Some stories are meant to be told, some stories are meant to be read but some stories come up from memories, they are ones that are unsaid and untold and remain a secret and are the best ones that anyone could have... Each day goes by without even thinking of things that once remained at the top of the list until one fine day the dust clears up giving you nostalgia and the only thing that would be left with you would be the memories and a single tear drop..... The thought in your mind would be what could you have done differently for things to have been better than what it is now and your brain would signal back blank messages and you would be awe struck by the reality and it hurts... It hurts the maximum when you hit the ground with all the might gravity could ever offer..............
One busy rainy summer afternoon in Bangalore, All Raghu could do was to just sit there in his cubicle, read his old chats and stare out of his window at the rain.... Thinking why does google even save his chats, why did he have to open his old chats to search for some link his friend sent him the previous day all these questions all these questions of why, who, when and how kept ringing as his Manager kept calling out for him....
Manager: Raghu man we need you here there is a damn production defect....
Raghu: still reeling out from the euphoria turned swiftly wiping the only drop of tear and got into his work...
Things were not the same for Raghu as they were now..... After fixing the defect he got up from his seat and went to his Managers cubicle but on his way his eyes as they were trained to do so all the time glanced upon an empty cubicle.... Emptiness is all that he had left in him.... He had friends he had money he had a good life but then the glance at the empty cubicle made his gut feel sick of emptiness and churn out the bile into his stomach...
As soon as he was done with work with great difficulty he managed to get back into his chats which lasted a mile long.... Dont know why but he had a smile a mile long as he shut down his workstation and headed back home with a thought that he had some huge amount of reading to do.... Fiddling through the traffic he could reach home just in time to catch his son Arjun go to sleep.... He had hardly spent time with his family with the amount of work he was doing his beautiful wife Rekha was astonished to see Raghu actually coming early from office that evening.... As they went to bed Raghu promised her he would take care of Arjun the next day and would spend all the time with family at home as Rekha had some shopping to do....
After turning from one side to another the insomnia kept him awake.... So he decided to do something rather than lie down and think... He quickly powered up his laptop and logged into google and started looking at his chats right to the beginning.... The beginning of time it could be called the 9th of June 2010... The date of EVOLUTION.... He just saw the date as Rekha woke up with light from the laptop she got up complaining you cant stay away from that thing and snatched his laptop away and stashed it away.... Raghu then reluctantly went back to bed and lying down thinking of the day that changed his life and went into his emptiness then into a deep sleep........
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Illuminated...
A temple near office... Had my camera while riding back home and had to click this... :)
Monday, May 10, 2010
Vantage Point (PART 3) : THE LADY
War had changed her life, at every phase of life when she was just about to stand up and walk straight war would change it all. First it was her Father who was sacrificed in the name of war, then her brother and then her husband. Now it was just her and her 2 little kids. It couldn't have been more worse for Zainab as she was walking to the market to buy some provision. She had left her two kids playing on their own in her old beat down house.
It was starting to get dark as she walked to the market. The whole village was sorta disturbed after the banished ones arrived. All of them knew that war was coming and would get back to their houses before it got dark and would stay out of sight to save their own lives. That dreadful day Zainab dint have any provisions left in her house to feed her kids and herself and wanted to buy something to make some dinner for themselves. She wanted to just rush to the market and buy the stuff and get back as soon as possible.
But as she was just nearing the market disaster struck, she heard similar noises of some bees whizzing past after banging noises and then a huge blast.. It was war again, she could hear bullets flying past her as an instinct she just ran into the nearest shop for cover without being aware of her surroundings. All Zainab could see were the cover of the shop as she ran blindly towards it she dint see the militant who was running towards her and almost bumped into him. He was one of the banished ones who came into their village and took everything. No one ever questioned them as they knew what would happen if they did.
As far as Zainab was concerned she wanted nothing more than the safety of herself and her kids. She was the only one the kids had and all she wanted was to`get back home in one piece to her kids. These were her thoughts as she regained her composure from the bump in she rose to see the Jawans eyes as he was running to get the militant. And then did she realize he was taking aim past her towards the militant who was about to throw a grenade towards them.
All this happened in a fraction of a second, as she ran into the market for cover she heard a gun shot whiz behind her and a second later as she ran through the rear door of the shop BIG LOUD blast hurled her forward as she hit the ground with a big thud and all kinds of shreds fell over her carcass. She thought she was dead as all she could see was bright light and could hear nothing but a buzzing sound that deafened her ears.
Then came the pain which was worse than being dead, she had bruises all over the place from the fall and some burns from the blast. The pain was so much so that she could not move her body an inch and felt like each and every bone in the body was broken to a million pieces. As she managed to turn over and looked into the sky she saw black smoke rising and it felt like she was entering one hell from another.
All she could think of were her kids who would be waiting for her mother to come back to them and would be scared and orphaned if she dint. She was struggling to keep herself awake but the eye lids got heavy on her. The only words that came out of her mouth were,
"Forgive me. God please forgive me."
It was starting to get dark as she walked to the market. The whole village was sorta disturbed after the banished ones arrived. All of them knew that war was coming and would get back to their houses before it got dark and would stay out of sight to save their own lives. That dreadful day Zainab dint have any provisions left in her house to feed her kids and herself and wanted to buy something to make some dinner for themselves. She wanted to just rush to the market and buy the stuff and get back as soon as possible.
But as she was just nearing the market disaster struck, she heard similar noises of some bees whizzing past after banging noises and then a huge blast.. It was war again, she could hear bullets flying past her as an instinct she just ran into the nearest shop for cover without being aware of her surroundings. All Zainab could see were the cover of the shop as she ran blindly towards it she dint see the militant who was running towards her and almost bumped into him. He was one of the banished ones who came into their village and took everything. No one ever questioned them as they knew what would happen if they did.
As far as Zainab was concerned she wanted nothing more than the safety of herself and her kids. She was the only one the kids had and all she wanted was to`get back home in one piece to her kids. These were her thoughts as she regained her composure from the bump in she rose to see the Jawans eyes as he was running to get the militant. And then did she realize he was taking aim past her towards the militant who was about to throw a grenade towards them.
All this happened in a fraction of a second, as she ran into the market for cover she heard a gun shot whiz behind her and a second later as she ran through the rear door of the shop BIG LOUD blast hurled her forward as she hit the ground with a big thud and all kinds of shreds fell over her carcass. She thought she was dead as all she could see was bright light and could hear nothing but a buzzing sound that deafened her ears.
Then came the pain which was worse than being dead, she had bruises all over the place from the fall and some burns from the blast. The pain was so much so that she could not move her body an inch and felt like each and every bone in the body was broken to a million pieces. As she managed to turn over and looked into the sky she saw black smoke rising and it felt like she was entering one hell from another.
All she could think of were her kids who would be waiting for her mother to come back to them and would be scared and orphaned if she dint. She was struggling to keep herself awake but the eye lids got heavy on her. The only words that came out of her mouth were,
"Forgive me. God please forgive me."
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Vantage Point (PART 2) : THE MILITANT
Jihad that was the name we were taught and bred with. We would die for it and martyr our lives for jihad. That was what we were taught and forced to do otherwise they would kill our children and our family. He had to do this otherwise they would kill his family. These were the thoughts running wildly in Ajmal's mind as he was pointing his rickety old AK 47.
He was a farmer living a silent peaceful with his family. He could still remember the dreadful day when they came and took him away and threatened to murder his family if he dint agree to go with them. It was 5 yrs since that happened. Now he was a killing machine with no remorse or mercy. He was bound by no laws of any country the only law he knew was to kill the person he was pointing his gun towards.
Ajmal and 4 others had set out towards this village a month ago on foot with minimal food and shelter. They were supposed to set up shelter in a village that was at a strategic point. Once they set up a base he had to call command centre and more of his martyr brothers would join them there for the war of Independence. It was a dreadful and gruelling journey to the village off the 5 only 3 could make it to the village. Two of his martyr brothers were sacrificed to the treacherous mountains of the Himalayas.
But they had somehow managed to reach the village and contact their command centre when they saw the indian army men walking towards the village. Ajmal was the first to spot them and he alerted the rest of them. Ajmal was thinking it was not supposed to work this way. How did they manage to know that they were here. But nevertheless he knew what had to be done. Their survival depended on the death of 5 army jawans then so be it. So they took point at 3 places and opened fire. With the old guns they had half of the bullets went awry but one bullet from ajmal's gun killed a jawan. But the training of the Jawans and their fire power was much superior to theirs and he helplessly watched the other 2 martyrs getting killed.
He was a farmer living a silent peaceful with his family. He could still remember the dreadful day when they came and took him away and threatened to murder his family if he dint agree to go with them. It was 5 yrs since that happened. Now he was a killing machine with no remorse or mercy. He was bound by no laws of any country the only law he knew was to kill the person he was pointing his gun towards.
Ajmal and 4 others had set out towards this village a month ago on foot with minimal food and shelter. They were supposed to set up shelter in a village that was at a strategic point. Once they set up a base he had to call command centre and more of his martyr brothers would join them there for the war of Independence. It was a dreadful and gruelling journey to the village off the 5 only 3 could make it to the village. Two of his martyr brothers were sacrificed to the treacherous mountains of the Himalayas.
But they had somehow managed to reach the village and contact their command centre when they saw the indian army men walking towards the village. Ajmal was the first to spot them and he alerted the rest of them. Ajmal was thinking it was not supposed to work this way. How did they manage to know that they were here. But nevertheless he knew what had to be done. Their survival depended on the death of 5 army jawans then so be it. So they took point at 3 places and opened fire. With the old guns they had half of the bullets went awry but one bullet from ajmal's gun killed a jawan. But the training of the Jawans and their fire power was much superior to theirs and he helplessly watched the other 2 martyrs getting killed.
Ajmal had to run it was all over nothing could be done now, he was the only survivor at least till now. If he dint leave then he would also have to take his last breathe. So he made a run for it, initially after a 100 metre sprint he thought he was alone but then when he turned to confirm he could see the silhouette of an army officer chanrging towards him with vengeance and speed. He was so captivated with the officer that he almost bumped into this on coming lady who was frightened by the bullets that were flying all around the place. He had to stop that officer, he reached down his fur coat and took out a hand grenade removed the pin and was about to throw it.....
Bannggggg....
He dint know what hit him, it was a flash of light for a fraction of a second, the grenade went astray into the nearby market. That was followed by intense pain and a feeling of failure. Not because he failed his mission, but the failure of letting down his family. His family would be ravaged and murdered now, because he dint succeed. He had let them down, he had failed his promise, he could do nothing. All he saw was the officer who had shot him down looking down upon on his dying body. Taking his last breathe all he could only blurt out was,
"Forgive me. God please forgive me."
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Vantage Point (PART 1) : THE CAPTAIN
War is something that just causes destruction and violence. War changes lives forever, things never come back to normal after war. Well the war against terrorism is no different. Precious human life is lost in the name of jihad, liberalisation and basically to prove a point. These were the last words that ran in captain krishnan's mind as he shot down a militant.
The militant was hurling a grenade at him when he shot him square on the shoulder, the grenade slipped from his hand and went into a nearby market stall and blew up with a huge bang. Captain krishnan was rattled a bit but he immediately regained his composure and ran over to see his opponent and could see the fear in his eyes and could relate to the fear in his own eyes when he was posted to the drass sector.
Captain Vijay krishnan hailed from a small village near madurai coming from a family of farmers all he wanted to be was join the army from childhood. All his dreams and hard work paid when he got into the National Defence Academy. It was his first day on the job, earlier on that D day he got orders saying they had intelligence of Militants infiltrating in a village in Drass sector. He had to take a small outfit and scout the place to get to know the positions of the Militants. Little did he know that a simple combing operation would end up being a disaster earlier that morning.
It was a cold afternoon when Captain Krishnan and 5 other jawans took out off on the jeep towards the village. It was a easily a 3 hour trip thanks to the snow infested roads and slippery roads. They parked the jeep a distance from the village and hiked to the village where disaster was awaiting them. It was a short hike to the village, all the men were exhausted by the time they reached the village. At the beginning the village seemed to be totally empty and there was an air of silence throughout the place which was eerie and sent a chill down Captain krishnan's spine. He had a gut feeling something was wrong and that came true to his horror when a shot rang out of nowhere as blood sprayed all over his face from the jawan walking in front of him. The shot came from one of the windows in the village and they had no sign of warning.
The other jawans and krishnan took cover near by as more shots rang out and bullets hurled out everywhere. Captain Krishnan was facing his first real life threatening situation and he had to get is act right to get the people who just killed on of his men who was under his command. There were 3 positions from where bullets were being fired in the village and decided they would split up in groups of 2's and get the 3 targets separately. Within no time the 2 of the targets were eliminated with utmost expertise. The 3rd target he saw trying to make an escape into the village, so the Captain took off after him shouting orders on his way to maintain a perimeter and watchout for more militants.
As he sprinted after the other militant he caught the gaze of a young woman, she was young but yet had a mature air around her. She could have been a mother of one or may be two kids. He passed her as she came out of a market stall. The sight of the Militant and the Captain after him scared her to death and she raced back inside into the stall she came out from. All this happened in a fraction of a second and while this was happening the militant turned and he had a grenade in his hand without the pin and he was just about to hurl it at Captain Krishnan and he acted accordingly and fired at him. The Bullet pierced the Militant on his shoulders and the grenade went right into the market as Captain Krishnan ducked for cover and the grenade exploded with a huge bang. As the dust cleared Captain Krishnan got up and walked to the militant as he was taking his last breath. The shot was lethal and had hit the shoulder right near the heart and he died almost instantly.
But the death of the Militant dint ease away the pain in his heart as he turned and saw the market stall into which the lady had run into. It was the same stall into which the grenade had landed. It was reduced to rubble and all he could see was rubble and dust all over the place. He cursed himself for what he had done, he could not save an innocent life. He despised himself and shouted in despair.
"Forgive me. God please forgive me."
The militant was hurling a grenade at him when he shot him square on the shoulder, the grenade slipped from his hand and went into a nearby market stall and blew up with a huge bang. Captain krishnan was rattled a bit but he immediately regained his composure and ran over to see his opponent and could see the fear in his eyes and could relate to the fear in his own eyes when he was posted to the drass sector.
Captain Vijay krishnan hailed from a small village near madurai coming from a family of farmers all he wanted to be was join the army from childhood. All his dreams and hard work paid when he got into the National Defence Academy. It was his first day on the job, earlier on that D day he got orders saying they had intelligence of Militants infiltrating in a village in Drass sector. He had to take a small outfit and scout the place to get to know the positions of the Militants. Little did he know that a simple combing operation would end up being a disaster earlier that morning.
It was a cold afternoon when Captain Krishnan and 5 other jawans took out off on the jeep towards the village. It was a easily a 3 hour trip thanks to the snow infested roads and slippery roads. They parked the jeep a distance from the village and hiked to the village where disaster was awaiting them. It was a short hike to the village, all the men were exhausted by the time they reached the village. At the beginning the village seemed to be totally empty and there was an air of silence throughout the place which was eerie and sent a chill down Captain krishnan's spine. He had a gut feeling something was wrong and that came true to his horror when a shot rang out of nowhere as blood sprayed all over his face from the jawan walking in front of him. The shot came from one of the windows in the village and they had no sign of warning.
The other jawans and krishnan took cover near by as more shots rang out and bullets hurled out everywhere. Captain Krishnan was facing his first real life threatening situation and he had to get is act right to get the people who just killed on of his men who was under his command. There were 3 positions from where bullets were being fired in the village and decided they would split up in groups of 2's and get the 3 targets separately. Within no time the 2 of the targets were eliminated with utmost expertise. The 3rd target he saw trying to make an escape into the village, so the Captain took off after him shouting orders on his way to maintain a perimeter and watchout for more militants.
As he sprinted after the other militant he caught the gaze of a young woman, she was young but yet had a mature air around her. She could have been a mother of one or may be two kids. He passed her as she came out of a market stall. The sight of the Militant and the Captain after him scared her to death and she raced back inside into the stall she came out from. All this happened in a fraction of a second and while this was happening the militant turned and he had a grenade in his hand without the pin and he was just about to hurl it at Captain Krishnan and he acted accordingly and fired at him. The Bullet pierced the Militant on his shoulders and the grenade went right into the market as Captain Krishnan ducked for cover and the grenade exploded with a huge bang. As the dust cleared Captain Krishnan got up and walked to the militant as he was taking his last breath. The shot was lethal and had hit the shoulder right near the heart and he died almost instantly.
But the death of the Militant dint ease away the pain in his heart as he turned and saw the market stall into which the lady had run into. It was the same stall into which the grenade had landed. It was reduced to rubble and all he could see was rubble and dust all over the place. He cursed himself for what he had done, he could not save an innocent life. He despised himself and shouted in despair.
"Forgive me. God please forgive me."
Monday, April 26, 2010
Manipal Revisited... Day 2: Madikeri to Mangalore
Day 2(April 2nd 2010)
The day started with us waking up at 6 so that we could leave
The day started with us waking up at 6 so that we could leave
early, but then it turned out to be that we were gonna get late... We visited Sunil's uncles place near the Home stay and with some more off roading that was the perfect way to start off the day... :)
After the visit we got ready and we started towards Manipal, the ride down from coorg was beautiful, some awesome mountains and the roads were all winding so did some foot scrapings... Me and Abhi shot off initially then i took off leaving the guys behind... After some hiccups of Sunils dome breaking off we managed to reach Sullya by 11... We had to refuel here and pick up some cash... After the refuelling our Ice cream man Abhi found an ice cream stall near the petrol bunk so we had ice cream and other stuff... ;) After the snack break we found that Abhi's bike had gotten punctured so we got delayed by an hour...
After getting the puncture fixed we again left and this time me and sunil took off... Again some amazing winding roads... We stopped just before Mangalore for some tender coconut and then managed to cross Mangalore by about 1... The bus gang had already reached Manipal and were getting restless for our arrival... We decided to stop for lunch at Bittu da dhaba at about 20 kms from Manipal where we hogged like hungry dogs... :) Finally we managed to reach Manipal at around 5 and reached Tiger circle where the reunion of the boys happened... :) Then we went to Chira's place to freshen up and go to the fest which apparently we came for... While a few guys were freshening up i was narrating on the happenings of the ride to the other guys bringing them upto speed...
We went to the fest after everyone got ready and it was a complete disaster... The fashion was boring and the dances were horrible... But we guys had a ball dancing and shouting for everything... No one was sitting next to us with the amount of noise we were making... Pity the guy who came and asked me which college we are from and my prompt reply saying "BTMT dude" and we all burst out laughing our backs off... Finally we got bored with the stupid fashion show so we decided to start our own party back at Chira's place... :) And so the party began with all the arguments and discussion after the booze we laughed like crazy... The star of that night's show was the newbie Karthik... Sunil was tripping on him royally with his GG rantings...
Half of the guys crashed after dinner, while Me, BK, Chira, Suppu and Karthik were talking about all kinds of random things... Till we crashed outselves by about 4 30 in the morning... ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Manipal Revisited... Day 1: Bangalore to Madikeri
It was a much awaited ride for all of us and a much awaited trip for the others... Yes the group was split open this time around, 5 of us decided to ride down and the other 5 decided to come by bus... So the stage was all set for us to leave the riding group was Me(Thuderbird), Sunil(Unicorn), Abhi(Apache), Bharavi(CBZ extreme) and Babu(Blue Splendor 125 cc) the other unfortunate 5 were BK, Supreeth, Pradeep, Rajanna and the new guy Karthik... The bus guys had booked their tickets to leave on 1st night and we were supposed to leave on 1st afternoon which eventually turned out to become evening...
Day 1(April 1st 2010):
I had packed my luggage the previous night itself and woke up early and went to the new Mantri mall for some shopping for my shoes and a T shirt for Joseph (Suman's gift for her wedding anniversary)... After hogging at the new Taco bell at the mall searched for some shoes and finally found a pair of Nike...
I also had to pick up my new pair of boots from shivaji nagar but alas the guy had not got the boots yet so couldnt get the new ones for the ride... After shivaji nagar i headed back home and geared up and got my saddles done and left to sunils place by 2... We were already late and Abhi would meet up with us by 4 so we decided to waste sometime and as well leave with Abhi... Bharavi was already at sunils place so we were playing with Sumans kid and had some chai... Finally we left at 4 and met up with Abhi at the Bangalore university gate only to find that our man Babu had shot ahead to some god forbidden location just to find a petrol bunk which was right in front of the university gate... Finally we got going after finding Babu waving at us wildly some where 20 kms from BU...
Incidentally there was very little traffic on mysore road for a long weekend, neverthless it was good for us... We were doing good speeds I was leading the way while Bharavi and Babu were right behind me and Abhi and Sunil were at the back... Looking into my rear view mirror was scary with babu riding like a snake at the mid line almost got run down by oncoming vehicles... First stop we took was just before the shrirangapatnam cross towards Madikeri... After some gyan sessions to Babu and Bharavi to ride properly we hit the road again and by this time it started to get dark... We were again doing good speeds and i decided to ride at the end of the pack so that i can baby sit Babu and Bharavi...
Next stop was just before hunsur at the Nagarhole junction... We had some coffee and some freshening up and another gyan session to Babu to ride carefully we left to madikeri... This was a super nice night ride... It was like a trail of light moving in a trained manner under the dark star lit sky... Every now and then i switched off my head lights to enjoy just the sky it was psychedelic and amazing to ride without head lights in the dark... Hit some bad patch of roads at Madikeri and finally managed to reach the homestay at 11 after a couple of scares from Bharavi who went off the road on a couple of curves and Babu with his usual stupid stunts and the final 5 kms off roading in the night to reach the homestay... :) 
Partied in the night with campfire and some bantering and teasing of babu... Abhi was in all form who literally started hitting babu... Some of pearls of wisdom when the boys are high... :)
Abhi to Babu, Yeno nindu bari height nandu weight bega kudiyo loper (You just have height i have weight Drink fast u idiot)
Babu who drank the first time says we all forced him into drinking... Babu drank 3 pegs of vodka and says we forced him... :)
After Babu told us the sad story of how he lost his mobile, Bharavi's retort "Dude babu I dont understand why u cried after loosing your fone"
Sunil "Maga naale Manipal hogbeka,BK ge call madi ille barakke helbidona"(Do we have to go to manipal tomorrow, lets call BK and ask him to come here)
So after the campfire died out and the boys ran out of the booze we had our dinner and crashed for the night as we had a long day of riding the next day.. Yes we decided to leave to Manipal the next day... :)
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