Jai Ho...

In fond memory of those martyrs who fought bravely to deny victory to our national arch rival, those who sacrificed their personal life, those who spent sleepless nights staring in the eye of the enemy, those who bore the brunt of attacks and are still carrying the bravery marks!

But its not over yet, the war is still on.....

Saludos to the valor of all the students(soldiers) who are facing the fury of Board Exams at Examination Centres(warfront) and all the support entities, who are ensuring that they put up a brave fight.

Board exams are here again, and claiming as many personal lives of students as never before. Everybody is contributing their bit in this hour of national crisis. Curfew has been declared in most of the cities. And No Sound sign boards have been put outside and inside, homes of Board appearing students. Places of worship are witnessing a house-full as mothers want to leave no stone unturned to help their wards. This 'innocent species' still think that the break-up of marks obtained is 70%hard work+20%prayer+10%luck! And they can score 30/30 by praying on their child's behalf and gifting some lucky charm like locket or something...to the apple of their eye!

Such times bring out the hidden side of our society, as coaching centres act like poaching centres, hunting down students with arrows of assured 40% marks,and ads like, "No Marks se Marks tak". All roaring parents(in normal times) behaving like household cats, pleading to their children, to not let them down in social circles.

For those at the epicentre, these are the times of joint warfare (combined studies), where friends reunite to curse their teachers,pity their ignnorant parents and strategise for upcoming battle by signing pacts of mutual cooperationwhen needed. These are the times of frequent encounters with the long forgotten books and at night, with books beside and bedside, feeling like "Sleeping with the Enemy"!

For some, its the time to square the scores. The siblings make you regret the time you denied them any favor, and act like host of Sansani, with remarks,"Wake up if you wanna sleep in peace after results too..!"whenever you want to sleepy break..

Your otherwise 'emotional-spendthrift' grandma looks at you as if you are a war-criminal since you deprieved her, of her daily dose of "In-Law-Melodrama". And you feel, Oh man...I have become a top-notch Villian over-night.no..no over-board...!

Not only students, Board exams jolt economy of the nation too...as the most spendthrift class of society doing BCA(Baap ke Cash pe Aish) is under house-arrest. This causes all the food joints, dhabas, movie theatres, entertainment parks, discos n pubs suffer huge losses due to these un-eco-friendly exams. Infact, some legislation should be passed proposing that Board exams should be avoided in times of recession at least.

But as they say, war is the destiny of a soldier, similarly Boards is the destiny of a student. And nothing..absolutely nothing can deter you from having teet-a-teet with your destiny. So, all I could do is, wish all the board-divers a thrilling and non-erasable experience. Just pull the lever and dont fear exam fever, have a dive of your life!

B'day Blong

Simply awesome...it was a nice party but a bit strange(ajeeb)...I must say. Jagjit Singh was performing, but standing on a small stool, recalling his childhood days. All hot n happening female actors of Bollywood could be seen, but fighting for a platter of starters, kids playing with cartoon characters who actually were politicians, and the dance floor fully occupied, but with elders dancing to the beats of Shakira....the same elders, who always cursed western culture and its influence in our parties... And then my eyes got fixed up there, I was trying to concentrate on the text which was glittering, it read, HAPPY B'DAY .....! " get up dude..its 9 a.m.!"

Huh..ohh no...not again..! The first words I uttered after dragging my eye-lids to open and look at the Calender. I have never been good at dates....yeah..yeah..think whatever you want to...! But in this case, I forgot to wish my friend on the most awaited day of the year...B'day! Ofcourse, I had set reminders and was planning since months to make it a special day(though remotely) for the person, I like and admire a lot.. But everything is ruined now, and I have no explanations whatsoever.... In short, I am doomed ! I am feeling like a dumb a** unsure, absolutely blank like my old B&W TV with only Doordarshan at my disposal ! "What do I do now?", the only thing flashing in my head like breaking news does on Aaj Tak. The options I had were, write up an apology letter topped with 'Xtra sorry', or ask common friends to act as counsel and help to make
an out-of-court settlement, or surrender with hands up and head bowed like a defeated soldier.... naah...I feel like choosing none of the above options and quit the show with whatever I have earned till now. But wait, thats not me.....

Enough is enough, now what ???, thats what was the question. And to get the answer to this question, I travelled far n wide, talked to experts, went to monks and wizards, read literature and case-studies on the subject but none..absolutely none could give any satisfactory solution(for my problem not lens solution...). They were suggesting all trivial solutions like sending gifts, or flowers or cards and blah..blah... But I knew that for my uncommon problem, I needed an even more uncommon answer.

So, as all big conglomerates do in times of crisis...... I decided to go public. I thought of wishing the person in an unusual way and gift the most precious thing I could offer. So, here it goes:

However, I am not good at reciting, but allow me...uhhu..uhhu..."Only few get everything, that all yearn for, only few really reach the height, that everybody aspires for and only few realize completely, that ordinary dream of...... May you get everything you deserve ......wish you that xtra bit of luck that is needed to be "one of the few". I wish you, A mouthful of sky.....the sanctity of thoughts needed to fly. I wish you all the courage you need to make things change.....wish you a very Happy B'day even if the party is strange.... :))

And Hope is the gift, I want to offer since its the only thing that restores smile and helps you walk that extra mile...... !