Men are dogs... and women are dog-lovers!

Koregaon Park – Pune boasts of some of the best food joints you can get. Indian, Chinese, Thai, Lebanese, Italian… the list is huge. Prices also vary from reasonable to exorbitant. But the food fanatic will love the place nevertheless. Apart from the food served, ambience is also something people really enjoy and in this respect all the joints are unique in their own wonderful way.

A little cart with a concealed aluminum vessel mounted on a stove, parked near a jogger’s park, will hardly cross your mind when you think of a binge. However the steaming momos (chicken especially) is a crowd puller. It’s cheap, hygienic and healthy. But the real reason why so many people make a beeline in front of the cart is the taste. It is yummy!

I and a friend frequent the place often and so do the other posh and sophisticated public of the area. I am emphasizing on the class of people because it’s not usual to associate the rich eating from a roadside vendor. But as I mentioned earlier, it’s hygienic, healthy and tasty… and it is cheap for the middle class guys like me! So, as I waited for my friend to arrive something interesting happened. Some might call it tragic, but I am not much of an animal lover hence I thought it to be funny!

Just beside the cart a guy in his twenties pulled his motorcycle backwards as he got ready to ride. The next second there was a huge howling which stunned everybody around there. A dog for some reason had thought that sleeping right behind the rear-wheel of a motorcycle was a good idea. Given that it was well past sunset, the dog was pretty well invisible – at least to the motorist guy. The rear wheel had climbed over the leg of the poor creature and the ensuing noise and shock were the result of that.

The dog limped away yelling while a dozen pair of eyes speared the guy. He was a bit embarrassed by this attention, but to be fair to him, it was not entirely his fault. Moments later, when things looked to settle back to normal, a 11 to 12 year old girl came out of the park, shouting – WHAT HAPPENED JUST NOW?? WHO HIT THAT DOG? Now all the eyes shifted towards the girl. “YOU… YOU ARE THE CULPRIT RIGHT?” the girl screamed at the guy! He looked bemused more than angry at the girl’s outburst. He said, “I didn't do that purposely.” “DON’T USE THAT STUPID ACCENT OF YOURS OK… I AM INDIAN!”, she yelled back. Well that’s when it occurred to me that the guy had curled his tongue a little more than required, for the R when he said PURPOSELY. Anyways, the guy was now getting a little annoyed as the girl ran back to check on the dog.

A minute later the guy’s friend came back to sit on the bike and as both started to go, the girl returned. YOU – I THINK YOU SHOULD PAY FOR THE DOG’S INJURY – she screamed again. The guy and his friend simply chuckled raised their eyebrows and sped away. The girl kept screaming something while her friends tended to the dog. Minutes later my friend arrived and we both had a good laugh about the incident. The dog meanwhile was perfectly back to normal and walking like before!

Into songwriting!!!

When my mood nudges me I write poems. And given my love for music I try to make songs out of them. But fitting poems into tunes is very difficult. Just rhyming is not enough as the flexibility required in lyrics gets missed in poems. Anyway poems are not meant to be like songs so can't disrespect the former for not being "tuney" enough.

Nevertheless writing rhymes if I have a tune ready, is simpler. So I just took a very famous bollywood song from the movie JHANKAAR BEATS. The song is TU AASHIQUI HAIN and the following words do fit into its tune.

You're a Gladiola blooming in a garden.

Beauty that is heavenly cry Nightingale to Raven.

You are an Angel with the wings of peace.

On a flight that's gonna bring us bliss.

You can take us well past the clouds.

On a journey which'll lift all shrouds.

Sing along!!!

Write to liberate!

There is something called FREE ASSOCIATION writing. I heard about this for the first time when I saw a movie THE SIXTH SENSE. Free association writing is writing down any thought that comes to your mind. Just take a paper and pen. Close your eyes for a few seconds and relax. Then start writing. It’s akin to rambling while talking. There is absolutely no need to make sense of what you are writing. Just write. You could be in any state of mind while writing. You could be happy about some goal you recently achieved. You could be angry over something. You could be sad about some recent loss. You could just be singing a song in your mind or thinking about some movie scene. The mind could be in clutters. Doesn’t matter! Keep writing.

Stop after about 5 minutes of writing. This is no-holds-barred writing so there could be some cuss words too mentioned here. No problem, you are not going to publish this anyway. Now start reading what you have written. If there is positivity, just smile to yourself and try to keep doing what you have been doing to attain this positive state. If there is negativity, just burn the paper. See how much relief you get. Try it and see how it helps you!

We live in a world where there is so much happening. And the pace at which things happen is frenetic to say the least. If you are a hard working, humble, god-fearing person then chances are that most of what you do will end with success. In that case you just don’t need free association writing, because your mind is not cluttered. On the other hand, if there is a need to free up your mind, then you need someone to hear you out. Venting out pent up emotions and having someone to hear that all out, without forming their own opinion is indeed very soothing. But most of the times it gets difficult, as people cannot stand someone – who keeps whining- too long. Free association writing is your savior in that case. Also because you could be writing down feeling so secretive, which you can’t even tell your closest.

I know there are many who keep a diary, or blog about their personal lives. But, even there you describe events, more than your innermost feelings. Also diary writing is done at the end of the day. Free association writing is always the present. What’s in your mind at this very moment is what you want to capture on paper. Of course you will never do this on your blog, which is open to public.

Often you read in self-help books about people suggesting us, to remove unwanted trivial thoughts. Seriously speaking, how important are some of the things that we think of? How life changing could they be? Most of the times, it doesn’t cause us any harm if we stop thinking about such things. But unless you are good at meditating to ward off any unwanted thoughts that try to sneak into your heads, you are bound to have a cluttered mind. Vent them out and free your mind. We are here to enjoy life, and the first step towards that is have a head that doesn’t mind too much.

See by their words!!!

Oh it is high, what a six, what a six, way over the top, it’s a biggie!!! Those who watched the Sharjah match between India and Australia on TV would remember this comment from Tony Greig who was on air. Sachin Tendulkar had carted Michael Kasparowicz straight over the fence. Sachin was in the batting form of his life and that shot was bread and butter for him. However we sitting at home wouldn’t have really cheered it, had it not been for those wonderful moments of commentary. It sure brought even more life to that lively match which India won comfortably. I still remember Mom asking me, who that excited commentator was. If you want to buy what I am saying, try watching a thriller with the mute on. Cricket without commentary is not fun. Period.

Cricket is one game where you really need not WATCH it to enjoy. Radio commentary is an example. Websites which show live scores, with ball by ball updates is another one. These days speech to text software or maybe insanely fast typists even describe every ball from the bowler’s run up to the eventual result of that delivery. But what stands out is TV commentary, because it’s not just describing the game on view, but also the scenes at grounds, snippets of the city where it’s being played, historic moments or anecdotes.

There are innumerable commentators on air, but not all are good to hear. The worst in my opinion is Navjot Singh Sidhu, since he talks about everything other than cricket. The problem with him is that even after retiring as a batsman, he is still bent on scoring. Not runs, but points. I remember the numerous tiffs he has gotten into with Geoffrey Boycott, Martin Crowe and at some points he had even irked his fellow countrymen, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar.

Harsha Bhogle and Alan Wilkins are two extremely good commentators that come to mind. They understand the game completely and use the right words. Harsha is the garrulous one but largely makes sense, while Alan is a bit more measured but very observant. The best part about both these men is the fact that although they haven’t played the game at the highest level they still know a lot more than their counterparts. The kind of questions that they ask, can leave the most experienced cricketers searching for answers but at the same time, both these are pretty good listeners. You will hardly find them making an offensive remark against any opinion. They have truly mastered the art of leading a commentary panel.

It’s not just the ability to speak fluent English makes a good commentator. The ability to make viewers see the game even with their eyes closed, is what makes a great commentator. But at the same time he should be careful about not going the Radio broadcaster’s way. We are all discerning audience here, and the one who understands our sensibilities will rock the commentator’s world!