Valentine’s Day from a Single’s Diary…

It’s 10 p.m. now. And I am online. That does mean I wasn’t lucky today to find someone to spend the evening, to have that special moment shared with a special person. But right about now, just 2 more hours for the day to be over and everything be back to normal. Have ordered something for dinner sans alcohol, and yet another dinner like most Fridays would be on my own.  So why make a fuss about this day? Why would it hurt or make you feel bad to be alone on this day at all? Isn’t it way too commercial as of today that they charge you an arm and a leg wherever you go to celebrate this special day “meant for lovers” (or more so, people from opposite sex)? No doubt the Love Industry has a turnover of billions post-Valentine’s Day. Not only that, they cash in on the stupid frivolous so-called Valentine Week where each day is dedicated to all the possible mushy stuffs that you would possibly gift your partner on Feb 14^th. (But I really hope you’ve an understanding partner who scoffs equally at these inane and old school methods of making her special)

But yes, Today you’re earning that much that you can afford to make that ex-kinda lady feel special (who possibly walked out of your life because you felt it is little too high on your budget to go for a Valentine Special Dinner out in a classy restaurant when you were a fresher in the Job Industry). But why spend on so very materialistic people? But well cuz you can afford to. And it’s the Time, Moment and Company that matters for you more now, I guess. But if only Money could buy feelings…sigh!

So, now it feels bad to have come out of office, a little early, to see most of them carrying bouquets in their hands – some to gift, some receiving the gifts. And if you’re working at UB City, the grandeur of the building decorated with flowers and its restaurants inviting you with neatly embellished tables with wine glasses, bouquets and heart-shaped balloons around is simply alluring! Having spent 3 years in the vicinity, especially when tomorrow is your last working day at current office, where after you won’t be a part of it but a guest, a visitor…you tend to get a mild heartache. But well, you don’t have a company. Your instant reactions go to the past years of this day where you had someone, more adorable (NOT the ex who also was my 1^st love I mentioned above) to celebrate with on that particular day and would wish the same person was still with you, right here right now.

Nobody wants to be lonely. At least, I do not. But when you’re 28, most of your friends are busy with own lives/wives. The close and single ones are not in the same city anymore. Being in a city where you 1^st arrived after your studies feels like some alien place, as if you are at some onsite location for work. You were alone on your birthday few days back, but well, you celebrated it with a bottle of wine and some pizza to pamper yourself to turn that loneliness into solitude. Yes, there were some online friends thankfully to wish you over video with their happy smiling faces and others who called you at the midnight hour.

Ugh! I made it sound all sombre. No way, there’s a flip side to all this too. You have social networks, namely, Facebook and Twitter, where in you pour your heart out with funny statuses and tweets. Also, connect to the world of other singles out there and their views and interactions. It’s sheer fun! Few of my statuses today unlike the deep satire on the Valentine Week specific days:

Those who have a Valentine, would possibly go out on a date. And those who don't will keep on updating statuses on FB/Twitter. Like meh. 😀

— Biswajeet Rana (@vishyvibes) February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day to couples who fight 364 days. Aaj ke din at least…make love, not war.

— Biswajeet Rana (@vishyvibes) February 14, 2012

https://www.facebook.com/vishy.rana/posts/369942753034093

But here’s one I framed just out of bed, right on this Valentine morning:

There’s money in my wallet, & tonite will be thine,
There wud be flowers on the table n a bottle of wine,
But if u’ll be mine…my sun will shine…

So tell me love…would U be Vishy’s Valentine?

(https://www.facebook.com/vishy.rana/posts/369850606376641)

Although it has become an increasingly commercial day for love birds but well, if life gives you opportunity to celebrate why not make the most out of it. You won’t get all the shops all over the world be decorated like they were today on your anniversary after all. So, more days to celebrate, more special moments and more joy to life! May not be at some classy restaurant but yes, if you have the right ideas and items, then trust me you can have a blast within those four corners of your sweet home.

All said and done – I say Cheers today! For it’s way better to be in solitude than be in a relationship & still be alone!!! Next year, by this time as you all “suggest me”, would have tied the knot and become a man from bohemian. But who knows, who has seen the future. But if it turns out to be true then this day would always remain a past. Hence, made note of the day. 🙂

P.S. I leave you with this wonderful article Love in Three Photos (award winning love stories) and a lovely song that’s way too close to my heart: “Phir Le Aaya Dil” by Shafqat Amanat Ali:

 

The Year that was 2011…

Now that I write it on the 2nd day of 2012, I should thank 2011 for keeping me that busy and upset to procrastinate this post which was supposed to be released on New Year’s Eve. 2011 was a year I would “remember yet forget”.

Forget, cuz this was a year which too weighed heavy on my emotions. A year that never had any ups but downs, had packaged agony wrapped in a short-lived layer of ecstasy, had turned solitude into loneliness, gave me a setback with every new initiative I embarked upon, gave a blow to every ship I set for sail….personally, professionally…physically, mentally… emotionally, psychologically – it was just a packet of regrets, agony and pain that I was destined to carry with me. You open up to the world of social media, where you ‘seem’ to be a super cool person but on the other side of the screen, it is just you doing all the pretentious scribbling on your keyboard and updating vivacious statuses. At times, they tend to speak your heart…candid and sombre. Being an outspoken person by nature, I do not know what to speak yet I do not wish to leave ‘this’ (wherever I could vent out) space empty. So, I scribble down random musings of life and love.

Remember, cuz with every stumbling block you become more cautious, perhaps even apprehensive, far-sighted and most importantly tough and strong. I would like to remember this year where-in, am glad that I gave my conscious and selfless efforts to what I wished to achieve but having understood I was unsuccessful makes me realize that somewhere certainly I went wrong. I have gotta give more and relentlessly to what I aim at to possess!!

But I always feel, “if pain wasn’t so painful, then I guess pleasure would have never been longed for.” The sands of time shall pass and so would our miseries. Good times are waiting for us and we gotta grab them. We’ll hold the time and not grow anymore. We’ll stay forever like this – Happy and Gay. Yet, we will move on.

I welcome this new year. Happy New Year – 2012.

My “2011 in review” by WordPress

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 27,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 10 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

As I scribble with one hand, smiling…

23^rd Nov, 2011:

 Only pain is real. Everything else is fake.

At a point of time, when you already feel you’re going through a Quarter-Life crisis; your life on the professional front is disappointing you and the personal one is inflicting too much pain despite your conscious unstinted efforts on both fronts, there was some nuance that was missing, now fulfilled by – a physical injury. So, you meet with an accident that results in one of the most painful injuries – a shoulder dislocation of the joints, forcing you on a tight shoulder immobilizer wrapped around your body that clinches your neck & an arm in a fixed position, immobilizing you partially for 21 frigging days!!!

I was upset at this injury, not because I am scared of pain (talking of pain, it was so excruciating that one sedative and two diclofenac injections failed to do what they were supposed to do and I was trembling along with sweat, & whimpering aloud literally) but because it came at a time when I bought a lens worth 20 grand, a day before, and was about to come home for a vacation a day after with plans to trip around the brackish salt water lagoon “Chilika Lake”, also largest wintering ground for migratory birds on the Indian sub-continent, for some breathtaking shots of Siberian birds. Not only that, now I am forbidden from driving my car that I gifted dad last visit. It’s not that my sling is out on 22^nd day and I’ll be free to do everything. I’ll have to undergo physiotherapy for a month thereafter until my shoulder is strong again to drive, ride and gym et al.

Amid all this I realized that you can never be self-sufficient. You end up depending on others. You are bound to! Staying away from your own people and friends-for-life is so damn tough, especially, in situations like this where you can’t even squeeze out toothpaste out of that tube without struggling. Solitude turns into loneliness. You will have acquaintances but seldom can you approach any to come for “your service”. That’s cuz not all are bothered about your misery.

But they say – Maktub. It’s written. At times, you witness events that instill the faith in you, that there’s a supreme divine power guiding you, protecting you even though you were upset with HIM and did not even utter His name once, when you were in pain. But you realize your sufferings were way less than worse.

What if there wasn’t even this only person who lifted my arm, and accompanied me to the hospital in this situation? What if the hospital wasn’t close by? What if the doctor came really late? What if that person did not stay with me barring his office time, until the doc came? What if the Orthopedist came really late until the reduction of my joint was performed? What if the reduction process got messed up?

The feeling of being in hospital with an acute injury and no familiar faces is terrible. I called up a friend staying close by who reached the hospital to tend to me. Thankfully, everything had settled by then. And I updated my Facebook status. When in Bangalore, even God gets caught up in traffic! Hence, makes alternate plans to reduce your sufferings in case of any impending mishap. I managed to pack my stuff with his help and fly back home with one single arm.

P.S. After quite a long time, I decided to write as I was pushed by few goodwill friends to start writing again.  I had been staying away from my blog apprehending whatever will come through this keyboard are going to sound lull, dull and dejected. But I guess putting them here gives me little satisfaction.

The name of the man who helped me was ‘Trisool’ and he was an IT guy.

Jo beet gayi, So baat gayi…

One of the loveliest poems of all time, out of many I read and studied during my KV High School days with Course A Hindi subject was, Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s following poem. Quite closely related to my life and times at the moment. I could not but scribble it down on my blog. Here it goes:

जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में एक सितारा था
माना वह बेहद प्यारा था
वह डूब गया तो डूब गया
अंबर के आंगन को देखो
कितने इसके तारे टूटे
कितने इसके प्यारे छूटे
जो छूट गए फ़िर कहाँ मिले
पर बोलो टूटे तारों पर
कब अंबर शोक मनाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई……..

जीवन में वह था एक कुसुम
थे उस पर नित्य निछावर तुम
वह सूख गया तो सूख गया
मधुबन की छाती को देखो
सूखी कितनी इसकी कलियाँ
मुरझाईं कितनी वल्लरियाँ
जो मुरझाईं फ़िर कहाँ खिलीं
पर बोलो सूखे फूलों पर
कब मधुबन शोर मचाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई…….

जीवन में मधु का प्याला था
तुमने तन मन दे डाला था
वह टूट गया तो टूट गया
मदिरालय का आंगन देखो
कितने प्याले हिल जाते हैं
गिर मिट्टी में मिल जाते हैं
जो गिरते हैं कब उठते हैं
पर बोलो टूटे प्यालों पर
कब मदिरालय पछताता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई…….

मृदु मिट्टी के बने हुए हैं
मधु घट फूटा ही करते हैं
लघु जीवन ले कर आए हैं
प्याले टूटा ही करते हैं
फ़िर भी मदिरालय के अन्दर
मधु के घट हैं,मधु प्याले हैं
जो मादकता के मारे हैं
वे मधु लूटा ही करते हैं
वह कच्चा पीने वाला है
जिसकी ममता घट प्यालों पर
जो सच्चे मधु से जला हुआ
कब रोता है चिल्लाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई…… 

—   हरिवंशराय बच्चन (Harivansh Rai Bachchan)

To be an Indian…

I am an Indian. And I saw 64^th Independence Day celebrations today. The spirit and elation are aptly visible as you step out of your home to see the tricolour flags waving, that are fitted in some corners of the neighbourhood doors, cabs, auto-rickshaws, buses and kids with cycles. Although there’s this I-day fervour felt among the common man but the angry young youth is definitely not happy. Not just the rebellious youth but the educated intelligentsia who see that their country is not truly independent yet. For we are still ruled by round-headed despots who are concerned about plundering the wealth that the common man accumulates, who seldom realize what they are capable of and why they had been elected in a Democracy. But I believe it’s We-The-People who have the authority and not them. We have elected one among us. We can dethrone and we can change ourselves. We can fight for our independence by being a good citizen and a good human being.

Having said that, there are few things we still need freedom from, in this country. Because today we are a global citizen and we must pledge to act and believe truly what it really means to be a nation where Indus Valley Civilization and Harappa Culture were born. We need to understand what it really means to be an Indian. So being an Indian means:

–          To give up the lethargy of not going to the polling booth just because it is hot and sunny or there’s a huge queue out there. There’s no point in watching or making huge debates/discussions by flipping news channels in AC rooms and complaining about our politicians.

–          To stop worshiping false gods, following inane celebrities, conferring “youth icons” to false politicians & giving needless hype to useless people who‘re in the news time n again.

–          To shun the caste bigotry and jeer at every person who carries the caste supremacy and follows the caste system. If they’re your parents, you must have the courage to bring about a change in their irrational set of minds!

–          To not follow media or any source blindly, for media is prejudiced and is also bought!

–          To not stare at a woman’s bosom right when she’s looking at your face or try to be touchy-touchy in that “opportunist-crowded-bus”. It’s vulgar despo and downright unethical! (Can someone remind these set of people that, there are a similar set who’re also staring at their sisters?)

–          To not repeat the Guwahati incident, rather have some courage and BE A REAL MAN to protect the one who’s being molested, just like we would have come to the rescue of our own siblings.

–          To not throw garbage in an open area just because others are! Rather to throw it inside the bin, than just aiming at it.

–          To maintain the decorum of every queue and respect the people ahead of you and not be violent or have “getting-late” alibis just to break it.

–          To join the person who’s being a rebel against someone (even if that ‘someone’ has the physique of Tiger Ali) violating the rules deliberately because in my country laws are formulated but seldom followed.

–          To not break the traffic rules and drive on the pavements (Man! They’re made for pedestrians). But to stop your vehicles to save petrol, save environment & do a favour to the common public’s left over hairs on the bald head.

–          To not pee & salt your neighbour’s wall but shoo the ones who you see peeing in a public place in broad daylight!

I love my nation. Am happy to be an Indian. Unfortunately there’s no reason today, I can take pride on Independence Day when we’re ruled & the Nation’s flag is being hoisted by those who’re at the helm of corruption n inefficiency!!

It takes much more to be an Indian. But it doesn’t take much to be a good citizen. And it’s even easier being a good human being.

Jai Hind. Happy 64^th Independence Day. 

Real Beauty is felt, seldom seen.

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever ~ Johann Wolfgang

Real beauty to me is a sensation felt with sheer delight. As the old adage goes, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. Real beauty is precious, is prevalent among all of us but the irony is we so less often are able to identify it and for some it’s very much relative. Real Beauty commands respect, never demands.

As of today, commodification of humans have changed our perception of Beauty. When we say he/she is beautiful, it has definitely to do with someone’s physical appearance. The boom in showbiz and glamour has given a great setback to our pride of possessing melanin. A fair skin is considered beautiful by the so-called fairness creams and ads that simply boast to beat what nature has bestowed upon the not-so-fair you.

But 1^st let me elucidate a few beautiful instances/people who most of us can’t deny of their real beauty.

• Beauty is not in that hot skimpy nurse walking down to Charlie Sheen for a room service (Two and a Half Men types) but in a lady who had devoted her entire life in the service of the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying! I consider Mother Teresa beautiful.
• Beauty is not in featuring in the Top 10 Forbes list of World’s Most Powerful People, heading a leading Political Party just to eyewash the poor and stash away billions of black money in Swiss Banks but in braving alone to fight for her people to ensure calm and peace amid an Empire’s unrest! I consider Rani Lakshmi Bai beautiful.
• Beauty is not in being a glamorous star-daughter and heading to the red carpet with an ultra-expensive designer attire, posing for the cameras (None many even recognize them there) but in winning a billion hearts through their simplicity and mellifluous voice! I consider Lata Mangeskar beautiful.
• Real Beauty is in every mother who is always by the side of her son/daughter, fasts for his/her well-being even if they’re the most notorious types. Is any child on earth ‘ugly’ for his/her mother? Motherhood is real beauty!
• Real Beauty is Sunitha Krishnan who has never breathed easy as she grew up but fighting for so many helpless, trafficked women/girls to breathe easy and survive in this ruthless world. Please find some time out to watch and listen to this video (my blog may not be that important right now).

Those wannabe models, gaudy women, drowned in sheer opulence and covered by Page 3 are seldom beautiful, as others perceive with their eyes but not brains.

Some definitely are pretty. But would you call a lady out of this elite league (who would seem to have spent a fortune on her get up for one single night) to be beautiful who litters the restrooms? Who falls flat in that disco tipsy – out-of-order with liquor spilled all around? Who throws a cigar bud on the floor right in front of an astray in a public place? Or who throws a Cola can or Bisleri bottle on the road or somebody else’s yard while driving the Mercedes??

Real Beauty is never confined to a race, sex or age. It is seamless; it doesn’t have boundaries. It is perpetual. It is to be felt and rejoiced; just like the beautiful verses of Kalidasa.

Beauty is in innocence; that helping hand; that shoulder to rest upon when you are in tears; a simple smile that heals; this precious life we live each moment & the entire creation of mankind. Everything is beautiful. Life is beautiful.

A snap of the jubilant schoolgoer kids I took as I trekked down Triund to Dharamkot (Himalayas)

Beauty is relative. Real Beauty should be apparently clear. To behold real beauty, all you need is a beautiful mind.

P.S. My post is biased towards women since the Yahoo Specials on Real Beauty is powered by Dove, where as Men prefer Cinthol or Durex. 😉

(This blog-post is a part of the Indiblogger Real Beauty contest)

Ways to identify a Photographer

 

She: Hey, Vish is a photographer.
He: Oh really! Which camera do you use?
Me: I just click pictures. Do I qualify now??

It’s practically pointless to showcase your work to someone or to introduce your passion to someone whose 1^st question would be which gear you use for Photography. That itself is an insult to the photograph and the owner. There are some who may as well, uninvited, ask you the same after seeing a nice picture about the kind of camera you use, as if once you hand it over to them, they would beat the shit out of you with some of the best award-winning Nat-geo pictures clicked from their magical hands!!

So here you have them as photographers. Now that they have the basic knowledge of what I carry i.e. a Nikon/Canon and a photo-editing software, you have some of the best ignored talents now surfacing as photographers. Not even budding, but pure professional photographers, who use SLRs only to click pictures. Every soul on earth knows D is for Digital. Have you ever tried asking them the full form of SLR? If not, try right away.

Since it is a fashion these days to be an SLR Photographer but may not necessarily mean Photography, here are few ways how you could identify them:

1. Profile Pictures: Be it Facebook profile or a page, a DP with your D-SLR is a must! And your pose is the mundane “focusing through a view finder” with enormous attention that even scientists wouldn’t be sharing with electron microscopes. Poor Point-n-Shoot owners must be feeling left out.

2. Watermarks: I always believed watermarks are required to establish the identity against theft or plagiarism of your authentic work. But what I do not understand is the usage of watermarks with HUGE BOLD/ITALIC fonts (XYZ Photography) in the mid of the picture or everywhere (minimum 3 places) in your picture that at times one wonders whether the font is the SUBJECT or the picture beneath the font is the subject! Again, they are Fotugraphers, you see.

3. Borders: The look and feel of your pictures does get enhanced with borders, but what’s up with Black-Thick-White-Slim-Grey-Fat layers of border!!! I guess I need a magnifying glass now to actually see the content of your photo.

4. Facebook FanPage: Oh dear! This was the only missing link so far. An FB page is free of cost. Let’s create one, make use of ‘Invite Friends’ & FB messages and spam all our friends and friends-of-friends until they LIKE it! Now, on your FB feeds Vishy likes Sissy’s Photography. Some no-brainer who loves liking all pages will go ahead and like it for sure. Voila! You have so many fans!!! But none have seen your pictures yet. You’re confident and go to pub to boast in front of that chick how awesome you’re at clicking and that she should be ready to pose for some (on bed).

5. Facebook Albums: Your albums are named “Himalayas rock”, “Corbett National Park” etc but neither you see mountains, nor animals in them. Just humans with thick fat lenses posing with tripods, concentrating as if they are about to kill a lion. Longer the lens, better is the flaunting(acting). Okay! Where’s the content yaar?

IDENTITY CRISIS STILL?

So, these were the sure shot ways to identify the photographers around you. Yes, I own an SLR but I don’t consider myself as a photographer yet, for I do not qualify any of the above 5 criteria. I just love clicking. That’s my passion.

The truth behind Photography, however, is that the best and most creative pictures in almost all realms of life are anonymous.

P.S. The picture you see is a mock. I just couldn’t tamper more than that. In reality, the ones am talking about are worse than the above.

The phenomenon that is Anna Hazare

 

Pic Courtesy: FB fan page

Victory tastes sweet. Be it over Corruption or be it Cricket. But this is just the beginning.

I do not think I have enough depth to admire the person with balls of steel. I am simply short of adjectives to admire the courage, wit and dedication of a person towards a selfless cause i.e. an India free of Corruption.

Lest you aren’t aware, India tops list for black money in the entire world with almost US$ 1456 billion in Swiss banks. Proud to be Indian? Why not. We are #1 after all.

Needless to say about the revolutionary leader, for now you already would have had the “10 things to know about Anna Hazare” forwards floating on emails & Facebook (notes). But in case you stumbled upon this post out of the blues, Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare‘s Wikipedia entry here.

Social Media:

Since the last couple of days, my status messages & tweets were flooded about the Jan LokPal Bill and supporting Anna Hazare’s stand against Corruption. A 73 year old man, who has dedicated all his life for the cause of the Nation, got into indefinite fasting as a means of protest to the long pending bill for 42 years and people still had problems with it. Some popular twitterers with quite a thick follower count started cracking jokes on Anna!! Some said Anna was blackmailing, some said Elections ahead in few states, few others ridiculed the bill implementation and questioned the whole ‘Civil Society’ formation. Some even questioned his timing of fasting associated to the festivals and religious practices. Couldn’t get any cheaper than this, could it be?

I do not give a hoot to what they say sitting at AC rooms, & keep cracking jokes all their lives. No twitter, they don’t have an existence, if only the fat follower count is what they are arrogant about. They can never be a part of the change nor would change themselves for a cause, can never accompany you in your fight, nor could ever give any solutions or join politics, but just ‘opinions’ and cribbing over the entire Indian political system and politicians. Hence, the ‘Chalta hai’ attitude will never continue to cease for them.

Scams:

As a person, I may not be able to do much to eradicate corruption on a mass scale but I can at least show solidarity and support an old man who is fighting selflessly for me. I do not give a damn to what is questionable. All I know is that I am tired of the scores of multi-crore scams that I cannot even count. A politician or a bureaucrat has no right to build mansions out of Tax-payer’s money, our hard-earned money! But few that I have known with my little ‘concerned’ knowledge:

Ø      CWG 2010 (80,000 Crore) – Link here

Ø      2G Spectrum Scam (1,76,000 Crore) – Link here

Ø      Adarsh Housing Society Scam – Link here

Ø      ISRO Scam –  Link here

Ø      Cash for Rally Scam 2010 – Link here

Ø      Telgi Stamp Paper Scandal 2006 (43,000 Crore) – Link here

Ø      Bofors Scandal (1980s, 40 Crore) – Link here

Electronic Media:

I am glad that the media played a great role in putting additional pressure on the GoI. Although they too sell, & you will find some Pro-GoI, and some Anti, but the role of media, as said by a journalist friend, should be, in most cases, Anti-GoI.

One thing I would not approve of still, which I opine personally is that the people/media are comparing Anna Hazare to an eminent personality in the history of Indian Independence struggle and politics. Anna follows Gandhian principles, true. But the formulator of this principle, was allegedly, not Gandhian himself. Is it acceptable for a person who preaches “Boora Mat Dekho” (See no evil) could allegedly sleep naked with two nude women beside him & join them in the shower just to test this chastity as a part of his experiments with truth?

IPL:

One more noticeable move was to ask people to boycott IPL etc. But why force or persuade them? Solidarity doesn’t mean oppression. They are passionate about a commercial sport and life means fun to them. If they can’t feel the pangs of corruption, you cannot compel them to join the bandwagon of which they have been making fun of.

We are a billion strong force. We are good enough to show our collective strength and no one can divide us from this unity.

Personal Effort:

Last but not the least, as a part of supporting the cause and not just shouting on Facebook, I joined the mass for candle light vigils, shouting out slogans and displaying anti-corruption placards for hours together at Freedom Park, Bangalore. (Pic below)

At 6pm, in the evening (Friday, Apr 8th), Freedom Park, Bangalore - In support of a true fighter Anna Hazare against Corruption. Followed by candle light vigil, shouting slogans until a sored throat n back home at 10pm to find we're heard n we're victorious! Lets hear it for the leader!

 

Hats off to the leader who has not only gotten a solution and worked selflessly towards it but now is steadfast at getting it passed in the Parliament without giving chances to the Govt. to keep it pending any further.  The fight continues…

“I have to ensure that the bill passes in Parliament” – Anna Hazare

I am the common man, and this write-up is straight from the heart.

P.S. A brilliant post on Anna Hazare and all this stir –  http://j.mp/fkfWmM . And a message (video) right from the man – http://youtu.be/yxksAURdwTI

We are the World Champions.

This is kinda awkward that after writing a post “10 reasons why I love Football, FIFA than Cricket” that raised quite a few eyebrows, I am compelled to write about Cricket.

Yes, because like every Indian lad, I was also born with Cricket, watching Sachin Tendulkar. I love FIFA but I do not follow club matches. I am not mad about IPL either. I love anything when it comes to patriotism, & conforms to national pride.

This, my friends, was an overwhelming moment in the history of Cricket for every single person of this Nation, apart from few women who never understand Cricket & also won’t understand why men love Cricket so much.

India becomes World Champion in Cricket, bagging the ICC World Cup 2011 home, and right at home.

It’s not just about being World Champions in ODI, but we are ranked #1 in Test Cricket which is the then genuine form of Cricket, when introduced as a sport.

Without any further introduction, let me talk about the moments that led to the historic victory. Again, this was the 1^st Cricket WC being played in the life-driven Social Networking era, where people aren’t just watching the match on TV or elsewhere but simultaneously playing it right through their statuses on Facebook & Twitter.

Right when the Indian veteran openers crumbled early to the Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga, as usual people on FB/Twitter started flooding letters of Pessimism & lost hopes on the Cup. But I had my faith intact; for I knew this time the trophy was ours. Few words of Optimism that I shared among my friends on Social Networks:

It's all abt SOLIDARITY! It ain't about jus 1 player! Cricket is played wit a team of 11 + extra. WE WILL F*CKING WIN! #indvssl #final #wc11

— Biswajeet Rana (@vishyvibes) April 2, 2011

If u avn't known, 2day is Dhoni's Day! He plays well under pressure! HE DRINKS GALLONS F MILK! He'll hit sixes today! #WC11 #indvssl #final

— Biswajeet Rana (@vishyvibes) April 2, 2011

What I wrote on FB,

Let me make this clear guys, we r not a team that was during Mohd. Azharuddin, where once Tendlya went out, d next hope were Azhar, then Jadeja!

We’ve a much better team who av gotten us into finals by beating the 3 time WC Champs – AUSTRALIA! All pessimists, please book ur tickets to Lanka….MAIN AAG LAGANE WALA HOON unko! Jai Bajrangbali! Jai Hind!

The entire thread is here.

3 nervous hours pass by; Dhoni registers the winning moment by hitting the 2nd six, & making me feel like Paul, The Octopus! Jubilant to the core, I get on the bike with my camera packed and get out on the streets to capture frenzied faces of overwhelmingly ecstatic fans of Bangalore. Below are the few shots I took of the electrifying crowd celebrating with inexplicable joy with what we call a “Once in a Blue Moon” feeling.

The scene at the petrol bunk.

 

The daddy cool with his cute daughter

The overjoyed lovely lassies

The people who thought I was a press reporter, and that I should click them. I said Yes, I work for Indian Express. They kept posing until I tried to escape.

 

Right then, what I felt as I kept clicking, is that there were 3 kinds of people in these events who get us all the happiness, sacrificing their’s.

• Police
• Reporter
• Photographer

You see everyone dancing, cheering; you too wish to be a part of it but your real happiness is in ‘not-disturbing’ & ‘preserving’ these precious moments forever!

Back home, I switched on the TV to catch up with the trophy lifting ceremony I missed. The pictures of the tears of joy in the eyes of Sachin was quite an emotional moment, for almost the entire nation, young and old, which has seen him playing since 1989. I was 12 years old, yet the memories of his 1996 World Cup’s contribution to India is still so vivid. He was just a one man team then. But today the Boys in Blue have aptly paid him the “Guru-Dakshina”, the much longed tribute for all the time he has served the nation. It was as if all his pain for 21 years had been healed. And having seen 6 World Cups, this one’s special where he has felt that fullness of life, and it’s so worth it.

With Dhoni speaking his straight talk as usual, must have surely silenced his critics. I always had my deep faith rested on him. He’s the coolest captain of Indian Cricket Team could have ever had. I wasn’t born in 1983, so I can’t comment on Kapil Dev.

It was definitely a moment of pride that was felt after 28 long years, a moment that will linger on Indian hearts and soul for the next 4 years for sure. For we can now flaunt to the entire world that we’re the proud citizens of a nation of billions, i.e. India who’s #1 at the T-20s (right when the format was introduced, 2007), #1 in Test Cricket and #1 in ODIs.

We are the leaders in Cricket. We are WORLD CHAMPIONS! Vande Mataram.

Pic Courtesy: Yahoo India