Our army, our lifeline!

Back after a really long time, hope you like this...

In the wake of recent events that have unfolded in India, our love and respect for our armed forces have only increased. In our busy, monotonous life, we often forget certain things which play a magnanimous part in our survival in this cold, brutal world. As citizens of a country whose nearest neighbor's actions are questionable, there is a question of security that arises across all our borders. Right from the LOC, the Siachen to the Arunachal border, our army is making sure that every Indian has his/her night's sleep in a peaceful way. Jai Jawan indeed.

As heavily armed terrorists attacked Uri on the 18th of September 2016, all of India was agitated. Our armed forced befittingly replied on September 29th 2016 in the form of surgical strikes that killed many terrorists. In the 18th September attack, 18 of our soldiers were left martyred which caused a wave of anger and sadness across all sections of the nation. Some of us got angry, some of us got philosophical and most of us, heartbroken. But, the sad truth is, our feelings for our armed forces is short lived and we tend to forget them until an Uri or a Pathankot has taken place .

How is the life of an army man? What is the mental turmoil an army man has to undergo? How does a little girl or boy waits with bated breath as her/his father returns from a cross border operation? What can we learn from an army man? Are we remembering our army enough? These are some of the questions which the nation needs to answer. So, how is the life of an army officer? First things first, what we as a nation should do is avoid loose talk with respect to them. The life of an army man is more than running in the border with an AK47 rifle. It is the life of moments left unsavoured, hopes becoming blurry and a life filled with uncertainties. It's a life where the first steps of his baby daughter become irrelevant but the monitoring the steps of rogues across the border assumes greater importance. Yet, with a smiling face, a thumping heart and a strong will to serve the nation, they soldier on, keeping 127 crore(the number keeps increasing) Indians happy and safe.

What makes these bravehearts in olive green so special? Above all, it is their positive attitude towards life that makes them so hard to beat. It is said that, it is exceptionally difficult to demotivate an army man. It is that character which makes them a part of one of the strongest forces in the world. In addition to this, it is that selfless nature which makes us all respect them. For them, nothing takes precedence over the safety and the welfare of India and Indians. It takes real love for the nation to be on a job that could take away your life in a second.

In 2015, Chennai saw the worst flood in its history. The whole city was submerged, there was water everywhere, in houses, in shops, in shanties and shacks of the poor and the whole city was thrown out of gear. Chennai needed help. So was the case in Uttarakhand, when floods wreaked havoc in the state in 2013. In both these cases, like several times before, it was the army which worked tirelessly to safeguard the victims and get them to safety. Photos of army officers carrying little children and senior citizens and crossing dangerous bridges made us bow down to them. When the Jhelum river was in spate in 2014, people of Jammu and Kashmir were again supported by the valiant army men who time and again have shown that they are the most dependable. What courage indeed!

On July 26th 1999, the tricolor was majestically hoisted in the Line of control when the Indian army announced that they has successfully evicted the Pakistani intruders. That day is proudly known as "Vijay Diwas". It is the day which signified the bloodshed of our bravehearts for the sake of our country and it is the event which showed the self determination of the Indian armed forces to achieve their goals which also makes a good life lesson. Indian army has also time and again showed that they are an apolitical entity, an honest force and a force whose integrity can never be questioned at any point in our history. 1965, 1971 and many battles like the 3 Jat battalion Battle of Dograi signify the kind of force that our Indian army is.

The perception that most people have about our army is that our army consists of men who just run along the borders with a gun in their hand. But what people need to know is that, all of our armed forces are men with intense all round capabilities and their life skills and hacks are unparalleled. The national defence academy, the institution which trains our forces trains them in most walks of life and our forces are multi talented. Much reading on platforms like quora will reveal that our forces are also trained in aspects on science, music, sports like boxing, judo, sailing, karate etc. One other thing is that they are extremely adventurous people. A bout of adrenaline rush is never said no to. This perhaps, is what makes them so daring. They are jacks of many trades but the master of one, saving our country. They are also trained to be thorough professionals. Their professionalism is one of the deepest and the most important feature of their day to day activities. For them, if a job, say a combing operation has to be done, they will do it spotlessly and thoroughly with cent percent efficiency and perfection.

The definition of patriotism has been altered according to one's needs ever since we got independence in 1947. But one bunch of people who have followed patriotism and have been patriots in the truest essence are our army men. They advocate patriotism in its purest form devoid of any jingoism. When they say Jai Hind, they absolutely mean it. For many of these patriots, the ultimate sacrifice has already happened. For many others, their daily life is a sacrifice of sorts. Deepavali, Dasara, Eid, Christmas etc mean nothing for them for their festivities is a victorious battle. As the nation celebrates Deepavali this November, a soldiers keeps guard of the LOC on a chilly November night with a family back home thinking about his well being. As civilians, we speak so much of philosophy about sacrifices in our daily life, but these men implement it in their tough lives.

These brave men also teach us many lessons such as Unity and discipline. With a lot of furore these days over the term "secularism", these men are the perfect examples of it. In the Armed Forces, there in no Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh etc. There is only one identity for all these people, they are Indians. This can be seen from our great history. The Indian army has had legends like Vikram Batra(Kargil War martyr), Hoshiar Singh, Abdul Hamid(1965 War martyr), Albert Ekka(1971 War martyr) to name a few. Indian army is also a fine example of team work and co-ordination, which is something that is lacking among some of us. This co-ordination is also because of the strong bond of friendship among all our soldiers, all of them who have a single minded vision of seving our nation.

Ultimately, all the brave army men are strict disciplinarians, whose only ambition in life is to protect India from any external harm, natural or man made. The constitution so proudly speaks about our sovereignty and these are the men who protect it and stand by it. As Lata Mangeshkar sang in her iconic song  "Yeh mere watan ke logon, zara aankh mein bhar lo paani, jo shaheed huye unki, zara yaad karo kurbaani", we must all take moments from our life to remeber there brave souls.

"If you ate today, thank a farmer. If you ate in peace, thank a soldier"

-The Logical Indian.

                                 

                                                                                          Ashwin K

One Visit, A Million Thoughts

     It was a brutal day for my mind. A mind previously calm was misbehaving like an adamant 3 year old. Suddenly, I felt different. My thought process had taken a different turn all together. There was a need to attain satisfaction and contentment. I felt like a criminal for no reason whatsoever. A sudden urge to change came from within. 

   It was a usual Bangalore morning. I was into the second week of my semester holidays. Following my years of tradition, I spent the first week doing what I do best, doing nothing. Sleeping, eating and watching TV shows was all I did. This morning, I was up early because my mother had given me an errand. The previous day, my house keeper(I find the word maid very offensive) had requested my mother to accompany her to a hospital as her child was very sick. This was because, my house keeper, like millions of women in India, in the below poverty line wasn't properly educated and she wanted an "English speaking person" to help her in the hospital. As my mother had a meeting that day, I was entrusted with the job of accompanying my house keeper and her kid to the hospital. And as usual, I wasn't given full information as to where, what and some such interrogatives.

   Sharp at 8 30 AM, she came with her kid. I was waiting for her arrival. She told me she wanted to go to Kidwai Memorial Hospital. Kidwai memorial hospital is one of the top facilities in Bangalore for cancer treatment. The moment she mentioned Kidwai, I was taken aback. Why would she want to take a little kid to a cancer hospital unless the kid had......it was a little brutal just to think of it.

I merely asked her "Yaake Kidwai ge hogbeku...Yaaru nimge hogakke heliddu(Why do we have to go to Kidwai...Who asked you to go there)?". Her reply was "Nanige gottilla...ondu doctoru magu ge bere chikitse kodbeku...Kidwai ge karkond hogi antha helidru(I don't know...A doctor told the kid might need different treatment and he asked me to go there)". I was shaken from head to toe. I merely nodded without uttering a word and called an auto rickshaw to take me to that place. All the time during this small conversation, her 7 year old boy had an innocent, typically childlike gleam in his eye and an "ignorance is bliss" kind of smile on his face. He looked abnormally frail and was slightly feverish. 

   During the travel from my house to Kidwai in the typical, annoying traffic, I learnt that over the last month, the kid had severe bouts of head ache, vomiting, gum bleeding, fever and even a few occasions of fainting. She even told me that she had visited 3 doctors before and none could figure out what it was. She mentioned that only the third doctor she went to asked her to visit Kidwai. Sadness was most visible on her face when she mentioned that she had spent 3000 rupees on doctors and medicines over the last one month. Yes, in India, 3000 rupees is a colossal sum in a lower middle class household. A part of me twisted and turned as she told me the happenings. If she goes to Kidwai and the suspicion of the third doctor is true, she would be crushed and her financial condition would fall apart like a hut caught in a tornado.

    At around 9 45 AM, we reached Kidwai. I helped her fill out a host of forms. And we were told that we had to submit the kid's blood sample in the lab and the doctor would see us with the report at 12 noon. The officials spoke to us with typical arrogance, the style in which the so called "higher class of people" treat the poor in this country. After giving the blood sample at 10 30 AM, I had a good 90 minutes to spend before we saw the doctor.

  That 90 minutes, I have to be honest was the most thought provoking and the cruelest of my life. The surroundings, the people, their actions, their activities, tears, smiles, anguish, glee, it had everything, obviously for different reasons. People from different parts of the city, state and even country came for treatment of the dreaded and mostly fatal disease, cancer. Every class of people-rich, poor, Hindu, Muslim, Christian etc were there for a single reason, treatment and above all, a new lease of life. The place saw more sincere prayers than what a temple, mosque or church would ever see. Prayer, in its real form was seen. Some of them cried, some of them wailed, some of them held up until the threshold was reached before an outburst. 

   

   Every report that was printed was received with more anxiety than a 12th standard result. A positive report meant doom and a negative report meant peace. So different from the outside world, isn't it ? It was that part of the world, where a mere mortal, a doctor was seen as a godly figure. His words were the scriptures. So much of hopefulness existed, which during most times was washed away by the monstrous disease. It was a place where quotes like "Live your life, don't merely survive" didn't apply. Survive is the only thing people wanted to do and their kith and kin wanted them to do. You would be consumed into the sadness and gloom that persisted there.

     The worst part was several kids, who had years of life ahead were given chemo shots at an age where they were supposed to be given vaccination shots. Some of them were in the final stages with no facial hair, bodies which looked like frail beans, droopy eyes and withered skin. They were unwillingly knocking at the door of death. Some more of them were still in the early stage, just diagnosed, probably going for their first session of treatment. They were mostly accompanied by petrified parents. A little more of them were happy. They were the lucky ones whose reports announced that their little bodies were devoid of cancer. And yes, their parents were happy. Happiness took a new definition on their faces. 

  

     I was suddenly pushed out from this wave of thoughts by my house keeper who slowly reminded me that she was being called by the doctor and requested me to come with her. Damn, those 90 minutes were quick. We went to the doctor's room. The doctor confirmed that the child had first stage of Leukemia and had to be admitted immediately for further treatment. A bomb had been dropped on her. As the doctor explained her what cancer was, she cried and cried. She just couldn't bear the fact that her child wouldn't be with her for a long time. She begged the doctor to cure her kid. Any person who witnessed the happenings would have shed a tear. To be honest, without an ounce of shyness, I will admit that I did shed a tear. I had never witnessed such a thing before. A mother's love, a family's hope and despair, it was very, very touching. What broke me was, when his mother was in the saddest conversation of her life with the doctor, the kid asked me "Anna, mummy-ge yenaithu, naanu enaadru tappu maadudna(Anna, what happened to mummy...did I do anything wrong) ?" No part of the child knew what he was going to undergo. 

       I helped them with the admission formalities and left for my house. I was disturbed and troubled after all that I saw. I had never seen such a thing ever in my life. That was the day I really wanted to change. I realized that I wanted a Nexus, a bike, a laptop, passes for a cricket match but several people in the world wanted only one thing. Gift of survival. I fought with my mother because she didn't prepare coffee the way I wanted it but someone out there is fighting with a disease to survive. I got peace of mind by going to a hill station but someone out there got peace of mind by getting to know that the number of cancer cells had reduced in their body. I cried because Australia lost a match by 1 run but a family somewhere cried because their family strength had reduced by 1. 

     I felt sad, beaten, guilty and provoked. I felt a sudden urge inside me to change and change soon. I wanted to be satisfied in life. I realized that life is short, too short to carry grudges, for fights and for strained relationships. Suddenly Love and Hope seemed like two live individuals behind whom I wanted to run. 

 The above bunch of words are mere fiction.

You my girl, will never cry (except for once) !

It was another romantic evening in Bangalore as the Sun was taking a dive into the fading sky. Oh what an evening it was ! The faint drizzle had created an atmosphere of utter romance and the smell of rain and mud filled one with inner joy. 

It was half past six as Ashmit and Rishika were probably meeting for one last time. The poor 18 year old guy didn't know what he was going to face in the upcoming 30 minutes. 2 years back, in the same spot with a letter in his right hand, a fragrant red rose in his left and a heart filled with utter passion and zero lust he had told her the words "I love you Rishika. Until the sun stops adorning the morning sky, the moon stops gleaming on the dark night sky and until February has 30 days, my love for you will never cease". Impressed by his words and his tenderness, she had told yes back then. But things had drifted apart between them. Rather, both were going along in the same direction. She was going away from him into the wild where nothing good came up and he like an innocent fawn went along the path traced by her searching for all those little things that had bonded them. Yes, it was their 2nd anniversary. November 14th it was and those memories ran past him.

She came, as usual twenty minutes late. Dressed in a black one piece, she came. He by then had ordered a decent evening meal. With a wry smile, she said "Hi Ashmu.." and continued Whatsapping her "best friend". Over the next few minutes, silence filled the posh Taj West End located on the sprawling Race Course road of Bangalore. Extremely hurt, he asked whether she could stop texting for a while and spend the evening with him instead. Not caring for his feelings and with zero emotions in her eye, she looked up at him and told him that she wanted to tell him something. He nodded as two pizzas, two slices of chocolate cake and a bottle of country made champagne arrived.

Taking a sip of the champagne from the glass she muttered "Ashmu, you are great guy but we can no longer be together. I no longer see you that way and I have another boy friend. Thanks for all times and I am sorry but this cannot happen." The world crashed around him as tiny drops of tears fell from his previously happy eyes. His throat choked as he tried to speak. Taking the last sip of the champagne and leaving the food untouched, she left with a brutal smile on her lips. He saw her walk away from his life, as he fell deep into the well of sadness. Placing 14 crisp 500 rupee notes on the bill, he left as all his emotions, feelings and thoughts had fallen into the deepest abyss. 

It was half past ten on a chilly night as he reached his PG on his Activa. He slowly trudged along the steps. He unlocked his house and directly reached for his fridge. He gulped down two bottles of Fosters and drank Scottish whiskey until the night no longer made sense to him. He passed out on the couch with his shirt half unbuttoned and shoes still on. 

He was in deep slumber until he was woken up by the violent knocking of the door by his maid. Pissed off, she roughed him up for not opening the door fast enough. Annoyed by the alcohol stench and the dirty glasses she mumbled a few unmentionables to herself. 

Smelly, unkempt and heart broken, he didn't know what to do. His heart bled, his senses not functioning properly and his mind filled with her thoughts, he wanted closure. At a corner of his heart, he knew it wasn't happening. He knew he would never move on. He had the uncontrollable urge to let all his feelings out. With a pen and paper in his hand, he decided to write one last letter to her.

          "Dearest Rishu,

                              Maybe you are right. Everything between us is over. Yes, both of us were in love. But we were in love with the same person. You loved yourself too much to care about my feelings and i did that too. I loved you more than you loved yourself. All along in the last few weeks, I knew we had problems. But, i never thought it would end. And above all I never knew a third person was causing them. Since its all over, let me just tell you why I actually fell for you.

                              Lets go back to 2012, when i asked you to be mine. With the most cutest smile on your face, you said yes. You still had the same smile yesterday, but the meaning behind it completely different. Both of them killed me, in different ways ! We came a long way from that day, we had our fights, our cuddles, our hugs in the pouring rain and also the selfless sharing of pain ! What was it that i didn't give you sweetheart ? I gave you my life, i took care of you like my right eye and i even gave up the football finals to be with you when you were down with flu. i took you the nicest places, bought you your favorite jewelry and gave you the chocolates you love the most. Above all, i took the oath of honesty, the oath of love - to never let go of you in the toughest situations and love you irrespective of who you were and never to make you cry. Yes, I still love you and I can never and will never find another you.
                             Exactly two weeks back, during our last walk, you asked me a question "What is it that you see in me ? " If you do remember, I told you that words cannot explain the reason. Sadly, I am putting it on paper for you. When I see your eyes, I see the world's happiness in it. I see mother nature's glory in it. When I see your lips, I see mother nature's adorable naughtiness in it. When I see your smile, I fall into a world of happiness with musicians from paradise playing and some of the most loveliest apsaras dancing while the most beautiful of them is standing in front of me. When I hear you talk, it feels like a thousand pearls fall on brilliant marble ! When I first saw you I was like "Oh my god that girl ! Thank you god for sending this princess down here to mesmerize me ! " When I saw you walk, your gait showed mother nature's genius in sculpting. Your attitude, your cute naughtiness, your rare stupidity, your red face when you were angry, your perfection, your all took me on a tour of  the heavens. There you go. You have your answer.
                       During all times we spent, I never even thought in my wildest dreams that it was going to end like this. One word from your mouth, i would have tried solving the issues. But you preferred silence ! I have changed so much for you, one word from you and i would have changed more ! Lastly, the things i have given you, the love I showered you with, the affection and tenderness i gave you, the way i bore you in your toughest times, your new guy can never do any of these. You and me are meant to be together. Bye.


with infinite amount of love,
Ashmit  "


He emptied his heart on this piece of paper. Drenched with tears, the paper was put into a envelope and the address of  the house where she lived with her sister was written. He took his two wheeler and went to the nearest post office and dropped it off there. Empty inside and immersed in her thoughts, he carelessly drove his vehicle on the wide main road of  Sadashivnagar. A lorry driven by a drunken driver came on the wrong side and rear ended his two wheeler. His head hit the road divider and he was killed on the spot due to severe head injuries.


 She came to his house as she heard the news. She saw his smashed head and bloodied bandages. She wept and wept. At the same time, a post man who was ignorant of all the happenings dropped the letter with a merry song in his mouth. Finally, fate had its say.




Life is too short to ignore the people who love you. Instead of running behind a person who doesn't care for you as much or a person who doesn't know what true love is, shower double the love on the person who worships your very existence. Physical beauty fades over the passage of time, but true love, care and affection will stay on even as decades and perhaps even centuries pass by !



______ Humanity is my religion, Indian my identity.

That Moment When You Miss and Want Someone So Badly

(This probably might be my worst write up. In this blog, i go on to write how much missing and waiting for people hurt.)


Its Saturday night. The clock strikes 10 PM. The brilliant night has set in and Bangalore is be ginning to fall asleep. As the moon light glorifies the night sky, lights at homes are switched off and many people are beginning to snuggle into their warmest blankest. A part of them are searching for a proper footpath also(sad isn't it) .
    As i stand on my terrace, looking at the magnificent night life, a wave of thoughts cut through my mind. The cool breeze while cooling my night dose of green tea, it cracks my brittle heart even more. With every minute passing by, i become more and more restless. In some corner of the same city, she in her night gown is Whatsapping her boyfriend about their next date. Her brilliant face comes in front of me, gives me that teasing smile and goes away again. Her beautiful hair, which reminded me of the brilliant jog falls was all that i could think off. My red eyes hadn't slept for days, my hair looked like unkempt grass and my mind had turned into an absolute nut case.
    As the night sky drew darker, i was becoming crazier. I missed her, i wanted her the most in life. Till now, in life i hadn't demanded a single thing(except when i was a child), and when i finally wanted something in life passionately, i wasn't going to get it. Sad isn't it ?  That is when i realized something, life is just a cruel joke which god plays on a few jobless souls in paradise. He just sends them to this round mass of nature and watches the great puppet show. He just puts in us the abstract thing called feelings and watches the game. He doesn't realize how much of pain it can cause in an individual.
    When you want someone badly, every iota of their entity manages to charm you, and sometimes pain you. When you miss them, the arrows of pain pierce through your heart. The blood drops of hurt falls down, when you want someone to clean them up for you, you don't find anybody. You realize that there are somewhere in this world caring for everything else but your feelings. They neglect you, giving zero chance to who you are, what you think of them and how much you care for them.
  The pain of separation is known only to the separatee, not the separator(these words don't exist). Missing someone is a ball game of two, with two situations. one, both miss and want each other and two, one wants the other badly and the other doesn't seem to perturbed. I can go one forever with these thoughts, but i prefer to stop.
  With these thoughts in mind, i left the terrace and got down to reach my house. A long night was in the beckoning. A long, long night. A happy man is a man who sleeps well. When sleep begins to elude a person, he must realize that its a bad omen. I knocked the door of my house and i was given a rousing welcome by my parents with a over flowing river of words. I ignored it and went to bed. Bed was another pain in the neck. I twisted and turned in my bed, but sleep never came. I afflicted by her thoughts, the magic of her words, her beautiful laughter, her enrapturing smile, the gleam of her white teeth all bought pain and tears to me. Why wouldn't she want me ?? What is she doing ?? What is her hairstyle ?? what is the colour of her night gown ?? These sort of questions, though trivial and childish are thought about the most by a guy in want of his girl. My eyes were filled with tears. literally.
  Sleep eluded me, but it came anyway. 4 hours of sleep and i was up at 5 AM on a Sunday morning. For a man, who used to sleep like a hibernating animal, it was quite surprising. Morning was there and it was another carnival of sadness and misery. A good morning text is what i wanted, but what i got was a restraining order and a whatsapp block. Her thoughts continued to fill me and caused more and more hurt. She on the other hand was planning a brunch date in the leela palace with her beau wearing the best of clothes and the happiest of smiles. Breakfast seemed like a heap of bitter medicine and my favorite filter coffee felt like a cough syrup. My hope in life was gone, because of one person.
   As the day progressed, i messed up almost everything that came my way. I spilt orange juice on the couch, crashed my mother's galaxy S, i accidentally broke my grand father's spectacles and had a bad fall on the stairs. All these were the causes of a disturbed mind, an erratic thinking path and a stream of sad thoughts. This is how much a single person can actually manage to trouble you.
   Many a day passed like this, i became droopy, lost all hope in life and became mad. I wanted a new lease of life.



I am now going to end this piece of writing on a abrupt without a proper ending and a solution for such a situation.

According to me, the only solution in such a situation is doing what you love or anything which will change your thinking.

Human relations is like new puppy you get home. You need to take care of it till it reaches a stage when it can take care of it on its own. When a relationship(not necessarily boy-girl) reaches a certain stage, it will drift along the path best for it. Until then, one must make a proper effort to save it. If it doesn't work out even then, it means it doesn't have destiny's permission to continue.


( THE ABOVE STORY IS FICTION FROM START TO END)

        STORY OF A VOICELESS CREATURE

It’s a sunny day in a big farm in the beautiful valley of Kashmir. The farm is owned by a rich farmer. My mother is one of the sturdiest sheep in the farm. On this day, under an apple tree, my mom gave birth to me. She is really tired and in a lot of pain because of the childbirth. Our master who is a stout man with a long beard comes to see us. My mother immediately trembles a bit and fear is evident in her eyes. With a wry smile, he left us in peace. We both had another chance to see sunlight the next day.

         Months and years roll by, my mother gets old. Our master has exploited her till the maximum possible extent. Wool was shaved away from her skin on a regular basis. She was over fed to make her meaty. Her skin was filled with razor marks. One morning, the long bearded man comes to our farm with another person in a truck. In the rear of the truck I saw some living things of my kind. The two men look around the farm and the other man points towards my mother and me. Both of us were playing under a tree and eating fresh dew filled grass. Fear filled me. Just a few months back, I had seen my father being butchered as celebration on the occasion of the birthday of my mistress. It was a gory sight and my mother and I took a while to get over that shock. I loved my mother. She was everything to me. In the scary world ruled by heartless humans she was the reason why I lived without fear. Under her warm skin, I felt protected from the atrocities of the bad humans. I wanted her with me. I never wanted her to die. I owe her everything I have. I am now this grown up only because of her milk that I drank in my infant days. I loved her so much. The two men come towards us. One of them quickly pats on my back. And suddenly they lift my mother. My mother shakes away from their grip and tries to run away. My master gets hold of her hind leg and the little tail. My mother bleats for the want of help. I try to help her. I am kicked and shoved away. I see her being pulled away by my master. I saw her for one last time. I saw in her eyes the fear of death. For one last time she gave a bleat which told me to stand tall amidst the destruction. For one last time our eyes met. She was put in the truck and taken away. Tears rolled down from my boyish eyes. It was my mother that was taken away. I was filled with rage. My hatred for humans increased exponentially. But I realized, I was just a growing lamb and I had no powers whatsoever in this land of wretched humans. I didn’t graze for the night. My other sheep buddies also were filled with fear after seeing many among them taken away to be killed. Next day was a Sunday. My master’s family decided to have lunch sitting in the farm enjoying the friendly sun rays of the majestic Kashmir. They were about 100 meters away from me. My mistress proudly announced that she had made lamb curry and leg soup with other delicacies for lunch. I thought whether it would be made from my mom. I ran towards them. I was quickly shooed away by my master’s son. There was a satanic smile on everyone’s face. They ate happily without realizing the agony they had caused in the mind of a loving son. I wanted to kill them. Images of my mother came in front of eyes. Those happy hours of grazing, sleeping under her warm skin, playing with her etc; I cried.

          Another few years passed. I saw scores of my other friends being taken away. I was exploited too like my mother. Though I was over her loss, I still yearned for her. I was old now, maybe the age of my mother when she died. I too had a wife and a beautiful lamb of my own. I spent many a happy hour with them. Over the course of these years, my long bearded master died. His son too married a beautiful chest nut haired Kashmiri girl and they had a daughter. My late master’s wife was languishing with cancer and was on the verge of death. The death of my master was one of the happiest moments of my life. But his son was no less. He too was third rated like his father.

         As I expected, the day came. It was festival time for the humans and it was agony time for us. I was taken away too with a lot of force. In the eyes of my son, I saw myself. I was taken to the ghastly slaughter house. It was a stinking place with blood flow everywhere. Heads and skin of many of the goats, sheep and cows were lying. Sadistic humans were there with knives in their hand. I was in line next. I was taken to the room. My head was forcefully placed on a large block of stone and my limbs held tightly by a man. The knife landed on my throat. With a loud bleat and a few drops of tears, my soul was ready to join my mother’s and my physical body was ready to go the chef.

Note: In attempt to convey the feelings that an animal would probably experience, I have in a fictious manner impersonated the sheep as a human.

#animal lover

A Dream That I Will Never Forget

It was one another Friday night. After a long day and a tiring late night study, I decided to hit the bed. My eyes wouldn’t close that fast even though my body literally begged for sleep. After much coaxing and good music, my eyes shut finally. In a half sleep manner I chucked my head phones and mobile in close proximity and finally entered into deep slumber. I then experienced one of the most, umm..I don’t know how to describe it; happy? Definitely not ! sad and traumatic ? Partially yes! dream. It was a very different dream and it was like this(very fictious, but damn real) :

              It was a sweltering summer afternoon of a day which I don’t know. God had blessed me with a suit with which I could fly from place to place (yes, it’s a dream). On that fateful afternoon, I went to the terrace and decided to launch myself into the glorious blue sky. I did it successfully. But tragedy struck. After a few moments in mid air, my suit malfunctioned and I was falling and falling at a great speed. I fell somewhere on the hard road of a busy area and was immediately run over by a bus. I had no clue whatsoever about the incidents that followed. The next time I woke up was in a hard, electricity powered box surrounded by ice. I had absolutely no idea why the freezing ice had no effect on me. It took me only a couple of moments to realize what had happened. I was dead. My body was bloody and covered with bandages. People were around me. My parents were looking at my body, teary eyed. My mother looked devastated. My grandfather was sitting with a glum face. Scores of relatives and friends were there. My best friends were crying. Me, I mean my soul got up from my cold physical body and walked into the room. It went to my mother first and it hugged her and cried. It apologized to her and fell at her feet, shouted at her but to no avail. After all, I was dead. It wanted to tell my mother sorry for all the tantrums I threw, all the loud, angry rants I gave but time was up and it was too late. It then went to my father, it wanted to thank him for raising me into a tough grown up chap. Alas, He couldn’t feel its words for I was dead. It went to my grand father, fell at his feet which were old and wrinkled now and apologized to him for how I ignored him and snubbed him at times. It wanted to tell him how much I liked him. Alas, he couldn’t feel anything for I was dead.

                   It then went to my uncle and aunt, to thank them for being my second father and mother and for taking care of me like their own. Unfortunately, I was dead. It then went to each of my best buddies and hugged them tight. They could feel nothing of me, instead they stared hopelessly at my mortal remains.

                     It then ran through the roads, the vehicles, cutting through the air to my college. It saw my principle, teachers and others. It wanted to tell them how apologetic I was for all the indiscipline, the ruckus caused, my arrogance and ill manners but sadly it had to return with nothing done for I was on my way to god.

                     It then, with a warm blush and a sad smile went to the house where the love of my life lived. She was there too, in her same beautiful self not knowing how to react to my passing away for she wasn’t my better half still. It went to her and hopelessly told her how much I loved her, how much I yearned for her and how much I wanted her in my life. I wanted to propose her saying, even though I had many flaws, I would take care of her like my eyes. Sadly, she will never know it as I was long gone, deep into the world of death.

                        Then, at this point of time, I woke up with a start only to realize that it was 3 AM in the morning. I walked across the hall. My parents were fast asleep, my grandfather asleep too. I immediately checked the whatsapp “last seen” of my friends and realized that most of them were active until a few hours ago. It was only a dream and I was breathing properly.

                    At that moment, I realized a few things. First, never back away from apologizing to a close person because when one day you finally decide to do it, it might be too late. Second, ego is a demon. It can destroy your life. Third, love the life you live. Fourth, if you want to say something or express your feelings to someone, do it immediately without any delay. Fifth, there is a better four letter word than hate: LOVE.

Thanks for reading

NOTE : some amount of fiction exists in the above piece of writing !! 

____ Humanity is my religion,Indian is my identity.

My first Blog : Religion-complexity is a synonym to it.

 

What is religion ? Wikipedia defines it as "an organized collection of belief systems,cultural systems and world views that relates humanity to spirituality and sometimes to moral values".Religion was essentially developed by the roots of humanity to  

create the required classification and differentiation of the different people across the world and also maybe to keep a group of people united.Religion might also have been developed to make the concept of "god" simple to the people of this earth.

    But what has transpired into today is the complete anti-thesis of the definition of religion.People of my generation and my previous generation have destroyed themselves by involving themselves in that LAW called religion.

    Religion has done more harm to the culture of humanity than it has done good.Muslims,hindus,Christians and sikhs - They have fought among themselves the biggest religion wars ever in the history of india.Religion has entered all domains of life namely politics,education,public life and even cricket in india.

   The sad part is people are killing themselves over it.Islamic terrorists which include youngsters who could be future engineers and doctors blow themselves up as suicide bombers which results in widespread massacre of innocent civilians and also animals.Ram sene and other groups which were initially started for peaceful propogation of hinduism has now started attacking churches as an opposition.

Narendra Modi,possibly india's greates politician of the masses who is also a sensational speaker is a victim of religious controversies is a well known fact.The saddest part is even the educated lot is falling prey to it.One thing we must realise is,the world is falling around us.india is dwindling,resources are vanishing which means that we have more important issues to ponder about.

Dear fellow human,please come out of your narrow minded thought about religion and accept everyone around you as one among yourself.It is the same oxygen you breathe,the same red bllod flows through your body,the same two legs take you everywhere.Love each other and respect each other.

May the World Live in peace !!

---- humanism is my religion,Indian is my identity