A Beautiful Dream

Genre: Fiction

It was on a long train journey that I first met her. She arrived in my life as if a beautiful angel was sent by Him. It did not take any time for us to get along and then began a journey that I would remember forever as the most beautiful dream of my life.

Our destination was a little town by the hills. On our first day in town, as we had a sweet long walk by the winding lanes, her company made me feel so blissful. The tall conifers swaying in the mild wind seemed to be welcoming us at every corner. Back to our abode post dusk, as we sat having dinner, the warmth of her company made me forget the chilling cold outside. By the time we went to bed, I was sure of one thing- this was a dream coming true.

And it did. And how! The next morning as we left the town for a sweet little abode nestled among the blue mountains, the long journey seemed so short and satisfying with her being besides me. We stopped enroute, and as we sat enjoying the sweet sounds of the gushing white waters of the stream accompaning us as the sun set behind the mountains, everything seemed so serene, so blissful.

And then it only got better- we spent the next two days in this lovely hill resort enjoying long drive up the mountains, playing in the snow, sharing experiences and shivering in the freezing cold as we went around shopping by the rows of colorful stalls adornin the place. And when that was done, we cuddled in the warmth of our room, whispering sweet nothings as the night darkened...

And the ultimate icing on the cake came on the last day before we bid goodbye to this amazing place. As we walked upto a little temple nestled among dense conifers, it started snowing- soft little white snowflakes being sprinkled from the skies as if He wanted to bless us from above! And amidst this as we stroll around, nothing else seemed to matter. The world around seemed to have come to a standstill with only me and her and the beautiful flowers in the meadows and the snow-white mountains kissing the clouds in the distance! Heaven!

But like all good things in life, this had to come to an end. The journey coming to an end, I got down from the train at the station while she was to continue her journey further. As the train departed, I stood on the platform, one eye fixed on the window where she was sitting. I knew she would turn back. And she did. Our eyes met, my heart skipped a beat, my face lightened up with a smile. And with it ended a week that will remain forever in my life as A Beautiul Dream!

And Then Friendship Died...?

Genre: Blabber

There was a time, not too long ago, when friends were the coolest thing to happen in life for college-going teenagers. And then, times changed and relationships took over the coveted crown. Suddenly, especially for the females, a boyfriend was considered to be the coolest thing to possess since iPod. And with it began a race among the girls to pick up the most happening and hot guys around before others could put their hands over them (literally and figuratively). Some succeeded at first go, some opted for the trial and error method but eventually almost every girl worth her name managed to catch hold of atleaset one guy though the same cannot be said about the guys themselves (damn Darwin and his Theory of Evolution which gives the girls an unfair advantage of being the choosers). And with this, friendship began to die a slow death.

With their boyfriends and their relationships occupying a place of prominence in their heads, every move by any male creature began to be scrutinized as his supposed attempt to enter a relationship by most of the girls. The same girls who used to hang out and have a great time with their male friends began to suspect their motives and distance themselves under the pretext of being 'loyal' to their boyfriends. The alacrity so prominently visible in their body language got replaced by apprehension and uneasiness. The fact that a bond of innocent sweet friendship binds two people together more than anything else got conviniently sidelined as the bonding with their boyfriends hogged all the attention. And knowingly or unknowingly most girls lost the inherent human quality of taking independent decisions as every decision of theirs now preceded with "My boyfriend said that.." or " my boyfriend does not like this" and the likes.

However all is not lost yet. The spirit of friendship is so strong that it has the ability to rise from the ashes like a phoenix. We can hope for a day to come soon when this passing craze will subdue and once again it will be reaffirmed that true friends are the only real assets and pillars of strength who stand against the winds of time and make life more enjoyable and happening to a level which is impossible to reach by anyone else. The sooner the girls realise this the better it will be. For them as well as for the world.

Big Monkey!

An Indian reporter's interview with Andrew Symonds:

Reporter: Sir, are you satisfied with your performance today?
Symonds: You are racially abusing me.

Reporter: How was the pitch like? Could you manage batting on it?
Symonds: You are racially abusing me.

Reporter: Ok, what about the Indian bowling? Did any bowlers make things difficult for you?
Symonds: You are racially abusing me.

Reporter: And what about the crowd support? Did that help?
Symonds: You are racially abusing me.

Reporter: What is your gameplan for the next match?
Symonds: You are racially abusing me.

Reporter: Lets hope you continue your current form throughout the series.
Symonds: You are racially abusing me.

Reporter (irritated): Kya paka raha hai saala bandar...
Symonds: Thank You very much!

The Year That Was...

Presenting a list of some of the most happening events of the year 2007-

STAR OF THE YEAR

Our Badshah of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan! He was all over the place all year round right from coaching the hockey team on-screen in Chak De India to cheering the cricket team off-screen at the Twenty20 World Cup (alongwith publicising his movies); from taking Big B's place in KBC3 to ending the year with Om Shanti Om which made 'six-pack abs' the most discussed word of the year, this is one guy who never remained out of the limelight for even a single moment throughout the year.

EVENT OF THE YEAR

The Twenty20 World Cup. Indian team, for the first time playing sans the Big Three, entered as the underdogs, played like lions, defeated all the heavyweights, fooled Pakis with a bowl-out, defeated the overconfident Aussies, set up a dream India-Pak final and finally went on to win the trophy under the leadership of Dhoni (and a little help from Misbah). And yes, somewhere in between, Yuvraj plundered six sixes off an over emerging as a national superhero. And for once a team used to escaping from back doors of our airports was given a hero's welcome where entire Mumbai took a day off and went hysterical. The new India had truly arrived!

HEADACHE OF THE YEAR

There is absolutely no competition here- Rakhi Sawant emerges as the clear winner. She missed no opportunity to hog the limelight (for all the wrong reasons most of the times) and our headless Hindi News Channels gave her all the opportunity that she wanted to shout, crib, cry and wail on national television, eventually making a fool of herself! Be it anything from Sunita "Indian" Williams' space flight to Nach Baliye, she wanted to cry out aloud and give her opinion on every topic under the sun. Ofcourse nobody gave a damn to it, but that's is a different matter altogether.

THEME OF THE YEAR

"Chak De India". What started as just another movie went on to inspire Indians, generate some half-hearted interest in hockey which died down as quickly as it rose; but what remained was the title phrase and ironical as it may sound, the title song written to promote hockey percolated soon to cricket grounds and almost became the national sports anthem with it being played a million times during every match that India played. The heights were reached when Congress party tried to win Gujarat elections with "Chak De Gujarat" as its theme and fell flat on its head.

COMEBACK OF THE YEAR

Narendra Damodardas Modi- love him or hate him, you just cant ignore him. This man overcame all negative publicity that pages and pages of Times of India and hours of Aaj Tak had published against him and in this day of uncertainities came to power in Gujarat with a sweeping victory for the third consequtive time. Truly a case of victory of good (work) over evil (propoganda). And Sonia is still looking for the the person who scripted her "Merchant of Death" speech which proved suicidal.

FACE OF THE YEAR

Yes, you guessed it right- Deepika Padukone. The damsel had first Dhoni and then Yuvraj go drooling over her and her attendance at the matches ensured tremendous entertainment for the crowds who went hysterical everytime her face was shown on the giant screens followed by Dhoni going red blushing! When they said Twenty20 is entertaining, they certainly had not expected it to be this big! Oh yeah, she also sparkled on screen as the lovable Shantipriya in Om Shanti Om and shot to overnight fame. And as for the Deepika-Dhoni-Yuvraj triangle, well the girdlock still remains and the winner may come out only in the new year but in the meantime, the crowds are loving it!

HYPE OF THE YEAR

New futuristic design by internationally famed NID Ahmedabad, electronics from Germany, wheels from Romania, the authorities went all out to design new local trains for Mumbai but they forgot to take into consideration one small fact- the Mumbai crowd! So after months of reports filling the newspapers about Mumbai's lifeline getting a much needed 157 new state-of-the-art local trains what we have by the end of the year are a grand total of 3 new trains and that too after just one month of induction boast of pan stains all over the exterior, torn off stickers and seat cushions and graffiti on the interiors. Seems like Mumbai doesnt want to move beyond the brown metal boxes that run from the past 30 years carrying generations of Mumbaikars to work and back.

More events, if any, will be added later.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

SuperPower Twenty20

Genre: Current Affairs

Once upon a time, in a small town, Chintu, Pintu, Monty, Pappu set out of their houses into the neighbourhood gully wielding a rubber ball and an old wooden bat. Immediately they set up a makeshift stump, the fielders positioned themselves in the nooks and began a game where there was only one rule- hit every ball with as much force as you can (and in the process break a couple of window panes). Soon Pinky and Priya joined in. They would erupt in joy every time a ball went out of sight and express it with a little jig. Ramlal, Raju and Rohitkaka, back from work, also stopped by to watch the game for half an hour or so. Everyone got a chance to show their hitting powers and when that was done, the game was packed up in a couple of hours. This was the daily routine. Then, one day they decided to give it a name, give it international fame... yes, you guessed it right- welcome to the world of Twenty20!

It was the dull period after India's unceremonious exit from the ICC World Cup 2007 when the ICC Twenty20 World Championships was announced and within no time it was discarded by 'experts' back home here as "Underwear Cricket" and was called "2-minute noodle cricket" by a certain female more known for her noodle-straps than her cricketing knowledge. The Big Three of the Indian team- Tendlya, Ganguly and Dravid famously backed out of the tournament dismissing it as "child's play". Before the commecnement of the tournament, Aussie Pointing pointed that the teams from Asian subcontinent would miserably fail due to inexperience in this kind of the game.

But all this was BEFORE the start of the tournament. The moment the tournament actually started, everything changed completely. Crowds thronged the stadiums by the thousands to watch the "child's play", and why not? It had everything that you would want to make your evening- convinient evening time matches, live DJ and music all around, dancing cheerleaders, food, fun and ofcourse high quality cricket. With only 20 overs at their dispersal to showcase their talent, every single player of every team always gave his 100%, a single moment of carelessness can prove fatal when you have only 80 minutes to make or break your day. By the time the tournament was into its second week, the verdict was out and clear- the 2-minute noodle format of cricket is a big hit! The crowds love it, the players love it and the TV audience love it!

As for the teams from the subcontinent, Sri Lanka made the highest ever Twenty20 International score, so-called minnows Bangladesh showed West Indies the way out, India-Pakistan match ended in a tie requiring a thrilling bowl-out to decide the winners, and then came the unthinkable- India's Yuvraj Singh hit England's Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, and also made the fastest half century in any form of cricket!! And this was just the begining. By the time the Super8 stage matches started, the interest in this tournament had snowballed into madness, the craze was increasing by the minute and as for the Asian teams were concerned, Pakistan thrashed 'World Champion' Australia and the final nail in their coffin was the famous win by India eliminating the kangaroos from the tournament that they were once proudly claiming to win. Pointing had no option but to chew his words.

It was not over yet. The ultimate crown in the tournament was the Dream Final that any cricketer and his every fan can think of- India v/s Pakistan! Though for some strange reason, the Final was kept on a Monday but that hardly mattered. Those three hours, everything stood still, everybody remained glued to their Idiot Boxes like never before. And it was, it really was a Dream Final in every sense of the word. After all who would be able to forget that last hit by Misbah-ul-Haq and the catch by Sreesanth that gave India the most prized trophy- the Twenty20 World Cup! The frenzied celebration that began at The Wanderers culminated with a grand reception for the Boys In Blue at Wankhede back in Mumbai. And by now one thing was clear- the new India had arrived on the world stage- an India that is not afraid to take on the big guns, an India that is not shy to express its feelings openly, an India that is hungry for success and an India that is raring to go and conquer the world!