Banter Battery

I received this mail today... and I couldn't stop myself from sharing it .. Spectacle time.

He had been walking for hours. He almost stumbled over a child; lying there covered in blood with missing limbs.Bile rose in his throat; he indulged. He knew he had no energy left to even puke anymore. Yet he dragged himself to walk on.He had to.. somehow. He had to get away from all this...

Yesterday when he returned from his shift and browsed for more than an hour before finally giving in to sleep, he had not even dreamed of having to face a day like this. And that too the very next day..

He didn't know what actually woke him - the loud noise or the cries or the pain that shot through his body or the eerie feeling of fear he had never experienced before. When senses returned to him, they did so with a lot of pain. He could feel blood gush out of his ears and saw a broken bone protruding out of his left hand with blood and flesh exposed. That was when he first threw-up that day.

He tried to compose himself. He looked around. What he saw, he could never have believed. There were no homes, no vehicles on the usually busy roads and not even roads to be seen.. All that could be seen was debris - concrete, dust, carcass and blood. For once, he couldn't stand the crimson color. He had always loved to see his love wearing crimson colored dresses.

He ran, as fast as he could. He must see her. Hoping she was unhurt, he had run. He had ran for hours and on the way all he had seen was destruction and death. He had stopped just enough to let the vomit escape before running on and on again. The few people who were alive like him, were in tears over their lost ones. Some refused to leave the shattered body parts of their family, some could not even cry.

But he couldn't find her house. With all this debris and the usual landmarks not to be seen, he couldn't even be sure this was the place where she lived. Something within him told him that he had lost her. He had lost the one who had loved him the most. He wished he had called her yesterday, he wished he could just hear her voice.

He thought about his parents. They were with his pregnant sister in the Gulf country. He wondered how vast this destruction was. He hoped they were fine, but he had no way of knowing. No TV's anywhere, he never got to retrieve his smart phone, no computer, no internet . He didn't even know if the Third World War had started and this was its resultant or if this was just another terrorist attack where his city got targeted. He didn't know why he survived...

He wanted to lie down somewhere. He wanted to stop the pain growing inside him. He wanted to nurse his hand which had become numb with pain. He wanted the flies to leave his wounded arm alone. He wanted to turn deaf to the wails of cries around. He wanted to eat.

He couldn't believe how among all this he could feel so hungry and so desperate for food. Yet he had to. He walked on and on. Looking for someplace he would get something to eat. He remembered all that food he dumped casually in the office canteen's waste basket because it was too salty or less spicy or just not interesting enough. He remembered ordering more than he could eat at restaurants and without regret binning them. He wished he could have a morsel from them now..just a morsel.

He knew he had walked out of city limits when he saw fields. He felt happy. There would be something to eat. But even the fields were destroyed. Then he saw a partially destroyed paddy field. Yet he felt defeated, it was recently farmed, it was not even near ripe. But hunger gripped him and he knew his life depended on it.

He fell on his knees and struggling to keep his left hand out of the way, he uprooted each blade of paddy with his nails and fingers. He found a grain of sprouted rice on its end. He split it open to find a white thing within. He scraped and ate it.It was hardly enough for him to even taste it. Yet he kept on repeating it. He dug with his fingers on the hard ground, scraped the mud till his nails and fingers were bruised & bleeding - for each unharmed grain in the fields.. With every grain, his eyes filled up with tears...



When he woke up his heart beats were abnormally slow. He panicked. He looked around. Everything was intact. It took several minutes before he could convince himself that it was a dream.


But he could never again live like he did till the day before. He could never forget that dream. He could never shake off all that he felt in the dream. He could never again take life and its blessings for granted. He grew to value what he had. His life would never be the same...


There was one question that drove him to live a new life, more than anything else : "What if the dream came true???" In today's world it is not an impossible thing. In fact many fellow human beings might have actually gone through worse..


Till he lived, his every action was haunted with the question, What if... ; yet it only brought him happiness and an odd sense of fulfilled living...

OK! am back to posting. The doc says no more need for injections ( **hurrraaaayy**) but since I let the cold and cough come into me and stay for soo long, it will take time to drive them off (something like encroachment thingy)..the pills and cough syrup manage to leave me half drowsy all the time and yet at night, I have trouble sleeping;once I sleep, I have trouble getting up...  So whatever be the technical realities, your GET WELL SOON wishes have paid off, am actually feeling better. In the meantime, Supriya tagged me with the "10 Thingy Tag" which happens to be her third tag, and my third tag in a row too..

1. Jokes [yeah am that predictable :) ]
2. Kids and Pets [same degree, so same number]
3. Meeting or talking to Manu.
4. Books ;especially if someone else gifts them to me (in short - getting what I love without spending for it)
5. Bruno (he makes me feel glad to have come back home ;every single day without fail)
6. humor in blogs of my blog pals, to mention a few, Sorcerer , Alice, Blunt Edges, ..... (I mean there are loads;and in some way or the other most of the blogs that I follow make me feel like smiling or happy that am following them )
7. Seeing my parents lovingly play pranks at each other(especially Dad), fight over it, laugh over it - subtly without ever saying they love each other, making the feeling evident.
8. Remembering my childhood and past days and incidents
9. Being at grandma's place with all those fields, trees to climb, cousins to play & loiter around with, guarding the fields with tin cans(yeah, granma thinks we are more effective than scarecrows)
10. my guy's calls (mentioned last but not at all the least-infact the daily dose comes from this point)

10 things that I just don't have the guts to do

1. Shake hands with height; it terrifies me. I remember being the only person on the crazy swing(they call it Space Gun) in Veega Land (an Amusement Theme Water Park in Kerala) who did not scream my guts out when the swing hung upside down, holding each with a belt around  waist which threatened to break any moment and the rest of the body dangling 18.5 meters above ground. Oh, not because I wasn't scared, I think I was momentarily dead. (Psst:  I got onto the ride because I felt ashamed of saying that am scared of height)
2. Catch a cockroach (I remember paying guys in school for each cockroach they caught and brought for me to be used in Zoology practical classes)
3. Kill anything - be it insects, cockroach, spiders,snake,whatever -even mosquitoes (It irks my parents to see me shoo away any mosquito sitting and drinking up my blood.)
4. Engage in verbal fight with my parents. I react in other ways - moving out of the room, acting as if am deaf, not coming out of my room at all, keeping myself locked up in my room (I do so, 'cos I always felt that it angers my parents more if we speak back or talk to them trying to make them understand that they are wrong; but somehow my silence too irks my parents ... Gosh!!! they can be difficult, at times)
5. Go for a movie to a theater alone.
6. Drive a four wheeler on the NH.
7. Adopt a child (though am in love with the gesture, want to do it with all my heart, but I won't have my parents support and haven't got the guts to speak to my guy about it yet)
8. Take a lift from a stranger - no matter how urgent the situation be.
9. Sweet talk. Its a facade I cannot carry; I have to feel good about you to be good to you, I cannot do anything for doing sake, no matter how much I try. I end up feeling miserable and eventually they'd know if I don't like them (If I like them, they'll keep guessing - Its hard for me to emote my love in words)
10. Break my dreams or cross over anyone else's dreams for anything in the world.

Now, that I have realised that not all my blogger friends cherish having a tag, I keep it open. If I am a follower of your blog, I award you this tag. If you haven't already have it and do not have a problem doing it, you are heartily welcome to take it up.

*Cheers & Peace

1. Bomkesh Bakshi - our very own Indian Sherlock Holmes.
2. Wonder Years (though I saw the downloaded version recently)
3. Friends ( have seen just the first season, need to get hold of the rest and watch them too -again the downloaded version)
4. Tom & Jerry ( phhbbtttt if you laugh at this)
5. NDTV 24/7
6. Boogie - Woogie (long time back- don't know if that show exists now or not)
7. Texavery
8. Madart at Pogo 

1. Zero Degree - The ultimate ice cream destination
2. Papa Panchu or its new avatar "Zabardast" -it keeps me closer to the North Indian dishes I grew up eating.
3. Zam Zam - for Shavai Chicken /Grilled Chicken
4. Ambrosia -for the pastries, cakes and Club Sandwich
5. Barista -college time hangout for some gud creamy cappuccino
   
6. Empire, Bangalore- for their Mallu parrotas and affordable good food.
7. Sukh Sagar & Royal Palace - another college/hostel time hangout for decent food.
8. Kwality Sweets, Bhopal - school time hangout (probably the place that gave me a sweet tooth and a soft corner for dhoklas..  

   

1. Getting married - never thought I'd say this. :)
2. Being better at all my life roles than I had been till now.  
3. Do my wedding shopping - that's a surprise for me too, being a person who enjoys shopping only if its for books.
4. Having a get-together with all my close old pals - from school and college and hostel.
5. Meeting my nephew - he refuses to talk on phone for more than 2 minutes now as he claims to be tired after school and wants to come visit his Chitta (that's me) only because she has a red truck waiting for him. [3 and a half year old but definitely male :-p ]
6. Feeling relieved of the pain and discomfort am going through.
7. Doing target practice of shooting on nurses who think putting holes in every possible area of my hand is their duty and then say "vein not there" with a glare - Oh yeah, i purposefully hide my veins or have taken them off and kept them safely in the cupboard so that you have a tough time & I get more of these beautiful bleeding holes in my hands.
8. Learning to knit sweaters and socks from wool.

1. Visited the hospital to feel better ; came out feeling worse.
2. Wanted to sleep; in the bargain lost my breath.
3. Got a ban from amma (my mom) for playing with my pets; the kiddo goats and especially Bruno. - One ban I knew i'd break the instant mom is out of sight. Love Bruno!
4. Missed out to be in office with people who make me feel better instantly to be with people who hurt me with injections and did everything possible to make me grumpy.
5. Spoke to my guy . For a change he spoke more and I listened, as he din't want me to take strain -only gud thing that happened yesterday.
6. Tried sleeping after having a white pill, an orange pill and a tonic; but ended up sitting up throughout the night wondering if I'd make it to the morning.
7. Mom kept asking if am feeling well and I kept lying, 'cos I could bear with the growing pain inside me, but couldn't bear to see my parents worried.
8. I spoke to tension queen, my sis (side effects of being a perfectionist). Miss her!

1. Reminds me of school days with sweaters, cardigans, overcoats, mufflers and gloves.
2. Get to wear loads of clothes, in effect feeling like bundled up cosily in bed even while walking
3. Christmas and Christmas carols.
4. No sweat !
5. Cozy sleep
6. Snowfall
7. My mom says am warm even in the chillest of chill (hot blooded femme) so she lets me hug her and sleep in winter. Love it!
8. Seeing Bruno sit only on his chair specially padded with warm cushions and quilts.

1. Having my books published.
2. Having my own personal library which would multitask as my "me" place with entry and access to no one else, except maybe a pet dog/cat.
3. Going back in time, shooting the person who discovered injections and wiping it off from the world. (At least my world)
4. Being myself forever.
5. Do my PhD in Psychology
6. Find a dentist I ain't scared of.
7. Get a grip on my fears.
8. Buy a Army jeep and modify it into my dream Gypsy.

1. Writing
2.  Reading
3. Music
4. Psychology
5. Traveling
   
6. Photography
7. Pets
8. Teaching

1. Koranga... /Korangii (means monkey)
2.  Oh pinnee....
3. Dushtaa (cruel guy/gal)
4. Oowwsomeee
5. Cool
6. Yikes
7. Hakuna Matata
8. Pandaram adangaan - trying to change it (recently knew that it means death ) :(

1. I can't get over loosing a pet.
2. My memories are my best time pass.
3. I love kids
4. Teaching excites me as much as writing.
5. I love myself the way I am.
6. I cannot be a show bunny.
7. I have weird choices.
8. I do what I feel is right and which I am sure I can convince my most loved ones (even if they have a different opinion) as atleast "not wrong".

1. Bhopal
2. Vaishnodevi
3. Pachmari
4. Silent Valley
5. Agumbe
6. Hoganakkal /Coorg
7. Leh/Ladakh
8. All places in Kerala 

1. Cash  - month end, you see :)
2. Good health
3. Sleep
4. Hot thick sweet corn soup
5. More channelized brain activity (or atleast some brain activity )
6. A good camera
7. A 'decent' no-frill mobile to replace my no-frill mobile.
8. Cash again (month ends I tend to be obsessed with it)

1. Betty Manousos 
2. Yemiledu 
3. buckingfastard 
4. Shekhar Shimpi
5. Yella95
6. WriteHelen 
7. The Wandering Minstrel 
8. Garf 

Diaries (it always is at this point of the year)

Sunday, so casuals and my self made flip flops

Parents have had typical Mallu food,with fish & fish fry too; am bunking as am veggie today and fasting tomorrow.


big list of small things. main items(cost wise) was a couple of diaries and dog food.

my Mom nagging at me!

A guy who writes hilarious stuff as well as serious ones, and whose name hasn't ceased to amuse me yet.

Agumbe, Karnataka

Loads of water, vacation

My first instinct was to say Bangalore,near my fiance -but no, he is sleeping like a baby. I'd rather go to Ernakulam near Nidhi,  my best friend and listen to her talking talking and talking for the full whole hour.
Spanish -sexy language.

I think life is attrition and accumulation ; attrition of soul & accumulation of fat... Wish it was the other way round!
wrong time. but I want to meet my guy, Manu , Browny (boo hu hu) and Nidhi. Of them whoever is awake, I'd gladly meet.
scarlet and white
Neither - I was my sister's pet (literally).


a creative writing job, a great boss, a great office, awesome colleagues, cool work culture and a good ice cream shop nearby.. (Gee, am "in" my dream job)


Readers Digest

$60 will go directly to my parents, $20 I'll buy a gift for my guy, $ 5 for toys for Manu, $5 to buy some stuff for Bruno(my pet), $10 for books for myself.

bling
Bipasha Basu (Her fans can ignore this answer)

Anything that is preceded by oil massage, shampooing, conditioning .. (a great combo) . Brute Rocks!!
Try to get some sleep.
Chak De, Taare Zameen Par, Dushman, Ice Age 2& 3, Ratatouille, Up, Music & Lyrics.. and the list is kinda endless.

Creativity, Power, Intelligence and comments on my blog. :)
Meens..Meenaksh.. Meenashki.. Blikuse.. there are more, but am not gonna dig my own grave here..
coffee. black and sweet.
have an ice cream or write or drown myself in music.
People invading my personal space, especially my personal physical space.

All the blogs that am following.
Cake n Ice cream ; milk peda, guess I have a BIG sweet tooth. I love all sweets(not chocolates nor toffees)
4 - gmail, orkut, blogger and banterbattery.

Winter, even rainy season -provided I can stay at home.

need to check. feeling lazy to open another tab and check wats the current status on FB.
Press the ignore button and smile.

Getting stuck amongst techie geeks who are adamant to rant on about servers and codes and what not; AND not finding a way to escape the torture.
When I smile it kinda makes me smile too..

Ice cream, Bruno, babies, talk session with Manu, call/msg from my guy.

Shaaeeeee.... Pandaram adangan(which means, gosh! I don't really know).There's another word but am on ultimatum not to use it anymore.. zipped up :(


Why one? take a load. am surrounded by PJs

Q: Jackie Chan ki saas ka naam kya hai?

Socho, socho. Nahi pata?

Ans: D'Cold; Because..... Chan ki saans - D'Cold!!!!!!!

Q:Chalo ab batao, Jackie Chan ki bahu ka naam kya hai?

This one's really simple..
Ans: D'Cold again... Kyunki saans bhi kabhi bahu thi

Q: What did the kangaroo say when she found her baby missing?
Ans: ….Aaila!!!!! kisine mera pocket maar liya(someone picked my pocket)

Q: An elephant falls in love with an ant.but Ant’s parents r against their marriage…guess y??
They gave a solid reason…
Ans: Ladke ke daanth bahar hai.

I was born.

 
Rules for those who are tagged:
Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag few new set of people.

I go ahead and tag:

Miss_me
Hashir Tufail
Farila
Asif
Alley
Karthik
Blunty
Supriya
Shekhar Shimpi ( Shekhar, looking forward big time to your tag answers. I can bet them to be one of a kind.).


P.S. : Pals, if any of you have already received it and have done this tag recently, do ignore this. 'Cos I wouldn't want you awesome bloggers to redo a tag

• Don’t have to break our heads  in deciding what to wear. Can wear anything. No one is gonna ogle or  stare.

• Ample floor space for even the craziest of dance session.

• Preservation of personal space (told you am obsessed with it).

• No smoke; no smokers.

• No booze; no drunks.

• No risk of feeling intoxicated by the collective smoke & smell of booze let out by the overcrowding fellow dancers.

• No one trying to hit on you while all you wanna have is a crazy dancing time.

• NO knocked – off – from- senses friends trying to force or coax you into drinking ("just a sip, please") or smoking ("Hey once. For me").

• No “scenes” to get distracted.

• No wicked looking bouncers.

• Absolutely no waiting for your favorite dance numbers.

• No inhibitions whatsoever.

It all started with Chippy.The first thing I noted was her long ears when she came in as a months old goat to our home. My parents said they had too much of free time at hand to handle. So Chippy was like a daughter (never seen them pamper me like that. huh! ) to my parents. After several months she gave birth to 2 baby goats.