एक जंगल की कहानी

बहुत पुरानी बात हैI सतपुडा के घने जंगल के पास एक योगी रहता थाI योगी का छोटा सा परिवार था जिसमे उसकी पत्नी के अलावा उनका एक लड़का थाI योगी का नाम सिद्धू और लड़के का नाम आर्यन थाI हालाकी लड़का अपने माता पिता की बहुत इज़्ज़त करता था पर उसके भी कुछ अरमान थे जो जंगल मे रहकर पूरे नही हो सकते थे, इसलिए उसने शहर जाने की सोचीI यही सोचकर वो एकदिन अपने पिता के पास गयाI
"पिता श्री प्रणामI"
"खुश रहो पुत्र आज सुबह सुबह कैसे आना हुआ?"
"पिताजी मैं शहर जाना चाहता हूँI"
"क्यूँ?"
"मुझे लगता है के आगे बढ़ने के लिए मुझे दुनिया देखना बहुत ज़रूरी हैI"
"लेकिन बेटा यहाँ भी तो सबकुछ है, शहर जाने की क्या ज़रूरत है?"
"कुछ भी तो नही है यहाँ ये जंगल है, मैं यहाँ कुछ नही कर पाऊँगाI"
"लेकिंग तुम्हे ये बात पैदा होने से पहले बताना चाहिए थे, हमलोग उसी हिसाब से भविष्य के बारे मे तय्यारी करतेI"
"पर ये कैसे संभव है?"
"आज तुम संभव असंभव की बात कर रहे हो जब इतने बड़े हो गये होI मैने तुम्हे इसी दिन के लिए खिलाया पिलाया और पाल पोसकर बड़ा कियाI आज जब तुम्हारे शरीर मे खून दौड़ रहा है और तुमने अपने पैरों पर चलने लायक हो गये हो तो शहर जाने की बात कर रहे होI अरे ज़रा सोचो अगर तुम्हारी मा ने तुमने जन्म नही दिया होता तो तुम्हारा क्या होता? अगर हमने तुमने चलना नही सिखाया होता तो क्या होता?"
"पर पिताजी..."
"अरे कभी तुमने सोचा है के मैंने तुमने बोलना नही सिखाया होता तो तुम्हारा क्या होता? आज तुम मेरे सामने ये सवाल लेकर कैसे आ पाते? हमने तुम्हे अपनी गोद मे खिलाया, आज की दुनिया मे कौन मा-बाप अपने बच्चे को गोद मे खिलाता है? इतना ही नही हमने तुम्हारी पैखने और पिशाब सॉफ किए है, सोचो अगर नही किया होता तो आज तुम्हे कितनी बीमारी हो गयी होतीI"
"पर पिताजी ये तो सभी करते हैं..."
"पर सभी लोग जंगल मे नही रहते हैंI आज तुम ऐसी बात कर रहे हो जैसे हमने तुम्हारे लिए कुछ किया ही ना होI"
आर्यन सोच मे पड़ गया की अपने पिता को कैसे समझाएI वो मन ही मन अपने किस्मत को कोस रहा थाI वो सोच रहा था की कहने को तो उसका पिता एक योगी है पर उसकी बुद्धि बिल्कुल विकसित नही है, तर्क के नाम पर वो महाशून्य ,ऐसे मे अपने पिता को समझाए तो कैसे? इस दौरान योगी सिद्धू गुस्से मे अनाप शनाप बके जा रहा था
"तुम बहक गये को पुत्र, तुम्हे मेरी बात अभी समझ मे नही आ रही, तुम्हारी सोच भीड़ की सोच की तरह की होकर रह गयी हैI ऐसे रहा तो तुम कभी कुछ नही कर पाओगेI अरे जब कुछ समझ मे नही आए तो जो कर रहे हो वही करते रहो, ज़्यादा इधर उधर ध्यान मत भटकाओ यहीं रहो और हम तुम साथ साथ ईश्वर् को पाएँगे"
"पर पिताश्री मेरा झूकाओ इश्वर की तरफ नही है, मैं एक बहुत ही साधारण सा मनुष्य हूँI"
"अच्छा ठीक है, ये बताओ शहर जाकर तुम क्या करोगे?"
"पिताश्री, मैं नैनो टेक्नालजी मे काम करना चाहता हूँ, और मुझे नही लगता मैं इस जंगल मे येसब कर पाउन्गाI"
"ऐसी बातें करके तुम इस जंगल का और मेरा अपमान मत करो क्या नही दिया हैI मैने और इस जंगल ने तुम्हे क्या नही दिया? और जहाँ तक नैनो टेक्नालजी की बात है तो तुम्हे बता दूं की इस जंगल मे वो भी होता ,काफ़ी सारे लोग उसपर काम करते हैं मुझे दो दिन का समय दो, मैं तुम्हे ढूंढ कर बताता हूँI"
"पर पिताश्री मुझे नही लगता की यहाँ पर नैनो जैसा कुछ होता है..."
"तुमने कभी खोजने की कोशिश की है? मैं जानता हूँ, मैं कह रहा हूँ तुमसे, मेरी बात तो मानो अगर मैं नही खोज पाया तो आज से दो महीने बाद तूमे चले जानाI"
"पर पिताश्री मुझे जल्दी जाना हैI"
"जंगल के नियम के अनुसार मैं तुम्हे जल्दी नही छोड़ सकता, पर मैं ये वचन देता हूँ की अगर मैं तुम्हारे लिए नैनो मे काम नही ढूंढ पाया तो तुम्हे आज की तिथि से दो महीने मे छोड़ दूँगाI"
"ठीक है, जैसा आप कहेंI"
किंतु जंगल मे नैनो टेक्नालजी पर काम हो यह कहाँ संभव हैI ये बात योगी को भी पता थी पर वो अपने आप को एक अवसर देना चाहता थाI वास्तव मे योगी के मन मे भी नैनो मे काम करने की इक्षा थी, पर उसे कभी ऐसा अवसर नही मिला और जब मिला भी तो उसे इस काम के लायक नही समझा गयाI उसकी क्षमता मे प्रशन्चिन्ह लगना उसके लिए एक बहुत बड़ा झटका था, क्यूंकी उसे अपने उपर पूरा भरोसा था अपने पुत्र को ये अवसर मिलता देख उसे अपना इतिहास याद आ गयाI कहते हैं की मनुष्य की जो हार सबसे गहरी होती है उसके लिए वो किसी और को जीतता देखे इससे बड़ा मानसिक कष्ट कुछ और नही होता, चाहे वो संबंध पिता-पुत्र की ही क्यूँ ना होI योगी इसलिए अपने पुत्र के लिए अड़चने पैदा कर रहा थाI एक झूठे कारण से ही सही, पर योगी ने अपने आप को समझा लिया था के जंगल मे ही सबका मंगल हो सकता है, यहाँ से बाहर जाना एक अधर्मी और हारे हुए व्यक्ति का काम हैI पुत्र के जाने के बाद योगी ने वेद और पुराण का अद्धयन किया और पुत्र को रोकने के तरीकों के बारे ने विचार करने लगाI कुछ दो चार सिद्धांतिक बातें उसने याद कर ली और आर्यन के सामने ऊगल दियाI आर्यन पहले भी ऐसी बातें बहुत बार सुन चुका था, इसलिए उसपर कोई फ़र्क नही पड़ा योगी का प्रयास एक साप्ताह तक चला, पर आर्यन तस-से-मस नही हुआ, वो अपने लक्ष्य को लेकर अडिग था, उसे अपने पिता के दिए गये आश्वासन की भरोसा नही थाI
योगी को जब समझ मे आ गया की किसी भी प्रयत्न का कोई लाभ नही है तो वो बिल्कुल चिढ़ सा गयाI गुस्से मे आकर वो अपनी दो महीने की बात से पलट गया, और आर्यन के जाने की तिथि एक साप्ताह विलंब हो गयीI योगी इसी बात से खुश था, और आर्यन को अपने पिता की मूर्खता पर हँसी आ रही थीI योगी के आदेश पर उसके पुत्र की कोई विदाई समारोह भी नही हुई, और सबको ये भी समझाया गया की भविष्य मे कभी किसी की विदाई समारोह नही होगीI जब जंगल के राजा ने उसके पुत्र के बारे मे पूछा तो योगी ने कह दिया की वो इस जंगल मे रहने लायक नही है, वो अपने कर्तव्य को लेकर समर्पित नही हैI उसका जंगल मे रहना उसके और जंगल दोनो के लिए हानिकारक हैI आर्यन को जब ये पता चला तो उसे दुख नही हुवा, बल्कि उसे हँसी आ गयीI पर उसे क्या फ़र्क पड़ता था, उसे तो नैनो मिल गया था

The Goggles Story

It is widely believed that Sumit Agarwal and Sumit Chaturvedi, champions of an anonymous group that is led by a highly intellectual and revered saint, represent the two most contrasting events of India in twentieth century: Green Revolution and Great Famine of Bengal. Needless to say, in that order. During the time of green revolution, it is said, when Lal Bahadur Shashtri, the then Prime Minister of India, was ordering his ministers to increase the food reserve, the former Sumit stored it in his stomach. The result you can deduce by measuring the proportion of the area he has taken in the above pic. Attributing the nickname 'Sumo' seems just prefect for him. The latter Sumit, famously known as Diode for some unknown reason^{(citation required)}, brings back the memories of poor-Indian-hungry-Indian of pre-independence era. At the time of famine he was so much deprived of food that he lost the understanding of appetite. The only thing that keeps him alive is thirst - for alcohol, nicotine, sex, and some more alcohol.

The noted saint once said: "A common man in India can be recognized by his passion for three things : Bollywood, Cricket, and Religion." I don't know how did the Sumits take cricket and religion, but they are certainly influenced by Bollywood. Sumo had huge aspiration to become like Lara Singh, a famous wrestler and a bollywood actor. Taking full advantage of the green revolution when he was weighing more than hundred kilograms at the age of fifteen, he decided to fly to Mumbai to learn the art of wrestling from Lara Singh. Lara was in gymnasium when Sumo met him.
"So what do you want from me?" Lara asked, panting.
"I want to learn wrestling from you." Sumo replied with his head slightly down but looking straight into his eyes.
"Who told you to come here, I don't teach wrestling."
"I saw you teaching in a movie..."
"What the fuck! That was just a movie."
"But sir, please, my whole life depends upon it. I've been eating hard since green revolution to become a wrestler."
"Go to hell! I don't care about your green revolution! Ever since my son has married Fardaa, every other stupid has become interested in wrestling."
"I'll do whatever you say, sir, but please..."
"Rape yourself! Security, throw him out!"
Two security person came, glanced at Sumo's size, went back and returned with two more. They threw him without any mercy, without any sympathy.
It was shame and humiliation, disgust and pity. His dreams were crushed ruthlessly. To allay his suffering he went straight into a theater which was showing Vijay Path, starring Ajay Devgan and Tabbu. In this movie Ajay vows to wear goggles till he achieves his goal. "Lesson learnt", thought rejuvenated Sumo, "I'll also wear goggles till my revenge from Lara is complete." He hasn't removed the goggles since that avowal. In the pic he is seen in the same pair.

The goggles on Diode's eyes, however, have a dissimilar story; but, yes, it is linked to Bollywood. Hail the saint! As a result of famine, Diode was an ordinary skeleton with two hundred and eight bones, no heart, no blood, and no brain. God would have been absolutely merciless for him had there been no alcohol in the world. One day when he was drunk he put on pink sweater and goggles and headed towards a theater to watch the movie Monsoon Wedding. As he was entering the theater he observed that the crowd was watching him. First he thought that goggles and sweater didn't match his frail outlook, but he was alarmed when the crowd vehemently rushed towards him. He anxiously paced into the entrance but the crowed was faster than he had anticipated.
"P.K. Dubey ji, P.K. Dubey ji!" the crowd shouted with excitement.
"Nahi, nahi, hum P.K. Dubey nahi, hum to Chaturvedi hain" he responded in a voice too low to be heard in the frenzied crowd.
Diode didn't get time to make the crowd understand that he was not P.K. Dubey. Everybody approached him with the request for autograph. Initially he hesitated, but as fairer sex started approaching him he couldn't help acquiescing. In fact, once he understood that P.K. Dubey ji is a man of repute, he started enjoying his elevated status. I would like to remind the readers that P.K. Dubey ji was a character played by Vijay Raj in the movie Monsoon Wedding. Taking advantage of the resemblance of his appearance with Vijay Raj, Diode also managed to fix date with many girls. Gradually, dating, along with alcohol, became his lifeline. Unlike Sumo, Diode uses his goggles when needed, especially at the weakest hour of night.

The noted saint once said: "All well at the start doesn't mean all will end well; all ill at the start doesn't mean all will end ill." The first part of the saint's dictum holds true for Sumo, the second for Diode. Sumo fought hard to become a wrestler. He traveled to Europe and China to learn the art, but with growing age he got little support from his body. Finally he gave up and joined the saint who lives at the summit of a hill located in the northern part of India. However, he hasn't removed the goggles yet. I've learned that he'll remove them after Lara's demise. Diode's fortune has changed with goggles. Once he was fed up the Indian girls, he moved to Europe and America to date blond girls. I've learned that he has plans to use - misuse? - the goggles throughout his life. For livelihood, he has also joined the saint at summit. When I asked him about his marriage plan, he said:
"Arre bhai shadi wadi karne ki kya jarurat hai, aajkal to sab aise hi ho jaata hai."

Long Time No C

Its been really long since this blog has got a new post. Where are you guys .. common .. remember we decided to put a new one every week. Gattu where are thou !!!! 

A lot has happened in last few months. 

First, I quit my job and shifted to mumbai  :) , that offcourse is for a new company. Convincing my manager to relieve me early was pretty hard but in the end he agreed. 

Secondly , Many of my past team members are also resigning but thats in a early stages and lets see how things turn out. 

Third, I am united with our old college gumble (group) . It feels good but I am realizing that people have changed a lot. Lets not go into the detail of what are the changes but it makes me think of certain aspects of life. The only thing that is constant is Change, period. I am in mumbai , rest in delhi , everyone of us will change as time goes by. And when we meet sometime in future ,which we will, I hope that change is good coz here that change has been a kind of disappointment to me. Also, if that change happens right in front of us than it is probably we expected as things progressed, but when we see it after a month/year gap than its shocking. 

Hope we don't change much and if we do that is good. 

More to write on the developments in the last couple of months but I will leave it for later. Have to study for CFA, the day is approaching near. 

P.S. : Things are good. I have settled here and hopefully work will start in full throttle in a week. 

sv v_ut0nj0 ........

"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have big time greatness thrust upon them"

That was a cold night, so cold that people even avoided washing their asses in the loo, they just wiped it off (but this is not important)…the wind was blowing at the speed of light…The fog covered the planet like a blanket..and A man walks alone in the streets of a lonely town in a far flung corner of Rajasthan called churu. The sound of the wind and the sound of his footsteps were resonating with each other. He stopped in front of a house, knocked at the door, and it was heard miles from there. The lady in the house woke up, opened the door and was astonished to find a dark, tall man, with on his face, standing with a big black box in his one hand……she stood speechless, with the feeling of some drops of water on her forehead, not a single word came out of her mouth. The man kept the box on the ground. To her utmost surprise the man quickly made a set of movements and disappeared in the cloud of fog.

Her sigh of relief was hindered by the glance of the black box. Although, her face didn’t regain its original colour...she went near the box…and found that the light was just enough to read the first few lines scribbled on the box…her lips murmured the words ….”big time courier, london”.

Noticing a movement in the box, the lady opened the box with her shivering hands, and was pleased to find a baby inside the box, with a “french cut”....

As It could be predicted from....all the drama, action and thrill presented before were not important. It just answers the question, which people around him are forced to think “ Did his mother go to England or somebody from England visited his house?”

He was not like a normal child, but was in the league of extraordinary people like Mr. Einstein or Mr.Ishaan from Taare Jammen Par…
Normally the kids start speaking from an age of 6-7,and this is treated as one of the most sacred day in the hindu mythology with the mother shouting to the father “Dekho ji, munna bolne laga” and this kid started speaking at an age of 1 month..and the first word which came out of his mouth was neither mummy or papa ..not a word from hindi dictionary ..It was a word some of you might have guessed…It was “pretty much”…and since then he has never stopped speaking.

Time started flying like the kite of salman khan in the song “dheel de”of “Hum dil de chuke sanam”.

With each tick of the clock, the thirst of knowledge in the child grew like the fire in the forest, and he tried to quench this thirst with the knowledge of finance. When the children of his age used to play “chor sipahi” and “luka chippi”. He used to sit in one corner of the class and study the “schweser : The ultimate FRM guide “.

The deep study of the FRM guide produced the result and at an age of 9, he published a 3010 pages of paper on “ Effects of yen carry trades on homo sapiens”…which nominated him for “Noble peace prize”, but lost by few points to Mother Teresa.

His extraordinary skills forced the doctors to have a research on his brain. and cracked the reason for his extraordinary brain power..His brain was actually a dual parallel processor located in both the knees .

Once, in his class, when asked the question : “Where do u see yourself 15 years from now ? ”

“I want to become a PM !!!”

“Excellent !!! and this PM stands for ???”

“Pretty Much”

“What kind of the profession is this ??”

“No mam !! It stands for Project Manager. Shoot me if I am wrong.”

The entire class burst into laughter, and that was the first day, he was offended,for the first time, then and there he decided to become a PM, and started his preparation with “Mein Kamph : An ultimate guide for being a PM”

Where there is a wills, there is smoke…and so the Mission was accomplished…He was not just a PM, like million other PMs on the planet, who get pissed off when people under them are really pissing..but was one step above, the only of his kind who had the ability to speak on Mamta Kulkarni when the topic of discussion used to be “Ozone Layer Depletion”.

People believe, that a day will come when he will wear red underwear over his trouser and people will call him a SUPER PM.

"Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die . Let them say I lived in the time of PM . Let them say I lived in the time of real Spartans."

वेस्ट-इंडीस के लोक गीत के गायक

पश्चिम देश के एक पिंजरे मे
जंगल का राजा रहता था,
अपनी छोटी सी दुनिया मे
सबपर गुर्राया करता थाI

दुबला पतला सा शेर था वो
और मूच्छे रक्खा करता था,
काले थे उसकी खाल सभी
पर वो इतराया करता थाI

उस पिंजरे मे कुछ और भी थे
जो उसकी सेवा करते थे,
वो जो फरमाइश करता था
सब उसको पूरा करते थेI

एक हाथी भी उसमे रहता
और इक हथिनी भी रहती थी,
हाथी को बस खाने की ललक
हथिनी चिल्लाया करती थीI

गीदड़ भी एक आया था वहाँ
राजा की पूजा करने को,
राजा को रास नही आई
गीदड़ से सेवा लेने कोI

पर मजबूरी थी राजा की
पश्चिम से संदेशा आया था,
गीदड़ मे कुछ तो बात तो थी
वो एल-१ लेकर आया थाI

पर राजा तो राजा होता
पिंजरे मे हो या जंगल मे,
कुछ ही दिन मे घुमा डाला
गीदड़ को अपनी चंगुल मेI

गीदड़ ही सारे काम करे
खाने का हो नहलाने का,
राजा ने ये आदेश दिया
ये हुक्म नही ठुकराने काI

गीदड़ ने भी इक चाल चली
हथिनी को बहन बना डाला,
रिश्ते के समीकरण से तो
हाथी का वो बना सालाI

हाथी-हथिनी का साथ मिला
गीदड़ की किस्मत चमक गयी,
राजा को जब मालूम हुआ
तो उसकी बुद्धि ठनक गयीI

राजा ने ये ऐलान किया
गीदड़ को लटकाया जाए,
पेरिस के आइफल टवर से
सिर के बाल फिकवाया जाएI

हथिनी राजा को समझाई
की गीदड़ मेरा भाई है,
उसकी हाथों पर जो राखी है
वो आज ही मैने लगाई हैI

राजा ने उसकी नही सुनी
तो हथिनी ने ये ठान लिया,
मर जाएगी की उसकी खातिर
जिसे अपना भाई मान लियाI

फिर हाथी भी हथिनी का था
साला भी उसको प्यारा था,
एक छोटा सा परिवार था
वो और सब कुछ न्यारा न्यारा थाI

जब तीनो सोच रहे इक सा
तो राजा की क्यूँ बात सुने,
राजा का सफ़ाया करने का
फिर तीनो ने एक चाल बुनेI

अगले दिन फिर उस गीदड ने
विष से इक बकरा मारा था,
राजा ने जब बकरा खाया
जीवन से खुद को हारा थाI

राजा से छुटकारा दिलाकर
हथिनी ने जो एहसान किया,
घीदड ने उसके बदले मे
हथिनी का कन्यादान कियाI

Bonjour Mesiah Mesiah

*******************************WARNING******************************************************

This is an explicit material suitable for those who know what pretty much means. If not, no problem , go on you will get it anyway

********************************************************************************************

Lets take a time machine and go 4-5 months back and consider this

A place full of above average intellect alpha males with virtually no beta females. Now these alpha males have accepted the truth of life, that being, there will be no fairer sex in the project. And if by any chance a female comes in to the project (which by experience they know is virtually impossible) the most senior among them will get it (thats what most of my seniors think) or it will follow the Darwin's Theory of survival of the fittest. Welcome to the dark side.

Now lets come to present

Suddenly one day a (alpha + semi-alpha) "French" female comes to this place to provide training. She start talking in her French accent saying "Bonjour Mesiah Mesiah" which feels like pink floyd music. There is something about French language, you dont know what it means but it sure is sexy ( May be thats why the word French Kiss is there , French being symbolic of the sex part). If you still don't get it I suggest you download 2-3 Alizee songs and listen to them you will get the idea.

Now these Beta males start to believe that there is life after death :P and Final Fantasy Episode 1 begins : Firang in FantasyLand

One of them, lets call him Level1 says "dude I am imagining her every night and wetting my diaper because of Bonjour Mesiah Mesiah. I am also doing extra workouts . What Line should I use to impress her
a) I am Level1 , I know Black Scholes, I know Phinance or
b) I learn new things in Kalipso everyday, It is so good , I learn new things everyday (put these lines in loop after every 30 seconds)"

Mr. HOT says I feel my testosterone level has increased is it because of that firang or due to more intake of protein. Dude if you take 5kg of protein a month even a dead guy will have high testosterone level.

Then this comment which tops the all is by guruji "I have raped her in my dreams". Ahh Sweet dreams. If Jodha (guruji wife) sees this comment there surely will be no more dreams in his life

You probably will be feeling what a bunch of sex maniac but you are wrong. Let me tell you why. All these alpha males have been watching X rated movies(mostly from the west) like most of us (common admit you also watch them) and fantasizing on them. Now if a firang comes they will definetly try to place her in one of those movies for eg. she looks like a girl in "Good Will Humping" or "Porn Identity" etc. And let me tell you this ,if you are not fantasizing then it means 2 thing
a) You are not Male or
b) You are male and there is something seriously wrong with you, go to your nearest doctor ASAP.

But this is a matter of few days and then there will be no fantasy world, No easy Lunch and pretty much alpha males will be doing bigtime technical and geek stuff. Till then "When in Rome do what Romans do " :P

P.S. The author is a newbie to blogging so correct me if there were any errors in my writing I will debug them and recompile it.

Recursion

Since the last 2 minutes, I had watched myself punch an inky hole into the hand-made paper of the executive diary. The nib won't move and with every passing thought the depression grew bigger and darker. The Timex Empera beamed 9:30 pm from my left hand which hung lazily on the sofa's hand-rest. The watch was a gift from my wife last anniversary. It was three years since we tied the knot, three blissful years! No kids though, just us. That was always the plan. We wanted to wait till we were financially secure enough to raise children.

Shivani and I first met in college. In her college that is. It was the annual function and I was not in the habit of missing college functions back then. Especially if it was a girl's college. A common friend got us introduced. The first touch was a simple shake of the hands for her and a nervous, hormone inducing and delirious moment for me. I have never told her what I felt then. It was too embarrassing to disclose. Anyways, so we met! She did all the talking that night. It has been like that ever since, sigh ! The friend was Ravi, the one who introduced us. Ravi and Shivani knew each other really well. In fact, she was the girl next door for him. What feelings he harbored for her in the past we shall never find out, but he was going steady with Meenakshi at that point in time. Their relationship was based on much trust and devotion, eventually culminating in matrimony. Meenakshi and Shivani were to work in the same office later. As time passed I got news of Ravi more through his wife via my wife than from the man himself.

Incidentally, Deepak, Meenakshi's younger brother worked in my office. For people living in the same city, the world sure is a small place. Me and Deepak, we didn't get along and the blame went to a very politically correct 'non-overlapping mental frequency'. It had otherwise become difficult to point out our exact attitudinal non-conformances. Not that being earnest, hard-working, responsible is bad, but somehow I didn't find these qualities looking pretty on him. At the back of my mind I always felt he was putting up a pretense. Probably, he thought I was pretending more, or being too unpretentious. Whatever !

If ever there were two people as far apart in mannerisms as they were close in affection, it would be Deepak and his best friend Sumit. It really clicked for them. Deepak, the timid pushover and Sumit the belligerent bulldozer. It was a delight to watch them argue sometimes - Sumit's yang to Deepak's yin. But they always managed to insure their friendship against such small skirmishes.

Sumit also worked in my office. Once he brought his son Rohit to the office. He was a complete package. In mischief! The naughtly glint in the eyes and the wide smile never left him. A smile did leave Sumit's face, possibly forever when his only child died.

I remember the headline, "Killer blue-line mauls 8 year old". Sumit died of a stroke the year after. It had something to do with his bereavement. Deepak was soon to follow. He was done in by pancreatic cancer. Meenakshi and Ravi died together in a high speed car crash last year. The guilty driver of the truck fled from the spot. Shivani died during child-birth last month. Both the mother and the child.

Sleeping pill overdose almost always caused asphyxiation, promised the internet. I strained to look in the ever dimming light of my living room, to the shelf which contained the stack of our favorite music CDs. To my breathless wonder, the stack appeared empty.



p.s. This is a work of fiction and my pure imagination. Any relevance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental.