Keechda-Paachda

Chintu was sitting with his legs folded, elbow on his knees and his hand on his cheek. He seemed to be deep into thoughts; his eyes were gloomy and staring at the lightening decorated by the houses and shops in his vicinity. He was sitting still... unmoved even by the loud sound of crackers. It was Diwali - the festival of lights... and this Diwali was also no different to Chintu from his past six Diwali's. But now, as he was growing, he was starting to get the feel of things. He was starting to develop a sense of longing, a sense of jealousy, a sense of loneliness, a sense of helplessness. The kids of his age were busy lighting candles, firing crackers, go shopping with their parents to buy more crackers, clothes, toys etc. but for Chintu, Diwali is like any other regular day when his father comes late in the night after working hard the whole day, cook food for Chintu and then they both retire to sleep after taking dinner only to wake up at 5 in the morning to begin their next routine day.

This time Diwali happened to be in early November and chilly winds were all set to send a shiver down the spine, yet Chintu was sitting in his old Nekar (shorts) and Baniyan (undershirt) which looked muddy and worn-out because of being used more than its capacity. Today, it looks like Chintu was missing his mother. Earlier, Chintu couldn't understand about mother, as he has never seen her but off late he has started to miss her. All those stories that his father tells him in the night about his mother started to make him feel proud of her, miss her and relate to her more. He often argues with God that, "It is high time now. You've kept my Mom long enough, please let her come back and my father will take care of her". He often look himself in the mirror to find his Mumma, as Manorama Dadi, his neighbor, often says that he is the exact replica of his mother.

It was a small neighborhood, somewhat like Mumbai chawls in the gullies of Old Delhi. Everyone was busy with themself. Parents were looking after their kids who were running around with fuljharies (a kind of fire cracker) in hand, some running in their utmost capacity after lighting the fire in a bomb that is about to explode and laughing their hearts out. Some were jumping and crisscrossing the sparks of chakar-ghinni (another kind of firecracker that do rounds on floor) and competing whose chakar-ghinni lasts long. But Chintu - he has no candles to light, no crackers to fire and no toys to play for he was a son of a poor man, who has no rights to enlighten his kid’s Diwali. In spite of being poor, Ramesh was a man of integrity. He taught his son all good lessons of life that every urban kid gets by his teachers, parents or grandparents. He has sown seeds of honesty and integrity in the little Chintu by practicing what he preaches. That might be the reason that Chinu has attained a state of maturity at seven years of age and was not barging into other kid’s toys or crackers to satisfy his desire to celebrate. Instead, he was waiting for his father to come back!

It was 11 PM in night, when Chintu saw a familiar shadow falling on his little feet, this bought smile on his otherwise emotionless face. His eyes started to sparkle and he immediately shouted ”Pappa” and ran wildly towards Ramesh. As Chintu held his arms around Ramesh’s feet, he heard a subdued painful sigh from his father and then realized that his father was injured on his right side. Both his arm and leg are mildly burned and bleeding. Chintu got scared. Ramesh immediately took Chintu in his lap and put up a brave face by ignoring the injury and diverting his attention to the fuljhari and the rocket (fire cracker) that he somehow managed to get for Chintu out of his meager earnings of the day. Without wasting much time, he put the cooker on stove with daal and rice, to prepare ‘khichdi’ for himself and Chintu. Meanwhile he and Chintu came out to fire the two crackers that Ramesh got for Chintu. It hardly took a minute to get their quota of crackers exhausted.

It was already late at night, only sporadic sound of crackers was heard and only few rockets can be seen in the sky intermittently. Most of the people went into their home and the road was all covered by the remains of the crackers like burned papers, fused crackers etc. Ramesh picked up a diya (a small cup-shaped oil lamp made of baked clay) that was lying on the road and started gathering the remains of the crackers and putting it beside diya. Chintu got interested by this activity and he too started doing the same. Within minutes they managed to gather a huge pile of remains beside diya. Now both Chintu and Ramesh sat across each other with diya and the pile of remains in between them. Ramesh lit a match-stick lit up a paper and put it in diya. Ramesh started to put burned papers, small torn packets one by one and fire started catching pace. Chintu was thrilled by now. He also started following Ramesh and started pouring the remains one by one.. they did all sorts of things, when fire became dim, they blew air and put more material to enhance fire, when it got high then they slowed down to let fire douse a bit. Chintu and Ramesh took names of different crackers before adding their bit to fire in their respective turns each time. This was the best Diwali Chintu was having. He was so happy by the fact that everyone is asleep as he didn’t wanted anyone to copy his father’s idea and relish as he was enjoying. They both kept going for next 35-40 minutes when Chintu started feeling sleepy. Ramesh again took Chintu in his lap and went inside his house to have dinner. On the way Chintu asked, “Pappa, what is the name of this game? I enjoyed it very much, let’s play it often.” Baffled by this question, Ramesh said impromptu, “Keechda-Paachda”!

After having dinner Chintu didn’t took much time to sleep. There was a tender smile on his face as he was sleeping and an expression of contentment was clearly visible. But Ramesh’s cheeks were wet and the eyes were red, the reasons to which could be manifold - his incessant pain that he was having throughout the time due to his injuries that he got after having an accident with a firecracker while pulling his rickshaw or it could be the worry for tomorrow, how he will manage to pull the rickshaw with his injuries and earn for his little kid or it could be due to loneliness that he faces after his wife’s demise or it could be the tears of happiness, for he was at least able to make his kid feel content and happy on his seventh Diwali….



P.S.: "Keechda-Paachda", the name and game mentioned here is the real one that I and my cousin, Vaibhav invented in our childhood during Diwali days. So copyrights are intact...;-)

Difference between Calorie and kilocalorie

Myth Buster: Calorie and kilocalorie (mentioned at the back of food items) are one and the same thing. In actual it is only kcal which is shortened to Calorie at times. One calorie is very small, hence, kilocalories are the standard unit for measuring the energy in food (i.e. 1000 * calorie).

You will not find anything listing calories, but only Calories. The capital 'C' denotes kcal. Actual metric

measurement of energy is KJ (Kilo Joules) and 1 Cal (or kcal for that matter) = 4.2 KJ.

So enjoy, and have food without guilt...

...Since past few days, after joining Gym, I was so depressed to think that I am loosing in only Calories after doing painful workouts whereas even a single bite of biscuit or any food item is loaded with Kilo Calories.. Lag raha tha sab 'mithya' hai and then I got to know this startling fact... :-)!

For those who knew already, please ignore the post, as I am overthrilled to post it anyways!!!!

Tribute to 'Surya'

I lost my nephew (Deepika's brother Son - 'Surya') on 05th-Sep-2012. He was just 6 months 7 days old kid, a darling! This is a tribute to the infant soul who came for such a short duration and spread love and happiness across families and his surroundings... Love you and Miss you a lot Surya....

मैं हंस तो रहा हूँ
पर कहीं न कहीं तुझे याद कर रहा हूँ
पतानही क्यूँ, मेरी आँखों के कोने अक्सर नम हो जाते हैं
और दिल की धडकनें अक्सर तेज़ हो जाती हैं
जब भी तेरी वो नन्ही सी सूरत सामने आती है.....

शायद वो सूरत, वो मुस्कुराहट
अभी तक कहीं गयी ही नही है
तू हमेशा मेरे ज़हन में यहीं कहीं है
वो तो मैं ही ज़बरदस्ती मुस्कुराहट का चोला डाल लेता हूँ
और तुझे भूलने की इक नाकाम कोशिश कर ही लेता हूँ....

जब तू था तो मैं तेरे इतने पास नहीं था
तो अब क्यूँ तूने मुझे यूँ बांधे रखा है?
हर पल क्यूँ तू मेरे सामने है 'सूर्या'
मैं चाहूँ न चाहूँ तेरी याद मेरे साथ है 'सूर्या'....

इतनी भी क्या जल्दी थी तुझे यूँ 'जीत' जाने की?
जो हम सब को पीछे छोड़ तू आगे निकल गया....
किस तरह वाकिफ कराऊँ सच से में खुद को, की मन रो ही पड़ता है
जब भी तेरी वो नन्ही सी सूरत सामने आती है....

IIM-L (Noida Campus) Mimicry Act for WMP (25-Aug-2012)

Hi All,

I am honoured and ecstatic owing to my juniors who have requested me to perform on the eve of Freshers Party hosted for 2015 batch. I have kept the same theme as my last act but tried to innovate by adding a punch and few additional voices of celebrities extending upto Term 9 (earlier one was upto Term 6).

Summary of this act: Comic punch followed by Mimicry Act. Voices in sequential order - Jagdeep, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Kumar, Om Prakash, Mithun, Shakti Kapoor, Amitabh Bacchan, Hritik Roshan, Pran, Sanjay Dutt, Sharukh Khan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sunny Deol, Sachin Tendulkar, Nana Patekar.

Please like and comment your feedback for further improvements.

Many Thanks,
Abhinav

Let God Live

Date: 02-04-2012 Time: 12:30PM

“Master Blaster failed again”….. “The Little Champ is playing for selfish reasons”…. “Sachin can forget to make tons but doesn’t forget to change his hairstyle”…. “There is no more godliness left in God”…. “Catering to personal looks is more important to Mr. Tendulkar than playing for country”…. Arrgghh!!!!

I woke up with a bad dream where many more such cynic headlines, news features were floating around the day after historic match of India Vs Bangladesh on March 16^th, 2012 – in which India lost and Sachin has not been able to achieve his 100^th hundred (of course in my dream!).

But, was my dream inappropriate? Would Sachin’s life be the same as today if my dream was a reality? Weren’t our critics and media barons ready to flip on either side based on outcome of the match and Sachin’s 100? Being an ardent fan and follower of Sachin, I was very nervous to hear about his change of hairstyle (yes you heard it correct! Hairstyle) as I couldn’t muster courage to pick up a daily or open a news channel, which I am sure, would have ripped him apart had things been the other way round. The last thing I’d have suggested him is to change his style, looks or get involved in any personal indulgence before completing this much awaited milestone. Lesser mortals like me would do that way, to succumb to the humungous pressure - to perform, to hit a hundred every time you are on the ground. When 30, 40 or 50 runs don’t count, even 80+ are discounted and forgotten easily.How unfair, isn’t it?

We are talking of a man who has served this country since 22 years. He has the power to make entire nation stand still when he bats and has mammoth achievements to belittle anyone in the cricketing world. I agree no one is above The Game, at the same time no one should be judged by his performance in 14-15 matches over a year, when he has played 600+ matches spanning more than two decades, when he is the highest scorer in all formats of the game in the International arena, when he holds almost all records in the cricketing world and to reflect his statistics chart even the TV screen falls short!

In past one year entire media and cricketing fraternity talked only about Sachin’s 100^th 100 and his retirement. I am perturbed, what is the connection between Sachin not scoring his 100^th 100 and his retirement? Has he not been performing? He was still agile on the ground; he was still playing decent shots. In fact, between his 99^th and the 100^th 100, he played 12 ODI and 8 Test matches and scored decently four times 53, 85, 48 and 39 in ODI and 56, 40, 91, 76, 94 and 73 in the test, the innings we often tend to forget. He still has passion of a fresh incumbent and is still willing to learn from his mistakes. His sincerity and dedication towards the game makes him excel in it. He still takes out time to practice. A person of his stature can very easily become boisterous and bend things like one wants to. However, not once such an instance occurred with Sachin. He practices with the team, remains grounded and focus on his one and only love ‘Cricket’, despite being one of the highest taxpayers in India. His impeccable career and humble nature is cause of envy to many.

He epitomizes the glory of The Game. He is the metaphor for dedication and perseverance and is an idol for the people who want to follow their dreams with sincere commitments. We must refrain from passing lewd remarks and judgment on Sachin and his tenure for he is the best judge of what to do and when to do on that Green Field. No fan, no critic is qualified enough to call the shots on him and must avoid any mudslinging, as it only grimes the one who does it without harming The Master anyway. As they say, “Though the dog may bark the caravan (kafila) moves on”.

I dread the day when ‘God’ will follow the footsteps of the ‘The Wall’. ‘The Wall’ is now a history and we can only cherish those innings exuberating uber class and perfection. Let’s spend the rest of the time in watching and enjoying Sachin playing, as the day he puts down his bat will lead to a huge void in the game which will take an era to fill up….. Who knows?

IIM-L (Noida Campus) Mimicry Act for WMP

I performed this act on the eve of the Fresher's Day party that we gave to our Juniors at IIM-L Noida Campus.

In this script:

• WMP means 'Working Managers Program' - which is the name of our PGP Course.
• I have made reference to 'Paritosh' - He is heading the administration department of IIM-L campus and is the most diligent worker I have ever seen. He is the channel of communication and broadcasts all information to us students; be it Fee Deposit Notice, Marks, Result etc etc..
• Word 'Law' is pronounced as 'Laaa' in order to add humor

My act was a step towards spreading laughter, humor and not to hurt anyone's sentiments. I apologize if I have crossed lines unintentionally.

Hope you will enjoy the act!!!

Mickey Mouse Sketch for my 1 year old Son 'Adyansh'

My Tryst with Adobe Photoshop

Hi, These are some of the pics that I tried photoshoping on Adobe Photoshop CS2. 

Original pics are there in the corner of each photograph as insets. You can click on individual images in order to see the real size picture.

Only WMP was created by my batchmates @ IIML Noida Campus. I tried to create IIML as well.

 Myself and Adyansh. Very simple editing and merging of four different pics.

Natural background with we in black and white. (Done by simple masking)

 This is the one with myself and my wife. I gifted this to her on our anniversary. She went crazy on seeing this... :)

Tried Stoning of Deepika.

Tried creating artificial lightening effect!

Just a simple sketch look!!!

Black and White Background with Rainbow effect.

Men of Steel

Let me know how do you feel about it.... That'll keep me motivated...;-)

कब तक (Kab Tak)

कब तक यूँ चुप बैठेंगे
कब तक यूँ सहते रहेंगे
कब तक इस पावन भूमि पर
यूँ अन्याय होते रहेंगे

हम सभ्य हैं, हम सौम्य हैं
ये कह - कह कर इतराते हैं
बस बहुत हो गया अब जागो
ये रक्त - पिपासु रातें हैं

यह समय नहीं है अच्छाइयों की म्रिग्छाया में रहने का
यह समय नहीं है बातें कर, अपना जी बहलाने का

जिस मनुष्य रूप में जन्मे हो
उस मानव को हुंकारों तुम
और चीर चलो सन्नाटों को
और भेद दो सब चट्टानों को

जब तक हम न जागेंगे
जब तक हम न लल्कारेंगे

यूँ ही कहीं कुछ मासूम
अपनी जान गवाएंगे
यूँ ही कहीं कुछ बहनें
अपनी व्यथा पे रोयेंगी

अब समय आ गया है प्यारों
इस देश का कर्ज चुकाने का
देश के सब गद्दारों को
एक कड़वा सबक सिखाने का

अपने कंधे मजबूत करो
की देश के तुम भी प्रहरी हो
वो सीमा पे कट जाते हैं
तुम भीतर इक आग़ाज़ करो

और चीर चलो सन्नाटों को
और भेद दो सब चट्टानों को
बस बहुत हो गया अब जागो
ये रक्त - पिपासु रातें हैं!

                                                 
- अभिनव सहाय

जनम दिन की व्यथा (Janam Din ki Vyatha)

बड़ी मुद्दत के बाद एक एह्सास सा आया है ..
भरी दुनिया में खुद को अकेला सा पाया है ..

आज का दिन 'ख़ास' है ये सोच-सोच इतराया था ..
कल से ही आज का कुछ 'ख़ास' Plan बनाया था ..

सोचा था की आज मेरे अपने मुझे बधाई  देंगे ..
जनम - दिन मुबारक कह के गले से लगा लेंगे ..

पर क्या खबर थी की अपनों से ज्यादा मुझे 'गैर' याद रखेंगे ..
'Auotomatic' wishes ही सही, wish तो कर ही देंगे.

आज सवेरे से मैं अपनी ई - मेल 'Refresh' कर रहा हूँ ..
कभी 'Facebook ', कभी 'Gmail' में बार - बार 'Hop' कर रहा हूँ..

इस उम्मीद में की कहीं किसी दोस्त का कोई पैगाम आ जाए ..
मन को तसल्ली देने वाला एक लाइन ही कोई कह जाए..

हर बार उम्मीदों की उस रेत को समुंदर की वो लहर ले जाती है...
जब भी कोई 'Jet  Airways', 'Kotak' या फिर किसी और कंपनी की कोई Automated Birthday Wish आती है.

मन यही सोच - सोच के उदास हो जाता था ...
अगर 'Facebook' में जन्मदिन Publish कर दिया होता, तो community  को तो याद ही रह जाना था..

आज रिश्तों के मोल Technology में बदल गए हैं ...
अगर आप खुद याद न दिलाएं, तो आप लोगों को याद नही रहते हैं...

चलो जाते - जाते  एक  wish और आ गया...
बीवी के लिये गहना खरीदना काम आ गया ...
बीवी दूर है तो क्या हुआ, उसके गहने की बदौलत "Tanishq" का मुबारकबाद और आ गया!!

- अभिनव सहाय