Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail

The surging crowds were jostling to get a glimpse of it. In a city of abt 3 million,almost one third of the populace was present.Was it another case of mass hysteria in a country where people wait for miracles to happen ? The public reaction was overwhelming. People of all caste,creed and culture had thronged the narrow bylanes of the place.I pushed through the crowds to steadily make my way through. I did not want to lose this chance,it was a pilgrimage. And what was this which was creating this Hullaballo ? It was a CORPSE !!

In a family of three sons and a daughter,he was the eldest.His father was a street side vendor,and their life was replete with abject poverty and devoid of almost everything.In the scorching heat of the sun, the father stood from day to night to eke out a living.The one room home could make anyone feel claustrophobic.The future of his children seemed bleak. But the eldest lad dreamt of doing something unique and making a identity of his own.

At an age when adolescents like to adorn the Denim, he liked to dress differently.The attire of the military uniform seemed to cast a spell on him.His courage and undaunting spirit manifested itself throughout his schooling days in the Army School at Lucknow.The Bronze medallion wrapped in a purple ribbon always fascinated him.And finally when he joined the army he was asked why he wanted to be in the armed forces. "I want to get the Param Vir Chakra," he replied. "Is it a toy?" The officer asked. To this he said that he would prove it in the course of his career.

They nicknamed it "Operation Vijay".The strife between India and Pakistan turned into an ugly battle.The Indian Army was determined to thwart the nefarious designs of the enemy.The battleground was Siachen,one of most difficult terrains for combat battle.Siachen which ironically means the "Land of Roses", gets temperatures upto -50 degree celsius.The inhabitants had to be on a constant vigil.

On July 2, the Gorkha regiment got orders to clear up some of the enemy positions in Khalabar in the Batalik sector. They travelled for 14 hours on foot and were short of 400 metres from their aim when there was suddenly heavy fire on their column. The fire came from two directions, from the top and other from the side. At that time the troops were split into two and he led the division of about 30 people.They had lots of casualities but the spirit of this young man remain undeterred.

Bullets were flying past them. He told the battalion not to worry as he would be able to finish his task.Although wounded in the shoulder and leg, he pressed on his solitary charge with grim determination, till he closed in on the first bunker. Then in ferocious hand-to-hand combat, he killed two of the enemy and cleared the first bunker. It was the turning point. Inspired by their leader's spontaneous valour, the troops charged at the enemy and fell upon them. Unmindful of his grievous wounds, he rushed from bunker to bunker urging his men on. Critically bleeding, he collapsed at the final bunker and finally succumbed to his injuries, but not before the last of the enemy had been annihilated. His last words were, "Na Chodnu" (Don't Leave Them).

This was the corpse of Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey.

Strangers were trooping into the living room of the old senile father, just to talk to him or hold his hand.The donations had been flowing from the federal government and people alike. But that was immaterial for the aging parents who had just lost their young son.The profound grief had surpassed the feeling of pride for the glory that their son had brought to the country.

Public memory is shortlived. They built a memorial in Gomati Nagar in the fond remembrance of this valiant soldier.I salute the spirit of this juvenile ideal, moreso, the words from his diary are a personal source of inspiration for me - "Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail".

Dukh ke Jangal mein phirte hain - Javed Akhtar

Dukh ke jangal mein phirate hain
kab se maare maare log
jo hotaa hai sah lete hain
kaise hain bechaare log

jiivan jiivan ham ne aag mein
khel yahii hote dekhaa
dhiire dhiire jiitii duniyaa
dhiire dhiire haare log
sangat dene ko paate hain
saanson ke ik taare log

is nagarii mein kyon milatii hai
roTii sapanon ke badale
jinkii nagarii hai vo jaane
ham Thahare banjaare log

Time's running out !

Fumbling our way through life, it seems to me
is much like a series of short stories
that we insist into a novel badly done
and the editor was out to lunch that day
Overplotted, characters obscure and undefined
It isn't War And Peace and we're not Tolstoy

History will clean it up, the victors always do
well after the fact of life, a critical review
But history makes a lifetime work of censure
and won't submit a damn thing of its own
lived well or badly, scrawled equally across a page
Every life leaves tracks that quickly fade

But it breathed and bled through pain and fear
it smiled and loved, this life so badly penned the moments each and everlastingly connected
like numbered dots that form an image
and it could have, might have been a masterpiece
if we could see the colors in bold strokes

Each of us wrote hurriedly, hands shaking, novices
as best we could, one draft without revision
Too much paper, the dialog dashed off unrehearsed
apprenticed with no clear need to learn the craft
Far too much to ask and yet it's what we're given
and all too soon the pen runs dry, too soon

(Inspired by the Muse - Time is Running Out

I think I'm drowning asphyxiated
I wanna break this spell that you've created
you're something beautiful a contradiction
I wanna play the game I want the friction )

GuruBhai potrays DhiruBhai

As an avid movie watcher, I never fail to catch up with the latest screening in town."Guru" had already created a lot of buzz, because of the rumours in the media, of an impending nuptial knot between Aby Baby and Aish.

The movie opens with a small village in India, where an adolescent, who fails in school exams, has a passion to dream big. This takes him to Turkey where he starts with a petty job of a Salesman for Shell Petroleum. On the dint of his hard work, he steadily climbs up the ranks, but is still unhappy. The urge to do a "Bizness" of his own takes him back to India and the city of Dreams "Mumbai".

The camaraderie between Aish and Abhishek is scintillating. And as the soulful music of Rehman, pours in from the background, you are transported into a different world and are almost in a daze watching the beautiful couple. Some of the songs seem to be a misfit in the sequence, but the title song "Aye hairat-e-aashiqui jagaa mat, Pairo se zameen lagaa mat", is so enchanting and divine, that it makes up for the loss of everything.

I was floored by Gulzar's lyrics which are mesmerising. "Jaage hain" has etched an indelible impression on my mind.

Jaage hain der tak humein, Kuchh der sone do
Thodi si raat aur hai, Subah to hone do
Aadhe adhoore khwaab jo, Poore na ho sake
Ek baar phir se neend mein,Wo khwaab bone do

Another one

Do chaar maheene se lamho mein, Umro ke hisaab bhi hote hain

The climax scene is the one to watch for. Abhishek's echoes the heavy baritone of the Big B, and comes out with a wonderful performance. Needless to say that AB baby has entered 2k7 with a Big Bang.