R.I.P

So finally after 48 hours of intense battle with the terrorists the taj, trident and nariman house are safe. All thanks to the nsg black commandos. What I wonder is whether Mr. raj Thackeray checked the identity of those martyrs or those who laid there lives to save Mumbai. Where was i-am-the-only-one-who-cares-about-mumbai guy when the city was under siege? Did he even go out to donate blood?
And now what? What is the government doing? What it is going to do is give some compensation to those affected and be done with it! What the government should start is terror taxes or terror cess for the future you see. Because all this is going to continue. People are going to die and all the government can do is pay compensation and make statements, blame each other and be in the lime light. Till the next time.
It’s been a few hours and hemant karkare is now reduced to ashes. What I expect and await is mr.amar Singh’s statement. I am waiting for him to come and comment and doubt his credentials. Please spare us all you politicians. all we want is the end of terrorism.
We are no longer safe in our homes and what can get worse than this? Now its all on us. We have to stand up and understand our responsibilities towards our nation. What can we do? We can vote. We can choose the correct government and the correct leaders. Let us do justice to this right bestowed on us.
And for now all we can do is pray. May all those who died in this unforgivable act rest in peace.

what the hell!!!

enough!!
enough of this crap!! why do we have to suffer so much!! so now people armed with ak 47 and a full supplie of grenades can just enter our homes, hotels, trains, planes and other places and just blow us off while w what we are left to do is just watch crappy news channels who proclaim "these pictures are EXCLUSIVELY on ..." exclusive???? excuse us please!!! and i totally agree with arnab goswami that we do not want those bloody politicians to come and make statements and listen to our pm while he says "we condemn this act and let us unite together to fight terrorism!"..oh for god sake's please!! wake up!! how many more bomb blasts do we really want!! america gets one 9/11 and the whole of iraq and afghanistan goes up in flames!!
enough is enough!! its been 48 hours and the siege still continues.. now its high time some stringent measures are taken and the country is assured that it can go to sleep peacefully and not wake up to the morning newspaper yelling " another bomb blast..."
my prayers go out to all those affected...

exam fever...

The word itself gives you nausea. The teachers inform you well in advance.
Exams coming up people! Buck up!
Buck up my foot you think. First at least complete the portion.
And you start dreaming or rather daydreaming particularly in the boring genetics lecture where the professor goes on”blah blah blah...” in an irritating boring voice. You feel yes this is your time. This is the time when you can prove it to the world what you are. You can show that show-off in the class that only blabbering in the class with the text book placed on your lap is not smartness. You dream stupidly about the teacher announcing “…and the first ranker this time is ... no not you sonali it’s Aditi!! “
Applause applause… oh no wait that’s the teacher banging the desk with the duster.
A livid discussion about the exam meets you in the recess... Oh gosh! What do I do! the portion’s not going to finish on time and that meta teacher is going to screw the practical!. You grin stupidly and think ha! What losers... They should follow my example.
And you get lost in your dreams again... (What to do! Pisceans have this weird quality which by the way is a savior in boring lectures)
Let’s go to a few weeks before the exams. You have managed to finish quite a few chapters which is a Herculean task in itself (amidst friends, family gossip, new movies and other stuff). You realize once you go through previous years question papers that “picture abhi baaki hai dost” n you still have to cover huge amounts. You try concentrating and make a time table which you never follow.
Strange are the ways of humans. Relatives do not find any time more suitable than this to pay a visit to oh my dearest niece!! Ya right. And then the blabber mouth from college calls up to proclaim that I haven’t even started studying when you are well aware that all she’s doing is mug mug and mug!! I hate such people who have these weird strategies. Then there are others who call up and ask yar how tensed I am n how come you aren’t? so that’s my problem? That I am not tensed??
One day before exams: ok now am tensed... don’t feel like studying at all. Just revise whatever I feel like making sure I score decent marks. I don’t understand how people sacrifice on their sleep. I don’t give a damn whether my 24th revision is left or oh lets practice this for the umpteenth time... Sleep is dear.
Exam day: everything’s going fine. Mums fed me dahi shakkar. My prayers are done. Alls well. I vow to fill pages so that the examiner will at least give me some marks and I keep in mind what apurva mama advised me to do. All goes on smoothly when whats-his-name comes up and asks “hey did you do the salvage pathway?” and you’re like"yeah of course. It goes something like...Er...Salvage pathway right...Ya ya I know… oh heck lemme revise it for the last time”
And guess what it does come in the paper!!
Result comes out... Turns out I have got pretty decent marks. And sonali is first as usual. Still learning how not to dream and how to focus as my dad(a Piscean himself) puts it. The sooner I learn it the better. And I can already see myself holding my mark sheet which says 90%...

lonely lights

“Aditi! Ye dekh garam garam gujiya bana hai. Jaldi bata kaisa hai…”
It’s good. Obviously it is. It’s made by chachi n taiji. Everything’s perfect. Everything except something. Something’s missing. But what??
The diwali hustle bustle goes on. Taiji manages to move the mightiest and the laziest and gets the work done. Me n shruti are busy helping wherever possible. N advait and himanshu can’t get their hands off the laptop. Bhaiya’s busy too. Lots of work to do.
And lots of gossip to catch on. Problems to be shared. College life to be discussed. There’s laughter in the air. Chacha n his pj’s bring a smile on every frustrated and tired face.
Everything’s going fine.But what the hell!! Whats this void I feel?
Whats wrong? Whats unusual?
D day (literally). Everyone’s up besides the fact that everyone slept late. Garlands are made , the rangoli put (although di still remains the maestro), all the cooking done, everybody’s busy with their cell phones messaging and replying back to peoples wishes.. I ask mum are we forgetting something? Mum racks her brains and tries to remember what’s left. “Oh! The ironing!” some how I feel that’s not what I was looking for.
Evening all the diyas ready, everyone’s looking their best. All dressed up in traditional. Time for the individual pooja everyone does. Not the usual affair. My turn. But why is chachi telling me what to do? Why am I being offered panchamrut by shruti?
Then it sinks in. and the tears start rolling.
The gujiya did not have the usual taste though made by the same people who have been doing it since years. There was no loud voice ringing in my ears shouting “beta zara star plus laga de.” The atmosphere was not charged up with the enthusiasm it had always been. Dad ringing the bell during the bhajan was a very unusual sight. The aarti was sung in such low hushed up voices. The bhai dooj story had no fun. The ubtan did not smell right. Nor did the atta ladoos...
Dadi was not there.
Nor was her fragrance. Nor was her voice.
Somehow I had to accept the fact that all the diwalis in the future would have this feeling of incompleteness staring at you on your face.