He lit up another cigarette, just to procrastinate going inside the house, in spite of the bitter cold weather.

 “I see you still haven’t given up smoking”

 He took his first look at her after five years.

 “I’m going to quit, soon” he responded, throwing the half finished cigarette on the ground.

 “I’ve heard that before” she said a hint of mockery in her tone. “Come on in, its freezing outside”

 “Why don’t you go ahead I’ll join you” he said faking a smile.

 As the front door closed, memories from five years ago came flooding to his mind. Memories he thought he had buried so deep that they would never come back.

 The image of him and her, so close, intertwined. Her body so supple, so soft. She still looked stunning like she did then.  He tried to get rid of those images, but how could he when he was standing at the same place he did 5 years ago; by that shattered window. How in the world could he allow himself to repeat the same mistake twice?

 With a shiver in his spine he entered the house. It was a relief from the cold outside.

 He looked around the house, nothing had changed. The old lamp by the sofa, the wall clock that never chimed, the torn ugly rug. He remembered wondering how such a stunning looking woman survived in a place like this when he was here before.

 “I see you haven’t changed furniture”, he said mimicking her tone.

 “Well, I can barely make the rent, where do you think I can get the money for new furniture?” she responded walking in with a teapot and two dissimilar cups.

 He remembered how she had almost hit him with the same teacup in a silly argument they were having. That explained just the one cup with that horrible flowery design.

 “Would you like some cookies?”

 He snapped out of his reverie and saw the soft loving look on her face.

 “Ok that’s it! Drop the facade Maggie, cut to the chase. You didn’t call me here to have a friendly cup of tea. What is it now that you want out of me after so many years?”

 “You do know me very well Mark. I’ll get to the point then” and she sighed loudly her chest heaving.

 “I’m pregnant”

 “So what? We separated 5 years ago Maggie, I don’t really care”

 “Oh! yes you will care Mark, after I tell you who the father is”

 “And why would you think that?”

 “It’s your son David”

 “This is preposterous, my son is in Harvard getting a law degree, there is no way in the world that that’s possible. If you are looking for a way to shell more money out of me , fine I’ll write u a cheque,  a big one to keep your shitty mouth shut, and I don’t want to hear from you gain”

 “Oh yes I want money, but not keep my mouth shut, but to keep the child Mark, so you better start listening to me, or you’ll be sorry”

 “So you are threatening me now. And why do you think I would believe that you want to keep the baby all of a sudden. Doesn’t it mean it’s the end of your “career” if I may?” he said quoting in air.

 “Oh! My career may not be as glamorous as the judge of the High Court, but let me tell you, you were once the puppet of this lady here and now so is your son.

 Think about it; Mark Scott, Judge of the high court, has had a relationship with a “hooker” and now his son is involved with her too. Headlines for tomorrows newspaper eh?”

 Mark broke into sweat. All he wanted to do was to bury this woman so deep that she would never be able to mess with his life anymore. And now his son was stupid enough to get involved with the same woman. It was important to keep calm now.

 “Alright I need proof that you are pregnant and that my son is the father, and I will write you a cheque that will cover your expenses. But you would not contact me or my son after this is it clear”

 “You are a true lawyer aren’t you? Here are the reports.”

 Mark left that place shattered, frustrated and angry at his son.

“So how is the preparation for the bar exam coming up?”

 “I’ll be honest dad I have a lot of cramming to do”, David said with a smirk.

 Mark couldn’t help but thinking how his smart, intelligent son who always had his head on his shoulders fall to such a level. Like father like son didn’t seem like so much of an irony didn’t it?

 “Dad.. Dad? You seem lost”

“Hey listen, I’ve got to talk to you about something”

 “Sure anything dad”

 He thought for a minute about how his doctor had confirmed that all the reports were genuine. He didn’t want his son to be embarrassed.

 “Oh well it can wait son.”

 David left the house thinking about his fathers’ behavior tonight.

 That night Mark wrote a cheque in the name of Maggie Peters.

 She is a bit too drunk. Tony thought.

 “Yes we are my dear. Let’s move this party to my bedroom shall we?” he asked with a smirk.

 “Yes we shall Dr. Tony Atkinson, M.D. , PhD and the judges best friend!!!”

While browsing through the channels on TV mostly looking for a good movie to pass my time with, I came across a show on National geographic, where a some village in the southern part of India was being shown. The first thought that came to my mind was “Oh! they want to show how poor and illiterate people are in India”… Another typical characteristic of channels like these.  I had almost hit the next button on the remote when this lady who was talking in flawless English appeared on screen.

She was Mrs. P.V. Sandhya President of the Arti Home trust in the district of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. She was explaining how she tried to convince a young couple in the nearby village to not abort a girl child that the wife was carrying which had been illegally determined in her 5th month of pregnancy.

The show went on to explain how the not only the rural , but also the urban middle class population in India are obsessed with a boy child. “it’s just for the sake of carrying their family name and empire forward” were the words of a middle aged divorced educated upper middle class lady, who was forced to abort her baby since it was a girl. She was brave enough to report this to the police and her case is still pending in some court in Hyderabad. She also recounted stories of her closest friend who was made to have 5 abortions, all because it was a female, and is still mute to all the injustice happening to her in hope of bearing a boy child someday.

Arti home is an organization which gives abandoned children especially girls a chance to learn, earn a living, and life on their own terms. It takes care of the general well being, medical and educational needs of any child which is left at the doorstep or handed over to them by unwilling parents. Mrs. Sandhya, recollected how there were many cases of parents leaving an unwanted girl child at their doorstep in the middle of the night and if it was a particular rainy night the baby stood very little or no chances to make it till morning till she was discovered by them. They went on to construct a concrete crib at the gates of their nursing home so that if the parents wanted to leave the child without revealing their identity, at least the child could not be affected by climatic conditions and stood a chance at survival. “If your baby is a burden to you, please leave it here…” it said.

Surprisingly the very next day of the construction of the concrete crib, a old couple were leaving a 3 day old baby girl and trying to escape when they were found and ushered in the home by the watchman. The baby’s condition was critical, and was transferred to an ICU immediately under expert medical care. Mrs Sandhya then made the grandparents of the child (who were there to abandon the baby) sign a official document handing over the responsibility of the child to Arti home.

Sadly the baby could not survive even under the medical care, as she was 3 weeks premature. It was heartbreaking to see such a beautiful creation of God succumb to the irrational and ignorant mentality of the people who had borne her.

This moved me so much that I looked up Arti homes on the internet, found their website and decided to help in whatever way I could. I also had the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Sandhya, and ask her about the kind of help that was required in her organization apart from monetary help. She informed me that they were in constant need of vitamin , and calcium medication for the children, and also books.

Unfortunately they do not have a point of contact in Mumbai, but there is an office in Hyderabad. If any of you reading this are from there please do make sure you visit their website(http://www.vftrust.org/), see the work that they are doing and if you think there is any authenticity in what I have said above, help in any way you can. Or you could just donate money like I have, via net banking or your credit cards. It’s just a mouse click away.

Before you get any vague, wild ideas in your head… here’s my little baby….

Cute isn’t he????

I always thought I hated dogs. Well not always actually, just after one very unfortunate incident where our neighbours 2 year old Pomeranian bit me while I was trying to feed her. What followed was a lot of crying and four extremely painful injections. I could not sleep on my back for weeks…. I used to play with Pommie (I know the name is clichéd but I lived in Akola…:P ) immediately after coming home from school, and I thought she liked me. But after playing with her for almost a year she bit me when i was trying to feed her, and all my thoughts about dogs’ loyalty went crashing down the drain.

What made them flush out again?? This little guy here called Goofy. I and my cousin bro bought this 42 day old puppy, as his birthday present on 18^th of July. I was terrified to say the least, not of the puppy but of the huge responsibility that we were taking up. None of our family members were supporting it. There was even a point where we were not supposed to go to my uncles place coz my grand mom (nani) hated the fact that we were going gaga over an animal.

But goofy came nevertheless at my bro’s place, and we had no idea we could love him so much in just a couple of days. My bro who is of the habit of getting up at 11am in the morning, kept up all night long just to see whether goofy was fine. He spoils him, plays with him and gets up every morning at 7.30am now to feed him and give him his medicines. He does not even mind cleaning up his pee and poop. And he’s never even picked up a broom to clean his own house ever in his life.

I have such a hard time concentrating at work, and all my conversations begin and end with “you know what goofy did yesterday…… aww he is so adorable” with full fledged imitation of his bark, yelp, cry or his innocent puppy face that he makes when we punish him. The only thing I cannot do is imitate him wagging his little tail when I come home

It’s so satisfying to see him so happy and excited when I call his name after opening the front door and him coming running at top speed, slipping five times just so he can reach me and eat my sandals. Of course he’s not allowed to do that, but with a face that cute, I say oh what the hell you wanna chew off my shoes or my pants.. Well go ahead.

Taking him to the vet is another experience in itself. There are so many breeds of dogs coming there and how they fuss over him saying “Aww look at him he is soooo cute.. I don’t even remember when my Eliza was so small.” What’s surprising is sometimes you see the same people at the vet’s clinic and although you might not know their name and they might not know yours, they remember goofy and you remember their dog’s name. And they also see that you at an amateur at dog training so you get lots of free advice.

I’m so glad my bro took this wonderful decision of bringing this cute little dog into our family. Yes we have to clean up his poop and put up with him tearing apart the clothes or shoes lying around, but the best part is we have him, his unconditional love and loyalty all to ourselves. We sure are glad we don’t have to put him in a school and make him do homework when he grows up…. Mommyhood in a better way huh???

—————————————————————————————————————————

Chor Bizarre

“Antique English Clock. Made in England. Very old, very antique…. Le Lo Le lo…”

Mark was always enchanted with that centuries old looking wall clock. No matter how many times he came to Chor Bazaar he always made it a point to go to that lane with the shop selling stolen antiques.

It surprised him that no one ever took interest in that clock which looked like the ones you could see on a station in London.

It would go so well with the theme of his newly renovated plush flat at Marine Drive.

Mark had been in India for almost 6 years now, and had made quite a successful living with his art galleries. He could buy any Vintage furniture he wanted, but his heart always wavered to that antique English Clock.

Concentrate Mark, you don’t require this; you are here for Nike shoes, and a Leather jacket for Loraine.

He quickly found the shop he was looking for, bought a pair of Nike sneakers which the shopkeeper claimed were fresh maal (Meaning just stolen from someone who paid four thousand Rupees for) and a brown leather jacket for his sister back home.

He left the narrow lanes of Chor Bazaar in a hurry lest his heart flutter back to that stupid clock.

“You know Mark I love your new house, you’ve done it so well” Jacob his partner told him the same night when they were chilling over a couple of drinks.

“Thanks Jake, Cheers to that”

“But you know what is missing from this? You need a nice Antique looking wall clock in this corner here. Wouldn’t it look grand, don’t u think? “

“You know what I’ll do, I’ll talk to my antique furniture guy at Bandra tomorrow and get you a good deal on one of those Victorian style Clocks that he has. Or even better I’ll give it to you as a house warming gift. How’s that huh?”

“Hey now c’mon Jake, you don’t have to gift me anything, and besides I think I know the perfect clock that will fit in to this corner” This had to be a good sign, a sign that he should just go and buy that Antique Clock.

———————————————————————————————————————-

“Its fifteen thousand rupees saab” said the guy at the crammed antique store.

“You think I’m crazy to pay that much for this, go call Raja I want to talk him, not you”

Raja walked in from the inner room. “You plan to make me bankrupt Raja?

“Saab he’s quoting very less for you, this is classic 18^th century clock stolen from England, it’s priceless” Raja said in his heavy accented English.

“Oh ya? So you mean to say you have this watch from the 18^th century in this little shop of yours? And that no one has ever tried to show interest in it?”

“Well saab, I no lie to you, this watch has been in our family since generations. My Great Grandfather got it from this English guy with hat and umbrella, and he said it was a very special clock, and you should only give it to right person”

“What is so special about it?”

“The Englishman claims that if you listen carefully you can here many voices from the Clock which would reveal your future. I tell you saab we have been hearing from generations but not a single word. I give it to you because you from England and you look like noble man. The watch must want to come to you”

“Yeah well whatever, here’s 12 thousand, get it delivered to my address here by noon today”

Although Mark pooh-poohed the story that Raja had told him, but deep down he felt a certain connection to the Clock too, or else why would he keep coming back to it?

—————————————————————————————————————-

That night Mark dozed off on his comfy leather sofa, when at midnight the clocked chimed 12 times, and he woke up with a start. Realizing that it was only his newest possession he got up to go to his bedroom, when suddenly there was this buzzing noise.

It was like hundreds of people were talking at the same time, like it was a railway station. Mark put both his hands on his ears and the voices stopped. He carefully removed his hands again, and he could still hear them.

He frantically checked all his rooms for any TV or stereo that must have been left running, but there was nothing. The voices were getting louder. Mark ran to his bedroom locked the door put two pillows on his head and went off to sleep.

The next morning he went on with his usual chores forgetting all that had happened the last night.

The voices came again the next night. Mark thought he was going crazy. He could not sleep for a week, when he decided to go back to Raja and ask for an explanation.

“You say you here voices saab? You must come inside and meet my grandfather; he will be able to explain”

Raja’s grandfather looked like he was a 100 years old, with a long beard, and a wrinkly frail body. Raja quickly explained him the situation in Hindi when his grandfather opened his eyes wide and looked at Mark

“Jo kehete hai karo. Suno”

“He means you should listen carefully to the voices, they are your ancestors, and you should do what they say”

Mark went home confused and scared. That night he made himself a huge mug of black coffee and decided to get this madness over with.

Promptly at midnight the voices came back. Mark strained his ears and tried to single out one voice. There was one which was the loudest.

From what mark could here, it just kept on saying, “Silver Chalice at Cindy Mason’s grave”

The next day mark called his dad and enquired about his ancestors and whether there was any Cindy Mason in their family. It turned out that there was, and surprisingly she was buried in India, in Mumbai for that matter.

Mark was shocked. How could this watch be anywhere related to his family, his ancestors? Nevertheless he took Raja’s grandfathers’ advice and started looking up all the cemeteries around the city.

Finally he found the one, and found Cindy Mason’s Tombstone which said, Cindy Mason January 1878 to October 1935. So she died during the English regime in India. That was interesting.

The next day Mark bought two huge silver chalices, bought off from Jakes Antique dealer in Bandra, since he thought that would make her happy, and hid them in the mud near the Tombstone.

The voices stopped troubling him from the same night.

————————————————————————————————————————-

“Antique English Clock. Made in England. Very old, very antique…. Le Lo Le lo…”  Raja was shouting at the top of his voice.

“Psst Raja, these Chalices are awesome we could easily get 15 thousand for them. But next time you ask for something more expensive ok?”

“Yeah yeah”

Chote the assistant chuckled heartily, and continued with his usual work.

“Antique English Clock. Made in England. Very old, very antique…. Le Lo Le lo…”

If you have just joined read The Target – Part 1 and The Target -Part 2.

———————————————————————————————-

 “Well Well, do we have a situation here?” The heavy masculine voice startled them for a second.

 “This is nice. I send people to look after my man and I see the entire Intelligence bureau is involved” he walked with huge military boots and attire and at 7 ft tall towered over all the people in the room.

 Charlie!! Sid thought just as Charlie pointed the gun at the Commanders head.

 “So Mr. Commander, you thought you could save this measly girl with your small little battalion of men and I would sit at my base and miss all the fun? Drop your weapon, and order your men to back off, or this little baby of mine here will rip all of your heads off”

 “I knew I would see you again someday Charlie, but not in this manner. You were always the outlaw, even in the Army, weren’t you?” the Commander was trying to buy time.

 Charlie!! In the Army?? Sid thought again.

 “My men have surrounded the house from all sides Commander, I think the best thing for you is to surrender” Just then another flurry of footsteps were herd and 5 men wearing military outfits, without any insignia came in with a range of rifles, shotguns and sophisticated weapons that even the Commander had not known existed.

 Two men pointed AK-47’s at the Captain and Commanders head.

 “You will never get away with this Charlie; the whole of the bureau is involved, you know we’ll hunt you down and kill you”

 The Captain was getting tired of these word games. All he wanted was one chance and he would rip the guys’ head off, but a nod from his Commander stopped him from doing that.

 “So there you are my little girl” Charlie said walking towards the girl. She didn’t loosen her grip on the weapon at all.

 “Look at you all grown up, and you have a gun. I’m amused”

 “What do expect from a Generals daughter, Charlie. I knew something was fishy, the day I saw a side arm with him” she jerked her head towards Sid. “I should have known you were involved when I smelled a Rat” She spat back at him.

 “Whoa, she’s got attitude” Charlie grabbed Tina by the neck.

 She tried getting free from his grip and landed an elbow in his nose.

 “Ha ha ha! You are just like your father aren’t you? But you are not as strong as him, or as me. Your Father couldn’t even make it alive out of the Pakistani camp, and what do they do, they award him the Param Vir Chakra and what do I get nothing, nothing at all” He was getting louder with every word.

 So this was all personal.

 If there was a chance this was it to get rid of this man and his so called army. The captain tried to plead with his eyes to his commander to let him take this chance.

 The commander nodded in positive this time, and they both punched elbows at the men pointing guns at them and incapacitated all of them in less than a minute.

 The Commander then pointed a gun at Charlie’s head with the Tina in his grip and the Captain tackled Sid and had a gun at his head.

 “You touch the girl Charlie and your wingman here dies. Dies for nothing but your personal erratic reasons” the Captain shouted.

 “Go on kill him, kill all my men if you please, but I will take this girl, and break her into pieces, till they give me my honour back”

 A series of violent thoughts was going on in Sid’s head. How he was fooled by all of the promises made by this Charlie guy. How he said he would be rich someday. How he deceived him by making this seem like and army job.

 Sid was just an expert shooter at the security agency, and he was promised a post in the army. What a fool had he been to believe all of it?

 Sid let his fury take over him and in a moment of utter madness, knocked down the captain, took his gun, pushed away the girl and fired all of the bullets right at Charlie’s chest.

 It was all over in a minute. The real Army men came and took over the building and within half an hour, it was cleared off the mess with no sign of anything that had occurred in the past hour.

 The weather was lovely. The Sea Gulls flew low in the sky, and dived at the sight of a fish in the water. The wind blew slowly and gently.

 The guests rose at the arrival of the beautiful bride in white, holding a bunch of white lilies.

 The groom looked upon her with great affection.

 “Dearly beloved. We have gathered here today to join in holy matrimony John Smith and Mary Ann…..”

 “Do you John take Mary as your wife in sickness and in health, till death does you apart?”

 “I do”

 “Do you Mary take John as your husband in sickness and in health, till death does you apart?”

 “I do”

 “I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may now kiss the bride”

 They walked back down the aisle arm in arm happy as ever.

 No one in their wildest dreams could guess that they were Sid and Tina back in India.

 ——————————————————————————————— 

EPILOGUE:

 After clearing the mess, Sid revealed all the hideouts, the stolen weapons and artillery, the money which was hid very carefully all over the city.

 He also gave his statement against Charlie and how he deceived numerous people like him by promising about lots of money.

 Sid was only sentenced for 1 year of prison without hard labour and was released within 8 months for good behaviour.

 He and Tina shifted to USA with changed names and identities and have a son named Mark and an 8 month old daughter named Martha.

 Tina is a kindergarten teacher. Sid now runs his own business, drives a Pontiac and lives a happy life with his wife and children.

 “How did you know? I am planning to cancel my pass so I get a free ride home everyday. You are a genius I must say” she said the sarcasm very crisp in her tone.

 “How sweet of you. Nothing is better than giving you a ride home, but you know we could take a detour to the madras café for a cuppa coffee”

 “Don’t call me sweet, alright and I could use some strong coffee and something to eat I’m famished” 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 “This is Alpha. Suspect is at Madras café. Repeat Suspect is at Madras café. Advise for next action”

 “No action to be taken. Over and out”

 The commander was frustrated. He picked up his private phone and dialled a number.

 “You are just required to follow your orders commander. Since when are you allowed to have your own opinions?”

 “But sir this is the best place we can nab him. He is completely unprotected. I could get him alone if I wanted”

 “It’s a public place for God’s sake commander, what do you plan to do, point a gun at his forehead and take him away? Do you know you could jeopardise the whole purpose of this sensitive operation?”

 “But Sir…” The line went dead.

 “Yeah well what do I know about sensitive operations anyways” he cursed under his breath. There was his target sitting like a tiger’s evening snack, out in the open, and all he could do was look through his binoculars.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 “So do you just sit in Coffee Houses with different girls in your free time, or you have some hobbies?”

 “Oh! sure I do. In my free time I am a part time contract killer. I murder people for money”

 “And what makes you think I am going to believe that? Contract Killer.. Huh”

 “I tell you the truth and you don’t want to believe me. What if you are my next target?”

 “I’m not afraid of you. Besides you are way too handsome to be a killer on the loose” She regretted it the moment she said it.

 “Thank you Maam”

 “Oh stop smirking, I was just kidding, so that you pay the bill and I could go home fast. Its starting to rain see”

 “Yeah well” he sighed, “Women I tell ya…”

 “I think you should come in and change into some dry clothes” she suggested as she hurriedly got off the bike.

 “If you insist”

 He went straight for the bathroom where he frantically searched for his cell phone. “Oh Darn!! It’s in my jacket”

 He quietly opened the door and peeped outside. The jacket was across the room on a chair, she was in the other room. He ran and fished out the device from the inside pocket and hurried back to the bathroom.

 “I’m at the house Charlie. I think I can finish the job today. Tell the men across the street to wait for my signal” he was talking in hushed tones

 “Are you sure about this?”

 “Yes I’m positive, trust me”

 “Sid…….. Where are you?”

 “Umm.. Coming in a minute” He hastily wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door.

 “You mind giving me some clothes I’m freezing here”

 “He he here you go. I think my brothers clothes are the right size for you”

 He went in the bathroom again. Took the revolver from the cupboard he had hidden it in wore the clothes and came out.

 She was holing a plate of sandwiches and waiting at the table.

 “Hmm… Smells awesome” he said just when the lights went out.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————— 

Before they could think about anything a flurry of activity was heard outside the door and then a loud bang.

 “What’s happening?” she screamed.

 “Don’t move he ordered. Stay where you are. And if you want to live just do what I say”

 “What do you mean? I don’t un… understand”

 “Shut up and do as I say”

 “Nobody moves!!” said a loud voice, just when the door opened. 

 “Hands behind your head” another loud voice but from a different direction.

 The lights came on. Four people in the room were pointing guns at each other.

 To be continued…

“I know you love this chocolate, that’s why I bought it”

“Oh! Really…… that is so sweet of you”

“Hey, no need to get sarcastic lady, after your discussion with your girlfriends the other day about your favourite chocolates, I think even the driver of the bus knows you like this”

“Umm… well.. I’m a big chocolate freak you know and I can’t help but be loud…” she said every inch of her face turning red with embarrassment.

“Yes yes I know…. But aren’t all girls like that, squealing and jumping at the sight or even the mention of a chocolate??”

“Hey now that’s not fair… and do you want me to congratulate you for your shiny new bike or not??”

“That’s your wish sweetie”

“Don’t call me that, its cheesy…. Anyway Congratulations”

She hated the fact that he always made her blush in some way or the other. And all the endearments drove her crazy. Did he ever mean them or that was just his way to get around with girls??

“Oh forget it”, she said to herself. “He’s just too good to be true, must be a big time flirt.”

He was looking at her from the corner of his eye, and he could see, she was visibly affected by his remarks. He loved to catch her off guard. She looked beautiful when she blushed.

“Suspect is in close range to “Mickey”, all units on high alert, I repeat suspect is in close range to “Mickey”, all units requested to be on high alert”

“Roger that”

“Sir are we going to take him down?”

“No, you have to learn to be patient commander, we can’t just shoot him”

“I understand sir, but we do this routine everyday, are we really making any progress with it?”

“This is tedious and repetitive, but we are being paid millions just so we could nab the right person, do you really want to lose out on that?” the captain said with a slight smirk.

“Yeah well, I better give my orders now….. Alpha to tango… Alpha to tango”, the wireless crackled with the usual orders.

“Hey sweetie, going home eh? Hop on”

“How many times have I told you to not call me that Sid, it drives me crazy?”

“Hey c’mon now don’t be such a girl, don’t you want to pillion on my new “shiny” bike” he said enacting the double quotes.

“Yeah whatever, I anyways missed the bus so, at least saves me the money”

“Oh! You are one modest chick huh?”

“Shut up and drive Sid”

How he loved her smell when she was so close by. He adjusted the rear-view mirror, so that he could see her face, her hair talking with the wind.

She caught him stealing a glace at her, he looked away immediately.

“Do you mind looking at the road ahead; I would like to reach home alive”

“Don’t you worry babes; I will not let anything happen to you”

There he goes again, she thought.

“This is the daily report to Charlie: Target came in close contact today. Got to know the house, the address and the locality. Surroundings are good enough to start for the next step. Request for equipment delivery within 24 hours”

“Charlie to Bravo: Good work. Equipment will reach you by 12 noon tomorrow. Set it up fast. Move swiftly Finish the job till end of month”

The message ended with a loud crackling sound.

To be continued..

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Here i am at 1:12AM in the night just back from watching the paid premier of 3 Idiots a movie which i was reluctant to watch at first for the simple reason that movies made out of novels are always a big disappointment. And considering the fact that i didn’t like the book also did nothing to help.

But as it turns out I was completely taken by surprise. The movie was nothing like the book, yes parts very tiny ones at that were, but that was about the closest it could get. I bet Chetan Bhagat might be disappointed to see so less taken out of his book (don’t know why it kinda gives me a sadistic pleasure …. chuckle )

This movie is guaranteed to remind every person in India who has ever been in an engineering college, lived in a hostel, written a journal, or turned up with a hangover in class, what those days were like. It is sure to raise one hell of a wave of nostalgia, in the lakhs of engineers turned MBA’s working in a foreign bank (People who watch the movie will understand the purpose of this sentence)

Yes there are points in the movie where it seems like a bit of a stretch to the real world, but i have sort of made my peace with the Bollywood style of exaggeration, and don’t mind it at all. The best part about the movie is that although the motive of the movie is a serious one, but is explained or rather depicted by all the characters in such a mild, witty kind of a way, that it hardly feels like it.

It would be totally wrong for me to comment on screenplay, editing and all the other technicalities, and so i will sum it up in simple words (another sentence from the movie)… Aamir khan—awesome as usual, R Madhavan – does justice to his character looks cute too, Sharman Joshi- Funny and intelligent acting, Kareena Kapoor- i’m happy her character is almost like in Jab We Met, Boman Irani – marvellous. One thing is for sure, Indian Cinema is changing and so are the audiences….

So go watch it, with ur friends, with ur parents… i loved it, hope u do too

I think we’ll have to make that very long time no see….

I know i almost vanished from the whole blogging scene, make all you readers(assuming there are lots ) think i wasn’t as faithful to writing as u thought i was. It wasn’t my fault u see, the techies in office blocked all kind of bolgging related content, and lets be honest here ppl most of us blog in our free time in office.

But now i’m sure the next question u wud be asking is why did it take 2 months for me to get an internet connection at home?? Well yes part of me was too lazy too actually go to the reliance office to ask about the broadband service and the other part was too busy with work (i can see a lot of you saying… yeah right ). Anyways, it was not until i fell terribly sick on Wednesday that i was forced to take 3 days of leave from office that i could finally find the time to call the reliance guy and get things done. (Those of you who r wondering about forced leaves well, u get the point…. u don’t ok it was not at all forced, and i loved it ha ha.. )

So here i am back again, happy that my blog is breathing again, and i have this heavy weight lifted from my chest and i no longer feel guilty that i’m not faithful to my blog.

So i will try my best to write as much as possible and not give u guys another chance to complain.

See u around ppl….

Check it out.

Here’s my take on the picture. I know it’s not a very creative peice, but i tried my best. Maybe sometime later i will come up with a better one.

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The Misgiving

“Honey, I’m home!!!”

Mariah? Honey???

“Oh! There you are. I brought your favorite bottle of wine baby”

“What’s the occasion?” She said frowning.

“We are together, and that’s reason enough to celebrate, isn’t it darling??”

“Okay, if you say so”

What a liar. I can smell her perfume on his shirt.

“So how was your day?”

He was sounding so unlike himself.

“Umm…. The usual”

“Well I had a pretty good day. I’m getting promoted next month. Todd says once we are through with the Zeta deal, it’s just a matter of days.”

 “Oh well congratulations then. I’m happy for you” this sounded so unconvincing and shallow even to her.

 “You didn’t get the wine sweetie??”

 “No I kept it for later, let’s have it on the patio after dinner”

 “As you say baby”

 He was waiting on the deck, thinking about Mariah, and how happy she made him. She seemed a bit off colour today.

Well that would change in a while, he thought, a faint smile appearing on his face.

She took the bottle from the kitchenette, and crept her way to the terrace.

“Hey!!… I …… Ahhhhhhh!!!!!”

He fainted, blood oozing out of his head.

“You think you’ll cheat on me and I’ll never get to know? You scoundrel!!!” she screamed and pushed him down the verandah.

The ring gleamed with all its brilliance midst broken glass and the wine on the floor.

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Even if you dont like mine you can check out the other entries here, and i’m sure you’ll be thankful.

So go on read… enjoy….