The F word

Perhaps one of the most interesting words in English language today is the word fuck. Of all the English words that begin with the letter "F", fuck is the only word that is referred to as "the F word". It's the one magical word. Just by its sound, it can describe pain, pleasure, hate and love. Fuck, as most words in English language, is derived from a German word "frichen" which means “to strike”. In English, fuck falls into many grammatical categories. As a transitive verb, for instance,--"John fucks Sherley". As an intransitive verb—“Sherley fucks”. Its meaning is not always sexual. It can be used as an adjective such as--"John's doing all the fucking work", as part of an adverb--"Sherley talks too fucking much", as an adverb enhancing an adjective--"Sherley is fucking beautiful", as a noun--"I don't give a fuck", as a part of a word--"Absofuckinglutely" or "Infuckincredible", and as almost every word in the sentence--"Fuck the fucking fuckers". As you must realize, there aren't too many words with the versatility of "fuck" as in these examples describing situations such as

• Fraud -- I got fucked with this used car a lot.
• Dismay -- Oh! Fuck it.
• Trouble -- I guess I am really fucked now.
• Aggression -- Don't fuck with me, buddy.
• Difficulty -- I don't understand this fucking question.
• Inquiry -- Who the fuck was that?
• Dissatisfaction -- I don’t like what the fuck is going on here.
• Diffidence -- He is a fuck off.
• Dismissal -- Why don’t you go outside and play "hide and go fuck yourself"?

I am sure you can think of many more examples. With all these multipurpose applications, how can anyone be offended when you use this word? We say use this unique flexible word more often in your daily speech. It will identify the quality of your character immediately. So use this word loudly and proudly!!!

Thanks to Google for all the fucking information…

Is beauty just skin deep?

"How will I fare in a popularity contest in IIT?” asked one of my friends, who is, by far, the most gorgeous female I have ever come across. I had absolutely no reply to her inquiry because I knew that she would win the contest by a long distance. Such is the influence of nifty faces in this materialistic world. It's not that she interacts with every person in IIT but, it is the shine on the face that attracts the people around. After all, who doesn't want to see a good face!

I was going through one of the forwarded emails the other day that compared Sania Mirza, the latest tennis sensation and Koneru Humpy. Are you wondering who Humpy is? If yes, then please note that she is the present world number 2 player in international women's chess arena and more importantly, she is among the very few Indian women who represent India on international sports platform. The article talked about Sania being every youngster's dream girl and how curiously people wanted to know about her favorite cuisine, music and color and the words printed on her T-shirt while Humpy, with mediocre looks, being an unknown name despite achieving similar, if not greater success than Sania. The same story fits other fields as well. Despite having nominal acting capabilities, Angelina Jolie continues to find herself among the highest paid actresses. People with good looks always attract limelight.

It is true that looks is the first aspect one considers during the first meet with a person. People tend to make assumptions about the behavior and thinking of the people on the basis of their very first look. And thus, the face contributes to one's first impression. Even the word personality consists of the word persona which, in Latin, means mask. Though, strictly speaking, according to psychology, personality is a collection of emotion, looks, thought and behavior patterns unique to a person.

Researchers have come up with theories such as Halo effect revealing that attractive people tend to be more intelligent, better adjusted, and more popular. Yes, I know that not many people would be convinced by this theory but that's the story narrated by the research guys. Even the people related with psychology of beauty believe that good looking people achieve more occupational success than their not-so-attractive counterparts.

The phrase "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" is losing its significance in this era. It's pity that we constitute a society which lays high emphasis on physical appearances of people. And thanks to media and audience, this theory doesn't look like taking a U-turn. After all, no one wants to see baleful faces in TV commercials. Moreover, media has corroborated that attractive faces sell. This is why companies manufacturing cosmetics are big hits in the field of business. Every time you visit a parlor, you will always find people suggesting bleach or a hair color or a facial to improve your looks. And the worst part is that more often than not, we start caring their words and fall prey to their ideas.

But, is this world so unfair to moderate-looking-people? No!!! Certainly not. There are few luxuries which good looking people enjoy but at the end of the day, it is the way people carry themselves that counts. Looks can often be misleading. And assumptions made on the basis of looks may go wrong. One might be the most pleasing face on the planet, but if he/she doesn't have a clean heart and a fair soul, that look won't transmit him/her to the ultimate goal of life. What do you say?

Plight

It was a usual sunny afternoon in December. The yellow sun was tardily altering its hue to white. The lukewarm rays were comforting the earth. And I was spending my time in a train running at around seventy kmph, which can always be considered awesome by Indian norms. A bunch of sixty chirpy students that included me as well was coming back from an audacious "industrial" trip, better known as an enjoyment trip, from Goa. Each one of the sixty students had a saga of his own. And the degree of enjoyment of each one of us at those tingling Goa beaches could be clearly read on our faces. Few were not satisfied with their trip and had plenty to complain about while others considered it as a lifetime experience. The students were apprizing each other of their night outs at beaches, their heroics with rented bikes, their stares at topless ladies and what not.

Rare glimpses of photogenic valleys and mountains were drawing our attention and we were prompted to click few snaps with those charming backgrounds. But a dark boy, whose soul was barely ten years old, had no urge left in his heart to praise the beauty of nature. His starvation had, probably, overshadowed his delicate feelings. He was busy picking up empty mineral water bottles and cleaning the green surface of the moving train with his thin, tiny palms. Every time he entered a compartment, the passengers gave him a tough, long look just to make sure that the cursed boy was not carrying away their precious luggage with himself. After his satisfactory cleansing job, he visited the compartments again, this time with the desire that people would bless him with few coins, just enough to feed him. But, he was, probably, hoping against hope. Every time he showed his bent, empty hands, he was greeted with nods of heads, avoidance of eye contact, shrugs of shoulders, and sometimes, rough, rude speeches. But the poor boy never showed any emotion on his face. He had, probably, got used to that treatment. It was amazing how hard people were trying to avoid looking into the eyes of that innocent boy. They knew they could not dare to say "no" looking directly at his face. After his departure from each compartment, the passengers had had a sigh of relief knowing that they had saved their valuable single rupee coins and they even had plenty of statements to make about the alarming increment in the number of beggars in that part of the world and how the beggar-gangs worked to earn money. We spend hundreds of rupees to watch a movie and thousands of rupees to present gifts to our loved ones but we always hesitate to pull out a coin from our wallet to feed a starving child.

The boy moved on his quest for people who could satisfy his needs. My eyes were following his every movement, his every expression. The absence of lines on his palms made me feel that someone above had forgotten to develop his fate. The child, who could have served as the source of envy in different walks of life for some of the rich children, was undone by forces beyond his command. The age at which a normal child finds himself playing with toys, that boy was busy cleaning the dust below people's feet. In the end, the boy managed to earn just three coins and those coins were never enough to suppress his hunger. I thought I could understand his every pain, his every bother. I slowly moved towards him and started gazing him. The boy looked restless and unsatisfied. But he had no one around him who could register his complain. Even his God had defied him. I, in order to help him, forwarded a ten rupee note towards him. He smiled, took the note from me and said- "Nahin saahab, yeh aap rakh lo. Main apne liye khud kamaaunga", forwarding that note towards me. My eyes were moist and had a wide smile on my face. I was astonished by his self-confidence, eagerness to work for himself and the way in which he managed a smile in adverse conditions. His one golden sentence certainly taught me a thing or two. I couldn't dare to ask him anything. I slowly moved back to my seat and wished him all success in his life.

My usual impuissance and irritation

1. I miss the last bus to my residing place in Durham and I am constrained to spend the night under the sky in Newcastle during a chilly winter.

2. I am shown the red card in a crunch situation in soccer, albeit I was pushed by my opponent.

3. I observe a beggar who looks, with moist eyes, at a quarter-eaten piece of cake being thrown out of the window of a shining black Mercedes into the dustbin.

4. I see my two close friends wrangling and I am not allowed to utter a single word.

5. I, accidentally, burn my palm in the night and I have an examination to write the next morning.

6. My girlfriend wants me to take a look at her new dress and I am tethered to a dull lecture.

7. I spend a whole night preparing for a presentation and the next morning, I find the projector not working properly.

8. I spend a whole week deciding the name of the book I would be presenting my friend on her birthday and I am informed that the particular book is not available in the market.

9. I am running late for my job interview and I find that my clothes are not ironed.

10.I like a watch in a shop and my wallet says that I am Rs 50 shy of its price.

Poor soul!!! God help me...

I wish I had a foe

I wish I had a foe
who could shamelessly look into my eyes
who could construct ways to agitate me
who could bring the best out of me.

I wish I had a foe
who could take responsibility for my usual temper
who could evoke me to run doubly fast to beat him
whom I could trust as the only person against me.

I wish I had a foe
who could boldly announce his nonalignment with me
who could bring my sins in front of the territory
who could gift me a reason to dwell in my hollow life.

I wish I had a foe
who could look for every chance to diss me
who could bring the angry person out of me
who could openly, dauntlessly argufy me.

I wish I had a foe
who could offer me sleepless nights
who could cater me struggling days
who could deny me facile victories.

I wish I had a foe
who could, at least, think about me
even if his thinking goes against me.

The battle is on

Dark clouds have enshrouded the delightful, blue sky. White fog has dampened the vision. Demon is slowly but surely marching forward in the region of angels. It is difficult to distinguish between a friend and a foe; it is tough to differentiate between God and Devil. Everybody seems to be wearing faces. The animal inside the human body has woken up, and is showing its ugly, dreadful teeth. The vociferous cry of the soul is inviting havoc. Forces of evil are out to conquer. The new dictionary meaning of bravery is stupidity. Words like truth and honesty are laughed upon. That's the picture of the modern and advanced era depicted by a silent viewer standing far away from this guile realm. This cosmos can be very deceptive from inside. The false calmness in the air often misleads to composure. The bright sunshine may tempt you for a barbeque but monsoon can be at a stone's throw. The tacit conspiracy may catch you napping. The mad race for supremacy over others is excising the delicate feelings inside the hapless heart. The wild competition is slashing the flesh of the poor child playing inside the human soul. The color of darkness has started captivating us. The word "I" has replaced "we". Our belief in humanity is shaking. Malign spirits have started inspiring us.

We humans need to clear our stand in this battle of God and Devil, for we are the weakest among the three groups and victory of any of the other two will make us follow their rules. The ball is in our court. What exactly do we wish?

The evil power is gaining control over the battle. And human support can corroborate its victory in no time. Human backup to godly exponent may not confirm an immediate victory to this group but our support will certainly boost them up and eventually lead them to victory. The consequences of the victories of these two groups have a wide gulf between them. As far as we humans are concerned, an evil triumph would mean slavery and hunger for eons to come and thus, intends catastrophic results while the success of godly creatures would imply an environment of perpetual love and joy.

Meanwhile, the battle is on and demons have the upper hand. The choice is ours. The ball is still in our court...

Foreign Approval

It was only when Amartya Sen received 1998 Nobel Prize in Stolkholm for his work in the field of economics that we discovered the genius inside him.

When Bill Gates makes a statement about IITs, it dominates the headlines of The Times of India while a similar Narayan Murthy or Vinod Khosla comment evaporates away unnoticed.

Indian government waited for ICC's nomination of Sachin Tendulkar as the player of the year to honour this champion with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, given the fact that India has hardly produced any world beater in a game other than cricket.

Satyajit Ray received Padma Vibhushan only after he was rewarded with all the prestigious worldwide film awards, right from Golden Berlin Bear in Germany to Golden Palm in Cannes.

All these above mentioned facts connote that we always need a foreign stamp to corroborate whether a particular person or institution or even an event is worth praising or not. It appears that we have lost faith in our ability to rationalize the immensity associated with something or someone. We constitute one fifth of the world in terms of the number of human bodies but these bodies mean nothing more than lifeless, dead creatures if we can't use our ability to express the greatness of our people and the graveness of our events. We appreciate a B grade English movie but hesitate to call a genuinely good Bollywood movie good. This diffidence is a consequence of our blind faith in alien products and people, and our inability to define eminence. We may be producing the best hands for all walks of life but at the end of the day, it is self-recognition that can firm our feet during a storm.

He loves me

GOD, the only reality, the ultimate source of vitality, is the power that drives the universe.

I know He consoles me when I cry behind closed doors, I know He listens to me when I murmur with closed eyes, I know He ushers me when I walk the lonely paths, I know He nourishes me when I am hungry, I know He opens the evacuation door when I am surrounded by troubles, I know He cries when I lie, I know He kisses my forehead when I need love, I know He holds my hand when I move through darkness, I know He medicines me when I am ill, I know He plays with me when I need a partner, I know He opens his arms when I need a hug, I know He sings my favorite song when I wish to break the silence, I know He swings the handfan when I try to sleep, I know He trusts me when nobody shows confidence in me, I know He teaches me when I show respect for knowledge, I know He asks my mother to talk to me when I miss her, I know He infuses confidence in me when I am down, I know He revels when I am happy, I know He loves me, I know He loves me...

Love Proposal

It was pretty late in the night. All my family members were in sound sleep. But I was in no mood to sleep. I had to perform a Herculean task the next morning in the school. I had to propose a girl. I closed the door of my room, stood in front of the mirror and started rehearsing the lines I would be telling her the next day.

"I think I love you", I uttered with some confidence on my face.
"Nah, she would feel that I was too confused", I thought. I dropped that line. I started looking for a more appealing one.
"I love you since the very first day I saw you in the class", I spoke again, this time with a much more confident look on my face.
"No yaar, that's too conventional a line to say." I shouted in frustration. At the very next moment, I realized that it was already 1 AM and I must not wake anybody up. With that idea in back of my mind, I started my work again.
"Come on Abhieshek, I know you can do better", I told myself and went in front of the mirror again. I tried few more lines without any real success. But I had to prepare that ecstatic sentence for her. So I moved on.
"I am in love with you", I said to my image in the mirror, this time with a little sensual look.
"Now, that sounds much better", I thought.
"I am sure she would be moved by that sentence", I whispered, followed by a toothy smile. Satisfied with my line, I set the clock to ring at 6:30 AM and went to sleep.

It all started about two years back when she joined my school for her +2 study. Ours was the only school in the town for +2 studies and thus, every student in the town had to join our school after passing 10th board examination. It was the first day of the new session. I, along with my friends, was standing in front of our class, looking for the new girls who had taken admission in class 11. Girls came by and entered the class. After the arrival of every new girl, we friends looked at each other without any exchange of words. Those eyes were telling everything. After few minutes, we saw our class teacher walking towards our class. We quickly took our respective seats. The class started in a full fledged way. I turned my head towards my friend.
"None of the new girls is good looking. What do you say?", I asked him in a whispering voice. He nodded his approval with a disappointing look on his face.
"Sir, may I come in?", a feminine voice interrogated.
I, still in total disarray, tried to have a look from the corner of my eye at the person standing on the door. The girl looked a bit nervous, breathing fast with disjunctive sets of silky hair tangling over her shoulders as if she had hurried to reach the class in time. She entered the class and her innocent, dark eyes explored every corner of the class in search of a vacant seat.
"Why don't you occupy that seat?", the teacher asked the girl pointing his hand towards the seat just beside mine.
"There comes the girl", I whispered, with my eyes on the notebook and a sheepish smile on the face.The girl promptly occupied the seat.
"Excuse me", she said nervously bending towards me.
"Do you have an extra pen? I forgot to bring mine"
"You can use this pen. I do have one more", I said, shifting the pen I was writing with towards her. She smiled her thanks.
"Now I have nothing to complain about", I said, turning my head towards my friend.
"Meet me during the break. I will take care of you", he replied, showing his red, covetous eyes. I enjoyed that envious look on his face. But I knew I had had a tough time ahead. For the first few days, I didn't have too strong a feeling for her.But that incident proved to be the albatross around my neck. Every now and then, I was teased by my friends. Frequent quibbles about her left me speechless in front of them. And that resulted in the ontogeny of a soft corner for her in my heart. But I never accepted that in front of my friends, for that would have provided them an opportunity to get into the groove.

Time ran away, thick and fast. We entered into the last few days of our school life. But I could never ask her for friendship; leave aside a love proposal. Few hi-hello's with her, here and there, made me feel good about her. I used to observe her from a distance. I loved her every movement, the way she giggled over every joke, the way she tried to avoid eye contact when asked about her first crush, the way she madly turned the pages of the Mathematics book for formulae minutes before the start of an examination, the way she argued with the teacher for every single mark in the answer paper, the way she tried unsuccessfully to conceal her joy when praised for her good work. I loved her, I really loved her. I fantasized dating her, going out for dinner with her, talking to her for hours. I didn't know when and how I had travelled the journey of soft corner to infatuation, then to crush and eventually, to love.

I realized that I had just a handful of days remaining to let her know what I felt about her. But I had no clue about the way of doing that. I decided to go back to my friends, who, by that time, had read my feelings about her in my eyes, for some aid. They came up with the idea of proposing the girl. On the first hearing, I concluded that it was no better than a suicide attempt. But they tried their best to convince me and eventually, I agreed to give it a shot, whatever the result might be. They asked me to prepare the proposal sentence for her.

The clock rang just at the right time to wake me up. I hastily completed all my ablutions in the chilly winter morning. But I was not at all feeling cold in the heat of the situation.
"What's the matter? You look overexcited and hastened as well", asked my mother suspiciously on the dining table.
"There is nothing as such, Ma. Actually I have a class test today and I have prepared very well for it. That's why..", I replied, pretending everything to be quite normal.
I, probably, reached the school too early. Love can make a person do strange things. Finally the class started. I discussed my last night preparations with my friends. They praised the line I prepared for her. We eagerly waited for the lunch break. The bell rang and it was the break. She went out with her friend in the sun. We followed them to the huge grassy lawn. I had started feeling nervous.It was only then I knew why they said that tunnelling a mountain was an easier job than proposing a girl. My friends asked me to go to her.
"Her friend is also with her. How can I tell anything to her in front of her friend?", I argued.
One of the guys from our group called her friend and made sure that she was alone.
"Now everything is clear. Go there and tell her everything. I am sure her answer would be affirmative", my pal told me. But I was in no position to move. My legs were shivering.
"No, I am too nervous to say anything to her", I uttered with a disastrous look.
"Go!!", my friend shouted at me. I somehow gathered courage and slowly walked towards her.
She was glowing in the bright, sunny afternoon. I moved closer to her. She was standing alone, with folded hands, waiting for her friend.
"Hello", I said.
"Hello", she smiled.
"I wanted to tell you something", I spoke. The world had come to a standstill for me.
"Yes, please carry on"
I was so anxious that I forgot the line I was supposed to say. But I had to say something.
"As you know, we know each other very well", I said with my eyes firm on her face. She raised her eyebrows.
"I...I mean we are classmates since last two years", I stammered. I took one long breath.
"I just wanted to say that I am crazy about you. I liked you on the very first day you entered the class. I love you, I love you very, very much", I told everything I had in my heart in one breath. Her resplendent, bright face turned pale. She tried to avoid eye contact for a moment. She didn't know what to say. She took her time, fixed her eyes on my already nervous face and said in a convincing voice,-"Abhieshek, there is nothing wrong about what you feel about me. Infact, I respect your feelings. But I am sorry to say that I am not ready for any such relationship. I am really sorry. I hope you understand my position."
The bell rang once again. She started going back to the classroom. I felt as if it was the end of the world for me.
"I can't let her go like that", I told myself. I ran only to stop in front of her.
"Hey, wait for a moment. Give me two minutes. Can you?" I asked. She nodded.
"Thanks. OK, even if you didn't accept my proposal, it is perfectly fine with me. But can we be friends? I think we can be. What do you say?" I asked, forwarding my right hand towards her.
"We surely can be", she smiled and shook hands with me.
"Now you may go", I grinned, waving my hand towards the classroom. She chuckled and moved ahead. I kept watching her till she vanished into the classroom. I turned back towards my friends with a satisfied, joyous feeling in my heart. I loved the slow wind blowing through the lawn. My world started moving again. It was just the start of a new beginning for me...

Expectations

You have lost your wedding ring. You are badly looking for it in your home. Your maid comes to you, shows the ring and asks, "Sir, is this what you are looking for?"

You are dating a girl for the first time. You want to devote your favorite song to her. But you are unable to recall the lyrics of the song. You are trying hard for it. Someone starts playing the same song far away, just loud enough for you to catch the lyrics.

You are struggling to pass a particular academic course. You haven't studied much for the examination. You were busy enjoying your closest pal's birthday party last night. You read the question paper in the examination hall and find that you know the answer of each and every question.

In all the three above mentioned situations, you will find yourself with a nice, long smile on your face. This is what an unexpected help can do to you. The help can come in any form. Be it human, nature or fate.
Now let us take a look at few other situations.

You are running late to catch a flight. You ask your friend to drop you at the airport. He laughs at you, says, "Sorry buddy, I have to leave for a peg of wine in the nearby bar." and then fades away with his other mates.

You reach your home tired after a lengthy, hectic day in office expecting your wife to be waiting for you and then, you find your wife involved in a passionate kiss with a stranger.

These are the kinds of situation when one feels that it is better not to expect anything from others, not even from the dearest ones.
Expectations are the root cause of agony and sufferings. Alexander Pope once famously said that 'Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed'. And it appears to be the call of the day. It not only refers to the expectations of a person from another but also to those of a person for his constructive piece of work. One just needs to work in the right direction without caring much about the results. Man should be content with his best efforts and should leave the rest for the forces of nature to take care of. If he is rewarded with success, that's the fruit for his conscientious work. Even if he doesn't succeed, he has to take it in sporting spirit and hit back with greater crusade. Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.
But all that is easier said than done. It is difficult to imagine not expecting goods from people whom you have helped out and not anticipating success for hours of toilsome work you put in. But in the long run, it is the expecting-nothing-from-anyone overture that would bring prosperity to everyone. All these talks remain words in a philosophy book kept in an unknown library if not put into practice. Life is a great leveler in itself. Many a times, you would be aided by unknown forces and then, there would certainly be those instances when you might find yourself as a helpless character in the drama of life who doesn’t receive even expected assistance. Live life on your own, conceiving yourself to be your only patron and I am sure you would find this world really aesthetic and worth appreciating.

She...

The beginning of yet another new year, Jan 1st 2006, was a bit of a mixed bag of emotions for me. The year 2005 was about to leave the platform. It was around 11:55 in the night and I was trying to complete one of my writings. But I was never there to conclude it. The mind inside deviated time and again, looking for someone, thinking about somebody. I just wanted to talk to a particular person, just to greet her very happy new year. After every half a minute, I was going through my yahoo messenger friend list just to know if she had logged on. The mind knew that she wasn't there. But the heart and the soul were not ready to accept the fact. Every person in the cosmos was preparing to welcome the New Year but I was alone in my room, still waiting for someone to appear. I could feel the loneliness around and inside me. There comes the New Year. Delhi was shining brightly in the light of those grand firecrackers. I was asked to join the birthday treat of one of my mates. The foggy nature of a biting winter in Delhi was good enough to freeze the blood flowing in the veins. But I had to be there. I slowly walked the lonely streets to reach the party spot. Everybody was greeting the birthday boy and celebrating the New Year eve as well, letting each other know about their respective New Year resolutions with laughter all around. They knew those resolutions won't last for too long. I was asked for my New Year resolution. I had a false, contrived smile on my face without any word. The time was passing by. The mercury level was falling by the minute. The sky that was once sparkling with expansive firecrackers had returned to its normal gloomy hue. The giggles around were slowly but surely turning into dark silence. The people around were preparing to get back to their respective abodes. And so was I, with a hope of talking to her once, just once. The feet were moving fast. I hated the silence in the atmosphere. So I made sure that the tapping of the shoes was breaching the muteness. I reached my hostel. Guys were still enjoying the liquor. But I had no interest in it. I sprinted along the pavement, reached my room just to know if she had signed in. My heart was swimming in the ocean of hopes. All that excitement on my face turned into sorrow when I couldn't find her. I kept thinking about her, her smiling face, her large wide eyes, her soft voice, her teasing nature, her stubborn attitude, her hastiness. I don't know when the blanket of sleep covered me. It was only the vociferous knock on the door that woke me up. I was pleasantly surprised to see my closest mate in IIT, who had just arrived from his home, standing outside my room. He wished me a prosperous new year. It was certainly a blessing in disguise. But I was still waiting for her...