xor eax, eax

Wrote this for a challenge on a forum. The challenge is to use the line “when right is wrong” in the poem. Here it goes.

*******************************************

Driving down the lane
Humming, whistling, singing a tune
In a very happy, bouyant, carefree mood
Almost baked, roasted, in the month of June

Suddenly, something fished my attention
Screeching brakes and a loud scream
As if it woke me from my dream
Saw some people running to a spot

Stopped my car, by the roadside
Got out and ran to the site
It was an accident, a deadly one.
A chill, a shiver trickled down my spine

Shrieks, excruciating, fulgarating pain of the hit
Amidst abrupt, shrill, rapid noise of public
I helped the victim, out of the car
Luckily, the nearest hospital was not far

Hurried, tense, half-lost,
Made a quick rapid call to one O two.
Then got the phone from the victim’s hand
Dialled the number that was last scanned

Hardly two minutes did it take
The police arrived and the ambulance too
Things could have been bitter, scarce and odd.
We helped him in, all thanking god

Unusually happy, satisfied, Got back to my car
Standing there was a traffic hawaldar
As if he was waiting for this very hour
like for a fish, a fisherman waits
Sitting by the river, after he baits

He looked at the car and turned to me
As if he was following a royal decree
With a wicked grin and a happy smile
Morphed me into a villain from a hero
with the snap of a finger, within a while

He filed a challan of Rupees thousand
Demanding this money he viciously stared
Trying to scare, he ll get the car towed
I tried to explain what had happened there

I told him that an accident had taken place
And I was seeing if i could help them out
If there was something i could do to help
And my intentions were clear without a doubt

He ignored my pleas, uninterested to understand
The only thing that was of interest to him
Was the violations of rules, an act to be punished
With three options that he gladly offerred
Either bribe him, pay him or get the car towed

I knew I was wrong and have violated a law
Finding no options to make it out of there
I had to part off with my hard earned
jarred, broke, wondering what was the lesson learnt

When right is wrong and illegal legal
What shd be done, and who is at fault
What is more important ?
A legal act or humanity’s assault

When right is wrong and illegal legal
How to determine what shd be the centrifugal
I thought, I could have just driven by
Like many, who chose to skip n closed their eyes

But then I was happy with what i did
On humanity’s scale, my honest bid
A thousand bucks is nothing for a man’s life
Could hv been anyone, suffering, subjecting that strife

I was caught up somewhere in the rain today, then I took a shelter under a tin roof of a small shop. It was then that I noticed the sound of raindrops.. playing like an orchestra .. a different sweet music of its own.. tippy tapping …very random.. yet very musical.. At first it was  grrrr feeling .. then it went greener .. full of varied emotions .. mixed feelings…tense, excited, sad, euphoric, pleasing strangely… this poem is the grrr to green in my life.. its about the desire .. which is desired .. denied .. achieved .. quenched .. resulting wrinkles … tensions around and then it dies .. In the following lines, I have tried to capture what I went through in the lovely evening.

Here it goes.

***********************************

Shoulders clutched,
Shrieking pain
Tattering leaves
Crying for Rain

Darkened doorway
Lightening scrawled
Grippling, thundering
Child’s appal

Spasmodic, tumbling
Roaring and silent,
Heavy, moisturous
Pleasing and violent

Timpani, chatter, clatter
Rap, tap, rattatat
Staccato drumming
Rhythm of the rain
Sipping away all the pain

Furious, noisy
Dark and grey
Settling equations
With sun’s fray

Revenge, cries or snare
God’s anger or despair
Eternal bliss or divine chant
Raingod arrows every flair

Drops fall,
Wrinkle the sea
Purge, diminish,
Then die utterly

Thirsty leaves
Drink it all
Drop by drop
Until the rain stops

Five lil chimps
All part of the game
An experiment credited
To NASA’s name

Were cornered in a room
With no ceiling, but four walls
As the only way out
They put a ladder in the hall

A study to judge
How their doings sprout
Will ALL the chimps
Try to escape out ?

The smartest chimp
Observed it all.
Was the first to try.
To make it out of the walls.

The scientists waited,
And waited to see.
They already had, a plan B
As soon he climbed up the ladder
The taps on top, sprinkled hot water

The chimp fell down.
Others running here and there
They witnessed the sorrow, the misery
When he executed the dare

Nevermind, just a bad day,
They thought
Who would re-attempt the break,
They finally sought

All planned and executed as strategised,
Everything was just so so right
When hot water sprinkled from the top like rain
All horrified, trying to find a shelter again

This happened to one, and happened to second
It followed to third and then to number four
Judging the matter, the number five,
Never had the courage try it anymore

For them.
Infact a rule was taking birth
They lived in the mansion,
As if it was their only earth

Any chimp who now, tried to break the rule
Would be beaten blues and black, by the rest
A failed escape and a burnt skin
They all planned not to put themselves, again to test

The scientists noticed
The clever move
They had a plan
A plan that further drove

One by one they were all trained mind
The scientists noticed and each day
Replaced a smart chimp.
With the monkey, of the other kind,

These were mere monkeys
Not the smart chimps
Of the situation,
Who had no idea Or a little glimpse

The new monkey unaware, of the rules made
Tried to escape the mansion walls,
Was beaten to hell when he tried to break
Was beaten to cries, to make heartening calls

The experiment was over and was succesfully done
The equipments, the chimps and the scientists. All gone
But the monkeys were left in the mansion
Unaware of all this unattention

They would still beat a monkey
“Who thought unwisely” they said
Who would break the rules
Who would try to escape

Does this poem fall in this category ?
Is that what you are wondering
Does the story have a moral ?
Is that what you said just now
Well what it is and how,
Come lets together, figure out the call

Well its so simple. So easy, you see
You can deduce a lot from this silly story
This is how traditions are made and followed
This is how religions cooked and swallowed

Is it worth to stick to the rules
The rules. which no more govern the blues
Well whom to preach and whom to tell
No scholars left. Even the chimps are gone.
Only monkeys left.
Left behind to ring the bell

May 8th, 2008 

IPL - Delhi Dare devils Vs Chennai Super Kings …

Ye hai Chennai Chennai Super Kings.. Ye hai Chennai Chennai Super Kings.. thats how the song goes for CSK team. I guess that was the most catchy thing on that day. Not cheerleaders. Not the boundaries and sixes. Not the players as well. The song has nothing much to offer other than that line, but the punch it brings, brings the focus to the Chennai team, unlike other jingles where the focus on the team is lost to stardom and drama. With other jingles, you would never know who it is sung for, unless you watch the video or knew which team it was written for. I heard this for the first time and I liked it, coz it does the justice not only to the team, but also to the state.

Gautam Gambhir hitting a lovely six 

IPL matches. As the tag line goes “Mano ranjan ka baap“; IPL is a great piece of entertainment. It doesnt matter who hits the sixes or takes the wickets or which team wins. Its about the excitement, the thrill it offers in just 4 hours. The ad is very filmy and entertaining. The ad goes. Two boys; Manu and Ranjan, who are confronted with one question all the time, “Kab aayega tera baap?”. Their mother is about to jump in to the well when they shout ”Maaaaaaa”. And the camera pans on the TV which shows a commercial which says “Aaa gaya manoranjan ka baap.“ LOL. The first time I watched this advertisement, I was anticipating what will happen next, I thought it was Zee Cinema commercial and I was wondering why was this aired on Set Max and what would be the end, the turning point. Very Funny commercial, very similar to those of Zee Cinema’s. I tell you, these ad companies are really very innovative in coining up such tickling ideas. Perhaps its more interesting and challenging, to come up with something, which could attract the interest of the audience in as less as twenty seconds. Very Impressive !!!

Oh.. btw.. The match. Delhi lost the match, but the match was worth a watch, worth every single penny spent. We had to wait for the last ball to see, which way it was turning and who bags the winning trophy. Would have been even better, if the match was tied. And there were chances for that as well. There was lovely attempt for a catch in the last ball. Perhaps if the ball would have stuck to fingers, we would have witnessed the Bowl Out for the first time in the history of IPL, to decide who bags the win. Nevamind. May be next time. Had a great time anyway.

 I have captured all the action. Watch the flicks Here.

Delhi Book Club Meet - Sunday, May4th, 2008.

 ”Am late. Am late. Am late.” murmuring to myself, I was almost running on the white slippery marble. The meet was supposed to be held at Crossword, Citywalk, Saket. Soon as I reached there, near the entrance, I found very beautiful, lovely, pretty lady smiling and looking at me and I was like “Do I know her? Is she one of the participants?” In all this confusion, talking to myself, I went straight to her. I was right. She was Vaani, an architect by profession and a book lover by taste. A quite gurl actually, but i guess will open up soon as we have something interesting to talk. And hello, she is a Richard Bach Fan. Gosh !! I have been looking for one for so long now, my cuz would be so happy with me. I finally found her one… :P Along with her, there was this handsome young chap called Diwakar. Diwakar is a software engineer, but I didnt know that he has engineered on a lot other things as well. I did come to know later on when he started talking and after I visited his blog. Interesting character I must say.

I asked them if they found anyone, who happens to be there, for the meet. And the answer was “Kisi ko jaante kahan hai.” Yea, right we were all strangers to each other. Despite requesting all to drop in their details on the wiki again and again, i only found email adresses. Sad. India is not so forward yet. Not all check emails on the move. So we had no other option left but stare at strangers or wait. So I thought I ll go check if I could find someone whom I know or can recognise.

I think I knew where I could find Arpita, with what I knew of her and her Dickens’ story. Ofcourse, in the classics section. So I took one full round and went to the classics section and there I found this cute lil gurl, who was cribbing with books. Ayyoooda dangerous ones. Cant think of em even touching them, after i left school. Now I havent met Arpita before but have seen her pic in her profile, which is almost a thumbnail. So I went close and said to her “Arpita”. Bang on !! I was right. She was Arpita. She responded “Navin”. So we shook hands and she introduced me to her mate, Raashi. Raashi and Arpita are doing MPHIL in sociology from JNU. Both learned research scholars. My god, I am getting jealous and filled with inferiority complex … What have I been doing all my life? Nothing.

Anyway, so we were five of us now. Sounds fair for the second meet which was not much advertised and was up at the wiki only a couple of days ago. There were in total nine participants who registered. Usually my formula says only 45 % of the total on the list attend such non commercial social meets. Anyway, we decided we will wait for others till 5:00 pm if anyone turns up and then start off with the meet. In this whole ten or fifteen minutes, we stared at almost every visitor, as if he came in for the meet. Alas, noone else made it I guess. Since we were fantastic five I decided I ll do away with the deadly plan, that Arpita and me had in brewing, to rope in readers from the bookstore if noone turns up. Not needed now I guess. Five is a good number and I like it.

The weather outside was getting better. It drizzled a little while i was coming so it was much much cooler than it usually is, these days. And it was windy as well. So we decided we ll sit out. We found us a Round Table for the conference. Tch Tch.. I should have clicked that round table, was apt for the scene. Nevermind. So, the meet started with a very informal round of intro from eveyone and then we just let it flow. From books to movies, from movies to music, science to fiction, mysteries to poetries, biographies to sociology, bla bla bla. Talks and interesting reviews from DK on movies, seemed to pep up, us all. Prolly, Vaani pointed out that he was a bit tired and she thought would be reluctant to participate in the discussion but I guess he was the tiger there. It was absolute fun !!

Infact we blabbered so much that Arpita started feeling hungry. Sorry Arpita. Bad joke. :P So her quest for a cuisine started, she was actually confused by the variety of offerings over there but finally settled for Crispy Chicken Noodles. LOL.. And others too reluctant to go for anything, So I thought we ll do away with a cold coffee for everyone. It was Sunday so it was thoda rush over there. We had to wait in the queue. Somehow these guys managed to catch hold of a place where we could sit, while I was getting the coffee. Vaani helped me with it. So nice of her. So… By now we were comfortable with each other, so I guess the next time we can have an agenda to follow and perhaps more participants as well. At around seven or so, two of us decided to call it off, Vaani and D-Walker (I hope tou dont mind me calling you that Diwaker), since they were from almost the other end of the capital. Infact one from the outskirts. So we took us a group snap and called it off for the day. Visit my Flickr album for the snaps of the DBC Meet.

“Where does it go from here?” I asked. Should we continue with this. I never did knew that its going to be catapulted back to me. Well, for the moment I guess I had nothing to say but later on I came up with craziest ideas which you can find on the DBC wiki.

Was the meet over? No. Two participants did leave but it was not over. We decided we ll stay for some more time and enjoy the talks and ofcourse the lovely romantic weather. What Vaani and Diwakar had missed on the day, was the cute, lovely, funny poem by our very talented poet, Arpita. A poem she wrote on somebody’s nose. Interesting observations there Arpita. LOL .. Did I tell you, I was scared of what this cheeky talented gurl might come up with on us after the meet. .. I hope she doesn’t do us that honour. But she z got a gift for sure. Not many out there can imagine as well as execute and express what they imagine. Very Impressive !!!

Raashi on the other hand was no match either. She is a research scholar and recently did some research work on Mirza Ghalib. She had loads to say and all of it was very very interesting. Something which I could have never thought of, or bothered to get into. I now realise I have missed so much and there is so much to learn, so much to know, so much to discover. Am learning so much. Every participant had something or the other to give. Each one of them, very unique, special and gifted. Dunno about others, but it was a great experience for me. It was a lovely, entertaining yet educating evening and I enjoyed every moment, every bit of it.

This was the second meet of DBC and was completely different from the first one. Two meets in consecutive months. Each of em being special and entertaining its own sweet way. I never did knew that my returning to books will be so grand. So entertaining and social. I guess am getting strung to this now. Reading books and writing poetries. Two new hobbies in a months time. Not bad. Not bad at all. Infact.. tis a very good stress burster. So if you have a very stressed life with work, do try this out. Am sure you gonna enjoy this. Possibly you can join us at the next meet which I guess should happen by the end of this month. Considering the fact, the mails I have been getting, and the people who are keen to join in, am sure the next meet is gonna be even more exciting. Do consider it and be there. You can find the details at http://delhibookclubmeet.pbwiki.com

The meet was worth the two IPL matches I missed. Infact lot lot more than that !!

On the rocks I sit,
Thinking of you.
Which is something,
That I often do.

Cherishing the moments,
Sitting on the beach.
Celebrating each thought,
Out of world’s reach.

With every Wave,
Hitting the sand.
I wish you were here,
To hold my hand.

Treasuring the sea-shells,
While putting it in the jar.
I realise,
When noone else is there for me. You are

I wonder,
How you make me feel inside.
To Love you,
Brings me so much pride.

I love you deeper,
Than the earth’s core.
Yet with every passing second,
I love you more.

You are the beauty,
The charm I am missing.
I wish you were here,
And we were kissing.

When everything seems blown.
Out of line.
I come here. Witness you.
And everything’s fine

Welcome to the Reliance Family

Thanks to Reliance Network Connection. I started scribbling again. Yuhoooo. I love Reliance so much …

O stars !! O stars !!
Pls make her think
Make her think of me as you blink

O cmon stars !!
why the hell do u wink
Is it coz when i talk to her
I go dumb and pink

O Moon !! O Moon !!
I have no doubt
I knw you will help me out

O Moon !! O Moon !!
Where do u dissappear
Hey !! why dont you shine
Is it that you want to tell me
That the beauty is all mine

O sky !! O sky !!
I knw u ll help me
No moon. No stars. Doesnt matter
I see you are so clear
We ll make a do
While she stares at you

O sky !! O sky !!
Why do u go behind the clouds
Is it because
You re filled with fear
Fine !! Without you it is,
I still wont lose my dear

O Lord !! O Lord !!
Why dont u grant it to me
Is it becoz I love her more
More .. Than I love thee

O my Angel !! Sweet Angel !!
Dont trust the stars, the moon,
The sky, The clouds,
Even the Lord.

They are all confused u see,
Oh Hold on …
Now i get it, I get it now.
Its a universal conspiracy !!

Dont you bother.
I ll paint us the stars, the moon
The sky, the clouds
Lets go there and shout aloud.
Lets tell them, no matter wat
We ll stay together, You and me
We are and were, always meant to be

The moment i saw you
I was in heaven.
Brimmed with true love
Love buried so deep.
A treasure, a sight,
A feeling, a memory.
A memory,
That I will always keep.

Filled with ecstasy
It seemed to me a fantasy
I thought to myself,
When god made you sweet dove.
All he was thinking,
All he was filled with.
Wasnt anything, but love

A love so true,
A charm so sweet.
For days
You swept me off my feet.

I held every moment,
And I held it tight.
Praying all day and night.
You are the one,
The one for me.
O lord !! Will it ever be?

It was a feeling,
Not slave to time.
A feeling, so enchanting
That will never sublime

Through thick n thin,
You were by my side.
You promised me,
To keep me alive.

We minced along,
Hand in hand.
On the beaches,
With golden yellow moist sand.

We walked together in the dark,
To leave our footprints’ mark.
Marked in the sand,
On the distant land.
To last,
Through time’s cruel wand.

We saw the sun go down.
Down in the sea.
There was no one out there,
Just you and me.

I caressed your hair,
The silky locks.
And you sang to me,
A song of flocks.

Those eyes.
When they looked at me.
It took my pains,
And set me free.

Your songs, the music
And your beautiful voice.
Makes me love you,
With no other choice.

You touched my heart.
You touched my soul.
I got all strength,
To define my goal.

A goal,
To have u in my life.
A life,
With no complains,
And no strife.

It is nothing.
Nothing. but a dream.
A dream,
So magical and so pure.
A dream,
I will always adore.
A dream,
That now i live for.

So i wait for the magic,
And blissfully,
Wait for the day.
A day
When i will steal you away

I wait and dream.
A dream,
To enjoy the ambience.
Someday
When we meet as aliens

And it better be.
It better be !!
Coz i will wait,
For this day.
And wait for it,
Till eternity.

I wonder
What to choose
Nature
At its best
Or
Its creature
At its best

I wonder
What to choose
A few drops of dew
In the morn
On green grass of my fervent lawn
Or
The air conditioned rooms
With a chilled weather in june
A weather
That i can tune

I wonder
What to choose
To see birds fly
In southerly breeze
Or
Fly like a bird
With gas breezing sneeze

I wonder
What to choose
A dewy dawn
With bird chirps
Or
A kingdom
With sirens, gongs
And blowing horns

I wonder
What to choose
A ray of light
From the sun so bright
Or
The microns we slave
To illuminate
Even the darkest corners
Of the grave

I wonder
What to choose
The starry skies
After the jaded twilight
Or
A day so bright
With an endless fight
And almost no night

I wonder
What to choose
A man
With burning flames of desire
Or
A shear ignorance to admire

I wonder
If i am to choose
Or
If it already chose me

I wish
I could chose
Or if
I was to decide
I guess
I am here
Just to abide !!