Nawab Khan

As the day passed the brightness of the Mayur Mahal had started to reduce. Being the favourite room of the Nawab in the Harem, he spent most of his time with one of his queens of the day or better would be the flavour of the Day.

The Day was passing fast and Nawab Khan was still in the bed with Badi Bibi his favourite so called queen. Nawab Khan was in the room more than his usual time spent and that day he called for his clothes and his valet at the Mayur Mahal to get him ready for the day ahead.

Soon the Nawab was ready and out of Mayur Mahal, with a Paan in his mouth and decided to go the library instead of the Court. Reading was his second liking after Women.

The whole day passed he was still in the Library and reading, the aroma of lamb being cooked travelled from the royal kitchen into the library, the sunlight coming from the huge library windows seemed to be fading, this when Nawab Khan realised the time he had spent with his two loves " Women and Books".

Nawab Khan picked up the Holy Quran from one of the shelves in the library, wrapped himself with a beautiful beige colored Pashmina Jamawar Dushala, took off his Royal Turban from the head and replaced it with a white colored hand knitted skull cap and walked brisklly towards the exit as he was getting late for the evening Namaz.

The library was on the third floor of the Royal Palace which overlooked the beautiful Mughal Gardens where Khan would often spend time with his Queens during Winter Afternoons. He had reached the staircase when the two Royal Guards came behind him and an escort right in front of him to make sure enemy's man was deployed to harm the King in the not so well lit Staircase ( the only place in the whole palace which was not planned properly).

While going for his Namaz he was dressed like an ordinary man and he didnot appreciate an escort on his way to the Mosque, like always he asked the escort to follow him instead he following him. Khan had just started his journey when the Azan from the Mosque was heard, this made him panicked as it was clear sign of he being delayed for the Namaz, he started to descend fast down the staircase, at one of the turns in the staircase facing the west travelled straight into Khan's eyes, he shut his eyes with the brightness and loudly uttered "Allaha" and the next moment the Dushalla got stuck under his shoe and he tripped on the stairs.

Nawab Khan's Huge soldier body rolled down two floors to be senseless on ground zero. The Azan carried for next twenty minutes but the words were not going into Khan's ears. The great King was lying dead on the floor..... This was how the last day of his life was spent by the Great King.

Green Chatni

I may not be able to express this but will try my level best......

Recently I visited a wedding ( one of the few things which I dislike but have to for social reasons), the decor of the place was very beautiful, theme being Red and Gold.

Centre of the lawn had an enclosure for the people to sit and to keep the place warm there were huge heaters placed on the side of every table. The guests moving around were one of richest people in town, from the Big Business houses to Big Executives of the Corporate world were there.

After a round of social meetings, I decided to do my favourite thing in every Wedding party is to have a look at the Food ( A Big Foodie that I am ;) and love sniffing food ), there were cuisines from the various parts of the world. Being prepared in the most exotic way, in no time I was on a Food Sniffing ( oops!) Food Tasting spree.........

Now while on my Food Tasting Spree, started from the Thai food counter and had finished with the food stalls belonging from The East Asia, I reached the very own stall of Indian Food ( A Live Counter).....now this is where I just stopped and could not eat after that........ I had taken a Hot Tandoori Roti and was proceeding towards the other counter when my eye just stopped on the Two hands grinding something Green on the Slab.....on going closure there was some fresh chopped Green chillies....some cloves of garlic....Mint and Coriander....yes it was the very own Chatni that was being freshly ground....The two hands went non stop grinding and the people ( so called the filthy rich) kept coming to the counter served themselves with the Chatni and went ahead.....but I was stuck there....my eyes went up to see the person behind this....it was a lady in her mid Forties or maybe early Fifties....concentrating totally at her job.

Looking at her I thought...what was she there for in the middle of no where in a wedding party and grinding Chatni....surrounded by all unknown people who came to the counter served themselves with her preparation ( maybe some would have liked and some wouldn't have) not even paying attention on the hard work she was putting in.

Seeing her dedication and not bothered about her work....I stopped eating....I just served myself with some Chatni...tasted it and kept the plate down...I was done for the evening....dine with the food....there was allot of sadness on her face....I am sure she was there because it was necessary for her to be there....maybe when she started her life she would have never thought of this kind of life....where people around her eating did not even have the worth of what she was doing....just another live counter to make the party/dinner look attractive with a wonderful presentation.

The Chatni kept coming into the serving bowl till the last plate was picked by the guest.....and she was just paid Pea Nuts at the end of the Night.

Give Away!

Did I Give Away the thing very easily? Was he expecting some kind of resistance from my side? or Is it, that I just did not think before agreeing to the terms?

Very strange and unlike me. Now "If" I have troubled the trouble, the fun will be to see weather the Trouble will trouble me or I will trouble the Trouble.

Search for The Unknown.

The forest was so dense and the silence of the surroundings was broken by the singing of the cricket ( Not a very pleasant sound to the ear). The trail was covered with dry yellow/brownish leaves, partially wet maybe with the moisture content in the air.

The darkness of the forest was making me feel really scared, the first thought that came was why did I ever think of getting into the forest, and while I was thinking this the most important question came in my mind that is What was it that I was Searching for that led me into such a Forest ?

I was sure that it was something I was Searching for, but what was it that I was Searching? Was the Blue City? or the Place with the Fountain ? or The place where that funny plane with a weird seating had taken me? or Was it the place where I was riding on the Horse with a Sword in my Hand ?

Deeper I got into the forest, uncertainties of what next and where next kept increasing, one thing was sure that there was no going back as it would let the Ghost haunt me more, yes it was the Ghost that made me run into the forest.

Now I am deep into the Forest, in an unknown place in Search for the Unknown.

Battle Field.

The King is in the middle of the Battle Field on his huge Horse, with Swords in both his hands swinging all over, killing every body in front of him and moving towards victory.

The aura around him is such that no one dares to face him....His eyes has blood in them....and his hands have power of Thousand People together.

Suddenly he stops in the middle of the Battle Field to take a look back at his soldiers, to his surprise his army had long back left him in the middle and was no where to be seen. It was then he realised being all alone amongst the enemy but still they were not able to fight him out.

He being alone that time, confused him of what the victory was.....who was he fighting for.....what was he fighting for ? In his coonfused state he looked up and to surprise him was A sword on his neck.

He Lost his Army, he lost His Focus....................He Lost Himself.

The Ghost

The Ghost Haunts him all the time when he is out of the Place.

It is there all the time, while on a vacation, out for a party and every where it follows. He is scared to enjoy, the Ghost might over power his joys and turn it into sorrow.

What does the Ghost expect of him? Is what he wants to know. How should he over power the Ghost?

It is making him mad..............

The Dot!

As a child, I came across a very small Dot at the end of an English sentence and wondered what the Dot was and why was it there.

Was it an artistic way of writing or the author had just put his pen on the page and decided not write....so the ink spot was from the tip of the pen.......later I got to know The Dot was The Full Stop.

Time passed and I kept moving higher in education, used The Dot in many forms. Used it as a decimal, semicolons...and in many more ways.

The second major stage of my life when I came across A Dot which had no relevance with the one I knew before. I found just Dot on the squash ball, different color Dot meant different speed of the ball. The Yellow Dot the slowest and used in India and The White Dot one of the fastest balls to play with.

The significance of the Dot in the English language was totally different to the one in Squash. Well I was introduced to another Dot in my life.

Now the third major Dot, which I have heard of but yet to see is The Red Dot. Looking forward to the Red Dot on the pictures I have displayed in the Exhibition. I dream, drink , walk, run, sleep and Live the Red Dot now.

Lucy Gray

The Morning after the Stormy Night, Lucy's parents kept running around looking for her but there was no sign of her any where.

Her mother spied her foot steps, till there were no foot steps after the missing plank on the bridge. They left all hopes of getting her back, the river below the bridge was flowing with the great current and there was no question of she surviving.

As the story goes, Lucy can still be heard singing softly on a stormy night and at times be seen walking with the lantern in the middle of the woods, but she never looks behind.

It has not been many months sinse Lucy has been missing, I happen to spot her in the middle of the woods one day while I was off to the town for my daily work. She was not very far from me, so I called out for her but it seemed she did not hear me.

Lucy had the lantern in her hands but with no light. She was wearing a white dress which had lost the whiteness and become brown. Her hair were unsettled and her shoes were not there.

I ran towards her ( before she would vanish, as I had heard) and stood right in front of her. She stopped but was still looking down and humming some tune which I had never heard. The humming stopped and she looked up at me......her eyes were wet, her rosy cheeks had turned pale, before I could realise she hugged me and howled and said..... she had failed to make it to the town that stormy night. She was still looking for the way to the Town to get her mother back.

Lucy Gray is not dead, she is still alive. It was actually Lucy Gray who people would see, but were scared to go near her thinking it was her Ghost.

" What one sees is not always real"

The Passenger.

Every time the plane flew over my house, I always thought it had at least one passenger with tears in his/her eyes, sitting and looking down and thinking why he/she had to leave.

Sitting in the plane and thinking, wish the aircraft turns back, wish the person to whom he/she had bid good bye was still there thinking the same thing the plane would come back and decide never to part again.

The houses down below keep becoming smaller and smaller till the clouds block the view and sad passenger starts getting used to the fact of that There is no going back now. As time passes he/she starts to think about the destination, about what next to do....what he/she will be doing there.

Soon the plane would land and the sad passenger would de plane smiling, as if nothing had happened. Would call up the person at the departed city to let him/her know about their well being and carry on. Would miss the good times at times.....but would carry on.

The Monk

The older Monk carried the woman in his head till the Monestry....where as the younger one picked her up and dropped her after crossing the river.So who commited a Sin? The Older Monk or the Younger one.....Leave things behind once over....keep walking.

Blue and White

Where did I go ? It was so beautiful, the place was all Blue and White. Lots of water around and the fish in the pond looked so colorful.

He offered me to hold his finger, which I did. Soon i was in the flea market....then to the fountain and then I was close to the Pillar made out of Blue and White stone ( One I have never seen before) when he parted. He said bye........and I woke up!

Truth.

The Truth is I hate to Lie............ The False is I do'nt want to Deny.

Stranger...

He would always be standing on the other side of the fence and looking inside. Would see all of us play, fight and sometimes just sitting casually on the stairs and talking.

I would notice him come every day at sharp four o'clock in the afternoon, would stay there till we went inside for our tea and studies. He would smile or get sad at times seeing us play, his eyes followed each one of us, he enjoyed every moment of our life. At times I felt he could actually hear what we spoke, actually he was playing with us.

He would stand out with a bag in his hand, it seemed he came every day to give something to one of us out there, but he would never come in and go without even attempting to come in.

What was stopping him to come in ? Who did he come to see everyday? And Who was he ?

Is This Real!

Is This Real! or That was Real! mind keeps thinking, had it been the way it was ....would the life been good or what is happening now is better .

Then what one looks forward to is the Future. Visualises it to be the Best. So Keep walking towards the best. The Real is yet to happen.