Sounds of Cheeen-Cheeen

“Cheeen-Cheeen-Cheeen-Cheeen”………aaah…wow, what a beautiful day today, bright sunshine, clear calm pristine aesthetic blue sky, cool soothing touchy breeze, all makes it worth being a bird. From the top of this banyan branch everything looks green and gorgeous, the transparent river beneath is tempting, fishes inside are chasing each other describing an act of happiness, and to add to the beauty of all, we all are chirping, though in misalignment, though in disagreement, though in different pitches, though in our own scripted notes, but still making the peaceful sounds of “Cheeen-Cheeen-Cheeen-Cheeen.”
…….“dwhoooommmhff…….” and all of us fly in tandem from our resting branches, we don’t know what this colossal yet privy sound means, but still we react and fly, its as if we are stitched to the occult tyrannies of this loud sound which makes us fly every time…….
We all took off together making rhythmic scenes, and as we were all busy grooming the sky, I saw him, I saw him flying with us on the other side of the flock, I admire him for his divine looks, he is a handsome bird, we have named him Charming, and he is my prince charming, I love him. He knows it too, our small eye-chats are enough (we can’t speak you see, we only make noises, though you can just realize it now, but will soon feel it too) and tonight when we stop at some tree, I will rest in his nest, I will let him know it beyond the eyes, I will make him feel warm, and wonderful…….Amen.
We settled on another green and bushy tree, and I waited for my flock members to put their noses or mandibles inside their feathers and sleep. At the peek time I went to him, we exchanged looks and that was it, it was the signal. He jumped and came close, I jumped and moved further, there was excitement, there was suddenness, and jumping forward went on till there was no room left for further jump, I could hear my heart thumping out of my breast as he opened his feathers completely and stopped my heart in that ‘long by bird standard’ hug. I was inside him, I could feel the warmth, I could feel the protection, I could feel the transition from two to one. Whatever happened further is either impossible to describe or the description is beyond the limits of English alphabet.
After beginning there is end, after war there is peace, after sound there is echo, after night there is day, and after a beautiful night there is a beautiful day. Again I fall victim to limits of English alphabet (and there rearrangements) to let you know what a gem of a morning it was when I saw him sleeping over me, when he saw me noticing him, I wish I could expand the limits and make you believe it, when we woke up next morning, everyone was chirpy and happy, every bird was happy, every leaf, every flower, every dew, every grass, every bush was happily blushing, it wasn’t just us, but looked like the whole world had made out last night.
“…Cheeen-Cheeen-Cheeen-Cheeen”…… “…… dwhoooommmhff…….” and we all fly from our morning branches. Again in tandem, again grooming the sky, but something was different- Charming and me flew as a couple today, first time on the same side of the flock, first time together, it was a special feeling, we did some naughty stuff, touched each other with feathers and blushed our way ahead. As our flock settled on some another tree, we escaped to a nearby TV tower to have some time in privacy.
On the top of a zigzag labyrinth of iron rods, romancing were a couple, and they were very happy, not just because they were together, but because after zero there is one, after one there is two, and after two there is plenty…yes, you are right, I was pregnant.
“ …… dwhoooommmhff…….” and I flew up but he went down, tumbling, rolling and hitting the iron rods beneath, he fell down, showering the grass red with his blood he was screaming in affliction, he was looking at me lying red on the ground, I saw my flock flying away from a distant tree, my angel was down, my Charming was shot by a gun, my Charming was no more, my Charming was dead. Oh please, oh lord please don’t do it, oh my Charming, how do I help you, how do I even make the sounds of “HELP”, I now, fall victim to the limits of bird sounds, you bloody humans, you can do all, you can even make the “help” sounds, you have all the sounds, you have all the powers, you have all the guns, you even have my Charming now, you have all, still you need us, the speechless creatures, you have all, oh you bloody humans…
With enormous pain, affliction, sorrow, emptiness, disgust, anger and a pair of eggs inside me, I flew to catch my flock. Now I am more than stitched to that tyrant colossal sound, but it’s no more a mystery to me, I know whenever on listening to this sound we fly in tandem with happiness and enthusiasm, one of us looses a mate.
I see my Charming in every human now, not all are hunters but rest use our skin on their skin, they all are murderers. Its not just about birds, its about killing of all animals, when humans forget that animals have life too, they kill for numerous reasons, be it a jacket or a coat, for food, for shoes, for blankets, for sweaters, for decoration pieces, for anything and everything, sometimes for fun, sometimes just like that. No one realizes it when buying a product of that sort, infact they doubt the shopkeeper and ask questions like “is it original leather?” But I know you don’t consume such animal products, you don’t even eat a bird for that sake, you are not the killer, you are a good human being, thank you.......... By the way, nice belt..... How much did it cost you? Some bucks or a Charming?

Left Right Left !

-dedicated to my dearest friend.



Gandhiji k teen Bandar. Don’t see, hear or speak bad. Excuse me, what? what did you just say? “Bad”? Well Mr. Gandhi, I think you died before explaining the word “bad”. If anyone can please define it for me, Yes I hear someone screamed it’s the absence of “good”. Well dude I hope you don’t die before explaining the word “good”. Let us give a little break here and think, can we completely define any of the above terms without using the other? Are these terms mutually dependent? Just like light and darkness, heat and cold, god and evil, win and loose, top and bottom, left and right?

No, I am not accusing Gandhiji of telling us an incomplete story, (I can’t match his vision) or even if I am, is it bad? Or even if it is, are you judging? Or even if you are, do I care? {}

But that is the way we are, as children we were told by our mothers that a “bhoot” or “baba ” will eat us if we don’t behave properly or disturb her, we took it as true (just like we took teen Bandar story as complete). But now we know that no such “bhoot” or “baba” will eat us, we are mature now, or should I say mature enough , because mature is another relative term.

In similar case, we take the people, who attacked our country, as bad people; we take them wrong, or evil. Why? Because we are educated enough (don’t forget ‘enough’) to see what is good and what is bad, we think we got the right education (don’t forget ‘right’) which taught us not to kill anyone, so we are allowed to judge. But education is just like Gandhiji’s half told story, as we forget that if we were also born and brought up in those military camps, we would also be doing the same, we would also be killing people, because we are programmed to believe in “babas” and “bhoots”. Of course ‘bhoots’ and ‘babas’ would change.

But that is the way we think, we believe in absolutism, we don’t even try to filter our thoughts, we choose to run, run against time, never realizing that the only absolute thing we depend upon i.e time, is also relative. Yes, “a second” is not always a second old. We all know it, but never realize it.

Ok it might have gone a little boring (don’t forget ‘little’) and redundant. In short; I don’t want you to discover complexity when witnessing simplicity, I don’t want you to discover sorrow when witnessing happiness, I want you to think why autumn is your favorite weather, I want you to see things from the top, learn how not to judge but to analyze, to see both left and right standing either ways.

I think this story is complete and not half told, or is it? Well, you know what to do {]

The Bomber Man

-thoughts of a suicide bomber before exploding.




My chest is chained and is locked,
I am wearing a jacket which I can’t take off,
I see kids playing in the ground,
I see people traveling in the train,
Please, I will result in huge sounds,
Pull down that chain.

I was a poor man whole my life,
But now I will be rich, or at least my wife,
I have been hired in an army, I am a soldier,
I am huge now, with responsibility on my shoulder,
My first stint is now, I know its my last too,
No I am not afraid, its because I know what I am upto,

I don’t want to do this, I know its not right,
But some rules say “right side is the wrong side”,
So, we choose left to avoid collision,
To my right is collision, to my left is explosion.
Let it be, if you can close your eyes,
I can act being wise.

No one knows about my locked jacket,
No one knows I have trigger in my pocket,
I have just kissed my son goodbye,
Who kept holding my finger, as if giving it a try,
Perhaps with money truth will not stay longer,
Perhaps my son will never know his father was a suicide bomber,
What do I do, I am unable to defend the attacker,
I am nothing, just a “lighter holding cracker”

Letter from Arjun

Hi,
My name is Arjun "xyz", I am 12 yrs old and male since birth. One very important thing I would like to mention before we move further,that I am writing this letter from future.
Yes, you are a good "abc" yrs back in time. What? I am in which year? Well, not mentioning the exact time and the exact caste/sirname is my game.

I know what u must be wandering, how can someone write a letter from future? Well my dear GPs (we call our grandparents GPs) answer is with you, I am in future, and getting into technical details would make this letter a sci-fi. I also know you are growing up, chasing me, but take serious advice, don’t grow, nothing has changed over abc years, don’t believe me? Ok just pay attention, over the following facts:
America is still dominating all the countries
Our country leaders are still the same (if I forgot to mention I am in India)
Sachin Tendulkar is still the best batsmen in world
Salman Khan is still single and his movies still rock.
and if by chance you are in 2010, just to tell you nothing happened to Mr. kalmadi!

So, I study in class 5th, and today I had a usual day, but just thought of writing to you, oh I forgot to mention one thing, we still have reservations for various castes and classes.

So I got up this morning, and realized that there was no water in the tap, my dad reminded me that its Thursday today, and our category people do not have the reservations for water on Thursdays.
How stupid am I, it happens every Thursday and then I have to remind my dad that we don’t get newspapers as well on Thursdays .

Then we drove to my school, after stopping at traffic lights, waiting for our category light to go green.
Finally, I reached my school "pqr" minutes late, (yes my game is still on) but thankfully wasn’t punished today, but was made to sit back on the last bench, not as consequence of reaching late, but as a consequence of the reservations. Then an important announcement was made by our Thursday-monitor that tomorrow will be a national holiday for "ijk" caste, I didn’t know what kind of national holiday was that.

I reached home late, due to obvious reasons; our category lights were the lasts to go green, and then these things kept happening throughout the day, I could not play, cartoon channels were blocked, dad also got late coming home, and finally there was power cut.

After having candle lit dinner with my united family, it was time for my homework, and just after the following thing happened I started writing you this letter.

The first question I had to solve was-
1. India is a secular state, True or False?

A DOZEN BY TWENTY-FOUR BANANAS

Few days back, I was at Ghaziabad railway station, late afternoon; I had to catch my train to Saharanpur . Like any railway station in India, Ghaziabad station is also dirty with an unhygienic outlook. Normally I would grab a coke and listen to music, pretending I am not there, ignoring the mendicants, the destitute, the handicaps around me, because over the years I haven’t been able to gather enough courage to witness these diversities of life, to actually have the guts to look into these guys. But this did not happen today, I forgot to put my earphones and was stranded looking at the scenes around me.

I was looking at a family where three small kids half naked, were lying on the platform, and a women, most probably their mother, very lean and thin, her thin arms coming out of her blouse sleeves looked like a bamboo hanging out from a tent, she was breast feeding another of her child, and I wandered what else was left inside her to be transferred. Then someone tapped me from behind, a poor girl around 7 or 8, carrying a baby in her hands, asking me for some money, I am very bad at ignoring poor girls, I gave her 10 bucks, don’t know why, whether I wanted her to go away and eat, or I wanted her to just go away and help me not facing the reality, don’t know I was good or I was coward.

There was another family, a good rich Punjabi looking family, not only the look but the language too made them look Punjabi, they were having a good time eating bananas and sharing a joke or two. One of the family kids gave his banana to a dog, since the dog was giving him a dogs typical “please give some to me” look. Perhaps the dog did not like the taste of banana as it ate only half of it, and left the rest on the platform, then to my biggest shock, a poor child, with all of mother earths dirt on his body ,who was noticing all of this, came running and picked the same left over banana and started eating it……………

It happened a week back, but I am still not over it. Guys, I appeal to all of you, please do not waste any food, it is very precious, so next time when you leave food at some restaurant or your canteen, do remember there is something better you can do with the food.......