That Night It Rained II...

Dark clouds..overcast sky..covering the atmosphere under the deep dark blanket of warmth and joy..it was obvious that its goin to rain. Sitting here and admiring all these beauty of nature and struggling to point a single star out there shining brightly in the sky, we looked out for a shelter under a tree. We two..me n Disha..my childhood sweetheart..I always wanted to marry her here itself at Banaras Ghat.

Banaras Ghat, a place you can see the circle of life at the same time..Mundan ceremony of a child..Man & Woman tying the knot..and Cremation of dead body.

Suddenly something hit me so badly, may be an iron rod, on my head and I collapsed there itself . I could just hear Disha crying "Dad please dont hit him..he will die." So many hits I had got one after another. My bones were beaten to pulp.

Dont know how many days I lied unconscious. I opened my eyes..wasnt able to move from my place..craving for food earnestly.

I could see it was raining outside through the window panes. Lightening bolt and thunder, so loud like an explosion, made me shiver with fear. Whenever lightning struck I saw the corpses lying evrywhere. I was thrown in a morgue. Seeing them and rotten smells of dead bodies induced nausea and I tried to vomit but nothing came out of my mouth. I cried as loudly as i can in a hope to live again..would ve better died there. Started cursing God for this day i had seen in my life. Didnt know when I felt asleep.

Opened my eyes again..remembering the last day i had seen through my eyes..went back into my life where I could see Disha waiting for me like any other day at Ghat of Banaras. The stories she used to tell me about her parents and they would never agree for our marriage. She used to cry in my arms and telling me to elope with her everyday. One day she was telling me about Aghoris and how they take dead bodies, those which are not burnt completely, to the jungle and eat human flesh and they are fond of human fingers. She was very scared of Aghoris. One day I asked her to meet after the daily worshipping at Ghat in evening to the place where we used to meet each day. I put ashes all over my face and came from behind to her. This scared the hell out of her and started hitting me.

Remembering all these put a smile on my face and after I got over the shock, I was left with the rage and hope to live again. Thinking of Aghoris I started eating dead bodies and human fleshes lying in the morgue. I was getting better day by day. I could now move my limbs. I could see days and nights goin by through the panes hearing to growls of wild animals. This morgue was situated far out of city near the jungle.

One day again I could see dark clouds..overcast sky..covering the atmosphere under the deep dark blanket of fear and sorrow, not warmth and joy, this time. I heard some noises like some one entering into the morgue through under ground. When they entered I was shocked to see people wearing nothing but ashes all over the body. I could see and firmly believed aghoris do exist. Exactly same what Disha had told me. Everything in this morgue had already been rottened. Still they took few corpses. They took me along with them and told me about this secret way into the morgue and was used only if they couldnt get anything to eat. They named me another aghori and asked to stay with them. I had no other option left so I went along with them. It was raining heavily outside. We all took a shelter in the jungle where they had a cave.

They all were searching for food in different groups. Those who went to Ghat of Banaras returned with a dead body half burnt. Now I could easily eat a human flesh. I saw them chopping the fingers and keeping it separately. Everbody started hogging on the dead body. After finishing it they all distributed fingers evrybody each.

I went on to eat the finger, in the lightning I saw a ring on the finger. Ohh..I had seen this ring..Taking it out from the burnt finger and remembering the day I had given Disha this ring and seeing her finger in my other hand..I sat there all frozen...so numb.

That night it rained.. I

"Lets go for a walk", said Rahul.

"Yippee. Lets go", said Sweta, almost jumping out of her seat.

It was yet another boring day in the Bhubaneswar ILP institute. Dusk

was breaking in. Sweta had already taken two breaks since lunch.

Nevertheless, she had been anticipating Rahul's invitation for

another break.

Rahul and Sweta had known each other for the last couple of months.

They had been together since the training days. People knew them as

the best of friends. Rahul, the regular T-D-H type, who spoke with a

heavy Bengali accent, was a popular in the ILP. On the other

hand, Sweta was a chubby sweet little girl, who was always on the

lookout for sorrow souls. They enjoyed being in each other's company.

Sweta would disclose all his crushes to Rahul, and Rahul would always be seen taking classes from Sweta, on how to impress a girl in 24 hours. Rahul had helped Sweta to forget her 7-year-old single lane relationship and Sweta would see to it that Rahul would never be lonely. Most of the time, they were together. People admired, some even sneered with jealousy, the relation that these two shared.

The walk today was unusually long.

"This is gonna be one of our last walks", muttered Rahul in a low tone.

"I know", replied Sweta in a soft, almost inaudible voice.

Bhubaneswar ILP had completed the long cycle training and the postings had been announced the previous day. Sweta was posted at Mumbai base location, while Rahul would have to shift to Bangalore. Even though they both always knew that they had to separate one day... they did not expect it to happen so soon.

Sweta, who belonged to the sentimental group, looked at Rahul and managed to pass a disguised smile. "I tried my best for a swap. The HR is stubborn. She is still holding on to 'EURP P.U. doesn't encourage swaps.' I cannot stay here alone Rahul."

"I swear, I am gonna miss you badly too dear" replied Rahul, again faking a smile.

"Hey don't worry sweetie, Mumbai is just eight hours from Bangalore.

Just call me and I will be here." said Rahul, trying to cheer her up, though his words did not light up Sweta's face.

She just replied with a frown. "You will be busy with your new girl friends and your work. You will soon forget me"

"Hey come on!" said an offended Rahul. "You are my best friend. Can I ever forget you dear?"

"You just wait and see", came an almost sobbing reply.

"Don't start crying dear." Said Rahul with a gloomy face... "Oh... by the way... it's getting late... let's go back" he said, taking a U-turn.

As destiny wanted......... the next week saw Rahul packing his bags for Bangalore, while Sweta moved out of her PG, to a rented apartment closer to her office. They parted with a few wet handkerchiefs. The bus started moving. Rahul looking through the Volvo glass was trying to say something to Sweta. His actions deciphered, as "I will call u when I reach there. Gonna miss you. Take care... Bye-Bye"

Sweta was comforted by her own tears. She felt very lonely, as if she had lost something. Something, very precious. Consoling herself, she went back to her room, shut the door, and started sobbing again.

She had found a very good friend in Rahul, and he was her major support. She had no clue in the beginning that she would get so much attached and more important... too much dependent on him. She sobbed herself to sleep.

A couple of hours later, she heard her mobile ringing. One look at the tiny screen, which happened to display, "Rahul calling..." and she was overjoyed. She answered the call with a "Hey... You reached so soon? How was the trip?"

"Yo dear! Just reached. Bangalore seems to be bliss. The climate is almost like Bhubaneswar. It is wonderful... though Bhubaneswar was better.... Coz I miss you badly here..."

"I miss you too dear," said Sweta... trying to stop her tears. They talked on for almost an hour. Sweta was all the time advising him, on what to do and what not to do. And Rahul was responding with a "Yes dear" "Ofcourse I will" "Sure, I wont"

A couple of days had gone by. They used to call each other every day. They did not miss the good morning / good evening / how are you / I am fine ... SMS almost every hour. Thanks to the Airtel to Airtel free SMS scheme. Slowly the days went by. Two weeks had past since they parted.

That Saturday, Rahul called up Sweta in the morning and said... "Hey Sweta... you know what... I am gonna have a terrific weekend. We are going to check out Nandi hills today."

"We? What do you mean by we?" asked a puzzled Sweta.

"Oh Oh. I completely forgot to tell you about my new friend. She is so cute. We are in the same project. We both are going to the hill station. Just about to leave... So thought of calling you up and say a hi."

Somehow the "hi" was not so enticing for Sweta. Back there, she was finding it hard to talk to anyone after Rahul left, while on the other hand, someone had already taken her place in Rahul's life. She managed to mumble out "That's great Rahul. Have a nice time... and enjoy yourself." She was kinda upset, but dint show it.

Days went by and Sweta was feeling that the distance between her and Rahul was slowly increasing.

Then one day... the phone at her desktop rang. "Sweta... you have to go to Bangalore for one week to gather the details of our APPLE project". It was the voice of her PM. Sweta could hardly believe her ears. "Wow! What luck! I can meet Rahul for a week," she said to herself. She was very much happy and excited over this new twist. As luck would have it... it was Rahul's birthday next week. She thought of giving him a big surprise. Therefore, she hid the news from him.

Next week, Sweta was in Bangalore. Thanks to the huge crowd of people, she managed to go unnoticed by anyone, especially Rahul, for the first day. It was evening. She had left office early. She went to the market and brought some beautiful flowers. She had been waiting for this day. Flowers have this magical way of pleasing people... and so she was choosy in selecting them. Rahul was her best friend, and she cared a lot about him.

Taking the flowers home, she had her dinner and was waiting for time to pass. She knew Rahul's address... she left the hotel at 11:30 and hired a taxi to reach Rahul's place. It was a short distance away, so she reached pretty soon. She groped around and found out his flat. The lights were still on. She frowned. She wanted this to be a magnificent surprise and hence had expected him to be sleeping. Nevertheless, she timidly went to the door and rang the bell. The door opened in a few seconds... There was Rahul. "Happy birthday..." said Sweta. Rahul was stunned. He could not believe his eyes. Taking the flowers, he said.

"Oh gosh! Thank you so much Sweta. I never expected you... come on...come inside..." Sweta removed her shoes and went in. Little did she knew that there was a bigger surprise waiting for her inside. She saw that the room was decorated and there was a birthday cake, which had candles on it. There was a pretty girl standing there in blue denims and a red top.

"Err... Sweta let me introduce you to Neha. And Neha, this is my friend Sweta" The girls exchanged smiles and said Hi to each other.

Sweta felt uncomfortable. She wanted to be the first one to wish him on his birthday. But look here! It seemed that someone else had already done it. Still, controlling her feelings, she did not react.

They sang the birthday song together, cut the cake, and had fun. The Party was over. Sweta said, "Rahul, it's getting late, I will leave now. Can you tell me where can I find a taxi?"

"Hey, are u nuts or what? It is very late. You don't need to go anywhere. Sleep here tonight. Even Neha has decided to stay back."

Sweta would never have accepted this, but the last line "Even Neha has decided to stay back" drove her to say, "Well, if you insist, I will stay back."

The next day morning, once again Shweta wished Rahul and left for her hotel. Work was hectic. She met Rahul for his dinner party in the evening. Neha was with him. She found this annoying, but as usual, did not utter a word.

The next day morning, she called Rahul and said... "You mean fellow, you haven't shown me around Bangalore. I am free today evening. Take me to the good places"

"Sure we will do that baby." Was his reply.

The day was boring for Sweta with not much work to do. She waited until five and then buzzed him on his cell. "Where are you Rahul? Come on... let's go!"

"Oh... I am so sorry Sweta; I have this telecon thing... I am gonna be late... just wait for some time... please dear"

"Sure I will wait dear, you finish your work. Tell me where are u, I will come there and cheer you up", said Sweta.

"Hey that's fine dear. No need to take any trouble... Besides, Neha is also here."

Sweta was surprised. She had not expected him to say this. This time, not knowing how to react... she was searching for words to reply... she struggled and said... "Well.. err ... Rahul.. I am.. err very tired.. I think I will go back... err.. Let us go tomorrow..."

Rahul replied "Wow, that's fine... no problem. We will surely go tomorrow okay, thanks a ton Sweta for understanding."

Unfortunately tomorrow never came. Rahul was busy with one thing or the other. She was feeling all the more lonely and desolate. The feeling that Neha had replaced her position sank her. A frustrated and irritated Sweta was waiting for her last day in bangalore. That day, she did not expect Rahul to call her. So to inform him that she is leaving, she called him in the evening and told him that she is leaving in an hour. She was shocked by Rahul's reply. "Oh I am so sorry dear; I won't be able to come to see you off. Today I have a very important meeting, I am really sorry yaar." "Its okay Rahul", said Sweta, thinking at the back of her mind... what meeting could

Rahul possible have after office hours.

Heartbroken by the crushing changes she found in her best friend, she left for the Majestic bus station and boarded her bus. She kept on looking outside as if she was expecting a miraculous surprise. But no one turned up. Resting her head on the slide seat, she closed her eyes. Memories of those wonderful times spent with Rahul were flashing in front of her eyes. She did not have any grudges that Rahul had replaced her, but what pricked her was how easily she was forgotten and forsaken. The journey was perhaps the dullest and saddest for Sweta.

Back in Mumbai, and back to work, Shweta was trying to cope up with life. After a week, Rahul called her up. She did not want to create an issue, but just could not stand it. She blurted out everything. She asked him to give an explanation. His reply was "Look Sweta, you are a very good friend of mine. But now, there is someone more important in my life. Someone with more priority. Sweta... I am in love with Neha." The words were so cold that Sweta could feel its bite.

Gathering all the bits of her remaining calm, she sobbed and said. "I don't have any problem with that Rahul. But falling in love doesn't essentially mean that you have to forsake your old friends"

"You have never fallen in love. What will you know about love, Sweta?"

Rahul's words shattered her heart. She had never expected to hear this from the person she cared and loved the most. She quietly cut the phone. She shut her eyes tight and cried.

That night it rained.

Since You've Been Gone

Since u ve been gone..
m missin sm1 very special of mine..
ohh well m all alone in good n bad times

Since u ve been gone..
missing strength..missing dark eyes & curls in ur hair,
how can i forget ur sweet smile & d way u cared..

Since u ve been gone..
I forgot to smile forever
d way i used to,
wen we were together

Since u ve been gone..
no thought started each mrning & no conclusion at the end of day..
coz u were d only one in evrythng i did & evrythng i said..

Since u ve been gone..
lost my smile, twinkle in my eyes..
warmth inside my heart & d fullness in my life..

Please come back n give it an another try
n hold me tightly, yah i need to cry..

GULAAL

GULAAL...
To most of my readers, this topic ll remind them of movie GULAAL by Anurag Kahsyap. Its a compelling watch with some quite superlative performances by Kay Kay Menon, Abhimanyu Singh etc etc...
Rajasthani revolutionaries plan to use GULAAL as masks. I feel this movie as a cocktail of democracy, constitution, rajneeti and republic. Too much of democracy can penetrate into anyone's head.
Well... m referring Gulaal here as a mask which I wear, you wear and everybody among us do wear.Isn't it? I cudn find anythin better than this to name it ;)
Everybody among us wear a mask. Its not Gulaal and its not visible at all but we do wear masks to do something without getting noticed.
We all r having a revolutionary within ourselves. But only few dare to get into this character. We all know wat s goin on within our surroundings. But we put a mask on our face pretneding we r not at all aware of these.
Gulaal is a tale of unfulfilled potential. We all r having hell lot of potential in ourselves but we never come out to show it. We all want someone to stand by us. We all dont know whether people with us r really with us or not. All we can see is a mask which we think is truth and believe it. Yes, dats very true but we ve no other options. We believe what we see without giving it a second thought that it might be an illusion.
Does Gulaal mean being diplomatic?? We all r diplomats to some extents..aren't we..may be we dont want others to see real of us or may be we r afraid of something.
Can anyone out of us blindly trust anybody without seeing the filthy, sweat-stained and ugly side of them?
The answer is no. We cant ignore the dark side.
But still we r following somebody. Nobody is moving on their own. Everybody s feeling some driving force.
Do we trust our bosses, politicians, prime minister or anybody who is driving us??
The answer is no again. We all r having skeptical attitude. We all are a skeptical listener. And we believe that people always act selfishly and my dear friends, we all r cynical in real.
Actually everything is based on calculation. We keep on calculating every moment.
We ve found a solution too and We all do is rebel but ve we ever had sticked to it. Our rebellion is the bitter, sardonic laughter of all great satirists. I think m getting too much into rajneeti wala side..
Lets bring our lives..friends and evryone..Gulaal we wear among our people..
Lets discuss us first, our friends with whom we spend a lot of time. I wonder if anyone among us exists who has never had bitched about any of their friends on their back. But we wear Gulaal all over our face. Nobody can see within that.

Why dont we just wash our face covered with Gulaal and portray the person what we really are without seeing the pros and cons.
I know that at some point of time in your life you might have realized all this :)
Last but not least, I think all gals must wash their face first coz they excel in bitching about anyone, her best friend or anybody..When u all gals there ll be urselves ;)

Am I ?

It was so cold in London. The greatest night London had ever seen. Fireworks and it was snowing too. The scenery was amazing. I had never seen fireworks n snowfall complementing each other..it was sooo beautiful. I was waiting for him at London Eye - an extraordinary symbol for an extraordinary city. He was leaving for India. It was our last meet at London. After an hour of wait I saw him coming. God , I was so excited. He had brought my favorite yellow daffodils. After giving them he said his flight was about to leave in 2 hours for India. We hugged and left. I felt like going along with him forever. He said he would call from there and we would marry soon. I was so happy that night and sad too as m not goin to see him for a long time.
His name is Armaan.
I went home that night right after he left. I told my parents about him. They asked hell lot of questions relating to him. What is his religion? What does he do? Since how long you two are seeing each other? Blah blah blah...i was fed up of answering them. No matter i was born n brought up here in London but my mom n dad were behaving typically like Indian parents.
I was waiting for his call. But he dint. I was so upset n annoyed, didnt have my dinner. Few days passed then weeks I was living with fear inside my mind. Did he meet an accident? Did he marry someone else? These thoughts flooded my mind.
I left for the place where he was staying. From a neighbour I got his India's number. I made a call immediately n asked for him. He was staying at Bangalore with parents. He told he was too busy with business so cudn make a call n apologised too. He asked me to come over to India n we would marry soon.
I was so excited. I told my parents, but they refused. I left my parents n booked my flight tikts to India. They blatantly told me never to come back to them.
My flight landed at Bangalore airport. I looked for him at airport but he didnt come to receive me. I called him immediately. He said he cudn come over to take me coz of his tight schedule and said that he would call me at evening. I went straight to a hotel n booked a room for me. We met at CCD at MG Road. It was so good to see hi again.
Then he told me that he was married and had a kid too. I was shocked. Tears of distrust was running all over my cheeks. And he told me dat he was a muslim. He said that he lied to me as I was a Punjabi and my parents would never allow marrying a Muslim. And his real name was Arshid. I felt like cheated. What would I do?? Where would I go?? Again all thoughts were running into my mind. Gosh, I was being fooled n used by him and i was totally unaware of it.
I cudn go back so i decided that i would not let him escape so easily, I asked him to leave his wife n marry me. He asked me to wait for a month then he would tell and confirm after asking his family.
I joined a call center in Bangalore. Since I wasn graduate I got this job by faking documents to them. These all backgroud check n verification would take atleast a month and by that time i would leave this job on my own. I met a guy while attendin interview for this call center job. He helped me in faking documents. I told him all about my personal life story n my purpose to be here in Bangalore. He asked me why i wudn leave for London to my parents. They wud forgive me. But i was too scared n also mentally prepared watever things wud happen i ll never go back.
I used to roam around with him during breaks..faggin..havin lunch together.
My company asked me to produce originals which i cudn n i lost my job finally. My friend also left for his native n now i didnt ve any option.
Armaan (Arshid) called me and asked me he wud marry me but i ve to convert into muslim and he wud stay 4 days with him wife n 3 days with me. He got me a place to stay in front of his house. His family has agreed to his decision.
I ve three more days to go. Now i ve nowhere to go. This s my only option.
I ve made up my mind and I am goin to marry him. I dont know wat m i doin with my own life.
Am i too dependent on him??
or
am I ?

INDIA,jahan JISM BIKTA HAI PAR SACH NAHIN BIKTA!!!

It took a long time but I always wanted to start writing my own blog,then i thought wat ll be the subject.
So yesterday i got struck with a topic while watching news channel. Yes,it is all about the controversial reality show Sach Ka Saamna that got high TRPs recently.
Well..i guess everybody knows that Sach Ka Saamna is based on the American show 'The Moment of Truth'.
Contestants have to answer 21 questions related to their lives after undergoing a polygraph test that determines if an answer is true. A contestant who dares to speak truths throughout walks away with 1 Crore (INR ofcourse ;))
Samajwadi Party MP Kamal Akhtar raised questions regarding the show's content in the Rajya Sabha and a notice has been issued to the TV channel for indecency or u can say asking obscene questions related to sex ofcourse, afterall
we all r Indians where sex is the biggest issue.
According to him, in this show obscene questions are being asked by Rajiv Khandelwal to the contestants or u can say
people who r daring to speak truth.I will come back to our dear Samajwadi Party MP Kamal Akhtar later. Lets first discuss all about this new reality show.
I wonder whether they ll speak truth if no prize money is there. I personally don't like the way this show is aired on TV saying 'Kuch dilon ke faasle mit jaayenge ya fir dooriyan badh jaayengi n all..wtf..
Wat i think if no prize money is there nobody ll cm n volunteer thenselves on this show. Like wat contestants said
that they ve come here for 'prayaschit' or to show their realtives how much they care. In real..nothing matters,absolutely fucking nothing..its all cosmic conspiracy !!!
Recently a woman was asked in the presence of her husband whether she would have physical contact with another man.
When she said no, the polygraph test said the answer was wrong. That simply means she cant speak truth in front of her husband. Even the money cudn force her to speak truth in front of her husband. God knows how cruel her husband is..newaz he got d truth finally.. :P
Even women too have the rights to fantasize not only men..poor thing is there s no right for fantasizing these stuffs ;)
And my dear readers, this was the question on which Akhtar said asking what impression would be created on the husband. Dude first of all get a life. Let the poor woman breathe some air as her husband is surely goin to kick her ass. That woman was not ur wife. N if u want to know whether ur wife has had the same feelings or not,better send her on the show. U ll also get some money in return. ;)
I wonder y dont we all stick to our views rather than contradicting others. U cant make the whole people of ur kind.. better make ur own views n stick to it.That wud be a great relief for evry Human Being.
When ll we stop peepin into others life. let others do wat they r doin. I would like to ask Mr. Akhtar dont you think shows like splitsvilla or roadies too should be banned. As u said, questions that are asked on 'Sach Ka Saamna' may cause a rift between the families n may even ruin the relationship. N these all mite ruin our great Indian culture.
Coz in India showing skin n baring it all sells definitely and on this show people dare to speak truth n not bare ;)
They dont want exposing skin shud be stopped but they want exposing truths should be..thats funny though ;)
May be next generation people ll watch nude tv or shows like nudevilla aur nudies but not like 'Sach Ka Saamna' coz our society has grown enuf to watch porn on tv but not truths coz it s against our Indian culture our society.
People like Akhtar ll definitely agree if contestants are asked to remove their clothes one by one as per the number of times they lied :P
hmmm..its d nice way to increase TRP as well as maintaing our culture altogether.. :D
If Star Tv s sellin truth n people r getting money n fame out of it..let them be happy.
I wud rather like to sell truth in place of my body which noone ll purchase..irony though :(
But this s India my friend jahan "JISM BIKTA HAI PAR SACH NAHIN BIKTA!!!"
Kudos to 'Sach Ka Saamna'. Special thanks to Siddharth Basu, head of BIG Synergy Adlabs that is producing the show and Rajiv Khandelwal as well ;)