First Night !

It is the most awaited day; err the most eagerly WAITED NIGHT in every young, ENERGETIC, ENTHUSIASTIC boys and equally eager girls' life. Agree? Nevertheless if they had chosen to overcome the eagerness even before stepping into a wedlock, it happens to be everyone's dream to live that night once for the first time before doing so forever thereafter.

Many weave their dreams to indulge in pleasure & utmost intimacy with their life partners. It is the night when your body & soul unite into one relationship, a divine relationship.

My obsession towards attending weddings, especially friend's weddings, took me to one of the most beautiful historical metropolitan Hyderabad. The grandeur Nizam's had spent better part of lives here. Language doesn't hold any barrier between the local residents and the adaptable visitors. Most of the people speak Urdu which helps travelers, only if they know Hindi. Telugu is its native language.


Charminar

Known for its rich cultural heritage, wedding ceremonies are wroth attending in this city. Contrasting to other places, most of the rituals begin in the evening. It was around ten in the night when NIKAH (main ritual of wedding among Muslims is called as Nikah) was performed. People who had gathered wished the Bridegroom.

Wedding hall

For enthusiasts like me, who often visit the weddings, with a whole and sole intention of looking at beautiful girls, it was disappointing. Like many Muslim weddings, this one too had separate seating arrangements for men and the gorgeous women. So sad na?

It was already midnight when we went for dinner along with bridegroom. Kanyadaan (sending off of Bride) was at around two in the morning. All the while only one thing was going on in my mind, and I am sure even you must be thinking of it by now, that when is the FIRST NIGHT going to happen?

My dear lord it was already three in the morning and yet the new couple was still at the function hall, Greeting with smile at the guests. I can never imagine and I will never even think of getting married in the night.

This was the time to be in each other’s arms but not hugging the guests. It was the time to be caressing each other rather than accepting gifts. It was the time to indulge in each other’s love but they were far from doing any of that. They had to wait for one more day to enjoy their FIRST NIGHT. I pity.

I couldn’t stop myself laughing at the mere thought of a song “suhaag raat hai ghoonghat uthaa raha hoon mai…simat rahi hai tu sharmaake apni baahon me”. My friend had to tweak the lyrics a little “suhaag DIN hai ghoonghat uthaa raha hoon mai”.

I had heard about one of my friend getting a muhoortham (auspicious time) after twelve after he got married for his first night. I have no words. For those who believe that weddings are not all about physical intimacy, a healthy relationship does depend on it.

PS: For those of you who expected more after reading the title, I apologize. :-)

Hey, it's a birthday!

I commute to office every day, for about an hour, at daybreak & return home as twilight prevails, in an automobile called as tempo traveler. We get to know new people who travel with us. We make friends. We also miss those beautiful people who, in the journey of life, at some point, prefer to take up different trails. We do hang out on weekends & we do celebrate birthdays of our cab mates. DON'T WE?

I remember seeing one of my senior friends eyes being moist at his birthday party, planned as a surprise. It was for the first time, in more than three decades, he was celebrating his birthday, ceremoniously. It was for the first time he blew candles & cut a cake, a delicious one. Birthday boy, oops birthday uncle, was very delighted at this pleasant surprise. His joy had no bounds yet he had it humble. His glittering eyes had an incredible happiness to share.

Birthday...Isn't it the best day of your life? Is it not the day which you eagerly await a whole year? I am damn sure you will nod your head in concurrence. I DO. Is it not the day you wish to be happy (more happy than on other days, though)?Is it not our birth right to remember our friends' birthdays? YES IT IS! Will we not be guilty if we forget & fail to bring a smile on a person's face by not wishing happy birthday? YES WE WILL BE.

As a famous joke goes, "best way to remember your wife's {(Don’t read it as wives) (girl friend's for bachelors) birthday is to forget it once. You will never forget it again". Don't you agree?

Social networking sites, these days, will keep saving if you do not remember any of those birthdates. You get hundred's of wishes, on your wall. So called best friends will wish in their own styles. Even if you give thousands of excuses, you will be made to pay a hefty bill. That is the best way it can happen. I love it.

There will be a few formal wishes from friends, acquaintances and also from people whom you might take a while to remember their name, if you happen to bump into each other. Thanks to Facebook, orkut, twitter etc. etc.

Have you ever realized what happens if you choose to turn off those notifications? How many names in your friends list remember YOUR BIRTHDAY? Check out.

By the way, how many do you REMEMBER?

Children of a lesser God!

Aamir's television show Satyamev jayate inspired me to post this, again. This is one of the earlier posts on my blog (two years ago, to be precise). From past one week i had nothing running in my mind which i can blog about, so thought of writing (editing) this again.

No, i am neither talking anything about Mr Aamir Khan nor his show. Also, the title of this post has nothing to do with the eighties' melodrama. 
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Sanath, tell me the names of at least 5 cars you know?
Maruti… Honda… Indigo…Maruti, Honda, Indigo…
Say it loudly Sanath, I can’t hear, u have 2 more to go. (This time more articulate from the teacher)
Maruti, Honda, Indigo… (The boy was very hesitant to answer further)
Will u not answer if someone is looking at you Sanath?

This was a conversation between a teacher & her student. To be precise, this was perhaps a conversation between a teacher & a ten year old student, Sanath. You might be wondering why such a simple question was asked to a ten year old. In fact boys of this age can answer a lot more difficult ones than this one. If you are thinking if something was not proper, yes your thoughts are right. Sanath is mentally challenged. I witnessed this above conversation at ‘Apoorva center for AUTISM’ located at JP Nagar, Bangalore. Sanath is one among the 22 children who come here every day for special kind of schooling. This is the school meant only for children with Autism. The children of lesser gods.
 

Sanath's Elephant ...Jumbo Elephant!

Autism is a neural disorder in kids. It causes them to experience this world entirely different from the way most other kids normally do. They cannot express their feelings to others through words. They cannot eat, they cannot walk properly, they cannot play, they cannot feel, and they cannot. They just cannot.

My son is 18 years old. He is here for 15 years now’ Lakshmi madam, who is the caretaker of this noble institution, told this. She gave up her banking job to look after her son. He was 3 years when they noticed his disorder. Her elder son works for a reputed firm in US.

Every kid at Apoorva had different behavior. Some were happy on seeing strange people walking up to them & trying to be friendly with them. Some resisted, some shied away, and some not even tried to have an eye contact, as in case of Sanath. One of them was crying profusely just to avoid mathematics class. He hated numbers.

These kids, mostly, prefer to be alone, sometimes they don’t respond no matter how much loud you talk & sometimes they get afraid of even a meager noise. They don’t have a real fear of dangers. Sometimes they show their extreme distress for simple or no apparent reason. They find it extremely vulnerable to interact with other people. They never like to see any sort of change in their routine.

Autism doesn’t have any particular symptoms related to health, as per doctors. Kids’ behavior is the only way to figure out the disorder. Usually AUTISM in kids can be detected when they are around 18 months old. Worst part is that there is no treatment for this disorder. Early detection, Doctors’, therapists & the special teaching alone can bring any difference to these Children of a lesser God.

Some of the beautiful paintings at Apoorva

"The tallest man is he who stoops to help a child" are the humble words you will get to read on Apoorva's website.

Many thanks to my friend D who took me to this place.

So cute!

Her death, under mystifying conditions, had all the family members perturbed. But astonishingly, there were people who seemed not only insensitive to the bereavement but were content with the news of her demise. Not even in their wild imagination did they believe she would come alive to avenge (haunt) her rivals.

When the time had come to put an end to her vengeance, she finds herself in a deeper grave. Unfolding situations had left the bitter truth of her life stand naked in front of her. It was hard to acknowledge the reality that those she believed to be her parents all her life, were not the ones who gave birth to her. To make the situation more vulnerable, she comes across her sister, who happens to be her identical twin, who also is a partner in crime.

I am not trying by hand on fiction. I would certainly want to but not anything, even slightly closer, to the one above. You might be shocked to know that it is the story of a saas bahu (mother in law, daughter in law) tele serial broadcasted during the prime time on one of the leading channels. If I am given a chance, I would shoot the writer at point blank range. Can you even imagine it to be any closer to reality? I wonder how do people follow it so closely.

Literally, there would be world wars happening if anyone dares to browse any different channel other than the ones airing these stupid soaps. Many thanks to one of the leading lady of Indian television (can be read as Ekta).

Let me not divert my intention of coming up with this post. I think I have already deviated much. Last weekend, thank almighty that they let us have television remote controls on weekends, while browsing through, I stopped at one of the reality dance show. Having enjoyed the success for more than a couple of years, this reality show is quite admired by all age factions.

Auditions are more interesting and most of the times hilarious to watch. All kinds of people put their talent at stake in front of the judges and also millions of viewers. This year it is time for the kids to unravel their blooming bundle of talent. I bet a fortune that watching these kids is far better than watching some idiotic serials. (Let me not elaborate why did I watch one of those serials)

No matter how worse or how chaotic your day at work would have been, watching these kids shake their leg to the peppy numbers will, of-course, make you feel better. You might not have seen cuteness being personified. I am sure you will.

Prabal Bhandari & Arya Jain

Last week it was these two cute & pretty kids, five year old boy & four year old girl, performing to a duet song, which must have left the masters of dance wondering. Those two kids had put the best of the dancers at shame. They were flawless. They danced to perfection. They danced in sync. They had put the stage on fire. They made everyone watching them smile. They had innocence in their dance. They had happiness.

Enjoy watching them here.

PS: I am not paid for promoting the show or the channel J