the last journey of a genius

i'm an explorer okay, i get curious about everything and i want to investigate all kinds of stuff. The Quest For Tannu Tuva[1988]

तमन्ना बनी तमाशा

सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू-ए-क़ातिल में है
(ऐ वतन,) करता नहीं क्यूँ दूसरी कुछ बातचीत,
देखता हूँ मैं जिसे वो चुप तेरी महफ़िल में है

ऐ शहीद-ए-मुल्क-ओ-मिल्लत, मैं तेरे ऊपर निसार,
अब तेरी हिम्मत का चरचा ग़ैर की महफ़िल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

वक़्त आने पर बता देंगे तुझे, ए आसमान,
हम अभी से क्या बताएँ क्या हमारे दिल में है
खेँच कर लाई है सब को क़त्ल होने की उमीद,
आशिकों का आज जमघट कूचा-ए-क़ातिल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

है लिए हथियार दुश्मन ताक में बैठा उधर,
और हम तैयार हैं सीना लिए अपना इधर.
ख़ून से खेलेंगे होली अगर वतन मुश्क़िल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

हाथ, जिन में है जूनून, कटते नही तलवार से,
सर जो उठ जाते हैं वो झुकते नहीं ललकार से.
और भड़केगा जो शोला सा हमारे दिल में है,
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

हम तो घर से ही थे निकले बाँधकर सर पर कफ़न,
जाँ हथेली पर लिए लो बढ चले हैं ये कदम.
ज़िंदगी तो अपनी मॆहमाँ मौत की महफ़िल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

यूँ खड़ा मक़्तल में क़ातिल कह रहा है बार-बार,
क्या तमन्ना-ए-शहादत भी किसी के दिल में है?
दिल में तूफ़ानों की टोली और नसों में इन्कलाब,
होश दुश्मन के उड़ा देंगे हमें रोको न आज.
दूर रह पाए जो हमसे दम कहाँ मंज़िल में है,
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है

वो जिस्म भी क्या जिस्म है जिसमे न हो ख़ून-ए-जुनून
क्या लड़े तूफ़ान से जो कश्ती-ए-साहिल में है
सरफ़रोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है
देखना है ज़ोर कितना बाज़ू-ए-क़ातिल में है

अफ़सोस !! अब बची बस यह तमन्ना मेरे यार !!
बेईमानी अत्याचार बेरोज़गारी और काफी कुछ हैं आर और पार !!

क्या "इस" देश की स्वतंत्रता थी तुम्हारी जान से प्यारी?
ए सरफ़रोश, तुम्हारे भारत में हैं सिर्फ भूखे और भिखारी !!
देख रहे हो अगर तुम हालत इस देश का अभी ,
क्या अपनी जान कुर्बान देने की करते तैयारी?

जान से प्यारी है मुझे भारत तेरी तरह
काश सारे भारतीय सोचते हमारी तरह
लड़ पड़े हैं न जाने किस उम्मीद में
लड़ाई तो तुमने भी की थी इनका मतलब है तो सिर्फ पैसों में !!

काश मैं भी होती तेरे संग
जब तुने जीती यह जंग
हो जाती मैं भी शहीद ए दोस्त इस देश नाल
आज देखना न पडता इस देश का दयनीय हाल !!

पड़ी है ज़रुरत तेरी ए बहादुर
दे दूं अपनी उत्सुक जान तेरे आने के खातिर?

कर कुछ ऐसा चमत्कार जो पलते इस स्तिथि को
निडर, हम आगे बढें समृद्धि की ओर !!

patriotism bordering delirium

she is glad she has lived to witness this unending state of conquest

so she wishes to mark this space here as a tribute to all the winners who have made her want to physically be in Delhi to watch the splendid display of dexterity.

hats off to the boxers. it was a treat to have the national anthem played time and again during the medal ceremony.

kudos to the women who brought home gold at the 4 * 400m relay. BOY! that was a titillating rush of adrenalin. So was the 4*100m men and women.

and not to mention sania nehwall who helped us retain the second position !! - a class apart.

"Australia is home in style as numero uno already. But the real battle is being fought just behind them for the Number 2 slot in the Commonwealth Games medals tally." says an online report.

what makes the aussies numero uno after all!!?

is it their diet? is it some congenial weather? is it a particluar assortment of gene pool? is it the political benevolence?

ARGH!! there seems to be a perspective that is amiss.

the sheer attitude!! that uncompromising pride and love of sports.. that pushes them a notch above their own capabilities.

a painful discovery being many Indian sportmen travelling to Australia for this love of sports and the coaching the country provides to the immaculate sports lovers!!

she wanted to make it big in sports herself at some point in her life... one could tell why she is just writing about it now.. after all she is not an australian!!

Save our Souls: http://www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/

Despite the despair, dreams don't die: "When school reopens, I will continue working to become a doctor. It's very important for me as I saw my grandmother die paralysed and untreated," says 10-year-old Gulzar, who is living at the camp in Mundhighaz.

She stood there with her eyes wide open

Every part of her hoping

some miracle will engulf this ruin

and restore peace to nature's misdoing

You took away what you gave

Oh mighty Indus, you have left behind a grave!


Many unlucky ones could only watch others flee

relatives and loved ones could do nothing but plea

A momentary anguish for those who died

a perpetual haunting for those who have barely survived

Could there be a worser torment than

never to see your child ever again?


Many a times as soon as a tragedy ends

The scale of its aftermath is too hard to comprehend

8 million are homeless and hungry and still counting

but the grief of just one seems so real and excruciating

Some have set out on an aimless exodus

Swat to the north to Sindh to the south, the wreck is relentless!!


Inspite of the sincere appeals to the locals to evecuate

"WE are bound by our land" they'd retaliate

"It was such a lively place, but I watched it drown before my eyes"

Perhaps its a vacuum that no worldly dominion could suffice

Nature and cosmos have articulated their mighty abilities to create and distort

oh that reminds her of this conspicuous phrase:

To the dumb question “Why me?” the cosmos barely bothers

to return the reply: Why not?

.....euphoric melancholy

She remembers it clearly!

Oh so clearly... The elation this song brings and the world she obliviously wanders in while listening to the composition....It is a mixture of melancholy and jubiliation... It is as if she were dreaming and she is walking past a field with dense crops followed by an open lawn. One step on the lawn and she feels a gush of cold breeze all over her body lifting her senses up.. Oh, was rapture synonymous to this feeling? The sky was grey with thick black clouds scattered all over. What a picture to admire, she thought!! She fell in love with the moment that she cried to stay still and freeze so the moment would never cease to amaze her. The clouds gave way to tiny bulky droplets of water. She saw them coming towards her. Dare she thought she'd even blink as it separated her from the moment which seemed like an eternity. The first drop hit her cheek and she travelled back in time when her mother planted the first kiss. For hours rain poured drenching her from head to toe but she wouldn't move. As the rain gradually concludes displaying its magnificence, she slowly opens her eyes to verity and hit the 'PLAY' button all over agian :)

Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels;
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles;
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes;
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes;
Silver-white winters that melt into springs;
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

A Sonnet to second child(hood)

A dedication to Mrs. Kamala Srinivasan and Mr.Srinivasan. She owes all that she is today, to them. She says: RIP Thaatha, I miss you, wish I could tell you how much. I hope you are watching over me, guiding star!
She thanks Mr.V for his help in getting this out of her head.

Oh my lady! Oh my dear!

How i wish that you were here

Call your name and you are near

To drive away my fears!


Oh my lady! Oh my dear!

How i wish that you were here

Softly whisper into my ears

And wipe away my tears!


Love like your's is hard to find

You were there for me time after time

You and my Cheenu Thaatha are always on my mind!


Smile and you'll make my day

Gimme reason to celebrate

Hope that you stay the same,

FOREVER AND A DAY!!

New Frontiers and Friendships or Premise of Prejudice?

अखंडता के नाम पर कलंक! राजनीतिक पतन!

A stigma to the word integrity. A Political downfall.

Though the media is doing what they do best, the patriot in her is unable to fathom the pandemonium in her country. She moved out of her motherland for greener pastures but she will perpetually yearn to run into the arms of her land. Not the one she witnesses now. Cynical, self centred and devoid of egalitarianism.

She is bewildered; Why was Beijing able to complete the Beijing National Stadium much ahead of schedule for the Summer Olympics held in 2008? Why is London all set to deliver the venues for the 2012 summer olympics ONE WHOLE YEAR before the games?

If ruminated the chaos of 2010 commonwealth games (even before it is over) there could be debate on who is the true patriot. The whistle blowing Aiyer or the congressman Kalmadi. Debate on who is right about the compromise made on the sanitation of the village, the Commonwealth Games Federation president Michael Fennel or the secretary general of the Delhi organizing committee, Lalit Bhanot. Oh by the way, he says due to cultural differences, there are different standards about cleanliness in India and the west. WAIT A MINUTE!!!! - WHAAAAT???????? .........and many such baseless arguments like underpaid labour (many sadly, are not alive to tell the tale) under prepared security team which let the ausies to walk in with a bomb prototype (why wont they complain/ withdraw?), several other 'boycotters', with terrorism threat and instances of IPL bombing and the jama masjid.

She is in Glasgow and she can see the preparations of the 2014 games already or should i say completions? What a shame! She is pained and in an inexplicable agony. She does not wish to go deeper into that.

All this chaos stay. But what baffles her the most is this country does not stay united WHATSOEVER. How could it with so called popular writers propagating anti cwg slogans and persuading the readers to boycott the CWG? Thanks to Aiyer our man, and the media devil. Sigh, it seems like a point of no return!!!

She is frustrated with this cluttered system and wishes the country never won the bid. At least her land would not have lost it's self respect. But as she was researching about CWG on the web, she came across this man who has a different perspective (well in most cases) about the whole deal. Here is the link to a good read: http://bit.ly/cluoQJ

Part of her now believes, Indians might just be able to pull this through. After all, they say, Indians are not hard workers, they do not stay in the office and work hard with deadline a day away, instead they party the whole night, come to work with a hangover, sort the issue with a cup of coffee! Far fetched??? I'm sure i will live to tell the tale.


"the accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference"

Of Kitchen WIP and large hip:

He is a dual. The normal self and the slapstick one. The slapstick one is as the name suggests, Hilarious! They were having a converstaion in the kitchen while she was doing the chores and he was keeping her company (a great company that one).

So what were they talking about? She keeps complaining about her apparent large hip that she hates and how she wishes to get rid of that!! He can only SAY it wasn't oversized and reassure he will help her work it out. (They jog everyday ever since) But she was far from being convinced. And he tries harder, finally gives up on her. So this conversation as you might have guessed was about her hip that she thinks is large.

She went on & on for a while and he was patiently listening to her (AS HE ALWAYS DOES, Does she ever give others a chance to speak??) Now, it was just going over his head and he desperately wanted her to shut up. He resorted to his popular slapstick self and said the following words, and Boy, did she shut up!!!

He: You know, you must be glad you did not belong to the generation of Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus. Zoom into a scene where they were arguing about earth revolving sun / sun revolving earth. Zoom out and in EXTREME CLOSEUP you'd go: "I have a big bum"

You must be glad that you did not belong to the generation of Charles Darwin when he was trying as hard as he could to prove to the church about how organisms evolved and God did not make both ape and human beings. Zoom out and in EXTREME CLOSEUP you'd go: "I have a big bum"

You must be also glad that you were not born during the time of partition of India and Pakistan. While Mohd. Ali Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru were on a heated argument and were about to make the biggest and the most crucial decisions, Zoom out and in EXTREME CLOSEUP you'd go: "I have a big bum"

You must in fact be glad that you are in this kitchen having this conversation with me or the greatest achievements of manking would not have been accomplished.


She: ????!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????? Butttt....... "I have a big bum" :( :( :(

He gives up!!

NUMERO UNO

She is funny, not a day goes by where she has not done ONE thing to cheer herself up. She is a simple person with an extraordinary enthusiasm. She wont give up as she is the fighter and so she will get her way through to her dreams. Oh she has plenty of them, some have become true, the simple ones, rest - she will wait. Timid though she was. But seemed like this is no country for her timid self so she transformed. AND HOW!

It is mysterious the way her brain works. There are times when she will be subdued and give in easily and there are moments of rage that will startle you. She turns out to be an unpredictable person. There are a few people who know her inside out. They do not find her difficult to bond with. On the contrary they wouldn't wanna let go of her company.

She is now in a state of unperturbed euphoria. She is glad she is. No bondage, she is now free to live the life she is dreaming of. And she sure will.