Shankhnaad

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Pursuit of Happiness-1

I have always wondered about happiness. It seems like happiness comes in life in moments and remains elusive as ever. However, everyone goes on an eternal pusuit of happiness. In Manache Sloka, Saint Ramdas says ‘ Jagi sarva sukhi asa kon ahe, vichare mana tuchi shoduna pahe’ (Who is the happiest man on this earth? Try if you can find him) indicating that such a person doesn’t exist.

All religions promise to deliver an eternal happiness. Maybe, it’s this promise which attracts man towards religion. Each one of us wants to be happy. We want to hold on to the moments which make us happy and stretch them forever.

Thursday, 8 May 2014

The Captcha Encounter

What is your most dreaded invention? Mine is captcha. Never before had I any doubts of being human.

Whenever, I try to comment on any blog and encounter the Captcha, my heart skips a beat.If you are brave enough to face so many artistically maligned, collapsed letters, then I salute your courage. I tremble when I see it and worse can never guess the letters in first attempt and sometimes, second or third.

It makes me think and I hate thinking, more so when it borders on introspection. Have I forgotten the alphabets? Now, I can sympathize with my Professor who had told me, he had difficulty understanding cursive writing. Maybe it’s nemesis. I shouldn’t have mocked such people.

There’s a chance that the problem doesn’t lie in my recollection of alphabets. There’s one explanation. Captcha is an amazing discovery to search robots intermingled with humans. I must be a robot. Are you having the same problem? Then, we, the robots should all unite against this Captcha. If you have seen many Hollywood movies, I don’t have to sketch our further plan to you. If not, rush to your nearest DVD store.

Do you use Captcha in your blog for filtering Spam? Are you an expert in Captcha recognition?

Do let me know your views on Captcha.

Sunday, 4 May 2014

A Letter to the Sun

Dearest Sunny,

I know you’ll be surprised (or probably annoyed) when you receive this letter. The truth is I can’t bear to look at you, hence this letter. No, I haven’t done anything stupid, it’s you who is in one of your tempers again.

You are my best friend and you bring warmth and joy in every life you touch, the kind of girl who guides people from darkness to light. But, this is when you are in a generous mood. When you are blazing with fury, there exists no man in this world who can face you. In that mood you transform from a benevolent angel to a holy terror.

Friday, 25 April 2014

An ideal leader

Personally, I am of the opinion that it’s better not to write anything about advertisements of all political parties during elections. Some things are better left unsaid. Each of these parties believe us, the common man to be deficient in understanding and reasoning but I am offended when someone calls us donkeys or such stuff. As elections (at least as far as our region is considered) are done and I can talk about what qualities an ideal ruler should or shouldn’t have.

Wednesday, 9 April 2014

A sweet treat

There are some days when you wake up and feel different. Those are the days when you behave in a manner so strange, that you reach a decision that after so many years we don't really know ourselves.

Kitchen is sort of a foreign domain to me. it's not that I can't cook which too my horror I can do very well. It's like an enigma of life when you are good at doing things you would rather avoid. Kitchen for me is like a horrifying place, I rather not visit unless by some serious machinations of fate or a parent.

And today, I ended up in the kitchen without bribery or compulsion and proceeded to make some sweets. Needless to say, this has awakened great, and I fear unwarranted, maternal expectations. Though, the sweets would lack polish, they certainly turned out tasty. (Now, I'm boasting. It is indeed a weird day!)

However, strange the day might have started, I'm not going to add to it by writing a recipe.

Do you love cooking or you would rather avoid it? Are you among those people who say 'you would love cooking if you your dear ones love your dishes' or some such stuff? Or do you like me think that like many other things cooking is a skill where the outcome has nothing to do with your inclination?
Do let me know your views, I'd love to hear them.

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

The curious case of Monday- Part 6

* This is the final part of the 'The curious case of Monday'. To understand the story, start from the part-1.

The last warning

God had almost lost His confidence in humans to solve the Monday crisis. He decided to give them a last chance. This time He sent emails to all nations and along with the chiefs of their respective bureaucracies.

When they received an email from God, there was a state of confusion. However, most of them were aware of the prior email the UN had received, which added to their strain.

The wise old man

One of the senior-most member of a bureaucracy had read tales of the wise old man. If you are in the habit of reading since your childhood and have read older folktales, you might have come across the character, a wise, old man. It could have been a wise, old woman, the gender not being the important factor. This wise old man lives in a hut near the outskirts of a remote village. The village can be a village in any country. In the golden past, almost every village possessed one.

Alas, the modern times boast of the scarcity of the character. There are still old men/women, but the prefix wise was lost during the process of evolution some time after the loss of the tail. However, the senior bureaucrat didn’t give up hope. He searched far and wide, and found a wise old man in one of the less developed villages.

Saturday, 15 March 2014

The curious case of Monday- Part 5

*This is a part of a story 'The curious case of Monday'. To understand the complete story start reading from the first part.

The Indian way

The Monday crisis was yet to be resolved when another country, India entered to solve the problem. Most people will be shocked that India is in fact going to participate actively in International problems. India, like other non-aligned movement nation loves to play fence politics in the international arena. That way they can make a lot of noise without having to take any action. Then, why has India decided to involve in this problem?

Copyright on God

For thousands of years, we Indians have some sort of a copyright on God. God might send His son or prophet to some other countries but, when He Himself decides to descend, He chooses India. India was offended when God sent an email to the United Nations. What was wrong with regular means of communication like aakashwani (speak through the skies/lightening.) or popping into a seer’s dreams like He always does?

Though God had hurt their feelings, India did not hold a grudge. Indians were ready to help God to solve the Monday problem.

Monday Mahima

The politicians of India have a strange habit of scattering seeds, be it communalism or any other ideas. Mind you, they only scatter seeds, they leave watering the plant to the rest of the people. The seeds never take root unless, someone decides to water them.

In this case, one of the politicians said, “Monday must be a form of God or his mockery wouldn’t reflect on ‘judgement day’.”

This idea was so appealing to the masses and media that they grabbed at it. Monday started appearing in Sadhus’ dreams. There appeared a Baba Somarasa who had taken diksha (spiritual education) from Monday himself. Hymns were composed reciting praises of Monday. Someone even took to compiling Monday Purana.

Shankhnaad

Pages

Featured post

The truth about setbacks

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Pursuit of Happiness-1

Thursday, 8 May 2014

The Captcha Encounter

Sunday, 4 May 2014

A Letter to the Sun

Friday, 25 April 2014

An ideal leader

Wednesday, 9 April 2014

A sweet treat

Tuesday, 18 March 2014