Category: Stories

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.

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!!

“You didnt reply to my letter”,said the younger one, A.
“which one?”, the elder, M, responded.
A: the one in which i questioned some decisions taken at the sports club’s last meeting on the marbles.
M: i had asked the club secretary to respond. as president, i dont have time to reply to all the letters that come to me. and if you wanted to tell me something, you could have spoken, instead of sending a letter.
A: maybe, but a letter from the vice president of the club is not exactly any letter,specially when the subject is the last meeting and the decisions taken then. and more so, if the decision has to do with the marbles, our principal assets.
M: i was only putting the rights i already had, on paper.
A: thats arguable.
M: Dad had always said that the elder son, thats me, would be in control, though the ownership is for both of us. ask ma.
(Ma: dont involve me. your dad started the club and ran it. i have no idea about its activities.)
A: which means i’ll have no say in any decision on the marbles.
M: not so, just that i will be taking the final decison
A: but many of the marbles are doing well now because of my efforts.
M: maybe, but they wouldnt be anything now without the entire set. stand alone, their value would crash in a jiffy.
A: your itch isnt about the sports club at all, is it? its about me standing for the school election and getting elected.
M: i dont even want to talk about it. you didnt even ask me for an opinion. and if you were so interested in the club activities and playing with marbles, you wouldnt be in school politics. i bet that silly girlfriend of your must be the brain behind it,since she’s into the cultural scene herself.
A: my intention was only to get more support for the club activities at the school. and ifyou were so interested in my life and activities at the club, you would have ventured an opinion without me asking for it. and i dont think you need to bring my girlfriend into this. in any case, yours was also very much into dance till recently!!
M: whats the point discussing all this now? what do you want from me?
A: either more powers as VP of the club or independent control of the marbles whose reputation i built.
M: the board will have to decide that.
A: whats the use, since dad’s death, you have been playing around, garnering votes. now, many of the old guys have left, and the rest are your puppets.
M: thats an unjust accusation.
A: i think i will have to move in other ways to get whats rightfully mine.
M: thats your wish.
The vultures were waiting and this was when they decided to come to the party. As one onlooker put it, after the founding father’s death, it was only a matter of time before the sons lost their marbles, literally!!
until next time, keep playing games…

it wasnt as though he had been forced to go. he had made the choice himself, knowing fully well, the dangers, the obvious ones as well as the hidden ones…this mission was particularly dangerous, because the terrain was unfamiliar. well, not exactly, but times were dangerous now, and the roads on which he once used to whistle aloud, were fraught with danger, danger lurking in every bend..and it was dark..
but the prize was worth it, and he had committed anyway..he started out, moving carefully. though these paths were ones he had done a reconnaisance the same morning, he was careful, because a harmless looking shack could suddenly become a hive of activity.
suddenly the explosions started, but these were the ones he had expected, he gritted his teeth and moved on… there was a period of calm, but as he edged closer towards his target, the explosions began again. he had to be more careful now, because these were not paths he had visited in the morning, and it didnt help that the enemy had dug trenches all over the place…
speaking of the enemy, there were so many of them… and so many weapons, of different kinds.. the world had progressed so rapidly that the weapons he had been trained in were almost obsolete now.. but that was quite some time ago, and he was no longer as young and agile as he once was…
finally he reached his destination, the prize was there, and worth it..he took his time, savouring every moment, but secretly fearful of the return journey…
soon,it was time to go, he knew he had to be more careful now, for the prizehad made him a little less alert. but the consolation was that he knew the paths better now… but that consolation did not last long, because he realised that the explosions had increased.. once, he saw a guy in front of him swerve and struggle to retain control, as a shell exploded right in front of him.
the last stretch proved to be the most difficult, as consecutive explosions behaved as though they were specifically targeting him!!finally, he was back..as he took off his helmet, he moaned at what he had to go through for a dine out on diwali night.. hell, it was no longer a celebration, it was war… and he had indeed been a fortunate soldier to get back in one piece…
until next time, dont burst with excitement!!

Since this is a long weekend, and I am already in clutches of one of my most fave emotions – laziness, I came to the early conclusion that I couldn’t get myself to write an original post.Wokay, now that that is done with, let me present you an adapted version of a cool forward I got a few days back. Bangalore readers will identify with it promptly, and as for readers from others places, well, india may be a land of diversity in a lot of things, but as far as quality of roads go, we share a common pride..hehe..so here goes
Bangalore 2.a.m.
a time of the night when loneliness is the only companion, shadows the only followers, and beer, the only fuel. He was bouncing away merrily on his bike, when some bright lights stopped him. Yippee, movie shooting, he thought, will get to see some stars tonight. But, wait..uh oh!! I’m going to be kidnapped and they are going to do experiments on me, but wait again, this is no alien landing either.
He saw a well-clad man of foreign origin, and started walking towards him.
“Shhh”, cautioned the man.
Softly he asked ” What’s happening brother?”.
“NASA…”the man whispered, “I am Dr. Morgan from the Mission Mars programme”.
A thought crossed his mind, “i am not the only one who’s had beer”
But, on watching a few men in spacesuits bumping around, he realised the man was speaking the truth. He got talking to Dr.Morgan and was informed that NASA had been trying to create surroundings that would resemble the rocky, crater filled Southern Hemisphere of Mars and had failed miserably.This led to a desperate search for test sites on planet earth.
Very few places on earth qualified, only Iraq (exploded Oil Wells), Sri Lanka, and Bangalore’s own Bannerghatta Road.
With Iraq ruled out as a high-risk venture, and no shooting possible in Sri Lanka because of the prevailing cease fire (bush handled this personally?!!), India was the only feasible option. Plus the costs were rock bottom. And although a few questions were posed on yet another outsourcing to bangalore, they were quickly resolved, because of the unparalleled surface that Bannerghatta road offered.
The Mars rover and Endeavour were bouncing away too, on the rugged surface.
Suddenly, he spotted the CM standing quietly in the distance. He walked up to him and smiled. The CM nodded, smiling softly.
He looked at the CM enquiringly and asked “Was this your idea”?
“Yes” the CM said almost humbly, too modest to acknowledge the enormity of his effort.
“So, what’s in it for us?” he probed.
“Millions of dollars, that’s what they have promised, and once this gets approved as a broken earth site it will be used regularly, for other missions too. I also have plans of breaking up the other roads, which are happening under the guise of flyovers” the CM confided.
He shuddered at the enormity of the attempt. How all of us puny Bangaloreans cribbed, raved and ranted every time we came across a broken road. How blind we have all been, eyes shut, we refused to view the big picture. Every bad road is a million-dollar opportunity. He silently bade farewells to Dr. Morgan and the CM and rode away.
As he reached the BTM flyover, he got a flat tyre, he looked down at the guilty protruding rockfragment, and uncharacteristically smiled. Pushing the bike slowly, he thought to himself “the martians must be green with envy”

until next time, enjoy the ride