Sarah Hickson

With the camera glued to her eye,

She moved everywhere. 

Tied up hair & long earrings,

About her looks she didnt care.

She clicked a crying child,

& she clicked a rusty old fence. 

She clicked some hungry beggers,

For me which didnt make any sense. 

Eager & curious, I decided to talk to her,

I gathered some courage & waited till her lunch break. 

Greeting with a smile, i said, "Hi, this is Sangram"

Smiling back she said 'Hi ! I m Sarah' & greeted me with a handshake

We talked our hearts out,

And laughed till our stomach went sore. 

She showed me few pictures,

& I asked for some more. 

I saw a child awaiting his mother,

And I saw a strong standing fence. 

I saw deep-hopeful eyes,

& wondered how everything looked beautiful through her lense. 

Beauty never fades, 

It never dies, never ends, never gets any older. 

Because the true beauty lies

in the eyes of the beholder. 

This little poem

Or a rhyme as you will call it so. 

Is to make her feel special,

Bcoz for me, she was, is & will always be so...

Untitled

Sometimes there is so much that you have in life. But then life is not about all those things, its about that lill thing which makes everything else feel nothing. 

My mom once said to me " जो मझा इंतजार मे है वो उसे पाने मै नही " ( the joy awaiting for something is much more than ultimately having it ). She's wrong. Yes she is. Or maybe it just hold true when the wait was about toys. Wait a min, how do you define toys ??? Things that are meant to be played with ???

Is Happiness expensive ? I guess it is. For very few can afford it. And others should either earn it or stay away from it in the first place.

Memories of watching the Full Moon together

It was a Full Moon night

And the sky was lit bright

I saw the moon from my window

And she saw it from her car

I have seen full moon a plenty times,

But this was the most beautiful of all times.

I wondered "how could the same moon look so beautiful today ?"

Maybe it looked beautiful because

she was watching the same moon too.

We were far away, but still could see something so mesmerising, together. 

Maybe it looked beautiful because the moon looked very same to me, as would to her: of equal size, equally bright. 

Maybe it looked beautiful because, i could see her reflection in the moon. 

Or maybe it looked beautiful, because i didnt even think of the moon while watching it, but her...

I don't know what made the moon look so beautiful that night. 

All i know is that, it was beautiful sharing the beautiful moon with the 'beautiful' someone....

- Sangram KAKAD 

#MemoriesOfWatchingFullMoonTogether 

Metaphor

Its often that people ask me, why do i admire Steve Jobs so much???

Why do i call him GOD???

Often they compare him to Bill Gates and ask further why Steve???  Why not Bill ??? 

Bill has topped the Forbes list for over a decade, whereas Steve has hardly been able to be among the top 50.

Microsoft's  market  share is way to larger than Apple Inc.

By making the technology affordable, Bill has touched life of large no. of people than did Steve.

And most importantly, by signing The Giving Pledge, Bill agreed to donate almost all of his fortune to Charity whereas Steve denied to sign any such pledge.

Then why Steve??? Why not Bill???

To lift the veil of this 'why?' You need to know a different story of Steve.

To be specific,  its the same story that you know,  just revisiting to it more closely this time. So closely, as if it relates to you...

As if its Metaphor of your own life!

To tell it shortly without any technicalities (as you will find in Walter Isaacson), Steve found Apple.

He didn't just incorporated it as a company, but rather, he built it to life.

He did all whatever he could, to create an experience, one of its kind.

It can only be related to something that a mother does for her son.

Steve loved Apple.

But then, he was abandoned by the same company he poured his life into.

Steve had to resign Apple, AND HE STAYED OUT FOR OVER 10 YEARS.

Its this part of the story, that i admire him for.

Being ABANDONED by something that you loved so much is the worst thing which can ever happen to you, i believe.

How the hell could he survive it???

But in those 10 years, IRRESPECTIVE of what Apple had to say about him, he still LOVED Apple.

He was honest while building it, was Honest while bringing it to life, honest while loving it beyond life.

AND HONEST EVEN WHEN HE WAS ABANDONED.

i admire him for the same Honesty!

Being honest is whats important, No matter if at times it may taste sour.

In those 10 years, Steve's best friend and a Billionaire Larry Ellison, looking Steve in grief, proposed him to buy the entire Apple Inc. And once Larry buys Apple, he can force back Steve to his place.

Steve denied Larry's proposal.

At this point in this story, i doubted Steve's love for Apple. Was it that in 10 years, he lost his interest in Apple??? Did he decided to move on in life???and if not so, why would he ever deny Larry's proposal???

Steve wanted to return Apple not by his own forces, but by Apples own calling.

Because the things that happen of their own wish, are more joyful than it would if forced.

10 years was a big time for someone of your own to know your worth.

But no matter how long it takes for them to know your worth, THE DAY COMES !!!

Steve returned to Apple on its calling.And the story ahead need not to be told.

Steve gave the best he could. Saw the unexpected worst. Loved. Got abandoned. Still Loved. Stayed  honest. 

And its for this story, that i know, the meaning of being honest. It might go unnoticed at times, but never stop being so. Things might be taken away from you. Don't chase them. Stay honest, Pure. And they WILL return to you....doesn't matter if it takes 10 years.

There are many stories about Steve.

Depicting his childhood, incorporation of Apple, Apples growth, inventions and off-course, as Steve puts it, its "Remarkable Products".

But among all this stories, i guess the above story goes unnoticed.

Its the same old story you all know,

But you will only know it, if you revisit it, this time, a bit more closely.

So closely, as if it relates you...!!!

PS: 'i' in the above post is intentionally keyed in lower case.

 

the answer

Few days ago,a 'then' best friend of mine, asked me "what makes me happy. Real -real happy?"

I paused a bit, and said "MONEY".

Well, my pause wasn't for to think of the answer. I was quite certain about it. My pause, however, was to think, if saying so would create a bad impression of me in her mind.

Money is ultimately what we all struggling for.  Yet explicit love for it is thought by many as negative. Love for work/ profession is considered as 'Passion' , but love for money is thought as 'Greed'. And of course, Passion stands at a higher moral ground than Greed.

Whatever, I risked to say so, for my love for it mattered me more.

On a one (un) fine day, I added a new rule to my diary," To  prefer  money to people". Maybe I was a bit frustrated on that day. But somewhere deep in my heart I always believed that I would be really happy to find an exception to this rule. But as it turned out, it was the most absolute rule since the 3 rules that Newton founded in the eighteenth century.

The reason to it is that we all are 

Humans. And humans are punished by the nature with an useless gland in their body.  Emotional Gland!

These glands, which are usually left untraced by any radio waves, results in various emotions including but not exhaustive : love,pain, anger,joy and in some people, EGO!

These emotions further lead to expectations. And expectations if not met, hurts.

You never expect from others to move mountains. Your expectations maybe as decent as a simple text asking if you are fine, a simple Good night wish which not just makes your night good but perhaps also makes your day worth. It can be a simple song that you share, the happiest/saddest moment of your day  or else a simple 'best luck' to cheer you up when the other things least work.

You may think of all these as little lovely gestures that you expect from restricted few. But irrespective of  what you think of them,  to others they maybe "TIRING".

Well if you are ever hurt with the unmet expectations, it totally is your fault. because  it's you who expected from wrong people.

Maybe that's the reason WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO WISE TO HAVE ONLY EXPECTATION : NO EXPECTATIONS !!! 

Well coming back to money, you can always expect from it. And it will always buy its worth (& if economy is set in deflation, it will even buy more than its worth)

So lesson number #1:

"It's better to expect from money in your pocket than people in your heart."

Money never disrespect you. It never hurts you. Neither does it punishes you for the mistakes you didn't make.

And as the Rule of Capitalism says, the more you have it, the more you will make it. Good enough. Ain't it ???

Well I won't coin any further lessons as lesson number #1 is more than sufficient to have the worldly wisdom.

I would just say that Greed, for the lack of better word, is GOOD! 

amidst the crowd....

Fading winter breeze, little bit of  sunshine, February is really a month for a day like Valentine to match perfectly.Its finally the time of new year when the 'New Year Party Hangover' is over.You are done with sending new year wishes or making up 'Resolutions' & look forward to 'ACTUALLY-DO-SOMETHING' with it. But then before you could start with the 'ACTUALLY DOING' part,you realize that its February-The Valentine Month.

For the commited peoples its the time to think of some crazy idea which would make the day 'THE DAY'. For the others not attached,Valentine’s Day is simply a reminder of their single status.

Falling under the second category (as I have ever been ) ,I was flying on my bike to the office, late as usual.The speciality of the traffic signals (if you haven't realized it ) is that they totally know if you are late.And if you happen to be so,they will all stare  red at you. After 120 seconds of eternity, the signal finally turned green.But still it took longer than usual for the traffic to clear.
As I went a bit ahead,I realized that some car (the driver of which perhaps was getting late for THE  special day) has hit a dog dead.The body of the dog was lying in the middle of the road and people maneuvered their vehicles from the sideways.And as I was about to do the same,I saw some 10-12 year old kid who was pouring some water into the dogs mouth,standing there in the middle of the street.Me, you or anyone else would have thought the dog to be dead and moved on.But the kid refused to do so.I don't know if he knew the dog is dead or not,he decided to take an effort in case it is not.At the risk of appearing insane , he decided to do so,as it would matter to someone.Maybe this was the way he chose to show love on this valentine.
I thought of asking the kid if it was his dog,but then, does it even matter ???

The crowd continued to move from the sideways, as always.
But what I felt happy to see,was that, amidst the crowd, there was a human !!!

not a happy journey...

Today morning, I left early from home to catch a bus to Pune. A stranger aunty in her mid 50s sat besides me.Waking up early morning I was still sleepy and decided to catch some sleep in the  journey.But the aunty besides me started conversation and inquired about me,where I was going,the route the bus was going by,and the sequence of stops the bus would stop by....Just to complete my counterpart for the conversation I inquired where was she going.
"Pune",she said.
And I worried that if she was going to keep talking till Pune (& not let me sleep).

She also complained about her ill health and I tried to show some sympathy.
She finally asked me if I could call her daughter from my cell and i said "Sure", wondering if atleast I could escape from the conversation after the call.

Few seconds after the call she rolled over my shoulder.
I jumped into my seat to find her unconscious.Eyes closed.
I called the driver and told him to take the bus to some hospital.The hospital was five kms away.I checked her pulse rate.It was almost nil.
We arrived at the hospital just to find that the doctor was out on vacation.The bus headed to the other hospital.

All the fellow passengers helped to take aunty to the hospital.
The doctor examined her and asserted that she had a heart attack.

I redialed the no. which she had previously dialed from my cell.And told her daughter about the incident along with the address of the hospital she was admitted to.

My hands shivered as I talked with her. "Don't worry,she will be alright", a fellow passenger said to me looking me panicked.
"Ya, I pray the same" I said.

Our panic-stricken bus left for the rest of the journey as I sat alone on my seat.

The doctor called me few minutes later and said "She is no more".

RIP

belated exams

I never knew that missing a exam would wake up the poet in me..;)


Someday in life,you wake-up in the morning..
'How beautiful is this day' u start wondering...
 
While reading the newspaper,you have coffee on the bed,
And then you think,of watching some T.V. instead...
 
On the calender hanging on the wall, u see today's date,
just to remember soon, that this was your exam day...

Looking in the watch,you call your friend in the horror,
and you listen him say "exam just got over" ...

Ur carelessness causes a trouble,beyond what u can bear,
and still holding the phone you have nightmare of loosing a year...

Your friend consoles you,and say "don't just sit n cry,
Ask the professor for re-exam, atleast give it a try..."
 

You approach the professor,and he turns out to be very kind,
he takes your exam and doesn't actually mind...
 

You feel so relieved, and your mind gets CALM,
and hence ends the tale,of my belated EXAM...!!!

and thus Newton boils the Clock

 The story of 'how the higher IQ kills the common sense''

Yesterday night i shifted to a new apartment with my SUPER-INTELLIGENT-CUM ENGINEER FRIEND.It was pretty late when we shifted our belongings there and night passed by while arranging the same.Before i slept, I asked my friend which side was the East ?

But as the society was new for him as well,even he dint knew the answer.

Today afternoon, when i returned from my classes, my roomie told me which direction was the East side.There was a sense of achievement as he told me the answer.
So I went ahead and asked him how did he found it out ?

And he said ''it was a bit complicated but the logic worked.Look at the terrace of the neighboring apartment.There is a satellite dish fixed over there.All such satellite dishes located in the Indian subcontinent face in the southeast direction towards Geo-synchronous satellite located in the Kepler's orbit. So the direction towards which the it is faced is off-course, southeast "

But the average IQ guy like me was still left with the question that southeast comes between south and east, but how did he figured out which side was the east ?

But my roomie was intelligent enough to answer this question as well.

" If we face towards southeast ,then East falls on the left side " he said excitedly with the sense of achievement still sparkling in his eyes...

"So finally ,East is in that direction " he said pointing in the 'so-called-East-direction'

"Great logic" I said.

"but dint the sun rise this morning???"

& wisdom flows down the cup...

This evening,I wanted to buy some medicines and hence went to a medical shop.The pharmacist had ordered a cup of coffee (obviously for himself...its in PUNE anyways ) from nearby restaurant.And a waiter has just arrived before I reached there.So I thought of waiting till he settles down the waiter.

The pharmacist told the waiter to pour half of the coffee into another cup.While the waiter tried to pour it from one cup to the another,he spilled most of it...It wasn't something unusual.Pouring coffee from one cup to another has always been a Herculean task even for ME.

But what happened next was AMAZING...The pharmacist took the cup and he himself poured the coffee into another cup without spilling a single drop.I was surprised to see that and wondered how did he pulled it out ???

When asked about it, the pharmacist said,"we generally hold the cup in hand in an inclined manner.So when we pour it by holding the cup so, the angle made by the cup with our hand changes at every point of time,and the stream so formed is not uniform,resulting the coffee to spill.On the contrary if we hold the cup in hand perpendicularly and then pour the coffee, the angle of cup with our hand remains the same (90 degree ) throughout the process, forming a steady stream of the drink and fills the other cup without spilling..."

I was amazed to listen such a supersonic explanation from a pharmacist....and so the Curious 'me' asked him that how did he knew such a wonderful logic behind something as silly as pouring coffee from one cup to the another...???

Smiling at my obvious question he said to me that he is a professor and that he taught physics for 30 years in Ferguson College...

I remembered that even I have studied the same physics but why didn't I think in the same way....???

Standing there I remembered something my dad always used to tell me- "knowledge when applied, becomes wisdom..."

I had the similar set of knowledge as the pharmacist (now turned professor ) had...but I failed when it came to apply it... THE WISDOM TEST...

While I was standing there lost in my own thoughts , the pharmacist was done with the coffee...

I asked if I could fill the cup with the water and try the same..??? "OK" he said.

I filled the cup with water and tried pouring it into the other cup in the manner told by him...and to my surprise, it worked...!!!

The water flowed down the cup into another one without spilling...

But what I could see was not the water,
but THE WISDOM FLOWING DOWN THE CUP...!!!

summer 2011

It seems that I've grown enough old for not having summer vacations anymore....but at least going for swimming today,gave me a glimpse of summer vacations...
And I was like:
 
    Excited         - after 10 mins..
    Content        - after 20 mins...
    Tired            - after 30 mins....
    Exhausted     - after 40 mins...
& after 45 mins  - "can anyone pull me outta here...???" ;)

Moral: Don't ever think dat u r a Phantom...;)

And it also made me miss my Dad....the best swimming teacher of my life....I remember to have joined three different swimming classes...but neither of the coach was able to train me well...
its only my Dad, I believed,who won't let me drown....having him besides me would make all my fears sunk...my confidence would boost...and I would swim fearlessly...

He tought me to swim...'inch by inch'...and cheered me,'until d last inch was reached...' Perhaps d best lesson we can learn in our life...

Today,while I was in tank...I really missed my dads cheering voice,a supporting hand and a pat on my back...