An unusually usual person

4:30am I gave a call to the taxi company and they sent a car. 5 am I am on my way to the airport in this taxi. 30 mins later I felt the need to pen the last 30mins down because I had just met an unusually usual person named Ashraf, a 50+ year old taxi driver.
The first thing he asked me was where I was from. Knowing that we share a common place he asked me "can u help me log in to Facebook"? With a smile on my face I helped him wondering what he wanted to get out of this world of social networking. He could read my mind and told me " I met a friend of mine from school and he told me he was on Facebook. He studied well in school while I bunked". Yes dude for sure u bunked, that's why u r driving a taxi today-the arrogant person inside me said.
Then he told me how he got a small shop after he stopped studying (very early in his life) which he then worked on to make a living. It grew into a decent one stop shop in the village which prompted him to open a restaurant and to keep his supplies in the restaurant he added a vegetable shop to his list.
He then moved to Dubai to fund his growth and started working as a driver. He didn't stop there. He owns a small cafeteria (snack shop) in the city and has also bought a truck with couple of his friends pitching in. By then the arrogant person inside me had vanished into an awestruck person.
The list didn't stop there. He already had a fair share of land in the city where I was planning to invest myself, the difference is I would have to take a loan to buy 1/4th of what he already has. If I wanted to buy as much as he had........well banks in Dubai won't lend me so much.
By then we were about to reach the airport and I asked him one question that you would be thinking too...."Why the hell are u working as a driver"? The answer was quick and to the point while he collected his fare from me...." my sons are growing up, one will graduate this year and I need to bring him here and throw him into this world which is quite different from the one he lived on his father"......." once he manages to get a grip with some business, I will go back to my wife.....she has been running the restaurant alone and is also turning old".
I shook hands with him as I left....hoping to meet this unusually usual man once again in this city of dreams.

Train to Nostalgia

Presently sitting in the AC compartment of the Malabar express, goingback home to kannur.
Indian Railways, the world's largest network, is something my memory connects a lot with. Whether it was a 25 year back final travel from lucknow........ Or whether it was the numerous travels I had to-n-fro my school.
One particular train jour I can't forget is the one I had fromtrivandrum to jammu tawi. A 3 day journey for an NCC camp. 80 boys 15yrs old with 3 people to supervise and passing thru almost the max numof stations a train could pass thru in India. If I am not wrong thatwas the last journey of jammutawi exp ......... I dunno why it was the last. I had a few friends who were travelling for the first time. Some travelling for the first time out of kerala. I had been a commoner to such journeys but always with family. Everyday we would given pocketmoney we could spend and we would decide what we would eat at which station. And hey, I forgot to mention that we were on board a general compartment without reservation. Which meant in Indian terms -Adventure. But can't remember a sigle moment when all of us didn'tlaugh. Was one of the most exciting journeys of my life.
Long live Indian Railways...........

God and Religion

Sometimes I cant just help but thank God for the life he gives us........

Am I religious, yes sure I am. I believe in God, I call him by various names that my parents have taught me....whether its Krishna, Ram, Vishnu or Shiva....... I call everyone and I talk to them and tell them my problems.
My friends may talk to Jesus and some call Allah. But in the end, they believe in GOD. A supernatural force that is setting up everything around us. Its like the movie Matrix where they say everything is a program. The action that you take now can work for or against you later. its all an "If" clause.
But why am i thinking about this today. well for the last few weeks I have been hearing a lot of news from my surroundings about some unlucky people. Good people....but unlucky people. And probably at this point of time I thank God for being good to us.
Some say its all written, and maybe it is. But how can we prove all this.

Life takes us through a lot of experience and maybe in one of the posts i said, i believe that i got a lot from my parents and then from my school. I must say, I got a lot from God too. and thats a lot of luck.......
Religion, i wish would used more as a tool to focus our goods rather than create the bad vibes. Today people when they hear a name, they first think about what religion he is. I always thought that this in more of an Indian mentality. but i was suprised recently when a customer from a different nationality asked me what religion i follow. he for some reason thought i followed a different one before he met me and with the thread around my wrist was a bit confused. I asked him if it mattered and he smiled.
but it possibly made me think, how educated you are, its not necessary you are knowledgeable.
the difference between GOD and religion i feel is just the same................ an educated person treats God as religion, and a wise man treats God as a power......a Universal Power.

This message is dedicated to him...... the one who is ruling above us..... THE ONE WHO MAKES US LOVE AND MAKES US FIGHT....

i wonder who created HIM???

What am I doing?

Many a times in our lives we come across situations when we ask ourselves a million times 'What am I doing?'. Last nite I was in a similar situation when I was asked to speak infront of an audience without any preparation. Well it was thanks to my friend George who ditched us at the last moment courtesy cold feet.I had the most beautiful chance to embarass myself and had to be really good to win the audience. So I asked them aloud 'what am I doing' here.

I told them that this is the story of my life, I would do things which according to someone else was Dumb, but hey I am good at doing Dumb things.

Years ago it was the eve of my marriage and a few friends and cousins of mine had joined to share the last few hours of bachelorhood. One discussion lead to another and soon the discussion was about marriage has changed their life 180deg. Why on the eve of my marriage, I asked and a cousin replied....... Don't worry u'll get used to it. And I thot to myself..... What am I doing?
A few more years back, I had for some reason been part of politics in college and I had filled out my nomination as a proxy for someone else. Knowing nothing about the art of talking I still put my name as I knew I had to withdraw on the last day. But my friend whose proxy I was, ditched me. And there I was standing as a candidate in front of people whom I am supposed to lure in my favour. Well I lost........decently. But b4 that I asked myself several times 'What am I doing?'
Last year during the outbreak of ression I was calling my friend to tell him I was going for my wife's delivery and he asked me....... Why now? Its recession. Strange question. How would I know that 9 months ago on that wonderful night we had? Hey, but with the market crumbling around me and people losing jobs I asked myself..... 'What am I doing?'.

But hey here I am today happy and contented ....... U know why? Because I took all these challenges in a casual way. I was doing my job and not expecting a 100/100.
Sometimes its better not to ask urself so many questions...... Just do it.
Today I am sure I would do more, and may be embarass myself .......
But yes my heart wants MORE..... Yeh dil MAAnGe More

chapter 1 : the beginning as a Kazak

Perhaps the wish to be different or the feeling of Dil Maange More was instilled right from the school days. Kazaks, as we were known, are students of Sainik school Kazhakootam.
What that school instills in u is nothing compared to what any other school could do. Right from the 6tth standard all we had heard were words that none of my friends outside had ever heard.

Starting from those dorms to the mess that served sambar and rice to the matron who taught us how to wash our clothes to the captain who taught us to behave ourselves. Everything about that school was different. I don't know how it is today, but for sure it would still be different. If u wanna have an overall development and if ur life wants more than what u think u can get, be a Kazak. Such is the influence the school has on us..... +
On me.
I know my mom still regrets that she sent me to that school, but if I am something today; its bcoz of that school. That's the school that taught me Normal is Boring. Be different, coz ur Dil Maange More.
There it all started...... The feeling to b different from normal. The feeling to b a leader, the feeling to try and fail than never try at all.

What I am today....in whatever shape I am today.... Apart from my parents if there is someone I salute then its my school....Sainik school.
My beginning as a Kazak.

And still yeh Dil Maange More.

need to start

Dil Mange More....... its not just catch phrase....
its the feel that every heart wants...... every mind wants...
today i got a cue from my close friend Nithin to start blogging... may be its time to use the internet a lil bit more... get more creative.....
Moving away from the normal send/recieve pattern..... Let me try to do something different. not that no one else has done it..... they have.... but hey i am yet to feel how it feels to be blogging and having someone read it and comment.....

yeh dil maange more.... is a term that dates back to the days in college when you could be carefree and think a lot less and still be creative. today with some grey hair (some???) and a lot of responsibility.... life has become less creative.
At no point has it been less challenging.....when in college it was about the need to start passing those exams.... today its still needind to pass the expectations of others.....
you know what..... we have always been trying to compare ourselves to yard sticks set by others.....
Need to start....having a different yard stick......in life.... set by us.... and not by others...
easy to say and difficult to do....

but hey.... dil Mange more.... and lets see how much can we deliver to the wishes of our Dil.....