Kebab mein Haddi

'Pooja vezhai-la karadi' in Tamil, literally means the bear that broke into a Shiva pooja, causing havoc to the peace and tranquility.

'Kebab mein haddi' in Hindi, is much more a common phrase - the bone that almost broke your teeth when you were happily chewing a juicy piece of meat.

Y'day's travel to office put me in one of those embarrassing situations, where I unwillingly became the haddi. I was in the bus stop at the correct time, but the bus seemed to have been too very punctual to leave earlier. So a bunch of us who had missed it, tried to catch it in NGEF junction (we sometimes do it, when we miss the bus). So, took an auto there, and waited for an eternity in vain, inhaling all those obnoxious exhaust fumes. Finally, we decided to take autos to office. We were 5. So 3 took one, and I and another friend of mine took another.

The road we take to office (old Madras Road) is notorious for its traffic jams and we were as usual stuck in one. There was a car just ahead of us and we could spot our company's sticker in the rear window. We decided that it should be some guy from office and on a close look, we found to our luck (?!) that it's one of my team mates. There was a girl with him in the front - we thought it should be some other friend of his. So we decided to cut the auto there and take a lift - free of dust & grime, and of course free of cost… he..he..he.

So my friend got to pay the auto guy, while I ran to the car quickly amidst all the traffic, lest it should not start moving. When I reached the car, I saw quite a fantastic picture. The girl (who happened to be his wife) was feeding him breakfast, while the guy was happily eating. At such a lovely, picture-perfect moment, I tapped on their front window. I was horrified at my own action, given the scene inside, but my brain had already planned the action of banging his doors and wasn't quick enough to decipher the scene and take a different action.

The poor guy had to open the door and let me in. I can't forget the bewildered expression on his wife's face. She managed to conceal the tiffin box somewhere. And my colleague should have received the shock of his life, when my friend rushed inside, after paying the auto guy. I was too too embarrassed to speak or even apologize to him. I was just looking for some place to hide my face - all I could do was to keep intensely staring outside. All the while the FM station, all ready for Valentine’s day, was churning out romantic numbers one after the another – ‘Jaanam Dekhlo.. mit gayi dhooriyan….’ How ironic! Pass hokke bhi dhoor (Near, but yet far!). I can’t imagine what would have gone inside the couple’s minds.

My colleague dropped his wife in her office. Did I hear her bang the door or no?! Later on, I apologized to the guy profusely. He was cool, but still I felt so bad for having disturbed their breakfast routine.

I'm sure the guy didn't have breakfast - and when we came to office, we said 'Hey, you carry on! We'll just have our breakfast and come.' Hah! I'm sure he'd have wished to knock us down!

P.S. But I made up for the blotch today. I bought a box of sweets as a symbol of truce. Moreover, I was worried that the same thing might happen someday to me. So thought I’d do my prayachitta!

And wish you all a very happy Valentine’s!

CAN Conquer CANcer

The blog contest promoted by Connexions, came to an end - actually a good time back - 2 weeks?!

And frankly, to my dismay, my entry didn't figure even in the special mention category.

I had decidedly been different in my approach towards the whole thing. Instead of lending a supporting hand to a cancer patient, I wanted him to stand on his own and beat it to death.

So, I had put in my entry in the form of a letter to a friend. It was rather cool, urging the guy to get up and face the world.

But when the results were out, I found that my post was too cool, in fact, it was rather cold. The humane touch was lost in the midst of the style and suaveness.

Nevertheless, I was really moved by the other entries, which own accolades. They really were touching, real and sensitive and without any touch of cosmetics.

The moral of the story is: Truth doesn't need glamour.

You can get to see the entries, which won the contest here.

Short-sighted

Like a spider moving within its web flank(s),
Trapped in its web, in a merry-go-round fashion,
Like the little fish in a small glass tank,
Moving within its walls - its own ocean.

Like the shrunken world of a candle light,
A ball of light suspended in the silent dark;
Incessant, like the second hand's flight
Round and round, in the old wall clock.

Like the ball of sun, huge, yet caught,
The big white light, tricked into a drop of dew;
Like the path of my anguished breath, in & out
My world is now small - just thoughts of you.