to be continue

i know you are in the offing for my next blog post, even if you can’t comment, yet you’ve something wacky in your arms.
Well, ok, ok, I understand your affection towards this blog, so I got obligated to write this post.
Wish I could write glibly with the same pace, but it’s unattainable at this junction. Why, because I’m wound up with some emotional dilemmas these days, so I beseech you to give me a few more days to write in the same proverbial tenor.
Hope I’ll get back with some enthralling post rather then silly posts like this, if you’ve really found it one.
till then keep waiting, or of course, keep reading the older posts as well.

how to improve spellings in english?

Well let me tell first of all, I’m usually not supposed to write these sort of tutorial, or guide. (whatever you call it). But, I had been asked by one of my very close friend, while we were talking about silly spellings written by intelligent people. She said, “I don’t believe, how they can write those many erroneous spellings”? I said “they do, because of unproper education, and other internal/ external issues”.
While arguing, she finally said, that why don’t someone comes with an extensive guide that can improve their spelling habits?
I just promised her at the time, that not sure if there is anything available to provide extensive informations all at one place, but I’ll write one for those who badly looks for it.
Thanks to Natasha for inspiring me for this, and you all, I’m not a regular tutorial writer, excuse me for anything flawed.
This guide is for you, if you feel yourself hazard while writing.
This guide is for you, if you find spellings your rival,
This guide is for you, if you feel, that you can’t spell correctly even to usual words at all,
Hey, ok, I mean this guide is to improve your spellings skills.


Fare or not, often people are judged on the basis of how they spells the words.
I know this is not a legitimate criteria, but that’s what it goes, specially in corporate or professional environment.
So, firstly you need to understand, that you are not the only person who is suffering from the problem of bad spellings. In fact, I’m sure there are milians of people like you in world, so my point is to stop feeling nervous about it.
Believe me, you are not unlike, it’s a very common error found in many of us.
The reason is, that we are not properly educated about spelling strategies in our primary classes, and those who are educated even have not taken much interest about it.
In English, it says that rules are made to be broken.
Many a times, neither two words pronounced somehow samely would have same sspelling, nor two samely looking spelling would have same pronounciations.
It’s peculiar, extremely peculiar, but as said, that’s what it is.
Writing proper spellings has it’s own very special magnitudes, and if on a professional basis, it may even make or break your career.
So, what is that magic mantra to trounce this problem?
Well, I’d say that there is, and there’s not.
What I mean is, that though there’s no mantra available to completely assembling the skills overnight, but still there is a mantra, and that is “practice makes one perfect”.
There are some rules, some customs, some exercises and more, to which if you practice, you’d be a juggler of spellings pretty soon.
Well yeh, it’s an art yet it can be learned, it’s a magic yet it can be executed, it’s a tune yet it can be played, and of course, it’s a bit hard yet it can be done.
Now comes the milian doller question, where to find those rules, customs, exercises and more. Well, internet is the key, believe me or not, it also has great stuffs for improving English apart from your favorite song, favorite movies, and else.
No no no, I haven’t written this long guide only to tell this small thing, waite a bit, I’m providing a list of internet’s best resources which would definitely improve your skills of
Spelling correctly.
How much you’d improve, , depends how much you’d pick up the logic behind.
Here are some of the best resources available on internet, which if you read, you’d return with golden power of correctly spelling the words.

----

Learn English spellings: the site is best for those who are gramatically sound somehow, yet finds themselves in trubble in spelling part.
http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/spellingtext.htm

this is a great spot on the cyber domicile to learn spelling tactics, and those too in very easy to understand language and properly listed manner.
http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/spelling.htm

the following website is one of the best resources that I’ve found over internet for those who are seeking ways to learn English. Believe me, if you devote few of your hours to accentuate on the rules and strategies provided on this site, you’d be able to crutch up your spelling pretty satisfactorily.
http://www.zozanga.com/grammar/spellingtext.htm

now this one, has some nice tips for your spelling related problems.
http://www.englishspellingproblems.co.uk/

this is for everyone who is worried about his or her spellings, or even about their child’s spellings as well.
http://www.spelling.hemscott.net/

find 100 Most Often Misspelled Words in English here:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

a quick guide for those who just need to polish it:
http://www.englishclub.com/writing/spelling.htm

a nice guide for spelling rules, just a little bit of logic needed.
http://www.dyslexia.org/spelling_rules.shtml

this is the very detail reference for learning spelling rules and strategies. Recommended who thinks that they need to work a bit extra on their spellings.
http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/spelling.htm

most common spelling rules, all at one place.
http://esl.about.com/od/writingstyle/a/g_spellrules.htm

one more very nice website for improving English spelling, very nice one.
http://grammar.about.com/od/words/tp/spellrules.htm

well, I bet you’re excited now, and all set to learn how to spell correctly, so what’s to wait, let’s quickly visit the sites one-by-one, and become the emperor of the world of spellings.
By the way, Happy spelling!

i'm angry, seriously

Hey, I’m serious today, How can you be so lackadaisical?
What do you understand by blog, tell me?
Yes, tell me,
Does it mean only to read the 5 posts on the top, and simply ignoring the other posts just for the stupid excuse of lethargy?
Does it mean only to read the title of the post, and then settling on your nutty imaginations about it?
I wonder, how can you be so indolent?
Believe me, it’s one of the most sloppy acts of the world.
It hardly takes few of your minutes to explore the post inside the subterranean vault… oh, previous posts I mean, if you still find it enigma. Whatever though, but I don’t understand, how you make it feasible.
Well, what I combat is, I have lot more then these 5 top of the page posts, but you don’t even think to crunch them.
You can spend hour’s with those howling ladies in “saas bahu seriouls”,
You can waist time with fucking stories of college girls,
You can end up your day by thinking about your latest crush,
Ah, number of other illegal things as well, be grateful I’m not releasing here.
You can do all those things, but can’t bother to read something apart from what is available on the page at the recent.
Well hey, sorry if I’ve clinked rather ruthless, but all that I mean, is that
please, please also read my previous posts which are available in the title called "thoughts in the basement". Look, being heated is one side, but even while poring love as well, what i request is that I’ve binded a number of nice things for you, and they ranges apart from these top 5 posts as well.
Please go and read them, I’m sure you’d discover something, that you’ve never experienced.
Ok, I think you’ve got my point, now quickly rush to the previous post, they are available in heading call
"thoughts in the basement".
brouze them, read them, feel them.

i don't understand, why?

Why are some people eternally in quest for the truth? To discover where we have come from, where we are going... In order to find that point which determined
that we shall be the way we are. It is because these people are troubled? Is it because they were born to uncover the mysteries that plague civilisation?
Or is it because they crave an unending puzzle; something that will keep them occupied with no near hope of getting a solution, so that they can ignore
their own demons and try to crack the rhetorical questions that other people utter on pretentious first dates without a care in the world? Are they the
kind of people who, after solving such a mystery, would take up another practically un-doable task? Or is it because it's abysmally early on a should-have-been-lazy
Saturday morning and lack of food has made them believe that their extreme hunger is caused due to the eternal unanswered questions lurking in the shadows of humankind?

Bet you didn't see that coming.
as I have been consistently saying for the past week or so- Bitch :P
I agree as such, I do it myself. wonder why things are this way...
life, human nature, the works... but imagine a person thinking like this 80% of the
time. I am not condemning such people one bit, just wondering how on earth they do it.


Anyways, I’ve got baffled discovering the answer, please, please suggest if you know,
Why!

latest obsession:

I have a crush on a girl. It's not my first, but it feels funny. It feels ridiculously funny:

The thing about new obsessions is they help in getting over old obsessions. The ones that go stale. That at some point stop being so fun. And exciting.
And exhilarating. The ones that once seem like the most important ever. That remind us why life's all wonderful, and everything so beautiful.

Getting un-obsessed, un-involved is probably one of the things I dread most. I just have no clue when I'll just lose interest. Don't want to have anything
to do with it anymore. Start resenting it for all the pressure it puts on me , because of all the invested time and effort.

It's better to just move on.. find new passions. Get out when things start going stale. And get going with life. I don't know I'm beginning to sound cynical.
I'm not in the greatest of moods I guess. I don't want to do all these things I'm supposed to do. I want to get out of here.

i wish,

This is one of those days, when I wish I still had a secret blog (no I don't want to start one again). I wish I could just type without thinking. think
without censoring.
I wish I could enjoy being alone. happy. free, of tiresome worries, haunting memories. free of compulsive restless wanting to run away. go somewhere. do
something. be someone.
I wish I had courage. to look into myself and see what I truly want. to untangle the mess of confusion carefully weaved around in my mind. to see clearly.
to make decisions. to stick to decisions. to act. no, I'm too afraid.
I wish I could revive the time again, where all of the above were wishes granted.
Anyways, I just wish, and I know, that the wishes are never ending.

independence day poetry

well, here is a nice poem that i found in my inbox.
i'm indian, so the poem also posted in the context of indian independence day which falls on 15th of august.
happy independence day to everyone by the way, if you are reading the same on the right time.


When I looked into the pages of history

My heart drenched with pain and misery

Every battle our hero’s has fought

Every battle we made them to loose

Every time they felt the humiliation

Every time they subject to sedition

Its all because of we ….

we the people of this nation

All the foreign invaders to this land

All the Moghuls, Portuguese and Pathan

All those French , Dutch and English

Who could dare to intrude in grace….

Its all because of us, us and only us…

We forgave them and adopt them most

Only to sacrifice our own interest

Now we are beating the drum called unity

And we are proud of

Chanting the dictum called Unity in Diversity

Bapu preached the gospel of peace

Subhas became the subject of anguish

British could not find the way to resist

They left the land in torment

Tearing its land from its heart

Leaving behind the bleeding people

Who lost every thing in the turmoil….

Hoping for a bright future

India got the sovereign status….

Sixty years has passed from that date

Still we are far behind the achievement

Our best brains has left our country

Wise and learned prefer to live in solitary

Qualified has lost his job to the unqualified

Morbid moments lingering with the talented

People here die out of starvation

But the utensil we use is from foreign

The concept of divide and rule still persists

Sometimes Sikhs sometimes Muslims

Sometimes the lower caste and OBCs

They are made pawns of the political chess

Still we fail to understand this subtle message

wake up ……..

Oh’ come on the people of this land

Wake up to recognize the good and the bad

This religion, land, money and power

All looks lucrative when peace is there

With an empty stomach

What is democracy and what is jihad?

Don’t dance in the tune of others

Isn’t our own music is enough?

Independence day will come and go

To understand the real meaning

We need to wake up and enrage our ego.

the words of freedom

On my Nation’s Independence Day, I wish all my compatriots the best of/for our nation and the best that independence can bring upon us. I know it’ll be
2-3 days back from independence day, but before it bangs and I pamper into commemoration, here’s something for you to know about my outlook.

On the occasion of independence, a very good friend asked me what “Freedom” actually meant to me. And a good devotee to my dictionary, I promptly checked
its definition. “the power or right to act/think/speak freely; the state of being free; not being subjected to or affected by something/anything; a special
privilege or right of access”—that’s what my faithful friend conjured upon me. And although I blame not myself for the healthy habit of dictionary reference,
I felt I brought shame to the “freedom of thought” that I was given, and to the question itself, for it was entitled to a lot of thinking.

In a country like India with it’s intricately laid out constitution and a mostly explicable form of governance, freedom means a lot. A lot has happened
since the time of independence. Are we still as independent as we think we are?

Imagine this, in 1947, we were free, and celebrated independence. Now, we do celebrate it, but not “freely”. There are a thousand guards and a hundred norms
for fear of someone/something that can hinder the Independence Day celebrations. Even the leaders of the country aren’t free anymore – not even free enough
to indulge in wrong doing (albeit they still do exercise their freedom to do so)! Our economy too is not as free as it seems to be. If we were fighting
for freedom the East India Company then, we are becoming submissive to and being “acquired” by international companies, now(modern day colonization I guess).
(FYI, TCS(nor any other Indian co.) is not the largest IT Company in the country). No FDIs, and No Freedom.

Feel bad about the situation in our country? Well, some citizens, the more optimistic ones do think that it is because the country is independent and gives
each one of us freedom, that there are people expressing themselves by form of violence; That there are groups of people fighting to free themselves from
the tyranny of a free country. Wonder what freedom means to them and how would they define it! And as for the others, the ones neutral are still around
and blissfully ignorant about say, the brouhaha about the 123 or the hush-hush about a possible cabinet reshuffle! And the ones who are on the negative
end of the spectrum are mostly talking the language of Obama.

Obviously the salaried person has no freedom in any form, then there are the businesses – questionable again. Finally the government – definitely answerable
in the next elections and a parliament session. But really – the Government is free enough to cry “treasury is all empty” and still manage to hike up the
government employee’s salaries once every couple of years and manage to pay them by dipping into others pockets. Now that’s freedom – you do something,
you are appreciated, your responsibility is done with and you don’t really need to worry about it – ever!
Freedom to me is a well respected state of doing what I want to, not bringing harm onto any living being, and respecting the rights conferred upon me and
the society by the nation, respecting my compatriots’ freedom.

Freedom to me means to be able to question, comprehend and re-define what freedom really means to me.
What’s your way of defining freedom, writing comment is the best sword for the moment. And of course, freedom of thoughts has it’s own special dimentions.

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.

When results were out of my college, cantine has become like a conference room of united nation.
With the glass of soft drinks and plates of samosas, a piquant consideration of toppers and losers were also grilling at the same time.
In fact, the people were more anxious to know the list of toppers, and even more concerned for the list of losers.
Vinay, the hero of the moment was the only person who was having internet working on his laptop, so all the eyes were hubbing on him, and even more hovered then the final matches of India and Pakistan.
All 40 of us of our section except a few who were absent , were waiting for vinay to chip in their role number on his keyboard to have that life’s biggest upshot.
All have viewed their results turn-by-turn, so now their were two groups namely toppers, and losers.
The toppers not only mean those in bottom nineties, but people ranging around seventies were also mixed up there.
While losers were ranging anything from failures to below seventies.
Suddenly, one of my very good friend, say just one step backside from my girlfriend, has taken responsibility of announcing the good and the bad news.
In fact, her loud, but pleasing voice has captured the attention of all in just a moment.
Now begins the actual part, when she has announced a very astonishing news.
Rajeev, who seems to be the most admirer of god, has got fail.
In fact, he used to spend many of his hours in temple, even in the exam days as well.
As a person, I love him very much, and actually he is the most simplest person I’ve ever observed.
Besides all this, my point is, that how could it be possible?
A guy, who have prayed a lot from god to make him successful in exam, could not even crack it, I mean, just awful.
What happened was, that though he was wishing and praying to god,but he forgot, that god help only those who helps themselves.
Ok, many people gets fail, and it’s not the most inimitable thing of the world, but I know that guy, if he would have spend a bit of his time with books rather then in temple, the consequence could be better for sure.
Though I’ve also prayed god, but I’ve studied as well.
So, At the nutshell, I’m not against of praying because By prayer we acknowledge God's power and goodness, our own neediness and dependence. It is therefore an act of the virtue of religion implying the deepest reverence for God and habituating us to look to Him for everything, not merely because the thing asked be good in itself, or advantageous to us, but chiefly because we wish it as a gift of God,
and not otherwise, no matter how good or desirable it may seem to us.
However, all that I want to convey if someone asks me in one phrase, the answer would be,
If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.
I mean, only wishes doesn’t works, hardwork still required.

it hurts

well, this post was supposed to be on yesterday, when i was working with those daunting looking algorithms in vc#.
but, like life these days, it has also decided to crunch me.
whatever,
my friend, the one who was always with me in all my stpid ventures through out school, has called me up yesterday morning. she is having a tough
time. trusting and loving a friend, and ....
ok, that's part of life, and i do understand that as well, but anything that goes aggney for her, it gives me a gentle emotional punch to me as well.
it just makes me haggy, but don't ask me why, please, at least not today.

all I can say is that she is going through a very bad phase of her life, but I know it'll be over, because, she is a STRONG person.

you guys, please pray for her,
please?

i've learned that,

tell me, what's the worst curse for men?
...
...
...
still thinking??? it's very easy... the answer is to accompany a woman while shopping.
people who do not agree with me, should try it once and your opinion would definitely change. and the men who agree with me, must have gone through some unfortunate experiences like me..

I knew it... but I had a vague idea. I used to think that this happens only if we accompany mother or some aunts, even some friends or elder sisters also
causes the same thing.
so the naive me agreed when my cousin, who just sat for H.S. exam this year, asked me to take her to do some shopping. we went to the mall...and started
browsing.. to buy 1 shirt and 1 t-shirt for me and she got 5 paiece of garments. and it took sort of 2 hours. but we must have covered atleast 10 kms.
seems unbelievable????ok...
let me give you a quick description of yesterday.

we went in. and started seeing somethings we were least bothered to buy and neither have the money to buy. then we started checking some homemaker's stuff.
finally after 30 to 45 minutes we went to the upstairs to see the garments. ( i just realized it's impossible for me to recollect that shocking experience)

finally we went out with our aching legs and came back

by this,
i've learn that,
women!!. be they 2 years or 12 or 20 or 42 or 70 , they all have the innate capacity do shopping and more browsing than shopping and they specially browse
the things that they had no intention to buy.

i've learn that,
things that they buy, they choose after seeing hundred others and they try that 4 to 5times... and
if you want to escape this , donate the content of your wallet to them and go catch a movie. by this time the movie ends, they may finish..
(I think that's why the multiplexes are situated adjacent to the shopping malls)...and if they haven't yet, pray!!!!!

the sound of lonelyness

I know the sound of two hands clapping and sometimes I try to figure out the sound of one hand clapping (as the Zen koan goes). But recently I’ve discovered
the sound of loneliness.
Don’t ask me where and why, as this seems to be more personal then what I love to divulge, but what’s important is that I did discover that, and believe me it’s repugnant like anything.

What is the sound of loneliness?

It isn’t silence.
Some of us actively seek silence. Some of us like solitude. But that’s aloneness, not loneliness.

Lonely is feeling invisible in a crowd. Or unheard in the melee.
Lonely is when you want to talk to someone…anyone…and all you can hear is telephones ringing and no one to pick them up.
Lonely is when you want to talk to one person only and everyone in the world but that person wants to talk to you.

The sound of a telephone ringing till it gets cut is the loneliest sound in the world. Whichever end you are at.

I have heard the sound so loudly recently, so all that I can tell is that it’s one of the most unpleasant things of the world.

why and how, will tell some other time.
Possibly a next part of this post, though I have never yet tried any sequel of any of my post, however idea seems good one. Isn’t it?
Well, above all that, the good news is, that I’m feeling far better now, as the atrocious sound of loneliness seems not appearing anymore.

e mails, so what?

The dream which I've seen maximum number of times is one about finding my letterbox full with letters and most of these bearing my name. In the last 10
years, I've seen this numerous times.
It doesn't take Freud to interpret this dream. I love getting letters and really love to get them.
I've pen pals over the year- a bond formed by the letters
with those faceless strangers.
with the advent of technology my pen pals were replaced by chat friends; yahoo messenger and GMail taking the place of pen and paper.
But I still love to get letters, though now I hardly get one in a year. on the contrary my inbox is always full of new emails.
E mails: Electronic mails. extremely fast. I don't have to worry anymore about what the fate of the letter would be. Neither I have to wait for 15 days to
have a reply( the prompt one). sometimes the reply comes within a minute. but... as my cousin once wrote, Emails lack personal touch.

let me explain. my cousin and me used to keep in touch through letters. our relationship grew over the years through the letters and then emails and now
blogs.
we still email, call and keep in touch. but emails lack the speciality. unless u count the latest ways by which my cousin irritates me in the mails, there's
nothing to established that it's the mail coming from her. I mean, emails bear just some typed characters... without any uniqueness. any Tom-Dick-Harry
could have typed that. it doesn't have the unique ornate scrolls characterising his letters or the bad handwriting proclaiming to be a letter from me.

the Internet has done so many things. but it took away the personal touch. moreover, now we think..yeah..we'll send this..but ultimately we don't.

the world is getting smaller and smaller
it's now restricted to the satellite and Internet
but you and me are drifting apart
more distant than two stars,
thousands light years apart.

the line of fire

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his
frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with
the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so manythings to do. He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to
put the time to some good use.
Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.
Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.
"You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized. "
"Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look.
He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place
in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling
pass.
"You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things
outside."
Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning not anger. "It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a
few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it." For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but
restrained himself to a single statement. "It is complex, very complex."
"It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid," came the reply.
This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone.
"Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work.. Just
because we sit in an air-conditioned office does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me
that is no less taxing."
He had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point.

"Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between
any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centres across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single
database, at a time concurrency; data integrity, locking, data security.
Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?"
The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination. "You design and code such
things."
"I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "But now I am the Project Manager,"
"Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now."
It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat.
"Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the
easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time
and with the highest quality. To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user
wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday."
Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realisation. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a
wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth. "My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't
know what it is to be in the line of fire."
The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

"I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire," He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.
"There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no
knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top only 4 of
us were alive."
"You are a..."
"I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 JK Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land
assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay
injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my
captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and
welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety came last, always and every
time. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker. Every morning now, as I stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets,
which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire."
Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a
word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; a valour and sense of duty which he had so far
attributed only to epical heroes.
The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.
"It was nice meeting you sir."
Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This hand had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the Tri-colour. Suddenly as if by
impulse, he stood at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.
PS: The incident he narrates during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his
life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and his various other acts of bravery he was
awarded the Param Vir Chakra the nation's highest military award.
wat we get to learn is, that always live humblly, great are those who does speak from their qualities, rather then mouth.

nothing can complete you

It is time to remind myself about something I told my friend some months ago.
Sometimes we make ourselves believe that we need more to feel complete or
to feel happy. People, objects, emotions- it could be anything. But that’s not so. The reality of my life or anyone’s is that what ever you need, life
has already given it to you. If you feel something is not there or cannot sense something, probably you have no need for it. Really, there is nothing lacking
in you for someone to come and complete. Just consider this, if you truly don’t have love , then how can you even offer it to others? If you crave love,
does it mean you are empty of love? Do you expect someone to come fill your heart with love, so that you can give that same love in return? No, you love
because you already have that emotion in you. And so when someone doesn’t reciprocate your love with love, let it not lead you to a sense of incompleteness
or despair. Instead know that before wanting someone’s attention, you need to first love yourself and be at peace with yourself. Only when there is love
in your life, a completeness with yourself, can you understand and see love. Else when it comes you won’t even be able to recognize it.

mango people and their love aaj kal

If you’re sick to death of the steadily more misogynistic, if not just plain misanthropic, fare out there masquerading as romcoms, you might want to head
on over to a screening of Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal.
The love story of a bridge engineer who can’t get in touch with what he wants and an art-restorer
who can’t figure out how to put her emotional life back in its proper place, it’s for people who don’t appreciate being sneered at while being relieved
of their money.

First off, for those of you prepped to watch Jab We Met Part II: it’s nothing of the kind. Or let’s put it this way – LAK is to JWM what JWM was to Socha
Na Tha. It’s got the two people who’re clearly perfect for each other, who understand each other to the point where you’re glad that they do because it’s
unlikely anybody else (least of all yourself) would even know where to start, and they screw things up in all the ways they possibly could. But their journey
is very much their own.

Which leads me to the second thing you should be aware of: this is not an exuberant movie. It keeps threatening to go the distance, but Jai (Saif Ali Khan)
and Meera (Deepika Padukone) are simply too laidback and grounded (in a stuck into unyielding soil kind of way) for things to fall out that way.

The tone is set at the very beginning of the movie, as the credits roll to a stop, and Jai and Meera meet at their favorite London cafe to discuss their
future or, rather, lack of one. Meera restores frescoes and wants to go to Delhi to do it; Jai is an engineer obsessed with the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Fransisco and is working hard to get there. It’s a truism of our times that long-distance relationships never work, so they decide to leave things when
they’re still good, throw themselves a break-up party, and set out on their separate civilized paths.

They’re not lovers out of legend, as Jai (who has a habit of blathering when nervous) explains to Meera. It’s one thing for Romeo and Juliet or Laila and
Majnu to die pining for love. But this is real life and they’re aam junta – ordinary people – or what he punningly calls The Mango People. And Mango People
don’t die of broken hearts. They go with the flow coz they know life goes on.

So that’s that. But with nearly two hours to go in the movie, what next?

Well, life goes on is what next. They meet other people, they keep in touch, career goals slowly fall in place, Rishi Kapoor intermittently shows up to
test Jai’s Theory of the Mango People… nothing very dramatic. Unless you think emotional two-timing is dramatic.

As Meera experiences her moment of epiphany in the latter half, for the first time ever that I can think of in a Bollywood movie a character recognizes
the utter lack of virtue in a relationship where one party is forever emotionally engaged with someone else. “What am I doing?” she mutters to herself
in disbelief as she finally recognizes the utter mess she and Jai have managed to create in their well-ordered, logical fashion and the deep-reaching impact
it’s going to have on innocent by-standers. In the hands of a more experienced actress, I suspect that scene would have blown me away – but even with Deepika
flatlining in the middle of it, it’s still a remarkable moment because Meera sets up her guillotine in the middle of her freakin’ honeymoon suite without
trying to so much as blur the edges of the blade.

[Digression: how many people do you know who called things off within months of their marriage? I was thinking about it, and I seem to know about five couples
personally who did so and I've heard people mention at least three more. Is that odd or par for my generation? Yet another reason why I should stop attending
weddings: "You don't want me at Pinky's wedding - I jinx the happy couple, Auntie!"]

To say that Deepika puts in her career-best performance is hardly praise of the first order given her debut movie required her to be a beautiful animated
poster girl in a Shahrukh Khan extravaganza and her last two releases were Bachna Ae Haseeno and Chandni Chowk to China through which she pretty much sleepwalked.
And as the scene above illustrated rather painfully, she has a fatal tendency to transform into wood when asked to do two things at once – like act while
delivering dialogue.

But to give credit where it’s due, she nails the moments of quiet retrospection. So it’s a pretty good thing then that Meera is such a reserved figure,
given much more to reaction rather than exuberant action unlike, say, Geet in Jab We Met or even Aditi in Socha Na Tha. In one pivotal scene as the tangled
emotions between Meera and Jai reach their knottiest, she doesn’t utter a single word; the camera stays focused on the back of her head as Jai stutters,
stammers and fumbles his way to a recognition, not quite an understanding, of what lies between them. It is only then, at the very end of the soliloquy,
that we see her face and in that instant, it says a whole lot more than any other scene we see her in.

Instead of growing apart from each other, as the film progresses Jai and Meera grow up apart from each other. One of the funniest sequences in the movie
(well, nobody said my sense of humor was a thing of light and joy) comes as Jai ends up in a deep funk towards the end, rather comically so. If you’ve
ever known an Indian man (sorry guys, but it’s not a secret, is it?) completely stuck on a girl, it’s a hilarious variation on a theme. The only difference
between Jai and the sepia-tinted Veer Singh (Saif as Rishi Kapoor in his salad days) is that Jai’s depression sneaks up on him in his modern day isolation
cube of brown bag lunches and video games, while Veer celebrates his despair with his friends just as much as he celebrates his foolishly romantic love.

And it is as you watch Saif (getting better by the minute) painfully arrive at his hard won moment of epiphany, blindingly obvious as it was to everybody
else, and make his way to Delhi to once more run his Theory of the Mango People past his best girl, that you’re shocked to feel the stirrings of affection
in your heart for these two crazy kids.

Because frankly, while you like Jai and Meera as people, and you like the way they are together, the movie does a good job of showing us an alternate reality
where they really could go on the way they were up till then and things would’ve been fine. And if they were other people, other Mango People, without
that strong sense of individuality that infuses these two, then perhaps their choices would have been different. Perhaps Jai wouldn’t gone into a tailspin
if only he could’ve talked to Meera every so often; perhaps Meera would have stuck to her guns if Jai didn’t like to talk aloud when nervous.

The difference between the lovers aaj and the lovers kal, Love Aaj Kal seems to say, is that lovers back in the day weren’t held back by the fact that they
were Mango People. When Veer falls for his Harleen (a very pretty girl who can’t lip-synch worth a damn and is either called Gisele or Shweta or Simran
– nobody knows!), his first thought isn’t that he isn’t equipped to be a lover when all he has is a bicycle and a bunch of louche friends, neither of which
she appreciates; love has exempted him from Mango-status. Even though the lovers these days have more choices and more options, the movie says, they seem
to be a little too taken by their Mango-status to ask for the things they need while busily running after the things they want.

The smartest, and perhaps even bravest, person Jai meets on his journey might well be Jo the Swiss Blonde (what’s with
Saif and Swiss blondes
anyway?) who may not be able to speak English very well but is clever enough to directly address the big gaping hole in their relationship and ask him for
what she needs – and then sweetly tells him to take a shovel to the bullshit he offers her instead.

Didn’t I say it was a good thing Meera and Jai have each other? Maybe that’s what made for each other really is – when you meet the one person in the world
who is willing to wait for you to realize that you’re standing in a field of manure… by your side.