ਇਮਤਿਹਾਨ
ਮਿਸੇਜ਼ ਕਾਲੜਾ ਨੂੰ ਤਾਂ ਚਾਅ ਚੜ੍ਹੇ ਪਏ ਸਨ। ਮਸੇਂ ਮਸੇਂ ਅੱਜ ਦਾ ਦਿਨ ਚੜ੍ਹਿਆ ਸੀ। ਸ਼ਗਨਾਂ ਦਾ ਦਿਨ। ਇਸ ਤੋਂ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਇੰਨਾ ਮੁਬਾਰਕ ਦਿਨ ਨਿੱਕੂ ਦੇ ਪੈਦਾ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਹੀ ਸੀ। ਕਿੰਨੇ ਵਰ੍ਹੇ ਹੋ ਗਏ ਉਸ ਦਿਨ ਨੂੰ। ਓਦੋਂ ਵੀ ਜੀ ਕਰਦਾ ਸੀ ਮੰਜੇ ਤੋਂ ਛਾਲ ਮਾਰ ਕੇ ਨੱਚਣ ਦਾ ਪਰ ਔਂਤਰੀ ਕਮਰ ਹੀ ਪੀੜ ਨਾਲ ਵਿੰਗੀ ਹੋਈ ਪਈ ਸੀ। ਔਂਤਰੀ -...
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बहुत बे-आबरू पर बहुत ही शादमाँ हो कर तिरे कूचे से हम निकले
मुझे मुशायरे attend करने का ज़रुरत से ज़्यादा शौक नहीं। ख़ास तौर पर जनवरी के महीने में बहुत मेहनत मशक़्क़त से गर्म किए हुए कमरे में गर्मागर्म चाय की प्याली को छोड़ कर दिल्ली जा कर। लेकिन ज़रुरत तो अब आन ही पड़ी है - शायरा जो हो गई। और कुछ भी कहो, एक बार किसी तरह रज़ाई से...
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Home Everywhere
As it is a well-established fact that I am a South Indian trapped in the body of a North Indian, I was understandably looking forward to my Kerala trip. I am yet to meet that one person in my life who would look at me and guess I am a Punjabi and not a South Indian....
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Why Lipstick Under My Burkha Doesn’t Set A Bad Example Or Any Example At All!
I liked the movie and wouldn’t have thought of writing this blog if there wasn’t a big debate on this movie on social media, largely around the Rehana story line. The points of criticism being how the movie got women empowerment all wrong, how feminism is not about...
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Puzzle
She was late by two minutes to give him breakfast He yelled at her She yelled at him She yelled at the maid He yelled at the doorman The maid yelled at the dog The doorman cursed under his breath So they lost ten more minutes He, to be on his way to the workshop on...
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Short Story: The Formula
It wasn’t my first trip to India. But every time I come here, I am full of nostalgia, a very quaint sense of cheer… and questions. Yes, questions too. I do love India. Even though I have been living abroad for 20 years now. Perhaps more because of it. I haven’t seen...
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Bubbles
Oh, this beautiful world of bubbles, I am in a bubble, You are in a bubble, Everybody is in a bubble. Oh, my bubble is better than yours, My bubble is prettier than yours, Your bubble is more colorful than mine, Your bubble is a bit nicer than mine. My bubble looks...
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Just Love…
Yes, I see rainbows Yes, the smile never leaves I smell roses that don’t exist Magic my heart believes It’s the way you look at me It’s the way you make me feel My heart goes aflutter My whole being wants to kneel Yes, I am high on love A little insane maybe It’s the...
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Short Story : Tryst
It took a long while to sink in. It was really HIM. Him? How can he barge into her life now like this? Suddenly? Just like that? After ages? At an airport! She wasn’t ready for this. Though she had played this very scenario in her mind umpteen times, it was nothing...
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ਚੁੱਪ ਚੁਪੀਤੀ ਅਰਦਾਸ
ਲੋਕੀ ਭਰ ਟੋਕਰੇ ਤੇਰੇ ਦਰ ਤੇ ਆਉਂਦੇ ਮੈਂ ਪੂਰੀ ਖ਼ਾਲੀ ਹੋਈ ਤਾਂ ਆਈ ਜਦ ਮੈਂ ਵੀ ਮੈਂ ਨਾ ਰਹਿ ਗਈ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਤੇ ਮੇਰੀ ਰੂਹ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਤ ਨੂੰ ਤਰਹਾਈ ਮੜ੍ਹਕਾਂ ਛੁੱਟ ਗਈਆਂ ਮਾਣ ਟੁੱਟ ਗਏ ਤਖ਼ਤਾਂ ਬਹਿੰਦੀ ਜਿੰਦ ਭੂੰਜਿਓਂ ਚਾਈ ਹੰਝੂ ਵੀ ਸੁੱਕ ਗਏ ਹੋਕੇ ਵੀ ਮੁੱਕ ਗਏ ਕਰ ਲਿਆ ਸਬ ਜੋ ਮੈਂ ਕਰ ਪਾਈ ਹੁਣ ਤੂੰ ਹੈਂ ਤੇ ਮੇਰੀਆਂ ਪਥਰਾਈਆਂ ਅੱਖਾਂ...
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The Tao of Sanil 8: Getting Born
After all the hullabaloo and hard work for Sanil’s 10th birthday party was over, and we were lazing about basking in the afterglow of job(s) done well, I asked him (a pretty simple and deserving question, I’d say): “So how did you like them? The first ten years of...
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Broken and Lovable
Do you throw away what is broken? If not from your life then from your heart? Can something be broken yet lovable? Can scars be beautiful? Scars that life bestows upon Sometimes as grace sometimes as riddle Or perhaps always as grace, sometimes hidden as riddle...
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The Tao of Sanil 7: What To Be or Not to Be
“So I have been blessed with this teacher and guide, who decided to be born through me. My son Sanil, 9 now, has always been full of inquiries, observations, deductions and theories… Ever since I can remember and ever since he started communicating, we’ve had these...
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Short Story: Manhood
And here she was again! How he hated this woman… creating a fuss over a few rupees, yelling and shouting even. Whenever he saw her from the distance, Raju knew a lot of time would be wasted. No matter how low a price he quoted, she would haggle as if he had been...
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Cracking the Code
There’s one thing I have learnt from my days of programming. Not one thing exactly, if I really sit down to count, but this one thing takes the proverbial cake. I was this green, wide-eyed fresher in the mesmerizing world of software development churning out miracles...
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The Tao of Sanil 6: Hug Away Grievances
Here’s another one of Sanil and I in the car. The song was playing on radio. To Sanil’s utter bemusement, I prefer to listen to old Hindi songs. Not that I don’t try, I really do, but somehow I cannot stomach new songs… especially when they are not being played in a...
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The Case for Forgiveness
How would you like to carry someone else’s baggage for the rest of your life? That too, an unnecessary, discarded one. Not much, I gather, if you have your wits together. Yet, carrying the burden of what someone else did to you is the most favourite of baggages....
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Short Story: Lift
It was getting dark. Neena wondered when she will reach home given the traffic situation. Why was there so much traffic in this city? Roads were giving up under the weight of never ending queues humans on machines, not that the roads were robust enough to begin with....
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Short Story: Hunger
“Eyes are the biggest betrayers. Some say eyes are windows to the soul. Who knows if they are… or if there is a soul… But betrayers, yes, the eyes are… if you are not careful, they let your secrets out… especially your desires. You know, hunger shines in the eyes...
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(Dis)Own Yourself!
Recently, a spiritual teacher of mine told me a story to drive home a point during an intense conversation. It goes something like: “There was a wise teacher who told a hall full of audience after her discourse that she had ‘direct connection’ with God. A scandalized...
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We and People
We owe it to people. People who raised us. People who taught us. People who made friends with us. People who were not-so-nice to us. We are not just we. We are a sum total of all the interactions we have had over our lifetime. Everything adds to our person one way or...
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The Tao of Sanil 5 – Abnormalcy
I love rains. I most certainly do. To the extent that some of my friends are convinced that I was a peacock in my previous incarnation. There are some benefits rains bring apart from the magic and mystical fragrance. Like the other day, I was sailing in my car with...
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Taking Emotional Inventory
You can’t sharpen your swords while you are in the midst of a war. Well, technically you can, but that won’t be the wisest of strategies or very effective either. We take inventories all the time – of our finances, our resources, our groceries, our wardrobes (which...
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Do you know your success?
Let me make this clear at the onset, I am not against unbridled ambition. In fact, I admire ambitious people with gaping awe, especially the ones who have a laser focus to achieve what they are after. My point is - success is overrated and is a twisted, misunderstood...
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Canning the Can’ts
“I can’t sleep on the right side of the bed.” “I can’t sleep with lights off.” “I can’t drive.” “I can’t dance.” “I can’t go to crowded places.” “I can’t go ahead after a black cat has crossed my path.” “I can’t lose weight.” “I can’t make it to Harvard.” As you must...
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We, the gullible consumers
Oh my God, there are so many products in the world, there is so much information… it’s like we are in the middle of a world war of words (and lights and sounds) and we are being bombarded from all angles… buy this, get that.. have this… acquire that… eat this… wear...
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What options do you have, really?
They tell you that your whole life flashes before your eyes. It kind of does, when you are hanging on a steep cliff by a single tiny rock that threatens to give in any time and all you can see below is seemingly infinite distance to the ground. Don’t ask me how I...
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The Tao of Sanil 4 – Raising Mom
So this month was Sanil’s 9th birthday. The thing with Sanil is that he loves his birthdays… that I am sure all kids of his highly-attention-seeking-and-totally-getting-it generation do. But he loves them so much that he starts planning the next one before the current...
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Wait, are you forgetting something?
The ‘you’ who you are, maybe? Life is pretty fast-paced these days. You have to put your best foot forward at any endeavour, be it professional or personal, to be of any consequence. With so much happening, life could be a constant marathon of proving your worth out...
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The Tao of Sanil 3 – What is it about Winning?
“So I have been blessed with this teacher and guide, who decided to be born through me. My son Sanil, almost 9 now, has always been full of inquiries, observations, deductions and theories… Ever since I can remember and ever since he started communicating, we’ve had...
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