Dream. Dare. Innovate.

Afraid you are,
But fear is essential,
It enthuses you to take the plunge,

She lurks behind you, always. Like a bad dream.
Refusing to leave your side,
She leaves nothing unturned to ensure you remain defeated,
Just remember, “Rome was not built in a day”!

Resolute you remain,
Embracing her like your confidant, you begin your journey,
Step by step, bit-by-bit, you inch closer to your aspiration.

Slowly but steadily you get ahead of her,
Your zeal to succeed inspires you to test your limits,
You fall. You rise again. You march ahead,
You remain unbeaten.

You win because you dare to dream,
You dare to test your limits,
You dream to do the unthinkable,
You win because you conquered your fear,
Because you dared to take the plunge.

There is only one hymn to this circle of life,
Think different. Be different. Do Different.

MSD – what’s on your mind?

As we all eagerly await the closure of the Cricket World Cup, there is only one question on every Indian’s mind– Will the Indian Cricket team bring home glory after 28 years? Will it, really? Truth hurts, but looking at the way India has performed so far, most of us are almost certain that India won’t win the cup that has been eluding the country for so long. Most of us, especially ardent cricket fans, get teary-eyed knowing that Sachin may not be able to fulfil his childhood dream and that this world cup will be his last. As he continues to delight all of us with his marvellous cricketing strokes and commitment on field, we all have a small prayer sealed in our lips – urging Dhoni’s boys to win this cup for Sachin!

We all still remember the statement made by Dhoni at a press meet when he said he would like to win this cup for Sachin. But, is the team really working towards achieving that. In a country where cricket is considered a religion, unfortunately garners a lot of unneeded attention, other sports and sportspersons are hardly acknowledged, why is it that the team fails to perform each time it is expected to win. Even after receiving so much adulation from everybody, why is it so hard for the team to perform? Why is it that the undying pressure of cricket crazy fans fail to make even an iota of differnce on the team?

With so many questions on my mind, I decided to write a letter to Dhoni, hoping that somehow he gets to read this letter and also reply to it.

Dear Maahi,

Dude, what’s up? All set for the quarter-finals against the defending champion, Australia? I am sure you must be reeling from a great sense of relief after your boys managed to beat the Windies under your leadership. Or are we unable to see the real picture here. Are you actually thanking your starts that gladly Zaheer, Bhajji & Raina took wickets at the right time without which you would have had to answer another set of questions about how India is losing its position as a top contender for the World Cup and is so not equipped to win this coveted title? Or are you wondering why Pepsi paid you less in your last endorsement? Or is a second honeymoon with Sakshi on your mind?

Really Dhoni, what is on your mind? I really would like to know if your heart sunk in shame when Ashish Nehra smirked after being hit for four in the final over against South Africa! Is that how your team reacts under pressure or is it some new tactic which the boys have learnt? I want to know what really goes through your mind when your team fails to win a match which they could have won easily. Do you feel bad? Or has it become a part & parcel of your life now? Have you gotten too used to the way your team tends to under-perform against leading teams? How easy is it for you to really keep your temper under control when you let minnows like Bangladesh come so close to chasing over 300 odd runs? Let me muster the courage to ask you this - Does the world cup really matter to you? I know, i sound like an arrogant and highly opinionated cricket enthusiast, but the truth of the matter is that i am angry at you Dhoni, very angry. I want to know if cricket enthusiasts like us desreve to see India perform the way it has against leading teams? Why is the passion to win games missing in our team? Why do our wickets fall like a pack of cards exactly at the time when the momentum is swinging our way? As the captain of the team i am entitled to ask you these questions and also entitled to receive an answer from you.

Why can we never proudly and confidently say that we can easily beat Australia in the Q/F’s? Why is the confidence only visible in your advertising campaigns? Are you ready to answer my questions? I have my fingers crossed for our quarter-final match against Australia.

Warm Regards
An infuriated Indian Cricket Fan.

She.

1979 was the year. She arrived on 28th December’s chilly night. Being the first child, she was much loved and adored. She grew up with more than 10 nicknames to herself. She was grandmother’s apple of the eye. She was named ‘reshmi’- meaning soft like silk. She inherited some lovely features. Like mother’s beautiful sharp nose. A lovely figure. In fact, her lovely fingers still make me squirm every time I look at mine. She was family’s sunshine. The word ‘dainty’ described her best.

4 years later I arrived. Born in scorching May, I resembled a cute over-sized potato. Let’s not get much into how I looked. Let’s just say ‘broad’ described me best. Growing up, we didn’t really share secrets. We were busy with school, studies and our own set of friends. We fought. I remember very distinctly that it was me always who would say sorry to her. You see, the elder siblings always have an attitude problem! Anyways, i think both of us were too young to realize the importance of one another in our lives then. We were simply too engaged growing up.

She was extremely girly in every sense of the word. She didn’t fight. Unlike me. She didn’t argue with unknown men because they were staring at her while she played on the terrace. Unlike me. She was always very quiet, calm and docile. Unlike me. Like me, she didn’t roam around in shorts and a cricket bat in her hand. She didn’t feel jealous on having the attention being completely drifted to younger cousins of ours when they visited us. Unlike me. She never cycled because she was scared to fall and hurt herself. I, on the other hand went with my best friend (who happened to be a very cute boy. Quite a thing to do in the nineties!) cycling every evening.

In fact, we didn’t even look like sisters. The disparities were plenty. But despite all that, I remember how possessive I was of my sister. I remember how I hit a boy and then got beaten up by his sister badly because the tiny monster had the audacity to hit my sister. And years later I realized that I actually didn’t like her paying much attention to anybody except me. So when she started dating, my heart bled to know that she belonged to someone else’s.

Anyways, many years later we moved to a different state. You know it’s quite scary to land in an unknown territory not knowing anybody, not knowing the language, not having friends around. We didn’t have mobiles then so we could not even text our buddies and tell them how much we hated being apart from them. But the sudden change in our lives helped us getting close to one another. This was when we began sharing. This was the time when friendship sprouted between us.

We shared everything from chocolate ice-creams to clothes to latest crush stories and so many of those wonderful growing up experiences. I did more than she did though. I was always in awe of her. You know, she always behaved like the son of the family. She had the innate desire in her to be fiercely independent and stand on her own. She did extremely well in school and college. She was always very focused, very clear of what she wanted and how she wanted to lead her life. I loved that quality in her.

She never stopped until she got what was in her mind, what she wanted to have. I still remember how desperate she had become on not finding a job after she finished her graduation and her computer course. Soon fortune acknowledged her efforts and she landed up with a job. Her life took a new turn. She found work, love and much more. I was happy for her. She was such a wonderful support for dad. And then, I went far from her. To study. And then, few years later she got married. And then became a mother. And suddenly it seems so much has changed.

It is funny but it is only when we don’t have the company of the person that we tend to miss them so much. We begin valuing them more. Sometimes, I get this urge to sit with her and just chat randomly about any topic under the sun. With her having ample time by her side. Not having to worry about whether her son ate or not. Or about anything in this world. Time changes many things. But sibling love is something that simply grows with time.

She is missed in family dinners. She is missed when I fight with dad. She is missed when we need a sound mind. She is missed when I need to know what to wear. She is missed when we plan our next travel plan. She is missed when we eat her favourite dish. She is missed when we look at family albums. She is missed when it’s her b’day. She is missed always, every moment of our lives. She is precious.

She always was and still is my hero. Love you dearly, sis.

From the ashes, rose the phoenix!

How many would have believed Pakistan would emerge as the T20 World Champions held in England this year? None. This is precisely why the men in green have been bestowed with the status of ‘knights in shining armour’. Pakistan’s win at the Lords has provided the team and most importantly the ‘game of cricket’ much needed relief from the muck that had lately been hounding them. Hence, glimpses of jubilation, relief and bravado were expected when Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Mallik scored the winning runs for their team. For the Pakistan team victory had not tasted this sweet in a long-long time.

Up against a formidable Sri Lankan team, Pakistan clearly was the underdog in this tournament right from the start of the Championship. Restricting the in-form Sri Lankan team to a meager total of 138, Pakistan moved an inch closer to victory. In fact this championship proved to be a renewal of sorts for the flamboyant Shahid Afridi who was largely responsible for the way Pakistan played in this T20 World Cup. Also, under the able leadership of Younis Khan, the players were able to renew their passion for the game which had been missing for a while.

Considering the amount of severity that the Pakistan Cricket Team had been through in the past, they could have easily let the game slip from their hands. But, their players maintained their composure well and didn’t let any event of the past affect their performance. The best net result for the Pakistan team and its players after winning the T20 World Championship is that the convincing win against Sri Lanka will help them approach their upcoming series with added confidence and self-belief. Like they say, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. It seems that the Pakistan cricket team has finally found a grip on their game. Here’s hoping that they manage to keep the winning momentum and the team spirit alive for a long time.

Weight-loss tales

(Before you begin reading this, I would like to tell you what prompted me to write such an impromptu post. I had not written for over a month and I was feeling extremely guilty for not paying the right attention that I needed to give my blog. So, when this thought hit me I decided to weave a nice little interesting story around it. This is complete work of fiction. This isn’t inspired from my life except the bit where I describe the characters insane love for food. Yes, I am a foodie and gladly I am not an over-sized pumpkin. I am just a few extra pounds! Hope, readers enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and get the tiny message that I tried conveying. )

A friend of mine once said, ‘food is a matter too close to your heart’. I couldn’t have agreed more with her. It may sound very odd and a little uncanny to your ears but my existence does revolve around good food. I have received a lot of glares and strange expressions from friends and others on saying this but the fact is that I love to eat. My face just lights up on seeing good food. For me it’s not really about the quantity but the experience that matters the most. And strangely as you may come to think I didn’t see any reason to control this strange obsession of mine until I lost complete control over my cravings. Soon, my complete lack of control over my appetite began showing on my body. I began struggling, dealing with the hazards of my love for food slowly. I had begun to look like an over-sized pumpkin!

If mirror became my worst enemy, then the fear of being noticed by people in strange ways stopped me from stepping outside. The various nicknames given by friends, which used to earlier make me feel very proud of who I am and the way I am suddenly started to hurt worse than a break-up would! Constant reminders from my parents to do something about the way I had turned myself into only pushed me harder to do the opposite. And of course, regular doses of messages, mails and telephone calls, teaching me about the various ways by which I could get back to normalcy started turning me into one highly-depressed soul. If all this wasn’t considered good enough to motivate me by my so called well-wishers, that my mother started to bicker me telling me each day how she and dad would have to bear my responsibilities for life as no one would marry me. As if that was the only reason why women existed, I fumed. You see, the reaction time had expired for me. Now was the time to act, time for action.

Tired of all this, tired of behaving like a victim and most of all tired of not living life like I would have liked to, I decided to take the baton in my hand finally. Dieting was not a feasible option as I could not fathom living a single day of my life eating little or no food. The thought of living on a diet of soup and salad made my stomach churn in hundred different directions. It simply made me sick. How could I punish myself like that I wondered?! It was difficult for my family, friends and others to understand why I couldn’t even do such miniscule things to lose weight. You see, none of them loved food as much as I did and hence they obviously could not relate the pain and the humiliation that I was going through to even imagine how it would be if I actually began living on bland diets. And for someone who believed in eating king-size and eating large meals, it was nothing but sheer humiliation to start living on just a bowl of soup or one bite of wheat bread! And going to the gym was something that was too tiring, forced and expensive.

I was running short of excuses, options and time. Depression was adding to my woes as I began eating more to put off others. To simply revolt and convey that I didn’t care what everybody thought of me, that I was absolutely okay with the way I looked. But deep within I knew I had started to hate myself. I had started to hate everything about me. I didn’t like anything about me. I hated the way I looked, I became envious of the way others looked, I started hating life. And that’s where it started hurting me the most. Encouragement from family and friends did little help as I had completely refused to let any suggestions seep in my mind. Strangely I knew that something had to be done immediately but depression had spread like a terrible virus in my body and mind that nothing could motivate me to create a difference. But one fine morning when the maid servant almost banged the bowl of cornflakes in front of me and looked at me as I was a burden on this entire universe was when I finally stood up to shut everyone up forever. I decided to skip to lose the extra pounds that i had gained and getting back to living life my way. The first week was tremendously difficult. There was not even a single bone in my body that didn’t ache. Every morning I would think of an excuse to not skip. But looking at my over-sized self at the mirror each day and being reminded of the loathing and unneeded advice from people motivated me to finish my quest of losing weight.

And after a month I realized that, all it takes is the desire to make a difference to your life. Before I began skipping, forget others even I never thought I would be able to do it regularly. But I surprised my own self. I realized that no matter what technique you choose to lose weight you will never ever succeed if you don’t have the desire to see the difference in you. I realized that all of us are capable of doing a lot but because we have the tendency of under estimating ourselves we always take everything for granted. I am just glad that I gathered the courage to work towards fulfilling my desire which was not only about losing weight but more about living life on my own terms.

You will be glad to know that I am not an over-sized pumpkin anymore. Neither am I size zero. I am just the size that I am most comfortable in. You will also be delighted to know that I skip everyday and that my love for food hasn’t decreased even one bit. It is just that now I know when to say no and how to control my cravings. Because now I have the desire.

Luck by chance!

Worldwide, the age old rule is that one must have a goal, an objective in life to succeed. Success can only be found when one is aware of the purpose of their life. Passed on to us by our forefathers, parents, teachers, we begin our journey of finding the right objective of our lives that has been meant just for us and then putting our heart and soul into fulfilling the quench of successfully completing our objective. Faced with many hurdles, we refuse to bow down to challenges as we must adhere to another age-old rule passed on to us from generations. And that is, the one who gives up is a loser and the one who braves the difficulties is considered the winner in the end. Believing blindly in this myth we continue carrying the legacy forward. In the end, some succeed and some fail.

The irony is that, the ratio of those who follow this rule, with a crystal-clear objective of what they want to do end up doing miserably in life in comparison to those who have absolutely no idea regarding what they want to do with their lives. It’s frustrating for the former group of people because throughout their lives they fight to get what they most desire for. But in the end they are faced with one question, ‘you weren’t lucky enough’. Yes, the fact is that this is where it starts and ends. I have begun to hate this four letter word – ‘luck’. I have begun to believe that there is no such thing called as ‘hard work’ and ‘believing in your abilities and dreams’. Because no matter how much you work hard, no matter how clear you are about what you want to do with your life, if you do not have enough luck backing your dreams, you will never-ever see them through. This reality hurts but gradually it starts to set in your system. That is because in reality, life doesn’t function on the basis whether people have set goals or objectives in life. It just functions on two words - luck and destiny.

So what if you are nice and friendly, you will still end-up having no friends. So what if you are intelligent and hard-working, you still will be considered inefficient and stupid. So what if you know all the answers, you will still fail. So what if you save day in and day out, you will still never have enough. So what if you only speak the truth, you will still be considered a liar. So what if you try and tell you story, you will still be labeled as an escapist. Confusing it may sound but that’s how life is. There is no such thing called the deserving. Because the ‘lucky ones’ have their monopoly set in this domain. I know very little of life but of the many people that I know, most of them have been through this vicious circle that life tends to treat the ‘less fortunate’ ones with. It’s so maddening to see some people just enjoy life without having to move an inch, without having to put in any extra effort. And then of course it is equally exasperating to see those who suddenly seem to have a totally different view-point about life when things start going in their favour.

Dreams, objectives, desires, hope, and all that seem to have no meaning in the end. Because, over-taking them is the monotony of our lives. That is because at the end we all want to be somewhere or be someone or lead a particular life that makes us bow down to life’s vicious circle. But the fortunate ones continue to enjoy in their realm. It doesn’t even matter if you listen to your heart. It doesn’t matter if you have led or are leading life in your terms and conditions, the less fortunate ones will always have sadness hovering on them. And it doesn’t even matter if you have the desire to be the change because something called ‘it was destined for you’ will take place in your life. The less fortunate ones can sigh on ‘life is like that’ as much as they want. For, that is their only way of finding solace.

But of all the mindless and negative chit-chat that I have done here, there is one positive that I have taken out – So, what if you don’t have luck by your side, consider yourself lucky if you have love by your side. And in case you don’t have both – may god help you!

In tatters!

Weather Report for the day: The mood is overcast. It is likely to get worsened as the day progresses. The dark clouds of misfortune are looming to stay for a long time. With the humidity level rising with each passing hour, it is going to get extremely hard to keep the soaring temperatures under control. The big question is, what would the home crowd take respite in to beat the heat-blues? Tea, a big towel to wipe off their sweat or simply use their favourite swear words? Let’s see, the evening has just begun.

Pitch Report for the day: Does it really matter? I mean, come what may they are anyways going to under-perform? Ahem! Well, the pitch looks good for batting. Team winning the toss should look at batting first and putting up a good score of 180 on the score board.

Forecast of verdict for the day: The captain of the local team slowly whispers in the ears of his coach, “Mate, we will lose.” Coach tells captain, “Doesn’t matter, you can dance at weddings and try your luck in movies”. Captain simply chuckles.

Forecast of expectations of people of a cricket-fanatic state: None whatsoever. They prefer knowing what their local leaders are up to than wasting their time on a silly game.

Anybody with a reasonable amount of common sense would have guessed by now that i am talking about the extremely over-rated team of the first IPL season (thanks to SRK) and the most controversial team of the second IPL season – Kolkata Knight Riders. Before I continue saying what I want to say, I understand that cricket is an extremely unpredictable game and that even a good team can be on the losing side. But the lack of team-spirit and lack of camaraderie in the team forces me to say that even school kids could have put up a better show than how KKR has performed over the last three weeks.

Bengal needs respite. From the heat, from the daily humdrum due to the elections and from the poor performance of their much loved and their much adored team- KKR. It is true that nobody in India loves its sport as much as Kolkata does. But to see Calcuttans preferring to sweat it out in auto queues than rushing home to watch their favourite team play is a real pity. It is common to see such hate reactions from people when their local teams start performing poorly. It is common to see everybody even those with absolutely no knowledge about the game to pass severe judgments on the team and its players. But this time the situation is different. Everything looked to be jinxed right before the tournament began for KKR.

It all began with the renowned judgment of Buchanan to have multiple captains. When the topic aroused enough controversy to affect the performance of the team, Buchanan had the audacity to announce Brendon Mc Cullam as the captain instead of Sourav Ganguly. And that too when the team was in South-Africa! Bengal was fuming. Their trust had been broken. But it was too late. Newspapers and TV Channels had enough meat to go rattling about in the coming weeks. Thank God, KKR wasn’t playing in India for Buchanan would have been butchered to death by the locals then. It’s difficult to take the wrath from people especially when they have been betrayed.

I have never been an admirer of Sourav Ganguly. But I was truly upset to know that he had been declined his captaincy. Somehow, his statement after Mc Cullam was given the captaincy made me wonder why the Royal Bengal Tiger behaved like a Pussy Cat. Though the attention had drifted to the new captain, Sourav continued to be under immense pressure. He had a lot to prove like always. So when KKR played their first match and when they lost the precious wicket of Mc Cullam, every Bengali face displayed a hidden happiness, a hidden smile. They wanted their local hero to shut Buchanan’s mouth. I, for the first time in my life was cheering for Ganguly. Like millions of benagli’s I wanted that match to be the match of his lifetime. But to everybody’s dismay, he failed.

That was just the starting of KKR’s debacle. Looking back if the rain gods had not shown any mercy on them they would be still struggling to open their accounts in the IPL match table. I understand it’s easy to comment but their poor performance in every department is still incomprehensible. I don’t think even a miracle can save them now. For they have yet not played like a team in a team-game!

Kolkata has stopped hoping. It has plenty of other things to worry about. As of now I am praying for the last time that KKR begins their winning streak with their match against Punjab. I am ready to chew my own words. But the million dollar question is - Are they ready for the big match?