Another Mortal Life

My recent people experiments (all performed in situ), and also some events I had no control over, have lead me to a few interesting conclusions/realizations.

1. People who use smileys (in conversations of written sort) even when they start boiling up can be trusted to not explode. Apparently, smileys are a good way to let the steam out.

2. People know you more than you think they do. This seems to be the only explanation to the fact that this gorgeous lady whom I was sort-of ogling at one day, suddenly sprung on me with "You are Vikram, right?". God! She was from school!

3. Asking "What is so funny about it?" is one of the best things you can do when confronted with an irritating laugh, or a misplaced 'lol'. It really makes people discover their stupidity.

4. The idea of your best-friend-from-the-opposite-sex marrying is terrifying. Think of having to say something like "Sorry to bother you Mr. Xyz.. Can I talk to your wife?" Arghh.
(Ok, it's not that awkward. And obviously, you won't refer to her as his wife- she'll most probably still have a name. But what about the nick? "Hello Xyz, can I talk to Bak Bak? Meanwhile you can make her some coffee!")

5. To be able to tell people in a calm, articulate, and friendly manner that you didn't like something they said or did, is a talent.

6. Everybody can be fooled. We've a April-fool week currenty going on in our hostel. (So, in case you're a fellow hosteler, beware! But don't make others aware, please!)

7. One must not talk cryptic. Simple, to-the-point, non-accented, crisp words help.

8. The acceptable numbers of guys in an all-boys hang out are 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and so on.

[There can be hundreds of poems/she'rs of Mir Taqi Mir much much better than the ones I'm posting here. I could only select from the ones I could undertand and appreciate with my limited urdu vocabulary. (Limitations are a vicious circle.)]

Phir bhii karate hai.n "Mir" saahib ishq
Hai.n javaa.n ikhtiyaar rakhate hai.n
.
Hosh jaataa nahii.n rahaa lekin
Jab Vo aataa hai tab nahii.n aataa
.
Ab to jaate hain butkade ai 'Mir',
Phir milenge agar khuda laaya.
.
Dil vo nagar nahii.n ke phir aabaad ho sake
Pachhataaoge suno ye bastii ujaa.D kar
.
Be-Khudii le gaii kahaa.n hum ko
Der se intezaar hai apanaa
.
Sakht kaafir thaa jisane pehle 'Mir'
mazahab-e-ishq ikhtiyaar kiyaa
(kaafir= infidel/non-believer, ikhtiyaar= to accept)
.
Naazukii us ke lab kii kyaa kahiye
Pa.nkha.Dii ik gulaab kii sii hai
.
Marg-e-Majnu.n pe aql ghum hai 'Mir',
Kya diwaane ne maut paai hai.
(marg= death)
.
Kahen kya jo puchhe koi hum se 'Mir',
Jahaan mein tum aae the kya kar chale.
.
Vo bazm me.n aaye itanaa to 'Mir' ne dekhaa
Usake baad chiraago.n me.n roshanii na rahii
.
Hum hue, tum hue, ki 'Mir' hue
us kii zulfo.n me.n sab asiir hue
(asiir= imprisoned)

.................................................................


Reekhta ke tumhi ustaad nahi ho 'Ghalib'
Kahtay hain agle zamanay mein koi Meer bhi tha.

[A Qawwali by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Repeat each line at least twice while reading- then only you'd get a feel of it. It'd be even better if you could support your voice with qawwali kinda clapping too. :P But the best idea would be to go Youtube!]

Sochta hun ki vo kitne maasoom the..
Kya se kya ho gaye dekhte dekhte;
Maine patthar se jinko banaaya sanam..
Vo khuda ho gaye dekhte dekhte.
.
.
Humse ye soch kar koi wada karo..
Ek waade pe umre guzar jayegi;
Ye hai duniya yahaan kitne ahal-e-wafa
Bewafaa ho gaye dekhte dekhte.
.
.
Gair ki baat tasleem kya kijiye
Ab to khud par bhi humko bharosa nahin;
Apna saaya samajhte the jinko kabhi
Vo juda ho gaye dekhte dekhte.

Pour yourself some bhang, click here, and listen to these songs:


Mele nu chal mere naal kude

Aj saare chhadd janjaal kude..
Mele nu chal mere naal kude
...................................................

Kali teri gut te paraanda tera laal ni
..................................................

Nikki jinni gal da khalaar paey gaya
Gallan gallan wich kal pyar paey gaya
...................................................

Akshay and Vibhav have tagged me. Chandni has not tagged me, because I didn't want to take up the tag she wanted me to take up but instead (I) insisted on taking up another tag which too I eventually didn't take up. And Pheonix this time actively controlled the tag, because, on a previous ocassion, her tag had passed itself on to me all by itself, thereby challenging Her authority. :P

So here it is. To Akshay, to Vibhav, and to the few drops of rain that fell on my palm at 6:59 pm yesterday evening:

Eight things I am passionate about:

-Bakaiti.
-Pulling people’s leg.
-Thinking about ‘WHY’s behind people.
-Writing she’rs. (writing a complete ghazal is too consuming.)
-Phrasing some funny one-liners.
-Sudden rains when no building is nearby.
-Walking barefoot on sand in winters.
-Finding maximum procrastination limits when put against strict deadlines.

Eight things I want to do before I die (In no particular order):

-Watch 150 movies from IMDb top 250.
-Write 50 good poems and get them published [Current count is only 5 :( ]
-Ensure a comfortable life for my parents and sister. (Obvious; so I hope nobody accuses me of plagiarism!)
-Meet E for one last time. And talk for hours no end.
-Travel. See world, as much as possible.
-Tell each and every of my good friends how much they matter in my life. (To not say it is classy, like all those movies tell us- ‘don’t ruin it’; but sadly, in real life people need to be told so as to know it.)
-Learn to play a musical instrument.
-Revive my interest in engineering, (that is if I don’t change my field of work.)

Eight things I say often:

-Chill maar!
-Shayad../Perhaps..
-Dekhte hain../ Let’s see..
-Kya baaat kar raha hai!?
-Sahi keh raha hai.
-Zindagi hai dost..
-Uda dete hain/ Let’s bunk!
-F***/S***

Eight books I’ve read recently:

-The Pearl
-Of Mice and Men
-The unnamable (short story)
-The Godfather
-Jane Eyre (dropped midway.)
-Jonathan Livingstone Seagull
-The Republic (reading..)
-A Farewell to arms (reading..)

Eight songs I could listen to, over and over:

-Wahan kaun hai tera, Sachin Dev Burman (Guide)
-O re maajhii, Sachin Dev Burman (Bandini)
-Top of the world, Carpenters
-Nothing compares 2 U, Sinead O’Connor
-Ik meri ankh kaashni, Surinder Kaur [In fact, every song on this list.]
-Ishqe di maar, Rani Randeep
-Tu kahin bhi rahe, Ghulam Ali
-Chhoti si ye duniya, Kishore Kumar
-Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (When it comes to him, we needn't talk in terms of particular songs; the whole of his music is bliss.)

[So I've not exceeded the limit of 8! ;)]

Eight things that attract me to my best friends:

-Their barking/cawing/chattering (You didn’t understand, did you?)
-Soft-spokenness. (In case they don’t meet the first criteria, this one becomes absolutely necessary.)
-Respect for everyone. (Everybody respects his/her parents, teachers, friends. It’s how you behave with a random guy on street that shows the kind of man you are.)
-A sense of humor.
-Interest in poetry. (even mine! :P)
-Craziness. Eccentricity. Some amusing sort of it.
-A not-too-close friendship, if any, with the people I don’t like. (I admit I'm possessive. I’m a Scorpio.)
-Revelation that he/she is a good old friend of the girl I happened to like, say, yesterday.

Eight people I think should do this tag:

Most guys who used to be on my erstwhile list have either done this tag, or are tagged, or are not very likely to take it up! Oh, wait! Desperado might be willing..? Also, there are some who’ve recently blogrolled me- Disha, Rashmi and somebody-who’d-do-it-right-now [:P]. Then there is someone who has me in her blogroll of around 10 people but her blog is not even accessible to me! (I assume that being in such an exclusive list, I automatically deserve an invitation :P). I’ve also spotted two 3rd-yearites and one 2nd yearite reading my blog in CSC, on different occasions.

I’d like all of you to do this.

[A part of a poem by Rumi]

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God’s fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her.
Keep your face there close.
Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
Like this.

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don’t try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.
Like this. Like this.

[The title links to Desperado's blog, where you can read the complete poem.]

Maine phir se kuchh daastaanein likhi.n
Main phir se kuchh veerane dhoondhne chala..

***


Ye befikri ka aalam, ye inteha-e-aawargi
Kabhi kabhi khuda bhi mujhse jalta to hoga.

***

" *Some straight question* "

" *Some not-so-straight answer* "

And then the conversation follows like this.....

"Oh? Do we look like the kind of men who would take this shit?"

"Sir, when I come here next year, I'd have got my shit together. Then we'll see.*smiles*"

"Whhaatt?"

"Well.. I don't give a shit to it this time around."

Err..

पतझड़ के पत्तों सी हाय लाल-पीली तू,
ज़न्नत सी ज़िंदगानी में एक खलबली तू।

दिखी हर शक्ल में इन दिनों घुली-मिली तू,
इच्छाधारी नागिन जीवन में बस एक मिली तू।

थोड़ा तुझमें गुरुर था, थोड़ी मुझ में सनक,
मैं बुरा हूँ ये माना, पर है कहाँ भली तू।

राहें चाहे अपनी टकराएँ न फिर कभी,
रहे सदा यूं ही यारां खिली-खिली तू।
:)

I never believed in astrology. I still don't. But, to stick to my stand I'll now have to gather some evidence claiming that this article was written specially about me, by somebody knowing me pretty well!!

Or else, I should start believing in all this. In fact, this should be good for me too. This would mean a twelfth of the world is like me. In other words (?), I'm no different than a twelfth of the mankind. This would then allow me to be an insouciant common man.

[Some day I'd write a post on the title of my blog and its description.]

Let me start with admitting that temptations have always been difficult for me to resist. And that, while I'm caught up in one, no good advice seems to register on my eardrums or retina - Not even those big hoardings of what-not they put in front of hospitals.

This one was building up for quite some time. On every occasion when I got my chance to go for it, (and I must admit that the frequency of such chances has hit an all time low in recent times), I have thought of going for it that way. That such preference for a particular way might even force you to stop the activity altogether, seems to be the only reason I've continued with the general ways of the public in these times- the safe, protected ways.

The thing with hitting an all-time low is that your tendencies to experiment come under severe check. Even the fact that you've done it this way before too doesn't help much. Those big hoardings of what-not go against you. Popular opinion goes against you. And when you're no longer a regular at it, you must obviously agree that others know better. Everything tells you there are set ways of going about things; temptations be damned.

But temptation, like most human feelings, intensify in deprivation. When you are on an all time low, when you've stopped keeping that rubbery thing at your ready disposal (though there are people around who do have them and they do spare one for you when requested, it doesn't feel good that way), and then when you get the chance, you're intensely tempted to go for it that way.

Let me now tell you that I went for it that way, today. It was not like I didn't have access to those protective measures; I had one. And I started with it, like all these months. But you'd agree that things are not even half the fun under constraints. And then, this thing failed me in the middle of it. I wanted more. I put on the shower, cold water shower. Those hoardings of what to do and what not to do after two weeks of cough, the buckets, the constraints, all be damned.

I enjoyed it after a long long time.