An Innocent Ode to a Great Sacrifice

10 years of Kargil Victory Day

This day, a decade ago; India finally declared victory in the war which was imposed upon it by unscrupulous elements across the western border. Those fighting under the garb of Kashmiri grievances were shown the way back to their country or sent directly to heavens. As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas, I dedicate an innocent ode to the life and sacrifices of those brave men who never returned from the battle front.

This poem is again from my childhood collection from which I have posted earlier too, written much before the Kargil War. Seeing a NDTV documentary couple of hours ago, where Barkha Dutt relived those moments with her fellow crew men and officers she had met during Kargil War coverage was pretty emotional. Late Capt. Vikram Batra's identical twin Vishal Batra while talking about his brother could not retain his tears. Before leaving, here is one of my favourite song from the movie LOC-Kargil;

बस इतना याद रहे, एक साथी और भी था।

	One of the best works of Javed Akhtar - Anu Malik - Sonu Nigam trio

Images Courtesy:
Self designed with images from http://www.au.af.mil and http://www.globalsecurity.org (edited)

The Bohemian Rap-sody

Fools create and Wise ones follow

At the first look, this statement might look inverted. But do not interpret it from your individual perspective but from the perspective of a group of individuals, better known as society. Whenever, a person tries to do something out of the box, something that is unconventional, not in tune with the acceptable tenets of the society, he is often called a fool. But once this fool succeeds in his endeavour, the wise owls conveniently follow the path set by him, hence saving themselves the hard work and experimentation.

So when, Bohemia, claimed to be the first Punjabi rapper in the world; made this statement, most of the youngsters sitting around him, sipping their coffees at Barista, got confused at first. We had reached the cafe after spending time at Missionaries of Charity's Chandigarh Center where Bohemia had also joined us for a community service activity organised by We Volunteers, an organisation founded by my old friend, Preetarjun.

Bohemia eloquently shared with us his life journey from a mother-less boy at a young age in Pakistan to California based popular rapper. My non-Punjabi readers (and even me for that matter) must be knowing him from his recent Bollywood connection, the song 'Aadmi khilona duniya ke khel me' from 8x10 Tasveer and the Chandni Chowk to China title song.

Talking to us, he soon turned into a counsellor, talking about careers and our likings. He admitted that sometimes, he feels he should have studied more. He had dropped out of High School, not because of his lack of interest in education, as he claims but because of poor American education system which he had to adopt around adolescence on moving to U.S.A. To us, he advised that we might not always get what we want but we have to find ways to move on.

Taking a leaf out of his own life, he explained that his favourite genre is Ghazals and Shayari and he counts not a single rapper among his favourite singers, the list topped by Mukesh, Jagjit Singh and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. So how did he become a rapper?

Pointing towards his glass of Mango Smoothie, he continues; the lyrics are like a juice while the music and vocals are the glass, straw and other peripherals, just a means to convey the message contained in the lyrics. So when, he realised, he won't be able to sell his lyrics through ghazals, he decided to try something new, hence becoming the first Punjabi rapper in the process. This title was given to him by the BBC Radio 1 after his first music album became one of the top ten most requested songs on the station in 2002.

Usually, I would have skipped writing about this hang-out with Bohemia and concentrated more on the fun-filled time spent with young orphan and differently abled children at Missionaries of Charity. However, he impressed me with his clarity of mind and humility during those couple of hours at Barista, so I thought of sharing it with my largely non-Punjabi Blogger Buddies.

Here, is my snap with Shivani, a mentally differently abled girl at the centre, whom I am helping with a painting as part of the Draw your Dreams event, earlier in the day. However, as Preet writes on Facebook, it seems as if

Vipul started drawing himself:p

Well, his statement is pretty true, as soon the other kids like Arjun and Salim (both physically differently abled) clustered around me, demanding me to draw a rose, tree or river on their sheets too. It was fun revisiting my childhood hobby after a long time and at the same time becoming a reason behind their smiles.
And yeah, before this event got started, I spent some time with the young orphan children (by young, I mean toddlers). Two of them got into a competition of attracting my attention; with their ta ta ta ta's and innocent smiles, the only modes of communication, they have learned till now; to make me lift them. I spent about half an hour swapping between both of them due to which my left arm is still shivering. However, it was worth it. May God bless them with loving and caring families.

Images Courtesy:
Preetarjun's Facebook profile; Photography by Charan

The Epic 'Untagging' Post - II

Jul 13, 2009; 04:00 a.m.

I straight away continue from where I left in my previous post.

TAG-IV

I have been tagged by this Questions Tag by both Shankar and Roshmi Sinha on Jul 2, 2009 and Jul 10, 2009 respectively.
I have reordered the sequence of the questions a bit to offer some continuity.

Q: What is your current desktop picture?
A: Well, as you can see, I replaced Johnny Depp in the forthcoming Pirates of Curry-bean IV. Its even more action-packed and has some great twists thanks to the new directing duo of Abbas-Mustan. I'll be killing Orlando Bloom in the movie and have some intimate scenes with Keira Knightley. So just fasten your seat belts.

Q: The last song you listened to?
A: Just play this song. It goes best with this wallpaper and incidentally this is the song I last heard.

Q: Where did you live in 1987?

A: In Chandigarh, though in a different house and in a different sector.

Q: What’s your favourite town/city?
A: My City Beautiful, Chandigarh of course. Do read my post Chandigarh Unabridged to know about some interesting facets of my city.

Q: Are you jealous of anyone?
A: Can't think of anyone particular among my acquaintances.

Q: Is anyone jealous of you?
A: Not sure. Moreover, why should anyone be!

Q: When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
A: I am not sure if I ever did it in my life. Maybe long time back, for fun sake, I might have written few lines on a letter, my mother was posting to someone.

Q: Can you change the oil on a car?
A: No. But I recently replaced a punctured tyre. My mother was with me at that time. How proud she felt of her son, soon to turn 24, finally doing something manly enough. But the bigger revelation is that; for a week, my body ached big time.

Q: Name three things that you have on you at all times?
A: The following three; which I hope just end somehow.

1. My balding hair (Ending it means, getting it under control)
2. Craze to blog
3. Craze to find an excuse for not studying

Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now?
A: My own weight and the heat being generated by my laptop.

Q: Have you been burnt by love?

A: As I just said, I am being burnt by my laptop right now.
Anyway, coming back to this question, these lines written long back can give you a clue:

छुपा सकता अगर जज़्बात तो फिर बात क्या थी,
इस रोशन ज़माने में अँधेरी रात क्या थी!
ज़ुबाँ चुप रह भी जाए पर यह दिल बोलता है,
तनहाई में पुराने ज़ख्म फिर खोलता है!
यूँ मायूस होना कहाँ तक लाज़मी है,
अंधेरे में उजाला खोजना भी दिल्लगी है!
समझ पाती वो हमें तो फिर बात क्या थी,
इस रोशन ज़माने में अँधेरी रात क्या थी!

Don't worry, as I said, this was written long back, about 4 years ago. Read my post The Sophomore Days to know more about all this.

Q: Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
A: Pursuing her higher studies.

Q:When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

A: Now that the new day has already dawned (see the time stamp in the beginning), I just saw myself in mirror while applying mouth ulcer gel and pitied myself for having this painful malady attached to me since childhood.
Once I had to be rushed to the Doctor's place and then to Emergency (just the chemist shop of Emergency) at the middle of the night to get some medicines as I had kept my bruised tongue hanging out of my mouth for too long and it had dried up like a piece of wood.

Q: How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?

A: Wallet is downstairs and I am in no mood to check it. As it is, whenever the cash goes down in my wallet, I get it instantly recharged from my dad's or mom's kitty. There's nothing to be ashamed of that, right?

Q: What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
A: POUR. And well, light rain is just pouring outside. Monsoon is having a great time playing hide and seek with us.

Q: What is your favourite ring tone on your phone?
A: Well I just have a beep as I don't use the cell phone much. And on my landline phone, its the normal tring tring.

Q: Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
A: Its Shashaank. By now my regular readers must be knowing him pretty well.

Q: What are you wearing right now?
A: A two-piece. I mean a collared striped-T and a khaki shorts.

Q: Do you label yourself?
A: What does that mean? If it's anything to do with Brand-consciousness; then yes, when it comes to outdoors, I do go for good brands, not for the sake of their names but because of quality. However, at home local stuff is cool.

Q: Name the brand of the shoes you currently own?
A: Adidas and Reebok casuals, Lee Cooper formals and one more formals of some desi brand.

Q: Bright or Dark Room?
A: Somewhere in between tending more towards brighter. However, when it comes to sleep, I prefer pitch darkness, something thats not possible these days as I go to bed around the same time as my mother leaves for her morning walk.

Q: What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
A: Shankar and Roshmi! Two more crazy bloggers like me. Will take some more time to know them better. Great to have both amongst my Blogger Friends.

Q: What does your watch look like?
A: Its a cool one, gifted by my sister and brother-in-law; the one with perpetual date technology. It has a large white dial and has a broad silver chain. Very elegant and 'manly'.

So by changing the punctured tyre the other day, I proved my right to possess it.

Q: What were you doing at midnight last night?
A: I am on my Blog usually at the midnight. Posted my previous tag post around that time.

Q: What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
A: Now that's a long one from Airtel about some recharge offer. These are the messages I usually receive.

Q: What’s a word that you say a lot?
A: No swearing words usually though in front of friends, especially college ones, I rant all my dirty vocabulary.

Q: Who told you he/she loved you last? (Please exclude spouse, family and children)
A: My 'ex' ofcourse, in that case. And yeah, I am a bachelor (just a bachelor, not बीमार like Akshaye Khanna in his debut movie) and have not adopted any children.

Q: Last furry thing you touched?
A: My beard.

Q: Favourite age you have been so far?
A: No particular. Life is fun all the way if we take it that way, each stage has something great to offer.

Q: What was the last thing you said to someone?
A: 'Life is fun all the way if we take it that way, each stage has something great to offer.'
Now that was an easy one!

Hey, my mother just left for her morning walk. So time to go to bed. I'll be taking the last tag later in the day, hopefully.

Jul 13, 2009; 08:15 p.m.

TAG-V

Finally, this 5 things I love about myself tag is once again from Subhayan Wrahool Mukerjee (his previous one has been taken up as TAG-I in the previous post) as he tagged me twice on Jul 5, 2009.

It would have been so simpler, if I had to enumerate 5 things about me that I hate. In that case, even a greater number like 10, 15 or 20 things would not have been a problem. Anyway, coming back to the task at hand, I'll enumerate some things randomly

1. Empathy towards others. Theoretically, I've reached the saturation point but in practical terms there is a long way to go.
2. Ability to impress others, especially the parents of my girl friends (including 'friends who are girls'). Most of them think that I am the most decent guy in the world and I let them live under this illusion.
3. Creativity that reflects in most of the things I undertake.
4. Confidence to undo some shortcomings. Despite my acute stammering problem at times, I did not hesitate to pick up the microphone at public gatherings.
5. Thirst to lead from the front. I'll be posting my Rotaract (Club) experiences soon. To know how it all started in the college, read my post The Sophomore Days.

Jul 13, 2009; 08:30 p.m.

With that I come to an end of all the tags.

As you can see, The Cupid Me once again has decided to tag everyone who ends up reading this post.

However, I'll be tagging one person in particular and she is Nicky because while untagging herself of my TAG-I today, this is what she had written

Here is my first tagged post. I wasn't tagged personally but it seems people fear tagging me personally or something.

So Nicky, Cupid loves everyone and could not see your agony.

Images Courtesy:

From Personal Collection created on http://www.photofunia.com/ (edited)

Michael Jackson : An obituary

End of an Era

Finally the inevitable happened. We had been hearing about it for sometime. However, when it happened it came as a shock, though a momentary one. Michael Jackson, the world's best entertainer breathed his last breath yesterday.
They say life comes full circle at that last moment. What must MJ have seen at that narrow alley, that final junction between the life and death?
Seen himself moon walking, performing in front of crowds and dignitaries alike, receiving awards and cheers or shrieking after yet another disastrous face job?
MJ was always in the news, if it weren't for his music, then the reports revolved around his experimentation with his face, sexual scandals (pedophilia charges being the gravest) or his financial calamities. It is ironic, that the man who once said, "It doesn't matter if you are black or white" decided to go white one fine morning.
However, this obituary is not meant to elaborate on these dark phases of his life but to celebrate a life dedicated to music, dance and full-on entertainment.
I can not claim to have grown up listening to his songs for I had a limited access to western music during my childhood. However MJ was such a phenomena that everybody had heard about him, even if not heard him. I remember seeing him for the first time on a video, my U.S. returned buddy had brought, when I must have been about 8 years old. He looked peculiar and his songs also failed to impress me because I had been more into Bollywood in those early years of my life.
However, MJ's one song which I really loved even before I knew it was his was 'Black or White' thanks to an advertising parody of Philips which went like,

"अगर लेना हो T.V. तो Philips का लो Black and White"

and was beamed constantly on radio.
Other than this, his two other compositions are amongst my all time favourites. These aren't the normal Michael Jackson stuff but transcendental in nature, an ode to the humanity, the best works of the 'King of Pop'.
The first is 'Heal the World'. It was dedicated to children living in countries suffering from unrest. His performance at the Bill Clinton's gala, dedicated to "all the children in the world", in 1992 is one of the best and most moving performance I have ever seen.

The other song is 'We are the World' by USA for Africa, which he has co-written and performed. Profits from the song were used in relief of famine and disease in Africa.
I have created this Mixpod playlist as a dedication to three of his best works. Tune in to listen to the legend himself.

I am so in love with these songs that these three formed a part of a previous playlist I created for my blog which had only four other songs.
Today Michael Jackson is no more. He left his millions of fans at a young age of 50, missing the comeback he had planned recently. With this an era comes to an end. But he will always remain in our hearts as the 'Best Entertainer of All'.

Image Courtesy:
http://www.topnews.in (edited)

The Monsoon राग ।

Followed by some food for thought

A Rainy Day - Drawn by 'a 6 to 8 years old' me

With the maximum temperatures hovering above 40°C (104°F), Chandigarh has been eagerly awaiting the advent of the monsoon. The showers we got on the 16^th of June were, as later revealed by Meteorological Department, due to western disturbances and not pre-monsoon showers as I mentioned in a post that day.
The monsoons have always been a child's paradise. I fondly remember bathing in my balcony under the natural shower and those paper boats which my father used to make for me so that I could float them in the puddles on the road.
Doesn't that remind you of the first verse of a particular song, immortalized by Jagjit Singh's unique baritone:

यह दौलत भी ले लो, यह शोहरत भी ले लो;
भले छीन लो मुझसे मेरी जवानी।
मगर मुझको लौटादो बचपन का सावन;
वो कागज़ की कश्ती, वो बारिश का पानी।

	Tune in to listen to the complete song

Here's an amusing but apt translation from my side (try singing it to the original tune;)

Take this money and take this fame;
Even snatch my youth if you may.
But give me back my childhood's monsoon;
That boat made of paper, that water of rain.

Before you accuse me of filling my post with someone else's creation, I'll reproduce two poems, I wrote long ago. Yup, the two are from the same childhood collection from which I have posted last time and earlier too.
I remember writing the first one for a home assignment. I was finding it pretty difficult but suddenly it started raining. I went out in the balcony and started writing. The words just flowed naturally after that.

The sun was invisible and the clouds turned black
At that time I sensed, that monsoon has commenced
The drops of rain trickled down, making the sight beautiful
Happy were the people of town, before who were mournful
Peacocks started dancing and the frogs crocked with happiness
God blessed the burning Earth as for her it was a new birth
Monsoon is the King of seasons, to say this I have many reasons
Rain is the love of God, in disguise of the water drops

After this cute little poem, here is another one, but this time in Hindi. Well, there is no anecdote related to it.

सोंधी सोंधी खुशबू आई, मन में एक तरंग जगाई।
टप-टप-टप बरसा पानी, यह है प्यारी वर्षा रानी॥
सब के मन को स्वछन्द यह करती, ठंडी करती तपती धरती।
तरस विधि को धरती पर आया, देवराज द्वारा पानी बरसाया॥
तालाब पर यह छम-छम करती, सबके मन में खुशी है भरती।
किसान नाचें, पक्षी चेह्चहाएं, मोर नाच मोरनी को बुलाएं॥
खेत फिरसे हैं लहलहाते, हरे-भरे पोधें हैं भाते।
बच्चे कागज़ की कश्तियाँ बनाते, फिर उन्हें पानी में बहाते।।
वर्षा बड़ी सुहावनी है लगती, कोई ऋतू ऐसी नहीं होती।

The two poems are so similar in the spirit as well as structure that both can be regarded as each others translation.
In these two poems my affection towards monsoons has been expressed quite succinctly with the childhood's innocence. With time, I believe this affection goes down as rains become more of a nuisance for us. Afterall, who likes to get drenched while going to the college on a bike or get late for an exam or maybe, a date.
The biggest evil of rain for an average Indian, young or old, is when a much awaited cricket match gets abandoned due to it or India is defeated thanks to the bogus Duckworth-Lewis formula (though when the result is in our favour the same formula becomes the lifesaver).

On a serious note:
Well, we might change, our priorities might change and hence, our love for monsoons might change but let us hope that monsoon never changes. Sadly, it has changed its trend over the years and is becoming more and more unpredictable.
The havoc created by monsoons in Mumbai in recent years is fresh in our memories. On the other hand, this year, it has arrived much later than what was projected by MET Department and it is expected to be stunted in duration and rainfall.
This year's late arrival has been largely attributed to El Nino; a global periodic ocean-atmospheric phenomena that arises in tropical Pacific due to over-heating of the ocean waters and leads to the weakening of high pressure over the Indian Ocean which in turn weakens the South-West Trade Winds that bring monsoons to the low pressure belt of Indian Subcontinent in summers.
However the role of Global Warming, though not authenticated as yet, in bringing about a change in the general trend of monsoons in the recent years, can not be ignored.
The late and stunted monsoons directly impact the Indian economy negatively, at the macro level. Moreover, at the micro level, it negatively affects the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, dependent agricultural labourers and those associated with the agro-based industries and the auxiliary services throughout the country.
Such a scenario makes it all more reasonable to fight Global Warming with much more vigour and zeal.

Image Courtesy:
Self Drawn and Photographed (original)

We aren't the only ones who copy!

The two way traffic of plagiarism

These days on waking up in the afternoon (yeah, not morning) and going downstairs to my parents' room (which doubles up as our common sitting room all the time), I am often greeted by some old Bollywood flick on Zee Classic, they happen to be watching at that time. So today, it was a Feroze Khan-Mumtaz starrer Apradh. When I entered still rubbing my sleepy eyes, I was greeted by a cabaret number picturised on Helen, 'Ae naujawan hai sab kuchh yahan'. The tune sounded familiar and soon I found myself humming, 'No, no, no, no... don't phunk with my heart'. Yeah, even I was surprised.
I was listening to a song, an original Bollywood song of 1970's which had been recently recycled by one of my favourite western band, Black Eyed Peas. It seemed as the flow of tide had reversed its direction. So what, if our Bappi Lahiris and Anu Maliks have recycled hundreds of Western compositions into Bollywood hits. This single song had wiped off all their sins. "We aren't the only ones who copy!", I declared proudly to my father.
But still to be on the safer side, I googled to ascertain if both these compositions have not been lifted from some other old Western song. Thankfully, that's not the case. Moreover, I found another website which has documented this curious case of copying. On reading, I instantly recalled that the introductory music of the song, 'Don't phunk with my heart' has also been lifted from another Helen song, 'Yeh mera dil pyaar ka deewana' from Don while the remaining song is the copy of the aforementioned one. Both these original compositions are from Kalyanji and Anandji, the much celebrated India music duo.
To convince yourself, listen the original intoductory instrumental composition from Don, the song from Apradh and finally the plagiarized version from Black Eyed Peas.
Sometimes, it feels quite irritating when I realise that a Bollywood composition I liked a lot and because of which I liked a particular music composer is nothing but a copied version of some American, Arabic or Latin composition. With that the respect for the particular Indian composer goes down (recently happened in the case of Pritam Chakraborty) but love for the particular song doesn't. At that time, I actually realise that music has no language.
However, copying also needs talent. Putting particular words into a given composition can be quite draining. I have tried that myself many a times with my songs (yeah, that's a BREAKING NEWS- I also write songs to waste my time) and it is difficult indeed. But sorry,copycats; can't give you any credit for that. If your job if difficult, even the job of a thief or a robber is. So, you fall in the same category. Better come out with original compositions or...
Or what? We'll have to survive on your recycled songs only. As it is, we can't help but love them;)

Clarification (June 24, 2009)
It has come to my notice that the song 'Don't phunk with my heart' cannot be considered as a plagiarized version because the Black Eyed Peas duly acquired the rights for both the Indian songs from the copyright holders, Sa Re Ga Ma. Nonetheless, it is a copied song, hence this post does not loose the spirit in which it was written.

Images Courtesy:
http://www.pardonmyhindi.com; http://bollystic.com and http://schnoppsoft.de (edited)

"I chose love and I'm here"

Jai Ho!

I may have used the title of this Oscar winning song as the sub-title of my post but frankly speaking, I do not believe that it actually deserved any award. In our Mumbai film industry this song would have lost in oblivion. However, the man behind it definitely deserves a lot. Even he might agree that this is not even close to his best work but then who cares. He has won the Oscar for it and the fact to rejoice is that our very own Rahman, humming to whose tunes we have grown up is now a world acclaimed composer.


I happened to switch on the television in the morning, just in time to see A.R. Rahman receive his first Academy award. On receiving his second Oscar, Allah Rakha Rahman made a beautiful statement to end his acceptance speech. He, in his ever-soft spoken tone remarked, "..[A]ll my life I had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I'm here."
What was his context, only he knows the best. However, I could not help but see this statement in a much larger context. Rahman, a Muslim by faith(though not by birth) and Tamil by ethnicity has seen his brethren choosing the other path, that of hatred.
So, while the world bleeds to Islamic terror, Sri Lanka has been bleeding to Tamil terror. I must note here that by making this statement, I do not intend to stereotype any community and question their genuine grievances.
However, the message given out by Rahman could not have been more apt for the occasion. We all, irrespective of our ethnicity or religious faith can learn a lot out of this simple statement.
Kudos is due him for his achievement against all odds. Jai ho!

Image Courtesy
http://www.oscar.com (original)