Just another normal, working day. but in a building that was arguably the most dynamic in the world, which made everyday more than normal and boring. he worked in one small office in one small floor of the huge building complex. a small but exciting office, in an exciting building…only he didnt feel the excitement at all, he believed he would have felt the same way in any other building. pushing papers in administration and housekeeping couldn’t be exciting -period!!

he walked in and found there were a lot of earlybirds today too… some meeting happening, he could tell, from all the smoke around…. the smoke had nothing to do with the thinking, more to do with the cigarettes. he had warned them at least a million times not to smoke in the general area of the office, but that only made him, in their own words, “the butt end of all the jokes, no pun intended”, ha ha!!

he told them to take their meeting to the meeting room, which was met with a lot of protest..but he was firm and finally had his way.he busied himself with his work, thankful that their meetings were now happening elsewhere.

suddenly he heard a muffled knock from the meeting room. first he thought someone was playing a prank, but as it became more frequent, he decided to go and check it out.as he neared the meeting hall, he could see a lot of smoke coming from under the door. he tried to open the door, but it seemed to be locked. as he was standing confused, he distinctly heard a shout for help. without thinking further, he kicked the door open, and immediately felt the heat.damn smokers, he thought… he quickly got the fire extinguisher and successfully dealt with the flames.. but then he noticed that a few of the personnel had lost consciousness and some were in shock…

and to think that he considered his job had no chance of excitement. but perhaps this was the only exciting thing that would ever happen to him here, he mused as he dialled the emergency number – 911…..

far away, a bearded, turbaned man, was watching the same building on a small screen… he paused as though he had decided, smiled and made a small note – WTC, 9/11 ….

until next time, keep building some excitement

A dark, cold night, not unnatural in this time of the year, he thought as he drove fast towards his master’s home. and not exactly a night one would want to venture out on, but this was a life or death situation. life or death for his master’s son. a worthy son of a worthy father.

the medicine he was carrying could save the son’s life, a life which could be very important in a few years’ time, for his master was a very powerful political personality and his son was poised to take over when his time came. and he was already showing signs of scaling heights that his father would himself have loved to touch. in short a very worthy personality in his own right.

but that was until the sickness showed up. it gradually spread in him till he was a shell of his former self. all the doctors in the land were consulted, but even they could not give a correct diagnosis, a cure was far away. that was when his master heard of a practitioner who could perform miracles. he was said to have travelled in far away lands, and had cures for diseases which other doctors couldnt even diagnose correctly.and he lived up to his reputation. after he had seen the patient once, the practitioner correctly traced back all the phases of the sickness. and thankfully confirmed that he had a cure.

as he urged the horses faster, these were the thoughts that played in his mind, and he was happy that he had been chosen to carry the medicine safely from the practitioner’s clinic to the master’s house. who knew, he might be altering the course of destiny itself. and so it was that he saw the little boy crossing the street only a few seconds before the possible collision. his mind worked furiously. if he tried to stop the horses, there was a definite possibility of the carriage skidding on the snow. if he didnt, the child would get trampled under the horses.he made his decision, and the skid threw him out of the carriage onto a wall. there were only two things he remembered as he was losing consciousness – the child staring wide eyed in shock, and the sound of a bottle of glass shattering – the bottle of medicine.

he was taken home, and regained consciousness a few hours later. as soon as he woke, he asked two questions – one answer made him feel miserable, and the other made him sigh in relief. his master’s son had died, for the medicine hadnt reached him in time, but the boy was unharmed. in fact the onlookers had said that his actions were heroic and most humane.

he saw the boy in the corner, and called him close. the boy muttered his thanks and the man smiled. his wife said that their rabbi was there to see him. as the little boy was waving goodbye, the man asked him,”whats your name, child?”.”adolf”, replied the child, “adolf hitler”.



until next time, beyonce makes a better destiny’s child

He woke early, as he did everyday.. and as usual the first thing he did was to clean his bicycle..he wanted to win the race today, for he wanted the prize badly… he finished all his morning rituals, and checked the time to be sure that he was not running late.. he pedalled fast towards the group of houses where the other kids stayed, this was his warm up exercise. in the distance he saw the kids ready, on their bicycles. this was where the race started, everyday, and they raced all the way to school, almost 3 kilometres.

his presence was acknowledged by fleeting smiles on the other kids’ faces… he could feel the excitement in them too. they finished saying bye to their parents… the parents, of course, had no clue about the race.by mutual consent, the race began…there were five kids totally, including him.. but he knew that only a couple of them were a serious threat to his winning.. but sometimes he felt they performed as a team against him, perhaps because his house was slightly away from theirs, and he didnt play with them in the evenings…

the road that was the ‘racetrack’ had steep climbs, rough roads (if you could call them roads)and steep descents, all of which made it exciting to all the participants. and towards the last stretch, was the steepest climb and one could see the finish line, the school, in the distance.and this was when the kids pedalled extra furiously in a final bid to win the race on that day.

but it was he who won, like every day till date, having outsmarted and outpedalled all the others on the way.. a feat more remarkable because his cycle was an old one, as compared to the others who got new cycles every year.he smiled broadly and waited at the finish line, the school entrance, for the others to catchup. they smiled at him, as though acknowledging his skills, and told him they would give him his prize in the evening. he waved to them as they went in.

he had a kilometre more to go, to the market, where his mother waited for him. together, they would sell vegetables all day. in the evening, while the other children played, he would sit with the prizes he had won – old books and newspapers. as he pedalled the last kilometre, he was happy at winning the race, but he wondered who was actually winning every day in life – him or the kids…..



until next time, winning isnt everything, and its definitely not the only thing…

As he stood facing his troops, he felt a surge of excitement, and pride. excitement because he was exploring new frontiers and pride because, in his mind, this was the best army anyone could hope to have under command – seasoned warriors who performed like a well oiled machinery, whose teamwork was the stuff legends were made of. Indeed, the commander was excited, because today could be a day of landmark achievements, for today he was trying to make inroads into the enemy territory that could be strategically crucial in the long run, a foray that could decide their very existence. and so, though there were potentially landmark achievements to be accomplished, there was also a chance of complete annhilation at the hands of the enemy,for the enemy were no pushovers.

The enemy – they watched the army from far. in fact had been watching them for days now, trying to detect any strategic move from their side. they had a feeling that today would be the big day,but they didnt want to do anything that would precipitate an all out war. for they were generally non aggressive folk. but no man could stand for it when his home territory was being invaded. yes that was it, an invasion – inch by inch, area by area, territory by territory,the army marched on. the invasions were carried on at night, and the enemy forces usually were in for a rude awakening, literally.

but now it had gone too far, and the enemy were preparing to retaliate. though relatively peaceful folk and smaller than the invading army in sheer numbers, they boasted of an arsenal that ranged from brute physical strength to chemical/ biological warfare. and that was the very question they were grappling with, what to use in case of an invasion.

and at that precise moment the commander ordered the invasion to begin.

‘the chemicals might harm us too” warned one among the enemy.

‘hmm, yes’, said the other.

but in the end, it didnt matter, the commander must have thought, as the battle lasted all of five minutes, and his tiny army of ants was no match for the two pairs of marauding bata soles, which eventually annhilated them.

until next time, the fittest will survive.