"Those eyes..."

To the love of my life: 

I still love those eyes,

I really  do,

It's time that has forced me to -

Forcefully forget you,

Heartlessly be indifferent to you,

And hurt you beyond compare,

All I can do now is to stare -

Stare at 'my' future,

And reminisce 'our' past,

Which we wished would forever last,

But Alas!!!

It didn't...

And here I'm, scared and frightened,

Looking through the frame,

Into those lovable eyes again,

Collecting and connecting the pieces of my life,

To get back my life again,

Because, somewhere deep down, I still love those eyes

I really do...

Pseudonym : h!v

The Cobweb Of Social Networking

We live in an electronic age, or to say in contemporary parlance : an e-age. Well, people here are suffering from a syndrome of putting the letter 'e' almost before everything.We have e-mail, e-ticket, e-bill, e-banking, e-networking and e-dating as well !!!
I guess in years to come we will soon witness e-births and e-cremations. (Pun intended!)
Nevertheless, not long before, all of these 'e-activities' were taken up in person physically instead of just logging in, typing a few words, clicking a few buttons and then eventually logging out, sitting back and watching the 'e' do its work. It's indeed phenomenally magical. But its equally unorthodox, unconventional and lackluster, to say the least.The internet today is replete with various sites of its own kind. From Facebook, the mother of all social networking sites, to Twitter, from Instagram to Flickr, from Flipkart to E-bay, there is a litany of such examples to follow.
Undoubtedly, internet has not only made life more easy and comfortable, but it has also helped people in staying more connected and bolstered the feeling of social oneness among them.So far, so good.
But what internet has also done in the course is often forgotten : it has rendered some vulnerability to every individual using the internet.Looking at the trends today, it is easy to conclude that the people, particularly youngsters, are addicted to the social networking sites of the likes of FB, Twitter etc.This has two-pronged effect - one, their sense of friendship and knowing people is contracting to the internet community only. Youngsters prefer to make friends over the internet and some 'out-of-mind' characters even go on to as far as dating someone they have known only over the internet. No sane soul in this world would support that idea but then there are always exceptions.
Two, the information shared or rather broadcasted on these social networking sites makes an individual's personal credentials and private information easily accessible to people.This facilitates unwanted people and intruders to peep into one's life and transgress one's privacy. No level of security can avoid such incidents because more often than not, sooner or later , there always is a glitch that can be exploited and taken advantage of to access one's personal information.
If we talk of organized Cyber-crime then the situation is even worse.The biggest and the most dangerous cases of frauds and heists have been perpetuated over the internet. Cases of money laundering involving huge amounts of cash are littered all over the web. Recently, several of the banks operating in India declared a cumulative loss of close to 6,600 crores because of cyber money laundering in the periods of Jan-Aug, 2012. Further a survey by Norton claims
one out of three internet users is a victim of cyber-fraud. The numbers are undoubtedly alarming and uneasing. Yet, people take this with reckless attitude and do not adhere to the rules of online banking strictly. Their nonchalant disposition is one of the reasons for rampant cases of cyber-frauds.
Optimists believe that a person is equally likely of being a target of an actual robbery and getting mugged of physical cash. But what they fail to realize is this - Cyber frauds are pretty more likely to be the mode of crime in this world of ever-increasing tech-saviness. Add to it that the perpetrators of these crimes are difficult to nab, given the sophisticated nature of the crime.
So the point to be driven home is this - the comforts and facilities that this 'e' age has showered upon us, offered just at the click of a button, should be used to the fullest. But it shouldn't be made a habit and a necessity, because sometimes the conventional way out is the best and the safest way out.

Pseudonym : h!v

Advertisement - The Inside Story

What started of as a way to make one's product known to the public, has now turned into a dirty game, whose only objective is to appease the public and tease them into buying ones product, even if it's not exactly what they need. The advertising industry has vowed to deceive the public by making them fall prey to one of their many charades and end up proving their marketing sops a perfect bait.
Celebrities and individuals of public appeal can easily be spotted endorsing a variety of products in add campaigns and on TV. However, there is one really important question that comes to the surface from here. Are these products really useful to the extent that our much-revered and fanatically-followed celebrities force us to believe???
Their personality juxtaposed with their aura, charisma and public image has such captivating effect on the minds of the people that they cease to cogitate the utility of the product.
Nevertheless, what really intrigues me is this question - Do our celebrities ever use the product that they endorse with so much conviction, in the first place???
Do we really know and for that part, should we really believe that Katrina Kaif's long silky hair, that she loves to flaunt, are the way they are because of a constant nourishment from the shampoo she endorses??? That seems a bit too hard to get into the head, at least for hardliners like me.
Furthermore, do you really believe when you see a Hrithik Roshan jumping 10ft down a cliff into water after having gulped down a soft drink??? And before jumping he chants the famous catch line of the even more famous soft-drink, to make believe the naive people that all the adrenalin that was needed to execute this super human effort was managed as a by-product of the drink. If it's true then it is expedient for the Sports Ministry in India to make that drink the official refreshment of the Olympic contagion we send every four years to different places around the world only to witness ignominious defeat in most of the sporting events, if not all.
The truth however is far from what we perceive. The celebrities endorse the product to receive fat pay cheques and contracts. But the public taken by the aura of their favorite celebrities end up shopping a not-so-useful product.
So advertising, in today's world of cut-throat competition, has become more about luring or tempting the customers to buy a product than the mere traditional motive of making it known amongst the people.
Another perfect trick that people succumb to is what I would call the "conditions-apply" catch. So the companies, to all extent, try to prove a deal way more profitable and favorable to people than it really is by using just two words and an asterisk - "*conditions apply".
They advertise rampantly about a particular deal offered or a discount given. Tempting, so much so these deals sound, that the customers can't help but to check it once. This however proves to be a futile mistake because the articulate salesperson inveigles them into buying that deal. The gullible customer only realizes later that he/she did not qualify for the deal or got only a fraction of what was promised because of a small miniscule footer - in possibly the minimum font size - whispering in a muffled tone: "Dude!!! You almost got mugged. This is what would happen if you would fail to notice me. Better luck next time."
A study also proves that a customer actually ends up spending more money when he , or precisely 'she', shops during a sale. That's because of the frame of mind a person is in when shopping in a sale. A false feeling of "I'm saving money, if I'm buying something now" dominates the thought process and by the time that feeling subsides half the work is already done. Indeed the customer might have saved some money, but effectively he/she has spent much more in proportion.
But we, the people, innocent as we are, have a relatively fading memory. We are foolish and blind and make such 'Oh-my-God-I-wasted-it' type investments again and yet again.
In the end no more serious talks and absolutely no suggestions, just two more words - Happy Shopping!!!
Pseudonym : h!v

"The Train"

Courtesy:http://farm7.staticflickr.com/

The other morning I woke up,
Only to catch my train,
There were many like me,
All sober and witnessing the same testimony,
Our trains might be different,
But we were all running to the same destination,
To our cozy, yet so uncomfortable offices,
To our alluring yet so vapid work places,
Each one of us bears this prejudice,
That 'Green Leaflets' are the reality,
So fight the world with plurality,
For life's a game of cats and mice,
Where only the fittest survives,
It's dusk now, and way to my home I catch the train,
I'm tired and jaded, down with pain;
Everything now for me is soporific;
And I turn to sleep just as I touch the wick,
Even in my dreams I'm struggling,
And there are many questions boggling,
But eluding all, the next morning, I wake up again,
Only to see the same perplexed faces again,
And only to catch the same train again...

Pseudonym : h!v

'Time vs Money'

'Time and Tide' waits for none. But similarly, 'Power and Pelf' are forsaken by none. Time is important in life, good management and optimal utilization of time is necessary for success; but then again, money is equally important for a happy and satisfied life. So which one of these is more important!!!
I guess both are interdependent in some ways, to say the least. It's the situation that plays an important part, the circumstances that make you decide which of these two omnipotent parameters rules the roost.
Consider the example of a person wanting to go to a place for a vacation with his family. He has enough time available, at hand, and is not in a hurry. He would definitely decide to take a train from his source station to the destination station or even prefer driving, unless he is averse or phobic to railway or road travel, without taking faster modes of travel such as air-travel  into account.  That's only because money is a much dearer thing for him at this point of time than his time. It does not necessarily mean that the person does not value his time at all. It means that in the current scenario he can afford to have not optimally utilized his time. This is when money probably scores over time.
Now consider another scenario where the same person needs to travel to a place, within the mainland of the country and very much within the ambit of railways, to strike a really lucrative business deal. Here in spite of the fact that the place is well within the railway network and reachable via rail, the person might still want to travel by air because he finds time much more important than money at that instance. It may be because a waste of time can cost him the deal or may be he finds traveling so long during working hours a waste. In this 'Time vs Money' scenario, time scores over money. It can be inferred from the above mentioned examples that when one feels ones time is more important and prioritizes on saving time than money in a given case, is subjective and depends from person to person. The saving on time gives 'some' people much more returns than saving on time. In stead of
just vegetating, they could direct this energy for a more productive cause and optimally utilize the time at hand. These are the characteristics of highly successful people - the day you realize that saving on time could give you greater returns than saving on money, consider yourself a successful and well-achieved individual. 
PS: The travel analogy presented by the author is just one scenario. There can be umpteen situations where you could find yourself in a quandary and obfuscated over the endless issues of 'Time vs Money'. 

Pseudonym : h!v

Music : There's Something For Every Mood

If there is anything that can guarantee to change your mood, then it has to be 'Music'...
Music to me is more than just listening , more than just a sensation to my ears, more than just a melody that I enjoy. Music is a state of mind in itself. The reason I say this is , the kind of music one prefers, from the unfathomable variety available, depends much on the person's state of mind, the things he has suffered/enjoyed in life and also on some instances in life that have had a major impact on the person's ideology.
Music is soothing when effectively chosen. Music is potent and has the power to transcend you vicariously into a different world. A world that's much closer to your comfort zone and makes you feel at ease. 
Music is perceived differently by different people. No matter if you understand the nuances of music or not, enjoying music to the fullest is something everyone's entitled to. And that's the beauty of music!!!
Everyone can enjoy music irrespective of one's ability to understand it. As they say music knows no language. Many Punjabi compositions of the likes of Daler Mehendi, Sukhwinder Singh etc. are very popular even in the Central India, although the language is not so prominent in this part of the country.
There are a host of examples of songs that  have, overtaking the boundaries of language and culture, enthralled the people all around the country and even abroad. A recent example has to be the song composed by Dhanush titled 'Kolaveri Di' which topped the charts in India for many consecutive months.

 The same phenomenon which I would call 'transliteration of music' is true internationally all  around the globe. Be it the 'OOPA GANGAM STYLE' or the subtle Sitar play of Late Sh. Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Music knows no boundaries and no language. It is ever expanding - ready to entice everyone from a small child who responds to the toy that we called 'jhunjhuna'; to a youngster who falls for Pink Floyd; to an elderly who feels satisfied listening a raga or a trance; to a devotee who is lost into a new world listening to the devotional hymns.

Music is ubiquitous and diverse.There is something for every one and for every mood!!!

Pseudonym : h!v

Walk Through!!!

Walk with me in rain
Walk with me when I’m in pain
Walk with me when I’m struggling
Walk with me when I’m alone
Walk with me when no one’s around
And solitude is all I found
Because when there ain't any shoulder to shed my tears
And not a single soul to mitigate my fears
I want someone to hold my hand
And guide me away from this cursed and jinxed land
To a place where falling doesn’t mean falling in one’s own conscience
Where striving doesn’t mean scratching your fists at work
Where fighting isn’t for bread
And where one could weave the subtle harmony tread
Answer me – if you can take to my concocted haven
Which is pristine, sacred and has grandeur of God’s own heaven
Only if you could walk with me till the end
And if you could redeem my courage to fight the trend
I beseech you to walk by my side
My hearts yearning to experience the panacea of your touch
Life’s unfair and I don’t expect much
But only a mate who would be along till my last breath
Still in search of that soul, aimlessly I run
So I beg you-“Tell me if you are the one”…..

Pseudonym : h!v

tHe_uNdErDoG

Understanding me is beyond your sanity.
I am no paragon of perfection,
Just an another human entity.
They say, I’m a paradox,
I say, I may be one.
At times I’m naive, at other times I’m smart;
I’m foolish, I’m intelligent;
I’m exuberant, I’m calm;
This is me, as I am…..

I resist all changes.
I’m the zenith when I’m original,
The best when I’m just ‘ME’;
Any change would only worsen the state of my psyche…..

Pseudonym : h!v