Death – Our Constant Companion

‘Death’ – The FIVE letter word of immense truth and credibility. The power He exerts over each and every one of us is unbeatable. No matter ‘what you are’, ‘where you are’, ‘how you are’, He is with you. He may be on your right. Or on your left. It doesn’t matter whether you are lonely or you are surrounded with your loved ones. He can bear down upon you in a nanosecond.


He has that impressive aura about Him which you cannot quite point your finger at. He is so straight forward. He doesn’t give you any false promises. He doesn’t give a damn whether you are sick or healthy/ poor or rich/ willing or unwilling.


So the real question here is, should we be afraid and running for covers (and save ourselves) from the impending doom? My answer would be a NO. If He decides to make His entry, He is sure never to leave without you. You are beautiful to Him. Utterly desirable and vulnerable. No matter how you disguise yourself, He is sure to find you.


But DO NOT expect more than a mere brush of emotions from Him. He will be tantalizingly chilling and would evoke not more than a minute’s unavoidable pain in you. Once He has set his eyes and hands on you, you cannot distract Him, for He will definitely not be fooled.


Allah says in Holy Quran:

"Every soul shall have taste of death; in the end to us shall ye be brought back”
(Surah Al-'Ankabut; The Spider 29:57)


Is it true that people who are at the gateway of the Death Valley would be able to see Him? Is that why their eyes round in wonder (mark me, ‘wonder’ and not ‘horror’)? So, would not it be true that once they meet the person in question, they are so drawn to Him that they do not want to take the step back? Not to leave us? Weeping and broken? Such is the power of the Angel of Death. I haste to believe that once they make the decision, it is once and for all. Their temptation to see what lies BEYOND would be incomparable to what they are leaving BEHIND. But alas, what they see in their new world, I have got no clue. All I know is, Death is a journey to your final destination.


If there is one thing in this world which is of 100% surety, that is HIM. Death – The FIVE letter delicacy. I know He is smiling at you and me at this very moment.

Every man dies - Not every man lives!!!

My Memorable Days at DTSS

I used to think doing an engineering course was the greatest challenge in my life. With around 56 university exams and more than 150 odd assignments, B.Tech did chart number “1” position till recently. But life had much more in store for me. That is the day when I joined as an intern at DTSS, short for Dusters Total Solutions Services, under the HR wing.


The first day was definitely a memorable one. On reaching the office sharply at 09.00 a.m., after hanging on to my dear life in the ever crowded local trains of Mumbai, I sat down to catch my breath. Promptly, I asked for a glass of cold water. Well, trying to create a good impression was no more in my agenda after all the sweat and dirt sticking on to my ‘once’ clean formal shirt. The HR Manager ‘Miss L’, who was also our Company Guide, arrived with the tut-tut tapping of her heels. How does she even manage to wear high heels in the train, remains a mystery to me.


After yet another brief introduction, she disclosed the fact we (me and Preeti, my fellow classmate and yet another intern at DTSS) were there to do some really ‘serious’ work which no one has attempted in DTSS. Oh please! I looked at Preeti with a sly smile and she nodded back knowingly. That all-knowing look meant “Girl, we are here to do an ‘excavation’ of long forgotten foundations of which now only ruins remain!” Miss L continued with an enthusiasm which encouraged us to the breaking point. She filled us in about the space constraint in the office for which we dutifully looked doleful. The magnitude of the consequence of such a constraint didn’t occur to me at all, till the moment she explained to us we were supposed to work from home.

WHAT THE HELL??!! Wow…

I cleared the excited look from my eyes fast enough before Miss L noticed and blurted out before Preeti could even digest the news “Oh ma’am that would be great; we can work without the exhaustion of travel!” I gave a big-tooth smile and steered the conversation to another area before the Manager could change her mind. Monday was set as our weekly reporting day.


We became ‘the stars’ overnight. Anyone and everyone who heard the news said in awe (not forgetting ‘jealousy’) “Work-from-home culture? Bloody Hell!” Hence began my LIFE at DTSS. (Sigh!)


Although I have to give credits to the organization for providing me and Preeti with formidable projects (which ran right across one of the pillars of Human Resource Management – Recruitment and Induction), life was about to start a roller coaster ride with both of us being the ONLY riders.


Although my first project, which was to do an Induction Effectiveness Survey on the orientation program currently prevalent in the organization and subsequently prepare a more effective module started off well, it trotted on to a sad note. My enthusiasm soon wore off. Work-from-home culture is a bitch! I could do anything as I pleased (that is if I did anything at all!). Preeti introduced me to the world of Fringe (a TV series) which ate most of my nights. But during the day time, I turned to another newly found love of mine. City Ville. Thank you Face Book. My addiction to City Ville grew steadily. I sent and received mystery gifts from my neighbors regularly (only the other addicts can understand what I meant). My induction module remained a Mystery to me which I hoped fervently someone would Gift me soon.


The month of May soon gave way to the rainy June. With the advent of June, trains not only became overbearingly crowded, but they stank also. This was when our HR Manager sold us out to ‘Mr. S’, the Manager for Man Power Planning. She said without much preamble one fine Monday, “You guys will be assisting Mr. S in a Recruitment project.” I had somehow managed to complete my first project by then. With the introduction of the new boss who expected us to come to office every day, I hoped to put a full stop to my monotonous life. I was initially thrilled to know that our Recruitment project is under the Great M.D. itself, who was a charismatic man. I attended my first ever Board Meeting that day. In all my excitement to be in the Board Room, I forgot to take the minutes of meeting (which I was supposedly doing!).


After 2 days of working on the project, we were done with almost everything (surprisingly!). Life plummeted down the drains again. Travelling in the local trains and getting down at Govandi (one of the largest dumping grounds in Mumbai) was exactly what I needed. (Pun Intended!). Mr. S told us one Friday evening to come on Monday morning sharp at 09.00 a.m. to attend a client meeting. Monday arrived swiftly and we reported at the office just 15 minutes late! Well, it wasn’t our problem. The trains were running late, according to Preeti. I didn’t have the heart to disagree.


The meeting which was to start sharply at 10.00 a.m. never came. Mr. S was also nowhere to be seen. We were being kicked from one room to another. In the morning, we were sitting in the Conference Room followed by the V.P of H.R’s room until finally we were handed down to the Visitors Room (Space Constraint, my foot!). We had NOTHING to do than acting as part of the decorations in the room. Other fellow people in the office looked at us with such rueful expressions that I could taste ‘Hatred’ in my throat.


At 6, my level of endurance touched eccentric marks. I decided to act, though it was late. Well, better late than NEVER. I didn’t want to sleep in the Visitors Room. Since I did not trust myself to have a one-to-one conversation with him, I kept it short and simple. I SMSed him. “We are leaving!. Waited for NINE hours!”


Our Company Guide sensed our reluctance to work under him and assigned us MIS works, which was far more interesting than killing mosquitoes. It was with a relief I welcomed the end of June. I looked straight into the dull eyes of Mr. S and announced “Sir, this is our LAST day here!” I noted with satisfaction the surprise there before he blurted out “But, I have more work for you guys!” Well, better luck next time buddy. I am SO out of here.


The results of our project may be used to build up strong foundations for the company. Or they may join the ruins. Either way, All The Very Best DTSS.

Thirty Eight Years and Still Counting!

P.S. Those who are not used to VULGAR language, please back off!


I am sure 80% of those who are reading this currently are aware of the term “Euthanasia”. In biological terms, it can be defined as “Deliberate and intentional killing of a human being by a direct action, such as a lethal injection, or by the failure to perform even the most basic medical care such as the provision of nutrition and hydration, necessary to maintain life.”


Well, I am no one to speak in terms of biology. But what prompted me to write on this topic is the controversy on Aruna Shanbaug. For all those amongst you who don’t know the details, here is a recap. She is Ms. Controversy (What else should I call a poor woman who lists the top of Popularity Charts?). Some people become popular by achievements. But here is a lady who did nothing (not taking into account WHAT was DONE to her!) but still is immeasurably FAMOUS. The MAN (Can I use this term or should I coin another term to describe the NOBLE person?) who achieve ably helped her maintain the top slot of famous personalities, is nowhere around. By the way, WHERE exactly is HE? Good question, right? Somewhere in Delhi, I hear. He is Mr. Honorable. Mr. Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki. The bloody SOB.


Aruna, a nurse from Haldipur, Shimoga, Karnataka, was brutally assaulted by Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki, a ward BOY (SOB) at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial Hospital on Nov 27, 1973, as she was changing her clothes in the basement of the hospital. ‘Brutally assaulted’ do not convey the intended meaning. English dictionary should have more BRUTAL words. Imagine Mr. Honorable finding out, to his sheer frustration, that the lady of his selection is having her monthly flow! But he is aroused! Nothing can stop him now. He wants to let OUT his seed. He is ALL-SET-TO-GO! Just a slight change in his plans. He tightens the dog chain he had brought along with him on her sensitive neck and turns her back towards him. In our language, he changed his POSITION. He sodomized her. Poor woman (She was 25 at that time!) writhed in pain and bled copiously from both sides.


By this time, her lungs have all but collapsed in agony, the blood vessels in her eyes have hemorrhaged, and coagulated blood fills her unseeing eyes. Unseeing, because her brain has been deprived of oxygen so long that it has rebelled and excommunicated her eyes. However, in the mysterious manner of the wondrous laws of our ‘God’, the nerves in her body which are responsible for transmitting pain still do their job. Very efficiently. They dutifully, indeed beautifully transmit the fire from each thrust into her rectum, each rupture of her anus, each scream from each cell of her burning lungs.


Meanwhile, the ‘man’ behind continues his assault, indeed increasing the power behind his brutal thrusts as he nears his long fantasized release. The end is so frenzied that it is impossible to understand which one is the animal on either end of the dog chain. His grip on the dog chain around her throat slackens. He hurriedly pulls up his pants, spits on her limp body, and runs out of the basement. But not before he took her gold chain, watch, and money with him.


She was alone again. But this time, she didn’t even know it. All she knew was the pain which shot up from every corner of her battered body, even from places she didn’t even know existed. Walmiki attacked Aruna as she had ordered him about and had castigated him for sloppy work. What a wonderful way of payback!


She has been in a vegetative state ever since, without knowing who she is, where she is or how she ended up in this state. She rests in the same hospital where she was ambushed. She screams at the voice of a man, the last living memory she had. She is a woman who had to give up her entire life, her dreams for a five-minute pleasure of an animal!

The case made headlines, there was national outrage. Sohanlal was arrested in Pune. His case came for hearing the following year by which time, he had already spent a year in jail. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for stealing, and another seven years for having tried to harm her fatally. Both sentences were to run concurrently. As he had already spent a year behind bars, six years later, he was a free man. He took up a job as a ward boy in a Delhi hospital.


He was never tried for rape because no one had lodged a complaint and during the medical examination, Aruna's hymen was found intact. The court decided there was no rape.


She was engaged to a doctor at that time. He tried reviving her for two years and gave up. Her parents had given her up long back. Her assaulter is STILL living amongst US proudly. God knows assaulting how many others! Sadly, it’s just ANOTHER case because there are MANY others. INNUMERABLE. How many of these has come into light? Even if they did come into light, how many of those POOR GIRLS got justice? A mere number which can be counted on your fingers.


Coming back to the topic of Euthanasia, LIFE is a GIFT from The Almighty. We, humans, are no one to take back what is given by HIM. But… Oh God! Just a silent plea from my part. Can’t you see HER pain? Can't you see HER agony?


N.B. Are you aware of the fact, in every six minutes, a girl is brutally raped and killed in India?

An Unforgettable Expedition

18-01-2011
08.50 p.m.

After so many hassles and bustles, I bade goodbye to my friends who had come to drop me at station and settled down on my berth. It was frustratingly suffocating the past few days. Not being able to see my parents and my bro for a long time was eating me from within. So without any second thoughts, I booked myself a ticket on the Duronto express. It was the express’ first journey. (It travelled upto Ernakulam only.) I was to take a connecting passenger from Ernakulam to my place at exactly 06.00 p.m. in the evening.) The express was supposed to reach Ernakulam latest by 05.40 p.m. (after almost 20 hours of journey) – Hopefully!


The greatest plus-point of this journey was that I got the entire coupe all for myself. It was like having a room for yourself. Since the train was ‘supposedly’ supposed to give all the passengers with food, I hadn’t carried my dinner with me. It was 09.30 p.m. and I was impatiently waiting for the food to arrive (where food is concerned, I was always impatient – a fact you cannot realize after seeing my negligible size). It was then only I overheard someone talking about getting no dinner because it was already past dinner time. I felt shattered. (Seriously yaar!)


Well, God (as well as the express’ pantry guys) had already decided my fate. I was to starve that night. I drifted off to a blissful sleep where I dreamt of four-course meals and desserts.


19-01-2011
07.45 a.m.

I woke up with a start because of the non-committal chanting of ‘Madam’. I opened one of my eyes slowly to find a pantry guy standing by my legs. He was waiting with a tray which contained my morning coffee. It was enough to snap my both eyes fully open. I was really starving. He collected my breakfast preference and left. I looked at my tray with longing eyes only to groan inwardly. Tragedy after tragedy was striking my already tragic life. How on earth was I supposed to know these guys only gave the coffee mix and hot water? Hell! The outcome of my hard work turned out to be bitter sweet. I made a mental note to take guidelines from my mum as soon as I reach home.


After my breakfast I stretched out on my seat with “The Doomsday Conspiracy”. It was sometime later when I was again woken up abruptly by the same pantry guy. I think he had made it a point to scare the hell out of me. I forgave him since it was for the order of my lunch. Grr… The lunch menu comes under the ‘forgettable moments’ of my life. It deserves no worth to be on my post.


The train which was supposed to take only “20 HOURS” to reach Ernakulam took almost “22 HOURS” to see the destination station. I reached the station at around 07.15 p.m. I was exhausted to my fill and just wanted to get home (which was still 3 hours away by train). And fortunately, no thanx to Duronto, I missed my connection passenger and it left the station without me. Hurray!


I took a ‘fast passenger’ (only by name) and reached my home huffing and puffing (as early as 11.30 p.m. in the night) and saw the much awaited sight of my life. My mother’s face! It erased all the exhaustion of my sizzling journey out of me and I could feel warmth spreading through every cell of my body.

Here is something what I was waiting for!
Here is someone who I was dying to meet!
Here is my home, sweet home!

The Tale Of Ramayana

“Am I dreaming? Or have the Ramayana epic come alive in front of my eyes?”

The unknown-boy from Retail Marketing batch rubbed his eyes and looked all over SIX of us yet again.

Then he nudged the closest one next to him. “Can you see what I am seeing?”

“Definitely!” was the reply.

I smiled watching their reactions. Well, me and my group mates have been getting the same kind of responses from everyone we met since we stepped out from our hiding area(which was the 3rd floor of our college building and precisely at that moment, we were on the 2nd floor, in front of our class).


I know, you might be thinking what this girl is trying to prove. I have my own sweet reason to prolong the suspense. That is one of the days I hold close to my heart, not just because of the fun quotient it provided to me. Actually I cannot pinpoint and choose a reason why it was great. It simply was. INEXPLICABLE.


It was the 7th of December 2010. My MBA life has given me a lot of reasons to smile. This one tops the chart. It was the day for our final Business Communication presentation. Each of the 10 groups in the class had had a different thing to present. My group (Group 7) had the most embarrassing of the lot. We had FANCY DRESS. We were the laughing stock of our batch since the topics were allotted. Even we made fun of ourselves thinking about our fate. We had absolutely no CLUE at that point of time that this particular day would etch itself in each of our hearts.


It was Ketki, in our group, who came up with the whole Ramayana idea. We decided to put it into action. As there were six members in my group (5 girls and a guy), we selected Rama, Lakshman, Sita, Hanuman, Raavan and Surpanaka from the epic to enact. Then came the initial conflict on who will enact whom. Chit system was used to solve this issue. The next step was to get the costume. We visited a nearby costume shop and selected the required costumes.


On the DOOMS DAY, all six of us came early and started our ritual. Getting dressed was one hell of a job. We put make-up to each other. It was pure FUN TIME. We had the time of our lives looking at each other and laughing our heads off. The most difficult problem arose when it was time to get out and face other batch mates. We mustered up our courage and caught the lift down. The Hanuman in our group kept shooting ugly glances at her newly sprouted tail. I was scared myself that I would hit someone with the arrow on my shoulder hilt (I was Lakshman, you see). As soon as we entered our class, silence fell. I knew then that we scored in their hearts.

From Left: Mayuri Pawar, Ketki Pitale, Shruti Singh, Sagnik Mukhopadhyay, Sajna V Koya, Swati Verma

We managed to get 8.5 out of 10 in that activity but it spoke much more than the marks. We gained recognition as the Ramayana Group of the class. As a group, we had had our own share of fights regarding many issues in that activity but finally it was the group work that stood out. Kudos GROUP 7. Love you all.

"Among Life's precious jewels,
Genuine and rare,
The one that we call friendship
Has worth beyond compare."