Mundane Myriad

The warrior in me, Waging a war with everyone around me Who violate rules, violate decency, And those who violate humanity. As I wade through the traffic, am always at war with that auto driver Who would never be in his track, break traffic rules but glare at me as if I’m the offender, And that traffic police who would neither control the auto and bus drivers Nor the red beacon and star marked cars, But will always be after my life to ensure that I obey the rules. And look at that youth who we thought as the demographic dividend, Merrily listening to his loud music in the earphone while zooming past in his bike on the road And that girl with the hottest fashion statement Crossing the road with the mobile phone pressed into her ear.     I turned into a tourist site to have some fun and peace Heard from someone, those have become targets for terrorist strikes, Found loads of people crowding the place spewing out wrappers, bottles and th...

While I was waiting for the immigration check in the long queue in Milan, someone muttered from behind, "Bro! Isn't there a smaller queue?" Pat comes the reply, "Abbe! Nahin hai." And few slangs flew expressing dissatisfaction with the Italian immigration staff for putting them in the wretched queue... and you know your Indian bro is around, perennially impatient for no reason, particularly in queues & roads  😳 😳 Was quite surprised to find many of o ur long lost bros from across the border, our country cousin Bangladesh, mostly as travel agents and shop keepers in the street shops in Florence & Rome, trying to talk to you in Hindi for your somewhat Indian look or accent, few catching me while chatting with my Odiya friends in Odiya for its close association with their language Bengali... So one of these Bangladeshi country cousins, sold me a ticket for a one day sightseeing tour company, hop-on-hop-off Pink bus tour that offered audio guide in...

"I'll pray for you and for your wellbeing"- he said. "Can you do anything for me? What about the society which will scorn at me, now that all damage is done," she asked. "Sorry, I'm really sorry. I have a family. I got swayed by your beauty, but I realise about my mistake. It was wrong", he said. And he moved on and stayed with his family happily thereafter. The family of the man heaved a sigh of relief and thanked God. The society hailed him as "subah ka bhula shyam ko wapas aa jaye toh usse bhula nahin kehte" (if a man realises his mistake and mends it later, he is no longer a culprit). The girl sobbed, cried, got depressed, thought of committing suicide after being spurned by the family and the society for being characterless. The family tried to cover up the issue as much as possible before the relatives and the society while finding out a groom for her in all haste. This has been the story line in many movies, ...

राह चलते कोई मुसाफ़िर अपनो से ज़्यादा अपना लगता है कुछ नहीं तो दो कदम साथ तो चलता है अपने तो ऐसे ही मुंह फेर लेते हैं. जब अपने मुकर जातें हैं और कोई अनजाना सा आप के पास आप के साथ खड़ा होता है शायद उसीको लोग फ़रिश्ता कहते हैं. भगवान को मंदिर में ढूँडने से कहाँ मिलते हैं अपने ही आस पास ढुंडलो या खुद ही की अंदर में झांकलो वोही कोने में भगवान भी है और हैवान भी.

In a Service Organisation What Matters More - the Brand or the Service Rendered by the Staff? For a long time, in the absence of any gifts from anyone, thought of gifting myself with some parlour time & landed in a local parlour where I came across Saumik, a young man in his 20's. That was my first visit to the parlour. During the entire time of rendering me service, he tried to impress me with his best skills as per my need & body conditions like suggesting me a haircut tha t would suit my type of hair. He continuously connected with me during those few hours by either giving me few beauty tips or ensuring my comfortable & relaxed stay in the parlour by giving me a coffee or an extra service not part of the bill. At the end he even succeeded in convincing me to apply that black nail paint I had been avoiding so far. Now I will revisit the parlour not because I know the owner but for Saumik who impressed me with his excellent service with a human touch and such st...

"Let me go Momma! I want to fly farther & higher, Look there, How my friend birdie has been set free by her mother, It's only you, who still wants to anchor, See how my friends have a fun-filled life, Am still being watched for the wrongs & rights, And how I have a terrible life!" Said the little birdie... "Oh dear! I want you to rise higher, But I just want you to know where the ground is, So you don't fall harder, You should know how to roll or pitch, When the wind blows stronger, And you emerge the winner!" Said the Mom birdie... The little birdie looked at the mother, Who had a smile on her lips, And a lot of prayer in the corner, The little one was about to set off When the Mom said, "Remember one thing, if you need me, When you get battered & tired in the life's battle, Don't go hither & thither, Just so you know, I'll be waiting for you here"...

Part - I The stage was set. He came running miles, crossing all hurdles, put up the best show. People clapped and said they never saw something like this before. And the award went to.... somebody else. The problem isn't that life is unfair - it just doesn't fit to our idea of fairness every time. May be it was fair for that somebody else or may be not. Y es... the struggle never stops, so also the determination to give it a tough fight. Come on life, show us your might! Part - II Is losing the opposite of winning always? Be it a war or a game or a competition or any life event, does "not winning" mean losing it? Should we always evaluate our lives by these gains & losses? Many emerge as winners by the sheer strength of their hard work, efforts, attitude & perspective towards life even though they are not declared as winners... time we celebrate these uncelebrated winners... "Real heroes are all around us and un...

Experiencing Amiri in the Garib Rath As they say "what's in a name"? The no-frills AC train Garib Rath (poor people's chariot) gives you that experience of Amiri (affluence) when you travel in it... "Someone stole my blanket last night, so I stole someone else's, tit for tat"...so said my co-passenger in while I was travelling in the train Garib Rath recently... I looked at him. No, he didn't look like a thief, he worked for a company as a mid-level executive.. suddenly my attention shifted to the blanket I was given...it perched safely on my seat, folded... looking at its tattered state I was hesitant to use it.. then why would someone steal it, I asked myself.. After pondering over it for a while, arriv ed at two possible reasons: one, in a no-frills train like Garib Rath, they charge extra for bed rolls, so for the fear that one may be charged fine if s/he lost it, one would be extra careful; two & the most important, the AC is s...

Indian Railways: A Peep into India & Indians The old man in his 80's walks into the bogie with the help of a crutch and another person in the train KCG special. Let's call him uncle. The other person helped him settle down in his seat, just in front of mine, handed him over few essentials for the journey- a water bottle & few biscuit packets. Uncle thanks him & tells there was no need for such formalities. The other person says, it was his boss's order (supposedly uncle's so n) which he was following & then he leaves. It was almost sleeping time. I offered uncle if I could make the bed for him, out of good gesture to a man almost my father's age, he refused, indicating he can manage things on his own. After exchanging few pleasantries, we went to sleep. He was going till the last destination of the train, Kacheguda & my destination was just the next morning, much before his, Bhubaneswar. The next morning, I was just about 30 minutes away...

Emotions to emoticons Talks  to texts All faceless roads  Deserted of living souls. Looking for the shadow To walk along, talk along Laugh, dance and sing Till the skyline. An aimless drive With no count of miles Not much to aspire Lot of smile, peace and a simple life.

एक अर्सा हो गया किसी दोस्त के यहाँ जाते हुए, दो पल बैठके बात किए हुए. सुबह होते ही whatsapp में chat, और श्याम को facebook में update, इंशानों वाली सारी हरकतें जैसे smart phone में समा गयी हो, एक अर्सा हो गया किसी दोस्त के यहाँ जाते हुए, कुछ पल बैठके बात किए हुए. वो दोपहर से शाम के अंधेरे तक चाय पे, गॅप शॅप में, ना जाने कितनी सारी खुशी और दर्द भरी दास्तां दोस्तों के साथ बाँटना, फिर उनकी प्यार भरी बातों में सारे गम को भुला देना, ऐसे ना जाने कितने सारे पल कहाँ धुँधला गये हैं, एक अर्सा हो गया किसी दोस्त के यहाँ जाते हुए, कुछ पल बैठके बात किए हुए.

Your Indianness is established when you are rushing in the peak hours of traffic along with varieties of other vehicles, starting from tractors to cars, spread across 3/4 lines in the not so wide road, heading in one direction, few bikes & auto rickshaws wade their way exactly in the opposite direction & stare at you as if it's you who is violating the traffic rules.. 😳😳 As I was settling down in my seat in the train for an overnight journey, spreading the white bedsheet given by the railways on my allotted seat, my co-passenger from the front seat, spreads his legs, rests his feet right on the top of my bedsheet & strikes a conversation, "aur aap ki kahan tak ki safar hai"? (How far will you travel)...on learning I'll get down by early morning, he suggests "tab toh aap ko jaldi sho jana chahiye" (then you must sleep early)... I suddenly felt some apnapan (warmth) in that rawness of dirty legs still resting on my clean bedsheet, kind of feel...

The evening of 10th December, 2016 would be one of the most memorable days in my life.  I was in Istanbul at that time. I was invited as a Keynote Speaker in the “7th International Conference on Governance, Fraud, Ethics & Social Responsibility” jointly organized by Bahcesehir University, Trakya University and International Group on Governance Fraud Ethics & Social Responsibility forum to deliver my speech on CSR . The day was full of activities with the conference rolling out, speech by various speakers including me, intermingling with conference participants from various places across Europe and so on. In the evening, m y local host, the Conference President and Professor in Bahcesehir University, Prof. Ipek, and her husband Giuseppe, who is an Italian settled in Turkey, invited us for dinner- me, my friend from Trakya University, Turkey, Prof. Kiymet, and another conference delegate from Albania- to one of the hot & happening places in Istanbul, Taksim Squa...

As a child, I'd often think probably God is up there, in the heaven, above the clouds, in the sky.... when I fly above the clouds now, I don't see Him there in the sky... then I realise probably He is down there with us, among us, within us.... And as they say, "To Him we come, to Him we all return"...