PEE for Pani Puri

Pani Puri! The sound of it and there is a huge crunch in my mind already, making way for cold, spicy meandering and piping hot ragda or the lesser substitutes. Sort of like the breaking of a dam and the flooding of a river, but in a nice way. My taste buds tingle almost dutifully!

What chocolate does for the world, pani puri used to do for my friends and me. Some of our worst fights were miraculously forgotten over this.
Then it became so much more special when my tiny scrap of a niece said "Paani Pooyi!"
All that taken away from us and millions of others by one vendor, who decides to de-stress in his own wares! He wouldn't care two hoots about the heartaches (in possibly more ways than one!) that he would have given over the city.
It never fails to shock me how people like him, who practice stock clearance, do not mind not clearing their conscience! I mean, with the sanitation of the pani puri getting costlier by the day, where are we poor people supposed to go with our hankering for it?
Earlier in the scenes of a movie, hero would look on with eyes full of love and longing, while heroine would pop roadside pani puri into her mouth and squeal in delight. Added to the scene, now, will be the vendor looking at her too, diabolically! And the heroine will be a whole new meaning of 'piss drunk' before she embarks on a 'zara sa jhoom loo main..'!
In their world, I would be holding his collar, looking into his utterly shameful eyes and saying "Phir kabhi pani puri ke naam se kisi ke saath aisa dhokha mat karna, Panipuriwale! Warna Duniya mein koi kabhi kisi Panipuriwale par vishwaas nahi karega!" Sadly, that has already happened, so not even my life-changing reproach can hope to have an effect now. All the sweaty hairy arms over the state are being prohibited from drawing spicy water from a vessel swarmed with flies, in a hard, soggy, dripping puri, for fear of utterly disgusting perils!
So goodbye, much fancied roadside pani puri. While you were, you brought smiles to our faces. Smiles that were blissfully unaware of the apavitrata of their cause! Rest In Pe(e)ace!

Aaje ve MAHI tera rasta udik diya!

Headlines today- 'Mahi ke liye akhand jaap'! Mahi means beloved. But you must obviously have traced the 'mahi' in the headlines to Dhoni. And guess what? you were indisputably right!

I suddenly recollect Yash/Aditya Chopra's recent movie 'Dil bole Hadippa', for I could never relate to it until now. He clearly saw what I couldn't. Once again the Chopras' 'Jhappiyon Sa Desh' came together to encourage their jawaans, while they bravely wield their bats at their kurukshetra in mohali. They have love and hope in their hearts; and hatred more potent than the love and hope simmering away, stacked secretly for Pakistan, which might come handy for the Indian players if, God forbid, they were to lose! And obviously we would engage in demoniacal dances and fireworks on the street, if the much-hated Pakistan should lose! *begins to sing innocently* "Yahaan pe ishq hi hai rab aur Khuda, soniya!"

The news channels bleat of people's madness and idiosyncrasies. Food in hotels named after players (for instance Bhajji ke Bhajiye!), bets of shocking amounts of money, huge replicas made of the cup in chocolate, other replicas decorated with flowers and worshipped at holy shrines!
India-Pakistan match did what an earthquake, tsunami and fire in Japan couldn't do! It made people pray, millions of people! People are going on a havan, namaaz and jaap spree everywhere, including Siddhivinayak and Shirdi! Such unity, such piety, such love? It makes one want to say, surely matches are made in heaven!

At this a friend of mine, (name hidden to protect life) said "I will pray for India to lose!" I asked "what is your prayer in the face of the whole nation's?" to which, friend replies "who said I am alone? I have Pakistan praying for the same thing!" Another whole nation praying together for a game, I realised with a sigh! wonder who's team God is in..

But someone somewhere should sincerely pray for the peace of mind of all the players under such immense pressure and the fates of those truly cursed ones, who face the catastrophic burden of losing...May peace be with India and also with Pakistan! Amen!

Soup

The start of all
or perhaps the end
And sometimes
all you have

No More, I beg, no more
and yet never enough..

Same spice
Same texture
Same warmth
Same old drab dose of comfort everyday

But
Burnt one day
Taste buds stung into numbness
Miss their frayed blanket sorely..

Mehnat aur Lagan!

So she blackmails him, with business, to get love back; and he blackmails her, with love, to get business back. They both get the company they want (for those of you who are a bit, lets say innocent, she gets his company and he gets her COMPANY! understood?). Fair enough! From the point of view of those who believe in love and also those who believe in the 'real' love, what movie has been made that is more satisfying? Although initially enraged and disturbed by it, I now, finally see the sense in it! Cheers then to ever-inspiring Bollywood!!!

Baggage Claim

So I was talking to a friend who recently got, let's say, transferred! And all I could hear on the phone was her new friends and her responses to them. Lots of chaos and too much of "hold on.." for my patience and ego. I was grateful when the call got cut. Grateful, not happy, mind you! At least relieved? No! Not even close! In fact, the panic began once the call got cut! I was only grateful to not have to hear more of it..
Its a minor portion of the feeling that one of two lovers in a movie feels when they are making their way to their ever-welcoming refuge- the airport! Be it airport or railway station, I think, we sit glued to the screen because we relate to the saturated one's need to get away; because their faith just got shaken and they are grateful just to not have anymore of it! In such cases, we might sit and debate "but real love is very much different, complicated and realistic than this chase to the airport!"
However, I feel that inspite of our experienced arguments and the predictability of the scene, some of us well up in anxiety and pray for the lover to stop the departure of their consort and his/her faith.


At some or the other point, a minor, different, complicated and realistic representation of the breathless run to the airport, is needed in all our lives to save our faith. That could happen in any way, in any form of relationship. Not that dramatic and quite obviously there isn't a happily ever after everytime; but just one of many tiny temporary happy endings, just to say that everything is okay. We go through life with the security of a two-year old, who gets restless at not feeling a parent nearby, in sleep. And as much as we grow up to know the reality of love and life, we are never too mature for a pampering reassurance.
The phone rang again. I picked it up, still thinking about everything. "I love you!" my friend piped in, on the other end. I smiled "I know!"

Love

Why crash against
me?
If only
To take
A part of my ground

And leave me
Waiting
For you to wash over

Even if
To leave me breathless
And make me
let go forever...

Blue love

It isn't about you

You laugh quietly in my hair
Our wild repartee
Has gone down to meaningless whispers...
In sly understanding
My fingers coil around yours

My last question
Dissolved by your lips
It isn't about you, is it?

Crazed blue aura
Around silhouettes of imperfect rhythm

Caresses tickling my back
My lips evade the blue trails
I find and nibble
At the shadow of your ear
One pull
I have you tethered to me
Writhing in pleasure

You moan...
A victorious blue glint
In my eye
The mark is made

Closer now, still closer
The thirst for you, more intense
Until the vortex breaks
And we tear apart
Until then...

Until when
Was it not about you?

The silhouettes have left the blue
Carrying a smear of the night
Blue is not the colour
Of eternal love
And love, I'm afraid,
Shies away from blue light...

In memory of tall stories.... ;-)