Another Mortal Life

OK. It was all absurd. There is no point in continuing to read others and not posting anything myself. This doesn't help in saving time. Moreover, the self-imposed prohibition ruins mental peace.
One of my friends came up with a good suggestion: Don't impose negative conditioning on your mind like "I won't do this" or "I won't do that". Just devote yourself more to the things you want to do; it will, then, become very easy to refrain from things you want to shun- without even 'trying'. Let me discover the power of such positive conditioning now.
So I won't try to refrain from blogging, though I won't be a devoted blogger anymore. There can be days without a single post, but whenever I feel an impulse to write I would write. In other words, I am back!

In case you want a one-liner: It's the blogging which I quit; and it's you whom I have to thank...

I liked the blogosphere quite a lot.. have read many interesting posts by some really nice writers out here. But I've to quit it. This may seem to be a sudden decision but actually it's a part of the chain of connected decisions/resolutions I have been taking for quite some time. I won't say much on it. I've to shun blogging, at least for the time being.

But I'm not ungrateful. I've got to thank you.. and since you are certainly not one single person (sounds weird?) nor are similar, I decided to leave a few words about each of you.
So, here I go..

[Phoenix]: The first regular commentor on my blog! I've counted on her for ensuring that no post of mine is left with '0 comments' label for more than 10 hours! She has always left positive and encouraging comments on even the most rediculous posts of mine.
It was great reading your blog, Phoenix. I enjoyed commenting on your blog; reading the replies to them was even more fun (mostly). Might even keep reading your pages in future too [including the ones I am very recently prohibited from :)].

[Pri]
I really liked reading her emotion-packed posts. Whenever she faces some very specific questions, she choses to generalise them like-"isn't the life itself that way only?"
(Sorry Pri, I'm not taking up that tag. You really made me feel important. I will definitely do that tag thingy if I start blogging again.)

[Musafir..]
Don't know why, but this guy prefers to comment on older posts only. A nice and co-operative batchmate of mine, he, like myself, has some weird and complicated notions about life.
Wish you the best of luck for your journey, musafir.. hope we can change.

[Grain Saint]
I used to comment on his blog.. without letting him know that am the one who lives 'Sagar kinare' i.e. in the room adjacent! Loved it! Have told him now. His surprize knew no bounds!
Thanx Sagar, for patiently reading all those sarky comments and replying too.

[Tapasya and Siyaah]
People with a nice taste for urdu poetry. Loved Tap's compositions and the poetic replies on comments. Loved Siyaah's collection of ghazals and the translations by him.
Good luck friends.

[Forgetful Functor and Chandni]
Recent regulars on my blog. Both have great writing skills, especially at fiction. [I'd also like to know about FF's book someday!]
Good luck to you too, friends.

[other visitors]
I thank you all for visiting this blog. Whether I forced you somehow or you came here by any coincidence and commented [and future visitors too].



PS: I'll be back! Remember me :)

Paani bilkul.. theek nahin hai
bimariyan bhi.. phail rahin hain
bisleriyan khoob.. bik rahi hain

ho..
hmmm

sickbay mein.. khaat lagi hai
AIIMS refer.. kar rahen hai
exams ki to.. waatt lagi hai

ho.. ho..
ho.. ho.. hmmm

IIT mud mein.. ghul gayi hai.
media ko bhanak.. lag rahi hai
dean ki neend .. udi nahi hai

ho.. ho..
ho.. ho.. hmmm

zindagi ka koi.. mol nahi hai
keechad ka ye.. ghol nahi hai
phir bhi koi.. shor nahi hai

ho.. ho.. ho.. ho..
ho.. ho.. hmmm
hmmm.......


With apologies for morphing this nice song into the above crap:
"Paanyon mein" by Sajjad Ali
All this is with ideas/inspiration from:
1. Saint 'Grain'day
2. Crap! (oops!)

God is a big sinner... encourages great sins. I could never get myself to fully believe that He does exist. My percentage belief in Him never bettered 70 and never dropped below 10 [And after years of analysis I can safely say that this figure has got no correlation (+ve or -ve) with my marks in any examination. ]
Sometime back I saw a documentary film 'Ram ke naam'- and I felt the said percentage hitting an all time low. I have heard of Ram janmbhoomi, Babri masjid, Dec 1992 etc even in the days when I didn't know where the hell this Ayodhya is (read where the once-used-to-be-sacred Ayodhya is, if you are uncomfortable with that slang.). Now I got to see it filmed. [Let me make it clear in advance, that I don't have any attachment to any political party. ]
The film had been released by the order of high court in 1997 , when the dust had settled, to help people see what they had lost. Some parts of the film were shot before the 1992 masjid demolition and some afterwards. What I write here is largely not from the film. I have only taken some facts from it. You may say all this has got no relevance now, but the dust in this nation of ours has become light, perhaps forever.
"God loving folks of Bombay! Join us in large numbers to create history - A new temple of Ram. Ram jyoti will give you all the inspiration you need for the betterment of life"- says the great leader on Rath-"What is needed for betterment is only Ram!" sounds great! "If there is no Ram, there is no survival" Oh great leader! You tried to make Ram for us. Thank you. For centuries, there was no Ram (!!!). Now you have made One. I would now worship Him and forget the pictures of thousands that were killed in celebration of His birth.
The mosque was built in 1528. Fifty years later, Tulsidas wrote Ram Charit Maanas combining pieces of various stories about Ram from here and there. He had also got some measuring devices which helped him pinpoint the birthplace of his Lord in terms of latitudes and longitudes. So he cleary wrote that his Ram was born at X degrees north and Y degrees east. Despite his effort, the ignorant masses couldn't comprehend his writings well, and made at least 10 temples in Ayodhya, each one of which claimed to be Ram's birthplace [There was nothing wrong in it. It strengthens the belief that 'Ram to kan-kan mein baste hain']. There used to be pooja at the Ram chabutara in the masjid complex too. This place was a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity. Mandir and Masjid coexisted there, peacefully for years, till 1949.
But with time people were learning more Avadhi! And some of them with good comprehension skills managed to read the exact value of latitudes given by Tulsidas! Great! And it coincided with a mosque! Great for our leader on Rath!
Soon everyone came to know about Ram's birthplace. When exactly was He born? Even their leaders were/are not able to tell. In Tulsi's time, the time measuring devices were so inaccurate that they showed an error of thousands of years. So he couldn't incorporate that detail in his work.
"Bachchaa bachchaa Ram ka.. Janmbhoomi ke kam ka"- Yes, the pictures of several five year old bodies in that blood-flood exactly tells us how every child of this nation served for the birthplace mission. And now while writing all this, my percentage belief in God fell below 10. Don't ask how much. I am still not a nastik though.
This nation is great. Here Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi got a Bharat Ratna in their own tenure as PM (!). Why didn't the leader on Rath award himself with one when he had got a chance? Oh, what a fool I am! He is not a great son of this land. He is at par with Mahatma Gandhi. Father of upcoming Hindu Nation (Haayy Ram.).

There was this poor lady with two of her little children at a nearby juice shop.. she asked for one glass of juice.. and then to make two of it using an empty glass. It felt so nice to see the man at the shop filling both glasses three-fourths.
[Let me make it clear that all through my life i have hated all those beggers who could rather work to earn their livelihood.. and those more who give them money. But these people were no beggers- they paid for what they did ask for.. and no one could ever pay for what they actually got.]
""""""""""

I like that 'Hi' by the humanities' teacher on the rare occassions when we the students show up our face.. that "you guys are irrepairable, but i'd repair you by the end of this semester" she says with a smile conveying she doesn't mean it [oh god, what if she means it? :( .].. and that "thank you" by her when i submitted the book review yesterday.. a week after the due date.[now that is too much of a nicety.. and u might say that excess of everything is bad! Anyways, this whole paragraph is quite off-context]
""""""""""

Had no contact with this friend (who once used to be quite close a friend of mine) for more than 4 years till he caught me some time back on a networking site ['orkut' sounds so bad ever since I started blogging :)].. still had almost no exchange of words, in any form.. and three days back i took his number from the same site.. dialled it at midnight.. and wished him a happy birthday! He was so surprized to hear from me after 4 long years.. and so full of cheers.. and i was enjoying his surprise. Why don't we let others and ourselves have such joys more often? [now this line is a stolen one :)]

Zindagi tujhe kai baar
aate-jaate huye dekha hai.....

Labon pe laane se pahle hi jo badal daale maine..
unhi sawaalon ko teri aankhon me
jhilmilate huye dekha hai.