Do I make you think ?

I think I thought a thought, but if I thought the thought I thought I thought, what was I thinking?

Aaaah ! I am happy. Happy for many reasons. No, it has nothing to do with that Smiling post.

Well, I am tagged again but this time with a difference !

I am given a tag of ‘Thinking Blogger Award' by a fellow blogger and a regular here, Mur of Queensland, Australia who has nominated ‘One From the Cuckoo’s Nest’ i.e. my blog as one of five blogs that makes him think.

My blog is not even a year old.. only a few months, not even completed 100 posts and now this ?

Well, I am honoured, humbled, touched and of course I am flattered. Thanks Mur.
It is nice to be recognized for your thinking cap but then I realized just because I make him think, does that necessarily mean I am a noteworthy thinker ?? What do you all say ?

In Mur’s words “Cuckoo who is a popular sub-continent blogee with some great stories and a huge local following”. Well, that’s your generosity Mur.

Now, it is my turn to tag five bloggers who come to my blog and whose works make me think. Hmmm.. a difficult one I must say since all of you guys’ work make me think.

So, here goes my list.

1. Mur Yes, I am tagging him back as his blog is a mix of thinking box with a good sense of humour and without whom I wouldn’t be writing this post.
2. Gaurav who says a lot through his posts including some of his nonsense ones. ;)
3. Peace with Guns who writes some life tales with nice simplicity.
4. Aditi mostly writes some serious posts which really make me wonder whether she is my soul sister.
5. SiD some of his posts [not the current ones ;)] were quite thought provoking ones.

Now it’s your turn to carry on the good work. And you can tag me back if you think my blog makes you think a little.

Ok, once again the rules are:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to five blogs that make you think.
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the origin of this award.
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

P.S.:- And I think I am going to win another award this year.. to be ‘The Most Tagged person of the Year’ [There are still some pending ones :(]. Thanks to my regular readers and welcome to the new ones.

Current song- Sensualité - Axel Red
Technorati Tags:- Tags Thinking Blogger Award

:)))))

:))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Current song- Sensualité - Axel Red
Technorati Tags: Cricket Smiles

Whose Gain, at What Cost ? - I

Sometime back, based on a real incident I had written about Suhani, about her happiness & anguish. If you have not yet read the story, please do now for continuity & better perspective of this post.

During my absence from blogosphere, I had to make several visits to hospitals, all for different reasons.. Suhani being one of them.

Almost for a whole day I had to be with her as no one from her family was available that day. The experience I had in those few hours was quite disturbing to me. Hospital visits always make me sick. Sometimes the simplest things which are taken for granted shatter us beyond words.

Well, Suhani was admitted in a private twin sharing room of gynaec department as no single room was available in such a short time.

When I reached there, the other bed in the room was getting ready to welcome a new patient. I came to know that the woman who had occupied that bed till then, had died a few hours back.

The reason ?

She was seven months pregnant with twins, unaware that one of the fetuses had died inside and the poison was spreading rapidly to endanger the life of the other one. When her condition became serious, she was brought to the hospital. I would call the whole affair as sheer negligence on everybody’s part.

It was her third delivery.. she already had two little sons.

I was wondering then why this third one needed and was told that her husband wanted a girl this time to ‘complete’ the family.

True, this time she was carrying a girl and a boy but at what cost ? She was a frail woman, third pregnancy with twins had made her extremely weak and anemic.

Moreover, when one of the fetuses died (unfortunately the girl), whole attention was diverted to save the other one which was still very small. In the process the woman bled heavily and lost her life on the operation table itself. I won't say the doctors were incompetent.

The newborn was kept in incubator and what an irony !! Now, all the three boys are motherless. Though I had not seen the woman, I could visualize her agony and trauma the way it was explained to me. She came, she wailed, she struggled and within hours she left.

Pause for a second and think about what has husband gained. Did that woman had any say ? How many times women succumb to husbands' demands ?

If this case was bad, I don’t know what to call the case of the next patient who had come to occupy that bed.

Current song- Jahan Ja Ke Chain Se Mar Saku – Mehndi Hasan

Technorati Tags:- Society Feminism Issues Human Behaviour

Cricket - Game of Chance

For a change, some of my predictions in this game of chance is coming out correct. At the start of Super 8, I had predicted for Aus, SA, NZ and SL to be four semi-finalists. And I was right !!

Now, tell me which team is going to challenge Australia in the finals ? New Zealand or Sri Lanka ? What do you say ?
Don’t ask me silly questions like why am I not asking about South Africa.

Earlier, I had my finalists as Australia and South Africa but Proteas let me down. :(
So, now my money is on Sri Lanka.

I know Australia is the best team, my all time favourites and they are going to win the cup but we must appreciate the efforts of Sri Lankans and how they have come up to this stage.
Yesterday was Maharoof’s day and he came out with an impressive figure of 10-3-25-4 at an economy rate of 2.50 plus one run-out as well.

I am supporting Sri Lankans for being the only Asian team in the race.

Hail Tigers !

P.S.- Heyy if you are reading this post, you got to comment. Ok ?

Current song- Piya Baawree – Ajay Pohankar

Technorati Tags: Cricket Sports World Cup

Those were the Best Days of My Life

Yes, today I am going to talk about the good old days of summer. I like all the four seasons for different reasons and summer always had a special place in my life. The summer when we had plethora of time, the summer which made us sweat but not tired, the summer which made us gaze at the stars and the summer which made us shed our clothes to the minimum. Oh summer ! Oh summer !

Yes, the lovely summer is here again ! But alas ! We won’t be able to do many things that we used to love doing then. That is the price we have to pay for growing up.
And when I was tagged by two people (Mathew & Fleiger the Tagger) to do this Summer Tag, I felt doubly nostalgic. ;)

Yeah, you got me right. Its tag time again. And the rules of the game go like this.

1. Name the person (with link) who tagged you.
2. Describe what you are asked to do, in this case write about eight things you enjoyed doing during summer.
3. Tag five people

The summers remind me of many things & those many things are mostly common among all Indian children. I will try not to repeat or keep it to minimum.

• Food: Watermelons, mangoes, ice creams, Rasna, sweet thandi lassi and home made different flavoured milkshakes were the staple food of my summers. More than solids I survived the scorching heat of North India on liquids. My all-time favourite thirst quenching ice-cream was THE orange bar but sneakily licking the lid of cup ice-cream was so much of a fun not to be missed out and I still do not miss it ! ;)

Later on when I grew up, Nirulas was the place for ice-creams.

• Comics, books: The most of summer vacation afternoons were spent in reading something or the other. Favourites were Archies, Asterix, Tintin, Phantom and Enid Blyton. Also, since Hindi reading was made compulsory :( Champak & Parag became the part as well.

The day new books for new class were brought home, the first job was to put brown covers and then finish off the books one by one.

• Morning Rounds / Sunrise: Getting up early morning was another fun thing for us. All (Well, most) of the neighbourhood kids used to get up early and go for morning rounds discussing the day’s plans while watching the sunrise.
• Dolls: Playing with dolls was another activity for me and I loved that. One of my neighbourly aunts was expert in making cloth dolls with all the minute details including eyebrows & nails. During exam days ‘orders’ were placed to her to make dolls and the summers were spent in playing / marrying them off. All the Barbie dolls were kept aside as they were no match to these dolls.
• Cricket: Later on when I grew up a little and after I was threatened ten thousand times by my mom to throw all my dolls, I took up cricket as an alternative and I am proud to say that it became one of my favourites.

Though I used to represent my school in long jump & races, cricket was never neglected and is still not neglected.

• Climbing Trees: Growing up in the capital city was fun but it was incomplete without the summer trips to grandparents’ place. My grandfather had a huge bungalow with all types of trees and a big garden. The whole area was so big that I used to measure it in kilometers instead of feet / yards ! Obviously, climbing trees and counting the branches or fruits was one major activity for all of us.

• Star Gaze: Sleeping on the terrace and gazing the stars ! What fun it was ! Discussing the constellations, finding the Saptrishi, making the shape of Leo, looking for some satellite or shooting star. Nights were really very short to accommodate all my fascinations.

• Saying AAA….: Last but not the least. Saying Aaaaaaaa (sometimes with your palm on your opened mouth).. in front of the desert cooler or an oscillating pedestal fan. Yes, if you happen to be in North India, I am sure you would have seen or done this. It used to make a very strange funny sound but so were the strange days of that life.

Now that rule no. 1 & 2 are taken care of, time for my favourite rule. ;)

Yeah, you got it right again. Its time to find my victims, my shikaar. So, here goes my list..

Abhi- Your blog needs some delicious summer delicacies. :)) I know you are busy for a month but after that would like to know about your bachpan.
Alok – Would like to know how your summers were spent. Finish your exams and do this tag please.
Lazy – You have been quiet for sometime. We all would like to know about your summer/summer holidays you enjoyed most.
PM – You too are quiet these days. Take the tag now. :)
Prashanth – Never tagged you. Let me grab this opportunity. ;)
MG – There is no other way to know more about you than this tag. :P

Maverick, Sigma & Bach – Be ready, I can see the channel through which this tag is coming your way. ;)
Current song- Summer of ’69 – Bryan Adams

Just Like That

Some Points:- Let me cry first. *Sob Sob* The people who come to my blog don’t read my blog properly & they don’t know anything about me. :(((

So, I felt the need to tell you something about myself & my blogworld. Even though it is mentioned very clearly, people don’t know when my birthday is. *Sob Sob* They don’t know from where to listen to my current song and they don’t know whether I am a Maharashtrian or not. Some people think I am a Marathi mulgi. I’ll appreciate if you go through this.

But yes, some people do have elephant’s memory (Oh la la.. I am surrounded by elephants & tigers) .. they even remember my favourite chocolate & very minutest details !! Hmm.. worth appreciation, I must say. No, I am not in touch with them through mails or otherwise, they are just my blogger friends & keep their eyes wide open while reading my blog.

Anyhow, I enjoyed the comments in my last post. :) All were so curious to know whose birthday it was. Some regular commenters very cleverly kept mum and some even more cleverly took advantage of this mystery and accepted all the wishes !!Ha Ha.. Probably it was their birthday. Heyy Kiddo MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY. You could have at least left your names. This is one of the disadvantages if one enables the anonymous comments.

However, I accept all the good wishes and convey them to all of you.
Happy Birthday to all of you.. advanced or belated. After all, your birthday has to come some day or the other in the whole year. It just happened that my post came on April 8th.

For your information, it was NOT my birthday and only one commenter said that very confidently. I would be the last person to do a self-advertisement by publishing a post on my birthday. Let others do it for me, why should I ? ;)

Some More Points:-

1.. Anonymous comments- I always had this option open on my blog for all the people but recently four posts back I had to disable it for reasons I don’t want to explain now. Though I have enabled it again to facilitate non-Blogger commenters, I would appreciate if you leave your name. I really don’t like anonymous strangers.
And I repeat, any offensive comment will be deleted. For off topic comments please use the Chit-chat box provided.

2.. How many of you know that I have one more blog ? My other child, that caters to my experiences of different places I have been to ? It is like my digital diary and has some interesting recounting. But it is NOT a travel blog, I am not guiding people to go to these places.
Only three months old, it has a long way to go to cover all the places I have visited. And I am proud to have some loyal visitors on that blog.

3.. Now something about my surrogate baby [Family planning going for a toss ;)]. I intend to contribute as Kuhu in a Hindi group blog Bloggers Park. The very first post on this blog is posted today and it is my first poem in Hindi काश.

4.. I have uploaded some photos in my Web Picasa Album & plan to update it frequently as & when my other blog gets updated. You’ll find the Album on right sidebar of either of my blogs.

Opinion Poll:- As you all know I always have one current song which I upload for the readers to listen to. If you don’t already know, it is on right sidebar. Now one blogger friend has complained that the music player ‘hangs’ my blog. Have you also felt so ?

I want to know how many of you want the music player here on this blog or else I’ll happily remove it & save time on uploading the song. Or, can you suggest me any other light weight music player as a replacement ?
In the meanwhile, you can listen to this song.

Current song- Nazraana Bheja Kisi Ne Pyar Ka – Kishore Kumar

Happy Birthday !!

Happy Birthday !! Wadhdiwasachya Shubhechha ! Janam Din ki shubkamnaayein ! Saalgirah Mubarak ! Joyeux Anniversaire !

The first thing on our special day we want to do is to hear these words. It makes us wait for full one year. This special day comes every year to everyone, yet it is so important.

You might ask, what is so important and special ? Well, you were born on this day, that makes it special ! A star was born this day. One tiny star grew brighter and brighter to be a beautiful and radiant light today...

Birthdays are the one day in the year when you are made to feel special by your loved ones. And for that one day you love all the pampering ? Don’t you ?
You become real Prince or princess for that day. Everything revolves around you.

And when you grow up, it brings back many happy memories of your childhood birthdays… the cakes, the balloons, the gifts, the hugs and kisses and the song “Happy Birthday to Youuuuuuuu" sung by one and all. And most importantly the unwrapping of the attractive gifts. So eager you were to open those mysterious packets. And what fun it was to poke fingers in cake and lick them..!!

Shhhhhh If I get a chance I still love doing that. ;)

But do you know the melody of this famous song was composed by Mildred J. Hill, a school teacher ? The lyrics were written by her sister, Patty Smith Hill.

And one of the most famous performances of "Happy Birthday to You" was Marilyn Monroe's rendition to U.S. President John F. Kennedy in May 1962 ?

Well, some people enjoy lavish fanfare, some love to be surprised; and some other simply want to have a quiet happy time with friends and family. Birthdays are always beautiful, no matter celebrated or not.

OK now, have you ever thought what if for once EVERYONE forgets to wish you ? On one of your birthdays you wake up to be wished by people but instead keep waiting & waiting. Not that they try to give a surprise and do it purposely but genuinely ? I know parents can’t forget their child’s birthday but what if they are unable to reach you on time and you are left with a void ?

But do birthdays mean only this to us ? It's a celebration of life...yes..but..

On a birthday, maybe one should think about what he/she has been to others so far in his/her life... what are his/her achievements in terms of being a human being...what have you been to others. What sort of person you have turned out to be. Because that's what really matters in the end. This year look at the radiant candles on your cake and think of how many people's lives you have enlightened - or how much more you have to work on it.

Oh la la.. Birthdays Birthdays... wonderful Birthdays.

And this post is incomplete unless I sing this song for Birthday Kiddos.

“Happy Birthday to You”
“Happy Birthday to You”
“Happy Birthday to You”
“Happy Birthday to You”

Note:- My current song is a very beautiful Marathi song sung by kids. Whether you liked my voice or not, listen to this song through the player. ;)

Current Song – Asava Sundar Chockletcha Bungla – Chorus

Let Me Commit the Crime !

Not again !! I wonder why people think it is their birthright to intrude in others personal matters.

Mumbai police !! I am asking you. People holding hands in a remote corner or in public. Why & how does it affect you ? Do you have a definite answer to it ? Well, they are spoiling the society. Right ?

Let me tell you, the society is already spoilt.

- By those who in the name of religion burnt the trains & other public properties & killed innocent people. Remember Godhra or Babri Masjid ?
- By those who in the name of love for sports damage private properties.
- By that Pandher who raped young children and got them killed by his servant.
- By that Amar Mani Tripathi who in spite of being proved the father of unborn foetus of murdered Madhumita is given ticket to contest elections. Oh I forgot, he didn’t commit the biggest crime of holding hands, he only got her killed.
- And what about that Sunil More of your own department who raped a young girl on Marine Drive ? She had not even held hands with her male friends.
- What about the ugly incident that took place at the Gateway on New Years eve ? Hundreds of men grappling a helpless female ? Where were you at that time ?

Seriously, don’t you have any other work than to harass those poor couples ?

Look at these pictures. Please click on them to have full view. How far they had to go to have a few moments of privacy. I have plenty of such pictures taken on different days, different places. No, I didn’t break the limits. All taken by zoom. I took the photos because I love them all. I love them for being themselves and being in love.

I wish to do the same one day.. go there, hold hands and probably kiss my man.. and

Mumbai Police !! Warning you. Don’t you dare come near me.

Current song- My Love – Westlife