Poem : Rags and Riches

Hello Reader,

Few days ago, I was watching an Old bollywood classic called 'Boot Polish'.
This movie is basically about poverty in India which revolves around two orphaned kids who rely on begging and later decide to earn by polishing the shoes of the people.
It was in 1950s this movie was made and the children in the movie dream of a future India with no Beggars and poverty.
But, sad to say, today in India, more than 75% people earn less than average income. (100 rs.)

Reasons : Corruption and Illiteracy. The same old.

Some have no food to eat at all and some are unhappy about the dis-satisfactory garnishing on their food.

So here is a small poem dedicated to the same topic and to the children who are unfortunate to born poor and remain uneducated and poor. I wish, People, who are capable of earning enough to live a daily routine, spend a little on the Poor too instead of spending all on self comforts.

Here it goes...

He looked,
through his naive eyes,
at the Creamy people on the Earth.
The minority crowd,
enjoying the handsome lifestyle,
from the day of their Birth.
He knew he was the majority,
deprived of the primal Needs.
He did anything but beg,
wiped tables, earned a little,
but through his Deeds.

He looked,
through his naive eyes,
at the fortunate, driving cars, walking into malls,
and coming out with shopping bags.
But all he hoped was to get upscaled,
a bit more than Rags.
To kill his hunger, sleep under a roof,
dress in a school uniform,
is all wants in his share.
Unlike,
building a thousand castles in the air.

He looked,
through his naive eyes,
at the trees, walking backwards,
on his way to the orphanage.
He soon had friends, food and fosterage.
Then the day breezed in,
when he met an angel.
The seraph advanced his hands
and claimed,
"I promise you a life without agony,
I am your new father, little Johnny."

* * *
He looked,
through his merciful eyes,
out of the rolled down mirror of his car,
at the pitiful, skinny boy,
wiping the table.
The scene he witnessed,
was a mirror of his own tale.
Teardrop flew down his cheek,
when his own past gave out a shriek.
The little dreams he saw as a kid,
were still like the unfertilized seeds in an orchid.

He looked,
through his merciful eyes,
with handful of shopping bags,
at his deprived childhood,
which still, unstoppably, nags.
Today, He had every felicity.
But, yesterday gave him insecurity.
To build the bridge to his withered dreams,
he had to find a bandage.
His salvation lied in fostering his past,
which lied in the Orphanage.
He found the same little, skinny boy,
sitting at one corner.
"What is your name?"
And the reply came in agony,
in his jittery voice,
"I- I am Johnny."

Ashish

Poem: Zero Mile

Hello Reader,

Valentines Day is near and to contribute to this season, here is a small poem. Hope you like.

"At every dawn,
she came, with anguish,
she couldn't hide
and sat on the riverside.
Opening her diary,
she penned down her blues,
to win versus her sorrows and woes.
Once done with her storytelling,
she would leave with a convincing Smile.

Me, from the other side of the stream,
would adore her innocence, her charm.
Every sunset, I would wait for her
and try to give a sign, an alarm.
The sun sat, and so did the hope,
everytime she got up to elope.
For once, I thought,
"Would she ever notice me?"
as the distance was that of a Mile.

Then the calender turned,
to the blessed day,
when we met, eye to eye.
Trust me, it was as whimsical as a lullaby.
I waved to her, she waved back,
a moment that nobody could hack.
From then on, every dusk was salvation,
WE would play, chat and translate in gesticulation.
The days were pacific for me, for her,
that she came, with a cheerful cast,
and return back with a Smile.

This splendid connection,
of shore to shore,
survived only for days of four.
She was standing on her bank,
showing off her engagement ring,
glittering, just like the teardrop in her eye,
narrating me the story of the mousetrap,
of ordeals, forced by her family and ally.
She gestured me to meet her in the deep.
She stepped in and so did I,
as we had no time to weep.
The earth didn't, but the water homed our love,
where the distance, between the banks,
was zero Mile."

Ashish :)

Pani Puris of Life

Hello Reader

If you have never enjoyed the high class luxuries like owning a penthouse with all high class facilities, rich bright colored, white shaded walls with famous paintings hanging on them, having bath in a jacuzzi, cuddling with your chihuahua, a rich wardrobe, having lunch at the most 'Englishly' civilized restaurant with the most lavish ambience, going to shop at Varsace and Louise Vuitton showrooms in your Audi, don't be deluded because you have encountered better events in your life. This sophisticated, well-bred lifestyle may really look good from the outside but trust me, real fun is in living down to earth.

It is just incomparable.

Eating your meal at a place with only noise coming out of the forks and spoons touching the plate, people silently swallowing in food with turkish napkins rigged to their collars or laps and the dining hall too shining with the perfect decor and the mannered and educated waiters can't be compared to the pani puri and other junk stalls on the roadside where you are served on wet, unhygienic plates and spoons with oily, unhealthy eatables mixed with a little bit of sweat, dust and automobile exhaust.

Ordering your well-dressed driver to the destination sitting back comfortably with all updated magazines and daily newspapers in the back door panel of your stylish sedan, with perfect inside atmosphere and temperature maintained by the air conditioner, just right amount of silence or music adjusted on your mood and tinted glasses to prevent you from the sunlight can't be compared to your struggle and fight to get the seat in a public bus, crowded so much that there is not even a little space to rest your foot, then hanging inside the bus with all varieties of people surrounding you, stinking with sweat, drunkards and in between the conductor whistling and fighting with you asking for the change.

Certainly the former is more humane, correct and cultured. But the real bliss is in the fight for the seat, the spice in the junk. One feels complete only after going through all that annoyance and discomfort. The value of water can only be felt after a long day of tedious hard work. Similarly, pleasure lies in such small things.
A smile from an unknown person, waving out to the crowd through the window, dancing in the rain, spending time with your loved ones rather than your new iPad and all other 'Me Gusta' jobs.
The spicy taste of Pani Puri!

In the name of God?

Hello Reader

Salman Rushdie, the famous booker-prize winner author had to leave an important literature festival at Jaipur as he was threatened to be killed by some Muslim groups. All this started when Salman's book 'the Satanic Verses' was released and got controversial because of its content. And it was said that it had hurt the sentiments of the Muslims. Salman had to face a fatwa branded on him by Darul Uloom Deoband.
A few weeks ago the Hindu Holy Scripture, the religious book 'Bhagvad Gita' was banned in Russia as Russians had a say that it contained certain inappropriate verses. Which lead o some discomfort in Indo-Russian relations and lead to lot of debates.
Many years ago, number of scientists were killed by the roman catholic church because the work of scientists, as per the church, was against the god. They said that the world, the universe, created by God cannot be simplified using silly scientific, mathematical equations.

So basically, from all these years, people have been killing one another for their Gods, to show their devotion to their religion. Their faith in God and their religious protocols win over their faith in the other fellow humans. They kill someone of their kind for someone whom they have never seen. And then same kind of people say God is everywhere. Oh yeah? Then you just killed your God, buddy.

Or I would say it is just a way to cover up the real reason behind the killings.
It is not what God wants you to do, its what your inner evil wants you to do.

So many sacrifices, women, children have died in the religious riots. They are countless.
Instead of praising the literary work or scientific achievements, people watch out for how something can be converted into a controversy on the basis of religion and call it 'against our rules'. Why do they call themselves secular then? and what about freedom of speech?

Young Muslim guys are trained and taught about the old fatwas and about the Jihad. Kasab is a snake, who has sprouted out of such a laid egg. They make terrorists in the name of god.

If there really is any God, he would be crying looking at how his name is being used to carry out the work of Satan.

Love, Humanity, Peace, Music are the religions to be followed which are unbiased. There can be walls between two territories but not in the hearts of people. I don't think any other religion teaches the Lesson of equality. If it did, The World would have been a better place to live.

Ashish

Engineering: public transport

Every year, in India, almost 35000 students aspiring to be engineers get selected into IITs or NITs. Actually, more than 10 lakh people try to get into these prestigious institutes every year. But, only 3.5 to 4 % of the massive crowd gets this opportunity. Here, I will talk about the rest 95 % of the students because I, myself fall in that category. These people either join other good, bad, average, government, private institutes or take drop for a year.

Now, every private institute claims to give the best. Best faculty, best laboratory facilities, best hostel and best placements. When you go for the counselling, you find every college has its own stall, like that you find in fun fairs, boasting their pros and previous achievements. It is almost like a sabzi mandi with representatives at the stall screaming “le lo le lo admission le lo, humara college best”. After you get brainwashed through these advertisements, you go into the main counselling room where you wait for your turn, as per you rank, to select the college you want. When you reach at the final table, you get about 2 minutes time to decide which college you wish to get belted in for the next four years. Just 2 minutes to decide your future. Even if you had decided to opt for which branch in which college, there is no surety of that seat to remain unfilled. Once you lock your choice of college and branch, you are kicked out of the main hall to make you realize your place in the crowd.

On the first day at college, you start attending lectures, you meet your new classmates and you are also introduced with the giant syllabus to be crossed in one semester. But you may feel good about the new college, new friends and a new start. This goes on for a while, the ‘feel-good’ moment. Soon it disappears as you find it is just repeating. You keep on reading and reading about the concepts of different theories of how things work and a few mathematical problems related to it. There really is no practical approach. They teach a concept and formulae related to it but never tell you where exactly it can useful in the daily life. You somehow learn the concept, understand it and clear the exam. Is that all? What they tell us certainly helps us score marks and clear the exams but what is the application of it? Where do you apply it? It is hardly taught anywhere.

At a point in your engineering, you find that it is just a formality to sit in the class, to listen to lectures and write exams, by hook or crook. After four years of so called struggle, you have a degree but not much of technical knowledge. For the four years, all that you do is read and read and do nothing that can be called practical.

Where is it taking you to?
What does one do after getting the degree?
Now, you stand in the middle of crossroads where you have umpteen options.
Even after finishing engineering, except for few, most of them those who get a job end up at an IT company regardless of their branch. Until and unless one has a technical job relative to his field of study, all that he studied for the last four years seems a waste.
All that you studied helps you clear your job interview but never after that.
Instead of just loading up the student’s minds with only stories and facts, there should be more about tackling the problems in real time.

Today, anybody can get engineering degree. There is no value of an engineer as much as it should be. An engineer is one who makes other people's life easy and keeps them happy. They are creators. But, now if there is nothing else to do and someone wants to be a graduate, first option he think for is to be an engineer...even if he has to sit in his daddy's grocery shop for the rest of his life.

It is like a Public transport bus which every one wants to board whether there is any seat or not. And public transport buses are always full. It has 50 seats, but takes in 80 people. Rest travel pulling, pushing and hanging through out the journey. But anyways everybody reaches the destination.

But it is true that, in the four years of engineering, an engineer, if interested, can learn a lot more than engineering. It is a lifetime in itself and teaches one to live life and how to manage things even in the last minute, how to adjust even if there is a cast away kind of situation. It all depends on the learner.

Ashish