The story moves ahead...

Yeah… long time haan!

No Ramprasad Rasiya… no Jimmy… no chilling stories either. I missed you guys a lot… However, now is the time to let you know why…. just watch it!



And while the video downloads, let me tell you that apart from a few not so important things, I was busy getting "Beauty and The Beast" published... her first book was out from the printer last saturday ( 4th april 2009) and should hit the market within 10-15 days!

The details...

What's the book called?
Knots and No Crosses – Heartbreak after heartbreak, he still dreams of a perfect wedding...


What's the book about? Authorspeak
The wave of ‘feminism’ has swept over the world and empowered women to shout out from rooftops. They are forever harnessing attention by drawing the mind towards a range of problems starting with PMS, labour pains and now the marital market. The marital market is unfair on the women of today!
Every single time I have read a book about a thirty something single woman warring with the pressures of an Indian prejudiced marital mind set, I have wanted to scream, “STOP!” The marital expectations of an Indian society do not limit themselves to the gender. A thirty four year old male.could also be labeled a ‘thirty something single man’ vexed with his family for goading him into marrying.
So I decided to write about it. I decided to write about, how when it comes to relationships and weddings, life really isn’t all that simple for anybody, male or female. I decided to start with writing about a wedding.

Sneak Peek
"The woman he had no intentions of loving, but who he did love, hopelessly. The woman he had no intentions of dating, but had ended up committing himself to. The woman who had always been four years elder to him, but realized it only when she was about to hit London for a PG course.
The woman who had gotten into the car, without looking back once as he stood there on the empty streets outside the institute, nursing a broken heart."

Akkie’s relationships have followed a trial and error pattern. He finally meets the one woman who completes him. They both plan their ‘dream wedding’, only, the wedding turns out to be anything but a dream! As Akkie, tries to placate his agitated bride three days before their wedding, his past catches up with him, spelling disaster after disaster. The crunching blow, comes when the son of his first ever girlfriend calls Akkie ‘Papa’ in front of a room filled to capacity with the Bride’s family. The wedding gets called off. But Akkie knows, there is no one else for him, but her…

Indian Political League – The Other side

Agreed that the Indian cricket fan is a fanatic, and although there is but a fine line between fanaticism and foolishness, I would like to believe that the Indian cricket fan errs on the side of the lesser evil.

One of the most significant statements of year 2009 would be the one made by our home minister Mr. P Chidambaram. “IPL is a shrewd combination of sports and business. No need to add politics to it.” I am a cricket fan. And if I were to be a fanatic, I’d rephrase it and say, “Mr Lalit Modi is a shrewd combination of sports, business and politics. There’s a need to exterminate pests like him who are harming the spirit of the game.” I am sure there is another set of fanatical cricket fans, who might say, “Oh wait! I love to watch cricket and IPL is a treat. Let it go on.” I don’t know who is right.

Fortunately for Mr Modi, I am not a fanatic and that probably puts me on the side of the fools. Fools, who are too blind to notice the blatant financial and political aspirations of many hinged around their unconditional love for the game. A cricket fan wants to watch cricket. But even the most dedicated of them would realize the unnecessary jingoism Mr. Lalit Modi is attaching to conducting IPL this year. Given the quantum of cricket already happening, one needs an insensitive brattish brain like Mr. Modi’s in order to subject the cricketer’s to harsher schedules. I am sure Dhoni’s men would welcome the break if IPL was to be cancelled this year.

Even more appalling than the ‘small’ headedness of Lalit Modi (Trivia – Lalit means ‘small’), is the sly anti-national sentiments of some of our political leaders. How dumb does one need to be to question the security during the commonwealth games, given that the entire security apparatus will be free of the general elections load at that point of time? And to think of it, there was a time when one thought BJP was a party of the intellectuals, like our well versed and educated Mr. Jaitely. These political stalwarts forget that their statements will be picked upon by media and will contribute to tarnishing India’s image internationally. A small domestic private tournament, which is primarily a money circus, being shifted out of India is not a national shame. I don’t need to say further when Mr. Chidambaram has already given a befitting reply. It’s probably a sensible move. Even more sensible a would gave probably been scrapping it altogether. The team does need rest.

I wish there was some single voice that represented the Indian Cricket Fans. Let us assume that there was one. So what might this voice say at this point of time?

1. I think the IPL is over-rated. But just because everyone in the media is saying it’s a huge success, maybe it is. I don't know. I am still waiting for the T-20 world cup, the Champions League and the 2011 world cup with much more eagerness.

2. I love to watch cricket, but not so much of it that it loses its charm. Rare ODI's used to be so much fun. And these days, we are also getting more results in Test matches. Tactics and strategies are more aggressive. It fun to watch a test match slowly unveil itself like a gripping novel.

3. OK fine, IPL may be fun, but then wasn't there an ICL that started before it? What happened to that? I am sure if the BCCI had not stopped the mainstream players from playing in ICL, by banning ICL, it would have been a success. Who is BCCI to ban them anyway? Is it a registered entity? I don’t know? What the heck, how do I care? Hey wait, but how come BCCI is also banning cricketers associated with ICL from doing commentary in international matches! Whoa, something sure is wrong there.

4. The terrorists are all around us. General elections are deciding the future of the country. If some messy thing ereto happen during this time, it isn’t good for anyone. Why doesn't BCCI simply postpone the tournament? What will they lose? A chance to earn more money?

The only reason why the BCCI is so cash rich, and Lalit Modi so impudent, is due to the huge base of Indian Cricket Fans. I wonder if we have a voice! And I wonder if we want to put forward a point and make sure that our love for the game is not misused for political and financial ends.

And so on...

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He knew exactly how to express his thoughts.

Its a big thing you know. To be able to make someone else think exactly what you are thinking! But the usual ways were not for him to follow. A storyteller at heart, and sometimes even at other copiously blood drenched parts of his body, he always expressed with a glint in his eyes. Like this one instance where just before gagging one of his victims to death, his eyes glinted the word "murder". And that's precisely what the victim began to think.
Boy! did he know how to express his thoughts.

As all of you huddle together around him, absorbing the warmth of the imaginary fireplace in this mildly chilling night, only as cold as melting ice-cream, he reserves a few glints for what is yet to happen. He shall speak some, and hide some more. These pieces of stories, like the one about that murderer with glinting eyes, and so on...

Words With A Heart

And these are the moments, this is the time,
When these wandering words of mine,
Dumbed against choice,
Need that sound, that music, that voice.

When I feel, and feel it from deep within,
When I feel so bad that it hurts, and when
I feel the words pouring on their own,
When I feel not like saying much, of what I have known.
And I write them still, I utter them loud,
In me when I have a voice, and I want to get it out,
I need you to know, that I may not always do,
But when I do say them, I love saying them to you,
I love to be there, all around, everywhere,
I love to share your pain, making you smile,
I love watching you - the bird, the doll, the child.
I want you to know, that I may not mean much,
But when I think of you, I dream of a healing touch.
I wish I had more, to these bland wandering words,
These words of mine, dumbed against choice,
Need that sound, that music, that voice.

When you want to hear them, and go "say something nice",
I think of saying them, aloud and clear,
Adorned with wings, and with things like orchids,
Adorned with life, with love and cheer,
I say them to you now,
These words of mine, they were dumbed against choice,
Now have a heart... now have a voice.

Today... I Just Know

This day has mostly been introspective for me. Bordering on sadness and an aloof sense of loneliness. Each year I have tried to rationalise these feelings. Attempted to draw my own profound conclusions about how relevant the existentialist thinkers have been and how life is almost always, especially on this day, no better than a unintentionally cruel, huge and indifferent question mark.
I have never been the one to celebrate this day, but ever since I have stepped away from home, this day of each year has left me more lonely than the year before. At times I have been in the middle of more than twenty people, all gathered only for me, all partying all night only for me, hopping from one corner of a bright night city to the other, only for me, and I seem to enjoy it all while in my heart I have never felt more lonely. At times I have walked for miles soaking everything around me, and come back feeling as empty as I was when I had started. At times, I have tried to let it pass, only to realise that it would be stupid to assume that its the day that 'causes' the questions. It doesn't. The questions probably exist and stay dormant throughout the year. Patiently waiting for me to lend an ear to them. And thats what the day has mostly ended up being like.

But today is different. Today is peaceful and today, for once, makes me feel content. Today I feel I am doing the right things in life. I feel I am doing what I am supposed to do. After years of having spent this day in a mesh of complicated thoughts and directionless questions, today comes as the simplest possible answer to every question that I could have possibly imagined. And the simplicity of the answer is matched only by its beauty. Just like the questions, that usually hit you more like a cloud of thought than a set of words weaved into a sentence, even the answers don't easily lend themselves to general articulation.
I know I have it, I have sensed it and I am peaceful in the knowledge that I now don't have to look for it.
This answer is the best gift I have ever got and will ever get. This answer, that I could have never expected in my wildest possible imagination, has marked me for life and I know that whatever may happen tomorrow, my life has already got the meaning that it was so thirsty for.
I just know.

For all of us reach a point in our lives, when... we just know.