The lost comics legacies - #Mycomics

Comics- The dinosaurs of today which I grew up reading. Graphic novels might be a rage today along with the digital ones but what I miss most are those comics of yesteryears. I miss holding those ones now. Slowly slowly many of the known names have finished and stopped while the still existing ones have gone super expensive and in comparison the western counterparts have gone really cheap second hand.

So let me take you back into the world where I feel that these comics should be making a comeback / wide circulation at cheaper costs. There is no definite criteria and the names here can be character wise / comics wise or publication house wise.

1. Diamond comics – Chacha Chaudhary

Every child`s first and favourite comics of the 1980s decade ( and much before maybe, I was born before that :p ). These were what you call as the holy grail, bible, quran, gita etc. of the entertainment and comics world. I grew up on tons of dose of the super computer Chacha Chaudhary , the vegetarian eating dog Raaket , the ever nagging chachi “ Binni”, the protective alien “Sabu” who always had a mountain of puris in his plate, the ever scheming Gobar singh and his sidekick Dhamaka Singh who never got one plan right to get rid of him. It was a simple man`s world with no violence except for the issues with the nemisis Raaka. 

2. Pinki

The cute little mischivious girl who is always upto something with her pet squirrel Kutkut and more than fed up neighbor Jhatpat ji ( secondly her own grandpa). She is the Indian version of Dennis the menace for me and somewhat like the Amul girl who has not grown up.

3. Billoo

“ The teenager whose eyes have never been seen”. This has been the biggest and the most frequent complaint of the readers all over the years. He has his own nemisis – Bajrangi pahalwan and 303 ( his girlfriend Jozi`s father). Sometimes I wonder that he is the classic case of लंगूर के मुँह में अंगूर because Jozi is soooooo pretty. Sometimes he is found with Pinky and sometimes both of them have an appearance with Chacha ji. 

The creator of these characters the legendary Pran Sahab was an epic man in itself. The respect he commanded was overwhelming to say the least. The first and last time I ever met him was at comics con 2014 in delhi. The whole crowd waited with baited breath for his arrival and when he did came on stage, all the 100 + stalls became deserted as the people flocked to the stage to see the legend himself talk. That was the power of this man who gave generations of people lovable characters. As of now I have noticed that not many new issues of these characters are released since the demise of Pran sahab. The number of pages have reduced and the single issues too have gone quite expensive with 50 bucks a issue. In the 1990s they were just 6 bucks. 

Although there are a host of other characters too but these are my favourite.

4. Manoj Comics

As far as my knowledge, they have closed down now. Two characters from here were my favourite- Hawaldar bahadur and Ram Rahim. Manoj comics ventured into the action genre of comics just like its counterpart Raj Comics. Hawaldar bahadur, the constable who was always the eager policeman to set things right with his pet dialogue, “ हवालात में बंद करके सड़ा दूंगा “. Ram Rahim were the actionised Indian hardy boys who took part in all the action to save the world or the country from any crisis. 

5. Lotpot

Forget about the new digital televised over the top animation programme on tv. I am talking about the time when in the late 80s and early 90s it used to come as a black and white comics with only a few coloured pages. We had the stupid Sheikhchilli at the very start and the counterpart of Chacha chaudhary in lotpot- Gyaani ji. at the very last. The general stories in between were also very good, sometimes jungle stories, thrillers and a wide range. I talk about Lotpot and do not mention the 4 characters? How can that be? Welcome Motu Patlu, Dr. , Papita and the मुझे 20 साल का तजुर्बा है Ghaseetaram. These were the first ones I used to read when I got my hands on any new issue and it costed only 2 bucks back then.. The new current gen Lotpot lacks the old time charm and seems more commercialized with so many ads.

6. Suman Saurabh

I don’t know who published it but now I don’t see it at any stall. The last time I saw it was probably some 14-15 years back. It was a refreshing change back then and I loved it contents although its hard to remember the characters now.

7. Nanhe Samraat

Way back in 92-93 it was the new kid on the block for me. The sketches in the stories looked pro. There were different and looked like they were made by professionals. Two series always had me hooked to the forthcoming issues. One was about the quests of Prince Salim who got down to drink water at a particular " तिलस्मी नदी " and some tree would stop him and narrate his tale and how he/she can become a human again. Off the prince went into the world of magic potions, spells to free that person… and the quests continued. They were so interesting that the stories completed in 2 issues. 

Another was Inspector Vijay who nabbed criminals with ingenious methods. I loved this comics.

8. Raj Comics

This one is still there . All thanks to its star studded star cast of Nagraj, Super Commando Dhruv, Tirangaa, Parmanu and the likes. The Indian counterparts of the Avengers and much more. I used to read Nagraj and Dhruv in the beginning but somehow lost track of all. My interests in Raj were limited to finding about the romance of the lead pairs later on.. Whom did Nagraj marry? Did Dhruv marry Natasha- the daughter of his enemy Grand Master Robo (who looked to me like Doc Terror from the cartoon “ Centurions”) ? Who was the ladylove of Doga? Did he propose to her? Did Dhruv ever came to know the truth about the real identity of his sister Shweta? 

9. Champak

The Hindi mag is still cute as before and still available.

10. Hardy Boys

I don’t know whether to call them as comics or novels? I really don’t know how to categorise them at all. My tryst with them started in school alongwith the famous five and even after decades I am on the lookout for the old issues at really cheap prices. By luck I do find them at book fairs at second hand prices like some 20 bucks for an issue and in comparison to that diamond comics have gone expensive on 50.

If given the possibililty that a lot of the dead comics publications can be resurrected, I would love to read them all again which includes a lot of other ones which I have heard that they were very popular in their prime ( tulsi comics, Madhu muskaan etc. ). Give me a month`s leave and all the comic issues published uptill now and I can finish them all. 

Written as part of Indiblogger Indispire topic,

“ Comics are something we all loved during childhood but now in the digital age many have closed down. Which ones were the ones you loved or if got a chance to read them, would love to have them again? #Mycomics”

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Music : I crossed the Indian music boundary in search of music #musicbringslife

Music – Something which acts as a stressbuster for all but now I feel that it has gone past its prime. Ask any Indian music lover and most would still term the yesteryear`s music adorned by known names such as Mohd. Rafi, Kishore Kumar, KL Saigal, Lata Mangeshkar etc. I am sure that south Indian movies must also be having such legends ( I am currently unaware of any names due to 0 knowledge about the music there). The only name I am am very well aware is  SP Balasubramaniyam who voiced Salman in many years. 

Had this question been raised quite a few years back that which kind of music soothes me, I would have been dumbfounded without any reason but now I can say that which kind of music soothes me. It is mostly English now. Before you term me as another of the “ Angrezi” gen. here is what not there in Hindi music now so as to soothe my mind. Leaving aside the classical movie music , the current lot is bleh to say the least. There is not a movie which has songs which are all good, now the focus is just on 1-2 songs which become chartbusters and the singers become stars because of that. I cant remember any album which I purchased lately because of all of its songs (no downloading, the real purchase). The singer and music director combo which I am used to liking doesn’t work together now (Sonu Nigam and Shankar Ehsaan Loy) or for even that matter Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu etc. You can say that the music was good only till 2000-2002 then it got to selective melodious songs being created. 

The Indipop scene is really dead now with only few selected names around . Kumar Sanu`s Tera mera pyaar was awesome too. I know I had my daily fix of shaan`s Tanha dil for years on end. I grew up listening to Junoon`s Sayonee, Euphoria`s Maaeri , Aryaans and others. Years back I heard Parikrama for the 1st time, they were good. Even today when I get time I listen to Strings (the Pakistani band) and their old and melodious compositions.. They did wonders with the songs for the movies Spiderman, Zinda and something equally melodious and along those lines was Sanam`s song Main hoon for Amazing Spiderman 2. I longe for that kind of music now which cant be found. Don’t name Honey singh for me.

Ghazals – the next best thing which I love whole as a music category. I love listening to Jagjit Singh and Talat Aziz. Sajda was the first ghazal album I loved like crazy and since then I have gone backwards in exploring that genre. Years back radio city used to air a programme by a anchor called Karan Singh who used to run ghazals and I used to love that ( before love guru started as its replacement). Ghazals performed live / in concerts seem more melodious to me than elsewhere. For me the song, “ Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar” from the movie Arth performed by Jagjit Singh in Albert Hall in Australia is much much more melodious than the movie version. That’s why I love the performance versions of classical songs and ghazals.

The Hindi music section stops here. For english my favourites go into Rock music. My favourite band is the Finland one “ Poets of the Fall”. The main culprit for this has to be the hit game Max Payne and the now epic song “ Late Goodbye” . I was addicted to it and then went through some more songs. Another band has to be Linkin Park due to their song and music appearances in transformers. I have discovered more bands this way and still continuing. I watch movies and if I find some melodious song by a singer, I discover more about the rest of the songs. Recently discovered Demi Lovato when I listened to her song “ Let it go” from the movie Frozen. 

Another category which is my absolute favourite is what you call as Electronica. Its truly wow. I heard “ Dualistic Inquiry” and his hit track Isoterra and was literally blown away by that. Dualistic Inquiry is my fav. in this category. Electronica probably gives me the melody I look for. 

As you can see that I have ventured to this side of the music border now and I am really discovering and soothing my mind with the various genres of music. One fact remains the same- my mind auto detects the melody within the first 10 secs. If I feel some melodious connect, I listen to it otherwise its move on the next song / genre. 

Care to suggest me something along these genres???

Written as part of Indiblogger`s Inspire topic, " No one can hate music as it uplifts your mood accordingly. Which genre or one is your favourite? You can dediacte the post to a form or an artist too. #MusicBringsLife "

आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है.

This poem tries to capture the love of every couple who have been married for years now and also the feelings when they grow old. Experience as both the husband and wife speak out their love, emotions implying that they both understand the mischiefs of each other .. Its basking in the warmth of the winter sun with the one you truly love ... at any time of the day or night because आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है.

  

आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है

इस ठण्ड में तुम्हारा हाथ थामे बैठा रहना अच्छा लगता है

वो हाथ जिन्हें बरसों पहले एक रात थाम कर एक नयी ज़िन्दगी शुरू की थी

न जाने क्यूँ बस तुम्हें यूँ ही बाहों में भर लेने का मन है ... बस यूँ ही

कभी कभी ऐसा करने की कोई वजह मालूम नहीं पड़ती , बस दिल करता है

वो तुम्हारा आज भी झूठमूठ नाराज़ हो झगड़ पड़ना मुझसे, मगर दिल ही दिल मेरे मनाने का इंतज़ार करना – अच्छा लगता है

वो आज भी रात में तुम्हारा मेरी बाहों का तकिया बनाकर सो जाना – अच्छा लगता है 

वो तुम्हारी आँखों में आज भी अपने लिए अनकहे प्यार को ढूंढना – अच्छा लगता है 

वो तुम्हारा आज भी मुझे सुबह जगाने से पहले जी भर कर देखना – अच्छा लगता है 

वो तुम्हारा आज भी अपने गीले बालों को मेरे चेहरे पर छू कर जगाना – अच्छा लगता है 

वो तुम्हारा रोज़ रोज़ शर्ट के बटन टांकने के बहाने बाहों में आ जाना – अच्छा लगता है, और रोज़ इस बहाने को महसूस करने के लिए मेरा चुपके से खुद ही बटन तोड़ देना मुझे अच्छा लगता है 

वो तुम्हारी कुछ नासाज़ तबियत में भी “ मैं ठीक हूँ” कह कर काम करते हुए, अन्दर बसे प्यार को तलाशना – अच्छा लगता है 

आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है

वो आज भी गुलाब मिलने पर तुम्हारा मुस्कुरा कर “ हटो जी, बूढ़े हो रहे हो तुम और अभी भी मोहब्बत सूझ रही है?” कहना - अच्छा लगता है 

वो चल न पाने पे तुम्हें बाहों में उठा लेना – मुझे अच्छा लगता है 

जिसने पूरा घर अपने कन्धों पे उठा रखा है , उसे पल दो पल का आराम देना – मुझे अच्छा लगता है 

तुम्हारे साथ पूरी ज़िन्दगी काट लेने का एहसास बयान नहीं होता

उम्र के इस पड़ाव पे आकर पीछे मुड़कर गुज़रे सालों को देखना .... एक अनकहा एहसास है

वो आज भी ठण्ड में निकली धूप की गर्माहट में तुम्हें बैठे देखना – अच्छा लगता है

इस बुढ़ापे में भी डरती आँखों से तुम्हारा सवाल , “ तुम आज भी मुझसे प्यार करते हो न ? – अच्छा लगता है 

अच्छा लगता है तुम्हारा प्यार , तुम्हारे डर, सब अज़ीज़ लगते हैं मेरे को

आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है

यूँ ही तुम्हारा मुझे बाहों में लेना अच्छा लगता है .

हर चीज़ की वजह हो ही , यह ज़रूरी तो नहीं 

वो तुम्हारे मनाने तक मुझे झूठमूठ गुस्से का दिखावा करना – मुझे अच्छा लगता है

रात में तुम्हारी बाहों में सोकर , तुम्हारी धड़कन सुनना - मुझे अच्छा लगता है

मेरे अनकहे प्यार को तुम्हें मेरी आँखों में ढूंढते देखना मुझे अच्छा लगता है

गीले बालों से छेड़ कर तुम्हें सुबह जगाना – मुझे अच्छा लगता है

चुपके से तुम्हें खुद ही रोज़ शर्ट के बटन तोड़ते देख कर अपनी हंसी मुश्किल से रोक पाना मुझे अच्छा लगता है 

मेरी नासाज़ तबियत में तुम्हारा बेचैन हो जाना अच्छा नहीं लगता मगर उसके पीछे छुपे प्यार को देखना अच्छा लगता है 

आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है

अब भी गुलाब दे कर अपने प्यार का इज़हार करने का तुम्हारा अंदाज़ मुझे आज भी अच्छा लगता है 

मेरी फटी एड़ियों के दर्द के आगे मुझे तुम्हारी अपनी बाहों का मल्हम देना , मुझे अच्छा लगता है

तुम्हारे साथ पूरी ज़िन्दगी काट लेने का एहसास मेरे लिए किसी जन्नत से कम नहीं 

बुढ़ापे में मेरी डरती आँखों के सवाल किसी भी आम औरत की ही तरह सवाल करते हैं तुमसे

अच्छा लगता है आज भी तुम्हारा बेंतेहा प्यार देख कर 

आज ठण्ड कुछ ज्यादा है और धूप अच्छी है

ज़िन्दगी के हर पड़ाव पर ....... तुम्हारे साथ

Valentines Day: My love story - You need to say to her everyday #IGPValentinesDay

Valentines Day – The day when cupids strike couples worldwide. Contrary to what others may say about expressing your love and feelings at any time of the year and not just wait for Valentines. This day has its own importance for everyone – the boy and the girl. Every girl wants to be wooed on that day and boys also make sure that they turn this particular day really special for their special one, coz whatever you do, expressing the emotion that you love them come what may, is important. 

So for the first time I would try to share my own love story so that you can also see that how much special this day is for me. Names and places would be changed to protect identities. This is a very small incident which I don’t really know whether would interest you or not but it would really make sure that you try to understand that love really is in its most literal meaning. 

I had a tough time in my love life, Neha (name changed) was my batchmate from school. We kind of drifted away after school but years back due to higher studies we came into contact with each other (coincidence). As time passed and we got talking, I felt that I really love her being around me, dismissing the feelings to be not more than infatuation in the beginning but when this thing really persisted and did not fade away , I had to admit it that I loved this girl. I was sure of my feelings, she wasn’t because she had the thinking that how can someone love her, I deserved maybe someone more good and beautiful. It was not a game and I refused to relent making my thinking made known to her that I love her irrespective of how she looks. I was posted in a different city due to job and she was here in my hometown. Only I knew how much I missed her everyday, she was my addiction. All this while I understood that once you truly love a person all other things become secondary. One year on valentines day, I decided to see her. None of the families knew of the relationship so sending her valentines day gifts was out of the question but she would not have liked me rushing meet her (she was against unnecessary expenses). So I did the craziest thing I could do then, I booked to and fro flight tickets for myself and flew down to my hometown on valentines day. Told my family members that I had come for some official work and in the evening went to Neha`s locality. 

Kept a safe distance so that she might not see me and neither wanted her family to see me ( they knew that I was her friend but I did not wanted to be in a situation where I might have to disclose to neha that why I came to see her). Parking my vehicle away from being sighted it was a sight to behold when she came out to the garden. I just could not get my eyes away from her. So wanted to run then and hold her in a tight hug never wanting to let her go, I knew how much I controlled myself. I started smsing her telling how beautiful she was looking, kind of running commentary and it was even fun when she was looking around all baffled, phone to her ears trying to spot me. Playing that teasing game was much fun to me that day. That was probably the best valentines I could have asked for. My hope to see her on that day fulfilled in the most awesomest way. I caught the early morning flight and went back. I had come just to see her and I fulfilled the promise I made to myself. It didnot matter to me that how much i had spent just to see her that day, all it mattered to me was that I did. Years later when I shifted to my hometown, I used to pick her up from her office. Every moment waiting for her, searching that smiling face from the crowd was unbearable. It seemed then that there were probably thousands of needles piercing my heart every second of the wait.

These small things made me realize that you do not need a Valentines day on 14th feb. only to say to her that you love her, you need to do it 24x7x365. You need a Valentines everyday to show it to her. If you can tell why you love her, it`s not love… if you can`t tell, then its love. You cant list down why you love someone, words and emotions always fall short when it comes to that stage. Everyone has his/ her ways of expressing love and you must do it to the best of your ability…some find solace in expressing it through words, some need gifts…

I could express my love in words, if you feel that you say that more easily with gifts then you need to have a look here this valentines day http://valentinesday.indiangiftsportal.com/

There comes a person in everyone`s life for whom that person can smilingly go down on one knee and propose…make sure you treasure that person for life…for love comes to only select few. 

Online shopping और चवन्नी अठन्नी का हिसाब किताब

*इस पोस्ट का किसी के भी promotion से कोई लेना देना नहीं है,  आपका मन करें तो इस्तेमाल करें नहीं तो कोई ज़बरदस्ती नहीं *

इस ऑनलाइन शॉपिंग ने तो पक्का मुनीम बना कर रख दिया है. इसमें 3 किरदार हैं जिन्होंने ऐसा बना दिया है – Cashkaro.com, Paytm,  Freecharge. बात 2014 की है जब पहली बार मेरा सामना Cashkaro से हुआ था. तब जुड़ने के 25/- मिल रहे थे. पहले सोचा था की यह भी ऐसा वैसा ही कुछ निकलेगा , मिलेगा कुछ नहीं खरीदने के बाद. मगर हम भी खरीददारी करते गए और चवन्नी अठन्नी रुपया कैशबैक मिलता गया. जब पहली बार पैसा बैंक अकाउंट में आया तो लगा , “ अबे यह तो सच में देता है “. बाकी sites ने सौतन की तरह ज्यादा % का लालच दे कर इससे मेरा पत्ता काटने की कोशिश की मगर हम भी कमबख्त पहले प्यार वाली माशूका की तरह चिपके हुए हैं . मोबाइल रिचार्ज पे ज्यादा पैसा बचाने के चक्कर में हम भटकते हुए paytm पहुँच गए. कुछ साईट पहले भी इस्तेमाल कर रहे थे मगर उनपर ऑफर्स उतने नहीं आते थे, जो भी आते थे वो App पे होते थे और वो हमें पसंद नहीं. Cashkaro से जब उसपर एक % हर बार वापस मिल रहा था तो कहीं और क्यूँ जाते ? Paytm का ऑफर कोड लगा पैसा वापस लेते और ऊपर से Cashkaro से भी लेते. 

आज हालात यह है की रिचार्ज वाले दिन मुनीम की तरह बही खाता खोल कर बैठ जाते हैं और गणित शुरू हो जाती है. उसी वक़्त मेरे अन्दर फिल्म  “दिल” के अनुपम खेर की कंजूस आत्मा आ जाती है. कितना रिचार्ज  करना है, कितना साईट पे पहले से अकाउंट में पड़ा है , ऑफर से कितना कम होगा, Cashkaro से पैसा मिलने के बाद कितना पड़ेगा इसका हिसाब शुरू हो जाता है. अब चूँकि हर साईट पे अलग अलग % मिलता है तो गणित का हिसाब “ चवन्नी अठन्नी ” में पहुँच जाता है. Freecharge कभी कभी बहुत ज्यादा भी वापस देता है मगर नखरे भी बहुत करता है तो हिसाब वहाँ भी गड़बड़ हो जाता है . अभी हाल में ही इन्टरनेट रिचार्ज के हिसाब में freecharge से रिचार्ज इसलिए कराया क्यूंकि paytm के 649/-  मुकाबले मुझे net effect में 648/- ही देने पड़ रहे थे. देखा “ चवन्नी अठन्नी” का हिसाब ? Cashkaro ने आदत इतनी खराब कर दी है की अब तो घर वालो का बिल पेमेंट भी उसी के द्वारा करता हूँ. 

जब घर वाले पूछते हैं तो “ दुकान वाला आपको कौनसा 1/- का भी डिस्काउंट देगा ” उनकी बोलती बंद कर देता है. मुनीम जी वाला काम तो  आगे भी चलता रहता है. Cashkaro पे transaction ट्रैक करना पड़ता है, कुछ गड़बड़ मिली तो उनकी जान खानी पड़ती है... मतलब की मैंने तो 30-30 पैसे के कैशबैक तक के लिए हंगामा किया है. वैसे सच कहूं तो हंगामा करने की ज़रुरत नहीं पड़ती. Cashkaro पे एक लड़की है customer support के लिए, एक tweet करो और मामला फ़ौरन सुलट जाता है, नहीं तो फ़ौरन फ़ोन करके खुद ही मदद कर देती है. अब ऐसा फ़ौरन जल्दी वाला support मिलेगा तो कौन कहीं और जाएगा ? ( माना की वैलेंटाइन वीक चल रहा है मगर इस लाइन को पढ़ कर आपको जो विचार आ रहे हैं उन्हें गोली मार दो, पता नहीं क्या क्या सोचते रहते हो ?) 

इस चव्वनी अठन्नी अभियान का यह मतलब है की अभी हाल में ही मेरी एक दोस्त ने Cashkaro के द्वारा खरीददारी शुरू की है. अब तो वो भी चव्वनी अठन्नी वापस ले कर हिसाब लगाती रहती है की उनको बोलना पड़ता है की अगर कभी बाज़ार से सामान खरीदने जाओ तो दुकानदार से सामान लेने के बाद यह मत कह देना “ कैशबैक भी तो दो अब”. 

बाकी लोग ऑनलाइन शॉपिंग सहूलियत, वक़्त बचाने के लिए करते हैं मगर हम क्या करें, हमारे अन्दर तो लगता है जैसे अनुपम खेर की दिल वाली आत्मा परमानेंटली ही बस गयी है ... 

हाय रे यह कैशबैक ....

WOW - Nobody knows that I...

Nobody knows that I have a few secrets which very select people know, people whom I can very easily count on my one finger…yep just one finger, coz its that much private.

So lets start with the very light hearted one.. even before I knew what scrapbooks were all about they made their foray into my life in a very innovative and different way. I have the habit of keeping news articles/ photos which I like, with me forever. The very first photo I had been carrying with me was from an old india today magazine way back in 1988-89 when I was a kindergarten kid. It was the photo of a MIG 29. I always knew that I kind of somewhat loved fighters but until my late teens could not fully understand that it was my passion. I had accumulated a lot of “ raddi kabaad” (waste paper) that way. I used to keep the whole newspaper section in which any defence news or pic used to come. Very soon I ran out of storage space so I resorted to cut down that particular news and keep that. The rest of the useless paper could go into the raddi and now I could very easily store my articles in a file. I did not knew how would I store them until the bolt from the blue happened…

I had an article about the Indian Sukhoi 30 with me ( the very 1st generation ones, not the later MKI ones) and one day I just lost it. Just could not find it anywhere in the file, must have slipped out of it and gone into the morning broom cleaning. That got me thinking that I just could not afford any more “losses”. I needed permanent solution and that’s when I decided to stick them on A 4 size sheets. I did not want any wastage due to this new hobby so it was decided that I would use the blank backside of the wasted papers churning out from my printer ( I had a bundle of them. Save paper, save environment). Instead of fully pasting the whole article by glue, only 4 drops were applied to every article, one on each corner and pasted on one paper. Now they were beginning to look organized. Articles and cutting were in various sizes and shapes. If the article/ pic was small, it was checked against every ready sheet to see if it can be pasted on the leftover space in that sheet, otherwise a new rough sheet was put to use. For articles bigger than a single sheet, 2 sheets or more were joined by cello tape just like the pages of a book. The success of this keeping meant that I started on a few more sections- Nature ( pics of nature , cute birds or landscapes in newspapers), Misc. ( any interesting offbeat news) and my most fav. actresses- until the arrival of Katrina, it was preity zinta but she was replaced in 2003 by Katrina since her movie “ Humko deewana kar gaye” with Akshay. 

Arranging for waste A4 sheets, specific cello tape (only the one by Prime and no one else) and glue meant that it all required a lot of planning and concentration. It was my way of mediating and when I did that work, I met no one. Over the years time constraint means that I cannot pursue my this “ सनकी “ hobby regularly but even then I have many envelopes with cut out articles of defence and pics of kartina ready which need to be pasted. No picture is used twice, I know which ones I had. What started as a mission became a passion. My parents have a hint that maybe I keep all of them in different files in my bookshelf but they dare not touch it because they know that if even one page goes missing , it would be a nuclear holocaust for all.

The very first paper from my collection...notice that

        zigzag cutting ? (thats since time immortal) That piece is

             with me since 1989 when I couldnt handle scissors properly.. 

There are a lot of blogger friends who read my poems and ask me but I always sidestep the particular question about the real inspiration behind the love and emotions I pen down in those. Nobody knows that there is a real girl behind all that I write, every emotion I have ever written. I lost her (don’t ask me how) and even after all these years I am unable to forget her, nightmares come to me on a daily basis, don’t know what sound sleep means. I wrote for years about her, some 1.5 years at a stretch but left writing poetry all of a sudden in 2014, the pain was too much and her memories even more. People say that my future wife would be lucky to get me as I am caring, romantic ( glaring misconceptions if you ask me). Pain and deep scars have meant that I am not the same as I used to be… I am an extreme person now, more so towards the cold hearted one. I can never explain to anyone what she is to me, all I can is that there is someone who is keeping me just the way I am. Nobody knew it before but there is an “angel” and her memories behind every thing I write even till today…

Nobody knew that…nobody ever would have…not until today… 

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

We are bloggers...

Some lines by me written years back which attempt to break the stereotype thinking others have for us bloggers. Its a community in itself which laughs, shares together and also comes together in times of need.

We are a different set of people.

Each one with his/her special skill.

Proudly call ourselves bloggers.

The world jokingly thinks us to be mad.

The rest think of us as currency minting machines.

We take it all in our stride.

It looks just a useless way of typing and staring at the computer for long periods to the others.

But its never easy.

Its not easy to pen down your thoughts and emotions.

Its not easy to make a career out of it.

Its not easy to make money out of it.

But we still do it, still do it for our passion.

The passion to think of things and to share them.

The passion to let things flow as they come to the mind.

The passion to be the change to the society.

The passion to belong to a community called bloggers.

We are not mad, not any printing press by any means..

We are just humans.

Humans that have a heart too.

Blogging is just another aspect of our passion.

There are instances when there are causes much greater than this passion.

At those instances, we come together irrespective of our physical distances.

Then this passion becomes a medium of help.

Help just like any member would get from his family.

His “blogger” family.

Coz each and every member is special.

Special in its own way.

We are the blogger family....

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