Small joys in life

Feeding sparrows with your hand.

Receiving a hand-written letter.  

Getting off safely at Kurla station.

Finding a girl who's fluent in expletives. 

Strong memory.

Kori Rotti.

Father taking pride in your work although he doesn't understand a sentence. 

Bitching and wailing in self-pity.

Being punctual.

Gifting a book to an online friend with a personal note because you can't wait till you write your own.

Witnessing an argument when you know both parties are wrong.

Train fights.

Grandma's nonsensical stories that still make sense.

Cool breeze running through your hair even though you aren't heading to Hotel California.

Independent artistes not giving up. 

Working hard. And then some more.

European leagues to spend weekends on and then spend the following weekdays pretending to be football pundit.

Scratching yourself or picking nose without societal scrutiny to worry about.

Finding a window seat. 

Having a really good topic to write on.

Kids walking like penguins to school.

Choosing to stand in a queue that eventually moves faster than the one on its side. 

Making mother laugh with your jokes.

Making your designate-girlfriend cry with your tales.

World cinema.

Natalie Portman on desktop. 

Early monsoon followed by early winter followed by late summer. 

Mowgli's and Calvin's relative immortality. 

Attending the ceaseless marriage of music and lyrics in Bollywood. 

Salary, no matter how pitiful it is. 

Brilliant ideas only to get wasted in a tweet.  

The acknowledgement of your perfect flaws. 

Free hugs.

More than enough sleep.

Leaving your past behind...for a few moments.

Festivals.

My pals in Pakistan whom i haven't met yet. 

Friendship that shall last longer than forever.

Torrents. 

Enmity that doesn't bother you anymore. 

Touchscreen letting you type exactly what you want to.

The belief that everything's going to be OK when you wake up.

A few good omen

A little bit of respect never harmed anyone but why take a chance, right? Exactly. However, there are exceptions who somehow stand out and deserve respect. Below are a few of them.

1. Those who practise the lost art of listening attentively.
2. Pious women clad in burqa against this godless weather.
3. Dino Morea and Kunal Kapoor enrolled in acting classes. 
4. Illiterate parents who are working real hard to make sure their children get educated.
5. Every single strand of grey on your head because you've literally earned each one of them.
6. Hashim Amla's beard.
7. Yogeshwar Dutt's swollen eye at London Olympics.
8. Parents armed with wailing infants at public spots. 
9. Whoever created this poetic world without a muse. 
10. Anurag Kashyap, because he makes movies that need to be made, irrespective of the box-office.
11. In times like Uttarkhand floods, Indian Army.
12. Visually-challenged folks calmly making their way through overcrowded railway platforms in Mumbai.

A questionnaire of ignorance

Ever felt like conquering Monday on a Sunday night? Remember that era when common sense prevailed? Have you ever been killed by excessive happiness? Been totally at peace with yourself? You know what's interesting? Remember that era when we weren't wary of falling asleep? Ever been at the center of a groundbreaking event? Can you recall those days when Saturday evening stood for freedom? Ever considered the possibility that someone else could be right too other than you? Remember the New Year Resolutions we made back in January? Are you aware of anybody who has named their kid Barfi yet? Any idea what happens to people like us? Remember the good old days when values really meant something? Have you ever felt like doing what you were born for? Can you recollect that era when we had better things to do? Heard of that monk who pawned his Lamborghini? Ever feel like you're experiencing a life-altering moment? Remember those days we used to have a low-maintenance life? Heard of those tweeps who knew exactly what they were doing online? Know how difficult it is to build a reputation? Reminisce the last time somebody called you a fucking genius? Remember anyone informing you “Jaise bhi ho, acche ho” lately? Remember the last time you offended yourself instead of others? Ever considered the possibility that you could be right too? Remember those weekdays we had real fun? Forget Bolt and Blake, care to learn who's the world's fastest Indian? Who are you?

Me neither. 

Mere coincidences?

• It's no mere coincidence almost everybody feels that they are somehow treated unfairly by others.
• It's no mere coincidence that everybody cheats but only YOU get caught.
• It's no mere coincidence that Carlos Slim is 73 and is worth $73 billion. 
• It's no mere coincidence that your trolls are precisely those whom you haven't followed back yet. 
• It's no mere coincidence that the crazies usually make all the difference.
• It's no mere coincidence that the expression 'take it from me' is mostly used by some of the worst misers. 
• It's no mere coincidence that finding goodness in a person ain't as easy as pointing out flaws.
• It's no mere coincidence that the ones having a problem with Twitter contests don't win anything anyway.
• It's no mere coincidence that we seldom bother to remember those who made us laugh. 
• It's no mere coincidence that words of wisdom always sound better when they are flowing out of YOUR mouth.
• It's no mere coincidence that glutton already comprise of the word ton.
• It's no mere coincidence that all the unrated folks find their rated counterparts overrated.
• It's no mere coincidence that the people we like are generally very similar to us.
• It's no mere coincidence that all of us are alive at this very precise moment.
• It's no mere coincidence that a lot of us abide by the temporal property of two things happening at the same time.
• It's no mere coincidence that drink and think rhyme.
• It's no mere coincidence that the term 'committed' is often followed by 'suicide'.
• It's no mere coincidence that hindu is an anagram of hundi.
• It's no coincidence that both facebook and facepalm has the word face in it. 
• It's no mere coincidence that ‘enjoy' and 'office' don’t complement each other in the same sentence
• It's no mere coincidence that although i've got nothing new to say, you're still reading.

Whatever goes

It's perfectly OK to assume the world shall end a few minutes after we die. | Delusions such as these can help us survive. | Lower the expectations, the lesser you lie. | Underestimating the trial that follows denial? | And how far is heaven from hell? | Little by little, the journey extends itself. | Like a street without a name but familiarity. | Walk alone but don't forget to sing. | Weakness dwells in the body, not soul. | A little bit of cynicism leads to greater revolt. | Can't afford to let it be otherwise. | Once bitten, forever sly. | The question is still what, not why.

His way, her will

Will you bathe him and wash away his sins?
Will you touch his soul to see what happens? 
Will you turn your face aside if he leaves?
Will you scream out in delight?
Will you share that space between you and him?
Will you two survive?
Or will you raise a stink?
Will you blame him if your fate fails?
Will you let promises pale?
Will you be honest in your vengeance?
Will you be substantial, spirited and strange?
Will you remember not to remind him of his failures?
Will you succeed in keeping him alive?
Or will you watch him die? 
Will you trick him into the lost art of believing? 
Will you scratch his proverbial surface?
Will you sing songs from the past?
Will you dance even though he came last?
Will you do what has to be done?
Will you overlook his vain remarks?
Or will you pretend to listen? 
Will you abandon yourself?
Will you run against the odds?
Will you rein in for a bit?
Will you dream along?
Will you rhyme with his wrongs?
Will you understand why he's sitting on his hands?
Or will you stop existing for once?

Hide and seek

Excuse me but i keep going back to movies. Not because i'm short of topics to scribble short paragraphs on but because cinema is something i can relate to. I'm not an authority on music though i listen to almost everything possible but movies are an altogether different arena. Having said that, i'm not an authority on cinema either. At least, not yet. Like my partner-in-downloading-crime Anu once remarked during our usual cine-discussions: "One lifetime is too short to watch all the movies in the world." Because of stark truths like these, nothing can come close to the joy of watching a film (hopefully a good one) and forgetting oneself in the process. Be it two hours or three or even four, a movie grabs you out of your mundane stupor. Entertainment is just a garb in disguise. What's really happening is much deeper than that. I doubt whether a song or a painting or a sculpture for that matter would be capable of doing so. Assumptions apart, what else can explain the spell celluloid has on its audiences? Think about it. You're placed in a dark room with the light beam falling on the screen—not you—and still you remain hypnotized in your seats. You don't have to be at your best behaviour. There are just series of pictures in front of you, not real people to check whether you're paying heed or not. You know that, right? Nevertheless, you stay put as if cinema itself has cast a playful 'statue' on you.