* Shahzad The Dreamer *

Aircraft Repair Expert

2011-08-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

Aircraft repair expert from Ukraine. pic-abrar

U.S Navy

2011-08-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

pic-abrar

Helicopter

2011-08-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

Eurocopter, a unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) has announced a collaboration with an Indian business group Mahindra to jointly build helicopter spares.

Mirage Fighter Jet

2011-08-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation.India has approved a $2.4-billion deal for French defence groups to upgrade 51 ageing Mirage fighter jets.

THIS IS KASHMIR

2010-08-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

THIS IS KASHMIR from Jack McCowan on Vimeo.

Vale of Kashmir (1930's)

2010-07-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

The Old Man Of The Lake

2010-05-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

An old man doing embroidery work with a needle, while sitting on the boundary wall of Dal Lake in Kashmir.(Picture-Abrar,click pic)

My Name is Maroon!

2010-05-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

A young boy enjoying Shikara ride on Dal lake.There are lots of unscheduled holidays in the form of hartals and curfews in Kashmir. (Picture-Abrar, click pic)

Roses are Red!

2010-05-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

(Picture-abrar, click pic, place-Kashmir)

Rose Mary!

2010-05-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

(Picture-abrar, click)

Floating Hotel!

2010-05-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

Putting aside questions about maintenance and lake-sickness, a floating hotel makes good sense. If you don't like the surroundings, just tow it to a new location. (pic-abrar, place:kashmir)

First You Have to Row a Little Boat

2010-05-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

A young boys initiation to adulthood, the bay on which he sails becomes a universe of sorts, teaching him new lessons about making choices, adapting to change, and becoming his own person with every journey he takes. (Pic-abrar, click on pic)

Srinagar's jewel gift wrapped in polythene

2010-05-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Dal Lake of Kashmir is one of the world's largest natural lakes. In 1200 AD, the lake covered an area of 75 sq km. By the 1980s, only 25 sq. km survived, and today this lake stretches over barely 12 sq. km. (Pic-Abrar, click on pic)

When Pharaoh saw the rain!

2010-04-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

After a hot and humid March-April, it rained
Empty streets, empty coffee shops, all washed

The lonely Pharaoh was having his dinner
"Hot tea-coffee",shouted the cycling old tea vendor

The puddles were once again filled with muddy water
He could see his reflection like a dog and a tiger

The souls from the nearby graveyard rejoiced,it rained
It didn't matter who sinned, who redeemed
Who killed, who saved
Who obeyed, who betrayed
Who prayed, who dreamed

"We were abandoned on earth, tormented in hell, in heaven pampered
We were tired, at last our prayers were heard, it rained"

Her sharp eyes filled with sparkles gazed
Pierced him from a distance,it rained
He didn't wanted any shelter
Nor desired to run, like a wounded dog-helter-skelter
And embrace her,like a frightened Tiger

His skin cooled,kept alive the kids habit
When he walked slowly, alone on the street
When he avoided the rooftops to get wet

Everything was cleared and washed
As if to forgive those who sinned

When Pharaoh saw that the rain,hail,thunder had stopped
With a hardened heart, again he sinned, again it rained

Like the Lions, the clouds roared, it rained
He became a mummy,his body preserved, it rained

You were close to his jugular vein
Still He couldn't reign

Nor amidst this rain
His tears were seen

After a hot and humid
March-April, it rained

---shahzad

(pic-abrar)

Dog Tag

2010-04-02T02:04:00.000-07:00

I reached to the club early in the morning
Old men and women in sports shoes were jogging

Some old men were in their funky shorts, sweat shirts
I could only see them moving their hands
"oldies,maybe they are discussing politics"

A club Dog welcomed me, he was excited
And escorted me till I settled
Down on a plastic chair

The Dog was white in colour, black ears
The body had few black spots

It had blue and green leash around its neck.
He came back and sat beside this wack
"No, we are not going for a walk"

Down he flopped onto the floor
He looked up, i could see his ears fall

The whites of his eyes were showing
A look of pure joy or utter dejection
Why this unconditional love and attention
Even when you are down and suffering pain
"lover of learning or merely an unintelligent machine"

I was listening to the chirping of the birds
Suddenly a crow tried to invade
The area occupied by my presence

The Dog stood up and opened its jaw
Gave a good gruesome stare to the crow

Poor crow almost died of a heart attack
Then flew away from the fear of being hacked

--shahzad

A Funeral!

2010-03-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

Willy : Ben, that funeral will be massive! They'll come from Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire! All the old-timers with the strange license plates — that boy will be thunderstruck, Ben, because he never realized — I am known! Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey — I am known, Ben, and he'll see it with his eyes once and for all.

Ben: Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way.

Biff: I've always made a point of not wasting my life, and every time I come back here I know that all I've done is to waste my life.

Charley :Sit down, Willy. The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell. And the funny thing is that you're a salesman, and you don't know that. Nobody dast blame this man. Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back — that's an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you're finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.

Linda: I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person.

Willy : Nothing's Planted, I don't have a thing in the ground.You can't eat the orange and throw the peel away — a man is not a piece of fruit.Work a lifetime to pay off a house — You finally own it and there's nobody to live in it. After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive.

Quotes taken from 'Death of a Salesman' by Arthur Miller (Pictures-Abrar... click on pics)

Compos Mentis, an ode of xerxes for Chinar tree

2010-03-06T03:03:00.000-08:00

The brook is gushing somewhere
You are flowing, you won't be what you were

Some thoughts melt slowly due to some spiritual fear
But actions storm out from same old behaviour

Like the 'chinar' leaf floating in air with rhythm
Until it was compelled to land, in autumn

The cold breeze scattered it here and there, a kind of stroll
Until it got dumped under the snow or bumped with a wall

Meaning its existence was that , it never rose up
So it always was a fall

Like the colours of a chinar leaf, thoughts keep changing
Green, red, yellow brown and then nothing

One day in autumn she walked in the chinar garden
Destiny's play, her feet touched the same leaf that had fallen

The leaf wept and melted like an icicle
Hanging in the winter sun, under roof edge to trickle

Like the melting of an icicle, love keeps dripping
Sharp as dagger, then blunt ice and then nothing

The leaf sang 'Ombra mai fu' for her
Which was the ode of xerxes for Chinar
"never was the shade of dear,
amiable, more sweet and near"

She heard it and sensed melancholy in the songs tempo
Then playfully ran along with her friends away from the chinar meadow

The leaf felt bit of blithe for falling so low
Became ready to get buried under the falling snow

'Sweet memories' kept the leaf singing
Like dub lub of his heart and then nothing

She sometimes listens to this poignant ode
When she tries to find a foreign station on radio
----shahzad

Soaring High : Aerobatics and strike power

2010-03-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

The Indian government is set to invest a whopping $30 billion over the next five years to modernize and upgrade its mighty defence services. (Pics-abrar click pics)

Global fighter jets scramble for Indian aero showpiece

2010-03-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

Global aerospace majors have flown in their metal birds to India's IT hub to demonstrate their air power. pics-abrar (click on pics)

Top Gun : Eurofighter Typhoon, brute power of a beast

2010-02-27T00:21:00.000-08:00

Eurofighter Typhoon, a fourth generation strike fighter is pitch-forking for $10 billion IAF's 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) order.The other aircrafts slugging it out for the order are Lockheed Martin's – F-16s, Boeing’s Super Hornet F/A-181N, the French Dassault Rafale, the Swedish Saab Gripen, the Russian MiG-35. pics-abrar (for better view, click on the pics)

Al-Shafa, the healing

2009-12-31T21:43:00.001-08:00

Glad that her eyes recognised him in a crowded bazaar of Kashmir.As the winter chill sets in Kashmir valley, the human health will get affected.Also, the massive influx of wounded due to daily violence has put an enormous strain on the weak health care infrastructure. (pic--abrar)

Flowers of faith

2009-12-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

Flowers on the rooftop of Madeen Sahib's shrine. (pics-abrar)

I've gotta have faith

2009-12-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

A Kashmiri Muslim woman pays her respect outside the shrine of Madeen Sahib in Kashmir. Meanwhile hundreds of Christians braved the chilly weather on Friday Dec 25 and joined the mass in Srinagar on occassion of Christmas and offered prayers for return of peace in Kashmir. (pic-abrar)

Theory of relativity

2009-11-09T12:36:00.000-08:00

Pics--Abrar

Afternoon summer dream

2009-10-25T12:26:00.001-07:00

A homeless man sleeping on the pavement, with the trumpeting sunlight and explosion of heat rippling the air.pic/Abrar

The Genghis Khan of Indian IT industry

2009-08-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

IT bellwether Infosys Technologies Founder and Chief Mentor N. R. Narayana Murthy in a deep thought. The green shoots have started to sprout out for the Indian IT sector which is on recovery road after one of the worst slowdowns in living memory.pic/abrar

The balloon girl

2009-08-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

A village girl trying to earn her living by selling balloons in Bangalore, poverty in India is widespread and houses a third of the world's poor.The nation is estimated to have one of the largest concentration of poor people in the world.pic/abrar

The cap seller

2009-08-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

The periods of high unemployment are hard on people migrating from villages to cities for jobs, here a man trying to sell Christmas caps as traffic comes to halt at red signal in Bangalore.pic/Abrar

Elgin Talkies

2009-05-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

The hundred year old cinema house is said to be the first theatre of Bangalore, near Shivajinagar. People now prefer to go to multiplexes, where they watch films, shop and eat.pic/Abrar.

Little Red Riding Hood

2009-05-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Cup of life!

2009-05-26T10:29:00.000-07:00

St. Mary's Basilica

2009-03-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Recession or an afternoon nap

2009-03-27T05:26:00.000-07:00

Month Of Freedom

2008-09-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

"Smile please" :)

Just last Ramadhan, Sifar broke his fast with Mr.Steel and before that he was in the College accompanied by college folks AKA jokers AKA clowns AKA friends. This year's holy month, neither Steel is around nor are the college abnormal souls to crackle a bit , "except the Muezzin (who gives adhan: call for prayer) is same, may he live long" says Sifar. He claims to have fasted all those holy months (only God knows) that were spent with Steel.He misses the home made sweet 'Firni' (dessert) and thick hot bread taken out from the oven and then laid with butter. "Oh the holy month is always special at home when food is concerned. Mr.Steel also used to prepare Firni during this month, much better then the dessert by any Executive Chef back at home", recalls Sifar.

After Last years Ramadhan, the Delhi Blues were popping up for Sifar. And when patience used to evaporate, the valley called back again and again as if some one was shouting from the top of Mahadev mountain, "retreat, retreat", which kept on echoing, till it used wake him up from sleep. Sometimes he used to look in to the mirror and the reflection used to tell him nothing except looking into his eyes and blinking as if questioning, will there be an end? will there a new beginning? . "We always keep looking for distant dreams to escape the reality which is nearby to us. Sometimes become lazy, feel guilty and sleep to wait for eternity". The waiting era was a disappointment for Steel, and then he finally broke the silence.

The biological alarm bell started to ring inside Sifar, and it helped in some way as if someone made Steel to turn the key of the mechanical toy Rat and put it back in action. Since then time has passed like Usain Bolt's 100 metres race at 9.69 seconds," feels like the day before yesterday" says Sifar. He hopes, the structure will come back in life since the month of freedom has arrived!Happy Ramadhan.

HAL's First Built Hawk Mk132 Advanced Jet Trainer

2008-08-24T02:46:00.000-07:00

Bangalore Summer

2008-06-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

GOING:GOOD
PENETROMETER READING: 4.7 cms
The Doncaster Plate
Permission was granted to trainer to withdraw FLYING JET on veterinary grounds as it was suffering from fever. He was informed that he must produce a fitness certificate from veterinary officer before accepting it again.
REPLENISH planted and lost many lengths at the start. In the view of its behaviour , it wont be accepted until its behaviour improved to the satisfaction of the stipendiary stewards in one mock race.
TRAFALGAR SQUARE reported that he could not get a clear run approaching the 800 metres dure to tightly packed field. Rider of WORD TO WORD was fined for the excessive use of the whip.ZIGGY STARDUST burst its blood vessels after the race,It has to produce a fitness certificate
The Baraloy Plate
ALL MY COLOURS reported that his mouth was hanging out in the straight.After due enquiry jockey was fined for his carelessness pertaining to weighing in in respect of his mount.

The Glorious Colours Plate
Permission was granted to trainer to withdraw FELICITAD as it had sustained a deep cut injury on left knee.LADY OF LIGHT jumped out awkwardly from the gates. CARLITO swerved towards inside soon after the start thereby inconveniencing EXCELLENT ABILITY. STAR MUSTANG was observed hanging in the straight.

Trainer of LIONHEART was fined for making an error in the decleration of weight. KHALEELS PRIDE was extremely fractious and refused to be stalled.
SUNNY CONNEXTION jumped awkwardly.

The Malakpet Plate
ROYAL ARTIST was reprimanded for not maintaining a proper course rounding the final blend. ACTION HERO sustained an injury on right stifle.Routine sample was taken for analysis from the winner PHOENIX REACH.
The Bhisma Plate
CINDY GIRL was fined for making an error in the starting declaration, shoeing. NICE GUY was fined for shifting in and causing interference to STARRY VIEW. COULLE was fined for coming in and causing interference to PLATNUM DREAMS.COULLE was fined for coming in and causing interference to DESIRE TO DAZZLE. LUCKY LOOK sustained an injury on right hind pastern.Routine sample was taken for analysis from the winner MISS HONEYDEW.

The Jerry Can Plate
EVER SO CLEVER was fined for making an error in the startting declaration. SCIMITAR MUSIC ON DEMAND and VIOLET HONEY could not get a clear run soon after the start due to crowding. STAR PRESENTATION sustained a cut injury on left hind fetlock. JERSEY POWER sustained an injury on left hind tendon.
The Speakers CUP
WAR HEAD was slow into stride and lost some ground in the start. COMPTON STAR also lost some ground. ARCHIPENKO was quetioned regarding running and riding, as it ran on from the front and faded of towards the end.

STYLISH BAY was hanging in. Rider of BADGE OF GOLD was fined for excessive use of whip.
HOLLYWOOD GIRL planted and lost many lengths at the start. BLACK SPLENDOUR was fined for coming in.

Pz Mac's Rang De Theatre

2008-05-12T02:58:00.000-07:00

Editing courtesy: Pz MAc
for enlarged version, click on the pic

Fly Away Peter

2008-05-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

........Clancy Parkett decide to get some hot water for tea,while the wagons were still rolling slowly forward, he and Jim, leaving their rifles, jumped down and jogged along the whole length of the train till they came to the engine.They were racing it. Running easily in the soft French snow.Fellows leaned out of the wagons cheering.When they got there at last Clancy, who was a bit on the heavy side, was too breathless to speak.It was Jim, as they still jogged alongside, who told the driver what they wanted and showed the billy..................................But they got the water,took it, all steaming as it was , on the run, then waited beside the track for their wagon and its familiar faces to reappear.Jim held up the billy as if it were some sort of trophy, and each wagon rolled by the men in it chiacked or cheered.

Jim would never have done any of it alone, but with Clancy it seemed like an adventure, a time out of all this that he would remember and maybe tell: The time I raced the train up to Bailleul with the engine driver, the moment of simply standing all aglow in the cold, a spectator, while the faces of the whole battalion passed before them and the land behind dipping away, foreign, mysterious, in snowy folds, crossed by black highways and tracks but empty habitation.The tea when they gulped it down in sweet , steamy mouthfuls was especially good.

Chapter 17
........... The earth smelled so good.It was a smell that belonged to the beginning of things.............. falling on his knees he began awkwardly to knead the earth, which was warm, damp, delightfully crumbly, and then to claw as it as the others were doing.It felt good.
'That's it, mate.That 's the style! Dig!
Jim looked around , astonished.It was Clancy Parkett..........................I thought.................'No'Clancy told him, 'not air mate.Earth'.And he held up a fistful of the richly smelling mud.....................................'We're digging through to the other side'
'But it'll take so long,'Jim said reasonably.
Clancy laughed.'There's all the time in the world, mate.No trouble about time.And it is better tryin' to walk it'........................Jim thought.........He knelt and dug.

India's first laptop below Rs15000

2008-01-10T01:20:00.000-08:00

ACi India's first and research based laptop manufacturing company launched their first full featured worth Rs.14,999.The laptops will be introduced in the market by the first quarter of this year. Mr.Hirji Patel a former missile scientist from UK and now Chairman,MD,of Allied Computers International said "The laptop industry is similar to cellphone industry,initially they were also bulky.As wireless technology has advanced, we want to give users laptops that are smaller in size and light in weight, which they can carry in their briefcase.Our laptop weighs less than a kilogram and is not bigger than a diary and even kids can afford these laptops"

The laptop features includes VIA 1.0 GHZ ULV CPU, 512GB RAM,40 GB hard disk, WiFi and Bluetooth.The laptop has seven inch TFT screen,inbuilt web camera and weighs 950 grams.ACi also ensures a 12 hour battery life through solar energy technology present inside the laptop.The company is also planning on bringing higher end version of the same model which will be priced around Rs 22,000. The casing of these laptops are made of aluminium instead of plastic to prevent heating up of laptops. Mr Patel added "technology has been growing in leaps and bounds in our country.Contributing to this growth,i want to bring technology to every man's doorstep.My aim is to cut through the cost barrier and make laptops affordable to every man in this country".

The company also plans to launch Plasma Television (LCD's) in the first quarter of this year.A 32 inch Plasma TV would be available at Rs 24,999 and 50 inch Plasma TV for Rs50000.The company will be launching 27",32",40" Plasma TVs also. The company is a UK brand and its R&D is in India but manufacturing is outsourced to china,"We hope to bring it to India" says Mr.Patel.The company will also come up with this concept in future, where these small laptops can be slotted in and out of the house hold LCD Tv's like video cassettes which then can be converted into PC's.

Listed on BSE, with current market value of over Rs 120 crore,the company proposes to raise Rs100 crore through issue of FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds).This would enable the company to open 80 more multi brand service centres across the country from the existing 27 service centres.ACi Asia is also setting up an assembling plant for laptops in North India with an initial investment of Rs2 crore.The laptops will be available through out the country through company showrooms having tie ups with supermarkets,malls and retail showroom franchisees.

HOME!

2007-09-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

click on pic's to see enlarged version

"The Hindu"

2007-07-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

Who is She?
A cook at home
Chef at work place
Caring mother and a wife
Why did you like her?
Her look was that of a mother
To a son , coming back from the border
After all, I was a stranger
How do you Know?
I can read eyes , the halo 'kohl' on eyelids, 'tilak' on forehead
Keeping her calm, one black, other red
But ready to fight injustice
Why did you meet?
To know whether i am destined to be Great?
Whether my Dreams will come true?
Because I was feeling blue
I was looking again and again at the blue-skies
It seemed 'The Great One' wasn't accepting apologies
Where did you write this?
Thought of it at a terminal and wrote it in a charabanc
What was her name?All I know it was perfume
-------shahzad

JESUS IS COMING SOON!

2007-07-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

"Another lonely night in New York The city of dreams just keeps on getting me down" ....( lonely Night in NewYork-- Bee Gees)
Path in the forest...
It was very windy in the Bangalore City ,some times it drizzled also. All night the open windows would clatter and toss , the wind was making "Woo Woo" sound as if kids had come to play on a Halloween day dressed in costumes. Like the windows were clattering from one side to another, 'Sifar' was also moving from one side to another side in his sleep. In the morning, at the break fast table besides the window, the sun light glowed the the break fast scene.'Sifar's eyes were sleepy, as he was painting the bread with butter the sunlight made the breakfast corner to radiate glow but the morning darkness was still in other corners. He sipped his tea in the orange cups designed with yellow sunflowers, then he left. While walking through the Cubbon Park on the track usually found in the Forests , he thought about the events that take place in the city everyday which he came to know while working on bundles of Press Releases in the Newspaper office . But still in the noise of the day you cannot make out what is happening and where ? and similarly in the nights silence you think whole city is sleeping But events keep happening. InThe

Press Club and P.C Dog...
Sifar reached to press club early in the morning.old men and women in sports shoes were jogging. An old women clad in 'sari' and sports shoes was also trying to keep up the pace with her husband. Some old men in their funky shorts and sweat shirts were having some discussion. Sifar could only see them moving their hands which we normally do, when we have to discuss something."maybe they are discussing politics, oldies always do that", Sifar thought. Sifar entered the Press Club and the' Press-Club Dog' welcomed him and escorted him till Sifar settled down.Maybe the 'press-club dog' thought that sifar is some great journalist. The P.C Dog was white in colour with black ears and few black spots on the body. He had blue and green leash around its neck. P.C Dog came again and sat beside the chair of Sifar, while Sifar was listening to the chirping of the birds. When a crow tried to invade the area occupied by Sifar's presence, the P.C Dog stood up and gave a good gruesome stare to the crow. Poor crow must have died of a heart attack. The crow flew away.

"Why do they want to snatch away farmer's land"?
Sifar boarded the vehicle belonging to Communist Party Of India (Marxist) going to 'Nandagdi'-a Village 53 kilometers from the Bangalore City. It had a red flag painted with fusion of Sickle, hammer and a star all in white.It flew through out the journey. Reaching to the village CPIM had arranged a meeting with farmers against the governments proposal to engulf the Village land into 'Special Economic Zone'. Where industries can be built. The village was just 20 kilometers from International Airport going under construction in Devanahalli and the land price of the village was expected to shoot up the skies ,once the Airport construction was complete. Some politicians supporting this 'SEZ ' proposal wanted to have some tie-up with the capitalists. At the same time Sifar realized ;"More you come to know about this city,more you realize that you know nothing"

Yellow Caravan Of School Children...
Sifar reached back to the city and the vehicle got stuck in the traffic- an indication that he reached to the city. From outside some noise was coming. Sifar looked out and found out a yellow First generation Nissan caravan, filled with school children. A small girl with thick glasses was having some argument with her peers and then she lazily started fiddling the hair-plait of other girl who was peeking out of the window,but seemed bored. One boy was also looking out and he made an eye contact with Sifar and said " I am John Cena", (the great wrestler-WWE). Sifar smiled at him as if to acknowledge his power. The boy got surprised and said "Aiyoo". He was excited and was laughing ,showing his half-frontal teeth which still hadn't grown fully. Sifar was lost into past again-how many moons ago, he also had enjoyed the same fun in the School Van-Like Sprinkling water through the window or to each other, throwing out paper tit-bits to see them fly while the vehicle was moving, every one Shouting at the driver to drive fast- if any vehicle dared to overtake, making faces at the pedestrians. Sifar was missing his Grand father.He couldn't believe that his grand father was no more, because he kept on coming in his dreams as young, healthy and talkative.

The traffic stop clock displayed zero, with this Sifar's vehicle also moved, the self acclaimed John Cena-wrestler shouted at Sifar and said ;" Good-bye Uncle". Sifar smiled back and waved his hand towards him.

Another Lonely Night In New York...
It was a beautiful afternoon at St. John's Amphi Theatre. The artistes were performing, some singing 'a Capella' (music without instrumental accompaniment), solo songs and some playing guitars and synthesizers. The trees around the open theatre were swaying with the tunes of the breeze.Sifar was lost in the melody and again in a reverie. Some couples were enjoying pink Cotton Candy and popcorn. A small girl with a jean bandanna and curly hair was hopping as she was throwing a small blue pipe in the air.Another girl had wrapped one end of the 'Sari' of her mother while her mother placed her hands on her head. Sifar was listening to the songs that were sung like 'Friends forever', .. he listened " Blackbird singing in the dead of night -Take these broken wings and learn to fly" by Beatles and then tears started to come into Sifar's eyes when someone did the rendition of ' Another Lonely Night In New York' by Bee Gees
Game of Statue's... He reached to Vidhan Soudha and Jawahar Lal Nehru's black Statue was showing a five to the Invisible 'Janta' in the park. Moving few steps ahead was blue Statue of B.R Ambedkhar with the book of Indian Constitution in his hand directing his Index finger towards something( maybe towards Nehru) but 'Sifar' was going in the opposite direction. Some Photographers had gathered with their Very old Nikon Cameras and old leather bags , luring the people ,mainly villagers to take snaps in front of Vidhan Soudha, which looked like a huge Palace and High Court was looking like the 'Sweet Home', found in nursery Rhyme Books ,in red-brick colour constructed in British architecture. It was an amazement for 'Sifar' why some people were even selling Rat Poison at this place, displaying monstrous drawings of rats on their posters. Moving ahead he came across one more blue Statue, it was of Subhash Chandra Bose, showing his fist towards the sky and index finger towards the ground. He crossed the road and reached High Court, he was thinking about the 30 healthy trees that were chopped at the race course road last night to widen the road. The High court atmosphere was all Black and white, but the red-brick colour of the building gave some different look. It was crowded with lawyers and common people. These lawyers were in their long Black Garbs, and they looked like Bat-men without masks when they rode the Motor-Bikes.

Yellow Glow of death...
Walking further he came across Protesters who were asking for signatures to file petition aginst the use of Bulbs. The volunteer told him that Every day India uses 18,000 MW of electricity against for lighting, most of it is wasted by the inefficient ordinary Light bulbs. Sifar also put his signature for their "ban the Bulb" Campaign. But inside he was thinking that back in Kashmir people waste energy resources but at least they are not taking part in this wastage, as electricity back in Valley is like the holy water from Mecca that is given in diluted form (in small bottles) to Hajj's , for home. And still Sifar didn't like these Bulbs, he remebers how difficult it was to concentrate during exam days under the yellow glow of these bulbs and in the winter, the electricity poles used to give that 'yellow glow of death' in the mist and you could see the icicles hanging like daggers ,shining under the roof tops of the houses in Kashmir . Sifar was listening to this energetic volunteer, and in the form given to him for signature he reached to the spot where he had to mention his profession. For him it had become a kind of embarrassment to mention himself as Student every time. So for a change He wrote " Pedestrian". the volunteer gave him a smile trying to convey that he was silly but that was what Sifar's profession was during that time, 'walking' . And what was his friend doing living far across the oceans? well that friend was living in a tent besides a beautiful lily pond, spending off time hiking and rafting the rivers.
Walking few steps ahead, a couple was fighting, the girl had taken the command and she was cross-questioning the guy and the guy was listening like a male-student to a female-teacher. Sifar couldn't see the expression on the guys face as he was wearing a helmet maybe to save his head from the woman he was listening so attentively.
MarlBoro and Steel....
Sitting in a park, he was reflecting upon 'what had happened in past couple of days'.: He had reached back to home in the city, he opened the door which had been recently painted in green. you could see a blurred face in it when you looked into it but it told you that you are visible.He entered the room and the cigarette smoke in the room smelled differently. Was Something wrong with his sense of smell? The answer came out quickly as he saw a "Marlboro pack of Cigarettes lying in disorder and unattended on the chair. "So ' Commando Steel' has changed his brand of smoke", he thought. What was going on? .
Couple of days back, once Mr.Steel entered the room without looking at the other person who opened the door. He went straight and lied in the bed but in an odd and strange way as if the universal age old technique of 'How to sleep or lie down in the bed had changed', after some time 'Commando' broke the silence when he told that he fell down from the stairs. No one could see or hear him falling down he proudly declared. Maybe because he always said " you should walk like a Spy" and that is why no one could hear his SPY-Fall. Then Steel had fallen terribly sick. So sick that in such situations a person always calls his mother in low murmur for help, like a baby when in discomfort. During these days he once said " I am feeling so weak that if I have to fight I will only be able to bite the opponent" And when he was advised to quit smoking, a smart answer was shot back like a bullet " You should have at least one passion in life" meaning it is none of your business. So again what made him to change his brand which he was loyally smoking for years?. Who provides him these white-blunt-headed-rockets, one part of which goes into his blood , into Ashtray and other part contributing to Global Warming?. But will the effect on his health change even though Marlboro is made in Switzerland and each pack of 20 cigarettes cost Rupees 80. He felt some interest when he read stories in the newspaper like "Smoking prevents Parkinson's disease"He didn't express this hidden interest as if it didn't matter much. But the pack was beautiful in red and white colour, reminding you of the billboards where the smoker is skiing in his blue ski-gear or the cowboy whose one hand is preening the horse , and giving you the manly look
After that Steel had grown his beard. Had he attained Salvation or Nirvana or was he trying to be the Majnoon of Laila? But before assumptions could take further flight . He shaved off the moustache making him look like the Gujjar of kashmir valley living in the mountains, then one more part was gone making him look like the Ape Man, you find in the history book of the primary schools in the first chapter titled as 'The Early man' . Then some more fiddling, as the beard on the sides went off and he became 'Ming the Merciless' of Flash Gordon. Finally whole beard was gone and our Mr. Steel emerged back.

Library Ghosts..
Sifar also thought of the of Library in the college. Though the college was over, the gates were still open, but again he couldn't go because of the invisible barrier. whom will he see or meet there? He could remember (at least) he had been honest with his studies while sitting in the library. On the front wall were the portraits of Mother Mary and Jesus again in their aura of angelic light. Then on his left wall were the portraits of Gandhi smiling as usual, Nehru smiling again, with that flower dangling in the pocket of his sherwani and then his daughter Indira gandhi, but she was not smiling. Sifar always thought that there was some conspiracy going on when the librarians used to talk with each other in whispers, giving those fake smiles at each other.Then some one used to switch on the fans. But one was not able to discover the switches of these fans it used to happen again and again, it was known who was the culprit, but it was against one's pride to ask him about the place of these switches, because every one has got common sense.. Then once a poor , tired guy fell asleep while reading the 'Time Magazine' and he drooled while asleep and the saliva got pasted on the open mouth of George white Bush maybe giving his presidential speech on 'War on terror'. The librarian woke the guy up and asked in numerable questions whether he had eaten his break fast?, whether he is feeling tensed?,Is everything alright? the guy was looking at the librarian blankly, speechless. He obediently took the magazine back to its place.

"You did something today, which you won't forget for your whole life"? ----Steel....
He could recall what Mr. Steel had asked him: " You did something/anything today which you won't forget for your whole life?"- On a day when every one doing something for a cause. Like some worked for peace, protested against Global warming, poverty and some banged their 'Jeep Cherokee' into the Airport 'Sifar' also wanted to tell him that he did something on that day, but failed to recollect. He wanted to tell that that he felt the presence of God when he saw thousands of school children cheering at a function in Ambedkhar Bhavan, at that moment he wanted to repent for all the misdeeds and he felt happy. He wanted to tell that In the morning he had learned three verses from the 'Quran' which tell that God has knowledge of everything, He is merciful and He has power over everything. He wanted to tell , on that day, he removed a 'Yellow Banana peel' from the road side , where pedestrians walk..being pessimistic as always. Jesus is coming soon !! He was now moving in his blue bus still reflecting on the events that took place. He saw three beautiful women on a huge billboard staring at him curiously with little bit of fear , It was a BBC advertisement and the slogan was " Entertain Your Brains" but the vehicle moved on " Why don't you have traffic jams near such beautiful bill boards so that you could stare at them for a long time" he thought. Some kids were glued to a Television put up by an electronic equipment shop for display on the window shelf. Though some six T.V's were showing different channnels simultaneously. These kids were watching the 'Animal Planet 'channel with amazement, mouth half open and eye balls expanded.
He said a small prayer towards Almighty, how long Will he roam aimlessly and this and that, blah blah blah. He was trying to concentrate in prayer till his forehead became red ( no one saw it but he felt that it turned red)The answer came quickly like a bolt from the grey sky ( the sky was grey on that day and the bolt was in the form of an Auto-rickshaw). Through the window of the vehicle He saw the rear part of the Auto-rickshaw, painted in Yellow and the answer was written in Black which was : JESUS IS COMING SOON.
A faint smile came on his face,. A sarcastic answer that is given to all the challenges and problems in this world. Few drops of drizzle came inside the vehicle and moistened his dry lips. He moved on.

Heavy Rains And Photo Journalist.
It was now evening and it started raining. Sifar hopped on the Photo Journalist'd bike and they zipped through the city, some shops had been destroyed by the heavy rains and also some homes had been flooded. The rain was hitting sifar's body like a sand storm, but he was enjoying it. when it really started to rain 'dogs and cats' the Photo Journalist handed over an umbrella to Sifar- "he could had given it earlier" Sifar thought. "Thanks" said Sifar. After roaming for a long time the P.J said " basically we are looking for sites affected by rain, which can make news". Sifar said "i realized it long back ago" The P.J and Sifar reached on the top of a fly over and took a Snap of the traffic sparkling out in red colour- "Bangalore is looking beautiful" Sifar thought.

P.J then immersed himself in knee-deep water and took picture of the traffic , while protecting his camera with an umbrella. Some other Photo Journalists also arrived, but in a car and started to shoot what ever came in their way. P.J, Sifar, and these photo journalists reached to a colony in Domlur, where the houses in the whole lane were flooded with water. Sifar reached there and talked to the people . He could see they were helpless young as well as old. They were giving description , what had happened to their homes. Some were blaming the authorities, who were not doing any thing to this menance, some blamed the construction authority, and some put the blame on some miltary compound, which according to them was the source of the water. " whole night these people won't be able to sleep ,till water is fully drained out" Sifar thought. 'One old fellow with an umbrella went towards Sifar and said "please highlight this issue, see everything is flooded". Sifar could see helplessness in his eyes.
It was a tiring day, but full of adventure ,he reached home, it was still raining- the rain reminded him the few couplets from Agha Shahid's poem " Even The Rain":After we died--That was it!--God left us in the dark.And as we forgot the dark, we forgot even the rain.Drought was over. Where was I? Drinks were on the house.For mixers, my love, you'd poured--what?--even the rain.This is God's site for a new house of executions?You swear by the Bible, Despot, even the rain?"

BLACK DOG

2007-06-23T02:52:00.000-07:00

You again at this 'chicken-roll' kiosk
To nibble up titbit's without a single bark

People will throw pieces of 'roti', chicken
You know how to seduce them

You are short, cute, 'preen'
With small fur of black Sheen

You look straight into their eyes
Inside you see the journey of 'hands to gobs'

Making anyone feel the guilt
If they don't feed you little-bit

You don't wag your stubby tail
But you prefer a game,'eyeball to eyeball'

I also fell into your charm
Gave you some god given ration

You were staring at me
As if you were reading me
My present, past, future
I know you have the knowledge
About my happiness, sadness.....love

You followed me for sometime like those pets
I could hear your small, quick, hurried steps
Moving me to tears

Then you changed the lane
That far you came
Just to give a tribute to me

But today don't look at me like that
I will not make any eye-contact
Makes me feel the same guilt

I don't need your empathy
You won't get anything in times of penury

"I am hungry"
"Do you listen" I AM HUNGRY
"do you understand i am hungry"

---shahzad

Ab Initio

2007-06-09T04:41:00.000-07:00

The baby is crying, losing these priceless seconds, diamonds

He doesn't know anyone now, nor could he understand these nomads

Staring at wall, paint , he cannot recognise

Books, he cannot read. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . ..

Sleeping till the afternoon sun, till rise in body heat

Evening "Azaan" baptizes him again and again

Looking through the window, the sinking sun

Hymning the tune of wood, left to burn

Nearby,Music of wind chimes in the nights silence

When kissed softly by the breeze

Taking him to the mystic 'bazaars'

where you get every toy and see other toddlers

Keeping him awake ,till he falls asleep

Poor baby , tied like a shackled prisoner

Looking at "You" with those wet eyes of a believer

As if he had seen a holy relic or made confession

'Enfant terrible' had again made mistake in selection

'Oh' Mother where are you

Hide me somewhere , where you hid me before

G a m b l e. . . . .All same.. . . . . same. . . . . Fake

The baby is born

Ab Initio, takes ages to learn

For washed-rocks to grow the fern

----Shahzad

Syed Abrar

Whose side are you on Mr.Editor?

2007-05-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

“The greatest battle lies within” ---Spider man(3)

"A hammer in hand makes every problem a nail" Abraham Maslow

A 28 second kiss between holly-bollywood celebrities is repeatedly thrown on the television audience. A film stars wedding is given weeks coverage by the media even though they are not invited plus the photojournalists are kicked and punched in the stomach.. Thank God our journalists are not crazy like the paparazzi's and journalists in developed nations.God knows what would had happened then.

A prince fallen into a bore well near Delhi is highlighted and whole nation comes to his rescue and prayers are chanted everywhere plus the boy gets bundle of money and chocolates from the government. But when another prince falls in a bore well in some never never land. No one is bothered ,because it has become a fad now for media to give more importance to such events.

But isn't only after pasting few glamorous pictures on the font page of a magazine or newspaper, you grab the attention of the masses who after a tiring Indian-work want some masala gossip or news to cool or warm themselves up. And in the same magazine we put the news of the marginalized people in some corner. This way aren't we conveying the message about these margininalized people also.? The circulation of the magazine newspapers , and television rating also goes up. After all who is ready to buy a magazine , where the cover page shows the widow of the farmer who has committed suicide, folding her hand and tears trickling on her cheeks. Programs like "Saas Bhi Kabhi bahu thi" are enough to make us sentimental.Indians are so used to such things that they don't want it in their news also.

Does this mean that that poor and marginalized are always right?. To say they are right is a sentimental approach towards them. People say that media is very urban centric to make the money. Media justifies by saying that that they don't take any sides because they have to consider the market also. "Politicians are friendly to the marginalized people i means the dalits only because for the votes" says Vinod Mehta Editor-in-chief of Outlook magazine.

In a recent session on farmer suicides in the parliament only 26 out of 540 MP"s turned up to discuss the issue. So it poses a question why should 21st century media be concerned about the adavasis, dalits, etc. ?Shouldn't they give importance to the Mittal's who even though rarely come to India or other Indian origin Indians who have done great stuff in wonderlands like US and UK. No need to go to muddy villages to see the poverty . we can see it when the the vehicles stops during the traffic light. we can see it when we come out of the huge shopping malls and software buildings.

Gandhi himself being a journalist cum politician and a brilliant user of mass media and only his voice was heard allover India . His idea of non violence will hardly matter today when a country like US can afford to spend 500 billion dollars for the Iraq war ,we can imagine how many universities can be formed for the poor with that money.. "Society instead of spending money for peace , sprays it for the war, says M.J Akbar, author and Editor of Asian Age. Does this mean that media is a big business today? Page three parties or Ashwarya marrying a tree cannot be there in the papers or TV, or Internet unless and until we are interested in such kind of stuff.

Media's main job is empowerment. some say you can have newspaper without editor and reader, but you cannot have newpaper without morality.

But Media cannot take sides it has to earn its bread and butter as well. why should media give importance to the marginalized? Is it Nobility? "Forget it says M.J Akbar. Media has to address the issues of the marginalized because if they don't it is going to bring a big calamity". Media has unravelled so many mysteries that were quite hidden from the "aaam aadmi" like the recent Sacha report which revelas the economic deprivation of marginalized. or highlighting the astonishing form of slavery in India through caste system. But at the same time it throws visual obscenity when it asks a crying mother whose son has died, live on Camera "Aap Ko kaisa Lagraha Hai" ?( how are you feeling after your sons death?). or Rushing to the adoption house when Rakhi Sawant spreads the news to adopt children. All this just to gain fame. It took time for media to highlight the discrimination that took place in giving aid for the Gujarat-riot-victims.

So we should say that media always has to be on the side of the truth " But Truth has many sides. one's justice is someone Else's injustice" Says John T. Thomas a journalist who currently teaches journalism at IIJNM, Bangalore .An important person is considered as CIP ( commercial important person) when he boards an aeroplane. similarly in media the source of money is called as ARS ( Ad relevant segment)

Media has to take steps according to the demand of the society. they have to keep on changing the formula. An agriculture pump won't be printed in an urban newspaper ,Gluco biscuits will only be advertised in villages. As Kellogg's is not popular in rural India

Good news for journalists is that they will find their stories in the rural areas all that5 need is to present their stuff nicely. then no editor will reject their story. Above all citizens are becoming more aware about their rights. they are watching you.

In the year 1993, Kevin Carter a photojournalist witnessed the horrors of famine in Sudan. He took photographs of the starving famine victims. He saw a emaciated toddler ,whimpering on the ground. A vulture had landed and it was waiting for the girl to die. Carter waited for 20 minutes anticipating for some action to happen. But he didn't made any attempt to save the girl. His haunting photograph was sold to NYT and it won Pulitzer award for him. Later on He committed suicide.

(Discussion at 13th national journalists conference, may 5, 2007 Bangalore)

THE FOURTH WALL

2007-04-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

"Everything here was so new and they didn't know what might happen next, and when it did happen , how they would meet it.There was no stopping.If a man paused to adjust his pack or got his rifle caught in an overhead entanglement the whole troop might take a wrong turning and be lost in the dark"
------- David Malouf "Fly Away Peter"

DREAM....
For Shahzad vision 2020 was a fantasy. He was on this huge stage with strong lights focusing on him. He felt he had come closer to the sun, but he had some fear that his wings attached to him with wax might melt. In the darkness thousand people were watching him. Had anyone focused light on him before ?yes long ago those sweet,beautiful girls used to shoot him with a small laser torch. That time his cheeks and ears used to turn completely red , maybe because the colour of the light was red, or it was snowing outside or because he was shy.

War on the walls....
Next day he scribbled something on the wall with the charcoal which someone must had thrown in the snow from the hot Kangri ( fire pot). That time he was quite young to have a mobile phone, to send SMS.The truth is cell phones hadn't yet arrived in the techno-malnourished Valley. He got the reply from the other side next day on the same wall :"No intention to provide any harm, we only want to be friends" The communication didn't stop after that.

The war of words continued and with this our vocabulary of words also increased. 'HE'S' scribbled things like Sister Martha, polar bear on the rusty tin fence and 'SHE'S' used back fire us , scribbling names like brother xxx, Y2k(famous virus) and two friends were even named as Chip And Dale. The three friends were leaving after the class and the sweet voices hit their backs in one shot, "Mowgli, Mowgli" These friends turned their faces towards this anthem coming from the open window of the class on first floor.. the girls shouted it again but this time laughing with excitement ''mowgli' . Anything can happen when female groups get formed .This all happened because one of the friends had long hair.

These beautiful and intelligent girls didn't wear any head scarf. but whenever they had to pass a shrine. They used to show respect by wrapping one dupatta or veil , all five used to come under the same veil and they used to run like five headed monster in the rain.

OBSERVER.....
He had never acted before . He always was an observer who was sitting in some dark corner in the audience , laughing and clapping like a clown.He wasn't even among the people who remain behind the curtain and do some stage work. You can say He was watching things not even from the FOURTH WALL but from a far distance as if he was some kind of an Alien..

During school days he was fascinated by the plays that used to be put up during the 'Camp Fires' during School camps or fully organised dramas . He always wanted to be there and make people laugh. He still remembers the suspense thriller play performed at his school called as "The patient" by Agatha Christie. and "Ah" how can he forget the beautiful but murderous nurse in the play.

He used to think whether he will be able to go on that stage and shout , cry , say few words or just smile at the audience. He can also perform some monkey tricks and make you laugh. Give him a smile he will give back a bigger smile. He worked with professional actors who never made him feel that he is a fresher. He became excited to see the magical performance which was possible only due to team work. Soon he started to make connections with his feelings and each time he was discovering new things. like a kid who finds some old toys and marbles in some jungle nearby to his home and he thinks that he has found a treasure. Indeed it is a treasure for him.

SHATTERED....

The WALL of relationship had crumbled to dust. It created many wounds in his sense of emotions.The repercussions used to make him nervous suddenly turning a young man into an old man, suffering from extreme nostalgia. He was thinking , thinking and only thinking. He slept , slept, slept to forget the reality for some hours. Sometimes he used to think of taking revenge or just punch a non-living Wall. sometimes he used to blame himself for creating all this nonsense . He wanted something which could calm his inner active volcano which was about to burst anytime like a time bomb.

COLOURFUL ROOM...

In his college the head quarters for theatre is the colourful room on the third floor in the first building. He hardly used the elevator to reach up, instead he preferred the stairs and every time he tried to run faster upwards to beat the record he had set last time.

ZULU TRIBE...

The whole theatre group used to play crazy games. sometimes he used to become the tribal king who would marry only that girl , who would impress him through various tribal dances and songs. Sometimes a poor fellow who is questioning the existence of god because he and his family are dying of hunger , unemployed graduate complaining against the government. Sometimes Rich merchant buying the wife of Raja Harishchandra,Cousin of young Gandhi, teasing him and telling him about the game of marriage.A cop who looks like Hitler. You become evil, corrupt politician Or during 'On the spot acting ' you enact the stories of the audiences,. you play out their emotions. You become an eve teaser who teases women in the buses,an old professor who gets trapped in a burning train. This is not enough you even become the blanket of death when terrorists attack a birthday party, or you become a dog who is adopted by a little girl.

And who can forget the blue eyed, golden haired Miss Idaho a student of theatre in US who was able to understand how important Indian Timing is , Who learnt how to pass time from us,who enjoyed playing Holi so much that pink colour remained in her golden hair for months ( it must be still there). This way she came to know about Indian colours .When She talks to you she makes you feel that she understands you even if you talk in some tribal language . She sometimes used to sing her song compelling you to listen it:
"You've heard of the wonders our land does possess,It's beautiful valleys and hills,The majestic forests where nature abounds,We love every nook and rill.And here we have IdahoWinning her way to fame.Silver and gold in the sunlight blaze,and romance lies in her name.Singing, we're singing of you,Ah, proudly too,All our lives thru, we'll go Singing, singing of you, Singing of Idaho.There's truly one state in this great land of oursWhere ideals can be realized.The pioneers made it so for you and me,A legacy we'll always prize"

ICEBERG PSYCHOLOGIST

He found out that people who share their stories never give the whole picture .majority of it remain hidden and what is told is just the tip of the iceberg and rest is submerged in the water. But when you enact the story it hits the bottom portion of the iceberg. This happens we also may have observed or felt such kind of situations. It was stored inside his sub-conscious mind somewhere..he became a kind of psychologist who can understand the feelings of others . More you have listened , observed , suffered, more you are able to touch their broken hearts or tickle their funny bone.

GREEN PASTURES...

But all the time it reminded him of the shepherd taking a nap under the tree while his sheep are grazing the grass. He is quite satisfied as he already had fed these sheep with liquid vitamin and how happy he felt when small lambs came to him and licked his hand to say thanks. "maa "meh meh meh" they kept saying .They cannot speak your goddammit complex language but they know what you are doing. He is listening to the gushing icy brook and trees are waving with the wind.

He feels cool drops of water on his face. He wakes up from his dream. It is raining. He tries to feel the rain on his skin. The lightening sound completely wakes him up from his slumber. He runs ,runs in the heavy rain . Suddenly He falls to his knees breathing heavily . He gives a loud shout towards the sky, veins of the throat clearly seen, like he did when he was on the stage, but this time there was no applause, instead his shout became a faint whisper in the jingling sound of rain and chain reaction blasts of the lightening.. He realizes every hardship ,difficulty is a new learning procedure.Sparks start to fly in the sky "Zip Zap Zoom'. as if showing him how vast the world is.. showing him the far of places for couple of seconds, then darkness again. he waits again and again for the lightening so that he could see more.Someone says in his ears "wake and grow up buddy before it is too late". He starts his caravan and it will still continue even if he climbs or breaks the fourth wall.

KASHMIR EXPRESS

2007-04-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

The dream of local kashmiri Shahrukh Khan's dancing on the tunes of "Chaiya Chaiya" song on the roof of the train is quite far ahead. The Kashmir railway project which started in 1994 is still not complete,.Its deadline of completion was August 2007 but it has again been post phoned till 2009 . The irony is that the Banihal tunnel is not finished yet and thus we can say that the job won't be done till 2011.

This project is very complex ,more complex than Einstein's Train experiment. Here we don't have a high speed train moving in a straight line, a lady , man and two lightening striking bolts. But in this 290 km line we are faced by extreme cold , heavy snow, rough ziz zag ziz zag terrain and presence of major earthquake zones.

Back in Bangalore The metro rail project started couple of days back and it would completely change the whole outlook of the famous Brigade road which is also known as MG road.

Constructing the kashmir railway line is one of the biggest engineering challenges but China has already achieved this feat by constructing the China-Tibet railway line which climbs up to 5000mt above sea level and passes through the frozen ground . China also become the Bullet train nation recently, this train runs at the speed of 250 km/hour and can go higher also. One of the challenge for Kashmir rail route is that it has to pass through the mighty Pir Panjal range which stand at 15000feet high.

The route includes many tunnels , via ducts and bridges.It will pass through 158 bridges and 20 tunnels among which the longest tunnel is 11 km . This means that 80 percent of the route comes under these bridges and inside the tunnels. To construct both the North and South Section of the 11 km Banihal tunnel, approx $120 million would be spent.

One of the biggest engineering challenge is to construct the Bridge which has to pass through the river Chenab. It has to be 1315 m long and 359 m above river bed making it the highest railway bridge in the world. This bridge will be 35 mt higher than the tip of Eiffel tower . Cor-ten steel would be used for its construction as then there is no need to paint the bridge and it is environment friendly. About 26000 tons of steel would be used for its construction. The design of the bridge is quite similar to New River Gorge Bridge in Fayette ville, New west Virginia, US. AFCONS with Ultra Engineering (South Korea) will design and construct the Chenab Bridge for Approx $130 million.

The Tunnels will be constructed Using New Austrian Tunneling Method which involves the use of geological stress of the surrounding rock mass to stablize the tunnel itself. Due to the rough terrain the Kashmir Express cannot run like the FrenchTGV's . The maximum speed allotted to it is 100km per hour . Gammon India with Archirodon Construction (South Africa) will build one of the bridges called the Anji Khad Bridge for Approx $100 million.

Going back into the History Maharaja Pratap Singh first set the proposal of the railway line in the year 1898. Then the British wanted it to be constructed. Interestingly it was planned that the trains would run by electric-power even in that time period as they wanted to use mountain streams as a source of hydro-electric power.

We are waiting for the day when we will hear the hissing sound of hot Samovar tea being served to the passengers and who knows they will be enjoying the 36 course meal of waazwan inside the train .

The Misfit

2007-01-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

A fair looking guy with curly hair, bit plump body, wearing a blue shirt was standing near the door of the Bus, obviously inside the bus. He had a back pack and white strip garlanded around his neck which was holding his ID card, like the medal you see around the neck of a winner in Olympic games.You will find lots of such people all around Bangalore.Most of them are Software engineers.Others work as BPO employees. In search of jobs these people finally land in Bangalore and somehow they manage to adjust themselves in various companies (remember east india company) where they are tagged and branded.
He is standing, the conductor of the bus tells him in his mother tongue to move inside.This guy replies "Kannada Got Illa ( i don't know kannada). He must have consulted some wise sage who must had told him to say it if some one speaks in local language. It is a common dialogue which you will find on every persons tongue tip who doesn't belong to Karnataka or who doesn't know the local language. Sensing a kind of attack on his state level patriotism, the conductor replies back "Neenu karnataka bandiray salpa aadhru kannada goti ere beeku" I wish Rajni Kant( Southern film superstar) would had witnessed the expression and heard this dialogue, i am sure he would had doubted his acting skills.
"Kya bhol raha hai yeh"?( what is he saying) was the reply of the guy who was standing near the door wearing blue shirt, an ID hanging around his neck,The only difference this time was that his face turned bit red. He was looking into my eyes as if seeking for help or support, because he suddenly felt himself among aliens, where nothing belonged to him , neither the land nor its people.He felt himself in a fix, same kind of feeling , when one sits for math exams and cannot understand the mathematical language( forget about solving them)
A translator suddenly popped up from the crowd and he dubbed the kannada dialogue into hindi " agar tum karnataka aaye ho, to toda toda kannada aana"(if you are in karnataka, you must know bit of kannada'). I could had given them a long lecture on Bangalore , being a cosmopolitan city, but the spirit to tell them the truth died after few seconds.
Hearing this the guy wearing blue shirt and ID hanging around his neck, became more tensed.As if the conductor had revealed a deep secret, or solved a great mystery where this guy was being accused of committing some crime. He was bit shaken up and he said" Mujhe yahaan sirf teen din ho gayay " ( i came here 3 days back). The guy now totally came under the control of the conductor.
The conductor of the bus started to speak more in his mother tongue. But there was a difference now.It seemed as if he was reciting some poetry. He became excited,( i wish there was some Kannada song in the background).Like a warrior the conductor drove the guy working in some company further back from the door into the dense crowd, obviously inside the bus.He kept talking to the passengers like asking for ticket or packing the passengers tightly, SO THAT OTHERS FIT IN .The kind of job he must have done on his first day as a Bus conductor. In the midst of the engine sound,he kept on saying "Banni Sir Banni" ( come here sir come)

Loading 007,Password:Bangalored

2006-12-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

"World is flat" is the title of Thomas Friedman's book, which describes the booming world of BPO industry in India and China.World is flat as your power of vision gets minimized when we try to look as far as possible.Year 2006 was a hotch potch of "kabhi khusi kabhi gam".In India the sensex didn't touch 15000 mark.Iraq burned into civil war and the death toll rose upto 650000 since the invasion .Hajj took place in the ending of year, Saudi Arabia spent more than one billion for reconstruction to avoid the deadly stampedes that have been taking place from past few years.From songs to cartoons, Zidane's headbutt was highlighted more, than "Viva Italia". Tsunami is being forgotten slowly. Jessica Finally got justice after tons of midnight candles were burnt on the streets.Thousands of Indians are socializing on Buyukkokten's 'Orkut'--"i want to be friends"

So what kept the Bangaloreans busy in the dying moments of this year.well protectors of culture renamed the city's name as "Bengalooru", then why to shy away in changing the names of local places in the city, like Residency road was renamed as Field Marshal Cariappa road, Double road as Kengal Hannumanthaiah road. One more please! Infantry road as Bhagwan Mahaveer road .Rest check it out yourself.
Police harassment became a hot topic after fashion Guru Prasad Bidapa's Son Adam Did some " Batameezee" with the police .While Gowdagiri continued when CM's son Nikhil Gowda rammed his Hummer or porsche( Acc. to Newspapers) after a brawl with the hotel employees.

It was a year of Film Censorship imposed on me by some divinely power as i missed the big shots like "Don, Casino Royale, Da Vinci Code, The Departed,Ice-Age: the melt down,Dhoom2,KANK and loads and loads of movies, "Oh Boy what a blunder"Even couldn't watch the evening Doordarshan News, because Black and white Televisons have become extinct and new High Definition televisions have hit the market. Like in a video game my stages of sleep also changed as sometimes i slept on the new Sofa Set, sometimes on the new carpet and finally on the new mattresses. All thanks to J.C .

But a question also arose "J.C ko neend kui nahi aati? He did lot of night escapes to the terrace as if he were in NY inside Empire state Building. Maybe looking at the planes which will take him to his destination or in a vain pursuit to count the stars or just trying to communicate with god.This year my grandpa also passed away."Hope you are doing well in heavenGrandpa". Sorry! could shed only few drops of tears, maybe i have grown up.Gone are the golden days when we used to go for long evening walks , while we used to discuss politics, history and philosophy of life. Your last words to me will always inspire me. I also Joined a newspaper organization(Tabloid) and did lot of Chimpanzee stuff, which you call as Journalism.

India kept debating on Capital Punishment issue.It became the same old issue, which came first, the hen or the egg?Helmet rule suddenly popped up in Bangalore and finally it was imposed.Police got another excuseto earn "heavenly money' while newspapers got another reason to write"Xyz died, because he was not wearing the helmet".

Mallika Sherawat came to Bangalore, did some "Matka Jhatka's" or item number in front of the Vidhan Soudha and earned 40 lakhs for one song .Highest amount paid to an item number till date.Followed by front page coverage. While in Vidharba, a Cotton region , number of Farmers are committing suicide every day due to heavy debts.

FM stations popped up in a bulk.They helped in controlling the neverending traffic of Bangalore. Besides that, Launch of one Local Language FM gave entry to number of Local language FM stations. Some talk in local langauge but play english numbers, some play only hit songs, both Southy and Northy songs and others only southy.."Hum ko Hindi nai Aata"

Bangalore is suffering power crises these days.It is in a fix, whether BESCOM should buy power for 200 crore per month from other states or just resort to load shedding

Millions of un employed graduates moving here and there in search of jobs.SRk hosting the KBC.Night owls working in the BPO's.Many will break the 11.30 deadline on new years eve in Bangalore.Thousands of people cheering at Times square on New year's eve. Abc killed in a blast in Kashmir.The gavel of the judge hits the desk, Saddam is hanged and buried in his native village.Back in Kashmir people didn't opt for "HARTAl" or any protest on Sadddam's hanging as they were busy with EID-shopping!

Hope peace and prosperity is hidden in the pipeline for the year 2007, SALAAM

SLUG

2006-12-21T02:47:00.000-08:00

When he thinks, he misses the train
Then he stops,he boards the wrong-plane
Wish of becoming SKY-DIVER comes true
World beneath him, small,green and blue
He jumps from the aeroplane
Free- falling-falling-falling
Dancing-dancing-dancing
Towards land or the ocean
World shouts,"crush,drown"
Suddenly he opens his parachute
IT STOPS TO OPEN!!!
He wakes up from his DREAM!
"Aha here comes the missile"

"The Chauffeur"

2006-12-11T23:57:00.000-08:00

Because I could not stop for 'Yamrajee'
She kindly stopped for me
The buffalo held just me and she
Fulfilling her duty, gave me immortality
and showing hospitality offered chocolates, biscuits and tea

We drove slowly as the buffalo was lazy
I asked"Why don't you replace it with a Ferrari?"
And I had put away my sleep, gals and dreams too
FOR HER LAZY DUTY!
I kept on insisting her to stop the watch
let me first check the drama and score of Ind-K-pak match

We passed the school, where children waste their time
Whether it is during recess or the class
We passed the fields , full of (dead)bodies, debris and tyranny

Must be some kind of earth-quake, Hi-tech War or the Tsunami
The climate was cloudy and it was not sunny
I now realized that 'Yamrajee' is not lazy
But I wondered how she gives immortality to so many?

We passed the Antartica and the cold reached to my bone marrow
I was shivering as the temperature was below-below-below Zero
Showing Empathy , she gave me a Shroud to Wear
I requested her to give a Tommy-Hilfiger Sweater!

We reached to a half buried house, it had a 'Tandoor' and small Garden
I angrily shouted " DO YOU CALL THIS HELL AND HEAVEN!?"
She became sad,silent, kept on thinking and i think was going to Jab!
I cooled her and suggested "Lets go to Dubai to Burj-Al-Arab"

Since Then centuries and yet
Feels great than the previous life's tyranny
As now we only travel in a red 'Ferrari' !

--------shahzad
Syed Abrar

When Dreams Die!

2006-10-15T03:01:00.000-07:00

It was a very old road ..There were many giant potholes in it.. Like the huge craters you find on the Mars planet... Murky water had got deposited in it feeding and nurturing some microscopic organisms which you cannot see..
It was going through wear-tear process and was raped by the heavy trucks that used to move on it... They used to clash with these potholes resulting into splashes of water.. The tires of these trucks once again used to look new and black after such a quickie wash.!. The worse thing used to be if there was no water on this road because when it was dry the dust caused by the HMV (heavy motor vehicles) used to spread allover the area... On the lake ,on the land and in the air.. attacking the three basic elements of this universe !... Like a thick blanket of smoke..The shops everywhere used to get engulfed in this dust and if a walking pedestrian like me encountered such a kind of "dust hurricane" then what else can you do just swear and curse this road..And what will this dust do to you ? It will make you a survivor who has just survived from a crumbling mound of sand!
This road was reconstructed recently.... It is now smooth dark black in colour and even HMV's don't move on it ....You feel good when you walk on it but walking can give you pleasure when it is just an option like an evening or morning walk... But it becomes a sore in your feet when it is a compulsion for you because you don't have anyother choice..You walk when it is raining , or when it is a hot summer afternoon.... You are slow because the whole world is moving very fast around you ..Cheating the time...You can just only observe ..With a blink of an eye you see a different view because the older view has reached somewhere else you don't know where !.. With the blink of an eye the NASA rocket has reached somewhere deep in the space breaking the barriers of time , speed and atmosphere, right now exploring the mysteries of this universe....Some other supersonic jet with Mach speed has attacked and destroyed the enemy bunker and now it has come back also....
You haven't finished your work because you are slow ... And some one says to you that your time is up.. It sounds as if you are still doing the first question in an examination and your time is up....When the whole world is sleeping you are cooling off your heels and your knee caps because the bones in the legs are making that screeching sound like an opening of rusty metal doors..... Because some fluid inside it has gone dry! Because you have broken the Walking limits! Law of nature: " excess of everything is Bad'
You are a helpless pedestrian who just has to walk because he doesn't have any Alladin's Carpet to take him to his destination..It is a good luck for this pedestrian when he sees his bluebus which can take him half the distance of his destination and then he again has to wait for some more good luck until one more bluebus will arrive and will thus complete his pilgrimage.. But then again he will have to walk some distance .... But this is not that easy ..It is a Tom and Jerry game because you have to chase the bus to catch it before others board it .....This time Tom is small and Jerry is big... Or you just have to hang on the foot of the door or just simply sacrifice your ride..You have to apply all your laws of physics to make an estimation where exactly the bus will stop and if your physics fails because there is difference between theory and reality... Then you are swept away by the rush of the people ,pedestrians.....
Now you board the bluebus ..You are pushed into darkness because you cannot see anything .. You don't know where to set your feet.. at last you find a tiny space where you can just place the toe of your feet. And the other leg is in the air in free space searching where to land.. It is a back breaking phenomenon for you when you have to bend your back and take the whole load of the crowd around you.... Suddenly you become Atlas who had to bear the weight of this world.... Your neck is paining ... Your mouth is dry..You are are suffocating because the people around you are crushing you as if you were some kind of mosquito or a tomato.... But they themselves come under this compulsive togetherness.. A chain of pushing and crushing..... you reach to a stop where you again have to catch the next BB to complete your pilgrimage..You get down....
It is light again ..You can see again.. Your clothes look like that of a Matador who was mercilessly dragged on the ground .... This is the condition of your clothes in the front and you don't know about your backside because you don't have an extra eye or eyes on the back.....Grooming , pressing clothes, all gone waste.!. You even don't reach on time..Because you are just a pedestrian a walking pedestrian..Who easily gets tired and hungry because he already was tired... Dog tired... He just falls downs in his room and doesn't know what happened next ..maybe he was driving a Bugatti car or doing a moon walk or just walking in his dreams!
…one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind. (HaHA)

2006-10-06T03:15:00.000-07:00

I am sinner, I am saint. I am beloved and the Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours , no Aches which are not yours .I too call myself I
----kamla Das

'Hartala in Karnataka'!

2006-10-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

October 4 wednesday:It is bandh today ...Big shops, small shops, medium shops...Everything is closed! There is this huge gibberish noise in the playground.....Usually this kind of noise is reserved for Sunday's when kids as well as adults go out and play! ..The streets are empty......Vehicles are flooded everywhere..Few cows are moving slowly and moving their head gently as they closely pass these parked vehicles...Some dogs are smelling out the tires of a car...Why am I finding so many dogs on the street today?....Sad dogs, weak dogs, happy dogs ,barking dogs, sleeping dogs..Maybe I am used of seeing so much of traffic and people that I mainly neglect the presence of these canines!.....Some kids are chasing an old beggar woman and making hullabaloo...These lunatics are running and moving dangerously with their cycles as if they are the kings of the road today.......Rascals!..they should be in school today instead of throwing things at this poor old woman....Reaching to the cross road a man is sitting under the sign post talking on the phone"the bus has not come....I am waiting..It will take long..I don't know what to do?"...In the mean time I remember my hunger pangs also..Thinking where will I get my samosa,fruits,vegetables and milk.?...Do I have to remain hungry today?....... Walking few steps I find a huge crowd(as compared to the empty streets) gathered around bhelpuri-walla, banana walla,peanut walla and off course coconut walla..When all means get closed people go back to the basics, back to nature, back to the jungle where once we used to feed on fruits and other things.....It was also a genuine demand by the auto rickshaw man when he charged excess amount to a couple , without saying a word Romeo and Juliet simply boarded his tuc-tuc and sped off....Luckily I find a shop whose shutter is half open.. I had to kneel down as if i had to go through an underground tunnel...I bought whatever was available (chucking out my gastronomic desires.).This time half liter ordinary milk cost me rupees10 instead of the normal price of rupees seven!.Not wanting to be in the company of street dogs and cows..I went back to my place..It really was a boring and hungry hartal! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 5 : Enjoyed a peaceful, soothing, " round table evening tea party" at the kiosk with simple kiosk tea and chips ,while sitting on the steel round chair and our humble meal on the round table.... under the green trees.. besides the white electric bulbs,spreading that white aura of angelic-light in the darkness!

Morning chocolate!

2006-09-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

What will you call a morning when you eat a chocolate then chocolate cake and again chocolate that too early in the morning? Correct! A " Chocolate morning".. And then your mood gets elevated by the presence of serotonin.... "Morning mood elevation"!!.. No dear I haven't set up a chocolate factory . But I ate a lot of chocolate in the morning..it was a chocolate breakfast for me.. ..In the Morning session Rajesh gave a kind of analysis about our performance as well as he told us to find the heart of the story. "heart"??.. It can be something where the whole story takes a U-turn or where the story really becomes mushy for the audience..We were lost in finding this heart of the story ..All of a sudden we came to know that it is suchitra's birthday and this time we didn't had to be satisfied with a dry birthday song that too without music..But instead she had brought a cake... A chocolate cake...Now the question came up how to cut this delicate cake ..As someone had forgot to bring a knife.. Forgetting all the etiquette the solution came on the spot when phani gave the suggestion of cutting the cake with his old scale... I remember it is the same old scale which I have seen in phani's hand whenever he writes his practical records or when he has to write any assignment....Suddenly phani's great scale is in the hands of minisha and she is trying her best to cut the cake but instead the scale is struggling as if it had got trapped in a marshy pond..It sinks slowly then rises up.. then with difficulty it sinks again and then rises again.. the struggle of sinking and rising up again continues till the cake is compelled to get divided into uneven parts... Now the scale is fully covered with chocolate as if it was a chocolate stirrer in a chocolate factory..As a kid I always wanted to lick and lick these kind of stirrers............suman also had brought a box of chocolates and she distributed it among us..My childhood dream came true because in one hand I was having a chocolate cake and in other I had a simple chocolate.. so i finished the simple one first to keep my excitement and temptation alive for some moments..like eating the red side of an apple in the end....it melted in my mouth because its melting point was little bit below my body temperature!..Someone else gave me another chocolate but it was small so I won't talk about it because it was not important in front of the big ones....but the biggest thing happened in the morning when Rajesh said that he liked my writing..I felt like that kid ..shy and happy..because someone praised his work ....It was a big chocolate of encouragement! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY 21st September was celebrated as the "World peace day" by the UN ...I want to ask whether UN is really playing a significant role in bringing peace and harmony to the world?Whether it is really powerful enough to stop the war mongers? In what respect was UN able to give the physical and economic security to the thousands of innocent lives that got killed in the war against Afghanistan,Iraq and now Lebanon?(even though people in Afghanistan had small huts but their homes were destroyed!)..Baghdad is burning in the fire of civil war today..Lebanon had to pay a huge price for a crime they didn't commit! yes in case of Lebanon UN was able to do something only after thousands of innocents got killed! A charter which is confined only to a charter-book won't help..A minute of silence ,an hour of silence or a day of silence won't bring peace..we need a new revolution in United Nations not fruitless discussions and conferences in the comfortable air conditioned halls of New york. Releasing few white pigeons will give freedom to these birds, not to the whole humanity! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sir Naresh said"Life is not easy...you can't expect someone to come to your home and offer you a job"

Suicide seminar!

2006-09-13T02:01:00.000-07:00

It was September 11 a day which led to chain of events which are continuing till today.... ok coming back to present ...Our college conducted a suicide prevention seminar on September11 ..After passing the prelims thankfully our team reached to the finals where we had to compete with other teams ....Since 9/11 event took place on this day I already had planned to make a presentation on "Suicide attacks" ..My second topic dealt with the "Farmer suicides" in India...We were a team of three with some support from vish also.. After doing some research and some stenography. I was ready with my stuff..We started to make the presentation one day before the final presentation..dep did the typing plus she had collected some really good stuff...I was satisfied with romal also because he can do anything even at the last moment .. and I was quite happy , very optimistic...Next day every thing was fine...Though I was sick but thanks to Dr.Brother's tele- medicine I was feeling better and was prepared for the seminar......The timing for seminar is 3pm... "Still one hour left" I was thinking....No sign of dep and romal...."Here they come"..They were fine tuning the presentation from the morning..Everything was going perfectly alright..romal had some work at choir so he would meet us at 3pm..We go to the media lab to check our stuff..Some people are already working on a computer.. We find other lonely computer..Switch it on..We insert the pen drive..It is not detecting anything..."What"...My heart starts to thump.."Hey lets check the other computer" I said..We request the other people to let us use their comp for few minutes..Without any protest the sweet girls let us use it...Now insert the pen drive..."Yes our stuff is there'...I am relieved....Every slide is running smoothly...Now comes our video from the movie"pulp fiction" "click" I can only see Uma Thurman in a still pose "click again" she is still a statue "click click'..."Wait why the hell is it not working"..We haven't added it properly ...At home it works because it catches the path....dep is tensed..
"It is 2:15 we can go back home and download the video".. i said..me,dep&vish started to run..Reaching to downstairs , jogging around 25 steps on the ground zero..dep realizes that her house key is missing....."I think we have left it in the media lab"..After some jogging again..I am back with the key and we jog again....This time hired the auto without asking the auto driver to use the meter ...I am sweating so are the others....Gushing wind that came into the moving auto-rickshaw brought some relief.. We reach to dep's place...Download the video painfully again..Come back again in the same auto and he charges us mercilessly...After some "bakwaas"I chucked the idea of fight.. i checked the watch..the minute hand is on twelve and the hour hand is on three.."THREE my God... Presentation"...i was feeling the same that Cinderella must had felt at the clocks first stroke of midnight!!..ok calm down I need to settle down....foosh... dep and vish obsessively go to other class to download something again (which unfortunately we couldn't show due to time limit).. Me and romal reach to the assembly hall..The seminar has already started..We are number 3 ..Thankfully...'dep and vish also enter after some time.. I tell dep and etall to remain calm now and be relaxed.. Now every one is quite relaxed..Here comes our turn...All the best" I said..dep gives the introduction..I talk about 'suicide attacks'and all that what who and combat. blah blah blah...Next is romal who also does his job perfectly..He talks about unintentional suicides.. "pulp fiction video".. and some oohs and essss from the audience.. its my turn again... I start with the images of the farmer widows..." "India being a country of 1.1 billion population..Agriculture supporting 600million....Suicides due to heavy debts in ,AP, Up,Maharastra,Kerala,Karnataka... in Vidarbha one suicide per day....fake seeds"..bla blah blah balh Prevention..we are running out of time i accept that i took more time...romal's turn again..as he starts to talk .. ..the light goes off...oh we couldn't show our calvin and hobbes slides and other important slides.. judges decide next team should do the presentation.. as our time was already UP!. at the end i became a bit mellow. and it is not necessary that things will always work at the right time ...at the right place.... .. Results were announced..we bagged the third prize...because we were not bookish..because we didn't not use heavy terms like cognitive blal blah blah..we were simple where our focus was not on depression..but the social conditions that lead to an extreme step of committing suicide. like outrage,Poverty,helplessness,despair,lonelyness etc.... but i am satisfied because we were different from others ..our research was not from heavy books.. ..I swear our presentation was exciting. I wish we could had shown all the slides to the audience and judges ..They would had surely liked it...Maybe the judges main focus was prevention measures only in technical terms and were not interested in finding the root cause.. Anyway I am happy even though we couldn't show everything but we gave our best in preparing our stuff...
"Ah" it is still raining outside.. after such a hot and humid climate..i took a rain-shower before i came here to type...the rain was cold...i felt rejunivated... the cool breeze is playing with the rain sending it here and there..like the corn grains are scattered to pigeons.Bangalore is again looking fresh and cool!

Played back to teachers!

2006-09-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

World is a stage and we all are the actors said Mr Shakespeare long back ago ..It came to reality this evening when we presented life on a small stage for the teachers.. Where they shared their real life incidents and we brought their feeling to life on the stage!!It started with some fluid sculpture or you can say small trailers of different moods and feelings from the audience!!.Then it shifted to story section where suddenly turning from young man to a mother was a challenging job ..Unfortunately the switch didn't work .. .And left a kind of unsatisfying thoughts... The story was quite complex..The beliefs of this mother completely changes when she sees her own child in a school and this inturn creates a kind of revolution in her life and she chooses the profession which she disliked before!!! It was nicely done ..The kiddy stuff was cute and humorous... The mother part was presented in emotions and not speech....Maybe mother player should have wrapped this black cloth around the eyes and during that time the mother-player should have expressed all the dislikes about certain profession and when the cloth would had been removed then she should had seen her own kid and lo the rise of a revolution in her life....Simple as a plum.. the funniest and most hilarious was the "Conflict part" where the audience shared their conflicts..like whether i should buy a bicycle or a car.. bicycle will save fuel..butcar is faster and can be used for long drive....The audience burst into laughter!! followed by a thunderous applause..Anyway the whole performance was magical ..It looked as if Genii had come and done some magic to all players.. I swear it was magical performance!! i didn't had expected that .. JK sir burst out into tears when he described his 'realization of responsibilities' towards his family. ... A story was presented in relation to his experience ..Followed by a fluid sculpture where i waved the flag of victory and shouted"Bravo Bravo Bravo"!!! Followed by an applause from the teachers!! Padma kumar said"i had come to watch professionals but after watching this i am stunned"

Do you want to live in this country?

2006-08-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

I like to listen to A.R Rehman when he sings "vandemataram" and same feeling remains for Lata Mangeshkar.But one thing is clear being patriotic doesn't mean that you should also sing patriotic songs. Patriotism never comes under compulsion it is something which should come from within.. Also it is an irresponsible act from Shahi-Imam to make so much of hue and cry on such issues as if he is the 'messiah' of the whole Muslim community. The only conclusion we get from all this "vandemataram issue" is that the people who create such controversies and people who respond radically to such things have only got political motives."sab Paalitics hai"!
In response to the above view Sir Naresh said "Do you want to live in this country? He termed the statement bold..Maybe i was bold because i was saying this in a class room in front of people i know , who understand me because they are my class mates and in front of a Teacher who allows every one to express anything but he also has realized that a country like India has got no value for the people who say the truth because it sweet in few cases but in majority of the cases it is bitter !
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Platform number one, Adios to J.C

2006-08-28T03:49:00.000-07:00

Giving a last look to Einstein's picture i locked the doors... like a gentleman he wished me happy journey for the trip to Pune.. His face was shining like a ghost in the afternoon sun coming through the gaps in between the curtains.. Reaching to Bangalore railway station was a different experience as compared to several past experiences..strong security personnel are scattered here and there ....the entry points are equipped with metal detectors....poor people ,rich people ,middle class people are seated on newly implanted seats..as earlier passengers had to lie down like refugees with their belongings....i could find high definition or plasma televisions more in number..i don't know the platform number of my train...i go to this sweet lady sitting in the new glass general enquiry room... "Where can i find lokmanya express"? with the help of new mike she replies back "platform number one" after few steps through the metal detector i am on platform no :1..small electronic boards are hanging from the ceiling near each compartment of the train giving the train number as well as the coach number.. "Wow" the platform is clean and no bad smell is making my nose impure.. i see the small shop of "Indian railway catering and tourism corp"how come they are still selling the coke after the recent ban" i thought.....two ladies one old other middle aged sit on the backward side of my seat ..they are talking and eating..a woman staff worker in blue uniform comes in front of me , she is sweeping the floor..female staff helpers in blue uniform come , they are picking up waste from the railway track ...a male worker in blue uniform starts to wash the track with a water pipe in his hand..the water is gushing out with a great speed..and suddenly the water reaches out to small young girl which really startles her up...the security guard at the exit point is sitting on a chair and beating his stick on the floor.. from the new speakers the announcer announces.."if you see any strange or suspicious item leave it alone and inform the railway authority or the police immediately".i cannot bear the smell of the sweat coming from the old lady sitting besides me...all the time she is talking about some postman ..maybe it is the husband of other woman..i look at the ceiling , a crow is hopping here and there ..finally it meets another crow and they together hop for sometime and then flee ..i check my mobile phone .."Happiness" has sent a SMS.. she is sorry for what happened at the airport , she is leaving Bangalore she will miss me and further sends some emotional msgs i reply back saying i was only trying to be protective..anyway her sweet messages will remain in my phone... i hear the whistle and lo the train has finally arrived and that too one hour late..i board the train sit for some time ...as i peek out from the window i see a hunk sorrounded by two gals ....this guy is wearing a body tight red netted shirt i can't hear the conversation but the girls are talking excitedly to him .Immediately like a monkey i climb on the upper berth and i am lost in my reading..the train has gained its speed after its initial slow "jhuk jhuk " i am alone.. now Fatty comes in the compartment but i am in no mood of conversation ..he asks"aap U.P say hai ..luckhnow say" i give a strange look to him which meant "go to hell" i replied"bangalore" i am reading again, again he tries to start the conversation "yeh route kaun sa hai.. map dekha hai aap nai" i reply back saying i dont know but i give a deliberate kind of look to him which meant "hey dude can't you see i am tensed and i am reading a book"..fatty is in deep thought ..not getting the talking pleasure from me he leaves the compartment ..i check the cell display info of my mobile phone , we reach to "Dod Ballapur,Hindupur,Nanpangr,Malagur,Chekaranpalli,A.P,Puttapanthi,Kotacherutumrazzzzzzzzzzz and i fall asleep!! Next morning by 10;30 am i reach to the old and dusty Pune railway station.. it pissed me off at the first sight..."shit" i have lost all the charge in my mobile phone and i don't have a nokia charger.."holy cow" how the hell am i going to make contact with Zidane..he had told me to call ..i haven't even written the number on a piece of paper.. "how dumb of me" i thought followed by some flying kicks in the thin air... yeah my fault i was checking the useless msgs and cell display info again and again after every minute making the phone unstable in my pocket..as a result of which was i lost all the charge..i go to a small Nescafe stall and order coffee...just trying my luck i ask the coffee-man whether he has got a nokia charger and lo my goodness he takes a bag and scatters ten fifteen chargers in front of me..i calmly pick the charger and plug it in the holes , holding the phone tightly i punch the button and call Zidane.... Zidane comes and we leave the old and dusty railway station of Pune ...he takes me to his new Toy and like a kid he smiles when i tell him "it is a nice bike"..after some green views and bumps from the pune road i reach to Zidane's apartment..it is avery strange place....every one has implanted metal doors in the entrance of their rooms...and everyone's door is locked....zidane also opens few doors of his room ..after such a long time i have been able to talk to Zidane freely...in the evening Zidane's fiancee comes and we three go to a Chinese restaurant called "Chinese Oriental" she told me" you like Chinese" "yes" was my reply she gave me the menu and told me to order i scanned the menu and i am lost , everything is in "Ching Chang CHoo form" i cannot understand anything..i sheepishly smile at her and say" actually i have got poor knowledge of Chinese food so you please order yourself" she orders something called "Szechuan , panfried chicken , chicken suiii Hakka noodles and some other stuff starting and ending with chi,suii.kka...etc i drank some three four five glasses of water..as it made my mouth dry...it was humorous to see Zidane taking Titbits from the food , making yuck expressions and saying it is not chicken but something else..!!!!and anyway i won't eat Chinese again...but i find Zidane's fiancee very proactive and intelligent after few months she is going to Canada also...Next day i left Pune .. on reaching to Bangalore i find John Constantine very tensed....he has to leave early in the morning next day and he still hasn't bought the stuff which he has to take home .... we are short of time , it is evening already and shops will get closed after couple of hours!!He is short of Manna also...he is puffing Cigarettes like hell..he is cool but i have never seen him so tensed.... he is making calls here and there and babbling something which only his God can understand!! anyway i tell him him to remain calm... we will complete every thing in couple of hours "..but he is on fire and i prefer to remain quiet in such situations....because "everybody talks"...anyway we hurriedly left the place and roamed around few shopping complexes and multiplexes.. On saturdays these places are crowded as if the whole indian population has come to roam , shop and make noise ..the atmosphere became more tensed for him and me... but we successfully got our stuff..still some stuff was left..but thankfully basic stuff was bought..it is the game of stuff...John Constantine was quite relieved after that,the kind of relief one finds after an upset stomach! ..like a Prince as usual he got a hair cut at the Affinity Salon in forum, then bought an expensive pair of Nike shoes,Nike cap and some Jockey stuff..He took me to KFC and like hungry lions we ate the Zinger burger and drank pepsi forcefully as our mouths had lost all the saliva after so much of chaos and tension..we reached home late and i made the last tea....we talked alot ..basically i wanted to remain awake for the whole night because next morning he had to fly back home for one month ..one month i have to remain alone...i will miss him i was thinking...... i was able to steal a two hours of sleep from the whole night while he shaved and took bath...he made nice toasts of bread and served me coffee... changed his clothes and "Presto" in front of me like a spiderman is the"Nike Boy" with new white Nike cap, Nike Blue jacket And newNike White sports shoes but the underwear was jockey.. we reached to Bangalore airport , another platform hah! and finally the moment came when he had to hug me, leave me after a brief handshake..within seconds John Constantine reached inside..i kept on looking at him while he was standing near some counter till i lost him in the crowd..he was gone ..with my both cheeks in folds but no smile i headed back to my Flat.... I WILL MISS YOU JOHN CONSTANTINE i said in air!

stamped baloon

2006-08-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

saw a bursted baloon lying on the road
no one saw it , some ignored
they came and stamped
it was printed in tricolour
it had lost its air it needed some care
i put it on other side
so that it rested in peace

Thousand dead still the hunt is on

2006-08-11T05:39:00.000-07:00

The death toll in Lebanon has reached to 1000 among which 30% are children since Israel waged its war against Lebanon from July 12. The number of civilians wounded by Israeli invasion has reached upto 3580 while 915792 people have been displaced in just 30 days. Israel is continuing its massive offense against the innocent lives in Lebanon and will not adopt the path of diplomacy for immediate cease fire, leaving no option even for the aid agencies to at least rehabilitate and help the victims of this "war of terror".Israel even wants to implement international troops to the border areas of Lebanon to disarm the resistance this idea is also devised by the UN draft. In Gaza also innumerable civilians are killed or harmed by the Israeli forces. Why is every one silent?Like in Afghanistan and Iraq Can't anyone wage "war on terror" with Israel? Is the war against Lebanon not terrorism? Can't Israel be tried for war crimes especially by UN?How much more destruction do we have to see due to this Bushism and Israelism ?Media is also biased!
lets not forget Iraq ,the average death toll is 100 per day double the rate of casualties in Lebanon. Baghdad is burning the situation has reached from worse to worst .These are the dark days for the land of Mesopotamia which once was the centre of science and education ..People are trapped in a powerful wave of civil war where people are fighting among themselves leading to innumerable deaths of human lives. It has also brought Iraq on the edge of being divided into pieces.
Above all in whole of Arab world the so called national movements are turning into religious movements . Pan-arabism is turning into pan-religionism.. Its now not a struggle for land but a modern crusade whose fission can spread through out the world and it would take ages to extinguish this fire from hell.

Lost In-print

2006-08-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

inprint journalism fest happened today as it happens every year but it was something special for me today because its was my last inprint fest in Christ college and today itself I realized its importance.. Observing the events was a learning experience... Like the mock press, debate,caption writing,spelling bee,feature writing,news reporting, editing and much more..I wish from past two years ,leaving our normal classes we were involved in such things atleast once a week for our own personal development because many of us want to be future journalists where such things help you to excel in your field...You not only have fun doing such things but you learn also I may call it fun learning ...But unfortunately we are stuck with our text books which very few take seriously and rest of the class( including me) is yawning restless and even if that doesn't help then best solution is to bunk the class because you are aware of the outcome eg Ash's class.... I still believe that we should conduct these events at class level in our class rooms atleast once a week for our own personal development ..Taking part or observing it once a year is not ENOUGH! IS ANYONE LISTENING!

*Happy birthday Tan
*Romal you did well in debate

capabilities and Limitations

2006-08-09T02:03:00.000-07:00

our capabilities are beyond our limitations....

"Be formless... shapeless like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, and it can crash. Be water, my friend..."

As you think, so shall you become

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times

If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

If you don't want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.

If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible
Bruce lee...

Forget the Forgotten

2006-08-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

The voice which was buried inside my mind started to ring again ..i was listening to a voice which had stopped to reach my senses long back ago.....it brought the good old memories again which i wanted to forget... nothing had changed it was the same voice. and i was listening...

Ajeeb daastaan hai yeh
Kahaan shuruu kahaan khatam
Yeh manzilein hai kaun sii
Na woh samajh sake na hum
Mubaarakein thumhein ke tum
Kisi ke noor ho gaye
Kisii ke jithne paas ho
Ke sab se door ho gaye
Kisii ka pyar leke tum
Naya jahaan basaaoge
Yeh shyaam jab hi aayenge
Tum hum ko yaad aaoge

Name change: LEO's To ZAIQA

2006-08-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

There is a restaurant nearby my place in Bangalore it was called LEO's ....I frequently go to this place to satisfy my gastronomic desires whenever I feel lazy to cook food at home or when I really need a dose of mutton or chicken biryani after all I haven't eaten kashmiri wazwaan from past 2 and a half years since I left for Bangalore ..... whenever I go back to kashmir the timing is odd because i don't arrive in marriage season . In this way couldn't enjoy the 36 course meal(Wazwaan) I started to like this place it had lot of open space ... you could sense the fresh air coming in..The tables were made of soft wood and it is was having that yellowish tainted look ..the colours on walls were also soothing....You could easily see the night traffic going and enjoy the red blue orange green colours of the traffic while having your dinner... . I mainly like LEO's mutton or chicken biryani..And whenever I used to enter the restaurant the staff used give me a smile i dont know why? whether they used to see a 50 rupee note sparkling on my head ( cost of the Biryani) or was it because i was their regular customer..Without any explanation they used to understand what I wanted.. ignoring any british royalty or etiquette i used to eat my food and leave the place quietly ... Several days back I saw a notice saying that some work was going on and the restaurant will be closed for few days ... last night passing by this gastronomic-heaven , to my shock it name was changed to ZAIQA what kind of blumppud ppaad name is that i thought but i knew it meant taste .... the main door always used to be open but it was closed this time.... I headed toward the restaurant and opened the door very slowly....... everything looked alien to me.....No one smiled at me as the staff was new.. it was jam packed as they had put more tables..... to my shock my favourite tables were wrapped in black table cloth which scared me , it seemed as if some Magic-ritual was going on.... I felt it was the end of my favourite LEO .... there were big tables suited for big family or gang of friends, tables suited for couples but no small table for a loner like me who eats his food all alone I searched and finally found a small table having a single chair .. I settled down the waiter came to me and said "what would you like to order sir".... 'wow' finally the new staff knows how to talk to customers politely I thought...... as usual I ordered for mutton biryani but still was feeling uncomfortable to the alien environment....To my surprise couldn't see the red orange blue green colours of traffic ...Instead i saw new heavy curtains blocking the outside view.. a staff member whom I already knew came to me and he showed me the new menu card ..The menu contained much wider variety mainly tandoori and mughlai items ...you could find wide chicken variety like chicken afghani chicken chengezi chicken jehangeri chicken kohinoor chicken akbari chicken irani and much more ..... but the prices had also increased so was the case of my favourite biryani items.. I saw a white vase on my table which contained an artificial maroon rose giving me the feeling of the artificial world ....The waiter used to serve the biryani in a copper pot which was golden in colour and tinned inside but this time they served it in a Chinese bowl..... how can they do this? i thought .. I finished my dinner , was satisfied with the food but couldn't digest the price increase of the food items ..Finally the waiter came with the bill which i paid and he stammered saying "thaanks thaanks ..come back again again sir" ... maybe he was nervous because it was his first day and so was I !
* Today felt sad for Litchet after hearing that her father passed away..may Allah give her courage and patience to overcome the grief!
* Sincere apologies to Sir Naresh as i couldn't participate in the AMC debate.

Story of a Monkey-Terrorist

2006-07-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

A funny thing happened while we were living in BTM 1st stage area .As usual Ashik(room mate) was sleeping after finishing his night shift in a BPO company ,door of his room was open and a monkey from nowhere sneaked in to the room and began scratching Ashik's leg ,Ashik thought that it is some of his room mate but when he woke up it 'scared the shit out of him', imagine you are having a peaceful sleep and suddenly when you open your eyes , you find a monkey tickling you!. You find monkeys usually in jungles,zoos , streets,national geographic channel, but not in your bedroom! Afterwards we all made fun of him, teased him by saying that the monkey had come all the way from the jungle to meet his lover .We thought the story had ended but it didn't end instead the monkey became our frequent guest, a very angry guest who was disturbed by the local kids who used to pelt stones at the him as a result of which some window panes also got smashed .Everyday it used to to come to our flat and remain there for hours sometimes it came 3am in the morning and started to bang the doors of our rooms .No one could get close to him as it would pounce on them ,show the male monkey aggression by opening its mouth, showing its yellow sharp teeth , it was clear that he had never brushed his teeth and he was wild, very wild like someone who wanted to take revenge for his lost love .He even hadn't got toilet training from his monkey mamma and one day he pissed into Ashik's white Jockey socks. Unfortunately we were able to warn Ashik about the monkey's given holy water only after he wore the socks.That day Ashik washed his hands several times! An old lady tried to be smart and she was badly bit by this confused and angry monkey...He used to come and sit anywhere in our flat . We couldn't go market to get our stuff..I had to accompany my cousin when he had to leave for the office and whenever we detected the monkeys presence in our flat we communicated with each other from one room to another through our mobile phones. Afterall we didn't wanted to get ourselves injections ,for dog bite we knew one gets 14 injections but for monkey bite, we didn't know how many?. We called the wild life authorities also but got no response ,we went to our flat owner and told him the situation he toldus to get an artificial Cobra snake which would scare the monkey anyway we didn't like the idea. We could had easily killed the monkey but we didn't wanted to kill this poor confused wild monkey ,afterall if we kill him then what will be the difference between him and us..
Sajjad loves animals and he always used to sympathize with the monkey by saying that we shouldn't show such inhospitable approach towards him but instead we should show love and affection. Sajjad headed towards the monkey to show his affection and began to make some unpleasant'monkey sound' as he reached near the monkey, the monkey pounced on him and his finger nearly missed the affection of the monkey. That night some noise was heard which only Sajjad could hear ,he gave a loud scream and ran towards the door and pushing it hard his scream also awakened me and I assured him not to worry as the door was already locked..Afterwards I have never heard Sajjad speaking about kindness towards animals.
One day the door again remained open and again the monkey entered our room . He began to explore the room and started to play with the objects in the room as if he was in his jungle where he can eat leaves, fruits, and jump from one branch to another and still you won't find any trace of monkeys wildness but for God's sake it was my small room. We were down stairs and I heard a loud crash like in 'car accidents' or when a villain in movies is punched by a hero and he direcly crashes into a huge glass."Yes glass" I quickly ran towards my room and found my room had become into some kind refugee camp, thing were scattered all over and in the center I saw the little S*O*B* looking into a 5feet crashed mirror which now had spilt into tiny pieces he was trying to communicate with some one into mirror,he was jumping and doing some kind of' monkey-dance' 'thinking the monkey in the mirror to be a "She- monkey" with whom he can have sex, after all he was deprived of his carnal desires after leaving the jungle all alone into a city with no one with whom he could share his feeling..In city he could see cows ,dogs ,cats hens ,rats but couldn't find any she monkey he was happy but confused and left the place with one piece of mirror in his right hand. I was also happy as the mirror was destroyed because I used to sleep below this 'unsheathed 5feet blade' as it had no frame and it was supported by a weak rope for past few years . It always amazed me how it was supported by a loose rope but at the same time I had the fear that the mirror will directly fall on my throat while I am asleep and I will get guillotined or beheaded in a split of seconds after all I had no good relations with God.
It is very dark in the room near the terrace where we had kept all our old shoes ,magazines, sacks full of old books some read and some unread, notes, broken utensils , dull lime coloured rusty washing machine which never worked and an old mattress which looked as if it was bombarded by a US B2 bomber but now it looked more worse and we knew that his majesty the monkey had made this dark room as his bed room and the mattress as his bed ,now again the childhood fear began to rise whenever I used go upstairs to hang my washed clothes on the terrace, I again felt that their was someone in the that dark corner waiting for me. I reached to the terrace and slowly opened the door and it was him with a piece of our 5feet mirror that exactly looked like the knife in the the film 'Psycho' by Alfred hitchcock, he was looking into the mirror with those killer eyes..Next day while coming back from college I found drops of blood on the corridor of my flat I prayed to God that everything is ok.. I started to follow the blood droplets and reached the crime spot and to my shock as well as relief I found a dead cat murdered by a frustrated monkey..It was the same cat that used to do " meow meow" and used look into our room through window while we were watching TV..I felt bad for the poor cat and at the same time got angry but the monkey was gone .
One day the monkey again paid a visit this time all the doors were closed, I took a match stick ,he looked into my eyes and I looked into his it was a close encounter. I slowly ignited the match stick and threw it toward s him as if i was tossing the coin he ran ran and ran
Couple of days later we left that flat and as some ous got settled to some otherplaces and i shifted to BTM2nd stage but whenever i come across the area and our old flat i still look towards the terrace of the flat thinking that he must be sitting there waiting for someone in that dark corner!

ZEPHYR TURNS GALE

2006-06-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, in the summer of july
As usual 'shaheen' was dreaming to fly
All alone under new clouds,he sat under a 'friendship tree'
The climate was windy in the rainy city
So, he started to chat with the wind
Who was so quiet,calm,wise and kind
They talked,talked, and talked with an open mind
Soon 'Shah' thought that'Zephyr' has become his best friend
He was happy,proud and thanked Lord
For now he won't get bored on this new road

Then came the month of August
Their friendship was at its best
The wind always liked the speed
Being lazy 'Shah' was scared to take the lead
But still he kept his eyes closed
Faith in friendship, they roamed ,roamed and roamed

Once upon a time in the month of September
The 'Gale' started to loose its temper
But 'Shah' remained calm,kind and quiet
As he didn't wanted to loose a friend by fuelling up the fight
Gale's 'need for speed and 'fist of fury'
Like finger prints, matched with'Tom,Dick and Harry'
Soon "Gale-traitor" fled with them as fast as they could
'Shah' lamely trailed with head bent towards the ground

Then came the month of October
A day 'Shah' doesn't want to remember
They broke his heart with an arrow which was rusty
Down,down and down came ' Shaheen' due to Gravity
You can understand ,how easily glass breaks
When it already is having cracks
That time what 'Shaheen' could remember was that friendship tree
It reminded him of Julius Caesar's succumb
He wanted to say "Etu Brute" ,but he became dumb
A promise restricted him to show them the face of 'Saladin'
Or he could had eaten 'Hashish' to become an assassin
That night Black clouds over casted
It rained,rained and rained

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes in hours
Days turned into months and months into years
Today,yesterday and tomorrow they can't meet their eyes with 'Shaheen'
As if they were strangers even in the past seconds of time
Clothes can be changed as per the fashion,but friendship cannot be a Shopping mall dummy
Instead it is a Sweet responsibility and not an oppurtunity
Thy friendship has oft made my heart ache
Do be my enemy for friendships sake

SYED ABRAR>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CAST AND CREW
SHAHEEN: A royal falcon which always makes its nest on the top most heights and on rocky mountains, it hunts it's prey alive and never eats dead meat, it is the fastest bird on earth.
SHAH: King
Zephyr: Gentle and soft breeze
GALE: Violent and fast speed wind, Hurricane type