A well deserved break

Things I did with my friends on my trip to Mumbai:
Drive on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
Breakfast at McD', Tilaknagar.
The overcrowded public train to Bandra
Mental floss at the abstract works in the Jehangir Art Gallery
Pizzas at Pizzeria alongside the Marine Drive.
Walks and photo sessions on Marine drive.
Vada Paav at Chowpatti
Photo sessions at the Gateway of India
Ferry to Alibagh on The Arabian Sea
Night stop at a beach view hotel on the Island
A game of carroms, the girls were horrible at it
ZZZZZ....
Got ourselves a local car with air conditioning to take us around
The Nawab's palace
Ferry to Murud
Exploration of the Janjira fort
Sun, sand and hammocks on kashid beach
Ferry back to CST (railway terminus)
back to our rooms in Navi Mumbai (New mumbai)
Hot baths and Refreshments
To the Disco 'Seven' link road bandra west at 11:30 pm
Danced till 1:30 am
back to rooms exhausted
ZZZZZZZZZZZ....
woke up late next morn
Brunch and puzzles at Cream Centre
Trivia Shoppin at Fashion street
Awestruck at the real estate around Hiranandani's
Coffe, Conversations and the hookah at Mocha
The girls were happy expelling the smoke through their nostrills
Bus back home :(

India detects its first cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain

Cock-a-doodle-doo!
aint nothin we can do.
We've got to avoid the stew,
coz them chickens are down with flu.
Cock-a-doodle-doo!

-- Sujay Sukumar

‘Boot Your Boss’- an ode to the hectic week that went by

Addressing a gathering of global techies,
Once I found myself speak,
“I speak just not for myself”, I said,
“but for the oppressed and the meek”,
“four long days we shall humbly work”, I say,
“and in return just one day we seek”
“Boot-your-boss-day we shall call this day,
this special day of the week”.
“On this day we give it to our bosses
untill they finally freak.
The day shall help to vent frustration
as we beat those beasts till they leak.
We pound their behinds black and blue,
We strike them till they are bleak”
And all the techies arose in ovation
I couldn’t help my crimson cheek,
Suddenly I am woken on a Monday morn,
woken up by the alarm’s shriek.
Then I hear my conscience
Whisper in a tone so weak
“Let’s just get back to work brother”, it says,
“Before they turn your rear to steak”.

-- Sujay Sukumar

The Kite Runner - A book review

Somewhere towards the start of the book, well within the first ten pages, the narration stopped and all the characters in the story emanated from the book and began to talk to me. Hassan, Aamir, Toofan Agha, Ali, Rahim Khan, Assef, Sanaubar, Soraya et al were around me, gesturing, smiling, talking to one another and sometimes talking to me. I’d find their faces in my office cab, there was no mistaking them, their faces and their personalities were painted so brilliantly in the book. I’d find them in street corners, in the bazaars, among school children, I’d find them wearing the masks of my friends, colleagues and relatives.

The book follows the journey of a man in search of his friend (I don’t want to give away more). The journey is so eventful, I found myself relating to most of the happenings in the story. Sometimes the book left me smiling as I reflected on the pranks that I had played as a little schoolboy, sometimes the book left me thinking about the unfairness in the state of things, and yet sometimes I was wondering about what the future might hold for me.

Let me now give you a background of how I came across the book. I had been to an annual kite flying event on the day of ‘Sankranti’, and I was really happy flying the kite and reliving one of the pastimes of my childhood, when I reached our apartment, I realized that my friend had this book with him, the name had something to do with kites, and on that day, the name just compelled me to borrow the book and take a peek.
If you have ever flown kites, then please don’t miss this book, however, kites aren’t a prerequisite for the book in any way whatsoever.

Khaled Hosseini is a connoisseur of narrative skills, he paints Afghanistan, America, Pakistan and India in their true colors, and it’s almost like being there with the author. He also uses methods like flashbacks and metaphors plentifully in the book. The book has a very strong presence of creative techniques like irony, cynicism and humor.

I had established a very strong connect with the book while I was reading it. My friend warned me that sometimes the moisture in his eyes had betrayed him, and he’d quickly recompose, because it was merely a book. Although I have read a whole lot of tragedies (I’m not suggesting that this book is a tragedy, in fact it is quite the contrary), this book was different somehow.

Just read it alright…I could go on and on, and you’ll never really know till you’ve actually read it.

Random thoughts of a voyager aboard a Ship of Fools

Here I am in a ship of fools, a ship that went unnoticed in time.

I don’t belong here, but I’m not allowed to say that, am I?

My comrades aren’t possessed, they need professional help,
Or maybe divine help, and they need lots of luck.

My ship (No its not!),
Is blue in color,
It’s wobbly and huge,
It keeps going in circles,
Round and round,
The wise men called it ‘Earth’.

Tell me Freud isn’t born yet, or tell me I’m living in a stupor.

I’m seasick, I’m ‘hear’sick, and ‘talk’sick
Basically, I ‘feel’ sick.
The whole ship stinks…

Ahoy, who goes there?
A Nazi? A Moslem? A Chinaman? A Caucasian?
A Hindu? A Buddhist? A believer? A Democrat?
A Communist? An agnostic? A Vagabond? A jehadi?
A junkie? A veggie? A nigger? A Spaniard? A hippie?
……my list is long…

S.O.S – Terrosits aboard !

This ship doesn’t have a raft; it doesn’t have a lifesaver either.

We’re running short of supplies…God (In case you exist) help us!

Oh man, we need fuel to keep this ship going….
These guys will stop at nothing to get their hands on the fuel.
I heard them conspiring war.
They’ll kill babies for fuel they said, and their comrades applauded.
They called it Justice.

There’s enough ammunition on this ship to destroy it 6 times over.
Noah, where are you?

Thyn presence

Liquid intelligence,
Convenient thoughts,
Evaporation and Overflow,
Casual trickle, silent flow.

Tingled senses,
Festive sounds and sights,
Musk, Marigold and Miracles,
Shooting stars and starry nights.

The book I'm reading...

I am now reading,
'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini

SLOG...SLOG...SLOG...

I have loads of work!!!
Thursday was bad, Friday aint looking any better.
God...I need the Weekend!!!! Please !!!
Do you have to squeeze in all of the 24hours into everyday?
Can't you hold back a few hours for the weekend?

That’s it !!! I’m quittin on you God…I’m siding with the Devil.

Saturday...where art thou?

Statutory Warning: Work can be hazardous to life

It’s that headache again

Curses! It’s that headache again,
Sickly feeling, unbearable pain.
No one else will ever know,
And on my face it will not show.
Silly, it’s just a headache.

Thoughts fly past my mind in regret,
Not wanting to be pondered upon.
Although the mind wants to forget
They fly right back, in scorn.
Silly, it’s just a headache.

Now it seems to slowly grow,
I feel the pounding on my brow.
No balm, no caffeine, no soothing words,
No friend to caress although it hurts.
Silly, it’s just a headache.

-- Sujay Sukumar