Ae Ajnabi

So there go my songs finally. After a lots n lots n lots of apprehension I take the courage to put across these.
This is not definitely my best effort and I know practice makes man perfect and I'm en route...




I hope to keep posting improvised versions of these as n when I do!

~ A true lover of music, if not a true Singer!

Twinkling Dreams...!

Posting another story that I wrote 5yrs ago - 3/3/2006. 

TWINKLING DREAMS

Twinkle twinkle little star… how I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high… like a diamond in the sky!

That was a twinkling night when skies looked like a scene from ET. It was this time when people go out for a late night walk after dinner. Little Dhruv was on his way back home after one such walk with his grandmother, whom he lovingly called “mamma”

“Mamma, why are some stars bigger?”

“Because, they are near to us.”

“Why do only a few stars shine?”

“Because…”

“Can we go for a walk on these stars?”

“Yes, of course. But not now, when you grow old like me.”

“Then why are you not going?”

“I’ll go soon, my son…”

“How do you stay there? Are there houses built for you?”

“Yes my dear, each star has a house. We’ll first reach the nearest and brightest star. Then we keep moving to other stars and one day, we’ll become…”

It had become a routine for her to convince Dhruv with her stories. But, he never seemed to stop asking her until the shocking night when he heard about her death.

“Mummy, what happened to mamma?”

“She’s no more with us, son. She’s gone far away from us into the skies…”

“Can we meet her now?”

“No…”

“No, but I want to meet her. I know she’s gone to her house on the first star.”

He started running towards the sea. An open sky had no stars, but dark clouds.

“Mamma, oh mamma, where are you? You promised me that you’ll sit in the star and talk to me from there…Mamma, oh mamma!” All that the crying voices of little Dhruv got as reply was the thunderstorm.

Slowly, clouds had cleared the sky. Stars were seen twinkling all again. The brightest star was seen. Dhruv waited. “Son, how are you?” “Hi mamma, why didn’t you come when I was crying? Mummy says you are gone and I can never meet you!!” “No son, you can always see me and talk to me. I’m always with you. But, I won’t talk to you if you don’t eat well and study well.” “OK mamma, I’ll study well.” “Promise me that you’ll grow up to become a doctor like your uncle.” “Yes mamma, I promise.”

“That was not the end of the story, Dhruv used to talk to his granny every night and meet her in his dreams. Dear children, this was my story. When I was a kid, I used to study well and work hard because my grandma used to love me for that. Do you love your (grand) parents?”

“Yes…”, replied the class IV students of Vidya Vikaas Orphanage.

He asked the kids to close their eyes and mourn for 30 seconds as a remembrance of those loved ones whom the kids had lost (probably those whom they never ever saw).

Continued President Dhruv, “Nature is our mother, hard work is our father. Stars are our grandparents. So, you have all of them with you. Like I promised my mamma, you all have to promise your mammas and pappas that you’ll learn in this school, work hard and make our country proud.”

Wherever he went, children loved him. That was the President who inspired those who needed the most. His inspiration was so contagious that the country headed towards 100% literacy!!!

“Dreams should twinkle all the time, like stars twinkle even during the day…”

ME ... My Friend!

I'm posting another fiction that I wrote exactly 5yrs ago...20-Feb-2006

ME … my Friend

It was not for the first time he was reading this immortal letter from his grandfather, which was written years back. But each time he read it, he knew there was something new always there for him to learn & bring in a new realization. “Action speaks louder than words” might be true, but far from these words was the latest addition to his realization. The letter read…

Dear son,

I’m fine and I know you are not ok. That’s the reason I’m writing this letter. And, I’m sure you’ll feel better on reading this. Don’t think I’m not there to talk to you at this moment. I know the importance you’ve given me in your life and both of us know that we are good friends in spite of all the generation gap time has left between us.

This is the story of a friend who turned a foe…

You know that I’m a retired Professor today, but the day I was born I didn’t have an identity; still, there were many who had come happily to see me. There will be many who come to visit us on our Birthday & all that they consider us would be as a son or daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Tom, Dick or a Harry! As we grow up, we are taught to make our own way and strive for existence. We being social animals make too many friends, with very few close friends. Sooner or later, we realize there is one closest friend with whom we hide nothing, even if we ever want to. This, even I realized & I was happy with my friend, whom I called ‘me’.

I was asked to become independent and grow in life, “make an identity for myself, like others” - such a paradox I thought! The journey that was not easy had begun. But, this new found friend of mine seemed to be there listening to me always.

As days passed by, we started getting closer and my friend ‘me’ became a very important aspect of my life. I started calling him ‘ME’.

“Without ‘ME’, there could be nothing”, I thought. There were times when this friend of mine was deceived and hastily let down by others. But as I had grown up quite old with ‘ME’, I never let down this friend whatsoever. I became such extra-cautious and overprotective, that my friend got lot more pampering and he misused my faith.

He knew that I was rich and started asking for more. Though there were thousands in the town who slept with empty bellies, he demanded to go out for a wine! He knew that I was smart; when there were others who genuinely needed my help, he didn’t allow me help anyone else… not unless there was something better out of it for him!

 

Years and decades later one night, the same night of my retirement day, I was relaxing with this friend whose new role was that of a dictator.  

I realized that all the disrespect and carelessness and a hostile house (which was a contrast to what it was years back) were all the gifts I had received, thanks to my friend ‘ME’. I had a big fight with him and parted ways with him. I no more have this friend with me.

[A friend can’t be a dictator; if he’s one then he’s your biggest foe.]

Son, my closest friend today is you & I’m happy to believe that you see me as your close friend too. I wouldn’t be happy if you see ‘ME’ as your closest friend.     

Always yours,

Grandpa.

He folded the letter and as always, it rested beneath his pillow. “If there was one thing we could ever give our upcoming generations, it would be this letter of my grandpa”, he thought. At least then they’ll realize that each one of them is as minute as a dewdrop on the green leaf which thinks it’s because of the sunshine it reflects, the world shines.

WANDERERS – XVI

‘Was it a good idea to intrude’, he kept asking himself but had no convincing explanation for either yes or no. With a heavy heart and a big guilt of lying so openly, he walked as quickly as he can out of the compounds to the muddy roads and into the lake.

The woman had seen him when he asked her husband to reach the cave house next morning. Her worried eyebrows told him she was suspicious of the happenings but that didn’t bother him as much as his guilt of having lied to someone. He kept walking on the wetly-muddy side road along the lake with many such accompanied thoughts. The hot Sun caused the lake to reflect more eye-pinching glares and he hadn’t realized he was walking miles ahead of the town and to the other end of the lake.

He stood where the lake ended. The surroundings of the cave house looked smaller and imaginary from the other end! This was the place he had seen sitting on the rocks at the lake-shores during sunsets for past few days. Now he’s here transformed into another mesmerizing natural habitat. There were trees and more greenery, silence everywhere except for birds chirping, no traces of any form of pollution and no humans either. He was naturally grabbed in…

As he walked, several historical monuments stood broken. A big tomb that he had seen earlier from the lake was what he was entering. His foot felt cold at the touch of the floor after having walked under the hot Sun. There was breeze coming from inside that almost challenged him to get inside the hall. It was nearly 200m long and 50m wide with many paintings hung on the side walls almost at roof level that would constitute a 3-storey modern building. The paintings were huge and carried stories written in ancient language with no translation whatsoever. A red carpet, though seemingly old and nearly worn out lead him to the other end of the hall where he saw the life-size picture of the great 13^th century reformer standing and calling!

He walked for several minutes almost like a metal that’s attracted to the magnet bit by bit, slowly, eventually! Looking eye in eye he felt the reformer come alive. Such was the effect of the painter’s art and the man that the art contained. He smiled gently and felt all the worries and questions, burdens and sorrows evaporating at the effect of the power the reformer had caused. It was a moment that was long lasting and the wanderer sunk in a feeling that he was seeing someone he always wanted to, someone who’s the ultimate creator and someone that others called God!

There was no reaction and he was completely sucked in a world that had him transformed. Did the cave have same effect or fell short, he didn’t question. But it was a calling of lifetime and he slowly sat on a small mat under his feet closing his eyes gently attaining a nirvana or sorts. For hours he was immobile but time wouldn’t stop and the moon replaced bright skies.

It was dark around the tomb and no one walked outside, no light was ever hung. There were candles inside the hall and here n there outside. An old man and his daughter dwelled at the outhouse serving food for whoever visited the tomb hall. They were more than happy to receive the wanderer as not many people frequented this alien place. He was fed generously and shown place to spend his night.

At the other end of the lake, the sanyasin, the boy and his mother waited for the wanderer to return before they fell asleep. The next morning wasn’t very far and it was time when the angry rude man from the bungalow set himself to see the wanderer at the cave house, as the wanderer slept through his new found world.

Continues…

My Week that Was!

I don't know why though my last week ended very well, I had lots of nasty things to expect for this week considering all the uncontrollable stuffs that I presumed to be lined up and started the week with low n even negative expectations (so much unlike me) Yes it did start with a lovely valentine's day but my thoughts remained vulnerable and I wanted to ask if I'm changing and changing for the bad!


I had gone through tough times before like everyone has but with a killer attitude that they can't pull me down! This time around I missed it, I missed a little bit of my self that has brought me this far. 


Yes, a man needs to change and reinvent himself constantly to achieve bigger goals. handling things differently that had caused failure earlier. But what a man should also know is what not to change about himself! And that's a tough thing to become aware of! 


Everyone has tasted failure n they learn from their mistakes n change or mould their character not to get caught again. But what's more important than changing is also not changing. 


I know I've been having this persistence problem ever since I can remember but I would like to sign off with what a HR manager once told me in my first interview 'Good that you know your weakness, that way you'll overcome it'


~Mixed Feelings!

Thank you, students...

I had not posted anything for almost a fortnight now, and my mind wasn't in peace which makes my thoughts cluttered that stops me from writing. Yesterday I read my favorite Gulzar saab saying 'even I go through writer's mind block after writing for 50yrs' and that got a smile on my face and I told myself that kiddo, you'll be back. And thanks Anjali for that lil gyan you tweeted - 'it's ok to feel undecided,happy one moment, sad another. That's normal. When u stop feeling it tats wen u hav a problem'


Today could be a great opportunity to awaken the poet in me and write romantic verses for my valentine. But I'm still in the block.


However, I couldn't stop from posting or rather boasting (as this post might seem) some real appreciation that I got for myself after watching n craving what other instructors on Oracle's website posted with pride. Here's my share:


"Excellent instructor. Sreekanth has both very strong understanding of Oracle and can clearly explain the concepts very well. Sreekanth took ovet the instruction of the course for day 3, 4 and 5. Next time I would prefer if Sreekanth were to instruct the entire course. He delivers the course material very clearly and at a nice pace.. I would certainly take another course with Oracle if Sreekanth were the instructor."
"Would be glad for him to be my instructor again on some other courses Excellent instructor. Very knowledgeable and explains the material and concepts very well." 
"I would certainly take another training course with Sreekanth as the instructor."


It's no more a dream, but real. And thanks guys for making it true! 
~Heartfelt!

It Rains...!

It rains one moment n shines the other,

How does it happen tell me mother…

na na na, na na now!

Last when it rained, oh I was wet

In just a moment it got me dried n all set

I locked n walked past the door

Cha cha cha it came in to pour!

And the mud was much shitty,

I missed Xmas party

Oh no no no no, not anymore not now!

And I was sick, caught cough n cold

Walked out coz ya know I’m so bold

We danced n jumped together ya ya ya

The water was sweet n I drank to say thank ya

It got the world shut in their doors

Just you n I, let’s dance said showers

Oh ya ya ya ya, bring it in some more ya ya ya!

We've been friends for years, we love each other

I miss ya know when it doesn’t shower

It can’t be quick, its gotta be a season

Chilling dancing for happy reason

Mom calls n yells get inside son

I wink, schools r shut n so dance everyone!

Cha cha cha, ya ya ya, na na na now now!