Bahraini Superman

It's amazing how a very small incident by a less than ordinary man leaves a great impact on you, like the incident left on me last week

Now that I have moved into a new place here, last month was full of purchases like cloth hanger, a cot, curtains, ironing table and stuff and one fine day when me and my flat mate "D" went to buy a mattress for the cot we purchased…

And while coming back from the shop I had the mattress in my hands while D was empty handed, and we both stopped abruptly when we saw an old man sitting on the footpath with a long stick next to him, apparently he could not walk, and he was throwing his stick forward then using his hands to drag himself to the stick and he repeated the procedure again, and while doing this he was shouting something loudly in Arabic…

"Should we help him?" I asked D

"We should, but he seems to be abnormal" D replied

"I think he wants to cross the road, and it’s a bust road, he won't hurt us if we help him"

"Dekh usko dhyaan se, that guy is insane; we'll end up in trouble"

I looked at him again, he was shouting even more loudly now.

"You're Right" I agreed to D and we went home

As we reached home we realized that the mattress we purchased is nowhere close to the size of the cot I have… and decided to exchange for a bigger one at the same time…

As we were going back to the shop, our man had crossed the road already and was doing his "Drop, Drag and Yell" thing on the other side of the road now.

"How the hell did he manage?" I asked D

"How do I know?"

"Wooaah Man! This guy is a superman"

"Somebody must have helped him"

"We could have been "Somebody"

"Ok fine, move or the shop will close"

We exchanged the mattress for a bigger one and got a discount of 1 Dinar from the shop as we did so.

Now while on your way back home we met our "Superman" again… but this time he was standing on this feet, walking and whistling…

"You were right D.. this guy is insane"

"D is the man, D is always right" he teased.

The Lunch "BREAK"

Since Day 1 in the office, I spend my 2 hour lunch break in the office, order food from somewhere, surf the Internet... and lo!!! before you know its time to get back into business.

But yesterday my friend "H" suggested
"Why don't go out and have lunch today? Arent you tired of sitting in the office"

I wanted to say "No, I like it here" what came out was "Okay"
The office transport dropped us at Rajhdhani Restaurant... and we were done with the lunch within an hour...

"Now what?" I asked
"There is a cool shop nearby DASMAS CENTER.. wanna go there? Nice stuff"
"I don't think I have an option"

"H" was right, they shop was cool, with lots of stuff we were roaming around when I saw this beautiful glass wind chime, and as I picked it
"You'll break it".. "H" said

"Shut up!!".. I replied

"Crash"... The wind chime shrieked

it fell down and made hell a lot of noise, I couldn't even pretend that I didn't do it coz there was hardly anybody the shop.

I gathered the pieces and went to pay for it 600 Fils (INR Rs 60)

"Told you" .. "H" remarked

"Shut up"... I snapped

"Ting tong tong ting"... the wind chime cried

I have it hung in my cabin in the office with a note below

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T STAY IN THE OFFICE!!!!












The Damn Thing!!!

Changu-Mangu

Picked them up from a flower shop and gifted to my Uncle and Aunt as an anniversary gift!!

I call 'em Changu - Mangu

18 days old

She came into my life for a short time span,

And that's how the love story began.

Met her at a fair, where she was employed,

Love at first sight?? naaa... that was Null and void.

We had lots of fun in those five days,

She was mine and I was her craze.

She wrote that she loves me, and I was clean bowled,

That's my love story, just 18 days old.

She took my number and we talked all the while,

All I could think of was her wondrous smile.

I thought I'll tell her that I felt the same,

That evening she told me her boyfriend's name.

I asked her, why she wrote that she loves me,

She said "That was joke, mai toh mazaak kar rahi thee"

I felt that was very insensitive and cold,

That's my love story, just 18 days old.

Now I was in love and it did not fade,

"I wish she leaves him" was the prayer I prayed.

She called me at a Café and that was not the end,

She called him up and made me meet her boyfriend.

Together they both looked happy and gay,

And that's when I decided to stay away.

A tear slipped out but I controlled,

That’s my love story just 18 days old.

Purchases

An iPod nano 8 gb --- 96 Dinars
A Yamaha 61 key keyboard -- 54 Dinars
A computer with Intel Core Duo 2 processors, 1 Gb Ram and 160 Gb Harddisk -- 255 Dinars

Threatening Uncles kids that if you touch any of these your hands will be cut off -- PRICELESS

There are some things money can't buy, I am only interested in everything else.

I BELIEVE THERE IS NO GOD.

Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around.
Believing there's no God stops me from being of the view that the self is the only reality. I can read ideas from all different people from all different cultures. Without God, we can agree on reality, and I can keep learning where I'm wrong. We can all keep adjusting, so we can really communicate. I don't travel in circles where people say, "I have faith, I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith." That's just a long-winded religious way to say, "shut up," So, believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something.
Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.

Krishna kare to RASLEELA. Hum karein toh???

Chadta Suraj

This is one song which has always raised questions in my mind, as to, why are we alive? what purpose are we here for? if death is all we get, then what do we live for? I know too serious kind of questions, but I get carried away in the lyrics so much that I start sounding philosophical.

maut sabko aani hai kaun isse choota hai
tu fanah nahi hoga yeh khayaal jhoota hai
saans toot te hi sab rishe toot jaayenge
baap,maan,behen,biwi,bacche choot jaayenge
tere jitne hai bhai waqt ka chalan denge
cheen kar teri daulat do hi gaz kafan denge
jinko apna kehta hai kab yeh tere saathi hai
kabr hai teri manzil aur yeh baraati hai
laake kabr mein tujhko murda paak daalenge
apne haaton se tere moonh pe khaak dalenge
teri saari ulfat ko khaak mein mila denge
tere chahane waale kal tujhe bhulaa denge
isiliye yeh kehta hoon khoob sochle dil mein
kyon fansaaye baitha hai apni jaan mushkil me
kar gunaahon se tauba aage waqt sanbhal jaaye,
dum ka kya bharosa hai jaane kab nikal jaaye,
mutthi baand ke aane waale haat pasaare jaayega
dhan daulat jaagir se tune kya paaya hai kya paayega
chadta suraj dheere,dheere dhalta hai dhal jaayega

Is God really watching???

Smiling Always,

I always thought that there is only one act in the world which has no negative effects, smiling always. I was wrong. Smiling always is great unless one day you reach a stage where you want to cry and cry out loud but your eyes have forgotten how to shed a tear, a day when you call someone and miss someone so much that you want to cry over the phone as you hear their voice, but the grief can be heard only in your voice. A day when you call your "FRIENDS" and the only sounds can hear over the phone is either the ring or the IVR telling you that your friends are busy. You want to cry but you can't. You try hard, you sit alone, think of all the bad things that has happened to you, so that a tear wets your face, but in vain. Smiling always is good but you have to be prepared not to cry coz it isn't easy.

They are dead. Both your tears and them.

Chu Chu Chuha

If laughter is a medicene, I took my doze yesterday..
Yesterday I was asked to read out a hindi lesson to my nephew, the lesson was about a cat asking a mouse to come out as it wants to be friends with the mouse, but the mouse understand the trick and asks the cat to be friends with the dog standing right behind it.


I was reading out the lesson with full voice modulations and expressions, the lesson was progressing as decently is should progress in a 4th standard book as the mouse was addressed as CHU CHU CHUHA and the cat as BILLI MAUSI....


Billi Mausi said "Ram Ram! Mai aur tume khaaungi. Mai toh tumhaare mitr banne aayi hun. Aao mere mitr ban jaao"


Chu chu ne kaha "Nahi Mausi, peeche Tipu kutta khada hai, usse jaake apna mitr banaa lo"
and then as i turned the page I died laughing as the line written was never expected







BILLI NE KUTTE NE KO DEKHA TO USKI NANI HI MARR GAYI. I mean I always thought terms like these are either used in hindi films, wasn't aware that even children of 4th standard are taught this.

The phone call

Has it ever happened to you that you wanted something to happen desperately and it did not happen and just when you wished that the same thing was the the last thing to happen it occurs.

Happened to me yesterday, I have always wanted my phone to ring, now because very few people know me here it does not ring, weeks have passed since I got my connection but no luck and yesterday when I was in a meeting with some of the top level managers, as usual in the last seat and the one of the managers was yelling about the number of defective bluetooth headsets increasing.

"What should we do about it?" he asked addressing everybody in the roombut none of us was interested to answer

"Come on, give me suggestion. There has to be someway" he probed
No replies

"I dont expect this from a qualified group. I need a suggestion. Tell me what should we do"

Ding Dong oh baby sing a song, Ding Dong oh baby sing a song

Thats my ringtone. Infact was my ringtone.For the first few seconds I didnt even realise that it was my phone asking the manager to sing a song until everybody started staring at me.

"Aaammm.. Excuse me" I said, I didn't want to miss the call I had been waiting for.

I went out of the room and answered the call to hear a Recorded Voice saying "This is a welcome call. Thank you for choosing MTC-Vodafone. With MTC you ca...." I pressed the red button.
A welcome call after 5 weeks. Great!!!!
I entered to room again. Apparently the manager had made and accepted a suggestion himself.



















This is where my day starts from. My office cab pick up point

Cricket World Cup

One thing I fail to understand is that why is everybody so ready to be upset. It is as if they are looking for a reason to be upset about. Yesterday I had a minor argument with one of my relatives, and it was about the very much talked about Indian Cricket Team. When Bangladesh was playing against Australia yesterday, the relative remarked

"At least Bangladesh reached the Super Eight's but our team is good for nothing."

"They made a world record" was my reply

"Ooooh World Record against Bermuda"

"Yeah... even Sri Lanka and Bangladesh played against Bermuda, did they make a record?"

"hmmpphh...." Thats what most people do when they have no more replies to give.

I changed the channel to avoid the topic but landed on Ten Sports where an old match India vs Zimbabwe was being telecasted, India played well in that match , so i kept the remote aside.

"This guy Tendulkar should be shot." he said again

"Yeah right because he did not play cricket well, he sould be shot. Its just a game!!! why do you have to take it so seriously, if two teams play one has to loose, India has won the world cup once, reached the finals last time but has India ever won a football international cup, a hockey cup. No. why dont you shoot them?"

"They are representing India at international level and the loose so badly isnt it a shame?"

"No. A shame is when you dont support people of your country just because they didnt play well. At least they have qualified and they took India to an international level. What have you done for India?" oooops I realised that he is my relative not my friend and I have said a bit too much.

"You wont understand Rahul" Thats another thing most people say when they dont have anymore replies.

Happens....

Its amazing how customers you call dumb and good for nothing can say something that seems so simple but a thing you never realized.
It's happened to me when I was working with Quark as a Tech. Support Agent and supporting a software called QuarkXpress and usually customers would call in because they could not open a document or edit it and they answer we would give when nothing worked out was
"Aaaammm… I am sorry to say that sir, do you have backup of your document because I think that your document has gone corrupt"
And every time I said this I would smile at the thought that in India we only have corrupt ministers but in the US even their self created documents are corrupt and the customer would more or less say
"Oh Jesus!! Really, is there no way we can recover it?"
"I wish there was but you should have kept a backup"
"I will in future"
That was usually the end of the call but every once in a while a customer would ask
"What causes that? Is there something I can do to prevent it?"
Nobody in the entire office knew what caused that but nevertheless everybody has their own personal convincing explanation to it
Mine was:
"Aaaamm…. There is no specific reason maybe a corrupt picture in the document, a corrupt font, Some small thing goes wrong in the document and the whole document goes corrupt"
That quite convinced most of the customers but one decided to comment on it. She said
"Oh! So it's like Life"
Stunt I was. What a beautiful thought. I never knew my explanation for a small corrupt document can be used for a big thing we call life"
"Yes it is" I said.

WHY??

Why do I have to live the way other people do? Why do I have to practice what all others have been practicing? Why can't I do something different? Be different? Why can't I start a revolution? Somebody started everything that exists, somebody started wearing clothes, somebody started driving, somebody used the first phone, first comb, first nail cutter. What did they have that I lack or for that matter anybody lacks, why are people so afraid of being different, why do all people think more or less the same way, why am I required to work from morning to evening, why can ii work in the night, why do I have to get married and have an offspring, what change will it bring to the world if I don’t get married, don’t study, don’t become "responsible", its going to make a difference in my life I agree but why do I have to inherit habits and practices that are being followed. Who made these rules? Some people who lived in the past and what of I don’t fin the rules satisfactory. I am sure nobody thinks that this is a perfect world we are living in, then why don’t we change it, we still are doing the same things what our parents did and expect our children to do the same and we expect the world to change. The first change has to be brought in you.

A change in the way we live, we think, we work and change in humanity is pending and people are not starting it, most people think that man is weak and has to do what is "written". No. Man is the most powerful being, he can create and change is own destiny. A man has brought changes earlier and another man has to do it again, the time is now, and I am going try and bring some change and if no one is walking with me I will walk alone.

The thing that comes to my mind is that why am I the only one who thinks like this, why doesn’t anybody else think the way I think, why is everybody so satisfied and yet to worried about small things. Lets say I have around 60 years more to live and I will spend most part of the time working, now if I choose a work which I don’t like I am only entitling myself to 60 years of plain torture but I'll do what I want to do, I don’t aspire to be famous or very rich but towards the end of my life I will know that I have done what I wanted to and the people or the situations have not made me do things which I didn’t want to do, like till today I have only done what I wanted to and the years I have lived have been good so if I continue living the way I am living my life which lies ahead will also be pleasant. I set my own standard and I live according to them.

Those who say that they have seen more life than me are more experienced as welcome to advice me, but just don’t expect that I will be following it. Ok you guys are experienced but in what? In leading a family, In working 9 to 5, in the effort to make your both ends meet but I don’t want to do all this stuff, I just want to do what I feel like, I am not sure what and I don’t want to plan it, its just that I decide what I want to do at that given point of time. So my definition of life is "live" nothing more nothing less. Not the types where half of the day is spend planning about the other half.

Not many people agree with me on this topic, in fact it's only me who agrees. But I think its ok, its ok not to plan, its ok not to save, its ok not to be responsible and its ok to ask why.

©Rahul