Arrested

It all started in Amsterdam, where i was the right hand man for Van Cornelius Jansen, who was the  man who singly handled the running of 'Adlar Enterprises'. It was a Transport Company for the General Public, but the money actually came from Drug and Human trafficking. Transport of legitimate goods accounted for merely 30 % of our revenues and the rest was all black money which amounted to 60 million Euros during the best days of our business. Yes, that was how deep we were into this .

Cornelius , had enormous trust and faith in me and that trust took shape because of an incident one evening, which was the 1st time i met him. The 1st time i saw him was at a Bar in Amsterdam on 'Gravenstraat' street when he was seated at the table next to mine . He was alone, did not seem to be expecting anyone, was suited and booted like someone who was among the high ranks in society but seemed to be in serious thought. It was an inexpensive place and people like him were not commonly seen here. Maybe he was just wanted a drink from the closest  bar or did not want to be spotted in his usual bar.

I was smoking a cigarette and taking sips of a glass of dry martini alternatively trying to get over the frustration my step father had seeded in my head. It had been 5 months since i graduated but i still did not have a job. What could i do, i was a brown skinned Indian guy in a European country where we simply did not get preference . He would ask did you get a job and i would say "No", and his usual response to that would be "I seriously doubt your capabilities, had you been my son things would have turned out different for you" which would be followed by me hanging up on him.  I never back answered to him, only because my mother had asked me not to.

All of a sudden i saw a man in a dark leather jacket enter the bar. He looked around, a quick glance all around at first to see how many people were there i suppose, then attentively looking all around with his gaze moving slowly across the bar until he spotted Cornelius. He walked slowly towards him. Cornelius unaware of his presence or approach was looking down at his glass. When the man was about 5 yards away, i saw him put his hands in his jacket, looked like a scene from the movies , but i was shell shocked when i saw what he took out. It was a black revolver with a silencer and he pointed it straigth at Cornelius. I..........had NO IDEA of how to react.

I shouted out to Cornelius "Hey , watch out !!", he looked at me and then at the gun man, the next thing is saw was 6 bullets being pumped into Cornelius . Cornelius fell to the ground motionless and blood started oozing out from all the punctured parts of his body. It all happened within a matter of seconds. I could not believe what had just happened right in front of my eyes .I kept staring at the dead still body of Cornelius.  It took me a couple of minutes to get a hang of the situation . When i looked up again the gunman was no where to be seen . There was a crowd at the entrance as people were rushing out. I got off my chair and reached Cornelius's body, checked his pulse , and found faint pulses. To be honest i was surprised but i saw a ray of hope for him. This man needed a hospital and that too some place close enough. I sprang into action and bolted for the entrance. When i got out i failed to spot any building with  RED CROSS within sight. I stopped a cab, and in my broken Dutch asked him if he could take me to the nearest hospital with an injured man. He agreed. I went in thinking why was i going out of my way to save this man, i could get into trouble for this, but then i thought to myself , getting into trouble would be bad but not doing anything knowing that i could feel his pulse would be worse.

We took 10 minutes to reach the nearest hospital. i tried to keep him flat for those 10 minutes to minimise blood loss as much as possible. When i walked into the hospital , people were staring at me when i was trying to put Cornelius on a Stretcher trolley (which are available right at the entrance, replaced every time one is used), after all there was blood dripping from all parts of his body. It was then that i realised that i was totally soaked in blood as well. I informed the receptionist that he had been shot 6 times and was about to say more when, she stood up looked at Cornelius body, shouted out at one of the other attendants there and looked like she was dialing an internal extension number. Within moments i could see 4 nurses and a doctor running towards me . Once there, I told them what i witnessed while they checked his pulse again and turned his trolley taking him inside, straigth down the aisle i saw a room marked 'Operateikamer' (operation theatre). I saw them rush Cornelius inside and then the door was shut close. Honestly , I had no hope that he can make it.

I stayed there for 2 hours before the doctor came out and said that , Cornelius was bloody lucky because all bullets had either missed or just grazed the vital organs of the body, They had managed to remove all bullets, he was still breathing normally but there had been too much of blood loss, his condition was not stable, they could say something definitively only the next day. I decided to go back home and come back the next day to know what happens next . On my way back i felt glad at the thought that i was the reason this man had a chance to live.

When i reached the hospital the next day , i was greeted with a smiling face of the doctor and i could not have been happier to hear what he had to say. Cornelius was stable and  that i could go and see him , but i should not talk to him. I asked the Doctor if they had contacted any of his friends or family. They said they assumed i was  family member when they did not find any contacts from his belongings. I walked into his ICU room and went close to his bed. He was resting , i did not want to talk to him or sit by his bed, after all he was a stranger to me, i was thinking to myself that the hospital guys can take care of him now and i should leave him alone. Once he gets better he will know whom to call. With these thoughts in mind i turned to walk out when i felt a hand grab the fingers of my left hand, i turned around and saw that Cornelius was uttering something such a low sound looking at me with his faintly open eyes that i could not hear him. When i bent closer , i heard him , "Wherever you are, i will remember you and find you".

4 months later i heard a car in my apartment parking lot. When i looked through the blinds i spotted a White Mercedes show up in my parking lot. I had a clear view of the vehicle because i was at the 1st floor. No one owned a Mercedes in my apartment, hence i was curious. I see two men in black suits walk out for the from two doors and one of them opens the rear door. When i saw the face of the man who stepped out of the rear seats i was mighty surprised to find that it was Cornelius. I went back to doing what i had left in between thinking he might have come to meet someone else. But when i heard the door bell ring i knew it would be him.

I opened the door and greeted him with a smile and extended my hand to shake hands, in return he held my hand with both hands with a smile that reached his eyes. I could feel he was filled with gratitude for what i had done for him. We sat and chatted about what was going on each others life. I told him that i was jobless when i had seen him in the bar and had finally found a job. He asked if was happy and i just shrugged my shoulders. That is when he popped up a question as to what would my reaction be if he offered me a job. I did not know what to say, I asked him how do i know if that job was suited to what i could do.  He said, a job can always be taught, he was in the transport business and needed someone he could trust. When i asked how can he say for sure that i was someone he can trust, he said "i am sure you are someone who will not break some one's trust once they trust you". What could i say after that, i agreed.

That was the beginning of my stint at 'Adlar Enterprises' as the manager of daily operations. I was asked to visit the warehouse as well as the docks where we loaded everything that we were supposed to transported. I was supposed to make sure loading and unloading went fine and then report directly to Cornelius at the end of the day to let him know if things went fine. If labourers were creating problems or were things were smooth with them. To my surprise i always found things to be very smooth. Off and on there used to be broken shipments , which had to be taken to a mini warehouse at the docks if the damage was minor or the warehouse if the damage was extensive. That was when , they used to take away those boxes away from my sight apologising as if they had committed a big mistake. I used to think they can take it easy, need not apologise as it was a minor mistake after all. There used to be these large metal containers that used to be loaded of ships too and i used to wonder what must have been inside because i never heard a noise. When things are unknown to you , you are always curious. For 6 months hardly did i notice any kind of problem. Little did i know what was it that we were actually transporting or what we did we the shipments that were damaged. Sometimes i used to get suspicious with the behaviour of the labourers around me but , i just let it pass.

One day , i could not resist the temptation to see what was in those shipments that we were bringing into the Netherlands. I went into the mini warehouse at the docks after working hours. Found one of the broken shipments at a corner which had just been sealed again. But at the bottom of the box i could find some white powder. Cornelius had said that his company brings in goods from all parts of the world. It could have been chalk powder, talcum powder or many of the other things that could be white and looked like powdery crystals.  But for some reason i felt like behaving like one of the detectives in the Narcotics department and i ended up tasting it. I was astonished at how i felt post that moment. Within a few minutes I felt an sense of awareness of the silence around me, my mind was extra alert. I said to myself "what is happening to me" and i realised i was speaking slowly, not at my usual pace of speech. I knew it was drugs although i had never tried any of it before  but i did not know what kind of a drug i had tasted that had such an instant effect. I could walk straigth, but was not sure what other effects would this have. My 1st thought was to get home as soon as possible. As soon as i got out of the entrance, i took a cab back home. The only thing that i wanted then was to get some sleep But i got little of it.

The next morning i was as fresh as every morning, but i was determined to find out what i had tasted the night before. I googled it up , and tried to search based on effects it had on me and the amazingly less time it took me to feel it. Only one drug fit the bill, it was 'Methamphetamine'. A highly addictive drug that was sold by the street name of meth, speed, ice and chalk (it looked like powdered ice crystals) . I decided to confront Cornelius about it.

I reached the docks that day and walked straigth to Cornelius's office . He was alone and not on a call, i needed answers so it could not have been a better setting for the conversation that was to follow. I walked out of his office 2 hours later with whole new perspective on drug trafficking and life. I knew it was wrong but so were many other things that people did legitimately . Cornelius was happy that i went to him to speak about it. The 1st sentence that he uttered after my tirade of questions (with a a smile)was "What took you so long to find out?" and after that he brainwashed me.

We made a lot of money selling Meth. Our profit was initially 50 percent of our input costs. Then one fine day i asked Cornelius , that youngsters were as it is reckless, some of them do not know how much of the drug to take at times and end up suffocating to death after usage. Why not mix every pound of Meth with 1 pound of sugar . The sugar would not cost us because we imported sugar too from other countries and the person importing it through us , made us do him favours by bringing in women from different parts of the world into Amsterdam in one of those 'large containers' i used to be curious about (Cornelius had told me about the containers during our 2 hr brainwash session). I said to Cornelius with a cunning smile "Borrowing some sugar from him in order to keep the secret of the containers would not bother him too much i think. We can keep people safer, have the same people come to us for more dope and double our profits ". I was amazed at how easily i had started thinking like a THUG. He of course was delighted at the idea. We did a lot of business for 2 full years but then one fine summer i fell in love.

She was a simple a sweet girl from southern Netherlands who owned the bakery shop close to the docks which had recently opened. Her name was Aardina. She was enterprising, had an adorable smile and her eyes used to brighten up whenever she flashed that smile of hers. Right from the 1st time we spoke i felt she caring . Over time her carin turned into profound affection and she believed in me. Sometimes i used to think why does she love me so much unconditionally, but then i realised when it comes to matters of the heart we should not look for answers as long as you can feel the closeness. I never told her about what we actually brought into Amsterdam, was scared of loosing her if she came to know. She knew what everyone else expect Cornelius and myself  knew , that were respectable gentlemen who ran a transport business at the docks. We got married in a years time and soon after that i came to know that she was pregnant.

I was going to be a father , and i was doing everything that i would never want my child to know that i did. I could not risk telling Aardina. But i knew i had to quit the illegal business. I had made enough money and could easily setup something legitimate and meaningful on my own. It was time to confront Cornelius again.

Soon after Aardina was pregnant, i walked into Cornelius's office one morning and was thinking of a way to start the conversation. He knew i loved Aardina and respected our relationship. I told him about what i felt regarding my future as a man with a family. I knew this business was not the kind where you can set someone free , once your hands get dirty there, nothing can wash them off. Cornelius was looking out of the window all the while i was speaking. I knew there were others who had spoken to Cornelius about such things , some who knew what his reaction would be never told him and fled the docks but sooner or later i would hear of murmurs of their bodies being found in outskirts of the city.

Cornelius said "You are aware of what happened to the other before you , who had such thoughts don't you ?". I said "yes"

"The same.......(looking down) is not going to happen with you". He said it with a straigth face not looking at me. Then he looked at me and said "i get once chance to repay you for saving my life and i am not going to squander it. I don't have a family, so i don't  care about what will happen one fine day to me but you do, i am not going to stop you ". After he said that for the 1st time i felt that Cornelius had feelings too. We did business together but i could never totally trust him totally, may be because he rarely showed emotion but i cant complain about that. With the nature of business he ran, he could not afford to. We shook hands , he gave me a hug and we parted ways. As i was leaving the docks though i had this creepy feeling at the back of my mind that how come things turn out so smooth ?!

I sold off all my property in Amsterdam, so did Aardina and left with her to find a home in the outskirts of London. Not too far away from an economic hub and not too close to city life. we bought a house in Fulham. I was settling down and looking arranging meetings with important people in the city to project myself as a venture capitalist. Things were moving slow but the road ahead seemed exciting. Myself and Aardina were having a lovely time between the two of us. With no one in the city who knew us and our 1st child a good number of months away it was the ideal time for us have a nice time together. We used to walk along the river Thames talking continuously with each other , making fun of each other , sometimes overdoing it and then making up for it with a kiss. There were times when she said "I hate you" when i pulled her leg a bit too much , and within the next few minutes she would say with a smile "Do you realise how much i love you". Being with her and noticing everything that she said made my day and i did not need anything else to keep me going and forget my past. I used to feel lucky that i was with her and I wanted to keep her happy forever. But fate had other plans

Within a few weeks of us moving in i began to notice unknown vehicles being parked on the other side of he road. As soon i used to part the windows to see who it was they used to slowly drive away . I was not prepared for these things, we were being followed and i had little doubt about who wanted to know where we were. I never let Aardina know about these things. I just wanted her to be happy, her smile was a source of my strength. One fine day Aardina wanted to go for some household shopping in the morning and left home along with me , after some distance we parted ways and i told her i will be back home soon. She said with a smile "i will be waiting".

When i returned that day , there was a uncomfortable silence in the house. I called out for Aardina but no one answered. I searched the whole house but she was no where to be found. I knew she would not take so long to return home. I knew something was wrong. When it came to Aardina i used to get worked up too fast. So i picked up the land line phone to make a call the cops and then realised that the phone was dead. Someone had cut off the telephone wires . The moment i kept the phone and was about to turn around i heard a familiar  voice stating "She is with us". When i turned completely i saw Cornelius standing behind me. He had a gun in his right hand pointed right at my face. I was surprised and did not like the situation.

He said "I knew it would come to this. I wanted you out of Amsterdam because you had made a lot of connections there in the last 2 years. " smiling to himself "Couldn't take you down there brother" .
"Aardina was the one who was driving your moves , had she not been a part of your life , we would have still been partners today. One day , when Interpol approaches you, you will think about your family's well being and give up my name very easily. Given you were head over heels in love with Aardina, it was not too hard to imagine what you would do if the cops came asking for me . It will be easier dealing with you if she was not around. Without her you have no direction in life and that is what i want. So i had to take her down 1st ". As soon as i heard that , in a fit of rage i caught the wrist of his hand that held the gun with my left, pushed his hand towards the ceiling, landed a blow on this nose with swing of my right arm. It all happened within a matter of seconds. I hoped that would either knock him out or make him loose grip of the revolver . But none of that happened. He was down , but he was up within moments, revolver intact in his hand. His nose was bleeding but he had a cunning smile on his face. He was a seasoned criminal and behaved like one at this moment. He had the gun pointed at me again . I said with tears in my eyes and an angry voice "you should have left her alone, she did not know anything". He said "Sooner or later you would have told her about everything. You could not kept it from her for long and i know it". I looked up at the ceiling, shut my eyes for a moment, felt sorry for having made Aardina a part of my life. I felt betrayed by Cornelius, i saved his life and this is what i get in return. I was fuming with rage within,  it was evident from my face. I looked at him and said "Take me out , that will take care of your purpose here. But you will pay for what you did". The next moment i heard a gunshot . moments later , i felt my body on the ground, i had a warm feeling on the sides of my face , at the back of my head and then there was darkness.

The next time i woke up i was in a white 3 piece suit in Cornelius's office at the docks. There was a diary at the table right in front of me and a pen in my hand. The page had just been turned and the 1st line written on the new page was  :-

'there was darkness.'

I went to the window and looked down, but found none of the workers. Then there was a knock on the office door, i opened it and found our oldest worker with a suitcase in his left hand.  He kept it down, took my right hand in both his hands and shook it slowly with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. "Thank you master, for letting us go and allowing us to start a new life with our families". After that he lifted his hat to show respect , turned and left. I went back to the desk, trying to understand what was happening. I noticed that daylight was falling on my face after being reflected from the mirror in the office. I casually walked towards the mirror and looked at myself out of habit, but the face belonged to CORNELIUS. I had ARRESTED his mind so that that he could not do to them what he did to me. I had to give up my freedom for a while to make sure others do not meet the same fate. A sacrifice existed in confining myself by will within someone who was not me. It would not be long before i go where the likes of me belong. Till then there were others i had to save from him. In order to save everyone else who worked for him someone had to make a sacrifice...........i did.

Fact vs Opinion

We all know how important it is to get your facts right before you speak to anyone about anything , do we really stop and think if all the data that we have are concrete FACTS or just OPINIONS of so called intellectuals , most of who are people who go around saying whatever comes to their mind and a majority believe them on the basis of face value or reputation.  

Now how do i distinguish between a Fact and an Opinion ? Let me give you a simple example :- when i say "Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Mininster of India", it is a hard fact because he officially holds this position, everybody regards him as one, but when i say that "Dr.Manmohan Singh is one of the worst Prime Ministers of India", now that is an opinion because not everybody will agree with this statement.

Each one of us has a reputation that preceeds us , be it friends are concerned or colleagues. The idea i am trying to put on the table is that most of us have some sort of Opinion on someone, some event , some place or something and when we talk about any of these we want our listeners to believe it , although what we say need not necessarily be a Fact. There is a desparate ongoing attempt by anyone talking to you to believe what he/she says, hence there is a desparate attempt by people from all walks of life to be heard, to have their  'Opinions' be received as 'Facts' by their listeners. If you have ever noticed some of those guys in your college campus who want a bunch of people to be following them all the time, you'll know what i mean. And why shouldn't they, after all if they dont create there own circle no one else will create a circle for them. Now if this circle of people is created based no mere Opinions then , the circle will definitely not last long. And here comes the need to find out what How can Opinions be converted into Facts, because if one can then it is definitely for the better.

CREDIBILITY - is the 1st thing that comes to my mind when an Opinion has to be accepted as a Fact. We would accept an economic scheme proposed by Amartya Sen, than one by Montek Singh Ahluahlia (because he has become famous for the Rs.32 per day theory recently released to the media). I mean common, one is a Nobel Laureate and the other...well he's just there to say anything that comes to his mind when faced with a question ...

On the same note , if you want to be successfull ,  you would want to be listening to a successfull guy who has made it big in life than a wannabe who's himself trying to make his place .This is exactly why all those books sell you know, even Steve Jobs posthumous biography will , i am sure.

PROOF - is the second and more important for most of us who are not that credible yet. If you are good at something get certified in it, if you have worked well get you manager's/employer's letter of recommendation, if you have created something of value show people how valuable it is and if you believe that something is possible , dont talk about it, go out there and 'just do it' . When i was in High School, there used to be 3 words written on our school belts 'No Words, Acts'. Back then it only made literal sense to me, today it is a whole lot more than that.

Only acts in the right direction can help you convert your Opinions into HARD FACTS.

Happy Reading to you all.

Friendship day

DING-DONG...

(after a gap of a few seconds the bell rings again)

DING-DONG...

Nikhil usually woke up at 11 am on a weekend morning. Today was a usual saturday

and as usual Nikhil was asleep , but unfortunately for him, there someone ringing his doorbell

at 9.00 am. He lived alone in his 1 bhk flat , hence if Nikhil was not moving then the door would not be moving open either.

DING-DONG...

Nikhil - "what the hell , itni subah kaun aya hai........sale, sone bhi nahi denge. why can they just stand in peace for a while after they ring the bell once. The society needs to get familiarised with the word 'patience' "(blabbers to himself  while getting out of bed)

Nikhil gets to the door droopy eyed. As soon as he opens the door, even before he could
notice the face of the person standing in front of him(this was because Nikhil had a habit of looking at people from bottom to top rather than from top to bottom,
some people are born wierd...cannot blame him), he heard a voice asking
"Are you Mr.Krishnakanth Rangachari Meenakshi Sundareshwaran"

Nikhil blinked at him in utter amazement for a few seconds, and immediately after that

looked at him again (bottom to top)...he usually figured out what to say when his bottom to top

glance was over(It as his 'buying time' technique). Nikhil asked "you came here asking for one guy or four ?"

Man said  - "No sir, just Mr.Krishnakanth Rangachari Meenakshi Sundareshwaran, 'oru' person"(oru means 'one' in tamil)

Nikhil - "'what' person !!?"(he had no idea about the Tamil Language)

Man - "one...one...single" (now gesturing with his index finger)

Nikhil - (gesturing with his middle finger)"one person ?"

Man - "ama sir('ama' means 'yes' in tamil), credit card payment..2 months...no payment"

Nikhil - (now smiling and getting a hang of the situation but still groggy) "So you are looking for
some dude whose name makes me fall back to sleep, who is single and has not payed his credit card dues for two months ?"

Man - "ama sir"

Nikhil - "i am Nikhil Kumar, no Mr. Krishna here" (he was about to shut the door when the man says)

Man - "ille ille(meaning 'no, no') , name Mr.Krishna no, name Mr.Krishnakanth Rangachari Meenakshi Sundareshwaran"

Nikhil - (a bit irritated)"that is what i am telling you, i am referring to the same person"

Man - "Address same sir"

Nikhil - (now even more irritated and shouting)"arre to main kya karun yaar, i came one month back and dont know
who was living here before that"

Man - (now it was the Man's turn to blink, aparently Nikhil had spoken so fast out of irritation mixing hindi with english that this guy did not have a clue as to what message was just conveyed to him) he says
"english teriade sir(meaning i dont now english)"

Nikhil - (now furious and not bothering if the man understood english or not)"have you come to collect the money or kick his a** ?"

Man - "english teriade sir"

Nikhil - "Do you understand hindi ?"

Man - "english teriade sir"

Nikhil - (realising what mistake he had just made)"hindi ati hai ?"

Man - "kunjum kunjum sir (meaning 'little little')"

Nikhil - "Now what is 'Kunjum kunjum' ?"

Man - (instead of understanding it as 'what is the meaning of little little' he understood Nikhil's question as 'do you know little little' , as if  Nikhil was confirming with him)
"ama sir"

Nikhil - (reacting by shutting his eyes, turning his face away from the guy, with the 'what do i do with this guy' kind of look )
"This man(gesturing to the name on the piece of paper that man was holding) does not live here"

Man - (now understanding what Nikhil said)"kiter gaiya yai (meaning 'where did the man go')?"

Nikhil - (slightly relaxed)"mujhe laga tumko hindi bhi samajh nahi ati"

Man - "toda toda yata yai"

Nikhil - (getting sick of the hindi he was being forced to hear)"hindi mat bol mere baap !!"

Man - (thinking Nikhil just mouthed a paternal abuse, talking in a loud but sqeaky voice)"AYE, kiska baap ?"
(in tamil land when they are angry they always start with an 'aye' on a loud voice heavy voice, most pick it up from movies)

Nikhil - (wondering where this conversation was going, and nearing frustration)"mera baap, mere bhai"

Man - "aatmi kiter yai (where is the man)?"

Nikhil - (now talking without thinking)"chala gaya hoga, flat change, bhag gaya...tumse"

Man - "kiter pag gaya yai ?"

Nikhil - (NOW LOOSING IT, but with a mild tone so that the man deos not take it
negetively as an abuse)"abe dhakkan, i dont know"

Man - (detemined to get information, speaking slowly as he had a long sentence in hindi in his mind now)
"kisko...........pata.............yai, ki..............wo.........kiter...........gaya......yai?"

Nikhil was now looking frantically from left to right, hoping commonsense prevails and checked him out from botton to top ,
as we know already that when faced a difficult situation our Nikhil cannot think what to do or say until his trademark glance is over.
In the mean time , before Nikhil could speak, the man said

Man - "AYE , kya dekta yai ?"

Nikhil - (now with his face red, immitating the mans' style)"abe kabutar, teri akalmandi 'dek ra yai' "

Man - "AYE, kya bolta yai ?"

Nikhil - (now cursing himself for ever taking up a job in this city and wondering why on earth did he even start a converstaion
in hindi in the 1st place, shouting)
"abe gadhe ki doooooooooo, how do i make you understand that i dont know"

It was one of those loud shouts that makes everything around go silent. Surprisingly, the man was smiling at Nikhil now.
Nikhil was growing crazy with every moment now. All of a sudden he could hear 2 guys laughing their guts out on the
stair case while coming to the floor Nikhil's flat was situated in . Within moments Nikhil was shocked to find his two friends
walking up the staircase onto his floor, they were Daddoo Singh and Laddoo Singh.

Nikhil - "tum log yahan kya kar rahe ho ?"

Daddoo and Laddoo  - (speaking in unison) "Tujhe Happy tarike se, happy friendship day wish karne aye hain meri jaan"

Nikhil now sensing, sending this Man to his door and literally driving him crazy could have been the handy work
of his mentally knocked out friends states

Nikhil - "Did you send this guy to my flat ?"

Daddoo and Laddoo  - (in unison) "hahahahahahaha"

Nikhil's suspicion was certified into being a fact by their reaction, and almost instantaniously noticing
the hanging left ear phone piece from the Man's ear and the microphone clipped to his shirt. They mst have been
hearing him speak to this Man and getting frustrated ,through a call while they were downstairs until he started shouting(because then
they would not need the ear phones anymore).Surprisingly the Man he had lost his already limited patience on, was still standing at the
same place where he stood when they had stopped conversing. Not even his smile had faded one bit. Probably his freaky friends had paid him off
to carry out the act. The mans' look made Nikhil all the more angry and impatient. He had to vent out his anger on someone now.

Nikhil - (now looking towards Daddoo and Laddoo who had been dancing to the tune of 'Shiela ki jawani' on one of their
phones ever since they had shown up)
"Abe salon, main tum dono ko chorunga nahi, al leh (turning towards Daddu and attempting to kick his back but missing),
tu bhi le (turning towards Laddoo and attempting to kick his back but missing too)" (missing because both moved out of the way
as part of their dance moves)

Daddoo and Laddoo - (being the freaky and irritating guys they were stated in unison)"i am too sexy for you, main tere hath na ani"

to that Nikhil could only smile and said "Happy friendship day, you SOB's"

The Idea behind Praying

We Indians are very superstitious. Most of us never pray during the good times but always remember to pay homage to the unknown, unseen force when we know that we can only bank on luck now and if there is one entity that can control our luck...it is 'The Almighty' .It is 'divine intervention' that we hope for when we are faced with fear and uncertainty (like the day before semester results are out). What i am going to talk about is why do those, who believe in sparing a few minutes a day to pray stick to this routine for years together , how does it help us and why some of us who usually do not pray tend to get weak and pray only when we do not know what to do.

I would say it is more like exercising the mind for a few minutes and building that sense of belief that what ever i am going to do today is going to turn out right and rewarding in some way. As opposed to believing in an entity or divine intervention it is more of a way to get ones thoughts together so that his or her acts throughout that day are going to be along the right track and bear some fruit. Probably the idea of the existence of the unseen entity was formulated to instil a sense of fear in people so that no one ever skipped praying and thereby having a clear picture of what to achieve and how to achieve during the day.

Most people remember that they need to try to get their thoughts together when they are in trouble. They fall in trouble in the 1st place because they never found the time to get their thoughts together and think about what they wanted to do. So once things go wrong they again have no idea of what to do because they lack the practice required to get their act together and end up finding themselves in a soup. Once in a soup they know that the only way out is to send an SOS for divine intervention and hence they start praying.

Some of the most successful people today believe the work that they do is the karma by which their fate will be shaped and they dont pray. For them their work is equivalent to worshipping any entity and why not, after all,.. the moments that are needed in a day to gather ones thoughts , are moments that these people get while they are actually working and hence not a single thing distracts them. Just like when one is genuinely praying.

Therefore whether it is meditation or praying, it all boils down to getting our train of thought in line, achieving the coherence of thought for us to concentrate on whatever we do through out the day and get something useful out of it. So please continue to do, whatever you do, to make sure your day is rewarding but remember that it must be done a regular basis because just like everything else concerning us, we can improve our thought process to achieve the goals that we desire only with practice.

For those of you who believe that 'work is worship' are well on your way to doing the right things throughout the day (but only with respect to work). After all everything requires experience to be good.

Day of freedom

When I was a young boy I remember playing around a lot with this girl who was our neighbour. We had been living in the same house for 3 years while they had moved in about a year after we did and it did not take long before the two of us became inseparable.We were about the same age, went to the same school and almost everyday left in the morning at the same time with our respective Mothers. I cannot explain what it was that connected us, but i knew that she was the closest friend i had then. Her name was Shonali and i used to affectionately call her 'Shona'.

Describing her is another big challenge because on one hand you had her astonishing looks while on the other hand you had her tantrums, her silent treatment when it came to being angry with something other than myself and her ear splitting screams when the two of us had a fight. But all of this faded into thin air whenever she used to flash that smile of hers at me. With her moony eyes and the dimple on her left cheek whenever she smiled she looked magical .

Shona's mom was a very kind and caring lady too. Very often we used to play on weekends all along from morning till it was lunch time and her mother would always keep lunch ready for both of us inspite of the fact that i used to live a door away and i might very well go back home to have lunch n come back later . Usually at these times my mother would be shouting out my name asking me to come home for lunch and guess what, i used to shout back stating I would be having lunch only with Shona and will come back only after we are done building the Lego structures or after the n'th game of 'Monopoly' or endless games of 'hide and seek' around the house. Initially my mother had a serious problem (quite obviously) with me having lunch every weekend on both Saturday and Sunday but later she resigned to the fact that i would be sticking around with Shona as long as they were our neighbours. I always wished to stay back for dinner too but usually when i used to stay back beyond evening i used to be dragged back home. Shona's mother also put in a word in my favour to mom everytime i stuck around too long at their place saying 'they like playing with each other Nita, i'll take care and it is not a problem at all'. It is probably this very reason why i remember her as kind hearted and sweet, because every time she spoke out for me i got to spend more time with Shonali .

Ever since they had moved in we used to have a lovely time through out the day but as the evening set in and our fathers returned home all of that used to change. The problem was not with my father, because mostly
we used to go out somewhere after he was back home but at Shona's place it used to be different. Often when we returned from our evening out, i could hear Shona's father shouting his lungs out 'I work like a dog the whole day and when i come back home , this is the kind of dinner that i get ? . Why cant you learn to cook properly ? is it that difficult ? cant you even do that ? It is a pity you cannot earn money for the house but you can at least make life easier for me once i get back home !!' . Shona's mother was a housewife .On other days i could hear him shouting at Shona "Your teacher says you are a very weak student and you report card certifies it . You have been failing in maths ever since we have put you in this school. Is this why i am sending you to a private school so that you can waste my hard earned money ? Why do you spend all seven days a week playing with Vicky ? If you don't spend more time with your books i will put you in government school and you can do whatever you want to there . Is that what you want ? ". Shona used to reply back pretty fiercely and equally loud "I like playing with Vicky but i dont like Maths" and then i could to hear her getting slapped relentlesly in response to that. My blood used to boil but i was too young to interfere in another family's problems. I remember being more in a state of shock, staying dazed thinking how could someone raise their hand on someone like Shona in whose eyes one could see nothing but INNOCENSE !!. I never heard a response from Shona's mother when she was shouted at but she always came to Shona's rescue when Shona was at the receiving end, often while trying to protect Shona from the beatings she ended up taking the blows herself.

I had felt most hurt the day when Shona's dad was yelling at her mother after he was back form work stating "Your father could have easily bought us a car and a flat, we did not ask for dowry when i married you but your parents should have given something, then life would have been easier for us today. Or is it that you wanted us to ask , so that once we ended up asking , you could implicate us in a dowry case ?' There was a pause for a few seconds and then Shona's father's typical angry voice signifying hatred could be heard yelling "Now what the hell are you staring at me for, you think i am wrong or do you feel a sense of hatred towards me because i said so? answer me ? answer me god damned ? Wait i'll make you answer me" , what i heard next were a couple of slaps . "You think you can give me that stare and get away with it ? Speak up now ? common shoot ? Dont just give me that stare otherwise i will finish you tonight ". I heard Shona shouting out "Daddy please dont beat mommy" . Probably she even tried to go and stop him physically because the next thing i heard was the sound of shattering glass and then, Shona's cry of pain. It was one of those moments for me where something snaps within you , all the sound coming from everywhere around you becomes inaudible, the only sound that you hear is that of your own heart beating. I dont know what got into me, the next thing i remember was banging on Shona's wooden door shouting "Shona, are you fine? are you ok ? Please dont hurt her anymore". In the mean time my parents came out and were trying to drag me back into the house , while i was howling my lungs out in pain, for Shona because she was hurt, and that hurt me as well. "Shonaaa, why are you not answering? " a couple of more bangs on the door. My parents tried hard but i was reluctant to move from there, they knew i had become sentimental about her for  long time now. All of a sudden there was no more shouting from within and the door opened.

Shona's father gave all three of us a disgusted look, i spotted pieces of glass and drops of blood on the floor. Shona was not in the room, Shona's mother was nowhere to be seen either. Her father spoke out at that point "This is not a good time, please leave us alone". My parents took me back home and asked me not to think about it. But that was the most sleepless night i have ever had. The next morning Shona did not turn up for school, i told my mother that we should check if they are doing fine. Her father had left for office so there would be no problem if we met them. My mother agreed. Shona's mother greeted us in, there was a scar on the left of her lip. I think my mother felt it was best not to ask what happened and hence was mostly silent. When i asked about Shona, her mother directed me to her room . When i entered, i found her lying with her eyes open but with right hand completely bandaged and the corner of her lips were blue. I was...on the verge of tears but i managed to control it. When she saw me she smiled and i was happy that my presence made her feel better.

I skipped school that day , my mother understood that and did not push me. What i  learnt later was that while Shona was trying to protect her mother, she was brushed aside with a wave of her father's arm with such force that she hit the glass table top, in the centre of the room , it shattered and pieces of which had pierced her arm, and at the same time her face hit some hard , blunt part of the table which was the reason for the blood clot around her lip. I had heard Shona's father fight with his wife and daughter ever since they had moved into this house but that day was probably the last straw that broke the camels' back.

Within a couple of weeks from then Shona's mother filed for a divorce. At that point in time i did not know what a 'divorce' meant, i had heard about it but was witnessing it happen in front of my eyes for the first time. It did not take long for the court order to come , Shona and her mother had totally stopped talking to Shona's father , we were not playing any more and life was gloomy, for them because they were going through a tough time, for me because all i wanted.....was to spend time with Shona.

Within a few more weeks the day came when  Shona and her mother had to leave that house in order to move to her grandfather's house in Jaipur.  Their luggage was packed into the taxi which was at the gate , the taxi was waiting, my mother was telling Shona's mother that she could call anytime for any kind of help, while i was holding Shona's hand hoping her mother changed her mind, though i knew they leaving was the best thing for them at the moment. Finally her mother gave her a call saying "let's go beta, we are getting late for the flight". I kissed Shona on her cheek, her mother brushed the hair on my head gently and bid good bye to both my mother and myself at the same time.All this while i was holding Shona's hand,but when she started moving towards the taxi it was one of those moments from the movies when two lovers are getting separated not knowing when they would get to see each other next. I had my hands my stretched out holding hers,  and finally when our finger tips parted i was on the verge of tears. My mother put her arms around me, Shona moved into the taxi holding her mothers hand, looking back at me from time to time. We were standing at the gate next to the taxi, the taxi started and as it moved away from us she looked behind from the rear window and kept waving at me till i could no longer see her along the long straight road. She was gone, probably forever.

I was sad but i also realised it was important for them, because that day was their 'Day of Freedom'. I was reminded of all this because i just got a friend request from Shonali a while ago on facebook, it would be an out of the word experience getting in touch with her after so many years. I hope she is happy wherever she is today.

Protectors also need Protection

The Indian Army has had its say wherever it has been deployed in times of crisis. The armed forces special powers act (AFSP) has enabled them to squeeze out the last bit of problems wherever it has been supported by the government. The problem arises when the same political class that granted them these powers thinks of selectively granting powers to them among all those stated in the AFSP because it affects their political agenda. Although annoying to the army , the fact is , this is the very reason why our country cannot be called an army controlled one like some of our neighbours. But of what use is a force if you cripple their efforts when they are just making break throughs or are in the middle of a problem and have thought out their plan of action especially after losing some of its officers as part of its operations? I am referring to the ongoing crisis in Kashmir today.

The situation in our northern most state today is not because the army faultered , it is because of political neglect. The violence which is ongoing in Kashmir is just a result of the political class being least bothered about the needs of the people belonging to the parts where the mass protests and subsequent violence erupted. The other day Omar Abdullah stated that these are the parts where the turn out  during voting is less than 20% of the population. this figure makes it abvious that the majority are not coming out to select a poloitical candidate of their choice or are simply confused as to whom to vote for. Omar also categorically stated that his party is not the ruling party in these parts. Due to a politically dicy situation he avoided further questions regarding the reason why violence broke out but what i reckon is, who ever is the elected representative from these parts is not going to be a person India can rely on to solve the problems in the valley.

The reason i say this because these crooks ask for funds from the state and central governments for development, at the same time they are also aware that there exists social unrest and negetive support for the ruling government only due to lack of developement which leads the youth there nothing to keep themselves occupied with. If there were to be development then it would amount to getting people busy in their own lifes, being satisfied with the efforts being made to improve their living conditions . But THIS IS NOT WHAT THE ELECTED CLASS OF THESE PARTS WANT. If things were to go this way then who would support the separatist movement, who would form the face of the protests when they needed to demonstrate the need to form a separate autonomous state. With these hidden agenda's in place developement never takes place. Where do the funds from the governments go ? Let's not talk about it.

This is where the army comes in. The Armed forces have experience in dealing with hostile environments like these and chalk out plans to tackle the situation . Just when they seem to be making inroads into finding the root cause of the problem and the situation seems to be more under control, they are asked by the ruling political class (who are under pressure because they are ruling the state and the pressure of the opposition parties seems to be mounting on them due to the worsening situation in affected areas) to back off and reduce the powers of the Army in these areas so that the opposition is happy(the separatist opposition).

Now we all know that fire has to be dealth with fire, firing with back firing or else one side is going to be bull dozed over. If the belligerent crowd comes with stones and knives our army can definitely not stop them with cheese balls, can they ? Casualties had to happen and did. The roudy boys who thought fighting the Army would be more exciting than going to school got injured and some even perished. Who bore the brunt of the blame, The Indian Army stationed there to bring the situation under control.

When it comes to how the Army handles suspected female terrorists and women in general in the violence prone zones of the country we cannot blame every male in the force. All of them are away from their families for 10 months/year, fighting loneliness and people whom they dont know and have never met because they are a threat to us, civillians. While the efforts of the Army to keep all its men occupied manages to prevent most officers from losing their sanity  , some of them fail to control themselves and resort to anti- social behaviour against women, others kill their commanding officers. You carry out a research and you will find that these barbaric acts are carried out by a minutely small percentage of the force and yet, the entire Armed forces is put in the criminal box of court to explain why its officers did so. The reasons are not too hard to fathom. They are desparate to be with their loved ones (officers who kill superiors) , loney and psychologically disturbed (officers who resort to anti-social behaviour).

To make matters worse the enitire Force is heavily scrutinised by the media ,subjected to criticism from all corners and have to fight demands for them to be put to task in civil courts for crimes a very small percentage of the force have commited, which is derogatory for the Force. I am not saying the giulty should not be punished because the loss suffered by the families that got victimised by the rogue officers has to be accounted for and the army takes measures to make sure those guilty are put to task , but the integrity of the entire force should not be questioned. What about all those who gave up their lives so that the situation gets better and we have a better tomorrow ?

I hope the political class understands that they should not cripple the Army's efforts once they have been stationed at sentitive locations that need their service because they are trained in handling such situations and pulling them out just when they are on the verge of cracking open the issue will only demoralise them and the next time they are called upon to serve us and they are not living upto it due to the lack of respect for their work , they will be blamed again. Our belief in the Army is what fuels their operations more than the arms they use to put things in place. I also urge the media not to whitewash the achievements of the Indian Army for they have saved the pride of the nation way more number of times than any single body of the country ever has.

The Armed Forces have been left alone when they need support but they were always there when we needed them. They deserve a lot more respect and reverence that what is meeted out to them at present. If that happens the Army will not need a Sachin Tendulkar to come as brand ambassador of an Army Wing to lure the youth in. It will fire up the youth to put on uniform and serve the nation for nothing else but pride. The Army yields GUNS to get its job done but needs respect & ROSES to keep moving on in the rough and dicy terrains of Politics and National Defence.

The national game (Satirical Writing)

'Root cause analysis(RCA)' is the technique used to locate the source of a problem in scientific terminology. Ever thought of Golf geting ahead of soccer on a world stage. I know , 'Naaaaaaaaaaaah' would be the first thought that will come to most of us. There is a genuine reason for it which would simply be that soccer gives us 90 mins of non stop excitement which golf can never match up to. It is pretty easy to prove this in just one line ..doesn't really need 'root cause analysis' eh. But if we have to find out why one important game is neglected in our country and what can be done to save it from further disgrace i see no harm in applying it. Lets apply RCA to the sport that is 'on paper' the most important game for us which is 'Hockey'.

What should the national game of India be ? I would say it should be Cricket. One may have never heard of changing the national game of a country but i think its time we did so not for anything else but to save our national game from further disgrace. I am not a big proponent of Cricket myself but the numbers make it the most important sport in the country . The two most gripping problems that hockey faces in our country are lack of sponsorship and lack of viewership. Lets look at different angles to this problem and the proposed solution.

Sports is entertainment and wherever there is entertainment  what counts is the mass appeal it generates in terms of numbers , the amount money that has to be put behind its promotion and the bottomline being what kind of return on investment will it generate.Having said that, both in terms of money and viewership Cricket wins hands down. No sport can survive without viewership at the national and international levels the reason beng viewership is directly related to the amount of money that comes in for the sport. I may be sounding cliche in the last sentence but we cannot deny it.

Indian Hockey may have won 8 Olympic Gold medals while cricket is yet to be counted in the Olympics as a game. Indian Hockey dominated the world scene between 1928 - 1956 remaining unbeaten in the Olympics while Indian Cricket managed a world cup win somehow but never really managed to hold on to the number 1 position for more than a few months . Funny eh, so much talent , so much money in the game but still the stats are so poor in comparison. Wonder where all the money actually goes !! Talking about the 8 Olympic medals has the popularity gone up by 8 times in our country ? the answer to that is in our minds already.

For some wierd reason our psyche does not register Hockey as a game of importance or rather excitement which is why it lacks the basic ingredients that can fuel its popularity. On the other hand just think about Cricket along the same lines. Funny again because both games have 11 players a side, both use the ball of similar size and both have something to hit the ball with (but of a different shape). The major difference crops up when we think about the way the two games are played. In Cricket players of one side can use their hands to hold the ball while Hockey doesnt allow that at all . When it comes to handling the ball the fielding side is involved in aiming at the stumps . Does that make it more interesting....Oh i was so deep into fielding that i almost missed out on batting. Cricket seems to thrive on the big hitting involved in batting , the 4's and the 6's none of which is a part of hockey. Our hockey seems to have the same old two goal posts and players running around to put the ball the opponent's net. Doesnt the last sentence sound familiar, doesnt it sound like the game we all love....The Beautiful Game...Soccer.

As far as physical contact is concerned and the subsequent physical bouts it can generate both have considerable risks. While soccer tops among the two , but in Hockey you have a really hard ball which is always struck firmly enough to fracture anyone it hits directly and our Hockey players do not wear helmets apart from the keeper ofcourse. Which translates into the fact that our Hockey players are brave hearts. Compare these risk factors with Cricket. Our beloved batsman is protected with all kinds of gear from head to toe(reminds me of saurav ganguly :-D). All our fielders do no have to run most of the time. The select few in the direction the ball is hit and is thrown and their opposite counterparts on the field to avoid an overthrow. Pretty relaxed i would say by the standards of Hockey. I guess sledging was intentionally brought in by the ICC to spice up the game a bit otherwise the gentleman's game would be a bit too boring to watch (after all everything needs to be marketed :-) ).

Summing up everything, Hockey is more similar to the game which is the most popular game in the world, than Cricket. Hockey rules make sure that the risks and excitement are more than cricket , players run around more than in Cricket which adds to the intensity, but inspite of all this Hockey just doesn't generate enough attention amongst us today to remain labelled as the national game of the country !? Our RAC has just lead us to believe that the problem lies in the what we percieve as exciting and the way it
 is presented to us comes into the picture here.

I hope some sponsor stumbles upon this write up of mine to find out the deep **** that Hockey is in . I think better marketing , better camera positioning which will lead to better viewer experience (because TV viewers are the main target today ) can still save the game . On the contrary if they think that 'we cannot experiment with money, we are a profit driven organisation and we can only put money where we are sure to reap benefits' then i think its time we renamed our national sport. A national sport is supposed to be one which is culturally related to that country . When Cricket is broadcasted they say Cricket is a religion in India. They never talk like that with regard to Hockey !! I cannot blame them because the ground reality is in their favour.

So spread the word countrymen, let Cricket be renamed as the National game. It will save our country a lot of shame when they show the Hockey players' plight regarding the kind of match fees they get. The governing body eats up whatever paltry sum that is generated out of the game and our needy and deserving players get slose to nothing.

Remember that spreading the word is a winning way to get things done. A word which was never meant to be in the dictionary can be found in a standard dictionalry these days simply because it has gained popularity worlwide. We have no conclusive evidence of Adam and Eve making out but half the world believes that we are from them . Havn't seen it but we still believe it :-). Thats how strong spreading the word can be .Then why not give Cricket the status that it deserves. Nobody controlled it .It just happened. After all  our famous constitutional lines go well with Cricket - 'It is a game of the people , by the people and for the people' . All the more a reason why it should be at the No.1 spot on paper for us. Once this happens there will atleast be something that matches with the ground reality in our country :-).

It is a negetive approach but it is still a solution to save Hockey from further disgrace and salvage whatever respect is left of it and the players. Let it die in oblivion once it is delisted, atleast the players will not have to cope with the shame that comes with the neglect.