Saturday, May 22, 2010

No. 19




There are all those years when you throw a party for them.
There are those years when they surprise you with a party.
There are the years when you take them out for the evening.
Sometimes, there is also the big fat family dinner year.
Maybe also a lets-get-drunk year.
The birthday cake, bumps, gifts and songs are always there.
Ofcourse God bless the phone calls and the hugs.



And then, there is that one year where you wake up at 5 am in the middle of nowhere. All alone. No cell phone network either. You got out for a walk to a nearby bird sanctuary. See and hear more birds than you ever thought existed. Sit there for an hour on a bench next to a lake. Think. Watch the sun rise. Watch the lake. Since there are no disturbances or distractions around, the lake does something wonderful. It helps you see yourself quite clearly. Just the way you are.
Then, back to a normal working day.
At the end of the day, something brings you back to the lake. You are there once again. Watching the sun set. Joining the lake as it reflects.

As the last traces of light begin to disappear, you walk back. And it is only then that you realise what a good decision it was to have walked all the way and enjoyed the journey as you did so. That how much ever uncertain, unsure you may have been you always kept walking and finaly reached the lake.

Because as a wiseguy once said, “You cant leave your footprints behind in the sands of time by sitting on your butt. And, lets face it, why the hell would anyone want to leave their buttprints in the sands of time.”

Happy 19th to me!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

THE STORY OF A PILLAR



Behold the keepers of the nation’s conscience,
Behold the creators of the nation’s opinions!

We make them ‘aware’ of their choices
We keep them ‘informed’ 24 hours a day.

The fourth pillar of democracy they call us.

Ha!

When will they ever learn?


p.s : It is said that, in a free country people get as good a Government as they deserve. I wonder if the same can be said about the Media.

(A photo I found on the net. Absolutely genuine. The Breaking News ticker at the bottom reads : “Amitabh Bachchan catches a cold”. We have a long way to go, fellow media trainees.)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

A story in 10 pictures

A story. Told in 10 pictures only. See if you get it :
















THE END !

model (or should it be actress?) : Sreyashi Dey ( an 'extremly' accomplished theatre peronality criticaly acclaimed for her brilliant portrayal of Ms. Gayatri Prakash). ;) :P Thanks a lot Bongo! :D

Monday, May 3, 2010

Redrawing History

The brief :
From the bank of 50 pics, select 5 that depict a story. Write a 100 words narative explaining the story.

the outcome :




Maharaja Harisingh was a troubled man.





For some days, he had been discovering pieces of paper with queer designs in his garden. He simply could not decipher anything from them.





He sent these to the wisest men in the kingdom asking for an explanation. A philosopher arrived in the royal court with an answer. He said that the dark, angry looking figures could mean only thing. This was a warning from the Gods to the Maharaja to run away from his kingdom as the people were plotting to kill him for being most apathetic. That night he fled away, never to return.





With the inefficient ruler gone, people decided to keep electing people from amongst themselves to run the state. This system worked and after a long time, the farmers had a bumper harvest.





One day, it was found that it was the royal gardener’s son, Demo who had drawn the designs that had scared away the Maharaja. Thus, they decided to name their new system after his drawings : Demo-crazy.