Jan Lok Pal.. Shanky's View

Offlate.. I have been watching my facebook news feed flooded with status msgs declaring ppl's love for the country and how lokpal would help in it.. most importantly, the mention of the "Singapore JAN LOK PAL " bill always came up from one frnd or the other..i even had a few frnds who pointed out to me n said ."y ai'nt u supporting anna/the movement" .. the truth is.. i surely want a better society with no corruption wotsoever..but the methodology of a few followers of anna..e.g the ones who spread the rumours abt singapore janlokpal [refer to TRUTH OF SINGAPORE JANLOK PAL for REAL info].. the ones who promoted a missed call on the landline no. r hindrances to such a strong movement...i support anna for his thoughts...not for the entire movement which actually turned out to be a carnival of ppl meeting each other and making new frnds...i even hav a few frnds who went there to do FRANDSHIIP [:P] with a few gals...add to that the anti-congress slogans.. the entire scene turned into a political fiasco...which i could never support..so the gist of the story is...i want to see a BETTER india..not a BITTER india..JAI HO...

Wish I could turn back time

Hey Friends,
Hope u guys have not forgotten the blogger in me... :) was thinking of resume blogging since a long time... and got an opportunity now after ages... HOLI..!!!
Holi was one festival that I used to enjoy the most, be it childhood or in college. Holi was always fun. Partly because of how colourful the festival is, n majorly because how colourful my life is. And I m not exaggerating... God has made my life really colourful by adding various gems in my life...my friends... my life...
I still remember creating havoc in my locality during Holi... my gang which used to compete with other gangs... [M not a goon, just talking about childhood TOLI @ HOLI] so that we emerge as the winners in how many people we are able to target that day... Music was always in my bloods... Plates, Spoons, Cutlery etc became our musical instruments and used to sing out Holi songs at the top of our voices. I still remember the cycle races with anku, lavanya, vinod etc from home to school and more. I still remember visiting ranjitha’s house, stuffing my Bermuda pockets with namkeens and sweets. Going to sahiti’s place and have an awesome south Indian snack [argghhh... I forgot the name...] ... performing cycle stunts and falling off it innumerable times. I still remember the Holi when my eyes were literally stuffed with gulaal by naveen and I cried the whole day. I still remember Paulson and Ullas using pakka colours on me which wud never go off even after 10 days of Holi. Oh I miss my school days... :(((
College... Holi in college was always amazing. The fact that we were fined for playing Holi in campus added to the fun and we used to make sure that we play Holi just to show the authorities that we give a damn about the rules...:P the special water tank outside the college, though no one ever managed to get me in there [daalta bhi kaise... :P] the weird looking faces... smiling faces, especially neha, aakash, dipali etc. Miss everyone so much ... :((
And look where I am today... part of the so-called corporate world ... where I am working on Holi... and that too on free will ... though there are plans of celebrating it in office tomorrow but still... will it ever match the madness and chaos of childhood... I wish I could turn back time ...:((

A New Day Has Come

Hey friends,

How are you all doing. hope you guys have been doing great. Well, Sundays are meant to be Fundays, as the old saying goes. but does this even hold any relevance in today’s world. People these days are preoccupied on Sundays even more that what they are on the weekdays. Generally, plans for a Sunday are fixed by Wednesday or if you are a really slow coach, latest by Thursday, and that is when the problem arises. You call up a friend asking him/her to meet up on Sunday for that awesome movie which you have been yearning to watch or for that gadgets you had been dying to get your hands on for the entire week after catching its glimpse in Living Digital or elsewhere. But either your friend has some other plans or the market especially earmarked for such goods is closed on a Sunday. What can be even more killing is the non availability of metros on certain routes which means a big dent in the pocket if you go out since autowallahs and radio taxis are the Bigg Boss on such days. there’s hardly anything we could do than to succumb to their fairly overcharged fare[i wonder y it is even called fare when it’s completely unfair on the pocket]. the next best thing on the agenda is sitting back in your apartment, writing blogs, socializing with long lost friends and kill time till it’s time for the next movie show at the nearby mall. As far as food is concerned, still waiting for my gas cylinder to arrive. till then, I'll have to stick to the rude food. biryani is a passé, as it goes, too much of anything is bad. the awesome chicken biryani by a nearby restaurant suddenly seems all bad. dying to get my hands on a cheese burst, but given my present medical conditions, i really doubt if i would be able to go ahead with one[God, Y dint u create cheese burst in personal size..]. So a supposedly funday is surely earmarked to be one of those gloomy days of my life when nothing seems to be going right. Just hoping that the rest of the day has something good in store for me. Adios Amigos… and make sure that at least you have a wonderful Sunday unlike mine..

Yaad Hai Mujhe Woh...

Hey friends,

My next blog post was long due I suppose. It's almost been 4 months now in Delhi and the traffic jams, the long tiring night shifts are gradually becoming a part of my life. Musically, these four months have seen the dormant side of shashank which is really trying to get out of the shackles and compose something new. All these four months, I tried writing many things, but failed miserably since I really couldn't make out whether to write positive lyrics or negative lyrics after all the circumstances in my past just before I left Chandigarh. My mood has always played a very important role in whatever I write. So last night, in sheer frustration I just came up with a very old composition of mine, and tweaked it a bit. Here it is guys, for all of you to read:

YAAD

Yaad hai mujhe woh pal jab tu muskuraya tha,

Us pal ki wajah se tujhko dil me basaya tha,

Kya batau us pal ko main kitna yaad karta hoon,

Kabhi hans leta hu, kabhi ro hi leta hoon,

Woh dil me basake, mujhko apna banake, jhoote sapne dikha ke,

Tu gayi ab kahan...

 

Yaad hai mujhe woh pal jo tu mujhse milne aaya tha,

Haatho me lekar haath, apna mujhe bataya tha,

Kya batau us pal ko main kitna yaad karta hoon,

Kabhi tanha tanha hi, kabhi bheed me khota hoon,

Woh saath nibhaa ke, mujhse baatein bana ke, Pal me daaman chhuda ke,

Tu gayi ab kahan...

 

Yaad hai mujhe woh pal jab tune yeh bataya tha,

Hai saath yehi tak apna kehke mujhe rulaya tha,

Kya batau us pal ko main kitna yaad karta hoon,

Kabhi sapno mein jab main yaadein woh sanjota hoon,

Woh sapno me aake, harpal mujhko sata ke, sacchaai se muh fira ke,

Tu gayi ab kahan...

 

Gar tha yahi tak saath, toh kyu the fir haseen jazbaaat,

Keh dena tha mujhko jab haatho me liya tha haath..

Maaloom nahi tha, aise rang dikhayegi jindagi,

Jindagi jise mana , woh chod gayi mera saath...

 

Haan haan yaad hai mujhe woh pal..

Yaad hai mujhe woh pal..

Yaaad hai mujhe woh pal..

bas dua hai bhool paaoon main unhe...

 

Comments welcome...I can only improve with your suggestions...

An Interesting Morning

Everything about this morning seemed to be strange. My PG owner did not open the gates of the hell at 5 AM as he usually does. I never used to care about the time he opens the gate. I have always been interested and worried about the time the gates close i.e. 11 PM. But today, it was a different case altogether. Adi has stayed over in my room last night and he had to rush home as he had forgotten his Admit card for the exam. I thought of accompanying Adi along till ISBT Sec 17. I thought of it as a fruitful endeavour as this trip could also serve as an impromptu morning walk for me. A morning walk is one thing that I have always dreaded of. I had always thought of it as an utter waste of time. I always felt that how could walking for miles and miles, which actually drains out all the energy of the body, serve the purpose of being responsible for a freshened up day. So, there I was, walking all over from sec 21 to sec 17 ISBT[Not too far though], my earphones plugged in n fingers searching for that perfect song in my cell which could help brighten up my day in some way or the other. As I was looking out for potential songs, I came up to U ME AUR HUM [male version]. Though this track has always been amongst my favourites, there was something about the track which kept me going and going. I replayed the track over and over again and kept walking even after I had dropped Adi. After some time, fatigue took over me and I stopped for a cup of tea. When I ordered tea, I noticed that there were half fried eggs up for offering. Being a big time foodie, I just couldn’t resist the temptation of ordering a plate of half fried eggs. While he was preparing the eggs, I kept on enjoying the tracks on my phone. Next up was the COKE STUDIO version of MORA SAIYAN. A beautiful composition in Raag Khamaj, this was another way of ensuring that my day was going in the best possible direction. Meanwhile, I just interacted with the Chai Wallah who was busy reciting shayaris to one of the other customers. I asked him if he knew whose composition it was. He very casually replied, “Kya bhaiya, itna pade likhe kahan hai ke bade shayar logo ka likha pad ke yaad karenge. Yeh toh maine khud likha hai”. I was dumb struck. He was hardly of the age of 15-16 and his couplets were so intensely woven that if they were compiled and put up on a blog, it would fetch the highest no of followers of shayaris. I was really amazed by his literary skills and felt pity for his condition. Meanwhile, the fried eggs were ready and I started gorging on them. The fried eggs reminded me of my home where I would cook fried eggs while mom and dad went to their offices. I felt nostalgic and called up home. Mind you it was 6 AM in the morning and dad must have been getting ready for office. My mom got worried since I called up so early in the morning. In the next 10 minutes I talked to her, she must have asked me for about 15 times if I was all right. Moms are so worried about their kids, don’t they? Just when I was about to finish off my eggs, I saw a wonderful site. The Chai Wallah was packing up an omelette for a customer in an old newspaper. To my astonishment, the newspaper read “Rocking engineers” in Hindi and had a picture of SURYODAYA, my band. Yes, it was the same newspaper article which shaida wrote about the rock scene in Chandigarh which featured a large picture of us. While packing up the omelette, the chai wallah somehow managed to recognise me in the pic and immediately asked me if it was me in the pic. I answered in the affirmative and found himself smiling and in a very happy mood. When I was paying him for the stuff, he very proudly replied, “Apse paisa thode hi lenge sirji, bas jaake taareef kar dena apne photo wale bando me meri dukaan ki, Hero log aayenge toh dukaan ka naam ho jayega aur galla acha chalega”. I was so amazed by his words and told him that I would certainly do that and gave him the money he truly deserved. It is really amazing to know what a media appearance can do to a person. The chai wallah had the notion that I was one of the most important customers he had while for me, it was a heart warming experience where I was considered as a celebrity despite not being one by leaps and bounds. Thank you lord for staring my day on such a smiling note and hope the rest of the day will be as exciting and interesting as it began.

First Up...

Hey friends,
Setting up a blog was a long due thing in my mind, given my love for the internet.
I have always been fascinated by the power of internet, social media in particular. Technology has never been such an integral part of a person’s life ever. My tryst with technology dates back to a time when internet had just marked its arrival in the country. Being a tech savvy person ever since my childhood, I took on to the vast sea of knowledge very sportingly and enjoyed being in touch with my friends over e- mails n IM’s. Since I belong to a defence background, it has been really difficult for me to part with my friends and loved ones after every 4-5 yrs or so. But every coin has two sides to it. While the parting away brought sadness and grief to me every time, it transformed me into someone who can boast of being friends with anyone in a jiffy. People ask me, do I really maintain contact with the 700 odd people in my friend list. The answer, my dear friends, is YES. I try to be in touch with as many people as I can. While some of my friends are happy that I am in touch with them even after like 14-15yrs of friendship, I have a few friends who think I bug them all the time. I know there may be many, and I can name them too. But that doesn’t make them any less important in my life. You see, it goes like this. Once you are in Shanky’s world, you are sure of having at least one person who will care for you anytime, be it in times of need or no need [that s when people call me a BUGGER]. I ASSURE EACH ONE OF YOU THAT I BELONG TO YOU AND WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU, WHETHER YOU NEED ME OR NOT.