42 Quirks

Here’s the pep talk that SRK gives the girls of the Indian National Women’s Hockey team before their final Match against Australia.

Anyone care to make the necessary changes and give it to the Coach of the Indian Cricket Team? (The ‘official’ BCCI XI, of course!)

Wait, do we even have a coach?

Well, anyway, here goes:

सत्तर मिनट.
सत्तर मिनट हैं तुम्हारे पास.
शायद तुम्हारी ज़िन्दगी के सबसे ख़ास सत्तर मिनट.
आज तुम अच्छा खेलो या बुरा,
यह सत्तर मिनट तुम्हे ज़िन्दगी भर याद रहेंगे.
तो कैसे खेलना है, आज मैं तुम्हे नही बताऊंगा .
बस इतना कहूँगा की जाओ,
और यह सत्तर मिनट जी भर कर खेलो
क्योंकी इसके बाद आनेवाली ज़िन्दगी में
चाहे कुच्छ सही हो, या न हो,
चाहे कुच्छ रहे, या ना रहे,
तुम हारो या जीतो,
लेकिन यह सत्तर मिनट तुमसे कोई नही चीन सकता, कोई नहीं.
तो, मैंने सोचा की इस मैच में कैसा खेलना है,
मैं तुम्हे नहीं बताऊंगा, बल्कि तुम मुझे बताओगे. खेल कर.
क्योंकी मैं जानता हूँ की अगर यह सत्तर मिनट इस टीम का हर player
अपनी ज़िन्दगी की सबसे बढ़िया hockey खेल gaya
तो यह सत्तर मिनट खुदा भी तुमसे वापस नही मांग सकता.
तोह जाओ. जाओ और अपने आप से, इस ज़िन्दगी से, अपने खुदा से,
और हर उस इंसान से, जिसने तुम्हे – तुम पर – भरोसा नही किया,
अपने सत्तर मिनट छीन लो.

{Thanks a ton to Google Indic Transliteration. They always manage to surprise me… :)}
(more…)

I am lovin’ it!!

There’s nothing to tell. No direct or proximate cause. You just wake up one day and you aren’t a part of your life. You know this. Your life doesn’t belong to you. Your body is not, I don’t know how to make you feel the force of this, yours. There’s just life, living itself. You don’t have it. You don’t have anything to do with it. That’s all. It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me. It’s like when you hypnotize someone and persuade them there’s a big pile of mattresses outside their window. They no longer see a reason not to jump.

– Quoted by Kryzstof “Dubdub” Waterford-Wajda in “Fury“, by Salman Rushdie.

I no longer see a reason not to jump. And I haven’t even been hypnotized yet. No, not even self-hypnosis. What’s more, I even know for a fact that there are NO matressess outside my window. Yet, I no longer see a reason not to jump.

I read -no, make that devour- books or listen to music to pass my time. I drink insane amounts of coffee, and spend crazy money clogging up my system with carcinogenic substances.

I have a great job and a fantastic boss, and extremely supportive co-workers. I have great friends who are pursuing knowledgeable pursuits.

I talk to people who know what they are doing, who are masters in what they do. I learn from them, more than I ever learnt at the University, more than I could ever expect to learn. Heck, pretty soon I am gonna even become one of those people.

Yet, I feel incomplete, somehow.

There’s nothing to tell. No direct or proximate cause. I just woke up to-day and I ain’t a part of my life. I know this. My life does not belong to me. My body is not -I don’t know how to make you feel the force of this- mine. There’s just life, living itself. I don’t have it. I don’t have anything to do with it. That’s all. It doesn’t sound like much, but believe me. It’s like you hypnotized me and persuaded me there’s a big pile of mattresses outside my window. I no longer see a reason not to jump.

Should I jump?

“People say they don’t like pretenses. Isn’t that the biggest one they put on?”

Sorry folks, no story right now. In a tearing hurry and equally tired… Just wanted to get this line out of the system.

Another question I wanted to ask is: Should I shift my blog to something else? I am beginning to hate the pathetic offerings of rediff…

Any comments anyone?