I came across this video of Harsha Bhogle speaking at IIM Calcutta. I spent 1 hr 26 minutes and 57 seconds watching the video. Harsha was brilliant at various points. He said that there are many things that he has learnt out of life and he wished that he had known them when he was at IIM A. some of those learnings that he mentioned are:
1- Try to achieve excellence in profession that you are in. ( Money should not be primary factor, it will come automatically with excellence)
2- Talent is not determining factor for success. In fact it is Grit of a person that determines his success. Excellent people in all fields have excellent work ethics.
3- Your approach to any problem determines your solution. Approach problems differently.
4- Don't repeat mistakes in life. One would get better by doing this as we only have a limited set of mistakes that we can commit.
5- Honesty and Ethics are very important factors to determine the height of achievements of a person.
6- If you bow down, opponents loose respect for you. You gain your respect by retaliation.
7- Take Challenges in life. If you win, you are a STAR. if you loose, its OK.
8- Communicate effectively. Its vital for your success.
9- Keep Check of your Health. Its necessary.
I think these learnings are worth imbibing. You are free to disagree.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
"Ananta"
Professor Bhargava can not see anything. There are small droplets of water on his specs. He is elated. He does not understand why? He feels as if he just done what he always wanted to. He has just been there where he always wanted to be. Something has grown in him which he always wanted to develop. He looks at sky and feels as if universe is welcoming him back. Where had he been? He looks around. A boy is looking at him. Professor stands up and goes near to him. Boy shouts "Papa". Professor can not recognise him. He walks away. Boy can not understand what has happened to his daddy. He shouts gain "Papa". Professor looks back. He cant remember the boy still. He thinks, "Who is this boy?".Professor asks the boy,"Who are you??" Boy is surprised. He says to himself, "Papa" and starts crying.
Its 2nd October. A big poster of Mahatma Ghandhi is looking at Both of them. Professor wants boy to calm down. He looks in to his pocket for some money so that he could buy something for the boy. He finds his purse, opnes it and he sees a picture of himself, a lady and that of the boy in his pocket. Now it is turn to be surprised. Suddently he sees a procession coming towards them with Indian flag in their hand. They are shouting "Mahatma ji ki jai ho". Professor clutches hand of boy and clears the way for that procession.
To be continued....
Its 2nd October. A big poster of Mahatma Ghandhi is looking at Both of them. Professor wants boy to calm down. He looks in to his pocket for some money so that he could buy something for the boy. He finds his purse, opnes it and he sees a picture of himself, a lady and that of the boy in his pocket. Now it is turn to be surprised. Suddently he sees a procession coming towards them with Indian flag in their hand. They are shouting "Mahatma ji ki jai ho". Professor clutches hand of boy and clears the way for that procession.
To be continued....
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Nishabd-6 ( Final)
Rohan picks up the bag and opens it. There is a lot of mud inside it and also there is a green pollybag inside. He opens it, There are some photographs inside the pollybag. The photographs contain some pictures of mountains and most of them seem to be taken twice. There is a piece of paper also with something written on it. He can’t see pictures clearly and can’t read things written on paper either because of diminishing light. Old man has come closer. Jesse seems frightened. Rohan looks at old man now and asks with respect, “Baba, aap Aaabha ko jaante the kya?” Old man has tears in his eyes and says, “Chelee” and points out towards Jesse. He says nothing else. Jesse wants to ask more questions and get some definite answers but Rohan asks her not to do so. He seems to be very different today. He touches old man’s feet and pics bag up and starts moving toward Asgoli. Jesse is suprised but now she has partially understood that hills are capable of playing trics.
They soon reach Pradhan ji’s house. It has stopped raining now. There is a Rainbow starting from a distant hill and seems to be ending at Asgoli. Jesse is clearly amazed by the beauty but today she has other things to think about first. Pradhan ji opens gates and asks them to come in. He is surprised seeing bag of Aabha in Rohan’s hand and he can very well read something very different in Rohan today. He asks him about the bag and soon is aware about whole thing from Jesse’s dreams to Old man to Nishabd. He asks Rohan to open the pollybag . Rohan opens it and brings out some pictures. Every picture seems to be having two copies. Then there is a piece of paper too with something written on it. Rohan reads it to Jesse and Pradhan ji. It contains some directions for “Parvat Jagran” newspaper, the newspaper which Aabha was working for. The letter says to compare two similar looking photographs. And it mentions some big names from Almora districts saying that they were commiting a big crime.
Only one photograph that does not have a similar looking copy is that of Rohan. This photograph shows Rohan standing by the tree on which Nishabd is imprinted.
Rohan and Pradhan ji can not understand anything. But Jesse has understood what Aabha meant. She asks for a magnifying glass. Pradhan ji does not have it. But he immediately asks his servant to get it from science laboratory of Government Inter College nearby. While servant is away, Pradhan ji tells Rohan that Aabha was not his child. Rather he had found it on the steps of Doonagiri Temple. There was an old man there who had told him that the girl was daughter of hills. And that girl was going to be protector for hills. Pradhan ji did not have any child so he had brought girl with him to Asgoli. Now things are becoming even more clear to Jesse, because she has a clear Idea what she is going to find comparing the images.
Soon Magnifying glass is available to them and Jesse compares two pictures. She asks Rohan to have a look at them with Magnifying glass but he could not find any thing. Even Pradhan is not able to see anything peculiar. Now she explains that two pictures show difference in density of trees at any place. If they cleary try to count number of trees at any particular section of picture, one set of photographs had reduced number. Jesse was an environmental scientist, she had done a lot of research in this area and knew that this was one of the methods that could be used to cut trees without bringing it in to notice. She explained that in this method, Trees are marked in the way so that after cutting them the overall change is not noticable. This marking has to be done in a very large area and then before actually cutting the trees the trees are made dead using some chemicals so that there it looks that they fell due to some natural reason. After Uttaranchal had become a separate state and forest officers and conservationists had become more active, it was a smart move by person involved in the wood business to use this method to cut down trees. After effects could be very distastrous, as area which was affected was large could cause a lot of damage to ecology of whole hilly region. Chemicals those were used could effect environment of hills badly.
Aabha had found it and was going to send report to “Parvat Jagran”. Her report might not have reached news paper or it might actually have. Now Rohan had understood it, hills were playing trics with them because they wanted the cause of protection of their ecology to be carried forward. The old man knew it already and also knew that Rohan and Jesse were going to find it soon. Jesse and Rohan were choosen by hills because Rohan was connected to “Aabha” and Jesse was an environmental scientist. But some questions still remained unanswered: What happened to Aabha? Was she still alive? If not who killed her? Why did Jesse saw a little girl and a Masked man in the dream? Jesse had anyway decided to send this report to Professor Bhowmik so that they could collect more data and then findings could be brought in to attention at national stage and in big way. But what about Aabha? Soon there was a knock at the door. When Pradhan ji opened gate, they found old man outside. He remained outside only and said something in Kumauni, which only Pradhan ji and Rohan could understood. Old man went away soon with a smile on his face. He also gave some Gadmahals to Rohan to pass them on to Jesse. He saw Jesse and said “Chelee”. As old man is gone Rohan tells Jesse that old man was saying Aabha will be their next child. Jesse has tears in her eyes, she comes outside and looks at distant snow laden Himalayan peak and says,”Thank you”. Colours of Rainbow seem even more brightened now.
They soon reach Pradhan ji’s house. It has stopped raining now. There is a Rainbow starting from a distant hill and seems to be ending at Asgoli. Jesse is clearly amazed by the beauty but today she has other things to think about first. Pradhan ji opens gates and asks them to come in. He is surprised seeing bag of Aabha in Rohan’s hand and he can very well read something very different in Rohan today. He asks him about the bag and soon is aware about whole thing from Jesse’s dreams to Old man to Nishabd. He asks Rohan to open the pollybag . Rohan opens it and brings out some pictures. Every picture seems to be having two copies. Then there is a piece of paper too with something written on it. Rohan reads it to Jesse and Pradhan ji. It contains some directions for “Parvat Jagran” newspaper, the newspaper which Aabha was working for. The letter says to compare two similar looking photographs. And it mentions some big names from Almora districts saying that they were commiting a big crime.
Only one photograph that does not have a similar looking copy is that of Rohan. This photograph shows Rohan standing by the tree on which Nishabd is imprinted.
Rohan and Pradhan ji can not understand anything. But Jesse has understood what Aabha meant. She asks for a magnifying glass. Pradhan ji does not have it. But he immediately asks his servant to get it from science laboratory of Government Inter College nearby. While servant is away, Pradhan ji tells Rohan that Aabha was not his child. Rather he had found it on the steps of Doonagiri Temple. There was an old man there who had told him that the girl was daughter of hills. And that girl was going to be protector for hills. Pradhan ji did not have any child so he had brought girl with him to Asgoli. Now things are becoming even more clear to Jesse, because she has a clear Idea what she is going to find comparing the images.
Soon Magnifying glass is available to them and Jesse compares two pictures. She asks Rohan to have a look at them with Magnifying glass but he could not find any thing. Even Pradhan is not able to see anything peculiar. Now she explains that two pictures show difference in density of trees at any place. If they cleary try to count number of trees at any particular section of picture, one set of photographs had reduced number. Jesse was an environmental scientist, she had done a lot of research in this area and knew that this was one of the methods that could be used to cut trees without bringing it in to notice. She explained that in this method, Trees are marked in the way so that after cutting them the overall change is not noticable. This marking has to be done in a very large area and then before actually cutting the trees the trees are made dead using some chemicals so that there it looks that they fell due to some natural reason. After Uttaranchal had become a separate state and forest officers and conservationists had become more active, it was a smart move by person involved in the wood business to use this method to cut down trees. After effects could be very distastrous, as area which was affected was large could cause a lot of damage to ecology of whole hilly region. Chemicals those were used could effect environment of hills badly.
Aabha had found it and was going to send report to “Parvat Jagran”. Her report might not have reached news paper or it might actually have. Now Rohan had understood it, hills were playing trics with them because they wanted the cause of protection of their ecology to be carried forward. The old man knew it already and also knew that Rohan and Jesse were going to find it soon. Jesse and Rohan were choosen by hills because Rohan was connected to “Aabha” and Jesse was an environmental scientist. But some questions still remained unanswered: What happened to Aabha? Was she still alive? If not who killed her? Why did Jesse saw a little girl and a Masked man in the dream? Jesse had anyway decided to send this report to Professor Bhowmik so that they could collect more data and then findings could be brought in to attention at national stage and in big way. But what about Aabha? Soon there was a knock at the door. When Pradhan ji opened gate, they found old man outside. He remained outside only and said something in Kumauni, which only Pradhan ji and Rohan could understood. Old man went away soon with a smile on his face. He also gave some Gadmahals to Rohan to pass them on to Jesse. He saw Jesse and said “Chelee”. As old man is gone Rohan tells Jesse that old man was saying Aabha will be their next child. Jesse has tears in her eyes, she comes outside and looks at distant snow laden Himalayan peak and says,”Thank you”. Colours of Rainbow seem even more brightened now.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Nishabd-5
Jesse wakes up Rohan and tells him about her dream. She Asks him, "Rohan tell me what is Nishabd?” He does not know what to say. He looks lost. He tells Jesse that Nishabd is a poem that he had written for Aabha.
Aabha had become silent when she had heard the poem. She hugged Rohan and said nothing. It was admission of love from her. Rohan was delighted. He lifted Aabha up in his arms. They both wanted this moment to stay for them for ever. They found one way and they both wrote Nishabd on a tree nearby. Both of them used to come to tree sometimes and used to smile together seeing Nishabd preserved by the hills as expression of its blessings for their love
Jesse jerks Rohan and asks again,"Tell me, what Nishabd means?" He said,"Nishabd means wordless, uh no, it means a state of being beyond words." He then tells Jesse about the poem that he had written. They both decide to go to the place next day. Jesse can not sleep now. She makes some tea for herself. She comes out in the gallery and sees light in a hill nearby. When she looks with attention it seems an old man is dancing there with some fire burning. She calls Rohan outside, but now there is no light and he can not see anything.
Rohan and Jesse are going to Asgoli today. They will first go to Dwarahat in a bus and then they will have to move on foot from there. She is excited but he seems silent today. It is raining heavily today. They have soon reached Dwarahat and now they will start for Asgoli as soon as rain stops. She sees a little girl playing with a doll in the tea shop. She sees Jesse and comes close to her. Jesse holds her in her lap and Rohan watches it and smiles.
Rain has stopped. They start towards Asgoli. The sky is still dark. Jesse is awestruck with the beauty of place. Deep gorges with innumerous trees. Places where there could not have been any foot prints of civilized man. She is moving slowly slowly with Rohan, who is very silent today. After moving for half an hour village Asgoli is still not in sight. But the tree where Nishabd is imprinted is nearby. Rohan has increased his speed, Jesse is excited but little afraid also. They are entering in to woods and soon they reach the place where Nishabd is written on a tree. Jesse is trying to read it. But it is very difficult to read in diminishing light. Suddenly she sees an old man moving towards them. It is the same old man who had met her in Shivalaya at Kafda earlier. Rohan also looks at old man but his eyes stop at something else. There is a bag lying there. It is Aabha's bag. Old man is saying something but he can not hear it.
Aabha had become silent when she had heard the poem. She hugged Rohan and said nothing. It was admission of love from her. Rohan was delighted. He lifted Aabha up in his arms. They both wanted this moment to stay for them for ever. They found one way and they both wrote Nishabd on a tree nearby. Both of them used to come to tree sometimes and used to smile together seeing Nishabd preserved by the hills as expression of its blessings for their love
Jesse jerks Rohan and asks again,"Tell me, what Nishabd means?" He said,"Nishabd means wordless, uh no, it means a state of being beyond words." He then tells Jesse about the poem that he had written. They both decide to go to the place next day. Jesse can not sleep now. She makes some tea for herself. She comes out in the gallery and sees light in a hill nearby. When she looks with attention it seems an old man is dancing there with some fire burning. She calls Rohan outside, but now there is no light and he can not see anything.
Rohan and Jesse are going to Asgoli today. They will first go to Dwarahat in a bus and then they will have to move on foot from there. She is excited but he seems silent today. It is raining heavily today. They have soon reached Dwarahat and now they will start for Asgoli as soon as rain stops. She sees a little girl playing with a doll in the tea shop. She sees Jesse and comes close to her. Jesse holds her in her lap and Rohan watches it and smiles.
Rain has stopped. They start towards Asgoli. The sky is still dark. Jesse is awestruck with the beauty of place. Deep gorges with innumerous trees. Places where there could not have been any foot prints of civilized man. She is moving slowly slowly with Rohan, who is very silent today. After moving for half an hour village Asgoli is still not in sight. But the tree where Nishabd is imprinted is nearby. Rohan has increased his speed, Jesse is excited but little afraid also. They are entering in to woods and soon they reach the place where Nishabd is written on a tree. Jesse is trying to read it. But it is very difficult to read in diminishing light. Suddenly she sees an old man moving towards them. It is the same old man who had met her in Shivalaya at Kafda earlier. Rohan also looks at old man but his eyes stop at something else. There is a bag lying there. It is Aabha's bag. Old man is saying something but he can not hear it.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Nishabd-4
PS: If you have not read earlier parts of this story before, please first read them in earlier posts.
Jesse stops smiling and frees herself from embrace of Rohan. She shouts,"Who is Aabha? Tell me Rohan who is Aabha? Why is this name bugging me so much?" She is crying. Rohan has a blank face. He is almost sweating. He asks Jesse,"How do you know about Aabha?" Jesse is still crying,"Rohan, I have been having dream of a masked man who says Aabha to me, then I met an old man who said Aabha to me." She starts crying even more,"I am not any kind of glow, why is this name troubling me. I wanted to share joy of our first baby with you and wanted to surprise you and this name has ruined it. I hate Aabha, I hate Aabha". Rohan does not know what to say.
Rohan had met Aabha when he had gone on election duty to a town named "Asgoli" 4 years ago."Asgoli" is a small village with no electricity and is probably village at highest altitude in the whole Almora region. There were no roads which connected village to Dwarahat( the nearest town). Aabha was studying at Almora university and had come to her village for some days. Rohan had stayed at Pradhan Ji's house and there he met Aabha. Both liked each other very much. Aabha was also planning to work as reporter in "Parvat jaagran" newspaper. Rohan liked Aabha very much. Rohan wanted to marry Aabha. Rohan informed Pradhan Ji about his wish. Pradhan ji had read love in his daughter's eyes but before he could take any decision he wanted to inform Rohan about the truth related to Aabha. In between Aabha went to Almora for her last examination and also for some assignments at "Parvat Jaagran". She never came back. All sort of efforts were made but nobody could find Aabha. Months passed and slowly slowly everybody accepted the fact that Aabha was not going to come. They told themselves that she had died. Rohan made all efforts that he could to find out Aabha but it did not result in anything. Rohan also gave up hope after sometime.
Rohan has lived in hills since his childhood. He understands that hills are playing tricks. But why? what should he tell Jesse? He asks Jesse about the old man who had met Jesse. Jesse gives description of his appearance but Rohan has never seen an old man like that in Kafda village. He decides to tell Jesse about Aabha and tells her everything. Jesse asks Rohan explanation for her dreams but he does not have any. Rohan asks Jesse to come with her to the roof of their home from where they can see "temple of doonagiri" and says to Jesse that the goddess inside is queen of hills in that area and she will take care of everything. Jesse does not believe in anything like this but when Rohan insists she again imagines a church and bows her head with respect and prays to God to make everything better for both of them.
Sun has already set. Rohan says to Jesse that he would go to Shivalaya with her next day in the morning to find old man. Jesse feels little comfortable now and the fact that she has shared the news of being pregnant with Rohan makes her feel makes her relaxed. she smiles and comes near to Rohan who is cleaning the dishes. She hugs Rohan from his back and Rohan also turns back and smiles. Rohan keeps her hand on Jesse's stomach and kisses her on her cheek.
Today there is no masked man. It is a girl, a beautiful girl. No, masked man is there. He is chasing girl and girl is shouting,"Mummy,Mummy". Masked man slits girl's throat with a sword. Soon there is blood and a something falls away from girls hand. A horse comes running in the same direction. There is silence now. Same images are rolling again and again. there is nothing but silence now. A day has passed. Blood keeps dripping out of girls body. She is not even dead. She wants to say something. No she is saying something, but silence is killing all sounds. Girl also feels that she is not able to communicate through sound and she is now pointing out to the bag she has thrown. It is lying near a tree. Something is written on the tree. Some symbol in some language other than english. It is Hindi. Jesse is trying to read it: its na, chootee i kee maatra, Sha, aadha Ba, Da. It is Nishabd. It is Nishabd.
Jesse wakes up again, sweating...What does Nishabd mean??
To be continued...
Jesse stops smiling and frees herself from embrace of Rohan. She shouts,"Who is Aabha? Tell me Rohan who is Aabha? Why is this name bugging me so much?" She is crying. Rohan has a blank face. He is almost sweating. He asks Jesse,"How do you know about Aabha?" Jesse is still crying,"Rohan, I have been having dream of a masked man who says Aabha to me, then I met an old man who said Aabha to me." She starts crying even more,"I am not any kind of glow, why is this name troubling me. I wanted to share joy of our first baby with you and wanted to surprise you and this name has ruined it. I hate Aabha, I hate Aabha". Rohan does not know what to say.
Rohan had met Aabha when he had gone on election duty to a town named "Asgoli" 4 years ago."Asgoli" is a small village with no electricity and is probably village at highest altitude in the whole Almora region. There were no roads which connected village to Dwarahat( the nearest town). Aabha was studying at Almora university and had come to her village for some days. Rohan had stayed at Pradhan Ji's house and there he met Aabha. Both liked each other very much. Aabha was also planning to work as reporter in "Parvat jaagran" newspaper. Rohan liked Aabha very much. Rohan wanted to marry Aabha. Rohan informed Pradhan Ji about his wish. Pradhan ji had read love in his daughter's eyes but before he could take any decision he wanted to inform Rohan about the truth related to Aabha. In between Aabha went to Almora for her last examination and also for some assignments at "Parvat Jaagran". She never came back. All sort of efforts were made but nobody could find Aabha. Months passed and slowly slowly everybody accepted the fact that Aabha was not going to come. They told themselves that she had died. Rohan made all efforts that he could to find out Aabha but it did not result in anything. Rohan also gave up hope after sometime.
Rohan has lived in hills since his childhood. He understands that hills are playing tricks. But why? what should he tell Jesse? He asks Jesse about the old man who had met Jesse. Jesse gives description of his appearance but Rohan has never seen an old man like that in Kafda village. He decides to tell Jesse about Aabha and tells her everything. Jesse asks Rohan explanation for her dreams but he does not have any. Rohan asks Jesse to come with her to the roof of their home from where they can see "temple of doonagiri" and says to Jesse that the goddess inside is queen of hills in that area and she will take care of everything. Jesse does not believe in anything like this but when Rohan insists she again imagines a church and bows her head with respect and prays to God to make everything better for both of them.
Sun has already set. Rohan says to Jesse that he would go to Shivalaya with her next day in the morning to find old man. Jesse feels little comfortable now and the fact that she has shared the news of being pregnant with Rohan makes her feel makes her relaxed. she smiles and comes near to Rohan who is cleaning the dishes. She hugs Rohan from his back and Rohan also turns back and smiles. Rohan keeps her hand on Jesse's stomach and kisses her on her cheek.
Today there is no masked man. It is a girl, a beautiful girl. No, masked man is there. He is chasing girl and girl is shouting,"Mummy,Mummy". Masked man slits girl's throat with a sword. Soon there is blood and a something falls away from girls hand. A horse comes running in the same direction. There is silence now. Same images are rolling again and again. there is nothing but silence now. A day has passed. Blood keeps dripping out of girls body. She is not even dead. She wants to say something. No she is saying something, but silence is killing all sounds. Girl also feels that she is not able to communicate through sound and she is now pointing out to the bag she has thrown. It is lying near a tree. Something is written on the tree. Some symbol in some language other than english. It is Hindi. Jesse is trying to read it: its na, chootee i kee maatra, Sha, aadha Ba, Da. It is Nishabd. It is Nishabd.
Jesse wakes up again, sweating...What does Nishabd mean??
To be continued...
Monday, May 11, 2009
Nishabd-3
PS: Nishabd and Nishabd 2 have already been posted before. Those who have not had a look at them, please read them first.
Jesse is perplexed. Old man comes close to her and says something in Kumauni which she does not understand. But old man keeps smiling. He offers her some Gadmahal( a fruit), which she refuses. Old man says, "Chellee". She understands that it means daughter. She stops and sees affection in old man's eyes. She takes the fruits. Old man puts his hands on her forehead and says, "Aabha". She is almost petrified. Tic,Tic and She shouts,"But I am not Aabha, I am not any kind of glow". Old man looks at her calmly. Jesse sees that old man did not understand what she said. She cries again, " Mai aabha nahee hoon.". Old man now smiles and his eyes have tears. Jesse drops all the fruits and asks old man with little anger,"Aabha kaun hai?", Old man points finger to her and smiles. He starts collecting all the fruits and gives them back to Jesse. Jesse refuses to take them and walks swiftly away from Old man. When she is almost 20 meters far she looks back at Shivalaya, Old man is looking at fruits and is still smiling.
Old man knows Aabha is a dream, it is a dream. He knows hills are playing tricks again
Jesse comes back home. She sees some pieces of "Gadmahal" at her door. She thinks of throwing them but as she turns to throw them, she sees Rohan coming. She stops and puts all fruits on the floor. Rohan comes and kisses her on her cheek. She hugs Rohan and Rohan feels a difference. Rohan asks, "Jesse, Kya hua?" Jesse says nothing. She says," I love you Rohan. I love you". Rohan kisses Jesse on her forehead and says,"I love you too, Kya hua? Something is with you? What?" Jesse does not say anything. She is breathing heavily but slowly slowly is relaxing. Rohan opens the door.
Jesse goes to kitchen to warm the food and Rohan freshens up. Rohan smells,"Gohad ki daal" and is happy and starts singing in Kumauni. "Radhika tyaur Mohana, Daajoo Raadhika Tyaur Mohana". Jesse loves this song and smiles to herself in kitchen. She still does not want to tell anything to Rohan. She wants to understand it herself first. She is little afraid but she feels it adventurous to keep it to herself. Rohan comes to Kitchen and asks her why she seemed so afraid outside. She says that she had just seen a snake outside.
Jesse is hiding one more thing from Rohan. Rohan will soon come to know and she would love to see her reaction. Both have their meal and then Rohan has opened television. Jesse comes outside and plans how would she tell Rohan about her other thing. She makes a small plan. She asks the lady working in the field nearby to their house for lending her a kumauni dress. Lady laughs and tells her using hand movements that Jesse will not fit in her dress as Jesse's height is almost 6-7 inch more than that of her. Jesse drops this plan and instead she makes a different plan.
Rohan has been watching TV for an hour now, suddenly he sees Jesse in his(Rohan's) Kumauni clothes. She is wearing a white kurta, a payjama and a cap that is normally worn by Kumauni man. She is looking very beautiful. Rohan is surprised but then Jesse says that she has a good news. Before Jesse says anything, Rohan is already mad with joy. He is going to be a father. He lifts Jesse in his arms and kisses her. Rohan says, "Jess, it is going to be girl and we will name her,Aabha."
(To be contininued)
Jesse is perplexed. Old man comes close to her and says something in Kumauni which she does not understand. But old man keeps smiling. He offers her some Gadmahal( a fruit), which she refuses. Old man says, "Chellee". She understands that it means daughter. She stops and sees affection in old man's eyes. She takes the fruits. Old man puts his hands on her forehead and says, "Aabha". She is almost petrified. Tic,Tic and She shouts,"But I am not Aabha, I am not any kind of glow". Old man looks at her calmly. Jesse sees that old man did not understand what she said. She cries again, " Mai aabha nahee hoon.". Old man now smiles and his eyes have tears. Jesse drops all the fruits and asks old man with little anger,"Aabha kaun hai?", Old man points finger to her and smiles. He starts collecting all the fruits and gives them back to Jesse. Jesse refuses to take them and walks swiftly away from Old man. When she is almost 20 meters far she looks back at Shivalaya, Old man is looking at fruits and is still smiling.
Old man knows Aabha is a dream, it is a dream. He knows hills are playing tricks again
Jesse comes back home. She sees some pieces of "Gadmahal" at her door. She thinks of throwing them but as she turns to throw them, she sees Rohan coming. She stops and puts all fruits on the floor. Rohan comes and kisses her on her cheek. She hugs Rohan and Rohan feels a difference. Rohan asks, "Jesse, Kya hua?" Jesse says nothing. She says," I love you Rohan. I love you". Rohan kisses Jesse on her forehead and says,"I love you too, Kya hua? Something is with you? What?" Jesse does not say anything. She is breathing heavily but slowly slowly is relaxing. Rohan opens the door.
Jesse goes to kitchen to warm the food and Rohan freshens up. Rohan smells,"Gohad ki daal" and is happy and starts singing in Kumauni. "Radhika tyaur Mohana, Daajoo Raadhika Tyaur Mohana". Jesse loves this song and smiles to herself in kitchen. She still does not want to tell anything to Rohan. She wants to understand it herself first. She is little afraid but she feels it adventurous to keep it to herself. Rohan comes to Kitchen and asks her why she seemed so afraid outside. She says that she had just seen a snake outside.
Jesse is hiding one more thing from Rohan. Rohan will soon come to know and she would love to see her reaction. Both have their meal and then Rohan has opened television. Jesse comes outside and plans how would she tell Rohan about her other thing. She makes a small plan. She asks the lady working in the field nearby to their house for lending her a kumauni dress. Lady laughs and tells her using hand movements that Jesse will not fit in her dress as Jesse's height is almost 6-7 inch more than that of her. Jesse drops this plan and instead she makes a different plan.
Rohan has been watching TV for an hour now, suddenly he sees Jesse in his(Rohan's) Kumauni clothes. She is wearing a white kurta, a payjama and a cap that is normally worn by Kumauni man. She is looking very beautiful. Rohan is surprised but then Jesse says that she has a good news. Before Jesse says anything, Rohan is already mad with joy. He is going to be a father. He lifts Jesse in his arms and kisses her. Rohan says, "Jess, it is going to be girl and we will name her,Aabha."
(To be contininued)
Monday, May 4, 2009
Nishabd-2
PS: Please have a look at post Nishabd first. This is continuation of same story.
Jesse comes back to bed and tries to sleep. But sleep had eluded her now and she is thinking about her next day. She plans to visit the "Shivalaya", a temple, where she finds a lot of peace. She would also have to go to "Chhoi", a water source, where she would wash the clothes. She thinks about the project which she had set out for and in the course she had got greatest gift of her life, Rohan. She is now thinking again about the Maskman and the word "aaubhaa", what does it mean? She plans to ask Neeru, a student of Rohan. She could ask Rohan also but she prefers to keep it a secret as it really does not make sense to her. She thinks its a dream afterall. Only thing she wonders about is the word, "Aaubha". Where did she first hear it? Jesse keeps thinking and cuddles around Rohan, who turn towards her and she likes the warmth of hug in the chilly night. She falls asleep.
Jesse wakes up by a knock at the door. Rohan has left for School. He has made some sandwitches. She guesses that there would be some tea in the kettle also. She opens the door and its Neeru with some Maltas,fruits similar to oranges. She asks Neeru to come in. Neeru wearing red ribbon and blue Kurta and white salwaar seems to be pretty happy. She is always happy whenever she gets a chance to see "buuuutiful Jesse mam". Jesse is also happy to see her as Neeru is the only girl who understands English and is able to speak broken Engligh too. Jesse also understands Hindi but it is still not perfect. "Mam, Malta, Apne ghar se layee hoon.", "Achha, par English mein baat karo, You want to learn English or not". Jesse asks Neeru offering her tea which she always refuses, what the word "aaubha" means. Neeru says, "Oh, Aabha". She then explains to Jesse that Aabha means glow. She also exemplifies it saying, "Mam, you are very beautiful and your face has a lot of Aabha." Jesse laughs and so does Neeru. Jesse asks herself almost in monologue why a masked man with a sword would say Aaubha to her. Neeru hears it and her eyes widens. She answers, "Mam, because hills can play tricks." Jesse asks with some anger,"what trick?" Neeru smiles and says that she has to go to school. And she leaves. Jesse thinks,"crazy girl, hills and tricks". She smiles and eats sandwitch which today seems to be tastier than other days.
Jesse drops plans to go to "Chhoi". She instead would go to "Shivalaya" today. She will cook some food first. She cooks, "Gohad ki daal" and rice which are favourite of Rohan. She then opens television but could not find anything interesting. She now gets ready and is on her way to Shivalaya. Soon she crosses market of Kafda and she reaches Shivalaya. She is the lone person in Shivalaya today which happens many times as Kafda has a total population of almost 100 people only. She goes near the Shivalinga and closes her eyes. She imagine a cross in front of her and then thinks of the city church where she used to go when she was at california. But suddenly thought of maskman and sword comes to her mind and she opens her eyes. she comes out of the temple and thinks about word "Aabha". She has come out of Shivalaya and sees an old man at the gate of Shivalaya. Old man looks at her and smiles.
Jesse comes back to bed and tries to sleep. But sleep had eluded her now and she is thinking about her next day. She plans to visit the "Shivalaya", a temple, where she finds a lot of peace. She would also have to go to "Chhoi", a water source, where she would wash the clothes. She thinks about the project which she had set out for and in the course she had got greatest gift of her life, Rohan. She is now thinking again about the Maskman and the word "aaubhaa", what does it mean? She plans to ask Neeru, a student of Rohan. She could ask Rohan also but she prefers to keep it a secret as it really does not make sense to her. She thinks its a dream afterall. Only thing she wonders about is the word, "Aaubha". Where did she first hear it? Jesse keeps thinking and cuddles around Rohan, who turn towards her and she likes the warmth of hug in the chilly night. She falls asleep.
Jesse wakes up by a knock at the door. Rohan has left for School. He has made some sandwitches. She guesses that there would be some tea in the kettle also. She opens the door and its Neeru with some Maltas,fruits similar to oranges. She asks Neeru to come in. Neeru wearing red ribbon and blue Kurta and white salwaar seems to be pretty happy. She is always happy whenever she gets a chance to see "buuuutiful Jesse mam". Jesse is also happy to see her as Neeru is the only girl who understands English and is able to speak broken Engligh too. Jesse also understands Hindi but it is still not perfect. "Mam, Malta, Apne ghar se layee hoon.", "Achha, par English mein baat karo, You want to learn English or not". Jesse asks Neeru offering her tea which she always refuses, what the word "aaubha" means. Neeru says, "Oh, Aabha". She then explains to Jesse that Aabha means glow. She also exemplifies it saying, "Mam, you are very beautiful and your face has a lot of Aabha." Jesse laughs and so does Neeru. Jesse asks herself almost in monologue why a masked man with a sword would say Aaubha to her. Neeru hears it and her eyes widens. She answers, "Mam, because hills can play tricks." Jesse asks with some anger,"what trick?" Neeru smiles and says that she has to go to school. And she leaves. Jesse thinks,"crazy girl, hills and tricks". She smiles and eats sandwitch which today seems to be tastier than other days.
Jesse drops plans to go to "Chhoi". She instead would go to "Shivalaya" today. She will cook some food first. She cooks, "Gohad ki daal" and rice which are favourite of Rohan. She then opens television but could not find anything interesting. She now gets ready and is on her way to Shivalaya. Soon she crosses market of Kafda and she reaches Shivalaya. She is the lone person in Shivalaya today which happens many times as Kafda has a total population of almost 100 people only. She goes near the Shivalinga and closes her eyes. She imagine a cross in front of her and then thinks of the city church where she used to go when she was at california. But suddenly thought of maskman and sword comes to her mind and she opens her eyes. she comes out of the temple and thinks about word "Aabha". She has come out of Shivalaya and sees an old man at the gate of Shivalaya. Old man looks at her and smiles.
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