Chupke-Chupke Raat Din

Last night, as usual I was listening to my MP3 player with all lights turned-off and Ghazal maestro “Ghulam Ali” humming the irrestible song – “Chupke-Chupke Raat Din” in my ears. I have listened and enjoyed this ghazal countless times but yesterday somehow I felt some urge to write a few shers myself. I am not a shayar or poet, so I can’t found some base to start. Hence I picked the ghazal itself as the base and wrote some lines on my own. It is more of a 'tuk-bandi' [trying to rhyme words] kind of effort, so it’s not very good. But since it’s my first effort, I can’t stop myself from publishing it.

Unfortunately, this post contains matter which is more relevant to people who understand Hindi and a slight amount of Urdu as well (cannot be called 'Urdu' exactly, its mostly 'Hindi' only). I thought of translating it into “English” as well but I found that it loses its vigour and magic if done so. Hence all non-hindi readers are requested to take help of their other friends who can translate this for them. Else, you can send me special request for translation, I will try to do it. :-)

Before starting with my lines, let’s just revise the first stanza of the ghazal:-

Chupke-Chupke Raat Din, Aansoon bahana yaad hai,
Hum ko ab tak aashiqui ka woh zamana yaad hai.

And here is the disclaimer to all my “Leg pulling friends”- These few lines are written just like that and are not a result of anything real or imaginary which you all are planning to cook :-)

Now here are few lines written my me:-

Ishq ki be-imaniyon ka alam, to tha kuch aur bhi,
Unka sabse hans ke milna, humse nazrein churana yaad hai.

Ja rahe thay, raaste pe, hanste gaate ek din,
Un ko aata dekh-kar, dhadkon ka ruk jana yaad hai.

Din mein unko dekhna, raaton mein unko sochna,
Aanthon pahar unko, khayalon mein basana yaad hai.

Unka humse poochna, ki kyun hai yeh dil udaas,
Muskurakar apne hal-e-dil ko, unse chupana yaad hai.

Jab kiya tha humne unse, apne dil ka haale bayan,
Unki woh naarazgi, aur moonh firana yaad hai.

Woh hanse to hum hansein, woh roye to hum bhi roye,
Un ki khushi aur un ke ghamon ko, apna banana yaad hai.

Please use the comments section generously for the benefit of the author... :-)

~Mayank

Moving to Green...

I have read somewhere :-

The only constant thing in this world is 'Change'. No one has escaped from that, no one ever can.

My blog is also "no-one" and has undergone this change in look and feel. Finally, I was able to find and tweak a new template for my blog. The initial template (shown above) was very dull and boring. So somehow I came out of my procrastination and played with some HTML and CSS to create a new face for my blog. [If you are some lucky person not from software background, ignore these two words – ‘HTML’ and ‘CSS’, they are some software crap which is part and parcel of unlucky software professional like me ;-) ].

Coming to the new template, I found it having better aesthetics and more pleasing to eyes (atleast to me). Light green is one of my favourite colours and hence the reason for the new layout being so greenish in colour.

Do let me know, how do you find the new look and feel of my blog. The comments section is waiting for you…

~Mayank

The Precious Stone...

It’s a boring Saturday evening and as usual I am on the Mangalore roads for my weekend evening stroll, something which I am not able to do on weekdays; thanks to busy work schedule … you never get chance to leave home till the darkness has crept all over.

Returning back to evening, the sun has settled after working hard whole day and has left his foot-prints on the road which is still hot and dry. Ahead of me, is walking a boy of around 10 years of age. He is playing with “something” by tossing it up in the air and then catching it again. I watched him moving ahead and kept on continuing my aimless stroll. Somehow, that “something” with which the boy was playing, slipped out of his hands and went towards the middle of the road. From my behind, I can hear a bus coming and I just turned to see it. It was the usual Mangalore bus, whose drivers don’t consider them less than F-1 drivers; their beloved buses less than F-1 cars and of-course Mangalore roads as F-1 tracks :-). When I turned back towards the boy, to my utter surprise, I saw him running towards the middle of road inspite of the approaching bus to get back that “something” which has slipped from his hands. He picked it up and just managed to return back to safety. He almost risked his life in getting back the “thing” with which he was playing.

I approached and asked him – “What is that in your hand for which you almost risked your life”. He opened his palm and showed me normal looking pebble in his hand. I asked him again – “Why the hell do you risked your life for such a simple pebble which you can get anywhere else on the road”. He told me that it is very precious for him. It is with him for more than a year and he keeps it with him always. I told him – “You are mad. Take care and never do this again”. He smiled and then replied these three words in Hindi – “Aap nahin samjhoge” [You won’t understand]. Then he melted down in a nearby lane.

I can’t stop myself from smiling for his last statement. Yeah perhaps I won’t understand that why on earth a person would risk his life for such an ordinary and worthless pebble. Or may be… I would understand because this boy reminded me of another boy who had done something similar around 15 years back. That boy has also lost one of his favourite pebbles in the middle of road and he also ran back to get it back ignoring the approaching traffic. But that boy was not so lucky and was hit by an approaching scooter. Luckily he escaped with minor bruises but lost his “precious stone” and is writing this blog currently.

Yes, it was a “Precious Stone”. For others is was a worthless pebble which would have no value other than lying on a dusty road or being part of concrete-mixture for some building. But for that boy, it was his companion, his friend with whom he had spent countless hours playing.

Sometimes, in life you care for something not because it has got very high monetary value or importance but you care for it because you are emotionally attached to it for no reason. And if you can risk your life to get it back, it is indeed worth a “Precious Stone”.

PS – This may sound like stupidity of a 10 year old boy if we think logically. But sometimes, too much reasoning destroys the beauty of simple things. So let those simple things be untouched from human reasoning like the innocence of this 10 year old kid who has a different meaning of “Precious Stone”.

~Mayank

A Different Morning

This travelogue was written in Jan, 2006. I am just posting it today on my blog...

A buzzing phone… Who is calling at this hour of the morning? I picked up the phone, “Hello, Who is that!”
A voice came from the other side – “Hi, this is [me], Wanna go to beach as planned”.

Oh yes, it reminded me that we have planned to go to beach today morning to have a glimpse of the nature. I am still feeling very sleepy but somehow I said “Yes”. I got out from my bed. Let me brush my teeth first. I turned ON the TV as usual (my first morning task after waking up. Luckily, it was channel [V] showing the 60’s old song - “Baar Baar Dekho, Hazaar Baar Dekho”. Not a bad start for a Sunday morning. Let’s see what is in store for me ahead this morning.

My friend picked me up on his two-wheeler. Riding on the pillion seat, we started moving towards the Panambur beach. Its 6:10 in the morning and it still slightly dark. Street lights are still ON and I can see milk vans, newspaper men and other early morning risers doing their daily work. We are now cruising at 60 km/hr on NH-17. The air here is quite cooler at this time of morning and I felt a tinge of cold after a long time. I folded my arms to get some warmth. But Hey, This is not for I have come out in the morning. I can get the warmth under the sheet on my bed also. I have come to face the nature and enjoy it. So riding on the pillion seat, I stretched my arms. I can feel the air rushing through my palms. I can feel it’s coolness in my arms and in my whole body. It was such a wonderful experience.

We have reached the beach now. I was thinking that it would be deserted at this time of morning. But Hey, I am wrong. I can see people running here and there on the beach. I can see people getting drenched in the cold water of Arabian Sea. I took a full view of the whole beach from left to right. I looked at the vast ocean ahead of me. I felt as if it is stretching his arms and calling me to come and enjoy this beautiful morning. I can feel the cool sea breeze on my face. We started having a stroll on the beach. It feels nice to take a morning walk on the cool sand besides the sea, an experience I had never before inspite of being in a coastal town for last 2 years. I can see the small birds walking in front of me near the sea waves. As waves gets closer to them, they start running away from them and as the water recedes they go back towards the sea water. At this moment, it looked like now the bird is trying to catch the waves. I watched this game of catching each other for a long time. It was a great experience watching these birds playing with the water.

Now we have reached near the left end of the beach. We were stopped by the man-made rocky structure of Mangalore port stretching about half to one kilometer into the sea. I wanted to see what lies on the other side of this. So I climbed it and found calm sea water on the other side too. Then we planned to go to the far end of this rocky structure which stretches far into the territory of ocean. The rocks were quite rough and it was hard to walk on them. We have to take each step carefully. But still we were moving ahead undaunted by the difficulties just to know what lies ahead at the far end. At last we reached the end point of this rocky embankment. I searched for a suitable rock to give some rest to my body after this long but enjoyable walk on this rocky path.

Now in front of me lies the vastness of sea. On my left and right I can see the water too. But behind me lies the land and oh yes…… the rising sun. It was just a coincidence that I looked towards this side, just when sun has started coming out from behind. It is just rising from his sleep, looking like a dark red ball of fire ready to drench me with his warm and lively rays. It said to me – “Here I come again for my daily work. Who are you? Have we met before? Yeah I remember, you are the same small boy who used to say hello to me early morning long time back. Well, I am seeing you after a long time in the morning. Where were you?” I asked the same question to myself - “When was the last time, I had seen a sunrise?” Oops, I can’t remember. I felt sorry for myself and the busy life we had got. Forgetting about all these, I returned back and watched him coming out of the hazy sky. It started increasing its intensity. Its warm rays touched my whole body and I felt the same sense of belonging and love towards him which I used to feel during my childhood days. It reminded me that it is the same old sun which used to wake me up in the cool summer mornings when I used to sleep on my house’s roof. I felt sorry and sad for missing him from a long time. But better late than never, I am back to enjoy him; to see him rising in the sky; to see him turning into a bright shiny yellow ball from a dark red dull ball. I can see the sunlight reflecting from the sea behind me. It looked as if the sun has placed a yellow carpet for me and is calling me to come and meet him. I kept staring at the yellow carpet and sun for a long time. Then I said good bye to him and turned towards the sea.

The sea was looking very calm from this place like it too is fresh after a whole night sleep. Its colour is deep blue at this time, my favourite colour. A very cool breeze is blowing all over the place. I can see a fisherman moving towards the sea in his small dinghy for his daily catch. I felt at this time that this guy is luckier that me because he can enjoy this beauty of nature daily while I cannot. He is closer to nature, to the mother earth, to the ocean, to the sun, moon and all stars than I am. I watched him venturing deep into the sea.

Suddenly I heard chirping of words. I looked in the sky and saw a flock of birds flying above the sea in a ‘V’ formation. It was nice to see them going here and there. Then they started moving away from me. I kept watching them till they went out of sight. The sea waves are striking the rock below the rock I am sitting on. The waves are hitting the rock and then cracking and breaking into millions of water droplets. The waves appeared to me as a lover who is trying to take his beloved with him. But the beloved, the rock, is still not ready to go with him. So he will keep kissing her feet and kept on breaking into millions of pieces till eternity.

The sun is shining more brightly now and ocean ahead of me has turned more deep blue. Ahead of me lies the vastness of sea challenging me to come and conquer him. I sat on the rock for some more time and kept enjoying the music of nature. The music which is so soothing and so fresh that it rejuvenates your whole body. Somehow I am feeling very safe and secure in this vastness.

Its 7:30 in my watch now. So I planned to return back. I started walking on the rocky path again and reached the shore. As I reached the shore, I found that the sea is more rough and wild near the shore than in the middle. The sea appeared to me like a lover who becomes more eager and desperate as he gets closer to his beloved (the shore).

Just then the alarm in my cell phone rang. Am I dreaming or is it real? No, it is not a dream, it is real. I have not experienced all these things in dream but in my real life.

Many people say that dreams are more beautiful than real life. But sometimes real life is more beautiful than the dreams. You just have to learn to explore and live it…

~Mayank

Nothing is interesting if you're not interested...

I got this quote today in one of the email forwards. This one simple line contains so much meaning in itself. After reading it, I kept on thinking for some time. Yeah its very true. Everything depends on our mind, our moods and our perception. Sometimes a particular thing appears very interesting and good to us when we are in a particular mood. The same thing may appear totally useless and boring another moment. So all depends on individual's state of mind at a particular time.

I wonder sometimes, who decides our mood swings....we ourselves or our external conditions/environment or both. Can we control and guide our mood swings? Atleast I can’t control mine!!!

I am still pondering over this simple yet so complex quote. If you are really interested, you can complete a work in very short span of time. Same work may take days or may not even get completed if it does not interest you.

But is it possible to get interested in something on our own. I remember my biology teacher’s words who used to say that our thought process, mood swings are governed by some chemical secretions in brain (how boring…). What makes something interesting to us and something not. Right now I don’t have answer to that. Will keep on thinking about it and will try to answer it in my next post if I get an answer.

Till then… Keep yourself interested and this world will be interesting for you!!!

~Mayank

Feeling Slightly Aimless...

From Yesterday, I am feeling slightly aimless. It is not that I do not have any short and long term goals in my life but because my immediate short term goal is achieved. And that was Eastman Redesign. From last 8 months I have been tirelessly working on this project along with my team. On 1st September, it went live. Check out the site - www.eastman.com, it is the result of last 8 months of effort put by myself and my team.

From a long time, I had been waiting for this moment - "Go Live" (as it is called in IT world) for my project. Now it has come and passed, I feel slightly lost. As this aim is achieved, I am in search of another goal. Right now I am not able to get it so feeling slightly lost. Right now it looks good with less of work pressure. But this abrupt change surprised me completely. Until last friday, I had no time for any other thoughts; I was totally engrossed in my work. But now... I am a bit lost.

As someone said, life moves on - You capture one frontier and you move towards the next.

So will I... But right now I am searching for the next frontier to be captured...

~Mayank

My First Posting...

Well, this is my first post in my first blog, something which I was thinking of doing from a long time but was never able to start due to my laziness to create a blog. The biggest problem I faced whenever I tried to create an account on any site is username/domain-name uniqueness problem. Having a common name sometimes really creates a problem. I remember, I tried creating a blog on this site about 2-3 months back. I tried for getting some good domain-name but whatever I can think of were already occupied. Furiously I closed all the browser window and returned back to work.

Today with less work load and with a bit of luck, I was able to get a domain name -http://diaryofmayank.blogspot.com/ . Not very good though, but not so bad altogether. :-)

So here goes my first blog...

I am not very good in writing, I guess my first post is not so bad...

Hoping that the next post comes soon...

~Mayank