And he named her Grace...

With the metro train no where in sight,
reading the time on his watch did not serve.
He was late for the third straight day,
and was loosing his nerve.

Fortunes changed, a scented breeze tickled him,
he looked over his shoulder to see.
Spellbound he was in awe,
and realized he had an open jaw.

The platform was bustling with people,
his heart skipped a beat.
Adjectives failed him at that time,
and all he could murmur was…she is sweet!

Those deep brown eyes, the most radiant face,
she had the greatest charm.
She stood some five feet six,
with her cascading hair falling down on her arms.

Unaware of her secret admirer,
she set her hair right.
A lovely smile lit up the entire platform,
as she waived to her friend on the opposite side.

Her olive skin, those dangling earrings,
that white Indian dress…
her expression as the caresses of the breeze played over her face
the image sketched in his heart forever
and he named her Grace.

The train glided out of the station and everybody left,
but he stood there alone.
Time was no longer on his mind
for he was in the love zone.

--Neeraj Gandhi

4 beers please!!!

Four beers please!
that’s Sanchit’s next piece.
The bell has been rung,
and the countdown has begun.
Posters are up,
with 4 beer mugs.
The background is yellow,
the texture is mellow.
Shubha says it’s her design,
Sanchit refutes, no it’s mine :)
That’s straight out of a bollywood script,
publicity galore before the release of the flick.
And I sit here with a laptop on my lap,
I’m just a poor writer, donning my poem hat.
--NG

Sach (In)Credible Player

Such is his greatness,
Such is his class.
Such is his genius,
Such is his talent.
Such is his temperament,
Such is his elan.
He is the Little Master.

Such is his brilliance,
Such are his achievements.
Such is his dedication,
Such is his love for the game.
Such is his craft,
Sach is Life.
He is the Batting Maestro.

Such is his devotion,
Such is his journey.
Such is his following,
Such is his legend.
He is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

-My tribute to cricket's greatest ever.

Neeraj Gandhi

The MNIK Imbroglio

Protests, controversies, warnings and sporadic incidents of violence. The bottom line: My Name Is Khan released in Mumbai and across the country. Hordes of people turned up to watch the movie, even as the response in Mumbai became the cynosure of all eyes. And, at the epicentre of all this were; the film fraternity, the Shiv Sena and the Media.

The MNIK production team is a happy lot. A bevy of controversies- with the film's protagonist at the centre- ensured that people go out and watch the film. While the central issue had nothing to do with the film itself, the row has been a blessing in disguise. Thousands of SRK fans thronged multiplexes in the country and the world over to get a glimpse of their star in action. As a battery of bollywood stars rooted for SRK, the latter thanked his fans for showing up in large numbers.

The Shiv Sena's claim of disrupting the film's release fell flat on its face. The tiger's roar could not dampen the spirits of the people of Mumbai, who refused to be bullied, and turned up in large numbers. This comes at a time when the party is yet to recover from the embarrassment caused when Sachin Tendulkar remarked that he is an Indian first, and later when the Mumbaikars ignored the Shiv Sena’s call to show black flags to Rahul Gandhi.

The Media on the other hand went overboard with the issue. Live links made way for packages and in no time MNIK was there in the half hour discussion shows. What if a lesser known actor had spoken in favour of Pakistani players for IPL, and his film were at stake. Would the media have covered this in the same manner?

Kick the butt!

Will pictorial warnings on tobacco products help quell the habit? This is one question that even my 'smoking' acquaintances are asking themselves. The suspense to the kind of graphic illustrations has certainly done the trick. While some of them are warily sticking to the butt, others are holding on to the old empty packets to fill them with new smoking arsenal. This, they say, would prevent them from looking at those graphics. Clever!

But this does not serve the purpose. It's hard to understand why would someone want to inhale some 4.7 thousand toxic substances at one go. And that too knowing that 85 % of the lung cancers are caused by smoking...and 80% of lung cancer victims die within 3 years.

Here's why one should not smoke.

• Try Isabgol for easy bowel movements...it's really effective.
• Go green...wait for CNG to cigarettes to hit the market. Traditional cigarettes emit 14-28 mg of carbon mono-oxide.
• What's the fun in wasting money on killing oneself? Use it for charity.
• Smoking causes bad breadth...so one has to spend extra on mouth freshener. Save money!
• A rotten fish smells better
• Smoking damages taste buds. So the next time...(u know what)
• Contrary to the general perception tobacco is a great turn off for the opposite sex.
• Smoking is not cool. Instead, one would be cooling off 6-feet under.
  

"Wish you a happy married life"

"Sir, I need a special package for the newly weds," my friend said to the medical store owner. The owner, supposedly in mid 50s, handed him one pack with a mischievous smile. All this while, I was a mere spectator and clueless as to my friend would actually go ahead and do this. Both of us were on our way to attend a common friend's marriage reception party.

What was on his mind next...his devilish smile certainly did spill the beans.

Well, our next stop was the dais...where our common friend and our bhaabi were accepting greetings from everybody present for the occasion. The two of us waiting for our turn to greet the newly weds. And when we did, my friend very stealthily delivered the 'packet' into the groom's coat pocket, saying gently into his ears, "wish you a happy married life."

"Isn't the job well done," he asked me while waiving at the groom. I could notice his oozing confidence, but the was now wearing an embarrased smile, stuck in a precarious situation. With nowhere to alight himself of the burden, the poor chap had no option but to stick one of his hands inside the coat's side pocket.

And what followed next was a laughing riot. The next ten phohographs show the groom tightly gripping something inside his coat pocket...

Watch your weight...and height too!

"You are fair, well built and weigh 62 kgs. Your monthly income is not satisfactory, but don't worry, the situation will improve in the next six months."

These lines were particularly intriguing for me. The reasons: Firstly, they were uttered by a weighing machine at Juhu Beach (Mumbai), which by the look of it did not seem to posses any AI. And secondly, the sheer assertion with which these came out had the spectators (including me) all ears.

However, it was a little too difficult for me to digest. How could a weighing machine possibly predict the salary and the future earnings of a person with such oozing confidence? The thought refused to get out of my mind.

And now that I am back, I decided to look this up on the internet. The search was definitely worth it.

It was easy to understand the direct connection between the two. Income inequality leads to less spending on nutritional food items and therefore a loss in health and probably weight too.

But interestingly, it was the indirect link that caught the eye. How does weight affect the earning of an individual?

Some studies in the US throw light on this issue. One of them presented at the National Summit on America's Children says, "Weighing less than 5.5 pounds at birth increases the probability of dropping out of high school by one-third, and reduces yearly earnings by about 15 percent."

As per another study by Dept. of Sociology, University of Southern California, weight plays a crucial role in deciding the income at entry level professional/ managerial occupations. In addition, women who are at or below their desirable weight tend to higher incomes and occupational positions than women who are overweight.

Surprisingly, the connection gets even more diverse to include height also. According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 89, No. 3) every inch (in terms of height) counts at the workplace. It says that each inch that a person is above the average height may fetch some $789 more per year.

Well, now the weighing machine story seems to be a bit logical. In the meantime I am on the lookout for a height measuring machine with similar powers. Let's see if I can find one.