Lord God...

Forgive me father,
For I have sinned!
You gave me birth,soul, heart,
Ear,nose,tongue, eyes and skin,
Parents, friends and kin.
But now I am calling quit!
You gave me life...
Now you take it!
You sent me on a purpose
And I forgot that in mirth and merry
I know it is preposterous
But I took the road to hell in hurry!

Forgive me father,
For I have strayed!
Like a lamb out of flock,
Into the butcher's shop I have tread!
I know I ignored your warnings and signs,
But who cares for it over the bottles of wine?

You created Eden and planted tree of knowledge,
If that was not meant to be eaten
then why did you have it at all?
Now I have taken the path forbidden
And am on the edge
To reach you, all it will take is one big fall!
But then you gave me this life
Isn't it up to you to make the call?

You would say - "You never thought of me then
Now that you are short of luck you are acting like a chicken!"
But with so many offers for the five senses around
I enjoyed them with meaningful sounds.
Now I am all alone and good for none
Hence this is my plea
I don't want to live, take me back please!

GOD: So what do you want?
Money, wine and pleasure?
You forgot my purpose,
Took easy way to live,
Now trying for easy way out!
You forgot me in your good times,
Now I forsake you in your bad!
Take your time and complete your purpose!
Come home to me then, I will have your way filled with roses!
Till then I am on vacation!

Coffee break!

Hi!

Heyyy!

Have you been waiting for long?

Not much. Just for 20 yrs. Ha ha...

Huh?! Mahesh! Well I am sorry you had to wait, the traffic was horrible.

Hey, that's okay. I have been here only for five minutes now.

You haven't changed a bit. You are still that funny old guy.

Well, what did you expect?

I expected a pot bellied, balding middle aged man. And look at you. At 48 you still look charming.

Ha ha... As always! Even you too look pretty. Yeah you have put on a bit of weight and your hair is greying at the temples but you don't seem to be any different.

Remember this place, when you first took me out? It was a small restaurant. With may be 10 -12 tables? Now this has become one of the hi-fi restaurants in this city.

Yeah, you are right. So what would you like to have?

Arabian coffee.

Wow!

What?

It's the same coffee that you ordered that day.

I know.

Excuse me! One Arabian coffee and one southern Indian Brew, please.

You too ordered the same.

Yeah...

So? Hows your husband?

Deepak? Good. And your wife?

Anitha is fine. She has gone to her native. Kids?

Yeah! Two. Elder one, Mrunal, is 17 and is in twelfth standard, and the younger one, Madhusha, is 12 and is in seventh standard.

Why are you torturing your kids?

What?! What do you mean! How can sending to school be torturous?

Who said anything about school? look at their names. Its difficult than their syllabus!

You incorrigible old man! Stop sniggering! Tell me about your kids.

I have only one daughter, Nisha. 14 yrs old. In school.

I hope she has taken after her mother.

Yeah she has taken after her mother in dumbness.

Come on. Will you ever be serious?

Yes I have been on many occasions.

Tell me the last one!

The day I got married. I was so serious I didn't talk to any one.

God! Ha ha ha ha... Seriously dude... oops... you are too old to be called a dude.

Hey! I am still young okay!

Really?!

Why? You doubt? Look at the women at the other table. They are looking at me.

Yeah, and probably wondering who that cranky old guy is!

They are jealous of you. I can see it in their eyes.

You live in a world of your own, don't you? And why should they be jealous of me? They should have Anitha on their list. Don't you think?

But for now, in their eyes, you are my partner. So you also enjoy.

Yeah right! I am happy to be with Deepak...

Oohh! Good! Oh well the coffee. Have it before it turns cold.

Mmmm... the coffee just tastes nice, like it was that day...

Hmm... Is it the coffee or the company? eh?

I think... both...

So, tell me... How is your life?

Good. Wonderful husband, beautiful kids, nice house and good job.

And you?

What me?

Happy you? You didn't add that with the train of adjectives.

Me... uh... Isn't it understood that if all these things are right then I should be happy.

Hmmm... Yeah. You are correct.

You were trying to hear something else?

Nah... You want to say something else?

Ha ha ha... what is this? Some kind of kids play?

No no. Just thought, I saw something else in your eyes.

Oh... So tell me about your self.

Me? Just like you. Beautiful wife, wonderful kids, dream job and lovely house. What else could I need?

Really Mahesh, never thought that I will meet you here in Mumbai. I mean, I am in Delhi and all our old friends are in different places. This is just a good surprise from fate.

Yes... Even I didn't think that you will be coming down here, even for a day. When you called I was not sure what to do. I mean the only time that we have "officially" went out was 20yrs back. After that I am meeting you today. And then suddenly one day you told me you are getting married. I didn't know how to react to it.

Huh? My news of getting married evoked reaction in you?

I guess so...

What did you feel?

I think I was upset.

Upset?

Yes why are you surprised?

I thought it wouldn't bother you.

Even I had thought so. But that day, somehow..

Why are you smiling?

Nothing... To think about it now, seems funny.

Yeah, I know.

So ever thought of me these twenty years?

You think if I hadn't thought of you I would have called you today to meet?

Good point there. Oh here the bill has come. You have Five rupees with you?

Ha ha ha... I wish I had.

Huh? What's so funny?

Remember that day after the coffee, while paying the bill you asked me to give you change for a five rupees note?

No.. I don't remember. What about it?

I had kept that note with me for long.

And?

I dropped it into the temple box the day my marriage got fixed.

Whoa!

Why that reaction?

I never thought you had feelings for me.

What difference would that have made? You never were serious about relationships.

Who knows, may be if I were given a chance I would have become serious?

Yeah... Yeah...

Well past is past. We have come all this way. Now lets go further... I know it's a lame dialogue.. Ha ha ha... Gather your bags, lets leave. By the way, where is your cab parked?

On the other side of the road.

Okay come. Be careful when you cross the road. Remember you are 46.

Yes...

Why are you smiling?

That day too we had to cross the road and you held my hand tenderly first and then gave it a press. I acted as if I didn't notice.

You are some kind of a woman, do you know that! And all this while I thought you were so innocent!

So here is my cab. Guess it's time to say good bye.

Yeah. Keep in touch.

Don't you think we have been? Else hows is that even after 20 yrs we still share the same chemistry.

Hmmm... But this time lets actually keep in touch. And Priya...one more thing... Your eyes are still the same. Beautiful and always smiling. And the moist in them is just... you know...

Yeah... Bye... Take care.

You too... Sigh!

Your Voice

A soundless creak on my face,
A painless prick in my heart,
A mindless rush in my nerves,
When I hear your voice..

Temptations

Why blame Satan,
when the fruit itself is tempting?
Our minds would have long lost its chastity,
while we are still virgin!
Temptations so many around,
We can hardly resist.
We wait at the threshold,
Watching others, while we salivate.
Gutless, spineless, envious,
Teaching them the 'ways of honest lives'.
While we crave to be them.

Fall of Honour

“We should throw these bastards out of our country! They have spoilt our culture. Our ancestors took pity on them and let them stay. And look what they do. They kill our brethrens; and rape our mothers and sisters! Don’t spare theirs’! Let their entire breed get terrified and not step out of their holes! This country needs your help my brothers, rise to the occasion, heed the call…” blared the recorder on my father-in-law’s desk. This was one of the speeches of his ‘Sanskaar Rakshak Samiti’ who considered themselves to be the saviours of our culture. They believed that India’s future lay in the hands of those sexagenarians and not in their younger generations’.

My five year old son woke up to this daily dose of crap. His grandfather was his idol, hence he considered himself to be a liberator too. I was sick and tired of this. I tried to reason with my father-in-law once. But it fell on deaf ears. That night my husband threw me out of our room for ‘being an ungrateful daughter-in-law’. I quit... Thereafter, I kept my opinions to myself.

Today was a bleak day. It rained incessantly. And the speech gave me creepy goosebumps. At that moment our doorbell rang. I opened it and saw one of those saviours outside, wet and dripping. He introduced himself as Krishnakanth and asked for my father-in-law who had gone to the temple. It was an unsaid rule that his friends were to be treated as family. So I invited him in, offered him dry towel and fresh pair of clothes, and asked if he would like to have something.

I went to the kitchen feeling awkward. No one was at home and I was alone with a stranger. Nevertheless, I started to prepare tea for him. My father-in-law treated his ‘friends’ with special home made cookies. It was in the upper-most shelf where I couldn’t reach. I tried to, but lost the balance and fell. Hearing the commotion, Krishnakanth came running to the kitchen. “Child, are you alright?” he asked from the doorway. I nodded. He came to me, caught my hand, and grabbed at my waist where my sari had come down. I recoiled and pushed him away. He said, “I was trying to help you.” I retorted, “I can manage, thanks!” He moved closer with a wolf like smile saying, “It’s okay, no one will know”. He was almost on me. I had sprained my ankle and couldn’t stand. Yet I dragged myself up and tried to run. He caught me from behind and rubbed his cheek and lips between my neck. I freed myself and ran out. He followed me. But before he could seize me, my father-in-law’s voice drifted in. He shot me a look of warning and went inside as if nothing happened. Smoke was coming from the kitchen. Our house stank of the charcoaled tea. I rushed in forgetting my pain.

My father-in-law walked in, followed by my husband and son, shouting, “What were you doing? Why is there such a mess? Focus on what you do instead of wasting time. What would be our guest thinking? He is the leader of our committee, whose speech we listen to every morning. You will bring disgrace to our family! Parth, control your wife before it’s too late!” saying so, he stomped away. My husband looked at me and shrugged. His eyes telling, “What am I to do with you?” He too walked away, with my son behind him, leaving me alone to fight my insult, injury and tears…

Capturing the wild

If someone told you that life is a series of memories strung together, would you agree?
You definitely would if you looked back at the instances when you have deeply wished to
yourself: ‘if only I could have captured this moment!’

Photography is an art of composing images built of a mass of light. A recipe for a good
photograph not only includes a good camera, but also a sound technical knowledge of
the equipment, a detailed understanding of the object in focus, and the ability to judge
the light, both natural or studio, to which the object is exposed to. An experienced
photographer first visualizes the image and then captures it as per the picture in his mind.
There are different forms of photography – nature, fashion, forensic studies, and so on.
Yet, no matter how diverse one type is from another, they have one thing in common: the
desire to capture the unique and the brilliant.

Wildlife photography is one of the most challenging forms of photography – a form that
pushes its pursuer to untold extremes to get the ‘perfect shot’. The result includes times
when we have look at an image and gazed at it in amazement, wondering how such a
beautiful sight could ever be captured in a photograph.

Imagine the picture of a tiger meandering through a low maze of dry grass at a sunset or
of a lazy python basking in the sun on a fallen branch. An image of such intensity is not
work of chance, but of a passionate person with patience, who knows exactly what he/she
wanted.

To capture the wild, one would need sound technical skills, like the ability to judge the
light and exposure correctly and good field craft skills. For example, some animals could
be difficult to approach or the condition could be such that the slightest hint of intrusion
could ruin the desired image. In such an instance, the photographer will have to conceal
himself in a way that the animal doesn’t detect human presence.

There are no set rules, which state that to capture a wildlife photograph you need a high-
end camera. In many cases, even basic equipment can serve the purpose. But in certain
instances, one would require specialist equipment, such as macro lenses for insects,
long focal length lenses for birds, and underwater cameras for marine life. Digital and
automated cameras have proved to be a boon to the photographers. Now all it takes is the
need to be at the right place at the right time.