Random Strokes

The Bronze Horseman is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg, Russia - my city ," Magdalia narrated sipping from her coffee mug shifting gaze to the person sitting in front of her.She responded to the person after he pointed out that the Buddha statue of the Hussain Sagar is the largest monolithic rock statue in the world. The statue is now one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg, in much the same way that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of New York City. The statue's pedestal is the enormous Thunder Stone, the largest stone ever moved by man. The stone originally weighed about 1500 tonnes, and was carved down to 1250 tonnes during transportation to its current site. "Your English accent is too good for a Russian," Akhil commented fumbling with his hand cuffs and changing posture sitting a bit upright. I was born and brought up in Virginia,US to a Russian mother and an American father.Quite a fairytale aint it? Magdalia is a la...

Which is the first multi-storeyed building in Hyderabad? No prizes for guessing. Of course, it is the city’s most famous icon -- Charminar. And do you know there is a cat’s head designed in the apex of one of the small arches on the eastern side? It was perhaps meant to be a deterrent to rats, the cause of plague. And when the epidemic ended, Charminar was raised to commemorate its riddance. A by-lane from the Charminar leads to the sprawling market of Laad (bangles) bazaar.One of the shops is owned by Fatima.A girl in her early twenties.Her eyes are captivating.Glimpses of which are visible through her veiled face.A strong girl who lost her parents when she was very young and the only relative is her ailing old uncle who lives with her.. After her parents died her uncle raised her up.The bangle shop at Ladd bazaar is owned by him.Fatima's uncle had inherited it from his ancestors.Fatima was pursuing her graduation in Social Psychology from the Osmania University....

Aamir - A young banker in early thirties.Recently married. Ayesha - An young woman and Aamirs wife.Working with an IT major. Sharon - a kid who loves to play Riz - a kid who loves to play Friday evening.The worlds retiring home.Some to loved ones.Some to friends.Some heading nowhere.Aamir was one of them. Aamir is a young banker.An MBA grad from a reputed college.Drawing a handsome salary.Drives a sedan.Dines at expensive places.Travels five star.Pays his bills on time.A good looking handsome guy with an equally hot and intelligent wife.And yes he is married for 2 years now. Ayesha is in her late twenties.An engineering grad.A perfect example of beauty with brains.Soft spoken.Tender attitude.Ambitious yet humble.Yes she loves shopping and possesses credit cards ! A trivial issue led to a mjor fallout between the two.They wernt meeting eyes.Aamir handled his clients really well;Ayesha her codes.Neither could handle their lives though. The sky we...

If we are united in our hatred for politics so are we united in our love for the Durga Puja.People who stay away from home choose this occasion to visit our hometowns in Bengal.It was no way different for Avik.He could manage a week's leave. The wind has caught a sudden chill.The leaves and flowers all pale.A festive mood has caught us all.Everyone looking forward for those few days of enjoyment and togetherness with friends and family.Avik boarded a morning flight to Kolkata. "Since you are seated at the emergency let me brief you about the security issues," the air hostess muttered .Avik happened to be a frequent flier and could almost recite those lines along with her. The monotony was broken by the sudden appearance of the fellow passenger. She was well past her teens.Had sharp features.Neatly done hair.Light eye makeup and heavy gloss.A smart suit with jeans.Classy platinum ear rings and a side laptop.She wasn't very tall. "Let me help you k...

"God is a circle of infinite radius having infinite centers and considering each human being to be discrete points inside the circle,are at equal distances from God !" Akshay said these solemnly without blinking even once Since when did you start taking interest in such matters? Inquired Vijay Do I look one who would venture into reading all this...common you guys know me ! That's exactly why we are worried.Hey everything's fine ? - Akash chipped in. Akshay ,Vijay and Ajay are friends from college.They have shared everything ....well almost everything.Studied together,cheated together,hit out on girls together and even got rejected together.The most important part they all even got married almost at the same time.It has been a year that they met and after much effort they planned for a get together at Akshay's place in Delhi.Their wives also came along. According to our Vedas there are 330 million Gods and Goddess! Dude did you get hit by so...

"Stand Down ....Stand Down.... ." a sharp tone swept across across all walkie talkies held by the cops. It was near 2 AM on the Christmas eve.The cops had been on duty throught the day.Huge forces were deployed.The "Stand Down" order brought some relief.Everyone started to disperse. "Avik what about dinner?Come lets enjoy the Christmas eve with few rounds of Scotch.Game young man?" the Additional SP said these light heartedly to Avik. "Oh thank you sir ; please carry on." "As you wish young man,Merry Christmas" Avik was an Inspector with the Police force.In his late twenties,dedicated to his work,soft spoken and has  lately started putting on weight at wrong places.However he always longed a physique of a Spartan !As the jeep of Additional SP sped past,Avik courted a salute and proceeded to his chamber inside the police station.He had just lit a cigarette that a commotion broke outside followed by a girl who dashed inside his c...

It had been a long day.Pushy clients,quarter end pressure and infinite abuse combined to form a cocktail in Avik's head.The drive to home either has not been pleasant.Clogging at various junctions in the city.In one of the junctions read a digital sign board with date and temperature."12th March, 36 deg C ". A quick freshening up.Then what?After pondering for quite sometime decided to hit the pool.It has been almost a decade and a half that Avik went swimming. The evening breeze blowing gently.The pool was on the roof top.Few more high rises besides.The horizon is still red but darkness has engulfed.Lights from the neighboring high rises falling on the water and diffusing in a blissful orchestra.The water seemed to wash off the sun rays still on his skin. Avik was still in the water.From what seemed from there was a solitary figure on the farther side of the pool.He could not see clearly from the distance but could make out it was a girl.Somewhat skinny,curly dark hair...

"I do " and life changes ! I am sure many of my friends can relate to what I am trying to hint at.The past two to three months have seen the Indians most active trying to wed their children.Many of your friends boyfriends and girlfriends get married during this period.An exercise which starts well in advance from finding a suitable boy or girl (just in case you are useless and believe in outsourcing the same to parents).The whole exercise assumes herculean proportions with slowly the whole family and friends giving you options.Most of us haven't had much of a choice in our entire lifetime.Be it choosing a the stream of study,career ,you were even given names without your consultation!However this is probably the only time when we are asked to exercise our choice.More often than not if we are given an option ,we choose. Isn't that a great strategy! Marriage has been termed as an institution.I beg to differ.It is more of an economy.Movies,songs,event management,caterer...

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,Terminal Kolkata isn't a great place to be at 5 in the morning.I simply wondered if all the people in the queues are here for boarding a flight or maybe their loo is dysfunctional! Just as the FIFO was getting implemented I happen to pass a bookstall.Grabbed a Alice in Wonderland.While browsing the pages happen to read the following para - 'Would you tell me please,which way I ought to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat. 'I dont much care where -,' said Alice. 'That it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. '-so long as I get somewhere,'Alice added as an explanation. 'Oh,you're sure to do that,'said the Cat,'if you walk long enough.' Nice way to start the day!Well Hi friends... haven't been around for quite some time.Was between jobs,relations and cities.Thankfully have rested now and settling for peace on all three fronts.I am found in...

Blanket of white snow had engulfed everything around.It had snowed for the first time in the valleys this winter.The intensity of the sun started rising once the snowfall stopped.Multiple reflections of the sun rays reached a tin rooftop on the other side of the road which blazed directly on my blue shades.Awesomely soothing I should say.The relief was shortlived.Immediately a gust of wind started blowing.The arteries and veins seemed to contract.A slap on the cheeks which were exposed. I looked around and saw a tea stall nearby.Without wasting time ran for shelter. "Ek chai aur cigarette dijiyega please." "Cigarette kaun si lenge Janaab?" "Kings ...badi waali" "Yeh lo Janaab.Aap Hindustan se ho ?" This question hit me even more stronger than the chilling winds on my cheeks.I never expected this sort of a question.Not able to understand how to react answered in a single syllable - "haan!" I am giving an account of my recent trip to Srin...

Hello Friends, No not any story this time!This post is towards one of my recent paintings.Will give a little gist before this.It has been long that I have left painting,almost 10 years or so.In fact to be true never really took it seriously.However really dont recall what prompted me to take it up once again.Maybe its the best way to relax over the weekend after travelling some 2-3 thousand miles.Whatever might be reason all I can say is...Im loving it! Well the painting you see above is a random expression of my thoughts. Doesn't really make much sense.A depiction of various form of people in black,signifying the common experiences and conditions different people go through.However the background is different for all of them which signifies a different world of each. Dont really go too much into the meaning of the above papagraph just njoi the painting and let me know if you like it.Will be expecting your comments ! Cya Guys, Avique

Characters : Avik Choudhuri - IPS Officer Brinda Roy Menon - Investating Journalist Ranjan Da - Avik's Uncle and a retired person. Uma Di - Brinda's friend philosopher and guide and also her boss.Well she is also the "still in good terms" separated wife of Ranjan da.No,they did not seek divorce. These are the real life characters,the ones which are not as follows: Raat_Jaaga_Tara - A GTalk ID Boy_In_The_Box - A GTalk ID Well Raat_Jaaga_Tara and Boy_In_The_Box are very close friends,offcourse over the web.They spend most of their time chatting whenever in front of their computers.This has been going on over a year.Strangely enough they still do not know each others name.They prefer anynomity.Both are comfortable sharing their feelings to complete starngers. Raat_Jaaga_Tara -Hi u der? Boy_In_The_Box - (He had been impatiently waiting for her to ping.Suddenly turns back and breaks his glass containing drinking water.) You just b...

The muddy spikes firmly dug,the limestone scattered loosely along the ground,sweat dripping from the temple,the head making movements down and then steadily up towards the finishing line."On your marks," Avik steadily comes to position with his torso nearly 45 degrees to the horizontal,"get ,set ...," he knows this is his last chance,"GO!" Like other years this year too it was the annual sports day at school.Avik has the responsibility of winning for his team.150m,200m and 400m has been completed.He could not clinch the gold in any of them.Aspirations were high.His Dad who has coached him for the past years keenly observing.The teachers and his classmates very disappointed with the performance.This is the last chance.A win is must for his team to score the maximum points.He can never face his dad if he loses. The 100m race has begun.It was not the perfect start he would have liked to have.He was lacking concentration.His start was very late.Almost half...

Disclaimer : The examples quoted in this article are no way remotely, either directly or indirectly related to the author.Do not get ideas punks! 1.Habit #1 - And this part is called waking up! Sometimes I feel along with the rotation of the Earth along its axis ,there has been a relative movement in the horizontal direction of all species over the years.An aspect which evolution hasnt been able to account for.What makes me think so? lemme explain - What time do you wake up? 8AM?9AM?10AM or you have flexi timings in your office ! Given a chance you wouldnt have woken up!This makes me feel we ought to have been part of a different time zone altogether.Else how could such an important activity be so similar! Wake up folks! 2.HABIT #2 - Called the skipping lunch episode Human beings can be classified as either herbivore or carnivore.However with the advent of these "highly ineffective people" we have a breed called "fuckthevore" who are just too disinterested in eating...

Time : 7:00 AM Place :Pantnagar ,Uttarakhand I was comfortably dosing in my hotel when the phone rang,it was mom. Mom:Joy ,ekta khub kharap khobor achhe! (There is a very bad news!) P.S - Joy is my pet name. Me:ki? ( what?) Mom : Babusona kalke ratre maara gechhe road accident e! ( Babusona has died in a road accident last night!) Babusona was like my younger brother ...well even more than that... Me: Oh God!I was silent after that. I knew things would not be the same again.We have grown up just like brothers.Babusona was 6 years younger to me.It is a very difficult realization. Its not that tragedies dont happen.Set backs keep coming.Atleast I have simply got used to them.Got ditched and rejected on both personal as well as preofessional fronts.Tell you somewhere down the line things heal quicker now.However thats not always true! The day starts with with the new rays of sun.Calm and soothing.As the day passes the sun comes down harder and harder.Our life starts casting its shadow....

"Excuse me please!" ,translate this to the local dialect which sounds something like this - "Abe hat samne se!".Welcome to the world which has molested the very existence of civic sense.I started my career in Bangalore where you find very civilised people,even the auto rickshaw driver knows English!People drive in their own lanes and wait patiently at the traffic lights. Well all was good when destiny brought me to Delhi. In this city no one has the least respect for traffic rules.No one has a To bring about the contrast lemme just put forward an example.I am one those persons who are the favourites of Traffic Police. In Bangalore when I used to get caught for any reason the traffic police would respond this way - "Sir you have to pay a fine of Rs 200/- for overspeeding."Such humbleness ,such respect even my juniors did not show this to me in college.I felt like giving away Rs 500/- instead. In Delhi recently i got caught for speeding.This was the treatmen...

Time : 7 AM Early Monday morning Partied late into the night.Hangover still continues.Nothing doing have to reach office in time for the meeting with Boss! Time :8:00 AM Location :Some Office Boss - What is the difference between a job and a career? I have no fucking clue what is the difference between the two,neither have I thought about it.But since my boss has asked there must be some difference.After much thinking I replied "Job is something which we do for our living and career is our constant progress in the profession " I felt like giving out sermon from the Bible.But somehow it felt bloody good. Boss - No ,no!Its a simple one word answer.The difference between the two is simple,its " perspective ". Thats cheating!Never did you mention you wanted a one word answer.Even if you wanted one how am I supposed to know which fucking word you have in mind. Boss - Your productivity for the previous week has been .689 against the one previous to it which showed .748...

"Lived - Lied - Fucked - Died" ,please dont get me wrong.These were the exact wordings on the walls of one of the IIT's (will not name which one). Its been quite some time that I have been roaming around the country (well I get paid for it!) chasing dreams, money, love and lot more.Each part has its own story to tell.Well this isnt my travel diary,Google has done a wonderful job in compiling travel guides for you.Very frequently I visit a place in MP known as Korwa.Offical purpose offcourse.One of the most remote places nothing else can be found.Civilisation ceazes to exist beyond the factory premises.The nearest town is Sultanpur easily 50km from this place.Foxes actually roam around on roads in broad daylight! Was yet another day in this deserted place ,sipping down a cup of tea in the only stall in the village.Suddenly the words on the dilapidated and old T-shirt of the small boy who cleared the tea cup from the table caught the attention -"I dont think about th...