kids gave each other a peck on the cheek & whispered in each other's ear. Surin went to Satish & Gauri went to Neelisha. Satish was seemingly calm, atleast, whatever was going on in his mind was not visible on his face. Neelisha was inconsolable. The dam of tears had burst from within her eyes. It was a telling blow for her. Her world had fallen apart. She took Gauri in her arms & would not leave her.
The kids were meeting their parents one last time, for, after this day, Gauri would be with satish & Surin with Neelisha. The choices were made. It was clear,that's what the kids had decided when they whispered in each other's ears.
It was time to say Goodbye.............
Gauri was pulled away from Neelisha and after that day, she could never see or meet Gauri again. Satish had left the city the same day to some undisclosed location, nobody knew where they had gone.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Wish

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 12; the twelfth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I wish, If wishes were horses, but then I wonder what would happen to the horses. If that would happen the world would really become a crazy place. Since everybody would be happy & kind of content, there could be a danger that just nobody would want to work. The Jig-saw puzzle would break. Nobody would have the drive to do things & who knows the world may stop to function.
Wish,everyone wishes for something or other and keeps longing for it,waiting for it to happen. In a way wish is the engine which drives the world. When the sun rises and a new day begins ,a new wish takes shape in every heart. A wish to discover life,to learn & relearn & unlearn the ways of the world. A wish makes the day bearable and in a way helps one carry the burden of life. Imagine a day when one have no wishes to look forward to & you would start wondering what you are up to. You are because you wish.
The homosapiens in the stone age wished for a better life & in a way made us what we are. They discovered new ways of living, new ways of understanding the surroundings & new ways to get adapted to the world.
I am sure the creator must have made a wish for a rainbow world,a rainbow of people, a rainbow of emotions, a rainbow of landscapes, a rainbow of seasons, a rainbow of unknown umpteen possibilities & above all a rainbow of wishes to go on & on for a lifetime of lifetimes and here we are. We are the world because the creator wished for one.

It all begin with a Wish...........

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Blood & Tears in the Kashmir Valley

अ़ब कोई आँसू बहता नही हैं आँखोंसे
सूख गए हैं सारे आँसू जाने कबसे

फ़िर कही गोली चली हैं कल शायद
दिन भी आजकल डरने लगे है रातोंसे

चाँद भी आजकल रक्तिमसा हैं कुछ कुछ यहाँ
छलनी हैं उसका भी सिना गोलियों की बौछारोसे

बाते न करना मुझसे अ़ब कोई इतिहास की
फ़िर कोई नौजवाँ बिछड़ गया हैं राहोंसे

Lonavala Picnic with the Schneider team

We were planning for a Getaway picnic since long but somehow it was not working out. The project never took off & always remained a mere plan waiting to be executed, no matter how we planned. But this time we were adamant it happens. During the Lunch discussions we discussed about it & made sure the buzz is on. Deciding the location was easy, within no time we zeroed in on Lonavala, Mumbaikar’s favourite spot for rainy trips. The team was given an ultimatum that no drop outs would be allowed. The likely drop outs were bought in by zealous follow ups by everybody. They were told what they were to miss if they drop out. The planned date was adjusted to make sure it suits everybody. We asked people to bring in the spouses too, to chuck out another excuse for opting out. We decided the date to be 11 July Saturday for obvious reasons. Thinking that it would allow people to relax on Sunday 12 July. But it was not to be, Maggie was not available on Saturday hence she requested to make it to Sunday. Nobody objected hence Sunday 12 July was decided to be the final date. The likely budget was decided & likewise the expenses per participant. Everybody was informed about their pickup points & that ended the planning phase. We did found a couple of bugs in the planning phase. We still had drop-outs. Imran had to attend to some urgent business at home & that left him out along with his spouse. Finally we were a team of 11 people. Another bug was contribution was not received from all. Some jokingly said the contribution would be paid proportionate with the enjoyment.
The planning was over & the D day arrived. We started at exactly 7:00 AM from my home in Kores nakshatra society, Thane. Shabbir, Mildred & Maggie were to be picked up from Teen hath naka square in Thane, on reaching there we realized they were holding a marathon race & as a result the square was swarming with people. But it’s difficult to miss Shabbir even in a crowd & with a couple of calls Shabbir & Maggie were in the Bus. Mildred was also easy to find because of her distinct wind cheater. One pick up point was done with; we started on our planned route. But you can always count on Shobhan for surprises. He called up Shabbir & informed he would be reaching Airoli fly over which was not at all on the planned route. There was no option, we changed the route & started towards Airoli fly over, and that would mean two additional toll booths. The team unanimously decided Shobhan would have to pay the toll at all the toll booths on the way. When we reached the Airoli fly over we had our morning cup of tea. We were receiving anxious calls from Shashwat & Prakash. Poor Shashwat was waiting at his pickup point since more than 45 minutes & Prakash was waiting at home only which was just 10 minutes away. We called up Shobhan to know his where abouts. He claimed he was near a fly over & could see the fly over from where he was. Now we were not sure which fly over he was talking about. There are so many of them in Mumbai. Finally, Shobhan arrived after a good 10-15 minutes. And with him also arrived the rains. It was the first rain of the day & it made us all happy, rains being the important part of the Trip. Later there were no hiccups about delay & when Shashwat got in we were 11 in a 17 seater bus. It was better as the last row was taking care of all the baggage.
In the Bus it was a fun-tastic scene. Some were playing the good old antakshari with all gusto. Some were pulling legs of each other & some were munching whatever they could lay their hands on. In all the melly Suyash spotted the Sun which was hiding behind the clouds all this while & yelled out in Hindi “dekho Dhoop”. The moment he said that the team was after him because pointing out the Sun shine was politically incorrect on a rainy trip. It was time for Suyash to learn his lesson. In no time we were out of Panvel. It was time for some snacks. We caught some Vadapavs at the famous Datta snacks. We took the old Pune highway via the criss-crossing Borghat. Borghat was in a different world today. The bus was plying through the clouds. There were waterfalls everywhere. We got through the old tunnel & the Milky Kune falls was right there in the valley on the left side of the highway. The highway is a bit wider at this particular spot. We stopped the Bus & got out to please our eye balls. The scenic sahyadri was wearing its best greens today. The cameras were out & with some clicks we resumed our journey to Bhushi dam, our final destination in Lonavala. In a short while we crossed the Lonavala Bus stop & turned towards Bhushi dam. The climate was very good. There was no sun shine & it was all cloudy. The tatas dam was a wonderful site. Every time a water fall would be spotted, the team would cry their Lungs out yelling “water fall”. Finally we reached near the Bhushi dam. It was all crowded & there was no space for parking. While looking for a parking space we went a bit away & decided to go towards the Tiger hills instead. Bhushi dam was pushed away on the priority list. The road to tiger hills was a steep one but it was worth the efforts. We reached the Tiger hills & got out of the Bus. We were welcome by a rush of heavy rains & everybody got wet. Prakash was worried for his spouse & opened the Umbrellas. The rain slowed down & finally we could get a viewing. We were on the upper side of a waterfall & could see the stream which was the source of that waterfall. The clouds were everywhere around us the visibility was not more than 2 meters. It was a scene straight out of dreams. We were actually among the clouds & could touch them. Everybody got into the water for some time & suddenly Mildred had a brain wave. She suggested, let’s walk in the clouds to Bhushi dam. It sounded like a crazy idea & Prakash thought it was not a good idea at all. Never the less we instructed the Bus driver to follow after a while & started walking towards Bhushi dam. It was literally a Walk in the Clouds. The happiness was telling on everybody’s face. I had never seen so many talking smilys at one place. The team did a good beat of advertising for the new Movie Kamine. The title song of the movie was quite a hit with the team. The team was yelling out "Dhan Te Na" with full use of their vocal cords. Even some of the passers- by picked up the yelling & responded with the same. I recorded some of those yelling sessions; they are good memorabilia of the trip.Prakash & Ranu were walking hand in hand; some even suspected they were whispering sweet nothings to each other. They were nicknamed a Honeymoon couple. On our way we spotted an old Car lying by the road side. The only remains of the Car were its body. It wore an antique look. The team took some snaps around the car as if they were on a movie shooting schedule. With the old car in the background, some of the snaps really look as if they were from a movie shoot. By that time the Bus caught up with us & we all hopped on to the Bus. At the Bhushi dam parking rates was sky rocketing. Somehow we found a parking space. We all got out & started towards the Bhushi dam. The Bhushi dam Overflow is the high point of a rainy trip but it was not overflowing. Hence we decided to go to the sources of Bhushi dam. We could see some big waterfalls at a distance not more than half a mile. We took a detour from the Bhushi dam & wend behind the dam. In another 5-10 minutes we were in a stream of water. This stream was the output of a big waterfall. Except Ranu & Shabbir everybody got wet. We all played water games in the stream. Shobhan got himself immersed in water multiple times. It seems he was taking a bath of the lifetime. Shashwat was playing a water sadhu trying to meditate in water.
Suchitra & Shabbir gave some wonderful poses for snaps. Prakash was making sure everybody gets wet. Turn by turn each one was thrown in water. After a while, it was time to catch some snacks. We had some snacks & tea at the stall near the fall. With stomachs full it was time again for the waterfalls. This one was a bit crowded but still we managed to make place for the team under the milky waterfall. It was wonderful to get the water currents on head. Some of us climbed the waterfall from a side & went beyond the waterfall. There was another bigger waterfall, which was not crowded. The way leading to the waterfall was through a stream, which was a source for the waterfall we had just climbed. We had to carefully negotiate the stream to reach the waterfall. When we reached there we realized it was worth the effort. With some more clicks we returned to the earlier waterfall where the other team members were waiting. It was time to go back to Mumbai.
Everybody was still ecstatic from the experience. All cameramen were instructed to bring the snaps to office the very next day. The road back home was so crowded that a 2 hours journey almost took 4 hours. But thanks to the team the journey was bearable. The singing never stopped. The journey sounded quicker thanks to the spirit of the team. On the way back people were dropped off the way they were picked up. By 9:30 PM everybody was back to home. It was the end of a day well spent.

तमन्ना

नाम तुम्हारे लिखनी हैं ग़ज़ल
पर लब्ज हमारे साथ नही हैं
जानना हैं के कौन हो तूम ?
पर राह हमारे पास नही हैं
पाना तो हैं साथ तुम्हारा
पर कोई नुस्खा पास नही हैं
खोने नही हैं ख्वाब तुम्हारे
पर नींद हमें अब आती नही हैं