The King's Cure

I read this poem when I was in class 8. It has stuck to me since then.

The king was sick His cheeks were red
His eyes were clear and bright
He ate and drank with eagerness
And peacefully snored at night

But He said he was sick and a king knows best
So doctors came by the score
They did him no good so he cut off their heads
And sent out the city for more

At last two famous doctors came
Of one was as poor as a rat
He had passed his life in studying hard
And never found time to grow fat

The other one had never looked at a book
For his patients gave him no trouble
For if they recovered they paid him well
If not their heirs paid double

Together they looked at the royal tongue
As the king on his bed reclined
And one after the other they thumped his chest
But not a disease could they find

Said the one, Your majesty is perfectly well
Roared the king hang him up without fail
The other one's knees began to shake
His skin turned wet and pale

But thoughtfully scratching his bald old head
His prescription he thus began
The king would be well if he sleeps one night
In the shirt of a happy man

Now far through the kingdom the messengers rode
And fast their horses ran
They saw too many and too many spoke
But they found no happy man

At last they came to a village small
Where a plowman plowed his land
He plowed and he laughed and he laughed and he plowed
And they halted him with their hands

The weary messengers paused and looked
At the scamp so blithe and gay
And one of them said, Heaven save you, friend!
You seem to be happy to-day

O yes, fair sirs, the rascal laughed
And his voice rang free and glad
An idle man has so much to do
That he never has time to be sad

This is our man, the messengers said
Our luck has lead us aright
We will give you a hundred mohurs friend
For the loan of your shirt tonight

At this the plowman laughed aloud
As he stood there strong and tall
I had give not lend you my shirt
If I had a shirt at all

Each day to the King the reports came in
Of his unsuccessful spies,
And the sad panorama of human woes
Passed daily under his eyes.

And he grew ashamed of his useless life
And his maladies hatched in gloom
He opened his windows and let the air
Of the free heaven into his room

And out he went in the world, and toiled
In his own appointed way
And the people blessed him, the land was glad
And the King was no more sick from that day

मान गए मुग़ल-ऐ-आज़म ||

उनका युहीं देख कर अन्देखा कर जाना ।

हर वक्त ख़याल घर कर जाता है ।

अपने आप को ढाढस बंधा पाता नही क्यूंकि ।

हर आईने में चेहरा उनका नज़र आता है ॥

उनकी मौसिकी का कुछ यूँ हुआ है असर मुझपर ।

की हर पल को ग़ज़ल की तरह गुनगुनाता हूँ ।

बात दो बात कर नही पाता किसीसे क्यूंकि ।

हर आवाज़ में अल्फाज़ उनका कोई सुन जाता हूँ ॥

एक टक देखा करता हूँ सिफर में, मैं ।

आहट किसी की नही ले पाता हूँ ।

पर जो हवा उनके आँचल को छू कर आती है ।

उसका एहसास तुंरत ही पा जाता हूँ ॥

बैठ कर दिनभर खिले गुलिस्ताँ में भी ।

पल दो पल को मुस्कुरा पाता नही मैं ।

ताज़े फूलों की महक में भी दअरसल।

अब्र उनका घुला घुला सा पाता हूँ ॥

यूँ तो आशिकों ने किए होंगे उनसे।

साथ जीने मरने के कसमे वादे।

पर मैं जो जीते जी मरा जा रहा हूँ।

वो जज़्बात नहीं बयाँ कर पाता हूँ ॥

The Train

Summer of '89.

Good old times when I was this innocent young kid, mumma loved me so much and papa had the time to take us to places. Summer vacation was on and we were out on our voyage to Agra and Delhi. We were at our uncle's place in Delhi and one fine day we set out to see places; The plan being Qutub Minar --> Chandni Chauk --> Lal Quila.
Remember the plan because I will stick to it! :)

We have finished visiting Qutub Minar, Now we are in Chandni Chauk.Thew markets are crowded and there are just too many shops. I have never seen such a crowd in my life. As we are moving along, something catches my fancy. There is this toy shop which has this beautiful long train on display going on its long circular track. The engine is black, the track is silver and the coaches are beatiful. I instantly go and start watching it closely. It makes a whistling sound and also throws a small puff of steam as it carries on its track. Boy isn't this amazing. I can't help seeing it for minutes. I want it. I want it somehow. I decide to plead my parents to buy that for me. But as I turn back, I get jitters. I find myself standing alone in middle of that crowded market with no signs of my family nearby.

Bang! What to do now?
Now the extremely smart kid that I am, I am reminded of the plan.
Chandni Chauk to Lal Quila. Yuhoo!

I don't waste a single more minute, I turn around and start moving back towards Lal Quila. It is some 2 kms from here, but I am smart and I remember the way back! I see a couple of policemen with their walkie talkie on my way, but I am not to tell them that I am lost! Why? Because policemen are thugs. Almost all of the movies say so. I don't stop. After a twenty minute walk I am here standing right infront of Lal Quila. Hey but there is this six lane road that I have to cross.
How do I...Tring... Red is Stop, and Green is a Go! Whoa who needs help?
I carefully cross the road and reach the main entrance of Lal Quila and sit down in shade eagerly waiting for my family to reach here. I am all ready to give them a surprise.

Half hour passed. No ones here! I am thirsty. I look around and spot a handpump in front of a shop. I quench my thirst and start waiting again in front of the cold drink shop. Its getting late but I am determined that they'll reach to me. Suddenly the shopkeeper who is watching over me for more than an hour starts coming towards me.

He is asking - "Beta aap akele yahan kyun baithe ho?"
I am smart. I must not tell him that I am lost otherwise he will go and tell the police. I have to make up something. Quickly.
I answer - "Mere mummy, papa, mama, mami, didi sab kho gaye hain. Wo Lal Quila ghoomne aa rahe hain isliye main yahan wait kar raha hoon"

He listens to me carefully. He chuckles slightly, takes me to his shop and hands me over a cold drink. He looks like a good uncle to me now. I am sure. I like Maaza.
He is asking me again - "Aap apne ghar ka address jaante hain?"
I am assured of the fact that He is a good person.
I reply - "haan" and I tell him the complete address of my Uncle's place. I am a champ. I remember the complete 5 line address. He says OK and goes away somewhere. I am waiting for him to return.

Suddenly my seat has started shaking.. whats happening? I open my eyes to see the familiar bus stop and playground near my house. I am sitting in an auto with the shopkeeper. I have reached back home. Yes the uncle is a good man. I go and knock the door.

Shopkeeper holding my hand : "ye aapka bachha hai?"
I don't say a word. When two elders are talking then I should not talk in between. My taiji is puzzled to see me coming back with a stranger.
Taiji: "haan haan".
She pulls me towards herself.

Hurray I have made it back to the home.
Yayie
And theres more to it.
None of my family is here.
I came back first.
Ain't I'm overjoyed!

My taiji, tauji are having a long conversation with the shopkeeper. It seems like they are thanking him.There are some phone calls happening. But I am not bothered.I am just playing around with my toys.

I have just defeated my friend in cricket. I am excited and I open my eyes. I see my entire family there standing right in front of me. Mummas weeping. Why is she? But more importantly I see some new clothes and a helicopter for me in the shopping bag. I am happy.

Today is 13th. I will turn 6 tomorrow. I like my birthday presents but I still can't get that train out of my mind.

P.S. - The person had informed a police station that he was taking me to my home. When my parents got the information that I have reached home safely, they immediately went to that shop. They bought stuffs like crazy there. I think my father handed over the clothes that he had bought for himself to the shopkeeper as a gift. In the night my mumma wrote my name and the address on my arm with a pen.
I woke up next day only to find that we all were going again to the same place. Oh no not again! My father kept holding my arm as hard as he could the entire day. And he told all the shopkeepers whom he had inquired about me that I was the boy. I got greeted Happy Birthday by scores of shopkeepers that day :)

YOU CAN WIN too!!

Its time to write off all that I learnt during the past two weeks maybe three...
After keeping a vigil eye over all the nonsense that I have been through acting insanely sincere all the time; I have compiled a list of some major do's and don'ts which would project you as a impressive communicator as far as business matters are considered.
Of course its your communication skill that matters at the EOD(End of the Day). 'My Precious' as our hobbit friend from LOTR would say!
So here you go...

1) From this point in time(it was never 'point of time') precede any and all conversations with the word 'business'. People will start taking you seriously only if you start calling question, objective, model and even communication as Business Question, Business Objective, Business Model and Business Communication. Didn't it sound coming straight from a CEO?
2) Start calling for meetings at least 4 times a day(You don't really need an agenda cuz it is when staffing, project updates and conference calls come in handy!)
3) Keep asking people for their inputs on any damn topic and make sure they feel that they are the most useful resource that has ever occurred to a firm and it was because of them that the project was still running.
4) Start using words and phrases which have no relevance to the 'business problem' whatsoever or to any useful output for that matter. Enrich your glossary with 'weasel words' and phrases/words like greener pastures, paraphernalia, leveraging, proactive way, touching base, paradigm shift, tail wagging, stretching the envelope, in synergy, ramp up, going hammer and tongs, being at the sea etc..(now that you know I have a keen ears for B.S. as well). Not to forget mentioning evergreen phrases like taking it forward, identifying the best resources, climbing up the ladder, bandwidth to spare, out of the box solution, etc..
5) Make it a rule to never use the word 'never' and start using 'sure' and 'correct' from now on. Don't you wanna show off that nothing under the sun in this man made world was ever out of your capabilities.
6) Most importantly start working on projects as soon as you are assigned to it as the most important resource. It really doesn't matter if you don't know/have not received the objective or the background of the project. It is this quality of pioneer ship which outsmarts you from your colleagues.
7) You are not going to take your night meal if you have not fulfilled the days quota of sayting 'thanks'. Its your moral responsibility to acknowledge for the pains that your colleagues took for you. Even bashing for poor work doesn't go without a 'thanks' in the end.
8) Start 'following up' on things. The more the number of follow ups the better managing skills you have! (And I thought not understanding in the first go were the signs of incompetency :P) Always follow up on all conference calls with the 'minutes' and a long email to show that you were indeed awake and listening.
9) Time is never a constraint. Stoopid are those people who complete a work within the time frame it should be done in! You are responsible only if you work late in the night preparing decks(ppts) and rechecking them and then discussing them the next day which was only a matter of half an hour.
10) Last but definitely not the least keep updating yourself listening to what your HR has to say...because if there were any bigger BS Generator second only to Sri Sri 1008 Gobar (Varun Gupta), it has to be the HR(and NO I am not talking of Himesh Prabhu). Come on there is something jazzy in the initials isn't it?
Having said all I am still loving it.
So roll up your sleeves like a go getter and shoot 'em all up with your supremely enhanced BC(Business Communication you perverts!) that you've learned today

Only Duty.. No Beauty !!

Recently watched Johnny Gaddaar... loved it. When a director dedicates his film to James Hadley Chase, you know the battle is half won. For if there ever was a baap of thriller genre, it was Mr. Chase. And to add more I was completely in love with the movie with its classic stereotyped bollywood casting and was completely shocked to see Dave Matthews Band song titled Ants Marching but it later turned out to be the name of a marketing agency :( .

From the makers of "Ek Hasina Thi", the movie has a touch of "Tarantino" except for the spattered and flowing blood, and the storytelling inspired from "Pulp Fiction". This movie with a SinCity poster is a well packed thriller with crisp storyline, sharp dialogues and an up to the mark performances from the actors especially the Protagonist, Neil Mukesh(son of Nitin Mukesh) who showed no signs of a debutant. Still for me, Vinay Pathak was the show stealer. In general, the versatility of this actor is just incredible!

The thing that I loved about the movie was the fast paced intriguing storyline which kept one guessing at the edge of the seat and guesses being proven wrong more than once. It was slow only once with the train scene but that i guess, as one of my friend pointed out too, an essential part if one is tries to build the real life sequences.
The dialogues were neatly written with the script writer throwing some sleek punch lines from time to time like the one in the blog title.

It is really good to see the new face of bollywood with movies like Bheja Fry, Manorama, Johnny Gaddaar and Loins of Punjab.
A real thumbs up for this movie!!

Renegade Princess

I see you looking perplexed towards the skies,
As I try to be a part of your colossal strength;
And you say you don't need an alibi,
To defend yourself as you stand without deter.

Neither have you cried out for ma or pa,
Nor have you relied blindly on any gospel;
'Cause you know your prerogative's radii,
And all that you said was anything but lie.

People detest you and call you a maniac,
This garish world hardly cares for truth;
But you know you are right sheila!
No matter how much the way looks abrupt.

You have a feeling deep within you,
That you'll heal off the pain, Eir!
And once again the world'll gain it's rev,
So it's not the time to say goodbye;

And as you deeply introspect, the more you find,
"Tongue tied and twisted just an earthbound misfit, I".

Copyright © 2007
(All except the last line)

Mis bah 5 runs !!

Knock Knock....
Who's there?
Misbah.
Misbah who?
Mis bah five runs.
;)

For those who dint get it.... stop talking of cricket from now on :P