Everywhere I see around me, I see fear. Fear of a future event - untoward incident. An incident, which has not yet taken place or has been confirmed. As far as I can see, it might not happen at all... at least I hope so, but everyone is scared. Scared of riots, bomb blasts, train burnings and chakka jaams.

And all this for what - for something happened 17 years back - Babri Masjid Demolition. With due respect to all religions, I do not see any point in all hue and cry related to Babri Masjid issue. I remember saying as a seven-year-old, "What is all that fuss about Ayodhya, mandir - masjid, mandir - masjid. Just demolish everything and make a damn park there for kids like us."

My parents laughed, but even today I do not think it was funny. On December 6, 1992, a mosque in Ayodhya, a religious city in North India, was destroyed by Hindu propagandists for it is believed to be erected upon the birthplace of Rama - a Hindu God. The demolition was immediately followed by riots in different parts of the nation.

The incident took a long time to cool down, in fact it never died down completely and comes up violently during every elections. Everything related to it makes news - verdicts, witnesses, anniversaries, committees, reports. But a forthcoming verdict, supposedly final, has created a sense fear among common Indians, which I cannot apprehend.

Yesterday, I read a news about an upcoming multistarrer movie being postponed for the fear of unrest in the country as a result of the Babri verdict. I felt strange, but the same evening my friend sent me an SMS, which plead friends to stand united on 24th September in the name of the nation. That message smelled fear, a threat, a mistrust of Indians on Indian Govt. and law and order authorities. Today morning, I saw an appeal by a religious sect to all their 'Hindu and Muslim brothers and sisters' to maintain peace and harmony on the eve of the final verdict.

But why? why do we need to plea, I mean isn't it understood that we all have been fed up of stupid fight over a peace of land and have grown over and can't imagine ourselves being puppets of greedy propagandists, who had never or will ever have people's welfare in mind. And in case we have not, it's high time we should be.

Please leave your comments on how you feel about Babri verdict?

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I have been writing this blog through inspirations. People around me, my friends, my colleagues, my family and events have all inspired me for each entry. But from past few days I have not found any inspiration. So I thought why not write about inspiration itself.

I have always been surrounded by beautiful people with amazing creative abilities. Some of my friends in school have been very intelligent and studious. They are doing well for themselves. Some of my friends have been highly expressive through alternate media and they are doing very well for society.

My parents thought I was a born leader, but I have always been following others' lead. I love to watch my friends do things differently and then I try to imitate. Though I do not confess it and never admit also but I do it because I think they are definitely worth following.

But in the meantime, I also try to maintain my own identity in midst of all. I do not know how much I succeed, but I get to see life through a different point of view. However, I admit that sometimes these people become very successful and it becomes very difficult for me to draw inspirations from them as I feel jealous, but that jealously again is my inspiration to believe in myself and my creative abilities, for  I am no less than others, it is just matter of time.

Everything I come across leaves an impression on me, my style of speaking is often influenced quickly by people I meet at everyday basis, irrespective of the liking factor between us. I have even felt influence in my writing style from the authors I am reading at particular point of time. Khushwant Singh makes me simple and witty, Jeffery Archer makes me mysterical and twisted, Khalid Hussein makes me facty.

I change with my surroundings and love to adapt! But then that is what brings variety in life. And I, for sure, enjoy variety the most. In the long journey of life, I wish to find many more inspirations and many more sagas to share. So while I go on a hunt for my next tale, keep getting inspired.


And please keep being my inspirations for I am you :)

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'Extempore' - the word was introduced to me after I accidentally made one. I was in Ninth standard when I had volunteered to make weekly environment speech in morning prayer. But, I forgot. I was wandering fearless until one of my friends casually wished me the best of luck. I was stuck and did not know what to do, I could not step back - it was too late, so I decided to do it and I did it and to my surprise was awarded with a warm applause.

My listed topic was polllution, I chose a sub issue - noise pullution and gave few silly examples and made my way through. After the unexpected applause died down (I was still shaking with nervousness), my English teacher approached me and asked, if I would like to represent school for upcoming extempore competition? I asked her what is an extempore, though surprised with my question, she explained. I quitely refused and never made one again.

Extempore, I opine, is sheer injustice to the audiences for they deserve better. Any patient listener has full right to a well researched and through off speech with full presence of mind and concern on speaker's behalf.

The fashion of making on the spot speeches for showing off spontaneity and deep knowledge of subject matter has never been practice among read people. Any famous speaker, who might have in past gave a so called extempore, had always strategically planned for it for days and rehearsed it several times.

So please dear friends, collegues, teachers, class mates, bosses, I beg you guyz do not ever try to make one.. for we deserve better!

And I pray for all of you that you do not have to bear the one too!

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My life is mixture of dead-ends and new beginnings. I have met so far in my 22 years almost as many dead-ends and as many fresh starts.Every new beginning gives me immense pleasure, excitement and thrill but is obviously presided by a fear, a stigma and a guilt of mostly abrupt and only sometimes decent endings.

Each time I open a new book, buy a new toy, or install a computer game I feel I have found the world, but like other X generation kids, happiness would not last much longer. During my childhood, I enrolled in stitching, knitting, Kathak (classical dance), Odissi dance, Origami, paper flower making, aerodynamics, Spanish and Urdu languages, mehndi/heena application and several other courses I can not even remember now, but completed only few.(I have just started learning driving and guitar!! do not know how far that will go)

First days of every class are always very fascinating. It's all new world with new people and excitement and then gradually it becomes monotonous, actually it becomes monotonous quite quickly in my case. All those new books, new people seem old and boring and in due time it all becomes too pushy and unbearable. And then suddenly, I want to break free, away from those pushy people who think that I am lame and find opportunity to make excuses, in most of the cases I find a very good excuse to place it before my mother, like in Spanish it was a broken leg, in Urdu it was shift of work schedule, in Kathak it was teacher's rude attitude and knitting was not just my thing.

My Mom has always been very worried about my attitude towards work. Her worries about my inconsistency earlier irritated me but then amused me (I was particularly amused with notion that inconsistency is related to free spirit, happiness and different people, I felt I have my own identity). She used to lecture me, scold me, even give warnings but then she stopped. She stopped doing it when I took my professional life seriously and started working on my grads.

But my attitude did not change, it began to affect my professional life. For me, my career was never going in right direction and every new coming up job was better than the current one, I changed jobs too frequently and left them and sat at home when no new job was offered but did not work anywhere for even a year at a strech. No guilt no shame, because I am always right, my employers do not deserve me or vice versa, who cares!

But then I landed on this job! The place, I am currently working at, is awesome, and strangely has not given me a reason to quit so far. There was nothing new about this place. I knew most of the staff and my bosses were familiar to me but somehow I kept making friends here every month. Every bunch of new friends inject freshness into my blood. My work profile has also maintained same dynamics, even its faster, it keeps changing its nature very week! obviously retaining the basic goal of my project. People here are great, colleagues cool, bosses even cooler. But then I am I. I have to change, move on. Even if I know I am currently probably at one of the best organisations to work for and probably at a very opportunate designation but still I want to move away.

I am moving away...towards a new beginning...towards a new journey, which marks threshold of a struggle to reach a place perhaps less smarter than this one but I need to embark this journey for reasons unknown, perhaps for terrorities unseen.

Wish me luck friends for you will never change and I am lucky to have you all!

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In school we are all asked to write an essay of 'My Best Friend' and we all wrote:

My Best Friend is .....................
S/he is very intelligent.
S/he always stands first in class.
S/he is very good in sports.
S/he is very kind and helpful.
I like her/him very much.

But in real, I could never fill in that blank because I never found anybody so idealistic. But then 'bade hoke' I made my own first Best Friend. She was just like my Second Class essay. Smart, intelligent and an all rounder. I simply loved her... hey I love her even now. But then I made one more best friend in college, then made another and another till I realise that Best Friend is not a singular term - it's actually pluralistic.

But then what do we call our 'bestest friend'? I guess Fast Friend :) Fast Friend is a person who understands you completely, is always with you when you need them and shares all his/her secrets with you and you do the same.Fast friends are like one soul in two bodies. They connect so beautifully that sometimes others can not even believe or fathom. Fast friends trust, rely and enjoy each other. The worldly worries or rituals are invisible objects in their shared world. It's almost perfect.

But the life is all about these 'almost' situations. Because nothing can ever be perfect. Fast friends or soul mates, largely from opposite sex, connect in a spur of a moment, they just know they are meant for each other, 'not in romantic sense of course' (Warning: sometimes these soul mates also end making great couples but those are 'exceptions' not the other way round).

But its strange to see that they can part their ways in a similar manner too, i.e., in a spur of a moment. With no reason, no explanation, no notice, they just vanish into their own worlds as if they were never related, as if they knew nothing about each other, as if it does not matter. It's strange.. very strange!

I hope you are happy wherever you are!

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Whatever you demand is at your feet

Our childhood is so sweet,

Whatever you dream is fulfilled

If, it is your need

Your sweet wishes

which all believe are so neat, 

are always taken care of

so that you never need to weep

Be it your mother or father, 

they understand whatever may be the matter

Life comes so easy that

you wish and you get

But then as they say

life cannot be perfect

People come and people go, 

leaving their loved ones in a woe

You may get all that you want, 

but you can't keep that as long as you wnat

You need to say good bye to your loved ones, 

be it luck, love or childhood funs

Life may not remain so easy

Hate and hypocrisy

of the world around you may make you feel dizzy

A born blind is not so bad

but born with eyes then blind is really sad

So live every moment of your sightness

and spark the world with your brightness

Turn the cries to smile and curse to wish

Life cannot get better than this!!!

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Guys this is a poem penned by me so obviously not beautifully written, please read it at your own risk!

 I feel complete when you are around,

I feel complete where is there is nothing to bound

I may have done thousand sins,

but I know you will never let me through myself in any of the bins

I smile, I dance, I jump around even without you,

But have never shed a tear or laughed if it wasn't you

The day was normal when we met

Neither you, nor I felt anything

but today after years of laughter, tears, fights and promises

I feel incomplete without you!

You are my soul, my life

when I look into your eyes, my heart shines like a rock smudged knife

You may laugh at me, poke me or make fun,

but I know you cherish our bond and you will never let me run

-I wish I was complete without you!

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Many of my friends must have already read about the Tantrik and Snake in my status(es), but for those who have not here's the full story:

Today when I was lost in my plans to make a documentary on one day with a street child (I make innumerable such hypothetical plans everyday), I saw a tantrik doing some mumbo jumbo with two girls in an auto at a Delhi Red Light. Time: 9.00 AM, heavy rush hour and the guy and his pray seemed to be completely at ease.

He kept something in one of the girls' hand and read some mantras. Then he asked her some details which suddenly made her uncomfortable and she promptly asked him to leave and auto driver to move from there. In return, tantrik, afraid to loose his 'client' brought out a live 'SNAKE' and started telling her about its religious importance and when she completely freaked out, he actually started chewing the snake from its belly!!!

Now, honestly I freaked out too, even though I was at a distance I just could not make out what was it or who was it? Was he really a tantrik with black magic or super powers or just another impostor dressed up to trick people in broad daylight for their money?


Well, whomsoever it was, I really want to warn all my friends from such people. Whatever your believes might be such people are not healthy intrusion in any body's life.

I used be charmed by how traffic light inhabitants in big cities manage their lives, how they innovate or network to earn their daily food but today's innovation has amazed me. I wonder what all street dwellers across India are coming up with? In case you have seen something weird or experienced any such incidents please do leave a comment!

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The Online Dictionary defines Kleptomania as 'an obsessive impulse to steal regardless of economic need.' We all have heard about this disease, some have seen people indulging in kleptomaniac activities and some of us even practice it.

Well, to be honest I think all of us have indulged in this pleasure at least once, actually, more than once. Of course, age factor counts. I was five years old when I stole Rs 100 from my Mom's wallet for nothing. Then was 11-years-old when thoroughly enjoyed a whole day of shop lifting at a book fair in Pragati Maidan. Most of the books I picked had nothing to do with my interest or academics, yet the pleasure of stealing and not being caught was awesome! (I still have those books).

Recently, I noticed one of my colleagues picking up office stuff of negligible economic value. When I asked him about missing stuff, he simply reasoned that he took stuff home for working and was about to return them, of course he never did return .. except a water bottle.

His acts reminded me of my silly habits or say minor symptoms of the funny disease. It used to be fun - fun without any cause, without any motive, perhaps it was innocence.

So how many of you were as innocent as me in your chilhood? Share your experiences!

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Freedom from fear is the freedom
I claim for you my motherland!
Freedom from the burden of the ages, bending your head,
breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning
call of the future;
Freedom from the shackles of slumber wherewith
you fasten yourself in night's stillness,
mistrusting the star that speaks of truth's adventurous paths;
freedom from the anarchy of destiny
whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds,
and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death.
Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet's world,
where movements are started through brainless wires,
repeated through mindless habits,
where figures wait with patience and obedience for the
master of show,
to be stirred into a mimicry of life.

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