It was a week back. Me and a 'couple' of dear friends were travelling in a rick towards Juhu. Below the Andheri bridge, the rick screeched to a halt at the signal. A ten year old girl, with a bunch of a dozen roses, came towards us with a cheery smile and glittering kohl lined eyes. Seeing the pretty couple in the rick, she had found the right customer. Out of curiosity, "How much?" i asked. "Bees rupiya", said the little one. I thought it was a steal and the girl might have thought it was a done deal.

I glanced towards my friend, if he would like to buy them for his sweetheart. He decided not to. The little girl with roses insisted, "Saahab le lo....bees rupiya hi toh hai". A couple of no, no's and it was time for signal to turn green. The disheartened girl knew this was yet another opportunity gone abegging. Just as the rick started moving, she plucked out a rose from the bunch and handed it over to my friend. We kept saying no and the girl said.."Kuch nahin saahab rakh lo...." She smiled and went away..

I know where to buy my next bunch of roses from.... Even if i have no one in perticular to give them to....

Tailspin: How often can you smile back and be generous with someone who has rejected you?

Mumbai was rocked again a few days back. It was heart-wrenching to read about Mumbai blasts. Sitting here in the comforts of my office I cannot gauge the magnitude of the loss caused to the people who lost their loved ones. One thing I know, I was deeply moved by the tragic event. A sudden and untimely death of a family member can be the saddest thing to happen.

~ No defeat can humiliate you if you can handle the success with humility.

True champions emerge stronger from temporary setbacks to achieve greater feats. ~

Imagine two lovers on the platform.One of the lovers has to leave the other to make his dreams come true.Both are TMD in love and hate every bit of the fact that they have to part for the dreams of better tomorrow to come true.It took a lot of courage, conviction, consultation, convincing and also consoling to make this decision.

It's the day.The platform is abuzz, but both are lost in their own little world.Time is ticking fast,the hearts are racing and both are holding on to seconds which seem to be slipping faster than the quicksand.Now it's the time.The train will appear any time soon.The tears are held back in quivering anticipation.The eyes don't know where to look,the distant horizons from where the train will appear, or the eyes of the lover which hold the world for you.

Strange irony. One world here in the eyes, never wanting you to go; other waiting, can't wait for you to come and conquer.

Now is imtehaan ki ghadi.Usually punctual train shows no trace of emerging from the near horizon.Every second spent more digs deeper in the soul wanting the train never to arrive.On another hand is the reality that it is on it's way and will sweep him off any time.

The biggest challenge love ever faces, to let go or hold on.Does the will to make his dream come true, albeit for her, still hold the fort or the love of life will make him change his mind in those moments of anxious wait.What will happen will determine what you value more.

Or will it?




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Distance and time are but essentially physical properties.Love is a property of the soul and soul is eternal.Is it any wonder that true love survives toughest tests of time and distance?

Life has ways to make you humble when you think you have outgrown your shoes.It comes in ways you expect least but teaches you the lesson which would be hard to forget.

It was Sunday noon and sun as is the case these days,was glaring down mercilessly.Me and some mates had just had our luch in a restaurant (Well, i know it's a bit of an overstatement!) nearby.I decided to brave the sun and walk down.Smoke feels like Nirvana after luch, so a stop by was must.

Smoking without company can play havoc with an empty mind.It can make you feel like you are the ruler of this world.As i was providing some raw smoke to my lungs and massaging my ego, i could see the old coconut vendor across the road.One look and you could sense the hardships this sixty year old might have  gone through in life.I decided to sip some coconut water, health ka health or thoda help bhi ho jayega bechare ko.

I walked over to him.Don't know hwy i wanted to test him.I decided that i will bargain and then ultimately pay whatever he had asked for initially.You know dirty tactic to buy some false sense of gratitude from the old man.

"Chacha, kya bhaav diye naariyal?"

"Chouda, pandrah, solah"

" ya gyarah, barah, terah"

"Nahi bhai.Aapse jyada nahin lenge.Mausam garmi ka hai, bhaav badh gaye hai."

"thik hai, ek zyada paaniwala dedo, choudahwala.malai nahin chahiye."I don't need those extra shots of fat, even in their purest form.health conscious hun bhai.

"Choudah me to paaniwala nahin milega.Aap pandrahwala le lijiye.Kam daamwalewale me garmi ke karan malai jam jaati hai."

"thik hai." I saw the heap of coconuts on the floor as Shataram started to find the one that would suit me.I wondered what the skinny, battered old man did for storing as he was operating from a roadside makeshift cart.

"Aur ye pura nariyal ka dher aap raat ko ghar le jaate ho?"

'Haan bhai.Ghar le jate hai." How does he manage it? Shantaram had cut a coconut- the one brimming with pure divine water by now.I gulped it down.Felt like such a bliss.Now was the time to pay.

I pulled out a 50 rupee note, i was supposed to pay him 15 Rs.Shata did not have enough change.He asked for a five rupee coin, i had one.He searched the tattered pockets of his vest.Count was forty.

"Chacha, thik hai.Tees rupiye de dijiye."

"Nahin bhai, jitna thik hai utna hi loonga.Ruko main chhootta le aata hun."

" Chacha rakh lijiye, mere pass paanch rupiye hai, lekin aap bees rupiye rakh lijiye.Chinta mat kijiye."

Extra five bucks spent won't hurt me but it would help him for sure, i thought.A small gesture to make someone's life a little better.I was already feeling good about myself.

Shantaram did not budge.He gave me forty bucks.

" Aapse jitna thik hai utna hi loonga.Jyada loonga to khuda ke ghar manjoor nahin hoga."

It shook me completely.I never felt so small.I gave him five rupees and started walking back.

"Khooda ke ghar manjoor nahin hoga".... words still echo in my mind.You might have all the wealth in the world, but values and humbleness is what makes you truely rich.And i wonder what stupid excuses we give ourselves to cheat to make that extra buck.

Thank you Shantaram.

I got up on the wrong side of the bed is no longer an acceptable excuse.Every responsibility comes with a price tag of expectations.If you do not live up, you got to go.

The indian cricket learned it the hard way.The recent BCCI diktat has its foundation in the same theory.You earn in proportion of what you give.Things can't be served on a platter for one who doesn't earn the bread.Cruel? Not exactly.Practical? Oh yess!!

Why should sports be an exception?You belong to the highest level, do what is required to stay there.Burden of expectations is an excuse which is catching rust and no one is sentimental enough to brood over the romance of ageing or the glittering past.Past performance, or the promise of future no longer is good enough to hold you at heighest pedestal for a long.

The corporate India is a living example.You don't achieve your targets, you go.The growth and progress of economy is a result of this no excuse, no holds barred approach.So with sports, so with life and ditto with relations.You don't live upto my expectations, i move on.Where is the time to think of good old times, or the patience to wait for improvement in performance.Act before it's too late,be counted when it matters most.Love of life or the fan following,different contexts, rules remain the same. Miss the moment, miss the train.

Poetics are a thing of past.This is the age of practical realities.Survival of the fittest never sounded so real.

I dedicated the post- 'it's not all over' to one of my friends, Siddhesh and mailed him.He came up with a typical sentimental reply which reads something like this..

Yogesh,

i know that was for me..cud relate myself..will reply in detail 2'row..but for now..my dream has been shattered yaar..rlly disturbed, upset n disappointed..

nice mail that is..felt nice..but wondering, will my dream ever come true..or will elave this world with the dream lyin stale in my eyes without comin true?

Yes, they didn't play well and deserved to come back.Agreed.

Yes, the seniors flattered to deceive and young ones couldnt get counted either.

Yes, Tendulkar couldn't shine here the way he did in earlier editions of world cup.

Yes, it was a little too much for Dravid to handle and Dada didn't help eithr.

Yes, the experimentations went haywire and Mahi wasn't himself either

Yes, Greg failed,the vision 2007 never got fulfilled.

Yes, it is a pain and a shock to see them falter against Bangladesh.

Yes, they didn't fulfill our dreams of cup glory

Yes, they earn big bucks and should be more responsible

Yes, we stayed up late to watch the game and kids didn't study for exams either

Yes, i know how it feels when you ask "how could they?"

Chill guys its just a game

Chill guys, it hurts them as much to lose as you do

Chill guys Zidane, Pele, Mohammed Ali, Schumi, even the auzzies saw failures

Chill guys there are more important things in life than burning effigies n pelting stones

Chill guys don't blame them if you have never done anything to make the country proud yourself

Chill guys, you never have to beat the heat and sweat it out for hours when the sun is harsh

Chill guys, you never saw the blood, sweat and the knives on a surgeon's bed

Chill guys, come what may, you don't have a right to bring down someone's house

Chill guys, you will never appreciate your family being taunted when you fail

Chill guys,dont sulk  just cause you could never dream and  earn as much as they do

Chill guys, don't sat say he is your god if you are going to paint him black

Chill guys, never say you love the game if you are going to be so impatient n abuse it
 
Chill guys, love is when you learn to support in crisis and not bring the loved one

Chill guys, don't encourage the media, for there is no species as senseless as them 

passion is a positive force that propels one to glory,

then why has it  lead to obsession?

if mutually agreeable love created this paasion for life,

now you deny,i persist and you call it obsession?


i am a victim of my own demons,

not that i don't know it..

then why do i persist with it?

Am i cocooned in the pleasures of self pity?


Another moth is going to die in flames....

for the passion of life....for the obsession called love.

With the wave of globalization has arrived the boom of MBAs and techno-consultants who take pride in communicating through a completely incomprehensible medium popularly hailed as corporate lingo. The rule of the game is such that, the more you speak and lesser the listener understands, smarter you look. Dilbert’s popularity can be solely attributed to this phenomenon.

Now, if you are tortured by such species of boss who comes to your desk, blabbers a lot about something and if at the end of conversation (more suitably, monologue) you struggle to come out with any concrete actionable item, here is your guide to be nehle pe dehla. I am sure next time your boss will think twice before trying to prove his supremacy through the maze of jargon jungle.

So how do you do it? Use “Techno-Managerial” vocabulary. It can be called the "Buzzword" writing method. It is simple.

There are three columns of words involved, as follows:

1. total                                       1. Organization              1. Hardware (or Software)

2. integrated                              2. reciprocal                   2. projection

3. compatible                            3. monitored                   3. time-frame

4. synchronized                        4. digital                         4. concept

5. optimal                                  5. modular                      5. programming

6. responsive                            6. transitional                  6. mobility

7. functional                              7. Incremental                 7. capability

8. parallel                                  8. third-generation          8. flexibility

9. systemized                            9. policy                         9. options

Just select any three-digit number; then use the corresponding Buzzwords from the above grid, e.g., 257: "integrated modular capability". Don't worry if it doesn't make sense to you; it won't mean anything to anyone else either, but they'll think you're just smarter than they are so they won't say anything!!