Benson and Dilip

I find myself in a most baffling situation. The task that has befallen me is full of challenges and yet i cannot steer clear of it. What has to be performed must be performed. The intriguing play of fate has lost all charms in my eyes. But now that i have learnt that my sister desired to have me responsible for her baby if something were to happen to her, then so be it.

Last week has been the toughest i have ever had to go through. My first reaction was to give up everything and run away, far far away. However the freaks around me had a sudden brush with sanity and somehow talked me into it. I felt like we were living "three men and a baby", except that there are two and not three here. Though i think we should change her name and call her something cooler like Ashley or Ema. But guess who's vehemently against the idea? Mr. Dilip who else. I wonder if it is the uncanny resemblance between their names that got the guy so frenzied about the idea. Yeah, okay her mother named her and we shouldn't mess with that but what kind of people say stuff like babies can sense their names?

The funniest part is, that if Dilip's parents find out about the baby they'll absolutely and completely freak out. That makes me want to laugh! I have a good mind of dropping in a letter far east. Evil i say...hehe!

But would it be strange for Della to find out one day that her mother and father have been replaced by man and man! Especially with one white man and another Asian.

Thankfully Dilip is a natural with babies.

There reigned the Queen of Ice

I had not felt the weight of the frost this way before.
Weight that dulls all sound around you.
Pounds the throbbing heart inside of you.
Breathe...
even the air has turned blue.
Blood cogulating, turning veins icy blue.
Have you ever felt the weight of the frost that numbs all vision?
In the darkness of the snow
you hope that somebody hears you;
and sing the happy notes of, "Oh! Tabby! Tabby! My. Dear. Cat. Where. are. you...",
until silence enwraps you.
And no longer you can hear the voice that sang, "Oh! Tabby! Tabby!...Where. Are. you?"

About Red II

They all feared the heat of the sun and hid behind the concrete walls to combat it. We, however lay right in the way of the strong golden beams which profusely penetrated through the circular glass window of the attic room. As we lay gaping at the teak panels on the ceiling, the sun soaked, raddled wooden floor comforted our backs. So wonderful they looked, rows and rows of teak forming parallel lines, criss-crossing at ends. They all told a story. A chocolate brown sky that stretched right above our eyes, held a treasure of fragrances in its bossom. I could breathe the faint fragrance of the forest, fragrance of earth, of summer and fragrances of time.

Ah so wonderful it looked! I rolled over and peeped into the old cardboard shoe box which lay open on his chest. Its frail rickety frame held a haphazard collection of old photographs. My hand dived into it and pulled out a photograph of us. A sepia brown print which was evidently altered by the forces of time.
"Is this really us?" I asked him.
He lay there with his hands rested behind his head, as if meditating with his eyes open. He turned his gaze away from the ceiling and looked closely into it.
"Yes."
"Why isn't it coloured? Where's the original print?"
He carefully scrutinized it and said, "I don't know. " He paused and held it between his fingers.
"Do you remember this day?" He asked. A transient smile spread across his face.
"Its so unclear, i don't know. When was this?"

I rolled back and lay beside him as he unravelled the mystery.
"Do you remember this one time when we were about thirteen or so and there was a terrible earthquake?"
"You were still sleeping when the tremors were felt. They were pretty strong and we could feel the house swinging. Panic stricken we all hurried down to the garden. Your mom ran up and pulled you out of the bed and dragged you down."

He looked at me that moment but i did not. He turned away his gaze and said, "When you reached the garden you were half asleep, absolutely dazed, and dressed in something which looked like your dad's t-shirt. It was so outrageously big for you!
The earthquake had pacified by then but we all stood staring at the house in utter stillness as if it'll crumble down with the slightest movement."


"The brooding silence was wrecked by your profound question, 'What's happening?'
Then someone laughed uncontrollably which spread like forest fire. And amidst the roaring laughter echoed a sense of victory, a realisation of a renewed life.
Then from nowhere your dad brought out this camera and hysterically attempted at preserving the evidence of man's resilience. That's when this picture was clicked."
Our gaze locked in a triumphant aura. And then he suddenly added; "Like a fresh breeze blowing over silenced graves your father arbitrarily declared," He paused, and our voices echoed in perfect unison, "At least the tempest couldn't scare our lives!"

About Red (alternate)

That hot summer afternoon we were all lounging together and watching Mary Poppins. He was not there because he had broken his leg and he was kept upstairs in his room. It was then that we heard this alarmingly loud noise. Clearly something had happened upstairs. Something, broke. Within minutes everyone rushed to his room. I followed. He was on the floor, prostrated, on a bed of broken glass. Blood formed patterns on the cold white stone floor. Panic stricken they all ran around mindlessly calling eachother, calling the doctor, the servant to clean the broken glass. He was silent. The room was silent. As if their voices formed a silhoute against our silence. I walked up to him and was just about to help him up when he said, "Don't touch me." I drew back. "You'll hurt yourself."I looked at him and watched him infuse pain in utter silence. Stillness enwrapped.


I moved up, hunkered down and held him by his arms and with all my strength I pulled him up.

About Red

He was so ugly he didn't feel he was one of them. Their pristine white necks perched atop their titanium sholders, he said. He felt like a little swallow in the assembly of Swans. That is why he told me, he refused to cut his hair. His little eyes masquerading behind them watched to find a friend. Those glowing little eyes of his, toiled to open as large as theirs. But they laboured so hard even they betrayed him. They all, all, all betrayed him. Why did he have to be here when he was not meant to be. Why was he so ugly, so unlike them he asked.
And then he turned towards me and said..."you are one of them you know. But...at least you listen."

I told him, "Now i know how you feel. Because for the first time I feel ugly."

Mr. Hogarth told me

Alone I walk the arid land
and alone I walk on.
Soaking the sun and eating sand,
the taste of solitude bitter-sweet.
No one for me and I for none,
alone i walk on.
Know not where i have to go
murming songs my dry lips,
hoping, hopeful.
Dwindling hope,
Happiness misconstrued.
I fall, face down
murmuring songs in a daze.
laying as i was forever now.
I cease....Alone.

Walking down COMMERCIAL lane

Its a time to recall those commercials which keep popping up in my head every now and then and make me....
Kya aap closeup karte haiiii???
And remember this one Pepsi ad which had an animated macchar chillin in a glass of Pepsi singing.."kabhi maan mein nahi socha tha aisa bhi din aayega pani mein aag lagegi pathar bhi pighal jayega...jeekhoooo woohooo tum se aacha kaun hain!"

The master card ad..."Realising you are unzipped before anyone else does. PRICELESS!"

How can i forget the surf ad which got me into big trouble as a kid, becoz in my project of replicating the ad i threw surf all over the house..."Surf ki dhulai jagam-magai!" (Me wid a lisp)

The oldest ever pepsi ad with Aamir, Mahima Chowdhary and Aishwariya....the one in which Ash says.."Hi am Sanjana"..in the end and Aamir dives out of his nth floor window to bring the pretty lady a bottle of pepsi! aaah...yeh dil mange more!

Amul chocolates...which went like (as far as i think)..."I am too old for baloons and young for miss cartoon but i think u r just right for Amul chocolates!"

The Cadbury Dairy Milk Ad which the "ting ting ting ting ting ting ting ting" music and the cricketer hits a six...almost gets caught but not...n then his girl dances on the field!
Also the Cadbury's Rakhi ads.

The horlicks ad representing the kids of Gen X..."bal katenge beckham banenge...epang opang jhopang"

Oooh also one of those very annoying and whiney ads..."Ajanta toothbrush papa ka, mummy ka"....and it went on and on until it covered every possible member of d family.

One of the ads no one would no...it was a durgapuja special Coke ad in bengali which had this sweet lil love story acted out in it. (I remember the entire song...cnt blv myself)

The Bacardi rum ad...eeee..."be wht u wanna be...takin things the way they come...."

Nescafe ad..."papparapa parapa....Nescafe!"

The old Indica ad..."Baby i'd love you to want, the way that want u..."

Yes, of course the highly annoying..."i love you Rasna" ads!

The Nerolac paint ad.."Jab ghar ki raunak badhani hooo"

There was also some ad which am forgettin was for what brand but i think some suiting with Sunil Gavaskar in it n it was ancient.

Action ka light system wala shoes...it had kapil dev in it.

Amul ice cream..."sair to bas bahana hai papa ko kulfi jo khana hai!"

I used to love this very old pepsi(i think) ad with Sachin and Kambli..it had something bout them writing letters to their girlfriends. it was really cute.

Oh also....S Kumars...somethings bout some dadji and his birthday!"

The extremely vexing whisper ads which have changed drastically over the years and thank god for that! We still need a condom revolution...the ads are pretty disgusting and slimy most of the times(In their subtle attempts of course!)

My recent favorite....the new horlicks ad with the Chowmein obsessed kid!

K this is an endless list so i shall just finish with one of the most popular and my favorite...
"doodh doodh doodh doodh...wonderful doodh...garmi dalo doodh mein ice doosh ban gaya very nice"( wid the very funky glasses!)

p.s- surely am forgetting many more and some of my most favorites!