Goals and Abilities

Random banter here

Most of our lives are not very eventful and have a fixed routine depending on the phase of life we are in. However that does not mean we cannot learn something from our daily lives (refer my previous post on my thoughts on routine). I try to take away something from the daily events in my life, put it into the form of a short thought, many times my original, sometimes borrowed, and send it to people in office, who have subscribed to my mails, in a daily ‘Good Morning’ mail after coming to office the next day.

Yesterday however, was different. I could not extract a single lesson out of my life yesterday. As a result, I had nothing original to share. On these occasions I try to share something I might have read or heard somewhere else. That’s exactly what I did today.

We all come across people who complain about how their jobs are either not challenging enough or too difficult to perform with their current skill set. At some point of time we all have been this person too. Continue this situation long enough and you’ll find your company’s HR department struggling to control attrition rate. That brings us to my today’s mail.

Content related to the topic starts here

During my engineering, in 2004, I attended a workshop on entrepreneurship conducted by MITCON. I shared the thought of one of the instructors in the workshop. It dealt with the topic of a person’s skills & abilities and the kind of goals he sets and the challenges he needs to face. Here’s what he said, if I remember correctly:

“The goals you set for you are like a magnet and your abilities are like iron filings. Consider the tension between the goals and abilities like a magnetic force. If you set your goals higher than your abilities, you automatically will lift yourselves up in striving to achieve that goal thereby improving your skills. Set your goals below your abilities to see a steady decay in your abilities. However, just like magnetic force, the pull here decreases with increasing distance. Set your goals too high for your abilities and you’ll give up without even trying since it is too difficult for you.”

I feel this is a very nice way of explaining the importance of proper goal setting and keeping yourself engaged in the task at hand avoiding the setting in of frustration or boredom. This reminds me of an image a friend had shared. After a brief googling, I found the image that graphically conveys what our instructor in that workshop was trying to say.

(Original Image Source: http://agamesdesignblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/flowexpanded2.png)

You might want to read the entire post where this image appears, ‘Flow – Stating the Obvious’. Though it talks about game design, I believe the takeaways are generic enough to be applied in day to day motivation. Also, the Wikipedia page on Flow makes for an interesting read. Happy reading.

Cheers
Aalok
--Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.

Routine

A lot of us always complain about routine. How a routine, 9 to 5, job sucks. How we are doing the same thing over and over again without any excitement. I agree that there are times when we need something different. Change, in fact, is a necessity of life as without it, stagnation and lethargy kicks in. However, a routine does have its advantages too.

A few months ago I was having a discussion with a friend who was upset with her routine and was getting bored. I'm sharing a text that I had sent her that day. Would love to hear your views:

"Routine is not boring. Routine is what makes the deviations exciting. Routine is what implies stability in life. Routine tells you that you have a reason to get up at the same time every morning.

Strictly from an operational point of view, routine is actually a desirable thing. Routine is what helps standardization, development of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and setting in of learning curve. Routine is what helps in planning and forecasting.

Our routine, how much we deviate from it and how do we react to the exceptions is what defines the kind of person we are. No, routine is not boring."

Do think about this the next time you curse your 'routine' job. :)

Cheers
Aalok
--Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.

Aarakshan: A Review

I generally don’t write movie reviews primarily because I don’t watch a lot of movies and even when I do, I generally don’t feel strongly about them. Aarakshan was different though. A lot of people were not able to see how the movie is related to reservations and feel that the title is misleading and controversial. I feel otherwise and thus, instead of explaining individually to each and every one, I decided to come up with post. Those who haven’t watched the movie can also read on as I’ll point out when the spoilers come in.

It was Saturday evening; a friend and I were killing time on F C Road. We wanted to watch a movie but she had already watched Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and I had watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The only other option which we felt worth watching was Aarakshan. Coming from Prakash Jha’s stable I knew it will be a good watch, may be not entertaining, but definitely meaningful. So we went to Inox and bought two tickets at 250 bucks each. “At that price, the movie better be good!” we said to each other. Good it was, but not worth 250 bucks I’d say.

The Plot

The movie is set in 2008, the year Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on 27% OBC quota in institutes of higher learning came out thus making the total cast based reservations close to 50%. It tries to explore the need and after effects of reservations from the point of view of both parts of the society, the reserved category and the open competition one. It tries to show how the end result of reservations is actually the opposite of what was envisioned initially. In the end, the movie presents a possible solution to the root cause of the problem of social discrimination.

The Cast

Dr Prabhakar Anand played by Amitabh Bachchan is the protagonist of the movie. He is the principal of STM, a prestigious private institute of higher learning, getting into which is every school kid’s dream. The whole movie, in a sense, revolves around his efforts to bring about social equality, educational reforms and his struggle with the system while defending his ideals.

Prof Mithilesh Singh played by Manoj Bajpai is the nemesis of Dr Anand. If Dr Anand symbolizes the nobility of teaching as a profession, Prof Singh is the epitome of hardcore business that education has become.

Deepak Kumar played by Saif Ali Khan is a brilliant researcher belonging to the backward class who has risen despite his background with the help of Dr Anand. He represents the strata of society that has potential but is backward for lack of opportunity.

Poorbi Anand played by Deepika Padukone is Dr Anand’s daughter and Deepak’s love interest.

Apart from these main characters, there are a host of other supporting characters who play their roles in bringing out the story but their details are not relevant.

The Performances

Manoj Bajpai takes the cake for an action packed performance and doing complete justice to the character of Prof Singh who is cunning and well networked individual serving his personal interests and leaves no stone unturned to bring down Dr Anand. In the end, his arrogance becomes his undoing.

It seems that Amitabh Bachchan is the Sachin Tendulkar of Bollywood. Criticizing his performance is no less than a sin. He has played his part well, but of late, I feel his style is the same irrespective of the character he is playing. If I have to draw a parallel, his role in Mohabbatein would be a good reference.

Saif Ali Khan has only brief bouts of parts in the movie, but an important role nonetheless.

Deepika Padukone is only there for eye candy and has no substantial part to play.

The Verdict

The movie is definitely a one-time watch, if not a collectible. I personally liked it because the solutions presented, which I’ll come to in a while, resonate with my beliefs also.

The Positives: Mature handling of a sensitive topic, the performances and the factual depiction of our society.

The Negatives: Unnecessary complications and dragging the story in the second half.

Rating: 3.5/5

My Take on the Movie [Attention: Contains Spoilers. If you haven’t watched the movie yet and plan to, go watch it first before reading further]

Disclaimer: The views presented here are entirely my personal. I’ll try to be as objective here as I can be but I’m not sure if I’ll be successful as at one point or other in our lives we all have come face to face with the undeniable reality or reservations. Thus, there may be some parts where my personal biases come in and if they do, I apologize upfront.

The opening scene of the movie was not convincing at all. No interview in the world begins and ends with just the questions on the candidate’s family background, read caste, being asked. On the other hand, no interviewee, however harassed, will, in his right mind, not talk to his interviewer with the arrogance that Deepak displayed. Some of Deepak Kumar’s arguments are also not convincing. He talks as if the hundreds of years of oppression, the reason cited for reservations, were personally borne by him.

Some of the dialogues, like, “Aap yahaan kyu apni life kharab kar rahe hain? Kisi govt college main jaiye, sarkaar khiarat main naukriyan baant rahi hai aap logon ko.”, “50% bhi kyu chodte ho? 100% hi rakh lo na tum log.” and “Aarakshan hamara janmsiddha adhikaar hai!”, I have witnessed in real life conversations too.

The movie very well articulates how caste based reservations have actually led to social discord and promoting mediocrity while the original aim was equality, social justice and provide a chance for the backward classes to come at par with others.

I cannot forget an instance in my engineering hostel when we were preparing for GATE, the entrance exam for an M.Tech. from the prestigious IITs. While we were slogging for getting a good score worthy of an admission call, another friend, from the reserved category commented, “Mujhe itna padhne ki zaroorat nahi hai. Mera reservation hai to 70% pe bhi seat mil jayegi mujhe.”

There’s another instance from my HSBC days. HSBC, being a private employer, is not legally obliged for affirmative action. We had just joined and one of my colleagues commented on another, who belonged to one of the reserved castes, “Tum log open competition main kyu aate ho. Govt job main jaana tha na, wo to bani hi tumhare liye hain.”

This concludes two things:

1. The objective of social equity is not being met as reservations have ended up promoting animosity between the reserved and open categories. This is portrayed as the hostility between Sushant Seth and Deepak Kumar.



2. The objective of bringing the backward classes at par as also not being met as people from these classes take reservations as a right and thus do not see the need to compete, thereby promoting mediocrity. As a corollary, a genuinely deserving candidate, who would have risen on his abilities and not reservation is also looked down upon, a situation aptly displayed by the comments hurled at Deepak Kumar.

The movie goes beyond these direct effects and touches the other indirect aspects of reservations too. Some of these are:

1. The increased competition for the open seats resulting in genuinely deserving candidates losing out on seats. This is depicted at different points in the movie, be it Sushant losing out his seat for Mass Communication, Poorbi not getting a medical seat and the Upadhyay guy (forgot his name) losing out on an engineering seat. This part hits a raw nerve as we all have been there seen that during our admissions. We have all been denied seats of our choice because we were not good enough to make it in the merit list. That does not hurt much. What hurts is that someone else will study on that seat with 20-25% lesser marks than you, just because he happened to be born in a particular caste. And he’s not even serious about it as he didn’t really have to struggle for it.



2. Not just losing out on seats due to reservations, Mr Upadhyay represents something more. He represents the irony in the system. Here we have a person from an equally economically disadvantaged section of the society. He is deserving too, his marks speak for him. But he is driven to suicide because he loses out his seat when a reserved category candidate competes in the open category even when reserved seats are empty. When he does get an admission, his scholarship application is rejected because he is from a higher caste. No one bothers to see his difficulties.



3. The vote bank politics is very clear and I don’t even need to elaborate on it.



4. Though too convoluted, the movie also explores the aspect of how reservations, though indirectly, could be responsible for the commercialization of education, which is considered a noble profession in a country where gurus are given preference over gods!

The first part of the movie brings out all these problems in the backdrop of the 27% OBC quota approved the Supreme Court of India. The second part, which a lot of people feel, is just about the clashes between Dr Anand’s free ‘Tabela Coaching’ and Prof Singh’s elite KK Coaching, to me, presents the solution by addressing the root of the problem: Education.

People who know me well would know how I believe that access to quality basic education is the only way to end our nation’s problems, be it poverty, corruption, skewed sex ratio etc. If you want reservations, implement it in primary schools where the pressure is not so high, though this is changing fast too, and the seeds of discrimination have not yet been ingrained in the children’s minds through social conditioning. Do not reserve seats in institutes of higher learning and jobs. Prepare the so called backward classes for open competition instead.

Hire the best of teachers and pay them well so that teaching becomes a preferred profession and not the last resort for people who could not do anything else in their lives. I don’t mean to denigrate the profession here. I’ve been lucky to have been taught by some very good teachers but they were into the profession not because of the money, but because they love to teach and they have enough money already. On the contrary, I’ve also known people who would have made brilliant teachers but did not pursue it as a profession as it was economically unviable. The suggestion of creating the Indian Teaching Services on the lines of IAS and IPS was one of the best parts of the movie for me.

I’ll not comment on the rest of the melodrama in the movie as that is expected out of a Hindi movie. But I will definitely say that Prakash Jha has done a brilliant job by lucidly bringing out the problems and giving us food for thought for the possible solutions. And this, he has done without any controversial dialogues. As far as the political parties raising a hue and cry on the movie are concerned, well, reservation ensures them permanent vote bank so they will resist anything that comments on the topic. Btw, the movie also points out how it is in the best interests of the so called leaders to ensure that the backward classes remain backward and keep following their orders blindly while they keep making false promises of their social upliftment.

All in all, a good idea well executed. Kudos to Prakash Jha and team for another good movie.

The Purpose of Rains

The rainy season is in full swing now in most parts of the country and with rains come a lot of associated changes. One can observe flourishing greenery, instantaneous waterfalls and clean roads. All is not positive though. With rains, also come floods, a flurry of water borne diseases and increased accidents. But that is not the aim of this post.

Human beings, like in any other situation, have different reactions to rains. Many welcome the rains by dancing on rooftops and walking in the drizzle (Oh, I so miss MDI!), sharing good times with friends over chai and pakoras. Rains always bring out the extremes of emotions. Rain can act as a catalyst of joy and reviver of long lost friendships. Thanks to the rain gods, two of my close friendships got salvaged from the brink of falling apart. When it rains, one feels alive. There’s another side of the coin too. To a lonely person, his loneliness strikes the most in the melancholy of the pitter-patter of rain. It is during these solitary times that one tends to introspect, trying to search for a purpose. However, that is also not the aim of this post.

You may be wondering, what is the aim of this post? To answer that, let me take you back a couple of days. Pune has received the first installment of incessant showers for two days. Expectedly, all the roads are full of potholes and with the driving sense that Punekars possess, rather don’t possess, it’s no wonder that people are irritated. With no sun for two days, the atmosphere is gloomy and people have another thing to complain about. That is not all. The rain is not in the form of heavy showers for a few minutes followed by clear rainbowed (if there’s any such word) sky. It’s a constant stream from the sky with varying flow, sometimes pouring, sometimes a very light drizzle. And you guessed it right! People are again cribbing. “It should not constantly rain; it should rain heavily for a few minutes and then stop. That’s the way I like it”, they say.

I’m no expert, but from my limited understanding I can say that dear cribbers, rain is not for your personal pleasure. The joy, and the gloom at times, it brings is just a side effect. The main purpose of rain is to replenish the water table which you keep depleting with your bore wells. Rain feeds the crops in a nation where rainwater (I couldn’t find the irrigation data but I remember reading this somewhere) forms the biggest source of irrigation so that you can eat well. When the dams run full to capacity, you should be happy that your city will have plenty of water for the year. The ‘heavy rain for few minutes’ that you ‘like’ is practically useless as the whole water goes waste. The continuous drizzle that you despise is actually beneficial for the water table as it gets absorbed by the soil.

Please don’t complain when it rains. It is supposed to rain that’s why it’s called ‘The Rainy Season’. If you’re unhappy with the roads, please don’t blame the rains; take your municipal corporation to task. You have plenty of sunshine in the rest of the year, but that time you have to complain about the sun! We are such a bunch of complainers, never satisfied with what nature has to offer.

Please don’t complain when it rains, except if you’re in Mumbai. ;)

Cheers
Aalok
--Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.

The First Weekend of The Second Decade of The Third Millennium

The title will sound too convoluted but I liked the 1-2-3 combination so this title instead of ‘The First Weekend of 2011’ or something similar.

The weekend actually turned into a long one, unwillingly so. I’ll start with Friday, 31st December, 2010. The salary was a shock. I wouldn’t go into exact figures but the income tax deduction ran into five figures, which was totally unexpected and jeopardized all the plans, not just the evening, but the coming months as well. The plans anyway weren’t on track in the first place. I wanted to have a pizza party at my place with a night long movie marathon with friends. Most of the friends backed out and till 6, the time I left office, I didn’t have any plans for the night. To make things worse, I got a headache on my way home. Shri called up to fix up a place for dinner, I refused since I didn’t feel like going anywhere. Anyway, being great buddies, Shri convinced me to come and we decided to meet for dinner at Pizza Hut. I walked from my home to Kalyani Nagar, picked up Kirti and reached the venue. After a half an hour wait due to the new year rush, we got a table. Manas, Shri and Asmita showed up only after we had finished the starters and the Pizza had arrived. They ordered more stuff and we were eating and chatting till about 1 in the night. In the meantime there was wishing a happy new year, phone calls to family and close friends. I was back home at about 1:30 and was on the phone for a good part of the next two hours and finally slept off at 4 in the morning.

I got up at about 10 in the morning, drafted a new year mail to my friends, replied to the mails and messages I had received and after finishing the pasta from the night was on my way to Mumbai by about 1. The entire journey was spent mostly on the phone and little bit napping. I reached home by about 5:30 in the evening and the family decided to go out for dinner after freshening up. Dinner was at a new restaurant opposite Phoenix Mills compound, called Grass Roots. The food was nice but they need to shape up in the service quality. But I’ll not be too harsh on them since they are just 3 months old in the business. Dinner was followed by ice cream at Gelato which was available at Rs 9/- being the 1st of the month. The time between dinner and sleeping is usually marked with phone calls to friends. That night was no different.

2nd was the day when we were to go to see Asaram Bapu, our guruji. We got up a bit late and then went to seek his blessings after breakfast. The plan was to meet him, come back home and leave for Pune in the evening. He asked to come again in the evening and since you don’t go against the guru’s instructions we went again in the evening. The plans for Pune were cancelled and we decided to leave early morning next day. I slept around 11:30.

That brings us to the point for which this post was created. Everyone was asking me why I had to take an off on Monday, 3rd January, 2011. Well, me and my dad got up at about 3:30 in the morning and left at 4, after brushing. The plan was to get home by about 7-8, freshen up, get ready and leave for office. Destiny had other plans, it seems. The tires were making screeching noises which we thought probably was a minor problem. It turned out that the wheels had lost their alignment and this was putting excess load on the front right tire. We had just crossed the first toll on the expressway when a car overtook us and asked us to pull over. He told us that the front right tire of our car was about to burst. We examined it and were shocked to see that the treads had come off and the radials had started coming out. I replaced the damaged tire with the spare one and started driving slowly, stopping frequently to examine the tire.

A few kms later it also started getting damaged and we somehow reached the fuel station about 15 kms before the second toll. The guy gave us a used tire for 900 bucks and assured us that it will last us till Pune. It, however, started wearing out only a few kms later and we took the exit at Dehu road in order to reach civilization early. We couldn’t find a single shop dealing in tires and wheel alignment. Finally on the old Mumbai-Pune highway, a few kms before Dehu road the tire gave away and burst. The only option left with us now was to use the damaged tire which we had kept in spare. I put this one in the rear, deflated it a bit to reduce the pressure on the tube and put the good tire in the front.

On enquiring the locals told us that we’ll find the nearest shop in Chinchwad at Thermax Chowk. We couldn’t find any shops dealing in automobile tires but I spotted a place carrying out wheel alignment. We got the alignment corrected which had gone off by 3 degrees. Come to think of it, 3 degrees can cause so much trouble! Once the alignment was corrected, the only worry was now to find out a tire shop before the damaged wheel in the rear gave in. We found this shop, Maharashtra Traders, in Pimpri and bought two new tires. The new ones went in the front, the damaged ones got discarded and the front left one which had also worn off a bit due to the uneven loading became the spare one. By the time we were done with all this it was already past 11 in the morning and I informed my colleagues that I may not be coming in for the day.

We reached home, tired, hungry, dirty and sleep deprived past noon and by the time we freshened up and had our meal it was 2 in the afternoon. Seeing no point in going to office we slept off and I woke up only at quarter to 7 in the evening. After the evening prayers, it was time for dinner. I finished the blog post (the previous one), browsed through some old photographs and called it a day.

Thus, my first weekend of the second decade of the third millennium came to an end. :)

Cheers

Aalok

--Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.

The First Decade of The Third Millennium: Our Decade

I’d planned to do this about a week back but couldn’t find the time to give the attention this piece deserves, hence doing it now. Most people would have heard it at least a dozen times now and would have got really bored but I’ll say it again; the last decade was probably the most important one in our lives. Of course each moment is an invaluable link in the story we call a lifetime but the experiences the last decade has made us go through have had a special role to play in the kind of person each one of us is today.

School, college, work, friends, romance, we’ve seen it all come and go. Relationships redefined, priorities changed, faith tested, it’s been a roller coaster ride and, like someone rightly said, it was the decade we’ll refer to as ‘Our times’ while narrating our life stories to our children and grand children.

No words can possibly do justice to the experience but I’ll make an attempt to recall the highs and lows which have been the defining moments of the decade that was…

2000: Technically not a part of the decade but this was a very important year. Left Hisar, our home for the previous 15 years or so, to come to Pune in March 2000. Got admission in KVSC where I completed my XII. Sold the three storied house at a throw away price to start afresh in a new place. Bought a flat in Pune, where I’m currently staying. Met some teachers and friends I’m still in touch with.

2001: Completed XII. Dad got a heart attack during my board exams and had to undergo angiography. Mom was with him in the hospital while I and sis were appearing for our exams. I got admission in ExTC engineering at PVG’sCOET. The itch for getting through to an IIT was still there, so started attending IIT coaching without bothering for attendance in college. Dad got transferred to Mumbai.

2002: Cleared IIT-JEE but the rank wasn’t enough to get the branch and institute I wanted, so continued at PVG. Profs troubled me and my parents a lot due to shortage in attendance. I was still able to clear all the exams without any major issues.

2003: Failed an exam for the first and only time in my life. Started to understand the concept of friends and friendship for the first time which I never had the chance earlier due to my frequent school changes. Mom got transferred to Mumbai, I shifted to hostel. I was on my own for the first time in my life and got a chance to discover myself.

2004: Friendships got stronger. Had my first surgery of life because of a broken nose in a road accident. Bagged a defence project for our BE project, also published a national level paper on it. First attempt at GATE, got a decent score but didn’t apply anywhere. Got placed at HSBC GLT. First crush, got rejected.

2005: Completed engineering. Went on a trip to Haridwar, Vaishno Devi and Amritsar with mom. Started my first job. Got my first salary on my 21st birthday. Found new friends. Second attempt at GATE, again got a good score but didn’t apply anywhere. Bought my first phone. Learnt to drive a car.

2006: Engineering convocation. Found myself sitting for a free diagnostic mock CAT because I was accompanying a friend. Scored well in it, decided to attempt CAT. Got myself another phone which I’m still using. Bought my bike and had my first accident within 24 hours of it. Second crush, got rejected again. First attempt at CAT, got a good score but only a SPJain call, couldn’t convert it. Met Charuta in the SPJain interview who introduced me to MDI. Sis got The Balashree Award from the then President of India, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.

2007: This was another year of major ups and downs. Granny got paralysed. I had a major bike accident two days before my birthday, was lucky to come out of it alive. Spent one week in the hospital and another three in bed at home. Third and last attempt at GATE without any preparation. 18th Nov 2007: Attempted CAT again, Granny passed away, I went to London.

2008: IIM-L, IIM-I and MDI calls. Converted MDI. Went to Vaishno Devi again before joining. Induction, open houses, club selections, random groups, all varieties of people, cultural shock, elections, summers setback, new friends. Decided not to pursue finance, thanks to a certain Prof. Rediscovered the insomniac in me. The best Illumina I ever attended. Tryst with Java again, thanks to Imperium and Yearbook. Revisited North Indian winters after a long time. Fell in love with Excel.

2009: Council. Finally got a summer placement. Control Desk for PG07’s placement, came face to face with the effects of recession. Decided to get placed in laterals itself. Summer internship, two months of work and masti and some money. Finalised on pursuing Marketing and Operations. Induction for PG09. Control Desk for PG09’s summers, hints of market improving. Delphique communication panel. Sis makes it to Top 6 of Indian Idol 4, records a playback for Priyanka Chopra. Third crush, got rejected again.

2010: Got placed in laterals as promised. Scored obscenely well in Term VI. Vaishno Devi trip with friends. Convocation. Fourth crush, got rejected again. Damn! Training in Hyderabad. Finally back to Pune. Got back on the bike. Fell again, second surgery in life, Titanium plates implanted in right forearm. Manas’ marriage.

And so, here we are, ushering in a new decade. Let’s see what this has to offer. :)

Dooriyan Bhi Hain Zaroori

I generally listen to songs while travelling to and back from office in the bus. I generally care only about the music and don't pay any attention to the lyrics.

Today was one of the few days when I actually was listening to the lyrics. The song playing was 'Dooriyan bhi hain zaroori' from 'Break ke baad'.

A friend and I were wondering a few days back that losing a good friend itself is a very painful experience then ending a relationship would be so much more painful. Still people do break up. What might possibly be causing them to do so?

The initial few lines of the song point out the small differences between the couple. I believe that people can make adjustments when it comes to the big things in life but it's the small things, that define what kind of a person one is, which we are not ready to compromise on and which incidentally we observe last of all, only after we've spent enough time together.

My conclusion: People break up when they realise that they are not compatible on these small things.

Your take?

Disclaimer:
1. I'm not in a relationship, never have been and by the looks of things will not be in one anytime in the near future.
2. I haven't seen the movie and have no idea what the song is about.
3. Yes, I too am capable of thinking and wonder about stuff that I have nothing to do with.

PS: This post was originally intended to be an email to my closest friends but then I thought it will be nice to see what the wider audience thinks.

Cheers
Aalok
-- Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.

Intezaar

My first attempt at shayari. You may choose to call it trash :D

Raah main palken bichaye baithen hain, jaane kab unka deedar ho...
Unhe fursat hi nahi ki humse baaten do chaar ho...
Tere aane ki umeed main jeete hain, ae dost...
Sabra itna na kara ki zindagi hi tera intezaar ho...

Cheers
Aalok
--Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered and no one was there.