Happy New Year

Music goes out of my life- World Space India closing down.

I receieved the saddest email of my life just now. A very polite email from Worldspace Inc. informs me that Worldspace Inc, has gone bankrupt and is winding up its Indian Subsidy from 31.12.09. That means no more 24 hour streaming music for me. We ( me and my better half) have been Worldspace addicts since its launch in India some five years back. My Worldspace receiver has hardly been off during this time. Not only the day,its music has been playing softly in my room even at night. A real 24 X 7 situation. Many a night, returning from a deep midnight call, when sleep eluded me, I have found solace in Rafi, Talat, Kishoreda, Latadi and the other legendary singers courtesy  Radio Farishta of Worldspace. Not only Farishta, cannels like Tara, Sonar, Jhankaar, Falak and the various Western music channels have provided endless entertainment and been  constant companions. All this will be gone in just five days, And there is nothing I can do about it. And I am feeling bad for all executives and RJs involved who will lose their jobs. Now I know what helplessness is. A bit like the feeling when a patient of mine does not respond to any medicine/procedure. And the year is not ending on a happy note. First, Rediff iLand goes into the great unknown and now Worldspace is ready to follow suit. And all I can do is sigh and curse the American recession which has affected me at last.

Dreams

There is a pile of dreams that I keep

Below my pillow, in an untidy heap.

But one thing I’ll have to say

They vanish in the light of the day

Only to reappear at night, while I sleep.

A Tribute to Team India

We all wanted India to be number one,

But matches were lost rather than won,

At last with God’s blessings & grace

We all can say with a proud face

That we have got out place under the sun.

***

Sachin, Dhoni, Sehwag and  Dravid the wall,

With the batsmen and bowlers standing  tall…

Have given every team a spanking

And have topped the ICC Test ranking.

And the entire country is having a ball.

***

The graceful game of Cricket

Played with bat, ball and wicket.

With talent and pluck

And a lot of luck……

To fame can be a one way ticket.

***

Parul & Rahul-Part II

Link to part I

The response of my friends to the story compelled me to attempt this sequel to Parul and Rahul. I am looking forward to your comments on this one.

Parul read the mail and a cold shiver ran down her spine. Suddenly the office seemed far less friendly and everything took a sinister hue. She looked around. The office was full of people each going about his/her own work and no one seemed to notice her terror. She gathered her wits and rushed to Rohan’s cabin. She entered it without even knocking and stammered, “S S Sir!” Rohan looked up from his work station and enquired why was she looking so disturbed. She blurted out the whole story and started sobbing halfway through it. Rohan was very concerned. He offered her a glass of water and followed it with a strong Cappuccino to steady her nerve. Then he went to her computer to check the offending mail. Parul refused to enter her office and spent the day in Rohan’s office. She wanted to resign as she did not want to work in this office any longer.

Rohan dissuaded her from resigning and offered her two weeks leave to steady her nerve. She decided to go back home for two weeks. Rohan was very understanding and sympathetic. He even arranged her train ticket and dropped her off to the station. The journey back home was uneventful but Parul was very jumpy and kept looking around as if she expected Rahul to materialize any moment. The time at home and her mother’s cooking and loving care helped her recoup and she was back in Bangalore after two weeks.

In these two weeks, Rohan had called her on her mobile frequently and she gradually opened up to him. She never had too many friends and Rohan was the first man she had started feeling close to. He was at the station to receive her with a huge bouquet of roses. He took her to the one room apartment she lived in. The moment she entered the apartment all the horrors and fears came rushing back and she started shivering uncontrollably. “Rohan, I can’t live here on my own. The moment you leave me Rahul’s ghost will turn up and kill me. Remember the last mail. Take me with you.” “But I live all alone. I cannot take you there with me. What will everybody think?”  “ I don’t care what everyone will think. I know that I will die if I stay alone. And besides, I trust you completely.”

So she packed her things and moved in with Rohan without much ado. She refused to enter her old office and Rohan arranged her transfer to their sales office near his home. He used to drop her off to work every morning and pick her up on his way back. A couple of months passed and she gradually forgot about the episode and returned to normal. Yet there was a marked change in her. She ceased being the workaholic she was and discovered many common interests with Rohan. They came closer and closer and eventually became lovers. It was not clear who seduced who but they decided to call it a draw. After three months of living together they decided to get married.

Rohan was very happy. He called his friend Arnav from CCD and broke the news to him. Arnav was his classmate from IIT, Roorkee and a genius with computers. “So my friend Rohan, you have finally won over the iron maiden!” “It was all due to your help. I would have never penetrated her reserve if you had not rigged up the tiny webcam in her cubicle and set up the undetectable wireless LAN between her computer and my work station. Of course using Rahul’s defunct email id was the product of my diabolical brain but I loved her so and there was no other way to get to her. And all is fair in Love and War. You may bet that I will keep her happy for rest of my life.” “Just make sure that she never finds out about this little trick of yours,” cautioned Arnav.

The story would have ended here but for this email Rohan got the day before his marriage. It was from the long defunct email id of Rahul Mehra.

Dear Rohan,

So you are getting married. Congratulations. But remember the old adage ‘Old sins cast long shadows.’ And you have sinned. You have used deceit to win over the girl you loved. And you have disturbed my sleep. You kept calling me back to the world I had left forever by repeatedly invoking my name. Well, I am back and do you think you will ever enjoy a peaceful conjugal life after today???

Your nemesis

Rahul Mehra.

THE END

Parul & Rahul ( A Cyber Love Story)

I have not written this one. It was emailed to me by my friend Sanjay Mishra. It has been written by Richa Ritwika of Infosys. But I liked it so much I decided to share it with my friends on Blogspot.

BENJY

This is a story of Parul and Rahul...........

Parul, a 25-year old workaholic who is working in a software firm. Parul came to office at 9 or 10 in the morning and left at 11 or 12 at night. Even on weekends she would come down to office. She had no social life, no friends. The only people she use to be with were her project mates. But there was no assurance that she would be having her lunch or tea with them. Basically she was all a loner. There was no love life in her life and she had no time for love. All her time was devoted to work......

Rahul, use to be a workaholic like Parul 2 years back. But now things had changed. He was no more a workaholic but he still used to stay in office. Office had become home for him........

One night while Parul was all alone and working at the office a mail popped up in her mailbox. The name of the sender was Rahul Mehra. She had not met him, never heard about him. Just out of curiosity she checked his mail. The content of the mail was:

Hi Parul,

I see you every night sitting in the office till very late. Don’t you have friends? Don’t you feel like talking to your roommate?You should not sit very late in the office. this is a genuine advice from me.Thanks,

Rahul Mehra

After reading the mail, Parul was very angry on the sender. She simply deleted the mail and said to herself “who is he to give me any advice?”. She again got back to her work.

After that night, every night Rahul would keep sending her mails and Parul would simply delete them without even reading the content of the mail. But one fine night the subject line attracted her and she had to open the mail. The subject line of the mail was “Hi Gorgeous”.

Hi Gorgeous,

Yes today you are looking very gorgeous in this red saree. I know you don’t read my mails as you don’t like the advices I give you.So today I wont give you any advice, I will just say that I am love with you. You know you are very beautiful and if you take care of yourself many men will fall in love with you.I am sure someday you will also fall in love with me. And then we will go out for a date.Oh before I end the mail I must tell you that the best thing about is that smile. Or is it those intense which needs some sleep at the moment.Take care dear.

Love you.

Rahul Mehra.

After reading the mail she was shocked. A person she had never met, never seen, never spoke to was saying that he was in love with her. She started thinking was this always in his mind. How did he get her id? Where had he seen her? Many questions like this came in her mind. Finally she thought of giving a warning and replied to his mail.

Hi Rahul,

I don’t want to spoil your career but if you don’t stop sending me mails I will raise an ASHI against you.

Thanks and Regards,

Parul Jain

After this mail, the mails from Rahul stopped coming in Parul’s inbox. She thought that finally Rahul has got scared and wont be mailing her again. After several nights, Parul was resting on her chair and her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes she saw Rahul’s mail in her mailbox.

Hi Gorgeous,

With your closed eyes you were dreaming about me, right? Oh sorry for not sending any mails in the last few days.I was a little busy. I am sure you would have missed me a lot.One more thing before I forget I want to say that I am not scared of ASHI. An ASHI cant be a reason to stop loving you.

Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was twisting her hair and putting them behind her ears. At that moment itself another mail came from Rahul,

Now stop playing with your hair and leave the office. it is very late.

Love.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was shocked as to how did this person know what she was doing on her desk. She got up to check whether anyone was there in her floor but could find only empty cubicles. She thought maybe he made a wild guess and decided to leave the office. before leaving she saw another mail from Rahul.

Hi Parul,

Searching for me??? You have started falling in love with me. J

Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was shocked and scared to hell. She simply switched off her machine and ran outside the office. in the next few days she would not open any mails sent by Rahul. One night a mail with subject line “Don’t be scared of me” came to her mailbox. First she thought to ignore the mail then she thought lets see what has Rahul written this time.

Hi Parul,

Don’t be scared of me. I can say that you are scared of me because of the way you ran out from the office the last time you read my mail.I know few minutes back you had gone to have coffee. You are thinking how I know this because I can feel you around me.Only once you also start feeling me you will know that I am near to you. Very near. Just sitting next to you.I will wait for the night when you start having the same feelings for me.Will always love you.

Rahul Mehra

Now Parul started thinking was Rahul really in love with her? What he was saying was it true? But how could he know so much about her? How could he say what she was doing and what not? Parul thought lets give a try and see whether Rahul is always in love with her or not. From that night she also started replying to his mail.

Hi Parul,

Do you feel bad if I call you gorgeous?

Love you.

Rahul Mehra

 

Parul’s reply:

Yes Rahul. I don’t like this word.You can address me as Parul, isn’t it short and simple. and I love my name a lot.Thanks and Regards

Parul Jain

Rahul’s reply:

Point noted Parul. But when I am happy, excited I would call you with some special name at that time.Tomorrow you have your certification so all the best for that.

Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul was again shocked as to how does he know about her certification. She had never told him. She replied

Rahul,

Who is the person who is giving you details about me? I had not told you about my certification how do you know it?

Thanks and regards,

Parul Jain

Rahul replied back to her;

I know it because I in front of you. Cant you see me? Cant you feel me close to you?I also know that after 3 days you have your appraisal. Now this you have not told anyone. Just your PM knows about it.Do you think your PM will give me all these details?

Love you.

Rahul Mehra

Parul not sure of the answer. She knew her PM would not have told Rahul all this but how did Rahul know so much about her was a mystery for her. Finally she thought she will talk to her PM, Rohan.

Next day, she went to her PM’s desk. “Hi Rohan. I wanted to ask you something”.

Rohan:- “Sure Parul. Are having any issues?”

Parul:- “No. actually I wanted to know about a person named Rahul Mehra.”

Rohan was shocked on hearing that name. PM:- “How did you come across this name. has anyone told you about him?”

Parul:- “No one has said anything to me about him. Few days back he started sending me e-mails. First I ignored but then he would give such details which I did just few minutes back. He even knows my appraisal date.”

Rohan:- “Are you sure you got mails from Rahul Mehra only?”

Parul:- “Yes very much. But why do you look shocked?”

Rohan:- “Because Rahul Mehra died 2 years back. He use to sit at the same place where you are sitting. How can a dead person send mails to you.”

Parul was shocked. She didn’t know how to react to this.

Rohan:- “If you don’t believe me then you can try finding his name in the telephone directory. Maybe someone told you about him and because of work stress you started imagining that he is sending you mails.”

Parul:- “I am not imagining anything. He has really send me a mail. I can show you in my mailbox.”

Rohan:- “Okay Parul I believe you but still I think you should take a break and go home.”

Parul was still in shock with the news she got from Rohan. She just did a search on telephone directory for a name with Rahul Mehra and page returned no records. She again checked the mail id and employee number details. She did a search many times that day by putting various combinations but the search page displayed the same message “No matches found for the given search criteria”. She could not believe that someone could hack the system and send mails to her from an non-existing id. She attached the mails sent by Rahul and sent it to Rohan as a proof that she was not dreaming.

On seeing the attached mails even Rohan was in shock. He came to Parul’s desk. Rohan:- “I think by mistake his id has not been deleted and someone who knows about it is playing with it.”

Parul:- “But I checked the details on telephone directory there are no records available for this id.”

Rohan:- “Talk to the CCD people and see what they have to say.”

She called up the CCD people. They took control over her system and looked at the mail sent by Rahul Mehra. The mail was sent from the from the same computer which Parul was using. The time stamp at which the mails were sent were of when Parul had logged in. Also there was no evidence that a remote desktop connection was made or mail was sent through web mail. Even the CCD people were clueless as to how a mail has been sent from a non-existing id and from Parul’s system itself. There were no viruses or torjans or any other kind of threats on Parul’s system. Her anti-virus was upto date. The whole day was gone in finding a loophole as to how did Parul get such a mail in her mailbox. Parul was tired from the day’s happening and so she decided to leave early from the office that day.

The next day when Parul came back, she saw a mail from Rahul Mehra. She didn’t know whether she should delete that mail or read that mail. She was scared to open the mail. Somehow she gained some courage and opened the mail. The content of the mail was:-

Hi Parul,

Good to see that you left the office early tonight. I know Rohan told you about my death.I was also a workaholic like you. I would sit late in the office, even when no one was around me.I just being at office. I had no friends, no social life. Even on weekends I would use to come to office.I missed all the fun in my life. Even my death happened at office while I was working.My dead body was found by the house keeping guy and the security guard at the reception.I took a lot of work stress which my conscious mind could not bear that day. I ignored all the health problems I was having.

And finally on that night (20. 10. 07, 11:24 PM) all these reasons became responsible for my death.

Now you know why I am not scared of ASHI.But yes if I was alive then also I wont be scared of ASHI because I have really fallen in love with you but we cant be together until your death.Now the choice is yours whether you will kill yourself on your own or whether I need to do the honors.

Waiting for your death. Love you always.

Rahul Mehra

 

Some love stories have a ghost in it…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????????

THE END ????
Link to part II

My India

(1)

The folks are nice, the leaders rough,

For all of us Indians, Life is tough.

But after living here a while

We take it all with a smile

To survive, a sense of Humor is enough.

(2)

Poor infrastructure and stinking drains,

An economy still dependent on rains.

Crooks are the bosses

Life, a sum of losses

And now Maoists have started hijacking trains.

(3)

Next to slums, there are many a high-rise,

The people work and leaders take the prize.

While you rough it out

Without a question or doubt

Criminals and politicians live life king size.

(4)

Will this match result in a win or loss?

And when will Dhoni win the toss?

Who give a damn for health-care

We just want to sit and stare

At TV and watch Bigg Boss