9 PM, Albuquerque.

Shania and me were having a quite dinner. Was meant to be a romantic dinner, but was not turning out to be one. There was a bright yellow daffodil on our table and the water from the Miraha Beach was making its presence felt. To top it all, we could hear some nice music from the La Nimbatona club some yards away at the beach - What a setting you would say - Hardly!

Shania was looking very irritated, and this was one thing about her. If she was upset over something, she would remain silent, It was difficult to know what was wrong.
I did a rewind on my behaviour today, thinking if I had angered her in any sense.Nothing very obvious, but she wouldn't smile, Her face was only into the caviar and the octopus delicacies. Was she starving? Aah, no! That could not be a reason at all.
What was it then? There was one thing that was spoiling the show though- mosquitoes.
Swarming over our heads, making merry music-not the music we'd like now.
Strange to find such a number at these times, here. And my arms were busy fending them off, instead of holding Shania. And then I let out a scream of exasperation.

"For gods' sake - These Mosquitoes"!!!

She looked up and shrieked - "Yeah baby, They are freaking me out"!

A smile appeared on my lips- So all that was spoiling my perfect evening with the special someone was this!

All I needed on a romantic evening to complete our dinner and a wonderful time - was a MOSQUITO REPELLENT!!!!

Jesus' Crucifixion

That fateful night arrived.
Sin cast its evil shadow
Some terrible news beckoned
Why? Why on earth why?

It was time for the last supper.
All disciples and he
Mistrust was never on his mind
Why? Why on earth why?

And there was Mary Magdalene
No one thought a woman was in the supper too
She could not sense the tragedy to come
Why? Why on earth why?


The bearded guy was put on poles.
Blood oozing out from his nailed palms
So much pain, for fellow humankind
Why? Why on earth why?


He perished, but his words didn't
He left the world but his aura didn't
He lived on in us, forever.
A moment so poignant - Jesus' Crucifixion

Purani Jeans aur guitar.. That says it all! Doesn't it?

“One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius” (Simone de Beauvoir).

Simone's sayings must be the most followed saying for the urban metro parents who want to paint their kids with a tinge of genius - from the moment they are born -
This is a sad story prevalent in New-Age India where, a genius child is a sureshot way to fame, name and glory to the parents and people around them.

So the young kid learns C programming, Servlets and JSPs, Network Topologies when he should be learning how to tie his shoelaces. He is into Quantum physics and the Theory of relativity when he should be making paper boats and sailing them in the water puddles after the monsoon showers.

I read about a 15 year old kid today who has secured admission into the IIT for his Masters. MTech i.e. which people normally reach at the age of 22 or more.
We should ask his parents if he can distingush a marigold from a lily - or if he ever went to a friend's dance party.
There was another instance of a young genius - who was this master of physics who could understand complex formulae and put any research fellow to shame- This guy was 11 years old... And apparently he had no friends.. How could he, if he was cramming up information/knowledge into his tiny brain more than 16 hours a day??
He would probably prove e=mc^2 forwards, backwards and in any other direction, but would he know who Mother Teresa was?

The bottomline is that in this genius production factory - we are missing something -
Childhood. It is precious and it is not to be killed for mere parental satisfaction and glory.

I was just chatting up with a colleague at work, and he was telling me of his trip to Coimbatore that he would make on the 15th of August and how he was a little worried about the trip.
He was told to be earlier than usual to facilitate extra security checks and scrutinies before boarding the flight.

He said that on the day of independence, Is he really free. Is this liberated India?

I smiled and he walked off, but it set me thinking - How ironic is that? Its Independence day and we are still living a life of fear, mistrust, anxiety and everything around us has to be monitored,what we say has to be moderated, what we write has to be edited, We are shackled by so many chains - Do we represent a free India - Are we the India that our heroes dreamt about?

"At the stroke of midnight hour when the world sleeps, India will awake to freedom" said Pandit Nehru - Have we awoken to freedom is a tricky question, something that I am too short statured to answer

But I guess, If we are alive the next day, we can still be free. So Partha will have to go earlier than usual and follow all security guidelines. Life - is more precious than freedom.