Wish

There was blood that night, with pain and sweat
And each jagged rock would draw some more
As they eased their way into his every step,
Until they’d take all his blood away.

He continued the climb unhindered by pain-
Wounded flesh is dead to a sore mind.
He knew the end was not too far
And his prayers would be answered good.

The temple of the gods was now in sight
With its great iron gate dwarfing the sky
And walls of black stone capturing the moon.
His prayers would be answered tonight.

As he dragged his dying body within
He mouthed a prayer to appease the lord
And looking to the heavens, he said out loud,
“This is my wish. Just let it be!”

There was thunder and there was rain
The ink was torn by battling clouds
Waters froze and the wind howled.
The dying man took shelter and he smiled.

He began his return along the same path
Now glistening in the moon, red, with blood
Fresh wounds were made and now there was pain–
To the fulfilled mind, every pin a sword.

He returned home as a contented man.
Once his dream, was now for real
He knew he needed nothing else in life.
That was the day the Wish-giver smiled.

For he knew no wish is a wish forever.
A granted wish changes the world we know
In such a way we cannot yet perceive
Until we no longer want the change.

A few days later, an unfulfilled man died.

Pissing On The Motherland

Surely, no one has missed the fact that I have been going around India's Weirdest Places with the enthusiasm of  the quintessential nomad. And I am sure that I've told you innumerable times already about how beautiful it is to speak to the wind and dance with the sunset. Well, I keep putting stuff like that on Facebook and somehow end up getting more likes than some people announcing the arrival of their first-born! (It's time to revise the algorithm, Mark.) Anyway, I digress. While I hurl all the routine stories into cyberspace via social networks, I reserve the more important ones for a more sacred, rather respected area, viz. this blog. (Bah, who am I kidding... I'm going to post this link on Facebook anyway!)

It so happens that all interesting stories involve other human beings, and this story is no different. This tale is about the Indian Idol (II) and his three sidekicks; the Prophetic Arab (PA), the Intelligent NRI (IN) and I. Alone, each one of us wasn't somebody you would take notice of... But together? Together, it was like the Justice League.

The story begins at Samalkota Railway Station, Andhra Pradesh - sometime early in the morning. It was no different from any other Indian train station: a poor woman was sweeping the dirt off the platform, the old rag-picker had collapsed in the sun after collecting two bagfuls of empty water bottles and plastic bags, and a bunch of gutka-chewing fellows were busy ogling at the backside of the young lady who had just walked into the station.

Upon entering, PA asked, "Hey, do you guys mind waiting a little bit... I'll just light this cigarette?"

II (scandalized): "Whoa whoa... We have rules in India, man. No smoking in public areas - it's injurious to health. We are health conscious, unlike many other countries."

IN (in agreement): "Yes, yes... Even in Singapore, it's like this."

The arab shrugs and says, "Alright then, let's go catch the train!" And so we went.

While three of us took the long, arduous path up and down the overhead bridge to reach platform number three, Indian Idol simply jumped onto the tracks and strolled across in style. As we reached him, a little out of breath, he flashed us a wise smile.

II: "You fools... You guys climbed all the way up. I just walked across. See? Being Indian is about being smart."

PA: "Isn't that breaking the rules as well - just like the 'No Smoking' rule you talked about so proudly?"

II (in defiance): "You tell me where it's written... Where does it say I cannot cross the tracks?"

PA looks around. Alas, there is no board. The Idol smiles, very content with the happenings so far.

Then the NRI says - "In Singapore... And in most western countries, we have escalators! This is horrible. What are we? Animals?"

Hungry as we were, I bought a few samosas and chilly bajjis from the nearby IRCTC counter. All four of us were soon munching in a hurry, trying to finish off the food before the train arrived. Upon finishing, the Indian Idol promptly rolled the paper plates together in a ball and dropped them on the floor. The arab was pretty scandalized by the behaviour and bent to pick it up...

II: "Hey, what are you doing?"

PA: "There's a dust-bin right there man... I'll put the plates there! We really shouldn't litter the platform."

II (laughing) : "That's not our job, man! That's hers." He points at the shabbily dressed woman sweeping the floor.

PA: "Come on, man... She's tired and she's doing so much work already. We can do this much, right?"

II: "You foreigners will never understand, man. If you clean up behind yourself, then what work will she have?! She will be unemployed!"

PA: "Are you crazy?! If everyone cleans up behind themselves, then she wouldn't be a cleaner... She'd be doing something more worthwhile - contributing something else to society."

II: "These people are illiterate. They don't know anything. What work will they do? They can do cleaning work only. Let them do their job."

IN (cutting in to the conversation): "In Singapore, they have fines for littering in public. You can't even spit in public... They can put you in prison for that! I don't know why they don't have such measures in India. Stupid government!"

PA: "You are saying that you will continue this behaviour until the day they threaten you with fines?"

II: "In India, there are so many people... Without Government rules, how can anything change? Even if I change, what is the point? One billion more people will do the same thing... You won't understand, man."

By now, we realize that the train is late. The Intelligent NRI is outraged! This would never have happened in Singapore.

IN (looking at his watch): "Disgusting. Disgusting."

I (trying to calm him down): "Chill man... It'll be here in a while."

IN: "This isn't the way they should treat us. Trains are late, stations are dirty... there are no toilets. Tell me, where's the toilet here?"

I: "Must be on platform one... Or maybe, there's another one at the other end of this one!"

IN: "This is horrible. Why can't they space them out properly? This never happens in the west."

I: "If you want to go the toilet, go ahead man. I'm sure the train will take a little while longer."

Indian Idol (interrupts): "No, no... Don 't do that. You can piss right here."

PA (mortified at the suggestion): "Here?!"

II (laughing) : "Yeah, man. On the tracks... We're men. We don't need to go into hiding to pee! Look at that man over there!"

Yes, there was a man over there who was emptying his bladder into the air in front of him.

PA: "You guys object to me smoking in public and then piss in the open? I'm never going to understand this."

II: "It's simple man... If you smoke, it harms people around you. It's scientifically proven. But my piss hurt nobody!" Everyone laughs.

"Okay then, are you going to join me or not?" says the Idol. "Come on, man... There's nothing to be afraid of. You should never hold it in! It's not good for health."

IN: "You are right... Thank god this isn't Singapore. I'd be punished for such behaviour, there."

And so they pissed with a true sense of freedom.

Goodbye, Blue Sky.

I know what you're thinking. The fool who is touring India's most godforsaken places has written another post, probably moping after a 23rd peaceful February 14th. Let me assure you that albeit there was a post I wanted to write on V-Day, I missed my shot at that. So this is about something entirely different.

On February 12th, year of the lord 2012, I quit Facebook. Although I'm certain I'll be back in the crazy blue world, the battle has been won and it feels great to have defeated the system and exited the Matrix. (It's too bad I don't have Facebook to tell people how great this feels)

On Monday, my last status message on Facebook read, "Facebook, I have defeated you. Although you've made it so difficult for us to leave, I've said my goodbyes already. There's nothing you can do now: this Abhimanyu is escaping the Charkavyuh." (or something to that effect) The status hung in there only for fifteen minutes and although I'm certain it'd have gone on to become one of the great statuses of all time, gathering a hundred likes with ease, I realized that staying on FB just to see the ticker going crazy would defeat the entire point of the exercise.

Need For Change


There are days when I regret leaving the social network for it has become almost the sole way to keep in touch with all those second tier friends you love and stalk. We never lose touch with people we put in the "Close Friends" circle, with Facebook or without. What are phones for, eh? It's the people just outside the circle that we risk losing if and when we finally decide to take the leap. And then again, there are cute people of the opposite sex who're the engines of the networking site, really. Everybody lives in hope that suddenly, out-of-the-frikkin-blue, something that refuses to happen in real-life will happen in the online world, where you'll hit it off with the perfect stranger. Bah, humbug.


Well, I know quite a few couples who actually did meet of Facebook - so it's not entirely impossible... What I'm being critical off is the amount of time we invest on a virtual platform, trying to look better than we actually are. And then, there's the free time. No, actually there isn't - because Facebook eats up all your free time. Zuckerberg is a genius - he sucks up the whole world's free time and he makes money out of it.

Frankly, I'd much rather read a book or watch TV or talk on the phone than click on 'refresh'. Although it has a whole lot of benefits, the stuff you sacrifice is still disproportionately high. Over the last few years, I've completely lost the ability to read a novel in peace... Or study for a test without Facebook open on a Chrome Tab... Or sit in a bus and stare effortlessly out of the window.

It's all an overload of blue - everything I do these days. I desperately need another colour. Team India is blue, so is Chelsea... Schlumberger is a whole blue world. Facebook had to go.

How The War Was Won


One of the main regrets I have (and reason why I might come back) about quitting the habit is the fact that my blogs really won't receive as much attention any more. Well, I'm certain that I haven't lost you, reader, as yet but I'm sure it was easier when there was a link in front of you which you simply had to click. No one seeks out blogposts any more!

Facebook made it clear to me - what I'd be missing out on. In fact, it's the last line of defence and a pretty effective one at that!

The link to deactivate your FB account isn't at the most obvious of places... It's well disguised and once you get there, you will most likely be distracted by the ticker on your right. More brilliant that this though, is the fact that the link to 'Delete' your account isn't there at all! I'm quite sure it is around but it's buried somewhere deep.

So, when you click on the button, FB asks you for reasons. "Why are you quitting?" You feel so bad when you read this, you almost apologize and get right back in. The smartest aspect about it: the option buttons. The user get to choose why he/she is leaving from a list of around fifteen options. And each option has a remedy. So, if you, like me, decide to say, "I'm quitting because I'm spending too much time of Facebook", they'll give you ideas about how you can stay on FB and spend less time if you want. I'm quite sure you'll fail. But they'll win.

And finally when you get past that, they put up pictures of you with your friends. And people are waving you goodbye and Facebook says, "She will miss you" and all that rot. Again, the friends they show you won't be from the same circle - they'll be from different places. And they will often not be your closest friends - because FB knows you can keep in touch with them minus FB as well.

And then, you'll finally have the courage to press 'Exit' and FB will tell you that the only thing that you need to do in case you have a change of mind, is log-in again. But that barrier is enough for me... for a while, at least.

See you guys in a while.