Goodbye

This piece of abstract is an imaginative description of Rahul Dravid’s state of
mind just after Anil Kumble’s retirement. It’s when he started feeling the air of
his own farewell which was supposed to follow itself.

Date & Time: 2nd Nov, 2008 – 6:30 p.m.

Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla Ground Dressing Room – Rahul is standing alone in
balcony and other team mates celebrating inside.

Goodbye

"What a man of dignity..!!"
"He was a true fighter till the end!"
"He is one of the greatest cricketers India has ever given"
"Cheers..!! Anil Bhai.. Ek sip mere saath."

Roaring chants and applauding glories were flying through the semi-closed door
of the balcony, as I overheard them with a sense of sarcasm dripping through my
eyes and spilling on my lips.
In front of me lied the glory chariot of that great man, which on many destiny
dates has witnessed cheers and applauds in million multiples of decibels than
what I can ignore right now.
This silent giant has given him what a bowler can only dream in wildest of his
dreams; a clean sweep of an entire bat-wagon in his stride. And yet, at this gold
marked moment this giant is lying so gracefully and young just like its great
patron bidding it adieu with a smiling surprise.

In its silence and grace I can foresee a hidden truth which is soon going to come
to the grounds of reality.
May be on its warm silky grass, or may be on some other turf. And at that
moment the champagne in my glass will never fall below the brim.
Oh... It’s already touching the bottom.

My mind is trotting in all possible dimensions. It's generating millions of
questions within fractions of a second:
"Is your legacy that great to generate the sound from the dressing room at par or
beyond what your ears can sense right now??"
"Will your farewell generate record breaking TRPs through debates and flashes
on all News Channels and Sports Shows??"

"What about the surveys deciding your blood toiled career with just 3 options:
Yes; No; Can't Say...!!!”
.....
.....
"Why the hell one has to say Good Bye??"
"In fact why men grow old??"

I think I should lend my mind to Intel for their R&D. Good source of income
after my pack-up. Not a bad idea!

If someone grant me a wish to come true, right at this moment I would like to
make my dignity phrase to be true in its meaning just like the immortal, ever
young and elegantly poised 'The Great Wall of China'.
I want to stand high and tall forever. I want to guard the borders when the call
says, “One Down..!!". I want to wear my cap 24X7 and never waiving it high in
my hand with a fake smile.
Aha... I sound like a gloomy child for whom only miracles are the only dream
fulfillers. But, deep within my heart, that is what I yearn for. I want to start this
vicious cycle of life once again.

I peek through the window and all what I can see is people hobbling around
Jumbo with smiles and laughter, and he smiles with full grace and honour
holding a glass full of champagne in his injured left hand.
I scan myself from top to bottom. Thank God. I am a complete man..!! The only
thing deceiving me is my DOB.
"Rahul... Rahul... Come in man, party is incomplete without you."
"Very true", that’s what I prompted to myself. And with clumsy footsteps I
joined the climax with my empty glass.

From JUST to BEST

"I don't even know you so well. It's just been few days since we started jelling up. You are 'JUST' a friend to me. Come on. Grow up Rahul..!!", Priya exclaimed.

Rahul (in his mind), "That's what I am trying to do. Can't you understand this simple natural phenomenon??
I am gonna kill this word 'JUST'. It makes me feel like one-tenth of the complete boy-friend. Because starting from this 'JUST', the journey gets just tougher and tougher and forget about the destination alone. This is because of the simple reason that after this 'JUST a friend', the next promotion will take me to a 'Friend'.. That will be like  twenty percent of complete boy-friend. 
 Then with all the important sacrifices of my life including hobbies, pocket-money and not so important studies, I will be promoted to a 'GOOD friend'. It will be like the thirty percent tax deduction from a complete package of  boy-friend. 
Then with the great loss of all  the best buddies and accepting one sided possessiveness (obviously from her side), I may achieve an envious post of  'MORE than a friend'. With this star on my shoulders I have the right to pretend like her boyfriend, ONLY to others and NEVER to her. For her, she would be just getting naughty as I would have achieved a passing percentage of forty..!!

Then with the 12 hours duty of day-dreaming and 12 hours overtime of dreaming, I would reach to a point of no-return just like the upper end of the exponential graph. Before I utter those three words of eternity from that pinnacle, the dream would end in a nightmare and I would have a free fall from there to the negative infinity. The crash landing will echo: "BEST FRIENDDDDDDDDDDD..!!" 
Aha.. That sounds like a Half Time whistle when the scorecard reads: Zero-Zero. You know what.. The next half is never gonna be played..!!
In three dimensional view, one can easily relate this to the 'Half Filled.. Half Empty' scenario. Where the glass is filled from the girl's perspective and it still looks empty from the other side of the table.. And it's gonna remain empty FOREVER..!!

It's just an impossible task for a boy who is a friend to a girl, to make his FRIEND realise that her FRIEND is a BOY. Is it really that difficult to arrange these two words in alphabetical order..??"

Even with such a crystal clear view of his emotional molestation with sunglasses of algebra over his eyes, Rahul's face was bearing a big Question Mark pointing upwards to heaven.. "Why Meeeeeeeee...???"
With perplexed expressions and paralyzed emotions he could say only this, ".................(Guys - Fill it up yourself, you know it better. Gals - This field is variable for you as you would have different versions of the climax of this  stupid story..!!)"

And in the end, all he wanted to say were just three words.. "WTF"..!!

Never Trust a Lady

'Never Trust a Lady'
This title is enough to reduce the reader's count by the upper base of the gender fraction 933/1000. But, I am giving it a shot to create an irony; following the footsteps of the great Ruskin Bond, who unraveled these words of wisdom around a century back. If I would have trusted Mr. Bond in class two, I wouldn't have been waiting for a video game till date. My Mom promised me one for a first rank in my class. Like all other macho-fools, I geared up my armours to fight with the tyrant book-wolves and cruel exams to be the Numero-Uno for consecutive 9 years. It was then, that the mystery of this five letter word started showing its side-effect and I took no time to be on the majority side of 'Back-Benchers Martyrs'. As we all know, this life goes a full circle pretty quick. Moreover, we are always at our best to screw it up. But it came even quicker. I was shifted to a new school for my plus two and it was there I had my first crush. Ten months of exchange-offer didn't buy anything except few glances and occasional smiles. Then came the shocking wave of reality when I saw her riding away with a guy on a bike with not even traces of vaccum between them. My friends had their say, "Look, his girlfriend is going away with her boyfriend." Yet again I was striked with the reality of this ascetic phrase piercing even deeper. Here, all the girls will complain that she never promised me anything, so there's no question of breaking the trust. Excuse Me...!! Here I trusted the most coveted romantic songs of all times, "You say it best, when you say nothing at all...!!! (Why the hell you don't say anything..????)"
These are just some of the critical cases which were admitted to ICU, else we the descendents of Hercules and Achilles need 'Daily Therapy' of this life-saving phrase to heal our bruises on trust.

Am I getting too nostalgic on this?
May be or maybe not, because there's an altogether a different perspective to look at it. As a wise man said, "He who has not sinned has no merit in his virtue – because he has not overcome any temptation." I think that temptation of a mere video game has grown a deep-rooted tree in me to strive hard for being number one in all my endeavours. That too, not being 'tempted' but being 'attempted'. Who else can be credited for this, other than the one who was blamed a few stanzas back.
Why does it happen that our weaknesses are always at the helm of a woman's consideration. Although it's neither their fundamental right nor their super-natural might. Trusting a lady is just like getting on to a treasure-hunt. Sometimes you may feel the luckiest and sometimes you may just end up striking dust off yourself. Nevertheless, you always had the choice.
Last but not the least, we need to trust them because of a very simple reason, i.e., 'They trust us for all the weirdest reasons they can gather.' Here are some of the reasons why women trust that men love them:
We men love women because they still feel they are adolescents even after they grow old.
Because they do everything necessary for the house to be tidy and perfect, and never expect any recognition for the work they have done.
Because they draw and paint their faces with the same concentration as Miyan M.F. Hussain working on the ‘Gajagamini’.
Because they have their own ways of solving problems, which we never understand, and that makes us mad.
Because they always manage to find a convincing defect when we say that another woman is pretty, making us feel insecure about our taste.
Because they just love exotic cocktails with different colors and delicate little ornaments, while we always have the same old whiskey.
Because we love their 'Bye' with equal emotions as we do for their 'Hi'.
Because we came from them, will go back to them, and until that happens, live in orbit around the feminine body and soul.
Lastly, we men love and trust them for being women. As simple as that.

P.S.: If this simplicity is too complex to understand then all the rational folks please revert to the statutory warning engraved on the first line of this foolish piece of abstract. Apologies attached..!!

Two Minds

It often happens,

You are caught up in a fight.

It's not about the right or wrong,

But about the two virtuous right.

Which one to choose?

Which way to go? 

You feel like the helpless rope,

When your spirit is playing tug-of-war.

The conscience is in dilemma, 

To measure rights with weight or height?

Should it look for the ambitious day,

Or wait for the peaceful night?

 The Great Magician has gone on its Sunday,

Let's see what past, present or future it finds.

Though the multiples of anything add to the glory,

But I am just torn apart in two minds..!!