It was rain that woke me up last night

Was my Guardian Angel nearby yesterday when I talked about the patter of raindrops and smell of wet earth? Yesterday night I woke up when something loud crashed nearby. In tune with the times that we live in, my first thought was that a bomb had exploded somewhere. But then no terrorist worth his (or her - another sign of the changing times!) salt would detonate a bomb in the dead of the night when the roads would be deserted. I checked the bedside clock - it showed 4:30am.

Just when I was wondering if I had been dreaming, there was a flash and then another loud crack pierced the pre-dawn air. I couldn't believe it - it was raining!

I was out of the bed in a flash. Oh, it was so good to hear the raindrops falling on earth. I watched for some time and then fell happily asleep to the music of the dancing rain. :-)

गर्जा महाराष्ट्र माझा!

येत्या १ मेला महाराष्ट्राचं सुवर्ण महोत्सवी वर्ष आहे. हे राज्य झालं तेव्हाचा सविस्तर इतिहास मला माहित नसला तरी ह्या वर्षी तो मी माहित करून घेणारच. कारण राकट, कणखर आणि दगडांची असली तरी ही भूमी माझी आहे. ह्यात माझ्या संस्क्रृतीची नाळ घट्ट रुजली आहे. आनंदाने पायावर डोकं ठेवावं आणि दु:खात गार्‍हाणी घालावी अशी माझी दैवतं ह्याच मातीत उभी आहेत. इथलीच माती माझ्या नसानसात आहे आणि मी इथल्याच मातीत शेवटी मिसळणार आहे.

अष्टविनायकांच्या, भवानीमातेच्या, अंबाबाईच्या, विठ्ठ्ल-रखुमाईच्या माझ्या लाडक्या महाराष्ट्राला माझा मानाचा मुजरा!

And now for the forwarded sher:

आ कभी अंधेरेमे देख सूरत-ऐ-दुनिया
रंग तो तमाशा है सिर्फ धूप-छावका

Stay Cool Folks! :-)

Monsoon Come Soon!

One piece of news came as a breath of fresh cool air in this hot and humid weather of Mumbai - that the monsoon is expected 7-10 days earlier this year. I didn't bother going into the scientific explanation that followed. My mind was already onto the patter of raindrops and smell of wet earth :-) Monsoon Come Soon!

Good to know that the Mumbai High Court has stayed the Shivaji Park beautification attempts. No, I am not a supporter of MNS. But I cannot understand why the large murals are needed. Anyone walking past the city's few remaining parks cannot fail to notice large number of students studying under the dim lights. Why not build study rooms for them instead? Why not start a library? Why not put in place amenities which will help the children playing there? Why not increase the vigilance that will keep away anti-social elements and smooching couples?

Why not make Shivaji Park a friendlier place to be in?

Shame on you Madhuri Gupta

There was a time when I used to naively believe that women are naturally averse to any kind of corruption. That illusion shattered long time back. My anger over what Gupta did does not totally stem from her being a woman though I must admit that a small part of me did cringe at the thought that a woman was caught handing over country's vital documents to spies. If it were a man, I would have easily blamed it on greed. Somehow or other, I find it hard to pin that motive on a woman. But I guess I must accept the fact that we are equally capable of falling pray to the vice.

However, 10 years, in my opinion at least, is a very inadequate punishment for this serious crime. :-(

All the best to the Indian Team for World Twenty20!

Don't get me wrong. I am still mad at the whole match-fixing thing. But I somehow cannot believe that the Chennai captain Dhoni could have been part of it. He seems like a level-headed chap and doesn't need to resort to these shenanigans for making money. So also Sachin Tendulkar.

Anyways, it is for Dhoni's sake that I hope we do well at World Twenty20. I am not hoping for the Cup but just that we play well and fair!

All the best to the Indian team!