Pankh jo phaelanae chahe, udaan he rok de gae…

Pankh jo phaelanae chahe, udaan he rok de gae,

Geet jo gana chaha, aawaaz he cheen le gae…

Pal bhar mae, jo kushiya thi, gum mae badal de gae,

Suraj bas abhi nikla he tha, phir ye andhare nae kaesse bazi maarde…

Massoom thae vo chaherae, mossomiyat sae bhari thi vo baate,

Doosti ke chadar ko oodhae jab dhaekhtae thae hum vo bade bade sapnae…

Ghar kae aangan sae lagta tha badi suhawani hai ye duniya…

Hassi ke kil kilahat ke pichae chupp gaye thi vo saare pareshaniya…

Jiwan ussii ko mannae lagethe jo tha asliyat sae kafi pare,

College kae lecturoo ko bunk karkae samajnae lage thae khud ko tees mar khan bade,

Engineering ke kitabae padhnae ka samay kaha tha sahab zyado ko,

Doosti aur pyaar-mahobat kae apnea kissae jo likhnae mae mushkool thae saare…

Paesso ke thee na koe chinta na thi aanae walle waqt ke parwa,

Jeetae thae hum bus ek pal mae aur ussi mae dhund laete saree kameeya..

Kitabo kee yaad to bas exam ke kuch din pahale he satati thi,

Baki kahani to bas Cold Coffe aur Movie Thetaro sae sajani thi…

Engineering to kar li, puri duniya jo kar rahe thi,

Mann to kabhi lagta nahi tha par mark-ae (marks) jo lanni thi…

Likhae aur Kalakari kee jo prathiba jannm lae rahe thi,

Mechanics kae hadsae nae salla bhujha de lawh jigyasa kee…

Udaan jo bhari thi hamnae umeedo sae bhari,

Socha, kam mae to jald he choo laeni hai vo bulandiya saari …

Himmat ko hum dund laete thae yaddo mae taere,

Doosto ke dosti mae chuppa laete thae duriyaa vo taerre,…

Par Udaan… hehe… Udaan thi vo kaese,

Jo maere alawa sab kuch he udaa lae gae…

Baethe rahe hum wahe aur saari duniya he ghum gae,

Niklae thae jo ghar sae Raja Harishchandra ke rah pae, apnae aap ko bhi ess sangarsh mae aaj bhulla baethhe…

Jinh paeso ke parwah na ke thi,

Jiss Kal kae baare mae kabhi na socha…

Aaj ussi kae samnae ghutae juka baethae,

Aaj ussi ko apni duniya banna baethae…

Aae-Baba kae paasoo ka jo kadar na tha, Unkae sangarshso ko aaj samajnae lage…

Par makan jo Sunhaera sajaya tha, Ussi ko gawa baethe…

Pankh jo phaelayae thae humane umeedo sae bhare,

Appnae he siddhantto kae bhar kae nichae dhae gaye sarreee…

Pankh jo phaelanae chahe, udaan he rok de gae,

Geet jo gana chaha, aawaaz he cheen le gae…

Pal bhar mae, jo kushiya thi, gum mae badal de gae,

Suraj bas abhi nikla he tha, phir salla ye andhare nae kasse bazi maarde..................

Promoting Piracy... Coolest Thing To Do, Right???

The coolest thing to do for Gen X over the Internet is DoWnLoAd... And DoWnLoAd some more... :) With Google at your service all you got to do is type whatever you want in the search box and Google morphs into your personal Jinni... Your wish becomes its command... and wallah!!! You have googols of sites listed, offering gazillion choices across categories... Software apps, MP3s, Movies, Games and everything else ;) all's there waiting for your consent - “CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD” :)

It was a revolution when Steve Jobs introduced the world to Mac in January 1984. Internet was just a baby then and only a countable few used it. Soon PC happened with a soltero motto, Windows for everyone. And now is the age of The Kindles and The IPhones. Internet junkies are huge in numbers and the gateway to it is in the other room or possibly via the GPRS enables cell phones vibrating in your trouser pockets. Logon to your Internet enabled systems and everything on the Web is a few key taps and mouse clicks away. Like us humans if Internet too had a Mom, then things would have been quite different don’t you think? Say for example, the moment you hit download this movie (illegally i.e.) she comes up morphed as a pop up Alert box which reads, “Baeta, this ain’t the right thing to doooooooo!!! (Loads of oooo’s to give it a rhyme ;) hehehe so you better read it that way… sorry, carry on… :) ).” She would always pinch your conscious the moment you try to do something that ain’t right (provided you still have the innocence left in you that makes you feel that taking something without permission ain’t correct after all :) if not then you should better read on, may be this article pinches this thought into you exactly like Internets’ Mom would have if she existed).

But, unfortunately or fortunately, no one can control how you use the Internet but you. The world is at your figure tips just coz of the WWW (Even this article:)). The power that it unleashes is massive and too huge for one person to own or control. So it’s better felt untamed and freedom be bestowed on individuals who wish to use it. Now that you have all the powers and rights to call the shots on what you wish to do with it, don’t you think you should be a little more responsible??? I agree on the fact that NO ONE in this world is Dhoodh Ka Dulla Hua… But unless you are dichromatic, I am sure you would understand the shades of grey; the extent you decide to MISS USE the WEB… Some people virtually travel great miles and bury their mother boards under mammoth ((0)*(1)*)* string of bit downloads nights after nights. Once the stuff is on our local drive, we start flaunting it in front of our chaddi baddies…

Rohan says, Hey Dude!!! Did you get your hands on The Chains Of Olympus -The Best PSP Game Ever and the Red Dead Redemption… I DoWnLoAdEd (:)) it the other day… man it’s Mind-Boggling!!! You want it??? I have it on my machine… I’ll get it for you kal…

There you go!!! This is what it was talking about… Buddy wake up!!! Not just did you illegally DoWnLoAdEd it, you have already started acting as an Ambassador for Promoting Piracy madi…

All of us use a music enable gadget that we refuse to leave home without, right… and what’s the point in having it if you don’t have your favorites on the playlist... So what do we do??? Should we shop for our favorites on EBay or Planet M… Naaaaaa!!! that’s not realistic… I ain’t the son of Ambani that ill buy my music... I mean come-on after a few weeks I’m sure there’s gonna be fresh meat in the music market for me to hog on… But I sooooo need the “Ye Dooriyan” track from “Love Aaj Kal” on my ipod man!!! And I am sure I would get it on the WEB… So what if the artists has put in Khoon Paseena (okaaaayyyy…they were sitting in air-conditioned studios and did not bleed either… but still…:) ). If I shop for it, I’ll have to shell out my Papa’s hard earned money and he would never ever agree on buying me this stupid few months craze lasting mp3… But I need it no matter what…. Ahh ha!!! WEB baba ke Jai… That’s what we all do right… And once we have it on our devices we go all gaga about it and make those who still haven’t committed the sin of DoWnLoAdInG, ask for it too…Tools to share it have already been created… The Torrent Engines (P2P software apps), USBs, Smart Cards, Bluetooth and many more are readily available options for you to share your sins. I am sure this wasn’t on the minds of those who invented USBs and Bluetooth :)… Why do we all forget that someone made FM stations (now over the internet too) to satisfy our momentary wants, at least for our music taste buds. Ya of course, you have to learn meditation before you can listen to FM… hehehe… I mean you got to wait patiently till they shut up BaddBadding and play the darn music… Ohh ya forgot… all of us want an Ipod and a collection of songs that we can call our own (be it illegally… you can always ask your mind to brush this word under the carpet saying, all do it so what if I did it too… All I did was an innocent mouse tap on the link that said “CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD”:))… by the way… I have the “Ye Dooriyan” track on my machine if you want it :)

We all crave for entertainment but paying for it takes a little weight off our pockets. But that’s one weight no one would mind carrying actually ;) hehe!!! Cinema houses these days charge anywhere between INR 100 to INR 500 down South Mumbai during the peak hours. If you wish to watch it for 80 bucks then you better get up early and make sure your girl-friend too reaches the movie screening venue before 9am :) Haha!!! That’s a daunting task don’t you think… I’m sure guys can but for Girls… Naaaaaaa… Most of the fairer sex need well over an hour to just decide on attire and makeup :) (Girls don’t kill me after reading this please :))… So ya basically 9Am show is out of the question at least for the love birds :)… But this is a group of people who would never ever go for downloading I guess… Paying INR 150 – INR 250 for a late-morning or early-noon show in a cozy Air-conditioned Last Row Cinema hall is fullon paisa wasool for the couples. For the rest of us (hehe) most of the time, “CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD” it is… BUYING the latest flick is a difficult option when a free copy is always available over the net or with your Chuddy Buddy :) Hmmm… serious temptations na!!! Well let’s hope some business guru comes up with a smart offer like a monthly pass or something for us movie hungry youngsters… All you MBAs out there, I really need your help on this :)

With the kind of technological advancement we have seen in past few years, getting access to a whole lot of gadgets and resources is pretty much easy. Common!!! I cannot have a Computer running on DOS or LINUX right… I need at least a Windows 7 if not an iMAC :)… but paying for it… that’s a little difficult. Latest Windows 7 upgrade would costs me anywhere around USD 200… USD 1 is about INR 44.667 as per RBI’s website… Wooohhh!!! Chal na Mamu, if I get my pc assembled using parts from lamington road and a pirated Windows copy then I can save enough for a booze party with my mates ;) so why the heck go for Original… But technology is an area where a few Angels are working on Open Source. Open source is a good way one can avoid promoting piracy at least in technology arena. I mean there are easy alternatives available over the net that are good substitute of proprietary stuff and that too for FREE… All you need is a little eagerness to look for them and readiness to let go desire for BRANDED PROPRIETARY STUFF. Of course the Branded stuffs are always an edge ahead… But Open Source is FREE:) what else do you need. When it comes to compatibility, well most of them provide support for outputs from the proprietary apps too. We have The UBUNTU OS free of cost that you can have your machine running on. Then there is OPEN OFFICE from the JAVA GODS as an entrant alternative to MS OFFICE. We have a whole lot of trial version available for Antivirus softwares. If you don’t want to take the pain of 30 day Trial downloads then go for AVAST or the AVG. Try GIMP for your image processing needs instead of a Photoshop. Go for VLC player as against the pirated Video players. VLC is capable of playing every darn vid file format, so worry not :). 7-ZIP is a powerhouse open source alternative for WINRAR. Then we have a NOTEPAD ++ as against the TEXTPAD. All you Student Developers go for JAVA I say. The JAVA IDEs – Net Beans and Eclipse are free of cost :) as against the MS Visual Studio for DOT NET. Of course the Free Apps have their limitations but it’s FREE after all :)

All said I understand that this age is called KALYUG as per Hindu mythology for a reason. So the mantra should be to remember that not being Dichromatic would help a lot…. Capability to see Shades of grey is the need of this present time… Summation of a little discretion from each one of us would result in a great cut down on piracy I feel… Dichromatic Thinking is a thing of Satyug and its existence in this fast paced high demanding extremely accessible world is not possible in entirety…. And hence this article and the links below :) … This is my contribution to the Left Hand Side of the Algebraic Summation equation I spoke about earlier in this para :) I hope you do yours too :)

• Nokia Website offering Free Music: http://music.ovi.com/in/en/pc and http://www.nokia.co.in/services-and-apps/music/main-music

• Few Links to download Open Source Softwares mostly from Geek Group: Geek.com ; http://sourceforge.net/about ; http://geek.net/ ; http://slashdot.org/ ; http://www.ohloh.net/ ; http://freshmeat.net/ ; http://en.softonic.com/

• OS : UBUNTU: http://www.ubuntu.com/

• OPENOFFICE: http://www.openoffice.org/

• VLC Player and Server: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

• For all you engineering grads and Developers : http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/indexes/downloads/index.html

Chalo guys gtg… Enjoy :) and keep sharing more open source links as and when you find :) :) :)

Beyond College Gates

Raj Malhotra, the central character of my story, at first look seems to be a guy right from the genera of movies created by “Yash Raj”. But wait… guy not with the looks of a Hero form Yashji’s movies but a heart :). Whilst in College, he believed that the world is full of people who are sweet, simple and humble (humble – ya right, hehe!!!). LoVe “WAS” the Alpha Human emotion according to him. He has his own small pocket dictionary of “The Rights and The Wrongs”. His roots are very modest yet, he never considered Money as supreme. These Modest roots had imbibed a “Little is More” feeling in Raj’s character. Raj Loved spending time in his closely nit Birds-Nest. Simply put, he lacked the qualities of making of a “Big Shot” or a “Genius” or even a “Mr. Popular”. Raj is plain sincere who always wanted the coziness of his loved ones around. He hated the idea of running behind money 24x7. His Family Tree Bonding was not that great. Raj never got to gel much with his cousins and relatives. Uncle, Aunty (Raj’s parents) had their own Life-Book and they made sure that Raj was kept away from the darker chapters. BUT Raj’s mom could never bare the painful events which eventually took serious toll on her emotional health. This was the biggest shaping force in Raj’s conservative, humble and introvert character. In spite of this, Raj loved being around people. He loved everything that had human interaction minus the feelings synonymous to competition and jealousy. BUT he always remained a rabbit, kept hopping from one group of people to the other. May be he dint want to get too close to all but the special one. Or, possible he does not want anyone to discover him completely. A Mysterious Guy :) … wooooowww!!! BUT one who hid his fears and weaknesses as a mystery. Raj was never the intelligent kinds. He could be easily overshadowed on intellectual topics… Though he was doing an Engineering course he had no IdEa about even the word EnGiNeErInG… hehe… He never wanted to become an engineer in the first place BUT the problem was, he knew what he DIN’T want to do and was never sure about what he would love to do :(. During the pre-grad schooling days, he suddenly discovered his talent at fashion designing and sketching. Wait!!! here again is the famous BUT - he never did much about this newly found skill to make it into a career. As quickly as he had discovered this talent, he forgot it too… In his Grad School, he found his special one - sweet, cute and adorable “BIRDY”. Hehe…This fellow had already planned his future with this BiRdY without knowing what awaits him beyond the CoLlEgE gAtEs. She was his first love (at 20 yrs of age ;) ). Unfortunately, his thinking was very far from reality until the college got over.

His first job took him away from everyone. Away from his parents, his BiRdY(she eventually developed strong wings :) ) and all the coziness he ever wanted. He opted for it though. Raj wanted to know how it feels to live alone. He wanted to feel the joy of making his own decisions. He wanted to experience freedom that he never got to feel while staying with his parents. Not that his parents stopped him from exploring himself. He had built a virtual wall of fear and anonymity around him. He was afraid that his choices would hurt his parents. Probably he was unsure about his own choices. This was his only chance to do what he wanted to do; to make his own decisions and learn from his mistakes without hurting anyone. It was this choice that jolted him to reality.

The 7 months probation in his first Corporate Organization was fab. But it did not take him much time to realize that it was just another illusion. This was his first lesson in the marketing term – USP/UVP (Unique Selling/Value Proposition). With the sunset of training period began a roller coaster; a roller coater that shattered his dreams but did teach him a few more corporate gimmicks. This Ride got him face to face with Corporate Beats like “Jo Pakda Gaya Vo He Choor”, Resource Utilization, Revenue Churn and Business Continuity, Quick Sand Projects, Chaotic Project Management, HR Lollypops, the famous Skill Management and Risk Mitigation Plan Mockery, and the Buttering Effect (which he still has not learnt) ;) etc. In his first project itself Raj confronted the characters his elders had warned him about. These dreaded characters were Mr. Politician, Mr. Seat Warmer, Mr. It’s All About Me, Miss Havoc, Miss I Am The Best, Mr. I am The Boss, Mr. What Can I Do and so on… Hehe, Raj was almost on the verge of quitting and going back home without even having found another job. BUT (again the favorite word in Raj’s Life hehe), for reasons related to lost confidence, darker chapter from his parents’ book and a little bit of give-up cum easy-going attitude, Raj is still sticking around this bitter reality…:)

Raj - a boy who got transformed into a Man. A Man who now believes in love BUT ( :) ) understands that just love won’t suffice. Raj baeta finally grew up…. Unfortunately, he is amongst those who need a big jhatka to wake up from their dreams. This is a story about a kid’s first step into the corporate jungle. A transition that takes him Beyond College Gates and opens a complete new play ground for Raj to play in. Raj in this new playground is just like a child at his first day in school… Lot to learn and explore and unlearn his love for coziness and many more things … All of which would happen only once Raj shrugs off his hesitation… Beyond College Gates, that’s when Raj meets Reality and falls into a whirlpool of conundrums forcing him to change his thinking ways if he wishes to stay afloat unless he finds a Rocket to fly him off this stink hole :) :) :)

What’s your story???

A question that can never fail to get its audience talking - “What’s your story???” This particular question is the best way to get an insight into someone’s life. Especially if you are already in the comfort zone of that person then the reply to this question can take you into a completely different world. Everyone has a little story that they would love to share with someone. Or they might have something that is kind of heavy on their soul and you might just help them lessen their grief by asking this question.

You on your first date with a hot a chick or may be the girl next door. You might just know her by name or face or she might be your blind date that your friends got you into. Go ahead, ask this question. It’s a good way get started. Did you recently meet your long lost buddy? Or did you bump into your cousin, who has recently got back from London, at your relatives wedding function? Ohh! Your parents coaxed you to meet a girl for an arrange marriage and you are all dumbfounded. Well, what’s your story, remember!!!

Let me tell you how it works. Life means experiences. The more is the number value on your age counter, the more you have that you can share. And with the age the stories also get more intense. Aging effect…hehe… The story about by birth has a funny annotation to it. I was not at all interested to come into this world and was very much at home in my Mom’s womb. But then the Draculian Doctor decided to get me out by an operation. According to him it was time for me to enter into this world. Isn’t that my choice? But the thought of the knives and scissors and blood….. wohhh!!! No no no please don’t do that…. And the very next day, or infact the first morning of the next year (1987) I was out… hehhehehe kind off fattu(chicken) ever since…. ;) but I did express my anger by crying out loud… hehehe… Don’t blame me for being fattu… blame that doctor… obviously nanhi se jaan kae samnae koe operation ke baat karaega to haava to nikal he jani hai… Kyu hai ke nahi…

And then follows the confusion about my name… It’s Bunty if you don’t know… and yes that’s my real name so don’t you ask me whether it’s my nick name or something…. I know it will sound funny when I turn 70 and I am a granddada… but what the heck… I have no issues…

There are tones of stories that follow…. The above two stories were just about my beginning. With age they have got more and more complicated and most of them have a sad notion to it……. So lets not go there…. As I said, if you are already in the comfort zone of that person, his story will take you to a completely different world. Bond and trust will also definitely see new heights… but remember, with great power comes great responsibility…. Hehehe…. I know…I know… churaya hua hae… and nor does it fit exactly out here… it should be, with great insight comes great responsibility…. Hehehhe this is true bollywood style of taking inspiration ;)

Anyways I guess you get the point…. Nahi!!!!!!! Kya yaarrrr…. All I wanted to say is if you don’t know what or where to start a conversation then try, “What’s your story”, it works most of the times :D …. Happy chatting J chao chao!!!