The Unexpected Tackle

As he walked back from the gym, he mused over the week. It was just a Thursday and the week would be ending soon. But it had been such a damm good week. He had just been in a marathon yesterday and the body pain was exalting. His body was in pain, but it was splendid. His legs were stiff but they moved intensely under the harsh summer sun. He smiled and looked up to the sun, “ You lost yesterday! Better luck next time.” As his office building neared, the thoughts of bourbons and hot milk was a welcomed relief. His stomach grumbled in a very audible tone. As he quickened his pace towards the building, he saw her exit out of the building.


Today she had attended a conference, something she thought would be boring but turned out to be quite informative and fun. Yesterday she had seen a marathon. On Saturday, she was planning to watch a very acclaimed cricket match. It was just a Thursday and the week was ending soon. But it had been such a damm good week. The conference had just gotten over and she was in a hurry. She had to catch the 1 p.m. bus or else she’ll miss the next flight back home. She didn’t want anything to spoil the good weekend she had so far. As she hurried down the hall towards the door, she regretted wearing those high heels. They were biting her feet, but the thought of sleeping in her own bed made her accept the pain and hurry up the pace. If she missed the plane, it would delay her the comfort of her home by at least another 7 hours. She would also have to spend gruesome troublesome painful and extremely long boring hours at the airport; something that she wasn’t really looking forward for. Her week had been tremendous and she wanted it to remain that way. She exited the building, groaning at the hot sun shining down at her. Her comfortable bed and the bottle of Chardonnay wine in her cabinet whispered, “A few more hours”. As she stepped into the pavement, the sun was clearly glaring down upon her, testing her endurance. A boy, much younger to herself was walking towards her. She saw him smiling broadly as he walked up to the door. She smiled to herself, at least someone can find humor under the sun.


As she got closer to him, he looked down at her feet and saw the insanely high heels. He wondered to himself as to why women tend to wear such uncomfortable shoes. He grinned at her at which she smiled back at him. As she got closer, he said, “Be careful, You’ll trip!” She laughed at his response “I know, but I need to rush. Got a plane to catch” At that moment, he had served enough of a distraction for her. In that particular moment, the smile on her face was replaced by surprise just for a second as it transitioned to an alarm. As if the world had slowed down to that moment, he saw her, frame by frame inching towards the ground. Her blondish hair’s gentle symphony was disrupted and it flew over her face as if trying to hid the rising anxiety which was now clearly reflected on her face. He eyes saw her motion as something familiar; similar to a football being passed to him, falling in front of him, waiting for him to receive it before an opponent does. The thought of reaching the ball and taking it from or before his challenger immediately triggered him in motion. As a smile drew up on his face, he crouched for a nanosecond and immediately shot forward towards the ball with all the potency his body could muster. Instinctively his upper body moved back slightly as his lower body slid into a tackle in a desperate attempt for his legs to reach the ball, to receive it before it touched the ground, to steal it from the opponent. As his body slid on the rough concrete, his eyes caught a glimpse of her blonde hair which was now chaos personified. As his mind slipped back in reality, his smile now broad enough to fit a hanger in his mouth, he swiftly straightened his hands and just like a dream an angel fell into his arms.

The Gun Club

The drive up the hill was a long one. As the car rolled up the narrow winding road, she looked at him. There he was, the best thing that had happened to her since puberty! His strong slender arms controlled the driving wheel precisely down the perilous road. He looked into her eyes and smiled. Though the journey was a long one, she was enjoying it. After all, she had him; she had time and she was happy. They were driving to his cabin. Located near a lake and surrounded by comforting trees, it was an ideal sport for them to celebrate their 3nd year anniversary. She hated long rides but this time it was different. This time, she was with him. This time the drive led them to a haven of love. He had recently dragged him to a gun club. She was reluctant at first but when she got a hang of it, she enjoyed the experience thoroughly. At one point, her shooting even scared her. She had never thought she would enjoy a sport as wild as shooting. But the feeling of cold steel on her skin, the shock of recoil on her shoulder and the power to decimate the target brought a strange comfort into her body. He had to gingerly drag her away as the night drew to an end. The anger that he had made her spend their anniversary night a gun club had faded away. Happiness crept in when he told her that the gun club was a prank and he had a surprise for her waiting at the cabin.


He had taken her to the gun club as a surprise anniversary present. He hoped that he would be able to reveal her ‘wild side’. The look on her face clearly showed a strong hint of anger with a touch of annoyance. He was never good at reading girls and he wasn’t ready for this. But something changed with time. After a few shots at the target, he could very clearly see a smile across her face. A smile which he found very scary. Why was this girl, who was into music and art; smiling while decimating a target with high velocity projectiles? Her accuracy was remarkable; needless to say she was as good as one of the guys. As each of her shots pierced the target, her smile grew. It was not the wild side he wanted to see in her. He hoped she would miss a few, slip a few and enjoy a few. He remembered the initial anger he had glimpsed. It was likely he was the target; she was imagining him in the target and shooting, taking her rage at it. He missed the girl in her when a plan flew into his mind. Ignore today and make a better tomorrow. His cousin had a cabin up a nice lonesome hill which looked by lake. It was the perfect artistic spot she would have loved to be at today. Today’s present will be a prank and tomorrow will be a surprise. It was clear that she was enjoying herself today so it would fit in perfectly. She would be escalated by the new surprise. He would visit the cabin, fill it with paint, brushes and canvas. Bring out the girl in her again, the girl he very much wanted to see right now. He glimpsed at her, firing off at the target, hitting it close to a man’s vital spot. He smiled. He was lucky, to get a girl who surprises him so much; To get a girl who would fit in with the guys; To get a girl who was his for the keeping, and he was hers. As he walked towards her, now with a smile on his face, he made a mental note for himself, “Keep her away from guns!”.

The Umbrella

He saw her today as he was walking towards his office building. To be more correct he didn’t see her face, but he recognized her immediately. The slow but gentle stride, the constant gaze at the ground and the aura of mystery which always floated about her. She had an umbrella in her hand to shield her from the intense sunlight but it also hid her face. As she got closer, the umbrella tilted a little, briefly revealing a part of her face. That cute cut of hair dropping over her eyes immediately confirmed who she was. He wondered why she was hiding her face. He was quite confident that she had seen him. He was loud and had a prominent presence in the group. From his perception, she must have seen him before he was able to spot her or her umbrella. Maybe she has forgotten him by now. After all, he was just another guy. They had never spoken nor had an eye contact which lasted more than a second. For her, he was just another stranger. Someone who came in her life like the cold winter breeze. But as summer was approaching, he should now be out of her life blowing away in the wind….



It was sunny and the rays bite her on her skin. She picked up an umbrella as she exited her office building. Then across the path, she saw him walking out of another building. Instinctively the umbrella lopsided down, hiding her face from his view. She hadn’t seen him for quite a while now. Even now, he was loud and stood out in his group of friends. She had spotted him from the distance. She smiled to herself, “He hasn’t changed a bit.” He was one of the few people who made her smile. Seeing him, brought a strange happiness and warmth inside her. But they had never spoken to each other, never even had an eye contact that lasted more than a second. She was after all a stranger to him. For some reason they had never approached each other. Maybe it was better this way. Not everyone is meant to be friends. She was comfortable with him just being a stranger and she felt that he thought of her in the same way. As he drew closer, she tilted her umbrella a little so she could see his face. But her hands voluntarily didn’t tip it enough and she just saw his lips, his smile. For her, that was enough. He was like the cool winter breeze which came in her life and went away as the summer approached. But winter will come again, someday. As smiled and continued walking, a thought crept across her mind, “If only I didn’t have this pimple on my chin, I might have smiled back at him!”

His Goal!!!!

As I watched from the sidelines, he ran down the right side towards the goal. As the defense approached him, he gently dropped off the ball in the center to his teammate standing there. A shot! It went above the goal post. A sigh echoed from all around me. It was a brilliant pass and the striker messed it up. He sighed himself, then smiled and started limping back towards the midfield. In the first half of the game, he was tackled badly and he injured his left knee and shin. Remembering my own injuries, I could imagine the pain that he was bearing while running across the field. At times when the ball would be passed to him, he would gingerly limp towards it, trying to hide his pain and at the same time desperately trying to get the ball before the opponent gets it. His captain, their central defender shouted at him to get off the field but he wouldn’t. His team needed him. He needed this game and he wanted to play. He wanted to win, he wanted to enjoy the game and most of all, he wanted to give it all; to not give up. As another ball glided towards him, he said to himself, “You have the entire weekend to rest!! Start running!”.

As the ball glided towards him, his mind commanded his body to move forward to take it. As he lifted his right leg to run, excruciating pain coursed through his body. It was as if he was struck by lightning. His legs refused to move but his eyes were still on the ball as it was inching towards him. His eyes then shifted towards his captain’s face. He understood the message his captain relayed to him through that one gaze, “ I want you to rest! I don’t want to see you in pain anymore! I want you to pass the ball to the forward!!!”. It was a Thursday. He remembered the bourbons he ate in the morning and smiled. He could take a leave tomorrow and rest over the weekend. The pain was already unbearable, no harm in bearing it for 5 more minutes. As the ball came to his feet, he hesitated for a moment. The defender was charging towards him. As the defender reached him, he feinted a right. A surge of pain ran through his leg but he immediately moved left with the ball leaving the defender behind. He could see the two strikers were moving towards the goal. With as much force he could muster, he kicked the ball to the left forward. As his vision dimmed he saw the left forward take a powerful kick, the ball moving directly towards the keeper, who had predicted the shot. As the keeper caught the ball, another loud sigh echoed through the ground. Once again he smiled and started limping back to the midfield.


I saw the end whistle blow. It was a win for his team. Our slow limping friend had passed yet another ball and this time it found its rightful home, the opponents goal. As he limped passed me, I said, “Good Game!!!”. He looked up to me, smiled and replied, “Yea, thoroughly enjoyed it. Come to watch us in the finals!!”.

Penny for your thoughts!!!!

I had decided to take a bus to work last Friday. As I entered through the central door, I glanced at the back and saw her sitting at the second last, corner window seat. She was cute girl with a small stature, shoulder length hair and dimpled cheeks. She seemed fairly cut off from the rest of the bus and deep in her own world. The bus seemed fairly crowded that morning, so I made my way to the back seat and sat right behind her. She looked up at me as I passed and smiled. I saw a sparkle in her eyes and happiness all across her face; though I didn’t understand why. As I settled into my seat, I noticed that she was writing something down in a diary. Now, it has been a while since I have seen anyone write into a diary so it got be quite curious as to what she was writing. People don’t write diaries anymore, while many consider it a complete waste of time. Most people tend to write in the night, so I wondered what this girl would be writing so early in the morning.



As l looked out of the window, I noticed that I could see the reflection of her diary in the window. As I tried to read it, I regretted not having learned to read mirrored words!!! I never imagined I would need this particular obscure skill this particular morning. With some effort, I put together the words and then pegged a sentence out of it. It read, “It rained yesterday evening and it was beautiful”. As I glanced through the page, I read more happy moments; and she kept writing about things which made her smile throughout the day. At this moment, I stopped trying to read the reflected diary page. Although happiness increases when shared, she seemed perfectly content in writing them down and smiling to herself and I didn’t want to impose upon her. I now understood that glint and passion I saw in her eyes earlier. It reflected all those moments which she was remembering. Those moments made her smile yesterday and now as she wrote them down, it brought that smile back on her face. The buy one get one free offer seems very tempting.


As people passed by the bus, hurrying to their daily routines, I glanced up into the slightly cloudy sky and smiled to myself. I now know this one girl who remembers her happy moments every morning so that she remembered how beautiful and wonderful yesterday was. She is able to start her day smiling so I can surely bet that it goes much better than those who start their day sulking. She would reach her work beaming and grinning, thinking about yesterday and eager for a better today. That smile would of course be contagious and would make everyone around her smile as well.


As my stop came closer, I got up and moved towards the door. I glanced back to see that she was still writing. Occasionally she would look out of the window, always with a broad smile across her face and then immerse herself into her diary again. As the bus stopped, I grinned as got down and walked towards my office building. My thoughts were now filled up with yesterday’s football game, the jokes and bourbon chocolate biscuits in the pantry, the funny patents I read, the wind blowing on my face.....

Her smile....

As he walked down the path, he saw her walking towards him. A smile crept across his face. There she was, his mysterious girl!!! As the sunlight bounced off her face, he remembered what he thought off when he first saw her. An angel on earth! She had an air of mystery about her which attracted him more. There had always been this spark between them which told him that she was curious about him too. Since the first day he had met her, this unspoken bond between them had developed. They avoided each others gaze. But they both knew that they were looking when they throught the other wasn't. As she slowly walked towards him, edging closer every moment, as her face became clearer, he felt himself smile even more. She was constantly glanced down and sideways, but he knew that she had seen him. They had never spoken or even looked eye to eye. But they both knew, there was something underneath the underneath. She seemed so pure.. So innocent. If only she smiled, she would look like an angel. If only she smiled…

She saw him walking towards her from a distance. She knew he was looking at her. She had felt his gaze on him earlier. He looked at her with kindness and passion in his eyes. He always had a smile on his face. Since the first day she saw him, to this moment now where she looked at him through the corner of her eyes, he was smiling. As she tried to avoid his gaze, she kept looking at him though the corner of her eyes, and there he was, smiling. She looked at the ground wondering what made the boy smile every time she saw him. Since the first day, she was always curious about him. But something held her back. She wanted him to make the first move. She knew there was this spark between them. Something she could not understand but it was still something she never felt before. But maybe she wasn’t good enough for him? Maybe he already has a girlfriend? Maybe she was too shy for him? As he came closer, she shifted her gaze on the ground. But just before that she saw him smiling towards her. She remembered the first day she saw him and she remembered his smile. It made her happy, just to see him, just to see his face, just so she can see that smile.

And in that brief moment where she passed him, he saw for the first time, a faint smile on her lips….

Aim for Spiderman and you'll atleast become Peter Parker!

I have been thinking about this for a very long time now. Over the past years, the way this world has turned up; I’m deeply unsatisfied. You people of this world, are you all happy the way the world has become? There are so many things to change, so many mistakes to rectify, so many things that need to be undone. And there is no one who steps up to the mantle to make this much needed change. I wrote an article a while back ‘Does this world really need superheroes’ and I still stand by it. We need superheroes; but can’t we just become one?

We all aspire to become like someone, a role model or an idol which we all have in mind. May it be a family member, a friend or a great achiever; they are all people who have in some way, had a significant impact on our lives. But all these people are in the end, human. They have their limitations and their weaknesses and ultimately we inherit those negative qualities as well. On the other hand, folks like Spiderman, Batman, Peter Petrelli, Christopher Chance or even Guerreo don’t have a weakness. That’s because they’re virtual. But that also makes them the most ideal role models. These people are the most true symbols of goodwill, strength, courage, sacrifice, determination and any other qualities which this world needs. They overcome most stringent challenges, display an unbelievable amount of courage and sacrifice and even risk their own lives for things that could be consider as ‘stranger’ to us. These folks are most commonly known to risk their lives for complete strangers and are always trying to save the world. Why? Not because they can but because they want to. It’s their inherent nature, and in this case their character or script that makes them what they are; Extraordinary!!! Legendary!!!! They’re always there to help or worse comes, save the world!

You would tell me to be more realistic and I am being realistic, just in my own world. If I aim to be like Peter Petrelli; even if I become even 1/10th the goodness that he is; this world will become a much better place. The world needs more Parkers, Petrelli’s, Wayne’s and Chance’s!!! Meeting unrealistic expectations and striving to be someone who only exists in scripts and screens is most likely the only way you can go beyond your own limits. It will be very difficult to become like them (No arguments there); but if you try, you can most likely change yourself to someone so good; A hero in the virtual world while you exist in the real world, where you can actually make a difference.
So I say, Aim to be like Spiderman and you’ll at least become Peter Parker.


P.s: This applies to our daily professional/personal lives as well. You always aim higher so that you’ll try harder and achieve what you originally aimed for. There is always a good chance there that you might achieve the higher harder objective.

Getting out of a hole

Imagine you're in a hole, what would you do? Logically the most common answer would be, to try to get out of the hole. Hole's in general are considered as a hostile environment and no one likes to be in a hole. But first you have to accept the fact that by some twist of fate you have ended in the hole. You have to accept your fate, your feelings and your current state before you can conquer it.

If it's unrequited love, accept your feelings; accept the fact that you love someone and they don't share the same sentiment. Only then can you truly respect your feelings and keep them aside to move on. If you fall down, accept that you have fallen; only then can you pick yourself up and become stronger when you get back on your feet. It's a simple law of life which we are all aware of but don't realize that we need to follow it as well. Failure is not the stepping stone to success. Success is not guaranteed after failure. But acceptance of failure is the way of courage and strength. When you accept something, it means that you respect it. When you respect it, only then you can truly judge it and use it for your own benefit.

Guns X Sword.

 We live in an age of ever advancing technology. And in this age, the technology that is the most advanced and has the highest budget allocation is the defense technology. The peril in defense technology is that what the common man know is not always 'the most advanced' weapon out there. Every country has their secrets and their biggest secret is what they're packing!

 I sometime wish we lived in the age of swords. It would have been indeed good for the world if swords and bows had never advanced to Kevlar and bullets. The fact that modern technology gives someone power to hurt someone else without putting themselves in a danger zone is the biggest problem that has arisen from modern weapons. Any teenager can hold a gun and pull the trigger. Any country can push a button and annihilate a piece of land under the pretense of deterrence. Only the courageous holds a sword. That's why it is still considered as a honor symbol and held by the highest ranking officials in the military. It takes ample amount of courage for someone to hold a sword and injure someone with it, not to mention the skill and the strength which it requires. Even a something as simple as a bow takes in skill, strength and a steady hand to actually manage to kill someone. Imagine if you replace the gun with a sword. Then every little piece of sh*t out there who uses a gun to threaten people will think twice before he pulls out a sword on you. He has to be sure that he'll be able to use the sword. He also has to be completely confident in his own fighting skills or else you'll take him down even if you're unarmed. A sword is as good as its user, otherwise in the hands of a kid; its just a large but sharp piece of metal.

 Values like courage, honor, strength, dexterity and physical skill have lost their worth in the modern world. As automation technology and other modern weaponry comes into picture, more and more dull humans are able to act like God. We humans were weak creatures in the evolutionary cycle. In the process of making ourselves stronger, we forgot that we ourselves grow significantly weaker and weaker each passing day.

Comfort is a vice of life.

 I had a troubling experience today. I am usually one of the craziest motorbike riders in this part of town. I have fallen, injured myself badly and also had a near death experience, all on the same motorbike. But after spending three years in the United States, I felt today that I nearly lost that edge over life which I had earlier.

 Life in the US can be best described as the safest life on this planet. People cross the road without care knowing that the considerate driver of an automobile will stop for them. No one (Except for the ones on Wildest Police Videos) breaks lanes, speed limits or any traffic rules. That is transportation to its utmost perfection. India, on the other hand is complete opposite. Anybody crosses anywhere they want too. People will never stop for you to cross the road and will try to get across as fast as possible. No one is considerate towards anyone else on the road. It's considered as utter chaos, specially in Bombay. And after spending 3 years in that relaxed environment in the US, I have become cautions when I cross the road. I don't speed as much now-a-days. Neither do I cut across lanes and other slow moving vehicles. I, have become what I feared the most. I have become afraid of getting hurt; which is not a bad thing but not a good thing either (At least for me).

   Life on the road is a struggle which you must endure everyday. We are supposed to be continuously evolving. But evolution is a condition that occurs due to a struggle or a need. If we have no need, we will not evolve. Because they needed to swim, fish developed fins and lungs. Because they wanted to fly, the birds developed wings. Evolution is a process that occurs when you are in a desperate need and in difficult times. But as technology advances, mankind is making his life as easy as it can get. We now even get peanut-butter and jelly in the same jar. Is is that difficult to open another jar of jam? Is it so necessary that you need an elevator to climb up a few floors when our ancestors walked across mountains and deserts for plain food and water. We have advanced; but our bodies are going in the opposite direction. Life on the road is a struggle which you must endure everyday.

 My advise, make your life a little bit tougher. Do the crossword and puzzles in the paper to keep your mind active. Take the stairs and do a bit of a run just for fun. Try remembering phone numbers instead of saving them in your cellphone. Use a notebook instead of MS Word. Every little thing counts and make every other little thing count. Only when you struggle, will you improve. Only when you fall down, will you get up stronger. Only when you get hurt

You have changed!

 One hears this statement quite often. I was delivered a dose of 'Oh you are not the same; you have changed!' recently. Today I had time to give it some thought which I would like to present for general public opinion.

 I partially agree that I have changed a bit. But that is a relative statement. Everyone around me changed so I had to adapt. It's a natural human tendency to adapt to what I term as a hostile environment. Everyone has a natural environment where one can be themselves. When this natural environment changed, I had to change along with it. The factors which allowed me to be myself were changed. It's like, if you are playing a game, your game-play differs with respect to the players you play with. You would not play it at full potential against a 3 year old. Same rule applies here. Its not the people who change. Its the environment that forces them to change. I cannot be expected to behave the way I do around people I am not comfortable with. Once the comfort level changes, or in this case, diminishes, then I can't possibly be myself. Not because I am worried about something but I just won't be fun. It won't have the same feeling as when I am with my friends.

 Change is never welcomed. Good or bad, you have to adapt to the change which turns out to be quite troublesome. The worst is to be the cause of somebody's change. We have seen many people who try to mold others in an image they would be more comfortable with. But in the process you disallow the person to be their own original unique personality. This is quite apparent in modern relationships where girls are known to try and mold their boyfriends into ideal guys. Boys need to be boys and people need to be themselves. Only then can we truly call ourselves unique. Cause if you're not unique, then life won't be as much fun anymore.

Do what you want to do

Now this idea is not exactly novel. You can compress it even further by saying "Do what you like." or "Do what you love." As simple as it sounds its complexity increases the more you think about it.

As humans, we have two transitions in life. We start as kids, grow up to become adults and eventually transit into the feared old age. As kids we're supposed to have fun. As adults we're are supposed to work. The rule here is that work is not equivalent to fun. Other than a few exceptions, that is the widely accepted rule of an adult life.

As I summarize from my own life, this is not our fault. Time and again we are being prepared for this grow-up work. Our teachers have time and again reminded us in school that work is not fun. We can't blame them either. We didn't make their work any more fun! Parents say that handling 2 kids is a nightmare; imagine the hell we have put our teachers through. Again, it is not our fault either. We as kids were doing what we did best back then, have some good old fun.

Thus we end up working because the society wants us too. We work to make money or our of sheer boredom and to maintain inertia of the current state of our life. Money and laziness are the best and worst reasons why we end up not doing what we love. People get accustomed to their lifestyle. A change after that is difficult to incorporate. Anyone would be called a fool to leave a well settled state of life to pursue something obscure. Eventually, beliefs of how you wish things to be become contaminated by how things are. The virus spreads and you eventually forget your dreams and get on with reality. We are not ready and willing to take the high road. You want it to be easy. If its difficult, you don't want it at all. People want to go to heaven without dying. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way (Thank you Dan Gilbert for that wonderful thought).

I realized our audience is limited too. Our ideas and work is shared amongst the small circle of friends we live with. What we love should not only make us happy but should bring a smile to others as well. Our friends should be the compass to the outside world. The more people you help, the better.

I do want to write a lot more; but the length of the article is inversely proportional to the number of people reading it. So I'll take a break now and continue sometime later!