Author: manuscrypts

  • Benchmarks

    I used to hate them… they were different at different stages in life, but they were always there.. at every stage – to mock, to ridicule.. to dare, to challenge, to provoke..
    and they were never the same person… from the kid who got better marks than me in class 1 to the one who got the first prize in music/ quiz/ debate… to the cousin who managed to get an engineering/medicine admission to some slightly older distant relative who managed to go to the US… to the peer who got into IIT to the ones who earn more than me now… the challenges were good in the beginning, and with luck playing a major part, the ego used to have many days to gloat.. until one day, it finally dawned on me that if it continued in the same fashion, the battles would never end, there would always be a new ‘benchmark person’ around the corner… and also, that while i was chasing ‘targets’, i was automatically becoming a target myself… i was also gradually becoming the ‘benchmark persons’ i hated…..
    i stopped active participation..and followed the floyd mantra as in ‘the fletcher home memorial’
    “take your overgrown infants ,
    and build them a home,
    a place of their own’…….”
    “..did they expect us to treat them with any respect,
    they can polish their medals and sharpen their smiles,
    and abuse themselves playing games for a while,
    boom boom bang bang lie down you’re dead……..”

    but sometimes i wonder if i have actually got rid of them … because even now, when i am seemingly ‘in control’ of my life, and forced justifications arent necessary.. i guess they still exist in my mind..but times are different, i dont acknowledge battles now, i sneak up, in my own time, and move on…hehe…not a nice habit, i know…. old habits die hard…. but die they will…..
    until next time, be game….

    P.S : message for ash : cant comment on your site. they accuse my IP of spamming .. 🙁

  • The Bestseller

    She sighed, putting the final touches to her latest creation. one would have thought that after so many of them, lethargy would set in and she would stop. but no, it was as though she understood that she was in a league of her own, and on her depended the future. well, if truth be told, in her line of work, she was the past, present and future.
    sometimes she wondered if people really had a choice. not really, because if she discounted the guy whose very existence was thanks to her (he added his own flavours to her creations, and rarely took pains to be original), she had unchallenged supremacy. but these days, he was suddenly becoming more than a slight irritant, because his flavours were fast growing in popularity. she often wondered why, because personally, he found his style quite morbid and gruesome.
    she also wondered if she should style herself that way,but she loved her characters too much, many of whom were quite famous in their own right, sometimes rivalling her in terms of fan clubs and cults. but she didnt mind that, after all they were her creations. maybe his flavours were just a fad, and would pass.
    she smiled to herself thinking of the debates that went on in her name, the ones she triggered through her creations, mostly because she was not a public figure (she believed her work spoke for itself and did not warrant public appearances) and therefore, an easy subject to speculative minds. sometimes, in a particularly naughty mood, she would hint that she was not a woman, but a man; sometimes even say that she was not one, but a set of entities.
    she was sure her latest creation would also be a bestseller, just like all the ones before. and like all the ones before, there would be reactions ranging from love to hate, anger to awe, and despair to hope, and they would use her name again, in vain or in a lighter vein – ‘GOD’!!

    until next time, dont lose your character!!

  • Next Blog >>

    There have been a few times where i have pressed that particular button on the top right corner..most times curious whether i would find somebody from my list as the next blog.. that would be a good random experience/ coincidence, isnt it?
    these travels take me to blogs of various kinds, many of them in languages i cant understand.. some of them with the regular blogger templates and others in which people have put in a lot of effort on the template and customised it totally… but the majority of those blogs usually have zilch visitors, and mind you, some of them are quite good… and again, many of these have been around for quite some time..i wonder what motivates them to keep on writing..
    frankly, inspite of the ‘i write for myself’ philosophy, i couldnt dream of sustaining the blog if none of you guys commented… i guess its a matter of mindset – expectations from the blog… i think the reason why blogger has that button has some similarity with my reason for blogging..a search for people who think like me, well maybe not like me, but think something that will interest me..
    the reason for this discourse, you ask? a certain aquatic lifeform 🙂 commented sometime back that the ‘right clique’ was growing.. i started off a reply and realised that it was a postable thought.. and in these desperate times, when, like bollywood, good subjects are so hard to come by, such thoughts are precious..hehe..well, the reasons why the clique is changing – adding blogs that interest me, linking back people who are kind enough to link me, deleting blogs which are confirmed to be inactive (i’m sure hek will be back soon 🙂 ), deleting blogs whose content do not appeal anymore (extremely rare cases), deleting blogs whose owners wouldn’t mind me taking them off. in fact, i would go a step further, they wouldn’t know i put them here, so they wouldnt know i took them off either..hehe.
    so thats why the list keeps changing… because though all blogs are special places, those on my list are extra special to me..
    until next time, specialise 😉

  • Darna Mana hai / 2

    the title because it has been inspired by RGV’s ‘Darna mana hai’.. 6 stories, one ending..here we have only 3, but all have the same ending..
    Story 1 : Shot of a young chap grinning from ear to ear as he greets his old friends at a night club…A red car cuts a screeching turn as its driver competes with an old lady for the same parking space. Our hero stops the roughneck, starts a conversation. Looking lost, the driver tries to recognise our hero. Stalling for time, our hero continues with the conversation by complimenting his friend on his biceps. Finally he says, “Hai na Bunty?” But the tough guy turns out to be someone else! By this time… the old lady deftly glides her car into the parking lot much to the chagrin of the roughneck. He goes back to his friends who compliment him. zoom to his face, he says…

    Story 2: An award nite for ads. The winning company’s top exec goes on stage to pick up the award, while the team looks on. Once on stage, he beckons to the team to join him on the stage. teamspirit… and how does boss celebrate, zoom to his face, he says…

    Story 3 : he held on for as long as he could. finally he walked painful steps to the teacher and whispered something to her. sadist that she was, the 2nd standard class teacher looked at her watch, 20 minutes left for close of class. she told him, “only 20 minutes left, wait”he refused to give up, and looked pleadingly at her.
    *a rare moment of understanding*.
    she said “okay , go, but come back soon!”. as he stood in the loo, and felt a wave of relief, zoom to his face, he says…

    The ending
    “number 1, mera number 1”

    ever since i saw McDowell’s surrogate advertising, this one was coming!!
    until next time, hold on to your high spirits.

  • Leaving on a jetplane

    Son: I’ll be leaving soon
    Dad: Where? Why?
    S: I’ve figured out my career plans
    D: thats good news, so i guess you must’ve chosen your college
    S: Yes
    D: you almost scared me, hope you have chosen someplace nearby, so you can come home often
    S: thats what i wanted to speak to you about, i want to go abroad
    D: abroad!! i think i know where… but why? you have the best places to study here.
    S: maybe, but it helps to have a global perspective.
    D: but what about your culture, religion.. you are at an age when you can be easily influenced by their thoughts, customs
    S: that could happen here too, and i guess, it already is..
    D: yes, but there you hardly have any relatives, there’s no one to watch out for you
    S: thats how we learn, dad!! besides what about all those cousins of mine, i thought you were quite proud of them, the way you used to go on with ‘how well that boy is doing now..” besides thats the most happening market now.
    D: its all just a phase, a fantasy waiting to be shattered and what if you end up like one of your illustrious cousins, marrying one of them?! your mom would die of a broken heart!!
    S: Dad, you are just letting your imagination run wild. as for the shattering,they have been saying that for decades now!!
    D: maybe, but i dont think the locals take kindly to us going there and taking away their jobs.
    S: its just survival , dad.. whoever gets it done cheaper!! and look at the scene here, unemployment is rampant!!
    D: but we are improving, nowadays they say that cutting edge tech work gets done here…
    S: no, dad, thats what everyone thinks, but the real action gets done there.. its certainly our guys, but despite whatever we claim, we still only have a miniscule share of the software pie!! and who knows, maybe i’ll come back here and work..
    D: thats what they all say, but they end up settling there… they even have a term for it – brain drain!!
    S: the job is a decision i shall take later, but i have decided, i am going to India!!

    a conversation i hope will happen in the US,a few decades from now!

    until next time, remember that a broad isnt everything!!