Government`s actual reasons for the petrol hike

Amidst the hue and cry the people of India are making about the rising prices of the petroleum products, the general public seems to have forgotten the real motive behind these moves. For the first time unraveling the real motives of the Government behind this unjustified and continuous step, we have come to the conclusion that a hidden reason is behind this case, a controversy that lies deep which will be uncovered today.

Bringing to you the :

              “Government’s 3 reasons for the increasing petroleum prices”

First: Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad our Union Minister for Health has been commenting regularly on the degrading level of health and alarming levels of obesity being observed in the youth of today. Time and again serious warning have been issued on behalf of the Ministry of Health against the risks involved in driving automobiles and motorcycle which indirectly lead to lesser physical activity and thus subsequently rising cholesterol levels. Thus in an unobtrusive way , the government has come up with a noble solution to this problem which will ultimately lead to more people leaving their cars , using more of bicycles for their conveyance and thus leading to a healthier lifestyle.

Second: World over discussions and debates are being conducted to come up with solutions to the problem caused by pollution. Dedicated advanced researches are being carried out in many countries to come up with more fuel efficient cars, petroleum products with lower carbon residue and to find new and innovative alternative fuel for automobile. But India is emerging as a clear winner in these ongoing battles of the governments around the world. What the other missed to see, India has gone down to the basic of this problem. Indian Government’s stand is indeed an elegantly simple one: Higher Price of Petrol leads to Lesser Cars being used and thus lesser pollution being created. Other countries are so impressed with this model that they are planning to send representatives from their countries to study this on going model.

Third: This last decade has been marked with a sudden increase in the crimes and autocracies being committed against women. The number of chain snatching incidents in and around the capital has been particularly alarming. Also there have been various cases being reported in which the confines of the cars are being repeatedly used against the women such as the cases in which taxis and office cabs are regularly becoming potentially dangerous for the working women and the interiors of the automobiles which are often used by the gangs as a hiding place for the kidnapped. As reported in the various cases, the car has started to become a common accomplice with those who are committing the crime. Seeing as these incidents are occurring frequently, the government in collaboration with the civil authorities of the various states has came up again with a unique solution to this old problem. Seeing the only solution to this ever growing problem is to stop the use of cars, the automobile manufacturers have shown a certain reluctance to reduce the number of cars being produced in their workshops, the government again went to the root cause. A local mafia when contacted has been complaining that this new policy of the government has directly affected his business and is looking for newer and cheaper means of transport to get his desired results.  And thus the government has been smiling ear to ear seeing that its policy is going to fetch the desired result. 

  

There you stand

There you are, there you stand,

With your money and glory

With glitz of gold and galleons overflowing.

And there you stand, knee deep in mud

With cloths tattered and pockets draining

And still the nobles say life is tough,

And you there in dirt, snorting indifferently.

There you move, there you sit

In those swift cars and trolleys

Which move sometimes on ground, sometimes on the bodies of deprived follies.

There you sit on that barren land,

Amongst animal waste and your own betel leaf debris

And still others get affected by the storm and the rain

And cry about the heat which makes their cosmetics ineffective

There you talk, your wisdom talks

This boasts of intellectual rubbish

Which shelters murderers and molesters?

And you ask for the rights of those rapists

And there you talk, your petty talks

Where you fight for a penny more

Whereas your brothers are being slaughtered either by the government bullets,

Or being used as a shelter for the blades of the Maoist

There you eat, feed your plump skin

On a foam couch, with plumper overalls

Amidst wine tasting, you discuss how food security can be solved,

There you eat, search for food

Either in rubbish heaps

Or searching in the eyes of those aristocrats,

Where sadly the solution for food security can never be met

Saansey

Vo sisakti saansey kuch kahti hai ,

teri raat ki kahani bayan karti hai

Kuch hai to tere dil main ,

jo tu dari dari rahti hai

yeh lal aankhe , yeh sard saaseyn kahti hai ,

jo uss dil main hai vo kah nikalti hai

uss jungle se tha tera karwaan gujraa ,

 raste pai  vo rakth ki lakeer bayan karti hai ,

yeh gulistaan nai yeh ghund hai janwaroo ka , 

yaha phool nai khilte, adamkhor milte hai ,

teri jubaan bina kahe kah nikal gai hai ,

ki uss raste pai abhi bhi janwar baste hai

An Engineered life

The story began after my high-school. The rush and the madness for engineering colleges erupt. The unspoken words that are reflected from the eyes of one’s parents drive all other desires away. It’s the age when most have different dreams, different goals. It’s the age when budding cricketers shed their pads and upcoming Maradonas hung their football boots. The flair of the next rock star fades away and the passion of those select few authors gets absorbed in copying notes.

Parents push their children towards childhood obesity and their balls and bats are snatched and their backs stiffen from the load of their tuition bags. It’s the dream of those prestigious doors of IITs that drive everything else away from the minds of their fathers. It’s also the time where various mothers have a new gossip in their hands regarding how many test modules their child completed.

It’s the time when we for the first time learn the lessons of time management without meaning to. We begin that mad rush from the school to home to tuition to home again. It then that we are reminded that the time in bus is not the leisure period which we had during our childhood but the time to cram up a few more lessons. It’s the time where the brilliance of a kid is measured in terms of the Coaching institution he/she attends to the regular (note 6 days a week) program or a part time program he/ she is enrolled in. His Sundays are involved in dutifully revising  the chapters of algebra , organic chemistry and mechanics which his Zombie like "ex  IItian " teachers gave and  his dreams at night are haunted by the terrifying structures of kekule and pulley chains at the end of which he is sees himself hanging.

But slowly he realizes that this dream is just a dream. The gates of IIT fades away and slowly the structures of regional engineering colleges and other private colleges formulate. Their building seems more in sight. Unconsciously and maybe a little honestly everyone starts to draw a list of Colleges that seems more up for grasp. The thus the Great Indian Engineering Dream is crushed.

This begins our second tenure. The next start, that's of a college. A new dream. An important criterion which enabled us to choose our respective "second choice college” was that of the elusive placement scenario. The bright hoarding which showed equally bright and happy students moving from their colleges towards their respective jobs created a great pull. Everyone could visualize themselves in those happy souls. Their shining faces presented a hope which seemed too had drained away. And their 5 Star hotel like hostel`s picture filled us with wonder. Yes their is an institution where we could get a job, a future. And not just that, it has beautiful girls in its hoardings. And yes some of them look like a foreigner too. Wow wouldn't it be great to study in a college where people from other countries come to study. Screw the top colleges, we will study in an institute where beautiful girls from foreign exotic countries come, and thus we joined it.

And thus begins our second innings. But this time around it wasn't that bad. Sure we didn't have any girls from foreign lands talking in gibberish except two boys from the African subcontinent (the name of their country is still difficult to pronounce). Maybe they had also got confused with the hoarding trick as we had. Sure we didn't had any 5 Star like hostels and at night we had to rage a war against mosquitoes but still it was college , our college and we all had the time of our life (I will take this opportunity to include even those who got a college after a 1.5 lakh AIEEE rank ) .

One significant change that happened was that the big dream had ended and he was once and for all treated as mere mortals.
Mortals who weren't left with that baggage of IIT and performance. Some again took up their lost arts, while some engaged in a few new. It was the first time when few had the courage to take the road not taken. And on the road we met with some alien arts which included cigarette, booze, drug and dope. Yes the new road had some road blocks which included (if not exaggerated) a few class fails and semester backs.

But suddenly four years didn't seem that long. And in the end was again that looming fear. That fear of a career. It was then that we realized that hoarding, those advertisements, those pretty girls smiling was all a hoax. The distance between us and our future career was still as distant as it had been 4 years ago. And thus most of us again started that wild race to mug things up. It was a reminder to again become a true Engineer.  

Then was the fight to get to a "Core Company". Those few elusive companies finally came and after  an initial screening round based on percentage , then a written round , a couple of round of GDs and another couple of interviews I today find myself in this cubicle staring at my computer screen .

By now life has taught me that most things we perceive are actually in reality a hoax , a mirage created for us my our overlords. Like the girl in the hoarding, everything shown to us during the presentations for our jobs were also hoax. As a mechanical design engineer I am supposed to make data sheets , MS EXCEL is my primary and only software and CTRL + C and CTRL + V my primary tools ( God only knows how my company would have survived if Bill Gates hadn't gifted the world EXCEL ).

All those childhood dreams come rushing back to me. Was this the career we had imagined for ourselves in that mad rush for colleges? Is this the engineering we had imagined we would do? Are we even "designing”? Are we even justifying the word Engineer?

Isn't this a form of unemployment .Sure we are getting paid for the time we are spending in our allotted cubicle but what about intellectual satisfaction? Satisfaction of our minds?

There is a great divide between what we study (or at least are made to do) and what we are made to do in real time situations. Aren’t there few aspirations of a budding engineer? In rush to fill the college forms and the race to grab a quality seat we were made to believe that the final fruit will taste sweet. But instead the reality remains that we do achieve a fruit in the end but it doesn’t look like one. We get a job in the end which is devoid of any thrills of which we had dreamt of. We get a career which cheats us of any creative satisfaction.

I can’t help but think again of those unspoken words which were reflected from the eyes of our parents. Those eyes that spoken of our success. I don’t know an IIT could have had made any difference but I still sometimes think looking around at my work desk am I an engineer my mother dreamt I would be?

A few Good men

Okay so today is the day . I don't require my alarm today . No today I am awake . Today I don't require anything else but my luck . I am awake.

Its been days I have been waiting for this . She has finally agreed. And why shouldn't she . After all to cover the entire distance on a bus doesn't sound so interesting when someone has been pestering you for a bike ride . No not pestering just offering a bike ride. Yes I just offered her one . After all I have said it so many times before that a girl like you shouldn't take a bus for all that distance on your own . After all 45 minutes alone on a crowded bus is a "risky " thing isn't it?
And she agreed . Man she agreed!!

I see my bike today in a new light which I could never before. Black and shining . It does seems pretty. Nah not pretty . It looks macho . Good God what is wrong with me and my vocabulary . Girls don't like things which seems pretty. They prefer things that are "macho" . Yes that's the word.

Okay so the checklist is complete .

Bike`s been polished : Check

Sunglasses on : Check

Boots on : Check

Ignition on : Check

There I see her waiting . Yes she is waiting for me . God she looks so beautiful . No again I am going ahead of myself. Nah she`s just my friend so she must look only cute . Yes just cute

A shy smile and she is sitting behind me. A thousand questions fire up . Is the ride comfortable ? Are you having fun ? Is it better than that bus ride of yours? Her hand brushes lightly against my shoulder and a sweet voice reaches my ear " I never knew that you are a good rider "
Ah this made my day. See I am a good rider. Maybe a great one at that . Maybe she likes me . But how does it affect it me. I am just her friend remember? Got to remember that bit. Yes just friends.

But has any day been so beautiful as this one . Oh how the birds are singing , the cute sounds auto wallas are making ,smoke from cars also seems less dirty , even the face of that police constable looks less ugly. Yes this day is great . Luck is finally on my side. My wonderful bike has made it so.

And suddenly came a jerk . Her body pushed against mine. It felt good but no I hadn't intended it so soon . Maybe after some kilometers when it wouldn't  look so obvious but no not so soon. Something is wrong. And it seems luck has finally run its quota full . A red light from the fuel indication stares back at me . Shit it had been there all the time but I had been only so stupid and so engaged that I didn't seem to notice it. One important thing was missing from my dear checklist . Fuel

With a small smile I muster up courage and tell her there is nothing to worry about . Just a little problem with the bike. It happens all the time and it'll get done in a moment. An encouraging smile comes my way. No she still likes me. Yes every thing is ok.

But I know its not. That red monster is staring at me I know perfectly well what the problem is. Slowly that loving smile is turning into fuming glances . She is looking at her watch now . No that's not good. I try and drag my bike , tilt it , shake it , curse it even , slowly praying that the One above will listen to me . Conveying even pleading without speaking to my darling black dragon of the love I had felt for her just moments ago and making her remember of the bond we have and "please for the love of God not to ditch me at this important point."

And then the final stab came. "You could have at least kept a little fuel when you knew today I was gonna come with you. Anyway I am getting late and I have never been late for my office ." The hands which were holding on to my back for support felt like they were drawing daggers into my soul . I wanted to tell her that it wasn't my fault . Really the thought of dropping her made me so excited that everything else just escaped. But I could only muster a small , embarrassed sorry.

Next moment I knew I was dropping her off for a rickshaw. A rickshaw. That that devil of a driver was actually laughing at me . Smirking. That was the moment I knew there are no good men left.

 As I see her moving away on that tingy rickshaw the beauty of the world seems to evaporate around me. Songs of birds turned into blabber , these auto wallas should be prosecuted , and this smoke from cars , I mean where are the regulating authorities? Hatching eggs? And I think that I am seriously losing my mind when I thought that that constable could have ever turned less ugly .

Dead tired from dragging the bike along , I come across a man standing on a crossing leaning against his bike. "Sir could you please lend me some petrol so that I can just reach the petrol pump." A simple request . More so a simpler question .But the look he gave was as if I had put a gun on his temple and snatched away his motorcycle . I cannot lose more of myself respect in a single day . I was right, there are no good men left.

This world is seeming to be conspiring against me . Yes that's what it is . I mean I had never seen so many couples so early in the morning together. And that too happy couples!!  I gather again some strength and shout a question about the nearest pumping station to a couple speeding away. And the girl , she just laughed . I mean how can girls find amusing things in the most mundane of situations. Don't you see me in pain , in suffering . There is no reply but a plain heartless laugh and this has convinced me beyond doubt , Yes there are no good men left .

Brooding in my own misery I see a man stopping by. I mean Sir I can see the entire world playing a plot against me . A beautiful girl (ok no just a friend) was sitting behind me before but left. I am pretty sure a stray person considered me a thief and a silly girl actually laughed at me . Now do you actually want to stop and then laugh at my state?

But then he said some of the most glorious sentences I had yet heard. " I think you have run out of petrol but don't worry ill give u a  leg up " Not entire sure what he was talking about and partly thinking he was making a Mickey out of me I agreed . With his instructions I jumped on my bike with relief and pushed . And then that noble person helped me out of my misery . He pushed my bike from behind while moving his own and supported through his legs. I couldn't catch his face properly beneath that black helmet but I know for sure if I had seen his face was that of an angel .

He drove me all the way up to the fuel station . And just as I had turned with relief to thank him for his help I could see him moving back up on the road on which he helped me to the station . This wasn't the way he had to come. This wasn't his route. Yet he helped me , wasted his precious time in this ever fast moving world. Without relieving his name , without even waiting for a small "Thank You"  that faceless stranger reinstalled that belief in me that yes there are a few good men still left.

Women ( Aurat )

 Tu hai kabhi maa ki pukar ,
 to tu kabhi pyaar ki bahaar

 Kabhi hai vo pallu, jo apne bacche ko chipaye
to kabhi vo jo pahli raat ko jhalkaye

Kabhi tu subha din ke liye tayaar karati,
to kabhi raat ko pyaar se sulati

Kabhi maa , baap ke kahe pe ek nayi duniya sajati,
to kabhi ussi ko bachhane main puri duniyaa se ladh jati

Tu Kali bhi  aur Aisha bhi ,
Tu Mariyam bhi aur Hawua bhi

Tu hai vo jisne sabko janam diya,
aur vo bhi jisne dard main marham diya

Tuje duniya nai naam aurat diya ,
par sab nai tuje maa , behen , pyaar aur dosto main paya

Tere chehre hazaar ,  tere kaam hazaar ,
har shaks nai tuje alag paya
par afsoos abhi bhi yeh mard tuje na samaj paya

Naa hai aash na abhilasha

Naa hai aash na abhilasha
to jeene ki hai yeh kaisi aasha


naa hai agar moh na maaya
to tu jeeta kyun chala aaya


naa mile tuje khushi naa hai yaha pyaar
to har pal hai yeh kisska intazaar


jo tu kahe ki duniyaa acchi nai
to bhi kyun din par din ussi main khotaa chala jaye


naa mile agar tuje uchhaie , aur dhikhee sirf gharii khaaie
tab bhi udththi  hui chiriya ko dhek yeh muskaan kyun aaie??


Naa hai ash na abhilasha
to jeene ki hai yeh kaisi aasha?


duniyaa ko tu kahe ki kuch accha nai , aur tu dur jaana chahe
tab bhi unhi main baithe , unhi main gungunaae


tu yeh kyun kahe ki pyaar na hai
bas tuje abhi dhikhaa na hai


uss maa ki mamta main pyaar hai , baap ke phatkaar main bhi
dosto main mazaak hai aur badoo ki daat main bhi


bas ek pyaar karne wala chahiee tuje
jo iss duniyaa ke rang dhiklaae

Soul of innocence

Dedicated to those poor souls who are bonded by the chains of professionalism 




We were here at first though strange to each other
but policies changed us for the betterment I heard

they told tales about how gud the land was
how fine the breed was and how fine results they got

Also there were folk-tales about foreign breeds
and how when they came in contact they transform our own breed

They enticed us with their foreign lands
and said once vll be there,our milk and products vll change

and though the poor souls were we , we accepted their view
and went on with our grazing 

but somewhere down the lane one of us got sick
but they said he was a sicken cattle and he impured the land

and though the poor souls were we , we accepted their view
and thought it must be a problem with our fellow and the grass must be green

but again and again more went down
thought our masters kept sayng it was our eating habits which took us down

and though the poor souls were we , we accepted their view
and gave them our milk as for an ox its all he has to do .

and though the poor souls were we , we accepted their view
but there came a time when we asked for more grass ,
 to which our masters said its bad for health,
 and less should be consumed or else it will be there no more

and though the poor souls were we , we accepted their view
and saw new cattles being brought into the farm
and promised more grass than they can demand

and though the poor souls were we, we accepted their view
though smiling a little , knowing their grass will also soon be gone

and forgetting about the time when our own souls were pure too
laughing about the new herd Oh what innocent souls they have got..............


Posted on writersmelon.com

10 Years

Its been 10 years and memories don't die,
10 long years and still i see children cry,
that man`s face is still etched in my memory ,
still i see my 10 years younger self cry.

Cuddled in the comforting arms of my mother,
asking her
who is that person in the T.V mother?
why doesn't he fells sorry mother, why?

A thousand questions build up and i look at her scared face,
I turn to my father and ask him,
If the people in orange clock will turn up at our door steps next?

No son , my father replied we are miles away,
But i wanted to tell him I knew of a man who also wears that orange cloak,
and gives us sweets when we play near the streets,

I make up my mind that i will never strike again the bells that hung in his corridors,
or play in his street,
what if he also turns into one of those lunatics who turn their dagger with that angry glee.

 We are miles away father, you just said so
then why are you calling the numbers of relatives
who must be miles away from warm too?

My mother still doesnt answer
and clinches my sister more securely in her arms,
and still i don't understand why the person in the T.V sees he has done no harm.

Still fearful I ask my mother if I could go to the school next day,
to which she shouted that she loves me a lot to let me go free.

And 10 years have passed and memories still don`t die,
whenever I am away , my mother asks without asking ,
if i met any harm in the way.

10 long years and i still see children cry,
and still i ask ,
why the man in T.V doesn't feel sorry mother, Why???