Whispering Shadow

I am a self-confessed net-a-holic now but I wasn’t so once upon a time. So much so that I would only have a very selective list of individuals on my list, the ones I interacted with personally everyday. There would be the plain ‘wassup’ messages and the same old ‘nm’ replies. If you meet someone everyday and talk to them at least thrice over the phone when you are not with them, there’s barely stuff left to discuss online. I moved to India . I was all alone at least during the first few months. Having nothing better to do, I started experimenting by talking to people who I didn’t know personally. Not the ones you meet in chat rooms but friends of friends of friends or some long lost person whose name I heard in school. We started of as strangers but soon, I would know them so well that they would get a new status in my social hierarchy - that of net pals. It was not that the bond lasted forever, but yes there were a few precious ones who I held on to and am still friends with even ...

Yesterday, I found out how it is to be completely transported a different world. No sounds from the street. No phone calls. No thoughts of the impending exam. Just pure exhilaration, the kinds which you cannot see on your television set but only feel in the stands. I am talking of the T20 spectacle between Chennai and Mumbai which I witnessed recently. Before the match, I was confused which team to support. As far as cricket went, I knew my loyalty was with the Indian team but I had not yet made up my mind among the teams in the Indian Premier league. At the venue I realised I didn't have much of a choice. From the moment I stepped in to the end of the match, the crowd was only supporting one team - The Mumbai Indians. The Chennai Superkings were lost for support. I have been to a cricket match before but the T20 atmosphere was electric. Even before the match started the music kept the crowd going. The dhols and cheerleaders added to the fervor.People had started filling in th...

I had only read about old people being stubborn and child-hearted at their age until I started living with my grandparents. Fifty years separate them and me and it is quite substantial for a generation gap. But the trouble is it is not about a late night party or a trip to Goa, it is about the most basic of basic issues, like taking medicine or not exerting. If you had to think for reasons for not taking a pill, what could they be? It is bitter. It is giving me loose motions. Or worst come worst, I just can't swallow them. But here I here reasons like: Wednesday is not a good day to take medicine. This pill will give me a haemorrhage. The gold drops recommended by xyz relative are working just fine. The doctor doesn't know his job. You can only win a debate if someone is willing to argue. If there are two parallel arguments without any common grounds it becomes impossible to even debate, forget winning. Age on their side gives them the edge of seniority. Seniority means they ca...

There has rarely been a time in my life where I have had such diverse and confusing emotions as I have today. I was so looking forward to the end of college, but yet, when I face the last day of my college life this Saturday, I don’t want it to end. I never loved my college. In fact, the balance of indifference had tilted towards a sense of disdain to the ways of its functioning. So what has been this reason for the change? Is it the attachment with teachers? May be with their quirks, but that’s not a strong enough point. Is it the activities of the college? Well, whatever I loved about those activities has ceased to exist, so that can’t be the reason. I guess it’s the people, my peers, my pals. I have spent four years with them and during this period, they knowingly or unknowingly have become my habit. I am in awe of the intelligence of some and hate the sycophancy of others. I enjoy the humour and respect the humility of a few. In every way, each one’s idiosyncrasy and/or beha...

I had a very ordinary last Sunday and didn't want it to end with an ordinary dinner so my sister and I decided to make ourselves masala dosa s. We found a packet of a ready dosa mix in the refrigerator so we were saved from the effort of starting from scratch. It said 'instant mix' so we thought it won't take as long. How wrong we were! We collected the ingredients for the masala and the dosa and started off with our little adventure. Chopping vegetables was a cake walk though, as always, the onions made me cry. Sautéing the vegetables and the spices was smooth. We left it to cook while we turned our attentions to making the dosas . How a dosa should look. We made the batter following the instructions on the back of the packet. The pan was heated and greased and everything else seemed to be in place. It was time to get rolling. We didn't have a cookbook so we kept following our instincts and improvising . We had seen it being made before and it didn't seem...

Pensive and dreary for a reason Beyond it spring and summer season Peering into a heart's horizon I found a man that lay awakened Tears flowed like the rain The darkness he saw in vain. 'Coz there was death and there was sorrow In the withering trees of his solemn woods. Death of kinsmen and their kings To his past were they the only strings One by one like a strider's sword Fate inflicted its deadening blows. Living strong his head held high Despite the hurts that made him cry He continued to grow old The soul fading faster than its abode. The holy lights guided him Between that period interim, The second he stopped living And the moment he died.

Kids - it is amazing how every hot girl finds them cute, an elder just melts in front of their demands and the most depressed of the depressed have a reason to smile when they are around. The best part is how almost every child in the age bracket of 3-7 years in endowed with this rare gift and the worst part is how they just lose those traits when they grow up, just like you and I did, or are in the process of doing. I am fortunate to be in the elite company of two six year old children at home. No matter how tired I am or how evil the world has been to me, I can always go back and find my chill pill. A dose of an hour suffices to cure any wounds the world has inflicted on my frame of mind. Now when I face the daunting prospect of them not being around me in the near future, I realize the possibility of an irreplaceable vacuum being created in my daily routine for one to many reasons. Like today afternoon, when I returned home after college, my cousin told me " Bhaya , do you k...