...nani left for abode

Finally the day arrived in most unsuspecting circumstances....generally for a person in her mid nineties one would have some premonition but my grand nanny was an exception....even at an age of 95 she was as active as any youngster of my age......just few hours before her demise we were sitting in the vasant kunj home sipping tea and nanny in her usual self talking and babbling .Such was her energy at this age that she could just chatter and chatter whole day without stopping.So without suspecting anything I took her blessings and started for railway station as I was taking a week break from the office.The train was on time and my coach was half occupied.Soon I fall asleep in the cool environs of air conditioners.The train reached haridwar and I started off to rishikesh...the bus didn't took more than 30 minutes and in a short time i was knocking at the door....mom came out with swollen eyes and it was there she told me that your 'nani' is no more...suddenly the time stopped for me and for first few moments I could not believe that the same woman who was part of my life for so long is no more.
I sat aghast, my all sleep evaporated...just few hours ago I was talking to her and now she is no more...is it cruel on gods part to me or I am simply getting too much emotional. Soon the reality dawned and I got more composed. The past moments came floating in my mind...it had been nearly 20 years that i had known her...from the very first time I learned my first steps holding her hand to all those nights she used to sit by my bedside when I was down with fever ...everything starts coming to front and I wistfully longed for all those bygone years.
Now I was going to the cremation ground and for the first time I hadn’t that sinking feeling which I used to associate with cremations…there was some kind of divine force acting which was continuously pushing me to do all this…all the rituals were performed and I was all part of it. The sky has turned black and we feared it might rain. Fortunately everything went fine and I saw the nani’s face for the last time….in a few moments she was all in flames.I could feel the heat of pyre on my face and could heard the crackling sounds coming from the burning of log….the incense emanating from materials put into the pyre and the heat of it was too overpowering for anyone to come close to the fire…..Slowly the body disappeared and all was left after three hours was a black mass of charred flesh not bigger in size than a baseball….it was cruel to see but that’s the end everyone has to go through.Now as I sit and contemplate the proceedings of that day I could only marvel at the god’s way of doing the balancing act.Nothing is supreme.Whoever has come has to go.Such is the strange journey called life whom everyone wants to enjoy but doesn’t want to reach destination.The only final destination-death.

the original superheroes

It was the usual email checking routine for me before going to sleep yesterday when all of a sudden I found a mail from raj comics(of nagraj and dhruva fame) in my inbox...i remember signing up once on the site for my favorite heroes...sleepily i decided to browse the site to find out how they have changed in all these years..suddenly all those bygone years statred coming on screen....i remember how some 12-15 years back I used to be the staunchest fan of thier comics..the love affair has started in the 93 summer vacations when i was still in 5th class and my landlord's son introduced me to it...the effect was immediate...the moment i got introduced I couldn't take my eyes and mind from the characters....those summer days were spent in knowing every bit about the comics for before that i was limited to just fables and disney stories...but now all of a sudden something exciting was happening and I was not complaining.....i remember how i had saved every bit of money,a rupee by rupee and had gone to the extent of even stealing money only to bogged down by some good senses...my daily routine has been set....read as many comics as I can...it was like a mania...rebukes from parents had become the order of day...but i was happy ...nagraj and dhruva had become part of my life...it was like living in a virtual world with them and fighting culprits alongside with them and then there was the irresitable character 'bankelal',if ever words had the power to make you laugh those have to the words of his comics...you couldn't do but laugh...vacation homework had taken a backseat and all my focus was on comincs...the reality of the images has become so vivid in my mind that i didn't read the hooro comic which used to accompany each set ...yes I was really horrified to read it...now after living alone for so many years I couldn't do but laugh at it...it was some kind of emotional bond which obviosuly was obvious in my case....slowly the initial excitement faded but still I was one of the first in the town to read the new set as soon as it arrive in the bookstore...now as i write my final paragraph I wonder whether the raj comics would be able to regain that lost glory or would it fade into oblivion in this new generation of technology or putting it better would we,caught in this web of busy and running lifestyle ,be able to enjoy those innocent pleasures again....

be fit..be active...be sport

I often asked this question to me..."Does being fit is really necessary?"...after all how the hell does it going to matter if i wake up at 9 'o' clock in the morning...why should i be worried about my ever burgeoning waist size....what do these silly old people get out of jogging at 6 am in cold delhi winters....but now a sense of realization is dawning on me that I may be wrong...i dont know about these old people but if someone is of my age i.e had just completed a quarter of a century...is a bachelor,single...is worried about his hair count on head and spent his weekends in pubs on 4000 calories of beer then he had enough reasons to be fit..rather he better become fit..being fit doesn't mean you have to be cast into a chisled hrithik bodytype but it has to do something with your senses....it makes you good from inside...your life becomes more active and there is a certain energy flowing in and out continuously within you....you have to take it in your stride and have to keep on reciting "I hate being called lazy"...well its all about becoming fitness freak...go swimming,play squash ,run in the park ...do whatever you can to make your body toil and then enjoy the aftereffects...suddenly you will realize the blood running and massaging your whole body from inside and body tissues finally breathing up and heart beating up as rejoicing in your happiness..once this habit sets in the ghost of laziness will eventually subside and a new identity will born....a sporting identity transcending daily mundane routines and librerating us of our self conceived wordliness....