Maya, The Illusion

There was repeated outage of the internet signal and I kept watching those irritating circles on my screen every time the system tried to retrieve information for me. I became philosophical as I was forced to ask myself the what if question. 

Does everything that we believe to be our own, belong to us or its all Maya, an illusion?

All documents, important project information, communication and testimonies received through emails are not ours but captives in the servers belonging to Microsoft, Yahoo, Google or some other service provider. Without a proper connection I don’t even stand a chance of viewing them.

We work tirelessly and what remains of our hard earned money are nothing but numerals in our bank accounts, other financial institutions, stock exchange or maybe a builder who has agreed to deliver a pricey bit of real estate. Probably you would never dwell there as it’s your second, third or nth such property.

The valuables acquired over a lifetime are stashed away in the lockers of a bank or a security service provider. You will visit those only a couple of times a year. Even that access to the locker could be denied for a slight mismatch of the signature.

Our family is without doubt ours but they are too far away from where we now live and work. We are with them only a couple of times every year, while our children prepare to flies away looking for better prospects. We do everything within our limits to make this a reality.

We struggle and waste lot of our energy for achieving things that we either do not use or we do not require. The following are a few striking examples:

• We aspire for high end hand phone and 70% of the functions are useless to most of us.
• 70% of the features of our cars are not needed and we can only drive at 50% of the maximum speed.
• We dream of a luxurious villa and 70% of the space will not be occupied.
• As we peep into the wardrobe we discover that 70% of the clothes are not worn.
• We have a collection of watches and 70% of them have run out of battery
• Sadly we work hard to save money all our life and 70% of that is left behind for other people to use.

So need to understand what is “Maya” and what is reality to start living our life for today. Let’s thrive to achieve only what we need and anything more is a bonus. We not have to be a perfectionist to enjoy what we have today.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a Present for us to open and relish.

Ministry set to announce new TV broadcast rights deal, believed to be worth about $2 billion

My Faking News

NEW DELHI: Information and broadcasting (I&B) minister is likely to take a view on the contentious issue of whether to proceed with monetizing the crime investigations in the country though selling of broadcasting rights of all information related to the case.

The high cost involved in the case of Sheena Bora murder including air travel of her un-extended family has been an eye opener. The ruling party has agreed to bring a bill in the parliament to allow provision for self-financing of such investigations.  A well-informed source in the ministry said that many options has been considered and zeroed down on auctioning of the broadcasting rights.

Sources say the Government is ready with a draft on One Crime One Sponsorship (OCOS) scheme in addition to annual broadcasting rights. These could be rolled out as early as January 2016 to take advantage of the usual high crime rates during the New Year revelations.

A general consensus exists on this among the politicians in principle including those who never had any principle. The politicians seem to have agreed to end this injustice where the government spends all the money to carry out the investigations while the media makes the money. “Humko to kya milta hai? Babjee ka thullu!” exasperated one of the senior leaders.

Sources said that the decision would depend on government's view on "economics of offence''. A police sources has also informed “we are holding back on taking action on numerous other cases dating back to 2013, till the government finalize the broadcasting rights issue.”

Stars TV, is believed to be aggressively lobbying to win the broadcasting rights that is expected to start in 2016 and run for at least five years. The deal, which also includes internet and mobile rights, was valued at Rs 13340 crores (approximately $2 billion) by some experts.

Although the parliament has to formally ratify this, there has been high level of enthusiasm amongst the lawmakers. Senior leader, Mr. Hardik Kumar, commented “ Humra rajya ko sabse zyada munafa hoga...aur is amdani se ...hum pichrapan bhi hata payenge!”. 

Whispering Souls

Anita, the younger of the two step sisters was passing by and a part of the discussion perhaps caught her attention. She hesitated, probably thinking if it would be rude to interfere while a couple was in a conversation.

As Ron moved towards his car, she said, “some paranormal experience, eh!” 

“You have started eavesdropping, these days. Eh!”Ana mimicked her sister’s tone.

“Nah! I was passing by and could not help listening. Actually, I am more eager to tell you what Robin had experienced last week.”

” So Robindra is back. I quite do not understand why a person would change his name from Robindra to Robin!” Anita said it was all about personal choices, stopping short of questioning why she had halved her name to Ana from Ananya.

“This is about shadows and spirits of dead people, I am guessing.” Ana said, displaying a great deal of interest and curiosity.

“Somewhat similar but not exactly”, she continued to narrate how excited Robin was to visit his sister for the first time since she moved abroad.

"It was a coincidence that he had to accept a temporary assignment in a city close to where his sister had relocated, and grabbed the first opportunity that came with a long weekend."

“And then”, Ana said expressing impatience at the detailed introduction.

“Even thinking of the unique experience that he had there makes my hair stand on end.”

“Let’s go and sit in the sofa” Ana suggested and both walked towards the living rooms grabbing a bottle of water on their way. Sitting in the sofa Anita started to describe the entire episode in vivid details.

Robin had reached his sister’s house on a Thursday but had to spend that evening alone as they were unable to cancel an important social dinner. He was not willing to accompany his sister either as he didn’t know the host.

Once he was alone he took to the couch multitasking between watching TV, reading and dozing off, an art he mastered over the period of time. Suddenly he realized that was very hungry and it was already 10:05.But his loving sister had arranged the dinner at the table in small ceramic bowls and left detailed instructions on how long to warm each of those in the microwave.

Once he switched the television off, silence descended on the apartment except for the humming of the air conditioner. He began to wonder if he missed the noise of constantly moving vehicles with their sporadic honking that he was so used to back home. Sometimes one could also listen to people talking on the street outside. Some people have such high pitched voice he thought. But on the contrary the acoustics of this apartment has made this place totally noise proof.

The thread of his thought was broken, when he had the uncanny feeling that someone else were sitting at the table. But he ignored it and concentrated at his dinner, which was home-made and delicious as he missed both these qualities these days.

After a while it was evident that a man and a woman were talking at the far end of the table but he could not recognize the language. More scared then perplexed, he looked in the direction of voice again and it immediately stopped.

He resumed his dinner and so did the whispering. It continued till he stared at that direction.

After the fourth time Robin interrupted their chat, an irritated ‘argh’...  came from that direction followed by an extended pause.

Robin was trying hard not to panic and kept gulping his food with water and soon realized that they have moved to the sofa as he could hear them faintly from that direction.

He is still trying to remember if he had heard the sound of chairs being pushed back for getting up before they went to the sofa.

Robin was on the verge of collapse when, Lilly opened the door and walked in along with her husband. Looking at him they had no doubt as to what had happened.

She ran to him saying, “I should have told you about this non intrusive couple living with us ever since we moved to this place. It’s a very peaceful coexistence and need to get scared.”

“You know in this places people bury their dead instead of cremating,” she continued “and many a soul hang around unable to detach from the body they cared for so long!”

Fortunately for him, his station chief called him the next morning asking him to return immediately because of an emergency. Never in his life was he so happy to get his holiday curtailed.

Ana looked at Anita with a faint smile in her face, not knowing what to say!

A Wolf In The Sky

I was coming back home yesterday. I looked up at the sky and thought I spotted an animal up there. Felt an irresistible urge to stop for a photo shoot. .. and so did I.

Not sure what it was, I consulted my daughter and she said, "It is a wolf. It has pointy ears, two hands and fur like a wolf."

How can someone question such conviction!

An Encounter With Spelling Alphabets

We were final year students at one of oldest Engineering Colleges of India, near Calcutta and two of us joined our first job as undergraduate trainee in a company in New Delhi by the name of DCS (name changed). This was formed by borrowing the first alphabets from surnames of three partners (Dhawan, Chopra and Sharma) and the firm specialized in Master planning and landscape architecture.

We as Bongs, an identity we discovered for the first time after reaching Delhi, grew up with the notion that corruption was rampant in Delhi and any other Indian cities outside the boundary of Bengal. Consequently we too were suspicious about all activities going around us both inside and outside our offices. One evening my friend came back home bewildered.  

After a bit of persuasion he confided in us and disclosed what found out by chance. “Our firm is running a racket and have multiple operations under the same name” he said softly. We were all ears to him as he continued, “I heard with my own ears when the secretary was telling someone over the phone that the name DCS stood for DELTA, CHARLIE and SIERRA”.

What ensued was pure entertainment to say the least.

These are actually called spelling alphabets or NATO phonetic alphabets.  26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu. NATO phonetic alphabet

SUNSTRUCK

I looked at the Sun while returning home this afternoon and found it setting. It looked lovely. I pulled up the car to the side and took a couple of pictures. I thought I was Sun-struck!

Despair: Silly me! I thought I invented the term Sun-struck. I imagined myself at the threshold of gaining fame and prosperity for being able to use my fertile mind in successfully remixing the word Moonstruck.

Reasons: I looked up in the dictionary and lo, it enlightened me that this exists in full glory. It refers to someone who is affected or touched by the sun. Incidently it has been in use since 1794.

Conclusion: Inventing something is becoming increasingly difficult, 'am say!!!... but we can discover something new in our world every moment.  

The story of Beilzebub, Ghidora & Tiny Demons

Many many years back, there was a beautiful, quiet and prosperous country at the foothills of the mighty mountains. The world then was a very different place, full of green forests, blue waters and ice capped mountains that shone like diamond in the morning sunlight. There was a big village in that country called Adorable.

Everyone liked this place and that is why it was named Adorable. A large river went through the middle giving water to everyone and plenty of small streams danced along, playfully. The water was as clear as crystal. One could see all animals swimming happily and smiling whenever someone stood by the river banks. The air was always fresh and full of intoxicating scent of exotic flowers and fruits. A dense forest surrounded the village from two sides while the snowcapped mountains guarded the other two sides. 

The king was famous for his benevolence and people were so happy that they always thanked their gods for the blessings bestowed upon them. Gods too loved this land and often visited in disguise. They used to fondly call this their mini-heaven.

One day Beilzebub, the devil came to know of Adorable and was very jealous of its abundance, wealth and happiness. He sent Ghidora, the 3-headed monster along with his wife Arachna to bring anarchy and induce sadness. They happily accepted the task and immediately moved to a large cave in the middle of the forest. They caught 5 strong men from the village and took away their heads. They became five dreaded Dulkhams or the headless horsemen responsible to guard the forest day and night killing anyone who dared to come near the cave.

Ghidora then sent Skeleton, his witchy black cat to the king with a message to provide fresh human flesh and blood every day or else he would destroy everyone. The king was helpless as the mighty Gods also could not do anything to save the people of Adorable.

The king gathered all the priests of the land in the royal temple and together they prayed to Hardes, the god of the underworld seeking his blessings. Hardes was pleased by the prayers and promised to send a savoir.

Next morning a stranger appeared in their village, riding a white horse and carrying a sharp sword that was shining bright in the morning sunlight. He was handsome, strong and brave and introduced himself as a warrior from the north and his name was Spike. He promised “tomorrow, I shall go to fight Ghidora and bring an end of all your miseries.”

The brave warrior confronted the 3-headed beast early in the morning as promised. Adorable was taken by the sound of clinking of metals and battle cries. After enduring a long and fierce battle that lasted for many hours, Spike killed the beast and sliced it into tiny little bits with his sharp sword. Arachna  ran for her life, carrying skeleton in her lap and never to look towards Adorable in her life.

Just then Beilzebub arrived to the scene and was furious to find out what has happened to his monster. He decided to take revenge and used his evil powers to reconstitute those tiny bits of Ghidora into millions of tiny monsters equipped with wings and a trunk to collect blood from humans. Since that day mosquitoes filled the earth and constantly flying around sucking blood of humans trying to take revenge for the slaying of Ghidora.

The people of Adorable got back their peace and the king was so happy that he gave the hand of his daughter, the beautiful princess to Spike and they got married in a grand ceremony.

But Beilzebub still watches over his tiny demons from above the clouds and reconstitutes new mosquitoes, every time you smash one between your palms. Now you know why the number of mosquitoes never goes down in this Earth.

This is specially written for my daughter who loves short stories.