Kahin toh hogi woh

I think I heard this song for the first time last week. I heard it again yesterday and liked the serene tune of the song. That made me listen to it today again and now I am in love with the song, especially the lyrics. Sharing it here -

Film: Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Music: A. R. Rahman
Lyrics: Abbas Tyrewala
Playback: Rashid Ali, Vasundhara Das

Kahin toh, kahin toh, hogi woh
Duniya jahaan tu mere saath hai
Jahaan main, jahaan tu
Aur jahaan bas tere mere jazbaat hain
Hoti jahaan subah teri, palkon ki kiranon mein
Lori jahaan chaand ki, sune teri baahon mein
Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane na woh hai bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafaa nahin
Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane na woh hai bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafaa nahin

Saansein kho gayi hain kiski aanhon mein
Main kho gayi hoon jaane kiski baahon mein
Manzilon se rahein dhundhti chali
Aur kho gayi hai manzil kahin raahon mein

Kahin toh, kahin toh, hai nasha
Teri meri har mulaqat mein
Hothon se, hothon ko
Chumte rehte hai hum har baat pe
Kehti hain fizaa jahaan
Meri zameen aasmaan
Jahaan hai tu, meri hansi
Meri khushi, meri jaaan
Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane na woh hai bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafaa nahin
Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane na woh hai bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafaa nahin

Shrushti - Hai koi sawaal?

Though I was actually meeting Srushti for the first time, it didn't show up on her face when we met. In just no time we were friends and we started talking. I had a constant smile on my face as I talked to her. Even she had it but not as much as I had it :) It was already half past 11 and I realised she should go to sleep. I took her on the terrace and lifted her. I was curious to know what she was thinking!

(To make the interaction we had as close to the actual one, I am writing some parts in Hindi.)

I looked up and asked her pointing towards the stars, "Yeh itne saare dots kya hai?" She replied, "Yeh dots nahi, starrrrssss hai!" :D 4 year olds are not as dumb as we think they might be. Yes, Shrushti is a 4 year old cousin of mine who had come home :) I replied, "Par yeh stars hote kya hai?" For a fraction of a second she looked at the stars. But in another fraction she looked at me and asked, "Kyu tumhein nahi pata? Pehli baar dekh rahe ho kya?" Waah beta! Maar diya pehla chaata bahut jald hi! I said, "Haan pehli baar hi dekh raha hu. Tu bata na, yeh stars hote kya hai?" She replied, "Arey yeh woh Twinkle Twinkle little stars mein aate hai na woh hai." Le, itni si baat nahi pata thi!

Koi baat nahi. Hamari jholi mein bhi koi kam questions nahi the! Stars ke baaju mein hi clouds the. So i asked, "Achcha, aur yeh white white kya hai?" She said, "Cloudssss" I said, "Par clouds hote kya hai?" She said, "Clouds mein baarish hoti hai." I knew the reply and so responded in a flash, "Par baarish neeche kaise girti hai?" I never knew she also knew the question and responded equally fast, "Clouds hai na, upar neeche hote hai..aise aise (moving her inverted palm up and down)..aur isliye unmein se paani bahar gir jaata hai." And I just could not control my laughter. It was one of the best naive logics I had ever heard! Hats off to Shrushti!

So we moved to another corner of the terrace now. Behind our house is a huge neem tree. I pointed it out and asked her, "What is that?" She said, "Treeeeeeee" I asked her, "Achcha. Par kaisa hai na tree...Hum log kaise chal sakte hai, ghum fir sakte hai. Woh kyu nahi chalta? Woh kyu ek hi jagah khada rehta hai?" She responded, "Tree toh kitna bada hota hai. Kaise chal sakta hai? Chalne jaega toh gir nahi jaega?" My questions, which I thought could have been top scorers, got bowled out by her responses one after the other.

I just looked at her and laughed out loud! Even she did the same this time. But probably not for the same reason :) She had perhaps discovered the first fool in her life (and that too in 4 years) who was desperate to prove himself a fool by asking her questions, the answers of which she already knew!

Why the hell can't we understand such simple things - that stars toh wohi hote hai jo twinkle twinkle poem mein aate hai. Aur stars shayad bane bhi isiliye honge taaki koi poet yeh poem likh ke famous ho sake; agar koi vessel oopar neeche ho ke paani bahar gira sakta hai toh clouds kyu nahi? Why do we HAVE to maaro the evaporation/condensation fundas!? Roots pakad ke rakhta hai tree ko aisa kaun kehta hai. Woh toh waise hi bechare badnaam kiye jaate hai. Asli reason toh tree ka weight hai. Kahin chalne gaya aur gir gaya toh 10 aur logon ko le marega! Par itni baat hamare dimaag mein kahan ghusegi.

Jo bhi ho, I just can't describe the fun I had with her. Shrushti might be thinking, "Hai koi sawaal?" Par Shrushti ka, hai koi jawaab!?

Sunita

(This is an old post that I had posted somewhere else on 3/8/07. Shifting it here since I am closing that one.)

Today I planned to take some food with me and so carried some bananas. As I was taking the bag out of the dicky, she looked at me. She realized that I had something to give them and so she kept looking at me. I called her. With her came another girl.

As they came to me, I opened the bag and gave both of them a banana. The other girl asked me to give two more as she also had a brother and a sister who were at home. I told her that the banana was for her and she should eat it. The other girl was quiet and was listening to what I was saying. I went on to distribute the bananas to other people.

While I was returning, I saw the quiet girl next to her mother. Her mother had a half eaten banana in her hand and was already chewing something. It must have been only around 30 to 40 seconds by the time I came back. So the chance that the girl had the opportunity to eat the banana was very less. I knew that this would be happening with most of the kids. They were just being employed by their parents. I was a bit frustrated as I could not get the child eat the food.

While I was returning back, the girl came and stood in front of me. I could not stop myself and so just ended up asking her why didn’t she eat the banana. She gave me a smile which made me even angrier at her mother. I told her that I knew she had given it to her mother. I asked her why she didn’t eat it and why she gave it to her mother. She had no answer. She just had no answer. But, she had a very pretty smile on her face. I asked her her name and she replied, “Sunita”. I asked her where she lived and who all were there in her family. She had two sisters, one of them had got married and had a child, and they lived near the river bank. Her father was no more alive and she had also lost one sister. When asked about her mother and what she did, she said that she begs. I knew it wasn’t her mother who really begged. It was her children whom she made to beg.

I asked her what she did through out the day. Unlike our society kids, who will have a stylish answer to such a question, she didn’t know how to answer it and so kept smiling. I asked her if she went to school. She said that she didn’t go to school but her sister’s kid went to school. I asked her if she knew how to count. She didn’t! She had such a lovely smile on her face that I just could not stop myself from talking to her. I told her that next time when I go there with banana, I will see to it that she eats the banana. She didn’t even say yes to that but instead, just kept smiling. I knew what it meant. I waved my hand and said bye to her.

I realized that the only thing that these kids need is some affection. The atmosphere they grow in is too noisier to have space for care and warmth. I wish to intrude this space of theirs with a hope to make them smile for whatever little time I can!

Do you look happy in the morning?

(This post should have appeared a few months ago. Just found the note today and so posting it today. So read it as if it is some day in September '07 going on.)

IF YOU DON'T LOOK HAPPY AT 7 IN THE MORNING, YOU COULD BE FEELING SLEEPY.

5:50 AM in the morning and my alarm rings. Not because I have to get up and go for a jog or a gym or yoga but because I have to get ready and leave for a school at 7:00 AM. (Don’t laugh that to leave at 7 I get up at 5:50…I said the alarm rings. I didn’t say that I get up :)) In my entire schooling, only in 11th and 12th standard I had a morning school and that too I don’t remember how many days I actually went to the school and so I can say that jo kabhi zindagi mein nahi kiya…woh ab karna pad raha hai. But I have to say, I love going to school :)and be with the kids.

I have been going to schools here in Ahmebabad to conduct trials. Just wanted to share my experiences with kids over here, nothing technical, just – experiences with kids.

Thank God kids are not grown-ups!

Kids will have a whole lot of problems. Those problems are small and remain small. They don’t turn into major problems just because they are not grown-ups (just ask yourself what a mess you make out of a small problem in the attempt to solve it).

Lesson 1: For each and every small problem you will be called. If the machine is not on, you will be asked if it has to be put on or should they use some other machine. For every small pop-up message you will be called – whether it be serious error messages or some messages like “Congratulations. You answered 5 consecutive questions correctly.” (For the latter, its just that they, unlike us, know to share the small small joys.)

Lesson 2: They will keep asking questions and bother you even if they know the answer. They will know that the question is loading and it will come once the green status bar is filled with dots. But they will just keep calling you and ask, “Whennnnnn willllll the question come?” They are told daily that they can do it online even from home but even then they will ask, “Can I do it from home today?”

Lesson 3: They are patience-less creatures and on top of that they test our patience which is even less than theirs. They know that they have to press the button once it becomes active. But even then they will just keep clicking the button (am not sure if the button gets frustrated due to that and becomes active…ke bhai le bass…khatam kar ab! ;)). They know that you are the only opponent who has to fight against all of them but still they will keep poking you. The class has 48 students and I can bet that at any time no less than 25-30 hands are up for some or the other stupid (as in adult terminology) doubt. You will have to run from one end of the lab to the other, solve the doubt and go the next kid and they will keep shouting till you attend them. And if you miss any one of them by chance, they will say, “Sir, you never come when I call!”

Lesson 5: Those tiny cheaters (read as creatures) are very smart. One day the net was not working and I asked them to talk to me about things that they like and ones they don’t…what they want to do when they grow up and those standard stupid things (as in kids’ terminology ;)) like what do you want to become. I asked one girl in a corner to start. They were too shy and said that I should start and they would follow me. So I said ok and shared what I wanted to say. And then none of those cheaters (read as creatures :)) followed me and instead started laughing when I asked them to start :)(maybe they might have found me funny saying that I don’t want to become anything in my life…and instead I wished I could go back to school and study and enjoy like them).

Lesson 6: Be careful! They will sometimes ask you to do funny things. There’s a girl in class 6 who just keeps smiling all the time. One day I was standing besides her and she looked at me and the ceiling. The ceiling has some low parts one of which was just above my head. She looked at me and said, “Sir, can you touch that ceiling?” And I looked at her…she was smiling. I touched the ceiling with my hand and she started laughing :)

Lesson 7: Their interpretation of the surroundings (including humans and their nature) is sometimes very naïve but no doubt unarguable at times. One day the net wasn’t working in the morning and so as usual I allowed them to play games. This had happened many times before but unlike the other days, I was sitting quietly on a chair (don’t remember what was going on in my mind). One of the kids saw me sitting and asked me, “Sir, are you feeling sleepy?” I asked, “How do you know?” He said, “Because you are not happy today.” I had heard about this that kids observe very small small things about their teacher’s behaviour, but experienced it personally for the first time. They had never seen me quiet maybe.

I think I’ll stop here. From stupid requests (in adult terminology ofcourse) like “May I go to drink water/toilet” to intelligent responses like “How many more questions do I have to answer to clear this level?” all I can say is I am loving it.

The Imagination Bicycle

“Bahut accha hai. Par kuch fit nahin ho raha. Samajh mein nahin aa raha kya. But love it.”

This was the comment that I received from Apu on this pic. And it made me look at it again and see what it was about the pic that he liked. Usse bhi samajh to nahi hi aya tha :) par socha chalo try karte hai! What I vaguely remember is that the only thing that had made me click the pic was an object that was supposed to be outside, on the road; but it was inside a house. Honestly, I had not thought much while pressing the click button. But now, having received this comment, when I look back at the pic, I find many interesting things about it.

The thoughts are definitely mine, can be called fictitious and are not related to any object, living or dead. Any resemblance might just be a coincidence :) So don’t think much!

Look at the photo again. There is a house with doors open. The doors are having carvings, indicating that they are probably made of wood and are apparently pretty old. The opening into the house is pretty narrow, perhaps characteristic of the old houses. There is a pipe that is going inside the house; or probably outside (I don’t remember observing it in that detail). Chances are high that it is coming outside, from the tap somewhere inside, on the first floor (I can say that because the pipe is rising as it goes in), so that water can be sprayed outside the house (it is an old practice, followed by many people so as to keep their houses clean and cool outside). And there are a few electricity meters, looking old because of the wooden plate on which they are fixed, but are actually new, replaced by the company (I know because I have similar ones at my home).

And finally coming to the point, there is a bicycle, resting against the wall of the room. Look carefully. It is a bicycle, a means of transportation. It is supposed to be outside the house and not inside. Again look carefully. The front wheel is nicely locked with the cross metal bar so that it can’t be moved. The reason the possessor of the bicycle might have kept it inside is the fear of it getting stolen, if kept outside. Funny! Isn’t it? Not really. It somewhere depicts the condition of the human mind. Not all, but definitely some. It wants to be outside but it’s not allowed to be; just because of the fear of it getting wasted. It wants to be free, but it is kept locked most of the time; unfortunately, again due to some kind of fear. It can’t move on its own but it can definitely carry someone on it, if made effort by that someone.

Shouldn’t the bicycle be lying outside? Shouldn’t the mind be let free most of the time? Shouldn’t the bicycle be kept unlocked when it is under one's supervision? Shouldn’t our mind be allowed to imagine when we are there to consciously bring it back to the desired state? Shouldn’t we make an effort to ride the bicycle, travel and explore places? Should our mind be allowed to think, go beyond the expected reality and explore something new, something true?

Let’s ride the bicycle of imagination!

Jee! Talk!

Gmail users might be aware of these situations that I am just going to describe. This is what we do each morning – wake up, go to the loo, POL (sounds similar to LOL? Yes…Pee out Loud!) and then brush our teeth. This is analogous to what we do each morning in office - put our PCs on, login, reply to official mails and then log into Gmail! It has become a habit for us and I won’t be surprised if few years down the line we find this thing in a kid’s textbook saying ‘Daily Gmail habits’!

So why has Gmail penetrated our virtual lives so much? What do we actually do on Gmail? Keep our status available or busy and wait for people to email us? Or keep searching some or the other email all the time? Or keep emailing others all the time? I would really like to meet the person who says yes to these questions. Hardly does anyone use Gmail as an official email id given the free email ids available for each company’s employee. Then what the hell do we do there?

I think the answer lies in one of the features of Gmail, Gtalk. Let’s go back to almost where we started, slightly changing the question that we asked. What do we do once we log into Gmail? Do we check the few emails that have come in the few hours we have been offline? No! We look for the green and red buttons (with a slit :)) that appear on the left hand side of the page, showing our friends who are online. After having looked briefly at those buttons and counting them somewhere at the back of the mind, we start looking for names, in alphabetical order. We look for the certain characters, certain names and the colour of the button against their name. We wait for the colour of the buttons to change at times. We may not start talking to those having green/red buttons, or sometimes, with the ones we are expecting to have green/red buttons, but we may still keep going back, again and again to the page to check if their buttons are still coloured. And sometimes we even wait for the names to swing left and right on the minimized window of Gmail :) I find it pretty interesting!

And that’s not the only thing that we do. We do wait for some buttons to turn green/red and as soon as they do, we just can’t stop ourselves talking to them. Whether the discussions have a meaning or not is a different thing. After all, who cares! It’s the virtual adda where we meet! Right?

I am happy to be one of the users of Gmail and have the privilege of experiencing all the things mentioned above. I would really like to thank Gmail, for making the talk possible! I would have felt really lonely in this crowded world in its absence. Thanks once again!

Fly

Aeroplanes have always fascinated me. I remember looking up at the sky, looking for them every time I heard them roaring. Looking through the trees, behind tall buildings, in all directions, just to get a glimpse of it. I remember looking at the thick white trail some of them left behind and then following it till the end just to find out the one that had made it. I remember sleeping on terrace at night, staring at the dark sky with twinkling dots and then finding a flashing, moving dot, an aeroplane traveling at night. There are many sweet memories linked to the last one :)

A year back I got to board an aeroplane for the first time. And I have boarded it a few number of times after that. Of course not to say that I have stopped looking for them when they pass roaring now. The curiosity still remains the same. In fact it has increased a bit more.

The only difference is that some time back, I used to curiously look at the plane passing by and now I even look at the earth as it carries me in it. As the plane takes off, it not just carries us away from the land but also sets our brain in the zoom out mode. The people, the houses, the trees, the buildings – all, decrease in dimension as we start flying. It just gives you an amazing view of things, whether on land from which you are moving away or the sky in which you are flying.

Of the few things that I remember as I have flown a few times in the past year are –

- View of the cities, full of bright dots at night. And as the plane lands, the light sources – the street lamps, the headlights etc. which appeared initially as points, increasing in diameter and becoming full big sources, lighting everything around. The straight lines formed by the point light sources emerge as roads lighted by the street lamps. I just can't describe it in words here!

- View of the sun rising at the horizon.

- A splendid view of the clouds, looking like blobs of cotton, flooring the sky :)

- View of the plane passing through the clouds, with the clouds knocking at the windows and the body of the plane, as if asking us to allow them to enter inside :)

I still love to watch the planes from the ground and wonder if someone sitting inside could see me staring at them :)