55 word post

“Hey, how did you manage to take this video?” Satish asked Rahul.

“I hid a camera before she came. I am going to upload this on Youtube”, Rahul answered.

“Rahul, look at this video. This is my ex-girlfriend. I am also planning to upload”, Satish said.

Rahul saw the video. The girl was his sister!!!

Destinations and Destiny - Part 2

click here to read part 1 

On November 10  evening 5 p.m. 

“Ah, we finally reached . ” Sanjay said while taking his bags from taxi. We had reached near our office guest house in Banglore. We were staying outside Kerala for the first time in our life. There was some tension, but everyone got excited as we will not be unemployed children, but will be professional software engineers from next day. We shown our id card and entered the guest house. This will be our guest house for next six months, during our training period.

November 11 morning :

Everyone woke up around 7 am morning, which is quite an early time for us . Even during our university exams, we never woke up that much early.  But still, it took time to get ready.  The biggest issue was with wearing the tie.
" I want to kill the person who inverted tie.I still don't know why a piece of cloth is need to be tied in front side of shirt,  like the chain of a Dog." Sanjay got angry as his fifth attempt for double knot also got failed.
 
" Don't you know one thing? We are forced to wear tie, just because we are like monkeys. You know the story of monkey and capseller , right? When Cap seller thrown a cap, monkeys just imitated him without thinking what they were doing. Just like that, when British people wore tie, we Indians just followed them, without thinking whether we need it. For Europeans, climate is 10-15 degrees and so tie will help to prevent cold air entering inside through the space on top of shirt. But here , we people are simply copying them and are wearing ties, even if the temperature is 45 degrees. This idiotic companies want to copy western culture blindly without thinking.  " I shared my view on wearing a tie.

" Let us discuss this matter later, just get ready . We need to report around 9 a.m."  Rajeev, who already got ready came to our room and said in a little loud voice, hinting that he is a bit angry are we were getting late.

"You can say it, as you know how to wear a tie. We are poor Indians. please give us time." Akhil replied, winking his eyes to us. We started to laugh and Rajeev left room with an irritated face.

Around 8.45, we reached our training centre. There were 120 trainees in the class and seat was arranged in alphabetical order. So akhil had to sit on the friend row itself, which is quite unusual. I had never seen him sitting in front bench in my entire life. But we were lucky that Rajesh and Rajeev got neighbouring seats and Vishnu and I got neighbouring seats. And seating was in a mixed order and so a girl was sitting on right side of Vishu and another girl was sitting on left side of me. As we were sitting near girls for first time in the life, there was a small tension for us.

First class was just an induction class, which helped us to know the rules and regulations that we should follow there. They informed us that we will be trained in Java . After 6 months, there would be an exam, which will be an elimination test. There will be some monthly exams also which will be informed later . If we lose in final exam, we will be exited from company. Every one got scared on hearing it. But we said " All is Well" , which is something that we were saying when our Principal scold us in college.

 It was a good day for us, as they didn't teach anything. We just sat their and counted number of girls in class. Divided them into two categories - Beautiful and non beautiful.

In evening, when the class finished, the girl sitting introduced her. Her name was Vaishnavi. She was from Delhi. It was really a difficult conversation for me, which just helped me to realize that what is pure English and what is my English standard. Vishnu, who came to give me company, left me alone in 2 minutes, after hearing her English. "Oh God, please help me.Please help me from this English Indian Girl.  " I started to pray.

I got bored as she was not stopping. For me, it was like watching a BBC channel. I used to watch it , but till now, I had never understood what they were speaking. My eyes started to search my friends. I saw them standing near the door, waiting for me. When they saw I was looking at them, they winked their eyes indicating that I am gonna be their prey for tonight. I looked around and realized that it was only Vaishnavi and me left in classroom. Some how I managed to escape and reached my friends.

Thus our first day got over.

Everyone was happy, except Akhil. He was sad not because we were not near him, but because  the north Indian girl Aditi,who sits near him  always  speak Hindi. He wanted to talk to her, but how can he, without knowing Hindi. He was quite sad on that day. Thus on day one, both Akhil and me got girlfriends, though both girls didn't know it.

From day two, it was quite hectic schedule for us.Training  time was from 9 am to 6 pm and then practical session till 1 a.m. After a few days, we all got busy with the schedules. Everyone stay together , eat together ,walk together. But no one talked much. Infact our talks were only about training and Java practical  exam preparations. We were really struggling to work according to schedules. There was monthly test on last working day of every month. And last exam on April 30th would decide our future.
First exam was quite fine for us , except Akhil who failed to clear it.We just consoled him and continued our preparations. Second exam was a little more difficult one for us, both Vishnu and Akhil lost the exam. Now things had started to become a little serious.

One morning, we were having tea.
" I am quitting this Job"  Everyone looked each other to know who said it.


To be continued... 

Destinations and Destiny

Disclaimer : All the characters in this story are imaginary and any resemblance with anyone dead or alive is purely coincidential

 “Who let these dogs out.. bow bow …” My phone started ringing. I attended a call, expecting a call from client which was scheduled by my P.M .

“Hello, Are you Mr. Vijay? ”

“Yes. Are you from Sears Office? “I asked, expecting a ‘ yes’ as reply from the other side.

“ No. Actually I am Rajesh’s roommate. He told that he want to see you. Can you come here to see him?”

Rajesh!!! It’s been 2 years since I met him. I was really excited to hear his name.

“O.K. I will come in the evening. But can you tell me why he didn’t call me? Still his ego is not allowing him to call?“

“….. “ (replying)

For a moment, I got frozen by his words. I had no idea what to do. Finally I replied

“ I will come as soon as possible.  “

I disconnected the call, sat on chair. I had no idea what should I do. Those beautiful days , when I was with Rajeev and other friends came to my mind.

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

 (Six years back)

“Cheers” .. Five  bottles of beer  kissed each other, when we  met after a few days. Parties were quite common when we were in college hostel.But , after the exams , things were quite different. Finally, we got a reason to meet and party tonight.

“Dear friends, I need to make an announcement.” Rajesh stood up from his seat.

“ Today is an important day for us. We got our result. Surprisingly, we all cleared it and became engineers.. One more cheers for all Engineers infront of me”  He raised his bottle again ..

“Usually you start speech after fifth peg right? Why so early this time? Already got kick? “ I asked him with a smile.

“You shut up , Idiot. I am not on the rock . I know what I am saying. “

He got a little angry, instead of getting sentimental, indicating that he still conscious.

“Let me continue friends. We were together for last four years. As our classmates say, we are five bodies and one soul. Today I want you guys to take an oath with me that we will be together for our entire life time. We got campus placement in Myinfosys. Next month,we will be joining there together. We will work together and stay together. If anyone want to change company, then we will switch together. Ok?”

Everyone clapped for those words which is present in everyone’s heart. We had never enjoyed a day like that before.  "

But how can friendship beat one’s personal passion. I had that question in my mind when he told that. I know that he wanted to be a journalist. He joined Engineering, just because of his parent’s compulsion. Last week, he told me that he prefer to die than to join an IT company, after all, we are Electrical Engineers. But, on this day, we- Rajesh, Sanjay, Akhil ,Vishu and me decided to forget our personal dreams and to join Myinfosys on November 11. 

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

“Who let these dogs out, bow bow bow bow…  “ I  woke up from my  dream world, when my phone started ringing again. It was my P.M, who called to inform that client call got cancelled. I was quite happy to hear that it got cancelled. I managed to find some excuse to escape from today’s tasks.

I started my car, I want to meet him as early as possible.My mind still disturbed,  thinking those old days.

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

On November 10  evening 5 p.m.

“Ah, we finally reached . ” Sanjay said while taking his bags from taxi. We had reached near our office guest house in Banglore. We were staying outside Kerala for the first time in our life. There was some tension, but everyone got excited as we will not be unemployed children, but will be professional software engineers from next day. We shown our id card and entered the guest house. This will be our guest house for next six months, during our training period.

To be continued…

Time passed, but I didn't forget

This post is regarding a few  facts, that I read in newspaper or those which I had seen in front of my eyes.Year mentioned may not be accurate, but news are true. Time passed. Everybody forgot it , or had burried those inside mind. But I didn't forget these till now.

1.       During 2005/2006 , I joined for Engineering. It was at that time, the rumour about smart city started( for non keralites – it is like an IT park, many IT companies will come and start industries) . It was then, Ex- C.M. V.S Achuthanandhan, promised people that smart city will come true in 2009. I, just like most of the other foolish citizens, believed those words.I was very happy that I too would get a job in Kochi, as smart city would come true on  2009. Once I passout from college, straight away I can start a job hunt near my home. My dad told me like, I was  lucky as  IT companies will be in front of our home by the time I pass out. No job vacancies like that was available for him in his college days. I passed engineering in 2009, joined Infosys Trivandrum, worked there for 2.3 years and then quitted.But,even today not even a single building for smart city is constructed. I believe it will come true atleast by the time , my children will pass out their studies.

         

   2.    I remember U.S.A saying that there were dangerous weapons in Iraq. The battle against Iraq was because of that. Atleast in records they said like that. They won battle. Saddam Hussain hung to death. But where are those weapons??
  
     

     3.       During 2004/05, I really don’t know which year exactly , but I heard a speech from  CPI(M) leader saying they will make trade unions in IT industry also. UPA 1, will have no other choice, but to accept it, as they can’t continue without CPI(M). I thought about a CITU flag in front all IT company and 24*7 strikes at that time. Even now, it didn’t happen. Fortunately even that leader forgot that he had told like that.

     4.       I remember the words of Barrack Obama, in 2008, saying that he will outsourcing of IT industries. At that time, one of my friend told me it is better not to join Infosys ,  as Obama will stop outsourcing and all Indian IT companies will be closed by 2012. You know what the situation now is.

5    .   During 2004/2005 there was a rule passed by District collector of Ernakulam , there should  not be any race between the transport  buses and no overtaking is allowed inside cities. There was also another rule that, all buses need to have doors. These  rule were passed because of a few incidents happened at that time. Many had fallen from bus and died as bus started from stop when people were at footboard and had not entered inside bus. Also buses were hitting pedestrians, taking their lives. The very next day, I saw a picture in Mathrubhumi news paper ( a Malayalam newspaper) in which buses were in queue, at traffic signals. It was one of the rarest scenes that we can ever see in a state like kerala, where private buses are more and they are always in competition to beat other buses.All buses fitted doors in a period of three months.For one week police checked traffic rules.  But later, say after six months (or even before that) situations changed. Everything came back to normal state. Buses started to race. They started to hit common people who walks through road side again. With a painful heart I realized , this will never change. Poor people will fall again from buses. Pedestrians will be Killed by buses. No one in power is interested in their lives.

     6.       I remember high court order , wearing Helmet compulsory. How many are obeying that? What actions did police take? Still people are dieing because of head injuries.

     7.       I  remember Court order banning smoking at public places. Still I can see people in public road and bus with cigarettes on their lips.

     8.       I remember Cris Gopalakrishnan’s mail saying Infosys  would  give uniform salary for everyone in 2009 batch.( for those who doesn’t know the process – Everyone who got campus placement, joins Infosys as various batches for entire one year- july 2009 to March 2010. Date is fixed by Infosys , not by us. But those who join before September 30 have one salary and others  have another salary. A mail was send to him by someone saying it is not our fault that we join company late(after September 30) . And in reply, Cris promised same salary for all.) I worked in infy for 2 years and quitted. Till now, his words are remaining only as words.

     9.       In 2006/07, I remember honourable chief minister V.S Achuthanandan announcing all state government employees (men) should wear dothi on Saturdays.  Till now , no one, including his party supporters,  obeyed the order.

 

     10.   I remember government announcing construction of N.H 49 , Kochi – Madhura National Highway. Land acquisition happened when I was in nineth standard. I got happy that a four way lane will come at a distance of 1 km from my home. But till now nothing happened. A small plant which was on the land, which I noticed at that time , has grown into big tree. But still, NH construction is only in papers.

God must be Crazy (Last part)

 click here to read part 1

 click here to read part 2

“Yeah, it is clear, but I have another doubt. If god is inside us, then why are we going to temple?” This time it was Dheeraj who asked the question.

“That is really an interesting question. Now I am asking the same question back to you. Why do you go to temple?” 

“ This is not fair. You can’t ask that back to me. “ Dheeraj replied with a smile in his face.

“Just relax and please answer to my question.” Stranger asked again, as if he is expecting a genuine reply from them. 

“I don't know actually. I just went there for some peace of mind.” this time it was Rajeev who replied for the question.

“Really? Did you get that? Anyway let me tell the point clear. You know that our culture is thousands of years old. You have heard about Sanyasi. Right? How were they prayed?”

“Well, they used to go to forest and sat is some place under the tree and prayed.” Dheeraj replied with a happy face ,as it was the first question for which he knew the answer.

 But stranger , who was not satisfied by the answer , asked another question.

“Yeah, right. But why did they do that? Weren’t there any temples at that time? “

“Well, you need to ask them” replied Rajeev, indicating that he already got irritated by his questions.

Stranger replied : “Well... Leave it. Even I don’t know whether there were temples at that time. But the point is that, for prayer, you don’t  even need temples. But temples are for creating atmosphere for prayer. If you may be sitting at home, probably your mind may be in television, while you are praying. Temples helped to avoid that.But today, situations are becoming more worse. I have seen people saying that they need to go to temple fast and then to go for a party or to office or some other place. The moment they reach temple, their mind might have  started journey to next place. Else people may be thinking whether mobile in their pocket is vibrating or not.So, instead of complete focus on prayer, they split their minds for multitasking. As a result, they never get any satisfaction. Then they curse god, saying he didn’t listen to prayer. But they are not thinking whether they had really prayed. These prays are actually for self realization.”

“Self realization? ” Both Rajeev and Dheeraj said at the same time.

“Have you ever went to Sabarimala or Amarnath? Do you think gods are crazy and so that they went to top of mountains and sat there, instead of sitting near a main road?  If you have gone to Sabarimala, you might have noticed that the moment to reach 18^th step, you can see a word there infront of temple ‘ Thathvamasi’ which means ‘it is you’. The god sitting there is actually you or your power. The tough journey to the top, symbolically represent the tough journey for you to realize who really you are. The moment you realize it, you will take responsibilities on you. Instead what we do today is consider god as someone who is outside you . Then you are giving all responsibilities to him. If he does good, then you are happy. Else you will curse them without even trying to analysing the situation.”

"What you actually mean by that?" First time, Rajeev showed some interest in stranger's words.

“When you pray to Ganapathy, what you actually expect? Do you expect him to come on his rat near you and remove all the barriers infront of you? Actually he is the power inside you , who gives you enough confidence and courage to beat barriers. The moment you thing both are different, you will lose your confidence.But still, he will try to help you through other persons also. Just like now he is helping you to come back to your life.“ Stranger explained.

“Now, God is helping me? How?” Rajeev got confused.

“In the morning, you had decided to commit suicide. But , when you came here, someone whom you had never seen came to you first and later , I came . Neither him nor me, has nothing to lose even if you commit suicide. Still we were here accidentally and talked to you. Doesn’t that mean someone is really interested to bring you back to life? Please take responsibility for whatever happened  and continue your journey.When you born in Earth, you ever thought that you would become an engineer, and then get a job here and then you might cry later ? But still , whatever happened is just because of you. Who took decision to join the company? You or God? But the moment you lost enthusiasm in job, you said God is cruel. “

“You are really cool. We should have been met early.” Dheeraj got excited after hearing those words.

Stranger smiled but didn’t say any word.

Rajeev also remained silent as if he was lost in his thoughts. After sometime he told “You are right sir. I am taking the responsibility. I will take responsibilities from here on. It is god who brought you here now.”

“See Rajeev, God is the power who is inside both of us and is same. There is no need for that sentence.Anyway I am leaving now. We will meet again.” Stranger replied with a happy face, which said that he is happy as Rajeev realized his mistake.

“But sir, please tell your name.”

“ I think it is irrelevant. We will meet again. Bye now “ 

The stranger walked away from them.

After some time , Dheeraj also said good bye, as he had to go for a DJ night.

Rajeev remained silent for some more time. Finally he took his mobile and updated new status.

“ Plan cancelled. Not going to commit suicide.”

His status didn’t get any like, as usual.

The end

God must be crazy - part 2

click hear to read part 1

“How can he take revenge on you, when he is inside you? Only you can take revenge on you.”

They both looked in the direction of sound.

A young  man, wearing a saffron kurtha  came and sat near him. 

“Who the hell are you ? Why did  you  overhear  our talk?I am already suffering from a facebook friend.“   Rajeev wanted to say those words, but instead he asked  

”May I know who are you? “ 

“ I am a stranger for you, a tourist which came here to see the beauty of nature.I accidently overhear the question ‘Hey dude, you didn’t commit suicide?’ I just got interested in your talk and was listening to you till now “ the man replied.

“You know this is not a good habit. It will cause many problems for you in future.” Dheeraj replied.

“May be. But sometimes it might help to save someone’s life.”

Both Rajeev and  Dheeraj didn’t say anything for sometime.

Finally Dheeraj broke the silence by  asking  Rajeev’s initial question again, but this time in a very  polite manner.

“ Sir, can you please tell your name? What do you want? “

 

“There is no point in knowing my name, and I think let us come to the point which forced me  to break your conversation.Why did you think that god is cruel to you?You think that god is a bhooth in the  lamp, who comes out when you  pray and give everything that you want? ”

“No. I didn't mean that. I pray  to god everyday. I tried to visit temple whenever it was possible for me. I never did anything against his wish. But still he didn’t do anything for me. He had never tried to understand my situation and helped me. “Rajeev replied.

“Oh really? Then  tell me where is god? he / she is staying at which temple? “

“Well, according to the belief, it is said like god is omnipresent. “ Dheeraj replied for his question.

“Then tell me why you go to temple for praying  to god?” 

“So, what are you planning to say? God is not present in temple?”Rajeev , who as a little irritated by his words asked the question. 

“No, but I want to ask a question. The answer for this will give you some idea about it. Now you are speaking to me and you are looking at my face when speaking. Right? “

“Yes" Both Rajeev and Dheeraj replied together.

“Now, tell me when you go to temple, how do you pray? “

“I will stand near the idol, keep my fingers crossed ,close my eyes and pray.”

“Ok. What about you Dheeraj?” stranger asked Dheeraj.

“Same. Why? Is it a wrong way? Is it because of it god is not hearing our prayer?”

 “Ok.  That means the moment you speak with others, you speak, looking at his/her face. And the moment you talk to god, you close your eyes. Why? Are you mad to travel to temple and then, on the moment you see god infront of you, you close your eyes? ” Both Rajeev and  Dheeraj looked each other. The stranger continued

“When you talk to god, you are actually talking to yourself and that is the reason why you are closing your eyes.”

“Dude, this conversation is becoming quite interesting, you can commit suicide later, let’s talk to him for some more time.” Dheeraj got excited and he told to Rajeev.

“So what you are saying is that we are all gods? But on the other hand , religious book says god is single. Lord Krishna had said it in Gita.” Rajeev, who was not so convinced with the answer, asked the question.

"This is the problem with all of us. We will understand it partially and say that books are wrong. I will clear it with an example. Consider a glass cube or say the structure like aquarium. You place a CFL lamp inside it. Now you can see white light from all glass sides. Now you paste a transparent, blue cover  on one side, yellow on other, green on third and red on fourth side. You can see that colours from each side will be different. But when we check the source of colour, it is the same CFL lamp. Here light from cfl is like the god who is the source of light and the transparent glass sides are we all. We all shows different colours outside. But basically we all have the same light  inside . Is your doubt solved now? That is why we say God is present everywhere. But still God is single.”

“Yeah, it is clear, but I have another doubt. If god is inside us, then why are we going to temple/church/mosque?” This time it was Dheeraj who asked the question.

To be continued

God must be Crazy

“How can everybody ‘like’ such a status update? “he asked himself, but  with a happy face. His status received  25 likes and twenty comments  in ten minutes. Last day’s status had received just  2 likes only, with zero comments. In fact this is the first facebook update which he received  more than five 'likes'.If he was a girl, he might have got hundred likes for every picture and status that he put in the social networking site.
 He read his status once again. “Life is quite boring. Going to Nandi Hills .Planning to commit suicide.”
 He logged off from facebook. Switched off his mobile, took his byke and started driving.

Rajeev is a Software Engineer in Bangalore. Just like most of his friends, he was  also from a non IT background. He took his Engineering in Mechanical, but later when he got campus placement in one of the well reputed IT company, he joined there without a second thought, hoping it could change his life. Like everyone, he too enjoyed the initial honeymoon days in the company. Good computer, Good salary, DJ and party nights and so on. But once those initial days got over, he started to feel them boring. There was nothing exciting in this job. Same dumb machine, same manager and same words in appraisal meetings. He slowly started to hate himself. One morning he decided to end his life . The moment he decided it, he put the status update in facebook, which is know as his second mind.


Rajeev reached Nandi hills. He  switched on his mobile once again to know whether the number of 'likes' has got increased. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind.

“Hey dude, you didn’t commit suicide? I thought everything is over.”

He saw a stranger walking towards him. 
 ‘how could you  know that I am going to commit suicide?’ he was tempted to ask this question, but somehow he swallowed those words.

“I was about to do it. But how do you know me?”

“Rajeev, You didn't understand me!!!!  It is quite bad.I never expected such a reply from a good friend like you.How was your appraisal meeting on last week? Did it made to take this decision? ”

“Hey , how do you know all these? I am really sorry, I forgot you.”

Stranger smiled .Then he said -  “I am Dheeraj.We have talked…”

Rajeev didn’t allow him to complete.

“Hey Dheeraj  Pandey!!!!  I am sorry. I was not able to recognize you in the beginning. We had chatted for hours, but we had never seen before na. I am sorry. Please pardon me. It was really a pleasant surprise to see you .“

“Yeah, Thanks to facebook.Even  I never expected that I will meet you. Let us have a cup of tea and talk? “ Dheeraj asked.


‘Hey , how can I come with you? I want to die before sun sets.’ Rajeev said in mind, but he remained silent.

“I know what you are thinking. Don’t worry. Let us have a cup of tea . Then we will say good bye and you can go to your world.” Dheeraj said it with a smiling face. He started walking to the tea stall, which is a few metres away from the place that they are standing.

Rajeev wanted to say NO, but he started walking with him to the stall.
“Do you think that I am mad, as I am going to commit suicide?”  Rajeev asked to Dheeraj, after ordering two cups of tea.

“There is nothing like that. Everyone will have their own reasons for everything that they do. But I like to know why you felt like you should do it now. You have a good job. You have enough salary and you have everything that a common man need to live.”

“Yes, but I couldn’t enjoy the work. So …”
Their conversation broken as  a  child, who is working in the stall came with the tea. He keep it in the table infront of them and left.

“ So..?? so what?? If you ask the child who gave tea to us, he too will be sad about his life. See Rajeev, you got good education. You got good parents.You have everything that you need. Still you are crying?” Dheeraj asked back.

“Are you trying to stop me? Anyway I will not change my decision. “ Rajeev replied .

“Hey, how can you say like that? Anyway, leave it. At what time are you planning to die?“  Dheeraj smiled.

“Are you laughing in mind? God was always cruel to me. So I am taking revenge on him by doing this.”

“How can he take revenge on you, when he is inside you? Only you can take revenge on you.”

They both looked in the direction of sound.



To be continued.