If i had two extra hours a day..

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I would dream!

What's that, you ask? Be a lazy person and do nothing useful? What a woeful miserable existence!

Nay, nay. Let me explain. Dreams. Dreams are all that make life worth living. What worth is a man if he does but not dream?

What rubbish, you say. A nincompoop you call me.

But little do you realise the meaning i mean or see the world i see. One day i sit in class and i wonder to myself, how was life during the crusades? The next day, in the Orient in the age of the dragons i want to be! And with a hyper-imaginative mind like mine, even sky isn't the limit, you see. And that's all it takes, a moment of quirk, to rid me of life's monotony. I'm not like most people, i just am not. I don't see much joy in gossiping or giggling or 'just hanging out'. But less happier than any, consider me foolishly not. Yes, the world is stuck in a rot, it is. With most people strolling in and out of life, never seeing what a fantasy it might be. But i care naught for them as i soar over their heads, overseeing my kingdom, upon my dragon, with glee.

What nonsense are you saying man, you say.

Ah well, let me explain, slowly and painfully, again. But remember you, before you read on, to be true to yourself and think about what i spew.
Every morning, you wake up. Some with a smile on your face, most with a loathsome hate for the daily chores you do not want to do. And just as you're done with them, you unfurl your newspaper to view news that does not please you. Annoyed, you switch to your television and view things which make every moral fibre in you scream in utter disgust, ack, pthooey. You move on to your office, where you sit in a cubicle, working for a man you'd never in your life wish to be. And you smile and you wave and greet people you wish would wipe that fake smile off their faces so you could do so too and just.. just let you be.. It only gets worse past office as you drag your feet home and see your family. He has this problem, she has that and yet her friend's friend's friend has yet another. Curse them in your mind, silently you do, that they are your problem, if only they would just let you be!

That's how you've lived all your life and how you will continue to be. Going to school and by-hearting history you never wanted to learn, wishing you'd been in one of those battles yourself, born and dying free. Listening to your economics teacher talking about Mao and wishing you'd been in those admirable boots indeed. Writing exams you never wanted to write, choosing colleges you never wanted to choose, sharing food you never wanted to share, performing dares you think wouldn't make sense to a mare. And that is how most people come and go, never truly doing anything for yourself. never truly living the dream. Some of us, when told the above, would probably nod solemnly, yet point out with sadness of the greatest degree, that there isn't enough time in a day, there just isn't enough to go around being free.

But.. if you had 2 extra hours a day, doesn't it seem like what your heart would seek? Seek what, you ask. Ha ha, anything you want, feel free! Because, that's the good things about dreams, there are No limits, you see! You can be groovy like Elvis or eccentric like Seuss, or if you so wish, be a wrinkly old moose! You could gather up all your worries and slay them to quarters, dancing and jiggying around them, singin' smoke on the water. You could finally kiss that pretty girl you always wanted to, get her to be the naughty naugggghty girl you know she wants to be. You can walk on water, you can fly. You can even talk to your dead goldfish and tell her it ain't goodbye. You could run over all the people whose habits you hate, without so much as having to pay a parking fine in rebate. You could find the cure for AIDS, you could eradicate racism, even discover the secret to Houdini's tricks or win the Nobel prize, just for kicks. You could be where you wanted to, do what you wanted to and, at the end of it all, go to bed happy. Because you know now, you do, that you'll wake up next morning safe in the knowledge that, at the end of everybody's twenty four hours, you have an extra two or four or a hundred, to be who you wanted to be :)

A lion's tail..

Aaah.. Children's Day Special!! :)

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there arrived a monkey. He had the longest tail in that kingdom now, did he. The king of the forest was a big ol' lion. He had a long long tail. Why, even the longest in the kingdom claimed he. Quite obviously, it didn't sit well with the king that his majestic tail was no longer the longest in town. He paced and he paced and he twisted & turned, even tossed the queen out of the bed a couple of turns. "Argh!" growled the queen, "Enough is enough. If you worried this much about your mane, i would probably go insane." "But, my dear queen.." said the lion, " You simply don't understand. I must, I must have the longest tail in the land!" "Must you toss me out of bed for that?" the queen replied, "And ruin my painted nails? Go speak to your ministers, if you must, about longer tails." Defeated in his own bed, the lion sighed to himself. "Of course my darling, of course" he said.


The ministers had the biggest conundrums of their lives to solve the next day, they did. For their king was in gloom. And if they didn't rid him of it, they knew, they were destined for doom. Said the bear, in his gruff old voice, "We could make the monkey leave this kingdom, if that be your choice." "No" said the lion, "I'm not that cruel. Just because he has a longer tail, i will not deprive him of his gruel." "May i suggest a clip-on to remove your frown?" quipped the vixen, "Your majesty, they're the latest things in town." "Hmm" said the lion, "Sounds kind of nice. Rush and get me a clip-on before i'm laughed at by mice!"


Now, the jungle being the jungle, didn't quite have its technology up to boot. The king ended up with a clip-on which had a saw-tooth. The lion howled & yelped and clutched at his mane. But, he told himself, it was much better than the shame. Bravely the king soldiered on for a week, till he couldn't speak any more without uttering a little squeak. His tail felt like it was on fire. Yet, he told himself, it was the only solution to this mire. Said the lion to his wife, "I cannot take this anymore. My tail feels so sore. It feels like i have a nail, hammered into every inch of my tail."


News came the next day, that the monkey had moved on. Having had his fill of the fruit, he could not stay long. Onward he moved, thinking this jungle was a bore. Little did he realise, he had left a king very very sore..


photo credit: http://clipartbestpicturegallery.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

The bimbo

There was once a pretty girl, a girl so pretty.

To her, she had entire books of poems dedicated.

Wrote some of her rosy cheeks, while of her silky hair some.

And showered day and night with gifts was she.

Some brought her flowers, some shiny earrings

And yet others tried to win her over with plain ol' chivalry.

Not only pretty, but infinitely nice was she

And not one left in disappointment, only glee.



It came not as a shock to many but her

As the doctor sighed and twirled his hair

Finally he turned and said to her..

Well, that's it, You've got herpes.

Instead of the shock and grief he expected to eclipse her face

A blank stare and nonchalance found he.

What a brave girl, thought he to himself

Till she parted her lips and said..

Oh, do i have to take shots to get rid of that? How does that happen?

Facepalmed the doctor himself, before he sent her home with all the right answers.



Slowly the number of admirers dwindling watched she

As the disease spread without concern or mercy.

And once the last of them was gone, she feared

That not much about the world knew, did she.

So used to the vile gifts had grown the pretty girl

That forgotten to become smart and fend for herself had she.

But, she thought to herself, let me make myself some tea.

After all, how hard could it be?

And so it happened that an hour later, the neighbours heard a shattering blast.

As, fidgeting with the gas cylinder, the pretty girl was gone at last.

The End.



p.s. Herpes is not the end of the world. Do check these folks to make yourself feel better.

A mother's love

It was a pleasant evening. The sun was just dipping beyond the horizon, a cool breeze was making its way through the closely packed huts and the usual stench seemed lesser. The mongrels seemed to have disappeared, leaving behind nothing but silence, broken only by the occasional cry of one of the toddlers who seemed a dozen a dime, in this colony. Somewhere far away, if one really strained their ears, they could hear what seemed like a quarrel between two old women. Then again, one could also lose themselves in the the soothing yet lost melody, as the widow who lived in the last hut on the left tried sing away her sorrows. To one eye, it appeared a perfect scenario. To another, almost an eerie calm before the storm..

And a pleasant evening it still was, when Ni'mah came skipping in to her home. She hurried to her mother, who was busy in the little portion of the hut that had been designated as the kitchen area. "Ammi Jaan" she said, "My teacher called me very good today. I wrote the entire tables of 9 before everyone else." "Hmm, that's good. Your abba will be very happy" replied Shafana. Disappointed with not having received the excited response she wanted, Ni'mah continued, "Nobody else did it for ten minutes after i finished. The teacher said i was very smart!" Lost in her own thoughts, Shafana again absently replied "Very good, sweetheart." Disappointed, Ni'mah turned towards the door and was about to exit, when she saw Ahmed jaan running through the colony, screaming at the top of his lungs..

At first, it seemed like he was being chased by the scourges of hell themselves, but soon, as he got closer and closer, Shafana heard the commotion and joined her daughter at the door. 'They're coming.. They're here..' he seemed to be shouting. 'Who is here?' wondered Ni'mah to herself. She turned to ask her mother, but stopped halfway when she noticed the expression on her mother's face. Shafana was shocked. She had heard of all the mobs which were victimising Muslims, but she had prayed fervently to Allah, that they would never come this way. She had heard too many horrifying stories of how the mobs had destroyed & desecrated entire families to be able to keep courage and she felt her feet give way..

Being the bright girl she was, Ni'mah immediately ran over, picked up some water and sprinkled it on the face of her mother, who regained consciousness, appearing ten years older than she had done ten minutes before.
"What happened, ammi?"
"Nothing sweetheart, nothing. I must be tired. I didn't eat properly in the afternoon."
"Ammi, what was Ahmed jaan saying? Who is coming?"
"Ni'mah, my dear, you know that your abba and I love you a lot, right? You're the prettiest, smartest girl in the world."
"Ammi, tell me.. who is coming?"
"*sigh* It's the Hindus. They're coming in mobs. It'll be alright. Don't worry."
"Ammi, why are they coming? Why would i worry?"
"Nothing sweetheart. Some people did very bad things to Hindus on a train. Some of them think that every muslim should be punished. Don't worry, nothing will happen to us, Allah will protect us.."
"But ammi, doesn't Allah get angry with people who do bad things? Isn't that what abba keeps telling me? And even my teacher at school tells us that Hindus, Muslims, Christians and everybody else is equal. Isn't it, ammi?"
*sob*
"Ammi, why are you crying?"
"Nothing, Ni'mah, nothing. Yes, you're right. Allah does not like people who do bad things. He will punish whoever did any wrong to anyone. But the Hindus do not believe in Allah. They have become blind with anger. Allah will protect us. Allah will forgive them.."
"But ammi, even if they don't believe in Allah.. is it still not wrong to do bad to others. Aren't they still human?"

Before Shafana could reply, screams began to escalate through the colony. From the doorway, Shafana could see men dressed as priests and whatnot dragging out women from the homes, striking them mercilessly. Then, she noticed something which froze her in horror at the sheer magnitude of the vulgarity. Afsana, her friend's 12 year old daughter was stripped naked and being passed around amongst the wolfish mob, who, it appeared by the dancing lights of their torches, had developed vulpine teeth and devilish horns. Afsana's mother lay nearby, her clothes in shreds and some hairy beast on top of her, while more beasts with greedy eyes surrounded the scene like vultures, waiting for their share of the spoils.

Quickly bolting the door, Shafana huddled in the corner with the now silent Ni'mah, saying all her prayers, hoping that the mob would not come their way. She thought of how much she loved Ni'mah, her abba and how much he owed to him. She thought of what she had just seen and though she wanted to throw up, she couldn't muster the courage to move from the corner she was huddled in. Much though she tried, she couldn't get the scene out of her head. All of a sudden, the scene seemed suddenly surreal and she saw Ni'mah in place of Afsana.. Overcome with disgust, she tried to push the image out of her mind. But before she could, she saw vivid images of herself, knife in hand, trying to fight away the beasts, and seeing that there were too many, putting the knife through her daughter's heart, feeling like it was going through her own..

Ni'mah, who was already shivering, shuddered as there were loud thuds on the door. She could hear chants in praise of the Hindu gods outside. She didn't want to go out. She wanted the door to remain closed, forever. It felt very comfortable in the warm embrace of her mother. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother grab the kitchen knife. Was she going to fight away the bad people? As the thumping increased, the door began to give way. As it slowly but surely started to move out of its hinges, Ni'mah's heart began to pound and she turned to look at her mother. Her mother was crying, very clearly. And then she noticed something peculiar. Her mother's hand, holding the knife seemed to be raised. It was now moving down, it seemed, towards Ni'mah's heart and she slowly watched it come closer and closer..

Photo credit: http://outhouseworldphoto.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/muslim-malaygirl/

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 - Hands on!

After a lazy kicked-back saturday afternoon at chai point with 'rj ranjaan', i was finally off on my way to the Goldfinch hotel, for my first indiblogger meet, ever. Little did i know, as i bounced on the balls of my feet in excitement, that i would be stuffed into one of those shiny local buses with overly loud telugu/tamil/kannada cinema blaring through the speakers before i got there. But got there i did.

Now, i'm not a person who likes wasting too much time when i'm somewhere with a purpose (which, sadly, doesn't seem to apply to my general life) and off i set, charging straight to the point where the galaxy tabs were being doled out. Sadly enough, i didn't manage to land my hands on one right away. So, off it was, to the presentation by sarfaraz, which, given that it was an informal saturday afternoon, was pretty much all that could have been asked for. Free sweatshirts flowed through the halls, like the rain did through the streets outside. And some delicioso high-tea and "performance" discussions later, i finally had my hands on one of those beauties.

At the very outset, it was clear as day that the bright screen was something worth drooling over. (see what i did there? heh.) The display was definitely better than any i had ever seen. Trust me, held it wayy close to my eyes and checked. The pixel density of 149 ppi really pays off here and makes it the perfect device to use if you want to watch a movie/show on a bus ride. Another thing, quite akin to the iPad 2 was the lightness and the overall feel. The Galaxy Tab so light, it made me weigh my phone twice, just to compare. Throw in a classy finish as well and you're in for a certain visual delight.

Another thing very important to me is my music. And i certainly would appreciate the comfort of being able to keep my ipod/walkman at home some day, for some reason, knowing that the galaxy tab would be right there for me. Out came the XB-300s for a test ride. And i wasn't disappointed, at all. While i did not manage to figure out a way to edit the levels of bass and treble, the galaxy tab still provided me with better quality on music than my laptop did. Thumbs up, there.

As far as the performance was concerned, everything seemed to run smooth, even when i was streaming music through the browser in the background, using a 'live' wallpaper and using the integrated gmaps. The browser, in itself, was laudable, having adobe flash 10.2 and rendering websites pretty much the same as on a full-blown computer. Another lovely feature, from earlier, is the way e-books can be read almost like real ones, turning of pages et al included. Of course, the readers hub may take a while to catch on, but it's definitely a healthy addition.

There was one tiny blackspot, however, as the touchscreen seemed to fail to respond a couple of times, not more than once on each occasion though. However, this slight tardiness in responding to touch may very well be something which can be made a non-issue with a particular way of touching the screen. And, maybe, just maybe, samsung could have let the android music player as stock, rather than integrating it with the touchwiz ux. Still, overall, a very healthy competitor for the tab market. Gonna run the iPad close, this one is.