Nothing can be intensely gratifying.. the feeling of immense relief after having attended one of nature's critical calls. The emptiness suddenly filled with moments of absolute peace, the lightness of being, floating like a leaf, breaking free the flow of thoughts clogged with rapt attention a while ago. One of the crude effects of cold weather can not get more gruesome in a city which has more public transport stops stretched across a kilometer than public toilets. Sometimes and perhaps most of the times when you desperately want something, the laws of the universe dictates that a conspiracy is concocted to hide it from you mocking at your ordeal all the while. But when the frantic search triumphs and all ends well the mask of mockery gives way unveiling a benign smile shining upon your gratitude.

The weather forecasts predicted periods of rain and they turned unwittingly true. It wasnt anything like the torrential downpour back at home, the rains here were invisible. Numb with cold and silent like dead the only life of sound was that of the piercing winds chilling down to the bone marrow whistling along the lanes. Like the sound of a siren announcing a curfew thrusting people indoors. The leaves began shedding its colour slowly turning dry and dead and the trees wriggling itself free of the charred remains. The rustle of winds breaking into rhymes bidding farewell to the last of autumn and praising the dawn of winter. And people cocooned into the comforts of the jackets.

Jackets, in shades of black and brown leather and woollen varieties clinging to their bodies strolling along the rain soaked streets. Intimate relationships inched closer under the sepia-tinted evening lights in a bid to beat the cold. Hand held in hand embracing the warmth and presence of each other. Faces turned cherubic pink breathing out whiff of hot misty-white air through the cherry lips often engaged in a kiss. The city suddenly smells of love sown from the seeds of romance scattered by the winds. The fragrance of love the warmth and comfort of it present everywhere, in the many couples oblivious to the weather and the surrounding world. A few singled out, yearning for their dear ones, deeply engrossed in the intricately woven passionately engaging lives and tales of fiery and romantic characters provided by the book.

And finally left was an odd character, a lone figure with a superior sense of observation and abysmal absorption. Sucking them all the winds of seasonal change, the romantic sketches, the burning desires emanating out of the book reflecting in their eyes, unflustered by the fond fragrance. Sucking them all with a smile, Satan-like, and slurping an ice cream...

tears of joy
and the soul laments
shards of heart
left cracking;
cracking open a smile
can grief and glee
ever combine?

He knows best
reason knows Him not
He sees your destiny
I tread my own path
can faith and faculty
unite in harmony?

brief moments of yore
like the faint specks of light
shimmering through the night
come to the fore
as the distant stars
the radiant past
aglow under the
umber gaze of the moon,
the stare of present;
can relics bygone
and realm of existence
be intimately bound?

sometimes as life trails on not knowing where you are heading, why you are living there would be instances when one sparingly bright moment you stumble upon something you never thought of or never realised and then... the bell rings.. just like you always knew this was it.. always..

she was so beautiful
she was an angel; her eyes shone
lashes batting like
the butterfly wings
on the pupil murky and full
holding a dream
like the pebbles
unsettled and rolling
in a rivulet stream;

her lips pink and pout
like the sting of a bee
A smile so innocent, painting
the face in a cheerful glee;

the beauty of her skin
so radiant, so plain
like the clear blue sky
after a shower of rain;

her sculpted figure
a symphony, rhythmic
and resonant;
she was music divine
chords in right scale
so soothing, so pleasing
like the song of a whale;

our eyes met; fixing
stares, syncing breath
and we had a moment;
our souls flamed
and hearts melted
as the world stood by
gazing and time halted;

my love ever so enduring
her tease ever so fleeting
left me wreathing in pain
my eyes longing for her in vain;
she burned my soul
the angelic devil
stealing away my heart
and the rest of the ballad;

A scream out of the gut
rising loud and high
screaming and screaming
until the throat runs dry;
Buried deep down inside
a searing anguish
tearing out the grave
all set to vanquish;
The birth of pain
and its presence ominous
venting out strong
through the voice vociferous;
of which I often confront
with a cheerful glee
but today, I am different
I am not thee...

The hapless soul brimmed
with stricken grief
taxing out which otherwise
had its moments brief;
how unforgiving is
the entrenched sorrow
dousing the feeble hopes
of a beautiful tomorrow;
stand tall and fight at front
thats the very optimist me
for today, I am different
I am not thee...

The unyielding pangs of pain swelling
out through the blue veins
And tears pouring down
like the cold November rain;
A painful prospect
I strongly believed
to be a rosy retrospect;
Cauldron of memories rich and affluent
I reminisced wild and free
alas today, I am different
I am not thee...

Last week one of my intimate friends (we were a gang in engineering..!!) tied the knot; four knots actually... three real knots tied with such attentive diligence and one posing for the photograph.. The bespectacled groom and his bride, the newly wedded, smiling for the camera, smiling for their love that blossomed, nurtured and finally triumphed... Their love story had all the ingredients of a Tollywood talkie; a boy and a girl fall in love, go to places, sing songs (!!), parents object for reasons banal, persuasion opposition dissent disagreement imploring unbending and finally the anti-climax!!! Instead of a boiling rage leading to violent outburst, sumo-chases and one man shows, the happen-to-be negative parents just give in... And without any melodrama and hardcore action, all ends well.. The bespectacled groom ties the three knots, poses for the fourth and then a family photo is taken... Mr and Mrs Bride and their respective in-laws; all under one frame.. Perfect!! Shubam!!

Happiness and Victories are good but expensive!! The would-be (groom) threw a party celebrating his victory and happiness at the newly opened (then yet to be) club 8 near Hitech city... Champagne was ordered, white wine was poured and they all cheered for the would-be and danced... the would-be, soon-to-be, may-be, might-be, don't-want-to-be, all of them danced to the tunes of the white wine, celebrating the happiness and triumph of love; Love that spares no one... that can play touch-and-go sparking a moment of bliss and can stick to you like an adhesive seemingly unceasing for a lifetime... Love that can breathe a new life in you and can blight the only one life out of you... Love that can make you quit drinking and can binge you in a drinking spree... Love that can mean many things.. a feeling, a decision, an obsession, a pain, a remedy, a victory, a compromise... We celebrated one such form of the manifold omnipresent omnipotent love...

That was one successful tale of love and the rest is life. Wishing them all the good fortunes and television soap operas in life... Speaking of life... Celebrations are everywhere as today happens to be the fourth anniversary of my Gym.. They are hosting a body building show; no no its not the kind of show where the patrons (yours lovingly is one of the elite members!!) of the Gym are going to strip down to their briefs and display the progress... Because progress is indispensably dependent on time (sometimes more than 2 years!!) .. It takes time for the reaps of progress to be noticed and paraded considering the fact that the frequency at which I hit the Gym is far worse than my Engineering college attendance... They say 'Rome was not built in a day', henceforth this event showcases the shapes and lumps of the ones who have already built their Rome to encourage the aspirants, the wannabe-machos expedite their progress...

Celebrations and heat is everywhere.. Its vacation time.. I would be going to God's own country soon to attend a marriage (no triumph of love there... but might be the beginning of a new one!!)
Celebrations in life are plenty; progress however is diminished...

It was love at first sight......

She was no angel yet she was no less than angels for angels needed wings, shimmering white gowns and halo to make their presence felt and she had and needed none to compliment the surroundings. Her ravishing beauty knew no bounds as it radiated making the otherwise dreary place lively and pleasing. She smiled out of her twinkling eyes requiring no effort of her lips, a smile that swirled around leaving its mark everywhere and ending on your lips inviting you to smile, the moonlight shine of her eyes brightening your face and the scarlet of her lips painting your cheeks. She smiled her other smile curving her lips forming a carefully sculpted Roman arch above her lips touched with a slightest imperfection which only accentuated her beauty. A smile which always reciprocated in another smile on the face of her colleagues who riveted in the glorious aura of her presence. It was a delight to watch her speak, the tender lips working to form the syllables which were spilling out like diamonds sparkled with the flashing smiles she smiled often in between attracting the unqualified attention of her friends who shared these moments only to keep her amused with their own dumb ways.

The life of this enchanting moments was finally numbered as this angelic beauty started moving towards the exit her every step forward placed with such grace and aplomb like she was ambling on the surface of water which was bearing her lightness of being with exaltation. Her magnanimous heart which was depicted on her face decided to bid adieu to the place which enjoyed her sublime presence as she turned around and gifted an ebullient smile which dazzled the place culminating into the oblivion along with her. The moments which had the life of a lightning bug had a lasting impression etching her thoughts on my mind. She left taking with her my concentration, my conscious presence, my game of table tennis and all those gross memories that accumulated through the course of the day along with her charm and left me with the unyielding presence of her thoughts which circled around for the rest of the day.

I was at loss and it was love at first and the lasting last sight....

'An Indian firm has launched a paan-flavoured condom designed to evoke the pungent taste of the betel nut and tobacco concoction chewed and then spat out by millions of South Asians' -- heights of innovation.

An out of this world innovation attempted to increase the use of condoms amongst sex workers and others in the pleasure seeking and giving business. The bonding of human sexes in search of an unparalleled divine pleasure an act of intense fulfillment celebrated to elevate from the mundane activities of human life, what can a meek flavour designed to stimulate the taste buds mark its influence? Innovations should be aimed at spreading the awareness, just like the remarkable concept 'puli raaja ki aids vastunda!' which has done its significant bit in educating people...

In this growing and bulging sub-continent of ours, where we are the most competent in various fields.. economy growing at a rapid rate, poverty not left behind in the race, corruption is way ahead, cinemas, cricket, population, global warming.. you name it we have it..!! But unfortunately India is seriously outnumbered in the divorce rates compared to the rest of the world. A nation which has the history of promoting child marriages and brutal post-marital practices can never be lagging in that area. This should be seriously considered by our elected representatives in the forthcoming five year plan or the next bill that is passed.. but just before the politicians fuel their uncanny creativity at the expense of the tax payer's money, the supreme court had its say on this. To increase the possibility of divorces let's plan more marriages, and henceforth decided to bring down the marriageable age for men. 18 years for all. once you legally turn 18 you have the choice to get married, you are encouraged to marry..

Marriage at the tender age of 16 is not legal (its not illegal either!!) but sex certainly is. All the young testosterones left wild and free on a humping spree, humping all around and you have the government sponsored flavoured condoms to play with.. and its all legal.. the moment you turn 18 get married despite all the odds you may face in the form of parents, caste, class whatsoever for love, for true infatuated intense love and they lived happily ever after.. movies end here.. what next?? You dont have a career but you have a woman.. you dont know how to go about your life but you know true love.. 'Mummy Im home.. I dont want all this.. Please forgive me!!'

This valentine's day all the young budding lovers out there, this is no time for flowers and cards... get married you have the supreme court to back you up till divorce..!!

'Dude.. I think its high time you start thinking about your marriage... '
'Oh.. why so?? '
'C'mon Yaar!!! You bought a new flat and now a new car.. what else do you need to get married?'
'you mean to say these are the prerequisites to get married??'
'Of course.. These can be used to impress the girl's parents..'
'Hmmm.. Is that enough?'
'Yeah. If the parents like you, its all set.. what else do you need man??'
'I always thought being liked by the girl I am to marry was primary!!'
'Not necessarily.. You trap the parents, the girl will fall in place..!!'
'Thats very insightful'
'By the way. what marriage are you planning to do? Arranged marriage or love marriage??'
'I never really have thought about that'
'Let me tell you this.. Arranged marriages have 90% success rate and love marriages only 10%'
'Really.. why so??'
'Arranged marriages start as a compromise. For all the ups and downs in such an arrangement there's always room for compromise. But Love marriages start more on a winning note than sheer love and any tussle in such a lovely life would only get worsened between the egoistic souls and ultimately all that love shatters and breaks up. Arranged marriages have more adjustment than love. The only striking similarity between arranged and love marriages is the dearth of love...'
'Wow.. I dont know if its you or the drink you are having but it certainly was an amusing allegory!! How do you know all this??'
'Experience dude.. Its just plain experience!!'
'Experience?? How can you gather so much experience considering your age!! How many times did you get married??'
'Huh.!! Just like you dont need to get into the ocean to know the profundity of its depth, you dont need to get married for that matter to know what marriage really means..'
'Then what is the source of your so called experience'
'I have a girlfriend.. No.. I had a girlfriend!!'
'Had!! What happened this time?'
'Nothing... Im seriously thinking of breaking up!!'
'Hmmmm. If I remember correctly you seem to have mentioned the same thing last time...'
'No.. This time its seriously serious!!'
'And what is so seriously serious this time??'
'She doesnt love me. she only pretends to do so. She is using me.. The day she is done with me, she will ditch me and go with somebody else.'
'what makes you think so??'
'She has so many friends and most of them are guys.. She keeps going out with them often. she doesnt have time for me!! I know all woman are like that...'
'I dont think you can generalize on that aspect. But you should be aware that she has her own life, her circle of friends, ambitions and everything. You just happen to a part of her life, a very special part it must be.. but you are not the only part of her life... Such sathi savithri things only happen in movies and to be precise only the old movies. Now they have stopped happening in movies also.. This is life dude..'
'Ya.. Thats fine but why only guys???'
'Haha.. You are insecure and that makes you possessive about her. You are afraid that you might lose her to some other guy'
'I am not possessive.. May be i am a little... But I love her and I dont want to lose her!!'
'Dont worry.. Its only natural to be possessive about someone you love!!'
'But why doesnt she understand me?? Why do we have to quarrel all the time? Why is it so difficult to understand woman??'
'Quarreling and then pacifying, hurting and then loving these are all the defining blocks of a relationship. They bring love in you, fill you with hatred, enrage you, make you cry, make you laugh.. They can arouse every possible emotion in you and you do the same with them. You dont understand them and they dont understand you and sometimes there's none better to understand each other. You cant live with them, you cant live without them. Thats how it is..'
'Ya.. May be you are right.. I think I will talk to her!!'
'I know you would do that anyway!!'
'Oh yeah.. Thanks dude..!!'
'Anytime..!! Finish your drink...'
'ok.. Merry XMAS and a happy and a prosperous new year!! I hope you will find your quarreling partner soon!!'
'Hopefully. Thank you.. wish you the same!!'