Sunday, July 27, 2014

The TATA Zest Experience : The test drive #zestupyourlife




So today is the 27th of July , Sunday when the paranoid me drove a car – not joking. I drove an Automatic car. Not exactly an Automatic but an AMT – a automatic manual transmission from TATA.. The zest in diesel. I am like wooooohoooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!!





Only I know that how much I was telling Harish that I am having an Injury and would like if I didn’t have to actually drive the car but all things don’t go as per plan many a times. A lot of 3 people in the car alongwith a TATA volunteer to keep a check that we don’t go crash and boom… So we drove off in a blue TATA ZEST , the petrol version first along the predeteremined route map given to us and with people holding markers to tell us where to go. Just like the amazing race style.

Sports mode engaged

From the very start our car was in the Sports mode, just like a person would go in a drag race not that we actually let the car do that. The interiors were good , a plush feel to it. 3 people in a single car and only 1 drives it. The first feature we tried was the voice recognition feature to control the AC. It chills like Antartica. Pushing a button on the steering wheel to make it go active and brought the AC from 18 to 24. An inboard camera was there too but we really didn’t use it. The gear changes were smooth…even I was sitting at the back but I could notice all that. You can actually feel things taking place. It takes time and a bit of adjustment to switch modes from Sports to eco or vice versa . The default mode is City mode. The most fuel effiecient is the Eco and for that burst of energy is the Power one. Power of 90 PS and a torque of 140. Rev up the engine RPM and change mode (eco to sports)…A Ferrari becomes a fighter jet in full afterburners if you ask me to describe it the way I do it best.



Petrol version



Just a word of caution though – Switch off the AC when you do that. Maybe it was the car we got or what but I felt it. A bit of transition feels when the mode is changed and the AC is on.The revotron 1.2 L did its work otherwise. The car went smooth after it picked up speed. Its like a lot of things have been packed at one place – alloy wheels, New signature grille, LED tail lamps, projector head lamps etc. The two things which impressed me the most were the Information on the display infront of the steering wheel and the buttons to control the audio system from there. Just talk and the system does that for you – change AC temp, radio stations, pairing the phone by Bluetooth makes the phone come alive in the car. We can call the system to dial contacts in the phone, read the SMS aloud. For a person of 5`7” the leg space was huge and comfortable. I could like easily stretch my legs. Protection is paramount in the TATA cars and they have carried forward that legacy into this car. Seats belts take care of that . We tried all that in the petrol version. Back to Zuri after the first round. 

AMT

The real fun started with the change in the car now. TATA is known for Diesel and they made sure that the hidden power was unleashed here. The Ftronic AMT (automatic manual transmission ) in diesel was wow. It has a shift assisted manual too. The car doesnt move forward untill the seatbelt has been strapped in. One ground rule- Don’t use the LEFT leg. Its an automatic. Only Brake and Accelerator are the things you need to take care of. The Infosystem comes with touch control ( voice recognition is default) in this one. So out on an empty and wide road Ila took over, drive well for 200 metres before she switched places and came back to the passenger side. As for me I was like tempted to get my hands on the wheel inspite of my recent injury. It started to rain and I took over to drive… Initially thinking not to go beyond 300-400 metres as automatics are not something I have drove. But no fear… it was WOW. Press brake, shift gear lever to Automatic and go next on the throttle. The car moves on your wish- the pressure you apply. Forget the modes, I was more focused on driving. Brakes go for sudden stop when applied (powerful) so be careful. The car recognizes your driving style too. The amount of throttle being pushed knows whats the normal speed driven and when you are pushing it to the limit.

From a 300 m thinking of driving to actually driving some 4-5kms past a pit stop was great feeling. I really cant describe this feeling…really cant. The first car was about checking the features of the car and the second automatic was all about checking out the car in reality…the feel, the power everything. Any newbie who wants to drive should get the hands on this diesel automatic version and the rest ones should go for the petrol version.

Me in full concentration

Passing the 2 other test cars

If I can sum up things a bit in this excitement it would look like this-

1. 2 variants- Petrol in manual transmission and Diesel in Automatic.

2. Revtron and Ftronic engines give it all the power they need.

3. Plenty of leg room for a sub 4 m car

4. Safety paramount. Car in automatic doesn’t move until the driver has strapped the seatbelt.

5. 3 modes- City mode default, Eco for economy and Sports for that extra burst of energy ( petrol).

6. The Harman kardon audio system is voice recognition enabled. You speak, it does all the work itself right from changing AC temp., tracks, radio, reading sms on phone, calling contacts from phone etc.

7. Automatic transmission model has a touch control for the system but it’s a bit stiffy.

8. Design features just wow with Alloy wheels, signature grille, LED tail lamps, Projector head lamps etc.

9. One ground rule- In automatic don’t use the left leg.

10. The brakes are damn powerful, the car stops right at the spot. So be careful whose behind you.

11. All info up visible on the front.

12. The car recognizes your driving style and adjusts accordingly when it comes to throttle and power . That’s what I felt while driving in the automatic mode. I was virtually cruising and the car let the automatic gear stay at that level , no screaming to let me know to increase the power. It sets a pattern for gear shift within a particular range.

13. The steering is responsive.

This experience with the car really zesed up my day.. Now I want an automatic and that too a TATA Zest. It might launch in the 5-7 lakh price bracket .




These pics cant describe the real craziness we did.. :)
40 kms of pure fun :)

Friday, July 25, 2014

Heroes : The dusk of my life




I was once a soldier

Now I only stare at my uniform

I used to jump over obstacles in my path then

Now I need help getting up from my wheelchair

The sound of my thumping boots was music to my ears

Now i have no legs, blown away by a landmine

I was once a soldier

Bullets- my friends and constant companion for life

Turned to be my own death trap when fired into my body

Lodged in my leg and hands, it didnt kill me instantly

It killed me for life- bit by bit

Medics tried their best, saved me, saved my soul but couldnt save my ability to be a soldier once again

I was once a soldier

My colleagues called me yamraj- the incarnation of death for the enemies.

My throwing arm was my biggest asset and pinpoint accuraccy my strength

I used to clear trenches and positions with grenades

I hadn`t thought about the life the other way

Now i have to, after a grenade exploded near me

My life was spared but a sharpnel tore into my leg, leaving me bleeding and helpless

I guess that was a small price to pay in exchange of my life

Now yamraj is the only fond memory left with me as i sit in my chair and watch the sun set.

I was a heavy gunner and the MMG was my baby

It was a fire spewing dragon who brought about a rain of death in the form of burning lead. 

The sound of its firing was lullaby to my ears

Now i cant hear the lullaby as i long for it

I cant hear anything now, gone deaf from the constant sound of it

I miss hearing everything now- the birds chirping, the sound of the trees and especially my children calling me papa

This was a price I had to pay –unknowingly though

I was once a soldier

I didnt fight on land, sky was my playground

I used to travel faster than the speed of sound reigning death from above and supporting my comrades

I cheated death everytime i flew, everytime...untill just this one time

Ejection was my worst fear and it came true

Landed on my back injuring it

Declared medically unfit to fly, I now have a job In the ATC directing young fighter pilots, but I do miss flying the birds

I was once a soldier

Martyrs are treated as heroes

I was treated the same by the people

My family still treates me as a soldier

Only i know i was once a soldier

Despite my handicap I am still proud that i served my country to the best of my ability

Now i cant hold the rifle or take aim

I can now think about the days gone by

Into the dusk of the day

The dusk of my life

The story behind this-

Soldiers are remembered as only either as Martyrs or as heroes back from war. What about the lives of those who become disabled in war and their careers and dreams are cut short??This prose captures just that feeling.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Movie mistimings : A case of 5 movies

Movies – the time when you chill out for few hours leaving all the hustle bustle behind. Its meant to be an entertaining affair but is not the case with me. Me and my friend santosh used to watch movies and some or the other tragedy has been ocurring with us- everytime, every single time. We have been like victims of all goof ups- sometimes of our own making and sometimes inspired by the others. We used to say to each other,

“यह सारी किस्मत अपने साथ ही क्यूँ खराब है ?”.

So come with us as we take you into the flashback of what happened with each and every movies that we saw. 

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost protocol –



So Ethan hunt jumped from the Burj khalifa in the movie and we moved from one seat row to another. The screen at GIP had virtually no light on the stairs near the seats. The row and seat number at the foot were not clearly visible – some were too dim to read, some totally vanished. So by guesswork we occupied the row which we presumed would be ours. Hardly had Tom Cruise got out of jail and onto the street, a group of boys came and claimed their seats. Totally confused we had to call the ticket checker and when he came and saw the tickets, requested us to shift one row up. मतलब की शान्ति से पिक्चर मत देखने दो .

Cocktail-




Yeah, the Saif , deepika starrer which was a hit. Although we used to decide the Sunday movie outing on Saturdays but this one got made at the spur of the hour on Sunday at 9 in the morning. This time Santosh booked the tickets online. The seats were one behind the other at the very front. His was the 1st row from the front and mine was just behind. We were sitting one behind the others. 2-3 girls were sitting to his right. The whole movie passed without any incident ( well almost). It was nearing the climax, a max of some 5-6 mins. Of movie must have been left. The exit doors had been opened by the staff in preparation for the next show. Suddenly a person came into the hall and showing his ticket said to Santosh , “ यह मेरी सीट है ”. I too was confused as the movie was near completeion, all seats were full and there is a person saying that this was his seat. Santosh saw his ticket, even the seat number was correct and then he saw the show time. The man had the ticket for the next show and seeing the doors open, had walked right inside without bothering to check anything. He asked , “ क्या अभी भी चल रही है पिक्चर?”. 

Santosh said, “ हाँ रे , अभी बैठ कर climax देख ले, बाकी picture अपने शो में देख लेना ”.

Fast and furious 6 –




The same incident of MI 4 happened this time too. The only difference that we had to move one row down this time.

Bhaag milkha bhaag –




The one was one epic movie and i wanted to see it anyhow. Due to the hype and positive results from first 2 days, we knew that the tickets would have to be booked fast. Online tickets were booked and it was CSM (centrestage mall) this time as opposed to GIP (full). I had booked the ticket on Bookmyshow and had a feeling that our seats were on the left row after entering the hall. When we finally got there, I had a washout and told santosh to take the right side (same row of 3 seats). The ticket checker hadnt told us, neither he came to check, neither did anybody else. All went smoothly untill the interval when the lights turned on and I saw the seat number. We were at the extreme end of the one alloted. Santosh cursed me saying, 

“ तुझे दिखाई भी नहीं देता क्या ?”. He then asked if we should change now and I declined saying, “न. यहाँ आगे लड़कियाँ हैं, मैं तो सीट नहीं change करने वाला. वहाँ कोई लड़की नहीं है ” . Nobody came to claim and and we watched the superb movie except the goofup on our part. For the first time the movie was so brilliant that I didnt need the motivation sitting in the front seat to sit through the film, it was awesome in itself ( the movie...the girl was awesome nevertheless).

Madras cafe –




Thats forgetfulness and stupidity of epic proportions. Santosh met me at the metro station, I told him GIP. Heading into GIP at leisure and seeing the crowd, I asked him to stand in the queue and get the tickets by handing him an extra printout that I had carried. This time he also hadn`t bothered to look at the printout. I was awaiting my turn at the ticket kiosk to take the tickets. When my turn came, I ran the bar code under the scanner and it told me wrong code. Twice I tried that and on the third time tried entering the code sent through sms to enter it manually. When even that failed, I moved away from the line bewildered and thinking. Each and everytime I use to get the tickets from the kiosk but this time it didnt work. Then I decided to check the printout and saw “ Wave cinemas”. Called Santosh and asked him, “ ओये यह Wave कहाँ है ?”. He said, “ अबे वो तो CSM है. Print दिखा ”. He saw the print and we virually ran. We had only 20 minutes before the show started and that time we were at the top floor of GIP. Imagine that we had to go to the ground floor and cover the distance from GIP to CSM , take the tickets there and get 3 floors up to get access. We ran virtually like mad people, for the first time risking lives by crossing the road from the middle and not taking the FOB ( those who have been to GIP know how fast vehicles move on that road). We ran inside , up to the counter and collected our tickets with Santosh saying, “चूतिया बन गए, पहले पता होता. 

Metro station से direct यहीं आ जाते , परिक्रमा कराना ज़रूरी था क्या तुझे?. बैंड बजते बजते बची. मैं लाइन में खड़ा हो कर counter वाले को CSM का print दिखाता और कहता टिकट दे दो. पूरी दुनिया हँसती. खड़े खड़े comedy show हो जाता ”. We entered the hall with just 1 minute left, panting like we had finished a 400 m race in the time it takes to cover 100 mtr. Now this time there was no goof up in the seats, the goof up with the hall was good enough to bypass all.

So we saw a total of 6 movies together and 5 had goof ups with GI Joe 2 being the only exception. We used to wonder that what is that which makes things go wrong with both of us whenever we go to see movies....believe me, we havent got an answer till now. 

Monday, July 14, 2014

Indiblogger : A phone launch, some memorable moments and utter chaos #IncredibleZen


This time an early morning message on the phone from Rahul was my intimation guide about the latest Indi meet. Although I had an early warning from Anoop after he read my thank you Indi post but simply put I could not decipher it. The day being Wednesday, everybody got into applying for leaves. Do I miss this event??? Not until now. Haven`t missed a single one in Delhi in the past year. All 12 attended, this was the 13th. The venue was different this time – Pragati Maidan. On the day, I got down at the metro station and started my walk towards gate no. 8 (the nearest one) under the assumption that I can find the hall no. 7. So wrong…there was just no entry.. I kept walking and walking in my own version of the Dandi March. In between I was acting as the Google navigation for Dipali, Alok ji, Yogesh bhai, Priyanka Dey. Everyone was asking me on the phone which gate to enter and I was clueless. Just near the National Stadium when I was about to return and ask the policeman near entry 4 the way to entry for hall no. 7, I saw Aditya coming up. You cant imagine the relief a known face brings up at times like these.. Forget all gates, our entry was gate no. 1. I was dead tired in this heat walking all the way from the metro station. The people used to say , “ पास में ही है ” and I was thinking, “ इस पास पास के चक्कर में कहीं मैं दुनिया से ही पार न हो जाऊँ ”. I was dripping in sweat just like I had taken a dip under a waterfall. We saw Nihal at the entrance and then collected our visitor pass tags and thankfully there were shuttle buses available to take to the hall.

Reaching at the venue hall , there was a long line of people for registrations. Took a few minutes to realize that it was a proper launch event where Indi was also a guest here. The people from Asus, media persons, Indi and even other invites. It really looked people in excess of 400. Entering after the registration it was tough to see inside the hall, too blue light and it took me time to adjust to the surroundings. While I got my breath back, knew that the place was not too condusive for point and shoot cameras.


The performance
A dance performance started which was good and then came the host..no it was not Anoop but Rashmi Nigam. Yes she was beautiful but we were so used to see either Nihal or Anoop host events that it seemed a bit different.. plus she spoke little and shouted more.

Rashmi nigam was glowing in a glittering dress
The graphics and animation of Asus seemed like Transformers 5 and indeed the sound effects were the same. I was tweeting to indi to come and take charge asap. In short me and Dipali made life tough for them. Then came the CEO of Asus Mr. Jerry Shen who talked about the company and the Zenphone – its features etc. and then he declared the sales open of the Zenphone in 3 price ranges – Zenphone 4 for 6000, 5 for 10000 and 6 for 17000. The media went crazy for the pics and the tech bloggers too got excited. I get excited only when its an exclusive launch event, when it’s a mix of blogging and phone launch rest be assured that I can forget all about phone.

Arjun kapoor

This time we had a surprise surprise – a celeb. So in came Arjun Kapoor and Dipali sitting besides me went absolutely crazy and bonkers. In full swayamvar mood. She was like all wow, wow, wow. A few more technical people from Asus came and began explaining the tech features and I got busy on twitter with my tweets. After the launch he went away and we all broke for lunch. Vineet got hold of me and told me to relax as the blogging part was yet to start and to go easy on the tweets asking for Indi team. The lunch place was the area where I met all the lot at ease – Alok ji, Our very own Dr. Manoj and family, Tikku ji., the Khandujas, Arsh etc. Be it breaking the line for food or dessert it was really fun. After the food came the demo area for the phones where we just clicked pics. Who cared about the phone? Not me.

The group selfie- a norm with us now
As with all the recent meets and a regular feature now with us there was another group selfie with a min. of 8 people here. After that it was pure craziness with all which I cant define. Only Alok and Poonam vats are the witnesses to what happened there. Back to what we do best the Indi team took over now.
Karthik- the fitness trainer

Karthik came as a fitness trainer and asked us to do moves which only he could do on stage and we couldn`t try in the small space we had. The number game started and dipali got to choose between truth and dare. She got the dare to give her intro in Hindi which was easy. Next was a guy who had to talk in 2 different accents for 30 secs. as a part of a conversation, finding your way back to your seat blindfolded, another no. choosing went for a Zen like pose.

Away the t shirts gooooo
A few people were called up on stage and then they were made to throw some t shirts in the crowd ( damn bad one T shirt went diagonal to my outstretched hand), the throwers were favourable to either the left side or straight. Now the ones who had caught the t shirts were called on stage and made to dance and surprise surprise..Arjun Kapoor is here again and all those winners on stage have a selfie with him and 2 things happen- Dipali goes crazy ( again), I curse beneath my breath at having missed the catch although I am no Jonty Rhodes, but as with my luck at Indi meets I don’t know which way it would turn. The technical team of Asus comes up again on stage one by one and simply me and Dipali, Ankit get into fun making mode so much that Manjulika who was sitting infront of us had to hush us to be quiet. मगर हम कहाँ मानने वाले थे ??

Testing the camera
They call up others to test the camera quality of the Zenphone vs some other phones. After this techno jargon goes on for sometime and when it finally ends, it’s a drink break. Just before it started, Rashmi gave an invitation to people to have a selfie with her. Not to mention that this time the bar was empty and you can easily imagine where would be the crowd.. now who lets go of a beautiful chance? The Asus people were looking for the sale figure of 2.5 mn handsets, had they given one each to every person sitting there, it could have easily taken care of 500 handsets there and then.

The musical band

After the drinks break it was some music by a Mumbai band. Just don’t ask me how it was. Only the Guitar player out of the 3 was playing well, rest two on the console and the tabla were playing less and grooving more to the remix music. In between I had to bear some sarcastic remarks by Prachi and Priyanka dey. Its tough. For a welcome change, Indi put the floor open and we really did discuss that how Blogging / Indi has changed the way lives have changed of bloggers or how has their writing style changed. I wanted to speak but I refrain knowing that I wont be able to put my story in words and would get emotional. My lost catch redeemed itself in a very strange way. There was a twitter contest which has asked bloggers to name the things which can be very well seen in the dark and my tweet won the 2nd runners up prize for being the wrong answer. Surprised?? Even I was that how can it be wrong…maybe it was interpreted in a different way.

My winning wrong tweet

The tweet simply meant that a person can see the way to his room very clearly in the dark when he is returning home late and is drunk so that the family members don’t come to know. So Anoop which way did you understand that?? Wrong or right but what the heck.. I won. At the last meet I had narrowly missed out on a voucher and this time it was redemption – a backpack. Prayag got the phone though. Dipali too had won a backpack for her intro. After a few more mins it was group photo and tata. A few of us stayed back to get some individual pics clicked and I had an individual agenda of my own- I needed a pic with the whole Indi team. It was my payback I was looking forward to. After bidding adieu to my friends and almost instructing Alok ji to take care of Poonam ji ( she had high fever and yet she was there), me and Dipali witnessed what we had not seen before.

Packing up after being mobbed

After collecting our Indi T shirts we witnessed utter chaos coz we were the last ones to take them. The media persons (what media persons if you ask me, looked like some 70 + old clerks in govt offices with a camera), sweepers , waiters etc also lining up to take / snatch their Indi t shirts. It was not theirs and neither they were entitled but भारत में फ्री का माल कौन छोड़ता है ? Swati, Vineet , Nihal and the others were virtually mobbed for t shirts. Only me and Dipali were there with them. No bloody management person from Pragati maidan / ITPO was there to oversee the worker staff. It was a event which got over now why the hell should Indi give T shirts and stuff? Salary नहीं मिलती क्या ? The team was close to being mobbed so Vineet had to quickly put the remaining stuff in a sack and made a headway to a safe spot. That time me and dipali were thinking reinforcements but unfortunately there were no one left. When things got a bit under control, I got my most treasured pic – A group pic with the whole Indi team.


My most memorable pic

So this was the latest meet where Anoop had a bit different fact to state about me to all ... " So here is Shwetabh who has been to all 13 meets, he complains, but still comes". Later on I told Nihal the reason for the same and he must have understood that. Nihal and I had a little chat with regard to Indi and then I was off lost in memories… the 13th in a row.

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

PACH 26 : मेघा रे मेघा रे




तपती धूप में वो ठंडी छाँव जैसा था

रेगिस्तान में किसी भटके मुसाफिर के लिए वो पानी का चश्मा था

कड़कती ठण्ड में वो किसी के लिए रात गुज़ारने की जगह जैसा था

थके हुए मुसाफिर के लिए मंज़िल जैसा था 

ऐसा था वो घर , घर उस मासूम , चुलबुली , एक पैर पर नाचती लड़की का

ऐसी थी मेघा....बस ऐसी ही

जैसे अरसे बाद लौटे मुसाफिर घर अपने वैसे ही मैं लौटा इस आशियाने में

नए लोगों से मिला था, कागज़ कलम का साथ फिर से अच्छा लगा था

चक्रधर बुखार बहुत ज़्यादा था

धर्रे पे चलती ज़िन्दगी को थोड़ा बहुत बदलने की कोशिश भी थी

अपनी फटी चादर में हँसी के पैबंद लगाने बैठ गए


हम ज़िन्दगी जीने के कुछ ढंग बदलने बैठ गए

वो निर्भया का ही दर्द नहीं था , वो आज हर लड़की का डर है

डर सुनसान, अकेली राहों पे चलने का

डर इज़्ज़त और जान बचाने का , डर दूसरी निर्भया न बन जाने का

एक तन्हाई का कोना था, उसमें कुछ तड़प सी भी थी

भागती दौड़ती ज़िन्दगी में एक अकेलापन भी था

एक मिलन की रात भी थी, कुछ अनकही ख्वाहिशों में आवाज़ भी थी 

एक दोस्त भी थी और उसके साथ बितायी ढेर सारी यादें भी थी

अब वो रुखसत हो रही है और एक दोस्त की कमी महसूस हो रही थी


सफर इतना ही था तो क्या , जितना भी था प्यारा ही गुज़रा

एक फौजी की ज़िन्दगी को मौत की कगार पर भी खड़े देखा था

अपने फ़र्ज़ की राह में शहीद होते देखा था

गोलियाँ सिर्फ शरीर ही छलनी कर पायी , रूह तो अभी भी देश की खातिर मुस्तैद थी

ज़िन्दगी बस पलक भर में आँखों के सामने से गुज़र गयी एक झोंके में 

मैंने इश्क़ के मारों को भी देखा था , ताजमहल पर ताला भी देखा था

प्यार के पैगाम को ले जाता कबूतर भी देखा था

नज़दीक से बुढ़ापा भी देखा था , ढलती उम्र में अपनों को दूर होते भी देखा था

कचौरी भी देखी थी और देखा चटोरपना भी था 

Spicy paneer भी देखा था और देखी थी विवेक की बावर्चिगिरी भी


नहीं अच्छी लगती दूसरों की निगाहें तुझ पर 

मैं न हिन्दू , न मुस्लमान था , इंसान बनना ही इकलौता फ़र्ज़ था

धर्म को किनारे रख मानवता ही उद्देश था

एक साल बाद प्रकृति के कहर को याद करते देखा था

ज़िन्दगी और मौत के बीच फ़रिश्ते बन आये उन जवानो को देखा था
एक सर्द रात में कुछ यादों को अपने में समाये देखा था

शरीर को ठण्ड और मन को यादों से लड़ते देखा था 

सन्नाटे से कुछ सवाल करते देखा था

अपनी ख़ामोशी का जवाब सन्नाटे में ढूंढते देखा था 

रात के सोने के तरीके ढूंढ रहा था


जो अपने आगोश में औरों को सुलाये उससे ऐसे जागते रहने का कारण पूछ रहा था

मैं अपने आप से खुद का परिचय करा रहा था

ढूंढ रहा था खुद को खुद से यूँ ही 

मैं अपनी ज़िन्दगी के मायने देख रहा था

मैं गोलगप्पे वाला चटोरपना भी कर रहा था 

कश्मीर में एक सिपाही बन उसको महफूज़ भी कर रहा था 

ढूंढ रहा था मैं उसमें अमन के कुछ पल

मैं जन्नत को जन्नत बनाये रखने के तरीके ढूंढ रहा था

मैं गाँव की उसी पगडण्डी पर चला जा रहा था

मैं उसी मिटटी की महक , उसके पेड़ों की छाँव में खुद को खोता जा रहा था


एक जन्मदिन भी था

एक हीरोइन भी थी, कुछ अपनी तबियत से परेशान भी थी

एक केक भी था और उसके बहुत सारे दीवाने भी थे 

प्यार के पकोड़े तले मैंने खट्टी मीठी नोकझोक के तेल में

वो शिकायतें करती रही और मैं उससे उतना ही इश्क़ ग़ालिब की गलियां में भी घूमा था

वो उड़ती धूल , उस खुशनुमा हवा को भी महसूस किया था

बस उस गली में ही बस जाने का मन था

एक दीवानी सी लड़की भी थी, मुझे उससे प्यार भी था

वक़्त गुज़रता गया, वो इश्क़ महसूस करने लगी और मैं डरने लगा 

बस इतनी सी ही कहानी थी, यही था PACH

मेघा का PACH