Why-Do-I-Still-Serve-You?

Thoughts of a soldier which I thought of sharing with you guys (it's really great but sad truthful poem); so just read this:

How you play with us, did you ever see?
At Seven, I had decided what I wanted to be;
I would serve you to the end,
All these boundaries I would defend.

Now you make me look like a fool,
When at seventeen and just out of school;
Went to the place where they made "men out of boys"
Lived a tough life …sacrificed a few joys…

In those days, I would see my "civilian" friends,
Living a life with the fashion trends;
Enjoying their so called "college days"
While I sweated and bled in the sun and haze…
But I never thought twice about what where or why
All I knew was when the time came, I'd be ready to do or die.

At 21 and with my commission in hand,
Under the glory of the parade and the band,
I took the oath to protect you over land, air or sea,
And make the supreme sacrifice when the need came to be.

I stood there with a sense of recognition,
But on that day I never had the premonition,
that when the time came to give me my due,
You'd just say, "What is so great that you do?"

Long back you promised a well-to-do life;
And when I'm away, take care of my wife.
You came and saw the hardships I live through,
And I saw you make a note or two,
And I hoped you would realize the worth of me;
but now I know you'll never be able to see,
Because you only see the glorified life of mine,
Did you see the place where death looms all the time?
Did you meet the man standing guard in the snow?
The name of his newborn he does not know...
Did you meet the man whose father breathed his last?
While the sailor patrolled our seas so vast?

You still know I'll not be the one to raise my voice
I will stand tall and protect you in Punjab Himachal and Thois.

But that's just me you have in the sun and rain,
For now at twenty-four, you make me think again;
About the decision I made, seven years back;
Should I have chosen another life, some other track?

Will I tell my son to follow my lead?
Will I tell my son, you'll get all that you need?
This is the country you will serve
This country will give you all that you deserve?

I heard you tell the world "India is shining"
I told my men, that's a reason for us to be smiling
This is the India you and I will defend!
But tell me how long will you be able to pretend?
You go on promise all that you may,
But it's the souls of your own men you betray.

Did you read how some of our eminent citizens
Write about me and ridicule my very existence?
I ask you to please come and see what I do,
Come and have a look at what I go through
Live my life just for a day
Maybe you'll have something else to say?

I will still risk my life without a sigh
To keep your flag flying high
but today I ask myself a question or two…
Oh India…. Why do I still serve you?

Do You Believe In Magic?

I am copying the dialogue from the movie "3 Idiots" though it is absolutely correct in every aspect - "A sperm has to win the race to get the life on the earth amongst the millions equal". If it is not the magic then what is it?

Many of you might not agree with me but that is also a magic because to agree with a universal truth, first you to accept it .It's the magic of our undeniable human intelligence learn during the course of our life that we stop in believing the obvious magic happening everywhere and everyday around us.

Certain points need to be elaborated here.

1. Do you believe in unconditional love of a mother?

2. Do you believe in unconditional support of a father?

3. Do you believe in unconditional friendship amongst the friends?

4. Do you believe in love at first sight?

5. Do you love the smell of first rain drops falling on thirsty earth?

If answer to any of the above questions is "Yes"; then my dear friends, you certainly and undeniably believe in magic.

Well, there are so many of magical moments in one's life but I have not counted all of them here. The reason is very simple; i do not want to make this as a list of all the uncanny statements. Yet, I want to recount one of mine for sure.

Let's delve into my memory lanes for the same. First instance of the same happened when I was in Pune. I was going from Pune to Nasik to meet my parents and was sitting alone on my seat (May be fate has something planned for me that day). I bought a book and had my mp3 player with me as the journey take more than 5 hours to complete and the scenery is not that great alongside the road as the journey to Mumbai from Pune which goes through marvellous and beatific scenery of Lonavala and western passes.

So, I was sitting alone, reading the book and listening to music. The bus was stopping for the usual stoppage along the route but I was not paying any attention to the nearby world as the book was in itself a world. Suddenly somebody caught my eyes as the bus made one of its stops. The ordinary looking girl got on the bus and was looking for the vacant seat. I was not aware of the fact that almost all the seats by that time have been full and somehow my adjacent seat was vacant. She glided along the path and asked me about the vacant seat to occupy.

Well, to be really frank, I was not very much in the mood to let her to sit there as it might create some ripples in my own happy bookish world in which I was so very indulge. Anyways, she sat there and nothing much happened after that until she tapped on my shoulder. I was amazed by her behaviour but she told me that my mobile was ringing. I suddenly felt sorry for my gesture and picked up the call. It was from my dad, He asked me how much more time it would take the bus to reach Nasik as I have to travel to traimbak after that. I told him may be half an hour and ended the call.

I guess this conversation woke up her as well from her own world. She seemed panicky suddenly and asked if the bus was going towards Nasik or Pune. I almost laughed at her stupid question. I was sure that none in his/her right mind pick up the bus to journey without being absolutely sure which way it’s going. I told her the correct place which in this incident was surely Nasik. It made her face drained out of blood and she looked so white. I was trying to calm her down so I started asking about her, the normal questionnaire about her name, her occupation and etc. She told me that she was working in a NGO as a teacher in rural area and was preparing for MPhil. Examination and going to Pune for the same which was scheduled to be held at 9:00 am next day.  

After sometimes, I realized the exact trauma of her white face. She did not had the require money to travel to Nasik to Pune and back to her place. I did not know why she did tell me that. I was suddenly withdrawn from the conversation as it seemed to me another crooked person who somehow tried to get some money as it had happened with me and I was looking like completely fool that moment, but somehow after seeing her face and body language; I made me believe about the truthfulness of the situation. I offered her some money which she flatly refused so I asked her how she is going to manage the journey which she did not reply but somehow I saw something moist in the corner of the eyes. I told her straight forward that she had to accept the money but once again I was denied for my chivalry and was told furiously that she could manage on her own.

When the bus was about to reach Nasik, I asked her mobile no. She looked at me with somewhat prevarication but she gave me her mobile no. I went to meet my parents and told them about the incident. They also agreed that I have not done anything wrong by offering her money.

Anyways, after returning from Nasik, I completely forgot about the incident but one day, I was just searching number of one of my friend and I came across her number. I dialled the no and on the other side, there was kind of a sweet voice. I did not realized last time how her voice sound as she was so much in the ordeal that I was quite sure that whatever I heard that time was not her real voice. The real one I was hearing now and admiring the tone. I asked her about her exams and how she managed to get back to her place.

The conversation which was started as a casual call, suddenly stretched into 3 hours call which ended only when her roommate called her for the dinner. There was so much to talk to her, she was able to talk about any topic and rather like me managed to argue quite ferociously. We talked about almost on every topic under the sky during the coming days and became good friends. She told me about her boyfriend (I guess, I decided about the platonic friendship then only). We used to talk very late in the nights and almost whole Saturdays and Sundays. We somehow never tried to meet even the journey was only three hours.

This went for about 5 months and I shifted to Hyderabad. The conversations started getting shorter and shorter without any ado and somehow there were little bit of sadness in her voice every time we talked, yet she never told me the reason. I got involved in my life in Hyderabad in more ways than I was in Pune. She sometimes complained about it but nothing else. I was under the impression that because of distance and somewhat little less to talk about nowadays made her behave this way.

One day, I was chatting to her and she made me realized about her true feelings. Yet, I did not reciprocate; she did not mention about that chat afterwards but now I felt that I should have tackled that in a better position. No! No! Do not take me in other sense; I am not talking about in romantic way but since she was (still is) my good friend, I should have pacified her in some other way rather than flatly refusing her feelings. After gone through so many things in a last year or so; I, now in more than one way, can understand the things better. I am not in contact with any of my friends nowadays due to some issues in my personal life but somehow I miss talking to this friend very much as there was no string attach in the conversations with her.

I was me and could talk to like that only with her and I did not need to pretend to be somebody else. I am not saying that I pretended to somebody else while in the company of other persons but somehow you are in true essence you only with some of the people.

Now, I think whenever I will talk to her again, she can understand me though undoubtedly not without getting angry. I am sure she can forgive me about these things in the end and THIS IS CERTAINLY MAGIC OF TRUE FRIENSHIP AND I AM SURE THE DROUGHT OF NOT TALKING TO HER WILL END SOON.