Slinging scribbles

BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) clearly seems to be the party in spotlight. With the Congress time and again showing its inefficiencies in establishing the law and order, it’s the opposition that the people are looking up to at the moment.  In a candid tete-a –tete, veteran leader of BJP, Arun Jaitley bares it all on raging issues of Anna Hazare, Terrorism, Anna Hazare and the political unrest in Karnataka. Excerpts from the interview. With the recent untraced and unwarned terror attacks in Pune, how ready is the country to tackle such issues? India has always been the target of the terror attack. It is mostly the handiwork of the sleeper cells belonging to Indian Mujahideen, Student Islamic Movement in India (SIMI). These sleeper cells provide a convenient cover to the terrorists to strike in public places and create a fear apart from the colossal damage. The bombs that went off in Pune did not explode with high magnitude thanks to the dampness and rain. Had the bombs ...

Remember me. Remember to remember me. Every time your reflection creates a beam, Remember me... A gratifying face,amidst changing faces, hymning words, pauses and stares; everywhere. Serene presence,on lazy mornings,night cycles, reveries; everywhere. Seen glimpses,on dripping atoms, whispering winds, glistening rays; everywhere. But it was only among deep breaths, pulsating beats; within me when I meant everywhere. But, a schmooze on a dark day, A blunder of owning the possession, The burning desire to grab an occasion; Left only with separation... Due to nothing but a terrible showcase of bond and affection. Myriads of memories, bondage of aspirations Ripped apart in phony silence and stark resiliency. Of remembrances and only remembrances, As mere mirrors to heart but broken glass of mirrors...And a past. Remember me. Remember to remember me, Every time  your reflection creates a beam, For it will bear a colour, a shade of me!

With hours taking up to fill fuel, the rare-in-sight Compressed Natural Gas stations seem to be the perfect gathering for frustrated Auto-Rickshaw Drivers. The rain gods are yet to be pleased as it is a typical hot and humid afternoon at the Shivaji Nagar Compressed Natural Gas Station in Pune. A horde of rickshaw drivers systematically organize themselves in queues in order to fill up the precious CNG fuel.  A handful of barricades lie around the station to aid the rickshaws and regulate the traffic at the ever-crowded CNG pump. In addition to that, pair of security guards mans the Pumps, merely to facilitate a fair disposal of the gas. But with all the arrangements in place, does the traffic really move? A few candid hours at the Shivaji Nagar Pump, one of the five rare species in Pune to distribute the CNG fuel and it is tough to spot if the three wheelers have actually moved closer to the pump stations. With only two pipes and an approx. 2000sq foot spac...

Well,  I lost a badminton match in the college tournament between the juniors and the seniors. It was a bad defeat, but then, all defeats are supposed to be bad. I was supposed to win as the number one seed from the seniors but losing was all I could afford.  It shouldn't be as depressing obviously. 'Shit happens', they say. 'Losing is a part and parcel that the game brings. He won only because you lost. Its only a game', and so it follows. But, this is certainly not the first time I have been confronted with this problem. Every time, its the loss that drives me crazy and if i remember distinctly, my childhood sets up a pretty good example of how sore a loser can be. Why is it so hard for me to lose? Or is it just the same for everybody? Perhaps, its peculiar to me for I have been more often than not, on a golden spot. It simply means, even when, we as a team have screwed up, I have performed well so there have been very few and far-off chances of me sharing th...

(The above news was published in The Indian Express on May 31, 2012 http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bachcha-bada-ho-gaya/955933/ ) Medio Tyron Pereira has been the creative lynchpin for Mumbai hockey this season Very often owing to the already limited attention that hockey gets in cricket-mad India, it's always the strikers, drag-flickers and goalkeepers who end up hogging all available media-mentions. But, it is often the adroit game of midfielders that helps strikers in scooping into the nets and their resilient defence at the same time which drives back the oncoming attack. Yet, despite all that indifference towards midfielders, one name is quietly doing the rounds of popular hockey circles in India. Tyron Pereira, the 24-year-old right-half Mumbai player, who was instrumental in Mumbai's unbeaten run in the West Zone Senior National Hockey Championship has earned praise for his stellar performance in the hockey arena. The proficient athlete not only success...

(The above copy was published in Indian Express on June 12, 2012) It shouldn’t surprise anyone that he cannot do without his adrenaline rush. That more than anywhere else, he feels at home within the confines of his speedy four-wheelers. That Ameya Walwalkar’s idea of a routine day out mainly involves him notching up supersonic speeds in his race-cars. Setting breakneck paces and then trying his best to outdo them. After all very few would have gotten an opportunity to dabble with their wild side—quite literally—like Walwalkar did almost from the time he learned to walk. While his peers spent their youth indulging in the otherwise routine and mundane activities of youth, the 31-year-old Mumbaikar grew up feeding lions, running around with exotic and rare birds and riding atop elephants. All just for kicks. The Walwalkars, starting with the late Narayan Rao Walwalkar—Ameya’s grandfather—have owned and run The Great Royal Circus (GRC) for close to 50 years now. It’s no ordinary ...

One of my dear friend posted a random image on the facebook page about something she strongly felt about, an opinion which was reflexive and evident of the image. It was followed by several likes and comments, some of which were nice and the rest not so nice. Those likes and comments too, reflected an opinion or an ideology, or perhaps an understanding that they had in common or uncommon. This was followed by a huge debate on who thought what on what grounds, each hell-bent to prove his wordsworth (worth by means of words), much to the amusement of the onlookers who liked random comments and boosted and crushed several egos in the process. But, we all know, its a tough thing to put down. It will raise its ugly head every now and then as a matter of pride and satisfaction in being ugly. Now, to have several of those egos crashing down on each other's posts as if their intelligence would be determined by the vile comments they made and the ostentatious 'likes' they ga...