Voice of the world (Click image to enlarge)

(The story of the war, and thence history, is always told by the winners.)

For a few decibels more!

The crowd swings in a wild trance

Feigning tonight is their last chance,

Some just shake a leg and surrender

While others jive their passions to the thunder.

(Best wishes to Jags on his new venture)

My green valley

How far away is my green valley!

The day dismounts the sun-basked saddles,
Two or three flies buzz over a milk cauldron,
A lone woodpecker works on its chosen bark,
Supper signals from a distant chimney…

Memories of my green valley

The warmth of an old armchair,
The echo of rhythmic hoof-beats,
The fragrance of dust-blown lilies,
The sight of flickering lanterns…

Alive! (Click image to enlarge)

My country, my planet

Take people out of a country and with them will be flushed out the culture, the history & all the traditions. What will we be left with? There’d be no political ideals, no patriotic fervor, no religious pride, no senseless hedonism. All that remains is just plain geography (and its factors). Then what is that elusive misunderstood concept that we refer to as ‘my country’? It’s not the physical mass of land nor the waters and mountains, it’s just a sense of belonging, and an identity that we crave for and afraid of losing. No common good can ever happen or be imagined unless we expand our sense of pride to ‘my planet’.

Hyderabad blues

You know you are in Hyderabad when…

· The biryani in ur plate is equal to 3 square meals for other south-Indian counterparts,
· You find a Irani café at every street corner,
· Irani chai means ‘one by two’ (and the waiter asks if you want ‘samose’ or ‘biskit’ to go with it),
· You hire an auto-rickshaw and find either a Salman Khan (sporting a lousy hairstyle - from ‘Tere naam’) or a Shahrukh Khan poster staring at you,
· You can live in the city all your life without ever having to learn a single word of the regional language,
· ‘Paradise’ doesn’t relate to performance-enhancing pills, ‘Blue Sea’ is not about aquariums and ‘Pista House’ is not a place to shop for dry-fruits,
· You actually know the reason why the city can’t be rendered the sobriquet ‘Lake city’ (even Lord Buddha will vouch for the same reason),
· Yellow, red and green flags are passé, pink flags are in (for political reasons),
· While finding your way out of the labyrinths of old city always keep in mind never to ask for directions...because the direction to any place in the city means ‘seedha jaao’,
· The city wakes up somewhere between 8 and 9 in the morning,
· Your boss (if he’s a Hyderabadi) would never ask you why you are late because he’ll never be there to notice it,
· Like in any other Indian city you’ll find people speeding up the wrong side of the road, but if you gather the courage to question them they’ll retort with a three-syllabled profanity that starts with ‘M’ and rhymes with ‘bhevde’,
· Saturday nights are like any other nights,
· ‘Night life’ is widely misinterpreted…according to the locals it is thought to be a vague term loosely attached to define work culture in BPOs,
· You go to a multi-specialty hospital and observe that every other doctor on the panel has the surname ‘Reddy’,
· Pelvic thrusts and rigorous dance movements accompany popular drum beats, locally called ‘do maar’ and ‘teen maar’(down extreme south its fashionably called ‘kootthu’),
· You wonder if drinking beer (more beers are sold here than in any other Indian city) helps cultivate a care-free attitude – ‘beer peeo, bindaas ho jao’,
· The usage of the ‘M’ word (mentioned above) is assumed to be cooler than the usage of the ‘F’ word,
· The DJs suck here…particularly if you are a big fan of pop, rock or hip-hop,
· Marine drive minus the sea and buzz is Necklace road,
· Looking at burqha-clad women is immoral, staring at them is criminal, winking at them is fatal,
· Loitering in the ‘Lamba’ theatre campus is considered lecherous but watching internet porn in your drawing room is fine (after all ‘We are all part of the same hypocrisy' )
· Due to inadequately publicized tourist spots most locals would stare at foreigners as if they are from a different planet,
· You realize you don’t have to stay in this city for too long to fall in love with it.