NaMo, fellow countrymen, NaMo!
(The background behind me NaMo-ing is in my recent facebook status update)
Disclaimer : The post might tend to hurt a few sentiments. (especially if readers are around that age of early 40s to mid 50s - though I doubt I would have even a decent number of readers in that bracket!) It might even be interpreted as offensive by some of us young men/women but I appeal that it should not be received personally. With all due respect, I have tried to speak what I believe is the truth - unabashed and unashamed to do that as always!
I hadn't anticipated a blog from my side today, to be frank, but a small instance yesterday put me into my 'ponder' mode. I had returned from office when the kids in my housing society were playing cricket. There was the usual banter; there was the usual aggression! Then there were those accusations of not seeing where the ball landed on a wall or a katta or some car's glass windows. Then an old lady shouted from the first floor about some rules of not playing inside residential premises. (which was categorically ignored as a minor disruption!) I smiled, dropped off my bag on my bed and headed out again for some snacks. By the time I came back, cricket was replaced by hide-and-seek and with still some light available, that appeared odd to me. I asked a nearby kid (say Jo) as to why had they stopped playing cricket. He must have been 12 or 13 with a complexion which could have glown in the dark! Slightly rotund with short hair, he answered, "Arey dada, we don't have a bat now that Shantanu has taken away his." I burst into laughter; he reminded me of our days when bat & ball sharing was a no-go because of varied reasons or the squabbles over the same! I told him to collect a bat which had been lying around at my place and he broke into such a broad and beautiful smile that he reminded me, given his features too, of another friend of long (let us call him Zi) who must have been the same age near and about when I had first met him. My laughter suddenly died down; as I turned the key into the lock and walked into my dark home, joy was replaced with pain. Not that Zi is dead; he is in a much worse condition - not according to him, but according to me.
